Ever since the day of the sludge villain attack he has been working diligently on coming up with ways to not only better his Quirk, but himself as well. Granted he wasn't some skinny toothpick, he did have muscle and was rather toned for his age but it wasn't enough for him. He needed to get stronger, he needed to prepare for the UA Entrance Exam. He didn't want to just get into the prestigious school, he wanted to excel at it.
And the first thought he had to improve himself was learning how to handle himself in combat. He knew that his LP was a precious source that he needed to use wisely, at least till he found a way to increase his max amount. So to combat this situation Izuku decided to learn swordplay and ironically enough he had two masters of it at his disposal.
Training with Celtic Guardian was something else. Since his monster wasn't able to talk, trying to understand what he was saying was a massive pain in Izuku's ass. The first two weeks of this training was utterly useless to the young man as it was pretty much a 'beat=the-crap-out-of-Izuku' fest. However, after two weeks of the constant one sided fighting Izuku slowly started to learn what his friend was trying to tell him. He learned the proper stances for a swordsman, though compared to Flames Swordsman he could tell there were likely different styles. Izuku deduced that Celtic Guardian's type of combat style was mostly based in a defensive stance, delivering sturdy blows with his sword to guard himself over pure offense.
Flame Swordsman's style was almost the polar opposite. To Izuku the monster's style was more for close combat. Despite how large the sword was, Flame Swordsman handled and maneuvered his weapon with speed and precision for powerful strikes to the target that did often leave himself open for counter attacks.
With these two styles in mind, Izuku created his own style combining the two. With the proper sword, which he has yet to get, he should be able to, in theory, protect himself based on Celtic's style while also being able to follow up with swift strikes from Flame's style. This application of the monsters actually shocked the three duelists within Izuku's Quirk, since they didn't think of him interacting with the creatures directly to learn how to defend himself. Yet again, this type of 'dueling' was still new to the three of them.
After two months of sparring with his monsters with a makeshift sword Izuku made from the scrap metal still lying about the beach he was cleaning, Izuku felt confident enough to go onto the next stage of his training plan.
Training with Dark Magician Girl was difficult in a good way. Since she was a Spellcaster class monster, she didn't use physical combat. Instead, she used her magic to attack her foes and defend herself. However Izuku, despite how hard he tried, could not learn what spells she was using due to the language barrier. But what Izuku did learn was that he could reduce the cost of his spells. After watching the magician cast several of the Hinotama spells at once, he noticed that the girl wasn't getting fatigued in the slightest. Seeing that made Izuku wonder that maybe monsters don't have a LP limit like himself, thus can spam their attacks without worry. As Dark Magician Girl finished her casting, she turned to Izuku to see his hand open towards the ocean, speaking the name of his spell before casting a fireball into the ocean. The spell was about the same in strength, but what did shock Izuku was that his LP only lost 250 instead of the normal 500. So Izuku summarized that when he has a Spellcaster type creature out into the battlefield to fight with him, his spell costs are reduced.
The training with Dark Magician girl only lasted one month, since he couldn't really learn a style of combat from her, but more of a boost in his potential in combat instead. As Izuku sat on the couch in his living room, books sprawled out all over the place from his studies, he muttered to himself. He was currently at a stand still with his training, his spells mastered to the best of his abilities. Seto and the others have yet to give him another spell, and they have been quiet lately. When he would lay down to sleep and try to enter the Duelists' Realm he would only wake up the next morning. It was as if his own Quirk was trying to keep him out.
Due to the lack of communication and effort to help him, Izuku was just lost on what to do.
With a heavy sigh he started to clean up his books, cleaning up the mess across the living room before putting on his jacket and leaving to go for a walk. Sometimes, when he felt this frustrated, he would just walk it off and nine times out of ten it would work. But right now, it was just annoying to him. He was working hard, harder than he had his entire life to improve himself and for that his friends abandoned him? It just didn't make sense. But yet again, Izuku is all familiar with that concept.
As he walked down the street, his eyes down to the pavement, he would be oblivious to what came next. A loud explosion rang out, the building no more than a few yards ahead of him now billowing flames. The people around them screamed, causing panic to slowly ensue as the building was ignited into flames. Izuku wasn't sure what was going on, but seeing the people running out of the apartment building only made his own panic settle in.
"Where are the heroes?" "What happened?!" "There was a gas line leak, it caught fire!"
The yelling and cries of the people around him enveloped around Izuku, his feet planted firmly to the ground as he had to hold himself from acting. He wanted to help them, he wanted to make sure everyone escaped, but he knew that doing so would be illegal. This wasn't like how the fight with the Sludge Villain went down, this isn't self defense.
As Izuku stood there, frozen in his own thoughts, one thing made him pop out of mind. A woman screaming.
"Please! Someone please, my daughter is still inside!"
Those words sparked the hero inside Izuku to act. Without a care to himself or his future he ran headlong into the fire.
"I'm just saying we need to get back to helping Izuku, it's been how long since we helped him out!"
"We can't just give him everything back and forth Wheeler, we agreed from the beginning that we'd only give him cards on his birthdays."
"Well we need to change that rule, if we don't keep giving him the proper cards he needs then he's going to fail!"
The Pharaoh only sighed as he was forced to listen to the two bicker from their thrones. He, however, was always watching through Izuku's eyes. Not once did he not wish to be of more use to his host, but sadly he could not act unless the three of them were in agreement on what to do. Perhaps another, albeit useless, drawback to the quirk. So when the Pharaoh saw Izuku run head first into the fire, it was safe to say he was about to end this petty argument.
"The two of you need to end this, quickly. Izuku is acting, this time moving into a burning building to save people."
Joey and Seto both looked to the Pharaoh, then to each other. "He needs to learn he has limits, I'm not going to give him anything and neither will you two. We made a deal."
The anger on Joey's face seemed to only grow more intense at that. "How bone-headed can you be, Kaiba! If we don't act then he is going to die!"
"Then that will be his own folly, not ours."
The arguing between the two did intensify while the Pharaoh only watched with worry in his heart. This was mad, none of the cards Izuku obtained will be able to help him here. The monsters would be too large for the building, his spells destructive and would only add fuel to the fire. But even with that knowledge in Izuku's mind, he ran head first in.
While the three of them began an intense, bitter argument with each other they would not see that something was happening. The furthest pillar to the right started to glow and atop formed a throne with someone new sitting on it. The individual wore a red coat with white collar around the neck. Beneath his coat he wore a simple black t-shirt and blue jeans, matched with red sneakers that had complimented his jacket. When the new duelist opened his eyes, he blinked and looked around.
"Where am I?"
Izuku was furious with himself as he ran through the building, not even a few minutes passed as he was running head-long into any door he could, or barging into the ones that were shut. He felt the burns on his skin, his shirt and trousers singed or still burning as he kept looking for the daughter the woman cried out for. He wouldn't give up, even if it meant he'd died trying to do what was right. He ran up the next flight of stairs, coughing horridly as he fell to one knee. The smoke was taking its toll, and he felt weak. He wanted to give up, his body begging for it, but when he saw a little girl no older than ten laying on the ground being crushed by debri, he pulled himself together.
He cried out in pain as he tried to lift the steaming plaster over the girl, flipping it off of her at the cost of his hands being badly burned. He knelt down, coughing more and more as he smiled down at her.
"Don't worry, it's going to be okay." His smile was wide, mimicking the famous All Might the best he could. The girl only nodded, too weak to speak as Izuku picked her up. He wasn't able to move quickly, his vision blurred from the smoke poisoning his lungs. He kept going, kept moving as he reached the ground floor and before he knew it he left the building to be greeted by a crowd of police, fireman, and the just now arriving heroes. Izuku, despite his weak strength, smiled as he sat the girl down on the ground before collapsing onto the ground.
The paramedics were quick to take the two, Izuku suffering greater burns than the girl. His upper torso was covered in first and second degree burns, his clothes barely covering his body as they were singed and burned. The paramedics took him into the ambulance, racing to take him to the hospital. While he laid there, unconscious and breathing ragged, Izuku was finally able to enter the Duelists' Realm again.
When Izuku arrived on the realm again, he noticed two big changes. The first one being the fact that the pillar to the right now had a throne on it and was different compared to the others.
Second, there was a kid near his age standing and talking with Seto, Joey and the Pharaoh.
When he approached the four he wasn't sure what to expect, but a smack to the back of his head was something he figured he'd receive. Joey looked down at him furious, his eyes glaring daggers at Izuku. "What were you thinking!"
For what seemed like an hour Izuku was being ripped a new one by the trio. Each word was like a dagger to Izuku as he hated feeling he disappointed them. However after they finished their lectures on being smart over stupid, the fourth and new duelist smiled and waked past the other three.
"Hey, so you must be Izuku Midoriya, yeah?" The duelist asked, offering his hand to Izuku. "My name is Jaden Yuki, and I guess i'm part of your Quirk thing now."
Izuku shook the boy's hand, blinking a few times before shaking his head. Another duelist? But what did he do to unlock him? As if answering his question Jaden poked Izuku on his forehead after taking his hand back. "You acted like a true hero. And ironically enough, my deck is based around heroes."
For another hour Izuku and Jaden talked, the two agreeing that what he did may have been stupid, but sometimes being a hero meant doing stupid things. The other three duelists only sat on their thrones, listening intently to the conversation. Similar to their situation, Jaden was fighting off in a duel to determine his world's fate. However, unlike their duel, Jaden was on his own. He explained to Izuku that by the time he opened his eyes after the final attack of his duel he awoke here, and just like the others, he has no idea if he won or lost the duel. And to Izuku, this started to make him wonder. Were all the duelists he would encounter ones that failed to protect their worlds, or were they destined to fail and come here? As he thought he looked to the two other empty thrones, the thought of a haunting one. Was his Quirk a death sentence to these people?
"Anyways," Jaden waved his hand. "I am pretty sure I nailed that duel, so don't worry about it. What we need to be worrying about is making you stronger to be the hero you want to be!"
"I know, but I'm at a stand still. I get my cards from the duelists here, and throughout this year I have gotten no more to practice and hone my skills with." Izuku looked to the trio on their thrones, both Pharaoh and Joey eyeing Seto. Yeah, that made sense to Izuku.
"Well, it's a good thing I am not bound to listen to their rules then!" This alarmed the trio.
"What do you mean? You don't have to be in agreement with us?" Seto asked, eyeing Jaden with an annoyed grin.
Jaden only shrugged. "Don't ask me why, but after how you guys described your connection to one another, I don't feel that. Maybe because I don't know you guys I don't have to listen." He turned back to Izuku, reaching into his deck pouch on his belt and smiling. He handed him three cards, all three monster cards. "These guys were my go to through thick and thin, they are Elemental Heros. And I have a feeling they will be useful to you."
"Elemental Heroes..?" Izuku looked down at the cards, and noticed they were hero themed monsters. This made Izuku chuckle, looking at their names before they would disappear to where they held Izuku's own deck. Elemental Hero Clayman, Elemental Hero Sparkman, and Elemental Hero Bubbleman. The three cards eventually dissolved into his deck, and from that he smiled at Jade. "Thank you. I'm glad to have another hero fan to talk to now."
Jaden scratched the back of his head as he looked to his throne. "So this is where I belong now, huh? Man, Cyrus would be freaking out if he was here."
"Cyrus?"
"Oh, he's my best friend back in my world. A little bit of a shy guy but a truly loyal friend to the end."
Izuku nodded, smiling as he looked around before sitting down on the ground. "Seems I'm stuck here for a while." He sighed as he could only think about the talking to he was going to get when he woke up to his mother.