Izuku found himself walking a familiar route today, to see someone he hadn't seen since he got into UA. All the while trying to calm his mind.
What was the feeling of worry that wasn't prevalent, unease? Izuku's mind since the USJ was undercut with a constant feeling of unease. It was because of an unkillable monster, a league capable of producing it, and a mysterious faction that wanted him that seemed to be separate from the league.
…He hoped project Olympus would be ready soon.
After speaking with Bakugo at his house and reassuring his mother three hundred times that he was okay he waited patiently for classes to restart.
His phone pinging caught his attention.
Are you sure you're okay? Mother offered to send you our cook or our private doctor if necessary. Please tell me if you need someone to talk to, I can meet you somewhere.
Yet another text from Momo, who wouldn't leave him alone. Izuku truly appreciated it and he couldn't completely ignore the feeling of giddiness of such a pretty girl worrying over him. But the constant worry was grating on his nerves. It kept bringing up the feelings of worry and hopelessness the Nomu sparked in him. He wasn't going to recover and move on if he was constantly thinking about the USJ.
He was getting sidetracked, Izuku shook his head and continued walking. He had been putting it off, a visit to someone who was likely very frustrated with his lack of presence recently. Master Ryujin was waiting for him at the Fight Dojo.
Izuku took a deep breath, and entered the building. Was it him or was it giving off an ominous vibe?
"Midoriya!" Called Kaminari from inside, "We're all up on the sparring floor, hurry up!"
"Coming!"
Not even bothering to go to the lockers to change his outfit he molded his street clothes with Alchemy into a Gi and made his way up to the sparring floor. He was given respectful nods as he made his way up and returned them in kind. He may have a terrible win loss record but no one could ignore his drive to improve while constantly getting his ass kicked every day.
He had managed to calm himself down while climbing the stairs but that all went out of the way when he noticed Master Ryujin standing in the center of the room with his arms crossed and narrowed eyes.
"Midoriya!" He called with a huff, "You've neglected to return since you began at UA. I expected attendance to drop but even the slacker here has shown several times." He said while throwing his head towards Kaminari.
"Slacker! -"
Ryujin sent a look at Kaminari silencing him then continued, "Then I hear about your quirk from a colleague and confirm it with sparky. Then there is the villain attack on the news, then the one at the USJ." He sighed tiredly, "I know you're stressed, but I've found the best way to work through stress is to fight! That's why I was upset you hadn't shown up!"
Izuku frowned, "I thought not fighting would help, you know. Get my mind right?" This was going against what his mother and Recovery Girl said.
"HA" Laughed Ryujin, "For some people — normal people — sure! But you're too smart for something like that. You're an over-thinker! Just look at how you've trained yourself. You spent years studying to enhance yourself rather than work on your quirk. Look at how far you've come when you focus on it!"
Izuku had to concede that, he supposed. Instead of diving deep into his quirks applications over the years he did hyper focus on his enhancements. He could be halfway through the periodic table by now… Oh well.
"So, no. You need a mindless activity where you can let go and vent!"
Izuku nodded since he could really see the logic in his words.
"Who am I fighting?" Asked Izuku while looking around the room. He thought he could beat some of the others now that he would use his quirk in combat now.
Ryujin grinned, "Me."
Well, Fuck.
Five minutes later Izuku was manipulating the molecules of sweat on his forehead into vapor to not show Ryujin just how nervous he was. He has never seen Ryujin fight personally, but he'd heard that his quirk was terrifying and his martial ability, as expected, was horrifying.
"I'll let you start us off." Said Ryujin with a relaxed stance, "And if you hold back with your quirk, I'll spank you in front of all these people."
Izuku grunted and ignored the snickers of the audience.
"You got this Midoriya!" Cheered Kaminari while blatantly recording the fight with his phone with an excited look on his face.
Ryujin, quirk: string. He could create and manipulate strings. Simple, and sometimes that makes something stronger than elaborative powers. After all elaborate complex things have rules to follow, string doesn't really.
Izuku rushed forward, utilizing Construction to create gauntlets over his fists and compacting air for his attack. He didn't bother holding back his speed nor his awareness of the world around him.
It was a twitch, subtle, to anyone else they wouldn't see it, but Izuku had awareness of his surrounding that were so beyond normal people that it was like a strobe light.
Three strings were shot from Ryujin's right hand with barely a movement, but Izuku was forced to allow his air to disperse and block the strings with both gauntlets. Deep trenches were gouged into them where the strings tried to slash him, but he held firm. It was the velocity of the strings that he needed to worry about, they moved faster than the eyes could follow which meant that he needed to focus on defense.
Izuku pushed through the attack and continued forward without pausing. He jumped forward and avoided another string attack and that was when Ryujin moved. The massive man lunged forward with speed that was unfair for someone without enhancements to have and tried to kick Izuku in the chest.
However, as fast as Ryujin was. It was a crawl compared to Nomu. Izuku maneuvered around the kick and utilized his much smaller size to get inside his guard for an uppercut. As he was about to connect his senses screamed at him and he as able to pull back fast enough to avoid another set of strings carving into the ground where he was standing.
Izuku grunted in annoyance, there didn't seem to be a required area of origin to generate those strings. It was as if he was forming them out of air or nothing.
Well, time to kick it up a notch, sever.
Izuku rushed forward with his mind focused on severing any and all strings that entered within .5 meters from his body. While this would protect him from the strings, or it should at least, he would have to handle everything else physically.
Ryujin sent more strings at him that were instantly shredded. Izuku grinned and tried to tackle the man. But enhanced physiology or not Ryujin just calmly redirected his momentum and threw him to the ground. Izuku shot to his feet and tried again. This time he stopped right as Ryujin was about to grab him and grabbed his arm in return.
Izuku's strength was superior, everyone knew that, so instead of trying to tug his way out. Ryujin loosened himself up and rolled with Izuku's throw to land without much damage.
'This is going nowhere.' Izuku thought thoroughly annoyed, he was focusing his quirk to counter Ryujin's which left him with just physical combat which he knew was impossible to win with. He had speed and power in spades, but he knew very well that it didn't matter against superior technique.
He'd have to bluff. Ryujin was sending strings less and less frequently to be shredded by his barrier, likely slowly accepting that Izuku was just going to counter everything. That was good, he'd need to keep track of the intervals and fight Ryujin in the meantime till he has an opening to use his quirk on him. Which meant continued frontal assaults…
This was going to hurt.
Izuku went for a punch, countered viscously by an uppercut. A tackle, redirected to the floor and elbow dropped. Which was a crowd pleaser if the cheers were any indication. A kick, he was caught and thrown into the wall.
No matter what he did, Izuku was being torn apart by Ryujin. However, during the beatdown he was keeping track of the strings, which had become nearly nonexistent in the past minute. Izuku kept up the barrier for one more clash before taking a note out of Momo's book.
Closing his fists he used Alchemy to change some pieces of clothes into dozens of small rubber pellets then super compacted air into the same closed fist, then repeating it in his other hand. While this shouldn't hurt too bad, what would essentially become a rubber shotgun should do enough to catch him off guard.
Getting in close, Izuku motioned like he was going for a quick jab but at the apex of his motion he opened his fist to allow the rubber pellets to blast out toward Ryujin, then followed up with his other. Over 100 small rubber pellets blasted toward him at high speeds.
The man barely reacted, he grunted in pain and reflexively closed his eyes, then he lashed out with his quirk in retaliation.
It was spectacular, to the crowd the rubber pellets were destroyed in an instant. But to Izuku, whose perception was so beyond human it was incomparable, he saw it, he comprehended it, hundreds upon hundreds of strings exploded from Ryujin's body shredding and destroying every single pellet down to dust.
'An attack of this caliber could be called a Super Move by Pros. If anything its destructive potential is on par with a Prominence Burn from Endeavor! What a guy Ryujin is!' Izuku thought with awe.
So impressed Izuku didn't react in time to dodge Ryujin's takedown. By the time he refocused on the fight he was face down on the mat. While he had the strength to get up he instead blew a raspberry into the ground and gave up.
"Thanks," Said Izuku voice muffled, "I'm not sure why, but my chest feels lighter."
Ryujin got off his back and sat on the mat next to Izuku with a sigh. He spoke quietly so only Izuku heard his words.
"Everyone is so used to All Might being unstoppable, unbeatable. You know?" He asked, "It doesn't surprise us when he wins. At this point he could fight a god and people would be over it by the end of the week."
Izuku looked at him in confusion but didn't say anything.
"From what I understood you witnessed him struggle to win, I could go as far to say that had you not been there the fight would have been much worse before the big guy won. It must have been terrifying, to see your idol, the Symbol of Peace be pushed that far while fighting beside him."
Izuku looked down at that.
Ryujin continued, "I know you, Midoriya. You keep to your thoughts to yourself and you overthink, side-effect of your quirk's nature I assume. So the teachers likely didn't understand your duress. Sure the life or death aspect was terrible and something you're too young to face."
Izuku's lip quivered but he remained silent.
"But, you were shown just how dangerous the world can be that day, because for the first time in your life. The strongest hero in the world needed help in a fight, and that thought has made you question how safe you, everyone, really is. For if you had to help All Might win, what happens next time a villain that strong shows up and he isn't there to do the heavy lifting? What happens when it's just you or for some reason All Might can't fight anymore or is retired?"
Ryujin sighed, "I'm not a pro, but I am strong. If I wanted I could break into the top 10, but I'm more of a teacher than a hero. Though, I wanted to show you that there are people in this world, like me, that are stronger than you think that you can rely on! You're not alone." He said while flashing a smile as his downed student.
Izuku let out a choked breath and blinked away tears. "Thank you, Ryujin-Sensei."
Ryujin ruffled Midoriya's hair with a small chuckle, "Anytime! Though I can't help if you don't bother to show up here!" He said with a mock glare.
"Right, sorry!" Izuku said with a flinch.
A few hours later Izuku walked away from the Fight Dojo with a spring in his step and bruises on his face he couldn't bring himself to heal. The dull pain brought him reassurance rather than frustration.
School was back in session. The days off from the USJ were over and students were expected to return to their normal schedules. Parents were reassured that the school had even more safety precautions than before and they were even more prepared should another attack happen.
Izuku smiled as he walked the familiar path to classroom 1-A, that was until he was stopped by an arm grabbing him. An arm that was coming from the wall.
"Ah!" Izuku shouted in shock jumping away from the wall in fright. "What the hell?"
Joyful laughter came from the wall before a large blond teen seemingly phased through the wall and stood right in front of him. He was in a hero suit, red and white with a large cape that fluttered behind him, on his chest the number 1000000 in red. It was the third year he met last week, Mirio Togata.
"HAHAHA! I couldn't resist!" Laughed Mirio while wiping a tear from his eye.
Izuku sighed tiredly, "Why?"
Mirio calmed himself, his smile ever present. "I wanted to check on ya! Heard about the USJ, well everyone has, but I know a bit more than most! Sir told me about it and he especially told me of you and your actions! I will say he seems very interested in you, I think he knew of you before, but he never mentioned. Anyway! I just wanted to say Great Work and that Sir will be looking at you during the Sports Festival so bring your A-Game!"
Izuku was about to respond when Mirio disappeared into the floor, just as randomly and suddenly as he appeared he was gone. Izuku didn't bother wasting anymore brain power trying to understand what happened and continued on to class.
As soon as he opened the door he was attacked.
"Midoriya!" Wailed Mina, Uraraka, Hagakure, and Momo while squeezing the life out of him with their worried hugs. The rest of the class watched from around the room, some talking amongst themselves as the commotion continued.
"We were so worried, Midoriya, you fought the big monster and—" Cried Mina with comical tears streaming down her face while squeezing his face into her chest.
Uraraka was shaking him back in forth, "I was so worried you know! I wanted to help but I couldn't move I was so scared!"
Hagakure wasn't saying much, in fact, it seemed like she just wanted to join the dog pile if her giggles were anything to go by as she held his arm
"I've been worried sick, I hope you're aware you'll be making it up to me." Momo said with a frustrated frown.
Normally Izuku could handle attention, or talk in groups. But they were all hugging, pulling or shaking him while talking at the same time so all he could really do was wait for someone to save him. This was a hero school so it shouldn't take long, right?
Meanwhile, Mineta was crying for a different reason while Sero and Kaminari sighed next to him.
"Guy has all the luck, a powerful quirk and all the babes in class worried about him!" Wailed Mineta.
Sero agreed with a nod, "I mean he did do a lot of heavy lifting with that powerful villain so I'll say he earned it." Didn't make it easier to watch though.
"He's always had strange luck with hotties." Kaminari said with a snort.
Kirishima was tearfully holding up his fist, "He's so manly."
Izuku was saved by another person entering the class. It was a freshly healed and still irritable as ever Bakugo. He took one step into the class room before glaring at the scene in front of him.
"Eh? Why's everyone around the nerd?" He asked in his gruff manner.
The girls instantly let go of Izuku before wailing and surrounding Bakugo in the same manner.
Mina's tears were even larger as she squeezed Bakugo into her chest, "You saved us! I'm so happy you're better!" She said, though her voice was all garbled from the crying.
Uraraka was violently shaking Bakugo back in forth, "I don't know what woulda happened if ya hadn't shown up when you did! I owe you Bakugo, I'm glad you're okay."
Hagakure's giggles were even clearer than before as she latched onto Bakugo's arm.
"You had me worried for your safety, Bakugo. I trust when I message you about your wellbeing you'll respond next time." Momo said with a stern glare as she rested a hand on his shoulder.
Mineta's eyes cried tears of blood as his anger and jealous were being pushed down by his gratitude toward his recent savior, he wouldn't air his complaints to the one who saved him. Though it didn't mean he liked seeing others live out his dream.
"I get it, but it feels bad that a jerk like him gets that kind of attention." Grumbled Sero while scratching his head.
Kaminari sighed, "The guy stepped up at the USJ, we'd have all been in trouble without him." He didn't care for it either, though Jiro watching the commotion rather than joining made it easier.
Kirishima was tearfully holding up his fist, "He's so manly."
Bakugo looked ready to blow up the building but he found that his quirk no longer functioned. At the door stood a tired Aizawa with his quirk activated, having anticipated Bakugo's line of thought.
"Just…take your seats please." He said with a sigh before walking to the podium.
Once the class was settled he began, "That was not something I'm thrilled you all had to experience. It was a life or death battle that you all shouldn't have gone through. But everyone survived and have been healed of you injuries so I'll ask you this."
He made sure to lock eyes with everyone for at least a moment before continuing.
"Now that you've seen the dangers of the hero world, are you gonna back down?"
The class didn't hesitate, "Hell no!" They all shouted as one.
Aizawa grinned, "Didn't think so."
He continued, "Well, with that in mind you all better start training cause there's another big fight coming, The UA Sports Festival!" He announced with his arms spread dramatically.
The class gasped and he continued, "This is a very important moment for all of you, a chance to show your worth as a prospective hero and get scouted for internships. Don't slack or it could have lasting consequences for your careers." Said Aizawa with a serious glare on his face.
"Yessir!" Chanted the class.
The sports festival was a bit over two weeks away and the class trained either in groups or individually. Izuku actually worked with some of them on their techniques and quirks to assist them bring out more of their quirks potential while he worked on his own quirk and combo moves after school.
It wasn't long but the day of the sports festival was upon them and Izuku felt he was ready to rock the competition.
Meanwhile in another part of Japan…
Two individuals sat in a dimly lit bar in front of several monitors, none of which had their cameras on. One had hands covering his body and say at the bar in front of the monitors. While the other was sitting in a booth in the corner ignoring everything in the room while drinking from a glass.
"I see, so Nomu was captured after its defeat at the hands of All Might."
"Yes, sensei." Confirmed Shigaraki quietly, "Kurogiri was captured as well."
A different monitor spoke up, "That's no matter, subject dark cloud had many failsafes, it'll be returned in due time." The person spoke in a lazed tone.
"I trust my investments are going to pay off, despite this rather unfortunate setback?" Asked the third monitor.
The first monitor responded, "But of course, I don't promise things I can't deliver. Though if you send your forces after him then having mine bring him to you seems rather counter intuitive."
"Something that which successful businessmen understand is the usefulness of redundancy." The third voice said, "What of the next phases of your plan? You've yet to fill me in on them."
"First," Spoke Shigaraki before any of the monitors could answer, "I retrieve Kurogiri, then I rip and shred everything All Might has built until only dust remains. Starting with that UA, and the green haired brat!" He shouted in a crazed voice while decaying the glass he was holding.
"Of course Tomura," The first voice said, "I have just the idea on how to go about that."
END CHAPTER
Short one but the last bridge before the Sports Festival which begins next chapter. I plan on adding to everyone's quirk, similar to how Kaminari is leagues above where he was in canon. Not giving them different quirks just upgrading them!
Now I know its been a while but life started back up, no more quarantine so I didn't sit around a computer at home unless I had to so all my stories were neglected. I will say that it was the One Punch Man manga that got me back into writing this, it is quite literally my favorite manga at the moment. Though One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen and Record of Ragnarok aren't far behind.
Hopefully this chapter was good enough for everyone.
Review Responses:
SuperSonic2654: I hate how repetitive most MHA stories are. There are so many things you can do with this world but yet people choose to execute it in the worst way possible. I was never really keen on the concept of originality because at this point in time it's hard to come up with a truly unique idea so I don't mind if some stories have a similar or maybe even the same premise to one another. But most stories have horrible execution and it makes me not want to read them past the first chapter You've done a great job so far at making this good read. I really do hope to see more from you
My Response: Yeah man I'll tell ya, I hate most of this fandom myself. So I know exactly what you mean. The amount of times I've seen an interesting story devolve into garbage angst and therapy arcs makes me want to throw up. I appreciate the complement.
: could not Izuku have created some contraption of ultra resitant metal to trap the numu like hand and feet cuf then some more until he could not move anymore?
My response: Indeed he could have…until Nomu ripped his limbs off and regenerated them. Nomu's speed was so great that Izuku wouldn't have had time to really restrain him good enough to truly immobilize it.
acosta perez jose ramiro: Very cool chapter. Yeah, Izuku would probably develop PTSD if he keeps placing himself in this kind of situation. He'll probably need therapy at some point. As for the Nomu's regeneration... a starfish quirk? Some species can grow into a full individual from a single severed piece. Maybe that's why the Nomu can survive and regenerate even if he loses his head; as long as he keeps enough working cells, he'll grow back to normal in a few moments. The best option to destroy him would be the 'hydra way'; cause severe damage, and then burn the body as it starts regenerating, so it will have no active cells to regrow. Keep the good writing.
My Response: Yeah the kid is gonna be messed up if shit gets worse. Now for Nomu's regeneration I have something a bit more fun in mind, heh, but your idea is pretty interesting too.
NyaNyaKittyFace: Izuku asking the real questions. It's good to see how smart Izuku is and that he's not taking everything at face value. There's always a deeper meaning to everything. There were other things he could have done to permanently take down Nomu. Granted it would have caused a LOT of damage to the surrounding area. Like completely incinerating it and I'm not talking about with just fire. Ever heard of super volcano ash? Ash so hot it can turn back into lava.
I've four guesses on who sent the villains.
1) All for One. Despite Shigaraki not sending them, there's nothing to prove that AFO didn't.
2) Doctor Ujiko. With his knowledge of Izuku's quirk I wouldn't be surprised if he's trying to get a hold of it. Excluding Eri's, Izuku's quirk is one of, if not THE MOST powerful quirk known to the series with a near INFINITE number of possible uses.
3) The Hero Public Safety Commission. This is the one I'm hoping for most. It's already been shown that the Hero Public Safety Commission can be just as bad if not WORSE than the villains they put heroes against.
4) A completely new villain. I'd be disappointed if this were the case, but it's a possibility.
I disagree with your thoughts on Quirkless hero Izuku. You need to remember that discrimination doesn't really follow logic. I mean look at people today and throughout history.
My Response: Alway can trust to see you writing a long one haha. Thanks Izuku needs to show that he's more than a OP quirk, he is a very intelligent person. The ash idea is very cool but I'm not sure if he could make enough fast enough to outpace the regen and Nomu isn't going to sit around and wait. To your guesses, 1&2 are kinda the same I don't see doc not bringing the idea to AFO and both expressing interest. 3 is interesting. You're being lazy with 4! That's a catch all guess haha! As for Quirkless Izuku not working I meant in terms of power/combat ability. Past the sports festival the villains were strong enough that Izuku would be torn apart without OFA, or some kind of quirk to help. I mean the whole point of the beginning of MHA is that everyone isn't created equal after all.
The last airbendr: You wrote a shitload hahaha.
My Response: Thanks I appreciate it. I can't wait to show you more if it!