Chapter 4: Monster Trio
-]-[-
Endeavor was surprised when he walked into the kitchen to find not two, but three young boys waiting for him. He recognized Izuku and his own son, obviously, but he had no idea who the third one was.
"You're late," Enji growled. He turned to face Bakugou. "And who are you?"
"I'm Katsuki Bakugou," he said, tilting his head. "Sir," he added quickly.
"Dad, Bakugou's trying to become a hero too, and I think he's strong enough to train with us," Todoroki explained. He recounted how they had dealt with the sludge incident.
"I see," Enji said, scratching his chin. He was proud of how Shoto had stuck his neck out like that, but the whole situation reminded him of his own darkest hour. "But you could have hurt yourself or others by butting your head in like that. You're grounded for a day. No training for you tomorrow." He faced Izuku as Shoto opened his mouth in protest. "I'm giving you a pass because you're new here, but you shouldn't step out of line like that. It's how people get hurt."
"Sir," Izuku said. "With all due respect, that's too harsh. If we didn't act, Kacchan might have died!"
Bakugou nodded in agreement.
Enji lit himself up with his quirk. "I'm not giving you a freebie just because your plan just happened to be successful. For all you knew, attacking the villain could have worsened Bakugou's predicament and brought the villain's wrath upon you. There are professionals who deal with this kind of stuff."
"Dad," Shoto protested. "Those professionals were doing nothing-"
"Enough!" Enji shouted. "I don't want to hear it!"
"But-"
"Please stop, Shoto." A new person entered the room. It was a woman, with pure white hair, like Shoto's right side. She was getting on in her years, but she still casted a striking figure, which was further amplified by her warm smile. "Your dad is right. You shouldn't endanger yourself before you go through hero school."
The woman walked towards Enji and kissed him on the lips while Bakugou silently retched. The woman was followed into the kitchen by a spikily white-haired boy and a girl with similar white hair and glasses. Both bore a striking resemblance to their mother, while Shoto reminded Izuku more of Enji.
"Izuku, Bakugou," Enji began. "This is my wife, Rei, and my children, Natsuo and Fuyumi."
"Nice to meet you all," Izuku said, bowing. "I look forward to my stay here." He could sense kindred emotions from everyone in the room. Even from Shoto, who was still reeling from his punishment. This is a good family, Izuku thought.
"No need to bow, Izuku," Rei replied. She and Fuyumi smiled at the newcomers while Natsuo spoke up:
"Can we eat now?" Natsuo asked. "I'm starving!"
Rei pursed her lips, looking towards Bakugou. "I wasn't expecting an extra boy, but I made more than enough food for everyone to share. Why don't we gather around the dining room table?"
"No need to ask me twice," Bakugou grinned, licking his lips.
-]-[-
"So," Fuyumi said, swallowing a bite of sushi. "Were you guys caught up in the damage from that gas leak? Apparently, a whole building collapsed."
Izuku frowned. "No. We didn't see any destruction. Was anybody hurt?"
She shook her head. "Apparently, the building was evacuated before it started shaking. I don't really know the details, since the news is developing as we speak."
"Well it's good that everyone was saved."
Bakugou perked his head up in interest, turning to face Fuyumi. "Did you see anything about the Sludge Villain incident?"
"I did," Rei said. "In hours, the whole ordeal made the front page: 'Three teens defeat dangerous villain.' You guys are famous now! It even showed a picture of the three of you eating noodles."
"Damn pepperazzi," Bakugou grumbled under his breath.
Endeavor cleared his throat. "The press can misconstrue a lot of things. It's not something to be proud of."
Shoto groaned. "We get it, Dad." The boy was a little miffed after receiving his punishment, but Izuku could detect that Shoto was at ease around his family, even if he didn't want to outwardly show it.
"Pardon me," Bakugou announced, standing up. "Can you guys tell me where the bathroom is?" I need to piss so fucking badly.
"Around the corner and to the left," Enji said, gesturing towards a hallway. Bakugou stood up and left.
"So, Izuku," Rei said, addressing the green-haired boy. "How does it feel to be back in Japan after so long?"
"It feels…" Izuku fished for a word. "Surreal. The world feels so different and alien, and it was tough to have left every single one of my friends at home, but I also feel comfortable here. Granted, I don't really remember anything from this place besides the accident." Izuku felt Endeavor's spirits drop at the mention of it. Strange. But he didn't want to press Enji for answers right there and then in front of his family. Whatever Endeavor's hiding, he's hiding for a reason.
He continued: "And Shoto and Bakugou seem cool so far, so I don't think I'll have trouble making new friends."
Rei warmly smiled. "Good attitude! Meeting new friends can be tough, so I'll have Shoto look out for you on Monday. He can be your own little guardian angel."
"Mom," Shoto protested, reddening at her affectionate nickname. "Izuku can watch out for himself." He quickly turned to Izuku. "I'll still hang out with you, if you're cool with that."
Izuku grinned and nodded. "Thanks!"
Izuku and the Todoroki family chatted more about their respective backgrounds. Izuku explained the ins and outs of American sports, as well as the rules behind quirk dueling. Natsuo talked excitedly about the prestigious college he had been admitted to, while Fuyumi told Izuku about her brand new job in the office of Endeavor's hero agency.
"Rent's expensive," she explained. "So I'm living here. Mom and Dad have more than enough room for me."
Like her daughter, Rei worked as one of Endeavor's assistants, running the PR department of his agency. Endeavor himself had many stories about his more interesting heroic exploits.
As Izuku laughed along with the rest of the table about Endeavor's near-defeat to an indecent exposer, he noticed something.
"Hey, what's taking Bakugou so long?"
Shoto shrugged. "Dunno. It's been twenty minutes…"
"Kacchan?"
"Guys?" Bakugou's voice come from the next room. "You should come and see this!"
Baffled as to what was keeping their friend, Shoto and Izuku stood up and walked their plates over to the living room. Bakugou was staring at a wall-mounted television, jaw agape. Shoto turned to the screen and immediately dropped his plate of sushi. Plastered over the screen was a headline. It read:
BREAKING NEWS: All Might retires after sustaining a life-threatening injury!
Shoto took a breath, ignoring the ceramic fragments scattering over the floor.
"Well, fuck."
-]-[-
"Now, with our Symbol of Peace gone, it's imperative that you strive to try your very best at UA," Endeavor said, pacing in front of the two boys.
Early the next morning, Izuku and Bakugou stood at attention in front of a pacing Endeavor, while Shoto observed from the side. They were on the roof of Endeavor's hero agency, and Endeavor had to shout to make his voice heard over the wind. Each of the boys wore a heavy tracksuit to keep out the cold. Bakugou was slowly rubbing his hands together while Izuku reached out with Empathy.
Bakugou is getting himself pumped up, Endeavor is deeply upset (though he's hiding it), and Shoto is… just Shoto. It was impossible to get an emotional read on the stoical boy.
"Villains will undoubtedly get bolder, which means that heroes will need to step up their game. So before you apply to UA, I will try my hardest to build up each of you and realize your full potential." He was looking straight at Izuku as he said this.
He took a breath before continuing. "Right now I want to see what you can do with your quirks. See that building up there?" He pointed to a seventy-story skyscraper two blocks away. It towered above their heads. "Rei's waiting on the top floor of that tower with two timers. You need to reach her as fast as possible, without entering the building itself."
Izuku looked up at the top of the building, about forty floors above them. Now, how am I going to do that? Its walls were concrete, and thin windowsills jutted out from the sides, too small to hold a person's full weight. Only one of the adjacent buildings came anywhere close to the skyscraper's height, and even that fell short about twenty stories. His superpowered jumps with Reject could only get him so far.
"You may start at any time." Endeavor tapped a button on his phone.
Bakugou grinned. "All right, then. I better not waste any time." He suddenly broke out into a run and swan-dived off the Hero Agency's roof. Izuku would have been concerned for his new freind's well-being if Bakugou hadn't acted with such utter confidence. Izuku heard one of Bakugou's explosions, and then another, softer one from further away.
He must've used small blasts to ease his downward momentum. Bakugou was foul-mouthed and brash, but he sure was good at using his quirk.
Izuku didn't feel as confident as Bakugou seemed to be. How was he even going to get down from the roof, let alone up the side of the skyscraper? Maybe I can use blasts from Reject like Bakugou uses his explosions. But am I strong enough to use that method to climb the skyscraper's walls?
"Young Midoriya, are you feeling stuck?" Endeavor asked. Izuku nodded.
"During your fight with Shoto, I couldn't help but notice that you seemed to pull yourself when you used your attraction power."
Izuku nodded again. "It happens when I pull on heavier objects. Both Attraction and Reject have an opposite reaction on my own body. It's why I can't push or pull apart huge objects without hurting myself."
At this, Endeavor stroked his chin, as if deep in thought. "I wonder: if you tried to use Attract on an extremely large object, like that building, for instance," he pointed at the skyscraper, "would you be able to grapple your body to it and prevent it from falling?"
Izuku tilted his head, pondering the question. "I don't know." In all honesty, he hadn't really thought about using his abilities in any setting besides Quirk Dueling. After all, there was no real need to think about it if he wasn't going to use any of his quirks (besides maybe Empathy) in the real world.
"Well," Endeavor smiled. "You won't know until you try."
Izuku shivered at this remark. Endeavor was right, he wouldn't know until he tried, but the man seemed to know more about Izuku's powers than Izuku himself did.
Pushing aside these unrelated thoughts, Izuku walked to the edge of the building and powered up Attraction. This time, instead of focusing on a small object, he concentrated his power on the entire hero agency building. Here goes nothing, he thought, before he jumped off the roof.
Right after he jumped, Izuku's body smashed into the side of the building, smooshed against the glass of the uppermost floor. Too much power, he thought, before loosening his grip on the wall. His body lurched. Now, he was sliding down the glass as fast as a falling body. Shit! Not enough power, now. He adjusted his quirk output once more, and found himself loosely hanging onto the building.
This is good, Izuku thought, before bouncing off the side and lowering himself some more, as if he were a climber, rappelling down a slope. In doing this, Izuku was supporting the mass equivalent of his own body, which would have been more difficult if he didn't possess the strength of a star high-school football player.
Repeating the bouncing maneuver a few more times, Izuku rappelled down the side of the building and landed softly on the street. Izuku turned away from the hero agency and looked up. Now, from the ground, the target skyscraper looked even more menacing.
Now what? Izuku thought, scanning his area.
-]-[-
Ten minutes later, Izuku stood on the roof of the smaller, fifty-story skyscraper. It was the one adjacent to his target.
That's fifty floors, he thought. Twenty more to go.
As he stood on the ground, Izuku had made the decision to climb to the top of the shorter building before trying to surmount the larger one. He had managed to sprint through the lobby with only a "Hey!" from a lounging security guard. Halfway up, he saw Bakugou's lean body through a window, hanging for his dear life. I'd help if I could get to him.
Now, fifty stories up, Izuku prepared Attraction as he looked at the opposite building.
"Here goes," he mumbled, before leaping off a building for the second time that day. He flew face first into a conference room window. As ten surprised eyes looked towards him, Izuku turned bright red.
"SORRY FOR DISTURB-" he yelled, before he realized that had become distracted and was now falling for the ground. I feel stupid now…
Izuku powered up Attraction and slammed into another window, doing nothing to stop his fall. He was pulling himself with too much force and not enough control. Mid-fall, Izuku took a deep breath before applying a reasonable amount of force. He fell towards the side of the building, but instead of bouncing off, he slid along the wall and slowed his fall.
When he finally jolted to a stop, he had to take a minute to calm himself. He had just fallen thirty stories, and what's more— he survived! Is Endeavor trying to get us killed!?
"H- hey, Deku," came a voice. Bakugou was hanging onto the wall right underneath him, his knuckles white from clutching onto a windowsill. The boy had made no vertical progress since Izuku saw him five minutes ago, and his arms were shaking like crazy. "I'm getting tired."
At that, Bakugou let go of the windowsill and started to fall.
"Kacchan!" Izuku shouted, grabbing the boy with Attraction. No longer holding himself up, Izuku fell too, saved only by grabbing onto Bakugou's windowsill. Clutching for his dear life, Izuku made sure Bakugou was lowered safely to the ground before rappelling down.
He was greeted at the bottom by a dazed blond.
"This is impossible," Bakugou groaned. "Is Endeavor trying to get us killed?"
"My thoughts exactly," said Izuku staring up the insurmountable wall, than back at his companion.
"But now you're here, and I have an idea." He outlined his new plan to Bakugou, who nodded thoughtfully.
"That could work..." the blond said, doubtful, thinking of ways to improve on it.
"Do you have any better ideas?" Izuku asked.
"No." Bakugou deflated.
"Then let's do it!"
The two ran into the fifty-story building, and the lobby's security guard once again yelled out "Hey!" as they rushed by. Once in the staircase, they took the steps up two-at-a-time until they reached the roof access.
"Okay, Bakugou. Are you ready to make the most powerful blast you can?"
"Yeah, after that climb, I'm sweating up a storm. Though I was thinking, it might work better if I do this alone…"
"No," Izuku blurted. "We can only do this by working together. By yourself, you'd risk missing the roof and falling to your death. Together, we can give each other the boost we need."
"Fine," Bakugou grumbled. "But if this fails…"
"It shouldn't fail," Izuku promised. "Not if we do it right." They stepped to the edge of the roof and looked up at their target. "Whenever you're ready..."
When Bakugou nodded, Izuku fired a small blast of Reject from his feet. He sprung eight feet into the air, and Bakugou prepared a blast of his own. He put his palms to the sky and willed them to fire off the strongest explosion they could muster. The brunt of the shockwave hit Izuku square-on, and the boy was pushed much further into the air.
Don't screw up, Deku! Bakugou willed.
Midair, Izuku turned to the fast-approaching roof of the seventy-story building and powered up Attraction. The attractive force pulled Izuku closer and closer to the wall. He had flown up about two-hundred feet, but there was still about fifty feet to go. I'm not going to make it, Izuku thought. Not like this…
Unwilling to give up, he fired another, stronger blast of Reject to propel himself higher. The shock resonated through his body, but he ignored the pain. Izuku's nerves were full of pure adrenaline. When he reached the top of the building, he powered Attraction even further and shot towards the center of the roof, rolling to catch his fall.
I made it! He stood up to massage his muscles, which felt sore in every single part of his body. Reject has taken its toll. If only I could handle more weight… He softly mumbled aloud, preparing an exercise regimen. Endeavor probably has something planned for us three. Then he remembered something:
That's right! Bakugou!
Izuku ran back to the edge of the building and looked over the side, where Bakugou seemed to be a speck on the roof of the shorter building. Izuku waved, and Bakugou sent himself flying upwards with another explosive blast. Izuku pulled Bakugou closer with Attraction, at the same using the quirk to anchor himself to the building. Aided by Izuku's pull and blasts from his own hands, Bakugou landed safely on the roof next to Izuku.
"Well done," Izuku congratulated his friend.
"Too… close!" gasped Bakugou. Before he could lecture his green-haired friend any further, a door opened behind them, revealing Shoto, Enji, and Rei. Shoto quietly nodded to his companions as Rei held up two stopwatches.
"Good work, boys! Izuku made the climb in thirty-five minutes and three seconds, while Bakugou clocked in at thirty-six minutes on the dot."
"Yes," Endeavor began. "Together, by using your quirks in tandem, you each performed better than you possibly could have alone. Well done." Izuku beamed at the praise, but Bakugou wasn't having it.
"Hold up," he cut in. "Are you crazy? What the f- I mean, what was up with that? Your exercise could have gotten us killed! It almost did, too…"
Endeavor ignored him and continued: "However, you were still far too slow. If there were a villain holding a civilian hostage on the roof, do you think he'd wait thirty-six minutes for something to happen? I think not. You took far too long to come up with your plan, and, towards the beginning, you showed improficient uses of your quirks."
Endeavor was, of course, referring to Izuku's and Bakugou's fall on their first attempt to climb the tower. Izuku, at least, understood this. But Bakugou opened his mouth in protest once again.
"...And to answer your question, young Bakugou, I would have caught you if you fell," he said simply.
"...Oh."
Endeavor loosened up, looking over the three boys. "You were slow, sure, but I still have ten months to whip you boys into hero shape!"
He took another breath, and then broke into a wide, psychotic grin. "And so begins your ten months of training HELL!"
-]-[-
"Training hell?" asked Ochako to All Might. He was standing in front of the girl in his normal, non-heroic form. "I thought I already inherited your super-strength!"
All Might shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "It doesn't exactly work like that." He changed the subject. "Do you feel something new within you? Do you feel my power?"
Ochako concentrated for a moment. "Yeah, it's there. It feels so… powerful!"
"So leave that power alone, for the time being." All Might had no idea what would happen if she activated One for All here and now. This was all new territory for him. "You see, my quirk has been cultivated by many generations of heroes, and each new One for All user adds their strength to that of the previous owner. As you are now, you'll be ripped apart if you tap into that strength."
Ochako took this all in while All Might continued: "And that's why you must undergo 'training hell' to whip your body into a suitable vessel for One for All's power-"
"-Um, pardon me, Mr. Might," Ochako began, "but I have a question: if each One for All user adds their strength to the pool, why did you pass on your power before, and not after, my training?"
"Ah…" All Might answered, before lifting up his shirt to reveal a nasty scar on his left side. Ochako gasped. "You see, I got this cut in a fight against a villain about six years ago, and my power's been weakening ever since. When the building collapsed, I was running on fumes. I was afraid I'd used every last bit of One for All, and that I'd lose it for good. My only option was to pass it on to you."
All Might quickly added: "Don't take being my 'only option' in a bad way, though. I was lucky to have found you. You're selfless and compassionate, and, given time, you'll become a suitable vessel."
"Yeah…" Ochako wasn't sure about being a 'suitable vessel.' It sounded like All Might had no choice but to pass it on, and that she just happened to be in the right place at the right time. There has to be someone more-suited than me for the job. A lot of people, actually. Ochako bit back tears. It's my fault he was in this situation in the first place! If I had stuck with him for just a bit longer…
For reasons unknown to Ochako, they were standing on "Dagobah Municipal Beach." But, unlike most beaches, it was full of heaping piles of garbage. The whole place stank of rotting food and rotten seaweed.
"Anyway," All Might continued. "Because you inherited your new quirk prematurely, and because women's' bodies are not as naturally muscular as men's, your new quirk won't manifest itself as well as it did in me. But you'll still be a force to be reckoned with, especially with that gravity quirk of yours. What does it do again?"
"It's called Zero Gravity, and I can make objects float by touching them with five fingers at once." She removed a glove from her hand and placed it on a washing machine, which started to float in the air. "See?"
"Hmm." As Ochako restored the washing machine to its original weight, All Might pondered over ways she could use her quirk in tandem with One for All. There were so many possibilities… But she would have to get stronger first. "For now, keep your gloves on, because you won't be using your quirk for the next couple of months."
"What? Why's that?"
"Because you're going to strengthen your body by cleaning up this beach, and it would be cheating if you could just make everything weightless, right?"
Ochako heart fell as she looked around the utterly trashed beach. "I'm cleaning… all of this?"
"Yep," All Might said as he shifted into his hero form. "You have ten months! I SUGGEST YOU START NOW!"
-]-[-
"Guh," gasped Bakugou as he crashed into his seat at the dinner table.
"Ungh," agreed Izuku, crashing down next to him. "Long… day."
Shoto grimaced as he sipped from a water bottle. "That's day one… out of about eighty…"
Their regimen devoted Saturdays and Sundays to intense physical training, while the weekdays were to be spent on academics, as well as normal, non-soul-crushing exercise. After Izuku and Bakugou completed the skyscraper challenge, Endeavor had allowed Shoto to participate, stating: "he's learned his lesson." Shoto was relieved to join his friends, up until he saw what they were doing for the next five hours: intense physical training.
They started off with a twenty-kilometer jog around the city, which got progressively more difficult as the day got hotter. Halfway through, Izuku felt dead, and Bakugou was sweating so much his clothing started to light on fire. Shoto seemed to be taking the run fairly easy.
"Must be nice... *GASP* ...having the ability... *GASP* ...to control body temperature like that..." Izuku muttered. "His quirk is flashy... *GASP*... but it has a lot of hidden uses as well."
Then, after the run and a break for lunch, they moved on to plyometric exercises like planks, squats and push-ups, which they all struggled through. As a middle-school athlete, Izuku had a stronger-than-average body, but he was already exhausted from climbing the building and running around what felt like half of Honshu. Even Shoto was trembling from head to foot by the time they were done.
After another break, the trio suffered through a different kind of pain when Endeavor took them through a series of stretches. Then, they went into the Endeavor hero agency's weight room to lift heavy weights.
"You need to be flexible enough and strong enough to deal with the physical recoil from your powerful quirks," Endeavor explained. "That's why we're doing this."
At three o'clock, the physical training ended, and the kids were pitted against each other in sparring matches, similar to Izuku's quirk duels. Izuku and Bakugou, however, were so physically exhausted that they fell over after the slightest use of their quirks.
Hmm, Endeavor thought as Shoto yet again froze Bakugou in a solid sheet of ice. The dueling will get more interesting when the boys' bodies get strong enough to handle training. For now, though, let's see them try to fight under physical duress…
After the dueling period was over, the boys wordlessly scarfed down dinner before slumping over the couches in the one of the hero agency's many lounges.
"I have no idea how I'm going to pull this off for ten months," Bakugou groaned, before sitting up. "And if I can't, that means you guys won't make it either."
Neither of the others were in any shape to argue back, so they all just sat in silence for a minute. Bakugou massaged his aching muscles, and Shoto sat still with a blank, detached look on his face.
"So, guys." Izuku began. Nobody moved. "I was thinking about what Endeavor said to us earlier. On the roof of the skyscraper… he said something like: 'together you performed better than you possibly could have performed alone.'"
"Yeah," Bakugou grunted. "So?" But Shoto sat up a little, now focusing on the conversation.
"So… I was thinking: let's make a promise to give each other a boost when we need it. Let's say one of us gets injured mid-exercise. Or let's say one of us faces an obstacle that he cannot face alone. Things will be easier if we can depend on each other for backup, right?"
"A promise?" scoffed Bakugou. "Sounds a little cheesy to me…"
"No." Shoto sat up in his chair. "I think it's a good idea. 'Teamwork' sounds like something my dad would appreciate."
Izuku smiled. "So, let's do it, then! If either of you ever need it, I promise to help!"
"And I, too," Todoroki said. They both looked at Bakugou, expectantly.
He rolled his eyes. "The whole 'promise' thing is weird, but no way I'm accepting your help without pledging something in return." He sat up in his chair. "I'm in. I promise to help, if you need it, yadda yadda."
And like that, a new fighting force was born, as a whole far greater than the sum of its parts.
-]-[-
That's Chapter 4! Thus starts training...
Again, thanks for all the support! I appreciate all of the attention this has been getting, as well as the feedback from reviews.
The main complaint I've been getting is that the characters are either out of character or too developed at this point in the story. I promise, even though I'm changing them up a bit, I'm working hard to stay true to each of the character's core personalities.
Chapter 5 will be out soon, but I'm not sure whether I'm going to skip to the beginning of the entrance exam or make it a filler chapter of the trio interacting with one another. It will be a choice between 'action' and 'interaction'.
Either way it goes, it will be sure to be entertaining, so keep an eye out!