Stuck Between Realities-Remastered

Part 44~Little Tricks

Momo let out a sigh of breath as she looked over at the man standing in front of her. He was tall and covered in muscles, which was definitely something she didn't want to deal with.

"Everything will be okay? Are you sure about that? What you say sounds just like what someone who wants to be a hero would say. Your kind shows up everywhere talking about justice." Muscular paused before he grinned. "You're the one called Yaoyorozu, right?"

Momo frowned as she heard Jiro suck in a breath, staying out of sight until Momo's signal did not protect her from hearing the fight.

"This is perfect. We were told to take the initiative and kill you. I'll make sure to torment you thoroughly, though, so show me your blood!" Muscular ripped off his cloak as he got ready to attack.

Momo held Kota tighter as the energy started to power around her body. She jumped over Muscular's attack, landing on the other side as she kicked his back. He barely noticed as he quickly spun around, throwing Momo into a wall. Momo protected Kota, only having time to throw him away before Muscular punched her stomach, cracking the wall behind her.

Kota gasped about to call out when a hand wrapped around his mouth, and Jiro pulled him to the side. "Don't say anything. Momo will be fine, but we've got to be quiet."

Kota didn't look convinced as Muscular picked Momo up, her body sagging in the air like a ragdoll. "I almost forgot. If you know, tell me, where's the kids called Bakugo and Midoriya?" Momo didn't respond, but Muscular continued anyway. "I still have to do my job. Can I take that as an 'I don't know'?" Muscular poked Momo. "Don't tell me you're already dead." He poked her again as Momo's head snapped away. She pulled the flash bomb as Muscular screamed, dropping her.

Once on the floor, Momo pulled the spun gun out of her palm, jabbing it into Muscular's leg as he stumbled back. Jiro protected Kota's eyes before they peered around the cliff. Muscular wasn't on the ground. He was standing tall and laughing.

"What a neat trick, but that won't work on me!" Muscular ripped the stun gun out of Momo's hand, crushing it in his palm before punching her. She barely responded in time to stop herself crashing into the cliff again.

She glanced past Muscular at Jiro, moving her fingers before she charged.

Muscular grinned, punching forward as Momo ducked down, jabbing at his side before jumping out of the way of his kick. She couldn't get away as Muscular grabbed her hair, throwing her to the side and ripping a chunk of it out.

Momo stumbled to her feet as Muscular threw the hair into the wind.

"This is great! It's what I wanted! This is so fun! What'd you say earlier? Everything would be okay? Why are you running away then?"

Momo darted forward, jumping and kicking at the man's head as he hit her leg, resulting in a loud cracking sound as Momo dropped to the ground. She bit her lip, rolling aside from Muscular's next attack, jumping far off as she braced her leg with rope.

"Is this the best you can do? So disappointing!" Muscular charged as Momo grinned, holding up a trigger and pressing the button on it. In a second, charges surrounding Muscular went out, foam exploding out the tiny bombs and solidifying around Muscular.

Momo let out a sigh of relief, lowering her head when she heard the cracking. Muscular smashed out the substance, brushing off the dust as if it were nothing. "Is that all your Quirk can do? Make little tricks? My Quirk lets me power up my muscles! I increase my speed and strength by increasing the amount of muscle fibres so much that it can't be covered by my skin. What am I trying to say? I'm bragging. In other words, you are a completely weak person with only a few weak tricks. What do you have to be proud of?"

Momo gritted her teeth as the power surged through her more. "Will you shut up!" Momo charged, punching at Muscular as he caught her fisk, crushing it in his hand.

"Do you understand how I feel? I can't help but laugh." He punched Momo again before spinning her around, slamming her into the ground. "Everything will be okay? How can you be sure of that? Don't just spout lip service; you can't actually pull it off. Be honest with yourself."

Momo watched the next punch come before she twisted her own body, a pop echoing out her shoulder as she forced it to twist unnaturally. "I told you to shut up! Everything will be okay! Because I won't let you hurt him or anyone else again." Momo kicked Muscular's jaw, forcing him away and finally getting her hand free.

She didn't bother tending to it as she charged again, ducking under his fists as she jumped up, once again hitting his jaw.

Kota stared in horror as he watched the fight, holding onto Jiro's hand as the girl muttered to herself. "Come on, Momo. Come on."

Momo didn't stop moving, running about wildly, hitting at Muscular's jaw, knees, elbows, all the joints. Muscular growled in frustration as the muscles exploded out of his body. He went to grab Momo as she jumped over his arms, kicking down at his head. She was about to jump off again when Muscular grabbed her ankle, throwing her to the ground. "You're definitely better than I thought you were, but it's time our little game ended."

Momo groaned, her head bleeding more as stars danced in her vision. Jiro let out a shaky breath before she turned to Kota. "Kota, run. Run far, and don't look bad. Go!" Jiro pushed the boy behind her as she charged out, letting out a scream as she charged at Muscular.

He let out a startled laugh as he caught Jiro's weak punch. "Did you really think that would do anything?"

"No. But this will." The earphone jacks dug into the floor as the vibrations burst out. Without warning, the ground crumbled beneath them.

"Kyoka!" Momo shot to her feet, diving for Jiro as she fell. Her fingers reached out desperately as Jiro reached out to her. Momo let out a terrified sound as she gripped Jiro tightly, holding her palm and pulling with all her might. Jiro dug her fingers into the rough surface, pulling herself up and collapsing next to Momo. "Why did you do that? You could have died?"

Jiro smiled. "I had faith you'd catch me."

Momo let out a weak laugh before rolling onto Jiro's shoulders, her emotions crashing on her as Jiro ran her fingers through the bloodied hair.

Kota stepped close awkwardly. "You saved me."

"Of course," Jiro smiled as she helped Momo up. "That's what heroes do."

As Momo got to her feet, a hollow echo of a laugh bounced around the cliff. "Now that was a good trick, but as I said," Muscular jumped back onto the cliff with a crash, "little tricks don't work on me."