My Hero Academia: Next Gen

Chapter 15: Lucky, Lucky

Inside the Ghost Town, Matsumoto scrambled in the sand to get to her feet. Jikan and Kiyori were closing in on her, Kiyori blocking her escape path, and Jikan's hand outstretched. She remembered his quirk from the first day of classes and eyed his hand carefully. One touch and she would be frozen, unable to move, and they would easily find Karada and their cat. She frowned. 

How would she get out of this? 

She reached behind her and felt the wall of the building, the wood planks hot and dry against her fingers. As she leaned back, she felt the plank move with her, and an idea sparked into existence. "Hey, Jikan," she said with a smirk. "You need to touch me for your quirk to work, right?"

"I guess you'll find out," he replied, lunging forward. 

Matsumoto gripped the plank with both hands and ripped it from its place. It broke free easily, only giving her a few splinters in the process. She quickly whipped around and grabbed it in her hands like a bat, swinging it in Jikan's direction. He jerked backwards, his outstretched hand getting a solid swipe across the palm.

He grunted and clutched his hand to his chest. "What the--"

Matsumoto chucked the plank at his face and sprinted around the other side of the building, tearing around the corner in a spray of sand that blinded Kiyori the instant he tried to follow her. She could feel the sand grinding against her feet as it got into her shoes, but she didn't care. A grin broke across her face. Her quirk had saved her yet again. If she hadn't stopped in just the right spot, she wouldn't have been in front of the broken plank, and she never would have escaped from their ambush. Lucky, lucky me, she thought to herself.

She saw a door of a building slightly ajar and sprinted up the steps and through the door, closing it behind her as quietly as possible. It wouldn't be long until Jikan or Kiyori came after her, but she had no time to think about that. Karada was alone at their home base, and she needed to get to the other team's before they found him. Karada was not going to be an easy fight, she knew, but two-against-one was hard for anyone, especially since they were all at around the same skill level.

Outside, she heard the soft crunch of feet on sand and held her breath, crouching down below the window facing the main road. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she heard the boys discussing something before running off together in the opposite direction from her. Taking in a few more deep breaths, she risked a peek through the dusty window and saw them down the road, in the direction of her team's base. She hissed in annoyance before carefully exiting the building and running around the other side of the building out of their line of vision.

If her team's base was at one end of the street, then the other team's must be at the other, she reasoned. She smiled to herself as she ran. If both of the boys were running to Karada, that meant that their base was completely unprotected. If she was quick enough, she might be able to finish this match before either of the boys realized what had happened.

The sand seemed to be getting hotter the longer Matsumoto was out in the sun, and she flicked away a few beads of sweat as she checked behind building after building for their unattended blue circle and stuffed turtle. How much time had passed? Would she make it in time?

She prayed her quirk would be enough to help them win the match.

___

Karada stood in front of the red hoola-hoop-like circle in the sand, a happy little stuffed cat propped in the very middle. He squinted his eyes against the sun and rubbed his exposed skin. His hero costume didn't cover up much of his body, which was preferable considering his quirk, but that meant that the sun was shining on most of him constantly. He could almost see the steam rising off of his arms.