Chapter 18 - Gwen and Ochaco

(Gwen POV)

I sat on the floor, resting my elbow on my knee and my hand on my cheek.

"How long do you think it will take them to get here?" asked Ochaco, who was standing next to me.

"Well, considering the test started a minute ago, they'll probably reach the penultimate floor in about 6 to 7 minutes, especially since we're not getting in their way." My blue eyes looked at the entrance while I "ignored" the window.

Ochaco placed her hand on her chin. "That only makes sense if she decides to get to us the normal way, right?" Ochaco asked with a smile.

"Exactly." I smiled at her. "But putting aside our future invader, I have a question to ask." I took my gaze away from the door and turned back to Ochaco.

"What?" she asked curiously, placing her finger near her lip.

"You and Nero are dating, aren't you?" I asked directly.

It was pretty obvious that those two were in a relationship. There was a romantic aura around them, almost always; even a blind man could see it.

Honestly, I didn't know if the fact that Nero was in a relationship bothered me or not. On one hand, seeing the man I like with another woman made me jealous. But, on the other hand, whether or not he was in a relationship wouldn't stop me.

"Oh! You were quite direct with that question." Her cute face showed an expression of surprise. "But the answer is a little complicated." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Complicated!?" I tilted my head to the side.

"See, Nero and I have known each other since we were kids, so when we got together even in a more intimate way, I didn't worry about clarifying our relationship. But yes, we are dating." Ochaco smiled at me, putting her arm behind her waist.

Hearing all this, I couldn't help but gawk.

Much of my shock came from the fact that I had heard a certain word.

"Wait a minute! You and Nero... well, you know!?" I exclaimed with a red face.

"What?"

"For God's sake!" My face was already redder than a monkey's ass. "You're not a virgin anymore, right?"

"Oh!" Ochaco's face instantly turned red, realizing that she had said too much. "Yes." Her voice was as low as a mosquito's.

...

Okay!

This took me by surprise.

It means that Nero and Ochaco...

Just thinking about it made me feel embarrassed.

"That..." I stuttered. "It means you were devoured, lost your maiden symbol, your flower was plucked, your insides were painted white, your hole was filled, something..." Before I could continue, I was interrupted.

"For God's sake! Gwen, Nero, and I had sex." Ochaco, with a face redder than mine, waved her hands cutely.

"Okay, you vulgarity-spewing woman." I let out a sigh, realizing there was a gulf between me and Ochaco.

I couldn't help but feel a slight sadness, but I quickly pushed it away.

"Still, I won't give up on him," I said with a smile, making my intention clear to my friend.

"Yes, I know, but you realize you won't be able to steal him from me, right?"

"I know," I replied. Nero would never leave Ochaco. "But who said I needed to steal him?"

"Hehehe!" Ochaco laughed.

"I thought you'd be jealous," I asked her.

"My jealousy is selective," she shrugged.

Before we could continue our conversation, the sound of something grabbing the window was heard.

A larger-than-normal brown hand gripped the window, and a body was propelled upwards.

"Surprise attack... ah!" a scream was heard.

"Looks like we caught a fish," I muttered, turning my gaze to the brown-skinned girl, who was none other than Kamala Khan.

Kamala, now inside the building, was trapped in several webs that kept her on the ground. Who could have done this?

If I had to guess, it would be a blonde with blue eyes.

But still, there was one more person missing.

"That's dirty play," Kamala said, crossing her arms over her chest while her feet were stuck in the sticky web.

"Technically, we're villains, so playing dirty is part of our temporary profession," I said with a smile.

"You're right," Kamala smiled strangely, flexing her arm behind her back. "I'm not very good at dirty tricks, so I'm just going to go at you."

With those words, she threw a punch.

What is she doing? That punch won't reach me... unless her quirk is...

Before I could complete my thoughts, her arm stretched out in both width and length. Before her punch hit me, I crossed my arms over each other.

Kamala's punch connected with my arms, sending me back hard.

I turned my body in the air and landed perfectly on the ground, feeling pain in my arms.

The moment my feet touched the ground, my [Spider-Sense] activated.

I threw myself back, somersaulting, only to see acid melting where I had stood.

I looked at the door and saw a girl with pink hair standing in the doorway.

Mina!

I mentally exclaimed.

Her quirk apparently involves acid; though she didn't aim directly at my body, the acid she released was quite powerful.

As I was thinking about this, I heard Ochaco's voice.

"Apparently, the first part of your plan failed," exclaimed Ochaco, who was standing next to the bomb.

"I wouldn't say it failed; it's more like there was a setback," I shrugged at Ochaco's provocation.

"Hehehe! So actually, splitting up was the right thing to do," Kamala said, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at me.

"One point for us," Mina exclaimed happily.

"Well, that won't happen again. Now, Ochaco," I said as I shot a web to the ceiling and hung from it.

"Skill Release," Ochaco said, moving her arms, and bringing her fingertips together.

The ground beneath Kamala collapsed; in fact, the ground beneath her was already broken before she even stepped foot there. I had broken it while Ochaco removed its gravity, and using my web to hold it together made it look like the ground was in perfect condition, but the truth was it was hanging by a thread.

As a result, the entire area where Kamala was standing collapsed, causing her to fall a few levels.

"What!?" Kamala and Mina exclaimed.

As Kamala fell, she reached out her hand to grab the upper floor, but I jumped and kicked her hand, causing her to fall further.

"You take care of Mina," I said to Ochaco.

"Okay," Ochaco replied. As I fell to the lower levels of the building with Kamala, that was the last thing I heard from her.

••• ••• •••

(Ochaco POV)

I dodged Mina's kick, which secreted a non-corrosive version of acid from her feet.

As they both fell, Mina wasted no time and headed toward the bomb, where I was.

Taking a step back, I touched some rocks on the ground, making them float.

Within seconds, Mina slid toward me and was already in front of me, throwing a punch at my face.

She was avoiding using the corrosive acid directly on me; after all, it could cause severe injury.

I dodged the punch by a few centimeters. While dodging, I moved my hand, grabbed her arm, and turned my waist, throwing her to the ground.

Her back hit the ground, and I quickly touched several rocks, causing them to lose their gravity and fly upwards.

Mina, lying on the floor, spun her feet in a breakdance move, throwing acid where I stood.

I jumped back, and in the next moment, the floor I was standing on collapsed thanks to Mina's corrosive acid.

Even though it wasn't aimed at me directly, that acid is still dangerous, I thought as my feet touched the ground.

Mina jumped forward, landing on her feet.

At that very moment, she was the closest person to the bomb.

"I win," she said, running toward the bomb. Most likely, all her movements, or most of them, were to get as close to the bomb as possible.

A good move, but...

"[Skill Release]!" I exclaimed, causing the rocks, large and small, to regain their weight and fall.

With their weight restored, a rain of stones began to fall on her head.

"Damn!" Mina exclaimed, looking up. She swung her arm desperately, creating a wave of acid to counter the falling stones.

The acid melted most of the stones, and those that weren't completely dissolved lost much of their solidity.

Some of the stones hit her, but they did not cause any major injuries.

Mina breathed heavily, and in that single breath, I was already beside her.

"Where did you come from?" she asked, feeling me grab her arm and reach behind her back.

She tried to release acid, but I twisted her hand back and, in one fluid movement, wrapped the capture tape around her wrist.

"Ahhhhh!" she exclaimed with a panicked face, realizing she had lost.

I'm glad I learned a thing or two from Roberta, even though she refuses to fully teach her combat style to me and Nero for some reason I don't know.

Well, putting that aside, I smiled after all...

"I win," I said, falling on my ass, feeling a little sick from using my quirk too much.

Now all that's left is Gwen.

•••

(Gwen POV)

I fell two stories, landing on my feet.

Stepping over the wreckage, I looked around for Kamala.

I didn't have to look far, as I saw a punch coming toward me.

Jumping back, I dodged the hand that was the size of my body and turned around, shooting a web at that arm.

But the huge arm shrank to its normal size.

Flexing my feet, I advanced toward the owner of the arm.

Kamala, with a smile, swung her arm like a whip, and it came toward me.

I jumped over the punch, using her giant arm as a springboard, and leaped toward the ceiling, sticking to it.

I fired several webs at Kamala.

Before my webs reached her, Kamala simply shrank to the size of a mouse.

I see, so her quirk allows her to reshape her body, both lengthening parts of it and shrinking them.

I turned my body, placing my feet on the ceiling and turning upside down, scanning the floor for a tiny Kamala Khan.

This would be easier if I had time to modify this hero costume. Infrared vision would be very useful right now.

As I thought this, a small hand expanded in front of me, forming a large fist.

Without thinking twice, I grabbed the fist that came towards me.

The ceiling I was standing on made several cracks as if it would break at any moment.

But I held tight to the fist.

For someone who can lift almost 10 tons, I think I can hold a teenager's fist.

I released my feet from the ceiling and turned my body, still holding her fist, and simply threw her upwards, controlling my strength a lot.

"Ohhhhhhhhh!" Kamala's small body hit the ceiling, and at the same moment, I shot several webs at her, pinning her to the ceiling.

And then my feet hit the ground.

"I think I caught a little mouse," I said with a hint of playfulness in my voice.

"He-hehehe! Apparently yes." I heard Kamala's voice, which had become thinner.

"But this little mouse can grow up." As she said this, Kamala's body began to grow. Without wasting time, I started to throw more webs, but it was no use, as her body didn't stop growing for a single second.

At about 3 meters (9'8"), she broke free from the ceiling and fell to the ground, but her body only stopped growing when she reached 4 meters (13'1").

"Well... I'm sorry for calling you a rat." I scratched my head, looking up to see the silly, cheerful girl who was more than twice my height.

"Okay," she said, reaching into the ground, pulling out a piece of it, and then throwing it toward me.

I quickly shot my web toward the ceiling and pulled myself up, hanging from the web.

The chunk of ground hit where I was standing, destroying it.

I sighed in relief, only to hear the sound of footsteps.

My [Spider-Sense] beeped, and I let go of the web I was holding on to.

A hand passed over my eyes.

The giant hand opened a new hole in the ceiling, causing pieces of rubble to fall on me.

Before the debris hit my body, I crossed my arms over my head, protecting it.

My back hit the ground.

A pained expression formed on my face.

But she didn't give me time to even breathe; Kamala lowered her hand.

Moving my wrist, I shot a web at the wall and, pulling my body hard, dodged her fist.

She's going to completely destroy this floor.

I thought, with my body spinning on the ground.

Well, apparently I'm going to have to use that.

I raised my body quickly while adjusting my web shooter.

I took out a small device that was next to the web cartridge and placed it on the trigger.

The exact second Kamala pulled back her fist, I moved my hand, but instead of shooting web at her, I shot a small device.

The device flew toward Kamala, latching onto the ceiling right next to her ear.

The device opened, and from it, several loud decibels of sound were emitted.

Automatically, Kamala put her hands to her ears with a pained expression.

Her knees bent, and she decreased in size to 1.70 m to increase her distance from the device.

And, simply put, the device that emitted a high-pitched sound burned out because of the high decibels.

Kamala let out a sigh of relief.

But her relief turned to surprise as I was in front of her, tying her arm with the capture tape.

"You...played dirty again," Kamala exclaimed innocently.

"Absolutely," I said without a hint of shame.

Kamala is more powerful than me, and if I hadn't "played dirty", I would have lost.

With that thought, a sound echoed throughout the building.

"The team of villains won."

I let out a sigh, sitting on the floor. Why doesn't this school just give a surprise test? It would be much less tiring.

I thought, with a playful smile.