Author's Note: Hey, so another later update, my apologies. Marching band Saturdays, yknow? I don't really have them. BUT I have a WHOLE WEEK off of college because of Thanksgiving break, so I should be able to have a decent amount ofwork done on writing before next Saturday. That being said, this chapter doesn't cover THAT much, but it sets up for next chapter which is HUGE when it comes to impacting the rest of the story. And I know that I said the "Lost Tales" chapters would be coming out at the halfway point of each arc, but I'm changing my mind and from here on out, they're coming at the end of each arc. Much love to each of you readers!

Also, if you want to get into a place with other lovers of MHA, and specifically IzuJirou stuff, come on and join this Discord server that I'm on:

/eFtmT8cTbY

We're only kind of crazy, and not at all a cult... except, we also kind of are. Anyway, yeah, join that!

I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's cross-posted on Ao3 as well. Leave a review if you want to. I welcome the feedback! See you next week.

"Fuck you, Izuku." Kyouka managed to say from the colorful mats on the ground of their warehouse. She was on her back, sweaty, and panting. Next to her was Mei and Hitoshi in relatively equal states.

"Hey, when I said we were going to be training, you all agreed to it." Izuku helped pull her off of the ground to her feet.

"Yeah, but for three days of this shit? You could have been a bit easier." Kyouka said as she stretched her arms. "And why the hell is Mei even doing this training? Isn't she supposed to be away from action?"

"I'm with her." Mei said weakly.

"Do you think Stain is going to wait for you to not be tired?" Izuku asked. The air turned cold. Nobody answered because they already knew what the case would be. Izuku continued. "And Mei is here because we don't know what Stain is capable of, so she needs to get some training under her belt as well."

"And why isn't Fumikage with us?" Hitoshi asked from the ground.

"Let's be honest here. He's the best at fighting out of all of us. Me training him won't do very much good." Izuku admitted.

"... Fair…" Kyouka said. "So what is he doing?"

"He said he's going to be training his control over Dark Shadow in lower and lower light environments." Izuku shrugged.

"Well, it seems that he's in a much better place than we are. Remind me to slap myself for being against buying these floor mats." Mei groaned as she slowly stood up. "But let's go again. I can keep going." She took up a fighting stance.

Izuku put a hand on hers and lowered them. "I think we should take a break from training. You guys have earned it."

"I'LL TAKE IT!" Mei yelled as she bolted to her computer.

Izuku sighed. "If only she showed that much enthusiasm with training." He whispered to himself. Kyouka laughed and hugged him from behind. "How are you feeling? Aside from that anger towards me from knocking you down again, of course."

Kyouka punched him in the arm as she started to walk towards their table. "Asshole. Anyway, I'm excited, but scared. This means that we're getting closer to Stain. I can pretty safely assume that he won't be a pushover like some of the more minor villains that we've fought so far." She pulled out a seat for both her and Izuku and sat down.

"That's for sure." Izuku said. "But we should be getting ready to take him on soon. I'm expecting that next week is probably when we will be going out to Hosu unless something drastically changes."

"Why Hosu again?" Hitoshi asked as he walked up and joined the couple at the table.

"Mei and I did some analysis of his attack patterns yesterday. Stain always stays in the same city for five attacks. So far, it's only been two. He's going to be there for at least three more attacks, which means that we have some time before he leaves."

"Makes sense." Hitoshi shrugged as he got up from the table and went to their 'kitchen' to get some coffee.

"So as I said, unless something drastically changes, we'll be heading out in about a week's time." Izuku said. He switched on the TV to show the news, even though the news wasn't supposed to be on for a few hours.

"Breaking update: the Pro Hero Ingenium is found to have been severely injured in Hosu. He is in the hospital with severe spinal injuries and paralysis. The family has remained silent on anything further regarding his situation. It can be assumed that the Pro Hero Ingenium is retiring indefinitely. That is all on this update. We apologize for interrupting your programming." The newscaster nodded, the news channel's outro played, and then the TV returned to its scheduled program.

"Seems that Stain has made another attack." Hitoshi said with his coffee now in hand. "That's three down. He should have two more before he moves to a different area. With this, we might want to hurry the encounter." He suggested.

"That's probably true…" Izuku said as he thought to himself. What do we do? Are we going to be strong enough to take him on? Can we really beat him? His thoughts were cut short as he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. He turned to see the hand on his shoulder was connected to his girlfriend. Said girl gave him a soft smile, which he returned.

"Hey guys?" Mei said from her computer. "We've got some new information coming in from UA's servers. It looks like their first year internships are starting in two days." The three others walked over to Mei's station. "And get this. There's news on which student is going where for internships." Mei pulled up a list of each of the students in class 1-A. She scrolled down to show a student with blue hair and glasses, someone that Izuku and Kyouka immediately recognized.

"Oh, this bitch. I remember him." Kyouka said, pointing at the boy. "I made fun of him and everyone laughed."

"It was a funny one." Izuku said, chuckling to himself.

"Anyway, yes, this person is important for some key reasons." Mei said. "Take a look at his name." She highlighted the name 'Tenya Iida - Interning with Manual in Hosu City.' "Now." She said, changing tabs to a hero database. "Take a look at Ingenium's name." She highlighted the name 'Tensei Iida.'

"That idiot." Kyouka said. "He's going to Hosu City? You don't think he's going to try to take Stain on by himself, do you?"

"I think that's exactly what he's doing." Mei said in a low tone.

"Damnit. When do these start again?" Izuku asked.

"The day after tomorrow." Mei said.

"Well, you guys know how I said that unless something drastically changes, we would stick to the plan?" Izuku asked. The others nodded. "Well, I think something just drastically changed."

"Yeah, I'll say." Hitoshi said.

"I'll go grab Fumikage and fill him in." Izuku said as he pulled a jacket on.

"And just where is he?"

"I sent him to a dark place last night to help him work on control of Dark Shadow." Izuku said. When nobody said anything, he continued. "He told me that in the fight with Blackout, he lost control. He wanted to work on controlling Dark Shadow more. So I told him about a place that would probably help with that."

"Ah. Alright. Hurry back, okay?" Kyouka said as she offered Izuku a slightly concerned look.

"I'll be fine." Izuku gave her a smile as he left. As Izuku approached the train station, he pulled his hood up and disappeared into the crowd. All things considered, he was surprised but happy that Fumikage had taken him up on his offer for a dark place to train himself with Dark Shadow. A short while and some train transfers later, Izuku stepped off of the train into familiar scenery. He took a step forward and his phone vibrated.

Kyo 3: Hey, so you've been gone for a while now. Where'd you go? Musutafu? Lol

Broccoli Head: Yes, actually. Just got off of the train. Heading to where Fumikage is. We'll be back before it's dark.

Kyo 3: Izuku, why the hell did you send Fumikage to Musutafu?

Broccoli Head: I had an idea of where he could go. I know that place. I don't know as many places in Tokyo.

Kyo 3: Okay, well, be safe.

Broccoli Head: I can literally change probabilities. I should be fine.

Kyo 3: Let me be worried and tell you to be safe! .

Broccoli Head: Okay, okay. Thank you. I will. I'll let you know when we're on the train back.

Kyo 3: Thanks, Izu.

Broccoli Head: Of course. I'll see you again soon, don't worry.

Izuku put his phone into his pocket and stepped out of the train station. He quickly made his way through the streets to the small beach that he had been to several times before. In recent times, there had been some work done on the beach. Dagobah Beach had been, for a long while now, used as a local dump and for trash in the water to eventually come to rest at. But when Izuku had come by a few times in the last few months, he had seen that there was noticeably less trash, but that trash that was there was seemingly molded into an obstacle course of sorts.

Izuku, of course, had explored this as soon as he found it. As he explored it back then, he came across several rooms made of scrap metal and plastic. These rooms were dark on the inside. Almost impossibly so. It was perfect.

And so, when Izuku approached one of these rooms, he wasn't the slightest bit surprised when he heard the familiar roar of Dark Shadow when it entered its amped state. What did surprise him, however, was the normally calm and collected voice of Fumikage laughing somewhat manically.

Izuku opened the door shortly to see Fumikage's body completely surrounded by Dark Shadow. Fumikage himself was facing away from the door. The light from outside shone onto Dark Shadow's form, and once again, to Izuku's surprise, the massive form didn't shrink. Shocked, Izuku finally managed to get a few words out. "Fumikage… what?"

The laughing died down, and Dark Shadow slowly retreated back into Fumikage's form. "Ah, Izuku. It's good to see you." He said. "I did it, boss."

"Did… what, exactly?" If Izuku was being honest with himself, he had expected cryptic answers. Maybe some meditation. That was the norm for Fumikage. What he didn't expect was actual emotion to be present on his teammate's face, namely excitement and some slight mania.

"I can control him in the dark! At least for a little bit. And I can extend that to the light!" The raven haired boy was practically jumping with excitement. And just as quickly as he was bouncing, Izuku saw his eyes roll back into his head, and the boy collapsed soon after. Izuku rushed to his side, keeping him from hitting the ground fully.

"Okay, Fumikage. I'm proud of you." Izuku said to the unconscious form, even though he couldn't hear it. "We'll get you back to the base to rest, alright? The day after tomorrow is our big day. Gotta make a name for ourselves."

Izuku hoisted Fumikage on his shoulder and started walking him away from the beach. He took his phone out and sent a message to Kyouka.

Broccoli Head: Found Fumikage. He's exhausted. Going to rest somewhere til he wakes up and then we'll head your way.

Kyo 3: Okay, be safe, got it?

Broccoli Head: Got it. See you soon, Kyo.

He carried his teammate away from the beach towards one of the only places he knew he could take him. As he approached the building that he knew he could stay at, at least temporarily, he felt a slight stir in Fumikage's form. Enough to make him hesitate, but he eventually knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened, and he was greeted by the surprised but smiling face of his mother who immediately pulled him into a huge hug.

"Izuku, good to see you. I wasn't expecting you…" her eyes fell to Fumikage. "Oh dear, Fumikage. Hurry, let's get him inside." Inko gestured into the house.

"Thank you." Izuku said as he trudged inside, unaware of the pair of eyes that were watching him from nearby.


Shouto shook his head, unsure. He had walked this way home from UA every day, always at the same time, and this was a first for him. A kid around his age with green hair without a school uniform on was carrying what looked to be another kid with a bird head into the house of a woman with equally green hair as the first kid. He had never seen either of those kids before. All things considered, he didn't exactly know what to think. He prided himself on keeping a schedule, but he knew that others didn't necessarily do that. That wasn't what was concerning. The unconscious and limp body of the other kid concerned him for sure. As did the massive hug that the first boy received from the woman.

If Shouto was right, this woman was the boy's mother. But if that was the case, why was the hug so strong, as if she hadn't seen him in days? Weeks? Regardless, it was strange to him.

Before long, though, the three of them went inside the house, and Shouto had to move on. Still, something didn't sit right with those three.


After about twenty minutes of small talk between Izuku and his mom, the two of them heard rustling from upstairs in Izuku's former room.

"Oh, looks like he's up." Inko said.

Fumikage slowly made his way down the stairs with his hand on his head. "What happened?"

"Hey, Fumikage. You passed out after training. I carried you here so you could rest. It's been about an hour." Izuku said, standing up.

"Wow… I am deeply sorry about that. I wish to never inconvenience you in such a way again." Fumikage bowed.

"Stop it, Fumikage. I'm just glad that you're okay. Let's head back to the base, okay?"

"Y-Yes, that sounds fine." Fumikage said.

"Well, bye, mom." Izuku said. He waved as he and his teammate left through the door.

"Be safe, honey." Inko waved back.

"We will, don't worry." He put on a smile. It… it wasn't as genuine as he would have wanted it to be.

The two young vigilantes left and made their way to the train station. The trip back was rather uneventful and quiet. Which, all things considered, wasn't that out of the ordinary for Fumikage. He had fallen asleep a bit into the ride, still fatigued from what had just happened. Regardless, the train stopped in Tokyo a few hours later. Shaking his friend awake, Izuku got up, and the two exited the train. Pulling his hood up, Izuku led his teammate into the alleyways and back to the base.

Upon getting to the base, it was close to being dark. Kyouka was waiting outside for the two of them. She ran to Izuku as soon as she saw him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Hey, Kyo." Izuku chuckled quietly.

"Hey…" She said quietly in response.

"You miss me?" Izuku asked, looking at her face which had found its way to the crook of his neck. She just nodded in response. Izuku laughed again. "Alright, well, we're back. We'll be here all day tomorrow planning, alright?"

Kyouka snuggled closer to Izuku. "Okay."

Izuku turned his head to Fumikage. "You're free to go in. I'll be talking to Mei soon about what happened. If you wanna join us, that would probably be good so we can know what's really happening and what happened back there."

Fumikage nodded and stepped inside. Kyouka and Izuku both stayed outside, hugging in relative silence.

"You think we're ready, Izu?" Kyouka asked.

"I think that we need to do this, whether we're ready or not." Izuku admitted.

"That's what I was afraid of."

"You know, we've done some good work. If we do this, that'll put us out there."

"Yeah, that'll be good for us. We'll be getting our image out there. We'll be able to change things and help the people who want to help others, but can't because of what society says about quirks." Kyoka clenched her fist, determined.

"We're going to change things, Kyo." Izuku agreed. "Let's go inside, though, okay? I still need to talk with Mei about Fumikage. Still not sure what happened earlier."

Kyouka just nodded as the two of them walked into their base. Fumikage was sitting at the table with Mei. Hitoshi was sitting on the couch, switching through channels on the TV. Izuku and Kyouka sat down at the table as well.

"Okay, you two. Now that Izuku is here, I can ask: what happened earlier?" Mei asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, I got to Dagobah, where I told Fumikage to go, and I heard Dark Shadow being angry like he was whenever we fought Blackout. He was in a pretty dark room, so that's why I figured he was in his massive form. So I opened the door to the room that he was in, figuring that the light from outside would tame Dark Shadow. But the door opened, the light hit Dark Shadow, and… Well, Dark Shadow didn't go down. Fumikage was laughing like a madman. He said that he did it, and then he just passed out. I took care of him, and then we made our way back." Izuku explained. "I have no idea what happened before I got there, though."

"I may be able to help with that." Fumikage started.

"That's what I was hoping for." Mei said.

"First, I wish to apologize for the state in which you saw me. I should not have lost myself to the darkness like I did." Fumikage bowed his head. "You see, not moments before you arrived, Dark Shadow and I had come to a bit of an understanding. He and I would try to channel our power into his powerful form. We realized that if either of us are vying for complete control, we would be less effective than if we were to work together."

Mei and Izuku nodded their heads, the latter writing in one of his notebooks, and the former looking directly at their teammate as he spoke.

"So we worked to experience that feeling. And it took an exorbitant amount of effort to achieve that, let alone maintain it. But once it happened, it felt… it felt wonderful. So much power. A rush of euphoria. And it lasted even when Dark Shadow was exposed to light. But not for long. It took the rest of my energy to hold onto that form. And you saw the aftermath, Izuku."

"I'm glad that I was there." Izuku said. "I don't want to imagine what could have happened if you had passed out without anyone there."

"I am thankful. Now, I need to rest. I will see you all tomorrow. Next week is the operation, correct?"

Izuku lightly slapped his forehead. "Damnit, I forgot to tell you. A few complications have arisen. We're shipping out the day after tomorrow to Hosu."

A palpable silence filled the air. It lasted for a few seconds before Fumikage finally spoke. "I will not be using this technique in the fight with Stain. It would be too disadvantageous for me if I were to pass out after the attack. Or during it."

"Yknow, I gotta say that that's valid." Izuku shrugged. "Honestly, I was not expecting you to."

"I will retire. Tomorrow will be training then, I presume?" He asked as he turned his back to the group and walked towards his room.

"Yeah, but no ultimate form attack or whatever you did today." Mei said. Fumikage just nodded as he left.

"I think that he has the right idea, really." Izuku said, standing up. "Getting plenty of rest now and tomorrow night would probably be best so that we can take on Stain to our best ability." He hugged Kyouka from behind. "I'm going to be going to bed soon, myself. We'll train tomorrow and head out after that. I'll see you guys in the morning." Izuku stepped back from Kyouka and went to his room, laid down in his bed, and closed his eyes. Only a few minutes later, he felt the blankets shift and another body slowly slide in next to him.

"Hey, Izu." Kyouka said as she snuggled close to him.

"Hi, Kyo. Are you going to be ready for more training tomorrow?"

Kyouka laughed quietly. "As much as I hate being knocked down to the floor over and over again, I know that we need to train, and if I had to choose anyone to knock me down over and over again, I'm glad that it's you."

Izuku joined her in laughing. "Well, there's plenty more of that for you."

Kyouka put her head into the crook of Izuku's neck. "Shut up and go to bed, goof."

"Yeah, yeah, okay."


The next day went by fairly quickly. Each of them worked on physical combat, quirk specific exercises, and tactics until they were too tired to do anything else. Izuku had managed to reduce the probability of events enough that he got access to increasing once again. They got to sleep early that night so that they could make the fairly long car trip to Hosu starting relatively early in the day. The day came, and once again, they were woken up by Mei yelling at them at nine in the morning. A while after that, with the time spent gathering their equipment, suiting up, and a bit of tinkering from Mei to make more adhesive rounds, the five members piled into the van and set off towards Hosu. With Tokyo on the East side of Japan and Hosu being on the West side, they drove for a good portion of the day.

By three in the afternoon, the group had made it to their destination. They parked in a parking garage and slipped out of the building as quickly and stealthily as possible. Once they got away from where they were parked and got to a vantage point, Izuku spoke for the first time in a few hours.

"Alright, let's wait here for a bit. I doubt that Stain is going to be acting in broad daylight. The Iida kid is going to be here. Keep an eye out for him if you can. If he goes after Stain, we're going to need to save him, too. Stay vigilant. Keep your eyes peeled. It's going to be dark in a few hours."

"Yes, Snake Eyes." The other four said in unison before falling into silence, each one aside from Mei pulling out binoculars to keep lookout.

An hour and a half later, Mei spoke. "I have eyes on the person that I believe is Iida. Full armor suit about two blocks South of our location. He's with Manual."

"Heard. Getting visual now." Izuku said, turning to the mark that Mei gave them. "Got a visual." True to Mei's word, there was an armored hero walking with the pro identified as Manual. "Be prepared to follow him. I'm expecting something to happen tonight. I can't be sure, though."

The five of them tailed Manual and Iida for a few hours before it eventually got dark. As they stayed with their eyes glued to the two people they were trailing, an explosion burst forth from further inside of the city. Startled, the five members of Societas Requiem turned towards the explosion to see a massive plume of fire and smoke towering over some of the buildings. Turning back, Manual was running towards the source of the explosion, and Iida was gone.

"Shit!" Izuku yelled. "We've lost visual on Iida! Find him!"

"On it, boss!" Mei yelled, scouting the area. "Caught him! He's heading into an alleyway a few blocks away!"

"Make the move. Mastermind and Overwatch, stay back. We don't know what is going to happen, and we need to have our escapes viable with Mastermind's quirk and Overwatch's adhesive rounds." Izuku shouted back at them as they ran across rooftops.

"Heard!" Both Mastermind and Overwatch responded.

They reached the alleyway right as Iida's body hit the ground. Seconds later, a large katana blade was stabbed through the downed kid's left arm. A scream rippled through the air.

"You're just like all of the fake heroes. You came here for revenge. To take me down, but not because you're doing your job as a hero. Not to save this hero. For revenge. You're a fake. And for that, you will die along with him. Forget about yourself for a second and try saving others. Don't wield your power for your own sake. Because getting trapped by your own hate and acting out of pure self-interest... makes you the furthest thing from a hero." The man holding the sword said to Iida's downed form. He flourished his sword, but before it could be swung at the armored boy's head, a sound caught the man's attention.

Izuku stood up from the ground after jumping down from the rooftop. Kyouka and Fumikage followed him. For the first time, Izuku really got a good look at this assailant that he could only assume was Stain. A rather tall man with several knives strapped along his sides and legs. The man turned around to look at the group of three that had just caught his attention. His wide smile and blood red eyes unnerved Izuku slightly, but he pushed forward through his resolve.

"And who are you?" Stain asked, flourishing his sword once more.

Izuku stepped forward, turning his mask on. "Hello. I am Snake Eyes. This is NightHawk, and this is Heartquake. We're part of a group called Societas Requiem. And we're here to stop you." Izuku pressed the button to roll his dice eyes, and he made them roll Snake Eyes. His eyes glowed red, and even though Stain couldn't see it, Izuku found himself smiling.