Chapter 40: Ant-Man

Recap

Azure spotted a villain and jumped off the roof, landing on his knees and beginning to walk in that direction.

At the same time, Koichi had just finished with his errands in this block. He had seen Pop explaining things to Azure earlier.

"Pop, you don’t have to put in that much work into training him. The master didn’t mention anything about him becoming a partner. Not to mention that he doesn’t seem to be the most attentive. "

Pop turned around and stared at the civilians as they skipped through the roofs. 

"Thanks, Koichi, but helping him is something I want to do. In my house, the only thing I did was schoolwork or leave. My mother was barely ever there, so teaching him makes me think of what would happen if I had a little brother. "

"Little? He didn’t say anything about his age. " Koichi scratched his head while slightly dusting his worn out hoodie.

*Sigh*

"How can you be so clueless? The voice, timing, and attitude make it obvious that he’s not that old."

*Crash*

*Whoosh*

*AAAAHHHH*

"IT'S THE DELIGHTFUL BOMER,"

A man with a wide grin on his face. And with his arms wide open, walked  through the street. Azure quit heading towards his current target. Pop, Azure, and Koichi each ran towards the man. 

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(A/N: As you may have noticed, over the past few weeks, my update schedule has been off. With school starting back up, and me starting another book, my update schedule may not be exact. I can say that at least 1 chapter a week will happen, but if there are no complications, I’ll try for 2. BTW, if you like this book, consider checking out my other one.)

*BOOM*                           

*Rumble*

The streets shook as screams could be heard. Citizens ran away from the terror, wounds being held together by arms, Some a cut on the cheek, others a broken bone.

Further into the chaos, a man-sized insect could be seen rampaging. A red shell covered its body. An enlarged jaw resembling that of an ant.

It was rampaging around, crushing buildings, concrete and anything in its path. A army of ants similar to it, but more "normal" followed behind.

Certain neighborhood heroes showed up to assist, but fighting these "normal" ants was a problem let alone the leader.

Pop, Koichi, and Azure were running into the area. They charged past people as they neared the ants. 

*Azure Pov*

Looking ahead, an "ant" colony appeared. Fires behind them, as were heroes. One of the ants was man-sized, but that wasn’t the surprising thing.

The ants were exploding. The heroes present were fighting the ants, and whenever the ants were about to die by the hero, they exploded. Their blood smears the heroes' visions and allows their comrades to once again gang up on them.

" Camponotus saundersi,  a rare species of ant that can explode at will. They have two poison-filled glands running the entire length of their bodies. When they feel danger, they violently contract their abdominal muscles to rupture their bodies and spray poison in all directions. "

Me and Koichi turn towards Pop while running. 

"What? This was standard knowledge in our advanced placement of environmental insects and the earth sciences. And Koichi, you're in college. Why are you giving me that look?"

"Uh-."

I cut him off, not wanting to hear whatever excuse he was going to give. "So small, extremely loyal, explodes in danger, and sprays poison."

"I guess"

Pop looked uncomfortable with my extreme simplification of her words. However, I ignored that and ran towards the rubble, which was on the opposite side of the ants.  Koichi and Pop headed towards the leader while getting ready to face the incoming ant army.

"Watch Out!"

They jumped to the side as projectiles rained down on the ants. Small chunks of rock, I picked up the rubble and heated them up with my flames, being cheerful not to melt it. With the heat they carried from my flames, the ants suffered mortal wounds and thus exploded. As a result, guts and yellowish or greenish blood were everywhere.

After a few seconds, I stopped. The remaining ants started to slow down. Not to any extreme amount, but their speed and movements decreased.

"Paralysis?"

The leader of the ants started chagrining at the two. When he neared them and was about to hit them he dived in their direction, however his head only hit the air.

*Flashback*

I look at the boy of the pair, who was on the roof resting after He nearly fell off the roof. His partner, Pop used her quirk to save him, and that caused this current situation.

"Koichi, some times I think your quirk is useless. You can travel at the speed of a bike and stick to walls, but you are so clumsy that you can fall over a railing and off a building. "

I raise my eyebrows at this information. ‘Quirks that allow for high maneuverability are rare, and users of such quirks usually get some in-built instincts and better dexterity to allow for better balance.’

Pop seemed to have noticed as she nudged Koichi to explain.

"My quirk is called Glide  and Slide: It allows me to repel myself from surfaces if I have 3 focal points connected."

He raised his arms and wiggled one leg.

Pop then stepped in. 

"My quirk is called Leap: it allows me to leap high in the air from one surface to another."

*Flashback End*

Koichi and Pop had both gotten away from the ant. Koichi was in a bug-crawling-like position on the ground . While pop was standing on a lamp post.

The big ant got angry and started chasing them. Whenever he would approach one, the other would catch his attention and then lead him away, and when he was about to catch that one the other would do the same. 

This formed a game of cat and mouse. Some civilians started coming back from running away, and with them came their phones. 

 ‘Gotta end this soon.’

Koichi dodged once again and sped his way away. The ant chased him, ready to try and attack again. Instead, the ant met a high-temperature palm that smacked him into an alleyway.

*3rd Pov*

Koichi looked at their "battlefield"... or what was left of it. He was still on alert for the villain, so the loud cheer from the crowd surprised him.

"Isn’t that the Hualer?"

While Koichi was dealing with the citizens, Azure went into the darkness and looked at the passed out ant. He would normally interrogate them for information, but this time that was unnecessary. 

He’s been hunting people in this district for a while, and he’s been following the news. From what he’s heard and noticed that whenever a person's tongue is black, it means that they've been turned into villains by taking some drug.

That's what he’s heard from the news. But from what he’s seen….He placed his hand across the ants forehead. 

*Smell*

‘As I thought.’ 

The words he shared with Knuckle Duster rang in his head. 

"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"

"What are you doing?" 

Pop crept up behind him and peeked over his shoulder.

"Inspecting."

 As Azure expected. The cold body, eyes closed, black tongue, and foam coming out of his mouth. The same symptoms he’s seen before.

"He’s dead."