Hey everyone. Here I am, Happy to be bringing you another chapter of Team TOTM. I hope you are all still enjoying this.
To any new readers. Dec 2nd was the two year anniversary mark of this story being published. I haven't been the fastest in updating it, but I still like to think that it's doing well in the eyes of the audience.
Thank you all for sticking with this story for so long. I love you all.
And without any form of further adieu. Let's get this chapter started.
Black League's Base of Operations
"Raaaaagh. Son of all the damn bitches!"
Those were the words screamed by Tomura Shigaraki as Kurogiri set to work on bandaging his wounds. Aura can heal, but it takes longer for wounds of larger size. Not to mention Enji's flame spear catarized the wound as it stabbed him so it would take time to heal that as well.
"Tomura Shigaraki. I can't properly treat you if you keep thrashing about. Try and hold still." Kurogiri said calmly as he tightened the bandages around his shoulder wound.
Thrashing about was putting it lightly. Tomura through his arms around hitting and breaking everything. They're were many unfortunate pieces of furniture and other miscelaanious objects that been fully or partially destroyed, whether by his strength or his semblance decaying them to dust.
"Shut the hell up! We can't be calm right now! We lost! We f*#king lost! A hundred of our cannon fodder have been lost! The Grimm invasion was stopped! And Nomu just got sent to f*#king space!" The wolf faunas said, his mask had fallen off of his face, showing off the most prominent anger the smoke man had seen from him in a while.
"Weaker my ass! All Might was just as strong as ever! That power isn't fair at all! He just..." He stopped screaming when he started hearing static and felt as though someone other than Kurogiri was watching him. He turned to look at the nearest computer monitor the room had to see static dancing across the screen. There was no face, but he already knew who was on the other side watching him.
"What seems to be troubling you Tomura? I had just seen the news of all your little adventures this past morning and night. I'm assuming you are rather upset." The voice on the other end spoke. He knew the voice well. It was almost always voice of absolute authority. A voice that when it spoke it's will, you did it not out of fear but out of loyalty and respect. But right now, as it spoke to him, it was the gentle voice of a father.
No.
It was the voice of his Sensei.
A Sensei that he was going to have words with. "We were destroyed! The symbol of peace isn't weaker at all! You lied to me, Sensei!"
"I never lied to you Tomura." Sensei continued, undettered by the younger man's anger. "You and I merely got ahead of ourselves and these are the consequences. We sorely underestimated him and how much of his strength remained since our battle. Luckily for us, all of those captured troops were a dime a dozen cheap." He spoke like an accountant measuring up measly costs to his massive gains. "Now then, based on what I've heard the Nomu we specially created was destroyed. Wasn't it?"
Tomura took in his masters words and carefully nodded, trying not to aggravate his wounds. "Yeah." He said through gritted teeth. "He punched him so hard that he caught on fire and got shot into space. No one in Remnants been to space and that bastard just chucks our weapon into the sun. It's not fair."
The voice just hummed in acknowledgment. "The Vacuo Rising Smash. He hasn't used that move since his battle with me. It goes to show while still strong, he's weakened considerably since his prime." He then sighed, almost sadly. "But it is a shame that we lost such a Nomu. After all, I spent a special amount of time preparing that one to try and deal with All Might."
"We could have killed him with Nomu if all those damn brats hadn't stepped in and helped him." It was at that moment he remembered something important. He had nearly forgotten about it due to his anger at their failure. "One of those brats. The other faunas like me. His weapons didn't turn to dust when I attacked him."
"Oh?" That clearly caught the interest of the man called Sensei. "He managed to resist your power?"
"Yes. Without him and the rest of the huntsman me and Kurogiri could have finished the job." Tomura angrily explained to his mentor.
"Mm. I see." They had a feeling he was nodding where he was. "Oh well. No use crying over spilt milk. You still have your connections to Cinder and the White Fang. They will see this attack as a show of our power. That times are changing. It is not a complete loss. Kurogiri." The mist man stood straight as his master called out his name. "Did you mention the huntsman killer when you attacked."
The man of fog nodded as best he could. "Yes sir. I said we were his employer."
"You see Tomura? Stain had many admirers and people who had agreed to his ideals and will. They will all come running at the news of his capture. All we have to do is ride off the wave of his success and use it for your own purposes to find stronger subordinates." The man's voice gently spoke.
Tomura lowered his head as to not show off his emotions at the proposition. "Yes sensei."
"The energy is in the air Tomura. Use it to accomplish your goals. Show the world how you are it's Symbol of Terror when you unleash all your devastation upon it." With his final words spoken the monitor turned off.
The bar was quiet as a graveyard afterward. The angry tension in the air had subsided, even if it was by a rather small margin.
Tomura grabbed his fallen mask, turned on his heel and started walking to the door that lead to the bases bedrooms. "Kurogiri." His voice was much calmer than before. "If that bitch Cinder gives us a call about how we went off schedule, handle it for me. I need time to plan our next moves." He stepped through the door and closed it behind him.
Kurogiri let out the breath he was holding in the form of a sigh. He had been assigned to young Tomura as a way to guide him and keep him alive. While the young man had been maturing at a much faster rate, he still had a long way to go.
The phone at the bar rang. He went to pick it up and held it to where his ear would be within all the fog. "Hello."
"Is young Tomura out of the room?" His masters voice said.
His eyes widened slightly before retuning to his call. "Yes."
"The situation in Vale has become a bit more favorable with the attacks. Ironwood will no doubt try to take over security. A perfect opportunity for Watts and his knack for viruses." Kurogiri agreed. Even if the doctor worked for... her. It would benefit them as well. "Even so, All Might still has a grand amount of fight left in him. Making another Nomu simply won't do. Which is why I'm letting you know now to watch over young Tomura's plans, because I am coming to remove one last thorn in our sides."
That brought the greatest reaction from the man made of fog as his eyes went as wide as dinner plates.
Because All for One was coming to Vale.
Tomura slammed his door behind him as he wandered into his room.
He removed his articles of clothing as to let them not bother his injuries. He hung his trench coat. he tossed his shoes, etc.
He was shirtless and showing off the ripped physique hidden beneath all of his baggy ass clothes.
He looked down at his Grimm claw mask and all of it's red markings.
He hated this mask. It wasn't anything like the one he usually wore. It was just a temporary device to try and be more presentable for people like the White Fang and people hopeful to join the Black League. It was dumb.
That being said, he gripped it with his power and sent it to join the rest of the dust in his room.
He walked over to the nightstand by his bed and kneeled down to his knees. He slowly opened the top drawer until he could clearly see what he was looking for.
He grabbed it and pulled it out, revealing it to be a hand. Not just any hand. A severed, pale white human hand that had been embalmed. Replacing the wrist was golden box with two holes drilled into the bottom.
"I haven't worn you in so long. Forgive me father." He placed the hand on his face, the fingers latching themselves on like a mask. He let out a relief filled sigh.
"Today was another failure, all thanks to that brat again." Tomura said surprisingly calmly. His thoughts turned to Izuku. To when he first met him, to when he watched him help capture the killer, and then to today. When he overcame his semblance with his own.
He shook his head. It didn't matter. He would get past these failures and come up with better plans. He would destroy this world.
He smiled. He would kill that brat.
Rooftops of Vale
Cinder let the hand holding her scroll fall from her face. She had just got done talking to Kurogiri, trying to get through to Tomura so she could strangle him from across the phone line. All of that fell out of the sky when she heard about who was coming to town.
The most sinister and powerful man on Remnant. On that stood peerless to the point that not even her master's power could match in a simple one to one comparison.
He was coming to Vale. And she couldn't help but smile at this change of events.
After all, there was nothing she loved more than power.
"Ma'am? Is something bothering you?" Emerald, bless her heart, asked with concern.
"Nothing at all my dear Emerald." Cinder looked out at the destruction that still remained, even with Ms. Goodwitch going around repairing everything.
She could just imagine the carnage and devastation that could be inflicted upon it by that man.
She took a tally of their losses in her head. Roman had been captured. A possible ally in Stain was no longer possible, Tyrian wouldn't be getting a good spar mate for a while. An operation that was set up for months had been reduced to rubble by Tomura and the Beacon students.
Despite all of that, she couldn't help but think they were small losses that would lead them to much greater goals.
Cinder casually shrugged. "I was upset before, but all in all I think today was a beautiful success."
Emerald didn't get what Cinder could mean by that, but she wasn't going to argue against the woman that saved her. She looked around at the now nearly fixed up city. "Those damn kids really have a special talent for screwing things up for us."
"And Tomura as well. What was he thinking going this far ahead of schedule." Mercury said bringing in his own two cents. "Who knows how many faunas died down in those tunnels. The White Fang's not gonna be listening to us anymore after that."
"True. They won't listen to you." Came a voice next to them. They turned to see who it was.
It was a tall man with auburn hair that spikes backward in a windswept way with a pair of two reddish-black horns, one on each side of his head, also slanted back. While most of his hair was red, he had streaks of brown. A noticeable trait of his appearance was the mask he wore, which obscured his entire upper face above his nose. It was whitish-tan with red horn-like symbols decorating the front and two slits on each side presumably to allow for vision. They wore an asymmetrical black, long-sleeved, double-breasted stylized high-collared blazer with slit sleeves along with red thorn sigils adorned with a white crest that lined up on his left shoulder. His suit jacket had crimson lining atop his red shirt, with red thorn sigils atop a black flap attached to the bottom of the left hem and his wilting rose emblem on the back over an emblazoned white sigil resembling the curved stems and flower of the deadly nightshade plant. His blazer was half-buttoned, exposing a red shirt with a black line running parallel to his collar under it. He wore long black dress pants, black shoes with red soles and black gloves with red sigils resembling the Omega symbol.
It was Adam Tauras. A leader in the White Fang and their business partner.
"But they will listen to me."
Beacon Docks
Team RWBY, TOTM and Zwei sat down at the schools air docks with their feet dangling over the side. Each with a tired face from the day's events.
"About time we found you guys." Kirishima said, they turned back to see Team JNPR and SMKE walking towards them. "Mind if we join you guys?"
"Go right ahead and make yourselves at home." Yang said.
Everyone sat down the same way and let themselves relax as they looked up at the reddish orange sky of near sundown.
"I still can't believe you guys fought the Huntsman Killer, and won." Ruby said from her spot, them having told each other about the things that happened to each other over the night.
"And I can't believe you guys ran into Torchwood up at Mountain Glenn, and how he had a plan to let that much Grimm into Vale." Ochako replied.
"All this was going down while we were sleeping. I knew something was wrong when you guys tried to get in touch with me." Jaune said, small guilt making it's way into his voice.
"Don't feel too bad about it Jaune. Me and Bakugo missed everything exciting as well." Mina said before getting a jab to the ribs from Kirishima who was pointing her thumb at Iida. Mina eyes widened. "Crap... uh... sorry Iida... we just heard now about your brother and... well..."
"Don't worry about it Mina. I could definitely see how others would find him cool and exciting rather than cold and murderous, but at the end of the day he chose the wrong path." Tenya looked at his team and smiled. "And it was thanks to my teammates that brought me back on the right path that we were able to beat him."
Izuku smiled. "There's the epic leader of Team TOTM that we all know and love."
Yang let out a contented sigh. "Well, we did it people."
Blake looked at her and smiled as well. "Yeah, we did it."
"If none of us get any extra credit for this, I'm going to be quite disappointed." Weiss said from the end.
"Ribbit. I don't think they give credit for essentially being vigilantes." Tsuyu said.
"They should, I'd be out all night breaking bad guys legs." Nora said giggling.
Bakugo grumbled. "Instead I had to play hairdresser with a waste of time."
"Bakugo. A King Tajitu crushed a bakery and Shouto froze an entire city block. I don't think your hair should be your main focus." Ren spoke wisely.
"I'm sorry." Shouto spoke barely above a whisper in embarrassment.
"Plus, not everything was solved." Ruby said. "People were hurt by all this. And we still don't know why they did this or who they were."
"Not to mention the Black League and that new type of Grimm." Pyrrha spoke.
The most terrifying part of their newest puzzle piece. A Grimm that was strong enough to face off against All Might, one that had been created, and one that defied the laws of the world and possessed an aura.
It was a newer darker mystery.
"Well, not every chapter of a story has the neatest ending to lead into the next one." Weiss said helpfully.
"She's right." Shouto said. "We don't have all the answers now, but we still managed to do plenty enough for now."
"We have all gotten some very dangerous people behind bars today." Blake said. "That's enough for me."
"And All Might yet again proved why he's the best damn huntsman in the world." Bakugo said smiling, remembering his awe having been in a front row seat to a show of his power for the second time in his teenage life.
"It's been a pretty manly day today. We should all be proud of ourselves." Kirishima said.
"Yeah." Ochako said.
"Ribbit." Tsuyu cutely croaked in agreement.
"And if anyone tries to do something like this again, then we'll be there to stop them." Ruby said pumping her fist in the air.
"Again." Nora said.
Yang stretched her arms over her head before falling backward to lay down. "Yay. Comradery. Teamwork. Good job. Good guys. Go team go." Yang said tiredly as Zwei laid on his back next to her.
"So what now?" Mina asked.
It was at that moment that Ruby chose loudly yawn and join her sister in laying down.
"Well, seeing as how three out of four of our teams haven't slept in at least the past 36 hours..." Shouto started.
"Seven o'clock bedtime anyone?" Ruby says from her place down below.
"Absolutely." Blake said as everyone slowly started to get up.
"Yeah, good thinking." Ochako said.
"I'm down." Said Kirishima.
"We need it." Came Tenya.
"Desperately." Shouto said.
"Oh please yes." Weiss replied
"Ribbit." Tsuyu croaked.
"I'm gonna sleep forever." Yang said.
"Right behind you girl." Mina yawned in agreement.
"Tch." Bakugo said from his spot. "You wusses can't even make it to nine. I'm ashamed to be on such a team."
"This coming from the guy who goes to bed at 8:30 every night." Kirishima said pointing an accusing finger at the ashen blonde.
"Shut up shitty hair." Bakugo yelled.
Kirishima's shoulder lowered themselves in exhaustion. "I'm actually too exhausted to retort to that."
"Come on guys, we can make it to nine o'clock. Who wants to rent the training room until then." Izuku, the ever in motion faunas, said ready to go.
"You can't be serious?" Jaune said looking at their resident green bean.
"Come on. I developed this new move and I've only gotten the last twenty four hours to use it so I want to develop it somemoreandthetournamentisjustaroundthecornerandweneedtoprepareand..." His speech slowly devolved into his usual gibber jabber that no one could make out.
"Deku." Ochako said cutting off her partners tirade with her eyes barely open. "You have to realize not everyone has the stamina of a wolf on ten cups of coffee."
"He has a point though. Starting tomorrow we should through ourselves back into training for the tournament." Tenya said, waving his arm to stress the point.
"Tenya, while normally I would agree with you." Weiss started. "The fact is we just dealt with two misguided terrorist organizations, a grimm breach, and you guys ran into a psycho murderer. We survived it all. I think we're good on training."
The universe must have chosen this moment to be a joke because just after she said that were they all restrained. Team's RWBY and JNPR were glowing purple and floating while team's TOTM and SMKE were wrapped like mummies in cloth.
All teams were barely able to move their heads to spot their captors and who they saw chilled their bones.
Goodwitch was their with her riding crop holding them up with pure fury while Aizawa was definitely the more scary of the two. His usually black eyes were glowing red and his hair was floating upwards like an evil spirit.
"Eight counts of withholding information, ten counts of vigilantism, destruction of both public and private property, disobeying orders from your huntsman, and confiscation of a bullhead." The cat faunas teacher stared pointedly at JNPR when he said that last one. "As children who have been my students for the past semester and a half I'm surprised you all still have such nerve."
"Miss Schnee." Goodwitch twisted her crop to bring the heiress girl to the front of the group. "Believe me when I say your training… has only just gotten started." She smiled a sinister and sadistic smile. "And with permission from the headmaster, it will be done by courtesy of us two."
Aizawa gained his usual shit eating grin. "Try not to die."
Sleep deprivation was forgotten as fear of pain in the near future replaced it.
"Way to go Ice Queen." Mina said from inside her wrappings. "You've screwed us all."
Ozpin's office
Ozpin looked down at his students being apprehended by his left and right hand professors. Once again, he almost felt sorry for them. But right now he had more pressing matters to attend to.
"Ozpin. Are you even listening?" A voice said from his desk.
He turned around in his chair to face the projecter which held the faces of the other members of the kingdom of Vale's council. "I am councilor and I realize the circumstances that led to this meeting."
"Glad to see that." The man in the middle spoke, not portraying gladness at all. "Then you must realize is that we are able to ensure the safety of our people and others that are coming from around the world, then we can't hold a festival for those people. Much less broadcast one as important as this one."
Ozpin mearly sipped his coffee as he regarded the council.
"That being said, we've unanimously decided that it would be best to reach out for aid from Atlas and have General Ironwood take charge as the head of security for the Vytal festival." The councilman continued.
The screen then halved itself with Ironwood taking up the other half. "Thank you for your faith councilman. I am willing to spare as much of my personnel to ensure that the Vytal festival runs as smoothly and safely as possibly."
"And we are grateful for your service General." The councilman replied.
"Am I to assume that will be all?" Ozpin asks as he takes another drink of his coffee.
It's silent for a moment. "For now. But after the festival, we are going to have a long and serious conversation about you and your staffs positions at Beacon Academy. Ironwood's reports from these last few weeks have left us concerned about your abilities. I know that you understand."
The council signed off, leaving just the two headmasters left. They both regarded each other in silence at the cause of recent events. "This is the right move, Ozpin. I promise. I will keep our people safe. You have to trust me on that." The monitor then disappeared as the General ended the call.
Ozpin turned and stood as he looked out the window of his high office. He stared at the floating atlesian aircraft that he knew was carrying the man he just spoke with.
He could only hope this wouldn't all end in disaster.
Beacon Infirmary
All Might laid down in one of the infirmaries clean white bed sheets as he laid down in exhaustion. He had used what was left of his time for that day to get back to Beacon before they saw his true form.
He hadn't done much that morning so he still had well over two hours of movement left in his muscle form when he went to the breach site.
But the fact he went beyond his usual limits was a testament to how much power he had actually used. He had no doubt that his time left in his power form would decrease after today.
He held his hand over his old scar where the beast was particularly vicious. He had already mostly healed it with his own enormous aura that came with being a wielder of One for All.
The door to the infirmary slid open and closed. The sound of footsteps followed.
"Well, seems the nurse's office caught itself a case of a dumbass." That voice had him sitting ram rod straight, spraying blood from his mouth as he took in the form of his old teacher, Gran Torino.
"S-Sensei...It's been too long." This wasn't All Might stuttering, it was Toshinori Yagi seeing his scariest teacher stuttering.
"And whose fault is that don't you think." Gran Torino said rather angrily. "We live in the same kingdom, yet I don't get any visits. Not even a lousy phone call."
Toshinori tilted his head down in shame. "I am truly sorry."
Gran Torino's glare softened before he sighed. "You've always acted like the world rested on your shoulders, but ever since your injury you've only gotten worse."
The tall blonde man chuckled softly before it became a series of small coughs. "That... is so... true... it hurts." He coughs a few more times before regaining his normal breathing. "So, what do you think of young Midoriya."
Gran Torino smiled slightly. "He's young, bold, and reckless. He's reminds me of you during your years of Beacon. Only difference is he has the brains to balance out that power." He then frowned. "But, the fact he is still on the verge of breaking his bones if he uses too much power goes to show how bad a teacher you are. Seriously, you've been out of Beacon for thirty one years now and you can't teach something so basic and necessary." He then whapped the haggard man on top the head with his cane.
"Ow!" The other man shouts holding his head. "Careful, injured patient here."
"That's not the only thing you failed to do as a teacher." Gran Torino said, his voice turning deadly serious. "You haven't told him had you. About the truth of that power and what's it's meant to be used for."
Toshinori turned away so as to not face his teachers glare. "He's young and has his mind focused on many things right now. I was planning on telling him after a few years."
"You saw that Grimm out there. She can make them come straight from your nightmares, but only one man in the world could create such a monster with a soul." Gran Torino grimly spoke. "You don't really have the luxury of time."
"The boy is still too young for this." Yagi retaliated.
"The kids the oldest of his team at eighteen now. He's not a boy anymore, he is a young adult and he needs to know the truth." The old man countered.
the two stared into each others eyes in a heated contest to tell which was the right one. The man behind All Might finally blinked and sighed. "I'll tell him. But right now he should focus on the tournament. So afterwards is when I'll tell him."
The short elderly man nodded. "Good enough for now."
"So, are you going to keep teaching him and his team." The man in bed asked.
Gran Torino sighed. "Unfortunately no. Because of the breach the school has canceled internships for now. And the council is breathing down my neck for having let my interns fight a most wanted criminal without me. So in other words, my teacher's license has been revoked for a few years. Not like I was really using it before now."
"Still, one day with you and he develops a new and powerful way to wield his current percentage. You really are an amazing teacher." Toshinori compliments his teacher.
Said teacher just huffs. "I just pointed him in the right way of thinking. He came up with that technique himself."
Toshinori just smiles at that. "He just keeps blowing my expectations away." His eyebrows then scrunched up in thought. "I wonder how he is planning on training for the tournament."
"It would appear Ozpin has already given the reigns to Aizawa." Gran Torino said, recalling his talk with Beacon's headmaster.
All Might paled at that thought. "That man got rid of a whole class of students his first year as a teacher. We have an entire missing generation of Beacon because of him."
"A generation that he didn't deem to have any potential, and for good reason." Gran Torino spoke. He remembered seeing each of those boastful and arrogant little shits walking through town with such embarrassment when people recognized who they were. "It's only because of a talk with Ozpin that he hasn't expelled half of his current students."
All Might could see that happening. Picturing Aizawa kicking Cardin and his team off the cliffs and into the forests below.
"Potential is what your successor and his team have in spades, so you have nothing to worry about." Gran Torino spoke. "He'll teach them well."
All Might got over his earlier fear and the more he thought about Aizawa's teaching methods, the more he thought about how his student could improve. He nodded. "True. He will take extra measure to make sure young Midoriya is ready. After all...
...he was on the same team as his father, Hisashi Midoriya."
Now isn't that a surprise.
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. It's not as long as others, but it's important to show how our heroes are doing in the aftermath of their second big fight in less than twenty four hours.
Izuku really does have the stamina of a wolf drinking ten cups of coffee.
here's a little challenge for you. Try guessing this version of All Might's age.
Next time: Wild, Wild, Wait... who are you?