A/N: So... I saw Infinity War about two weeks ago. Christ, that was simultaneously awesome and depressing. And towards the end there... *sniff* *quiet sob* Goddammit, I promised myself I wouldn't cry again!
That aside, if you haven't yet, I do highly recommend that you see the movie. It's worth the price of admission and much more.
Now, on a less depressing note, OH MY GOD WE'RE AT OVER 70,000 VIEWS AND OVER 300 FOLLOWERS! I legit thought this story would never get this popular. Thank you all so much for everything! I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Review Responses:
Guest 1: While I'd say it hasn't quite gone full edgy yet, they're definitely teetering on the edge between something like the last two seasons of Avatar the Last Airbender (the show, not the movie [we don't talk about the movie]) and a forced version of Berserk. I'm hoping they stick to the former, it's a lot more flexible. And while I did enjoy Pyrrha, I'd definitely say that she didn't have a whole lot to her, and one of the reasons they may have cut her was because... well, have you seen her fight? She'd practically one-shot every little enemy that came their way. Damn you, power balancing.
Guest 2: Erm... well, shit.
That was actually what I was going to do originally, but I couldn't do it in any way that made a whole lot of sense moving forward. But I can promise you this much: the characters aren't coming out unscathed, that'd be impossible. I'll probably be changing the rating of this just for the amount of brutality that'll go into it.
Guest 3: Yes, yes we do. That guy is fucking hilarious.
Guest 4: We'll get there... eventually... as soon as I can think of different ways for them to work as a four-man team and not as two-man pairs.
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 31: Game On!
(I'm the One from RWBY by Jeff Williams)
Shoto was the first to move, closing in on Hanta almost immediately with an opening slash that left frost in its wake, giving his opponent barely enough time to dodge the attack before they began to combat each other properly, with the former enjoying the bout far less than the latter seemed to be.
Izuku and Hitoshi met in the center of the field with a loud clash, Hitoshi's left gauntlet grinding against the edge of Tempest in a feint attack, pulling back as he aimed a right upper cut towards his stomach, making painful contact that launched Izuku about half an inch off his feet. It wasn't nearly as hard as Yang's were, but this guy certainly wasn't weak by any means.
The green haired boy fought through the pain as he responded to Hitoshi's attack with a headbutt and made for an upward, diagonal slash at his opponent's torso, which Hitoshi just barely managed to dodge, the edge nearly catching the tail end of his jacket.
"Huh. That was a nice move," Hitoshi complemented with a sarcastic tone ever present in his voice. "Still, a fluke isn't gonna win you the match."
Hitoshi used Izuku's reaction to this to get in close and elbow him in the face, followed shortly thereafter by a knee to the-
But Izuku managed to catch that one, holding Hitoshi in place as he cocked back his right fist, with Tempest still in hand, and punched him square in the torso, stepping forward as the blow followed through and sent Hitoshi flying backwards, the violet haired boy barely managing to catch himself before he stopped at the midway mark of the ruins field.
Izuku rushed forwards to meet him in combat once more, leading with a strong left hook that Hitoshi simply dodged, which the former was expecting as he flipped Tempest into a backhand grip and jabbed it into his opponent's chest, then stabbing his blade into the ground and using it as leverage to attempt and airborne rotating sidekick.
Hitoshi managed to counter that by catching his leg, then yanking him down and began to wail on him with a flurry of attacks for several seconds, only briefly pausing to ready what would be a devastating right hook. "C'mon, you're supposed to be stronger than this. Why else would you be so blessed with this power?"
Izuku, though minorly shaken by the verbal jab, saw his attack coming and used the window Hitoshi had created to call Tempest back to his hand, using the flat side of the blade to block the heavy blow, causing the sound of the clash to echo throughout the arena with yet another loud CLANG! Hitoshi hadn't yet noticed, but Tempest's runes were glowing, and Izuku, while Hitoshi's arm was still reeling from the backlash of his own punch, slid along his outstretched arm as he began Tempest's transformation from sword to scythe, placing the now curved blade under Hitoshi's right armpit. The handle then shot out to its proper size, managing to catch Hitoshi off guard in the process and hit him square in the jaw, causing his head to snap to the side from the force of the improvised blow.
Izuku then continued through with the technique, one of the few that Qrow had been able to show him in the two days he'd been tutored. He slid down to the lower end of his scythe's handle and used the momentum he'd created to begin spinning in a stand still circle, dragging Hitoshi off the ground and into the air as he began to spin faster, and faster, until Izuku hurled Hitoshi, and Tempest, to the far side of the arena with the signature howl of Tempest's wind Dust accompanying the throw. He really needed to work on his aim.
The green haired boy wasted no time running towards Hitoshi once more with the added help of his shotgun boots, hopping into the air before launching himself downwards with a flipping axe kick. The purple haired boy managed to raise his arms in a block and, though the force of the blow was enough to push him back slightly, he managed to dull the blow. The ever-knowing smirk he'd had on his face the entire fight was no longer there. He was pissed.
Izuku landed on the ground and called Tempest back to his hand, swinging it around so that the blade was pointed behind him, jabbing the far end of the handle forward like a spear, which Hitoshi managed to dodge as he got closer and managed to deliver a few quick jabs to Izuku's gut, then pulling his hand back to deliver a devastating palm slam to Izuku's chest, pushing him back at least ten feet.
The blazer wearing inheritor almost smirked at this, now gaining enough distance to use Tempest's scythe form properly even as Hitoshi began to close in on him once again. He made one wide swing of Tempest over his head, causing Hitoshi to stop abruptly in his charge and give Izuku the chance to reangle the next swing to sweep his opponent's legs out from under him, getting him airborne and unable to defend himself from the oncoming barrage of wide slashes and buzzsaw sweeps, leaving Hitoshi's clothes, and his Aura, nearly in tatters.
As Hitoshi landed to the ground, Izuku brought his scythe back for one final attack, using his own Aura to charge the attack. The process was slow, however, giving Hitoshi plenty of time to get back up and start talking again. "I bet that monkey told you about my semblance, right? Well, I'd say that idiot wasted his breath if this is all you can do. So, you ready to disappoint?"
This, for once, for only half a second, finally got Izuku to answer, overcome with the seeming negligence and aloofness that Hitoshi seemed to possess. "That's not-"
And then, Izuku suddenly went silent, Tempest's cocked back charge losing its power and his eyes going white. He'd slipped up.
(Pause the song, keep it tabbed. You'll see why)
"Izuku!" Shoto yelled to his partner as he dodged yet another attempt at grappling by Hanta, who'd proven to be much faster than he'd originally anticipated, preventing him from assisting his partner from his now near certain defeat.
Hitoshi, meanwhile, dusted off what remained of his clothes, muttering to himself about getting a replacement jacket, before speaking to Izuu, "I'll give you this much: you're a damn good fighter. But if you didn't have your excess of power to back you up, you wouldn't have made it past the team fights. Now. Drop your scythe, turn around, and walk out of the arena."
Izuku, though he tried his best, could not regain any semblance of control over his own body and almost robotically obeyed Hitoshi's command, Tempest clattering to the ground as he slowly walked towards the far edge of the arena. C'mon, dammit! Gotta... try... something!
Up in the stands, Izuku's friends were simultaneously shocked, worried, and terrified for their friend. Whatever Hitoshi had said to the green haired boy, he wasn't stopping. And this royally pissed all of them off. If he was going to lose, at least let him go out fighting!
"Dammit, Greenie, what the hell are you doing?!" Yang yelled at as high a decibel count as her vocal cords would allow, continuing, "Snap out of it!"
Ojiro looked scared as hell. He wanted to yell and scream or do something to help Izuku long, but he knew that nothing would help him. Unless Shoto managed to get to him in time and break the hypnosis, he was already finished. And so, he watched, and waited. Just like training. Just like training. Just like...
"C'mon! You're stronger than this!" Jaune yelled right along with her, though their support still had no effect on his progress towards the edge.
"Wake up, turn around, and fight him like a man, dammit!" Kirishima and Tetsutetsu synched together in their usual fashion with mirrored stances and their fists pumped into the air.
"Izuku! You'd better not give up this easily! You promised!" Ruby joined to, then joined by the rest of the group with various shouts of encouragement and attempted wakeup calls, but to no avail. Still, through it all, Izuku walked to his defeat.
"Dammit, Izuku, why aren't you-" Shoto yelled before he was promptly cut off by Hanta, who'd used the opportunity to nearly capture the half and half leader who was his current opponent, getting gradually angrier as he did so.
I'm... sorry, everyone... but I can't... move...
Thank you... for trying... but... you have to... go on without me...
Izuku had nearly reached the edge, just lifting his foot over the line when, suddenly, time almost seemed to stop. Towards the entrance of the arena that he could see, there were eight figures, all wreathed in shadow and almost formless, despite their unique presences. It was their eyes that jumped out at him, representing their own, bright shade of color contained within them, and yet they all seemed... familiar.
The figures then burst into the light of their respective colors, all combining into a kind of mystical presence that surrounded and almost enveloped him, their power manifesting itself in waves upon eaves of color.
What is this... it feels... empowering... wait... my fingers...
I can move my fingers!
And from this seemingly insignificant movement came a surge of kinetic energy that shook the entire coliseum, a blast of hyper condensed air erupting from his left hand accompanied by a soundwave of force. He'd broken the hypnosis.
Izuku panted from the sheer mental effort it took to break through the control for even a second, and with the nigh and considerable assistance (possibly) of the previous inheritors of One for All. It certainly wasn't easy, and his index and middle fingers were now broken and bruised to show for it. Hitoshi had a damn powerful quirk, that was for certain. Speaking of-
Hitoshi was shocked at the revelation that his hypnosis had been broken, to the point that he didn't notice the fight that his partner was going through. It didn't take priority. He had complete tunnel vision now.
"Hey! What the hell did you do?!"
Izuku nearly responded but managed to cover his own mouth at the last second, staying in control of his own body. His left hand throbbed at the sudden removal of his right hand, but the adrenaline managed to dull the pain.
I have to get him talking again.
"Well, say something!"
Izuku only stared back with determination in his eyes as he approached his opponent once more, not bothering to pick Tempest off the ground, though the weapon did protest to this. He began to run faster, and faster, and as he did so Hitoshi tried his damnedest to get any sort of response out of him.
"I didn't know you had so much power. I'm actually kinda jealous."
Yeah. I know what that jealousy feels like. I've been there more than once.
"With the way my powers work I've always been at a major disadvantage. But I guess someone like you wouldn't understand that!"
I get it. I was blessed, but...
"You're lucky enough to have heroic powers! It'll be so easy for you to reach your goals-" Hitoshi never quite finished his sentence, Izuku had long since made his way over and elbowed Hitoshi in the gut, sending him flying backwards as Izuku shouted within his mind, No! I've been blessed by the people who helped me! That's why I'm even here!
(If you still have I'm the One tabbed, go to the timestamp 3:09 and play it from there)
Hitoshi wasn't giving up easily, however, digging his heels into the ground and skidding to a stop as he yelled, "Say something, dammit!" Punctuating it with a punch across Izuku's face. This hardly affected him, however, as the green haired boy quickly snapped back to form and punched Hitoshi in the gut, sending him even closer to the edge of the arena.
Shit!
"Oh, hell no! Not yet!" Hitoshi yelled as he punched Izuku's broken fingers, causing the freckled inheritor to flinch at the last second before his attack could go through, allowing Hitoshi to slip right past him and almost push him out. But then...
A sudden lurch, pulling him further to the edge. Izuku then preformed the full combo he'd previously practiced: a spinning low kick, rotation, a spinning back kick, rotation, and finally finishing the fight with a single, echoing spinning high heel kick straight to Hitoshi's face, causing his head to snap back with the force, his body tumbling out of bounds.
Hitoshi had lost.
(End Song)
"And with that final kick, Hitoshi Shinso has been eliminated by the barest inch of Aura and a simultaneous boundary out! That was certainly a close one!"
(Hitoshi's POV)
"Wow, Hitoshi! Your semblance would be perfect for a criminal!"
"Don't go using your powers on me, alright?"
"I mean, it'd be so easy for you to just go on a crime spree! You'd never get caught!"
Yeah. That's what everyone always says. Wow, Hitoshi! Your power would be perfect for a criminal! Don't use it on me!
I don't blame them for being scared, though. I'd probably say the same thing if it were anyone but me.
But you know what?
I'm not the bad guy.
(Izuku's POV)
Oh crap, Shoto! Izuku whipped his head around to try and find his partner before-
"Apologies."
KRABOOM!
In almost an instant, a gigantic, nearly mountainous ice glacier covered almost a quarter of the field, shaking the entire coliseum to the point that some thought it might fall out of the sky. Izuku stood stock still, his surprise only emphasized by his widened eyes. In the stands, Yang, Jaune, and everyone else who'd been cheering for them had fallen deathly silent.
Shoto suddenly broke from the frozen bonds that had been placed on him by Hanta earlier and walked over to his now frozen opponent. "Sorry. That was... too much. I was just really angry."
Izuku held a somber but determined look in his eye, knowing that whatever it was that had shaken his friend up this badly had to have at least something to do with that encounter with Endeavor earlier. Even as Shoto began to thaw Hanta out of the glacier he'd created, and the crowd their best to cheer Hanta up from his defeat, Shoto simply held a calm yet sad expression on his face, one that only Izuku seemed to notice.
(about two minutes later, Izuku's POV)
"W-well, that was certainly quite the match! Give them a round of applause, everyone!" Port's voice bellowed throughout the arena, though his voice held much hesitation after what had been displayed naught but a little while earlier.
Hitoshi had reawoken just a minute earlier, being rather pissed off at the fact that his teammate had been frozen in ice, though Hanta managed to assure him that there wasn't any damage beyond his Aura breaking, by some miracle.
Izuku noticed the violet haired boy's beaten and downtrodden expression, a look that he'd often associated with his high school life back when he was Fractured. And so, as Shoto and Hanta departed from the arena floor, the green haired inheritor asked, "Why do you want to become a huntsman? What's driving you?"
Hitoshi was a bit surprised at this, though it was only a minor detail, never taking his eyes from the floor. There was a brief, deafening moment of silence, only broken by Hitoshi once he answered, "You can't help the things you long for. Even if they might be impossible."
That single sentence, despite it's apparent lack of length or depth, struck a chord with Izuku. He remembered the time when he was much like Hitoshi, when everyone around him, especially Bakugo, doubted that he could ever make anything of himself, let alone become a huntsman. He'd tried so desperately to prove them all wrong, to show them that he could become a huntsman. But reality was harsh, and though he was lucky enough to receive the power and training of one of the most powerful people in the world, it was just that: luck. If he hadn't met All Might that day at the bridge, if he hadn't tried to save Bakugo, if he hadn't nearly worked himself to death, there was only one simple truth he couldn't avoid. He. Wouldn't. Be. Here.
And so, even as Hitoshi walked away with his shoulders slumped in defeat, Izuku only looked on in silence. Nothing he could say would make his opponent feel any better. It certainly hadn't ever worked for him. Why would it be any different for someone like Hitoshi?
And then, even as he turned his back and began to follow his partner out of the arena, he heard the praise that his team and classmates were giving him. There were even a few hunters adding to it as well, commenting on how Beacon couldn't accept someone like Hitoshi simply by nature of how his Semblance worked.
Izuku didn't have to turn around to know that Hitoshi was smiling despite the loss. Even in defeat, there was plenty to take away from a battle. More than simply winning, this was a place for Hitoshi to start improving and become his own kind of huntsman.
It was for this reason that Izuku felt a glimmer of hope for his opponent as he walked through the arena exit, then trying to calm Tempest down as he tried to explain why he dropped it... again.
(about ten minutes later, arena entrance 2, Yang's POV)
"Well, it looks like we're fighting Atlas," the blonde brawler said as she stretched her arms, her teammate walking just behind her with her hand in a thinker position under her chin her mind obviously occupied with the team they were about to fight. "So, who're we fighting?"
"Well, considering the fact that they're from Atlas, they'll probably be strong, disciplined military types with several pre-planned and carefully rehearsed strategies, along with significantly more advanced technology," Weiss said off the basis of the usual types of hunters that Atlas was known for producing.
"Or whoever these guys are," Izuku interjected briefly, showing them a brief picture of Flynt and Neon of Team FNKI. The former was a young, dark-skinned man with dark brown eyes. He wore rectangular sunglasses and a dark fedora with a blue trim on his head, as well as an earring on his right ear. He also wore a dark vest over an untucked white dress shirt, with a loose tie wrapped around the collar. Completing his attire was a pair of dark dress pants, silver dress shoes and a dark glove on his left hand. His weapon of choice was some kind of... trumpet?
Well, they'd certainly seen weirder choices.
The latter of the two was a young girl with a light complexion, with green eyes and moderate red-orange hair done up in four pigtails with light blue streaks in her bangs. As a feline Faunus, her physical trait was that of a cat tail covered with pink fur that became lighter toward the tip. Neon's outfit had a large range of bright colors. She wore a light blue cropped tank top on top of a dark purple bra, dark purple short shorts under a pink combat mini-skirt and white belt with a yellow winking smiley face on the buckle. Two buttons were fixed to her tank top above her right breast, one purple with a cat design and another green one with a heart. She also had a white cat bell collar around her neck, a pair of bracers on her arms and pads on her shins and knees. She wears red roller blades, which she also uses to move around. A tattoo of a shooting star with a red, green and yellow trail winds around her right arm. Her weapon of choice was a bit more logical, though still a bit odd in its own way: a pair of glow stick nun chucks with Dust compatibility.
All in all, the pair that Yang and Weiss were about to go up against were very... funky.
Yes, I made that pun deliberately. I bask in you hate.
"Well, that certainly explains their team name," Weiss said as she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, not knowing how Atlas could produce a team this bizarre in the first place.
"Well, I've got a few ideas on how to-"
"Greenie," Yang said with a firmness that, while not hostile, left no room for argument on his part. "Thanks for the offer, but if we do end up getting to the finals and fight each other, I want it to be on our own merits. So that means that we can't help each other out with stuff like strategy for fights, at least for now." A smile returned to her face as she continued, "Besides, you've gotta save those brains for your own single matches ahead of you, right?"
Izuku briefly turned a bit pink from the praise. "E-erm, thanks. G-good luck, you guys!"
"Don't need it, but thanks anyway," Yang said over her shoulder as she followed her white-haired teammate out into the field, trying to calm the steady but noticeable racing of her pulse.
By Oum, it took everything I had just to keep myself from blushing.
Seriously, can I please just have a normal conversation with the guy without almost going red?! I don't like him for the way he looks dammit! He's just really nice and awkward in the most adorable way possible! And he's really smart, probably even smarter than Weiss!
… he is pretty hot, though.
Yang then shook her head from those thoughts, focusing in on the fight with their current opponents. They were just as odd as Izuku had suggested, name and all.
"Hey! You're Weiss Schnee, right? The heiress."
"I am."
And this is where everything started to unravel when Flynt, though his reasoning was rather understandable, attacked Weiss on a personal level, berating her family's practices and doubting her skill as a fighter.
Yang, being who she was, wasn't going to stand for someone insulting her friend, saying, "Hey! Why don't you-?"
"'Hey! Why don't you-?' That's what you sound like!" Neon interrupted the blonde brawler in what could only be described as one of the most annoying voices she'd ever heard. She didn't want to be rude, but that was the tamest way she could put it.
And that calm was soon to be tested as Neon began to ramble on about rollerblading and... wait...
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?!"
Oh no, there would be no calming down until she beat Neon's face in with her own skull! How is that physically possible? It shouldn't be, but Yang was going to damn well make it fucking happen!
… as soon as she could catch up to the chatty little bitch!
(a few minutes later, Izuku's POV)
"Phew! That was a close match," Izuku sighed in relief as the buzzer finally sounded throughout the coliseum, only further punctuated by the echoing THWAK! of Yang's insanely strong right hook. Damn, did she have a really good arm.
And one that I really don't want to go up against, even on a good day.
Izuku still cheered for them, knowing that Weiss was going to be okay with her team all around her. Wow. How long had it been since STIK had talked as a team? And not just two or three of the members, as a complete, four-man team. A few weeks? A couple months? By Oum, it'd been a while. They needed to sit down and talk for once. Especially Bakugo. He kept running off to do his own thing and it was kinda hurting the group dynamic.
I should probably go check in with All Might soon. He seemed like he wanted to talk to me about... something. Maybe it was about that vision I had?
Izuku was then jostled out of his thoughts by Shoto, who'd just come back from... wherever the hell he'd gone to, and said, "Hey, I'm not gonna be able to train to day."
"Huh?" This was a first. Shoto had never once blow off training. He always showed up for practice like clockwork, never early, never late: he was always, without failure, precisely on time. If something didn't already feel wrong before, it certainly did now.
"Um..., okay, but... why? You've never called off practice before. I mean, there was that one time when we were tracking down Stain, but otherwise..."
"I... I just need time to think," Shoto answered with a pained, though oddly subtle, tone. "… maybe a long time. I'm not quite sure. I'll let you know when I'm up to it."
Izuku was silent for a few beats, swallowing air before he said, "Okay."
And that was it. Shoto turned and walked away, leaving Izuku even more confused than before. Tempest felt his master's distress, and briefly hummed with the tension of a fight.
"No, he'll come to us when he's ready," Izuku whispered to the weapon on his back as he walked down the hallway to where he presumed his mentor was. I just hope it's soon.
(a few minutes later, Professor Peach's office, 3rd person POV)
The bright orange, messy haired nurse known to Remnant as Peach Shuzenji sighed in frustration at the paperwork the had been piling up for the past few days. Her labcoat was hanging off the back of her chair, leaving her with a sleeveless gray turtleneck and casual blue sandals. Her skin, despite the tan color, which was common among people from Vacuo and Southern Anima, was lightly shining from the sweat she'd been working up with all the damn paperwork she'd been dealing with.
Oum, she hated this time of year. She really, really hated this time of year. Fucking Atlas with their fucking protocols and their fucking regulations that she couldn't keep fucking track of. Fuck them all. Especially Ironwood, damn stickler.
"You need any help with that?"
Thank fucking Oum for someone like Toshinori. "Much obliged."
She moved to make room for her surrogate uncle as she continued filling out some of the regulations that Atlas had rolled for this year. It was almost the same thing every year, but they just could decide which rules to stick with for a single damn year, and the fact that they weren't was rightly pissing her the fuck off!
Then a brief knock came from the door, which Toshinori responded to by quickly hiding behind some of the curtains for the beds, just in case it wasn't someone they were expecting. Peach looked through the hole and saw Izuku standing patiently outside with a little tap to his foot. Damn, that kid was way too cute, in a little brother kind of way.
Well, I was never interested in guys anyway.
Peach then opened the door and invited Izuku inside, quickly shutting the door behind her. "He's here, Uncle Toshi."
"You're never going to stop calling me that, are you?" Toshinori poked his head from out of the curtains with a disdainful look on his face. He always did hate being called 'uncle.' Made him feel older than he actually was.
"Not a chance," Peach said with a deadpan, though still cocky tone, a small smile breaking through her lightly tanned face. She wasn't really one for emotions or feelings beyond lust and excitement, at least most of the time, but even she knew that teasing Toshinori was fun as hell. That and she knew how to really hurt him. Thank you for the pressure point training, grandma, you scary as hell old hag.
Peach nearly chuckled as she almost swore she could hear her grandmother swearing up a storm at that very thought. Ah, good times.
"Thanks again for doing this, Professor Peach. And thanks for fixing up my fingers," Izuku said to the school's local Dust specialist, resident doctor, and often absentee teacher.
"No need. Just keep it short, would ya? I'll probably be getting patients fairly soon," Peach reluctantly placed herself behind the massive pile of paperwork on her desk once more, muttering sailor curses on Ironwood's name the whole time.
"She really doesn't like Ironwood, does she?" Izuku asked Toshinori.
"They have a bit of a rough history," the gangly man admitted, recalling the last time the two had argued over... well, he wasn't exactly sure, but it must've been pretty important, seeing as since then they hadn't spoken in the past three years.
"So... what did you want to talk to me about?" Izuku asked what was to be a rather pressing subject.
"When you were fighting against Hitoshi, I heard a few of the things that he said to you. I'm sorry. It must've been a hard fight, knowing how you could relate to his position," Toshinori said with an apologetic tone.
"I know, but I couldn't just go easy on him because of that. It wouldn't be fair," Izuku looked down to his bandaged fingers, reminding himself why he was here.
Peach just sighed and said, "If Grandma finds out about what you've been pushing, she's going to beat the living shit out of you, Uncle Toshi."
"Urk!" Toshinori stiffened as he remembered the pain that Recovery Girl could dish out of she ever felt the need, responding with a strained voice, "It was necessary! And also, low blow!"
"I regret nothing," Peach said with her trademark silent smirk as she continued to work through her pile.
"Hey, Toshinori? I think I might've had some kind of vision in the middle of the match," Izuku began to explain, which caught both Toshinori and Peach's attention. "I think there were people there. Maybe seven or eight of them? I'm not quite sure. I was under Hitoshi's control and I couldn't think straight. I tried, but I couldn't get my body to listen. And then those figures appeared and I could suddenly think straight. Not for very long, just enough to move my fingers. One of them seemed to have eyes almost exactly like yours. Do you think... maybe the other inheritors of One for All were there, pushing me on, like spirits or something to that effect?"
…
"Wait, I'm a ghost?!" Toshinori burst out in panic
"Augh! I-I thought you'd have answers!" Izuku responded, just as panicked.
Seriously, these two have a lot more in common than I thought they would. Peach thought with and even wider smirk.
"Actually, I did see something like that before, back in my younger days. It might not seem like it now, but you're definitely getting closer to making One for All your own."
"But what is it, exactly?"
"Truth be told, I'm not sure. I've theorized that it might be some kind of residual trace of the previous user's souls once One for All gets passed on. Whatever it is, I'm certain that it won't be interfering with your progress, now or ever.
"Which means that whatever that was wasn't what broke you out of the hypnosis. It was your willpower that broke you free."
…
"Man, that's not nearly as satisfying as I thought it'd be," Izuku said with a frustrated scratch to the back of his neck.
"I was expecting something a bit more flamboyant," Peach too answered truthfully.
"Hey, that's not the point, you two! More importantly, shouldn't you be finding out who Shoto's up against?"
"Oh, yeah!" Izuku darted to the door only briefly shouting, "Thank you both very much!" Over his shoulder before running through the hallway as the door closed behind him.
"…"
"… so, he saw you too?" Peach asked with a serious tone. If it was happening this fast, then... oh Oum, what were they going to do.
"… it's a good thing. He'll be ready for it," Toshinori said, half to himself, almost as though she wasn't the person he was trying to convince. He then breathed heavily as he decided, "Call Ozpin, and tell Qrow to bring Izuku to the office after his training session is done."
"But-"
"I know. He's a kid with a tournament to fight, but we're almost out of time. We... can't afford to wait any longer," Toshinori said with the sternest look he could muster.
I'm sorry, Izuku. I hope you'll understand.
But sooner or later, you would've learned about him. I just hope this makes it easier on you.
(meanwhile, Ozpin's office, Aizawa's POV)
"Oz, I know you're good with this stuff, but are we entirely sure she's the one?" Aizawa asked with a profile of their Fall Maiden candidate, Pyrrha Nikos, in his hand. "She's too young for this."
"As are all the other candidates we have on the list," Ozpin said matter-of-factually. "And so is Izuku. But, as Toshinori has said, we've simply run out of time."
"I hope you don't regret saying that, Oz. I know I would," Aizawa snapped his scroll shut and pocketed it. "Still, I can't believe you approved of letting Qrow train that kid. That old drunk doesn't exactly work well with others, ya know."
"That is no fault of his. Just a bit of bad luck," Ozpin sipped from his mug.
"… did you just-"
"Yes."
"… that was... the worst dad joke... I have ever had the displeasure of hearing, and I still keep in touch with Tai."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Well, about her... are you absolutely sure?" Aizawa pulled his Scroll back open, showing Pyrrha's profile picture.
"As sure as I can be. She's strong, kind, observant, calm, fore-thinking, but more than anything else... she's ready."
A/N: Dun, dun, DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!
… okay, maybe that wasn't an appropriate use of that sound effect, but I still think this is a good place to stop the chapter. Also, sorry about the elaborate music thing. I just thought that would be a cool way to end the fight. Feel free to complain about it in the reviews if it was too confusing!
That aside, I can't thank you guys enough for what you do! I wish I could thank each and every one of you directly! Even though that would probably kill me.
Next Chapter: June 3rd
Huh. I can't believe it's almost been a whole year. Damn, that's something. Oh well! Seeya in the next one, guys!