Hello, earthlings! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and I hope you enjoy! I own nothing except a dysfunctional computer.
"Izuku."
"Mom, please?"
"No, I am not letting my only son run off to go on an adventure with a complete stranger!"
"Kacchan-"
"Right, a complete stranger, a sixteen year old and a dragon! Where would you even go anyway?"
"Kacchan said something about a witch, but-"
"You don't even have any idea where you're going! No, absolutely not!"
Izuku sighed. Loudly. He was well aware that he wasn't likely to win this argument. Inko had never even taken him on a day trip out of the village and the mountain. There was no way she'd let him go exploring who knows where. Honestly, Izuku couldn't blame her. If he hadn't been able to use the sword, he wouldn't even be having this discussion.
"Please, Mom," the boy tried one last time. "This is all I've ever wanted since I was a little kid! I need this! Kacchan and King All Might will make sure I don't get hurt, and when I'm done with this quest I can go to Uyay Academy and train to become a hero and a king! I can help people! Please!"
For a second, it looked like Izuku's argument had gotten through to his mother, but then Inko shook her head sadly. "Izuku, you're my baby. You're my only family. I know it's selfish, but I… I can't lose you." The woman looked like she was about to cry and Izuku instantly felt awful.
"Mom! Mom, it's ok, I'll stay!" The boy hugged the woman tightly. "It'll be ok. King All Might can find another heir, and-'
"No." Inko took a deep breath. "I would feel awful if you stayed. I mean, this is your dream, right? You should be able to live it, to go out and help people. But I… I don't know what to do."
"Ms. Midoriya." All Might stepped forward from the corner where he had been awkwardly standing. Kacchan had been standing with him, but he'd quickly gone outside while the other boy was explaining the situation. "I presume you know who I am."
"Oh, um, yes. You're King All Might." The woman looked shyly down at her hands. "I remember you from the stories…"
"In that case, you know the legend of the Ruling Sword. How once it picks an heir…"
"It can't change, no matter if the heir's mother demands for them to stay with her. I know."
"Your son is that heir. He is brave and kind, and would make an amazing king."
"But what if he gets hurt?"
The king took a deep breath, then did something Izuku wasn't expecting: he bowed, almost touching the ground. "Ms. Midoriya, future King-Mother, your son will be a great king, and I promise to guide him and to protect him until he can protect himself! It will not be an easy path for him, but he will come out of it stronger, and ready to be the ruler that Uyay needs!"
Inko started sobbing now, and Izuku hugged her tighter. After a few moments, the woman got onto her knees in front of All Might. "Sir," she said softly, "I entrust my son to you. Please take care of him."
"I will do all I can." The two stared at each other, before Inko nodded.
"Right," She stood up, and offered Izuku a tearful smile. "My baby's going on his first quest!"
"Wait, seriously?" Izuku had honestly not been expecting her to say yes, or at least not say yes anytime within the next month. "I… I can train to be a hero?"
"Well, I may not like it very much, but…" The woman took a deep breath. "This is what you were born to do. It's every mother's dream to watch her child live their life the way they're meant to live it! I'll just… I'll miss you."
Izuku tried to pretend he wasn't close to crying himself. "It'll be ok! I'll come visit you every time I get a break, and I'll send you lots of letters once I get to Uyay-"
"Wait!" Inko turned back to All Might. "How will Izuku get into Uyay? We don't have any money…"
"Do not worry! The headmaster has agreed to let me sponsor whoever I end up finding as my heir! Everything will be paid for."
Inko nodded. With a slightly forced smile on her face, she turned to Izuku. "Well, you better pack quickly! You'll probably need to leave soon!"
Izuku hugged his mother tightly. He would miss her. She had been the one constant in his life, the only person who'd always cared for him. Wiping away his tears, the boy ran to his room. As he threw some of his belongings in a bag, he couldn't help nervously smiling.
Izuku Midoriya was going on a quest!
Questing was so far… slightly boring?
Kacchan still hadn't told them exactly what he was looking for. Whenever they happened to come within a mile of a village, he would go into it and ask a lot of questions about witches and potion makers and counter-curses. Izuku didn't know what that was about, but so far there wasn't really a reason for him to be there. Other than Izuku's newfound role as the person who apologized whenever his friend was being a jerk. That at least was kinda a purpose.
Most of the time, the foursome just walked through the woods along faded trails. Izuku was a little worried about demons, but turns out that when you travel with a dragon, that's not really an issue. The green-haired boy was also nervous about how All Might would handle this much walking with his injury, but most of the time he seemed fine, keeping up with Kacchan's brisk pace. He often told the boys stories about his past quests and adventures. Kacchan always acted like he didn't care, but often Izuku would catch him listening. Whenever they got hungry, they ate either meat that had been caught by one of the group or rations that they'd bought from some village with Kacchan's seemingly inexhaustible supply of money.
At night, after they'd stopped and set up camp, they trained. At first that was difficult, especially after walking for nearly an entire day. Izuku was forced to lift heavy logs and stones, run laps, chase after the others… it was a lot. And then there was the actual fight training.
At first they'd just trained with Izuku using the Ruling Sword and All Might using one of Kacchan's regular swords. The man was good, even without the extra power given to him by the glowing weapon. Sometimes Izuku even fought Kacchan, just for the change in styles. But after a few days, when the sword's power could get the boy to the same level as All Might when the older man didn't have the sword, All Might decided Izuku needed to learn how to fight with a regular sword too. Just in case he ever lost it or something, and because at Uyay Academy, Izuku wouldn't be allowed to use the sword, at least at first. He wasn't completely sure why yet. The boy also learned how to use a dagger, bow and arrow, and spear, as well as getting a refresher course in history, the languages of all the kingdoms bordering Uyay, science, and math. And law and battlefield healing and diplomacy and… it was a lot. Some nights they were up until midnight.
But that wasn't enough for Izuku. He had to do more. Had to be more. Even after All Might had ended their training sessions for the night and told him to get some rest, the boy still snuck out and practiced with various weapons. It made an already tiring routine even more exhausting. His traveling companions only noticed that something was wrong when he passed out while walking one day after training until nearly sunrise.
Izuku realized what had happened as soon as he woke up. All Might and Kacchan were staring at him, both with varying degrees of worry and anger on their faces. Guess which one had more of each feeling.
"What the hell were you thinking, dumbass?" Kacchan asked loudly. "If you were so tired, you should've just asked to stop! This is taking even more time!"
"I'm sorry," Izuku felt guilty. He should've known he wasn't suited for this. Whatever Kacchan was searching for, it'd be his fault if he never found it. He should've known he wasn't ready for this, wasn't ready to be a hero…
Kacchan scoffed. "Oh, you're sorry? You just passed out and you're apologizing to us? Grow a spine, you shitty nerd!" He stalked away to go sit next to his dragon, grumbling quietly.
"That boy…" All Might shook his head. "He's not mad at you, you know. He was upset after you fell."
Izuku couldn't take the disappointed look on the man's face. "I'm so sorry, I'm trying so hard to get better, but I realize that I'm weak and that you might not want to train me anymore…"
"Hey!" The man looked… slightly angry now. The first time Izuku had seen him like that since he'd fought that thief. "You're not weak. You're a very smart boy and you have a lot of 're just going to burn yourself out if you keep going like this! Have you been sleeping at all? I hear you sometimes practicing in the middle of the night, but I didn't think…"
"I just want to get better! I want to be the best king and hero!"
"And you will be a great king and hero, but Midoriya, if you keep going like this, you will die. Give yourself a break every once and awhile. You'll need it. I'm sorry I never told you this before." All Might thought for a second, then called over to Kacchan, "You mind if we set up camp for the night?"
The blond boy sighed. "Yeah, I guess. It's already night anyways." That night, after they pitched the tents, they didn't practice. They just talked and sat around. And while initially it grated on Izuku to not be practicing, eventually it became kinda fun. Once every few days they would have nights like that. And Izuku stopped practicing when All Might and Kacchan told him to. They did know a bit more about this questing thing than he did.
A few days later, they encountered their first real threat. A horde of demons was attacking a village.
Demons were pure evil stuffed into flesh (sometimes). They could have human appearances, and the only indicators that they weren't human were their black eyes. Some of them took on animal features. Some of them looked like raging balls of fire, wind, darkness, light or ice. All of them were dangerous.
They'd been around for as long as Uyay had been there, but the second ruler with the Ruling Sword had managed to scare them enough so that they rarely attacked any villages. But after All Might had disappeared, they'd started attacking towns far away from the big cities, as Endeavor didn't care about those people and would not send out his armies to scare off the demons.
Izuku saw them first. Two demons, one in a humanoid, female shape and one with the head of a wolf and the body of a frog (why it'd chosen that form was unclear) standing in front of the gates to a small village in the woods. From inside the walls they could hear yelling.
Kacchan laughed. "Yes! I haven't fought demons in forever!"
"Young Bakugo, wait! We need to figure out-"
"Please, it's just a couple demons! Even Deku could handle them!"
"Yes, but there may be more that we're not seeing." All Might turned to Izuku expectantly. "Young Midoriya, what do you think we should do?"
"Um…" Izuku thought about this for a second. He didn't really know what he was doing. This was his first real fight! But… he'd always been good at strategy and thinking quickly on the rare occasions he was invited to play King of the Forest with the other village kids. "First of all, the dragon should hide further in the trees."
"No way, Deku!"
"Look, he's too noticeable. I bet we can quietly take out the demons by the gate and sneak inside to check out the situation. Once we do that, we can launch a full scale attack and you can summon the dragon. Demons usually travel in small packs, right? I bet that if we had a dragon, we could take them out easily. Especially if they weren't prepared for it and some of the attackers were already in the town."
"What if this one is a huge band or several bands working together? Or what if all of the demons are right inside the gates?"
"If it's a large band, that usually means that they're weaker, more frightened demons. And different groups of demons don't work too well together. And if we all go in expecting them all to be inside the gate, then we'll be prepared."
Kacchan sighed. "Well, I guess it's better than nothing."
"Actually, it's not a bad plan," All Might said thoughtfully. "It's simple, but sometimes simple is the way to go. Yes… I think there's a good chance of it working. Bakugo?"
The blond boy looked at his dragon, who seemed to be nodding. "Alright, fine. Least I can still light some demons on fire soon." Oh right. The actual fighting part. Izuku had never done that before, unless you counted the thing with the slime guy. Which was less of a fight and more of Izuku just freaking out and trying to hit him with a sword. But now the boy was better trained, at least hypothetically. He could do this. This would be his first real test on his way to becoming a king.
As the dragon stalked deeper into the woods, Izuku casually strolled up to the demons, the sword hidden under his shirt. When he saw them, he widened his eyes in an expression of fear. "Oh!" he gasped. It was only half acting. Demons were terrifying. "Please don't eat me!"
The wolf-headed one laughed. "'Course we're not gonna eat you! You're an elf! Elves taste like… even worse than cats."
"But," the other one said, smiling mischievously. "I bet that you got money or food in the sack of yours. I suggest you hand it over, or else you'll find out what happens to unobservant little elfy kids."
The demons came closer. Closer. Almost there… Izuku lunged forward, hitting the humanoid demon hard with the sword and leaping away as it crumbled to the ground. The other one lunged away, waving its arms as if it were trying to summon its magic. As it opened its mouth to yell for help, Izuku hit it as hard as he could in the stomach, then the head. It collapsed as KAcchan and All Might emerged from hiding.
"Good job, my boy!" All Might said,beaming, as the two blonds walked over. Izuku considered asking why they hadn't helped before remembering that they'd probably answer, "You were doing fine." Or, "You're the one training, idiot!" Yeah. Either of those were possible answers.
The three pushed the city gates open as soundlessly as they could and crept inside. Luckily the demons were not, in fact, gathered directly in front of the gates. Instead about five or ten of them were corralling the terrified villagers in the town square. Under normal circumstances, the villagers outnumbered the demons by a lot and could take him. But these were demons. Most normal people with no magic refused to fight demons. And even if that wasn't the case, the demons were holding three children hostage. So that somewhat complicated things. Even with the Ruling Sword, they wouldn't be able to save all the children with a head-on attack. Izuku took all of this in within one second before turning to All Might. "What-"
"Your quest, my boy. Try to come up with a plan, and we'll go from there."
"And make it quick, Deku, we haven't got all day to stand around yapping about helping these useless extras!"
Izuku thought for a few seconds. This was not a scenario he'd ever encountered during a game on the mountains. But… he did notice something that could be useful. A witch, standing in front of what looked like a potion's shop.
She was the same age as Izuku, with brown hair and eyes and a thoroughly unthreatening appearance. But she was staring at the demons angrily, and if given the chance she could probably do some real damage.
A few feet away stood a knight in gleaming white armor. Their helmet made it difficultfor Izuku to make out any details about them, but whoever it was was tall and had a large sword. The only reason the two had likely not attacked yet was because of the children being held captive. The two of them, the potion's shop, and a story Izuku had once heard about demons gave him an idea.
The demons were still standing around. It sounded like they planned to steal most of the village's goods and eat several of the people. Human-eating demons: the worst kind. Though often the human-eating demons were easier to trick, so that was a bright spot.
Kacchan sighed as he stared at the town square. "You sure I have to do this? Seems like a lot of stuff could get messed up."
"It's the way most likely to minimize casualties, plus we're slightly outnumbered. And outpowered, considering you're the only one with actual magic powers."
"Yeah, well, I just don't like depending on others for things."
"I think we can trust them."
"... Shitty nerd, you don't even know who the hell those people are!"
"Whatever, just go!"
The blond boy rolled his eyes and slipped away with the ruling sword. Izuku made his way into the square, blending seamlessly into the crowd before suddenly yelling, "No!"
The entire crowd turned to look at him, including the demons. The boy felt suddenly nervous. The plan mostly depended on his acting skills, which were subpar at best. Why did they just not just go with Kacchan's plan and attack the demons head on? Oh right, because they had hostages.
"He's coming! He's coming!"
"Who the hell is coming, runt?" a demon with the head of a cat and the body of a young man hissed. "The worst thing you're gonna have to deal with is here already!"
"No! The killer! The One Who Imprisons has returned!"
Cat-head laughed. "RIght. The One Who Imprisons has been dead for centuries, idiot!"
"No! He's coming!" Izuku made eye contact with the witch on the other side of the square. Her eyes widened before she also started yelling "He's coming! He's coming!" After a few seconds, the knight joined in. Both of them fell to their knees and screamed. It wasn't incredibly convincing, but when a few of the other villagers started randomly doing it too, the demons started to look a bit nervous. Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku saw All Might slip around the crown and around the back of the potions shop.
The boy forced his voice to deepen, hoping it sounded like a grown man's and not a child's. "I warned you I would return, didn't I? I warned you…"
Now the cat demon started to look a little scared. "Stop it, kid, or we kill the little ones!"
"I told you to stop hurting humans, or I would return."
"He's dead! You can't fool us!"
"Really?" This time it was the girl who spoke, in a voice, most likely, much deeper than her normal voice. "You really thought that the great One Who Imprisons wouldn't find a way to cheat the Death Spirits?" This girl knew a lot about demon mythology too, apparently.
"You are fools, humans!" All of the demons looked a little bit nervous now, though. Izuku almost grinned. This was honestly kinda funny.
Suddenly smoke descended over the square. It seemed to especially affect the demons, who all clutched at their eyes and wailed. At that moment the dragon flew over the sun. To an already unsettled demon who couldn't see very well, it would look like something had blotted out all the light in the sky. A humanoid figure with a glowing sword jumped out of the darkness, flames circling his hand. It looked incredibly cool, and Izuku could see everything clearly.
"Demons!" Kacchan yelled as he flew to earth, occasionally using fire to propel himself upward a bit, then going back down so when he finally landed it wouldn't affect him too much. He landed neatly on the ground and grinned at the still partially blinded demons before tossing the sword to Izuku.
The green-haired boy rushed at the already discombobulated demons and was able to grab all three of the children before their captors could react, placing the little humans a safe distance away. Kacchan, the witch, and the knight were already fighting the demons, and once Izuku joined in, they quickly defeated the confused, mostly blind invaders.
Soon all of the demons were down, and the town's leader walked up to the teenagers. "Thank you," she said, smiling sheepishly, "Though I'm sure it has wounded some of my men's pride that some strange children were able to do what they couldn't."
The knight bowed respectfully before her. "Terribly sorry, ma'am! We did not mean to encroach on other fighters' territory!'
"Uh, they weren't doing a thing to help. We came in and kicked those demon's asses!"
The leader shook her head. "Yes, well, I came over here to thank you. Because of your kindness, the demons will not be bothering anyone around here ever again." Something about the way she worded it…
"Um, do you have a special jail for demons?" Izuku asked.
"Um… no," the leader said, smiling at him like you would a naive toddler. "The only way to deal with demons this troublesome is to kill them."
"But-" Something about that didn't seem right to the boy. Killing anything, except when trying to find food, just seemed wrong. But then, the demons had attacked this town… so did that justify it? But wouldn't building a prison for them still work to keep people safe? But what if they escaped? But-
"Hey," Izuku blinked to find the girl staring at him quizzically. "You were mumbling." The leader had already walked away to talk to a group of villagers.
"Yeah, well, he gets like that sometimes," Kacchan said as he watched the dragon fly away.
The knight bowed at the two other boys. "Thank you for your assistance! I am Tenya Iida, a knight in training, and this my companion is Ochako Uraraka, a witch who lives nearby. I was stationed here as part of my training, when those things attacked, and am very grateful that someone more capable was able to come along and control the situation. What are your names?"
'I'm Izuku Midoriya." Izuku was not at all comfortable being bowed at. "This is-"
"The dragon king."
Uraraka stared at the blond. "Whoa! You're the famous adventurer? Who defeated the demon horde near the capital? That's so cool!" Izuku had not known that his friend's adventures were that well known, even to a witch in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. The blond boy looked a bit uneasy with the attention as well.
"So, where did you get that sword?" Iida asked. "It looks very much like the actual Ruling Sword!"
Izuku nervously laughed. "Oh, um… from a shop. In the capital. It's handy for scaring off demons on the road."
"Speaking of which…" Kacchan jerked his head towards the town's gates. "We should get going."
"RIght!" The green haired boy smiled at the other teens. "Bye, guys!"
"Goodbye, Midoriya and Dragon King! Thank you for your assistance in saving the village!"
"Bye, guys! See you around!"
Izuku waved back at them until he and his friend had walked out of the village. All Might was already waiting with the dragon, having apparently snuck out ahead of the two boys. "That was a decent plan, Midoriya," the older man said, smiling slightly. "Of course, there were some holes. Such as, what if the potion shop had not had the smoke-creating potion? Or what if none of the villagers had been willing to go along with your plan? Or what if they were a band of non-superstitious demons? Or what if they'd just gone ahead and slit those children's throats as soon as you'd started yelling?"
"I know. I'm sorry," Izuku mumbled at the ground. He knew that his plan had some holes, but it was all he could think of in the short time he'd had.
All Might shook his head. "Don't apologize, my boy! It worked, and in this business there is no point in dwelling on what-ifs. Just remember your mistakes for next time, and be even better in the future!"
The man was right, though. Izuku's plan would have totally failed if the witch and the knight hadn't caught on fast enough. Which reminded him… "Oh yeah, Kacchan! DId you want to stop in that potion shop really quick? I know you're looking for one-"
"Won't bother," Kacchan muttered, staring angrily at empty space. "They won't have anything I need. There's only one person who might.'
"Who?" When the blond boy didn't answer, All Might pressed, "Since you insisted this be Midoriya's training quest, it seems only fair to tell us what you're looking for."
Kacchan took a deep breath. "I'm looking for a potion that can reverse a certain curse. The only person who I've heard has a cure for it is a witch in the far, far north- almost to the No-Lands. So that's where I'm going. Happy?'
"What potion-"
"None of your damn business, Deku.'
"Kacchan-"
"Shut-'
"KACCHAN!" This was perhaps the first time in Izuku's life he had yelled at… well, anyone really. It was sorta fun. "If you tell us what you're looking for, we can help! I-"
"My dragon isn't an actual dragon, he's a dragon-human shapeshifter who was cursed so he'd be stuck in this form. On the last day of summer one year after the curse was issued, it'll become permanent. I'm trying to keep that from happening because I told him I'd try right after he was cursed and because it's kinda my fault. Happy?"
Izuku blinked before he started walking. "Well, let's go find this witch then." After a moment, the others started following.
So… in the demon mythology, the second king is called the One Who Imprisons because he imprisoned a bunch of demons. Over the years he's become a sort of larger than life figure to the ones who escaped him. Yeah… that wasn't abundantly clear in the story. And I swear, at some point they'll get to the school.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review if you have suggestions, constructive criticism or words of encouragement! Later, potaters!