Not powerless

Chapter 21: Battle Trial

Across the room, Kaminari and Hagakure both looked excited to be going firt.

“Everyone else wait here! Teams A and D, follow me!”

Toshinori led them down the street to one of the buildings. He gave them each an earpiece and a map, then gave Izuku and Jiro a chance to enter the building. Izuku followed the map to a wide open room containing the bomb.

“Villains! You now have 5 minutes to prepare!”

“So quirks,” Jiro said immediately, “mine lets me plug my jacks into things to increase my hearing range. I can also pump my heartbeat through them as a sonic attack. What about you? From the assessment on the first day, it looks like you can do everything.”

“Not quite,” Izuku said, “but it is pretty versatile. At the risk of stereotyping, it’s probably best if you stay back and scout them out.”

“No arguments here.”

“Then I think this is what we should do.”

“Hero team, you may now enter the building!”

Izuku dropped through a portal to the second floor of the building. Kaminari and Hagakure were below him.

“Alright Mikumo, they’ve just entered the building now,” Jiro told him.

Their plan was a simple one. Jiro was with the bomb and constantly scouting for the other teams location. Izuku would then go ahead and engage them. Technically he didn’t need the guide. He’d never lost Sight of either of them but this was an exercise and Jiro wouldn’t learn anything if he did all the work. The challenge would be Hagakure, but she was likely to split from Kaminari as soon as possible.

“They’re coming up the stairs.”

Izuku waited until they’d fully entered the floor before rounding the corner. Both Kaminari and Hagakure tensed when they saw him, but then the blonde relaxed.

“Surrender villain! Don’t make me hurt you!” Kaminari said, trying to act tough.

Too bad Izuku could See his emotions. Kaminari was incredibly nervous right now. He cocked his head to one side and smirked. His hood was up so neither of them could see it, but the effect was still the same.

“You won’t hurt me.”

Izuku charged forward.

“Hagakure! Go!”

Kaminari was suddenly wreathed in electricity. It shot out of him, spreading in all directions down the corridor. Izuku skidded to a halt and was caught in the edge of it. His muscles seized and he barely held back a grunt. With a little pulse of magic, he flipped backwards out of range of the electricity attack. It went back to running all over Kaminari.

“Looks like I just hurt you.”

“A mild stinging at best.”

Izuku took a step forward and Kaminari unleashed the electricity attack again. This time Izuku was quicker to avoid it, and it never even touched him. So he couldn’t get close otherwise Kaminari would attack, but wait? Why wasn’t he attacking now? That electric attack was powerful, and in the corridor there wasn’t really anywhere for Izuku to go but back. If he kept shooting lightning at him, Izuku would have to work that much harder to counter it.

Unless he couldn’t control it?

He couldn’t. The attacks were never directed down the corridor at Izuku. The electricity went everywhere, as though Kaminari was simply expelling it from his body. He wasn’t directing it, or couldn’t direct it. Kaminari was still grinning, but it was more forced than before. Two big attacks and he was already out? No, not quite. Izuku could See there was still plenty of fight left in him, but he was being careful. The previous discharges had only lasted a couple of seconds each. Was there some limit he couldn’t cross?