Chương 2322: 64
Chapter 64: Battery
A/N: And here we go with part two of Joint Battle Training: A5 vs. B5! The continuation and culmination of the battle is coming around this chapter, as well as some other things near the end.
Side Note: As for the scenes with Shoji and Momo, they're happening at the same time - just wanted to say just in case any of you get confused by the order of events. Also also, the formatting limitations here made it so the formatting isn't what I want for some parts of the chapter. Oh well.
Anyways, enjoy!
"Why did I teach those two how to strategize and look deep into analyzing quirks again?"
"Well, they are your friends. And you didn't really have anything better to do at the time. Well, aside from keeping up your activities as Snitch, that is."
"Hmm," Izuku hummed. The darkness around him reigned supreme, his vision cut short by the layers of ground surrounding him. He was immobile, his body buried within the earth. Most people would have been helpless in such a situation, deemed a lost cause to the team.
But of course, Izuku wasn't truly stuck in his prison, not really. He still had some versatility with him.
Izuku reached for his bugs, searching and observing the battlefield above. He noticed a mass of his bugs clustered together, underneath the ground like himself.
It was his flightpack, buried around seven feet away from his current position.
We'll get to that later, Izuku thought. I need to get out first. I'm not yet in the eternal prison of pain and suffering, so I'm still in the game. But I'm still a sitting duck if Honenuki comes back. But at the very least, I'm still conscious. A mistake on Honenuki's part.
"That is how masters work. If you're planning to take them down, you should make sure not to do it half-assedly. You make sure that they're down for the count."
"Mhm, sure. Whatever you say," Izuku said, aloud. "Well, I suppose that I can go about with my two swarms again, right?" Decision made, Izuku set his bugs out towards his teammates.
"Now shush, QA. I need to concentrate and help out my teammates… Unless you're feeling like helping?"
QA laughed a rather hearty laugh. "Nope! … Dang it. Still doing it."
Izuku's swarm found Momo right in the place that he had left her. The swarm was just in time to witness Momo generating a giant shield, using it to block a swipe from Kamakiri's armblade.
Of course, what the bug-like boy didn't notice that Izuku's swarm did was the shotgun and taser — one in each hand — that Momo had also created just behind the shield.
When Kamakiri moved the shield out of the way, he immediately took notice of the shotgun. He braced himself, covering his face and torso with his blade-endowed arms — leaving him open for the taser that connected to his side. Kamakiri fell to the ground with a grunt. The light hit that over his head that came from the butt of the shotgun knocked him effectively unconscious.
"Yes!" Momo exclaimed, pumping a fist. "Take that! Taser zap!"
Izuku guided his swarm beside the celebratory. "Momo."
"Ah!" She screamed, jumping in place. She turned and eyed the bug clone, her breath slowing in realization. "Oh! Uh, ahem. Izuku! You're alright!"
"Ehh… Not really. I'm kind of immobile at the moment."
Momo bent down and created some handcuffs which she placed around Kamakiri's wrists. "Immobile? How so?"
"Honenuki sort of… um, buried me."
Momo paused a bit before continuing to form some rope to tie around Kamakiri's legs. "Buried? What do you mean?"
"I'm currently buried five feet underground…" The swarm clone orientated itself towards Izuku's real body, pointing in its location. "Over in that direction."
"Buried five feet under!" Momo exclaimed, tightening the restraints on Kamakiri. "We need to get you out!"
"It's fine," the swarm said. "Shoji's going to be on it soon. For now, let's make sure Kamakiri is properly captured, yeah?"
Momo looked back to her captive. "But— Alright, fine." She put Kamakiri over her shoulders and began to make her way towards the Nezu prison of suffering. Izuku willed his swarm to follow.
Izuku's swarm spread its focus to its surroundings, observing the environment for any sign of movement. "Any sign of Kuroiro?"
"Nope," Momo said. "He ran off after you sent your bugs after him. Haven't seen him since."
"Hmm…" Izuku continued to spread his bugs out, moving them at a rather moderate speed to prevent a collision with Tsu and possibly breaking her cover.
"No sign of him so far. He might be underground with Honenuki, but it's more likely that he's just that good at blending with the shadows."
"No sign of Tsu?" Momo asked. "Or Shinso, for that matter."
"Not yet. He might be with Honenuki… but I'm getting to the edge of the designated area. They might just be— Aha! There they are! Yes! Tsu just got him."
"Got who?"
The communicators suddenly blared to life.
[Apricot, kero]
"Uh…" Momo attempted to answer her headset, but remembered that her hands were full with her captive.
"Don't worry, I've got it." A small contingent of bugs pressed against the communicator.
"Arbalest," Momo started. "Tsu? We've been looking for you. Where have you been?"
[Tracking my target, kero. I have Shinso. I'm about to make my way back]
"Oh, that's great!" Momo cheered. "We're just about on our way there too since we have Kamakiri."
"What's your ETA?"
Izuku's swarm paused. It wasn't Momo's voice who had just asked that question, and said question originated a good ten feet away from their current position. His bugs caught just the slightest amount of movement in the shadows.
The viewpoint of his bugs — the ones steadily advancing on Tsu's position — finally got a good look at the captive Shinso. His voice modulating mask was still on. And it was likely that his communicator was still in his ear.
"Kuroiro! Ten feet to our right, four o'clock!" The swarm pressed against the communicator again. "Tsu! Don't answer that question!"
A flash of light — a flashbang, Izuku corrected himself after noticing Momo throwing the grenade — erupted in the place Izuku had mentioned. Momo dropped Kamakiri on the ground and ran off towards the now disoriented Kuroiro.
A groan came from the suddenly conscious Kamakiri, which Izuku reacted to in earnest.
"Move," he positioned over thirty hornets in Kamakiri's face, "and you're getting it. Capiche? And don't think that I won't. Nezu made extra sure to have a speedy way to treat bug bites and stings of all kinds ever since I was accepted into UA."
It was a bluff of course, considering that Aizawa had limited him to not using any bites or stings. And while the treatment thing was also false, Izuku wouldn't be surprised if Nezu actually had done something similar. Itw as Nezu, after all.
The communicators crackled to life yet again.
[Why? What happened?]
"Don't answer that!" the swarm warned, yelling in Momo's direction. "Tsu's been compromised!"
He watched Momo's head nod ever so slightly in response. Izuku went back to look at where Tsu was.
His other bugs viewed the situation with Tsu with apprehension, watching as she was restrained in preparation of being dragged under by Honenuki and Shinso. The sight of his incoming bugs had the duo hurrying along their efforts.
It wouldn't matter; Izuku knew that Honenuki could sink him and the other two faster than the bugs would arrive.
Back with his other swarm copy, Izuku watched as Momo came back with a restrained Kuroiro in tow. He was hogtied and being dragged on the ground.
"What happened?' Momo asked. "You said Tsu's been compromised? How?"
"It looks as if Shinso getting captured was a trap. It doesn't matter now. It's a lost cause, so let's focus on getting these two to their prison of suffering. And Kamakiri woke up, just in case you didn't notice."
Momo blinked, looking back at her initial captive. "Right… Sorry about this, but I'm going to be dragging you on the ground now since there are two of you."
"Seriously?" Kamakiri questioned.
"Mhm," Momo hummed. "Again, I am sorry for this."
As Momo began checking Kamakiri's restraints again, Izuku looked at the boy with his swarm. The boy twitched a bit and sent a glare towards the swarm.
Best not make the same mistake again.
"Momo. I neglected to say that they have communicators too. That's how Kuroiro was able to relay a question for Shinso to ask that matched what we were talking about. Kamakiri's is on his…" Izuku checked with his bugs. Kamakiri twitched again. "Left ear."
As Momo went to pluck the communicator from Kamakir's ear, Kamakiri spoke up.
"Stop that."
Momo paused.
Kamakiri tsked. "Not you," he said to Momo. He turned his glare back at the swarm. "You."
"Getting closer. Especially since his mutations are a lot less severe than the other's…"
"Me?"
"Yes you. Stop."
Izuku's swarm shared a look with Momo, and then looked back at Kamakiri. "I have no idea what he's talking about."
Momo nodded. "Whatever you're trying to pull won't work, Kamakiri."
"I'm not trying to pull—!" Kamakiri sighed. "Look, I'm telling you—" He blinked. I… uh. Nevermind."
Izuku's swarm and Momo shared another look.
"Alright then," Momo eventually said. "Brace yourself. Off to the prison cage for you."
"What do you mean you left him buried in the ground!" Pony screamed into her communicator. She was controlling her horns from afar, keeping Shoji away from her with a barrage of quirk.
"Did you forget that he controls bugs!?" Pony continued, her face scrunching up in distress. "All you did was just give him ample cover! Go back and get him! What do you mean aft— Fine! Do that then! Just make sure you get it right!"
From just behind a large pipe, Izuku viewed the scene with a small amount of mirth. The small swarm he had gathered stayed out of view, waiting for an opportune moment to talk to Shoji. Izuku needed a moment to inform Shoji without having him lose his concentration, lest he be defeated by Pony's horns.
It could have been a simple action, swarming and overwhelming Pony with his bugs. However, the main problem with that plan was Honenuki. Izuku didn't have an inkling of a clue where the boy was. For all Izuku knew, Honenuki was currently waiting beneath Pony, waiting for the first sign of danger to evacuate his teammate.
And so Izuku did the next best thing, a plan that could possibly work. His swarm formed a clone and walked towards the battle, its body in full view of the two fighters.
"Hey Pony! How's fighting with Shoji doing?"
"Nuh uh!" Pony voiced. "I'm not getting distracted by looking at you Izuku!"
She charged forward, her horns aimed right for Shoji. Pony collided not with Shoji's stomach but with his hands, which had taken hold of her horns at the last moment. Before Shoji could act back, Pony disconnected her two horns and stepped back to a safer distance. Shoji threw the discarded horns to the ground.
"As you can see," she launched another two horns from her head, "I'm busy fighting your friend here. And I plan to win." Her two horns launched forward. However, Izuku noticed, at the same time the horns that Shoji previously discarded also began to rise.
Izuku's swarm tried to shout out a warning in time, but Izuku reacted too slowly. Shoji again grabbed onto the horns that came from his front. However, he didn't notice the two closer horns at his feet which had launched themselves at him.
They connected with a grunt from Shoji, leaving him open for attack. Pony acted accordingly, charging once again at Shoji and connecting the attack this time. In the end, Pony continued forward, pushing Shoji against a wall all while punching him at the same time.
"Dang it."
Izuku willed the swarm forward, collapsing in on itself into the usual amorphous shape his swarms usually took.
Pony yelped, noticing the swarm before it could reach her. She removed herself from Shoji and willed two horns to her feet, using them to enact a speedy, flight-empowered escape towards the skies.
"You're not getting any of those bugs on me Izuku!" Pony exclaimed as she moved further away. Three other of her horns followed suit with her in the air, going around to surround her in a sort of defense line.
"Well, that answers the Honenuki question… again. Huh."
The swarm turned its attention towards Shoji. However, it didn't just turn its attention away from Pony. At the same time it turned, the back side of the clone kept a careful myriad of eyes on the skies, watching for signs of any possible aerial attacks from Pony.
"You alright Shoji?"
Shoji grunted, picking himself off the ground. "I—" he hissed. "I think so. I'm a bit bruised and battered in some places, but I can manage."
"That's good," Izuku's clone said. "In that case, would you mind lending me a couple hands? I have a problem that your strength would probably help solve."
"But how about Honenuki? And Tsunotori? They can ambush us at any second."
"I have eyes on Pony. I'll know the second she tries anything, so we're fine on that front. The only thing we'll have to worry about then will be defending ourselves. Otherwise…"
Hmm… I don't think that any of them heard about Aizawa's limits on me...
Izuku called forth another swarm, one that easily held an amount of bugs that soared in the hundreds of millions. He aimed it towards Pony's general location.
"Gah!" Pony screamed, flying away. "Stay away!"
Looks as so.
Shoji held one of his hands to his head. "Ah, it looks as if we've gotten Shinso then. That's good. He was a constant danger every moment he was free on the battlefield."
"Yep, you've got that right. But anyways," the clone gestured to the retreating form of Pony and the chasing swarm, "she'll have to deal with that. As for Honenuki, I'm sure that you can keep an ear to the ground so that— Oh. Shoot."
"What? A problem?" Shoji shifted his arms into fists in preparation of attack.
"Yes and no. Nothing immediate to our area though. But, I do know where Honenuki is. And Kuroiro."
"Where?" Shoji asked, loosening up his stance slightly, but not so much so that he wouldn't be ready to react quickly if he needed to.
"They've just got Tsu. Well, Honenuki and Shinso did, I mean. It looks like Shinso getting captured was actually a part of their plan. Honenuki and Shinso… just slipped back underground with Tsu in tow. They restrained her with some improvised cuffs made of stone, I think."
"Hmm… In that case, they're probably going to bring her to their cage rather than use her to fight — I know that I would. There'd be too much of a risk of her breaking free during combat otherwise."
"And Kuroiro?"
"Momo and I just saw him. He went back into the shadows of the pipes an— Nevermind, he's down. Momo got a couple flashbangs in and whacked him over the head with her bo staff. That's two for her."
Shoji raised his hand again to his communicator.
"Don't answer that! Tsu's been compromised!"
Shoji lowered his arm.
The swarm shook its head. "Nevermind, we're wasting time. Ask any remaining questions on the way. And let's get to my body, later. You need to get to Momo just in case she ends up needing the backup. Who knows, Honenuki and Shinso might end up doing to Tsu what they did to me. And then there'd be nothing stopping them from reorganizing themselves and deciding to save their teammates first."
Shoji nodded, stretching his body out. "Alright, sounds like a sound plan Midoriya. So let's— Wait, your body?!"
The door to the prison cage closed with a loud clattering of metal, leaving the two occupants within it to their fates.
"Well, that went off without a hitch," Momo said. "Much more uneventful than I thought it'd be. And we still have… a little over five minutes to spare before the match ends, I believe?"
"Mhm. I was worried that Shinso and Honenuki might have found the time to intercept us. Especially since Honenuki was able to liquify their prison and then reform it with Tsu inside. I wasn't even able to hinder their actions by just a little bit."
"It's fine Izuku. At the current moment we're in the lead. What matters now is you. Well, your real body, that is. We need to retrieve you before they do."
"Right. You're right." Izuku's swarm clone gestured for Momo to follow. "This way then. I just redirected Shoji too, and we should meet up near my body if I'm not mistaken."
"Lead the way then."
And so Izuku did.
As they were nearing their destination, Pony flew past just above their heads. Thankfully, she was too busy trying to escape the giant swarm behind her to enact any sort of strafe run.
"I'm getting payback later Izuku!" Pony yelled just before she got out of earshot.
Momo and Izuku's swarm disregarded it and made their way to Izuku's body. "By the way, Momo, do you think that you can cook something up to shoot Pony out of the sky?"
Momo hummed. "Probably , not without leaving a high chance of her crash landing rather harshly, at least."
"Dang. Oh well. I guess that's what the swarm is for, after all."
It wasn't long before the sound of crumbling rock met their ears and they met up with Shoji, who was already working on getting Izuku free.
"Remember, make sure that you soften up your hits when I say so. You don't accidentally want to hit me, alright?" Shoji's swarm clone said. "Oh, and Momo's arrived. She's right behind you, so don't get spooked."
The clone by Shoji's side dispersed and formed a perimeter around Momo and Shoji.
Shoji sent a glance over his shoulder and nodded at the arriving Momo. "Yaoyorozu. Good job with capturing Kamakiri and Kuroiro. Your actions put us in the lead."
"I just did what I thought best at the time. It just so happened that I got those two." She looked at the steadily growing indentation in the ground. "How deep have you gone? Two feet?"
"Around so," Shoji answered. "I'm still trying to gauge how much force to use so that—"
One of the ears Shoji had on the ground twitched. "They're nearby. They were closing in on us, but then they suddenly backed up."
Izuku's bugs took note of Pony up above, who — while still evading the swarm chasing her — was watching the trio with a keen eye.
"They were testing your range. What is it?"
"Ten yards or so," Shoji replied.
A small number of bugs took notice of Shinso and Honenuki sprouting out from the ground, just a little bit away outside Shoji's range. "There's around two minutes left. They're going to try and rush us." Izuku looked above at the steadily approaching Pony and the swarm that followed her. "Maybe Pony too, regardless of my swarm chasing her."
"That's no good," Shoji said.
"Hmm… Shoji, continue trying to get me out. I'll try to deal with Honenuki and Shinso. Distract them a bit. Momo, you prepare something for if they get under you two."
The two let out sounds of agreement.
A swarm neared the duo of Honenuki and Shinso and formed a little ways away from them. The duo tensed and they shared a look. Honenuki nodded and descended into the ground. He left Shinso where he was.
"Shinso," Izuku willed the swarm to speak, "nice job so far. Your performance with Bakugou was pretty good. It's a shame that you won't be able to fight me though. I've grown to be a bit intimate with Aizawa's methods, with what all those patrols of his I've witnessed. I'd like to see how you'd fare compared to him."
Shinso furrowed his eyes. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"I—"
crYsTAl. qUerY. aLiVE. EvOLVinG.
The vision was gone, and Izuku had control of himself again.
Shinso narrowed his eyes even further. He let out a laugh and smirked. "Hmm. I still want to know how you can do that, Midoriya." He looked at the ongoing battle just beyond his reach.
"I'm sure that we've already lost at this point, haven't we?" Shinso asked. "Mudguy over there would have to get your body almost immediately, and I doubt that he'd be able to with yourself and your two other teammates still there. And besides, we're a little far from our base, aren;t we? He'd never make it while holding on to you."
Izuku felt himself smirking. "Yeah. I'd think so."
Izuku felt Shinso's hold over him form—
bRoken. QUEry CyclE.
—and dissipate just as quickly.
"Are you going to keep doing that?"
Shinso smirked. "I am. I am curious, after all."
Back at the site of where Izuku's body was buried, Honenuki attempted to limit the amount of ground he turned to liquid. Izuku attested it to Honenuki not wanting to risk having to fight Shoji in 'aquatic' combat. It didn't help that Momo kept a good amount of tasers with her — though Izuku didn't know how much that helped since he didn't know the conductibility of Honenuki's liquid.
Pony on the other hand, attempted to help her teammate. She got a couple hits in on Momo and Shoji with her horns, but the bugs still chasing her hindered her efforts. But without a proper horn barrage to keep Shoji and Momo down, her efforts ended up ineffective.
Before they all knew it, the match ran its course, a buzzer going off across the arena.
"Well that's time," Shinso said, walking forward. He held out a hand towards Izuku's swarm.
"This might not be the real you, but I think that this should suffice, right?"
"It should. And Honenuki's pulling me back up, so I might—"
cONFlICt. qUerY?
Izuku shook his head. His real head. He was above ground, Honenuki pulling him up from his makeshift prison.
"You good there Midoriya?" Honenuki asked. "You handled that well?"
Izuku took off his mask and took a breath of fresh air. "Yeah. Don't worry about it."
Honenuki let out a sigh. "Good. Good. Oh! And here's you pack-thingy."
Izuku took his flightpack in his hands and checked it for any damage. Everything seemed fine, that is until he opened up its wings, revealing one to be broken.
"Welp. Looks like I need to make a trip to Mei's lab."
Izuku stood outside of the room, his body against the wall just to the side of the doorway. He waited in that position for a whole minute, holding caution towards the possibility that the door would be blown outwards just as he'd grab for the handle.
It was just another of the many things that he'd gotten used to doing ever since he'd had Mei as a friend. And even then, it would still probably be something anyone would learn after the third or so time it would happen to them.
Of course, Izuku knew that he could always just send his bugs in to check. But Izuku didn't see the fun in that — that, and it also helped in improving his general situational awareness, bugs notwithstanding.
And so, when the usual minute was up, Izuku cautiously opened the door, announced his presence with a small swarm of bugs, and walked straight into the lab.
He was immediately met eye to eye with a robotic face.
"Oh! Hi Izuku!" said the robot, it's voice feminine and cheerful. "Come in to see Mei?"
Izuku did a lookover of the robot. It bore a fairly simple chassis, being metallic silver and wiry in shape. Its arms were the complete opposite however — bulky things that no doubt held a whole myriad of machinery. The giant treads that made up its feet followed suit of the arms, though its head followed the example of the torso, being simply made with two red light bulbs and a line for a mouth.
The robot waved its huge arms in front of Izuku's face. "Uh, Izuku? I'm pretty sure that you're spacing out again."
This time, Izuku found that the voice that came from the robot was familiar, very much so.
"Melissa?"
"Oh, that's right!" The robot snapped its fingers. "Mei and I never got the chance to mention it to you! Behold, my brand new remote controlled Robo-Body! Ahem. Mk. III, of course. You know how Mei is with robots."
"Huh…" Izuku muttered. "Is there a reason that the arms are so unsymmetrically proportioned to the rest of the body?" He smiled. "Did you get tired of the old Robo-Arms or something?"
The robot sent a dismissive wave. "Nah. Mei said she didn't want to bother with the parts that didn't matter is all. And hey, I'm not complaining. I'm fully immersed right now; user interface and everything! It's like I'm actually here right now."
Izuku raised an eye. "Really?"
The robot — or rather, Melissa, in a technical way — nodded rather enthusiastically. "Yeah! It's— Oh right! You're here for Mei right?"
The Melissa-bot gestured for Izuku to follow. "Come on, she's in the back. I'll explain on the way."
Izuku followed, and Melissa carried on with her explanation.
"So," Melissa continued, "remember that data we gathered? That one extensive test period where we studied the way you saw through your bugs?"
"Yeah?" Izuku asked. "Wait, that's what it was for?"
"Yep! Like with how you explained the first instances of you getting used to your bugs being disorienting, it ended up being the sa—"
An explosion cut Melissa off. Through the sudden and abrupt billowing smoke and force of the explosion came a soot-covered Mei that landed right in front of Izuku and the Melissa-bot.
"Ah! Izuku!" Mei exclaimed. She stood up and grabbed Izuku's shoulders, taking no care that soot continued to cover every inch of her body, and in turn get all over Izuku. Izuku coughed at the sudden intake of explosion scents, just as Mei began to shake him.
"This is rather unusual for you; it isn't your designated testing time! It's supposed to be Manga today, and that isn't scheduled for another couple hours! Usually it's—" Mei cut herself off and narrowed her eyes.
"You broke something, didn't you?" She stared right into Izuku's eyes, her face nearing his.
"Umm…" Izuku averted his gaze. "Eh…"
Mei rose up her hand, a ready wrench in its grip prepared to strike.
"Wait!" Izuku held a hand out. "Technically it was Pony's fault!"
The wrench was lowered, Mei backing away ever so slightly. "Oh? Was it now?"
And then the wrench still collided with a light tap to Izuku's head.
"Ow!"
Mei crossed her arms. "Pony will be getting her comeuppance, but it's still your responsibility to keep your things intact, Izu. So, what is it?"
Izuku hesitantly took his flightpack off from his back. "Well, you see…" He had his bugs activate the flight capabilities, revealing the broken wing.
"Gah! My baby!" Mei swiped the flightpack from Izuku's hands and sped off to her workstation.
Mei immediately got to work, essentially ignoring Melissa and Izuku.
"Oh!" Izuku voiced, facing the Melissa-bot. "You two wouldn't have happened to work on a Voice Modulator mask by any chance? Issued to a first year in general education, Hitoshi Shinso?"
The robot shook its head. "No, not that I recall. Any particular reason?"
"Not really," Izuku said. "Just wondering. I faced said student in battle in class today."
"That doesn't sound like nothing! Mei exclaimed without looking up from her workstation. "Do you want a voice modulator or something?"
"I already have my bugs for that Mei, remember?"
"Well, oh well! You've got me in a creating streak now! Come back tomorrow Izuku! I'm going to be integrating some new improvements to your pack, alright? I've been holding off on them for a while, so don't complain, you hear?!"
"Ah, just like Mei," Izuku muttered.
"Yup," Melissa agreed. "Sure is."
A/N: And there we have it! A bit longer than I was initially planning — but hey, that just means more stuff for you to all read, right?
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