A Sad Boy in a Tree house
Chapter 31
Father's Pride
Ochaco took in a deep breath, stealing herself for what was to come. She had quite the lineup for the tournament today. First off, was Mina, her best friend here. Across the large platform the pink skin girl was stretching with a confident grin on her face. If she won this, her next match would be Ida. Both girls wanted to punch that guy in the face but in order to do that they had to win this. And only one of them could win this match.
"As much as I really want to see you smack Ida around-" Mina said, rolling her shoulders. "-I think I could do it better."
Ochaco said nothing, only flexing her fingers in anticipation.
"Ready?!" Midnight said raising her whip.
"FIGHT!"
Both girls sprinted straight to each other, Ochaco staying low as Mina began skating on her acid. The pink skinned girl started throwing a diluted form of her acid at the other, not enough to kill but enough to hurt.
Ochaco tapped herself, lifting off the ground to dodge the spray. As soon as she went over Mina she released her gravity and rolled onto the ground. Mina was fast to change directions and slid over to where Ochaco was now it.
This was going to be hard. Mina had the advantage of speed and range, and Ochaco had no ammo to work with. All she could do was avoid Mina until she found an opening.
"You've been getting more and more lately, something on your mind?" Mina teased as she skated by, nicking Ochaco's hand with droplets of acid.
A lot was on her mind, the match, Ida, Bakugo's strange behavior, USJ, Midoriya. So much kept swirling around in her head and it was driving her crazy! It was like trying to remember a song you heard from your childhood, so close to recalling it but not enough to piece it together.
It was stuck in her head and she couldn't get it out.
Mina was using everything to her advantage, the longer time went on the more of the arena was covered in acid. She taking Ochaco seriously but for the life of the brunette she could not put forth her one hundred percent effort.
"Come on Ochaco!" Mina cheered, going into a jump and a spin, landing with grace across the slippery surface. "Show me your moves!"
"Come on Ochaco!" A pink skin girl cheered with yellow eyes and black Sclera, wearing an old dress skating across the slippery stone. "Show me your moves!"
Her little feet nervously tiptoed out onto the floor. She slipped, and fell, but she kept getting back up. Soon the little girl was skating with her friends across the liquid.
Mina tossed another ball of acid, expecting Ochaco to jump above like before she prepped another in her other hand. Instead Ochaco ran forward, stepping onto the acid and sliding right to her using her shirt to take the hit of the glob.
"WAH!" Mina panicked at the unexpected move, slipping and falling onto her back. Ochaco hopped on the acid, landing her knees right into Mina's ribcage and sending the air out of her lungs.
"Yield." Ochaco said with a fist right above Mina's face, the other resting on the top of her pink hair just around the horns.
"...Wow you are intense today."
"Awwww little Izuku!" Nejire squealed looking at the reflection of the young boy.
"He's not so cute when he's talking." Toru mentioned to the bluenette.
"Really?"
"We only reflect what's truth."
"...Oh, yeah...that's not cute at all."
Izuku ignored the two girls, instead focusing on his own reflection, the one that mirrored his current life. "So, I just need to move on right?"
"Yep."
"Any particular way how or am I just supposed to figure it out?" He asked with a hint of humor in his tone.
"We are warned about interfering with the timelords, for they have the final say on the laws of time."
"Yeah, we can be stubborn like that." He nervously chuckled, trying to get along with this particular life form.
He didn't blink, or react. Geez this guy was supposed to reflect him right? What's with the dead expressions?
"Ok, well. Can I move on then?"
"To find your family?"
"Well, that's the end goal but there are some pretty concerning things happening right now."
"True. You have a list of many tasks ahead for you to complete."
"I kind of guessed that, from finding that Dalek, the cyber/human/original Izuku, someone stealing memories, and now everything your friend here brought up."
The reflection nodded. "Yes, many, many things to do and you have the lifespan to complete them."
"Perks of being a timelord." He said in a whisper.
Izuku's reflection let out a sigh, glancing downwards. "You don't sound like you enjoy it."
The physical timelord said nothing, just running his fingers over his new scar on the side of his face. "It isn't the same, without them."
"Of course it isn't, everybody knows that everybody dies, and a timelord has the burden to watch many species and many worlds be born only to turn to dust. Yet they could do it together."
The reflection then glanced over to the two girls, each trying to get the smaller Izuku to smile by putting their fingers to their mouths and stretching their faces. "Humans live short lives, and you feel you can't live with them."
"It's not like I have a choice."
"You do though."
The reflection's response earned the curious gaze of Izuku, then continued to speak. "Even if you expect the future to be bleak and lonely without another timelord, you are alive now and so are they."
Izuku looked over to Nejire, her hair sliding along her back at every turn of her head. Her bright blue eyes sparkling with that never ending joy that she shared with everyone around her.
"Do you want to be with her?"
"Yes."
"Then spend every moment she has left with her."
"But.." Izuku turned back to the mirror. "What if she doesn't want to?"
His reflection folded his arms around in front of his chest, quirking an eyebrow again in its most 'are you serious?' expression.
"Ok, dumb question she practically lives in the TARDIS now."
"So, what will you do Izuku Midoriya?"
"I think there's only one thing I can do." He said pushing his shoulders back. "Live."
His reflection finally smiled, nodding in acceptance. The mirror faded showing what was next. Roaring flames, mountains of ice, and screaming.
The red light of the fire caught the attention of the two girls, who's eyes widened at seeing the imagery.
"We're supposed to go...through there?!" Toru shouted in distress.
Nejire frowned, already going up to Izuku and grabbing his arm to hold him back. "I'm not letting you get burned again."
"I know you won't, which is why you're coming with me." He teased, earning a brief blush from Nejire. She smirked at the challenge, sliding her hand down to intertwine with his. Izuku could already make out the internal squealing from Toru, but it silenced pretty quickly.
"Wait, is that Endeavor?!" She pointed out the man currently flying around pissed off and battling an equally pissed version of himself.
"It's not just him." Izuku said noting a smaller figure scowling at his own mirror. "Todoroki's there too."
"How many people are we going to have to save before we can take a nap?" Nejire asked in a not so good mood.
Izuku turned to her puzzled. "Didn't you sign up for being a hero, saving people, all that stuff?"
"You and your logic. When is it going to earn me a nap."
"I'll make sure you get a good nap by the end of the day."
"Yes!" She fist pumped. "Are you going to take a nap too?"
"Your naps are a full night's rest for me."
"So yes?" Her eyes shined right in front of him, asking the unsaid question. Izuku gave in, giving her a smirk. "Alright, but we gotta get out of here first with everyone."
His green orbs turned to where the floating clothes stood in anticipation. "You go first Toru. You can scout out safe passages while using the mirrors to shield yourself."
"Roger roger!" Toru saltuted, from what he could see of her sleeve's motion. She then hopped through the mirror to do her duty.
Izuku glanced back to his younger reflection, the boy currently talking to his present reflection.
Yet there was another with them, a taller and slightly older man with sharp features. He had short dirty blond hair that stuck up in the air. He was dressed in dark slacks, simple black shoes, a white button up shirt with a loose tie, and a leather bomber jacket. The amber eyes soon glanced at him widening in recognition. Then they turned to Nejire, filled with sorrow. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to her, anything, but decided against it. The mysterious man gave one last look to Izuku, smirking and giving a short wave.
Hesitantly Izuku waved back, unsure if this was something he should even be doing. Now while he could easily guess who that was supposed to be, he wasn't sure he wanted that answer. Izuku decided to tuck that piece of information away for later, just another thing for his future self to worry about. For now he'd focus on his time with Nejire.
"Kick his butt!" Mina shouted from the stands. Ochaco was walking up ready to smack that rich boy down a peg or two. Ida kept his usual stiff demeanor as he ascended to the arena up the staircase. Once he noticed Ochaco's glare he spoke aloud.
"I know you aren't fond of me, but I hope we can set aside our personal feelings and give it our all in this match."
She nodded in acceptance, standing stiffly in place.
"FIGHT!"
Ida rocketed towards Ochaco, going into a dead sprint powered by his quirk right at her. Ochaco wasn't moving, only waiting while her fingers tensed. There were only so many options she could take, and Ida was able to gauge her fighting style from the last events fairly well if he dared say. It was expected for her to utilize her quirk to quickly jump out of his range and use her superior close combat to grapple him.
In class she demonstrated a skill for taking down larger opponents, and he was one of them. His best plan was to overpower her with swift kicks to knock her out of bounds. If she floated herself, it would increase the distance he would send her. If she floated him he could use his engines to propel himself wherever he pleased. It was a sound strategy that would guarantee victory.
He prepared his left leg for a powerful axe kick, ready to smack her down once she got into the air with her quirk to dodge his approach.
Yet she didn't do that.
*WHAM*
"OOOooohhh" The audience winced, some shielding their own eyes.
Ochaco did not do what Ida expected. Instead of dodging, instead of moving, she stayed rooted in place and threw a punch with all of her strength at his opening. That opening was between his legs.
His momentum carried him into a roll as he clutched his lineage in feeble protection.
"H-h-how c-could y-you?!" He cried, curling into himself in pain.
As everyone was trying to process just how he was put in such a state Ochaco approached in cold fury, kicking his ass and making him roll across the boundary line.
"Ochaco Uraraka...wins...Shota please tell me you didn't teach her that."
"Nope."
"...Then why are you smiling like that? It's creepy."
"RAAAAHHH!" The reflection of Endeavor screamed as he sent a barrage of fire to meet the real Endeavor's head on. They were perfectly matched, canceling the force of one another's out.
"If you stop this you might walk away with some bones still intact." The hero threatened.
He soared through the maze of mirrors and glass, the fire under his feet burning like jet engines to propel him to where he needed to be. Each and every time he turned his reflection was there to meet him. Ever since he arrived here it had been non stop combat with this impersonator. Whatever quirk they were using was powerful, but it hadn't touched him yet.
Endeavor flipped in the air, stomping into the ground to brace himself, unleashing a wave of heat. A spontaneous mountain of ice erupted, negating part of his attack much to his displeasure. "Shoto, stay out of this."
"Then keep your squabble away from me." His son coldly responded, glaring at him with the force of a blizzard.
The older man pushed back against the opposing tidal wave, gaining a brief moment to turn to his son. "This is hardly a squabble and if you dare interrupt me again I can't guarantee you won't get a matching burn mark."
Shoto's eyes narrowed, barely managing to restrain his anger between his teeth. "Is that a threat?"
"Just stay out of my way, and deal with that inferior version of yourself already." The man rocketed off again, leaving his son to simmer next to his reflection.
"We hate him so much." It said simply.
"You'd hate him more if you had to live with him." Shoto replied.
Like his father, he was uneasy about this development. The silence and darkness right before he entered this place was off putting. He nearly punched the mirror when he saw his reflection move on its own, but then it just started talking. Shoto wasn't about to try and kill someone just for impersonating him. Nothing, he was nothing like his father.
"We live together, I know exactly what you're talking about."
Shoto turned back to acknowledge the pain in the ass. "We don't live together."
"We lock eyes, every morning." It said, raising his hand up to touch the bottom of the scar. "Remind ourselves about what Mom did-"
Shoto's shoulders tightened.
"-Why she did it-"
"Stop."
"-And what we promised that day."
"I said stop." Shoto warned, a cold mist rolling off half his side.
"We promised to never let the world see what she saw that day."
Glaciers erupted around him, turning everything and everyone that was a hundred feet around him into popsicles. The imposter knew about that, no one knew about that. His family knew about how he swore off his fire, but not the core of it all. Shoto swore never to be anything like Endeavor. Mannerisms, fighting style, even quirk. Shoto wasn't sure how they could learn his innermost promise, but he didn't have to worry about it anymore. Whoever, or whatever that thing was, it could not escape that.
"That's not going to work."
He whipped his head around, coming from one of the random pathways his ice followed a hair of green emerged.
"Are you...real?" The bihair colored boy asked.
Izuku looked himself up and down. "Yeah, I'd be pretty concerned if I wasn't."
Midoriya? What was he doing here? He wasn't wearing his normal outfit, just his button up shirt and slacks. The scarring on the side of his head showed that Present Mic was telling the truth earlier. Two other figures soon joined, one less clear than the other. He recognized the invisible classmate wearing her UA gym uniform, but not the other girl with blue hair in more casual clothing.
"Brrrr, do you always freeze everything around you?" The blue hair asked, soon coming up very close within Shoto's personal space. "Hey how did you get your scar? Was it an accident with your quirk? Oh wait! Does your quirk do more than ice? It's really cold here."
Shoto didn't want to answer anything she was asking, yet before he could even deny her the answers she went off to Midoriya. "Hey Izuku? Why aren't you cold?"
"I have a lower body temperature. Your winter is like a chilly breeze for me. Uncomfortable but not life threatening."
"...cheater."
Izuku stepped back, slightly offended. "Well don't accuse me of cheating while he's standing right there!" He pointed at Shoto, more accurately one of his reflections in the ice.
One of many reflections, all moving independently.
"Right, forgot about you guys."
Shoto stood in front of his classmates and the rude girl in a protective manner. They were now surrounded by a mind reading shapeshifter who could apparently duplicate themself. It was clear his father was getting nowhere in his fight. Brute force doing nothing to stop these things. Honestly he didn't even know if All Might would have an easy time with this, and that man was unstoppable.
Well, he had suspicions about his fight with that self proclaimed 'Dalek'. All Might hadn't made an appearance to the public since then, and neither had Izuku Midoriya ever since he ran off to join that fight.
"Midoriya." Shoto said grabbing the freckled teens attention. "You said that wouldn't stop them. What do you know about them."
"Well." Izuku said, walking up to one of Shoto's reflections. Pointing his thumb at it, he started explaining. "This is your reflection."
The reflection looked between him, then Shoto, then back at Izuku and nodding with the answer.
Shoto ran his hand through his hair in agitation, glancing at the other girls to see if that answer made sense. Nejire nodded like it was obvious, while Toru just shrugged.
"I don't really get it. I just do what Midoriya says and it works out." She commented.
Shoto gave Izuku another look, the kind of look that says 'keep talking because I want to believe you're not this stupid.'
"I mean it!" Izuku threw his hands to show off the reflections. "They are literally your reflection! From the day you were born your life has been reflected onto water, mirrors, passing windows. They lived with you, shared your experiences. Everything you are is them, a reflection of yourself!"
That didn't sound very believable, then again nothing around here seemed believable. He'd play along for now and see where the quirkless boy was going with this.
"Fine, but what are we supposed to do about it?"
His reflections started to move, moving across the ice and coming closer and closer to him. Shoto lifted his hand, ready to try and fight the overwhelming odds that raised substantially protecting the three behind him.
A hand fell on his shoulder, Toru's hand specifically judging from the fact he couldn't see it. "Ok, I know I probably can't explain what exactly is happening, but I've seen enough to know fighting head on should not be the go to answer."
This was getting more and more frustrating. He wanted to shout, tell them to leave them alone so he could figure this out. Not hear some oversimplified twist on what he could already see. Shoto decided to ignore them and focus on what the enemy was doing. All the images were converging into one personage, his reflection standing right there.
"Todoroki." Toru gently nudged him.
She was easy to ignore, literally invisible. A red glow passed overhead, reminding him his father was still trying to fight in the background of all this. He never listened, never took in any suggestion. Shoto would never be like his father, and maybe it started with listening to the girl right next to him.
"Yes?" He asked trying to mimic her tone.
"If you were forced to live a life, had to make choices you never picked, and you finally had a chance to do something to change that. Would you?"
Of course he would, because he already lives like that. Shoto was literally made to live out a role, a purpose, and it wasn't even his choice.
"I would." The single reflection said. Shoto was about to turn away, solve this himself, but he saw that desperate look on that thing's face, his face. So for once he decided to listen.
"Give up already!" Endeavor smashed his fist into the glass, trying to hit his impersonator. The pieces shattered, each splintering off into separate sections with their own reflections. He grinned, finally some progress. His smirk vanished as he saw each individual face snarl at him.
Tons of individual blasts of fire burned towards him. Using evasive maneuvers he ignited his feet to rocket away to dodge. His sweat was almost blinding him after using his quirk for so long and fighting someone who also used flames. This was a predicament, he was starting to overheat and he had yet to identify a weakness to this villain.
"YOU MADE ME HURT THEM! SO MANY TIMES!"
Ugh, and all the shouting. Over and over the shouting, more annoying than Shoto limiting his strength by such a wide margin. His son would be able to handle a villain like this, or any villain once he utilizes his full potential.
"WHY DID WE HAVE TO BEAT EVERY LESSON INTO HIM?! HE'S JUST A CHILD!"
More shards whipped around him in flaming knives trying to pierce him. He swiped his hand to send a burst of heat to take them away from his body. The more this crazy imposter spoke the more unease swirled in him. He spoke of things that no common madman would know of. If it was a mental quirk he was battling, there was no use to fight physically.
He dodged a wide mirror that was hurdling in the air. This entire place stretched infinitely with all these windows and mirrors with no clear source of light. Landing with power he stood across his enemy wearing his face. It was clutching his head in anger, a tornado of fire wrapped around him.
"Touya, we killed him, forcing all our efforts on Shoto to make up for it."
And now he's said too much. Endeavor stomped to confront him, wanting nothing more than to pulverize the man. "If you think you'll succeed in blackmail you'll find no one will believe you, if you manage to escape me."
"We could have given them everything, but we keep burning everything around us to get what we want."
Endeavor squinted, expecting this to actually go somewhere. His reflection wobbled, shaking in rage that boiled him on the inside.
"We call ourselves a hero, but we are the farthest thing from it to those closest to us."
"I can vouch for him."
Endeavor turned to see his son approaching. He looked, oddly thoughtful about this. "Shoto, I told you to-"
"No." He cut the hero off, raising his hand and pointing at a reflection of himself. "Just, listen to what they have to say."
"Why should I?" His stern voice demanded. Out of all the times he had to argue with his son about things this was not the place or the time to-
Shoto raised his hand and let the flames he swore off dance in his palm.
That, was unbelievable. His son, the most stubborn teen in the world in ten minutes decided to use his flames?
"They only want to talk, to help us out." Shoto said lowering his arm. "Out of everyone here I think you need it the most."
This could just be another illusion, another mirror that reflected his son. Endeavor slowly approached his boy, raising his hand to rest on his shoulder. He could feel the heat, the same heat that he generated within him.
Flowing with the same chill his wife had.
"Father." Shoto snapped him out of his thoughts, looking him straight in the eyes. "You always wanted to be the number one hero, but did you ever want to be our hero?"
His mouth dried up, the soreness of the battle he had earlier seemed to magnify under his own son's question.
"Yes."
Those words came from his mirrored self beside him, the mask of flames he wore simmering down until the unhidden face of Enji Todoroki was exposed. No, this wasn't supposed to be the talk between the mirror and his son.
This was a much needed conversation that involved family.
Nejire, Toru, and Izuku watched from a safe distance. All watching a father and his son simply, talk openly, discussing a ton of things that was very, very personal.
"I feel kind of bad watching." Toru said, breaking the mood and letting an air of awkwardness surround them.
Nejire nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but I think it's really sweet. I wish my parents would listen like that when I still lived with them."
Toru hummed, then spun to face her in confusion. "Wait, where do you live?"
"Oh, I sometimes spend the night at Ryukyu's agency for some internship work. Most of it I spend in a blue box, sometimes a treehouse, sometimes something else."
"...A treehouse?" Toru asked, very concerned that her senpai was homeless.
"It's magic!" Nejire happily said like it was the best thing ever.
"It's not magic, it's dimensional engineering." Izuku grumbled.
Nejire gave him a pout. "Calling it magic is more fun though!"
Izuku gave in to the girl's whims, deciding just to accept it. "Alright Toru, lead us out."
"Why do you think I know the way out? Only those freaky deaky mirror people know the way."
Izuku reached over to pat her arm, stopping mid air and shifting his hand to the correct spot of where he guessed. She's invisible alright? He didn't want to accidentally go for a pat only to swing through nothing and accidentally hit her breast or something.
Yeah, didn't want to do that.
Finally finding where he knew (72% knew) where her arm is and gave a solid pat. "It's in your blood. Trust your instincts."
Letting Toru shift in place for a minute she finally picked a direction. "That way...I think?"
"Wait." Nejire stopped them. "What about them?" She pointed to the two Todorokis.
"The natives will show them out the way they came in." Izuku summed up. "Now then, reach out with your feelings."
"Hmmm." Nejire got closer to Izuku's face. "That isn't the way you normally talk."
"Just something I picked up training with the knights of Coruscant." Izuku smirked, tugging Nejire along to follow the invisible girl.
As they walked through the maze of shattering glass, mirrors, and all sorts of reflections, Toru stopped in front of a window that gazed into an empty hallway. "Wow, I can't believe that actually worked."
Testing the newfound exit, she stuck her hand out, and through the window. "Hah! We can get out!" She said excitedly, turning back to the two.
"Well." Nejire started. "What are we waiting for?"
"Nothing!" Toru jumped through the window, making it back to the planet she called home.
"After you." Izuku offered to Nejire politely. She gave a short curtsy and flew through the window.
Izuku was about to leave but a reflection caught his eye. Turning around he saw them, the three figures standing together.
His past, the small boy with the scarf. "We leave you with two warnings for your kindness."
His present, the teen with green curly hair. "The first, a spawn of Gallifrey who wears the devil's horn."
And someone he dare not guess. "The second, war will bring the last timelord out in the open."
With those warnings they walked away, leaving Izuku alone. He stood there stiffly, running the information over and over in his mind. These reflections, whatever their species saw respected the laws of time otherwise they would have been destroyed long ago. To spoil things about someone's future, was going against a basic rule, especially over such critical things.
If they were warning him, the followers of strict rules clearly breaking them…
Something big was going to happen, something that would either make history or break it.
With that large foreboding horizon now in his life, he exited the mirror dimension to get back to the one person in his life right now who could make him see the sun.
He needed a proper vacation.
I have been working on this chapter for over a week. I am so grateful to those who have been supportive and offering suggestions on how I can continue to improve. Unfortunately I was hung back a little by some sudden comments I got on how some people didn't like my story but didn't explain why. It made me over critical of my writing and halted my progress.
Too bad I'm too stubborn to officially give up this story. I want to complete it, no matter how long it might take me.
Who should win the sport's festival? What do those warnings mean?
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, feel free to send them! That includes grammar mistakes please let me know and I'll fix them.
Random65:
Yep! I'm not giving up on this story! In the future I will restore Ochaco's memories but who knows how she'll feel about that. It's going to be one of the upcoming arcs that I'm writing.
joeyginise:
Eh, writing thirteen different faces is a little much especially since I don't plan on writing this story that far. It took over fifty years for the official Doctor Who to get that far.
Creator of the multiverse:
Yeah, with fanfics that write their own plots and go off the standard story rails that suddenly update it can be a jolt. I'm glad you're still sticking around to see where this goes and appreciate that I'm not doing a copy and paste of MHA with just minor edits.
Cypher Script:
I got the idea from when the tenth Doctor trapped one of the members of the family of blood in the mirror dimension. It made me think about a species living in it and how the timelords could interact with them. Cyberdoriya will come into the spotlight very soon though!
EmperorNefarious1:
I thought it was a sudden shift in his character going from his introduction to his day to day mannerisms. He seemed more critical and once he made a judgment of someone it was hard to change his mind.
JacquelineWinterFrost:
I'm glad you like the story so much as to read it again!
Guest:
I appreciate it when people give examples of what they like and don't like about stories so I can do better. Just saying "I liked it until I didn't" doesn't help anyone. Certainly not me. Let me know what specifics and I'll promise to do better.
I don't own anything except for some cool DIY lightsaber lamps