Saving the Game

Fight Training

(S1 E6 - Rage, You Damn Nerd) Part II

"Now, which of these four sentences contains a mistake?"
Present Mic says from the front of the classroom.
I silently hope he doesn't see me. I'm invisible. Totally transparent.. Lucky Hagakure.
I have a pictographic memory, which means I excell at recalling specific details from movies, scenes, and memories.. However, I really struggle at reading. Writing isn't horrible, because I'm pretty detailed as long as I can picture everything in my head. It definitely isn't my favorite topic. Words can be tricky.
"This really sucks." Katsuki Bakugo grumbles under his breath. My other classmates looked drained as well.
"Hey everybody, look alive! Grammar rules!" Present Mic protests, attempting to get any sort of entheusiasm from.. anybody, at this point.
Yaoyorozu raises her hand across the classroom, answering his question.
I had been lucky enough to land a seat in the very back, able to observe and be left alone to my own devices. Literally. I'd been decorating a little scrap of notebook paper to tape inside my mask.

Pretty soon it's lunch, and everybody floods to the cafeteria. Lunch Rush fixed white rice, which is nice. Something I can eat!
I.. have a sensitive stomach, and sensitive.. well, senses. If a smell is too strong it makes me pretty nauseous, and if a fabric is too scratchy then I hate touching it. If noises are too loud I freak out. Apparently, having a super versatile quirk means having lots and lots of other problems. Oh well. Balance, I guess.

I go over to a bench on the side of the cafeteria, by myself. Honestly, I hate eating around other people too. Makes me self-conscious. I quietly slip my mask down and eat, observing the other people in the giant room.
"Hey Bakugo! Wanna eat over here?" Kirishima calls from somewhere nearby.
I scan the room until I find the spiky red-haired menace. Not that he's actually a menace, if anything, Bakugo is. Bakugo 'tch's and retorts in some unfriendly way from where he was walking, albiet sitting down next to him anyways.
I'm sure he just has some sort of anger issues he's trying to work through. No point in hounding him about it or how will he get better? He isn't all bad, considering he's accepted Kiri's attempts to befriend him so far.
It was only day two, but they already look like old friends.
I look down at my food. Better to not stare, or ruin a nice moment.

And then it's the afternoon, hero basic training. I sit in class, doodling, when the door burst open.
"I.. AM.. HERE!" All Might says loudly as the class gasps. Even I stop and look up. It sure is going to be the most interesting part of the day.
"I can't believe it's really All Might!" Denki exclaims, looking nervous.
"So he is a teacher!" Kirishima says excitedly.
"This year is gonna be totally awesome!"
There are a number of other things said across the room. Something about his silver age costume, goosebumps. I've stopped paying attention again.  As easily as I could pick up details, I'm also very easily distracted.  And my current distraction was on the ceiling. Ew, how many bugs are in those lights?
I zone back in for All Might's speech.
"Welcome to the most important class at UA High. Think of it as hero-ing 101. Here you will learn the basics of being a pro. And, what it means to fight in the bame of good!"
A little corny, but okay.
"Let's get into it! Today's lesson will pull no punches!" He says, in his almost-comical hero voice.

"Fight training." Bakugo says, with a slightly concerning amount of entheusiasm.
"Real combat?" Midorya stammers.
"But one of the keys of being a hero is.. Looking good!" All Might says, pointing to the costume racks that hisses softly before popping out of the walls.
"These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started."
Oh, sweet. Finally I can wear my gloves and mask without people giving me funny faces. Luckily enough, nobody has commented on my gloves yet.  And I'm definitely not ready to take them off anytime soon.
"Get yourselves suited up, and then meet me at training ground beta!" All Might instructs, before leaving us to ourselves.
We let out a collective "Yes sir!" and scatter.
I glitch outside the room, into one of the staff bathrooms to change. I don't think anyone is paying too much attention, and I'd already gotten permission from Aizawa. I change into my costume and glitch back out, racing to meet up with the other students.
Admiring the costumes mostly from the back, I take note of what kind of designs everyone's chosen. Bakugo has big grenade-like cuffs on his arms, probably to collect whatever he uses for his explosions into one bigger blast.

All Might's saying something about clothes making the hero, but I'm not listening.  Again. My own costume consists of sturdy but flexible black shoulder, knee, and elbow pads, in case I glitch out and fall against something. My body armor is light but firm, to prevent it causing extra effort when I'm glitching from one place to another. It's.. simple techwear, covered with black cargo pants and a black t-shirt. Most of my skin is covered with the armored suit underneath, including my neck, gloves, down to my ankles. Minus the dull, dark silver glint from the hilts of the two psuedo-daggers at my sides, I had no weapons. My mask and gloves remain the same, the densest parts of my costume. My palms and the pads of my fingers have harder material on my gloves to help when I'm gripping or holding something.
I look over at Kirishima. His costume is cool, with two gear-like pads on his shoulders. He went bare-chested, which makes sense for his quirk. It mostly focuses on aesthetics, and not a lot of accessories since hardening has to do with his skin.
I already guessed as much, but he's probably looking to pull ideas off of Crimson Riot, a pro hero in all red. The spiky hair sort of gave it away too.
"Now, shall we get started, you buncha newbies?"

Everyone starts talking amongst themselves as All Might prepares for whatever we're going over today.
"Hey Kiri! You look really nice."
I say, approaching him myself for once.
"Oh, thanks Kya! Your costume is cool too." He smiles at me, friendly.
"Now that you're ready, it's time for combat training." All Might says.
"Sir!" The mechaman in front of me raises his hand stiffly, and I assume it's Iida. He looks like Ingenium, his big brother. I'd already researched agencies before getting into UA.
"This is the fake city from our entrance exams. Does this mean that we'll be conducting urban battles again?" He asks.
"Not quite! I'm going to move you two steps ahead! Most of the villian fights you see on TV take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly evildoers take place indoors." All Might answers.
"Think about it! Backroom deals, home invasions, secret underground lairs. Truly intelligent criminals stay hidden in the shadows."
"For this training exercise, you'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys and fight two-on-two indoor battles."
"Isn't this a little advanced?" Asui asks from my right.
"The best training is what you get on the battlefield!" He responds confidently.
I have a feeling this is going to be a little messy.

All at once, everyone starts asking questions. I take that time to examine the buildings. If we were doing two on two, did that mean we were going after something? Or in reverse, as villians, protecting something? Or is it just a competition to capture the other team?
"Listen up!" All Might interrupts my train of thought. "The situation is this:"
and I listen to him describe the building and scenario.
Okay, so it's both things I guessed earlier. That should be difficult, but not impossible, depending on my team.
As they draw lots, I start to feel funny.
My fingertip begins to twitch, and then..
Glitch.
I quietly clutch my left hand in my other, sneaking over to All Might.
"H-Hey.. I don't feel too great, and it looks like the class is uneven anyways.. Maybe I could just watch?"
I glitch again, my knee reappearing out of it's socket. I bit my tongue and click the button on the right side of my mask.
The pain faded slightly as the painkiller does itms job, until my knee glitches back into place.
"Oh, uh. Yes! Of course. You may wait with recovery girl in the observing area." He answers, obviously unsure what to do.
"Okay, thanks.." I say, tears stinging my eyes as I slip past the crowd, nearly bumping into Kirishima and Sero on the way out.
I feel Kiri's questioning eyes follow me until I'm out of sight.

I stay in the corner as the rest of the class comes up afterwards, team A and team D having been chosen for the first match.
Kiri is up in front, eyes glued to the screen.
"Sneak attack, Bakugo? What kinda man pulls cheap crap like that?" He says, dissatisfied.
"It's a viable strategy. He's playing the part. Acting like a true villian would." All Might replies.
However, I really don't think it's much of a strategy so much as Bakugo doing whatever he wants.
"It didn't work, Midoriya dodged him!" Mina says, seemingly excited to see how this will end.
I watch, slumping against the wall. It'll have an interesting outcome for sure.