There were some shrieks across the snowy field, followed by distinct cackling that definitely sounded like their classmates. Shouto and Izuku shared a faintly amused glance at the explosions and yelling that followed while Jirou raised a gloved hand to muffle a snort, one earphone jack still plugged into the ground.
"Half of the Gen Ed students were taken out by Bakugou's group," she informed them, patting down a snowball and pausing when there was another commotion. "Ah. Class B just took out the other half."
"That was quick," Ochako commented with a nervous giggle, making a collection of floating projectiles nearby.
"Kacchan doesn't mess around," Izuku muttered, settling back on his haunches with a thoughtful expression. "I doubt he bothered to take Hatsume-san's baby, which means Class B probably commandeered it, so we'll have to look out for that. Since they're built to function in snow, it's likely that it's resistant to the cold. Hatsume-san will kill us if we severely damage them, and she's scarily good at hunting people down and I don't want to be subjected to that again, so we'll need to find a way to deactivate them."
"Why do you do that?" Jirou suddenly asked, looking perplexed.
"U-uh, do what?"
She waved an earphone jack around. "Call them babies. They're machines."
Izuku froze up and hastily glanced around, looking spooked enough to set everyone on edge, but after a few moments of tension he loosened up again. "Don't let her hear you call them that," he said gravely. "Besides, calling them babies makes people confused, which is really entertaining. I made babies with Hatsume-san; would you like to hold our baby?"
Shouto had to admit it was amusing to consider what people would think if they didn't know what they were talking about. Ochako giggled to herself as Izuku continued to list of peculiar phrases that had double meanings, until she was laughing so hard that she had to bury her face in the crook of her elbow, trying to muffle the sounds.
"Alright, I hear that," Jirou conceded with a faint smirk.
"Anyway," Izuku recovered himself, tossing a snowball up and catching it, "the babies. Aoyama-kun, Satou-kun, Ojirou-kun, and Shouto-kun; your Quirks would be too destructive. Kouda-kun's Quirk isn't really useful for this situation, and Shinsou-kun, your Quirk wouldn't work at all. Jirou-san could help us pinpoint the location, but... I guess that leaves Tenya-kun and Ochako-chan as the most effective against the babies, because they need snow to function, so if Ochako-chan uses her Quirk, they'll be useless in the air."
"Can't we just steal the... babies?" Ojirou asked hesitantly, making a sweeping motion with his tail across the ground to sweep up some snow.
"They're probably really dangerous, and I don't really want to take my chances with a machine that has the potential to become sentient and want to destroy us all," he responded with a shudder and a haunted look.
Shouto caught Shinsou's bewildered gaze and shrugged minutely. There was no knowing what Izuku had been through in the future, since his friend was adamant about keeping the details as secret as possible, despite spilling the truth to multiple people within only a few months. He couldn't help but wonder how the present differed from the future. What was he like? Did he become a hero? Was... everyone still alive?
A sudden crash sounded, followed by a loud whirring that edged on a metallic screech. He didn't have time to contemplate it as Jirou suddenly raised her head, indicating an approaching ambush. Ochako protectively scooped up all her snowballs, keeping two clasped in her hands, which proved to be a good move as Sero suddenly whipped around from behind the hill, and she immediately slammed a snowball into his face. Shouto's gaze snapped upwards as a shadow cast across them, and he hastily threw up a barrier of ice to prevent Kaminari from dropping down. Ojirou batted away some snowballs with his muscular tail, pausing just long enough to allow Satou and Shinsou to throw some at Ashido and Eijirou in retaliation. Aoyama huddled down as best he could, nervously ducking behind Izuku whenever a rogue snowball approached.
Kouda looked alarmed at the sudden chaos, squaring his shoulders uncomfortably as war raged around him, but his expression was tinged with consideration. He glanced around and noticed Shouto staring at him quizzically, and his face lit up with excitement, moving his hands close together and flapping them before pointing at a snowball and then motioning towards the sky. The boy blinked blankly as he tried to process it, watching the signs once again before realisation dawned upon him.
Shouto leaned over and muttered the idea to Izuku, who immediately grinned and eagerly whispered it to the other group members. An explosion to the right not only signified the arrival of Bakugou, but was also the perfect distraction. Ochako, Shouto, and Ojirou hopped out of the damp trench, grabbing as many snowballs as they could carry and immediately pelting the enemy team with them. Shouto continued to rapidly form more ammunition, successfully nailing Eijirou in the face and getting a loud exclamation of disgust for his efforts. He let his Quirk increase, snowflakes pouring off his right side and getting caught in the breeze to create a gradually thickening curtain that hid their base from view. Izuku shot through with a handful of snowballs, immediately flinging them towards Bakugou, who merely exploded them with a sinister smile.
"Come on, Kacchan- is that the best you can do?" He goaded with an equally ominous grin.
Bakugou snarled and rushed forwards, grappling the other boy and tackling them both into the snow. Shouto's attention locked back onto Ashido as a snowball narrowly grazed past his cheek, and he was quick to step forwards, twisting aside another attack and throwing several more spontaneous projectiles. Jirou and Kaminari were teasing one another as they fought, although the boy was definitely losing if his offended expression was anything to go by. Shinsou calmly stepped on scene with Sero by his side, blank-faced and clearly under the effects of Brainwashing, and a simple command was all it took for him to go against his allies.
"I've been hit!" Eijirou exclaimed tearfully after a particularly brutal snowball to the crotch, doubling over and collapsing into the snow with a dramatic rasp of breath.
"No, Kiri!" Ashido wailed, surprising everyone by immediately bursting into tears. "He was too young! You monsters!"
She fought back with a vengeance, creating and flinging snowballs with more speed than Shouto thought possible, but her valiant effort was cut short by a swift double attack from Satou and Ojirou. The girl stumbled a few steps, clutching at the snowy patches on her clothes and coughing before dropping to her knees next to her friend. Her shaking hand raised skyward as more tears tracked down her cheeks.
"It's over for me... I can see the light... I'll see you soon, Kiri... Fight on, Bakubro. Live for us..." She trailed off into a whisper, her eyes slipping shut as she slumped sideways, getting a grunt of pain from the boy as she half crumpled onto him.
Kaminari was wrestled to the ground on his front, sat on by Jirou with one of his legs bent in her tight grip. He whined and wriggled, but ultimately stopped when she threateningly tugged it a little further back. His jaw jutted out in a pout and his gaze surveyed the scene, a grin tugging at his mouth as he hastily formed a snowball and tossed it in a last-ditch effort towards his friend. It hit Sero square on the hip, doing enough damage to jolt him out of the haze and return to his senses, immediately changing targets and flinging several snowballs at Jirou. She hissed and backed up, shielding her face from the onslaught as the duo regained ground.
Shouto and Shinsou shared a glance before dashing forwards, both of them tackling the other two boys into the snow, pinning them down with their arms behind their backs. Jirou nodded her thanks, an evil smirk quirking up the edge of her lips as she loomed over them with snowballs in both hands.
"Have mercy!" Kaminari yelped, determinedly keeping his head raised above the cold snow.
"Our legacy won't die here!" Sero exclaimed, tape winding out of his elbows and whipping around Shinsou's wrist, tugging him off his friend. "Go, Kami! Don't make my sacrifice be in va-"
His words were drowned out as Jirou slammed a snowball into his face, causing him to go limp and stick out his tongue to emphasise how dead he was. Kaminari reared up like a bucking horse, flinging off Shinsou and immediately leaping to his feet, sprinting over to where Bakugou and Izuku were still fighting in the snow.
"Bakubro! What do we do?!" He hissed, turning on the spot as he noticed his enemies closing in on all sides.
"Fuckin'-" Bakugou got his face pressed into the snow, but he jabbed up an elbow into Izuku's ribs and rolled into a crouch. "Shit, why are you asking me? Electrify some snowballs or something, Pikachu!"
The sky suddenly darkened, and everyone automatically looked up. Izuku shook himself off and leapt to his feet, opening his arms to scoop up Shinsou and Shouto, then dashing away in a glitter of green. He stopped by Jirou's side, releasing the two boys and flashing a cocky grin. A blanket of birds were swarming overhead, snowballs clutched in their talons.
"Holy sh-"
The snow dropped in a heavy pile, burying their enemies underneath. Ochako, Ojirou, and Satou peeked around from the other side, all grinning as they watched their classmates struggle to free themselves. Kouda, Tenya, and Aoyama returned to the group, surveying the scene for a moment before looking pleased with themselves.
"That worked better than I expected," Jirou commented, crossing her arms with a shiver.
"We should probably help them," Izuku mused with a smile.
"Nah, let's leave them for a little longer," Shinsou snickered.
There was another screech of metal, catching everyone's attention. Now they weren't focused on battle, the sounds of panic were a lot more obvious. Everyone shared a cautious glance before simultaneously stepping forwards and helping to dig out their classmates. Shouto lit up his hand with the biggest flame he dared, allowing the others to gather around him and bask in the much-needed warmth.
"You bastards cheated," Bakugou spat bitterly, sparking tiny explosions.
"It doesn't matter now. We should check out what's going on in case something's seriously wrong," Tenya reprimanded, automatically resuming leadership and sneaking around the side of the hill with everyone else in tow.
Shouto tucked himself next to Ochako, keeping his left side warmer than usual since she seemed to appreciate it. The two of them crouched next to each other, hesitantly peering around at the rest of the battlefield. His gaze locked onto a thin plume of smoke, following it down to the ground and-
Oh.
"That's why it's dangerous to trust Hatsume-san's babies," Izuku stated with clear exasperation, flinging out an arm to highlight the scene.
Both robots seemed to have gone rogue. Instead of just one scoop on either side, each arm had three that spun around like a windmill, balling up snow as it trundled forwards and immediately flinging it away. Hazy, grey smoke twisted up from where the arms connected to the main body. Class B were shrieking and scattering, some succumbing to the snowy gods, unable to get out of the line of fire for too long since the robots were so swift and accurate. Kendou had enlarged her hands to form a barrier, but kept having to back up as the machines continued to threateningly advance. Tsuburaba had made a wall of solid air, but the force of the snowballs were enough to form cracks and force him to repeatedly recreate the shield.
"You just had to mention them becoming sentient and wanting to destroy all humans, didn't you?" Shinsou muttered flatly to Izuku, who huffed and lightly shoved him.
"Where's Hatsume during all this? Can't she stop them?" Jirou wondered, drawing her jacket closer around her as she looked around, only to deflate with realisation as she noticed Hatsume on the sidelines cheering on her babies. "Okay, so she's crazy. Alright."
"What's the plan, Deku-kun?" Ochako inquired, waggling her bare fingers a little before shivering and pressing her hands to Shouto's arm.
"Unless we want to anger Hatsume-san, we need to immobilise, deactivate, or otherwise render the babies useless," Izuku reiterated. "Sero-kun, could you try to wrap both of them up in tape? Then Kaminari-kun, could you shock them just enough to make them shut down?"
Both boys agreed. Sero pulled up his sleeves and shot out ribbons of tape, rapidly encompassing both machines. Kaminari took ahold of the separated tape and sent down small sparks of electricity, grinning as the robots shuddered and came to a halt. They paused before cheering and sharing a high-five, only for their expressions to morph into ones of horror as the robots melted free of their restraints and slowly turned around to face Class A. Shouto hastily threw up a wall of ice in front of them, his eyes widening in shock as he saw cracks appearing over the surface after being hit by a few snowballs.
"Any other genius plans?" Bakugou growled sarcastically, glaring at the ice warily as more snowballs thunked against it.
"Actually, yes, Thanks for asking, Kacchan," Izuku flashed a cheeky smile, not even flinching when the other boy jolted up a burning palm threateningly. "As expected of Hatsume-san, she's made her babies terrifyingly resilient, so it's probably no use trying to attack it, which means we need to render them useless. Remember what I mentioned earlier? We need to get Ochako-chan in close so she can make the babies float, and then we can work out what to do from there."
Eijirou hesitantly stepped to the side of the breaking barricade, only to instantly harden and turn away as at least ten snowballs immediately slammed into him. He was roughly tugged back to safety by Bakugou and took a few, stunned moments to recover, caked in snow from head to toe.
"We'll need to move quickly, and we need a distraction," Izuku decided after a moment of silence, laughing nervously.
"We can do that," Ashido offered confidently.
"What?!" Kaminari shrieked. "No, we can't! It's a death sentence if we go out there!"
"I dare you to be a distraction," she whispered with a wicked grin, leaning in close and poking his chest.
He whined helplessly. "That's not fair! You know I never back down from a dare!"
"Exactly!" She cackled, grabbing him and shoving him out before leaping out after him.
Shouto watched as she skidded across the snow with her acid, whooping maniacally and snickering at Kaminari's misfortune as he sprinted along, screaming at the top of his lungs. Sero and Eijirou shared an uncertain glance before grinning and darting out after their friends, more panicked yelling rising up as they frantically darted around. Bakugou violently rolled his eyes back into his head, stomping forwards and holding his hands behind him before blasting out, barking profanities.
Jirou raised a hand to muffle a snort, backing up and seeking safety behind the hill. "You're not catching me out there. Good luck."
Explosions sounded out on the battlefield, followed by Hatsume's indignant yells. Izuku sighed heavily and shook his head at his friend, before stepping forwards and scooping up Ochako, who squeaked in surprise and froze up for a second in his arms. She slowly relaxed, her cheeks still flushed, while the boy sheepishly apologised to her. Everyone else backed up next to Jirou, leaving only Tenya, Shouto, and their two friends remaining behind the ice wall.
Izuku paused for a moment, head cocked to the side as he listened, then flared up green and dashed out from behind cover, clearly not using the full extent of his power. He sprinted out into the snow, moving fast enough that his footprints were shallow and he was practically gliding over the surface. One of the robots turned to face the new challengers, starting to fling deadly snowballs until Eijirou regained its attention. Ochako reached out her hand when they darted in close, just about managing to smack the machine across the face and activate her Quirk. The pair cheered a little as it lifted into the air, pathetically flicking the remaining sludge at the students as it whirred angrily, expelling black smoke.
He skidded to a halt, kicking up a splash of snow and squinting over at the last robot that stood on the other side of the battlefield, herded by Bakugou and his friends. Members of Class B who had been previously cornered and barraged by the relentless creations had made the most of the distraction to duck behind the various hills on their side, watching the scene unfold with wide eyes and chattering teeth. Izuku waited for a few more moments before jolting forwards, entirely focused on the rogue robot. Ochako twisted in his arms and reached out, just a few metres away, and-
The machine whipped around, not missing a beat as it scoured trenches in the snow and aimed at the new targets. Izuku only just managed to spin around in time to prevent his friend from getting hurt, letting out hisses of pain as deadly snowballs slammed into his back, hard enough to make him stumble; nothing the others did managed to regain the attention of the machine, not even when Ashido kicked it and promptly clutched at her own foot, hopping around and wailing in agony. Shouto raised a hand, ready to throw up a wall of ice to protect them from getting further bruised by the brutal onslaught, but Tenya had already sprinted out.
Izuku turned his head a little at the shout for attention, his teeth gritted in a grimace that morphed into a grin as he saw his friend approaching. He muttered something to Ochako who nodded, and just as Tenya approached the machine, Izuku spun around and reeled back his arms, glittering green as he flung the girl across the field. She let out a shriek of mingled excitement and terror, keeping her hands close together in front of her even as she tumbled around in the air, just in case she needed to release her Quirk. Sero managed to grasp the robot's attention by taping over its eyes, providing Tenya with enough time to jump up and catch his friend before dashing in close. The tape started to melt with a horrible, acrid stench, and the machine immediately locked on to the rapidly approaching targets.
Ochako slammed her hand onto the robot's body, and everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.
Hatsume bustled over, threateningly waving her wrench and only letting her arm drop when Bakugou let off a particularly dangerous explosion, although it was noticeably weaker than usual. She merely made a hum of acknowledgement and chuckled darkly at the chaos her babies had created. Everyone who had been in the line of fire was caked in snow, soaking wet, exhausted, and trembling violently. Shouto approached and offered up his services as a human heater, only tensing up a little as several people immediately latched onto him.
"This was a very informative test bed. Now I know my babies' weaknesses! It shouldn't take long to create a new prototype with absolutely no drawbacks or vulnerabilities... the support companies would be crazy to not sponsor me!" She cackled gleefully, bringing a remote out of her pocket and shutting down the floating machines.
"Yeah, I don't think they're the crazy ones," Kaminari muttered, wiping his damp hair out of his face.
Hatsume didn't seem to hear. She merely hummed a jaunty tune to herself, collecting her creations and walking away with them like balloons. They suddenly dropped with the return of gravity, and Shouto glanced suspiciously at Ochako, who merely blinked innocently at him. His lips quirked up in a faint smile before he looked across the battlefield, noticing Izuku getting helped up by Kendou.
"Thank you, Kendou-san," he said with a tired grin, running his fingers through his hair to brush out the snow.
"We should be the ones thanking you," she responded, shaking her head in disbelief. "That girl is dangerous..."
"Yeah," Izuku murmured, "but she's also a very talented inventor. Give her a chance."
Kendou stared at him with an appraising look before huffing out a laugh and nodding. "Alright. I'll trust your judgement, Midoriya-kun."
She waved a blue-tinged hand at him, walking back to her class, only to pause, groan exasperatedly, and dig her fingers into the snow to lift out a shivering Monoma. It seemed he was too frozen to say anything scathing, and instead glared bitterly at Class A, but the effect was broken when he sneezed pathetically.
"Get well soon," Izuku called cheekily, giggling to himself before turning and rejoining the group.
"I don't think I ever want to see snow again," Kaminari mumbled miserably, hugging Shouto's arm like his life depended on it.
"Me neither," Ashido agreed, crouching down and holding onto her injured foot.
"Let's go back to the dorms before we catch a cold. It's no good for a hero to get ill," Tenya decided, already marching off through the snow drifts.
Izuku was first to hop after him, carefully stepping in each large footprint. Kouda and Aoyama rushed out in tow, both looking distinctly relieved at the prospect of getting cosy indoors. Bakugou grumbled and wrapped his arms around himself, tucking his hands under his armpits for warmth, then stomped after them. Ochako considered Shouto's predicament for a moment before lightly touching Kaminari, Eijirou, and Sero, making them all weightless so the boy could trudge after his friends.
"I could make everyone hot chocolate," Satou offered, grinning at the desperate looks he got in response.
"Hell yeah!" Ashido yelled, bouncing back up and sprinting so fast she overtook Tenya.
Shinsou and Jirou exchanged a look and a smirk while Ochako giggled. Ojirou shrugged and laughed as he jogged after his classmates, tail wagging happily.
Yeah, Shouto's friends were peculiar; but he liked them a lot.
~
I hope you're having/you had a fun time with whatever you celebrate this time of year!!! Stay safe!! Sleep well!! I love you!!!