Hyper Beam & An Idea!
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After the Battler selection and Rookie hunt, the atmosphere in the school has become much quieter and classes have resumed as usual. And today they were going to attend their first Familiar Class.
So when Izuku entered his class today, he was genuinely surprised to see his normally carefree, happy-go-lucky classmates chatting in low, nervous voices while their homeroom teacher, Kalego-sensei, watched over them.
"You cretins, calm down," Kalego said in an annoyed voice.
"We can't! Our families will be here to see us!" Shax yelled.
"Yeah, it's very stressful," Garp added.
"I know, right?" Shax groaned. "My sister will be here for the event."
"My brother is coming as well," Jazz said, not looking too thrilled about it.
"Hey guys, good morning," Izuku finally decided to make his presence known as he walked towards his seat. "So, what's new today?"
"Hey Izuku," Eiko greeted him with a smile, "this arrived today," she said and handed him a piece of paper.
"Battler's Party?" Izuku raised his brow as he looked through the paper in his hand.
"Well, it's kind of like a presentation event where various battlers show off their work and compete for first place, which rewards them with a rank up," Eiko explained.
"But it's not just that," Shax added, "there are a lot of cool things like attractions and food stalls. Not to mention, you also get to interact with the pretty girls from other classes," he ended with a cheeky smile.
"That sounds like a fun event, so why were you all so gloomy earlier?" Izuku asked.
Suddenly the mood of the room again dropped like a mishandled baby.
"Actually, during this event, the parents of the first-year students will be invited to observe how their children are doing after enrollment," Eiko grimaced. "And most of us aren't thrilled about that."
"And what's so bad about that?" Izuku asked with genuine confusion on his face because he would have loved it if his mom could come and see his progress.
"Of course, you wouldn't understand since you always see your grandpa at school," Shax said. "But for the rest of us, it's quite embarrassing."
"Then work hard so you won't embarrass yourself in front of your parents, you nitwits," Kalego said with an annoyed frown, "now get back to your places. I'm going to take roll call before your next class."
:-:-:-:-:-:
"Good morning, class," a short man with green hair said as he entered the Misfit classroom, immediately capturing their attention. "My name is Bars Robin, and I will be your new teacher for the Familiars course," he smiled warmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."
'Is he really a teacher?' Nana asked skeptically. 'He doesn't look like one.'
'Stop judging people!' Izuku groaned in response.
'What!?' Nana exclaimed in mock offense. 'That's the most fun part of being inside someone's head. I can judge people all I want without actually having to interact with them.'
'Good for you,' Izuku rolled his eyes as Robin continued his lecture on familiars. 'At least he seems motivated.'
"Alright, class, let's head to the schoolyard," Robin said, starting to walk out of the classroom. "Your first lesson is to interact with your familiars."
'Ooo~, this is going to be fun,' Nana cooed in Izuku's head as he let out a tired sigh.
(On the school grounds)
"Listen, your familiar is not just a pet, but a true companion and partner," Robin explained. "Today, we will focus on heart-to-heart communication with your familiar."
'Oh, so just a regular day for me,' Izuku thought to himself.
"Asmodeus Alice, you're up first," Robin said.
"Yes!" Alice stepped forward and summoned his macaroon-cream-colored snake.
"A Gorgon Snake!" Robin stared at Alice's familiar in awe. "Amazing!"
Suddenly, Sabnock stepped forward with a confident smirk and interrupted Robin. "I am even more amazing!" he declared, summoning his own familiar. A creature named Kelple appeared before them, a bizarre two-legged hybrid of a horse and a fish.
"Wow! A Kelple!" Robin exclaimed, his eyes still filled with awe. "Both of these familiars are truly amazing."
As their teacher was busy fawning over the familiars, Alice and Sabnock, along with their respective familiars, engaged in a tense stare-down.
"It's starting!" Shax exclaimed.
"I can't wait to see who wins this fight," Garp added eagerly.
'Why is everyone always excited to see a fight?' Izuku wondered to himself. 'Can't they solve their problems in a civil way?'
'This is the demon world, Izuku. Here, might makes right,' Nana replied. 'Besides, watching a good fight can heal your soul.'
'Why do I have a feeling you were a delinquent in your school days?' Izuku asked, narrowing his eyes.
'Hey, look! Clara is summoning her familiar,' Nana interjected, successfully diverting the conversation. Izuku's attention quickly shifted to his friend.
"S-s-s-s-s- Summon," Clara yelled and summoned an abstract-looking green creature, "Falfal!"
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Falfal- An almost-abstract made demon beast comes with a familiar named Falfal. This green creature looks very eccentric, much like its owner.
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"Oh, a Falfal! How rare!" Roabi exclaimed in amazement. "It's a demon beast that doesn't understand any language or action. How did you manage to tame it?"
Ignoring Roabi's question, Clara reached into her pocket and produced a ball, which she handed to Falfal. Without a word, the demon beast tossed the ball, and Clara darted after it. After retrieving it, she ran back to Falfal, who patted her head appreciatively.
"I think it's Clara who's getting tamed here," Izuku said with a chuckle.
"Up next is Midoriya," Robin called out, while Alice and Sabnock continued arguing in the background.
Izuku took a step forward and slapped a summoning sticker onto the back of his palm.
'Are you ready, Nana? I'm going to summon you,' Izuku said.
'Yep! It's my time to shine,' Nana replied.
"Summon," Izuku said, and Nana appeared in her giant black form. Golden tendrils flared from various parts of her body.
"Woah!" came the collective response from his classmates.
"Midoriya, your familiar is so huge," Robin said, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Please don't say it like that," Izuku groaned as he ignored Nana's crackling voice in his head.
"It does look just as majestic as the last time," Elizabetta said, recalling the day of the flying race.
After that, one by one, everyone summoned their familiars, and Robin moved on to the next part of the lesson, producing multiple flying disks out of nowhere.
"Now to deepen the bond with your familiar, you will be playing frisbee together!" Robin announced with a cheerful smile.
Izuku took one of the frisbees from Robin and moved to a large, open patch of ground, giving Nana more room to move around.
'So shall we?' Izuku asked and was about to throw the disk when Nana stopped him.
'Wait a minute!' Nana exclaimed. 'How am I supposed to catch this frisbee?' That's when Izuku noticed that her hands/claws were relatively small compared to the rest of her huge serpentine body.
Izuku pondered for a moment, and then an idea came to his mind. 'Why don't you try hitting it with your tail?' he suggested.
'My tail?' Nana thought for a moment before agreeing to give Izuku's idea a try.
So they stood opposite each other, keeping a quite long distance between them.
"Ready?" Izuku asked, and once he received confirmation from Nana, he threw the disk toward her. However, just as she was about to hit the flying disk with her tail, it suddenly started glowing. When Nana made contact with the disk, it flew towards Izuku at a rocketing speed.
Meanwhile, before Izuku could fully comprehend what was happening, his Danger Sense went off, and he instinctively caught the disk. However, he was pushed back a few meters upon impact.
'What was that?' Nana asked with a hint of amusement as she inspected her tail.
'Dragon Tail...' Izuku absentmindedly replied.
'Huh?' Nana asked.
'It's a dragon-type attack move,' Izuku explained. 'Do you think you could do it again?'
'I can try,' Nana said, as they both went back to their previous positions.
Once again, Izuku stretched out his hand and threw a frisbee to Nana. She responded by once again striking the disk with her tail but this time intentionally using the Dragon Tail. And just like before, the frisbee flew back to Izuku with tremendous speed. However, this time, he activated One for All and managed to catch the disc while holding his ground.
'Wow! That was really cool and strong,' Izuku exclaimed, still flabbergasted by Nana's ability to use Pokemon moves in her Rayquaza form. 'What do you say? Want to try pushing our limits?'
'Sure why not,' Nana replied with a smirk.
And so, what was supposed to be a friendly bonding exercise between master and familiar turned into a fierce frisbee competition between Izuku and Nana. At some point, they even stopped catching the disk and began sending it back to each other with Dragon Tails and Shoot Style, each trying to push their limits while creating an exciting spectacle for the students who had gathered around them.
"What is going on here?" Robin asked with a dumbfounded expression on his face as he stared at Izuku and Nana throwing frisbees at each other at dangerous speeds. He then turned towards the rest of the class, who were preoccupied with their own activities and paying no mind to either Izuku or his familiar.
"Just ignore him, sensei. It's just a normal Monday for him," Shax shrugged and then went back to playing cards with Caim and Jazz, which he knew he should reprimand them for, but right now, he was more focused on trying to understand how these misfits could be so chill about the whole thing.
Robin felt a little relieved when he noticed that students from other classes had gathered around to watch the scene with the same dumbfounded expression as him. However, just as he was about to intervene and stop Izuku, something unexpected happened.
A huge sphere made up of fire and water rushed towards Izuku as he was too engrossed in their game and ignored the warning of his Danger Sense. He only noticed the giant ball when it was too late to move out of the way, so he braced for impact. However, just before it could hit him, Nana destroyed the sphere with her newly-learned Dragon Tail.
"Hey, thanks for the sav-" Izuku stopped mid-sentence when he noticed rage flicker in Nana's eyes. Her anger was directed towards Alice and Sbanock, who were accompanied by their familiars, all of whom were now shivering under the aura Nana was emanating.
Izuku's eyes widened in horror as Nana roared, her mouth beginning to glow with a bright yellow ball of energy. 'Fuck,' he cursed internally as he recognized what was going on. So he quickly turned towards Alice and Sabnock and yelled, "Duck," and fortunately they obeyed, just in time to avoid the devastating beam of energy that blasted past their heads, obliterating a large chunk of land behind them.
"What the fuck?" Alice and Sabnock exclaimed in unison as they stared in shock at the massive chunk of land that had been destroyed behind them. Fear glimmered in their eyes as they realized how close they had come to being annihilated.
"What was that?" Alice asked while looking at Izuku was patting his familiar on the back and whispering something in its ear.
Izuku looked at Alice and said, "I would love to explain what just happened," he said, "but right now we have a bigger problem to deal with." He followed his gaze to see their homeroom teacher, Naberius Kalego, landing nearby. The teacher's face was twisted with anger and annoyance, his expression making it clear that he was not pleased.
"What the hell is going on here?" Naberius Kalego demanded, his gaze fixed directly on Izuku who just shook his head with a tired sigh.
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"And that's what happened," Robin explained, sitting in seiza position along with Izuku, Alice, and Sabnock. Naberius Kalego stood in front of them, his glare fixed on the group.
Kalego let out a deep sigh and turned to face Robin, with a serious expression on his face. "Hey Rookie," he began, "can you tell me why trust is the most important thing between a demon and a familiar?"
"B...Because the familiar is a partner-" Robin began, but Kalego cut him off abruptly.
"Wrong!" the misfit's homeroom teacher declared, leaning closer to Robin's face and staring into his eyes as if trying to peer into his soul. "The reason trust is so important is to avoid having your familiar eat you alive!"
Robin looked at Kalego with wide eyes, clearly taken aback by the teacher's statement. "But... but if the familiar opposes the owner, won't they be punished?" he asked.
"Who said anything about 'opposing the owner'?" Kalego frowned. "I'm talking about the things happening around you."
Robin clearly didn't understand what Kalego was getting at and tilted his head in confusion.
"A familiar is neither pet nor partner," Kalego explained, his annoyance quite evident in his voice. "If the master is slow to adjust, the familiar can become a threat to the surrounding area."
Suddenly, an intimidating aura flared through Kalego's body as he glared at the four people in front of him. "Fear of the familiar, you idiots! That's the real trust!"
Kalego then turned his glare towards Alice and Sabnock, causing them to shudder under his gaze. "And you two," he said, his voice filled with disapproval. "What the hell were you thinking, letting your familiars fight like that?"
"He started it!" they said in unison, "No! You did."
"A vein appeared on Kalego's forehead as he stared at the two bickering boys in front of him with a twitching eye. "Shut up!" he said, immediately silencing them. "Both of you will submit a 10-page essay on the safety of using familiars. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," both of them said in defeated voices.
"And you," he pointed at Robin, "double paperwork for the next two weeks."
"Why...?" Robin whined, but had to quiet down when Kalego gave him a stern look.
"Now scram," he said, and as the four of them started to walk away, he grabbed Izuku by the collar. "Not you. Rest of you, leave."
After the rest of them left, only Kalego and Izuku remained in the schoolyard where the latter was contently staring at the ground.
"After the stunt, you pulled today, I hope you have a good explanation," Kalego said sternly, releasing Izuku's collar.
"I'm sorry, sir," Izuku said, looking up with a grimaced smile. "I didn't mean for things to escalate like that."
"That's not an excuse, Midoriya," Kalego said as he stared at the site of Nana's attack. "Do you realize the intensity of that attack? Someone could have lost their life."
Izuku didn't respond immediately, still looking at the ground. "I know," he said finally, his voice low. "I'm sorry."
"You're lucky that no one was hurt. But you need to be more careful with your familiar, Midoriya. And more responsible," Kalego said, still maintaining the sternness in his voice. "You need to understand that your familiar is much stronger than others, and even if it was trying to protect you, it is not an excuse to let it do as he pleases."
"Yes sir," Izuku nodded.
"Good. I will let it slide this time since this was your first lesson on familiars, but I won't be this tolerant next time," he said and left the schoolyard leaving very tired and exhausted Izuku behind.
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"I am pooped," Izuku sighed as he sat on the ground leaning against a nearby tree.
'Yeah, he really doesn't hold back, huh,' Nana said.
'And whose fault is that, huh?' he asked in an annoyed voice.
'I'm sorry,' she said, her voice filled with remorse. 'I shouldn't have let my anger get the best of me. The truth is, I was scared. Scared that something might have happened to you, and I...' She hesitated for a moment, searching for the right words, 'I just couldn't bear the thought of something hurting you.'
As much as Izuku wanted to stay angry at Nana, he knew he didn't have the heart to do so. He could understand why Nana felt so possessive about him. Having to give up her son and seeing her grandson become a monster due to the influence of her worst enemy, he could clearly understand why she reacted the way she did. And honestly, he couldn't lie to himself, it felt good to see someone else getting angry on his behalf.
'Don't worry about it,' Izuku said with a reassuring smile. 'I understand why you were so worried, but you have to know that something like that wouldn't have hurt me at all. I've taken much worse hits from much stronger people in the past.'
'Doesn't make me any less worried about you,' Nana replied.
'I know,' Izuku with a warm and grateful smile.
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(Magical Tools Research Battler)
"Hey guys, sorry for the wait," Izuku said as he entered the room assigned to their battler.
"Hey, Midoriya! Perfect timing," Daki greeted him with a cheerful smile. "We were just about to discuss what we're going to do for the Battler Party!"
And sure enough, just like she said Alice, Clara, Kirio, and Daki were sitting in a circle while various kinds of papers were scattered around them.
"So... has anyone come up with anything yet?" he asked as he joined the circle.
"Not really," Daki shrugged. "We were just tossing out the bad ones," she said, indicating the pile of discarded papers around her, "...and we haven't found a good one yet."
"Hmm..." Izuku thought for a moment and said, "Before we brainstorm, why don't we ask everyone what they want this project to be?"
"Great idea! I'll go first!" Daki exclaimed but then went into deep thought. "Let's see..." Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she looked at Izuku with a newfound passion. "Something grand... larger than life...something that will make us stand out from all the other battlers," Daki said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"For me, it has to be something elegant or maybe even fancy," Alice said. "Something that will complement my family's fire."
"Something fun!" Clara cheered and raised one fist in the air.
"Something that we can all enjoy together," Kirio added with a gentle smile.
"Wow, that's quite a range of requirements huh," Izuku chuckled.
"What about you Midoriya?" Daki asked with curious eyes. "What do you want from this project?"
"What do I want?" Izuku said and closed his eyes for a moment and an old memory flashed in front of his eyes.
("Midoriya! That was a great performance," Mirio Senpai said, his ever-present smile beaming. "Eri couldn't stop smiling as soon as you stepped onto the stage. I've never seen Eri so happy before," Mirio continued, his smile growing wider. "You really saved her, kohai.")
As the memory faded away he opened his eyes and looked at the group with a warm smile on his face. "Smile. Something that will bring smiles to everyone's faces."
"Great!" Daki grinned at him. "Now that we know what everyone is expecting from this project let's start brainstorming on it!"
*1 hour later*
"Ahhhh!" Daki yelled while scrunching another paper with another flop idea on it. "Why can't we come up with anything?"
"Relax, Daki senpai. Great ideas aren't formed in an hour," Izuku reassured her. Then, suddenly, his phone beeped. He took it out of his pocket and noticed a message from Ameri.
[Ameri: Hey Izuku, are you free right now? I was wondering if we could have another reading session if you are.]
[Izuku: Sure! I will be there in a minute,] he replied, thinking it would be a great break from all the brainstorming he had been doing so far. So he stood up and walked towards the door. "Hey guys, I am going to meet up with a friend, so I will be back in an hour or so," he announced to the group, who looked up from their work to nod in acknowledgment. As he left the room, he could hear Daki muttering to herself about their lack of progress, but he pushed the thought from his mind. For now, he was looking forward to losing himself in the pages of First Love Memories.
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(Ameri's Office)
"Hey Ameri, good evening," Izuku greeted her with a pleasant smile as he entered her cozy and warm, office, dimly lit with the soft light of the setting sun coming through the windows. But as he looked closer, he noticed that she was sitting with a pout on her face. So he walked over to her and took a seat in front of her.
"What's wrong? Someone stole your tea or something," Izuku asked jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. And on a side note, he couldn't help but notice how cute Ameri looked even when she was pouting.
'Heh~' Nana sent a teasing smirk at him and Izuku decided to ignore her.
She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the small smile that tugged at the corners of her lips. "No, nothing like that," she said, leaning back in her chair. "Actually, I'm mad at you."
"Me?" Izuku raised his brow in surprise.
"Yeah, because you didn't visit the Student Council on Battler selection day," she said, looking away from him and refusing to meet his gaze. "And moreover, you went ahead and joined a different battler when you promised to join the Student Council."
Izuku grimaced and thought, 'When did I promise her that?' However, he knew better than to say that out loud.
"Yeah, sorry about that," he said while rubbing the back of his head. "It's just that everything happened so suddenly, and the next thing I knew, I had already found a battler I wanted to join."
"It's alright. You don't need to apologize," Ameri said, letting out a sigh. "Besides, I wouldn't want to force you to join any battler against your will. I just thought it would be fun to work together, you know?" She leaned forward and rested her arms on her desk.
"Yeah, it would have," Izuku chuckled. "So now that's out of the way, should we...?"
"Sure, just a second," she said and walked towards the bookshelf, retrieving First Love Memories Vol 5. As she looked at the other volumes on the shelf, a thought crossed her mind, "This series really does have a lot of volumes, doesn't it? I wonder if we'll ever finish all of them," she mused out loud.
"Don't worry. We'll surely find a way to finish all the volumes," Izuku replied.
She turned around and looked at him with an amused smile. "It's easy for you to say, Mister, but starting next year, our schedules are going to get a lot busier."
"Sure, we'll get busier, but I'll always make time for you," Izuku said, flashing a reassuring smile.
A slight blush appeared on her cheeks, but she quickly diverted the conversation by handing him the book to read together.
And then, just like that, an hour passed, and Izuku closed the book after placing a bookmark where he had stopped and placed a book on Ameri's desk.
"The plot really did get much more interesting," Ameri said as she combed through the pages of the book that Izuku had just read, "I wonder where it will go from here."
"Yeah, but I never would have guessed that Rin would have to join the Mafia after the national sports team arc," Izuku said as he took a sip of his tea. "I wonder how Kakeyo will react after seeing Rin with his grandfather's murderers."
"By the way, Izuku, what is this?" Ameri said, showing him a double spread of beautiful fireworks lighting up the night sky.
"Oh, those are fireworks," Izuku replied.
"Fireworks?" she tilted her head in confusion.
"Hmm... how do I explain this?" he thought for a moment before continuing, "They're like flowers made up of various chemicals that bloom in the night sky."
"I see..." she said, once again looking at the double spread. "It must be quite a spectacle in real life."
"Yeah, they are..." Suddenly something clicked in his mind as lots of dots started connecting to each other.
'Something grand... larger than life...something that will make us stand out from all the other battlers.'
'Something elegant or maybe even fancy.'
'Something fun!'
'Something that we can all enjoy together.'
'Something that will bring smiles to everyone's faces.'
"Ameri, tell me something," Izuku said, leaning in close to her face, which made Ameri's heart race. "Are you absolutely sure you haven't seen something like fireworks before?"
"Yeah, I don't remember seeing anything like this before," she replied, feeling proud of herself for not stumbling over her words.
"Great!" he moved back and took a picture of the double spread, making sure that none of the text would be captured in the picture. "Ameri..." he said, now with a newfound excitement in his eyes. "I promise you, this upcoming Battler Party, I will show you something incredible. Please look forward to it."
For a moment, Ameri's world stopped around her and Izuku. She was so enchanted with the excitement and the promise of something amazing in his eyes that she couldn't find words to respond to him.
But then she calmed herself and flashed a smirk at him. "Is that so? Very well, if you really do show me something amazing, I will consider it an apology for not joining the Student Council."
Izuku chuckled and nodded. "Don't worry, I won't disappoint," he said, winking at her before leaving her office and running straight towards their Battler room. And as soon as he arrived, he flung open the door, getting the attention of the rest of the members.
"Guys!" he said with a massive smile on his face, "I have got an idea!"
To be continued...