Hey, y'all, sorry I've been gone and haven't updated at all. Life and laziness have taken hold of me. And the fact is that I'm writing this reaction fic of all things; after talking to the creator, I decided to make this reaction fic of Kingdom Hearts: Shattered Memories, which I've been given permission to do, and you can find here:
(delete the spaces)
Https / m . / s / 13670619 / 1 / Kingdom-Hearts-Shattered-Memories
Without further ado, let's get right into it.
To say Izuku Midoriya was confused was an understatement. "Whe-where am I?"
Surrounding him was pitch-black darkness all around him. Izuku was standing on a white platform. "What is this place?" Izuku then went to the edge of the platform. Looking down, there was no bottom in sight.2
Izuku eventually got back up on his feet and gripped his chin. "The last thing I remember is going back to my dorm and going to sleep after our performance, so am I dreaming right now?" Izuku mutters to himself
"This may be a dream, but it is also reality." A voice echoed all around Izuku.
This caught the freckled boy off guard as he almost fell over before quickly catching himself "h-hello, I-is anyone there?!" Izuku asked, a little caught off guard.
"I am here but also very far from here." The voice answered, seeming to want to be as vague as possible.
Izuku stopped talking to himself and continued, "Maybe I'm dreaming, and this voice is part of it?" he questioned himself, "Though I wonder why am I aware of my dream?"
"I may be a voice right now, but I am more than just a dream," the voice said without hesitation, in a mocked, hurtful tone.
"O-oh, sorry!?" Izuku said, not picking up on it, "B-but if you're not a part of my dream, then who are you?"
"Hehehe, don't worry about it~" The voice answered back with a cryptic tone. "Here, take a look at this!" It finished as a *click* ringed throughout the void.
Izuku watched as the floor beneath him changed, sparkles emanating and flying off it, giving the white floor color completely wiped over as what looked like a stained glass window with an assortment of greens and reds, but that wasn't what had caught him off guard.
"Is that me?!" Izuku looked to the ground to see his familiar mop of green hair that he would recognize anywhere but "Wa-wait, something is off?" Izuku decided to take one more look at the stained glass.
This version of him looked different; while the outfit on the image felt similar to his hero costume, there were noticeable differences, "A variation of my hero costume?" It was then that the most prominent thing stood out.
In his left hand was what looked like a giant car key that the stained glass version of him was holding like a sword. For some reason, there was also a keychain on the bottom of it.
"I… A giant car key? Why do I-" Izuku paused as a sudden jolt of pain struck him so hard his knees collided with the floor. "What is happening?!" He began to clutch his head and closed his eyes in pain.
In the darkness, a light had somehow begun to illuminate, and his view was starting to take focus.
"W-what is?!" Izuku thought to himself as a black mass began to take his sight. It was wriggling around before it took off from the ground to start flying.
As Izuku's view got into an entire focus, he realized this thing wasn't just one entity; it seemed to be multiple of these dark tiny humanoid creatures with bug-like antennas and bright yellow eyes seemingly climbing over one another. They were forming a flying mass surrounded by a core of what Izuku knew Tokoyami would describe as pure darkness.
At this moment, only one thought was going through his mind "What are those things?" Izuku thought, realizing, "Wait, why can't I speak?" But Izuku quickly was brought out of it as he saw them slither and float around through the air while only being able to watch.
But out of nowhere, the mass of creatures darted around. Izuku watched the creatures circle him and cried, "Wait a minute!" He was now feeling cornered and tried to back up and away.
"Why won't my body move!" Try as he might, Izuku's body wouldn't budge. No matter how he struggled, his arms, legs, or anything, the boy's body didn't bulge, "Come on! One For All!" But no matter if he called for it, One For All did not answer his call.
Before he could do anything, the mass of creatures darted around before beginning to charge right toward him.
"Crap crap crap, move!" Izuku practically felt like screaming at his body to move, but as he saw the black mass begin to obscure the light from his vision, he closed his eyes and braced himself, "Crap, here it comes!".
As the creatures got closer, a singular, almost familiar voice rang through with a shout.
"ZANTETSUKEN!"
As Izuku heard that, he opened his eyes only to see a singular slash cut through the mass of bug creatures coming towards him before a massive gust of wind sent them flying away. Just then, a blurry green figure of a person entered his vision.
As the wind dissipated, the figure stopped in front of the green-haired boy. When Izuku saw who, it shocked him, "That's me?!" He thought as he looked at the other version of himself.
Izuku sat there stunned and awestruck, unable to process what was in front of him. "Th-that's me! Bu-but I'm standing right here?!" Izuku examined the boy; it felt like he was looking through a mirror and seeing a completely different person. "What's going on?!"
The other Izuku was dressed in clothes utterly different from anything the boy had worn, especially the baggy pants with so many pockets. "Why are there so many zippers and bel-" he quickly shook those thoughts, "Nope, better things to question right now!".
As quickly as the other Izuku appeared in front of him, he vanished with a quick step and jumped towards the mass of creatures as it closed the gap with the other Izuku, and they clashed together.
After the clash, the other Izuku was sent flying back only to land on the mass of the creatures. He was planting his giant key down into the mass of creatures to stop himself. As he tore a hole open in the mass, causing the tiny creatures to hit the ground and disappear into a cloud of black smoke and then nothing.
The other Izuku got up and started running in the creature's direction to get closer to the head of the mass; they then clashed again. The other Izuku has pushed away, gaining distance and using it to dodge as the creatures lunged at him. He then jumped and slashed, destroying some of the creatures.
As Izuku watched the other him slash, dodge, and fight the creature, he didn't know why even though it seemed to be handled just fine "I have to help!" As he began to struggle, he thought, "I can't just let him fight these things alone! Come on! Move!" Then out of nowhere, it began to happen.
Suddenly Izuku began to feel himself slightly twitch before One For All surged through his body, the green lightning crackling around him, and he slowly regained control of his body as he took a step.
"I can move now-" He suddenly paused. "I can speak now? Why couldn't I-" The boy quickly shook those thoughts aside, "Never mind! I have to get in there fast!".
As Izuku looked towards his other self, he saw the other mop-headed boy jump up to meet the mass of creatures flying toward him, and he was about to swing down his weapon.
Izuku saw this and didn't hesitate to run in, "Alright, here I go!" As he charged OFA's lightning, "One For All! Full Cowling! Fifteen percent!" With those thoughts, he leaped to meet them in the middle while preparing a kick for the monsters.
All of a sudden, right before the clash, a light came to life and covered the whole area, "Wh-what-" Izuku didn't get to finish as it enveloped his vision entirely.
Izuku's next sight was once again a stained glass floor; the first sounds he heard were his ragged breaths.
"Hmm, interesting…" The voice was back, and Izuku was more confused than ever. "You weren't supposed to be able to move in that memory... I guess you're just full of surprises!" The voice said, questioning itself before quickly dismissing the question.
As Izuku caught his breath, he began to speak, "Me-memory?!" Izuku steadily got up. "What do you mean, memory? Who was that other me?! Is that your quirk?" The boy was so confused he couldn't make heads or tails of it.
"Hmmmmm? That's not exactly an easy question to answer?" The voice said before somehow Izuku could feel a mischievous grin appear on the disembodied voice's face, "Let's just say it's you, but it's not you-" It seemed to want to continue but then stopped before starting again, "Hehehe, well would you look at that?" The voice finished, feeling a bit smug.
Izuku couldn't understand it but felt eyes on him, or his hands specifically, so he quickly looked down at it,
"What do you me-" Izuku didn't finish, and he looked at his hand. "M-my hands are glowing?!" Izuku stared at his hand as a faint whitish-yellow glow enveloped it.
It wasn't for long, though. The glow disappeared a few seconds later, causing Izuku to keep staring at his hands even after, "What-what was that?" Izuku was so confused about this dream that he sent him so many directions that he wasn't sure what was going on anymore.
"Hmmm, it seems you can just barely hold the Light needed?" The voice said with a slight hint of concern, but the mischievous tone was not entirely gone, "Or maybe you just didn't realize it yet?"
"Wh-what?" Was all Izuku could muster.
The voice didn't answer at first, but Izuku could tell that the silence from this voice was more of a curse than anything. "Hehehe, I've decided!" Izuku could practically hear the cogs turning in the tone of voice.
"Oh no," Izuku felt dread building. He felt like he wasn't going to like where this was going.
As if the voice didn't scare Izuku enough, he became terrified when it replied, "Oh yes! It's time for you to see some more!" The voice gave a brief pause. "But maybe a little easier than the first time? I'm not cruel." It said, showing a hint of mercy, "I know just the thing, the theater!" The voice exclaimed, proud of its idea.
The voice was going too fast for the green-haired boy, "No-now ju-just hold on a minute!" Izuku sputtered, trying to slow down a bit for his sake.
It didn't stop the voice. "Nope, it's time to get this show on the road!" With those words, there was a *snap* of fingers.
Shortly after that snap, Izuku watched as the black emptiness quickly turned into a white void around him, then a light completely enveloped his vision.
Unfortunately, Izuku didn't have the time to think it over as he heard glass shatter underneath his feet. He felt the ground disappear. The boy tried quickly to use his hand and reach for something to grab onto, only to feel himself flip around as he felt his body seemingly float in the middle of the air.
Izuku's vision began to focus. He noticed the black void that was around him had completely turned white. Eventually, he used his floating to turn around and look all around, only to see the pure white void.
Until a voice rang out, "Up here!"
Izuku, recognizing the voice, turned around and saw a wispy black figure high above him.
Izuku couldn't fully make the figure out as they were too far and surrounded by mist, but two defining features were the seemingly heavy armor of the silhouette and the large round head.
After all this, Izuku had to know "W-who are yo-" until he was interrupted.
The figure quickly stopped him, "Doesn't matter, right now, just listen carefully!" It finished hurriedly.
"You're gonna wake any moment now, and the show will start soon!" The voice said as an outline. Izuku could swear the figure had a smile on its face, "But first, you need to meet the people of the theater, explore your new surroundings, and most importantly…." The voice stopped reaching his hand out. "Don't ever stop searching for the light you need! Izuku Midoriya!"
Izuku tried once to stop the figure "W-wait! What does all that mean?!"
But it was useless as everything faded away in an instant with a single…
*SNAP!*
Izuku felt groggy.
"Ugh."
Ok, so groggy was an understatement. Izuku's brain was still trying to find a reason to wake up.
As Izuku's body and mind adjusted to waking up, his eyes began to open only to see a blurry white and gray, "Am I still dreaming?" He asked himself while grabbing his head, still too groggy to properly think
As he waited for a minute, his head began to clear. As he finally blinked at the spots from his vision, Izuku realized something: "Why am I sitting on a chair?" He then took in his surroundings.
As Izuku looked around, he noticed the theater itself was primarily gray with the walls with various upside-down heart-like emblems with three points at the top, one to each side and one straight up, being an unstained white as well as functioning as the lights of the room.
The most colorful thing Izuku noticed about the room was his chair. Gray-colored hearts with white outlines were surrounded by green lightning bolts which traveled to the center of his chair's back, where a giant green heart was.
In front of him was a giant black screen with a spinning number 8 in the center and the words "we will begin momentarily" underneath it.
Outside of the mop-headed boy's view was a pitch-black, heart-shaped window, but if one were to stare long enough, they would swear you could see a figure move across it and out of view.
"A... theater? I must still be dreaming." Izuku put his arm down on the armrest. He felt comfortable like he could fall asleep at any second, but someone grabbed his hand and spoke.
"Good morning, Deku," The very familiar voice of a little horned girl sounded.
"Eh...good morning Er-" Izuku's eyes shot open. He turned to look to his side to see the white-haired girl looking at him and holding his hand "Eri!" He said in shock.
The girl jumped back a tiny bit, shocked at his outburst. This caused him to flinch a bit, "S-sorry, Eri, I'm just surprised you're here? How did you even get here?" He waved his hands in the air, indicating where they were.
The girl accepted the apology and gave him a slight nod, "I don't know either. I went to sleep in my bed, and all of a sudden, I woke up here." She began to look around the room in confusion before looking back to Izuku, "When I woke up, everyone else was asleep, so I waited. I didn't want to wake them up, and then you woke up." She began to look around again. "Do you know where we are?"
The boy rubbed the back of his neck. "U-um, I'm not sure either. At least this place doesn't look familiar. Bu-" He paused, taking in the information. "Wait, did you say others?"
Eri gave Izuku a nod, "Yeah, the other people you go to school with who put on that show." Eri pointed to his right as he turned to see Ochaco, Tenya, Shoto, and Katsuki all asleep in the chairs.
"Then the rest of those people and the skinny All Might guy along with Mr. Eraser and Mr. Nezu," Eri continued pointing behind them.
Izuku turned around to see the skinny form of All Might passed out in the chair. Nezu and Aizawa were up at the top row of seats along with the rest of the class. "W-what are they doing here?" Was all Izuku could get out.
Eri finished turning to her right, "And this lady who I've never met before." She said, looking at her with concern.
As Izuku turned around, shock overtook him as he gripped the seat "Mom!" Izuku quickly got up from his seat after seeing his mother and rushed over to her, wanting to check on the sleeping woman.
She seemed fine as her slow breathing and small snores were enough to tell Izuku. He let out a sigh of relief before taking a glance at his mother and then everyone in the theater before contemplating for a bit, "We don't know where we are. How did we even get here? And why is everyone asleep?".
He began planning his next move, but it was pretty obvious.
Izuku turned to Eri, who was staring at him. "Eri, we don't know where we are, so we need everyone's help." He gave a smile to her, as big as he could, trying not to worry the girl, "But we don't seem to be in danger, so can you go wake up Mr. Aizawa and the other heroes while I try to wake up the people down here?" He asked as calmly as possible.
She smiled slightly and nodded, "Yeah, I can do that. Give me one second." With that, Eri jumped off the chair and walked up the stairs. Izuku watched her back and the surroundings.
Giving another sigh of relief, Izuku thought, "Good, if anyone watching us were hostile, they would have attacked while my back was turned, so Eri is probably safe for now." With that, he looked at his mother.
He looked at his mother's sleeping form. Izuku decided that since she was here, he would wake her up first, grabbing her shoulder and giving her a gentle nudge.
The boy whispered, "Mom… mom, I need you to get up," He said while gently shaking her.
Izuku's mother tightened her eyes, and her face began to move and scrunch as Izuku removed his hand. She quickly opened her eyes slightly afterward and blinked when she noticed her son, "I-Izuku?" She asked, confused.
Izuku answered softly, "Yeah, mom; it's me… I need you to wake up now." He looked around before wincing a bit, "We're in a bit of a situation." The boy said while rubbing the back of his head.
While his mother was listening, she was still somewhat groggy and confused, "Izuku, what are you doing here?" She asked, rubbing her eyes, "You're supposed to be at the dorms. Why are you home?" She then had to squint her eyes, "And why is it so bright in here?" she tried putting her hand right above her eyes to block out the light. "Did I fall asleep on the couch again?"
Izuku was currently racking his brain for a way to explain this to his mother without freaking her out. "Ok, so mom… I'm gonna need you not to freak out when I say this." He whispered.
While the mother had a look of concern on her face, she also looked unconvinced as she spoke, "Izuku honey, every time you've told me not to worry or freak out, it ended up with your bones broken, you being taken hostage by a villain, or sneaking off to fight villains. So, sorry if your mother is concerned with when you start with that." Inko stressed with as much concern as she could with how out of it she was.
Izuku took a couple of seconds to process her statement, only to realize that he could not refute any of those claims. He just decided to continue, "S-so….um" Izuku began to twiddle his thumbs, "W-we're kinda not at h-home." Izuku quietly squeaked out.
Inko, still groggy, listened to this and started to wake up a bit more, "What do you mean we're not home?" She asked her son, giving him a confused look, "Where else can we be?" She asked as her fatigue faded by the second.
He looked at her, trying to be as calm as possible, "Again, I need you not to freak out, but…." He paused and looked away for a split second, "We might have been kidnapped." Izuku finished, deciding to give it to her straight but holding his hands out just in case she panicked.
The tiredness had entirely left Inko at this point, and she was wide awake, "What do you mean we've been kidnapped-?!" She started to yell before he quickly put a finger to his face and silenced her, then gently put his hand on her shoulder.
Izuku gave his mother a serious look as he spoke, "Mom, I know this is a lot to process, and it's terrifying."
He then looked around to ensure he wasn't being watched before turning back to his mother, "This is dangerous, but it seems whoever brought us here doesn't know we're awake." He quickly looked around, "And we need it to stay that way as long as possible, so I need you to do something for me." He then gave her a look. "Can you help me?".
Inko paused for a moment before nodding hesitantly in understanding, but the worry never left her face.
Izuku then nodded. "Ok, here's what you need to do." He then pointed behind her, causing Inko to look back.
She was about to freak out seeing the students seemingly knocked out until she saw him pointing farther up to see a little girl softly shaking Aizawa.
"That girl is Eri, and I told her to wake up ." Izuku then looked at his mom, "And I need you to go up there and stay with them while I stay down here and wake up everyone else. You'll be safer with them." He gave her a serious look.
Inko wanted to protest but seeing the look her son was giving her; she knew there was nothing she could say to change his mind. She sighed, "Just be careful, Izuku." She said, giving him pleading eyes.
Izuku's face softened, "Always."
Izuku had to stop sweating when his mother gave him a single deadpan glance before shaking it off.
"Alright, Izuku." As she said, this Izuku stepped back, letting her get up as she got started walking up the stairs.
As Izuku watched her get halfway up the stairs before he turned around and walked over to his other classmates. Just as he glanced to the side, he noticed something about the chairs.
While he noticed his chair and its color beforehand, now he saw his mother's and Eri's chairs and how they differed from his.
His mother's chair had darker green than his, and unlike the lightning bolts around him, it seemed to be images of items from his house. His All Might figure, kitchenware, and even a silhouette of his head had a dark green heart in the middle.
And Eri's, while having less stuff, was adorned with images of bright red clocks with yellow numbers that are warped around the seat with a bright red heart in the middle, strangely though the clocks had no hands on them.
Izuku began to notice all of his classmates had different colors and images on their seats though most of it was obscured by their bodies.
As Izuku looked forward, he thought to himself, "It's like someone specifically made each chair for each one of us." Izuku's thoughts began to wander, "This had to have taken quite a while to make." He looked at his classmate and then back to his chairs,
"No restraints either. This doesn't feel like the League of Villains style…. But they seem like the only type of people who could pull this off. Could it be someone that's gone under our radar? But it's improbable someone would be able to keep hidden from us for this long."
As the freckled boy finally stopped in front of his friend Iida he quickly stopped his thoughts, "Doesn't matter whoever it is, I still have to wake everyone up. We'll be safer with all of us as a group."
Izuku looked at his friend Tenya Iida. Even asleep while looking relaxed, he was upright and straight, not slumping in the slightest. It even felt he was somewhat awake, which threw Izuku off for a bit, "Always at attention. Huh, Iida?" Izuku asked his sleeping friend.
Izuku then grabbed Iida's shoulder and began to shake the boy, "Iida, wake up." he lightly whispered to his friend. The boy didn't seem to budge.
Izuku then shook him harder, grabbing both of his shoulders, "Iida, come on, you need to get up." he started to talk normally but to no avail.
The green-haired boy was at a loss for words. No matter how hard he shook the boy, he continued to be completely knocked out.
Izuku wracked his brain for answers, "He won't get up no matter how hard I shake him." He grabbed his hair, "What could I say that would wake him? What cou-" Izuku stopped his inner monologue as a thought crossed his mind, "There's no way that would work!" Izuku bashed his idea aside, but even then, he put it into action, getting a little closer, "there's no way this is going to wake him up."
As Izuku finally stopped inching closer and sighed, "Here goes nothing." He finally stopped and whispered, "Iida, people are sleeping in class."
With the final words leaving Izuku's mouth, Iida's eyes shot open instantly as a serious glare adorned his face causing Izuku to jump back in surprise "that worked!"
Iida stood up, a serious aura emanating from him, "Thank you, Midoriya, but I ask you to return to your seat so I may handle this accordingly!" The boy said, chopping his hands as he took his rigid stance.
As Tenya got up, Izuku could see his engines start revving, causing him to step back, "He's not gonna run, right?!" Izuku began to sweat a bit. He wanted to be as quiet as possible so as not to attract whoever brought them here, "W-wait, Iida, I don't think we really should-"
He was quickly cut off, "No need to worry, Midoriya!"
Iida started running back and forth as his engines revved, and he started to yell, "This is your class, president Tenya Iida! Class is about to start. Everyone wake up and pay attention!"
Izuku could only shake his head in exaggeration. as he watched Iida run, "I-Iida, you need to!-"
It was too late, however, as that awakened Katsuki Bakugou, and he was not happy. Katsuki let out a string of curses and caused a few explosions.
"Fuck you four-eyes! You woke me up!"
"Language, Bakugou!" Iida berated him, not stopping his run.
The noise was enough to wake everyone in the theater. Some of them were whining and grumbling about being rudely woken up.
"Does Bakugou need to be so loud this early in the morning?"
"Yeah, I was having a good dream."
"I'm so tired."
"Wonder what got him on the wrong side of the bed."
"Let me sleep, damn it!"
Iida stopped running, his engines sputtering before going silent. He made sharp hand-chopping motions as he grabbed their attention. All of the class turned to look at their class president, "Everyone! Get up! It is a disgrace for us to be asleep during class!"
"Um…Iida…" Muttered Izuku, walking up to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Y-you were kind of asleep as well."
Tenya's mood dropped instantly. "I-I was w-what?!" Aghast, he stood there for a few seconds before slumping in utter shame. "I-I have failed as a class president!" He went silent and slumped down into the chair he was previously asleep on.
"Also…" Izuku's voice started to go quieter. "W-we ar-aren't i-in class….I just…..said that to wake you up."
Tenya's depressed form, in an instant, went back into attention, "What did you say, Midoriya?"
Izuku felt sweat building up as everyone's attention shifted to him. "I-I mean-!"
Katsuki started to get annoyed and impatient, "Spell it out, Deku!"
Izuku jumped at Katsuki's yell, "W-we aren't in the dorms anymore!" He yelled a little louder. "We aren't in UA anymore. If anything, we were kidnapped and brought here…." He trailed off quietly. However, his words made their mark as everyone progressed.
And once it clicked, the panic began.
[A few minutes earlier….]
Eri tried to shake Aizawa awake, but the man snored loudly, unbothered by the little girl's efforts. The unicorn pondered on what she should do when she noticed that strange woman coming. Mr. Deku said that she was his 'mom,' but she didn't know what that was.
But Deku seemed to know her, but she was a little scared. So she hid behind Aizawa's chair but stuck her head out.
Inko knew of the scared little girl. Her son did mention her a couple of times over the phone. Eri, if she remembered correctly. She also knew that the poor girl had a difficult life before her son saved her. She wasn't given the details, but after watching the news from that day, she could easily piece things together.
Inko didn't want to startle the girl, so she slowly went to her son's teachers. Once she was in front of her son's homeroom teacher, she gently knelt down and smiled softly at the one-horned girl.
"Hello there, Eri. My name is Inko Midoriya."
Eri tried to bury herself on the chair but perked up when she heard her surname. She remembered Mr. Eraserhead calling Mr. Deku that.
"Midoriya…Like Deku?" She asked softly, her eyes beaming with innocence.
Inko smiled. While she wasn't fond of that name, she understood that it represented something different for her son. She briefly remembered how he told her that his classmate had changed the meaning of the name altogether.
"Yes, Izuku is my son."
Eri blinked but stepped out. She wanted to be brave and was sure Mr. Deku would've liked that.
Inko looked at the sleeping teachers, a little bewildered seeing the teacher in a yellow sleeping bag. She decided to help the little girl. So with a firm hand on Aizawa's shoulder and shook him awake. Eri watched in awe when Aizawa groaned and shuffled around his sleeping bag.
His bloodshot eyes opened, and he took notice of the Problem child's mother. He blinked before noticing something wasn't right. He shot up and looked around and saw that he wasn't anywhere in the dorm but rather in a while-like theater room.
Aizawa knew for certain that a theater room was not in plans when they built the dorms. He narrowed his eyes and zipped out of his sleeping bag. He looked around his surroundings and immediately saw his students. Except for Midoriya, everyone else was asleep. Though it seemed the problem child was waking up the class representative.
He groaned. Was he really out of it that he failed to notice that they were kidnapped? Great, to make it worse, the rat and All Might be with him. At least Present Mic wasn't around.
During his musings, Inko went to wake up the remaining adults. Nezu blinked in confusion at where they were while All Might coughed blood.
"My my." Murmured Nezu, getting out of his seat, "It seemed like we're in quite the predicament."
Before anything else was to be said, it was then when all of 1-A started screaming and causing a ruckus with their quirks. Aizawa groaned, trying to fight a headache creeping up on him.
This was not what he wanted to deal with when he woke up.
[Back to the Present]
"What the fuck?!"
"Where are we?!"
"Forget about that! Who took us, hostage?!"
"Where are the teachers?!"
"This isn't manly!"
Tenya managed to get out of his stupor and began calling for attention. "Everyone, calm down!" Either everyone ignored him entirely or couldn't hear him from the panicked shoutings. This went on while the adults were talking, with Eri gripping Aizawa's pant leg.
"Deku!"
Izuku turned around and felt a sense of relief when he saw Ochako making her way toward him and Tenya.
"Uraraka!" The relief overwhelmed the boys when they saw their female friend safe.
"Are you and Iida alright?"
"Y-yeah," Izuku scratched the back of his neck.
"Do you guys know what happened?"
To her disappointment, both boys shook their heads. "Sorry, we don't."
"But worry not, Uraraka!" Tenya said, chopping his hand more softly, "We have Principal Nezu, Aizawa-sensei, and All Might with us! Surely they are creating plans on what we could do to escape."
The brown-haired girl beamed, "You're right! With them around, surely we can escape."
"Even if All Might can't fight anymore." Izuku thought sadly as he turned to look at the fragile state of the man.
"Though I got to ask…." Ochako turned to him, "Isn't that your mom?" She pointed at Inko, who was still talking to the teachers.
"Y-yeah.."
"That's odd…." Tenya thought thoughtfully, "I wonder why the villains brought her here?"
By that, Izuku started to sweat nervously, "Y-yeah… Me too."
"They even have Eri!" Ochako says, both excited and concerned at the sight of the little girl, "I just hope she stays safe…."
Tenya started chopping his hands, "She will be alright! With Aizawa-sensei around, she'll be safe."
Ochako hummed thoughtfully, "I suppose so!"
Eventually, they stopped and turned to the hysteric students as Tenya tried and failed to bring order. And Aizawa had enough.
"Stop."
Their homeroom teacher's gruff and stern words were enough to put an end to the insanity in an instant. Not to mention their quirks were turned off. Everyone slowly turned their full attention to their tired yet pissed-off teacher.
"Everyone shut up!" He gritted his teeth.
Once everyone sat down in their seats and looked at their teacher, Eraserhead let out one of his infamous done-with-life sighs and glared at them.
"Now that this insanity is dealt with," he glared at them, "can anyone recall anything from the night before?"
When he received negatives, he turned to Izuku. "Midoriya."
"Y-yes, Sensei?"
"I gathered that you were the only one to wake up early."
"Y-yes, sir."
"So pray and tell me what happened?" Izuku swallowed, "W-well, sir, I don't know either. I just woke up and noticed we were all here."
Aizawa let out another groan of annoyance as Nezu stepped up.
"Well then, children," Pipped in Nezu, gaining everyone's attention, "It seems that we're quite in the pickle indeed. Now, does anyone have any of their personal items?"
Mina burst into tears, "No! I don't even have my phone with me!"
Toru was also sad, "I don't have mine either!"
There were a lot of agreements, and Izuku noticed he didn't have his phone either. And oddly enough, all of his classmates were in school uniforms. With what was going on, he failed to notice until now. He looked down; instead of his sleeping wear, he was also wearing his school uniform.
Though oddly enough, his tie was neatly tied around his neck. It was rather strange, as he never really knew how to tie a tie and never really put any effort into doing so.
However, it was then that he felt something heavy in his pockets. He looked down, and indeed something was bulging from there. Confused, he pulled it out and was baffled when he saw that it was a service call bell.
"Um…" Izuku looked at All Might, who had been watching the students with a calm expression. However, Izuku knew him enough to know that he was very anxious about this.
Izuku looked back at the bell. He hesitated, but something was calling at him to ring it. He should tell Nezu and his teachers first…
RING!
Though, he isn't sure. Despite his instincts telling him to tell his teachers, he put his finger on top and pushed it. The ringing caught everyone's attention, and they all saw an embarrassed Izuku holding a service call bell.
"Midoriya," grumbled Aizawa, "Why do you have that?"
Izuku smiled sheepishly, "W-well, I had this in my pockets…."
"And you didn't bother to tell any of us?"
"Well…" Before Izuku could come back with an excuse, a voice had rung out all around them
"My my, I hadn't expected all of you up this early, and I still have to do my hair…. Give me one second, Mr. Midoriya, and I'll be right down."
While everyone was distracted by the voice and was looking around for the source, Mina jumped down and took the bell from Izuku's hand.
"Thanks, Midori!"
"H-huh?! Ashido?!"
"Ashido," Grumbled their homeroom teacher.
"What?" Pouted Mina at her teacher, "I don't have my phone, and we're stuck here! Besides, maybe we can figure out something if we continue to call whoever answered Midoriya."
"Ashido, you shouldn't be doing this!" Tenya said, chopping his hands. "We must focus on the situation at hand and figure out how to get out of here!"
She ignored the class rep and started to ring it constantly. It began to annoy most of the group, especially Jirou.
RING!
RING!
RING!
RING!
"Damn it, Raccoon eyes!" Screeched Katsuki, "Stop doing this shit before I blow you up!"
Mina pouted at him.
"Yes, yes, patience, Ms. Ashido. I will be with you all in just one moment," the voice said once more, "and while you are at it, please give Mr. Midoriya back a bell I gave to him. It's for emergencies only," the voice said, now a bit annoyed.
This, however, caused the class and teachers to be on high alert as they couldn't find where the unknown voice was coming from.
Tenya turned his head to Mina and gave her a look "Ashido, don't go getting whatever that thing is aggravated at us," Tenya said, somewhat agitated himself. "And give Midoriya the bell back this instant!" He yelled at her, chopping his hands sharply.
Mina pouted once more, "Ok fine," before she gave Izuku a smile putting the bell back into his hand "Here, Midoriya."
While still a bit unsure if this was needed or if he even wanted the bell, he quickly pocketed it one more. "N-no problem, Ashido."
Aizawa looked at his students before deciding that huddling up was best. "Ashido, Midoriya, get back to your seats. We need to stick close," he looked at the rest of the seated students as Mina made her way back up, "and the rest of you stay where you are and keep a lookout. We don't know if we're in enemy territory or not"
Nezu then piped up, "Yes, please keep a watchful eye, students. Eraserhead and I will protect the civilians, but until we know where we are, you have free reign to engage in combat if provoked and watch your classmates' backs." Nezu said, now getting on Aizawa's shoulder for more ground, "We do not know when that voice will sho-"
"And all done now, time for my big debut," the voice said with a surprising amount of giddiness, "ladies and gentlemen, please turn your attention to the screen!" The voice finished in a now mock severe voice.
As the student's teachers, Inko and Eri, looked toward the screen, suddenly, a dark blue mist began appearing on the screen before forming a circle-shaped portal.
The students and Aizawa have taken a fighting stance on whatever was on the other side of the portal. They were ready for anything that this potential threat brought their way.
As they watched the portal, a hand slowly popped out, and little by little, a shadow figure made its way out of the portal before it fully stepped through and the portal closed behind it.
As they all stared at the figure floating above them, ready for any sudden movements of attack, they were not just waiting as it stood there floating and unmoving before slowly reaching behind itself.
Aizawa braced himself, gripping his capture weapon, and said, "Class, if any of you are approached within 5 meters of the enemy, attack."
"Understood"
"Got it, Aizawa-Sensei."
"Yes, Aizawa-Sensei."
Now they all sat in bated breath, and the figure kept reaching back before finally pulling out….
….a microphone?
The figure then tapped on the microphone as they all heard the TAP TAP around them.
Finally, the figure spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen of U.A high and affiliates of class 1-A… I welcome you…. TO THE EIGHT DIMENSION THEATER"
A light shined on the figure as the voice rang out, making all of the shadows disappear.
As everyone got a good look at the now confirmed man, they looked at him in utter shock.
He seemed to have long curly black hair, a black jacket hanging from his shoulder, and a long dark blue shoulder pad and yellow buttons.
His attire was a blue bellhop jacket with black buttons, a golden butterfly on the top right, and black pants.
His dark brown eyes could be seen as he gave them a joy-filled smile as he looked up at him.
"Hello all, my name is Sleppt, and I thank you all for your patience once again. Welcome to the Eight Dimension Theater. I am its butler and the resident repair worker, and I will take care of any needs you may have!"
To say everyone was stunned was quite an understatement; this man looked utterly harmless. They could feel no hint of hostility coming from him.
"But with that all being said, I believe my bell was rang," the man finished as he floated down before landing on the ground. "I will get with you all in one moment as soon as my request is finished."
Without so much as a blink, the man put the microphone away and was in front of Izuku before anyone saw him move, causing everyone to jump back, Izuku included.
"What the fuck? How did he-?!"
"He moved so fast I didn't even see him?!"
"Not even Tensei can move at that speed?!"
"Did he teleport?!"
"Is this his quirk?!"
Aizawa was about to jump in. "Just who is this-"
Izuku couldn't move. It felt like the man would move right past him if he nudged. "W-who is this guy?"
The man seemingly ignored everyone's shocked faces around him and continued, "Mr. Izuku Midoriya and Ms. Mina Ashido, since you have rung the bell, I shall help with any inquiries or problems you may have. So please ask me anything." The man said with a reassuring smile.
It seems this time Mina was quicker to the draw as she blurted out, "Who and what are you?!" she said, pointing at the man.
The man began to tap his chin. "You ask just some difficult-to-explain questions, Ms. Ashido, but I'll explain to the best of my ability." He gave her a genuine smile.
As he said this, he began to fly again "as for who I am, my name is Sleppt. As I said, nothing has changed about that, and as for what I guess you could say a few things, a human, a viewer, and Eight Dimension Theater's watchman, repairman, and peacekeeper," the man said as he listed each one on his fingers.
This got Izuku thinking that if the man could answer, they might get what they needed from them.
"W-well, what does viewer mean, and what's this Eight Dimension Theater, and why did you bring us here?" Izuku asked stuttering for a bit, trying to be brave.
This caused the boy to scratch his head. "You asked a complicated question to answer too, Mr. Midoriya…hmm, so basically a viewer is…." The man seemed to carefully watch his words as he looked like he was trying not to touch a sensitive topic.
"We're basically different creatures from a different world, and we view other worlds, which is why I know all of you. That's the best I can say."
They watched him with confusion, but that seemed to be all he would say as he brushed it off.
"As for where you are, we are in the Eight Dimension Theater, and it's a special place created by a…very powerful and eccentric person, a friend of sorts," the man said, not before a bit of exasperation came across his face.
"HEHEHE!"
Izuku didn't know why but he felt the hairs stand on his back when that cackle emanated. Everyone around looked, wary and unnerved.
It was then that Aizawa seemed a little hostile, "What was that, Mr. Sleppt?"
Sleppt looked at the man sweating going down his cheek as he looked at Aizawa. "Nothing to be worried about, Mr. Aizawa."
"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. I guess I had that one coming." He exaggeratedly shook his head and continued, "As for your last question…. I didn't bring you here."
Izuku and the others were shocked this guy didn't bring them to the location. "Y-you didn't?!" He sputtered.
The man shook his head in a negative "Nope, not me. I am simply your guide here, asked to help by my friend." The man took a relaxed position, "but now then, if you have any questions or concerns, please ask away, and I'll try to answer to the best of my ability."
Suddenly the man was bombarded with questions, yet he somehow answered all of them with utter calmness and ease. Though a few remain silent, watching the entire thing as it occurred. Katsuki and Aizawa, in particular, eyed Sleppt with suspicion.
"What do you want from us?!"
"Nothing, just to help."
"Are you a villain?!"
"Nope, just a hard-working theater employee."
"Are you strong?!"
"I like to think so."
"You got a girlfriend?"
Everyone looked at Mina with bafflement, annoyance, or irritation, "What? He's cute, and I'd figured it would be appropriate to ask."
A few classmates sighed while Aizawa facepalmed, dragging his face down. Nezu was chuckling, while Eri looked confused.
Toru looked at the embarrassed man, "So…Do you?!" The clothes jumped excitedly, "If you don't swing that way, what about a boyfriend?!"
The man coughed on his hand, and he had a bit of a blush on his face. He had to chuckle. He honestly wasn't expecting this. "While no, I don't, I'm afraid a relationship is not something I'm in the middle of pursuing. That and I'm only eighteen. I want to pursue my future first, and as for that hidden question, I'm straight."
Mina and Toru pouted.
Most of the class, including Inko and All Might, felt uncomfortably awkward. The silence indicated awkwardness, and none of the students were willing to speak. Thankfully the awkward silence was shattered by a cough from Nezu.
"I believe I have a question." Nezu said, lifting a paw, "May we please leave?"
The man began to scratch his chin and give a sheepish look. "Well, technically speaking, you can leave, but…it's kinda-"
"Kinda what?" Asked Aizawa, irritated and tired beyond belief.
The man scratched the back of his neck. "W-well, it's just that my friend has locked the only exit, so… I can take you to the front door, but you have to open it yourself…..I'm sorry," the man looked like he was genuinely sorry.
Everyone was silent, letting that sink in until…
"Well, this is fucking great." Snarked Katsuki with obvious sarcasm and rage filling his face.
"Language, Bakugou!" Berated Tenya, giving Katsuki a look.
"Bite me, Four-eyes!" Snorted Katsuki, "Besides, you heard what the motherfucker said; we're stuck here in this shitty place!"
It was the man's turn to look at them. "Well, not exactly," Sleppt said, gaining everyone's attention once again, "It's hard to explain."
All Might step in, "What do you mean, young man?"
He rubbed the back of his "Well, the best way to explain it is that one of my friends will give you the key. You just don't have the ability to use it yet."
"Wait, friends?!" Yelled Denki, baffled, "How many of you are there?!"
"And what do you mean we don't have the ability to use it?" Aizawa narrowed his eyes at the young man.
Sleppt looked at them with a cheeky grin on his face "Well, including me, there are about eight people, some of them even crazier and stronger than me, and believe me," the man then let out an oppressive aura that shook them to their very souls. Almost as if their hearts were pierced though it was gone as soon as it came.
"I'm pretty strong, but don't worry, they're not hostile." The man paused. "Mostly….. just don't provoke them, and you'll be good!" He chirped, which unnerved some of the group. Mineta, in particular, looked as though he was going to pee his pants.
He then checked his phone as it pinged before remembering Aizawa's question, "Oh yeah, and sorry, but I couldn't explain what I mean without proper context." He sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his head
Aizawa's eye twitched.
It was then that Mineta suddenly perked up, "Hey!" He said, grabbing Sleppt's attention, "You said there were eight of you, right?"
Sleppt nodded, a little wary at the face Mineta was making, "Yes, I did say that." He had a sneaking suspicion. Scratch that; he already knew what the grape midget was thinking.
Mineta was drooling, eyes bulging with hope, "Does that mean that there are hot girls?!"
Most of the girls glared at him, and the guys wisely stepped back, though Denki likewise looked hopeful. Inko looked unsure with the boy's evident excitement, while Eri looked confused. Aizawa merely sighed and looked more tired than ever.
Sleppt gave a grimace look with slight disappointment but only for a split second as he began to think. Then a certain sinister smile graced his lip. "Hehehehehe, well, two girls are working here, one in the theater's kitchen and one in the basement." The man knew of the bait he was setting all too well, and it would all work out in the end.
Mineta was drooling, "How big are their bust size?! Are they as big as Yaoyorozu?!" Then his face fell flat, "Or are they like Jirou, dull and boring?"
Kyoka had a tick mark at Mineta's dismissal before jabbing him. Mineta yelled in shock and pain while Sleppt coughed.
"Both girls are attractive…" He said slowly, "But if you want the best of our gals, you ought to meet our kitchen gal! She's beautiful and dangerous!"
Mineta recovered quickly and grinned.
Sleppt merely shook his head, "Hook, line, and sinker. Dark will certainly be pleased." He shivered. "Many strong warriors crossed that woman's punishments, and they all folded in less than a day. Just hope she goes easy on the little guy. He'll need it." In contrast, Mineta was jumping with joy, not paying any more attention.
Some of the others looked at Sleppt in shock and confusion. A few girls even looked sorry at the thought of the poor girl dealing with the pervert.
The second Mineta wasn't paying attention, though; he turned to everyone and had his thumb across his neck. The message was clear to everyone, Mineta has doomed himself, apparently.
Sleppt coughed, gaining Mineta's attention. The purple midget, unaware of his independent doom, turns to him expectantly, along with everyone else.
As Sleppt got everyone's attention, he began, "Alright, then it's time for phase two of the operation. We'll have to split you into groups of six."
"Why is that young man?" Asked All Might.
Sleppt turned to him. "You see… The Eight Dimension is rather…large, so it will take too long if you all go together in one group."
Nezu nodded once given an explanation, "I see. And I believe you have chosen who goes with who?"
The man had to laugh. "Wow, how did you guess that one?" Sleppt was now curious. "Okay. Now I have to know. Take a guess who's going with who?"
Nezu hummed, "I'm afraid I don't know!" He said cheerfully, raising his paw, causing everyone to nearly faceplant to the carpet.
Sleppt shrugged, unbothered. "Alright then, everyone, I will call names, and all of you will be put in a group!"
In the end, the groups were,
Team 1: Izuku, Tenya, Ochaco, Shouto, Eri
Team 2: Katsuki, Ejiro, Hanta, Denki, Mina
Team 3: Yagi, Inko, Aizawa, Nezu
Team 4: Tooru, Fumikage, Koji, Yuga
Team 5: Momo, Kyoka, Mezo, Mashiro
Team 6: Minoru, Rikidou, Tsuyu
"...and that should be everyone." Said Sleppt as he read the clipboard he had.
Everyone was in their respective groups, and the man was satisfied. "Now then, the whole theater is big. So please call with a ring of the bell if you get lost, but there should be arrows to lead you to any maps of the theater." Then he flipped the paper on his clipboard
"You'll meet your special theater representative in your respective room. They will be taking care of you while you are in the theater. Please treat them with respect." He said with emphasis as he looked at Mineta and Katsuki
Katsuki narrowed his eyes when he noticed this, while Mineta had a dreamy expression. Sleppt shook his head; they'll eventually learn. Hopefully.
As he read the last part from his clipboard, "While you all are meeting your representatives, they will explain all you need to know while here, but you will eventually be all called back for the main event and the reason why you all have been brought here," and with that, the clipboard was gone.
"Can we fucking leave now?" Asked Katsuki with a bored expression.
"Bakugou! Show some respect!" Tenya shouted.
Sleppt quickly put his hand out. "Do not worry, Mr. Iida; Mr. Bakugo's words barely phase me." The man then pointed to the exit. "Your way out is that way, and I will be seeing all of you a bit later, and I do hope you enjoy your stay."
And with that, the group was sent off.
Izuku could assure that Sleppt was not lying to them when they said they could leave.
The door was unguarded, just locked, and that was one big door and one big lock. The door was enormous enough to allow Mt. Lady at her maximum size to pass through. That door had to be made out of tough metals because apparently…
"DIE!"
BOOM!
…it's indestructible.
Aizawa's eye twitched in annoyance. "Bakugo, that door is not going to open no matter how many times you hit with an explosion," he grumbled even more while rubbing his temples to push away a growing headache, "and that lock hasn't even gained so much as a mark on it."
No matter what they tried, the door was not budging. Nearly everyone used their quirks and strength to break down the door. Unfortunately, there is no hope for that idea...
"We already hit the door with everything we have, but it remains untouched." Izuku put his hand on his chin and thought about their current situation. "I even used eleven percent of One for All, but the door didn't budge."
It was then that something clicked on Izuku's head, "Wait! Surely, after all of our attacks, someone would've heard us! And surely some people would notice that we're missing after a few days!"
"U-um, P-Principal Nezu?" Stuttered the freckled boy, gaining the rat's attention, "U-um… I-I was thinking…."
Katsuki was already in a bad mood from his failed attempt at blowing up the doors and yelled at him, "For fucks sake, Deku!" He yelled, making Izuku yelp and jump, "If you have something to say, speak the fuck up!"
"Uh, right." Izuku stuttered. "I was t-thinking that if we made all this noise, wouldn't someone have noticed?" Everyone stopped, and Aizawa looked like he wanted to smack his head on the door. Nezu merely smiled and gestured for him to continue. "S-so I was thinking if we were gone for too long, wouldn't there be a search party for us?"
Nezu hummed, "You are correct, Midoriya," He raised his paw, "I wanted to ask Mr. Sleppt about this, but there was never really an opportunity to ask!"
Aizawa's expression turned sour, "You mean to tell me… you knew about this and didn't bother to tell us?!" The older man was tempted to make rat stew.
"Why, of course!" Nezu said, unbothered by Aizawa's menacing aura, and turned his attention to Izuku. "Midoriya, can you call Mr. Sleppt once again?"
"S-sure Principal Nezu." Stuttered Izuku and pulled out the bell from his pockets.
RING!
Out of nowhere, the man came flying out from the ground, "I have been rung, so all you have to do is ask, and you shall receive!" As the man floated back to the ground, he looked over at the entire group. "Oh, I expected you to be all split up by now," he then shrugged it off. "But don't worry, we have plenty of time. Though I heard the bell rung, so I'm assuming you all have a question for me or something that needs to be fulfilled," the man finished with a pristine smile.
"Why yes!" Nezu said, "There were some concerns that were brought up that need to be cleared up!"
"And they are?"
"Isn't it obvious? With how long we'll be cooped up here, wouldn't anyone notice we were missing?" Nezu raised his paw.
Sleppt was quick to answer, "Why yes, that would be obvious…if that's how the flow of time worked here." He said nonchalantly.
There is a record scratch.
Then…
"What?" Aizawa said flatly, with his expression matching his tone.
Sleppt either pretended not to notice, or he was just used to it at this point cause he continued right after, "You see, we aren't even connected to your world. As of now, time here doesn't even pass the same, you could be here for hundreds of years, and technically you would just be dropped back to a few seconds after you were picked up" he then gained a very concerned look as he looked at them, "But you won't be kept here for nowhere near that long, and you won't age here."
Tenya looked as though he was steaming at the absurd exclamation.
Izuku had to ask, mostly to himself, "How can anyone have a quirk like this?
Sleppt's sharp ears picked up Izuku's question anyway, and he answered, "Quirks?...we don't have quirks," the man said, shrugging his hand. "In fact, quirks don't exist on the earth I'm from."
The silence was utterly unnerving.
"3…2…1." Sleppt silently counted the seconds when suddenly…
"WHAT?!"
"What do you mean you don't have quirks?!" Yelled Mina,
"Yeah, man! And did you say you were from another Earth?!" Ejirou yelped.
"That's absurd!" Tenya said, chopping his hands.
Izuku was gaping, "...But then again…." He slumped in defeat. "Quirks were considered nonsense that belongs in comic books back then. Anything is possible now."
Slept rubbed the back of his head. "It's the truth, though where I'm from, humans have no quirks. We just… Are granted abilities like this on…..special circumstances." He shrugged. "That, and I think your world is a century or two ahead of mine….not sure, though; it's never properly explained."
While everyone processed this, Nezu rubbed his hands with a feeling of curiosity. However, he is a patient creature and will wait for a more…private time.
"Is that all?" Asked Sleppt.
There were no more questions, but everyone looked at each other with unsure and confused expressions.
Sleppt, while seeing this, knew all he could do right now was help them along the way. "All right then, while this was fun and I'm happy to help, the others are waiting, and a few of them tend to be impatient. So without further ado, let me show you all the way and directions you each need to go."
Without warning, Sleppt began to multiply and created six other versions of himself, all then with hats labeled one through six. "Please, if you will, follow the Sleppt with the number corresponding to your group numbers. They will point you to your room and then disappear. Please have a great day at the Eight Dimension Theater."
While the groups wondered how the man could not consider these powers' quirks, they continued before one final huddle.
Aizawa looked toward his class. "Students, I'm only going to say this once, stay alert but do not engage the people in this theater, stay on the defensive."
Nezu then popped up, "And don't forget this is just like reconnaissance training; gather any important information you can find and bring it back to us. This will be the next hurdle in your training as heroes!"
All Might's turn was, "And don't forget to Go Beyond."
With one go, the whole class perked up.
"PLUS ULTRA!"
And with that, they were off.
[Team One]
Team One followed the first Sleppt clone with a number one on his hat. "Now then, ladies and gentlemen, Komo's art studio is the farthest, so please, stay with me to avoid getting lost."
Eri clutched Izuku's hand as he looked around nervously. The hallway was long, but there were some interesting colors. She looked through one of the strange-shaped windows and saw a figure on a balcony. It was in another part of the building, too far away to see details clearly, but it had something in its head. Maybe a hat?
The girl blinked, then she waved. The figure waved back.
"You ok, Eri?"
Eri looked at Izuku's eyes and nodded. She looked back through the window but didn't see the figure. The girl didn't want to say she saw someone that wasn't there, so she said something else, "Just a little tired."
Izuku stopped, causing the girl to stop and look at him questionably. Tenya, Ochako, Shoto, and Sleppt stopped when they noticed the green-haired boy wasn't walking with them anymore.
"What's wrong, Deku?" Called Ochako, gaining his attention.
"N-nothing. Eri is just tired."
"Oh."
Izuku pondered over this. They could take a few breaks now and then, but he did not want to keep this Komo person waiting. Not to mention he didn't want to exhaust Eri either, so that gave him one option.
He let go of her hand and knelt. Eri looked questionably at him as Izuku smiled at her, "Get on my back Eri. I can carry you."
Eri looked a little unsure, but she did want this. So she climbed on his back and wrapped her hands around Izuku's neck. The green-haired boy then used his hands to keep her steady. He stood up and caught up with the rest of his friends.
"All good."
Everyone continued on their way. Ochako was gushing over how cute it was and how nice it was for Izuku to give the girl a piggyback ride. Izuku's embarrassment was noticed by how flushed his cheeks were while Eri hid her face on his neck.
"Midoriya." Izuku turned his attention to Shoto. "Do you think that this Komo person will help us?"
Izuku shrugged helplessly, "I can't really say." Shoto merely hummed.
"I just hope they're nice." Chirped Ochako, walking near Izuku.
Izuku was somewhat flustered over the fact that a girl was walking alongside him. Thankfully, he managed to keep from embarrassing himself.
They walked for at least ten minutes, chatting to themselves quietly or silently listening. Eventually, they came across an entrance. The door had an interesting blend of colors that made it very colorful. But on the center of the door was a strange heart-shaped symbol made of arching lines, with a reverse teardrop formed by the center ones, on top of a semi-spherical base that connected to the rest with a thick line and opened in two 'hooks' to either side,
A sign on top of the door said "Komo's Art Station," with a komodo dragon flicking its long tongue.
"Alright, people," Sleppt said as he gestured to the door, "This is your stop, and I must take my leave. Be respectful and please, try not to make a bigger mess."
With that, he poofed out of existence. Everyone stared at the spot where Sleppt was, utterly baffled. Nevertheless, Izuku opened the door slowly. The room was a little dimmed, but it was mashed up in a beautiful blend of colors that generally would clash with one another.
It was also a mess. There were a lot of materials such as colored pencils and markers all over the floor. Though what caught everyone's attention was the amount of paper that was everywhere. All of them seem to have something interesting.
Eri's eyes landed on a particular drawing of a star-looking charm from sword-looking keys and a few other things around the room. Iida found a sketch with a heart-shaped moon that said Kingdom Hearts. Ochako was looking sweetly at two teens sharing what appeared to be star-shaped fruits. Shock blinked in confusion when he noticed a couple of drawings of Izuku wearing different clothing in different colors. Though what was odd about this was that the color of his hair matched the clothes. That alone confused him as his friend had green hair, nor does he remember Izuku wearing such garments.
Izuku looked around aimlessly until he froze. His eyes landed on a particular drawing, and he started shaking.
That was him.
Well, it looked like the version of himself from the dream. The Izuku drawing wore something similar to his costume but different. Two belts made an X, but what struck him the most was the giant car key.
Just as he reached for it, he jumped when a long string with a heart at the end latched onto the paper. Then it was dragged away.
"You shouldn't have seen that. Not yet anyway."
Everyone froze, then turned to the source. They saw what looked like a chameleon. It had three nostrils, a large mouth with purple gums, white teeth below its upper lip, and what Izuku thought was a rope of sorts; It turned out to be a purple, faded-into blue tongue that ended in a heart shape. It had a collar of red hearts, and its back was purple. The middle of its body was light blue, with purple spots running down the sides. Its lower body and legs were colored green, with four yellow spots on its legs, while its feet were pink. It had a green tail that ended in a red heart with blue, faded into purple, then white, and ended in yellow swirls.
"W-what-?"
If it were possible, it seemed the chameleon had a smug grin. "I am Komo. Welcome to my art studio."
Tenya was gaping, "Y-you're a reptile?!"
Komo shrugged, "Eh, kinda. I'm actually a creature known as a Dream Eater."
Eri blinked in confusion, innocently tilting her head. " A Dream Eater? Does that mean you eat dreams? What do they taste like?"
Komo let out a chuckle at the child's innocence. It reminded them of a certain child who said the same thing. "Not exactly, but I like your thoughts on it." He turned to all of them, "I am known as a Toximander. But I promise you I won't poison you." Their eyes were full of mirth.
Ochako stepped up, "What's a Dream Eater? If you don't eat dreams, what do you do?"
Komo shrugged, "In truth, I left my brethren on the Dream Realm centuries ago, so it's not something I tend to keep track of." He tilted his head as they processed some thoughts, "Though, our job was to keep Nightmares away from the dreams of children." His eyes turned a tad sadder, "At least that was what we decided to do to make up for…." The Dream Eater shook his head, "Nevermind that."
The so-called Toximander began to check through multiple drawers before speaking again, "You guys don't need to worry about that for now." the Toximander finished, and he pulled a few markers from the drawer and put them down on a table.
"Nightmares? Like a bad dream?" Izuku asked, deciding to shatter the somber atmosphere. He had been writing in his notebook that he pulled out….somewhere. He chose not to pry on whatever made Komo uncomfortable.
"Not exactly human dreams…." Komo sighed, the memories of the past coming back, "To put it simply, there are two different types of Dream Eaters. I am known as a Spirit Dream Eater. We're basically the good guys."
His eyes hardened, "Then, there are our evil counterparts, known as the Nightmares. They relished in giving children nightmares and forcing them into a never-ending nightmare. So to ensure, the child never wakes up."
All of them looked horrified, and Shoto clinched his hands in anger. Eri looked afraid, and Komo smiled reassuringly at the girl.
"Fear not, children. We Dream Eaters do not exist in your world. And as long as you're here, those evil Dream Eaters will never come." Eri looked a little calmer. "Besides, if they do manage to come, my companion and I can take care of them."
Izuku perked up, "There's another of you?"
Komo let out a small laugh, "Yes, Izuku. My friend and I left the Dream Realm together."
"And who are they?!" Izuku asked, looking as though he was about to vibrate out of his shoes.
"They are known as an Iceguin Ace. Similar to a creature you call a 'Penguin.'" Komo said as he started drawing, "They go by the name of Nam. It would be better if you meet them in person."
Izuku nevertheless wrote it down and even made a picture of what he believed this Nam would look like. Komo took a quick peak and chuckled, it looked nothing like the Iceguin Ace, but it was still a decent sketch.
"Now then…" He rumbled, "Any other questions?"
Shoto pointed at the multiple art supplies all around. "If this is a theater, then why do you have all this? What's your job exactly?"
Komo hummed, "You could say I'm an artist that does request pieces. The person in charge of the theater is my friend, and he asks for my help from time to time to put his ideas into paper so he can better visualize them." He shrugged, "Beyond that, I'm mostly left alone to do my own things."
Shoto blinked but nodded slowly, "I see…."
Komo sneezed, "Now then… Any more questions?"
Izuku wasted no time hurling the Dream Eater with many questions. Though he was speaking like a motorboat for anyone to understand, Komo answered them with grace and patience.
[Team Two]
The Bakusquad followed the Sleppt clone with a number two on his hat. The others followed the man eagerly while Katsuki was trailing behind, getting more irritated by the moment.
"How much fucking longer?" He grunted.
"Not much further now," Sleppt said calmly, making Katsuki grit his teeth.
"You said that five minutes ago, Shit-head!" Katsuki was getting tired of this nonsense.
"Patience, Mr. Bakugou," the Sleppt clone said, his face still joyful.
Katsuki merely grumbled,
"Aw, c'mon, bro!" Ejiro gave him one of his sharped tooth smiles and gave him a side hug, "Where's your sense of adventure!"
"Fuck off, Shitty Hair." He barked.
Ejiro merely grinned at him, and Katsuki grunted.
"Yeah, c'mon, Bakugou." Pipped in Denki, "Can't you just chill for a bit? It's not like the staff here is gonna kill us!"
Sero was nodding, "Yeah, there's like a ton of stuff to do here! There isn't any rush to get out." Sero had his hand on his chin, "This Sleppt guy said that time works differently here than back home, so we can do whatever we want and return home as if nothing happened."
"Yeah!" Mina jumped, excited about her destination, "We're going to an arcade! Don't you want to have fun?!"
"Fuck you."
"That wasn't a no!" Beamed Ejirou as he and Mina dragged the blond.
Katsuki merely grumbled. Thankfully for his rising temper, they came to a stop at a door that looked futuristic. The sign above said, "CBN's Arcade" with a heart symbol.
Slept took off his hat, "Well then, this is as far as I can take you. Once you enter, you will meet CBN, and please, do not provoke him." He gave a pointed look at Katsuki, who was steaming.
"Why the hell are you looking at me, you extra?!"
Sleppt shook his head and looked up, "May God have mercy on this poor boy, for he is about to get himself in so much trouble."
"You rang? Hehehe!"
"Right, I should've expected that." Sleppt sighed.
"Who was that?!" Asked Denki, unnerved as everyone looked around for the mysterious voice.
Sleppt merely waved them off, "Don't worry about it. You'll meet him soon. Anyway, I must go, have a good day."
With that, he poofed out of existence, leaving the Bakusquad alone. They all stared there before Katsuki stormed in and opened the door.
"Wait for us, Bakugo!" Yelped Ejirou as the rest scampered to him.
As expected when they entered, the entire place looked like one of those old fashion arcades—a dark room with flashy games all over. Mina's eyes landed on a dancing game, Denki's landed on a basketball game, Ejiro saw one of those arm wrestling machines, and Sero was interested in the zombie shooting game.
Katsuki looked around, not interested until his eyes landed somewhere that was worth his while.
Laser Tag!
He grinned; this made this place slightly better. Though now was not the time, as he barked at the rest.
"Not now, you shitty extras!" He grabbed Denki and Mina and started pulling them away, with them helplessly making grasping motions and whining. "We need to find the extra before we do stupid shit."
"You rang?"
A few of them yelped while Katsuki narrowed his eyes, looking for where the voice came from. He walked forward and eventually found him.
Apparently, this CBN was playing a game. There was a giant flat TV and a couch facing it. There was a white PS5 on a small table under the screen, where he played a simulator game. He wore a green jacket and a baseball hat, both of which had a heart-shaped logo with a crown on top and the letters S.M. in the center.
CBN put a pause on his game and turned to look at them.
"Yo. Name's CBN."
"Hi, man!" Grinned Ejiro, shaking his hand.
Mina grinned, "Hey there! I see you have great taste in games!" She said as she gestured to the dancing game.
CBN shrugged, "Meh, not sure about that, but glad you like it."
Denki looked around excitedly, "Sweet man! Think you can let us play?!" He gestured to the simulator game.
"Help yourselves."
Denki grinned and took the offered controller.
"Hey man, I want to play too!" Sero said.
"Sorry, you're gonna have to take turns. Can only have two players here, sadly."
"Aw shucks."
CBN eyed Katsuki, "Yo man! Want to play or something?"
"Fuck no," Katsuki grunted,
Sero gave him a bit of a nervous smile. "Come on, Bakugo, let's just have some fun," he finished, not like where this was going.
Mina pitched, "Yeah, you've been a downer ever since we got here; lighten up a little."
Bakugo retorted, "Why would I want to play some shitty fighting game with all of you, extras?" he then motioned to CBN, "Play with this extra all you want, but as far I can see, I can't tell why we were fucking sent here."
CBN narrowed his eyes at the blond. He didn't like that. "Bola and Sleppt warned me he was aggravated." He then rubbed his chin as a smile came to his face. "I have an idea on how I can rope him in, though."
"Hey man, it's alright. If you don't think you can win, you just have to say so."
"Whatever." Katsuki blew him off.
CBN frowned, "That didn't work…Hmmm… Maybe something with more of a kick."
"If you say so, man." He said out loud, shrugging while doing so. "After all, I probably play a lot better as you than you do."
While Katsuki felt anger rise in him, he was mostly blindsided by confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"
The others were confused as well.
"What do you mean you play a better Bakugo?" Ejiro asked.
"Yeah, that doesn't make sense."
Denki was holding the controller. "Yeah, how is Bakugo a character you can play as?"
CBN smirked a bit. "Here, let me show you."
As CBN booted up the game, he quickly got through the bland text boxes and Intro as he selected one player's computer, and then the character roster loaded up.
And it was them!
Their class, their teachers, some of the pro heroes, and even some League of Villains?!
"What the hell?!"
"Are you serious?!"
"Is this real?!
CBN loved the reactions. "Yep, this is a playable battle simulator based on data from your world." He picked and began to pick a few characters, and their voice lines began to play.
"My name is Izuku Midoriya"
"I'm Mina Ashido"
"Shouto Todoroki"
"Name's Kyoka Jirou"
"The name's Katsuki Bakugo!"
And with that, CBN and the computer selected a character.
"My name is Izuku Midoriya"
As CBN began to fight as he was playing as Katsuki, at first, he began to pull off his moves with ease, landing combo after combo on the computer Midoriya, giving it no time for breathing room.
Katsuki could only gap as he watched this extra pull his moves without effort and pound the computer to the ground. The rest of the extras were wowing, staring intently at the screen as this other extra beat Deku and pulled off multiple attacks in succession and combinations of moves he hadn't even thought of.
Then it changed as they all did something that Katsuki had never done before.
As CBN pushed a few buttons, the digital Katsuki launched sweat from this hand and ignited on the ground with the other hand creating a chain of landmine-like explosions. Computer Deku stood no chance against the rally of attacks, and his health bar reached zero within seconds.
He scowled as he watched the fighting simulator declare his character the winner.
"KO!"
"Katsuki Bakugo wins! Perfect!"
"I'm gonna surpass All Might and be the number one hero!"
The students were in awe at the display of the fighting simulator. They all clambered on each other for the controller and took the next turn.
"That was amazing!"
"I want a turn!"
"No way, I'm first!"
Katsuki, however, was silent, unsure of what to say as he looked exasperated in a sense.
As CBN crossed his hand behind his head, "Time to lay the bait," he thought to himself, a smile across his face, "And that's what I mean by I play a better 'you' than you do, but hey, no shame right?"
Katsuki's head showed a vein as his temper began to rise. He gritted his teeth as he glared at CBN, who seemed to have an uncaring look on his face, leaning on the couch.
"Y-You motherfucker!"
"Hook, line, and sinker." CBN grinned to himself, "If you can't taunt him, wound his pride, and the sucker is vulnerable."
Katsuki made his way towards the couchand snatched the controller.
"Bakugo, It wasn't your turn!" Cried Denki.
"Yeah, you said you didn't want to play," Mina pouted. "What changed your mind?"
Katsuki gave them a look that showed he wasn't playing around. "I'm gonna show this extra that no one is a better 'me' than me!"
They all grumbled, but the blonde ignored them. He stormed to the couch and sat down. CBN laid back to enjoy the show.
"Before you play against me, play the AI. That way, you will know how to play."
Katsuki wanted to yell that he didn't need it but kept his tongue. Whatever, once he defeats the AI, he should be able to have a better understanding to dominate the extra.
Doing the same as CBN, he selected a blank box as a computer. As soon as the character selection came up, he chose himself.
"The name's Katsuki Bakugou!"
As soon as his character was selected, the computer selected it randomly. Though he gritted his teeth when the chosen character wasn't Deku, he needed to prove himself.
"I am Ochako Uraraka!"
The scene then changed to a Masutafu background, and both fighters were on opposite ends. Both of them had determined faces, wanting to put down the other player.
"Fighters ready?!"
"Fight!"
Katsuki tried his best to remember the combos the extra used, but he struggled to get the right combo. It didn't help that the computer Round-face kept interrupting him with an attack.
He used combos after combos, but he was a fast learner. Katsuki wasn't happy that he lost more than half of his health while Round Face had more. Nevertheless, he managed to pull off one of those moves that he witnessed the extra use.
Though, he took satisfaction when computer Round-face suffered the same fate as computer Deku. The health bar managed to reach zero.
"KO!"
"Katsuki Bakugou wins!"
"I'm gonna surpass All Might and be the number one hero!"
Katsuki tusked, "I have it under control."
CBN shrugged, "If you say so, man." He grabbed his controller. "Does three rounds sound good to you?"
"Shut up, and let's play!" Howled Katsuki, "Get in here so I can kick your ass!"
CBN smirked, "If you say so."
Katsuki chose his character, while CBN chose Ejirou.
"The name Ejiro Kirishima!"
"Sweet!" The real Ejiro grinned when he saw himself. "This is gonna rock!" He patted Katsuki on his shoulder, "Good luck, man."
"I don't fucking need it!" He growled, slapping Ejiro's hand away. "I fucking pound you to the ground on training! This shit ain't different."
The red-haired teen shrugged, "Whatever, man."
It wasn't as easy as Katsuki thought. There were some blows here and there, and he managed to bring Ejiro's simulated self's health down to a low level. But the fucking bastard managed to pull a trick out of his ass and defeat him with a combo that not even Ejiro knew was capable of.
"KO!"
"Ejiro Kirishima wins!"
"That's manly as hell!"
"Huh... I wonder if I can do that during training." Ejiro wondered out loud, not paying attention to Katsuki's steaming form.
He chose his character again, while CBN chose Deku.
"My name is Izuku Midoriya!"
Katsuki huffed; this was his chance to redeem himself. Not to mention he saw how the AI played Deku. It would be satisfying to pound this Extra into the ground.
Except he didn't manage to pound CBN to the ground. It seemed the extra had been toying with him this entire time. Because CBN managed to defeat Katsuki with moves that even Izuku hasn't created! He watched helplessly as the boy pounded him to oblivion.
"KO!"
"Izuku Midoriya wins! Perfect!"
"I will be the next greatest hero!"
Sero whistled, "Wow, Midoriya is gonna go nuts when he finds out about this.
Mina giggled, "I'm sure he would hog the entire game console!"
As the rest of the extras talked, more veins started popping out of Katsuki. CBN noticed this and nodded. "He's barely holding on. Now for the final blow, this will make him pop a blood vessel, but maybe he'll learn a bit."
Once again, Katsuki, albeit angrily smashing the buttons, chose his character. However, CBN more calmly chose Katsuki as well.
However, Katsuki's mind was full of rage that he wasn't thinking correctly anymore. All he was thinking about was destroying the extra in the next round. CBN, calmer, used perfected moves compared to Katsuki's sloppier attempts to attack him
Still, the blonde did decent damage to his character.
Then, one of the health bars reached zero.
"KO!"
"Katsuki Bakugou wins!"
Katsuki was blanked when he saw the defeated form of himself. The other extras were congratulating CBN for his wins against Katsuki.
However, CBN was taking the praise and looking at his health bar.
It was just a bit less than halfway down.
"Even while in an angry state, he was able to take what he learned and get me down to more than half health," CBN looked at the boy who was sitting there clenching the controller, "If he wasn't blinded as much as he is by anger he might have gotten closer or even beat me in one of these matches." CBN has to smile, though. "I have to tease him a bit, though"
"Hey man, you can at least put the salt away."
That was a mistake that caused the pot to boil over.
BOOOOOM!
Everyone jumped, and the Bakusquad looked horrified seeing Katsuki this angry. He looked as though he was going to murder someone. His eyes were that of a predator, and his hands crackled, threatened with tiny explosions.
"You motherfucker!" Katsuki was seething and blew up the controller, leaving nothing but a burnt pile in his hands.
"Hey, man!" Protested CBN, "That wasn't cheap, you know! You owe me a new controller!"
"Bakugou, calm down!" Pleaded Sero
"Yeah, man! No need to get riled up!" Protested Denki, putting his hands up.
Mina merely stepped back while Ejiro went to hold off Bakugou if things got ugly. Katsuki stared down CBN explosions going off. CBN was not at all worried.
Suddenly, a great round golden shield the size of a table, with what looked like tree roots all over it, was thrown in Katsuki's direction from the shadows. Katsuki barely had time to react, tilting back just as the shield buried itself halfway into the wall next to him.
"Bakugou/Bakubro!" Came the yells of the Bakuquad.
"That's strike one, Katsuki!" Came the mysterious voice, "Two more strikes, and you're out!"
As the voice spoke suddenly, the controller began to repair itself before returning to normal. Unscratched and in prime condition.
After CBN tested it for a bit and saw it was in working condition, "Alright then," he then looked at the boy who was looking at the object that almost chopped him in half, "Gotta control that salt and rage, man."
Katsuki had the wind blown off him, unable to let out a string of curses.
"F-fuck…" Katsuki was breathless, "Y-you…." He fell back from shock.
Everyone was silent as CBN cracked open a soda, unconcerned.
Finally, Denki spoke. "God…Was that you?"
"Meh," Shrugged CBN, "He technically owns this place, so maybe?"
He took a big gulp of soda while Ejiro went to help Katsuki.
[Team Three]
Worry was the first thought in Inko's mind as she followed the Pro Heroes and the Sleppt clone with the number three on his hat.
"Please keep close, everyone. The Training Room is just this way. It's under a bit of repair and testing to ensure everything is running at 100% efficiency," Sleppt said before looking back. "Its keeper and maker have decided to let you all see and approve of what he has so far."
Nezu, while walking with them, had to point to the Sleppt clone. "My, I didn't think you would have a training room in a movie theater."
The Sleppt clone "Well, we like to keep in tip-top shape here, Mr. Nezu; after all, some of us do live here."
This piqued the principal's interest. "Hmm, and how long have you been living here, Mr. Sleppt? After all, you're only eighteen."
Sleppt looked like he was having trouble with something Nezu said, "That's a difficult question to answer, but I guess you could say the 'me' that lives in this theater has done so for about five years."
Now even All Might was curious, "The 'you' that lives in this theater, I'm confused, young Sleppt?"
Aizawa then butted in, "Yes, you're talking as if you're not the only you. We've seen your clones but aren't they all just you?"
This caused Slept to look back. Though a smile was still on his face, it had dwindled. "While yes, they're all me, it's a bit of a complicated situation."He then rubbed the back of his head. "I hope it will be explained to you all in due time." The man looked down, now with an uncharacteristic frown.
The four looked at him with a bit of concern. He was usually super chipper beforehand.
The man quickly shook it off and continued to walk. "Anyway, that doesn't matter right now. Please, if you would follow me, he's been waiting for you."
It was Inko's turn to speak, "Excuse me, uh… Sleppt?" She twiddled her thumbs as they walked, "Are you sure my boy and his classmates will be alright in this theater?" She looked around, "I know from what we've seen I can trust you, but what about the others in this theater?"
All Might perk up with this as well, "Yes, we are very cautious with our students, and while you may be able to vouch for your coworkers, we would at least like some more confirmation with their…." The skinny man trailed off, struggling to put it nicely.
Aizawa finished for him, "Ability to put themselves into harm's way." He stated.
"The probability of confrontation." Nezu popped up
"My son and his classmates' skill of getting put in the hospital," Inko finished.
"... I was going to say acting like heroes." All Might sighed.
It was Sleppt's turn to scratch his head. "Well, there is one way."
Inko then stepped closer to him. "Please; anything would put me at ease."
Sleppt stopped walking, "Alright, then give me one second." He looked up towards the ceiling.
The others were confused as they looked up as well. Aizawa's eyes caught what looked like a walkway.
"There's someone up there?"
Sleppt pretty much answered his question, "HEY, YOU UP THERE?! IF YOU ARE, HOW ARE THE STUDENTS FAIRING?!" Sleppt shouted.
"THAT DEPENDS ON YOUR DEFINITION OF FINE." Another voice came from above.
"ARE ANY OF THEM SERIOUSLY INJURED?" Sleppt shouted back.
"ONLY KATSUKI'S PRIDE! ALSO, ASK CBN TO GRAB MY SHIELD FOR ME!"
"ALRIGHT, I WILL, THANK YOU!" Sleppt answered before looking at the teachers, "They seem to be fine." Sleppt said, then he continued walking, pulling out what looked like a walkie-talkie. "CBN, this is Sleppt. Please, put the Boss' shield in one of the Retrieval Elevators."
While curious, the adults figured it was better not to ask for now as they continued to follow him.
Eventually, the man stopped in the middle of the hallway. "There it is, Kai's place." Sleppt finished pointing toward the end of the hall.
The adults looked down the corridor to a door with "Kai's Training Room" written above it. The 'O's are replaced with owl-like eyes.
In front of the door was a masculine figure, who turned around and showed he was wearing a hooded robe that went down to his lower back with white dots going down the middle. Underneath it, he used a plain white vest and dark blue pants, both held on the waist by a brown belt, while his feet were covered by pinkish leather boots that went up to his knees, hightops that seemed to be woven on the back part.
Sleppt then looked at the adults. "Ok, I'll have to be on my way, and Kai can take care of the rest of your questions." He then bowed, "I bid you all farewell," and the clone poofed out of existence.
With the Slept clone gone, the four stared at the figure a little in front of them. He wasn't moving at first before he shifted around, and the adults saw the man with a broom sweeping.
Aizawa then looked at Nezu and All Might with the flattest stare they had ever seen on him. "Are we sure this is the theater's combat instructor and training room inspector?"
Nezu got on Aizawa's shoulders to get a better view of the man. "Well, it seems Mr. Sleppt wasn't lying to us. He seems to know where he is," Nezu said, eyeing the man.
All Might stepped up before putting a hand on Aizawa's shoulder, "Let me handle this," and with that, All Might walked forward.
The closer he got, the more the scrawny man could see and hear the man mumbling to himself.
"…Chibi…stay with Dark….no peanut butter in the machine…." The man grumbled.
All Might could hear a bead of sweat roll down his "Um, excuse me, Mr. Kai, may I speak with you?"
Kai wasn't listening, though, as he continued to mumble while he was sweeping.
"I said no food past the line, and now that I yelled at her, she ran off…sigh, I feel like a parent."
Noticing he wasn't being heard, he mistakenly put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Excuse me, Mr. Kai, I wish to-!"
All Might didn't get a chance to finish, as before he could react, Kai had turned around quickly and brought his hand with the broom down, causing a loud noise.
BONK!
"Ow!" All Might said as he began to rub his head as he fell to the ground
As Kai looked down on the man, he gave him a bit of a lecture "Lesson one, never grab a person on the shoulder if you don't plan on defending yourself. You will never know how they'll react."
All Might rubbed his head as he got up.
"Pfft"
All Might, hearing that, turned around to see his companions staring at him.
Except for Aizawa, his eyes were closed, And he seemed to be fidgeting, his mouth so conveniently hidden behind his scarf.
All Might narrowed his eyes at Aizawa before quickly turning to Kai. Now noticing the robotic owl head, he promptly took a double take before speaking.
"My Apologies, Mr. Kai, but you seemed unresponsive, so that seemed to be my only way to get your attention. We were brought here by young Sleppt after he told us you'd be expecting us."
Kai then took a look at the group, "Then I am right to assume you are the adults and teachers that will supervise your students in my training hall?"
Nezu closed the distance between them, "That is correct. I figured we were brought here to see what was in your hall and how we may use it." He put a paw to his chin. "But from your mumbling earlier, it seems some of these machines have been broken by this Chibi person….Do you know her?"
It was then Kai's turn to sigh, "Yeah, I'm essentially her caretaker, but I scolded her, and she ran off on me, and now I have no idea where she is."
Aizawa then stepped-up, "Seems like she's a handful."
Kai gave him a look, "You mean she's all over the place." He sighed deeply, "I hope she's with Dark, our head chef here….she hasn't had lunch yet."
It was Inko's turn to talk, "It seems to me like you care for her quite a bit." She let out a chuckle. "Like brother and sister."
Kai couldn't help but nod. "That's true. If anyone were to touch her..." He stretched his hand out.
Everyone watched as the air began to spin around his hand, and a flash of light appeared from it.
As the light began to die down, it took form and made...
A giant key…..
Kai looked at them flatly, pointing the giant key at them menacingly, "I would stab them."
The rest looked at him, unsure of what to say before Nezu spoke up.
"Pardon me, Mr. Kai, but….that's a blunt object."
Kai laughed, "Hahaha. Oh, trust me, I know!"
Aizawa, watching this, stepped in. "I'm sorry, I…what?"
Kai then held the key up, "I cut skyscrapers with this thing….trust me, it being blunt will not stop me!"
As they stared at the Key for a moment and contemplated what Kai had said, the man had begun to realize something.
"Oh wait, I think some machines are still working, actually." With that, he opened the door and held it for the adults, "Please, come on in."
[Team Four]
Koji wasn't sure how to feel about this, but he was glad that Fumikage was there to soothe his worries. Toru was also trying, but she was a little too eager and excited to calm his nerves. They were following this Sleppt clone with the number four implanted on its hat.
Yuga was looking at himself in a hand mirror to allow time to pass by. Where on earth he got it, he'll never know, And frankly, Koji didn't want to know. It was better that way.
"Aren't you guys excited?!" Toru asked, being jumpy.
Fumikage hummed thoughtfully, "Not excited per se…Just…Interested"
Dark Shadow then popped out and started cackling, "He's lying! He's excited about this!"
The host of the quirk growled in annoyance and was thankful his feathers prevented his blush from showing, "Dark Shadow! Do not spread false words!"
Dark Shadow merely cackled, amused by his host's attempts to lie and embarrassment. Eventually, Fumikage wrestled the shadow back inside him.
"Well, either way, I hope that the lovely Mademoiselle can bring a shine to our des problèmes. But I doubt she will shine as brightly as Moi.~"
"Yeah, sure thing Aoyama," Toru said, not caring what the hell he meant. "I hope we can do some fun things while we're here!"
Koji was still uncertain. He wished he had Yuwai-chan. His beloved pet usually made him feel better.
They reached a corridor with a lone door at the end.
The door had "Gremlin's Den" written on it, even if the font made it look like scratch marks. From within, a song came, too quietly for them to hear the lyrics or make out most of it. It cracked open slightly, freeing a haunting green glow to light the hallway slightly.
"There's your stop. Please, get her moving before we start." With that, the Sleppt clone popped away.
"Uh, who's going to-?" Toru started fearfully, only to stop suddenly when Fumikage approached the door and promptly started to open it. The others quickly rushed in, hiding behind his back, a comical sight as he was the shortest of them, excluding Toru.
Inside, a ghostly green silhouette turned to the door, its humongous green eyes shining brightly in the dark room.
"Ghost!" Toru yelled, making the others cry out in fear. That, in turn, made the supposed ghost yell in fright and start to throw things at them, causing the frightened teens to continue the circle of panic.
Fumikage rolled his eyes. While Dark Shadow caught most of the things that came their way, the boy flipped a light switch close to the door, illuminating the room.
It was, frankly, a mess. There were multiple pages with things hastily scratched into them scattered throughout the floor, vinyl discs and DVD cases pilling on the corners and tables, and what seemed like a fusion of a computer and a jukebox on the back. On a chair in front of said machinery was the "ghost" in question.
She was a young adult, wearing a black tank top, blue jeans, and round glasses that could double over as windows from how big they were. The green glow coming from her eyes tinted the lens, while the light from the marks on her body wasn't strong enough to pierce her clothes. The woman used a hand to push the mane of gray hair back so she could see them better.
"Oh, it's just you guys." Her mouth was full of sharp teeth, "It was today? Oh yeah, Bola told me that he was going to…." She shrugged, "Well, heyo! Name's Silverbit. Call me Silver or Beri. Either is fine." Silver hopped out of her chair.
"What are you, ghost lady?!" Toru asked from behind Fumikage's back. None of the teens had abandoned the slight protection of their unwilling hiding place.
Silver cackled, "I'm the funniest person in this place, don't mind the others calling me an arsonist." She pushed a button on the machine behind her, cutting off the music and making the marks on her body stop glowing and take a purple color.
"Hear that, Bola?! I'm not letting your words of 'safety near the papers' stop me!"
The teens traded glances. Who was that girl?
"We were sent here by Sleppt to bring you to the main theater." Fumikage decided to focus on his task, as all his classmates were currently too scared to do so.
"I know, big viewing thingy. Let me just finish printing this." Silver pulled a lever on the machine. A ramp fell and started to spit papers at high speed. "Need this ready for the next bit."
"What do you do in this place?"
"Oh, I usually help Bola with his projects. He helps me with mine in turn. He also got me this place in his theater." She waved at her room, not bothered with the mess.
"And you write stuff?" Toru peeked from behind Fumikage, glad she was the only one that could entirely hide behind the boy.
"Yeah! Also, I share some good songs now and then." Silver picked the pages and set them aside, "Now I think I'll have to look after you guys too. If you need anything, just ask." She gave them a thumbs up.
"Mademoiselle Beri, you wouldn't know why the owner of this place brought us here, would you?" Yuga found the courage to ask.
"Yup."
The boy lit up with usual sparkles, "Can you tell us why?"
"Nope." She popped the 'p.'
Yuga instantly had his twinkle snuffed out. Silver grabbed one of the pieces of vinyl and pushed it into the machine, starting a soft instrumental song and making her marks light up with a blue glow, "Sorry guys, but I won't get to see your faces if I spoil the surprise." She cackled again.
"Can you at least tell us what we're gonna do?" Toru asked.
Silver gave a sharp smirk, "You're gonna watch something really cool!" She started to cackle again.
[Team Five]
Momo wasn't sure how to feel when told to follow this Sleppt gentleman with the number five imprinted on his hat. She wasn't the only one, as Kyoka, Mezo, and Mashirao were with her, and currently, they were being taken to meet someone named Nam.
"All right, folks," Sleppt said, "We'll arrive at Nam's Model room in a minute."
"And what is this model room exactly?" Mashirao asked, somewhat confused.
Sleppt merely gave him a cheeky grin, "That would spoil the surprise."
The tail mutant sighed, "I should've figured." He looked a little uncomfortable, "I'm not fond of surprises, though.
Sleppt merely gave him a raised eyebrow, "That's dull."
"I'm a plain person. Not sure what you were expecting." Mashirao shrugged.
The young man merely shook his head, "Hopefully, Nam will help you get an actual hobby."
Kyoka, who was twirling her earlobe with a bored expression, had to ask, "So what does this Nam person do?"
Sleppt paused before shrugging, "Well, it would be better if you ask them, but if you want to know, they're some type of artist. We have two of them, but with different… purposes."
Momo perked up. She had always been interested in artistic work, and her parents often bought exquisite artwork and statues from esteemed artists worldwide. She could surely ask for pointers if this Eight Dimension Theater had two artists.
"Who is the other artist, if you don't mind me asking?" Momo said with a sweet smile.
Sleppt responded, "The other is Komo. And you will meet him eventually, but for now, Nam is waiting."
Momo nodded in understanding and remained silent. Mezo, who had been silent the entire time, had to ask, "Is there anything we should be wary of to provoke them?"
Sleppt hummed, "Other than don't disturb them and don't touch anything without permission, you're good."
Eventually, they reached their destination. There was a door that looked similar to Komo's, and the sign on top said "Nam's Model Room" with each letter being a different color, some with hats on top of them. Under them, what looked like a penguin sliding through an ice slide shone with switching lights.
"Here we are," Gestured Sleppt. "Just remember, don't give them a reason to be angry with you; they will answer any questions you have." He paused as he remembered something, "Oh yeah, one last thing, once you enter, they will be…All over the place."
With that, he poofed out of existence before any of them could ask. The group looked at each other warily before Kyoka bravely opened the door.
When she opened the door all the way, she blinked. Everyone took a peek, and none of them were sure how to react.
For one, the room was cold. As cold as Shoto's right side. The other is that there is a decent amount of mannequins and ice sculptures, some with outfits on them.
There was one with black clothing and a spiky brown wig. Another had a blonde wig with a ponytail, and the outfit was blue and white with a white skirt and a small bag. Though, the top had no sleeves and was a little revealing.
Momo seemed more interested in the Ice sculptures, though.
She walked to the first one. It was a particular round sheep with spiraling disk-shaped horns and a heart-like symbol on its head. The name "Cotton, the Tama Sheep. The embodiment of CHAOS" was written on the base, funnily enough. Momo couldn't see how something that looked adorable could cause chaos.
She went to the one next to Cotton's sculpture. It was a dragon with hook-shaped claws as feet instead of the standard talons and ears instead of horns. It had the same heart-like symbol on its forehead. Their description was "Shiryu, the Ryu Dragon. The sane one."
Turning her attention to the last one, she had to step back. Not only was it large, but the creature in front of her screamed power for whatever reason.
The sculpture was some type of unicorn. Though instead of its usual mane, they were lightning bolts. The horn and tail of the mythical creature were also in the format of lightning bolts, and it had a battle cry encrypted on its face. The unicorn also had the same heart-like symbol on its snout. Looking down, the description said, "Tesla, the Electricorn. The Stronk Boi" Momo blinked, thinking she had read it wrong, but the words were, in fact, written like that.
She decided to turn around and ignore the other animal-like ice sculptures. Though, she stopped when she nearly walked to one. When she looked up, something inside of her unnerved her.
The fourth sculpture was a human of sorts, but she couldn't see its face because of its mask. Its bodysuit, in particular, was a little terrifying, as it seemed to be made of flesh, or that was the impression the ice sculpture passed. The figure had a build similar to that of Mirio from the big three, though a little shorter. He had two belts that formed an 'X' on what appeared to be some type of tattered skirt. Though what got her attention was the strange weapon he had at hand. It looked like a gear-like sword. Looking down, Momo expected some fearful description.
Instead…
"Vanitas. My broody boi!"
She blinked in utter bafflement and rubbed her eyes. She was seeing things surely, but the exact words greeted Momo again. It seemed that this was no mistake.
"He looks creepy," Kyoka commented behind her, making Mom jump a little.
"He looks dangerous." Mashirao corrected.
Mezo narrowed his eyes on the sculpture. Something was unsettling about this sculpture, but he could put his finger on it.
"My my! Visitors!"
Everyone jumped and turned around but saw no one. They looked around, but they didn't see anyone.
"Down here!"
They looked down and blinked. They saw what looked like a colorful penguin in a blue hedgehog sweater. It was a cute sight; Momo had to admit.
Kyoka was baffled, "Y-your that Iceguin Ace!"
"Iceguin Ace?" Her classmates echoed.
Kyoka merely pointed, and everyone turned to see…An ice sculpture of the same penguin who was in front of them, albeit without the sweater.
"Why yes!" The Iceguin Ace chirped, raising a fin, "But please, call me Nam."
"Wait, you're the Nam we're supposed to meet?!" Mashirao was shocked.
They nodded, causing Mezo to narrow his eyes. "What are you?"
Nam looked at him, "I'm a Dream Eater."
"Dream Eater?" Everyone echoed.
"Yep!"
"So wait!" Kyoka's eyes looked as if they were going to pop out, examining all of the ice sculptures she could manage. "You're telling me that all these things are Dream Eaters?!"
"What are Dream Eaters?" Asked Momo before Nam could answer Kyoka. "Do you eat dreams?"
"For your first question, most of them are." She gestured to Vanitas' ice sculpture, "This guy…is a special and complicated case."
"As for the second question, we Dream Eaters are special. We don't eat human dreams, but we do eat some form of dreams, I guess." Nam looked thoughtful, "You see, we Dream Eaters have two categories. I am a Spirit Dream Eater, and we are the good guys."
Their eyes hardened. "However, our evil counterparts, the Nightmares, are different from us."
"Well, with the category nightmare, it's obvious they're evil." Scoffed Kyoka.
Nam chuckled, "True. It doesn't matter, as I left the Dream Realm ages ago. I haven't seen the rest of my friends and brethren since I left. Well, if you don't count these guys." They patted one of the sculptures.
"Dream Realm?" Asked Momo.
"Oh yes! I should've mentioned this. Where I come from, the world all dreamers go to is called the Dream Realm. It doesn't matter if it is a person, a monster, or even a whole world. If it dreams, it goes there." Nam huffed, "The place is run by…a not-so-nice person, and I didn't like it very much. My friend Komo and I decided that the Dream Realm wasn't for us, so we asked for some help from the owner of this theater."
"And the owner got you guys out?" Kyoka tilted her head.
"Well, yes and no." Nam shrugged, "He struck a deal with the person running the Dream Realm, don't ask me how or what. Neither likes to talk about it. In the end, my friend and I left that place and started to work here." They waved a flipper to the room full of artworks, "And now we have free reign to do what we like, except for one or two pieces that boss-man asks."
Momo traded a glance with the others. Until now, they could say the theater owner had people vouching for him, and his track record proved he had gone out of his way to help people. "Do you know why the owner brought us here then?"
Nam laughed, "Nope! I don't want to imagine what passes through his head, and I'm sure that would be a ticket straight to the mental ward." The Dream Eater didn't bother with the weirded-out teens' faces, "Bola admits he's crazy, a good crazy, but still crazy. If you all are here, it's for a reason. What reason? We're better off not knowing. It's easier to sleep at night like that."
"I don't think you're helping his case." Mashirao deadpanned.
The penguin-like creature waved as if to brush his concerns off, "Don't take that wrong. He's a good guy, just a little weird, but who isn't?" Nam showed off the room again, "He didn't need to make me do all this, but he did either way. You kids are fine, and if he went out of his way to help you all, you'd see that it's for a good reason."
Mezo huffed, "So, you want us to trust this person without understanding his motives or reasons blindly?"
Nam nodded, "That is what having faith in people is. You'll see it's something good to do from time to time. I did, and now I'm here having fun with friends and doing what I love. I just needed to ask this weirdo I met for help and watch him throw bread at my old boss."
The teens traded glances again, "I think we'll trust you on that and say we don't want to know." Momo spoke for them all.
They were still skeptical, but they decided to give the benefit of the doubt. Nam knew that was the best they could get out of them and took it.
"Now then," Nam gestured to all her work, "Since we all have time, wanna join me?"
Momo perked up, "Oh yes! Could I ask for some pointers while we're at it?"
"Sure!"
[Team Six]
"I wonder how big her bust size is." Mineta was drooling as he thought of many possibilities. Unsurprisingly, he was already thinking of the girls, especially those working in the kitchen.
Tsuyu merely had a disgusted face while Rikido tried to ignore him. Why these two were stuck with the pervert was beyond them. It would usually make sense if he were with Denki.
"Ribbit." Tsuyu ignored the pervert and put her finger on her chin, deep in thought, "We're meant to be in the kitchen; it makes sense for both of us."
Especially since she cooked for her siblings every day before moving into the dorms, Rikido is well known for his baking skills. Though Mineta? While he was a decent cook, he still lacked a few things. His size didn't help either, as he always needed someone to help him.
Though both of them were getting annoyed by his suggestive innuendos. Tsuyu was looking forward to seeing the grape midget get his justice. As of now, they were following the Sleppt clone with the number six on his hat.
Thankfully, the distance from the exit to the kitchen wasn't far. They reached a room with a sign nailed on top of the entrance. The words "Dining room" were there with a silhouette of a dragon circling the words.
From there, an obese man with a scar on his bald head and beard, wearing a waiter outfit, stepped in. Upon seeing the man, the Sleppt clone gestured to him.
"This is my stop now. From here on out, this… gentleman." Sleppt gave the man a wary look, "Will take you to the head chef and owner of the kitchen."
"What's her name?" Asked Mineta eagerly.
The man saw the eagerness of the little person and blanched. "Oh no!" He knew what would occur, for he too was just as eager as the little fellow a long time ago. He only hoped the mistress was…merciful to the kid.
Sleppt merely stepped back, "She goes by DarkBeat; she doesn't mind if you call her Dark, though." He took off his hat and bowed, "It was great to meet the lot of you, but my time has come to an end. I wish you the best of luck."
With that, he poofed out of existence.
All three of them turn to the man who is sweating. He gave them a nervous smile, "Uh, welcome all. My name is Garble. One of the uh…." He looked behind him, almost afraid, "One of the staff of this fine place."
Tsuyu and Rikido blinked in confusion as to why this man was nervous. Meanwhile, Mineta didn't care and eagerly and impatiently asked, "Can you take us to your boss?!" He was drooling, "I want to meet her b-! I mean, in person!"
Garble blanched but smiled nervously, "Yeah, he's fucked."
"S-sure, if you follow me, please?"
The older man brought them inside, and Tsuyu and Rikido looked around the dining area. It almost seemed like it was an old fashion tavern from the middle ages. Though it was humongous, the wooden seats and tables seemed more modern and comfortable. The walls weren't exactly made out of rocks like the middle ages, but rather wood, making it seem tidier. It was a little dimmed, but there was a cackling fire from the center. And there were a few chandeliers with candles to light up the place.
Strangely, it felt relatively comfortable.
Mineta, however, wasn't interested in the Dining area. He was getting excited over how they were getting closer to the kitchen and meeting this beautiful Dark.
The other staff working around here reacted similarly to the waiter guiding them upon seeing Mineta's eager face. They blanched and scampered off. The boy doomed himself the moment he took an interest in the mistress. There would be no mercy from her.
"Here we are," He was sweating as he gestured to the double wooden doors. There was another sign nailed on top. The words said "Dark's Kitchen" with the same dragon. The light peeking out of the circular windows showed how much brighter it was than the tavern itself. "Once you enter, do try to give the mistress respect."
They nodded before Tsuyu paused, "Hold on, ribbit. Did you call her your mistress?"
The man hastily said, "And I must go to work now! She shall be waiting for you and will give you instructions on what to do!"
With that, he scampered off. Tsuyu and Rikido blinked in confusion while Mineta opened the door. All three students entered and looked around in amazement. The kitchen looked more modern than the tavern outside. There were electric lights in here and a large stove and dishwasher. There was a kitchen counter, a blender, and what appeared to be a couple of kitchen utensils hanging on the wall.
Though there was a large stone oven on one side, and next to it was what appeared to be an underground oven. Leaning on the walls were a few peels, and a few scrapers were hung on the walls.
There were two doors on the far end, but one of them was made out of metal, and the other had a window that showed that it led outside.
There was another room of sorts, but it was only really a giant plastic curtain that prevented them from seeing what was inside.
To Mineta's disappointment, there was no one inside.
"Damn it all!" He was gritting his teeth, "Where is the hot chef?!"
Suddenly, the outdoor door opened, and an enormous animal carcass was brought in. They could only watch wide-eyed as a few people dragged the body. Surprisingly, there hadn't been a mess left behind as one hurriedly ran to the metal doors and opened them.
A cool breeze hit the students, and they couldn't help but shiver. Tsuyu reacted differently as she slowly lost focus as tiredness suddenly hit her.
Thankfully, they entered quickly, and the doors closed quickly.
"Be quick, boys!" The booming voice of a female came from outside. "Had all of you woken up earlier, then maybe we could've been done an hour ago!"
"It's not our fault." The three heard someone mutter.
"MOVE IT!"
They jumped on the shout, the metal doors opened quickly, and all the men ran outside. After a few moments of silence, they jumped when they heard a voice, sounding very angry, shouting similar to that of a giant.
"YOU! What are you doing here, you foul demon?! Get out of here!"
"HEHEHE!"
"Get the fuck out here! You are not welcome in my Multiverse Garden!"
It was silent for a moment; the doors opened with a slam. They blinked as they looked at the new person.
She was a tall, mighty purple dragon. She had wings on her back, short hair, and fur going down to her tail. The color of her hair was black, and her eyes were brown. She had long amethyst color horns and spikes going down her chin. There were indigo markings on her shoulders and knees, with a tribal tattoo on both her arms to her shoulder and a dragon head on one of her shoulders.
There were a few piercings on her ears and a claw-like scar on her nose. And there were a lot of battle scars on her arms. She wore no shoes, and her claws were sharp. For clothing, she wore a simple black tank top and shorts and wore a cross necklace on her neck. What was unnerving was the giant blue sword strapped on her back.
And Mineta's delight, she wore no bra and had a robust figure, similar to Momo!
The dragon lady had a sour expression, but when she noticed them, her expression melted to one of interest. She reached a coat hanger, removed her sword, and leaned on a wall. The dragoness grabbed a large apron and put it on.
She gave them a sharp smile. "So, you are the new Lords and Mistress that were brought to me." As soon as she tied her apron, she said, "My given name and title are of no importance. I usually go as DarkBeat. Though, call me Dark."
"Now, how much experience do you have with cooking?" She asked, eyeing them.
"I've been cooking for around five years, ribbit." Tsuyu said.
"I prefer baking as my parents own a bakery." Rikido pondered, "But I do know how to cook, always known. I've been cooking for maybe seven years."
Dark nodded in approval and then turned to the tiny teen. She narrowed her eyes as soon as she noticed how Mineta was leering at her.
"Joy. They brought the pervert. At least he isn't the worst I dealt with." Dark shook her head before giving a dangerous smile, "Oh well. Might as well have fun with this."
"As for you," She pointed at Mineta, snapping him out of his leering, "I know all about you, Lord Mineta."
"Y-you do?"
"Yes." Her smile scared him for some reason. "I dealt with perverts like yourself. Just be thankful you ain't the worst of them."
Rikido and Tsuyu merely stepped back, leaving Mineta to defend himself.
"Normally, I would give you a lesson on having manners with women." She bluntly said, "But since I have to cook for your classmates, I don't have the time as of now." She smiled mischievously, "Instead, you will learn in a different approach."
Mineta gulped when her shadow covered his entire body, and a dark aura formed around her. Mineta could only think one thing.
"Fuck… I'm screwed! She's worse than Midnight!"
[Time Skip: An hour later]
After getting acquainted with their representatives, everyone returned to the theater. The representatives couldn't come with them as they were rather busy. They all sat down on their respective chairs. It wasn't difficult, as their chairs had those strange but cool pictures.
Katsuki was sour with his arms crossed while ignoring everyone.
While they waited, they chatted to themselves. Izuku was putting final touches on his notebook. It was a new one that said, The Eight Dimension. Thankfully he had an extra notebook with him…somewhere, as he didn't want to mix it up with his quirk analyst ones.
Izuku had fun spending time with Komo, and he grabbed all the info that he could have from the Toximander.
"Come out, Mineta," Denki said, getting frustrated.
Since Team six returned from spending time in the kitchen with their representative, Mineta ran to the boys' bathroom and made sure to lock the door. The boy ran so fast, a speed that caught everyone off guard. They didn't have the chance to see whatever damage Dark had done. Denki and Hanta had been trying to coax him to get out.
But…
"No way!" They heard Mineta protest, "I don't want you guys to see me like this!"
Denki let out a sigh of frustration while Hanta shook his head. Honestly, they were tired of this and decided to leave him there.
"Excuse me?" Both boys turned around.
They saw Sleppt smiling at them, "Is there something, boys? You need to be in your seats now. Our boss should be here anytime now."
Sero pointed at the bathroom behind him, "Mineta decided to lock himself in the bathroom. And he refuses to come out."
"I'm not leaving! And you can't make me!"
Sleppt hummed, "I see. You return to your seats, and I'll take care of this."
Both boys left without any disagreements. As soon as they were back in their seats, Sleppt pulled out a small regular key from his pocket and successfully unlocked the door. He opened it and went inside.
A few of the students noticed the commotion and went silent.
Then they heard Mineta's screech, which paused any conversation and turned their attention to the bathroom.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Huh… I wouldn't have thought Dark would go this light on you." They heard Sleppt say aloud, "Would have thought she was gonna give you one of hers 'How to treat people with respect' speech before dragging you to one of her usual punishments."
"PLEASE!"
Mineta's cries were ignored as Sleppt managed to drag out Mineta. As soon as the pervert was in view, everyone burst into laughter. Even Aizawa was chuckling under his breath.
Mineta was wearing a cute maid's outfit. Complete with a collar, headwear, and gloves, He had some long socks and some black shoes, making walking uncomfortable.
"Pffft!" Jirou and Ochako let out sprays of saliva as they burst into laughter.
Rikido and Tsuyu had already seen Mineta in that costume as he was forced to clean whatever mess they made in the kitchen. Thankfully they didn't see him put it on. All Dark did was drag him out of the kitchen, and they returned with Mineta wearing that outfit.
She also said that was the lightest punishment she did, as she didn't have time to do her usual antics. Either way, Rikido, and Tsuyu were better off not knowing what Dark originally had in mind.
It still didn't make it less funny, though, as Rikido let out some small laughs, and Tsuyu was ribbiting in a manner that represented laughter.
Mineta was as red as a tomato and yelled at them, "Shut up!" He waved his hands. "Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to be walking on these heels and a skirt?!"
"Do you have any idea how much having a perv like you around makes us uncomfortable?" Remarked Jirou with a sneer over the boisterous laughter.
Katsuki, also amused by the whole thing, sneered, "Yeah, you grape stain, I say that shit fits you!"
Eri blinked in confusion. Why was everyone laughing? And why was Mr. Mineta wearing…that costume?
She turned to Mr. Deku, but he was sputtering in his laughter with Ms Uraraka spitting saliva. The only ones not laughing was Mr. Iida and Mr. Torodoki. Mr. Iida was looking aghast at Mr, Mineta while chopping his hands. All the while Mr, Todoroki looked just as confused as her. When Eri asked, all he did was shake his head in confusion.
"Don't worry, sweetheart." Inko smiled at the one-horned girl after taking control of her laughter. "Everyone is just laughing because that young man is wearing…. A girl's outfit.".
Eri blinked in confusion, "But…Why is he wearing it if it's for girls?"
Inko shrugged with a helpless smile. "If I had to guess, whoever he was assigned to did this to him."
Eri still didn't get it, but nodded anyway.
"Alright, everyone!" Sleppt said, clapping his hands to get attention. "At any moment now, our boss is gonna show up. So please be quiet and wait patiently. Thank you!"
He gently pushed Mineta to get him to move on his seat before disappearing. Mineta had a sour face as there were a few more giggles from his classmates. He seethed quietly with crossed arms. Once he sat down, he sulked for the rest of the time.
"Geez, man." Chuckled Sero, "What happened to you?"
Mineta gave him the stink eyes, "Be quiet." He then shivered. "How is it that the most attractive women are scary?"
Just as everyone settled down, the lights of the theater turned off. They stayed in the dark for a second, then a bright ray of light shone down on a piece of the room.
They all turned to it, seeing the balcony above them and the figure standing on it. The person was entirely covered by an armor set that seemed to be made of white stone, with chains offering even more protection. It must have been absurdly heavy, as even the helmet had a decorative piece of solid rock.
"Is that a statue?" Everyone questioned.
They were proven wrong when that statue started to move and speak.
The person threw his arms wide and proudly exclaimed, "Welcome to my world!" The voice bounced through the theater, echoing all around.
The Bakusquad and the adults instantly recognized the voice, while Eri realized it was the person she saw through the window.
Nobody noticed it, but Izuku began to sweat a bit as he felt the hairs on his neck stand.
To the shock of everybody, the armored man then jumped on the railing, somehow standing on it even with his heavy armor. "You all can call me Bola, Eight, or anything you wish. I am the creator, administrator, owner, and all around the guy that keeps this place running!" He started to pace on the railing, walking from side to side with a complete disregard for a possible fall, "And what is this place? This is the one and only, Eight Dimension Theater!"
The big screen came to life at his words, showing "Eight Dimension Theater" in bold white letters while the image of an eight-ball pool was emblazoned below it.
"I know you all must be thinking, 'why did that weirdo bring us all here?' Simple, I brought you people here so I could help you!" He then pointed directly at Izuku, "And because of him."
Another light shone down directly on Izuku's chair, the boy squinting his eyes at the sudden brightness. Everyone stared at him, making the boy gulp.
Before Izuku could protest, Eri called from her seat beside him.
"Mr. Eight, what did Deku do?"
"Excellent question, my dear unicorn!" The light over Izuku expanded to cover Eri, while the one on the balcony suddenly turned off.
From behind Eri's chair, Bola popped out and kneeled beside the girl. "Wanna know a secret?" He whispered, but everyone could hear the armor-clad man clearly, "Dream and Death are closer than people think." He chuckled and patted the girl's head.
Eri found it weird, the glove looked like it should have been rough and cold, but it was actually soft and warm. She liked it; either way, they were kind but weird, like Eight appeared to be.
"When this guy here," Bola pointed at Izuku with his thumb, "Dreamed yesterday, he somehow ended up close to here. As a man of science, I did the only thing someone of my position could help in that situation." He laughed, "I poked him and watched what happened, or the equivalent of that."
Izuku finally got a hold of himself, overcoming the fast-paced surprises Eight threw at them left and right, "You're the guy that invaded my dream! And that showed me fighting those black bugs!"
Bola got up and pointed at Izuku dramatically, "Yes! But also no!" He jumped behind Eri's seat again, and the light went off.
Another one shone down, this time in front of the screen, where Bola was standing. He pulled a laser pointer from…somewhere and turned it on.
"When you appeared in my proverbial yard unannounced, and most of all, when you somehow interacted with the memory I put you in, I found something interesting."
The armored man snapped his fingers, causing the screen behind him to show what appeared to be a glowing rope made from multiple strings from various colors on the top part and a bleached white sphere on the bottom.
Eight use the laser to highlight the rope, "Your universe, represented by this filament you're seeing, was close enough to Nothing, this boring and blank ball here, to connect each other. That's extremely dangerous, normally." He nonchalantly shrugged.
Nezu was the one to gather the attention of their host and a beam of light over his seat. "How so, if I may ask?"
"Thanks for the question, my dear Chimera friend! As the conceptual hub of everything, nothing has a lot of free space." The white orb expanded more and more until it covered the whole screen.
"Nothing is a somewhat no man's land. Here, anyone can carve a piece of it, build a wall, and say the place is theirs." He laughed, "It was what I did!"
Nezu nodded, "But how can this possibly be dangerous?"
Bola laughed lowly, but unlike before, when it was carefree and oh so amused, the sound made a chill go down the spines of everyone in the theater room. The helmet turned fully to Nezu, and the slits on the front place darkened into an abyss.
"You guys should be happy to be here because, I assure you, I'm the most kind being you'll find here. The others? They wouldn't blink before making you all suffer for the sole reason that they can." He turned to one of the windows,
"And that's for everyone here who would even bother to acknowledge your existence. There are many things out there, and most of them find the lowly mortals bound to their flesh pitiful at best."
The silence was deadly, but Eight didn't let it linger. He picked the terrified audience's attention pack with an exaggerated cough, "But those guys can bite me. You are all here, you're all safe, and anything that doesn't like that can complain to a rock and wait for an answer because this boulder here doesn't care!" He slapped his chest plate.
Bola snapped his fingers again, and the screen showed the colorful rope and the blank orb again. "Now, back to business! When a certain green bunny decided to go spelunking into the void, he brought to my attention that the universe from where you came from and here was really close!" He brought his armor-clad fingers just shy of touching.
Once more, the theater owner started to pace, "With that pit of info, I started to think with my buttons. I have an idea that could help people, a lot of people. It would also be really fun to do."
He stopped moving and glanced at the audience, "And the best part?" Bola put a hand over his helmet front as if he was about to whisper a secret, "I have to do absolutely nothing but what I made this place to do either way!"
All Might nodded, understanding where the man was coming from, if nothing else, "Young Eight, what exactly do you want to do, and how can it help people?" Another beam of light shone down, but at least this time, they were all expecting it.
"Good question, Small Might!" Bola's nickname for the hero earned some chuckles, including from the hero himself. Their host clapped his hands, and all the lights went off. A second clap sounded, and now Bola had what appeared to be a stack of papers in his hand while a set of dominos stood on a table that appeared from somewhere.
Eight read what was on the paper, "Fate is a chain. Always was and ever will be. But what is a chain? Is it something that bonds people to an inevitability, or is it a set of events provoking the other?" He toppled the first domino, causing all of them to fall,
"The answer is simple and also a question. If rain is Fate, and getting wet is a choice, what would happen if someone gave you an umbrella?"
He left the question hung for a minute. The one to break the silence this time, surprisingly, was Inko, "It would still be my choice to get wet or not, but I would have another option then."
Bola threw his papers up, causing them to transform into confetti, "And we have a winner!" A set of trumpets sounded, "Exactly, Mamadoriya!" He pointed at the woman, who felt embarrassed at the attention and the nickname.
Bola snapped his fingers again, causing another black-out. When a light turned on, it was again the balcony one, where Eight was standing once again.
"This is what I offer you all, a choice. What you do with it is completely up to you, but you will have it either way. What choice is it? Well, tell me, my dear bunny…." Once more, a light shone down onto Izuku's seat, putting the boy into the literal limelight.
Izuku looked up at the man who had thrown many bombs into them without context, time, or reason and gulped. The boy had believed in the multiverse theory before and that other life forms should exist one way or the other somewhere, but this? Bola's speech made very little sense, but at the same time, it did a lot.
The armored man leaned on the balcony railings, staring down at the boy, "If you could save one person more, would you take a leap of faith?"
Izuku should have thought about it, should have thought at all, but his heart answered before his brain could, "O-of course!"
Everyone looked at him, then at their silent host. They all could swear that below the helmet, he was smiling.
"Good answer." He snapped his finger again. This time, no light went out. Instead, on Izuku's hand, a controller appeared. It looked like an old console controller, made of black plastic that was worn out, and the buttons had the symbols on them faded.
The big screen lit up again, this time with a brilliant image.
A heart logo with Kingdom Hearts written in a steel-colored and heavily stylized font, with the title Shattered Memories below it in light green, but it seemed like the letters were cracked.
A song called Dearly Beloved played in the background, with the title briefly appearing in a corner before vanishing. That wasn't what drew the most attention, no. What did was the image of Izuku sitting down on a beach, watching the sunset, with a group of stars already blinking to life. He's using his first hero costume, and a giant car key was planted on the ground beside him.
Kingdom Hearts
Shattered Memories
[■] New Adventure
[ ] The Journey So Far
[ ] Credits
"What?" Mouthed Izuku.
"Here is what I give you all, my good people!" Bola exclaimed over their shock, either not noticing or caring for it, "The Eight Dimension Theater offers you all the chance of seeing another story, another possibility! In it, a hero, who sacrificed everything, will fight for his chance to get it all back!" His voice seemed to shake the very theater's foundations.
Eight laughed, "What will that change? What will it mean to you? What a person that is so similar to you, but also so different, can show you to alter the very Fate you all share?!" He stopped his tirade and shrugged, "I have absolutely no idea! So let's find out!"
Izuku was overwhelmed by the 'glorious' speech that seemed directed at him, the attention of everyone in the room. The image of what looked so much like him, he could feel deep inside that it wasn't him, that he didn't realize his thumb was pressing the button with a faded 'X' on it.
The selected option flashed, the heart logo spun, and the image slowly faded.
Izuku didn't know what he had just done, but either way, their New Adventure had just started.
