Midori ballooned in size as he let out an enraged scream. He blocked the entire tunnel, giving Hiroshi a way of escape as he dug up towards the bank vault.
Since Dark Matter and Light Wing couldn't get out of the tunnel unless Midori got out of the way, they either had to retrace their footsteps or just get out of there via Dark Matter's superpower (which allowed him to teleport into a shadow).
However, since everything was dark in the tunnel, Dark Matter would have a hard time differentiating between the shadows even with his GPS chip. Not only would he have a hard time getting out of the tunnel with his superpower, but he would also get lost underground if he weren't careful.
Somehow, Hiroshi and Midori's plan really messed with Dark Matter and Light Wing albeit unintentionally. If it were any other scenario, they'd have defeated the two villains without difficulty. Then again, they just had to be crazy enough to think of digging a tunnel.
Adding to that, Dark Matter and Light Wing were too confident in themselves that they didn't bother researching what superpowers everyone had before the heroes versus villains exercise. Had they done their research, they would have come up with a way to combat Hiroshi and Midori's specialty.
It didn't take long before Midori noticed the tense expression on Dark Matter and Light Wing's faces. They made the right choice of digging a tunnel. A smile appeared on his face. He would remain in here until Dark Matter and Light Wing decided to push him out of the way.
"I'm sorry... I wouldn't have done this but you forced me to. No hard feelings, Midori." Dark Matter said as he took up a stance of putting both hands on top of each other. Swirling darkness began to form on his palm, and it compressed until it formed an orb.
"HIROSHI! ONCE YOU GET THE MONEY, CREATE MORE TUNNELS! THEY WON'T CATCH YOU!" Midori exclaimed as he gritted his teeth. Even with his berserk and healing superpower, he was fairly certain that he wouldn't survive a hit from that dark orb on Dark Matter's palms.
And his instincts were right on the money. The dark orb was made from pure dark matter, and one hit from it would be enough to send him into oblivion a couple of times over. Of course, Dark Matter was careful enough to lighten its throughput, but even then he wasn't sure how many injuries Midori would suffer from one hit.
Muttering a prayer under his breath, Midori activated both his superpower, hoping that every ounce of it would give him a better chance at survival.
"I won't blast you if you just move out of the way." Dark Matter called out. "I'm giving you one last chance."
Even with the obvious threat placed in front of him, Midori still didn't budge. "Are you prepared to lose?" Midori asked instead, smiling in the face of adversity.
They were going to win this no matter what. So what if he got sent to the hospital? Surely the Nurse would be able to heal him in no time. Besides, he wanted to tell a cool story to his siblings... and as far as he knows, losing isn't cool.
"Are you prepared to die?" Dark Matter said.
Driven into a corner, Dark Matter didn't care anymore. He was going to blast Midori into smithereens. As long as he blasted him with enough force to destroy his appendages, surely he would give up.
Once again, Dark Matter should have done his research. At this point, he was sure that Midori have some sort of strengthening superpower. If only he had known that he had regenerative superpowers as well.
Instead of lightening his attack, Dark Matter made the dark orb bigger. Nervously, Midori gulped his saliva. He still didn't budge an inch.
"Come on, Dark Matter. We're wasting time." Light Wing hissed.
"On it."
...
As soon as Hiroshi emerged from underground he grabbed the two bags of money put inside the vault. Upon getting it. He decided to make a couple more tunnels as per Hiroshi's orders. As someone who was adept in fire and earth manipulation, his sense of direction underground was pretty good. That's why he didn't have to go above ground to check where his location was.
BAM!
From afar, he heard an explosion, but Hiroshi kept running.
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
More explosions. Hiroshi gritted his teeth but he didn't stop. He created more tunnels, and he ran even faster. He knew that once he reached the group, the exercise would be over.
"Midori, hang in there. Don't give in." Hiroshi muttered to himself. Despite the fact that he slightly hated Midori's noisiness, he still hoped that Midori wouldn't get hurt that much. He was willing to sacrifice himself in order for the two of them to pass. That sentiment alone was enough to push Hiroshi to do his best.
When Midori was blasted with the dark orb, he felt the pain rattle his brain, and he almost lost consciousness. However, his entire body was running into overdrive and the appendages which came off immediately regenerated. Midori was exhausted, but he still maintained his stance. There was no way Dark Matter and Light Wing would get past him.
Next, Light Wing flashed a brilliant light on his eyes, and it disoriented him. However, his healing superpower enabled him to regain his sight in just a split second.
"You're really not going to budge, huh." Dark Matter said, smirking. He blasted Midori with another dark orb.
And another.
And another.
Even after all that, Midori still didn't budge. He was on the verge of losing consciousness, and he could tell that one more hit would be enough to kill him. Dark Matter prepared another dark orb, this time it was as large as his head.
"I'm die, thank you forever," Midori muttered to himself, referencing a certain famous line from the past. He really was going to die, he could feel it.
Midori closed his eyes and accepted his fate. Whatever happens, he knew that the Nurse would be able to bring him back. If the Nurse can't, then surely, Satoshi would be able to heal him with his familiar named Sera. This was the main reason why Midori wasn't afraid to get injured. It was an unhealthy mindset, but it brought him the victory they needed.
Fortunately, before Dark Matter could release the dark orb from his hand, a beep was heard from the group. Dark Matter and Light Wing stared at each other with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. In the process of it all, they totally forgot that they were dealing with a second person who was already desperately trying to get away. In other words, they'd forgotten about the existence of Hiroshi, all because they were too busy dealing with Midori who wouldn't let them pass.
"It's the villain's win! The students are on a roll today." Knighthawk announced with a slightly disappointed expression on his face. Initially, he came up with the exercise in order to 'bully' his class and teach them a lesson that there are other people stronger than them. But right now, it seemed to be having the opposite effect.
"Che~ they got us real good." Dark Matter commented as he stopped the dark orb. Light Wing heaved a sigh in response.
"Oh... we won?" Midori weakly uttered before he fell forward. His regeneration was enough to heal himself, but his exhaustion was a different matter altogether. He couldn't get up anymore, and he lay there in the tunnel like a piece of salami.
"Yes, you all right? Get up, we're bringing you to the Nurse." Dark Matter said as he and Light Wing grabbed Midori by the shoulder and painfully dragged her out of the tunnel.
"Why didn't you dodge? You didn't have to force yourself, it was just an exercise." Dark Matter commented as he wore an expression of pity. Midori was not in a good state, and it might take two or more days for him to completely recover.
"Well, if I can't do it in practice, then it would be harder for me to do something heroic in real life." Midori forced a smile on his face as he stared at Dark Matter and Light Wing. "And trust me when I say... we've got a lot of heroic superheroes in our class. If I can't do at least this much, then I won't be able to keep up with them."
Midori's words hit close to home, so much so that Dark Matter even regretted bringing up what he just said. Undeniably, what Midori did back there was pretty heroic even as a villain. 'If I were to encounter a scenario like that, even I'd salute that villain right then and there.' Dark Matter thought to himself.
"Your class... you have a pretty strong class, Midori." Light Wing commented, accepting their loss as the heroes who couldn't stop a simple bank theft.