Chapter 65: Winter’s Shepherd

Dabi challenges Shoto to a fight, pitting his ice against her flames. But can Shoto break his own self-imposed limits to defeat her, or will he need to rely on help?

“Text” – Normal speech

‘Text’ – Thought

“Text” – Quirk Spirit speaking in the human world

“Text” - Attack

“Text” – Radio/Communication lines

“Text” – None Japanese speech

(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word

Chapter 65: Winter’s Shepherd

High above the countryside, a privately owned helicopter soared through the air, its blades spinning so fast that all that could be seen was a fading grey circle. All that could be heard by those below was the hum of its dual engines powering it, the same being true within it.

Its interior didn't match the exterior. Its exterior matched that of a high-end helicopter used by the rich and wealthy, the sort that carried its passengers wherever their whims blew them. But its interior was barren, only having the bare essentials, with the inclusion of additional fuel tanks, radio communications, and a deactivated J.O.Y.E. unit in its charging station.

“How long till we arrive?” The lone passenger spoke up, the darkness cloaking their body.

Keeping his eyes on his duties, the pilot shot back with a quirk response. “We’ll reach there in 25 minutes at this speed.”

His passenger made a sound of acknowledgment, and the young lady reached for her side, where a shepherd's staff leaned against the wall.

"Please, arriving in 15 minutes or less would be better." She requested, grasping at the staff as the pilot shook his head.

"Listen, lady, this isn't some high-speed chopper. I can't just tell it to go faster, and it'll do so. We could tear apart the engine if we push it." Their ride was built for range, not speed. She should know that.

"I understand, and I can promise that any needed repairs will be paid for. However, I need to arrive in 15 minutes or less. Lives are on the line." She replied, her voice gentle and soft, yet he could detect beneath the wool a layer of steel.

"Shit, why did these things need to come into the city and somewhere so far out of the way?" The pilot muttered, as he was used to the crazy. He didn't ask questions as long as he was paid, but those always took him to the middle of nowhere. This was not the middle of nowhere, but a city with thousands of people.

“Either way, we'll trust that Todoroki and Frostbyte can hold down the fort until we arrive, " his passenger stated, calm and in control of herself as she gripped the staff, a tool that seemed to vibrate, matching that of her heartbeat.

The pilot took a breath and thought about it for a moment before he signed: "Screw it, buckle up. I'm overcharging the engine. I'll get you in 12 minutes or less." He reached for the engine power level and pushed it as high as it could go, adjusting other settings to ensure he could get the most power out of them.

"Much appreciated," Fuwa called out, her grey eyes almost glowing from the shadows as she placed her staff, the instrument of her quirk, onto her lap. He remained restless, as he often did before big missions like this, but she knew it wasn't just his eagerness to stretch his legs.

"Be calm, old friend. We won't let this become another tragedy," Fuwa softly said so that only her quirk could hear. Both flashed back to the incident that derailed their Sports Festival. “It won’t.”

Line Break

Something sparked in him, angry and violent, as Shoto forced himself up, the flames warming his body, and the sight started a flame in his heart. “It was you; you killed Frostbtye!”

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. You should worry about yourself, little man. After all, it's all on you, but that's nothing new, right?" Dabi mocked him before she laughed as she pulled her arms back and sent out a giant explosion of flames.

"Now show me what Endeavor's masterpiece can do!" She challenged him, with Shoto gritting his teeth and slamming his right foot into the ground. As he'll bury this villain in so much ice, she couldn't do so much as light a candle!

The two attacks met with a great explosion, the blue flames eating away at each other. The growing hill of ice sought to engulf the flames and the caster, but those same flames ate away at the ice so fast that Dabi was left safe, if only for the moment.

That was all Dabi needed. Cutting the attack off, she held a hand up, flat like a blade as flames coated her hands, burning bright as she swung it down, sending a slash of piercing blue flames towards her attacker. It sliced through the dying flames and into the ice, melting away a considerable portion of the ice before it nearly reached Shoto, who quickly created a second shield to absorb it.

Shifting his stance, he took off, his right foot to his rear, creating a small ice trail which bloomed in his wake, propelling him forward as he sought to circle his opponent. Dabi widened her stance, her feet up to her knees, glowing as Shoto picked up whisps of smoke from her body.

He didn’t have a moment more to think about it as an explosive ring of flames shot out from her feet, traveling all around her, melting away the ice, frost, and revealing the dead grass and dirt below. The move also interrupted his ice skating, but he recovered quickly.

Not fast enough as he looked up, just as a spear made from blue flames was thrown at him, the construct was longer than him, with a spearhead that seemed jagged, unrefined, and yet he knew had to be deadly.

‘Wait?’ Shoto thought as he ducked under the attack and answered with a wall of ice spikes. ‘I’ve seen that move before.’

“Father.” He uttered, as his father was famous for making spears for ranged attacks. He was also one of the only flame heroes who could.

"You called for Endeavour? Oh, poor little Shoto, he won't be able to save you." Dabi taunted, having heard him as she forged another 2 spears, her hands starting to smoke as she threw the first, and moments later, the second.

“I don’t need him to save me,” Shoto replied as he placed his right hand onto the ground, from which pillars of ice burst out, thicker than the trees around them and far taller. The fire spears pierced into them, hissing as steam blasted out from the point of contact, but it held. As the ice columns toppled, Shoto was sure they fell towards Dabi, who had to dodge out of the way.

Again, he was back to skating, moving in and around, doing his best to remain unpredictable as he launched attack after attack towards her. Dabi seemed distracted by the attacks, focusing on keeping them back, but one got through.

She grunted as she took a hit to the shoulder, freezing her in place. Seeing his chance, he stopped and shifted his right foot, sprouting a massive wave of ice to try to bury her again.

“Well, would you look at that,” Dabi smirked as the ice crashed into her, enveloping the woman in more ice than you'll get if you freeze 3 Olympic swimming pools.

Shoto took a breath, flexing his right hand a couple of times, and his toes in his right boot to keep the feeling in them. Dabi's arrival had warmed him up, but it wasn't the best solution to eliminate the spreading chill in his bones.

"Doesn't matter, it's over, so I should go-!" Shoto was in the middle of turning to go help the rest with Stain, worried that he would have added more pros to his body count when his ice hill exploded.

No, not truly exploded. But he was completely vaporized by an eruption of flames so hot that he again felt the frost creeping up his body, melting. He saw a figure in the flames, but in a moment, they closed the gap as Dabi, with a sick smile on her scared and burning face, buried her right fist in his gut, bending him over.

Shoto spat up his lunch as he felt his body bending, with the strike finished off when Dabi set off a massive blast of flames from the point of contact. Her arm was blown up, horribly burned to the point where bone could be seen peaking out of her charred hands.

As for Shoto, he was sent flying back, crashing hard into a tree, hitting the back of his head on it and seeing flashes of light as he slumped to the foot of it, a burnt hole in his shirt, revealing an already bruising mid-section.

"Like I was saying, would you look at that? You've gotten pretty good with ice. A hell of a lot more since the last time I saw you," Dabi said, shaking her hand to try to dissipate the smoke. Shoto left, confused by her words and how nonchalant she was about her condition.

Her body…it was covered in burns from previous battles, and already she was adding so many more. Her hands were growing black as flesh just flaked off, enough so that he could see bone. Same with the rest of her, as she looked like a corpse that had been bent in a badly built and operated furnace.

“What are you…talking about?” Shoto grunted, trying to clear away the spots and get back up.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Shoto. Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough, but you must survive till then." Holding out her ruined right hand, flames burst forth from it once more, but instead of a spear or lance, Dabi created a flame claymore.

Swinging it out to the side, she allowed the moment it was above the ground to dry up the dead grass, catching light before she stook off, bringing it overhead to swing down on him.

“Crap,” Shoto reacted with a burst of ice, slower than before on account of his probable concussion. Still, he had been trained for this extensively by his father. It wasn't as much ice as before, and Dabi treated it like such.

"More!" She screamed, her jaw opening as she breathed out a jet of blue flames. The flames pierced the ice, making short work, but when they got through, they hit the spot where Shoto had been but wasn't anymore.

"Where did—" She saw a flash of light off the ice to the side and swung without thinking, her fire claymore burning through the ice spear. But she saw Shoto, and he had equipped himself with a giant shield.

Using his ice to propel himself, he launched himself at her. Dabi ticked her teeth as she jumped back, as trying to block with a flame sword wouldn't work for her. Shoto knew that and, tightening his grip on the shield, forced it to grow.

Larger, thicker, with spikes across it so that even as Dabi cut at it, taking off chunks, even when she used that fire breath trick, thin again, burning more of her own face, his shield held.

As he thought she would get tired, he finished prepping his counter. Letting go of the shield, he slammed his right hand into the ground and poured as much as he could into it. He created an enormous ice glacier, aiming to completely overwhelm Dabi, whose body was burning up. Even if she didn't seem to care, she would need to stop eventually, or else she would be consumed by her own quirk.

"Cheeky," Dabi grunted as she watched the attack. It wouldn't be so easy to avoid, and she couldn't just tackle it the same way she had done his last trick. 'No choice, ' she decided as she charged up, as she'd only have the one chance unless she wished to expose herself.

The iceberg continued to spread, engulfing everything in its sway till over a 4th the park was covered in it, with its peaks of the ice sticking out so much they could be seen over the nearby buildings. And at the root of it, knelt Shoto.

‘I overdid it…’ Shoto hissed as he could barely move, his body well and truly past its limits. He could hardly feel his right side, ice spreading to his left. He could almost hear his father's voice, angry and demanding in his ear, telling him to get up and that he had a means to get up, but he refused.

“I’ll…I’ll have to leave the rest to the others…” Shoto grunted, but even that felt like ash in his mouth. It was shameful, it was pathetic. They were struggling against Stain…weren’t they? He hadn’t paid attention, but those quirks, they couldn’t even see them, he…he had to get up, but he could barely move, much less fight.

“…And did you know sometimes we fail? That sometimes we get there too late, or we're not strong enough, or some other factor is at fault? The end result is the same: Valued personal treasures lost, people hurt, people dead, their blood running through the cold, uncaring streets..."

“Shut up.” He didn’t want to hear it again, and he didn't need to hear it again, but Frostbyte's words were as uncaring as a blizzard, and he could do nothing but lay there and let them wash over him.

"..It never gets easier, and all heroes, even All Might, must contend that we're still mortal for all our power, training, and reach. But as painful as that can be, we can hold onto the belief that we gave it our all, that we pushed with 110% to save who we could, to protect what we could..."

"I did…I used everything of my mother's quirk. It's the only power I need…" He felt hollow even as he said it, but he held on. He had to hold on…because he couldn't let his father win. He couldn't be his tool, he swore he wouldn't.

Before he heard her words, he recalled the sight, still fresh in his memory."…When you fail to save someone? Can you say you'll be able to say the same? Would your ice comfort you when you're forced to watch as friends and family cry over bodies and coffins?..."

In his mind's eye, he saw Frostbyte, lying in the half-melted snow, badly burnt. She…she was out of her element against Dabi, but he couldn't resist the voice in his head saying that she wouldn't have been forced to fight her if he had stepped up. He could have helped if he had just broken his vow and warmed up.

With his face to the earth, he didn't spot the danger from above.

“Kid!” One of the pros yelled, trying to warm him before Dabi came in like an asteroid, cratering the earth beneath him with his body as she drove her flaming knee hard into his back, just barely missing his spine. He didn't have time to cry out in pain or shock as Dabi unleashed flames into him, bathing him in blue with enough force that it caused an explosion and sent her toppling off.

When the smoke cleared, Shoto was left with his back covered in bad burns, his hero gear having been turned to ash to expose his back. He could barely feel anything. He was barely conscious as he lay in a crater of dirt and ash. He just couldn't believe it. How…how did she'

“Well, that was risky, but it worked out pretty damn well.” He heard it, loud and clear, Dabi’s voice as she approached him. Sounding impressed with herself, or was it him, he couldn’t be sure.

“How…?” Shoto asked, as he could hardly move a finger, much less fight back. Dabi was making things easier for him, or maybe she just wished to ensure he could see her as she mocked him.

“Oh, you mean how I managed that?” Dabi pointed towards his massive attack, which showed no signs of damage, so how did she-"It’s simply, I dodged it. Blew off my legs doing it, but it worked.”

As she spoke, Shoto looked down and saw she was right. Both her legs below the knee were gone. One of which was just a charred stump, the other seemed like it was just some bone sticking out, no flesh to be found.

Shoto had to suppress the urge to gag as he saw some messed-up stuff at the USJ. He witnessed that a living cancer cell, called a Nomu, as its body grotesquely regenerated and added new limbs, eyes, ears, and mouths to its body, but it was just a monster.

Dabi…she was a person, wasn't she? How could she be so unconcerned for her body? She was only upright because she was using flames to hover like a damn chopper. This woman wanted to win so badly that she didn't care, and he was left without the strength to raise a hand to defend himself.

Dabi, ignorant of his spiraling thoughts about her mental stability, looked him over, and man oh man, did he look terrible. She already knew he wasn't in the best shape when she jumped into the fight earlier, but she had done a real number on him since. He had plenty of bruises, what looked to be some cracked ribs, maybe a broken one or two. He was covered in dirt.

Oh, and the burns—she ensured he had plenty of those, but as she suspected, he didn't have nearly as many as most others. She knew burns and could tell he had, at worst, some 2nd-degree burns, mainly 1st-degree burns. Most others would be lucky to only have 3rd degrees after that if they hadn't lost flesh to her flames, and she hated that about Shoto.

Dabi took a breath. No, she couldn't lose it, not now. She had a plan, and she wouldn't break it just because she was bored. "Hmmm, it looks like I missed. I was aiming to shatter your spine with that last hit, but that's okay."

She smiled, though her jaw was hardly attached at this point, as she lifted her hands and allowed flames to burst into life in both palms. Her right hand looked like it would fall off any moment now from how badly burned it was.

And yet, none of them took away from the glee in her eyes, eyes which seemed to be bleeding orange to reveal the pure, blue madness beneath. "I still have plenty of firepower, don't worry, though, I won't kill you. It wouldn’t do if Endeavour couldn’t see just how much I broke his masterpiece.”

Shoto wasn't a fool, and he wasn't a machine. He could recognize when death was coming for him. He couldn't move or fight, and even if he wished to use his flames, he was too wounded to do anything about it.

‘No, is this it? Am I…?’ He asked, as he still needed to-he had to prove he wasn’t his-No, he had to save Frostbyte! “No…” A spark of orange flames formed along his left side.

Line Break

Out of the mist and smoke around them, a figure descended. In their hands, they held a shepherd's staff. Her gaze was focused, bright, and filled with power, as their eyes glowed like stars in the darkness.

“Protect the flock, Sakurahitsuji." Fuwa called, as her most treasured staff glowed, her quirk singing in concert with her as she blasted a deluge of fluffy pink wool towards the two. The blast was like a stream as it overwhelmed the two, and Shoto found himself being carried by it like a piece of driftwood on a stream.

“The hell?” Dabi, on the other hand, was encased in it, as the wool quickly moved like snakes, ensnaring her body, pulling her arms behind her back, and restraining her before she was spat out the fluffiness nice and locked up.

“That would be enough of that,” Fuwa declared as she landed on the wool, not making a sound as she presented herself to the two. She hadn’t changed how her hair was styled, but she added a pair of puffy, cotton ball-shaped earrings.

But as for her hero costume, it was a unique one. Atop her head, she wore a black wool cap, while for a shirt, it was a pink embroidered top with a thick pink wool-like cloak that came with some sleeves. Her lower body was covered with white form-fitting trousers with red embroidery shaped like clouds around her ankles. At the same time, over this she donned a knee-length pink skirt with black embroidery around its bottom. It was a skirt with numerous pockets that stored who knew what.

For shoes, she wore a pair of short brown leather boots with a look finished by a wide leather belt carrying larger pockets and her trusty staff.

Standing atop a mound of wool, she hardly struck an intimidating presence, which was not helped by how calm and relaxed she sounded. "I hope you had your fill, because this will be the last time you do anything."

“Y-you…I remember you, you…there.” Shoto asked, coughing as he could feel every wound as the adrenaline faded.

Fuwa smiled as she willed him forward, her wool gently carrying him towards her. She laid a soft hand on his cheek, careful not to cause him unneeded pain. "Don't use my real name…whatever your hero name is, but you can call me Shepherdess.”

Dabi grunted, as this was not what she expected, and she grew angrier. “What is this, cotton? You seriously think this would stop me.”

“Well, your flames died out, didn’t they?” Shepherdess's smile didn't shift, even as Dabi tried to call upon her quirk. While it formed, it didn't pierce through the wool, which seemed to suck it up like a sponge did water. "My cotton's not so fragile that it burns easily. It's soft, fluffy, warm, and can absorb a lot, including heat." She explained as she patted the wood, laughing at how irresistible soft it was.

"Still, I can't let you just stay there, so," the Shepherdess zipped towards him, swinging her staff. She aimed for Dabi's head and smacked her, knocking the woman out. "Stay quiet for a little bit, please. Well, I'll deal with the rest."

Shoto, pushing aside his awe at how easily she handled the villain, got back into focus. “Shepherdess, Stain’s here…he’s fighting the others.”

"I know. I didn't rush to help you first, freshmen; they needed my help. " The Shepherdess smiled at him, sticking her tongue out to be cheeky.

“You…defeated him?” Shoto couldn't believe it, but when he listened to the rest of the battlefield, he could hear fighting, but nothing that could be people being stabbed, nor were there cries of pain or moans of agony.

"Hmm, not quite. Let's clear the fog, and you'll see what I mean." The Shepherdess snapped her fingers, and at her command, some of her wool lifted up like a snake and started to suck in the smoke, ash, moisture, and dust in the air.

“What…is that?” Shoto asked, as he saw a giant sheep the size of an elephant fighting Stain, or more accurately, chasing after him as the hero killer struggled to keep up. Shoto watched as the man swung his blade, carving off a large chunk of wool, but that was all it got as the sheep let out a loud bleat and tried to kick him, showing no signs of damage.

That wasn't the only weird thing, as he spotted many of the pros he had believed dead, now with pink wool around parts of their bodies. He guessed they were wounds, but…why? Was the wool healing them? Just how versatile was this quirk?

Shepherdess sighed, a happy little smile across her face as she looked out towards the wool sheep. Its body regenerated the damage as she felt a little drain on her stamina. "That's my quirk in action. He's super adorable, but he's a real fighter, that one."

As if the quirk could hear her, or more likely because it could, because they shared a link, it let out a smug little bleat before it continued its pursuit of Stain, keeping him from attacking anyone else.

Things seemed calm, like she had everything under control, but then one of the quirk beasts called out.

“Kill her!” At the cry, the bug tried to make a pass at her, zipping towards her, ready to-

Only for Shepherdess to evade the attack and, with a twirl, slam the end of her staff into the bug, which, for the first time since the fight started, got a loud, pained reaction from one of the quirks as she pinned the overgrown dragonfly. "Sorry about this, but I'm not as ineffective as the rest. Please surrender. I don't like hurting others, no matter what."

“Burry here in ice!” Was the response as the ice golem attacked, sending out a wave of ice, made from jagged, sharp, and lethal shards of the stuff.

Shepherdess sighed. “I always hate when they resist.” Her smile faded as she moved. Using her staff, she knocked the dragonfly quirk out of the way and batted it into the sky, sending it hurtling towards the dinosaur, which circled overhead. Both were surprised by this as they crashed into each other.

Shepherdess jumped right over the ice, holding her staff out. Its tip glowed once more as a cloud of wool formed around it, quickly forming a giant ball of fluff that, when hit by the ice, held strong.

She didn’t wait long as she came bursting out like a bat out of hell, her gaze hosting none of her patience and warmth, for she was no sheep. She was the Shepherdess.

And these wolves dare to threaten her flock.

“What the-!” With a flick of her wrist and a push of her will, her staff changed shape as she zipped by the armored turtle, its head becoming closer to a polearm, with a head that had the features of an axe, a hammer, and a spike.

“She-!” Spinning the weapon around her body, she swung it into the armored shell of the turtle, and to its shock, her axe head pierced through, drawing blood as it carved deep into its flesh.

Ripping it out like it had just been some lifeless wood, she gazed up into the quirk beast’s eyes. "I told you, I'm not so ineffective as the rest." Without another word, she drove the spike into its chest, twisting and then pulling back, jumping back right as a jet of its blood shot out and would have stained her clothing.

"But I can show you how well-versed I can be when protecting my flock." She pulled out a capture ball, allowed it to grow to normal size, and tossed it at the bellowing in agony quirk, the spirit too weak to put up a fight as it was absorbed.

Pulling out 3 more, she turned the rest, and they knew.

They were the ones being hunted now.

Line Break

And we're here, at the last chapter for the month…damn, it doesn't feel like so much time has passed as next time I work on this, it'll be November. I know for some of you, that means colder weather, but that ain’t the case down in the Southern Hemisphere. Still, it's not like the sun's trying to kill us right now, so I could focus on this, and it's no problem.

This chapter…well, I’ve introduced Fuwa a while back, but she's hardly gotten much time to play. That changes with this one, as I wanted to show off what she can do as a second year. Also, we get our first Dabi vs. Shoto battle, as I intend for there to be more before the truth of Dabi comes out.

Line Break

I've said in the past that Pokémon was part of the inspiration for this, and these last few chapters were no exception. Some might have gotten it, but as I've only described some of their appearances, it would be hard, if not impossible, to figure out the rest. So here it is:

Kilowattrel

Yanmega

Aerodactyl

Regice

Glalie

Emolga

Blastoise