Chapter 15!
I did it, the The First Steps Upwards update!
This one was really something to write out and I can't thank everyone enough to looking forward to and being so patient for this story to be updated, all the stories of mine that haven't been updated in a while in fact, so once again I'm incredibly grateful for the support. I am working on a few chapter updates on many of the non updated stories but of course I want people to be able to read stuff so I won't make promises this time on which ones are next and simply release what I have when I have them.
That being said, glad to be back on this story so please enjoy!
User/Reviewer A Ninni Mouse: Well I'm really glad that you've been so invested in the story as despite how hard it is to keep it all organized and between other stories, this one really is special to me for a lot of reasons. Given the source material I had a lot of room to be more real and human while still being able to have fun writing crazy powers and the like. TFSU Izumi is still one of my favorite iterations of the character among the stories I've written and I wanted to highlight the changes, good or bad, and have that very real personal struggle as well as how outside parties see it and try to help and understand, once again for better or worse. Anyways thank you so much for the reviews and I hope you continue to enjoy the story with me and everyone else.
User/Reviewer Jetstarking: Totally got it! Absolutely love it and I remember how enamored I was when I first got into the series so I was, and am, really excited to be able to write something like this and to have others enjoy it as well.
User/Reviewer EndlessChains: We'll definitely see a lot of things come full circle within the next couple chapters. Chapter 14 was so packed with a lot of things I wanted to finally get to, set up, and just break wide open and I'm really relieved that it was received the way it was. Being able to finally show just what Izumi's monsters were and what Izumi made them to be was something I had been waiting for for quite some time and just that feeling of powerlessness because she was trying to do something that couldn't be accomplished alone was something I hope can be looked back on and seen in the earlier chapters. Here's the reveal but here were the breadcrumbs in a sense. Upcoming events will definitely be something that I'll be taking lots of extra care to write. As for your guess! You're super close and are on the right path. The series is of course Atlus published AND is exclusively on the Nintendo DS and 3DS platforms.
User/Reviewer anon1996: Glad you're enjoying it so much and I'm pleased to have that long awaited update for everyone!
User/Reviewer Amyliozora: We're definitely sharing this pain cause since I know the entirety of the angst I feel I'm a bit on level with the readers haha. I definitely want to get to more peaceful times in this story and hopefully that will be soon!
User/Reviewer DRAG0NGAM3: That's okay! Thank you for leaving a review! Yeah that last chapter ending really had that storm of emotions that can make for quite the read. I'm always grateful for reviews that come even when I haven't updated in a while since it means people are waiting and looking forward to the story's continuation. Thanks again!
User/Reviewer Darkscale42: Yeah, power wise Izumi is definitely up there and it's definitely the reason why I had to give her such a debilitating drawback and also partially why I decided on her aiming for being a Support Hero. I'm certainly not finished with this story though!
User/Reviewer Saramus92: Always thankful for the readers looking forward to updates so thanks for that! While I can't say it would be those monsters specifically I do have ones like them in mind a bit down the line so I hope that will cover things.
To everyone who faved, followed, or reviewed thank you so much!
Disclaimer: I don't own BNHA or the referenced monsters
Enjoy, more notes at the end!
Chapter 15: Perception's Edge
*Setsuna POV*
She was regretting it.
Why? Why had she thought that sitting back and ignoring the situation was okay when it came to her friends? Because it wasn't really her business? Because she didn't have a clear answer? A lot of good those things had done her.
The splitting girl didn't know if it was admirable or worrying how well Itsuka was doing in hiding her feelings from the rest of the class but of course she couldn't manage to fool the sharp eyed greenette. The orange haired girl subtly alternated from being all riled up to being completely drained and Izumi? She was even worse off than when Setsuna had first met the girl. Setsuna grit her teeth at the image of the last time she saw her fellow greenette.
Izumi seemed completely devoid of life or at the very least her mind was a million miles away and she made no attempt, or perhaps she couldn't, at covering the fact up. All Setsuna knew was that whatever transpired between Itsuka and Izumi had gone potentially the worst possible route as the splitting girl had tried to get even the barest of details from the orange haired girl but was completely shut down.
"I...don't want to talk about it." Was Itsuka's response and the completely defeated and devastated tone of her voice crushed any of Setsuna's will to ask once more and that was the issue that the wavy haired greenette cursed herself for.
Setsuna had wrestled with herself to try and find the courage but then always managed to talk herself out of another attempt because she just didn't know what to do. Something needed to be done and for all that Setsuna thought she was capable of she continued to come up blank. Between her own thoughts, Itsuka had eyed her a few times during the last few days for being uncharacteristically quiet and she surely realized that Setsuna had become bothered by the whole ordeal as well but at the present time none of the involved three could even do anything for themselves let alone trying to worry about the others. Those thoughts weren't going to leave any of them alone but at the current time they had to manage until they had an actual chance to make progress.
Setsuna quietly trudged through the forest with the rest of class 1-B as Vlad-sensei explained about the training camp and what exactly they'd be working on and they eventually came upon 1-A's training as they neared the lodge. Each of the students had specialized training for the individual needs of their own quirks and Setsuna gave a quick dart of her eyes to see if she could try and find Izumi. Not seeing the monster summoning girl, the greenette spotted a pair of what looked like cave constructs, one abnormally dark and the either eerily silent, and reasoned that Izumi could be somewhere inside of one of them.
Setsuna wasn't one of the pro heroes or teachers and it's not like any of them knew exactly what happened with Izumi, she didn't either, but putting the summoning girl in an isolated area like that didn't seem like a very good idea. Izumi was a spiral thinker and that included negative thoughts so essentially putting her in an environment like that was absolutely going to do things to her that weren't good.
Too many things were against them.
-break-
Class 1-B had instantly hopped straight into quirk training as well and while there wasn't much room for any of the two classes' students to speak during that time, Setsuna made sure to keep her ears open once the day was winding down. Their sister class had a much different entrance to the training camp and Setsuna listened in about the race that the 1-A students had to do and managed to find out that Izumi was the last student to return as well as none of her classmates had seen her even once during that time.
Not really interacting with her class was reasonable as Izumi only seemed to take notice of Yaoyorozu and maybe Todoroki when it came to her own class but the smaller greenette should have been the first student to make it and with ease at that. Setsuna didn't know what exactly had gone through Izumi's head but she did know that her fellow greenette was also an impulsive person on a certain level. In the splitting girl's reflection of Izumi she had to look at and admit the negative side of some of the monster girl's habits as well as see the underlying issues that Izumi had buried subconsciously.
It hurt to admit but not looking at the girl that Setsuna had feelings for in her entirety was wrong of the splitter. Trying to take things from the sidelines hadn't helped either greenette and Setsuna needed to admit some of her own faults. There was no more running after this and Setsuna burned the resolve into herself to take a more active role in Izumi's life. Not as someone who was crushing on her but as her friend.
Setsuna had to, wanted to, do better.
-break-
*Izumi POV*
The cold and dark tunnel system that was created for Izumi's quirk training proved effective in more ways than one. While it was helping progress her quirk, it was almost a torturous experience for the monster calling girl.
She was tired, more tired than she'd ever been and each reminder to remain awake by Pixie Bob or Mandalay only drove Izumi's spirits lower. She wanted to close her eyes and wake up to somewhere different. She didn't want to be here anymore, she didn't want to call her monsters right now, Izumi just wanted to sleep and let time move by her.
The exhausted greenette sat quietly in her secluded section of the tunnel system and her energy dropped a little more as she felt another group of her monsters getting into a battle. Her training was basically a game of defense where Izumi acted as a 'Queen Ant' that sent, and directed, her workers to battle rock creatures that Pixie Bob sent in. Despite the usefulness of the training, Izumi didn't have any motivation to really push herself and simply continued doing just above the minimum of what was necessary.
It dragged on, the silence deafening as even her monsters were too far off in the mock dungeon to even be heard and all the girl could do was continue to sit in her little safe zone.
Perpetually waiting for nothing.
-break-
Even after the training had ended for the day, Izumi once again found herself with her own thoughts.
The test of courage that both classes were partaking in left Izumi with being assigned as one of the students trying to scare the others, the choice clear given her quirk, and she had been placed a bit of a ways away from Ragdoll's position at the midway point of the looping trail.
Normally she would have prepared a group of her creatures but Izumi just hadn't felt like doing so, only opting to release a single of her raptor birds to fly around before coming back to her later, and perhaps closing her eyes for just a moment would be fine. Pulling in her knees and giving them a hug, Izumi rested her head while her eyes drooped closed.
She just needed a bit of sleep.
-break-
*Itsuka POV*
She hadn't been able to call out to Izumi, let alone Setsuna, as the two classes split into pairs and groups for the test of courage.
Izumi had quickly and quietly wandered into the forest behind Ragdoll since she was a part of the scare team for her class and Itsuka honestly had too much on her mind to look forward to the activity.
"All three of us are thinking too much." A voice called directly behind her and Itsuka nearly jumped.
Surprisingly enough, Setsuna was the one to approach the topic first and the orange haired girl was thankful for it. The sharp toothed girl looked a bit uncomfortable but Itsuka could tell that Setsuna was trying her best here. The orange haired girl motioned for them to line up for the test of courage, they'd be able to talk more peacefully once it started, and Setsuna appeared to try and calm herself down. The pair entered soon after and Itsuka too tried to keep herself steady.
"It's...there's a lot more to it." the One For All user tried and Setsuna held up a hand.
"I'm not gonna ask about what happened," her classmate assured, "that can come eventually."
Itsuka nodded in thanks, "Then about what you said earlier." she reminded the greenette and Setsuna sighed a little.
"All three of us need to work on some things." the splitting girl admitted, her eyes downcast at her own words, "stuff we didn't think we were wrong on or things we didn't want to admit." Setsuna explained softly and Itsuka patiently listened, "we're all thinking about those things and what we could or should have done better but we can't do anything about things that have already happened."
"So let's focus on the things going forward." Itsuka finished for her and Setsuna nodded in acknowledgement.
"Easier said than done right?" the greenette snorted in resignation.
"Yeah." was the orange haired girl's simple response as silence fell around them again. Regardless of if they managed to table some of their thoughts they certainly all still had a lot on their minds.
The two 1-B students walked for a bit longer, other students part of the scare team popping out once in a while but a new question came up between them.
"Wasn't Izumi part of the scaring team?" Setsuna wondered.
"Yeah, I'm certain she was." Itsuka answered confidently, "why haven't we seen her monsters?"
"I don't know where she was set up but we've already passed the halfway point," Setsuna voiced, a bit concerned, "do you think she could have fallen asleep?"
"It's possible," the orange haired girl stated, still looking around for any sign of the monster girl's creations.
Itsuka's fellow 1-B student abruptly activated her quirk and sent her head upwards and above the treeline and the orange haired girl heard Setsuna hiss in surprise.
"There's some kind of gas behind us to the left and there's smoke coming up from the right!" Setsuna yelled and Itsuka instantly grabbed the greenette's body and dashed down the path, Setsuna's head following from above.
As the two of them made their way, Mandalay's voice relayed what was happening and Itsuka clicked her tongue. Dammit, even now they couldn't catch a break!
"Hey!" Setsuna called down and Itsuka stopped, having made good distance from the fire and the gas cloud, "there's some people on a rock pillar off the path to our right. One's real small and the other is huge." the greenette informed.
"Should we head for them?" Itsuka questioned back, it was out of the way so they could both be villains but Setsuna did say one of them was on the smaller side and there was a child who was at the lodge.
"Sure, better safe than sorry," the splitter replied back, the two already breaking from the path, "plus we-One of Izumi's birds is attacking the tall one!"
Itsuka had already been moving with One For All but she sped up knowing that the smaller person had to have been the kid from before and that Izumi's monster could potentially lead them to the tired greenette.
"Leave my legs down here," Setsuna ordered while she split the upper half of her body off and floated it up to reconnect to her head, "I'll grab the kid."
Doing what her classmate said, Itsuka then hopped up the rocks, her hands already enlarging, and hit the charging villain off course. Setsuna had reached the boy already and was reassuring him but Itsuka knew that they both saw who the villain was and that he had Izumi's monster by the neck in one of his hands. The raptor bird flapped its wings in struggle but the villain laughed at the pair's entrance.
"Finally some people!" the man appeared pleased, a grin crossing his lips, "hey if you don't mind I got some questions."
Itsuka was preparing to escape and Setsuna was already headed down but the villain's next words froze them on the spot.
"What did the boss say again? Bakugo was it?" he wondered, "Nah, that can't be right. He said that kid is just a bonus." the blonde mused and thought once more, "Oh yeah, it was that we could do whatever as long as we got someone named Midoriya." he revealed happily as he snapped the bird's neck and the One For All user's eyes darkened.
As soon as he'd finished speaking, Itsuka wasted no time in grabbing the villain by his face and slamming him as hard as she could into the rock.
Using her given quirk and her gifted one, Itsuka pried the stunned man out of his crater and held him up before her. Her opponent tried to activate his quirk to escape, the muscle fibers squirming within her clutch, but the orange haired girl only tightened her dual enhanced grip.
"You're not getting away from here."
-break-
*Izumi POV*
Izumi had been jolted awake as soon as she felt her monster die.
The greenette didn't know how long it had been but her rest had meant more energy at her disposal so she quickly pulled out one of her 'Field' monsters to get a grasp of the situation. She needed to know what was happening, fast at that.
The creature floated in place, its pure white and sphere shaped bone body occupying a large space as two skeletal wings, protruding from the top and bottom of the body, and two clawed arms creaked this way and that. Embedded in the spherical body were four black and red eyes, each one a different size and the largest one taking up an entire corner of the body's 'face', that darted in different directions and Izumi wasted no time in grabbing one of the creature's wings and merging into it. Having now become her monster and taken on its superior senses Izumi raised herself above the trees and used her monstrous eyes to view everything that was happening in detail.
The monster girl easily managed to spot the smoke and the glow of a roaring fire in the distance as well as some kind of cloud of gas but the main thing that caught her sharp gaze was a tall rock formation, more accurately the figures on it.
One of them was clearly a villain that Izumi had probably seen before on the news once or twice and the other was Itsuka. The orange haired girl was dodging the man's wild swings and every so often she'd attack him back, evident by the blonde villain's already broken arm, and Izumi didn't know the details but it was clear that avoiding the fight wasn't an option.
The greenette quickly unmerged from the monster but left it just in case it would find some use. Izumi had found a new function of merging but she didn't quite like what it had meant, what it had forced her to think about. It was something that she had always speculated but only was able to get to work during the quirk training over the last couple days. While Izumi was merged with a monster she was able to use any other summoned monster's vision. It was slightly inferior to how she monitored things when teamed up with Yaoyorozu but the ability was good to know. However, the reason the greenette had only been able to manage it recently and the reason she'd disliked it so much was that it reminded her of all the things her monsters were as well as what they weren't. The confrontation between Itsuka and herself came to mind but she pushed it back for the current situation
She could stop it.
The raging fires, the unknown enemies and their quirks, and it didn't have to involve anyone else but her. All it would take was one of her 'Boss' class monsters.
Without thought, Izumi let the creature loose from her mind with the exhale of an even breath. The creature was perhaps just a bit taller than the surrounding trees but its mass was enough to fill most of the small area that the greenette was in.
Much like the creature Izumi had summoned at the beach when Itsuka had confronted her, the monster had the upper body of a human. Its skin was a pale blue and its hair matched Izumi's in both style and color while its red eyes called out to her and its blue lips pulled into a loving smile. A stretch of dark blue lined her neck and upper chest while a pair of coral like horns crept from the sides of its head. Regardless it painted the image of a beautiful woman enticing someone to her.
Skittering and clacking sounds rolled through the surrounding area and what would have been the woman's lower body was a mass of writhing dark blue tentacles lined with razor like blades. Around the human body's stomach was a growth of purple bulbs surrounded by light blue frills that wrapped around the front and back of the monster. A huge lined shell was set behind her, guarding her back while two shells sat beside and in front of her monstrous lower body looking like the heads of monsters themselves and adorned with purple markings along the layered gray shells. At the direct front of the monster body were four orange and red pincers, the larger of the two sets positioned lower and with fierce claws while the small set above it boasted more mobility. Two spiked circular shells were set out farther on the sides, slowly and barely opening and closing as they thumped against the dirt. At the direct sides of the womanly body two primary and fat tentacles curled forward, the color going from the dark blue to a sickly purple, and were covered in a mollusk like armor that gave them the appearance of spiraling lances. Finally, directly behind the woman was a dark magenta colored anemone like piece with a large eye positioned in the center, unblinking and perpetually observing.
Without another sound the monster beckoned for her, its eyes staring down at her tenderly, hypnotically even, as it reached its arms down to embrace her in welcome. The always moving tentacles, pincers, and shells lined up like a stairway for Izumi to climb and the monster summoning girl walked forward as a cold chill made its way into the immediate surroundings. The woman's arms gentle reached her and Izumi let it cradle her in its arms and against its body. For as caring as it was, the hug was devoid of any warmth and Izumi closed her eyes as she merged to the creature knowing that she'd never feel anything but cold no matter how long this creature embraced her.
Izumi could feel the slow depletion of her energy but her efforts over the years had paid off as she had a brief amount of time before it would run out as well as this was one of her lower end 'Boss' monsters. Since the greenette didn't merge often nor for particularly long, it was always a bit off putting when she gained her monster's senses, especially when it came to the stronger or more unique ones. The merge with this monster made her feel physically cold but not necessarily in an uncomfortable way. It was like she was aware of the freezing feeling but it didn't bother her.
Looking over to the skeletal eye monster that was still hovering off to the side, Izumi directed it to fly high into the sky so she could keep using its eyes to observe things. The creature complied and floated away while Izumi gazed over the tops of the trees in her monster body. The greenette could feel her extra appendages wriggling or creaking beneath her and the monster girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her vision linked to the other monster and she'd found each place that she wanted to target.
Placing one hand to her human yet monstrous chest and raising the other upwards towards the sky Izumi felt the swelling power of one of her creature's unique skills. Tilting her head back, Izumi's mouth opened to let the power explode past her lips as she sang the crisp and pure note.
-break-
*Itsuka POV*
The operatic and soul piercing note rang throughout the area and dark blue orbs brightly flashed across the sky. It was a sad, lonely, and resigned note that made Itsuka falter for a moment and the villain almost hit her with his still good arm but a sudden spark of blue appeared and his muscle fibers had been severed as slash marks were etched into the rock around them.
The blonde villain crashed to the floor, probably out from whatever attack had just hit him, and Itsuka swung her gaze as more of the orbs exploded in the sky. Each one boomed into multiple smaller blasts and crashed down into the forest below and another set of orbs appeared, these ones a pale blue, that sounded off like crashing ice and rampant water as they rained down on the fire.
All the while, that note resounded above any other noise as it was held throughout the whole strike and the orange haired girl raced off to find Izumi. The monster girl had to be the source of this and she was clearing everything out so now it was Itsuka's job to find her, show Izumi that she could rely on her.
Itsuka had so many things she needed to tell her.
-break-
*Setsuna POV*
The sharp toothed girl had heard what the villain's objectives were and after dropping the kid off with Eraser and relaying the information to Mandalay, Setsuna had gone for Izumi immediately.
She had managed to learn from some of the other students that Izumi was supposed to be around where Ragdoll was but that area had been somewhat close to the gas so the greenette hoped that the monster summoning girl hadn't been taken off guard by that. Setsuna had cut through the forest to take the quickest path to the midway point and had nearly leapt out of her skin when the rain of attacks poured down all around the area.
Above all the crashing attacks Setsuna also grit her teeth from the soul shattering note that was being sung. It was one that made her heart drop with each passing second that it rang and Setsuna needed to reach Izumi soon. Forget the energy expenditure, the smaller greenette would sleep it off, Setsuna just didn't want her to be alone. The note eventually died down quietly, the bright orbs no longer illuminating the sky and the forest became deathly quiet.
Just a little more.
-break-
*Izumi POV*
Her throat was searing with pain but she forced the note to continue.
Izumi could feel her energy plummeting as she held the skill and the merging and her monstrous body slowly began to stop listening to her, the shifting limbs falling limp one after the other as they shut down involuntarily. Soon enough her voice no longer reached through the sky and Izumi slumped forward, her real body falling away as both the monster she was merged with and the one up above dissipated.
The greenette hit the ground in agony. She hadn't expected that some of her monsters could kill themselves from overexertion due to specific skills but the two deaths swiftly swept over her crumpled body as she clawed at her still burning throat. Painful hacking coughs agitated it even further as Izumi thrashed herself into a twitching state, her vision blurring from the entire experience. It also seemed that whatever damages she took during a merging stayed with her as a phantom pain once it was finished.
Izumi's coughing fit eventually died down as well since she'd spent all the energy she could muster and her eyes forced themselves closed. Something about this was vaguely familiar she briefly mused as her consciousness slipped away. In fact, the monster girl might have laughed if she could.
Izumi hoped Itsuka or Setsuna would find her again this time.
With that, the last thing Izumi wished for was a pleasant dream.
Notes and Stuff
This chapter was a doozy to write and plan, particularly since TFSU is the one I'm the most meticulous about, but I'm pleased with the chapter. I especially liked being able to make the ending reminiscent of her first meeting with Itsuka too.
I personally think I have some interesting things incoming and I'm sure everyone can see some of that simply knowing the series of events and what's to come but I also like to think that I've come up with some unexpected twists here and there, some small and some large. The chapter was pretty evenly centered on our trio, perhaps a little more to Izumi which can't be helped, but I really wanted to get and show what each was thinking. Despite the events of this chapter I do feel it was more set up and getting another look at things than action but hopefully I can make up for that within the coming chapters.
This Izumi is one that I really like to write and explore as she's probably the most this way then that of the ones I've written. Of course I leave a number of things unsaid but I feel I've made a lot of them clear through the writing and being able to get to reveals and then looking back and seeing what links to that from the earlier parts is one of my favorite things when it comes to stories. There's a lot more that I want to accomplish with this story so please continue looking forward to it.
On another note, I've said this before but while I do have stuff in my drafts and a place to drop my ideas, I've been thinking of just uploading the ideas that really stick in my mind as stories of their own and just see how they do or I'll do them in a short fic style, probably a Yuri collection, so I can expand on them a little more than just brief beta writing. We'll see how that goes.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and look forward to more updates from me!