Chapter 5: Hero Material
Izuku and Katsuki stared at the living sludge, watching as its crazed yellow eyes looked between the both of them like a predator sizing up its prey before striking. The villain smirked as he swung his arm in a horizontal strike, attempting to send Midoriya flying but only managed to brush against his hair as Bakugo rushed to tackle the other boy out of the way. The sludge villain's smirk turned to a frown as he looked towards where the boys had hit the ground, seeing Katsuki crouching with one arm raised towards the villain while Izuku attempted to stand. Katsuki met the villains eye with a glare as he snarled "don't ignore me bastard!" followed by an explosion that forced the criminal back from the sheer force, kicking up dust and smoke. As Katsuki lowered his arm slightly a ball of sludge rocketed towards his face, managing to catch the boy off guard and knock him onto his back with his wounded shoulder colliding with the stone floor. A pain filled noise emanated around Izuku as he finally stood up only to see Katsuki on the floor clutching his shoulder and the villainous sludge closing in on them. In a split second Izuku took a deep breath as he moved in between of Katsuki and the villain and let loose a torrent of fire, feeling the heat that it caused as it collided with their enemy head-on and ending up behind the villain. Izuku quickly recalled his attack, causing the fire to change directions and collide with the sludge monsters back, burning away a layer of sludge and leaving behind burnt and bubbling marks all over the living sludge's back.
Izuku took a deep breath in relief as his attack appeared to incapacitate the villain as it looked shocked at its boiling back in clear shock. Izuku turned to Katsuki as the other boy made it to his feet clutching his shoulder as he caught the others gaze and snarled and turned to face the villain. As the boys took this moment to prepare themselves the sludge's eyes set their sights on the fire breather as rage and pain consumed them. Izuku and Katsuki stood together as the villain started to budge, both dropping into defensive stances as they waited for the villains next attack only for Izuku to have his legs swept out from beneath him as the sludge ball from earlier wrapped around his ankles. Katsuki glanced as Izuku fell before launching both fists forward at the rapidly approaching enraged sludge. With no prior warning except for the noticeable smoke coming from his fists Katsuki grit his teeth and let loose multiple explosions from his palms at point blank as the villain neared ever closer. The sludge villain was once more caught off guard by the power and was once more forced back as numerous explosions engulfed his sight causing him to instinctively raise his arms to protect his fragile eyes from the blasts. While Katsuki pushed his advantage and forced the sludge further back Izuku quickly let loose small flames that burnt through the sludge, freeing his ankles from their makeshift shackles. Although he was now free to move he could feel his body straining as he was forced to overuse his quirk. He could feel his throat getting tighter making it difficult to breathe, as the strains of using his quirk set in. He looked to Bakugo to see him constantly bombarding the villain back with his own quirk, taking note as his childhood friend's momentum seemed to fade.
Katsuki Bakugo could sense that he was reaching his limit as he put all of the power he could muster into his barrage, forcing himself to continue the assault against his bodies wishes as he refused to back down to a pile of sludge. His attacks were just beginning to lose their power when a hand burst forth from the cloud of smoke caused by the explosions, grabbing hold of his head and hoisting him into the air. Katsuki reacted quickly to what was happening by raising his palms once again to blast the villain's arm straight off when his arms were caught, pointing his palms upwards and away from his enemy leaving Bakugo helpless. A gargled roar could be heard as well as the sounds of explosions as Katsuki used what he had left in him to fight back against his captor as he felt himself being suffocated as the hand that had caught him increased its pressure. He heard a laugh as he continued to struggle, feeling himself being pulled towards the haunting sound as he began to black out.
The villain laughed with glee as he captured Katsuki, latching onto him in an attempt to control the amazing quirk that he held, with Katsuki fighting against the monster with all of the strength that he had left as Izuku stared in horror. The sludge villain was slowly starving Katsuki of oxygen, suffocating him to death so that the villain could then use his body against Izuku, with the intent to kill him as well. Izuku saw many memories flash before his eyes, watching as his whole life played out in front of him in a split second. One scene stood out in his mind, clear as the day that it happened, a forest with children walking around having fun, one of them falling from a log into the water below causing Izuku to panic as his body moved on its own to rescue the boy. The words that he had spoken on that day repeated themselves over and over again in his mind as he saw the same boy in front of him in danger once more and just like that he was in motion.
The villain looked towards Izuku as he continued to suffocate the Katsuki watching as he approached. A sadistic grin appeared on his face as he once more swung his arm in a horizontal arc, intending to smash the brat into the stone wall and be done with it. The boy who now charged at him was slower than the other and had less stamina as well, with a powerful enough swing he could crush the boy before he could open his mouth. As his fist grew ever closer to Izuku the boy opened his mouth and forced out yet another powerful fire attack, this time spreading it out into a barrier that he forced towards the incoming fist. As the limb made contact the fire the villain screamed out in pain as his arm sizzled as the fire wall dissipated after practically burning away the limb as Izuku powered forwards once more allowing fire to spill from his mouth and gather together before launching them towards the villain's unprotected eyes.
Katsuki had nearly lost consciousness when an orange light flashed before his eyes and he felt himself fall, being caught by a mop of green hair. He blearily looked at his childhood friend, blinking to try and fix his sight as he looked around. He heard words being spoken to him by a worried voice as he was moved away from where he had nearly died towards what appeared to be the exit of an underpass. Izuku had been trying to get a response from Katsuki as he tried to get them to safety. He could hear the gargled voice of the villain cursing him from further away as he reached the entrance. Izuku smiled in relief as he felt the last bits of energy leave him, his adrenaline now fully gone and replaced with the pain brought on from the excessive use of his quirk and the injuries he obtained from the battle. He managed to place Katsuki safely on the ground before he collapsed.
As Katsuki finally managed to blink away the black spots in his vision he felt nauseas as his whole body hurt. He slowly turned his head to the side to see the same mop of green hair sprawled out next to him, looking exhausted and in pain but with very little signs of visible damage. Katsuki went to budge Izuku with his arm only for the pain in his shoulder to spike, causing him to pull his arm back towards him and feel the injuries with his other hand. Hissing at his own weakness he called out to the other boy in an attempt to catch his attention "hey Flame-Bastard... Hey stop ignoring me... Oi! Flame-bastard wake up! You need to get out of here before that thing catches us... Dammit Izuku wake up!" His voice died down as nothing he said seemed to affect the unconscious boy besides him, his anger rising as he stared at the boy that he had always looked down on, the one who had just risked his own life to save him laying their next to him with injuries caused by the villain while Katsuki himself felt useless as he continued to curse the criminal and himself in his mind. As he continued to brew on these negative thoughts he heard it, the gargled, inhuman voice of the villain growing louder as the it's remaining hand slammed into the wall of the underpass just above Katsuki's head before its disgusting burnt yellow eye made eye contact with Katsuki.
The villain looked at Katsuki with anger but appeared to be searching for someone else, its burnt back giving off a putrid smell as it moved further into the open as its eyes finally landed on Izuku. The look in the villain's eye was filled with hatred as it stared down at the boy that had all but destroyed its left arm and back as well as nearly causing it to lose its vision as the fire collided with the sludge just below its eye. The villain raised its remaining arm over the form of the unconscious Izuku, no longer looking for a chance to escape even as people started to appear and see what he was doing, filming the scene or calling the police or hero agencies, the only thing the sludge villain wanted now was to kill this child and then the other one for ruining his getaway. Just as the villain's fist begun to swing downwards to crush Izuku's skull Katsuki used the last bit of energy he had left to knock Izuku out of the way, closing his eyes as he waited for the villain's fist to crush him. He kept his eyes clenched shut for around three seconds before he felt a gust of wind travel over him and opened his eyes to see a giant figure of a man with blonde pointed hair wearing green trousers and a white shirt standing in between Katsuki and the villain, having caught the villain's fist with one hand. The tilted his head to look at Katsuki and Izuku before he stated with a broad smile on his face "There's no need to fear! Why? Because I am here!" and with that same smile on his face he looked back at the now terrified villain as he pulled his arm back ready to strike and shouted "Texas Smash!"
In the aftermath of the battle a swarm of police officers flooded the scene and went around collecting the bits of the villain, while paramedics tended to the two boys involved in the fight. Katsuki hissed as the medics applied cream to help his burnt shoulder before they bandaged it up, as soon as they were done with his shoulder Katsuki stole a glance at where the now conscious Izuku was being checked over by another pair of medics. He continued to stare at Izuku until a shadow appeared over him, when Katsuki turned to look at who it was he was taken aback as he saw All Might's smiling face in front of him. All Might looked at Katsuki before turning to where Izuku was, signalling for the other boy to come closer. Izuku being the fanboy he was got to his feet as soon as the medics backed off allowing him to head towards All Might and Katsuki. Once the three were gathered All Might gave one final glance at the pair before tilting his head up so that he stared at the sky.
He took a deep breath before looking back down at the two with a slightly stern look in his eye before beginning "I am deeply sorry for letting that villain escape and attack you two; usually I don't let them escape haha!-" Izuku looked at his hero with an awed look on his face, his hands clutching his knees as he sat in the back of an ambulance as if he was afraid of missing what the pro hero would say, while Katsuki just looked at him with slight annoyance with his head resting in his palm as he and Izuku waited for All Might to continue. Sighing inwardly All Might continued "But for the injuries that you both sustained as a cause of my failure I am truly sorry" Izuku instantly began to refute All Might's statement, saying that he and Katsuki were fine and that he shouldn't feel bad about it. Katsuki yelled at the other boy for talking for him but did not disagree with what Izuku had said. All Might was thankful that they didn't blame him but that didn't stop him from blaming himself as he looked at the pair in front of him. He remembered that he didn't have time to dwell on these thoughts and promptly moved on to what he wished to talk to the boys about. He lowered his voice and checked to make sure no one was near enough to eavesdrop and then said "I must say though. The villain was almost down by the time I caught up; he didn't even notice me before I caught his arm. Would I be right to think that you two were the ones to cause this?" Both boys looked at him and nodded, Izuku somewhat hesitantly and Katsuki with no hesitation at all. All Might remembered seeing Izuku lying unconscious as the villain stood above him, prepared to crush him when the other boy had pushed Izuku out of the way leaving himself at the mercy of the villains arm. This, All Might thought, was how true heroes acted; their bodies moved on their own to protect others and it seemed that both boys had those same impulses. All Might smiled as he continued "Young Bakugo and Midoriya, you have shown true bravery in the face of danger, facing off against a villain with no hero training and managed to hold the criminal at bay until others appeared to finally beat him. I see a bright future ahead of you two, I hope you both the best of luck in your future endeavours!" All Might then turned away from the boys and launched himself into the air, disappearing from sight but not before saying his goodbyes.
Izuku had continued to look off to where All Might had gone wishing that he had been able to talk to the pro hero more and get an autograph when his school bag was shoved into his arms startling him as he grasped the bag and looked to who had given it to him. He was surprised to see Katsuki standing in front of him looking slightly annoyed as he held out his a notebook in hand 'That's my notebook... Why does he have it?' Izuku thanked Katsuki as he took the notebook and opened it to check to make sure that all of his work was intact, he was surprised to see a huge two-page signature had been written inside, written by the number one hero. Izuku looked up to Katsuki who still stood in front of him and was about to thank him for getting the signature when Katsuki spoke up "don't just sit there you idiot, it's getting late and I don't want to have to explain to your mum why you got home so late. So get off your ass and let's get moving already" Katsuki then turned on his heels and started to head off, Izuku sat there for a few moments before getting up and heading off to catch up with Katsuki with a smile on his face 'thank you Kacchan, not only for the autograph but also for trying to protect me from that villain' Izuku thought as he and Katsuki continued to walk home in comfortable silence 'Also for showing me my own weakness, if I'm going to catch up to you and make it to U.A I'm going to have to train harder than ever before' determination shined in Izuku's eyes as he said his goodbyes to Katsuki, receiving a grunt in response as he walked up to his front door which swung open before Izuku was embraced by his mother who cried as she held him close.
He looked down at his mother and gave a small smile as she told him about how she heard about a villain attack and received a call to tell her about his involvement in the confrontation. He hugged his mother back to comfort her as the words All Might had said earlier repeated themselves in his head causing Izuku to smile 'Just you wait All Might, I'll train myself until I can stand next to you as a pro hero'