The Dragon Of MHA - Chapter 39

AN: This chapter has been edited to match the timeline. I completely forgot that the training camp was during the summer break.

And like that, our little trip to I-island had ended and we were back in Japan. It’s been about a week since we came back and I had been focusing on f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y transforming my body into a draconic form. So far I can partially transform one limb at a time, and hold it for a maximum of 10 seconds. Not as much as I would’ve liked, but compared to where I was before, it’s great progress.

Ji-san has been living on I-island since I left and David has been fixing him up with top of the line prosthetics that would normally cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I am extremely grateful to Mr. Shield, but still, Gray’s words echo inside my head, “If you join us, we can heal your friend’s limbs.”

‘Tch, I know the risks, but for Ji-san…’

On my way to the gym, I flip the phone in my hand looking down at it. While I have no plans of calling them anytime soon, it’s not just something that I can leave around, so I keep it on me most of the time.

Surprisingly, the gauntlets had come in rather quickly despite the short time frame. Somehow he had managed to compress the vents while still keeping their efficiency. So now instead of gauntlets, now they resemble red gloves with clawed tips.

After testing it out, I found that the fire solidified easier now and took even less concentration to hold. Might have something to do with the compressed vents or something, but I wouldn’t know.

Instead of thick metal wrist bands, now I have two small red bands on either hand, and one of them doubles as a watch, so that’s useful.

The last major development is that Momo has started to train harder and become stronger. She joined the Platinum Gym, and I have been helping her improve her combat skills. She was already proficient at using weapons, but her hand to hand combat skills and physical power was lacking and she’s been sparring with me and some of the other people at the gym.

“Yo,” I greet the receptionist and she greets me back, “Momo is here already and sounds like she’s been training with Shigure.”

“Thanks.”

I head up to the fourth floor, but to my surprise, it’s almost completely empty except for a few people who are training on their own. Upstairs I can hear a ruckus, but I decide I’ll check up there next.

Looking around, I walk towards one of the regulars who is working on a punching bag, “Yo, Ren!”

Ren was a little older than me and in his 3rd and final year of high school.

“Sup, Natsu,” he takes a break from the bag and looks at me.

“Uhm, where did everyone go?”

He grins and points up, “Didn’t anyone tell you, Momo is running the gauntlet.”

“…”

“…”

We both look at each other for a few seconds, “You’re joking right?”

“Nope.”

I facepalm myself as I remember mentioning the Gauntlet to her.

“Argh, I told her not to do it. She must’ve asked about it and tried it out.”

The Gauntlet was a form of training that tested your stamina, strength as well as skill. If you sign up for it, you can win six months of free membership. But there is a reason why the reward is so big.

In order to win, you must fight ten defenders in a row with only a short break in between. There are only a few rules, and you can use any style, or weapon as long as no one gets injured too badly. The “defenders” are people who are randomly selected based on who is present. Depending on who is present, you may have an easier gauntlet or a harder one. I used to do these frequently as it was a good experience and I got the free membersh.i.p.s. Eventually, I stopped because it got too boring, and only a few people could stand against me.

But for most people, it’s an intense, grueling series of fights that wear you down each round.

I rush to the fifth floor and push a few people aside to get a better view.

‘Jesus Christ is the whole gym here?’

I finally make it to an area where I can see and look into the ring.

Momo is currently fighting against Yuto Takeda, a medium height guy with spiky dark blue hair, large square eyebrows, and circular eyes. He was a boxer that utilized his quirk, “Rebound” to rebound physical attacks in the form of shockwaves. It doesn’t negate his damage though.

Currently, Momo was keeping him at bay by using a Bo staff and doing a good job at it too, as Yuto was having trouble finding an opening. However, it looked like Yuto’s quirk was taking its toll, as when Momo struck Yuto’s shoulder, she winced slightly as the shockwaves traveled through her Bo staff and reverberated inside her.

‘At least she is using a weapon, that dulls the effect of Rebound. His quirk works better in hand to hand combat.’

I tap the shoulders of the guy next to me, “How many rounds has she done?”

“This is her fourth round, she went through the first two rounds easy enough and fought against Milim in the third”

‘Milim is a brown belt in karate, I think she joined up recently. I forgot her quirk though.’

The man continues, “She struggled a little but managed to beat her. This one and the next one are looking though, look.”

He points to the roster on the wall which shows the list of defenders.

Milim Tachibana

Yuto Takeda

Shigure Kosaka

“Ah, I see.”

Shigure Kosaka, another regular, was an expressionless weapons master and had seemed to have taken a liking to Momo and was helping her learn how to use a variety of weapons. However, just because she was helping her, doesn’t mean she would go easy. Coupled with her quirk “Reflex,” she was notorious for being one of the toughest defenders you could get. ‘Plus she has that…’

“Looks like this round will be wrapping up soon.”

Momo uses her bo to sweep Yuto off of his feet, but he jumps in the air to avoid it. Momo kicks him and he tumbles to the ground. By the time he could recover, Momo already had her staff pointed at his face.

Sighing, he raises his hand in the air and surrenders, “I give.”

The referee blows his whistle, “Yuto Takeda forfeits, Momo Yaoyarozu moves to the fourth round of the Gauntlet.”

The whole arena cheers and people start to receive and give money from bets people have made. As I look around, I can tell that a lot of people lost money from betting on Yuto.

Momo sees me and runs to the sideline and hugs me, “I did it!”

Hugging her back, I say, “Yeah, you did. Also, I thought I told you to not do the Gauntlet.”

Keeping her arms wrapped around me, she looks at me for a few seconds before saying, “You’ve been a bad influence?”

“Sure, whatever. Anyways, you got to get ready for your next match. After all, you are against her.”

She nods and we both look towards the stage, where a lady in a pink kimono with dark green hair tied up in a ponytail. She also had zig-zag eyebrows, and strapped to her back is a wooden Katana

I greet Shigure, “Yo Shigure, try not to rough her up too much.”

She simply nods and draws her sword.

“Quiet as always,” turning back to Momo, I say, “Well, good luck.”

The referee steps back onto the stage as well, “The fifth round of the Gauntlet, our contestant, Momo Yaoyarozu versus the Defender, Shigure Kosaka. Are both sides ready?”

He looks at Momo, who nods her head, then turns to Shigure who does the same.

“START!”

Momo rushes forwards and performs a downward swing with her bo, which Shigure easily blocks. Pulling the bo back, Momo thrusts forward, attempting to hit Shigure, however she simply swings her sword, deflecting the strike aside.

This time, Shigure attacks with a downwards slash. Momo rolls to the side to dodge, but the blade strikes her shoulder. She leaps back and tries to put space in between them, but Shigure is relentless and chases her down.

With the fatigue from the previous rounds, she was too slow to escape.

‘Ah shit, here we go again.’

*Swish* *Slash* *Schwing*

Cuts appear on Momo’s clothes, and then… it falls away, exposing Momo to the whole gym.

“Kyaaa!”

The crowd goes insane, “There it is! The Famous Clothing Slasher! The match has quickly ended as another victim is added to the list of people whose clothes have been cut to shreds, by Shigure! Momo’s gauntlet has been cut to an end.”

Momo creates a tarp and covers herself before she starts walking off the stage in embarrassment, but she gets stopped by Shigure.

“Yes?”

Shigure shows a small smile, “You’ve been improving. Keep it up.”

Momo is slightly surprised, and manages to put together a few words, “Uh…huh… Thank you, Shigure.”

The rest of the gym is stunned, ‘Shigure smiled?!?!?!’

The two females walk off of the arena together and head to the locker to change, leaving the rest of us shocked at the events of what had just happened.

After another night of training, Momo and I are walking back home together.

“How are you feeling?”

“While I was fighting, I wasn’t as sore, but when I went back to change and started to relax, the fatigue hit me like a truck and suddenly my whole body was hurting.”

In a slightly arrogant tone, I say, “Well, I can’t say that I didn’t tell you.”

She gives me a side glance, “Oh yeah, I remember, you said, “Don’t try the Gauntlet, you aren’t ready yet.” and then you ran away to go train with other people while Shigure helped me out. You were veryyy helpful.”

We bicker for a few more minutes and eventually quiet down.

“Ahh, I just remembered that tomorrow is the camp! Argh, I’m gonna be sore tomorrow.”

“Ah yes, the camp.”

She turns to me with a half excited, half pained look, “Where do you think it’s gonna be?”

I shrug my shoulders, “No idea, I thought that you would know since you’re assistant class rep.”

She rolls her eyes, “You probably got the same information as me. For security reasons, the location of the camp will not be revealed until the day of, so your guess is as good as mine. All we know is that it’s somewhere in the mountains, and that’s a little more than seventy percent of Japan.”

‘And yet, they still end up finding the camp.’

“Well, either way, It’s gonna be fun.”

Momo looks at me and notices something, “Wow, Natsu, are you that excited for the camp? I know that you are saying that you are, but you have that grin, and you are letting off fire.”

Unconsciously, a grin had broken out on my face and fire had burst from my hands, “Oh, yeah, I’m just really excited for the camp. I’m sure it’s gonna be very fun.”

Meanwhile, in a musty bar on the side of the street in the Kamino Ward, a group of people were gathering.

*Stain POV*

Shigaraki is talking to someone, “So? Did you bring them, Giran?”

A middle-aged man in a purple suit, with a wool scarf and round glasses, smoking a cigar, waves his hand dismissively, “Yeah, yeah, my boys are unloading them, there were several orders you know.”

“Tch.”

A few minutes pass and several wooden crates labeled, “Kirin,” are brought down into the bar.

“Feel free to open them,” and he takes an inhale of his Cigar.

I open the crate that has my name on the side and inside is a long flat box.

Taking it out, I open it on the side, while Toga, Dabi, Mustard, Magne, and Compress all start to look for their stuff.

Opening my case, I see a long glint of metal mixed with flashes of red, as well as a few other smaller stuff on the side. The metal flashes onto my face and lights up my grin.

“This… this would work.”

I can still remember the pain of my hands getting cut off, and remember the face of the boy who did it.

“Natsu… soon, you’ll be dead, along with any other fakes who call themselves heroes.”

AN: I’ll try to get back into my normal publishing schedule soon.