thenearshore | [closed] sometimes the only payoff for having faith

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[closed] sometimes the only payoff for having faith

Who: Team Aidos (Izuku, Kido and Shouto)
What: Prayer 20
When: Whatever day today is ICly
Where:n The Near Shore
Warnings: fighting an ayakashi and also a team of self-sacrificing dumbasses.

Kido's used to Deku's selfless streak. They've done a few prayers now. Kind ones and weird ones and ones that they probably should've walked out (2/3 crossdressing in a team is not like the greatest score here). But they've always been safe. Deku seems to play things safe when he can, and she appreciates that. Calm prayers, safe prayers, and a few incredibly dangerous incidents of bullshit thanks to the heavens. But that does mean she's not used to facing something this big or dangerous by choice.

And a part of her wants to shake her boss because why. Morality and shame does not mean freaking war, Izuku. Why do you insist on punching things you shouldn't punch?

"If we get messed up doing this, boss, I'm never going to forgive you."

They're gonna get messed up probably.

She's never going to forget it.

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"If you get hurt, I'm switching it the other way." But at least that sounds like agreement from Kido.

She hates this power more than anything. When is it ever going to come to any good other than painting a giant target on Deku?

"Don't do anything stupid like that. There could be more around."

He sighs, but he nods. "That's fair." He doesn't plan to get hurt during the luring phase. "I'll need you to switch it the other way once it's in the lot anyway." He doesn't usually have the element of surprise on his side, but it would be dumb not to use all of the cards in his hands when it comes to getting rid of an ayakshi, right?

"If we go invisible once we're there we're less likely to bring in more of them." So far this seems pretty solid to him. There's a small possibility that they'll end up with more than what they meant to- but at least they won't be in danger of destroying somebody's house.

He'll look over at Shouto, an idea of what his power might be, it's more than likely his quirk, but it's a bit unfortunate they didn't have time to double check it before today. "What do you think it is, Todoroki?"

A small noise of approval follows Izuku's eventual agreement to Kido, because it's both tactically sound and appeases him as a shinki with a recklessly selfless god. But he's thinking about it, mulling over the plan and their cards, before he answers.

"Ice and fire." He makes sure to tack fire on second, putting a highlight on the ice aspect for Kido's sake. Besides, fire in an enclosed space wouldn't be their best bet. Especially on the Near Shore. "We could probably trap the ayakashi in with ice, if I'm right. It would also make it so Kido's power would be localized, and hopefully keep others from being drawn in."

She clenches her fists in her hoodie pocket and swallows, hoping they don't notice. She feels like a coward.

"Well, it's better than just punching it until it dies and hoping it stays still." She sighs and buries her face up to her nose in the neck of her pullover. She trusts both of them or she'd be asking for an out immediately.

She looks at Deku again, seriously. "You're sure this will work, right?"

Izuku, unfortunately for her, does notice- years of watching people means years of experience on catching small nuances. Even still, he won't draw attention towards it.

"This will work." He sounds sure of that. There's like a 80 percent chance it'll work and a 20 percent chance that they'll have to deal with way more ayakashi than they meant to- but there are limits to everything and every quirk. The increased attention part of Kido's ability can't be localized to just one thing- it just is what it is.

"We'll draw it in and then we'll trap it with ice. If it's from Todoroki's vessel form the ice itself should be capable of rending the ayakashi."

He has no idea how to use Shouto's quirk, but maybe it'll mostly be controlled by him like Kido's is controlled by her. ~~They're not that lucky.~~

Likewise, Shouto opts to not say anything about it, squinting off in the direction of the ayakashi instead. If they can just... keep it to this one, then it should go smoothly. If they draw more, then they'll have some trouble, but in the end he believes Midoriya on this one.

It'll work.

"That'd be convenient." He's not jinxing it, but he's not going to put all of his hope on it, either. "It's sound, though. Locking it in one location, combined with your perception, makes movement for us easier and harder for it."

She takes another deep breath and nods. "Then let's get this over with, right?"

She's afraid if she thinks about it anymore, she'll start to feel sick from anxiety. It's always better to act. You don't have time to think about worrying when you're doing something.

"Right. Let's do this."

The plan is set, all they have to do is follow it. He's not too anxious about this- it's more or less what he's been training himself for back home. Fighting villains is something he knows he can do, especially with Kido and Shouto.

"Useruki, Kouki." He reaches his hands out to grab them both as they turn into their vessel forms.

Joining Kido, Shouto takes a deep breath, too, before closing his eyes when his vessel name is called. This is still weird, but he figures it's about the weirdest thing about the entire situation anyways, so. At least it isn't being sprung on him right before a fight.

Still, he has to settle into being a combat vest, which is not something he feels he would ever have expected while he was alive.

This is becoming comfortable to her. She has no right to feel this way, but she feels safe when Deku carries her. It's easier to be this way.

"All right. I'll try to get it's attention. Brace yourself."

She feels warm whenever she uses her powers like this. It's kind of like how her eyes heat up when she uses her powers in her normal body. Either way, it takes a few seconds, but it's not that long before anyone who can notice Deku probably will notice Deku.

(If she remembered her life, she'd wonder how Momo dealt with this.)

He puts Shouto on- that's going to take a while to get used to. The vest is a little heavier than it looked- but he's pretty sure that's all the wiring it's got in it. Shouto could regulate his own body temperature even during a fight, but that's attention that should be on a battle. Still, he doesn't have much time to dwell on it considering what they're about to do.

He grasps Kido firmly in his right hand, she's safer there, the side Izuku's expecting ice on. Once he's clearly being noticed, especially by the huge ayakashi and a swarm of smaller ones, he activates One for All, making a superhuman dash for the empty lot. He's still at a good 10%, nothing's in danger of getting broken just yet.

Being held was strange enough, but being worn is another experience all of its own. But Shouto doesn't comment, just focuses on what they're meant to be doing. The moment that they get the ayakashi's attention and Izuku makes a run for it, he starts to warm up on the right side, like the circuitry and tech in the vest is powering up for the work it's about to go through.

The left side stays the same temperature, like he's making sure that Izuku keeps the fire aspect of his quirk out of his mind. Maybe Kido is safely on the cold half, but that doesn't mean they should be using it right now anyways.

Not in an enclosed lot when there hasn't been any training with it.

If she knew they were being this careful, Kido would be more grateful for them than she already is. She's pretty grateful already, but she'd be even more. ~~She'll never admit to them it's kind of nice being taken care of.~~

But the weird sense she gets (can she hear without ears or see without eyes?) turns her on to a kinda problem.

"I don't think there's supposed to be that many."

"It can't be helped." It's unfortunate that they're being followed by more than just the muck ayakashi, but that's the drawback, "We'll deal with them when we get to the lot."

It doesn't take them too much longer to get there, Izuku's much faster than anybody would expect him to be, after all.

The muck monster has definitely noticed them and followed them all the way to the lot- along with a small hoard of other ayakashi.

"We're here, turn it down." At the very least they can work in invisibility.

"Todoroki, ready?" Time for phase two.

The weird sense at least lets them keep track of things, and when they get into the lot, Shouto is taking in their surroundings and trying to figure out a good setup for what they intend to do. It won't be hard, in theory - he could do it with just a thought and a powerful gesture, but he's not sure how much control Izuku will manage to exert over the power.

"Try not to coat the ground in much ice - you don't have the precision to navigate on that kind of surface as quickly as you intend to be moving." He's not sure how much it would impede the ayakashi, anyways, being made of what it is and... well, being an ayakashi.

But - "Go. Aim for the buildings and behind it."

The switch is as powerful as she can make it. She knows how to control this part, anyway. Want to be invisible?

She has to let herself be scared.

She's going to have a headache from a switch that fast later, but for now, she's pulling him out of sight as she can. She wonders if she can double up and use her own powers, the ones that give her red eyes. But this is a little too dangerous of a situation to try. She wants to see what this power does--he can't keep her in this hand if it's the one that's going to be using the power, can he?

He needs to use his right hand for this, he's watched Shouto use his powers before. He has an incredibly vague idea about how it's supposed to work. Luckily Shouto's combat vest also comes with pockets, so he'll gently make sure Kido's secure there before trying the ice side.

With a strong gesture from his right side, he does manage to cover the buildings behind the ayakashi. But unfortunately Izuku has absolutely no control over Shouto's quirk, which means everything in the lot is suddenly covered in uneven ice, and he's shivering from the force of it.

"Shit." Maneuverability is going to be incredibly low, he can move on ice- but not as well as solid ground. At least the ayakashi they've lured in are properly trapped.

If he'd realized, Shouto would have given him more instruction. But here they are, Izuku's inability to use moderation coming into effect. He tries not to think about the fact that he just put Kido in her vessel form into a pocket of his own vessel form, and instead just... focuses on the ice that floods the lot.

Automatically, like it's second nature, he works to warm Izuku up to avoid the risk of frostbite or hypothermia, so that his movements don't wind up becoming lethargic.

He can't resist saying anything, though, as he tries to figure out a way to help keep him on his feet. "... this is the opposite of what I said, Midoriya."

There's a quiet hesitation when she realizes what, exactly, Deku just did. This is kind of weird and kind of uncomfortable and in that like half a second before things go to shit she murmurs a quiet, "Hey."

She has to at least acknowledge that this happened, right? It'd be weird not to.

And then everything goes to shit. Maybe he should've tested this out first...

"Just go slow. It can't see or hear us."

"Sorry. To both of you." But there's probably not a safer place for Kido than in one of Shouto's pockets, he doesn't regret it.

"I'm not used to using ice." He's not used to using Shouto's quirk at all. At least he managed the ice prison- even if he went completely and utterly overboard. He's not willing to use fire when this is what happens with just ice. They'll need a lot of practice to be able to use Shouto's power effectively.

At least that's true, the ayakashi all seem to be aimlessly wandering and floating about now that their prey seems to have disappeared. But with the ground this icy, it's probably a bad idea to try and kick anything, it's not stable enough for that.

"... yeah." It's said to both of them, acknowledging both the situation and the apology. But Izuku's right. If he has fire, she's safe there because it's probably fireproof. If he gets up close in a fight, he won't drop her or possibly accidentally punch something in the hand holding her.

While it might be awkward, it's at least reasonable. And at least Kido's power hides them so that they can take this slow and steady, as opposed to going full tilt.

"Just... try not to add more, if you can help it."

One of those things has already happened before and it hurt, so it's not like Kido's upset. It's just kind of weird.

"And try not to take so long that it starts to melt. It'll just get more slippery then." She thinks. That's how it works, right?

"I'll try." He'll try but with how little control he has over this power- he can't make any promises, as much as he'd like to.

He'll take a cautious step towards one of the smaller ayakashi- some kind of strange, warped, eerily blue flamingo that's legs have been trapped in the ice. With them as invisible as they are, he reels back a punch and with Kido and Shouto with him, it shatters into nothingness.

"Okay. So we just need to get rid of all of them." All these hundreds of ayakashi that have been trapped in the ice cage. If he was a little more used to using Shouto's power, he'd just be able to impale them all- but alas, this is how they'll have to work today.

"I think I can keep it from melting," Shouto considers, "Though I'm not sure how much I can personally use the power in this form."

Izuku can obviously use it, though, and he can regulate his temperature. But right now doesn't seem like that good of a time to test any of this out, and he instead keeps watch of their surroundings. Just how much are the ayakashi aware of one another?

It'd be easier if they could corral them into a corner, somehow, but that's probably also out of the cards.

She pauses and considers something, thinking. This will take forever. The longer it takes Deku to take out these ayakashi, the more of a chance the ice will melt, the more likely someone will get hurt.

"... Hear me out. What if I made it so that you can kind of be seen. It'll bring them to you, but they'll be closer together--and maybe easier to fight if it's just a couple."

Her powers are a sliding scale. If she drops the concealment just a little...

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