A/N: The title will make sense by the end, I promise. And before you assume otherwise, no, it doesn't forebode an early Fall of Beacon. That's staying where it is. For now.
Here we are! The conclusion of the Dance Trilogy! Thank you all for your tremendous support! Over 20,000 total views! This story's blowing up! And now I'm running out of words to express my gratitude! I'll keep on doing the best I can to make all of you proud! Enjoy!
Shout out to Wonderland Tea Party, Shadow Joestar, D3phl0xL0v3r, Rio Skyron, fernandamichelleraya and MarsDragon3180. They've been an amazing help with this story, and I wouldn't be here without their informative and inquisitive reviews. The ones that do write are goddamn amazing, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that they're some of the best authors on this site. At least, in my opinion. Thank you guys so much! I'll keep going for you till the end, which I perceive to be rather far off in the future.
Oh! And Happy Birthday, Wonderland Tea Party! Here's to many more!
Edit (12/03/18): You all know what I'm doing. The usual round of A/N deletions and minor rewordings. This was always one of my favorites.
Review Responses:
Guest 1: Yeah, that does seem like something Tenya would say in that situation. I wonder if that could become a meme...
Guest 2: Thank you!
Glenn (1st review): You're most welcome! And the fight between Izuku, Bakugo, and All Might was one of the coolest in the entire series (surpassed only by Izuku v Shoto because that was like demigods trying to kill each other. In terms of raw power, not motive). I liked that fight because not only did Izuku have to save someone who would gladly blow him up (again), but because it also shows Bakugo's progression towards becoming a hero. Well... as close as he can get to being one of those. He's more like an anti-hero. Seriously though, Bakugo, while he is a complete ass most of the time, has the greatest potential out of everyone else in Class A. Except for Izuku. No one can beat him out when it comes to potential.
Glenn (2nd review): Well, Izuku had to go that far in order to get Blake to listen to him. And yes, there is a ship between Shoto and Momo in the canon of HeroAca, and I personally think it's freaking adorable. None of the pairings for the series have been confirmed as of yet though. :(
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or My Hero Academia. They belong to Monty Oum, Kohei Horikoshi, and their respective publishing companies. Please support the official releases.
I do not own the cover image
Chapter 16: Dance Dance Annihilation
Izuku pulled the light green tie around his neck into a comfortable position, snugly fitting the knot underneath the edge of his collarbone. He straightened his black suit jacket as he buttoned it up, the forest green dress shirt he wore beneath it, though it did become a bit more obscured, was still a defining part of his outfit. He slipped his scroll into the pocket of his black dress pants, patting it to make sure it was easily accessible. The only thing on his entire outfit remotely similar to a weapon were his shotgun boots, because A) Shoto and Tenya both said that they went well with the outfit, with Bakugo jealously grumbling in the background; and B) he didn't feel all that comfortable going anywhere without a weapon, even if the place was being guarded by Atlas soldiers. Actually, scratch that, because it was being guarded by Atlas soldiers. They didn't exactly have the best reputation for leaving... well, anything in their wake. His mom had always warned him to not trust anyone from Atlas, though Weiss gave him some semblance of hope that the stereotype didn't hold true for all of Solitas' natives.
He was pulled from his thoughts as Shoto emerged from their bathroom in his own formal attire. It was ever plainer than Izuku's, a simple black suit jacket and pants over a white dress shirt and black tie, with a pair of brown dress shoes to complete the outfit. And yet he somehow still managed to pull it off and look suave as hell without even meaning to. His jacket was open and the cuffs on the sleeves were unbuttoned, implying an 'I'll go to this thing but I won't quite enjoy it' attitude. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he couldn't go to the dance with his girlfriend, since she was almost on the other side of the world. Actually, it probably was that. Moving on...
"Tenya and Bakugo are already headed to the ballroom. You ready to go get your date, partner?" Shoto asked with a slight smirk adorning his face. Izuku promptly nodded as they left their dorm room, making small talk as they went.
"Hey, can you think of any good team attacks? I've been trying to do that for the past few days, and I want to make sure they sound alright." Shoto asked his partner with a bit of an embarrassed look on his face.
"Maybe later. Right now, I have to pick up my... date..." Izuku started to blush as he thought of the blonde brawler, Shoto nodding in understanding as he brought out the notebook he normally kept on him, trying to think of possible team attacks that he continually wrote down and crossed out, seemingly unable to decide on any of them.
They then stopped outside of Team RWBY's dorm room, Shoto with his nose in his notebook and Izuku staring at the door with a nervous look adorning his face. The freckled boy then took a deep breath and exhaled, his previous expression replaced with a slight smile as he knocked on the white wood.
"Who is it?" Ruby asked for inside, which Izuku quickly answered with, "It's Izuku. I-I-I'm here to pick up Yang."
The door then opened to reveal Ruby dressed in her own formal attire for the dance, a short, red sleeveless dress with a thick black sash around the waist and black edging at the bottom. The bodice of the dress was split vertically to the sash and laced with black lacing. The yoke of the dress was translucent mesh with an opaque collar and hem, as well as opaque lines connecting the collar to her shoulders. She also wore black stockings and pumps.
"Oh wow! You look awesome-" Ruby was interrupted when she almost tripped over her own shoes. Izuku heard the silver-eyed girl say in passing that if she ever wore high heels, she'd likely never live down the awkward walking she'd have to do just to get around.
Luckily, Izuku reacted to this fast enough to catch her and stand her up straight once more. Ruby then promptly flushed, embarrassed to be seen in any sort of fancy shoes, asking her partner, "Weiss, how the heck do you fight in these things? They're so-" she stumbled a little as she stepped back into the room, allowing Izuku and Shoto entrance before she caught herself on the edge of her desk, finishing her previous statement, "-awkward."
"Years of uncomfortable practice," Weiss said as she shivered, memories of the various walking lessons she and her sister underwent briefly resurfacing. The snow-haired heiress herself wore a short, white sleeveless dress with cutouts on both sides of her waist. The yoke of the dress was translucent mesh, and she also wore white pumps.
"Where's Blake?" Shoto asked out of the blue, noticing that their raven-haired teammate was nowhere to be seen, to which Ruby responded with, "She's going down to the courtyard to meet Sun. Apparently, she accepted his offer to go to the dance!"
"I wonder if that's why he asked Kirishima to be his wingman..." Shoto wondered, eluding to some kind of sudden cutawa-
(fifteen minutes in the future, Beacon Courtyard)
"Stupid... dumb... neck trap," Sun complained as he struggled to pull the white tie around his neck into a comfortable position without having it fall off, which, as you could likely imagine, proved itself to be an incredibly challenging task.
"I hear ya man," Kirishima responded, loosening his own black tie as far as it could go without looking too awkward. Ironically enough, Sun and Kirishima were using swapped color schemes, Sun with a black dress shirt with short sleeves and a white tie, while his crimson haired companion wore a white dress shirt with long sleeves and a black tie.
"I knew you'd look better in a tie." Blake's voice came from behind the two of them, causing Sun to turn and Kirishima to slowly slip away with a knowing smirk spreading across his face, sensing upon the cat faunus' arrival that he wasn't needed at that particular moment in time.
Blake herself was wearing a short purple asymmetrical halter neck dress that was split up the right side and had a black collar. Translucent black mesh covered her shoulders, décolletage, and back, and decorative black swirls covered the left side of the dress and continued up the left strap. The outfit was completed with black pumps.
She walked up to Sun and grabbed onto his outstretched arm, walking with him towards the ballroom as he asked with a little hesitation, "So... does this mean we're going... together?"
"Technically. Although my first dance is spoken for."
(present time, Team RWBY's dorm)
"Did anyone else feel like some sort of attention shifted away from us for a couple seconds?" Izuku asked, prompting everyone else in the room to nod. What was that feeling?
It was shortly after this that the door to RWBY's bathroom opened, revealing the blonde brawler Izuku had come to escort. Yang wore a yellow, formal halter neck dress that covered her entire front, opting to instead leave the top half of her back open and her shoulders exposed. The left side of the dress was cut up to her mid-thigh, allowing easier mobility with the hem of her dress located at her ankles, the color fading to a paler shade of yellow around her mid-calf. The outfit was completed with a pair of purple flats, putting her and Izuku at almost the same height.
Izuku was silent for a few moments as he stared at his date in complete awe, his face becoming at least ten times redder than both of Ruby's namesakes combined. Really, he was just that red! Yang noticed this and, with her own slowly reddening face, asked Izuku with a slight sultry tone in her voice, "See something you like, Greenie?" shifting her weight onto her right foot and putting her hand on her hip, at the same time exposing some of her leg.
This only caused Izuku to deform into a red stuttering mess, unable to express just how gorgeous he thought she looked. "I-I-I-I... u-u-um... e-er..." was all that he actually managed to get out.
Yang chuckled at this and moved forward with a kind smile on her face, saying, "I'm just messing with you. You look really good, Greenie."
Izuku then mentally slapped himself out of his stuttering state, his hue fading into a slightly noticeable pink as he said, "Thank you. Y-y-you look beautiful," causing Yang herself to blush a deeper shade of pink right along with the cute freckled boy that was her date.
Everyone else in the room had varying reactions to this banter between the two. Here are the direct streamlines into their thoughts after Izuku's last statement:
Ruby: KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS! KI- okay you get the point.
Weiss: Well, it looks like all of Yang's concerns about looking good for Midoriya was all for naught. Now they're both blushing messes. Adorable fools. The snow-haired heiress gave the two a kind smile as she thought this. She also fondly reminisced back to the morning of that same day, during which Yang had rather hurriedly tried to find a dress she thought would impress Izuku, finally finding the one she now wore just a few hours earlier. According to her partner, Yang had never been this serious about a formal event in her life. Ever. But she would pick her teammate's brain at a later date.
Shoto: I guess I gotta give her the 'big bro' talk. *sigh* Whelp, here goes nothing. Yeah. Enough said. Back to the normal world we go...
"Hey, Izuku, do you mind if talk with Yang for a quick second?" Shoto asked in his normal neutral tone. While Izuku didn't exactly know what he would discuss with the blonde brawler, he knew that his teammate wouldn't try and steal Yang away from him, especially since he already had a girlfriend. The green haired boy nodded to his partner, beckoning Ruby and Weiss to wait with him outside, and after a few short seconds, only Shoto and Yang were left in the room.
"Now look, Yang, I respect you, and I do believe that you're a good person. But I also need to do this so that I won't be a worrywart the entire night. I also need you to understand that Izuku is like a little brother to me. So, I'll give it to you straight...
"If you happen to break his heart tonight, I'll annihilate you," Shoto stated, his right eye briefly flaring up and causing the room's temperature to slightly lower itself.
Yang, however, was hardly even phased by his speech or the temperature change, instead nodding and responding with, "I understand. Wouldn't have it any other way. Hell, I'd probably give the same speech to Ruby's date if she'd actually decided to ask anyone out." They both chuckled at this, knowing that while Ruby herself was quite the matchmaker and a romantic at heart, she still had much to learn about actual romance.
The temperature in the room returned to normal as Shoto walked to the door, opening it for Yang as he stepped to the side revealing Izuku waiting with his left arm outstretched for the blonde brawler, which she gladly took as they walked towards the ballroom with Shoto trailing behind them.
(fifteen minutes later, Beacon Ballroom)
"Wow. I know we worked really hard on setting this place up, but this is... by Oum this place looks awesome." Izuku said, astonished that the ballroom that he, Yang and Weiss set up looked this cool! Various tables with white tablecloths and vases filled with white roses strewn about the edges of the room, leaving the dance floor open for the various dancers that now littered every corner of it. Pink streamers ran along the edges of the indoor balconies and connected most of the chandeliers together, similarly colored balloons scattered throughout most of the ballroom.
The teachers were there too. Aizawa was talking with Ozpin, Goodwitch, and Ironwood while Port and Oobleck conversed on the opposite end of the room. Aizawa had actually cleaned up a little for the dance, his normally unkempt hair straightened to a comfortable proportion, although he still wore his normal attire, as did the other teachers present. He offered Goodwitch his hand, obvious that he wished to dance. Though she rolled her eyes, the spectacled teacher slightly smiled as she accepted the offer, becoming lost in the sea of other dancers that littered the already packed dance floor. Ironwood had a brief flash of jealousy cross his face, though it quickly faded away when he saw Goodwitch enjoying herself and her partner's company.
All Might was there as well, his massive frame obvious as he stood beside Ozpin and Ironwood in his golden colored tux, his ever-present smile plastered onto his face as he watched the students dance with pride in his eyes. He was really just there for appearances, since his time limit was slowly but surely getting lower by the day, but that didn't mean that he wasn't enjoying himself.
"Yeah. I'm happy to see this place in action." Yang said as they continued their way inside with their arms still interlocked, spotting a few of their friends in the crowd of dancers. Yang them tugged gently on Izuku's arm, saying, "C'mon, Greenie. You still owe me a dance," as she guided both of them to the dance floor, interlocking her fingers with his and resting her right hand on his shoulder. Izuku slowly caught on and placed his left hand on her waist as the two began dancing in rhythm with the waltz music that played over them, becoming lost within the crowd of dancers as they did so.
"I see you're wearing your combat boots." Yang commented on Izuku's choice of shoe wear, causing him to flush to a slight shade of pink as he explained, "I-I-It's a habit. Their safeties are on, I promise."
"Okay, okay. They look good with your outfit. Nice choice." Yang flushed to the same shade as Izuku when she said this. Seriously! Why am I this nervous?!
"T-thanks. Y-y-you picked out some nice flats."
"Aww, thanks Greenie." Yang grinned as she said this, her attention shifting to the entrance of the room a few seconds late, saying to Izuku, "Look! She came!"
Izuku the shifted his attention towards the entrance and saw Blake with a smile on her face, walking into the ballroom with Sun in tow. He was glad to see that she had gotten some rest and was finally willing to enjoy herself for once. In a way, he saw a bit of himself in Blake; always working towards some impossible goal that would be unachievable alone. It was why he tried, and now succeeded, to help her, even if they didn't know each other all that well.
He and Yang then left the dance floor to stand by the punch bowl with Ruby, although Yang didn't stay for too long, explaining, "I've gotta follow through on my promise to Blake, and then I gotta take over the entrance stand from Mina. She's been there for a while now."
"Welcome!" Mina said, overenthusiastically greeting the dancegoers as they entered, although her boredom with the task at that point was becoming more and more obvious with each person that came through the door.
"Y-y-yeah. H-have fun!" Izuku said as Yang left, one of her violet eyes winking back at him as she walked over to greet the aforementioned faunus couple.
Having nothing better to do at that moment in time, Izuku turned to the punch bowl and got himself a cup, which, surprisingly enough, were glass. Huh. They really were going all out for this thing. Regardless, Izuku filled his and took a brief sip, the flavor of hyper-sweetened watermelon greeting his taste buds with gusto, the aroma no less sweet than the drink itself.
It was at this moment that Jaune shuffled over to where he and Ruby were standing with a glass of punch in his hand, saying, "I see you're both hanging out by the punch bowl as well."
"Yup." Izuku and Ruby synched, both punctuating the word with a 'pop' coming from their lips. They were so used to synching statements by that point that it was almost second nature for them.
Jaune them held his glass towards the two of them. "A toast to the socially awkward."
"Here here," Izuku said before Ruby chuckled and they all clinked glasses, taking sips at the exact same time.
"Sorry things didn't work out with Weiss. I know you really like her." Ruby apologized for her teammate's behavior over the past few days. Well, Jaune was a bit intrusive, but still!
"Meh, it's fine; Neptune's pretty cool. That, and I was being kinda rude. I get why she went with him."
"Master, who is this Neptune?" Lancelot asked, giving Ruby a rather confused look on her face when she heard him answer the disembodied voice's question.
"He's the guy Weiss went with instead of me. Ya know, the one with the blue hair and goggles? Not a lot of people can pull that off," Jaune said as he once more took a sip from his glass before Ruby stated, "You do realize that Weiss came to the dance alone, right?"
Jaune almost did a spit take, and, after sobering himself, asked the silver eyed girl, "Wait, what!?"
"Yeah. She said that she was too busy to worry about boys." Ruby's gaze shifted to her partner, who was currently trying and failing to get a particular white rose to stand up straight.
"I was wondering why she didn't have anyone with her," Izuku commented, his earlier confusion now laid to rest. He then noticed Neptune joking around with Sun and Blake, about what he did not know. All he did know is that Jaune looked pissed as hell, asking rather sternly, "Hold my punch," before he gave his cup to Ruby and stormed towards the aforementioned bluenette.
Izuku's attention was then caught by All Might, who stealthily gestured for him to come out onto the balcony before he stepped onto it himself. Izuku then excused himself from the punch bowl area, shuffling through the crowd and onto the same empty balcony as All Might with his cup still in hand.
"Enjoying yourself, Midoriya?" All Might asked his apprentice.
"Yeah. It's the first dance I've even bothered to go to, but... I wish I'd gone to one of these sooner." Izuku said before he took another sip from his cup.
"With a date, no doubt?" Izuku then did a spit take, coughing for a quick second before asking, "H-h-how did you know?"
"You came in with Ms. Xiao Long, did you not? You're a rather hard couple to miss. And I can see why you'd like her. Strong, clever, and beautiful, that one. Quite the handful as well." All Might then briefly chuckled, though the silence that followed was more comfortable than some might expect. He then asked, "Say, Midoriya, we haven't actually spoken to each other for a long while now, have we? Is your training coming along alright?"
"Yeah. I have Shoto, Yang, and Ruby to thank for molding me into a better fighter. N-n-no offense to you, of course!"
"None taken. Besides, I already know from your grades in my class that you're an excellent study, and a hard worker. Well, I figured out the latter part even before you gained access to my semblance." Both of them chuckled at this statement, remembering all the workouts All Might had put in place for Izuku, each and every one of them earning their rightful spot as its own circle of hell in Izuku's mind. Moving on...
"Listen, Midoriya. There's another reason I called you over here." All Might then dug around the inside of his jacket, pulling out a small slip of paper clenched between his index finger and thumb. He offered it to Izuku, explaining, "This is the address of the man who taught Regulation and Law before me. He's always looking for volunteers to join his group for a bit, and he's always posting jobs. He's...
"… he's also the closest thing I had to a mentor when I first inherited One for All."
Holy crap! This guy taught All Might how to fight?! He's gotta be an absolute monster! Izuku mentally panicked, his expression no doubt already giving his thoughts away as he tried to imagine what a man like that may look like, which he couldn't, terrifying him all the more.
"Don't worry so much, Midoriya! He's actually not so bad once you get to know him!" All Might then let out his trademark laugh before stepping onto the edge of the balcony and saying, "Well, I guess I'd better be heading out now. I've got about ten minutes left in me, so I'm gonna hightail it back to my apartment. It was nice talking with you, Midoriya!" All Might than did what only a man of his strength could do, and leapt into the air, soaring across the open night sky towards the teachers building, leaving a jet trail of steamrolling behind him.
"Heya Greenie! You get tired of the noise?" Yang asked as she came to his left side, a look of curiosity in her gleaming amethyst orbs. Izuku, now turning pink once more, responded with, "Y-y-yeah. A-although I d-d-did talk t-to someone briefly."
"Who?"
"J-j-just an old teacher," Izuku answered, giving Yang what she wanted minus the context.
"Ah." She said, satisfied with the answer that her date had given her. Then, with her own slowly reddening face, she tugged on Izuku's arm and gestured towards the dance floor, saying, "C'mon! We're gonna miss all the fun!"
Izuku followed the blonde brawler with slowly darkening cheeks and a smile plastered to his face, only for the two to stop halfway in simultaneous shock when they saw what Jaune was wearing. Instead of the standard Beacon tux that most of the students were wearing, the knight was wearing a...
… white dress.
.
..
…
Okay, Izuku had heard Jaune say the phrase 'Arcs never go back on their word,' in passing a couple of times, but this was a ridiculous level of humility. And you know what? It only made Jaune even more awesome.
"Okay, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react to that. Did you know anything about this?" Yang asked Izuku, who promptly shrugged and said, "I have no idea why he got into a dress in the first place. Do you think he lost a bet?"
As soon as he said this, all of Team JNPR began to dance in synch to the pop music the DJ put on, almost as if they'd rehearsed the entire thing, even though all of Team STIK and RWBY could attest that they'd done no such thing, making this task all the more amazing.
The two then heard a brief conversation between Jaune and Pyrrha. "I never knew you were a dancer!"
"Eh, I've got seven sisters. I've had plenty of practice with this kinda thing." Jaune said before he took the red-headed amazon's arm and spun her to the middle of the dance floor as they continued their tango with adoring gazes from all around them. Well, the ones who weren't looking at the two of them in complete shock were, anyways.
As the pop music reached its conclusion, JNPR lined up in front of their audience and bowed, receiving applause from nearly everyone in the room, Yang and Izuku included. The DJ the spoke, their voice unrecognizable thanks to their special audio system that they, Izuku and Yang had helped to set up the day before. "Alright! That was Team JNPR, everybody! And what an impressive display that was! Now, I think it's about time we slowed down a little bit, but I know you all want a little more action, am I right?" The crowd cheered in response. "Alright, alright! Here's a bit of both, starting out slow and then getting back into the action with this special song that's been stuck in all of your heads at some point or another, Free Bird!"
(A/N: "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, the whole thing. I'm not even kidding)
The opening strings and keys of the song played throughout the entire ballroom as the dance floor was slowly but surely filled once more with dancers, every pair interlocked in a slow dance of matching pace and timing. Each of the couples were comprised of varying genders and races, some looking at each other with friendly gazes while others looked at each other with something... more in their eyes.
Yang tugged on Izuku's arm to get his attention and gestured toward the dance floor, obviously wishing to join the growing population of slow-moving couples. Izuku happily obliged, and though the two didn't quite blend in with the other dancers, being bright yellow and dark green respectively, there were enough people to make them a lot harder to spot.
"So, how's the hunt for Stain going?" Yang asked, obviously wishing to start a conversation of some kind as they danced with interlocked hands and slow-moving steps. He and the rest of his team, with the exception of Bakugo, had told RWBY about Stain and Tenya's involvement with him. While Blake and Weiss were the only ones who knew what it was like to lose someone close to them, she and Ruby had done their best to try and understand his plight.
Izuku explained what he could to his dancing partner. "Well, we've got everything we need to start bringing him out of hiding. We have a list of his usual suppliers and a map of his hit spots ever since he came to Vale. We're planning on drawing him out when we go to the city. How's the Torchwick problem coming along?"
"Well, Blake managed to find out where the White Fang might be shacked up during all her research. She seemed to be onto something in the southern end of Vale. She didn't manage to get the specifics though, so we'll just have to take a mission over in the area. Sorry we couldn't get anything else."
"Yang, you don't have anything to apologize for. You guys have done amazing considering how secretive the White Fang already are." Izuku complemented, his face becoming a noticeable hue of pink once more.
"Thanks, Greenie. That actually means a lot coming from you." Yang said as the aforementioned boy spun her away from him and at the last moment pulling her back into his grasp, both of them smiling at one another as they continued to move throughout the sea of couples.
"Hey... Izuku?" Yang hesitantly asked her green-haired partner. Izuku immediately realized whatever she was going to ask meant a lot to her in some fashion. He'd only heard her use his actual name a few times, like when they first introduced themselves to each other and during the particularly nasty aftermath of his fight with Tomura.
"Y-y-yeah?" Izuku stuttered, afraid that she might ask a rather sensitive question, which she did. "Why'd you ask me to the dance in the first place? There must've been at least a few other girls pining for you. I mean, you are pretty cute." Yang said with the barest hints of a blush coming into her cheeks.
The freckled boy flushed in embarrassment at her statement, becoming silent for several seconds before mentally slapping himself aware and clarifying her view of his situation. Well... this is Izuku we're talking about. You know how it goes. "N-n-n-no! T-that's not how it was with me! I just... I've never actually gone to one of these things before, and I wasn't really all that sure of what to do for it. I kinda asked Shoto for help. A-a-and I already heard from a bunch of gossip that it was common practice to... a-a-ask someone to a dance like this, and... you were the only person I wanted to ask," Izuku finished, his hue almost entirely red by the end of it, and leaving Yang with a stunned look on her face for several seconds afterward.
He... he only... oh wow, is it getting hotter in here or is it just me? Yang thought as her cheeks started glowing the same rose hue as Izuku's entire face.
Though the color didn't fade from her cheeks, Yang snapped herself out of her speechless stupor and smiled kindly at Izuku, saying, "Well... thank you for asking me. It's been a lot of fun so far. I probably would've come here all alone if you didn't."
That surprised Izuku. He thought she might've gone with someone, not just him specifically. He asked for clarification, "W-w-what do you mean by that?"
Yang's small smile evolved into one of her normal grins, answering with, "Well, when you're one of the top ten students on the first-year leaderboard, people tend to be wary of you. Plus, the only guy who tried to ask me to this thing other than you was a total asshole. He still has about a day or two in the infirmary, so that's an upside."
Izuku understood her humor enough at that point that her quip actually got a chuckle out of him. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kirishima dancing with Mina, the latter wearing a short, turquoise sleeveless dress with a thick white sash around her waist. The bodice of the dress was lined with white material, wavy patterns of the same hue laced symmetrically on both sides of the dress. The yoke of the dress was a translucent mesh with white flats to complete the outfit. Mina was grinning without a care in the world while Kirishima was trying his best not to blush. Keyword 'try.'
"Aww, they look adorable!" Yang cooed at the young couples varying reactions to their current situation. Izuku smiled at the two, a gut feeling telling him that the two faunus' would be a bit more than friends by the time the festival was over. Either that or his judgment was on the fritz. Probably the latter.
His attention was then drawn to Tokoyami and Tsuyu, the former of whom was dressed in a black tux and violet dress shirt, a crimson tie and brown dress shoes to complete the outfit. Tsuyu was wearing a small, dark green sleeveless dress with a pink sash tied around her waist, the knot of which forming as a bow on her lower back. Her matching pink pumps completed her outfit. The two then disappeared into the sea of people once more without a trace.
"Hey, Greenie? Where's Ruby?" Yang asked, prompting the boy to search the room for any trace of the normally hooded girl, of which he found none.
"W-well, maybe she just stepped out for some air. It is kinda crowded in here."
"True that." Yang said before commenting, "Huh. Looks like Ironwood's leaving too. Guess he's had enough fun for one night." as the general in question left the building.
Izuku and Yang then spotted the other members of his team, the two who arrived early wearing similar tuxes to Shoto's, though Bakugo's was black and red while Tenya's was white and blue. The observing pair were then prompted to chuckle in synch as they watched the always bickering partners get into a somehow muted argument over something completely minor or insignificant, or at least they assumed, before Shoto stepped in and got the ash-blonde faunus to calm down. Bakugo then stomped towards the now unoccupied punch bowl to fume over in peace. Well, as peacefully as he could. No, really.
The blonde brawler and the green-haired inheritor then looked back at each other with a bit of... something else in their gazes. It was almost primal, yet it was also something each of them desired with such an intensity. Yang began leaning in slowly with half-lidded eyes, her head angling itself to make it easier for her to get closer. Izuku began to do the same, though his eyes were completely shut, before-
BWOM! CRASH!
Yang's eyes snapped open when she heard those noises, peaking behind Izuku to see a dark vortex outlined with purple open in the middle of the room, one of the goons emerging from it having a piledriver punch ready to knock the green-haired boy out. As if by instinct, Yang moved Izuku to the side and socked the goon right across the cheek, sending the now unconscious man straight out the opposing window.
Now realizing that there were people to fight, Izuku snapped into his combat stance with Yang at his right, a wide berth becoming made for them and the portal that allowed the goons entrance to the ballroom, saying, "Are you sure you want to fight these guys? I-I-I mean, you did just get that dress," before punching out an approaching goon.
"Thanks for the concern, Greenie, but you're gonna need all the help you can get." Yang said as she punched out two more goons before she threw them by their heads into the growing crowd of crooks, making some of them fall over like bowling pins, and, ironically enough, with an accompanying sound effect. How was this possible? No one knew.
Not a second afterward, Bakugo pitched his still half full glass of punch at a random thug, knocking them out as it shattered into a myriad of shards before he yelled for all to hear, "FINALLY! THIS PARTY WAS STARTING TO GET BORING!" with a large, feral grin on his face as he launched himself into the middle of the crowd. No literally, he launched himself into the middle of the crowd and proceeded to smash any face, bone, or bodily appendage his fists, feet, and often explosions, could even graze.
"Wait for backup, you blundering idiot!" Tenya yelled as he and Shoto broke through the now formed circle of spectating students, the latter freezing the nearest enemies to the floor, further allowing Tenya to kick one of them so hard that it broke the thug away from the floor, sending them and the others behind him into a wall.
"I'd have recommended calling in our lockers, but I think Goodwitch would get even more pissed." As Shoto said this, the aforementioned spectacled teacher, with Aizawa at her side, began to pick off the stragglers who tried to separate from the main horde, keeping the majority of goons in an easy to knock out place while some of the other students began to join in on the action.
Kirishima punched and slashed with his hardened hands in tandem with Tokoyami's chops and jabs, assisted occasionally by the raven faunus' shadow, their teamwork and coordination obvious to anyone looking closely enough. Mina zipped through the crowd when she saw her openings, slicking the floor with her acidic semblance to destabilize some thugs before Tsuyu took advantage and leapt onto them, promptly making them lose their balance and fall to the floor, knocking most of them unconscious in the process.
Izuku, now having disabled the safety on his boots, and being the only person in the halls besides the Goodwitch, Aizawa and Ozpin with a weapon, activated Full Cowl 5% and began to pick off to outlying thugs with buckshot and fists, with the others helping to box them into an easy to strike area. Then Shoto got an idea, yelling to his teammates, "Bakugo! Give Izuku a lift!"
Bakugo blew up another goon before yelling back in response, "WHY THE HELL WOULD I-"
"Just do it!" Shoto said as he sent various ice shards into the crowd, most of the finding ample targets in many an abdominal area while a few of the others hit two or three goons in the face, consequently knocking them out. Bakugo, after kicking another crook into the circle of students, cupped his hand into a step to launch Izuku from.
The green haired boy in question then put his foot into Bakugo's step hand and was launched into the air not a second later with an explosion assisted throw. Izuku managed to perch himself on one of the indoor balconies as Shoto relayed to him, "Grab the streamers and make a rope!"
"Got it!" Izuku grabbed the first streamer line and hopped over to the next, continuing the process until he managed to hold every single bit of the wavy pink ribbons, a makeshift rope becoming made out of all of them. He then passed one of the ends to Yang and, with his end in hand, began to run around the crowd of crooks in tandem with the blonde brawler, catching almost all of them in a gradually tightening vice, and by the time they were done, almost all of the goons were tied together with the surprisingly durable makeshift rope made of party streamers. No, they did not stop to question the logic of this otherwise impossible thing.
"Someone get the door!" Shoto yelled as he covered the floor leading to the aforementioned wall of moving wood in slick ice. Sun and Neptune ran to both of the handles and pulled on them hard, opening them with a loud and baritone groan echoing throughout the hall.
"Alright! Everyone who's strong enough, get ready to push these people out the door!" Shoto relayed as Izuku, Bakugo, Yang, Kirishima, and Sun, surprisingly enough, lined up in front of the tangled mob of goons and gave it one mighty push, sending the now tumbling mass out of the ballroom and onto the paved walkway, the makeshift streamer rope finally giving way to all the strain and snapping into ribbons that the littered the ground.
"Huh. I was wondering when that thing was gonna break." Yang quipped when suddenly, before the Atlas guards could surround the crooks, the same dark vortex suddenly appeared and swallowed the group whole. A pair of gleaming golden eyes then appeared near the top of the dark mass and stared directly at the students who'd managed to beat every single criminal that they'd sent, a frustrated huff escaping his nonexistent lips before he vanished, leaving the guards and students alike with baffled looks on their faces.
Izuku took a deep breath and sighed, scratching the back of his head in frustration, while Bakugo voiced the question in the back of everyone's minds. "What the hell was that about?"
"No idea. Those were definitely Tomura's goons, and after the display we just put on, I doubt they'll do that again." Shoto stated as he walked back into the ballroom to inform everyone that the threat had passed, a brief cheer escaping from the confines of the ballroom as he finished.
"D-do you wanna call it a night?" Izuku asked Yang.
"Yeah. I think I've had enough excitement for now." Yang then stretched her arms above her head before realizing something. "Oh! Greenie!"
"Hmm?" was all Izuku managed to get out before Yang dashed up to his side and pecked him right on his cheek as she continued, "Thanks for tonight. It really was a lot of fun."
It was only after she said this that she realized that Izuku's face had gone redder than it had ever been before, briefly tipping backwards before Yang caught him, thinking in a panic, Oh... shit! Did I break him?!
"Well, looks like Izuku won't be dancing for the rest of the night." Shoto said as he reemerged from the ballroom, approaching the two as he continued, "C'mon. I'll help you get him back to our dorm."
Yang happily accepted the half and half boy's offer, only imagining how awkward it would be if she had to take her date back there by herself. The two then walked off to the dorms, the fading sound of the music still echoing behind them.
(A/N: End Song)
(a few minutes later, Torchwick and Tomura's hideout)
"What the hell, Tomura?! I knew you were planning to do something at the dance, but this?! This was just insane! Do you want to get caught?!" Roman yelled at his white-haired partner in crime.
"Calm down, Roman. Everything's gone according to plan." Tomura replied to his colleague's distress with a rather... unusually calm tone. Huh. You'd think he'd be at least a little upset.
"I'm sorry, what?" Roman asked in confusion.
"I might be impatient, but even I wouldn't have done that without an ulterior motive. Kurogiri!" Tomura called to his second in command. The vapor-esque figure approached the two criminal masterminds in his bartender's outfit, which he usually wore when he wasn't on a mission, politely asking, "What is it, sir?"
"Did we lose anyone of note?"
"No, sir. Just some thugs who knew nothing of the grander scheme."
"Good. Be sure that the ones who made it back receive the necessary medical attention." Kurogiri stiffly bowed before he turned to carry out his master's orders.
"Okay, can I have some context now?" Roman asked with the same confused look.
"It's quite simple really. While Kurogiri might be mostly made vapor, he still has some form of physical matter left. It's how he can pick up all those glasses when he makes drinks."
"He does make some mean whiskey mixes," Roman remarked on Kurogiri's drink making skills, briefly wondering if Kurogiri would be behind his counter that night.
"Yes, he does. But getting back on topic, it was just a matter of hiding some scrolls within his intangible matter in order to get these." Tomura then pulled out his own scroll and showed Torchwick various shots of the students who'd fought against their horde, including several long shots of Shoto, Bakugo, Kirishima, Tokoyami, Yang, and many, many shots of Izuku.
"Why the hell do you need all that? I mean, Cinder has access to the CCT now, right? Couldn't she just hack the school's mainframe and get video footage of the sparring records?"
"Well, for one, I don't want her to pull a favor out from under my ass if I did ask for those things. But really, those are just videos of practice fights with too many rules to keep students from going all out. This was to insight them to actually defend themselves with everything they had, absolutely no holds barred. Although we didn't manage to insight everyone we wanted to into the fight, we did manage to gain intel on a few more possible threats. Now, when I give this to Cinder, she'll owe us."
"Ahhhh. Wow. I knew you were crafty Tomura, but you've really surpassed yourself this time. That was some good planning on your part. For the first time in a while, I'm actually jealous."
"Flattery will get you nowhere. But thank you anyways. Hey, aren't you transferring to the Mountain Glenn outpost tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Cinder wants me to oversee the bombing operation. But really, why is she even bothering with this? I mean, I get that it's to spread doubt throughout the populous and get more Atlas robots down here, but other than that, what point does it really serve? They've got freaking All Might here in Vale full time now, and let me tell you, getting around him is not easy. I've almost been caught by that guy more than once. I doubt she's going to inspire any sort of panic with him on the battlefield."
"All in due time, Roman. I may have wanted to kill him right away before, but we both saw what that got us. I am impatient, that I will fully admit, but I am open to change. Good luck with the bombing run tomorrow!" Tomura then walked towards his private quarters, reviewing the footage as he went.
Torchwick sighed, muttering "I need an Oum damned drink," as he walked towards the makeshift bar Kurogiri had put together in his spare time. After about a minute of waiting, the aforementioned dark mass appeared behind the counter with a towel draped over his left arm, asking Torchwick, "Anything special tonight, sir?"
"Just a shot of bourbon. And don't call me 'sir.' Makes me sound old."
"Coming right up." Kurogiri then pulled out some of the mid-shelf bourbon and a shot glass from behind and under the bar, placing the shot in front if the ginger-haired criminal. "Enjoy."
"You know I always do." Roman then drank the entire thing in one gulp, swallowing audibly. "Ah! That's the good stuff. Where do you get it anyway?"
"I have an old friend in Mistral. She has a rather large excess of liquor most of the time, so I purchase some of it when I have the Lien. It helps her with business, and it keeps me stocked."
"I see. Well, thank her for me next time you see her." The two then fell into a comfortable silence for several seconds before Torchwick broke it. "Hey, Kurogiri? Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"
"That would depend on the question."
"Why are you so loyal to Tomura? If you don't mind me asking." Roman quickly added on, offering the bartender a way out.
"Well, if you really want to know." Kurogiri wiped his hands on the towel draped over his arm before he continued. "I was still a regular bartender at the time I met Tomura and the man that found him. He was small and frail, wouldn't look anyone in the eyes. The man who brought him told me to take care of him, train him to be as strong as a huntsman, if not a whole team of them. I went to a combat school before I decided that fighting wasn't for me and took up bartending. I couldn't make Tomura as strong as a team, but I did the best I could. We got involved with general crime about a year after that, our organization began expanding, and I've been at his side ever since."
"Sounds like quite the story you two got there," Roman commented.
"A tale for another time. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Actually, yeah. Could you fill this with some of that pumpkin whiskey you make? That stuff's really good." Roman put his hip flask on the counter, a symbol of a smiling pumpkin face emblazoned on the bright orange sleeve in a contrasting black. Kurogiri took it as he began to mix the drink, asking, "Why would you need a flask of this? I thought you smoked cigars."
"I've been trying to quit for about a week now. Alcohol helps stave off the urge."
"So, you're giving up one addiction for another?" Kurogiri placed the flask back on the counter.
"I never said that. Plus, having a bit of alcohol on hand never hurt anyone. It can be used as a makeshift disinfectant and it helps steady my hands when I'm aiming." Roman plucked up the hip flask and placed it inside his jacket, saying, "Thanks for the drink, Kurogiri. Seeya later!" before he tossed two one Lien cards on the table, payment for the shot as well as the tip for his polite services, before walking off towards his own private quarters.
However, before he could enter the aforementioned room, he was tackled by a small figure with pink and brown hair, though streaks of white were littered throughout the pink. She wore a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, black gloves, and black and white boots with very high heels. Under her jacket was a brown corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. She also wore a multitude of necklaces, which hung haphazardly around her neck. This little ball of ice cream fueled joy was his niece, Neapolitan, or as she preferred to be called, Neo.
"Heya, kiddo. How'd the op go with that friend of yours?"
Neo pulled out her scroll and rapidly typed out her response. It went well. She almost got the urge to slice up a few of the pedestrians, but she managed to reign herself in. I'd say she's doing better, but- a loud male scream then interrupted Roman's thoughts for a brief moment before he read the rest of it. -that would imply she's tried to make any progress at all. I wish I could help her out, but what with me being mute and the fact that she's already half psychotic, there's only so much I can do.
Context time! About a month earlier, just a few days after the Tuckson incident, Neo and Toga had actually hit it off quite well, despite the fact that the latter was already half a psycho. Neo did what she could to help with her outbursts, and Toga, while it wasn't often, did try to get out of her habits. But they were basically engraved into her mentality; a natural instinct to kill.
"Well, like your mom always said. 'When once you fail, try again.' Are you ready for the bombing run tomorrow?"
Neo quickly nodded her head, prompting Torchwick to ruffle her hair with fondness. "Good. Now go get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us."
Neo skipped off to her own room as Torchwick entered his, resting his bowler hat and Melodic Cudgel on his dresser before he shed his clothes and drifted off to slumber, the mission waiting for him when he woke up the next morning.
A/N: Huh. I actually didn't expect to write that much about the villains. I mean, Torchwick, Tomura, Kurogiri, and even a bit of Neo in there too! I guess I like humanizing characters a lot more than I thought I did. Well... most characters.
Say it with me now: FUCK YOU CINDER!
In case you're wondering about the ballroom fight scene, yes, that was about as close to the actual song length as I could write. I really wish I could've written that scene to match the song exactly, but that was as close as I could get to it without overextending myself. Too much.
Now before you guys jump the gun and assume that Izuku and Yang are officially a couple now, and I know that some of you are going to do that, STOP. I mean it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, they do have feelings for each other, and those feelings will continue to grow over time. However, that doesn't mean they're going to know how to express those feelings. Especially Izuku. So, for now, they're just friends. Oddly comfortable friends.
Like I said, I'm not very good at naming things. Also, sorry for the tease, but you had to admit it was good, right?
Now, to make up for the last chapter's mishap, I'm giving you guys two profiles of, in my opinion, the best teachers in HeroAca! Here they are:
9-Shouta Aizawa
Age: 32
Handedness: Right
BDay: N/A
Race: Human
Hair: Black, Shoulder Length & Unkempt
Eyes: Black (Red when using semblance)
Blood Type: B
Height: 5'10"/177.8cm
Gender: M
Semblance: Erase, allows Aizawa to neutralize almost anyone's semblance through mere eye contact, although the power itself requires that his eyes must be open often, leading to his eyedrop habit.
Weapon: Mourning Ribbon, a scarf that allows Aizawa to bind and manipulate his enemies. Uses this in tandem with mixed martial arts.
Range: Close-Mid
Fighting Style: Mixed Martial Arts & Cord Fighting
10-Toshinori Yoshikage
Age: N/A
Handedness: Right
BDay: 6/10
Race: Human
Hair: Blonde, slicked back with Duel Bang spikes (powered) or Blonde, spiky with deflated Bang spikes (true form)
Eyes: Blue
Blood Type: A
Height: 7' 2½"/ 220cm (powered) or 5' 9½"/ 176.53cm
Gender: M
Semblance: One for All, a power passed down from person to person, gradually growing stronger as it does so. Toshinori is the eighth person to inherit One for All, but after his injury at the hands of All for One, he's on a time limit the slowly grows smaller every day.
Weapon: Bare Hands (current) or Pair of Unnamed Gauntlets (former)
Fighting Style: Mixed Martial Arts, mainly Slugger Style Boxing
Range: All
Next Chapter: Nov. 3rd
Seeya in the next one!