"N-Not this time!" Sato ducked under a crab claw when Tamaki came at him again. Without the highly processed sugar of his usual sweets, the first year was forced to rely on the natural sugars of Fruits and Veggies. They didn't give him the strength of his usual intake, but he was able to think clearly in the fight, something he hadn't been able to do before.
Unfortunately this failed when you fought against someone who could obliterate you with oysters and takoyaki. It was like fighting Iruma if he got powers from what he ate. That alone terrified him more than anything else. "Are you holding up well?" Momo asked, heaving exhaustively.
The process was a little easier for the class President, she was a rich girl, and already ate foods that were already higher quality in terms of health. The only problem there was that she was being forced to increase storage. Meaning she had a maximum creation mass limit, and a minimum limit on what she was forced to eat. "Yeah, my head's a lot clearer, but we're running out of steam."
"Tell me about it." She groaned. "I can't move as fast as I'd like to …" She almost cried again. It was difficult to bring the subject up without Momo sulking over the fact she was gaining weight.
"Okay guys, wrap it up!" Fatgum called out, standing next to the lucky bastard known as Kirishima. "We're going to go on patrol soon. We can't have you too damaged if you're going to run into someone."
"Heck yeah, catching villains with manly spirit!" It was hard to be enthused when Kirishima was shouting that while facing the ground. His training was probably the worst out of all of them, even if it was the most simple. He kept charging forward as Fatgum punched him into a wall, rinse, repeat.
"Red Riot gets it." The hero obviously had his second favorite picked out. "Now you guys should get ready. Suneater, make sure our gear is ready."
"I beat them up too hard, they hate me and they're going to fail on patrol, and it's all my fault…" Tamaki didn't improve on his self confidence, although when you can throw people around without having to look at them, there was little you needed to improve on.
"Hey we don't hate you." Sato tried to reassure him. "If anything, Creati just hates Fatgum."
"I've already started making a list…damn it, I've been hanging around Toru too much."
==
Momo, or Creati, was holding a hand over her mouth. Why were they patrolling in the food court? Why were they patrolling around vendors? Did the others feel the need to stuff their faces until they popped like a balloon? Why couldn't she break physics like Suzuki? Maybe if she stopped eating for a week it could work, but then she might develop anorexia and gain bad habits…damn it, she swore being a hero student wasn't this mentally straining when she started!
"So you patrol here often?" Kirishima asked. "I mean it seems cliche but …"
"Actually we just patrol anywhere in the city. I just stop by a place whenever I'm hungry." The hero shrugged, eating a bowl of ramen. "We have to stay on top of our game, have places to rest for stakeouts, have the phone maps memorized, stuff like that."
"Hey Fatgum, Suneater, looking great!" One of the stands waved to them. Guess they came around pretty often if the familiarity was there.
"End me now, everyone's judging me, all those eyes just waiting for me to fail…" Tamaki hid under his hood.
"They just said you look like a great man! Take the win!" Kirishima grabbed the boy's shoulder. "We'll do what we can with no problem!"
"I'm not like you or Mirio. Positivity isn't my strong suit." The third year shuddered. "There's something around every corner that's out to get you when you least expect it. Sometimes I can't help but freeze up…" She felt so hard for this guy.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Kirishima looked up. "When things get crazy, I sometimes feel useless too. I mean, everyone takes on these tough bad guys all the time, but I'm too slow or not strong enough to deal with them. So I just have to keep banging my head against the brick wall until it breaks."
"I'm the exact opposite. I have to stop banging my head against a wall or I'll just put myself at a disadvantage." Sato commented. "Strength doesn't matter much if you don't know how to use it."
"I wish I had talked to you both more earlier in the year." Momo added. "It would've saved me a lot of trouble. I got so worried that I wouldn't be useful to anyone despite every advantage I was given."
"But apparently it gave you Kaminari, right?" Yes … would he still like her if she was a blob? He's been getting close to Jiro lately. Even if she's a lovely girl she was sure she could keep Kaminari with both her personality and body … but now she wasn't so sure.
"Hey, don't get like that now, a high spirit can change the tide of a battle in an instant!" Fatgum shouted. "If you're up against a motivated and determined enemy, then you must counter with even more determination then they have! Overwhelm them with your spirit, and they'll lose the will to fight!"
"You're almost as awesome as Crimson Riot, Fatgum-sensei!" Kirishima shouted. "I wanna be as manly as you are when I get to your age!"
"Hey now, I'm still fairly young."
"Thirty two isn't what most call young." Momo snickered, feeling just a little better, annoying her boss after everything they just went through. "What's that?" A noise was heard behind them. Turning, they noticed a group of individuals rushing through the streets in a hurry.
"Okay, now this is your first lesson." Fatgum started. "We trail, don't engage. We don't want to create a misunderstanding or get a lawsuit, so we just wait until they do something stupid-"
"Those thieves stole my money!"
"-Like that, hop to it everyone!" Good, she needed to let off a little more steam. She created the capture band Aizawa uses … noticing considerably less strain than before. She hated that the answer to her powers was being fat. "That's the spirit, Creati!" Her mentor cheered her on as she caught one of them.
"I got the next guy." Sato rushed in, chomping on an apple before charging forward. He was actually noticeably faster, his reflexes improving when the criminal attempted to fight back. It was a little uncanny seeing him punch someone without seeing drool drip from his mouth for once.
"And I've got … the rest." She heard Kirishima trail off, looking to see Suneater has literally caught five people within the blink of an eye.
"Oh god, I'm sorry, I took your credit …"
"Dude, it's fine. You got the bad guy without anyone getting hurt."
"Ah, sick! Who's this freak with the tentacles!" The criminal cried out. She responded with a bola to his face at his comment. They didn't need his self esteem to drop even further.
"That's just cruel…"
"The guy's a dirtbag loser, don't listen to him!" Kirishima attempted to consolidate. "Your awesome Suneater! You don't have a scratch on you!"
BANG!
==
Oh would you look at that, he's been shot. A mistake like always, why did he have to be slow … and why did it hurt less than normal? He glanced down and noticed the 'bullet' was actually a miniature vial that injected him with a red liquid. Poison? No, too fast acting, he tasted poison before.
He glanced at the trajectory and saw the shooter. He needed to act fast before a civilian got caught. Raising a hand he felt for his quirk that wasn't there. The fuck? A neutralizer? Anti Trigger? Regardless, the man had another shot lined up straight at Fatgum. He didn't have his defense, he needed to block this with his body.
BANG
Dink
Or someone even more impressive than him blocks the shot. "YOU BASTARD!" Kiri-Red Riot got in the way, activating his quirk before it hit him. So cool, he did that without hesitating. Why were these first years getting so good? "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" The hero in training gave chase, running after the villain with a gun.
"Suneater, are you okay?" Fatgum asked. "Creati, first aid kid now!"
"No." He spoke, halting them with a raised hand. "It wasn't a normal bullet, it was needle based ammo. It injected me with something. I can't feel my quirk." He attempted to release a few more tentacles. They only grew a couple inches before they shrank back. "I…I can't use my quirk…"
"What?!" Sugarman shouted. "But that shouldn't be possible, how can a bullet take away a quirk?"
He removed the vial from his arm. "Whatever was in here did it … and now the sample is gone." Damn it all, he should have blocked or caught it! He was pathetic, he should crawl in a hole.
"You, dirtbags, what the heck are you guys carrying!?" Fatgum looked to the other criminals, who were all tied up in capture tape.
"Yeah, yeah, like we're going to spill our guts to a living body pillow…"
"No need." Creati reached down, picking up an object. It was the same bullet, but the needle was bent. "It seems that Red Riot blocked the shot well enough. They won't have a chance to reduce their sentences now."
"Wait what…" Never be said criminals were the smartest people in the world.
"Heck yeah." Fatgum grinned. "Now that's a hero for you." The man blinked. "Ah shit he ran in alone!" Fatgum ran off with Sugarman, leaving him and creati behind with the captured criminals.
"You're going to be alright, Suneater?" Creati asked.
"Yeah yeah … I can't fight villains, I'll just make sure they can't do anything." He barely did anything, and now his quirk was gone.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you choose to be a hero?"
That was something he asked himself everyday. "Well, someone put all their hope and faith in me. I'm just doing my best to not disappoint them."
"...How is it that Iruma resembles all of the big three in some way?" He had no clue, he didn't interact with the ball of sunshine in case he disappointed him.
==
"Hey, freeze!" Kirishima shouted. "Otherwise Red Riot will have to put a stop to you!"
"No, all my friends … all my money … all my dreams are dead!" Okay, what was with people and being depressed lately? It seemed like a horrible trend or something.
"Well you did just shoot and run off, not really much of a man, are you?!" He chased him down into an alley, where people nearby were watching. Might be a problem, so he needed to end it quickly. "No more running, it's a dead end!"
"My life is over … there's only one solution!"
"Giving up and heading to the police like a sane person?"
"No, drugs!" The scumbag took a vile of something green and shot it into his neck.
"That's … not what I was going for." Kirishima muttered. "How is getting high going to-" He was cut off by the wide array of blades that shot out of the man, nicking even his hardened state. "What the…"
"HEHEHEHEHAHAAHA! Ah Man, that shit's the best! Trigger is everything the big man said it was!"
"Trigger!?" That quirk enhancing drug he's heard on the news. Not good! Who knows what this guy was capable of now. "Everyone, get out of the way! Stay back so his blades can't reach you!" He called out to the bystanders watching.
"Hhehe, who's not much of a man now!?" The dirtbag cried out, blades coming out of every corner of his skin, even his eyeballs. Gross. "Won't you look like an idiot shouting that out after I kill everyone here!" The blades started spreading out more and more. "You know, I think you're right! After I'm done with you, I'll save my friends by busting up some heroes and any other idiot that gets in my way!"
He stopped thinking when he heard the sentence. 'Harder.' He felt his body get tighter. 'Harder.' Even tighter than his normal hardening. 'Harder and Harder and Harder and Harder.' His muscles tensed with effort, slight spasms under his skin. 'Become stronger, become durable, become invincible … become …' He screamed with effort. "UNBREAKABLE RIOT!" With a shout, he charged at the villain.
"Ya know, Overhaul was right. Heroes must be sick if you're this braindead!" The villain compressed his blades straight at him, pushing him back slightly. It didn't matter, forward, forward, without thought, with only feeling. "Hey, stop it! You're gonna be cremated at this rate." You're a bulldozer, you're invincible, forward, forward!
Kirishima was strong. If he can still stand, he is strong! "My spirit is unbreakable!" Even if he didn't have his quirk, he would still stand, he would still keep going!
"STOP IT, YOU IDIOT, GET AWAY!" It didn't matter if he wasn't the strongest, or the smartest, or the fastest!
"My quirk is hardening, I'm made for defense! So I'll bulldoze my way through, to protect everyone! Ultimate Move: RIOT KNUCKLE!" He hit the man straight in the stomach, shattering through blades. "Take that you villain!" The blade man groaned, hitting the wall, before flying away.
"I'm not fighting you again, I'll just get help elsewhere!" Damn it, he forgot this guy was on trigger. If he got out of here, who knows how much damage he'll cause, and he couldn't go unbreakable again this fast!
"Not gonna happen!" Sa…Sugarman ran right in front of the criminal and reeled his fist back. Hitting the man square in the face. "Stopped in his tracks! … Not using my full strength on blades … bad idea." Ouch.
==
Fatgum was impressed, the kid really showed his stuff as a pro, and everyone in the alley was getting in on the action. "Nice job, kid, you're really something else!" "Super cool!" "It's like you were fearless!" "The way you protected us was amazing!"
"Hey, don't forget about the kid in yellow! He knocked him out with a single punch!" Another bystander cheered as Sugarman was getting his fist wrapped by Creati. All and all, a situation nearly perfectly handled.
"I did something cool … best day of my life." Sugarman sighed happily. "Totally worth the blade entering my fist."
"Not bad, this is better than my debut." He congratulated the man. "You all did an amazing job. You'll be great pros one day, no doubt about it."
"Thank you sir!" Red Riot saluted. "I'm going to pass out now, sir!" He blinked as the boy fell to the ground, body steaming. They should probably get a gurney or something.
"Creati, move onto that and get him secure. Sugar Man, double back and check on Suneater, make sure he isn't staring at a corner."
"On it!" Both of them shouted, running to fulfill their duties. This was a good day, except they now had to deal with something new and dangerous spreading into the streets.