"Next time we tell you to deafen us, Mute, you better do it!" A man in a blue dragon mask and black combat attire yelled while rubbing the sides of his head. "Nearly blew my fuckin' ear drums out." He complained, fixing the large duffle bag and his rifle over his shoulder.
The one called Mute, dressed like a Mime with matching black and white face paint, just shrugged. He made some vague gestures with his hands before the previous man pointed the barrel of his rifle at the mime's forehead. "Make another joke about that and I'll paint the walls with your blood."
"Now, now. Cease your childish squabbling until the end of the mission." A heavily accented, honeyed voice cut through the sounds of crackling fire and screams. "Combustion, I do believe you have more things to blow up to buy us more time to get what we're looking for, no?"
Mime and Combustion both turned to see the leader of the mission, a tall, muscular man with long, blond hair braided in a ponytail. He is dressed strangely given the occasion, Izuku notes. He's wearing a white, fluffy blouse with the top three buttons undone, red sash, loafers and the red and white leggings of a matador. On both sides of his flank, two other people dressed in non-descript black clothing and matching masks, also carrying heavy weaponry and a duffle bag. "I do believe that the mall is clearing out right now. Grab whatever cash and valuables you can, have fun with the hostages if you wish but don't waste my time. That big buffoon should be on his way."
Izuku watched with baited breathes as the men separated in small groups, keeping his hands on the back of Tetsutetsu's bleeding head to keep his cut from getting worse. They were pinned down between an overturned cafeteria table, a mountain of fire and rubble and about six or seven people, huddled around each other in one terrified circle.
"We're gonna die. We're gonna die." One man repeated over and over until someone slapped a hand over his mouth just in time to prevent them from being heard by an armed man who passed just a bit too closely to the table for Izuku's liking.
"Fuck." Ryoya swore. "Izuku, can you sense that?"
Izuku swallowed hard and nodded. The fact that they could both sense something wasn't uncommon, everyone had ki after all, but whatever they were sensing had an unusual amount of it. Which meant whoever this was, clearly possessed a power beyond that of a normal person.
"We need to get out of here." Izuku said with a determined look in his eyes, to which Ryoya nodded. His mind started to move at a mile a minute. He was very thankful that ki increased his mental capacity as well, since within seconds, he had done his best to mentally remember the layout of the mall they went through. The nearest exit would be at least three hundred meters away near the fountain, but surely, that would be covered. The main entrance was too far and moving this many people undetected was impossible. They were on the second floor, so maybe they could go down? The fall would surely hurt a lot, but would it be better that their current situation.
Unfortunately, before his mental ramblings could continue, he heard a light sobbing from somewhere beyond his view. It made him and everyone else freeze. Daring to peak out, Izuku almost wished he didn't see what he saw.
A little girl, crouching alone near the rubble with a scrape on her left knee and her little dress in tatters. Her bright pink hair was stain with blood and dirt near the tips and she tried uselessly to pull her stuffed bear plushie from under the slabs of concrete.
"Yo, Vega! What do we do with the kid?" Combustion yelled out and upon hearing the name, Ryoya's whole body tensed before a vicious scowl appeared on his face.
Izuku watched helplessly as the blond man returned and placed a hand on his chin. "Hmm, I guess we take her. More hostages means we're more likely to escape."
After hearing that, Izuku's body moved on it's own.
Like lightning, he jumped out from behind cover with his hands tucked on the right side of his hip. "HADOKEN!" A glowing, blue ball of energy manifested between his palms and shot forward faster than the villain could react.
"What that- oof!" Combustion barely got out before being hit by a heavy force to his abdomen. He doubled over in pain instantly and without hesitation, Izuku ran in and swooped the little girl up.
"Hmm, a ki user." Vega said curiously. He didn't seem surprised, merely interested. "And a Shotokan as well. Master will be interested to hear that there's more of you lot now." The blond made no attempt to move nor even really look at Izuku while speaking and suddenly, he leaned forward just a bit to dodge a blazing kick from Ryoya. "Now you. It's been a long, long time since I've last seen those eyes."
Things were steadily going from bad to worse, Momo notes. As more heroes gathered on the scene, things grew more tense. From what she could gather, this was a relatively old, but slightly unknown criminal organization lead by some S and SS ranked villains called Shadaloo. They were responsible for dealing biochemical drugs and arms all around Japan and eastern Asia. According to what she'd heard from having Setsuna "accidently overhear" a few police conversations, these people were monstrously dangerous and likely attacked the mall for funding and materials.
Having grown tired of waiting at the figurative edge of her seat for something to happen, Momo approached the nearest pro hero should could recognize.
"Kamui Woods sir, I'd like to help in the operation." She said as professionally as she could. "My Quirk is called Creation and it allows me to create any non-living thing so long as I remember it's atomic structure. I have memorized numerous items for first-aid, like sterile bandages, ointments, pills-."
"Okay," Kamui cut off. Honestly being approached by a thirteen year old girl at a time like this and being asked if she could help, Kamui almost instantly thought no. But before he could say that, she explained what she wanted to do and her frankly ridicules quirk. They were still trying to evacuate the mall, and the number of injured were piling up, so he'd be lying if he said she didn't have any use. "Just stay far away from the danger kid, you have my permission to use your quirk."
With that, Momo was off without another word, rolling up her sleeves and producing whatever she felt was needed. Itsuka was right next to her, having taken up a bit of first aid in her dojo, and Setsuna wanted to be a rescue hero anyway, so she had a bit more knowledge than the average person. They moved as well as they could for teenagers at a crime scene, but they were an honest help.
"Momo?" The girl heard. It was... her old Sensei Chun-Li? What was she doing here? The young beauty turned and got her answer.
Dressed in a slightly different police uniform with a black jacket on, Chun-Li approached the three before wrapping them up in a tight hug. "Oh thank god. When Ryu told me what mall you were at, I rushed here as fast as I could." She gestured over to where both Ryu and Ken were standing, both slightly beyond the police tape with their arms crossed and very grave expressions on.
Before anyone could ask how the two men got there, because she knew for a fact that their dojo was at least a half hour away and it hadn't been maybe six of seven minutes since the first bombs detonated, he phone buzzed.
"It's the guys!" Setsuna shouted.
Super Street Fightin' Friends
Shockingly-Green: 3D-Printer Dino-City Falcon-PUNCH Me and Ryoya not together anymore
Shockingly-Green: Need medical attention for a dozen or so people
Shockingly-Green: Leading group towards the south-east exit in five minutes
Shockingly-Green: Ryoya leading the main villains away towards the mall's fountain to buy time
Shockingly-Green: Send help to him quickly, there were a lot of them
Hot-Stuff: Change of plans, fountain has three gunners watching the doors DO NOT SEND ANYONE THERE
Hot-Stuff: En route to deal with them first will give an update when possible
Shhh is typing...
Once Chun-Li saw the messages, she called over the nearest group of heroes and officers and starting giving orders.
'What a terrible day,' Izuku thought to himself. He was currently ducking behind a slab of fallen concrete to avoid this man's quirk, so kind of fabric manipulation that made his sleeves long enough to grab a table and strong enough to dent metal. He needed to find an opening and find one fast. Ryoya already took a pretty mean kick to the ribs from that Vega guy before they were separated and was heading into even more danger. Surely, this could only end poorly.
Izuku felt a tugging on his pant leg and looked down to see the girl with bright hair looking at him with teary eyes. Then, against his nerves and fears, Izuku smiled. All Might always smiled to reassure people, and right now, this scared child needed to know everything was fine.
"Hey," He whispered while beaming. "It's going to be okay. Why? Because I am here."
The girl sniffled before shakily nodding.
"Stand back." He ordered as gently as he could before streaks of ghostly, inky black energy appeared around his body, lazily swirled around his body like a spiral. 'Remain calm, breathe. Remember that the secret to electricity is that it's to be channeled and directed.' He mentally told himself before getting into his fighting stance."Denjin Renki!" Green lightning appeared around his body and in a flash, Izuku was gone.
The fabric villain had no idea what was happening before a green, lightning charged teenage was suddenly stood before him, looking determined.
"Look who finally decided to show their face. A few fancy lights isn't gonna be enough to stop me, boy. My fabric is harder than steel!" The man boasted before his sleeves extended and stabbed in ground where Izuku just was. His eyes widened slightly as he looked around, trying to find his opponent. Unfortunately, he didn't look around quick enough.
"Hadoken!" He heard from behind him, and before he could fully turn around or harden his shirt to take the hit, he was struck by what felt like a really strong punch to the spine. The man swore, before stumbling forward, blindly stabbing his sleeves behind him in hopes of hitting the fucker, but turned to see Izuku was long gone. "Hadoken!" Another shout, another painful impact, this time to his right shoulder.
"Ah, to hell with this!" He screeched before reaching in his pocket and pulling out a slightly damaged syringe. He attempted to inject himself with whatever it was, but Izuku didn't give him a chance.
The greenette suddenly appeared before him and swatted the object away with a lightning covered hand before easily ducking the follow up punch he knew was coming. "Fucker!"
'Two light jabs to the gut, medium leg sweep to get his chin open for...'
As Izuku did what he thought, the second the man fell to one knee, Denjin Renki flared. "Shoryuken!" Electricity surged through the man's entire body on impact, causing him immense pain and his body to lock up before the actual flesh of Izuku's fist sent him reeling. He hit the ground in a thud and his body twitched slightly as small, green sparks emanated from the spots Izuku hit him.
"The path's clear! Let's go!"
Izuku's phone buzzed.
Super Street Fightin' Friends
Hot-Stuff: Gunners clear, send back up to main entrance immediately
Ryoya growled as he hid in an empty shop, nursing the wound on his side. Taking out the gunners was easy. He was pretty fast, having had his ass kicked up and down the dojo for hours as Ken literally beat the importance of speed into him. It was easy enough to run around between them and have the fools shoot at each other. All he needed to do was stay just slightly out of the way, he wasn't faster than a bullet after all.
Once two of the three were taken care of, Ryoya activated Heat Rush for a split second to get the drop on the third one amidst the confusion. One extremely powerful knee to the groin and elbow to the face later, and the man was down.
His wound came from the man currently stalking him like he was nothing more than prey.
"Come on out, Harushi." Vega taunted cheerfully. At some point, he brandished a long, claw weapon and attached it to his right fist. "What happened to all of that bravado earlier? Did it go away? Handsome fighters aren't supposed to lose, you know." The two faceless people on his flanks were still there, following along like dolls.
Ryoya glared at that before something dawned on him. 'He can't sense me?'
Deciding to test the waters, he ignited his hand. After seeing no visible indication from Vega, Ryoya started to think. Normally, this was Izuku's forte since he was better at thinking on his feet while Ryoya preferred more long-term planning. But he'd have to manage.
He activated Heat Rush and his fire flared around his feet and in two mighty strides, delivered a devastating kick to the side of one of the faceless villain's head. The other was on him in an instant, throwing a punch with malicious intent. But it was much too slow and far too telegraphed. Ryoya side stepped the blow before punching the villain's extending elbow, causing the arm to bend at an awkward angle with a blood-curdling snap. Continuing on, Ryoya grabbed the dislocated limb by the wrist and yanked, pulling the villain forward and right into a swift, blazing kick to the temple.
"Still as brutal as ever, aren't you boy?" Vega said amicably. "No wonder the General has such an interest in you. And here I thought he only liked ugly people, but I am pleasantly surprised."
Ryoya scowled before jumping in with a leaping kick that Vega easily avoided. Three more heavy, flaming kicks, all easily avoided before Vega swiped once with that long claw of his and forced Ryoya back. "Where is Bison?" the golden eyed boy asked with so much venom in his voice, it gave Vega a pause.
Not wanting to show his hand too fast, Vega just smiled behind the mask and shrugged. "I dunno." He said innocently. "Why? What business do you have with him?"
"I'm going to fucking kill him."
It was then that Vega noticed something. He could barely sense ki, despite being trained to harness it. This was due to him having a quirk that unfortunately conflicted with it, but he couldn't complain. The ki he sensed before from the boy was warm. And if he recalled correctly, being lukewarm or warm in general was considered good. But now? His ki plummeted. It was so cold that, despite the fire burning around Ryoya's soles and hands, he could practically see his breath with each exhale.
"Strong words, no?" Vega said again, this time taunting but keeping his guard up. If what was happening was actually what he thought, then he'd need to be ready for any sudden movements. "I expected no less from a user of the Satsui No Hado."
Ryoya's ki blazed. His left eye changed to blood red and the wispy, inky energy changed from black in it's pure state, to orange, the state of Ryoya's affinity, to a deep, sinister purple. "Gohadoken."
"Fuck!" Ryu suddenly yelled, startling the people nearby. "Out of the way, now! I need to get in there!" He started roughly moving people out of the way, completely bulldozing anyone unfortunate enough to get in the man's way.
Ken was having marginally better luck, just opting to immediately activate his own Heat Rush and just leaping over the crowd. The police and nearby heroes tried to stop him but he avoided them all with grace and ease of a seasoned warrior. Most people were stunned by that, and were equally stunned when Ryu activated Denji Renki and blurred on his way to the door.
"Wait!" Wash yelled, "You can't just go in there! It's dangerous!" He moved to stop them with his bubbles, but a hand on his shoulder prevented it.
"No, stop! You don't understand!" Chun-Li cried. "The situation just got ten times worse and those two are the only two who can stop it!"
"What? How?! Who can two unarmed civilians possibly make this situation any better?" Wash countered immediately.
Chun-Li mentally swore. There was no way to give the hero an actual rundown of the situation in such a short timeframe. She'd have to think of something on the fly to buy time.
"HAVE NO FEAR..."
Well, shit. Chun-Li had no idea whether to count this as a blessing or a curse.
"...FOR I AM HERE!"
All Might arrived to the scene.
He didn't stop for more than a few moments before running head first in. Hopefully Ryu and Ken got to Ryoya first, but she highly doubted it.
Vega would mentally admit that maybe, just maybe, he miscalculated somewhere. This Ryoya boy was an alright fighter. Great for his age, but for someone like Vega, he was little more than a very light work out. But after activating the Satsui No Hado, everything got all the more difficult. All of his fire changed from orange to a violent, chaotic violet with red sparks and he attacked with the intent to kill. Vega found this out the hard way when he misjudged just how big of a boost the form gave, and he narrowly avoided a strike to the temple that completely shattered the wall behind him by tilting his head ever so slightly. Ryoya immediately followed up with an elbow to the man's exposed neck that made his eyes roll back.
He swiped his claw at him again, swearing when Ryoya simply back flipped out of the way and fired another Gohadoken at him. It flew fast and deadly, completely destroying the floor where he'd been seconds agony and leaving a deep scorch mark.
"Seems like you've decided to show your true colors after all." Ever the performer, Vega didn't allow the very slight fatigue he was feeling to show.
"Enough talk." Ryoya's voice boomed, growing so deep that it resonated through the building. "Where is Bison? I will not ask again."
Vega hid his flitch well. "I really can't help you there." He said casually. "He could be here, there or anywhere."
Ryoya's gaze hardened. "Very well. I offered you a chance and you denied. I am not to blame for what happens next." He leaned forward. 'Rasetsu Kyaku.'
Vega could only watch on in shock at Ryoya simply appeared in front of him. 'I didn't even see him move!' Reflexes from a time long since passed blocked the incoming kick but not the follow up jab. He blocked the low cross, but not the high knee. He raised his guard to block to roundhouse, but paused when Ryoya leaned forward again before vanishing.
"Gohadoken." Vega shivered when he heard that scary voice behind him. He couldn't turn in time to block, and braced himself for a world of pain.
Pain that never came.
The villain blinked and suddenly he was across the room. "W-what?"
"HAVE NO FEAR CITIZEN, I AM HERE!" All Might exclaimed, his mighty presence as the Symbol of Peace seeming to force the world to stand still.
"This has nothing to do with you, All Might." Ryoya spat.
"ON THE CONTRARY, VILLAIN! THIS HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH ME!" It broke Toshinori's heart to see such a young man in such a situation, but he was running low on time and couldn't speak as freely as he wished.
Ryoya paused. "I'm not the villain here. He is." He gestured to Vega who was subtly trying to sneak away.
"IS THAT SO? IS THAT WHY YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS AND GIVING OFF SUCH A MENACING AURA?!" All Might asked with a raised brow.
Ryoya scowled at that and for a split second, his eye returned to normal. He stumbled forward but caught himself. "Stand aside, All Might." Ryoya commanded. "I have no wish to do battle with you."
"THEN SURRENDER PEACEFULLY!" The hero offered. He truthfully had no interest in doing harm to a child in any capacity, especially one that didn't seem to be in his right mind. But he had a duty to protect the innocent and maintain the peace.
"I cannot do that without getting information from that man." Ryoya said, leaning forward.
"VERY WELL! TEXAS -"
"WAIT!" Ryu shouted, while running directly between the two. "ALL MIGHT! RYOYA! STOP!"
The Symbol of Peace paused and much to his surprise, the boy did as well.
All Might watched at this random man in a torn up Gi simply ran towards the child with a glowing hand before punching him directly in the gut. A surge of purple energy so malicious and dark left the boy's body in torrents, cracking the floor and nearby windows before the child fell face first into the man's arms.
Izuku, thankfully, led the rest of the group away without issue and when they got outside, they were greeted by police, heroes and medical personnel. Momo, Setsuna and Itsuka were on him in an instant, patting him down and checking him for injuries. But his mind was elsewhere. That sudden surge of killing intent was unlike anything he'd ever faced in his life. It felt like an ocean of chilling water was dunked over his head and the pressure was enough to make it a bit harder to breathe.
"Where's Ryoya?" He asked, and inwardly panicked when all three of them froze.
"W-we thought he was coming out with you." Setsuna shuddered out.
Izuku just shook his head no before turning to the entrance and feeling his breathing hitch. There he was, the legendary Symbol of Peace, standing near the entrance in all of his glory. He was wearing one of his Silver Age costumes with his iconic smile. Izuku was so star struck that he momentarily forgot what it was he was supposed to be doing. But seconds later, All Might looked over to him before nodding and walking over.
"HELLO, YOUNG MAN. I HEARD YOU'RE ONE OF THE BRAVE YOUNG MEN TODAY WHO HELPED SAVE THESE PEOPLE FROM TRADEGY!" He boomed while striking a pose and Izuku nearly fainted. "YOU WERE TRULY A HERO TODAY. TELL ME, YOUNG MAN, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"
After six straight seconds of trying to compose himself, Izuku bowed at a perfect ninety degrees. "Thank you, All Might, sir! M-my name is Izuku Midoriya, sir!"
All Might gave a hearty laugh to the fanboy. "TELL ME, YOUNG MIDORIYA, DO YOU WISH TO BE A HERO?"
"More than anything, sir!"
"WELL, I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOUR NAME IN A FEW YEARS. ALL MIGHT, AWAY!" And with that, the Symbol of Peace leapt away so fast that he left an afterimage.
Izuku was floored, but figuratively and literally, both due to excitement and exhaustion. Him, Setsuna, Itsuka and Momo were so taken aback by All Might's presence that they didn't even notice when Ryu and Ken snuck away from the building carrying Ryoya's unconscious body, assisted by Chun-Li. Nor did they notice their grave expressions.
By the time Momo's mind caught up to the situation, the trio and Ryoya were long gone.
A/N: Well, that was fun. Something's up with Ryoya. What was his connection to Vega? Why does he want to kill Bison? How can he access the Satsui No Hado? Questions for later. As for the ending scene, I wanted to show that Midoriya retained his hero worship from canon. And in this, it's still to the point where it's a fault of his character. All Might is just so... All Might, that people can't help but be in awe of him.
Next chapter is where we finally start canon! Whoo. Only took 20k words to get there. What'll happen to Izuku and Co. next time?
Also, a bit off topic but someone said something about Ryoya needing a ship that contrasts with his awkward personality and the person recommended Tooru. I'm interested to see who you guys think would be a good match for the boy as the story progresses. You can pick just about anyone so long as it's reasonable. Want a de-aged Fuyumi? De-aged Lady Nagant? Someone from 1A? 1B? Melissa? It's really up to you guys there.
iron-slayer-dragon: Thanks for the review.
RT642002: Thank you for the compliment. No, Izuku nor Ryoya will be getting OFA in this story. Most people bring up good points as to why he doesn't need it and I agree. As for the rivalry between the two of them, neither will ever be clear of each other. There will be moments where Izuku is stronger, moments where Ryoya is stronger, and moments where they're equal. Also, I really like SF too, and am trying to stick pretty closely to what I remember from canon. Since you're a fan too, I'll give you a hint to look forward to, both Izuku and Ryoya's skill sets are based on SF5, with two of Ryoya's techniques coming from SNK.
Ryuujin96: Thanks for the review. Yeah, I felt a time skip was needed at this point. I wanted to further show their training, but it would mess up the pacing, so I just showed the more important bits. And he most assuredly isn't a beginner anymore. You were correct in saying that he only said that about learning Mind's Eye.
solbandgus: You know what, I agree. Ryoya could use a ship that contrasts his personality. Maybe I'll let the readers pick who it should be.