Rejected Stones

Demon of Battle

Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

37. Demon of Battle

Sound, trumpets! Let our bloody colors wave; And either victory or else a grave!

Prince Edward, Henry the VI, Part 3

Watching Izuku and his cadre run off, Bakugo snorted. "You'd better get those damn points, Midoriya."

"What, you jealous?" Shinso teased.

"Don't worry Bakugo, Izuku and the others won't fail!" Uraraka said with a wide grin. "And we'll pound anybody who tries to get past us!"

"You're damn right, and we'll find some points of our own!" Bakugo snarled, slapping his fist into his palm and letting loose a small explosion. "Right, Sticky, can you set up some traps for us?"

"The name's Sero, is that so hard? But not really. This is just a flat, open field. Any traps I lay now won't do much."

"What if I float a bunch of your tape up in the air?" Uraraka suggested. "I could let it fall down if anyone tries to attack us and they'd get tangled up! Then we can crush them no problem. "

Bakugo looked away. It was hard to look at her when she was being all badass like that. Made him want to blush, and he couldn't show how he felt. She had to hate him, just like the rest.

"That's a good plan," Tokoyomi agreed. "Bakugo, you and I should be our frontline fighters. With Dark Shadow, I'm more than a match for most people, even if this bright open field isn't me at my best."

"Bet stupid Midoriya didn't take that into account," Bakugo muttered.

"Hey, nothing's perfect," Shinso said with a shrug. "I'll just use my capture weapons and see who I can catch off guard. Yo, Todoroki, we've got the south and east, you guys watch the north and west."

"I'll use my ice to block off the north, that's where the canyon is," Todoroki said over the radio. "A strong enough quirk user can get through it, but it will buy us some time."

"Yeah, you do that icy hot," Bakugo said, squatting down and scanning the horizon. They were at the center of a wide, dusty plane, with rocky ridges to their north and open ground everywhere else. "I just hope we get ourselves a good fight. I've been bored out of my goddamn mind since Kamino."

"With all the training we've done?" Sero asked, tape spewing out of his elbows and floating into the air. Uraraka had a look of concentration on her face as her fingers ran over the less sticky part of the tape. Bakugo wondered how long she could keep that up. She hurled if she tried too hard, but she was getting better at holding it in.

"Not like I could go full force against any of you," Bakugo snapped in reply. "I'd hurt someone and you'd all bitch about it for the rest of eternity."

"I think you're just going soft," Shinso teased. "Admit it, you like us."

"Go sniff after Aoiyama, you're not pretty enough for me," Bakugo growled.

"Wow, am I going to have to start doing bed checks on the two of you? And here I thought I only had to do that with my sister and Midoriya."

"Big Sis?" Urakara asked in surprise.

"Yep, it's me," Hari said over the radio, her voice low. "I'm pretending to be a reporter. Mei hooked me up with a camera I can train on the field with a nice zoom. Hope she didn't steal it or someone's gonna be mad. If I start narrating something loudly, it's because I've spotted someone heading for you."