Chapter 16: Diamond is Unbreakable
"So, it looks like we gotta take on the son of Endeavor himself! That's sure to garner attention!" Tetsutetsu ground his fists together in excitement, barely able to stop his legs from fidgeting.
"He's got an ice quirk, and a powerful one at that. I saw him freeze an entire building in the blink of an eye during our first heroics class." Diamondhead didn't move his head as he spoke to his team. Losing sight of the team who had Ida as a horse could mean never finding them again. "Just remember that he can only fire it out of his right side. I've never seen him do anything with his left."
"Got it. Leave the headband snatching to me! Just get me close!"
"Pardon me, but before we go, could I trouble you with a request Tennyson?" Shiozaki spoke up, drawing Ben's attention. He paused, tilted his head back and gave a small nod.
"These spikes on your back were sufficient at first, but after your battle maneuver against Shishida, I fear they will not suffice in combat. I think I need to get into a different position."
"Oh, that's it? Not a problem. Give me a sec." In no time at all, the crystal spike Shiozaki sat upon grew in size. Its surface area widened, giving the girl plenty of space and comfort, well, as much as she could get while sitting on the back spike of a Petrosapian. Ben even tilted it upward so that she could rest against his back for further support.
"Amazing! So you have complete control over your entire body?" Shiozaki was awestruck as she watched and felt the crystal beneath her reform before her eyes.
"That, and so much more. I made a promise that we would qualify for the finals, right? So, let me show you what I can do." Diamondhead started moving forward. Feet thumping against the concrete beneath, heavy-set arms swinging by his side and eyes focused on his target, it was an intimidating sight. The teams in his way scattered, not wanting to be caught in the inevitable crossfire. All the while, Diamondhead never let his eyes stray from his foe.
"He's coming this way." Ida alerted his team. He crouched down, bending his knees and bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"What is your plan of defense Todoroki?" Yaoyorozu questioned from behind.
"..." Todoroki said nothing.
"Uhh, dude! Not a good time for brooding! He's picking up speed! Are we fighting or running?" Kaminari watched nervously as Diamondhead went from a walk to a jog. Yet still, Todoroki focused little on the incoming threat. He was more focused on the heap of a team that was still trying to pick themselves up.
'This form is similar to the red one from the assessment test and the USJ. A powerful close quarters combatant by the looks of it. I must not let him get close.' With a deep breath, the rider finally started to act. He closed his eyes, sucked in a deep breath, and let it loose.
"Ida, move a bit to the left. Everyone else, rotate with him." The triangle of horses moved on command, giving Todoroki a clear line of sight in the area between Ida and Yaoyorozu. Todoroki raised his right arm and braced it by holding his right wrist with his left hand.
'I will show you what I meant in the waiting room Tennyson!' Todoroki pooled all his power, as much as his quirk would give him into his right arm. The temperature drop was immediate, and drew gasps from his teammates. Small snowflakes gathered and dispersed. His arm started to shiver and tremble uncontrollably, but Todoroki forced it to stay. Just when the cold was starting to become unbearable, Todoroki suddenly drew back his lips, revealing his clenched jaw. His eyes widened. He flexed his fingers.
"Avalanche!" He roared, and finally let all that accumulated power release. All aimed at the rapidly approaching Tennyson.
A storm of ice and flurry flew forth from his right fingers, like a snowstorm unleashed. Ice rapidly formed and expanded over the ground below. Larger ice projectiles followed fast behind, like icy cannonballs. As the larger pieces of ice smashed against each other, they shaved off enough ice off each other to form a storm-like cloud of dangerous ice crystals at the back, hiding Team Todoroki from view. It was like a force of nature, released from the fingertips of a high school student.
"Holy shit, incoming!" Tetsutetsu cried out in alarm, his arm outstretched pointing at the incoming disaster.
"I see it." Diamondhead grunted. He continued forward, unflinching in the face of such an attack. However, it was only for a few more steps. Diamondhead then jumped up, pulling his right arm back for a punch. The punch was not for the Avalanche though. Landing early, Diamondhead punched the ground, and summoned a crystal through the ground, and had it emerge a good distance in front of him.
Shing!
A separate crystal pillar, separate from Diamondhead, broke through the ground at an angle. It jutted out, a single obstacle in the path of a snowstorm. And it broke the storm. As the attack hit the pillar, it became clear that Diamondhead's crystals were unimaginably durable. The ice shattered, the snow disintegrated and the icy boulder-like projectiles broke into harmless snow clumps on impact. Like parting a sea, the Avalanche attack was split in half, unable to break through the crystal Diamondhead summoned. Diamondhead stood back up, lifting his fist from the ground as the ice and snow passed by just inches away from his arms. The attack soon passed, with Diamondhead looking no worse for wear.
The crowd loved it. Seeing a massive attack from the child of the number 2 hero, and then seeing the dynamo wildcard from America easily push through it drew the attention of everyone in the stadium and watching at home. This was the fight to watch.
"He's still standing." Ida spotted the rising crystal titan, the almost midday sun's rays reflecting off his head.
"Damn, he dealt with that attack like it was nothing! You didn't gas out, right Todoroki?" Kaminari looked up worriedly at his rider. Todoroki was panting slightly, and the cold must have spread up his body. His breaths were visible in the cold air around his body, and some of the horses were involuntary shivering due to the cold temperature. But he seemed fine, as his eyes were furrowed with frustration, not paying any attention to his body.
"It was obvious Tennyson wouldn't fall to that attack, but I had to try nonetheless. However, we still have the 10 million headband and Ida is still free. Tennyson does not seem very fast in this form. As long as we stay out of this transformation's melee range, we will be safe."
"But we don't know that for certain, so planning as if we did will be detrimental..." Yaoyorozu whispered under her breath, worried about her team leader's choice in plan. She knew she should speak up. But would anyone listen to her? When Todoroki had taken the role of leader from the start?
"LOOKS LIKE A CLASH OF TITANS IN APPROACHING, WITH TEAM TODOROKI FIRING THE FIRST SHOT! TENNYSON WAS UNFAZED, DEMONSTRATING THIS NEW FORMS ABILITY TO CONTROL CRYSTALS BY BREAKING APART TODOROKI'S ICE ATTACK BEFORE IT EVEN REACHED HIM! IF THIS IS WHAT THEY USE AT THE START OF A FIGHT, THEN I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT THEY'LL USE WHEN THEY GET SERIOUS!"
8 minutes and 1 second remaining!
"Tennyson's coming!" Ida barked, startling Team Todoroki to their senses. Indeed, Tennyson had started a sprint towards them. Immediately, Todoroki started barking orders, causing any complaints Yaoyorozu had to die in her throat. Battle was no place to question leadership in her mind.
"We must keep out of his effective range of attack! Ida, fall back! Yaoyorozu and Kaminari, prepare to keep him at bay!"
Team Todoroki sprang into action. Ida pushed himself around, and started moving his team away from the incoming Tennyson in the most direct of routes possible. Kaminari flexed his quirk, sparks flying out of his hands, ready to be unleashed in a moment's notice. Yaoyorozu racked her mind to come up with something that she could reasonably create that could stand a chance at slowing down Tennyson's new form. As the team rotated, she caught a glimpse at the approaching Team Tetsutetsu. That's when she noticed something.
"Tennyson is going to collide with that crystal pillar he created earlier!" Her report caused Todoroki and Kaminari to also turn their heads in confusion.
'Is he not after us? Is this a part of some larger plan? He must know that a form that bulky could never contend with Ida's speed, so what is he doing not avoiding the most obvious and only obstacle in his way?'
"Huh? We saw that thing split Todoroki's attack! There is no way he could just charge through it, right?"
"This is Tennyson we are dealing with Kaminari. Never assume he can or can not do anything." Ida called from his position in the front, his head still firmly set looking ahead.
Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki had similar sentiments. "Are you going to dodge out of the way of that crystal Tennyson?"
"This form ain't blind, right Ben?"
"Hold on tight. Imma take you two on a ride." Ben's reply didn't answer anything, but the two class B teammates secured themselves to Diamonhead even more securely. Tetsutetsu tightened his legs around Diamondhead's neck and wrapped his arms around his head. Shiozaki threw multiple vines around Diamondhead's torso and pulled them tight.
Just in time too, as Ben had just reached the base of the crystal he had summoned less than a minute ago. He didn't push the crystal down, nor did he barrel through it like everyone predicted. Instead, he ran on it. His feet clinking as he sprinted up the crystal jutting up from the cracked concrete, Ben started jumping. He leapt once, then twice, and then he prepared for the third! The second jump landed Ben right at the tip of the crystal, where he crouched down as far as he could. He reached down, pouring all his energy into his legs. And then, he pushed up with all the might he could muster.
"What the- he's above us!" Team Todoroki was flabbergasted as Tennyson performed a superhuman leap that sent him flying through the sky. Every face in the stands and many of the student's who paused to watch the fight arced up to follow Ben, but then were forced to look away. For it was nearly noon, where the sun was bright and at its highest point in the sky. It's powerful rays, unimpeded on such a cloudless day, shone down and met with Diamondhead's crystalline skin. The Petrosapian's exposed arms, head and back spines caught the sun's rays, magnified them, and reflected them in every direction. Spectators and participants alike cried out in pain as they were forced to avert their eyes. Todoroki, Kaminari and Yaoyorozu were temporarily blinded, and Ida wasn't looking. Meaning they didn't see Diamondhead's hands morphing shape.
Pewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpew!
Suddenly, it was raining crystal projectiles! An endless barrage of rectangular crystal bullets formed at Diamondhead's fingers, fired out, and reformed again. Ben made sure that he made these bullets dull instead of sharp, as he usually had them. But, that actually did little to help alleviate the damage they would do. While these crystal bullets wouldn't cut Team Todoroki, they inflicted nastly blunt force damage. Each individual one caused massive pain and would bruise. And Diamondhead was firing dozens upon dozens in just a few seconds.
"Gaaaaaah!" Ida's forward march was interrupted by pain all along his arms that were supporting Todoroki and his exposed head, back and shoulders. His legs slowed, stalling out and his knees started to buckle as the rain of crystal bullets hammered down. Kaminari was in no better shape, his body racked in pain as he had no way to protect himself. Yaoyorozu grit her teeth, trying to block out the pain while forming some sort of sheet out of her arm, exposed by her rolling up her sleeve. But, it was extremely difficult trying to concentrate on the building materials of the sheet while being peppered with bullets the size of baseballs, and as hard as diamonds to boot.
"Ung!" Todoroki flung his arm over his head, trying to use any ice he could to shelter his team from the barrage. It was no use; while his ice was quite strong it was nothing compared to these crystals. His ice would form for half a second, but had no chance to grow into anything large enough to use as a shield before being smashed to bits. A crystal bullet pierced his weak barrier and hit his left cheek. He dropped his arm with a flinch, bringing the hand to nurse his wound.
The barrage then ended. Caught off guard and wounded, Team Todoroki crawled to a stop. Small but nasty purple bruises already starting to form, the four could only catch their breaths in the brief reprieve. Briefness was key, as no sooner had they sucked in their first breath, Tennyson landed with a crash, a fair distance between him and Ida. Team Todoroki looked on as Diamondhead stood up, a small dust cloud obstructing the view below his waist. He looked just as he did before, as if covering the entire ground around Team Todoroki's feet in crystal bullets hadn't taken a lick of effort. The same could not be said for his teammates.
"Please... do not do that again Tennyson. If you must, anything, even the briefest of warnings would be appreciated." Shiozaki gasped as she clutched Diamondhead's back as if her life depended on it. Her face was pale with shock, and her mind was swimming in fear, dizziness and adrenaline.
Tetsutetsu, while just as dizzy and out of it, was not as scared. "Wooooooo! That was sick, my man!"
"We got in close, now we just got to grab our headband back." Ben saw how vulnerable Team Todoroki was. He didn't want to reveal Diamonhead's ranged abilities so quickly, but the sooner they got the headband, the better. And this was as good as it could get for them.
"We have to stop Ida from getting them moving again. Shiozaki, that move you showed us just before this event, now would be a good time to use it."
"Oh, and remember how that loud class A blonde guy's team reeled him back in when he blasted off to attack when we were circling around the edge? Why don't we take a page out of their book and copy that technique? Vine me!"
"Very well!" Shiozaki clutched her hands together and bowed her head, concentrating. She chose one of her strongest and longest vines and burrowed it into the ground. Another was whipped over her head and grabbed gently by Tetsutetsu who immediately got to work.
"I'll keep them busy while you're at it!" Noticing Ida wincing, but gathering his senses, Ben raised his arms again. Team Todoroki only had about thirty seconds of reprieve, as Diamondhead continued the barrage.
Pewpewpewpewpew!
Ida and Todoroki took the brunt of the second wave of bullets. Ida flung his head to the side, trying to preserve his glasses. Todoroki tried again to form an ice barrier, but the crystal bullets were too strong, too fast, too numerous. His right side was no help here. "Yaoyorozu, we need something to deflect these projectiles, and now!"
"Ahck! He-here!" Yaoyorozu finished a rectangle of a tarp-like material, which she balled up and thrusted at Todoroki. The boy took it, unveiled it and tried to use it to shield his team again. The bullets bounced off the tarp, but that victory was short lived. The constant barrage flung the tarp back, smacking Todoroki in the face. The unrelenting wave continued, and Todoroki knew the only rational course of action was a tactical retreat.
"Ida, we have to move! I don't care in which direction or where we end up, just get us out of here!" Todoroki's command spurred Ida into action. Ida crouched down and fired up his engines, feeling the familiar rumbling of power in his legs. Without the need to worry about the destination, Ida simply propelled his feet forward. His feet burst off the ground-! And then snapped right back down into where they were milliseconds ago.
"Ida!" Todoroki's pained scream called out again.
"I-I don't know what's going on!" Ida revved his engines again, and pushed off with even greater force. And again, his legs didn't move. In his frustration, he angrily looked down at his feet. And his eyes flew open in panic. "Ah!"
"Ida, what is going on?" Todoroki grit his teeth in frustration. He caught glimpses of Tennyson's teammates planning something and passing something between themselves, and his team was powerless to form anysort of countermeasure! He looked down, trying to see what's wrong. Then shock filled his system as well.
"Vines!" Kaminari voiced what they all had noticed. A thick, powerful vine had unburrowed itself by Ida's foot, and started wrapping around it. It had entangled both of Ida's feet in a spiderweb of green, and it was still twisting and turning, binding itself tighter still.
"I understand that Tennyson demands quite a bit of attention due to the visual impressiveness of his transformation quirk." Shiozaki's gentle voice finally reached the ears of Team Todoroki. From her position, safe behind Diamondhead's back, more vines joined the original to bind Ida. The bespectacled teen could only watch in horror as more vines joined in inhibiting his ability to move. "But I would appreciate it if you did not act and plan as if his teammates did not exist."
"Yeah! It's our time to shine!" Tetsutetsu finished fastening the vine he had been given earlier to his waist, forming a safety line. But a safety line for what? That was soon answered by the boy in question sliding off Diamonhead's neck and moving towards one of the arms, still firing shards like a gatling gun. "Throw me Ben!"
A quick glance at Team Todoroki told Ben all he needed to know. Ida was straining desperately against Shiozaki's vine trap, unable to move an inch. Yaoyorozu was trying to make more shielding, this time making a more permanent, but slower to create, metal shield. Kaminari was definitely not having a good time, as he had no way to protect himself nor fire back without risking his teammates. Todoroki himself was freezing the first tarp shield he was given to give it more structure. They weren't going anywhere.
"Alright!" Diamondhead stopped firing to reform his right hand. He made sure to place his fingers on the edges of his wrist, like a lego figure. Tetsutetsu slid in, and Diamondhead's fingers slid to cradle the teen in a firm grasp that was tight enough to throw without accidentally dropping him. Diamondhead pivoted back, his right arm holding Tetsutetsu reaching what felt like miles, before hurling his human payload forward like a star quarterback.
"Go long!"
"Geronimo!" Like a speeding gray missile, Tetsutetsu was hurled with incredible force, his legs locked in place and his arms held stiff against his sides. Tetsutetsu, who just a moment ago was atop Diamondhead was now en route and Team Todoroki had no way of stopping him or moving out of the way.
Todoroki caught a glimpse of the boy's face, his skin hardened into steel armor. His face oozed confidence; his lips curved into a fierce, toothy grin and his eyes alight with the fire of battle. This view abruptly ended when said face smashed into Todoroki, whose vision swam with the force of the impact. It was a miracle his nose didn't start bleeding. But the chaos had only just begun. Tetsutetsu had not touched the ground, and he wasn't going to leave without the headband tied around Todoroki's head!
"WITH SEVERAL INCREDIBLE MOVES, IT LOOKS LIKE TEAM TETSUTETSU HAS PUT TEAM TODOROKI INTO A PRECARIOUS POSITION! SHIOZAKI HAS IDA IMMOBILIZED, TENNYSON KEEPS THEM PINNED AND NOW TETSUTETSU IS GOING IN OLD-SCHOOL STYLE! JUST MINUTES AGO TEAM TODOROKI LOOKED UNSTOPPABLE, BUT YOU CAN NEVER TELL WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN EVENTS LIKE THESE! UNDER STRESS, UNDER PANIC, THIS IS WHERE TEAMS RISE AND FALL! HOW WILL TEAM TODOROKI GET OUT OF THIS?"
7 minutes and 11 seconds remaining!
"Hey man, get off of us!" Kaminari generated a charge in his hand and smacked Tetsutetsu in the thigh, but aside from a nasty spark, it was ineffective. Before the electrical user could prepare another attack, he was assaulted with a third wave of crystal bullets.
Pewpewpewpewpew!
"It never ends! We gotta do something about Tennyson!" Kaminari flailed back, his arms, legs, chest and face aching with pain as the tender skin was bombarded with more projectiles. Taking a deep breath, he tried to shut out the pain to fire off an electrical blast at Tetsutetsu. His aim was thrown off by the impact of a crystal shard hitting him right in the eye. Kaminari threw his head back, biting back a cry of pain as his vision darkened and even more pain throbbed.