Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 178 HIDDEN

“You can’t be serious,” Nejire said as Tank and Payback headed off. They said they would sign me up for a fight. I was getting excited. 

“What? I don’t have a hero license,” I said. “Technically I’m not breaking any rules.”

“But you can’t use your quirk-“

“Against a villain, civilian, for personal gain, or without the express permission/supervision of one of the UA teachers,” I quoted from the rule book. “It’s summer break, Nejire. I’ve seen you use your quirk 3 times since we got here. And Toru can’t stop using it. Besides, I’m not going to really use my quirk. I’m mainly going to stick to physical attacks.” 

“Still, are you sure?” Toru asked meekly. 

“Yep,” I said. “Consider it training. We are supposed to be heroes. When a villain attacks we don’t know their strength. We are expected to fight them with no information. I need to get used to fighting an unknown.”

“But so many people are watching,” Nejire said. 

“Which is why I gave them the name Gambit,” I said. “No one will recognize me.”

“We’ve had 2 separate groups recognize you from the Sports Festival,” Toru said. 

“Fine,” I said, turning around I did a hand seal and changed my face with chakra. Turning back I had a wide smile on my face. 

“A handlebar mustache?” Nejire asked, annoyance in her voice. “Do you walk around with one?”

“Yep, you don’t?” I asked. 

“It’s kind of hot,” Toru said. 

“Oh you like the mustache?” I asked. “Should we do a mustache ride later.”

“Yes please,” Toru said, unashamed. “We haven’t had nearly as much sex as I promised.”

“Deal,” I laughed. 

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea,” Nejire said. “What if someone finds out?”

“What is someone that we know going to say? Hey, I heard you were in an underground fighting match. No this is a gray area, Pixie,” I said, grabbing her hand to kiss it. “I’m sure there’s something like this back home too. We spend all of our time fighting one another. I want to get experience against someone that actually knows what they’re doing.”

“Jeez you really like to fight, huh?” Nejire asked. 

“Wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,” I said. “I doubt you’d be at UA if you didn’t.” She frowned but dropped it. 

“You gonna place a bet?” Rogue asked, turning around. 

“Hell yeah,” I said excitedly. I was enjoying how much betting was going on. Tank and Payback were soon sitting with us. “When do I go?”

“Soon, someone backed out of a fight,” Tank admitted. 

“Oh yeah? The opponent strong?” I asked excitedly. 

“Yeah, he’s a-“

“Don’t tell me, I want it to be a surprise,” I said. “Come on girls, let’s get some food. Place a bet or 2.”

“I can’t believe we are doing this,” Toru said excitedly. “It’s like we are undercover in the underworld.”

“Why do you seem so at home here?” Nejire asked, eyeing me up and down. 

“It helps knowing we could kick all their asses if they tried anything,” I admitted. “Look at most of these people? Battle junkies. Bored gang members. Hell I bet half of these people have a record. But look at security.” Pointing to the tough looking men and women walking around in suits it was easy to tell that they were probably ex-heroes too. “I doubt anything bad would happen with these guys keeping it civil.”

“Holy cow, I didn’t notice them,” Toru said. “They’re security?”

“Oh yeah, my guess is they are yakuza,” I admitted. 

“Nothing you are saying makes me happy we are here,” Nejire said. “I’ve never even been in trouble in my life. I feel like cops could bust in at any time.”

“Looks like here’s the bookie,” I said pointing to a booth with a line of people coming up. “Let’s place the bet. You girls can have the winnings. Then we head out of here, alright? Or we go now, and go back to the hotel and do a midnight swim.”

“I vote option 1,” Toru said. We looked to Nejire. She nervously looked around. 

“You think you can win?” She asked. 

“No idea. That’s why it’s called a bet,” I said with a wide smile. 

“Fine,” she said, letting out a sigh. “But we leave right after.”

“Sounds good,” I said. Toru clapped excitedly. It was good to know that she enjoyed other types of danger besides a quickie on the beach. 

We placed a bet on me. My opponent was a guy named Momentum. The odds were 50 to 1. I was an unknown and he was a regular. I’d have to get serious for this fight. But my true goal was to test my Quirk evolution. Now that I had an idea what the evolution was it was time to try it out. 

They didn’t check IDs and the girls were soon ordering wine and acting like we were high class patrons. They also ordered a bunch of nachos, funnel cakes, and cotton candy. I didn’t see any kids in the place. I wondered if the arena was used for things besides underground fights during the day. 

“You nervous?” Tank asked. 

“Excited,” I said. 

“That’s the spirit,” Tank said, clapping my back. “I remember my first fight here. I was puking my guts out in the locker room. You sure you don’t want to change into something?”

“Na,” I said. I wanted to wear my hero costume but that would be too recognizable. Despite what I said I was nervous about getting found out. “How’d you get sucked into a fight like this?”

“Me? Oh I beat up a villain a little too hard,” Tank said. “I was new to hero gigs. My friends and I started our hero agency together right after we graduated.” He pointed at Rogue, Mage, and Druid. “There was this villain we were looking into. He had been mugging people. If the person he stole from was a girl he would molest them. Well he made the mistake of touching my sister. When we caught him I roughed him up a little too much. My hero license was suspended.”

He let out a long sigh. Leaning back in his seat he continued, “wasn’t long until someone approached me. Asked me to join the QDF.”

“QDF?” Nejire asked, intent as she munched on a nacho. 

“Quirk Defense Force,” Tank said. “Basically the Japanese military division for people with quirks. It’s not very big. Very…invitation only. I thought about it. The pay was good and we all joined up. That’s where we met Payback.” The blonde waved, intent on the fight going on. 

“Got some good training. Did some joint operations with other quirk forces from different countries. Got us enough experience, we decided to make our own Muirk group.”

“Contract work? Or you have a day job?” I asked, curious. 

“Long term contract,” he said with a smile. “Pays the bills and keeps us together.”

“Sounds fun,” I admitted. I could see doing something like that. Sent off to different fights around the world. “Ever regret it? Miss hero work?”

“I did at the start,” Tank admitted. “Who didn’t want to be known as the strongest and most famous hero? Now, I don’t have to walk on my tiptoes with every fight.”

“And you invited me because…”

“Because you’re UA,” he said with a laugh. “Gotta represent. What can I say? I miss the old days. Back when it was simple. Taking classes. Training with friends. It was one of the best times of my life.”

“It is pretty great,” I agreed. He started talking about his time there. He and the other 3 had been in class 1-A. They quickly became best friends. Doing everything together. But it wasn’t too long before it was my turn. 

I was getting nervous as I walked down the stands to my entrance into the chain link ring. I decided to fight in a muscle shirt and simple shorts. My muscles bulging I noticed the deep scars in my skin. They had appeared on me after Kuma made me feel the pain of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji. Deep lines in my chest, arms, and legs. That proved that if I lost a limb in one world, I’d lose it in others. World Lasting Physique was for muscles and wounds it seemed. 

Looking up, I noticed my opponent on the opposite side of the ring. He was bigger than I expected. At least 7 feet tall he had a quirk that made his facial features very angular. Almost sharppoints for a nose and eyebrows. Dark tan skin he wore a costume that was black on top and gray on bottom. It was obviously armored since it didn’t move as he breathed. 

We opened the gates into the ring as the crowd roared. Stretching I studied him as someone announced, “we have a new challenger today. Straight off the streets welcome the ex-hero Gambit.” They announced most everyone as an ex-hero so I wasn’t too surprised. 

“The returning fighter needs no introduction, but I will anyway. Let’s hear a round of applause for Momentum!” The crowd loudly yelled and cheered for the man. He raised his hands up, enjoying the attention. 

I threw a few punches going through my plan as I dropped the temperature around me. My real goal here was to try to find out how my quirk changed. I didn’t plan on losing though either. Breathing in and out I thought about my power. I could just think and pull out heat wherever I wanted near my body. But when I was a kid it only worked from my hands. I needed to remember that if I was going to try to use the new part. 

“Fighters, are you ready?!” The announcer asked. We both nodded. “And begin!” He yelled. 

Momentum didn’t wait. Running forward I dodged to the side as hr went straight for me. I was dodging him easily but then he sped up. I didn’t notice it at first, but he was speeding up exponentially. I dodged to the side and he kept running. Making a wide U-turn as if he couldn’t stop. 

I guessed his power was literally that. Momentum. The longer he moved the more powerful he became. I decided to close the distance. Throwing a punch to the face his momentum ceased as he was thrown to the side. 

“And the new guy stops his Pile Driver,” the announcer yelled. “But that’s not the only move our guy has!”

Momentum got up spitting a tiny bit of blood. “Not bad, kid,” he said. “Let’s see if you can handle the real thing.” He punched his knuckles together. Walking toward me I met him halfway and started blocking the hits. 

The attacks were slow at first. I met them with an open palm. Trying to pull energy from the man. It took 10 hits for me to feel something. Almost a…reflection. 

I felt the blow hit my hand but as I did I felt the hit almost bounce back. As if instead of absorbing the energy I sent it away. That must have been the Give part of my quirk. 

Momentum sped up and I continued to test it. Meeting each hit with the palm of my hand I slowly got the feel of my power. If I activated it right when the guy hit me it would reflect back the power. Throwing his arm back with each hit. I was understanding the Give part. Slowly but surely showing that it was a powerful move. 

Then I messed up. Absorbing it at the wrong time Momentum hit my palm and it broke through my strength. Pushing me back he had a wild look in his eyes as he closed the distance again. I blocked a few more blows then was being pushed back.  

Each hit was stronger than the last. I was finding out that along with running, his punching also had momentum. His power increasing with every blow I had to start getting serious. 

Jumping back, I increased my strength with chakra. Momentum came at me again. At least 3 times stronger than he originally was. It didn’t matter though. I was stronger. 

Dodging a hit I decked him in the stomach. Throwing him back he flew a good 10 feet. Landing on his back he groaned but got up. I smirked, waving him back to me. He growled and was beginning it all over again. 

I met each hit with an open palm. About half of them were being reflected back. I was starting to get the hang of it and his blows became harder to handle I started throwing in my own hits. Kicking and punching I met his weak guards easily. It was second nature to go for them as I used Observation Haki. 

“Should have left my weights on,” I grumbled to myself as I backhanded him. He stumbled a few steps but was then back on me. 

I kept the fight going longer than I needed to. Practicing with giving his kinetic energy back. Taking it was still out of my reach. But by the time the guy was too tired to continue I was able to reflect back 1 out of 3 punches. 

Before Momentum could go in for another attack I leapt to his side. Kicking the side of his head he flew away. Hitting the chain link hard as he was knocked out. The fight called, I walked out. Sweating all over I had enjoyed the fight. I doubted anyone else in class would have done so well physically. Though I looked young. I had a lot of experience. 

“Nicely done,” Tank said as I walked up to them. 

“Thanks. He was pretty strong,” I noted. “But not quite enough.”

“I’d get out of here if I were you,” Rogue said. “That guy doesn’t like losing. I’m sure you cost him some money.”

“I’m sure,” I said with a laugh. “Shall we?” I asked the girls. They patted their now full stomachs and nodded. 

“This was fun,” Toru said while we waited in line to collect our winnings. 

“You have fun, Nejire?”

“I did. It was pretty hot watching you fight,” she said, grabbing my hand. “Still have energy for some late night beach fun?” 

“Always,” I said, kissing her forehead. 

Toru yawned loudly as she leaned against my other arm. “Carry me outside. I’m tired.”

“Later,” I promised. Patting her head we were much richer. A whole million yen. An amount that the girls were soon splitting between each other. I had considered more, but if the place was run by yakuza I didn’t want to piss them off.