Location: Singapore – Mother Base (Private Briefing Room)
Date: Thursday | 06:00 AM
CLINK.
Kaito set his coffee mug down on the table. The briefing room smelled like roasted beans and a faint hint of the chili crab they ate last night.
It was early.
The sidekicks looked a little groggy, but their eyes were wide awake as they stared at the thick folders Kaito had just handed them.
"Hiding my weight?" Siti squinted at the paper. "How do I even hit hard if I don't wind up? Doesn't that kill the momentum?"
"It conceals it," Kaito said, pulling up a chair across from them. "Right now, you drop your shoulder and shift your whole body before a heavy kick. You're giving the bad guys a free warning. I want you to hold the tension in your hips. Keep your upper body loose."
Siti read the physics breakdown on the page. She grinned. "So I swing, and there's zero warning. Like a phantom strike. They won't see it coming until it hits them."
"Exactly," Kaito nodded. "And for defense, check the next page. If you angle your kick right and snap it fast enough, you can create a vacuum blade of wind to deflect incoming projectiles. You don't just have to dodge anymore."
Siti's eyes lit up. She smirked. "Oh, that's mean. I like it."
Pulse scratched his head, waving his folder. "Okay, Kaito, explain this inner-ear disruption thing. I just use my radar to find boats and track people."
"Radar is just waves, Pulse," Kaito told him. "If you focus a high-frequency pulse right into a guy's inner ear, you completely wreck his balance. He won't know up from down. He'll hit the floor and probably throw up."
Pulse grinned. "What if they cover their ears? Or wear a thick helmet?"
"Then you use the waves to map the room," Kaito pointed to a diagram in Pulse's folder. "You bounce micro-waves off the walls. You can create a live 3D map of a building's interior through solid concrete. You'll find every trap and hostage before we even kick the door in."
Pulse stared at the paper like it was made of gold. "Holy crap."
Raju sighed and leaned back in his chair. "So, what, I'm just the janitor? I wait for Siti to kick them and Pulse to make them dizzy, and then I just tie them up?"
"No," Kaito laughed. "You're the one controlling the battlefield. Look at the new cable ties... They're high-tensile, meant to hold super-strength villains. But look at the tactical anchors."
RUSTLE.
Raju flipped the page.
"They're traps," Kaito explained. "You set them on the ground. When the Captain blinds the area, or Pulse makes them dizzy, they stumble right into your anchors. You control where they step. You dictate the pace of the fight."
Raju nodded slowly, the realization hitting him. "Okay. Yeah. That changes everything."
Siti looked at Kaito and shook her head in disbelief. "I never even thought about my power like this. You really are the real deal, Kaito."
"Just reading the physics," Kaito smiled. "I give you the mechanics, you guys come up with the flashy names. Go prep your gear. We hit the dirt in twenty minutes."
SCREECH.
The sidekicks grabbed their stuff and rushed out. Pulse was already joking about mapping Raju's brain during practice.
THUD.
The heavy door shut. The room went quiet.
Kaito stayed at the table. Big Red Dot was sitting across from him, looking a bit nervous. The giant man rubbed his thick lion mane.
"You held me back," Big Red Dot rumbled. "Why? Is my file really that bad?"
Kaito dropped the casual tone. He looked at the Captain seriously.
"No. You're the Rank 1 Hero of Singapore, Captain. Your sidekicks look up to you. They see you as an invincible wall."
Big Red Dot stayed quiet, listening.
"If I tear down your fighting style in front of them, it messes with that dynamic," Kaito said gently. "I wanted to give you a private space to ask questions without worrying about your pride."
Big Red Dot let out a long breath. His massive shoulders relaxed. "Thanks, Kaito. Seriously. Give it to me straight. What am I doing wrong?"
"Your fighting style is too honest and straightforward," Kaito said. He slid a massive binder across the table. "You use your water like a simple firehose to just push people away. We are changing that. I broke your upgrades down into two concepts."
Big Red Dot opened the binder.
"First part is combining your lion traits with your water," Kaito pointed at the sketches. "You have a lion's vocal cords. When you spit water, roar at the exact same time. The sound waves travel through the water. It hits hard physically, but it also shatters eardrums."
"Dual damage," Big Red Dot muttered. "A sonic roar."
"Next, look at your aperture control. You always open your mouth wide. Don't. Compress your lips and shoot a razor-thin line of water. It becomes an industrial cutter. You can slice solid steel."
Big Red Dot's eyes went wide. "Solid steel? Just with water?"
"Pressure is everything," Kaito nodded. "And for zone control, look at atomization. Blast high-pressure water straight at the ground. It atomizes and creates a five-hundred-meter fog zone. The villains go blind, but with your lion senses and water affinity, you own the terrain. Siti and Pulse's new moves are designed to work perfectly inside that fog."
Kaito reached over and flipped the page for him.
"Category two. Structural shaping. Stop just shooting forward. Spin while you spit to make a 360-degree shield dome of water."
Kaito tapped another sketch. "Condense the water in your mouth before you shoot. Give it a heavy shape. Don't just splash them. Hit them with a five-ton water projectile moving at eighty miles an hour."
"Like getting hit by a truck," Big Red Dot laughed in pure disbelief.
"Exactly. If you're on a tight street, vomit enough water to flood the block and flip their ships. If you need a non-lethal capture, change the thickness of your saliva. Spit a superglue mix to stick them to a wall."
"And the last one?" Big Red Dot asked, staring at the final page.
"Vibrate your throat while you spit. The water spins like a drill bit. It pierces heavy military armor."
Big Red Dot sat back in his heavy chair. He rubbed his neck, staring at the ceiling for a second.
"Kaito... this is insane," Big Red Dot said quietly. "But vibrating my throat? Compressing the water pressure like that? Is my body actually going to handle this?"
Kaito didn't sugarcoat it.
"It's going to hurt. A lot," Kaito said honestly. "Your jaw muscles will cramp until they adapt to the intense strain. It's not a magic fix. It's going to be brutal work."
"....."
Big Red Dot nodded slowly. He appreciated the honesty.
He didn't want a shortcut; he wanted to be stronger. He looked back down at the binder, tracing the sketches of the concepts.
A massive, excited grin spread across his face, showing off his sharp fangs.
"I'll figure out the names for these later," Big Red Dot chuckled, his voice a deep rumble in his chest. "But Kaito, I'm going to completely ruin the training grounds today."
"I'm counting on it," Kaito smiled, grabbing his coffee mug. "Come on. Let's go to work."
*-*-*-*
Location: Singapore – Mainland (Big Red Dot Agency)
Time: 08:00 PM
BASS-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP.
The heavy, fast-paced beat played clearly from the laptop speakers on the desk.
Kaito desk was completely covered in requisition forms, coastal blueprints, and permit requests.
He was trying to get the local city council to lock down the East Coast Sector beach for tomorrow.
After going over Big Red Dot's new moves, Kaito knew the Captain was going to cause massive damage, and he needed a safe zone.
But while he was signing papers, his eyes kept darting to the laptop screen.
It was a high-quality livestream of the Naruhata Charity Concert. Koichi, Soga, Rapt, and Moyuru were on the stage, jumping around and singing Bling-Bang-Bang-Born.
The crowd in the park was going completely crazy.
Kaito smiled. He tapped his pen against the desk in perfect time with the beat.
"Bling-bang-bang, bling-bang-bang, bling-bang-bang-born," Kaito sang quietly to himself, bobbing his head.
CLICK.
The office door swung open. Siti, Pulse, and Raju walked in.
They were carrying plastic bags that smelled amazing of roasted chicken satay, spicy noodles and Bak Kuh Teh.
They stopped dead in the doorway.
"....."
"....."
They just stared.
Their serious manager was sitting at a desk covered in legal documents, happily humming a hip-hop song and tapping his pen.
Kaito looked up. He didn't miss a beat.
"The concert in Japan is live," Kaito said, waving them inside. "Grab a chair. The guys are actually nailing the choreography."
Siti burst out laughing and walked over, setting the bags of food on the table. "No way. I thought you were just going to stare at spreadsheets all night!"
"I am," Kaito joked, pushing a stack of permits aside and turning the laptop so they could all see. "But a famous agency is performing right now. I'm not going to miss it."
Pulse grabbed a skewer of chicken and leaned over the screen. "Wait, this song is literally everywhere on social media today."
Raju pulled up a chair next to Siti, grinning. "This is awesome. Turn it up."
Kaito reached over and cranked the volume.
The four of them sat around the messy desk, eating street food and watching the concert together like a normal group of friends hanging out after a long day.
Meanwhile, back in Japan, Naruhata park was packed.
Makoto walked behind the main stage, holding her clipboard.
She was wearing a staff badge and a bright, confident smile. The crowd was incredibly loud, but the event was running smoothly.
"Hey! Tsukauchi!"
Makoto turned around. Fat Gum was standing near the food stalls.
He was holding five giant skewers of takoyaki in one hand and a whole grilled squid in the other. He looked incredibly happy.
Iwao Oguro stood next to him, drinking black coffee and rubbing his temples.
"Fat Gum!" Makoto smiled, walking over to them. "Thanks for coming out to support us!"
"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss it!" Fat Gum laughed, his round body jiggling. "The music is great, the crowd is having fun, and the food here is amazing. O'Clock over here is just too stubborn to eat anything!"
"I'm on a diet," Iwao grumbled, taking a sip of coffee. "And my ears are ringing. The kids are too loud."
"Oh, let them have fun, Iwao," Makoto laughed. "I need to go check on the VIP section. Enjoy the food!"
Makoto waved and walked further backstage. As she turned the corner near the large VIP tent, she ran into a very familiar group.
Midnight, Uwabami, Ms. Joke, and Mirko were standing in a loose circle. They were all wearing casual clothes, holding drinks, and just enjoying the downtime.
"Makoto!" Midnight smiled, waving her over. "The concert is fantastic. You really outdid yourself with the crowd control this time."
"Thank you!" Makoto said, walking up to the group. "I'm glad you guys could make it. It's nice to see everyone taking a real break."
"Well, it's hard to ignore when the whole ward is talking about it," Mirko grinned, leaning against a tent pole. "Plus, the music goes hard. I was bored anyway."
"It really is well put together," Uwabami nodded, lowering her sunglasses just a bit. "Everything is so organized."
"I can't take all the credit," Makoto admitted with a humble laugh. "Kaito actually set up all the digital frameworks and vendor layouts for me before he flew to Singapore."
"Of course he did," Ms. Joke laughed. Her loud voice softened into a really genuine smile. "I miss having him around. He totally saved my school's future, you know? My students actually have a real chance now. He brought life back into the place."
"I know what you mean," Uwabami sighed, taking a sip of her drink. "He took such a massive weight off my shoulders. For the first time in years, I could actually just breathe and do my job without looking over my shoulder."
Midnight smiled, swirling the ice in her cup. Her eyes looked a little distant. "He really does understand people. He sees right through all the masks we wear. It's rare to find someone who actually gets it."
Mirko crossed her arms. She smirked, showing her teeth. "I just like that he didn't flinch. Most guys back down when I get loud. He just stood his ground and stared right back at me."
"....."
"....."
The casual chatting suddenly stopped.
The four women looked at each other. They blinked.
The air in the small circle got thick. Really thick.
Nobody said a word, but the sudden shift was obvious. They were all picking up on the exact same subtle, heavy vibe from one another.
Their tones were a little too fond. A little too appreciative.
Midnight raised a slow eyebrow at Ms. Joke. Uwabami crossed her arms and stared quietly at Mirko. It was a silent, weirdly charged standoff.
Makoto stood right in the middle of it. She felt the heavy, competitive tension spike instantly.
CLAP.
Makoto clapped her hands together with a bright smile, physically stepping right into the center of the circle to break their line of sight with each other.
"So!" Makoto said, her voice loud and incredibly cheerful, completely hijacking the atmosphere. "If you guys are hungry, Fat Gum is currently raiding the takoyaki stalls by the south entrance! He says the food is amazing. And the Mad Hatters are doing an acoustic set in ten minutes. We should definitely go grab some food and watch!"
The women blinked, startled by Makoto's sudden burst of energy. The heavy tension shattered like glass.
"Oh! Yeah, food sounds great," Ms. Joke laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck and looking away.
"I could use a bite," Uwabami agreed quickly, pushing her sunglasses back up her nose.
"Lead the way," Mirko grunted, uncrossing her arms.
Makoto smiled, turning and leading the group toward the food stalls.
She kept the conversation flowing effortlessly about the bands and the festival games, successfully keeping the peace while making a mental complain to Kaito.
*-*-*-*
.
Location: Japan – Unknown Ward (Underground Lab)
Time: 11:00 PM
HUMMMMM.
The deep, heavy vibration of the massive servers filled the underground lab.
The only light came from the glowing monitors and the thick green liquid inside the incubation tanks lining the far wall.
All For One stood perfectly still in the center of the room.
He stood tall, his body in its absolute physical peak, completely flawless.
His eyes were closed. He was completely silent, actively channeling the Bio-Transmitter Quirk to push his consciousness thousands of miles away into the bodies of his clones.
CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.
Dr. Garaki typed furiously at the main computer terminal. He stared at the massive streams of biological data scrolling across his screens.
"Master," Garaki spoke up, his voice echoing slightly in the dark room. "The heart rates on both units just spiked again. Did they find another base?"
"Yes," All For One answered smoothly. He didn't open his eyes. "Those Mafia just sent another two hundred of his modified men into the Milan warehouse. The Strength clone is currently breaking them apart."
Garaki pushed his thick goggles up his nose and looked at the calendar on the wall.
"It has been exactly thirty days," Garaki said, sounding a bit confused. "I know Europe is a large continent, but you have already destroyed dozens of his operations."
All For One smiled a very small, cold smile.
"You are wondering why I haven't just killed Valdo yet," All For One said.
"Well... yes," Garaki admitted, spinning his chair around. "If you just wanted him dead, the Speed clone could have found his main mansion and snapped his neck three weeks ago."
"I could have," All For One agreed calmly. "But Valdo is giving me something much more valuable right now. Free data."
Garaki blinked. "Data?"
"I need to know exactly how much abuse these bodies can take," All For One explained, his voice flat and analytical. "I need to know if the muscle fibers will snap under continuous, month-long combat. Gollini is desperate. He keeps throwing thousands of his men at my clones wave after wave. It is the perfect live-fire stress test."
Garaki turned back to his monitors. He pulled up the cellular feedback charts and grinned widely.
"If it's a stress test, they are passing," Garaki laughed, pointing a stubby finger at the screen. "All the Strength Clone Quirks are working flawlessly. The clone's muscle tissues are regenerating faster because of the Overhaul Quirk. There is zero cell degradation!"
"Good," All For One nodded.
Garaki rubbed his chin, looking at the map of Europe on his second monitor.
"But Master... the noise," Garaki said, lowering his voice. "You are leveling entire city blocks. Why hasn't the European Hero Agencies showed up? Interpol should be swarming Italy and France by now. We should have Pro Heroes hunting the clones."
All For One let out a dark, quiet chuckle.
"Gollini Valdo is a mafia boss, Doctor," All For One said. "His entire empire runs on fear and reputation. What do you think happens if the European criminal underworld finds out Valdo Gollini is losing a war to just two men?"
"His empire collapses," Garaki realized. "The other families would rebel and eat him alive."
"Exactly," All For One said. "Valdo's pride is his biggest weakness. He is absolutely terrified of the heroes finding out how weak he is right now. So, his own men are frantically doing my dirty work."
All For One finally opened his eyes. They were cold and sharp.
"His soldiers hide the bodies. They bribe the local police. They block off the destroyed streets and silence the witnesses before the Pro Heroes even get a phone call," All For One said. "I am letting my enemy cover my tracks for me."
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
HISSSSSS.
A loud alarm chimed from the back of the lab. The heavy pressure valves on the largest glass tank hissed loudly as the thick green bio-fluid began to drain.
Garaki jumped out of his chair so fast he almost tripped over his own shoes.
He ran over to the glass, grabbing a handheld scanner from the table. He pressed it against the glass, his eyes wide and manic as he read the numbers.
"Master!" Garaki shouted, his voice shaking with excitement. "It's done!"
All For One slowly walked over to the tank, cutting the Bio-Transmitter Quirk off for a moment to focus.
"The Fifth Crown," All For One said, looking through the dripping glass. "Is the body stable?"
"Perfectly stable!" Garaki cheered, clapping his hands together. "The cellular matrix locked in tight. It's holding the massive Quirk load without the brain melting or the flesh tearing apart! It survived the incubation completely intact!"
All For One stared at the shadow resting inside the drained tank. His expression didn't change, but his eyes locked onto the new weapon.
"Excellent work, Doctor," All For One said softly. "That leaves only two left to grow."
He turned his back on the tank and walked back to the center of the dark room.
He closed his eyes, instantly reconnecting the Quirk to the other side of the world.
"Keep monitoring the data output," All For One ordered smoothly. "That kid just sent in another wave of armored men. Let's see how long they last."
*-*-*-*
Location: Singapore – East Coast Sector (Secured Beach Zone)
Date: Dawn (Day 3 of Training)
SPLASH.
COUGH.
Big Red Dot fell to his hands and knees in the wet sand, coughing violently.
A messy spray of water shot out of his mouth, completely missing the wooden target.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his massive hand. He looked incredibly frustrated.
"My jaw feels like it's going to snap right off my face," Big Red Dot groaned, rubbing his cheeks. "I can't hold the aperture tight enough. It just turns into a puddle."
Kaito was standing right next to him in the mud. He was wearing a simple dark tracksuit, holding a stopwatch.
"You're blowing the water out from your lungs," Kaito shouted over the sound of the ocean waves hitting the shore. "Don't just push it! You have to condense the pressure in the back of your throat before you open your lips. Let the pressure build until it hurts, then release it."
Big Red Dot took a deep breath. "If this actually cuts through steel like you said, I'm calling it the Lion's Thread. Because it's thin, but it's going to bite."
"Good name," Kaito smiled, stepping back. "Now show me the bite. Try it again."
A few feet away, Siti threw a hard, spinning kick at a heavy punching bag hanging from a metal frame.
THWACK.
"Stop!" Kaito called out, walking over to her. "You dropped your right shoulder again, Siti. I saw that kick coming before your foot even left the sand."
Siti groaned loudly, grabbing her hair in frustration. She kicked the sand.
"Damn it! It's muscle memory, Kaito," Siti sighed, wiping a heavy layer of sweat from her forehead. "I've been fighting like a kickboxer for ten years. It's absolute torture trying to just turn that instinct off."
"I know it's annoying," Kaito said. He tossed her a clean towel from his shoulder. "That's why we are out here in the dirt. Stop looking at the punching bag. Stop thinking about hitting it. Just hold the tension in your hips. Keep the upper body loose. Again."
On the water's edge, Tidal was running across the shoreline.
WHOOSH.
Tidal manipulated the water, creating a small wave to carry himself forward. But he looked exhausted, panting heavily as he dropped onto the dry sand.
"Tidal, you're wasting your own stamina," Kaito told him, walking down to the water. "Your Quirk lets you control water currents, right? Why are you creating your own waves when the Captain is literally vomiting thousands of gallons of water right next to you?"
Tidal blinked, looking over at Big Red Dot, who was currently flooding a trench.
"Wait," Tidal said, catching his breath. "You want me to ride his attacks?"
"I want you to piggyback on his output," Kaito nodded. "When he floods the street, you don't fight. You surf. You use his massive water volume as a high-speed transit system to move the rest of the team around. Save your energy for steering, not creating."
Tidal grinned. "Oh, that's brilliant. I'm calling that the Riptide Ride."
_-_-_-_
Day 18
VMMMMMM.
A high-pitched ringing sound filled the salty air.
Pulse stood with his hands pressed hard to the sides of his helmet.
He focused the radar waves straight ahead, squinting his eyes in concentration.
Fifty yards away, a mechanical training dummy suddenly sparked.
The internal gyroscopes failed, and the dummy stumbled around like a drunk before falling face-first into the sand.
"Got him!" Pulse cheered. Then he immediately grabbed his own head and groaned. "Ugh, man. Focusing the frequency like that gives me a massive migraine."
"Stop whining," Raju laughed, jogging past him with a heavy spool of wire. "At least you don't have to carry fifty pounds of high-tensile cables in the heat."
CLANK.
Raju slammed a heavy metal device into the sand right where the dummy fell.
"Tactical anchors set!" Raju yelled, giving a thumbs up. "If that was a real guy, he'd be wrapped up the second he tripped."
"Good teamwork," Kaito said, writing a quick note on his clipboard. "The setup was clean. But Pulse, you need to tighten the wave. Let's call that move the Scramble Pulse."
On the other side of the beach, Big Red Dot took a massive breath.
He spun his heavy body around, spitting a wide, incredibly fast fan of water at the ground as he turned.
WHOOSH.
A thick, rushing dome of water formed a perfect, spinning circle around him. It threw wet sand everywhere, acting like a solid, rotating shield.
"Hahaha!" Big Red Dot roared from inside the water. He stopped spinning and wiped his mouth, looking at the huge puddle he just made. "I did it! Aqua Mane!"
"Now hit the target with the superglue mix," Kaito ordered, pointing his pen at a wooden board. "Don't rest. Transition right into the next attack."
Big Red Dot swallowed hard.
He changed the feeling in his mouth, thickening his saliva. He spit a heavy, sticky white blob of water at the wood.
THWAP.
The wood stuck to the concrete barricade instantly.
Big Red Dot put his hands on his knees, breathing like a freight train. He looked over at Kaito and shook his head.
"You're a complete sadist, Kaito," Big Red Dot joked, sweating through his shirt. "I haven't been this tired since my rookie year."
Kaito just laughed, handing the giant man a fresh bottle of water.
"You can afford to be tired right now," Kaito told him. "I talked to the Agila Agency in the Philippines and the Garuda Agency in Indonesia. They are fully covering the Pacific Shield morning routes for the next few weeks. The borders are secure. You have the time to bleed on this beach so you don't bleed out there."
Big Red Dot smiled, taking a long drink. "I appreciate that. Alright. Let's run it again."
_-_-_-
Day 32
The sun was setting, painting the sky dark orange. The team was sitting on heavy plastic coolers in the sand, taking a break.
They looked beat up. Siti had a bandage on her elbow, and Pulse looked totally drained. But they were all smiling, passing around bags of local snacks.
"Hey Kaito," Siti said, tossing a peanut into the air and catching it in her mouth. "We did a minor bust last night down at the southern docks while you were asleep."
Kaito looked up from his tablet. "How did it go?"
"I tried the hip thing," Siti grinned, leaning forward. "There was a guy trying to run with a crate of illegal support gear. I didn't wind up. I just kept my shoulders down and snapped my leg up."
Raju started laughing. "Bro, the smuggler didn't even blink."
"He didn't see a thing," Siti agreed, looking incredibly proud. "He just caught a boot to the jaw and dropped like a rock. I'm calling it the Ghost Heel. It seriously feels like cheating."
"It's not cheating, it's physics," Kaito smiled, taking a bottle of water from the cooler. "You just stopped giving away your game plan."
Big Red Dot crushed an empty plastic bottle in his hand.
"My throat stopped hurting two days ago," the Captain announced. "The vocal cords finally adapted. They feel like iron now. When I condense the water for those heavy projectiles, it doesn't even sting."
"What are you naming those?" Pulse asked.
"The heavy ones? Pride Stampede," Big Red Dot rumbled proudly. "And the fog zone is going to be the Sea King's Breath. It just sounds right."
Kaito nodded, looking around at the exhausted but happy group.
They were a completely different heroes than they were a month ago. They weren't just relying on their raw stats anymore.
"Get some sleep tonight," Kaito told them, standing up and brushing sand off his pants. "Tomorrow is the final exam. I'm bringing out the heavy drones."
_-_-_
Day 45
The sun was directly overhead. High noon. The heat radiating off the sand was absolutely brutal.
"Final exam," Kaito said loudly.
He held a remote controller in his right hand. Ten high-speed, heavily armored combat drones hovered in the air above the ocean, their red targeting lasers pointing straight at the beach.
Big Red Dot stood in the center of the wet sand. Siti, Raju, Pulse, and Tidal stood in formation behind him.
"Show me what you learned," Kaito said. He pushed the red button.
BZZZZZT.
The drones instantly scattered, diving toward the team at top speed.
Big Red Dot slammed his heavy foot into the ground, taking a massive breath.
"Sea King's Breath!"
He blasted a high-pressure stream of water straight down into the hot sand.
HSSSSSS.
The water atomized instantly upon impact. A massive, thick fog rolled over the beach in seconds.
The entire training zone was covered in a heavy, blinding white mist.
The drones completely lost their visual locks. They hovered blindly in the air, trying to scan through the dense moisture.
But Big Red Dot wasn't blind.
He closed his eyes.
He felt the heavy moisture in the air. He felt the exact spots where the drone propellers were pushing the fog away.
"Got you," the Captain whispered.
He opened his mouth just a tiny bit, compressing the aperture of his lips until his jaw muscles locked tight. He turned his head sharply.
"Lion's Thread!"
FWOOSH.
A razor-thin, highly pressurized line of water shot through the fog like a blue laser.
It sliced cleanly through three metal drones in one single, smooth motion. The drones sparked, split in half, and crashed into the sand.
HUUF.
He didn't stop. He took another massive breath, vibrating his thick vocal cords.
"Roaring Tide!"
He spit a heavy blast of water and unleashed a deafening lion's roar at the exact same time.
The high-frequency sound wave carried through the water, slamming into a cluster of four drones.
The glass lenses shattered instantly, and the internal circuits blew out from the vibration.
"Pulse! Raju! Now!" Big Red Dot yelled over his shoulder.
Pulse aimed his helmet straight up into the fog. "Scramble Pulse!"
The invisible high-frequency sound hit the last three drones. Their gyroscopes failed immediately.
They wobbled wildly in the air, losing altitude and drifting toward the ground.
Raju was already running. He slammed his gear into the sand where the drones were falling. "Anchors set!"
"Tidal!" Siti shouted.
"I got you!" Tidal yelled.
Tidal grabbed Siti's arm. He used his Quirk to grab the massive amount of leftover water Big Red Dot had just sprayed everywhere.
"Riptide Ride!"
Tidal created a fast, rushing current right across the sand, surfing on the water and carrying Siti at high speed through the blinding fog directly toward the falling, dizzy drones.
Tidal let go, launching Siti up into the air.
Siti kept her upper body totally relaxed. She didn't wind up. She didn't drop her shoulder.
BAM. BAM. BAM.
Three perfect Ghost Heels.
Zero wasted movement. Her boots smashed through the metal plating of the last three drones before their sensors could even register her presence.
The broken pieces hit the sand right in the middle of Raju's tactical anchors.
The fog slowly started to clear, blowing away in the ocean breeze.
The beach was quiet, except for the sound of the waves.
Big Red Dot stood tall, breathing hard, his chest heaving.
Siti landed gracefully in the wet sand, wiping mud off her face.
"YEYY!'
Pulse fell to his knees, rubbing his head, while Raju and Tidal ran over, cheering loudly and high-fiving each other.
Kaito walked slowly through the dissipating mist. He looked at the broken, sliced, and completely wrecked drone pieces scattered across his training zone.
Kaito clicked his stopwatch. He put it in his pocket and let out a real, genuine smile.
"You pass," Kaito said simply.
"Hahaha!" Big Red Dot let out a massive, booming laugh that echoed down the coastline.
He fell backward into the wet sand, completely ignoring the mud.
"That was intense," Pulse groaned, rubbing his head.
"Tell me about it," Raju agreed, falling back.
"I haven't trained this hard since my academy days," Tidal laughed.
The sidekicks collapsed right next to him, groaning loudly but smiling from ear to ear.
.....
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(9 Advanced Chapters)