Okay so first off i feel like owe a small apology for this chapter taking too long. Truth be told is that there are some chapters you know exactly what you want to write for them and then there are others where you're just trying to figure out how to get through to transition to the next event. This is one of the latter. But it's here now...please read and enjoy and if it's too disjointed you can tell me...wouldn't be the first time i've actually rewritten an entire chapter because it was off.

"You're joking right." Izuku said in surprise as he turned to Sayo. "Please tell me he's joking." He asked his partner. The two sat in Marcus's office within Hudie, opposite to the old man.

"Are you joking?" Sayo asked Marcus.

"I'm afraid not." Marcus explained.

"But seriously: the Yakuza of all people." Izuku said in disbelief.

"If you think the world is black and white then you would be colour blind, Izuku." Marcus said dismissively. "You find that sometimes it's better to work with people that have different goals than you, but they have character and are very trustworthy, than to work with people who have the same goals but their reasons and motivations are in the wrong place." Marcus said.

"And the Yakuza are people with good character?" Izuku said sarcastically.

"The character of a group changes depending on who is leading it. Their previous leader was an honorable man, his successor...not so much." Marcus said. "He refuses to honor any of our previous dealings or the code and tradition of his predecessor."

"So what do we do now?" Sayo asked.

"For now I want you both to lay low. The Yakuza are organized criminals; they aren't common thugs like the ones you see on the streets every day. They're smart. They know we can't go to the police because of our ties to them." Marcus told them. "If push comes to shove they might be willing to target Hudie's employees to try and intimidate us. Luckily for us, I hire mostly digimon who can disguise themselves as humans to run the cafe so we don't have to worry about that...however." Marcus said as he looked at Izuku.

"Oh no." Izuku realized.

"Izuku's the only person with any actual life outside of Hudie, at least in the real world." Sayo summarized.

"Exactly." Marcus said. "In other words he's the biggest target they have for us."

"Wait so now I've got to watch my back in case the Yakuza tries to attack me." Izuku said in disbelief.

"Not just your back, but also Inko's." Marcus added.

"What...you never said anything about my mother getting involved with this." Izuku gasped.

"I thought you already knew about those consequences." Marcus told him. "If you became a hero, villains would try and target you and your loved ones. Not just the villains you fought but also those close to them. It's part of the reason why the heroes of old had secret identities or did you think a conflicted just ended because you beat the bad guy." Marcus deadpanned.

"I-I..."

"You only ever wanted to save people. That was your idea if being a hero and while it's good there are other factors you have to consider. If you throw a criminal into prison, any close relatives or associates of that criminal will want revenge. The person who they will most likely seek revenge on is often the person who put said criminal in jail in the first place. The more criminals you put behind bars, the more enemies you'll make." Marcus told him. "This society often pushes heroism as being such a grand and glorious thing with all the popularity and spectacle. They treat it as a larger than life experience but in reality a pro hero is nothing more than a glorified cop in some cases, a doctor or a firefighter in others. The only difference between a pro hero and a cop is that one uses quirks and the other doesn't, but both will still be targeted by criminals regardless." Marcus told him. "Although heroes have it worse since they are public figures with their names plastered all over the place, I can list off five heroes who work in New York off the top of my head but ask me the name of the cops and I'll only be able to give you the names of the ones in Mustafa. Point is the cops have less people gunning for them."

"So what are we gonna do about my Mom?" Izuku asked.

"Excellent question." Marcus told him. "I've actually got a great idea for that one."

Inko stared at her son and then glanced to the blue dog standing next to him. "So let me get this straight." She told him. "Marcus needs you to dog sit this Akita Inu." She repeated.

"Ye-yes." Izuku said. "His friend Thomas past away and left Gao here in his care." Izuku explained. Marcus is unfortunately allergic to dogs, so he wants me to watch him while he tracks down any of Thomas's family members." Izuku explained.

"If they were such good friends, how did Thomas forget Marcus was allergic to dogs?" Inko asked.

"Old age." Izuku muttered. Inko could have sworn the dog was glaring at her son when he said that.

"Is he trained?" Inko asked.

"Yeah." Izuku answered. "Watch this." He told her.

"Sit" Gao sat on the floor.

"Roll over." Gao started to roll around.

"Stand." Gao stood up on his hind legs.

"Shake." The dog extended his paw and Izuku shook it.

"Moonwalk." The dog while on its hind legs, spun around before moonwalking much to Inko's shock.

"Okay that was amazing." Inko said.

"So can he stay?" Izuku asked his mom nervously.

"Alright fine he can stay. So long as you make sure he doesn't cause any trouble." She warned him.

"Yahoo." Izuku cheered.

"Alright now you both go and get cleaned up and I'll make dinner." Inko told them as she left. Once Inko was out of hearing range, Gao stood up and kicked Izuku in the shin.

"Ow….What was that for?" Izuku asked.

"That was for implying Thomas got forgetful in old age." Gaomon told him.

"I'm sorry." Izuku apologized.

"Don't let it happen again." Gaomon threatened. "Marcus may have put me here to watch over your mom, but I won't take any disrespect to Thomas."

"It won't, I promise." Izuku told the dog digimon. Despite the pain in his shins, Izuku was grateful for him being here. Marcus had assigned him to watch over the Midoriya household as Gaomon was one Marcus's most trusted partners; a very fast and very strong fighter. It also helped that apart from the blue fur, Gaomon actually looked like a giant dog as opposed to some of the other unique looking digimon making it easy for him to hide in plain sight.

"Good now let's go get cleaned up. Madame Midoriya is expecting us to be ready for dinner soon." Gaomon said.

"I really hope Marcus deals with the Yakuza soon." Izuku muttered. It wasn't that he didn't like Gaomon, but he really hoped that there wouldn't be a situation where his mother would need Gaomon protecting her. It really never did occur to him that his hero fantasy might actually be putting her at risk. He was fine with risking himself but his mother…yeah he wasn't going to risk her. Thinking back Izuku remembered how All Might had both his hero form and that skinny form. "Maybe he did have another reason other than just making his image as the symbol of peace seem unwavering."

"So this is the Shie Hassaikai." Wormmon said watched the yakuza base. "It looks pretty big…and a little scary." The worm digimon said.

"Scarier than the nightmare soldiers or Marcus?" Erika said with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay maybe not that scary." He answered. "So what's the plan, we going in guns blazing. I can do for some digivolving…and not just because would feel safer evolved." He told her.

"Not yet…we need to do some reconnaissance first." Erika told him. "It's far easier if we split up and search the base." Erika said.

"Ah yes…..splitting up…. What could possibly go wrong?" Wormon said sarcastically. Erika merely rolled her eyes at her partner's cowardice…somethings never change. The girl loaded her partner into her digivice before she walked up to the base. As one would expect, the Yakuza's had a security system to help them monitor for any intruders. Unfortunately for them said security system would ultimately be what Erika used to infiltrate the base. While she stayed in the blind spot of one of the cameras, Erika stretched out her hand towards said camera, before her entire body turned into a mass of blue pixels before entering into the camera. Once inside the camera system she put the camera feed on loop. This was to make sure no one would notice her. She then exited the system through another camera, this time one inside the base in as seemingly empty room.

"Alright let's start digging." Erika said to Wormmon. Her partner despite his initial fearfulness jumped up to a vent and pried it open. The bug digimon then easily entered the vent system before he started making his way around the facilty. "Stay out of trouble." Erika warned him.

"I always try not to." He answered. Once she was sure Wormmon was safely in the vents, Erika opened up a small holographic map of the building. While she did loop the video feed for the security system, she also rerouted the live feed to her digivice so now she could view the Yakuza's moments with ease.

"Alright let's see what you have here." Erika told herself as she walked out of the room. What she didn't notice was that a girl with white hair and red eyes had been hiding in the corner of the room the entire time and saw the whole thing.

Dinner had gone surprisingly well at the Midoriya household. While they didn't have dog food, Gaomon was than happy to eat what extra food Inko had put out for him. Considering how he knew his partners ate, Izuku assumed Gaomon was used to eating human food or at least food resembling human food. The startled expression on his face when Inko said she'd be buying dog food for him tomorrow was hilarious. Izuku also told his mother about the U.A. sports festival.

"Really there having it already?" Inko asked. "I thought they would have put it off because of the villain attack."

"A lot of us thought the same, but it's more to show we aren't affected by it." Izuku answered. "Their beefing up security a lot so we shouldn't have anything to worry about." He reassured.

"Wow. My son is gonna be on the big screen." Inko cheered. "I'm gonna need to request a day off on that day so I can watch the whole thing live." Inko stated.

"Yeah that's great mom." Izuku said quietly.

"Izuku is something wrong?" Inko asked, picking up on her son's nervousness.

"Well the sports festival is mainly to show off how capable the students of U.A. are….I'm just worried I won't stand out enough against all the other kids." Izuku muttered. "What if I don't do as well as they do and no one wants to recruit me for an internship because I don't have a quirk?"

"As a mother the only thing I can really tell you sweetie is to have fun and do your best." Inko told Izuku.

"Have fun?" Izuku asked.

"If you get too serious, if you start thinking the only thing that matters is winning or competing against others then you'll lose the actual ability to enjoy yourself." Inko told him. "You may also over think things and freeze up." She told him. "Just relax, have fun and do your best." Inko told him.

"I'll try mom…thanks." Izuku said as they continued to eat there dinner. Gaomon who had been eating his food from a plate on the floor, looked up at them with a smile, enjoying the interactions between the mother and son.

When dinner was over, Inko had decided to wash up the dishes while Izuku went into his room to do whatever homework he had, with Gaomon accompanying him. Izuku had already gotten his school material out and was at his desk while the digimon sat on his bed.

"You know your mom's not wrong." Gaomon told him as he sat on the bed. Izuku looked up from his school work at the blue digital dog. "If you get too nervous, you'll be more than likely to make mistakes." The beast digimon said.

"Yeah…but this is U.A. and my career as a pro hero…if I don't do well in the sports festival how am I supposed to be recognized by other pro heroes for my internships?" Izuku asked the dog.

"Are you sure those things mutually inclusive?" Gaomon answered his question with a question. "You can become a hero regardless of how you do in the sports festival, the only impact the sports festival has is that you get an internship."

"So are you telling me I shouldn't take it seriously?" Izuku asked.

"I'm saying that you shouldn't treat it like it's the end of the world." Gaomon said. "Yes you should still train, yes you should still try and do your best and aim for the top; but don't let the fear of failing or the fear of not standing out cloud your mind." Gaomon told him. "You don't need to do cartwheels or somersaults, just make it to the end."

"Okay…I'll try." Izuku told the dog.

"That's the spirit and if you want a training buddy, I'll be more than happy to help." Gaomon said.

So not much happened here, while i know i still have a ton of chapters before the sports festival there is still a lot of hype and tension surrounding it so it will be brought up a little.

So this is more of my own personal opinion, but in mha while they do talk about heroism a lot, they also talk about doing your best more often than that and for me it some times feels like one undermines the other. I'm not saying anything is wrong with them aspiring to be the best but when you look back at some of it (at least for me) most heroes don't try to be the best they just try to do what's best. If that makes sense.

For the sports festival itself, my version of it, i have several ideas for what it can be at least thematically.

Of those themes ( the best i can describe them) are:

fun vs seriousness

appearances vs reality

teamwork vs individual work

pride vs humility

fighting for one's self vs fighting for others.

Legacy

Talent vs Hardwork

i don't if i will actually go through with all this but I have this planned out...mostly.

Well that's all for now.

Question time: what questions do you have for me concerning this story...I have a Q&A plan for a later chapter so i wanted to start getting the questions now from you wonderful people. Questions could be for the story but you can also asked some semi personal ones like on likes or dislikes for mha, digimon or some other fandoms.

As always thanks for reading, fav, follow and review and I'll see you next time