26

Abandoned: Humanity's Drift - Chapter 26 - shansome

As a rule, only support students could bring gear into the Sports Festival, meaning that no one had their costumes. It was a fair but annoying condition.

Akari and Tooru weren't affected but Jirou didn't have her speakers-drastically reducing her firepower-and Momo found herself dearly missing her tablet of formulas. She couldn't create anything big without enough skin exposure, either.

A small device gradually formed out of Momo's arm. She handed the new speaker over to Jirou, watching as the girl attached it to her uniform sleeve with a smile. 

"Thanks, Momo."

"No problem, Jirou."

At least she could work on one of those issues. 

"Mrmph."

"I know, I said I'd take it off later."

"Mrmph, mrmph!"

Neito rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine." 

He stopped running to grab onto Shinsou's cheeks and find the tape blocking his mouth, gripping it between his fingers. Then Neito yanked without warning, ripping the white strip clear off his face.

"Ow- shit. " Shinsou hissed. "That fucking hurt, you know."

"Then you shouldn't have gotten taped in the first place." Neito pointed out reasonably.

The purple-haired boy glared at him as if that was somehow Neito's fault.

"Whatever. So, what now, Great Leader Monoma?" 

Neito smiled, ignoring the sarcasm. "I'm so glad you asked. So first, we're going to keep running this way. The fight probably drew some attention and any 1-A team could happen upon us at the moment. And also, I really don't want to be here when Bakugou gets back-"

"But why are we running away from Bakugou, though?" Rin interjected. "I mean, we took out the man's entire team. It'll just be a 1 v 4, and with Shinsou's absolutely unfair quirk we could end things instantly."

Kodai nodded. "We certainly have the advantage."

Neito frowned. "No, we don't. Loathe as I am to admit it, Bakugou is too powerful. He knows about Copy, too, so I doubt we can brainwash him."

"We still have Scales and Size, don't we?" Shinsou shot back. "Throwing giant projectiles at our enemies has clearly worked for us so far."

"Well, yeah. But do you have a backup plan if it doesn't-"

Shinsou cut him off with a scoff. "Why're you suddenly so scared now, Great Leader Monoma? It's just an arrogant 1-A prick. And if you're so worried about his heroic quirk, just copy it and it'll be even easier to take down Bakugou-"

"Eh? Say that to my face, you purple-haired bitch!"

They were out of time.

Neito looked up in time to see a huge mass of grey twisting inward on itself, like a spinning tornado of death bearing down on them. Smoke and fire traced its edges, hints of ashen blonde hair hidden in its center, and the sharp cracks of explosions finally reached Neito's ears. 

Was that a fucking super move?

"Howitzer..."

Pause.

A white-haired man leaned forward in his seat as the scene slowed to a halt, furrowing his eyebrows. 

"...Can they survive that? I'm honestly not sure." 

Aurora tapped a finger against her chin in thought, unaffected by the sudden change in speed. "Not sure. Have you seen him use that move before?"

"Yeah, he used it on one of my clones once," Izuku said. "Wrecked most of a building."

"Hmm. This doesn't look like a direct hit, though. And they're somewhat far away from where he's going to land, plus they've already braced themselves for the explosion..."

"But what about their human ears? They probably can't handle a huge detonation so close to them."

"That's a good point. Then move...Team Monoma just far enough away so that you prevent any major injuries of that sort. You don't have to weaken the explosion-we still have Sekhmet and Recovery Girl on-site if anything does happen."

"That works."

The mentioned blonde didn't even look up from her phone and it's currently frozen screen. " Great, we're decided. Can I go back to my Tetris, now?"

Izuku leaned over and Sekhmet tilted the device so he could see. "Whoa. How'd you get this many lines cleared so fast-"

Aurora coughed pointedly into her hand, and Izuku hurriedly stood.

"-right, right, priorities."

"...IMPACT!"

The world exploded.

There was no time to help his team. All Neito could do was close his eyes and raise his arms in front of him before the massive attack threw him flying backward, the heat stabbing at his hands and face like thorns.

He hit the ground hard and tumbled against the concrete for a couple of meters until he came to a stop, flat on his back with bright orange and yellow colors pressing against his eyelids. Fuck, that hurt.

Maybe he could just lay here for a couple of minutes or something. A nice, short break-

"Copy bastard!" A loud, irritating voice yelled.

Or not. Neito held back a sigh.

He ignored the protests of his body as he rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself roughly to his feet.

He took in the now-ruined road as the smoke finally cleared, a glaring blonde at its center. Loud footfalls further emphasized the approach of his incredibly dramatic opponent, and Neito steeled himself for the coming fight.

"You survived that, shitty extra?" Bakugou scoffed. "I'll fix that."

Neito smirked confidently. "Will you now, Baka-gou? Because from where I'm standing, you're much more of a danger to this poor city than to me. You even had the element of surprise there, and wasted it to...shout out your move? What are you, a child?"

Unexpectedly, Bakugou didn't explode-figuratively, or literally. The blonde's face instead twisted into a cold sneer as he took slow steps forward, controlled rage seeping out of every motion. He was barefoot, Neito noticed.

Red eyes casually flicked to the sky. "If I was talking to someone who thought that I'd lose my cool at some weak, playground-level insults and then forget about a literal mind control quirk, I'd first call them a real fucking dumbass."

Neito's mask almost faltered when no mental connection formed.

Damn it. He subtly pulled on a different quirk.

"At least you're smart enough to not fall for the same trick twice. But I don't think I even need it! I mean, you couldn't even protect any of your teammates-"

"Second, I'd remind them that for someone who can fucking fly, a team is just a deadweight. And then third; I'd wonder why I even bothered responding to a shitty extra in the first place!" 

Neito aimed his arms before the blonde even finished talking, fully formed scales launching towards his target. Bakugou ducked low into a runner's position, the small blades sailing harmlessly past his head as a terrifying grin stretched across his face. 

Twin cracks propelled Bakugou forward at high speeds and Neito fired off a second barrage-only for Bakugou to blast himself to the right and dodge with a well-timed barrel roll.

Bakugou broke out of the movement to land smoothly and sweep his hand low in a small explosion, launching a speeding piece of rubble that just missed Neito's face.

Bakugou launched another projectile and Neito crossed his green arms to block it, letting the attack break harmlessly against his reptile-like armor. "Really, you're just gonna stand over there and throw rocks all day? Are you scared or something, Baka-gou?"

The blonde wordlessly chucked an entire boulder at him in response. Rude.

Luckily, Neito didn't just have Rin and Shinsou's quirks. Neito drew a pebble from his pocket and lobbed it up, watching it fall down on his enemy in a slow curve. 

Neito fired off all of his current scales and then clapped his hands together.

Size activated with a nice tingle in his fingers. The small pebble was suddenly ten times bigger than before, and a second away from slamming down on Bakugou while Neito's other quirk raced toward him at the same time.

If Bakugou used his explosive quirk on the boulder above he'd be vulnerable to the approaching scales, and if he ignored it to dodge the scales again he'd be crushed. A makeshift trap pulled off with great timing and easily tripped by the arrogant 1-A-

Bakugou's foot lit up a bright orange as he swung it up in a straight arc, burning away the first few blades in front of him and slicing clean through the rock. The high kick ended at head height, a beautiful trail of flame lingering in its path even as the halves of the boulder fell at his sides.

Neito's smirk twisted into something more bitter. 

"Of course, you have fucking magic, too."

Bakugou leaned into the motion, falling back on his hands and using an explosion to push himself high into the air. He rotated in mid-air, feet blasting out fire like a jet and launching himself like a terrifying missile.

Neito raised his guard just in time. Rin's quirk barely held against the point-blank explosion, Neito's arms crying out at the impact and his nose stuffing full of smoke.

Bakugou flipped forward and Neito leaped back on instinct, heat prickling his face as the fiery axe kick slammed down onto the ruined road. Neito ducked under a scorching fist, darting out to land a touch, and Bakugou flinched out of reach.

"Afraid of me copying your quirk, eh?" Neito taunted. "Why, are you worried I'll use it better?"

Bakugou scowled harshly but kept his mouth shut, choosing to show what he thought of that with some even bigger explosions. At this point, trying to get a response was far more trouble than it was worth.

Then something- someone dropped from the sky, landing perfectly on Bakugou's shoulders and nearly knocking him down under their weight. Bakugou twisted to explode the new attacker only for the figure to jump away and land smoothly next to Neito, straightening up to an impressive height.

"Have you finally gone mad, Bakugou? That didn't even come close." Shinsou snarked, prompting an angry hiss.

Fucking finally.

"What took you so long, Shinsou?" Neito grumbled, trying to hide his sheer relief. "I've been holding this asshole off like a year."

Shinsou glanced over, obviously taking in the new holes burnt into Neito's blue gym uniform. "I can tell. Kodai and Rin got knocked out by that blast-it's just me. "

"Shit." Neito cursed. If only they'd all run when he said to. "You all should really listen to me more."

Shinsou let out a long sigh in response.

So it was just the two of them against Bakugou Katsuki. Not ideal. The blonde didn't even seem to be tired from using that massive explosion earlier.

Neito still had Scales, Size, and Brainwashing for a while-though that last one wasn't helpful anymore. He needed to copy that arrogant bastard's quirk, or their chances weren't good.

Bakugou hadn't moved an inch, glaring at the two of them intensely. The fact that he wasn't making the first move in his usual rash, aggressive manner anymore was quite unsettling. 

"He has enough self-control to not respond, so don't bother with any taunts," Neito warned.

"That's annoying."

"Avoid the explosions coming out of his palms-"

"Well, obviously-"

"-and all the fire coming out of legs."

"-the what? We're fucked."

Neito lowered his voice to a practiced whisper. "I do have one idea, actually."

Shinsou immediately approved with a mirrored grin across his face. 

Why was this guy in General Education, again? He was far more useful than most of 1-A from what Neito had seen.

Neito's scales finally finished reforming along his arms. Not wasting any more time, he sprinted out for Bakugou's left. Shinsou started moving after a beat to flank the blonde's other side.

"Done with your little strategy break, shitty extras?" Bakugou mocked. "Hope it helps."

"Yep. But what about you? Where's your strategy bre-oh, right, you lost your team already." Shinsou said casually.

It truly was hilarious that Bakugou couldn't afford to say anything back to them. On the other hand, the blonde had now completely mastered his death glare.

As soon as the fight restarted Bakugou threw a giant explosion at Neito, forcing him back-and designating Neito as the more dangerous target. Whether that was because of Copy or because Shinsou was essentially fighting quirkless, he didn't know. 

Either way, it gave the purple-haired boy chances to get in close. Bakugou definitely wasn't expecting the hook that whipped his head to the side, and it was probably the most satisfying thing Neito had seen this year.

Shinsou jumped with a yelp, his clothes nearly catching on fire from Bakugou's retaliation. Neito dove in, shooting scales at his back and scoring a few cuts on the blonde's limbs before moving to support Shinsou with hand-to-hand.

Bakugou was blessed with a powerful, offensive, heroic quirk, and later on with fire magic. But he still put in the training, more than almost anyone, meaning that beyond all that power he was extremely skilled, too.

He incorporated both his explosions and fire into his fighting style, fluidly throwing explosive palms and flaming kicks to force the two of them back. His reflexes were pro-level, making the fight a struggle even when they attacked him from two different sides.

But Bakugou had to put most of his focus into making sure Neito couldn't copy his quirk, and that was something they could capitalize on.

Bakugou kicked out, a whip of fire tracing out a couple of meters and grazing Shinsou's face. Sparks filled out Bakugou's raised palm to follow up; his cue for another big explosion. Neito acted quickly, launching white shards directly at his hands to force him to waste it.

Bakugou looked like he wanted to blast Neito for that, but Shinsou forced his attention back on him with a series of kicks; carefully aimed to avoid being blown up. Shinsou had no real counter for Bakugou's magic, so Neito made sure to tank those hits with his scaled arms whenever he could. 

Finally, they got Shinsou right in front of Bakugou's face. He ducked under a palm-sized blast and threw all of Neito's remaining pebbles at point-blank range.

Neito activated Size again, wincing under the strain of his quirks that was starting to kick in. It was definitely worth it, though, to see Bakugou's clear alarm at the massive amount of debris flying at him. 

Even when he was expecting it, the huge explosion nearly knocked him off his feet as grey darkness covered the area. Neito gritted his teeth and bore through it, pushing through the smoke to where he remembered Shinsou was while ignoring his stinging nose and eyes. Shinsou must be doing the same.

With their positions now switched, Neito heard a kick connect from the other side, as well as Bakugou's growl at who he thought was Neito. 

Bakugou always attacked Neito carefully because he had Copy, and left openings for Shinsou. However, now that they'd switched positions the blonde was putting all of his focus...on the wrong person.

Neito punched and hit something, instantly activating Copy and feeling the new quirk change his body, settling around his palms. At last.

"I got it!" Neito yelled victoriously.

"Fuck yeah!" Shinsou shouted back.

"Damn it!" Bakugou screamed, dispersing the smoke in a burst of power to reveal both him and Shinsou-one looking absolutely terrifying, the latter almost gleeful.

The user's sweat was explosive-however the fuck that worked-and they lit up that sweat to make explosions. The shape of the hand had a noticeable effect on the explosion's shape. So Neito should curve it with his palm like a small ball...maybe this big? And then this should be the ignition-

Bakugou flinched back as a small explosion lit up the space in front of Neito.

There we go.

Shinsou grinned darkly. "Cool. Ready for a taste of your medicine, Bakugou?"

Neito agreed, this was very cool. Unfortunately, his wrist now fucking hurt. That wasn't even that big-how much had Bakugou trained this shit?

Bakugou scoffed dismissively. "It doesn't matter. The copy bastard probably can't even use my quirk well, anyway."

Bakugou leaped forward, spark in his palm, and Neito met him with one of his own.

Their hands met in a huge explosion, the knockback a super painful jolt of Neito's arm as it nearly got dislocated.

Bakugou grimaced but didn't falter as he twisted into a powerful kick, fire tracing the movement. 

Neito pushed Rin's quirk as hard as he could, putting his effort into creating the green skin around his arms. He made himself step towards the kick, raising his left arm like a shield. 

Untrained, pitiful scales just weren't durable enough to block Bakugou Katsuki's fire magic, the arm getting pushed in from the impact and hurting like hell. Yet it was able to block that attack and get Neito in close.

Neito couldn't create any powerful explosions because of his lack of experience with the quirk. His arm simply couldn't handle the massive recoil that came with it, the force rebounding back painfully on his wrist.

But what if he had a durability quirk active?

Neito thrust his scale-covered arm forward with the biggest explosion he could make.

Bakugou jumped back, but he was just too close to dodge. The heat washed over Neito's body as the blast threw him backward in a wave of concussive force. The blonde's unwilling flight was cut short a full second later when he slammed into a building and fell down to the ground, defeated.

Neito himself slumped to his knees completely spent, his copied quirks leaving his body and his green skin turning back to its normal color. 

His right arm looked(and felt) badly bruised, and he couldn't move his body anymore. Well, at least he'd gotten that 1-A bastard-

And then, to incredulous blue eyes, his 'defeated' opponent shifted, slowly pushing himself to his feet with herculean effort. Bakugou swayed unsteadily, his blue uniform missing a huge portion of its side. But he didn't lose his footing as he stumbled towards Neito, eyes blazing. 

How the fuck was that guy standing? Was he even human?

"Die!" Bakugou breathed harshly, raising his arm in a clear threat. There was nothing Neito could do as the enemy's palm started to spark.

And then suddenly the blonde collapsed face-first into the ground, unconscious. 

Neito blinked slowly, taking in the sneaky purple-haired boy behind his opponent. Shinsou looked even more tired than Neito felt, barely standing upright with his usual eyebags now noticeable trenches. But his face was stretched into a grin as he stood over Bakugou's fallen form.

"Don't underestimate teamwork, bitch!"

Incredible.

Neito coughed out a laugh. "I didn't think you were that much of a team player, Shinsou-san."

"I definitely wasn't, yeah." Shinsou admitted as he offered Neito his hand, pulling him up. 

"But I think I've changed my mind."

Momo couldn't help but respect their ambush, despite being its target.

Her team's latest batch of hostages was at the top of a tall building that was splashed with the same dull grey as the rest of the fake city.

Jirou sensed the three dummies at the top floor; easy sixty points if they got there first. They used the same formula as their past few rescues, sniping any external guards before efficiently clearing the building from the ground up. The robots were barely worth mentioning, anymore, and Momo wasn't sure if that was due to their weakness or her own team's prowess. 

It wasn't until they effortlessly cleared the final room and got ready to carry the hostages out that the trap was sprung.

Vines suddenly burst through the windows, thick green masses darting towards them from every side. Momo raised her shield to protect herself and Tooru, digging her heels in to resist the thorny wave.

What could Momo make to counter that ability, she wondered.

The problem was dealt with in the next instant, beautiful white swords appearing out of nowhere and carving away the vines. Akari straightened up, now alert, all three dummies still slung over her shoulder.

There were now eight students surrounding Team Momo, making the previously huge room feel a little cramped. Momo couldn't help but notice that all of them were from 1-B.

"I didn't think that two teams would merge like that." Akari mused. "That's interesting."

"There isn't anything in the rules saying that we can't!" A grinning boy-Tsuburaba claimed. 

That was certainly true, and Momo could easily see the merits of searching for hostages in such a large group. And more forces were almost always helpful to a battle.

"And so with your superior numbers, you ambushed us at a critical point," Momo stated. "That's clever of you."

Kendo nodded. "Thanks. It's a little unfair, but we need every advantage against Midoriya's speed, you see." 

Class 1-B's representative pointed an enlarged finger at them. "We'll be coming at you with all we have. 1-B, attack!"

At once, a large figure leaped out from behind, his top half covered in brown fur. Momo didn't even realize that the creature was Shishida for a moment, stunned at his sheer size.

Shishida went straight for Akari, raising his fists as he fell and slamming them down on his target-

Only for his attack to be completely stopped, blow held back by a single hand. His large form still hovered over her far smaller one, all of his weight now supported with ease.

Clearly, they hadn't realized the full extent of Akari's quirk.

"Hello again, Shishida-san." Akari said, amused. "You've got a pretty cool-looking ability."

"How are you-"

Akari cut him off with a punch to his chest, knocking him clean through the opposite wall. 

His teammates just stared for a second, stunned, and Jirou took the chance to blast her heartbeat at them through Momo's speakers. The vibrations affected the smaller Komori and Pony the most, making them crouch down and cover their ears. 

But then the vibrations were blocked by an invisible forcefield. It was incredibly wide, stretching across the room like a divider and separating the two opposing groups.

Tsuburaba stood with a smirk, protective air wall now in place. "What a loud quirk, not bad. But it's nothing to my impenetrable defensive quirk-"

A simple horizontal cut sliced through the entire barrier, shattering it into nothing in an instant.

"You talk too much," Akari commented, raising her sword. Three bolts of light raced forward, crashing against a hastily made air shield. 

While her friend was busy with that, Momo needed to take the initiative.

She rushed forward, sword and shield held tight in her hands as she ignored the voice in her mind telling her to hang back, to not rush a number of enemies by herself. 

Momo had this.

A barrage of curved horns flew at her and she ducked under her shield, trusting her creation. She smiled at the thought of horns and little Eri as she advanced further, turning to slash away the horns flying around to her back.

A flash of metal made her hit the ground in a roll, blades passing harmlessly over her hair. 

Kamikiri lunged at her again. Momo parried his blades with her sword once, twice, feeling it chip from just the exchange of blows. He surprised her with a kick, a blade appearing out of his foot. She dodged low in response, sweeping out her leg and pulling the same trick-a taser forming out of her foot and jabbing his knee.

Electricity sparked, knocking him back with a jolt. He recovered easily, forming even more blades and moving to rush once more.

A light sphere appeared behind him and came down hard on his head, slamming his face into the floor.

"I got this one, Momo!" Tooru said cheerfully.

"Where the fuck-" Kamikiri was cut off by another blow, this one actually digging the 1-B student's cheek-blades into ground.

"Thanks, Tooru." Momo shot a bright smile over her shoulder and kept moving.

Jirou kept Pony busy, cutting off her Horn Cannon and keeping Komori in check. Tsuburaba looked terrified, his walls barely holding off Akari as she fought off a mass of flying body parts- Setsuna-at the same time. 

The only two left to handle were Shiozaki and Kendo, the latter off near Akari.

Momo threw her shield like a disk with a flick of her arm, watching it smash harmlessly against a web of green.

Shiozaki frowned, pressing her hands together. Her beautiful hair curled up behind her, tendrils of thorns intertwining together before lunging at Momo.

Her vines were quick, nearly racing past Momo's blade in an instant. Momo dodged by inches and they followed, tracing her movements like a sentient forest. 

She'd need more than her sword for that, but luckily she'd already thought of a countermeasure for this quirk. 1-A's president hurriedly finished her formulas, refocusing her mind under the pressure.

Ten seconds later Momo lifted up her shirt a little to complete her flamethrower, pink sparks lingering with the movement. The heavy weight rested on one arm, newly created fuel held close.

Shiozaki's eyes went wide. "Hold on, wait-"

Momo pulled the trigger without hesitation and a jet of orange flame burned away the approaching vines. Two more large ones attacked from her sides only for Momo to slice them away, wielding her flamethrower and sword in focused tandem.

This was a terrible matchup for the 1-B student, and both of them knew it.

"Crucifixion!" Shiozaki called out, a distinct hint of alarm in her voice. Vines rose up from the floor and wrapped around Momo like a ball, tightly closing her in. Thorns brushed against her arms and neck, thankfully not sharp enough to break the skin. 

Momo aimed her flamethrower straight up at the shrinking opening and carved a straight path out. She kicked off the ruined trap, ignoring the sting of smoke as she watched the fire spread quickly through the vines and back to her Shiozaki.

Momo felt horrible burning her fellow student's hair like this(Shiozaki must put so much effort into taking care of all of it!) but she also knew that it'd be far more insulting to hold back against her. 

So she didn't give her opponent any time to panic, immediately lunging in for a slash that took off the majority of Shiozaki's hair. It fell to the ground in a mass of green, now still and unmoving.

"Sorry, Shiozaki-san." Momo apologized, guilty.

Shiozaki sighed sadly, one hand cradling the new stumps and uneven ends. "It's of no matter, Yaoyorozu-san. Your quick thinking in countering my gift was admirable."

Momo nodded her thanks, and with that brief exchange of words, their fight resumed.

From what little Momo knew about Shiozaki's ability, her powerful vines needed a long duration of time to regrow. With her quirk currently neutralized, now was the optimal time to win.

The flamethrower was a useful blunt weapon, though lugging it around was gradually wearing on Momo's stamina. Either way, Shiozaki was clearly not as skilled with hand-to-hand combat as she was with her vines, her slow and unpracticed defense rapidly crumbling.

Momo swept out Shiozaki's legs from under her, letting the girl fall on her back and moving to knock her out. If she eliminated Shiozaki, who had one of the most powerful quirks here, it'd be a great step to vict-

Something heavy slammed into Momo's entire right side with the force of a train, flinging her clean off the ground and into the air. 

On instinct Momo tucked her head in, hitting the ground in a harsh roll to absorb the impact. She lost her grip on her sword, hearing it land far beyond her reach with the clatter of steel.

How could she forget about her fellow class representative?

Kendo casually raised both her huge fists, each one bigger than her entire body. "You okay, Ibara? Looks like I got here just in time."

The green-haired girl let out an exhausted breath. "You did. Thank you, Kendo-san."

"Don't worry 'bout it. And I told you to call me Itsuka or Nee-chan, right?"

Momo watched, mystified, as Shiozaki's face went bright red. Combined with her green hair, she now gave Momo the impression of a glowing Christmas tree. "That's way too informal, Kendo-san!"

Kendo laughed lightly before she turned her attention to Momo. "Sorry for making you wait, Yaoyorozu-san."

Momo didn't respond immediately, gripping her flamethrower tight with both hands. 

"You ruined my swordfight, Kendo-san." Momo frowned. "And tackled me down that hill." 

Tumbling down that grassy hill in a tangle of limbs hadn't been very fun.

Kendo winced. "I mean, yeah. It wasn't really my fault thou-"

A stream of fire drowned out the rest of her sentence. Kendo's palm instantly rose up to block, skin unfazed by the flames.

Momo aimed at her unprotected legs instead and Kendo gracefully flipped over the blast, her fist crashing down like a hammer-just missing Momo's face-to smash through the floor. The martial artist yanked her hand back out easily before rushing forward, an excited grin on her face.

It was incredibly hard to keep her distance when her opponent had such a long reach. 

Kendo's first swing tore the flamethrower clean out of Momo's hands, shattering it against the opposite wall. Kendo was faster than she thought, lunging far despite the increased weight of her hands. Momo needed to adjust.

Kendo's second swing passed just over Momo's head, sweeping her hair back with a light breeze. Still too close to comfort-a single direct blow from those hands would most likely knock her unconscious.

"You're quite slippery, Yaoyorozu-san!" Kendo said.

"And you're quite fast, Ken-" 

A sudden kick caught Momo in the side and nearly bowled her over before she regained her footing, ducking out of range of another kick. 

Kendo's third swing slammed against a long steel shield, precisely shaped to take powerful impacts. It still barely held against Kendo's fist, denting under the blow.

Kendo wound back her arm to follow-up and Momo finally countered, pushing her shield in with all of her might. The sudden weight briefly unbalanced her opponent and Momo immediately took her chance, stabbing her newly made taser into Kendo's arm.

Electricity lit up at the point of contact as a low-power shock ran through the other student, locking up her muscles. But Kendo didn't even flinch, stunned yet standing for a crucial moment.

It took a full two seconds(practically an eternity to Momo's racing heartbeat) to finish creating a tightly wound ball and throw it on the martial artist. Kendo seemed to be just regaining her senses when the ball unfolded into a large, blue net, the heavy fibers catching and trapping her fast against the floor. 

Momo let out a relieved breath. That actually worked!

Kendo blinked up at her, bemused, as the net actually held down her large hands. "Whoa. Didn't expect that. What's this thing even made of?"

"I can recreate nearly any metal I have the formula of," Momo claimed proudly. "And I've found many interesting samples during my Drift." 

"Mm, that's pretty cool. I underestimated you, Yaoyorozu-san. There's no use holding back anymore."

Momo leaped back as soon as the words registered, Kendo bursting up to her feet a moment later. She flung the net aside easily. 

Her huge hands now glowed red, the signature color of-

"Enhancement magic," Momo stated, awed. 

Kendo grinned. "Yep. An amazing thing for any martial artist, really."

Momo lowered her center of gravity and created one more item; a short, durable baton. If there was any time in the round to start using her own magic, it was now. 

Her mana flowed steadily into her baton and dented shield, outlining their edges in pink before slowly wrapping around the rest. 

Being able to reinforce the objects she made was nothing less than a gift.

Momo charged forward.

This time Kendo threw punches instead of slaps, and Momo quickly felt the difference. She raised her shield as she got in range and took a powerful hit-her creation and magic holding, to her pride-and felt the impact throughout her entire body.

She jabbed back with her baton and Kendo smoothly dodged, launching an enhanced kick in the same movement. It deflected off the shield and Momo countered, striking her opponent's arm.

And so back and forth they went, blow by blow as Momo's reinforced creations clashed against Kendo's enhanced limbs.

Her baton flashed in front of her, tracing pink lines through the air as it twisted and stabbed. Kendo weaved through them gracefully, all the while pounding against Momo's poor shield. Some of Momo's strikes were landing, and to noticeable effect, but it just wasn't enough to turn the tides.

Momo was at a distinct disadvantage. She could only afford to combat those heavy punches with her mana-infused weapons, yet Kendo could attack freely with any part of her body. 

More importantly, Kendo's greater experience was obvious. The martial artist was only getting faster as Momo started to slow, her lower stamina rapidly reaching its limit. Her arms ached with every movement, the grip on her baton and shield persisting through willpower alone.

Momo was going to lose this fight. She knew this deep within her bones, her racing mind now devoid of any plans.

But despite that, there was none of the shame, the disappointment in herself that always came when Momo failed at a task she cared about. There wasn't that sinking feeling in her stomach at losing another spar-always such an odd sensation with a quirk like hers.

Momo knew that she had done the best that she could, and that simple thought left her feeling far lighter, a smile growing on her face.

The circuits of mana throughout Momo's body finally ran dry, and the pink slowly faded from Momo's shield and baton with it.

What was a god?

Akari's childhood told her they were the beings around her. Two arms, two legs, two eyes, and all kinds of colors and mana types flowing through their bodies. They could range in ability from being as powerful as her Aunt Sekhmet to barely knowing how to work their mana at all.

They were alive, with dreams and motivations and different lifestyles. 

It was hard to tell someone's age at first glance. Babies were obvious, of course, as well as those in that 50-200 range. After that, though, everyone stayed in their prime for a very, very long time. It was rare to find someone who had lived long enough to be considered 'old'. (The tales they could tell were wonderful.)

Akari's stories, the books she had from her Dad's ridiculous collection on Earth, told it completely differently. Gods were omnipotent, omniscient. They could see everything happening on Earth, sometimes even what would happen, then appear in a dramatic instant to offer a human advice, power...or other things. They could change reality through just their will.

Gods in her myths were immortal; never aging, never dying. They had concepts, domains of imagination attached to them instead of a life.

And then there was her dad who-as everyone knew-was born a human. He still was a human, depending on who you asked.

But Dad had two arms, two legs, and two eyes. He had beautiful, violet mana that could fill the space around him, strengthening the things, the people around him by just existing. He was one of the strongest beings in Heaven.

He was already over 1000 years old and still in his prime(and growing every day, thanks to a ridiculous amount of training).

And now Akari knew humans, beings that usually had two arms, two legs, or two eyes. Only a few of them were granted mana in their drifts, and their lifespans were short -a mere 100 years. 

So Akari considered herself, her cat Kuro, Dad, Mom, and everyone else she knew in Heaven to be gods. Humans were humans-not inferior or lesser to gods, but far weaker beings. 

Akari and her parents passed for 'powerful humans' on a populated Earth. And there hadn't been much of a difference from what she knew in Arcadia, talking and living with a class full of humans. They were all interesting, bright, and some were already becoming special to her.

But this Sports Festival, a huge competition among the U.A students, was proving that there was a clear distinction.

The first round was a joke. Akari ran a little and had some fun messing with her classmates.

The second was meant to be fairer. But Akari had decades and decades of experience in hand-to-combat, in swinging her sword to its full potential. Fighting a large number of enemies at once was relatively new, but it didn't matter when practically none of them knew what they were doing.

The third was ridiculously boring. Her friends were trying their hardest to clear robots and rescue hostages while Akari was nearly zoning out. Inanimate, slow robots were super lame to fight, and the rest of this 'challenge' was just picking up dummies and placing them outside of buildings.

Then they got ambushed by two teams working together.

Team Momo(Momo argued against the name because she was a humble queen, but the rest of them refused to change it) split off, each of them taking on different 1-B students.

Shishida went after Akari first, probably for wrecking his team last round. She'd been super excited for a proper fight, especially with such a strong-looking ability, and hit him a little too hard.

Shishida was now laying in an unconscious heap on the other side of the room. Damn it.

Tsuburaba was more annoying, though his air shield kinda reminded her of Dad. It wasn't nearly as durable as Dad's magic, though, and he went down fast.

Akari's other opponent, Setsuna, was super weird. She could split up her body parts and fly at Akari from every direction. It was a decent counter to people with high strength and speed, she supposed., but made absolutely zero sense biology-wise.

Akari was afraid of hurting Setsuna for a while(those were literally her organs, what the fuck?) but then she found out the parts regenerate and started to freely hit back. 

For a couple of minutes, Setsuna flew and weaved circles in the air while Akari attacked before the goddess finally got bored. She turned away, letting Setsuna continue to hit her-doing zero damage-as she checked on her team.

Jirou was blasting at Pony with all she had, soundwaves wrecking through the storm of horns. Meanwhile, Tooru was locked in fierce combat with Kamikiri, her light magic clashing against his blades. 

Momo was fighting Kendo, finally using her reinforcement magic. Shiozaki's hair was now completely gone, ends looking burnt as she sat off to the side and watched the battle. 

"Dude, are you even paying attention?" An annoyed voice came from all around Akari, bringing her out of her thoughts. Oh, right, she was here.

"Not really," Akari admitted.

"My hits aren't doing a thing." Setsuna finally noticed. "You're like, ridiculously durable. A lot more than Tetsu, too...but guess what! You can't get me, either, as long as I fly arou-"

Thin, white poles of light manifested out of nothing by the dozens. They expanded out, pinning down every single one of Setsuna's body parts and holding her still.

"Oh. I guess you could."

Akari curiously moved Setsuna's mouth and ears in front of her. "I'm sorry if this is offensive, but um...how does your body work?"

The unattached mouth grinned. "No one knows, Midoriya-chan. I'm just special like that."

"Well then, how do I knock you unconscious?"

"Do you really think I'm gonna tell you that?"

Fair enough.

Akari felt Momo's magic vanish from the other side of the room, the brunette now out cold. Maybe she should hurry up.

"Never mind. I'm just going to keep you trapped there."

"Huh-wait, where are you going? Hey!"

Akari turned her back on her protesting opponent and started walking.

She moved behind Kendo and the proud martial artist was down with a single chop, martial arts and all. She flicked Shiozaki in the forehead in the next instant, leaving her to fall next to Kendo.

The world froze as Akari stepped through hundreds and hundreds of horns, all strewn throughout the air. Behind the storm was Pony, face scrunched up in concentration. Eri's horn tingled on her head at the sight, still attached with reinforcement-her sister would love to meet this girl.

The world unfroze and Pony fell unconscious, expression unchanging. Akari turned to Jirou-

And her throat suddenly clogged up, making her cough. Her mouth was full of something, growing and filling the needed, vital space there. It was painfully uncomfortable.

"I finally got you!" Mushroom Girl cheered. The bangs previously covering her face were now wide open to display a triumphant grin. "My mushrooms are going to keep growing in your throat until you surrender!"

Akari's eyes widened, hand flying up to her mouth. A powerful chokehold, one she hadn't even seen coming. What a clever technique.

Jirou attacked and Mushroom Girl nimbly dodged out of range, knowing that the girl couldn't get closer without being choked too. 

"Give up, Midoriya-san!"

It was hard to think like this, air barely flowing into her lungs. Theoretically, she could knock Mushroom Girl unconscious but the mushrooms would probably just stick until the girl removed them herself-though, wait, they were inside Akari, so she could...

A burst of white mana ran throughout her body with a warm tingle, destroying the mushrooms inside of her in a targeted scan until not a single one was left inside her. Akari rubbed her now empty throat with relief.

Mushroom Girl stopped moving, completely shocked. "Wait, what? My-my shrooms, how did you-"

"Time's up!" Mic's voice boomed throughout the fake city, bringing everyone to a halt. Mushroom Girl was still staring at Akari, stunned, and Kamikiri finally glanced up from his fight with Tooru-abruptly realizing practically his entire team was eliminated.

Kamikiri sighed. "We lost this round, huh?"

"Probably." Tooru agreed brightly. "But hey, that was a good fight, Kamikiri-kun!" 

"Wha-no it wasn't! Your arms were like, fucking invisible the entire time!"

"That marks the end of the third round of the Sports Festival, everyone!" Mic continued. "I hope you all got enough points!"

"Yeah, they were!"

"That's her quirk." Akari pointed out. 

"I know that you overpowered little-"

Notes:

Shinsou and Neito beating Bakugou is honestly more a clutch/specific opportunity win than a normal victory. Bakugou isn't dumb enough to fall for brainwashing twice, and Shinsou doesn't have much experience in combat. So it falls to Neito to have the right quirks and pull some bullshit.

Group battles are kinda hard to write, especially when you have twelve different students in the same room and need to have them all doing something or it's like "why isn't this character going to help that character?" On that note, Setsuna and Kinoko are literally the only 1-B students that can hold Akari back for more than a couple of seconds. And even then I needed to give Akari a mini-monologue to make up for the time she's not beating people up.

Momo completely deserves her cool moments. And if I'm leaning too hard on BAMF Momo, well, who's going to stop me?