15/11/2022
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you are the greatest!
The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 25 - Unexpected Information
"What was that Dark Shadow?!" Tokoyami demanded as soon as he got into a private room. His quirk had been literally hiding in him and had refused to come out since the blue haired management student had glared at them.
"I won't go near that!"
Tokoyami frowned. He had no idea what was going on. "Near what?"
"I'm not going near that quirk killer!" Dark Shadow hissed.
"What?" Deliberately Tokoyami took a deep calming breath. Occasionally, this had happened before. For some reason Dark Shadow would just refuse to do something. He'd had to work it out slowly then, and he'd have to do the same now. "I don't understand what you mean," he said slowly to his quirk.
Sometimes it would be nice if his quirk wasn't sentient, then it would do what he wanted but… that would also mean he missed so much.
"I'm not going near that quirk killer," Dark Shadow repeated.
"What quirk killer?" Tokoyami asked, still being deliberately patient.
"The quirk killer! There were-" Dark Shadow stopped and examined him in the odd way his quirk did sometimes. "You didn't see them, did you?"
Tokoyami shook his head. "I haven't seen anything wrong," he confirmed for his quirk.
It was annoying but sometimes Dark Shadow said he saw things that Tokoyami knew weren't there.
"You didn't see the bodies around him?" Dark Shadow demanded.
Bodies? "You mean the ones you say are around All Might?"
"No!" Dark Shadow hissed. "Bodies! The ones around All Might are alive! These are dead!"
"I didn't see anything," Tokoyami repeated. "Please tell me?" He asked. They'd had a conversation earlier in the year, after their first lesson with All Might. Dark Shadow had wanted to know why no one talked to the other people who were with All Might.
He'd had to reply that there was no one standing with All Might but Dark Shadow had insisted there were eight other people standing there. Nothing he said could convince his quirk of anything else.
"The one with the blue hair," Dark Shadow explained. "The one at the front of the horse, there were bodies around him. Lots of bodies but there were some alive too," his quirk added, seeming confused about that.
Tokoyami said nothing as he waited for his quirk to continue.
"It was different from the one you call All Might. Those were happy to be there. These…" Dark Shadow paused, considering something.
"These?" Tokoyami prompted when nothing more was forthcoming.
"The alive ones seemed happy, even with the bodies," his quirk said. "I don't know what that means," Dark Shadow added.
"Are you saying that Management Student has a quirk like All Might's?" Tokoyami asked carefully. That was really all he could think of. If All Might supposedly had people standing with him and this Mitei Chui had bodies but with some alive, then maybe their quirks were similar. No one really knew what All Might's quirk was beyond super strength and Mitei Chui hadn't shown his quirk, except he had proven he was strong. But he could just be strong because of training.
"Like," Dark Shadow agreed. "But different. He's a quirk killer."
They were back to that. Tokoyami sighed softly and he didn't think he was going to get anything more from his quirk. "He's a management student," he reassured Dark Shadow, "and he's pulled out of the last event, so we won't be near him." That was the best he could do.
Dark Shadow seemed to consider it for a few minutes before he nodded. Tokoyami breathed a sigh of relief. He hoped his quirk knew that was the best he could do for now and for later… Well, maybe there was nothing wrong with Mitei Chui or maybe there was…
He'd remember this.
-ted-
Ochaco sat in the room. She could admit to herself she was a little surprised that she'd gotten through to the final. No that wasn't it. She'd qualified in the first event and since the second event was in teams, it made sense for her to join with people she knew.
What she was surprised about was how strong Izuku really was. She knew he was fit. She knew he could fight and she'd seen that. She'd seen him fight Gatarui but watching him in the event… There'd been something different about her friend. Something colder. He'd been ruthless.
Some of that was probably because he wanted to see them get through. Some of it was…
Some of it was just Izuku, Ochaco admitted to herself. Her friend was kind, friendly and endlessly helpful but beneath all that, there was a core of steel in him. And a streak of- not callousness but ruthless practicality. There was a difference. He didn't often show it but when he did, it was usually about quirks and their functionality, mostly applied to how heroes failed to use their quirks to the best effect in some situations.
But he'd shown that streak today too. He'd gotten Hitoshi through to the finals without anyone being any the wiser about his quirk and all they knew about Mei was that she could build things. Which given she was a support course student meant they knew nothing at all. Izuku had carefully limited the number of babies she'd shown in the first two events, thus giving her the best chance to show off a multitude of them in the last event, which was when people would be looking anyway. Talent scouts didn't really focus on first years. Vlad had been clear on that, but when they did, they looked predominantly at the final event.
Maybe that's why she was feeling a little down? Despite their best efforts only 3 people from Class 1B had gotten into the final. Were they that much weaker than Class 1A? They couldn't be!
She couldn't focus on that but before she could push the thought from her mind, there was a knock on the door, accompanied by a soft call. "Ochaco?"
"Little Dragon?"
"May I come in?"
"Of course!" she answered and the door opened.
Izuku slipped in and she smiled at him. Ruthless or not, he was her friend and she knew he'd apply that for her. "How are you feeling?" Izuku asked.
"Good," Ochaco replied. "I'm not sick at all!" she added.
He gave her a sharp look but then nodded, apparently satisfied with what he was seeing. "I thought of something," he told her.
"For what, Little Dragon?"
"Your quirk," he said brightly. "I thought about it when we were floating but not able to move," he explained.
"What do you mean?" Ochaco asked.
"When we were stuck. Mei's baby booties were gone and you were feeling sick," Izuku said. "We needed to be able to dodge and usually going up or down would be enough but we couldn't." Despite the fact that it was a direct comment about her ability there was no accusation. "I figured out a way for you to move things horizontally as well as vertically."
"You have?" She was surprised.
"Yep," Izuku confirmed, looking around. "It will take practice though," he added.
"How?" Ochaco demanded. Sometimes it was like Izuku knew her quirk better than she did.
He spotted some markers that had been left in the room next to a board. He went to the board and started drawing. "Usually you lift things up and down, and if you want them to move horizontally you simply give them a push, right?" he summarised, drawing what looked to be a small rock and adding arrows to it.
"Yes," Ochaco agreed. That's how she practiced before she came to UA. She'd lift concrete bags, bars, anything that was on the construction site and move it around. The lifting she took care of with her quirk, the moving part she did by gently guiding everything to where it needed to go.
"Now this isn't something you can use for delicate things, but it's more for attack. What if you hit this rock," he said, tapping the picture with one of the markers, "with another rock, but slightly offside?" Izuku drew in a second rock, and put a downward arrow on it so that it intersected the first rock. He then drew an arrow from the first rock going off to the side. "Basically you are ricocheting them around, or… three dimensional pool," he added.
"Pool?" Ochaco asked. What did a swimming pool have to do with this?
"Pool," Izuku repeated. "Billiards," he said a different word.
Ochaco shook her head. "I don't know what that is."
"It's a game you play by hitting balls with another ball. You get the first balls to go off on angles by hitting them offside."
She thought about that for a few moments. It kind of made sense. "I'd have to be careful," Ochaco said slowly but she'd also have to look up what billiards was.
"And you will need to practice," Izuku added. "But the rock used to hit the first one wouldn't need to be heavy…. Or maybe it will if you want it to move fast enough… But the other thing you could do, is just before the rock hits is cancel your quirk. The momentum will continue and since it's heavier, it will do more damage."
Ochaco nodded. "And I could hit from any angle," she added, thinking about the suggestion. "But I am going to have to practice that," she agreed.
Izuku smiled and nodded. "How are you feeling?" He asked, as he wiped off the board.
"I told you, I'm fine," she replied, looking confused.
"No, no, I meant about the matches."
"Oh." She sighed. "I'm not Monoma. He hates 1A with a passion but… I'm a little disappointed that the tournament looks like their class list," she admitted.
Izuku laughed. "There's three from 1B isn't there?" He confirmed.
"And Hitoshi and Mei and you should be there too, Little Dragon," she told him.
He shook his head. "I'd get too competitive, and, you know, I don't want to be a hero. It's better to let them show off," he said.
Ochaco looked at her oldest friend. "I'm glad you can say that," she told him.
"What do you mean?"
She smiled at him. "You are willing to give them a go as heroes," Ochaco explained.
"Oh," Izuku nodded. "Some of them will probably be terrible heroes. The type with shitty stats but, hopefully some can be revolutionary heroes like you," he explained.
"Hopefully," she agreed before sighing. "Little Dragon," Ochaco began slowly. "Right near the end… I was about to drop us but then we seemed to get lighter," she said.
Izuku just looked at her. He knew what had happened. He'd used Kilo on himself. "Second wind?" he offered the explanation.
"Maybe," she said but didn't sound convinced.
"You rallied because we were near the end?" He gave another explanation.
"How is that any different?" Ochaco laughed.
"It's a bit," Izuku defended.
She sighed again, and Izuku saw her put the matter aside. "Yeah, it was probably something like that. Or just the fact I didn't want to drop everyone."
"You are stronger than you know," he confirmed for her but before he could say anything further a buzzer sounded.
"That's the warning for the first round," Ochaco told him.
"Hitoshi!" Izuku said.
"We should go watch," she said.
"We should," Izuku agreed, moving to the door. He opened it for his friend and Ochaco giggled.
She felt better for seeing her friend but there were still some nerves… but that was to be expected. She only hoped that she could make him proud.
-ted-
"Hitoshi!" Ochaco called as they approached their friend. He was standing in the shadows near the opening to the arena.
Izuku smiled at his friend when he turned to them. "Sorry I didn't see you earlier!"
"It's okay," Hitoshi allowed. "It's not really this match I'm worried about," he confessed.
Izuku glanced up at the board, looking at the matches. Hitoshi was up against someone from Class 1A. Then the next two rounds were all between Class 1A. Mei's round, which was fourth, was again against Class 1A, as was the fifth match. The sixth, seventh and eighth matches were 1B v 1A. Ochaco was in the last round.
"You'll be fine," Izuku reassured him. "You don't have to win," he said to them both. "Just show everyone what you can do," he explained. "And really, as a potential hero here, do you really want to show off everything you can do?"
"It's only first year!" Ochaco objected.
"Yeah, but the Festival is still one of the biggest viewing events for Japanese Television," he reminded them. "That includes Japanese villains."
"You didn't have to remind me of that," Ochaco said, looking slightly sick again.
Izuku laughed lightly. "You'll both do fine. Just getting here means you are good."
"You got me here," Hitoshi objected.
He shrugged. "Teamwork is an accepted tactic," he dismissed the claim. "And Hitoshi, just by being here, in this tournament, you will raise questions about the testing and everything else but beyond that, I want you both to remember something," Izuku said seriously.
"What?"
"You both deserve to be here," he told them firmly. "It doesn't matter what anyone else says. You both deserve to be here. You got here, so you deserve it. It doesn't matter how you got here. Luck, teamwork, whatever. You are here, and that's qualification enough."
Ochaco actually chuckled at that. "Yeah!" she agreed, pumping one hand. "And Hitoshi, win or lose, I know that my class will love you."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Because you being here means 1A's not," she told him. "And if you can take out some of them… Monoma will probably nag Vlad until he gets you a position in his class."
Hitoshi didn't laugh at that, but Izuku did.
"You'll both be fine," he reassured them. "Win or lose, you will both be fine. I know you will."
That seemed to calm Hitoshi, which was good because Midnight called him out to the stage. "Give 'em hell!" Ochaco cheered as Izuku smiled at his friend. Hitoshi looked relieved as he stepped forward and the crowd roared. It was a noticeably louder cheer than it was for the other student.
Izuku chuckled at that. "He's got crowd support."
"Yeah," Ochaco agreed. "With so many from 1A, I guess they don't know who to cheer for."
"I think it's more that Hitoshi is showing them you don't have to be a hero to do great things," he countered.
"He is the underdog."
"Really?" Izuku objected. "After all my work!" he muttered with mock disappointment.
"After all your work!" Ochaco agreed with a laugh.
"Do you want to find somewhere to watch from?" Izuku asked. He wasn't sure how long they had but from previous Sport's Festivals some of the announcers loved taking their time to explain the rules.
"After Hitoshi's match," Ochaco said, gesturing towards the arena.
Midnight had actually stepped back, allowing both of the combatants to step forward. Obviously Midnight wasn't one of those announcers who loved the sound of their own voices. The match was beginning so they couldn't go anywhere.
Izuku laughed. "Yeah… time for the reveal," he announced to no one.
Ochaco gave him a look before she twigged. "Yeah," she agreed. "Time to see the quirk behind first place."
He nodded and then the bell chimed.
The match was on.
-ted-
A bit of a cruel place to leave it but I have to build tension somehow since Izuku is not in the rounds. And yes, Dark Shadow noticed something about Izuku and All Might that worries him. Be afraid little shadow be very very afraid :D
My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all!
-ted-
Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!
