Soon enough, school had started and Jake and Melissa had gone together since they had stayed together all night. But they weren't super excited for the day to come, since they still hadn't completed their project. Luckily it wasn't due yet.

"Man, last night was a bust." Melissa said. "But at least the morning started off good."

"Y-Yeah. . ." Jake blushed as he thought back to that morning.

"Hopefully we can get more done after school today." Melissa said. "We really need to get this done."

"Don't worry, Melissa." Jake said with a smile. "I bet we'll think of something soon enough."

"Although. . . I can't help but feel concerned." Melissa said.

"Why's that?" Jake asked.

"Well. . . I haven't seen Marianne yet." Melissa said. "Usually we'd walk to school together. I wonder what's keeping her."

"I'm sure she's fine." Jake said.

"What if. . . Vortex got her?" Melissa said. "Or. . . even worse?"

"You guys must be really good friends, huh?" Jake asked. "I can see you're genuinely worried about her."

"Well, yeah." Melissa said.

"Don't worry too much." Jake said. "She'll come around."

Suddenly, Jake looked over to see none other than Marianne running up to them.

"And there she is now." Jake said.

"Mari!" Melissa gasped when she saw her. "What took you so long?"

"I'm sorry, Mel." Marianne said as she tried to catch her breath. "I woke up later than usual, so I had to rush."

"It's okay." Melissa said, giving Marianne a hug. "Maybe text next time or something. I was worried something happened to you."

"Hey, Jake." Marianne said with a smile.

"Hey, Marianne." Jake said. "I'm glad you could make it."

"I guess we can start the day now." Marianne said. "Since I'm here and all."

"Yeah." Melissa said. "Let's see where the day takes us."

With that said, the three of them walked into the school building to start their day.

But from afar, there was someone watching from a distance.

_____________

About halfway through the day, the three friends were now having lunch together. But Jake was looking around for someone else.

"What are you looking around for?" Marianne asked.

"I don't see Matt anywhere." Jake said. "Actually, come to think of it. . . I haven't seen Matt at all today."

"Maybe he's avoiding you." Marianne said.

"Why would he avoid me?" Jake asked.

"I'm sure that's not it." Melissa said. "Maybe he just wasn't feeling well today or something."

"I should talk to him later." Jake said. "I feel bad for constantly leaving him behind."

"Oh. . . am I ruining your friendship with him?" Melissa asked. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's not your fault." Jake said. "I guess he's just sensitive. . . or he's had issues with this type of thing before."

Suddenly, Marianne felt a strange feeling going on inside. It felt like as if she felt they were being watched.

"Um, guys?" Marianne said. "Do you feel that?"

"What?" Melissa asked.

"It feels like someone is watching us." Marianne said, sounding a bit nervous.

At that moment, there was a loud crash coming from nearby as a portal suddenly opened up in front of them, causing everyone to run away from the chaos. But the three friends just stayed put.

Stepping out of the portal, was none other than Vortex. "Found you." He said in a menacing tone.

"Oh my god. . ." Marianne said, sounding scared.

"Jake. . . we need to run." Melissa said. "The heroes will take care of this guy."

But Jake didn't move a muscle. He just stared down Vortex with a serious look on his face.

"Jake!" Marianne cried out to him. "We need to go! Now!"

"No. . . I'm gonna fight." Jake said. "I won't let this villain get away this time!"

"Ooh. . . finally, a real challenge!" Vortex said, sounding happy. "But can you still live up to my power, unlike last time?"

"Jake, you don't have to do this." Melissa said.

"Mel is right!" Marianne said. "Just come and be safe with us!"

"I'll be fine." Jake said, as his lightning powers began to form around him. "I have powers of my own, remember?"

"But you can't fully control it at 100% yet, right?" Melissa said. "That's why we're creating the gauntlets."

"I'll manage." Jake said. "I've got these gauntlets you gave me the other day, remember?"

"You have them on you?" Melissa asked.

"They're in my backpack." Jake said. "Mind reaching in there and grabbing them for me?"

Melissa nodded and reached into Jake's backpack and tossed him the gauntlets. He put them on and then activated them, getting into a battle stance.

"Ah, so you have a new toy." Vortex said. "That won't do much to me, I'm afraid!"

"Yeah, well we wouldn't be here of you would just leave us alone." Jake said. "Plus, I've dealt with much stronger foes than you anyway."

"Oh, we'll see about that." Vortex said.

Jake then launched himself at Vortex as he prepared to land a hit on the wormhole villain, bit Vortex just activated another portal, which Jake fell through.

"Jake!" Melissa cried out.

"Don't worry, I've got him right here." Vortex said, opening another portal right next to her, causing Jake to fly out and land on the ground right next to her with an audible thud.

"Hey, no fair!" Jake said. "Portals are overpowered!"

"Close range won't work with this guy." Melissa said. "I think that was your issue with him before."

"You're right." Jake said, looking down at his hands. "Time to test these babies out."

As he said that, shocks of purple lightning began to form all around his body and moved down to his hands. Jake then aimed up at Vortex and shot out a large blast of lightning at him.

Vortex gasped as he managed to dodge out of the way before getting hit. "Not quite." He said.

"Huh. . . I don't feel tired after that." Jake said. "I think these gauntlets are doing wonders for me."

"But it's still not enough." Marianne said. "You need more power!"

"I've got it." Jake said, shooting out a other large blast of lightning from his hand.

Vortex dodged the blast again. "Man, you suck at this." He said.

"Son of a-!" Jake said, angrily. "I can't get a good hit on this guy!"

"Well, it's been fun." Vortex said, turning his back towards them. "But I'm bored now. I'm just gonna leave."

"No, you won't!" Jake said, suddenly shooting another blast of lightning at him.

This time, the shot hit him in the back, as he was turned. And it caused him to get an electrical shock as he fell to the ground.

"Good shot!" Melissa said with a proud smile.

"Hey, never turn your back towards lightning." Jake said.

"Ugh, you bastard!" Vortex said, angrily as he opened up a portal. "I'll be back again! And next time, I won't lose or give up to easily!"

Vortex then disappeared through the portal, leaving Jake and the others back to go on with their normal day.

"He's quite the noob villain, isn't he?" Marianne said with a smirk. "Who just runs off after getting hit once?"

"He must be planning something." Melissa said. "You better be wary of him, Jake. Who knows what he's up to?"

"Don't worry." Jake said. "A villain has never escaped my wrath before. Why start now?"

"Attention, students." A voice came on over the loudspeaker. "You may now return to class. I repeat, return to class now. The villain has left the area, but we have to cut lunch short."

"Dang. . ." Marianne said. "Oh well, I got to finally see you in proper action!"

"I'll see you tonight, Jake." Melissa said. "And we'll work on our project more, okay?"

"Of course." Jake said with a smile.

So with that said, they all headed back to class.

Meanwhile, in an alleyway, Vortex was thinking to himself after the brief fight with Jake.

"Man, that guy really grinds my gears!" Vortex said angrily. "But no matter. . . he's not at his full potential yet. He'll only get stronger over time. And well. . . so will I."

To be continued. . .

Jake Moon, Marianne, and Vortex belong to me

My Hero Academia belongs to Kohei Horikoshi

All rights reserved