Welcome back, people. I hope you had a great valentine's. For those who could spend it with a special someone, good for you. For those who couldn't due to the whole 'worldwide pandemic' keeping us indoors, I hope that your loved ones are safe. And for those how don't have that someone and rather (like me) just spent time with close friends, even better. Now, as some of you have noticed, the update schedule for my stories is out of whack as though it's a new year, I'm still sorting out my timetable seeing how this year is kind of an irregularity. Hopefully, by March, I'll have things sorted out to the point I can get back to the old update timeline of one new chapter per week.
Anyway, now that we're done with the movie, we can get back to the series but as the movie events still happened, they will affect the story from this point on. However, this chapter will be a bit short as I'm trying to not go higher than 12K but it will be more lighthearted, as a kind of break from all the action up until now.
Outlines for Chapter 44: Let's take a break
After the mess that was their first night on I-island, their entire group was transferred to the island's hospital for check-ups and treatment. David had it bad as he was patched up but confined to a hospital bed for the remainder of the week. From what Mellissa tells me, he's still not allowed to work and has to rest up at home for another couple of weeks as he was never a beacon of health, and the years are catching onto him.
Tetsutetsu just had his fingers checked and after the bones were set back into their proper place, he was good to go, but it did annoy him that he couldn't use any console controller, nor could he use his phone in his dominant hand. I was quite lucky that I was wearing protection as aside from the bad bruising, bleeding welts, and the cracked rib, it was good to go to enjoy the rest of the trip with Yu and the gang without much issue. The rest only needed about a day's worth of rest and treatment before they were good to go, with Kaminari all but bursting out of his room so we can finally do something fun and not life-threatening.
Momo was the funniest as she spent a full hour just eating as much food as she could get. Ochaco looked amazed by the sheer quantity of food that the nurses brought the girl but her quirk does work using her body's fat reserves, so having a little extra meat on her bones doesn't hurt. Kyoka and Itsuka, on the other hand, were the first to join in her feast and soon enough, it became a group thing as everything from Shoto to even Mellissa who was dropping to check on us sat down and ate. It must have been odd for our doctors to find all their teenage patients in one room wearing gowns as we ate crappy hospital food and watched SpongeBob on the wall-mounted TV.
News of not just the true nature of that night's villain attack and our apparent die hardstyle hero mission leaked around the midday hours after we were evacuated from the tower for treatment, most likely a first responder who didn't watch who they were speaking to, and because of that, he found ourselves approached by people asking about it, wanting autographs and selfies for the remainder of the trip. It made meeting with our classmates really….interesting.
Sero, Sato, and Shoji asked about the villains and how they even got past security, both Tokoyami and Komori were less than pleased with the fact we chose to fight in the first place, but that was more out of worry for our well-being as she was in tears as she shot herself into Itsuka and Tetsutetsu's arms as the 1-B students lost themselves in the moment. Ashido, Tsu, and Hagakure were happy that they were all in okay after learning everything before Ashido and Hagakure went on about how we were like super spies while Tsu kept her cool and just spoke with us, catching up and in her way, scolding us for the rather risky move of willingly taking on dangerous criminals, though it was surprising when she almost looked shocked that Mineta was in our group, guess he must have not been much of a fighter back in the USJ
Still, we managed to enjoy ourselves during the trip, see the sights, taste the foods and even rub elbows with some powerful people from across the world who were quite grateful for all we did to rescue them and capture the villains, for Yu, it meant another contract which allowed a new business partner who could her in contact with a more affordable supplier for 'work-related equipment'. If all goes well this year, she'll be able to move into a larger agency building and maybe hire some sidekicks of her own.
I managed to seal the deal on several contracts to produce and ship 35 different Silver wings across the world, with two of them being shipped as far away as England for crying out loud. Granted each sale only produces a relatively small profit and most of that goes back into upgrading and increasing production capabilities so I'm not earning as much as one would expect but still, netting over 67K US$(over 7.04 million Yen) for myself is a big win. Another big thing was that Mellissa was able to supply me with more of that special yet-to-be-named material of hers, only now this batch was a little lighter and stronger than the last thanks to all the field data I collected for her.
Of speaking of, Mellissa caught the eye of a representative for hero schools in the states and after hearing about how she played a part in their fight against Wolfram and…Sam, she was offered a place at one of the best hero schools in the US-the Xavier Institute. The first purpose-built school for nurturing and training youth in how to both live with and use their gifts. She and David took some time discussing it before they decided she would accept the offer from the 230-year old school. It was both a happy and sad moment as it meant she would need to transfer from I-academy to attend the school in New York(the state, not the city) which meant she would be away from family for the first time in her life.
But there was one thing on everyone's mind, and that was Sam….every other villain that night was found and arrested, except for the former assistant who had slipped away in the confusion. All Might and David were worried that All for One may have had a hand in that, but there had been no sign of him anywhere, and with Interpol getting involved seeing how I-island isn't controlled by any one nation and placing an international warrant for his arrest, there aren't that many places he can turn to. Seeing how even his family hadn't had contact with him, heck, they were just as shocked as we were at the news he had turned to crime.
(Inside's Izuku's lab)
This brings us to the present, with Izuku back at home, in his lab working on the new and improved Tengu Karura Mk II, or the Mk XII if you follow the normal order. It had been around a week since they got back and the group had gotten back to their affairs, with him, that was tinkering away in his lab while Yu got back to work, leaving little time for the two to meet up besides texting one another.
Now, as he stood over the table where the chest and head sections of his mech suit sat as he worked on it, he used he could be testing all this equipment out in the field, or catching up in his combat training, but the doctors were clear in that he needed another couple day's rest, an order his parents were sure he followed. Still, could be worse so he just went in and stuck to his lab, trying to finish both the Mk VI and this beast of a hero suit before the summer camp as he wanted to test them both out then.
"Neko, can you bring up the schematics for the helmet please?" The tired-looking Midoriya asked his A.I. assistant as he picked up the large helmet and plugged it into the work table via one of the cables lying about.
"Here you are, sir. Looking for something in particular?" Neko asked her master as Izuku moved over to his desktop and typed in some commands before the screen switched over to the schematics for said helmet.
"I'm just checking…." He started as he looked over the designs as power flowed through the helmet, activating all its systems and functions as he searched for any anomalies. It took a couple of minutes before he spotted something that was draining power but not doing anything. He then walked over to the helmet and opened up a panel near where the error was occurring to inspect it and he found his issue. "There, the wiring here is off, that's why there's a malfunction."
"Sir, if I may, the malfunction could be due to the fact you replaced the old Thermal imaging equipment with a hyperspectral scanning rig." Neko gave her input as that hyperspectral scanning rig she was speaking of wasn't planned to have been included in this model and was more of an after-market add-on.
"Maybe, but I just got this and it could go a long way in the field." Izuku replied as he understood that this will cause issues as the unit for one thing was both larger than the old thermal imaging rig and took more power, which meant that among other things, he had to move things around and try to work out a way to limit the drain of the power plant.
Still, he had seen the gear in use and saw that having something that could search for unique electromagnetic patterns given off by any substance known to man. "Also, you looked over the internal structure from the Mk X, right?" He changed the subject as he thought back to how when he fought All Might, there was an issue with the structure that cost him some time.
"I have, sir." Neko responded as she switched the screens from the helmet's circuits to designs of the suit's internal support structure with different colors being used to highlight what was the main parts and what was secondary or back-ups.
"Did you find any issues?" Izuku asked her as he wiped his forehead with his insulated glove, like how Mei normally looked, he was quite dirty covered in grime, oil, and other substances all over his work clothes and leather apron.
"That I did, sir. As you thought, there was a fault in the internal structure due to a factory error." Neko replied as she zoomed in to allow him to see the fault, which was a crack that could have only formed in the manufacturing of the part in question.
"Neko, this is the factory. Are you saying I made a mistake?" Izuku asked as A.I. with a small frown as with the bags under his eyes, he was pulling off a pretty good impression of his homeroom teacher. Though he didn't design her with a face, if she had one, he had the sneaking suspicion she would be smirking right about now.
"I never said that, sir." Okay, now he knew she was being smug from that tone.
"Cheeky cat." He muttered to himself as he went back to his workstation and pulled some tools to begin work. "Is there any issues with the current design?"
"None that could be detected, though this new design is quite the gamble, sir." Neko replied to him, referring to the fact that he did his rare act of completely redesigning the model to make room for some new radical improvements. He had done the same with his wing packs, switching them from large and cumbersome items which needed to be carried in trailers to smaller variants that could be stored in a large back-pack.
"Yes, well, I needed to change things up to account for the increased weight without compromising on strength." Izuku mentioned as is fight with All Might, and the fight against Wolfram showed him that you needed both speed and firepower to face off against such powerful foes. The first model of the line may have been strong but it was on the slow side to the point he needed to use everything he had just so All Might wouldn't run circles around him.
One of the few ways he could fix that was by removing armor which wasn't an option as that compromised on its protection. Lucky for him, he was fortunate enough that the new materials Mellissa supplied him which were not only 10.43% stronger than the last ones, but weighed around 3.56% less per gram.
"And what about the scrolls you received?" Neko asked him, referring to the case of ninjutsu scrolls that Donny had given him on I-island. The two geniuses having bonded in their short time together to the point the guy decided he could use his old training scrolls.
"I can't touch them right now, so just keep them secured." Izuku said as he went back to work, trying his best to make as much progress as he could today.
(Sometime later)
"Izuku." Izuku heard his mother over the intercom as he put down the screwdriver he was using to fix a circuit board into place. It had been two hours since he started and he was now working on the very large wing-pack that came with the Mk II.
"Yes, mom?" He asked as he turned and walked towards the microphone that was on the desk so he could be heard more clearly.
"Your friends are here, I already let them in." Inko informed her son as she had led his friends into their living room. The two in question being very much impressed by how high tech his family's apartment was as Inko went into the kitchen to get the two something to drink while they wait.
"Oh, alright, I'll be up in a sec." Izuku replied as he went and turned everything off lest they have another accident. He looked down at himself and noted that he was really dirty but he didn't have time for a quirk bath and besides, if they were from school, they'll understand why he's covered in grime in the first place.
(The Living room)
"Hey, guys I didn't know you were coming….over." Izuku started as he walked into his living room, his apron was gone which meant he looked better but not by much. His words stopped when he noticed that it wasn't Tokoyami, Uraraka, Asui, or even Iida sitting on his couch, drinking some juice but rather it was Mineta and Kaminari, both of whom waved and smiled at him. "The hell are you, two clowns doing here?" He asked the two, already finding it odd that they were present.
"Hey man, that hurts. We just wanted to see how you're doing." Mineta replied to his question, acting as if he was hurt which Izuku wasn't buying.
"Yeah, we can't have our class rep in ill health." Kaminari added in, looking as fresh as rain as he had been since they got back from the trip.
"And how did you even know where your class rep even lived?" Izuku asked the two as he had never told the class as a whole where he lived, nor had he ever told these two.
"Iida." Both of them replied as they thought back to how Iida's always chopping his hands like he was trying to chop some bread.
Hearing their response got him to pause for a second to think about it and he could see Iida giving them info if they had asked him. It wasn't like they had any ill will towards him so there was little reason that his class rep assistant would have refused them. "…Makes sense but that doesn't answer my question."
"Let's go to the pool!" Mineta cheered as he jumped to his feet on the couch, using the piece of furniture to stand taller and not have to look up at their host as his eyebrow rose in surprise at his suggestion.
"The pool? You mean like the public pool across town?" Izuku asked them as he only knew of a couple pools around town, and the closest one was around 2 hours away on foot. Heck, they could rather go to the beach which he has been clearing over the years as it was only around 20 minutes' walk away.
"Not that one, the one up at school." Mineta shook his head at that as he told them where they were planning on going.
"We figured that before we shipped for to summer camp in a few days that we might as well get some extra training in, and swimming is a great way to train…or so the internet says." Kaminari gave his input as he lost some confidence at the end there, clearly having not looked that much into what he found on the internet.
"Okay, I'll bite. Why came to be then? You guys know I should be taking it easy, right?" Izuku said as he crossed his arms and leaned onto the wall next to him, showing both interest in their plan, but also suspicion on their motives for coming here.
"That's the best part, swimming isn't that taxing on the body, so as long as you don't force yourself, you should be fine." Kaminari told him as the two recalled that he wasn't supposed to do anything physically taxing but seemed to have found a loophole. "At least from what I heard." One that he wasn't so confident in now.
"Uh-huh." Midoriya said with a deadpan look and no before he turned towards Mineta, no doubt the brains behind whatever hair-brained scheme they came up with. "Alright, what's the real reason?"
"Look, the public pool this time of year is jammed back with people, and neither of us have a pool at our place, so if we want to be able to train with…distractions," Mineta seem to be coming clean as he seemed to struggle at the part about distractions, no doubt referring to how the public pools will have a lot of attractive girls in swimsuits for him to shamelessly ogle, but at least he was aware enough about his weaknesses to try and avoid them.
"We need a private space. And with you with us, we have the best chances of the teachers saying yes." And that was the reason, they wanted him present so the teachers would entertain this little plan of theirs but thinking about it, it didn't sound too bad. He could take a break, soak some sun, do a couple of laps in a cool pool so there was little reason for him to say now.
(UA main campus)
"Now, moving onto to 1-B's quirks-" Aizawa found himself interrupted when he along with 1-B's homeroom teacher heard someone knock on the door into the staffroom. That same door slid open and allowed Mineta, Kaminari, and Midoriya to enter, the latter of whom had taken a shower and was wearing a change of clothes.
"Excuse us." Mineta said with a smile as he and the rest of them entered.
"What can we help you with?" Vlad asked the students as he turned his chair to face the three.
"Aizawa-sensei, about that application form we handed in yesterday for permission to use the pool." Kaminari started, getting to the point of which they had come for as they knew their teacher was not the most patient man.
"Oh right, the school granted permission. You can use the pool until 5 pm, but no later. After that, I expect you to get off school grounds." Aizawa told them, the good news being well received by the three boys who didn't mind the fact that they only had around 3 hours to use the pool.
"Right! Thank you, sir!" All three of them bowed to him in gratitude, to which he nodded his head at them.
"You said you wanted to use the pool for endurance training, right?" He asked his students, to which they all nodded their heads which pleased him but he didn't let that show. "Do your best."
"Yes sir!"
"And Midoriya. Your mother called," Aizawa told them, surprising them at their class rep's mother had called ahead. "Don't overdo it, that's an order."
'Why did I expect anything less?' Midoriya thought to himself as he should have known his mom wouldn't want him overdoing things. "Yes sir, I'll be careful." He told his teacher as he saw the man wanted a spoken response to his words.
(Later)
Not too long later, the three boys were by the pool, in the men's dressing room as Midoriya placed his clothes into a locker he picked out for himself. "I have to admit, Mineta, using the pool for endurance training isn't that bad an idea." He smiled as he shut the door to his locker and turned to the two other boys, both of whom were already done and in their school issue swim-shorts just like he was. "Plus since it's school grounds, you two can your quirks however you want."
"Yeah, but I fail to see how that will help me. At best, I can shock everyone else, but I have a feeling that will lead to drownings." Kaminari joked as the two others moved away from him a bit, imaging that if he thought it would be funny, Kaminari would jump into a pool with his quirk active just to mess with some poor fools.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I've made some great strides to better myself, to become a splendid hero." Mineta bragged about himself as he flexed his non-visible muscles.
"Plus ultra, my guys!" Kaminari cheered as he was quickly joined by both Mineta and Midoriya. After that, Midoriya went ahead of them as they stayed behind, using the reason that Kaminari wanted to make sure his phone was off before they left, once they were alone, however…
"It was a great idea to bring in Midoriya into this. He may be something of a wild card, but he's diligent to a fault." Kaminari said to Mineta, speaking softly to not alert anyone nearby.
"If it was just us, they might have told us no and it would have ended there." Mineta agreed with him, his smile from before gone as the two looked at one another with serious expressions.
"Speaking of, about that. Is it still in play?" Kaminari asked him, wanting to make sure the reason they came was still viable.
"Of course it is, I overheard them by accident." Mineta replied to him as he thought back to the incident in question.
(Flashback)
"You mean we aren't allowed to take long trips over the summer?" Uraraka asked the group she was talking to, that group being all the girls in their class as they crowded around Yaoyorozu's table. This was over a week ago, having taken place around a day before those who volunteered had their extra classes. Their class was heading off for lunch, so not everyone was present as Todoroki, Bakugo, Iida, and Midoriya had already gone with Tokoyami having a discussion with Koda and Shoji near the entrance, leaving only Mineta who seemed to still be napping on his desk close to the girls.
"It's a request from the school." Jiro explained.
"That's too bad. My family was supposed to Venice this year." Yaoyorozu sighed to herself at the loss of a fun family trip, not noticing how the rest of the girls stiffened at the fact that she was going to Europe for Summer break, their plans at best had them traveling to see family in the country. Sure some of them could afford such, but the way Momo was talking about it made this seem like something they did every year, travel to faraway places and most likely live it up while doing it.
"How bourgeois!" Uraraka cursed as she nearly fell over, the cost of such a trip nearly giving the girl a heart attack as she was just going to train and spend more time with her parents.
"Aw, I had bought a new swimsuit this year, too! Now, what am I going to do with it?" Ashido whined, it was this moment that Mineta, who was waking up from his daydream of beautiful girls, suddenly and silently sprung to alertness.
"That can't be helped. We have been attacked by the league of villains three times already. They need us where they can keep an eye out for us." Jiro told the girl, giving her a smile of sympathy as though she wasn't all that confident in her female charms, she knew that Mina loved being active.
"Even so, I wanna play, dammit. I wanna hit a beach or something, get my summer spirit on! Not sit in my house doing nothing." The pink-skinned girl complained as there was nothing she could do at home. Sure she could dance but with both parents working and gone most of the day, she'll be left by herself, and dancing alone was always boring…and slightly depressing for her.
"Maybe there'll be somewhere we can swim on the summer camp?" Asui voiced to try and cheer her up.
"I doubt it, we don't even know where we're going for the camp. There could be a lake or pool, but that's just a chance." Yaoyorozu said with a shake of the head, neither they or their parents had been told where they were going, it was a point her father didn't like as all he could do was just sign off on the trip. "Besides, knowing Aizawa-sensei, if there is a place to swim, he'll only let us use it for training." That was also a point as their teacher was a task-master, knowing him, most of their time there they'll be too tired to swim after training even if they did have somewhere they could do so.
"Well then, why don't you well just meet up for a little swim meet then? I'm sure one of us has a pool, right?" Hagakure offered up a suggestion, but none of them could help her with that as they all shook their heads.
"Sorry." Uraraka's family didn't live near to the school, nor did their apartment have a pool.
"(Kero)It's been drained for repairs." Asui told the group as though her family had a sizeable pool as they were all amphibian-like in some form, it was currently one dry as they did some repairs which wouldn't be done for another week.
"We don't have a pool where we live." Jiro was of this as well as her house didn't have a pool either, her parents were thinking of adding a hot-tub but that's it.
"Neither do I." Yaoyorozu also didn't have a pool, but her not having one was quite a shock to the group as to those who had seen where she lived, they were expecting an indoor poor paved with gold or something.
'Wait, you mean to tell me, she lives in such a huge mansion, but it doesn't have a pool?' Was the collective thought amongst the girls as they found it very strange but didn't push it. Lucky for them, Hagakure was quick to find a solution.
"No sweat, if none of us have a pool at home. We can just use the school pool!" Hagakure stated with a pep in her step, getting the rest of them on her side.
"Hey yeah, if we're using the school pool, then I'm sure the teachers will give us permission." Asui agreed with her as this seemed like a good idea to her.
"Good idea. Then we won't have to spend any money, either." Uraraka was also in agreement with it, though her reason was more aligned with her frugal nature.
"It's better than being cooped up at home, that's for sure." Ashido agreed with it as it was a rather nice arrangement, plus unlike the public pool, they'll have more space to themselves.
"Then I'll go ask permission from the school right away." Yaoyorozu added in with a smile as she got up from her desk, no doubt to find their teacher so they could ask. All the while, Mineta had been listening in shamelessly as a plan started to form in his mind.
(Flashback-end)
"That's we I heard, man!" Mineta cheered as silently as he could, though his perverted excitement leaked through like water through a colander.
"Then we have no choice but to go!" And Kaminari was right along with him as the two rushed out of the changing room towards the pool, the hallway illuminated by a near white light at the end as the two dashed towards it, their minds thinking of how their female classmates would look in some form-fitting bikinis.
"I can't wait to see the girls in a new light, to view such beauty in such a setting." Mineta cheered as he ran faster than one would expect from someone of his size but he had a great motivator waiting for him, all he needed to do was reach it.
"Onward, push forward," Both cheered with perverted smiles as the light grew closer and closer. "For our paradise!" Alas, their expectations were not just shot down, but went down in flames before exploding as the sight that greeted them wasn't even a girl, but rather it was the taller, shirtless Iida as he stood there with a yellow swim-cap and swimming goggles.
"Your late." Iida greeted them with a smile as if this was totally what they were expecting. The sight of which caused the two to stutter, trip and skid right on past him in disbelief. To their alarm, that wasn't even the worst part as when they got up to look around, they all even more of their male classmates around-including Shinso, all of whom in their school issue swim shorts as some stretch, help others stretch, or just look at them weird.
"Hey, hey, hey! What the hell are you guys doing here?" Mineta asked, he didn't plan for any of this! He expected pretty girls in swimsuits that showed off their curves and skin, not dudes!
"Isn't that obvious? Since we were coming here for endurance training, I thought to myself that I would be even better if we invited all the guys." Midoriya told them as he walked up to Iida, his smile on his face though it looked a bit different now, almost like a cat that had caught sight of a rat that didn't even know it was there, to begin with.
"Dammit, Midoriya. You are too diligent sometimes!" Kaminari muttered to himself as he wanted to cry so badly right now, they should have seen this coming but in their haste overlooked it!
"Calm down, Kaminari. There are still girls in swimsuits here!" Mineta, trying to salvage their plan, told him as they were still here(and even if there were more people present) they could still do what they came here for. With their resolve burning once more, the two turned to the other side of the pool, where their targets must be if they still came.
'I'll burn the sight into my eyes!' Kaminari thought to himself as the first thing he wanted to see was Jiro in a bikini, though he had no idea as to why but that didn't matter.
'Oh Lord, let me see the beauty of the feminine form!' Mineta on the other hand, wanted to anyone, already deeming all of them to be great catches and 'great material for his nightly activities'.
"Oh, Mineta. You're here too." Only for those remaining fantasies to be destroyed as the girls were also stretching on the other side of the pool but unlike the boys, they were doing it like a group exercise, in uniform…. But what sucked for the two was the fact that they were all in conservative, school issue swimwear which only left their arms, some of their backs, and their legs from the knees down visible.
"So everyone except Kirishima and Bakugo are here? Weird." Jiro said as it was rather strange that most of the class would show up for this, even their Aizawa lovechild, Shinso was here.
'Dammit, they had to wear school issue swimsuits?' Kaminari thought to himself, giving up as he knew a failed mission when he saw one.
"School issue swimwear isn't that bad." Mineta on the other hand, he was desperate and just lowered what he could see to that of what a person would have seen at any beach…in the early 1900s
"You're into anything, aren't you?" Kaminari found this odd, even for his shot friend. It was then that Midoriya walked up to them, his unsettling smile still on his face.
"You know, you two nearly had me. Your sales pitch had just enough truth to it to make it seem legit." Midoriya told them, gaining their attention as their danger sense went off, alerting them they were no safe.
"What are you talking about?" Mineta asked him, starting to sweat a bit from the attention as even if Midoriya had a smile on his face, his eyes told a different story. It was the same look he had on his face when he punished him for his prank against the girls after the sports festival.
"Oh come now, you want to explain it? You only came to me so you would guarantee that Aizawa would permit you to 'use the pool' so you can ogle the girls." Midoriya told the two, the rest of the boys looking on with varying degrees, of surprise, expectant deadpan looks, or just amusement as the fact they'd been made.
"What? No, we would never." Kaminari tried to laugh it off but he wasn't having much luck as Midoriya chuckled at his response, that seemingly harmless laugh making the blonde want to run as far as he could as fast as he could.
"But, as I called everyone here, I found out something." Midoriya went on, seemingly not hearing what he had said as he gestured towards the group present as even the girls on the other side of the pool seem to be listening now, and from the way, Uraraka and Yaoyorozu were looking at them and Jiro's earphone jacks seemed to be moving, they were far from pleased with them with what they were hearing.
"Found out what?" Mineta pepped out, wondering who could have known about their plan, they didn't tell anyone about it!
"When I called him up, Kirishima let it slip that Ashido and the girls had also asked permission to use the pool today." Midoriya told them, giving the group enough evidence to see how he was able to connect the dots to this. "Just like you two. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put the pieces together." He finished as he walked closer to them, bending over to look at their kneeling forms-all with that innocent/scary looking smile on his face though his eyes told them this was far from over.
"So you call us here just to screw with them?" Shinso asked him with a raised eyebrow was Iida looked utterly shocked by this development, his increased chopping motions highlighting this.
"Partly, I was being honest about using the pool to train ourselves before we head off to camp." Midoriya shrugged his shoulders as he got back up to full height before he started walking back towards the group, seemingly down starring the two boys down. "Sorry Mineta, I know you've made some progress, but not that much progress." He told him over his shoulder before he paused as if recalling something.
"And word of advice, splendid Hero is Might Guy's thing, not Kakashi's, grape boy." He added in just for the burn as some of the other boys started laughing at their expense as even Ashido and Hagakure seemed to find this humorous as the rest of the girls just opted to ignore them. They had been made so that was that.
"Damn you, Midoriya." Mineta cursed the boy, wanting to get his vengeance on him for stopping his 'righteous' quest for boobies.
"Kaminari, Mineta!" A certain someone called out to the two.
"Oh no, it just gets worse." Kaminari whined as they watched as the tall and imposing Iida walked over to them, the frown of disapproval clear on his face.
"Though you were using this as an underhanded ploy to watch the girls as they used the pool, the chance to get in some endurance training is too good to pass up." Iida scolded the two as he picked up the bot of them like they weighed nothing and starting bringing them towards the group, despite their physical protests and attempts to get out of his grip and escape. "Why don't the two of you came here and be join us, we have a little under 3 hours to use these facilities so we're using our time to the fullest!"
(Two hours later)
As time went by, the girls stopped paying attention to the boys and got back to the reason that they had come in the first place, which was to have fun. And one great way of doing that was a game of pool volleyball. "Here I go!" Uraraka called out as she tossed the ball into the air. "Here!" Uraraka said as she hi the all towards the Mina.
"I got it." Mina jumped as she yelled with a smile, smacking the ball along towards Asui.
"(Kero)" Asui sounded as she used her tongue rather than her hands to hit the ball towards the next person. That person happened to be Jiro, who following the trend from Asui, used an unusual method to trike the ball. In her case, she used one of her earphone jacks.
"Take that!" Hagakure laughed as the visible girl managed to catch the ball as she jumped, hitting the ball just as she came splashing down into the water.
"Got it!" Yaoyorozu laughed along with them as she struck the ball with both hands, overhead. As the girls played around and had their fun, Mineta and Kaminari sluggishly dragged themselves out of the water towards the shade on their side of the pool.
"I feel like I died three times over." Mineta whined as he could feel nothing but pain and exhaustion.
"I never thought swimming would be this painful." Kaminari agreed with him as he felt like any fat he had had just been burned away. Lucky for them, it seemed that Iida believed this to be enough as he pulled out a cooler that had been at the wayside and brought it over.
"Alright, let's take a 15-minute break, people!" Iida told the boys as they all were pulling themselves from the water and starting to relax as their glasses-wearing speedster opened the cooler to reveal over 2 dozen cans of orange juice, all kept cold by the fair amount of ice cubes in the cooler with them.
"I brought these for everyone to drink up, I hope you enjoy!" Iida told them as the group saw this and with gratitude, started handing them around for everyone to drink up.
"Oh-oh, just what you would expect from Iida, always prepared!" Sero cheered as he opened up his and took a large gulp, enjoying the taste even more by the fact that they had worked up quite the sweat.
"I feel alive again, thanks, man!" Sato thanked the guy as he handed one of them towards Koda who gave the muscular boy a quiet thanks.
"Why did we have to suffer while they get to mess around and stuff?" Kaminari asked his short friend as the two drank their juice as the girls across from them just messed around and had fun.
"They got permission to use the pool for sunbathing." Mineta answered him.
"Then why didn't you ask for the same then?!" Kaminari demanded as they had just worked their butts off, for nothing!
"I didn't think they'll say yes, plus they might have found it suspicious if I asked for the same thing!" Mineta yelled back at him.
"Well, suspicious or not, we were made regardless!" Kaminari countered as it didn't matter now, if it wasn't for Kirishima who wasn't even here, they would have had a chance.
"I see that you've been working out." Away from the two, the rest of the boys had split off into their little groups as they just relaxed and talk. In this case, Shiji was noting that Ojrio seemed a bit bulkier than normal.
"I've been hard at work ever since summer started. I can't afford to get lazy." The tailed boy replied to him as he flexed his arm
"Hmm, Aiwaza did say to take every chance we could to train." Shinso said as he rubbed his neck, being reminded that he needed to keep building up some muscle like he had been ever since the sports festival. Closer to the pool, Midoriya sat on one of the diving boards as he worked to lower his breathing rate, feeling a slight pain in his chest from the workout.
"That was more exhausting them I thought it would be." Midoriya muttered to himself as he hadn't done the full exercise like the rest of them but rather he had taken a couple minutes break every 20 minutes and even then, he had only done about an hour's worth of training.
"Midoriya," He heard his name being called so he looked up to see Iida and Tokoyami approaching him, with the dark feathered boy holding out an orange drink for him. "Please try to take it easy." Iida said to him as he accepted the drink with a thanks before he opened it open to take a sip.
"So I've been told. Relax, I'm not overdoing it, I swear." Midoriya told them as everyone had seen how he would slow down and relax now and then, much to the complaints of Kaminari and Mineta who weren't allowed to stop.
"Still, you look tired." Iida noted, addressing the fact that he was a little slouched, had slightly bloodshot eyes, and had dark bags underneath those same eyes. It was clear that he wasn't at his best.
"Well, we did just complete two hours of training." Midoriya joked as he pointed towards the pool, but the two weren't having it as their frowns made it clear.
"Not that, my friend. You haven't had adequate rest for some time now, yes?" Tokoyami asked him, though they all knew the answer and just wanted him to admit to such. In defeat, Midoriya just slouched some more on his seat as he sighed.
"Yeah, had some trouble sleeping last night." He admitted but left out the part where it wasn't just one or two nights, but it had been happening ever since they got back. And though the nightmares varied, they all had a running theme. He would always relive that fight, seeing himself taking aim and pulling the trigger, the thundering bang. Sometimes, there is another way that he wasn't sure was there or not, but he still took the lethal approach, other times, there is more than one as he doesn't stop until the magazine is empty. Some of the worst were based on if he was too late, that he couldn't save Momo…or his parents…his friends. He was lucky he hadn't woken up screaming yet as that would be something his mother would hear, but he had a feeling it was coming.
Seeing that he was dealing with the aftermath of their…trip, both boys silently agreed to bring this up later and hope he agreed to speak with the counselor, but for now, they decided that it was better if they focused on other things. "Back during the entrance exams, I never imagined that our class would be quite like this, nor did I ever think I'll have friends like you." Iida started as he took a seat next to him, recalling the day they had met and though they didn't exchange names they left their impressions on one another.
"To be honest, I didn't think much of you back then. When I saw you wearing your gear, I thought you were some support student hopeful who got lost." Ida told him, not missing how impressed Midoriya looked at the fact he just revealed how little he thought of him. Tokoyami just looked amused by this.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Midoriya told with a mildly irritated, bored-looking face, something Iida couldn't help but laugh a little at.
"Back when the 0-pointer appeared, while the rest of the us were running away. You were the only one that charged in to help Uraraka," Iida continued as he recalled when that behemoth of a beast had appeared, he was one of the first to turn round and run for it. But then he had seen him, the guy that he had written off, flying headlong into without a single hint of fear. "Not only that but you had a plan to lure the thing away from us."
"Hey, I was doing right by All Might, I grew up watching the guy every night, and not once did he ever ran when he could save even just one person." Midoiya told him as truth be told, he jumped before he could think and just came up with a plan as he went along. Still, that was a rather eventual day, that's for sure.
"I wouldn't say that makes your deeds thus far any lesser, Midoriya. The fact that you were the sole hero hopeful that charged into danger is a testament of your character if nothing else." Tokoyami, who had also taken a seat as the group talked, spoke up.
"I wasn't the only one that grew you know. During the USJ, the festival, our finals. Both of you showed everyone just how far you've come from when we first started." Midoriya told them s saw nothing but improvement from the two of them as the semester had gone on. "Honestly, it's amazing that all this happened to us in our first semester alone." He chuckled at that part as he never imagined that his time at UA would be this stressful, fun, or dangerous. And they hadn't even finished their first year yet.
"Agreed, it had been a rather eventful year so far, and we haven't even reached fall yet." Tokoyami spoke as he took a drink of his juice, finishing it.
"And that's why we have to work even harder going forward. The future belongs to this to reach for it with all their strength." Iida said as the three got back up, feeling refreshed but before they could do anything, someone else spoke up, loudly.
"Of course it does!" Bakugo yelled, announcing his presence as he angrily marched into the pool area. With a grinning Kirishima following after him.
"Otherwise, there would be no way in hell I'll lose to a damn nerd like you!" The angry blonde in swim shorts said as he walked right up to their group.
"And here I was getting used to the peace of quiet." Midoriya told him with a small smile as he was wondering about these two, he had thought they had just bailed for something.
"Bakugo? I thought you and Kirishima weren't coming." Iida asked the two, wondering why they had arrived so late.
"Yeah, sorry about that. It took a while to get Bakugo to came." Kirishima told them as though he had arrived at Bakugo's place pretty early, it took some convincing to get the guy out to join them. His mother yelling at him to get some sun and 'stop lazing around the damn house like a fucking couch potato' might have helped.
"More like most of the damn day." Sero spoke up as he was pretty sure they had less than 20 minutes left before they ran out of time.
"Deku, let's go!" Bakugo, not caring about any of that, just got closer to the one he had known all his life. His eyes alight with determination and energy that only his brand of anger could bring to the table. "I want to settle the score, right here, right now?"
"Who comes to a pool training session looking for a fight?" Midoriya asked the guy, wondering if that was all he ever thought of. Iida on the other hand, took a moment to think about his suggestion.
"Well, it doesn't have to be a fight, and training doing one thing can become quite dull." Iida mused aloud as even he found that just doing the same few training routines over and over to be quite boring and repetitive.
"Hmm, there are alternative methods to settling scores, as he says." Tokoyami seemed to agree with him as he crossed his arms, leaving Midoriya in the middle confused as to what they were planning.
"What are you…" He started to ask but Iida turned to face the rest of the boys instead.
"Everyone, would a 50m freestyle to see who is the fastest be acceptable to you?" He asked them, gaining their attention as a friendly race sounded like it could be fun.
"Oh, this sounds interesting." Kaminari, reenergized by the prospect of a friendly race, got up.
"Count me in, this sounds like it'll be fun!" Sero agreed with that as the rest of the boys, even Shinso and Todoroki seemed to be willing to go along with this.
"Let's go!" Sato cheered as the girls, who had finished what they were doing, came up to them.
"Iida! We can help if you'll like." Yaoyorozu offered to which Iida gave her a smile and a nod.
"Thanks." Iida told the girl as he figured that would need the helping hand to keep things clear cut.
"What about quirks? Can we use them?" Ojiro asked.
"We're on school grounds. I don't see why not, but try to keep it reasonable, the last thing we need to do is damage school property. Also, this is a race, but a battle so no using quirks on each other!" Iida replied though he made sure that they all knew that the limits on that.
"I can live with that." Shinso remarked, though this meant like most of them, he would need to swim quirkless as he couldn't just brainwash himself to swim faster...could he?
"Deku, this time, I'm crushing you." Bakugo challenged as he walked even closer to Midoriya, who returned his look.
"Bring it." He told the guy, keeping his reply short.
"And you two, half and half bastard. I'm winning this thing!" Bakugo yelled as he turned to face the other person he wanted to beat who just looked back at him, wordlessly agreeing to his request though he didn't understand why.
It didn't take all that long to break the group up into smaller groups to make it easier to track each person's progress. The first group to take their places, from the furthest to the closest was: Mineta; Tokoyami; Koda, Bakugo, and Kaminari. "Then on your marks," Yaoyorozu called out as she held a stopwatch just so they could compare times later, at her words, the five got into position. "Get set!" He went on as they got ready to dive. "GO!" And with that yell, all five were off but were four of the five dived into the water and started swimming as fast as they could, Bakugo took a different approach.
"Explosive turbo speed!" He yelled with a grim as he used his quirk to blast himself across, never once getting in the water and making it to the other side in less than 4 seconds to the shock of just about everybody, including the guys still in the pool who couldn't help but freeze at that. "How was that, you extras?" Bakugo bragged to them, getting a response.
"What the fuck you mean 'How was that?'" Sero asked back.
"You didn't even swim!" Kirishima pointed out as that defeated the whole damn purpose of swimming if you don't even get in the damn pool.
"It's called freestyle!" Bakugo yelled back as he let loose some small blasts to 'convince' them of his point. Soon after that, once the last person had made it to the end, they got the next group ready which was, from the furthest to the closest: Sero; Aoyama; Todoroki; Shinso; Sato, and Kirishima.
"GO!" With the blow of the whistle from Momo and the cheers of the rest of them, only three of them too to the water as the other three used their quirks as Aoyama used his laser to try and copy Bakugo and blast himself across much like he had done on their first day, Sero used his tape and latched onto something at the other end and reeled himself in as fast as possible and lastly, Todoroki used his ice to skate across the pool.
"Hi!" Aoyama was pretty confident in himself as he took the lead from early on, but then he suffered a stomach cramp and messed up, not only crashing into the water but as he fell into Sero's lane, he crashed into the boy and took both of them out as Todoroki managed the win, getting to the other side in just over 4 seconds.
"You're supposed to be swimming!" Both Mineta and Kaminari yelled at the guy as this was getting ridiculous.
"Show your off quirks, why don't yeh?" Shinso, who was still swimming muttered to himself as this was just annoying.
"You get used to it." Sato, who was just behind him, replied as he had gotten used to the fact he had classmates that did some crazy things.
This then left the last group to take their places, from the closest to the furthest it was: Shoji, Ojiro; Midoriya, and Iida. "GO!" With the word, all of them took off with Iida using one of the lines as a tightrope to move across the pool in much the same fashion as he did during the festival, with Ojrio being behind him as he was using his tail as a kind of rudder to propel him through the water like a fish's or an otter's tail.
"Even Iida doing it?" Jiro pointed out as she thought that the straight-laced guy would at least try and swim like they all thought was going to happen but that now seemed to be wrong as he reached the end in around 8 seconds, with Ojiro being second but still taking 15 or so seconds to make the distance.
"Iida takes it!" Ashido cheered as Iida waited for the rest of them to finish, which Midoriya talking last e had to pace himself.
"I don't even know why I thought I had a chance still, good job, Iida. You earned this." The green-haired boy said as Iida came over to help him out of the water.
"Thank you, Midoriya." Iida said as the two started to chat as they walked back towards the group.
(Meanwhile – Across town at the police station)
"UA High School was attacked by the League of Villains during a first-year hero course rescue training session, it would come to refer to as the UJS incident. There were minor injuries but the majority of the villains were apprehended, including the genetically altered super-weapon known as 'Nomu'." Detective Tsukauchi read as he along with Gran Torino, Yoroi Musha and All Might sat in one of the meeting rooms of the police station reviewing footage of the incidents in question. The one currently on screen having been captured by Izuku's drone during the attack.
"Then there was the league's and Stain's attacks in Hosu, which would later be called the Hosu incident. Property damage was large, being in the tens of millions of Yen but the real tragedy was the fact there were casualties. 41 people died on scene, 27 more while being treated and the further 18 from their injuries while in hospital, three was also the issue of the 119 people who were injured." He went on as the footage switched to classified news footage that they had taken from the various news choppers that flew overhead that night, the footage had been deemed too violent for the public as it was mostly Nomus's killing innocent people, pros and police officers.
"All 'Nomos' on sight had been eliminated and the hero killer Stain was captured, but the villains known as Kurogiri and Tomura Shigaraki, thought to be the leader of the league, escaped once more." Gran Torino spoke up, the aged pro's voice holding an anger at such loss of life, and for what? It was made worse as they had footage evidence that the two villains were present but at the time, no-one knew that so the two were able to slip away undetected.
"Lastly, there was the most recent attack from the league. A few days ago, their leader, Shigaraki approached and cornered UA first-year hero course student, Izuku Midoriya while he and his class was at the mall. While there were no deaths, three hero course students, those being: Ochaco Uraraka; Ibara Shiozaki, and Izuku Midoriya were injured and hospitalized. Again the league escaped." The detective read out as the final footage was of very poor quality, taken by a faraway security camera that happened to be pointed towards the two as they approached their spot, had their talk before his classmates arrived and hell broke loose. All of them were grateful that his friends did all they could to stop him from bleeding out that their injuries were not too serious.
"Three separate attacks, and each time the leader of the league keeps slipping away. The only good thing we do now I that the league hasn't appeared to have made a move since." Yoroi Musha said, having been brought in for his expertise and the numerous underground heroes who worked under him, which allowed them better connections and ears to gather info.
"That is what concerns me, there is little doubt in my mind that they were using this time to plan their next attack. And from what we know about their leader, he seems to have a fixation on me, so odds are they'll keep attacking UA and UA alone." All Might, in his skinny form, said. Even if he pained him to acknowledge that he was the league's target and that the school and students were just collateral in this mess. Still, the logical veteran inside him saw this was better than the alternative of the league attacking hero schools at random.
"Yes, I agree with you there. The police are working with heroes to get as much information about the league as possible. When we do find out where they're hiding, we'll need you," Tsukauchi started as All Might started to bulk up. "All Might." He finished as the number one, now in his hero form stood up from the desk along with the other two present.
"And I'll be ready, Tsukauchi." All Might told his friend, his blue eyes glowing with a determination to defeat these villains.
(Back with the students)
"Alright people, it's time for the final race. Todoroki, Bakugo, Iida, you all won your heats, so next race will between you three to decide the fastest in the class." Midoriya told the group, having stepped in as referee for this one as Iida was in the final race.
"I understand." Iida nodded his head.
"Got it." Todoroki responded softly but Bakugo in turn just turned to glare at him.
"Listen up, you half and half bastard. Don't you dare hold back like at the sports festival. I want to rush you, but I'll only accept it if you're at your best, got it?" Bakugo demanded of him as his mind flashed back to their match and how disappointed he was with it. Seeing this, and having made up his mind about things a while back, Todoroki agreed.
"I will." The ice and fire user replied to him.
"What about Iida?" Sero asked out as it was strange to him that Bakugo would only call out one of his opponents.
"Please, like he can give me a challenge." Bakugo replied with a scoff, shocking the speedster who didn't take kindly to this at all.
"Ohhh, that was harsh." Hagakura whispered to Ashido who nodded her head in agreement.
"Bakugo, that was extremely rude! I have just as much a right to be here as you two!" Iida yelled back at him as he chopped his hand towards him but Midoriya stepped in and placed a calming hand on the taller boy's shoulder.
"Just forget, Iida. Bakugo and manners as well together as puppies and fire-ants." Midoriya told his friend as he had known the explosive blonde for years and never seen him even apologize unless he did something messed up or was forced to by his mother, and in the latter case, it was clear those apologies were as empty as a field.
"Alright, if there are no more disruptions, then the 50ms freestyle race will now begin!" Midoriya turned to the class as the three boys made their way to their starting positions, all while the rest of them cheered for their respective swimmer.
"Blow them away, Bakugo!" Kirishima cheered for his friend.
"Don't kill the other swimmers!" Kaminari cheered jokingly towards the blonde.
"You have this in the bag, Todoroki!" Sero yelled towards the guy he thought would win this.
"Iida, my man! Don't let these chumps beat you!" Midoriya, despite being the ref for this, showed his support as while as he waved towards them with a smile.
"Do your best everyone!" Yaoyorozu cheered for all of them, excited like the rest of them for this final race.
"Now, on your marks," Midoriya said as he held up his arm, the same arm that held the timer while the other held the whistle as he got ready to blow it.
'I single blast should be enough.' Bakugo thought to himself as he popped some explosions in his hands as he faced them back.
'I'll slide past them.' Todoroki judged as mist of ice formed around his right side as he got crouched down.
'If I can hit my top speed, I should be able to come out on top.' Iida saw as he reeved his engines up as high as he dared to go, needing to hit a high acceleration if he wanted to come out on top.
"Get set!" Midoriya called out as he brought the whistle to his lips before he waited another second before blowing it. The three boys jumped off, but to their surprise, all three just crashed down into the water.
"The heck?" Jiro asked as the three came up for air, just as shocked as they were.
"What happened to their quirks?" Sero asked as they all thought they'll use their quirks again, but apparently not.
"It's 5pm." Aizawa spoke up, alerting them to his presence as he walked out into the pool area, his eyes red as his hair floated, which meant he was the reason they didn't use their quirks. "Your authorized pool time is officially over. Hurry up and go home." He ordered them, not letting up as everyone turned to him and in Bakugo's case, glared at him for interrupting.
"Oh come on." Kaminari asked him.
"Just a few more seconds, we're were about to find out who's the fastest swimmer." Ashido tried to convince him, but he wasn't having any of it as his glare only intensified, showing his displeasure with having to repeat himself.
"No. Leave." He ordered them, effectively cowing his resistance from his students.
"Yes sir!" All of them replied as one as the three climbed out of the pool and everyone picked up their trash and such and went towards the changing rooms.
"Dammit! I can't believe he stop the race like that." Bakugo yelled as he kicked a can down the road. The sun was setting in the distance which cast a warm orange light on the town but Bakugo didn't seem to care as he and Kirishima walked down the mountain away from UA.
"Yeah man, I know what you mean man but cool your blasters, man. Those two aren't just your opponents, you know, they're our friends." Kirishima replied with a chuckle as he did appreciate how fired up his friend could get about things.
"Shut it! I don't care if they're my classmates or not. I won't let them get ahead of me, and I will not let them fall behind." Bakugo countered, but while he started angry, he seemed to mellow out towards the end, catching his red-head friend off guard.
"That's what it means to be number one, to never stop getting better and I have to surpass All Might if I'll ever claim that title for myself." Bakugo muttered though it was still loud enough for his friend to hear it and smile, happy that he was just as determined to see their friends grow stronger as he was to claim the title from All Might.
"You ready, Izuku?" Yu asked as she and Izuku stood close by to a park, it was night-time but the two were dressed in tracksuits as they stretched.
"Yeah, I'm good to go." Midoriya replied with a smile as he wiggled one foot.
"Alright, but why here?" Yu asked him, wondering why they were starting a nightly jog from here of all places, it wasn't their usual starting point.
"Because, right over there. That's where I made the choice that lead me down this path." Midoriya said as he looked towards the park, where years ago, he laid beaten and without options until one came down from up high. Maybe Shiozaki was on the money about higher powers. In response to this, Yu just pecked him on the cheek before giving him a light shove.
"Softie, race you to that Ice-cream place your mom likes." Yu joked with him as she pointed down the road, towards wherein the distance they could make out a neon-lights of the shop in question.
"Loser buys." Midoriya added in as he got into position.
"You're on!" Yu laughed as the two took off, running as fast as they could as they laughed.
Well, the chapter is over and with that, the next one will start where most of you want it to, with the beginning of the Summer Camp Raid Arc. As I said, this chapter was mainly light-hearted much like the first episode with some changes here and there.
Reviews(A bit thin this time around):
Fiction Realm: He's still out there, did you think I would throw away such a chance at a potential villain?
D3lph0xL0v3r: Sam will be back, and in a way, you might not be expecting. But as you can tell, the next part will be the Summer Camp raid, which I've planned to make several changes to.
christopher03: Thanks.
NinjaFang1331: Thank you.
tacktician: Well, you're not wrong as like with Tony in the MCU, each new suit improves on the last in some way. One thing that was pointed out to me, was the suit he gave to Peter had three major things added in.
The first was the tracker as if he was to ever be without back-up, they could find him. Something Tony learned the hard way after being kidnapped by terrorists.
The second was the heater as we saw in Iron Man 3, Tony had to drag his suit through the bitter cold until he reached a gas station where he happened upon a poncho.
The third was the parachute as saw what happened with War Machine in Civil War so he built that in just to save the kid if the suit should ever fail and he falls a great height.