Chapter 12

Almost Too Comfortable

The tournament proves to be both excellent and a complete disaster. The top contending teams turn out to be Izuku and Katusiki, Ochako and Shoto, Tsu and Mezo, and Mina and Eijiro.

The semifinals are a breakneck mess, with Ochako and Shoto's duo of Jigglypuff and Ice Climbers seeming to be the most bullshit combination, but Shoto's inability to take advantage of their moveset purely due to inexperience ends up leading to Tsu and Mezo's Greninja and Gannondorf combo overwhelming them. When Tsu uses Aqua Jet to push a punch-charging Gannondorf straight into the Ice Climbers, it spells doom for half the duo and few options for Ochako to succeed.

On the other half, Izuku and Katsuki are devastating with their experienced combination of Link and Captain Falcon proving versatile and quick-footed, providing a myriad of combination options that keep foes on their toes. The only flaw is Katsuki occasionally messing up Izuku's bomb setups or catching some arrows in the back. Eventually, they overcome Mina and Eijiro's Inkling and Little Mac, despite the dangerous combination of damage buffs and quick jabs. The final blow is a bomb straight into the Knee of Justice.

The finals are a harrowing match. Greninja's toolkit is quick and tricky enough to be a handful for the seasoned duo, and reflecting Link's bombs in the same action as a hasty retreat is quite obnoxious at times. Gannondorf on the other hand can take quite the beating, and shrugs off all but the most telegraphed attacks, which Shoji's seasoned digits take every advantage from.

In the end, Mezo's Ganon catches Katsuki's Falcon in a chokehold that should only take them into the floor, but a hasty Aqua Jet forces them off the stage and Ganoncides them both out, leaving Tsu and Izuku alone, two stocks to one. Izuku puts up his best fight, but his weakened toolkit spells his doom. The final blow is a clash between a desperate Down-Air Fatal Blow and a devastating Up-Smash Slash. Izuku flops onto his back and tries to ignore Katsuki's angry ranting as the win goes to Tsu and Mezo.

"DAMNIT, DEKU! You should have picked a better fucking character!" He lunges to throttle Izuku, but Izuku rolls away.

"H-Hey, you know my Link is good! That combo usuallt works, a-and my Cloud isn't ready yet!"

"No excuses, you green-haired, greenhorn motherfucker!" He dives again and Izuku leaps into a backflip over the couch, only for Katsuki to chase him over and almost blast his way towards Izuku mid-air. He's halted by Ochaki popping up from the other side of the couch and giving him a gentle slap to his face, leaving Katsuki floating listlessly towards the kitchen. "... FUCK! Damnit, put me the fuck down!"

For a few moments at least, everyone just laughs at his aimless struggling, only to keel over and laugh harder as Ochako dispells her quirk and drops him onto the diving counter bordering the kitchen. He lands awkwardly on his back with his head hanging upside-down facing them all with a twitching scowl. "I. Will fucking. Destroy you."

"I thought I wasn't your type?" She smirks.

"NOT THAT WAY, YOU SMUG BITCH!"

"Kacchan?" Izuku cuts in.

"WHAT?!" He turns to glare at Izuku, and rolls off the counter to his feet.

"Cool your shit before you blow up the food."

Katsuki pauses to peek over at Rikkido standing in the kitchen with an "Ask the cook for a hug" apron, and still mixing a huge bowl of brownie batter. "Yo, I've got some dark chocolate and mint swirl chunks, anyone want those in here?"

Katsuki huffs. "You made the jalapeno cookies too, right?"

"Of course, that sounded delicious."

"Then go ahead and mint it up, we'll break out some ice cream, get hot and cold with this shit!"

"Finally!" Kyoka throws her arms up. "A good fucking idea! I thought you were only good for popping eardrums."

He almost retorts, but his face falls. "Just remembered I gotta order extra filtering earpieces to go with my suit."

Fumikage hums. "I suppose that's happened a lot, then."

"You try having an explosive quirk and not making a few ears bleed. Most obnoxious part of my quirk, by far."

"Try to keep that to a minimum around me." Kyoka swings an earjack around. "These things are really sensitive."

Katsuki huffs as he stands. "Fine, whatever. Just don't complain if I take advantage of that in combat training."

"I was just thinking about that, actually…" All eyes turn to Eijiro. "There's obviously gonna be a lot of that in our class. I mean, we're in the hero course, of course we'll be fighting. But who's gonna teach us that?" He grins and clashes his hardened fists together. "They've gotta be manly as hell to teach us! Yo, Vlad King's here, isn't he?"

Izuku nods. "Yeah, he is! He's one of the best combat heroes out there, although I've heard he can be kinda competitive.I'm not sure if he'll be teaching us, since he's class 1-B's homeroom teacher. He's got a bit of a reputation of being really competitive with class 1-A."

"You appear to know quite a lot." Everyone stops and turns to stare at a man who entered dead silently, with hair like an ink-stained mop and bags under his eyes that could rival Momo's luggage. He appears to have come from the locked room labeled Staff at the back of the first floor, wearing a pair of black sweatpants, a baggy white shirt, and fuzzy blue slippers.

"Um.. who?..." Mina's confusion is halted as Izuku's jaw drops.

"O-Of course, how could I forget!" He pounds down into his right hand. "Class 1-A's homeroom teacher, the underground hero Eraserhead!"

He hums and narrows his eyes. "Ok, you know a hell of a lot. Although I suppose I've become a bit less underground since joining UA's staff, and the whole Villain Factory mess put me on a few pages."

Izuku hangs his head and slouches. "I really wish I could find better footage of you in action, though. All I could find was a really dark and grainy clip just eight seconds long." He uprights himself. "B-But I have so many questions about your quirk! I know it doesn't stop metamorphic quirks, but can it stop emitter or transformative functions that accompany them?"

He raises an eyebrow for a moment, but shrugs as he pulls a juice pouch from his pocket and sips some down. "Mmm… A good question indeed. Yes, I can stop additional transformative or emitter functions. Although I can't get rid of your classmate's extra arms, I can stop them from growing or shapeshifting." He peeks around. "I'll admit, it's good to see you all considering your studies and future here already. And your camaraderie you've already started forming will be invaluable in your careers to come. That said, I do hope you don't expect your time here to be all fun and games outside of class."

Shoto shakes his head. "I would never have considered such a thing. Today has been… an interesting experience. Regardless, I assure you I'll be putting my all into my studies and training."

Eraserhead nods, then casts his gaze across the rest of the class, finding them either cocky or resolutely agreeing with an all too familiar spark beneath. "Hmm… very well. From here on, on school grounds, you're to address me as Aizawa-sensei. If you really plan to take your training seriously, then you'll all be taking part in a quirk assessment test tomorrow at noon."

Katsuki huffs. "Noon, seriously?"

"I'm an underground hero, I don't exactly get much sleep at night."

"Point taken."

He turns back to the rest of the class. "Are we clear?"

"Hai, Aizawa-sensei!"

"Hey sensei!" He turns to Rikkido. "Any requests for deserts?"

"... Yeah, actually, I could really go for some mochi."

"I'M ON IT!" Ochako dives over the counter into the kitchen, diving through her supplies.

Izuku sighs. "I'll help, mom taught me a few things for this. Kacchan, you gonna get on your curry?"

"You all better get ready for your taste buds to explode!" He rushes past Izuku and digs into the fridge.

Mezo cracks his knuckles. "Let me handle the knives, I'll chop everything in record time."

Dark Shadow pops out. "Hey, can I-"

"No." Fumikage shuts him down and shoves him back in.

While several people work in the thankfully massive communal kitchen, others begin to set up for a movie marathon in the lounge. Debates on what to watch occasionally devolve into bickering, but everyone eventually settles on an old action series from before quirks starring one quirkless man Katsuki would say without a doubt is a genuine badass. Although there's an argument that none of them are supposed to watch it without supervision, Aizawa admits to being a huge fan of John Wick and agrees to chaperone for it. Koji admits he has some trouble with getting the courage to watch it, knowing what happens to dogs in this series, but Dark Shadow convinces him with the detail that much of it is spent avenging said dogs. That, Koji can get behind.

By the time the meal is done and everyone's gathered at the table, it turns out to be a conglomerate of people's favorites, to help everyone adjust to their new home with something familiar. Curry, katsudon, soba, tempura, and so much more. It's a smorgasbord that everyone involved can't help but feel proud of.

Although Katsuki made two different batches of curry, the one for everyone is still hot enough to really test most of the class and be too much for many of them. Aizawa eats it with a straight face, but then slowly pushes his small sampler bowl away after one spoonful.

This ends up starting a contest to see who could handle Katsuki's personal curry, and it turned out to be a tie between Eijiro and Mezo for a while, until Mina proves to have been faking it to screw with them. It turns out her acid immunity makes her much more resistant to capsaicin. Who'd have thought?

Halfway through the meal though, they're interrupted by the arrival of another familiar hero, one they've already witnessed here. Present Mic wanders in with his full gear on, looking a tad tired from his patrol. That exhaustion is quickly put aside for his hyperactive persona. "YO! How's Class 1-A doin tonight?" He throws up two pairs of devil horns, and half the table cheers.

Kaminari scoots over to make room for one of the only remaining chairs. "Yo, Mic-sensei! What're you doin' here?"

Mic shrugs as he approaches the buffet. "Well, I heard you guys were throwing a bit of a party, and our resident stormcloud was actually enjoying it!" He smirks over at Aizawa, who just stares blankly. "I had to see it for myself. Gotta say though, this spread looks awesome! You guys really make all this?"

Rikkido calls out from the kitchen. "More on the way to, just pulled the cupcakes out of the oven!"

Mic looks to Aizawa with a wide grin. "This is already my favorite class."

"I would complain about a UA staff member picking favorites, but…" Tenya slurps down a bit more soba. "Mm… I should have expected that from you to begin with, and the food certainly doesn't help."

Mic scoffs and feins shock, hand to his chest and reeling back.. "Tenya, you wound me! What would your brother think?"

"He'd think your acting still needs work." Tenya smirks.

"Wait, you already know each other?" Kyoka cuts in from across the table.

"Indeed!" Tenya raises his chopsticks in a triumphant pose as a glare reflects off his glasses. "Eraserhead and Present Mic are both quite close to my family thanks to their classmate, my brother Tensei, Ingenium! Similarly, I am already familiar with another teacher we'll surely see here, the R-Rated Heroine: Midnight."

Mic peeks over to Aizawa, raising an eyebrow. "Whatcha think? Should we, Sho?"

Shota stares for a few moments, but sighs. "Fine, 'zashi. These kids seem trustworthy enough, and if Tenya's here, they'll find out eventually."

"YES!" Hizashi throws his hands up. "Ok, so you kids are actually gonna be seeing me here a lot."

Tenya sighs and slouches in his seat. "Thank you for not taking forever to get to this."

"Get to what, turbo nerd?" Bakugou huffs.

Hizashi answers by kneeling beside Shota and pulling at a necklace cord to reveal a wedding ring hidden in his shirt. His grin couldn't be wider. "Ya really think I wouldn't be here for my husband?"

Izuku almost jumps from his seat. "I know you had to be married! I-I mean, it's a surprise it's Aizawa-sensei, but you were always so cagey about relationship questions on your radio show!"

"No kidding." Kyoka huffs. "You were kinda obvious about it. Glad to see a happy hero couple, though." She focuses on Shota. ".. Well, one of you's happy anyway."

Shota shrugs. "I'm just not much for PDA. Still, you should expect him to be here a lot. Consider him your second resident staff member for your dorms."

"Damn, wish he'd been here earlier." Kaminari chuckles. "Bet you woulda been a riot in our Smash tournament."

"Oh, if I were here, I would have been backing up Shota's Sheik, and you really don't wanna face that."

"He's right." Tenya grumbles. "My brother hates facing them."

Shota can only smirk at the thought of kicking their asses sometime.

Rikkido calls out from the kitchen. "Cupcakes and mochi are ready!"

Ochako almost leaps out of her seat. "Oh hell yeah!"

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.

As the night winds down and everyone turns in one-by-one, Izuku is eventually left down in the livingroom, taking more notes, with only a few classmates remaining. Katsuki retired early, as always, and was surely fast asleep by now, but he thankfully had Ochako remaining as a familiar face seated nearby on her Switch, occasionally complaining about a puzzle being way too complicated and time-sensitive. Shinso's idly watching another movie, this time an old dystopian hero flick from long before the age of quirks. He cringes as one particular character is atomized.

Shota can't help but comment on that. "Rorschach fan, huh? Can't blame you, interesting character. Wouldn't fly today, but he's compelling."

Shinso nods. "Intellect and determination like that can go a long way. I'd say you're living proof."

Shota smirks. "Good to have some kids in my class that respect quirkless combat."

Izuku nods in agreement. "My quirk has a limited time frame or huge drawbacks, so I made sure to supplement it with martial arts training. Hiroshi-sensei has been thorough with that."

Shota hums. "Hiroshi Yamada. An excellent teacher. He and I have fought quite a few times. Even match if I have my capture cloth, but without it, he outmatches me in every way. And yet, his quirk does nothing to enhance his body or allow him any additional abilities. A true quirkless fighter, and still one of the most intimidating I've ever had the honor of facing. Probably one of the few heroes in this world I hold nothing but respect for."

Shinso groans as he lays back and hangs his head off the couch. "Great, I'm further behind than I thought."

Shota shakes his head. "You'll get there. Everyone starts somewhere. Getting some real combat training will be a huge step for you, but with your quirk, your best move is to focus on mental conditioning, psychological manipulation, and oddly enough, ventriloquism."

"What, you gonna tell me to get a puppet and start come up with an obnoxious two-bit comedy act?"

"Actually, my suggestion would be learning impressions and tricking people into responding to who they think is a classmate or other ally."

Izuku holds up his notebook. "I've actually already got that in my notes for you. I've been planning to expand on these over the next week and approach everyone with copies for their own quirks with noted weaknesses and suggestions."

Ochako giggles a bit. "Those notes go really deep, his ideas about my own quirk completely changed how I look at it. Got a lot of ideas I wanna test out in the gyms here, but it might take me a while to get them down. I'll need some support gear to help with some of it, too."

Izuku peeks up from his book. "Did you call that number I gave you?"

"Yeah, Mei said she was working on schematics already. That girl's almost too determined."

"Well…" Shota shrugs. "Having friends in the support department always helps. Although Power Loader is always suggesting new equipment I should try. That gets obnoxious after a while."

Izuku snorts. "Mei's gonna drive him crazy a week into classes." He sighs and sets his pen down. "Well, I should probably turn in for the night. I wanna get a decent workout in to warm up before your test tomorrow."

"Don't push yourself too much, your test results will suffer." Shota hums as he steals the remote from Shinso, who puts up no fight for it at all.

As he leaves,Ochako pauses her game and hops up. "So, Deku… think you're gonna be alright here? It's… definitely new for us both, and a bit scary, but..." She shrugs. "I already really like it here."

He nods and sighs in relief. "It's a lot better than I ever expected. Having classmates that tolerate me for once instead of thinking I'm just a useless nerd…" He stops in the hallway and rubs the back of his neck. "I know they were all wrong, but it's strange not hearing it for so long, ya know? Like… some part of me listened anyway, and now without them to do it, I'm almost berating myself for them."

Ochako stares for a moment, but pulls him into a quick hug. "Well do me a favor and stop thinking that. You're amazing, Izuku." She pulls back with a notable blush, grinning ear to ear. "And I know you're gonna prove that here. Prove it to all of us in the test tomorrow!" She hops back and makes her way up the stairs to the east wing, while he's left stunned by the steps to the west. After a few moments, he shakes it off and makes his way up to bed. Despite his lack of a workout today, and his racing mind, he still drifts off all too easily, with a smile.

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It had been a while since All Might had last returned to Might Tower. With his health returning and physique slowly recovering, he felt it time to return to his old headquarters and make proper use of it again.

His old office is still intact, and well-cleaned. The thumbprint locks on his desk are working wonderfully. The desk itself is a gorgeous, deep-stained cherry paneling over a sturdy metal frame meant to provide the style of something old and almost regal, but durable enough that should he be angered during a meeting or call, it won't be entirely demolished. The number of screens around the room, both behind and on his desk, is almost egregious, but meant to give him access to all security cameras throughout the facility should he needs to stage a counterattack himself rather than leave it to the many heroes under his employ.

He drops into his seat and reverts his form in the locked privacy of his office before logging into his system and pulling up all the necessary files.

No less than eighty-seven people globally in containment for villainous acts who've reported manipulation by the mythical villain believed to go by "Echidna". All were detained in major cities and popular, high-class vacation sites, or cities near such places with reputations for housing high-end underground criminal activities. A clear path could be mapped out with it all, spanning the globe and requiring frequent flights, but no clear pattern arises either. "She's careful. Very careful. When her victims are released and her existence goes public, she'll be even more public. We need some way to nail her before she goes entirely underground." He hunches over his desk and sighs. "... We'll need to keep this under wraps… not take it public. Draw her into false security, and bait her with something too precious to avoid…"

Finally, his eyes close as his likely course of action comes to mind. "Hisashi, Izuku, Inko… they'll all be in grave danger, but it may be our only shot. We have time. Izuku can train. He'll be ready by then, and immune to her." He sighs and slumps, his head pressed to the desk. "... But nothing can prepare anyone for being bait."

.

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A.N.: Well, goddamn, that one took a while- but I love how it turned out. A little dense, but I feel like it's great character building, decent pace, and god writing with such a big cast can be a pain. I'm managing, though. What do you guys think?

As for everything else going on, I've got a lot lined up for my youtube channel this year, I'm getting far better with my speedpaints, and for my book, I'm finally back on track and hoping to have the next edition done and back on sale this summer. Here's to hoping that goes smoothly!

So for now, just comment/review, subscribe, spread my work around, and I'll see you all again for another chapter hopefully faster than I did this one!