"What do you mean, I hurt you by doing it?" Infinity asked, as Justin sitting back down as it happened. Aizawa simply watched as the two continued.
"Whenever you push me to that, it hurts me. Do you know how many times I've been hospitalized because of you?!" Justin yelled, leaning forward as he did so.
"No idea."
"Eleven times. Always due to Nerve Strain and Damage, and because of you, pushing it too much. I'm done with you doing it."
A flash, and suddenly Aizawa was back in the real world. Justin sighed, and looked up at Aizawa from his knees.
"Now you see, don't you?" Justin asked.
"That's… not good, to say the least. Still, you're not getting around trouble because of that. Also, don't do that again. And learn to control him, young man, or else things will only get worse for you." Aizawa explained, turning and walking as he did so, putting eyedrops in as he walked. Justin sighed, picking himself up and preparing to go to the Classroom. He arrived in minutes, only for an empty space to greet him.
"Shit…" He whispered as he turned and prepared to leave. Behind him, suddenly -
"Young Gray! Where are you going!" All Might yelled as he leaned down to look him directly in the eyes. Justin stepped back slightly, before stopping at two steps.
"Ho - Home? How long has it been?" Justin explained - and asked - as the hero stepped into the classroom.
"Five hours!" All Might answered, and Justin put his face into his hands. All Might stepped into the classroom, and Justin turned and leaned onto one of the desks.
"Fi-Five Hours? That's the longest it's ever been…" He whispered, barely audible, even in total silence. All-Might looked questioningly, and Justin turned back to the hero/teacher, sighing yet again.
"This has happened before, if rarely, but usually for only an hour or two. Did anyone get hurt?" Justin asked as he looked back up at the teacher.
"Yes. Several." All Might answered, the smile slowly settling to a standard line.
"Well, Toshinori -" Justin began before All Might seemingly jumped several feet into the air. He immediately turned to the child, a haunting look on his face.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME?!" He shouted, and Justin nearly slipped off the desk. The hero was suddenly in his face, and Justin began to sweat.
"I - I'm telepathic, you know? I know it all. Your small form, your weakness - the time limit. All of it. Sorry, I thought he had told you already." Justin said, and Toshinori stood back up.
The Next Day
Justin walked into a classroom of utter silence. They all stared at him, some with fear, others with awe, and some with blankness. Justin stared back for a few seconds, before finally sitting. Besides him sat Midoriya and Iida, and at the far other side of Iida, sat Bakugou. Anger spread across his features, and he turned to Justin.
"Were you fucking trying to kill us all!?" He screamed, small pops of fire coming off his hands. Justin sighed, and turned to his angered classmate.
"It was an accident, and I apologize. I hope I didn't really hurt any of you…" Justin said, as Bakugou raised a bandage-wrapped arm.
"You think this didn't hurt, asshole?!" Bakugou shouted, as the door opened, revealing a smiling face with golden hair.
"I AM ENTERING THE CLASSROOM - LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" All Might shouted as he entered, in a silver-age costume, a large blue cape billowing behind him. The class burst out into comments as he proceeded to the Podium, and he prepared to explain.
"TODAY, WE WILL BE DOING PRACTICAL BATTLE TRAINING! GET YOUR COSTUMES ON!" He shouted as the wall opened, revealing twenty slots for costumes. Each student ran to grab theirs, as Justin grabbed his.
A simple silver jumpsuit acted as the internal layer, highlighted by red lines. Armor pieces lined his arms and legs, flexible Kevlar pieces, and his neck was surrounded by a folded Kevlar mask. A utility belt surrounded his waist, with many pockets for various items.
"In each battle, there will be two groups of two people!" All Might began explaining as the students walked up to him. Justin stood alone in the back, separated by the events of the day before.
"There will be Villains and Heroes! The villains want to protect a 'Bomb', and the Heroes want to either capture the villains or contact the bomb! There will be 20 Minutes to commit to the battle!" He began.
Immediately, a hand shot up among the group - an armored young man, whom Justin already knew.
"How will groups be selected?" Iida asked.
"By Lot!" All Might answered.
Iida was seemingly disappointed by that answer, and then resigned himself to it. Midoriya mentioned something, and then seemed to calm down somewhat. Justin would have to ask later.
"Group One! Midoriya Izuku, and… Justin Gray!"
"Group Two! Bakugou Katsuki and Tenya Iida!"
"Group Three! Mezo Shoji and Shoto Todoroki!"
"Group Four! Fumikage Tokoyami and Momo Yaoyorozu!"
"Group Five! Denki Kaminari and Mina Ashido!"
"Group Six! Mashirao Ojiro and Ochako Uraraka!"
Justin and Izuku stood in front of the building as the others filed in, and they were given time to prepare.
"Look, I can't constantly reinforce you. I can only use my Quirk every twenty seconds, lest I black out like I did before… So, we have to strike every twenty seconds, at most. Unless, of course, you want to break yourself." Justin noted. Izuku nodded, and turned to him.
"Bakugou will come after me, so we should stick together if I want to use One for All… We - We could try to avoid fighting, or split up and take them on -" Izuku began.
"If we're gonna fight, we need to stay together so I can support you. No exceptions." Justin responded, interrupting Izuku mid-sentence. The two fell silent, and an announcement came over the intercom.
"MATCH, START!" It said, and the two proceeded inside. Immediately, an explosion rocked the building, and the two looked up.
"Already?" Justin sarcastically asked. Izuku merely nodded, and the two proceeded upwards into the building. The explosions continued, progressively becoming louder and louder. The two continued climbing, the sound closing in rapidly.
They were walking down a dark hallway as it came around the corner.
"Down!" Justin shouted, dragging Izuku behind him as the first explosion rocketed down the hallway. He threw his arms upwards, the blast pushing him back as the armor absorbed the shock.
Suddenly, Katsuki was very close. Izuku jumped ahead, and grabbed the quickly closing fist. Justin went to the left of Izuku, throwing a hard punch into Katsuki's side, throwing him into the wall. Katsuki immediately stood, and an explosion fired outwards, directly at Izuku's face.
Izuku yelled, as his mask was burned away. Justin aimed a closed fist at Katsuki's face, and shouted -
"Impact, 200 Percent!" The force slammed Katsuki through the wall as Izuku stood once again. Katsuki wiped away blood from his broken jaw, and immediately raised his arm again. Justin saw him pulling at his gauntlet too late.
"SHIT!" He shouted as a room-sized fireball slammed into him, throwing him into the next room via shattering wall. Izuku stood, and ran in immediately as the intercom connected again.
"Bakugou, destroying the building you should be protecting is counterintuitive! Using that attack again will lead to immediate disqualification!" All Might shouted over the intercom. Justin couldn't hear over the ringing, but saw a fight ensuing as he laid back. Finally, the ringing stopped, and he heard Izuku shouting.
"Go up!" Was all he heard as another explosion rocked the building. Justin stood, and saw Izuku holding his own. He turned and ran, sprinting up the stairs as another explosion rocked the building.
Arriving in a massive white room, all he saw was an empty space, with several columns. A massive - but fake - bomb sat on the other side. In between Justin and that, however, stood Tenya Iida. He seemed to be laughing, in a stereotypical, evil sort of way.
"You're kidding, right?" Justin asked as Iida turned to him.
"Ah, Hero! Good luck getting through me!" Iida incredulously shouted as Justin closed the distance between them, ready to force his way through. Beneath him, another explosion shook the building, and Iida stood ready. Engine pipes popped out of his lower legs, and he ran at Justin.
Justin jumped sideways into a roll, as Iida stopped, sliding sideways several feet before slamming into and punching Justin. Justin fell backwards, his face already bruising because of the impact.
He raised his arm, shouting, "Impact! 600 Percent!" in Iida's direction. The young man never saw the hit coming, as he was thrown upward, spinning, into the ceiling. However, Justin didn't expect him to immediately recover.
"Dammit…" He whispered as Iida immediately hit him again, throwing him backwards again. Beneath, another explosion rattled it's way to them, throwing dust off the walls. Suddenly, over his radio, Justin heard a voice.
"Justin! I'm gonna blow a hole upwards, support me!" It said quickly, obviously stressed. Justin jumped away as far as he could, and shouted to no-one in particular, focusing on Izuku's body.
"Support! 20,000 Percent!"
A blast of air and debris shot up through the building, shattering the floor as it did so. Justin suddenly gained a whirling headache, as he charged for the bomb. Iida moved to intercept, but the blast of air and debris forced him back as he jumped.
Justin's hand slapped the side of the 'bomb', and the intercom immediately turned on. He couldn't hear what it said as he stumbled backwards into the hole and blacked out.
"Again, young man? Why do you overdo it?" Recovery Girl asked as she 'kissed' Justin, and he woke up. A splitting headache went through his head as he turned to her.
"Is Izuku okay?" He quickly asked. Recovery Girl looked up, confused, as he rubbed his arms.
"Yes, he's fine. Why do you ask?"
"I had to reinforce him to make sure he doesn't break his bones with One for All." Justin commented, rubbing his temples as he did so. Recovery Girl reacted with some shock, but then thought it over.
Midoriya did have bruises like he should have broken bones, but he didn't. Something had to be stopping that, after all - Justin had been doing it, though? Didn't think about that, but he had to have had nerve damage from something.
"Well, next time, try not to nearly give yourself a stroke. It's hard on the body to heal nerve damage, so be careful." Recovery Girl warned as she handed the boy a gummy.
"Now take this, and get back to class!" She shouted at Justin, who reeled for a second before proceeding. He basically sprinted back to class, stopping by the changing room as he did so. Within minutes, he stood before the massive door, and slowly slid it open.
All eyes turned to him, as silence spread over the space. A few seconds past, the silence containing a seeming tension, before it was finally broken.
"J-Justin! You're back!" Izuku said, waving as he did so. Finally, the silence broke as the class greeted him - excluding Bakugou, who stared in total rage. Rage at defeat, at a final loss.
"Thanks, I guess…" Justin answered to the greetings, rubbing his head as he did so. After a few seconds, he finally sat down as Aizawa turned back to the class.
"You spent thirty-seven seconds unnecessarily greeting a student. Let's get back to work." Aizawa flatly said, as the class returned to silence.
The sun was setting as Justin walked out. As he opened the front doors, he saw Izuku talking with Bakugou, it seemed. Silence had fallen over the walkway as they two stared. As Justin continued, a burst of air and wind bolted past, and behind Bakugou appeared that man - All Might.
"Young Man! I understand your anger, but still, Pride is an important aspect of being a hero-" All Might began, as the student ripped himself out of his shoulder grip.
"Shut up." Was all Bakugou said as he turned and walked away. Silence once again fell, and All Might held the ever-present smile.
"I - I - I guess that's a way of accepting defeat…" All Might said, before smoke began to stream off his body. He quickly looked around, seeing only him, Justin, and Izuku standing in the vicinity, before a puff of smoke, and he was suddenly in his 'small form'.
"Justin. Izuku. We need to talk."
They sat in All Might's office, the three having only just arrived. The two couches stood across from each other, the two students sitting besides each other, All Might on the other.
"Young Gray, how much do you know?" All Might asked first, looking up at Justin as he did so.
"Uh - I know that you passed on One for All to Izuku, how said quirk operates, and your 'rival', as your thoughts put it - All for One, was it called? I know the origin of both of those, and your previous experiences with this quirk." Justin summarized quickly, sweat forming on his brow as he did so.
"You know of All for One, then. Young Midoriya doesn't, but I will explain." All Might began, Izuku looking up as began. Thus, the explanation came, and Izuku committed it to memory, and Justin turned.
"Well, at least we're on the same footing now, in that way." Justin commented after the end of said explanation. All Might sighed, turning to Justin as he did so.
"Have you been preventing Izuku's bones from breaking with your quirk, Young Gray?" All Might questioned. He already knew the answer, but he wanted to see if the boy would tell the truth, or try to let Izuku take the credit.
"Yes."
Izuku looked at his bruised, but otherwise unbroken, hand as he did so. Yes, he had been slightly burned from earlier, but he felt that things should have been much worse, considering the comments Justin made before. He needed to learn to control it better.
"Well, Young Midoriya, do you want to keep relying on Justin, or do you want to control this yourself?" All Might asked, honestly.
"I - I want to control it my-myself, but until then…" The sentence trailed off, the obvious implication directed at Justin himself. He simply nodded in response, and Izuku seemed to calm slightly.
"Well, Young Midoriya, we need to train you to learn to control this. Justin, you will join us for this training. Meet at Dagoba Municipal Beach Park, 7:00 on Saturdays, to help him train." All Might explained, and dismissed the two. They walked out together, discussing the implications of the most recent villain activity, and the new heroes who had shown up.
"Izuku, you've got a lot more up there than some would probably like to admit." Justin said partway through the walk to the train station. Izuku stumbled, and caught back up after nearly falling.
"I- Uh - Thanks!" Izuku said nervously, as Justin continued.
"Just being honest, you know." Justin answered, as the sun finally set beneath the horizon. Silence settled again, and they arrived at the station.
"See ya later, Izuku!" Justin yelled, and Izuku waved back.
One Week Later
"Today, we will be training at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. Put on your hero costumes, and let's go." Aizawa explained, and the class moved to grab them. Within minutes, they were outside, and Iida began to guide them onto the bus in a semi-organized manner; not that it made a difference, as the bus was far larger than necessary for one class.
Within minutes, insults were already being passed around, but to a surprising target - Bakugou was the target, not the insulter.
"Shut up, Extras! You're all gonna die!" He shouted as he nearly threw himself over the front bar. Justin and Izuku sat across from each other, Iida besides Izuku. Izuku seemed to be hiding behind Iida, who sternly stared at his various classmates. Finally, after several minutes of insults and laughing, they arrived in front of the facility. The massive white dome contained massive facilities for training for various disasters, from sinking ships to fires to avalanches. As they walked in, a person in some form of Astronaut suit greeted them.
"You're Thirteen! The Black Hole Hero!" Izuku shouted above the crowd, as Thirteen introduced her - him - itself. Then, Justin felt a seemingly odd presence - a dark presence, and he looked down towards the center of the dome as he did so.
"Who's that?" Justin asked, pointing at the central plaza. Aizawa and Thirteen immediately turned and looked at the oncoming crowd, emerging from some form of portal. Suddenly, the portal closed after revealing two figures, one with hands covering his head, and the other seemingly a massive, beaked creature.
"Villains! Students, move back, we'll take care of them!" Aizawa shouted, and the class began to turn. Suddenly, the portal from before appeared in front of them.
"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've introduced ourselves yet. My name is Kurogiri, and we are the League of Villains. And you won't be leaving quite yet." the man calling himself 'Kurogiri' stated, as the portal began to expand.
Justin reacted quickly, using Thousand Percent to throw the class back, including himself. The portal closed too slowly to catch them, as Justin stood again. He saw two metal plates around the man's 'neck' area, and aimed at them.
"Impact! 1,000 Percent!" He shouted, aiming to hit the metal pieces. Kurogiri teleported away, the impact missing and slamming into the outer wall, cracking it in several places. It had returned to the previous two figures.
The class turned, seeing Aizawa maneuvering in between various villains and other petty criminals as they attempted to attack him. Thirteen suddenly shouted to the class.
"Iida! Get help from the heroes!" She yelled. Iida immediately turned and began to run, his engine legs smoking as he sprinted. Justin turned to Thirteen, and the class collectively began to rush down the stairs.
"We're going to help Aizawa-Sensei!" He shouted as he turned and ran from Thirteen, who didn't move much to stop them. She began to walk down the stairs, watching as the students began to engage.
Justin turned to Izuku, and nodded.
"I'll support where I can! If you want to learn how to use that quirk, here's a good start!" Justin shouted, and Izuku nodded. Around him, Class 1A began to engage.
To his left, Bakugou and Kaminari smashed through many villains, knocking them out. To his right, Kaminari electrocuted various villains, as Jiro and Ojiro collectively fought several villains. Uraraka had immobilized several villains, dropping from several stories to knock them out.
"Izuku! Let's go after them!" Justin shouted, looking at the group from before, the three major villains seemingly smiling as the big one charged at Aizawa.
The two watched as it grabbed Aizawa's skull, slamming him face first into the ground, and did it again. After three smashes, Justin and Izuku turned and prepared to hit the beast. One for All streamed across his arm as he slammed into the beast, before Justin could reinforce him - only for the shock to be absorbed by whatever the thing was.
"It has Shock Absorption! It'd need that to be able to kill All Might!" The hand-covered man laughed as the hit was completely absorbed.
"Izuku! Back off!" Aizawa shouted in pain, as his face was slammed by the creature's hand again. Izuku jumped away, and Justin grabbed him.
"I'm going to hit that thing. Hard." Justin whispered angrily as he turned to face the creature - as it sprinted at them. Justin raised his hand, and the air seemed to gather on the tips of his fingers as it came within inches of him.
"IMPACT! ONE MILLION PERCENT!" He screamed as the creature stopped against the impact. 50,000 Tons of Force hit the thing like a bullet, overcoming the shock absorption as it rocketed away from the two boys. Shigaraki stopped laughing as the creature was launched out of the facility, slamming through the wall and beyond.
"You used Cheats!" Shigaraki shouted as he charged.
Justin could barely think, as his vision began to turn black. He heard shouting, and something about moving.
Suddenly, blistering pain cut through his side as he felt someone grab him, and blood began to pour. A shockwave came seconds later, and the disintegration of his side stopped. He heard a guttural roar come from behind him - that sounded like Izuku - before he fully blacked out.
Izuku looked at his shattered arm, and the person he had hit. The man was crumpled around 70 Meters away, the hands having been blasted off by the impact. The portal seemed to look in contempt, before teleporting himself and the blue-haired man away.
Looking back down to Justin, he shouted after seeing the damage. His side was completely ripped away, his ribcage and stomach exposed to open air. Blood poured from the wound, as Justin was shaking. Some sort of seizure overwhelmed him, and Izuku picked him up, running him towards the nearest help as the pain ran through his arm.
That's the end of Chapter Three. Sorry (Not Sorry) for that little cliffhanger, and this Chapter got loooooonnnng (for my standards). So, I guess I'll see ya'll next time.
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia.
