Disclaimer: I do not own Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
My Hero Academia: Entreri Gaiden
Chapter thirty-seven: The old master
Fuyuki, Inko and Hikari had met back up with their respective pro hero mentors over at the hero agency that was ran by Bakugo. Upon running in, the three teens saw Fuyuki's parents Izuku and Ochaco, as well as Hikari's older cousin Ichimichi. Also, Inko's parents Bakugo and Pony were there, as were Hanta and Mina Sero, plus Denki and Kyoka Kaminari. Even Eijiro and Kinoko Kirishima were there as well.
Additionally, Fuyuki and the girls' classmates Ragna, Marley and Komaru were also there, as they were being employed as interns by their parents. "Alright everyone," Bakugo said, "As I'm sure you all have been briefed on, yet another one of the sidekicks employed by my agency has just been found killed. His jugular was slashed pretty damn cleanly."
That got a lot of the people present worried. "...Yeah, I got the details while I was in the way here, Baku-bro," Kirishima said in a grim, mildly worried tone, "The wound clearly looks like it had been inflicted by someone standing in front of the victim, rather than having sneaked up from behind."
Bakugo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, there's no way that son of a bitch Entreri is responsible. It's clearly the work of that old fart Hochu."
"The leader of one of the three factions all composed of the remnants of Mineta's gang," Kyoka said, "And one of the two leaders who is quirkless."
"I got word that a group of thugs from Hochu's faction are gearing up to raid a nearby warehouse," Bakugo said, "Where some gear and other stuff collected from the simultaneous raids on all of Grape Head's old stomping grounds is being held. It would go a long way to not only help Hochu's faction fight off the pro heroes and police, but also give him a leg up on the other two factions."
The pro heroes looked worried. Turning to face her brother-in-law, Ochaco asked, "So what's the plan here, Bakugo?"
"We get into position around the warehouse," Bakugo began, "Wait for the right moment to strike. Once we confirm that enough of those bastards are in, we surround the place and get as many of them as possible. If we see the old fart, incapacitating him will be made a top priority."
"Umm..." Everyone heard Komaru speak up, so they turned to face the timid, soft-spoken boy, saw that he had his hand raised. "...I know that everyone is saying that getting within melee range of Hochu is a bad idea," Komaru began, "But I think that dad could pull it off safely if he uses his quirk to harden himself enough, especially if he uses Unbreakable."
Some of the adults looked like they were considering the idea that the young autistic teen had suggested. "...The logic is sound," Izuku remarked, "Kirishima's quirk makes him perfect for going in close to physically restrain Hochu. As much of a master swordsman as he is, there are some things that Hochu can't harm with his sword."
The adults nodded in agreement. "We'll still want to play it safe, though," Kaminari pointed out, "I suggest a few of us distract Hochu by bothering him up front to his face, then while we do that Kirishima sneaks up from behind while he's hardened, then throws his arms around Hochu while pinning his arms to his sides, and keep him trapped like that in a bear hug."
"Yo dad," Marley began, getting Kaminari to turn to look at him. Gesturing to himself and his classmates, Marley asked, "What do you want the bros here and I to do for helping to take on that old sword guy?"
Holding up a hand to stem off any argument, Kaminari said, "Actually, I'm pretty sure the other parents here will agree with me when I say that you and your classmates ought to remain here at Bakugo's agency."
Marley, as well as Ragna and Inko, all looked annoyed and proceeded to complain, but their respective parents shut them down. "Kids, this is a dangerous criminal that we're talking about here," Sero said as he looked at his son and the other teens, "As well as what gang members he's got answering to him. Hell, I'm pretty sure he's more of a threat than some of the villains that are out there, even though he's just a criminal due to lacking a quirk."
"This is the plan, kids," Izuku said, his firm tone leaving no room for arguments, "The other adults here and I will take care of confronting Hochu and his faction at the warehouse. Meanwhile, you all will stay here under War Oni's supervision." The number one hero then turned to look at the Veldora family cousin. "Ichimichi, can we all count on you to keep an eye on all of them?"
The horned young adult woman nodded once in the affirmative, before giving her boss a salute. "You can count on me, Deku."
Inko, Marley and Ragna were still annoyed that they were being kept out of the action, while Fuyuki and Hikari respected the decision of the adult pro heroes. As for Komaru, he was relieved that he wasn't going to be knowingly dragged into a confrontation with a criminal who was more of a danger than some villains. Once everything was settled, the pro heroes going out to take out the members of Hochu's faction left, leaving Ichimichi in charge of looking after the interns.
As the adults left, Fuyuki for some odd reason couldn't help but feel that the adults leaving right now was going to end up being a bad idea. The son of Deku hoped that things wouldn't go and blow up in everyone's faces.
Over at the warehouse, the various gang members who had previously been members of Mineta's gang but now followed Hochu's word were going about their tasks, gathering up all of the stuff that was being stored there. If what Hochu said is true, then this would be going a long way to get Mineta out of jail; with Fine Wine back in the captain's chair, the gang as a whole would be saved, be brought back to its former glory.
"Hey, where did Hochu take the other guys off to?" asked a male thug with scruffy brown hair.
"Don't doubt what the sub-boss is doing," replied a bald male thug, "He didn't get to be one of the most notable persons who had ever worked for the boss by being careless. There comes a lot of wisdom with age like his."
A female thug who had long orange-red hair nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and the boss's policy of giving everyone working for him a fair chance has nabbed Hochu for the gang. Despite how he's quirkless, he's still bar none one of the single-most effective fighters among all of the gang to have ever served Fine Wine." A look of consideration appeared on the female thug's face. "I would say that I'd have to place him in the top ten, along with other notable elites such as Big Beef, Takuya, Ryumaru, Makoto, and of course Entreri."
"Takuya is also quirkless," the first male thug said, "And no one knows if Entreri has a quirk or not since he was never seen using one, and he never said anything on the matter."
The female thug chuckled in amusement. "...Entreri, Hochu and Takuya have all proven that the use of quirks isn't a requirement to kill." Turning to face the men, the female thug said, "We're going to need to find Entreri and convince him to join us in both freeing the boss and tracking down that slutty bitch who decided to rat the boss out to the pro heroes and police! We'll want to have that harlot ready for the boss to punish when he's back with us!"
"Hang on," the second male thug said, "How come we can trust you?" The female thug looked confused and offended. "After all, we got it that it was one of the women who turned traitor on the boss. How do we know it wasn't you?"
The female thug scoffed in an annoyed tone. "You forget that Hochu himself has passed me. He is not one who can be fooled. By saying you don't trust me, you say that you don't trust Hochu, one of the boss's most established and trusted elites!"
That seemed to get the second male thug to back down. Satisfied, the female thug smirked a bit. "...Good. Now then." Turning around, the female thug said, "While Hochu and the boys that he took with him carry out the part of the plan that Hochu is leading, we need to focus on what we're doing for our part. Getting as much gear and supplies from out of here as possible will help us get a leg up on Takuya's faction, as well as pose a threat to Makoto's faction."
"I still can't believe that Makoto actually wants to free the boss because he wants to kill him," the second male thug said, "By no means can we-"
"SMASH!"
A large portion of the wall was broken away by a powerful punch, prompting all of the thugs in the warehouse to take cover. When the dust settled, they all saw to their horror that Deku, the top hero in Japan, was standing there. Following him into the warehouse were Dynamight and Red Riot. The presence that the three heroes, two in the top ten and another of comparable skill and power, exuded scared the thugs a hell of a lot.
"Don't even try to escape!" Bakugo snarled, "We got you bastards surrounded! It's off to jail for the lot of you!"
"Damn it! They have other heroes helping out!" the bald thug snapped, and before long both Cellophane and Chargebolt came running in as well. The thugs of Hochu's faction gave all of their efforts, but with the five men, as well as their respective wives who are also pro heroes, all there keeping a lid on them, there wasn't much that they could do.
That didn't stop the female thug from giving off a knowing smirk, however.
...
It didn't take too long for the combined efforts of Izuku, Bakugo, Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari, Ochaco, Pony, Kinoko, Mina and Kyoka to quickly round up and defeat all of the thugs that were at the warehouse. More than a few police cruisers had to be brought in to transport the thugs that were quirkless to jail, while a few special prisoner transport vans had to be brought in to get the thugs with quirks to a villains prison for temporary holding until more refined judgement had been passed on them. The quirked thugs were fitted with quirk suppressing cuffs, naturally.
"Hey, hang on a minute," Bakugo snarled in a curious, mildly confused tone. Looking around, Bakugo asked, "Had anyone caught that old fart who's leading the faction here?"
"Yeah, Baku-bro," Kirishima said in a concerned tone, "I'm not seeing Hochu around here either. Did he slip away somehow?"
At that point, Bakugo and Kirishima, as well as Izuku, heard the female thug chuckle loudly as she was loaded into the back of a police cruiser by Commissioner Naomasa personally. Seeing that some of the pros were looking at her, the female thug offered them a knowing smirk. "Well you see, heroes, here's the thing. Hochu was never part of the team raiding the warehouse for the supplies inside. He's leading another team to carry out the plan's other half."
"The other half?" Izuku said, immediately alarmed.
Chuckling once more, the female thug said, "Since Hochu will succeed by the time any of you get there, I suppose there's no harm in telling you all what the other half of the plan is." Turning to look at Bakugo, the female thug said, "It's a good thing that it's late enough so that there's no one at your agency, Dynamight. Well, aside from one of Deku's sidekicks and a handful of little hero brats."
The pro heroes all looked shocked at what the female thug had just said. If it was true, then the kids and Ichimichi were all in danger. Immediately, Deku turned around and leapt up into the air, soaring right for Bakugo's agency, with Bakugo flying after his step-brother by casting a bunch of explosions from his hands to propel himself. Kirishima told the others what was happening, and together they all ran for Bakugo's agency, leaving the captured thugs to the police.
They had their children to save.
Over at Bakugo's agency, the six interns were hanging about under Ichimichi's supervision. "So Fuyuki, my good man," Marley began, looking curious, "Are you excited?"
The son of Deku turned to face his classmate. "...For what, pray tell?"
"The summer training camp," Ragna pointed out, "Our whole class will be going to a training camp for a few days to work on our quirks, figure out the best ways to apply them."
Fuyuki arched a wry eyebrow at that, his interest mildly piqued. He remembered the stories his parents had told him about their own experiences at the training camp. Granted, they and their class and schoolmates were all attacked by villains and Uncle Katsuki had been taken away (he was later rescued), but they still trained. And that was the important part.
"Who all will be going?" Fuyuki asked.
"Everyone in our class," Marley pointed out, "So in addition to you, me and Ragna, we're also going with Inko, Komaru, Sebas, Samidare, Kurama, Sigurd, Omono, Goukazaru, Toya, Aizawa and Hikari." Marley let out a troubled sigh. "...It'd have been a full class of twenty, but six of the girls were killed in the siege on UA."
Ragna scoffed bitterly. "Uhh, sure, five of those girls dying sucks, but Rem had been a complete and total bitch prior to her getting whacked by that Ryumaru fellow. Or did you forget what all she had done to fuck with Fuyuki's life?"
Fuyuki was still surprised that it had been Rem Ojiro of all people who had framed him and got him expelled from UA. He still wanted to know why she had not only gone so far, but chose him as her target. Sadly, with Rem having been killed in the siege on UA, the son of Deku would not get the chance to ask her ever. If Rem were still alive, then at a minimum he'd break her nose by punching her in the face.
Given what she had done, what all Fuyuki had gone through because of it, Rem would have been getting off extremely lightly.
As the teens were milling about, they and Ichimichi all jumped when they heard a large pane of glass shatter. Suddenly, a number of thugs ran into the otherwise empty agency that belongs to the pro hero Dynamight. The thugs spread out in the main lobby, effectively surrounding all of the teens and Ichimichi. When all of them were trapped, an older male voice called out to them, getting them all to turn and look in the appropriate direction.
"It would be wise on your part if you all played nice. After all, you all are key to getting Minoru-sama liberated from where he is confined, and it certainly wouldn't do in the least if the keys ended up getting broken." Stepping forward from the thugs surrounding the teens and Ichimichi, getting into the opening in which they were in as they were surrounded, was Hochu, the leader of one of the factions composed of the remnants of the Fine Wine gang.
Hochu looked as if he were about to speak up, but he stopped short upon noticing Ichimichi, and then Hikari after her. "...Those horns you two girls have growing out of your foreheads. Are either of you two by chance related to that ungrateful upstart Makoto who wants to free Minoru-sama so he can kill him?"
Gesturing to Hikari, Ichimichi said in an untrusting tone towards Hochu, "Hikari here, as well as Makoto, are my cousins. All three of us are members of the Veldora family."
Hochu looked like he was considering something serious. "...Perhaps I can make Makoto stand down and fall back in line with following Minoru-sama's will if I capture one or both of you two girls and hold you prisoner while threatening your lives." Holding up a hand, Hochu said, "Men, the two girls related to Makoto shall be mine to handle! The rest of you work on subduing the rest of the brats here!"
Like that, the fighting started. This was Fuyuki's first fight since his life had been messed up where he would be able to use his quirk, and he didn't disappoint. Running around, he smacked a few thugs on the back, making sure all five digits touch his opponents so that he could cancel gravity on them, thus floating them up and leaving them useless. He also made use of what all he knew of Gunhead style martial arts.
Inko fired the horns on her head at her opponents' feet, striking the floor near them. Upon making impact with the floor, the horns blew up, creating massive explosions that threw a few of the thugs back. Inko's horns quickly regrew, allowing the daughter of Dynamight to go for another round at the idiots who had dared to consider trying to carve a name for themselves by trying to start funny business at her dad's agency.
Meanwhile, Ichimichi herself, the only good guy there who was an actual pro hero albeit just a sidekick, was keeping Hochu at bay fairly well enough. She picked up a sofa in the lobby and threw it like a spear at the quirkless swordsman, who deftly dodged the massive projectile. The old master then had to jump back again when a stuffed armchair flew at him. Looking over to where the seat came from, Hochu spotted Hikari.
He turned back to face Ichimichi. "I haven't observed enhanced physical strength from that upstart Makoto," Hochu noted as he easily sliced a tall fake plant chucked at him by Ichimichi, "Might it be he only has what's normal for persons of his size and physical level, in return for those wicked flames of his?"
"Every blood member of the Veldora family has a quirk that draws from the legend of Kijins!" Ichimichi said, "There are multiple varieties!" Ichimichi picked up an armchair and chucked it at Hochu, making him jump back again to avoid it. Hochu was getting annoyed, as so long as the two horned girls kept him at a distance while getting access to big things they can throw at him, he won't be able to get in close.
Despite how the teens were able to take out a few of the thugs, they were still very much outnumbered. And with Hochu still easily in the fight, things would only get worse until they were all worn out enough for Hochu and his men to subdue and capture them. Thinking about this, Fuyuki looked up at all that he had floating in the air, thankful that his weight limit for his quirk was double what his mom had when she was his age; even now Fuyuki still has a higher weight limit than Ochaco, although the pro hero Uravity was close to brideing the gap.
Looking past what he had floating, Fuyuki saw the sprinklers, and quickly got an idea. "Inko!" the son of Deku called out, "Think you can hit the sprinklers and make them go off?"
Looking up, Inko remarked after a bit, "Yeah, but why do you ask?"
"Just do it!" Fuyuki called back. Not wanting to argue with her cousin right now, Inko fired her horns at the sprinklers in the ceiling, blasting them and making water rain down all over the main lobby of the Dynamight agency. "Komaru!" Fuyuki called out, "Spam your quirk! The water ought to help make things damp enough to speed up the process and make it easier for you!"
A look of mild surprise appeared on Komaru's face. "Oh! R-Right!" replied the son of Red Riot, "Guys, cover your mouths!" The other teens all did as Komaru said, as did Ichimichi who grabbed another armchair and chucked it at Hochu to distract him. As a result, Hochu as well as all of the thugs he had brought with him ended up seeing mushrooms grow all over them, even on the ones still floating due to Fuyuki's quirk.
What's more is that some of the thugs, including Hochu, knelt down as their breathing became a bit labored. After the last thug was incapacitated, Fuyuki called out, "Alright Komaru, stop!" The autistic teen did as he was instructed, stopping his quirk's spamming of mushroom spores. Looking around, the teens and Ichimichi saw not only a large mess, but a bunch of knocked out thugs, among which was Hochu, still gripping the handle of his cane sword.
Fuyuki looked around at all of the other teens, as well as at Ichimichi. Inko, Marley and Ragna had a few bumps and bruises, but nothing too bad; at the very least, none of them would need a trip to the hospital. Ichimichi and Hikari were both panting a bit but would be fine after a bit of rest. Komaru was still rattled by the attack on Dynamight's agency, but he was slowly calming back down now that the danger had passed.
The son of Deku looked around, saw that everything had been settled. It was around that time that police and the parents of the teens (aside from Hikari) came rushing in, only to stop short upon seeing what all was in the main lobby of the Dynamight agency. Fuyuki turned to look at the adults, offered them a wry look. "...I suppose that we have to give some statements, don't we?" Fuyuki remarked in a dry, knowing tone.
...
As Hochu and his men were all rounded up, the police got statements from the teens and Ichimichi on what had happened. The situation being what it was, the teens' unauthorized use of their quirks was excused, especially considering the fact that it could have been very easily reasonably assumed that their lives were in danger. Not only that, but they had taken out what was left of Hochu's faction, including Hochu himself.
One faction down, two more to go.
"Yeah, I'll call in a clean up crew to fix up everything tomorrow," Bakugo said as he looked around at the mess the teens and Ichimichi had made of his agency's front lobby while they had been fighting Hochu and his men, "Given what was forced on you all, I can't get mad at the mess you made of my lobby here. Hell, if anything I'm impressed at what all you did here."
"Baku-bro's got a point, guys," Kirishima said to the teens and Ichimichi, "You all did a pretty manly thing in helping to take out one of the three faction leaders. Now we only got two left that we need to take down."
"But you kids need not worry about that," Izuku said to the teens "You all will be heading on out for the training camp in a few days. Aside from Hikari's mom, all of your respective moms will be going to run the camp, help you train, and overall keep an eye on you kids. In addition to them, the rest of the women in their graduating year of UA's hero course will also be there to help work with all of you."
So all thirteen of the women in the legendary year of UA's hero course were going to be running the training camp, huh? Fuyuki was a bit bemused by that, given that he was still upset with all of them aside from Komaru's mom. Speaking of, Fuyuki looked over and saw Kinoko tearfully hug her son, relieved to see that he was unharmed. That kind of trust, kind of love, was what the pro hero Shemage had always shown her young special needs son, never showing him anything else aside from it.
It actually broke Fuyuki's heart to see it, as it reminded him that Ochaco apparently placed conditions on what affection she showed him.
END, CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Author's notes;
This chapter shows a few things, mainly Fuyuki's competence in commanding others in a fight against enemies while also taking advantage of the environment and what was available, him showing quick thinking, and the defeat of one of the three factions. This chapter also sets up how the students of Fuyuki's class are gearing up for their own training camp, where there is no way they will be attacked by bad guys unlike what their parents went through when they were all their age.
...Right?