I don't own Boku no Hero Academia or Symbiote/Reach Scarab concepts.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who took some time to check my first story. I hope you'll like it.
And, beforehand, I would like to address a few concerns here:
1) Yes, this is a Harem story. But I will try to do my best and not make it into one of the "bad" ones.
2) There are changes to Canon so keep that in mind.
Prologue: The Encounter
What is your greatest fear, All Might, sir?
The question has been repeating over and over inside Toshinori's head. It was just one of those simple interviews he had every once in a while but this particular question stuck to him like a glue and echoed louder and louder as he, along with the group of other heroes, entered the underground facility.
It has been years since he defeated All for One but his numerous bases were still out there. Scattered around Japan like the bombs ready to go off the moment someone touches them. A few weeks ago, a group of college students accidentally found the entrance to one of them through the abandoned factory basement. Approximately half and hour later, several ambulance cars arrived to get the injured people to the hospital.
Aside from numerous burns, wounds and deep cuts, all three were found in state of constant fear and shock. Even now, it was impossible to get more than one coherent sentence from them.
Walking down the dust-caked stairs, All might asked himself again what his greatest fear is. Failing his master's expectations? Not saving everyone he could? No, those were close but still not what he truly feared.
"Oi, All Might, move it!" Endeavour complained in his usual tone. Today he was supposed to start the training of Shouto. The boy finally manifested his Quirk and there was no way he would be allowed to waste any minute now. "The hell did they send all of us here for? If whatever thing hides here is similar to the other escapees, I along would enough to take care of them!"
"You really should whining that much, Todoroki." The man in his early twenties smirked at the fuming expression of No.2 hero. Shimura Tenko, otherwise known as the hero "Shigaraki", looked at All Might's back wondering what his mentor was thinking about. "But yeah, sending three top heroes here seems like a waste of time since most escapees were kind of weak."
"Shhhh," All might shushed both heroes before listening closely. They were walking through the corridors, only rats running under their feet. Out there, at the end of the corridor, there was some glow for a few brief moments. Something in his gut was telling him that this was exactly what they were looking for. "Let's go."
With each step, All Might felt the feeling of unease grow stronger in his heart.
It all felt far too familiar.
Slowly, he opened the door and shielded his eyes from the intense light his eyes had yet to adapt to. The room was vast and could have up to twenty people inside. Numerous computers, now broken or simply inactive, stood against the walls. The tables with empty beakers and flasks were covered in layers of dust and web. Across the floor were scattered sheets of paper with various data on them.
And in amidts this whole mess, one item was seemingly untouched by time.
All Might's eyes widened in shock. For several minutes, he just stood there staring at the all too familiar device that still haunted his nightmares.
In the middle of the room was the giant glass capsule with red ooze in it glowing brightly. The capsule itself looked far less worn out and didn't have even any dust on it. Was someone here before them? Or rather...
Did he come here?
"What the hell is this thing?" Shigaraki traced his index and middle fingers across the thick glass. The ooze felt warm even through the material. He squinted his eyes, trying to see something besides the red substance. "Oi, Todoroki, you think we should call some of your people over here? It doesn't look like something you can or should fight anyways."
"You should learn to show some respect, brat." Endeavour chided, having already contacted his team of specialists. "On work, we use codenames if you haven't understood that yet."
"Yeah-yeah, I hear you." He shrugged off with a smirk before returning to study the capsule. He raised his eyebrow at the sudden motion inside it. "Guys, I think I just saw something move in there."
"What?" Endeavour asked with sligh irritation. One of the reasons why he disliked working with Shigaraki was because of how often he would let his imagination and assumptions overrule logic and actual observations. "If you are scared, you are always welcome to- The hell?"
All three turned back to look at the pod, the blood red ooze glowing wildly. Endeavour activated his flames. Shigaraki took off one of his gloves. And All Might took the fighting stance, ready to face whatever monster was about to attack them.
The container exploded, shooting glass in all directions. Using the diversion, the creature burst out and past the three heroes too fast to see what it even looked like. With undistinguishable noise, it escaped through the exit but didn't run too far before its tail were grabbed by none other than Endeavour.
"Oh no you don't!" He roared before setting the thing in his hands on fire. It screeched in agony but didn't succumb to pain and kept fighting against his grip. The fire user was, however, caught off guard when seeing the monster in light. It was the creature composed entirely of black slime. Its "eyes" and "mouth" seemed to be made out of the similar substance. "The hell...?"
"Hyaaaaaaah!" The thing used the opportunity to attack the hero and successfully wrapped itself against him, suffocating and crushing his body. The flames seemed to stop working and physical strength Endeavour had was simply not enough to break free. "Khanee... d... klho... bo... y... st!"
"Get away from him!" Shigaraki grabbed the sentient slime with both of his hands. Instantly, the ooze seemed to harden before turning to dust where the hero's hands were. Screeching, the creature released Endeavour before attempting to attack Shigaraki. But this time All Might blocked the attack and wrapped his massive arms around the creature. "Shit, what is that thing even made of?"
"Trsut me, Shimura," All Might whispered with pain evident in his voice. "If my guess is right, you are better of not knowing."
The creature cried again, growing more and more vicious. Turning its "head" 180 degrees around, it proceeded to try and force itself into All Might' throat and suffocate him. Reacting lightning fast, the Symbol of Peace bit the bullet, or the creature in this case, and its body fell limp. With a disgusted look, the hero spit the severed head out before seeing the equally disturbed expressions on his fellow heroes' faces.
"What?" He laughed in his booming voice. His coping technique. "I had to think fast and did the first thing that came to my mind."
The laughter soon died in his throat as the black wave of ooze towered over All Might and swallowed him and his fellow heroes inside.
The next thing they knew was the dark.
It has been hours since the creature escaped the facility. With the energy of the heroes drained and stored inside it, the sentient ooze had enough power to move around the city free. But it knew it wouldn't last for long.
Sooner or later, such methods would stop working and it would wither away. Of course, there still was some time-
No!
It wouldn't wait until the last moment.
It needed a host. And it needed one now. The problem now was finding the proper one.
The heavy rain and the cold air didn't bother the creature as it searched through the streets. In this rain, the streets were filled with countless humans rushing to their homes and nobody paid attention to the small pile of black ooze lazily moving under their feet. There was barely shortage of some passable hosts .With just one moment of patience, it could attach itself to some unsuspecting man or woman and then enter their bodies.
But that just wouldn't cut it.
It needed and wanted to have the perfect host. When it was engineered by its creator, the man was planning to make him into the weapon only a handful of his closest allies could use. From the few tests on human subjects it experienced, the "improper" candidate would not just fail to bond with it but also cease to exist, becoming the part of the "ooze". And, what's more important, the existing creature would also suffer serious pain and possibly lose some of its functions and sentience.
In these circumstances, the creature couldn't afford any second chances.
The lightning struck, the light from it illuminating the streets for a split second. The sound of explosion caught the attention of the creature. What was that? Intrigued, the creature headed towards the dark alley where the noise came from. The only source of light was some lamp on the wall.
That was the moment when it found him.
The young man, the power emanating from him in all directions, stood at the end of the alley. His blood red eyes radiated the hunger. The hunger for power and recognition. Everything the creature craved for as well. In the wall in front of him, there was a huge dent caused by seemingly one simple strike. It could see the smoke escaping his palm. Did the boy do the damage this great with just one hand?
The creature grinned to itself gleefully.
It found itself a host!
"Yo, Deku," the creature slowly approached from behind. Now it was the second person, a boy of similar age but much more fragile build and weaker appearance. His back was pressed against the wall, the giant dent millimeters away from his head. His green eyes were trembling with fear. Pathetic, the creature remarked with disgust. "do you know why I did this?"
Izuku knew the answer perfectly. It all started rather stupidly. Kacchan was acting his usual arrogant self. Pushed him around. Mocked his dreams of becoming a hero. And then burnt his notebook to the crisp. The only difference from any other day was what Izuku did.
He tried to fight back. He felt the immense sense of satisfaction when his fist collided with Kacchan's face. It lasted for barely a few moments but, to Izuku, who suffered for years from Kacchan's bullying, these seconds lasted for hours. He wasn't fooling himself with delusions though. His punch was hardly anything to someone as strong as Kacchan. And he knew too damn well that once the classes were over, Kacchan would be waiting to have his revenge.
The smaller boy said nothing though, instead helplessly waiting for the blond to answer the question himself. "I am not doing this because you punched me." He said off-handedly. With the cold glare, he grabbed the teen by his collar and looked him straight in the eyes. "I did this because I wanted to remind you where you stand, Deku. Where you fucking belong."
Izuku grit his teeth. Why did he have to listen to all of this? Why did everyone repeat this over and over to him? Just why couldn't Kacchan let him live his life the way he wanted to? "You don't get to dictate me where I belong, Katsuki!"
Izuku's verbal defiance was cut short with one swift kick to his stomach. Curling into a fetal position, Izuku coughed harshly and fought against the tears that welled up in his eyes. Was this how he was going to live for the rest of his life? Bullied and pushed around by people like Kacchan? People who were just lucky to have their powers since birth?
With his teeth grinding against each other, Izuku raised his head to glare at Kacchan with all his hatred and disdain.
"Glare at me all you want, Deku," Bakugou said in nonchalant tone, although the hint of aggression was not lost on the green haired teenager. "You know that I am right. You, who was born Quirkless, will never stand equal to me. You'll never be a hero."
That one line made Izuku snap. With the furious roar, he launched himself at Bakugou aiming for his jaw. Who cared that, even if he hit him, the ash blond would then bat him senseless? Right now, all that Izuku wanted was to cause his former childhood friend the same pain with his fist as the former did with his words.
"You just don't get it, do you?" With a sigh, Bakugou proceeded to knee Izuku in his stomach before grabbing him by the wrist. With his feet firmly pressed into the ground, Bakugou used both of his hands to lift Izuku from the ground before throwing him against it without any concern.
Now's the chance! The black creature used the momentary distraction to throw itself at the blond's hand, effectively wrapping itself around it. But before it could even pierce through his skin even a little, the creature was clawed into and forcibly torn away. No! Not now!
"The fuck is it supposed to be?" Bakugou groaned with disgust, peeling off the black slime that jumped at him out of nowhere. Seeing that it just wasn't budging, he stretched his hand out before willing for the sweat on his forearm to explode violently. His ears must have played some stupid joke on him right now. He could swear, he heard the slime screech. "Tch."
The black substance fell off his arm and leaked on the ground next to Deku. How fitting.
"Keep in mind, Deku." The Explosion user said as he picked up his backpack and headed out of the alley. "No matter what, you'll always be a simple good for nothing."
And with these words, he was gone.
Unforgiveable!
With its entire body aching and convulsing, the creature screeched in its mind. This brat actually dared to hurt it? That was unforgiveable!
I need to calm down... It quickly chided itself. The revenge against the arrogant brat was not his biggest concern right now. Whatever energy reserves it had from the three heroes, they all were practically depleted now thanks to the damage he took and needed to take care of. I need to replenish them and I need to do it now!
That was when its eyes fell on the boy lying near. He fainted from the amount of damage he took, or so it seemed. The kid looked terribly weak. His skin was pale and face was skinny. Judging by how sloppy his attempts at attack were, he was really bad with fighting as well.
Just great... The ooze complained to itself, slowly moving towards the unconscious teen. It wouldn't do this if it had any other choice. Sadly, that wasn't the case. I need to take whatever energy I can from this brat and then find myself a proper host. Be grateful, brat, for getting the chance to serve as my meal.
The moment it touched its victim's hand, its eyes widened in shock. What was going on?
It didn't take any effort from the creature to be absorbed into the teen's skin. In fact, it was the opposite. It took extremely great effort from the creature to stay still as the teen's body seemed to pull the entire substance to itself. Its tendrils spreading all across the teen's body, from his feet to his head, the creature was screeching and moving wildly as more and more its body was being absorbed into this kid.
No! Why is this happening?!
Soon, the entire body of the boy was covered in what appeared to be the black cocoon shaped like the human silhouette. Its mind was fading away into nothingness, the sentience it so desperately tried and wanted to keep being lost and absorbed into this person's mind. Its cries for control and pleas for his creator's help all but disappeared into the black as the rain stopped.
The black cocoon slowly opened, the ooze it was made of turning into tendrils and threads and whirling around the young man as he was slowly lifted on his feet by them. His feet now stood solidly on the ground and the black mass disappeared in his skin.
Slowly, the teen opened his eyes.
They glowed red.
So here's my wrap!
As you see, I incorporated the Symbiote/Reach Scarab concept into the BNHA setting.
Did you like it? Did you hate it?
Tell me in your reviews!
This is my first story so I am excited to hear your feedback.