"Tale's of friends,family and rivals"

s if right on cue or as if fate wanted them to meet once again outside the tides of battle Sue quickly ran up to Angel and her family,but not in the outfit she was expecting. She was wearing a rather attractive little orange cheerleader outfit. Angel had seen the sign up sheet inside the school for the festival's cheer leading squad and had seen both Rowan's and her beautiful song bird Farrah's name on it,but didn't expect Sue to join up though she did look fantastic in uniform! As Sue greeted her family rather formally Angel quickly unlooped her arm from her mom's and rushed up to Sue and gave her a big hug before stepping back.

"Hey Sue! Yea this is my family! They are my mom and auntie,they came to see me punch faces in the tournaments! I was just telling them about you and the other friends I made! By the way before I forget you are totally rocking that uniform! I can't wait to see how my song bird Farrah looks in hers!"

As Sue leaned in to whisper that neither woman looked old enough to be Angel's mom or grandma Angel couldn't help but giggle a bit before standing straight up again and motioning to her family who both gave little waves to Angel's friend who she affectionately called Sue and then stepped up both sharing soft smiles for the young lady that resembled Angel's own trademark grin just less intense. Angel's mom Asui chose to speak first.

"Hello young lady. I'm Asui Surami,and it's very nice to meet you as well. My sister and I are indeed here to indeed watch my hyperactive and driven daughter compete in not one but two combat tournaments. She was telling us that it was you and a couple other of her new friends that inspired her to change her path from being a rescue hero to a combat hero. She holds you in a very high regard. According to her you are quite intelligent  and your quirk is quite impressive. She has nothing but good things to say about you."

Angel blushed as her mama told Sue all the nice things she had said about her friend and how insperational she was. This was when Auntie Blossom stepped up with a bigger smile that more resembled her niece while at the same time sketching Sue in her sketchpad from eye memory as she spoke. Angel's ever excited nature shining through showing where Angel herself got it.

"I myself can't wait to see our little Angel go up against her classmates. She's always had the drive to be the best she can possibly be so to see her go up against people she's trained with and knows how she fights will be exciting to watch! It's gonna be so awesome that I'm gonna make sure to sketch all the best moments! I'm Angel's Auntie Blossom by the way! Nice to meet ya."


At the mention of fighting students she had faced off against before and knew all of their moves Angel quickly stepped back up to Sue and gave her another quick hug before stepping back and looking both nervous and excited. She had seen the sign up sheet for the interschool tournament and two of the names she saw gave her a bit of a reason to worry.

"Speaking of the tournement where we get to punch each other's faces, I got to take a look at the sign up sheet and you and I are gonna have a challenge on our hands. Both Risaka and Jasmine signed up meaning that eventually one or both of us are going to have to fight the two strongest girls in the school! Imagine the praise,fame and recognition we'll get from the pro heroes in the stands if we beat them though!"

Angel quickly turned to her family after moving to stand next to Sue with a big grin on her face and a fist up in the air to truly show how excited she was about facing the two most powerful fighters in all of U.A. high! Risaka and Jasmine were the best of the best and Angel was excited to the max by the challenge of facing the two women who seemed unbeatable.

"Risaka has a quirk that allows her to suck up all the color in a given area and then use it to enhanced her speed,strength,durability and so on! It doesn't last forever,but while it does she's like a freaking tank! Jasmine on the other hand is like a walking pile of grenades! She's able to create explosions from her hands and is capable of blowing up a care with those bare hands! A quirk is like any other muscle though so if we can get her to tire herself out we can get close and go for the win! We so got this Sue!"

Angel then turned to Sue one final time and held out her fist for a fist bump with a big grin on her face.

"You better make it to the finals so that you and I can go head to head again! We gotta give the crowd a show worth cheering for after all! I won't be holding back so you better not either!"

As she watched her daughter get all excited about facing her friend in the ring she just cleared her throat.

"How about until then we go find some games to play or something until my little Angel has to go set up her food stall?"

upon seeing her daughter's friend's body language change after the comments were made about her figure due to Angel's excitement Asui sighed and gave the top of one of her daughter's wings a gentle disciplinary tug as if she was tugging on the ear of a normal child. This caused Angel to quickly wince and turn around to face her mother with puffed out cheeks and folded arms as her mama only did that when she did something that she truly didn't approve of. Angel's mother tapped her foot and pointed her index finger into her daughter's face.

"Angelica Surami! You are making your friend uncomfortable by talking about her figure in her uniform. As her friend you should noticed when she's feeling bad or embarassed! I and she probably know you meant no harm,but what do we do when we have hurt someone's feelings?"

Angel hung her head as she was scolded and even though she wouldn't say it her mama was right. In her excitement she had let herself go a little to far and hurt her friends feeling by making her feel embarrassed like if someone had been bringing attention to her physical deformity and the fact that she didn't have ears under her hearing aids and so she indeed knew what she had to do.

"We apologize!"

Angel quickly turned to face Sue again and bowed low for a moment before standing straight and scratching the back of her head with a big blush across her face. Sue was one of her best friends and so she didn't want to make her uncomfortable around her or like she didn't want to be friends anymore so whenever she made a mistake she would gladly apologize in hopes of fixing what she messed up.

"I'm sorry Sue, I didn't mean to make you feel embarrassed! I just meant that you looked good is all. Like you're smart,talented and pretty. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable please forgive me!"

Once she apologized Angel turned her head to see her mama and aunt nod approvingly. Angel then turned her attention back to Sue as she explained that they didn't stand much chance against Jasmine due to her fire power and endurence which topped their own,but got a surprised expression when Sue basically said that if Angel timed her fight with Risaka right and withstood her quirk then she could pull out a win! This made Angel grin from ear to ear and pull her Triple P from her right side and then jumped back from both her family members and her friend.

"I actually have a plan for both Risaka and Jasmine! Ladies may I introduce the "Pretty Power Parasol" or triple P for short! It may look like nothing more then an ordinary parasol,but it's anything but ordinary!"

Angel quickly turned the Triple P to where the handle was facing Sue so that she could see the three switches that were on it that went down in a vertical fashion. She then spun the closed parasol to where it's tip was touching the ground. She then held it out straight and flipped the first switch so that the dome popped open.

"Aside from its closed blunt mode it has three other functions. When open the special spider-silk woven dome is able to withstand 100 kg of force be it from an exploding quirk,wind quirk,punches,other weapons or what have you!"

Angel then flipped the first switch once more to close the dome and then flipped the second which caused the tip of the inner hidden rapier to poke out of the top of the parasol which she pointed to the sky for safety and then used it to slice through a spare piece of plank wood cutting it in half.

"The second switch causes the tip of the parasol's hidden rapier to poke through to both surprise my foe as well as give me slash attacks as well as blocking opportunities."

To finish things off Angel flipped the second switch once more causing the tip of the rapier to go back inside of the parasol. She then flipped the third switch and then pulled on the parasol's handle causing the full rapier blade to slide out of the closed woven dome which Angel gently held out for her family and her studious friend to look at.

"Lastly the last switch allows me to forego defense all together in all or nothing situations and pull out the hidden rapier all together so I can go on the full offensive. I completely designed it all on my own by the way. I just had the support staff make it."

Once her explanation was over Angel slid the rapier back into the closed dome and hooked the handle back together and hooked it back to her right side and blushed at Sue and her family. Both Angel's mama and Auntie looked absolutely dumb founded in their proud ear to ear grins, both hugging their Angel tightly.

"That's so amazing! You are always so full of surprises!"

"It's so elegant too! You have to let me sketch it after the fights are over!"

Angel squirmed out of her family's grip and then made her way up to Sue with a nervous smile and scratch of the back of her head. It was her briliant opinion that mattered the most to her since out of the two of them Sue was leagues smarter then she was.

"What do you think Sue? Do you like it? It got finished right after that combat class we had. I thought it would at least help me a little with our Risaka and Jasmine problem,If I even make it that far. As for what to do next, i heard there are art booths and stuff we could check out or games! It is a festival after all. I only have an hour though till I gotta open up the snack booth."

Angel's aunt smiled over at Arisu gently.

"We're just guests here. Why don't you walk us around the festival while telling us the type of things you and our baby Angel do on the daily at this school for upcoming heroes!"

Angel blushed when her auntie called her their baby Angel.

"I'm not a baby anymore Auntie Blossom!"

To this Asui rubbed her daughter's head with a chuckle.

"Big strong hero or not you'll always be my baby girl!"

ngel couldn't help but tap her chin as Sue's words captured her full attention as her smarter friend explained that while being able to tank 100 kilo's was indeed impressive it was nowhere near durable enough to tank a hit from either Jasmine or Risaka. Angel deep down knew this to be true,but she also knew that the Triple P she currently had was just the first version and so it probably wasn't anywhere near ready to take them head on. Sue's suggestion of using her weapon as simply that a weapon did have a ring of wisdom to them causing Angel to nod. As Sue said that the idea was super clever Angel couldn't help but blush.

"Shucks it's not that clever. The inspiration for the idea came from the notion of what would happen if a bad guy attacked me while on the street and I was in an area where I couldn't use my wings. I needed a weapon that doesn't look like a weapon to the naked eye so I could carry around in public to both protect myself and not freak out the civilians. I actually learned swordsmanship not from a teacher here at the school,but from a vigilante friend of mine who runs a dojo in the city."

As Sue began to lead the Surami Trio through the fair grounds she happily began to explain what the day to day consisted of for U.A students to both Asui and Blossom who seemed to hang on every single word that came from the young lady's mouth as she compared it to their little Angel being on a sports scolarship like some big shot, a look of pure pride on both of their faces as Sue asked what clubs Angel had joined. Asui was the first to speak up while Blossom sketched the area around her dutifully.

"When my little Angel was accepted into U.A. I cried with joy for about an hour. I'm not sure if she told you how she and I got our start so to speak,but it does my heart a world of good to see her not only flourishing in her new found freedom,but making such nice friends like you Ms.Disukodo. I won't by any means claim to be a quirk expert being quirkless myself but Angel has always been very physically gifted even as a little girl. I don't know if that's a side effect of her quirk or not though when she was a little girl up until she was accepted into U.A. I used to sneak her out of the house at night down to Degoba beach for weight lifting,flight and cardio training. I've seen some of her grades and while her physical education is going swimmingly she seems to be a bit behind in the more scholastic subject like math and history though her grade in Literature is pretty good."

Angel blushed brightly with embarassment as her mama both praised and then brought light to her scholastic short comings. It wasn't that she didn't wanna learn she just had a hard time keeping still and focusing when she needed to study or pay attention in class. It's why she liked the hero training classes the most because she preferred action over words. Angel skipped up to Sue to both get a little distance from her mama and to talk to her friend directly.

"It's not that i have trouble understanding a lot of the material I just get super bored when I have to sit down and study. I'm more of a physical learner! You remember how quickly I brought my team together for that civilian exercise! I was actually gonna ask ya if maybe once the whole festival and tournament thing is over if maybe we could have study slumber parties or something. I bet i'd get less bored with someone else there and plus I'll have someone smart to help me keep focused and on task. As for what clubs I'm in,I'm only in the cooking club,but once regular classes resume I was gonna sign up for the martial arts club so I can get even stronger with my hand to hand combat."

The talk of clubs is what finally got Auntie Blossom to look up from her sketch pad and walk a bit faster up to her niece and her friend with a big smile on her face that almost perfectly resembled her niece as the group reached a bunch of different game booths like a ring toss, a bottle knock down game, dart throw and others.

"If there is an art club,you should totally join it so we can draw together when you come home for visits!"

To this Angel shook her head and looked back at her Auntie with a matching grin.

"I don't have the patience to sit still to draw something. My room mate Chikako who is also deaf is in the art club though.."

Angel's words trailed off and the young winged girl instantly got an expression like she wished she could physically grab the words and stuff them back into her mouth as she had accidentally revealed her biggest secret by complete accident. Knowing since Sue was a close friend she would have to come clean sooner or later she sighed and turned to her friend.

"No harm in telling ya now that the damage is already done. I've kinda been keeping a big secret from almost everyone at the school except for a few select people now including you,soon to be Farrah,my room mate Chi and my club mate Chise. The school's staff keep it out of the training briefings at my request."

Angel then silently reached up to her two hearing aids and slowly removed them and used them to brush aside her long hair to show the round jagged holes where her ears were supposed to be. She then returned the hearing aids to their rightful places before blushing at her friend with true shame and embarrassment. This was a major gash in Angel's happy grin filled armor.

"My quirk being a such a large mutation caused me to develop and rather severe birth defect. As you saw just now I was born without ears,but it goes beyond that. I was born without ear drums too. The only large group I've ever told was my team during the whole civilian thing and that was just because Farrah's sound based quirk was in play which could short out my hearing aids or fry them all together. I'm sorry I didn't tell you until now! It's not that I didn't trust you with my secret because i think less of you it's just super embarrassing and I didn't want you to think less of me. I..I also had to be careful because of how your quirk drains energy and degrades things because without my hearing aids not only can't I hear,but I lose all equilibrium which means flight is impossible. I hope you aren't angry or upset at me."

Angel bowed her head looking like she might cry. This was her biggest fear,that someone would find out about her deformity and choose to no longer be her friend or like her father mistreat her. This was the true test of Angel and Sue's friendship and Angel hoped she passed.

ngel blushed as Sue continued to compliment the fact that Angel had designed her own weapon even going as far as to say that she herself would have never thought of it. As Sue said she should check with the school's staff before taking the weapon off campus due to concealed weapons being against the law Angel nodded. The truth was that she didn't know of this law when she designed her weapon,but she was glad that she knew about it now and so she smiled at her friend.

"I'll make sure to ask them about it,but I wasn't really planning on taking it off campus at least not until I get my provisional hero license.

As Sue mentioned that every time the two girls had been in combat she had only used her wings or fists and asked if she had been basically holding back. To this notion Angel shook her head hard and waved both hands in front of her as if to shake off the notion. She then chuckled and rubbed the back of her head as she tried to think of a proper way to explain without accidentally offending her friend as if Angel thought she was weak. Sue was one of the most powerful people Angel had met in her life. She was so confident in her mind and in her convictions and Angel respected her for that.

"I promise I haven't been holding back. I just recently started getting decent at it and besides my weapon wasn't finished until the whole civilian exercise. They actually contacted me the day after. I promise you that if we get a round three in the school tournament I will not be holding back and you will see me at full power."

As Sue said that she was willing to help Angel with her study habits,but that it would be more of a grind then a study slumber party if Angel was willing to put in the work Angel nodded happily. She didn't want anyone think she was stupid,but she had a serious problem keeping her mind out of the clouds or out of a snack basket instead of into a book.

"I promise to give it my all in our study sessions just like I do in our fights! I won't let ya down!"

When Sue mentioned that she was in the martial arts club and also mentioned the guy running it named Darren and then asked why she would join the club if she was focused on swordsmanship Angel just gave the air a few jabs and then a few air sword swipes and crossed her arms with a proud grin.

"Facing Jasmine head to head showed me I still have a lot to learn in terms of hand to hand technique. I study my swordsmanship off campus with my friend Ken at his master's dojo. I'm learning a lot really quickly."

Seeing Sue frown made Angel's heart instantly sink and ache as it did when Angel's true inner anxiety kicked in when she became afraid she was gonna lose someone she loved. Angel listened silently with shaking hands as Sue began to fuss at and berate her for keeping such an important secret from someone she trained even talking about how she could have used her quirk to drop Rimma but chose not to because it would have seriously hurt her because of the girls own quirk. As she was being scolded Angel instinctively used her wings to make a small dome in front of her face as if to hide from her friend. Upon seeing this Angel's mom Asui quickly stepped in front of her daughter defensively with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face.

"That's enough Ms.Disukodo. While I agree what my daughter did was reckless,unsafe and unwise I beg you to try and see things from her point of view. It's like you say, she may be safe from persecution because of her disability and her mutation within your school's boarders,but that can't be said for the rest of the world and for a time I'm sad to say that included the four walls of her own childhood home. Monsters and demons can lurk within the most safe seeming of places. My daughter and I have faced such a demon already in our lives,but unlike me she was born facing that pure hatred all for something she can't turn off or control."

Asui looked back at her daughter who was now peeking out with both a fearful and saddened expression from a gap in her feathers. She then walked up to young Arisu and placed a hand on her shoulder and looked down at her with a soft motherly smile.

"I know you've noticed how for lack of a better word clingy my daughter can be toward you and others can be at times and how quick she is to give affection? Let me ask you this,when you first met her did she act odd? Not odd as in quirky or strange,but like a wounded animal approaching someone offering them food? My daughter spent her entire childhood chained down both physically and emotionally and reaching up toward things that she wanted but thought she'd never have like the open sky or in your case a friend. Maybe she didn't tell you and continues not to tell others because she's afraid that despite how progressive your school is those who she holds dear will begin to walk away from her."

Asui looked back at her daughter who was now slowly dropping her wings and resting them flat against her back once more and being nudged forward by her aunt. Once Angel stepped forward Asui stepped back and gave her daughter and quick kiss to the side of the head giving Angel the courage to speak.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Sue. I do trust you and I know it was super dumb and selfish not to share my secret but...my mom is kinda right. I've spent my life longing for things like freedom and friendships that i guess..I get scared that if people see what I look like without my hearing aids they won't wanna be my friend anymore and I'll be all alone. It's why I haven't told Farrah yet. I love her and her whole thing is poetry! How am I supposed to tell her that her girlfriend is deaf and deformed? I'm terrified that she won't think i'm good enough for her because I can't enjoy her poetry without aid. I'm really sorry. Can you forgive me and can we still be friends if I promise to be honest from nowe on?"

ngel's heart began to ache with both joy and sadness as her rival and her friend began to set her and her family straight. The more Sue spoke about how Angel and her family keeping her deformity..no her condition a secret from everyone was not only selfish,but reckless and irresponsible especially if Angel wanted to be one of the world's top heroes the more it opened Angel's eyes. Jasmine was the school's top student,fighter and first in line to be the world's premiere rookie and that was because she didn't hold any part of her back good or bad. Sue and Farrah didn't either be it Sue's stance on things or Farrah's rhyming habit and how truly unique and odd she was. It truly made Angel feel ashamed for how she acted even if it was trying to protect herself from more pain and trauma. Angel just slowly stepped and without warning or a word hugged Sue firmly.

"Sue...Thank you for not being afraid to set us..set me straight. I've been afraid for so long of others hurting me that I ended up possibly hurting them and myself instead by keeping parts of myself hidden. I don't know what the future holds for either one of us,but I do know that no matter what whenever you need me I will be there come hell or high water. You have proven yourself not only a good team mate but also a good friend even when I couldn't say the same. I swear that from now on I won't keep big parts of me like this secret from those I care about or work with from now on. I also promise to be a much better friend! Together you and I are totally gonna dethrone Risaka and Jasmine from their number 1 spots."

Angel stepped back from Sue leading Asui to once again step up with an apologetic look on her face as she respectfully bowed to Arisu. This young lady was very kind and compassionate and it seemed quite a bit wiser then even someone twice her age. It was clear to Asui that this young hero in training was going to go far and it was doubly clear that her own little Angel was going to help make that happen.

"Please forgive my rudeness and my brashness of jumping to my daughter's defense the way I did. You are very wise and intelligent for someone so young. Please continue to work with my Angel so that she can fly as high as possible and accomplish her dream. It's clear that she respects you very highly and I can see why. I guess my position as a mother and my goal of wanting to keep my little girl safe and happy blinded me to the risks we were taking in order to prevent further trauma and pain. It is how you say though if she wants to be a hero she needs to trust those around her and as her mother I need to trust that she can make better decisions without me always being there."

Once Asui stood straight, Blossom walked up to Arisu and pulled out the piece of paper she had been drawing on the entire time and held it out to her. It was an extremely detailed portrait of both young heroes standing side by side flexing their muscles and smiling together and even had a small signature in the bottom corner. Blossom just smiled at Arisu happily.

"It's not much,but please accept this as a token of my thanks for looking out for Angel. It means a lot to all three of us."

To try and get things back on a happier note Angel giggled and did a karate kick to the air and made an exaggerated kung-fu noise like something from an old movie. She then smiled at her friend.

 "So Jasmine's training you in how to be more mobile using your quirk? I guess you'll be able to keep up with me in the air before too long huh? Do you think she'd mind if I joined in on a couple of sessions or can you teach me some of the maneuvers she teaches you? I'm super mobile already I know,but I have a hard time with complex quick timed moves. If too much is going on I can't focus on getting my muscles to do what I want them too. I also nee to learn to take tighter turns and fly in tighter spaces when I can't fully stretch my wings. I'd totally pay you in snacks if ya want!"

Angel looked around and smiled a bit nervously as she saw civilians and students playing the games like the ring toss and darts.

"I've still gotta little  time. Wanna get our game on?"