Man, I have slowed down my update speeds. When I first started this story, I did my best to release a new chapter every week, with 3-4 chapters being done and posted in a mouth but now, I'm struggling to get out 2 in a single month. But life moves on, and I was able to get out those two other stories that I talked about in the last chapter, but I haven't had the chance to review the villain storyline at all, maybe after this. If you want to check those out, I would appreciate it, and pls remember that like with all my works, reviews and PMs are appreciated. Anyway, I've got some exciting stuff planned for the summer training arc, and if things go as planned, I'll be able to get around 13K works with this chapter.
Chapter 48: Forest in Flames
(Previously)
"It was honestly driving me mad, keeping me up at night since I couldn't find anything else, but then just before we left for camp. I remembered that he said something else, he said 'Let's just hope we snuff him out before he can pass it on' and when he did, both of your heartrates spiked like someone just shot you up with adrenaline." She spoke up again, watching the two like a hawk as she needed to find out the answers she sought, and these two were the only two that could give her that aside from All Might himself, but she was pretty sure he wouldn't tell her a thing. No way he didn't know about the missing info about himself so it was doubtful that he would just tell her what was missing.
"Jiro-" Tetsutetsu tried to stop her, but she rose one hand to silence him. She had come too far, seen too much to just back down now.
"Stop." She said, getting him to reluctantly comply as he stepped back. "I'm tired of the theories, of the unknowns. So…so just tell me straight," She looked at the two with tired, but determined eyes.
.
.
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"Just what the hell is happening with All Might, and how do you two tie into it?"
(First day of UA's first-year hero course camp – With Mt. Lady)
"I hope I'm not late." Mt. Lady as she entered the build that housed the Sir Nighteye agency. She had been recommended by Best Jeanist to the eagle-eyed pro but as for what, she wasn't told. In the lobby of the building, which lacked a receptionist she noted, she spotted the only two sidekicks who worked there as they carried a box each.
"Nope, you're a few minutes early." The first one, Bubble Girl spoke up as she approached the two and exchanged pleasantries.
"Well the traffic wasn't too bad, woodsie wanted to get some work done while town so it's just me right now." She told them as she had hitched a ride with her teammate, but to do so, she had to leave early to meet up with him.
"Can't be helped, pros are a busy lot." The other sidekick and only male amongst them, Centipeder spoke up as he looked at his watch before they started walking up towards the board room where they were supposed to meet with Lemillion and Nighteye.
"Too bad I didn't get to see you all strapped up, didn't think your boss was into that kind of stuff." Mt. Lady joked as she when she arrived on the first day, she had walked into a sight which she never thought she'll ever see which was Sir Nighteye, the imposing and steel-eyed pro, standing over Bubble Girl who was strapped to what she claimed was a tickle machine. Once more, she claimed(once she was let down) that it was punishment for not being cheerful enough which she didn't buy.
"I told you it wasn't like that!" Bubble Girl yelled at her, her blue cheeks glowing red at the implication to which Lady just kept messing with her.
"There are other ways he could punish you for not being funny enough, I just think he does since you didn't seem to hate it." She responded to which Centipeder chuckled at while Bubble Girl felt like having the ground eat her.
"Can we talk about something else?!" She asked the two, hoping that they wouldn't keep bringing this up, it was embarrassing enough!
"Talk about what?" Someone new spoke up, poking their heads around the corner letting them see them as a young, blonde blue-eyed guy with a bright and cheery air to him. Before Bubble girl could put a foot in her mouth or Mt. Lady would continue to mess with her, Centipeder spoke up.
"The case at hand." He lied to their young co-worker as Lemillion walked out for them to fully see him. At his words, Bubble Girl mouthed out a thank you towards her co-worker as the group walked a little further, now with Lemillion joining them. It didn't take them long to reach their destination was the blonde opened the door for everyone to enter.
"Oh yeah, well, everything's set up so we can begin as soon as Sir arrives, which should be any minute." Lemillion told them as he had just gotten off the phone with their boss who was being held up by the police, they wanted his consultation in some small manner. With that, everyone took their seats at the fairly large table as Centipeder and Bubble Girl put down the boxes before opening them, revealing them to be filled with folders and documents as they started looking through some of them in preparation for their meeting. It wasn't even 10 minutes before the door opened up and closed, letting in the man they had been waiting for.
"Apologies for my late arrival, but I think we should get right to the meat of it." Sir Nighteye, ever straight to the point, apologized as he took his seat at the head of the table. Once he had done so, he started things up. "Are you all familiar with the drug called Trigger?" At the question, all of them gave him their full attention, with the exception being Lemillion who didn't seem to know what was going by his expression so Centipeder brought him up to speed.
"Trigger." The bug-headed hero started. "A drug that for a short time, can boost the potency and power of the user's quirk. It has mainly been used by lower-level criminals but it has been on the rise for some now, especially with foreign strands such as ones from the US on the black market." At that, he passed out a folder each to both Lemillion and Mt. Lady who promptly opened them to see some information and pictures in them, one of them was just a white silhouette with the words 'Overhaul' underneath them.
"Good, because that is what has brought our attention to this man, we don't have a name yet but his villain name is Overhaul, he is the current leader of the Shie Hassaikai Yakuza crime organization." Sir explained as he started up the screen behind him, which showed a Powerpoint presentation of more info, such as some quick bullet summaries of that they suspect the Shie Hassaikai are involved, and what stuck in court, but they could all see that whatever they could pin on them was only ever done so to low-level members for minor offenses.
"Sir, we're going after Yakuza?" Lemillion asked as this seemed like something to leave to the police.
"Is there a problem with that?" Sir asked as he turned his gaze on his young apprentice who knew a lost fight when he saw one.
"Nothing at all, Sir!" Lemillion laughed it off, though if you looked, you could tell he was a little nervous with his mentor watching him like that, which is why he was relieved when he turned his attention away from him.
"Hmm, well I won't lie about this. Yakuza is a dying breed in our society most of them can be handled by the police with little input from pros however this case is different." Sir reminded them all as for some pros, going after Yakuza was a small game, many had stories of how they took one or more down while still in their 2nd years when they got their licenses. And with All Might's rise to prominence, they become a rare breed of criminal all together with most being used as footmen for other, stronger villains.
"That's right. When I was still working as a sidekick to Best Jeanist, we found evidence of the Shie Hassaikai's criminal dealings in the drug trade." Mt. Lady now knew why she was here, but to be fair, she didn't think she knew all that much, to begin with. With her input that their targets were in the drug trade, Sir continued.
"However, there have been signs of something amiss in the market and when we managed to seize a shipment of the stuff, the techs in the labs found that this batch is much different to the other stands." Sir told them as they looked at the pictures the police took of the crime scene which was a warehouse, with another set of photos being from the chemical lab where they inspected the confiscated product.
"How different?" Lemillion asked to which Bubble Girl answered him at Sir's prompt.
"Well, normally trigger just boast the power of your quick factor, with different strands being more beneficial to different quick types as the US strand works best with mutant types while the Asian versions are generally considered to be of lower quality and only really works at its best with transformation quirk." She told him, being as formal but peppy as possible lest she gets punished again.
"Now, while they have their strong points, trigger is trigger and will get the job done, but it's downsides. The first one is that it weakens the user's sense of reason, think something akin to weed just not as enjoyable," Mt Lady joked but when both Centipeder and Sir looked, she rose her hands in defeat. "So I've been told." She added in, putting it away that for a guy that liked laughter, he sure was hard on jokes.
"The other major drawback is that trigger addicts see their tongues turning black, which makes it easy to spot them. The drug itself is extremely fast-acting, taking effect mere seconds after entering the bloodstream and minutes if ingested in pill form." Centipeder reported as he had done some work against a crime ring that was selling this tuff in the past. It made their jobs harder where the villain you were just about to defeat or had written as not important suddenly got a major power boost. Too many pros found themselves in the hospital because of that.
"I don't get it, how is this strand different from the others." Lemillion asked as when he looked through what they were given, it only gave vague descriptions or stuff far too complicated for him to understand.
"Well, unlike these other strands, whatever the Shie Hassaikai have done it as drastically changed it so that it's considered the best on the market, from what we know, it last twice as long as regular trigger at 30 minutes and doesn't impede the mental facilities as much." Centipeder told him, having just asked the lab techs to explain it to him as they had forgotten to dumb down their report so someone without a science degree or a scientific dictionary could understand.
"Oh, I get it. So they have the best one on the market and they've been making bank, right?" The young blonde asked as that made more sense.
"Yes, we have evidence that they have been adsorbing or destroying rival distributors and have been expanding their range and influence. The police along with Fatgum and Suneater seized 250 doses worth of the Shie Hassaikai's trigger pills, street value is estimated to be over 21.5 million yen." Sir told them as their presentation changed to show the aftermath of a drug but raid that Fatgum and Suneater had assisted in a couple of weeks prior. Along with that, were photos of a craft full of contraband.
"Jeez, that's a pretty large amount." Lemillion whistled to which Sir added onto.
"That's what we thought, but under the table, trigger deals are still on the rise, either they just hit some small-timers who got lucky and had that much, or their customers are willing to pay through the nose for this stuff." Sir told them as I the days following the raid, trigger-related incidents hadn't changed which was a worrying sign as it meant there was more of this stuff out there than they realized.
"I believe that at this point, it is fair to say that something happened a year ago that allowed for this unprecedented growth in organized crime, but not a single one of our CIs have been able to find out what." Bubble Girl spoke up as they had been able to figure out that this started early the previous year but nothing more.
"They can't find anything?" Mt. lady asked, caught off guard by that as Cis and underground heroes were normally extremely good at digging up info, one of the reasons organized crime took such a devastating hit but to hear that this up till recently, average Yakuza group had fooled them as…unexpected.
"Nothing, it seems that the Yakuza's new leader is extremely careful of who knows what." Centipeder replied as the only good thing they had going was that he(or she) hadn't realized he had moles in his organization yet as all had reported regularly that their covers were still intact.
"But there is a way in, there is little chance that they had a fully operational chemical lab before this, so we've been looking at their more recent dealings to try and find where they're obtaining their equipment as this level of sophistication is far beyond some basement." Sir told them as in their folders, were suspected suppliers of all the equipment one would need to jury rig a chemical lab, there was even a list of suspected black listed scientists he could have employed to work for him.
"As you instructed, both Centipeder and I have been looking into the business dealings of the Shie Hassaikai yakuza group going back around 5 years. For the first four of those years, we have found evidence of criminal dealings but nothing that would stick in court as they made liberal use of middlemen, open to interpret orders, etc." Bubble Girl took it from there as she thought about the long hours she and her partner had to sort through hundreds of financial documents and other paper trails. But she perked right back up to continue.
"However, it was in what we dug up about the last 18 months that has been interesting as we could track large sums of money being traded for purchase of what we believe is high-grade lab equipment, most of it, unfortunately, is done via Chinese banks but the equipment seems to be shipping from the Americas, as for which port of entry they use, we can't say." That had been a kind of roadblock to them as Chinese authorities were notorious for how slow, incompetent or corrupt they are when did agree to aid in foreign investigations in their jurisdiction or outright refusing foreign law enforcement asking to view their records. Still, they had been able to narrow down what they could be buying the whenever a purchase was made that fit that criteria, they pounced.
"There was also evidence of another kind of transaction, not for equipment but we couldn't find out what." Centipeder spoke up, these typically went to companies they suspected to be fronts in Central and South America. But sadly, they couldn't find anything else on the matter despite the fact large sums of cash was trading hands.
"It's safe to assume it was narcotics of some kind, a trade of their trigger for whatever other drug they wished to get." Sir stated though he found it suspect that the Shie Hassakai would import something like cocaine, which was further backed by the fact that cocaine was rare in Japan, even on the Black Market while the samples of trigger they found had no trace of the stuff in its chemical make-up. There was something they were missing but they didn't know what. His best guess here, with the evidence they did have, was that he was moving some product overseas, perhaps with the money being a way to start up other manufacturing plants away from their boundaries of authority.
"So we have tens of millions of yen trading hands, a potential international drug trade, and a crime organization here at home and seems to be making serious bank, why haven't we made a move on them yet?" Mt Lady asked as this seemed like it'll be enough to at least get a warrant to inspect their holdings, surely they'll find something that will stick.
"It is as Bubble girl says, most of this evidence is circumstantial and wouldn't stick in court. The Shie Hassaikai also don't operate in the open in any capacity so it's highly unlikely we will just run into one of them during a deal." Centipeder told her as their targets were smart, they never left any trace of their involvement that they could use. Anyone who could place them at these scenes when the alleged crimes happened always clammed up or were found dead.
"That isn't the bad part, we don't have proof now, but we believe that they have bigger plans than just cornering the trigger market. No, this level of coordination and risky operations speaks to a deeper desire, we believe that they're trying to increase their reputation, and their coffers." Sir told them as all the evidence pointed towards the Shie Hassaikai expanding faster than it could cope, and if their boss was as smart as they believed him to be, he knew this and was actively trying to remedy it.
"I think with all that laid out, we can all appreciate how big this can all be. With that said, we have three main goals in our joint investigation. The first one is to uncover the identity and quirk details of Overhaul." Sir stated as he looked at every one of them. "The second is to find out as much as we can on the group itself such as bases of operation, warehouses, numbers, and any quirks we should be made aware of." That was a good blow to organized crime as it would make it all the easier to track them and take them out quickly.
"The last one, if possible is to get our hands on whatever prototypes or research notes they have for both their trigger, and whatever other projects they may be working on." He finished as he didn't doubt that there was another product in the works, and one he would like to ensure never saw the light of day.
"Remember, this investigation isn't to arrest them, at least not at this time. It is to identify as much as their command staff and production locations as possible so that when we do make our moves, it will be as crippling as possible else we'll have to deal with splinter groups with the same product down the line." With that order and everyone's agreement, he started handing out tasks for them to each to.
(Second night of the camp – Unknown Location)
"Are you sure about this, master? She is…not stable yet." All for One found himself being asked by his oldest supporter and underling, the man who most knew as the doctor. At present, the two of them were in one of their Nomu facilities, all around them were the vats containing the 'sleeping' monsters but the 'she' they were discussing was far more dangerous than all these nomu put together.
"I'm sure, doctor. You haven't disappointed me yet, I doubt you'll start now." All for One told him with a smile, though the doctor couldn't see it with the underworld king wearing a mask over his face to help him breathe.
"Still, I must say me piece, but I don't believe that he is ready for this level of responsibility." The doctor stated as he didn't think Tomura would be ready for such a reward, he believed that the master had been much too soft on him, letting him destroy and kill whatever he wished at the slightest provocation or irritation. Sure, he knew that their project could easily kill him, but it would rather not have those two butting heads.
"Normally, I would agree with you, but he planned out the entire thing with little input from me. Even worked in some contingencies for if things go sideways." All for One told him, surprising the mad scientist as he didn't know that little fact. Color him impressed.
"So that is the reason you think he is ready for…her." He asked as he looked down at a folder he had, its label being labeled as 'Project Cadmus'
"Hh yes, up until now he's just been given the dregs of your Nomus, except the one we designed to kill All Might." All for One told him as while he did let the boy do whatever, he was smart enough to never let him near the more valuable assets in their preview.
"Yes, and while I'm extremely upset about its loss, it proved to be a major source of how Tomura would say, XP?" The doctor joked as he had been furious when about that, but seeing how it was lost due to its failings had been worth it as he had learned and adapted the other high-end Nomu to be more…flexible.
"You would have thought a little animal DNA would make all the difference." All for One joked as he never thought those old movies he used to watch his brother were on to something. "But I can't take all the credit, our new ally was more than happy to levy his expertise in the project." All for One said as they both thought about a relatively recent new member of their little organization. "Where is our new friend?" He asked as he hadn't seen the man in a few days.
"He's checking up on her, making sure she's…fit to head out. When I was with her, she seemed rather excited to take to the field." The doctor said as we moved from them to another part of the facility, the lights were with the only source of illumination coming from a single computer screen which was being used by a…man? Could be seen but it wasn't moving on its own, rather it was being carried around by four long and flexible limbs which seemed to be coming out of their back. The silhouette in question seemed to be reviewing a recording of this very room, behind him was a holding cell that had been opened, on the walls and floor of the said cell having large and deep claw marks with scales littering the floor.
"Oh, she'll get her chance, in due time." All for One said ominously as the silhouette in question only smiled as they saw in the footage a large, fast, and ferocious creature tearing apart some poor bastards they had recruited to its sparring opponents, the footage cut just as it used its tail to pick up one and slam them into the floor hard enough to crack the concrete as she threw another person right into the recording camera.
(And now – Present)
"Well, are you going to talk, or just spew some bullshit we all know is bullshit?" Jiro asked the two boys with her who had gone silent as the grave. This knocked some sense into them as they could see that she wasn't going to wait for long, they needed a game plan, now.
"Tetsutetsu, I'll follow your lead, the ball's in your court." Midoriya told him as this wasn't his secret to tell, if his friend chose to lie, he would go along with whatever he said. Tetsutetsu didn't look all that happy with the situation was he grabbed at his hair and rubbed his head, most likely trying to make a decision here.
"Dammit, I am so not ready for this, what will All Might say?" He asked himself as the number one had been clear, he couldn't tell anyone unless he first ran it by him but there was no way he could head back to their room, fish out his phone, and have the call needed without it being suspicious in of its right. Seeing this, Midoriya tried to help him with the choice.
"Don't know, but when he chose you, it becomes your secret too, you're entitled to tell people about to you know." He told him as he believed that as the successor and current holder, he had the right to tell those he believed to be trustworthy. With that in mind, and with Jiro's expectant gaze, he caved after what felt like years though it was only a couple of minutes.
"Alright, alright, just…just sit down for a second," Tetsutetsu said as he leaned onto a tree and fell to his butt as he took a deep breath. "This is gonna take a while." And with that, the other two took their seats on the floor as Tetsutetsu explained everything to her, rationalizing that trying to keep stuff secret will only bite him in the ass later. They sat there for around 10 minutes, with Midoriya putting his input here and there as they started with the origins of their quirk, of All for One, of All Might's deteriorating condition, and the burden that he had inherited along with the power.
"And now…we find ourselves here." He finished as he took a deep breath, looking up at the night sky as Jiro looked like her brain had fried some time ago, but was still was firing as she looked like she wanted to have a total freak out. She had been skeptical in the beginning, at one point, she wanted to call them out for the BS they were trying to sell, it had to be but she knew that they weren't lying, there was no sign of deceit in them, and Tetsutetsu as too much like Kirishima for him to lie, never mind come up with such a complex one.
.
.
.
"Holy shit. That…that was waaaay bigger than I was expecting." She finally got out as she looked at the two like they just said they were aliens and proved it.
"What did you think it was?" Midoriya asked her, wondering as to what theory she could have had about this.
"I don't know, but not this! A power passed down from master to student, a villain who might as well be a demon lord, Tetsutetsu being chosen for a role which could kill him this!" Jiro yelled back to them before deflating just as fast. "This is just…overwhelming. I'm starting to think I should have minded my own business."
"Well, the cat's out of the bag now, no point second-guessing it." Tetsutetsu felt like he needed to just go to sleep, they had a busy day tomorrow and this was way too much stress.
"Who else knows?" Jiro asked them, trying to cope with this.
"Besides the two of us?" Tetsutetsu asked before he started to listen off the people All Might had told. "The Shields, Principal Nezu and Recovery All Might also told a detective friend of his, and some other pro, Gran Torino I think, Kendo did her internship under him."
"SO what, you're been chosen to hopefully defeat this All for One, who is all but assured to have his hands in the League of Villains, the same group that has tried to kill us, twice?" Jiro asked him as this just seemed crazy.
"Yeah, things look bad…because they are, but that what we signed up for." Tetsutetsu replied which she rebutted.
"Wrong, it's what we are training for, how in the hell are we supposed to fight something like that when All Might barely walked away alive?" She asked him as it didn't appear like he had good chances here, not against a monster like All for One.
"Because he's not All Might." Midoriya butted in, as if he had just had a breakthrough.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but you're not helping here." Tetsutetsu told him to which he waved his hands about as he started to explain himself.
"I don't mean it like that, but I think the fact All Might's still alive is a sign." Midoriya told them which caught their interest.
"Of what?" Jiro asked him.
"Well, from how All Might explained the power to us, it works like a torch, passed from one to another, right?" Midoriya asked him, just to be sure of this.
"Right, he said each person cares for it, makes it stronger before handing it to another." Tetsutetsu recalls how he associates the power with the image of the Olympic torch.
"Exactly, think about it. From the first to seventh users of One for All, they all died fighting All for One, but the eighth user, All Might didn't. He managed to score a hit so bad we all thought he had killed the son of a bitch." He told them, his reasoning starting to catch on with them.
"Where are you going with this?" Tetsutetsu, sadly didn't but he wasn't the smartest, to begin with.
"Where I'm going, metalhead, is that the first seven didn't have the power, but by the time All Might got it, One for All was strong enough to let him do something the others couldn't. Now that you have it, you have even better chances of taking this bastard down, without a grievous bodily injury." Midoriya said which instantly perked up Tetsutetsu as he had never considered it like that, of course, that would happen when each user added their strength to it.
"So he's a shot?" Jiro asked the two, wanting to be real, and when the both of them didn't shoot down her question, that felt like a weight off her chest at the thought she lose a classmate in a fight he had no chance defeating. "That is somehow…relieving to hear, but if this All for One is still around, I doubt he's just been sitting in some boss room waiting for Tetsutetsu to bust in and beat him."
"She's right, the league could be part of some plan of his." Tetsutetsu said as he didn't think someone that dangerous wouldn't have spent all this time preparing to make his comeback, he wanted to believe he was like the cartoon villains he watches growing up but he wasn't stupid.
"Which is why we are training here, and why I'm helping you with your power. At this point, what's the limit you can use of One for All without issue?" Midoriya reminded them. Tetsutetsu took a second to recall his limit before answering.
"Around 3%, 6 I push myself." He told the two of them, the answer surprising their guest.
"That little?" Jiro asked him. She was expecting something like 20% but he wasn't even in the double digits yet.
"Hey, it's a lot of power to control." Tetsutetsu responded, being kind of defensive in his rather lacking limits even if that power was enough to blow past most of their classmates.
"I agree, which is why we're going to work you to the bone so that by the time we head back, you can access triple that, 9%." Midoriya told him, patting him on the back as his mind was rushing with ideas on how to do just that.
"Is that even possible?" Tetsutetsu asked him as that seemed kind of out of reach right now.
"Don't know, but we're here to go Plus Ultra, right? No point not pushing this envelope as far as it'll go." Midoriya replied as honestly, he had no clue what he was doing but he had promised that he would help him and he had every intention to do just that.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm in." Jiro said as she got up, having made up her mind on this.
"What?" Tetsutetsu asked her as both he and Midoriya also got up to their feet and padded the dirt off their clothes.
"You heard me, you need to be as prepared as possible to fight this demon lord. I can't just walk away from this; you need as much help as you can get." She told the two as she may not be close to either of them, but she was still going to ensure that neither of them ended up in an early grave.
"That will make training easier, we can work on your sneaking skills and combat." Midoriya took her offer and fully accepted it.
"Combat?" The steel quirk user asked as he hadn't recalled the earphone jack user to be much of a front-line fighter, she seemed more support and surprise attacks.
"Trust me, metalhead. You think you're good now, but let's see how you react to be deaf." Jiro replied, giving her the first joke of the night before he went with it.
"If this helps me defeat All for One, I'll take anything you two can throw at me." He told her, his grim speaking volumes of his determination which was mirrored by the other two.
"Oh, this is going to be fun. Oh well, let's all head back before they start looking for us, the last thing we need is Mina getting ideas." Midoriya said as it was pretty late, his suggestion of whom they need to worry about sending a chill down Jiro's back as she knew just what the girl was like.
"Agreed."
(The following morning!)
"Rise and shrine, ladies! Chop, chop! Breakfast's in 25, if you're late you, don't get any!" The girls of both hero classes found themselves being woken up by the ever-energetic Ragdoll who went the extra mile by bringing two pots to slam together repeatedly. Even half-asleep, and very much annoyed by the rude early morning wake-up call, none of them wanted to test if they could catch a few extra Zs and still make lunch.
"Why do we have to be awake as this ungodly hour-Ow!" Mina started to ask as she rubbed her eyes before she felt someone smack her upside the head, she turned to see it was Shiozaki who didn't even look that awake at the moment.
"Don't provoke the lord's name in vain." The religious girl scolded her, though with how her eyes were still crusted over while her words were a little slurred, it didn't come out as intimidating as she thought it was.
"Come on, we need to get ready for training." Yaoyorozu told them all as they quickly made their beds and moved towards their communal bathroom where they all took turns using the 6 showers, while others woke themselves up via some hot water, the rest took to either using the toilet or other matters such as brushing their teeth and tending to their hair.
"Here's the toothpaste." Tokage handed Komori a tube of toothpaste that the shorter girl had been reaching for.
"Thanks." Komori mumbled as she put some on her toothbrush, wet it under the tap before starting to clean her mouth. She was on autopilot for the first part but came out of it when she noticed a strange not-mint taste in her mouth. She paused as she took her toothbrush out of her mouth to inspect it, only to see that the bristles were blue. She looked upper her reflection and lost her mind.
"What the hell!" She screamed out as she nearly dropped her toothbrush altogether, her early morning scream jolting the rest of them awake as Kendo rushed to her side to see what the issue was.
"Where's the fire, Komori? It's too damn early for this." She started asking to learn why her classmate and friend were freaking out only to see the reason. "Why are your teeth blue!" She yelled as she saw that her friend's mouth was blue, from the gums to the teeth. Komori pointed an accusatory finger towards Tokage who seemed to be enjoying this.
"It's the toothpaste, Tokage gave it to me!" She accused their class prank queen of the deed which got the rest of the girls glaring at her, but she didn't seem to mind even as Kendo fixed her with her glare.
"Set!" The class 1-B big sister started but Tokage rose her hands in surrender, her toothbrush still in her mouth.
"What? I'm using the same one, no issue here." She told them as she proved her point by adding more of the toothpaste to her brush and brushing her too for a moment, once she opened her mouth, they only saw the normal which egged the question, what the fuck had happened.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!" They heard someone cry out as Hagakure also seemed to be having the same problem. "My teeth!" As she knows had blue teeth as well, this proved too much for Tokage as she nearly fell in tears, having to grab the sink to keep on her feet.
"Hahahahahahaha, oh man! This is too good!" She laughed as she couldn't believe that the prank had worked, she would have to thank that green-haired genius when she got the chance.
"Setsuna Tokage!"' Kendo now looked pissed as she reached for the laughing girl who avoided her grab, spat into a sink, and rushed out, all while still laughing her head off.
"See you, girls, at breakfast!" She told them as she rushed off, sure she didn't get to shower, but she had planned and showered the previous night. If she still had a smell, some deodorant will cover it up…mostly, but it was a training camp, it won't take long for everyone else to smell too.
(Later)
"Why were you guys late for breakfast, you barely made it in time." Jiro asked as the boys had barely made it time to start their breakfast, the teachers had been serious as Aizawa had told them if they were late, they wouldn't get anything till lunch and would still be expected to perform.
"Because Deku fucked with the damn soap!" Bakugo looked like he wanted to maul their class rep as he sat pretty along with Tokage, the two of them eating their meals without a care in the world but their knowing smirks told them a different story. Not getting an actual answer, she turned to someone else which happened to be Kirishima, whose hair was still very much wet.
"Midoriya covered all but one of the soap bars in something that made them useless, so we all had to use just the one to get ready." The redhead explained to them as when they all woke up and tried to either wash their hands or shower, they quickly found out that was going to be a challenge when the soap wasn't…well, soaping.
"You guys hit too?" Komori, now with her mouth clean, asked to which Sato nodded his head. "Dammit, I was hoping that they wouldn't have their fun during the camp." She muttered as she now was thoroughly scared of the following days to come.
"Deku! I swear I'll get you for this!" Bakugo yelled as both Sero and Kirishima had to hold him down while both green-haired pranksters kept on eating while trading compliments.
"What, how was I supposed to know that coating soap bars with clear nail polish would do such a thing?" Midoriya asked him, though his shit-eating smile told them he didn't regret it at all before he turned to Tokage and gave her a bow(while still sitting). "By the way, thanks for the polish."
"It was the least I could do, after all, food coloring was a genius idea." She replied as she waved her his gratitude as she had never thought about using food coloring.
"But how come you didn't get blue teeth?!" Hagakure yelled at her, the rest of them also wanting the answer to the question.
"Cause it was on your toothbrushes, not in the toothpaste. But come on, it must have been tasty, I made sure it was flavored." Tokage told them as she didn't touch the paste, that would be obvious, and in her opinion, too easy. Before they could discuss this, Aizawa stepped up.
"Alright, enough chit-chat, we have a long day ahead of us." The tired-looking pro told them as he pointed towards the clock on the wall, which showed they had less than 4 minutes left to finish up.
"Yes sir…"
(Later that day – Mid Afternoon)
"Alright, we'll good to go in a second." Midoriya called out as he went about doing his finishing touches on their training robots. As he was the one placed in charge of helping Tetsutetsu with this, the two had been excused to do so, with the only downside being that he needed to also work on his gear while he did do to save time. To that end, the part of the clearing he was standing in had a makeshift work desk and some equipment along with a small generator for the power tools he was using.
"Explain to me how these things are going to help him train. He can tear through them without One for All." Jiro, who had asked to help with this and had gotten Vlad's approval asked as the school sent them a small army of villain bots to work with. They may have seemed intimidating during the entrance exam, but they all how fragile they were.
"Normally, that would be true but," Midoriya replied as he closed the access panel on one and stepped back. "Power loader had these modified to better…suit our needs."
"You didn't say anything about Power Loader knowing." Jiro stated as she eyed him, something he wrote it off.
"As far as I know, he doesn't. Nezu has asked he do this and he obliged." Midoriya replied as Tetsutetsu was standing some ways off in the middle of the clearing. As he got ready to fight, he looked confident in his abilities but so did Midoriya.
"Alright, I know that look, what did you do?" Jiro asked him as she had caught the glint in his eyes and wanted to know what he had planned.
"Why don't I show you, rather than tell you?" He started as he moved further back with his control pad in hand. "Tetsutetsu, you ready?" He asked, speaking loudly so that he could be heard.
"Bring it on!" Tetsutetsu gave him a thumb's up as he activated both his quirks.
"Alright, I'm be starting the first one, try using just the one quirk so I can proper readings." Midoriya told him otherwise as among…other things, the robots had been fitted each with devices to record the strength of Tetsutetsu's strikes. Hearing that, the boy blew out some air before complying and leaving him with just the one. With that done, Midoriya activated the first machine which happened to be a 1-pointer which rushed him, but he didn't even flinch as he stood his ground and pulled one arm back, his fist clenched.
"You got it!" Once it was close enough, he made his move as he drove his fist right into its center mass, the blow punching right through its outer shell and destroying its internal wiring. With that single attack, it didn't even have time to process what just happened before it shut down and collapse like a stingless puppet. Neither Midoriya nor Jiro looked surprised by this, having to expect just that as he looked at the screen where it displayed that the sensors had recorded that strike to be 756 PSI, a little higher than he expected.
"Alright, that's the first, this time, use both your quirks and hit as hard as you can." Midoriya said as he activated a second, identical bot and set it towards Tetsutetsu who did as he was told and powered up One for ALL to around 3%, even with only a fraction of the power, he felt like he was on an energy high as he did the same thing as before but this time when it punched it, the force of the blow didn't just punch through, it destroyed it's center mass, leaving it much worse than the first one. When Midoriya checked the screen, he whistled when he saw that number had jumped to 1,350 psi.
"And?" Tetsutetsu asked as he turned to them, a grin on his face as he wanted to keep on smashing stuff.
"Well, there is a clear difference to be sure. OFA boasts his physical strength up 80%." Midoriya said as he showed the results of the two tests to Jiro who looked quite surprised by such a markup, he went from a gorilla on steroids to a small wreaking ball.
"Is that anything close to All Might?" Jiro asked him, to which he laughed it off as if she said a joke.
"Let me put it this way, you'll be closer to the moon if you stood in a deep valley." Okay, with that comparison, she could see why it sounded like a joke as the number one did have punches so strong, they affected the local weather. "But that's why we're here, to lessen that gap so let's start the real test." Midoriya said as he pressed some options on his iPad real quirk before this time around, three 2-pointers started up.
"Tetsutetsu, I'm going to raise the difficulty, be sure to stay on your toes." He told him but with a strange smile on his face as Jiro figured that whatever he did was about to show to her.
"If they're anything like those ones," Tetsutetsu started as cracked his knuckles. "This will be easy."
"We'll see." Midoriya told him as he sent the three after him, much like the first two, they seemed to charge him, only now moving in a formation now that there were more of them. However, this was proven to be false as when he moved to strike the center one, another one slowed down to get behind it so when the blow landed, though its shell cratered, it didn't break as the only one managed to help brace it.
"What?! How is it still standing?" Tetsutetsu asked as he didn't think that would happen but he found himself struck by the third, the blow knocking him off his feet.
"Focus, Tetsutetsu. You have more important things to worry about." Midoriya laughed as he watched as three moved on him as he got up to fight them.
"How did it-?" Jiro asked him as he went from smashing them like they were made of cardboard to have to work.
"Oh that's simple, I had their weak outer shells and frameworks replaced with the material similar to that I used to make my gear." Midoriya replied as he had been informed of this a few days ahead of time, plenty of time to send in his requests for Power Loader to implement. Plus, if things go well, the school will put in a bulk order for the stuff, something he was sure Mellissa would appreciate.
"You sneaky bastard." Tetsutetsu muttered to himself as he managed to grab the leg of one and rip it right off, putting it off balance as he used the chance to bash its head in before moving towards the other two.
"He's going to have to contend with strong opponents, the only way to succeed is to first identify your limits and break through them." Midoriya said as he upped the pressure even more by activating another 8 and sent them in before he started to focus on his gear, his boots to be precise. With that set, the trio fell into a kind of routine as whenever Tetsutetsu found himself with less than 5 opponents, Midoriya would add more with Jiro jumping in from time to time to distract him with her quirk by vibrating his metallic skin, which proved to be quite effective. For the most part, he proved himself to be quite skilled at thinking on his feet as even though he wasn't trying to harm Jiro whenever she got involved, he managed her attacks well enough and could force her back, with the bots he learned to target weak points whenever they were caught on the back foot, which prompted Midoriya to switch their programming as he worked on his stuff, leaving Jiro largely responsible for keeping the pressure up which she seemed to enjoy.
(Later)
"Alright, let's take a break." Around 2 hours later, Midoriya looked at the time and called for a break. In the clearing where Tetsutetsu was, he was standing exhausted, surrounded by the remains of the many…manty bots he had trashed, some of which he had used to block or attack others whenever he found the opportunity, which of course led to Jiro commenting that he couldn't use one villain to beat up another but it got the job done.
"What…you…out of…robots…?" Tetsutetsu asked as he took large gulps of air to try and keep himself steady.
"Well no, we went through a fourth of them, but I'm pretty sure you're close to passing out." Midoriya told him as Nezu had sent them…a lot of fodder for this, which made them all wonder just how much UA spent on schooling the hero course alone. But there was a time and place for such and this wasn't it.
"That…that sounds like…a…good...idea." Tetsutetsu said as he released both his quirks and fell over onto his back, looking up at the orange sky as the afternoon sun was setting in the distance. He heard someone approaching turned out to be Jiro, who had her scarps and cuts from their training as she handed him a water bottle. "Thanks." With that, Midoriya came around to sit with them as he wiped some grease from his hands onto his shirt.
"So, while we wait for your second wind to get here, why don't we learn a little bit more about each other." Midoriya suddenly spoke up as he looked towards the sky where a bird happened to be flying over. The surprise of the question aside, they all realized that they didn't know that much about the other outside the common knowledge their classmates knew. Sure, there was the secrets of One for All and All for One, but that wasn't a bond, and since they shared that secret, wouldn't it make sense to try and get to them one another?
"As long as it's nothing too personal, sure." Jiro conceding as she wasn't about to tell them every little detail about herself, not even Pikachu knew that much.
"What should we discuss then, our favorite music or something?" Tetsutetsu asked as he was a man of action, this kind of stuff wasn't really in his preview.
"How about why we're all here." Midoriya suggested after taking a second to think about it.
"Like the reason of our existence?" Tetsutetsu asked him, getting the other two to laugh.
"Not that, you jackass. I mean why we all want to be heroes." Midoriya clarified as he didn't know why most of his classmates were here. He knew Uraraka wanted to make enough money to give her parents a life on easy street, he knew that Iida was carrying on the legacy of his family, he knew Bakugo wanted to be the very best, heck, he even knew that Yaomomo wanted to be a hero to help others as she was.
"The reason? I suppose…that I just liked watching All Might saving people, how he just made them feel…like everything will be alright, that they were safe with him." He went on, trying to get them all rolling with this topic.
"You wanted to be the next All Might?" Jiro asked him, that was kinda standard as most kids wanted to be him.
"When I was younger, sure. But when you don't have a quirk that can level mountains while also turning you into a speedster," He smiled as he looked towards Tetsutetsu, but he had no malice or jealousy in his voice or face, he was only stating the facts. "But that didn't stop me from trying." He added as he never let that stop him from trying, no matter how many times it hurt.
"I'm sensing a but." Jiro stated as Tetsutetsu agreed with her
"But that didn't stop my drive to help people. I looked up the big guy because he was…is a real hero, not for his overwhelming strength but for what he brought with him, hope. That's what I wanted, to help as many people as I could, to be there for the little guys, to be their hope that no matter how bad things are, they can improve." Midoriya finished as he laid back on his back, feeling…lighter after sharing that part of himself to others, just like he did when he told Yaomomo. Hearing this was something of an unexpected but welcomed surprise for the two as while they knew there was more to him, they didn't think he had such a lofty goal. Still, they could tell from his work ethic and dedication that he was fully determined to reach it, which was something they could respect.
"What about you, metalhead? Any reason, in particular, you chose this path?" Midoriya asked as he tossed the proverbial hot potato towards them, which happened to land in Tetsutetsu's lap.
"I just don't like unmanly things," He started but then paused as that wasn't that detailed, so he took a different approach. "Cheating, manipulators, and bullies picking on others was always something I just kind of…hated. When I got my quirk, I made it my goal to be the ultimate guardian for all the little guys, got me into a lot of fights growing up," That made sense, considering his character(unknown to them, this was a similar reason to their hard boi – these two were cut from the same cloth). "It just seemed that becoming a hero was the easiest way to do that." He could admit he was a simple man, he didn't need much in life to be happy, which was why he believed that people shouldn't be afraid that someone will try and take that from them.
But he wasn't stupid, he knew that villains weren't all just cartoon evil who did what they did because they liked it. He had seen case studies about how a 'bad draw at the cards' could leave someone with no choice, he couldn't fault a man who stole to feed his family, he couldn't fault a kid that got into fights to defend his weaker peers, in fact, he did that last one…a lot. That was why he wanted to be a hero, to stand up for those who don't have someone in their corner, and even though he may not be the smartest, but he knew his strengths and would happily use the connections he made throughout his career. He had seen plenty of pros start-up or publicly support charity work, why wouldn't he?
"Your turn, Jiro. What do you have to share?" And last but not least, the torch fell to Jiro who seemed to want to keep it to herself but that wouldn't be fair to them as they already said their piece.
"You're such a child." She told Tetsutetsu before she started to gather her courage, no time to back out now. "My reason for being a hero….it kinda the same reason I have for wanting to be a musician." She started, getting them invested as she hadn't told anyone that she even played or sung before.
"Both my folks are in the music business, they aren't big names or have sold-out concerts on the regular, but they make good money. Ever since I was a little girl, I was surrounded by music sheets, instruments, and my all too willing to help parents." She smiled as she remembered how emotional her father would get whenever she made what she believed to be a great leap, sure it wasn't much but he didn't seem to care, because she was improving, and she was happy.
"Soon, I was trying my hand at every instrument in the house, because whenever I saw a live concert, the people there just looked so…happy." Those were some of the best memories she had. Whenever she looked out at those crowds, whether she was backstage or in the thick of it, she could feel the energy in the air. It never mattered if there was a large villain attack, or some other tragedy the next town over, people came to help with the tension, to feel a little normal even when things weren't. She read about it to, whenever she saw the fan letters her folks would get, or whenever a musician talked about it. Hundreds…no, thousands of people would tell them how their music helped them get through a rough day, a bad break up, a messy divorce, the list went one.
"Wait, then why did you choose the hero course? You could have been the next Elton John." Tetsutetsu asked her, but this caused both to look at him like he just grew another set of arms, not because he had a good question, but because he brought up the name of someone who had been dead for decades. "What, I listen to music." He defended himself as he didn't think it was weird, his mother introduced him and he got hooked, people still listen to classical music, and that stuff was written before the first radios and telephones.
"Moving past the point you listen to some real retro stuff, neither have you have ever heard me play." Jiro told them.
"If you're as dedicated to music as you are to her work, I can say with a guaranteed assessment that you're way better than just 'pretty good.'" Midoriya told her as he didn't need to hear her, he just had a feeling about this and nine out ten times, his gut feeling was right.
"Thanks, but anyway. I chose the hero course because I always wanted to help people feel safe, to feel happy, and being a hero is a sure-fire way to do that. So I switched from being a great musician to being a great hero." She explained, leaving out the part where she freaked for weeks about what her parents would say after all the time and money spent on her music lessons, only to be caught off guard when they didn't seem bothered at all, only asking the usual 'are you sure' and 'it's a dangerous career choice'. Other than that, they only told her that she was free to live her life how she wanted it, and they would support whatever she did so long as she was happy.
"Actually, there's something you can try with OFA, metalhead." She spoke up while jumping to her feet. All this music talk had given her an idea.
"Really, what?" Tetsutetsu asked her as Midoriya finished up his bottle of water.
"Well, whenever you tune an instrument, it's all about finding the right balance in a string of balances as like with a piano, the strings have different widths and lengths so what works on one may not work on another." She told them, which for obvious reasons didn't mean a thing to them.
"I'm lost here." Midoriya spoke up, with Tetsutetsu nodding his head along. What did a piano have to do with training?
"The point is that rather than trying to spread the power evenly, try spreading it around your body in proportion to how much that body part can handle. You're a brawler right, so it stands to reason your arms can take more power than your legs." She told him, having the cartoony image of weight lighter in her head. Most of them were top-heavy having spent more time working with their upper body. Sure they could maybe bench 5 guys, but they couldn't be expected to do able to push that same eight with their legs, in fact, she recalled watching some guy when they brought in some championship level boy builders to a ballet dance class for little girls and how none of them could stand on their toes or move like that.
"That sounds like it'll be complicated as hell!" Tetsutetsu told her as he had a similar image in his head, but with some extra stuff added in such as a dial that read a higher power for his arms than his legs. It was hard enough to keep that technique up when it uniformly spread around.
"It's not a bad idea, we can test it right now actually!" Midoriya on the other hand only seemed to take the idea and run with it as he got to his feet as well. With that in mind, he runs over to get his boots on.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Tetsutetsu asked him as he fastened the first one on.
"Getting ready to spar with you." He replied like it was obvious as he worked to get the second one on.
"But you don't have your gear with you, one hit from me would flatten you." Tetsutetsu protested, he respected his drive but he had to know his limits, without his gear, he would be fighting uphill. Midoriya didn't respond as he merely put on two bracelets and turned them on,
"Wait for it." He told them as he stood in the clearing, away from the trees and wrecks they would need to clean up later.
"Wait for-what's that sound?" Jiro started asking but changed when she picked up a familiar sound, heading right for them.
"That," Midoriya started with a big smirk as he pointed towards the direction of the main building. "Would be my stuff heading right for us." He said as the two of them could see for themselves his winged support item flying right towards them.
"How?" Tetsutetsu asked and before Midoriya could give them an explanation as the support item could attach itself to him, something went wrong as it didn't slow down. At all, which forced him to dodge out of the way with a surprised yelp as the item crushed into the pile of wrecked robots. When the dust settled and they could see he was fine, they proceeded to laugh at him as he felt the weight of the embarrassment on his shoulders as he wanted to cry out to his gear, asking why it betrayed him like this.
"Screw you, it's still in the development phase." He got out as held his face in his hands before he went to check on it. "As for your question, see these bracelets I'm wearing? They have built-in tracking devices so that my gear can fly to me if I can't get to it for some reason." He explained what the goal was to them as he could tell that aside from minor issues, his wings were that badly damaged, an hour or two in repair will be more than enough to fix it right back up so he can try again(after checking to see what went wrong)
"Oh it can fly here all right, it's the actual being of use you need to work out." Jiro commented at his expense as Tetsutetsu laughed out loud at that, making Midoriya regret that he screwed this up, the only plus side was that Bakugo wasn't here to see it.
This set the standard for the following week. The students would wake up bright and early, get ready for the day and head out to train their asses off under the watchful and helpful eyes of their teachers and the Pussycats before they would head back to camp, exhausted where they made their dinner, got some free time to relax before bed by 10 with those in remedial, which included Monoma having to attend late-night classes. After his talk with Kota, the following night when he noticed Mandalay looking for him, he told her that he must have gone to his special spot to be alone, with the OFA inheritor taking a plate out to him every time, Tetsutetsu was at least pleased that Kota was being civil as he didn't try to make conversation, his earlier talk with Honenuki telling him it wouldn't be wise and Kota didn't say anything rude, just thanking him for the meal like any petulant did before he made his exit to leave him to his own devices.
In the afternoon, in the last few hours of training, the three of them would be permitted to head off to aid Tetsutetsu, with Jiro instead improving her quirk by repeatedly striking Tetsutetsu's steel skin rather than the rock she as using before. Tetsutetsu was either training his quirk via combat or by meditation where he did his best to pull his limits without hurting himself, this was how they found that when he stayed completely still, he could push his power to around 10% but he couldn't do anything else, making him a strong, but an unmoving obstacle. Midoriya in this time continued to work as his wings self-flight capabilities, having to redesign the circuits in the first test and working his way up from there.
Of course, at that time, they still found time to have their fun, with Midoriya and Tokage working on their pranks whenever possible. Of course, after the opening attacks from them, their classmates were extremely wary of them and paid extra attention. This didn't help them as the two just up their game as Midoriya crushed some used toilet paper rolls, making them look like crap before he left them on Iida's, Honenuki and Sato's sleeping bags, when they woke up to that sight, they let it be known. Tokage, not to be underestimated, also kept up the pressure on the girls despite Kendo's best efforts to keep her in check. One of those happened the following day where Tokage had snuck hard candies into the showerheads, the result of all of the girls feeling sticky when they dried off.
Of course, while their stunts left them feeling like they were caught with their pants down, most of them could agree that no real harm was done and that the pranks were funny. Of course, this only came after Mina and Kirishima got together to get their revenge on the two by messing with their roll-on, replacing the cent bar with some cream cheese. Neither of them realized this till after they used it and had to spend the entire day smelling like BO and cheese, not a good combination by any means.
(Friday Evening)
"Oh yeah, we've filled our bellies and cleaned the dishes! It's time for some fun!" Pixie-bob cheered. After a long week, as promised, the teachers organized a little game for the students to play. That game being a good old-fashioned test of courage in the dark, spooky woods.
"Finally, we get to do some actual camp stuff!" Mina cheered with several others of 1-A the following suit.
"I'm going to ace this test of courage." Sato spoke out, confident that he will be able to complete this without screaming like a coward.
"Time to show off our scare skills." Kaminari agreed, hoping to use this chance to impress some of the girls.
"Not so fast." Alas, it wasn't meant to be as Aizawa was present to not just rain on their parade, but straight up bomb it. "Those that failed their finals are not at this camp for fun and games, just like the last week, you'll be having remedial classes with me." Hearing this, the four of 1-A that failed felt their souls leave their bodies in shock.
"You can't be serious!" Kaminari yelled as Aizawa just wrapped the four up in his capture item and started dragging them back to camp.
"As the grave, now stop whining so we can go. Unless of course, you want me to add something extra as punishment." He threatened which proved enough to get their compliance as they all slumped over in defeat as they were taken away.
"You know, if I had to go up against Present Mic or Nezu, I would have lost too." Ashido admitted as she was lost during Kaminari and Aoyama's match with Nezu, no way she would have been able to figure out his ploy in time to either find him or escape.
"So what, fighting All Might was a good thing?" Sero asked her.
"Hey, a few bruises are so worth getting to have some fun!" She rebutted him as she shook her finger in front of his face with a smile on hers.
"Alright, with the loss of some kitten, let's explain things!" Pixie-bob started to explain the rules of their little activity to them. "Class 1-B will go first as the scarers, they have hidden along the path, and don't bother asking where is who, we're not telling!" She added in when she saw Asui raising her hand.
"A pair from class 1-A will leave every three minutes and braze the trial, doing their best to not wet themselves and get tags with their names on them which Ragdoll will be handing out to those who make to the far end of the route!" She continued as Ragdoll waved at them, having not left for her spot yet.
"Revelry in the dark." Tokoyami muttered to himself, but still audile to Uraraka.
'Did class 1-B pay him off to freak us out early?' She asked herself as she knew he was into this kinda stuff but he must know they weren't…right?
"Now, those who do the scaring are not allowed to make physical contact, so use your quirks to the best of your ability to terrify your friends, got it?" Pixie-Bon told them, knowing that she didn't then they would have to deal with damages later.
"The winners will be the creative students who make the most students piss their pants!" Tiger added in, his energy being much more Pixie-bob with only Mandalay looking like she saw this as too much.
"Did we need that image in our heads?" Jiro muttered to herself but Iida, over the serious one, saw this in a completely different way.
"Oh I see, there are encouraging us to be as creative as we can in a competitive environment all while learning more uses for our quirks in the process!" Iida called out as he believed he had figured his teacher's intention's in letting them have this fun game.
"Midoriya, as you're a special case, when it's your time around, you have permission to use one piece of support gear." Pixie-Bob as while Shinso had a quirk, he didn't.
"Trust me, Pixie-bob. One piece is all I need to mess somebody up." He promised as he eyes Kirishima like a hawk when he said that, he hadn't forgotten the cheese stunt and while he agreed it was all fun and games, there wasn't anything saying he couldn't get some…payback during this.
"Why does that sound more intimidating than it should?" Hagakure asked Asui who just shrugged.
"Alright, with the rules explained, everyone will draw a lot to see who your partner will be!" Pixie-bob held out a pay fill of paper slips, each with a number on them. Once everyone got thiers, they noticed that there were two of each number which meant whoever got the other as their partner.
"I got 7." Midoriya said as he looked down at his number and then to others around, which is when he noted some people had already paired up, he felt someone tap his shoulders which got him to turn around to see Yaoyorozu standing there, with her slip visible to him.
"So did I," She told him as he fully turned to face her. "It seems we will be partners for this."
"That seems about right," Midoriya said before he gave her a friendly smile. "I hope you don't scare easy." He joked which got the girl to scoff at the notion, but she also seemed to be smiling.
"Please, I'm quite the brave girl, but if you need me to carry you when you get scared, I'll be sure to do so." She told him, striking him right where he hurt as he fumed right back.
"I don't need somebody to hold me!" Midoriya yelled at her, catching how she made mention of the fact she can and has lifted him in the past.
"Are you sure, I can pick you up and put you on my shoulders?" She pressed on, which got some snickers from those close by.
"I'm not short, I'm taller them both Mineta and Tokoyami for crying out loud." Midoriya pointed towards the two in question with Mineta taking offense to this while Tokoyami didn't seem to care.
"Comparison measurement is beneath you, but I suppose not much is for you." Yaoyorozu didn't relent as now Jiro, Mina, Sero, Bakugo and Ojiro were openly laughing at his expense. Before he could argue this, she moved closer and hugged him closer, easily lifting him off his feet. "Don't worry, I think you're fine just the way you are, you're fun-sized." She teased him, having won their little showdown and he knew it, so he just accepted it.
"I don't know what's worse, that the fact she could be insulting me, or the fact I can't tell." Midoriya felt like crying, he hadn't felt this small in…okay, he did whenever he was with his male friends as just about all of them were taller than him but it wasn't his fault, a man can't control some parts about himself, dammit!.
"Hey tails," Ojrio felt someone tap his shoulder but rather than a friendly smile, he was met with an angry sneer as Bakugo pointed towards his partner who happened to be Todoroki. "Switch with me. Right. Now."
"Uh. I'm..not sure…that's allowed…?" He tried to back away as he didn't think it would be wise to downright refuse, but he also didn't think he wanted to try his chances with whatever was going on between those two.
"Revelry in the dark." Tokoyami repeated, which was something Shoji, his partner for this found to be strange but seeing how everyone in their class was…unique in their way, he didn't make any fuss about it. Lucky for Ojiro, they weren't allowed to switch partners so the ones that got were the ones they stuck with. Pixie explained to them that they'll go from pairing one downwards till everyone had a chance to brave the game. The first to enter would be Tokoyami and Shoji, following them would be Bakugo and Todoroki with Jiro and Hagakure, Shinso and Ashido, Uraraka and Asui, Midoriya and Yaoyorozu, Iida and Kota with the last one, being unlucky Sero who didn't get a partner due to the odd numbering of the group.
(12 minutes later)
"Eeekk!"
"What the fuck!"
"AAAAHHH!"
"RUN! RUN!"
"Next time, Ribbity and Ms. Floater!" Pixie-bob sent in Uraraka and Asui, seemingly ignoring the screams of anger and terror ringing throughout from those who had entered first, a glance to the rest of them showed that there of the similar mind as the enthusiasm has died down somewhat after being made to this ever-increasing sound of their classmates screams of terror, she didn't know what 1- was doing but they had this scare thing down to a science. Uraraka really didn't want to go inside, but she went in anyway, she would blame peer pressure for it…if her peers had actually…pressured her to do it.
"I'm getting scared, Tsu." Uraraka spoke up as she and Asui walked into the woods, following the path as they had been told.
"Isn't that the point?" Asui asked her, ever as chill as a cucumber which was something Uraraka both disliked and respected in this situation. Before she could respond, they both heard some more screams. "I believe that's Mina and Shinso." Asui noted as she rose her finger to her lip in thought. "(Kero) Never thought I'll hear him scream like that."
"Yeah, he does seem like the kind of guy that keeps his feelings close." Uraraka added but found she was starting to let her nerves get to her.
"If you want, you can take my hand. We'll look out for each other," Asui offered her, which was something she immediately took her up on. As she grasped the smaller girl's larger hand, she could pick up that she wasn't as cool as a cucumber as she thought. "One step at a time." Asui finished, though Uraraka wasn't sure if she was talking about herself or her, either way, she will do her best to help her through like she was her.
(Up ahead)
"Hahahaha! Nice going, Kodai, you've managed to scare everyone shitless, you creeper!" Some ways ahead of the two girls, three of class 1-B's students had set up their station which had so far proven to be extremely effective, so much so that Honenuki couldn't control himself as he laughed at it all.
"He's right, you're the stare of the night!" Kendo, who was also present, agreed with him as though it was a relatively simple trick, it hadn't failed them yet as Kodai only nodded her head in agreement.
"I still can't get over how funny Bakugo and Todoroki were," The lipless teen thought back to when the two powerhouses of their sister came from through, how they reacted when Kodai's head just popped out of the ground was gold, oh he wished he was recording it so that he could lord it over their heads for a while. "I thought they were tough, but they took off running like they saw a Shinigami or something, hahaha!" He had to hand it to Kendo, the idea of using his quirk to soften the ground so that her enlarged hands and Kodai who go under and unseen was brilliant, a total reworking of the old jump scare which those two, like everyone else must have been expecting.
"Hey," Kendo spoke up, getting his attention as she didn't sound like she was having fun, she was in all business mode. "Smell that? I think something burning not too far from here."
"What, did Todoroki get so scared he used his quirk? No, Bakugo seems like the kind of guy to respond with violence." Honenuki took a whiff of the air and sure enough, he could also faintly detect it. The only issue now was finding out the case.
"This is serious, if those two started a fire, then the entire game has to be postponed so we can deal with it." Kendo told them as there was no way the teachers wouldn't want to pull them back for a headcount.
"Oh I'm sure…it's being…hand...led." Honenuki started to try and calm her down but found himself growing sleepy, he didn't know why but he did feel like it was a nice time for a nap as he fell flat on his face, out like a light.
"Honenuki!" Kendo yelled as she picked up another scent in the strangely colored air and acted. "Yui, don't breathe it in!" She yelled as she grabbed her friend with her fist, keeping as tight as possible as she stood up, trying to keep away from the ground as she used her other hand to mask her mouth and nose the best she could.
"This smoke, it's poisonous, no way this is normal." Kendo said to herself, she may be an expert on trees and other plant life, but there was no way in hell their camp would be anywhere close to a location where something like this could happen, naturally, which only meant one thing.
(With the main group)
"There's a foul scent in the air." Back with the main group, they also started to realize that something was wrong as Pixie-bob could smell something strange in the air.
"I think I know where it's coming from." Ojiro pointed out as they all turned to see smoke and the signs of a large fire raging in the distance.
"Black smoke, is there a fire on the mountain or something?" Iida asked, finding this all suspect as he looked around for any other signs of trouble.
"Not likely, it hasn't been that dry and it's the middle of the night." Pixie-Bon told as she sparred her two teammates a look before she started to rush on over to the area, no students were in that area so she could use her best to its fullest to bury the fire, shame, things were really fun. "Hang on, I'll go check it ouuuut!" Pixie-bob cried out in shock as she was lifted off her feet by some unknown force and pulled away.
"Pixie-bob!" Mandalay cried out to her as she jumped to grab her, missing her as her friend and teammate was taken. Pixie-bob didn't even have a chance as she felt something striking her in the head hard enough to render her unconscious. And this wasn't the only thing happening, as at the force of the blaze, stood Dabi whose flaming hand was on a tree, all around him, flames so hot, they burned blue grew and spread, all caused by him.
"Now," He started as he opened his eyes to the destruction he was creating, to the chaos that would soon engulf the heroes and those would-be heroes. "It begins." He continued as around the camping area, other villains came to act as the source of the sleeping agent in the air kept on releasing more, the thick purple creating a kind of tornado around him. The restrained one walked by himself, with no one around as he got to work. Another large and fast figure, moved in the shadows as it searched for its prey.
"Take them, those who believe they are worthy of the title of hero." With Uraraka and Asui, they hadn't realized just how bad things were, only picking up the scent of fire, unknown to them, they were being followed by a blonde killer who seemed interested in them.
"We, the vanguard action squad of the League of Villains," Kota could do nothing as he watched the forest burn or be covered in a thick cloud of whatever the heck it was. But just like with everyone else, he wasn't alone on that cliff as the beast of a man from before watched him. "Will tear them off their pedestals." Dabi finished as he turned to another part of the fire with fewer flames and let loose a wave of scorching fire, setting it alight as well.
And with that, we have reached the end of another chapter! Things are starting to move, ain't they? As I said, the league waited a week to attack rather than a day as they did in canon, so expect that things will be very different now that they had the time to prepare for the assault. Also, if you're wondering why I threw in the other stuff in the beginning, originally, it was going to be in the latter half of the previous chapter, but that one ran long so I cut it and edited this one to fit it in as it's information that I wanted to all you know. With Mt. Lady, as you know probably guessed, my plans for the Overhaul arc are going to be quite ambitious and different from how things went for real, placing Lady present was a choice I've wanted for her since I first thought about this. With All for One and the doctor, I didn't reveal who they were talking about, but with the Marvel theme I'm been going with, I can tell that some of you already have your theories, which I will NOT confirm or deny till they appear for themselves.
When it comes to One for All, I admit that I don't know everything about the power, but it does make sense that the power itself grows stronger as the first user was extremely fragile, even from the memories Midoriya sees in season 5, it's clear that he was as sickly as All Might said he was. All for One's battle with All Might is hinted to have been devastating as not only did the two walk away with crippling injuries, but I have a feeling that All for One himself knew that he was running out of time as he took in Tomura years before then, all the years fighting One for All must have made him realize he would need to change things up as each new holder proved stronger than the last. Sure, he could have just hunted down the inheritors before they could finish their training, but as with All Might being forced to flee, I doubt that was an option, to begin with. Either way, One for All can easily be the basis for the Quirk Singularity theory the Doctor came up with since sooner or later, it would be too much for anyone to use without serious drawbacks, at which point, it would be pointless to pass it along.
When it comes to Midoriya, Tetsutetsu, and Jiro reasons for chasing the hero course, I found it to be a fun time for them to see just how…similar they all are, despite being completely different from one another, they all want the same thing, a better world where people can be happy and safe. With Tetsutetsu, I gave him that rather simple reason as he strikes me as a simple man, kinda like a farmer in that regard. Their training, I admit, could have been better but it was meant to appear as if they jury-rigged it together now that Jiro has joined in. When it comes to the pranks, sorry but the chapter was long enough as is so that part had to be axed as I wrote the pranks being on full display in the first draft…that was over 3K works, so I scrapped it and reworked it to what you all just read. The last thing is more of an odd joke for me, in that Mina knows she would have failed even though she didn't, it's a nod to how that's exactly what happened in the show.
Reviews:
ZBGaming: I'm glad that it wasn't for nothing that I had her present for that little reveal. To be frank, I can only see Midoriya ever letting others in on the secret if they found out themselves or by another source, Bakugo is an exception as even he knows that was an idiotic move, he didn't owe Bakugo anything and when he found out the truth, he criticized the boy for telling him. Though Bakugo did raise a good point in season 5 on how Midoriya and All Might keep acting strange, which makes me wonder why no one else seems to find that suspect as they all notice it, but choose not to look further into it.
EJthe24th: I think I know about that story, but I could be thinking of another one.
Blaze1992: Trust me, things are only going to get more intense.
D3lph0xL0v3r: Well, I doubt they would need to do much to get Jiro to not talk about it, they didn't as she's smart enough to know that wouldn't be a smart move. As for the fight between Tetsutetsu and Muscular, I've already planned it out and it's going to be a real dozy.
Bloody Relight: That I can agree on as there is no proven scientific way to detect a liar, only training and circumstance.
It'sliiit: Don't know why u said the same thing twice, if you don't like the story, you only need to say it once and maybe leave suggestions or a more detailed criticism.
Ambsma: Don't know why I didn't pick up on that sooner, don't worry, he showers after his workout, I'll make the change.
Edoabb: You do realize that everything you said about Kirishima can apply to Tetsutetsu as well? But I can see where you're coming from, but at the same time, most if not all of them grow as the series goes so it's not an impossibility.
LightTrain: Admittedly, it's not for everyone so I can't fault people like you have an issue with it, I've avoided entire stories just because of the pairings. Though I do take offense about the 'quirkless super-genius/rich playboy' thing as I've read too many stories where he's like bootleg Iron-man, I'm not sure if I'm been good at portraying it but while he is super smart, he's not a genius as it took him years to make the support gear he uses as well as aid from David and Mellissa Shield. In my opinion, his intellect is what it could have been if he hadn't just sat around moping about not having a quirk and done something about it, as what if he got a quirk but it's something similar to Erasure? With the rich comment, he doesn't make that much money and most of it goes back into the development of his tools, so it's not like he has large amounts of pocket money. Lastly, he's no Casanova, he's just more confident in himself thanks to the support of the people close to him, which I admit he didn't have I cannon as though Inko loves him, he's just as scared if not more so than him so she never encouraged him to enter a career field where he'll e disadvantaged.
Zukafew119: I agree, hence why my writing schedule isn't what I wished it could be. And yes, I do have some kind neighbors…despite the fact I live in a country where everyone has a wall/gate combo and immediately assumed anyone that arrives with an invitation is a criminal waiting for you to slip up so they can enter and rob you blind. Yeah, you're not wrong, that one is pretty big but I meant small in comparison to my flagship stories which are both over 300K. With the nurse story, it's already up so if you wanted to check it out, feel free to do it and leave your thoughts, though I feel as if we started something since the other day, I noticed another Deku doctor story being posted so it could become the next thing.
From what I can tell from what has been revealed in the anime, the Hero Public Safety Commission(HPSC) does a good job of keeping things on the down-low, so it's fair to say that the deaths of pros aren't allowed that much time in the sun unless it was from natural causes such as illness or age, which at least saved Kota from the media vultures as he didn't need that kind of attention on him. Yeah, that is the part that the students don't ever think about, what happens if they were to die out in the field, or how they'll react to it when their friends die but I can see the why as they're first years if anything this is something I would suspect Mirio and his group to have to worry about after two years working in hero work studies. Uraraka seems to be the only one that has thought about this as she wants to be the force that helps pros when they have problems.
Cannon Deku is a bleeding heart kind of guy, though in his low self-esteem from years of unchecked bullying and it's a recipe for disaster as sooner or later, he's going to do something stupid without considering the consequences. He seems like the kind of guy that is so dedicated to his work as a hero, he would never settle down or if he does, he wouldn't be home all that often. The villains could defeat him if they put him in a situation where it was either his career or an innocent's life, like Mirio, he would choose to save that person and in doing so, lose One for All. I'm not saying this as a negative, but rather it's a problem that he needs to address as it nearly cost him his arms and his chance to continue going to UA as I can't fault Inko for having her misgivings, after all, that time and calls that her son was in the hospital with broken bones.
If you had to deal with not being able to get much sleep because of someone, I doubt you would be in a forgiving mood for a while either. Well, it was a one-time thing as ever since the two classes have gone to bed and been woken up at the same time. With Vlad, from the finished Joint Training Arc, it's clear to see where Monoma gets his competitive spirit as the guy is hot-blooded and tends to get carried away, so I wanted to make it clear that he does care for his class and sees the potential in all of them. With Shinso, as I said before, I chose it after seeing some great artwork of the MHA as MCU characters, Shinso was Hawkeye and it just…fit. And of course, I covered more about 1-B, they are a part of this too, though I have a feeling they weren't given much screen time so that their reveals in season 5 would be more impactful.
With Midoriya, he's known for years that he would need to know as much as he can to keep up with those with quirks, people like Bakugo and Yaoyorozu whose powers can blow most out of the water, not to mention that they're both intelligent so making use of that lucky-to-have power wouldn't be much of an issue for them either. Still, the fact that both uses went for their quirks was to show that they rely on them a little too much. With the conversation between Kota and Tetsutetsu, I took inspiration from the same place locations names get in this universe, Star Wars. I wanted his advice to come off as wise, but still, something a teen like him would say rather than Yoda, so I made it sound like something Ahsoka would tell a youngling or friend.
With Spinner, yeah he's POV isn't wrong as while Moonfish is crazy, he's nothing compared to Muscular and they all know that. I'm pretty sure he only listened to Dabi because he wasn't sure he could fight him as while Dabi can't use his flames for an extended time like Endeavour and Shoto, his flames are significantly hotter and we've seen them capable of cremating a group of people in seconds. When it comes to Nana, I couldn't find much about her, so I just made shit up.