FIGHT DUB CLUB, Prologue


[PART 1: The Day]


"Alright, one last exercise. It should be easy if you guys have been paying attention," Hijack said, sketching a scenario on the board.

Reactions varied. Soujyuuro reopened his notebook and scrambled to jot down the last question. Christopher leaned back in his seat and decided to memorize it and review it at home. Kyoda and Yui had already taken this class last year, so they didn't bother focusing on it.

"Let's say a villain attacks a small neighborhood shop with three people inside. A shopkeeper and two customers," The teacher punctuated his statements by pointing at the drawings he made.

"The villain unleashes his quirk on all three," Hijack continued, scribbling lines around the caricature with an angry face. None of the students could figure out the nature of the attack from his sloppy drawing.

Shinkan raised his hand. "Uhh, Hijack-sensei, what's the villain's quirk?"

"Eh? It's not important to this exercise. Just imagine it as an energy beam or something. Anyway, one of the customers deploys a barrier quirk, protecting everyone." More scribbling, this time a circle around each of the civilians. "The shopkeeper attacks the villain with his quirk, making him retreat outside the store. At that point, another customer chases the villain through the streets and knocks him out with a punch to the back of his head."

"Now, the question is... besides the villain, who else would be charged with a crime in this situation?" Eight hands rose to respond. Hijack rubbed his chin, deliberating on who he would choose to answer. "Hmm... let's see. Ms. Kim."

He pointed at her with his marker.

"None of them," She replied confidently.

Hijack nodded. "Why?"

"The shopkeeper and customers acted in self-defense. One customer did chase the villain after he stopped being a threat to his life, but he took him down bare-handed, so it doesn't count as vigilantism."

The Quirk Ethics teacher clapped once. "Nice, you got it right. Does anyone have any questions about this scenario and its solution?"

Shinkan raised his hand again, still a bit confused. "What if the guy who defeated the villain had a mutant quirk? He could be using it, but it's not like he can help it. Would he still get charged with vigilantism?"

Hijack paused. He hadn't expected anyone to bring up the mutant cases in the first lesson, but it was what it was; another opportunity to test them.

"Does anyone know the answer to Sen's question?" He asked, grinning. Five hands rose, not counting Kim's, who had already solved the question. He aimed the pointer at a young man with blue skin. "Sigurd."

"It depends," He responded curtly, with the same confidence as the classmate before him.

"The hell kind of answer is that?" Sora couldn't help but wonder aloud, glancing at his classmate sitting in the row ahead.

Hijack waved him off. "No, no, he's right. It does depend on the mutant quirk. If the person punching a villain has horns, it's not a crime. But if they're a bull-hybrid, then it gets trickier. It's a constant strength boost, so they might get charged with vigilantism. In that case, the takedown itself gets analyzed to see how much of a damage difference was caused by the mutation, and—"

RRRING

"Ah, our time is up. We'll continue this discussion next week. If any of you are interested in these edge cases, research them in your spare time. It's all fascinating stuff, really," Hijack spoke about his future class plans while clearing the board, gauging his students' reactions. It seemed only two or three would take his suggestion to heart.

"Bye-bye," The teacher said with a cheery wave, exiting.

"Bye, Hijack-sensei!" Most of the class chorused.

Now there was a gap between the end of a lesson and the start of another. The ideal time for students to socialize.

"Oi, Bobby, what class do we have now?" Hifumi asked.

"Do I look like I have the schedule memorized?" The blond teen replied, looking baffled.

"Self-Defense with Ippon," Genma chimed in from ahead, having heard their conversation.

"Wack," Sora commented. Hifumi and Bobby couldn't agree.

"You only say that because your hand-to-hand is sorry as hell," Genma countered.

"Oh, shut up, you're getting your ass beat as much as me."

"Yes, but I'm taking it as a learning experience. You just wanna get to the part where you can use your quirk." Before Sora could respond, the doors opened, and the next teacher entered; a tall, blond man with a simple costume.

But he was not Ippon.

Sora smirked. "And it looks like it's my time to shine."

The new teacher placed a metal case on his desk and wrote his name on the board. Merely a formality. Most of the students were already familiar with Japan's #6 Hero.

Heroics Training
Yasashi Koibito (Majestic)

"Good afternoon, Class 1-D."

"Good afternoon, Majestic-sensei!"

"As you can see, today it's your first Heroics Training. In this class, we pros put you in all sorts of situations and scenarios to test your knowledge of hero protocols and how you use your quirk to accomplish your duties."

There was chattering within the students' ranks, building a lively atmosphere. Finally, after almost one month of regular classes like math and history, they would learn what they entered Shiketsu for.

"So far, you have received four practical lessons per week: three physical education classes, where you train your bodies, and one self-defense class, where you learn how to fight without your quirks. The school was trying to gauge the disparities between your physical capabilities since you all come from wildly different backgrounds. But now, we have your combat data. So you'll have six practical lessons per week."

Monday - Heroics Training
Tuesday - Self-Defense
Wednesday - Physical Education
Thursday - Physical Education
Friday - Heroics Training
Saturday - Physical Education

"Thus, Ippon's lesson will be tomorrow. As for today's Heroics Training... well, you should be able to guess it since I'm no Rescue Hero..." Majestic trailed off and scrubbed out the class name, writing two words in its place.

BATTLE TRAINING

"Yes!" Jugo cheered, pumping a fist and startling Sandatsu by his side.

"Finally," Yui grumbled, playing with a string of her quirk.

"Oh man, you guys won't know what hit you," Sora bragged to the classmates around him, provoking an incredible feat of coordination in 6 simultaneous eye-rolls.

Christopher hummed, briefly looking behind him to examine each of his peers. He decided to wait until the exercise's details were revealed to make a move. To his left, Soujyuuro tensed in his chair, unconsciously shifting closer to the window. A moment later, he realized his movement and winced in shame.

Majestic smiled at the most animated students. "We'll start the exercise at 2:30 PM, inside the Urban Simulation Zone. But before you go there..." He opened the case on his desk, showing off two dozen keys.

"Make sure to pass by the locker rooms and change into your school-issued costumes."

The students scrambled away from their desks, rushing to be the first to get there in costume.


[PART 2: Rock That!]


The Urban Simulation Zone was a fancy name for a hundred unpopulated buildings within school grounds. It was meant to mimic a city block. Apartments, houses, shops, and a few offices were scattered across the streets.

Majestic and most of Class 1-D stood inside the control station, a building equipped with camera feeds and a few computers to register the exercise's results. The Laser Hero stood by a window, where the students could see two neighboring buildings.

The pro waited until his established time to start announcing the training outline, which was fortunate for the students still changing into their costumes. Although many chose their designs instead of letting the support company decide, they weren't used to changing into armor or wearing their gadgets.

"Alright, this is how it'll go. We'll divide you into teams and match you against each other in battle. During each match, one team plays the villains, and the other plays the heroes. The villains' objective is to steal four items."

"The villains start inside those buildings and have one minute to look for these." Majestic pulled four metallic spheres from his pocket, rolling them around in his hand. "After the search time passes, the agency across the street will sound an alarm, signaling the hero team that they can move in."

"The hero team's objective is to capture all the villains before they escape. After stealing the items, the villains have to carry them to the escape zone." He pointed at the end of the street, where a wide, red line was drawn in the pavement. "A villain can also escape without an item, but after crossing the escape zone, they are considered out of the exercise."

The blond hero pocketed his items and showed his palms to the class, spreading his fingers. "Each match lasts 10 minutes. If that time limit passes without a conclusion, all the villains that haven't escaped are considered captured." Finishing his explanation, Majestic crossed his arms.

"Any questions so far?"

A hand rose.

"Suzuki."

"Umm, why do the heroes win by default after a timeout? Shouldn't it be a tie?"

Majestic shook his head. "This exercise is meant to simulate a battle scene. The timeout represents other agencies backing up the heroes, overwhelming the villains with numbers."

Another hand rose. It had been raised the entire time, actually. But Kaylee's 215cm frame obscured it, so the student had to sidestep the green-haired girl and push her back, standing in front of her.

"Chang."

"Can we pick our teammates?"

"I'll explain the match-making after questions are finished, but no. You can't."

The girl lowered her hand with a slight scowl on her face. First, the recommendation exam, and now this? Would she never get to do hero business with people she could stand?

A third student gestured his doubt.

"Cain."

"How exactly are we being graded during this? If the heroes only capture half of the villain team, is that a passing or failing grade?"

"Your grades will depend on how well you perform your duties individually, and how many objectives your team completes. Capturing half the villains will depend on how each team member contributed to the captures. However, you can also get points docked for unheroic behavior. Keep property damage to a minimum, no excessive force, all that stuff Rosethorn hammered into your heads." He said, waving a hand around.

One more hand raised.

"Owari."

"The villain team has one minute to search for the items. Does that count towards the ten-minute time limit?"

"No."

The Laser Hero waited a few more seconds to see if anyone had more queries, then pulled out his phone.

"Match-making wise, you'll be separated into six quartets. Each team has a leader who decides how they will approach the exercise. Points will be docked from team members who refuse to obey the leader. The team leaders have already been decided, and they are the following:"

"Noah Abrams..."

The young man kept his serene smile but inwardly hoped he wouldn't have to play the villain in this exercise.

"Nyoro Hoge..."

"Why me..."

No one heard the class representative's despair.

"Bobby Samson..."

"You gotta be shitting me..."

Hifumi and Inigo patted him on the back sarcastically.

"Yui Sagara..."

The white-haired girl glowered. This had Rosethorn's fingers all over it. Probably some bullshit about teaching her to socialize.

"Chihiro Mitsurugi..."

The somber schoolgirl nodded to herself. She would do her best to bring her team to victory.

"... And Faith Kang."

The transfer student sighed. At least she had permission to herd any morons that got on her squad.

"Your teammates will be decided randomly before each bout, so no team gets more time to strategize than the others. And now, we can stop meandering! For the first match, we have...!"

Majestic tapped his phone screen, making a computer inside the control station shuffle between various names. The students turned to the terminal that would decide their fate right as it stopped its animation.

[Hero Team]

Yui Sagara (LEADER)
Orochi Atsushi
Sora Tanaka
Edith Lee

==V E R S U S==

[Villain Team]

Noah Abrams (LEADER)
Victor Sigurd
Christopher Cain
Kaylee Suzuki

"Bummer..." Noah whined.

"It's Hero Training Day, and I get to show off first?! In a team full of chicks? This day cannot get any better." Sora decided, nodding to himself repeatedly.

Yui looked at the biggest idiot in her team so far, then at her opponents. 'Is this shit really random?' She wondered to herself.

"The items for the first match have already been placed. Both teams have two minutes to strategize before the villains move to their spots. Now, get to it!"


[FIGHT DUB CLUB]


In one of the rooms of the control station, the hero team sat around a table.

"So...." Yui began, putting her legs over the furniture. "What are the other team's quirks? And yours, for that matter."

Behind his costume's mask, Sora raised an eyebrow. "How do you not know that?"

Before the leader could respond, Orochi beat her to it. "She wasn't in the entrance exam, moron."

"Our glorious leader got held back," Edith included, looking up from her phone with a small smile that no one bought.

"Yeah yeah, this isn't your senpai's first rodeo."

'In more ways than one, probably,' Edith mocked mentally, glancing at Yui's costume. She had enough sense not to drain her points by insulting the leader to her face, but mentioning she was supposed to be a sophomore by now was just a statement of fact.

"But that just means I'm more equipped to kick their asses," Yui continued, pointing to herself with a thumb. "So, spill."

"Honestly, I breezed through the entrance exam with my power, so I didn't have the time to analyze everyone." He raised his hands in defense when they gave him flat looks. "Still! It's easy to know the more flashy ones, right? Kaylee is strong, shoots lasers, and flies. Noah... does the exact same thing, Victor has a water manipulation thing going on, and Christopher... I have no idea. But my quirk is「Domain Master」."

Name:「Sora Tanaka」
Quirk:「Domain Master」

Type: Emitter

Description: Sora can control gravity within an area of space to attract or repel targets with gravitational fields. Also capable of increasing or decreasing the intensity of gravity on targets within that area.

"Christopher can copy quirks. I've seen him do it," Orochi added. "I'm not sure how he activates it, but I know it isn't through touch. As for me, my quirk is「Headstrong Hydra」."

Name:「Orochi Atsushi」
Quirk:「Headstrong Hydra」

Type: Mutant

Description: Orochi embodies the traits of a hydra, having regenerative abilities and three tails with heads and venom.

Edith snickered.

"What's so funny?" Orochi asked, glaring at the exchange student.

The pig-tailed girl looked up from her phone with a bored expression. "I just saw something on my phone, sheesh. My quirk is「Danger Zone」."

Name:「Edith Lee」
Quirk:「Danger Zone」

Type: Emitter

Description: Edith can transport people into a separate dimension of considerable size under her control, which she has a mental link to.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Yui banged on the table and started to laugh, breaking the silence.

"Why the hell didn't you mention yours first?" Sora asked, torn between being cheerful that his first exercise would be so easy or sad because it would end too quickly.

Edith did not look away from her screen this time. "Wasn't in the mood for it."

Their leader managed to control her amusement after a few seconds. "Oh, that's rich. Well, the plan is simple. Gravity Boy pulls them in, and you banish them into the shadow realm."

"Oi, call me Orbit—"

"It might not be that simple," Orochi pointed out, crossing her arms. "All of them can fight at a range and prevent Sora from getting near enough to deploy his domain. Noah and Kaylee can even fly. Christopher can copy「Danger Zone」and turn it back on us."

"I can make all of us fly!" Sora voiced, standing up from his chair. "Look, it's a free win for us; let's leave it at that."

"Let's not," Yui said, repeating his movement. "That Christopher guy can also copy「Domain Master」and play keep-away until they find all the items."

"Now, sit down, and let me explain my quirk:「Red Thread」."


[FIGHT DUB CLUB]


Meanwhile, the villain team was also strategizing.

"We have to focus Edith on this match if we want any chance of winning," Christopher said as soon as they entered the room.

Victor nodded, taking his seat. "She and Tanaka make a deadly combo."

Kaylee cracked her knuckles, a battle-hungry grin on her face. "Fine by me. I can take care of her from far away. Noah can harass Sora and make them split up."

"Then I'll hold off Sagara and Atsushi. Their attacks won't be able to pierce through「Riptide」."

Name:「Victor Sigurd」
Quirk:「Riptide」

Type: Emitter

Description: Victor can control water down to its inertia!

"While Kaylee, Noah, and I guard the front, Christopher can copy their quirks and Noah's, flying in and turning their busted combo back on them," Victor concluded.

"Impossible!" Christopher shouted. "My「Mirror Maker」cannot reproduce Noah's wings!"

Name:「Christopher Cain」
Quirk:「Mirror Maker」

Type: Transformation

Description: Christopher can copy the quirks of anyone he sees, as long as they're Emitter or Transformation types. He can hold 2 quirks simultaneously.

"What about mine?" Kaylee questioned, tilting her head and pointing at herself. "It takes a bit of practice, but I can also fly with it."

"Yours is also a mutant type, so no dice! I'll have to rely on using Sora's quirk to keep Edith away from any of us," He continued. "If they're smart, they won't focus on me, but on Victor, then the others. Keep away from my range to accumulate as many points as possible with Edith's quirk and finish it by surrounding me!"

"Are they that smart, though?" Kaylee pointed out. "That bitch does nothing except stare at her phone and make snarky comments. Yui and Sora don't give the brainy vibe. Dunno about Orochi, though."

"Language, Kaylee," Noah chided, frowning. "... It is unwise to underestimate our competitors. But you're all forgetting one thing."

"..."

"..."

"..."

None of them replied. It wasn't a matter of thinking about what they were missing; they were simply shocked Noah had said "Language."

Their leader kept going through the silence. "Our objective is to fetch and escape. We don't have to use violence, only our superior mobility. If we find everything quickly, Christopher can get us out using Hifumi's quirk and end the match."

Victor sighed.

Kaylee pouted.

Christopher seemingly didn't react but was blinking rapidly beneath his goggles.

"Well, you're the leader. If you want us to play defensively and give them the initiative, it's your call," The blue-skinned boy said, shrugging.

Christopher copied his gesture. "It's stupid, but if I'm gonna lose points either way, I'd rather lose them later in the exercise."

The winged boy gave them a pout that surpassed Kaylee's. "C'mon, team... we're training to be heroes here."

"You're deep in denial!" Christopher accused.

"We're supposed to be the bad guys in this scenario," Kaylee concurred, "But as they said, you're the boss. We won't engage immediately, but that will only buy a few seconds."

"The time for talk is over. Villain Team, roll out!"

The speaker on their conference room's ceiling made the announcement. It was time for Match One.

Edit Report
Pub: 10 Apr 2023 19:03 UTC
Edit: 10 Apr 2023 21:02 UTC
Views: 497