58

Chapter 58: Gallant

A/N: Hmm, I guess I'm experimenting with how I'm having this play out? Well, not really, since I've already done similar scenes in the past in this fic. I'm just not sure how to properly detail two separate things happening at the same time, so… here ya go?

"Oh, uh… Ahem."

Hound Dog stopped in his tracks. He narrowed his eyes before he turned, already having a general idea of what was happening. In fact, when he fully turned, he found — true to his predictions — an unmistakable swarm of bugs in the shape of a human hovering nearby.

"Hey, H-Dog!" The swarm clone greeted. "How're things going?" It planted itself on the ground and leaned on a nearby tree. It's hand then went up to rub the back of its head. The bugs that made up said head merely displaced themselves from the action.

"Enjoying the, uh, um, patrol?"

Hound Dog was unimpressed. If anything, his face led Izuku to believe he was more annoyed than anything. Though, a part of that could have just been attributed to the fact that Nezu had let the pro off his leash, and Hound Dog often looked a bit feral whenever he was out in full force.

"Don't call me that ever again, kid," Hound Dog growled, true to his nature as a dog.

"Right! H— Hound Dog."

"Right…" the hero crossed his arms. "What are you even doing here, Midoriya?"

"I'm not here tho— though! It's just one of my clones; the real me is still back on barriers— I mean school grounds! Enjoying the festival!"

"Barriers? Still, you didn't answer my questions," Hound Dog countered, keeping up his seemingly constant snarl.

"What? Can't I just have the sudden urge to talk to my invisible retainer? I mean, augh! This is getting confusing!"

Hound Dog's eyes narrowed even further. "What? I— No, never mind. Doesn't your show start in a couple minutes?"

"In four, actually. And it's not like it matters; multi-tasking, remember?"

Izuku laughed inwardly. Yeah right. I'm already struggling enough as it is.

"And you actually have the time to be talking to be right now?" Hound Dog asked. "Don't you have enough on your plate setting up for preparations?"

You're not— Oh come on! What did I— You're not listening, multi-tasking, remember?"

Hound Dog raised an eye. "And tell me, what was that?"

"He—huh?" The swarm construct jerked, body moving forward ever slightly. "What are you talking about, sir?"

"Look, Midoriya, whatever it is that you're hiding—"

"Hiding? What would I be—"

A column of bugs shot up into the air. With the way they had appeared over the treeline, it was as if they had been launched by a sideways geyser.

"And that?" Hound Dog gestured to the far off explosion of bugs.

"Nothing! It's just— Can't you just leave already!? —a mass squirrel suicide via explosions!"

Hound Dog blinked. "That's perhaps one of the strangest and more bizarre excuses I've heard from a student."

The radio on Hound Dog's waist crackled to like. "Hound Dog? Hound Dog? You saw that, right?"

Hound Dog raised the radio to his mouth. "I did, Ectoplasm. Midoriya's doing something. I'm talking to him right now." Hound Dog shook his head. "Don't worry 'bout it. I'm checking it out."

Hound Dog began walking towards the direction of the explosion despite the protests of the hovering swarm clone.

Meanwhile, just a little while ago…

Izuku didn't waste any time, immediately heading to work. He crouched down in his designated position at the top of the auditorium and then placed his command over his bugs.

He sent out two separate swarms, one towards the patrolling Hound Dog and another towards the duo of incoming villains.

The rest of the bugs in the forest began their work. The main focus on this group was the growing cluster of various spiders, a group which went ahead and began weaving webs, starting the onset of traps that could possibly be used.

I don't know how useful they'll be, considering the fact that I'm unfamiliar with either of Gentle Criminal's or La Brava's quirk. I can't even guess what their quirks are. What does Gentle do? Make things soft? Maybe makes people less violent? Or La Brava, even? Does she make people braver? Hmm… Actually, that one might work...

Izuku refocused his thoughts. His swarms had reached their targets. He delayed the first swarm, the one designated to confront Hound Dog. There wouldn't be a need to start a conversation if he wasn't in danger of noticing anything yet.

And besides, with his mind being stretched so thin, Izuku had discovered an unfortunate vulnerability to his power. He was having trouble with his awareness.

His range was fine; all three blocks of bugs were still in his total control. However, when before the bugs' sensory information came to Izuku with ease, he found that he needed to spend effort on that part now; consciously tapping into the bugs to peer into their senses.

There wasn't anybody else in the forest that wasn't supposed to be there — he had already checked — so Izuku wasn't worried about that. But he'd rather only have to sacrifice his near omnipotent awareness of the environment within his range when he really needed it.

So Izuku held off on Hound Dog's swarm. But the second went ahead with it's previous commands.

"Gentle Criminal. La Brava." A swarm clone formed in front of the duo, hovering before them in the air. "Would you mind explaining why the two of you are here?"

The two villains stopped in their tracks, looking upwards at the hovering form.

"Gentle!" La Brava squeaked. "It's that bug kid, Izuku Midoriya! He's a dangerous one!"

Gentle looked on with an impassive face. Similarly, the swarm clone did the same, merely bobbing up and down in its position in the air.

"I am well aware, La Brava," Gentle mused. "His exploits make quite an extensive list."

Gentle sighed, wiping his gloved hand over his face. "It seems that we may be in danger of being prematurely foiled, La Brava."

"But… but… this is your big thing, Gentle!" La Brava stomped her foot on the ground. "It's unfair! You just want to show the world your presence! Why does everything keep going bad for you?!"

"La Brava—"

"You can't just give up yet!" La Brava pleaded. " I believe in you! You can take him!"

Gentle placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you. I appreciate the gesture, La Brava." That single phrase settled her down almost immediately.

"I suppose that for now," Gentle continued, "we can see how this will work itself out." He turned his attention, glaring at the swarm. "I didn't think that you'd be patrolling, Izuku Midoriya. Afterall, aren't you still just a student?"

"I am. Umm, still a student, that is." The clone rose a hand and pointed at the duo. "But that doesn't mean that I wasn't watching out for threats to the festival myself!"

"Caught in the act by a mere student." Gentle chuckled. "Your generation is truly full of surprises."

"I'm willing to offer you a choice," the swarm interrupted. "You leave right now, and I'll refrain from telling anybody of you being here. If you refuse, I won't hold back."

"Hmm." Gentle's face remained impassive for a few moments. However, it eventually displayed newfound determination. "Well, I suppose that we shall have to try to salvage this as much as we can, then."

Gentle inclined his head towards his partner. "La Brava."

"Right!" she exclaimed. One of her hands rose to her wrist and began tapping away at some sort of wristband.

A few hundred meters away, a drone flew up from its hidden position within a bush. A small light activated, its lens uncovering, signifying what would no doubt become a recording of the upcoming fight.

However, the second it rose into the air, the drone was promptly covered in a mass of bugs.

"Hey!" La Brava exclaimed. "We were using that!"

"I'm aware of that."

"What happened?" Gentle asked.

"The camera, it's been covered in bugs," La Brava said, her voice quiet. "It's basically useless right now."

One of Gentle's eyes twitched. "Right. You still have that body camera?"

La Brava patted the ribbon around her neck. "Still here, Gentle!"

Gentle smiled. "Good. And go ahead with the contingency plan, just in case."

La Brava went ahead and began typing away at her wristband yet again. Izuku decided right at that moment that the villains wouldn't be going quietly.

"Gentle," the swarm warned.

Gentle, in turn, nodded at the mass of bugs. "I've decided on fighting, Midoriya. I do hope that you put on a good show."

And it looks like Hound Dog's going to need some distraction now. And... there goes my awareness.

"I see." The swarm flew forward, straight down towards the duo.

Gentle responded in kind, raising his hands in front of him in a gesture that made Izuku think that the man was creating some sort of forcefield. As Izuku found out, he wasn't entirely wrong.

The swarm collided with an invisible wall and was launched backwards, bugs dispersing unceremoniously and out of their humanoid form.

Unfortunately for the villainous duo, the swarm clone quite easily reformed, its head tilting in observation. "So, your quirk emits some sort of force field? Invisible barriers with a knockback effect?"

Gentle Criminal smirked. "Sure, let's go with that."

The swarm clone stayed quiet. Izuku had another swarm rise from the depths of the forest, forming behind the duo. He commanded them to launch themselves towards the villains.

"Behind!" La Brava yelled.

Gentle turned and raised his hands once more. "Gently Rebound, if you will!"

As per demonstrated just a moment before, Gentle's gesture had cast up a barrier that effortlessly launched the incoming swarm away.

Enhanced senses for La Brava? I know that I can't exactly silence the buzz of a flying swarm, but she knew the swarm was there before it would have been visible from the undergrowth. I'd think that it would have been a little hard to hear it coming, really. Though perhaps she has a camera planted on her back too?

Gentle spurred Izuku from his thoughts. "Is this all you have to offer?!" He spread his hands out to his sides.

"I would have thought that a student from a school as prestigious as UA High would have been able to do better. Especially someone of your caliber, Izuku Midoriya!" Gentle oved a foot forward, and gestured towards the swarm clone. His grandiose gestures moved his cape, allowing it to billow ever so slightly.

Off to the side, Izuku noticed La Brava eagerly looking at Gentle, but noticed that her entire body was facing him too.

He's still playing it up for the camera. Huh. Should I play along? … Eh, why not?

"If it's a show you want, it'll be a show that you will get."

The full brunt of Izuku's gathered bugs broke the treeline. A massive, vibrant swarm revealed itself to the villains, letting them know that they had been completely surrounded.

"Your move, Gentle Criminal." The voice had come from the whole swarm all at once, a cacophony of unguided sounds that made up no specific voices, but dozens, instead.

Izuku thought that it was safe to say that he had frightened the two villains. Well, if Gentle's tightened fists and La Brava's small yelp were any indication, at least.

Gentle did a full panorama of his immediate position, his head darting from left to right across the gathered swarm. Eventually, he fixed his gaze back on the single swarm clone there.

"Right. Nice one. But I can do you one better!" Gentle touched for the ground, and suddenly he was up in the air with La Brava holding on to his leg.

However, Izuku anticipated that Gentle would have done that.

A swarm of bugs, one that had laid in wait at the treetops, arose from the foliage and positioned themselves right above the rising villains.

However, before the two masses could collide, Gentle rose another barrier. This one launched him back down. Another barrier was erected on his way down, that one at an angle. It launched the two villains past the swarm and into the forest.

Izuku ordered the swarm to follow the two retreating villains.

"You think that you can run? I have eyes all over this forest!"

Of course, it only took mere moments for the villains to fall within Izuku's sight. With some careful maneuvering of his bugs, he steered the two villains away from the school, and in turn away from the patrolling Ectoplasm and Hound Dog.

Little did they know, they were falling right into his trap.

Gentle looked behind his shoulder, his eyes widening. "That's not good!" He turned his head back just as he touched a tree, grappled it, and pulled it along as he ran.

Gentle suddenly let go after a few steps, causing the tree to snap backwards. It effortlessly made its way through the incoming swarm before it reverted back to its original state. A good half of the gathered bugs had died right there and then, either being crushed by the elastic — and yet still as heavy — tree, or being victims of being squashed into other trees by way of the elastic tree's path of destruction.

The other half were launched into the air, a cloud of bugs breaking the treeline like a giant, writhing and living column that made up millions of individual creatures. Of course, it wasn't as unnoticeable as Izuku hoped it would have been.

"Ah! Hound Dog saw that!"

Gentle, still running along with La Brava, yelled into the air. "You're being serious?! You're telling me that I accidentally called reinforcements for you?!"

"Nothing!" the swarm yelled. Contingencies of bugs reoriented themselves in the short time of Izuku's panic. They set off trailing right behind the villains. "Can't you just leave already!?"

"I'll let you know that I'm a man who— gah!"

Gentle and La Brava tumbled to the ground, as to the courtesy to one of Izuku's previously woven tripwires.

The massive swarm gathered before the two villains, hovering just before them yet again. A portion of it went ahead to form another one of Izuku humanoid clones. It held itself loosely, otherwise floating in relative peace. It didn't give off any hint that it would continue along with any further aggressive moves.

"So, not elastic barriers, but elasticity-induced touch instead?" the swarm mused. "Quite an interesting power, I've got to say. It's one that I'd say could be top tier, if used correctly."

Gentle glared at the swarm. La Brava hugged him, leaning into his side.

"If you think that you've wo—"

"This was supposed to be my day off, you know." The swarm pulsed in irritation. The clone crossed its arms. "The Nine attacked not too long ago, you know? I was finally resting up from them! And now you two idiots come along? This is getting ridiculous! Not to mention—"

Izuku paused. He almost hadn't noticed it. Hadn't noticed, until now. The three separate selves he was running simultaneously had made sure of that.

Another tripwire had been tripped. Somebody else was in the forest, and it wasn't any of the teachers. And they were less than a few hundred feet away, heading right for Gentle and La Brava's position.

Izuku's swarm clone looked down towards La Brava's wrist. A contingency plan.

"Crap!"

Half of the swarm separated off and headed towards the new threat.

He also had spiders perched on the tripwires, lying in wait to attach themselves to whatever individual had managed to get themselves caught on the webs.

Izuku incited them to bite. Instead of the fleshy softness of human flesh that he had expected, the spiders were met with resistance. Scales. Somebody with a mutant aspect to their body.

His swarm was getting there. Izuku would have a chance of identifying the individual before they got too close, and perhaps even stopping them. But it would take time.

Izuku positioned his swarm clone closer to Gentle, very nearly covering the man's face with the clone's own. Izuku needed information.

"Who is it? Their quirk, what is it?!"

"Ah!" Gentle smiled. "He's arrived? Well, I—"

"I have spiders on her," the clone gestured its head towards La Brava. "Venomous ones. They'll kill if you wait too long after the bite. Or in this case, an even shorter time since it'll be bites."

Izuku's swarm nearly reached the incoming individual. However, before he could catch a glimpse of the enemy, gas filled the air. The villain was engulfed in the white gas. And, to make matters worse, his bigs instantly began to weaken. Some died, others losing their ability to see or fly.

Izuku snapped back to the scene before his swarm clone.

Gentle gulped. "You're bluffing."

True to the swarm's words, a spider appeared on La Brava's shoulder, inciting a yelp from her.

"I have more hidden on other parts of her body."

Gentle's eyes widened. "Alright, fine, fine! Just—"

Too late.

Grenades were thrown, falling right in front of the villainous duo. A steady stream of gas filled the air, and Izuku could already feel his bugs wavering, succumbing to the gas. The spiders hidden on La Brava were no exception.

Izuku had no choice; he evacuated as many of his bugs as he could from the immediate area. He growled, as well. He knew that now he could do nothing but watch.

As his clone backed away, it could barely distinguish the newcomer's silhouette through the smoke. Though if Izuku wasn't mistaken, he had caught a glimpse of green scales and some purple accents through the smoke.

"We told you that this was a bad idea! Idiots! You should've just listened to me and Stain!"

Izuku's eyes widened upon hearing the voice. He had heard it already once before, just a couple weeks ago.

"Apologies," Gentle's voice came from the smoke, somewhat muffled. "But please, if we must argue, can it occur later? I'd rather not have the gas run out while we're still here."

He was talking just fine, and with no evidence of coughing or discomfort.

Gas masks, maybe?

"Fine, fine. Later, then. You ready?"

Izuku positioned his bugs right outside the radius of the smoke. He set his remaining bugs on edge, preparing them to be ready to move the second the villains left the gas.

Of course ,that was when he saw a trio of bodies launch themselves in the air. Gentle had made barriers — or rather, as Izuku had since figured out, was using his quirk on the surrounding air — to form what were essentially invisible trampolines. The air shifted before the trio, bouncing them along and away from UA.

Gas trailed behind them; they'd brought the still live grenades with them. However, the smoke didn't engulf the retreating trio. It was enough for Izuku to notice that all three of them had gas masks on their faces.

Gentle and La Brava were easy enough to identify, given their attire. The third of the trio even more so, due to his green scaled skin and purple mohawk. There wasn't any doubt in Izuku now; the third escapee was Spinner, supposed partner of the Hero Killer Stain.

It didn't take long for the trio to leave Izuku's range. Izuku allowed his remaining bugs to disperse, with the exception of a single clone. Said clone merely looked on in the distance, watching as the villains became mere dots on the horizon.

Stupid, stupid! I should have restrained them or something! It might have slowed them down enough for the smoke to disperse! And then I could have stopped them! But what the heck! What was Spinner doing helping them?! Are they working with Stain?

The undergrowth of the forest to the clone's left rustled. Izuku didn't react, however, seeing as he already knew the origin of the noise.

"What the hell, Midoriya! Tear gas? What the hell were you up to this time around?" Hound Dog emerged, yelling at the other clone that had been set to follow him.

Izuku dispersed that clone, confusing an irate Hound Dog for a moment before he noticed the other nearby swarm clone. The pro hero all but sped up to the remaining clone.

"What the hell were you up to?" Hound Dog all but yelled. "Where the heck did you get tear gas?!"

"Tear gas, huh? Well, I guess that makes sense with how my bugs were reacting to it."

"Midoriya—"

"It was the villains, actually. Gentle Criminal and La Brava. I'm sure that you heard of them?"

Hound Dog's eyes widened. "Villains!? I need to—"

"They're already gone," the clone provided. "I already dealt with it, but they escaped. I promise that they won't be coming back anytime soon, I made sure of that. So please, don't alert the staff? I don't want the festival being canceled because of this."

Hound Dog let out a grunt. He sighed not long after.

"Fine. But you, me, and Nezu are going to have a talk when the day's over. You understand?"

The swarm clone nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine with that."

A/N: And there ya go! That's the Gentle Criminal and La Brava fight for you, featuring special guest Spinner! What does his presence mean? Well… that's for later.

And don't any of you worry! You'll still be getting the real Izuku's perspective and experience from the music performance! It'll just be in the next chapter. So, until then! See you all next time!