February 26th 2418 – UA University - Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Sage's muscles coiled up like a spring, before in a blur of motion she rocketed off across the rooftop. Behind her the roof cracked and fissured, the force of her steps driving chunks of concrete flying and the speed of her movement whipping up the air.
Reaching the edge of the building she sent herself hurtling skyward with a mighty leap as the rooftop crumbled behind her. Grinning wildly as she flew through the air, Sage tensed her core and altered her trajectory slightly as she came down on another rooftop.
Not stopping for even a second, her legs formed a blur of motion as she crossed the rooftop and launched herself towards the distant robot the size of a skyscraper.
Glancing around while suspended in the air, she spots a large pile of metal pipes sitting atop a partially constructed building, not too far from the robot.
Grinning like a crazy woman, she crashes down on another rooftop, the metal soles of her shoes heating up slightly as she comes to a stop.
Turning again, she aims for where she saw the pipes and leaps again, landing easily on the partially constructed rooftop just as the titanic zero point thunders down the street.
Reaching over, she snaps the restraints holding the three metre long pipes in place and grabs one. Tossing it in the palm of her hand a few times, she adjusts her grip and pulls it back over her shoulder. Leaning back on one foot, she goes as far as possible, only stopping when the pipe scrapes the ground.
'Let's see how well this works!'
Snapping forward like an arrow from a bow, Sage channels her speed to launch the pipe as fast as a bullet. Stumbling forward a few steps, she stops and looks up to assess her work. Sure enough, roughly eighty metres up, there was the pipe embedded about a metre into the thick armour covering its chest.
"Not bad." Humming softly to herself, she reaches over and picks up another pipe before throwing it, this time aiming for the robot's knee joint. Soaring through the air, the pipe digs into the weaker metal with far more potency, burying itself almost two thirds its length.
'Nice, so aim for the joints. Huh? What's that.'
Seeing a glimmer of movement behind the robot as it spins to face her, Sage squints her eyes and focuses a bit harder, making out the faint sound of talking from beneath it.
Turning her gaze down to where she heard the noise, she notices three guys standing around with no apparent survival instincts. She also notices a large piece of concrete cracking off a damaged building and tumbling straight towards them.
'Shit, those idiots aren't going to move! Let's hope this works.'
Eyes widening in panic, Sage runs over and kicks a pipe up into her hand before spinning around and hurling it as quick as possible.
Soaring through the air, the pipe threads the needle and sails beneath the arm of the robot, its path leading it into a direct collision with the falling rubble. Exploding into a shower of smaller fragments, the pipe does what Sage wants and knocks the debris away.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Sage glances over the edge again only to see the three stooges still laughing and pointing at the robot despite the small chunks of concrete raining down on them, the largest piece missing them by millimetres. Feeling her relief change to anger, Sage can't hold back and yells at them from atop her building.
"Oi idiots! Get away from the giant fucking robot!"
Turning slowly, one of them looks up at her with a blank stoned gaze before flipping her off, his gaze going back to the robot.
'Argh! I can't have fun fighting the robot with idiots like them standing around its treads.'
Annoyed, Sage realises with reluctance she'll have to move them before she can go on with the fight. Trudging back over to her pipes, she angrily begins launching them into the air. One by one the pipes ascend skyward before slowing as gravity takes hold.
Releasing the last pipe, she turns and sprints towards the edge of the building as the zero pointer's colossal fist tears through the building she was on with ease.
Landing on a balcony opposite the building she was on, she quickly jumps the railing and parkours down to ground level as the zero pointer levels the building above her, its fists like oversized wrecking balls.
Hitting the ground, she glances around with a cold sweat trickling down her neck, her gaze landing on the idiots standing beneath the still crumbling building.
Crouching down, her feet dig into the ground as she sprints beneath a piece of falling debris, before leaping over a toppled lamp post. Reaching out as she sprints, she rips one of the pipes she'd thrown randomly from the ground, and pivoting on her ankle, she twists and puts all her momentum into throwing it.
Leaving her hand like a bolt of lightning, Sage feels the air cool slightly around her hand as the pipe tears through the air. Travelling the few metres between her and the idiots in the blink of an eye, the pipe skewers another piece of falling debris to the building behind it, seconds before it crushes them.
'Seriously?! How on earth was Nezu able to get permission to use these robots? If I wasn't here then idiot one, two and three would be red smears beneath a building!'
Breathing heavily, the ground craters beneath her again as she sprints forward, narrowly dodging the descending metal fist that turned the ground into a pit behind her. Wincing as she feels the sharp debris scratch her skin, she ignores it and slides up next to the first stooge.
Not caring for politeness or formality, Sage grabs him and tosses him over her shoulder, before grabbing the other two and slinging them under her arms like loose baggage.
'Fuck these guys are heavy!'
Slowing from the sheer weight of the three people, Sage pushes her quirk to 50% power, the ground caveating beneath her feet as she accelerates to 300 kilometres an hour.
Rushing out of the combat zone, she takes them about ten blocks away before dumping them in a relatively safe area. Stepping away from them, she takes a deep breath, the smell of weed having been thick around the idiots.
Turning her gaze back to the distant robot levelling the training city, she jogs off, where after parkouring up a nearby building she uses the high ground to search for anymore people who could interfere with her fight.
Not finding anyone, she sprints over to the already levelled part of the city and grabs one of her pipes. Spinning, she uses the new move she made earlier and channels all her momentum into the pipe.
Tearing away from her hand like a bullet, the pipe travels straight for over three hundred metres before burying itself entirely into the robot's knee.
Instantly the robot sags as its backup motors work overtime to stabilise it. Not giving it a moment to recover, Sage sprints to another pipe while idly wondering about the time.
'How much time do I have left? I don't want my fight getting cut short.'
"There are five minutes left in the exam yo!"
As if hearing her question, Present Mic's voice reverberates around the city from hidden speakers.
Realising that she was running low on time, she chose to sacrifice quality for quantity, and began throwing the pipes from whatever angle she could without worrying about slowing.
Finally, after multiple pipes, the robot makes its way back over to her with its fist cocked back. Knowing what was coming, Sage alters her path slightly so she could use a crumbling building as a springboard.
Jumping once before the wall and another once she touched it, Sage was able to send herself high into the air and over the metal fist that tore through the building like paper.
Landing again on the other side of its arm, Sage stops and kicks its elbow. Denting slightly, Sage's kick isn't very effective due to the sheer size of the robot.
Sighing in frustration, she turned and sprinted in the other direction as the robot obliterated everything behind her.
Alternating between the buildings and the ground, Sage continues to circle the titanic automaton while filling its joints with pipes.
After what felt like half an hour but was in reality barely a minute, Sage throws her last pipe, and turning, she assesses the damage.
By now each of the robot's joints bristled like a porcupine as electricity occasionally sparked across the many pipes stuck into it. In addition, it was now completely immobile from all the damage she'd done to its treads. But still, it wasn't down.
'What now? I'm out of pipes and I don't have any attacks strong enough to get through its armour. At most I might be able to get in through its vents but that's dangerous.'
Noticing a broken maintenance hatch about mid-way up the machine's chest, a crazy idea brews in her mind. Grinning wickedly, Sage slows to a stop and watches as it cocks back its fist, before jumping off a wall as the fist flew towards her like an out of control truck.
Soaring through the air like a nimble bird, she lands right back down on its arm, immediately steadying herself with one hand.
However, she's forced to move quicker than she expected as the robot's other hand comes around. Glancing around, she notices a dent more than deep enough for her to hide in and dives into it, seconds before the robot's colossal arm soars overhead.
Popping out when the arm passes overhead, she turns and begins sprinting up its arm. Reaching the shoulder, she sprints behind its neck as it once more tries to sweep her off.
Breathing heavily and grinning with excitement, Sage pulses her restoration ability to close the small scratches she'd accrued so far in the fight, before looking down.
Instantly regretting her decision, Sage looks up again. Sure, she knew how big the robot was, but looking down at the ground from atop the shoulders of a forty storey tall robot was never a good idea.
Catching her breath, she moves again and crosses the robot's shoulders before stopping. Turning slowly, she eyes the exposed neck of the robot with a mischievous grin.
Running back over, she finds a nice shielded spot and starts punching. Wincing between punches, she uses her restoration to heal them back to full health.
A few punches later, the thin piece she was targeting warps enough for her to get her fingers under the edge. Grinning like a maniac, she stabilises herself against it before prying open the metal with a grunt of exertion.
Inside she's greeted with a nightmarish hell of moving parts, thick supports, and most importantly wires.
Giggling like a gremlin, she steps through the gap and while making sure to carefully avoid the moving parts, she begins tearing any wires she could find out of their socket.
As she works, the faint sound of Present Mic's voice echoes through the thick metal.
"There are two minutes left before the end of the exam yo!"
'I better hurry up in here. I doubt Nezu will let me trash his bot once the exam's over no matter how fun it is.'
Settling her gaze on a thick cord further in that pulsed with neon light, Sage knew it had to be important. Wiggling her way through a few more wires, she reaches the cord, and after double checking it wouldn't kill her, she grabs it.
Pulling down on the cord, Sage tried her damnedest to yank the stubborn plug free, even going so far as hanging upside down while pulling on it. Eventually though, her strength proved greater and the cord came out with a crack.
Instantly, Sage felt the constant thrum of the robot beneath her feet slow to a stop, as the moving parts around her seized up. Smiling victoriously, she began making her way back out of the robot. However, with each step she took, the floor seemed to tilt just a fraction more.
Realising what was happening, the blood drains from her face and her movements become more frantic. Scampering through the myriad of wires, she ignores the small cuts across her body as she dives out the broken panel into the sunlight.
Rising to her feet, she's battered by strong winds as the robot continues to tilt. Glancing around, she spots two ways down. The first was to run down the robot's back. The other option and the one she was choosing was to run down its extended arm.
Breaking into a sprint, she makes it a few steps before the ground suddenly comes up to meet her in a violent collision. Groaning and with stars in her eyes, she blearily climbs back to her feet. Shaking off the sudden shock, she slowly starts to run again as the robot continues to fall ever faster.
'Urgh I wasn't expecting that, fuck that hurt! Why'd the robot have to land on its knees!'
Healing herself as she runs, Sage makes it halfway down the robot's arm before a scream for help cuts through the fierce wind.
Recognising the voice, a pit forms in her stomach as she runs to the edge. Reaching down, she grabs hold of the metal to stabilise herself while scanning the ground.
'There!' Barely seeing it at first, Sage spots a familiar set of clothes seemingly stuck under the rubble, right where the zero pointer was about to fall.
'No no no! I looked around! I made sure there was nothing nearby before fighting the robot! How could I have missed Toru!'
Overwhelmed with a mix of dread and panic, Sage watches paralysed as Toru tries desperately to escape the rubble before the robot Sage had brought down crushed her.
Realising what she was doing, a look of shame crossed Sage's face seconds before resolve took its place. She'd put Toru in this situation, she'd get her out.
Bending her knees, Sage tensed her muscles while channelling 100% of her speed, and in a blur of motion that fractured and sheared the metal beneath her feet, she leaped from the edge of the robot.
Plummeting towards the ground at high speed, Sage aimed for a fallen building that was warped to resemble a ramp. When she'd jumped, her part of the robot was about forty metres in the air, while over by Toru it was barely five metres away.
Squinting her eyes through the dust that buffeted them, Sage stretched out her leg mid fall and touched down on a vertical block with a bone jolting jar. Holding herself together with her powerful muscles, Sage pushed back against the block.
Groaning from the strain of suddenly decelerating, Sage is able to redirect more of her momentum with each step till she rocketed off straight toward Toru.
Healing herself as she ran, Sage dodged between falling debris and ruined buildings, each step taking her closer to her friend.
As she closed in on Toru, a realisation slowly dawned on her. She couldn't move her away, as it was Sage herself could barely withstand her own speed, so Toru would be torn to shreds.
'What can I do, what can I do? I can't move her, I can't destroy the robot, I can't hide... come on brain think! Surely I have something that can help?'
Reaching Toru, Sage skidded to a halt before turning and plunging her hands into the rubble pinning her. Grasping the edge of it, she rips it up as the falling robot gets ever closer.
Not hesitating a moment, Sage scoops Toru up in a bridal carry. Squealing in surprise, Toru instinctively wrapped her arms around Sage's neck as the shorter girl took off in the other direction. As she ran, the falling robot got ever closer to the point she had to duck her head.
'Come on! I can't reach the speeds needed to escape with Toru, but I can't leave her either. Think, think!'
Glancing up at the colossal robot, Sage mentally calculates how long she has. Based on the size of the robot, the speed it was falling, and its current distance from the two of them, she had less than a second before it crushed them.
Worse yet, there was no escape because the robot's head and the surrounding buildings had blocked the exit.
'Why'd I have to go and fight the big robot, it wasn't meant to be like this!'
Mind operating at incredible speed, the one second Sage had stretched into a minute as her eyes flitted about in search of anything that could offer her hope.
Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, an idea comes to her. Turning her gaze ahead to the robot's neck, Sage remembered the material it was made of, and better yet how it was arranged internally.
Reaching out, Sage's hand moved like it was travelling through honey as she closed her grip around a piece of concrete falling to the ground.
Sliding to a stop under the weakest point she could remember, Sage swung up with all she had in the confined space as the rubble within her hand blinked and was replaced by a molten great sword.
Then, as if everything was happening in slow motion, Sage watched as the power of her skills coalesced over the sword, before with a mighty push a translucent blade flew out from her own and dug into the metal seconds before the actual sword.
With her other arm, Sage does her best to shield Toru as, with a final tremor inducing collision, the titanic robot crashes to the ground.
{A/N: Reveiws for me?
Thanks for reading}