She-Ra and the Heroes of Power 6 (She-Ra/MHA)

USJ

Today, they had a special lesson, so at the beginning of class they shuffled onto a bus. Ida shot up to the front of the bus to give the class directions on how to file onto the bus and be seated… only to be foiled by the bus having a different seating arrangement than he anticipated.

“I was never that bad, right?” Adora whispered to Catra. The feline-esque girl made a face like she was thinking about it before snorting.

“Nah. I mean you might have been had… you not gotten that fancy sword,” she said, careful to make it so anyone eavesdropping would think they were talking about Adora gaining her ‘Quirk’ instead. “But no, you didn’t think you knew everything from the get go and would have double checked the seating arrangements first.” No matter how much Shadow Weaver acted like everything you did was perfect.

Sighing, Catra let go of the slight flare of anger that memory brought her, settling down snuggly beside her girlfriend on the bus. Things are good between us now, even if we’re stuck in this crazy new world.

The native students were all quite eager, happily chatting away. “Midoriya, I’ve been meaning to ask,” the girl with frog powers and a few froggy characteristics said. “Your Quirk is very similar to All Might’s, isn’t it?”

That seemed to set off the green-haired boy, who flailed around, sputtering denials like Kyle after he’d eaten the last grey ration bar. The boy with spiky red hair that reeked of hair dye shot up to his defense, however unwitting he seemed to be. “Hold on Asui, while they might seem similar in power, All Might doesn’t wreck himself every time he uses his Quirk. He’s lucky Adora here can heal him whenever he gets hurt.”

“Urk-!” Midoriya grunted as if he’d been shot by Kirishima’s words. “That’s true. Thank you, Adora.”

She smiled beatifically at the younger boy. “No problem!” He blushed and turned away. Catra had her tail swish seemingly innocently by Midoriya’s knee to get his attention as she pulled her girlfriend a little closer. Adora probably hasn’t noticed but I think Midoriya has a slight crush on her. Not that Catra could blame him; Adora was amazing. Still, best to nip that in the bud.

He got the message, turning away and blushing even harder, this time out of embarrassment, until Kirishima snapped him out of it as he continued. “I’m honestly really jealous of you. Hardening isn’t a bad Quirk,” he said, demonstrating his power by holding his arm out, the skin getting more rigid. “But it’s not as flashy as Enhancement types like you.”

Midoriya waved his arms in denial. “No no, I think your Quirk is really cool and useful too!”

“If we’re talking about flashy heroes, then you can’t beat Todoroki and Adora; they’ve got power and wow-factor in spades!” Ashido pointed out gleefully, jumping into the conversation. If Todoroki, a few seats from the back, had heard the compliment he didn’t show it, not reacting in the slightest. Adora’s face grew red and she shook her head, as if to wipe away the praise. “Guess Bakugo isn’t too bad on those fronts either,” the pink girl added.

The prickly blonde boy grit his teeth so hard that Catra was sure even people without enhanced hearing could hear him. Kaminari then made a comment about his terrible personality, which fully set him off, the explosive boy shouting insults at them. 

Catra snorted at the display, which triggered a devious look from Glimmer across the aisle. “What?”

“Oh, just thinking that you were as bad as he was, back in the day.”

“Was not,” Catra responded reflexively, which just caused Glimmer to grin wider.

“You know, you’re right.” The sparkly girl let the words hang in the air for just a moment before adding, “You were much worse.” Catra narrowed her eyes, but knew she couldn’t really refute that. That kid might be loud and way too aggressive, but he probably didn’t try to kill his best friend. Repeatedly.

Thankfully, Adora swooped in with a save, placing the topic back on track. “Glimmer is just as flashy as I am, and Catra is pretty cool and strategic too! And Bow, he’s great with tech, covering us at range, and is practically the heart of the team,” Adora eagerly pointed out. Her girlfriend shook her head, showing just a hint of her fangs.

“Sorry, but you and Sparkles will always be the flashiest ones on our team. I’m happier that way, the flashy hero stuff doesn’t suit me.”

“Sparkles? Oh, you mean Glimmer, ribbit. That’s your hero name?” Tsuyu asked Glimmer, the Queen puffing her cheeks up indignantly.

“It is not. It’s a dumb nickname that Catra refuses to let go.” She glared at Catra but it was her turn to smirk back. 

Kirishma poked his head in from the seat behind them. “Whoa, you guys are already planning on being a team? Wow, you’ve really thought this out.”

“Yup,” Catra said, popping the ‘p.’ “Adora is the muscle, Glimmer gets us where we need to go, Bow is ranged support, and I’m here to keep them from doing anything dumb.” 

The younger kids couldn’t know about that byplay however, and were still caught up in talks of heroism. “Do you think you’ll be allowed to work as a team at the USJ?” The green haired boy asked, louder than the rest of the mumbles he had gone into at the talk of them being a ‘team.’ 

Good head for an analyst if the hero biz doesn’t work out for him, Catra noted. Izuku had made some predictions that were scarily accurate about what the Best Friend Squad was capable of despite having only seen a bit of them, and mostly holding back.

Snorting, Catra responded, “Fat chance. If he wasn’t thinking of it earlier I’m almost certain that Aizaiwa will split us up on purpose. Ain’t that right, teach?” She tossed a glance over at their teacher pretending to be asleep.

He remained quiet for a few seconds before shooting back, “Of course. It’s called the ‘Unforeseen’ Simulation Joint. Like with the Hero vs. Villain drill, you can’t expect to go into a dangerous situation under perfect conditions.”

The cat-like girl shrugged. They had all taken on missions and parts of missions on their own. It wouldn’t be hard for them to deal with whatever the teachers had to throw at them.

***

Catra stood by that thought as they entered the massive domed structure, but was still a bit wowed by the scale of it all. The USJ was huge, big enough to fit all of Brightmoon palace within it. A fair bit wider than the palace too, and making use of all that space.

Buildings of all sizes dotted the terrain, with streets, parks, and even a lake in one case separating different zones. At least one zone was on fire, with others showing the buildings as crumbling, or in other precarious states. “Extravagant. They really don’t spare any expense at U.A., do they?” Catra whispered into Adora’s ear.

“It must be miles more expensive than- anything we’ve trained with.” Adora whispered back, referring to the VR rigs and semi-modular terrain Catra and Adora were run through as Cadets in the Fright Zone. Likely slightly better than those in terms of readiness preparation, but the staff clearly thought it was worth it.

Speaking of the staff, another teacher joined them, standing in front of the entrance. She was wearing a very bulky space suit with an opaque helmet. Are their spacesuits really that outdated?

Izuku gasped. “That’s Number 13, the famous rescue hero! Her suit helps regulate her quirk which makes black holes. It’s incredible for rescue work but can be dangerous in the field…” he trailed off mumbling to himself. Okay, so maybe the suit is made for more than just space travel and needs more tech to handle the rest of that stuff.

“Correct, on both counts, Mister Midoriya,” Number 13 said. “Welcome to the USJ, where we’ll be training you on how to handle dangerous rescue operations. Being a hero isn’t all about fighting villains, you’ll also need to learn how to save people from natural disasters.”

“This will also be useful training to keep you aware of the shifting environment you’ll fight villains in. You’ve all- you’ve likely all grown up in a city, but fighting in one with quirks is entirely different,” Aizawa added, leading the class towards the center where all the zones converged on a plaza.

Catra tuned out the excited chattering of students, keeping an eye out at all the different Zones they were passing by, making note of key points. Places they might be challenged or sent to. Before she could begin to formulate a plan in earnest, a dark shape formed in the center of the plaza. 

Even before Number 13 moved to answer, the Etherians stiffened. It didn’t feel like anything they had seen thus far and every instinct screamed at them that it was an ambush. Her classmates just seemed in disbelief, chatting casually as if they couldn’t comprehend the idea of actually being attacked. These kids are too soft.

Glimmer met Catra’s heterochromatic eyes with a hard gaze that agreed with the sentiment she was feeling. Before they could lay out a plan, people began to exit the dark cloud. A man with severed hands clamped all over his face and body led the entrance. More people followed behind him, dozens and dozens of thugish looking individuals pouring into the Unforeseen Simulation Joint.

“Is this part of the class…?” Kaminari hesitantly asked, the sense of unease gripping the students as they realized it wasn’t; this attack was all too real.

“This isn’t part of the test!” Number 13 shrieked, the teacher holding an arm out as if to shield the mass of students. Got that much, Catra thought. But why here and now? What do they want?

Eraserhead had pulled down his visor and called out “Don’t fight them, stay back!” It was possibly in response to the sound of Catra unsheathing her claws, but she didn’t have a read on if his hearing was good enough for that or if that was just a general response to try and cover for over enthusiastic teenage wannabes.

Two final figures pulled up the rear, shutting the portal behind them, and were noticeable for how strange they were. The rank and file had a fair number of ‘heteromorphs’ among their numbers, but the last two looked strange, even by those standards. The big one was larger than even She-Ra, with bulging muscles and a vacant look in his eyes. He had a beak in place of his mouth, and the top of his skull was open, exposing his brain to the world.

The other was a tall figure, who seemed to be made of a dark mist not unlike the portal was, and with a wave of their arm, closed the portal behind them. “It appears All Might isn’t here, Shigaraki,” the masculine sounding shadow blob said to the man with hands.

“Ugh, I can see that Kurogiri.” The man with hands said, scratching irritatedly at his neck. “And we went to all the trouble to bring so many friends to meet him.” Some of the thugs snickered along with their apparent boss.

The silence of the moment let his voice, harsh and gravelly but not loud, carry across the mock street. “Guess we might as well kill them. Maybe their screams will drag All Might here, or we tarnish his image by killing his class. Win-win.”

Panic didn’t set into the class, but that was only due to the fact that they seemed more confused and disbelieving at the idea that villains would even be attacking them in the first place

Adora grit her teeth beside Catra, ready to step forward and call upon her powers but Aizawa spoke up. “Thirteen, get them out of here and warn off the others, I’ll hold them off.” 

“Understood,” the astronaut themed hero said tightly before motioning for the class to leave. “Go to the exit now, this is not a drill!” Catra narrowed her eyes. The thugs there don’t look like anything special; only the bird-man, smoke guy, and hands dude are real threats. Some of them are wearing pretty raggedy clothes too. Did they just grab people off the street?

If it was just her, Catra would have been happy to charge ahead like their homeroom teacher was. However Adora, ever quick to follow the rules, was retreating with Number Thirteen and the rest of the class. A glance to the side showed that Glimmer felt the same way, but she disappeared in a burst of sparkles, rejoining the group running away.

Loping ahead, Catra quickly made her way to the front of the class, only to skid to a stop as a dark portal formed in front of them.

The villain that had warped in all the rest from before down at the center appeared before them. Of course he can get over here fast if he was able to dump all their troops down below. I really hate fighting teleporters; I was supposed to be done with this after joining the Best Friend Squad!

“I can’t let you leave,” the shadow villain declared, rising out from the portal in the ground. The mists he created were so dense around his body that it was hard to tell if he even had a physical form, only his glowing yellow eyes standing out.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he continued, as if this was a casual chat. “We are the League of Villains. I know it’s impolite, but we invited ourselves to this haven of justice to say hello. And besides, isn’t this a fitting place for All Might, the Symbol of Peace to breath his last?”

The question was rhetorical, but Catra never let something like that stop her from shooting off her mouth before. “No, not really. You want to kill a bigshot hero like that, you’d do it within the crowded streets of Tokyo where everyone can watch him die, or like, even the front gates of U.A. would be a better place to do it.” After a beat of her classmates and Number 13 turning to stare at her in horror she added, “What?”

“Hmm, your advice will be taken under consideration,” the villain said, regaining control of the situation. “In the end though, it doesn’t matter. We must use the cards we are dealt and I still have a role to play here.” He waved his arms, or perhaps just two shrouds of mist out, and Catra saw 13 ready an attack - only to be thwarted by Bakugo and Kirishima, the two boys recklessly charging in.

Bakugo made a large explosion, but even before he said anything, Catra knew the villain had been unhurt by the attack. “Get out of the way!” 13 shouted as the villain came into sight again, but it was too late, and he made his move, surrounding the students in a field of shadows.

“I’ll scatter you across this facility to meet my comrades,” Kurogiri declared, and Catra leapt out of the way, narrowly escaping the swirling semisphere of darkness before it closed around them. She thought she saw one other person leave as well, and knew Glimmer would be fine, but as the dark mist cleared, she was on her own for the moment, staring down the villain.

“Adora!” Damn that dummy! Catra knew Adora could take care of herself, but it was still agonizing to know that she was gone somewhere else. But I can still smell her… faintly. He wasn’t lying when he scattered everyone here.

I’ll get you!” Catra roared out overdramatically, rushing the villain. His eyes narrowed, likely sneering at her behind all that mist. He unleashed another wave of it out at her, ready to swallow up her charge.

“Ah, you must be quick witted to escape the fate your comrades-” she tuned him out, dodging to the side, throwing herself away from the black mist that threatened to swallow her like the rest of the class. Catra avoided the first wave, but it spread out afterwards, chasing her. She pulled around, racing on all fours to circle around the attack.

Kurogiri unleashed another, smaller attack, aimed at where she was headed off to the side. Instead of continuing that way, she pivoted on a dime, sliding around the attack. Digging her claws into the concrete, she swung around, sliding towards his back. Kurogiri turned, and if she had been trying to get into melee with him, he would have had time to capture her. That wasn’t Catra’s aim however, as simply picked up a piece of nearby rubble and chucked it at his head, momentarily shocking the villain as it cracked against his skull.

Even that was a distraction though, the real attacks coming from Bow’s arrow, piercing through his back. As he swiveled to face that new threat, Glimmer teleported on his side and released a point-blank, powerful blast. Really glad I didn’t fight her directly too many times after she established her full bond with the Moonstone.

Kurogiri reeled, and his retaliation was much too slow to catch Glimmer, the young woman teleporting away again. The switch in focus left him open again, and this time Catra did get in close. From there, she could see partially through the mist, spotting the metal neck armor. He had an opening, a physical body to attack.

Despite the multiple attacks, he had enough sense of imminent danger to partially dodge. The attack still sheared through the armor, but  was merely quite painful in the end, and not paralyzing as the former Horde Captain had intended.

His glowing eyes darted around, glancing at the three of them before he covered himself up in mist, and when it faded, he was gone. It didn’t take much detective work to figure out where he had retreated to, Bow quickly calling out from the building he was perched on. “He’s back at the plaza!”

Down far below, it looked like Aizawa was handling the grunts well, but the hand man, the big bird faced brute, and now Kurogiri were all standing in the back. He’s going to need some help, but he’ll probably be pissed if we just rush in. “Glimmer, can you go and warn the staff about what’s going on here?” Catra said, recalling some of what the students and teachers had said about their communications being jammed.

The sparkly haired girl nodded, teleporting away. “I can smell Adora, she’s still somewhere here, we just need-” Catra’s words were cut off by Bow firing an arrow straight up that exploded at the peak of its arc, lighting up the air above them like a firecracker. A few seconds after that light display ended and Adora was there in a blur, having rushed across the massive arena.

“I’ve got you,” she said, picking Bow up and jumping down from the roof by Catra before letting him down. Such physical feats were easy for her as She-Ra. “Is everyone ok?”

“We’re fine, sounds like our class got scattered around like you did. Sparkles is off warning the teachers-” Catra paused for half a second as Glimmer teleported back in. “You okay?” While the Queen of Brightmoon didn’t look injured, she also seemed a bit frazzled.

“Turns out the principal has a couple of automatic defenses that trigger whenever someone teleports into his office.” Glimmer let out a groan as she gave up trying to smooth out her hair. “Whatever, it’s fine. I got the message to him. Now let’s go take out the rest of these jerks.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Catra’s eyes widened as she saw the trio of real villains move, and fast at that, with the big bird man crushing Aizawa against the ground head first. With Shigaraki reaching out to touch him. “Now!”

She held a hand out, Adora and Bow instinctively linking arms and offering one of theirs to Glimmer, who grabbed a hold of them and teleported them right in front of the villains.

The man with many hands was pulling away from their teacher, whose flesh was starting to disintegrate before their eyes. He jumped back, startled by their sudden appearance. “You're too late, your teacher is as good as dead now that I’ve touched him! Nomu, get them!” Dropping Aizawa, the bulky man with an exposed cranium rushed towards them, only to be met by Adora. 

A mild shockwave struck out from their clash, the beast able to match She-Ra in power as they wrestled. It was surprising, but not enough that he could gain the upper hand against Adora - she was used to fighting in close quarters with Scorpia, after all.

That practice came in hand as Shigaraki attempted to reach around his protector and towards She-Ra. Before he came in contact with her however, she shifted her grip and called the blade attached to her hip to her hand, slashing down. The cut across Shigaraki’s chest wasn’t deep however, but it did force him to recoil, aided by the shots Bow sent at the strange man.

Kurogiri made portals to protect Shigaraki from the arrows and force Catra to divert a charge towards him, but was then blasted back by a point blank laser beam wave Glimmer released upon the mist-covered man.

She-Ra’s shift to strike out at hand man left her open to a powerful blow from this ‘Nomu,’ but with a grunt, she managed to regain her footing and push back against him, using her heigh to get an advantage on the creature in their grapple. Sweeping his foot, Adora pressed in, elbow against his chest in a textbook Horde combat throw amplified by the might of Etheria’s strongest princess, slamming him against the ground with a mighty crash.

Nomu returned the favor, being less stunned then one would expect after that and punching She-Ra hard in the gut from his prone position. The force of the strike took Adora off her feet and through a nearby building, collapsing it ontop of her.

“I’m okay!” Her muffled voice came out to the group as she pushed the rubble off. The man with hands seethed, watching as Glimmer distracted Nomu with her blasts. They were just quick  bolts, unable to do any real damage to him, but he couldn’t keep up with the rapid teleports unable to grab her. He’s not predicting where she will go, either. What even is with that guy?

“Those are the students I was telling you about, Shigaraki.” Kurogiri said, gingerly rising from where he had been blasted away. A glance to the side showed Catra that despite Shigaraki’s words, their teacher appeared to have stopped the damage from furthering, though part of that likely had to do with how Aizawa had raised his gaze and his hair was floating up, using his Quirk to cancel out Shigaraki’s.

Three arrows shot out from Bow’s bow, each one exploding into green goop on contact, one catching the villain’s legs, the other an arm. Shigaraki pulled back his free hand to avoid the third shot from fully immobilizing him before saying, “Nomu, get back here.” The beast immediately dropped his attempts to grab Glimmer and moved in front of Shigaraki.

This action also shielded him from Eraserhead’s gaze, and he quickly disintegrated the bindings on his legs and arm. “This isn’t right, the final boss didn’t even show up and we’re getting beat by the fodder? Crap game, 7.8 out of 10 on IGN.”

“I believe we might need to retreat,” Kurogiri added, and Glimmer scoffed.

“Like we’re just going to let you run away after all of this!”

“No! Don’t provoke them!” Aizawa shouted from dozens of meters away, obviously badly hurt. I think he’s trying to protect us, but still, not exactly in a position to talk there, teach. Before anyone could say anything else, Adora charged back into the fray, charging straight towards Nomu. With a bit of space between them, this time she was able to bring her weapon to bear, not that it helped.

Adora’s blade swung down hard towards the beaked villain, who clapped his hands around it on either side to stop the blow. Gritting her teeth, she pressed further, trying to use all her strength to push through. The ground beneath her feet cracked and cratered, but the villain remained unmoved. 

“Whu oh,” was all she had time to say before he counter attacked, pulling her up by the blade. Before she had time to think or realize she should simply drop and recall the ethereal weapon, he spun around in a tight circle, She-Ra waving in the wind for that half second before he let go, sending her flying off through the distance.

“No!” Glimmer and Bow cried out while Catra just groaned.

“Not again. We just picked her back up, you kn-yow!” She hissed, backing up suddenly as the man with hands rushed her. He’s fast, and it looks like a single touch is deadly. But two can play at that game.

Catra lashed out, knocking his outstretched hand aside as she reached for his face, claws extended. A black blur from the side had her suddenly switching course, finely tuned reflexes letting the Etherian narrowly dodge Nomu’s outstretched hand.

She had to abort her attack against the man with many hands, dropping into a low slide that takes her between Nomu’s legs. Still, she manages to nick the leader in the ankle as she slides by, causing him to flinch in pain.

The big beast is awkward. Not slow, not in the slightest, but his movements are clumsy and instinctual. First he tries to reach down and grab her, before pausing and swinging with a backfist at Catra. She leaned back to avoid the blow as she fluidly rose to her feet. Swaying side to side with each step back, dodging the next two follow-up blows.

Mist man is holding off Bow and Glimmer, can’t rely on them to rescue me. As casual as she made the movements look, he had her backing up so much that she couldn’t find the time to launch a counter offensive, and Catra knew one good hit from this guy would take her out.

Sliding around another punch, Catra jumped, kicking off of it to try and backflip away and make more room between them. But something went wrong, somehow the motion was less effective, like the force kicking off of him had been muted. She was still agile enough to flip away, but not far enough. His demented face loomed above her as he closed in- before abruptly whipping around.

It became clear a second later that he wasn’t sparing her but instead attempting to protect himself from the rainbow comet that smashed into him. ‘Attempting’ being the keyword there, She-Ra’s blade cutting deep through his left shoulder and into his torso. The impact of her diving strike made a small prismatic wave, washing over the combatants and pushing everyone back, even the previously immovable Nomu getting knocked back a few meters.

He didn’t let that or the grievous wound stop him, swinging recklessly with his right arm at Adora. Calling her blade to her and reshaping it as a shield, she caught the strike, digging her heels in. Ground shattered, pieces of cement flying all around in the wind kicked up from the clash, the impact ringing loudly in Catra’s ears.

“How did you- Who are you?” Shigaraki hissed at Adora, less a legitimate question and more the words escaping his throat due to pure seething. Catra’s girlfriend didn’t respond verbally, turning her shield into a lasso she looped around Nomu’s meaty wrist, yanking him upwards.

It was a solid plan, but before she could take advantage of his lack of mobility in the air, a portal opened above Nomu, the momentum carrying the large monster through it and out the other side, back beside Shigaraki and Kurogiri.

Adora, Glimmer and Bow took the opportunity to congregate beside Catra, who had tumbled nearby Aizawa. “Didn’t you hear me earlier?” He growled despite his injuries. “Get out of here!” His warning wasn’t entirely unwarranted either, the last of the grievous wound Adora had inflicted on the Nomu sealed itself up before their eyes.

Glimmer groaned. “I hate fighting regenerators,” and Catra had to hold back a snicker, remembering the good times terrible not-at-all funny memories of watching the Rebellion fight against the souped up bots she’d sent at them. 

“Don’t think he’s as bad as them though. This guy won’t split into two when you cut him in half.” Probably. Even if he does, so long as he’s a sitting duck for a few seconds during that time, Adora and Glimmer can neutralize them in that time. They’ve come a long way from struggling against a couple of duplicating bots. Catra had too, and already a plan was formulating in her mind on how to beat this trio of villains.

“Seriously, get out of here and warn the others, I’ll hold them off” Aizawa bit out, and Catra noted a spot of desperation in his voice as he tried to struggle up to his good elbow. Adora's gaze flickered down and she knelt beside him, still facing the Nomu, ready to move.

“You should listen to your teacher, kiddos. This Nomu here is the Anti-Symbol of Peace, bio-engineered to take out All Might himself- oh come on! What kind of bullshit is this?!” Shigaraki swore, pointing an accusatory finger out at Adora and the golden, flickering light surrounding her and Aizawa from where she laid a hand on his shoulder. 

The magic healed all of Aizawa’s wounds, leaving him blinking in surprise. “You even fixed my dry eye,” he muttered, amazed. A small splashing sound caught Catra’s attention and she added it to her equations.

“No no no! The healer doesn’t get to be the tank too! Completely breaks the balance- what are you, some level 99 secret boss miss All Might knock off?” Shigaraki seethed, pointing at her. Adora simply rose to her full height, forcing even Nomu to look up at her. Good, keep all your attention on her and don’t turn around to see our new guests.

“You know, for someone who complains about breaking balance, maybe you shouldn’t use a two Quirk cheat character, huh?” Catra said, her tail swishing back lightly as she stepped slightly to the side.

“Two Quirks?” The question was echoed by most of the students there. 

“At least, assuming the strength and speed aren’t Quirks too.” The classifications of all their powers still confuses me a little, but Nomu has at least two separate powers. 

“If he’s that dangerous then-” Aizawa began before Catra cut him off.

“-Then we have to deal with it now, before that thing kills anyone. But don’t worry, I’ve got a plan. Midoriya, Smash.”

“A-alright! Detroit… Smash!” Midoriya yelled, leaping up from the waters behind the villains. Seriously? Could you be more obvious? Catra didn’t facepalm though, having anticipated that the green boy would be… green, combat wise.

“Nomu, stop him!” Shigaraki shouted, whirling around to face the new threat.

“Adora,” Catra said, and her girlfriend rushed ahead, forcing Nomu to turn from Midoriya and clash with her. The headlong charge let Nomu knock Adora aside, but she rolled with the blow, and Midoriya was free to punch, the blow creating a huge gust of air all around and sweeping the other villains, Kurogiri and Shigaraki backwards.

“Kill them all!” Shigaraki howled as he was tossed about, and the one villain that hadn’t been moved by Midoriya’s self destructive strike, turned to face the students with those unfeeling eyes.

“Glimmer, stop Mistman, Bow, pin Nomu.” Catra relayed her orders as she raced ahead, running on all fours at the hulking brute. He howled, leaping towards the feline girl, and she smirked. In the background, flashes of light clashed with pools of shadows, the sparkly girl overwhelming her with faster teleportation and ranged attacks. Glimmer could take out Nomu with a touch, but she’s not fast enough to avoid a counter strike, and we can’t debilitate him with his support able to teleport him around anywhere.

“Eraserhead, hold off handsy there.” Their sensei gave off an aggravated sound caught between a growl and a huff, but Aizawa had already been running off in that direction. The leader of the League of Villains cursed as he fended off ranged strikes from Asui’s long tongue and Sero’s tape, all without his Quirk as Aizawa’s nullified his power. Nomu is their hardest hitter, but he’s got no thoughts of his own, only blind obedience. Take the leader out of the picture and he’s a mindless animal.

Meeting the charge, Catra jumped up to meet Nomu. He paused, having to recalculate. Animals and basic bots were the same; they only knew what they experienced. Everything ran from Nomu’s overwhelming power, so it hadn’t prepared a strike for someone that ran at him. By the time he changed his movements, Catra was clawing around his back, and he had landed once more.

The moment Nomu’s foot hit the ground, Bow’s arrow connected, exploding into the sticky green goop, the kind that took hours to get out of fur even after being cut free. Nomu twisted, trying to grab Catra, but was stuck to the ground. He tore himself free via ripping the concrete he was bound to up after just a second, which was enough time for Catra to swing around Nomu’s shoulder and in front of him, and for Bow to loose another arrow.

This one was a net arrow, which did very little but tangle up one of Nomu’s hands. That stopped him from grabbing Catra as she flew past the monster’s head… and clawed out both his eyeballs as she soared by. Blinded, he’s wide open.

Shigaraki realized that too, his visible eye glancing in fear and rage at Adora. “Nomu, DODGE!” Despite his command, the bio-engineered beast hesitated. With his vision gone, he didn’t know which way to dodge, and so She-Ra’s blade held high, swept down in attack at the largest villain.

From it, a rainbow cutting laser swept out, the beam rising up to nearly the ceiling of the USJ dome to its floor and cutting out in a straight line following Adora’s swing. It hit Nomu and cleaved straight through him, bisecting him. It didn’t stop there, continuing on across the water and kicking up massive waves, then continuing again across the ground until it hit the edge of the USJ, smashing open a sliver of sunlight across the battlefield.

In that dazzling light, enhancing the natural shine She-Ra had, the tall girl stepped forward, pointing her blade at the remaining foes. “Surrender, villains.” Damn, I love this girl, Catra thought dreamily, not quite distracted enough to forget about Nomu, and she kept her eyes on the severed villain. 

Motioning for Glimmer, the teleporter was there in a literal flash, catching one half of Nomu’s body as it was falling and disappearing with it. The other half fell to the ground before she reappeared, but thankfully, he didn’t seem to be regenerating at all. Catra waved Glimmer off and she went back to fighting the portal villain.

Shigaraki, shocked, was caught by Aizawa’s capture tape and pinned. Kurogiri moved to help him, but was felled by a powerful blast from Glimmer. “No fair, just no fair, how are we expected to win if the tutorial level is like this?” Shigaraki muttered to himself.

Before anything else could be done to secure the villains, the door to the USJ was thrown open heavily. Solid footfalls preceded the man coming into sight. “It’s fine. I am here!” All Might proclaimed, his teeth bared in anger at the villains who had attacked his students.

“Kurogiri, get us out of here,” Shigaraki muttered, defeated. His tone was low enough that even Catra had trouble hearing him.

“Stop him!” She cried, but it was too late. Already, the two of them were falling into portals that formed beneath them. Glimmer attempted to jump into one only for Aizawa to turn as he struggled with the added pull on the scarf around his neck.

“No, don’t follow them!” With a small squeak, she instinctively teleported a few feet away, not falling through the portal Kurogiri went through before it closed. Eraserhead tried to pull Shigaraki up, but the portal closed off, slicing his capture scarf apart.

Landing suddenly, All Might entered the scene. “I will save… you…” He took the scene in, from the Nomu guts, to the regular students looking queasy at said guts, to Aizawa looking annoyed at Glimmer and Catra, who sent him similar looks back in return, while Adora and Bow waved happily at him. “What the heck happened here?”

A/N: All Might’s not used to arriving after the day has been saved, especially not by students.

I hope you enjoyed the battle scenes, MHA has some really epic fight scenes and I wanted to capture that here. How fast everything goes, the planning, coordination and skills needed for all of it.

Writing it from Catra’s perspective was fun, I got to show off her tactical side here as well as just how fast and strong she can be. While not on Nomu’s level, she actually probably could have taken a hit or two given what we see in the show when she fights She-Ra, and her claws are quite sharp.

I originally wrote a scene where Shigaraki tried to use a knock out dart on Glimmer well before the battle began, thinking too much of the mole giving him knowledge, but on rewatch that wouldn’t work for a number of reasons, the least of which being how terrible his attack was planned out.

The USJ attack is Shigaraki at his sloppiest and most irrational; he does little planning (placing the heroes in zones randomly rather than in places they’re weak to or in a prepared trap for everyone), has next to no contingencies, and very nearly loses the whole thing on the spot. Which is probably intentional - All for One wants to see him either grow from this, or be eliminated before wasting too many resources on Shigaraki. It’s the same reason why after this he only gives Shigaraki three Nomus to use during the Stain battle. On that note, has anyone seen any fics where Shiggy gets beaten and captured/killed here and All for One actually changes his plans and goes down a different route than canon?

I also had to change what heroes escaped from Kurogiri’s mist. About a quarter of the class did in canon, which would kinda interrupt the Etherian’s fight, especially their teacher. Thirteen didn’t escape but was nonetheless let go after the scattering, which I don’t really get. I guess I’m just saying this time that the heroes were in a slightly different formation, which changed things and let them all get teleported around, save for the non-Adora BFS.

For the Etherians, this was their first real taste of the kinds of threats MHA-Earth has to throw at them. Even someone like Bow is baseline more durable and agile than all but the best trained heroes, and no one has natural Quirks that can match up to the magic Adora and Glimmer can bring. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be tested, and we’ll see more of that as the story goes on.

So this is the last of the scenes I had prepared so far for this idea. Obviously I have some thoughts floating around about how other things might go, but tell me what you think. What was your favorite part of these snippets? Do you want more?