CHAPTER TEN
Strategy
"You three," All Might called out to Rikona, Tenya, and Katsuki as they entered the building, "learn to think from the perspective of the villains. This is pretty close to a real battle. Go all out. Don't be afraid to get hurt."
Rikona opened her mouth to ask a question, but stopped abruptly when she noticed Katsuki's violent stare locked on Izuku, who was standing outside the door, flexing his fists.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and narrowed her eyes at him in an attempt to calm him down, but he merely growled and shrugged her hand off, before stalking further into the building.
Tenya was the only one still listening to All Might, "Yes, Sensei!" He had replied to his previous brief.
Rikona turned to look at the hero as he began to speak once again, "If things go too far, I will stop it."
"Yes, Sensei," Rikona affirmed quietly alongside Tenya, this time.
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"So, Mochizuki-Kun, what are the limitations and abilities of your Quirk?" Tenya began, after a moment of silence between the trio. "We must tell one another about the different aspects of our Quirks in order to produce a viable strategy."
"Screw learning about Quirks! This is battle training, let's just beat them up and win!" Katsuki grumbled, trailing behind Rikona and the armour-clad boy.
"Iida, is it?" Rikona raised her eyebrow at the boy in question, ignoring Katsuki's comment.
"Mochizuki-Kun, I am your classmate! You should know all of our names by n-"
"Iida-Kun is right, Bakugo-Kun. We must strategise before we aimlessly run into battle. It's irrational to do otherwise." Rikona looked back to Tenya after glancing at the seething boy, "Do continue, tell us about your Quirk. I assume it's something to do with speed and engines, hm?"
"Don't ignore me, damnit-"
Tenya, still looking rather offended from being cut off earlier, turned to her in shock. "How have you gathered so much within just two days of being classmates?"
"I do have eyes and ears, you know. In the Quirk Assessment yesterday I saw the engines in your calves, and you came first in all of the speed tests." Rikona halted and watched as Tenya continued on towards the large faux weapon they were to protect. "Besides, earlier in the cafeteria I saw you sitting with Midoriya-Kun and the brown haired girl, reading a book about engines and exhaust pipes, etcetera etcetera. It doesn't hurt to make mental notes on people, sometimes."
"Ah, I see. You are quite observant. You pretty much know most of the basics on my Quirk, so tell me about your own."
"Right. To put it simply, I can transfer energy from one object to another, and change how much energy an object or person has. Though, if I decrease its present energy, I have to transfer it to another object or person. I can't just rid it from existence, and if I increase its energy, then I have to have gotten it from somewhere; I can't just form it out of nowhere, either."
"Even if this is training, it pains me to become a villain." Tenya hummed after a thoughtful pause, then placed one hand on the weapon and took his helmet off with his other. "So our job is to protect this?"
Rikona watched as her classmate knocked his fist against the object to observe its durability. "That's how it seems, though it's best not to touch it; we may lose marks since it would be irresponsible in any real scenario."
"Ah. You're right. So, what's our strategy-"
"Hey!" The forgotten voice startled both Rikona and Tenya more than either of them would've liked to admit.
The two shared a look, then turned to stare at Katsuki. He had his back facing them as he stared at the ground in front of him. His facial expression wasn't visible from their perspective.
"Deku has a Quirk, right?" Not once did Katsuki turn around.
"You saw it for yourself, Bakugo-Kun. It looks like something akin to a strength-type Quirk." Rikona's brows furrowed in deep thought, and she only jolted back to reality when she was, once again, hit with the common glare of Bakugo Katsuki.
"Did you know?"
"First of all, we'll have this conversation later. Second of all, we're running out of time. We need to strategise, and fast." She addressed both classmates as she looked at a small digital stop clock on the wall, which displayed that they had less than 30 seconds before the heroes, Izuku and Ochaco, would enter the building.
"Fine. You and Four Eyes protect the weapon. I'm going to kill that stupid Deku!"
"Wait. That's not a proper-" Tenya started, but before he could finish his sentence, Katsuki had blasted himself out of the room with the use of his Quirk.
The boy looked at Rikona, sighing deeply. "You went to the same middle school, did you not? Has he always been that way?"
Rikona snorted in amusement, "Pretty much, and we're not going to follow his strategy, if that's what you're thinking. You'll stay here and guard the weapon, while I go out and search the building for the heroes. Sound like a plan?"
"Good call, my fellow villain. Muahahahahaha!"
"Please never do that again."
"Now, let's start the indoor person-to-person combat training with Team A and Team D!"
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Rikona departed from the room that contained Tenya and the weapon they were protecting, and ran along the hallway of the faux building.
She pressed once on the communication device in her ear, before speaking into it.
"Bakugo-Kun, this is Mochizuki. We've had a change of strategy."
"What the hell? Mine was perfect!" Came his loud yell through the earpiece, causing Rikona to wince and pull at the device uncomfortably.
"Yours was irresponsible and predictable; everything a strategy should not be. Iida-Kun is guarding the weapon, while I'm supporting you from behind and surveying the area."
"I don't need your stupid help-"
"Like it or not, you're getting it. So grow up and start co-operating with your team."
Nothing but silence was heard on the other end of the line until a quiet grunt, and Rikona rolled her eyes and nearly groaned at his unavoidable stubbornness.
Rikona ran down a flight of stairs, taking three at a time. When she reached the final step, she continued to run down the next hallway.
She paused suddenly when she heard the echo of a window being opened on another side of the building.
Rikona pressed on her earpiece, and kept her voice level to a minimum. "Listen, they're coming in through a window somewhere on the third floor. I'm heading there now, so don't attack them alone, Bakugo-Kun."
Rikona set off again, this time in a sprint to follow the direction of the resounding echo. She activated her Quirk for the first time that day, and transferred the energy from the ceiling lights above her into her own body in the form of kinetic energy, increasing her speed significantly.
She sighed, mid-run, when she heard the deafening booming of Katsuki's Explosion Quirk.
She turned a corner and saw Katsuki standing above a grounded Izuku and Ochaco, before she stepped back and hid behind the wall. An invisible or of heat energy floated above her hand as she waited to attack.
Katsuki began to sprint towards the two fallen heroes, raising his gauntlets and grinning in an almost animalistic way. "I won't do so much damage that this fight gets stopped, but I'm gonna get close!"
Rikona narrowed her eyes and prepared herself to step in, but couldn't move in the surprise that jolted through her when her eyes caught sight of the scene before her.
Izuku had courageously grabbed Katsuki's arm, stopping the boy from moving completely. The former then turned his body to the side and slammed the ash blonde to the ground by throwing him over his shoulder.
Rikona watched in astonishment, then covered her mouth with her free hand. A strange feeling of pride filled the girl as she stared at Izuku from behind a corner.
"Ka-Chan..." Izuku began, watching Katsuki wheeze to gain back his breath after the previous attack. "You usually start with a big right swing. How much do you think I've been watching you?"
'Slightly disturbing...' Rikona thought to herself with pursed lips.
"I wrote an analysis for all the heroes I thought were amazing in my notebook... in the notebook Mochizuki retrieved for me after you blew it up and threw it out of the window without a second thought."
Rikona's eyes widened further when Izuku looked up from the ground; his eyes were teary and his face was scratched.
"My 'Deku' isn't always going to mean 'useless'! Ka-Chan, my 'Deku' means 'You can do it'!"
'Wait a second... now that I think of it, 'Deku' does sound like the Japanese word for 'You can do it'. Hm. Smart pun. Wonder where he got that one from...' Rikona's thought process was interrupted when her eyes landed on Ochaco. She looked awkward and out of place, but admiration shone in her eyes.
As much as Rikona hated to admit it, Katsuki and Izuku needed time to sort out their issues between them, and though they were in the middle of a training exercise, the one-sided hatred had gone on for long enough.
Just as Rikona was about to pounce onto Ochaco and remove her from her current position, she caught sight of Izuku, who was signalling at Ochaco from behind Katsuki's back. He moved his eyes from side to side, indicating that he wanted her to head towards the weapon.
Ochaco shook her head fervently, then stopped when Izuku looked at her with pleading eyes. She frowned, glancing at the floor and sighing, before returning her stare back to Izuku and nodding once with a fiery determination.
Ochaco sprinted off in the opposite direction to Rikona, and the latter spoke into her earpiece. "Iida-Kun, the brunette's on her way."
"You mean Uraraka-Kun?"
"Probably. I'm heading after her now. Be prepared."
Rikona sprinted across the hallway, passing where Izuku and Katsuki were facing off and catching the former's eye.
Izuku's eyes widened before he squeaked in fear and spoke loudly enough into his communicator for Rikona to hear over her own movements.
"Uraraka-San! Be quick! Mochizuki-Chan was there the whole time, and now she's chasing yo-"
Izuku's voice was dampened by the booming explosion that Katsuki let off.
'Damn, maybe Bakugo did have a strategy, after all.' Rikona thought.
She chased after Ochaco, propelling herself with the use of her Quirk. She followed the brunette round corners and up staircases, never once losing sight of her.
After a few minutes of a heated chase, Rikona eventually came close enough to pounce onto Ochaco as they ran. They were on the same floor of the building as where the weapon was hidden. Rikona needed to end this quickly.
After five more strides, Rikona leapt onto Ochaco, latching her arms around the startled girl's waist and rolling with her along the floor, looming over her when they came to a standstill and reaching for the capture tape that was held in her pocket.
However, while she was distracted, Ochaco only struggled and eventually set her right arm free.
Rikona finally grasped onto the capturing tape and found the end with her teeth, since both of her hands were then occupied.
Ochaco looked up, and saw that Rikona was struggling with finding the end of the tape. Seeing an opportunity, the girl jolted her legs and harshly kicked Rikona in the stomach, making her heave in pain. While she tried to get her breath back, Ochaco went on to punch Rikona square in the nose, and dash off towards the direction of the weapon.
Rikona groaned and sat up, seconds later. She rubbed her head, then remembered the training exercise. She hurriedly reached to her earpiece, and pulled her mask down to her neck to make her words more coherent.
"Listen, Iida-Kun. Midoriya-Kun's hoping that Uraraka-San will find both you and the weapon before the time runs out so he can head there for a two-on-one fight. I'm going to find Midoriya-Kun now since Bakugo-Kun hasn't spoken in a while, and I'm sure you can handle gravity girl alone, right?"
"Right. I shall stand guard! Muahahahahaha!"
"I thought I told you to never do that again."
"My sincerest apologies, Mochizuki-Kun."
Rikona stood once again when she had finally caught her breath. She pulled her mask back over her face before dashing off into the dark hallway, in search of a certain green-haired boy.
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