#Koichi proceeds to beat the shit out of all for one

[welovethecloudboytoomuch]

MHA Vigilantes Day 6

Prompt: Mirror/ Number 6/ Alternate Ending

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Run

He begins to pull on the quirk, wrenching it away from the Skycrawler’s body. The Crawler writhes in pain, attempting to escape the villain’s grip, but All for One holds tight on his face.

In the struggle, All for One focuses. He closes his eyes and waits to feel the telltale-deadweight in his hands as the Crawler goes limp, but it never comes. 

Instead, when he opens his eyes, he finds himself in an empty black landscape. The floors and ceiling are indistinguishable from each other in the void, but he can tell he’s still standing on solid ground.

In front of him stands a single figure with his back to him.

“Pretty blank, huh?” the figure asks. 

“What?” All for One snarls, disoriented and confused at being pulled away from the battlefield.  

The figure takes no stock to All for One’s anger as he replies, “This place.” He gestures with a swirling hand above him. “I was surprised. I always knew that that guy was a bit of an airhead, but I didn’t expect his mind to literally be a blank slate. Guess there’s really nothing going on up here after all!” He cheers. 

“Where am I and who are you?” All for One demands. Did he miss something? Was there a hero on the battlefield that he was unaware of that had some kind of illusion quirk?

“Aw come on boss, you really don’t recognize me? I have to say that bites.” The figure leans on the last word, dragging it out into a higher note. 

All for One furrows his brow. 

“I mean, I guess you’d have no reason to think about me,” the man continues, “After all, I am dead,” he chuckles lightly, then turns his head and flashes a terribly creepy smile, “But for some reason, I’m still here.”

In front of All for One stands the image of Number 6. Dressed as he was the day he died, in his hero suit and trench coat.

“Hi boss," he smiles, "betcha didn’t think you’d see me again!”

Questions run through All for One’s head. “Wha- How?” he demands.

“I don’t know,” 6 answers. “I was honestly hoping you knew, but if you don’t that’s okay. I’m honestly not that bothered. It’s been entertaining, watching through his eyes as you guys try the whole ‘take over the world thing’.” He gestures with his hands. “Sucks that I couldn’t be apart of the fun.”

All for One confusion turn to anger now. He stalks up to Number 6 and grabs his collar and holds him in the air.

“This isn’t possible, you burned up along with everything else that night.”

“Apparently not,” 6 shrugs, unaffected by the fact that he’s dangling by All for One’s grip two feet off the ground. He watches the emotions battle across All for One’s face. Confusion, anger, and then...

“You’re afraaaaiiid,” he sing-songs. “You’re worried that something went wrong here, and I honestly can’t blame you because I think it did," he suddenly whispers, low and conspiratorial to All for One like he's sharing a secret. 

“I always did wonder if the Doc was telling the truth about all those quirks he put in me. Though that you migha be lying. That maybe he slipped something extra in as a test. After all, you wouldn’t want your prized pupil to kick the bucket if you discovered there was come complication with holding your quirk.”

He watches All for One’s face turn to horror. The counter of 6's mouth twitches into a smile.

“You had it all figured out.” He continues. “You pulled the wool over my eyes and were ready to let me burn out in one last blaze of glory! But then, something unexpected happened.” 

“I let him live,” he whispers. “You weren’t prepared for that.”

All for One stays silent, but drops Number 6 onto his feet, apparently tired of trying to intimidate him. He scowls and tries to look down on 6 with a face of disgust. 

It doesn't work. 

“Well, you have bigger problems than me to deal with right now, anyway.” 6 finally shrugs as he stares directly into All for One’s eyes.

6 can see it in his eyes. He knows he's lost. 

“Do you remember what you told me?” 6 says quietly, almost reverently. “What you said was the only effective strategy against an opponent such as the Crawler?”

All for One’s pupils dilate. He does remember what he said, he has to. 

The grin that splits his face is gleeful and manic as he purrs, “Run.”

// You say Run begins to play

[thequietmanno1]

TheLreads, Vigilantes ch 115, Replies Part 1

1) “I’ll read it the moment I’m done beating the shit out of furuhashi for today. 

And with that we segue into Chapter 115: Conclusion

God I hope so. Don’t disappoint me Furuhashi.”- Furuhashi proceeds to send a whole chapter disappointing L.

2) “And now we make our transition from Top gun into Neon Genesis Evangelion

get into the fucking robot koichi”- Actually, it’s Nomura who gets in the big-ass plasma mecha instead. Because at this point, why the hell not? Let’s just throw the rest of our cool ideas at the wall and see what happens, AFO certainly is enjoying the spectacle. 3) “Yeah I’m not even going to bother with the alcohol today, I already clocked what’s going to happen, I’m immune to the psychic damage.”- And yet the logical fallacies of a massive plasma Kaiju being used as a gundam mech still eventually drove you to drink…

4) “A sight of hell, also known as reading the final arc of Vigilantes.

okay low hanging fruit there, I’m not proud of that one.

And again, cool af sight, but everything I can say is why”- It’s the symbolisation of both Nomura and L’s deteriorating sanity as the bullshit just escalates time and again… 5) “fucking unbelievable, I know Koichi. If only there was something to indicate they’d do that, like their name.”- Let’s be honest, I’m not certain we can call what they’ve done here simply “blowing up”. “transitioning into tangible bullshit Quirk magic” more like. 6) “Now good thing you can see Koichi there, right McBee? It’s not like you’ve burned your organs and in fact your entire nervous system.

hell, I’d say I’m surprised that your brain didn’t burn up, but its existence in the first place is still up to debate”-Nomura is seeing and sensing the world around with pure hatred right now, his emotions empowering his fragile remaining body to new heights of power at the same time they allow him to keep track of his surroundings. Does it make logical sense? Absolutely not, but when has that ever stopped anything? 7) “aaaand yeet goes the cockroach

try not getting squashed by a giant plasma rolled-up newspaper Koichi”- Hilariously, that is basically what Nomura’s doing. Overcoming all of Koichi’s advantages to assault him with unfair force and destruction in swift devastating strikes, exactly like a bug would experience when getting swatted by a human. 8) “Good thing there’s nobody on the streets right now, when shit’s being blown up. 

But at the same time, good thing that building there was conveniently vacant and nobody was inside, right Furuhashi?”- Lord forbid Koichi have to rescue anybody but himself from his current predicament. 9) “Dammit Koichi, I thought you were a master when it came to falling and rolling”- Sadly, this time, the force he’s up against is on another level than what he’s trained for. Can’t fully block these hits anymore, so the only option is to dodge and run as best as his broken body will allow now. 10) “OH JESUS

KOICHI

DID YOU BROKE YOUR LEG THERE

GOOD LORD”- The time for running is over now. Time to stand your ground with what you’ve got, or get ground down into nothing one-sidedly. 11) “Jesus man koichi was in shock because of his broken leg, he didn’t even tried to dodge that, AND McBEE STILL MANAGED TO MISS HIM

A STATIONARY TRAGETOH MY GOD MAN”- Pure Hatred is not a good assistance for fine aiming skills.

“Koichi getting the everloving fuck beaten out of him indirectly. It’s not even McBee hitting him, the flying rubble has a better aim than him”- Nomura had to stack the odds so far against Koichi that random chance started to work in his favour before he got close to having the upper hand over him. @thelreads

[thelreads]

Good thing they were close by, this mean that chaos is still at the beginning, and at the same time, terrible thing, since there’s a huge chance that Knuckleduster will cross paths with the source of it... Oh no...

OH NOOOOO....

He already identified the best boy around, and now he’ll proceed to beat the shit out of him for being the best boy. That’s how the drug works, it makes you want to beat up the best boy in a vain attempt to become the best boy

It’s all for naught, of course

there’s only one best boy

Only one

Alright Manga, you can stop right there, that one wasn’t exactly subtle. The villain there looks just like Knuckleduster when seen from this angle because of the mask, and he likes to punch everything instead of talking, and he’s currently trying to punch Koichi.

I see exactly where we are going with chapter already

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, Vigilantes 6, Replies Part 2

1) “YOU- HOW THE FUCK DID YOU EVEN GOT UP THERE?!

OH GOD NO, HER QUIRK ISN’T ONLY CONTROLLING BEES, IS IT? OH CHRIST NO, DON’T TELL ME SHE ALSO HAS WINGS AND A STING”-  Well, maybe if she injects enough trigger into her body she might turn out that way. Trigger seems to cause mutations to reach stronger power levels even amongst those who don’t have transformation-type powers. The dumbass trio didn’t seem to have any transformation-esque abilities because of their quirks, but they all still transformed so their bodies could better wield their enhanced powers. Kuin’s ‘base’ power level seems to be growing and controlling her ‘children’ inside her body, and just that, but if she injects herself, she could go full one-winged angel on Koichi and the rest.

2) “Oh right sorry, I forgot that we have a dangerous criminal wreaking havoc in the streets, my bad, I was jut terrified of that girl and I completely overlooked all the death and destruction.”-  On the one hand, you have a rampaging junkie hopped up on power serum and willing to violently take out his grievances on anybody he sets eyes on, or the surrounding area, whilst swearing like a sailor who’s having a very bad day. On the other, you have an ordinary high-school girl with an eyepatch. Which one’s scarier?

3) “Hopefully he won’t explode after all that power got activated, that would be horrible to clean up afterwards…”-  Presumably that’s the reason he keeps letting out that massive megaton punch- it’s a way of venting all the excess energy his body is accumulating and gathering inside him so he doesn’t explode form the force of it. 

His powers are admitably not well-defined by the character profile, but they seem to be naturally combat-based to allow him to fight harder and longer than most, hence why Knuckle has to stop holding back to take him out- and even then, not with his own strength, but by turning the junkie’s power against him.

4) “He already identified the best boy around, and now he’ll proceed to beat the shit out of him for being the best boy. That’s how the drug works, it makes you want to beat up the best boy in a vain attempt to become the best boy”-Koichi just has one of those faces. It’s a gift and a curse. As long as he’s around, he’s guaranteed to attract all kind of people who want to attack him, meaning no civilians will be hurt, but that means that he’ll have to ‘survive’ all these attacks coming his way instead. 

Good thing he also has the gift of F A S T

5) “Alright Manga, you can stop right there, that one wasn’t exactly subtle. The villain there looks just like Knuckleduster when seen from this angle because of the mask, and he likes to punch everything instead of talking, and he’s currently trying to punch Koichi.

I see exactly where we are going with chapter already”- well, it’s more like the Junkie is Knuckleduster’s evil counterpart in much the same way that OG Nomu was designed to be All Might’s greatest challenge before AFO stepped in personally. In contrast to how OG Nomu was ‘built’ to take on everything All Might could dish out, this junkie just happens to have a natural quirk set-up that allows Knuckleduster to fight all-out without fear of holding back, and their fight coming down to a contest of brute strength even mirror’s the ending of the fight- though whereas All Might won  by outoutmatching what Nomu could take, Knuckleduster wins by fighting smarter, not harder.

6) “Oh we’re definitely going down that route. Koichi will have to deal with this villain on his own because knuckleduster will be away chasing a bug to crush. Time for him to show how he handles a bigger opponent on his own way…”-  Well, no, not exactly. By this Point, Kuin’s long gone, having already gotten what she wanted outta the Junkie and letting him rampage publically far away from her, letting her and her employer view the differing effect he has from his dosage of trigger through camera or phones or whatever other means they use to spy on people from afar in the modern age. Kuin’s policy is ‘extremely’ hands off and she’s notably worried about coming into contact with Knuckleduster, so she’s taking a lot of pains to avoid being nearby whenever she instigates another trigger rampage, least he find her.

7) “Well okay then, that’s… That’s one way to handle it. “Know when to fold ‘em” is a valid strategy, since he realized this is beyond what he can handle on his own. “-  To be honest, that kind of is Koichi’s only strategy at this point. He’s still not at the level of doing much more than Tripping up opponents from behind, so whenever he’s caught with a villain who can’t be reasoned with, his only goal is to distract him long enough for somebody else more skilled to appear on the scene and take over. Quirk usage is permitted in allowing you to defend yourself or keep yourself safe, but not to actually attack or fight back against villains if you’re not a hero. 

Koichi therefore playing keep-away with the junkie- not actually attacking him, nor running away- allows him to buy time and prevent the villain from hurting anybody else, whilst also keeping him safe from the law should they happen on the scene- they can’t blame him if he’s been using his quirk to keep himself safe, right? Knuckle doesn’t have the restriction, of course, but it still show how limiting it can be to try and fight crime without crossing the law and making yourself into an enemy of the official do-gooders.

8) “Oh someone got caught, but that’s okay, because our precious speedster is on the case. “-  I’ve just now realised that Koichi’s zigzagging patterns on the ground where he moves seem reminiscent of the Flash’s lightning bolts he generates when moving at high speed.  Guess Koichi’s cribbing moves from more than one hero to keep ahead in this game.

9) “Oh, nice one Koichi, you’re getting good at jumping in to save others, and oh my god am I starting to get worried about it, since this usually ends with someone getting shot or dead or shot and dead”- Well, luckily Koichi doesn’t yet have his gun, so it just ends with Junkie Jones here Punched and very nearly dead.

10) “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO CHASE AFTER THAT BEETCH

I MEAN, I’M STILL GLAD YOU ARE HERE, BUT I WAS SURE YOU WERE GOING TO PRIORITIZE REVENGE OVER JUSTICE, AT LEAST IN THAT PARTICULAR CASE”-  He might have been slightly delayed looking around for any signs of her presence in the area before he jumped in to save Koichi- hence why Koichi had to save those civilians instead- but as mentioned, Kuin’s nowhere near this particular crime scene precisely because she’s aware Knuckleduster’s looking for her, and she’s not going to let her guard down around him.

11) “Alright this threw me out of the loop, I thought we were going to get koichi showing how he can still fight even without being strong as Knuckleduster, while also getting some insight on Knuckle’s quest for revenge, but apparently we are not…”-  Nah, instead we’re getting Koichi’s own ‘world of the pros’ moment, getting to see what it’s like when his mentor goes all-out and the kinds of threats he has to face- things beyond Koichi’s understand, but challenges and opponents he must one day rise to overcome as well if he’s to be a top-class hero- even from the shadows. It’s ….not quite as inspiring to Koichi perhaps, mainly because of knuckleduster being way too into the bloody Deathmatch aspect of the fight, but the spirit of it is still there.

12) “Oh good lord is that guy getting bigger? He’s getting angrier and bigger… Is his quirk similar to that of Re-Destro? Apparently it is, just with anger instead of mental stress. Well, not that different, but not exactly the same.”-  It’s kind of unclear, but his power seems to involve energy build-up to power his punches and keep him fighting through any damages he takes, allowing him to keep going so long as he generates power through his attacks- too much power even, which is why he has to blow it off via one big massive haymaker to ‘vent’ it- Kinda similar to Knuckleduster venting his stress through this fight. 

Said energy build-up could also result in his body growing bigger as he channels more energy through it, and explains why he has to go down to a single punch like Knuckleduster landed on him- he’d simply either heal or fight through the pain otherwise, so his brain had to go lights out to a single blow to put him out for good.

13) “Oh no, of course Knuckleduster would want to meet him face-to-face, he doesn’t believe in backing down from a fight, and as we are already aware, he has some sort of death wish, this is the perfect place for him to be.”- He’s also showing Koichi that there are times where you just have to stand your ground and fight, even against a bigger and stronger opponent than yourself, and if you have faith in yourself and your abilities, you can win even when the odds are against you. Koichi can’t just keep running around during a fight- there’s got to be a time where he stands his ground and faces the opponent head-on.

 Sure, it’s not this fight, but there will come a time where he cannot run or wait for the heroes to help him out, and has to solve the problem on his own. Plus, there’s the fact the Knuckleduster already realised that he could take him on by using his own power against him so he’s confident enough in his odds of success. He may seem crazy, but he usually has a plan for victory in mind before he jumps into a fray- especially with opponents like these when you can’t just pummel them into submission, but have to fight smarter.

14) “Just to remind ourselves that Knuckleduster is a regular-ass quirkless human, that has trained himself so much he’s able to get evenly matched with a strength-enhancing type that is currently in THREE doses of the quirk-enhancing drug.

good fucking lord, what a fucking badass this man is”-  This panel, more than anything else, really did remind me of the All Might/ OG Nomu fight, with Knuckleduster going tot-to-toe with an otherwise unstoppable foe compared to everything else they’ve faced thus far, something that physically overwhelms even his own amazing combat powers, and showing Koichi in the process the spirit of a true her- er, Vigilante in the process.

15) “Knuckleduster is going to win, that we knew already, but apparently he’s not even going to get hurt like I imagined.”-Well, he still got plenty banged up, even with those grazing shots that successfully landed on him. All Might can create wind blast by punching the air a good several hundred meters from his target. Tis guy isn’t in the same weight category but his strength level is above-average compared to what Koichi and the others have faced before, so even minor blows from him will still hurt, bruise and even cause bleeding. A full-on strike to knuckleduster wouldn’t have put him in the hospital, it’d have torn him in half.

16) “AND THAT’S A KNOCKOUT ALRIGHT

PAPADUSTER EMERGES VICTORIOUS OVER THE EMO DRUG ADDICTED”- A counter-punch not only attacks you with the opponents own strength, but yours as well, due to forward momentum pulling you into their blow. Knuckleduster basically used the wind-up as his cue to land a hit that turned Junkie Jones’ own massive destructive powers against him, landing a hit to his head that knocked him out for the duration of his trigger boost, thus neutralizing the threat even with his own merger ‘human’ strength.

17) “Also, this whole thing, Villain vs Knuckleduster is basically a mirror of knuckleduster vs Koichi. Being bigger and stronger isn’t necessarily a sign you’re going to win, someone with less power than you can just take advantage of your mistakes and take you down with a single move.

What I mean is, Koichi is going to win against knuckleduster in a fist fight, mark my words.”-  Well, maybe not Knuckleduster, but he is, as some point, going to have to stand on his own feet and fight without assistance from anybody. It’s ok to run and get help from others more experienced than you for now, but a hero saves people around them with their own strength, not the borrowed power of their friends and allies. At some point, Koichi’s got to fight with his own power if he wants to be a hero like he dreamed of being.

18) “Alright knuckleduster, impart unto us your wisdom when it comes to villains, what lessons are you going to give to your son Koichi in this night of glory? Tell us… What words of knowledge this blood was spilled for?”- Knuckleduster therapy 101: Punch a villain! Your troubles and worries will just melt away… Alternative brand targets also include, Lawyers, Taxmen, Politicians, and your Boss.

19) “oh, that’s the excuse you’re gonna give them? That you’re just down because the villains that you guys took down were too weak? Yeah, bullshit, but I fear that Koichi is going to fall for that one, or, at the very least he’ll pretend to take the bait.”-  Well, it might not be wholly a lie. Knuckleduster does seem to get a lot of satisfaction out of fighting- and more specifically, fighting when in a challenging situation where victory is uncertain. He’s been 1-hit KO’ing opponents left and right since he appeared, and once he found himself in a stressful situation due to catching a whiff of the Beekeeper’s tail, he’s been unable to gain satisfaction from such measly opponents, no matter how much they deserved their beatings from him, like the wolf pack bros. Next time he’s in a bad mood, all he needs to do is get put into a life-or-death fistfight and he’ll be right as rain.

20) “And pop is getting faster with first-aid, she was already waiting for this to happen.”- Pop has now started moving into her official role as the support party member, on hand with Band-Aids and med-kits whenever these two chuckleheads gets too smacked up.

21) “Oh lord no, the team’s presence is actually being beneficial to them. The heroes would dispatch those villains too quickly, but the vigilantes need to actually fight them for a while before they can do the same.

They learn more about the effects of the drug by having Koichi and knuckleduster fighting them, and they aren’t even aware of it. Not that they could afford to stop fighting those villains, a lot of people would end up hurt that way.”-  The best type of Villain is the David Xanatos type- the ones that see all the angles to a situation and try and turn the presence and interference of the heroes into a benefit to their operations, such that even suffering a loss or the heroes mucking up operations still benefits them in some way. After all, rather than fall into the predictable narrative trap of combatting heroes, where you’re almost guaranteed to fail and lose because ‘good triumphs over evil’, you simply turn yourself and your plans into something to works alongside or with the heroes, thus making narrative convention your bitch. 

There’s absolutely nothing Koichi and co can do to stop the mastermind if he turns his focus towards ‘using’ them to work in his interests, and doing nothing just benefits him as well. It’s win-win no matter what he does. This guy is definitely a smart planner.

22) “But, the person in charge is using this as a test for this girl, a way for her to prove her worth to their organization, whatever that is since we know its not the Yakuza.”-  As a testament to the above, the vigilantes presence also allows the mastermind to test the skills and adaptability of his current subordinate, allowing her to be tested in such a way that doesn’t alert the police or the heroes to their shadowy operations, and also ensuring that any information the vigilantes receive about him through her will be swiftly erased, as he can simply get serious about getting rid of them should they take down Kuin and get one step closer to unmasking him.

23) “oh fuck I think I heard something about this before, “compensated dating” right? Oh my god, is she actually finding new prey like this? No way

No fucking way

what the hell even is going on?!”- Well, look at it this way. At least her next victim was somewhat asking for it by going on a ‘date’ with such a young girl, right? Sure, cultural differences and all, but I get the feeling we’re not supposed to be too upset by whatever ends up happening to the guy.

@thelreads​