Chapter 5: Zero Sign to the Unknown
-Unknown Bar-
In a rundown bar somewhere in Japan, a man with pale blue hair, sickly and chapped skin and a thin frame was sitting at the bar. Meanwhile, a man who looked like he was made of purple and black smoke with yellow eyes was cleaning a glass behind the bar.
"Kurogiri, any word from our new member yet?" The man asked his comrade behind the bar.
"Of course Tomura Shigaraki, I could teleport her here to speak with you face to face if you wish." Kurogiri nodded as he put the glass he was cleaning away.
"Hm… Very well. Do it." He replied with a nod.
Kurogiri then used his quirk to open up a portal and a figure stepped out of it. The girl was rather short, barely being as tall as Tsu at 5'2" and had a curvy figure that was well accented by a C-cup rack and heart shaped ass and wide hips. Additionally she also had lilac colored hair that was rather long and her eyes were a reddish purple that almost completely blended in with her pupils.
The woman's attire was also rather odd. It was a pair of skin tight latex purple pants which were attached to a lingerie strapped latex bra of the same color, and she also had on purple leather stilettos and arm length latex gloves, as well as a horned headdress.
"Hello, boys. Glad to see me?" She asked with a very ominously snake-like grin.
"Hebi Tamashi! Aka Euryale! Her quirk: Soul Plasty - She can control and even bring back the souls of others and become linked to them so she can either control them like puppets or unwitting second sets of eyes and ears. Only way to break the connection is to kill her or the person she's connected to. And if a person hasn't regained enough life force after the connection is broken, they will die in a few days." Mic announced.
"We are, Euryale. I wish to speak with you." Tomura nodded.
"Oh? What about?" She asked.
"You told us that your quirk has bonded you to the soul of a UA student and means that you are now able to see through their eyes and hear through their ears. Am I correct?" Kurogiri questioned.
"Yes. It's been like that for quite a while now, and she's proven to be quite the source of entertainment." Euryale nodded.
"Then why don't you use this connection to tell us where All Might is going to be today?" Tomura suggested.
"Of course. Give me a moment." The soul bender replied before closing her eyes. After ten minutes went by, she opened them again. "Good news, I know exactly where they'll be, and at what time."
"Excellent." Tomura similed before turning to Kurogiri. "Round up the rest of our friends, we're going to pay UA a little visit."
(Elsewhere)
-UA High, some minutes earlier-
Izuku was headed to school and was in a rather upbeat mood, though unfortunately for him it was soured by the gates of UA, and him by extension, were swarmed by reporters. Yeah, he wasn't happy about that.
"Excuse me, young man! Can you tell us what it's like learning under All Might?" A reporter questioned, shoving her mic in his face.
"Not now, I gotta get to class." He stated as he swat the woman's microphone away. He wasn't trying to be a jerk but they were in his way.
Sadly, the press just couldn't take a hint and tried to interview the other students. Uraraka ended up just describing him as muscley, and Iida went into a drawn out monologue. Taida on the other hand…
"Eh, he's just like any teacher really, he can be super boring sometimes." King shrugged with a yawn as he floated to school on Chastiefol's pillow form.
"Ya know, that's probably about as good as we're gonna get on this topic." One of the other press members commented.
Luckily for the students Aizawa was able to get them to stop before the school barrier went up. Leaving everyone to go to class. But as Ochako sat down, her eyes suddenly felt itchy, prompting her to rub them.
"What's wrong? Eyes feeling itchy?" Izuku asked, noticing her rubbing her eyes.
"Yeah, I sometimes get it from time to time. No big deal." She shrugged as the itch faded, however unbeknownst to her, Euryale was the reason behind the itch. It was a sign she was watching through her eyes.
"Eh. Okay." The immortal shrugged, not feeling concerned about that. Itchy eyes were common, so it wasn't a cause for worry.
"Quiet down everyone. Today we have something important planned, something that will decide your future." Aizawa told them.
'Is it another quirk test?' Everyone thought in worry.
"Today, you'll be choosing a class representative." He revealed.
'Oh, just normal school stuff.' Everyone thought in relief. Though this soon erupted into an uproar of everyone saying they wanted to be the representative sans Izuku and King, who just yawned and looked away with disinterested looks on their faces.
This was interrupted, however, when Iida stood up and got everyone's attention. "Everyone please be quiet! We cannot go at this without thought! I personally believe that we should settle this democratically. That way we'll know for certain who should represent us." He told them.
"I don't care how you kids do it. Just choose before my nap is over." Aizawa said while he zipped up his sleeping bag before collapsing to the ground, snoring.
"But we've only known each other a few days, how will we know who to trust?" Tsu questioned.
"Yeah, who's to say everyone won't vote for themselves?" Sato added.
"Well if one of us gets more than one vote is more than qualified." Iida replied.
"Probably not me, then." Izuku mused.
"Eh, who cares?" King shrugged.
The vote went on for several minutes and at the end of it, Izuku and Momo were the ones with the most votes. Though oddly enough, Iida was close behind the latter as well.
Izuku seemed slightly put off by this development. He did not sign up for this. After the election was done Aizawa continued class.
"I went over your combat training videos and I'd like to say that I'm pleased with the results. However, I do have a few things to say." He said before looking at Bakugo and King. "Bakugo, Taida, I'll start with you two first. Bakugo I know your team lost, but you're talented. So just do better and don't sulk around like a child."
"Yeah, alright." The blonde huffed.
"As for you, Taida…" Aizawa started before taking a deep breath. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" He yelled, causing everyone to jump in surprise at the sudden yelling.
"W-what-" The boy stammered in shock.
"I get that you had heard conflicting reports, but turning a fellow student to stone during a training exercise?! If Midoriya hadn't broken free, you'd be expelled for murder!" The erasure hero ranted angrily. Normally, he's more composed than this, but what he had heard about really pissed him off to no end. After taking a moment to calm his nerves, he continued."That being said, your special move did prove to be a good capturing move. Just remember to have a way to reverse it. And leave your personal issues with other students out of your school life, got it?"
"R-right." The boy nodded, shivering slightly at the chewing out he just got.
(Later)
In the cafeteria everyone was getting their food which was as prepared by the Cooking Hero: Lunch Rush, who was one of the best chefs in the world. Izuku got his favorite dish, Katsudan, a panko fried pork cutlet and noodle dish. Iida got his favorite red curry and rice, Uraraka got some rice and Sashimi, Bakugo got his favorite Spicy Curry, and lastly King got a bowl of pork Ramen.
"Hey King, quick question, you guys still got that Tosa of yours? His name was… Oslo, right?" Izuku asked as he ate his meal. Ochako giggled at the mention of said dog.
"Yeah we do. He's really grown into a big fella." She replied.
"Yeah, though he's been a real nuisance ever since he developed a quirk…" King sighed. This caught their attention. It wasn't unheard of for animals to develop quirks, in fact the Principal, Nezu was an animal who has a quirk that gives him super intelligence. However it was still very uncommon.
"He developed a quirk?" Bakugo asked in intrigue.
"Yeah, he can teleport to anywhere a person he sees as his owner is and can teleport anything he swallows to another place… he's done that to my hairbrush a lot." Uraraka sighed. Izuku couldn't help but snort.
"I'm sorry, but… He swallows your hairbrush?! How many have you had to replace over the years?!" He asked, trying to reign in his laughter with little success. His childhood sweetheart just glared at him.
"I will send you up to low orbit." She threatened. The immortal quickly clammed up.
"Shutting up!" He squeaked.
Iida couldn't help but chuckle at what was being said while Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Anyway, sorry you couldn't be the class rep, Iida, I know you really wanted to be it." The girl said in a comforting manner. "I was kinda surprised, I mean you do kinda look and act the part."
"You're just saying that because of his glasses." Taida stated while he ate his noodles.
"Wanting to be in a position and actually being qualified for it are two different things. Working with my family at the Iida Hero agency has taught me that much." The bespectacled boy stated.
"Does that mean you're rich?!" The gravity controlling girl asked excitedly. This caused everyone to facepalm except Iida, who tensed up.
"Wow, not beating around the bush, are you, pink cheeks?" Bakugo questioned.
"I was afraid everyone would treat me differently if they knew about my family." Iida sighed.
Everyone started staring at him for an explanation. "The Iida family has been heroes for generations, it's sort of like a family business. To give you an example, are any of you familiar with the Turbo Hero: Ingenium?" He questioned.
"Heck yeah, I am. He's got around sixty five sidekicks working at his agency and he's super popular." The green haired boy nodded.
"He's my elder brother!" The turbo boy said proudly.
"Whoa/Cool!/Ha!/Nice." They all said in surprise.
"Ingenium is an unmatched commander who honors the hero code. As the second eldest Iida son, I strive to be just like him." He told them. "Though I'm still not ready for a leadership role." He added before looking at Izuku. "However I think you'd be a good leader, you saw that the judges of the exams were looking for something more. A good leader needs that kind of insight."
"I'm not sure I really qualify due to… past occurrences." The immortal replied vaguely with a sigh. Bakugo instantly knew what he was talking about.
"Stop it, you're better than that." The blonde told him. Right at that moment though, the school alarms went off, causing everyone to almost jump out of fear.
"Warning! Warning! Level three breach in progress! Please proceed to the exits in a calm and orderly manner!" An automated voice instructed.
"What's a level three breach?" Iida asked a third year next to him.
"It means that someone got through the barrier, which hasn't happened in my three years being here!" The boy told them before everyone started panicking and forming a sea of people trying to get out the door, pressing Iida against the window.
"It's the press!" He said in exasperation upon noticing the media equipment in the distance. turning back he saw Kirishima and kaminari being swept away by the sea of people, deciding to try and stop this mass panic he turned and saw Uraraka. "Uraraka!" He called to her, reaching out his hand. "Touch my hand! Make me float!" He told her.
"Okay!" She called back. She struggled to touch his hand, and failed after the first one, but got it after the second one, causing the bespectacled runner to float. Iida then quickly pulled up his pants legs and then used his quirk to blast towards the exit sign and landed there.
"EVERYONE! CALM DOWN!" He yelled as he got their attention. "It's just the media outside! Come on, we're UA students, we need to show that we're the best of the best by staying calm and collected!" He told all the students.
Everyone slowly started to calm down and class 1-A all let out a sigh of relief. He really saved them this time.
(Later)
"So, yeah, guys? I'm sorry but I'm just not sure that being the class rep is for me." Izuku shrugged as he scratched the back of his neck. "So I've decided to go ahead and give the job to Iida. He's definitely more qualified than I am, especially after what happened at lunch." He added. Tenya seemed taken aback by this, but composed himself as he stood up.
"If you think I am qualified, then I will perform the job of class representative to the best of my ability." He declared, and got some reassuring comments in return.
"Ya know, if Midoriya says that he's good enough for the job, then I'm good." Kirishima nodded. "Plus he totally manned up back there, that's something I can definitely get behind."
"Same here." Sato added. "Plus, he kinda looked like the guy on the exit sign." He added with a chuckle.
"Emergency Exit Iida, yeah I can get behind that." Kaminari nodded.
"I don't care who the rep is, just get it over with already." Aizawa snapped before getting up. "Anyway, today we're going to be doing something different for your hero training."
"What kind of training are we doing?" Kaminari asked. Aizawa then held up a card that said Rescue on it.
"Rescue training. This time you'll be saving people rather than fighting them. From natural disasters, accidents, stuff like that." The man explained.
"Aw yeah! Now this is more like it!" Kirishima said with a grin. "Real Hero work! This is what separates the men from the boys!"
"Sounds like we're in for a work out." Kaminari added.
"Eh, I'm game." Jirō, a girl with earphone jacks as earlobes shrugged.
"This'll be fun." Izuku grinned.
(Elsewhere)
In the teacher's lounge, a deflated All Might was sitting on the couch and trying to rest after over exerting himself. He was now unfortunately unable to go to the rescue class with his students.
"Man, I really screwed up this time…" He sighed as he sat back. "Aizawa's probably gonna ring my neck after this… Then again I could go now, maybe get a few minutes out of my Hero form? Yeah, that'll work." He said as he started buffing up, albeit with a bit of pain.
"Now hold your horses!" A kindly voice said as a white bipedal 3'4" tall mouse walked in, and he was wearing a business suit, he also had a scar on his right eye.
"Ah! Principal Nezu!" The mountain of muscle exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes! The one who might be a dog or a mouse or a bear, but really is important that I'm the principal!" Nezu chirped as he walked over to All Might.
"Your fur is looking very glossy and well groomed today, sir." All Might told him, as it was customary to pay a compliment to one's superiors while at work whenever possible. In Japan at least.
"Yes, I made sure to make it look this nice." The animal principal nodded. " And I see that you haven't changed much over the years." He noted.
"True, but neither have you sir." He replied.
"Yes, that may be true. Though I must say this, with your power now being diminished you cannot do as much Hero work as you used to." Nezu nodded. "Additionally, there is the issue of training One for All's successor, so I believe you'd do best to dedicate most of your time to your students anyway. After all, they deserve it."
"That they do." All Might nodded.
Nezu simply poured them a glass of warm green tea. "Now while we're on the topic, why don't we start by discussing your successor and how we can potentially help him in his development as a hero and a well rounded person over all, shall we?" He beckoned before noticing steam coming off his employee's form. "Oh, you're steaming, that's not good." The principal noted.
"... Shit." All Might muttered as he deflated again.
(Elsewhere)
On the bus with the students, they were in the middle of discussing all of their quirks, with Kirishima saying he wished he had a flashier quirk, but the Fox Sin saying he was just fine.
"You know I gotta admit Midoriya, don't you ever get tired of constantly coming back to life over and over again?" Kaminari asked.
"I did at first, but after a while I just kinda… stopped being tired of it and got used to it. Dunno how else to say it." He shrugged nonchalantly.
"Well since we're pointing out the obvious, there's something I wanted to say." Tsu said, while turning to Izuku. "About you actually."
"Oh yeah~? What's that, Asui?" He asked.
"I told you to call me Tsu." She corrected before continuing. "I couldn't help but notice how similar your quirk is to All Might's." The frog girl noted, causing Izuku to sweat bullets on the inside.
"No no no. Even if he can recover from it, his quirk still damages his body whenever he uses it. There's no way it's similar to All Might's." Kirishima told her, causing the immortal to silently let out a relieved sigh.
"Yeah but seriously, with a power like yours, you, Bakugo and Todoroki are gonna be great pros." Kaminari stated.
"Assuming they can get past Izuku's masochism fetish." King said, rolling his eyes, Chastiefol in its pillow form behind his head.
"Not my fault I love pain." Said boy shrugged.
"I don't really see Bakugo becoming very popular with his behavior, though." Tsu commented, drawing said boy's ire.
"What?! Say that again and I'll kick your ass!" He yelled at her.
"You see?" The frog girl asked while pointing at him.
"You know, I can actually see your point." Kaminari nodded, further triggering the blond exploder. "Besides we've basically only known him for a few days, so it's kinda telling that we know his personality is flaming crap mixed with garbage." He added.
"Keep talking and I'll make you regret choosing the hero course!" The pomeranian blonde exclaimed in indignation and anger.
'Holy crap, Kacchan is getting teased! I never thought I'd see the day!' Izuku laughed in his head.
"This is such a disgusting conversation." Momo said while covering her mouth.
(Later)
Once the students arrived at their destination they were met there by a figure dressed in an Astronaut outfit.
"Space hero Thirteen, as I live and breath!" Izuku exclaimed in delight with a smile as Uraraka walked next to him, a giant excited smile plastered on her face.
"Alright! Thirteen is my favorite hero!" She smiled happily.
"Hello everyone, I'm here to help train you to do rescues today. And to do that we'll be working in this building here." She told them, gesturing to the building. "I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. But you can call it, the USJ!" She added.
'Like Universal Studios Japan?' Everyone thought.
"Where's All Might? I thought he was supposed to be here." Aizawa questioned. "What? Did he decide to do an interview instead?" He asked.
"He accidentally used up all his power this morning. He's currently resting." Thirteen replied quietly.
"That man is the height of irresponsibility." Aizawa sighed in irritation. "Come kids, let's go."
As they entered the USJ, Thirteen faced them. "Before we begin, I have two things to say, or maybe three, no actually four, or five, or…" She started to ramble.
"Get on with it!" Aizawa snapped.
"Right!" She nodded. "As you all know, I have a very powerful quirk, it's called Black Hole." The space hero explained.
"Yeah, you've used it to save a lot of people." Izuku said while Ochako nodded giddily.
"Yes I have, but if I'm not careful, I could accidentally kill someone with it." She added. "It's the same with many of your quirks, you could kill someone with them if you make a wrong move."
"Yeah, that's true." King nodded as he lounged on his pillow. "My quirk definitely fits that description."
"So does mine." Izuku nodded. "I can snatch physical objects, even manifestations from quirks, so if I wanted to I could steal people's organs."
"That's… a little disturbing." Thirteen commented with a shiver.
"How do you think I feel?! I grew up with this guy!" Bakugo commented in agreement.
"OI!" The immortal exclaimed indignantly.
"Regardless, today we'll be teaching you how to use your powers to help rather than harm. After all, that's what being a hero is all about." The space hero told them, right before the lights and other electric powered devices started to fail.
"Huh?" Just about everyone in the class got out in confusion. Then a giant black and purple haze appeared and people started to walk out of it, the leader of which being Tomura Shigaraki.
"What in the name of-?" Izuku asked. "What's goin on?"
"Are we starting already?" Kirishima wondered.
"Get back!" Aizawa ordered, making them do so. "This is real, those are actual villains." He told them as he put on his goggles. Everyone else seemed worried, but Izuku just licked his elongated canines and cracked his knuckles.
"Perfect, this is just the time I need to test out a new special move." The Fox Sin grinned. "Kacchan knows about this one's prototype: Phantom Hunt. But the one I wanna try, affects up to thirty people at once!" He said as he ran past Aizawa before he could be stopped and leapt towards the villains with his arms outstretched and grasping. "Snatch Special Move! Zero Sign!" He yelled as he stole all of their perceptions.
Everything around him turned negative as he became invisible to the villains. Once this happened he then went to work and started knocking out villains left and right. Aizawa, while wanting to lecture him for this, decided to join in and began incapacitating villains as he erased their quirks.
"Whoa! How is he not getting seen by them?!" Mina gasped.
"He stole their perception, and now he's taking advantage of that." Bakugo said, watching the villains get beaten down.
"Sucks to be them, in that case." Sato commented. But as they were watching the mist villain suddenly appeared behind them, it was Kurogiri!
Izuku was in the middle of throttling a guy with an eyepatch and a crowbar, before he saw Kurogiri surrounding all his friends, and one of the Smoke villain's tendrils was wrapped around Uraraka. This caused him to growl angrily and without thinking, he moved his hands in opposite directions and snapped the neck of the villain he was throttling before he started running back towards them.
"I'll kill you!" He yelled at Kurogiri murderously.
"Not likely!" The villain said as he teleported everyone to different areas. Izuku didn't know what was happening until he found himself mid over water.
"Oh shit my costume's leather is gonna get sooooaked!" He yelled before he hit the water. Immediately, he began swimming for the surface with an irritated look on his face. Suddenly, he heard water moving and saw a shark headed villain swimming toward him.
"Nothing personal, kid! Just gotta kill All Might!" He yelled as he opened his mouth, ready to take a bite out of him… Only for a familiar frog girl to kick him. Izuku looked on in surprise.
'Tsu?' He thought, eyes wide.
"Hey, Midoriya!" She said as she grabbed him with her tongue and pulled him onto the boat, along with none other than King as well.
"Hey Izuku. You alright?" The floating boy questioned as he looked at the water.
"Urg, I'll live…" He sighed before his eyes shot open wide. "Wait, Ochako! I have to get back to her, she's in danger!" He said as he got up.
"We have bigger problems right now. Look!" Tsu said as she pointed at the water, seeing the dozens of aquatic villains swimming for their boat.
"Oh now that's just great." King groaned.
"Okay this just doesn't make any sense." The immortal said. "These guys probably did a lot of planning before they came here since the first thing they did was split us up, but why would they send you here Tsu?" He wondered.
"Maybe they don't know what our quirks are." King theorized.
"Hey, yeah! If they knew about my quirk, they would've sent me to that fire zone over there instead of here." Tsu said in realization as she looked at said zone.
"Then we can use that to our advantage." Izuku said as he sat down. "Speaking of which, let's talk quirks. Tsu, you go first." He prompted.
"Oh. Well, I can jump really high and far, stick to just about any surface, and stretch my tongue out to about twenty meters. I also have camouflage, can secrete a toxic mucus and cough up my stomach so I can clean it." She listed off, the two boys feeling weirded out about her cleaning her stomach. "Those last two won't be all that helpful in this situation, though. Ignore them." She added.
"Okay, King, you're next." Izuku nodded.
"My quirk allows me to control plantlife, and change and manipulate things at a molecular level. I can make small wounds even worse, benign growths into tumors, and even turn water into thin air if I want. It's how I can change my spear's shape." The boy explained. "I'm not entirely sure how I'd fit in this situation though, at the moment."
Izuku then started thinking.
'Hm… King can manipulate and change things at the molecular level, while Tsu's quirk could help us make a quick getaway… Maybe… That's it!' He thought, coming up with a plan.
"King, think you can create a sticky substance that can last for a day even in water?" He asked.
"Maybe…" The Grizzly Sin nodded. "What are you planning exactly?"
"If I can cause a large enough distortion in the water, it'll cause all the villains to go toward it. That'll be when the solution comes in." He explained before turning to the girl of the trio. "Tsu, can I count on you to get me outta dodge? I'll be in the air as I do this." He questioned.
"Yep. That won't be a problem." The frog girl nodded. The boat suddenly shook after a villain hit it with his quirk before it started sinking.
"It's now or never, guys! Get ready, you two!" Izuku ordered before he jumped into the air. As he fell toward the water, he had to remember what he did in the quirk test. 'Just keep the image of your brain not exploding in the microwave at the front of your mind…!' He thought as he concentrated One for All into his finger like he was about to flick something. "SURPRISE, BITCHES! DELAWARE SMASH!" He yelled as he flicked the air, sending a powerful concussive blast into the water, displacing it and dragging surprised villains towards it.
"Here we go! Forest Sap Ball Tree!" King yelled as he pulled a few pieces of sappy tree bark from a bag he had on him and gathered all the sap into several small sticky, crystal orbs and sent them at the villains, causing them to get stuck to each other in a cluster as the water upchucked them into the air.
"Aaaaand it's good!" King said as he landed on his floating pillow, raising his arms as if he scored a field goal. Tsu chuckled a bit at his antics before she leapt into the air and used her tongue to grab Izuku mid-drop as Taida flew behind her, the trio leaving the Shipwreck Zone and several villains in a sticky situation behind.
Though as they did, with the other students, Euryale had Uraraka gripped close to her as her jaw unhinged, revealing a long snake-like tongue.
"You did a good job acting as my eyes, my little spy. But I'm afraid you've served your purpose, so there's no need to have you around anymore." The villainess hissed to her, while licking her cheek. "Any last words before I devour you?"
Ochako said nothing, opting to glare at the villainess behind her hatefully while wishing that Izuku would save her. 'Izuku, please hurry!' She thought.
Dragon Emperor0: Well at least now we know how Ochako was brought back… Still can't believe that Recovery Girl would have a person who reminds me of Melascula as a sidekick.
ThermalsniperN7: I want to believe that she likely didn't know, but I wouldn't hold my breath on it. Still… When Izuku sees what's about to happen to Ochako, hell's gonna break loose.
Dragon Emperor0: And you guys don't even wanna know what'll happen when she gets hurt by Nomu. RIP brain dude. Also guys, I'm curious. I had this idea where Taida would either be paired with Tsuyu or, he'd have an OC love interest who appears in the Provisional License Exam arc as a student of Shiketsu High who's based off of Diane. Let us know in the reviews what you think.
ThermalsniperN7: See you guys next time.