Chapter 5: Recess.
Madow is still eating his fish, using his hands instead of silverware. When a group of students comes to talk to him. In the front are Rex and Viktoria, while Isaac and Alex stand behind them.
"Hey! Madow, right?" Rex says while Madow finishes his fish, making a mess of himself. Earning a look of disgust and curiosity from Alex.
"Yeah, sup." He also looks to Isaac and Viktoria, since they're the ones he recognizes. Viktoria waves back at him, to which he shakes his head in refusal. And Isaac gets a little nervous but says hi back.
"So, Isaac over here asked for help with his quirk, since it's hard to control and can be very destructive. Vik thought of a way of having a little fun while helping him, an extra test if you will, want in?"
Madow gets up to walk away, but as he sees Lux standing to that side, he reconsiders. "Uh, sure, let's do that." He uses his quirk to clean up all the mess he caused while eating, putting it and the fish bones in a ball of water.
Viktoria grabs Rex's hand and tells everyone to go outside. Madow looks at Rex with pity, leaving him confused.
Madow breaks down the bones inside the water ball and mixes them with the fish scraps, turning the water into a kind of soup, which he proceeds to drink. To the horror of Alex, who gets a bit farther from him.
As they get outside, Rex explains the game. "I thought it would be a good idea to throw balls at Isaac and have him use his quirk to throw them back." Isaac likes the idea.
Rex grabs a ball and turns his arm into a giant pneumatic canon, shooting it at Isaac. Who in turn increases his gravitational field, making the ball spin really fast around him, but is unable to let go. The trees around them curve towards him as he turns off his power in frustration.
"It's okay, Isaac! Failing is how we learn!" Viktoria comforts him.
Madow interjects in a bland tone. "Have you tried spinning your own body? The speed differential should make the ball go flying."
"Huh?" Isaac is left confused.
"If you are spinning with the ball and stop, or if you start spinning toward the opposite side, you could get an increase in relative speed without extra effort. Making it go into escape velocity without a need for increasing gravity or control."
He demonstrates it by making a small ball of ice and attaching it to his finger with a rope of water, and then spinning his finger around to make the ice ball spin together, abruptly pulling his finger in the opposite way the rope snaps and the ball flies away.
"Although with gravity would be a bit different, should still work since you're using a quirk."
Isaac nods in understanding, while Viktoria gets ready for her turn. Her arm opens up, revealing a cannon in her forearm. She loads up the ball and shoots it.
Isaac does the same as he did with Rex, but this time adds spin to it, being able to release the ball. Except he releases it too fast, making it fly directly toward Alex's face. But their face turns dark with small green stars, like a night sky, and the ball goes through without harm.
Isaac apologizes profusely, but Alex just gives a thumbs up.
"Madow, your turn." Rex tells him.
"What are the rules, exactly?" He asks just to be met with Alex saying, "Just throw the ball as hard as you can, not that complex."
"That wasn't very helpful. Well, give me a minute." He walks around 300 meters away from Isaac, where he puts two giant ice spikes into the ground, then makes two tentacles to grab the spikes. He walks backward, basically making himself the projectile for a ballista.
He shoots, flying forward while holding the ball with a tentacle, making three others to shoot water jets to make himself spin. When close enough, he whips the tentacle, throwing the ball at full speed and pushing it forward with another water jet. The ball breaks the sound barrier.
The ball hits Isaac directly, going through his body and shattering the rocky exterior. The pieces start to orbit his glowing core. As his powers go into overdrive, trying to reconstruct his body, even the people inside the school can feel the gravitational pull.
Madow is the closest student to Isaac, so he starts to fall down towards him. He merges his tentacles into one and spikes it into the ground, trying to use it for centripetal force to change his trajectory back to where he came from.
He spins around the tentacle, but the retained speed is not enough to counteract the gravity, so he decides to throw himself towards Isaac at an angle so as to get into orbit and avoid direct collision.
The rocks start to reform around the nucleus, while Madow uses water jets to further stabilize the orbit. Having to dodge, as pieces of the building and other debris fly towards them. The other students are holding on with their quirks as best they can, they're managing since they're further away.
As he's orbiting at around 10m from Isaac, he drives an ice spike into the ground, dragging it as he falls in, leaving a trail of water in a spiral on his way. He shoots that water upwards, grabbing several of the pieces of Isaac that were flying around and pulling them back together.
The pieces connect to the core, and the water makes a giant sphere around them, creating pressure to help get them back to their original shapes. And breaking Madow's fall as he swims in Isaac's new sea.
Isaac manages to regain control over himself, and Madow then swims out of the orb.
As he lands, he says, "First of all, I blame Alex."
"Oi, oi, oi, you're the one that threw it too hard!" Alex says while teleporting to his side.
"You told me to throw it as hard as I could, that's literally what I did."
Alex puts a hand on their hip and another on their face in frustration.
"But there wasn't actually much to worry about." He points his thumb at his water on the ground. "Had anyone actually fallen in, I would have been able to break their falls with water, like I did with mine."
Isaac, mostly back to normal, says. "I'm sorry guys, the shot went through me and... And I got surprised. I lost concentration on my powers, and when I understood what happened, it was already too late." His voice sounded a bit weird due to all the water.
Madow says reassuringly, "Nah, man. Don't blame yourself, blame Alex."
"Oh, go fuck yourself! You maniac!" Says Alex, understandably enraged.
"It's actually Ma dow, not Ma niac." Says Madow, as if genuinely correcting Alex.
Isaac interjects, "Thanks, Madow. But every time I lose control over my quirk, either something gets destroyed or someone gets hurt.."
Then a voice comes from behind the group. "What the hell happened here?" It's Eraser King.
Madow points at Alex, who immediately points back at him. Madow in turn makes an ice mirror, making Alex point at themselves. "Two against none." Alex then makes a portal, pointing at Madow from his side. Madow then turns the mirror into a bunch of ice hands and grins.
The ice hands suddenly turn back into water and fall to the ground, as Alex's hand appears back in its place. Eraser King is staring at them, having grown tired of the bickering and erasing their quirks.
Madow frowns slightly as he understands the situation. As he loses his quirk, he loses his control over the water, and he was controlling a lot of it just now. The bubble around Isaac bursts, showering Madow and Alex in it.
Isaac, explains the situation as Madow and Alex just keep arguing. "Urgh, Isaac, you come with me. You two, just, stop." Eraser King walks away, with Isaac following him.
"Oh, wow. I can't believe blaming Alex actually worked. No detention!" To which they promptly punch him in the arm.