Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Vlad King's Green Bean
Chapter fifty-nine: This is war, part three- dance of dragons
Ryuko Tatsuma, also known as the Dragon Hero Ryukyu, flew in place in the air with the dragon villain Felgrand flying in place in front of her. Ryukyu and the hero students Izuku, Uraraka, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Nejire were on their way to Jaku General Hospital to assist Endeavor and other pro heroes there when they saw Felgrand flying in the same direction. Ryukyu flew with Izuku and Todoroki on her back while Nejire, Uraraka, and Bakugo were able to effectively fly with their own power. The dragon villain, however, was on his own.
But Ryukyu figured that wouldn't be a problem for him.
Ryukyu recalled when she and a bunch of other top ranked pro heroes were at a meeting to discuss info submitted on Felgrand, how he had a total of twelve quirks, one of which was Ryukyu's Dragon. The others being Hellflame, Gigantification, Overhaul, Super Regeneration, Earth Flow, Sound Mind, Sound Body, Control Weather, Acceleratle, Stamina, and New Order. Ryukyu and the other heroes all got what those quirks can do, and all of them in one person, in Felgrand, made one thing very much clear to the heroes at the meeting.
Felgrand, plain and simple, can't be stopped. Not by force, at least.
The dragon villain, to Ryukyu's surprise, wasn't trying to kill her right away. Rather, he flew in place in front of Ryukyu and the interns. The only hope the heroes had against Felgrand was to try reasoning with him; they got it that he had a reason for killing Mirko despite previously sparring her, and that Felgrand similarly also wants to kill All Might and, surprisingly enough, the underground hero Eraserhead given what he said to some UA students during the attack on Takoba National Stadium. Intel that Majestic had been able to get also confirmed that Felgrand has Endeavor on his hit list as well.
There has to be something that the late Mirko has in common with those men. And that common, unifying factor is a key to figuring out Dabi's monster, both why he's done what he's done as well as maybe who the hell Felgrand is in the first place. And Felgrand, not being hostile right now, was presenting Ryukyu with a chance to try reasoning with him. "...Is there something that I can help you with, Felgrand?" Ryukyu asked.
Felgrand loosed a guttural, snarling growl. "Ryuko Tatsuma, the Dragon Hero Ryukyu." Ryukyu was instantly alarmed although she did not show it; Felgrand knew her real name, meaning if he called it while making physical contact with her, he can use New Order to apply most whatever 'rule' he wanted. The only saving grace that the Dragon Hero had was that he hadn't touched her yet, meaning he can't apply a rule on her that would allow him to essentially bend reality to suit whatever he wanted to have done to her. However, Ryukyu, as well as the interns with her, was surprised by what Felgrand said.
"Could you please move out of my way?"
Ryukyu and the interns were all surprised by what Felgrand said; instead of killing them all, he was simply asking them to move out of his way. Not demand, ask. He had even said please. "You're..." Todoroki spoke up, getting Felgrand's attention, "...You're seriously just asking us to move aside."
Felgrand loosed a single guttural growl. "Yes. I'd much rather not have to kill any of you."
Bakugo scoffed. "Obviously you don't wanna have to waste the time it'd take to put us all six feet under! What, are we not good enough for you to kill?"
The dragon villain furrowed his brows a bit. "As a rule of thumb, I don't like having to do students. And Ryukyu is one of the very few pro heroes who I consider worthy to work the job."
"A villain who genuinely respects heroes," Nejire assessed, "Just like the late Hero Killer Stain, and a few inspired by his bastard ideology like Dabi's subordinate Spinner." Nejire gave an unamused look to Felgrand. "You aren't so special as you think you are."
Felgrand kept glaring at Ryukyu and the hero students with her. "Please move out of my way. I need to get to Jaku General Hospital."
"And what is it that you plan to do when you get there?" Uraraka asked, nervous as all get out although she outwardly looked firm and serious.
Felgrand, simply, replied, "I plan to regroup with Dabi and the others who will be there. Also, I got it Endeavor's over there. I will find him, then rip his head off in front of Dabi because he wants to watch."
Ryukyu let out a troubled sigh. "Then that's all the more reason why I can't let you get past me."
The dragon villain flew in place for a bit, let out a breath that... sounded pleading? "...Ryukyu," Felgrand said, "I am begging you. Please move out of my way. If you don't, then I will kill you."
Ryukyu was nervous, as well as surprised. Felgrand actually begged her to get out of his way in his third try in asking her to move. Instead of answering the villain who had many powers her own included, Ryukyu said, "Nejire. Lead your junior hero students over to Jaku now." Spreading her wings out as much as possible, Ryukyu said, "I will buy as much time as possible for you kids to get going."
"But Ry-"
"GET GOING NOW!" Ryukyu bellowed, her booming, demanding voice clearly sounding freaked, and out of fear at that. Nejire nodded in understanding and, getting Uraraka to help her, got Izuku and Todoroki off of Ryukyu's back and carried them away with Bakugo flying after them. With the hero students departing to Jaku behind her, Ryukyu kept her eyes on Felgrand. "Try to get past me," Ryukyu threatened, "And I will fight you with every last ounce of strength that I have. If you want to continue to go after Endeavor, you will have to kill me first."
Felgrand gave a roar that, surprisingly enough, sounded to Ryukyu like a cheer of agreement. "Like I said, I don't like having to do students. But buying them time to get away, as well as willingly risking your own life to keep me away from them and to keep me from reaching Endeavor. Signs that show that you had picked your choice of career well." Felgrand blinked once, gave a look of resigned regret to Ryukyu. "...Do things truly have to happen this way?"
"You tell me, villain!" Ryukyu roared, flying right in to grapple at Felgrand. However, the dragon villain spewed a billowing breath weapon of Hellflame at Ryukyu, making her scramble in midair when the fire collided into her. Felgrand then turned around and slammed his tail against Ryukyu, sending her plummeting straight down to the ground below. Ryukyu was able to right herself just in time to land safely on the ground, although with a bit more force than what she's used to. Ryukyu turned just in time to see Felgrand land on the ground as well, a good dozen meters in front of her.
Felgrand then loosed a skyward roar as the earth rolled with his use of Earth Flow, before two earthen dragon constructs, each as big as Ryukyu herself and in the same general shape as Ryukyu and Felgrand, emerged out of the ground. The two earthen dragon constructs then charged right at Ryukyu. The dragon hero however, swiped at the neck of one and broke it off then, with momentum, spun around and broke off the neck of the other with a tail slam. As the two busted earthen dragon constructs collapsed into piles of earthen material, Ryukyu saw a row of large spikes quickly growing in a line that would soon reach her.
Ryukyu flew back up into the air just in time to avoid it, but she got blasted with another one of Felgrand's Hellflame breath weapon attacks for her troubles. She was barely able to tank it out and remain in the air, and when she was able to look and see what was going on again, Felgrand had flown back up into the air as well. Of all of the villains she had ever fought, Ryukyu would have to say that Felgrand by far is bar none the strongest. The Dragon Hero even felt as if Felgrand was merely toying around with her before he attempted to go in for the kill. The Dragon Hero breathed hard for a bit, then gave an ironic chuckle.
"You're pretty good," Ryukyu said, "Not only do you have access to all of my tricks, but you also have access to a bunch more others as well. No wonder many consider you to be the villain to beat." Smirking despite herself, Ryukyu said, "Makes a lady wonder why you haven't killed me yet."
Felgrand growled a bit in his usual guttural manner. "I'm actually aiming to exhaust you so you're too tired to resist when I apply a rule to you to make you pass out."
Ryukyu gave another chuckle. "So you're still not wanting to kill me, you're just fighting me to wear me out so I can't resist capture. What am I, some sort of rare battle creature? I better have a rare alternative coloration." Spreading her wings out more again, Ryukyu went on, "And like I said earlier! If you want to continue to go after Endeavor, then you'll have to kill me first! Because nothing but death itself will stop me from doing my pro hero duty!"
Glaring at the Dragon Hero, Felgrand said, "The moment I make contact with your person and call your na-"
"Apply one of your evil rules to me to take me out of the fight, and I'll never forgive you!"
Felgrand was cut off by what Ryukyu exclaimed at him. It actually made him flinch back a bit. He then relaxed back down to giving off an air of regretful resignation. "...So..." Felgrand began, "...You'd rather die if Endeavor also dies. No ifs, ands, or buts."
Ryukyu, despite knowing full well that she'd live longer if she played along with Felgrand's plans, gave her far more powerful opponent a firm, serious, unrelenting glare. The Dragon Hero knew, with each exhausted breath that she took, that if she kept pushing Felgrand in this manner, then he will end up killing her. But Ryukyu did so anyway, to buy as much time as possible for the interns who were rushing to assist Endeavor and the other pros over at Jaku General Hospital, to buy as much time as possible for Endeavor and the other pros themselves. "That's the idea, villain." Glaring at Felgrand as angrily as possible, Ryukyu roared, "What do you say to that?!"
"You don't have a crush on Endeavor, do you?"
Ryukyu was actually stunned by surprise by what Felgrand had just asked. Did he seriously think that Ryukyu actually had romantic feelings for the Flame Hero? Why would that be what he'd say?! It sounds like something a kid would guess! How could a villain like Felgrand even come up with that?! "Hell no!" Ryukyu roared, actually blushing a bit out of embarrassment, "I only respect him as a top name in the pro hero field! Everything else about Endeavor is a big steaming pile of shit! How dare you think that I would ever have romantic feelings for Endeavor, especially when Taishiro is a far better man than Endeavor could ever hope to-"
The Dragon Hero was cut off when Felgrand, speeding himself up with his quirk Acceleratle, rushed Ryukyu to strike at her and knock her back down to the ground. It was then that Ryukyu realized that Felgrand was trying to get her worked up emotionally to create an opening to take advantage of so he could strike her. And Ryukyu, like a foolish first year hero student, fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Getting back up onto her dragonic feet, Ryukyu said, "You... you are a far more cunning villain than I had given you credit for, Felgrand. Getting me worked up like that so as to create an-"
Felgrand cut Ryukyu off again by rushing her, clawing a rending gash across her chest. The Dragon Hero cried out in great pain from that attack, but gritted her teeth and clawed at Felgrand, who flew back quickly to avoid Ryukyu doing to him what he did to her. Ryukyu looked over and saw her blood on Felgrand's right hand, which he breathed Hellflame fire onto from his mouth to burn up the blood on his hand. After he was done cleansing his right hand with fire, Felgrand looked up and over to where Ryukyu stood, bleeding badly from the clawing wound he raked across her chest.
Felgrand then raised his head to the skies and loosed another skyward roar, making Earth Flow work to spawn two more earthen dragon constructs. Ryukyu, as she saw the earthen dragon constructs rush her, wondered why Felgrand wasn't trying to overwhelm her as much as he could; reports from the Battle of Kamino Ward showed that the dragon villain could spawn more than just two earthen constructs at a time. Regardless of Felgrand's reasons, Ryukyu braced herself for yet another fight with another pair of earthen dragons, each one as big as the Dragon Hero herself.
Figuring the same dance she tried last time wouldn't work as Felgrand could anticipate it, Ryukyu instead decided to break the neck of the first earthen dragon that she attacked with a tail slam, then break the neck of the second by swiping at it with her dragonic claws, basically the reverse of the first dance. However, although Ryukyu was able to break the first earthen dragon construct as she had intended, the second one before she could claw at it rendered a gash along her right flank, leaving a far bigger rend than what Felgrand had inflicted on her chest and causing Ryukyu to bleed out even more.
Ryukyu, after busting the second earthen dragon, had to flap her wings to move to get out of the way of a row of large spikes attack that Felgrand cast at her, and even so the tips of the spikes reached her just enough so that multiple small cuts that each still bled rather badly were rendered onto her left flank. She knew full well that at this rate, she'd bleed out before she could be saved. The multiple bleeding gashes on her left flank, the single big gash over her chest, the really big gash on her right flank, told Ryukyu that even if she somehow was able to get out of her duel with Felgrand alive, she would still end up losing a LOT of blood.
Hell, Ryukyu felt that the only reason she hand't passed out from blood loss yet was because she was in her dragon form; looking at the ground, Ryukyu saw she had lost enough blood to at least make her pass out from blood loss if she were in her human form, if not straight up kill her due to blood loss. Being a dragon seems to give even more advantages than what Ryukyu could have ever guessed. Ryukyu, forcing herself to stay awake despite how her blood loss was beginning to tire her, saw it as Felgrand charged right in at her, running along on the ground as dragon charged at dragon.
Upon reaching Ryukyu, Felgrand reared up and fell forward, placing his dragonic hands on Ryukyu's shoulders as he bit down onto the right side of the bottom of Ryukyu's long neck, biting where the neck met the torso. Ryukyu let out a pained cry as she pushed Felgrand off of her, making his teeth tear along a bit as his biting grip on her was yanked out, causing another bleeding tear that luckily didn't penetrate deep enough to actually affect Ryukyu's breathing. Additionally, Felgrand had clawed at the left side of Ryukyu's face, almost taking the left eye out but missed by a smidgen.
Ryukyu stumbled back, both out of pain and an oncoming dizziness that even in her dizzy state she could tell was a side effect of all of the blood she had lost. Pushing herself by sheer heroic willpower, Ryukyu turned her attention back on Felgrand. To her surprise (although she felt she might have been hallucinating it due to the blood loss), Ryukyu saw that the dragon villain had a look of regret in his eyes. "...Why..." Ryukyu said, struggling to get the words out, struggling to even stay up, "...Why is it you want to kill so many of my... of my fellow pro heroes, one of which is actually retired now..."
"Revenge." Ryukyu had to keep pushing herself to ignore her blood loss as the dragon villain before her spoke. "Revenge on those responsible for taking from me all that I had," Felgrand said, "Revenge that no one will stop me from getting, regardless on who gets in my way." Ryukyu saw that this was it, that this is where the Dragon Hero was going to meet her end, and what's more is that the villain responsible is no worse for ware. However, Ryukyu knew full well that she had kept Felgrand's time for more than long enough to buy at least some time for Endeavor and the other pro heroes at Jaku.
As such, it was with that thought that Ryukyu allowed herself to collapse onto the ground. Ryukyu laid there helpless as Felgrand walked up to where she laid on the ground, bleeding out. Ryukyu felt certain that she was hallucinating it, but it looked like Felgrand was crying. "...At least allow me to apply a rule to you to make you pass out so death doesn't take you while you're awake," the dragon villain asked, being sincere in his wanting to let the Dragon Hero die with at least some degree of peacefulness, "It's best to let... to let death take you while you're passed out."
Ryukyu was just able to make out what Felgrand was saying, being able to tell that he knew she was going to die here, and wanting only for her passing on to be as peaceful as possible. And he was actually asking her for the okay to apply one of his rules to her, whereas before he was fully planning to do so whether she was okay with it or not. Hoping to do anything at all to keep Felgrand's time occupied here for even a few more seconds, Ryukyu said, "Be... before you do, promise me that you... that you won't kill any... any of the hero students..."
Felgrand, letting out only a growl, gave a single affirmative nod, then gently placed his left hand on Ryukyu's right shoulder. "Ryuko Tatsuma." Keeping his hand on Ryukyu's shoulder like that, Felgrand then said, "Ryuko Tatsuma will harmlessly pass out." Ryukyu then felt an overwhelming power that she by no means could have resisted forcefully knock her out, making her head fall over onto the ground and lay there as she drew weaker and weaker breaths at a slower and slower pace. But as she laid there, passed out from New Order's influence and bleeding out, Ryukyu was able to have one last dream.
...
Ryuko Tatsuma found herself standing in front of a full length mirror, wearing only a baggy long-sleeved pale red blouse with a more vibrant red simple shawl over her shoulders and a pale lavender skirt that reached her ankles. She also saw that she was very much obese, looking to weigh well over 230kg. There were also lines on her face showing that she was a much older woman now. Other signs of aging had shown in the long since retired Dragon Hero; her hair once a vibrant yellow blonde was fading and turning gray, and her vision had gone enough that she now needed glasses. But she also exuded a kindly, warm, welcoming aura that would make others in her company feel more at ease.
Long story short, Ryuko looked like she'd make for one hell of a grandmother.
It was as the old and fat Ryuko looked at herself in the mirror that she heard a male voice call out to her, "All these years, and you're still just as beautiful as the day that you and I started dating."
Ryuko turned to look and saw a blonde haired man standing there. Approximately as old as Ryuko herself, and the only person she knew to be fatter than her, the man had 'friendly grandpa' vibes coming off of him all over the place. He was dressed in a long-sleeved shirt worn under a sweater vest, tan dress pants held up with a belt, and like Ryuko herself the man also had faded blonde hair and he wore glasses. Ryuko made her way over to where the old fat man stood, her gait more a waddle than actual walking due to a combination of weight and age, then hand placed her hands on him as high as she could reach.
Seeing the cue, the old fat man leaned in and kissed the old fat lady on the lips. "I wasn't this size when we started dating, Taishiro," Ryuko said, "And I certainly wasn't this size when we got married."
"Well marriage does have a way of causing one to put on weight," the fat old man, now revealed to be a retired Taishiro Toyomitsu aka Fat Gum, said to Ryuko, "And you had the unfortunate luck of marrying a guy who already was living large, so that probably didn't help either."
Ryuko let out an amused chuckle. "Unfortunate luck? Is that you call it?" Ryuko then gently grabbed a hold of one of Taishiro's arms, held it in a hug. "Well," Ryuko said, "I call marrying you and all the years we've been together as the best luck that any woman could have ever hoped for, weight gain and age be damned."
"Oh, Red and Kino's kid is coming by later," Taishiro said, "I think Green Bean and Ocha's kid is coming by as well."
The Dragon Hero, retired and old, gave a gentle and sincerely amused smile. "Yes, those two truly are wonderfully precious youth. Makes me glad that you and I are more or less their grandparents." The two happily married old folks then made their way out of their bedroom, wanting to get things ready for when they were visited by their surrogate grandchildren. A calm, peaceful, happy life where Ryuko could be with the man she had fallen in love with, retire and sit back to help look over the new generation and to help them grow into fine young adults in their own right.
Ryuko was happy.
...
Felgrand was crying.
When he felt the rule that he had applied to Ryukyu automatically release itself, thus freeing up his ability to apply another rule, the dragon villain knew that it meant that Ryuko Tatsuma, the Dragon Hero Ryukyu, had died. He stood there somberly, as if standing vigil, as he saw Ryukyu's corpse laying on the ground in front of him, blood pooling all around her body as the blood was still coming out from the wounds his efforts had inflicted on her form. A from that didn't change back to her human form upon death, surprisingly enough; indeed, Ryukyu had died a dragon, and so a dragon she remained.
Turning to look to the skies above, Felgrand saw that it was getting dark and cloudy, could tell it could rain soon. No, not today. Felgrand as he looked up at the skies above loosed a skyward roar as he used Control Weather to clear the dark clouds away. The dark clouds dissipated, and the first sign of the clear skies that Felgrand was wanting were soft beams of sunlight shining down, the first sunbeam actually hitting the un-scarred side of Ryukyu's face. Soon enough, more sunbeams had come down from between the parting clouds, and soon the entire area where Felgrand and Ryukyu were at in the woods filled with sunlight and warmth.
A warmth that Ryukyu wouldn't be feeling as she was laying on the ground, growing colder and getting colder. Knowing now that nothing was stopping him, Felgrand took up into the air and, after looking around to see where the path he was originally taking to get to where he'd be meeting Dabi and the others was at, found said path and flew off along it to make his way to Jaku General Hospital. Felgrand was expecting that many pro heroes would be there, and he'd kill them all to a man, save for Endeavor who he'd hold onto and kill only when Dabi came by to see him rip the Flame Hero's head off, as per their agreement.
As he flew, the dragon villain loosed another roar to the skies above, one that sounding like he was mourning. Felgrand's roar could be heard for many kilometers all around as he made his way over to Jaku General Hospital. Although he had scored many kills, the one that Felgrand had scored just now wasn't one that he wanted to score, only doing so because his hand had been forced on the matter. There were only so few good pro heroes left in Japan as far as Felgrand was concerned, and he had just killed one of those very few greats that Japan could have laid any claim to.
Felgrand, as he flew in the direction that Jaku General Hospital laid in, wanted to end this war as quickly as possible, to end it with as little loss as possible.
END, CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
This chapter is mostly one big fight scene where Ryukyu has a one-v-one against Felgrand, giving the interns who accompanied her enough time to get to Jaku General Hospital to help out Endeavor and the other pro heroes there, also to probably warn them that Felgrand is on his way. This leaves Ryukyu alone with a villain that she knows full well she stands no chance in hell against, but still fights anyway to try and buy her allies as much time as possible because that's what heroes do dammit. Even so, Ryukyu was able to make her fight against Felgrand a good one, showing off a lot of what she could do before Felgrand inevitably wins their dragonic duel with one another. Ryukyu is able to have one last dream before she passes, one of the happy life she secretly wanted to have with Fat Gum (yes, I ship the two of them).
Felgrand, with nothing left to stop him, flies back up into the air and takes off again for Jaku General Hospital, stopping only long enough to clear the weather as a final respect to the Dragon Hero. The next chapter will pick up over at Jaku General Hospital, where Endeavor and the pro heroes with him will be struggling to defeat and contain the nomu that Ujiko has coming out in a bid to buy him time to escape. The good doctor may even end up having to pull out an ace in the hole if the heroes end up proving to be too much for him to deal with otherwise.