Chapter 5: Among Heroes and Secrets

The burns he got from the fire were nothing compared to the absolute scolding Izuku received from his mother when he woke up. Izuku was on a hospital bed, his body covered in bandages and an oxygen mask over his face. The doctor had told his mother that the smoke and heat caused some damage to his lungs, and needed to be cautious for the next few weeks while his lungs recovered. His burns were in the same situation, though thankfully they were not third degree burns and would heal swiftly if properly treated with the ointment the hospital provided for them. But for now the doctor wanted to keep Izuku overnight for observation just in case.

While Izuku laid on his bed, his mother watching the TV in the corner of the room, he could only think about what he had talked about with his duelists while he was unconscious. From talking to the four of them, they all agreed that the forces they fought before coming to Izuku were one in the same. It was the same in both scenarios, that a force of duelists claiming to be from the Shadow Realm itself caused mass panic in their respective worlds. One by one the Shadow Duelists would take down the strongest duelists, and each defeat fueled their power. By the end of it, it was the heroes of their worlds that went toe-to-toe with the Shadow Realm Duelists, and that's the last thing the four duelists remembered before coming to Izuku. With all this information, Izuku theorized a few things.

One. The worlds where Duel Monsters are a game and his own are connected.

Two. These Shadow Duelists would push and target the most powerful heroes of the world into dueling.

Three. One way or another, the heroes of that world somehow ended up with Izuku in his, where Duel Monsters was never heard of or invented.

And lastly, there was a threat looming to Izuku's world.

Even though his world did not have dueling or duel monsters, something made Jaden and the others come to him after their mysterious duels. And even though the four of them didn't think the Shadow Duelists would come to Izuku's world, the idea lingered in his mind more than anything else. The potential of a threat that could cause so much damage was not something he was happy to sit on, but it wouldn't be like anyone believed him if he told them anyway. Everyone still thought he was a crazy man with a weird quirk.

While Izuku laid in his bed deep in thought, a knocking came to his door. Inko got up to see who it was, and after a few hellos and other pleasantries Inko opened the door wide and three people Izuku didn't really remember walked in. The first one was a tall, muscular man who easily stood nearly seven feet tall with a short, military style haircut and a handlebar mustache. Besides him stood a girl that looked like Izuku's age. She had a long ponytail draping over her shoulders while she had a clean complexion. She wore a simple green t-shirt that hugged her chest rather snuggling and black jeans that clung to her. It made it a bit uncomfortable for Izuku, since he never was good with the fairer sex.

The third person did look familiar, and as he saw her he smiled. "You're the woman that needed help."

The woman, wearing a simple green dress with a brown belt around her waist, smiled as she moved the brown locks covering her face aside to look at Izuku. "And you're the young man that saved my youngest daughter from the fire. My name is Yuna Kendo. This is my husband Hoshi Kendo, and this is our oldest daughter Itsuka." The man named Hoshi smirked and nodded at Izuku, and Itsuka smiled before the three of them gave a bow to Izuku. "Thank you…for saving little Sara. If it wasn't for you the paramedics said she may not have made it."

Izuku was blushing red as the family bowed to him, his hands waving wildly while trying to think of what to say. He took a deep breath, smiling before trying to get out of bed to only feel the pain of his burns. "It's fine, really. I did what anyone would have done."

Hoshi, along with his family, stood up. "But not anyone did it. You did. While everyone else was panicking you rushed in and saved her. You didn't hesitate, and the people said you didn't use a quirk to do so. You, my boy, are a hero."

Yuna smiled, a hand in her husband's as she looked at Izuku. "Despite knowing you'd get hurt, you rushed in and put a complete stranger before yourself. You didn't need to, but you did."

Itsuka only smirked and gave Izuku a thumbs up, though as she looked at the boy she couldn't help but find him a bit cute. Even if he was covered in bandages. "Yeah, like what my mom and pops said, you acted like a real hero. I know some people will call you stupid for acting like that. But know to us, you're our hero."

Izuku's mind must have blown a fuse, and in his mind the four duelists could only chuckle. Well, all of them before Seto. After re-adjusting himself on the bed, the family of Kendo and Midoriya started talking for what seemed like hours. Itsuka and Izuku both found it funny they both aspired to be heroes, but it was Izuku who made the first step before her. They shared an interest in going to UA, and after some talk about studying and how Itsuka was having some struggles with a subject or two, they ended up sharing phone numbers. Inko and Yuna giggled softly as their children seemed to get along rather well, while Hoshi only rolled his eyes. Seems like -that- stage of being a teenager was happening. But before Izuku could talk more about UA, the infamous question was asked to him by Itsuka.

"So what is your Quirk anyways? The witnesses at the fire said that they didn't see you use anything or do anything special."

Izuku looked down to his hands, his thumbs rubbing against the fabric covering the burns on his hands. "My quirk…my quirk lets me hear voices in my head. They have names and personalities. There is Seto, Joey, Jaden, and Pharaoh. The voices give me the ability to summon monsters and use magic. Sort of like something you'd see in a video game."

His eyes kept to his hands, waiting for the typical response. But to his surprise, neither Itsuka or her parents ask for it. Instead Itsuka asked something he didn't expect. "So if that's the case, why didn't you summon a monster to save my sister?"

The look on the boy's face would have been a mix between awe struck and confused. Awe struck because this was the first time took his explanation of his quirk without question. Confused because he didn't understand why she didn't question it. "Well, they are rather large. If I summoned one of them and had them rush into the building, it may have done more damage than good."

"Then what about a spell? Same reason?"

Izuku nodded. "Basically, yeah. The only spells I have are rather destructive. One is a fireball and the other is a bolt of black magic. Either one wouldn't have been a help."

Itsuka nodded in understanding, smiling as she looked at Izuku. "Either way, I think it's a rather cool quirk! It's almost like something out of an RPG."

The conversation would last another hour. Itsuka asks all sorts of questions about his quirk. How many spells can he learn? How many monsters can he summon at once? Is there a limit to how big his deck could be? What exactly is a deck? And did he think his monsters could be their own heroes? The overwhelming amount of questions made Izuku's head spin, mostly because he himself hadn't thought about most of them. He explained to her that he had no idea how many spells he can learn, or how many monsters he can have at once. So far he had only managed to have two out at once. And for his deck, he barely understood it himself. His Quirk was still a mystery as much to him as it was to her. Though he would have loved to keep talking to her, it was getting late and visiting hours at the hospital were about to end. The Kendo family waved and said their goodbyes, promising to come back and visit them at their home instead of the hospital next time. This made both Inko and Izuku smile with excitement, they wouldn't remember the last time they had people over. Let alone people as kind as the Kendos.

Not even an hour later, after his mom went home for the night, he heard his phone vibrate. He reached for his cell, smiling as he saw the text.

~Itsuka~: "Hey, awake?"

~Izuku~: "Yeah, it's hard to sleep with burns on your body. xD"

~Itsuka~: "I can imagine :D Thank you again for saving my sister, Izuku. Sara can't stop talking about how a hero saved her."

~Izuku~: "I'm not a real hero though. But I am happy she is happy and safe."

~Itsuka~: "You really can't take a compliment, can you?"

~Izuku~: "Sorry! I'm not used to this is all. I'm glad I can be a hero for her."

~Itsuka~: "Yeah yeah ;P So, I was wondering if you'd like to meet up and study soon. When you're healed of course."

~Izuku~: "Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun! Though I should try to get some sleep."

~Itsuka~: "Oh yeah, totally! Goodnight Midoriya."

~Izuku~: "Goodnight, Kendo."

The smile across Izuku's face was making his cheeks hurt, but the pain didn't bother him. It was worth it, because not only was he texting with a girl, but he also finally found a friend. So when he closed his eyes to sleep, he was happy to talk with Jaden and the others. For the first time in a while, he was happy.

Detective Naomasa was truly confused on this one. After talking to Toshinori about the kid, he figured it would be as easy as delving into his background a bit and finding out any connections. But to his shock, it was anything but that.

Naomasa was currently sitting at his desk, lamp on while the others in his office were out and he was left to his own devices. Across his desk sat files scattered with various information. His investigation started off simple enough, and now after months of researching and delving into things he was only more confused then he started out as.

For starters, it was clear to him that Izuku Midoriya was not insane. He firmly believed that his quirk had voices in his head, there was no evidence to say otherwise. Through statements from his teachers and a few students, he gathered information on these voices. A teacher, Mr. Yamoto, was the biggest asset in this regard. He told Naomasa that there were three of them, and each had a name and personality. There was Seto Kaiba, the brash and rude one. Joey Wheeler, the funny and entertaining one. And then there was the Pharaoh, the third voice that was the calm and collected of the trio. Mr. Yamoto explained to Naomasa that none of these voices or their personalities ever bled into Izuku, it was clear to the teacher that it was always Izuku in his class and no one else. However, he did explain something that made Naomasa question Izuku's quirk more. The voices give Izuku unique powers.

After the talk with the school, learning that Izuku can summon monsters and use spell-like attacks, Naomasa's investigation led him into trying to see if there was anything tying these abilities to anyone else. The first two names, Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler, were quick leads into dead ends. However, the third voice gave him something more.

It took Naomasa nearly a month to get the papers translated into Japanese, but when it was done it was worth the while. The Pharaoh, as described by Izuku from Mr. Yamoto, was an egyptian pharaoh from another world. The description, however, was strikingly similar to a Pharaoh named Atem from thousands of years ago. Reading through the documents and what he could uncover of this Atem character, Naomasa was further into confusion. From his readings he read that the Pharaoh Atem was a practitioner of the dark arts in ancient Egypt, and though his life was short, was a beloved Pharaoh to the people. Atem was known for his calm and collected nature, again something similar to the Pharaoh in Izuku's mind. The similarities did not end there. Though it was read that the Pharaoh Atem never actually summoned creatures, there were tales of an unknown god in the Egyption faith that was his patron aiding him in many things. The god wore a black robe, and had a rod that was said to be able to send power dark magic out to cast out the foes of the Pharaoh. Again, similar to Izuku's spell he called Dark Magic Attack.

Naomasa sighed as he dropped his pen down as his head was throbbing. None of this made sense to the detective, the only physical connection to anything in this world to relate to Izuku's quirk was a potentially mythological pharaoh who had an equally potentially mythological god protecting him. Which only made less sense since Quirks only occurred roughly two hundred or so years ago. Sure there were quirks that took inspiration from ancient myths and legends. There was a hero that took the form of a Dragon after all. But this quirk, the fact that it was immensely different then any sentient quirk, power-up quirk…it was just different then any other quirk he had ever heard of.

After finishing his read through of the documents, Naomasa reached for his phone. Even though he didn't want to believe it, he thought his theory was correct.

~Naomasa~: "Toshi, I made some progress in the Midoriya investigation."

~Toshinori~: "That's great! What did you figure out? Is it him?"

~Naomasa~: "No, sadly I doubt it's his work. But…this kid's quirk is something completely different and honestly difficult to figure out. Following my canvas of his school, and research into the voices he hears, I found a connection to an ancient, maybe fictional, pharaoh from Egypt."

~Toshinori~: "A Pharaoh from Egypt? That is different, frankly impossible. Quirks have just recently awoken in this world, so the chances of it being tied to that Pharaoh are slim to none."

~Naomasa~: "On that we agree…Toshi, I learned that he wants to attend UA. I know you picked up a job there. It may be best that you keep an eye on him. He is a mystery and we need to make sure it doesn't stay that way."

After the last text Toshinori didn't respond, leaving Naomasa at his desk as he looked down at the photo of the Eye of Ra, the same eye that was stitched into Izuku's jacket and on the Pharaoh's forehead in the hieroglyph photo he received. Things were surrounded in mystery, and he was going to figure it out.

(Hello everyone, me again! Just stopping by to clear some things up that may be a bit confusing in this chapter and previous ones.)

(For starters, the connection between Izuku and the Duelists is something that will be discovered further into the story. I have had difficulty trying to think of how to tie these two things together, and the method I have is something I think will work well.)

(Jaden is the fourth duelist added to the thrones. I wanted to give several characters from the series a chance to aid Izuku in his quest to become the world's greatest hero, and wanted it to be from multiple franchises of the series instead of just one. There are still two more thrones left, and I am planning on adding a Duelists from Yu-gi-oh 5Ds and the sixth one being randomly picked.)

(Thank you all again for reading!)

-Vermillion Clover