Eiko wrapped her hands tightly around the pot as they walked through the forest. She still couldn't believe how easily Lied handed it to her. Probably still thought they were still sharing the points. Jokes on him. The moment things got difficult, she would ditch him and share the points with Izu and herself! All she needed to do now was come up with a believable excuse for her hero.
"Alright, we take a right, left, one circle, and half a star. That's the path we need to avoid students." He spoke to her as they walked on a trail. If there was one thing he was good for however, it was figuring out long range evasion.
"You got it, game boy." Eiko chucked cheekily. "Gotta get you a name if you're going to keep hanging out with Izu and the rest of us."
"Nah, save the famous stuff for yourselves. Once we get the points I'm in the clear … and maybe figure out what to do from there." He grumbled.
"Are you still on about Elizabetta?" She asked. "Dude, it's not that bad. I'm pretty reliable when it comes to reading miscommunication. I'm sure Elizabetta was just using a poor choice of words."
"Really? Do you think she might actually like me!?"
"Dude, she likes everyone." … Why did that seem to depress him more? "What I mean is that she thinks everyone in your class could date her. She's not picky."
"Oh … so I have to compete with the entire class … lovely." He spoke. Devi, this was going to be a thing.
"Look, I already have to deal with Izu, don't bring your own-" She was cut off by a hand raise.
"Someone's approaching. Two males, one buff, one short." She nodded, preparing her stun gun. "No, wait, one buff male and … static?" He seemed confused. "How is, okay and now there's a new sound, and it sounds just like-" He cut himself off, turning to a direction at a tree. "Elizabetta?" … Dude, it was a tree.
"Lied, I know you're in a weird place right now, but now's not the time to sort out your issues."
"Or you can sort out yours." She quickly aimed the stun gun at the air, but immediately dropped it upon seeing that cute face she's come to love.
"Oh, Izu, I'm so glad you're here. Did you get the seed?"
"Yeah, I gave it to Azz." He … what?
"Why, we're a team though, right?" She asked, concerned about this choice. Especially Azz, cause he was the one winning last she heard. "You want to win. You want to be the Demon King, right?"
"Of course I do, it's just that i'm going to do it with him, cause he means the world to me." There was a faint blush on his cheeks. What? "After all, he's the most dangerous person I know."
No. NO. NO! "Don't tell me you..and him...no! That's, that's just so wrong on so many levels!" She never felt like throwing up more than this moment now.
"What, did you think you were going to hang out with me this long?" He asked with a smirk. "After all, you're the most boring and safe person I know. I wouldn't be the guy I am if I didn't throw myself into situation after situation."
"No, that's, that's not why you saved me!" Eiko shouted. "You said you saw me in danger and that made your body move on its own! You're meant to be a hero!
"I know, but I've come to love danger, I wanted it for myself deep down." He blushed. "That's what it means for someone who doesn't care about their own life, it's just disposable thrills." Why, she trusted him so much and yet … "I'll be taking that." He snatched the pot from her hands.
"No, no! Why are you always like this!?" Eiko couldn't find it in herself to strike him in the back of the head, but she could still use her mouth. "Why do you always throw away your life!? Why are you always trying to get close to people you shouldn't!? People who aren't good for you! Azz, Barbatos, you even still call Bakago 'Kachan' when you talk about how much of a dick he is! Why can't you see there's genuinely good people who love you!?"
Why, why couldn't he see how much she loved him!? WHY!?
"It might be because I have no sense of self preservation." He shrugged. "It might be because I love strong people who have things I'll never have." He blushed, as she felt like throwing up.
"Or maybe you're just gullible." That last voice wasn't Izu, but she was too far gone, huddling in a bush as she heard footsteps leave.
"Eiko … Eiko … Eiko!" She woke up with a start. "Where's the pot?" Lied asked.
"Izu … Izu took it." She said,
"No, I saw Elizabetta take it!" What?
"No, but it felt so real! It...it was like living a nightmare." Her eyes widened. "Lied, what did Elizabetta say to you!?"
"That she loved the class, but didn't love me because I'm a short pathetic loser that uses my tails and games to hide the fact that I have no actual character traits besides self loathing and attention deficiency!" Oh wow, that hit deep.
"Sounds terrible, just like me." She groaned, trying to repress what she just went through. "I saw Izu and he told me he was dating Azz because of how dangerous he was and he had no care for his safety and thus kept himself in a cycle of abuse."
"Okay, clearly we have mental problems, so let's deal with them the misfit style."
"Is it any different from the Calamity Cult style, where you sit in a campfire as you talk about it?"
"It's the exact opposite! We bottle it in as we get shit done on whatever caused the outbreak of emotion in the first place!
"Funny, that was my second guess." Eiko cracked her knuckles, before feeling a slight rumbling from beneath the ground. "What's that?"
Lizy watched as the grappling hooks snapped. "Kid, this entire thing relies on imagination."
"Well clearly I'm in a very raw headspace right now." He replied bluntly. "I was going to climb, but my leg decided to screw me over today. Can you fly?"
"'Can I fly?' he says." She spoke to a clone she made for the sole gag of shaking its head in exasperation. "I can fly, I have wings, and I float. Can I carry you? Negatory. Especially after action cushioning your fall and fighting off that spider trying to murder the fuck out of you? You're shit out of luck kid."
"Thanks for that, figured there was a reason I didn't go splat." He chuckled before letting out a groan. "Well, it wouldn't be my life if I didn't have some hurdle to overcome. Lets see, I could probably create a new combo, but I don't have the time to run the formulas in my head, and again, my mind's acting extra fuzzy from whatever crap I was exposed to."
"Yeah, what exactly were you seeing?" Lizzy couldn't access the memories for once. "Whatever bloodline ability you were exposed to put some sort of lock on your brain for a minute."
"Pretty much the worst moments of my life combined with the worst what ifs of my life, mixed in with emotional speakers who really got in my skin. Halfway in I knew it was an illusion but I couldn't break out until … the spider was … I know you're weak but if you even scratched the spider I would have been out of there a lot sooner you know."
"Hey, I'm not super buff!" She flexed her muscles, which popped like a balloon. "I leave all the heavy lifting to you. You have muscle now, time to use it!" It was great seeing the kid alive, so she was comfortable resetting the mood between them.
"Said muscle is sprained, remember?"
"Then heal it."
"Sure, just point out one person we know that can heal." A beat of silence. "That's what I thought. My blood won't work on myself."
"Well what other options do we have!?"
"Nagayo!" Lizzy hid in Izuku-kun's hair upon hearing that voice, but suddenly she found herself excited to hear it for once.
"Narra, how did you get down here!?" Izuku-kun asked.
"Nagayo." She still couldn't see them, of course.
"Oh right, wings." Heh, back to being a cute dummy. "Well, I don't think you'll be able to pull me back up. I can't fly on my own normally, and I'd be too heavy for you to lift."
"Nagayo!" The little demon held out what looked like a blade of grass.
"Gripping weed, of course!" Izuku-kun sprung to his feet, doing his best to ignore the pain.
"Nagayo!" The little one poured some water onto the grass from a watering can they got from … somewhere. The thing went up and enveloped half of the rock pillar. "Nagayo."
"Great, we can just." Izuku-kun winched the moment he placed his foot on one of the vines. "No, my leg's too messed up to put any kind of pressure on it."
"Nagayo." The little guy pouted.
"Wait, I may have another idea." He cut himself along a rock, the same thought entering her head.
"Nagayo?"
"I may not have a bloodline, but that doesn't mean I don't have any magic of my own." That devilish smile adorning his face was starting to worry her.
"Izuku-kun, maybe you should reconsider how much this thing will-" The pot of grass began to shake violently. "... Grow." And their next moments were nothing but violent shrieking and trembles of terror.
"Alright, he just went after Eiko and Lied, by the fork."
"Roger. On route now, keep looking out for the next five minutes."
"Over." Jazz sighed, looking back at the monitors they were provided. Luckily the other Misfits didn't have any more encounters with Orobas, either still hunting or engaging in a war. Either way, most of his little brothers and sisters were safe.
That just left Izuku, the most danger prone bro of the class, and sadly, the latest of Orobas's victims if the information they gathered was right. Both disappeared around the same time, but Orobas showed back up an hour later, while the Danger-Junkie had yet to be seen again unlike his team.
"Damn it. Izuku, don't give up now." Jazz didn't have any doubt that the little maniac could win the whole festival; he hasn't failed in anything yet and he didn't expect to do so now. "Where the hell are you, you bundle of insanity?"
At the very least the other students had protection. Picero, Goemon, Gaako, Kerori, and Kamui have massive numbers. Elizabetta and Clara were on route to the later two. Asmodeus and Sabro … yeah, those monsters didn't need any help, he trusted Orobas to be sane enough to not piss them off unless they had insurance.
It didn't hit him until now that the honor student actually could be hurt. With how much he smiled when danger came along, he almost assumed the kid was invincible, or at least fine with the pain. Izuku proclaimed leadership of the class during the Wicked Phase and led them through finals.
And yet the smile he had on when he said he admired 'Kachan' once. That was the same smile he had whenever he complimented his brother. An unmistakable fact yet something they hated to the core.
Maybe it was time to put that 'big brother' title to good use once this was all over. Can't have any of his little sibs burning themselves out. The sudden rumbling was an ominous response to his little thought though.
On the screen … he saw … dear devi the man was a maniac.
"Jazz, what just happened?" He could hear his partner in semi-legal crime, Schneider, ask. He slowly reached up and pressed the com on his ear.
"Izuku just rode a tree from underground." He shakily answered with a nervous grin.
"... Yeah that checks out."
Izuku stood on top of the new mountain of a plant he made. "... How potent is this stuff?" He asked, looking at his own hand.
"Na-na-na-gay-oooooo-" Nafra was twirling in place, looking quite nasicated.
"Sorry Nafra, I didn't expect it to grow so big so fast." On the bright sighed, he had several new ideas on how to utilize plant magic now."Gotta say though, the view is nice."
"Nagayoooo." The little demon seemed to agree.
"Now how am I going to find Eiko and Lied from here? They probably got out of their puzzle a while ago." A flying black bat-like creature approached him. "A camera, that's perfect! Eiko! Lied! I have the seed!"
"YOU DAMNED BRAT! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?" Oh boy, he was going to get lectured by his mother later, wasn't he?"
"I, um, you see, I planted a tree, or vine, I guess." He stuttered out.
"WHAT DID I JUSt-whatever, just get back in the running. You're low on time." Oh shoot, Lied, Eiko! He needed to go now. "Don't hurt yourself anymore than you already have, you fool! Stop worrying your mother!" He didn't need a reminder.
Well he was high up enough. "Alright, let's hope I've gotten better at this." He gazed over the jungle. "Quartz Quartz." His suit formed, gems on his boot and forehead glowing. "Perfect Route." He activated one of his bloodline combos, before looking out at the horizon. "There's no better time to do it than now."
"What are you going on about!? Get moving!" Izuku ignored his sensei's words and stared at the camera.
"I'm going to win the Harvest Festival!" He shouted into it. "And I won't stop there! I'll climb the ranks! I'll make sure the name One For All is known all across the land! I'll be a hero that saves everyone!" Come on, Pit and My Area should work with this height. Territory information combined with narrowing … there they were! Now take a deep breath, and let it all out. "But most of all, I WILL BE…...THE DEMON KING!"
He took a jump, using the Tool Arm to function as a glider along with his bow wings, and soared.
The blade of grass grew in the peaceful valley, for that was all it knew. It had never experienced violence of combat, predators eating family, or fire that would burn it to ash. All it ever knew was peace and prosperity. That was the world from what this blade of grass.
"Charge! For the Glory of the Queen of Beasts!" The wolves howled, savagely showing off their jaws of death.
"Charge! For the Glory of the Lord of Stone!" Some demons shouted, in usion with stomps.
What was this? Why did they decide to shout now, and so similarly to?
"May your journey be blessed by the beasts in the stars." The birds tweeted high in the sky.
"May your journey be blessed by the demons of old." A chorus of female demons shouted loudly.
"To the warriors our faith of every life slain is saved."
"To the defenders our prayer move every second counts."
"Oh we march, we march, we march we march we march we march! For the glorious queen, we march, we march!"
"Oh we march, we march, we march we march we march we march! For the great lord, we march, we march!"
Where was the peace now, why was the ground rumbling?
"To you pesky demons spilling our blood, your blood shall be spilt today."
"To the pesky animals ruining the peace, your flesh shall be severed this sunrise."
They were planted as a means to unite the creatures of the forest together, to bring about bountiful fruits and harvest for all to enjoy. Where was the peace? Where was the harmony? Where was the promised rain in the forecast!? The blade of grass had a family to grow!
"Oh blessed forest grant us strength in this upcoming trial."
"Oh blessed lands grant us fortitude in thus upcoming raid."
"Oh we march, we march, we march we march we march we march! For the glorious queen, we march, we march!"
"Oh we march, we march, we march we march we march we march! For the great lord, we march, we march!"
Now the rumbling stopped, but only because the two sides met here, in the valley of peace. Why, why did they need to destroy the grass! Why couldn't they speak of peace!? Now it was just dreadful silence, the calm before the storm. "Charge." And with that, the peaceful days ended.