Hello everybody and welcome back to another chapter of LEGION!

I know it's been awhile, but fortunately I have made so much progress thanks to my wonderful beta CT-2864 who has not only beta'd this chapter but even helped me progress.

On another note, I'm not that old, am I? Y'all do get that the reference to Momo's rant is from Harry Potter Puppet Pals…right? I'm not the only one who remembers the Elder Swear?

On that note…onto reviews.

Quatermass: Thank you and yes, that is the dark knight returns. I haven't seen those other things, however.

Megatronus Uchiha: Great to hear from you! And yes, I do love the line a lot.

Spiderfanboi: I appreciate the eagerness, but I wouldn't have the time to right now, maybe one day?

Shukkets: Thank you

Glint Armor: KOTE!

Kiyomos: I wish that I could make it into a story, but for now you'll have to enjoy it as a oneshot, sorry.

Monkey D. Conan:You know, at first I didn't really plan for pairings but it kinda just happened?

Sixsamchaos: We've already spoken and I'm just waiting to see that story! And believe me, I have plans for Chisaki.

R-king 93: Thank you!

Deathious: Perhaps one day.

Cainsdownfall: Thank you, as you can tell, I love putting in references in my stories.

61394: Thank you! On another note, I've found some good DFO stories, but for this one, I do not intend to go that route.

Edeath756: Don't spoil anything man!

Shin: An enemy divided is an enemy defeated! Thank you! And yes, the Darksaber is gonna be super fun!

Austin: Man, I love all your ideas but damn if I don't know these references.

Argovesta: Si.

Guest: There's a point to Bakugo winning, you'll find out soon why.

Blaze1992: Not the live action, the animated Dark Knight Returns

Solbandgus: That she did.

AnimeFan13578: That is honestly one of the coolest things I've ever read.

StrikerTheFallen: Thank you so much for your support! Here's your fix!

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Wabbayack22: It's more of a metaphysical thing I guess and why you gotta call me out on the dad jokes man?

Arispuffer: Yeah, but well, AU's right?

Grinzwald: Got any recommendations for the description?

S8363417: No big ships, sorry, but we'll get aircraft one day.

Bigrig56: Maybe? I mean, I can certainly try and fit it in at least as an omake.

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The god of wolves: Huh, now that I think about it, you're right…I'll probably have to fix that.

Vasto-Lorde-Ash-Ketchum: Interesting username, now I kinda want to draw it. Anyway, what pun in particular? Like the one you made or?

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Guest: Always on them toes…also who are you?

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Pinkypi: I have plans for that location in particular, don't you worry.

Shobu556: No, there are no actual Jedi or Star Wars beings, just words and references, basically stuff that would be manageable in the MHAverse.

Blyat: She's done worse but fair, you are reading from the beginning.

Skykitsune: It's supposed to be Harry Potter Puppet Pals…I'm not that old, am I?

Luckenhaft: Shh…don't spoil anything. On that note, I actually wrote in his friendship before that was revealed. Funny coincidence, huh?

Guest: Here's more!

All in all, thank you all for your continued support. Like I said, I get your guys' notifications now and it really uplifts my day.

Also, just an FYI, Viridian Prime pt. 2 has won the poll! So be on the lookout for that in The Manifold as we work on Legion and Darth Kyofu.

Now onto…

Legion: Enemies to Allies

"Trust placed in another is trust earned."

"Vod," He heard Boss say as the large hero student roared his challenge. "They're starting to breach the front lines on the other side, they're worried that the flag will be captured."

Mand'alor nodded as he turned towards the base.

"I trust him to you, brothers."

Boss nodded and Delta squad followed as the large brute tossed brothers away like a toddler with his toys.

"I want a real fight! Face me, Mand'alor! Don't you dare hide behind your clones!"

"Sorry, vod's busy, can we take a message?" Scorch snarked as he shot the large student who swung at him with his hammer.

The four worked in unison, weeks of constant training inside the Mindscape having sharpened them into a force truly to be reckoned with.

As Nana had put it.

"You are not merely clones, you are brothers. As individuals you are strong, together, you can be unbeatable."

Boss was the first, delivering a set of blows to strategic spots on the brute's body. While the student was massive, he was also slow, but they all knew that a single strike would bring a world of pain. Seeing movement, he dodged out of the way.

The student swung his hammer down and it impacted the ground brutally, now a bit closer, they could see that he was almost 3 meters (Bout 9 ft.) tall and built like an absolute tank.

But as the saying goes.

"Let's go!" Sev yelled as he ran forward and slid on knees, swiping his knife to the back of his knees, making him grunt.

Scorch took the opportunity to step on the hammer's head and leaped forward with his knee out, the armor plating striking his face with a hefty smack.

"The bigger they are!"

The teen grunted and covered his face, his nose having been harshly hit and reflexive tears already blinding him.

"The harder they fall!" Fixer yelled as he began to shoot him with stunners.

Caught off guard, the giant fell over with a crash, further cratering the ground that his hammer had destroyed.

"Huh…that was easier than expected." Scorch said with a grin under his helmet.

"We've fought Stain, he was a lot tougher and deadlier, and we've spent the last few weeks getting tossed around by Nana. We were bound to get better, let's move Deltas!" Boss commanded.

Heading out, they provided some support before heading back to catch up to Mand'alor.

Meanwhile, Mand'alor ran toward the main base and leaped back into the comms room.

"Thank goodness you're back Vod, they're starting to break through the Northern lines, we've already set up the traps, but it's just a matter of time before they get to us." A clone said as the building started to shake slightly.

"Mand'alor, they're going over the defenses, sounds like they're just launching attacks above our heads! We don't have anything that can withstand that!" Another cried out from across the room.

"Snipers are reporting in…looks like they have somebody that can dish out some heavy artillery, he's got a cannon for a shoulder and seems to be firing concentrated blasts of sound."

Izuku hummed in thought as he looked out the window.

"Sounds like a less versatile, but more ranged version of Jirou's quirk."

Another tremor shook the building and Izuku had to brace himself against the wall.

"Vod, we're getting reports from Captain Rex, he says that the other schools are starting to catch on and are attacking the speeders."

"How many schools have we indirectly eliminated?"

"About 10 schools, we knocked down a good 300 students I think."

"Order him to bring the squad back, have them splinter and attack from behind the schools. With any luck, we can whittle down a few more and keep the pressure off of our brothers."

"Sir!"

Another rumble and Izuku turned to face the flag.

He couldn't leave it unguarded. As much as he trusted his brothers, it would only take one lucky chance and they'd be kicked out of the running.

Izuku then sighed, because now he had an idea.

A very stupid idea, but to be fair, it seemed that stupid ideas had a habit of working out for him.

Idly hearing Nana chuckle at the back of his mind, Izuku walked toward the flag, noticing how it was actually a decent size, UA's emblem proudly stitched onto it.

'Whoever made this flag put way too much work into it for it to be used here.' He thought with a slight mumble, palming the nice fabric.

'Izuku?'

'Sorry, got a bit distracted…well, they didn't say anything about damaging the flags.'

Still, he didn't want to damage it too much.

Grabbing the rings that held the flag, he unclipped them off the pole. Pausing to see if his gamble worked and noting how there was no alarm for disqualification, he then clipped the rings and fashioned the flag into a cape.

It was a bit awkward, but was surprisingly good.

'Maybe I should add a cape to my costume?'

He already had the yellow 'wings' on his shoulder that represented All Might, perhaps a white cape like Nana's?

Heartfelt gratitude flooded him, making him blush and smile before he returned his focus to the task at hand.

"Let them know, I'm heading to the front lines!" Mand'alor roared as he put on his helmet and made his way to the roof, OYA!"

"OYA!"

Izuku climbed the stairs and headed out to the roof, where he could see the sheer carnage happening.

It was practically a scene from a war movie.

Brothers were holding down the lines as best as possible as enemy students fired quirks not only at them, but also each other.

"Looks like they're still at each other's throats, good job Rex."

'UP ABOVE!'

Hikage's warning came just in time as Mand'alor ducked a few shots. It appeared that they had some fliers.

Mand'alor grunted as he returned fire with his own rifle, the shots only striking the sky.

A few of his brothers joined him on the roof, providing cover fire and he was able to move forward.

Running forward and then leaping off the roof with another grunt, he crashed into one of the students who appeared to have jet engines coming out of his feet with some support gear for guided flight.

"HEY! Get off of me!"

'Kinda like Gran's, but far less experienced!'

Gripping one of the wings, Mand'alor tore it out, sending them into a spiral. The student desperately tried to correct himself, but only managed to crash into a building after Mand'alor leaped off of him and hit the ground with a roll.

"Look! It's UA!"

Immediately firing his rifle, a student went down with a scream before he gave a charged kick to another, knocking him down.

Firing his rifle once more to, somebody who quite foolishly, ran face first into the barrel of his gun, Mand'alor then grabbed the one who recovered from the kick, shot him in the chest and swung him over his head, slamming the boy into the ground as he used the momentum to roll and fire at somebody else, flipping and grabbing them by the neck and shooting another.

Swinging around the student that he'd held in a chokehold he slammed her into the ground, knocking her out.

"Ravage, get him!"

A large beast made of concrete, metal, and glass erupted from the ground and attacked, forcing Mand'alor to fire quickly only to miss. The amalgamation pounced on him, snarling and snapping its jaws as he held it back and punched it to pieces.

Quickly getting up to his feet, he noticed that he was being surrounded by many students, and that unfortunately his brothers were a bit of a distance away.

'Probably should have thought this through more.'

The teachers were fortunate to have been given cameras so that they could observe the proceedings.

Ms. Joke was most annoyed about the fact that a single student managed to put that smug grin on Shota's face when she never managed to.

"Got something to say, Joke?"

"Nothing," She said through her teeth.

Shota smirked again, glad to see that the week of training they'd put Midoriya through was showing its fruits.

Already some of the other teachers from the other schools had come by complaining about the underhanded tactics that Mand'alor was using.'

To quote Kaminari, "L."

Not that he would say that outloud.

Hizashi would never let him live it down.

Either way, Mand'alor was showing good strategy and tactics, and was fighting well against the enemy students.

While he could see where the complaints about excessive force were coming from, logically it would only serve their students better in the long run if they understood now that villains and criminals wouldn't take it easy on them just cause they were kids.

Toshinori on the other hand, couldn't stop grinning with pride. Truth be told, seeing Izuku with a cape reminded him of his old costumes, and the overall appearance made him look like a fearsome warrior.

'I really did pick a good one, didn't I, mas-...buir.'

Nezu was simply cackling to the side, much to the horror of the teachers from the other schools.

#Captain! Mand'alor was forced to go to the front lines, and he's getting surrounded, loop back around to the northern side and provide support!#

"Understood. Let's get them boys!" Rex yelled as he pushed the speeder to go faster.

They had managed to eliminate a good amount of schools considering the short time that they'd had. Unfortunately, it seemed that they were catching on and had begun attacking the squad. They'd already lost a speeder and it was only thanks to Rex's quick thinking that one of their brothers didn't end up a stain on a wall.

On the bright side, said brother proved to be very talented at firing from behind.

They sped through the streets, passing through small pockets of students fighting each other.

Some of them may have taken the opportunity to take some potshots.

May have.

"We're coming up on them!"

"Looks like Mand'alor's been doing well."

Rex noticed that his brother was correct, although Mand'alor was surrounded, he was still dealing admirably with the enemy students.

'This is honestly…kinda disappointing, I know that he's been going through some tough training by UA, but you'd expect other schools to at least put up something of a challenge."

"They're doing that movie thing where one enemy attacks at a time."

"Now I see why Aizawa put us through that particular training regimen."

Rex then shrugged and opened fire.

Mand'alor grunted as somebody tried to tackle him, with One For All active and surging through him he dug his feet into the ground and wrapped his arms around the boy before heaving and slamming him into the ground.

"You idiots! Stop attacking him one-on-one!"

He was then forced to dodge a barrage of energy blasts, rocks, and a toilet?

Grabbing the object out of mid-air, he found it to be very much a toilet.

"I'm not even gonna bother…" He mumbled before throwing it back.

"I like that cape of yours! I think I'll wear it as a trophy after I capture that flag, too!"

Mand'alor stumbled and stared at them dumbfounded. This was honestly getting ridiculous, did nobody have any creative thinking? Anybody who tried to think outside the box as he had? Did none of them see their own flags and see the obvious connection or did they all just immediately come here?

Judging how nobody called out the fact that he was wearing the flag as a cape, or the fact that he didn't have a cape beforehand, it seemed that the answer was obvious.

Well…might as well press on the advantage.

"Sorry, cape's not for sale, it's for people that actually make it into UA, understand?" He goaded.

Ooh, that certainly pressed a few buttons.

"You're gonna regret that, boy."

Mand'alor dodged a few more attacks before somebody with literal springs for legs tried to tackle him.

"What is it-hm" He grunted as he got between the students arms and slammed his face. "With you guys and tackling, just cause it worked once with the cat, doesn't mean that it'll work again with you!"

"Ravage!"

The moment the owner of said construct yelled its name, it was reconstructed by scrap and debris lying around and once again charged at him, fangs bared as it quickly closed the distance.

Firing at it with his rifle, Izuku cursed as it kept dodging the ionized bolts of blue energy like it had before, he didn't exactly know why he had tried the same trick again, as it once more tried to eat his face after tackling him.

"I'm starting to really question if this thing is fit for heroics!" He fumed while pulling out one of his pistols and placed the barrel against the head of the annoying construct and fired, causing its head to explode into several smaller pieces.

Before he could get up however, several of the students surrounding him came rushing at him at the same time, seemingly having learnt their lesson about not attacking the guy who effortlessly had mowed at least a dozen of them down in the span of a few seconds one at a time.

"DOGPILE!" He heard through his helmet, as one after another the other would-be heroes started piling on top of him, punching and kicking while those hungry for trophies tried to grab ahold of the cape which was more than difficult considering how the armored teen was lying on top of it.

Now they were really laying it into him, even with his armor he could feel their blows raining down on him.

"You know, I'd never thought I'd get the pleasure of wailing on you again," A voice said next to him, as another blow to the helmet made his ears ring.

"You might have gotten high and mighty, but I heard what happened to that pathetic brother of yours!"

Anger began to seep in his heart at the callous words as they reminded him of a past he wished to forget and he finally remembered this particular voice.

One of the older students of Aldera who enjoyed going after him and Jango.

"Face it, without him, no, even with him…you'll always be Deku!"

Izuku snapped.

One For All exploded around him as he roared in fury, with a heave he threw them off of his body before grabbing the older boy and ramming him through the walls of a building.

"Kuronami, Kaito. Quirk: Jackhammer Elbows. I remember you now…you're one of the few who actually fought against Bakugo, before he blew you to pieces at the park."

"That punk's got some fire in him, but you were the most annoying. You were nothing more than some quirkless little runt who got his head in the clouds just cause of some stupid clone," The boy said with a snarl as he wiped away some blood from his mouth.

"The fact that you of all people got into UA, while I was forced to settle? It just ain't right…and I'm gonna fix things right now!" He roared as he charged at Izuku who merely stayed still.

"Don't worry I won't kill you! But you'll definitely wish that you never became a he-urk!"

Kuronami's vision blurred, he couldn't even breathe and could barely look down to see the fist implanted in his gut.

"You talk too much, just like him," Izuku spat, the cold glare of his visor staring into Kuronami's fading eyes.

'How?...'

"By the way…my name is Mand'alor," He snarled before punching out, sending the other boy through another wall.

"Izuku?" Nana asked from the Mindscape.

Taking a few deep breaths, he centered himself, clenching his fists before relaxing them and opening and closing his fingers multiple times in succession.

'Sorry…but I absolutely despise that name. I already get enough of it from the aruetti, but from somebody else? Especially from a past I'd rather forget.'

"Easy…"

"Ravage!"

'Behind you!'

His arm reached out and grabbed the construct by the throat before he grabbed its tail and pulled, tearing the thing to pieces in the most graphic manner yet.

"D-dude!"

In a burst of emerald light, Mand'alor was on top of the construct's creator who could only gasp as Mand'alor then lifted him and choke-slammed him brutally to the ground, knocking him out and causing the half-reformed construct to fall apart for good.

"I am Mand'alor!" He challenged the other students who were surrounding him. "You wanted to fight me, well here I am!"

"Get him!"

However, just as the small army was about to pile onto the lonesome brother, a sound familiar to him could be heard in the distance, causing him to smirk beneath his helmet.

"Looks like your luck has run out, jackasses… REX!" he shouted, just as the group of speeders came prowling through the group of students, guns blazing with said clone in the lead, which either eliminated those not fast enough to dodge or sent them into a panic over the thought of being run over by… whatever the hell those things were.

"Holy Buddha!"

"Get down!"

"AAAAUUUUGGGHHH!"

Several exclamations could be heard from the people quickly scrambling to get out of the way, with one letting out a somewhat weird scream after he was hit by a stray blaster bolt and fell off the small hill of debris he was standing on.

The wall burst open, the cement quickly becoming dust as Kaito reappeared with a snarl and turned to face the oncoming clones.

The speeding clones didn't scare Kaito, who at best looked pissed off just like Bakugou, something that irked Izuku to no end, a feeling that quickly turned into horror as he saw him managing to hit several of the speeders and sent their riders flying, with most of them landing near him after curling into balls to lessen the impact of being sent through the air at high speeds.

"VOD'E!" he yelled, quickly running over to the nearest one and helped him up from the ground.

"Are you ok?! Are you unharmed!? Are you in need of bacta or kolto!?" Izuku rapidly fired the questions at the dazed clone who put a hand to his helmeted head, before deciding to answer the questions in order.

"Somewhat, my armor luckily took most of the blow and no, I can still fight, Mand'alor," he said while his sight refocused and he picked up his blaster, before getting over to help more of their brothers.

"What's your number?" Izuku asked. Hey, even though they were his clones and brothers, it didn't mean he at times didn't also lose track of them at times, especially during chaotic events like this.

"CT-3132," the clone answered as they together helped up the ones who had gotten knocked off of their speeders, while those still mounted kept zipping around and keeping the army off of them.

While the duo who was soon joined by three more clones who had gotten knocked off of their speeders, kept on helping the other clones and making sure that no one was hurt too badly, one unlucky biker tried to take down Kaito with a passing, when his speeder was grabbed at the front by said student, sending its occupant flying into the ground before the now speeder wielding tormentor put his foot down on his chest with constantly increased pressure, causing the pilot to squirm and claw at the foot currently threatening to decompress his chest cavity.

"This is the most you and your quirk can muster, Deku? Pathetic. UA's standards must really have dropped if they let this scum in. It was no wonder your brother, no wait, I mean Pet died." Kaito spat with a scowl, his description of Jango dripping with malice and mockery.

'Izuku, don't lose your cool. He's just trying to provoke you. Remember, you're better than this.' The voice of Nana called out in the greenet's head, who currently was more than tempted to pull out a rotary cannon on the stun setting and reduce this so called 'upcoming hero' to a pile of twitching limbs, but knew that if he actually did it, he would be no better than Bakugou. Something he absolutely did not want to emulate.

The same thing however, couldn't be said about 3132 who immediately charged at the student who had the gall to sign up for the hero course when he had so little respect for the dead.

"Hut'uunla chakaar!" (Cowardly scumbag) he roared before charging head first towards the offending student, unloading his blaster at him, who used the speeder bike as cover while also using his own cannon to fire back when he could.

"Vod! Get back here!"

"You idiot!"

"Don't let your hate blind you!"

Several of 3132's brothers yelled at him, but he ignored them, wanting nothing more than to put the man who insulted Jango and all of their deceased brothers in his place. Just as he reached him however, he realized he was well in over his head as Kaito grabbed the blaster and pulled it out of his grip, before uppercutting him hard enough to send him flying into the air and land behind him, knocking the clone out cold.

"3132!" Izuku screamed as he was about to run over, but stopped dead in his tracks as he saw his former schoolmate wave his finger at him and gestured to his other brother under his boot, still struggling to get it off of him.

"Weak, weak, so very weak… You still are nothing more than a worthless Deku. And what was that he tried to call me? Are your pets really so stupid that they can't even speak Japanese?" Kaito spat once again, before looking down at the clone beneath his boot and gained a cruel smile and kicked the helmet off with his other foot, just as he stepped down hard enough to crack the armor and knock its wearer out cold while causing the clone to spit out a bit of blood.

"I must say though, it is so satisfying seeing your stupid, ugly, freckled face contorted in pain, so they're at least useful for that. Thinking about it, all of you should just take those stupid buckets off so I can see your pitiful expressions when I inevitably crush you like bugs," he said, picking up the helmet and putting it on to mock them.

Silence permeated the area, with only the sounds of battle in the background and comms being heard, while the clones and Izuku looked at the ground where their two unconscious brothers were lying, all while Kaito kept on mocking and baiting Izuku to fight him one on one so he finally could crush the real thing.

The only answer he got however, was something that sounded like a whisper, confusing him until he heard the voice of Izuku more clearly.

"I said…"

In a flash of emerald lightning, he was already on top of him.

"STAY AWAY FROM THEM!"

"AH!"

Before they both knew it, they were in the air, soaring through the streets.

"VOD!"

'What the hell? Since when can he fly!?'

"I AM DONE! WITH YOU AND THAT NAME!"

Kaito quickly struck Mand'alor in the head, but it only seemed to infuriate him even more.

'Izuku! You need to calm down, you're overtaxing yourself!'

'I don't care! He pays!'

Kaito tried to slam him with another fist but he simply grabbed it and twisted in the air, using the centrifugal force to slam Kaito into the ground.

"I-impossible!" He coughed out as they landed near some other students.

"Hey look, it's UA!"

"He's fighting Jackhammer!"

"Let's help him out!"

"Hey! Back off! He's ours!"

"Shut up! We need to work together, you moron!"

While the rival schools continued to squabble amongst themselves about who got to fight the armored teen, Izuku punched the helmet off of Kaito, followed by an elbow to the jaw, knee to the stomach and a roundhouse kick to the ribs and a finisher with a blow to the back of his knees, causing him to collapse to the ground, having gotten beaten green and yellow by the time the freckled hero student was done.

"H-how… How are you this strong?! You're just a useless De-" before he could finish his question, he was hit by several stun rings, officially incapacitating him and eliminating him from the exam.

Izuku panted harshly as he glared at the defeated boy beneath him.

"Not anymore…never again," He whispered before wincing as a sharp pain racked through his body.

'I warned you, Izuku! Now you're injured and surrounded!'

'Sorry, Nana…but I refuse to let somebody hurt my brothers like that. He could have killed him!'

'I know…but you need to be careful. Remember, One For All and Legion are still synchronizing, but the process is going slowly, if you force your body to take more than you can you risk irreparable damage, even with Chiyo.'

Izuku took a deep breath, well actually, many, many deep breaths as he forced himself to calm down.

Just as he had gotten his temper back to a more manageable level however, a student decided to jump him, which only resulted in him grabbing her by the ankle and slamming her into the ground, planting her like a vegetable.

"Any. One. Else?" he asked, to which the other students started to slowly back away, a few even raising their hands to signify he had gotten the point across.

BWAH!

'The…horn?' Izuku thought, as he looked around in confusion along with the other students, just as the sounds of battle started to die down shortly after.

"Attention all students, the combat portion of the exam has been completed. Please return to the staging area for the next part of the exam."

For a moment, Izuku couldn't believe it…he'd done it.

"We…we failed to take him down…"

"The UA crush…failed?"

"If anything, he crushed us," Another grimaced before noticing the approaching clones, still holding their rifles tensely, as if waiting for them to try and cheat.

"No…they crushed us," A student said, before looking around at the clones, the air around them still tense, before slowly taking a knee out of respect.

The clone was startled, even taking a step back in surprise before nodding and walking forward. Extending his hand, he helped the student up and a new understanding was created between them.

More than a few of the other students only scoffed, some of them muttering how he wouldn't have been able to win without his clones, while others argued that despite having had the tides turned on them, they learned just how dangerous a properly trained and organized enemy could be, so it wasn't a complete loss.

While all of this happened, Izuku immediately sprinted over to his two injured brothers, putting his ear to the chest of the one who had been stomped on.

"Still alive… thank God…" he sighed as more of his brothers came over to help him, while he personally went over to 3132 who had slowly started to gain consciousness, with Izuku running his eyes over his injuries.

"Cracked armor from the crash, more than likely a sprained wrist and bruised ribs, not to mention the broken jaw and most likely a concussion from that hit… you really put your body through some trauma today, vod…" he sighed before sitting down properly to support his head.

Coughing a bit, 3132 looked up at his older brother, processing what he had said. "Guess I did…" he said, before wincing as he really started to feel the pain wash over him.

Izuku closed his eyes and placed his hand on his brother's chest.

'Please…let this work.'

One For All slowly sparked as he focused on his brother, an odd energy seemingly appearing from him before spreading to the clone.

'Things were different with Jango, but I should still be able to send you back…I just need to…there!'

The clone then disappeared in a flash of sparks that settled on the ground before disappearing.

'Good job, Izuku,' He heard Nana say from the Mindscape. 'We're getting him to the medical ward, he'll be fine.'

'Thanks, Nana… 3132? Please make a quick and healthy recovery and don't try to move around too much, ok?' he said in his mind, while his brother acknowledged him.

'I will… sorry for losing my temper back there, it's just… I couldn't just idly stand by while he insulted Jango like that…' he told him, to which Izuku nodded.

'I understand, 3132… I understand…' Izuku said while biting his lip slightly. He understood better than anyone why he had lost his cool.

'Thanks, Sir… oh and Vod? Please, call me Trauma.'

'What?'

'Hahahaha…' He heard before it trailed off as the newly named Trauma finally went unconscious.

'Why do some of my brothers pick such ironic names?' he groaned as he had thought about how some of them prior to Trauma had picked names after having some bad things happen to them. For example; Waxer and Boil had picked their names after the former had tried to do some wax therapy on himself with… less than fortunate results, and the latter had spilt hot tea on himself after bringing a tray of it to the others.

"Trauma…heh…fits." He heard the voice of Nana chuckle as she carted the unconscious clone to the medical bay to give him a bacta bath.

"That it does," He whispered as he started making his way to the staging area, the cape fluttering slightly in the wind from the ventilation system to clear the dust. It was at this moment however, most of the rivaling students finally realized what the cape actually was.

"You've gotta be kidding me…"

"He was wearing the flag as a cape!" A girl shrilly screamed, affronted at his sheer audacity.

"You have to admit though, it does look stylish… The colors do clash slightly tho-OW!" Another student remarked, before being smacked at the back of the head by the one next to him.

"I am not in the mood for your commentary right now! And besides, a cape could get snagged on literally anything! NO CAPES!"

"Geez, I know your ancestor was a hero costume designer but did you have to hit that hard?" He asked while rubbing the back of his head.

Seeing how she raised her palm once more, he started to back away, followed by the others. Those whose schools had been eliminated, decided to go to the locker rooms to change and freshen up, while those still in the exam went to the staging area for the next round.

Izuku walked out a bit more relaxed, although his armor was a lot more scuffed now, much to his annoyance.

"Hey vod!"

Looking up he saw Rex waving to him and he quickly ran to meet him.

"Rex! Good to see that you're doing good."

"Glad to see you too, you worried us when you ran off like that."

"Sorry…"

"Nevermind that, check this out!" Rex exclaimed while pointing toward a screen that showed total eliminations by school.

'Ketsubutsu, 78. Shiketsu, 163…UA!'

501.

"501 eliminations?" Izuku gawked, while Rex just smacked him on the back.

"We beat the previous elimination high score by a mile!" he laughed, before noticing the blue UA flag hanging from the freckled teen, before looking at his own dirty, yet still white armor. "Huh… Vod? You mind if I borrow that?"

"Sure…go ahead," Izuku slightly mumbled, still awed by the score.

'I wish I had something to mark this, although it probably wouldn't be appropriate.' Rex said as he walked to where the brothers were gathered.

"Vod'e! We stand today victorious! Let this be the new beginning of the 501st Legion! OYA!" He roared as he held the flag high, spreading it so that its full glory was before them.

"OYA! OYA! OYA!" They roared in reply, pumping their fists in the air with each chant.

The students watching them grumbled, many of them muttering curses. As it turned out, for those that were still there, they had lost a lot of friends and classmates.

Ketsubutsu ended up losing a third of their students after the schools turned on one another.

Shiketsu lost nearly half.

There was even one school that only had one student left.

'Still…600 students…that is a lot of people, I wonder what the next part of our exam will be?'

The small noise of feedback caught everybody's attention and turned back to the podium.

"Hello again," Mera began with a slight yawn. "I have to admit, that was pretty exciting to watch! As it is, we've finally made it to the second half of the Provisional License Exam. If you all could direct your attention to the screen please?"

They turned toward the screen and many exclaimed in shock as they saw the entire area they were just in simply explode to pieces as buildings and other structures fell apart.

"For the second half of the Exam, you'll be working with each other instead of against in a series of rescue exercises. The scenario is as follows: You are already heroes with provisional licenses dealing with bystanders at a disaster site, and now you must implement the proper procedures in doing so."

"Hey! There are kids there!"

"Elderly too!"

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Please relax, although it is good to see you students care, these people have been professionally trained to be bystanders for training exercises know us as the Help Us Company, or H.U.C. for short."

The students immediately calmed down although they were still a bit jittery.

"They will be placed at various parts throughout the city and it will be your responsibility to rescue them. They will then grade you based on your performance, docking points if necessary. As long as you still have the required amount of points by the end of the exam, you will have passed and will receive your provisional licenses."

Izuku gulped as he tapped his finger against his armor.

Rescue.

It was everything to him.

"He saves people with a smile."

Ever since Jango and him were together they dreamed of the day that they would stand together, saving people.

Izuku touched the spot where the black crystal lay under his armor.

"I'm here, vod."

"However, to promote fairness and equal grading, we do ask one thing…Mand'alor?"

Izuku's attention was caught and he turned to Mera.

"Yes, sir?"

"We ask that for this portion of the exam, you only use medical clones, to let other students have a good chance of participating."

Izuku paused but nodded and agreed.

"Thank you very much. As for your clones, they can sit with your teachers on the stands, we also have refreshments available in the next room if they would like any."

"Understood, thank you, sir."

Izuku then looked towards Rex who nodded in affirmation.

"Alright boys, let's get a move on!"

Some of the Vod'e grumbled but followed Rex out of the staging area and towards the refreshments.

Only about 15 mediclones were left behind.

"Sir," One said, approaching him. "I'm Coric."

"You already have a name, vod?"

"Had plenty of time to think about it."

"Fair enough, it'll be good to finally save some people, right?" Izuku said as they grabbed each other's forearms.

"Yes it will."

Another bell rang and they returned focus to the screen.

"Attention all heroes, a large-scale disaster has been reported at "City Name Here", the origin is unknown. Many buildings have collapsed and there are many injured on-scene. Rescue workers are on the way, but damaged roads have delayed them, therefore, it is up to you to provide the first response. Save as many as you can. Start!"

As he was speaking, the staging area opened up completely, allowing them full access to the city. As soon as they were allowed to, they all made their way to the city.

"We need to establish a medical outpost, but there's no open areas as far as I can see!"

"What about that base that you guys created? At the center of the city?" A student asked next to Mand'alor, the same one who'd taken a knee earlier.

"We'll have to see the damage, but it's a good idea!"

Making their way to the city center, it was the least damaged area, although considering the damage caused to the other buildings, that wasn't much to go off of.

"Take down the barricades and see if you can get that comms system online, there's bound to be students with some kind of radio. We can send a message on all frequencies saying that we've established a medical center."

"Got it."

"Mand'alor, sir? I know this may sound cynical, but what if one of the other schools tries to do something to get an advantage here? They could steal our bacta for example or-" before the clone could finish, one of his brothers gently smacked him on top of the helmet.

"Ah, shaddap, Pessi," The one who had smacked him said to the rather pessimistic clone.

"All we have is our bacta patches and whatever else is in our backpacks." Izuku said, trying to ignore Pessi's comment, even though some of the more sour students may do it.

Turning to another pair, he ordered them to clear the roof for flyers to bring in any injured.

"What can we do to help?" The same student from before asked, now with a few friends.

"Hiroshi…" One of his classmates grumbled.

"He's obviously got a lid on things here, at least we can help. Right now, we're no longer enemies. Right now what's important are the people out there."

That certainly struck a chord in Mand'alor.

"What's your name?"

"Shirokuma Hiroshi, Spectre. These are my friends, hero names; Hera, Venator and Proton," he said, to which the four others greeted him.

Hera had green skin and had her hair set in a pair of long ponytails while wielding a small gun looking device in her hand along with having a small drone with her with an orange head and a tiny satellite dish on top of its head.

Venator was wearing a set of body armor, concealing them from head to toe, while having small cannon looking devices placed on the shoulders, chest and arms, along with having a long red stripe running down the middle of both the aforementioned limbs and on the middle of their body. They were also wearing some sort of winged jetpack while tiny drones circled around them.

Proton on the other hand, looked more like a walking cannon than anything else, wearing a pair of red goggles with crosshairs in them and having a gigantic cannon barrel sticking into the air from her back, while wearing some bandoliers filled with what Izuku assumed to be what she used as ammunition.

"I am Mand'alor, I am honored to work with you."

"We've got more people already searching, like Lasat and Wren, but you're right, if we can get those radios working we'll definitely be a lot more coordinated."

"You telling me that Bridger isn't with Wren? Well that's a first," Proton said, her voice sounding somewhat gruff, yet still smooth as silk while she removed a strand of hair from her bowl cut that had gotten in front of her goggles.

"He can focus when he needs to, his little friends are going through the city, and remember, hero names."

"Fine…Ranger."

"Vod, a lot of equipment's been damaged here, are either of your new friends able to help?"

"I can," Venator said with both Mand'alor and Spectre nodding and she marched over to assist.

"We still need to clear up the area, after we put out the call, we'll head out to rescue some ourselves."

Spectre nodded in agreement and they got to work clearing out the debris and setting up areas for the Mediclones.

"Vod! We've got a signal!"

"Good job!" Mand'alor said as he approached the conn.

"To all students, this is Mand'alor on a general frequency, we've set up a medical station at the center of the city with mediclones on standby to assist. Bring them here, then we can rescue more."

…

…

…

#And why should we trust you, UA? If anything you're probably here to take our points!#

Mand'alor groaned in exasperation but a quick gesture from Spectre made him hold back his retort.

Passing the mic to him, Spectre began to speak.

"This is Spectre from Lothal Academy alongside Ghost Team, this is not a trick. Right now those people are what matter and we need to put aside our differences so that we can rescue them. We need a centralized station to bring in the survivors, and we need to work together."

…

…

…

#This is Ranger, I copy. I've got some of my buddies already finding people. And I found a survivor #

#Shiketsu Commander here…we'll bring the wounded there as well…good thinking.#

One by one, various members of the schools agreed and Mand'alor set aside a mediclone to coordinate efforts with the comms.

A few started to come in and began setting down the injured bystanders who were checked over by the clones.

"Looks like they're fake injuries but we'll still treat them just the same, vod. Alright kid, I need to check to see if you've got a concussion, follow this light, alright?" Coric said as he started to move a flashlight.

"Okay…"

"We can handle things from here, vod, go find more survivors," He called out to Mand'alor.

Nodding in agreement Mand'alor headed out into the city, ready to find more to save.

Within the first few minutes, he'd actually managed to find somebody, an elderly man who was pinned beneath rubble.

"I've got you, sir!"

'Okay, focus on what RG taught you and the others.'

"Sir, can you hear me?"

"My…my legs…I can't…I'm stuck…"

"Easy, I'll get you out of here," Mand'alor reassured by grabbing the man's hand and giving it a squeeze before moving rubble as quickly as possible without hurting him more.

With a final heave, he managed to move the last piece of rubble and grimaced at the 'bloody' mess behind it.

"Alright sir, I've got your legs free, but they're still a bit injured nono, don't look. I need you to look up and keep straight."

Gently holding the man, he applied a bacta spray over the 'wounds' and then began to wrap them up.

"There…that's as best as I can do now, I'll bring you to a medical outpost nearby and you can get yourself better looked at."

'Damn I wish Ochako was here, could really use her quirk right now.'

"Alright sir, I'm gonna need you to bear with me, this structure is unstable and I need to get you out," He said while grabbing the man and bringing him to a backpack hold.

"Argh…"

"I know, just bear with me a little longer."

Finally getting to his feet, Mand'alor supported the man's body in a firefighter's carry, doing his best to not jostle his legs too much.

"Let's go…"

It took a few minutes, but fortunately he didn't stumble at all thanks to his quirk and natural strength.

"Vod! You're back!"

"And with another survivor, come on!"

A few clones helped him get the survivor safely to the ground and began further treatment.

"Hey…" He heard the man call.

"Good work, you lost some points for execution and timing, but overall you did great, keep at it and you'll be a fine hero someday."

Izuku felt a knot in his throat and he nodded his head in return.

"Thank you."

Some time after, the schools were now more or less coordinated and the outpost was getting filled with victims. So much so that they had to clear the debris out of the surrounding area and set up areas outside for more survivors.

"There's so many…" Spectre said as they were currently taking a break.

"Looks like there has to be enough so that all 600 have a decent chance of passing the exam," Mand'alor replied, his helmet on the ground as he drank water.

Spectre couldn't help but notice the scars on him. They seemed to have been caused by an outside force but he didn't know what could cause scars like those.

"I overloaded my quirk…at the USJ. Left me with these…sorry…I noticed you staring."

"No- uhm, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stared."

"It's fine, if I'm to be a hero for the people, then I might as well get used to people staring at the scars."

"I…before we got to the exam, our teachers were briefed about how you would be there and how we'd most likely face your clones…are they really…alive?"

"As alive as you or I…"

"I guess that's why you absolutely throttled that guy from the other school…I saw what he did to your clone."

"I will defend my brothers to the last…as they would for me, they are my family…"

"That's…nice to hear actually, no matter where you are, your family's close."

"Yeah, I-"

KABOOM!

"What was that!?"

"What's going on!?"

Multiple people started panicking, including some of the H.U.C. Whether or not it was acting was anybody's guess but right now they needed to focus.

Putting on his helmet, Izuku looked around the area to see where the explosion had come from, until he spotted a group of people in the distance walking out of the smoke and dust.

In the lead of the group was a large, heavily armored man with a red cape and a particularly notable horn on top of his helmet.

"Yoroi Musha…"

Said hero approached them along with several sidekicks of his agency, but it didn't end there just yet as another pro hero came out of the dust.

A woman with green hair that looked like it was on fire while she wore a mask covering her eyes and a suit with a skirt that barely covered her thighs, along with thigh high socks. This was none other than one of Endeavor's most well known sidekicks, Burnin'

"Oh crap…" he heard one of the other students gulp, while one of his brothers pulled the rim of his black bodysuit to seemingly let out some heat and to be able to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Attention all heroes, villains have been reported in the area. Objectives have now changed, you must now continue rescue efforts, while facing off the villains."

"Things just got a lot harder," Mand'alor said as he and Spectre tensed in apprehension.

"What the hell are they thinking?" Joke said in an unusual exclamation of rage. "This is something even pros have trouble with, why are they throwing the kids off into the deep end!"

"After the USJ incident, the HPSC are trying to only get the cream of the crop. And probably also something to blackmail Mand'alor with, as the control obsessed bastards they are." Aizawa responded from behind his scarf.

"Feh, I prefer laughing things off, but this is too much…" Ms. Joke grumbled and crossed her arms while somewhat sunk into her chair, making Ponds look at her and Shota for a moment, before looking down at his jelly pouch and decided he had enough for one day.

"Sir, have you ever considered going out with her?" The clone asked out of genuine curiosity, making the homeroom teacher spit out his coffee, before slowly turning his head towards him while Joke burst out in laughter.

"Well, I'd say that this is where the fun begins," Nezu said with a chuckle as he sipped his tea.

"I wouldn't call it fun…if it were anybody else I wouldn't question it, but the fact that they brought Yoroi Musha, a known swordmaster, here? This is another challenge specifically for Mand'alor," Toshinori observed and some of the other teachers nearby were starting to grumble at how the boy was more trouble than he was worth.

"We should be down there with him," Rex said from the side, just waiting to jump in.

"Hold yourself, Captain. To break the rules now would disqualify your brother," Nezu stated and Rex huffed as he sat back down.

"That being said, there was nothing stated about supporting your brother from the sidelines, I'd say that an encore of the Sports Festival would be much appreciated."

Rex grinned in his helmet.

"All students, this is Mand'alor. Yoroi Musha and Burnin' have been reported on the scene. Combat-proficient students, make for the northern edge of the city, the rest of you should continue to focus on the rescue efforts!" He called out on the comms before turning to his newest friend.

"Will you join me?"

Spectre nodded and they clasped arms.

"I will, Mand'alor."

"Then let us fight.

"Hey Mand'alor, you use a sword, right?"

"That I do, yes. One of my friends said that I'm using one of the 'ancient styles' as he put it."

"Wait… You mean one of the ancient styles that have been lost for over a century?!" Spectre asked and nearly got into his face, making the freckled teen jump a bit.

"How come everyone but me seem to know about these 'lost styles'?!" He exclaimed, starting to feel slightly annoyed over this.

"Nevermind that, but here, you can borrow this," Spectre said as he handed him a katana approximately one meter in length with a slightly black tint to it.

"It's beautiful. Who made this?" Izuku said as he admired the sword that looked like an artisan had made it, while tilting it slightly so that the light reflected off of the blade.

"A friend, let's go!"

"Are you sure you want to give me this, every sword I've tried to use has broken!"

"If you manage to break that I'll be surprised!"

"Then don't whine when it gets back to you in pieces!"

Arriving at where the heroes were, they split off, although it seemed that some students had jumped the gun and attacked Yoroi Musha, who was easily dealing with them.

"Ah, you've finally arrived…Mand'alor."

"You were expecting me?"

"I was. I have grown most curious about your use of Soresu."

'Soresu? That must be the sword form Hikage knows.'

"Tell me, boy. How did you learn that form?" The old hero asked as he an intimidating aura began to emanate from him.

"From an old friend, one who's no longer around."

"I see, a pity. Very well then, let us see how well you have learned."

Getting into his stance, Izuku looked directly at the spear-wielding hero who in turn readied himself by getting into a pose of his own, each of the two duelists just waiting for the other to make his move.

A couple of tense seconds of staring each other down later, Yoroi charged towards his opponent and thrusted his spear forward while Izuku deflected the tip of if and swung back at the giant of a man, letting five percent of One For All course through the blade, which was blocked by the bearded man's spear, who then sent a kick in the students direction.

'He's fast!' Izuku thought, before jumping up and landed on the bigger man's leg and used it as a springboard to strike at his head. 'But I'm faster!''

He sped forward, blade at the ready.

CLANG!

"Foolish boy, I did not make it as far as I have by not being aware of those faster than me."

His strike had been blocked by the spear, which was then used as a staff to hit him in the side, knocking a bit of air out of him as he landed on the ground, with the number nine hero unleashing a torrent of jabs at him with his spear.

Blocking and dodging the strikes to the best of his ability, Izuku deflected the majority of the blows, with a few grazing his armor, while also doing his best to strike back any time an opening presented itself to him.

A few minutes of going back and forth later, the sword was nearly knocked out of Izuku's hands, making him tighten his grip on it and accidentally release ten percent of One For All into it as he swung back against the spear, making him panic slightly as he didn't want to shatter yet another sword, and especially not one this beautiful.

To his great surprise however, the only thing shattering was the spear as the energy coursed through the black blade, which continued cutting up the shaft of the spear until Yoroi dropped his weapon.

'What in blue blazes?!' The freckled teen screamed internally as he gazed at the blade that hadn't even gained as much as a scratch, even with the strain the quirk without a doubt had put on it.

THWACK

"Ack!"

A strike to the head disoriented him and he was then struck in the gut which sent him skidding back.

"To take your eyes off of your opponent, arrogance or stupidity?"

Yoroi Musha then blurred and was already on top of him with a sword that Izuku barely managed to block.

"You are sloppy, you have speed and strength but no skill. For one who claims to know Soresu, you poorly demonstrate it," Yoroi Musha emphasized each word with a strike from his blade, quickly overwhelming the younger boy.

Scoffing he stepped back before raising the blade to his head and then flicking it down with a spiral motion.

"Still…at least I have found another who can use one of the Seven. I might as well take the opportunity to demonstrate my own skills with another of them," He said as Izuku suddenly tensed.

"Allow me to introduce you to Makashi."

With one hand behind his back, Yoroi Musha entered into what could be called a fencer's stance, if slightly different.

With unbelievable grace considering the amount of armor he was wearing, Yoroi attacked with a flurry of blows that wracked hell on Izuku as he desperately tried to keep his blade up.

Feeling himself being pushed back further and further, all of his concentration went into blocking and parrying with the blade that he feared would snap at any moment's notice.

A few steps backwards later, however, he found himself cornered against a wall with the number nine hero suddenly putting both of his hands on his blades and shifted his stance once again.

"Now allow me to demonstrate another one; Shien, also known by the name Djem So." he said, before bringing his sword down in one swift motion with most of the power in his arms and back put into it, with the first strike being enough to nearly bring Izuku to his knees and only got brought further down with each powerful strike in succession one after the other.

"Dank Farrik! Not like this!" Izuku yelled as he felt his arms and legs starting to give in due to the flurry of aggressive blows of the blades that sent sparks flying with each clash.

Suddenly, however a wire was wrapped around the pros arms as he lifted them for another strike, holding them in place long enough for the armored teen to escape, while the pro tried to snap the caple in two, just as a smoke bomb hit the ground and he felt himself being pulled inside one of the buildings, most likely by the one causing the distraction.

Once inside, Izuku pulled off his helmet and took some deep breaths to recover from the shock of nearly being beaten into the ground by a pro hero like that.

"Thanks… I owe… you…?" He trailed off as he saw the student in front of him, making his jaw drop slowly.

The one who had saved him wore armor that looked almost painfully familiar to him; a T-shaped visor, along with body armor consisting of several plates.

"V-Vod…?" he said in disbelief, before shaking his head as he took a closer look. The colors, or rather the lack of them were wrong. It was mostly white, but there were also reddish stripes running down the middle and the arms, along with the helmet, whose visor also looked slightly different, and the shape of the protective headgear was rounder too.

He now also noticed the weapons being a completely stark difference from what he knew; he had a spear what looked like a Z6, but instead of six barrels, it had only a single one, making it look like more of a cannon than a rotary gun, along with a bandolier of grenades and a knife.

Recovering from his shock, his emerald eyes hardened slightly.

"Where did you get that armor?" The words coming out of his mouth were less of a question and more a demand, however there were also genuine curiosity.

"I could ask you the same thing. This design has been in my family for generations."

"I…a girl from the support course designed the original armor…then the Vod'e adapted it to suit them…as did my brother."

The silence from the other teen was deafening, as he appraised the green-haired teen, before sighing and nodding.

"I believe you. The material used in yours is different."

"Who are you?"

"Jace Malcom from Class Havoc at Korusant High."

"American?"

"Transfer student, although I do have some heroes as ancestors, maybe your designer took it as inspiration?"

"Maybe…I'll have to ask."

Another rumble and they noticed the pro hero had managed to break the cable, and was currently fighting off several hero students along with three mediclones who were soon knocked away by the armored hero using another student as a club.

"...at another time though… for now, we should help our compatriots."

"Right… let us show him our determination." Jace said, as he took the cannon off of his back and quickly stepped outside, firing a round at the pro hero who got hit square in the chest, dropping the student he had used as a makeshift weapon, while a mediclone caught her in a bridal carry, before running towards the duo with her.

"How is she, Quick-Fix?" Izuku asked the clone, who temporarily stopped and looked at his brother.

"She iz pretty banged up, Vod, but luckily, zhis iz something I can easily fix." the clone said, somehow managing to convey a German accent in Japanese.

"Good. I saw Overdose, Kritzkrieg and Vaccinator get knocked down too… I just hope they're ok." Izuku said in a worried tone while he prepared the sword and one of his blasters on the stun setting.

Quick-Fix however, seemed to wave him off.

"Zhey're fine! You know how zhey tend to get into trouble with all sorts of thingz." he said as he kept on carrying the heroine in training away to a safer spot to patch her up.

"...Ok, how did he manage to speak with a German accent when his native tongue is Japanese? Is it even possible?" Jace asked as the two began charging into battle.

"Somehow, yes. Another one of my brothers, Cutup, has a Scottish one for some reason!" Izuku replied as he fired a couple of stun blasts in the direction of the pro hero, who dispersed the blasts with his sword.

"Let's do this! Forward!" Jace shouted as he fired a couple of blasts towards the pro who managed to deflect two of them, but was hit by the third, making him lose his footing somewhat, as Izuku charged in, blaster blazing while running five percent of One For All through the sword he had been lent.

Jumping into the air, he swung the sword towards Yoroi Musha who blocked it with his own and a slight scoff, it the movement of his beard was any indicator, which somewhat stung on an emotionally level but also filled Izuku with determination of becoming better at the ancient lost styles he knew and learn new ones too.

Firing a couple more blasts, one of the rings managed to hit the older man in the arm, which sadly however, did nothing to lessen his effectiveness in combat.

Just as he was about to attack again, a bolt of pure flames flew at him, making Izuku and Jace jump out of the way so they wouldn't be turned into yakitori, with Izuku spotting Burnin' out of the corner of his eye, as she prepared more flaming projectiles to be sent in their direction.

"'Sup, honeys! Get ready to feel the HEAT!" she shouted and threw another set of her flaming hair at the dueling group.

Dodging once again, Izuku fired back while getting out of the way of the sword swung by his current opponent, trying to focus on one at a time, which proved difficult at best.

Just as the Number 2 Hero's sidekick was about to attack again however, what sounded like a cannon could be heard firing in the distance, making Burnin' jump out of the way just as a projectile hit the ground and exploded, sending dirt and debris flying.

Looking at the trajectory that the shell had come from, Izuku noticed Proton standing on top of one of the buildings on all fours, the cannon barrel on her back smoking as she had a small mechanical arm loading another shell into it.

"So that cannon wasn't just for show…" Burnin' said as she aimed more fiery projectiles at the younger girl who fired another round, just as the pro heroine threw her hair again, causing the two opposing projectiles to explode when they hit each other, sending most of the combatants onto their backs.

Regaining his footing, Izuku did his best to press his advantage and incapacitate Yoroi Musha who was still getting up from the ground and pounced at him with the sword raised, letting One For All course through it again as he brought it down.

What he didn't expect hower, was having his helmet meet the pros fist, causing the visor to crack and the protective headgear to fly off, showing the 'X' shaped scar on his face, making him shake his head to reorient himself, before noticing the small smirk underneath the beard of the older man.

"I think I may understand why you wear that helmet now. That scar paints a perfect target on your head." Yoroi said, breaking character for a moment.

"First of all, ouch, and second of all, I actually hadn't thought of it that way…" Izuku said as he got into his stance once more, followed by the pro.

'Hikage…I need your help now more than ever.'

Izuku focused on One For All, letting it course through his body before he centralized it on Hikage himself.

'Izuku?' The vestige asked in confusion as he felt the energy of One For All energizing him, giving him more power as he felt his connection to the current holder strengthened.

'Alright, kid, what help do you need?' he asked as he felt his own presence more than he had in years.

'You helped me in my fight with Stain, let's do that fusion thing again.'

"On it. It'll be refreshing to fight one who doesn't just swing his blade around like a madman for once," He said, as he began the process of fusing with Izuku once again, slowly being able to grasp the feeling of the grip of the sword handle.

Izuku took a deep breath and closed his eyes, opening them once more, one would see that one was a different shade of green than the other as power surged through his body.

'We won't be able to hold this forever, Izuku,' Hikage said as they took up the stance.

'We don't need to, just long enough that the other students can finish the rescue.'

"Oh? Trying Soresu again? Arrogance or insanity I wonder?" Yoroi Musha asked before charging forward.

CLANG!

They grunted as their blades collided, sparks jumping around as they grinded against each other.

"Oh? This is certainly interesting."

Izuku's eyes widened, one moreso than the other but only minutely as a grin took over his face.

"Oh, this is going to be fun."

The two returned to their dance of blades, Yoroi Musha returning to Makashi.

His strikes were swift, ruthless and powerful.

Izuku still managed to block each one, his sword making the tightest movements, his body spinning away from blows too close to block.

Havoc and Spectre were mesmerized before quickly shaking their heads and getting back to the fight.

With Mand'alor keeping the other swordsman busy, the two other heroes in training decided to take out Burnin' who had been reinforced by a few other sidekicks with shock batons at the ready.

Looking at each other briefly, Havoc and Spectre nodded before the former fired the last three rounds in his cannon towards the pro heroine, who absorbed the heated projectiles with her hair by surrounding herself with it.

The moment she did that, the duo charged towards her, knocking down mooks on their way, with Havoc deciding to detach his sheathed knife so he wouldn't actually cut Burnin'.

Once they got close enough, they pounced at her, only for Spectre to be hit in the chest by the flames and sent flying, with the same happening to Havoc.

Instead of being knocked backwards however, he slowly pushed forwards, his armor taking the brunt of the damage while clutching his knife in his hand, before feeling an intense pain in the side of his head as she roundhouse kicked him, this time sending him flying and knocking him out for a brief moment.

Quickly regaining consciousness, Havoc looked around to see Burnin' preparing herself to finish him off from the exam, before a blue ring came flying from somewhere and hit the heroine, making her glow for a brief moment, before falling forwards like a statue, landing with her butt in the air.

"I love it when people underestimate us," Coric said from behind before he got closer to Havoc and helped him up.

"I thought that you were at the Medical Center."

"We were, but there's enough students there that we could come by to support, besides, we're the only ones that actually know how to use these things," Coric said as he pointed to the gun in his hand.

"Come on, vod's holding out as long as he can but he still needs help.

"Let's go!"

The others joined them, Mand'alor taking most of the attention while the others tried to attack with blasts and quirks.

While Yoroi's armor would have made it negligible, it was still a sight to see him quickly use one hand to block the attacks or even dodge them completely.

Quickly realizing that ranged attacks would do nothing against the armored man, they instead opted to charge into the fray with a war cry, taking the pro hero by surprise as all of them crashed into him, quickly followed by Mand'alor, with the last teen being enough to push him off of his feet, as the small group kept on running until they ran into one of the buildings.

Groaning in pain, the small group of heroes in training slowly got up from the ground and looked around, before noticing the seemingly unconscious Yoroi on the ground.

"We did it… We took down a p-" Spectre was about to say, before being grabbed by the head from behind by the hero, who apparently had faked being knocked out.

Before they were able to react, the bearded man used the teen in his grasp as a flail, hitting Havoc and sending both of them flying out of the building.

Mand'alor who'd been pushed back was now stumbling as the building began to shake, as it turned out, crashing into one of the last supports for a building that had just been blown up was not good for its architecture.

'Izuku! Lend me control!'

Not knowing why but still letting Hikage take the reins, Hikage then grabbed Yoroi Musha's sword which had fallen near him and stabbed forward.

Izuku landed with a crash, his body in a lot of pain right now thanks to Hikage's actions.

'Sorry, Izuku…hehe…'

'You don't sound very sorry now, do you?!' Izuku screamed back mentally as he shakily got up to his feet, before looking at the sword Spectre had lent him, or rather what was left of it.

"Ah, dammit."

"Dude, you got put through the wringer, what'd you do?" Spectre asked as he and Havoc helped him get up on his feet.

"I might have grabbed his sword and attacked without looking…it may or may not have hit something bad."

"What? Did you shove a sword up his ass?" Havoc asked sarcastically.

"..."

"You didn't-"

"Not the time!"

Spectre and Havoc started to laugh uproariously at the thought before they noticed the rubble shaking.

"I might have also dropped the rest of the building on him while we were in there."

Spectre grimaced under his helmet and Havoc shook his head.

"We're gonna be in so much pain after this, aren't we?"

"Yep…"

Their attention was caught by a ruckus coming from the edges of the arena, specifically the area where the 501st were.

"KOTE! KOTE! VOD! KOTE!"

Izuku smirked under his helmet as they then began to hit their armor and chant, not singing a song but rather roaring the words.

"TAUNG! SA! RANG! BROKA! JE'TII! SE KA'RTA!"

"Woah…I saw the Sports Festival, but seeing it live is something else," Spectre said as he stared at the chanting clones.

"DHA WERDA VERDA A'DEN TRATU! MUSTUFASU KANDOSII ATU! DUUM MOTIR CATRA NAU TRACINYA GRA'TUA CUUN HETT SU DRALSHY'A!

"That is the scariest and coolest thing I've ever seen," Havoc said with a small whistle over the display that the clones made, which without a doubt was nothing more than a war chant.

"Vod'e An." Izuku smiled under his helmet as he raised his fist high into the air, something the 501st responded with in kind.

"Here Mand'alor, you might need these," Havoc said as he gave him some devices and attached them to his wrists.

"Ziplines, good for getting places in a pinch. I have a feeling that you're gonna get launched again."

"Thanks! Wait a minute, hey!"

They then began to hear a melody in their helmets and looked at each other in confusion.

#Krrt~These ideas are nightmares to white parents-#

"Is that music?" Mand'alor asked Spectre who just shook his head and nodded.

"My friend likes to put on background music…she says it adds to the fights."

"Well," Jace said as he grabbed his now busted weapon. "It's certainly a nice tune."

They stared as Yoroi Musha approached them one last time after having burst from the rubble, absolutely furious.

"Arrogant children, to believe that you can stand against me?!"

"Well, he's pissed."

"I would be too, you tried to shove a sword up his-"

"Let's not get into details," Izuku said with a nervous chuckle as he mentally berated Hikage.

"I can hold him in place for just a moment with my quirk, but it's gonna be up to you guys!" Spectre said as he cracked his neck.

"Let's go!"

The three charged at the man who swiped with the broken remnant of his spear, splitting them apart.

Dropping all sense of pretense, he got close to Izuku and struck him with his own fists.

"I'm going to enjoy this, boy!"

A strike to the gut was dampened by his armor but the uppercut sent him flying to the air. Still though, Mand'alor was not deterred and used his momentum to right himself before using the ziplines given to him by Jace to shoot the ground next to him and shoot his body toward Yoroi Musha.

…This house is a broken home, there's no control, he just lets his emotions go

A quick burst of air from a kick sent him towards the older hero like a rocket and his shoulder impacted brutally against his chest plate knocking them both to the ground.

Mand'alor quickly rolled and moved to attack with Yoroi Musha quickly moving to defend only to find his body locked in place by Spectre's quirk.

"What!?"

(Come on!)

Mand'alor's fist struck Yoroi's face brutally just for Havoc to slam his rifle to his face knocking him back.

Sing with me, (Sing!)

Launching a kick, he drove the air out of Yoroi Musha's lungs as Havoc unleashed another overhand strike with his rifle, this time breaking it and severely denting Musha's helmet.

Sing for the years (Sing it!)

Another punch from Mand'alor actually knocked some teeth loose and put Yoroi's head in the perfect spot for Havoc's kick, further dazing him and making him drop his guard.

Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears!

(Come on!)

All of it just in time for Mand'alor to grab him by the armor and slam him to the ground with the full force of One For All.

Sing with me, just for today, maybe tomorrow the Good Lord will take you away~

Or at least, what was available to him at the time.

Yoroi Musha groaned and went to rise but the cracked tip of Mand'alor's blade made him stop.

"You are beaten," He panted and the older hero could only stare in shock.

BWAH!

"All students, the last of the survivors have been rescued. The Provisional License Exam for this cycle is now complete.

Mand'alor sighed in relief but stiffened as he heard Yoroi Musha chuckle.

"Youth these days…"

Offering a hand to help the older hero up, the man raised his brow but accepted it.

"You certainly gave these old bones a workout, youngling. Perhaps there is a reason why All Might has his eyes on you."

The older hero then began to pop his joints and bones before fiddling with something on his wrist.

Two weights crashed to the ground like thunder, making Izuku jump.

"What the-?"

"What? You didn't honestly believe that I was going all out, did you?" Yoroi Musha chuckled as he picked up the remnants of his spear and put them away.

"When it is time for your work studies, feel free to send an application, I would enjoy teaching you more of the old forms."

Izuku stuttered for a bit before bowing deeply.

"I would be honored."

"Besides, I still need to pay you back for that stunt you tried with my own sword," He growled as fear spiked through Izuku's body.

'He's not gonna let that go anytime soon, will he?'

'I don't think so, Izuku. Still, are you going to take his offer?'

"I think I will…" He whispered before noticing Spectre and Havoc approaching.

"Thank you, both of you. I am honored to have fought by your side," Mand'alor bowed his head and the other two bowed as well.

"I was glad that I was able to help."

"Me too, I certainly wouldn't mind working with you and the Vod'e once we go pro," Havoc said as he extended his arm with Mand'alor quickly grasping it.

"This shouldn't be the last time we meet, I certainly would like to know more about your ancestors."

"A tale for another time then."

Turning to Spectre, they too clasped arms and nodded at each other.

"Without your help, I doubt that we'd have been as united."

"Perhaps, but you are the one who united us in the first place…I would like to fight alongside you as well, Mand'alor."

"Same for me, Spectre."

…

"Sorry about the sword, though…"

"Sigh…can't say that you didn't warn me…"

"Alright then, thank you everybody for all your hard work! You've done well, even with the changes that we implemented. With these changes, we also had to change the way we grade with a new demerit system; basically, we judged you overall on how few mistakes you made as you dealt with the pressure of both saving and defending. We commend you for your adaptiveness."

The man then pressed a button and a series of names were presented across multiple screens.

"Now presenting those that earned their licenses, organized by school."

Izuku's eyes immediately went to UA and he gasped.

MIDORIYA IZUKU - MAND'ALOR

Trembling as tears began to fall under his helmet, he turned towards the Vod'e and his teachers at the stands.

And he raised his fist.

"KOTE! KOTE! VOD! KOTE!"

Emi sighed as she leaned against her chair.

"I gotta admit, Shota…your kid's definitely something else."

Shota was barely able to hear her under the roar of the Vod'e cheering, but he nodded in agreement. He idly noticed Toshinori being lifted by a group of them and being paraded around the stands much to his own embarrassment.

Nezu was fortunately spared.

Emi tilted her head as she observed Shota looking at Midoriya with content, some pride and dare she say a little fondness.

"You've changed, Shota."

Shota blinked in confusion and turned to her, asking for an explanation.

"What do you mean?"

"You're less cold, less weary. The Shota I knew would never have shared a juice pack nor let somebody be so comfortable next to him. At least, nobody that wasn't Hizashi or Nemuri. What happened?"

Shota sighed as he looked around at the Vod'e around him, especially Ponds who he admitted he'd taken a liking to.

"What can I say? They're good kids and they've already sacrificed a lot…they know what it means to lose brothers."

"Shota…"

She hesitantly reached out and patted his hand but surprisingly enough he turned it around and held it.

She blinked in surprise and looked at Shota's eyes, eyes that were looking at something far beyond the arena.

Far beyond time.

"I'm not ready yet, Emi…I still need more time."

She smiled and nodded, tightening her grip before letting him go.

"Like I said, I'm always here. I'll even tone down the jokes for you."

Shota mumbled something into his scarf.

"What was that?"

"I said…that I don't mind them…completely…"

Emi began to giggle before bursting out into laughter as Shota hid his face in his scarf.

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind, Shota. I'll see you later."

Walking away from him, Shota could only sigh softly and shake his head.

"Sir, you alright?" Ponds asked in concern.

Shota nodded and closed his eyes.

"I'm fine, Ponds. Just memories."

Toshinori grunted but laughed as Izuku crashed into him.

"I did it, buir! I did it…" Izuku mumbled into his chest.

"You did it, my boy. I'm so, so proud of you, as will your mother."

The two then walked forward to the van, Toshinori's arm around Izuku's shoulder.

"I see that we have more clones to take home now."

"Oh crap, uh, now what?"

"Relax, no need to strain yourself, Nezu already planned ahead and called a few buses to take them to UA. Once you're rested up and I do mean fully rested, Toshinori added with a mock glare to which Izuku sheepishly ducked his head. "You can open a portal and send them back."

"Alright…"

Making it into the van, Rex was already there waiting for him and the two gave each other a side hug.

As the van started and headed off back to UA, Izuku couldn't help but feel content.

'I did it…Jango…we did it.' He thought as his vision began to blur as exhaustion finally caught up to him.

"Rest now, Izuku."

Nana's voice lulled him to sleep as she whispered comforts and approvals.

When Izuku awoke, he found himself inside a dark landscape, the barest hints of light piercing through infinite edges.

Looking at his body, he found himself covered in the same inky blackness from before, although it was…less now.

He could see a bit more of his hands and even part of his wrists and it didn't feel like he was 'floating' for lack of a better word.

"One For All and Legion have progressed in synchronization, which means that this realm and the Mindscape will soon be united."

Izuku's eyes shined as he turned to face Nana and quickly hugged her.

"I'm glad to see you as well, Izuku," She chuckled before taking a stern yet exasperated expression.

"I'm never going to get you to stop overstraining yourself, am I?"

Izuku sheepishly ducked his head and rubbed his hair trying to convey the necessity of his actions, but Nana merely shook her head and knocked his forehead.

'Ow.'

"That's for being so reckless," She griped before sighing and hugging him again. "Just promise me you'll at least be careful, remember, you're not just fighting for yourself or your brothers, you have people to come back home to. I've been watching you with that Eri girl."

Izuku flushed but nodded.

Still it was a bit weird, he was still so young and he wasn't blind to how much Eri was dependent on him. It wasn't the healthiest thing, she would do better with somebody that had more experience.

But still, he couldn't abandon her.

"Oh hush, that mind of yours really gets going, you know that? It's actually pretty common, at least back in my time, for heroes to adopt kids they develop a connection with. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. But I have a feeling it'll work out with you."

'You're oddly less bothered by this than I thought.'

"We're from different times, Izuku. When I was a hero, there were a lot of young vigilantes, some of them no older than you who dedicated their time to saving kids, going to orphanages, and more. Seeing you risk everything for one child…it's comforting to see in a sense."

Izuku blinked and raised a finger.

"And no, I didn't read your mind, it's just obvious."

Izuku paused and shrugged, nodding in agreement.

"Plus it's super cute to see how she has you wrapped around your finger."

'Nana!'

She chuckled a bit before her eyes slightly widened.

"Ah, it looks like we have another visitor."

Izuku turned and saw another man, he was lean with short, parted white hair and green eyes, he also wore a cloak and most notably, had a scar going down his face.

"It is good to finally meet you, Nine."

Izuku blinked, recognizing the voice.

'Hikage?'

The man smiled and nodded, seeing the understanding in Izuku's eyes.

"I am. But I am also known as the Fourth. It seems that we have much to talk about."

Izuku nodded eagerly, excited to learn.

When he woke up later that day, it was in a room at the medical bay.

He was a bit stir crazy, but he'd promised he'd be careful and decided to take the moment to rest and relax.

When Recovery Girl came by and saw him resting on his bed with no argument she nearly called for an MRI, it took many minutes of assuring her that yes, he was fine, and no, he was not out of his mind.

"RG, I will get off this bed right now to prove it-" Izuku said as he began to sit up only for RG to stop him.

"No need…I believe you now…well, at least you're starting to take your health seriously, and at an earlier age than Toshinori, that's for sure."

Izuku hummed in reply as Chiyo looked over his stats.

"Fortunately, the strain that you put on your body was less than before, even if you have gone overboard…it's odd…I don't know if it's the synchronization, wherein your body is simply reaching new limits and isn't taking as much damage, or if One For All is actively helping you reduce or heal the damage," She theorized as she went over her notes.

"Well…buir is known for tanking a lot of things that should honestly have hurt him, perhaps with my new limits I simply have greater durability, not just from outside attacks but from the power itself."

"A good theory…but still not one you should experiment on. I'm glad that you're not just punching things willy nilly at full power, the damage that it would cause to your joints and ligaments would be tremendous. So much that even I wouldn't be able to do anything. Please, continue to be careful."

"I will…not just for myself, but for those I come back home to."

Chiyo chuckled.

"Finally accepted it, eh?"

"I know it's not the healthiest thing for either of us, but right now she needs me…and I'm not too blind to admit that I needed her in my life," Izuku whispered as he looked at his scarred hands.

"I've noticed a smaller trend whenever I deal with your class after sparring matches. You're taking less risks, making sure that you don't overstrain yourself, barring some noticeable exceptions."

Chiyo sighed as she tried to find some words to break it easier but decided to bite the bullet.

"You were worse after the USJ…"

Izuku flinched.

"Which is…understandable, but the training sessions that you were booking, the training that you were doing before the Sports Festival, combined with noticeable exhaustion and mental fatigue…all of that wrapped with the fact that you were dealing with the strain of two quirks…it was a miracle that you managed second place"

Izuku sat up on the bed a bit more as he paid her his full, undivided attention.

"You were running yourself ragged, even during the internship, and I know that you were saving your friend but you practically threw yourself at Stain."

Chiyo took a deep breath and turned to face him.

"For a time, even after saving Eri, you still were overworking yourself, so much so that we were honestly considering interfering…but then you changed. Less time training, less risks taken, less boundaries pushed…she's good for you. As you are for her."

Izuku swallowed and clenched his fists, the blanket curling up in his grip.

"How is she?"

"Fine, your brothers have been taking good care of her, although she's been waiting for you all day."

"Am I good to go?"

"Yes," She said as she signed some forms. "But don't strain yourself for the next few days, alright?"

"Alright…thank you, RG."

"Of course."

When Izuku came to Eri's room (she'd been given one as a technical ward of U.A.), he smiled softly as he saw her resting peacefully.

Her room was still sparse, but the others were coordinating a shopping trip to the mall for the upcoming summer camp. He might as well take Eri to see if there was anything that she liked to decorate her room.

Sitting on the bed next to her, she slightly mumbled and shifted under the covers. He gently passed his hand through her hair, making her sigh out something that he couldn't quite catch.

"I hope that I can be what you need…Eri."

Slowly standing up he walked over to the door and rested his arm and forehead against it.

Truthfully, a part of him was terrified. He didn't really know anything about taking care of a kid, he was just a kid himself! Granted, UA was providing most of the legwork, but the emotional development, the care…

The love.

At first, Izuku thought that he could be some kind of big brother figure…but the signs were all there, so much that even the teachers were ragging him about it.

"You know, I was hoping that you'd at least get a girlfriend before making me a ba'buir."

He recalled his mother's words being said jokingly, but now?

The biggest thing that Izuku was worried about was that…well, he didn't know how to be a…father…considering how he never had one growing up.

Clenching his fist as anger surged through him at the thought of the demagolka, the monster who'd so horribly hurt his mother.

If he ever saw him again he'd Detroit Smash him to the stratosphere.

But the point was, he didn't have anybody growing up, and sure, he had Toshinori now, but it wasn't the same, you can't teach a child like you would a teenager.

What if he messed up?

What if he turned out worse than the demagolka?

'Izuku-'

"Zuku?"

Izuku slightly flinched as he heard Eri's voice call out from the bed, turning to face her, he saw her slowly sit up, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"You're back…!" She said with some cheer, although a smile was still far off, Izuku felt that it was closer than before.

"Yeah, I am…how are you?" He asked as he returned to the bed and sat back down.

"I'm…good, today was a good day…I missed you."

Leaning into his chest, she paid attention to his heartbeat, its dull rhythm helping the drowsiness come back.

"I missed you too."

"Mr. Aizawa said that you were taking a test to become a hero?"

"Yep, and I passed."

"That's good…yawn…"

"Still sleepy, huh?"

"Mhmm…can you stay?"

"Are you sure?"

Eri gave a sleepy nod and Izuku sighed as he kicked off his shoes. Fortunately, he was already in some decent clothes, so he was fine for sleepwear.

Quickly making his way under the covers, Eri held onto him tightly and soon fell back to sleep but Izuku was still wide awake, fraying under his thoughts.

'Izuku…do you truly believe that you could be any worse than the demagolka?' He heard Nana ask.

Izuku sighed and shook his head.

'No…but I want to do right by her…'

'As long as you keep that mindset, I promise you, you will always be someone worthy of her.'

'Thank you, Nana.'

For now, his self-deprecating thoughts were quelled and as he tightened his hold on Eri he too finally let sleep take over.

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

Izuku stepped back in surprise as he walked into his class and saw just about everybody and a few clones in there cheering for him.

"Cody and Ponds told us the news! You guys really got 501 student eliminations!" Ochako excitedly yelled as she began to shake Izuku.

"Midori, that's so cool!"

"Dude, I heard that you faced down Yoroi Musha, that's so manly!"

"Can you tell us about it, huh?"

"Alright! Alright!" Izuku said loudly as he got Ochako to stop shaking him.

"Sure, I can tell you guys about the exam," He said, recalling what Aizawa-sensei had told him earlier.

"It would be illogical to think that your class won't want you to share details about the exam, all I ask is that you don't mention the UA crush, emphasize the fact that you were the only one and that's why they targeted you."

Izuku sat down and began to regale them all about the license exam, going over how he intimidated them by summoning a company and having them march to the city center, to their great stand against hordes of students which led to the naming of the 501st.

"That's so cool! I totally want to meet this Captain Rex guy!" Mina said excitedly.

"Hah, if you think that's cool just wait till I get to the part where one of the mediclones stunned Burnin'!"

"Wait WHAT!?"

"Yeah, so after we finished with the first part, the entire city was blown up to simulate a disaster and we had to rescue fake survivors.

"Woah!"

As Izuku continued his tale, his attention was slightly piqued by Bakugo who was at the corner, apparently glaring at his desk.

Looking at him for less than five seconds, Izuku mentally shrugged before turning back to his friends.

"So, anyway, Spectre, Havoc and I are going up against Yoroi Musha again and he's pissed."

"Why?"

"I may or may not have accidentally tried to shove his own sword up his ass."

"Izuku!"

"Hey, on the bright side he said that once I start work studies to hit him up, I think it's just an excuse to beat the osik outta me but hey, he also knows the ancient styles!"

"A work study with one of the top ten!"

"That's so cool!"

"Wait, what was that about ancient styles?" Kyoka asked.

"They're the Seven Ways of the Beasts, or Forms of the Mind. They were lost during the Dark Era of Quirks," Tokoyami explained with a reverent whisper. "For any trace of them to survive to the present day…especially one so young as yourself, where did you learn, Midoriya?" He asked intensely.

Izuku was a bit put off by the intensity of Tokoyami's gaze before his quirk came out and bonked him on the head.

"Geez Fumi, ease back on the chuuni, no?"

"Dark Shadow!"

"Relax," Izuku said as he raised his hand. "It's fine, and to answer your question, Tokoyami. I learned it from an old friend…one who's no longer around."

The atmosphere became more somber and many of the students grimaced.

Izuku would deny that he was having some fun with it.

'Izuku.' Nana chided.

'What? It's true.'

"My apologies, Midoriya."

"You don't have to worry about it, it happened a long time ago," Izuku calmly said to assure his friends.

'Like, over a century ago,' He chuckled in his mind and could even detect Hikage's amusement.

"Midoriya, would it be possible to teach me?"

Izuku hummed a bit, considering some options.

"I would love to, but I'd have to get a new sword," He commented. "All the ones I've used have shattered whenever I use my quirk, even the one lent to me at the exam."

"I appreciate the thought that you think I could handle it, but I'd rather not face the might of your strength, Midoriya," Tokoyami replied as his feathers slightly ruffled.

Izuku blinked as he realized what he'd insinuated.

"Oh, my bad. That was mostly just for me. I think I can teach you at least the sword forms, but only Soresu. Yoroi Musha's the one who knows Makashi and the others."

Tokoyami had metaphorical stars in his eyes.

"You know their names?" He whispered in awe.

"Just a few, Soresu is the one I used against Stain apparently, meanwhile Yoroi Musha introduced me, and painfully so, to Makashi and Shien or Djem So."

"Amazing…"

"Hey, Midoriya? Think you could also give me some sword lessons?" the voice of Kaminari chipped in.

"Sure, Kaminari-San, but why? No offense, but you don't exactly seem like the guy interested in swords"

"Heh, well you see… I kinda want to try and make a blade out of electricity one of these days… I hadn't exactly thought much about it, other than the rule of cool, but after seeing you fight with blades, I thought that if I don't get any proper lessons, I'm going to be a bigger threat to myself and innocent bystanders than the villain," The electric boy explained with a sheepish expression, while also having a determined glint in his eyes, that along with Tokoyami's unusual excitement seemed to awaken a mentor instinct inside of the greenet who nodded eagerly.

"Of course you can join the training, Kaminari-San! It would in all honesty be nice to get more sword fighters on the team!" he said as he and Denki clasped hands.

"So you do actually have a brain in there. Who would have thought?" Kyouka snickered, earning an indignant "HEY!" from Kaminari who went from looking determined as a hawk, to that of a puppy who had gotten his favorite toy stolen.

"Here we see the normally shy Kyoukaus Earphonejackus teasing a potential future partner," Mina said, trying to imitate a British narrator from the age before quirks, causing the punk girl to get a small blush on her face.

"ASHIDO!" She yelled and threw an eraser at her pink classmate who dodged it with ease, before turning her attention back to Izuku with a toothy smile on her face, and a sparkle in her black sclera.

"Tell us more!" Mina excitedly asked.

At that moment however, Aizawa walked into the classroom to begin class. Izuku promised to tell them more later that day, however.

Toshinori hummed a song as he did some paperwork on his computer.

"Is that Vode An?" Midnight asked from the side as she signed a few forms. Bly was nowhere to be seen, but it turned out that the commanders were having a meeting.

"Yes, it's got quite the catchy tune, no? And I've been working on my pronunciation."

Midnight hummed as she finished her stack. "Maybe I can get Bly to teach me."

"Alright, now I have to ask, how do I get my own, no wait, that sounds bad," Cementoss started before sheepishly grinning.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Nezu's got Cody, you have Bly, Aizawa's got Ponds and Yagi's got his son-"

BLEGH!

"-I'm honestly starting to feel a bit left out."

"You should hear Hizashi's complaints," Midnight chuckled. "He's always going on about how Shota's going soft with Ponds. He's making a bet on when Ponds will have his own sleeping bag."

Cementoss chuckled at the thought, the image of two overgrown caterpillars coming to mind.

Ping! "An email is here!"

Toshinori's attention was then brought back to his computer screen which now indicated a new email.

From: Melissa Shield

Subject: I-Expo

Hi, Uncle Might! I hope that you're doing well. So, the I-Expo's coming up and I want to surprise Daddy by having you visit. I have two tickets available so that you can even bring a plus one!

Do you think you can come? It'll be a great way for all of us to catch up!

Love, Melissa.

'Hmm…it has been awhile since I've seen Dave, and it looks like this falls a good few days before the summer camp. I don't see why not! I'll invite Izuku to come along too!' Toshinori thought with a smile as he entered his reply.

'Can't wait to tell him the news, but it looks like he went shopping with the others, and if I'm not mistaken, he took Eri with him, too.'

He was extremely proud of the boy for his accomplishments, from the Sports Festival to defeating Stain, rescuing Eri and passing his license exam.

Yes, a reward was most certainly due.

"I'm really glad that you managed to get your license, Izuku," Ochako said as their group of friends hung out after school in Izuku's home. It was a bit of a tight fit, but Inko had been ecstatic at having them over.

Izuku and Ochako were on the couch while Kyoka sat on the arm rest. Yuga meanwhile was on the ground taking the opportunity to pose now and then. Tenya had actually volunteered to help Inko cook, but with…interesting results.

Momo and Tsuyu had even joined, as the newest additions to their little group, taking the chair and leaning against the couch while sitting on the floor respectively.

"Oui, mon ami, but Fordo has been incessant in saying that he should have been there."

"Yeah, I know, but the Commission was on us about it."

"I still think that it sucks but hey, props to you guys for taking out 501 students!" Kyoka said as she looked over some things on her phone.

"Heh, you should have seen Rex with the flag, he was waving that thing all over the place."

"Kero, I would too."

"I do believe that the cape would have been a nice permanent addition to your costume, Izuku," Momo said as she drank some tea that she brought over.

"Maybe…I'll think about it."

"Speaking of adding things, you've got the U.A. Battalion and now the 501st as well as different commanders and a bunch of clones…how do you tell them apart?" Ochako asked.

"I think it's a perk of my quirk, once I identify one, I can tell who they are whenever, but it's hard for others."

"More like impossible… Sorry Izuku, but it's just so many to keep track of," Kyoka groaned. "I was with Cutup and some of the others and got them mixed up, they still won't let me live it down."

Izuku chuckled as Ochako put a finger on her chin, an idea forming in her mind.

"Have you thought about letting them paint their armor?"

A silence cut through them and all of them looked at her to explain.

"I mean, they wear all that white, and while some of the commanders have been able to get some armor mods like the pauldrons and kamas, maybe a touch of paint and more mods can be used. You could even differentiate between Battalions and have them paint with the color of their battalion."

"You could even split things up, aquatics, speeders, medical, etc," Tenya said as he poked his head in from the kitchen.

He was slowly improving his cooking skills.

"Huh…that's a really good idea, thanks, I'll bring it up with Cody and the others. Nezu's been paying them, but they haven't really had a use for the money except for food and various knick knacks, plus this gives them an outlet."

Izuku then hunched over, hand on his chin as he began to plan things through before noticing something else.

"Wow, even the Vod'e still inside are excited…this is gonna be great!"

"Ooh, may we assist?" Momo asked, the others quickly joining in.

Izuku smiled as he agreed, sure that the others would love this idea.

"Ochako."

"Yes, Izuku?"

"What exactly am I looking at?"

"It looks like a plushy you."

Said description was not unjust. As it turned out, being a store close to UA meant that you had a good deal on merch for UA teachers.

Some students, if they were lucky enough by their third year, even had their own merch available. This was thanks to the Business Course of U.A., of which they'd even had an introductory class with students from the course to get a small glimpse of the business aspect of heroics.

Their class had been very simple, business course students would come up with designs for merchandise based on their costumes and the hero course students would review them, work out any kinks, make requests, etc., and the designs would be saved in U.A.'s database for future use once they went pro.

If a student became popular enough, such as the famous U.A. Big Three: Lemillion, Nejire-chan, and Suneater, they would find their merch in U.A. affiliated stores well ahead of schedule.

If he ever got the chance to meet them, Izuku would forever deny that he had their special edition trio set.

Still, back to the matter at hand.

NEW U.A. MERCH!

BEHOLD! MAND'ALOR AND THE VOD'E!

SPECIAL INTRO EDITION!

SALE! SALE! SALE!

More signs decorated the area and Izuku was slightly red at seeing the attention his merch was getting.

His other friends were nearby and his classmates in general were spread throughout the mall gathering supplies for the camp, Fordo and Rex had even found the time to join them, although he dreaded seeing some of their reactions to this.

Particularly Ashido's.

They had met up earlier today to get supplies for the summer camp.

Izuku had brought Eri along to see if they could do some shopping for her room as well as any other thing she might like in particular.

"I have to see this."

"Ochako!" Izuku nearly shrieked.

"Come on, Eri!" She said, the shorter girl quickly taking Ochako's hand.

"I-" Izuku tried to speak but could only sputter a few sounds.

'Well, at least Eri's warming up to other people.'

"Might as well see what they have," Izuku sighed.

Heading over to the corner, it seemed that they had just about everything.

Mand'alor mugs, cups, shirts, hats, figurines, plushies, you name it.

There were even figures of the Vod'e.

CLONE TROOPER - VOD'E

'They even got the spelling right…did Nezu approve this?'

Seeing something else, he did a doubletake at seeing specific names.

MARSHALL COMMANDER CODY

COMMANDER PONDS

COMMANDER BLY

COMMANDER FORDO

"Is that Rex!? He literally just came out! How long has this been planned for?" Izuku hissed under his breath.

Then there were the figures of him.

THE RISING SYMBOL OF HOPE: MAND'ALOR

Izuku grabbed one of the boxes and looked at it, a strange emotion washing over him. Finally tearing his eyes away, he looked around and saw many children playing with figures of him. Apparently there were also helmets and toy guns for sale since he saw a group of them wearing his helmet playing around with them.

Seeing children be inspired by him…felt nice.

Looking around some more, he saw some artist works, the figures that would go for thousands of yen due to being handmade.

Some were for sale, others were not.

Izuku saw one of his that was up for sale and his eyes widened at the figure.

It was him in the Soresu opening pose against Stain on the same platform.

'The detail…it's so good.'

He reached his fingers up to trace the figurine but a hand gently touched his wrist.

"Sorry dude, but please don't touch…the…dude…you're Mand'a-mmph," The young teen's mouth was covered by Izuku's hand who quickly asked him to keep quiet.

"Sorry 'bout that."

"Nono, I'm sorry, myself. I guess you wouldn't want to bring attention to yourself right now."

Izuku chuckled as he saw all the people bustling around them.

"You'd think people would notice…"

"Eh, people are blind like that…you likin' the art?"

"It is magnificent, I love the detail," Izuku said as he continued to stare at the artwork, although he was confused on how they managed to get Stain's design done so well.

"Heh, these are our sellable ones, the real works of art are at the back near the register."

The shopkeeper guided Izuku towards the registers to where people were actually buying his merch (it was still hard to believe), and he paused as he looked at the figurine inside the glass case.

It was actually two figures on one stand, walking forward with the backs of their fists touching.

BROTHERS IN ARMS ARE BROTHERS FOR LIFE

Izuku recognized both sets of armors.

A shaky breath escaped him, tears slightly pricking out of the corners of his eyes as he stared at himself and Jango in art form.

He let his hand touch the glass, the shadow of his fingers reaching Jango's helmet.

"We…we heard about your brother from the USJ and during the Sports Festival, we saw the memorial…we always get special deals from UA so it wasn't that hard to ask for some details about his armor," The shopkeeper said although Izuku only half paid attention, merely focusing on the figure.

With all the commotion of this morning, he hadn't gotten a chance to say it today.

He found it fitting to say it now.

"Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum."

I am still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal.

Izuku sighed as he turned away and nodded at the shopkeeper/artist, who'd respectfully kept his silence.

"Thank you…I…he would be honored."

"Of course…any time."

"Izuku! There you are!"

Quickly clearing his face he turned to see Ochako and Eri coming up, the latter with a plushy in her hand.

Kneeling down to her height he smiled at her.

"Whatcha got there, Eri?"

"A plushy…it's you," She said before sticking her arms out and presenting it.

It was indeed him, it was one of those chibi style plushies with an oversized head but the design was pretty good.

It was…cute.

"Can I get it?" Eri whispered, Izuku's heart immediately melting to her plea.

"Of course," He said, caressing her head before taking her hand and taking their spot in the line to pay.

Turning to Ochako he saw her sheepishly holding a keychain with the word "KOTE!" with an exclamation point in her hands.

"Sigh, put it in."

"Thank you, I'll pay you back!"

"Don't worry about it."

Now outside the store, the trio walked with Eri holding both their hands.

It turned out the plushy came with straps.

Izuku noticed that she was a lot more content, freer even. There was a certain light in her eyes that hadn't been there before.

Izuku had a feeling that they were so close to a true smile, it just needed a bit more.

"Izuku!" A voice called out frantically as Kyoka skidded in front of them, out of breath and full of fear.

"Kyoka? What's wrong?"

"Please, you need to come," She pleaded, desperation in her eyes.

Izuku looked at Ochako and she nodded.

"I'll take care of Eri, go."

"Right," He said before kneeling. "Eri, I need you to stay with Ochako, alright? I'll be right back as soon as I can."

"Is…is everything alright?"

"It will be."

Following Kyoka, they made their way toward a fountain with a few people on the bench.

The first thing he noticed was Rex with a stern expression on his face, the next was the fact that he was holding Ashido's hand, the latter absolutely terrified since she had another man's arm around her shoulder, his hand around her neck with his pinky finger sticking out.

Said man wore a black hoodie with the hood up but as he turned to face him, Izuku's blood ran cold.

"You," Izuku spat with pure hatred.

"Hehehe, I'm glad that we finally get to meet again."

Shigaraki's blood-red eyes stared at him, insanity lurking in their depths as he smiled at him with unhinged glee.

"Mand'alor."

"Hey, why are you taking us back to the car so quickly, what's wrong?"

"We got to tell the boss the news."

"What news?"

"We've found Eri."

And now we have enemies on all fronts! I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, I've certainly enjoyed working on it.

Again, many thanks to my new beta and friend CT-2864 for their help.

Please, enjoy these omakes.

By CT-2864

"YES, POWER! UNLIMITED POWAAAHHHH!" Denki yelled while cackling like a madman, as he electrocuted the villain currently pinned beneath him, sending the electric currents of his quirk coursing through the criminal at nearly full output.

"Where the hell did that come from?!" Kyoka asked, looking from her friend to the nearly charred villain with a horrified expression, having fallen on her ass in the meantime after having witnessed the brief display of insanity.

"I… Have absolutely no idea…" Denki sheepishly admitted, scratching the back of his head slightly, before looking down at the unconscious villain, making him miss the purplette looking at him with a light dusting of a blush on her face.

'That… was kinda hot…' she thought, thinking back to the expression he had plastered on his face when electrocuting the villain.

Omake by Myself

Lemillion looked over the dark horizon. This city was under an aura of fear and death…so many villains, so much destruction, nobody was safe.

And apparently, not even him.

The first bullet didn't hit him, Danger Sense combined with Permeation allowing him to safely let it pass.

That was the point.

As soon as it impacted the ground a shockwave of energy erupted from it, nauseating the hero and making him fall down to his hands and knees as he felt truly alone, the voices of One For All going silent.

Quickly getting up to his feet, he felt a great agony pierce through him and through him back into a wall.

An odd warbling noise rang through the night and green lights appeared from the shadows. Following them was an armored warrior, who in fact was Lemillion's very quarry that night.

"You…villain…"

The Bounty Hunter.

"Heroes. Villains. You're both the same…always making a mess of the world, then I've got to clean it up."

The man stalked towards him, taking all the time in the world to reach him.

The man's helmet retracted, revealing a scarred and freckled face. He then kneeled next to the groaning hero, his face full of pity.

"I feel sorry for you, Lemillion. Your allegiance to the hero system…the trouble with loyalty to a cause…is that the cause will always betray you."

"Who sent you here? All For One?"

"Hm? No…I'm afraid that this mark is much more…personal. Besides…you're not even my target."

Mirio's eyes widened in shock.

"I need one thing from you…tell me…where is All Might?"