Capítulo 2027: 46
Ochako looked at Midoriya for a long moment, then promptly burst into tears, "Oh thank goodness. I...please tell you know what's going on!"
"Umm…" Midoriya gave her a sheepish smile as he sat down on the bed beside her. "Not yet, but we're gonna figure it out together, ok! We can do this!"
Ochako took a deep breath and wiped her eyes, "Yeah! We can do this! What do you need to know?"
Midoriya grabbed a notebook out of his pocket and opened it to a fresh page, "Alright, so first of all, do you know where you are?"
"Well, you're interning on I-Island, so…" Ochako thought for a moment, "well, either I'm on I-Island somehow, or you came back early."
Midoriya laughed, "It's the first one. Do you know how you got here? Was there a villain involved?"
"No. I was at Gunhead's agency, so there wasn't a villain." Ochako wracked her brain. "One minute I was sparring with Shinso and…"
She felt gravity shift again, but not as intensely as it had last time and she was still in the hospital when it righted itself just in time for her to throw up again. Thankfully, the nurses had had the foresight to put a tub beside the bed and Midoriya just tossed his notebook out of the splash zone and rubbed her back until she was finished.
"Ugh." Ochako wiped her mouth. "I'm sorry, that's gross."
"Well, you are suffering from quirk exhaustion." Midoriya reminded her. "Which...well, what else do you remember?"
"Um...well, it was kinda like what happened just now." Ochako grimaced. "I was completely fine this morning, but then I got really dizzy and all of a sudden I was someplace else."
"Hmm." Izuku made a note of something. "Any other details? What you were trying to do during the spar, what you were thinking about, ect?"
Ochako thought for a moment, "I mean, in the spar, I was just trying to keep Shinso from pinning me, but I was also thinking about how once internships were over, I needed to talk to Mei about…"
Izuku jerked back in surprise as Uraraka just...disappeared into thin air. Sure, there were slight traces of some sort of light, but mostly, she simply blinked out of existence, exactly like Shinso had described. It was a weird sight and he almost didn't believe his eyes, but at least now he could form some theories.
"Dr. Shield." He looked up from his notebook. "You wouldn't happen to have any equipment for measuring gravitational fields on this island, would you?"
The moment Ochacko felt gravity shift again, she tensed. Even though she'd half been expecting it this time, the bed disappearing out from under her was still a shock and she didn't have nearly enough time to get her feet under her before she was falling hard on the floor.
"Seriously? Which of you beautiful babies decided to fall off the…" Mei circled the table and she stopped and blinked when she saw Ochako on the floor, the gesture looking even more strange with the way her eyes were magnified underneath her goggles. "Oh, hi gravity girl! I didn't see you come in! You're supposed to be missing, so how did you get all the way out here?"
Ochako groaned and flopped down on the floor, "Yeah, that's what I'd like to know."
Mei hummed, "Well, as long as you're here, you may as well earn your keep! I need an extra set of hands."
Ochako nodded and groaned as she stood up. She still felt unbearably nauseous, but she didn't feel like she was going to lose what was left of her breakfast at any moment, so that was a positive. Maybe it was because she didn't go as far this time? But, of course, that brought up the question of why she'd gone at all and Ochako wasn't sure she really wanted the answer to that.
Mei handed her what looked like the handle of a lightsaber, "Just hold that part steady, alright?"
Ochako nodded again and let Mei do her thing, but her thoughts started to spiral again and she bit her lip nervously as she remembered the reason why she'd been thinking about Mei in the first place, "Um, Hatsume? Do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Sure, but Hatsume's too formal!" Mei tightened another screw. "I thought I told you to call me Mei!"
Ochako half-smiled, "Heh, yeah. Um...why did you choose to go into support?"
Mei grinned, "It's fun! I get to make so many wonderful babies!"
Ochako frowned, "And, uh, is that why you want to have your own company too?"
"Eh, I could work for somebody else and still make cool stuff." Mei stuck out her tongue in disgust. "But if I'm gonna make these babies, I want everybody to know who made them! It's branding! One day, I'm gonna be famous for all these beautiful babies, just you wait and see!"
"But…" Ochako struggled to figure out a polite way to phrase it before realizing that Mei probably didn't care. "Um, isn't that kinda selfish."
"Yeah." Mei tightened something else on her device. "So?"
Ochako stared at her, "So?"
Mei cackled, "A lot of people have this really stupid idea that being selfish is bad, just like they think failure is bad, but failure is how you make wonderful babies! If being selfish helps motivate me to be a better inventor, then why in the world wouldn't I do that?!"
"Huh," Ochako blinked a few times, feeling like the world had shifted underneath her in a way that wasn't literal. "I guess I'd never thought of it like that."
"That's because too many people limit themselves and don't give into the best ideas!" Mei declared, tightening one final screw and taking the device from Ochako. "If something isn't helping, throw it out! And if something is helping, then make it a part of the design!"
Ochako smiled as Mei turned on her device, only to frown when nothing happened. Mei, however, just shrugged and threw the device over her shoulder, "The original design was better. Back to the drawing board!"
Ochako laughed, "If at first you don't succeed…"
"Then use that failure to fuel your next success!" Mei returned with a wide grin. "Hand me that wrench. Oh, and I'm glad you're alright, by the way. Sorry I forgot to mention that. Shinso said you just went poof! "
Ochako groaned, "I'm dunno. Before I came to talk to you, I was hoping that Midoriya could…"
The gravity shifted again and Ochako had to resist the urge to scream in frustration as she found herself on a random street, somewhere. She was just so done with the whole thing. She felt emotionally and physically exhausted and she just wanted to stay still for a little while! Was that really too much to ask?!
At least she was finally getting used to the sensation. Ochako still didn't know what was going on, but she was almost certain at this point that it was One for All's fault, even if she couldn't pinpoint how. Alright, so maybe trying to push all that power down until it blew up hadn't been the best idea, because her new quirk obviously wasn't letting her repress it anymore, considering she could potentially end up halfway across the world with just a stray thought.
"Alright, how did I do this last time?" Ochako grumbled. "I was just thinking about Midoriya and…"
Gravity shifted and Ochako felt a brief sense of pride until she looked around at her new location and Midoirya was nowhere to be seen. "You've got to be kidding me!"
Izuku popped his head into the lab, "Hey, uh, kind of a weird question, but have you seen Uraraka?"
Mei looked up from her current project, "She just popped out."
"Of course." Izuku groaned, "Did she give any clue of where she was going?"
"Nope!" Mei shrugged, then thought for a minute. "But I think she was talking about you when she disappeared."
"That...alright that makes sense." Izuku scribbled a few things down in his notebook. "Her quirk must be using people to anchor her when she warps, but the only question is which people...and of course where she ended up this time."
"If you were her anchor point, Izu-kun," Mei pointed out, "then shouldn't she be with you?"
"You'd think so, but no." Izuku jumped up to sit on the table. "Her quirk uses gravity, but that's such a widespread force that she's probably only able to approximate her target, at least right now."
Mei hummed, "I didn't even know she could teleport."
"Neither did she." Izuku shook his head in amusement. "I'm still trying to figure out why, but it's like her quirk got more powerful overnight and now she's dealing with a new manifestation of it. It's really cool, but she hasn't had time to develop the ability, so she doesn't have any way to stop herself from warping."
"Or any way to predict where she'll end up." Mei finished. She pushed her project to the side and started grabbing more materials. "Well, I can help with one of those."
Dr. Shield smiled and lifted the tarp, "It's been a while since I had an excuse to dust off this old baby."
Melissa rolled her eyes, "You realize you could take it out for a spin at any time, right? You're just old and boring."
"Is that the car you and All Might used during his study abroad?!" Izuku's eyes were wide as he dissolved into a muttering storm of facts. "The technology was state of the art at the time and still holds up under today's standards. The engine alone is…"
"Come on, Izu-kun, you can nerd out in the car." Mei grabbed him by the collar and hauled him into the back seat. The device in her hand was only mostly finished, but Dr. Shield had been tracking the gravitational fields around the island and Uraraka's warps were becoming more frequent, so they needed to find her before she accidentally ended up in the water or something.
"Alright, Midoriya! Your turn to navigate!" Melissa said, strapping herself into the passenger seat as Dr. Shield started the car. "You connected your laptop to the gravity sensors, right?"
"Yep!" Izuku said. "I'm probably going to have to write a program to really track her, but for now these readings will at least tell us when she moves and get us in the general ballpark of where she is...oh, she moved again. Head west!"
Ochako sighed and tried not to think of anything at all as she made her way down the streets, too tired to pay attention to the weird looks she was getting for wearing a full hospital gown in the middle of the city. At least it wasn't one of the ones that was open in the back, but honestly, at this point she didn't care. Maybe if she just didn't think she wouldn't find herself suddenly halfway across the city with no way of knowing where she'd end up.
She passed a fast food place and only hesitated for a moment before muttering, "Screw it."
An electronic bell chimed as she pushed open the door and the look on the poor cashier's face when he saw her was way more funny than it had the right to be, but Ochako was too tired to laugh or even really care as she walked up to the counter, "Hey, do you guys sell ginger ale?"
"Um…yes?" He looked her up and down, and Ochako knew she should be embarrassed, but she just found herself half wondering whether they'd turn her away for violating a no shoes, no shirt, no service policy or whether they'd just roll with it. The cashier hesitated for another moment before meeting her eyes again. "I, uh, I'm assuming you don't have any money with you?"
"She warped again!" Izuku yelled. "Ooh, she's closer this time!"
"Where to next, then?" Dr. Shield stopped the car, ready to double back if they needed to. "Where is she?"
"She's…" Izuku looked at the screen and his eyes widened. "She's two streets over!"
"Great! We can cut through that alley!" Mei grabbed his hand and Izuku had just enough presence of mind to set down his laptop before she was pulling him from the car and running toward the alley.
"Wait!" Melissa called. "Shouldn't we…"
"Sorry, we'll meet you there!" Izuku yelled back. It was only a few seconds before they were running out onto the next street, which was more crowded than the one they'd just come from, "Excuse me! Has anyone seen a girl in a hospital gown?"
Ochako sipped on her soda and took a few deep breaths as she ignored the stares of the other patrons. She'd wasn't nearly as nauseous as she'd been when she'd first gotten to I-Island, and she could feel herself steadily regaining energy especially with the way that One for All was buzzing just underneath her skin, but she still wasn't used to it. It would have been nice if One for All came with an off switch because the way things were going, she would be having to shower in a bathing suit for the foreseeable future.
She slumped further down in the hard plastic seat and took another sip, only partially sitting up when she heard the bell on the door chime.
"Hey Gravity Girl!" Mei grinned as she bounced up to her table. "Happy Birthday!"
"But...but it's not my birthday." She stared at Mei in shocked confusion as she grabbed Ochako's arm and fastened something around her wrist.
"Nope!" Mei confirmed. "But I got you something! That's a tracking bracelet! I'll make you a better one when we get back, but this little baby will keep us from having to chase you down again! We'll be able to see where you are even if you accidentally warp yourself to America!"
Ochako shuddered, "Oh god, I hope that doesn't happen."
"Unfortunately, it's a possibility." Izuku ran up to them, hands on his knees as he caught his breath. "But this way, even if it does, we'll be able to find you!"
"Ok, yeah...that'll be nice." Ochako nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Mei."
"Now come on! We gotta get back to the labs so I can get back to work on my babies!" Mei said. "And not that the hospital gown isn't a statement piece, but we should get you some actual clothes, come on, let's get going!"
Ochako stood and stretched, "Yes, please and thank you."
The two gremlins led her outside, where a red sports car was waiting to pick her up. She recognized the driver from her unfortunate arrival and he smiled when she slid into the backseat, "You must be Ochako Uraraka. It's nice to officially meet you, I'm Dr. David Shield and this is my daughter Melissa."
Ochako grimaced, "Sorry about...you know."
"No, don't worry about it." Dr. Shield laughed. "Honestly, now that we know you're not a security threat and we figured out how you got in, it's more entertaining than anything else. Freaked us out a bit at first, but we're good."
"Well, I'm glad someone found it entertaining." Ochako grumbled. "I honestly wasn't expecting to learn how to teleport when I woke up this morning."
"I know! Everyone back in Japan was really…" Izuku's eyes widened. "Wait, Mei, did you ever tell anyone we found her?"
Mei frowned, "No, I think I assumed you told them and then I was too focused on the tracking bracelet to think about anything else."
"I believe that our people were focused on making sure our security was up to date and incorporating a warning for gravitational shifts." Dr. Shield scowled. "How did we forget that?"
"Didn't you ever call them, Midoriya?" Melissa asked.
Izuku groaned and put his head in his hands, "No, I was busy trying to figure out the quirk science of how she was even warping! Everyone's probably still freaking out!"
Mei shrugged and grabbed her phone, "Well, better late than never!"
Shouta wasn't doing well. All the teachers had been called in and some of the more adept reporters were starting to realize that something was wrong. Uraraka's parents had been contacted and were with a police escort, but there wasn't a whole lot they could tell them. Their daughter had been missing for over four hours now and they still hadn't found a single lead. He, All Might and Tsukauchi were all gathered in Nedzu's office, grimly combing through what meager evidence they could find as they came to terms with the fact that they had failed as teachers and as heroes.
His phone rang and he took one look at teh caller ID before picking up, "Hatsume, please tell me your safe. I really don't have the time or energy to deal with two…"
"Oh, I know!" Mei interrupted. "I thought you might want to know that we found your missing student!"
Shouta immediately sat up straight, "You found Uraraka?! How did you even... Nevermind, I'm putting you on speaker. Where is she?"
Mei cackled, "She's sitting right next to me! Say hi Gravity Girl!"
Uraraka's voice sounded tired, but she was there, "Hi Sensei. Sorry for worrying you."
Nedzu came closer to teh phone, "Nevermind that, young lady. Are you alright?"
"I'm tired and overused my quirk, but I'm already getting my energy back!" Uraraka's voice echoed with a kind of forced cheerfulness. "Don't worry, I'm gonna be fine!"
"I'm glad to hear it." Nedzu said. "Although, if you are with young Midoirya and Hatsume, then…"
"Yeah, that means she's here on I-Island." Midoriya said. "It's complicated. It took us a few hours to even realize she was here, but we're working on it!"
"I'm assuming that Shinso was the one that told you she was missing?" Shouta asked tiredly. "I would probably lecture him about confidentiality, but I guess it's a good thing you were aware she was missing."
"Oh, I'd almost forgotten about Shinso!" Uraraka fretted. "He's probably so…"
Shouta looked at the receiver in confusion as there was a brief shout and then he heard the phone drop and the audio became slightly muffled as Midoirya started speaking, "Uraraka, focus on me, ok? Don't think about Shinso or anyone else, just focus on me and Mei and where we are right...and she's gone. Mei?"
"Already on it."
There was the sound of shuffling as the phone was picked up and Shouta looked at the others in confusion and worry. What did Midoriya mean she's gone?!
"Ugh. Sorry, I really didn't think she had enough energy for that already." Midoriya said finally. "But, uh, good news, Uraraka's back in Japan and we'll send Shinso her location so he can pick her up!"
"She…she's back in Japan?" All Might stuttered. "Young Midoriya, that's at least a five hour journey!"
Midoriya sighed, "Not really. Do you want the short explanation or the long one?"
Nedzu took the phone, "I believe any explanation will do at the moment, Midoirya, thank you."
That made Midioriya chuckle, "I guess that's true. Well, basically, I guess I should start by saying that Uraraka does not have a gravity cancellation quirk like we thought. Her quirk, which I think got a lot stronger recently for some reason, is actually some sort of gravity manipulation and, since according to the theory of relativity gravity is basically just bends in spacetime, then, well…"
"Uraraka can use gravity manipulation to warp." Mei finished. "She uses people as her anchors…"
"Most likely people that she's already used her quirk on." Midoirya interrupted. "Otherwise she would have teleported to you, Eraserhead."
"Yeah, that." Mei agreed. "But she can't control it yet, which is why we fitted her with a tracker! She's across town from Gunhead's agency, and I'm sending her location to Shinso...now!"
"She'll probably be a little worse for wear when he finds her." Midoriya added. "The warp here knocked her out for over two hours. Let us know if you have any questions."
"Good luck!" Mei hung up, leaving a room full of shocked adults to process whatever that had been.
"Well…" All Might cleared his throat awkwardly. "At least it wasn't villains?"
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