15/04/2023

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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 64 - Questions About Friendship

Ochaco lay on her bed in her small apartment. She hadn't moved back to Tsu yet. She could have. She didn't have much stuff here that she needed. She could take a few clothes and go back to Tsu and be comfortable with her parents but … that left this apartment furnished and she'd still have to pay the rent. Her folks were doing okay. Ever since they'd gotten on that Panel, work had been steady but there was no reason to waste money. So she was going to have to spend a few days here, disposing of things before she went back to Tsu. And she'd have to hope the agent would let her break the lease or find someone quickly to take over.

And then she didn't know what she was going to do.

Vlad King had told her he had some contacts as he'd escorted her from UA but at the gate she'd simply looked him in the eye and said she didn't want them. He'd looked confused for a few moments but then he'd nodded. He understood, the same way she did that with an expulsion from UA on her record, there was no way any other Hero school was going to take her in.

Which was the other reason for staying here. There were still more opportunities available in Tokyo. She had no idea what she was going to do but here, there were more opportunities.

And a lot of gossip.

It was very early. Her phone was telling her the time started with a four. But she hadn't been able to sleep, so she was scrolling through her chats. She still had access to some of the class chats and while there was a question as to why she hadn't been kicked out of them, Ochaco wasn't looking an information gift horse in the mouth.

For a day, her expulsion was all anyone could talk about in the chats. The return of the kidnapped students and the rescue group had made a mention but people had been speculating on why she'd been expelled. No one had gotten even close to the truth. .She'd kept quiet on those and had only spoken to Mei, Hitoshi and Momo. Then late that night there was an explosion of chat.

Apparently the kidnapped students, and the rescue team had been challenged to a fight. And had lost!

There'd been no further details until Jiro had gone into the 1A/B combined chat attempting to find Shoji. Apparently he had been challenged as well but hadn't gone. She wanted to make sure he was okay. That had pulled everyone to the combined chat. They'd made it for the camp which now felt as if it was months ago, instead of barely a few days…. So much had happened.

Shoji had said he was fine, and then speculation had gone wild. Even Monoma had toned it done since Momo was part of 1B but that didn't stop anyone else. They wanted answers. They didn't get answers, except for the confirmation that the kidnappees and the rescue team, minus Shoji and Honenuki were in the infirmary.

That was bad enough but the next morning there were even more rumours going around. What was known was that Endeavor had collected Todoroki. Actually everyone's parents had come and there had been some confidential meeting with the Principal and All Might. Momo's parents had taken her out of school for the week, as well. Apparently the kidnappees and the rescue team all had a week off to think about something.

No one knew quite what.

Until someone, with the nickname Code One, in the chat, had said the week off was because they were all having problems with their quirks. Ibara had informed the group chat that experiencing problems with your quirk after a traumatic experience was normal but… It was odd that they were all having problems. Even Ibara agreed with that.

Then someone said it was because they had lost their quirks.

At first, there had been disbelief but when speculation failed to produce any other reasons more and more people had turned to that as the reason.

Ochaco knew better than to believe speculation but the thought that they had lost their quirks was… It fit all the evidence… and… apart from telling her to really think about her choices, Izuku hadn't told her what he was going to do. All he'd said was if UA was going to brush it under the carpet, then he would be consistent with punishment.

She knew he could defeat them in combat. She'd never really seen him fight outside childish Middle School things but Ochaco knew he was capable but… Izuku couldn't take their quirks, could he? No one could-

Ochaco frowned and swiped her phone into sleep mode. She might not be sleeping but it could.

No one could take quirks. That's what everyone thought.

But what if you could?

Another thought came to her. She'd watched All Might's battle against the masked suited villain. Izuku's Father. He had seemed to use multiple quirks. A couple of the school chats had tried to come up with a theory on his quirk, what it was that it could be used so extensively. There were theories online as well but what if it wasn't one quirk, but many? That would explain the sheer versatility of it.

And… Ochaco forced herself to take a deep breath. She'd known Izuku for a long time and in that time his quirk had changed. He'd come to school with Fire Breath and when he returned a few years later, he also had Fire Proofing. That wasn't too bad. It was logical actually that if he had Fire Breath he was also Fire Proof so she'd thought nothing of it. But then…

Before they came to UA, he'd suddenly gotten a new name - Mitei Chui. The story that his father had promised his mother was touching, and it might even be true but… But… combined with a new quirk? She grimaced. That should have been a warning. Faceted quirks were a real thing. She had looked that up but they were rare and it was even rarer that the facets were usable. Izuku had usable facets. Fire Breath and Proofing and some sort of floating ability…

What other quirks could he have?

If his Father had multiple quirks how had he gotten them? And quirks were usually inherited. The legacy students had the same quirks, or similar quirks as their parents but often UA dealt with those who had a useful combination or were in the 0.4% who got something completely new.

So… If Izuku's Dad had multiple quirks, how had he gotten them? She went back to that question.

The kidnappees and the rescue team had maybe lost their quirks.

Was it possible to take quirks? Is that how Izuku's Dad got his quirks? And, he was Izuku's Dad, was it possible that Izuku also had a quirk that could take quirks…

Is that what he'd done?

I'm not that restrained.

He'd been angry when he said that. Not at her, but he'd been angry.

Is that what he'd meant? Did he really have the ability to take quirks? Was each of the facets of his quirk actually another quirk?

Did it matter?

The thought was unexpectedly cold. Ochaco blinked in the darkness as she thought about it. She was focused on the quirk. The chat was focused on their quirks. Society was focused on their quirks!

Shouldn't they be focused on the people? Were the kidnappees and the rescue squad okay? The loss of their quirk would be traumatic but shouldn't they be focused on them as people? Wouldn't that be the right thing to do? The quirk was a part of them, not their entire being… Though sometimes it seemed that way.

Is that what annoyed Izuku? That people were treated the way they were only because of their quirk or their perceived quirk and what it could do…

She bit her lip. Things made so much more sense now.

Except… That didn't say anything about how the group supposedly lost their quirks? Had Izuku taken them? If he had, how?

Or… going back to his Dad… Izuku's Dad had shown he had multiple quirks. She believed Izuku had them as well. So what if… what if his Dad had a quirk that allowed him to take quirks? And then use them… Izuku could have a similar quirk to his Father.

Again, Ochaco blinked in the darkness. It didn't answer all her questions but if that was true, then it made everything make so much more sense! And… Izuku had admitted that All Might had fought his Father. If his Dad had a quirk that let him take other quirks then… Society would call him a villain even if he wasn't.

Is that how he'd become one? Had he just had a quirk but had been called a villain for so long that he had decided if that was going to happen he should just do it? With a quirk that could take others… that would make him powerful! Is that why he'd never allowed Izuku to show his quirk? Why Izuku had said he had something super rare! As a child Izuku probably wanted to say more but had been counseled not to, but then, as he got used to using other quir-

Where had Izuku gotten the other quirks? Had his Dad given them to him or had he taken them from someone?

Ochaco swallowed at that thought. He had possibly taken the quirks from the kidnappees and the rescue team but had he taken quirks from others?

The question led into her previous conclusion. She now understood why Izuku wanted to think of people as people, not as their quirk. There was no way his quirk could be considered go- Now she was thinking the way everyone else was! She knew better. Quirks weren't good or bad. It was how someone used them that was important. Those who couldn't control their quirk could always get suppressants and that was to the good of society. They should be praised for that! After all, only those with quirk licenses could use their quirks - heroes, some medical staff and others who applied for special use licenses. So really it shouldn't matter if someone took suppressants.

If Izuku really had a quirk that could take other quirks, then society would consider that bad. They wouldn't even consider that he'd never use his quirk… Izuku's Father would have made sure he knew that, would have made sure that…

Izuku had said his Father had given him a choice and she understood what that was now. He could have picked one of his 'quirks' and called that his quirk and gone on through life, being accepted, or he could be himself and show his real quirk and be called a villain. And if he took the kidnappees and rescue team's quirks, then he'd made his choice…

"Not for me," Ochaco whispered, feeling sick. Please don't let Izuku have made that choice for her.

I'm going to do it anyway. I've been thinking about this and-

The memory made her feel better. Some might think it nice that a friend would become a villain for them but… She'd studied heroics. She now knew what it really meant to be called a villain. So does Izuku, her mind supplied. He had thought about it for a long time and he knew, probably through his Father, what it meant to be a villain… and probably what it meant to be a hero. And the Management Course also taught things… She had been taught the field implications… Actually Izuku might know more than she did. Heroes were taught how to deal with villains but that was in the heat of the moment. The Management Course was taught about the longer term and how to market your Hero… They'd have to have at least touched on what to do if it turned out the person wasn't a villain.

Except… To be called a villain you had to use your quirk in some crime. That's why people accidentally using their quirks in public didn't count, especially if they didn't hurt anyone and why no one was breaking the law in their house when they used their quirk. The law applied even in private homes, though it was generally more lax. Well, so long as no one was getting hurt.

Izuku knew what he was doing.

But where did that leave her?

UA hadn't called her a villain but they had made her a scapegoat. They'd been careful not to say anything specific, but the effect was the same. While UA had never called her a villain, others were. She couldn't do anything about them. It was mostly trolls online and while online reporting had gotten better, it was still weak. You had to have money, drive and power to get anyone to do anything.

Izuku had said she couldn't help unless she was sure, and given how insulted she felt at being called a villain by faceless, and essentially nameless trolls… she wasn't committed and Izuku knew that and wonder of wonders, he didn't hold that against her. He knew it could change and…

Ochaco felt herself smile. He was prepared to wait or rather accept her when she made a choice. She sighed and rolled over. What did she want?

She had wanted to be a hero, the type that actually helped people but that was no longer an option. So what did she want now?

Light began to come through the curtains as the sun rose. Ochaco still thought…

She just had no idea what she wanted and that…

That was going to bother her for a while.

-ted-

It still took a couple of hours for Kurogiri to fetch him once the Doctor called. That was good as far as Izuku was concerned. It gave him time to think about a plan. While he was thinking about that, he wasn't thinking about how he'd managed to fail his Father already so he was hyper focused on a plan. He couldn't just walk through Kurogiri and demand that they follow him.

Well, he could but it would end in disaster. He needed some way of making the crew Tomura had gathered think of him as their leader, to make them follow him. He could probably fight them and win but… that was too aggressive. And… really, what would it prove? That he could beat them in a fight. They may not know that but… that was a hero's thinking. He needed something more reliable than brute force.

He thought about what he knew of the people but it wasn't much… Except for Himiko he knew nothing about them and they probably equally knew nothing about him.

Izuku nodded to himself. That was a place to start. An introduction and then… Then he could say he was taking over Tomura's position. They'd just seen him kill- He felt sick at the thought and shunted it away. They'd just seen him deal with Tomura so that should earn him some respect, right?

And then what? He could get Kurogiri to give him an introduction and then he was going to have to win them over himself. And the best way of doing that was not to be a hero. He could treat them as people. For most, that should be enough. For the rest… He'd have to let the chips fall where they may.

He nodded to himself and looked up as Kurogiri approached. The sun had risen while he'd been waiting so if it did come to a fight he should be okay there. But… He wasn't a hero. He wasn't going to tell them they were wrong. He was going to tell them he wanted to fix things… Because he did. He really, really did.

They'd have to work with that.

-ted-

Ochaco has had some interesting thoughts about her friend and she's going to have to come to terms with what he's done and Izuku is going to have to come to terms with what he's done and quickly, while trying to recruit the League.

My discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all!

-ted-

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