15.05.2023
It is I, the Absolute Madman and I'm back with your weekly dose of Strand- fuck, go back- weekly dose of Evil Within! And seeing as there - once again - are no comments to answer we can jump straight into the chapter! I gotta say I enjoy the reprieve, just don't make this into a regular thing guys!:
Following the exploits of their seniors over the weekend offered a great deal of entertainment and served as a reminder that they still had a long way to go, as the second and third years had much more refined fighting styles and were more resourceful with their quirk usage, often pulling stunts that none of the juniors thought possible at first glance. Bakugo was of course very adamant about being able to beat any of those 'extras' right here and now, but his comments were paid no mind to, as his classmates already knew that trying to argue with the blonde menace was a fruitless endeavor.
Catching some proper rest on Monday to relax after the Sports Festival concluded, all the students were thrown back into the grinder on Tuesday, with the excitement starting right from the get go as Aizawa had announcements to make.
"I've reviewed the footage from the Sports Festival and even though you've done a good job, there are still areas for improvement. Rome was not built in a day so I'm not expecting to see the aforementioned improvement right away, but just keep in mind what you should try to work on going forward." Aizawa began what would eventually become a long monologue and then proceeded to list off a couple of examples like Bakugo's devastating lack of social skills, Kirishima's lack of variety or Yaoyorozu's dependence on her quirk. That last one was a bit harsh and ill-timed in Izuku's opinion, but it had to be said at one point or the other. "We don't have time to go over all of the potential improvements you can make, but I'll make sure to relay them to you in time. Today's homeroom already has a schedule. You lot better focus because what you're about to do can dictate your entire life going forward." Needless to say this ominous transition put most of his students on the edge of their seats. He let them cook for a few moments before finally breaking the news. "That's because today you'll choosing-"
"-choosing your Hero Names!" Suddenly Midnight burst into the room in her usual over the top pompous fashion, strolling to the center like she owned the place.
Aizawa didn't seem phased by the sudden interruption and simply took out the yellow sleeping bag that he kept in his desk in case of an emergency and got ready for a nap.
"I'm not qualified to deal with it, so Midnight will guide you through the process and make sure that your names fit within the HPSC's guidelines. And that they're not some stupid shit like 'Great Explosion Murder God' or anything close to that." It could've been Izuku's imagination but he could've sworn that Aizawa shot a very accusatory glare at the blonde menace in front of him.
"Those extra eyes would've come in handy now, wouldn't they?" The daemon mocked in amusement.
Izuku of course paid it no mind and chose to focus on the task at hand instead. Aizawa may have blown this whole thing out of proportion by a wide margin, but this was still nothing to take lightly. He wasn't interested in the marketing/business side of being a hero, but he also didn't want to become just another brick in the wall. He wanted his name to be something original, but not controversial or eye-catching as he'd have prefered to be known for what he's done and not what he looks like.
Numerous names were proposed before the tribunal that was Midnight and all of them had to be rejected first before at last someone came up with something that not only suited them, but also fit within the set boundaries.
"The Rainy Season Hero: Froppy!" Asui declared proudly and Midnight squealed in delight.
"Approved!" The R-Rated Hero stated and it was as if though the floodgates of inspiration had been opened at that point, with all the students figuring out their names in no time.
Eventually it was only down to a couple of strugglers with Izuku being one of them. He had ideas of course, lack of them was not the issue, but they were all so… plain and generic. He went through seven different variations of 'knight' before giving up on that and moving on. Although that didn't take him far as he always kept coming back to these medieval/religious themes of paladins, protectors and defenders. Izuku was about ready to throw in the towel and accept that his name wouldn't be as original as he'd have liked when a sudden inspiration was sparked within him.
"Daemon?" He thought cautiously, the very idea of calling out to the monster rubbing him all kinds of ways, all of them wrong and disturbing.
"What?" The daemon responded after a few moments, the sound devoid of any ill-will or venom and filled with interest in turn. Izuku couldn't blame it, this was probably the first time that he initiated the conversation completely unprovoked.
"Who is that person that you mention from time to time? The one that you seem to like as much as you hate?" Izuku doubted that the daemon would actually answer the question, but it was worth a try in his books. Surprisingly - it worked.
"Oh, you mean Garran? That guy pisses me off even more than you do, but you really can't not respect him. That mental stronghold that he's constructed within his mind is stronger than anything I've ever seen. Hell, I'd no idea that humans could achieve such a pure state of mind." The daemon recalled, surprising Izuku with how it addressed the man.
"Who is he anyway?" Izuku prodded, hoping to get something more to go off of before making a final decision.
"Garran Crowe is the strongest warrior and leader of the Purifier Order of the Grey Knights Chapter. Members of the Chapter are said to be completely immune to the daemonic influences and only those purest amongst them could hope to be offered a position in the Purifier Order. Yet, even within the purest of the pure there is a man that outshines them all - Garran Crowe. If every Purifier is pure of mind and completely incorruptible, then I have no words to describe that man. My every attempt at tempting him ended in failure and I only managed to receive a couple of responses over the centuries that we spent locked in the struggle for control." It was almost as if the daemon was reliving some of its memories as the sound of its voice turned fond halfway through the explanation.
Izuku himself was completely stunned by the monologue, even if he couldn't understand some of the things that the daemon spoke about - Grey Knights? Purifiers? Izuku studied a lot of history in the Fujikuma Monastery, but he never saw either of these names mentioned. He wanted to look into them a bit more, although some gut feeling - a premonition - told him that no matter how hard he tried he'd find absolutely nothing. For all he knew, the daemon could've just made this all up on the spot to make Izuku lower his guard. Still, that very same gut feeling ordered him to believe the daemon's story, for it sounded too genuine to be a lie.
"I've decided then. If I want to save people and give them someone to look up to, then there's no other name that could align with who I am and who I strive to be!" Izuku thought to himself before scribbling his chosen name and dashing towards the front of the room.
His sudden dash coupled with his strange choice of a name didn't fail to puzzle his classmates and even though he didn't get any cheers at the revelation like others, he knew that this was the name he'd like to stick with.
"Are you sure about this Midoriya?" Midnight asked curiously, double- and triple-checking his board, assessing the name and weighing her opinion on the subject.
"Yes, I'm sure. I don't know much about the one that inspired this name, but I already know that he's someone I want to look up to in the future. He's a bulwark against the chaos that threatens our day-to-day lives and I hope to follow in his footsteps one day." Izuku stated with confidence and an unshakable conviction in his voice.
Midnight eyed him from head to toe, her scrutinizing gaze doing nothing to change Izuku's mind and once it became obvious that he was not backing down she smirked.
"Very well then." She said joyfully. "Approved!" She exclaimed and even though they were still mostly confused, his classmates congratulated him as well.
Izuku still couldn't believe that he was lucky enough to get to meet all of these wonderful people who took him in despite his inner daemons. It only made him more determined to do everything he could to match the name written upon his board - Garran Crowe.
Once they got all of their names in order, Midnight took her leave and just when students thought that the rest of the homeroom would continue without any more detours, Aizawa surprised them with yet another task. This time though they were prepared and didn't let his dreadful take on the matter scare them as there was indeed nothing to fear in the first place.
As it turns out, the internship offers that were extended to all of the hero course students were already compiled and ready to be handed out for the students themselves to sift through. Thankfully all of the more shady or spammy offers were already removed from the lists, which made the task of reviewing all of the legitimate ones less bothersome. Unless you were Todoroki or Bakugo both of which received literally thousands of offers.
Aizawa did what he was supposed to do and handed out the offers, explaining that they shouldn't rush their choice and make sure to check whether or not they could learn something during the internship as that was the main goal of doing them. Then he did a very irresponsible - but very Aizawa - thing and went back to sleep even though his students had loads of questions. The only one he answered moments before zoning out was the deadline for the decision which turned out to be Friday, with the internships themselves beginning next Monday.
There wasn't much homeroom left at that point so most of the students only took a brief look at their respective lists - though in some, less fortunate, cases a brief look was all it took the check out all of their offers - and so any serious work would have to wait till lunch, which was exactly what Izuku planned to do.
What he didn't include in his plans however were his friends, of which he had surprisingly many, joining him for the entire lunch, offer checking included.
Kirishima and Ashido disturbing his solitude was a guarantee at this point, but he didn't expect both Shiozaki and Shinso to break away from their respective classes to sit together with him. Still, Izuku didn't mind them as he wholly believed in the 'the more the merrier' mantra.
"Did you receive your internship offers as well?" Shiozaki asked politely after they all greeted each other.
"Yes, though we had no chance to look at them yet." Izuku responded.
"Internships, huh? Must be fun being in the hero course and all." Shinso joked with a tired smirk.
"Don't sweat it man!" Kirishima exclaimed whilst giving the purple-haired man next to him a pat on the back. "You'll be one of us in no time!" He assured him and even though Shinso wasn't prepared for the physical part, he more than appreciated the words.
"Yeah dude! Your quirk's like super useful!" Ashido agreed immediately and then it seemed as if though she just had a brilliant idea, a mischievous smirk appearing on her lips. "Hey, do you think you could brainwash a certain grape-headed pervert?" She asked, malicious intent clear in her words.
Izuku let the trio be as he took out his list of offers and started scanning it for anything interesting. Even though he wasn't very up-to-date when it came to hero rankings and the likes, he still was able to recognize a couple of names. Unfortunately none of them looked promising with Gunhead being perhaps the sole exception.
He was about to flip the page in hopes of finding a more suitable offer when Shiozaki suddenly chimed in, pointing to an offer that he somehow missed by being too brief in his approach.
"Isn't this Edgeshot's agency?" She asked curiously with a hint of excitement in her voice.
Her remark of course couldn't go unnoticed and both Kirishima as well as Ashido were quick to jump on the hype-train.
"You got an offer from Edgeshot?! That's so manly!" Kirishima exclaimed, almost slamming his fists on the table for emphasis, but that'd surely left quite the dent in it so he held himself back.
"That's awesome! Good for you Midori!" Ashido also expressed her excitement with sparkling eyes and a wide grin.
Their excitement, although fully justified at the moment, turned out to be quite misjudged upon closer inspection. The agency mentioned in the offer did indeed belong to Edgeshot, the hero making the offer itself however was not Edgeshot, rather one of the autonomous pros that were working for him - Monk'ai.
Now, whilst Izuku wasn't well versed when it came to heroes he was well aware of who Monk'ai was. His quirk - aptly named Ape-Out - gave him ape-like features and an inhuman level of strength, though the man knew better than to rely on raw power alone and instead focused on flawless technique which in comparison with his natural strength made for quite the devastating combination.
Whether it was fate or pure luck Izuku didn't know, but also didn't care that much because it'd be nearly impossible to find a better mentor than Monk'ai. He also respected the man a lot for engaging in a fair share of charity-ish projects in his free time.
"So it's not Edgeshot, but he still works for the Number Five hero, right? That's still super cool no matter how you look at it." Ashido stated once they all got a moment to cool their heads down.
"Yeah, are you gonna take his offer? I don't know anything about him but you could make a name for yourself amongst the big leagues right from the get go!" Kirishima stated, still as pumped as before though not as hyped.
"Well, I'll definitely check all of my other offers to make sure I don't have anything even better there, though it'd be hard for anyone to beat Monk'ai. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go with him in the end." Izuku explained as he gazed at the list one more time. "Have you guys decided who you want to do your internships with?" He then asked, turning back to his friends.
"I'm going with Fourth Kind!" Kirishima immediately exclaimed. "He's so manly! And he doesn't do strictly hero work too! He is often seen helping around his community and stuff! How cool is that?!" The redhead gushed about the pro and the others could stop themself from chuckling. Even Shiozaki couldn't help but smile at the display of pure excitement.
"I wish I had an obvious choice like Kiri…" Ashido whined next to him. "None of these offers really spark my interest but it's to be expected since I didn't make it far in the tournament."
"Now that's just a blatant lie." Izuku stated firmly. "You were doing circles around your opponents like there's no tomorrow! I'm sure you'll find an internship that suits you." He offered some pep talk, successfully bringing her mood back up.
"He's right y'know?!" Kirishima chimed in. "C'mon, I'll help you pick out something great!" And with that the pair dove into the list in search of a suitable offer.
"How about you Shiozaki?" Izuku asked, seeing as Ashido and Kirishima were too engrossed to hold a conversation.
"I've received an offer from Kamui Woods that'll probably work best for me since our quirks are very similar, but just like you I'll double check if I didn't skip over an even better offer." Shiozaki explained and Izuku nodded to himself.
"That's great to hear." He responded and was about to go back to his food, but then a stray thought went through his mind. "Don't you think that it's kind of funny how the two of us managed to find offers perfect for us?" Izuku asked with a smile.
"Perhaps it's fate?" Shiozaki responded with a small smile, whilst somewhere in the distance a small rodent principal laughed his ass off, scaring to death numerous students unfortunate enough to find themselves in the vicinity of his office at this time.
One more thing that happened was the daemon chuckling inside of his corner of Izuku's mind, which was so unexpected that Izuku couldn't simply ignore it and chose to question the daemon.
"What's so funny?" He asked curiously.
"This guy chose to call himself 'Monk'ai' of all things. Funniest shit I've ever seen." The daemon simply responded and went quiet, seemingly having nothing else to say.
Izuku, previously curious, was now only confused, though he decided to shrug this strange interaction off and continue his lunch, the break would soon end and he'd hate for such delicious food to go to waste.
To be honest, I had no idea what hero name to go with, so I decided to go with something simple - Garran Crowe. Me and the guys over on Discord (link below) had a small brainstorming session about this as I wanted to call Izuku something along the lines of The Grey Knight Hero: (insert hero name), but Powerball_Wiz stated that the whole idea of calling yourself The (insert thing) Hero is stupid like Endeavor being The Flame Hero (kinda on the nose that one, no?) or Mirko being the Rabbit Hero (Well, duh?) plus I realized that with his humble-ish approach Izuku wouldn't want a grandious long title like that and would often for something more meaningful to him and tied to the image of a hero that he wants to be.
Discord! - discord,gg/pa62sM9Q (remember to change the ',' into a '.'!)
That's all I gotta for you today so have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!