Hello everybody and welcome to another chapter of Legion! I wanted to post this yesterday to honor May the 4th but was unfortunately unable to, so just consider this our late gift for the holiday!
IMPORTANT: I know how much you guys don't like announcement chapters, believe me, I don't like getting your guys' hopes up for something that's not there, therefore, announcements will be posted in our new discord and then with chapters, so join so that you can be up to date!
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Reviews
TurtleTipper123-Yep, Droidbait finally got his name and yes, The Hu!
Edeath756- We meant all the references, sorry for the confusion. And we'll see more of them.
Banfan- I mean, am I wrong?
Zacker1590- Overhaul arc is gonna be sick.
Fanifc writer 117- Dark side Denki's becoming a fan favorite.
Bosterflaming - I'm glad you liked them
Firem78910 - No, not Boba
The god of wolves - Overhaul
Professor Donger - LET'S GO!
God of crossovers - That was in a previous omake.
Gen3sian - I'm glad, I love your projects!
Solbandgus - Yep
Phenixrider - salut blaireau
Souen11 - Hey, thanks for your review, and thank you for being polite about it! Sorry that you didn't like what's been done, but we hope that you enjoy future chapters as we move along.
Monkey D. Conan - I'm glad that you caught that! That was CT's idea so credit goes to him. The Echani probably won't be added, but I like your ideas for Overhaul!
Modern-Rogue-Reader - Thank you! That reference is also due to CT!
Austin - Always good to see you my dude! I actually really like the Regular Show thing, and yeah, I love the Family Guy idea.
The Cocoa Puffer- Thank you!
Robogamer11041 - I mean, you're on the right track.
Dregus - I'm glad that you enjoyed the omakes!
Pally The Second - Thank you!
Guest - Geez, calm down there my dude.
Quatermass - Yes it was a wilhelm, and yes I know that Torino's basically Yoda.
Blaze1992 - Sorry that you didn't like it as much as other chapters, hopefully future ones are better.
- Ooh, you've got som e good ideas there and thank you for your reviews!
THE-Twilight-BlazeKnight - Thank you for your review, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Spartenpride11 - UNLIMITED POWAH…and nope.
AnimeFan13579 - Okay, I'm loving the speeder bike gangs idea and I like the unfortunate names club.
NobleSwordsWoman - YES!
Slythefoxx2 and Luckenhaft - Again, I'm sorry.
JeBaTheHutt - Thanks!
Alright guys, thanks again for waiting and please enjoy!
LEGION: FRIENDSHIP
"You hold onto friends by keeping your heart a little softer than your head."
"You may think you know what you are in possession of…but you do not," The shadowy figure continued.
Izuku quickly felt himself getting angry.
"And one day," The shadowy figure scoffed. "It will be mine again."
'Again…' Izuku thought as his eye twitched, sparks appearing over his hair and fist.
"It means more to me than you will ever know."
The shadowy figure leaned forward.
"I would prefer to avoid any further violence and encourage a moment of consideration," He continued. "I urge you…make the right decision and return it to me-"
SLAM!
Izuku breathed harshly in anger as he raised his fist from the ruined remains of the holorecorder.
"Young Midoriya…" Nezu said in slight admonishment.
"He thinks he can threaten me about Eri? I'll tear him apart!" Izuku screamed.
"Izuku…calm down. We don't even know who he is," Toshinori said, laying a supportive hand on Izuku's shoulder.
"It's obvious, buir! It's the yakuza that had her in the first place!" He replied as he turned sharply to his father.
"Indeed…although we do not know the exact location, I've been able to at least identify who the likely figure is," Nezu said as he pulled up a screen with various images, the center two being a man in a green coat with a bird mask and a flower-like symbol.
"Meet Chisaki Kai. The current leader of the Shie Hassakai, although he currently goes by his alias, Overhaul."
"Who is he to demand Eri and refer to her as an object?! What kind of person even does that!" Izuku snarled.
"Easy, Midoriya, easy. For now, the best solution would be to assign a clone to guard her at all times when you aren't able to be near her," Nezu said, trying to calm down the boy whom he knew had some bad temperamental issues when it came to threatening his loved ones, which while good to have, often could blind one from making logical decisions.
Taking some deep breaths, Izuku thought about how to handle this in the best and most logical way, before activating his wristcomm.
"Lock, could you come to Nezu's office for a bit? I have a very important job for you." He said, a dead serious tone of voice.
A few minutes later, a clone entered and saluted the three.
"Captain Lock, reporting for duty, sir. What is the assignment?"
"I need you to form a group specifically to protect Eri and any friends she makes. Is that understood?"
Looking at his older brother slightly confused, Lock took a couple of minutes to think, before nodding.
"Understood, ori'vod. I shall begin the assembly of…Horn Company," Lock said before heading off.
"Good. I won't allow her to suffer like that ever again," Izuku appreciated the pun but at the moment he was too pissed off to really enjoy it.
"None of us will, Izuku."
Clenching his fists, he felt his nails dig into his skin over the absolut outrageous demand Chisaki had made during the recording. If he wanted Eri back, he would have to pry her from his and his brothers cold, dead hands.
Wanting to break the tension, Toshinori cleared his throat to get his attention.
"Wasn't today the day where you, your brothers and friends were planning on painting each other's armors?"
"I…yeah…"Izuku said, calming himself down a bit. "The Vod'e have been pretty excited, especially after that mess with Rex."
"Better get going then. We can't have the guest of honor be late, now can we?" Toshinori said with a grin, to which the freckled teen returned, before excusing himself with a bow and making his way down the hallway, outside and towards Topeka Dorms.
Humming to himself, he looked to the sky and noticed the clouds quickly graying, before a drop of rain landed squarely on his nose, prompting him to fasten his pace before he got soaked to the bone.
"Don't worry about it, Eri will be surrounded by a company of brothers at all times now, and she's here in U.A. with a ton of heroes, including All Might," He heard Nana say from the Mindscape. "Besides…I think you have other things to worry about…weren't you going to talk to her today?"
Izuku suddenly flushed before moving forward, unwilling to respond.
He'd spent the last few days practicing what he was going to say and hopefully all would go well.
Just barely reaching the door before the downpour, Izuku entered inside of the building where he was greeted by Bly giving him a small salute and a smile, with the greenet noticing the new yellow stripes on his armor.
"New colors, Bly? They suit you." He smiled, pulling him into a hug before being led inside to the living room where the others from both 1-A and 1-B who'd formed friendships with the clones had arrived, including Mei.
"Thanks, Mand'alor! Nem-erhm, Midnight-sensei helped me with them!"
Izuku raised a brow but decided to ignore it, he trusted Bly to know what he was doing. Besides, it wasn't the first time he'd heard a clone call a teacher by their first name.
Present Mic apparently almost had a heart attack when he heard Ponds call Aizawa by his first name.
Although apparently the two had gotten drunk…yeah, that was the first time that RG had torn Aizawa a new one for accidentally giving Ponds an alcoholic juice pack.
Goes to show what continuous lack of sleep does to you.
"Well look who's finally here! Parsley! You sure took your time!" Setsuna laughed along with Waxer, Boil and Mayhem while she sat with a small brush and some orange and red paint, the reptilian girl currently painting a small red triangle on Boil's helmet.
"Sorry, I had something I needed to talk about with Principal Nezu," Izuku replied sheepishly, before he looked around the room to see how the different people interacted.
"It's fine, it's fine! Talks with the principal takes priority afterall," He heard her say, before she went back to painting.
Shoto was off to a corner with Jet and a few others, he noticed how they were doing two colors to represent his power and he was proud of his progress.
Kyoka and Denki were actually working on each other's helmets of all things, making him chuckle as he passed by with a wave, Denki eagerly waving back while Kyoka nodded.
Blitz, Cutup, and a few others were near them, painting their own armor too, the former putting on some electric yellow stripes along the diamond patterned kama, while Cutup painted his with blue patterns, an eel looking creature on the right side of his helmet he'd seen in a movie and the number '4' on the chestplate and coloring the upper and forearm armor different shades of blue with a stripe going through the middle.
Moving forward, he saw Tenya walking over to where the Misfits were with his new armor pieces, the group welcoming him with open arms.
"Ah, Izuku! Good to see you! Come on, sit, sit!" He said, patting the chair next to him.
Complying with the request, the freckled teen noticed something slightly odd about Tenya's new armor.
"You're giving it orange accents? I thought for sure it would either still be pure white, or with blue accents?"
"Ah! Very understandable to think! However, I'm painting it orange as well as blue as a homage to these two who helped me keep my head on straight in Hozu!" The bespeckled teen said, gesturing to Waxer and Boil who just brofisted each other.
Nodding, he looked at the other pieces and saw several of them had already been painted, before noticing a chestplate that seemed slightly… bigger in the upper department.
"Hold up…you got armor, Tokage?"
"Sure did, Parsley! And none of that Tokage stuff, I'm Setsuna!" She said as she refocused on her armor.
It had a mix of purple accents, and the armor itself only covered her vital areas to include her upper arms and thighs, leaving the rest only covered by the purple suit that was her earlier costume, for easy use of her quirk.
It had been decided that due to her regenerative abilities, as well as the nature of her quirk, that a full set of armor would not be appropriate, she did have however, have a wrist comm
"Yeah, the armor's got a ton of pieces, but that's just to keep up with my quirk. Although it won't work completely, at least it gives a good amount of protection," She said as she went back to the helmet, the front of it seeming to be retractable while painted like the face of a T-Rex.
Izuku nodded in slight surprise.
"Alright then."
Heading off, he noticed Echo and Tsuyu, the pair customizing the girl's armor which now looked a lot more hydrodynamic, the boots having small propellers built into the soles and retractable fins along with a rebreather on the back, the plating being in the same different nuances of green as her current costume.
Monnk was currently taking care of some of the fins, adding details and other things with the presumed intention of having the scuba squadron match her.
The scuba squadron, like the jetpack squadron, was a relatively new addition to the Vod'e, that had been put in production after Tsu's internship with Selkie, as Innsmouth had proven himself to be another type of villain they weren't ready for at that time.
'I do wonder where and when they'll come in handy, considering we're rarely close to water," He thought as he kept on walking. 'But we do live on an island so…'
"Ah, come on… Light up, you stupid log!" He heard one of his brothers say, and saw him trying to start a fire in the fireplace, with little success.
"Oh! Let me help!" He heard Hatsume say, just as she bolted over with something on her wrist.
"Hold up, is that Jan-"
FWOOOOSH!
Before being able to finish, his question was answered by the sound of a flamethrower spewing out its infernal contents into the fireplace, igniting the wood inside while the clones and students within five feet of her had jumped to cover.
"Hatsume-san! Are you out of your mind!?" Tenya demanded, chopping the air as he marched over to the dreadlocked inventor to reprimand her.
"I concur. Using flamethrowers for just igniting fireplaces is way too over the top," A new voice called out from the door, making everyone turn their heads to see who had spoken.
The voice belonged to a very familiar face dressed in a yellow rain jacket and an umbrella, with said person taking off her glasses to rub away the fog.
"Shield-san!" Izuku said in joy and walked over to her to shake her hand, followed by those who had been with him at the I-Expo.
"It's so nice to see you all again, Fordo, Rookie, Rex, Thorn, Noble, Stone, Thire, Deviss, Rys, Jek, Droidbait," She said, addressing all of the clones she knew by name, something that made them immensely happy.
After taking off her raincoat and boots, she greeted everyone else present, even the 1-B members, Gen-Eds, Support and Business Course students who had befriended the vod'e.
Walking in front of the fireplace, she let out a small sigh as the flame warmed her up, with the sound of the rain colliding against the window and the crackling of the fire creating quite the cozy atmosphere.
Holding her hands out to the flames, she quickly warmed herself up before turning to the group.
"Is Eri here?"
A slight squeak and said girl shyly approached her, Melissa smiled softly at her and pulled out a small box looking object on wheels, making most of the people in there tilt their heads, but made Eri gasp in surprise before she gently took the object.
"Mousey!"
The mouse droid squeaked and Eri set it down where it began to circle around her before running off, Eri chasing after it.
"Mousey? What's with that name?"
"Oh, it's because MSE-6 sounds a bit like a mouse, soooo…" Melissa said, while looking around at the people. "So many beautiful girls and handsome boys here," She complimented them with a small smile as she began walking around.
A few slightly ducked their heads but as Melissa turned back towards the fire her attention was caught by a starry-eyed Mei.
"Oh…hello there!" She said with some cheer.
"You're Melissa Shield! Daughter of Dr. David Shield! I've read all your papers on nanomachinery, particle physics, support tech compression, everything!" Mei said with a nearly manic smile, causing Melissa to inch backwards slightly in nervousness.
"I have a proposal! You, me, make babies ("She means her inventions!"), now!" She grinned. "I want to challenge myself! And what better way to do that than by challenging I-Island's prodigy!"
Melissa was slightly surprised, but smiled at the invitation.
"Well, I did bring some of the robots that were destroyed back at I-Island sooo…" she said, stepping to the side to reveal the pile of scrap metal she'd brought with her.
Walking over, Mei knelt down and looked at the pile of metal.
"There's some stuff here that I've never seen before! Imagine what I can make with thi-" She was cut off by herself snoring for a couple of seconds before she woke up again and began rambling on once again.
"Is… is she sleeping well?" Melissa whispered to Noble who had walked up to her.
"I don't think she even sleeps…" He whispered back.
"Let's get started!" Mei snapped, waking up from her short nap.
"Hold on there, uh, what's your name again?" Melissa asked.
"Mei Hatsume! CEO of Hatsume Industries and soon to be the biggest name in support tech!"
"Hatsume then, I'd love to do our little competition, but I can't challenge an opponent who's not at their best, so how about you get yourself some rest and tomorrow we can see who's best? Hm?"
"Okay!" Mei said before slumping over and snoring.
"...Wow…I've never seen her just…do that…" Noble said, before looking at her. "She should really have someone to tell her to rest who she actually listens to."
"Hmm…that gives me an idea…" Melissa said as designs began to flow in her mind, before she looked at Noble. "But in the meantime, how about I help you paint your armor, Noble?"
"I'd like that a lot, Melissa," Noble said as they headed off to another corner and began to work on his armor.
Meanwhile, a pair of clones helped Mei into one of the few bunks that were still in the barracks so she could sleep somewhat comfortably.
Izuku smiled as he saw all his friends paint alongside the clones and moved forward to where his best and closest friend was.
"Um, Ochako?" He asked, as he approached her and Fives who were currently painting each other's armor, with the latter excusing himself to give them some space.
"Hey Izuku! I've been waiting for you…can you help me with my helmet? I've been adding this color to it," She said as she held up her new helmet.
Izuku smiled as he sat down.
"I'd love to."
'Ok, Izuku, it's now or never, I need to do this sooner rather than later,' He thought to himself, while swearing he heard the Vod'e inside of his head munching popcorn.
Looking back at the brunette, he was currently adding some detailing to the helmet, being careful to not spill any of the paint on the visor he took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Ochako…" He began almost losing his nerve. "There's something I'd like to talk about with you…in a more…private setting if you don't mind. It's important."
"Sure thing, Izuku," Ochako said as they put down their armor pieces and let them dry.
Walking away, he could feel the stares of the others behind him and knew that were it not for Rex, Thorn and Kendo, Mina and Setsuna would be making a scene.
Heading off to a side room that led to a balcony, they headed outside, the soft noise of the rain hitting the ground surrounding them.
"Izuku? Is something wrong?" Ochako asked in concern with her hand on his forearm as he gripped the railing, the boy slightly blushing at the attention and care that she was giving him.
"There's…something…I-" Izuku sighed, he wouldn't be able to do this just out of the blue, he needed to lead up to it.
After closing his eyes and taking a few breaths, Ochako patiently waiting for him, he finally opened them and looked directly into her eyes, green meeting hazelnut, before he gently took her hand in his own, causing her to blush up a storm.
"There's something I need to give you," He said as he reached under his chestplate and pulled out the necklace that had the Heart of Iron.
"It's the final piece for your costume…did…anybody ever explain to you what a Heart of Iron is?" He asked, the rain colliding against the roof of the balcony.
"No…what is it?" She asked as she admired it.
Izuku gently pulled out the necklace beneath his armor and placed the Heart of Iron in her palm so she could look at it better, she then looked back at him after a few moments of inspecting it.
"The Heart of Iron, or Beskaryc Kar'ta is a symbolic piece of our armor. Jango…" Izuku swallowed upon saying the name but continued. "...had the idea of having something that represented our Hearts, our dedication, pride, unity, our duty…everything that makes us Mandokarla."
"Mandokarla?"
"It means basically having the right stuff; loyalty, tenacity, dedication…all the marks of someone belonging to the Vod'e."
"The clones and I have been talking about it… They keep their Hearts on the inside of their armor…it's more symbolic for them that way. However, for you guys, we wanted to give you Hearts…like mine," Izuku said as he pointed to his chest, showing how it was of silver rather than the white in the necklace he'd given her.
"To show the world that as long as you carry that Heart, you will always be one of the Vod'e."
Ochako blushed even more, though it was less embarrassment and more in shock and awe as she realized just how important this was to Izuku and the Vod'e.
"When we went to the USJ…I found Jango's Heart there…and in keeping with our traditions, I now wear it on my armor…that's why, I'd like you to have mine," He said, with the brunette just now realizing that the one she was currently holding in the necklace, was Izuku's.
"Izuku…are you sure that you want me to have this?"
"There is no one else I'd rather give it to…you were my first friend outside of the Vod'e. You've been with me every step of the way here at U.A. From our entrance exam to the Sports Festival you've fought by my side," Izuku said, finally managing to find his words and move forward.
"And when I was broken by my brothers' death, you comforted me," Izuku said and they both remembered their private moment during the Sports Festival.
"There is no one else that I would trust both of my hearts to."
"B-both?" Ochako squeaked out as her blush went atomic.
Izuku slightly puffed his nose, a soft sigh of fondness escaping from him.
'No turning back now.'
"I will be honest, Ochako…I…care about you deeply…but recently, I've found myself caring about you even more,"
Ochako couldn't even speak, her face absolutely burning.
"And…I would very much like the honor of taking you out on a date," Izuku said as he softly smiled at her. "That is…if you'll let me?"
"I…I…I…" Ochako stuttered, not finding her voice before finally squeaking and nodding rapidly, she'd use her hands to cover her face, but they were both occupied by Izuku's, so she settled on ducking her head.
"Yes," She finally managed to whisper.
"Great…" Izuku said as he then raised up her left hand and gently kissed the back of it. "I'll send you a message of the details later…how about we get back to painting?"
"...sure…" Ochako squeaked.
Slowly letting go, Izuku smiled one last time at her before extending his hand.
"Shall we go?"
"Uh…you go on ahead! I uh, just need to…cool down a bit?" She half-said-half-asked as her voice started cracking in pitch.
"Sure thing, I'll see you inside," Izuku said as he left her alone, his heart fluttering in his chest as he left her alone.
Ochako, left alone in her thoughts, sighed as she fell to her knees and was finally able to cover her face with her hands.
The cool metal of the Heart of Iron did nothing to help her burning face..
Meanwhile inside the mindscape
"He did it! He frakkin' did it!" A clone cheered as he hugged one of his brothers.
The inside of the Mindscape was more or less a riot after the confession their older brother had made, with someone even blasting music.
"I never thought I'd see it while in here! Man, that must've taken balls!" The one being hugged cheered.
Nana meanwhile, just sat with her arms crossed and smiled at the scenario that had played out in front of everyone.
The Mindscape had grown even more lively in the last few days, but certain things had caught her attention more than others.
For example, the clone known as Rookie. A slightly underdeveloped clone that honestly, shouldn't have snuck out like that, but was making his way in the world.
Still though, it was interesting to see how the clone production process had changed and evolved.
Idly tracing her hand over a particular pod in a large row, she smiled.
She never thought that she'd be able to be something resembling a parent again, but Izuku and the Vod'e were full of surprises.
With more along the way it seemed.
"Soon, Cyar'ika," She whispered to the pod before floating away and checking on all the other pods.
Why the cloning process had changed they may never know.
But either way, she was excited to see the Vod'e expanding day by day.
Walking back inside, Izuku was smiling like an idiot as he sat down on his chair again, not noticing every pair of eyes in the room being focused on him.
Not paying attention to anything actually, he just grabbed the piece of armor he was working on and started to paint again.
"How do you think it went?" Setsuna asked Waxer while she chowed down on one of the energy bars he had given her after she began to feel peckish.
"From his smile? Pretty well," Waxer said, as he finished a piece of her armor, having just gotten done with the painting of the claws on her pauldron.
"Well, now we can really get in some teasing, in case a clone with hazel eyes comes out one day~"
"Same with the other love birds here." Waxer snorted, gesturing to Yui and Fil each painting each other's armor, their pinkies intertwined once again, and then to Thorn and Itsuka currently carving in symbols on their pauldrons, Thorn's right and Itsuka's left while a can of cyan paint was next to them.
"Holy crap…they're using cyan…"
"So? That just happens to be her favorite color, I mean, have you seen her costume during our training sessions?" Setsuna said with a raised brow, not knowing why the two using her class president's favorite color on their armor was a big thing.
"Huh, that's a funny coincidence." Boil scratched his head.
"What is?" Setsuna said, smacking his shoulder.
"Well, the Vod'e came up with colors to mean various different things, and a few random scenarios too," Waxer explained as he then pointed at their choice of coloring. "Cyan just so happens to be the color of romance and love," He said, to which Setsuna's face seemed a bit blank.
". . . Oh! I get it now!" She said, putting her fist on top of her open palm. "Those two lovebirds… then what does red, orange, blue and green mean?"
"Well, red stands for honoring a parent or leader, orange indicates a lust for life, for freedom…uh, let's see, green represents duty, and blue…reliability…" Waxer trailed off with a soft smile.
Realizing she may have hit a bit of a sensitive spot, she immediately bowed her head in apology, not wanting to bring up something that made her friends uncomfortable. Waxer waved her off, saying that it wasn't necessary, and that he was reminiscing the fact that Jango was the one with the original idea for colors before explaining to her the others and their meanings.
While the trio reconciled over the small bump, Yanagi was sitting with Tetsutetsu and two clones, mostly to hang out and also help the two.
"So, you're telling me these two are Spectre and Phantom? Sounds a bit cliche, if you ask me…" He said, to which the trio shrugged in unison, something that sent a shiver down his spine. 'So creepy!' he thought over just how synchronized they were.
"They-" Yanagi began.
"-Just-" Spectre answered.
"-Love-" Phantom joined in, as they finished each other's sentences.
"-The-"
"-Occult and-"
"Horror movies." The three said in perfect sync.
"Please, stop that! It's freaking me out!" Tetsutetsu begged while the trio just went back to painting the clones' armor black with some silver, similar to the ghastly girl's hair, while adding red to their visors.
"Isn't it normal-"
"-For friends to-"
"-Be in sync?" The trio asked the metallic boy who started to emit cold sweat at this point.
"Not to this level! Please, just speak individually!"
"Chill, bro. It's just our thing," Spectre said while bumping his shoulder gently with his fist.
While the quartet did their thing, Rookie sat with Eri who was currently holding Mousey in her arms, while the younger clone painted his armor gray with light green patterns to resemble horns on it.
Lock arrived with a dozen more clones, each of them having been painted in a mix of light green and yellow patterns that resembled the horns of a bovine on their chest plates and their helmets.
This was the newly formed Horn Company, a group of clones handpicked by Lock to be Eri's personal bodyguards at the request of Izuku, which had made him make sure he had only picked some of the best he could find of the lower and middle ranks.
Now, you may question why he didn't pick any from the upper ranks. The answer is quite simple; they were in other important positions that required their presence, along with how they meant that more of their brothers needed to gain more experience.
As it was, Eri didn't leave U.A. that much anyway, she was still shy among crowds, barring the Vod'e and some of the members of Class 1-A.
The only time that she'd went anywhere was the mall, and considering the near-disastrous situation that occurred, it would be a while before they felt safe enough for her to head outside.
Not to mention the recent message that they received.
Fortunately, they'd recently gone with Kaminari's idea of having playdates, and were planning things out with his mother, Tsuyu's parents, and were trying to see if any others had siblings around her age that she could have fun with.
For now, they had a playdate with Noshiko, Samidare and Satsuki this Saturday.
While they sat down to customize their armors even more, they noticed one of their brothers standing at a huge billboard with several pictures of pro heroes, members of the Commission and even some members of support companies, red threads and tacks keeping them in place and connecting them.
Todoroki had, throughout this process, intermittently got up from where he was with Jet and joined the clone, the two discussing various theories while Jet was standing with a tub of popcorn.
"I'm telling you man, it has to be it! Hawks is a tool of the commission!" The clone at the billboard said, pointing at the current number three hero's picture accusingly.
"Hmm, I'm not sure…but I will look over the evidence you've presented," Shoto replied to said clone. "Now, as to my theory-"
"If it's about Ori'vod being Buir's secret love child, then I have to say no again. He has none of his physical features!"
"But Slick, that just means that he took more after his mother!" Shoto said, having a nearly offended look on his face.
"Todoroki, that's ridiculous! We've already explained this to you!"
"Well how else do you explain the super strength, it's not like All Might gave him his own quirk, that's even more ridiculous!"
Slick awkwardly laughed though Todoroki didn't seem to notice anything odd about it.
"If we go back to the topic at hand, I'm just saying that if Lady Nagant eliminated the earlier president of the Commission, then she most definitely had a damn good reason to do so. She was a respectable hero who wouldn't do things like that out of the blue," Slick cleared his throat, pointing at the picture of a beautiful woman with purple and pink hair.
"I don't know… A lot of heroes have gone off the deep end over the years. Just look at my old man," Todoroki deadpanned, slurping some cold soba that he had somehow acquired.
"That's…fair…"
At this, even Jet had to say something that popped up in his mind.
"Have you ever thought about asking Nezu? Apparently she worked directly with him for a good year. About two years before her arrest."
"Hmm…" Slick said while holding his chin like Sherlock Holmes.
"Perhaps we should…anyway, we should move on. Not gonna get anywhere here without more evidence.
"Right."
"Hmmm, well here's another one of mine! Detnerat has to secretly be associated with a terrorist organization!"
"...What?" Jet asked in a deadpan tone that screamed disbelief.
"Well why else would they give us crappy costumes that are blatantly littered with design flaws?"
"I don't know… they could just have a chip on their shoulder…general incompetence?"
While the three discussed their crazy theories, Fil, Yui, Niner and Bel were also making some customizations to each other's costumes.
Currently, they were filling several pouches with all sorts of stuff, such as miniature thermal detonators and imploders, and blasters of the same size of all kinds, putting the square containers on a belt, before filling others with mini medical supplies, blaster clips and all kinds of gadgets.
"You're going to be a walking armory with all of these, Kodai-san,"
"Mmm!"
"Oh, sorry! Yui!" Fil quickly corrected himself, calling her by her given name like she had told them to refer her by.
Seems like it ran in the blood that Izuku, no matter the real or his clones, just couldn't help but be polite.
Izuku softly traced over the design on Ochako's helmet once more, the pink standing out against the background.
He idly noticed Ochako coming back and sitting next to him, still blushing but she smiled back at him.
If she scooted a bit to get nearer to him, well, he wasn't going to say anything.
"I think we're just about done with yours," He said, a small blush adorning his cheeks, just like hers. "There's… something I need to tell you about… something the Vod'e haven't let me live down ever since we did it," He said as he looked down at her helmet in his hands.
"Did what? And when?" The brunette asked, tilting her head.
"When we… bumped our helmets together before our internships…and…after…"
"Huh? Why do you suddenly bring that up?"
"You see… we in the Vod'e have a name for when two individuals who are very close, but not in the family (although it can be) way, bumps their helmets together…" He laughed awkwardly.
"What's it called?" Ochako inquired, getting more and more curious by the second and slightly dreading the answer.
"... The keldabe kiss…" Izuku said, his words being barely above a whisper.
The moment the words entered her ear canals, Ochako's brain began to try and process what he had just told her.
And she fainted.
"Ochako!?"
"Get some ice packs! She's overheating!"
While some clones and students rushed to help Ochako, CC-3636 looked at the spectacle in slight amusement.
"Ah, young love," 3636 chuckled, while Momo giggled at her friend's predicament while also feeling immensely happy for the two.
"Have you found a name yet?" Momo asked as she went over a line in her armor once more.
"Nope, but I'll find something soon."
"I hope so, I'd rather call you by something other than your number."
"Eh…it'll happen soon enough."
And so they spent the rest of the day painting, until finally each costume was ready.
"Alright then everybody! Looking good! Let's try these costumes on and see what they can do, alright?"
"YEAH!"
Izuku's friends were excitedly bouncing around in their new costumes, and Ochako would be the first to try out her newest costume.
Nearby, Aizawa and the other teachers were observing, the former glad to see his students well protected while Hammer (Commander of the Engineering Corps), Hatsume and Powerloader presented the armor.
"Alright, Ochako! Let's go!"
Ochako's costume consisted of her old bodysuit, including the collar and belt but slightly modified, and attached to it was a series of armor plates over her arms and legs, with plenty of space between her joints and keeping her flexibility. She had two pieces of armor on her torso; the chestplate with Izuku's Beskaryc Ka'rta, and another a bit below to protect her abdomen.
Some notable additions however, was the wrist armor that she had that apparently served to help with her pressure points, a grappling hook, and something that protruded out of her left wrist with a bunch of holes.
On her shoulders were pink pauldrons, with the left one bearing the same U.A. symbol as Izuku's.
In fact all of his friends bore that symbol and on her head was a helmet that reminded her of a pilot's.
The armor itself was an off color white different from the Vod'e with a soft pink hue, a much darker and prominent pink being used for detailing.
Fives ended up writing in Mando'a on her left breast plate the word aliit; that combined with the Heart would forever mark her as one of the Vod'e.
"Alright Ochako, let's test things out. First things first, your armor comes with the standard wristcomm and helmet comm, and your belt now contains various supplies, feel free to look them over later," Hammer said with a grin.
"Right!"
"On your right wrist, you'll notice the grappling hook, it's similar to what the Vod'e use, and has plenty of length for far targets, they'll be especially useful for when you're applying Zero Gravity on yourself."
"Ooh," Ochako hummed in awe, just waiting to test it out.
"And on your left wrist, and for the purpose of this training, filled with dummies, are a new invention designed by the Vod'e and created by Hatsume, yes, I know but these do work," Powerloader said while raising a hand to halt her protests.
"They're basically a set of miniature missiles, they'll fly out and target nearby enemies in case you find yourself surrounded. The Vod'e have taken to calling them, Whistling Birds."
"Woaaahhhh…"
"You'll notice that your gauntlets, collar, and helmet have been further upgraded to stimulate the necessary pressure points to help you out. Speaking of said helmet, you'll find that it has a collapsable visor with a small heads-up display, or HUD," Hatsume excitedly explained.
"And, as an added bonus, your greaves are now much more compressed and as an added gift from the Vod'e include thrusters to help with sharp changes in direction when you're floating!"
Ochako looked at her calves which sported said thrusters.
"They're really nifty!"
"Yep! Now, let's take this for a test drive!" Hatsume said as Powerloader pressed a button on his wrist.
The courtyard in front of them then changed, transforming into a small obstacle course.
"Alrighty then, let's give her a test run, goal is simple, just make it to the end and try out every piece of equipment you got!"
"Right!"
"3, 2, 1, go!"
Ochako sprinted forward and started to leap over logs and other obstacles before seeing a wall and applying her quirk on herself. Quickly floating upward, she then launched her grappling hook to a post a good distance away and rocketed forward.
Kicking with her legs to activate the thrusters, she launched forward even faster before releasing her quirk after passing the post, the grappling hook rewinding automatically as she fell into a roll and continued forward.
Targets then popped out of the walls and floor, prompting her to thrust out her left arm, firing off the 'Whistling Birds' that flew around a bit like small rockets guided by children, making their trajectory unpredictable until each of them impacted with a target, knocking them down.
"Holy Buddha! These're effective! How much does it cost to make these?!"She asked Mei.
"Only ten thousand yen per piece! Nothing much if you think about it!" Mei grinned, causing Ochako to promptly crash into the wall when hearing the price of the micro missiles and how much money she had just flushed down the toilet.
While Ochako slowly slided down the wall, three blurs blitzed past the small group, two yellow, white and black blurs and one white, blue and gold, stopping a few meters from them, revealing itself to be an ARF Trooper along with the newly introduced and promoted ARC Trooper Blitz.
"What do you think of your new armor, Denki? Tenya?" Izuku asked his friends who took off their helmets, whose visors stopped glowing blue the moment they did so.
"Handles like a dream, Izuku!" Denki grinned with a thumbs up.
"I concur! This new armor actually feels like it provides more than just aerodynamics! And without the added aesthetics, I feel even faster!" Tenya replied while chopping the air.
"Plus these vambraces are awesome! I never thought I'd be able to carry around a medkit on my wrist!" Denki marveled at the devices on his wrists. On his right, was a grapple line that he could conduct his electricity through and on his left was a collapsible pair of pads that he could use to make himself a walking AED.
"Dude…I can't even begin to thank you enough for helping me figure out this new way to use my quirk!" Denki said as they paid attention to the special design on his greaves, with black running almost completely straight down except for slight protrusions, and inside they could see energy surging across it like a miniature lightning storm contained in his legs.
Denki's costume was almost completely redesigned, wearing full armor that was semiconductive and painted black, yellow, and clone white. He had a kama and his helmet had a new antenna and flashlight on each side along with some sort of monstrous creature painted on his torso with its arm reaching towards the Heart of Iron on his chest towards his own Heart.
Also on his right shoulder was the medcorps symbol in red as Denki had recently decided to start up his paramedic training again.
"Yep, we theorized that by charging yourself, you could affect your muscles, thereby affecting your speed and reaction time. Your greaves basically have electric channels that help direct that energy, giving you that boost," Izuku said as he walked over to Kaminari. "We've also added plenty of 'fuses' into your armor that will help you from short circuiting yourself."
"IT'S AWESOME!" Denki yelled before blitzing into a wall.
Everybody cringed.
"Ow."
"Do not worry, Denki…I will help you get used to the speed," Tenya chimed in, helping the electric blonde up who took off his helmet to reveal a nasty bruise on his forehead, before he held a vambrace to his face and fired a bacta spray, speeding up the healing process.
"This new fluid is a miracle… it has even helped Tensei so much in such a short time," Tenya marveled at the bacta with a smile.
Tenya's armor was very reminiscent of his older one in both coloring and style, especially around the legs, however, the plating was that of the Vod'e and overall it was slimmer and more compact. His helmet had also gone through a redesign, having the thin, v-shaped visor, a knight-like face guard, and antennas similar to his old costume.
A particular thing to notice was the special coloring, he had two orange vertical stripes along his chest plate on opposite ends, and on his forehead was a design specially commissioned by the Vod'e.
A Jaig, a particular mark of honor bestowed on him by the Vod'e not only for his courageous act at the USJ but also his restraint against attacking Stain in vengeance, a marking only a select few of the Vod'e had the privilege to bear.
The Jaig took the shape of a form of eyes, from a mysterious creature that Izuku seemingly had encountered at a young age, as the memory they had taken inspiration for the design from was extremely blurry, save for the eyes.
Tenya himself though, had insisted several times he didn't deserve this badge of honor, with only convincing from Waxer, Boil and Setsuna having made him accept the gift, as sometimes it took more courage to run to get help than stand and fight, especially if loyalty was one of your virtues.
"Oi! Legs! Time to test your gear!"
"My name is Tenya Iida!" The bluenet said before putting his helmet back on and got into a running stance, before shooting off with several stationary security bots popping up and firing rubber bullets at him.
Managing to dodge most of them, he felt a few hit his armor, before swinging his leg and destroying one, before extending one of his arms out, firing a repulsor wave, sending it flying backwards.
Shortly afterwards, a pair of turrets dropped down, with the armored teen using the new device on his back, a jump-pack, to give himself a boost upwards, before using his engines to keep himself steady for a short amount of time, while something popped up from his jetpack; a shoulder mounted blaster.
Firing the weapon, he hit both turrets before they could fire a single shot and landed somewhat gracefully after.
"Sweet! Looks like your repulsors are working, your jump pack is giving nominal readings, and your shoulder blaster is just fine!"
A robot popped up behind Tenya and with a quick swipe, the sharp edge of his vambrace swiftly cut through it.
"And the vambraces are working just fine!" Mei said with no small amount of cheer.
"Running diagnostics…" She muttered as she looked through a tablet. "Internal cooling systems look good…how you feeling, Legs?"
"Sigh…I feel fine, your cooling systems are working wonders."
"That's good I-"
BWOOOOOOOOM
The entire ground quaked as the fattest bass boost ever occurred next to them.
Everybody then turned to a sheepish Kyoka who was extremely glad to be wearing her helmet right now.
"Sorry…"
Denki immediately burst out laughing, so much so that he fell back onto the ground.
Kyoka's armor had the base white, but had a lot of black and purple scattered over her, she also had a kama like Denki although hers was black with purple accents.
Her helmet was also an ARF helmet with a scope mod so that she could have visual advantages as well, base white with purple highlights, her signature red cheek marks and, as an added gift from Denki, little music notes on the sides, as in, antennas the shape of music notes.
She may or may not have blushed upon seeing them.
She may have been the one who had painted lightning bolts on his…sue her.
Her vambraces actually had miniature sonic cannons attached to them, and she had speakers implanted into various parts of her armor.
The system for figuring out which one to use was a bit complicated, but she'd figure them out with more training.
However, as she now knew, it was not a good idea to send her heartbeat through all of them at the same time.
Next to her, sparring with 3636, was Momo.
And was loving her new costume.
Thanks to some research from the Support Course, they'd discovered a third year hero student who had troubles with his quirk and as such had to create a hero costume entirely out of his own hair.
Which gave the idea of using Momo's hair for her body suit, which upon further testing, allowed objects that were created from her body to pass through.
The science behind was extremely convoluted but suffice to say that at the very least she didn't have to be naked under the armor.
All the hair needed, did however also mean, that she currently had a bob cut, rather than her ponytail.
On another note, for the armor itself, they used a special type of magnetic underplating that would allow the armor to come off for creations and be quickly snapped back on.
As such, the Beskaryc Ka'rta had to be placed differently, the chest piece being one single unit instead of two but painted to give the appearance with the Heart proudly placed in the middle.
Her helmet was clone white with black and maroon accents, although she kept it relatively simple like 36's with a simple modification for her hair when it grew out again..
He'd yet to find a design that he truly liked and she wished to share it with him.
One thing that was pretty cool however was that she also got Whistling Birds, and as an added bonus, they gave her the schematics for it.
So yes, she could, as 36 said, 'send them' in a basically infinite amount, as long she had enough lipids.
A small thing Momo had noticed however, was how 3636 seemed to really like dogs, especially huskies.
Hearing a few splashes, they saw Monnk shoot out of the water, along with Tsuyu, both of them landing synchronized, with their finns retracting into their boots.
"How's the suit, Tsu?" Izuku asked just as the froggy girl took off her helmet which gave off a small hiss as it de-pressurized.
Once the headpiece was off, it was revealed she was currently wearing a balaclava to keep her hair in place.
"It's perfect. Doesn't even feel like I'm wearing any armor when under water. Kero." She croaked,
as she inspected her vambraces again.
Other than the standard equipment, they also had a pair of minidarts, a larger harpoon on both wrists with reels to help her get to somewhere even faster or to help hang onto something in case she gets pulled by particularly strong currents.
Her helmet, in fact her entire suit, came with all kinds of modifications for aquatic missions. Lights, sensors and a special rebreather attached to her helmet, oxygen tanks that could be attached to her back for longer missions or rescue ops, along with an emergency filtration system that worked a bit like gills for a short period, retractable fins for better direction in the water and miniature propellers for an extra boost attached to her legs.
And obviously, to go with her theme, the armor had plenty of green, a color that Monnk and the rest of the scuba squadron was copying from her, although each had a unique variation of blue and even neon colors to match different types of fish or even known oceanic locations.
Next up was Shoto who looked like his armor was made both for frigid and fiery situations, having what looked like the bottom of a trenchcoat, along with a one piece helmet connecting to the armor like a hazmat suit, with the protective layer even being pressurized. It was colored in a mix of blue and red, with the chestplate remaining white.
On each of his arms were vambraces, one a flamethrower and the other a cryogenic gun that would serve as backups, however his palms had no undersuit, leaving the flesh exposed so he would be able to utilize his quirks properly.
Jet had taken to wearing orange and brown armor, along with a kama that held his two DC-17's.
The most noticeable difference about him though, was his helmet, which looked like it had a set of inverted parabola on each side of his head.
Waxer, Boil and Mayhem soon came running, just as someone crashed into the trio, making them look like a set of bowling pins.
The one who had crashed into them was Setsuna who groaned while missing several pieces of her armor.
"Owie… maaaaan, all of these pieces are difficult to keep track of…" she groaned while sitting up, currently ignoring the pained groans of her three friends.
"Sets, get your ass off of me…"Boil complained, trying to sit up from the pile he, Waxer and Mayhem were in.
At the comment, she put the clone into a headlock with one of her legs while looking at Izuku as her helmet retracted.
"Sheesh, how do you run around in this all day? Feels like I'm constantly hauling around a radiator." she asked, just as the rest of the missing pieces arrived and attached themselves.
"You'll get used to it, although what you just stated may be a problem, but it could also be a blessing in disguise… You're also semi cold blooded like Tsu, aren't you, Tokage-san?"
"I am, yes, but I still feel like I'm sweating up a storm in this thing…" she complained, with even a bit of steam coming out of her bodysuit as she tugged on the neck, ignoring Boil tapping her leg to try and get her to stop choking him.
"Trust me on this; You won't regret it being that warm once winter sets in. Kero." Tsuyu said as she walked up to them.
"Or Todoroki decides to create a glacier again."
Setsuna thought about it for a few moments, before she felt someone poking her, and looked to see Waxer point to her leg, with the greenette noticing a passed out, foaming Boil the moment she turned her head.
"Oops." she laughed and let go of the unconscious clone, with Mayhem and Waxer beginning to drag him away.
"Ayo, sister!" Mina said and high-fived Setsuna just as she walked past the quartet and met up with the main group, Rex following close behind her and talking with Kirishima.
Mina's armor was… colorful, to say the least, having retained the pattern and neon colors of her previous suit, which, despite having a camouflage shape, was all but concealing in any environment safe for a ball pit.
Mina's helmet was something unique though.
Besides having two small holes at the top for her eyes, her visor was also just a singular slit, with the shape being rounder than the others and had small 'platforms' on the middle.
She had specifically requested a helmet like this, which had confused the engineering corps a bit, until she told her she used to skydive and also bungee jump, which at times could be pretty hazardous for the head in case something hit her.
Her vambraces actually had additions so that she could shoott her acid out of them, as seen by the small tubes running into her armor, with small suction cups connecting them to her skin underneath.
Another feature of her armor and suit too, was the fact that besides on the vambraces, there were microscopic holes in it that allowed her to secrete acid too, so she wouldn't just be limited to her hands.
"I feel so cool right now! Look at this!" She giggled as she slid around the floor on weak acid secreted from her boots, before she crashed into Denki and then into the wall.
Sweatdropping at the sight, Setsuna decided to wave goodbye for now, as they began to shake their heads, just as they heard something fly through the air and reached out to grab the object, finding them to be blasters.
"Good catch." the quiet voice of Yui said to them while giving them a thumbs up, her other hand at one of her pouches where a few miniature blasters came out of the bottom and fell into her palm.
Yui's costume honestly had the least amount of change color wise, she had the same armor as a trooper but maintained her Ultraman aesthetic.
She was pretty excited for the helmet however, as so far hers was the most decorated out of all of the Vod'e.
The headpiece was painted in silver, with the visor being a bright yellow, along with having a fin on top of it.
Her vambraces were also colored in the same silver, but they were the ones who looked the plainest, with the only unique thing about them being a small crystal sticking out the front of her right one.
"What's with the crystal?" Izuku asked, with Yui gesturing to them to follow her, as she began to walk towards the firing range where Fil, Niner and Bel were practicing.
The moment they arrived, the trio saluted Izuku who returned the gesture, just as Yui planted her feet firmly in the ground as she found a target, before forming her arms like a cross, her vambraces rotating, with the right one clicking the crystal into place.
Looking in curiosity, the group waited for a bit, just as a beam shot out of her left vambrace for a few seconds, followed by the sound of something like glass cracking and shattering, with the beam stopping soon afterwards.
The target however, had most of its upper torso obliterated.
Izuku's and everyone else's eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets at the demonstration, but the freckled teen immediately noticed how the crystal shards fell to the ground the moment the ravenette detached the vambraces from each other.
"Such power, yet each crystal can only fire once before cracking and shattering, correct?"
"Mmm."
"We actually got them from Melissa, we had an idea, and remembering about the focusing crystals she had, asked if we could use some," Fil said as Yui was actually bouncing around in excitement.
It was an uncommon but endearing sight.
"Well technically it was through the Engineering Corps but, you get the point."
"I'm Ultraman!" Yui cutely exclaimed, making her friends chuckle.
"It's designed as a last resort super move, due to how deadly it can be if used at close range."
"Fortunately I had a good supply of wasted crystals that would have been disposed of otherwise," Melissa said as she walked up to observe them.
"Did you have anything to do with their costumes, Melissa?" Izuku asked and the blonde shook her head.
"I wish I did, but no, I merely provided some materials after I was contacted back on I-Island."
"That does beg the question, what are you doing here?"
"Well, Daddy's still dealing with the fallout of I-Expo, so I decided to come by and visit!" Melissa said before looking over to her newest friend and inspiration. "I've…also been thinking about what you said and…I want to try."
"Oh?"
"Mhmm, I've been corresponding with Principal Nezu and Powerloader, we're thinking about doing an apprenticeship under him. I already know a lot about support gear, but not so much about heroism…who knows, maybe in a year or two, I'll be able to fight alongside you and the Vod'e," Melissa said with a soft smile.
Izuku gave a slight nod in return and he extended his hand.
With a firm handshake, he quickly gave his support.
"Well…we'd certainly be honored to count you as one of us. Which reminds me, I do need to talk to Nezu about Isobe, see how she's doing-" Izuku was cut off as he saw a ping in his helmet.
Message from Nezu: I'm already on it, and she's doing fine. She's been watching you quite closely.
On that note, check the news. It seems you're famous again.
"I feel that I should be worried by the fact that he already knew, but at this point, I don't care," Izuku muttered under his breath.
'Either way, if it means that Isobe is doing alright, it doesn't matter.'
"Who's Isobe?" Melissa asked.
"A quirkless girl I…saved during my internship, she really wants to become a hero too," Izuku replied as they observed the others.
"How has the Darksaber served you?"
"Wonderfully, although I can't really spar anybody with it unless I put it on the really low settings."
Melissa hummed in acknowledgement before noticing someone else come up to them.
"Ah, Yuga! How's the armor treating you?"
Yuga smiled as he took off his helmet, his helmet still retained most of his knight design, however the plating had obviously been replaced by clone armor.
He kept the silver coloring, despite knowing what it meant for the Vod'e, everybody assumed it was just because it was the shiniest of the materials available.
"I haven't felt any abdominal pain so far when it comes to my magnificent sparkling, mon ami!" He chirped, sparkling as he struck a pose.
"Well, according to Hammer and RG, the new belt in your armor injects bacta directly to your stomach, however… scans have also provided something… interesting… it says your quirk isn't compatible with you," Izuku said, wondering why that was the case.
"I'll tell you what! There's a spy in our midst!" Slick exclaimed, as he bursted into the room.
"Alright, Slick, that's enough of that, go on and head off," Izuku said while shooing him away.
While Fox and Thorn dragged the protesting Slick away, Izuku turned back to half French teen.
"My quirk is incompatible with me?" Yuga asked in confusion.
"Yeah…sorry, I thought that RG already told you." Izuku bowed his head in apology. "Actually, I thought you knew…"
"Non, mon ami…but I suspected," Yuga admitted with a certain resignation. "Every time I used my quirk, every time that I was taken to my family's private doctor…they never told me the truth, you know? But I always suspected, after all, why else would I constantly have to wear this belt?"
"Ah, I'm sorry that you have to deal with this Yuga, I wish there was a way we could fix it, but at least with this new addition, you'll be able to manage it."
"That's true, although quirk incompatibility is a rarer phenomenon nowadays, similar to quirklessness, treatments and support equipment have progressed amazingly," Melissa said with a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Yet sadly, only a privileged few in a lot of places have access to them…" Izuku said as he slumped, a slightly depressive aura beginning to emit from him while thinking back to a decade of hell.
"Gonk."
Snapping out of his depressive state, Izuku, along with the others, looked to see what had made the strange sound, and found a boxy looking robot walking towards them on two stubby legs, emitting the noise every now and then.
"What is that thing?" Denki asked no one in particular.
"A GNK power droid, also known as a Gonk droid due to the sound it makes, built by yours truly!" Mei popped up, surprising everyone who hadn't even noticed her arrival.
"What are you doing out of bed?!" Melissa asked as she looked at the dreadlocked teen.
"Wasn't able to sleep any more! Too excited! Plus! It has been more than I usually sleep! Two whole hours! A little more than a power nap!" She grinned, before she started dragging off Melissa who wondered just how this girl functioned.
"I'm ready though for our challenge!"
"Eh…alright, I guess now's a better time than any," Melissa said as they headed over to the workshop.
Powerloader graciously let her use his personal workstation and Melissa was quick to set the terms.
She did add one thing however.
"As a show of camaraderie, let's make these inventions as gifts, one for the other," Melissa said kindly, with Mei become even more enthusiastic as her eyes began to zoom in and out from excitement.
For the rest of the day, Izuku and his friends would pop by randomly to check up on the two and even stay for a bit, seeing their friends working hard on their projects.
Powerloader was the most impressed. It was the longest he'd ever seen the lab not suffer through an explosion.
At the end of the day however, the two had finally finished their projects, Melissa having allowed them to use previous designs so as to not have to spend a week just designing something.
"Alright then, guys," Melissa said with some cheer, although she was exhausted. It had been a while since she dedicated a full day to a project. "Ready for the unveiling?"
The group excitedly cheered and Mei was practically vibrating in excitement to unveil her creation.
"Well then, Hatsume," Powerloader began as he extended his hand out to the other girl. "Since you are the challenger here, I find it only fitting that you start us off."
"Thank you so much for this opportunity, Shield!" Mei said, surprising many since she didn't really do well with names.
'Must have a lot of respect for the Shield name.'
"I present to you my greatest creation so far!" She exclaimed as she removed the tarp over her creation. "The Astromech!"
Said astromech was a small droid, cylindrical in shape with three legs , white in color with blue and gray accents and a black visual receptor, and other features.
"Oooh," The crowd exclaimed, clapping at the presentation.
"My biggest dream is to help humanity see the stars again! But ships need maintenance, so I thought up the astromech! However, I also intended for them to potentially be personal companions if necessary for all kinds of engineering projects!" She exclaimed proudly while putting her hand on top of the dome shaped 'head' of the droid.
"Is it just me, or does that thing look a bit like one of those droids from I-Island…?" Kyouka asked, as she had less than stellar memories of those things.
"I made it with parts from it! Now, let's have my baby see the light of day!" Mei cackled as she activated the astromech.
A few seconds later, the small screens began to glow, with the robot looking around the room by turning its head.
"Hello, R2D2. Welcome to the world," Mei whispered to it like it was a human baby that had just been born.
The droid kept looking around as it chirped slightly, before rolling forward and circled the group, just before it stopped at Melissa.
"R2D2?"
"It…came to me in a dream, that's what I knew I would call the first one…I don't know why…" Mei trailed off before Powerloader took over.
"Next up, Shield-san's invention!" The teacher said, as Melissa bowed, before unveiling her creation.
It was a humanoid robot in what looked like pure gold plating with a head containing two big eyes that looked slightly like small car lights and a small mouth, while the arms were supported by small struts that seemingly didn't allow them to stretch out completely.
"What is this?"
"This, is what I like to call the Protocol Droid! I know that with the Vod'e in play, other countries may soon want to seek diplomatic or military relations with Japan, but considering the language barrier and how difficult it is to learn each other's language, not to mention just world wide, I decided I wanted to create something to help with that. This beauty right here currently knows over one hundred languages alone, however, I also made this to be able to take care of people who can't take care of themselves properly, such as the elderly, by helping with menial labor and healthcare. I call this one, C-3PO," She said as she activated it.
The eyes soon started to glow as it looked around the room.
"Greetings, I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations, at your service," It said, just as it began to walk over to Mei.
"Mistress Mei, I must implore you to sleep more, take a bath and have a hearty meal. You look terrible right now."
"But-but my babies!"
"Mistress Mei, a healthy body is a healthy mind. If you continue like this, you may lose your ability to think creatively."
At this, she stopped dead in her tracks and thought for a few seconds.
"...Someone please ask Lunch Rush to make some onigiri with tuna mayo… I'll… be heading to the women's bath…" She slumped.
"With pleasure!" Power Loader said, as he rushed out of the support department to the cafeteria, while two clones decided to escort Mei, in case she tried to change her mind.
"Speaking of food, is anyone else feeling a bit peckish? I know I could certainly go for a cheeseburger!" Denki chimed in, followed by the sound of a pair of stomachs growling, to which both he and Setsuna blushed.
"I sure could go for a bite."
"I'd love some mochi!"
"Ochako, mochi is for dessert…"
"Please?" She gave a quick pout to Izuku.
"I…sigh…" Izuku could only sigh and shake his head before beckoning her to follow him and the others.
Momo, Kyoka, and Tsu quickly slid up to Ochako with various grins.
"You certainly were quick to take advantage, huh?"
Ochako could only blush in reply and moved faster to walk next to Izuku.
"This is gonna be soooo fun to tease her with, eh?" Setsuna added, as she walked up to join the 1-A girls as they walked to the cafeteria.
Finding a place to sit, they saw Lunch Rush in the kitchen with more silhouettes which were soon revealed to be clones.
"Aight, lads. What can I get for ya?" A clone in an apron said as he walked to the table.
"You know me, Cookie, just the usual," Izuku said, to which the clone, or 'Cookie' nodded and looked to the others.
"Spaghetti and tomato sauce with fresh basil, please."
"Dino nuggets!"
"Cheeseburger with a side of fries!"
"Same as him, but with some cinnamon rolls as dessert."
"Cold soba."
"A triple bacon burger with some cheese fries, if I may."
"Miso soup, rice, mackerel and some jelly."
"Some beef stew would be nice."
As the cooks began their orders, everybody sat down around a large table that'd been set up. Truthfully, it was a bit odd to see the cafeteria so empty, but considering how it was summer break, it was to be expected.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm excited for the camp next week," Denki smiled and looked at the table with his friends.
"Well, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to stay that long, but I'll make sure to keep in contact with you all!" Melissa grinned sheepishly.
After a short while, Mei returned just as the food was done and joined them at the table.
She looked like an entirely different person now that her hair and face weren't dirty nor greasy with filth, oil, soot and ash. It was actually pretty smooth and even supple looking.
She did look slightly depressed though.
"My babies…"
A few chuckled at her expression but the group continued to eat.
"Now remember guys; Don't become too reliant on your gadgets and armor, make sure to also balance it out with your quirk." Izuku lectured them, and was about to put a piece of pork into his mouth, before blocking Fordo's chopsticks.
"Right!"
"I do wonder what the camp has in store for us, though…"
"Hopefully, nothing too bad. We go in and we come out stronger."
"On another note, I'd like to make an announcement!" Tenya exclaimed as he stood up. "As you all know, my hero name was simply Tenya, but after much deliberation, I've come up with a new name for myself! I am the Iviin Hero: Cabur!"
Many clapped at the news with Izuku providing the translation.
"The Velocity Hero: Guardian…that's wonderful, Tenya."
"Well, since you've announced yours, I'll say my own piece," Denki said as he also stood up. "With everything that's happening, I wanted to make a change of my own, to honor my family and friends. I'm the Son of the Storm: Buurenaar!"
More clapping arose as Izuku translated the Mando'a.
Though it was a bit funny seeing that Storm was said twice, it was also sweet to see how high regard he held for his mother.
"To us for once getting a normal outing outside of school grounds?" Ochako asked while raising her glass, followed by the others.
"Yes, and to us, friends and family," Izuku finished as they gave the toast.
"Cheers!"
To Be Continued
Hi guys, hope that you enjoyed this simple but heartwarming chapter!
Again, thank you all for your support.
Plus, now we have fan favorites!
Also, what's this? An Izuku Midoriya who had friendship growing up is not only confident and willing to ask somebody out but is dare I say, charming?
Who knew what a supportive life even with constant abuse could do that!?
Until next time guys!