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"One for All: Full Cowling! 15 %!"

Ozpin smiled as emerald lightning crackled across Izuku's form, the young man crouching as he prepared to launch himself forward. The headmaster raised his cane into a fencing stance, ready to deal with what came next.

"Begin," he instructed.

Immediately, Izuku rocketed forward, faster than any non-licensed huntsman had any right to move. His right leg swept through the air towards the professor's head, his black cleat rushing to cave in his skull.

Ozpin dipped back, tapping into his semblance to step through time itself, easily avoiding the blow and ducking under the shockwave that tore forth afterward. He smacked his cane into Izuku's leg, not as an attack but to guide the limb away and prevent a follow-up strike.

"Your name sounds strange," he suddenly said, thrusting his cane towards Izuku's absorbed back. "Why doesn't it follow the color rule?"

His thrust stabbed into Izuku's back, but the young boy moved with the force of the blow and rolled forward to escape the immediate flurry of follow-up attacks. He curled back to his feet and whirled around to face the professor again.

"It does," he responded, his aura flashing along with his lightning, his breath just a tad shorter. "It's old Mistralian for 'green valley'."

"How interesting," Ozpin parroted, dodging the rapid series of less sweeping, but more clumsy kicks that came after. "Are you from Mistral? Why attend Beacon then?"

"My parents were from Mistral. But they moved to Vale before I was born," Midoriya countered, taking a swipe of the cane on his elbow and then lashing out with a punch. Having gotten used to the boy's kicks, Ozpin actually wasn't able to completely dodge it, forcing him to sacrifice quite a bit of aura to the glancing blow. "We moved from settlement to settlement, trying to keep ahead of the Grimm. Eventually, we weren't fast enough. I was the only survivor."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's alright. It was a long time ago."

Again, Ozpin smiled. It had only been a week since he had met the aspiring hero from another world and already the green-haired boy had proven himself to be an exceptionally fast learner. While the gods had done them the favor of hardwiring Izuku's new brain to read and write the common language of the humanity, they had not seen fit to grant him any general knowledge of Remnant such as recent kingdom history or common cultural customs, things that any person off the street would know. And find strange in the absence of another. It would raise quite a few eyebrows if someone said they were from Vacuo and Midoriya didn't know they lived in a desert.

Thus, one part of their intensive crash course was going over both Bartholomew's sparser history study guides and Peter's collection of autobiographical novellas to give the young hero some basic understanding of the new world he'd found himself in. And, if the boy's muttering was to be believed, he was absorbing it quite well.

A bit more complicated task was the adaptation of his fighting style to aura, which Ozpin had unlocked at the first available opportunity. For sure there were astounding benefits to combining the energy of the soul with Izuku's 'quirk' One for All. From what the young man had told him, he had only just become able to safely use eight percent of his power's strength back in his home world, but with aura's boost to his body's endurance that portion nearly doubled, to say nothing of what he might be able to do if he pushed himself. Given the tremendous ability he'd shown already, the headmaster shuddered to think what the boy would be able to do with a hundred percent of his power.

That said, such a phenomenon would not be happening any time in the near future. While Izuku could push himself farther as long as his aura was active, that still required conscious effort to keep it active. Prospective huntsmen trained for years in combat schools until maintaining the energy field around them was second nature, but Midoriya had not. He had to meticulously maintain his aura while at the same time measuring the precise output of his Full Cowl to make sure he did not overload his limbs if the energy of the soul were to falter. Each of those tasks was a trial in and of themselves, but to handle both at once? In the middle of life or death combat? Given the boy's constant distracted mutterings, one might think he wouldn't have the mental fortitude for the feat.

But even with only a week of training under his belt, it was clear Izuku Midoriya could do it. Every spar, Ozpin quizzed him on Remnant and his public place in it, testing his concentration as far as they could, catching him off-guard as one of his two controls floundered. And every spar, the young boy improved, holding both his quirk and his aura for longer and longer bursts. If he only intended to use one of the two, there was no doubt in the headmaster's mind that the boy could handle it with ease for as long as he needed to. And when he finally did master controlling both his powers simultaneously, there was no doubt in Ozpin's mind that he would be one of the finest warriors on Remnant.

And if he could master all of One for All, perhaps he might be able to put an end to Salem once and for—

No! No, he couldn't think like that. Not only did he know for a fact that the Queen could not be destroyed by conventional means such as pure strength, but he had no right to use Izuku as a weapon in their war. He was a child, as were his friends, who'd been unjustly ripped out of their world. He may not have known what exactly Salem hoped to achieve through such an extravagant action, but it was his responsibility to get these children home as soon as possible, not try to exploit them as she did.

Besides, if she wanted at least some of them here, getting them home was the surest way to thwart her plans.

"That's enough for now, Izuku," Ozpin called out, lowering his cane. "The rest of the prospective students will be arriving soon and we'll both have to look presentable."

The sweat covered boy panted as the emerald lightning evaporated from his body. "I'm still not getting it. I need to get better at maintaining them both at once."

"When you first used your quirk and your aura at the same time, you overshot your speed and ran into a wall," Ozpin reminded him. He strode over to the green-haired young man and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Now, you can use that strength just fine. You've made more progress in a week with aura than many make in years. Those I reincarnate into have my instincts to help them and it still takes them a month on average. You mustn't judge yourself so harshly, Mr. Midoriya."

"Maybe not, but if I don't pass initiation, it won't matter how many of the others show up here," Izuku pointed out. "I can't just hang around the school if I'm not a student. That'd be suspicious."

Ozpin smiled. "From what Glynda told me of your arrival and what I've seen since, you are more than capable of passing initiation as you are."

"Are you sure? What if I encounter a Geist? Or a Wyvern? Or a Leviathan!?" Izuku asked frantically. "I mean, at 100% I think I could handle any of those, but then my limbs would break, and just because this body doesn't have the scarring my old one did doesn't mean I should go back to breaking everything—"

"I doubt that will be necessary," Ozpin interrupted, giving the young man a soft squeeze on the shoulder to cut off his ramblings. Perhaps giving him Bane of Humanity: Grimm Species Across Remnant hadn't been the best idea. "Dr. Oobleck and Professor Port checked the Emerald Forest last night. There are no Geists and certainly no Wyverns or Leviathans in there. At worst, you may come across an abnormally large Nevermore."

"Oh," Izuku remarked, instantly deflating with a sigh. "That's… good, I suppose."

Ozpin did not envy the young man's anxiety. He would have let Izuku into Beacon without the initiation, but when he was making the likes of Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee go through it, skipping over the exam for him would only draw attention to the boy who had apparently came from nowhere. And though the press' thoughts on the abnormality would mean little to either of them, darker eyes would also be drawn to the event.

Just as he watched the shadows and frontiers for any hint of her advances, Salem kept a keen and scrutinizing eye on everything he and his allies did. It was why he and Izuku had decided to enroll him in Beacon as a supposedly normal student instead of simply checking the roster for any of his friends and then sending him to the other academies to do the same. If the Queen of the Grimm saw him suddenly sending a young man from one academy to the next, she would pounce on him, claiming his friends as well if they were found. And the recent attack on Amber proved nothing if not that even their most secret routes were not safe from their enemy's reach.

So, they would act with subtlety and patience. Izuku had looked over the files on Beacon's current student body and confirmed that his friends were not among them, nor the roster lists they'd requested from the other academies. Now, he would only need to join the incoming batch of prospective students and search through them for any of the reincarnates, doing the same for the other academies' new classes when they arrived for the Vytel Festival later that year.

And if they were not among them? If Izuku's hunch that his friends would never want to be anything but heroes was wrong?

Well… they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

"Keep heart, Mr. Midoriya," Ozpin encouraged him, feigning a smile he didn't feel. "The task before you is indeed momentous, but not impossible. Your friends are here on Remnant somewhere. If not as huntsmen, then in some other occupation."

"But what if I don't get to them fast enough?" Izuku said. "What if Salem finds them first? What if she tricks them into becoming villains? What if she's already found them?"

"If she had, I suspect there would be a great deal more chaos going on in the world," Ozpin replied. "But the Queen will not be the one to find them all first, you will. Have faith, Izuku. You have not failed. You've only just begun."

The boy looked up, his face scrunched in worry, his fears obviously not wholly soothed. But, after a few moments, he managed to flash the headmaster a reassuring smile.

Ozpin recognized it. He had shown many that very same grin countless times over the millennia, seeking to reassure them that the danger setting upon them was well in hand, that there was nothing to fear. Alas, he also knew that too often that such a face beguiled a mind frantically flailing for a solution they did not know existed.

"I better get going then," Izuku declared, marching towards the arena's exit. "The relics will be at the ancient ruins, right?"

"Ah, yes," Ozpin confirmed. While he could not allow Mr. Midoriya in without the initiation, that did not mean he could not give the young hero other advantages. Foreknowledge of the test's parameters and a map of the Emerald Forest for instance. Really, with his skills and abilities, the only challenge might be the initial drop—

Oh, that might be important.

"Mr. Midoriya," the headmaster called, the boy turning back to face him. "Just to make sure, you do have a landing strategy, correct?"

Another difference in the educational requirements of their worlds. Another basic that any potential Beacon student was supposed to have learned at combat school was the landing strategy. A huntsman would not always be able to choose how they entered a combat zone, and it was crucial that they were prepared for an aerial drop-off. Ozpin took perhaps more joy than he should have in throwing the prospectives off the cliff, but he would not have dared risk so many lives if he did not think they could handle it.

When he had mentioned that part of the trial, Mr. Midoriya had paled, confessing that his school's curriculum had not covered such a subject. Ozpin had offered to get him a parachute, but Izuku had asked to be given the time to make one so they wouldn't have to risk blowing their ruse.

Fortunately, the young man gave him a thumbs up. "Don't worry, professor. I've got it covered."

He went back on his way to the showers, and Ozpin hoped dearly that he was right. His war with Salem had been a grueling crusade, one that ultimately, he had to fight alone. Every time he'd previously revealed the full scope of what humanity was facing to anyone, the best-case scenario was them abandoning the battle as Raven had done when she'd learned the truth. At worst, his former allies saw their defeat as inevitable and flocked to the Queen's banner out of self-preservation.

In some ways, that made Izuku a breath of fresh air for the ancient wizard. The boy may not have known the precise details of Ozma and Salem's past, but he was fully aware of the scope of the latter's power and the titanic mission that had been set at the former's feet. And yet, while he was certainly burdened and terrified by the weight of that conflict, as well as his own herculean task, he pressed on, as Ozpin had done for longer than he could remember.

And just like he had wondered about himself more than once, he could not help but worry that Izuku did not have it nearly as 'covered' as he was trying to portray.


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Izuku did not have anything as covered as he was trying to portray. Well, not exactly. He had figured out a landing strategy.

But the rest of it was completely outside his control! Now that he'd had a week on Remnant, it had truly sunken in what kind of crazy death world he'd walked into. There were only four major countries on the planet and most of them only had one or two major metropolises, and a smattering of outlying settlements that disappeared so often most weren't even on the maps. The entire planet was overrun by an endless horde of demonic monsters that didn't eat or sleep, and most of the population didn't even know about the immortal witch behind it all.

He didn't think tracking down his friends down among an entire planet would be anything approaching easy, but from where he stood it was practically impossible! If they'd been reincarnated into the wrong place on Remnant, they could have already been killed by Grimm before they were old enough for whose soul was in their body to matter, let alone make their way to a huntsmen academy or even be found by Salem! And here he was, sitting still just hoping that the Gods' words that they were still the same people underneath meant they would try to be the closest thing in this messed up world to a professional hero! He should be going out into the world, trekking across Remnant until… until…

… until he was eventually overwhelmed and killed by Grimm.

He took a deep, calming breath, throngs of prospective Beacon students passing him by. He was supposed to be checking them out, seeing if any of them looked like his friends, but… but he needed a moment. All week he'd thrown himself into learning about Remnant, creating his cover identity, getting used to his aura and the advantages it gave to his quirk. He had pushed all the trepidation he'd felt upon arrival to the back of his mind with the small glimmer of hope teaming up with Ozpin had granted him, but now that the moment of action had come it was all flooding back.

But he had to push through, just like All Might would. If his friends were already dead… well, then there was nothing he could do for them now. But he had to believe that they'd beaten the odds, that they'd survived whatever struggles they'd faced on Remnant and arrived at a huntsmen academy. Then he would find them, no matter what. It wasn't like his classmates were any good at keeping a low profile—

"Excuse me, can you please stop muttering? I'm trying to read."

"Oh, sorry," Izuku sheepishly replied. "Sometimes I just can't keep my thoughts in my head, I suppose."

After Ozpin's speech, the prospective students had been led to the ballroom to spend the night, everyone's sleeping bags spread out through the massive room. Izuku wouldn't be able to walk around without stepping on people's toes, so he'd situated himself at the corner of the room best suited to observe everyone else in order to search for his friends.

Strangely enough, he had not been the first to claim the area.

As such, he now found himself the target of the amber glare of the girl who'd beaten him to it. She was dressed in an elegant kimono, her black hair falling behind her like the depths of the sea where no sunlight could reach, a dark bow atop her head completing the inky ensemble. Like him, she was sat against the wall, though unlike him, she had an open book in her hands.

Wait. A book, long black hair, natural elegance, and an apparently stony demeanor. That sounded like Yaoyorozu! Granted, she was hardly a dead ringer, but the gods had said their souls would make them resemble themselves, they didn't say they would look exactly the same. Maybe he'd made his first success without even realizing it.

"So, I guess I never introduced myself," he said, extending a friendly hand. "My name is Izuku Midoriya."

The dark-haired turned back to her book. "Blake."

"Blake. That's a nice name," Izuku replied, inwardly wishing it was Momo. It would make it so much easier to figure out if he was right if their names were the same. "So, um, what are you reading?"

"My book."

"Oh, that's nice. What's it about?"

Blake sighed. "It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control of his body."

"Really? That sounds great!"

"It is. And I would like to get back to reading it."

"Right, sorry. It's just it's been a while since I've had the time to read for fun. The last book I read was…" Izuku stopped cold. The last thing he'd read for fun had been his one hundred and forty-seventh read through of All Might: The Symbol We Don't Deserve but Need. But he couldn't talk about that because All Might didn't exist on Remnant! Which now that he thought about it was incredibly depressing.

Blake sighed, placing a bookmark in her place. "Look, Izuku, it has been a long day and tomorrow is probably going to be even longer. I would greatly appreciate it if you would just go back to spying on everyone else like you were doing and let me enjoy one of the few small times of piece I will have in between now and initiation."

Izuku cringed. He'd seen Momo get annoyed Mineta and Kaminari's antics enough to know that such calm fury wasn't her style. While she was more than capable of being calm under pressure, when only mildly irritated, she tended to outright blowup at the source.

But that was the Momo he knew. If Blake was her reincarnation, there was no telling what she could have gone through, what experiences had shaped her. She might have seen her parents slaughtered by Grimm or become a villain to survive and was now trying to find redemption… Alright, that might have been unlikely, but the fact was he didn't know. And if this wasn't Momo, then he was just aggravating a random girl who just wanted to relax before taking one of the most important tests of her life.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… wait, spying?" Izuku said. "I wasn't spying on everyone."

Blake rolled her eyes. "You were muttering about how no one here fit the physical descriptions in your head. Plus, the fact that you picked this spot to sleep, which has the best position to overlook the most possible angles of the ballroom."

"Well, when you put it like that, I guess it does sound a lot like spying," Izuku chuckled nervously. "But I was just trying to find some people I know, it wasn't anything untoward… wait, how did you know that this was the best place to overlook the room from?"

Blake's eyes widened, panic flickering through her eyes. Izuku thought he actually saw her bow twitch a bit, but that was probably just a trick of the light. Cloth didn't move like that.

"Well, um," she muttered. "I just… as a huntress, I always have to have a strategic grasp of my environment… since I want to be a huntress of course—"

"Hello!"

Whatever she was going to say was forgotten as both of them turned towards the overly cheerful voice that had called out to them. Both Izuku and Blake raised an eyebrow as a muscular girl with a mane of golden blond hair approached them, tugging behind her—

Izuku had to blink to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He certainly hadn't expected to see her again.


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Ruby had never expected to see him again.

Sure, she didn't think he'd get into any more trouble over the Torchwick incident than she did, but she certainly hadn't expected him to also be going to Beacon. He looked around her age, maybe a bit older, and she had gotten in two years early. Had Professor Ozpin also offered him early enrollment? That meant she wasn't the only one! She had normal knees! Or at least slightly less unusual knees!

Now, most people would expect such a revelation to calm her down, maybe lead to her trying to befriend him, something like that. Those people did not know Ruby Rose, weapons nut and introvert extraordinaire. Factoring in that the last time she saw Izuku Midoriya she accused him of being a criminal, tried to cut him in half with her scythe, and then got him arrested, she didn't think he would be in any way eager to see her again. And considering she'd already made one negative friend in Weiss and only one positive friend in Jaune, she was in no hurry to provoke his possible outrage.

Which of course meant that as soon as she expressed all this to Yang when she spotted him and the black-haired girl huddled together in the corner of the ballroom, her older sister promptly decided to drag her kicking and screaming into social interaction. Curses! You'd think she'd have learned better than to tell the blond dragon devil anything after fifteen years.

"I believe that you two may know my sweet little sister here," Yang grinned, shoving Ruby in front of the pair.

"I guess you could say that," Izuku said, cocking an eyebrow. "Red, right?"

"Uh, Ruby, actually," she corrected. "But you can call me Crater—actually just call me Ruby. And, I wanted to say sorry about last time. You know, thinking you were Neopolitan."

"That? Don't worry about it," he assured her with a smile. "I'm just sorry I wasn't able to help you catch that villain."

"No problem," Ruby replied, inwardly sighing in relief that he didn't hold a grudge. "He ran away from us before and next time we'll be fully trained huntsmen. We'll catch him."

"Right. So, how do you and Blake know each other?"

Blake? Oh, that was the black-haired girl's name. Ruby looked at her only to find the ninja girl's amber eyes narrowed at her, as if trying to place her.

"Aren't you that girl who exploded?" she asked eventually.

"Exploded?" Izuku said, his eyes locking onto Ruby with new interest.

"Well, sort of. It wasn't my fault!" she protested. She didn't want her possible new friend to think of her as Crater Face.

"How exactly did you explode?" Izuku inquired. "Do you have a semblance that does it? No, yours was that rose petal speed you used at the dust shop. That means it was something else, right? Were you sweating when you exploded?"

"Uh, a girl waved some fire dust in my face and I sneezed on it," Ruby answered, cocking an eyebrow. "Sweating?"

Yang leaned into her ear. "You sure this guy's alright?"

Izuku instantly deflated, sinking back into the wall. "Sorry, it's… it's a long story."

"I know how that feels. I have a long story right here," Blake said, holding up a black book. "That I will continue to read. As soon as you all leave."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I think these two might be lost causes, Rubes."

"Aw," Izuku sighed.

"What's it about?" Ruby asked Blake. "The book, I mean."

Blake sighed. "A man with two souls, both noble but fighting for control of his body."

"That sounds awesome."

"That's what I said," Izuku chuckled. Even Blake cracked a small smile at that. There, that was her opening. Stories was how she would connect with these two and maybe get to borrow that book later.

"I love books," Ruby pressed on. "Stories about heroes, and monsters, and knights. It's part of the reason I want to be a huntress."

"Why's that?" Blake mocked. "Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"

"Well, I'm hoping we all will. Ever since I was a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books, someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves."

For a moment, she worried she might have blown it, gotten too far away from books and dived too much into her big huntress hopes and dreams. But, as soon as the words left her mouth, she saw Izuku and Blake's smiles widen.

"That's very ambitious for a child," Blake complimented. Immediately after though, an air of regret came over her face. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

"Well, that's why we're here," Ruby declared. "To make it better."

"To save people with a smile."

"Huh?" Ruby cocked an eyebrow. She, Blake, and Yang all turned to Izuku, who suddenly went bright red at their attention. "What do you mean?"

"Why would you be smiling that people need to be saved?" Yang asked. "That's kind of creepy, dude."

"What? No, that's not what I meant," Izuku sighed. He took a deep breath and then looked up at the three girls. "You see, there's… a huntsman that I admire. A great hero, who protected the innocent with everything he had, always ensuring that whatever threatened them, whether it was villains or Grimm or disasters, would not hurt them. He would save them with a huge smile on his face. Because as long as he was there, they would be saved. And everyone, who knew about him of course, knew that as well. That there was nothing to fear as long as he was there."

A huntsman who protected everyone with a smile? Whose very presence made people feel safe? A white cloak fluttered through Ruby's mind, warmth spreading through her heart.

"You really admire this guy, don't you?" Yang smirked, her wistful grin letting Ruby know her sister was thinking of the same person she was.

Izuku nodded, an excited smile spreading across his face. "I do. I want to become like him, a hero who saves everyone."

"Everyone?" Blake raised an eyebrow. "You don't really think you can save everyone, right?"

"Well, no. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try," Izuku replied. "At the very least, if I can save people, make people believe that I will always save them, then it might do more good even when I'm not physically there. After all, if villains believe there's no point in fighting me then they might not even risk committing their crimes, or people could feel safe in their everyday lives."

"You could keep the Grimm away! If everyone felt completely safe, there would be no negativity to attract them," Ruby gasped. "That's incredible!"

"It's certainly ambitious," Yang said, shooting Izuku a respectful smirk. "But do you really think you can pull it off, Green Bean?"

"Green Bean?"

"Of course he can do it!" Ruby declared.

Logically, she understood that the feat her new friend was describing would be highly improbable at best, but she couldn't help it. The passion in his voice, the determination, it was inspiring. The idea that someone could become so strong, so skilled, so genuinely amazing as a hero that they were able to help people just by existing was so alluring, a pure wish to help others. And Izuku seemed so earnest when he spoke of it. Ruby had grown up in a loving family with a stable home life, but between her mother's death and dad and Uncle Qrow's issues, she was more than aware of the darker aspects of the world. Blake was a hundred percent correct that life wasn't a fairy tale.

But, like she'd said, that was why they were there, why she was here at Beacon. To make it better. And Izuku's dream, it sounded like it could make things a whole lot better. Who knew he was such a cool guy?

"Thanks, Ruby," he said, sharing a smile with her. "Though, there is something I have to handle first—"

"What in the world is going on here? Don't you know some of us are trying to sleep?"

Ruby froze the moment she heard the shrill voice, dreading the inevitable sight even as she turned to face her.

"Oh no, not you again!" she and Weiss Schnee both yelled at each other.

"Why am I not surprised that you're the one causing this racket?" the heiress growled.

"Hey, don't talk like that to my sister!" Yang shouted back. "What's your problem anyway?"

"She's a hazard to my health!"

"You waved fire dust in her face!"

"She knocked over my fire dust!"

"SHUT THE FUCKING HELL UP!"

Ruby slammed her hands against her ears as the deafening roar tore through the ballroom. Everyone, not just her, Weiss, Yang, Blake, and Izuku, but everyone, whirled around to the edge of the chamber where the booming demand had originated from.

There, sitting up in a ragged, patchwork sleeping bag with a sizable radius of empty floor around him, was a faunus boy with sharp wolf ears and a messy head of pale blond hair. His blood-red eyes glared daggers at them, his face fixed in a rabid scowl.

Ruby couldn't help but cower under his fury, feeling like she was face-to-face with a hungry lion that she'd just woken up from its nap. Which, in a way she guessed they did. Like Weiss had said when she'd first charged in and become part of the problem, their conversation was hardly quiet.

Unfortunately, the heiress didn't seem to appreciate the foul-mouthed support for her original goal. "How dare you? I will not be spoken to so coarsely, you mangy ruffian—"

"Can it, Ice Bitch!"

"Excuse me?!"

"Okay!" Ruby interceded jumping in front of Weiss. "He's not wrong, you know. You were saying the same thing. People are trying to sleep, and we all have a big day tomorrow. Right?"

Weiss glared at her and shot one over her shoulder at the wolf faunus, before turning away in a huff and returning to her sleeping bag. Ruby glanced behind her and, to her great relief, the wolf faunus had already laid down and closed his eyes. All around him, the various prospective students muttered amongst themselves, shooting him mistrustful looks.

"Well, that was a thing," Yang noted with a frown. "I get that we should have been quieter, but sheesh. Someone's got a temper."

"Both of them do," Blake pointed out, her amber eyes glaring in Weiss' direction.

Yang shrugged. "Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm no fan of the ice queen. But I can't say I'm a fan of any girl getting called a 'b' word."

"Sis, I just heard it," Ruby sighed. "I've heard it before. You don't need to call it the 'b' word."

"No, you didn't," Yang teased, playfully poking her in the cheek. "You, my sweet, innocent little sister, will never hear such horrible, horrible language."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Right. Well, see you tomorrow, Blake. Izuku."

"Night, you two," Blake replied. "It was… nice, talking with you."

"Thanks. You too. Izuku?"

"What?" the green-haired boy stuttered, roused from a daze. "Oh, right. See you guys tomorrow. Maybe we'll see each other in initiation."

"Yeah," Yang agreed. "And miss Mr. Potty Mouth over there."

Ruby wasn't so sure about that. Before she had spoken to him, Izuku had been staring straight at the wolf faunus boy, just like so many others in the ballroom.

The only difference between him and the others, was that he'd had an almost euphoric smile on his face at the sight of the blond boy.


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Over the course of his millennia of life, Ozpin had experienced many comforts. Some, such as the embrace of the woman he'd loved and the light sound of their children's laughter, he knew were gone forever and were best left forgotten. But others had proven constant throughout the eons: coffee, tea, the pattering feet of blissfully innocent children. Each of them was a mundane but necessary comfort that kept the slog of his eternal existence bearable. And of those joys, he found that the most exquisite, the treasure among treasures, was a deep, uninterrupted night's sleep.

Which of course meant that his scroll immediately started buzzing as soon as he laid down in his emerald sheets.

Letting an exhausted sigh, he heaved himself upright and reached for his scroll. Then he realized that since it had only buzzed once instead of constantly ringing that he had merely been messaged, not called. He briefly considered setting the device back down and reading it in the morning, but quickly dismissed such sloth and snatched up his glasses. If this was crucial information about the Queen's movements from Qrow or one of the others, he could not afford to waste a moment reacting to it.

Of course, once he had put on his glasses, he found that the message was not from his old friend, but from Mr. Midoriya.

"I found Kacchan! "

Below the message was a picture of a wolf faunus with pale blond hair lying in a sleeping bag in the ballroom, a piercing crimson eye glaring back at the camera with barely restrained fury. A very familiar fury. Damn it, if he wasn't dead tired from the day, he had a feeling identifying where he knew the young man from would be simple. As it was, he was having trouble keeping his eyes open at all.

Still, it brought a smile to his face that Izuku had already found one of his friends. After having spent so much time struggling just to keep his own quest afloat, it was welcome news that the interdimensional hero was having far better fortune.

As it was, he raised his glasses to rub his exhausted eyes, and then took the darn things off, replacing his scroll on his nightstand. After a good night's sleep, he would be perfectly capable of assisting his young friend with background information on this Bakugo's reincarnated life on Remnant.

His scroll buzzed again, this time ringing incessantly to suggest a call. Ozpin sighed and checked the identification before putting it to his ear. "Leonardo, while it is always good to hear from you, I must remind you that there is a significant difference in our time zones. Can this wait a few hours?"

"I'm afraid not, Ozpin. There have been some very suspicious movements among certain criminal families over here."

The headmaster cocked an eyebrow. "Salem?"

"Possibly. Unless one of the gangs somehow managed to hold their own against Raven's little protection racket on their own," the lion faunus said.

"Not very likely, but stranger things have happened," Ozpin replied, fully aware that he was one of those stranger things. "I'll send Qrow over to investigate, but unless he finds anything connecting it to the Queen, we may have to let the local authorities handle any gang violence."

"Then I suggest you inform Vale's police to brace themselves," Lionheart advised. "One of my contacts just sent world. The Malachite Syndicate is looking to expand into your kingdom."

Of course they were. Because with a rash of dust robberies, increased White Fang Activity, a comatose Fall Maiden, and an interdimensional incident already on his plate, why shouldn't the universe see fit to lump in something else for him to worry about?!

The ancient wizard felt the weight of all his many years settle on his shoulders and allowed himself a brief moment to wallow in his impotence. Then, he picked himself up, steeled his face, and made ready to do whatever he could to his kingdom, and the rest of Remnant, safe.

Sleep would have to wait.


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Katsuki Bell was not what anyone would call an easy-going person, but this was ridiculous! Ever since he won that damned Scholarship Tournament to come to Beacon, it was like the universe was conspiring to piss him off as much as possible!

First, there were the stares and the mutterings. Unlike most of the others back at the orphanage, he had lived a good chunk of his life off Menagerie, so he was no stranger to how panicky humans could be around him. He imagined it was even worse than when he was younger, since back then he wasn't always so open with how little of their crap he was going to put up with. Vale might have been one of the more 'progressive' kingdoms, but when someone had his attitude with his looks, people would come to their own conclusions.

He'd tried to do as Kali had asked of him and not cause any trouble. He'd even refrained from blowing some Winchester asshole through a wall when the bastard had made a crack about the school letting in dogs. But, by the end of the day, he'd gotten so tired and so sick of it all that when the Ice Bitch, Moon Eyes, and Poufy Hair hadn't been able to shut their fucking mouths and let him sleep, he hadn't been able to keep himself from going off at them. Suffice to say, that hadn't made him seem any friendlier.

Well, let the weaklings talk! A wolf didn't care what a sheep thought when it was ripping its throat out! He wasn't here to make friends. He was here to become the strongest huntsman! And if he had to crush all these losers to prove it, then so be it! There wouldn't be a single one of them left alive!

"Hi there! You're Katsuki, right? My name is Izuku!"

And then there's this asshole!

He'd first noticed the green-haired bastard when he'd yelled at the trio of girls, the minor character sitting near them next to Blake Belladonna (he figured out who she was as soon as he saw her bow twitch. She looked almost exactly like a younger Kali). He hadn't thought much of him until the creep had whipped out his scroll and taken a picture of Katsuki like he was some zoo animal, a dumb grin across his face. You'd think he'd never seen a faunus before.

He'd managed to avoid him throughout breakfast, but it seemed his luck had run out in the locker room. As soon as he retrieved his weapons from his assigned locker and slammed the steel door shut, the bastard was waiting in a green jumpsuit with his hand outstretched.

Katsuki's eyebrow twitched and his hand began to rise, sparks crackling across his palm. The green-haired bastard's eyes darted to the sight, his smile widening even further.

"You cause explosions," the idiot stated. "That's great!"

The wolf faunus growled and tugged down his hand. He hadn't meant to use his semblance. While like Kirishima's, or half of Kirishima's at least, it didn't cost any aura like most did, it also had a nasty habit of responding to his emotions at times, which, given his temperament, that had resulted in more than a few scoldings from the hags at the orphanage. And this kid, despite the fact that he'd never seen him before, just made him… pissed. More than usual. Like the asshole was looking down on him!

Except Katsuki had been looked down on by every human he'd ever met, and he knew what it looked like. This moron, for whatever reason, didn't have an ounce of disdain or pity on his face. So why was he so infuriating?!

He needed to keep his cool. Beacon was his best chance to get as strong as he possibly could, the upcoming Vytal Festival his best chance to make his mark on the world. He would not blow that shot by getting expelled for starting a fight before initiation even started.

"Piss off, Broccoli Hair," he sneered.

"Broccoli Hair?"

Katsuki didn't bother dignifying that with a response, instead stomping away. He clipped his belt of grenades around his waist and wrapped his gauntlets over his wrists. He marched through the aisles of steel, past Poufy Hair and Moon Eyes, past Ice Bitch and Pyrrha Nikos, and even that blond wet noodle muttering about "locker 636" or whatever.

They were strong. They had to be strong if they got into Beacon, even if Moon Eyes looked like a toddler and Wet Noodle didn't remember where he put his damn gear. This was one of the most prestigious huntsman academies on Remnant, and that meant only the best of the best would survive, which was exactly what he needed. Iron sharpened iron, and only the finest of whetstones would bring out his best.

He would become the strongest huntsman in the world. And then no one would look down on him ever again.


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"Broccoli Hair?"

Never had Izuku been so disappointed to not be called 'useless'. After he'd seen Kacchan in the ballroom, so many things that had seemed so muddled and daunting had suddenly felt so much clearer. With the exception of his wolf ears, his childhood companion had looked and acted exactly as he had back on Earth, surly attitude and all. And while this pretty much confirmed that Blake was not Momo, it also meant that he would be able to identify his classmates quite easily when he saw them, especially if they had abilities similar to their old quirks like Bakugo seemed to have. Though whether their quirks had somehow transferred over to their new bodies or if it was simply a semblance was something he would have to discover. Something he had hoped to discover with his first find's help.

Alas, it looked like it would take much more to jog his reincarnated classmates' memories than just finding them. And come to think of it, the Gods hadn't actually mentioned how he was supposed to make them remember. Another thing he really should have asked about.

Well, he technically had until Kacchan died to figure out how to make him remember. So, since he was trying to get into Beacon anyway, he might as well try to get onto the same team as him. If they were partners then Izuku would be able to keep in check, make sure he didn't pick a fight he couldn't win. Of course, given that he was Kacchan, those fights were likely few and far between.

Though, given he was Kacchan, he would probably seek out those fights specifically to prove that he could win them. And then yell at Izuku for trying to help him. Granted, Izuku was just as likely to pick those fights himself for the sake of saving anyone who happened to be endangered by the other side. So, same end result really. They stood a better chance of surviving those fights together than alone.

"Ouch. Struck out there. Eh, Green Bean?"

Izuku turned down the locker aisle, Ruby and Yang approaching him. The young hero sighed. "It seems you're not the only one who thinks I look like a vegetable."

"Yeah, but I do it out of affection," Yang assured him. "You know that, right?"

"She does it with everyone," Ruby piped up.

Izuku waved them off. "It's fine. I've been called worse."

"I can only imagine," Yang said, shaking her head as Kacchan marched out of the locker room. "Why'd you even bother with that guy? He seems like a jackass."

"It's complicated," Izuku replied nervously. He couldn't tell them the actual reason. They'd think he was insane. "Let's just say I know what it's like to be avoided by everyone. He might be a bit prickly, but you saw the wide breath everyone was giving him in the ballroom."

"That might have been for good reason," Yang pointed out. "I've seen Beowolves friendlier than Sparky over there."

"Eh, give him a break, Yang," Ruby nudged her sister. "People are hard. I mean, you were just telling me to make friends, right? Why not him?"

Yang shrugged. "All I'm saying is that I pity the poor soul who ends up as his partner. And, speaking of partners, how would you feel about being on Ruby's team, Izuku?"

"What?! Yang!" Ruby protested. She smacked her face into her hands.

"What?" Yang grinned. "All I'm saying is that you two might work well on a team. You've already fought together, you've seen each other's weapons in action, and you both want to help people. I'd say that's a solid start to a friendship."

"Yeah, but you can't just say that outright…"

"I wouldn't mind being on your team," Izuku said.

Ruby whirled around to face him, her eyes wide. "What?"

Izuku smiled. "Sure. That sounds great."

It wasn't like he knew anyone else at the school, except Blake, who was hardly his biggest fan. As long as he got onto the same team with Kacchan, it didn't really matter who else he was paired up with, and despite their combative first impressions of each other, Ruby was really nice. Sure, she was a little awkward, but he was hardly one to talk about that. Her talk last night about making the world better was inspiring, putting words to an innate desire he'd always felt but so often struggled to put into his own speech, almost sounding like something All Might could have said.

Ruby nervously rubbed the back of her head. "That's great. I mean, you seem really nice and cool and you have normal knees—"

Izuku was about to ask what knees had to do with anything (had Ozpin missed something when he was educating him about Remnant's customs?) when their attention was drawn to the next aisle, where a blond boy in a sweater and ill-fitting armor had been pinned to a locker by a red and gold spear. A redheaded girl in Greek looking armor plucked the spear from his clothing, while Weiss Schnee glared at the unlucky boy.

"Oh," Yang cringed. "Looks like Vomit Boy struck out even worse than you did, Green Bean."

"Poor Jaune," Ruby muttered.

The locker room's loudspeaker crackled to life. Professor Goodwitch's voice poured over the room. "Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

Weiss turned up her nose at the boy, Jaune apparently, and marched out of the room. The redheaded girl casually waved at him and did the same. "It was nice to meet you, Jaune."

"Likewise," the blonde murmured, sagging against the locker.

Izuku, Ruby, and Yang approached the downed boy. The former two helped him to his feet while the latter hung back and shook her head.

"Having some trouble there, ladykiller?" Yang teased.

Jaune sighed. "I don't understand. My dad said that all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?"

"Snow Angel probably wasn't the best start," Yang chuckled striding out of the room.

Ruby rolled her eyes, supporting the dejected boy on her shoulder. "Come on, Jaune. Let's go."

"Right," he muttered. "I don't suppose you guys know where locker 636 is? Also, who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Izuku. Nice to meet you."

"Jaune. Same." The blonde shyly grinned. "So, um, what's your weapon?"

"My what?"

"You know, your weapon," Jaune said. He turned to Ruby. "You asked me. That's a normal thing to ask, right? Everyone has one?"

"Well, yeah. Everyone cool, at least," Ruby snorted. She whirled on Izuku, sparkles in her silver eyes. "So, what is your weapon? It's your boots, right? They probably have some super awesome dust cannons in them, right?!"

Izuku felt a bead of sweat drop down his forehead. "Um, I guess you could call them that. But they don't have cannons. Or guns of any kind."

Ruby's smile immediately evaporated. "Oh. Well… um… that's nice."

"Don't worry," Jaune said. "My sword is also not a gun. It's apparently a 'classic'."

"Heh, it is," Ruby grinned before turning back to Izuku. "So, if they don't have guns, what do they do? Do they have a name?"

"Oh, um, well, they're called Iron Soles," Izuku mumbled, recalling the name Mei had proclaimed for them when she'd first entrusted her 'baby' to him. "You see, my fighting style is kick-based, but I only changed over to it recently, so my legs aren't nearly as strong as they should be for it. So, the Iron Soles maximize what strength they do have and handle most of the recoil so I don't hurt my body."

"Really? That's awesome!" Jaune cheered.

Ruby looked decidedly less impressive. "Well, it's practical, I guess. Still think they could use a gun."

Izuku shrugged. "Maybe. But they do have a blowback function. It adds a second impact to my attacks if I hit hard enough."

"So could a gun."

Izuku and Jaune glanced at each other and shared a laugh. Ruby pouted, clearly disappointed that the boys did not share her enthusiasm for firearms.

At last, the trio arrived at Jaune's locker. The blonde hefted himself onto his feet and entered the combination into his storage compartment. Then, he did it again another three times before he finally remembered the right one.

The door popped open and Jaune retrieved a longsword in a white and gold sheath.

"Is that your weapon?" Izuku asked.

Jaune nodded. "Yup. Crocea Mors."

"It's beautiful."

"Thanks," Jaune said, though his face was thick with melancholy. "My great-great-grandfather used it in the war."

"The war?" Izuku muttered, internally panicking. Here was where his studying with Ozpin would pay off. "The Great War?"

"Yeah," Jaune confirmed, dismissing whatever nervousness he detected in the young hero's voice. "It's been in my family ever since. My dad used it as a huntsman and his dad used it before him."

"That's cool," Izuku said. "Your family has been helping people for generations as huntsmen."

"It is really cool," Jaune agreed, but with a frown marring his face. "And now, I'm going to live up to that. I'm going to be a huntsman."

"You betcha!" Ruby grinned, patting Jaune on the back. "We're all going to become the most amazing huntsmen Beacon's ever seen!"

Izuku could only smile at the pair. It all felt so familiar. He was about to take a test to enter a prestigious school, been brushed off by Kacchan, and had met a bubbly girl and a boy with ambitions to live up to his heroic family lineage. There were certainly many differences between Ruby and Jaune, and Uraraka and Iida but the surface level similarities were undeniably comforting to the aspiring hero. After a week of receiving a crash course on just how different Remnant was from Earth and the knowledge of the titanic task before him, to have some sort of a familiar atmosphere… it fanned the small spark of hope that had sprung up from seeing Kacchan into a decent-sized blaze.

He had found one of his classmates. He would find the rest. But for now, all he needed to do was pass initiation and get close to Kacchan.

It was time to test out his landing strategy.


It took me a bit to figure out how exactly to work Izuku having aura, but since RWBY confirmed that aura boosting and shielding is something that has to be trained to maintain during Oscar's training and MHA just had the Endeavor Intern Arc that included Izuku training to handle multiple factors in his mind at once so he could safely use Black Whip, I based it off that, as if aura was another of his quirks that he has to learn to balance with One For All.

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