Collector Hero: Synthesis Chapter 16 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Collector Hero: Synthesis! Time for the teamwork event! But what kind of game are we playing? Is it the same as Canon, or will something different happen?

If you’d like to become a patron and get access to these chapters earlier, just head on over to Pat re on and add a /Kairomaru after the com.

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So without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 16 – Second Round

Once the last of the students crossed the finish line of the Obstacle Race, it was revealed that only the top forty-two students would go on to the second round. Looking around at the ones that had made the cut revealed the General Studies guy with purple hair that had declared war on Class 1-A, the pinkette from the Support Course, a brunette girl with her hair in two low pigtails that was also from General Studies, and thirty-nine of the Hero Course students. Apparently a member of Class B had sprained their ankle during the race and hadn’t made it to the finish line before the cut off.

“Now that we have our Top Forty-Two we can start the next round! It is unfortunate that not everyone can make it in, but we have to cut the numbers! The next competition begins soon, and the press will be all over it! Give it your all students!” Mic announced to the crowd.

“Now, let’s discover the second round event!” Midnight cracked her whip as the wheel on the display began to spin rapidly. Everyone watched on as the wheel spun. The sudden stop revealed the event and everybody was quick to read it.

[Capture the Flag]

“Capture the Flag? I’m not so sure my Quirk is going to be good for this.” Kaminari looked a little worried. He was better at crowd control tactics when he wasn’t using his Gear to help him control and direct his Quirk better. If he had to worry about teammates, then he’d have to limit his Quirk usage by a lot.

“Since it's not an individual event, how is it going to work?” Tsuyu questioned curiously, unknowingly voicing the thoughts of several others.

“Allow me to explain! The participants may form teams of two to six people, as they wish! It’s basically the same as a standard match of Capture the Flag,” Midnight explained the upcoming event as a screen showed an image of Thirteen, All Might, Present Mic, and Snipe surrounding a flag. “The main difference being that based on the results of the first game, each person will be assigned a point value! Those points will be added together to determine the value of a Team’s flag!”

“So, we’re just racking up points like at the Entrance Exam? That's easy enough.” Kirishima nodded along with Midnight’s explanation.

“That means each team can raise or lower their value based on the members. You can make yourselves less of a target with a lower value and focus on capturing other flags.” Jiro noted as she listened on.

“I get it!” Mina beamed with her fists in the air.

“I am still talking! Weren't you taught not to interrupt someone when they’re speaking?” Midnight violently cracked her whip, glaring at all of the talking students. “But, yes, you’re completely correct! The points assigned start at five for the student in forty-second place, and then go up by five from there. That means the forty-first place is ten points and fortieth place is fifteen points.”

“Okay, that’s just simple math. Since I was first place, that’s five multiplied by forty-two, meaning that I should have two-hundred-ten points.” Izuku quickly calculated out his score as the first place finisher of the Obstacle Race.

“Not quite, Midoriya! You see, there is one exception to this rule. The point value assigned to first place is...TEN MILLION!” Midnight gave Izuku a sadistic smirk while pointing her whip at him.

Izuku suddenly felt all eyes turn to him and focus intently. In his mind’s eye everyone had turned into shadow-like silhouettes with bright red-eyes. He felt a tinge of nervousness at being the target of literally everyone else in the Second Round. He should’ve figured that there would be some kind of penalty for his success in the Obstacle Race.

“That means as long as you have the ten million point flag, you automatically win.” Someone said just loud enough for everyone to hear. Izuku didn’t recognize the male voice, so it must have been one of the members of Class B.

“That's right! It’s survival of the fittest, where even those at the bottom can overthrow the ones at the top!” Midnight declared with a wide grin.

“That’s just great,” Izuku exhaled heavily, while looking down at the ground. “I need at least one person to make a team with, but I have the biggest target on my back already.” He blinked when he felt a soft hand gently take hold of his right hand. He also felt another soft hand take hold of his left. Looking up from the dirt he was met with the smiling faces of his crushes. Camie held his right hand while Ochako held his left. Momo and Tsuyu both smiled warmly, standing barely a meter away from him.

“We’ve got you, Izukun!” Camie grinned at him as she squeezed his hand reassuringly.

“It’s best to team up with the people you like!” Ochako’s smile practically lit up the area.

“I’ll do my best to support our team!” Momo had the most adorable determined expression on her face with her fists held up to her chest.

“I would rather be on a team with you than anyone else, Izukun.” Tsuyu smiled cutely while giving off one of her little croaks that Izuku found so cute.

“You’ll have fifteen minutes to form your teams and strategize, use them well!” Midnight informed the teens before a timer appeared on the large screens around the stadium. It started to countdown and many people quickly rushed from the stands to go to the bathroom or to grab some snacks from the concession stands. All proceeds went to U.A. and helped fund the school after all.

While their team was planning, Izuku was suddenly accosted by the pinkette from the Support Course.

“Hehehe! Just as I thought, this is great! You stand out really well!” Mei grinned as she hovered over to Izuku on her Hover Soles. Izuku actually flinched backwards as he turned to face the girl only to find her inside his personal space.

“Can I help you?” Izuku asked the pinkette curiously while leaning back from her.

“Team up with me, Mr. Ten Million!” Mei grinned manically at the verdette teen.

“Who are you?” Izuku questioned as the girl hovered in place. The pinkette laughed as she stepped back and pulled her steampunk-styled goggles up. Izuku could now see her eyes, which had unique yellow irises with what appeared to be a cross-hair naturally formed in them. ‘It must be part of her Quirk.’ He mused and he kinda wanted to ask her about it. His Quirk Nerd habits were strong.

“Me? I'm Hatsume Mei, from the Support Course, and the one that can take you to victory!” Mei declared with a wide grin and thumbs up.

“And how’s that?” Izuku raised an eyebrow at the energetic pinkette.

“I don't know you beyond those delicious ten million points you've got, but you've got to let me use your position!” Mei once again got into his personal space. Neither of the two noticed the slight eye twitches Momo, Ochako, Tsuyu, and Camie were developing at how close Mei was getting to Izuku.

“At least you’re honest about why you want to team up with me...” Izuku blinked at the Support Course student.

“Of course! If I wasn’t then you'd have no reason to trust me! Plus, if I team up with you, then I'll inevitably become part of the team everyone's going to be watching the most, right?” Mei grinned widely at Izuku.

“That’s probably right.” Izuku acknowledged and watched the girl’s eyes gleam.

“Well, then, when that happens, all of my super cute babies will be seen by all the big Support Gear companies! That's free publicity for me and for what I can do, do you understand that?” Mei was once again very close to his face.

“Seriously home girl, chill out.” Camie gently moved Mei back from Izuku.

“What did you mean by ‘babies’ exactly?” Momo asked curiously. The context of Mei’s words hinted at Support Gear, but with how eccentric the pinkette seemed, Momo wasn’t entirely sure.

“The Support Course develops the equipment that helps you Heroes use your Quirks to the max, and I have tons of babies, so I'm sure that I have something you are going to like!” The Support Course girl opened up a large case to display various pieces of Gear. “Oh, I see this one's caught your eye, hmm?” Mei smiled widely as she picked up what appeared to be a jetpack. “I made this baby based on some Hero’s gear, but I added my own original twist to it to make it work a lot better!”

“Wait, are you talking about the Buster Hero, Air Jet? I like him, too!” Izuku smiled at Mei. “I thought that jetpack looked similar!”

“You noticed?” Mei tilted her head at him with a grin.

“Yeah, his agency is close to my home, so I went on a tour a few years ago.” Izuku smiled brightly. That had been a good day for the Hero Fanboy!

“By the way, my Quirk is called Zoom.” Mei informed as she pointed to her unique eyes. “It allows me to see things up to five kilometers away or teeny tiny things while I build my babies! Useful, right?” She grinned as she gave a brief rundown of her Quirk to her teammates.

“That’s an interesting Quirk.” Izuku agreed and really wished he had his notebook to jot it down.

“But this isn’t the only baby I have!” Mei motioned to her case of different items to show her team. “Any of them that you pick will benefit you greatly!” Mei promised with pride in her eyes.

“Huh, I think I have a plan thanks to this.” Izuku mumbled as he looked over the devices that Mei had available. “Huddle up.” The six of them quickly gathered around to listen to Izuku’s idea and offer their own thoughts.

The loud buzzing sound of the timer going off filled the stadium. Everyone in the stands quickly refocused on the stadium floor. All of the teams had formed and several of them were clearly eyeing Izuku’s team.

“Time’s up! The fifteen minutes to gather your team and strategize are over! Now, let’s get this game of Capture the Flag started!" Midnight announced to the students and the crowd. She was going to have to focus for this event. Refereeing an event with multiple teams of teenagers ready to fight each other was no simple task.

“Hey, hey, come on, wake up, Eraser! The second round is about to start!” Present Mic shook the dozing Aizawa awake. “It's now time for the Capture the Flag battle to begin! We have all of our teams lined up on the field!” He exclaimed to whip the crowd up. Mic was quite the consummate showman.

“Hmmm... There are some interesting teams out there.” Aizawa commented as he took a few seconds to look at the teams. A few of them were smaller and clearly focused on mobility. Others had a single powerhouse around which the rest of the team would act as support. It would be interesting to see what types of strategies they’d come up with.

“Now, raise those battle cries! It’s time for the bloody battle!” Present Mic declared and the crowd roared in excitement.

“You’re exaggerating. I doubt that there will be much bloodshed.” Aizawa gave a side glance at his old friend. Mic ignored him entirely as he continued to fan the flames of the cheering crowd’s excitement.

“ALL RIGHT! Every team is ready to begin! I'm not going to ask if you're ready or not!" Present Mic yelled loudly stirring up the audience as they eagerly anticipated the beginning of the Sports Festival’s second round. “Now, let's go! The countdown to the brutal bloody showdown begins!”

"You're exaggerating again,” Aizawa drawled as the countdown began.

As the timer ticked down, Izuku looked back to his teammates, confirming they were all ready. The girls all nodded back, and Mei had a wide grin on her face.

“This is going to be so great! Everyone is going to see my babies in action!” Mei gushed happily. Her Hover Soles were on Ochako’s feet along with her Jetpack being on the brunette’s back. As soon as the second round started, Ochako would be their mobile attacker trying to snatch other teams’ flags. The rest of the team would focus on creating a defense around their flag.

“THREE!” Mic began the countdown.

“TWO!” Midnight called out.

“ONE!” The entire stadium roared!

“BEGIN!” Midnight yelled as she snapped her whip with a loud crack.

A massive wall of ice sprung up around Todoroki’s team. The two-toned teen was apparently going on the defensive to protect his team’s flag first. He’d effectively made an icy fortress right off the bat!

A bit further away and one could see Sero -a part of Team Bakugo- rapidly setting up a huge net of his tape around their flag. In short order the flag was behind layers and layers of the strong adhesive tape. Aside from trying to burn through it all, or slicing it if a person had a suitable Quirk, there wasn’t much way to get to the flag now. Mina made that even more difficult as she coated the ground directly outside the net with her acid. It wasn’t strong enough to dissolve the ground, but one could bet it would eat through shoes and skin. The pink-skinned girl was continually making the acid-covered area larger and larger too.

Other, smaller, teams began to move quickly too. The teams that focused on mobility either were dashing headlong at Izuku’s team for the ten million point flag, or were moving against each other. But this was well within the team’s expectations.

“I’ll do my best!” Ochako beamed at her friends. She glowed with a pink light under her Quirk’s effect for a second. In the next instant she rocketed off with the jetpack and Hover Soles to try and snatch some flags.

“Quite a few of them are charging us.” Tsuyu croaked as she prepared for her team’s response.

“Oh whatevs,” Camie grinned before inhaling deeply. When she exhaled, there was a massive cloud of her Quirk that quickly spread throughout the area. The chromatic cloud seemed to clear, only to reveal dozens of Team Izuku standing all over the place.

“What the hell?!” A blonde teen from Class 1-B exclaimed as he looked between the various groups of Team Izuku.

“We’ve got a little time now,” Camie grinned while giving her friends the ‘victory’ sign with her fingers.

“Let’s set up then, before they get through Camie’s illusions,” Momo removed her uniform top, leaving her in just her black sports bra. Under the cover of Camie’s Glamor Quirk no one would be able to see her anyway. From the ravenette’s back emerged multiple, rectangular blocks. They were actually packages of a specific type of capture material. When set off they produced a liquid that quickly spread and hardened into a substance with similar properties to concrete. They were susceptible to heat, as it would make the hardened material revert into liquid, but for their purposes it would be perfect.

“Wall is coming up,” Izuku informed them as he made the largest domed Barrier he could with that specific Quirk. Mei, Momo, and Camie grabbed the various packs and tossed them at the three meter height that Momo had specified. The capture devices went off and the viscous liquid ran down the green barrier as if it was a physical wall. In only a few seconds it hardened up into a thin, but durable wall.

Izuku dropped the large domed barrier and their concrete-like wall remained. It was thin, but it would soon be reinforced by Momo as she created a stretchable and flexible wire mesh from her back. All five of them quickly spread it on the inside of their wall. With a few adhesives, also created by Momo, they had the mesh attached to the wall and the ground.

“Izuku, if you would,” Momo smiled at him cutely.

“Got it,” Izuku returned her smile as he compiled two Quirks. ‘Heat Generation’ and ‘Temperature Fluctuation’ both of which increased the temperature in whatever area Izuku focused on. He passed the high-heat along the mesh and watched it tighten as it became rigid.

“That should keep most people from being able to bust down the wall.” Momo assured her teammates. “That mesh is made for use in disaster relief areas to fortify temporary shelters.”

“Now it’s my babies’ time to shine!” Mei declared with a wide grin. She handed each of her teammates a Capture Gun of her own design. Each gun had five rounds of ammo in them. The ammo was a cartridge containing a strong capture net that, according to Mei, would stop most people in their tracks.

“We just need a bit of footing,” Momo noted before long poles emerged from her stomach. “We’ll stick these in the ground and find something solid to put on top of them.”

“I can cover that,” Izuku promised as he kneeled down and touched the ground. This particular Quirk was weak, at least in range, but it had its uses. The young woman he’d gotten it from lived in the Toyama Prefecture and had made the trip to Tokyo just so he could copy it over a year ago. ‘Solidity’ ‘Amplification’ ‘Enhance Function’ Izuku compiled the three Quirks together.

‘Solidity’ allowed the user to manipulate how solid a physical material was. It didn’t work on living things or liquids. Nor could it alter an item or materials properties beyond making it more of less solid. Its normal range was only what the person’s hands could touch. Only the part of an object that was directly in contact with the user’s hands would be affected. Even boosting it with ‘Amplification’ and ‘Enhance Function’ still only increased the range to about a square meter.

“I’ll take these and start putting them up on the supports,” Tsuyu croaked as she picked up the first earthen platform that Izuku had produced. With her Frog Form Quirk, Tsuyu leapt onto the wall and stuck there. She carefully placed the solidified square meter of dirt on top of support poles that Momo, Camie, and Mei were sticking into the ground around the inside of the wall.

In fairly short order, perhaps only three or so minutes, they had a fortified location. It didn’t stop there as the Glamor illusions had dispersed even with Camie occasionally stopping to use her Quirk again. She’d bought them enough time to set up though.

“Where did that come from?!” Mic exclaimed when the last of Camie’s Quirk disappeared and their fortification was revealed to all. “We saw Team Todoroki’s instant ice fortress and Team Bakugo’s tape net and acid floor combo, but where did Team Midoriya get all the materials for their base from?!”

“Yaoyorozu’s Quirk is called Creation,” Aizawa began to explain the basics of his student’s Quirk. “As long as she knows an item’s chemical make-up and structure, she can produce that item from her body.”

“That won’t save you Class 1-A!” The blonde from Class 1-B declared as three teams made up of Class 1-B students approached their fortification. “We’ll topple your wall and take that ten million point flag of yours!”

“Try it!” Camie smirked as he fired the first round from her Capture Gun.

“Kosei!” The blonde called out.

“Got it!” A brown-haired teen reacted as he exhaled a barrier of solidified air into existence. The cartridge net hit the barrier, wrapping it up, but didn’t catch Camie’s intended target.

“Let’s go!” A black-haired guy exclaimed as he rushed towards the fortification. His arms began to spin abnormally until both his hands and forearms resembled drills and even made a similar sound. “I’ll drill right through this wall of yours!”

He would have too, if he didn’t get slapped upside the head by a long, prehensile tongue courtesy of Tsuyu. She’d let the other teen get just within range before striking. Now the other teen -Sen- if what she heard from his classmates was any indication, was on the ground holding the side of his face.

“Ow, damn it, what hit me?” Sen complained before a red capture net covered him and wrapped him up. “Hey! Get off!” He struggled against the net while Mei laughed at how well her baby worked.

“Kosei let’s make barricades and move in while spreading out, they can’t capture all of us!” The blonde touched his classmate’s arm.

“Sure thing, Monoma!” Kosei nodded in response and then both teens began to exhale large, circular barriers of solidified air!

“What in the world?” Izuku’s mind was quickly trying to assess this new information. “Is it a Copying Quirk like mine?”

“Darn it, the Capture Guns can’t get to them behind their air shields.” Momo grimaced as another red capture net was wasted on a barrier.

“Take cover and move in!” Another Class 1-B student caught on as he took cover behind one of the air barriers.

“Watch out!” Tsuyu called to her teammates as a large, fur-covered teen launched himself a great distance while roaring loudly. He would easily clear their wall and be inside their base.

“I’ve got him!” Izuku formed a large green Barrier and the beast-like teen slammed into it. He cried out in pain from hitting the barrier at speed as he fell.

“Finally out!” Sen stood up after tearing the capture net apart with his Quirk. Team Midoriya’s problems were quickly piling up.

“Team Midoriya is being attacked by three other teams in a siege!” Mic announced excitedly. The crowd roared in fervor at the sight of the teens both holding the line and the ones trying to break past it. Both were aspects of Hero work and what side you were on as a Pro depended on the situation.

“Momo, Camie, Mei, focus on defense!” Izuku called out to the three girls. “Tsuyu, come with me, we’re taking the fight to them!”

“Got it, kero!” Tsuyu nodded as she stood beside him.

“We’ll hold them off, Izukun, go kick some ass!” Camie cheered before exhaling another large cloud of her Glamor Quirk into the ever-approaching barricades and the students of Class 1-B sheltering behind them. The calls of confusion as multiple copies of their own classmates appeared and started running around was music to Camie’s ears.

Izuku and Tsuyu leapt into the fray, both still armed with their Capture Guns. Their main objective was to take the Solid Air Quirk user out of the battle. Without him, they’d be down to just the blonde to make barricades for them, the three teams from Class 1-B wouldn’t be able to advance so quickly.

“Got you!” The beast-like teen came charging towards the duo. Tsuyu leapt away easily, heading to try and deal with Kosei or the blonde teen. Izuku compiled a few Quirks together to deal with the charging student.

‘Amplification’, ‘Enhance Function’, ‘Force Multiplier’, ‘Reverse Force’ Izuku compiled the Quirks and let the beast charge him. A brief look of confusion appeared in the other teen’s eyes as he seemingly slowed to a crawl in mid-air. He came to a dead stop for but an instant. Then with only the rush of displaced air he was sent flying backwards with multiple times the force that he’d been charging towards Izuku with. The large bestial teen cleared almost the entire field before he hit the ground, bounced three times, and then rolled to a stop.

“Aaarrrggghh!” Sen cried out loudly. Izuku spared a glance in his direction only to see him being hit with a taser from Momo. The black-haired boy twitched as he was shocked and disabled.

“Watch out, she’s fast!” Kosei cried out and Izuku whipped his head around to see what was going on.

Kosei exhaled a large barrier of air between him and Tsuyu. The frog-like girl leapt over it, and while still in mid-air, fired her Capture Gun at him. The Solid Air Quirk user was caught in the red net and went to the ground struggling with it.

“Kosei!” Monoma leapt forward towards Tsuyu, his body seemingly becoming like metal. Tsuyu leapt further away to reassess the blonde teen from a distance. He was clearly using multiple Quirks like Izuku.

“Got you!” A teen wearing a white headband grabbed onto Izuku’s shoulder in the moment of distraction he had while looking towards Tsuyu.

Izuku reacted without thinking. He reached up and snatched the other teen’s hand. Activating Quirk Nullification, the other teen squawked in confusion when he realized he couldn’t use his Quirk. The next instant and Izuku had spun around to face the dark-haired boy. It only took a split second to compile the Quirks he wanted to end the failed sneak attack. ‘Paralyze Glare’, ‘Amplification’, ‘Enhance Function’, and ‘Efficiency’ with a bright glow in his green eyes, Izuku activated the Quirk and his opponent dropped like a sack of rocks. He lay on the ground sideways, unable to move and only able to look at the dirt until the paralysis wore off.

“DEKU!!!” Bakugo’s roar was heard as a blast went off not too far away from the verdette’s position. This was followed by a sharp drop in temperature as the ground froze over.

“Midoriya,” Todoroki exhaled a frosted breath as he approached, the ice crunching beneath his feet.

“THAT TEN MILLION POINT FLAG IS MINE!!!” Bakugo proclaimed loudly as he glared fiercely at Izuku.

“I’ll be taking your flag now,” Todoroki’s words were far quieter, but no less threatening.

“I think I liked it better when we were just being sieged by Class 1-B.” Camie groaned as she saw the hotheaded Bakugo and the nearly expressionless Todoroki arrive.

“Agreed,” Momo grimaced beside her as they looked at Class 1-B trying to get back together to reassess their options.

“You can try,” Izuku retorted with as much confidence as he could project. He was rapidly deciding on which Quirks and combinations would let him fight these two most effectively. He had to keep their attention on him and not the flag being protected by Camie, Momo, and Mei inside their hastily constructed base.

“So be it,” Todoroki stated before a wall of ice rushed forward.

“DIE!!!” Bakugo blasted forward as well.

‘This is going to suck.’ Izuku groaned internally at the battle to come.

-End Chapter-

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How’s THAT for different?!

Did you like the change up?

Team battles in Capture the Flag style!

Of course the base with the ten million point flag is going to be sieged first!

Will Izuku and the girls be able to hold out until the end? Will Izuku use even more Quirks that he hasn’t revealed yet?

What’s Ochako doing while this siege is going on?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!