Colors in the Dark

[42] Together

Once again, Ayami was on her way to her Work Studies with Hadou, Ochaco, and Tsu. They arrived, got their costumes on, and met up in the lobby for their assignment. However, the chestnut-haired girl was surprised to see Ryuukyuu already waiting for them, dressed and ready to go.

"You four will be with me today on our patrol," she explained. "And if anything should come up, I'd like you four to try out your new flight technique, engineered by Guardian, and see what improvements can be made."

"Yes ma'am," the four girls replied as the Pro Hero gestured to the door. They exited in-costume, and after a moment, Ryuukyuu's body transformed into a gigantic dragon. She sent the interns a grin before stretching her wings and shooting into the sky. "For now, we should probably just move about normally while Miss Ryuukyuu scouts ahead," Hadou reasoned.

Ayami nodded. "My spirits will appreciate the rest this early in the morning, but we'll certainly be keeping an eye out."

And for most of the day, that's how things went: just simple patrolling, and soon, Ryuukyuu landed in a clearing of roads and transformed back to normal to walk beside them. "No sign of trouble," she informed, "but our work isn't over until we've crossed the city."

The long walks that patrolling entailed were beginning to wear Ayami down, but she held her head high with a smile the whole time. My body's been getting more and more used to physical fights, if my training with Shinsou and Mr. Aizawa doesn't speak for itself already. I'm getting the real Pro experience, which is invaluable to any hero-to-be. Plus, being allowed to duck away for a few minutes every once and a while to check the holes and corners most Pros ignore is a good way to ensure even those in the shadows are protected from ne'er-do-wells.

By the time noon hit, Ryuukyuu finally let up. "Alright girls, we've been at this for quite a few hours. Let's find somewhere to rehydrate and-"

Gaia- a little forcefully- merged with Ayami, interrupting as their hair turned orange, then a light blue-green. "Allow me." With a wave of her hand, multiple free-floating spheres of water appeared in midair, and she reached out for one to drink. Show off, she told the spirit playfully, but appreciated the drink nonetheless.

"She's right; with her, I'm basically a walking water fountain, which luckily only focuses my stamina at the water molecules in the air to combine them instead of using my body's supply," the spirit-wielding girl informed them, "so no harm to me, either!"

The four around her looked surprised, experimentally poking the spheres, but thanks to Ayami's practiced control and Gaia's iron fist in perfecting her own talents, they didn't pop. They all, especially a dehydrated Tsu, had a refreshing drink with a word of thanks, continuing on their patrol. The sun was beginning to set quite early; winter was coming fast after all.

Ayami swept her gaze right to left, left to right, for any sign of strife. Nothing. That should be a good thing, but it's almost unsettling, just like last time...

It seemed Ryuukyuu noticed this as well, stopping at the abandoned street corner. "Now, you four should recall my saying- that super move combo idea you came up with, Guardian- and that it should be practiced? Well, now seems like the perfect time... and perhaps a few other tricks?"

~

Night fell as the girls practiced and patrolled from the sky, bird's eye view of the area breathtaking. The city lit up in bright whites and yellows, but screams and flashes of red and blue suddenly interrupted that.

From the aerial patrol, Ayami could hear a voice gasp below, fine-tuning her eardrums with Hecate's power to focus on the sound. "Those groups of villains are fighting each other!" There was a huge burst of light and energy, which shocked Ayami into freezing in midair. Hadou quickly noticed and sent her quirk's waves in a neutral down position so that they were hovering above the chaos.