Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Heartfillia
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Heartfillia

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Retha





Retha threw Momo in her car and sped off dodging in and out of traffic with poor Momo holding on for dear life in the passenger seat even with the seat belt forced around her body she still didn’t feel completely safe. Still, even if this entire ordeal was terrifying it was nice to see an adult who genuinely cared about her kids, like her adopted parent, but turned all the way to ten and she didn’t hate that at all. What she did hate however, was the fact that she was forced to sit through the same lecture about safety from start to finish and between that and the crazy driving left the girl in a very uneasy situation. The sudden stop when Retha swerved into a parking spot at the hospital nearly putting the car on two wheels before ending the wild ride and another one began when sue was basically jacked from the vehicle. Retha nearly kicked in the door to the hospital getting to the front receptionist desk and basically strong arm the nurse for information and made it her business to visit each and every one of her students, the last one being Kaida.

“What’s happening to her?” Retha asked, breathing heavily looking down at the little dragon girl, inviting herself over to her bedside the heat lamps and hot packs beaming down on her knowing this wasn’t helping anything. “I’m so sorry this happened to you on my watch, ” she said to herself, tears of lava spilling from her eyes having seen all her students in such condition and she wasn’t there to save them.

The man looked at the woman who walked in with surprise. What are the odds of this happening? Did she already find out that Kaida was her daughter? Was that why she was here? Or is fate playing a part in this? He will have to test the waters to find out.

“She suffered a concussion, along with her ‘frost burns’. Miss Beaumont’s quirk makes her highly vulnerable against cold. With the villains she fought, their quirk is ice cold, it is like she stuck her her hands in molten steel for a moment. At least in comparison to normal anatomy.”

He took a step closer, “ The sheer pain she experienced has knocked her out. Heat is the best thing for her now, more heat the better, slowly her skin will regenerate, but she will have to wear bandages for a while…”

He folded his hands behind his back, knowing the answer already, “Are you her mother?”

Retha jerked her head back when the doctor inquired about her relation to Kaida and gasped a little having done a little digging she learned who her father was and made the connection herself merely minutes before getting the call to come here. It took her by surprise for a split second, but she regained her composure quickly. Looking back, do at Kaida she could hardly believe this was her little star, but this was neither the time nor the place to explain this situation to a complete stranger.

“N-no I’m just the student’s dorm mother, part of Kaida’s quirk is thermal empowerment its tied to her health if she gets too cold, she’ll shut down… were a lot alike” she explained, opening up a console on her hero suit and punching in the force release code. “Stand back, and Momo leave the room, I wouldn’t want you to dry out now” Retha ordered prompting the water student to get behind a wall.

“This’ll help more than any hit pack or heat lamp” and with that said she released the Cryo core of her suit, allowing her own quirk to ramp up from being supressed for so long. The entire hospital heated up, but the room itself was almost smoldering hot, metal object could be turned into skillets and used to fry eggs in a matter of seconds. “I won’t lose you again, ” she said under her breath, stepping closer to the dragon girl

The man looked at her with narrowed eyes, as if reading her reaction like a book. She knew Kaida was her daughter, but only recently...else she would have claimed her. She still possibly would, but the reaction she gave at the question was clear she wasn’t ready for it.

She released something on her suit that instantly released her heat… He sighed and shook his head, while they were similar, Kaida’s Dragon part of her quirk made things even more different. Hwalked around the bed and placed a bare hand on her forearm. “Ms. Hal…” He said calmly, waiting for her to look at him before continuing. He wasn’t even sweating...“While I’m sure Kaida would love the extra heat, Blasting it all at once isn’t going to heal her faster at this point. She’s not in danger at the moment, as she is just unconscious…. This will take time, be it in a volcano or here in the hospital.” He pulled his hand off her arm slowly and put it back behind his back. “However, your natural heat can put others at risk in this hospital, so please, turn your inhibitor back on..” He finished with a small smile, clearly not trying to egg her on and keep her calm.

Retha sighed looking down at the doctor’s hand finding it strange it wasn’t being burnt completely off at this point but this was neither here nor there after snatching her hand back she reinstated her Cryo core suit taking a step away looking down at her daughter, she had a lot on her mind at the moment and needed to sort some stuff out the biggest being should she even tell Kaida. “I’ll be out in the hallway, if anyone conditions change for better or worse, you come to me, ” she said, looking up at the doctor finally getting a good look at his face just before storming out. That doctor, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she knows she’s seen him before. “My little star” she mumbled.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Conscripts
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Conscripts An Atom Trying to Understand Itself

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Acion Nakamiji
Albert Saratogi
Forte Dragunov

Aurelia Nakamiji


"Damn, this dude is heavy."

Aurelia had been trained physically pretty well, yet she was straining to carry this guy dead on her back.

On that note, who the hell is this guy anyway? He didn't seem like Komei students. He had a sword, a real sword for fighting purposes. And he was someone who she'd expect no less in terms of skills if he was in the Sky Knight. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be in some sort of hero groups or so. But his quirks were somewhat close to the Shadow Clan members, and the fact that dead of a freak gave him a brotherly sort of address. It was stimulating, yet suspicious and worth of caution.

The hospital is in less than ten minutes of flight. She landed right in front of the gate and, with Takeshi on her back, carried him in.

"Excuse me, there is an emergency here."

'That man.'

Just before, he saw Shortcut before he left. He did not pay attention to him in battle, but he looked very similar to Jett. Same quirk and same usage. Did he really help him and the Sky Knights here along with those people? If he did, Acion was very grateful, but it could be his family member. Who knows. He did not see his face clearly.

Anyway...

"Our work is done for the day. We can go back now."

"I'm not going back yet." But Acion clearly stated. "I have to make sure my friends are alright in there."

The dragon girl looked at him for long, as he spread his six wings and left. Her battlefield judgement were rarely wrong. His friends were very hurt in this battle. His sister also fought an uphill battle here. And considering the fact that he ran away that moment to gather the knights, he may have felt a little bit of guilt for leaving his beloved. They were hurt. She honestly had no qualms about him doing so. It was actually a wise decision to flee, instead of running into the fight, and would inevitably his grave. But she could understand why he might feel so. She was grown and experienced enough to sympathize. He's still young. He'll learn.

"Wait." She said as she took off after him. "Someone stay and handle the police. The rest can dismiss."

Takeshi had now been carried into the hospital room as soon as the hospital staff saw the state he was in. For Albert, after taking Michiko and Roy to the hospital, he was about to rush back to assist his brothers and sisters when the news came that they had already taken care of things. Now he was keeping Aurelia company in the hallway, waiting for the result, and perhaps for some of the Komei's staff to arrive. She had called the principal, The Gravity Yarl, to inform about this situation, but she was certain that this call was pretty much unneeded. With this many involved, he would definitely be rushing here right now.

Suddenly, the hospital went into microwave mode. It heated up in just a few seconds, from an unknown source. But to Aurelia, she knew pretty well this pattern.

"Mother?"

She said, addressing who, to her, would be her second mother out there. Was she here?

That moment, Acion and Forte burst into the hallway, a little hurried.

"Are you alright, sister?" Acion asked, frowning in worries

Aurelia patted her back in smiles.

"The doctor said it is just sores. Light injuries at most, that it won't affect work performance."

"And about my friends?"

"That I do not hear too much. But it's certain that they are alright. Out of danger now."

It was only at this moment when Acion breathed a sigh of relief. It's tough being the only student to stay relatively okay while the other people almost perished. And in an unexpected, but not entirely out of context, he gave his sister a hug. Between brothers and sisters, he was really glad she was safe.

"Now now. We are no longer children." Though she didn't express it accordingly, she appreciated the thought. And he let go.

"Should I come in there?" He said.

"Well, I suggest not at the moment." Aurelia replied, implied by the sheer heat coming out of the room. It was less hot than before, but still. For someone without a heatproof quirk or protection gear, not a good idea to go in. "There's the other guy though. The blonde kid."

"Is he alright enough for me to come in?"

"I just see the nurse come out. They appear to have finished with the treatment." Abert said, sitting in the bench nearby.

"Alright." Acion said as he walked for the door leading to Roy's hospital room. Quietly opening the door, he could still see his best friend still blacked out, looking calm and peaceful, wrapped up in bandages.

Looking back, Acion was unsure. The three heroes assertively gave him the gesture to enter.

And so he did.

@pkken
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Silver Carrot
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Silver Carrot Wow I've been here a while

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Kasuke Mina


"I got a few nuggets of advice," Mina replied to Dulga, after having listened to Jett's explaination of Jett's familial nature. "But it was all good advice that I needed to hear. I think I owe him an apology next time I see him. I brushed him off because he was being fatherly to me and it was making me uncomfortable. He meant well, though. I shouldn't have stormed off the way I did. It's just...when I think I'm being compared to my mother, or I think that people are viewing me as 'Seductress' daughter', I can't stand it. I don't want to live under her shadow."

Just then, Fumika's sister Asuka showed up, acting noticeably fake. Mine let out an irritated tut, before smiling herself, all the irritation bleeding out of her face. Mina didn't have gal-mode, but she did have lady-mode, and with a courteous nod of the head and a shift in stance, she looked like she belonged at a charity ball, making small talk to some CEO's wife. The two distict styles of fake friendliness clashed, creating a surprisingly tense atmosphere.

"Oh, yes! Hello, Motome-san!" She greeted, politely ignoring the request to be called Asuka. "Of course I could help you find your sister! We would naturally search the dorms first."

When Harukaze was brought up, Mina dropped the act, and was relieved by it. She was however as annoyed as Jett that she hadn't come to see him herself, in person. Jett better be as mad about it was he was about Mina herself not having seen him all this time, otherwise she'd be mad at him for choosing favourites. Her being his old childhood crush didn't make it better. In fact, that thought only made her more bitter. Jett's quirk then chose that moment to teleport him away, and Mina looked around, unable to see him.

She'd have continued her search, but yet another person then chose to impose upon the group, and now Mina was feeling that things were getting too busy and too crowded for her liking, and without Jett, didn't really see a reason to be here. She listened to Toru, then, still in lady-mode, smiled patronisingly at him. "I'm afraid I will be escorting Motome-san to the girl's dorm, so I regrettably won't be able to help you. Tatara-san, you're free, correct? You'll be able to lend him a hand."

That subtle joke about Dulga having six arms and Toru having one being made, Mina then turned to Asuka, and the facade of ladylike friendliness dropped. However, Mina was still smiling a small, wry smile. "Are you tired of that act yet? If not, you've got to teach me how to keep it going. Anyway, shall we?" she gestured, towards the girl's dorms.

@Aerandir@Norschtalen@Feyblue@FamishedPants






Mako Akane


Mako barely felt the nudge, but looked over to Persia all the same, appearing to notice her for the first time. The girl seemed very polite, though, and it was an accident. It was the nickname of 'Ko-Ko Sensei' that really grabbed Mako's attention. That was quite a cute nickname, and she'd never had a nickname before!

"Ko-Ko Sensei?" She chimed, amused. "I like that. Tell me, what's your name? As for Amane, well, I wouldn't give him that much credit. Yes, that is what he's doing and why he's doing it, but I wonder if he knows that yet..."

@pkken
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Lucius Cypher
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Lucius Cypher Looking For Group

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"Why thank you Akane-sensei!" Mamoru went and plopped herself down in a seat to watch Ruby and Amane's brawl. While she seemed her usual cheerful self, Mamoru couldn't help but feel worried about Ruby. She seemed like such a nice girl and Amane... Wasn't a nice guy. Oh sure she kinda understood his twisted motivations for what he did, but just because she understood doesn't mean Mamoru likes it or approves of it. Frankly it just made Mamoru angry that people like Amane are allowed into a school like Komei. Certainly not a heroic person, but perhaps that's because Mamoru's view of a hero is very unrealistic. After all, anyone can "do their jobs". You don't need to be a hero to take down villains and protect people. But how you do it and being able to inspire the others for the better, that's what makes you a hero. Not breaking other people down so they'd give up. But, Mamoru also knew that even if Amane could understand that, he'll likely disagree. Mamoru was certain she couldn't really convince him to beleive what she says.

In the end, for every person like Amane, Mamoru would just have to work extra hard to reverse the bad things he does.

As the fight went on Mamoru would stand and cheer for Ruby. "Woohoo! Get em Mamoru-chan!" The trash talking bothered Mamoru, but she knew that it was suppose to. It was like a classic wrestling match between a Face and a Heel; one talks to bolster their resolve, another talks to break it down. You encourage the one who is struggling and jeer at the one who only hurts. What bothered Mamoru was that she wasn't really good at trash talk; she was always the time who had the perfect quip about three minutes after the initial insult. Usually by then she's actually paying attention to what's being said too. Just another thing Mamoru had to improve on. Another thing: actually believing in others. Ruby was fighting much better than the pinkette had expected; she had thought Ruby was the type to rely mainly on her quirk but her hand-to-hand skills were arguably better than Mamoru's own. She relied on fighting with a shield, and without it Mamoru was a brawler. She'd have a hard time trying to keep Ruby still for a beatdown.

Amane wasn't bad either, as much as Mamoru didn't want to admit it. There was certainly a level of skill between the two of them. Again, Mamoru figured he was the type who just threw everyone around with his quirk but he had practical self-defense skills too. It just made Mamoru realize that a lot of her fellow students are martially trained. They actually had teachers and took lessons about how to fight. Mamoru just sorta learned through getting into fights. The gaps were growing wider and wider. It made Mamoru quieten down and just watch, absorbing what she was looking at. Guts can only get Mamoru so far and she knew it. If she really wanted to compare to everyone else, who had stronger quirks and better skills, she needed to reach their level. Work harder. "Plus Ultra." She said quietly to herself.

Mamoru's attention was brought away from the fight when a purple haired girl talked to Mamoru. She recognized her as the girl who was hanging out with Ruby previously, the one with portal powers. She wanted to know her thoughts about Amane's methods. Mamoru almost spoke immediately, but instead gave herself a few seconds to think about it. Not much, but at least enough to have her words in order. "It's dirty but it's real. Being a hero isn't easy. Anyone can be a good fighter and nice, but... It takes a lot more than that to be a real hero. And people who can't handle that price of being a hero are the ones who heroes have to protect." Mamoru tighten her hands as she kept looking at the fight. "Talent, drive, and luck are three things that you need to be a hero. You can't just have one, you have to have all three in abundance. Those who lack any of the three won't make it for long. That's why pro heroes aren't just quirkless guys with guns who work hard, or complete nobodies who just happened to be in the right place in the right time. And life isn't fair for those who have all the right stuff either."

@Silver Carrot@pkken






As Donny was being gathered up in bags and shipped to a hospital that can actually treat him (Fortunately his insurance card was found inside of his wallet), he was having a dream. A dream of things to come, or perhaps just fantasies in his head. In these dreams he saw what he thinks are his futures. Plural because he saw many. A few that stuck out of his mind were his futures as a hero. Two stood out among them; one where he has become a giant creature of black mass and bones, fighting off another giant creature made of darkness and glowing red eyes. This creature was like a giant demon that breathed fire, and each time it did so it hurt Donny. But unlike now where being on fire was basically a death sentence, Donny withstood many pains. He did not fight back because he stood in front of thousands of others fleeing; he was here to protect them. If he moved, they would die. But soon he would die, burnt to ash. He saved many lives at the price of his own. Another path he was on a boat. He looked like his true self with his mask, yet somehow this version of him seemed more gallant. Confident. Heroic. He dove into the oceans ice cold water: again if Donny did that now he was liable to die, yet this time it didn't seem to hurt that badly. He had other people there who was helping him by giving him oxygen tanks and warm drinks like hot chocolate. Somehow Donny was consuming these underwater. He saw himself get bigger and bigger as he started to absorb both air, drink, and water.

The dream ended their as he saw another, more horrifying path. Here everything was black and white. He saw multiple silhouettes in acts of violence; people breaking into homes, murdering each other, raping each other. Standard bad guy stuff. And then Donny comes in and kills them. Sometimes he would appear from underground and impale the evil doers with a claw. Sometimes he would drop on them from above and eat them. But often he was just running through crowds of silhouettes slashing everything he could reach. Donny presumed he was attacking bad people, but all he saw was shapes. Most of the people he was killing weren't really doing anything except reacting to Donny killing them. He really hopes they were bad people.

And then Donny woke up. Everything looked blue. He was looking all around him, as he often did when he wakes up. He had to focus his vision back to a center and focused on the floor. First thing he noticed was that he was in some sort of device filled with water. He wasn't drowning as he had an oxygen mask strapped to his mass, allowing air to come into his body. He felt both hurt and numb; he was almost certain that he was drugged in order to prevent him from moving around too much. He didn't really feel like going anywhere anyways, but he did try his best to at least raise his body. He quickly realized that he was outside of his meat bag too, but in his delirium he could at least identify that he was at a hospital. "Right. I got into a fight. And got hurt. I must be in the hospital healing right now." He tried to move forward and ended up pressing his body against the glass weakly. Despite that, it sorta hurt. "Ow. How long have I been out?"




Other


Asahi wordlessly nodded towards Hitomi and Tomoe. While the other side was annoyed at their tardiness, Asahi was just relieved he didn't have to do this without them. It'd look bad if they didn't have all their supporters here. With everyone gathered White Hat stepped forward and spoke up loudly. "Welcome everyone to today's challenge. Tori Tetsuro has challenged Goroshi Asahi to a series of challenges over the fate of the Komei Collective Club organization. The challenge will be judged before a panel of five unaffiliated judges from the general studies course. The challenge will be divided into three seperate competitions in the following order: Cat Herding, Karaoke, and a Scavenger Hunt. Without further adieu, the first challenge!" White Hat raised his hand which activated a large projector that shined a video against a nearby wall.

"The first competition will be Cat Herding! There are a total of thirty cats scattered in this area. Whoever participates in this challenge must successfully gather or coral the most amount of cats after ten minutes. You are allowed to utilize your quirk in whatever way that does not harm the cats or your opponent. You are allowed to pick up and carry as many cats as you are capable of that will not cause any harm or stress to the cats, however you will not be allowed to forcefully take any cats within the physical possession of your opponent. You are not allowed to use any outside items in the course of this challenge, however there are a few potentially useful tools within the marked area that may assist you in gathering the cats. These items you may contest your opponent for so long as you do not harm the cats in the process. The purpose of this challenge is to represent your side's ability to gather the support and following of other people." With that out of the way White Hat looked at both sides. Already the Anti-Collective group had their pick ready to volunteer, so White Hat looked towards the Pro-Collective side.

"Please send your representative forward. Know that regardless of your success or failure, whoever participates will neither benefit nor lose anything related to their rankings. Only the challenger and the one who was challenged has anything at stake." Asahi looked to the others. He let out a deep breath as he looked at Hitomi and Tomoe in particular. "Do you two want to try this challenge? I intend to do the third challenge myself. If you don't, we have someone on our side who likes cats. She might be able to win this for us." The doubt in Asahi's words was palpable. He was really hoping Hitomi or Tomoe could handle this challenge.

@Silver Carrot@liferusher
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by pkken
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pkken

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Amane Kishimoto

vs.


Ruby Mamoru

Part 2


She was glad that her kick got through, however Amane suddenly caught her leg. With a small change in her expression to a more shocked one, Ruby stared into Amane’s eyes and contemplated on what to do… but it was already too late! In this situation she could not rely on her instincts or reflexes, and she didn’t have enough time to think. Before she had any time to come up with an idea, he suddenly pulled her leg strongly and threw her across the arena.

Like the cat she was, Ruby managed to land on her hands and feet, but the impact left her grinding backwards over the floor. When she had finally stopped, Ruby looked downwards only to see that her right foot, which was the one positioned behind her, was only inches away from touching the white line that marked the end of the arena. She had gotten incredibly close to losing in that moment. However, since Amane focused on the horizontal aspect of the throw rather than smashing her into the floor, the damage was only mild. From her bent down position the neko slowly stood up and gave Amane a piercing stare.

Of course Ruby heard what he had said and she acknowledged it silently in her own mind. Of course she knew that it was the hero who made the quirk. After all; her quirk was virtually useless in offense on its own and it was only thanks to her own long and tedious training that she had developed a unique and strange fighting-style with which she could utilize her quirk to the fullest potential. If anything, she could certainly relate to Amane in that aspect. Thanks to her calm nature, the second comment about her being too weak did not get to her, possibly much to Amane’s anger. However, there was a slight hint of emotion inside of her which was unusual.

“You talk too much.”

Amane smirked at Ruby's slight display of emotion, it was pretty relieving to know that he wasn't fighting a training dummy. that's what I'm looking for. Amane took off with a hard leap forward, it was the final stretch right here as Ruby was near the edge of the arena. The boy knew she would either have to go right or left, even if she tried to stand and fight he would just bulldoze the girl out of the arena.

With a hasty move, Amane positioned his body diagonally to seal off the girls ride side of escape forcing her to move left or right. He smirked as he threw a right hook at the girls rib. At this point in the game he was more than willing to chase the kitty out of the arena if it was needed.

“Let me see your resolve!”

Just like Amane had intended and correctly spotted, the neko was in quite the predicament. From her position there weren’t many ways to escape, a ring-out would mean her immediate loss so she had to be extra careful. Therefore, once she saw Amane approaching with a smirk on his lips and speed that was intimidating, Ruby took the initiative. Instead of playing right into his hands, the catgirl took a deep breath and went for a huge leap. Jumping above Amane’s head, just out of range for him, Ruby would land on the other side, behind Amane’s back, towards the middle of the arena and then immediately turn around to face him again. Now Amane was closer to the edge.

Amane watched as the girl leapt over him, a bit impressed by her display of skill as she pulled herself from the tight spot. A grin on his face as he took too long strides, his right fist stretched far back before slingshotting his arm forward. His left arm soon mimicking his right until he was releasing a unrelenting flurry of punches.

And once again, the unrelentless Amane kept rushing towards Ruby, giving her no sign of any break whatsoever. A bit baffled by his sheer energy, Ruby kept her gaze upon him, she was beginning to pant. ”He just keeps going” She couldn’t afford to be hit by that attack, which is why she raised her arms to the height of her chest to block it. Even though she succeeded, it still hurt like hell. With a very focused facial expression that was also mixed with a somewhat angry one, as it was common during fights, Ruby immediately went for a counterattack this time, deciding to go for a high-kick to the side of his head from her standing position, leaning her upper body backwards to conterweigh her body to prevent herself from falling.

The exchange of blows was taking its toll on both fighters, though Amane managed to land a powerful haymaker on as Ruby blocked he also made a face as a shock of pain circulated his body. My injuries are beginning to catch up to me,its too late to go back now. Ruby's foot slammed into the boy's face causing his body to twist to the side, a bit of blood dripping from his mouth and splattering onto the floor of the arena. It hurt, but the pain of losing would sting much worse. The boy clenched his fists tightly as he continued, each punch was like a double edged sword. As he caused damage to Ruby he would amount even more injury to his hands. He wanted to see how long she would last, whether she would put everything on the table to prove herself in front of a powerful opponent. He wanted her own beliefs to clash with his. He shouted loudly as his punches began ramping up.

“HAAAAA!”


It became obvious that neither of them would back down. He took her kick right to the face; The damage was done but he was still not slacking off or slowing down at all. This time however, she would not back down herself and keep going. After all, the adrenaline that was rushing through her was enough to keep her going.
Strike after strike, punch after punch and kick after kick were thrown at one another, each of which were either taken, blocked or dodged. Ruby herself blocked all the attacks she couldn’t dodge, the neko could not afford to get hit by anymore attacks. Because of this her arms were really beginning to hurt because of the sheer force of the impact. She was jumping back and forth, kicking his head and legs, but it would just keep going. The girl was gritting her teeth, her gaze was never taken off of Amane as she tried to parry every attack that he threw at her.

To the untrained eye it would seem as though the punches being thrown were blurry as adrenaline heightened Amane and Ruby to their physical peaks. Though soon enough one side was was beginning to slow down a bit. Though both have token an equal amount of blows to their body, Amane seemed more worn out. Threw a kick to her midsection hoping that she would step back so he could assess how much damage was received. Looking down at his fingers which were beginning to change a purple hue the guy was panting hard. I can't even make a damn fist. Amane held his hands up trying his best to curl his fingers but it was no use. In the time he took to assess damage done his foe was preparing her own relentless onslaught.

I can only use my legs at this point.

Despite the intense speed of the exchange, Ruby began to notice that Amane began to slow down. He was not as fast anymore reacting to her kicks and punches and that would bring around her opportunity. Even though she was hit with some of his attack, most of which were blocked, Ruby did not feel any pain in that moment. The adrenaline was enough to enable her to block it all out. Of course, she didn’t receive any serious injuries so far, but the pain would still put a stop to the intense level that they were both fighting on.

Finally, her opponent decided to break up the fight with a straightforward kick which Ruby dodged by leaping backwards. Conveniently, both were now standing opposite of one another in almost the same position which they started the fight in. As Ruby stared over to Amane, she noticed how he was gazing at his own hands, but even Ruby’s vision was somewhat blurry. Maintaining such a high speed and velocity while simultaneously blocking and dodging Amane’s attack severely lowered her stamina. Just like Amane, the neko was penting quite heavily with sweat rolling down her forehead. Both competitors looked incredibly worn out; a result of their exchange.

However, when Amane would look into the eyes of Ruby, almost hidden behind the hair that was thrown around during the fight, he would not see any sign of defeat or exhausting. Despite her whole body shifting up and down due to her heavy breathing, Ruby’s golden eyes were filled with determination. It was almost an intimidating stare as the glowing eyes signaled that she was nowhere near backing down from this fight. Her look was piercing right through her target.

“Haaah...haaah… I am not going to lose…”

The neko claimed rather silently. It seemed as though she was more talking to herself than to Amane.
Suddenly, Ruby stopped panting and breathing heavily as her breathing began to stabilize and become focused again. She slowly lowered herself to the floor which was not very easy since the exhaustion was practically shooting through her body.
Soon she was on the floor and the neko had positioned herself on all fours. Her palms were connecting with the floor and so were here feet. Her body however, was lowered to the floor so that both her arms and her legs, which carrying her above the floor, were bent and angled so that she could pounce at any moment. It looked similar to the stance a tiger would take on before jumping on its prey. Ruby’s eyes were now fully covered by her hair.

Amane tilted his head to the side as she watched his opponent creep down to the floor like a wild animal. It confused him as to why she decided to shift into such an odd fighting stand but he prepared himself to the best of his ability for what was to come. Amane couldn't make a fist but he planned to continue fighting. She was strange, really strange, though it kinda intrigued him as to how different this girl really was.

He didn't know what was to come next but he was going to face it straight forward and with s grin plastered on his face. The boy beckoned his arm forward signaling for Ruby to attack.

Bring it

Under normal conditions, after everything Ruby had seen before, she knew that she would not be able to beat Amane. However, now he was not allowed to use his quirk and was still injured. Even if it meant going all-out, Ruby would surely win, she was confident. This was her strongest technique when fighting without her quirk or sword.

“Predatory Stance”

She whispered to herself before tensing up. Only seconds after she began to prepare herself, Ruby suddenly pounced. From her position with just one jump she cleared the distance between her and her opponent. To an untrained eye in the audience, it seemed as if she was blurry moving through the air and to those who did not expect a jump, it could look similar to a teleport. The speed at which she had leapt was insane. Those who were skilled enough could see her moving through the air, even though it only took her less than a second to reach Amane.

The move looked similar to that of a tiger or panther that pounced on its prey, it was her unique four-legged wildcat fighting-style.
Upon reaching Amane, Ruby’s arms were crossed in front of her head with her elbows pointing forward. With just the speed and momentum that was behind her pounce, the impact on Amane of her elbows would be severe.

In the blink of an eye, Ruby had traveled more than half of the battlefield, if Amane didn’t defend himself quickly he’d find himself in a tight bind. The boy’s eyes sharpened as he got a lock on his target as she came flying towards him, it felt as though everything around him slowed down as his natural senses adjusted appropriately. In exchange for enhanced sight he gave up sound, smell, taste, and touch. Of course if he simply evaded this attack Ruby would ring herself out resulting in a win, at the speed she was coming it would be impossible to alter her trajectory.

“As if i’ll run.”

Instinctively Amane bent his knees and raised his arms to brace for the attack, this is exactly what he wanted. She took up the challenge that he proposed, it was only right to return the good will back. Close range is my domain and i’ll prove it once again right here. Amane held out both his arms out, as insane as it seemed he was prepared to stop her with his bare hands, he struggled to open up his fingers all the way but pulled through in the last second.

Despite Amane raising his hands up to protect himself, Ruby’s impact was imminent and it was bound to hurt. Only small moments after she had jumped, it was incredible enough that Amane was able to protect himself from the move quick enough, Ruby crashed into Amane with her elbows first. Despite the impact being severe and the fact that it had likely pushed Amane backwards, Ruby wouldn’t give him any room for a breather.

If she stopped now, he would have time to regain his composure, his senses, his grasp on the battle. No, Ruby wouldn’t let Amane recover.

Immediately her lower body followed after, her feet connected with his hands as she pounced off of Amane as she used him as the necessary force to jump off of.
Only seconds after the neko’s first attack started, she was now in the same position as before, in her same stance. However, before much thinking could occur the catgirl jumped again with the speed being the same as before.
Just so that Amane wouldn’t be able to block again, Ruby did not put her elbows forward but rather was ready to crash into him with both of her hands forward this time.

Amane braced for impact but it didn't do much, as Ruby crashed into his hands the boy was shoved back viciously. Even at the attempt of trying to grab onto Ruby, the crippling damage that his fingers acquired made it impossible to grapple the small cat.

As Ruby kicked off of him she managed to break his guard, forcing Amane to throw his hands up in the air in order to regain balance. This was growing to be annoying due to the fact of Ruby repeating the attack over and over again until he was forced into the corner of the arena.

Amane now at his limit having suffering a large amount of damage to is upper body due to Ruby repeatedly crashing into him. He was panting frantically as he eyed the girl down, it was clear to him that his injuries were catching up to him. He was completely defenseless and without answer to Ruby's barrage of attacks.

With her determined stare never letting go of Amane’s frame, Ruby jumped and pounced around the arena at the highest speed which she could. Gritting her teeth she crashed into him again, pounced off and then leapt into him again only to repeat that action. Each attack was in rapid succession, not giving Amane proper time to recover due to his injuries. Whether Amane noticed or not, with each attack he was pushed back further. Even though the initial damage from the attacks was not too bad, Ruby’s predatory stance in this case only served to push him.

After at least a dozen of pounces, Ruby leapt off of Amane one final time before coming to a stop in the middle of the arena. Her frame was more than shaky and her heavy breathing and pants were filling the air in the room. Why did Ruby stop? If Amane were to look down, he would be able to see it.
Slowly Ruby stood up, her frame was shivering as she did, the rapid attacks during her predatory stance were enough to blow all of her stamina. After her struggle to get up, the shaky girl stared into Amane’s eyes with her determined stare. Her hair was all roughed up just like the rest of her body showed the signs of the battle. Her hands were scratched open and somewhat bloody as she had used them so carelessly, leaping off the floor together with her legs. The next words she practically screamed at Amane. After everything he had said to her during the fight, she just couldn’t help herself.

With ruby’s last and most forceful shove Amane had been forced out of the arena, though he hadn’t realized it yet as he took a step forward. He realized that Ruby stopped for some reason as she released all the tension in her body, the boy glanced down seeing that his foot was planted horizontally along the white outlining of the arena. It seems as though he was out of bounds resulting in a lost.

“Tsk”

His shirt was stained with bloody fingerprints, it seems like he wasn’t the only one who damaged their hands in the battle.

I AM GOING TO BECOME A HERO!!!”


Ruby had shouted at him from the top of her lungs, putting whatever energy she had left to display how she felt, it was surprising to hear. So much that Amane’s mind had went blank as he stared back at the girl who looked a mess at this point as compared to her aloof composure earlier. Seeing her flip the script was quite…

Satisfying.

A small grin was placed on the boys faced as he began walking forward towards Ruby, “Go ahead and rejoice in your measly win, I hope you’ll be ready for round two by the same time tomorrow.”

After Ruby’s display of emotions, her heavy breathing steadily became slower until it got back to her normal breathing. She was quite out of breath after this fight after all. While her expression slowly returned to her normal face too, Ruby lifted her head up again to face Amane who had stepped closer to her.

“We’ll see.”

Whether she had any intention of fighting Amane or not did not matter at that moment, Ruby was glad that she was able to prove herself to the one person who seemed to put everyone through a test that he met. For some reason she needed that self-reassurance.
It was only then, when the fight was over, even though Ruby was still hindered by the injuries to her hands and the lack of stamina, that Ruby finally noticed that they were being watched by more people than at the beginning. Therefore, she turned her head towards were they sat and noticed that even a teacher had watched them. Was the encounter that interesting?

@Melpaws@Silver Carrot@Lucius cypher
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Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by DELETED7282737
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DELETED7282737

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Nia


Location
Outskirt school
@Demonic Angel


After Nia had apologized to the deepest extent she could go, the girl spoke back to her in a familiar yet non-understandable language. The sudden shift of a different language definitly got Nia angsty and unknowing what to do. She hopelessly looked around for help from anybody who would likely know German but was left helpless off course... Still trembling from the angst Nia tried a thing herself to at least try to put the girl back at comfort.

"E-eto... Guten tag..."


Nia got somewhat red as her voice faded out near the end of her line, unsure of what to say next. That did not help. She was embarrassed that she could not understand the girl that well in German. She wanted to say more but was helplessly left with a simple greeting and nothing more to help the girl in this situation right now. Nia almost looked like she was about to cry but luckily the mood was broken when the Vae suddenly shifted her gears back to English.

Nia her mood immediately started to clear up when she could finally understand the girl. Upon hearing the girl her reaction she felt the slightest bit relieved that she wasn't at all hurt in any way but did feel a little startled which Nia could totally understand. Nia put her hand to her chest as she deeply exhaled like a burden had been lifted from her heart.

"I'm glad. I-I still feel s-somewhat responsible for b-bumping into y-you you know..."


Nia visibly squirmed somewhat with her hands against each other as she turned her eyes away from the girl. Awkwardly she moved her hands in place to hold her lower torso in order to keep her hands from squirming so much. Once looking to the side of Vae Nia noted another man walking past the sidewalk likely coming from the same bus as Vae did. At first glance noting seemed out of ordinary untill she noticed Vae seeming somewhat uncomfortable by the man. Nia looked back at the man and felt goosebumps spring up over her body when Nia noticed the way he looked at Vae. It was too uncomfortable to look at for too long. Nia knew that look all too good. The gaze of lust. It was too disturbing for words. Nia definitly showed Vae that she noticed the man as well and simply waited for Vae to break this dark mood again as Nia didn't want to comment on it too much.

Vae absentmindedly let the jacket slide from her shoulder as she was still seemingly taken out of place by the man. Nia noted the many scars and tattoo's on her body but made sure not to let it seem too much like she was staring at them in order not to discomfort Vae any more. She patiently waited for Vae to notice her lowered jacket as well.

Quickly after the weird moment Vae commented on how she wasn't worth an apology. Nia widened her eyes a little as she stared at her in discomfort and worry. She didn't want to dig into this story too much but she wanted to return the favor to at least put the girl back at comfort at least a little. She totally ignored the way the girl spoke and managed to at least somewhat get a smile back on her face. Vae rummaged around in violin case somewhat to see if it wasn't broken by the impact but seemingly it was fine. Nia bend forward somewhat while joining her hands behind her back together in a cutesy posing way.

"N-no I'm honestly sorry. P-please let me make it right again by treating you to some fruit. W-what do you l-like most. I-I'll get it for you..."


She knew using her quirk outside of school was forbidden but she wanted to make this girl feel okay again. Vae continued with the conversation while Nia brought her bag back to the front and unzipped the zip of.

"E-eh! You are in K-komei as w-well? -nod- I can bring y-you there! D-don't worry I-I can protect y-you from- U-uh I mean I-I can l-look out f-for y-y-you..."


Nia squirmed slightly again as she noticed that she accidentally brought up the man again in her lines. She didn't want to let the girl think back on it too much seeming how horrible she thought they were. Nia turned somewhat red as she swiftly squatted down as she put her bag on the ground and started digging in it. After about a minute she had found the bag she needed and had gotten out a small brown sack with likely something small. She stood back up letting her school bag sit on the pavement and speak against Vae once more while frolicking with the back slightly.

"C-can I ask... I-is this your f-first day t-today?"
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Silver Carrot
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Silver Carrot Wow I've been here a while

Member Seen 18 min ago



Maeda Hitomi


Hitomi watched as the competition was officially started with the impressive announcement from White Hat. It felt that much more important and legitimate being announced by a teacher, and Hitomi was starting to get...not exactly nervous, not exactly exited. The halfway emotion that a stage actor gets before they go on stage, whatever that's called. She watched the overview of the cat herding challenge and paid close attention to the rules. It all seemed fair, and Hitomi grew more and more confident as she continued to watch.

When they were asked to select their volunteer, Hitomi smiled at Asahi with a confident, encouraging smile that almost made her look like a real pro-Hero. "This challenge is mine. Don't worry. I won't lose this!" With that said, she smiled at Yui too, before heading off to take her place as the Pro-Komei Collective candidate.

@Lucius Cypher@liferusher






Mako Akane


Mako listened to Mamoru's answer to Persia's question, and as Amane and Ruby were fighting, without taking her (closed) eyes off the fight, or the smile from her lips, decided to answer Mamoru's answer with her own answer. "Luck isn't an attribute that some people possess and others don't. There aren't any dice that are naturally more inclined to land on six than other dice, and there aren't any people who are naturally more inclined to catch a break than others. You need to get lucky to become a Hero. You need to catch that break, get the right Mentor in the right agency and face the right Villain or be on the scene at the right disaster, at the right time. But you don't need 'luck'. Besides, there is more to being a Hero than those three things. Growing up, I had those three things in surplus, but I would have made a poor Hero. And I'm not just saying they need to be good people. They need to be more than just 'good people'. I wonder how many students at this school would give their life to save a child from getting hit by a car. I wonder how many of them would stand up to a Tyrant armed with no quirk and a handful of stones."

Mako turned her attention to this battle. It was finished. Ruby had won, which did not surprise Mako in the slightest. She'd talked to Amane earlier, and she'd seen Ruby's tapes. "You were right about needing drive, though, Mamoru. That's the most important tool in a Hero's arsenal at the end of the day. 'Everything you've got' is seldom enough for victory. Impressive as her speed and reflexes are, if this was a contest of pure fighting talent, Ruby wouldn't have stood a chance."

Mako smiled and waved at Ruby when the neko noticed her, then caught Amane's eye, and nodded at him, her smile growing warmer, and her eyes opening to reveal a pleased, proud expression. "Now, you two. We should take a trip to the nurse's office. You're both naturally quite beat up."

@pkken@Melpaws@Lucius Cypher
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Zeroth
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Zeroth

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K E N I C H I

The Time Our Main Character Got Stuck On A Bus



The First Day Of School

Dinner had not really gone badly, but it hadn’t been great either. Kenichi hadn’t gotten much of a chance to talk to Fumika after making such a big show to her little sister, and ultimately it seemed like with everything that had gone on--I mean geez, when you really thought about it it felt like this one day of school had somehow taken multiple weeks to come to an end--he might have to just let the fluffy ahoge get some sleep and do the same himself.

So after dinner he headed back to his dorm room, and since he hadn’t gotten the chance to go to the gym he figured he would settle with some plain old pushups and situps before bed. He hadn’t ever had trouble sleeping after exercising, though he usually preferred to do it before dinner since he didn’t like working out on a full stomach. But given everything they had done today--his arm, the one he had Jet Smashed with, was starting to feel sore despite Nurse Kiwi’s healing because there was only so much a Quirk could do even if technically all the muscles, bones, and skin tissues were “fully restored”--so he figured he could afford to take it easy.

And just before he started that workout, he decided to check his emails. Figuring out how his school account would work wasn’t too hard, and then he checked his personal mail out of habit.

“ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME!?”

He shot up from the desk chair, sending it tumbling backwards. He practically dove onto his bed, tearing into his luggage, until he found his oversized (and frankly overpowered) flip phone of the type the Japanese liked presumably because they weren’t fond of the smartphone company Pear promoting sweat-shop labor in China. He hit his speed dial, then began frantically pacing around the room.

His mother answered after the second ring.

“Kenichi, before you start take a deep breath and hold it.”

The barometric pressure in his room dropped a by several PSI.

“Your father is fine. He just has to stay so they can run some tests and get him re-fitted. The police have already gotten all our information and they are handling it--there’s even a local Hero, you know, Decaman, working on it. It was just a random car-jacking. Some two-bit Villains looking for a getaway ride. They rushed us as we came out of the store, they went for your dad because he was holding the keys. They broke his leg and roughed him up a little bit, but he’s seen way worse days. Do NOT freak out.” The door to Kenichi’s dorm room flexed outward slightly as he released his breath.

“Can I at least come check on him?”

“Kenichi, I only wanted you to know so that...so that, well, you’d know. There’s literally nothing you can do here, and I know how gung-ho you get. It wouldn’t do anyone any good. You just started school.”

“But…” Kenichi knew he was desperately reaching, “But what if it wasn’t entirely random?! Villains are going crazy these days!” He had to actually blink for a minute--Tomorrow was going to be Friday, which meant today was Thursday, so yesterday would have been Wednesday-- “Remember yesterday, at like 1 in the afternoon, there was that breaking report about a bunch of villains barging into UA!? Like some kind of big team of them!? What if these guys are part of a bigger organization like that, or what if they come after Dad cause he saw their faces, or what if they were actually--”

“Kenichi, hold your breath.”

The door rattled as it was sucked inward.

“I know that you want to be a Hero, sweetheart, and I know you are worried to death about your dad all the time. But you cannot do anything here. And you are not going to be able to be everywhere at once, or save everyone all the time--you are going to have to learn that and accept that, or you are never going to make it at that school. And you have to trust your dad too--he’s been through a lot, but he isn’t helpless just because he’s lost a few things. All that energy of yours can’t be bound up in one place like this, you’ll make yourself sick thinking about it all the time.”

“Then...at least let me swing by? Just for my own peace of mind?” The blue haired boy bit his lip, though of course his mother couldn’t see that. He heard her sigh.

“Alright. But no patrolling the hospital, no all night vigils, and certainly no beating up any delinquents loitering around the parking lot. You come by, bring your father some fruit or something, and then you go right back to school, okay? Come early and you might only miss homeroom, maybe lunch at the worst.”


The Second Day Of School

It was Friday, April 7th. The school facilities opened at 6 AM, but the classes wouldn’t start until 8:30; despite this, many students were up early to work out or whatever it was they wanted to do in the mornings.

Kenichi was on a bus, heading to a hospital. It wasn’t Hosu General, but another one across the district lines closer to where Kenichi lived before he had come to the dorms.

His school uniform had been traded out for a pair of basketball shorts, a hoodie that had for some reason had its sleeves ripped off (or was it designed that way at the store? Why would people pay for clothes that came to them ripped or with holes in them?), and a pair of bulky, bright red shoes that were so detailed they could probably win their own popularity contest or something. He sat in that particular hunched over manner, hands laced together over one’s chin, that tells you they are dealing with some heavy shit and will probably react with vitriol if you give them shit about how they’re blocking the seat next to them or just bother them in general. So no one did.

He had sent Yoshida-sensei an email basically explaining the circumstances--”My parents were the victim of a carjacking yesterday and my dad got hurt, I should be back by this afternoon at the latest.”--and hoped that a family medical emergency would be enough to not get him in deep shit for missing school already when it was only the second day.

He got off a couple of stops early, because he needed to go into a store and get a fruit basket, although he basically had to just buy the fruit and a basket separately because at this ungodly hour of the morning no gift shop would bother being open so he had to resort to a 24-hour grocery/department store. So it was a short shopping trip, then several minutes of walking to get to the hospital.

Plenty of time to be noticed.

“I’m tellin’ ya, it’s him.”

Huge, compound eyes like those of an insect reflected the light of a street lamp across the street from Kenichi. The boy never noticed, or if he did he didn’t think anything of it, as even though the other person had their own sweater’s hood pulled up (a fashion statement that has always been synonymous with “up to no good” if there’s no actual inclement weather) they were carrying shopping bags of their own in one hand, using the other to talk on their cell phone, and headed in the opposite direction. The blue hair had no idea that compound eyes could see from nearly every direction at once.

“Nice, Katchi! I didn’t think he’d come this quick!” The other voice on the phone was followed by a loud belch. “Ya think we should go for it now?”

“Not yet.” Katchimushi, Katchi for short, stopped at a crosswalk directly opposite the store Kenichi had just exited, though by now the boy was almost out of sight. “Wait til he leaves the hospital. His parents are probably expecting him if he’s coming this early, if he doesn’t show up they might suspect something. But if we wait til he leaves, we have as much time as it would take him to show back up at the school before anybody suspects anything, and by that point we’ll have covered our tracks.”

“Hey, that’s pretty smart!” Another belch. “I knew those League of Villain dummies were wrong for not lettin’ us join! That face-palm weirdo’s got a lot to learn when it comes to bein’ a leader!”

“The best revenge is livin’ well, Chuck.” Katchi said. His voice had a slight distortion, so it wouldn’t be odd to say that he buzzed with quiet laughter. “When we make our own group, we’ll be way more successful than them! So what if they infiltrated UA--they just got their asses kicked by All Might like everyone else!”

“Right!” Belch. “Your idea to pick a less-known school like Komei, and just ransom their weakest lookin’ kid, is way better!” Chuck’s belches were now replaced with what sounded like someone pouring an entire bag of chips into their mouth and then continuing to talk, though Zeroth chose not to use his usual accent-style dialogue because it would be illegible. “I almost feel sorry for this kid though, ya know? All he does is breathe real hard--that’s a useless Quirk no matter how ya look at it. Maybe even worse than ours!”

“Chew with your mouth clozzzed, Chuck.” Katchi growled. “And get ready.” The bug eyed man closed his phone, crossed the street, and headed in the same direction as Kenichi.

Yes, his plan was way better than that dumbass League’s. They wanted to “overthrow the era of peace?” Strike fear in the hearts of the people? It all sounded good on paper--it had really sounded good to him and his buddies--but when you actually thought about it, it was dumb. It was a good thing the League had turned them down, cause they were dumb! He totally didn’t just want to make himself feel better--Chuck had just said himself that Katchi’s ideas were way smarter! Yeah, dumb lofty ideals like that didn’t get you anywhere. If you wanted cars, houses, women, power, and most importantly money, well, you had to make money. And ransoming a kid from a Hero School--he had to have well-off parents, right, cause otherwise how would someone with a power as dumb as “super breathing” have gotten into Hero School?--would be just the thing!

Where the League had messed up had been not paying attention to the actual kids. Their whole plan was based around infiltrating the school, but they had no idea what the students could actually do. The news kept it hush-hush cause the kids were unlicensed, but word on the street and the darknet was that most of the league’s cronies hadn’t even lasted long enough for All Might to show up and ruin their day. And then of course there was the fact that they had picked UA, one of the most secure facilities in the country.

No, the first thing to do was find out who was at Komei. That was easy in this age of social media. He just had to look up pages for Komei, and find out who had shared or liked or checked in, or do a search for public profiles and filter through them for any statuses bragging about making it in or passing the exams.Then it was a matter of doxxing any kids’ names he found until he could pull up where they went to middle or grade school at. Those schools were just for general education, after all, they didn’t have Hero Programs and thus no need for raised security. A little amateur cracking--and really it wasn’t hard, most places never bothered to even change the default password from something stupid like “admin1” or “master” because in this “era of peace” everyone was complacent and lazy and stupid unlike him--a little amateur cracking, and he could just scan the entire roster from the last few years.

That was how he had found Kenichi. Short, scrawny looking, and a Quirk called “Hyper Ventilation” that just said he had “increased lung capacity.” True, general schools might not go super in depth with Quirk explanations because those weren’t important to them like they were to Hero schools, but really how many creative uses could there be for that? Oh, he could hold his breath a long time in the pool? He could blow balloons up really big? Please. The only way a kid like that could get past those exams to get into a Hero school would be if his parents were greasing some palms. That’s what Katchi would have done, so that was obviously the most logical thing.

Doxxing Kenichi until he found his address had been easy too, since it turned out his dad was some slightly-famous reporter/photographer who had been all over the world til he got his dumb ass blown up in one of those third world shitholes. Then all Katchi had to do was what he was best at--watching. He had watched until he saw an opportunity. They made the attack look like a carjacking, but put the guy in the hospital. And what good son wouldn’t come see his dad in the hospital? That forced Kenichi to come out of Komei--their group didn’t even have to infiltrate! Eat an entire bag of dicks, Shigaraki! But now there wouldn’t be any pro-Hero teachers, or any high tech security--just one kid with a useless quirk, and Katchi’s buddies.

Katchimushi rubbed his hands together, in that devious way like a fly that has just landed on a steaming pile of shit.

***


Kenichi walked through the waiting room to the nurse’s desk. He only saw two people in the waiting room, but then again it was early and this was just a general hospital, not the ER. One of them kind of reminded him of Donny--a fat older guy, maybe even shorter than Kenichi, with a kind of Danny Devito air about him--as he made a sandwich out of two pieces of vending machine bread with different fillings and a couple of takoyaki in the middle. The guy then proceeded to take a big, messy bite, and unlike Don-kun he made it look pretty damn disgusting as jelly and bean paste covered his chin. The other guy seemed fairly normal, for whatever standard in this post-superpower world counted--he was tall and sort of muscular, but you could tell he had dad-gut. He also had four arms, which couldn’t seem to coordinate well enough to let him properly make whatever “gangsta” pose he was attempting, the ones where you kind of spread out on the seat and intentionally look slouchy. Other than the fact that they almost seemed to be trying to attract attention, Kenichi didn’t really make note of them aside from how odd their behavior seemed.

Since he was family, even though it was early they let him head back. He had texted his parents on the way over so he already knew they were awake, and walked in with a light knock on the door.

“Hey, there’s the breakfast express. Pretty fast for coming all the way from Komei.”

Kenichi’s dad grinned as he sat up in the hospital bed. Yoshida Nobuyuki was a tall man, something his son hoped to inherit one day, and he had that sort of look one might expect of a “grizzled reporter,” with the five-o-clock shadow, glasses, and short yet somehow roguishly messy hair. It was several shades darker in color than Kenichi’s, a blue that could have passed for black. Yoshida Hotaru, Kenichi’s mother, still seemed to be lightly dozing on the couch in her usual choice of modest dress and light jacket. She had always been the homemaker, and had the tired look of one who has been giving around the clock care. Her own hair, long and a shade or two lighter than her son’s, looked a bit frazzled.

“Hey, Dad.” Kenichi’s face finally relaxed. “How’s the leg?”

“I dunno, lemme check.” His father threw back the blanket, and looked down at a long-healed stump where his knee had once been. “Nope, still gone.” He shook his head at his son. “They’ll probably have a new one ready for me today. I asked them to put a machine gun in it this time.”

“Why not a missile launcher?” Kenichi put the fruit basket down on the table and hiked one of his knees up to his chest. “Like Cyborg 004!” They laughed quietly so as not to wake his mother just yet, and Kenichi pulled up a chair.

“So...it was really just random, huh?” he said, looking his father in the eye. It was a little bit awkward from this angle, because he was on the same side as the patch. Nobuyuki turned his head so his own eye could meet his son’s.

“Yup. Just one of the things we live with in the world of Quirks, son.”

“So...nobody from like, back in your reporter days? No crime boss you outed, no warlord you spied on, nothing like that?”

“Ha! I wrote stories for the papers kiddo, I wasn’t Solid Snake.” He reached out to pat Kenichi’s shoulder with a hand that had been horrifically scarred along the back of the palm and up the forearm at some point, though now it was light and pink and didn’t make people stare so much. “But that’s all it was, so far as we or the police know. And I can’t see any reason it’d be different--with that League of Villains all over the news, there’s bound to be a lot of criminal activity over the next little while. Lots of small time punks will be looking to take advantage of the chaos, or get their own names in the hat.” He grinned again and held up a thumb. “Once they get me a new prosthetic, we’ll be good to go. I told your mom she shouldn’t even bother you about it.”

“Well...maybe.” Kenichi scratched his nose. Now that he had seen his father in person and knew they weren’t hiding an injury or something off the edge of a video-call, he was starting to feel a little silly about the way he had rushed down here too. “It’s just…”

“Kenichi.” Nobuyuki’s voice got a little more serious, and the grip on his son’s shoulder got a little firmer. “I know I’ve worried you and your mother a lot. I know, as traumatizing as that bomb was for me, it’s been just as bad on you in a different way. But I am not the one you need to protect.” He took his hand away and lay back on his pillow. “You’re training to be a Hero now. And you’re going to be part of a whole new generation of Heroes. So the ones you need to protect will be those who stand alongside you, and those who come after you.”

“Dad you aren’t that old, stop raising death flags.”

“Ha! That kind of sappy cliche doesn’t even make for good news ratings anymore! But seriously, Kenichi.” Even though he only had one eye, Nobuyuki could give quite the glare when he wanted to. “You’re reaching a point in your life where you are going to leave your mother and I behind. Not that you’re gonna stop caring or seeing us all together, but you will have your own life. Your own friends, your own priorities. You don’t have to worry about me all the time, and you sure don’t have to drop everything that’s going on just cause I’ve stubbed my artificial toe. So let this be the last time, okay?”

Kenichi bit his lip and looked down at the ground, nodding through a choking lump in his throat.

“Focus on school. Focus on your training. Leave me, and your mother, in the hands of capable doctors and capable Heroes. We aren’t helpless--we raised a shitty brat like you, didn’t we?” He winked, although it was kind of hard to tell with just the one eye.

“Don’t curse, dear.” Hotaru yawned and stretched as she got up to go hug her son. “But he’s right, Kenichi. You can’t run off every time something happens with your father anymore. There are more important things ahead of you now.”

“Like tests, I guess. And homework.” The blue haired boy managed to smile as he patted his mom’s arm around him.

“And girls! Ya seen any cute ones?” his father crowed as Hotaru shot him a glare.

“Um, well…”

“HOLY SHIT, HONEY LOOK AT THAT BLUSH--”

“STOP CURSING IN THE HOSPITAL!”

Kenichi’s face had been turning red, but now it went almost as blue as his hair as his mother’s arm reflexively tightened when she yelled. Yoshida Nobuyuki had the Quirk that was closest to his son’s, a form of lung-filter of sorts--one reason he had chosen to go around the world to places like the Middle East and China was that, no matter the sandstorm or the smog, he could always breathe fine. He could even breathe underwater to an extent, but he was essentially drinking it at the same time so once his stomach--or bladder--got full he had to come up. But Hotaru’s Quirk had been one of the inspirations for how Kenichi chose to use his own. Essentially, she had voluntary control over her adrenal glands. She couldn’t use any superhuman levels of strength, really, but she was an excellent athlete even in middle-age, and when she got angry, well…

But once Kenichi had disentangled himself from her chokehold, he stood up and walked to the window.

“Well, I mean, it’s not like there’s really anything there, yet. It’s only been a day.” he said over his shoulder. “But...but yeah. I’ve seen some girls...a girl. And I’m meeting a lot of other cool people. And I’m making friends.”

“Good.” his father said. “That means you have at least one other person besides us that you want to protect.”

Kenichi looked over at the couch, where his parents’ belongings sat. Even though his father reported from home now, long years of habit meant that he always had his camera with him. Looking through the lense of it reminded Kenichi of looking a certain fluffy ahoge girl in the eye, almost as if he could see her reflection in it. He clenched a fist and grinned.

“Yeah. I do.”

***


He spent a little more time visiting with his parents, and his mother went out and bought him a couple of breakfast croissants from WacDonald’s (funny how those seemed to be popping up everywhere). But eventually they told him to get going or they’d have an orderly throw him out, and he couldn’t miss anymore school, and yadda yadda. So it was probably about ten thirty or so as he left the parking lot of the hospital and looked up the nearest subway on his phone. He might get there faster if he just took a taxi, but he didn’t think he had enough cash for that. And waiting for a bus might put him too late getting back to school--

“Hey, uh, scuse me!”

Kenichi turned to see that squat, balding guy from the waiting room approaching him. That guy was still here? Had he been waiting to visit someone, or had an appointment last this long?

“I, uh, was uh...um. Oh, oh yeah.” The guy wiped his sweaty forehead with a napkin--which Kenichi noticed had the WacDonald’s logo on it, along with several grease stains. “I was just visitin’ my grandma, but I don’t live around here. Can you tell me how to get to, uh--” The man’s stomach rumbled, though not in a way that sounded particularly healthy to Kenichi. “Oh boy…”

“To...the subway station?” Kenichi started to offer. “Are you feelin’ alrigh--”

The man belched in Kenichi’s face. But it sounded more like a thunderclap, and the force of it--along with a few more drops of spittle than anyone would have been comfortable with--actually bowled the boy over.

“DUDE WHAT THE FU--”

Before Kenichi had gotten both feet under him, a sudden blow slammed into the side of his ribs. He hadn’t been prepared for it, and without meaning to he exhaled in a sharp gasp. The blast of air returned the favor to the man who had burped, but even as he went down another fist slammed into the back of Kenichi’s head, and then a third into one of his kidneys. A fourth hand gripped his shoulder and spun him around, then two of them clenched into an axe-handle and clocked his chin hard enough to clatter his teeth. He went down--but he wasn’t out.

He pushed off from one knee and headbutted his attacker in the gut. It drove the man backwards--but he had one set of arms to help him hold Kenichi back, and another set to slam two elbows into the back of the boy’s head. This time when he went down, Kenichi didn’t get back up.

***


Kenichi came to suddenly, but he didn’t move. For one thing, he couldn’t move very well in the first place--he could feel a seat belt across his shoulders, but also his hands tied behind his back and his ankles crossed. It seemed like duct tape rather than rope, but it was really thick and covered his fingers as well so he couldn’t worm around and peel it off. A bag had also been thrown over his head at some point, but the material was breathable--it just made the air feel warm, and the cloth was rough on his face.

The car was moving. And it seemed like there was someone sitting to his side, as well, though he couldn’t really see that well through the sack. He clenched his teeth, then snarled.

“Who the fuck are you guy--”

“HOLY SHIT!” yelled three pairs of voices, and the car swerved nauseatingly before coming back under control.

“Jezzzus that scared me!”

“Why didn’t you tell us he was awake!?”

“I didn’t know!”

“Where the hell are we going?”

“Back to that abandoned place we found, rememb--HEY!” The one with the buzzing voice realized Kenichi had thrown his two cents into their shocked banter. “You shut the hell up! Don’t try anything funny if you know what’zzz good for you!”

“Is that a side effect of your quirk, a legitimate speech impediment, or are you just fuckin’ retarded?” the blue-hair shot back. Two sets of fingers dug painfully into his side and collar.

“He toldja ta shut it!” growled a deeper voice.

So the one with four arms is in the back seat with me. Sounds like the buzzy one is driving, so burpee must be in passenger seat. Kenichi wrinkled his nose under the sack. But there wasn’t a lot he could do with this. He could break his bindings easily enough even with his air intake limited by the bag, but there wasn’t really enough room to fight and he risked causing the car to crash.

What would a smart hero do? Someone who could do more than just fight or be a meathead like me?

Could he...slam against the door hard enough to open it, and roll out of the car? Yeah! That’d be an easy way...wait. Stop and think just one more step. If he rolled out of the car...Where were they, anyway? On a mountain? Near a river? Was there other traffic? No. He couldn’t do that one, he didn’t know what he’d be rolling into or if the car was going fast enough to smear him on the road. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t even drive a car! What was he supposed to do if he did manage to knock them all out?

He wriggled around a little bit, but he couldn’t feel his phone pressing against his leg in his pocket. So no real way to get a message out. Unless...the window? Surely if they were on a road, a passing car would see that there was someone with a bag over their head in another vehicle, and would think that was suspicious enough to call the cops over! Right?

It seemed like, for the moment, waiting would be the way to go. At least he could eavesdrop on their conversations…

“Did you guys ever see the news?” Sounded like the belching one. “If Decaman shows up, can we just surrender? I don’t wanna get plastered all over the wall.”

An accurate assessment, Kenichi figured. The local neighborhood hero he’d grown up seeing around as a child had a Quirk called Factor 10--he was a bit like a lower level All Might, being roughly 10 times stronger, faster, and more durable than the average human being. Offensively that made him like a gorilla moving at the speed of a drag racer, but his Quirk had effectively topped out. Unlike some folks who could multiply their abilities by activating their Quirk, Decaman’s quirk basically was being ten times stronger--no matter how much he worked out, he couldn’t break that wall, and he had to be very careful when shaking hands or anything else because he could never lower his strength below that tenth factor either. As a result, many villains who faced him got seriously hurt. And Kenichi didn’t feel sorry for them one bit.

That thought made him realize something. Had he lied to his parents back there?

They think it’s all about protecting people. And, I mean...I do. I don’t want the people I care about, or anybody who doesn’t deserve it, to get hurt. I wanna help them.

“That’s why we’re heading so far out. Decaman isn’t on the level of national heroes, and he holds back a lot cause for all that muscle he’s a big puzzzy.” spoke up the bug-man over Kenichi’s thoughts. “He won’t go far outside the city limits, and we’re going way pazzt that.” The bluette felt his jaw clenching again.

But these kinds of guys...Villains...They deserve it. They DESERVE to get hurt. They don’t deserve to breathe the same air the rest of us do!

The reason Decaman held back so much was because he was kind. Kenichi had seen him bend trees to get lost cats, and jump nearly a story high to catch a flyaway balloon. He might have been just a local hero, but he had won the hearts of his people. And time and time again, Kenichi had seen the news reports where a Villain got away, or managed to hurt Decaman, because he had held back to avoid killing them. These pieces of garbage couldn’t see kindness. They just saw weakness, and they would always take advantage of it. So it wasn’t worth offering to them.

“What about the cops?” Four arm speaking up. He didn’t sound like the brightest bulb in the shed, as his words drawled a little and not just in that rural country-boy accent.

“Ever since Heroezzz took over, cops are nothin’. They wait for the capes to find someone and bring ‘em in, and then all they do is paperwork and gumshoe shit. When was the last time you heard about the cops in an active chase around here? Hell, they don’t even make an arrest unless they’re a hundred percent sure they can convict--they look like they have a good rap on paper, but tons of stuff goes under their nozzzezzz.”

The tape crinkled as Kenichi clenched his fists. But he knew the bug-man had a point. He was probably the only one out of this trio who wasn’t dumb as a brick.

“Why are you bastards doing this!?” Unable to hold it back, he finally had to speak up. Immediately one of four arm’s hands clamped down on his shoulder, but he heard the bug-man laugh. After building his courage, the burpy one laughed too.

“Don’t piss yourself, kid. Long azz your folks bring us the money, we won’t kill ya. Just take a nap or something, when we get to the hideout maybe we’ll grab you something to eat.”

“Oh, oh can we make a quick stop now? I kinda want a soda…”

“Dammit Chuck, no we cannot stop right now! Besides, if you drank a soda we’d have to ride all the way there with your head hanging out the window, and if you belched somebody off the road we’d draw more attention!”

As four arms piped up about being kind of hungry too, the three devolved into an argument. Kenichi sat back and listened--the bug-man was called Katchi, Chuck apparently couldn’t control when his belches erupted, and the four armed guy was named Shirou. For someone who claimed to be so smart and who went into long winded explanations about everything, Katchi seemed to miss the forest for the trees--he had come up with this complex plan to kidnap and ransom Kenichi, but he had missed the fact that every one of his crew had given their names away and Kenichi had seen two of them close enough to remember their faces.

But they were headed somewhere outside of Decaman’s usual patrol route, well away from the city. They were headed to a warehouse. And they didn’t intend to kill him--truth be told, Shirou was probably the only one that job could fall to if it came down to it, as neither of the others were strong enough. Shirou only had the strength of a regular person himself, but having multiple limbs and what felt to Kenichi like some street-fighting experience made him the most dangerous. Which was probably why Katchi seemed to treat him better compared to Chuck--Kenichi could tell there was a history here, probably a trio of schoolboy delinquents who had never grown out of it and whose Quirks, brains, or personalities sucked too much to let them ever consider being Heroes, or even worthwhile members of society.

But ultimately all this thinking, trying to be a “smart” hero, was driving him crazy. It was just wheels within wheels. He wondered if Fumika would have had this much trouble coming up with something…

***


Though Kenichi didn’t know it, once enough time had passed without a text or call, his mother decided to check in with the school to make sure he had returned and that his partial absence would be excused. When they figured out Kenichi had never returned, the authorities were immediately notified--both around Komei and in the district where Kenichi had disappeared. But, with the League of Villains’ infiltration of UA fresh in their minds, the staff of Komei knew they had to minimize the amount of exposure to the students and local citizenry. It wasn’t just about preserving their reputation as a school or trying to get a leg up on their competitors--for copy cats to appear after the League’s stunt meant that the Villains responsible probably wanted the same things they always had--to be famous. Even if they were in jail, if their faces had been all over the news, all over social media, and all over the internet, then they had what they wanted. People would have noticed them, acknowledged them, would immortalize them. They didn’t have the lofty ideals of tearing down the era of peace brought about by All Might, they just wanted others to look at them and say “hey, they’re supervillains too!” So Komei was not going to give them that satisfaction.

Another reason was that, if an alert was immediately raised, the villains would probably hear of it before any rescue party could reach them, since there was still a great deal of organization to go through. The Komei staff couldn’t be heavily involved, since school security would have to be raised--without drawing too much notice from the students--and they would have to focus on the children who were still in their care. Local heroes would have to be gathered, the best team picked for the situation, and they would all have to be briefed on Kenichi’s particulars and whatever they could pick up on the Villains responsible. And of course the police would have to be involved, but because the different districts were under different jurisdictions there was a lot of red-tape that had to be cleared.

Then there was the actual investigation. The time Kenichi left, which bus he used, where he got off, how long he was in the hospital...Footage from traffic cameras and CCTV within a kilometer radius of the hospital would have to be checked, but from the time Kenichi left the school to the time he was reported missing at the very least, which would be a huge workload even with a few techie heroes involved.

They would, of course, eventually find the images of Chuck and Shirou present when Kenichi entered the hospital. At first it wouldn’t be suspicious, because Katchi had told them beforehand not to be incredibly obvious. When the nurses had gotten suspicious of their loitering, they had told them that they were waiting on family to show up before they went to visit a sick grandmother. That was good enough for the first pass, and before any nurse got suspicious enough to ask them any questions like the names of their relative, or what room they were in, Shirou went to the bathroom and Chuck left to get breakfast. Out of sight was out of mind.

But when Kenichi left, Katchi would be seen--from behind, with his hood pulled up--passing by the windows in the hall from outside. He and Kenichi had passed each other (for the second time) without the bluette noticing, and as soon as Kenichi reached the waiting room Katchi had pulled his phone and ordered Shirou to follow him after a ten-count. So when the two of them left the hospital so closely together, with the four armed man obviously intent on the boy in front of him, that would be the first real red flag.

From there it would be backtracking to an earlier point in the cameras, to find where Shirou had come from and who he was. From this they would identify the vehicle--and the plates would match the same one stolen from Kenichi’s parents, which would form a link and provide more details on the Villains as Nobuyuki and Hotaru had both given statements describing the people who had attacked them. Shirou, of course, had been the one to break Nobuyuki’s prosthetic leg. From there it would be a search for that vehicle on the road network, and a background check on Shirou and the other one who had been seen with him in the hospital.

One dot became connected after the other. But drawing the lines took time, and manpower. And the whole time, the kidnappers were getting further away…


Saturday, April 8th



One in seven homes in Japan is uninhabited, at least according to studies from several years ago. The Quirk booms might have changed that the way they changed everything else, but the side effects of such a thing wouldn’t overturn themselves so fast. As the birth rate declined, and younger generations moved to the cities for work while the older folk eventually passed on, there came to be a “Ghost Town” phenomenon. Rural towns, particularly those in the mountains and other places that had always been a bit isolated from the metropolitan sprawls the country was known for, had been abandoned entirely in some cases, and left to return to nature. But the infrastructure was still there, just badly in need of repair--houses still stood, though their roofs might leak and their boards might have started to rot, and roads were still traversible if a bit overgrown in places.

For Villains with a bit of self-sufficiency know-how, and a way to get all the way out there, these ghost towns made the perfect hideouts. Katchi and his buddies had originally only come out here on a dare from their school pals one night, a test of courage. But as they got older, they started thinking it was like their own personal little town. Now the old farm house was filled with their trash--old beer cans, bags of chips and other snacks, an old gas generator they had nicked from somewhere and some of those bright lights they had stolen once from a construction site. There was furniture too, moth eaten and rat chewed, but functional.

They had leashed Kenichi with an old set of chains from some former farmer’s tractor winch--across both shoulders and around his waist, a harness of sorts, and looped the other end around some big, exposed iron pipes in the wall. They gave him a blanket and a pillow, and every once in a while they brought him a plate of some cheap convenience store food or tossed him one of the snacks they had bought. But Katchi gave the other two specific instructions not to talk to him any more than they had to.

“You don’t want to develop any kind of relationship with him.” the bugman buzzed. “On an individual level, it’s almost impossible to not get friendly with someone after you spend enough time with them and talking to them. I don’t want any of us making some dumb move cauzzze we pity him--remember, he’s one of those lucky bastards who gets everything they want! And guyzzz like us who dezzzerve what he gets for free, we get it all taken away from us!”

Kenichi actually wasn’t sure if he could break the old pipes or the chain. He could make himself very strong, but tearing the pipe out of the wall or pulling the chain links apart was a different kind of strength. He’d be fighting the leverage of the walls, and the floor, and maybe even the ground underneath the shack where the pipes went down into the earth. And if he just tried to lunge his way out like a dog on a leash, he might give himself severe whiplash. Between getting beat up again by Shirou when he tried to make a break for it as soon as they opened the car door--he had broken the tape almost instantly, but before he could get the bag off Chuck had slammed the door against him. He had pushed away and stumbled out, but by that point Shirou was on him and Kenichi still couldn’t see to fight--between getting beat up again, getting little food, and just plain not knowing what to do, the bluette had ended up just settling down for the night and hoping that someone would come for him.

But he hadn’t slept well by any means. His mind had been running a thousand miles an hour...and at one point, he actually found himself tearing up.

He was not really the Main Character, was he?

It had always been a joke, of course. He didn’t think he was more important than anyone else, or that the world revolved around him. But he wanted to be a Hero, and you needed a lot of stuff for that--you needed courage, you needed brains, you needed to be cool under pressure, you needed to be patient, you needed to be wise, you needed to be strong…

And Kenichi didn’t feel like any of that. A Main Character, even the really dumb or goofy ones, would have been able to come up with a plan. They would have been good enough at fighting, or smart enough, or strong enough, or tricksy enough, to get themselves out of this. But he wasn’t. He was a short, 14 year-old boy who had just entered high school. He could fight in a street brawl, he had a decent Quirk, he felt like he had good instincts. But the world of adults was a scary one, and he had been put in a situation where none of his gifts were good enough and his flaws stood out all the more starkly. And Katchi had made himself clear the next morning.

He started by hitting Kenichi with the crowbar out of the blue.

“Listen up, and don’t say a fucking thing.” The man’s compound eyes were incredibly disturbing up close--the rest of his face was still human, but those huge black spheres took up a third of his head and made it look like he had no forehead at all. “Your parents don’t know if you’re alive or dead. All they’re gonna know izzz that the best chance of getting you back is giving us what we want. We did a good job covering our tracks, so no one izzz gonna find you out here. Nobody!” He slammed the crowbar down next to the boy, and Kenichi reflexively flinched--which was what Katchi wanted.

“If I see you trying anything, if I think you’re gonna give us ANY trouble, I’m gonna fucking beat you to death. Your parents will give us the money, we’ll tell them where you are, we’ll skidaddle, and they’ll come find your fucking body with a caved in skull. We win no matter what YOU do, so do what we fucking tell you! Got it?”

Kenichi drew a sharp breath through his nose and just glared at the Villain. Katchi hit him in the ribs this time and the boy doubled over.

“I SAID, DO YOU GOT IT!?”

“F...fuck you.”

Katchi started laughing. Kenichi looked up in surprise--and then flinched again when the crowbar stopped right in front of his face.

“Nice going. Act tough so it looks like I haven’t intimidated you, try to make me lozzze control so I’ll be angry and mess up, give you an opportunity to escape.” Katchi grinned, but the expression looked extremely unnatural given that his eyes did not crinkle or otherwise show emotion to go along with it. “But you’re scared shitless, little boy. That’s all you are. A scared little boy. And we know it now, don’t we?” He poked Kenichi in the cheek with the crowbar, then stood and walked away.

What was the most mortifying was that the Villain had thought more about it than Kenichi had. He had only insulted Katchi because he had too much pride and he hated the idea that they were stronger than him and that he, their prisoner, was helpless.

***


“Hey.”

“Shut up.”

“I gotta--”

“I SAID SHUT UP!” Chuck slammed the crowbar down on the floor, but then Katchi slapped him in the back of the head. The squat man had been following Katchi’s example from that morning, but it was clear it was just because he wanted to feel big and bad. He didn’t have Katchi’s brains and wasn’t as good as Shirou in a fight--his Quirk was powerful, each belch having enough force behind it to rattle eardrums or send someone flying depending on how big it was, but he couldn’t control when he burped, or how powerful each given burp would be. It all just depending on what his stomach felt like that day and what he ate. Which was a lot.

“What, brat?” The bugman didn’t even look up from the card game the three were playing, although with 360 degree vision he didn’t really have to.

“I gotta use the bathroom.”

“That’s why we put the bucket over there.”

“Unless you wanna smell my shit until you dump it again, I think we should at least use the woods.”

“I’ve taken a lot of shits in my life. Yourzzz isn’t anything special.”

“Then I guess you won’t mind if I drop deuce right here on the fucking floor?”

“Go right ahead.”

“Katchi, man, just let the kid shit in the woods.” Shirou whined. “That’s gonna be fuckin’ nasty and I’m the one who always has to clean up.”

“You realizzze he’s gonna make an escape attempt once we get him out there?” Katchi did look up from his cards now, but only to emphasize what he said to the four armed brute. “He probably doezzzn’t even need to use the bathroom.”

Kenichi groaned and let out a long BRRRAAAAAP from his back end that could have rivaled one of Chuck’s belches.

“...Christ, alright. One of you is bad enough.” Katchi used Chuck’s shoulder to push himself off the ground and motioned to Shirou while he took the crowbar. “But if he makes any move at all, I want you to dislocate one of hizzz knee caps.”

Katchi stood over the boy menacingly while Shirou unlocked the padlock keeping the chain fastened to the pipes. He held the leash in two hands, put one on the back of Kenichi’s neck, and held the other one in a loose, threatening fist. They marched him out around the back of the house and into the woods a little ways.

Kenichi had learned as a youngster how to use his Quirk to swallow air and make himself fart. He had thought it was hilarious until the girls in grade school had started making fun of him for it. But under the illusion of bad cramps, he walked slowly and took deep breaths. The passing of air in and out of him ruffled his hair.

“We didn’t bring any toilet paper, so you’ll have to make do with leavezzz. Careful it’s not poison ivy.” Katchi smirked. “Stop here, Shirou.”

He had picked the spot well. There was a small clearing without many trees, so Kenichi couldn’t run between them to tangle the chain or use them to hide. No water or damp spots, so no mud to slip them up in or throw into their eyes.

“Dig a hole to cover it up with.” Shirou said. “I don’t wanna see any more than I have to.”

“Watch him. He might try to throw dirt to blind us.” Kenichi cursed the bugman--how was he so thorough in the ways that mattered and so stupid otherwise? As he got down on his knees and started scrabbling in the dirt with his hands, he tried to think.

Going one step further wasn’t working. He needed to be smarter. If...if Katchi expected him to do something…

It wasn’t that he was truly helpless. The bugman just seemed to try and predict everything to the point of being paranoid. And what really pissed Kenichi off was that he was always so smug about it, in that “I’m right, I’m right!” way, and he would just laugh…

An idea clicked in Kenichi’s head.

He finished digging a hole, and squatted down over it. He hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his shorts...then looked up at the two villains with a glare.

“Can ya at least not watch me like some kinda perverts?”

“Yeah yeah. Just hold on to that chain tight, Shirou. This’ll be his break if he’zzz gonna try it.”

Kenichi grunted. He wiggled a little bit, just to make the noise of ruffling leaves. They stood with their backs to him.

He pushed off with both feet, one big lunge as he tried to grab the chain and yank it out of Shirou’s hands. Immediately the other two arms came down to take up the slack, but before either side could win the tug-of-war Katchi struck at Kenichi’s hands. He let go to avoid having his fingers broken, and then Shirou gave a twist with his whole body to yank the boy back towards them. Immediately Katchi began laying into him--but Kenichi grabbed the crowbar just as it slammed into his ribs, using his weight to hold it down while he punched the bugman hard in the gut. Katchi gasped, but didn’t let go of the crowbar, and kicked Kenichi hard in the shin. The boy yelped and went to one knee, just as Shirou closed in.

Two of the four arms began to punch him over and over, even as Kenichi curled in on himself and tensed his shoulders. Blows rained down over his head and back until he was driven to the ground, curled in a fetal position. Katchi hit him with the crowbar again.

“See, you stupid little fuck! I knew what you were up to!” he coughed. Kenichi could tell he wasn’t the type used to getting hit. “I had your fucking number from the start!” One more hit, but this one was more to vent than to really hurt the boy. Katchi took a deep breath and turned away, waving the crowbar lackadaisically. “Pick him up, we’ll make it so he can’t run once we get back to the--”

Katchi had it all figured out. He knew every move Kenichi was going to make, and Kenichi kept making the exact moves he knew he was going to. So why worry when everything was going to plan? Kenichi had tried to escape, he had been beaten down. He had failed.

And Kenichi had planned to fail from the start.

He hadn’t used any of the oxygen he had been storing up this whole time, he had let them stop him and hit him and focused on trying not to let them really hurt him or knock the breath out of him. Katchi had relaxed and turned away. Shirou had to hold the chain in one hand, because it would take three to really hold Kenichi while they carried him back. He knelt down on one knee.

Kenichi jerked his head off the ground and blew sharply into his face. It was like having an air compressor spray you, and if it sprayed you directly in the eye it was going to be quite the distraction. The four armed man instinctively spluttered and covered his face with one hand. Kenichi started moving--fast.

As Katchi was turning the bluette had already yanked the chain out of Shirou’s hands, and he turned and whipped it around just as Katchi raised the crowbar. Metal and metal clanged, and the bug man’s weaker grip let go. Shirou came to his feet with a roar, but Kenichi jumped straight up and slammed his knee into the bigger man’s chin. As Shirou fell back the bluette landed in a crouch.

“JET HUNTING!”

In a straight line he shot for the trees, kicking up a cloud of dirt and leaves in his wake as Katchi dove for him and grabbed a handful of nothing. But when Kenichi made it into the forest, he didn’t immediately run for it.

Because now it’s MY turn, dammit!

He reached around to his back and started fiddling with the knot in the chains. He had taken some time when they weren’t watching him as closely to try and figure out how he would untie it if he ever got the opportunity, but still his fingers were fumbling, and he couldn’t see what he was doing--

“CHUCK, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE! SHIROU!” Katchi’s eyes flashed as he grabbed up his crowbar and started running at Kenichi. Shirou soon outpaced him, being generally more fit and having a longer stride. The chains clinked together but Kenichi just couldn’t get it--

Shirou took a big swing with the upper right, and Kenichi ducked and brought both hands out from behind his back. The lower left came around in a hook, but the bluette slapped it away and threw a punch of his own at Shirou’s solar plexus. The other two arms crossed each other, but as oxygen-doped blood filled his body Kenichi’s fist sent the bigger man stumbling back two steps. As Shirou struggled to recover his balance Kenichi tried to kick his feet out from under him--it bent Shirou at the knees but in the process almost tangled up the young hero’s foot. Katchi swung the crowbar again, and if it hadn’t been for the chains absorbing part of the blow across Kenichi’s back it might have knocked him down again. The blue hair turned to face his tormentor.

This time Katchimushi looked into his eyes, reflected over a hundred times. And the bug-man started to realize he might have been wrong about this kid.

Kenichi’s empowered fist, red veins running up and down his arm to pump his muscles full, smashed into Katchi’s face. Blood spurted under the bluette’s fingers, and he couldn’t help a wild grin. Getting faster every minute, air whistling as he drew it in through his nose, he slammed Katchi in the ribs next. The idiot must have never been in a fight, as he immediately put his hands over the place he’d been hurt--leaving his jaw wide open. A heavy straight made a loud THUD, and Katchi’s knees gave out on him.

“BRRRAAAAAAAAAAAP!”

The shockwave burp hit Kenichi like a hurricane wind, tossing him backwards into a tree. He slid down and hit the ground with a thump, unable to get his legs under him in time. He pushed off quick as a wink, but Shirou wasn’t being idle anymore either. Four arms started to throw wild punches one after the other, focused only on making contact somewhere to keep this kid off balance…

Chuck started chugging the soda in his hand, patting his chest to keep himself from choking as it went down so fast. He noticed Katchi crawling on the ground towards the crowbar.

“Katchi, are you okay?!” The squat villain ran to help his friend up, but bug eyes waved him away drunkenly.

“Get away, you might burh...anytime…” One hand held his pounding head while the other pushed him up onto his knees. Everything felt like it was spinning. “He’zzz...doin’ somethin’...maybeh like...Gran T’rino?”

Kenichi finally managed to block one of Shirou’s punches, and even though it felt like one eye was going to swell shut he delivered his own with a shout. Rage, adrenaline, and his doped up blood filled him with power, and there was one other thing.

He wanted to hurt them.

“Hey, don’t look so glum!” He had said, a little louder than he meant to. He had put a hand on her shoulder without thinking about whether or not she minded the infringement upon her personal space. He had given her a thumbs up and a happy grin. “It was a spar, a really good one at that! I was worried about hurting you too, but that’s just one of those things--I mean, you wouldn’t go to a Judo club and expect to not get thrown on your head every once in a while, right?”

This was not Komei Hero School. This was not a spar. These were not his friends that he wanted to test himself against, while holding back because they were friends. They were Villains. And he wanted to hurt them.

That last punch doubled Shirou over and sent him to his knees. The four armed man had to use all of his upper limbs to hold himself up while he vomited. Kenichi didn’t even wait for him to finish before he threw a roundhouse kick--like the one Fumika had used on him what seemed like forever ago, though with more raw athleticism than real technique. His foot slammed into the side of Shirou’s head so hard the man’s neck gave a dangerous sounding pop.

“God fucking damn you, brat!” Something tugged at Kenichi from behind. He looked and saw Katchi, holding the chain in both hands and sitting down so he could plant his feet and really put his back into pulling it. Kenichi was too strong now to be pulled down by the likes of him--but when he saw a reflection of something moving in one of the villain’s multifaceted eyes, he turned just in time to put up his guard.

“BRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!”

This was the worst one yet, a blast that actually turned visible in the air like some sort of special move in a video game. Chuck’s belch hit Kenichi like...like…

”JET SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!”

“HARUKAZE...HAMMER!”


He crashed through several of the lower limbs in the canopy, narrowly avoiding getting skewered more than once as he tumbled. He still came out of it covered in splinters, cuts, and bruises, but he even managed to land on his feet, crouched in a three point stance. He was sucking in more air, but as deep as his breaths were they were getting faster, and faster--he was hissing each breath so fast that, between his teeth, his saliva was starting to foam over his lips. His limbs, from the finger and toe tips up to the elbows and knees, had turned bright red. Veins running up from them went under his clothes and emerged out of his collar, criss-crossing up to his face where they formed tiger-like stripes.

And just like in the finale of the battle with her when had used up all his power to meet all of hers, his heart and lungs couldn’t keep up with the rapid circulation of oxygen through his veins. He wasn’t venting enough of the carbon dioxide. He could feel a dull throbbing in his head. His eyes were bloodshot.

The red bolts all over him began to turn black.

“He’zzz on the ground after that one! Shirou, fuckin’ kill him if you have to!”

Kill him if they had to?

They hurt his father. They hurt him, dragged him all the way out here. They were Villains--no one wanted them, no one needed them! HE was going to be the one that kills THEM! Because he was going to stop them! He was going to destroy evil!

Because he was going to be a Hero! Because he was going to be the best at Komei! And...and because…

Her ahoge had been drooping lately. She seemed quieter than usual. She hadn’t been saying much to him. Her sister said that was because she was arrogant, but he thought that was some kind of misunderstanding.

He had seen her tugging her hair when she was frustrated. She didn’t think her Quirk was all that great, even though she was way smarter and better with it than he was with his. That was the whole reason he had tried to be smart this whole time, wasn’t it? Because he knew a smart type like her would always be better than a brawny dumb guy like him. She would probably have handled this whole situation better--but the thought of lowlifes like this coming anywhere near her made him even angrier. Yeah. He had said that corny line to her sister, hadn’t he?

"I'm one'a those loudmouth-types of main characters who rushes into stuff even if it's none of their business! Even if she ignores me or gets mad at me, I'll still come runnin' anytime she needs help!"

And if he was going to help her…


He was going to be a Hero, the best at Komei. He was going to destroy these Villains and go back.

Because she’s waiting on me!

“JET BLACK--”

Shirou came at him swinging three heavy branches and a rock. Kenichi pushed off from his runner’s stance.

“WILD HUNT!”

Jet Hunting was based off of Gran Torino’s signature style of movement, using extreme speed and agility to bounce off everything in one’s environment and create an unpredictable pattern of attack. It was just as evasive as it was offensive. But Kenichi knew, ever since the first time he had done it by accident, that once his veins started turning black he didn’t have a lot of time left to fight. So the Jet Black series focused on one thing only.

Ending the opponent.

He shot into Shirou, not away from him. But he was so much faster that it didn’t matter--those four arms were upraised, getting ready to swing, when Kenichi barreled into the man’s guts fist first. Kenichi felt his fist--clenched so tightly his knuckles were popping--strike the soft solar plexus, sink down to the muscle underneath that had reflexively hardened in resistance...and then sink further in.

Shirou vomited again, but this time it was blood.

Kenichi flew past him, snapped out one arm to dig his blackened, claw-like fingers into the ground. Having an anchor point let him drift, fast and furious, in a half circle before he immediately launched at the Villain again, continuing the Wild Hunt.

“JET BLACK: FALCON SWORD!”

Like Jet Hawk, he leaped through the air and used his arms like a clothesline--but with this much speed and power behind them, and an extra-exaggerated swinging motion, they were more like blades than wings. Shirou had raised two of his arms to try and block. Kenichi felt the two bones in each forearm snap. The mutant Villain tried to scream through a mouth still full of blood.

He turned a flip and landed on the side of a tree, then pushed off once again to come straight down on top of the four armed victim.

“JET BLACK: PEREGRINE DROP!” Jet Eagle was like your typical Bruce Lee style flying kick. But at a vertical angle, this attack came down with the whole body’s weight plus gravity, a crushing stomp. Shirou was driven flat into the dirt, ribcage cracking and neck whiplashing. When the dust cleared, Kenichi wrenched his heel just a little harder down on the man’s spine, eliciting a choking cry of pain.

“Get the fuck off him!” Katchi swung the crowbar in both hands recklessly--what else could he do!? He was all out of ideas, all his plans were falling apart, and now one of his friends might have just been killed by this, this--

“JET BLACK: HELL HOUND!” Jet Hound was one punch driving in a straight line at high speed. Jet Wolf was a whole Jojo-style barrage. And this was the motherfucking Fist of the motherfucking North Star.

Right hook to the jaw. Katchi’s lip spurted blood. Left jab once, twice, to the face--his already smashed nose was broken, then his eye socket cracked. Right straight across the chin--one of his teeth chipped. Left upper--the vertebrae in the back of his neck popped.

“RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!!” Kenichi’s blows were so fast it looked like he had more arms than Shirou, or even that Dulga girl back at Komei. And Katchi could see every one of them coming, thanks to those freakish eyes, but he couldn’t react to a single punch. He watched them come in from multiple angles, then simply felt each reverberating impact until, at some point, he lost consciousness.

Kenichi wouldn’t let him drop.

He caught him by the scruff of his shirt as the bug-man started to fall, and dragged him back for three more. He shovel-hooked him in the lower ribs, breaking the floaters and picking the man up off the ground despite their nearly six inches of height difference. He just kept going--

“STOP! WE GIVE UP, WE GIVE, PLEASE STOP!”

In a flash Kenichi was standing in front of Chuck, a black devil with red eyes--because at some point the blood vessels had burst, and Kenichi’s sclera had gone completely crimson. The boy’s sweat was even starting to evaporate, his breath steaming as his body’s internal temperature rose. The Villain didn’t know it, but Kenichi could barely even see straight anymore.

Chuck gulped air, and tried to make himself belch--Then Kenichi’s hand closed around his throat. With a berserker scream, the bluette spun in place so fast that the wind whistled past Chuck’s ears before his squat, fat little body was thrown with bone shattering force against a tree. His head made a loud, dull sound, and when he slid to the ground he left a trail of blood behind.

Kenichi howled at the blood red, sunset sky, exhaling as his heartbeat thundered in his chest--then he passed out and fell backwards.

***


Early Saturday they had made most of the connections. Hamasaki Shirou had a rap sheet a mile long for stupid shit all the way back through middle school, but he had been given a lot of leniency because of his age. He also had two friends, Kawaguchi Katchimushi and Maeda Chouki, “Chuck” because of his rather vulgar Quirk. They, too, had notable records, though most of it had been expunged from the public stuff after their juvie days. The only good thing was that they had never really gotten violent--vandalism, shoplifting, drugs, theft, and so on, but this carjacking was the very first thing they had attempted where anyone had really been hurt. And it was starting to seem like they knew Yoshida Nobuyuki had a prosthetic leg and had aimed for that to keep him from fighting back, rather than intentionally trying to cripple him.

So why had they kidnapped Kenichi? Most of their crimes were related to money, either getting it through illegal means or stealing it, so a ransom made sense. Had they just chosen the Yoshida family at random? It kind of seemed like it. In fact, a little later that morning, a ransom was sent to Kenichi’s parents via the boy’s own cellphone (unbeknownst to the authorities, Katchi had sent it after that show of threatening Kenichi). But this was where the villains made their final mistake. Katchi had turned off the GPS function on the phone, but everyone these days knows the government has a back door into anything and everything you own. They were able to pinpoint an area somewhere in the mountains, near a village nobody really lived in anymore. Still a lot of ground to search, especially over that kind of terrain, and there was always the possibility that the villains had moved and taken Kenichi with them after sending that message...but they had what they needed now.

The team was assembled, the strategy was devised. As soon as the sun went down, they went in. Under cover of darkness, the goal was to infiltrate the villain’s base and retrieve Kenichi as fast as possible. Only then would they throw on the spotlights and focus on apprehending the criminals.

They almost tripped over them. Hamasaki had to be braced due to neck and spinal injuries and treated immediately for gastrointestinal hemorrhaging, as well as broken bones in two of his arms. Kawaguchi had severe whiplash and two cracked vertebrae, a bad concussion that might have already caused brain damage, and ribs that had been broken so badly they were in danger of puncturing his lungs. Maeda had a skull fracture and a split in his scalp that had been bleeding heavily, but other than that seemed to have gotten off the lightest. Had the rescue team been any later, it was almost certain that all three of these men would have died.

But Kenichi was nowhere to be found.

***


He hadn’t been out very long--just passed out from lack of oxygen. Once he was unconscious and his heartbeat had slowed, he had slowly woken up. He was still groggy, and he hurt all over. But there was very little daylight left...his addled mind could only think of one thing. One person. He had to go back. She was waiting on him.

So he had gotten up. He hadn’t even thought about the phone they’d taken from him, or the car. He had to get off the mountain. Had to find the road. He had to get back. So he did the stupidest thing anyone lost in the mountains can do, and kept moving. Soon he had his air back, but returning to fully functional consciousness just made him aware of his injuries.

One of the crowbar beatings, he wasn’t sure which one, had bruised some of his ribs. One of his tangles with Shirou had blackened his eye, swelling it to the point it was hard to see out of it, and bloodied his lip. Getting thrown around, dragged here and there, and just generally mistreated had left him with sore spots all over. Getting blasted with Chuck’s fucking nasty burps had rattled him down to his bones, and that time he was thrown through the trees had left him with too many cuts and scrapes to count. Most of these had stopped bleeding by now, but there were still a lot of splinters sticking him somewhere along the back of his shoulders and arms.

And then there was the damage he had done to himself. Moving so fast and turning on a dime had strained his muscles and joints to the point that he felt like he had the flu or some kind of early onset arthritis. Hitting those guys wasn’t like hitting concrete or metal the way he had in his match with Fumika, but he had still bloodied and bruised his own knuckles. That arm that he had shattered with his Jet Smash a couple of days ago was bruising up again in a similar manner--some of the repairs Nurse Kiwi had done on him had probably been rendered moot.

Then you factored in not getting the right amount of food or water for a few days, and walking around on a damned mountain for...it had to be an hour or two by now, right? Where was the freaking road?

Finally he had to rest. He didn’t think those guys could follow him--if they did, he’d deal with it when it came to it. He couldn’t go on anymore.

“I’m...coming back.” he mumbled as he slumped next to a tree. “Just...wait a little while longer...Mo...tome...chan…”


Sunday, April 9th



A huge man, easily seven feet tall and over three hundred pounds of pure muscle, moved nimbly down the gravel-covered slopes between gnarled trees. He wore a gray, sleeveless jersey with the bright red number 10 on it, tucked into a pair of working man’s blue jeans over a pair of construction worker’s boots. Decaman, the 10th Factor Hero, held one hand over his eyes against the morning sunlight as he searched for the missing boy.

Yoshida Kenichi. He knew that name. Hadn’t seen the kid in a long time, but remembered him. Knew his parents, too. Good people, happy, the ideal family--until the father’s accident. But they were still happy, they’d gotten through those hard times and pulled together the way a family should. Except ever since then, he had always felt like Kenichi was just a little...off.

The kid was one of those high energy types. Happy go lucky, always eager to lend a hand, good hearted, easy to make friends with. But sometimes, when he was alone...when he had no one else to talk to and had nothing else to do but let his thoughts run...Sometimes the boy had a dark look on his face.

Yet Decaman still found it hard to believe he would have done that. The kid was a hero-in-training, after all! Surely the teachers at Komei didn’t tolerate this kind of thing. Then again, someone like Endeavor could end up as the number 2 in the nation…

Those Villains were bad people, there was no doubt about that. They were also barely old enough to be out of college, and had made a lot of dumb mistakes in their lives, but also hadn’t had a lot of opportunities to choose the right path. Decaman believed that some people--not everyone, certainly, but some--needed rehabilitation. They needed to know there was another option out there. If you just wrote them off after the first offense, why should they ever bother trying to be better? Why not just go full hog and do the worst they could possibly do? Those Villains were bad people...but they didn’t deserve that.

Kenichi had no doubt defended himself. To use your Quirk in a life or death situation was not illegal. To defend yourself was not illegal, even if it resulted in the death of your attacker, so long as there was truly no other option and the death was not your intention. But those Villains had been beaten within mere inches of their lives--and at least one of them had been beaten a little more after that. Was it “just because?” Was Kenichi that kind of person now?

He cupped both hands over his mouth.

“YOOOOOOSHIIIIIIDAAAAAAAA-KUUUUUUUUN!!”

“Ow...my ears…”

Decaman whirled, eyes darting until he saw the flash of blue nestled between roots. In an instant he had leaped to the boy, and knelt beside him to assess his injuries.

“Yoshida Kenichi, can you hear me? Can you speak?”

“H...Hey...Long time no see, Decaman.” When the boy looked up at him, Decaman’s big heart melted. Kenichi looked almost as bad as those villains had. That was what convinced him--right or wrong, correct or not. Kenichi had been fighting for his life. This child was not a killer. No, what he had done, he had to have done for a reason.

Kenichi just needed some help, was all.

***


Not all members of the rescue team agreed with Decaman’s assessment.

“From what Komei’s staff has told us, Kenichi is incredibly gifted in physical combat, and his Quirk is far more useful than simple “enhanced lung capacity.” His strength and speed are both formidable--the only one of the Villains who might have posed a real threat to him was Hamasaki, and even he only has twice the strength of a normal human being. That’s also not even in the same capacity as true super strength, he just has an extra set of muscles.”

“So you’re saying he should have put the Villains’ lives over his own!?”

“No, but I AM saying that it should have been very clear to him when he won that fight. There was no need for such excessive force. One of those men may very well be a vegetable for the rest of his life!”

“We don’t know for sure that it was all Kenichi’s fault! What if there was infighting amongst them and he took that opportunity to escape? Or what if he wasn’t necessarily trying to hurt them that badly? We all know that sometimes a punch lands wrong or the person falls and hits their head when all you did was shove them. Until the interrogations are complete and we know more about all sides of the situation, I don’t think we should make any hasty conclusions!”

“I can agree with that, but I think we need to take proper precautions. All I’m recommending is that we detain him until we can come to a decision--”

“He’s not the one at fault here, why are we treating him like he’s the one going to prison?”

“He is not going to prison. Right now he’s en route to the hospital to be checked out. After that, I think we should simply keep him there until a counselor or two can talk to him. He may need that as much for his own mental health as to assuage our worries about his character.”

“...Fine. But only so long as his parents still have a say--I don’t want someone just “deciding” that he has anger issues or something and needs to be doped up or committed.”

“And I don’t want a Hero School to raise a student that could end up becoming worse than the Villains he fights. But 72 hours is all I’m asking--we’ll observe him for that long, check his recovery, and figure out what we’re going to do from there.”

“What about Komei? What’s their stance on all of this?”

“So far, everything is simply being kept hush-hush for the sake of maintaining calm among the student body and the general populace. We can’t afford a repeat of what happened with UA, after all--otherwise people are going to start losing faith in the institution of Hero Schools as a whole. Once proper charges have been filed, we’ll make the report, but we’re going to try to keep Komei’s involvement at a minimum--all anyone needs to know is that a boy was kidnapped, the three villains are in custody, and the boy was rescued. No one needs to know he was a student at Komei, a Hero in training, or anything else besides that.”

“We should probably inform their counselor to keep an eye on the boy as well.”

“Isn’t there also a teacher at Komei who is a former villain herself? Could she possibly have been an influence on him?”

“For one thing, I highly doubt such a thing would happen after a single day. For another, the person you speak of--Akane Mako--is currently teaching their Villain Psychology course. As a rehabilitated person herself, I doubt she would agree with these kinds of extreme methods of heroism.”

“Then it would seem we’ve come to a conclusion about the issue. Decaman?”

“Okay. Let him rest up in the hospital, get someone to talk to him, and figure out his side of the story. If it seems like he has some deeper issues or is headed down the wrong road...We’ll deal with that when we come to it.”

***


Kenichi spent the rest of that day in the hospital--the same room, even as his father had been. Now their roles were completely reversed, something that he and his dad had laughed about before his mother slapped both of them--and then commenced crying and hugging him again and saying that she was sorry.

Most of his injuries weren’t too severe. They simply put a brace on one of his knees, and on his right arm, the smashing one, and then everything else was handled by gauze and bandages and band aids and ice packs. All he needed was rest and time to heal. Maybe an extra day off from school just to be on the safe side. But Kenichi was already worried about falling behind--thankfully he could use his father’s laptop to pull up his school email account and get his assignments from the school’s website.

There was another doctor, but this one wasn’t here to look at Kenichi’s wounds. The bluette thought a lot of the questions he asked were pretty stupid, but as time went on he realized what was going on. They wanted to make sure he hadn’t been traumatized or something by his captors. Reflecting on this, after the doctor had left the first time, actually brought him back to that dark place he had spent the night in up on the mountain. The realization that the adult world was scary. All the things they could have done to him...all the ways they could have ruined him, not just physically but mentally...Thinking about how close he had come to some of that…

But he couldn’t let anyone see. He had to be strong. Had to get stronger.

He wasn’t sure why he wasn’t allowed to talk to his teachers or try to get in contact with any of his friends. Nor did he understand why his story wasn’t on the news, or why none of them were trying to get in contact with him, either.


Monday, April 10th



“Have you seen enough to make a call yet?”

“Hmm...It’s always possible I’m missing something of course, that he’s a good liar or that he knows just what to say. You can never be too sure. But ultimately? I don’t think he’s as much of a vigilante as you’re worried about. He has a rather black and white view of things, but that’s normal for children. His issues also seem to stem from his father’s injuries, and we certainly can’t blame him for that. That feeling of helplessness, of being unable to protect his father or do anything else about the event, is being projected somewhat. But ultimately, aren’t most Heroes driven by something like this?”

“So you don’t think he’s going to be a danger in the future?”

“I can’t say anything regarding that one way or the other. All I know is that, right now, Yoshida Kenichi is in a mostly-stable state of mind, and is still a growing boy. He will learn. Hopefully, he will learn to be better.”

“...Mostly stable?”

“Yes. I won’t deny he has a few problems here and there. But isolating him isn’t the way to fix them--quite the opposite in fact, in my opinion.”

“...In other words, you think Komei is a good environment for him.”

“Any school would be a good environment for him. Children need friends, they need to live their youth. Kenichi, like many children, wants to rush through his because he feels like he has to grow up now, to fill the shoes his father can no longer wear, and to prevent what happened to him from happening to others.”

“...I see. Well, Decaman will be pleased to hear your report. Thank you, doctor.”

***


“...and if your lighting and camera positioning in both frames is exactly the same, you can layer them over each other. Boom, now there’s a clone of you.”

Kenichi’s tongue poked out of one side of his mouth as he concentrated on the laptop and what his father was showing him. Nobuyuki sat back for a moment and watched his son repeat the process they had just gone through together.

“Have you got to take a video editing course for school or something? Like Hero PR?”

“Nah...see, one of my friends has a quirk that kind of works like a video camera. Make a recording and then project it.” Kenichi snapped his fingers as he successfully repeated the process with a different piece of footage and made another clone effect. “But she doesn’t realize how awesome her Quirk is. I thought maybe if I could give her some ideas about how to use it, she’d be more...I guess confident, in herself.”

“Oooooh?” Kenichi started to sweat as his father’s eye was now uncomfortably close to his face. “So it’s a friend? A friend who’s a giiiiiiiiiiirrl?”

“W-well, yeah, but I mean, I don’t--”

“Is she a preeeeeettty girl?”

“C’mon Dad! I literally just met her!”

“And you’re already trying to help her out! Aren’t you just da sweetest!?” With an exaggerated waggle Nobuyuki pinched his son’s cheek. Kenichi groaned.

He still didn’t feel like everything was “over.” Not that he felt like the idiot trio would come back--they were done, even if they didn’t turn over a new leaf he was sure they wouldn’t mess with him ever again. But it just...it just seemed like some wound hadn’t quite closed up. Something just felt...off.

Part of it, he realized, was that he already missed his new school. His new friends. And her.

He had seen first hand how weak he was. He knew now that, more than just winning some contest at school, more than just picking up his grades, he had to be better. He had to take the fire that had been lit underneath him, and engulf himself in it. Just like that wimp at UA that had given him the idea for the Jet Smash--that had convinced him he would have to push his limits to the maximum and even further beyond.

There was going to be pain. There was going to be suffering. The world of adults was scary. But if he gave up, he would lose. If he stopped fighting, he would lose. He had to keep moving, keep putting one foot in front of the other. Because if he stopped to think...it would be like being back there, again. Wrapped in chains, again. Scared, and hurt.

He clenched his fist under the hospital sheets.


Tuesday, April 11th, ~5 PM, School Courtyard



He had to wait in the morning for the doctor to find time in their busy schedule to come sign the stupid piece of paper saying he was good to go. Then he had to wait at the pharmacy to get a dumb prescription filled--antibiotics and a little pain management, although he probably could have just gotten those over the freaking counter. And THEN he had to wait for the police and Decaman to show up and “debrief” him. He wasn’t supposed to talk to the press, he wasn’t supposed to go around bragging about fighting with villains, yadda yadda yadda.

Then his parents wanted to make sure he had a good lunch before he left. That was fine but it was just he had already waited for so long and he wanted to get back and uuuuuuuugh. And since they had their car back now his parents offered to drive him, which was also fine and cheap but slower than the subway would have been. And since he had already missed a little more than half the day his father said they might as well take it easy, so they ended up goofing off and Kenichi finally gave up. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, for sure.

So after the last day of his “adventure,” around five or so in the afternoon, long after classes were over, Kenichi stepped out of his parent’s car. He had a new bag over his shoulders--or rather, new to him, but not really “new.” Inside was a laptop and an old video camera from his father--his new hobby.

A white strip of bandage had been wrapped around his head, at a slight slant so as to cover the heavy bruising and scab over his left eye. A smaller, cross shaped bandage had been applied on the right side of his cheek. Under his blue tank top shirt, another bandage wrapped around his ribs and over one shoulder. He was still wearing the brace on his right arm and his right knee. There were a few other band-aids, just the plain ones, here and there too.

He stepped up to the reinforced door. He held his student ID up to the scanner. The doors slid open, and Kenichi took a deep breath of the Komei air as he stepped onto the campus grounds.

“...Man, why does it feel like I’ve been gone for six months?”
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𝔇𝔦𝔞𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔲𝔢 𝓒𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔯 || #FF741D ||| 𝔗𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝓒𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔯 || #DFD989
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By the time she'd gotten to the end of her little spiel and had begun smiling and nodding cheerfully at Kasuke-san's generous offer to help her out, Asuka was fairly confident she'd done a pretty good job of acting natural. To be sure, it wasn't exactly easy to just casually introduce something so heavy - especially not after the very loud, very awkward, and very public yelling match she'd unfortunately been privy to - but nevertheless, she'd done it, and, if she dared flatter herself with her own judgement on the matter, she'd done it very well. She had been cordial, tactful, and most importantly, irresistibly cute. Even if they resented being put on the spot, there was no way that they'd-

Unfortunately, Asuka's moment of self-congratulation came to an abrupt and very rude end at that exact moment, as the menacing, cloak-wearing girl dismissed her with the utmost rudeness. It was obvious, then, that at least one of her prospective dupes had seen through her, and realized that her cheerfulness was just an act to conceal a much deeper awkwardness at the sensitivity of the subject she had so suddenly broached. Nevertheless, she couldn't lend any credence to her words. Were it a matter so simple as just "saying it to his face," then Haruka wouldn't have sent her here. Didn't these idiots get it? It was precisely because she knew she'd been selfish and needed to make amends that she most certainly couldn't say it to his face! Asuka didn't know what kind of relationship they had, but that much was obvious! Had Harukaze herself simply walked up and demanded their attention, no doubt, they'd have been chastising her for her rudeness and impropriety by now. But, since she'd chosen to convey her message by means of an intermediary, she was being scorned and derided for being indirect and rude. It was stupid, but that was just the way things worked, so of course, Asuka could have let all their hypocrisies slide. Better that she herself was the one to be called out for it than Harukaze, since, after all, that'd no doubt just make her even more depressed.

But the cloaked lady just had to say one more thing - one more thing that all but set Asuka's hair on end as she couldn't, for a moment, conceal a look first of shock and disbelief at what she was hearing, and then a momentary glimmer of unbridled outrage.

"This" - and here she gestured dismissively to Asuka herself with a scorn she didn't even bother trying to conceal - "is going to cause a lot of problems." Asuka could swear she saw her eyes narrowing with a knowing sort of hatred, and she pronounced one final, totally unnecessary judgement on the matter before walking away.

"Especially if this is how you talk to Fumika-san."

Asuka's breath stopped in her throat, and she realized that her hands had, at some point, clenched themselves into fists against her will. She took a deep breath, and tried to stretch as naturally as she could to pass off the momentary lapse in her composure. "Geez, that was rude. I mean, I tried asking Harukaze-san to apologize herself, but she didn't want to bother you guys. Really, I don't know where she gets off telling her what to do! She was just trying to be considerate," She declared with feigned disinterestedness and absolutely genuine frustration. But, although she managed to pass it off by nodding along with Jett's apology and pretending to forgive the one who'd spoken against her on the spot, in reality, her thoughts were elsewhere.

She said that like it was common knowledge. And the others didn't react at all. Just what does she... what do they know about my sis? What did she tell them? They were all acting suspiciously friendly towards her... And there was that boy, too, who came running the moment he heard her calling! And when that fight broke out, the way she jumped it and made it all about her... So, that's how she did it. I always knew she could be petty, but... As all the visible probabilities converged towards one conclusion, Asuka found it hard to contain her anger and disbelief at being so underhandedly used, even by someone who she knew disliked her immensely. But it all made sense - too much sense.

The only way Fumika had managed to get people to pay attention to her was through pity. She must have surely learned that from her experiences with Harukaze-san. Then... she'd just made herself out to be so pathetic, so innocent, and so mistreated that they couldn't help but like her! And the one on whom she must have pinned all the blame...

"Especially if this is how you talk to Fumika-san."

"Sister... Do you hate me?"

"Yeah! I do! You're stupid and annoying and you keep getting in the way! Why don't you just leave me alone?"

Really, who else could it be but her mean, inconsiderate bully of a sister, who had treated her so disingenuously, and then disabused her with so much spite? It was all so laughably transparent that Asuka couldn't help but wonder how she hadn't seen it before. To be sure, it wasn't what she'd have done herself, but the plan nevertheless made perfect sense, and the lie, if you squinted at it a bit, held up to a casual sort of scrutiny. In a twisted sort of way, she was almost proud of her sister's ingenuity - was grateful that, even if it meant being her own personal scapegoat, in some way, she'd helped Fumika establish herself, had helped her sister not to be alone.

...So then why did it hurt so much to know that this was what her sister must have truly thought of her? She'd always known that Fumika disliked her. She just hadn't known that she could be so rational and clever about it. This was best for everyone, so they why, exactly, did she feel so angry?

Her composure was thus already in shambles when, one by one, a series of utterly bizarre events served to completely demolish it. First, the boy to whom she had been sent to apologize vanished into thin air in the middle of asking where he could find Haruka, thus making the entire venture completely pointless since, to her knowledge, she wouldn't be able to engineer a private conversation between them. But then on top of that...

"What."

Asuka blinked. The undeathly pallor of the shaggy, lanky boy in front of her hadn't changed, nor had the dull, lifeless expression in the one of his eyes that she could actually see, which roughly resembled the languid stare of a fish washed up on the beach. And, most importantly, he was still rather noticeably missing an arm, which, if she was to understand his meaning correctly, he had... eaten?

It was probably insensitive of her to think this way, but Asuka couldn't help but be grateful that the past few weeks had inured her to the sight of people lacking somewhere in the appendage department, or else she'd probably have screamed. ...But wait, wasn't she supposed to scream? After all, this was a perfect chance to look cute and timid, in need of protection. Her Gal-Mode instincts demanded it! ...So then why was it that the only male in the area who wasn't a bloody - heh, puns - zombie had just vanished into a puff of smoke? She sighed. Just like that, the facade crumbled - or rather, she let it crumble. No amount of cuteness points were worth this nonsense.

Thankfully, her excuse for entering the conversation proved to be an equally good one for leaving it, as before she had to inquire as to why a zombie was walking the campus demanding to know the time, Kasuke-san smoothed things over, left the issue in the hands of the rude woman - a choice of words which, had she been able to see under Dulga's cloak, no doubt would have amused her greatly despite her present state of discombobulation - and had rushed them both off towards the dorms. Of course, once they were clear of the conversation, she would have to object in order to retrieve Harukaze, but... No, wait, actually, judging by the rather loud squeak of surprise and shock she'd just heard coming from behind the hedge where she'd left her, and by the rather prominent wisps of black smoke rising from behind it, it didn't seem like that would be a problem at all. She smiled slightly despite herself, and decided to let them be, herself following after her unexpected rescuer.

"Are you tired of that act yet? If not, you've got to teach me how to keep it going. Anyway, shall we?"

Asuka couldn't help but sigh at this. She'd had a feeling that of the three, the one who had appeared most convinced by her display was in fact, the least swayed by it, but this confirmed those suspicions completely. And, considering what she now had a feeling was almost inevitably true, she supposed there was no point in making herself look worse by continuing to feign a persona that must have been utterly contrary to all reports and conceptions that her sister's so-called friends would have of her. As such, she merely exhaled, all but deflating like a balloon as her smile vanished and her eyes narrowed into an irritated sort of frown, like the expression one might have upon waking up to find the sun shining entirely too brightly in one's eyes.

"Oh, believe me, I'm exhausted," She responded with a shrug of disappointment. "If I had realized beforehand how generally aware the students here were of my 'true character,' then I assure you, I wouldn't have troubled myself with making the effort." She here paused, stealing a slight glance at the face of her conversational partner to see if it would betray any reaction to her statement. She sincerely doubted that someone as composed as Kasuke would give away surprise so easily, but if she really had heard the sorts of stories she imagined her sister to be telling, then maybe she'd at least be taken aback by their seeming confirmation. After all, this was all for Fumika's sake. If this was what it took for someone as dense as her to have friends, then Asuka didn't mind playing a part in her little lie, even if it was at her own expense.

...She just wished that her sister hadn't gone behind her back like this.

Nevertheless, she forged ahead. "Perhaps I should have just made that stupidly earnest girl blunder through this herself without my help, after all," She gave a wry smile, glancing back at where she had left the no-doubt surprised Harukaze in a rather undesirable situation. But it was for her own good, and better than anything that someone so universally reviled as herself could have done for her.

"Given my reception, I can't help but wonder if I just made matters worse for her."

@Silver Carrot@FamishedPants@Norschtalen



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𝔇𝔦𝔞𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔲𝔢 𝓒𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔯 || #c9c916 ||| 𝔗𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝓒𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔯 || #3F9CB1
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It had been taking Asuka a very long time. Haruka waited anxiously, wondering what had happened. She heard multiple voices coming from beyond the hedge, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Unconsciously, she winced slightly, feeling in her heart the utterly contrary urges to hide herself away as completely as possible and to rush out and apologize herself.

She wanted to see him. She knew it would hurt, knew it would make her feel even more pathetic than she already did. Seeing him so struck by her deformity, witnessing the full condescension of his compassion once again, without denying it or running away, she had no doubt would break what little remained of her pride. But what, really, was there left for her to be proud of? What had she done, beyond fail to uphold her promise? What did she have to look forward to, beyond a burdensome existence which would no doubt cause trouble for the very people who she had wanted to praise her?

The only answer she could find to this incessant question came in the form of his face. It had seemed to float before her eyes in every waking moment since the day he'd finally found out her deception, had hidden behind her eyelids when she tried to sleep, had been, in short, both everywhere to be expected, and nowhere to be found, and as for herself, Haruka had not the slightest explanation for that. There was nothing left for her to expect from him but his pity, and yet, even that seemed preferable to his scorn. And so, even if it meant destroying the last bit of her pride, and exposing herself for the fraud she really was... if he would just come back, perhaps this time, she wouldn't object if he tried to hold her like before.

So she listened, and she waited, desperately longing to see him again, and filling her aching heart with such similar consolations and desires which, she felt, would never be satisfied unless-

"...Really?!"


And so our romantic heroine gave a very undignified, very distressed squeak. Her crutch, propped against her leg, fell to the ground as her hands flailed wildly. Her face went redder than a beet, and her entire body shot off from the bench, only to almost immediately topple forward in an exceedingly undignified sprawl as she frantically scrambled away, practically flinging herself into the hedge at the irrational thought that, somehow, that question had been directed at the distinctly shameful thoughts she had been entertaining. Had it been that obvious that she was pining over him? Had she been blushing? While she didn't know the answer to the first, the second was entirely irrelevant, as, if nothing else, she sure as hell was blushing now! She turned slowly, raising her head and tossing herself down upon the grass and staring up at him.

He was so much taller now. He'd only used to be only slightly above her own height, but now he seemed almost to tower over her. Of course, she was sitting down and standing up, so maybe it was just the perspective... or the shadows? The setting sun had just gone beneath the building behind him... Like a halo through the fringes of his hair, or, or... or something. And those amber eyes seemed to strike right through her, and... and... And perhaps all of this was just in her own delusions, after all. He was Jett. She was Haruka. There wasn't anything more than that, and she wasn't good with this sort of thing, so why did her heart insist on making the picture before her eyes so complicated?! Her head fell, a curtain of messy black fringe casting a shadow over her eyes as her cheeks flared outward in a shamed pout.

"...Jerk," She managed to force out, the word barely more than a whisper. No, no, she wouldn't... she couldn't just sit here acting so pathetic and small. She couldn't let him see her like this. He could pity her for her leg all he wanted, but at least, this emotion was still sacred! Forcing herself to look up, she met his gaze once again, fighting with all her might to hide her childish embarrassment from at least him.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to scare me like that? It's creepy."

It was no good. Her words didn't want to come out. She had no idea what to say to him. She needed time, much, much more time to prepare, to think, to come up with something, anything. There had to be some magical phrase to make things right again, but all she could think of was what Asuka had no doubt already said - so she said it again, for lack of anything better.

"I'm sorry," She whispered, hiding her face as best she could. Now what? What would he say to her? Would he be angry? Resentful? Distant? She had just wanted to see him again, and she'd gotten her wish, but now that she had everything right in front of her, she had no idea how to respond. She still couldn't even find the strength to be happy to see him again, even though she desperately wanted to... wanted to... wanted to what? Where was there to go from here? That path had long since closed to her.

At that moment, Harukaze Haruka couldn't help but feel herself to be the very picture of a fool. As usual, even when everything went exactly in her favor, she, in her infinite fallibility, would find some way to ruin it all - even if it was the only "real" thing she had ever had.

@Aerandir
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Aerandir
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Aerandir The old guy

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Manda sighed with relief as the girl answered her, simply nodding as she leaned back and caught herself with her hands. The whole world growing dizzy around her. It had been a while since she managed to close up a severed arm, even still the boy will need doctors to properly reroute his arteries. “L...ance…” She said over the comms softly. Trying to reach back into one of her pouches but couldn’t get the clip undone. Her eyes narrowing as a pained look came upon her face as she tried again and again.

Shortcut heard Manda on the coms and launched himself onto the roof, making his way up to where Manda was and saw her collapsed on her hip in front of another girl. She looked super tired and he knew she had used her quirk, seeing the dark haired boy being carried away by sky defender, she must have stopped the bleeding in his arm. As well as the girl in front of her, it was clear that she was done, and needed help.

Crouching down, “You need your fluid?” he asked simply and recieved a tiny yes from her, with a nod as well. He went for the pouch that she was attempting to open and popped it open with ease, pulling out a bag filled with liquid. Poking a hole in it, he handed it to Manda, while at the same time lifting her easily with one arm, similar to how a father would hold a child sitting in the crook of his arm. Manda took the bag and pushed it to her mouth. Squeezing the sugary drink filled full with electrolytes and other vitamins and minerals that she loses with healing.

He looked over to Reina when she said Haven-san. She could see his eyes and notice him raising an eyebrow. How did she know his last name? He shook his head and realized, it was his costume… this girl must have been in his son’s class.

He then spoke up, “That is correct young lady, however…” He reached up with his right arm and unhooked his mask, revealing an older version of Jett, along with a five oclock shadow of a beard. “I am Jett’s father, Lance. It’s a pleasure to meet you miss…” He said as he offered his hand to her, while still holding Manda like a child easily.

The girl glanced from the tired Manda back to the man as he addressed her. She blinked as he revealed his face. Jett’s father. That made sense.

She nodded politely, gazing at his hand for a moment before giving a tiny, sheepish smile.

“Um… my arm is kind of broken, I think…” she said with a subtle motion of her head towards her right side. “It was a lot worse before she used her quirk on me, but…” The girl double-checked, raising her arm up several inches. Her brow furrowed slightly. “Yeah, it still hurts a bit. Not really responding how it should.”

Her arm was still broken in a dozen places, but it had been set straight. Evidently, the woman’s quirk was draining on her and she hadn’t been able to do more than what she managed. That was fine--her arm was no longer the completely mangled mess it had been a minute before. The rest of her body was in similar shape--heavy bleeding had been stopped, but everything still hurt. Relative to what she had been experiencing during the ordeal, though, it was nothing.

She glanced between Lance and the woman. “Reina Mori,” she said, returning the introduction. Her gaze settled for a moment on the woman. “Thank you,” the girl said, smiling lightly for another moment before worry returned to her reserved expression. “Will you be okay?”

He lowered his hand in understandment when she mentioned her arm still hurt. So helping her up would only make it worse. Before he could say anything Manda lowered the half drunk bag and allowed it to drop to her chest, she smiled weakly her head resting on Lances shoulder. She was really tired. “Yes, I should be fine…I just need to replenish my fluids, I had forgotten how much caping a severed arm could do.” She weakly waved her free hand at Reina. “Don’t worry though.” She glanced up to Lance and said, she still is danger. We need to take her to the hospital without moving her arm too much. Her bones could cut her arteries once again, leave me here, I’ll be fine.”

He shook his head,” I can take you both. Your gonna need a lot more fluids than what you have on you. I’ve never seen you this drained before.” Lance moved to the side of Reina and crouched down next to her. “I know it might not be ideal, but I can get you to the hospital quickly, we are going to have to secure your arm first. And that's going to hurt a bit, are you ok if I make a splint for it?”

Reina’s expression lightened as the woman reassured her. “... sorry for getting hurt so bad it took that much out of you to keep us from dying,” the girl said, a subtle wry smile on her lips making it clear she wasn’t totally serious--though she did feel bad about it. The woman was a hero though, so helping out a couple of kids was probably something she was happy to do.

The dark-haired girl turned her attention to Lance, shrugging lightly. “It’s not going to be pain any worse than what I’ve already dealt with today.” She pushed herself up to her feet with her better, only fractured arm, hiding much of the struggle behind a stony expression. Holding out her right arm slightly, as though to say ‘go for it,’ she glanced up the man. “... and thank you, as well.” Reina paused, frowning slightly. “Would… would you happen to know how Kaida-san and Kusayanagi-san are?” she asked, glancing in the direction the alleyway where the Cerberus had been.

Manda looked at the girl as she smiled, she could see she didn’t regret her decision, with the way she fought and held onto the boy, it was clear. At least to her. She had a slight smirk of her own as Lance lowered her to sit on the ground once again. She pointed to another pouch, at which Lance pulled out a wrap from.

While she went to work finishing the last of her liquid, he turned to Reina and broke his spear In two, though upon a closer look, it seemed that it was meant to do that. He took the butt end of it and placed it to the arm she gave him, wrapping the cloth around her arm, tightly to her arm so it wouldn’t shift any more. As he worked he then answered her question. “Miss Beaumont and mr. Kusayanagi are already at the hospital by now I believe.”

Once done, he made sure his spear tip was secured to his back. Reaching down and helping Manda open another fluid pack before lifting her and saying to Reina, “alright, time to take you to the hospital as well.” He said with a smile. Just as he did Manda with his left hand, he picked up Reina with his right arm. “Hold on.” He said quickly before he launched himself from his standing position a crossed a few rooftops, landing amazingly softly for such speed and height, and repeated the process for a few minutes before coming to an end at the hospital. Walking through the front door they were met by a few nurses with wheelchairs. Manda explained reinas condition and her own, both were lead off to other rooms. Manda a private room, Reina to the same room as Michiko, and Kaida. A doctor was coming to meet her there. Once she would be wheeled in, she would notice a tall man with dark hair, white shirt and tie walk out, and her grand uncle sitting there waiting.

Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Heartfillia
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Heartfillia

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Mr.Hisakawa





“The gentleman is right, we should not be to hasty Retha. Everyone wants to see Ms.Beaumont recover just as badly as you do” Mr. Hisakawa said to Retha as she walked out, as he stood in the hall, hearing the end of the conversation.

Mr.Hisakawa rushed over as soon as he got the call, similarly to his colleague, why she got there before him is because one of them drove the speed limit while the other one did not.

Once Retha walked away, The old man turned over to the unknown man who had been peering over Kaidas bed, seeing this person somewhat peaked Mr.Hisakwas curiosity. There were no records of any other man in Kaidas life other than her infamous father and that man was to be locked away for a long time. The geyser extended a hand towards him.

“You must Ms.Beaumont’s guardian I assume? I am Yasunari Hisakawa, headmaster at Komei Academy.”

He looked over at the the man who walked in, Instantly knowing him as the Yarl. Its kinda hard to miss a top hero. He only raised an eyebrow to wonder why he was here for Kaida...but that was soon answered with his introduction. He was quick to assume that he was her guardian. At which he looked the older man in the eyes quite keenly. It could be a ruse to figure out who he was...he had to know Jean was her guardian in France.

The man was cunning and tactical, which put a smile on his face, which clearly could have been just a smile of friendship. He reached out with his own hand and gripped Yasunari Hisakawa’s hand tightly, giving it a firm shake. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hisakawa. My name is Sparks. I am not Kaida’s guardian, But you can say I am old friend of the family in a manner of speaking.” He kept his eyes peeled to the Yarls, showing his confidence. Knowing this man was sure to sniff out a lie. As many older Sharp heros could do. “I was in town on business when I saw a news broadcast with the terrible ordeal, and I saw her. I came to make sure she was cared for properly… which was a wise choice, as they were trying to put ice packs on her…” Which was quite honestly true, except his business was coming to see kaida.

The man returned an even firmer grip as he shook his hand, one in which Hisakawa required to match in strength or else he would have been overpowered. “An old friend huh.” The man squinted his eyes a bit, you could tell by his body language that he became much more alert, “It's nice to meet someone who knows Ms.Beaumont, we should take a seat and talk about how she has acclimated to a new environment as well as to give my poor worn down legs a break.”

Yasunari was just being cordial for the time being as he spoke with this ‘family friend’. He wanted to know his real intentions and why he came over to Japan. The old man pulled two seats forward towards Kaida’s bedside using his quirk neatly placing them behind the man and himself. As he took a seat he let out a satisfactory sigh before gesturing for the man to sit down.

He noticed the change in the Yarls posture. And when he repeated old friend, it was clear that this is what gave him read flags. Sparks closed his eyes and smiled, adding “So to speak…” to clarify it wasn’t a simple definition of their relationship. The man snared him in his words and asked for him to sit down… it was clear, this was an interrogation disguised as a friendly chat.

He couldn’t back out now, it would only confirm red flags. Nodding in thanks he took his seat and crossed his legs while leaning back into the chair, getting as comfortable as he could. If this man was as keen as he thought, any indication of uncomfortableness and edginess will only confirm his theory. “Hopefully the change for her has been good. She was all cooped up in that castle back in France, she didn’t have many friends outside those walls...is she making any friends here?” He asked with honesty.

Sparks was smarter than he looked, when the question about whether Kaida had been making friends Yasunari laughed, “Kaida has made friends with more than half of her class already thanks to her foreign background. Honestly it is difficult to believe that she didn't have many friends before” he folded his hands as well. “I’m sure she will be happy to see that one of her old family friends came to visit, it's not easy for the young ones to leave home so early so every bit of support is crucial.”

Depending on how Kaida will react to seeing this man would determine whether or not he would take action against him. It seemed as though he knew he was out of place, with all these pros around. “I rushed here when I got the call, my grandchildren also attend my academy so I can understand why you would be worried. Will you stick a long for while? Some more pros will be on the way to discuss what had happened, are you familiar with the sky knights?”

He nodded with a smile. That was good to hear. “Bizzare I know, but true, her only friends where the servants in her home. She was rarely allowed outside. I originally thought it was because her father was being paranoid and over protective though after the news of hearing him arrested as the leader of a massive criminal organization, it became more clear.”

It was clear what the Yarl was doing… buying time for other pro heros to get there so they could gain the advantage in numbers. While the yarl was probably capable at giving him a run for his money, he was not prideful enough to solicit help. He folded his hands in his lap and nestled back into his chair to show he was getting comfortable. “I should be here for a while actually, I don’t have a meeting till tomorrow, I want to make sure the doctors don’t screw up anymore with her.” He then cocked his head to the side. “Heard of them, highly organized and relatively new. They were also the ones who fought with the villains who attacked the kids obviously. Personally I like the Valkyries more, i’m a sucker for the feisty ones... ” He said with a smile and wink.

As hard as Yasunari would look, he could not catch a bead of sweat or nervous tick on Sparks face. He wasn’t scared at all honestly. If things came down and they tried to detain him, they wouldn't be able to. Not that they would, as they had nothing on him. “I do hope they got some answers. It's scary to think powerful villains targeting children in an ally.” He leaned forward. “How are the others...there were four others in the attack as well correct? “ A honest concern could be heard in his tone.

Yasunari let out a chuckle at his comment about the Valkyries, he winked right back at Sparks “You young folk have it too easy, back in my hayday I knew a crew that would give them a run for their money...in all categories.” he said smirking right back at the man, “As for answers, the sky knights won't disappoint, I am curious as to why they decided to target them exactly.” A villain strong enough to give the sky knights some trouble and even harm Kaida, Michiko, and Takeshi who’s families technically rule the criminal underworld was strange.

“Yes there were four other students, they’ve all seemed to have lived through the attack though i’d say they’ve sustained heavy damage. I’d say Kaida was very lucky considering the circumstances, she escaped with burns but things could have been much worse. So far 3 of the students have been admitted into the hospital, two are on their way. One off those two is my granddaughter so I sympathize with your desire to get answers greatly.” A vein had popped out on the side of his head as that last word left his tongue.

Sparks smiled as well as he mentioned a crew that he would prefer. When he then mentioned that the skyknights wont dissapoint for answers, he rather doubted that. But perhaps he could be wrong. He looked to Kaida as she laid there, under those heat lamps. While the yarl was right, as she was lucky to only receive burns, it still made his blood boil. His hand clenching in fists. “I hope your granddaughter wasn’t hurt greatly.” he said softly as he turned back to the Yarl. He was going to speak some more. When he glanced at the door behind the Yarl and saw a man in a suit walking by slowly, looking directly at him as he passed.

A flash of anger appeared in his eyes, but it quickly passed as he looked at Yasunari. “Excuse me…” He said as he stood up as he reached into his coat that was on the chair he sat on and pulled out a phone from the vest pocket. Leaving his coat there as he slipped the phone into his pant’s pocket. “I need to make a phone call to her guardian and let him know how Kaida is doing.”

Leaving his jacket behind he went into the hall.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Zeroth
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Zeroth

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K E N I C H I

Heading towards the Dorms

@Feyblue@Silver Carrot



It was late, he was tired, he probably needed to take one of his pain meds and just go to bed...

But he had forced himself to fight his way back here for a reason, after all. And here was a clue to finding the trail. With a single-minded determination--though he did do a double take at the guy missing an arm, but assumed that if he wasn't screaming and no one was running for the nurse he probably had some kinda Quirk going on; and he also blushed at the girly sounds and the rustling coming from a nearby hedge--he strode across the courtyard after a certain not-quite-as-fluffy ahoge.

"Asuka-chan? Hey, Asuka-chan, it's me, from the other day!"

She was walking with Kasuke Mina, in the direction of the dorm buildings, and from the looks of it they were talking about something. Kenichi didn't really want to interrupt anything important, and he also hoped he wasn't about to barge into one of those "girl talks" guys were forbidden from hearing, but he didn't know where Fumika was. If she was already in the girl's dorm he couldn't exactly just charge in there, but maybe her sister either knew where she was or would pass on a message.

Assuming she would turn to face him, he stopped for a moment, grimacing as he breathed--those cracked ribs weren't gonna heal in just a couple of days.

"Hey, uh...Been a while. I, uh, just got back from some...personal business. I wanted to say hi to your sis--and you too of course, sorry--but I wouldn't wanna bother her if she's already...in her room or something." He stood up a little straighter, which made him wince again. "How's she been the last couple days? Like we talked about last time, she seemed kinda down..."

He nodded to Mina too as a form of greeting. She and he hadn't really spoken much, though he'd overheard a few of her conversations with other students. He remembered something about her being good at Karate--which also reminded him of his talk with...Yashiro, wasn't it...about learning some martial arts himself. He sure could have used it, back there on that mountain...

Nope. Think about Motome-chan, and how she's been since I've been gone. What's she been up to? Wonder if anything fun happened. Do not think about the mountain, or being chained up, or helpless--DO NOT THINK ABOUT IT. Motome-chan. She is a tough cookie. Her hair is fluffy. A fluffy cookie. That's a weird mental image.
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by pkken
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Persia Hayashida


Persia couldn't help but smile at the pink haired girls answer, it was true but in her own little adorable way. It seemed as though her answer also caught the attention of someone else, Ko-ko sensei added her own two cents, giving her own answer to the question posed. The brunette just nodded her head in agreement, both sides offered really good points it was difficult to pick one over the other. "But don't you have to be lucky to some degree Ko-ko sensei? I mean you would certaintly have to first off be born with a quirk that is fit for heroing, not only that you have to be somewhat appealing to the public in which you are saving." Persia began twirling her hair around with her finger as she watched Amane began shouting as he ramped up his own speed.

"Life can be cruel in that way, there are many people who would love to be heroes and have to make to be a great one but because of the cards they were dealt are forced to give that dream up...drive is what every great pro has as well as every infamous villain. The stronger your drive, the farther you will go."

Persia was to busy lost in her mind as she thought harder on the question. What exactly was her drive for being at Komei? She attended the school and it was nice but only because her brother suggested it to her. She had talent and the right quirk as well so getting into the program wasn't something out of reach for her.

I AM GOING TO BECOME A HERO!!!”


The girls trance was snapped as she watched her friend shout at the top of her lungs, Ruby for sure had drive. A strong one that pushed her to climb from the bottom of the barrel, she had yelled so loudly at Amane that everyone in the gym looked in her direction. Even Amane had been shocked, all he could say was for her to get ready for round two. Which in other words meant that she had gained his respect to some degree. When Ruby agreed to his 2nd challenge Persia jumped from her seat to but in.

"Nononononononono, neither of you will be fighting until your injuries are COMPLETELY healed. If you push further you will risk damage, then both of you wont be heroes." Amane just simply let off a "tsk" at Mako telling them to head to the nurses office, sure he was a jerk but he wasn't a fool.

Persia grabbed her neko friend as she exited but before leaving the building she looked over at pinky.

"Do you want to come too? We can talk more as these two get their wounds treated."

@Silver Carrot@Lucius Cypher@Melpaws
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Aerandir
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Aerandir The old guy

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Jett stood there as Haruka freaked out. Any other day he would have laughed. As scaring Haruka was one of the few ways he could see her blush. She was so cute when she blushed… and that squeak. It was adorable. She tried to get away, only to tople forward onto the ground. This caused him to have a ghost of a smile. Remembering those old days, mixed with his emotions of these past few, it tore away his enjoyment of it. That and the fact that he just caused a one legged girl to fall over. He felt bad about that.

As much as he did though he reached out to help her but hesitated. Haruka was an extremely independant and proud girl, she even got mad at him for hugging her the other day. He didn’t want to cause anymore trouble honestly. He did however step over the bench as she called him a jerk and reminding him how he wasn’t supposed to scare her. He didn’t know what to say really. He hesitated again as he looked at her. She then added ‘I’m sorry…’ trying to hide her face.

Her just saying that really meant she meant it. There were only a handful of times she actually broke down and apologize or admitted she was wrong. It was a big step, and yet he felt bad as well. It was his fault for getting so mad in front of everyone.

He was silent for a bit, trying to find the right words to say, or what to do with himself. He finally sighed, knowing she would probably still get mad at him, but ignoring it away, he knelt down in front of her on one knee, He tried to give her privacy by not looking her directly in the eyes, but reached out and grabbed her crutch. Pulling it behind him he then reached forward with his other hand. “Here…” He said, waiting for a moment for her to either take his hand or not, if she didn’t he would wrap his arm around her waist and lift her up.

Once he had lifted her up he loosened his hold on her for a moment so she could stand on her own foot, bringing her crutch to her reach, if she chose to sit or stand, it didn’t matter. He then looked at her and said, “Thank you... I am also sorry Haruka. I embarrassed you in front of everyone. “

He sighed. “I still don't get why you wouldn’t tell me… “
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Lucius Cypher
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Lucius Cypher Looking For Group

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Mamoru pursed her lips at Mako's responses. Sure, Mako likely had years of experience over Mamoru, but she still felt that Mako was wrong. And having never been the type to really keep a lid on things, Mamoru was all too willing to speak her mind about it. "Luck is totally a thing that applies to everyone. Did you have to work hard to get your quirk? Do you know what I did to get mines, or for someone like Amane to get his? We didn't really do anything to earn our quirks, it was just given to us. After that, we worked hard to figure out how to make it work for us. Luck factors into other things too, sensei. Things that we can't control. Stuff like running into a familiar face during a job who may help or hinder you, or people you don't like who happened to be friends with each other. That's the bad thing about luck though; despite all your hard work and natural ability, things don't always turn out how you expect them to. That's why some of the most powerful people in the world are bad guys. That's not something you and I had any control over. That's just how things turned out. It isn't fair. But a hero's life isn't fair. That's why they have to fight so hard to tip things in their favor."

There was other statements that Mako had said that also caught Mamoru's attention. Without giving them much thought she also talked about it. "But I think you'll make a great hero, if you had the drive to be one! You choose to use your powers for bad sensei. I remember reading about you in a magazine and about how good at stuff you were in high school. Model student. Everyone liked you. Unless there's stuff you haven't told us, I don't think there was any outside force that really made you become a bad guy. You just didn't have the drive to be a hero. Sure you had the talent and the luck, but you didn't want to be a hero." As for the other statements, Mamoru simply raised her bandaged, useless arms.

"Sacrifice is the hardest thing a hero can do. And I don't mean dying either. No one wants to give up after all. But there will come a time in a heroes career where she'll have to throw everything away to do what she believes is right. For some people, giving up your life is easy. I bet if it really came down to it, everyone in 1A would gladly give up their lives to save someone they don't even know. But it's the little things, those small compromises, that'll break a hero. Stuff like letting a bad guy go because he needs money. Or leaving your friends behind because they're only holding you back. Or breaking your limbs to save your friends from an accident. Those are the sort of sacrifices a hero has to make. It's not glorious and no one is going to appreciate it, but those things can make or break a hero."

Mamoru turned back to Ruby and Amane as their fight was finishing up. Mamoru actually wasn't paying attention to the last of it since she was talking to Mako, so she would just cheer for Ruby and congratulate her on her win. She waved her arms violently at Ruby and screamed loudly. "Way to go Ruby! I knew you had it in you!" Mamoru was yelling so loudly that she didn't realize that she had dislocated her arms at the elbows. Thanks to the medication she was under and the bandages, Mamoru didn't even feel the pain. She just sort of realized that her arms were bent out of shape. "Hmm. Well would you look at that." Mamoru let her arms down at the side as she hopped left to right. When Ruby approached Mamoru would do her little happy dance in front of Ruby. She would've tried to hug her had she not had broken arms. But between her little jig she looked back at Mako.

"Plus Ultra, sensei. If your best isn't enough doing less isn't going to help at all. Sometimes you need to do more than give it your all, and give more than you got." Then Mamoru looked back to Ruby and Persia and nodded. "Yup! I think I need to see the nurse again."

@Silver Carrot@pkken@Melpaws






Slowly Donny tried to maintain his shape, however being in water was always funky for him. Even when he takes baths he usually just fills the tub and then covers up in a few gallons of water. Or takes a shower. He also wondered just how he was suppose to get out of here. It looked like the water came from some sort of tube below since there was no hose or nozzle he saw above him. Even his oxygen mask came from a tube coming out of the ground. "First thing's first. Let's deal with this water." Donny began to suck the water into his body. Barely six seconds and the entire tank was drained of water. He removed his mask and could smell the stale water mixed with his body's odors. It was stale. However once he was metaphorically on his feet all the pain came back to him. If he had knees they would've buckled by now. However he figured it was just fatigue. As his memories were coming back he realized that he wasn't the only one who should be here; Yukari must have gotten taken away too. He needed to find her and make sure she's alright.

Looking around the tube he still wasn't sure how he was suppose to get out. There was no rim or door frame. And as much as he didn't want to do it, he'll just have to make an exit himself. He planted his body against the glass and ate a clean circle large enough for him to slither his body through. As he slide out of the tank he looked around and noticed that his room was awfully bare. Didn't even have any chairs. He chuckled mirthlessly. "Well, it's not like I was expecting guest." Drinking some water from a faucet to get some energy, Donny went to find where Yukari was. Or where his meat bag was, not remembering that it was utterly destroyed.

"Damn what a day. I hope everyone else had a better day..."




Other


Nodding his head at Hitomi, Asahi stepped aside to let her take the center stage. Soon the opposition set out their representative. Hitomi would recognize the student: Kamui Hibiki of Support Class 2C. Her quirk allows animals to understand her speech and for her to understand animals, effectively allowing her to communicate with them. A very strong contender as she has used her powers to help deal with creatures before, even strays and wild animals. However Hibiki has a bad reputation that Hitomi would no doubt know: among her peers she's known as the "Mad Vegan" partly due to her entirely vegetarian diet (Mainly because she's a practicing Buddhist) but also due to her ill temper when it comes to interact with people. She typically hangs out with animals only, and even people like Hitomi who has an animal related quirk isn't someone she's kind with. How Tori convinced her to help in the challenge is unknown considering that she wasn't present at the meeting.

With the two representative chosen the challenge would soon begin. White Hat reiterated the rules once more while he held a timer in one hand and a neon yellow flag in the other. "Now that both sides have chosen their representative, you may begin!" He raised the flag up and the challenge commenced. Immediately Hibiki dashed towards two cats and picked them up, speaking quietly to them. "Shush. We're just playing a game. Help me get the other cats to follow me and I'll give everyone a tasty treat!" She spoke to the animals who gave a surprised look at Hibiki, but seemed compliant. She let them go as they went off to the other cats.

@Silver Carrot@liferusher
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Norschtalen
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Norschtalen

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Dulga Tarata


As Dulga was walking away a newcomer had joined the drama bomb that Dulga was leaving behind. She would like to have left it as soon as possible, but Mina called Dulga out to assist the boy. Without turning around she rolled her eyes and sighed. She just wanted to go home and do some hunting, but now she had to figure out what to do with this boy. At least everyone started to depart, leaving Dulga and the kid alone. She turned to face him and noticed that he was missing an arm and heavily wounded. Perhaps if he was more panicky, Dulga would've taken things more seriously. But after all the shenanigans she's been through this past week she just caulked up his own nonchalant reaction to his injuries as something related to his quirk. Or he was trying to draw pity attention to himself. Either way she wanted to be rid of him as fast as possible.

"We're going to go to the nurse's office, then the teacher's office. They'll fill you in on what you missed." Dulga turned back around and began walking, expecting the student to follow. "I'm sure your fine if you think eating your own arm is a viable solution to hunger then you come to us to joke about it, but just to make sure you don't end up making a fool of yourself you should follow me." Dulga walked quickly and didn't say anything to him as she headed to the nurse's office. Fortunately it wasn't a far walk.

@FamishedPants
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by pkken
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pkken

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Roy Kusayanagi


The anesthesia that had been injected into Roy worked its magic quickly allowing for the medical personnel to work much more efficiently. Hospitals were never Roy's favorite place simply because it was never made a positive place to be, its seemed as though it was filled with nothing but negativity, something that he despised to the fullest. Once the doctor finished tending to the fractures on Roy's face they worked on the cuts and burns he had suffered by his final attack. There were scrapes going up the full length of his arms as well as his chest and stomach which were probably the smallest injuries that he had sustained. It seems as though he had suffered 2nd degree burns on his hands, feet, and chest. These 3 areas held the most concentrated energy when he had launched his attack at the cost of burning, the damage accumulated must have gone unnoticed as the adrenaline was rushing to his brain.

In about 30 minutes the medical personal seemed to have treated the sustained injuries enough so that his body could recover naturally with no problems. Roy was then taken to a specially reserved room for him and Takeshi as they were to be questioned once they recuperate. The anesthesia helped Roy sleep peacefully but only for so long until he began making faces from the dreams that had been occuring in his head, as he slept he began squirming lightly.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



"When I grow up I want to become a hero."

A younger Roy mumbled under his breath from his hospital bed as he watched the news engrossed on the situation at hand. Currently the pro hero Gang Orca was on the television, a pro hero who has all the features of a killer whale. The boy watched attentively at the news footage of the pro releasing sonic waves so intense that it stunned a group of bank robbers… that’s all that could be seen until the device being used to record was destroyed by him as well.

"So….Coooool.”

Suddenly the door to his hospital room flung open startling Roy as he wasn’t even supposed to be awake right now! He should have been spending his time resting. With quick thinking, Roy shot under the covers and pretended to be fast asleep, even letting out a couple of loud snores to signal he was asleep.

”Roy I know you aren’t sleeping, you're too young to be snoring like a father of 4.

Soon she began tickling the boys nose until his act crumbled and childish laughter filled the room.

”But Mom, I’m not even that tired. the boy said sitting up in his bed and rolling his eyes, his gaze falling on the view on the city of Shinjuku that was outside his window. The sky was blue as can be, it was crazy how you could get so sick just by enjoying a beautiful day. ”Besides, Gang Orca was on the news so I couldn’t possibly resist! I want to meet him someday!” Gang Orca was indeed his favorite hero, like Roy, he wasnt able to stay in the sun for too long, though despite haing such a weakness he stood at the top when it comes to the best Heroes.

His mother began chuckling at the boys enthusiasm, ”Haha, I suppose.”, she began running her fingers through her sons hair. Though there was a hint of worriedness on her face as she did, his body temperature was much more intense then the day before, it seems as though he wasn’t getting much better. ”Promise me you will try to rest alright?”

The boy simply nodded as he laid his head back down on his pillow once again as his mother got up and closed the blinds letting in the sunlight. ”...Mom..do you think..that I will get any better?..that I could actually...y-you know...do normal kid stuff?” his eyes began to grow a bit misty. “I...I hate it here, I really do.”

His mother began biting her lip before embracing her son, “I want you to get better more than anyone Roy, you don’t know how much you mean to me.” she silently sobbed as her grip around Roy began to grow tighter, this was one of the few times he had ever seen his mother cry. No would ever wish to see the woman who gave them life so gloomy.

”Alright...I’ll go to sleep.I promise..” Roy said as he wrapped his arms around his mother returning the hug back to her. Wiping the tears out of his own eyes on her mothers shirt. I’ll get better I promise..I love you, so please. Don't cry.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


The scary part about dying isn’t death itself, but who it affects. Just knowing how much sadness you will cause to the people you care about. It's an experience you would never wish on anyone. [color=9e0b0f][i]All might is the symbol of peace. Well I want to be a symbol of hope.[/color] The boys eyes began twitching as he slowly began to wake up from his sleep in a cold sweat as his eyes slowly adjusted to the hospital ceiling. He placed a hand up to his head as he tried to rub away the pounding pain. [color=9e0b0f]Argh, suddenly his eyes widened as the thought of his friends crossed his mind. In a flash he sprung out of bed but quickly stiffened up, wincing in pain as the recoil from his injuries struck. He looked over to his right seeing Takeshi in a bed next to him which helped him calm down a bit, it seems as though he was alive.

WAIT, I could’ve sworn this guy had been eaten alive, he would have to hear the story behind that once he was awake. Suddenly his heart beat picked up he began to wonder if the girls are also safe. He tried to walk towards the door but his legs nearly collapsed, he quickly grabbed onto the side of the bed. I can’t walk, there must be something here to help me? Roy scanned the room spotting a wheelchair fixated on a rack near the corner where his bed was situated. The boy quickly reached out for the pole containing his IV bags as he planned to use it to support his weight. Slowly but surely he crept over to the wheelchair before grabbing the saline bags of IV and plopping down into it the vehicle. Another thought crossing his mind as he got himself situated.

Is Kaida alright!? After I blacked out I have no clue what happened to her, I know her burns were pretty bad! What if they haven’t been treating her correctly”

The boy quickly began rolling over to the door which had slowly began creeping open, it seems as though someone was coming through. It was Acion! Though at the speed Roy was going it would seem like Acion would get ran over if he didn’t move quick enough.

"WATCH OUT!"

@Conscripts
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Conscripts
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Conscripts An Atom Trying to Understand Itself

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Acion Nakamiji
Albert Saratogi
Forte Dragunov

Aurelia Nakamiji


The door leading to the man's quarter in the hospital was a pull door, on Acion's perspective that was to say. As any person with common sense would know, inside was the patience's area, which should be in an almost silent state. As a result, so as not to disturb that, Acion opened the door slowly. And consequently he could not see his friend rushing at him at maximum speed...

"Argh!"

The door slammed right into his forehead. The edge of the door to be exact. The sudden pain rushed to his face was great enough that he let go of the door handle, allowing the door to swing wide open, giving Roy the way through. And he thought he was in grave danger

"He is such a rhino." The Sky Knight said as she took a side step, letting him pass, while Acion was clutching his head in pain. "Injuries that caliber and I would be on my bed for at least a day."

"He's heading for the girl's quarter. Must be worried about his girl."

'Damn it Roy...'

"Roy, wait!" The winged man said as he chased after him, turning right at the corner where he saw he turned.

But the moment Acion peeked into the hallway, he could see a familiar face, along with a not so familiar one. This is the face that had struck him in complete zero gravity just the other day.

"Mr Principal?" He uttered.

This struck the cord of the other three standing nearby.

"He's here." Though they weren't too surprised. He was always there whenever they got into trouble back during the days. Soon, the three heroes, or to the old Gravity Yarl, three Komei alumni, made their entrance to the two men standing in the hallway.

"Good evening Mr Hisakawa." And one of them spoke.

@pkken
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by FamishedPants
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FamishedPants CEO of Vanderlay Technologies

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Toru Ayanokoji



"I'll put some more effort into my next attempt!"

@Norschtalen@Silver Carrot


In a way, I suppose I did ask for this.

Toru had begun to wonder if his habit of messing with people was finally coming back to bite him in the ass. He would not be surprised if karma was very upset with him, and decided to push back. Perhaps they shared some weird similarity to one of Newton's laws? Surely this was some divine retribution for his constant pranks and godawful puns.

I think I would actually be honored if that were the case. But more likely, there's a different reason for the unfavorable results...

The reactions (or lack thereof) he received from the group was rather informative in a way. Much like they probably figured his missing limb was no problem due to his own attitude towards it, he figured out a little something about them by paying attention to how they responded to his presence. And what did he learn? Oh, nothing much. Other than the simple fact that everybody in this group had to be some kind of crazy to give such minimal attention to him. They were a far cry from normal, but he probably shouldn't be talking about that, given his own situation. Still, he was rather curious as to how these people could react as they did. What had they seen to desensitize them to his antics?

But a more pressing concern Toru now had was that he wondered if this was going to be the standard reaction by the student body? Was being 'weird' the 'norm' in this school? If that was the case, this wasn't the "interesting and unique situation" he wanted at all. Quite the opposite really. He liked standing out. And to paraphrase a quote from a man who arguably was more brilliant than even Newton, "When everybody is weird, nobody is".

Well, at least one of them had the decency to make light of his situation in the way he liked. It should come as no surprise, but Toru did not miss the jab from the blonde, proper-sounding girl who 'respectfully' declined to help because she was obligated to assist this "Motome-san". He might have considered leaving the school had nobody picked up on that. Thankfully, however, SOME people here had some class. And in appreciation of that, it would not be incorrect to say that out of all the people he met in this school, she was currently his favorite. Especially after she so kindly volunteered somebody else to help him. What a nice person, indeed.

Now then, who is Tatara-san?

By the time he'd asked himself this, there was literally only one other person left. Of course, it had to be the really tall person with the extra arms and the getup that reminded him of the Metro series. Given the size difference, the fact he was outnumbered in limbs, and this very strange, unexplainable feeling that they weren't the sort to joke around, he should probably play it safe since they could likely main him if she so desired.

"We're going to go to the nurse's office, then the teacher's office. They'll fill you in on what you missed." the figure ordered. Given all the concealment, it wasn't until she spoke that he knew what was behind the mask. That could've been bad. So, perhaps thankful for the avoided bad-end, he followed behind her. Besides, she could have easily decided to leave him alone, but out of the kindness of her heart, she went ahead and decided to deal with him. How kind. He was almost moved by the motion. Really all she needed to do now was hit him with a good pun and she'd be miles above that blonde from earlier. "I'm sure you're fine if you think eating your own arm is a viable solution to hunger then you come to us to joke about it, but just to make sure you don't end up making a fool of yourself you should follow me."

"Well, I was always a fan of finger foods, so I figured I might try it. Don't worry though, it won't happen again," he promised, making sure that common sense understood that its place was elsewhere. Puns were more than worth the potential danger of irritating her. He also stole glances at the campus while they walked. He'd seen it before, of course, but.. the school was rather beautiful, compared to the locker he was stuck in. There was a lot more colors and space to move around. "Well, thank you for being volunteered. I don't think you can stop me from doing what is in my nature, but I appreciate the concern... uh, Tatara-san, was it? Oh, I am Ayanokoji Toru, in case that ever matters. Address me how you will."
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Silver Carrot
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Kasuke Mina


"I actually don't know very much about you, but I'm something on an expert on putting on a friendly front. I can smell it a mile off. Even so, I know it feels better just to relax and talk honestly for a while. Trust me, it could always be worse than people thinking of your 'true character'. Undeserved and unwelcome pity is far less bearable."

Mina looked back to the courtyard when Asuka did, but couldn't see what she was looking at. Now Mina's mood also seemed to have soured, just thinking of that girl and Jett. She decided to besmirch the name of this unwelcome complication a little. "Well, what did you get out of helping her? A friendship of equals isn't one person constantly asking favours of the other and giving nothing in return. I wouldn't worry about Tatara-san either. She strikes me as that kind of person. Besides, she seemed to be mostly annoyed at Harukaze for not showing up in person and using you as a carrier pidgeon."

It was then when a boy appeared, who Mina hadn't seen in a while, though that was true of many students as she'd been recovering and training ever since the exercise. He was the loud, blue-haired self-proclaimed 'main character', though he seemed slightly less bombastically insufferable today. Mina returned his nod, albeit more curtly that she had recieved it.

@Feyblue@Zeroth






Maeda Hitomi


Hitomi was now worried. Kamui Hibiki's quirk, she knew would be very useful in this exercise. Then again, so was her own. This would be closer than she had previously thought. Hitomi hadn't spoken to Hibiki-san much last year, but as the class rep of 1C, she kmew a lot about the quiet, hostile girl.

The exercise had now started. Hitomi dashed straight into the middle of the area, floofed up her hair as much as she could, got on her knees and tried to exude as much of a sense of 'natural prey' as she could, making herself small and low to the ground. She closed her eyes and tapped into her sheep sense. Now that many of the cats had taken notice of this prey, or her wooly hair, or both, she could tell the location of all of them at once. Even during this process, several cats had ran up to her and climbed up her body, before starting to play with and claw her hair, unable to resist the appeal of wool.

@Lucius Cypher@liferusher






Mako Akane


Mako shook her head. "We're now getting into differences in philosophical thinking. I actually agree with everything you've both said. Circumstances dictate a lot; the quirk you were born with, your upbringing. Who you meet, being at the right place at the right time and having your life changed forever. But I don't believe in luck. I don't believe some people are luckier than others. I don't believe circumstances can be changed by good luck charms or prayers. Above all, I don't believe that one of the key requirements of making it as a Hero is a trait that you have no control over. Just because you have no control over circumstance, and may never catch that big break, doesn't mean hard work and talent will go unrewarded just because someone's 'unlucky'.

As for your comment that I'd make a great Hero, maybe I would, now. But growing up, I chose a path of my own free will, and I never regretted it. I never had much of drive. My motivations were selfish, and there wasn't anything I cared enough about besides myself to push myself in a way a Hero needs to. I only got good at fighting Heroes through practice, and I persisted because I loved the attention and infamy I was getting. Villains aren't just evil Heroes. They have a fundamental difference in thinking."


Mako winced as Mamoro severely aggravated her injuries celebrating. "Maybe you could even stand to learn a few things from my past example, like self-care and self-preservation."

@pkken@Lucius Cypher@Melpaws
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