Alright, I'm back. I know it's been a while, but I had to take a break and I've been working on some other projects.
To 95: I appreciate that, it means a lot to me.
With that, let's start the next chapter.
Tekuno sat in his room, the only light coming from his computer. He was currently trying to find something online about Nomu, Shigaraki or the mist guy. He thought back on his day and the attack on his class. He couldn't help but swell up with pride when thinking about taking down Nomu, a creature designed to kill All Might. Though of course, that was due to a design flaw. If those villains were smart, the next one wouldn't be that easy. Then all the tears from his mother, not that he blamed her. It took a lot of explaining, plus the police report, to convince her that he was unharmed from the entire attack. But back to his investigation.
He set his IP masking programs, entered the search engine and typed; Taking down All Might forums.
He found a couple matching results, but they were all edgy teenagers who's worst crime was Sonic OC pfp's.
He then searched for; Nomu.
The only results were the news from the other day and Pokemon theory sites.
He then searched for; Quirk bio-engineering.
Nothing.
Finally, he searched for; Quirk mutations.
He scrolled through a few unhelpful search results before he came across something promising. It was a link to a YouTube video and Tekuno followed it. It showed an arena with a bunch of masked people standing around the ring.
'Quirk fights,' Tekuno thought to himself. Those were mostly shut down a few years ago. What does this have to do with a bio-engineered quirk?'
The video was grainy as all hell, but he was able to make out people's quirks suddenly activating. The real kicker was their faces, all practically inhuman. The camera, by this point, had fallen to the ground and, after getting hit by a stray spike, broke. The only thing of note was one of the people in the video mentioning something about a "trigger(?)".
Tekuno groaned. The only way to find more info about this was on the dark web, the only way to even access footage from quirk fighting. He'd have to find someone with a connection. He glanced at the clock and saw it was almost 1 AM. He had to go to sleep. School was starting back up the next day.
The next day, Tekuno woke up early. He ate a quick breakfast, wished his mother a good day and grabbed his cap on the way out the door. When he got to the train station, all the televisions were still talking about the attack on the USJ. He pulled his cap down to cover his face when the screen showed his class. He was still irritated at having his face on TV. The train finally came and he took it to the UA station. He got into class and was one of the only people there, as well as Yaoyorozu.
"Good morning, Tekuno." She greeted him as he took his seat.
"Morning Yaoyorozu." He responded. He then asked, "You alright after everything at the USJ?"
She nodded and answered, "I'm still a little shaken up, but other than that I'm doing okay. You?"
"I'm fine, I guess. Though it did take some work to convince my parents to let me stay in the hero course." Tekuno let out a sigh, "I just can't pin who's behind this."
Yaoyorozu raised an eyebrow and asked, "You think that guy with the hands wasn't leading this?"
"You don't?" Tekuno countered. "That guy didn't seem to have the mentality of someone capable of creating super-creatures. Let alone one with multiple quirks."
"Fair point." Yaoyorozu conceded.
"Hey guys." Kaminari greeted them. "Crazy how we're all on the news, huh?"
"Hey Kaminari." Tekuno greeted.
"Good morning Kaminari." Yaoyorozu greeted.
"So what are you guys talking about?" Kaminari asked.
"Tekuno here thinks that there's a silent partner to the villains from the USJ." Yaoyorozu answered.
"Seriously?" Kaminari asked, wide eyed. "I'd hate to imagine who else could be helping those guys."
"Yeah, well-"
Tekuno was interrupted when Ida burst through the door and shouted, "Everyone take your seats, class is starting." The class stared at him with blank faces, considering they were all sitting.
"You're the only one standing, dude." Kaminari pointed out.
Ida mumbled something dejectedly and sat down. After that, Aizawa entered the classroom, one arm in a cast and a bandage covering the top of his head, but other than that, was in decent shape all things considered. He cleared his throat.
"I'm glad to see you're all okay after the events at the USJ, however, your fight isn't over yet." He told them.
"Our fight?" About half the class asked out loud.
"The UA sports festival is about to begin." Aizawa finished.
"WHY WOULD YOU SCARE US LIKE THAT?" The same students shouted.
'Great.' Tekuno thought with a hint of irritation. 'The UA sports festival is always broadcasted worldwide. Last thing I need is to give away all my tactics like that.'
"Hold on. Is it really a good idea to have the sports festival after the villains just attacked us?" Jirou asked.
"Apparently the administration thinks that this is a good way to show that the threat has been handled and our school is safer than ever." Aizawa explained. "Plus, they're beefing up security compared to past years. This event is a huge opportunity for students at UA. It's not something we can cancel because of a few villains."
'More like the hero course villains.' Tekuno mentally added. 'When's the last time someone outside the hero course won?'
Aizawa continued, "Our sports festival is one of the most watched events in the entire world. In the past, people would watch the olympics. Then quirks came along and the olympic games were downsized. Now, for anyone who enjoys competition, there's only one event to watch. The UA sports festival."
"The festival is also important for us students. It's the perfect opportunity to get scouted by hero agencies." Yaoyorozu added.
"And most people who leave UA immediately get drafted as sidekicks." Kaminari threw in.
"Yeah, but most of them miss their chance to go indie and stay eternal sidekicks." Jirou countered, before coyly adding, "In fact that's probably where you're heading. You're kind of dumb."
Aizawa continued, "It's true that joining with a famous agency can garner you a lot of attention and popularity. That's why you can't miss the festival. One chance a year, three years at UA. You have to make them count. That means you'd better not slack off on your training."
"Yes Sir." The class responded.
"Class is dismissed." Aizawa muttered.
While everyone started talking amongst themselves, Tekuno sat down with Yaoyorozu, Kaminari and Jirou. They all seemed pretty excited about the sports festival, so Tekuno just nodded and hummed his way through the conversation. This didn't go unnoticed.
"Tekuno, you don't seem too excited about the sports festival." Yaoyorozu commented, curiously.
"Eh, I already decided I'm going underground, you know, being quirkless and all." Tekuno answered. "I'm not exactly too excited to be showing off all my tricks like that."
His friend nodded and Jirou told him, "I'm considering the underground track too, so I know what you mean. You should probably bring that up with Aizawa Sensei."
"Yeah, good idea. Thanks." Tekuno said. "I think I'll-"
"I'M GONNA DO MY BEST EVERYONE!" The four turned to see Uraraka with an intense look on her face and her fist in the air. The students around her only encouraged her and she continued with her new competitive side. Tekuno grinned and shook his head.
'This bunch of characters.'
The rest of the day went by as normal, until it neared its end. When the first couple students opened the door to leave, they saw what must have been half the first year standing outside their door.
"Excuse me. What business do you have with our class?" Ida asked them.
"They're checking out the competition." Bakugou answered. "We're the class that survived a villain attack, so they obviously want to see what they're going up against. Well, at least now you've seen what a real future pro hero looks like. Now move it extras."
"So this is class 1-A." A bored sounding voice spoke up. "I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like an ass."
Tekuno watched as the source of the voice stepped forward through the crowd, revealing a boy with wild purple hair and eyebags to rival Aizawa's.
"Is everyone in the hero course delusional, or is it just you?" Bakugou growled but he continued, "How sad to come here and find a bunch of egomaniacs. I wanted to be in the hero course, but like many others here, I was forced to choose a different track. Such is life."
'Oh, boo hoo.' Tekuno thought.
"Now though, I have a second chance. If people from other courses do well in the sports festival they can get transferred to the hero course. And of course, hero course students will have to be transferred out to make room." He explained. "Scouting the competition? The others might be. I'm here to steal your spot right out from under you. Consider this a declaration of war." He finished.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the end of things as someone else decided to start yelling. "HEY YOU! I'M FROM CLASS 1-B NEXT DOOR AND I HEARD YOU WERE ATTACKED BY VILLIANS! I WANTED TO SEE HOW GOOD YOU ARE BUT IT TURNS OUT YOU'RE JUST A BUNCH OF BRATS!" A boy with silver hair shouted.
Bakugou started to leave and Kirishima called out, "Hey Bakugou, you can't just leave. Everybody hates us now thanks to you."
"Whether they like us or not doesn't matter." Bakugou countered. "All that matters is that I beat them."
Tekuno had to agree with Bakugou, this was a competition that would affect their futures, somewhat. Still, he had to talk to Aizawa about his concern. So, ignoring his classmates' reactions and the other students at the door, he made his way through the mob and to Aizawa's office. When he got there, he knocked on the door.
"Come in." Aizawa said, and Tekuno did just that. "What do you need?" Aizawa asked.
"Well Sensei, I wanted to ask if I can sit the sports festival out?" Aizawa raised an eyebrow and Tekuno continued. "The thing is, I've already decided I'm going underground. I don't really want all my skills broadcasted internationally."
"Tekuno, all you have to do is participate in the first round. As long as you make it look like you're trying, you don't have to worry about the other events." Aizawa explained.
Tekuno blinked in surprise and asked,"Wait, that's it? What about that stuff about being scouted or students from other courses having a chance to be accepted into the hero course?"
"*sigh* You're far from the first person to plan on going underground this early, Tekuno. UA does take that into account." Aizawa answered.
"Okay, thanks." Tekuno said, glad that went easier.
"Just don't use that as an excuse to slack off during your free time." Aizawa added.
Tekuno nodded and left the office. He decided to hit the gym for a quick workout. He started with a few laps around the indoor track to loosen up. After that, he did a few squats and jumping jacks. Finally, he was ready to start working on his parkour. The gym was mostly empty, so he started vaulting over some of the machines. After that he did a few wall runs. Finally he ran a lap around the gym normally and then ran a lap using his parkour maneuvers. Satisfied with his results, he wiped the sweat off his face, took a drink from his water and went home.
After finishing his homework, he logged into his computer and checked the notifications on his hidden message boards.
DustBunny2300: I saw you were looking for access to quirk fighting websites.
Tekuno didn't recognize the name from his usual contacts. He tried to pinpoint DustBunny's IP, but they had good security. Nah, not taking the bite yet. He figured he'd wait to see if any of his usual contacts messaged first. If not, he'd upgrade his security and see where this lead took him.
I know the chapter was a little short but I hope the start to Tekuno's next arc was worth the wait. The chapters will probably get a little longer after the sports festival. Anyway, please review. Your feedback, positive or negative, is greatly appreciated.
