Colors in the Dark

[58] Psychological Warfare

A/N: EXCUSE THE FACT THAT THIS UPDATE IS TWO MONTHS LATE PLEASE.

These next few chapters are being written before the release of Season 5. I know from your perspective it's way past then, and even after a chapter FROM season 5, but that was interjected upon release, and I've been getting way into my groove for this story (the long gap has been killing me, even though the release is right around the corner) to stop now. So, you'll get to see some training, some introspection, the growth of the sibling dynamic between Ayami and Todoroki, and a bit more about Ayami's missing honorary family for the time being. Hope you enjoy, my kits!

For hero training a few days after Endeavor's battle, 1-A was split up into groups. Those who already had Super Moves they could execute without issue were paired up to come up with more if they could, while the rest were spread out in Ground Beta's urban setting to spar and improve their work-in-progress ones.

Given the challenge Ectoplasm had given Ayami a while back, she had multiple working Super Moves. Whether it be Oblivion-rattling Nyx Panic, the elemental compilation Force of Nature, the recently-upgraded Seven Sages and, by extension, its next Echollection technique that allowed Manifested figures to appear based on powerful memories, or the list of in-the-works moves she still had yet to properly test, it was clear she'd be in the former group.

Still, given all the ins and outs of each sub-quirk, even though their first year was already almost three-quarters through, there was still so much Ayami had yet to unlock. It was a stretch to use three spirits at once without outside help, the same went for Gaia's Elements outside their Super Move; Ares' Copycat was useful but often underutilized due to a lack of training with other quirks, and she could never use too many at once; she had almost zero practice with full shapeshifting into animals and no practice with changing her appearance into that of another person or object using Hecate's power; Asclepius' Gift was underutilized even in team scenarios and her healing was underdeveloped; Manifest was often left out for her better-trained sub-quirks unless she was using Seven Sages or the aura trick, meaning the true extent of effects each emotion gave had yet to be fine-tuned; the extra practice before the school festival was just the beginning of her training with Ansaluia's Formation; she had recently been training with Brizo's mind reading, telekinesis, and obviously future sight, but more difficult techniques like teleportation and mind control were still out of her league, along with her pitiful range; and thought Deimos had come so incredibly far, probably the most out of all her sub-quirks, it was still finicky and too reliant on others to be the only power she trained up completely.

Todoroki tapped her on the shoulder. "You alright?"

Ayami shook her head, realizing she must have spaced out again. "Yeah, fine. So many ideas that my brain's struggling to process them all. And even though we've come so far, I still feel like I've just barely begun to unlock my true potential."

"Not to mention you can't stop thinking about what Recovery Girl told us... about our parents," Gaia said, uncharacteristically gentle. "You're so desperate to get stronger because you feel obligated to live up to their legacy, even if hardly anyone knows they had a child at all, let alone it being us."

"...And some other things," Ayami admit to him, but quickly shook her head. "It's fine. Anyway, how have your extra lessons with Bakugou under Gang Orca been coming along?" She called upon Gaia and Ares, hair an almost natural red-ginger-orange as her amber eyes took on a slightly brighter hue.

They stood across from each other, having left a lot of the class for a more open area their powerful quirks could flourish. Just like at the Licensing Exam, it was the Guardian and Frostburn duo. Ayami used Gaia's power to summon fire and ice, the same way the half-and-half boy once helped her use the elements he, too, wielded. Her hair shifted to become red and white, though it was horizontal and faded together instead of being half on one side half on the other.