Welcome one and all to yet another later than planned chapter of Dragon slayer, Dragon core, damn I sound like a broken record already. Anyway it is a bit of a bridge chapter, that did not always end up as I would have like, but after multiple failed attempts to power through I went with the one that at least kept flowing. Now let's get back to the story
The final score of the USJ incident was 4 students, along with 3 teachers and forty odd villains sent to the respective hospitals. A few villains died from the students' defensive actions, as to which no prosecution will take place. All in all 183 villains were arrested from the USJ, not counting the dead ones, but including the ones that were in jail/max security hospitals. For the ones that have had to kill either consciously or subconsciously a counselling routine has been set up with Hound Dog, the U.A. teacher that is also a pro hero and licensed psychologist.
That was what all teachers capable of attending read in the file that had been provided to them by inspector Tsuhauchi from the Japanese police force. He was well aware of All Might's condition and the teachers had also been informed, especially after the USJ incident of the status of the current still number one the meeting had been going on for a while now with teachers throwing accusations at one another for not having paid more attention, or that they would have to completely overhaul the security system of the school. The latter part found the principal agreeing and the High specs quirk of the animal was already running on overdrive, coming up with a new and improved version of his earlier dreams.
The other thing on everyone's mind was the people in the hospitals. Not that they cared for the villains, after all they had had the stupid idea to go after U.A. in the first place. No, their minds were with Thirteen, Eraserhead and Vlad king, when talking about the teachers. The other constant that kept moving through their minds were the students. Awase and Kaminari. Awase had been the easiest to fix up for the hospital, after all a broken leg, even if the bone was protruding outwards was easily fixed nowadays. The only thing that had been thoroughly drilled into his mind before getting released was to take it easy for a few days. Kaminari had had a serious case of quirk overuse. Which had not declared his own fault, even though it was. It had been towards the protection of the rest of his yearmates. After more or less grounding his brain and what could be counted as a reboot, which the tiniest of shocks he too had been free to go.
The two students had remained at the hospital to morally support their year mates, that was until a very distraught Inko Midoriya arrived at the aforementioned hospital. The teachers still thought back to the phone call that U.A. had received from the small woman. Even though she is small her protective nature was huge. That and seemingly her emotions and recent exercise with her quirk had strengthened it from where it had been for years. While she first could only attract small objects the woman had gone upwards towards telekinesis in strength. Now able to move the small objects in any which way she desired. The absolute righteous anger the woman exuded at that very moment had given her the monstrous strength to no longer stick to small objects.
In her temper the woman had been throwing around chairs, couches, even cars hadn't been safe. Which was what she had threatened the principal with as well, to throw those things onto him and squash him like the rodent he was. Which had led to the animal having a very human shiver up its spine. He knew he was smart, small and fast enough to dodge most things and make it turn back onto her and have the law take care of the woman for unlicensed quirk usage. While the principal knew that he also knew he shouldn't underestimate an angry mother. An angry mother that had a very good point in saying that they had failed both her sons, who were now both in the hospital for various injuries.
Nezu finally took the centre stage more or less. ''Well I suppose we could leave it at this for today, as I will go to the hospital, to visit the teachers and at least Natsu Dragneel as he has woken up. I hope I will get to speak to Izuku MIdoriya as well. We need to apologise and hear what they have to say about all this. All Might I hope you know what to do and say, I hope you will do the right thing soon enough as we also have the sports festival to work on. For the rest of you, I am expecting security ideas and PR ideas on my desk by monday.'' With that Nezu hopped from the table he had been standing on to look them in the eyes and strode to the door.
As the principal opened the door he looked straight into the still rather angry face of Inko Midoriya and visibly gulped. It may take a bit longer for him to get to the hospital than he had initially thought. Perhaps because he had reasoned that the woman would not come towards U.A. as long as her sons were still in the hospital. It would seem he was wrong. All might on the other hand couldn't help himself and thought that there stood a gorgeous, strong woman about to start the apocalypse in front of the door. Of course he had seen her a few times before now, one of those occasions had been that moment where the boys had been accepted into U.A. Now though her figure was even better as she had kept up her training and instead of eating when worried she had hit the gym.
Tiles were literally coming off of the floor as she glared murderously into the eyes of Nezu and the animal did the only thing he could and guided the woman towards his office. Where upon arrival he seated himself behind his desk, gestured to the chairs in front of him for the woman to sit down. Neither had noticed All Might following them, both scared and interested. He remembered the last time that they had been in that office and the choice words that had been directed to him. Not that they had been unjustified in any sense of the word. Taking up a spot near the door All Might listened in on the woman tearing into Nezu. ''How on earth is it FUCKING POSSIBLE that a villain attack of that scale even came NEAR U GODDAMN A? Not only that, but it seems that once again MY BOYS are at the centre, not unlike a certain battle training?
I thought that when I graciously allowed both Izuku and Natsu to attend U.A. that they would be looked after, treated like any other student and not singled out. Now I have in a few weeks received Izuku home with a more or less blown up arm, thanks to a teacher trying to cancel his quirk. Having had to tell Mitsuki Bakugo about the history between our sons and what could have happened and Now THIS! You ABSOLUTE bunch of GODFORSAKEN fucking incompetent LIARS!'' You could say a lot of things about the usually kind, loving and rather tearful woman, but when she finally has had too much of it all, she could be scary.
All Might himself had his fight and flight response triggered multiple times during that tirade, but as always his first instinct had been to fight, ever since he had gotten his quirk. All Might would let the principal take the first brunt of the attack as he knew that he wasn't the most competent of teachers, yet that was. Nezu went on to explain that even though Aizawa's methods weren't always the best, he had had the best in mind when he had tried to erase both Natsu's and Izuku's quirks. Not only that, but that All might had used a randomization for the battle simulation, which was a rather good idea as one would never know who you had to work with in a pinch, or fight against as villains rarely were at large long enough to get a detailed quirk profile done.
The fact that the boys have still been deemed blameless even by the Bakugos was somewhat of a miracle. Then again perhaps not as Mitsuki knew how much of an arrogant asshole that brat of hers could be. An asshole that was close to being on probation for willingly pulling the grenade pin on his bracer after he had been warned not to do so. That was of course the moment that they came to the USJ incident and that was where All Might had shuffled a little bit closer. The principal had told her how the gate had been breached the day before, by a quirk not present among the media that had been gathered in front of the school campus. As the quirks of the media were well known most of the time and quite often had something to do with reporting. For example recording quirks or broadcast quirks were often what were used. A quirk that could decay steel and concrete in a matter of seconds, which was later used to incapacitate Aizawa was not common.
Nezu also explained why All Might wasn't there at the start, how all his hero time for the day had been used up in the morning as there had been a crime streak literally on the path he took from his house to work every day. Not that he thought that All Might was blameless in this, as there were enough heroes nowadays to let them do their jobs. However he asked her if Izuku, or Natsu would have done the same thing if they would have been in their teacher's shoes. Inko knew that neither boy, or once again boy would let that just slide. They would go out of their way to make sure that the villains were stopped/beat up or at least taken in custody.
Which was more or less the moment that All Might had been waiting for, even if he hadn't known why he had followed the principal and the woman that had proverbially kicked him in the balls, with words only, once before already. ''Mrs. Midoriya, I know I don't have any right to criticise young Midoriya, which is why I won't. What I have seen and heard during and after the incident, young Midoriya and young Dragneel are both what I would call true heroes. They not only look out for one another, but also the rest of their year mates. They have and would have taken hits for others that would not have been able to take them. I have been looking for a successor, or successors if it is possible as the new number one hero. A new symbol if you will. I realise that a single pillar like I have been is no longer feasible. That has been made very clear to me as apparently the villains that infiltrated had apparently been trying to kill me and just me. Not bring heroes to their knees or anything of that sort….
I will be offering young Midoriya and perhaps young Dragneel a choice of sorts after the sports festival. I will be offering them my quirk, my strength, the sacred torch if you will. When I saw them lying there, I saw a very bleak future, a future I do not want to see become reality. Not only that I was also reminded of myself…'' With that All Might lifted his shirt and showed how bad it actually was. Inko had also known he could no longer be a hero full time due to an old injury, but how it looked she had no idea. ''I do not wish for them to share a similar fate…I'll take my leave now, I need to thank those two brave young men and apologise at the same time. The choice will be theirs, of that you have my word.'' With that All Might left the principal's office and headed towards the hospital in which the defenders of U.A. lay.
Inko and the principal kept talking for a while, mostly Nezu was trying to get Inko to relax a little bit more and already ease her into the idea that had been forming in his mind to turn U.A. into a boarding school, at the very least for the hero course students. With one of the most concerned parents as a sounding board and criticising him at the same time Nezu let his mind go and hoped that both teachers and students that were in the hospital wouldn't mind if he was a bit later.
-at the hospital-
At the hospital both teachers and students were in separate rooms. The teachers as far as possible were having conversations on how to continue their classes and how to look their students in the eye after more or less failing them? The students were either dismissed, out cold, or coming around. The latter of which was Natsu, he was slowly coming to properly after having opened his eyes a few times before. One of which was the time that the alert went out to the school and Inko that he was awake. Only this time Natsu was able to keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds before plunging back into the realm of sleeping oblivion.
Natsu was taking in what he was feeling and could come to a few conclusions, one of which being that his back hurt like nothing else. Following at almost the same level of pain was his head, the memories he had were also rather fuzzy, something about Izuku sprouting wings and eating ice. If that was the case he really needed to kick his ass again. After all, he had warned Izuku about absorbing new elements. First of all not all elements reacted the same upon being absorbed, both he and Izuku knew that. The last time Izuku had been out of business for days, but at least it had been an element that had complimented his fire.
Ice was the opposite of fire and did not play well with each other. True supercooling a superheated item/surface/gas could work in a normal way, what was more common was that it reacted violently. Which was one of the reasons Natsu had had issues with Gray in the past, but that was behind them. They had grown up and learned to appreciate the other, even through the whole Natsu having been E.N.D. Now what he was pretty sure about was that Natsu had seen scales creeping down Izuku's arms and facial features and the words he had mumbled at the sight of it all. He knew, just knew it had been the same as his first unlocking of the dragon force in the tower of heaven all those years back. The same fury, absolute destructive fury. His had been aimed at Jellal, Izuku's had been aimed at the monsters and the hand guy.
Natsu turned his head to where he could hear the familiar sound of Izuku's breathing and found that his brother was lying in a weird angle, or at least a weird angle for a hospital setting. Usually they lay patients on their back, Izuku was on his belly, with the now confirmed wings at odd angles laying draped over each side. They looked intact, but unlike before they didn't seem to have an element coating them. They were the same shade of green as Izuku's hair and for some reason seemed both natural and unnatural from what Natsu could see at least. What Natsu could also see was the circle of elements that was both on Izuku's back and chest. He could see the bottom circle now showing an ice crystal shape, which lit the fire in his own gut.
Torn between cursing and cussing at Izuku for being so stupid and reckless, not to mention desperate to do that and combine it straight away wit the fire that was both of their main go to element. The other things that were fighting for dominance within him were pride as his friend, pupil and brother, gratefulness for the righteous anger that boy had displayed. Joy at seeing him alive and finally concern for the same boy as he had pulled a stunt that could have blown him up from the inside. After all, ice and fire do not mix as he had already thought before.
Just that moment Natsu heard groaning from where he had heard only sleeping sounds before and turned his eyes to where Izuku's face was and could see his eyes flickering open as well. ''You absolute amazing, idiotic, powerful, loving, winged dumbass.'' Came out in a voice far weaker than Natsu had thought he would sound and talking hurt his head, like the sound seemed to resonate in his skull and aggravate whatever had not fully healed yet. Not that Natsu really minded the pain, it reminded him that he was still alive, even though he had likely given it a good shot at dying….again. 'I really need to stop making a habit out of almost dying' Natsu thought to himself, as he would not admit that out loud. Especially not where Izuku could hear him.
As for Izuku, he could feel the weight of the wings that had sprouted from him, though he could only barely remember doing anything past eating the ice. That should have been an indication for the green haired boy that what he did was not the smartest. What was actually the case was that Izuku was freaking out internally over having wings and how he would deal with them in his regular life, if only he could hide them somehow. Maybe retract them or something like that. As the thought hit the boy about retracting them they did just that. The wings seemed to slide into his back and with every bit that got retracted into his back a new tattoo appeared on Izuku over the ring that was already there. The same went for the circle with the symbols on his chest. The wings had turned into a dragon wing tattoo, even though he could still sort of feel them in his body.
Having heard the words directed at him Izuku focused his eyes and found Natsu's face. ''Good you're alive.'' His words were not exactly as steady as he would have liked them. ''I feel like absolute hell though. Last time I ate something that wasn't fire I didn't feel this fucked up when I woke…How long have I been out, or have we been out I should ask?'' Natsu shrugged, or tried to when he heard Izuku's question, his movements were rather jerky ''Hell if I know moron, how could you be so stupid to eat ice of all things? It's the complete opposite of fire!'' The sheepish look on Izuku's face said it all really, he hadn't been thinking. The green haired teenager had been desperate to save, or avenge Natsu. Which is what he had needed the extra power for. ''I can't say I knew what I was thinking or doing, all I knew was….rage absolute rage at seeing you possibly murdered. That was something I couldn't….you know''' At least Izuku hoped that Natsu knew that he loved him like the brother he never had.
The pink haired boy looked Izuku in the eye. ''I know…., but for the love of the afterlife please do not do something like that again. I mean you probably could, now that you have the ice….Be careful about combining it with fire again though, not without me or medical staff present. I do have to say I am jealous of your wings though, they looked awesome in the dragon force. Which I have never seen activate outside of Earthland…. Will need to ask about that next time I speak to my old guild mates.'' As both boys lay in their beds too knackered to do anything but talk they spoke about what had happened at the USJ and after that topic was exhausted they turned to the teachers who had been with them.
They knew that Thirteen had been very badly injured and possibly dead as that was what the hand man had been bragging about. They had seen Vlad king and Eraserhead knocked out and broken to various degrees, but they had no idea if the teachers would recover from all the wounds they had suffered. What surprised them even more was that Inko wasn't there fussing over them, not that they minded at that moment. The waterworks that that woman could produce when worried, or the unbridled fury she could unleash both already brought headaches to the young men. Having heard the two boys talking to each other one of the nurses had come to check if they needed anything while she was going to get the doctor to check them over. The only thing that they asked for was knowing if the teachers were going to make it or not. They were rather glad when they heard that although there would be quite some revalidation time for all three teachers they would be okay in the end.
The doctor arrived and told Natsu that he was essentially free to go if he would be able to keep his calm for about a week, maybe two. Meaning no training, only school and keeping the physical activities to a bare minimum. As for Izuku, he inspected the tattoo that was on the back of the young man and asked Izuku to make his wings appear again. Complying with the request Izuku thought about unfolding his wings and they started to appear from his back. The doctor was both intrigued and professional as he checked every bone in the wings and wondered aloud if Izuku would be able to fly. Before either the teens or the doctor could expand on that Inko burst into the room.
''My boys! How are you feeling? Can you move? Are you okay? Do you have any idea what you are doing to me and I want to know exactly what you were thinking when you decided to attack those villains'' The flood of words that came from that woman's mouth had the doctor, the nurse and the boys stunned. The boys looked somewhat guilty and the doctor cleared his throat. ''Ma'am I'll be sure to answer some of those questions, but for the sake of them hearing everything they need to hear it's better if you do too. As I told Natsu here he is essentially free to go, if he manages to keep himself out of trouble and physical training for a week to two weeks. As for Izuku, he has been incredibly lucky.''
''As you well know both of them have been unconscious for either nearly a week in Natsu's case or slightly over a week in the case of Izuku. For Natsu it had more to do with that we kept him out like a light to make sure that the damage done to his back and head had been healed properly before allowing him to wake up. For Izuku we did not have any need to keep him knocked out. His body has been under so much stress from having the opposite of his regular element ingested and used in tandem with said element we have had to check every organ inside his body and his entire bone structure. Not to mention the amount of scans we have taken from his brain. Supercooling and then superheating something is a recipe for disaster in the best cases. To do so in one's body is dangerous to say the least if one isn't born with natural resistance like Shoto Todoroki. Who saw it as beneficial for himself to let us study his body about it as well.''
Izuku has been lucky in the fact that he has had only fractured bones from earlier hits and severe damage to his throat and vocal cords that we have managed to heal, from the somewhat uncontrolled unleashing of the combined fire and ice. For Izuku we will need to keep him in for a day or two more to check if everything has gone as planned. After which for him it will be the same recipe as for Natsu, take it easy for a week or two and a severe warning to not unleash the same attack again, unless in complete control, guided and with medical attention standing by. The only other option I will let him use that combination for now would be life and death. Now I will let you tear into your boys, have a good day.'' The boys swallowed loudly and braced themselves for the absolute grilling that was likely in their future, only to have it wrong and be on the receiving end of a hug that had them both gasping for air in their respective hospital beds. ''Although I was very frightened and am still very worried, I am so proud of what you have been able to do.'' That was what she needed to say and that was the moment the griling started. After what seemed like an eternity for both boys they were left alone by Inko who had gone to the house as visiting hours were over for that day. Not that the woman cared, but she also needed some sense of being normal in her life after having spent the entire week worried sick in the hospital. That night the boys received a visit from Nezu and All Might, asking after their health and what had happened at the USJ.
On the sunday evening two days later both boys were picked up by Inko and taken home. The next day they went off to U.A. and were quite happy to be doing anything other than laying in a hospital bed, even though it had given them both time to do some thinking. Not to mentionIzuku playing around with his wings and thinking up what limitations could be with his quirk. As it had turned out though destructive to the outside so had been the ice and fire combination for the inside. When no one had been watching he had tried using only the ice element and found that it worked as normal, but would take a lot more training to be effective. Which had of course gotten Izuku thinking on what other element could come in handy as he still had slots left.
When Natsu and Izuku arrived at their respective classes they found a note on both of them, directing students from both 1A and 1B to a lecture hall. The two young men entered the lecture hall and were rather surprised to see both Vlad King and Eraserhead standing in front of both classes at the same time. Vlad king managed to send the two a somewhat of a smile, even though the teacher winced soon after. It seemed that the teacher had more healing to do, but that may have been internal. Eraserhead on the other hand was mostly covered in bandages, so no facial expression could be glanced from him. ''As you two have joined us now as well, I'll keep this short. As you all know the sports festival is coming up and it is one of the biggest events in all of Japan, if not the entire world. You might think it is not wise to still continue with this event in light of recent events.''
''It has been our decision as the entire staff to still go on with this event to show that we will not be defeated by villains, no matter how hard they strike against us. Now to keep in mind, the event is in 3 weeks and you will have to prepare in your own time, though if asked we will be able to keep an eye on you in case you request to use U.A. training facilities. I mention this because I know that some of you…'' Aizawa said locking eyes with the students that he had labelled 'problem children' in his head. Which in all honesty was 75% of both classes, but mostly Kaminari, Izuku and Natsu. Largely due to their stunts in the USJ. ''Might go overboard in training while not completely cleared. Also the sports festival is one of the best ways to impress possible future employers, or heroes to intern with. That was all for today from me.'' With that Eraserhead sank into a chair and promptly fell asleep, making more than one student wonder if it was wise for him to be teaching at that very moment. Kan sensei took over where Aizawa had left off.
''Now for Midoriya and Dragneel, sessions with Hound dog have been set up for the both of you and although you're probably already tired of talking about it, your actions and the after effects of your actions at the USJ will be discussed. Last, but not least it is good to see everyone in reasonable health and give it your all at the sports festival, your performance will not only help with internships, but also be a good test of your capabilities in a controlled environment. Unlike a certain incident we just had. Now to not get Recovery Girl on my case I need to report back. Your homework has been mailed to you, I advise working together with each other and mailing me the results. Once again the reason we won't be discussing this in class is..Recovery Girl…'' With that the blood hero wheeled the chair in which Aizawa was seated out of the door and headed to Recovery Girl's office. As for the students they swarmed to Natsu and Izuku, bombarding them with questions and homework. The amount of questions made them wish they were back in the hospital, but glad they were among friends and friendly people, yes even Bakugo and Monoma.
Well that was all for another update of this story, I know it may have seemed a little rambly at points, but I still do not have a beta, nor is English my native language. Have a great whatever you wish to be great ;) Please read and review, give me some opinions for couples, OFA and whatever you can think of. Even if it is just a simple ''I like it, keep it up'', or /constructive/ criticism.
Snowfire OUT!