Chapter 8: Remembrances and Resolve
Dagobah Beach, 2 days earlier
"Come on Midoriya! You still haven't got a touch on me!" Water Hazard yells as he sprays whips of water. "Don't tell me you still haven't healed yet!"
It had been 5 days since the mall incident and with his fingers healed, Midoriya was right back to training.
Midoriya gets hit with some of them but continues to dodge. "I'm not done yet!"
He rolls under one of those whips and tries to get in close, however…
"That won't work anymore!" Ben yells and sprays the ground, propelling himself back several meters. "Try again!"
"I'm not the only one learning here." Midoriya thinks as he gets up from the ground. "He's gradually adapting just as well as I do. So, time to take it up a notch..."
He turns off the One for All on his arm and instead spreads it to his legs. "What about this!" and jumps into the air.
"Don't hesitate, just do!" Midoriya then activates One for All back on his right arm. "Ready or not, here I come Tennyson!"
Water Hazard reflexively raises his arms but doesn't fire and lowers them back down.
"What is he-" Water Hazard, with an invisible smile on his face, jumps up just like he did and uses his water to further propel himself right at the greenette.
"You did good, but I'm ending this!" Water Hazard says and gets ready to grab Midoriya's right hand. However, Midoriya grabs him instead…
Then, Ben notices Midoriya's other drawn back arm. "That was a faint?!"
"Imagine the egg not exploding!" Midoriya thinks and his left arm lights up. "Unleash the 5%!"
With a left hook, he punches Water Hazard right in the face!
"Ha-There!" he yells. "I got one!"
And better yet, his arm was not broken. It was completely fine! "How was that?"
But Ben does not answer… His eyes were closed. "Tennyson?"
He only starts to realize his situation after that. He… was falling.
"Tennyson?! W-Wake up!" Midoriya yells as he grabs hold onto Water Hazard's body. He couldn't have hit him so hard, right? His arm wasn't broken, so he managed to control it right?
Still no response. The ground was getting closer and Midoriya knew he was out of options...
"D-Do I have to save us?" Midoriya mutters and draws his arm back again. "Is 5% going to be enough to stop both of us? Can I really do this?"
The ground continues to get closer.
"Okay okay, remember your pla-" Midoriya thinks as water suddenly shoots out from under them and slows their fall.
"Good reaction Midoriya." Water Hazard says.
The greenette dials back the One for All on his arm and looks at his transformed friend. "Tennyson, you're back?"
"Never left actually." Ben says with a grin and then deadpans. "I just wanted to surprise you… like you surprised me."
"Y-You almost gave me a heart attack..." Midoriya says as their feet step down on the ground again and he collapses to the sand. After all that running around, his legs were killing him.
"And you almost gave me one with that faint and punch!" Water Hazard retorts. "I know I have a strong shell but that was plain risky."
He then asks: "Can you show me that hand?"
Midoriya raises it, showing the back and front of it. "It doesn't hurt..."
Seeing that there was no open wound, Water Hazard takes a closer look and asks him to try opening and closing it.
"Okay…" Midoriya slowly opens it. Please… Tell me that I can do it…"
There was no pain so far… Midoriya then closes his hand.
"It… It doesn't hurt!" the greenette yells. "It's not broken!"
Water Hazard nods in approval. "Looks like we finally got somewhere..."
In a green flash of light, Ben appears and lends his hand down to his friend. But then…
"Young Midoriya!.." Midoriya hears from afar. "Young Tennyson!.."
Letting the greenette sit on the sand for a bit longer, Ben waves his hand and greets the blonde skeleton running towards them. "Hi Mr. Toshinori."
"Hello..." he pants for a bit. "Sorry…(huff)... for missing…(puff)... the training."
"You have no idea what you missed Mr. Toshinori." Ben then points to his greenette friend. "Midoriya here, finally got a solid hit on me."
The greenette lifts up his left hand with pride and shows his mentor how it's not damaged.
"This is great, young Midoriya." He crouches next to him and throws him a certain sincere look. One that meant: "I'm glad to see you harnessing this power..."
Midoriya then turned to Ben and saw him giving a thumbs up too.
"Well..." he says. "...Ready for another round Tennyson?"
Ben was perplexed for a second. Was it just him, or was Midoriya having as much fun as him?
In any case, he liked it...
With a grin, he puts his hand over the Omnitrix, not even looking to see if it charged up yet. "Ready when you are."
Midoriya returns the grin and attempts to get up on his own but-!
"Owwww!" he groans, reflexively grabbing his leg. "What was-?"
He tries to step on the ground again but he's met with the exact same pain on the bottom of his foot. And both the friend and the mentor notices.
"Young Midoriya..." Toshinori says. "Can you show us the bottom of your foot?"
The greenette was hesitant but eventually showed them. "Is it bad?"
He could feel the pain but…
"Well, at least his arm is not broken..." Ben says, trying to keep an optimistic tone. However, he eventually notices Mr. Toshinori's concern.
As the watch blinks green, Ben pushes down on the rims. "No need to worry Mr. Toshinori, I can get him to the hospital in an instant."
And slams down the watch.
His skin quickly turns red and some kind of yellow patagia forms under his arms. The hands on the end of his arms distort to become 3 fingered instead of 5 and each of those fingers elongate in size. His facial features get reduced down to two green eyes, a mouth stretching over his face and two yellow horns extending from his nose. Waving his arms around, he was ready for takeoff.
"Jetray!" He shouts.
"Hospital?" the greenette asks Toshinori, who was still by his side.
"It is not lethal, young Midoriya, but the bottom of your feet… they are shredded."
Despite the warnings of All Might and the unbearable pain, the greenette manages to look under his foot.
The upper half of his foot as well as the under of his toes were bloodied and the wounds were all kinds of distorted, most likely because of his use of One for All. In the meantime though, the lower halves were normal. Was this still progress?
"In any case, you need to see Recovery Girl."
He picks him up and…
"I'll take care of him, Mr. Toshinori..." Jetray says as he picks up Midoriya with his tail. "I'll be back in a flash."
Before they fly away, Toshinori has something to say to his protegee. "Young Midoriya, with your quirk, you must not rush it."
"Tread lightly and be careful. It won't happen overnight."
Midoriya nods and the pair start flying to the nearest hospital.
As they flew, despite being hung over the ground by only a tail and not even holding onto Jetray's legs, the greenette was not panicking.
"Tennyson..."
"Yeah?" Ben then briefly looks down at his passenger. "Want to try flying on my back?"
"No, it's just that... you tend to give me pointers after each session." He begins. "What is your take on this?"
"You sure?" Jetray asks again and Midoriya nods in response.
Without reservation, Ben says the one line that Midoriya was not hoping for: "Well, I agree with Mr. Toshinori…"
Midoriya sighs and looks to the area down below. "Even if... the school starts in 2 days?"
If Jetray had eyebrows, he would be raising them with surprise. "Midoriya..."
"I should have gotten a handle on it by now Tennyson..." the greenette says, waving his hands in the air. "When our hero classes actually begin, I want to be able to fight in the frontlines..."
He remembers a certain hero's rescue of over a hundred people…
"...Like All Might."
Jetray stays silent for a second. "Yeah I get that but you have to go at your own pace..."
"And besides, there is more to fighting than punches, kicks and projectiles."
As his eyes locate the hospital, Jetray says: "No one is expecting you to be the best as soon as the sun rises..."
Present Day
"NO!" yells Midoriya inside his mind. "I won't be complacent here! If that's my only choice, then I have to go all out!"
He drops the crutch from his hands and grasps the ball with all he's got.
"It's just as Aizawa says. At this rate, there is no way I'll become a hero."
Kacchan, Tennyson, Yaoyorozu, Iida, Tokoyami… All his classmates that had incredible showings pass by one after the other in his mind.
"I have to work harder than a lot of people. That's why, with all my strength… I'll do what I can right now!"
As the ball escaped from his grip, the tip of his finger lit up with a red energy.
"I WILL CATCH UP AND EARN MY PLACE!"
"SMASH..!"
The ball, with a huge shockwave, pierces through the air and flies like a rocket launched into space!
The class was in shock because of that throw but Ben, who had just transformed back, was smiling.
Rather than his whole hand... only the finger he used for that throw was broken.
"Way to set your own pace..."
The ball lands on the ground and Aizawa reads the result: 705.3 meters…
He had a curious expression, but…
"Mr. Aizawa..." says Midoriya and as he turns to look, the greenette makes his hand into a fist. "I can still move!"
The erasure hero smiles and nods. "This kid..."
However, Midoriya doesn't last long in that pose. The bandages under his right foot were turning red and he was sweating bullets by the second.
"Woah woah woah..." Ben comes to the aid of Midoriya and catches him. "Okay champ, that's enough."
The smile of Aizawa vanished right after Ben had entered his frame; but the greenette had too much adrenaline to notice. "Finally, a hero-like result."
But his job wasn't done.
"Tennyson..." Midoriya looks him dead in the eye, with never before seen determination. "I set my pace… and I'm coming for you."
He then picks up his crutch and stops leaning on his friend.
Even though Ben tries to avoid showing it, his grin grows bigger like he's finding this all too amusing... "Yeah sure, Midoriya."
"I'll make sure to watch my back." Ben replies. "In any case though, you definitely made your impact on the class."
"Are you sure?" Midoriya asks as Ben looks back at a currently raging and absolutely livid ash blond.
"Yep, pretty sure."
As every other student took their turn with the ball throw and the other three tests passed on by, the time finally came for the results...
And to learn who would be expelled once and for all from class 1-A.
"Okay, I'll quickly tell you the results." says Aizawa. "The total is simply the marks you got from each test."
Some were fearful, due to their possible standing in the leaderboard.
Some were confident, and just eager to get this over with.
Ben, on the other hand, was smiling like a manga reader in a crowd of anime watchers. He was certain of his position and he didn't exactly conceal it.
"Granted, I couldn't use the watch during the sit-up and seated toe-touch tests." Ben thinks. "But, with the rest of my scores, this was a cakewalk."
"It's a waste of time to explain verbally, so I'll show you the results all at once." states Aizawa and immediately a hologram shoots out of his phone, displaying all the individual results.
Number 1 was, of course, Ben Tennyson.
"Of course." Ben shrugs. "Now to find Midoriya."
Because of the greenette's condition throughout the whole test, he skips the top spots and immediately starts from number 15.
15 Yuga Aoyama, 16 Hanta Sero, 17 Denki Kaminari…
"Oh..." Ben thinks. "Midoriya, say it ain't so..."
Others, like Uraraka, who came to know the greenette desperately hoped that there was some sort of miracle. But, in a quote that felt like something Aizawa would say, reality wasn't so kind.
Ben continued to skim through the leaderboard.
18 Kyoka Jiro, 19 Minoru Mineta and 20… was Izuku Midoriya.
The shapeshifter immediately turned to his friend, and could almost guess his thoughts.
"Last place…" Midoriya thinks. "...will be expelled?"
He looks to the ground and squeezes the hand on his crutch. Was his journey… going to end here?
The hologram disappears and Aizawa, in the most nonchalant manner says: "By the way, I was lying about the expulsion."
"It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your quirks." he says with an almost creepy smile.
"Whaaaaaaaat?!" The whole class was shocked… except for a select few.
"Of course that was a lie." Yaoyorozu says as she stares at the group. "It should have been obvious if you just thought it through."
The low scorers were all sweat dropping. "I didn't notice at all."
"There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom, so when you get back, look over them." Aizawa says with his monotonous voice again. "Also Midoriya..."
He then lends him a piece of paper. "Have the old lady fix you in the nurse's office."
Turning to the class. "Tomorrow will be packed with even more rigorous tests… Prepare yourselves."
With that, the class heads to the changing rooms while Midoriya makes his way to the nurse's office.
As he made his way back, Ben just couldn't help himself from cracking a smile. Not only his friend wasn't getting expelled right out from the first day, but he was on the way to becoming a legitimate hero.
"Goodbye looking for alleyways to transform in, and welcome freedom." he thought as he yawned.
This was what he wanted, freely using his powers and taking responsibility for anyone that came after him.
He was on his way… to make the world an even safer place.
"Oh!" Ben utters to himself, like he had just remembered something. And there was also the powers, or rather quirks, of his classmates...
"Some of them were basic and nothing I haven't seen…" he recalls. "But there were some that even the Omnitrix couldn't give me, negating the gravity on objects/people, being able to secrete acid, straight up talking to animals..."
"Even though I might still have... 9,971 forms to go." He counts with his fingers. "...What they are able to do naturally is amazing."
His eyes fell back down onto his watch and then the result on the scoreboard flashes by his eyes.
Ben was thankful... that one fateful day allowed him to stand above all of them, despite the duty that came with it.
As people began coming back to the classroom…
"That was a little nerve-wracking, huh?" Sero remarks.
"You said it..." Jiro tiredly agrees.
Ojiro puts his hand on his chin. "To be honest, it was weird… Getting challenged right away with tests like that."
"Yeah." Kirishima raises his fist. "But I'll take up the challenge anytime!"
"Speaking on challenge..." says Ben. "You still sure I shouldn't hold back, Kirishima?"
"Maaaaaan and then there was you! How could I know you had a one man arsenal like that?!" the redhead exclaims as he turns to the shapeshifter. "I thought you only had that one bug form!"
"You knew about the bug form?" says Sero from the side. "I was surprised when the 50 meter dash came along and you transformed into… Cannonbolt, yeah?"
Ben nods.
"I really thought you were going to become Rath over and over again."
"Nah, he isn't exactly fast." Ben says as he places the handouts into his bag. "And, excuse me when I say, I don't like being angry all the time."
Jiro asks: "So, for that, you have 3 other forms to go ahead and pick from when it's time to battle?"
"Yeah, more or less..." says Ben as he closes the zipper of his bag.
"Talk about a balanced quirk..."
Sato also joins in. "He does have a 10 minute time though… I would say that's a good restriction."
"Aren't you just saying that because you are also time based?.."Jiro retorts.
Sato shrugs. "Maybe?"
"Do you have more perhaps, Tennyson?" someone asks from the corner of the class and Ben curiously turns his head.
The question was asked by the one and only Yaoyorozu, also packed and ready to leave. "I mean, you did state 'more or less'. "
Throughout the duration of the conversation, she hadn't been paying attention too much and was focused on assessing the first year's curriculum just like how their teacher instructed.
But as soon as Tennyson's forms became the topic, her curiosity started to nag at her. Yaoyorozu had seen Water Hazard in Midoriya's notebook, and if Ben was comfortable with it, she would like to see more...
Sero says: "There is just no way, right?"
Ben was seemingly dodging the question.
So Sero asked again: "Right?"
To be honest, even after the mall incident and training Midoriya, he still wasn't too comfortable with sharing his powers like that… But he really wasn't seeing a way out of this one.
With Ben staying quiet, the class was taken aback. "Really?!"
Ashido then quickly grabs Ben's arm and takes a closer look at the Omnitrix. "Then, if not 4, how many guys do you actually manage?"
"Hmm…" Ben thinks and then shrugs inside his head. "Eh, what would be the point of hiding it?"
"10." Ben says with a slight hint of pride and then thinks of his old transformations. "... and counting."
10… 10 different forms… and that meant 6 that they haven't even seen yet...
It weighed on the entire class… at least for 2 seconds.
"Can you show us one more?" Ashido asks with a smile full of anticipation. "Just one more, please."
Ben looks at the watch and hesitates. "I don't-" But the peer pressure just kept on coming.
"Your forms are all interesting, ribbit." Asui says.
Shoji says as he sits back down to his chair. "I must say that I'm curious as well."
"I mean… if you are for real then we're just one below half." Kaminari says. "I would say, let's just complete the first set."
As the lightning boy speaks his mind, Jiro says under her breath: "Is everything just a game to you?"
"Okay, what the hell..." Ben shrugs and hits the rims of the Omnitrix.
Suddenly a mystical green glow appears in the classroom and Ben turns the dial, to select his next form. "Now who to pick..."
Everyone was itching to see what their American friend would turn into. What could be next? They had already seen a tiger with anger problems, a mutated wolf, a rolly polly and a bug that was a whole mile away from cute.
But no one was as anxious as Yaoyorozu. Looking at her classmate from behind due to the position of their desks."What will you morph into this time?.. Will it be in-line with my animal hypothesis..."
Then suddenly, "Can it be a dazzlin' one this time?" the same blonde with the fancy belt says.
Remembering his name from the quirk assessment, Ben replies: "Not a bad idea Aoyama." and slams the dial.
A green flash covers the area, resulting in Yaoyorozu shielding her eyes. Once she opened them back up again, she was greeted by a sight… that she never expected to see. "What..."
"Chromastone!" Ben poses and slightly lights up his pinkish crystals. "Dazzlin' enough?"
Aoyama was pleasantly surprised. "Oui… It's amazing."
"Well, we lost him..." Ashido says jokingly but she also loved this tall fusion of rocks. "You're looking really fancy Tennyson."
"You think? It's most likely just the rainbow glow..."
"Yeah! The two of you, while Ben is in this form, could totally be a team!" she says enthusiastically.
The two foreign students look at each other.
"Oh yeah…" Jiro says. "And then you could form your own agency, The Twinkling Troupe."
"The Twinkling Troupe?" says Aoyama looks over and then spins around with an energy unique to him. "That's not bad! Tennyson, we have to do that."
"Uh…" Chromastone sweat drops. "How about occasional team-ups and you keep the name?"
"Deal."
"By the way, what else does he do?" Ashido asks.
"I'm glad you asked..." he proudly turns.
As Chromastone turns to Ashido to answer and turns off the lighting, Yaoyorozu catches a glimpse of the new form's front. "A silicone based structure… Different colored crystals sticking out like spikes..."
Now that she had a closer point of view, she also noticed one another thing on Chromastone and her eyes really went wide.
Swiftly picking up her backpack, she walks right towards the door. "It looks great Tennyson..."
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Chromastone asks.
"My driver is waiting downstairs." and closes the door behind her.
The class is left staring after her. "She's a rich girl alright..."
But Ben was left the most curious. To him, Yaoyorozu looked visibly shaken. "Did I… do something wrong?"
With the sun shining behind her, Yaoyorozu quickly made her way to a black luxury car waiting for her. It was longer than the average car but a bit too short to be called a limo.
She opens the door and gets inside.
"Juuuuuust another day at school, eh, Little Miss Y.?" the driver asks in an overly cheerful way.
The driver was relatively tall and bulky with an athletic build. He had a huge chin, orange hair, black eyes. And despite the rich background, the driver was wearing relatively normal clothes like a leather jacket, yellow shirt and orange tie, but he still had a brown cap, proving in some sense that he was still a driver.
"Yes, it has been enjoyable..." she answers. "But there is something I want to talk dad about, so can we get home as fast as possible?-"
Her eyes then go wide… She should not have said that, but the driver had already heard it.
"Your wish... is my command, ha ha!" He stepped on the gas, making the luxury car roar forward and sticking Yaoyorozu's back to the couch.
"So…" He then looked back at her for some small talk. "You want to get back home that badly? Honestly, been there."
"Not really." Yaoyorozu said as she pulled herself out. "The teacher represented the U.A. very well and my classmates are quite capable."
There was just… this odd feeling in her heart. Was it relief? Fear? Curiosity?
Whatever it was, she couldn't define it on her own just yet. "So, perhaps shock-?"
The car suddenly swerved very sharply and the driver continued.
"It's been a while since I have been at school, but in some ways, the road is still my school."
"Hey… That's deep. I gotta write that down." he stroked his chin and immediately reached for a pen and paper, making the car swerve again.
"Gah!" she blurted out. "Keep your eyes on the road, Launchpad."
With a merciful tone, "You know mom will make every dent come out of your salary… again."
He then grabbed the wheel with both hands. "Absolutely. Hey, have ya read about the crazy goings on at the Shiromaru Mine? People are talkin about cold air coming from it in spring and while it's buried shut! Think it's haunted?.."
Even though he was just a driver, Launchpad's spirit always cherished anything mysterious and when he was going, there was barely a way to stop him.
And at that point, Yaoyorozu did something that she absolutely hated… She pressed the divider. "Sorry about that Launchpad, but for just this one time, I need to gather my thoughts..."
So, what was she going to say to her father when she got back? All she had was a hunch, not fact… But the appearance, the stance, was it not Te-
With 0 warning, the car suddenly stopped and without a seatbelt, Yaomomo would have been flung right towards the window.
"We're here, Yaoyorozu Manor." the driver said as the creation girl opened the car's door.
Covered by a whole forest, there stood a giant white mansion with multiple windows, a door that was far larger than it needed to be and two towers accompanying the entire structure on each of the sides.
She entered through the door, with her knees weak from the 'nice driving' by Launchpad.
"Greetings Mistress Yaoyorozu..." says the butler as the rich girl steps inside.
He was a relatively slim, elderly man with gray hair despite mostly being bald. On top of that he had a mustache and was wearing a three-piece suit, a black jacket, a maroon vest and a white long-sleeved shirt with a black tie.
"I see that the young mistress had an exhausting first day. Shall I prepare lavender herb tea?"
"No need Alfred." Momo waves it off. She really wanted to come in with a serious attitude, but that would only worry the people inside. "Can you tell me where my father is?"
"Surely." He then points upstairs. "Your father is currently busy inside his office. Shall I call him down?"
"No need, I can go up to talk to him. Thank you anyway."
"Understood. Now, if I may..." Alfred says and bows before leaving for the kitchen.
As soon as he leaves, Yaoyorozu's happy attitude vanishes and she starts making her way up the stairs, making sure to keep herself from running. "It can't be possible, right..."
She gently knocks on the door and waits for a response. "Our shares increased by 0.53% today…"
Momo calmly knocks again. "He is probably busy, documenting our current-"
"Come in!"
Opening the door, she says: "Hello father."
Inside, sitting behind his luxuriously large desk, was a middle-aged man of medium build and height. He had short black hair with a few locks of hair parted to one side and had a mustache. As for what he was wearing, he was wearing a standard business suit.
"Oh, Momo!" his father gets up from his desk and gives his daughter a warm hug. "How was the first day of school?"
"It was very pleasant, father." She embraces the warm welcome. "I made sure to meet many of my classmates just like you instructed."
The father raises an eyebrow. "Really? And what are their names?"
She sweatdrops. "So, there is Tennyson, Jiro, Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida, Kirishima, Ashido, Asui… umm… Bakugo?"
"That's only 9 people, pumpkin." He points out immediately. "Have you not met the other 10?"
Trying to meet her father's gaze."I… have not had the opportunity yet?.." she hesitantly answers.
Her father seemed stern and eager for an answer but… he just couldn't be tough on his only daughter.
"Ha ha, I understand. That's still plenty of people." He goes over the names inside his head. "And one of them is a foreigner?"
"Yes, nothing really escapes your Mind Mansion, father."
Her father's quirk is called Mind Mansion. In a permanent location of his own choosing, Mr. Yaoyorozu can keep a perfectly documented memory of everything that he perceived. However, the quirk works at one tenth of its power upon leaving the premises.
A perfect quirk for a husband to remember every single special day that exists! Also a perfect excuse to keep track of their ever expanding business right from the comfort of his home...
She would love to keep up with this idle chat, but the last thing Yaoyorozu wanted was to lose focus. "Say father, do we still keep our holiday souvenirs in your office?"
"Of course." Mr. Yaoyorozu walks over to a nearby cupboard and opens it. "Did you want to take a look at them?"
"Yes, specifically photos and videos of when we went to America..."
He looks at the shelves, with his finger wandering around an unlimited number of photos that were all neatly kept. "Which part of America are we talking about, pumpkin?"
Niagara Falls, 5 years ago
"How can you not admire the beauty and raw power of nature?.." Mr. Yaoyorozu says from a nearby path's railings, gesturing at the waterfalls in front of him.
"I don't know honey..." Mrs Yaoyorozu says, walking over next to her husband with her own raincoat. "I like the sights but…"
She gestured at the waterfall as well but couldn't really bring the end of her sentence. "I don't know… What are you thinking, Momo?"
Springing up from her position, the 10 year old Momo immediately gets on the railings and looks with awe inspiring wonder. The roaring sound of the water and the light reflecting off from it, not to mention the small droplets of water landing on her face.
"It's... really beautiful, dad." She gets off from the railing. "Thank you for bringing us here."
"It was no issue… After all, Alfred was the one who flew us here."
They then wave over to Alfred, who was waiting in the car for them.
"So, what do you want to go on first? The boat, the cable car… Potentially 'Journey Behind the Falls'?"
With that question, Momo's expression immediately shifted from excited to deep thought.
One thing she knew about his father was that, even if he was going on vacation and had one tenth of the capacity to bring with him, he would make sure to well verse himself in getting the optimal experience. After doing that in his work for so long, it was a habit of his at this point.
Like she had been waiting for this question, Momo's mother immediately: "I vote for the cable car."
The rest of the family looks over. "I mean… Looking from above with the cable car, it just seemed much calmer..."
His father crosses his arms and looks at his family. "I apologize… But I have to select the boat. Pumpkin?"
"Umm..." Momo says and then looks at both of her parents."Is it okay if I pick the cable car?"
"Sure…" Momo's father shrugs. "We can do the boat at a later time."
With a smile, she runs back to the car, and the two parents are left alone for a minute.
"Told you she would like it here." Momo's father says.
After a brief drive by car, they make their way to the terminal...
"Alfred." Says Mrs. Yaoyorozu. "Do you desire to join us?"
"Oh no, let me not intrude on your family vacation."
"It's fine Alfred, really." Momo says. "You would not be intruding at all."
The butler looks at Mrs Yaoyorozu's eyes, searching for her permission.
Seeing Momo's mother nod, he says: "Well, if the little mistress insists."
After purchasing some tickets from the ticket booth, they get onto a cable car that starts from the right side of the waterfall…
With a video camera at hand, 10 year old Momo takes her palace right next to her father. "Oh, look at you..."
"Not all of us have that pristine memory, dad." she answers and just does her best to capture everything.
The giant source of water under them, the greenery on the sides, the bright light coming from the opposite cart… Wait what?
She puts the camera down and rubs her eyes. "What kind of a mutant type quirk is that?"
It doesn't take long for them to pass by one another and all Momo can focus on is the tall cinder man with a campfire head standing next to a girl and an old man. "A pro hero maybe?"
"I don't know him." says the redhead girl as they get further away from each other.
However, just before they got out of range, both cable carts shook vigorously and stopped with an emergency.
Ripping the opposite roof open, a monster says: "But we do!" before another one grabs the charcoal man.
"And we know all of his secrets..."
In a red flash, suddenly the flaming figure leaves his place for a… kid?
"Ahhhhhhhh!" screamed Mrs Yaoyorozu and quickly ducked behind the cart's wall. "Come to me, Momo!"
"Villains..." Momo's father thinks and takes out his phone, but the expensive piece of tech immediately gets hit by a shiny green crystal.
"Not on my watch." The monster reforms his diamond arm and nags his finger. "Now sit still, this will all be over soon."
With a hardened glare, both Mr. Yaoyorozu and Alfred take cover with the rest of the family. In the meantime, Momo was doing her best to keep a cool head.
"Villains?! Here?!" She thinks, slightly panicking from all this. "Keep it together Momo, first… observe the situation."
She wiggles away from her mother's grip, just enough to pop her eyes out from the side of the cable car.
"Okay, one of them is..." She had no words for what she was seeing. It was a walking brute which was the mishmash of all kinds of body parts and textures available and had a weird device on his back. "... a monster. And the other… has an octopus on his head..."
Like fate was waiting for her to watch, a green flash came from the car and the kid in the black and white t-shirt was no more. Momo could only assume the worst. "No!"
The two villains immediately look at the source of the yell and then back to where the kid was.
Suddenly, in yet another green flash, a crystal fist uppercuts the octopus headed villain. "Oh yeah! Think again!"
The crystal hero almost knocks the octopus head off the cart, with him barely being able to hang on.
Seeing the other villain coming up, Momo yells: "Behind you!"
The hero ducks under the punch and counters with one of his own right to his gut! "Thanks."
Momo waves at the hero but is then immediately pulled back down by her parents.
"Stay close to Alfred all right, pumpkin?" Mr. Yaoyorozu warned and looked over briefly like an officer in a shootout. "You're too young to be this close to the action..."
Suddenly, the crystalline warrior was thrown right into their cart, passing above them, through the window.
He shakes his head. "Ow… Even I could feel that..."
Momo and her family look fearfully at the display in front of them… With cracks on his arms, the warrior laid in place.
She could also make out a symbol on him. "Did the flame person have that as well?"
"What's wrong twerp!" The hulking hero breaks into the cable car and steps on the hero's chest. "What happened to all that talk?! Being stronger than us?!"
"No! Get away from him!" Momo shouts, creating two bricks on her arms and freeing herself from Alfred's grip.
Making a steel staff, she then hits the giant in the back… to 0 effect.
"Hmph?" he notices the girl. "Oh, wasn't that cute..."
"Get away from her!" The crystal warrior deforms his arms and shoots several shards right at the abomination, managing to make him falter.
With the villain losing his balance, the crystal warrior gets up and tackles him.
Starting to close off the rest of the cart with diamonds, he yells out: "You won't harm anyone while I'm around!"
As part of the cart was getting sealed off, Momo continued to stare at the warrior's back. An unwavering green crystalline hero...
"Heard that kid?! HE will protect you from ME?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" As the stand still continued, the villain continued to laugh. "You forgot the meaning of 11 or what, twerp? I got your powers, plus my own!"
Momo could not see any further and she felt the weight shift on the cart. So she made a move towards the window. "Don't lose, hero! Please don't lose!"
Her heart immediately sank.
All she could see was the hulking villain flying with the two wings on his back, while her hero hung onto the villain's legs. "Afraid of heights?"
The hero grins. "Not so much."
She sees her hero letting himself go, but before she can see more, another green flash covers her field of vision.
"Where did..." All she could make out after that, was the octopus-faced villain tackling something down to the steel barge on the waterfall, before suddenly being pulled away from the window.
"Momo!" Mrs Yaoyorozu yelled at her daughter. "Never ever EVER, do that to me again!"
"Are you alright little miss?" Alfred asks, equally concerned.
"Yes..." Momo takes a deep breath. "I'm alright… He protected me..."
"Good… That's good..." Mrs Yaoyorozu says, with adrenaline starting to leave her system, making her voice weaker by the second.
Holding onto tears, she says: "Y-Your father is calling the police and heroes now from my phone… We'll be alright..."
Scratching her head, Momo asks: "...and then the police came, am I right? What happened after that?"
Her father had his arms crossed, refusing to continue his story.
Momo asks again more emotionally. "What happened after that, dad?!"
"Later, the police and heroes arrived..." he says and after taking a deep breath, continues: "We testified for the attack, however the barge had fallen off the waterfall and neither the hero nor the villains were found… I'm sorry."
She could faintly remember hearing that police report as her mother and Alfred were trying to get her into the car… and the nightmares that came along with it.
Every night for the rest of their vacation, she would wake up in a cold sweat, dreaming of the monster's return and finishing the job he started all that time ago.
But, it wasn't the time for that now… She needed to keep her focus on the task at hand.
"Is there anything left from that time?" Momo asks. "A photo? Maybe even a crystal?"
Her father averts his gaze, but he knows his daughter…
So, he makes a move to his desk. "Make sure your mother never sees this..."
He opens one of his drawers, takes something out and slides it over...
It was her old video camera! Back from their trip. "He kept it all this time?"
She takes it and slightly bows her head. "Thank you."
As Momo was about to get outside, her father called out. "Momo!"
She stops.
"What's going on? Why did you bring this up now?" He questions her daughter… But for the first time, not a word escapes her lips…
"Momo!" he cries out again while the teen closes the door after her.
But there was no answer.
"She wasn't scared, so the monster can't have come back… So did the hero?-"
He could get only one glance of his daughter's face before she left. And all he could see… was resolve.
She entered the room, shut the door, tossed her backpack on her bed and without losing another second, plugged the camera into her computer.
After the hero's crash landing, it turns out she had briefly dropped the camera to the floor. The lens was scratched and the angle wasn't exactly favourable. But she had got it…
After rotating the image from the video and trying her best on photoshop, she immediately activated her printer.
The picture that came out was still a bit blurry but, to Momo, it was fine.
Staring emotionally at it, she thinks:
"This is not just a simple animal quirk, is it?.."
The picture was of the crystal hero's cracked body… and the hourglass symbol positioned on his chest.
She sat back on her computer and continued her research.
"What are you hiding Tennyson…"
And that's the cut off point!
Sorry about the short length again but this was the best that I could do without unnecessarily stretching it out.
Also, unfortunately Hagakure got cut out of Class 1-A for the place of Ben. I felt really bad while doing this since I liked the energy she had within the class and 1-A didn't have many female characters in the first place. I have not planned for it, but I might try to bring her back because of that.
As for the alien lineup, the Number 7 is Jetray! To be honest, this one was also a last minute change similar to Water Hazard.
For the longest time, this was where the third classic alien was going to get revealed and it was going to be Stinkfly. But after what I said in the last chapter, I felt like there were high expectations for the final 4 aliens, so hence I changed it up.
Despite this switch though, we still have one more classic hidden within the last 3 so make sure to look out for him.
Lastly, the next chapter should be out on the 19th and we're going to be covering the Battle Trial! I already have some of it written out and I can't wait for you guys to see what I have in store.
Until then, have a great day and see you on the next one.
Chapter 9: Brains vs… More Brains!
"Alright class!" Present Mic asks, getting done with his writing on the board. "Which of these English sentences is wrong?"
It was now the next day and the morning was jam packed with regular required classes. And naturally, many were either bored… or didn't feel motivated to participate.
"So normal..." Jiro thinks as she stares at the board. "Is this how U.A. is usually going to be?"
After that insane homeroom yesterday, this definitely did not have the same impact…
Jiro could definitely put it past them. After all this was still a high school but it still didn't mean she was going to answer.
"Everybody heads up!" Present Mic yells, in a slightly frustrated yet cheerful manner. "Let's get this party started!"
"So loud..." Jiro thinks and then sees the teacher's face beam even more. "Yaomomo will probably answer-"
"Okay, Midoriya, come on!"
"The relative pronoun is in the wrong place in number 4, Present Mic-sensei."
"Excellent!" the teacher says in English and the lunch bell rings just on cue. "And that's all from me! Remember to review the first chapter and enjoy your meal my listeners!"
"Thank you sensei!" the class says in unison and then starts packing their things.
"I heard that Lunch Rush manages the cafeteria..." says Midoriya and Ashido immediately looks over at him.
"Really, the Cook Hero, Lunch Rush?!"
Ben turns to Midoriya. "The cook hero?"
"I'll tell you on the way, Tennyson."
Kirishima then joins the conversation: "Just know that we have to go if we want to eat!"
Uraraka asks: "Jiro, are you coming?"
"Well…" she shrugs. "Why not?"
As she's about to head off with the group, someone calls at them from behind.
"Wait!"
Jiro turns first. It was Yaoyorozu.
"By any chance, may I join you?"
The group was a little perplexed… especially after how their friend ran off yesterday. But it was no problem for Ben.
"Sure."
Upon reaching the cafeteria, they quickly come to learn the first obstacle in their way to become a hero… the lunch line.
But on some good news, they get to find Iida.
"Awww! I knew I should have used my acid to get here!" Ashido pouts.
"We could not have done that, Ashido." Iida says with his varying hand signs. "Using our quirks besides class time is strictly forbi-."
"Tennyson... Don't you have someone that could get us in front of the line?" Ashido asks frustratedly.
"Ashido-" Iida tried to continue but the pink girl had quickly lost interest.
"At least we agree with you, Iida." Uraraka tries her best to comfort him and Midoriya joins in.
"Same here."
"Sorry." Ben replies. "If I transformed, I doubt I could go one step before being noticed..."
Kirishima hits him in the shoulder. "Yeah man, your forms are just too insane to not get attention."
Ben smiles. "If only he knew how wrong he was 5 years ago..."
"Speaking on that actually..." Yaoyorozu asks with her usual poker face. "How did your quirk manifest, Tennyson?"
Ben pauses. "Eh-?"
"Yeah, really!" Midoriya asks. "Which one of your 10 forms did you get first?"
"Now that's a story I could listen to..." Jiro states.
Everyone in the group now had their eyes set on Ben, demanding for his story.
On the other hand, the shapeshifter was nervous."Well, I'm going to have to wing some of this huh..."
After all, he did not have a lot of his starter lineup… and the fact that quirks don't manifest when you're 10 years old AND the fact that he fought villains with those powers… Damn, maybe he should have made a cover for this as well.
"Alright..." he starts. "From what I remember, I was on a camping trip with my grandpa and cousin."
Yaoyorozu knits her eyebrows.
"Oh man, the first time I transformed… " Ben laughs nervously. "I accidentally might have…"
"Yeah?" Jiro asks.
"...started a forest fire."
"You did what?" Ashido raises her voice. "What happened then? Did you call the fire department?"
"Yep, they came in and took care of my mess..." Ben scratches the back of his neck. "Thankfully the fire had not spread too far."
"I knew it…" Jiro says and the entire group turns to her.
Ben sweats a bit. She knew what exactly?
"With all those transformations…" She starts with a deadpan tone. "You are a safety hazard."
"Hey!"
Ben points to himself. "I'll have you know that I have way better control over my powers now."
Midoriya says: "I mean… Technically, you told me that the watch is helping you."
"That's different!"
Momo raises an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah." Ben then rolls up his sleeve, showing the watch in question. "It helps me select my transformations but even without choosing, all the guys I have can be helpful."
"We did see how manly they all were!" Kirishima excitedly says.
Midoriya joins in: "After all, breaking out of a tough spot is what makes a hero!"
With their loud talking, some others from the line had started to look at them, questioning what they were talking about.
Jiro slowly leans over to Uraraka and Ashido. "Maybe we should sit on a different table while we still have the chance."
The two girls snicker at the offer.
She then asks over her shoulder: "What do you say Yaoyorozu?"
But the rich girl doesn't answer. "Yaoyorozu?"
Jiro follows her friend's gaze and sees that it was stuck on Tennyson's watch.
She then waves her hand right in front of her gaze. "Yaomomo?"
"Huh?" she blinks and turns to Jiro.
"You were zoned out for a sec. Are you okay?"
"Yes… I am. " she then notices something. "Also, you called me… Yaomomo?"
Jiro shrugs. "It just sort of popped into my mind. I'm sorry if it offended you..."
"No." She calmly states. "I like it."
"Alright! We'll call you Yaomomo from now on!" Ashido energetically says, completely disregarding the fact that she has been eavesdropping on their conversation…
"I think it fits." Uraraka says and Ashido gives a thumbs up.
Yaoyorozu puts on a smile. "Okay, I will gladly accept this nickname..."
But her mind was ever busy with what Tennyson had said...
In the meantime, after a decently long line, the rest of the group also finally got their curry and rice from the one and only Cook Hero!
To sum up their reaction, while Midoriya marvelled at the hero that cooked for them, Ben marvelled at the food served in a school cafeteria...
"I am in heaven." he thought as he placed another spoonful of curry inside his mouth.
After the frozen foods served at his old school and the 'healthy' meals back home, it was a beautiful feeling to eat something tasty that was not takeout. "Thank you Omnitrix… for letting me live long enough to eat this."
As Ben's tastebuds experienced what he would call paradise, lunch time came to a close.
Following some afternoon classes, they finally had-
"I AM..."
The entire class turns to the entrance.
"...COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"
With a roaring announcement that doesn't fit the anti-climactic entrance , the number 1 hero enters the classroom.
Eyes widen and Kaminari is the first to react, "It's All Might!"
Rest of the class catch up with the reactions as Kirishima, Asui and Ojiro make remarks:
"Wow, he really is a teacher!"
"That's a costume from the Silver Age,isn't it?"
"Its style is so different it's giving me goosebumps."
Just like the rest of the class, Ben was also excited. "The number 1 as our teacher… This is what I was waiting for."
"I TEACH HERO BASIC TRAINING. IT IS A SUBJECT WHERE YOU TRAIN IN DIFFERENT WAYS TO LEARN THE BASICS OF BEING A HERO."
"YOU'LL TAKE THE MOST UNITS OF THIS SUBJECT!"
"Oh… Then maybe it's a little unfair that I got a head start." Ben thinks. "But, I guess I could be a little rusty."
Taking a card from his belt, All Might hides the front of it. "Showmanship?"
"LET'S GET RIGHT INTO IT! THIS IS WHAT WE WILL DO TODAY-"
And then immediately reveals it to the entire class!
"COMBAT TRAINING!"
Instantly two separate grins form within the classroom.
One was sadistic...
"Combat..." Bakugo repeats inside his mind.
And the other was excited...
"...training!" Ben thinks.
"AND TO GO ALONG WITH ARE... THESE!"
Suddenly four slots open on the classroom's wall and reveal 20 numbered suitcases!
Flexing in his own costume with his signature smile, All Might continues. "AFTER YOU CHANGE, GATHER IN GROUND BETA!"
"Yes sir!"
People slowly start getting up from their seats.
"You coming, Yaomomo?" Jiro asks.
Closing the small notepad on her desk, she puts on a smile. "In a minute..."
"Your costume looks pretty cool, Iida..." Kirishima says as the class makes their way to ground beta. "You look like a motorized knight."
"Thank you for the compliment, Kirishima." He returns the gesture. "I see that you went for a more simple design."
"Yeah, you know…" He points to his exposed chest. "My quirk works better if less of it is covered by the costume."
"Seems like you weren't the only one with that idea."
The two look down to see the source of that comment and see Mineta, looking like a grape with a diaper, pointing to Yaoyorozu and her costume. "The hero course is the be- Ahhhhhh!"
The two boys were really confused, until they saw the small earphone jack sticking out of the little perv's head!
"You are so hilarious." says Jiro with a cold attitude and then scoffs at him. "Just who accepted you to the hero course?.."
"Thank you Jiro." Yaoyorozu says, sharing her sentiment.
"It's no problem, Yaomomo." she replies and then turns to the two boys. "So, how are you guys doing?"
"Fine." answers. Kirishima. "By the way, your costume looks really good as well."
Jiro looks at herself for a second. "I mean, it's just a jacket, jeans and a pair of speakers… But thanks anyway."
"Well, I guess great minds really do think alike." she hears from behind her.
"Of course..." she thinks.
It was Ben, rocking a black shirt, blue jeans and lastly a green jacket with white stripes as well as the number 10. "What do you think?"
"Of the pun on your chest or the costume?" Jiro asks in a coy manner.
Ben laughs regardless though. "Both. Both are good."
"I like it!" Kirishima says. "It is not flashy but it definitely works on you!"
"Thanks." Ben nods. "There was just no way that I would keep my favourite jacket out of this."
"You used your regular clothes as your hero costume?" Yaoyorozu asks.
"Yeah, I just had the company make them from a stronger material." Ben says as he adjusts his sleeve. "After all, whenever I transform, it will all just disappear."
"That is a fair point." Iida says. "So, it's almost like you have 11 different costumes, including your normal form."
Jiro shakes her head. "Talk about future marketability..."
Then suddenly, a bright light hits her in the face. They… were here.
"THEY SAY THE CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN, YOUNG MEN AND LADIES!" All Might calls out. "FROM NOW ON YOU ARE HEROES!"
"NOW, SHALL WE BEGIN, YOU ZYGOTES?"
"Sir!" Iida immediately raises his hand.
"YES, YOUNG IIDA!"
"This is a battle center from the entrance exam, so will we be conducting urban battles again?"
Ben cracks his knuckles. "Please say yes..."
"NO, WE'RE GOING TO MOVE AHEAD TWO STEPS!" All Might says and then points to one of the buildings.
"FOR THIS CLASS YOU WILL BE SPLIT INTO VILLAINS AND HEROES AND FIGHT 2-ON-2 INDOOR BATTLES!"
"Oh?" Kaminari asks. "But All Might, aren't the villains that do the most amount of damage usually appearing outside?"
"INDEED YOUNG KAMINARI! MOST OF THE TIME, FIGHTING VILLAINS DOES TAKE PLACE OUTSIDE, BUT IF YOU LOOK AT THE TOTAL NUMBERS, ATROCIOUS VILLAINS APPEAR INDOORS AT A HIGHER RATE!"
"IN THIS SOCIETY FILLED WITH HEROES, TRULY INTELLIGENT AND DANGEROUS VILLAINS HIDE IN THE SHADOWS!"
Immediately a storm of questions rained down…
"Without basic training, ribbit? How will wins and losses be determined? Can we beat them up anyway? Will the punishment be expulsion like Mr. Aizawa? Isn't this cape crazy?"
"UMM…" All Might was clearly not prepared for this. "I'LL ANSWER ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS RIGHT NOW!" he says and takes out something else.
"A checklist..!"
All Might then proceeds by explaining the general structure of this exercise. The villain team will have a nuclear bomb hidden in the building.
The objective of the heroes is to either touch the bomb to secure it or capture the villains with the special tape that they have been given.
The villains, on the other hand, can either capture the heroes or just make sure the bomb is left untouched for a limited amount of time.
And the teams, as well as the matchups would be formed by drawn lots. Some people, Iida, had concerns about this method but it was soon made clearer.
"NOW, IF WE HAVE NO MORE QUESTIONS, LET'S DO THIS!" All Might yells as he puts his hand inside the box.
Team A: Hanta Sero & Ben Tennyson
Team B: Shoto Todoroki & Mezo Shoji
Team C: Rikido Sato & Koji Koda
Team D: Katsuki Bakugo & Tenya Iida
Team E: Momo Yaoyorozu & Tsuyu Asui
Team F: Kyoka Jiro & Denki Kaminari
Team G: Mashirao Ojiro & Minoru Mineta
Team H: Izuku Midoriya & Ochako Uraraka
Team I: Mina Ashido & Yuga Aoyama
Team J: Fumikage Tokoyami & Eijiro Kirishima
"Wow, it must be fate!" says Uraraka cheerfully towards her teammate. "I'm counting on you!"
On the other hand, this only made Midoriya more jumpy. "Seriously?! I have to talk properly, or else-"
"Same energy here Uraraka! Looks like I'll be getting some power as well!" Sero grins with excitement and walks over to the shapeshifter hero. "I'm looking forward to working with you."
"Thanks. I'm looking forward to it as well." Ben then shakes his hand. "But don't sell yourself short. I can't do everything by myself you know..."
Sero deadpans. "I'm pretty sure that you could."
In the meantime, Jiro was getting to know her own teammate. "Huh… The same city twice in a row."
"Must be fate, right?" Kaminari jokingly asks but Jiro's expression does not change.
"Can I get a do ove-" She thinks but her thoughts are interrupted upon seeing Ojiro with Mineta. "You know what, nevermind."
"NOW, THE FIRST TEAMS TO FIGHT WILL BE..." All Might says he dives his hands into two separate boxes titled 'villain' and 'hero'.
"...THESE GUYS!"
For heroes the letter was E!
And for the villains the letter was...A!
"Wow..." says Sato and looks over to his partner. "Looks like Tennyson's going right out of the gates."
"..." Koda nods nervously but says nothing. Maybe he was still on edge due to Blitzwolfer, or it was his usual timid manner. Nobody really knew…
"THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT FOR BOTH TEAMS HAVE BEEN PLACED AT THE DOOR OF THE BUILDING. EVERYONE ELSE, HEAD TOWARDS THE MONITOR ROOM!"
"Yes, sir!"
As their classmates dispersed, Momo, with no change in expression, looked over to Ben from the corner of her eye. "It really must be fate..."
She clenched her fist, but thankfully her teammate was there to calm her down.
"Looks like we have a tall task ahead of us, ribbit." Asui says. "Are you nervous?"
"No no..." Momo shakes her head. "I am fine."
"You seemed tense, that's why I asked."
Momo continued to look at her friend's face and then chose to take a deep breath.
With a hand on her chest, Yaoyorozu says: "Maybe I am a little bit… Thank you for asking."
Asui nods. "No problem."
"VILLAIN TEAM, GO IN FIRST AND SET UP. IN FIVE MINUTES, THE HERO TEAM WILL BREAK IN, AND THE BATTLE WILL START!"
"Yes, sir!"
He turns to the villains. "YOUNG SERO, YOUNG TENNYSON, THIS MAY BE AN EXERCISE BUT THINK OF IT AS A REAL BATTLE."
Ben nods. "We need to go all out for this lesson to matter, right?"
"EXACTLY. AND LEARN TO THINK FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF VILLAINS. IF THINGS GET TOO FAR, I'LL STOP IT."
He thought so. Even if he hesitated against his classmates, the real evil wouldn't hesitate. Ben knew that much…
"Yes, sir!" and the pair head inside, immediately seeing the 'nuclear weapon' made out of paper.
"So..." says Sero. "I know All Might told us to not hesitate, but Rath is off the table, right?"
Ben looks at him, like if he really needs an answer for that.
Sero holds up his hands. "Just wanted to be sure..."
Ben sits down on the ground and Sero continues to ask. "So, what's your game plan? Chromastone? Cannonbolt?"
"Nah." Ben replies and puts his hand on his chin. "Both of them are utility based and we are probably being graded on collateral damage as well..."
Even as he said that, an old phrase was echoing inside his head.
"Your choice of warriors is based solely on brute-strength, without regard for any strategy. Do you ever pause to consider your actions at all?"
He stands up and hits on the rims. "Power isn't the answer here..."
As he rotates the dial, the train of thought just continues to race inside his mind. "As far as powers, we do not know their full extent. So we need the ability… to make a good guess."
"That's all well and good..." says Sero. "But that still doesn't answer what we will do."
"Don't worry." He cracks a smile. "I'll tell you in a moment."
And then Ben slams the dial.
"FIRST COMBAT TRAINING… START!"
Without missing a beat, Yaoyorozu skips the door in front of them and takes a quick turn to the right. Pointing to a window on the side, "Can you pull me up there?"
"Ribbit." Asui nods and quickly jumps up there. By using her tongue, she then helps Yaoyorozu up.
"Infiltration is successful." She pulls up the schematics. "According to this, this is a 5 story building with a basement. We are on the second floor and considering your quirk, they most likely placed the bomb to a lower level."
15 minutes on the clock, Yaoyorozu immediately goes for the stairs located at the edge of the floor.
Asui, on the other hand, doesn't move.
Keeping a cool head and putting a finger on her chin, she asks: "But, wouldn't they be able to predict that?"
Yaoyorozu pauses in her tracks and Asui continues. "They saw how I could jump in the quirk assessment, ribbit."
The bluff made sense… Taking the risk and putting the bomb upstairs despite her frog quirk… If that was their game plan, it would have almost worked.
"Tennyson also doesn't shy away from risks..." she thinks and remembers his little stunt with Blitzwolfer against their teacher and…
"Yes..." Yaoyorozu replies, cutting through her thoughts. "You might be onto something..."
The frog girl catches a shiver going down her partner's back as she says that. "Are you sure you're okay?"
However, she doesn't answer. They arrive at the stairs and find both of them covered in tape. Yaoyorozu takes a quick look at both of them and says: "Top floor."
The frog hero doesn't object and they rip the tape apart… only to hear a loud noise starting to come from above.
"What is that?" she says.
"I think I have an idea. Move!"
Several empty metal barrels roll down right towards them but the pair act fast and get in the clear before it's too late!
With silence settling back, the pair look back up.
"That… was too close." Asui says.
"At least we know it's the right way. Come on."
Yaoyorozu runs upstairs while Asui chooses to hop or crawl on the wall.
"I think we're getting close, we better slow down..." she says, but the sound of Yaoyorozu's steps doesn't oblige.
"Yaoyorozu?" she thinks concernedly. "What's going on?"
She recalls her friend's sudden departure from school. "What happened yesterday?"
They turn the corner and barge right into the top floor.
It was a giant clear room with no corridors, some pillars to hold it up, wooden crates, barrels… and, what looks like, a giant crab in the center.
"Aha!.. Just as I have envisaged…" he says as he snips his right pincer with his back turned against them. "Both of my allies yet adversaries in this current juncture in time, as they say in vernacular, took the bait."
Yaoyorozu looks around. "The bomb... isn't here."
"Neither is Sero!" Asui says.
"An astute observation!" He gestures at his own head. "For you see, the cranium that houses the greatest intelligence on this very terrain, has foreseen your most likely route of action and taken the necessary precautions."
"We must go downstairs." says Yaoyorozu but immediately, the exoskeleton on the crab's head opens up, revealing his brain.
"My most sincere apologies… But I cannot let that come to pass."
Lightning appears inside the room and mysteriously grabs the planks and barrels, throwing them at the door.
"We can defeat you Tennyson." Asui says as she gets ready to jump at him.
The orange crab then turns around, with sparks appearing on his head and his pincers.
"I would very much like to observe your attempt. Also, I would like to correct you on one particular subject.
"The proper apropos nom de guerre for this transfiguration of mine is... Brainstorm!"
"Yep, I knew it!" Kaminari says like he's filling up a checklist and lifts up his hand. "Who else wrote down electricity?.."
"It's a miss for me..." says Sato. "I wrote down ice."
"Same here man." says Kirishima. "I had fire & plant control written down."
Jiro turns confusedly. "What made you write that?" and in response, Krishima shrugs.
"Midoriya?" asks Kaminari, but backs down upon seeing the boy trembling in place.
With one eye on the screen, All Might asks Jiro: "Wrote down electricity?!"
"Oh well.." Jiro straightens up. "Yesterday, Ben told us that he still had 5 more forms. So we noted down our guesses for his powers and the winner gets the bragging rights."
"Jiro?" then asks Kaminari a bit suddenly.
The earphone jack girl looks away… but does end up high fiving the blonde.
"Yesss..." says Kaminari under his breath.
"I see..." says All Might. "But I hope that is not distracting you from the lesson."
"That is not the case All Might!" says Iida, continuing his hand motions regardless of what anyone says. "We are aware that the knowledge gained from this class is much more important than a bet we have made!"
Uraraka then leans over and sees Iida's list. "Magnetism?"
He swiftly covers it up. "I just wanted to be included..."
Ashido then walks over to her teacher. "They only have 15 minutes to get out of that room and to rush to the bottom, right?"
"Yes!"
"The heroes are clearly at a disadvantage here!" Ashido says with an upset manner. "Nevermind the fact that Sero is waiting right for them!"
"Heroes should be able to turn the tables on whatever predicament they're in." All Might looks at the screen. "Regardless of the difficulty… And besides, didn't Mr. Aizawa tell you?"
"Here we go-" He raises up his fist and the class instinctively follows suit. "Plus Ultra!"
However, that levity was short-lived...
"Monsieur, Yaoyorozu is-" Aoyama says and everyone's eyes once again become glued to the screen.
"Tremble before my electrolucutive power!" yells out Brainstorm and continues to spray the area with electricity.
In the meantime, both heroes were hiding behind a pillar.
"Are you sure this plan will work?.." Asui asks.
Her partner seemed a bit shaken after seeing Brainstorm's full appearance but she had long since regained her composure.
"I think so..." Yaoyorozu says as she finishes pulling a sheet out of her glowing arm. "Now to wait..."
Asui nods.
The two waited…
Just a bit more…
Until the lightning died down…
"NOW!"
The two heroes rushed at the exact same time and Brainstorm took another deep breath to continue with electricity. "I… won't permit this!"
"Too late!"
The electricity struck but nothing happened!
"It's called an insulation sheet, Brainstorm. Learn it, ribbit!" Asui then jumped up from her spot and went directly for the brain. "Yaoyorozu said that If we can shut down the exoskeleton, he might not be able to shock us anymore."
From what they had seen, it was a solid plan. However, Tennyson was never that basic.
"An admirable attempt!" He yells out and snips his right pincer, releasing an extra electrical current and shocking Asui midair!
"Asui!"
"You're next!" Brainstorm yells out but Yaoyorozu takes cover just in time. "Just get this charade over, hero. Acknowledge your defeat and surrender."
Yaoyorozu glances from the pillar she's standing behind. She had to be honest, Ben was seeping into his role and playing a mastermind villain perfectly.
Both of them had to know that she would never let that happen. She would turn this around, that is what a hero does. Be it practice or not!
Her hands started to glow pink, she had one more plan up her sleeve...
On the other front, despite having the upper hand and wasting her time as planned, Brainstorm was getting more and more impatient. He did not need the oversized head of his to know that he was nearing the end of his transformation time and when that hit, it would be all capture tape for him.
"Excuse my lack of civility, however I ponder that it is about time for you to come out!" He leaps towards the back of the pillar and as soon as their eyes make contact, Brainstorm fires his lightning bolts at full force.
However, the so-called-smartest-mind-in-the-universe had gotten baited for a second time…
With rubber gloves and a steel pole that was stabbed to the ground, Yaoyorozu grounded all that electricity. "Now Asui!"
His eyes went wide and in an instant, his body was covered in an insulation sheet.
"I was certain that I hit her with a low voltage electrokinetic strike." Brainstorm ponders. "Perhaps I underestimated the factor of her cape..."
Brainstorm seemed in shock from his misstep. But he quickly came to his senses with Yaoyorozus next words.
"Now, the tape!"
His eyes narrow. The crab was back in it. "The insolence! Haaa!"
With one final card, an electrokinetic bubble formed around Asui in a flash and captured her.
Yaoyorozu's fear was evident from her face but she had to keep her composure. It was not the time to freeze.
She managed to get back to the pillar again. All the time, she was playing support for Asui or acting as a distraction.
This time, she might have been truly alone. "That is really concerning."
"What should I do…" she repeated inside her head. "He now knows where I hide so it will only be a matter of time before he-"
"Now...to tend to…Ugh, may I ask for you to cease that?.."
She lifts her head and looks around the corner. Brainstorm was looking right at her but was practically tumbling in place while Asui repeatedly bounced inside the bubble.
Initially, the crab had his pincer out against Yaoyorozu like he was going to fire. Now though… he moved the pincer back on his head, like he was having the worst headache of his life.
And one's misery, would become another one's clue…
"His powers are concentration-based!.." Her stomach started to glow. "Don't worry Asui, I'm here!"
"Where… was the capture tape?" Brainstorm pondered as he looked around. But he would soon lose his chance.
"Hey, Brainstorm!" Out from the corner, came out Yaoyorozu, facing her opponent.
"Oh!.." looked over Brainstorm and tried to put on a brave face. "I admire your courage..."
He had started to speak, but Yaoyorozu didn't care! She rushed in like Asui with a plastic stick in her hand!
"Done with grounding I see… However, it is useless all the same!" Brainstorm blasted her with electricity.
"Is it?! Try something!"
She turned around and blocked it with the sheet hanging from her like a cape!
Brainstorm's eyes went wide and she pushed on forward. "I knew it. The lightning is only a shallow shell of its former self!"
She held onto the staff from the end and smacked her opponent like a pitcher hitting a homerun. However, the bubble was still intact.
"Tsk..." she rushed in again with a similar strategy before he could recover.
"Lucidly difficult to- ahh!" And, sure enough, it worked yet again! Brainstorm was just too preoccupied with Asui!
However, like before, the bubble was still intact...
Yaoyorozu smiled and went for her third hit. "This should break his bubble!"
She swung again, but Brainstorm, with one arm ripping through the sheet, caught the stick.
"Ha! You have severely underestimated my dexterity!"
But, Yaoyorozu continued to smile. "What is so amusing, may I ask?"
"This."
BWAAAAAAAAAAA!
Suddenly, the sound of an air horn filled the room, point blank on Brainstorm's face no less!
"No!"
The bubble broke apart immediately and Asui was now freed.
"Yaomomo!" Asui called out and Yaoyorozu complied.
"Right."
Asui started smacking Brainstorm around with her tongue. And in the meantime, she thought to herself: "Sorry about this Tennyson, but I won't have any mercy."
In the meantime, Yaoyorozu created a small explosive in her hand and tossed it to the door, blowing up the orange crab's barricade.
"Asui, I think that's enough, let's go!"
The frog girl looked back and as soon as she saw the door, Asui went to her partner.
However, Brainstorm persisted. "Huff...Puff… An aspiration of satisfactory levels… "
He was still mostly covered with the insulation sheet and with Asui's blows, despite the exoskeleton around his body, he was off balance. It was a miracle that he was still standing after that.
"Nevertheless... I will concluding thi-"
His brain opened up again, but the electricity was not shocking them… It was shocking himself!
"What kind of trickery..." he thought and looked at the heroic duo for an answer.
Yaoyorozu, smiling with her partner, says: "Guess Tennyson… You didn't know everything about us..."
The crab turns his sights to the creation hero's partner, and the frog girl shows her a small puddle of mucus in her hand. "You short circuited yourself Tennyson."
Ben lays there, exhausted. The dial, under the sheet, blinks green and he goes back to his usual human form.
Asui looks over to her partner. "Maybe I was overreacting..."
The creation hero, unlike before, seemed fine now.
No, more than that, she was relieved…
Asui put a hand on her chin: "Ribbit, Tennyson was the biggest wildcard so far, so maybe because of that?"
That made some sense but it still didn't completely fit. Just what was going on inside Yaoyorozu's mind?
In the meantime, the creation girl took a deep breath and gestured Asui to go on ahead, while she tied up this villain for good.
"Are you sure?" the frog girl asked but her partner nodded regardless.
"I guess that makes sense..." Asui thinks. In the heat of the battle, Yaoyorozu had used a good amount of lipids to create so she definitely could go on ahead and let her use the break.
Yaoyorozu follows up while turning her back to the frog hero. "I will make sure to not take too long. Call me if you run into Sero."
She gives her a nod and starts going down the stairs, as fast as she can to the basement.
As her partner hops away, Yaoyorozu's expression hardens. Like a police officer who just caught her first criminal, she looks down at Tennyson and then takes out the capture tape.
She took both of Ben's hands, placed them on his back, and started to tie them up. In the meantime, Ben chose to run his mouth with whatever he had.
"You know, I gotta say, that was some real good planning."
Yaoyorozu doesn't respond.
"Grounding me, insulating my attacks, using sound to distract and then short circuiting me? You guys really thought of everything in that short time."
Yaoyorozu still doesn't respond and even squeezes the capture tape a bit too tightly.
"Ow..." Ben groans. "Alright, alright, I'll shut up."
With finishing to tie up the knot, Yaoyorozu stands up. "I'm sorry for that, Tennyson."
With her towering over him, Ben gets a chance to see her face and… it was a mix of concern, curiosity and anger.
"I will be back… she says. "...to free you after the exercise."
In a calmer tone, he says: "Alright… I guess I will be waiting for you."
"Thank you." She then walks over to the stairs and tosses the rubber gloves aside. "I guess I will see you in a minute."
Ben raises an eyebrow. "In a minute?"
A competitive grin appears on his face. ""Who said you were going to win?"
Yaoyorozu opens her mouth, but suddenly a call comes in. "I'm listening, Asui."
"Sero is here." Asui tells the com. "He's trying to run from me now, ribbit."
"I will be right there." She hangs up and starts running down.
As she was moving, Yaoyorozu heard something from Ben. It was faint but she could make out what it was. "Good luck."
It did not take long for her to reach the bottom floor and to the entrance of the basement, however sweat was going down her forehead regardless...
"Okay." Yaoyorozu holds her left arm and has it glowing, ready to create anything on a whim. "Let's get this over with."
To her, it was time to help her partner to capture the final villain and wrap up this trial.
But, as soon as she took one step forward, a strand of tape shot out, missing the side of her face…
"Coming through!" Sero swung out and then pulled on the tape on his other arm.
Suddenly the entrance to the basement was caved in with barrels and planks! There was no other way in!
"I would love to fight, hero." Sero shoots out another tape. "But I gotta jet."
"Wait right there!" she yells and runs after him.
As he leaps over the corridors and makes it to the stairs again, she presses on her communicator. "Asui, are you down in the basement?"
"Yeah, ribbit." she says. "He had been expecting me..."
"Want me to come back and help you?"
"I don't know." she replies. "If you save me, he might give you the slip. But together, we would be able to cover more ground."
Yaoyorozu pauses in her tracks, stopping her pursuit. After a bit of time, she decides to run back. The answer was obvious.
Sero was much more agile than her in here, he was going to give her the slip regardless. Plus, if the challenge still continued, that would mean that the bomb was not in the basement either.
They needed to cover more ground.
She makes another explosive in her hand and tosses it down. "Get clear, Asui."
The pile blows up and a small hole forms inside the debris, one that Asui manages to crawl through.
She pants in place slightly.
"Are you okay?" Asui asks.
"Yes, I just ran around a little too much…" Yaoyorozu stands straight again and wipes the sweat away. "I am fine now."
The frog hero looks at her. "The last battle must have taken more out of her than I thought, ribbit… I need to carry more of the burden."
In all actuality, Asui wanted Yaoyorozu to take it easy but the creation hero was far from being in the mood to do that.
Right now, even if she told her partner to take a break, Yaoyorozu looked like she wouldn't comply, so there was no point in asking.
"Any idea on where he could have gone, ribbit?"
"I don't know if we should continue chasing Sero." Yaoyorozu takes out the building schematics again. "The bomb is more important but… I don't know where they could have hid it."
Asui takes a longer and harder look, both at the plans and at the person holding them. And Yaoyorozu was thinking, not of the location, but of the circumstances...
"Ben was already transformed by the time we had entered the building…" she thinks. And in that form, Ben was extremely different. "He was cunning like usual but his speech pattern was completely-"
Her eyes go wide. Her opponent saw this coming…
Ben's final words echo in her mind again.
"Good luck."
His quirk really made him that smart...
"We have been conned." says Yaoyorozu and in response, Asui tilts her head in curiosity.
Barely taking breaks per sentence, the creation hero then tells her of Brainstorm's massive plan.
Setting a trap on the stairs, then having each villain wait at one end of the building, sealing off multiple rooms, teasing Sero as a constant loose end…
It was all to waste their time!
"But, ribbit..." Asui asks. "Where does the bomb fit into all of this?"
That was the big question, wasn't it? Yaoyorozu puts her hand on her chin.
In their short encounter, Brainstorm seemed smart but equally petty and arrogant. He would hide it in a place that amused him the absolute most...
And that would be his downfall.
"Let's go." says Yaoyorozu. "We're going to the second floor..."
The two look back at the stairs.
"...The very floor we entered from."
Even Asui's expressionless face lights up…
The only audible thing after that was the running of a couple of young heroes.
Their eyes were on the target and they were nothing short of determined...
The heroes arrive at the window where it all began.
"We will need to fan out from here. He might be smart but I don't think he could have guessed the exact window."
"That would take too long." Asui says and leaps up to get on top of the labyrinth-like walls. "I'll search from above."
The words of "Sounds good." escape her lips before two strands of tape shoot down at the creation hero and pull her up to a wall from her arms.
"AH!" She yells out of shock but doesn't bother in asking what that was, the answer was obvious.
"What?" the figure on a nearby maze wall asks. "I figured that since Asui was going to join me on the high ground... Might as well bring the whole party here."
Towering above both of them, Sero had finished sticking the tape onto the wall and was crouching in place just like an all too familiar web-head. "So Asui, what do you say? Round 2?"
The two girls look at each other and without exchanging any words, execute their game plan.
"Ribbit." Asui's tongue shoots out right at the tape user, but he immediately swings away.
"A swing and a miss!" Sero quips and continues to move around as Asui continues to jump and launch her tongue to catch her target.
Yaoyorozu on the other hand, had closed her eyes. "This will not hold me..."
She announces "Creation." inside her head and her arms immediately light up. Constructing two braces over where the tape was on, Yaoyorozu frees herself and lands right back on the ground.
Her objective was to find the bomb and even though the maze-like structure was working against her, she would not be discouraged.
In the meantime… The chase between the tape-slinger and the wall-crawler raged on.
Asui, narrowing her eyes, launched her tongue one more time and it grazed Sero's arm.
"Whoa! Almost had me there... my turn!"
He lands on one of the walls and shoots back.
However, that was what Asui was waiting for.
"What are you-?!" Sero yells but it was too late.
The frog hero leaps between the strands of tape and threads the needle.
With her foot extended, she kicks the tape user right in the gut!
"Owwww!" He lands square on the ground and before he can act, Sero finds his torso enveloped by Asui's tongue.
His arms were still free, but now Sero would also have to lift up Asui if he wanted to swing his way out. But the hero gives him no such chance.
She lifts him up with her tongue. "We are not going to let you win, ribbit. It's over."
Sero however, from under his mask, doesn't immediately reply and starts to clap. "Yeah, very well played..."
Asui was surprised by the smirk but her grip stayed strong.
"Unfortunately though... We played it better." He then raises his hand, but rather than trying to pull himself to safety… Sero holds up three fingers.
In that moment, reality hits her in the face…
"Yaomomo! Have you found the bomb yet?!" she yells into the corridors, completely forgetting about the communicator that was in her ear.
Sero puts down one finger.
The frog hero takes out the capture tape. Even if her partner couldn't find the bomb, they would still win if Sero was rendered immobile!
Sero puts down another.
She reaches…
Asui reaches with everything she has got! But... It was all too little too late.
With a booming voice from the coms, All Might announces the end: "VILLAIN TEAM… WINS!"
"What a battle!" Kirishima cheers.
"That was so close, you girls!" Ashido shouted from the background. "You almost had it!"
Inside the control room, all the students were in awe. In their eyes, both teams had fought valiantly and more importantly, set the standards so god damn high!
Like, how were they supposed to match that?!
"Damn..." Sato says with wonder also emanating from his voice. "Leave something for the rest of us Tennyson."
"Hey Kaminari." Jiro nudges him and points to the tied up Ben on the top floor. "You better ask him for some moves."
He also takes a look at the screen and in his usual jokester manner, replies: "Why? I think I'm pretty decent in the electric business."
"I'm just saying." Jiro shrugs. "At least he can use electricity and keep some brain power to himself."
"Hey!" Kaminari annoyedly responds which only causes her to smirk.
As she was smiling at Kaminari's attempted tough guy act, another voice, devoid of any kind of familiarity, cut straight through the control room.
"All Might..."
The teacher turned around and looked at the student in question. It was the second recommended student of class 1-A, Todoroki.
The class suddenly went dead silent.
"YES, YOUNG TODOROKI?"
With his chilling aura intact, he asks: "Was the bomb really hidden on the second floor?"
All Might puts his hand over the main panel. "WELL, BEFORE WE REVEAL THE ANSWER, LET'S TAKE SOME MORE PREDICTIONS, SHALL WE?"
A couple guesses do rise up from the class, such as it being on the third floor, fourth floor, first floor, etc.
Jiro, on the other hand, doesn't rush into throwing out a guess. Instead, her mind ponders a different kind of question: "What's on your mind, Todoroki?"
"IF WE HAVE ALL THE GUESSES..." He presses the button. "THERE IT IS!"
The screen briefly turned static and what came out was the bomb's exact location, near a doorway.
"The bomb… was sitting at the beginning?" Ashido asked.
"THAT'S RIGHT!"
The bomb was sitting next to the entrance to the building all this time, where the hero team were originally expected to enter from.
However, since Yaoyorozu and Asui bypassed that and chose to enter from the side of the building, they had completely missed it.
"Like I thought, Tennyson flipped the script on the hero team…" Todoroki said.
With his usual unsympathetic tone, he continued to talk.
"In an exercise like this, you would expect the heroes to act and the villains to react in response. However, by keeping the bomb at the last place they would think of, he took control and played with their expectations until time ran out."
For preparing that kind of strategy, in 5 minutes of prep time, the user of ice and fire could only think of one thing.
"He's good..."
"So, can you..." says Sero, pointing to Asui's tongue. "Let me go?"
"Ribbit, oh yeah." replies Asui and lets him down. "That was a great first round, wasn't it?"
"You're telling me!" Sero replies as they head back to the control room. "When everyone started acting like it was life-and-death, I was freaking the f out."
Asui laughs, however as they pass by a corridor, they get to see how the other hero was handling their loss.
She was on her knees, looking at the ground, with her back turned at both of them…
"Yaomomo?" Asui asks and the young hero stands up.
Sero also tries to join in. "Are you good?"
"Yes..." she replies. "Thank you for your concern."
Her delivery was really reserved, gritting her teeth, almost like she wanted to continue holding something in.
The duo were worried for her, but the fact that Yaoyorozu didn't want to talk about it couldn't have been made more evident. So, after she gets up, the two just indulge in regular conversation as they make their way back...
"I was meaning to ask by the way." Sero says to the creation hero that was walking behind them. "Where did the nickname come from?"
Yaoyorozu misses a beat for a second. "Umm… Jiro came up with it."
"It is okay if you want to use it."
"Nah, I was just… curious."
He then turns to Asui and puts one of his hands on his forehead. "Also, sorry if I was being a jerk. We thought it would be a good idea to play the villain as well."
"It's okay, ribbit." Asui smiles, trying to alleviate the situation. "We were going for a heroic tone as well."
Yaoyorozu lifts her head.
"I..."
The duo turn to her.
"I… will go back and release Tennyson from the capture tape."
The other 2 students share a look and Sero jumps the gun first. "Sounds good... We'll see you back in the monitor room."
"Right." She heads on over to the stairs and makes her way to the top floor.
Once there, Yaoyorozu sees him, continuing to sit in the very same spot.
"So, I'm guessing you didn't like where I placed the secret toy surprise?" Ben quips, trying to have Yaoyorozu crack a smile to absolute no avail.
As she crouches down and unties her, Ben takes things seriously. "Look, I know I'm not on your best side right now. And I really want to fix that."
"I don't know where we got off from the wrong foot, so if I could have a hint-"
Yaoyorozu interrupts her. "I don't dislike you, Tennyson… I just can't understand you."
Ben is… decently surprised. "What do you mean?"
Yaoyorozu takes off the communicator and gestures to him to do the same.
After that, she sits down cross-legged. "Do you really not remember?"
Ben's expression was enough of an answer. He was absolutely clueless.
In response, with a pinkish glow, a steel staff appears in her hand. "How about now?"
He takes a close look at it and then Yaoyorozu who is currently holding it.
"I don't think so..." he shakes his head.
Yaoyorozu puts a hand on her chin. Figures, even if he really was the person she suspected, there was no way that would be memorable enough.
Then… There was only one thing left to try.
Taking a deep breath, she asks:"Did you forget the meaning of 11?"
Ben turns to her, curiosity in his eyes along with a small hint of fear. He doesn't care about the tape falling from his body and just listens to her.
Yaoyorozu sees the sudden shift and continues like she's asking a question. "I got your powers... plus my own?"
Ben opens his mouth to say something but instead bits his lip and stands up.
He turned around to walk away, but Yaoyorozu wasn't about to let up.
"Did you remember?" she asks again. She had actually got a reaction out of him. That had to mean something!
Ben, on the other hand, pauses and looks back at her.
Shaking his head, the shapeshifting hero remarks: "No Yaoyorozu, I don't."
And continues walking away.
With that response, Yaomomo stood up as well and wanted to follow after him.
She didn't want to accuse her classmate of anything… but she couldn't ignore what she had seen.
Ben's left eye… had twitched.
And that's where we'll end it!
Initially I was going to randomize the teams and matches of the other students as well, but me and my editor quickly decided that mentioning those battles as well would be too much so we just focused on the main course.
What did you think of the confrontation between Yaoyorozu and Brainstorm? He did lose the battle because of his hubris, but he ultimately won the war due to some trademark clever planning.
It was a blast to write for me and so, I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did.
And yeah, about Brainstorm being number 8, he was the second alien that I chose for my line-up during planning and throughout every iteration of my initial 10, he never once lost his place on the list.
Also, the next chapter will be the last one before the USJ and will be uploaded on the 9th.
But until then, have a great day and I'll see you on the next one!