-Imperial Japanese Rescript to Soldiers
A year ago, Bakugo would not have given a shit if one of his classmates had died, save perhaps for one of his friends. Well, cronies. He might have felt a little uncomfortable, but well, if you got your ass killed, you were weak right? Six months ago, if one of his classmates had been killed, it would have affected Bakugo, but he would have tried not to show it so that he didn't appear weak.
That was before, the old Bakugo. The new one wasn't shy about shedding a few tears, or even a lot of them. He was stronger now. Better. He had to be. People were counting on him now.
"Koda was a good friend," Bakugo said, peering into the depths of his beer bottle, sniffing and wiping at his face with the back of his hand. "Out of everybody...he didn't act like I had just stepped in dog shit when he saw me at school, or in class, after the Sports Festival. I knew I scared the piss out of him, that he didn't like me. But...he tried to be nice. He never said anything, hell, he never said much at all, but...he was kind. I'll miss you, Whisper."
Bakugo poured a little of the alcohol out on the unlit pyre, then went back to sit down by Uraraka, resting his head in his hands and giving in to the pain as he gritted his teeth. He ended up sobbing into Uraraka's shoulder as much as she did his, especially when Todoroki finally used his flames to consume the body of his friend. Koda's parents were there, crying, holding each other and Koda's little sister as their son's body was consumed by fire.
Bakugo had been to too many funerals lately.
Which was why it was hard, when that night, when he lay exhausted in Uraraka's arms, that a dead man spoke to him.
"Young Bakugo. Already, you show great potential as the tenth bearer."
Bakugo opened his eyes, finding himself floating amidst a field of stars. Before him stood All Might, his greatest idol and hero. Dead, these past weeks. But somehow, very much alive.
"Alright, so, what? You and the other Ghosts of Christmas past gonna show up and try to get me to change my ways or some shit?" Bakugo demanded, slouching and sticking his hands in his pockets. That was odd, because his body certainly wasn't wearing any clothes, but here he was dressed in his UA school uniform. When was the last time he'd even worn that? Well before All Might's funeral, that was certain.
"Oh, so he's read Dickens, but the kid don't have a clue who Dante is?" another voice said, as Banjo, the Fifth Bearer, appeared out of the void. "I swear Yagi, yer a disappointment as a teacher."
"You shut the hell up. All Might was a great teacher. He's the one who first showed me what it was to be a hero," Bakugo snarled, withdrawing a hand from his pocket to poke Banjo in the chest. It was an odd sensation, as Banjo was slightly see-through, and glowed, since he was a ghost, and poking him felt...wrong, somehow.
"Perhaps. But I failed young Koda, it seemed," All Might said, his body briefly flickering from that of a muscled adonis, to that of a wasted skeleton.
"The hell you did. He died on his feet," Bakugo said, turning to stick a finger under All Might's nose. "He died a hero. I mean shit, it's sad he died, tears me up. But dammit, he wanted to be there. We all did. We knew what could happen. I thought I was done for out there too. Which, I mean, that's why I'm here now. What do we do, about, you know. This."
"About you being the Tenth Bearer of One For All?" Banjo asked, folding his arms over his chest and grinning. "Well, for one thing, we train you, kid. Apparently, you ain't as thick as muscle brain here, or Togata. Now now, before you get all riled up, they did good. Hell, All Might was the first of us to ever actually beat All For One in a fight, and all he could do was hit things real good. And Togata put that bastard in a coffin. Can't ask for more than that. But the fight ain't over. Not by an centimeter or a parsec."
"I get that," Bakugo said, looking down at his hand. "But how the hell am I supposed to do all this? I mean, shit, the last time I tried, I broke my damn arm and about bought the farm just using it. And why didn't you tell all this to Togeta? He was better at this shit than I am."
"Actually, that kid was as bad at this shit as Yagi was," Banjo said, jerking a thumb at All Might. When Bakugo glared at him, Banjo raised his hands. "Alright, alright, as bad as every one of us bearers were. Shit, we didn't know what we had on our hands. But things have changed. And you're, well, you're different."
"You recall I called you an empty vessel, Bakugo?" All Might asked. "That's why you are different. Each of us had an agenda, a reason for wanting One For All. And so, it gave us what we sought, and we looked no further than that."
"Plus, you know, quirk gets stronger with each bearer. Hell, we weren't even all that awake until Yagi took over, but he never bothered to learn all that much about his quirk. Nana died before she could explain shit to him, which is sort of a runnin' them with us bearers."
"I was, perhaps, too adept at using the base power set of One For All," All Might admitted. "It granted me near limitless strength, stamina, and durability, so I did not seek its deeper secrets."
"Well why the hell am I different? What's this shit about being an empty vessel?" Bakugo demanded, looking back and forth between the two older men.
Banjo shrugged. "You ain't got a plan beyond keeping your girl safe. You don't care about power. Hell, you didn't even want it. You weren't telling the quirk what it could do for ya. So you listened. You were the first one. And it's gonna save your ass."
"Become the bearer we were always meant to be, Bakugo. Do not just carry One For All. Become it," All Might said, putting a hand on Bakugo's shoulder.
He formed a fist. "Alright, I agree to be your One for All or whatever. Mostly 'cause no one else seems to want the job. And I can guess what this shit entails. I get to take down Shigaraki. And make sure that All For One is dead, for good this time."
"Yes," All Might agreed soberly. "That is the essence of what you must do. I will not lie to you, Bakugo: None, save myself and Togata, have put down this burden, short of death itself. I passed it on only once it was clear to me I could no longer serve as a worthy bearer."
"And I passed mine on about eight seconds before I started pushin' up daisies," Banjo said with a shrug. "Other's 'll tell you basically the same shit. Right now, it's just me and knucklehead. 'Cause him you knew in life, and me, well, let's just say you ain't the first delinquent piece of garbage to get saddled with this job."
"Yeah, let's not have a dick measuring contest on who's the bigger asshole. I'm not up for that kind of stupid right now," Bakugo declared, jamming his hands back in his pockets. "So, what. You teach me how to hit stuff real good, All Might, and Country Fried here teaches me how to make Uraraka squeal?"
That made All Might blush, and Banjo laugh so hard he doubled over, slapping his knees. "This kid! I like 'em, Yagi! Shit, that's the same thing I used to do with my lady! Oh, have I got some stuff to show you, kid!"
Then Banjo straightened, adjusting his jacket and growing serious. "Look, this ain't fun and games. I won't bore you, but you know what you're signing up for. We ain't got time to goof around. So yeah. I'm gonna show you how to use the Black Whip. How to use it to move. How to use it to kill. Cause son, you're gonna have to snap some necks in the near future, unless I very much misread what the hell's goin' on out there."
"I never liked to kill," All Might sighed, looking down at his large open hands. He tightened them into fists, his expression growing grim. "But you...you face a challenge just as I did in my early days. Worse, perhaps, than any of us have before. The bearer of All For One rules Japan openly."
"Yeah. He killed more today. Didn't watch it, but there were a lot of executions on TV after we busted out our teachers. He's pissed. And that son of a bitch just wants to watch the world burn," Bakugo stated.
"Yeah, this is gonna end one of two ways," Banjo agreed. "One of you is gonna be worm food. Or hell. Maybe both."
"If you think I'm gonna sacrifice myself just so I can hang out with you assholes for the rest of eternity, think again," Bakugo snapped. "I'm taking down Chapstick, and then I'm gonna be a hero for decades. One that makes even All Might look bad."
"That's the spirit!" All Might agreed. "Now, to your training. You have seen the power, what it can do. Now, you must learn to control it. It was years before I ever dared unleash all of One For All at once, and it has grown stronger since I passed it on. Togata was a powerful bearer, despite his misgivings about himself. You must learn to control that power. We shall show you how."
Bakugo woke the next morning, sweating and exhausted, feeling as though he had gotten little to no sleep that night. Which, to be fair, he sort of hadn't.
"Hey, you're awake," Uraraka said, turning around from getting dressed. "You were out cold last night. Everything OK?"
"No, everything's gone to hell," Bakugo groaned, sitting up and rubbing his face with his hands. "But I saw All Might again."
"Oh?" Uraraka came over, sitting with Bakugo, looking worried. "Are you..?"
"I'm not going crazy," Bakugo stated. He held up his hand, and a dark whip appeared, coiling and uncoiling. He held up the other arm, and another appeared, and Bakugo flexed it back and forth experimentally.
"That's...incredible," Uraraka whispered, tentatively touching one of the tendrils. She jerked her hand back, then touched it again, rubbing it between her fingers. "It feels weird. Like...solid smoke."
"Yeah. I learned how to kill a man with one of these last night," Bakugo said quietly, making the tendrils vanish with a thought. He looked down at his hands, frowning. "It just...I don't know. It doesn't quite feel...right. Not yet. Like, I dunno. I'm borrowing this shit. It's not mine yet."
Uraraka put her arms around Bakugo's shoulders, drawing him close to her. "But it will be. Don't be afraid of this power, Katsuki. I've seen you when you're strong, and when you're weak. You won't let this rule you. You can control it, use it."
"I'm going to have to," Bakugo said grimly. "It's the only damn way we're gonna live. He's gonna come for us, you know."
"Yeah," Uraraka agreed quietly. Her grip on Bakugo's shoulders tightened. "We can't let him have any more of our friends, Katsuki. First Iida, now Koda...it has to stop."
Bakugo nodded, his own grip going tight. "I swear. Not another one, Uraraka. Not when I can stop it." He suddenly jerked back, when Uraraka let out a startled gasp. To his surprise, Bakugo found he'd wrapped her in the Black Whip.
"Shit, sorry," Bakugo cried, hurriedly retracting them. "Sorry. Still getting used to them.
Uraraka fussed at her hair, looking rather flustered. "Um, well, those do seem to have a mind of their own. And that was, um, different." She glanced at the clock. "It's still early. Maybe, um, you should get in some practice."
Some time later, they both emerged, somewhat breathless and excited. They ate together in the cafeteria, then reported to Izuku's office.
"Knock, knock, nerd," Bakugo said, rapping on the door frame as he poked his head into Izuku's office. His quiet friend was hunched over a desk, going over reports, his fingers curled in his hair as he muttered to himself. Same old Midoriya. Still a nerd.
"Huh? Oh, good morning, come in," Izuku said, waving them both inside. "I wanted to speak to you, actually, Katsuki. Tell me, just how much control do you have over this new quirk, and the rest of One For All? I need you to accurately describe just what you're capable of, so I can factor that into our next plans. We need to figure out how to strike at the PLF again, or lure them into a fight we know we can win. We're still outnumbered a hundred to one, so every little bit counts."
"He's, um, getting quite dexterous with the Black Whip," Uraraka stated seriously, only blushing a little as she did so.
"I honestly don't know too much. I can use it to lift at least my own weight, probably a lot more. I'm gonna need to test things out," Bakugo said with a shrug. "As for the rest of it, so far, I can hit shit real hard. But I sort of break my arm after I do it, so maybe don't plan on me doing that too often."
"That's not a lot of data to go on," Izuku sighed, quickly jotting down a few notes on a tablet. "Hmm. Can you test it out a bit today? I can shift you off the patrol schedule. I was going to do that anyway, you both fought hard yesterday, you need a break."
"We can, but you should get some rest too, Izuku. You're getting dark circles under your eyes," Uraraka pointed out.
Izuku blushed, looking away. "I, um, had a bit of a hangover. I maybe had too many drinks."
That make Bakugo laugh. "You had what, two, beers?"
"Three," Izuku muttered, tapping his fingers together in embarrassment.
"You're a freakin' lightweight, you know that? She had five, and she was fine and dandy this morning," Bakugo laughed. "Fine, whatever. Here, have a grunt candy." Bakugo took one of the large ibuprofen out of his utility belt, setting it on Izuku's desk. "We'll go test this shit out, get you your damn numbers. Just figure out how we're gonna beat the bastards, alright nerd?"
"I hope I can," Izuku said quietly. "I almost want to strike now, but...we've got too many injured, and everyone's exhausted. Even with All For One out of the picture, Shigaraki seems to be totally recovered already, and they still have thousands of troops, many with powerful quirks. An all out assault would just get more of us killed."
"I'll fix that," Bakugo vowed. "I'll get stronger than even All Might. We'll win this, Izuku. Just wait and see."
With that, he and Uraraka headed outside to the forest. There were plenty of former police on guard duty, armed with their guns, and their quirks. The former prohibition against the officers using their quirks seemed to have been lifted, though since this was now a war, that only made sense to Bakugo. He'd always thought it was dumb anyway.
Outside, the snow was finally gone in the March sun, even up here in the mountains. A storm could blow through and dump more, but for now the trees were budding and the rivers and streams were swollen with runoff. If things hadn't been so bad, Bakugo would have thought it was a nice day.
Bakugo and Uraraka spent hours training in the forest. First, they tried hand to hand combat, but it was quickly shown that even only dipping ever so slightly into One For All, Bakugo was far too much for her, no matter how she used her quirk. While that clearly frustrated Uraraka at least a little, it seemed to make her much happier.
"Well, looks like I'll have to get used to losing my bouts with you again," Uraraka teased after Bakugo had pinned her in less than five seconds, again. And that was going easy on her.
He let her up, then helped her to her feet. "Yeah. Guess you were kicking my ass on the regular for a while there."
"It's too bad you don't have your original quirk back," Uraraka observed. "How long did Mei say that would take?"
Bakugo blinked. He hadn't even tried. He pointed one hand away from Uraraka, and snapped his fingers. There was a loud, deafening explosion that made Uraraka squeak and jump.
"Huh," Bakugo said, holding his hand up and frowning. He wasn't sure how to react. Part of him was elated. The other part was scared stiff that he'd revert back to who he had been. "How about that. Looks like it's back."
"You asshole, that scared me!" Uraraka gasped. Then she smiled. "Well. I think that has some potential. Let's put you through your paces."
Bakugo raised an eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes at him. "Not like that! Come on, it's not time for fooling around. We'll do that later. If you're good."
Soon, Bakugo was coming up with new and creative ways to use his quirks. He could use an explosion to reduce a tree to splinters, then use the black whip to hurl them at a target, while using One For All to run faster than even he could propel himself with blasts, and found new and creative ways to move.
After lunch, he recruited Sero, Kirishima, and Tetsutetsu to help him train further. It was quickly obvious that he was stronger and faster than the two hard heads, and that he could beat both of them into the ground with little trouble without even using his full quirk potential. Still, they were game for it.
"Damn man, when the hell did you get so strong?" Kirishima panted. "Used to be not even your explosions could stagger me for long, but now? Hell, you're hitting harder than even Sato on donuts."
"Togata gave me All Might's power," Bakugo said by way of explanation. "Guess I'm the new knucklehead."
"OK, that explains the strength, but where the heck did those whip things come from?" Tetsutetsu demanded.
"Same place, different guy," Bakugo said with a shrug. "Look, it's weird. Apparently Togata didn't know about them, or All Might, but I got them now so deal with it. Sero, can you show me how you move with your tape? I think it's kinda the same."
"Um, yeah, I can," Sero agreed, eyeing the black tentacles skeptically. "Yours are just a bit different though. But, let's see if you can use them to swing your way around."
Sero did indeed give Bakugo some pointers on how to use the Black Whip to move about through the trees, using them as a way to slingshot himself forward. They also practiced grabbing and retrieving objects, with Sero showing Bakugo how to use the Black Whip to throw and catch things at a distance. It was rather different, as Sero's tape came out of his elbows while the Black Whip projected from Bakugo's wrists and forearms, but it was good to have someone who had experience with the physics of the exercise to help.
"Shit, this is harder than it looks," Bakugo complained after he'd accidentally tossed a rock in the completely wrong direction, causing it to smash into the ground. "How the hell do you manage this, Sticky?"
"Practice. Lots and lots of practice. I've been doing this since I was just a little kid though. You've got a lot of catching up to do I guess," Sero said. "You're overshooting right now. Remember, as you spin that puts a lot of torque on the object. It's not just going to go straight, it's going to spin and curve as you do it. Try again."
By the end of the day, Bakugo was utterly exhausted, but he felt as though he'd at least made some progress. They headed back inside to dinner, and Bakugo sat down at a table where Izuku was already eating. Something seemed wrong though, and Bakugo didn't speak at first, just digging into the meal with determined efficiency.
"Mei, what happened?" Uraraka asked after a moment. The normally cheerful girl was looking at her empty plate, slumped in her seat, her cheeks red and puffy.
"They killed Mr. Azara on TV today," Mei said quietly. "They said it was because of Izuku."
Bakugo had to think for a moment, then blanched. "What, that comic book guy? The one who made the toys and stuff of us?"
"Yeah," Izuku said quietly. He looked to have been crying too, but he was gritting his teeth, and as he spoke his lips twisted into a snarl of rage. "Shigaraki went on TV and executed him. Said it was revenge. He claims they're going to be rounding up all the quirkless and killing them."
Izuku's eyes met Bakugo's, and the rage that burned within them was unlike anything Bakugo had ever seen out of the other boy. "I need you to master One For All, Bakugo. And I need you to do it fast. We're going to have to bring the fight to Shigaraki, and we're going to have to do it soon."
Slowly, Bakugo nodded. "You got it, Izuku. I'll stop that bastard. Once, and for All."