Hello everypeoples! Welcome back to the story!

I know that there isn't much violence in the story right now, but fight scenes are coming soon, so don't worry. Also, I don't own Genshin Impact or MHA. Those belong to older people and companies.

ALSO HAPPY NEWS! ANON LOOK HERE! I think you probably read my message to you, but if you didn't then YES! I would love that! Comics, fan art, etc. I would love all of it, it makes me happy :D. That goes for all of the rest of you too. If you want to make me something like fanart, I would love it! No need to ask, so feel free!

With that out of the way, let's start the story once more!

BEHOLD:

I am neither Goku or Vegeta, I am Gogeta!

...I swear...

THE STORY! :D

"Nice!"= Speaking

"NICE!"=Shouting

"Nice!"= Thinking/ Flashback/ Emphasizing a Word

"Nice."= Whispering

A Heroic Impact: Chapter 20

Izuku dashed across the bridge leading into town as he passed the spot where he had met the woman and Timmie some time prior to now.

The depressed young boy was another person Izuku wanted to help, but as of now, he had to focus on someone else. He kept chasing after Ven, who had run so fast she was now a mere dot in the distance, but he refused to give up. He was panting as he tried to force more speed out of his quickly tiring body, but to no avail as he only managed to keep the speed he had been going. He continued to run as the grasses in the plains blew in the wind and the green leaves in the trees swayed slightly. He continued forward after the girl, the only things he could hear were his shallow breaths and footsteps as trees had begun to surround them as he continued to sprint through the woods.

Finally, after much chase, Izuku had begun to slow down. Even with his body being subjected to All Might's training, it was still too much for him at the moment. Right before his energy completely depleted, it all returned in a single moment. Every single bit of it that he had lost in the chase came back to him, as though he hadn't been running at all. He turned his head ever so slightly so see Paimon on his back, her glowing hand pressed down onto the back of his neck as she grinned as the boy's surprise.

"Paimon is getting more practice with her magic thanks to you. Paimon can heal you two more times today!" Paimon said both cheerfully and informally as Izuku grinned, turning his head back towards the figure in the distance.

The duo turned to continue going after the slave for quite some time, the sun now high in the sky as time had progressed. Paimon hadn't said much, as she had saw the glint in Izuku's eyes that she was all too familiar with. The glint that she admired. Izuku began to run again, but made a sudden halt as he looked around himself. Ven had completely and utterly vanished. He kept his gaze forward as he slowly crept forward and began to listen, hoping to find out if she was hiding. No noise except for the rustling of the leaves in the trees and his own and Paimon's breathing met his ears. Disappointed and now slightly worried, he looked back at Paimon to see if she had seen anything, only to be greeted with the confused expression that he had been hoping to not see.

"Did... she disappear?" Paimon asked tentatively before she let out a gasp. "She can... TELEPORT?! COOL! So that means-"

"She probably ran into the woods." Izuku interrupted the now disappointed girl, as she had been excited about the possibility of a teleportation mage. "We can still catch up to her, so let's get going!"

Izuku ran into the bushes, without so much as a plan of what he was going to do. What would he say to her? That he was sorry...? No, he did nothing wrong, so what would he do to help her?

"Where is she? She couldn't have gone far!" Izuku thought to himself as he continued through the shrubbery as she saw an opening on the other end of the bushes and trees. Paimon was still on his back, but was clutching the chain-mail on his torso in order to not fall off his back, as he was now running upright since he had all of his energy back, and since she didn't want to be on his shoulder due to the amount of stray branches that were poking out. Finally, Izuku popped out of the shrubbery, his cuts and slices on his skin from running through the branches were sealing themselves, as Paimon had pressed her hand against the nape of Izuku's neck, now floating instead of being on his back or shoulder.

"Paimon can heal you one more time today before she can't use her healing magic anymore, so be careful." Paimon told Izuku as he looked back at her, flashing her a grateful grin, beginning to stride forward once more.

"Thanks Paimon and no problem! Being careful is eas-" He was then interrupted as his foot got caught on an object. Everything seemed like it was in slow-motion as Izuku fell towards the ground, his grin slowly morphing into a look of fear. However, it didn't last as he fell face-first on the ground, Paimon still floating where she had been healing Izuku. It was all silent for a few moments before Paimon broke into laughter at the silly sight.

Izuku got up off the ground, a brand-new small cut on one of his temples as he turned red from embarrassment as he grunted while Paimon's laughter having begun to die down. "It wasn't that funny...what did I trip on anyway...?"

He stopped talking as his eyes fell on a strange sight. Paimon was staring now too, having ceased her laughter. An enormous root, bigger than any root Izuku had ever seen in Japan, stuck out of the ground. It blended in with the dirt beneath it, showing that it would've been basically invisible had it been smaller. The root was protruding from the ground and continued above land before it submerged under the ground once more.

"Paimon has never seen a root like that." The white-haired girl commented as she frowned in thought and turned around. So what could it be conn-"

"Probably a really big tree, or plant, but I've never seen a root the size of this." Izuku admitted truthfully. Although he had come from a different realm, there was no root in his realm, for as far as he knew, that was the size of this one. "I'm foreign, so I'm not sure what kind this is. I know you came from a faraway...place," Izuku changed his wording, as he knew Paimon didn't like talking about her origins, "but have you ever seen a root that was ever even close to the size of this?"

But he was given no response.

He turned around, confused. There was Paimon, but she was staring upwards at something, not even paying any attention to Izuku. Izuku's curiosity peaked as he looked up where Paimon had been looking. "What are you looking at...?"

He had been expecting something minor, perhaps a specific bird that she was staring at, or a specific tree. The latter had been correct, but much more correct than Izuku had thought. A tree, roughly the size of a building, sat nearby the duo, casting its enormous shadow onto the duo and far beyond them as well, over to a faraway plain. While it was most impressive on its lonesome, the leaves were what made it extra special. The leaves were so similar and condensed that it almost looked as though the duo were staring up at a very close green cloud. Izuku could spot bird nests from where he stood, meaning that there must have been at least a hundred birds living in the tree he was currently gaping at. Now it made sense why there was an oversized root nearby.

As Izuku and Paimon continued to gawk at the colossal tree, Izuku heard a strange noise from tree. The noise was completely non-decipherable. He managed to move his gaze away from the majestic sight, only to see Ven right there, at the base of the tree, her eyes trained on the trunk, but her mouth moving but no sound coming out, as though she were practicing an event that was coming up.

As Paimon continued to gaze at the tree, Izuku began to slowly make his way forward towards the girl. The massive tree's leaves swayed in the breeze, making so much noise that Izuku's footsteps were completely covered by the sound. But right as the sound of rustling leaves died down, Izuku realized that she had begun to talk. Not to him or Paimon, but to herself.

"S-Sorry guys. I couldn't get anything today. But I'll get something tomorrow, I promise! No... that won't work. They might not listen..."

Her voice, which before had a proud tone to it, now sounded distressed and worried, and slightly... broken. Izuku began to walk towards the girl, who was about to recite her lines again. A branch, which had fallen to the ground from the tree, found its way under Izuku's foot, casing a *crunch* sound to be sent around the clearing. The sound was loud enough to break Paimon of her stupor as well as cause Ven to jump slightly, turning around with narrow amber eyes.

"Who's th-" She began, but trailed off as her eyes landed on Izuku. "O-Oh. It's you. I'm honestly impressed. I thought someone as unfit as you would have trouble arching up to me so quickly."

Although she insulted him once more, the insult sounded very forced, as though she had not wanted to say it at all. Izuku tilted his head slightly, his gaze worried as her voice had been. "Is everything okay Ven? You took off running. I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

Ven stayed silent for a few moments, turning around to face the tree as Paimon floated up next to Izuku and landed on his shoulder. And then, the tan girl had begun to laugh. A laugh that echoed throughout the clearing, a laugh that unnerved Paimon and fed Izuku's worries. She laughed openly for a few more seconds, before the laugh died down and she was still facing the tree.

"...You really are a weird freak, you know that...?" She whispered, although the duo could hear her very clearly, as though she were whispering from next to them rather than from in front of them. "Look at me. I'm a slave. My people... my kind... are not treated well. But you... But you..."

She shook her head without turning it as Izuku stood still where he was. They all stood there for a few seconds before Ven's voice came up. "My people, as you can tell are... slaves." She spoke emotionlessly. "Anyone could make that out. There was once upon a time when they wandered the grass. The elders, or so I heard, taught the others so that we could survive. The art of combat."

A delicate pause followed as all three of them listened to the leaves in the tree rustle. Paimon said nothing, looking slightly sympathetic, as she glanced at Izuku, who was still focused on the girl in front of them. The little girl opened her mouth, but then closed it before returning her attention to the current storyteller, who took a breath before continuing, her voice much more strained than before as her gaze did not leave the tree trunk.

"I don't know much more than that, it's what they told me. My people. I usually wouldn't believe a bunch of people telling me that we're related, but their skin, their hair..."

She ran her fingers through her long hair absentmindedly. "The resemblance between me and them were uncanny. They couldn't have been lying. I even denied it myself at first until I was treated like they were." She shook her head as she continued. "We were stripped of our traditions, as we were captured, as I was told. The city uses our people as slaves. I followed that scumbag of a man around so I could get food for the young, and... a-and..."

She took a deep breath to gather her bearings before continuing. "Once every year, one of us is chosen to fight in a faraway arena. We are forced to fight, but if we win, we win our freedom. The thing is... this year..."

She began to shake in place, her fists tightening as the story was slowly becoming harder to tell. "I was chosen."

She continued on, still slightly trembling but determined to finish the story. "I want to be f-free, but I have people I need to protect, people I need to feed. I wasn't able to get food today because of, well, our meeting..."

Izuku felt a feeling of horror well up inside of him. This girl was unable to get food for others and herself? And there were people like Jean just letting this happen? How could she?

Paimon noticed Izuku's horrified expression before she flew up next to his ear and began to whisper. "I know you're a foreigner, and that you're from a place called Wapan, which is very different from here. But here, slaves are quite common. People don't do anything about it because they think of slaves of objects rather than human beings..."

Izuku felt his anger soar (Ignoring the Wapan instead of Japan) , but managed to keep a somewhat straight face, closing his eyes in case they gave away some of the emotions he was feeling on the inside. How disgusting! There were others treated like scum for what? Some of the slaves were even kids, and no one even did anything? Not even the righteous Jean that everyone looked up to? It was no wonder why Ven disliked the knights...

Izuku didn't allow too much of his anger to show, but Paimon saw his clenched fist shaking slightly, signifying his anger as she whispered again, Ven still looking at the tree. "Most slaves think nothing of it, so Izuku musn't let this get to him. Most slaves are treated better than she was, but maybe we can do something about it in the future."

With those words, Paimon saw Izuku's clenched hand stop shaking as he inhaled deeply and let his hand unclench. He exhaled deeply as he smiled at Paimon for calming him down, wincing slightly due to the fingernail marks he had left imprinted on his palm. He would definitely have to talk to Jean about this later, but he had to remember his position. If he were to confront her now, she would think little of it, as he wasn't even a registered knight yet. Even though the two were friendly, Izuku would have to work his way to gain her personal friendship and trust in order to do so. But how exactly...?

Questions for later, as Ven seemed to not hear Paimon's words as she spoke again, this time sounding like she was on the edge of breaking down. "I lost my old m-master. Not that I'm not unhappy that he's gone, but slaves aren't allowed to buy things on their own, and I can't enter the tournament to win freedom without a master..."

She placed her hand on her face as she went on. "I lost my opportunity to be able to steal food, I can't keep going on miracles that I'll always get away with stealing food, I barely even know who I am, and... a-and..."

She cocked her head back so that she was now staring at the top of the tree. She stared for a few more moments before screamed her lungs out with everything ounce of energy she had, tears now filling her amber eyes as she threw a punch at the tree in front of them.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

Those words echoed throughout the clearing as multiple birds flew from the leaves of the tree. Away from their nests, startled at the sudden outbreak of noise and movement. Cawing, the birds all flew away as the enormous tree's leaves blew in the gentle breeze.

Ven stared up at the sky for a minute before she crumpled in front of the tree, sobbing her heart out onto the open wood as her hand began to bleed slightly. Paimon looked on, her face void of any emotion, which was quite unlike herself. The tips of the grass they stood on blew in the wind as Ven continued to cry into the tree.

Slow, soft footsteps were heard as they began to approach the slaves she heard chain-mail rattling from behind her. The fiery-red vermillion-haired girl didn't bother to turn around. She knew who it was.

"Is it too much to ask to live life the way you want to?" The slave whispered to the figure behind her. "I-I want to live. I want to help my people."

She turned fully around, tears cascading down her cheeks as Izuku stood there, looking at the ground with a thoughtful expression. Then, he did something that neither Paimon nor Ven were expecting.

He grinned.

A full-fledged, honest smileappeared on his face as he stood in front of the depressed slave, who was now beginning to regain some of her old anger.

"That's it?" Izuku interrupted the girl, still smiling. "You just need to fight in a tournament, but now you have no master, and no way to get your freedom. Fine then..."

Izuku stood confidently in front of the girl, just as he had stood in front of the crying kid all those years ago. Unlike that time, however, he knew exactly what needed to be done and how he could help her. "And that crying in this case scenario probably wouldn't benefit anyone." Izuku thought to himself, stifling a chuckle as he addressed her.

"I guess I'll fight in the tournament for you."

Silence was his only response. The girl's eyes widened as Paimon's jaw dropped from behind Izuku. Whatever answer she was expecting, it certainly wasn't this.

"C-Could you say that again?" Ven hiccuped as she wiped her eyes with her tan, bare arm.

"I said that I'll fight for you." Izuku said again, although he looked more serious than before, as his smile had faded away to a neutral look. "Are you okay with that?"

Ven shook her head, turning her head so that she couldn't meet Izuku's honest green eyes. "No. I can't, Iwon't. I can't do that to you, and on top of that, I don't have a master, so I can't even join. And on top of that, masters are not allowed to fight for their slaves. It's unheard of! It-"

"I may have an idea, if you're all interested."

The new voice interrupted the slave as the trio turned to see a familiar face smiling at them, his wooden lyre in his right arm as he gazed with Izuku with happy, aqua green eyes. Izuku looked surprised as Ven took a more cautious position, as she had only met this mysterious man once, while Paimon blinked before addressing the boy.

"Oh! Venti!"

Paimon waved at the bard, all the while forgetting about the whole situation he had put them in. Venti dipped his head in greeting atthe white-haired girl as he strode up to Ven and Izuku, an excited, toothy grin on his face as he his way over to them.

"A future knight trying to help a slave gain freedom. Forgot that old story, this will be a way better one!" He exclaimed as famed to a halt, pulled out the lyre, and began to hum as Paimon's surprise and happiness began to melt into annoyance.

"Err... Venti can you tell us what your idea is?" Izuku quickly intervened before a fight could possibly break out due to Paimon's mouth.

"Ah, of course. Hehe..." He blushed in embarrassment as he put the lyre away before addressing the diverse trio once more. "So, I went where I had to go, and I found out some important information! It turns out that Izuku can fight for you in the tournament."

Ven blinked as she turned to Izuku as the full weight of his words came crashing down on her. "I... can't...shouldn't...can I?" She seemed to be at conflict with herself until a hand made its way onto her shoulder. She turned her head to see Izuku's semi-freckled face smiling at her.

"When you gain your freedom, let's bring your people food. And, you'll be able to shop for them without anyone looking after you!" He said cheerfully as Venti's happy face turned into a shocked one as he gaped at the cheerful boy.

The boy hadn't said "if" he had said "when". When! Was he that confident in his own abilities? He had to have some trump card in that case? Right? It would only makes sense, he couldn't just go and expect to win, after all! Regardless, the bard had been touched by what he heard. How the green-haired boy cared for the slave. Maybe...he would be the one?

Eh. Yeah right.

Venti dismissed these thought as he quickly turned his attention back to Izuku and Ven while Paimon floated behind them, now in apparent boredom. "Well, he can. But there's a catch. You see, in order for Izuku to fight in your place, he must be-"

Venti suddenly stopped as he blinked once, a droplet of rain falling into his eye. He shook his head as he started again. "Izuku must be y-"

Another droplet fell into the bard's aqua green eye. He huffed as he turned around, so that his back was now facing the tree. His eyes landed on the blades of grasses blowing in the wind alongside the leaves in the trees. A few droplets of rain then fell from the sky as well as Venti looked up at the cloudy sky, frowning. While Paimon hissed in annoyance and flew under Izuku's legs in an attempt to stay dry.

"That's... rather strange. Wasn't it sunny less than a minute ago?"

He managed to get those words out before a bolt of lightning missed him by an inch, scarring the tree. Before both Venti and Paimon screamed in terror. The four of them dove onto the ground in order to keep themselves from being seen and whatever had just tried to kill them. If Venti had been standing an inch more to the right...

They all looked out to see a strange sight. An orb surrounded by wind floated nearby, as though it were watching them. Before Izuku could say anything about the strange sight, the orb shot out another bolt, this one Izuku managed to dodge through instinct, throwing himself off the ground and tumbling backwards into the tree. He looked on in horror as the smoke cleared to see the others' clothes slightly burned, but there were no injuries given.

"It seems... that not everyone was happy with my arrival here." The bard gulped as he wiped his slightly blackened sleeve as more wind began to gather around the orb as it prepared to launch another attack at the disoriented, but frightened and angered, group.

It seems the news about the tournament would have to wait, if they survived.

DONE! DUH DUH DUH! What do ya'll think?

I just recalled myself giving monsters ranks, so I gotta change Chapter 4 to a lower rank. Because this monster is leagues above the one Izuku fought.

Also, fan art is welcome! It makes me happy! :D

With that aside, thanks for reading! Don't for-

Oh sure. This again.

Will Izuku and his new companions make their way out of this alive? Find out next time: on A Heroic Impact!

Later!