I finally finished this chapter. It's been in the works for a while now and I'm glad I can finally share it.
I feel I should give my usual warning that I give at the start of my fanfics now. Chapters will not be released on a schedule, they will come out when my lazy ass finishes them.
I would also like to thank my good friend JioafiaTheNoob for letting me use his OC in my story, they don't appear in this chapter sadly but will be appearing in the next one.
With all that said, I hope you all enjoy The Dawn of Dusk.
Chapter 1: The Dawn
"Here's your order, sir." The waitress announced as she placed the meal on the table. "Enjoy." She beamed with a smile that could put the sun to shame. If all the waitress' smiled like this, then the customers should be given sunglasses upon entry.
"Thanks." The teen thanked absentmindedly, he was too busy watching the news broadcast on the TV behind the counter.
"...Earlier today, a villain disrupted the peaceful journey of a train full of passengers and threatened to endanger the civilians in the surrounding area..." The reporter explained. The teen watching the report took a bite of his meal as the reporter continued. "...the heroes managed to fend off this villain and buy time for Mt. Lady to arrive on scene and defeat the villain. Mt. Lady was generous enough to offer some of her time for an interview..." The teen tuned out as the news went on to show the interview with Mt. Lady and explain what charges the 'villain' would be facing.
'If he gets caught that easily then there's no way he could be considered a villain.' The teen thought as he took another bite of his meal. He spent a little while longer in the diner before paying and leaving.
The teen decided to take the long way home, which probably wasn't the best idea since he lived a ways away from his current location. The teen began to pass under a bridge, he noticed a student carrying a rather charred notebook on the other side. The teen paused briefly when he heard something rattling. He was about to brush it off as nothing until he noticed a load of sewage rising out of a nearby grate. The sewage surged towards the student and enveloped him before he had time to react.
"A medium-sized body... The perfect cover." The living mass of sewage chuckled, then it noticed the teen standing nearby. "Oi, kid! Don't come any closer or I'll use you for cover too!" The body of dirty water declared.
The teen didn't listen and began walking towards the heap of sewage.
"Hey! I told you to stay back!" The living sewage exclaimed as it shot a dirty tendril at the teen. It was aimed right for the teen's face and was close to hitting him.
Then it stopped in its tracks. It was as if the tendril had frozen in midair, red and black sparks of energy flashed near the space surrounding the extension. The teen's hand was held out in front of the tendril, he clenched it into a fist and the sewage imploded. The teenager sent a challenging smirk at the monster. Another four tendrils went flying at him and ended up the same as the first, droplets on the pavement. The teen sighed, as if he had been expecting something that would have posed more of a challenge.
The teen closed in on the sewage monster, being only a few feet away at this point. A devilish grin emerging on his face as he raised his hand again.
"Brace yourself Hostage-kun." The teen warned shortly before clenching his hand into a fist. The sewage monster imploded, becoming nothing more than a few puddles on the ground as the hostage fell onto his side. The ex-hostage scrambled to his feet and ducked behind his saviour, who was currently stretching as if anticipating a round two.
The pairs attention was drawn to the grate the sewage monster had rose from when it shot out of the ground, a mountain of a man climbing out soon after.
It was All Might, the Symbol of Peace.
"Never fear, for I am here!" The Number One Pro-Hero announced.
"Oh my God, it's All Might." The student practically squealed, probably another fanboy. The teen, meanwhile, was suppressing a scowl.
The pro quickly surveyed the area before noticing the villain he had been chasing had been reduced to a few measly puddles, he quickly scooped the villain up into a bottle and presented it to the audience of two.
"I have secured the villain." All Might assured the two.
"Congrats, you did the easy part." The teen applauded sarcastically.
All Might approached the two. "I assume I have you two to thank for helping in apprehending this villain?" He asked.
"A-Actually... I didn't do much besides being taken hostage; he's the one who did all the work." The student admitted, which surprised the teen. Apparently, the guy didn't want to make himself sound awesome in front of the Number One Hero. He was either incredibly humble or incredibly stupid.
"I see. And what is your name young man?" The Pro-Hero asked the student, who seemed taken aback by the question.
"M-Midoriya, Izuku Midoriya." The now named student answered, giving a quick bow.
"And what about your saviour, hmm?" All might looked over at the teen.
"Izumi Kurokage." The teen stated after a few seconds of silence.
"And how did you stop the villain Young Kurokage?" The Symbol of Peace questioned. Izumi quickly scanned the Pro-Hero's face, looking for a hint as to why he was asking this question. He noticed a look similar to... remorse? Was that what it was? Why would the Number One Hero give him a look of remorse after saving someone?
"With my Quirk, obviously." Was the blunt response he gave after some time. "And before you ask, my Quirk is Psychokinesis." He added. "If that's all, I need to be getting home." Izumi said as he pointed in the direction he had been heading in, before walking off without waiting for an answer.
"Yo! You two won't believe who I met today." Izumi announced as he slammed the door behind him, the man of hands shifting from his spot at the bar. The bartender looked over at the teen, noticing the wide grin that threatened to fall off of his face.
"Oh? And just who did you meet?" The bartender inquired, raising a non-existent brow.
"Why, none other than the Symbol of Peace himself. In casual clothes no less." The teen let out a bark of a laugh as he recalled the sight; he found it hilarious even slightly remembering it. "He was chasing some sludge... sewage guy or whatever, right? And by the time he arrived, I'd already taken care of it." He managed to get his laughter down to a snicker, but burst out laughing again as he added. "Can you believe it? All Might, the Symbol of Peace, shown up by a kid!" Izumi slammed a hand down on the bar as he took a seat in front of the bartender.
"So what I'm hearing is... you did something that helps the heroes?" The man of hands questioned.
"Well, I was just gonna leave." Izumi admitted. "But the asshole thought he could get away with trying to attack me." He put a hand to his chest as he played the victim. "What else was I to do but defend myself...? My only regret is that I couldn't kill the bastard." The teen's personality seemingly did a one-eighty as he brushed his jet black hair out of his face, revealing his tired aquamarine eyes.
"It's probably for the best. You would have been arrested had you killed him." The bartender pointed out. "It would be bad for us if we lost our main form of attack." The man warned.
"Yeah, yeah." Izumi waved the warning off dismissively.
"If you two are done." The man of hands interrupted the conversation. "Hunter here needs to get ready." He said as he pat the black haired teen on the shoulder, keeping his pinky finger in the air.
Izumi looked at the man with a questioning gaze. What did he need to get ready for? This hand wearing asshat had a tendency to not explain things to the teen, much to his dismay. He still remembered the last two times nothing had been explained to him. The first time, he got pushed off of a roof to help with training his Quirk. It worked, but he had to be teleported away from the hand man so he could calm down, though he still held a grudge which he made obvious through how he spoke to the man. The second time was less life threatening, but a hell of a lot more grating. Izumi had to find his way to the bar from the other side of the district, while constantly being teleported to a random location within the district.
He really hated these people sometimes.
"Ah, yes. His new assignment." The bartender remembered with a few nods.
"Which would be?" Izumi urged as he motioned for one of the two men to continue with his hand.
"To infiltrate U.A. and keep tabs on All Might, who is supposedly going to be teaching there." The bartender explained.
The blue eyed teen stared at the mist like body of the bartender incredulously, until he fell off his stool and began to literally roll on the floor laughing.
"Are... Are you insane?" Izumi asked amusedly. "Me? Attend U.A.? That's a better joke than seeing All Might in his casual clothes!" The teen started to laugh even harder with both of those thoughts in his head, this day was turning out to be one of funniest days of his life. The boy pushed himself to his feet as he decided to joke with the bartender. "We'd have a better chance of getting Shigaraki to stop wearing those ridiculous hands than sneaking me into U.A."
"You won't be sneaking in, you will be taking the entrance exam just like the other students." The bartender informed the teen, who stopped laughing immediately.
"Seriously? Kuro, I'm gonna bomb the written test ya know." Izumi pointed out.
"We're aware of that, which is why we're going to rely on your practical exam score." 'Kuro' told the teen whose only response was to sigh.
"Alright... yeah, I'll probably do better on that." Izumi admitted with a nod. "Though why do I need to pack?" The teen inquired. If he was going to attend U.A. he could just commute from Kamino ward to Musutafu, so long as he got up at the right time.
"You will be moving into a house that one of our associates owns, it's one station away from U.A., but it will take less time for you to get there than if you commuted from here." The bartender explained as he started to clean the rest of the glasses. "You will move in tomorrow, so you need to pack tonight."
Izumi nodded a couple of times before wordlessly heading for the back area of the bar, he entered his makeshift room, which was just a mattress, a blanket and a few other things scattered about, and threw a duffel bag onto his bed and began packing. He assumed the house would already be furnished, so he forwent taking the blanket he used as a cover. The jet haired teen picked up a few books, mostly novels, and haphazardly tossed them into the bag, he also picked up a frayed pack of cards and placed them on top of the books. Then he went about picking up the clothes that were strewn about the room and chucking them in the bag as well, he also tucked a thin hairband in for when he wanted to keep his hair out of his face. The teen surveyed the room, making sure he had everything he needed, besides his toothbrush which he would still need to use in the morning, the boy was content with everything he had packed.
"Right, patrol time." Izumi grinned to himself as he left the room.
Most people would be surprised to find that there were rarely ever any shady night-time dealings in Kamino, not without the permission of certain people anyway. And while Izumi always enjoyed receiving a cut of the deals that took place, not getting to bust some heads could make patrolling the ward unbearably boring. Though there were a few distractions here and there, being a minor meant he couldn't do any of the fun stuff. The fun stuff being gambling, getting drunk and participating in underground fighting matches, the latter being the only thing that piqued the teen's curiosity.
"Ya got tha stuff?" A deep thuggish voice asked as it echoed out of an alleyway.
"Yeah, it's all in this case." A serious, almost business-like, voice responded, a few thumping sounds audible as the owner of the voice likely patted the case.
This was what Izumi had been hoping for. He hadn't been told of any deals going down tonight, which meant there were a couple of rule breakers down that alley. And rule breakers had to face repercussions, sweet, sweet repercussions. The teen caught himself smiling at that thought, he might have been enjoying this more than what was acceptable. He shook his head and put on his best confident smirk before heading down the alley.
"My, my, what's this?" Izumi inquired, mirth evident in his tone. "A shady deal? What are you dealing? Drugs? Stolen goods? Imported firearms?" The teen kept up his barrage of guesses until the thuggish voice cut him off.
"Shut up! Get outta here kid!"
The jet haired teen examined the man. Either he was from the military or had a fascination with it considering the combat fatigues and the crew cut. Then he noticed the man's moustache, it was bushy and the same white-grey colour as his hair. As much as Izumi already wanted to taunt the man for how he looked, he opted to hold off when he noticed how much muscle the man had. His shirt and jacket looked like they would burst at a moment's notice.
Then the teen gave a glance to the owner of the business-like voice. He looked like a generic business man, guess even the blandest of people can have a corrupt side. Izumi's eyes landed on the briefcase for a second, he wanted to know what was in there. Considering his role right now, he had to find out what they were dealing and/or smuggling.
"Business dude." The teenager stated in a demanding tone. "What's in the case?" he asked.
"What's it to ya!?" Crew cut yelled in response.
"I don't think I was talking to you, Stranger Danger." Izumi reproached.
"What did ya call me!?" The man exclaimed, his face had already gone bright red.
"I'm sorry, but with the way you look..." Izumi took a second to use his hands to indicate the man's entire look. "...I wouldn't trust you with a child even if they were related to you." The teen held back the chuckle that was threatening to escape his mouth. He was provoking the man intentionally, but still wanted to see if he could get any information before coming to blows with the man.
"Who the hell do ya think ya are!?" Stranger Danger barked.
"I'm the guy that makes sure people like you pay the price for not following the rules. All deals that go on in Kamino have to have my boss's consent. And since I wasn't told about any deals going on tonight, you two are in a lot of trouble." Izumi explained as he brushed his hair back, an apathetic look showing on his face at this point.
"Ha ha ha ha!" The laugh bellowed down the alley. "Why the hell would I need permission?" The man asked, sounding much more jovial now. "When I'm done here, people'll be asking for my permission." He informed the teen.
"Oh really?" Izumi questioned with a chuckle. He took a quick glance around the alley, there was a dumpster nearby and that was about it. "Well if you really wanna be in charge..." The jet haired teen began as he raised his hand. "...Let's see if you can beat me first!" He exclaimed as he swiped his arm in front of himself, rocketing the dumpster towards Stranger Danger and pinning him to the wall.
Stranger Danger screamed in rage as he pounded his fists against the lid of the dumpster, Izumi pulled the dumpster back slightly before ramming it back into the man. Though he seemed to have moved his hands to a better position since he managed to move the dumpster to the side. Izumi dropped his arm and dove to the side as the mountain of muscle charged at him, though he mentally cussed when he felt his body being dragged. Soon enough he was being held upside down by the leg, he crossed his arms at the smirk the older man was sending him. Izumi shook his head and sighed before being thrown into the air, he pushed an oncoming fist to the side with his quirk and landed on his stomach. The teen looked up at the older man who was maniacally grinning at this point, Izumi shook his head again before sweeping his arm in front of him. The dumpster from before slamming into the man and knocking him onto his side, he rolled onto his back and started to get up before being pushed back down by an invisible force on his neck.
Izumi stood over the man, aquamarine eyes coldly peering into a set of rose pink ones. He began to slowly clench his hand into a fist. The man grabbed at his throat, trying to tear away whatever force had a hold on him, to no avail. The military man began to choke, gagging as spit trickled down his chin and tears welled up in his eyes. After one last gag, the man's eyes lost focus. Izumi released his grip and turned to face the man in the business suit, who reflexively tried to cower behind the briefcase.
"Leave the case and run." Izumi ordered. The man did as he was told, leaving Izumi with the case. The teen picked it up and opened it, the idiots didn't even use a number lock. Peeking inside the case, Izumi spotted two rows of syringes. The teen smiled widely at the contents, if it was what he thought it was then he might get a nice bonus for it. Izumi slung the briefcase over his shoulder and whistled as he left the alleyway, leaving Stranger Danger to lay there unconscious.
Izumi returned to the bar and flung the door open leaving it to close itself, he ignored the looks he received from his partners and swung the case up unto the counter. He undid the latches and opened the case before clearing his throat.
"Since I'm leaving soon, I got you two a little gift. I'll let you decide what to do with it." The jet haired teen gave them a quick wave before heading into the back to go to his room.
Once the teen reached his room he crashed onto his mattress and haphazardly pulled the blanket over himself, if he was moving then he would need his energy to scout out the surrounding area. Plus he could do some training once he was settled in, he would need every advantage he could get in the practical exam which meant spending as much time as he could training to prepare for whatever was thrown at him.
When Izumi woke up, he found an unfamiliar set of walls surrounding him. He jumped to his feet and surveyed his surroundings, there was a note on the floor next to him. Picking up the note, the teen read through it. The message on the note wasn't actually that long.
It's easier to send you to the house through Kurogiri's portal.
Don't screw up.
Izumi crumpled up the note and tossed it in the bin that sat in the corner of the room. He needed to keep better company. Picking up the duffel bag next to him, Izumi went about placing everything where he wanted it.
The teen pushed his mattress, with the blanket still on it, into the corner of the room and stacked the books he had packed next to it, placing the deck of cards on top. He placed the hairband on the desk that had been provided and hung his clothes up in the closet. There were some hand weights in one of the corners and a punching bag hung up in the middle of the room. His toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste were already in the bathroom.
Taking a quick look around the house, Izumi found he wasn't lacking anything. Though he would need to go buy some groceries to stock the fridge.
Making a mental note of everything he wanted to do, Izumi headed out to get used to the area and to pick up some food.
The months flew by for Izumi as he trained and studied, as much as he despised the latter, and he could feel the pressure gradually rising as the U.A. entrance exam crept ever closer. If he didn't get in then that would be that, he would likely lose his connection to the League of Villains and his only lead.
He couldn't afford to screw this up.
Izumi slowed his jog to a walk before coming to a halt. He had every doubt running through his head and not a single reassuring thought. It always ended up like this, he always faltered when it mattered.
And it pissed him off.
Breaking into a sprint, the jet haired teen attempted to clear his head.
After running for what felt like hours, Izumi came to a stop near a beach. He usually jogged past it during his routine and every day there was less and less trash than the day before.
Stepping onto the beach, the teen headed towards the ocean as the sand shifted underfoot with each step. Once he was closer enough to the water, Izumi took in a deep breath. And released it in the form of a scream. He repeated this over and over and over, he kept screaming until his voice was hoarse and refused to come out.
"Damn it... You can do this you idiot. You will get in. You have to get in! It's the only way." Izumi tried pep-talking himself. It worked to a degree, he had the motivation to get to the exam in the coming month at least.
As the teen made his way back up the beach to continue his training he noticed someone watching him from the pathway. A woman with silver hair in a bob cut that reached her shoulders and piercing green eyes, it was like she was looking through him.
"Uhm... Hello?" Izumi's voce croaked as he tried to start a conversation.
Only for the woman to walk away without so much as a wave in response.
'Weirdo.' Izumi mentally huffed as he began jogging in the opposite direction to the woman.
