Guess who's back, back again!
I had a great Christmas and I'm back with another chapter!
I'm happy you guys are enjoying the story!
I also want to go back and add on and change some of the other chapters I already wrote, but no point in rushing things.
Now... the moment you've all been waiting for...
Ichigo Kurosaki. Occupation: Part-time SOUL REAPER!
...I try...
THE STORY! :D
"Nice!"= Talking
"Nice!"= Thinking
"NICE!"=Shouting
"Nice."= Whispering
A Heroic Impact: Chapter 10
In the middle of a well-furnished room, a blonde woman was pacing back and forth. Her heels clacking as she walked back and forth, lost in thought. There had been multiple Stormterror sightings around Mondstadt. The Stormterror had also been inside the city at one point. It had somehow got scared away, but she would be a fool to believe that it would not try to attack again. She had so many preparations to make, papers to fill out, and the little fact that there was corruption involving money spreading across the city was not making her job any easier.
The woman looked up at the clock, which read 2:30. She had called them hours ago. What could be so important to ignore her call?
Before she could summon a knight to send another message, the door creaked open. She looked over to see a slightly grim-faced Kaeya, a serious Amber, a slightly ruffled-up Lisa, and a strange green-haired boy with a little white-haired girl. She didn't know who these two were, but considering that three of her most loyal knights had brought them, she would question them later.
"Jean, I've brought them." Kaeya said earnestly. "The green-haired boy's name is Izuku and the girl's name is Paimon. They're both knights in training."
Izuku looked at the woman whose name has just been revealed. The woman had a tall, athletic build with short gold-blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. Her grey-blue eyes were narrowed as she gazed at the lot of them. She wore a white, blue, black, and red strapless shirt with gold symbols and linings with a blue tailcoat attached to it. Alongside that, she wore white tights embroidered with gold diamond-dot patterns, with a pair of snow-white high-heeled boots.
The woman adjusted her blue gauntlets as she addressed Kaeya with two simple words.
"What happened?"
Ladies and Gentlemen! The fight that you have all been anticipating!
A snarking Bakugo and a stone-faced Todoroki walked onto the battlefield. Bakugo growled as Todoroki looked on at him with slight boredom. How dare that bastard! Did he know who he was messing with? He was the strongest person in the whole stadium! A little bit of ice wouldn't stop him from kicking that dual-haired bastard's ass!
Meanwhile, Todoroki couldn't help but feel slight disappointment. He had wanted to fight Izuku! While he acknowledged Bakugo for his strength, he wanted to see what Izuku would have said after he had frozen him solid. He would have proven his bastard of a father wrong!
In the stands, Ilda looked on in mild concern for his classmates. "Who do you think will emerge victorious Uraraka?"
Uraraka looked on in interest. After worrying about Deku for hours, she had finally been comforted by All Might and Aizawa that they boy would most likely return soon. While she did not like the "most likely" part, she was glad that there was a chance she would see the boy again soon. She missed her friend a lot. Yup. Her really close friend. Uraraka had gained a blush on her face that had gone unnoticed by Ilda. She quickly turned her head and said her opinion. "I... don't know Ilda. It's hard to decide. It all depends on their planning. But I bet it will look cool!"
As Uraraka mimicked explosions and shooting ice, Ilda looked on at his classmates. While he did not like Bakugo at all and didn't really have an opinion of Todoroki besides his somewhat blunt and rude attitude, he didn't want to see them kill each other over a small medal. He knew that Todoroki would most likely not go all out in order to keep the crowd safe, but the same couldn't be said for Bakugo.
"All right!" Announced Midnight, as Todoroki and Bakugo walked up to shake hands. Shake on a good match, and then we can begin!"
As Todoroki put his hand out, Bakugo grabbed it and put an unreasonable amount of pressure on it. Todoroki, to his credit however, didn't even flinch as he looked up at the smirking Bakugo.
"You might just want to walk off the arena while you still can, ice bastard." Bakugo whispered to Todoroki maliciously. "Because I'll be walking out of the ring at the end of the match while you'll be in the hospital wing."
Todoroki nodded. "I see. You're trying to amp yourself up to believe that you'll win. It's a good tactic, to make yourself believe you'll win will probably increase your odds of winning to some extent."
He then gave a cold glare of his own. "But I wonder what will happen if you were to... lose after all of motivation."
Bakugo snarled as he let go of his bone-crushing grip on Todoroki's hand. Both boys got onto opposite sides of the ring. Midnight raised her hand.
"Get ready! Get set!"
Bakugo wore a smile that radiated bloodlust at the boy that stood opposite of him. He was going to kick his ass! Make him wish he had never been born! He was the strongest hero alive!
Todoroki, however, had different thoughts. The dual-haired boy's eyes narrowed at the blonde, who had on a look that promised pain. Todoroki, however, couldn't have cared less. This explosion boy was nothing. Nothing but a mere stepping stone to fighting Izuku. If he beat him, then he could beat the green-haired boy. If he couldn't, well, he would just have to amplify his training.
Both boys got into fighting positions as Bakugo made little explosions in his hands as Todoroki had an ice blast at the ready. The crowd held their breath. This was it...
"GO!"
"And that's what happened."
Jean looked slightly irritated as Kaeya finished. She was not impressed that it took a day for reports of the attack to reach her. Many other knights had returned to her the day earlier, reporting to her the city's conditions and the villagers' health. Amber, Lisa, and Kaeya, who were three of her most loyal knights, however, had taken their time, with no excuse beside the fact they were help training recruits. Recruits whom she had never before today. One of them, a green-haired boy, had an aura that emitted nervousness and kindness. He looked as though he were a foreigner, due to his green hair and lack of knowledge of the city when Jean had questioned the boy where he had first went when arriving in the city. The other recruit was a rather strange being. She was a tiny, white-haired girl who had a somewhat brash attitude. She had easily found out that her name was Paimon, due to referring to herself as her own name instead of "I". One thing she noticed about the girl was that she was very overprotective about her green-haired friend. She had later found out in the conversation that this "Izuku" (She had figured out the name thanks to Paimon's story) had saved her life from drowning and she owed him with her life.
Jean had also noticed a lack of noise after Paimon had told this story. Kaeya and Lisa had looked concerned at this revelation. Due to their reactions, Jean assumed that despite recruiting them, they did not know everything about the recruits' pasts. Even Amber, whom Jean could tell upon entry to the room disliked Paimon, refrained herself from making any sort of comment. Had anyone looked closer, they would have seen a tiny bit of pity mixed with worry in the brown-haired girl's eyes. Only when Lisa and Kaeya had then asked Paimon about how she had ended up in the river did Paimon cease her storytelling of Izuku's brave arrival. The little girl had gazed at Izuku when she had stopped and Izuku had nodded. Paimon did not reveal anything about herself other than that. After the sudden conclusion of the story, Kaeya had reported his findings to her along with Amber and Lisa.
"I see." Jean murmured. She then looked at Kaeya and the other Knights of Favonius. "All registered knights, stand up."
Izuku was surprised when Paimon did not moved from hanging off his shoulder in an attempt to get up to join the other knights. He looked over at her to see that her eyes were distant as she clutched onto Izuku's shoulder tighter and let out a sigh of relief. He gave a small, reassuring smile at her as he turned his attention back to the three knights, who were standing side-by-side in front of Jean.
"While it is true that the reports you gave me were acceptable, the timing of them were not." She said as Amber flinched. Lisa looked at the grandmaster with a impassive expression while Kaeya looked at a wall, chuckling nervously. Jean addressed them all again. "Furthermore, this will be on your records. Do something close to this again, and I will replace you with a more worthy candidate of your current position. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes ma'am!" They all shouted simultaneously. Jean nodded in approval before turning her attention to Izuku.
"So... Izuku was it? I was informed that you would like to become a Knight of Favonius. But when we begin, I will have to ask you some questions. My name is Jean. I am the acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius. Pleased to make your acquaintance." The woman smiled as she held out her hand to him.
"The pleasure's all m-mine." Izuku said as he shook her hand.
"He's polite, and has a rather tight grip." The grandmaster thought to herself. "I could tell he wasn't even trying to grip my hand tightly. Should he pass the test, he will become a strong knight."
"If you paid attention to my words," Jean began again looking at Izuku. "You'd have noticed that I said "when we begin". Sadly, we are not beginning any time soon. We have a problem on our hands and are much to busy to conduct tests. Lisa, if you will?"
"Sure thing. You see, darling," Lisa smirked a little when Izuku turned a bit redder and heard Amber's breathing get louder. "Stormterror had caused quite a ruckus in this region since its recent resurgence. Basically, Mondstadt's elemental sphere and ley lines are not unlike a yarn ball in the paws of a kitten. For mages, it's much worse. My skin is one elemental particle away from a terrible breakout!"
"That being said," Jean sighed as she pinched the brick of her nose while looking up. "we're stuck. We can't run any tests until this interference is over."
Izuku looked over at the rest of the Knights of Favonius who were all looking grim. If he was stuck here, why not do something to make it easier for them?
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Temples of the Four Winds?"
"That's what she said."
Izuku was now walking down a stairwell in town with Amber. After being thanked by a grateful Jean, Jean had revealed that the source of this reoccurring problem were these temples, as the Stormterror was drawing power from these structures. Lisa, Kaeya, and Jean herself were all going to different temples to halt the power, while Izuku, Paimon, and Amber were headed to another, further away temple.
"By the way, you should feel honored being in Jean's presence." Amber said, regaining her old, smug personality. "You simpletons should be on your knees thanking her for letting you go to a temple with me. I understand if you won't be able to do much, but I promised that I'll take care of you."
Amber grinned at Paimon's furious expression as she attempted to lunge at the brown-haired archer, only to be stopped by Izuku's hand holding her back. Paimon looked at the boy pleadingly, as though begging him with her eyes if she could attack the archer. He sighed as he shook his head and turned his sight back to the bridge ahead of them. He made a sudden halt which caused Amber to face plant onto the green-haired boy's back. Amber's eyes widened when she felt strong muscles beneath the shirt.
"He doesn't look like much on the outside, but he's more muscular than I thought...Wait... WHAT AM I THINKING?!"
A red-faced Amber peeled herself off of Izuku's back as Paimon snorted at the blushing Amber and Izuku, who hadn't noticed her bump into him. Izuku turned around with a comforting smile, which made the archer's blush deepen, much to Paimon's amusement.
"Amber? Do you have a map on you by any chance?" Izuku asked the brown-haired girl. Amber tried to hide her blush as bet as she could by turning around the opposite way before addressing him.
"I-I do. I have already read the location of w-where we're supposed to go. It's quite f-far, so we'll have to camp overnight." She stammered.
Before Paimon could tease Amber about her stutter, Izuku addressed the archer again. "So, you said we have to c-control my power. Do you think we start training tomorrow?"
Amber's slight blush faded as she thought about his question. "I think we should, yes. It's better if we help you shape up now than later. If your ability is anything like my magic, then it still should be the basic principle. What do you call that ability of yours anyway?"
Izuku gulped. He had to tell Amber, he had no choice. If she were to teach him, it should be fine that she could know. Besides, no one in this world knew anything about quirks. So, with those main points out of the way, Izuku saw no reason why he couldn't tell her.
"Umm... I-I call it One for All."
As Izuku said his quirk's name, Paimon felt something strange inside of her. As though her blood had given her a slight shock when she heard those words. But as soon as she noticed it, it faded away. Paimon floated there for a second before brushing it off. It was probably the meat she had eaten earlier. After all, she did eat a lot of it.
"One for All hm? That's a rather... interesting name you chose for it but okay! Tomorrow, we begin your unofficial training for the Knights of Favonius Izuku, as I will be your temporary mentor!" Amber announced proudly. "Please refrain from praising my greatness during our training sessions, although I know that will be ha-"
"HEY!" Paimon shouted suddenly. Both Izuku and Amber turned to face the little girl, who was scowling at Amber. "What's with the sudden change of heart! Yesterday, you bragged about how Paimon and Izuku were never going to make it into the Knights of Favonius! Now, you're fine with it because you're a mentor! What happened to "You'll never make it in!"?
"Had a change of heart." Amber waved her off in a dismissive manner, much to the white-haired girl's fury. "Couldn't care less if you made it in, but Izuku has potential. We would be fools to let it go to waste."
"The witch should care if Paimon gets in!" Paimon yelled at the archer. "Paimon is a valuable asset to the team!"
"STOP CALLING ME A WITCH YOU SNOWFLAKE!" Amber roared back at the girl, who didn't back down.
Izuku chuckled to himself as he, Paimon and Amber made their way across the bridge, and towards one of the faraway temples.
Jean stared up at the storming clouds. The town had not cleared up since the attack. While the attack did have some benefits, as bandits were now too scared to come near the town, there were many repairs to be made.
And the town's fate now rested in the eye's of her hot-headed outrider, somewhat-charming ice mage, flirtatious lightning witch, and potential recruits. She couldn't help but feel as though sometimes the gods purposely messed with her.
"Miss Jean, are you alright?"
Jean turned her head to the voice. There stood a female maid wearing a priestess hat and a cravat. She wore a crimson dress with two bows, one at the hip and the other near her rear. White armor adorned her chest along with a pauldron on her left shoulder. She wore black tights beneath armored boots. Her neck-length lavender hair swung slightly in the breeze as her olive-green eyes were filled with concern and worry.
"I'll be fine Noelle." Jean addressed the maid as she turned around to look her in the eye. Noelle frowned as Jean give a tired smile. "All in a day's work, I suppose. Not enough people available at the moment, so we had to send out a new recruit."
Noelle's eyes widened considerably. "With all due respect, Miss Jean." Noelle began. "I don't think sending a new recruit to deal with a threat such as this was a very thought-out idea. You could ha-"
"No, I am not sending you out." Jean sighed as Noelle grumbled slightly. "You need to look after the village, should the Stormterror attack again. I need to run some errands. Take care of the place while I'm gone. And while I know we need more people, do not call anyone else without my permission. Especially her. Good? Good. Take care and sorry for the short notice."
As Jean left the room, Noelle grumbled to herself.
"I am useful. And she's struggling. Why doesn't she send me out?" She pondered. "Oh well. I know she refused this, but I'm going to call for help. For Jean's sake."
Noelle strode over to a nearby table, grabbed a feather and dipped it in ink. She then gently sat down as she began to write.
"I know Jean said especially not that woman." Noelle thought as she wrote. "But she would be a valuable asset as of right now. Sorry Jean, but I'm going to have to disobey your orders."
There. Done. Phew!
I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story, I'll keep updating it for ya'll and for my sake :D
Also... HAPPY NEW YEARS!
Thank you all so much for reading, and don't forget to-
Huh?
WAIT I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF-
Noelle has written to an unknown person for an unknown woman to help Jean. Who is this woman? Why is she unwanted? Why does Paimon feel strange around One for All?
Find out next time on A Heroic Impact!