Hey guys, it's me Searchsnake00103 here bringing you the next chapter of Izu-10. However before we get into it I just wanna say that I'm sorry, both for making the last chapter so long I had two split it into two parts and for taking me almost a year to finish.
I didn't mean for it to take so long to finish up, it's just that…. well, 2020 has been kind of a bitch. Back when this whole quarantine thing started, it really threw a wrench in my writing schedule as I had to now work on school and stuff from home, so between doing that and writing my other stories as well as trying to find a place I can go to for college really made it hard to find the time to write this. Fortunately when summer came around I was able to pick up the pace. For those of you who waited, I thank you for your patience and I'll try not to do this again.
Another thing I wanted to address was something I also addressed in the author's notes in chapter 6. That thing being this, am I doing a good job at this? I'm trying to make a good story, and I wanna know if I'm at least doing a good job at that.
I know I'm not like CreateGunner1209 or The Incredible Muffin, who have great MHA/Ben 10 stories btw, but I at least want to seem decent as I writer. So I'll ask again, am I doing a good job with the story. Things like character personality/development, the flow, storytelling, etc. Am I doing a good job at that?
I'd really appreciate it if you'd leave a comment. Your support really helps me and means alot from you guys.
But enough about that. None of you came here to hear this. It's time we finally introduced the Gwen equivalent of this story. I hope you all enjoy,
The Fan.
My Hero Academia is owned by Horikoshi
Ben 10 is owned by Cartoon Network
Hope you enjoy. And I hope you stay safe during these harsh times.
BOOM!
On a bright, sunny day in the downtown area of Musutafu, the sounds of chaos can be heard throughout the streets as small, five story apartment complex burned intensely while the high pitched wails of sirens permeated through the cloudless blue sky. Most of the firefighters on the scene tried their hardest to douse the roaring flames within the burning structure, but to no avail, while the rest had went inside to help evacuate the residents within. As firemen poured out of the building and handed off ash covered civilians to the paramedics on standby, police officers did their part by providing as a barricade to keep random bystanders from getting too close to the blazing inferno behind them. All the while, said pedestrians simply watched the burning building with concern in their eyes as they chatted amongst themselves and some recorded the whole thing with their smartphones while several news crews within the crowd reported on the scene before them.
"God damnit! Where are the damn heroes when you need them?!" An elderly fire chief yelled as he aimed at one of the windows of the burning building. Snapping his head to another firefighter nearby one of the firetrucks he asked. "You! What's the situation with Backdraft?! Any chance he'd be able to swoop in and help us out?!"
The firefighter shook his head. "Afraid not sir. He's currently five miles away at the moment. He said the quickest he'd get here is twenty minutes at the least."
"God damnit." The chief said under his breath. If things kept going the way they're going this entire complex will be nothing but ashes by the time Backdraft got here. Can this situation get any worse?!
"Sir!" One of the firefighters who had went into the building earlier to help evacuate came rushing out frantically towards the chief. "We have a situation! There's a mother and her kid trapped in the fourth floor of the complex and the flames are too dense to get through! We can't get further in without risking the threat of burning ourselves!"
The chief paled at this news as he looked up at the building and watched as the flames roared out from the windows. He just had to open his damn mouth didn't he? Damnit, he'd give anything right now for a hero to show up!
Inside one of the inner apartments of the complex, a young child clung to his mother tightly as the two of them could only do nothing but sit in the middle of their burning home in fear as raging flames and thick clouds of smoke slowly filled the room with each passing second. As they held each other closely and watched as their possessions and family keepsakes burned before their very eyes with red teary eyes from the smoke inhalation, they both silently prayed desperately for a hero to come to their aid. However, their thoughts of being rescued were broken when the two heard the sound of wood snapping above them. Looking up, dread and despair filled their beings as they watched the ceiling slowly shift and buckle before eventually caving in. Seeing the flaming debris falling towards them, both mother and son held each other closely and shut their eyes tightly as they awaited their inevitable end.
However, it never came.
After a few seconds both mother and son slowly opened their eyes to see what had happened, and what they both saw shocked them greatly. Standing in front of them holding up the flaming wreckage that was once their ceiling was a figure that was mostly comprised of magma and hot red stones while his head was engulfed in flames and his chest held a strange hourglass badge. Both mother and son knew exactly who this figure was, how could they not? This was one of the ten vigilantes of Musutafu.
"It's gonna be alright now. You two don't need to worry about anything. Why?" The vigilante, with all his strength, tossed the flaming debris he held to the side before turning towards the pair and gave them both a reassuring smile. One that reminded them both of a certain blonde haired man. "Because I am here!"
Turning away and looking around at the flaming apart, the vigilante outstretched his arms and quickly began to absorb the flames all around him, much to the shock of the mother and awe of the son. Within a matter of seconds the majority of flames within the apartment were completely gone, leaving behind nothing but a few small burning ones. Turning to the mother and son, he motioned for them to follow. "Come on, let's get out of here!"
At first, the mother was slightly wary to follow this man. Sure he might've saved her and her boy, but he was still a vigilante so she wasn't sure if she could trust him. However after feeling her child escape from her grasp and seeing him follow the vigilante with a hopeful expression, she realized that she didn't really have that much choice, and so she stuck close to her son followed the flaming hero out into the hallway.
"It's gonna be alright you two, we're almost there." The vigilante said as the three neared on the buildings stairwells. "All we gotta do his book it down the stairs and you two will be home fr-woahaho!" As the flaming hero spoke, he placed his yellow hand on the stairwells door and quickly swung it upon, however just when he was about to take a step in he quickly stopped himself as he saw that the entire stairwell had completely collapsed, saving himself from taking a nasty fall. Peering down, he saw what was once concrete stairs sitting at the first floor of the building completely surrounded by flames.
"Okay," He said as he slowly closed the door and before beginning to look around the burning hallway for new escape options. "On second thought, stairs are kinda overrated. Let's try something else?" After glancing around for a possible escape route the being made of flames and stone noticed a window not too far from where he, the mother and child stood. "Bingo." He said with small smile before turning to look at the mother. "You two might wanna close your eyes!" Turning back towards the window while the mother and son did as he said, he raised his magma covered hands up and summoned flames from his palms. "Cause I'm about to light it up!"
"Damnit all to hell." The fire chief said under his breath as he watched the blazing inferno in front of him continue to blaze on, not even showing the slightest signs of dying down no matter how much water he and his men splash in there. At this rate, the entire structure could collapse within a matter of minutes if they don't get these flames under control now. And if that weren't worse enough, there was a mother and her kid trapped in their as well, just his fucking luck. As he continued to spray he hose at the burning building, he looked over his shoulder towards a firefighter who was currently talking on a radio and asked. "What's the situation on the inside? Have our men managed to get further into the complex?"
The firefighter shook his head. "Negative sir. The flames are still too dense inside for them to get any further in. They can't do anything until we can get the flames low enough."
The chief looked away as he cursed underneath his breath. They don't have time for this. Right now, a mother and her son are trapped in that lethal hotbox and if they don't do anything right now then they'll both either roast to death up there, suffocate from the smoke inhalation, or get crushed to death by the collapsing building. And he'd be damned if he allowed that to happen on his watch. "What about Backdraft? Or any other heroes for that matter? Any chance one of them will get here quick enough to help us out at least?"
The firefighter once again shook his head at his leaders question. "I'm sorry sir. The only other heroes who are close enough to get here in time is that X-Less guy and guy with the dog quirk. Hound Mutt or Wild Dog, something like that. I'm afraid that Backdraft is the only hero close by that has the right quirk to help deal with this situation, and even then by the time he gets here there probably won't be much left to save here."
If it weren't for the civilians and press standing by, the chief would've screamed to the high heavens right about now. He can't let this happen, he can't just let two innocents die while he just stood there trying to extinguish a raging fire that wouldn't die down. He wasn't sure if he could live with that on his conscience. Won't somebody, anybody, come to save the day for Christ sakes?!
"Hey, look! What the hell is that up there!" Someone from the crowd yelled as they pointed towards the building with widened eyes gathering the attention of the entire crowd and even the fire crew, wondering what it was he was gawking at. As the people looking at the person began to turn their attention to what he was pointing at, their eyes widened as well, for what they saw was that behind one of the buildings fourth floor windows some orange and bright was glowing intensely behind the glass, making it stick out like a sore thumb.
At first people thought that this was simply just the flames from the inside, however most realized that this couldn't be the case because whatever was emitting such this light was far too bright to come from the fire engulfing the burning building. In fact the surrounding flames might as well be a candle when compared to this strange light. People began to mummer between one another about the suddenness of this strange light, as soon as they started talking however, something else happened just as suddenly as the appearance of this light.
Crash!
People in the crowd screamed in terrified, surprised shock as a massive ball of flame exploded out of the window, vaporising glass and concrete in its wake as it bent down at a ninety degree and went careening towards the ground below. Firefighters and paramedics below scrambled away from the blazing ball of heat while others who were near threw themselves towards the ground, placed their hands over their heads, and braced for the eventual explosion one would expect from a fireball striking the Earth. However, much to the surprise of everyone witnessing this, instead of exploding into a wave of heat, flames, and shockwaves the moment the ball of flame touched the pavement it instead erupted into a twister of flame. As everyone present watched the spinning inferno quickly dwindle into nothing, they were shocked to see that standing in the center of the twister was none other than the flaming Musutafu vigilante with a mother and child at his side. And to their surprise, other than a few soot marks on their skin and clothes the mother and son were completely unscathed from the flames of the twister, heck not even the pavement they stood on had a single scorch mark.
"Only crap! It's him! What's his name!"
"I think the online forums called him Charcoal Man or something like that?"
"Forget the name! Did you guys see how he saved that lady and her kid! That was awesome! He was like Endeavor!"
"I think you mean a better version of Endeavor. Did you see how his flames didn't even give those two sunburn? No way Endeavor could control his flames like that. Besides, unlike him, this guy doesn't have that stupid scowl of his."
Meanwhile as the civilians talked amongst one another, several of the news reporters and their crews crowded near the makeshift police barricade to try and get a good shot of the flaming vigilante with their cameras. In the crowd of journalists one of those reporters was Shinbun Kisha from the Chikyū-gai Campsite incident almost a month prior.
All the while as this happened, a certain firey being could only stare at the crowd with a puzzled gaze. "Sheesh. Even after all this time I still haven't gotten used to this kind of attention. Wonder if this is how All Might felt when he was just starting out as a hero?" Heatblast muttered out, with that last part being more of a whisper if anything.
"Umm... excuse me mister?" Heatblast was broken from his thoughts as he turned his head over to see the young boy and his mother standing by. "I just wanted to say thank you so much for getting me and my mommy out."
A warm smile (no pun intended) made Its way onto the Pyronites face as he was touched by the boy's words. "No need to thank me kid, I'm just glad that I was able to get you and your mom out of there. Knowing that the people I've helped are safe and smiling is all I need."
The young boy smiled slightly at Heatblasts remark as a pair of paramedics slowly walked their way over to the mother and son, gawking slightly at the vigilante as they have never been this close to one of them before. As the mother grabbed her child by the shoulders, she gave their rescuer a small 'thank you' before trying to meet with the paramedics halfway, but before she and her son could leave, the young child said one last thing to the blazing man. "You're really super cool mister! You and those other guys on TV too! You guys are as strong and heroic as All Might!"
And with that, the child turned away from the vigilante and followed his mother towards the two paramedics, who then began escorting the two over to the back of an ambulance to get checked out for any external or internal injuries. As they did so, Heatblast simply stood there and smiled fondly at the words the young man had told him. Had he been told this week's earlier, he was certain that he might've bawled out magma tears of joy right about now, but fortunately for him though, he's gotten used to being told these types of things whenever he's helped people out during his time as a vigilante. But still, while he might not have cried he couldn't help but feel deeply touched by these sorta moments. He wondered if this was how All Might felt everytime he helped someone with a smile on his face. He'll have to ask later.
"That was some fine work their, err, young man?" Heatblast was snapped from his thoughts as an elderly sounding voice caught his attention. Looking towards the source of the voice, the pyromancer was met with an elderly looking firefighter stand a few feet away, with two younger firefighters standing by his sides. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hitatakau Mizukesu, fire chief for the Musutafu fire department. On behalf of everyone on scene, I'd like to humbly thank you for helping us with evacuating the last of the apartments residents before the situation could have gotten worse. Normally, I would like to shake the hand of someone who has been a help to us but, um…." Hitatakau looked down at Heatblasts magma hands. "I'm not quite sure my gloves would withstand the heat. No offense."
Heatblast let out a chuckle. "None taken sir. And like I told the kid, there's no need for thanks. I just wanted to help and see if there were any people that might've needed any, and I'm glad I was able to help those two out in the end. Knowing that the people are safe is all I need."
Hitatakau felt the corners of his mouth curve up slightly at the vigilante's humility. Unlike some Pro Heroes he's worked with, this vigilante was certainly genuine when he said he only wanted to help out. Made him wish there were more heroes like that out there. "Well regardless, your help was greatly appreciated. Had you not shown up, I feared the worst for that mother and child. So again, thank you so much, you've done us a great and admirable service." The chief finished this statement by giving the Pyronite a slight bow before turning his attention towards the burning building. "Plus you've made our jobs easier. With one less thing to worry about we can focus on trying to extinguish these flames, but that might be easier said than done. With how strong and fast they're burning, I don't think we'll be able to put it out. Not without the aid of someone like Backdraft that is."
"Then allow me to handle it." Heatblast said as he turned towards the burning building and took a few steps forward, much to the confusion of Hitatakau and his men. "I might not get everything, but I should at least be able to make it easier for you guys to handle. Besides, I was gonna do this anyway."
Before the chief could ask him what he meant, Heatblast outstretched his hands and opened his mouth wide. At first the fire chief thought he was going to shoot a ball of flames or something similar given the position the Pyronite was in. But to his, and everyones, surprise instead of firing off a torrent of flames the fire from the apartment complex began to fly towards the blazing being and were then absorbed into his palms and inhaled into his mouth. Nobody could believe what they were seeing. For so long people thought that this firey vigilante was just a simple fire user like Endeavor, they believed that he could simply expel flames from his body and that was it. They never would've thought that this being could absorb flames as well. The only people who weren't as surprised by the scene was the mother and child, who had already seen this ability moments earlier, but they were still awed nonetheless.
"Dude. You were right, he IS a better version of Endeavor." One of the people from earlier said as they and their friend watched the scene with eyes while news crews were having a field day with what they were seeing.
After a few moments, Heatblast had completely absorbed a large majority of the flames from the apartment complex, leaving behind a few small minor flames that the fire department could easily extinguish. Once he had finished absorbing the last few wisps from the large inferno, he allowed his arms to fall down as he let out an exhausted gasp, clearly not used to absorbing such a large quantity of flames. As he quickly catched his breath, the Pyronite quickly covered his mouth as he felt a small, flaming belch begin to escape lips(?) before moving both arms down to rub his lean stomach. "Ahhh, that hit the spot." Heatblast said aloud with a big grin. While it wasn't nearly as good as Katsudon, the Pyronite won't deny that the flames he absorbed weren't tasty. Meanwhile, everyone around could only stare quietly at the vigilante with dumbfounded looks on their faces after what they had just heard him say and what they had seen him do.
However, the crowds dumbfounded silence quickly melted into roars of applause as civilians cheered for the burning man saving the day while news reporters tried desperately to get through the police barricade so that they could interview the flaming vigilante and learn whatever they could about him and his other nine "teammate's". All the while, civilians with their phones and camera men in the crowd repeatedly snapped photos of Heatblast, bathing the firey figure in white flashes of light. Heatblast could help but smile nervously as he turned to face the crowd before waving his hand in a small, weak way. The Pyronite was glad he couldn't blush, because he felt his cheeks slightly increase in temperature. "U-Um, thank you. No need for applause though. I'm just happy to help."
As the vigilante meekly waved at the crowd, he couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed by all this attention and appraisal he was receiving. A few weeks ago, these people wouldn't have given the "man" a second glance on the street, and they still wouldn't whenever he was in his "default" form. But to go from a silent nobody to the talk of the town in a matter of days was certainly jarring, he wasn't sure if he would ever get used to this type of attention. At least he wasn't a stuttering mess like before when he was starting out this vigilante business, so that was a plus at least.
"Out of my way! Just let me squeeze by just a little bit!" Within the crowd, trying to push their way past the police barricade, Heatblast spotted a woman trying to squeeze her way past two police officers with microphone in hand before realizing that this woman was none other than Shinbun Kisha, one of Musutafu's most experienced journalists out there. And it would seem she noticed him as well, because once her eyes landed on his firey frame, she held her microphone out as far as she could towards the vigilante while still trying to make her way past the police. "Sir! Sir! Shinbun Kisha for Juzo News! If you could just lend us a quick moment of your time, we'd like to ask you a few questions about the incident that took place here! Like how you were able to safely escort those two civilians or douse those flames so easily! Please sir, it won't take up too much of your time!"
Heatblast couldn't help but be off put by this woman's…. eagerness to ask for an interview. Reporters asking his several forms for interviews wasn't something he hasn't come across before, after all with how much vigilante work he does in broad daylight, they're was certainly going to be a few media vultures swarming around looking for the next story to boost their stations ratings. However most reporters were more level headed while the other more…. excitable journalists, just rubbed him off the wrong way. It honestly felt like they were ready to rip him apart to be honest.
Deciding that now was probably the best time to leave before the media began to pour through the barricade, Heatblast turned over at the fire chief, who was still staring at the building in shock, before nervously saying. "Um, hey, you guys can take it from here right? I really gotta get going. A heroes job is never done and all that. That uh, alright?"
Without turning to look at him the chief simply gave the Pyronite a weak thumbs, signifying that he and his team could handle the rest. With a small bow and a quick 'Thanks' the Pyronite began to immediately flee the scene by escaping into an alley between the burnt apartment and It's neighboring building, much to the dismay of Shinbun and everyone in the crowd.
"Hey, where's he going?"
"Probably off to do more hero work? After all, it wouldn't make sense to stick around once the job was done."
"Aw man! I was hoping to get a autograph!'
Meanwhile, Shinbun could only have a small panic attack as the vigilante left her sight. "No, no, no! Come back! I have so many questions!"
As the entire crowd talked over one another, the fire chief who had been silently staring at the burnt complex with shocked amazement replayed the events that he had happened moments prior. He couldn't believe how the firey vigilante was able to absorb all those flames like that. He's heard of quirk users who had the ability to control and absorb before, sure, but he's never seen someone use such a quirk to absorb such a large quantity of flames no less. Truly whoever that guy was, they most definitely had a powerful quirk, and since he was a team, it made him wonder. Did the other vigilantes possess such strong quirks as well, and if so, just how strong were they?
"Sir, you okay?" A young firemen asked as he walked up from behind, breaking Hitatakau out of his awed stupor.
"Huh? Oh, y-yeah I'm fine son." Deciding that it was probably best to get back to work, Hitatakau slowly turned away from the building and began walking towards the nearest fire engine so that he could get back to work. However when he passed by his young co-worker he stopped in his tracks and gazed over at the alleyway Heatblast retreated into before continuing with his previous path. He didn't know why, but he swore he saw something run into it from the corner of his eye. He didn't get a good look at it, as it was only there for a second, but Hitatakau could've sworn it was a-.
"Sir? What are you looking at?" The young firemen asked in a concerned tone.
"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing. Thought I saw something, but it must've been a trick of the eye." Hitatakau said before continuing on his previous path. "Come on, let's get back to work. No point in standing around twiddling our fingers."
"Right away sir." The young firemen said before following his superior towards the fire engine. Little did they, or anyone around for that matter, know that something had indeed slipped into the alleyway when no one was looking. And as they traveled down the narrow path, they smiled excitedly as they ran. They've been waiting for this moment to happen, and nothing would get in their way.
(Several blocks away)
Not too far from where the apartment complex stood, inside of an old dark abandoned warehouse littered with empty crates, broken shelves and junk all about , the faint sounds of high-pitched screeching and hissing could be heard echoing through the barren building. The source of the noise came from one of the warehouse doors as the lock of it glew a bright orange while a small stream of molten liquid metal dripped onto the floor. When an audible metal snap could be heard coming from the doors lock, almost instantly the orange glow disappeared from the doors metal before it was pushed open by a firey yellow hand, allowing a familiar figure to poke their blazing body into the warehouse.
"Hello?" Heatblast said as he glanced around the empty warehouse before allowing himself to step inside. As he quietly closed the metal door behind him and walked a little further into the large four sided room, he continued to check and see if there was anyone around. "Anybody here?" He called out as he walked through the desolated structure, making sure no one was around. When seeing that there was neither hide nor hair of anyone, the Pyronite let out a long exhausted sigh as he took a seat on a nearby crate just a few feet of him.
"Looks like the coast is clear." Heatblast said as he began to stretch his arms. "Which means I can finally relax for a bit. Mph, my arms are killing me." As the Omnitrix alien stretched his arms, several firey pops echoed from his arms as several small embers flaked from his appendages. When he finished getting the last of the kinks out, Heatblast lowered his arms to the sides as he began to recall the events of how his day had been going so far.
"Let's see here. Besides helping out with apartment complex this morning I had stopped a car jacking with Four Arms, helped a lost child find their parents with Snare-oh, helped some police officers catch some crooks with Big Chill, and lastly I acted as a human shield for a family during a villain attack as NRG. And since All Might can't train me today because he has important hero work to attend too, I think I can confidently say that today has been a pretty good day. Especially with the delayed training, I can finally rest a little bit easier today." Heatblast smiled fondly at the end of his sentence. While he knew All Mights training was necessary, he wouldn't deny that he did enjoy a break from the hellish training. Well, technically it was always hellish to begin with. But lately it was even more hellish than ever before.
And the reason for that was when Midoryia returned home after his intense day with the bounty hunters days ago. When his mother and mentor immediately jumped at him and asked what had happened at the park, Midoryia knew that he was in for a crazy evening that day. Once he explained everything that had happened, with him using Tetraxs broken helmet as evidence to support his claims, to say Inko and All Might acted hysterically was putting it lightly. After Izuku had finished explaining his story, the next few minutes were spent with Inko crushing her son in a tight bear hug while frantically asking if he was alright, All Might panicking as his student/successor was almost killed by space bounty hunters, and Izuku trying to desperately defuse the situation while having the air from his lungs squeezed out of him.
After the trio had calmed down a bit, (though only because the neighbors of apartment threatened to file a noise complaint), Inko had immediately decided to ban her son from anymore vigilante activities as she didn't want to risk losing her only family again, however Izuku wasn't necessarily so keen on that idea. Sure he was almost killed on more than once that day, but that didn't mean he didn't want to stop helping people. Izuku wanted to protest his mother's rather hastey claims, however before he was able to get the chance to, All Might decided to speak upon his successors behalf by telling the single mother that banning her son from vigilantism wasn't exactly a smart option. When the Midoryia matriarchy asked why, the shriveled up blond stated that the three bounty hunters came after Izuku in the first place was because of the Omnitrix, meaning that they would've went after the teen regardless of whether or not he was a vigilante. Yagi also pointed out that someone was clearly trying to claim the device from the greenette, first with those drones back from the campsite and now with the bounty hunters, and stated that whoever or whatever was trying to do so could easily either send something far more powerful next time or come for the watch themselves.
When Yagi had pointed these few details out, Inko couldn't exactly find it within herself to disagree with the blonde man's logic. After all, if there was someone out there looking for the watch, then who's to say they won't just send something far more deadly after her son? She didn't like thinking about that possibility, but the rational side of her knew this was a serious possibility. After digesting this knowledge for a few moments the Midoryia matriarchy asked the blonde what he would suggest then, and after a brief second of pondering an answer, Yagi replied with even more training, going back on his previous decision to take a break from using the Omnitrix for a while. When Inko asked him why he thought that was such a good idea Yagi explained that the only reason Izuku was able to survive for so long was because of either sheer luck or with the aid of Tetrax, and if something more powerful were to come to Earth, chances were that Izuku wouldn't be able to survive such an encounter. So, to avoid such an event happening, Yagi proposed that if he were to increase Izuku's training regime even more while also still continuing his vigilante exploits, Izuku might stand a chance against whatever comes to Earth next.
After considering this proposal for a bit, as well as listening to her son plead for her approval, Inko reluctantly decided to agree with allowing more training, as well as letting him continue being a vigilante. However she had two conditions. The first being that his grades were still good and the second being that, if he were to ever encounter foes too powerful for him to handle, the first thing he should do is immediately run away and head for the nearest heroes. Izuku immediately agreed with these terms while Yagi simply gave her an affirmative nod.
Ever since then, Izuku's life has pretty much been more or less exhausting overall. Between All Might's ninth circle of hell training, his vigilante activities, and his keeping up with his grades, Izuku barely had any time for himself anymore. Everyday he would return home from training, his muscles would be screaming at him to relax as he tried to get all his homework done within a short amount of time. By the time he would finish having dinner with his mother and getting ready for bed, Midoryia would be so drained both physically and mentally that he would just pass out as soon as his body would hit the bed. All Might definitely wasn't kidding around when he said he'd increase his training, not in the slightest.
It might've sucked, but Heatblast knew it was good for a reason. And besides, while it might've been tiring for him to do, he couldn't say that it was all bad. During the short amount of time since he began his newfound training, he has noticed that in his original form he has gotten somewhat stronger in his regular form. And he's learned a few new trick for some his aliens, for example when training in his Diamondhead form a few days ago the alien teen discovered that his Petrosapien form was not only limited to firing crystals and making crystal constructs with his body, but he could also summon crystals from the ground as well, essentially allowing him to create walls from a distance and trap enemies in an inescapable crystal prison as well. The teen learned this ability by complete accident as when he was cleaning the beach with a powered down All Might, the teen noticed an old microwave fell off from one of the garbage mounds and was falling towards his mentor. In a panicked state the crystal teen tried to warn his mentor while holding out his hand in an attempt to shoot the junk out of the air, but to both their surprises, a dark green crystal wall popped out of the ground near Yagi, shielding him from the scrap.
There were other things the vigilante youth discovered he could do with his other forms, but they seemed small compared to what he learned with Diamondhead, for instance he's learned how to control Heatblasts temperature a little better. Besides that though, the past couple of days have just been nothing but hardcore training and vigilantism day in and day out. He knows the path to being a hero was long, hard, and demanding, but he knew that even the top heroes need a break every now and then. Maybe he can ask All Might tomorrow if it would be possible for a break sometime soon, that way he can rest up for a small while, write some long overdue logs in his hero journal, and maybe even come up with possible abilities for his alie-.
Clash.
Heatblast was broken from his thoughts when he heard the sound of glass falling somewhere in the warehouse, causing him to bolt up from his seat on the crate and take up a defensive stance.
"What the hell?" The Pyronite questioned out loud as he gazed around the empty, desolate store facility before turning in the direction of where the sound came from. There was no way anyone knew he was here, he absolutely made sure nobody followed him all and he did so by checking over his shoulder constantly while on his way!
Deciding to see what had caused the sudden noise the fire alien slowly moved his way over to where it came from, all the while glancing around the entire warehouse to be absolutely sure he was the only person within the buildings confines. He knew he could just be being paranoid, but he couldn't risk transforming back into his human form if someone was around. So hopefully, whatever caused the sound wasn't some nosey reporter or, even worse, a villain who had decided to do some shady business within this abandoned structure, otherwise he'd be in a whole world of trouble.
After taking a few steps and rounding the corner of a decrepit warehouse shelf, Heatblast walked further into the warehouse and closer towards the source of the sound before his eyes fell on the thing responsible. A few feet away from where he stood, the shattered remains of a glass jar lied on the floor. Behind the shards of glass was a large crate and sitting atop the wooden box was none other than the culprit of the noise. And that culprit was….
A rat. A large, hairy rat that was just looking around for something to nibble on before noticing the flaming figure standing just a few feet away with a shocked/embarrassed look on his firey face. Giving the flaming vigilante a small squeak, the vermin quickly jumped to the floor and scampered away into the darkness of the warehouse, leaving the vigilante to stand there all by himself.
Taking a deep sigh Heatblast, while relieved that the cause of his alarm was just a plain old rat, couldn't help but feel like he had egg on his face as he was slightly panicked over a simple pest of all things and feels as though he should've known better. He felt like face palming, of course it was a rat, how on Earth did he not realize that sooner. In a place as rundown as this, of course there was bound to be a few unwanted squatters scurrying around, forging for anything they can survive off of.
The Pyronite turned away from the broken glass to head back to the exit and wait out the rest of his time, feeling slightly miffed that he was startled over a dumb rat of all things. However, when he turned around to begin making his way over, his circular eyes widened with shock when he was met with the unexpected sight.
Directly in front of him was a person. A person who, without any warning or sound, was directly rushing towards him at breakneck speeds. The speeding figure was moving so quickly that the flaming vigilante was barely able to catch a glance of two shiny objects the figure held in each hand, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what those objects were.
Caught of guard by the figures sudden appearance, and with how close they were getting, Heatblast was barely able to lean away in time as the figure swung their right arm in a horizontal path, causing the tip of the sharp weapon to almost graze the vigilantes rocky body. As the figure quickly raised their left hand above their heads to take another slash, Heatblast quickly moved to the side in time before the figure swung their blade down. This caused the figure to rush past Heatblast before quickly stopping themselves in front of the crate, and as they stood in front of the wooden box they swiftly spun their bodies around to face the confused hero. As the flaming vigilante watched this mysterious being spin their head around, he immediately began to jump back to put some distance between them before raising his arms up as he took up a defensive stance. Glaring at the sudden attacker, Heatblast was ready to give this creep the worst sunburn ever, however as he glared down at the figure he was able to get a good look at his ambusher, and what he saw caused him to widen his eyes in surprise and confusion.
"What the-?" Heatblast asked in bewilderment as he stared at this mysterious person. Instead of some back alley thug or hostile homeless squatter, like he initially thought, his silent attacker was someone who didn't look like they belonged in a place as decrepit as this. The first thing he noticed about his attacker was that they were actually a she, and the second thing he noticed was that she was a school girl, if her outfit was anything to go by. She looked to be no older than he was, when in his original form, maybe by a year or two. There was no denying that she was a middle schooler though, her outfit made sure of that. The girl wore a large, beige button up cardigan with pockets on the sides that seemed far too large for her to wear, however around the neck area the flaming alien could see a Kansai collar with a red scarf sticking out of it. Around her waist was a short, dark blue dress skirt while her legs were cladded in black knee socks and dark brown dress shoes with thick heels. Her skin, while pale, was fair and her body was petite, however she was by no means scrawny. Her legs were tone and, judging by that surprising speed, Heatblast had to guess that she had an athletic build underneath that sweater. However her most eye-catching details were located on her head. The girl had pale, dirty blonde hair that was styled into two messy buns while her bangs were a straight fringe and two chin length side bangs framed her face. She had yellow cat-like eyes that seemed to tilt inward and had a thin layer of bangs underneath. The most noticeable things about her face however, and what creeped Heatblast out the most, was the wide unsettling grin on her face that revealed a pair of sharp canine's, the presence of a faint blush, and that look of awestruck present in her eyes as she stared at the flaming hero.
If Heatblast wasn't so creeped out by the look on the girls face, he would've sworn she seemed familiar.
"Wow." The girl said as raised up her hands and twirled the knives she held around. "Even when I was able to sneak up on you, you were able to notice me in time to dodge my blades. That was just so cool!"
"Eh?!" Heatblast exclaimed, causing the girl to giggle. Did she just compliment him after she tried to attack him? Just what the heck was going on?
"Hehe, that look on your face is so cute. I didn't know someone could be both cute AND cool at the same time! The news certainly doesn't show us this side of you." The girl stopped twirling the knives in her hands as she dropped her arms to the side. Leaning her body forward, the girl began to sprint towards the vigilante once more as she adopted a feral look in her eyes. "Show me more! I wanna see if you're truly amazing in person as you are on TV!"
As the girl sped towards her target, time seemed to slow to a stop as Heatblast was caught off guard by this girls behavior. Just who the heck was she? And what exactly was her deal with him? Was she a villain looking for a name for herself or just some crazy lady looking for a dangerous thrill? As the blonde moved closer and closer to the flaming vigilante, the blazing teen shook his head to clear his thoughts. Regardless of who she was or what her beef was, Heatblast knew he had to deal with her and fast.
Once the girl was a few feet away from where the alien teen stood, she swiftly brought her right arm back before quickly shooting it forward in an attempt to pierce the beings rocky exterior. However just before the tip of her blade could so much as graze one of Heatblasts red-hot coals he swiftly moved away in time, causing the crazed blonde to sail by once more. Quickly stopping herself just behind the vigilante she quickly spun around to try and take another slash at Heatblast, but this proved to be a useless endeavor as the Pyronite was able to snatch her arm up, much to her suprise and delight. She tried to break free from her targets grasp, but was stopped however when she felt her trapped arm being to burn up as Heatblast squeezed her arm tightly. It didn't take her long to yelp out in pain as her arm felt like it was being scorched before quickly letting go of the knives in her hands from sheer pain.
As the sharpened weapons clattered against the ground, Heatblast immediately loosened his grip and dialed down his heat before shoving her away, making her stagger before eventually regaining her balance. The girl gripped her arm tightly with the other as she rubbed and blew on the spot she was grabbed in order to soothe the burning sensation. Grabbing her cardigans sleeve, which was now covered in soot and small scorch marks, she pulled it down and saw that her entire forearm was now a bright red and would probably need either soothing cream or cold water to make the pain go away. But seeing as she didn't have e any of that at the moment, blowing on it would have to do.
As the girl was distracted with trying to soothe the pain, Heatblast decided to take this opportunity to blast the knives on the ground with an intense stream of flames, causing them to slowly melt away into scalding puddles of liquid metal. By the time he had finished reducing the blades into an unrecognizable heap on the floor, he turned his gaze back towards the girl who had been watching the vigilante melt down her knives in amazement. Normally, this would piss her off, but instead she couldn't help but be amazed by this display.
"This is so amazing." The girl said to herself as her cheshire grin grew in size as she stared down at the metal puddle a few feet away, seemingly forgetting about the burning sensation in her arm. "It hasn't even been half a minute and yet he was able to stop me with ease. These vigilante guys are really something else!"
As the girl gushed about her defeat, Heatblast could only stare at her in confusion as he didn't know what to make of this girl. During his time as a vigilante he's fought bank robbers, small-time thugs, and the occasional D rank villain now and then. But never once has he ever met someone who acted so…. amazed by him before. Usually they just get angry or scared whenever he fought and captured them. Deciding to figure out what this girl's whole deal was, the Pyronite quickly walked over to the blonde to get answers. When she noticed the vigilante moving towards her, she simply gave the firey figure a large grin and didn't change it. Not even when he grabbed onto the collar of her cardigan as he tried to get answers from her.
"Alright you, you've had your fun but now you're gonna explain yourself. Mainly, you're gonna tell me who you are and why you just tried to attack me just now. Got it?" Heatblast said as he tried his best to seem intimidating to the girl, hoping that he could get some answers out of her easily.
Sadly however, that would seem to not be the case as the girl giggled at the Pyronites tough guy act. "Ehehehe, even when you're trying to act angry you're still cute. I never would've thought that I would find a flaming pile of rocks to be this cute! I wonder if the other vigilantes act as adorable as you?"
While he didn't show it, the flames around Heatblasts face burned hotter slightly from being called "cute" of all things. Were it not for the blonde that attacked him being held in his hands, he would've become a mumbling mess right about now. But he shook his head, now was not the time to act like his timid self. He needed answers, and quickly. "That doesn't explain why you just tried to sneak up on me earlier. Talk. Now."
Again, the girl simply giggled at the vigilantes staged bravado. "Well alright, since you insist so badly. My name is Himiko Toga!" The girl, now known as Toga, exclaimed as she gave the vigilante a cheerful wink. "And as for why I tried to take a stab at you earlier Mr. Vigilante was because I wanted to see if you really were amazing in person as you are on the news. Earlier when you finished saving the day, as usual, and fled the scene I decided to follow you while everyone was busy squabbling amongst each other to notice me slip by. I couldn't let an opportunity like this slip by, after all I've been trying for weeks now to find a way to get close to one of you vigilantes. I wanted to see if you guys lived up to the hype, and even though it was just you, I can tell the media wasn't lying about you guys one bit. You really are something else."
"You followed me here to attack me just so you can see if I lived… up to your expectations? Why?" Heatblast said in a confused tone, still not understanding the logic.
"Hehehe, because hotty. I'm your number one fan!" Toga exclaimed proudly as she raised her hands in the air. "Well, technically I'm your TEAM'S number one fan. You're my eighth favorite out of those other ten guys. But that doesn't mean I think of you any less, you're still pretty cool in my eyes."
"Wha-?!" The alien teens embarrassment being to surface as he began muttering uncomfortably, forgetting that the girl in front of him tried to stab him moments prior. "Wait?! Me?! You?! Biggest fan?! But why-?! I mean I'm-?! Surely there are other heroes you can be a fan of?! I mean, no offense, but I, and my um, team, are just vigilantes so I'm not- i mean we're not necessarily licensed and I'm- we- oh man!" The Pyronite doesn't know how to react to this. He knew there were some people out their that liked him and his other forms, but he didn't think he had a NUMBER ONE FAN of all things! The mere thought of him having one is causing his brain to go haywire.
As the vigilante tried to digest this new piece of information, Himiko just watched with an amused expression as she just stood there. While a man made from molten rocks and lava wasn't exactly her type, she'd be lying if she didn't say that she found Heatblasts nervous and embarrassed mumbling kinda cute. It almost had a somewhat boyish charm to it.
After a minute of watching the flaming man stumble on his words, Toga decided to answer why she was such a huge fan. "Because hotty, unlike those other heroes, you and your buddies are everything I've ever wanted to be. Free." Toga's response to the flaming being, causing him to stop in his tracks as he gazed confusingly at the blonde, wondering what she meant by "free". When she saw the confused look on his face, she decided to elaborate. "You guys aren't like everybody else, who just stand idly by during times of trouble out of fear of getting punished by society for helping out. No. You guys are willing to help out anyone regardless of what society says. You guys aren't afraid to do what you want, you aren't afraid to be free and live your lives how you want too, and that's why I think you guys are so awesome. Because just like you, I wanna be able to live life how I wanna. I'm sick of how people say I have to act a certain way, or tell me how to do things. I'm sick of pretending I'm someone else just to fit in with societies standards. I wanna be just like you guys! Living free and doing as I please without caring about what others think of me!"
While Heatblast was still cautious around Toga, he couldn't help but feel slightly flustered that someone around his age wanted to be like him, even if he was confused by the blondes declaration of wanting to "live free". What did she even mean by that? Did she want to be a hero like him, or a vigilante? If the latter was the case, then he should try to set her straight as he didn't want to be responsible for inspiring someone into taking the law into their own hands. Before he could open his mouth however, his magma beating heart sank as a familiar sound began to echo through the warehouse.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
"What the?" Toga asked, startled and confused by the sudden sound of beeping before noticing the symbol on Heatblasts chest flashing red. "Hey hotty what's going on with your-?"
BWOSH!
Before Toga could finish her sentence, a flash of red erupted from the vigilantes chest causing the interior of the warehouse to be flooded with crimson while the school girl had to shield her eyes due the lights intense brightness. As the light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, Himiko rubbed her eyes viciously to try and get rid of the stars.
"What the heck hotty?! What was that…. for?" Himiko asked in an agitated tone before her voice died in her throat when she removed her hands from her face and saw what stood before her. Standing directly in the same spot as Heatblast, with a deer in the headlights look on his face, was a boy around her age with messy green hair, emerald eyes, and four small freckles on each cheek in a diamond formation. It didn't take long for the blonde to figure out that this middle schooler was also the flaming vigilante moments prior, but even though she placed two and two together didn't mean she was still shocked regardless. "H-Hotty?"
"I-I-I U-UH- W-W-AH- I-I." Midoryia was a mumbling wreck at this point. He couldn't even form a simple sentence to save his own life though that was to be expected. After all, his true form, the one thing he's been trying to keep hidden from the public, was now laid bare before the presence of a complete stranger. One that had tried to stab him not even two minutes ago he might add. However, while Midoryia was choking on his words, his mind on the other hand was going full meltdown.
'AAAAAHHHHH! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! This can't be happening to me right now! What do I do?! I can't just leave her alone now! She's seen my face, she knows what I look like, and I can't have her go telling people! Think Izuku, what can I do to keep her quiet?! Tell her not to tell anyone?! No, that's dumb! Lie?! No wait, I'm terrible at that! Maybe she'll accept a bribe? Yeah that could work, I think? Oh who am I kidding, I'm a middle schooler from a lower class family! There's no way she'd keep my identity a secret for just a few lousy yen! Gah, what do I do?!'
As Izuku tried his best to think of a way out of this predicament, Toga just stood there and stared with the same slightly shocked expression before it slowly melted away into a large grin as stars began to appear within her eyes. "Oh my goodness!" She leapt at the greenette and wrapped both arms around his neck. "I can't believe it! One of the Musutafu vigilantes, a member of the coolest vigilante group to appear since the Red Alert organization from fifty years ago (1), just so happens to be a cute boy! And around my age no less!"
While Toga gushed in excitement over her recent discovery Izuku, whose skin was currently a deep crimson, couldn't comprehend what was happening to him. With the shock of his true form being revealed, the horror of this schoolgirl knowing what he looked like, and the pure embarrassment of being hugged by a girl just now coursing through him, he felt as though his head was ready to explode from all these thoughts and emotions running rampant.
As Izuku just stood there trying to understand the situation, Toga released her grip from the boy and continued to speak to herself. "Oh man, I really wish I had my phone on me right now! People are not gonna believe that I, Himiko Toga, just met a member of the Musutafu freaking vigilantes! Ehehe, oh man, I can't wait to tell someone! I'm probably gonna be the most popular girl ever!"
These words seemed to break Izuku from his mental meltdown, though they did nothing to ease the boys panic. This girl knew the second biggest secret identity in Japan, (second only to All Mights of course), and was now talking about sharing that information with God knows how many people. The thought alone was enough for him to have a full scale panic attack. Sure, chances are that if she did tell the public about his identity as one of the Musutafu vigilantes, then there was a very high chance that people wouldn't believe her. After all, the only proof she had was her word, and in this day and age that hardly meant anything anymore. However, while the greenette knew that the chances of people believing her claims were extremely low, the more paranoid side of him also told him that the chances of people believing the blonde were there too. Sure, they were extremely low, but Izuku still didn't want to risk it. Almost everyone in Japan at this point is asking who his transformations are, and if this girl blabs, some of those people might start looking around until they found out his identity. And he'd rather keep that a secret for as long as possible.
"No!" Izuku barked, startling Toga slightly, as he shot his arms forward and clamped his hands on the girl's left wrist. "You can't share this information! There's a reason why it's called a secret identity in the first place!"
"Huh?" Toga said in a perplexed tone as she cocked her head. "Why? I've seen videos of you doing hero stuff when there are police and heroes around and never once in those videos do either of them try to arrest you. Heck, in some of those videos you even talk to the cops and they do nothing. What's the point of keeping your identity a secret when the heroes and police won't even give you a slap on the wrists?" Toga finished with a toothy smile before her face switched back to its perplexed look. "Hey, now that I think about it, why don't you get arrested? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you aren't, but I just find that weird considering you're a vigilante and all that."
Izuku decided to ignore that last question in favor of answering her first. "Look, um, Toga-chan? Just because I don't get into trouble for my vigilante exploits doesn't mean I'm exactly keen on the idea of my secret identity getting out. You might only know what I look like, but you still know too much about me, and if word got out about what I look like then that could be disastrous for not only me, but my family as well. I'd be hounded by heroes, the news, civilians, and even villains as well. Day in and out I would have to sneak around to avoid being spotted and needlessly harassed, I'd have to have to find some place reclusive enough to live and protect my family, and I'd probably have to abandon my education and free time just so I won't get crowded by large groups of people. That's why I'm keeping myself a secret to the public until I can become a licensed pro, that way I won't be recognized by anyone everytime I leave my home. But I can't do that if you decide to tell people what I look like. So I beg you Toga-chan, please keep this to yourself. Don't tell the public, don't tell your friends, don't even tell your family! Just please keep this quiet, I'm begging you from the bottom of my heart here."
As Izuku gave the girl a desperately pleading look while clutching her wrist tightly, Himiko simply stood there staring at the boy wide eyed before her expression slowly shifted into that of deep thinking. She hummed in thought as she carefully weighed her options, all while Izuku's fear and worry continued to swell deep within. After what seemed like an eternity for the boy, Toga's cheerful smile returned as she had decided on her answer. "Well, alright. I guess I can keep my lips sealed."
Izuku felt a wave of relief wash over him as he released his grip off Toga's wrist in favor of wiping his brow. In all honesty he was not expecting that in the slightest. He figured he'd have to get to his knees and cry his heart out before the girl would agree to his pleas. To see that she agreed so easily to his request pleased him greatly, and hopefully this day could turn out okay after a-.
"But, I'll only keep quiet if you agree to do something for me." Toga said with a very, very, very mischievous smile so wide it could give the cheshire cat a run for his money.
And just like that, any serenity that Izuku felt in that moment was immediately shattered by the oppressive force that was fear and paranoia. He should've known that her keeping his secret that easily was too good to be true. "W-What?"
"You heard me hottie, if you want me to keep quiet about your little secret then you've gotta do something for me. After all, with info like this it'd be almost impossible for me to not spill anything. That is, unless, I was given something in return for my silence."
Izuku gulped nervously as he stared at the girl who was threatening to black mailing him. Had he been someone else, the greenette would be glaring hatefully at his "number one fan", but sadly for him he wasn't anyone else, so instead of a spiteful scowl and hateful glint in his eyes he had a fearful, trembling look while his eyes held panic, terror, and hopelessness as he felt powerless to the blonde schoolgirl. This was like dealing with Kachan, only instead of having to brace himself for a vicious beating, he was dealing with someone who threatened to expose him for who he was to the public.
"W-What i-is it-t that y-y-you want?" Izuku asked in a shaky tone. He couldn't see any way out of this, so he figured he'd hear what the girl's demands were and silently pray that whatever she had in mind wasn't something horrible.
"Glad to hear hottie." Toga said cheerfully as she raised two fingers into the air. "I just want two small favors from you. The first being your name. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind calling you hottie, but I feel like that'd get old real quick, so I wanna call you something else just in case. Plus, it'd only be fair since I have you mine after all."
Izuku mentally swore. He didn't want to give away any more about himself than he already had, but at this point he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He thought for a moment that maybe he could lie and give himself a fake name, but let's be honest here, Izuku couldn't lie to save his life. Especially when he was put under intense pressure like this. Plus, it wasn't like his name was 100% secret either. If she carefully looked around on the internet for some time, he was sure she might find out who he was thanks to the videos of the Sludge Villain incident months earlier. So he decided to answer truthfully. "I-Izuku Midoriya."
"Izuku huh?" Toga said to herself as she slowly mulled over the word. "Hehehe, that's a pretty cute name. Well, Izuku, it's nice to formally meet you. And can I just add how badly I've waited for this day to happen? Seriously, the fact that you, one of the coolest guys ever, are in front of me! And not in some dream either, no, this is the real deal! Eeee, this is so exciting!" While Toga had her little fangirl moment, she didn't notice how Izuku's cheeks turned a bright pink. "Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I should mention the other favor I want before I lose myself." Clearing her throat, the fanatic blonde began to make her second demand. "Okay, for my second request, I want you Izuku to-"
Izuku mentally prepared himself for whatever his blackmailer had in mind for him. He wasn't sure what she had in mind, but Izuku had a feeling that it wasn't good. He just hoped the God's above that she didn't make him do something too terrible. Like rob a bank, fight a hero or, or worse, ask him to take off his-!
"-hangout with me!"
Before Izuku could finish that, unpleasant, thought his mind stopped in their tracks. Did he hear that right, or did his mind just imagine that.
Noticing the confusion on his face, Toga decided to elaborate. "You heard me, I want you to spend time with moi. With everything that's happened so far, I can't exactly let an opportunity like this pass by now can I? The chance to not only hang out with your hero, but also potentially become their friend is just-. Eeee! So exciting!"
Izukus blush returned somewhat as he felt his trepidation slowly dwindle away. For a second, he was certain that he'd collapse from a heart attack over the thought of being forced to do something either illegal or immoral. But to hear that she just wanted him to hangout with her was certainly a breath of fresh air, and honestly he could see no issue with that. After all, if he were in Toga's shoes (well, he had been before) he was certain he'd ask All Might the same thing, minus the blackmailing of course.
"W-Well, a-alright I s-suppose, I g-guess I d-don't see any harm i-in that. As l-long as y-y-you don't try anything i-illegal t-that is."
Upon hearing the teen's agreement for her request, Toga blocked out the rest of what he said as she squealed in pure joy and excitement. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I promise you that by the end of this whole thing, we'll become the bestest of friends!" Within the blink of an eye, Toga quickly grabbed Izuku by the wrist before making their way over to the warehouses exit. "I know the perfect place to go!"
"W-W-Wait, what?! We're doing this right now?!" Izuku asked in bewilderment, clearly flustered that a somewhat cute girl was dragging him along. "I thought we were going to do this some other time?!"
"Nope!" Toga said cheerfully. "I've waited too long for this moment! I'm not about to wait a second longer! So let's go!"
Izuku nervously sweat dropped at the girl's child-like excitement as he was forced to follow her. He really hoped this day didn't get any more weirder than it already had.
'Oh man. Why couldn't I just train with All Might today instead?'
(Meanwhile)
In the world of quirks and hero society, almost every country on the planet had their own number one thing. These things ranged from heroes, hero schools, support companies, and even villains. This rule also applies to prisons as well, which makes sense. After all, in a world where a large majority of humanity has access to extraordinary abilities, it would stand to reason that there would be a few criminal individuals with dangerous abilities out there that couldn't just be stuffed in some old regular prison. Therefore, each country had special prisons made so they could store these criminals with dangerous quirks, thus earning them the title of number one prison in their respective countries. America had Albatross 2.0, South America had The Temple, Germany had The Forge, and Japan had Tartarus, a prison facility based off the mythological Greek hell of the same name where the worst sinners imaginable are kept for eternity. A fitting name.
And it is this prison facility where Toshinori, in his All Might form of course, found himself in. The symbol of peace strolled through the prison's corridors while being accompanied by one of his long time friends, Naomasa Tsukauchi. A detective in his late thirties with short black hair, somewhat rectangular black eyes, and wore the proper detective attire.
"Thanks alot for this favor again Naomasa. It really means a lot that you were able to pull some strings to get this to happen." All Might said in his regular Toshinori voice.
"Don't think anything of it Toshi, it was no big deal after all. Once I mentioned that you'd be willing to aid in this interrogation, the warden was more than willing to accept the help." Naomasa told his friend with a smile. "Though, I can't help but find it a little bit weird? Usually you're not the type to help out in interrogations, especially when you're using up your time. What gives?"
While his large beaming smile didn't falter in the slightest, All Mights yes gained a serious tint as he continued to look forward. "Let's just say that this particular villain caught my interest is all."
The detective quirked an eyebrow at his friend's somewhat cryptic claim, but decided to shrug it off. In all the years that he knew the symbol of peace, Naomasa grew to trust the man deeply and so he found no reason to question the man's reasoning, even if it did confuse him. As the two walked through the prison facility, they both stopped in their tracks when they reached a large metal door.
"So, this is where he's at?" All Might asked his friend as he stared up at the imposing entrance.
"Yup, pretty much." Naomasa said as he walked over to a nearby keypad and began entering a passcode. "Normally, we would've placed him somewhere else then here, but due to his…. well, unique attributes, this was the only place secure enough to keep him. We've been trying to get answers from him, but the only thing he gives us is either death threats and insults, or a bunch of crazy nonsense. So we're hoping you might get something out of him."
Rather than reply in his regular voice, the blonde hero decided to answer his friend in his hero one. "AHAHAHA! MY DEAR FRIEND, IF THERE'S ANYTHING I CAN DO, IT'S GETTING VILLAINOUS SCUM TO TALK. WHEN I'M FINISHED, OUR FRIEND HERE WILL BE A TREASURE TROVE OF SECRETS!"
Naomasa simply rolled his eyes as he smiled at his friend's goofy persona. "If you say so." Entering the last digits, the metal door slid open, and before All Might could step through the detective turned to give his friend a few words. "Okay, remember, you've got two or three minutes at most to get any information. If you feel like he won't give you what you need, just use the intercom next to the door and I'll be right out here." Normally under these circumstances, the detective would've entered the room with his friend. However, the symbol of peace was insistent on doing this alone. He was somewhat curious as to why, as he and his friend usually do this sort of thing together, but decided to just shrug it off.
"And what about the cameras? Were you able to get the warden to, you know?" All Might asked quietly in his Yagi voice, not wanting to be overheard by potential eavesdroppers.
"If I hadn't, then we wouldn't be here now would we?" Naomasa said with a slight smile. "It wasn't easy, but I was able to get him to cut off the camera's audio, so no one will hear in on your conversation. Unfortunately, I couldn't get him to agree to cut the video off as well. So you'll still be seen I'm afraid. Security reasons and all that. Though, after you told me why you wanted the privacy, I guess we should count ourselves lucky huh?"
All Might slightly grimaced as he was reminded of his little "excuse" he gave his friend. When he told the detective about why he needed the privacy inside the prison cell, he simply told his friend that he had a feeling that this villain was connected to an old… acquaintance from his past. That was a lie though, and he was glad Naomasa trusted the linden enough where he didn't use his Quirk, he didn't need anyone to know why he was really here. "Yes, Quite."
After putting the last digit into the keypad, the small device let out a small beep before the large doors began to open right up. As they slowly slid open, Naomasa turned to his friend to give him a reminder. "Remember, just a few minutes at most. If you're in there for any longer then we'll have to force you off the premises."
"Gotcha." All Might said as he turned to face the entrance and quickly stepped into the room, causing the metal door to seal shut once he crossed the threshold. Alone in the four-sided room, All Might gazed around to see that the entire area was completely barren of any furniture and lacked any decor on the pure white walls. The only things that prevented the room from being an empty box was the small security cameras that hanged on the corners, the thick glass wall that seperated the room in two, and the figure that stood behind said glass wall. While the symbol of peace had never met this individual before, he knew who this was by the bronze armor he wore and his crab-like features. This was one of the bounty hunters he had heard about from Young Midoriya, the one that had tried to kill his student first, Kraabs if he remembered correctly.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" The bounty hunter asked in a low, upset tone as he glared directly at the symbol of peace through his helmet's yellow lenses. His arms were bound together behind his back by large, heavy cuffs while his claw cannon was encased in a metal casing, preventing him from using it to escape. Around his neck was a shock collar that would immediately activate if he were to try and escape while his legs were wrapped up in thick metal cables that bounded him to the floor. With all this, plus the fact that every surface of the room was made up of six inches of tungsten, Kraabs wouldn't be leaving the facility anytime soon.
"GREETINGS VILLAIN! THE NAMES ALL MIGHT, IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD! THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE HERO, SYMBOL OF PEACE AND, FOR TODAY AT LEAST, YOU'RE INTERROGATOR! I HOPE YOU'VE HAD YOUR SIX HOURS OF SLEEP MY FRIEND, CAUSE I DON'T WANNA DEAL WITH ANY CRABBY BEHAVIOR YOU MIGHT HAVE!" All Might threw his head back as he gave out a hearty laugh at his God awful pun.
As All Might laughed before eventually stopping after a few seconds, all Kraabs could do was just stare blankly at the blonde hero with an indeterminable expression behind his mask, all while being completely quiet as he did so. At first, All Might hadn't noticed the bounty hunters silent demeanor, but once his laughing fit had died down and after a few seconds, the pro hero couldn't help but cock an eyebrow in confusion as he expected to get some sort of response from the bronze alien. The blonde opted to say something else, however before he could even open his mouth, Kraabs finally spoke in a low, frustrated, monotone voice. "Are you- are you serious right now? You're here to interrogate me? Wow, either those worthless apes are just scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point, or they seriously think some jackass with a goofy sounding voice is going to get me to talk. If the latter is the case, then your species are even dumber than I thought."
All Might felt somewhat insulted by that remark. While Young Midoryia didn't tell him much about his personality, All Might figured this sleezeball was the type to look down on other species, just like the aliens in those old sci-fi movies, and it would seem he was dead on. "GUESS SOMEONE DIDN'T GET THEIR GOODNIGHTS REST. WELL THEN, I'LL TRY TO MAKE THIS QUICK FOR THE BOTH OF US. JUST ANSWER ME A FEW QUESTIONS, AND I'LL BE GONE. HOW'S THAT SOUND?"
Kraabs groaned in frustration as he sneered at the number one hero from behind his helmet. "Questions, questions, questions! That's all you and your kind keep asking me! Ever since I got tossed into this forsaken place you idiots have been harassing me non-stop about your stupid questions! How many times do I have to listen to the same crap like "who I am?" or "what my quirk is?" before the last of my patience is worn down?! What are you gonna ask dipshit?! You gonna question me about what my armor is made from?! Or what prefecture, whatever the hell that is, I came from?! Whatever it is you're gonna spew out, you might as well save it and head out the door! Cause you're good for nothing friends had already asked me the same questions before, and all they got was a big fuck you in response, and that's all you're gonna get from me!"
"THEN I GUESS TODAY'S MY LUCKY DAY. BECAUSE I'M NOT HERE TO ASK YOU ABOUT ANY OF THOSE THINGS, I'M HERE TO GET ANSWERS FOR MY OWN."
While the bounty hunter was still enraged, he couldn't help but cock a metaphorical brow at the blondes words. "Oh? Then what exactly is it that you're here to ask?"
"SIMPLE, I JUST WANT TO KNOW TWO LITTLE THINGS." All Mights eyes gained a dangerous tint to them. "WHO SENT YOU AFTER THE BOY AND HIS WATCH, AND WHY?"
Now Kraabs was genuinely surprised as he wasn't expecting that be asked . Ever since he wound up in the custody of these unadvanced plebians the only questions they ever asked were things either about himself, which he obviously refused to answer, or ones that didn't make a lick of sense. Like what his quirk was, or where'd he get his support gear, or if he was involved in the death of something called Air Jet? Quirks, support gear, Air Jets, what the hell were they talking about?
There were two questions the previous interrogators would always ask and they were somewhat similar to the one this blonde prick asked. Those questions being 'why did you engage in combat with the ghost vigilante?' and 'who fought and captured you over at the Petrolia docks?'. Now of course Kraabs knew they were referring to the little shit he was after however they would always ask these questions only after they pestered him with a continuous line of those other questions, so by the time they'd get around to asking about the runt he'd either give his captors an insult, usually around their species, or a detailed death threat. Both of which resulted in a powerful shock from his bindings.
He never once shared any information about his prey, not even that he was a brat, and yet this smiling moron knew he was sent here to tear that damn device of that accursed runts arm. He wondered how someone this (seemingly) stupid was able to know this?
The only person who knew of his true goal on this mud ball of a planet was the pipsqueak he was sent-. Wait a minute. Oh, now it made sense. "You know the brat?" Kraabs said, but not in a questioning tone, more of a matter of fact one.
"MAYBE I DO, MAYBE I DON'T. REGARDLESS, IT DOESN'T MATTER THOUGH. YOU STILL HAVEN'T ANSWERED MY QUESTION YET VILLAIN."
"Tch, I don't have to tell you anything fleshbag." Kraabs snapped back in a tonce laced with aggression and arrogance. "You might be your planet's champion or some crap, but to me you're nothing other than a new target to go after once I break free from this dump. And once I'm out, I'll hunt down everyone that little shit cares about and force him to watch as I butcher them all, you included. Once I'm done there, I'll make that boy's last living moments as slow and painful as I can before ending him like the pathetic pest that he is." The bounty hunter turned his head away from the Pro, not noticing how the blonde was silently gritting his teeth. "Besides, if you really do know that brat, then he should've already told you about why I came to this miserable dirt ball in the first place."
All Might clenched his fists tightly as his eyes glared deeply at the bronze scum behind the fifteen inch bulletproof glass. He was so tempted to just break through the glass and deliver a powerful Texas Smash yet right in the center of the bounty hunters helmeted face. All Might could handle it when villains would insult him and send him death threats, but if there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was when said villains would threaten those close to him. All Might would send those who would dare cross that line flying all the way to America if they did so. And that's what he wanted to do right now to this arrogant jackass in front of him, unfortunately he couldn't. He still had answers he needed to get, and he wouldn't be able to receive them if this walking seafood platter was knocked unconscious, plus he'd get into some serious trouble with the prison if he did. So for now, he'd swallow his anger and keep his composure.
"I KNOW WHY YOU CAME TO THIS 'DIRT BALL' VILLAIN. SOMEONE SENT YOU BECAUSE THEY OFFERED YOU A REWARD FOR THE BOYS WATCH. WHAT I WANNA KNOW HOWEVER IS WHO IT WAS THAT SENT YOU, AND WHY THEY WOULD WANT THE BOYS DEVICE."
"Tch, how the hell am I supposed to know? All that asshole told us was that the stupid thing held alien DNA and that if one of us brought it to him we'd paid alot of credits. And personally, that's all I really cared about, I wouldn't give two shits about what he did with the damn thing. As long as I had a little shopping money, my employer could go fuck himself once everything was said and done." Kraabs ranted as his body slightly shifted a bit.
'Well, so much for the why.' All Might thought to himself, though he knew he should've expected this. Kraabs seemed like the type of villain who would do anything their employer would ask of them as long as they get rewarded for their services and wouldn't care how their temporary bosses benefited from their actions. Still though, he could at least get a name as who sent this scum. "THEN WHAT ABOUT YOUR EMPLOYER CRABBY? SURLY YOU CAN SHARE SOMETHING ABOUT HIM, LIKE WHO HE IS EXACTLY? OR AT LEAST SHARE ME HIS NAME?"
Once again, Kraabs answered in his annoyed tone. "And why should I tell you anything about who the hell hired me? What could a member of such a primitive species like you do with any of the info you want from me?"
Without changing his smile, All Mights sapphire eyes glared into Kraab's yellow lenses as he felt himself slowing growing impatient with the bronze behemoth. The number one hero truly hated villains like this. The types who think they're better than everyone else and see those beneath them as inferior beings. He had dealt with those egotistical types ever since middle school in the form of school bullies and even after all these years he still couldn't stomach those types of people, not even him.
He was tempted to just get up and leave, but he knew he couldn't. He still needed to find out who sent the bounty hunters after his protege and what he was. The blonde pro needed to know if this mysterious threat was just some spineless coward who needed others to get things done for them…. or if they are truly powerful or malevolent being that shouldn't be trifled with, and only sent the bounty hunters because they saw it beneath them to go after the device themselves. And if the latter was the case, then All Might knew he should prepare both himself and Young Midoriya for that day, as he feared that whoever want's the device will just come after it himself.
[All Might.] The blonde was broken from his thoughts as the sound of Naomasa's voice came from the rooms small intercom. [Sorry to interrupt, but your time's almost done. You've got one more minute left before you gotta wrap it up.]
Shit! It's already been a few minutes already?! But he still hasn't gotten anything useful from this guy yet!
"Hehehehe. Looks like that's your cue to leave." Kraabs said to the pro mockingly.
"NO, NOT YET." All Might pointed a finger at the imprisoned cyborg. "I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHO IT WAS THAT SENT YOU.
Kraabs just scoffed at this lesser creature's demand. "Even if I told you anything about him, it wouldn't matter to you in the slightest. A filthy ape such as yourself wouldn't be able to do anything with it. It's not like you'd be able to reach the guy given how primitive your technology seems."
Kraabs voice gained an arrogant tone as he continued to speak. "Besides, even if you had the unfortunate luck of meeting him, my employer would easily turn you into a red smear across the ground. The guy is a force to be reckoned with. I've heard dozens of stories about how he easily crushed entire armadas under his heel and how he brutally killed those who dared challenge him, and let me tell you buddy, none of them are for the weak of heart. I could tell you everything I know about the guy, but honestly, why would I when it won't help you out in the slightest. Your best bet is to hope he keeps sending others like me to this dirt ball, cause if he decides to get his hands dirty himself, well…" Kraabs trailed off before chuckling. "I'll leave that to your imagination."
All Might internally frowned at the bounty hunters words. While he was able to at least get some understanding of this mysterious threat, that wasn't exactly enough for the Symbol of Peace. The blonde Pro was about to ask the crustacean more about his benefactor, however before he could get the question out of his mouth the metal doors behind him opened up, and as he turned his head back, he could see his friend Naomasa standing on the other side.
"Sorry to put a stop to your interrogation All Might, but I'm afraid your time's up. Please step outside the prisoner's cell."
All Might silently cursed underneath his breath as he looked away from his friend. As much as he admired Tartarus and their high level of security, he really wished the prison would've given him at least a few more minutes to be alone with this space creep, who was no doubt smiling smugly underneath his helmet. Giving Kraab's one last look, All Might gave the bounty hunter a silent glare before turning around and heading out the cell. As he walked out of the room and down the hall, Naomasa quickly closed the door before following the blonde hero down the hall.
"So, All Might, were you able to learn anything about our little bronze friend?"
All Might took a deep sigh before replying in his regular voice. "Sorry Naomasa, but he was like you said he'd be. Just kept spewing nothing but trash talk to everything I asked. Guess not even the Symbol of Peace could make him talk." As the words left his mouth they left behind an awful taste. He really hated lying to his friend like this, but what was he supposed to tell him? He couldn't exactly tell him what he had heard from Kraabs without having to explain the situation with Young Midoryia. Knowing about One For All was one thing, but knowing that aliens were real too? No, the less people know about that, the better he thought.
"What about the other questions then. Do you think that guy might've been connected to-?"
"No." All Might said quickly. Of course, he already knew that Kraabs was in no way related to him, but his friend didn't know that. That's why he lied to him like that to get the security in the room cut off. It disgusted him to deceive Naomasa like that, but like stated earlier, more people cannot know about the existence of extraterrestrials. There'd be too much mass hysteria if they did. "No, I don't think he's related to him in anyway. I think he's just some loudmouthed punk with some support gear. You know how those types are, always looking to make a name for themselves."
"Damn." Tsukauchi said under his breath. While he wasn't expecting to get anything useful from his friend's interrogation, he was disappointed to hear that there was no connection between the villain and him of all people. "Well, I guess we'll just have to think of something else then if we're gonna figure out who he even is. Thanks for trying to help us out though Toshi, it meant a lot even if it didn't work out in the end."
All Might turned his head back to face his friend. "Think nothing of it my friend. I'm always happy to lend a hand for you."
"Heh, good to know. And this goes without saying, but the feeling's mutual too buddy."
"Glad to hear my friend." All Might replied with a faint chuckle as he turned away from Naomasa and continued to walk through the confines of Japan's most secure prison, with the two walking in complete silence with only their footfalls being heard throughout the hall. However unbeknownst to the detective, All Might was silently going mulling over everything that he had been told by Kraabs. Even if the information he got was less than he hoped for, he still couldn't help but feel bothered by it regardless. He said that his employer was a force to be reckoned with and while he spoke in a very arrogant tone, the way that Kraabs spoke of his boss wasn't just him trying to scare the blonde Pro. This mysterious threat sounded dangerous, and to say All Might was worried was an understatement.
During his entire career as a Pro, All Might has faced a whole multitude of villains. He's foughten villains who possessed truly devastating quirks that could level cities, trampled armies of quirk users by (mostly) himself, traded blows with skyscraper sized behemoths, and even battled with him all those short years ago and he out on top. He's had his fair share of fights, and while he didn't want to sound egotistical, he was certain that he could tackle almost anything on Earth he came across. But as for an extraterrestrial threat though, he wasn't too sure. If what Kraabs said was true, then just how strong is this mysterious foe? Does he come from a powerful race that has strength equivalent to his own, or is he even stronger than that?
The Pro hero shivered at the thought of duking it out with a villainous being possessing much greater strength than he did. Had he been in his prime All Might would've been confident enough to take on such a foe, however thanks to his injury, the Symbol of Peace couldn't last five minutes in a serious brawl without damaging his already ruined organs, so he wasn't sure if he could fight someone with immense power.
There was also another factor that he had to take into account. In every alien invasion movie he's ever seen, as well as all the Villain organizations he's helped put down, the main bad guy always had an army of lackeys that seperated the hero from them. And if the bounty hunters that went after Young Midoryia and those robots that attacked the campsite were anything to go by, this mysterious enemy had plenty of pawns. And while the Symbol of Peace was sure that he could take on a few measly grunts, he had to remember that these things were from space, meaning that they could have access to all sorts of high-tech weaponry at their disposal. The blonde was strong, but he knew super strength was nothing against lasers that could easily tear into flesh like a hot knife through butter.
'And that's not even the worst sci-fi weapon out there.' All Might thought. 'If those old, pre-quirk alien movies taught me anything, it's that there's worse ways to die then getting shot by a laser.'
As he walked through the halls of Tartarus, images of several of the alien invasion movies he had seen prior began to run rampant through his mind, each image showing him a scene from a movie where it ended with the deaths of a large amount of people. All Might shivered when he remembered a scene in one movie, where a large superweapon was able to destroy an entire planet with one beam of energy. The thought of something like that existing in their world, it was just- ughk, he didn't even want to imagine something so horrific existing in the first place.
And he prayed that this threat wasn't anything like in the movies. Because if so he didn't think that he, or any of the Heroes on Earth combined, could stop such a threat. He hoped that whenever the time comes, he'll be able to fight back against this threat from beyond the stars. Otherwise, humanity as a whole, may be doomed.
'And I must prepare Young Midoriya for this as well. He'll need to learn to defend himself for when the time comes. Whenever that might be.' All Might thought as he began mentally making plans for tomorrow's training.
He hopes his student is enjoying his free time off today, because the Pro had a feeling things were gonna get more intense from here on out.
Izuku Midoryia was not enjoying himself. Like, at all. Currently he was busy being on the verge of having a mental breakdown while his skin was constantly at a light pink and his sweat glands were currently on overdrive. All the while, he mentally asked himself why the universe loved tormenting him so.
Why was he acting like this, you may ask? Well, maybe it's because of the fact that right in front of him, dragging him along by the arm, was a rather cute girl around his age, who knew of his secret identity. And what was worse about this was the fact that she was constantly asking so many questions. Ever since they left the warehouse several blocks away, Himiko has been asking rapid, nonstop questions about himself and his vigilante exploits, as well as questions about his "teammates". Even if he wasn't a pink, stuttering mess, he didn't think he could keep up with the girl's constant questioning. She was just going too fast for him to keep up with.
But that wasn't the worst part out of all of this, oh no. No, by far the worst thing from this entire situation was the fact that they were walking smack dab right through the middle of the mall.
Him, and her. A cute looking girl, who was dragging him along by the hand, was with him. In a public place, where onlookers would see the two of them seemingly holding hands. And to everyone around them, this would almost look like they were…. on a date.
God, the embarrassment he's feeling right now is astronomical. He honestly doesn't know if he'd rather be doing this right now, or face off against those bounty hunters again.
….
Actually on second thought, he'd rather be fighting Kraabs and SixSix right now. At least he wouldn't be this flustered!
"-ey. Hey!" Izuku was snapped from his thoughts by a very disgruntled Himiko, who began speaking once she saw she had his attention. "Are you even listening to me? I've been trying to ask stuff about yourself, yet you haven't answered anything ever since we left that dinky old warehouse a while back. Honestly, don't you know it's rude to ignore a lady?"
Izuku's already pink face flushed a darker scarlett at this. "S-Sorry Toga-chan. I wasn't trying to ignore you or anything, I was just having a hard time keeping up with what you were saying since, well, you were asking alot for me to keep track of Ehe...hehe." Midoryia let out a nervous chuckle at the end, silently hoping that Toga didn't take any offense what he had said. He never really was that good at interacting with people his own age, especially with the opposite sex, thanks to a certain blonde making him a outcast. So he did often have trouble saying the right thing when it came to his peers.
Thankful for him, Toga didn't seem to take any offense, as her slightly annoyed look quickly melted back into her trademark smile. "Well, I guess I can't blame you for that. I guess I should've given you some time breathe, but I couldn't help myself. I mean, I'm just so excited! It's not everyday someone gets to meet their hero, you know?"
'Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.' Midoryia thought to himself as his mind went to the day he first met All Might, before quickly snapping out of his thoughts once more. "It's fine, Toga-chan. Just be sure to take it slower next time, okay?"
"Sure thing Izu-Kun!" Toga said cheerfully as she continued to drag the boy through the mall by the arm.
As the two teens continued to make their way through the busy mall, passing by several mall goers along the way, Izuku watched the stores they passed by silently while Himiko lightly hummed to herself while having a little skip in her step. After a few seconds of awkward silence (awkward on his part, that is), Izuku figured he could at least try to break the ice with Toga.
"So, uh, Toga-chan. What is it that we're doing here precisely?"
"Duh, silly. To hang out and get to know each other better, obviously." Toga replied in the same cheery tone.
"Yeah, I get that, but what exactly is it we're doing here? You've been dragging me around for awhile now, and well, I'm just a little curious as to where it is you're taking me?"
"Hehehe, don't worry Izu-Kun, I'll let you know when we get there. For now though, it's a surprise, so just wait a little while longer, kay?"
"Uh, sure, I guess?" Izuku answered, in a somewhat uneasy tone.
For the next few minutes, as the two continued their way through the mall, Izuku couldn't help but think about the girl dragging him along to wherever she's taking them. Toga was certainly…. energetic, and this certainly put Izuku off as he has never met anyone like her before. But while her behavior was certainly jarring, that didn't mean he thought it was a bad thing, in fact Izuku somewhat wishes he had the girls cheerful nature given his school life.
Plus, it was her cheerfulness that gave Izuku the impression that she wasn't the nefarious type. During the last ten years of his life as the resident punching bag of Aldrea, Izuku was able to become a good judge of character. He could tell what someone was truly thinking just by being around them long enough, and so far, Toga wasn't showing any red flags. Her attitude appeared genuine, her eyes held no malicious or mischievous intent, and she certainly wasn't trying to suck up to him like Kacchan's lackeys. As far as Izuku could tell, all this girl wants is to try and be his friend. Yes, she was doing it by blackmail, but something inside Izuku almost makes him think that she just said that to get him to hangout and wouldn't actually go through with it.
Keyword being, almost. Izuku needs more time to judge her and see if she is who she acts as. He needs to see if Toga won't turn out like another Kacchan.
"Here we are!" Toga exclaimed happily, throwing her hand in the air and breaking Izuku out from his thoughts. "The greatest place Musutafu has to offer!"
Izuku stared at Himiko briefly before turning his attention to what was ahead of them. Standing directly in front of them was a pair of glass doors stained blue, with large windows of the same color flaking them on each side. Above the doors was a large, blue neon sign that read: Coruscant Fun Center (2)! And behind the closed glass doors, the muffled sounds of old pixel games and people moving about could be heard. It didn't take the greenette long to figure out what this place was.
"An arcade?" Izuku questioned with a quirked brow as he eyes the establishment.
"Yup!" Toga said cheerfully. "But not just any arcade! It's a place filled with nothing but old, pre-quirk era games that I just adore! I come here every chance I get, and I'm just sure you'll find this place to your liking too!"
As Toga practically gushed in excitement about all the fun her and Izuku would have in the arcade, the greenette had different thoughts of his own. While he had no issue with arcades, he was somewhat surprised that Toga had brought him here of all places. For some odd reason, Toga didn't seem like the type of person who enjoyed spending their time in arcades. But then again, during his short time with the blonde, he didn't know what the hell she liked at all, so maybe he was just being weird.
Regardless, Izuku decided to adopt a much more positive demeanor and look as he began to slightly warm up to the idea of spending time in an arcade with Toga. It's been awhile since he entered such a place, and while he didn't play that many video games (except for every game that's featured All Might) he didn't oppose the idea of playing games with Toga. Heck, who knows, maybe both he and her might come out as good friends after this? It sounds nice.
"Heh, well, with how enthusiastic you're making this place sound, I think you might be right Toga-chan." Izuku replied to the girl with a small smile on his face.
"Hehehe, I hope so." Toga said with a giggle before grabbing Izuku tightly by the wrist yet again and headed towards the doors. "Now come on! There's so many cool games I wanna show you that I think you'll just die for!"
"W-Woah! Slow down" Izuku exclaimed as he almost fell down before regaining his footing.
The two teens quickly made their way into the arcade, slipping past the blue glass doors to begin an afternoon full of good old fashion pixelated fun. However little did they know, that not too far where the arcade was, a group of five individuals stood nearby, eyeing place carefully with calculative looks in their eyes.
"So, that's the place?" One of them, a male, asked to one of his associates.
"Yup, pretty much." Replied another one, this one a female. "And judging by how busy the place is today, we'll not only a huge payday, but also plenty of leverage against any pros stupid enough to show up."
"Good." The leader, an older sounding male, said. "With that many people inside, we'll have all the human shield's we need to pull this off." He looked at his teammates. "Get your masks on, weapons ready, and quirks activated. We'll go inside soon."
The rest nodded as they quickly retreated into a nearby part of the mall that was devoid of any prying eyes while the leader remained where he stood and watched the arcade intently. Soon, he and his teammates would strike. And while it might not have been a bank, this arcade had plenty of cash for him and his subordinates. If everything went according to plan, both he and his crew would have plenty of yen to spend, and the thought of that made him smile wickedly.
He couldn't wait to get this party started.
(Inside the arcade)
As he was being guided around by the arm by Himiko, who was able to we've both her and himself around several of the arcade's patrons, Izuku looked around the place so that he may get familiar with his new surroundings. The Coruscant Fun Center was like your typical arcade, a place filled with large gaming machines with the inhabitants mostly consisting of teens and young adults. However the difference between this place and other arcades Izuku had visited in the past was the fact that the arcade, for the most part, was completely dark. The overhead lighting, which consisted of neon blue fluorescent bulbs, barely lit up the place and the only way he could make out his surroundings was thanks to the light coming from the various arcade machine screens.
Another thing that Izuku saw that made this place different from other arcades was the fact that all the games here were both old, almost ancient games from the pre-quirk era and that most of these games were aimed for more older audiences, as some of the games he saw as he walked by consisted of things like gorey demolition derbys, violently shooters, and terrifying sci-fi games with nightmarish looking aliens (3). Thanks to these games, and the fact that the arcades patrons were either teens or young adults, Izuku was able to put together that this was more of a place high schoolers would come to hang out and not somewhere you'd bring a young kid.
"So Izu-Kun," Himiko turned her head back to face Izuku while she continued moving forward. "What do you wanna play first? This place has got everything! They got old classics like Street Fighter, Splatter House, and Double Dragon. They also got some of those racing and dance games, though not as fun as everything else here in my opinion. They've got Air Hockey and foosball too, but with so many people here I doubt we'd get a chance to play."
"O-Oh," Izukus said, somewhat surprised to hear Toga ask what he wanted to play. "W-Well, um, I'm not really sure. I'm not familiar with some of these games, and I haven't really been here before, so I guess we could just play what you wanna play."
"Huh? You want me to pick something for us to play?"
"Well, yeah. I mean after all, you're more familiar with this place, so you know the games better than I do." Midoriya rubbed the back of his head while blushing slightly. "Besides, I don't really mind if we do something you wanna do."
"Oh, well, alright. If that's what you want, then sure." Toga turned away from the greenette as she placed a hand on her chin and began thinking of any possible games her and Izu-Kun might enjoy. With a hum, her mind thought of several games before, after a few seconds of thinking carefully, she got some ideas. "Oh, I know some things you might enjoy! Come on, I'll show you!"
"Whoa!" Izuku yelped as Toga began rushing him towards the nearest arcade machine.
The next hour or so went by quickly for the two teens as they played the games Himiko enjoyed the most when coming here. The first game they played was the old school fighting game Mortal Kombat 3, where they both played three rounds. For the first round Himiko played as Scorpion while Izuku, who knew very little about the game, decided to play as Reptile. Needless to say, Izuku had his ass handed to him as Toga was able to very easily decimate him thanks to her experience while Izuku could only button mash as he tried figuring out the controls. After finishing off his character with a fatality, Toga decided to play as Mileena for the second round while Izuku stuck to Reptile. The second round wasn't too bad for Izuku, as he had gotten a little better at controlling the character a bit more thanks to his fast learning, however just like the first round Toga was able to finish him off with another fatality. For the final round, Toga stuck with Mileena while Izuku continued to play as Reptile, and this time around the greenette was able to actually put up a decent fight this time around, much to Toga's glee. By the end of the round, Izuku was finally able to beat Toga, however because of his lack of experience he couldn't perform one of the characters killing blows, so the teen opted for just punching Himiko's character, ending the game.
After telling Izuku he did great against her, Toga dragged Izuku to another arcade machine. This time, instead of a two player fighting game like Mortal Kombat, this one was a single player side scroller called Splatter House. Because it was a single player game, the two teens would often take turns when one of them would either complete a level or die. Himiko decided to go first so she could show Midoryia how the controls worked and by the time it was his turn to play Izuku had a good understanding on how things worked. Every time either of them completed a level or defeated a boss the teens would compliment one another. Izuku would give Toga small, polite comments while Toga would compliment Izuku in her own, Toga-y way, much to Izuku's embarrassment (and somewhat joy).
The two of them made it about halfway through the game until they lost the last of their lives, and once the hockey mask wearing character was down for good, Himiko decided it was time to move on to the next game. Dragging the greenette by the arm, the blonde made their way over to one of the bigger machines in the arcade. It had two giant screens, green controllers, and comfy looking chairs on the front while on the sides of the machine were the words 'DOOM' while below them a man in green armor was slaying demonic looking creatures. After placing Izuku and herself into the chairs, Toga explained the rules of the game and controls, the two of them spent the next couple of minutes slaying hordes of pixelated demons. Well, Toga was at least. Izuku, thanks to his lack of experience in first person shooters, didn't get very far in the game, so once he lost his last life he just watched Toga continue to play until she lost the last of her lives.
Once finished with the game, the two of them proceeded to move on to play one arcade machine after another. They played everything, from fighting games, to first person shooters, to old classics. Heck, once Izuku started to get more comfortable with the place and started having fun he even picked a few games himself that he thought looked fun, such as a few racing and dancing games, as well as the claw game too.
As the two teens continued going around the arcade, Toga couldn't help but feel ecstatic. She was worried this idea wasn't going to pan out well given the boys nervous demeanor and massive reluctance. She knew essentially blackmailing the boy might not have been the best way of making friends with him, and it was probably better than to just ask him to hangout, but damnit she waited too long for something like this, she couldn't just let him get away. So to see him having fun was reassuring to her. Hopefully by the end of this, both of them will come out as the bestest of friends.
And for Midoriya? Well, the greenette would've been lying if he didn't say this wasn't something he was keen on doing. After all, he was forced into this predicament by the crazed blonde dragging him along by the arm. However, after some time here, Izuku was actually starting to enjoy his time in the arcade, and even Himiko herself. The games she brought them too were pretty fun, she was willing to help him out with how to play them, and when he lost to her she didn't mock him or rub her victory in his face. Instead she just smiled and congratulated him for a good game and gave him praise, and Izuku could tell this was actually genuine praise, not just her pretending to be nice. And when he decided to pick out a few games himself once he started getting used to the place, she went along with him, instead of rejecting the idea and telling him what she wanted to do like some kind of spoiled brat.
All in all the two teens were having a ball, and after playing almost every game within the arcade they made their way over to a few vending machines to get some refreshments.
"Weeee!" Toga exclaimed cheerfully as Midoryia followed close behind, no longer being dragged by the arm. "This is the most fun I had in a while Izu-Kun! Normally when I come here by myself I just play all the usual single player games, which are fun and all, but with you around they somehow became like, ten times better!"
"Uh, thanks, Toga-chan." Izuku said slightly embarrassed, still not used to receiving such praise.
"Hehehe, of Izu-Kun. You can stop with all the honorifics. Just call me Himiko, of Himi-chan if you'd like~". Toga said with a flirty tone at the end.
Izuku's face lit up slightly at Himiko's words and tone. While he did warm up to the girl, calling her by her first name just didn't sit right with him, but he decided to appease the girl's wishes. "A-Alright t-then, H-Himiko-chan."
'Pfffth! God, how can someone so badass be this adorable?' Himiko thought to herself. "That's better Izu-Kun. Now…" turning to the vending machine, Himiko pulled out a wallet and pulled out some yen. "What do you feel like having? My treat."
"O-Oh," Izuku exclaimed, somewhat surprised by this. "Y-You don't have to get me something."
"Nonsense." Toga said as she placed her money in the machine and picked out
Sensing that she wasn't gonna back down on this, Izuku decided to just answer the girl. "U-Um, C-Cola I guess. Doesn't really matter."
"Alright! One cola coming up." Toga said as she placed the yen into the machine and picked out Izuku's drink, handing him the can before doing the same for her. Once both teens started cracking into their drinks, Toga spoke up once more. "So Izu-Kun, while we're taking our little break there's something I'd like to bring up."
Midoryia quirked a brow after finishing a sip from his can. "Oh? W-What's that?"
"Well, earlier I was asking you a bunch of questions when I was bringing you here, yet you never answered any of them because you were off daydreaming the whole time, all silly like. So, I was wondering if I could ask you them again." Toga raised a hand. "But don't worry, I won't ask you all of them, just a few important ones, alright?"
Izuku hummed in thought at this. He supposes there's nothing wrong in answering a few simple questions, as long as they weren't asking for anything personal. "Sure, I don't see why not."
"Oh goody!" Toga exclaimed cheerfully before asking her question. "Alright, first! What's it like when you go out and save the day and all that? I heard that it was all super fun and stuff when heroes go out and stop villains and rescue people. Is that true?"
Izuku hummed thoughtfully at this. "Well, I wouldn't necessarily call it, fun per say. It might look fun and all to play the role of a hero on TV, but in actuality it's somewhat intense. Especially when doing things like rescuing hostages or saving people from accidents."
"Like that lady and her kid from the apartment this morning." Toga chimed.
"Exactly. It's pretty difficult to keep a level head while trying to make sure everyone is safe at the same time. So while I may not look it, hero work is actually pretty heart pounding, especially when innocents are at stake. But as long as everyone's safe at the end, I'll happily go through that type of sheer intensity any day of the week." Izuku said before taking another sip of his drink.
"I see. Well, I gotta say Izu-Kun, that's pretty noble of you." Toga replied back before thinking of another question. "Hmm, oh! I gotta know something. What's it like? I mean, when you transform into that fire form of yours? Do you, like, feel any different or something? I ask because I, uh, got this friend of mine who has this transformation quirk and, um, they tell me that they don't feel any different." As Toga asked this question, she seemed to grow nervous at the mention of this "friend". However, Izuku didn't notice this as he answered.
"Hmm, well, I hate to say this Toga, but whenever I transform I don't really feel any different. My body just feels like it always does, though whenever I do shoot fire or something like that I do feel a slight sensation in my arms that kinda feels like tensing a muscle if that counts."
"O-Oh, okay." Toga said, feeling somewhat disappointed by the response before brushing it aside to think of another question. She wanted the next one to be something big, provoking. Something that would help her get to know her favorite vigilante a bit more.
And then it hit her.
"Oh! Okay, this one is really important! And it's sorta one that some people on the web have been asking too!"
"Um, alright. What is it?" Izuku asked in a curious tone.
"Well, it might sound kinda personal, but it's really simple. What I wanna know is, why do you guys do it? The vigilante thing that is? With Quirks like yours, you and your teammates could easily get hero licenses of your own, but instead you guys just go out and do stuff on your own, regardless of what others say. Personally I believe that you do what you do because it makes you feel free, which I fully support. But some other nobodies just think your doing it for sport or something equally stupid. And some of those Quirkist bastards on the web think you're just doing it to prove a point because of your guy's "villainous" quirks, which is a load of bullsh-."
"That's ridiculous!" Izuku cut her off. "There's no such thing as a villainous quirk! Quirks are merely nothing more than just extensions of ourselves. They're no different than our arms or legs. What makes someone a villain is those who decides to use their quirk for evil intentions. That's what makes someone a villain."
Himiko looked taken aback by Izuku's short outburst. Not because of the suddenness of it, but the way Izuku spoke about his views on what makes someone a villain. His words were just…. so sincere.
"Sorry about that." Izuku apologized. "It's just…. I can't stand hearing those types of things. When I was a kid, I always believed that anyone had the potential of becoming a hero, regardless of what their quirk was."
Izuku took a deep breath. "As for your question, well, you're kinda right about the whole "feeling free" thing. Even though it can be nerve wracking at times, whenever I go hero I feel…. better about myself. I'm no longer the weak, nerdy schoolboy Izuku Midoryia who has to run away from school bullies, instead I'm someone who has the power to make the world a safer place. But that's not why I do it. Ever since I was four years old, all I ever wanted to do was to just help people. I didn't care about fame, or money, or power, I just wanted to make people feel safe. Like All Might. The way he inspires hope and safety to those around him is just…. Incredible! That's why I wanna be a hero. So that in times of danger, I can give people the same type of hope by saying that 'I Am Here'!"
If Himiko was taken aback before, she was completely floored now. The way he spoke about his reasoning of wanting to be a hero with such devotedness, there was no way he was faking it. Her admiration for the boy had just skyrocketed tenfold now.
"D-Did you really mean what you said before? About how anyone could become a hero, regardless of what their quirk was? Even if the quirk was something villainous." Toga stammered out.
"Of course I do. I believe that any quirk, no matter how "villainous", weak, or unimpressive it is can be used as a force for good. After all it's not the quirk that makes the hero, instead it is a just and kind heart." Izuku answered before realizing something. "Hey that reminds me, while we're on the topic of Quirks would you mind me asking what yours is? Sorry if it sounds a little personal to ask, It's just that I kind of like studying Quirk I come across to learn how they work, ya know?"
And with that question, Himiko's awe struck admiration instantly died out as raw panic took over. "W-W-What?! M-My Quirk?! W-Well i-i-it's, um, h-how do I-?! Um, I c-can't really- um."
Himiko worked up a nervous sweat as she fumbled over her words. What the hell is she gonna do?! Should she tell him the truth?! After all, he did say he anyone's Quirk could be used for good, so it should be okay, right?! Oh, but what if she accidentally scares him off?! She doesn't want to ruin any chance of a friendship with her favorite vigilante!
"Hey, are you alright?" Izuku asked in a worried tone. "I-I didn't mean to upset you or anything, I was just a little curious about you is all. Y-You don't need to tell me if you don't want-."
BOOM!
The sound of an explosion and shattering glass broke both teens out of their funk as they, and everyone else in the arcade turned to see five figures wearing colorful outfits and wielding different weapons stroll through the destroyed entrance. It didn't take a genius to tell that these were villains.
People began to panic as they desperately tried to find a place to run or hide. But with the only exit being blocked, they could only scamper about for a place to hide themselves.
Amidst the panicking crowd, Izuku tried to find a hiding spot in order to transform, however his search was cut short when he felt Himiko tightly grip his right wrist.
"Himiko wha-?" Izuku didn't get to finish as Himiko immediately cut him off.
"I know a place we can hide. Come on!" She loudly whispered, as to not draw attention, before dragging the greenette along. The two didn't stop moving until they reached an old, worn out arcade machine that rested in the back corner of the room. Behind the ancient machine, there was a gap between it and the wall.
"Behind here." Himiko said as she knelt down and crawled inside, gesturing Izuku to do the same, which he quickly did. Crawling in and taking a seat next to the blonde, Izuku found the small space to be extremely cramped, but he wasn't about to complain.
As the two were getting situated with their temporary hiding place one of the villains, a woman holding a pistol and wearing a bright yellow jacket and pair of pants with a motorcycle helmet of the same color, turned towards their leader. "Hey Yuuta, mind shutting up these panicking morons already?"
Their leader Yuuta, a man wearing a red version of what the yellow villainess wore and holding a small dagger, chuckled a bit. "Sure thing, Hashimoto."
Walking forward away from his group, Yuuta raised the dagger he held over his head and channeled his quirk into the blade, causing a red energy to surge through the weapon before a laser beam shot out from the tip, blasting a hole into the ceiling and silencing everyone the arcade.
"Down on the ground! All of you now!" The red villain demanded as both he and his teammates pointed their weapons at the crowd, causing them all to comply with the villain's demands. "We're the Morphing Rangers, and this is a robbery! You're all hostages right now, and if anybody here tries anything, then you'll be resting six feet under! Got it?!"
Nobody said anything, the arcade patrons were too terrified to even move a muscle in fear of being struck down. Seeing that the sheep were complacent, Yuuta turned over to his team. "Black, Blue, go around and grab any valuables off these jackasses. Pink, tear the machines open and pull out any cash you see.."
Two men holding semiautomatic weapons and duffle bags, wearing black and blue versions of their leaders outfit, nodded as they began heading over to the nearest people while a woman, wearing a pink version of the leaders attire and holding a duffle bag of her own, walked to the nearest arcade game and started pulling the machine apart with her bare hands with relative ease.
All the while, Izuku watched the whole thing unfold as he peaked his head from behind his hiding spot, gritting his teeth in frustration before turning his gaze down at the Omnitrix. If these rainbow colored villains thought they could get away with this, they got another thing coming.
Activating the device, Izuku started scrolling through his various aliens to find the one that was right for the job. As he did this though Toga, who watched with a confused expression on her face, asked the greenette. "What the heck are you doing Izu-Kun?"
Izuku didn't turn to face the girl when he answered. "Trying to save the day. These guys think it's alright to rob innocent people, so I'm gonna teach them a lesson they'll never forget."
"Alright, then why don't you just use your quirk already instead of messing with your weird watch thing?"
Izuku stopped in his tracks when it dawned on him that Toga had no idea about the watch. She just thought he had a transformation quirk that only let him turn into Heatblast. Guess she was gonna learn about the other aspects of his power first hand it seemed.
"About that Toga, that's not the only guy I have." Izuku watched as Himiko's confused expression only became more bewildered. Knowing that now wasn't the best time to explain, he just said with a sight. "I can't really explain. Just wait here until it's over, okay?"
Going back to scrolling through the watch, it didn't take long for him to find the right alien for the job. Slamming his hand down on the device, the back of the arcade machine Izuku and Himiko hid behind exploded into a flash of brilliant emerald light.
It was a good day for the villainess Pink, best known to her teammates as Reiko. As she skipped happily through the arcade, ripping apart one machine after another with the help of her quirk and taking whatever cash she found inside, she hummed a merry little tune. Her duffle bag was already halfway full, and she hadn't even emptied out a quarter of the machines in this dump. The thought of having so much spending yen was practically making her giddy with excitement.
"Ooo, I'm gonna be able to buy so many things when this is all over!" Pink said excitedly to herself. "All I need to do is to tear open the rest of these lame ass piles of scrap metal and I'll be making off with a small fortune." The villainess moved her head around to find her next target. "Now let's see, which one should I do next? Hmm." The villainess stopped in her tracks when she noticed a particularly large arcade machine resting not too far from her, with a few cowering arcade goers cowering near it. "Bingo."
Walking over to the large machine, the pink clad villain motioned at the people laying next to the machine with her thumb to move. "Beat it losers. I don't need the air around me reeking of your gross nerd odor while I do my thing. So scram before I sic Black and Blue on your geeky assess!"
The people didn't need to be told twice to move it as they instantly scurried away to a different part of the arcade, leaving the villainess alone with the large gaming device. Smiling beneath her mask, Pink placed both hands on the front of the machine, causing the surface to wrinkle up like a piece of crushed up tinfoil. Wasting no time she dug her fingers into the arcade machines now wrinkled up surface, breaking through the machine's exterior before tearing the thing clean in two like a piece of wet paper. Various wires, circuit boards, and metal parts spilled out on the ground in front of her, though she could care less about the miniscule junk at her feet. Her eyes were on the large metal box that stored the yen. Repeating the same process, she tore the box in two and practically gleamed at all the cash that was inside.
"That's gotta at least be 60,000 yen! I could use this to buy that brand new purse I saw a while back!" Pink Exclaimed as she reached down to grab the money. However, before she could, she stopped when she felt something wet and slimy poke her shoulder.
"Wha-?" The villainess turned around to see what was behind, but as soon as she did a green, gelatinous fist slammed into her motorcycle helmets visor, sending her flying into one of the arcade machines she destroyed, the impact causing her to blackout.
(Seconds Prior)
Yuuta paced around a bit as he and his right hand woman, Hashimoto, stood guard at the front of the arcade while Pink, Black, and Blue were busy collecting the cash from the machines and worthless welp's. Outside of the entrance he blasted open earlier, the red villain could see the mall was abandoned. Clearly the ruckus he and his friends caused made the other worthless sheep flee away, and no doubt the Pro Heroes would show up soon to save the day.
No matter. By the time those glorified police officers showed up he and his team, along with the cash, will be long gone thanks to Seuji's quirk, Fast Travel, so he had nothing to fear.
Or at least, he would've, had he not heard the sound of something heavy being slammed into something metal, resulting in the sound of metallic creaking.
"What the hell?!" Yuuta exclaimed as he and practically everyone else in the arcade turned to the source of the sound, only to be met with the sight of Pink lying limp in the broken remains of an arcade machine, her motorcycle helmet heavily cracked on the front. "Pink?! Wha-?!
"Holy-!" Hashimoto cut him off as she pointed towards something. "Boss, look!"
Yuuta glanced at his right hand before following where it was pointing at, only to freeze at the sight before him. Standing some distance away, a being made of bright green slime with narrow emerald eyes and a small ufo shaped device hovering over it glared at the red clad villain. Even though he had never met it, Yuuta knew exactly who this was.
"Only shit, it's one of those freak vigilantes from the news!" Yuuta exclaimed as he brought up his dagger and readied his quirk.
"W-What?!" Hashimoto exclaimed as she trained her weapon on the sentient slime creature. "What the hell is one of them doing here?! We've been scoping out the place all day and we haven't seen this freak wander in at all!"
"It doesn't matter now! We gotta deal with this overgrown snot ball!" Yuuta yelled out frantically.
Meanwhile, Goop could only narrow his eyes. As if he's going to give them the chance. Before the villain's made their move, he quickly glanced around the arcade, the teenage hero spotted the Black and Blue villains standing by on his left with their semiautomatic's trained on him.
"Bingo." Goop silently said as he mentally commanded his ufo in the direction of the two criminals. Before taking on the head honcho, he needed to get rid of the guns these two held the sooner those were out of the picture, the better.
"Shit! Here comes!" Blue yelled out as both he and black immediately opened fire. Sadly though, their attempts were in vain, as most of the bullets harmlessly passed through the hero's gelatinous body and came out as melted bits of metal that simply fell to the floor with a soft splat.
Before the villain's could realize their weapons were doing nothing, Goop closed the distance between them and slammed a slimy tentacle into Blue's chest, sending him to the ground as his weapon fell from his grasp.
"Oh shit!" Black yelled as he aimed his gun once more. However before he could pull the trigger Goop quickly spun around and launched a piece of himself at the semiautomatic, causing the villain to drop it as the slime began to eat away at the metal.
Without any means of defending himself, Black cursed underneath his breath as he attempted to flee from the Polymorph. Sadly though, as soon as he turned away, Goop's body sprang forth and tightly wrapped itself around the villain's waist before lifting him up and flinging him towards a nearby arcade machine, toppling the whole thing in the process.
"Shit!" Yuuta cursed as he clenched his dagger tightly. This wasn't supposed to be happening! They had spent weeks planning this whole thing, and now it's all being uprooted by this…. this…. walking, talking Jello cube! He will not stand for this!
"Yellow, go check on Black. I'm gonna go deal with that freak of nature." Yuuta said as his dagger began to glow with his quirks red energy.
"What?! Red, are you crazy?! You saw what Black and Blues weapons did! I don't think you can-!"
"I don't care what you think! This freak has already taken out one of our own and is humiliating the rest of us! I refuse to accept this embarrassment! So just shut up and check on Black! If he's out like a light, then we'll be royally screwed!"
Hashimoto wanted to say something, but Yuuta bolted away before she could get the chance. "Yuuta, wait!" He didn't listen, instead he just continued forward, much to Hashimotos ire. "You damn fool." She whispered before moving towards her fallen teammate Black. Yuuta better not fuck up.
Back with Yuuta, when the villain twenty or so meters away from Goop, who currently had his gaze set on a cowering Blue, the red dressed villain raised up his dagger and shouted. "Hey, fuck face!"
Yuuta didn't even wait for the vigilante to turn his head. Instead, he immediately fired a blast of energy from his weapon, which quickly soared through the air and struck the gelatinous figure dead center in the chest, causing him to splatter apart resulting in the people in the arcade to scream in panic.
As bits of the Polymorph laid scattered about, Yuuta hurriedly rushed over Blues side to help him up. The red villain knew his attack didn't do anything against the so-called hero, he's seen the news footage on this guy, he wasn't an idiot. It wouldn't be long until this living pile of sewage pulled himself back together again. Kneeling down next to Blue, Yuuta grabbed the villain by his shoulders and swiftly helped him up to his feet.
"Come on Hideki, we gotta get the hell out of here quick!" Yuuta said as he guided the both of them over to Hashimoto.
"What?" Blue asked confused. "B-But boss, what about the cash and Pink?"
"Screw them!" Yuuta yelled. "They ain't worth spending the next few years behind bars! Now shut it and move!"
Quickening their pace, it didn't take the two villains long to reach their yellow dressed teammate, who was currently checking on their downed friend Seiju.
"How is he Hashi?" Yuuta asked, hoping the man wasn't out like Pink.
Hashimoto tried to answer, but was stopped by the pained voice of Seiju. "Still kicking boss, just a little banged up is all."
"Good. Then hurry up and get us out of here, now!"
"H-Huh? But what about the score boss? We spent weeks planning this whole thing and now you wanna-?"
Yuuta cut Seiju off. "The plan's already botched you idiot! We're just gonna have to leave with what we got and make due with that! So just shut up and use your quirk to get us the hell out of here already!"
Hashimoto chimed in. "Yuuta's right. We can't stay here any longer, Seiju."
"B-But boss, I don't get it? You already took care of that punk. I heard you blast and splatter that prick all over the place, so he shouldn't be a threat anymore. Besides, what about Reiko? We can't just leave her here, can we?"
Yuuta gripped his dagger tightly. If Seiju wasn't their ticket out of this place, he would've slashed his throat open then and there. "We don't have time for this you blithering idiot! Just do what I told you already!"
"B-But, but-." Seiju stammered with his words, but before he could finish his sentence he was interrupted when he saw something coming from behind Yuuta and Hideki. "Guys, behind you!"
Alarmed by their friend's warning, the red and blue villains turned around in time to see a slimy green tentacle heading right towards them. Before the two villains could react, the appendage slammed into Hideki's backside before the slime quickly enveloped itself around the blue villain's torso. With a quick tug, Hideki was pulled away from the rest of the villains and dragged towards a fully resembled Goop, who's right arm was currently acting as a 'tentacle'.
"You aren't going anywhere villain's! Not while I have anything to say!" Goop said as he continued to pull Blue towards himself. When the villain was just a few feet away the Polymorph reared back it's other arm and increased It's size. "Jelly!" When Hideki was just in front of the vigilante, Goop slammed his enlarged fist right into the back of the poor villain's head. "Smash!"
The force of the blow had shattered the young man's helmet as he was sent flying forward onto the ground stomach first. Hideki's body lied motionless, a clear indicator that he was out like a light just like Pink.
"Hideki!" Yellow cried out as she attempted to check on her friend, only to be stopped by Yuuta.
"Stop you fool, It's too late to help him now! Rushing in to help will just make you an easy target."
"Pretty wise advise for a villain." Goop chimed in. "Though you forgot to mention how you and your friends should just give up now. After all, you've probably seen the news about me? You know about how I've taken out plenty of villains before you, right? So why not surrender now, and we can all avoid any unnecessary harm, okay?"
Yuuta growled in frustration as he glared daggers at the sentient mass of slime. Did this bastard just tell him to surrender, him?! Fat change! He'd rather go down kicking and screaming then give up to this joke! Though, that didn't mean he was planning to lose either. He was gonna leave this place, that's a promise!
Question is though, how's he gonna get past this walking blob of gunk?
"B-Boss, what should we do?" Seiju asked as he, painfully, got to his feet. "S-Should we just do what he says, or do you have a plan to get us out of here?"
"I'm thinking of something damnit, so shut it!" Yuuta said in a harsh whisper as in mind tinkered away. Seiju could still teleport them out of here if they were able to take care of this freak, and quickly before any pesky Pro Heroes finally showed up. However that's easier said than done. Because of his body structure, the vigilante had no weak spots they could exploit. No heart, no brain, no jugular, no vital organs they could hit! Hell, not even the things damn eyes were viable targets as they looked to be made of the same thing it's body was made from. It infuriated Yuuta to no damn end! If only there was just some way to- to-.
Yuuta paused as he noticed something about his foe. Something that wasn't green, gelatinous, and easy to reassemble but rather something metallic, solid, and looked like it could be a pain to fix. Something that floated just above the freakshows head.
With an idea already forming in his head, Yuuta spoke to the two remaining teammates beside him. "Hashimoto, Seiju. Distract this walking Jello cube for me, would ya?"
Even though their faces were hidden behind their helmets, the red villain could tell they were completely gobsmacked by his request.
"W-What?!" Hashimoto whispered back. "Are you crazy?! You just said rushing in to attack him would make us an easy target!"
"Well that was before I had a plan." Yuuta answered. "I just need you two to keep him busy long enough for me to sneak up on him and blast him to smithereens. After that, Seiju can get us out of here before the Pros come."
Hashimoto stared at Yuuta with uncertainty. On one hand, she did fully trust the red villain and had faith in his ideas. On the other however was the fact that her and Seiju would be going up against one of Musutafu's most prevalent vigilantes to serve as a distraction, something she's not so keen on doing.
Turning to Seiju for what he thought, he merely shrugged his shoulders as to say 'sure, why not', causing Hashimoto to make up her mind. "Well, if you think you can do it, then I guess we'll go along with your plan."
Yuuta smirked from beneath his helmet. "Glad to hear. And don't worry, it'll be quick. Just rush him and keep his attention off me for a bit."
With a nod, Hashimoto turned to give Sejiu her pistol before rushing forward while activating her quirk, causing condensed spheres of air to form in the palms of her hands. Following close behind was Seiju, who unloaded the pistol at the vigilante.
All the while, Goop simply stood there as several bullets harmlessly passed through his body with a disappointed look in his eyes. "Sigh, of course that wouldn't work. At least you tried the peaceful route Izuku." Goop thought before flying directly towards the two villains, dodging all of Hashimoto's quirk projectiles, before reaching the two and beginning to engage in close combat.
As the Vigilante fought against the black and yellow criminals while the civilians trapped inside watched, Yuuta smiled as the attention on him was gone for the moment, which was just perfect. It wouldn't take long for him to charge up one big blast, and since he was few feet away from that slimey freak, he could easily hit that little support item above his head and destroy it, or at the very least deactivate it. If that little piece of scrap worked like how he thought it did, then beating this chump and leaving this place will be easy as pie.
Yuuta charged his dagger and pointed the tip up at it's target, unbeknownst to everyone around him.
Well, everyone, except for a certain blonde hiding in the back of the arcade.
When Himiko Toga woke up this morning, she expected that her day would end up being as humdrum as it always had and, for the most part, she was exactly right about that. She had breakfast with her folks, brushed her brilliant white teeth, went to school, and endured that torture for the better part of the day, just like she had for most of her life.
However, what she wasn't expecting on her way home from school, was to actually meet one of Musutafu's most up and coming vigilantes. The fact that it was so easy to follow him to that warehouse after he saved that burning building made her wonder if she was dreaming, but after quickly pinching herself she was glad that was not the case. And the way the flaming vigilante was able to quickly deal with her just proved further that it wasn't a dream. (Though looking back on it now, Toga realized maybe she should probably apologize at some point for sneak attacking her idol.)
However, that was just the tip of the iceberg. If Toga was excited to meet one of her idol's before, she completely lost her marbles upon meeting the face behind the vigilante. Izuku Midoriya, a boy that was around her age. HER AGE! Not only that but he was also, in her opinion, pretty damn cute, kind, and he wasn't a Quirkist asshole who judges others based on their power. He even said that anyone, no matter the quirk, could be a force for good. Oh, but the best part though, was the fact she was going to spend the afternoon with her idol. True, she basically had to sorta blackmail him into coming to the arcade, but before those villains showed up, he seemed to be really enjoying himself. Plus, it was just an empty threat. She doesn't have the heart to spill her idol's secret.
However, the biggest surprise yet was when Izuku transformed. Not into the flaming vigilante she had met prior, but into a completely different one. When she saw Izu-Kun transform into the slime vigilante, she'd be lying if she didn't say it was an epic sight to see, but while this sight might've brought her excitement, it also brought confusion, questions.
Though, while she might've had some questions, she was able to piece together one thing.
If Izuku Midoriya was capable of transforming into both the fire and slime vigilante, t-then did that mean that he- n-no, it wasn't possible! He just couldn't-.
There was no way that all ten Musutafu vigilantes were the same person!
I-It wasn't possible! Transformation quirks aren't capable of giving people different forms with different abilities, they only offered one power! And it certainly wasn't a shape shifting quirk, as those only change the users appearance, they couldn't give them any additional powers!
S-She needed to ask Izu-Kun what was going on. It might not have been her business to ask, but she needed answers. Once he's finished taking care of these losers, she has no doubt he'll probably head off to a secluded area to turn back, which was perfect for her. She'll slip away from the crowd and follow closely behind.
It shouldn't be too long, given how the fight between her Izu-Kun and the villains was going. As expected of someone as awesome as him, he had already defeated two with quick and relative ease, and now the rest of them were charging forward with careless abandonment. She wanted to laugh really, if the red one wasn't able to defeat him by splattering him all over the place, then what made the yellow and black villains think that charging forward with their quirk's and gun's blazing would work? Seriously, those two had to be the dumbest-.
Himiko stopped in her tracks and looked away from the fight momentarily as something crossed her mind. Two of the villains were engaged in the fight, but weren't there three?
Looking back at the fight, Himiko could clearly see the yellow and black clad villains battling the vigilante. (And losing terribly given Goop had a slimly tendril wrapped around Yellow and was using her to knock Black to the ground.)
'But where's their head honcho?' Toga wondered as she looked around the arcade for the missing red villain. Earlier, the guy did yell at the black clad villain to use his quirk to get them out there, It was practically hard not to hear given he was screaming his head off. With that, plus the fact that the authorities were probably halfway here by now, she doubted the guy would try to escape on foot at this point. So he had to still be somewhere in the arcade. Question was, where?
'Come on Himiko. The guy's wearing brightly colored red clothing in a place that's mostly black and light blue. He should be sticking out like a sore thumb, yet you can't seem to find him for crying out- oh!' Himiko stopped in thoughts when her eyes finally spotted the red clad villain, hiding away between two arcade machines nearby Goop. 'There you are!' Himiko thought to herself as she stared at the villain, smiling to herself that she was able to find him.
However, that smile quickly turned into a look of confusion as she stared at the villain, wondering what exactly he was doing. Why was he just hiding away while his two friends were busy fighting off Izu-Kun? If the black wearing villain has a quirk that serves as their way out of here, then why is the red one just standing there watching and not helping? Doesn't he realize he and his team are screwed if Izu-Kun takes out their only means of escape? Does he think his two subordinates stand a chance or something? Cause if so, then this guy's even dumber than his lackeys!
'Wait a second.' Himiko thought as she noticed the red villain lifting up the dagger he held in one hand towards Goop, with the tip of the blade pointed dead center at the alien teen.
Upon seeing this, Toga was able to figure out what exactly the villain was trying to do, though it brought up even more confusion for the Blonde. She knew how the villain's quirk worked after seeing it in action twice, and both she and him knew simply blasting Goop wouldn't accomplish anything. If the villain fired a beam at the vigilante it would simply pass through him and splattering him would just yield the same results as before. Not to mention his two friends were still fighting Goop, meaning there was also the risk of hitting them by mistake.
Himiko turned her gaze over to the green slime teen. What did Red even hope of hitting anyway?! Every single part of Izu-Kun was made out of the same damn green slime! There's nothing vital! Even his eyes are completely malleable! It's not like he had a heart, or a brain, or a- or a-.
Small, little UFO floating above his head.
'Oh shit.' Himiko thought as realization dawned upon her. T-That little UFO, the one that's always seen floating above the slime vigilantes head in every news video she's seen of him. Now, Himiko might not have been the brightest bulb in the box, but she wasn't an idiot. She knew that whatever that little device was had to be important given Izu-Kun's slime form was never seen without it.
'B-But that couldn't be what the villain was aiming for, right?!' Himiko thought worriedly as she continuously looked between Goop and the red villain. Surely, there was no way someone as thick headed as him could've realized Izu-Kun's little support item was that important. And even if he did, it wasn't like it mattered anyway. Izu-Kun was an awesome vigilante! He'd probably be able to dodge the red guys attack! And even if he didn't, it probably wouldn't even do anything to the little UFO. For all she knows, the guys energy blast would just harmlessly bounce of the floating device.
'I-I've got nothing to worry about. T-There's no way Izu-Kun would lose to a bunch of chump's like these guys! Everything's gonna be fine.' Himiko told herself to try and reign in her panic, though unfortunately it did little to stop her growing unease. And she hated it when she was uneasy. Because when she was uneasy, it made her head race, and when her head raced it made it hard for her to think clearly, and when she doesn't think clearly she tended to lose rational thought causing her instincts to flare up. And she hated that part of her with a passion.
Himiko started to hyperventilate as her panic grew and her thoughts raged. Why was she even worried?! Izu-Kun was an awesome vigilante! Besides, that little UFO probably served some insignificant purpose or something.
'But what if it doesn't?' A small voice in the back of Himiko's head said. 'Sure, it could probably be something useless. But you don't know that. For all you know, that little device is the only thing keeping him alive in that form. He doesn't have any organs after all, so maybe that thing serves as his brain.' That…. did little to ease Himiko's growing panic. The blondes breathing began to quicken as her eyes frantically looked around the arcade seeing that if someone, anyone else noticed what she was seeing right now. Sadly though, that was not the case as the hostages were too focused on watching the fight between Goop and the two villains to notice the red one. And if they did, they either haven't realized what he was doing, or were too scared to warn the slime vigilante of the upcoming sneak attack.
Toga's mind was torn. On one hand, she felt that Izu-Kun knew what he was doing and could either dodge or withstand the villains attack. However as her panic rose and her instincts continued to flare, she felt like she had to do something, anything, to help. She couldn't let someone like Izu-Kun get hurt or worse. The schoolgirl weighed her options trying to figure out the best course of action. Unfortunately however, she didn't have that long to decide, as she noticed the red villain's dagger begin to glow an ominous red as it silently charged up for it's attack.
Himiko's mind went into overdrive. Her panic was at an all-time high and her instincts kicked into gear. Within the span of a second, she had made up her mind on what to do.
Yuuta smiled wickedly underneath his mask as he watched the dagger in his hand pulse with energy. Despite his two friend's were getting their asses kicked by this man-sized snot ball, it all wouldn't matter in a few seconds. All he needs to do is to hit that dumb little support item and he and his crew would be in the clear. Though, while he wasn't sure what would happen if he hits the small UFO, Yuuta was confident that no matter what outcome, it would be enough for Seiju to cover their escape!
'And once we're back in the comfort of our little hideout! Payday!' Yuuta thought, excited to get his hands on his cut of the cash. All he needs to do now is aim and fire!
Aiming was a little tricky as the slime vigilante kept moving around, however the red clad villain was able to finally get a good aim when Goop was busy restraining Hashimoto, causing the little UFO to float in place for a second. 'Say goodnight you disgusting pile of crap!' Yuuta thought as he began to release all the blade's pent up energy.
However, in a shocking turn of events, the villain felt something from behind him forcefully slam into him. This unexpected collision caused the villain's aim to mess up, and instead of hitting It's target the beam shot upwards past Goop and collided with the ceiling, blowing a large beach ball sized hole in to reveal the blue sky outside.
The people in the arcade screamed in fear at the sudden explosion as a dust cloud and plaster blew across the arcade while Goop just stared at the hole in the ceiling above before turning his attention to where the source of the beam came from, quickly spotting Yuuta hidden between two arcade machines nearby. But just as quickly as he spotted Yuuta though, the sentient mass of green slime spotted something laying on the ground behind Yuuta, and upon getting a good look at it, his emerald eyes widened with shock at what it was.
Meanwhile, Yuuta could only stare up at the hole in the ceiling in both shock and horror. H-His attack, the one thing that could've given Seiju enough time for them to escape, had missed It's mark. It-It was over for him and his teammates. H-He couldn't channel enough energy for another powerful blast like that again. He wouldn't have enough time. All he could muster up now was just some decently small blasts of energy.
Time seemed to slow down for the red villain. This- this wasn't fair! He had the perfect plan for him and his friends to make a quick buck. Heroes rarely ever patrolled through this area during this time of day, so they had nothing to worry about. With Sejiu by their side, they could've left this place long before any two-bit hero showed up. Nothing was supposed to go wrong! But it did when one of those vigilante freaks from the news just showed up out of nowhere and took out Reiko and Hideki like it was nothing! He thought they were done for at first, however after noticing that floating support item above the freaks head, a new plan started forming in his head and he thought that maybe, just maybe they could still make it out of this. B-But now, they won't. His plan failed, all because of something…. from…. behind.
Snapping his head behind him, Yuuta saw that the cause of his failure appeared to be a blond schoolgirl wearing a yellow cardigan lying on the ground rubbing her head in pain, no doubt flung down their due to the shockwave his dagger let out when firing the beam.
The red villain had no idea who this brat was, however he couldn't care less. Gone was his shock and horror, now replaced with an unbridled rage as he twisted around to face her and let out an animalistic growl. This was all her fault! This bitch was the reason he and his friends are now fucked!
Pointing his dagger down at the helpless girl, causing her eyes to widen in fear and several people to gasp in horror, Yuuta began to channel as much energy as he could into the blade. He and his crew might've been fucked over, but at least he can avenge their defeat by channeling enough energy into his dagger to paint the floor with this broads brains! Not to mention her death would probably weigh heavy on that slime balls conscience, and paint him in a bad light in the media. So at least that was a nice consolation prize he supposed.
"No!" Goop exclaimed with his eyes widened in panic before rushing over towards the red villain. Fortunately his antigravity device was somewhat fast and with the short distance between himself and Yuuta only being a few meters, Goop was able to close in on him within a few seconds. Once the Polymorph was near the villain, two slimy tendrils quickly shot forth from his body and slammed themselves into his targets back.
And just in the nick of time too, for as soon as the tendrils made contact with the back of Yuuta's red jacket, the villain had begun to release the energy he had quickly stored in his dagger. But just like before his aim was once again thrown off by something bumping into him, and so instead of hitting the center of Himiko's forehead, Yuuta's beam struck the ground near the blonde.
Upon seeing his attack miss yet again, the red villain wanted to curse his luck. Unfortunately for him though his next few "words" would be that of panicked screaming as the two slime tentacles clinging to his back quickly pulled him away from Toga, causing him to drop his weapon, and sent him flying into a nearby arcade machine with enough force to complete shatter the metal box.
"Yuuta!" Hashimoto exclaimed as both her and Seiju watched as their leader collided with the machine. Turning her gaze at Goop, the yellow villainess felt rage and the desire of revenge began to swell up despite the pain and fatigue she felt from being tossed around earlier. "You bastard!"
Getting to her feet, the villainess rushed towards the source of her rage while tossing condensed spheres of air thanks to her quirk. Her Gale Burst wasn't a very powerful quirk given how it could only push people back, (hell the only reason she could have destroyed the front door earlier was because she spent an hour making a beach ball sized air grenade) but she didn't care as the anger she felt for the vigilante blinded any rational thought. The only thing that mattered now was avenging her and her friends.
Unfortunately due to the fact that she was just throwing her quirk at Goop like a toddler throwing a tantrum, all her air grenades did was cause his gelatinous body to ripple. Therefore, there was nothing stopping the vigilante from shooting out several tendrils that swiftly wrapped themselves around Hashimoto's neck, causing the yellow villainess to yelp as she felt them tightly choke her. Within just a few seconds the villainess slowly slipped into the realm of unconsciousness, and once he felt her pass out, Goop gently lowered her to the ground.
"That takes care of that." Goop said as he stared down at the inebriated Hashimoto, before turning his gaze up at the last remaining villain. "Now, what to do with you?"
Seiju felt a chill go down his spine as he felt the vigilantes gaze wash upon his shaking, terrified form. Looking around at the unconscious forms of his fallen teammates, the remaining villain was unsure of what to do in this situation. The rationale part of him told him to just peacefully surrender and wait for the cops to show up. There was no way he was getting out of this, he was doomed whether he decided to try to escape or not. The only difference was that if he did try to flee, he would get the crap kicked into him.
However, just like Hashimoto with her rage, Seiju's rational mind was clouded with panic. Now that their foolproof plan was down the drain, there was no doubt he and his friends would be incarcerated for a long time. And there was no way in hell the boy was going to waste a few years of his life behind bars! So as one last desperate act of keeping his freedom, the villain quickly spun around and made a mad dash for the destroyed arcade entrance.
As the villain ran, Goop simply just stood in place while shaking his head in disappointment. Some people just don't know when to quit do they?
Raising up an arm, the Polymorph channelled large quantities of his slime into the appendage before viciously tossing it forward, causing a large slime ball to go hurtling towards the fleeing Seiju. Had the villain been paying attention to his surroundings perhaps he would've heard the gelatinous sphere flying towards him. Sadly though he was struck in the back regardless, causing him and the slime clinging his body to land on the floor with a heavy splat. The villain immediately tried getting back up to his feet, however the green sludge on his back was far too heavy for him to move. He was trapped underneath the massive blobs weight.
As the villain laid there, desperately trying to free himself from his slimy prison, Goop simply stood triumphantly and felt proud that he was able to incapacitate the last of the Morphing Rangers. Meanwhile, the arcade goer's/previous hostages could only look at their savior in shocked wonder before one by one they began to cheer for the vigilante.
"H-Holy shit! He saved all of us!"
"That was crazy! Those chump's never stood a chance against this guy!"
"This guy's supposed to be a vigilante! There's no way that's true! He's gotta be on the same level as the Pro's!"
Goop was glad he lacked any skin. All this praise would've made him as red as Four Arm's otherwise. "Ehehe, thank you. Thank you. But please, there's no need for applause. I was just glad I was able to help. Your safety is all that matters." Goop nervously said as he slightly waved at the people and walked(?) over to the still squirming Seiju before grabbing him by the back of his neck. Even though he had stopped all the villains, he still needed to round them up for when the police arrived.
After picking up the black dressed villain and making his way over to the yellow one nearby, Goop glanced around the arcade and noticed that Himiko wasn't in the same spot she was before. In fact he couldn't find hide nor hair of the girl. The vigilante wondered if she had slipped away somehow without him, or anyone else noticing. He wouldn't blame her if she did though. After all this craziness he was sure everyone here wanted to leave this place.
Meanwhile, laying in the wreckage of the arcade machine he was slammed into, Yuuta shifted uncomfortably as a low pain filled moan escaped his lips. It seems as though Goop hadn't knocked him out like the others, however that didn't mean he was getting up anytime soon. The boy's entire body ached with pain all over, and he had no doubt he had some broken bones in a few places. Despite this though, the pain didn't keep him from feeling the rage he felt for the one responsible for his injuries.
"Ba….Bas….tard. H….How….dare….you." Yuuta panted heavily as he tried to get up, only to stop and hiss as he felt raw pain course through his being. He slowly turned his head onto It's side as he struggled to stay awake, giving him a good view of the floor. "T-This….this wasn't….how t-things…. were supposed to go. We were…. supposed to walk away….with a hefty reward! I swear….once I get my hands….on you…. I'll-." Yuuta stopped mid sentence as he noticed something shiney lying on the ground a few feet away from him.
It was his dagger. The one he had dropped when being flung through the air.
Slowly and painfully the red clad villain raised a hand up in an attempt to grab the weapon needed for his quirk to work, despite the fact that it was too far out of his reach. Whether it was the rage or pain though, Yuuta didn't care. His mind was far too preoccupied with the thought of vengeance for him to realize the futility of his struggle. He, like the rest of his team, was bested.
Fortunately for him however, he would soon learn to realize this as a pair of gelatinous feet landed near his head. Turning his head upwards, the villain was met with the sight of Goop shaking his head disappointedly while he held the other four villains in a slimy hand.
"Even after all that, you refuse to stay down?" The vigilante said unimpressed. "It's a shame you decided to use your skills for evil. That determination of yours could've made you a great hero."
Glaring at the Polymorph in pure fury, the villain was about to curse out the hero hopeful. Unfortunately before he could get a word in, Goop slammed a fist into Yuuta's damaged helmet, cracking it apart even further and knocking him out. With the leader finally knocked down, the vigilante set forth with tying the five villains up.
(Timeskip)
Shortly after wrapping up all the villains in a rope made of a thick green slime, Goop made sure to drop the villains off just outside the malls entrance for when the police and heroes arrive. Which wouldn't be too long, for as soon as the vigilante left the malls vicinity, both arrived just shortly after and were surprised to see the threat was already dealt with, (much to the heroes disappointment). After rounding the villains up, both heroes and police took statements from the people who were held hostage, and they all quickly learned that the one responsible for their salvation was none other than one of the Musutafu vigilantes. While the Pro's were agitated that their "thunder" was stolen by some upstart, the police were extremely glad someone was able to defuse the situation before something bad had happened. In fact, some police officers wished they could've thanked the slimey vigilante for his great deed.
Meanwhile, several blocks away in an empty alleyway, said vigilante made his way through checking to make sure nobody was around to witness him transforming back into his regular form. After seeing the coast was clear, the Polymorph sighed in relief as relaxed a bit and began to wait for the Omnitrix to revert him. It shouldn't be too long, in fact if he's correct it should be kicking in right about-.
Beep, Beep, Beep, Bwosh!
In a flash of crimson Goop was quickly replaced with the form of Izuku Midoriya, who let out a long exhausted sigh due to being so mentally drained.
"Well, that wasn't how I was expecting my little trip to the arcade to go. I think it's about time I turn in for the evening." Midoriya said as he stretched his arms slightly and craned his neck a bit before beginning to make his way out of the alleyway. As he walked, one particular thought came to mind. "I wondered what happened to Toga? After saving her from that red villain guy, I didn't see her anywhere after that. I wonder if she snuck away during the commotion or something? I wouldn't blame her after what almost happened to her. Hopefully she's doing alright now."
As Izuku walked while thinking about the cheerful blonde schoolgirl, he failed to notice the presence of someone silently sneaking up on him. The figure drew closer and closer towards the unsuspecting boy, and when they were just behind him, they raised up their hands and-.
"Boo!"
-firmly placed them on the greenettes shoulders, greatly startling the boy. With a surprised yelp, Izuku quickly pulled himself away from the hands grasp and quickly spun around to quickly sucker punch the figure behind him. However before he could raise a fist up, Izuku stopped when he saw that the person before him was none other than Himiko, who was simply smiling at the teens startled reaction. "Hehehe calm down Izu-Kun, it's just me, no need to get all jumpy."
Upon seeing that he was in no immediate danger, Izuku let out a sigh of relief as he quickly calmed his nerves. "H-Holy crap Toga, don't sneak up on people like that. I was about ready to hit you just then."
"Hehehe sorry about that, but I just couldn't help it. When I saw you turn back into your adorable self, I just saw the perfect opportunity to give you a little surprise. I wasn't trying to give you a heart attack or anything." Toga said in her usual cheery tone.
Izuku's cheeks turned slightly pink upon being called adorable, but thankfully he didn't melt into a sputtering mess. "I-It's fine Himiko. Just…. try not to do something like that after what I went through okay?" Izuku said, before realizing something. "Hey wait a minute, how did you know I was even here? In fact, where were you after I saved you from almost being killed by that villain…. wait, why were you almost killed by a villain?! You were hiding behind that old machine, there was no reason for you to be in danger in the first place!"
While his first two questions didn't mean much to the girl, Izuku's last one and the way he was almost yelling did cause the blonde to flinch back slightly. "W-Well to answer those first two, I knew that after you would finish taking care of those villains you would immediately go somewhere to turn back into yourself without anyone around to see. So I decided to follow you, and to make sure nobody would follow me I decided to keep out of sight and mask my presence. I'm very good at sneaking around. As for that last one, well…."
Himiko looked away as she felt shame and embarrassment crept across her. "Now this might sound really dumb, but earlier while you were fighting those Black and Yellow villains, I noticed that their leader was hiding between some of the arcade machines a-and, well, he was aiming for that little U.F.O thingy above you. I know you probably could've handled yourself considering you're a badass vigilante, but I panicked. I had no idea what that little device of yours did, and didn't know what would happen if he hit it. A-And since you didn't notice him, I was beginning to worry about your safety and well, something in me just snapped and the next thing I knew I was rushing towards the guy. It was dumb of me, but I couldn't help it. I was so worried about you and didn't know what would've happened if I didn't do anything."
After listening to Himiko's explanation, Izuku simply stared at her for a bit before shaking his head. "For the love of…. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was Toga?! You could've been killed by doing something as reckless as that! Seriously, I know you were panicking, but what went through your head that made you think endangering yourself would be a good idea?!"
"I-I don't know?" Toga said in a low unsteady voice as her body began to shake a little, no doubt upset about her idol scolding her. "I-I was just worried, and I did what I thought could be helpful. I didn't mean to get myself into trouble."
Upon noticing how visibly the blonde was becoming, the frustration Izuku felt before hand slowly started to melt away. It just didn't sit right with him to see someone in distress. "Look Toga, I know you were trying to help out but you could've been seriously hurt back there, or worse. I don't think I could've lived with something happening to you or anyone else getting harmed."
"S-So you're not angry with me then?"
"No. In fact, I don't think I should be scolding you for reckless actions considering I've done some pretty reckless things myself." Izuku said with a small smile, slightly cheering up Himiko. "Besides, the important thing now is that you're alright. So no point in thinking dwelling on the 'if's' or 'what's'."
Before Izuku could say anything else, Himiko closed the distance between them and pulled the teenage vigilante into a tight hug, much to his surprise. "Thank you for not being upset with me Izu-Kun! You had no idea how worried I was there!"
With his face more red than a tomato, Izuku quickly stammered out. "Uh-uh, N-No problem T-Toga. J-Just try n-not to do something s-s-so brash n-next time, okay?"
With a giggle, Himiko let go of the boy and looked him in the eyes. "Don't worry Izu-Kun, I'll be more careful next time. After all, with you as my friend, I'm sure there'll be some pretty crazy things that'll happen when we hang out every once and a while."
"H-Huh?! Friends?! Hang out?!" Izuku said taken aback by these foreign words.
"Well, yeah. I mean this day might not have gone perfect what with, well, all that happened. B-But we had plenty of fun before everything hit the fan though, and I thought it would be fun if we could do something like that again. If you want that is. Considering you're an awesome super vigilante, or I guess vigilantes, you're probably always busy saving the day and stuff." After listening to her finish her sentence, Izuku quietly thought over her words.
Friends. Something he hadn't had in a long, long while. Not ever since his quirkless status was made known to everyone around him. And quite honestly, it was something Izuku thought he'd ever have again in his life. But to hear her offering him companionship, well, it actually filled him with some small joy to be honest, but also worry. If she knew about who he actually was, before getting the Omnitrix, would she still want to be friends with him? Would she still want to be friends with a useless, quirkless loser just like-.
'No.' Izuku thought as he shook away those thoughts. If she was like everyone else, then she wouldn't have risked her life like that. He thinks he can take a chance with this girl. "I-I'd actually like that, Toga. Today was kinda fun, and I wouldn't mind hanging out with you again anytime soon."
"R-Really! You'd actually want to hang out again?!" Toga asked. And when Izuku gave her a small nod, she went ecstatic. "Yes! This is freaking awesome! I can't believe I'm actually friends with a badass vigilante! Oh, this day can't get any better!" Himiko stopped her little celebration when something suddenly popped in her head. Pulling out a small red flip phone, she raised the little device up in front of her. "Oh, I know! Let's trade numbers with each other! That way we can stay in touch and talk whenever we feel like it!"
"U-Um, sure." Izuku said as he pulled out his own phone. After quickly swapping numbers, Izuku had a new contact in his phone, just underneath his mom's and All Might's numbers.
"Hehehe, this is so cooool!" Himiko said as she stared at the new contact in her phone, before shutting it closed and pocketing it away. "Thank you so much for doing this Izu-Kun! This really means a lot to me!"
"No problem Toga. The pleasure was all mine." Midoriya responded back as he gave out a slightly nervous smile. To which Toga found absolutely adorable.
The blonde wished she could spend the rest of the day with this amazing person, but sadly with how late it was getting, she knew it was time to head on home. Not to mention her parents were probably wondering where she was by now. "Well Izu-Kun, as fun as this day was, I think it's about time I mosied on home. I'm usually not out this late, so I hope you don't mind if I head off."
"O-Oh, no problem Toga. I'll, uh, talk to later. I guess."
"Hehe, oh most definitely." Himiko said before turning around and heading out of the alley. "I'll text you later tonight before bed Izu-Kun. Be sure to keep your phone by ya!"
"Um, s-sure thing Toga." Izuku said as he nervously waved goodbye towards Himiko, who in turn waved back. Not long after, Himiko reached the alley's entrance and turned the corner, disappearing out of the greenettes sight. For about a minute or two, Izuku simply stood there in silence before letting out a breath he had no idea he'd been holding.
A friend. After a decade of being a social pariah, he finally had a friend. And one who turned out to be a cute girl no less. He doesn't think he'll get used to that fact anytime soon.
Not only that, but she also knew his secret too. And while he didn't think Toga was going to rat him out, he knew he had to tell All Might about this. So, after pulling out his phone and entering the Pro's number, Izuku set out on what he knew would be the most uncomfortable phone call he ever had.
With a few rings, it didn't take long for the number one heroes to pick up. {Hello?}
"H-Hey All Might. It's me, Izuku."
{Ah, Midoriya my boy! How're you doing this evening! I heard the news about that apartment complex an hour ago, and I must say you did an excellent job handling that situation. Your getting quite good at using your Heatblast form. Not to mention the other deeds you did before that. You've been rather busy it seems}
"T-Thanks All Might, that means a lot. I'm doing quite well too." Izuku said shyly before adding. "H-How about you? How did your important hero work go?"
{Oh! Well….} All Might trailed off before continuing. {It's quite complicated to explain really. Next time we meet up, I'll have to tell you about it.}
"O-Oh, okay then." Midoriya said. After a brief pause, the vigilante hero decided to address the real reason why he called up his mentor. "Hey, uh, All Might? There's something I gotta tell you. A-And I don't think you're gonna like it."
{Oh?} All Might said apprehensively. {And what might that be, my boy?}
"W-Well, you see-."
Meanwhile, at the home of the number one hero, Toshinori Yagi listened intently on what his young successor had experienced throughout the day. And well-
"WHAT?!" All Might exclaimed loudly, causing nearby birds around his apartment complex to go flying.
-let's just say he wasn't exactly happy with what he heard.
Now, before somebody says it, yes I know Goops little U.F.O thing can't be destroyed by something as simple as an energy blast. I know Goops species probably made it so that it couldn't be destroyed so easily. But do the villains, or Himiko know that? No, they probably think it's some kind of support item that could be damaged by a strong enough quirk.
But whether the villains did or didn't know it was an alien device wouldn't really matter. The device won't work if it's more than two feet away (according to the wiki) and If Yuuta was able to hit Goops antigravity device, it would've knocked it far enough away where he wouldn't be able to keep up his form and would just melt into a puddle. So Yuuta's plan of defeating him would've worked, just not how he thought it would.
References:
1: The vigilante group Toga talked about earlier was a slight nod to the Red Alert group from Mega Man X7.
2: Keeping up with Horikoshi's Star Wars theme, Coruscant Fun Center is named after the planet of the same name.
3: The games Izuku saw as he walked through the arcade were Twisted Metal, GTA, and an Alien Vs Predator game.
4: The five villains are a homage to the Zyurangers from Kyōryū Sentai Zyurangers, while their names are based on the actors who played them.
(Line Break)
Quirks:
Red/Yuuta: Energy Blade.
Yuuta can channel energy into any bladed weapon and a red translucent blade will appear over the existing one. This blade can fire energy slashes and cut through steel like a hot knife through butter.
Yellow/Hashimoto: Gale Burst.
Hashimoto can created a sphere of condensed air that acts like a grenade when throw at something. When it hits a person or object, it will explode into a shockwave of concussive force. She can make softball sized spheres very quickly, though they're only strong enough to push a person back. If she wants something more destructive, she'll need to make a bigger one, and doing so takes time unfortunately.
Pink/Reiko: Tinfoil.
Any object Reiko touches will instantly become weak like tinfoil, allowing her to rip even the most sturdy of materials clean in half.
Blue/Hideki: Brain Freeze.
Hideki has the ability to send out an electric pulse that is capable of shutting a human beings nervous system, paralysing them for a short while. Unfortunately he didn't get the chance to use his power, and even if he did it wouldn't work on something that, well, had no nervous system.
Black/Seiju: Fast Travel.
Basically how it sounds. Seiju has the ability to teleport. However, he can only teleport to one place a day and it isn't instantaneous. Rather, the teleporting is very slow, which is rather ironic given the name. Also, he needs to fully concentrate on the location he wants to go to.
And with that, that concludes the introduction of the Himiko Toga. Tune in next time for:
A Small Problem. (And the appearance of a new alien)
I hoped you enjoyed and have a wonderful day/night! See ya!