Chapter 9: I Am My Shield

Yusei and Tsuyoshi were in the monitoring room along with the other students listening to the review of their battle. 

"Team A, you have excellent combat ability and it was clear that Miss Haruka was holding back a lot but your coordination was off. It was clear that you were determined to do everything on you own Miss Haruka " (Turbulence)

"Now for Team C, Your coordination and teamwork was much better than Team A but Katou you focused too much on your quirk when trying to over power her and forgot about your stamina which ultimately caused your defeat. Yano your plan was a good one but you seemed to underestimate your opponent and got cocky. Anyway, let's continue with the matches." (Turbulence)

#Battle 2: Team J (Heroes) vs Team H (Villains) 

Chanori skated down the halls using her crystals as she followed Kaibara while he was in a dog form.

Character Analysis✨

Name: Chanori Kirishima

Quirk: Crystals 💎

Quirk Description: She can create hot crystals and manipulate it to her will. 

Character Analysis✨

Name: Kaibara Seichiro

Quirk: Shapeshifting 👦🏻🦍

Quirk Description: He can transform into any living organism he's seen before.

#Battle 3: Team E (Heroes) vs Team G (Villains)

Reiji would summon steel beams from his hands and use them to block the door. After the steel beams were placed Alex used her quirk to manipulate the earth below her and used it to block the door.

"That should be enough."(Reiji)

Character Analysis✨

Name: Reiji Kirishima

Quirk: Craft 👩‍🏭

Quirk Description: He can secrete liquid metal from his hands, store things with his left hands and change his right hand into any object or weapon he has created before.

Character Analysis✨

Name: Alex Hanada

Quirk: Atom Manipulation 🔥💦💨⛰️

Quirk Description: She can manipulate atoms and also all states of matter.

#Battle 4: Team I (Heroes) vs Team F (Villains)

The hero team approached the building and as the match started Maika, a bunny eared.girl rushed into the building jumping from wall to wall to gain more speed while Miharu stood outside before looking up.

In the building Maika searched for the hostages and due to her speed she found the hostage room in almost a minute. She jumped up the stairway and kicked down the door before sliding in.

Maika would be ready for a fight but saw a shocking sight.

Miharu had already found the room and had defeated the villains in only a minute. He stood over the villains with a few bruises on his body before looking at Maika. 

They carried the hostages out of the building and won the match in only 1 minute and 30 seconds. 

Everyone in the monitoring roo was surprised at how fast he took down Team F even though they had such powerful quirks. 

Turbulence called back the uninjured to the monitoring room for their review.

After the review it was time for the last match of the class, Team B vs Team D. Team B were going to be the heroes and Team D was going to be the villains. Turbulence told them to go onto the battlefield and get prepared for the match.  

Turbulence noticed it was time for Sosuke's match and was wishing on his failure so he could eat his words all while Sosuke was wishing the opposite. 

Jinko went over to his teammate to talk about the match but when he went very to her she completely ignored him.

Scratching his head, Jinko wondered why she was acting like that before Yusei walked over to him. 

"Sorry about that, she just gets really worked up about fighting." (Yusei)

"You know that girl?" (Jinko)

"Yeah, she's my sister." (Yusei)

Instantly Jinko became surprised at that statement.

"Sister?. You guys look nothing alike." (Jinko)

"Well she's my adopted sister. She was adopted by my parents when we were 5 and turns out she had the same quirk as me." (Yusei)

Jinko didn't really care for their history but saw an opportunity to get information on his teammate and her quirk so it would be much easier to work with her.

"Aido I'd like to ask you some questions that might help me out." (Jinko)

The teams were in their designated areas and were ready to begin. Turbulence pressed a button beginning the match. The hero team rushed off in search of the hostages. As they ran Jinko asked if Reika had a plan but Reika kept ignoring him.

Jinko sighed before continuing to follow her. 

Meanwhile in the hostage room Sosuke argued with Bam.

"The best course of action is to guard the hostages. We will have both defensive and offensive positions, if we rush out there we will lose our defensive position and it will be the cause of our failure." (Bam)

"If we find them and kill them before they reach here it won't matter if we have the defensive position." (Sosuke)

"Do what you want but I will not alter my plan due to your idiocy." (Bam)

Sosuke scoffed before walking out the room pissed, slamming the door behind him. 

Everyone inside the monitoring room saw the team's argument and Sosuke's incompetence to work as a team with Bam. Turbulence watched this with delight feeling she could make him eat his words. 

Back in the building the heroes searched for the hostages ruthlessly, all while Reika ignored Jinko relentlessly. 

Jinko didn't care at all she was ignoring him because he was used to it but he kept trying to get through to her for the sake of winning the match. Slowly Reika started to get more annoyed at Jinko and finally broke.

"Why are you so damn annoying!!

Didn't you hear what I said, I can do this on my own." (Reika)

Jinko asked her the question "Are you sure?". Reika answered confidently with a yes but deep down she knew she wasn't.

Jinko listened to her response and kept quiet as they continued to search for their hostages. Reika felt she was too harsh but she needed to do this alone to prove something to herself and others.

As that thought rushed through her head the wall beside her was destroyed and debris flew into the air.

As the debris cleared it revealed Sosuke as he looked at the two like a predator who just caught its prey.

"There you runts are, I've been dying for a fight." (Sosuke)

Without any hesitation Sosuke charged at them with spikes coming out of his knuckles like wolverine. He'd try to punch Reika but she created a 2 meter metal shield, using it to block the attack. Sosuke went for a kick next but Jinko tackled him. Jinko turned to Reika and told her to find the room while he dealt with Sosuke. 

She nodded before running through the broken wall. Sosuke would fire spikes from his knuckles as she ran away but she would block them as she ran until she was far from his range. Sosuke looked at Jinko before saying "it's just you and me" as Sosuke glared at him.

Reika kept running while apologizing for the sacrifice Jinko had to make but at the same time she knew it was a needed step in achieving her goal. She kept her head straight and made her way to the hostage room. 

While she kept running Jinko was busy with a fight. Sosuke proceeded to deliver punches as Jinko continuously dodged them.

Sosuke charged at him as he tried going for the head. Jinko easily dodged and swiped his leg, knocking him to the floor. After that Jinko tried to paralyze Sosuke but he rolled before Jinko's hand came down on his face. 

Sosuke spun like a BreakDancer and got up in a heroic stance. He stood straight before cracking his neck and knuckles. He'd run towards Jinko before jumping into the air with his arm winded back. 

As the fight continued Reika finally made it to the hostage room. She walked up a flight of stairs as she slowly created a 2 meter long sword. Within a couple of seconds she made it in front of the door to the room. She took a deep breath before breaking the door down and entering.

Surprisingly no one is in there guarding the hostages. Reika looked around and saw not even a trace of a human presence and just thought that Sosuke's teammate went off to find them. She lowered her guard and placed her sword to her side as she walked towards the hostages. As she got closer to them, close enough to touch it  Bam appeared out of nowhere with a glowing blue sword in her hands.

Reika quickly swung the blade preparing to block but Bam attack was coming in fast. Luckily as the blade prepared to cut her Reika's blade caught up and blocked the attack causing sparks to fly in the air. 

Bam quickly backed up and got into a defensive sword stance.

"Hm seems I went in a bit too slow but I won't make that mistake again." said Bam as she looked at Reika cold and emotionless.

Reika stood her ground before creating a shield for protection.

Both teammates were now in a battle that was practically unpredictable on how it was going to end but their other classmates were making bets and guesses about who might win. 

Erin commented on how both teams were in the same circumstance. One was on the offensive while the other stood defensive but not in the way the villain team wanted it to happen.

Some of the others watched as Sosuke brutally attacked Jinko. Seeing his quirk in use they thought the villains might win if Sosuke kept it up but it wasn't set in stone after all they had not known of both of their capabilities and how each of their quirks work. 

Back on the battlefield Sosuke kept using melee attacks while Jinko dodged. Sosuke tried to deliver an uppercut but Jinko crouched down and tried to swipe his legs but Sosuke created spikes just in time blocking the swipe. Jinkos leg hit a large spike as Sosuke hopped over it and slammed down trying to puncture Jinko. Jinko quickly did a backflip as Sosuke's fist came plummeting down. After the flip Jinko stopped himself using his right leg, it seemed they were both evenly matched in combat ability so this fight could last hours at the rate it was going and sadly for them, they only had 4 minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock. Jinko knew he had to do something to turn the table.

Toxic gas emitted from his mouth as he started straight at Sosuke. He'd breathe in, inhaling all the gas which strengthened his muscles. He stood up straight before running towards Sosuke. Sosuke also ran towards Jinko with his hands in a punching position. He turned just before reaching in front of Jinko and slammed his heel straight into the ground sending a large spike towards Jinko. Jinko quickly bent his top half back as the spike sliced his forehead. Jinko used his left hand to destroy the spike before grabbing it and throwing it at Sosuke forcing him to dodge. Jinko used this as a chance to take Sosuke down for good. As Sosuke turned to dodge it Jinko came in using his right hand to slam Sosukes face, setting him off balance and making him fall. 

Sosuke hit the floor making a *Thud* sound. Sosukes head bled as hit the ground but he quickly tried to recover but Jinko pushed his head down, not giving him the chance to make that recovery. 

"It's over, you've lost." (Jinko)

Sosuke smirked as spikes appeared all over his body including his head which punctured Jinkos body making him lose plenty of blood and making him stuck in this position. Sosuke rolled over and placed his right knee on Jinko's body, pinning him down with the spikes and his own weight.

"No, you're the one who lost." (Sosuke)

Jinko's blood ran on to the spikes after it punctured him like a balloon. 

The others watched as Sosuke went from losing his upper hand to gaining it back within seconds.

 "He turned the tables with ease, guess that's what to be expected from the guy who came first in the entrance exam." (Reiji)

"He's only winning because his quirk's overpowered, I mean the other guy hasn't even shown signs of using his quirk." (Mitsuo)

Erin interrupted with a statement of her own.

"It isn't that his quirks overpowered the guys obviously been training in hand to hand combat as well as with his quirk. He's using a form of boxing mixed with taekwondo. It's clear that he's a brute but he isn't senseless that's for sure." (Erin)

After Erin's statement they turned their attention to the fight against Bam and Reika and unlike Sosuke and Jinko's fight the entire fight was completely one-sided.

Reika was constantly barraged by Bam with attacks using her technological advanced blade. All Reika could do was block with her shield but the projection couldn't be held up any longer. With each strike the shield took, the damage was dealt to her. Reika felt slashes all over her body and wasn't given a chance to attack. Eventually she was backed into a wall and couldn't go anywhere to avoid the upcoming attack. 

Bam ran straight for her changing her blade into a mace mid swing slamming it into Reika's side. Reika couldn't predict that change so she didn't have time to block and got hit brutally, breaking some bones of the rib cage. She was sent flying and she landed on the ground curled up with her projections gone. She tried to get up but Bam stepped on her back pushing her back down.

"Just stay down, your fights over" (Bam)

Reika refused to lose not like this, not again.

(Flashback)

Back when I was 5 after the murder of my parents I got adopted by a loving family, the Aido's. They had a son, Yusei. He was kind to me and got me adjusted to my new life with a family, he also protected me from danger. We were so close, wherever Yusei was I'd be close behind.  When his quirk appeared that changed everything. At the age of 7 he was doing things not even middle schoolers could do. With his quirk he gained many more friends and his desire and chance to become a hero rose. When I finally got my quirk I was happy, it was exactly like my brothers and I thought we'd be a crime fighting duo but even after getting my quirk I was still much weaker than him and I always had to be protected. Over time I got frustrated, I just wanted to be strong, I didn't want to be in his shadow, I wanted…no I needed to protect myself. What chance do I have of protecting anyone as a hero if I can't protect myself?

As those thoughts went through her head Reika tried to push herself up. Bam looked down at the struggling Reika and was disappointed at how pathetic her classmate was, her supposed equal.

Suddenly the ground shook as a bright blue light emitted from her body. Cracks formed in the ground as a sort of battle armor as large as a mech surrounded Reika. Before it was fully formed a surge of energy sent Bam flying into the wall as Reika said to herself:

"I don't need his help after all what chance to I have of protecting people if I can't even protect myself."

Bam slowly got up and saw Reika in a black armor. Bam didn't seem fazed and ran at Reika changing her mace back into a sword. Reika also ran at her with a 10 meter sword in one hand and a shield with the same measurement in the next. As they got close Bam swung her blade ready to slice her but the shield was used to block the attack.

Unexpectedly Reika didn't feel any damage. It was clear this form was more durable than any other projections she's made but it was taking its toll on her. Blood ran from her nose as she continued fighting. Bam continued to swing and dodge attacks before switching the blade into a hammer mid air. She came down preparing to slam into her head.

With tremendous speed Reika reacted fast and hit Bam with the flat part of the blade sending her into a wall knocking her out. Just in that same time the projection faded revealing Reika in a bloodied and feeble state. She limped towards the hostages and took them up, not knowing how much time she had until Bam woke up again.  Using the last of her strength she picked them up and left the room leaving an unconscious Bam. Now that Reika won her fight  it was all up to Jinko to defeat Sosuke and finally end this match. 

Jinko was pinned to the ground, punctured and Sosuke was preparing to finish him off with a punch to the face. It couldn't end like this, he needed to fulfill his grandfather's wishes and this was only the first step in becoming a great hero. There was only one last thing to do even though it was risky. 

Jinko released a bunch of toxic gas through his mouth and inhaled it, strengthening his entire body. He'd use both his legs to launch Sosuke off him, also ripping the spikes out of his body in the process. Jinko slowly got up as blood dripped from all these wounds. He'd look like a punctured blood bag after they ripped out his body. 

Sosuke landed on his feet and grinned before telling he still was gonna fall. Jinko only had one chance to do this, he only had one chance to finish this battle. More gas emitted from his mouth as he inhaled it. His veins became more visible after inhaling all that gas. 

His muscles and bones strengthened and his speed improved crazily. He charged towards Sosuke, not hesitating Sosuke fired 10 spikes from his knuckles. Jinko dodged most of them but one hit him in the shoulder. He ripped it out and threw it right back at Sosuke, making him dodge once more. Jinko took the chance again to bash his head in. 

As Jinko raised his hand ready to attack. 

Sosuke grinned before yelling out: 

"You think I'm gonna fall for this again!!!" (Sosuke)

Sosuke prepared to counter attack but unexpectedly Jinko twirled and slammed his elbow into Sosuke's neck at blinding speeds. Sosuke groaned in pain after being hit and spat out his saliva. Jinko then kicked him in the back of the shin making him lose balance and fall.

He now took the opportunity to grab Sosuke's head and slam it into the concrete floor making him break his nose. Jinko fully placed his hand on Sosuke's head.

Sosuke said obnoxiously: "This again, it won't matter I'll just punctured and make you bleed even more."

Jinko quickly released a bunch of toxin from every part of his body creating a fog of this purple toxic mist. A good portion of gas was inhaled by Sosuke as he continued to talk. Slowly the spikes came ripping out his body preparing to puncture Jinko once again. Just before they formed fully the paralysis kicked in, stopping every joint, bone and limb in Sosuke's body. All of his motor skills were gone and it was also taking a toll on his cognitive skills as well. Due to the effects on his motor and cognitive skills the quirk was stopped, acting like a type of quirk dampener.  

Sosuke could barely utter a word as he wondered why he couldn't move or use his quirk. 

Jinko sighed in relief, flashing his now downed hair back revealing purplish veins all over his face and the mist slowly being emitted from his mouth, going through the gas mask making his look more edgy than he already was.

Eyes widened and face still looking neutral, Jinko began talking to Sosuke. 

"You have around 6 minutes till the toxin wears out and there should be around 3-4 minutes left on the timer giving me enough time to win."

Jinko got up off Sosuke and prepared to leave but turned back and said with confidence:

"Now you've lost, Akabari."

He'd walk away limping towards where Reika went, leaving Sosuke on the ground furious.

As he walked towards where Reika went he saw her limping towards him with the hostages on both her shoulders. Jinko saw her and with both the hostages and quickly went over to help her still badly injured himself with the only thing keeping him up was adrenaline. Using both of their remaining stamina and strength they carried each other and the hostages outside, winning the match with only one minute and thirty seconds left on the timer. As soon as they exited the building and won they passed out due to blood loss and other injuries with a smile on both of their faces. 

"The hero team wins, all uninjured return to the monitoring room for debriefing." (Intercom)

Bam and Sosuke left the building disappointed and angry at the outcome of the battle.

Hours passed by and Jinko slowly woke up. Like the entrance exams he was covered in bandages and found himself in front of the same nurse. 

"You're finally up." (U.A nurse)

"How long was I out?" (Jinko)

"A few hours, it took me a while to clear up your system . It was almost completely filled with poison. Should take you a day or two to get fully healed."

"Can I go now…"

She'd let him leave and told him to get some rest. Before leaving he placed back on his uniform. 

He walked through the halls with his bag on his back towards his class. When he made it to the class he saw many students swarming Yusei and talking to him about his match and on the other side of the room the same was happening to Reika making her feel like Yusei's equal for the first time. Jinko smirked as he watched and began walking off.

As he walked he heard Chanori calling his name and telling him to wait. He turned around confused for a moment. She stopped in front of him with a concerned look on her face.

"Kasayami are you alright?" (Chanori)

"Why wouldn't I?" (Jinko)

"After you left the building you were in such a bad state and when you passed out then it got even crazier. I checked in on you with two others and the nurse said she didn't know when you might wake." (Chanori)

After hearing she was worried about him, his heart skipped a beat and he blushed a bit, a feeling he had never experienced before. 

"Your skin is getting red, do you need me to get the nurse?" (Chanori)

"No, I'm fine, just need some rest." (Jinko)

"Oh, then I'll let you get your rest, guess I'll be seeing you later then." (Chanori)

Jinko slowly nodded before Chanori went back to the class. He'd continue to walk to the dorms now with a wide smile on his face. Outside, Sosuke was leaning on the entrance to the school's indoor facilities (classrooms, teachers lounge, etc) and caught Jinko on his way out.

"You got lucky earlier but next time I'll make sure to beat you to a bloody pulp and leave no remains." (Sosuke)

Jinko simply walked past Sosuke, delighted at what Chanori told him earlier. 

{Chapter End}