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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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...

Izuku's sure Shouto can keep the ice from melting- he's seen how long his ice can last. But doing this one by one- it would probably take them the entire day, and they might not need to eat or sleep but he'd hate to deprive them of that.

There's a pause as he considers, "It's better than doing it one by one. I trust you."

Kido's powers are entirely under her control, if she thinks she can bring just a few of them to him, then he believes her. They'll be able to clear the cage much quicker if it works the way she's intending.

"A lot better than one by one," he comments, eyeballing(?) the numerous ayakashi around them while they're still invisible. While that'd be safer, it'd take way too long, regardless of whether or not he can keep the ice from melting. It's also of a temperature that it'd stay solid on its own just fine, but...

Shouto just silently hopes that this works, if only so that they don't wind up being mobbed.

Kido concentrates. Be a little less scared. Be a little happier. Or apathetic at least. A few ayakashi turn to look at Deku.

The rest seem to not notice what's going on.

She thinks it worked...

"Good job, Kido."

They're approaching quickly, kicks are still definitely out. But at least his hands are still free. The two that come over are very quickly dealt with by One for All powered punches.

Can a shinki hold their breath? He certainly tries it, or at least giving off a presence of it, remaining even keel and focusing on keeping Izuku's body temperature warm. When it seems to work is when he relaxes a little, though there's still caution to go with it.

At least Izuku is moving carefully on the ice and not kicking anything. Between that and Kido's perception shifting, everything is going well.

Kido got praised. She is so stupidly happy about being praised. She's so happy she could pull it off.

So happy, actually, that she loses control of her powers in that second. That's the problem with powers being tied to negative emotions...

And the eyes of every ayakashi are on the group.

Shit. This might take a second to correct, Deku, hope you're prepared to fight a ton of them at once.

Oh shit. He holds his breath for a moment. Kido's good at what she does- but she hasn't had to use the sliding scale version of her abilities before. He can't fault her for losing control like this, but he's essentially stuck exactly where he is, running means slipping on ice.

So it's time to just stand his ground and fight. It's not something he's done a lot of- but he's certain he can. 10% of One for All is stable for an extended fight- and that's certainly what it's looking like.

"Let's go."

And that's when Shouto releases his perceived breath, because - this is going to be awful. He can't fault Kido, either, because he inherently understands that powers can be difficult to control. Especially in situations of emotional shift or duress. So he just braces himself, in a way, for how this is going to go down.

Maybe this isn't the best time to try and see how much of his quirk he can use, himself, in this form, but it might help Izuku out in the long run if he can figure that out.

He can, at least, help in covering his blind spots while Kido recovers their invisibility.

It takes her a little bit to work through it, emotional state shooting into terror and making them disappear again.

"S-sorry, I wasn't... I wasn't thinking for a second." She's mortified. "Are you guys okay?"

She'll edge it back to where it was before, so only the ones nearest can see them. She's gonna feel terrible about this for a while.

"It's okay, Kido."

Even if he is currently in the middle of punching out a hundred or so ayakashi that have decided Izuku is the most appealing snack in the world.

"I'm fine," and for the moment he actually is. He's not tapping into Shouto's powers just yet, even if the ice would likely make things faster.

"It's fine," he answers after Deku, focused on the ayakashi. "We're fine."

All of them are, thankfully. But Shouto is at least relieved that the numbers of the ayakashi aware of them has decreased, instead of being... well, all of them. But they can't just keep punching at them, and having Kido adjust the scale of their visibility. Especially when they're effectively cornered, unable to move easily on the ice.

So he focuses, not on Izuku's fist but on his feet. And then, because it's now or never when they're surrounded by so many ayakashi, he slams power and emotion of anger and something protective outward.

Resulting in a semi-circle of ice around them, from behind Izuku and halfway around his right side where it won't obstruct his fists, impaling ayakashi on the spikes.

Holy shit. Kido's impressed by the both of them actually.

She's quiet, still reeling from the slip up, but she's very impressed. If these guys are paired up,s she doesn't think anything can stop them.

The ayakashi that Shouto manages to impale shatter into pieces, completely destroyed. He takes the brief moment to catch his breath, a hand against the pocket of Shouto Kido's been placed in.

"Thank you." To both of them, there's no way he could do this without them both.

He's unaware of Kido's thoughts, but her perception manipulation has been critical during this prayer. There's no way they would have managed this much without her.

He settles back into fighting position as soon as his breath is back. Right back at it, destroying the ayakashi that manage to get at him with the ice wall surrounding them.

He - hadn't quite expected that to actually work, despite the innate knowledge about his own power. This form is harder to get a good gauge of things in, even if they have a broader range of vision and perception. But Shouto is at least relieved that it means Izuku's got a shield between him and the ayakashi. They'll either have to risk the spikes to get above him, or come around to attack him at the front. They're cornered, but also can control it, a little.

Despite the success, though, he doesn't think he has as much control over this as he'd like. The attack wasn't as big as he was imagining, but at least it's managed to help somehow.

But there's one good thing about this.

"They have to come around front, Midoriya. If Kido can draw more of them in for a second, you wouldn't have to control the attack or be precise, you could just send up a wall of ice to take out a wave. It'd enclose us, but it'd be a chance to regroup at the same time."

"I can do it." She sounds strained, but determined at least. She doesn't want to let them down again, damnit.

"Just tell me when."

"Make us obvious- now!" He can't control the ice all that well- but what he can do is push it all the way to 100 percent. If it's just a straightforward wall, he can do that much.

He readies the attack, as soon as the akayashi start swarming them, a giant ice wall should be put up. And then Izuku staggers with the force of the power- it's not like over doing it with One for All, but it's draining all the same.

"Just a little longer," Shouto tells Kido. Because even with his attention outwards, he can pick up on that. And while Izuku is focused on his attack, he can do this.

And he immediately compensates for the decrease in temperature, the rush of wind that comes with the sheer force of what he's doing. It's easy enough to help regulate against this, although harder when he can't use his fire side in conjunction with the vest. Izuku's clothes would go up in flames, and if he can't control the ice then there's no way he's going to even consider fire.

"Try to stay on your feet, boss. You might not be able to get up if you fall." Ice is a thing, man. Ice is a thing.

She would really like to not completely torch the area, guys, so she appreciates not using fire. But don't get hypothermia, either.

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