Chapter 34: Noses to the Grindstone
Summary: Time to get back to work! Training montage go!
Chapter 34: Noses to the Grindstone
... ...
While their first full Heroics day had been emotionally intense, that intensity thankfully faded away as the days spun onward. Several students had quietly visited with Hound Dog or, in cases such as Izumi, 2B, and Momo, they had sessions with their own long-established therapists. Yet, for all the trauma of events so far, direct and indirect, no one actually dropped out of the Heroics course. Even Mineta surprised a lot of people, perhaps even being the single most surprising person overall. Those who had thought him the most likely to fold after watching the bloody, messy fight against the Nomu, had all been shocked when it seemed to level him out instead. The pervert had actually gotten considerably more serious about his training and knocked off at least some of his more obnoxious behaviors. He still wasn't particularly well liked, but the general opinion of him had increased to the point of very grudging respect as the reality check seemed to have done a number on him.
For all that the emotional trauma faded, however, physical trauma rapidly began to take its place. Even as many of them had work start to pile up for their non-heroics classes, the Heroics practical sessions intensified to the point that no one, not even Izumi and Momo, left them anything less than tired and bruised. All Might had quietly admitted to them both that it was normal for the post-internships sessions to increase in intensity…but not this much. The staff was taking the fact that its first-year students might be targeted deadly seriously, and was doubling down that intensity increase. With any other group, in any other year, it might even have been too much. But this particular group showed just how much potential they had by digging in and fighting back. Something which, frankly, produced some spectacular results…
... ...
"Match Start!"
At All Might's signal, two groups of students rushed forward. Not towards each other, but toward a third point. A point held only a trio of students, versus the two teams of three that were in the 'assault' group. Unfortunately, while a six vs three should have been unfair…the three students acting the part of villains had been deliberately chosen to make things rough on the attackers. Specifically, those three defending students were Kaminari, Jirou, and Momo. Two area-denial experts combined with a powerhouse. Worse, while the defenders hadn't gotten any time for prep that Momo could go crazy with, Izumi was not fighting in this set at all. Meaning that the 'assault teams' had no one that could match Momo for sheer power. Even Bakugo was slated to fight in the next round, in which Izumi would be one of the defenders. This left the attackers with only so many options, options complicated by the fact that the 'villains' were defending a shop front that they had 'broken into.'
None of which meant that the assault team wasn't going to try, or didn't have a plan. The entire point of this exercise was to force the students with more sane power levels, to confront unfavorable conditions and find a way to win. And they had to do it on the fly, with very little prep time. That, however, was where the growing level of teamwork Group A as a whole was starting to show came into play. While they hadn't known the specifics, not even who they would be facing or under what exact conditions, everyone in the Group had begun developing methods of working together. One of those was the first thing to come into play now. The instant Momo was spotted, Kirishima, the leader of Strike Team 1, called out to Tokoyami, who was leading Strike Team 2.
"Screwball Special!"
To his credit, Tokoyami didn't hesitate, despite that particular tactic being one of the more ridiculous in their arsenal. He and Dark Shadow merged smoothly into their Abyssal Armor state…then scooped the already hardening Kirishima up in a giant hand and pitched him straight through the front window of the shop. Even as Kirishima shattered the front window, he doubled down on his hardening with the super move Izumi and Momo had helped him develop. He still couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds…but that would have to be enough.
"UNBREAKABLE!"
It was, of course, the right move. Because an instant after he hit the window, Kirishima went back through it via twin blasts. One curtesy of Jirou's newly-named Heartbeat Blast, the other curtesy of the channeled flick of wind from Momo's fingers. The dual blasts sent him flying, but didn't do much more than scuff the armor of his redesigned costume. Jirou's blasts, in particular, could overcome his regular hardening do to their sonic nature. But his Unbreakable state was another matter entirely, and he remained unharmed. More to the point, he'd served as a credible threat and, thus, a good distraction.
Tokoyami, Sero, and Asui had gone up with the distraction, easily reaching the roof of the target building. Iida and Mineta meanwhile, had taken advantage of superior speed and maneuverability to break right into the Alley beside the building. Mineta showed the biggest change of the two yet again, in the way he bounced with every step. When he'd finally gotten serious and asked Izumi and Momo for advice, they'd pointed out (slightly reluctantly given he'd been staring at both of their chests whenever he thought he could sneak a look), that his bouncing off his own 'balls' might allow him to intentionally change their properties. They had, as usual, been right. The revelation had given him a much needed boost in speed when the support course students had been able to work the material of his 'balls' into the form of soles for his boots. As those soles directly touched his body, he could command them to either bounce or stick at will, allowing him pure acceleration that could actually match Iida. Though he had nowhere near Iida's top speed.
The Strike Team's split approach was the smart choice, of course…even if it ran into problems almost immediately. Despite the distraction, Jirou had clearly been able to keep track of everyone with her Quirk. Iida barely swerved in time to avoid another Heartbeat Blast from her sonic canon, which ripped right through the concreate wall of the shop. Villains didn't need to care about collateral damage during a smash and grab, after all, and the defending trio were clearly playing into that fact. Something made doubly clear as Kaminari jetpacked out of a hole Momo blasted through the roof at almost the exact same time. Electrified whips, brightly crackling with energy, wrapped up Tokoyami, not at all incidentally causing Dark Shadow to shrink from light exposure. A flick of those whips sent Tokoyami and Dark Shadow back off the roof, even as Sero tried to capture Kaminari in a net of tape, only for Kaminari to go fully airborne to avoid the move and start raining rubber-bullet-hell down on Sero and Asui. They avoided a painful elimination only by Asui abruptly firing up the high-powered flood lights in her suit, blinding him for an instant while both of them dove for the hole he'd come from.
That of course, just got them both efficiently tranq-darted by Momo…though she in was busy herself a moment later as Kirishima returned to the fray, this time launching one of the capture-foam grenades he'd added to his own arsenal. Jirou, meanwhile, had menacingly stepped out into the alleyway through the hole she'd blown in the wall and activated Discordant Ripple, inducing nausea in the other members of Kirishima's Strike team there. The remaining building and Momo's suit would protect her partner from the nausea inducing sound waves, but the poor bastards trapped in the alley with her had no such luck…
... ...
"Whoohoo! You go girl!"
Everyone except an extremely enthusiastic Mina watched, a little bit dumbfounded, as Toru's gloves and boots wove through the intense obstacle course with what were clearly some of Mina's breakdancing moves. The fact those moves had been enhanced by Toru having the support course add wheels into the heels of her shoes for extra mobility only made the entire set of dodges more surreal. No one had expected anyone but Mina to ever adapt those moves for combat, even just as dodges…but they were all watching the evidence that it was possible for her to teach others to use them. Even Midnight was looking a little taken aback as the otherwise invisible girl navigated the 'danger' obstacle course, similar to the one they'd faced in the Heroics Tournament, with the unorthodox additions. 2B broke the silence in her usual fashion.
"Perhaps she can help you adjust the tango to dodging? Momo did call your hips thrusts a lethal weapon a few nights ago."
There was a heartbeat of disbelief as the entire class processed that, their attention turning from Toru and Mina to Izumi and Momo. Izumi flushed slowly as she realized what all of them were probably thinking. She was about to correct them, since Momo really had been talking about a dance they'd attended for business, when her girlfriend betrayed her.
"Indeed. I couldn't walk straight the next day, despite my durability. It was a most enjoyable evening."
Momo's voice was innocence itself, but the twinkle in her eyes absolutely was not as Midnight's smirk grew and her mouth opened. Izumi's blushing glare of betrayal a moment later as a stream of innuendo flooded out sent several of the class into hysterical giggles. More then a few of them were starting to realize that Momo wasn't nearly as innocent as she appeared. That, and the fact that Midnight was a terrible influence…
... ...
As Sato's power-armor ripped up a piece of concreate and flung it at Shoji, who in turn shot it with six grapple guns at once, before pivoting to pull the debris into a wide circle and fling it back, Momo looked on with several different emotions flitting across her face. Finally, she sighed, and turned to Mei. The pinkette had come to observe the training session, since it was her power armor on display. Even now, the mad inventor was fussing over the data she was getting back.
"Mei, I don't know if I'm more impressed you managed this without my Quirk's advantages, or irritated that you stole the power armor idea in the first place."
Mei responded with an utterly unrepentant grin.
"You said I could! Just because you didn't think I could reproduce it doesn't mean I couldn't come up with something like it! Besides, it's more of an exoskeleton than power armor, since you won't share whatever utter bullshit powers yours!"
Izumi snorted at Mei's unknowing description of One for All. It was admittedly, in fact, pretty much utter bullshit. Even if Mei had no idea that's what she was referring too. Momo had obviously followed her train of thought as her lips quirked at the corners. Even so, it was Mei she spoke to.
"I told you, it won't work for anyone but me. More importantly…is the stabilizer working?"
Mei's pout immediately turned into huge grin.
"Yep! Muscles isn't showing any signs of cognitive decrease! Thanks for helping me sort that out! Biochemistry isn't my strong suit."
That was what had brought Momo into the project. As well as 2B, though Mei wasn't aware of that part, 2B being a bit leery of her for some reason. Mei had chosen Sato as the target of her own 'exoskeletal baby' because his Quirk was a strength enhancer already. No normal person could have used Mei's version of power armor, as it weighted several hundred kilos. It also only enhanced what was already there, which meant that the stronger the base user was, the better the result. The limits of her materials meant that Izumi would have ripped it apart if she tried to use it, of course. So would Momo or All Might for that matter. But for Sato, his Quirk Boosted strength was right in the range where the armor would be useful as heck without him destroying it during use.
The problem, of course, had been that Sato's downside of reduced cognitive function was a bad idea to combined with power armor. Mei being Mei, she hadn't seen that as a problem, but simply as a chance to add more functionality to her 'baby.' Specifically, she wanted to create a system that would help Sato regulate his blood sugar levels far more accurately that just…eating it. Momo and 2B had analyzed what was actually happening to power Sato's quirk, with their previous work doing the exact same thing for Momo's Quirk as an easy jumping off point. Doing so had allowed them to create a far more precise formula which, injected via the new Power Armor, would only fuel the Quirk. It turned out the downside of Sato's Quirk was actually the result of the unused chemicals from unmodified sugar causing something like a sugar crash when they built up in his system. Without that byproduct getting involved at all, he could power up more strongly than ever without the slow cognitive loss. In theory, at least. That was, after all, why Mei was here monitoring how it all worked out in practice.
"Well, so far so good I guess, then. Though we still need to get the medical department to scan him afterward, to make sure we didn't miss anything. Biochemistry isn't exactly my specialty either, after all, even if I knew a bit about it do to researching my own Quirk…"
Momo trailed off after that, as they all turned their attention back to the melee that was still ongoing…
... ...
…
…
…
Every single person in the room turned to glare at Izumi. Izumi shrunk in on herself, but still tried to defend her position.
"What? It's the perfect weapon for her!"
There was another yell and brutal thud as an entirely-too-lifelike dummy was turned to paste by the cackling brunette on the screen. Someone whimpered, and even Bakugo looked a little pale at the level of bloodlust he was witnessing. Momo took pity on her girlfriend, giving her a reassuring head pat.
"We know, dear. It's just that no one in class is looking forward to dealing with a bloodthirsty Ochako who now has a three-quarter ton tungsten-carbide kanabō that she can swing around like a machete. Even you have to admit, getting hit by that thing would hurt."
Izumi winced, glancing where Uraraka was going on a fiery rampage of death through training ground Delta with said weapon. Yeah, with the amount of power she could swing the massless/weightless weapon with, only to return its mass/weight at the last second, even Izumi would be hurting if the other girl actually landed a hit on her with that that thing. They still weren't completely sure what fuckery the brunette's Quirk was actually doing, but the moment Izumi had realized it absolutely was not just fucking with gravity, she'd realized the potential. Just because something was in a state of zero gravity didn't remove its mass or inertia, and as such Uraraka shouldn't be able to do half the stuff she does. Yet she can, since her Quirk is clearly giving physics a thorough buggering. The kanabō was simply a really obvious way to make use of that. It wasn't Izumi's fault that it had turned out the normally calm girl apparently really liked destroying things!
There was another brutal squish sound and even Midnight was starting to look a little concerned. Okay, so maybe there had been warning signs she missed? In her defense, she was fairly sure this wasn't any scarier than half of Hatsume's 'babies.' Though the fact that she was now rating that simple chunk of alloys in the same category as a Hatsume Special probably did mean she'd miscalculated. Just a little bit…
... ...
Somehow, without anyone really realizing it, the entire month of June slipped by without them hearing anything more about the League of Villains. That, in retrospect, probably should have been a warning sign…