"The number you have dialed is out of service or is temporarily disconnected. Please check the number and then try again. Thank you."
Toshinori sighed and lowered the phone. "Can't get through to 13 or Aizawa," he said to himself, "then again, they are teaching."
His thoughts turned sour, "Unlike me. I'm neglecting my duties because I spent the entire morning commute being heroic. Amateur move. What was I thinking?"
A thought occurred to him, "Maybe I should just show up and something inspiring at the end." He like that idea, "Yeah, I can get a good ten minutes out of my hero form."
With a grunt, he transformed into his hero form, already in pose. "Time to join my students-!"
Blood squirted our of his mouth and the pain in his stomach and lungs made it difficult to breathe or move properly.
The door rolled open, "Hold your horses."
Toshinori turned to see a fully dressed mouse-looking creature standing in the doorway. His surprise was obvious.
"H-hello, Nezu sir."
He raised a paw, "That's me! The one who could be a mouse or a dog or a bear, though the only important thing is: I'm the principal!"
Toshinori knelt down to the principle's height and waddled forward. "Your fur looks especially well groomed and glossy today, sir." He said.
Nezu walked forward while saying, "The secret is Keratin." He stopped, "I'm not sure humans can get this kind of lustrous shine. But we can talk about grooming later." He pulled a tablet out and showed him the screen, "Look at the news. Shall I read it to you?" Before Toshinori could respond Nezu continued, "It says you resolved three incidents in just one hour."
He sighed and looked down which caused a shiver to run up his spine. "The fault mainly belongs to the ruffians who still cause trouble in the city despite you being here. But you also have to learn not to react every time you hear of an incident."
Toshinori felt his grip on his legs tighten as his form started to slip from his grasp. "You haven't changed in all these years. You've always been proactive, only now your heroism must be limited due to your injury." Nezu turned to the side and started slowly walking, "Plus you've got the added work of looking for and training One For All's successor. You insist on remaining the Symbol of Peace," steam started rising from his body, "and the only way you can justify staying out of the spotlight is by teaching." He stopped and turned his head towards him, "That's why I gave you this job.
"Oh dear, you're smoking. That can't be good."
Toshinori turned back into his skeletal form in a puff, the muscles of his hero form gone as if they had never been there.
"It looks like you need to stay here in the lounge and relax a little while longer." He sounded smug. Or maybe that was just his imagination. He didn't know at this point.
The pain was almost completely gone now that he was in his "normal" form, do he turned to look as the principle jumped onto the couch like a dog while saying, "The others teachers will understand. They are more than capable.
"But now that you are a teacher here All Might," Toshinori ran/waddled over to the other side of the coffee table as the principle sat down, "I really wish that you'd prioritize your students over your hero work. They deserve it." Oh, now that one stung. "After all, there are plenty of other hero agencies working throughout the city."
"Yeah," Toshinori said and looked down, "You're right, principle. So I was gonna head over to the USJ to make an appearance now actually, if you don't mind." He really wanted to escape Principle Nezu. And soon.
The sound of the principle picking up the steaming kettle filled the momentary silence, "Even if you went now, you'd have to return almost immediately." He poured the hot tea into a tea cup. "So you might as well stick around and listen to some of my teaching philosophies. They could prove to be useful."
Great, he thought, this is turning into a lecture.
Nezu pushed one of the red filled cups towards Toshinori, "Here, drink up." He then proceeded to sip at his own cup.
Toshinori felt sweat roll down the back of his head. He's always so long winded whenever there's tea involved, he thought agonizingly.
He glanced to the side for a moment while his thoughts drifted, I'm still a little concerned that I couldn't get in touch with 13 or Aizawa.
"Let's start with combat pedagogy as viewed through the lens of ethical quirk use." Nezu said.
"Yeah, you haven't changed much all these years either, sir."
"Huh?! What do you mean fight?! Are you crazy?!"
Izuku has just finished explaining the plan to Asui and Mineta, and Mineta apparently decided to start freaking out again.
"These guys might be able kill All Might, and you think we can take them?! Did you hit your head when we got warped here!" He started stomping around and crying like a child, "The best plan is to wait for a real pro from Yuuei to come save us!"
Izuku kept calm as he looked out into the water, "Think about it, those villains down there clearly have an advantage in the water and assume that's where we'll fight."
"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!"
Asui spike over Mineta, "If that's the case, then they must have known what was inside the USJ before they warped in."
Izuku nodded and chose his words carefully, "Yeah, but for a group with such careful planning, there's one that really sticks out to me. Something that just doesn't add up. They sent you here, Asui." He realized his mistake a moment later and desperately tried to backtrack, "Uh, whoops, I meant Tsu!" He sputtered out and waved his arms in front of him. "Y-yeah," he tried to continue, "t-they warped y-you to the shipwreck zone."
She looked at him with a bemused smile, "That kind of fell apart on you, didn't it."
His shoulders slumped, "A little bit."
"But why does it matter that she's here!" Izuku winced from the volume. At least he could count on Mineta to always remind him of their impending doom. He actually had a use for once.
Izuku sobered up, "Yeah okay, right." He looked towards the water once more, it means that the villains probably have no idea what our quirks are."
Obviously.
Realization dawned on Asui's face, "Ribbit, you've got a point." She looked over at the red dome with flames on it, "If they knew I was a frog, they would have sent me to the fire dome over there instead of somewhere full of water."
Thoughts were running a mile-a-minute through his head as he spoke, "They probably separated us because they didn't know what we could do, and planned to overpower is once we were in smaller groups. Easier to pick us off one-by-one."
Izuku felt a wave of inspiration hit him, "We can use that to our advantage. For all they know, the three of us could be super powerful." Izuku nodded to the still villains in the water, "Look, none of them are trying to climb into the boat. That proves they're a little unsure."
His mouth turned downwards, "But that means they won't underestimate us either. They're being smart and playing it safe...For now."
The silence stretched on as the foreboding words hung over them like a dark cloud. Any lightheartedness they may have been enjoying just a minute earlier was now completely gone. It seemed as though they finally realized the situation they were in.
They ended up crouched in a triangular formation while facing each other. They didn't want the villains to be able to see them plan. Not that anyone was really offering any ideas at the moment.
Asui attempted food salvage the conversation, "So let's talk quirks. I'll go first if you want." They didn't respond. "Obviously I can jump high, and cling to pretty much any wall. And of course there's my tongue; I can stick it out about 20 meters."
She straightened her back slightly as if remembering something, "Oh yeah, I can also spit out my stomach to clean it: that's not really useful. Finally, I also secrete a toxic mucus. It just stings a bit."
Her eyes rolled back in thought, "we can probably only use my jumping and my tongue here. Forget about those last things."
Izuku would definitely not be forgetting about those last things. Anything and everything.
He had known about a few of those things already, thanks to her generously providing him information earlier that day. But he had no idea that her quirk allowed her such a variety of tools. "Wow, I figured you were powerful, but that's just amazing."
Glancing down, he cringed at the sight of soaked through pouches. He found something else to add to his redesign of his costume: waterproof pouches.
"My quirk is basically paper manipulation. I can control paper and turn it into anything I tell it to." He opened one of his two pouches and took out two slightly off-colored papers that looked completely dry. "Almost all of my paper is ruined by the water, but luckily I brought two waterproof pieces of paper with me." He shrugged at their questioning gazes, "I didn't know what I would need, so I just took a bit of everything with me." He waved the papers sheepishly, "Good thing I did, right?"
Mineta started talking as if Izuku hadn't said anything, "I've got these sticky balls." The purple ball came off his head seamlessly and was replaced with another so quickly, Izuku almost missed it. He put it on the wall and pat it awkwardly, "The strength varies; depending on what I'm feeling, they might stick to something a whole day." He started to endlessly pat the ball(it was started to weird him out), "They grow back as fast as I can pull them off, but I'll bleed if I use too many." He(finally) stopped patting it, "Oh and they don't stick to me. I just bounce right off of them."
Asui and Izuku just stared at him and Mineta stared back. Suddenly, he started bawling, "Waah! This is why I said we should wait for the real heroes! My quirk is totally unfit for battle and we're gonna diiiiieee!"
Izuku quickly tries to placate him, "N-no! You have an incredible power, really! We just need to figure out how to use it!"
Suddenly, the boat split in two as a giant hand came out of nowhere and smashed through the middle of the boat.
He cried out as he tried to balance on the quaking half of the boat that they were standing on. It was hard.
Over the commotion, he heard one of the villains say something about being bored.
Seriously?!
They ended up crouched on the floor again.
"That's a great power." Asui said, "Now were sinking."
Thank you, captain obvious.
Mineta ran forward, and despite Izuku telling him not to, he started to freak out. He threw his (hair balls?) over the edge of the boat and into the water.
Izuku raised his hands, and even though he had his own look of terror on his face he told Mineta, "You gotta calm down!" when he turned to him and pointed to where he threw his balls.
Still crouching, Izuku nervously peaked over the railing of the sinking boat, "They'll guess your quirk."
He paused right after he said that. In the water below them, the villains were shooing away the purple balls that were slowly floating towards them.
Wait, they're afraid to touch them.
Izuku got an idea.
Meanwhile, Mineta stumbles back and crashed into the wall of the boat. "Ah! We're fish food!"
Asui looked at his curiously, "So Mineta, are you really sure the hero thing is right for you?"
Mineta exploded, "Shut up! It's weirder not to be scared right now!" Tear streamed down his face. "We just got out of junior high a little while ago. I didn't think I'd be facing death a few days after starting Yuuei! (Ok, I'm removing this part of his speech. I just... can't)
"Listen up." Izuku said determinedly, "An enemy that's certain of their victory is bound to make a mistake. All Might said something along those lines in a TV interview a while back." What? There was a TV in the bar area. So long as nobody caught him, he could watch All Might as much as he liked.
"What does that mean?" Mineta said despairingly. Then, he gasped.
Izuku's body shook in fear even as his words contradicted what his body said, "Nows our chance. We can beat them!"
He turned around and have them the most confident look he could muster. They looked back at him.
"Aahhh!"
Izuku ignored Mineta's frantic whispers behind him, instead focusing on his thoughts.
He thought about the most confident person he knew. Come on, act like Bakugou.
"NOW DIE!" He jumped off the railing as the villains looked up at him.
One of the villains raised his hand as water encompassed it. "Dumb move, kid. Now your going to be the one to die."
Izuku drew his ungloved hand back as he concentrated on the piece of paper crumpled in his fist. He would need to be quick. He wasn't sure how long he would have after he created it.
A small box formed in his hand as he started to lose momentum and fall. He threw it down as hard as he could when he got close enough and braced himself.
The box hit the water and suddenly he was being propelled up as the water exploded. Izuku lost sense of where he was going and called out in a random direction, "Tsu, Mineta! Now!"
He didn't see them take off in all of the confusion, but he felt Asui's tongue wrap around his midsection for the second time that day. They were then on the the move.
The water was sucked into a whirlpool, sucking the villains that had once circled the boat into one point. Suddenly, Mineta was yelling from above him as purple balls rained down from above, "Take this, you villains! You can eat my sticky balls!"
The purple balls stuck onto the villains, making it hard for them to move and sticking them to each other. They were all pulled into the middle as the water dragged them with it.
They just barely missed being hit by the fountain of water at it exploded upwards. The boat and the ball of villains went flying with it.
"We rounded them all up." He heard Asui say, "Not too shabby." They continued flying through the air and above the water. "I guess we passed the shipwreck zone."