The Octopus

Chapter 2: The Catalyst

Another Place Another Time:

A green haired boy left his home where his mother had just made the most wonderful breakfast that was imaginable. Although he couldn't see her face clearly, the boy could tell that his mom was a kind and loving person. She had a smile that made the world turn round, and it was one that made everyday a good day. She'd spoken to him as he went out the door, but he couldn't make out the words that she said to him nor could he make out what her voice sounded like. His body couldn't move towards her to give her a hug before leaving, he wanted to, but he couldn't. It felt too surreal for something like this to be occurring, giving a hug simply didn't seem like an action that he could take, so he walked through the door into the rest of his fantasy.

He ran down the street with a notebook in his hand and a smile on his face. The boy was eagerly looking to see the upcoming hero Kamui Woods take on a villain with a quirk that made him into a giant. In this society it was something that was completely normal and something that many people looked at for mere entertainment.

Izuku was a person who studied the quirks of individuals and analyzed them. He tried figuring out ways that people could use them in more creative and different ways so that they could use it to their full potential. His intelligence wasn't something that was to be scoffed at, but he never tried to make a big deal out of it.

As he walked down the street he came across his best-friend Katsuki Bakugou who, despite having a flashy quirk, was one of the kindest individuals that Izuku had ever known. In another life perhaps he would've been thrown to the side for being quirkless, but in this one he wasn't tossed like trash. Kachan kept him because he was an intelligent individual who was a genius in his own right.

He was discovered to be a genius after his father passed away quite a bit ago. There was the life insurance money that came with the unfortunate passing which helped his family stay afloat for a while until his mom decided to work again in order to move on. She was extremely active in her new job managing several branches of a bank which helped her health. ...

There were so many more things that could be said about this world that Izuku Midoriya lived in, but above all there was one thing that was certain, his was the life that he wanted. This was the life that he deserved, but when do people get what they deserve? Izuku Midoriya was never going to get this life that he wanted, his mom was never going to come back to life, Bakugou was never going to be kind to him, his dad….his dad would never treat him like his own child. Izuku was never going to have the life that he wanted, he simply wouldn't. He had to take what he wanted…..

The boy had wanted to run a few last minute tests as he waited for his opponent, knowing that the machine was running well, but still afraid that it wasn't good enough to go against someone with the raw power of Bakugou. Fear was something that kept him human, he always felt it, just never showed it. Right now he was shaking with fear, but he thought it was just the cold, he'd convinced himself that it was just the cold.

It had been long ago that he classified anything as fear, it didn't serve his purposes anymore, so he had to get rid of it as best as he could. He couldn't get rid of it completely, so it remained there under a different name that he desperately tried to change with no avail. Then again, after today he wouldn't have a need for the fear. Today would be the day when he faced one of the people that he feared most in this word. The second only to his father, but after today it would all change, he needed it to change.

Izuku wore goggles to be able to see in the dark and to not be blinded when Bakugou did show up, his explosions were known to be flashy and loud. The trenchcoat would act as his disguise here, with it Bakugou wouldn't know what to expect till it was too late for him to do anything. It was all perfectly planned out, or it mostly was with most of his maneuvers memorized and able to be executed with little hesitation from the arms.

Breathe in and breathe out, Bakugou will certainly launch his first attack with a wide right hook that I can deal with without the arms, after that I need to use them minimally in order to avoid his attacks and run from him across the junkyard. Small pushes against the ground should be sufficient to transverse at around the same speed that Bakugou does. Now I wait…..

"HEY DEKU, WHERE ARE YOU? IT'S COLD AND YOU ARE BEING STUPID IF YOU THINK YOU CAN STAND AGAINST ME!" Currently Bakugou looked to be tired as well as a bit irritated from having to be here so early in the morning, that would be another advantage for Izuku in this fight. He rarely slept anyway so he was used to being up this late.

"I am here." Izuku spoke simply and waited for his classmate to turn towards him. Those were the words that All Might usually used in order to spread fear in villains, but Izuku was trying to use the words in a different way here. He stood completely still and waited for Bakugou to descend from the mound of trash that he stood atop of.

"So is this where you go after school." He muttered to himself as he looked down on his former childhood friend " Is this why you're always so tired during class? Should've known that you spent your time messing with junk. What a Deku" Bakugou said this as he slid down the pile and came face-to-face with Izuku. His voice was noticeably colder as he looked around and smirked seeing that there wasn't much to deal with here."So how do you want to do this? You challenged me to a fight so it is up to you to set the terms."

"You can use you quirk, I can use anything that I find here in this junkyard." Technically his metallic arms and cradle had been made using the materials within the junkyard so it wasn't going against the rules in doing this. "You may begin when you see fit." Izuku wasn't going to make this a short event, he was going to draw this out for as long as he could, so that Bakugou could finally see the pain that he had been exposed to for the last fourteen years of his life.

"Alright, you asked for it. DIE!" As Bakugou yelled this, Izuku took a step forwards with his right leg, turned to his left, used both his arms, and flipped his former friend over his shoulder and onto his back. It was a monouver that he had practiced for hours in order to make sure that it would work. The impact knocked the air from Bakugou's lungs and for the first time in his life, he felt weak.

In order to put some distance between the two of them Izuku decided to use his new arms for the job. He jumped with his biological legs first and proceeded to think of the arms pushing against the ground, just two of them with a strong force as the other two were on standby waiting for the impact. The green-haired boy needed the ams to remain as hidden as possible for as long as possible in order for Bakugou to remain in the dark. It would make his discovery of them all the more satisfying in the end.

More explosions could be heard behind him, so he jumped to the side and literally felt the heat of a very large explosion as it tore apart the mountain of trash on top of which he had stood only moments earlier. Bakugou's large smile could be seen as he turned his head towards Midoriya, slowly pulling up one of his hands mid-explosion.

No, I don't want another explosion to be set off in my face because I'm quirkless. I don't wish to be bullied any longer by him, I'm done with this. Commence battle trial, hope for the best, expect the worst and never forgive.

Before he could release any explosions, one of the four metallic arms came out of the trenchcoat and smacked Bakugou's hand upwards just as his hand ignited the sweat. The arm moved with such speed and force that Katsuki let the explosion go off without thinking. The result, Midoriya was completely unharmed and Bakugou was left in a state of confusion. This obviously didn't last long, as Bakugou's confusion turned to anger.

Having one of his arms deflected, Bakugou allowed the explosion to propel him onto solid ground in order to gain a better position. He tried raising his other arm in order to blow-up the machine that had been successful in getting rid of his first attack but fired into empty air as Izuku evaded the attack quickly and positioned himself behind his bully. Katsuki tried turning rapidly, but the metallic arms held his hand firmly as Izuku's own punch hit him hard in the nose drawing some blood as it broke. This was followed a push from two metallic arm pushing him off the mountain of garbage and onto a large flat sheet of metal below.

It was unexpected, being so easily thrown aside as if he weren't even a threat, especially since it was Izuku who had done the actual deed. Katsuki Bakugou hadn't run into anyone who he couldn't deal with, he'd always found a way to win like a hero should. Maybe he was a little competitive at times, but he wanted to be a hero to win in the end for the side of good.

With this in mind he recovered from being thrown back and grabbed the nearest piece of heavy trash. The large piece of flat scrap metal that he landed on top of would have to to do as he got into position. He picked it up from the ground, put it at an angle and fired an explosion with both his hands directly behind it propelling it at Izuku Midoriya. He followed the sheet of metal with his small explosions and prepared to deliver an even bigger explosion from behind. If the nerd stopped the metal then he would simply burst through it and put an end to this before someone got seriously injured.

The sheet was stopped mid-air like Katsuki expected, but something else occured at that time as well. As he prepared to break apart this barrier, he was simply swatted aside as if he were nothing more than a simple baseball. He wasn't even sure what ended up hitting him as the sheet of metal certainly wasn't what had done the job. The blow more likely than not would end up bruising a rib, but he couldn't just give up. Despite wanting to end this, he was extremely prideful and would only allow this to end with the quirkless fool's victory.

Though he probably should've thanked Izuku for drawing out the match. With more exertion of his body, he'd sweat more, and that's never a good thing for his opponent. Wiping his brow, he looked at the green-haired quirkless boy that he'd known since childhood and wondered just what had happened to him to make him want to finally fight him. It was a passing thought, but it was there.

Using this newly collected sweat, the explosion Quirk user began pooling it into his right hand so that it would be quite a large explosion. He'd need to draw this a little longer if he wanted to use the special move that he'd been perfecting for the better part of the year. However, he wasn't sure that his body would be able to keep sustaining the injuries at this constant rate.

As it was right now, he would need at least a doctor's visit to set everything right. He couldn't simply go back to school looking like he did, with a broken nose, bust lip, and something next to his eye that looked like it was bruising. Izuku, by the looks of it, didn't have a single injury on him. This meant that he had planned this, or at least the part that was to get Bakugou here where he would certainly lose in a fight where he didn't know what his opponent could do.

Knowing that he was at a disadvantage, he began running around the trash piles trying to get a better position. Since Deku had the high ground it was likely that things weren't going to be so easy for the next few seconds. The motion would make him sweat more and make him be ready for his special move. He just needed to survive until then so that

He launched himself again, after getting a running start, and began spiraling mid-air. A while back he'd tried making a special move that would be recognizable to all people. He was thinking of calling it Howitzer Impact, but it wasn't completely perfected yet. The power it released was something crazy, but it should be able to do its job at this moment. As he was spinning mid-air, he began to think of how they had gotten to this situation, he looked into Midoriya's emotionless face and started to realize how much he was at fault.

Stupid Deku, is this what I caused? Am I responsible for you mental state, could I have helped you earlier? This is on me more than anyone else, I could've made it so he was at least not a full on psycho. I'll help him afterwards, that's what someone like All Might would do.

Spinning faster, the boy began to form a tornado behind him, collecting oxygen. This would be big, but he needed it to be that way to finally get Deku to listen to him. At least he hoped this wasn't too much power that would kill the green-haired idiot, but Izuku had other plans.

He knew how destructive Bakugou's quirk was, he knew what he was doing when he spun. If he stayed put he would suffer the entirety of the blast, but Izuku knew better than this, way better than this. Using the arms that were already out, he jumped towards Bakugou, this would be his time to show the bully how he felt everyday in his life, but Izuku was known to get overconfident sometimes.

As Izuku jumped forward he couldn't help allowing a small smile to appear on his face. It was one that had been missing for many years, but it was finally back. He position his fist back, ready for for another, punch. Two of his metallic arms each held a piece of flat steel, a type of shield that he wished to keep. Then, just as Bakugou was to strike his shields and destroy everything….two arms came from above with another two flat pieces of steel.

He had thrown himself so those two pieces would be obscured, and he had succeeded as Bakugou was blindsided. Izuku pushed himself upwards using his old friend as leverage as Bakugou was thrown onto the ground without any effort. The boy who had always strived to be number one was finally aware of how Izuku felt when he was defeated each and every day. However, Bakugou wanted to win so badly, and if one last ditch attempt he threw all of his collected sweat onto Izuku without the boy noticing, it soaked onto his torso just where his metallic arms connected to the rest of his body.

Izuku knew that Bakugou was injured, probably severely, but right now he didn't particularly care about that. He had shown his second bully what it was to feel the pain that came with years of bullying, but he had instead made that physical pain. He knew within himself that Bakugou wasn't deserving on pain to this degree, but his years of abuse made it difficult to recognize that. Now he was going to let Bakugou know one more thing that he was feeling towards someone else in his life.

"Bakugou, seeing as you are bleeding on the ground and in serious need of medical attention, I want you to know that today I won. Me, not you, the quirkless boy who everyone believed should just go and die. I showed you that a quirk isn't needed to be powerful. Everyone thinks you are the most powerful of all the students in our school, but you now see that this isn't true at all. I win, you lost. The quirkless won, the quirkless will win…."

As Izuku began going into his small monologue, Bakugou saw his chance to stop Deku now before he went and used those arms for something more drastic. He was sweating more now, the pause that occured after the attack had allowed him to keep sweating and build up a pool that he believed could give him the firepower to get out of this confrontation before it was too late.

"...I know that you think you'll be the Number One hero, but if you can't even beat a quirkless boy, then how do you expect to surpass All Might…" Izuku Midoriya kept going on and on, he was done paying attention to his opponent. His arms had even dropped the large pieces of metal that they held and were now lying off to the side.

It's now or never, I'm not sorry for this…. Bakugou jumped from his prone position and threw the sweat with both of his hands, igniting the sweat at it began to cover the distance between the two former friends. At first Izuku thought nothing of this, he had believed his opponent to be defeated, but then he saw the liquid fly through the air and ignite along the way.

When the liquid reached him he expected the attack to sting at worst, but the pain that he felt was like nothing that he had ever felt before. The sweat that had been thrown beforehand ignited and raised the heat of the metal so high that it melted slightly right into Izuku's torso, and the boy who had thought that he had won...well he went down.

AN: It has been a while, I'm back to writing now. Enjoy.