Izuku Midoriya sat in class with his fellow students, trying to ignore the mumbles of his classmates talking about him for being Quirkless, or the glares of his once-best friend, Katsuki Bakugo, or "Kacchan" as he still endearingly called him, despite how much crap the ash blonde gave him. Then, their teacher walked into class. "Hello, students. Before class starts, I'd like to welcome a new exchange student to our class. Please give a warm welcome to Daruka Wyveria." He introduced as a girl with reptilian features, mainly a giant lizard-like tail, walked into class, surprising a few students.
"Daruka? Isn't that a demon's name?" A student asked. [1]
"That must be the mom getting payback for nine months of hell." Another student said.
The teacher cleared his throat and looked to the girl. "So, would you like to say a few words to the class?" He asked.
"Yeah, sure..." She said, turning to the students all looking at her apprehensively. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but think of how her old self would be looking at this crowd and seeing a free buffet. "Cool to be here and stuff. Nice to see all of you... Yeah." She spoke.
"Alright, then. Go ahead and take a seat right over there next to Midoriya." He explained, pointing to the green-haired boy.
"Alright. Thanks." She said, making her way to the back row and sitting just to the right of the boy in question. He looked at her in awe, something she took notice of. "How goes it?" She asked.
"O-oh! Hello. Nice to meet you, Daruka! My mother and I were the family that agreed to foster you while you were here. I guess that means we'll be seeing a lot of each other. I hope we can become good friends." Izuku explained. Also, inwardly, he was patting himself on the back for finally talking to a girl.
"It would be weird if we weren't, considering you're letting me stay in your home." Daruka said.
Then, the teacher suddenly became serious. "So... as 3rd year students, it's time to start thinking seriously about your futures and what you want to do with your lives." He told them as Izuku appeared to be taking notes.
The teacher then snatched up some papers in front of him. "I could hand out some career aptitude tests, but... why bother?" He asked, spinning and throwing them into the air, suddenly becoming happy and easy-going. "I know you all want to go to the hero track!" He said as the students cheered and began showing off their Quirks, minus Midoriya, Daruka and Bakugo, although Midoriya did quietly raise his hand slightly. "Yes, yes, you've all got some very impressive Quirks, but no power usage in school! Get a hold of yourselves!" He instructed.
After doing a double take at the teachers rather quick heel-turn and behavior that she was sure Ichika would've called unprofessional at best, Daruka looked around at the so-called "impressive" quirks of the students around her: a boy with extending fingers, another boy whose face inflates like a Paolumu, a kid who could stretch his- what the hell!? This kid was pulling his eyeballs out of his sockets! Shaking her head and continuing to look around, she saw MAYBE five Quirks that could be useful: a girl making fire from her hands, a kid turning his hand to stone, another dude with massive and sharp teeth that could give hers a run for her money, a guy who could make spikes on his hand and another boy who could control wind like a Kushala Daora, but was infinitely less impressive without the metal skin. All in all, she wasn't impressed.
Then, a rather cocky voice rang out. "Hey, teach. Don't lump me in with these losers. I'm the real deal, but these guys will be lucky to end up as sidekicks to some busted D-Lister." Said an ash blonde boy not showing off his quirk, one seat ahead and to the left of Izuku, his feet on the desk, leaning back in his chair with his head hanging back, before he looked up at the teacher and laughed, his name appearing as Katsuki Bakugo as the screen froze on him with a green frame, the kanji appearing beside him.
Suffice to say, the other students were not too happy about this, looking more than ready to fight. "You think you're better than us, Katsuki!" One of them shouted.
"Let's go! I'll take you all on!" Bakugo yelled back with a wide grin.
(Tough talk. But he'd better be able to back it up, later.) Daruka said. It seemed another trait she retained from being a Deviljho was the desire to assert herself as the dominant apex.
The teacher looked at his clipboard. "Huh. You've got impressive test results. Maybe you will get into U.A High." He spoke.
All the other students were shocked at this. "He's gonna try for the nationals?!" One girl shouted as Izuku dropped his head on his desk.
"That school has a .2% acceptance rate!" One boy said.
"That school's impossible to get into!" Another boy shouted.
"That's exactly why it's the only place worthy of me." Bakugo said, leaping up out of his chair, onto his desk. "I aced all the mock tests. I'm the only one from this school who stands a chance of getting in! I'll end up more popular than All Might himself! And be the richest hero of all time! People across the world will know my name! And it all starts with UA High!" He boasted.
(Oh, it's gonna be fun to knock him down a peg or twenty.) Daruka declared. Sure, she had always been proud of her apex-level status, but she never acted like she was better than everything around her. Maybe because she was too busy eating everything around her.
"Oh, yeah, Midoriya. Don't you wanna go to UA, too?" The teacher asked, ignoring Bakugo's rant, leaving the blonde frozen in place and drained of color as Midoriya himself flinched and curled up a bit. He looks up to see everyone staring at him, before bursting out in laughter, some of them strangely rocketing spit from their mouth.
"Midoriya?! You're kidding, right?!" One guy asked.
"There's no way you're getting into the hero course without a Quirk!" Another shouted.
The green-haired boy stood up at this. "Actually, they got rid of that rule. I could be the first one!" He explained.
All this laughter was quickly annoying her. And maybe Ichika had slipped some strange extra morals into her mind or something, but she also felt a hint of anger at them ganging up on a boy doing nothing wrong, especially one who would be taking her in. And in the back of her mind, she was remembering the hunters from her world she encountered. They never had any powers, just simple craftiness and ingenuity. But that alone was enough to allow them to take on beasts on her level and even beyond it in some cases. That deserved respect and was not to be underestimated. And she noticed this boy before her seemed to take a lot of notes, so she gathered he was likely quite smart, so he could have more to him than meets the eye.
But for now, the ceaseless laughter of these punks, most with powers that barely make them better than a normal human, was getting on her last nerve. So, she stood up and looked back at her massive tail, moving it around and swinging it in a few circles to gain some momentum aaaand...
CRASH! CRACK! CRUNCH! SMASH!
The laughter stopped as everyone looked in surprise to the new girl next to Midoriya, as she apparently brought that tree trunk of a tail of hers down on her own desk, absolutely obliterating in and sending it through the floor with such force, it destroyed the desk of the student in the classroom just below theirs, along with the floor, sending the sandwich of destroyed desks and floor down and through the next level into the desk of the student three floors down, the students in the same position that she sat in and the ones adjacent to them looking up to see what just happened. Back to the classroom Daruka was in, the rest of the class looked at her in shock and fear. "Holy crap..." One of them said.
After a moment of silence, the former Brute Wyvern spoke up. "Shut up. You're all annoying. Besides, most of you aren't any better." She told them.
"Oh, great. We got another cocky one! You think you're better than us, too?!" One student complained.
She scoffed at this. "I know I am. But honestly, tell me what you think half of you could do as heroes? One of you just turned your face into wood. I'm sure that's incredibly helpful." She told him, her muscles beginning to swell somewhat as her anger was unknowingly activating her Dragon organ, releasing adrenaline and expanding her muscles. "And stretchy-eyes, what do you think you're gonna do? Throw your own eyes at the villains? What happens if they catch them and crush them? Now you're powerless and blind! And you, Dodo-face! What good is turning yourself into a balloon gonna do except make you a bigger target. Your Quirk makes you a punching bag. Very useful." She said, looking to the boy whose face balloons at the end. [2]
Everyone looked to the balloon boy in question and tilted their heads. "Dodo-face?" They questioned. Of course, when she called the boy "Dodo-face", she had been referring to Dodogama. However, since no one here knew about her world and therefore didn't know what a Dodogama was, they assumed she was referring to the flightless bird, leaving them all wondering what she was talking about.
Bakugo had been about to slam down on Midoriya's desk and tell him why it would be useless for him to attempt going to UA, but then the exchange student put on that display and put the "extras" in their place. (Whoa. She's not bad. And something tells me that isn't all she's got. Plus. that temper of hers may be as bad as the old hag's.) He thought, referring to his mother and thinking of how much she could rage.
She then continued with her rant. "Bottom line, from what I've seen, maybe five of you are worth a damn. The rest of you might as well be Quirkless. And what does it matter if he is Quirkless? I've known people that don't have quirks, only their wits and skills, but they take on things that would make each and every one of you shit bricks. At least he seems to be smart. He'd probably make a better hero than any of you that thinks just having a power makes you the greatest thing since steak." She told them all ominously. She then noticed Bakugo, who only noticed that, in his shock at her rant, he was out of his seat and in front of Deku's. "You want something?" She asked.
He shook out of his stupor at this. And, upon noticing a strange black vapor was coming from her mouth, accompanied by what looked like red electricity, he did the wise thing for once. "Tch. Whatever. I don't need to waste my time." He scoffed, sitting back down and class resumed, everyone completely ignoring the fact that Daruka no longer had a desk.
Meanwhile, Midoriya was in awe at this. A girl he'd just met was defending him. And she said he was better than people who actually had Quirks. She even thought he could be a hero! But did she only say it in the heat of the moment, or did she really mean it? He'd have to ask later, but for the first time in a long time, he felt hope that he could really achieve his dream.
Later in the afternoon, school had finally let out for the day and students began to leave. Daruka now simply stood beside Midoriya's desk, tapping her foot as she waited for the boy to pack up so they could go to his home, and she would finally have a place to rest after the craziness that today had been and continue her decision on whether she wanted to take a chance with this world or keep looking for a way back to her old one.
As he was packing up, Midoriya stopped to look at his phone. "Man, that fight from this morning is all over the news." He noted.
"What fight?" Daruka asked.
"Oh. A purse snatcher used his Quirk to avoid going to jail and caused a huge commotion, but he got put down by a new hero." He explained, letting her have his phone and go over the information herself.
Upon looking, she was once again surprised by this world, seeing people could reach the size of some larger monsters, her old self included. And then she found many people were putting significant emphasis on the hero woman's rear end. "Are people here obsessed with asses or something?" She questioned, while thinking in the back of her mind how those mounds of flesh probably would have fed her as a Deviljho for at least a couple hours. Each.
Deku simply laughed nervously at her question, before reaching to grab his notebook, but found it was grabbed before he could get it. Looking up, he saw in horror that Bakugo was carelessly waving it. "We're not done talking yet, Deku." The bully told him.
"Aah! Come on, Kacchan! That's information I've gathered on dozens of heroes since I was little! Give it back!" Midoriya pleaded.
Daruka watched the scene, seeing Midoriya's fear and desperation and flashed back to her life as a Deviljho, having seen similar looks from the monsters she preyed upon, desperate to get away and continue living their lives, only for her to brutally end them, tearing away and eating chunks of flesh while her victims were still alive. Now with her human mind, she felt pangs of guilt for those actions. But while she did those acts out of necessity to survive, this punk before her did it only to belittle or intimidate the boy before her. The boy who, once again, was going to ensure that she wasn't homeless. So, without any hesitation, she stepped forward. "Return the book, or I'll return your Bio-Energy to the Everstream." She warned the blonde boy.
The trio of tormentors looked at her in confusion, looking between each other. "Bio-Energy? Everstream?" The two back-up goons asked.
Bakugo was still uncertain, but soon gained his signature smirk, tossing the book onto the desk in front of Midoriya's. "I don't know what crazy you're talking, Lizard Bitch, but that sounds like a threat to me. I guess I'll have to show you why that's a mistake!" He snapped, creating a series of small explosions around his palms.
Daruka growled a bit. Explosives weren't her greatest weakness, but they were still an annoyance. Then she thought of something and smirked a bit. She then did a 180-degree spin, her massive tail swinging wide as she turned, and slammed into the three bullies, sending them into the wall at the front of the room, the three of them falling onto the ground with Bakugo on the bottom. She smiled at this, grabbing Midoriya's notebook and turning back to him. "So, Midoriya, where do you live, again?" She asked, returning his book to him.
The green-haired boy wisely decided not to ask any more questions and quickly led the monster/human hybrid out of the school.
Soon enough, the two of them were walking down the street en route to Midoriya's home, all the while the boy explained that he was one of the rare 20% of people that still did not possess a Quirk, a visit to the doctor confirming he had the extra toe joint indicative of those without Quirks while those with them had singular joints. "Wait, that's it? A stiff toe is the difference between being normal and farting explosions like that punk back at school?" Daruka asked incredulously. At least she had a highly specialized organ that let her release the cloud of death she does.
"K-Kacchan doesn't fart explosions." Midoriya said with a blush, before remembering what she said earlier. "Daruka... Is that true what you said back there? That where you come from, people fight unspeakable horrors even though they don't have Quirks?" She asked.
"Yep. I've seen quite a few colorful individuals back there, but not a single one of them could balloon their faces or stretch out their eyes. They're about as ordinary as you can get." She told him. (Other than swinging around giant screw-off swords, of course.) She mentally added.
"Where is this place? Do you think I could go there someday?" He asked, his mind racing with possibilities.
The former Brute Wyvern froze at this, struggling to come up with something. "Uh... I doubt it, kid. You've probably never heard of it before. Pretty isolated." She answered. "S-so, is your place much further? It's been a real day for me, and I'd love to just lay down and get a bite to eat, you know?" She asked. Ichika had advised her not to tell people that she was a monster from another dimension unless she wanted to be stuck in a padded cell for the rest of her life.
"Y-yeah." Midoriya agreed, following her, before one more question came into his mind and burned every fiber of his being before he finally decided to ask it. "So, if you know people that can do that, do you think I can be a hero, even without a Quirk?!" He all but screamed out, even lurching forward from the exertion her put himself through.
She looked back at him, seeing how deeply this question ate away at him and how his last threads of hope dangled by what her answer would be. But then, of course, like she had just told him, she'd seen other without powers do the impossible, so why couldn't he? "Sure. I don't see why not. As long as you got the right tools for the job. Get the right weapons, maybe a little armor and you'd be on your way." She said simply.
Midoriya couldn't believe it. Someone FINALLY validated his dream, gave him the hope he'd desperately clung to his whole life, told him what he needed to hear after so long. Without thinking, he rushed to the former monster and latched onto her tightly in a hug. "Thank you, Daruka! Thank you! You have no idea how badly I wanted to hear those words! Ever since I was four years old!" He sobbed.
To say that the reptilian girl was freaked out at this was an understatement. "Whoa! Hey! Easy! Okay, kid! I get it! It's no big deal! Ever heard of personal space!" She cried out, trying to peel the boy away, the two of them so caught up in this they failed to see the sludge rising up from the sewer opening until they heard a voice.
They were both shocked to see a writhing mass of a strange liquid taking on a close to human form, at least with arms and a head. "Aww... How sweet. Whatever you told the kid, he's on Cloud Nine. Well, sorry... but I'm gonna have to knock you back down again! One of you two is gonna be my skin suit. Probably you, girlie!" He cried, lunging at her.
Daruka gasped at this, reacting quickly. "Deku, look out!" She said, shoving him away, before the creature crashed down on her.
Midoriya was pushed back several feet, landing hard on his butt. When he looked up, he was horrified to see Daruka almost surrounded by the creature's fluid-like body, her tail thrashing wildly as the monster was forcing its liquid body down her throat. "Don't worry, I'm just taking over your body. It will be easier for both of us if you don't fight back. It will only hurt for a minute." The monster told her.
Izuku was shocked at this. The girl who had finally told him his dreams were attainable no more than a minute ago was now being suffocated by this creature. Without thinking, he jumped up and rushed at her. "GET OFF OF HER!" He cried out, relentlessly clawing at the creature's body, but couldn't pull it away.
"My body's fluid, kid! You're wasting all our time!" The monster said, flinging him away with its arm. Daruka was shocked at this, before becoming very angry, her muscles swelling again. "Now be a good girl and just sit back and... and... Hey, what's going on here? What are you doing?! Why's it getting so hot?!" The creature questioned as he felt his temperature greatly rising to the point he was even starting to boil. In addition, he felt a tremendous wave of pressure coming from inside the girl's throat, forcing him out. Soon, all he could do was scream as consciousness left him while a cloud of black smoke and red lighting ejected him from the girl's body, leaving him as an unconscious puddle on the ground.
Midoriya was shocked, walking up, before looking to Daruka. "You did it. You got him out of you! Are you okay?! Was that your Quirk?!" He asked, his mind racing.
Daruka held up a hand as she panted a bit, catching her breath. "Slow down, dude! I'll be fine. And yeah, that was my Quirk. I'll tell you about it later for your little notebook. For now, we should figure out what to do with him." She said, pointing to the comatose criminal.
However, the answer to that problem would soon be answered as another massive form leapt out of the sewer entrance. "Have no fear, you are safe! Now that I am... here?" The figure began epically, before changing to confusion as a very buff man in dark green pants with a white T-Shirt stood before them, his head cocked to the side in confusion as he saw the quarry he was chasing reduced to a mere puddle before him, a green-haired boy and girl standing before it.
Midoriya, however, instantly recognized the figure, his eyes almost unable to process what they were seeing. "A... Aaah... ALL MIIIIIIIIGHT!" He cried out in excitement and amazement, his brain short-circuiting from all the craziness happening all at once and he passed out.
If the Number One hero wasn't confused before, he definitely was now. "Um... Is he okay? Did the villain do something to him?" All Might asked.
"Well, he did smack him away, but he's fine. He's just a big fan of yours." Daruka explained, getting out Midoriya's notebook along with a pen and handing it to him. "Maybe you could autograph this for him." She suggested.
All Might soon brightened up at this. "Of course! Anything for a devoted fan!" He said, writing down his signature in massive letters that took up two pages, allowing with a drawing of his signature glare, walking back over, and setting it next to the boy.
"I mean, that's a bit inconsiderate, isn't it? Did you really need two pages?" Daruka questioned.
"If he's as big of a fan as you make him out to be, I'm sure he won't mind. And it seems like there's quite a few pages left, so it should be fine." The hero said, before turning to the monster girl. "But if the villain only swatted him away, that means you were his main target. Are you alright, young miss?" All Might asked.
"Oh, yeah. I'll be fine. Clearly, he's the one worse for wear. He tried to stuff himself down my throat to take over my body, but I just blasted him back out... and maybe boiled him a bit in the process." She explained.
"Ahh, so you're a fire-breather, then?" All Might asked.
"Uh... Not exactly." She said, looking to the wall of the tunnel and unleashing another torrent of dragon energy, scorching most of the wall and even boring into it a bit.
"I see... Well, I can't condone the damage to the wall, but that's an impressive Quirk still the same. And something tells me that's not all you can do. You could likely be quite the hero, young miss- er..." All Might said, realizing he still didn't know her name yet.
"Daruka." She answered.
"Well, that's quite the interesting name as well." All Might said.
"Thanks. So, what to do with him, now?" She asked.
"Ahh, yes. It would be quite difficult to simply slap a pair of cuffs on him. We'll have to contain him in something. Luckily, I have the perfect thing right here!" All Might said, pulling out a couple liter bottles of Cola, handing one to Daruka. "Care for a drink? I'm certain it will wash the taste of the villain from your mouth. Plus, it'd be a shame to waste perfectly good Cola." He said.
"Thanks. I could use something in the tank. I haven't eaten for a while, so I guess I can fill up with this for now." She said, the two of them downing the bottles. Once that was done, the began the rather irritating task of getting the liquid beast into the now empty containers. Daruka was once again starting to swell her muscles and leak black smoke from her mouth as she attempted several different methods of trying to move liquid to bottle. "Come on... get in... get in the bottle! Get. In! GET IN! GET IN THE BOTTLE!" She screamed while even trying to use her tail to make a wave and force more liquid in the bottle. She was almost even considering taking mouthfuls of the villain and spitting him into the bottle.
"Now, now. The more you rush, the harder the job will get." All Might told her. Soon enough, they had the villain contained and All Might went back to Midoriya, quickly and repeatedly giving the boy's cheek light slaps to wake him up. "Hey! Wake up! Hey!" He called to the boy.
Daruka was dumbfounded at this, to say the least. (THIS is the Number One hero?) She thought.
Finally, the boy roused himself. "Thought we'd lost you there!" All Might said with a bit of a wave. Izuku was shocked once again to see his idle before him and scooted backwards fast enough to impress an Odogaron. "Well, it looks like you're moving around alright." He said, standing back up.
(Wow, all tact, aren't ya?) She questioned mentally, before helping Midoriya back up. "You good?" She asked.
"A-All Might, the greatest hero of our time is standing right in front of me! I've got to get an autograph!" He cried out, reaching for his book.
"Already did." She assured him as he found the book and opened it.
Izuku cried out in surprise and joy, before rapidly bowing, leaving the former Brute Wyvern in shock at how fast the boy could do so. "Thank you so much! This will be an heirloom! A family treasure passed down for generations to come!" The boy said, laughing a bit at the end as All Might gave a thumb's up.
"That's a bit much, isn't it?" Daruka asked.
"Well, I've got to get this guy to the police station so they can take care of him. Stay out of trouble, see ya around!" All Might told them turning and doing some squats in preparation for takeoff.
"Have a good one. Be careful out there." Daruka said with a bit of a wave, turning to leave.
"You're leaving already?!" Midoriya asked.
"Pro Heroes are always fighting time as well as enemies." All Might explained.
Izuku took a step forward at this. (He can't go yet. There're still so many questions I have to ask him. I know Daruka just told me I could be a hero, but All Might saying it would be on a whole other level. And maybe he even knows that place Daruka was talking about!) He thought.
"Now stand back! I'm taking off!" All Might warned them, before launching away right after, not even giving them any time to back up like he requested. "Thank you for your continued support!" He called back.
Daruka watched, rather impressed as the Pro hero launched himself sky high. "Whoa! He leaps away like a Rajang! Now that'd be a fight I'd like to see." She said as she watched the hero sail through the sky, before noticing something human-sized clinging to his leg. Thinking she knew what it was, she turned to the side to see Midoriya was no longer beside her. "Wha-? What the!?" She cried out, looking back and forth, realizing that, like she thought, Midoriya had clung to All Might's leg and was now flying through the sky alongside him. "Midoriya, what are you doing!? Get back here! I don't know where I'm going without you!" She called after him, starting to run after their retreating forms in the sky.
But then, she noticed another shape in the sky. It looked human, but it also had wings and a tail. And some strange crest on the head. A large crest shaped like a halberd that seemed to stretch apart with a lime-green membrane in between the pieces. The tail seemed to have a double set of pincers at the end of it like an earwig; but the most catching feature of this winged creature was the wings themselves. They were translucent with thin black patterns in them to separate them like intricate glass windows, resembling a glasswing butterfly. "It can't be... There's only one creature with wings, a tail and crest like that! That had to be an Astalos, but Astalos parts on a human body, just like me! That must mean there are others in this world like me. Maybe they know what happened. And how we get back!" She said, starting after this new form in the sky.
What was going on here?! Could this really be an Astalos trapped in this world in a similar situation as her? Or could it truly be a coincidence? In this world, anything could be possible. So, if this was another monster like her, that meant there were probably others as well. But how many others? What did they know? Did they know how they got here? And could there be a way back?
[1] Yeah, I looked up several demon-themed names, Daruka is a feminine demon from India.
[2] Please do not try to argue what development potential their quirks have if properly trained. Fun fact: I watched a YouTube video by 2Spooky where he analyzed the quirks of the class. He pretty much had the same thoughts I have.