Chapter 12: Round Two VS FIGHT!
Thursday, September 13th
12:39 pm
Heat.
A shatter.
Hummmmm.
Lunch Rush blinked his eyes hard, trying to realign his thoughts as the air raid sirens competed for his attention with the seafood explosion.
The man had been alone in the kitchen, prepping meals to be carted out to the student's individual classrooms when she'd attacked. He knew he was outgunned, if their last encounter was anything to go by, but he could at least stall.
The chef refocused on the woman, finally shaking off the effects of over-stimulus. Lithely dodging yet another fist made of meat, Lunch Rush activated his quirk to slow his surroundings.
This should be easy compared to preparing thousands of meals in a drought, right? A light spar in thirty-eight degrees? That was nothing.
The villain lifted her arms skyward. A cloud of black, dense smoke billowed up toward the now non-existent skylight as the room rose another seven degrees and the older female's hair caught fire.
No wait. It was fire.
Blue licks of flame shot from the Nomu's scalp as if someone turned up the dial on a kitchen torch, the air shimmering around the unwavering blaze.
That didn't look good.
Securing his metal mask more tightly to his face as the smoke reached him, Lunch Rush snapped open the front of his double-breasted jacket. Several insanely-sharp knives withdrew, positioned between his knuckles like kunai.
UA's head cook sent them flying toward his opponent but it was no more effective than dumping oil on coals. A wall of shrimp rose up, taking the staccato of impacts like toothpicks in a foam ceiling.
Then the woman's scarlet eyes darkened until they were swallowed in ebony, matching the caustic vapor filling the room.
"I CURSE YOUR FOOD TO TASTE FOREVER OF ASH!"
The raucous bellow shook the furniture, setting metal legs and ceramic pots to rattling. Then the smoke started to thin, the sharp, chemical scent of burning plastic dulling considerably.
Relieved that his air filter was finally keeping up enough to cut the smell, Lunch Rush readied himself for the next attack, pulling a pepper shaker filled with mace out from under his hat.
It was only then that his mouth went dry, heating considerably until it abruptly tasted like he'd licked a briquette.
Thursday, September 13th
12:40 pm
Bakugo pushed from the window frame he'd so desperately been hanging on to, launching himself into the hazy cafeteria.
The temperature immediately rose and Katsuki could practically feel his pores open up.
Oh, fuck yeah!
Behind him, Racoon Eyes flocked to the G.I Jane -kabob while Kirishima and Tail jumped toward a lower window, following Katsuki in.
Lunch Rush was at the farthest corner of the room, hurling something that the villain—Lunch Lady apparently—smacked at. The small object shattered on impact, shooting an orange powder into the air as Lunch Rush jumped back.
The villain started coughing, before the dust around her abruptly caught fire, wreathing the woman in embery will-o-wisps.
Shit. Pyrokinesis.
Bakugo zoomed toward the fight and the Nomu turned at the pops.
Diving forward, Lunch Rush pulled a ladle from…where the hell had that come from?
Katsuki didn't have much time to wonder as the green attacker smirked, holding her hands up like a heavyweight boxer.
"Glad to see you're doing well, Little Firecracker. I was worried. You were by far the most fun to play with."
Bakugo didn't get it. If she really was the one who kidnapped Hagakure, why did her tone bleed equal parts genuine concern and excitement?
"What the fuck is your deal, you psychopath?!" Bakugo shrieked back, words only slightly accented.
Did she think this was a game?
Did she even know she was the villain!?
"Deal? No deal, Dearie. I like your fire! I'd hate to see it extinguished."
An image of Empty Clothes being force-fed at some abandoned factory flashed into Katsuki's mind.
"If you're so worried about me, then why the fuck did you take my classmate?!" the blonde screamed, meeting the woman's incoming jab by blasting himself down and to the left. Lunch Lady's eyebrows drew down in confusion, souring Katsuki's stomach as his right hand rose up under her outstretched fist. Letting loose an armpit-aimed explosion, he watched as a white, soot-stained sleeve swung in from the left.
Both Lunch Rush's ladle and Bakugo's fiery hit missed, the two attacks phasing through their opponent's body and passing each other in a missed, psuedo-high-five.
Jetting to the side when the Nomu's arm lifted, Bakugo was surprised to find that the telekinetic attack wasn't aimed at him.
The first to be hit was Lunch Rush. The man's arms were walled tight over his face, taking the brunt of a shrimp bombardment. Aquatic insects split around his slight body like a rock in a stream, overwhelming the traction of non-slip-sneakers and sending the chef skidding back toward Ojiro.
"Don't you know it's bad manners to interrupt a conversation?" Lunch Lady admonished.
Bakugo evaded a punch, ducking it and sweeping his leg around for a kick while two clouds of shrimp tried to slam Tail. The martial artist just barely dodged in time, luck running out when a carton flew in from above and exploded midair. Milk splashed across his face, creating an opening, and the swarms went in for a body-slam.
Kirishima had even worse luck, still stuck only a couple meters into the building as he swatted at the never-ending crustaceans.
Apparently satisfied with her work, Lunch Lady feinted, using Bakugo's dodge to flee toward the opposite wall's windows. Suddenly looking more solid, but not turning around, she called, "To answer your question, Dearie, I haven't taken anyone. I was just here to—"
Roughly fifteen shrimp thudded into the Nomu's retreating back with enough force to lurch the woman's flight forward.
"Control your tempura, please! There are children present!" Lunch Rush shouted, chest puffed out as he twirled a fry pan next to Ojiro.
When the Nomu turned back, it was in righteous fury.
"GODDAMIT, EGGS DUMB-EDICT! I WAS GETTING HER TO TALK!" Sometimes Bakugo wondered how the hell some pro heroes even got their license.
Lunch Rush sagged, then only just managed to bring his cast iron up in time to parry a shoulder charge, the force tossing him in the direction of the kitchen.
"You know, Dysgeusia was the only thing on today's menu, but you've managed to upgrade your meal to FULL-COURSE PAIN!"
Lunch Lady's arms raised and her eyes lightened from deep crimson to candy apple red.
A rumble started behind Lunch Rush that had Bakugo's battle instincts tingling.
A flash food gushed out of the kitchen.
Ground meat separated from the flying wave, splatting to the ground near Lunch Rush as the rest of the ingredients poured past, curving toward Lunch Lady's spot at the center of the room.
Ojiro and Bakugo both tried to hit her before the food could make it there, but she went intangible, the new, now-more-diversified ammo pushing them back as it began to swirl faster and faster around the villain.
The air pressure changed and a wind whipped Bakugo's hair, sucking what was left of the smoke to the center of the room and funneling it out the top of the vortex like a chimney.
Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, the meat spattered near Lunch Rush came alive.
Thursday, September 13th
12:42 pm
An ice-blue and snow-white mist spewed from Ectoplasm's mouth as he dashed through the front entrance of the cafeteria, a single hiccup ending the exhale. The first clones to solidify (Four and Five) immediately streaked back outside, rushing to pro hero Lock On's aid. The rest (Six through Ten) spread out from him in a fan, three of them almost immediately forced into confrontation with several roving packs of wild shrimp and other animal-based groceries.
Wiping sweat off his brow at the building's boiling temperature, the duplicator took in a massive tornado of rice and vegetables spinning at the center of the room. The villain's sporadically-seen gaze stayed riveted to UA's head chef, ignoring Ectoplasm entirely.
"WHAT'S WRONG!? CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT?!" cackled over the clanking and crashing of upending tables as vaguely humanoid monsters scrambled after Lunch Rush. Their ground-beef feet shlopped wet against the floor, bloody prints telling of a complex and erratic chase.
One of Ectoplasm's clones (Seven) ran toward Lunch Rush, trying to beat the meaty amalgamations to their target. But a monster got ahead of the pack, slamming his colleague's side in a full body tackle.
"Lunch Rush!" every Ectoplasm shouted in hive-minded dismay as the offending minion offered a toothless grin, tenderized gums pulling up at the edges and viridescent eyes slitting in deplorable pleasure.
Kirishima and Ojiro also screamed, but Ectoplasm hardly heard them, viewing Seven's senses on one of ten screens playing in his mind.
The short hero careened past his counterpart's outstretched arms, thumping hard into a magenta pillar. Hairline cracks spread out from the collision, stopping just shy of where the structure junctioned with a set of stairs.
Three of the monsters tried to run parallel to Seven as it approached the downed adult, but the clone kicked out viciously. Ectoplasmic prosthetics, while not nearly as strong as the original's carbon-fiber, ripped the reanimated beef in half in a single, elongated roundhouse.
Dropping to trench-coat-covered knees as it neared Lunch Rush, the duplicate quickly prodded for injuries. Reassuring the hive-mind that the man's neck wasn't broken, Seven leaned in when white gloves tugged weakly at its sleeve.
"Get the kids out," Lunch Rush croaked, eyes sliding closed and body going limp.
Great, prominent teeth sneered their displeasure before the copy picked the cook up in a bridal carry. Careful to support the hero's head, it rushed past regenerating minions toward one of the broken windows.
The original Ectoplasm startled, attention jerked forcibly back to his own body.
Kirishima was spinning Ojiro by the tail.
Oh no.
Why were Aizawa's kids always so foolhardy?!
"Drop back! That's an order!" Ectoplasm's otherworldly voice screeched, the demand drowning out the insect-like drone of evil shrimp.
Red eyes locked on Ectoplasm's own white slits as the human centrifuge that was Eijiro started to slow.
Good. At least they could be reasoned with.
Clone Ten tugged at his mind and Ectoplasm focused on his internal theater. No less than three screens displayed 1A's biggest Problem Student™ blasting straight into the villain's ammunition hurricane.
Ectoplasm was soooo close to swearing when several bangs came coupled with a distinctly burnt scent. If Bakugo survived this, that boy was going to have mandatory, DAILY sessions with Aguni-sensei.
More movement refocused Ectoplasm back on Kirishima right as the boy released a revamped hammer throw, crimson eyes tunnel-visioned on his friends.
Ectoplasm's mouth opened in a soundless scream, breath a blanketing fog.
Three new clones solidified next to Kirishima, one of which tackled the super-powered teen, turning its front somewhat oozy and sticking to the boy like glue. It looked ridiculous, the redhead dangling from the duplicate like a baby from a chest harness.
The rocky hero bucked, only managing to stretch part of his captor like taffy before rebounding back in place.
"Guys! Don't let Sensei touch yo—!" Twelve muffled Kirishima's mouth.
Ojiro was already turning the momentum of his flight into an airborne somersault, splicing the villain's edible forcefield with nearly 1300 pounds of force behind his tail. Using the split-second opening, he dove in after Bakugo as his defense-quirked compatriot was spirited away, the Ecto-shima clone booking it in the same direction Ecto-Rush had gone.
Ashido (who, up until then, had been waiting outside with Lock On and the two medically-helpful duplicates) exploited the pandemonium, dashing inside and trading places with the gluey couple like some dangerous game of musical chairs.
"STOP RIGHT NOW! You are to retreat! That is an order!" the three nearest clones called as one.
Eleven managed to grab the girl's arm as she tried to slide past, while Thirteen raced to engage the meat minions, luring the incoming monsters away from the pink student.
A quick, "Sorry, Ectoplasm-sensei!" was the only indication Mina had heard, gold eyes not once wavering from the spot where her friends had disappeared into the food-nado. A second later, mist erupted from Eleven's hand where it held the girl, and the teen jerked away, sprinting toward the villain.
AAAARHG.
Ectoplasm felt like he was climbing Fuji-san. Every step forward was two steps back with these kids. How could Aizawa-san stand them?!
The tall hero lunged forward, flying at the villain himself and cutting off Mina's path.
Another bang sounded inside the swirling armor and an opening appeared in the wave of rice like degreaser dropped into an oil slick. Tossed out of it like oh so much trash, Bakugo and Ojiro soared toward the kitchen.
"Sorry, Brats! You'll need more than a half-baked plan to stop me!"
Ectoplasm thought fast, switching his focus to Ten's screen as he wrestled Mina to a stand-still.
His clone glommed Ojiro from the air and quickly adhered to the teen, ignoring shouted protests. Blue hands flashed toward Bakugo a split second after, but the firecracker's eyes burst open in a bellicose glare. Throwing up a blast, the teen jerked away.
Ten made to go after, only to trip as Orijo's tail smacked hard at its legs.
Just in time too.
They fell, the clone twisting in place and flipping Ojiro above it while simultaneously shielding the boy as a great gout of flame erupted overhead. An industrial, fire-breathing oven hopped into view, its ungainly movement crashing loud against the floor.
Ten's back hit the white tile, and its link to the hive dissolved, cutting off Ectoplasm's view.
The math teacher winced and anxiously forced his closest clone to run toward the boys, even if it meant leading a swarm of shrimp right to them.
Nine only got about halfway there when several of Ectoplasm's screens showed Ojiro and Bakugo fleeing the kitchen. Funnily enough, the appliances got trapped behind, the opening too small for their clunky frames.
Thank Kami-sama.
Ectoplasm snapped back to himself when his hands started to sting. A light coating of acid covered Ashido's arms, burning straight through his costume and to the pink fingers beneath.
"It would be good for you to know, Ashido-san, that Iam the original," Ectoplasm rumbled, tightening his grip to just shy of bruising force.
The bubblegum girl blanched, halting the secretions and avoiding Ectoplasm's gaze in favor of tracking Bakugo's progress.
The angry teen flew around the far side of the villain, shooting off a particularly large explosion at a tendril of rice and zucchini. The edible appendage jerked awkwardly back, outer shell blackened.
Ectoplasm's eyes narrowed at the exacerbated blast.
Forty-five degree temperatures would favor the boy's quirk. Making a mental note to rehydrate Bakugo before he yelled at him later, the teacher started pulling Mina toward the broken windows.
Ashido was a very unfortunate matchup for him. A skin-permeable emitter quirk guaranteed that he couldn't use a weakened form of Bite Detention to restrain her like he had Kirishima. And since someone needed to stay with her at all times to prevent a potential kidnapping, his only option was to hand her off to another hero and get back to the fight, quick.
"Racoon eyes! What the hell are you doing?!" Bakugo slammed another wave of fire onto the shield protecting the lunch-themed villain, then jetted away from a grabby, food-shaped hand. "Melt that clone and get your ass over here!" the explosive teen roared.
It was like Ectoplasm wasn't even here, the way the kids were talking over him. The normally pacific man grit his teeth before ordering Nine to engage the villain with Bakugo.
Sending Eleven after Ojiro, he realized that the highschooler was already thudding toward Ashido and himself.
With a quick pivot ending the run, the teen's tail struck from above. Ectoplasm tried to get a hand up, but the question of whether or not to let go of one of Ashido's arms (there was a good chance she would escape if he did) made him hesitate just a little too long.
The teacher's grip slackened under the hit and Ashido yanked herself free.
Typical.
Ojiro's tail scooped around the pink girl as he pivoted again, using his momentum to fling her like ice cream in the direction of the villain. Coming to a stop facing Ectoplasm and lowering into a Muay Thai stance, he yelled, "Bakugo's got a plan!" over his shoulder.
"How do you know?!" Ashido called back, tripping slightly before turning the tumble into a slide.
"Mashiaro Ojiro! Do you want to be expelled?"
The threat fell on deaf ears.
Ectoplasm kicked out with only a third of his power, trying to dissuade the boy from this foolishness.
Using a combination of tail and arm, the martial artist blocked, redistributing and softening the weight of the blow as Bakugo screamed, "Melt the shield! Her telekinesis has limits. Anything I burned beyond recognition isn't floating anymore!"
Of course. Of course one of Aizawa's top students would have noticed the same thing the teachers had.
Ectoplasm locked eyes with Ojiro's contumacious gaze.
Okay, this wasn't working.
As much as he hated to admit it, fighting against the kids was proving more likely to get them hurt than running damage control against the villain.
Pulling Eleven and Nine in to distract the green woman, Ectoplasm darted around Ojiro. The boy blinked, aghast at his teacher's true speed.
Slamming a kick at one side of the green woman's shield before dashing away, Ectoplasm watched as a huge splash of acid tossed into the air, coating a large chunk of food. As it started to hiss and sizzle, the revelry in the villain's eyes died, replaced by fury.
Rather than panic as her barrier was eaten away, she frowned, the outer edges of the tornado sloughing off and the inner ones zipping close. Tightening and hardening around her, it took on a humanoid shape.
It was some kind of fighting suit. But, at least the pieces that melted were no longer under control. It was curious that she'd chosen to coat herself in something they'd just proven they could destroy.
Ectoplasm dropped out of the way of a flyby tail slam as Ashido readied another wave.
"Ectoplasm. Villain is heading eastbound toward Ground Omega." The hushed words forced the teacher to focus on his internal theater.
Watching Four and Five's screens more closely (Seven and Lunch Rush were long gone), he ascertained exactly where Lock-On's finger pointed.
There was nothing there.
She must be invisible.
Ectoplasm now had a choice to make. He could leave Eleven, Nine and his students to fight the distraction and go after the villain himself (which would likely result in being followed). Or, he could instruct the clones already outside the building to give chase. If the villain kept her rice monster up long enough, he could keep his charges out of the real battle entirely.
Really, there was only one option.
Thursday, September 13th
12:47 pm
Kirishima's vision jerked as the Ecto-shima clone started to jog, pulling the boy's attention away from the spy lady as the woman's own glorified whee—legchair began to move. The third clone was already more than three meters away, jumping over the tea hedge the 1A students had busted through earlier.
They were giving up?
"Sensei! We can't run and leave everyone! That's cowardly!"
His teacher ignored the pleas, and, if anything, put on a burst of speed.
The redhead squirmed and struggled, lurching the clone's gait before snapping back into place. Hand now awkwardly stuck above his head, the teen blew at a loose strand of hair tickling his forehead.
Great.
The legs of Operation Run dashed into and through a thicket of Japanese sweet-coltsfoot, and the colossal, dewy leaves dampened Kirishima's uniform.
Double great.
It seemed they were running toward the main campus, nearly opposite the direction that the two clones and the female hero had gone.
Now, Kirishima never claimed to be the smartest person alive. But even he knew that the nurse's office was back toward the main building. Spy-lady had been hurt. If she wasn't being taken to Recovery Girl, where were they going?
Kirishima wracked his brain. The only thing in that direction was Ground Omega…wasn't it?
As they passed through a small field and down another path, the redhead spotted a hero. The man was racing toward the training forest, too, not the cafeteria.
What was….?
A lightbulb finally went on in the sturdy boy's mind. Eijiro took a deep breath in, ready to shout.
Wait. He wasn't anywhere even close to the cafeteria anymore. His friends would never hear.
Pointy teeth clicked shut with the weight of a spring trap and the building breath hished through them.
Moving his head as much as he could to glance around, Kirishima tried to come up with a plan as his captor ran through another wild area of campus.
Suddenly, he knew exactly what to do. Swinging dangling legs up as the two passed close to a cedar tree, he kicked out hard. The thin soles of his indoor slippers slapped loud against bark; and the already unbalanced duplicate stumbled sideways.
Throwing his left leg out at an angle that hurt more than just his inner thigh, Kirishima's face squinched, but he still managed to reach the ground. Abdominals contracting then hardening in place, the highschooler pitched them both forward and jutted his other foot out to catch the new weight.
Looking like a turtle carrying a flailing shell, Kirishima just managed to keep Sensei's double from touching the ground as he charged backward into a pine. The clone reeled, suddenly changed from captor to captee, and hit hard, puffing into a cloud of mist.
Holy crap, it worked! It was—That was—he couldn't wait to tell Kaminari!
Eijiro did a quick fist pump before swinging around, ready to bolt back to the cafeteria. Oh shoot, it was really far away. Yeah, he could go collect his friends, but the villain would be long gone by the time they rejoined the fight. If Katsuki found out the other teen lost her, he'd blow a gasket.
Running like Bakugo himself was after him, Kirishima galloped across campus, at one point losing a slipper and abandoning it on the ground. Feet soles turning rocky, he kicked the other off and refused to slow as he charged through several patches of foliage.
Two minutes into the break-neck pace, he saw another hero running in a slightly different direction. Altering course, he followed the metallic, crystalline man through yet another patch of woods.
It was obvious Kirishima was in the right place when, "Silence! Lunch Rush earned his lot!" echoed through the dense leaves in front of him.
There was a great boom and Eijiro heard Sensei's meat grinder voice shout, "Sol! Take her down, now!" just as he broke through fern fronds and out into an expanse of grass. Sparing only a glance for Ground Omega's wall, the teen's gaze zipped back to the person he was chasing as the silvery sprinter raced toward the villain and three other heroes.
Kirishima took the moment to scan his immediate location, spotting the wounded hero from the cafeteria and the ectoplasmic double that carried her. Before he could be noticed he created some distance, jogging quietly down the tree line but keeping his eyes on the battle.
The metallic hero came to a stop between Ectoplasm (probably a clone) and someone Kirishima didn't recognize. The dark-haired female slunk to the side to make room, deadfish eyes only sparing the newcomer a quick glance from behind thick, black liner, before refixating on a ginger to their left.
The exceedingly Caucasian male started to glow, a tiny, dark strip over his groin the only thing visible through the fierce glare. Sunbeams flocked to pale skin like moths and the power turned downright blinding before the ultra-white man released the energy in a powerful ray.
Kirishima hunched down, grey jacket sliding up and over red hair. Sparing a glance to make sure he wasn't being watched, the teen took advantage of the flash, dashing across the field and toward Ground Omega's wall. Nearing one of the sporadic trees growing close to the barrier, he launched upward and started to climb, still sneaking peeks at the fight.
The flare had finally died, revealing both the pink-dressed Nomu's semi-translucent form and her opponent's more-than-a-little-ridiculous Speedo costume.
Raising an unimpressed brow, the villain dove toward the man with a fist cocked back, only removing intangibility at the last second in prep for a punch.
Kirishima dashed out to the edge of an elm branch as a living doll capitalized on that second, body-slamming the green lady from the side and pushing her back with kimono-draped arms. Maybe-Ectoplasm was close behind, kicking the Nomu in the back. Staggering and falling hands-first toward the earth, the villain surprised everyone when she kept going and disappeared into the ground.
There was another loud crash from his left, but Kirishima couldn't risk looking this time, using the last two steps to gain speed before jumping toward the wall in front of him. Luckily, the branch didn't snap when he pushed off, but the landing did turn rough when his feet fell just shy of the cement. Breath whooshing out of him, he latched to the top with scrambling arms.
"Shit! Where'd she go?!"
"Did we lose here?"
"No, she's ten meters away at my 2 o' clock. Two meters off the ground."
That last voice Kirishima recognized as Sensei's.
Pulling himself up like a kid from the side of a pool, the aspiring hero straddled the wall, watching just a bit longer.
"You call that a hit?! PATHETIC! There was hardly any weight behind it!"
The air suddenly smelled like Sato-kun's room.
"You know what's great for gaining weight?!" the Nomu's arms raised. "LUNCH!"
No less than four hundred cookies materialized above the combatants and started to spin in place.
SHE COULD CREATE THINGS, TOO!?
"I'll even start you out with JUST DESSERTS!"
The sugary bombs dropped from the sky in a discus meteor shower, some of them going so far as to catch fire.
Thinking fast, the newly arrived metal hero grabbed an arm and snapped it off at the elbow joint, flinging it up in the air. It exploded, silver shavings radiating straight out and hardening into an umbrella-shaped sheet of steel.
Holy crap, how manly!
Like a tin roof in a hailstorm the resulting impacts were deafening; but, other than a few minor dents, the confectionaries bounced harmlessly off.
That was the last thing Kirishima saw before he promptly tipped over the far side of the wall. Dangling for a second, he let go, making it the last several meters to the ground with a da-thud.
His plan was a long shot. But so far, he hadn't seen anything to indicate that the Nomu could see through objects. If he could sneak up behind the group, he might be able to land a sucker punch if the villain tried to retreat into Ground Omega. Or at least jump in from close by if someone needed defense.
Several more explosions sounded from the other side of the wall as Kirishima started to run. At one point he even heard one of the heroes try to prod their attacker with questions.
Unable to make heads or tails of the words besides knowing they started with "why", "what", and "where", Kirishima mostly ignored them. What could he say? His English grades were not stellar. So he shoved through the underbrush toward the battle, only knowing that the woman didn't sound all that cooperative.
Scuttling up another tree, Eijiro was just in time to see the villain increase exponentially in size while the living doll from before jumped at her.
The giantess promptly swatted the iki ningyo away like an annoying mosquito. Twisting her wrist so her palm flipped around, her arm swept the back the other way and she roared.
Kirishima's eyes widened in horror as little dots of white started to condense in the air, seemingly from nothing.
Distressed shouts screamed from across the barrier, warning each other of the incoming attack while a new, tiny (yet somehow creepier) doll leapt up, grabbing at the giant's apron with desperate, clutching hands. Scrabbling only a meter or so more, it exploded in a fountain of burning splinters.
The Nomu remained unfazed, a terrible smile creeping onto her face as the rice finished spawning overhead, the massive cloud so thick it cast the meadow in shadow.
Kirishima was only two-thirds up the elm. There was no way he could make it back over the eight meter wall in time! This was a terrible plan!
Heaving himself up to a higher branch with a racing heart, Eijiro watched the metal hero sling individual-sized shields at his allies.
It was like time stilled as Kirishima got one branch higher, stood, and dashed out on the limb.
Only, wait. He was still moving at normal speed.
Pushing off, he realized the thing that had stopped moving was, in fact, the Nomu.
The look frozen on her face…uncertainty?
Kirishima's eyes widened as all the rice in the air came crashing down as one; and a tsunami of grain swamped the heroes, washing them off their feet and pushing them back.
The Nomu drastically shrunk in size and dropped from the sky as Kirishima cleared the wall, his arcing flight serendipitously aimed at her plummeting form.
Rearing his fist back for a stiff cross punch, he nearly faltered when the villain saw him coming. Fuzzing at the edges, she frowned, then disappeared from sight.
Oh CRAP!
Not sure what to do, he finished the action.
What felt like a gloved palm stopped his fist before combat training with Aizawa-sensei kicked in, instinctively bringing the teen's other hand up in a left hook. Something gave under rocky knuckles and the villain reappeared, now bloody-faced as she slammed to the ground in slow-motion. Kirishima landed awkwardly, then straightened, feeling as if he had just completed a quick-time event in some first-person video game.
Focus torn between his shaking, green-coated fist and the Nomu flickering in and out of semi-opacity behind it, Eijiro forced himself to reassociate. Shaking his head to clear it, the teen wrapped the older lady in a grapple from behind, cementing his muscles in place as three heroes popped from the surrounding field of white like vengeful daisies.
Had that seriously just happened…?
Thursday, September 13th
12:55 pm
Five blinked, listening for Original's thoughts as it picked its way through the rice-covered lawn. Four was gone, washed out by the deluge, but Five had been back by the tree line with Lock On.
Speaking of its passenger, the woman winced when Five's prosthetic slid on the shifting ground. Trekking over loose grain was no better than walking on dry sand, and the duplicate found itself readjusting the hero in its arms more than once as it approached the villain and her captor.
The other heroes already ringed Kirishima and the Nomu, as it was imperative that they hold and distract their volatile aggressor as long as possible.
Power Loader had yet to come up with a containment device for ectoplasm—it was apparently quite tricky to work with—so they were on their own until Yamada-san, Nakano-san or Kayama-san got here.
Five flicked its eyes away from their captive, taking the security detail in again. "Steelirion, can you make restraints? I do not wish to have my student so close to the Nomu."
Before the metallic hero could accommodate the request, a voice devoid of emotion spoke up, "Wait. It's peculiar that she hasn't used permeation to escape. Something about the boy's composition may be preventing her from phasing away."
"I don't believe so, Lifeless. It seems more likely that her quirks are disrupted in some way," Five refuted, watching closely as the green lady disappeared from sight only to reappear a second later. "You could not see from your angle, but she fell from the sky before young Kirishima even hit her."
"Ectoplasm's right," Lock On added, "Even if she dropped on purpose, she should have been able to avoid the boy's hit."
"Kirishima?" Five addressed, causing the stead-fast kid to flinch. It seemed the teen's plan had been to hold so still everyone forgot his existence.
"It'd make sense." Kirishima admitted, awkwardly trying to turn his head toward his teacher's clone. "She seemed freaked out before she turned invisible…"
Steelirion grabbed the half-grown nub of his forearm and resnapped it off at the elbow. Kneeling, he laid the chunk on the Nomu's side, just to startle backward when a large flame blew from the downed villain's mouth like a dragon. Nearby rice seared and popped, undergoing pyrolysis before the blaze guttered and sputtered out.
"I'm right here, you know." The Nomu lifted her girthy neck with a glower, face half-covered with white granules where it'd been pressed to the ground as the metal spread and warped around her. Her audience was quick to move out of range of her mouth when she added, "It's rude to talk about others behind their back."
"Kirishima, to me," Five shifted Lock On to gesture with a hand, relieved when the boy finally released his hold and jumped up to comply.
It was about time Ectoplasm got listened to.
"Sorry, Sweet Cheeks, but you gotta earn respect to get it," Sol responded to the captive, pointing down at the cafeteria lady like a naughty child. "Now how about you answer a few questions to get that process started,"—the sunburn hero's hand waved flippantly—"kay?"
"HA! Like I have anything to say to you, Pedo! I mean really! A speedo? At a school!? You should be in jail!"
The irony of the situation was not lost on Original, and Five could feel mild amusement from the hive mind listening in.
The ginger frowned hard, looking like he'd smelled something rotten. "Hey! The more skin I show, the brighter I glow. So just shut yer trap, ya old hag."
"OLD HAG!?" The woman's hair caught fire, keratin-like ectoplasm morphing into flame. Around her, little bits of white grain began to levitate as well. That is, until a second later when they spazzed out, forcing the paunchy telekinetic to drop them. Breathing hard, the villain glared at the group, lips scrunched in displeasure and hair crackling.
Relief flushed Five's telepathic link. Thank Kami-sama that Kirishima was no longer in the line of fire.
Lock On shifted in Five's arms, drawing the clone's attention back outward. The tracking hero's compound eyes were riveted on their captive, unwavering despite a slight tremble starting in the female's impaled leg. "Nomu. What aru yuu doing hiiru? Who sentu you?"
"Sent me? Nobody sent me. If anyone sent me it was that damn Lunch Rush. The imposter! Copycat! OVERCOOKED NOODLE!" As the words rose in volume, tiny fires winked in and out of existence in the rice field beyond.
The villain was most certainly fixated on their resident chef; but why?
"Lunch Rush sent you?" Five traded a glance with Sol while Steelirion and Lifeless remained motionless, the two monolinguals unaffected by the news.
"That cretin practically stole my name and smeared it through griddle grease! He claims to make nutritious food, but you've seen his kids. They're wasting away to practically nothing! They need more MEAT to grow healthy and strong."
This was getting them nowhere. The answers were so vague and mostly nonsensical. Ectoplasm had been told that the Nomu was mentally unstable, but her responses were really bringing that point home.
Explosions sounded in the distance and Five didn't have to look back to know who was arriving on scene. Original's eyes told it exactly what to expect.
"Steelirion!"
Clang!
Bakugo's fist smacked hard into a metal palm, the pro keeping the hothead from hitting their captive.
"YOU FUCKING LEFT ME FIGHTING AN EMPTY SHELL!" The blonde screeched, held back as Ectoplasm's strong arms laced around the furious boy from behind. From its vantage, Five could actually see the veins straining on the teen's temple as it idly took note of yet another hero arriving on scene.
The eagle-human hybrid just nodded, alighting nearby before fixing a predatory gaze on the villain, content to remain on standby while Original got their student under control.
"Sorry, Little Firecracker, it was time to scram," the Nomu replied, apology sounding particularly authentic.
Five expected the short fuse kid to keep screaming accusations, or maybe a few cuss words, but was surprised when Bakugo instead asked a pointed question. "Can you create portals?"
"Portals? BAH! I am THE LUNCH LADY! I am but an entity, a conduit, of the five food groups!"
Ectoplasm bit his tongue and the need to pull Bakugo away floated around the hive mind, tingling Five's own fingertips. But, the clone felt Original soon squash the urge. The woman had actually answered in a way that almost made sense. If Bakugo knew the secret to getting real information out of the Nomu—out of Lunch Lady—while she was fully restrained and guarded by many heroes, it might be worth the risk.
Heavens knew Aizawa would never allow it, were he here.
There was a slight pause, before "Do you know anyone who can make portals?"
"Know? Of course." Sol sucked in a sharp breath. "But I wouldn't say I'm friends with them. Portal users tend to be old and boring."
Them? …she was acquainted with multiple portal users?
"How did you get on campus?" was the teen's next demand.
"Isn't it obvious? I flew."
Bakugo looked like he swallowed a lemon. It was palpable how much it took the boy to be patient, but no one dared interrupt the conversation lest they break the cooperative spell. "Where do you normally live?"
"My haunt in the Infinite Realms, not that it's any of yourbusiness."
Haunt? Infinite Realms? It was official. She was a schizophrenic.
Five tensed as three, five-centimeter-tall rice minions formed behind the green female, only relaxing when the creatures started to attack each other.
Feeling a mental ping, the double stepped in close to Original, maneuvering Lock On to a single-armed hold as it did. Bakugo eyed the clone, glaring but otherwise doing nothing as the duplicate reached past the boy and into the real Ectoplasm's trench coat, withdrawing a small cell.
"Where is the—" Bakugo stumbled slightly over his next words—"Infinite Realms?"
"What kind of a hare-brained question is that? Are you addled?" Lunch Lady's voice turned mocking as she resituated like an inchworm, looking more directly at the blonde. "Where is the Infinite Realms? HA!" The figures around her tensed, ready to spring forward. "The Infinite Realms can be anywhere it darn well pleases."
No flambé attempt was made, but the heroes stayed on guard, the villain's mouth just a little too well-aimed for comfort as they stared each other down.
Five used the slight pause to flip open its phone, dialing a number.
As soon as the ringing stopped and the line clicked, he intoned, "We got her," only staying on a moment longer before ending the call.
"Who are the League of Villains?"
Why would Bakugo ask that? Everyone in modern day Japan knew that name.
"League of Villains?" The Nomu's expression was positively perplexed, that is, until it disappeared in another flicker of invisibility. "Are you talking about that brain-rotting video game Technus plays?" echoed in the empty air.
Bakugo latched on, "Technus? Who's Technus?"
The Nomu reappeared, lips suddenly tugged up in a coy smile. "Welp, I think I've answered enough questions for today, Dearie."
Winking, the villain plunged down through the earth, leaving her metal restraints behind.
"NO!" Bakugo slammed the rice where Lunch Lady disappeared, the white grains flinging out like water disturbed by a dropped rock. "GET BACK HERE, GREEN BITCH!"
Five's instincts flared, and the clone hurled itself backward, pulling Lock On close to its chest. It seemed everyone had cleared away from the emotionally unstable teen, everyone except—dread tore at Five's ectoplasm. No one had grabbed Kirishima!
Bakugo detonated, an eruption of fire and rice exploding out from the teen and flinging the steel cage away like a tumbleweed.
Body going cold, Five searched the clearing smoke for a splotch of bright red.
Kirishima stood braced, scorch marks across his cheeks and clothes in tatters, but otherwise relatively unscathed. In barely a moment, the teen was lurching forward, losing his hardened physique and jogging the last few meters to his classmate.
Crouching down, the redhead took in the seething, screaming form of Bakugo. Without a word, his softened hand reached out, settling lightly on his best friend's shoulder.
Thursday, September 13th
1:01 pm
Testing was going well. They'd been at it for seven minutes and it looked like Ono-san had at least another ten or so left in her before she'd be too tired to continue. It was becoming more and more obvious that the machine's Achilles heel may end up coming down to the power source.
Ono-san was doing splendidly, but every control slip she had almost perfectly coincided with Volatilis' shift into its gaseous form.
Other than that, everything seemed very promising. No ill effects from using the machine, Ono had successfully created four rabbits and the device actually did what it was supposed to.
Man, he really should name the dang thi—
Ring, ring.
Mori's thoughts cut off and he glanced over at Aizawa-san's vibrating pocket, seeing a rectangular glow through black pants.
Ring, ring. Ring—.
Click.
"What's up?" The dark man's intensity did not match the casual demand of the question. But, in barely a moment, Aizawa's face took on the ferocity of a grizzly bear. Voice gravelly, he grit out, "I'm on my way," before tearing down the stairs and toward the exit.
Just as the erasure hero made it into the testing room, but before he jumped through the door to the decompression chamber, he roared, "I have to go! I won't be back!"
Sighing, Mori turned the machine off and spoke into the intercom, "Well, it looks like we'll be calling it quits for today. Phase one trials will probably be delayed. Sorry, Ono-san."
"Don't you worry your pretty little head, Mori-kun. It's not your fault." The glare the grandma sent at the exit made it obvious exactly whose fault she thought it was.
"At least we got some good data to work with!" Mori appeased.
The way Ono-san perked up made the ginger envious. Then again, she wasn't about to inform two out-of-town volunteers that they'd made the trip for nothing.
Thursday, September 13th
4:17 pm
A sluggish Lunch Lady oozed through a concrete wall, exhausted from the day's activities.
Going back to her haunt was apparently off the table, so instead she popped out into a cavernous room.
The place had clearly been abandoned for decades, evident by the thick layer of grey-brown dust that coated everything, the pigeons nesting in the rafters and the large, rusty hole in the far side of the roof.
The heat of clairvoyance shut off and a feeling of lethargic contentment flooded the woman's ectoplasm.
Ohhhhh. A derelict cannery was a great place to recover and recuperate.
Lowering to the cool, cement floor, she let her legs collapse into a criss-cross beneath her, back leaning against the wall.
What a great reward for a job well done.
Well…
Mostly well done.
These power issues were really starting to get on Lunch Lady's last nerve.
Scowling, the ghost consoled herself with the fact that Lunch Rush should be getting fired soon. Once the school replaced him those kids might actually be able to put on some weight. Then hopefully she wouldn't have to go back.
After using so many big-time powers and being chased half the day by that bug-eyed human, she'd tapped out her reserves and was well and truly spent.
The Ghost Zone castaway forced herself to relax, eyes scanning over the industrialized robots and conveyor belts that lay still as death around her.
This Eye-neigh-bah warehouse was perfect.
All it needed was a good cleaning and a couple boxes of groceries and it'd perk right up.
A sharp twinge tugged at the ghost's core.
Yes, it definitely needed some boxes.