Collector Hero: Synthesis Chapter 38 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Collector Hero: Synthesis! Final two pairs for the Practical Exams! Pass or fail? It all comes down to this! Ochako and Aoyama vs Thirteen and Tsuyu and Tokoyami vs Ectoplasm! How will the four Heroes-in-Training handle their teachers’ Quirks? They better think of something if they want to pass their exams!

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 38 – Fundamental Force and Limitless Numbers

-USJ ~ Aoyama and Uraraka vs Thirteen-

The instant that the timer had started, Aoyama and Ochako had separated. Aoyama went left and slightly closer to Thirteen, while Ochako went right and used her Quirk on herself before kicking off the ground as hard as she could to launch herself into the air, a blast of compressed air form her boots and she was headed for the gate. The Zero Gravity user activated the grappling tethers from her gauntlets to make quick turns through the air by latching onto the various structures in the facility.

“Trying to split my focus… Not a bad plan.” Thirteen mentioned while standing at the top of the long staircase that led towards the gate. “But that’s why I chose to protect the gate directly.” The space-themed Hero spoke as two caps opened on her left glove and three opened up on her right glove.

“Stand aside, s'il vous plaît!” Aoyama brought his Sparkle Gauntlets to bear and fired a laser form each of them at Thirteen.

“I can absorb light too.” Thirteen deadpanned as her Blackhole Quirk sucked in the two lasers easily.

“That Quirk is no joke.” Aoyama blinked in surprise that his laser could be completely nullified like that.

Ochako, seeing Aoyama’s distraction going awry, altered her course towards the Flood Zone. She landed on the fake yacht and placed both of her hands on the empty vessel. The yacht briefly glowed pink and Ochako attached all three of her left arm grappling tethers to the boat. Using her Quirk on herself again she launched herself high into the air with her boots and dragged the weightless ship out of the water. Winding her arm around she disconnected the three tethers and sent the boat straight towards Thirteen’s location. “Catch, sensei!”

“Whoa!” Thirteen capped the two fingers on her left glove and opened all five on her right glove to deal with the yacht coming towards her at speed.

“Release!” Ochako placed her fingertips together and returned the yacht’s weight, the semi-large ship now bearing down on Thirteen with more than enough force to crush the Pro Hero.

Thirteen raised her right hand with all five caps opened on the tips of her fingers. The incoming yacht was shredded to pieces and sucked into the void of her Quirk rapidly. “Not today, Uravity! The more caps I open, the more powerful the gravity and the faster my Quirk breaks things down!”

Pew

Pew

Two lasers blasted through Thirteen’s suit, the left arm now having two holes along the edge where Thirteen hadn’t moved fast enough to dodge.

“Mademoiselle, you seem to have been distracted!” Aoyama was launching himself up the stairs with twin lasers from his knees, powered directly by his Quirk, rather than the energy pack on his back. His costume’s ability to redirect his Navel Laser was quite useful for brief bursts of mobility, along with odd-angle attacks.

Pew

Pew

Two more shots from Aoyama’s Sparkle Gauntlets were easily dodged now that Thirteen had her focus on the knight-themed student. “Not bad, Chevalier… But getting close is a bad idea!” Two caps closed on the right hand now that the yacht was mostly gone. Two caps opened up on her left hand to start drawing Aoyama in.

“Ergh!” Aoyama quickly grabbled a nearby railing on the edge of the stairs and held on for dear life against the destructive gravity that Thirteen’s Quirk produced.

“Aoyama!” Ochako came down from the air like a meteorite, aiming a kick straight at Thirteen. It was one of the many techniques that she’d learned from Gunhead during her internship.

“Eh?!’ Thirteen quickly closed the three caps on her right glove to prevent Ochako from being sucked into her Quirk and severely injured, or outright killed. “Are you insane?!”

“Nope!” Ochako grinned brightly at startling her favorite Hero. She launched her right hand grapple tethers at Aoyama. “Now!”

“Merci!” Aoyama caught the tethers and Ochako reeled him in. He drew his Brilliant Sparkling Saber from his hip and the metal blade hummed to life with Aoyama’s unique energy along its edges ready to cut through anything. “En Garde!” He thrust the laser sword forward at Thirteen as he flew through the air.

“Clever.” Thirteen remarked as only a single cap remained open on her left glove and she purposefully touched it to Ochako’s grapple tethers. “But the more focused my Quirk, the less I have to worry about hurting others with it.” The tethers rapidly snapped as the parts touched by the uncapped finger were reduced to nothing. “Broken down to the atomic level!”

“Oh crap!” Ochako gasped as Aoyama went flying off over Thirteen’s head. “We’ll still win!” She got into Thirteen’s guard and threw a punch straight into the Pro Hero’s chest.

‘These weights are really getting in the way.’ Thirteen grimaced as her suit had to absorb most of the punch for her. She couldn’t get her guard up fast enough when she was so weighed down. “The cuffs?!” Thirteen backstepped quickly when Ochako swung the capture cuffs around with her free hand, looking to shackle one of Thirteen’s wrists and succeed in a ‘capture’ to pass.

“Team Aoyama and Uraraka have passed the exam via escaping the test site!” Blared throughout the USJ from the various speakers set up throughout the facility.

“What?!” Thirteen turned to look at the gate and saw Aoyama posing on the other side, sparkles practically radiating from the teen. The sign above the gate had switched from saying ‘Do your best!’ to ‘Congratulations!’ after Aoyama had passed through it. “Did you plan this?” Thirteen couldn’t help but ask of the seemingly perfect plot.

“Only part of it.” Ochako admitted, rubbing the back of her head with a smile. “We knew you’d never hurt us, sensei. So, we kind of used that against you. Getting Aoyama flying was the hard part, but you disrupted the original plan when you broke my tethers.”

“Original plan?” Now Thirteen was curious as she walked with the two students out of the USJ and towards the bus parked outside to take them back to the main campus.

“Oui!” Aoyama preened a bit with a smirk on his face. “The original plan was for Uraraka-san to toss me into the air so that I could use my new Super Move the instant that she cleared the area.” He explained as he shrugged. “But it seems my brilliantly shining new move will have to wait for later, unfortunately.”

“Hey, we still passed the exam. Isn’t that the most important thing?” Ochako sighed at Aoyama’s over-the-top words and the dramatic little movements he made while speaking. Even the shrug looked like something you’d see in a movie!

-Recovery Girl’s Onsite Medical Tent-

“You go, Chako-chan!” Camie cheered out happily at seeing Ochako pass.

Recovery Girl sighed at the recklessness of Ochako and Aoyama for charging at Thirteen. “They’re lucky this was only a test and that Thirteen wasn’t a real Villain, otherwise they’d both probably be dead!” Villains weren’t known for their mercy when it came to fighting against Heroes.

“Maybe, but not all Villains are out to kill either, right?” Izuku replied, looking at his healing teacher. “Most flee rather than even attempt to fight, and those that do get forced to fight in that situation are rarely going for the kill. They’re just trying to find a way out.”

Momo nodded her head in agreement with her boyfriend. “Most reports and coverage of such cases do point to that being the most common occurrence. Only the worst of the worst Villains are actively seeking bloodshed. Most just want money or goods.” She’d done quite a bit of research while working with Edgeshot to help develop her investigative skills.

“That might be true, but a lot of Villains will totally go for the kill if they think they have to.” Camie spoke up from Recovery Girl’s point of view. “They both knew that Thirteen wouldn’t use her Quirk on them; but in a real scenario, you shouldn’t rush head-on at a Villain with such a deadly Quirk like that.”

“Utsushimi-chan is correct.” Recovery girl nodded to the Glamor Quirk user. “While they played out a good plan for a test, they may lose a couple of points for being reckless from a real world scenario standpoint.”

“Hmm, I understand.” Izuku wrote down a few of his observations in his notebook. “We should make sure to treat all of these tests as real scenarios in the future.”

“I suppose that will be the most beneficial in the long run.” Momo considered what types of training and scenarios U.A. would put them through for the three years that they were at the school. “It would be bad to treat being in the field like we do training where safety is actively being considered for our wellbeing.”

-Asui and Tokoyami Exam-

“Raaahhh!!!” Dark Shadow cried out as it smashed two of Ectoplasm’s clones into the floor, making them disperse into white mist that faded away quickly. “There’s no end to them!”

“Kero, Ectoplasm is only using fifteen clones at a time, I’ve counted.” Tsuyu informed the sapient Quirk and Tokoyami. “I’m guessing that’s about half of what he can really make if he’s giving us a handicap.”

“The problem is that he consistently maintains that number no matter how many we destroy.” Tokoyami replied as they ran down a corridor. “They can also appear anywhere within his range which seems to be most of this training area.”

They’d been chased from their starting point all throughout the training area by the relentless clones. The limitless number was going to wear them out sooner or later though. They needed to get to the gate, given that their time was running out.

“Running aimlessly won’t get you anywhere.” One of Ectoplasm’s clones spoke up, launching at Kick at Tokoyami’s head as the students rounded a corner.

“Back off!” Dark Shadow blocked the kick and slammed the clone into the way, making it disperse into mist.

Four more clones appeared behind the two teens, while another four appeared in front of them.

Tsuyu turned and whipped her tongue out, the long, prehensile appendage knocking the four clones behind them into each other before knocking them into the wall. The clones dispersed and Tsuyu turned back around to see Dark Shadow finishing off the last of the clones that had been in front of them.

“We’re almost there.” Tokoyami realized after recalling the map of the training facility that they’d been allowed to look at before their practical exam.

The two bolted down the hallway and entered into a large tower-like room, similar to the one that they’d been in at the start of the exam. Looking down from the floor that they were on, they spotted the gate and Ectoplasm standing in front of it.

“Given that we can see the gate, you think that’s his real body too, right?” Tsuyu asked Tokoyami.

“Most likely.” The crow-headed teen agreed as their teacher looked up at them.

“Excellent job making it here before the time expired.” Ectoplasm praised his students. “But can you pass through this gate?” He expelled a large cloud of his ectoplasm and fifteen clones formed all at once. The clones quickly rushed the two students, able to leap up the balconies towards them with little effort.

“Kero!” Tsuyu crouched low and blurred as she hopped forward. She hit the opposite side of the tower and stuck there for a split second before leaping again.

“Agh!” One clone let out a noise as Tsuyu shot into its back and dispersed it. She was gone before two other clones could kick at her.

Tsuyu actually reached the ceiling high above thanks to her increased strength from her training with Selkie during internships. She rocketed down from the ceiling and spun, extending her tongue, she dispersed five more clones before safely landing on the ground.

“Dark Shadow!” Tokoyami called out and the semi-autonomous Quirk shot back to him. “Black Abyss!” He was covered by Dark Shadow like a cowl, the bright yellow eyes of the Quirk resting atop his bird-like head providing their own range of vision to expand Tokoyami’s. “Piercing Twilight Claws!” Both of Dark Shadow’s claws shot forward like twin bolts, tearing through every clone in their path like they were paper before retracting just as fast. Six clones dispersed into white mist for the single attack. “Asui!” Tokoyami jumped down to where Tsuyu was dealing with the remaining three clones.

-Recovery Girl’s Onsite Medical Tent-

“Tsu-chan is kicking butt!” Camie cheered loudly for her friend and fellow Izuku lover.

“Those two are almost unstoppable… But Ectoplasm has already run down the clock so much by keeping them on the run for most of the exam.” Izuku mentioned, writing his observations in his notebook without even looking at the paper. “A battle of attrition is only in his favor, especially on a time limit.”

“They’re both model students, but their limited to only dealing with what’s within a certain range; and their methods of dealing with that range can leave them vulnerable.” Recovery Girl noted of the pairing between Tsuyu and Tokoyami. “They were matched up against Ectoplasm entirely because he can fully operate outside of their range and control the flow of the battle.”

“That’s right!” Momo perked up as she looked at the situation again. “No matter how many clones they defeat, none of them matter! Ectoplasm-sensei hasn’t moved from his spot since the exam started either!”

It was true, the Pro Hero was still standing right where he’d been the entire time in front of the gate. Any time that Tsuyu and Tokoyami were about to finish off the last of his clones, he simply made a new batch of fifteen (his self-imposed handicap for this exam) and stalled the two students even longer.

“They’re getting nowhere fast…” Camie’s earlier excitement had noticeably dropped.

-Tsuyu and Tokoyami Exam-

The last of the clones was dispersed as Tokoyami smashed it into the floor with his Dark Shadow-covered fist.

“Will you keep this up until time runs out, students?” Ectoplasm questioned the pair. “What I want to see his students that can overcome their adversary no matter the tactics used against them.” He told them plainly. “As it stands, you’ve just been reacting and letting me dictate the pace of this fight.” Their teacher expelled another cloud of his ectoplasm and fifteen more clones charged at the students.

“I think we need another plan.” Dark Shadow spoke, even as he and Tokoyami tore the first clone to reach them in half.

Tsuyu leapt around the clones, striking them with her long tongue, or landing on them with her bodyweight after one of her powerful leaps. The clones couldn’t keep up with her speed and reflexes, but they could still waste time. “We do, but what do you propose?”

“We could go full power.” Dark Shadow’s yellow eyes looked down at Tokoyami.

Tokoyami caught one clone and slammed it into another with Dark Shadow’s claws. “You’ll go berserk and I’ve only marginally increased the length of time that I can maintain control when you do.” He backhanded another clone away, scattering it into mist. “This place is too brightly lit to begin with.”

“I can take care of that, kero.” Tsuyu landed beside Tokoyami. “If you can by me some time, I should be able to get past Ectoplasm through the gate.”

Ectoplasm, who still had yet to move, finally spoke up. “Planning in front of an enemy isn’t very wise.” His throat bulged slightly and he expelled a massive cloud of ectoplasm all at once. “Can your plan deal with this?!” The white mist swirled upwards until it formed a towering clone of their teacher. “Your time is already almost run out. If I detain you for just a little longer, you fail.”

“Asui!” Tokoyami trusted in his partner and leapt at the giant clone while enlarging Dark Shadow’s claws. “Covert Black-Ops Arms!” Both claws were easily double Tokoyami’s size now as he swung them at the clone.

Tsuyu crouched low, her powerful thighs flexing, nearly bulging as she tensed her muscles. She vanished, the floor cracking beneath her from the force of her launch, and she crashed into the ceiling at the top of the tower with almost equal force. She launched herself again, angling her body towards her next target and crushing it with her feet in the next second. She only clung to the wall for a split second to aim before she launched herself so powerfully that the wall cracked just like the floor. Her next target was instantly obliterated just as the first one had been.

“What are you doing?” Ectoplasm wondered for a moment. “Only I can get rid of this behemoth.” He mentioned of his massive clone that had just batted Tokoyami out of the air. “You’re leaving your partner to be beaten while you hop around?”

“It’s part of our plan!” Tsuyu replied as she crushed another one of her targets under her powerful legs. “And this is my Super Move: Frantic Frog Hopping!” She vanished from sight as her speed increased even further. Only her impacts against the wall being heard as a green blur was seen hopping from wall to wall.

It took Ectoplasm a moment to piece together Tsuyu’s plan; the realization only setting in when the glass from the ceiling finally hit the floor. “The lights!” He looked up, seeing the large light on the ceiling shattered and dead. He swiveled his head around, looking at all the damage done to the walls from Tsuyu’s move, and seeing destroyed light fixtures in the shattered walls everywhere she’d landed. The inside of the tower-like room was rapidly growing darker.

“Calm mind, serene heart…” Tokoyami exhaled as Dark Shadow began to swell around him. His time controlling Dark Shadow in darkness had increased, but he only got his best results when he was in a calm and steady frame of mind. “Ragnarök!” Dark Shadow swelled to massive proportions in the sudden gloom of the tower, easily matching Ectoplasm’s massive clone in size.

“Giant Bite Detention!” Ectoplasm used his own move through his giant clone. The behemoth opened its jaws wide and tried to trap Tokoyami inside, as if to pluck him from within the immense Dark Shadow.

“RAAARRRHHHH!!!” Dark Shadow roared and caught the giant clone’s attack. With a heave, he shoved it away, making it slam into the opposite side of the tower.

“If you believe I haven’t dealt with giant opponents before, you’re sorely mistaken.” Ectoplasm informed Tokoyami and Dark Shadow. The incoming fist from the gigantic Dark Shadow was blocked by the giant clone’s hand, and the prosthetic leg came up and smacked Dark Shadow across the face, sending the massive Quirk staggering to the side.

“Dark Shadow, are you ready?!” Tokoyami suddenly called out loudly to his Quirk. “Ragnarök: Fleeting Blow!” The claws of the empowered Dark Shadow grew even more massive as the sapient Quirk responded to Tokoyami’s orders.

The giant clone of Ectoplasm launched another kick, this time aimed at Tokoyami to stop the new Super Move before it could be used.

WOOSH

The two jet-black claws tore through the clone as if it was nothing. The white mist it fell apart into floated down to the floor as Ectoplasm watched on, rather impressed with Tokoyami’s progress with his Quirk. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t retaliate. “You destroyed my giant clone…” His throat began to bulge again. “But who says I can’t make another one?”

“Team Asui and Tokoyami have passed the exam via escaping the test site!” Blared over the speakers and throughout the large building.

“What?” Ectoplasm turned to look behind him at the gate, the sign rolling over from the words ‘Do your best!’ to “Congratulations!’, but he ignored that as something faded into view just past the gate.

“Kero…” Tsuyu let out a little croak, her right hand rubbing her right thigh gently, a look of discomfort on her face.

“Camouflage…” Ectoplasm realized that Tsuyu had vanished after her Super Move while all of his attention had been focused on the massive Dark Shadow. “So, that’s what you meant when you asked Tokoyami to distract me.” The Frog Form user’s plan hadn’t been so simple as to allow Tokoyami to use Dark Shadow’s full power. It had been a multi-stage plan meant to guarantee that they passed by forcing him to focus on a single target.

Emergency lights clicked on all over the tower-like building and the massive Dark Shadow quickly shrank down as the lights overwhelmed the darkness.

“Too bright…” Dark Shadow shrank back under Tokoyami’s black cloak to hide form the suddenly bright lights.

“You’ve both done well.” Ectoplasm praised the students as he moved over to check on Asui. “Or should I say all three of you?” He chuckled.

“You better! This plan wouldn’t have worked without me!” Dark Shadow peeked his head out from beneath the cloak to retort.

“Dark Shadow…” Tokoyami sighed at his sapient Quirk. “You did well.” The shadow beast was always a bit irritable after being in his full power state. The power made Dark Shadow unruly, and the sudden loss of it made the Quirk snippy for a while until it calmed down again.

“Are you alright, Asui?” Ectoplasm asked the girl, kneeling down to be even with her.

Asui rubbed her thighs gently before nodding to her teacher. “Yes, sir. My new Super Move just puts a lot of strain on my legs still.” That was a bit of an understatement, perhaps, given that her muscles felt hot and were practically screaming at her in pain.

Ectoplasm nodded in understanding. “I’d imagine so with the strength and speed that you were displaying. Do you think you can walk to Recovery Girl’s medical tent?”

“I might need some help.” Tsuyu admitted and Ectoplasm breathed out just enough Ectoplasm for a single clone. The clone carefully picked up Tsuyu and began to carry the girl along as they left the training area on their way to Recovery Girl.

-Recovery Girl’s Onsite Medical Tent-

“Tsu-chan!” Izuku, Camie, Ochako, and Momo were at Tsuyu’s side the instant that she was brought into the medical tent.

“Let me look at her, please.” Recovery Girl calmed them down. She only took a few moments to examine the girl and figure out the problem. “Just some muscle strain. None of her muscles are torn and her legs aren’t injured.” The four sighs of relief from the others made Recovery Girl smile a little. “Izuku, you’re more than able to heal this.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Izuku eagerly moved to do so, having recovered enough of his own energy to heal something simple like this. “Ready, Tsu?”

“Go ahead, Izukun.” Tsuyu smiled warmly at her boyfriend. Soft green light surrounded Izuku’s hands as he gently placed them on Tsuyu’s strong, but still soft, thighs. “Ooh…” She hummed pleasantly as the pain and the heat in her thighs was soothed by Healing Aura. In just a few moments, all the pain and minor damage was healed up, better than before. “Kero.” Tsuyu now had a happy little grin on her lips as she looked at Izuku.

“Better?” Izuku smiled back at his girlfriend.

He was pulled into a kiss for a few seconds. “Better.” Tsuyu giggled a little as she sat up on the cot and stretched out her legs a bit.

“You were awesome out there, Tsu-chan!” Ochako gently hugged her best friend, a bright smile on her face.

Momo beamed at Tsuyu, her eyes bright and almost sparkling. “I completely lost track of you after a moment! I didn’t know you could move so quickly!”

“Of course, Izukun already has it all written down!” Camie giggled, showing Tsuyu the pages of Izuku’s new notebook and his observations and thoughts on Tsuyu’s new Super Move.

“It was amazing!” Izuku praised Tsuyu brightly, his green eyes looking at her with such excitement that Tsuyu felt herself blushing.

The warmth and chatter behind her didn’t bother Recovery Girl as she began collecting some of her things. The Final Exams were done now, and all of the students had made it out without any severe injuries. ‘Still need to give that brat a good whack to the shins for hurting little Jiro’s ears with his obnoxious voice. But I can do that later.’ The old woman chuckled lightly to herself as she continued to pack away a few of her medical instruments into her bag. It was time to get back to her normal office and take care of the rest of the students of U.A. High.

-Nezu’s Office-

The chimera-like principal was the first one back to his office among the teachers. He needed to go through all of the videos of the Practical Exams for the two First Year Hero Courses and give his assessments on each student’s performance. They had to do the Second Years’ final exams tomorrow in the morning and the Third Years’ exams in the afternoon. It was always a busy time at the school when final exams came around.

“But my, the First Years have done quite well this year!” Nezu chuckled to himself as he made a cup of tea. He’d wait for the assessments of each of the other teachers as well, since the combined grading would become each student’s final grade, but he already knew that at least a couple hadn’t passed the practical, even if they’d escaped or captured the teacher in the allotted time. “Behavior is a major factor in Hero-Public Relations. We can’t reward bad behavior, or it’ll lead to bad habits forming in our students.”

Ding

Nezu looked at his computer screen at the notification sound. Seeing the icon for new mail, he clicked on it and smiled at the subject line of the new message.

-Pro Hero: Law, International Request Acceptance-

“Ah, it seems my talks with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Heroics have borne fruit.” Nezu was very happy to see it as he clicked on the message to read it in full. It shouldn’t take him long to send a reply back, he’d just have to check his schedule and clear a time to have a video meeting with the man. ‘I wonder which of my teachers will have their grading assessments for the First Years sent to me first?’ He chuckled lightly to himself before taking a sip of his tea. It would either be Aizawa or Cementoss, most likely. But it was always fun to see who got done first after watching all of the recordings.

-End Chapter-

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And done!

Final Exams are over!

But who passes and who fails?

Well, I think a few of you probably know one of them already…yes?

Now we move into the Summer Training Camp Arc!

The danger is building, but no one knows it yet.

On the Heroes side, Nezu’s meetings and contacts both domestic and international are coming together! Heroes from other countries are being gathered! What could their Quirks be? What’s the mission that Nezu wants this International Team Up to work on?

Well, you know it’s not going to be good for the Villains, that’s for sure! *Cackles in plans*

What could a bunch of teens get up to at a hot spring inn over several days?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!