Road to America

(World's longest training montage!)

Toshinori and Tsukauchi were standing at Dagobah beach one morning, appreciating the view of the coast line. The beach wasn't entirely clean, there was still bits of trash spread around, though Toshinori explained to his friend that Izuku should be finished cleaning by the end of the month.

Tsukauchi was impressed, he had seen the state of the beach before, and to see the illegal dumping ground slowly returning to its glory made him respect the teenager he had only met the other day. Speaking of Izuku, the two men looked up when the sun was blocked to see a dragon making its descent. From atop the dragon sat Izuku, looking half asleep. He had forced himself awake long enough to jump down.

The dragon shrunk down, revealing Tohru, she looked at the two men standing at the beach. "All Might? What are you doing here, it's the weekend, Izuku isn't cleaning the beach yet."

Toshinori chuckled, "Can't I check up on my successor? Besides, Naomasa wanted to see young Midoriya's training."

Tohru pouted, "Well, I guess that's fine." She walked up to Izuku and grabbed him by the back of his tracksuit. "Come on Izuku, time to wake up!" Then threw him into the ocean. Izuku was sent flying into the air, before making a huge splash in the water.

"Wha-!" Tsukauchi was startled by what he just saw.

Toshinori smiled, "Don't worry, it's nothing that kid can't handle."

Tsukauchi relaxed a bit after hearing that, but still held skepticism.

Izuku swam back to shore and met up with Tohru.

Tohru said, "Get ready Izuku! All Might and Naomasa are watching, so let's put on a show!"

Izuku nodded, a bit nervous at having an audience. He somewhat got used to the idea of All Might himself watching, so having another person there shouldn't distract him too much.

"What exactly are they doing?" Tsukauchi asked.

"She calls it dragon roughhousing." Toshinori responded.

Apparently roughhousing meant, 'battle to the death'. Tohru threw out attacks back to back, claw swipes, tail sweeps, an overhead kick of all things. Izuku was forced to dodge everything, he quickly learned early on that any counter attacks would do no damage against Tohru.

'That kid is going to die out there…' Tsukauchi thought.

Tohru picked up the pace for a second, throwing Izuku off guard. She had appeared right behind him and struck him with her tail. Izuku lost his footing and was falling down into the sand, only for his fall to break when Tohru had kicked him in the stomach with enough force to send him flying in the air. He wasn't given a chance to catch his breath as Tohru reappeared right above him, pulled her arm back, and spiked him back down to the beach. Izuku hit the sand causing a crater.

Tsukauchi was left gawking at what he just witnessed.

Toshinori chuckled again, "Yeah, I had the same reaction, apparently this is her going easy on him."

"And they've been doing this type of training before they even met you?" Tsukauchi asked, still astonished.

"Yeah, apparently. Young Midoriya can get crazy himself when he gets into it. Which would explain the feral look in his eyes I witnessed when he ran towards that sludge villain…"

"Yeah I noticed that too when he made a man eat pavement- Hold up… Wouldn't this make him ready for One for All already?"

Toshinori nodded, "I thought the same thing too. There's no doubt his body was ready to handle it, but this beach cleaning was more of a way to test his spirit and to show him the importance of community work. Plus, I imagine the boy would feel like he didn't earn it if I just gave him One for All at the start."

Tohru made her descent landing on the sand with too much force, causing some of the trash to fly around them. Paper cups, trash bags, ripped up pieces of styrofoam that are too hard to pick up.

"He probably would've finished cleaning earlier if it wasn't for the weekend spars." Toshinori added.

Tohru decided to give Izuku a breather since she successfully spiked him for the fourth weekend in a row. She walked up to Toshinori and Tsukauchi, "I heard that last comment, it, uh… Never occurred to me that I was making cleaning the beach harder for Izuku…"

Toshinori smiled, "Well you wouldn't want to make it too easy either right?"

"I want him to get it finished as soon as possible…"

Izuku walked over to them, "Uhh… All Might, I got tangled in a fishing line again."

Toshinori pulled out a box cutter, "Come here, I got it." He got to work untangling Izuku's hands.

Tsukauchi looked at the knife, "I don't think I've ever seen you use a knife before, let alone carry one around with you."

Tohru answered for Toshinori, "It's a friendship knife. Himiko gifted everyone a friendship knife or cutter throughout the years."

Izuku nodded, "I got two. A friendship knife, and an engagement knife that's serrated… I didn't even know it was an engagement knife when I accepted it, but I guess I can't really complain…"

Toshinori finished freeing Izuku's hands and put the box cutter away, "You're most likely going to get a friendship knife as well. I recommend you carry it around with you, you'd be surprised how often you use it."

"Why do you guys keep saying 'friendship knife' like it's a normal thing?" Tsukauchi asked.

"Naomasa, we just watched young Midoriya riding a dragon and then get volleyball spiked by said dragon. I don't think you should be questioning people's quirks. Especially in a world where the word 'quirk' now denotes to-"

"Alright, alright, I get it." Tsukauchi checked the time, "Well I best be off, I need to get ready for my shift. Good luck with your training, Midoriya."

"Oh, uh, thank you Tsukauchi-san! I'll give it my all!"

Tsukauchi chuckled at his enthusiasm, "Oh right, I almost forgot, I wanted to give you something." Tsukauchi pulled out a device, "It's no friendship knife, but I thought you might make use of it."

Izuku was handed the device, "A voice recorder?"

"I know phones can pretty much do the same thing, but from my experience it's more convenient to only press one button. I heard you like to take notes, you can use this just in case you don't have a pad or pen in hand."

"Wow! Thank you so much, Tsukauchi-san, this will really help me!"

"Yup, also, it can help you in other ways, like using a villain's own voice against them. Like recording something they said that would piss off some of their underlings if they were to hear it. I can't tell you how many times a voice recorder has saved my life that way!" Tsukauchi had a laugh as if remembering past memories.

Tohru nodded her head, "Miss Kobayashi stopped a dragon war from happening the exact same way one time… Of course Azad had to be a spoilsport about it and mind controlled the dragons, but, eh, it was still cool."

"Damn, that was awesome, I'll have to ask Elma to tell me that one again later, don't worry I'll use my quirk to make sure she doesn't say anything that didn't happen. Well, I better get going, goodbye for now." Tsukauchi waved them goodbye as he left.

Izuku looked at the device in his hands and thought about Tsukauchi's words, "Was I just handed a Chekhov's gun?"

"Don't be silly Izuku, I don't think that can be used as a weapon, let alone shoot things with it." Tohru reproved her child.

"No Tohru I meant that…uh, nevermind. Let's just get back to training."

OOOOO

One month later

Toshinori arrived at the beach earlier than usual, he couldn't sleep, he was too excited about Izuku's near completion on the beach. He figured that it would take Izuku until the end of the day to finally finish cleaning the beach. But when he got to the beach he spotted a huge pile of trash at the pick up area, Izuku was seated off to the side breathing heavily.

Toshinori checked the state of the beach. "Hey-hey, you not only finished… but you even cleaned outside the area I told you to. Holy crap kid, you've exceeded my expectations!"

Izuku heard his mentor's voice and turned towards him, "Heh, sorry. I got too excited and went a little overboard."

Toshinori was still shocked, but quickly buffed up into his muscle form and had a hearty laugh. "Ha-ha-ha! You and I both had the same idea to show up early today it seems! Looks like I was not the only one who was excited about today!"

Izuku smiled wobbly at his idol's words, then looked at his calloused hands. "Do I really deserve this? You put so much time and effort for me… I've never felt so lucky before!"

All Might picked Izuku up and gently placed him on his feet. "Neither have I until I've met you young Midoriya."

Izuku was about to cry.

"But luck had nothing to do with this!" All Might smiled.

"Huh?"

All Might plucked a hair from his head. "Someone once told me this: There's a difference between being lucky and deserving. One's an accident, the other a reward. Izuku Midoriya, you've earned this gift!"

Izuku steeled his resolve, the tears stopped. "Yes sir!" His voice still cracked though.

All Might smiled at his protege, held out the strand of hair and said, "Eat this!"

What?

"...Wha-?" Izuku started but was interrupted.

"Hold up!" Tohru dropped down from her perch atop the pile of trash and landed in between them. "I decided to be nice and give you two a moment, but now I have to intervene. All Might! What the fu-!"

"To inherit my power he has to swallow some of my DNA! It's how it works!" All Might spluttered.

Tohru pulled out her friendship knife, "Blood is DNA too, you know…"

"Kobayashi-san! Please don't point that knife at my eyes! Kobayashi-san!"


Izuku forced himself to eat the hair, if only to stop Tohru's fourth murder attempt on All Might in the last ten months they've known him. (Well, it was the fourth if you don't count all the rat poison.) Apparently the hair still needed to be digested, so Tohru decided to serve up breakfast on their usual picnic spot on the beach while they waited.

Toshinori eyed the food Izuku was eating, "Kobayashi-san, would your tail meat have any other effects if someone else ate it?"

Tohru shrugged, "Probably, if they forget to remove the poison." Her eyes slowly widened as if remembering something important. "Which… I definitely didn't forget to do, for Izuku…" She realized what the skeleton was trying to ask. "If you were to eat it, I'd imagine it would fix that organ problem of yours, maybe not completely… but it would help over time."

Toshinori sat up in surprise, "Young Midoriya…uh, Izuku my boy, do you think you could spare a crumb of-"

"No." Izuku answered without looking up. Even after nearly three years he never got tired of the tail meat. Nor did he share…

Tohru tried to stifle her giggling.


All three of them stood in the middle of the beach. Izuku had announced he felt something and Toshinori figured it was One for All taking effect.

Izuku stared nervously, "S-so do I just start now or-"

Toshinori stopped him, "Wait a moment, I called someone ahead of time to help us. Her name is Recovery Girl, a pro hero and nurse of UA. She should be arriving shortly."

"Recovery Girl?!" Izuku asked excitedly.

Tohru eyed the skeleton suspiciously, "How much does she know?" She asked, getting down to business.

"Don't worry, she knows about One for All, but not any of the magic stuff." Toshinori responded. "She has a healing quirk to help young Midoriya in case something happens."

Tohru nodded, though a bit apprehensively. She still had nerves from the 'limbs will fly off' comment.

"So… how do I use a quirk anyways?" Izuku asked.

Tohru and Toshinori exchanged glances.

"I imagine you say an incantation?" Tohru said.

"It came naturally to me, but the advice I was given was to clench your butt cheeks and to yell smash! from the depths of your heart." Toshinori said.

Izuku sweat dropped, 'Glad to know I'm in the good hands of professionals…'

"Don't listen to them deary." An old lady shuffled her way through the sand to stand next to them. "It's your quirk now, you need to find your own method of using it."

"Wow! It's really you! The youthful heroine, Recovery Girl!" Izuku said, jittering with excitement.

("Youthful?" Tohru mumbled.)

"Toshinori, I really hope you didn't pick this fanboy to feed your ego."

"Umm…" Izuku faltered.

Recovery Girl chuckled, "Don't worry deary, I was just messing with him. I've heard about your achievements, I believe you're the perfect fit for One for All. Unfortunately for you, you have to settle with this blonde buffoon as your teacher." She lightly smacked Toshinori with her cane. "Just do what's natural for you to summon the quirk, you can yell smash if you want."

Toshinori nodded, "R-right, just puff up your chest and give it your all!"

Tohru cheered excitedly, "Go Izuku! Summon your quirk like a spell and get the strength of a dragon!"

Izuku stood there in silence for a minute. "I- I… still don't know what I'm doing…"

Toshinori coughed into his hand, "Umm, just try throwing a punch into the ocean.

Izuku dragged his feet to the shore and stared at the open water. He tried to control his breathing and tried to steady his shaking hand. 'Alright, first time ever using a quirk, I can do this! It'll be like using hysterical strength, only with All Might level strength…' Yeah, that didn't control his nerves. But he couldn't think of anything else. 'Maybe I'll try summoning it like hysterical strength? But I've never done it on command before…'

He thought about the first instance, he got so mad at Katsuki he threw out a punch with everything he had and ended up launching Katsuki across the air.

His hand nearly broke.

He thought about the second instance, he was so scared for his life he ended up sacrificing someone else for his safe landing.

His hand nearly broke…

Maybe using hysterical strength was not the best option, even if he could use it on command.

He took a deep breath and started thinking again for better options. He remembered the advice Tohru and All Might gave him.

'Incantation?' He closed his eyes '... One for All…'

Something crackled down his arm, he definitely heard it, Izuku was so surprised he lost his focus. The sound stopped.

He shook his head out of his stupor. 'Focus! …One for All…' He grit his teeth, the quirk was summoned in his right arm. Izuku pulled back a fist, sweat dripping down his face, his legs shaking, but he dared not lose his focus.

'Yell from the depths of your heart…' Izuku threw a punch, "SMASH!"

The water in front of him split in two, a devastating force of power kicking up tidal waves as it traveled down the horizon.

The three adults stumbled in place, the force of the punch was creating gusts of winds that reached them.

After the storm died down they all stood there in shock. Tohru was the first to speak up, "Izuku, are you okay?" She noticed that he was just standing there not moving.

Izuku's arm flopped to his side, the tracksuit sleeve was ripped to shreds and his arm was purple, bruised and bleeding. Slowly he looked up towards the sky.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" And screamed his lungs out.

Toshinori looked at the crashing waves of the ocean. "That was way more force than I was expecting!"

Tohru shot him a death glare, her claws unsheathing from her fingers.

Toshinori chuckled nervously, "But, hey, at least his limbs didn't fly off!"

There was a fifth murder attempt.


Izuku spent the first week with One for All trying to regulate the power. He had a hard time focusing when the power of eight heroes hummed like a generator under his skin.

Izuku threw out a punch at what he believes to be half strength. The waves of the ocean split apart like before but with less force.

Izuku clutched his raw hand, shaking, but the pain wasn't as bad…

Recovery Girl sighed, and got to work healing him.

Toshinori said, "I think you can only use five percent without hurting yourself…"

"That low?" Tohru asked.

"With how strong young Midoriya is I imagine that's still a lot…" Toshinori shrugged, trying to make Izuku feel better.

Izuku looked at his now healed hand with sleepy eyes, 'I have to start somewhere, I guess…'

By the first weekend he and Tohru were ready to start their spar. Tohru was excited to go against a powered up Izuku, but Izuku still had some worries.

Toshinori and Recovery Girl stood far off to the side just in case.

"What exactly are they doing?" Recovery Girl asked.

Toshinori winced, "Uhh… Kobayashi-san calls it dragon roughhousing…"

The elder scoffed, "How barbaric."

Tohru's arms shifted, turning into dragon arms as big as her body. She smiled savagely, "Come on Izuku! Show me the power of One for All!"

"I know the name of her quirk is Dragon Maid, but I didn't know how on the nose it actually was." Recovery girl muttered.

Izuku was stunned, 'She wouldn't actually attack me like that? Would she?'

Tohru launched herself at Izuku, throwing an arm at him like a club, Izuku barely had time to duck underneath, then suddenly rolled his body out of the other arms immediate downward swing.

'Well then…' He kept dodging for a while until Tohru decided to stop to give him time to breathe.

Izuku forced himself to think. 'All Might said I need an image to visualize, something to help regulate One for All. But what?'

He looked at Tohru, then remembered the second off hand advice she gave.

"Summon your quirk like a spell and get the strength of a dragon!"

Izuku's mind stopped.

At the top of his lungs he yelled, "I'm a dragon!"

Recovery Girl stood in silence, side eyeing Toshinori.

Toshinori had his face in his hand.

Tohru said, "Hmm, yes, I like where this is going."

Izuku blushed, "Wait, no! I meant- my quirk-!" He decided to stop talking.

'Tohru summons parts of her dragon form while still in human form!' He noticed the dragon arms. 'If I imagine One for All is my own dragon form, then the dragon arms would be like 50 percent of One for All. That's too much, but she sometimes summons the claws instead, the claws are like my five percent!'

He focused on the imagery of his hand growing claws like Tohru's hands do whenever Katsuki sneezed a little too loudly.

Tohru moved to attack again, this time using her wings to fly at a faster speed. She readied her arm to swing at Izuku and bat him like a baseball. Izuku stood his ground, and threw a punch, stopping Tohru's swing in place, kicking up wind and sand all around them.

Toshinori and Recovery Girl were astonished at what they witnessed. Toshinori more so, if his coughing fit was anything to go by.

Izuku wanted to cheer, he used the power without breaking his arm!

Suddenly Tohru's other arm grasped his entire body and picked him up.

"Wha-?!"

"Villains aren't going to quit just because you stopped one attack!" Tohru shouted, as she threw Izuku into the air like a softball.

Izuku splashed into the ocean, he resurfaced and spat out some water. "Well, it's a start at lea- Oh, Tohru is never going to let me live down that dragon comment is she."

The rest of the week they decided to continue the sparring sessions, much to Tohru's joy.

By the next weekend, Izuku got used to regulating the power at five percent until it was second nature. However, switching to another limb mid fight proved impossible.

He dodged another tail swipe. 'I need time to build up the power into one arm, I don't have time to switch to the other…' He then remembered the off hand advice All Might said as well.

"…just puff up your chest and give it your all!"

'That's it! All Might spreads his power around his whole body! And if I imagine Tohru's form to regulate my power…'

He analyzed Tohru's form; she had claws, a tail, wings poking out, and a pair of horns. 'If I just focus on the image of my own body with dragon mutations, then maybe I can…'

He focused the power of One for All throughout his whole form, his body crackled with energy as red veins appeared on his skin. Everyone present was mesmerized by Izuku's glowing form. Izuku's grin widened, almost as feral as Tohru's.

Tohru was the first to come out of her stupor, she threw a kick at Izuku. He moved to block but the force of the kick launched him into the air. Tohru flew into the air and appeared behind Izuku, she pulled her arm back to spike Izuku again, but Izuku quickly flipped around and caught her giant clawed hand in his arms. Tohru's eyes widened in shock, Izuku's eyes were looking as feral as his grin, he spun his entire body around and threw Tohru back towards the beach, causing a crater.

Recovery Girl was impressed, and Toshinori threw his hands in the air and yelled, "Yes!"

Izuku realized what he just did and smiled.

Suddenly, from the crater Tohru blasted off into the air with her wings ready to strike again. Izuku was surprised but moved to block with his arms like before.

But the charge was a feint, Tohru flipped her body and delivered an overhead kick to Izuku's head, "You can't be predictable!"

Izuku once again splashed in the ocean. This time creating an even bigger splash that reached high into the air.

Recovery Girl chuckled, "It looks like he's got a handle on his quirk now. I guess I'm not needed anymore, I'll see him at UA." She waved as she walked away.

Toshinori called back to her, "Aren't you going to heal him first?"

By the end of his first month with One for All, Izuku had a good understanding of the power, so he decided to call his new form Full Cowl.

Tohru pouted, "Why not Dragon Cowl?"


Toshinori watched Izuku and Tohru fighting again. The two of them have each other figured out well enough that it looked more like a dance. As impressive as it was, Toshinori realized Izuku might develop some strange habits when fighting other opponents. Gran Torino's solution to this problem would be to take All Might to Tokyo and have him fight crime there.

Probably not a good idea, but he had a better idea.

"That's a terrible idea!" Izuku screamed.

"Now young Midoriya, Kobayashi-san told me you sparred against both her and Elma during your third week of training, this isn't that different." All Might explained.

"But that was against two dragons! You're asking me to fight one dragon and the number one hero!"

"Like I said, not that different. Me and Kobayashi-san are equal in strength."

"Are you? How would you know? You two have never fought." Izuku asked.

They both looked towards Tohru's direction, she crossed her arms and looked away, "I have nothing to prove to him!"

Izuku frowned, 'Well that was a let down…'

As more visitors visited Dagobah beach, more people witnessed the number one hero, All Might, and some dragon clad woman teaming up against some green haired teenager they believe to be her son. But no matter how many times they tried to get a recording of their training sessions no one was able to get a clear view of the two mysterious figures that were training with All Might.


"All right let's try something else, we have three weeks until the entrance exam and I don't think it's a good idea to subject poor Midoriya to any more torture."

Izuku held a thumbs up from the ground. "Yay…"

"Really? Are you sure?" Tohru asked.

Toshinori nodded, "There is such a thing as too much training, plus, we've attracted too much attention to the beach…"

Their picnic spot on the usually empty beach was surrounded on all sides by families and tourists visiting. Apparently there were people that wanted to get a glimpse of All Might and the 'Dragon Duo' he had been spending time at the beach with. It wasn't the ideal weather for a beach day, but there were still people swimming in the ocean.

"They're gonna catch a cold out there." Izuku mumbled. He pulled on the drawstrings of his grey hoodie (that he had 'borrowed' from Himiko) to hide his green hair.

Tohru sipped on her tea calmly, the blurry footage of her fighting showed dragon arms and wings so all she had to do was hide them since they were the most noticeable appendages. ('It's been a while since I've had to hide my wings, I've forgotten how uncomfortable it is…')

Toshinori was… a skeleton. The disguise has never failed him before. But he still had a hint of nervousness as he looked around and noticed cameras from undercover paparazzi and a news station crew who were a lot less discreet.

(He also noticed a boy who looked a lot like Endeavor's youngest son, but figured he was just seeing things.)

Another thing to note were the text messages Toshinori was receiving from Tsukauchi, his American friend David Shield, David's daughter, and Nezu reprimanding him for his stunt. He also got some choice words from Gran Torino. He also got an email from Sir Nighteye of all people…

Izuku had been scolded by Himiko for drawing unwanted attention to himself, Katsuki just laughed at his predicament.

Tohru received a thumbs up from Elma since she misread the situation.

"We could train in the same field as the others." Toshinori suggested.

"Can't, they need all that space for their training." Tohru responded.

"But… it's a really big field." Izuku pointed out.

"And how much of that space do you think Katchin needs?"

"...Good point."

Toshinori asked, "What kind of training are they doing?"

"Monster hunting." Tohru said.

"What?"

"Don't worry about it, those two have Elma, they should be- …fine." She hesitated on the last word.

They continued to eat in silence. Toshinori thought about his teacher's training method again. That would be the ideal next step for Izuku's training, but he would draw too much attention to himself no matter where he went, drawing unwanted press to Izuku and Tohru. 'I mean, I can hang back in my weakened form, but I doubt that will last long before I'm forced to intervene on anything Kobayashi-san will try to do.'

Toshinori realized something, the strict rules on quirk regulation in Japan. Gran Torino's method only worked because he had a teaching license that allowed him to give permission to All Might to use his quirk without a provisional license. Maybe if they went somewhere with less restrictions…

"That's it!" Toshinori shouted, "All we have to do is get young Midoriya a provisional license!"

"Doesn't he have to enter UA first for something like that?"

"Oh right." Toshinori sat back down.

"Oh! I got it! We'll go to America!"

"You lost me."

"The quirk regulation laws are less strict over there, plus we'd be in another country. No one would suspect you two being involved with me."

Tohru thought about it, "Well I guess it can't be that bad of an idea, I could even use my perception blocking spell for good measure."

"Wait, what? Why didn't you just do that before?"

"I did. How else do you think all those videos of us online came out blurry?"

Izuku sat back up from the ground, "Are you guys being serious? You want to go to America for training. All Mi- Uh- Yagi-san, don't you have private property we could use?"

"No- well yes, but I want to move on to a different type of training. Field work! We'll have you fighting crime on the streets!" Toshinori said with full confidence.

"That doesn't seem responsible of you…"

"Trust me Midoriya, I'm an adult after all, you'll be in good hands with me!" He accidentally mispronounced adult as 'a dolt'.

'Will I?' Izuku had doubts.

Toshinori asked Tohru, "You agreed too, right? Let's head out as soon as possible."

"Only if I can fly us over there, I don't trust those 'planes' to get us there quickly." She said planes like it was a slur.

'I guess they're being serious about this.'

They didn't go right away due to time zones.


Izuku rubbed his eyes, it was almost bedtime, but instead of sleeping on his bed he was riding on a dragon's back across the ocean headed towards America. He thought about something.

"Hey Tohru, don't you have a portal saved to my parent's apartment in New York? Couldn't we have used that?"

"All Might didn't want to go to New York."

Toshinori answered from behind Izuku, "We're going to California! My old stomping grounds!"

"And you think there'll be any crime to take care of early in the morning?" Izuku asked.

"I have no ide- I didn't think this through…"

Izuku didn't know what to think of that, 'I guess All Might got too excited about all this to think things through.'

Izuku relaxed a little, it's possible he would end up saving cats from trees or old ladies by crossing the street and then they would go back home to sleep.

OOOOO

Jeremy Fukumatsu, or whatever the hell it said on his fake birth certificate, was having another boring day being a janitor. At this point he shouldn't complain, it was easy enough after years of experience, and the gamblers of the casino he worked at were surprisingly well mannered.

He moved on to the last toilet stall, he looked down the bowl, still clogged. Even with his sludge quirk this clog proved to be a formidable opponent.

'Why did I choose to work at a casino again?'

Apparently the answer was because he could just rob the place blind if he ever had a bad day again and had to bail like last time. His sludge form was plastered all over Japanese news but there was still a chance someone would recognize him if his identity was revealed.

'Well, time to get to work on this toilet-'

Suddenly the walls around him were torn down, a rumble from the casino and the screams of people shook him to his core. A giant beast with what appeared to be piles of money and a lanky man let out a guttural roar, then ran towards his direction. He could only raise his hands in defense, but the legs of the beast completely missed him, instead, breaking the toilet he was about to work on, drenching him in sewage.

The casino floor was in a complete panic, as the beast made its escape by bulldozing its way out, the frantic civilians made their way to evacuate. As most of the people escaped a small group were left trapped inside when a sludge creature started rampaging, causing rubble to block the exits and adding more confusion to the overall chaos.


Toshinori poked his head out of the alleyway. The streets were quiet, but he could spot a couple cats and old ladies who needed help. He turned around to his two companions.

Tohru applied the blocking spell, while they didn't disappear, they did appear blurry to him, apparently he needed to really focus if he wanted to see them.

Tohru summoned another spell, Toshinori realized it must have been a translation spell, as she started speaking English.

"Izuku, do you need the spell as well?" She asked, giggling a bit as the last two words rhymed.

"No, I'm fine." Izuku said, with the same level of fluency, "I was able to learn from watching all of All Might's English interviews."

'I've been hanging out with two English speakers this entire time?' Toshinori thought. 'Why were we discussing One for All in public in Japanese when we could have spoken English?'

"Alright, now it's time for the sunscreen." Tohru said, holding a bottle.

"I don't need sunscreen." Izuku replied.

"Young man, you need sunscreen." Tohru scolded.

"But, Tohru-"

"Izuku."

"Ugh… fine."


They made their way down the sidewalk, "All right, get ready you two. From my experience doing a little community work will summon a robber or small-time villain we have to stop. Izuku, if we're lucky, I can show you how to stop a high speed chase with the tree a cat had been stuck on!"

"Please don't call him by first name without his permission." Tohru grumbled.

"He always has my permission." Izuku responded.

"Well he doesn't have mine!"

Toshinori said, "We're in America now! It'd be weird to refer to him by last name. Speaking of which, Toh-"

"NO!"

"Fair enough."

They walked underneath a tall tree. An old lady spotted the newcomers, "Oh! Are you heroes?" She squinted her eyes trying to focus on Izuku and Tohru. "Can you help me? My cat Squeaker won't come down."

"Meow~" Meow.

I mean- the cat meowed.

Toshinori's instinct was telling him something was about to happen, like a police chase he was secretly hoping for. "Certainly ma'am! But I suggest you stand clear, there could be trouble."

"No-no, he's quite tame."

Toshinori placed a reassuring hand on his students shoulder, "All right Izuku, you're up! Remember everything we've taught you!"

"Drive your elbow into each punch?"

"Oh right, we never taught you rescue work…"

"Just try your best Izuku." Tohru added.

Izuku analyzed the tree to get an estimate of the height. He took a deep breath and activated Full Cowl. He jumped up, grabbed a branch then vaulted to the next branch, making his way up the tree. Finally he landed next to the cat, the cat meowed but didn't back away. It was slightly startled by a vague humanoid shape, but easily walked up to it.

"It's alright, I'm here to help." Izuku petted the cat to make sure it was relaxed.

Toshinori pumped his fist, "Yes! Okay, now come down Izuku, I want to teach you how to pull a tree off its roots so we can stop a car."

Tohru crossed her arms, "Why do you keep thinking there's going to be a police chase?"

They heard screaming from down the street, there were people panicking, running past them to get away from something.

"Looks like I was right!" Toshinori said smugly. "Young Izuku, get down! It looks like I'm going to need this tree~!"

Tohru narrowed her eyes towards the commotion, there were cars and rubble flying into the air, the ground shook harder and louder as something huge approached.

"I don't think that's a police chase…" Tohru realized.

From around the corner, a beast emerged, with a deep breath it cried a dreadful roar. A lanky man from atop the beast gave a less impressive evil cackle.

"Ha! Ten bajillion dollars! Just like that! I love this job!" He gloated.

The beast stopped its rampage and tilted its head, "Did we really get that much money?"

"I don't know! We've been in locked up for so long, I was just trying to account for inflation!" He cackled some more.

The streets in front of them were crowded with abandoned cars, and fleeing pedestrians.

"I don't think I can make that jump." The beast said.

"Who cares?! They're in the way, just crush them!" The lanky man suggested.

The beast continued its rampage, with a running start it jumped over several cars, but it was obvious to the panicked mob they were about to get crushed underneath.

The villain continued to cackle, "Ha-Ha! Haa-"

But was interrupted when a tree swung and struck the beast in the face, sending them flying backwards down the street away from the crowd.

The villain quickly composed himself, "What the-?! What hit us?!"

The crowd saw the hero that saved them, their fear turning to relief.

All Might rested the tree on his shoulder like a bat, "Don't worry civilians! You're safe, why? Because I Am Here!"

"Oh yeah?! And who the hell are you supposed to be?!"

"I am- Wait, are you serious? It's me. All Might?"

The villain narrowed his eyes, but quickly recoiled back, "Wait! I know you! You're that hero from Japan that put us in prison in the first place! What the hell?! I thought heroes were supposed to retire earlier than most?!"

"I could say the same thing about villains! When I put them in behind bars!" All Might shot back, Tohru walked up next to him with her arms still crossed, "See? Didn't I tell you something was going to happen. It's not a police chase… but it's better!"

"Did you just transform in front of that woman?"

"Don't worry she's old. She probably didn't know what she saw."

Izuku escorted the old lady and her cat behind some police tape, making sure someone came by to take care of her.

The lady asked, "Was that that chinese hero I've heard about, Endeavor?"

"Yeah, sure, let's go with that." Izuku petted the cat one last time before making his way to All Might. He was able to get past the police barricades easily enough with the blocking spell.

He stood next to Tohru and All Might and caught the tail end of their conversation.

"You can't expect Izuku to fight that?!" Tohru yelled.

"No, guess not… All right young Izuku, looks like this'll be a demonstration! Just watch and learn as I take care of these two-"

"The LA villains?" Izuku said with a confused expression.

Both Tohru and All Might looked at Izuku with equally confused expressions.

"You know these guys?" Tohru asked.

"Kind of. They were the first villains All Might defeated on his informal debut day in America. Their battle was quickly forgotten in favor of all the other battles All Might had that same day. No one even knows their names."

The ground rumbled as the duo got back up and landed right in front of them.

The lanky villain called, "Our names?! You want to know what they are?! Well tremble in fear and despair! Because you're about to be beaten down by the Rocketeer and the Beastbear!"

Izuku hummed in response, "Wait, isn't that name taken by Disn-?"

"No!" The villain howled, "That company disappeared after quirks! The name Rocketeer is up for grabs!"

"Uh, actually they managed to resurface a couple years back. How long have you guys been in prison?" All Might asked.

"I don't know. We just got out yesterday…"

"And the first thing you guys did was go right back to villainy?" Tohru questioned.

"Shut up! I don't need to take this from some old hero and two blurry people! Villainy is my passion and that's that!"

("Wouldn't he be way older than All Might?" Izuku wondered.)

"They don't seem to be that big of a threat. Just take care of these guys already so we can move on." Tohru told All Might.

"Oh-ho! Not that big a threat?! Then how about this?!" The villain pulled out a device.

"A pager? They still make those?" All Might asked.

"No! It's the remote control device to the bomb! The bomb I planted in the casino we just robbed!"

"You're going to blow up a casino you just robbed?! Are you villains or terrorists?!" Tohru yelled.

"What? Is that not something villains do? ...I'm genuinely asking, I've been in prison for a long time-"

The remote was destroyed by a burst of air that shot past him like a bullet.

Everyone looked at Izuku, who had his hand up after flicking his fingers to create the bullet.

"Nice work, Izuku!" All Might praised.

"I didn't even think that was going to work…" Izuku mumbled, his fingers aching from using too much force.

The villain looked at the destroyed remote, "Damn, that was our escape plan right there. Oh well, at least I put the bomb on a timer before we left."

"What?!" The three of them yelled.

"Oh, hey! I just thought of another villain thing!" The villain raised his arms, they shifted into cannons that shot out a volley of rockets at the trio.

All Might quickly moved to shield them with his tree bat, blocking some of the rockets but destroying his weapon in the process. The rest of the rockets shot past them towards the growing crowd of civilians wanting to watch the action. All Might quickly appeared in front of them and blew the rockets away with a punch.

"Come on Beastbear! We gotta destroy Disneyland to assert dominance! Oh crap, it's in the same direction of the casino we just left, isn't it?" The villain murmured.

"And what makes you think you can get away with that?" All Might said.

"What makes you think anyone can stop me?! Let's go!" The villain duo fled the scene in the direction they came in, the beast smashing into a building they had previously hit, causing it to start collapsing under the weight.

"No!" All Might quickly made his way underneath the building, stopping it from collapsing by holding it up with all his strength. Tohru and Izuku ran up to him. "Ugh… You two! Go after them! They can't destroy the most magical place on earth!"

"Maybe they can destroy it a little…" Tohru mumbled under her breath.

"All Might, we can't just leave you here, we need you! I mean no offense Tohru, but I'm not sure you're cut for hero work." Izuku said.

"Where are all the other heroes? Shouldn't they be here by now?"

"Listen, Izuku," All Might strained, "you have the heroic spirit, you have the power, I'm not asking you to defeat them, but I need you to keep them busy for me while I wait for the people to evacuate the building."

The building strained, while All Might could carry it, the building was starting to collapse under its own weight. Some of the windows broke and there were workers that lost their footing and fell out, screaming in panic. Tohru straightened her wings to jump, but Izuku acted faster, he was already up in the air.

Internally he panicked. 'There's five civilians but… What am I supposed to do?! I jumped without thinking! How can I save them?'

His mind blanked, vaguely he realized he was blacking out.


Izuku found himself inside a barren landscape surrounded in darkness. He tried to look around but then realized he himself was covered in the darkness, unable to move.

A figure appeared in front of him.

"Okay, kid, let me get this outta the way and say: Dragons?! That's freaking awesome!"

Izuku couldn't respond, not for lack of words but because he couldn't physically speak.

"Alright, you activated all this way earlier than you were supposed to. We have like five seconds. One: my name is Banjo, and B: you have my quirk now, blackwhip."

Izuku said something that was muffled, the stranger could vaguely tell it was most likely a curse word.

"Okay, good luck!"

The last thing Izuku saw was a thumbs up.


Izuku noticed he had landed back on the ground on his feet, he also noticed black ('energy?') tendrils from his arms wrapped around the civilians he tried to save. Slowly the civilians were lowered back down to the ground and released from his hold. The civilians thanked him for his help before evacuating.

Tohru and All Might watched Izuku in silence.

Finally All Might spoke, "I knew you had it."

"Did you know that was going to happen?" Tohru asked.

"Ahh-no, no I did not… Izuku, what did you-"

"I don't know! It just happened, and I was sent to some shadow realm, and there was a guy named bongo-"

"There was a guy named bongo?"

"I don't know, maybe? My ears were covered in shadows along with the rest of my body!"

"...What?"

"I just said I don't know!"

('I wonder if this has anything to do with that weird dream I had last night…')

The tendrils reacted to his stress and started flailing wildly. One wrapped around Tohru's face.

"Ahh! What did I do?!" She panicked.

"I don't know! I'm sorry! I can't control it!" Izuku panicked as well, forcing the tendril to let go.

The tendrils spread and whipped around, they all grouped up and shot towards the side of a building, latching on to it.

Izuku gulped, "Now what are they- Woah!"

Suddenly he was whisked away by the tendrils, swinging his way towards the villain duo, completely out of control.

Tohru and All Might were left gawking at the sight. All Might said, "Kobayashi-san, follow after them, you see that river? That should lead you to the casino. Not that I've ever visited that place, I just have a vague Deja Vu about this area. Like I've fought two villains here before."

"That was us you jerk!" They heard the lanky villain yell despite being too far away.

Tohru flew after them, she watched Izuku helplessly getting swung around by the tendrils. Everytime she tried to get close they would only lash out at her.

The lanky villain turned around, "We've got stragglers, huh?! Well how about this?!" He launched another volley of rockets towards them.

Tohru gasped as some of them were headed for Izuku, quickly she flew towards them and transformed into her full dragon form to block them.

"Ow…"

Izuku's heart hammered as the tendrils launched him over Tohru and grabbed the other rockets that were headed for the buildings. They launched the rockets right back to the villain.

"Woah!" The villain barely avoided the rocket that was aimed for his head, the beast blocked the others. "That was rude! Beast, step on it!" They started speeding up.

Izuku landed on top of Tohru's head. "Tohru, are you alright? I've never heard you say 'ow' before."

"I'm fine, just wasn't expecting how hard they would hit." She answered.

Izuku nodded, but was still unsure, "This is dangerous, if he keeps shooting at us the buildings will take damage, we can't block them forever."

Tohru turned her head to the left, they were flying parallel to the river All Might told her to follow, "I've got it!" She shifted her whole body, dodged past buildings, then was flying above the river.

The villain looked over his right shoulder, did a double take them turn to look over his left, "They're still following?!"

He sent out more rockets at them. Tohru watched the volley get closer, then at the last second released a roar that stopped their momentum and caused the rockets to fall down the river bed.

The villain didn't let up and sent volley after volley, Tohru moved to roar again but was also forced to dodge rockets that flew higher to hit her from above.

The constant movement caused Izuku to lose his footing and he fell off her head and rolled down her back and then fell towards the river. In his panic he launched the tendrils to grab a hold of her tail. He sank into the water, but then was quickly pulled back out by the tendrils. His feet hit the water, but this time he didn't sink, instead he was skimming on the surface.

As more rockets fell all around him hitting the water, Izuku realized some of them had delayed explosions. Izuku tried to keep his balance while also dodging the falling rockets and explosions from below.

Tohru turned her head back, "Izuku! Are you alright?"

"You mean other than the fact that I'm water skiing with a dragon while dodging rockets?! I'm just peachy!"

"Oh, okay. Just checking."

"No, I was being sarcastic- Woah!" He may be good at dodging, but it was a lot more different doing it in the water rather than on a sandy beach.

Izuku spotted the quickly approaching casino. The villain duo ran past it and Tohru continued flying after them. Izuku remembered something.

"Tohru! The bomb! There's still a bomb in the casino!"

"And what are we supposed to do? The villains are getting away." Tohru called back.

Izuku took the time to think, "Throw me!"

"What?!"

"Throw me at the casino, I'll get the bomb, you take care of the villains!"

"Izuku! You can't be serious! It's too dangerous!"

"I think that ship has sailed! Just trust me!" Izuku pleaded.

Tohru looked Izuku in the eyes, unsure of his words. Quickly she whipped her tail up, pulling Izuku towards her. She transformed into her human form as she caught Izuku.

She kissed him on the forehead, "Please be careful." She placed him on her shoulder, narrowed her eyes at the casino, then launched Izuku like a javelin.

"Ahh!" Izuku couldn't help but cry, the tendrils flowing behind him like the tails of a kite.

Tohru gave one last look before she continued flying after the villain duo.


All Might continued to struggle holding up the building, there may have been a lot of workers inside but their weight didn't make much of a difference when they evacuated. He watched as the police started pushing back the growing crowd of watchers, he realized they must have gotten all the workers out and were backing away to give him space.

One of the officers pulled out a megaphone, "That's all of them! You're good to go All Might!" He called.

With great effort All Might straightened himself then threw the building as far up as he could, then quickly ran out from underneath to the street. The building finally collapsed.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Then clutched his old wound that was flaring up. 'Really glad I took that nap before we left.'

Some of the officers made their way towards him.

"Thank you for your help All Might, your timing is impeccable!" One said.

"Not to sound ungrateful, but weren't you in Japan?" Said another.

"Uhh… You know me! I'm always where I'm needed." All Might deflected. "Hey, no offense, but where are the other heroes?"

Another police officer asked, "Shouldn't you follow after your companions that went after the villains?"

"Oh you're right! It's time for me to go!" All Might positioned himself to leap.

The first officer interrupted, "Were those two the companions you were hanging out with in Japan?"

"Dragon Duo? Who's that? I've never heard of them!" All Might tried to deflect again.

"I never said dragon duo…"

"...Gotta go!"

All Might leaped away.

OOOOO

A distant screaming gradually grew louder as a young teenager hit the glass ceiling of a building, quickly headed towards the ground.

From his arms, the tendrils started wrapping around pillars and balconies to stop his fall.

Izuku continued screaming as his descent slowed to a stop, his screaming ceased when he realized his face was only centimeters from the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief, which caused the tendrils to let go and he plummeted onto his face, then fell on his back.

"Ow…"

He slowly stood up, slightly unnerved by the tendrils flowing freely around him as if searching the area for trouble.

He heard a distant voice and made his way towards it. There were piles of rubble blocking his sight, but as he walked closer he realized it sounded like the voice was rambling.

"Of all the casinos in the world, those guys had to attack this one?! Of all the walls on this building, they had to run towards my direction?! Out of all the toilets-"

Izuku stepped over the rubble and gasped at who he saw. His shock distracted him from noticing the broken glass beneath him.

The sludge villain stopped his rant when he heard the sound of crunching behind him, then quickly turned around.

Izuku's heart was stuck in his throat as he was standing face to face with the manic grin of his nightmares. The tendrils straighten themselves, then quickly angling to aim at the villain, ready to attack.

"A hero?" The villain sighed, "Look buddy, I had nothing to do with this."

"Uhh-" Izuku couldn't speak.

"Oh, right, I look like this now. I guess you recognize me from international news. You know what? Just take me to jail. Maybe if I'm lucky they'll let me leave with good behavior. Though, I doubt it since I escaped the first time…" The villain seemed to be rambling to himself.

Izuku took a step back, he continued to shake, one of the tendrils straightened out again as if trying to reach something. Izuku looked up at a giant chandelier above the center of the casino, tucked away in the crevices was a suitcase with a timer attached to the side.

Izuku realized it was the bomb, too far away to read the timer. He tried to steel his resolve, he was here to get rid of it. The villain in front of him was just a hurdle he had to handle.

"I'm not a hero, just training to be one, I don't have the jurisdiction to make an arrest. If you want to turn yourself in I suggest just waiting until the authorities arrive. I'm just here to take care of something." Izuku said, as he walked closer to the villain, his nerves screaming at him to stop, the tendrils struggling against him, as if they were trying to pull him away.

The sludge villain sighed, "Ah, not even good enough to arrest. Even if you can't make an arrest I was expecting you to at least start attacking first."

"R-right yeah, I recognize you from… news. But from what I heard you were just having a bad day, and you're even willing to turn yourself in, I have no reason to fight…" Izuku was now walking past the villain, towards the center of the casino, but kept facing him, the one tendril stretching itself out to reach the bomb above him. Izuku started to sweat from the nerves.

"Haaa… Fair enough, still it feels a bit humiliating, I can't help it. But I guess not as humiliating as being forced into a soda bottle. Heh, I had All Might on the ropes you know, I guess he's getting old."

"Is that so…" The tendril got closer but still couldn't reach. Izuku noticed one of the other tendrils disappearing back into his arm, then the initial tendril started stretching towards the bomb again.

"Not that I care about that. But I guess I pushed some sort of button when I attacked that green haired kid."

Izuku stopped looking at the bomb behind him, and back towards the villain.

"I don't know who that kid was, but the two times I ran into him All Might showed up, if it wasn't for him… I coulda…"

The tendril continued to snake its way towards the bomb, more of the other tendrils were disappearing back into his arm.

"I- I, shoulda just snapped his neck when I had the chance…"

The tendril stopped short out of reach of the bomb, Izuku stopped breathing. He looked at the tendril, 'Don't stop now!'

"If it wasn't for that kid, All Might… hell, that bitch dressed like a maid back in New York…"

'He's met Tohru? …Wait, that sticky situation joke suddenly makes sense!'

The villain turned towards him, narrowing his eyes, "You know, you remind me a lot of him right now."

The tendrils that didn't disappear started pointing at the villain as if threatened. "Heh, what do you mean? He was Japanese, wasn't he? Besides, I don't look anything like him. Do I?" Izuku tried to capitalize on the blocking spell.

"No… it is you…"

The initial tendril stopped aiming for the bomb and lowered itself to spiral around Izuku protectively. 'What are-?! Get the bomb, damnit!'

"I- I don't know what you're talking about-"

"No, I'm certain! I recognize those feral eyes from anywhere!"

Izuku freezed entirely, holding his breath.

"What the- The hell?! The fuck?! The fuck are you doing here?! How did-?!"

The tendrils were vibrating around Izuku with anticipation.

"You- You're not here with All Might, are you?"

"Um, no…"

From outside they could both hear a "Plus Ultra!" as All Might ran past the casino, following after the other villains.

"You… you can't keep getting away with this…"

Izuku couldn't stop shaking, "I- I could s-say the same to y-you. You can still turn yourself in…"

"You know what kid? I was having a bad day. I'm always having a bad day. What do I have left to lose in this world, much less gain from it?! Tell you what! I'm turning myself in! Then they're going to give me the death sentence for mutilating a child!"

As the slime tendrils were shot at him, Izuku lost control of his own tendrils. He was quickly pulled out of the way of the attack as the tendrils started whipping him around the casino floor dodging every other attack.


The villain duo continued their rampage down one side of the highway, making traffic, though it didn't stop them as they ran over some cars.

"Damn, I… didn't know how long we were supposed to travel-"

The dragon chasing them caught up and picked up the beast, throwing him in the direction he ran from. The lanky villain fell off the beast's head and rolled around on the highway, grunting with every tousled movement.

The dragon turned its sights on him, moving closer to him, he backed away.

Before the dragon could attack, it was stopped by the beast making its return. The two giants quickly getting into a wrestling match.

The villain smirked and launched a volley of rockets, directly hitting the dragons back.

Tohru gritted her teeth, 'Damnit! On the one hand, it's getting that itch I couldn't reach, but on the other hand,' "Ow."

She shifted positions with the beast, blocking the rockets with its body. The beast groaned in pain.

The villain immediately stopped his attack, "Tsk, damnit!"

He looked towards the direction they were going and spotted the amusement park from a distance. "Heh… Looks like I'll have to go on foot. Keep her distracted, Beast!"

As the two giants continued their match, the villain started running on foot, vaulting over abandoned cars and sweeping past flipped over vehicles. When he thought he was close enough he raised his arms to attack.

"No time to wait, I'll just destroy this welcome sign!"

A blur ran past him, blocking the rockets meant to destroy the sign.

"What?!"

All Might appeared from the smoke, with his hands on his hips, "That's enough of that! Villain!"

"Oh, you bastard! You forgot our names, didn't you!"

"Your reign of terror is over! I stopped the building from hurting anyone and I'll stop you from destroying this amusement park!"

Tohru threw the beast down to the ground, "Did you take care of the bomb at the casino?"

All Might's smile faltered, "Oh, uh, I forgot about that…"

"You forgot?!" Tohru screeched, "Izuku's in there!"

"You left Izuku in a building with a bomb by himself?!" All Might yelled.

"Okay, I admit. Maybe we both made a mistake today-"

The beast jumped on her back, biting into her wing and pinning her down to the ground.

"I'm sure he can handle himself… Now, villain! I suggest you give up now! There's nowhere else to run!"

The villain cursed, weighing his options, then he noticed the other side of the highway. The traffic kept moving but at a snail's pace, due to the drivers wanting to watch the commotion.

The villain smirked, then aimed his arms at the traffic and shot a volley of rockets.

"No!" All Might ran to the middle of the highway to block the barrage, the rockets hitting his body, filling the area with black smoke.


Izuku kept swinging around the casino floor, dodging the slime villain's attacks. He was also not in control.

He tugged at the tendrils in his arms, "Would you go that way?! Just let me grab the bomb and we can get outta here!"

"Would you stop talking to yourself and let me kill ya?!" The villain shrieked.

The tendrils continued to swing Izuku around, but lagged when a balcony rail was ripped out from their hold. The tendrils were forced to crawl along the wall, the sludge villain saw his chance and attacked.

Izuku's eyes widened, but the tendrils appeared in front of him and started whipping around wildly, cutting the sludge villain's arm into pieces.

"Argh! You've got tricks now?!" His arm started to reform as he continued the assault.

The tendrils kept protecting Izuku but also continued swinging him around to dodge, every time the sludge got close it would start whipping around to deflect.

"Ahh!" Izuku was just along for the ride. He realized that, from the swinging and rapid shifts of attacking, he was starting to get tangled up in the tendrils. "Hey! Stop!" But he was already completely tied up, his arms pinned to his sides.

"I'm going to die here…"

The sludge villain yelled in frustration as he kept missing. He launched both arms at once, the tendrils dodged both blows then moved in closer to the villain.

"Wha-?! What are you-?!" Izuku tried to stop them.

The tendrils lashed out, this time at the villain's face, ripping it apart. "Ahh!"

Izuku panicked, "No! Stop! You're going to kill him!" He yanked as hard as he could against the tendrils, planted his feet on the ground then jumped flipped at a nearby column, the tendrils wrapped around it when he slammed his back against it.

He opened his eyes, he noticed the chandelier was below him- 'Oh crap- I'm upside down...'

Izuku was now stuck in place, tied up and upside down, left to watch a bomb out of his reach.

"...Well, it can't get worse…"

The sludge villain spoke from a makeshift mouth hole. "God-fuckin-damnit! The eyes! Do you have any idea how long that's going to take to regenerate?!"

"What curse word would Kacchan say in this situation? All of them?" He took a deep breath.

"Hey, kid, it's me, Banjo. Pretty cool right? We figured out this new trick, so now you can (temporarily) hear voices in your head!"

Izuku continued swearing.

"Yeah… Blackwhip reacts to strong emotions, but looks like your version also added your subconscious into the mix. (Probably because of the dragon blood?) Both sides of your mind are acting separately from each other. You need to learn to work together with blackwhip in order to use it."

"How do I do that?!"

"You need to grab control of it, blackwhip is the quirk and you're the master, not the other way around, you need to show it who's in charge!"

The voice faded away, Izuku was left alone again with a crazy, feral eyed, tendril using quirk user, and the sludge villain.

The tendrils whipped around violently, aiming at the villain just out of reach, one aiming at the bomb even further out of reach, and the rest at the column he was stuck on.

Izuku realized, Banjo was right, blackwhip was a personification of his racing mind. He couldn't focus on everything at once, but he kept trying, resulting in his mistakes.

"Hey! Listen to me! We need to focus on one thing at a time!"

The tendrils didn't listen, they kept lashing out.

"I said listen! All you have to do is relax and release your grip on the column, not destroy it! We can't get anywhere unless we do that first!"

They won't listen.

'Now what? I'm still trapped. I'm more tied up than that time Himiko kidnapped me.'

Izuku's eyes widened. 'That's it!'

He struggled underneath his captors' hold, shifting his arms against the grip, until he finally grabbed what he was looking for.

From his chest, a serrated knife poked through the bondage and cut through blackwhip, freeing Izuku. Izuku landed on the ground and got back up on his feet.

"Yes! Looks like the real Chekov's gun were the engagements we- Oh, you just broke my knife…"

The knife was snapped in two by blackwhip, Izuku stood his ground. Both him and the quirk were staring at each other, Izuku realized that blackwhip was planning to tie him up again. The quirk moved to attack.

Izuku used his right hand, the hand with only one tendril aiming for the bomb, and grabbed his left arm at the base of the tendrils. The tendrils stopped momentarily.

"You…listen…to me now!"

The tendrils attacked again. But Izuku activated Full Cowl to strengthen his hold, bruising his left arm. Blackwhip backed away in pain.

"I said… you listen to me now…" Izuku gritted his teeth.

The tendrils stopped, they retreated back into his arms until they were as short and calm as when they first appeared.

Izuku sighed.

"Do all sentient shadow quirks go crazy with strong emotions, or is it just mine?"

'I mean, technically semi sentient… 'quasi sentient'? What would be the proper term?'

Then he remembered the sludge villain, Izuku turned back around and realized the villain was almost done reforming its eyes.

"Wow, I guess his eyes really are his only weakness…" He needed to stop the villain, and thankfully he had a better weapon than his backpack.

Izuku spotted a discarded roulette wheel. He smirked with new found confidence and launched a tendril at the wheel.

Then missed.

With less confidence, he aimed again and grabbed the wheel with blackwhip. "Yes!"

He yanked the wheel towards him, but he used too much force and the wheel hit him square on the head. "Ow…"

The villain was done reforming, "There you are!"

Izuku gulped, then aimed blackwhip at a chair, carefully he aimed his shot and threw the chair at the villain's face.

Then missed it completely.

"I'm going to die here…"


All Might gritted his teeth in pain, between the building and tanking all those rockets he was beginning to lose steam.

The villain stopped his onslaught after what felt like forever. "Ahh! I've never shot this many rockets before! You don't quit do you?!"

All Might couldn't hold his form any longer and poofed back into a skeleton, he was hidden from the cars on the other side of the highway with the black smoke surrounding them.

"Ugh! What the hell is that?! Now I know why heroes are supposed to retire early! Woah-!"

Suddenly the beast was thrown at him, crushing him under the weight. "...Ow."

Tohru walked up to All Might in her human form. "Hey, are you okay?"

Toshinori coughed some blood, "Yeah, just need a breather…"

"With what lungs?"

Toshinori couldn't help but chuckle at that.

Suddenly the beast got back up and roared, it lunged towards them.

Tohru shot a death glare, her teeth grit, she pulled back her leg and kicked the beast high up into the air.

"Ahhhh!" The beast roared, as it disappeared.

"That's not going to keep it down." Tohru said. "I have to- hng!" She was about to jump after him but winced in pain.

Toshinori noticed why she stopped, "Your wing! It's torn up!"

Tohru checked her wing, "Damn that's right, he got my wing. It's going to take a while to regenerate. I mean, I have flight magic, but it's really my wings that do most of the work…"

Toshinori looked back up at the sky. "Throw me up there."

"What?" Tohru asked. "Aren't you out of time?"

"I think I've got enough for one last attack. That's all I need."

Tohru nodded, "Fine, I have less qualms throwing you I guess."

"By the way, I really only have a few seconds left, so when I'm done I'm going to need you to catch- Me!"

Toshinori was sent flying into the air, past the beast and right above it. He took the time to see the view. He's never been so high up without One for All before. He's forgotten about this feeling of being free. But he had a job to finish.

He started falling, he puffed up and did a couple front flips, "California-!"

The beast was directly beneath him, watching in horror.

"Smash!"

Then was sent hurtling towards the ground.

The lanky villain coughed from his spot on the ground. "...Ow. Everything hurts… Well, at least it can't get any worse…"

He heard a distant roaring growing louder.

"Oh, my… God…"

The villain duo were finally defeated, left in a crater at the entrance of an amusement park.


Izuku found swinging and dodging a lot easier with Full Cowl, however he also had to focus on his control of blackwhip. Focusing on the two was giving him some mental strain.

He was at least able to lash out blackwhip if the villain got too close. 'But I can't keep this up forever! I need to stop him and get the bomb- Oh crap! The bomb!'

Idly he remembered about the bomb, making him lose focus for a bit, the villain grabbed a hold of him in his arm.

"Gotcha!"

Izuku panicked and lashed out blackwhip, but his loss of focus made the attack weaker than before. He couldn't get out of the villain's grip.

The villain cackled as it brought Izuku closer to him.

Izuku's mind raced, trying to think of an idea, he looked towards the bomb again. He had an idea.

While one arm kept lashing out tendrils, he used the other arm to launch a tendril at the chandelier. He yanked himself towards the chandelier but was stopped by the villain's strong grip.

"Ha! I'm not letting you go!" The villain taunted.

But Izuku accounted for that. The tendrils that were lashing out at the villain were actually grabbing a hold of him. Izuku powered up Full Cowl a bit more and yanked once again towards the chandelier. This time swinging him and the villain towards the center of the casino.

The villain was shocked at being picked up in his semi liquid form. His grip slipped and he fell towards the floor, directly underneath the chandelier.

"How did you-?! Get down here!"

He lashed out at Izuku again. Izuku dodged, resulting in the villain hitting the chandelier. Izuku had another idea.

As the villain continued attacking the chandelier, Izuku started destroying the wires that were attaching it to the ceiling with blackwhip.

"What the hell are you even doing up there?!" The villain asked. Only to get his answer when the chandelier fell from the ceiling towards him.

"Oh crap-!" The villain was splattered all over the ground, underneath the shattered remains of the chandelier.

Izuku landed on his feet, away from the remains, he turned back to look at the villain.

The sludge quivered then started reforming, covering the remains of the chandelier in gunk, until it fully reformed into the villain once again.

But Izuku accounted for that as well.

Izuku smirked as the villain checked himself over, "Did I just swallow a suitcase-?!"

Then the bomb blew up, splattering the villain all over the casino floor and walls.

Izuku released a heavy sigh of relief, he crouched down and let himself relax. Blackwhip receding back into his arms until they disappeared completely.

"I have to throw up…" He managed to swallow it down. That's where he stayed, with his eyes closed, thinking about everything that just happened.

There was a shifting noise around him, but he ignored it, the explosion most likely shook the building too much.

'Did I just… kill him? Seems hypocritical of me to stop blackwhip earlier…'

He heard a slimy noise around him, he couldn't ignore that.

He forced his eyes open, the bits and pieces of slime were moving again, headed towards the center, the gunk bringing pieces of rubble, splinters, glass with them.

"No…"

The villain started to slowly reform again, with sharp pieces poking out. The rubble gave him a bigger form than before. The villain moaned in pain and anger through a mouth hole filled with cracked teeth and wooden splinters.

"You… I'll kill you!" The villain was an unstable mess of sewage and rubble, taking up the entire space of the casino floor.

Izuku shook in fear, he was petrified, he never saw an abomination like this before. He tried summoning blackwhip, but it wouldn't come out.

The villain roared, causing the building to shake again.

From off to the side, there was rubble that moved to reveal a hidden entrance. From within Izuku spotted trapped civilians.

"What is that?!"

"Are the heroes here yet?!"

One of the civilians spotted Izuku.

"Please help us!" They pleaded.

The villain couldn't see straight with popped and gushing eyeballs, in its rage it lashed out at the first thing it heard.

The abomination lunged at the trapped civilians, roaring with rage.

Izuku's body moved on its own.

He planted himself in front of the villain, pulled back a fist, summoned One for All at full power into his right arm and punched with everything he had.

"SMASH!"


When the villain was placed in his prison cell he had a crowd of criminals surrounding him, asking about how he managed to survive a full powered attack from All Might himself back in Japan. The villain would mention that it was actually the second time he survived an attack from him.

They believed him, then they asked how he got caught once again.

The villain responded, "I was hit with an even stronger punch…"


From within the darkness, a council was held.

Banjo was seated at the side of a table. "Okay, I can see everybody is mad, but… What'd you think~?"

The other members seated at the table exchanged glances but did not speak.

From one end of the table a figure spoke. "Ninth is not ready for blackwhip and you know it. You had no right doing what you did."

"Would you rather the kid die?! If it wasn't for blackwhip he would have never defeated that villain!" Banjo retorted. "Besides, he was able to use it, somewhat… His body wasn't ripped apart-"

"I didn't mean he wasn't ready physically, I meant mentally. Lil' Ninth's hidden rage is still unstable. Pair that with his dragon(ish?) blood …He's not ready for it."

"I'm sorry, but did we both see the same thing?! He managed to control it in such a short amount of time, and it's way past his bedtime. We've all seen his memories, that kid gets weird when he's sleep deprived. Imagine what he could do with a clear head!"

The other members were left in silence, thinking about Banjo's words. But they still didn't agree with him.

"Trust me, if you were in my place, y'all woulda done the same! I bet if the kid is put in another situation where he would need your quirks, you guys would give it to him without hesitation! If we can help then we should help, it's what heroes do, right First?"

The members turned to look at the only other member that was speaking.

First started thinking, then shrugged, "Well, it's not like we can get rid of the blackwhip. Let's hope that Ninth can handle what we throw at him."


Author's note: First Arc done... Boy I... kinda rushed the endings six chapters in a row, huh? Well whatever, I can only get better with practice right?

Right?


Omake

Copyright claim

Police: You're not only under arrest, but you're being sued for Copyright claim.

Rocketeer: That movie was from over a century ago! That name should be in the public domain by now!

Police: After they're resurgence, they managed to copyright claim every piece of work they've ever made for the next two centuries.

(Not) Rocketeer: (Shaking a fist to the sky) Damn You Disneeeeeee!

Engagement knife

Himiko: You broke it?!

Izuku: Blackwhip broke it (it also ripped your hoodie), and even though it's my subconscious I'm pretty sure there's no double meaning for what it did.

I'll make it up to you?

Himiko: Fine, just accept this knife and we're good.

Izuku: (Grabs the knife) Oh? What kind of knife is this?

Himiko: (Flirtatiously) It's a lover's knife~

Izuku: …can't complain, I guess…

Can't be too careful

Tohru: Did that red and white haired boy just take a picture of us?

Toshinori: Yeah… I've... kind of been ignoring that.

Brutal training

Toshinori: Kobayashi-san, don't you think you're being too harsh on the boy?

Tohru: Block this overhead!

Toshinori: Kobayashi-san!

Perfect timing

Banjo: That was incredible kid! How did you time the bomb explosion so perfectly?

Izuku: I didn't, I wasn't able to read the timer once that entire fight.

I refuse to give credit to luck.


Author's note: I think it's just me... but the giant villain's size felt inconsistent during that chase scene at the beginning of Two Heroes. Just assume he's the same size as Tohru's dragon form.

The lanky villain is only shown firing two rockets at a time, just assume he got ripped pumping iron in prison and can now shoot a volley.

Although I guess it doesn't really matter anymore for this story.