Heroes Never Die It's Hero Time

by Guardian-Sigil

One would think that in a world where everyday people possess impossible abilities nothing would really be a surprise. Izuku Midoriya, who upon the age of four was diagnosed as quirkless, was denied of his dream of become a hero that can save everyone with a smile. But fate gives him a chance; allowing him access not to one but a universe of powers and abilities.

20. Ch:20 Last Laugh

Huh, I was able to get this one out rather fast too. Man, I am on fire with my updating right now. It's great! Anyway I just want to state that before you start reading please keep in mind that this chapter is mainly supposed to be fun/filler. So, a lot of this chapter isn't meant to be taken too seriously, mainly because a lot of it won't have any overall effect on the story. It's just supposed to be fun. So, please enjoy and I hope you have fun with it.

---

Ch.20 Last Laugh

Lodestar inhales and then exhales, his pincer like hands flex as he leers at the challenge before him. "Here we go."

He aims his arm forward, standing tall as he towers over this dastardly foe. "Rahhhh!"

Lodestar releases a magnetic pulse that latches onto his target, he then struggles to flex his arm upward, until finally his target gives out and his arm is flung upward.

Lodestar lets out a victorious shout. "Ha, check me out! "

Levitating above him is nothing but a large barbell.

"Look at me! I'm doing it!"

Mezo Shoji sets down his own barbell back onto the bench press before sitting up. "Isn't that cheating?"

Lodestar is rightfully offended. "What?! Of course not!" Then again… "I think…" He lowers the heavy barbell.

Izuku's been exercising for over an hour now at the U.A. indoor gym since classes let out for the day. And he needs all the preparation he can get since they only have a total of two weeks to prepare themselves for the Sports Festival. And he's already been training practically nonstop for nine days straight now.

And he's far from the only one putting in the effort. Off to the side Ochaco Uraraka is coaching Tooru Hagakure while she tries to do some pull ups.

While Hagakure struggles to hang in there, Ochaco takes the opportunity to run over towards the boys. "Let me give it a shot!"

Without waiting for permission, Ochaco stands over the same barbell, rubbing her hands together in preparation.

Lodestar and Shoji share an amused look, they honestly don't think she'd be able to lift that thing off the ground.

They couldn't be more wrong, because Ochaco manages to lift it up with one arm while grinning brightly like the sun.

Lodestar's jaw drops followed by his own head; it clangs off the ground as Shoji watches on in shock while both of their pride as strong young men take a serious wound.

Ochaco can't help but smirk a little at their reactions. "How's this boy?"

Hagakure happily cheers in the background. "Way to show 'em, girl!"

From his head's new vantage point, Lodestar finally notices how Ochaco's fingers are clearly pressed onto the bar.

Lodestar deadpans up at Shoji. "And you said I cheated…"

Shoji laughs nervously. "You did…"

Ochaco chuckles realizing that she's been found out. "Sorry, I couldn't resist." She lets go of the barbell, but it doesn't fall to the ground instead it floats in the air like a balloon.

"Release." Ochaco presses her finger tips together and the barbell comes crashing back onto the mats as its weight returns.

Lodestar scoops his head off the ground and places it back between his horned-shoulders, he turns his head as if screwing it into place. "Real funny, Uraraka."

"Hehe, hey it's good to let loose every now and then. Just because we're all getting ready and working hard, doesn't mean we can't have some fun too." Then again if her plans go well, she'll hopefully be having a fun time tomorrow too.

Besides she too has been working her butt off. Just yesterday her and Mina went out to the U.S.J. where Ochaco practiced her Zero-Gravity on all sorts of objects and heavy debris while Mina practiced with her Acid. Heck, even Aoyama ended up joining them, but he had to leave early after a floating rock fell and landed on his head.

"By the way, Deku."

Lodestar folds his arms. "Yeah?"

"How's it been going with your own training?"

Lodestar slouches forward as if thinking about it makes him tired. "Man, it's been exhausting. I've spent almost every day working on a different…transformation."

Lodestar then begins to explain how he's been going about his training. "As Feedback I absorbed electricity straight from…batteries to test my limit." In all fairness those batteries were actually the Megawatts that they caught a while back. Apparently Nezu kept them around and is actually paying them to help generate power for the school, so Izuku got special permission to use them for training.

"Then as XLR8, I raced around the U.S.J. for a while." That was fun, he learned that if he moves fast enough, he can even run on water. Yeah, that was a very surreal experience.

"Whenever I was Grey Matter, I just ran through my own obstacle course."

Ochaco tilts her head to the side. "Your own obstacle course?"

Lodestar shyly rubs his head. "Yeah, I say obstacle course but it's more like a little mouse maze I made for myself." He even used his old toys and other items to make traps and other obstacles while he ran his little course.

Shoji decides to answer for the next one. "Then you wrestled with me as…I think it was Four Arms?"

"Yup." Lodestar smiles. "Then I flew through the woods nearby as Terraspin."

That wasn't as much fun as he thought it would be. He kept crashing into trees the entire time, but eventually he was able to make it through the gauntlet without crashing into anything.

"I practiced with Water Hazard's water propulsion to fly for a bit, kinda like riding a flyboard." Now that really was fun…until he crashed at least.

"Oh, I also figured out how to do this thing with Diamondhead, too." Yeah, he figured out that he could make blades with Diamondhead's arms… You know what, that probably would have been really useful during the U.S.J. incident. Oh, well.

Ochaco claps her hands together, just hearing about Deku's efforts are getting her pumped up for the Sports Festival. "And Ripjaws?"

Lodestar jolts in place as if surprised and worried by that question. "Oh, uh, I challenged Tsuyu to a race while at the school pool."

Hagakure pops herself into the conversation. "Who won?"

"Um…" Lodestar thinks back to said race, when in reality it was more like a competition to grab a toy fish, and they decided that they could use any means to win. His face still hurts for when she used his face as a springboard to grab the target. "She did…" He presses his hands together shyly while not meeting any of their eyes.

Ochaco has one last question. "What about Ditto?"

"Uh…"

##########(Flashback)#########

"I HATE YOU!"

"Oh! Well next time, don't steal my monopoly!"

A group of four Dittos are seated around the kitchen table with a game of Monopoly set up on the table. Originally, Izuku wanted to use the game as a means of improving his multitasking abilities by playing as Ditto, but things immediately went off the rails.

Ditto 1 tries to establish order, by being the adult in the situation. "Ditto, give Ditto your $200. You landed on his property."

Ditto 3 can't believe this injustice! "No! He's in jail! I'm not going to give my money to a criminal!"

Ditto 2 has had enough with Ditto 3's excuses. "That's not how you PLAY!" He shouts, flailing his arms about in a tantrum.

The fourth Ditto shyly backs away in fright before turning to Ditto 1. "Ditto, why is Ditto screaming?"

Ditto 1 instantly loses his shit. "Shut the fuck up Ditto! You don't get to talk after stealing my last RAILROAD!"

Ditto 2 wails in frustration. "I WISH I WAS NEVER BORN!"

"ME TOO!" Cries Ditto 1 as he slams his hands against the table. "YOU THINK I WANTED THIS!?"

"AaAAAaaA!"

########(End Flashback)#######

"I…still need to work on Ditto…"

Ochaco eyes Lodestar concerned but she doesn't pry into it.

With a harsh shake to his head, Lodestar claps his claws together. "Well this has been fun, but I gotta get going."

He promised his mom that he'd be home early today, and he's mainly cooperating because ever since the U.S.J. Incident his mother's been way more overprotective and worrisome then before. Not like he can blame her, after all her own child could have been killed.

Ochaco blinks up at the taller being. "Oh, okay. I'll see ya later. I'm not going to stick around that much longer either, I've got a long day of work tomorrow."

Hagakure is surprised by her statement. "You have a job?"

"Yeah, I needed to make some extra money on the side." She's actually had the job for a little while now, it's actually why she was able to buy a brand-new phone so quickly, too.

Izuku is also surprised by the news, but he can't dwell on it otherwise he'll be drawn into another conversation and be late to the train. "Well good luck." Lodestar begins walking away towards the exit, transforming back into his normal self just as he reaches the doors. "I'll be seeing you guys later!"

"Kay!" Ochaco waves back at him.

Shoji salutes him away. "Take care, alright?"

"Bye!" Shouts Hagakure.

Izuku waves through the glass wall as he makes his way to the locker room. As he walks through the long hallway, Izuku examines other sections of the indoor gym where other students are doing their own work outs. Such as a trio of older students playing a game of basketball.

One of the buffer teens with blond hair looks like he's phasing through the floor before popping out of the ground and stealing the ball away from his blue-haired classmate as a weird spinning energy keeps her afloat in the air. All the while their third friend is slouching in the corner as if he's too shy and embarrassed to even be there.

He spots Tsuyu back at the pool area, and he even sees Kirishima sparring with Bakugou. But what really gets his attention is when he's just about to enter the locker room. The indigo-haired guy who called out Izuku's class exits the locker room.

Izuku stops dead in his tracks. 'Oh, n-no, i-it's him!' This is terrible, he doesn't want to deal with this guy alone! He's scary.

Luckily for Izuku, the aggravator eyes Izuku as if annoyed but then continues to walk right past him like he's no threat to him.

Izuku observes him as he walks by; the teen's sleeves are rolled up showing off his rather lean biceps. Seriously, they must have been well hidden under his school uniform, there's no doubt he's been putting in his own effort. Clearly, he's trying to uphold his promise to Class 1-A and fight his way into the Hero Course.

Izuku finds that rather admirable, sure he's kinda scary, but…if someone is willing to work that hard to be a hero, then how bad can they really be?

"G-good luck!"

The teen stops, shifting his head so he can observe Izuku. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I, uh, uh…" That's right, he was Diamondhead when they first met so he wouldn't recognize him.

The guy seems to have lost patience and doesn't bother to wait for Izuku's answer. After all he needs to continue training, every second he wastes is another second for Class 1-A to pull ahead.

Izuku watches as the teen strides forward with purpose. 'I have to keep going. I have to work harder if I want to succeed!'

---

After a quick train ride, Izuku makes it home with enough time to spare. "Hey Mom, I'm home!"

"Izuku!" Inko Midoriya barrels out of the kitchen and right into her son. He barely has enough time to register the crushing hug before she begins to frantically examine him for any sign of injury. "Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Did you have any run-ins with villains?!"

"M-Mom, I'm fine." Izuku smiles down at his loving mother while prying her hands away from him. "Promise."

"Oh, okay. But you'll tell me if you are, right?!" Tears of worry well up in her eyes as she begs the question.

Izuku offers up a reassuring smile. "Of course."

Inko is happy to accept that answer, as she wipes away her tears. "Alright, I bet you're hungry. So, let's get some food in you."

"Sounds good." Izuku takes his shoes off as Inko makes her way back to the kitchen.

He really can't help but have appreciation for his mother. And even though her worrying can be a bit annoying he just can't bring himself to tell her otherwise. She's his mom; she's always going to worry about him. Besides she's already done so much for him, especially be there for him so he doesn't really have a right to complain.

Pretty soon the two of them are seated and enjoying their freshly cooked dinner. But throughout the meal, Inko keeps throwing Izuku worried and concerned looks as if at any moment he's going to break down in front of her.

"So, how's your training coming along?"

Izuku swallows his bite. "Good, I was just at the gym with some friends."

Inko immediately lightens up. "That's fantastic sweety! Did you have fun?"

"Um, sure. I guess."

"You…guess?" She's worried again.

Izuku immediately picks up on it and tries to alleviate her worries. "Oh, it's just that, we were more focused on our training then having fun."

Wrong answer Izuku, because Inko's expression hardens. "I wish you'd take it easy every now and then, sweety. Especially after your little fiasco the other day…" She's referring to the Ditto fiasco, she actually had to step in and break them up before they started throwing punches.

Izuku grimaces, smiling sheepishly in response.

"Don't get me wrong I love how hard you're working towards your dream, but you really need to learn to relax every now and then."

"Sure Mom." He goes right back to eating, chalking up her concern to her normal level of worrying.

"I'm serious." Sometimes Inko can really be annoyed by Izuku's stubbornness. He's always been so determined and hardworking…just like him… But this is starting to be too much, at this rate he's going to overwork himself into exhaustion. And as the loving parent she is, she cannot allow that. "That's why we're going out tomorrow."

Izuku perks up. "Where're we going"

'Now I have your attention?' Inko smiles excitedly. "It's a surprise, but I promise you're going to love it!"

"Sounds like fun, Mom. Say when will we be going?"

"Tomorrow, Saturday, at 2 o'clock."

"Perfect." That gives him plenty of time to squeeze in a quick training session before they have to leave.

Inko greatly enjoys the rest of the meal, happy that her son is willing to go along with her. It should be fun, and it's been a while since either of them have gone out, so she's more than a little excited. She smiles happily as she looks over to the counter where a lone pamphlet lies with the following header: "Circus in Town! A Barrel of Laughs Await You at Zombozo's Traveling Circus of Laughs! It'll be a killer of a good time."

---

"Woo-wo!" Terraspin swirls around the building flying like a helicopter through the back alleys of his neighborhood.

He figured he'd try and get in some last-minute training even this late into the day as Terraspin before he goes out with his mom to whatever it is, she has planned for family time.

*bwAAAAAAAHHHP!*

Oh, that's his phone. Terraspin quickly lands before reaching for his phone before it can let loose another foghorn alarm.

"Ne, nuh, ha! Nope." He struggles to grab his phone with his large flippers and in the end, he can't even hold it as it flops onto the ground.

He sighs in exasperation before just deciding to read the text message off the dropped phone.

It's a text from his mom and it reads: [Leaving in 5 minutes, meet me by the car].

"Looks like my training is over for now."

Terraspin struggles to pick up his phone, eventually he has to scoop it up while pushing it against the nearby wall. And after putting it away He takes off back into the sky, zipping through the backstreets and alleys towards home.

He rises higher and higher as his apartment building comes into view. 'I wonder where Mom's taking me anyway. A hero convention? Maybe to a movie? Even the zoo or the aquarium would be fun. There's also-' Something fast and large strikes Terrapin's side just before he can land. "Ah, drone!"

Before Terraspin could land a flying drone crashes into his side knocking him backwards and away from the roof. "Help. Help! Help!"

He flails his arms about as he falls backwards, he tries to maneuver himself around but it's too late as his hard-durable shell crashes down onto something hard and metallic

Terraspin wobbles back and forth before he's able to dislodge his back from his unfortunate landing-pad.

"Ow, man. People got to be more careful with those things." Seriously, thank goodness he has such a hard shell. "What did I land on anyway?" He turns around to have a look, it must have been a dumpster or perhaps a group of garbage cans. "Uh, oh."

Nope, it was neither.

---

Inko sits inside her car anxiously waiting for her son to arrive. "Oh, where is he? We're going to be late."

"Ahh!" Terraspin flees in terror from behind the apartment building, waving his arms up in the air as he tries to run away from whatever it is that's chasing him.

Just before he gets to the car, he transforms back into Izuku in a flash of red light and jumps right into the passenger seat.

"Izuku?! What's the matter?"

"Just drive!"

"What?"

"DRIVE!"

"Oh, okay…" Inko eyes her son worriedly as the car begins to roll forward and soon, they're off for their destination.

As they drive away from the building, Izuku cowers in fear from his seat as he eyes their building.

'I wonder what's got him so scared?'

Meanwhile, Mr. Baumann exits the apartment complex while carrying a box of groceries he's been meaning to deliver.

But when he steps into the back alley and finds what's awaiting him, he drops the box, glass jars shatter under the impact, but that's the least of Mr. Baumann's worries. After all, someone smashed in his car's ROOF! It's totally smashed in, with a huge dent, crumbled metal, and shattered windows.

"IZUKU!"

Said boy can almost sense Mr. Baumann's rage even as they drive further and further away from the building. He can only pray that Mr. Baumann calms down by the time they get home.

---

The tent for Zombozo's Traveling Circus of Laughs stands tall surrounded by a variety of stalls and carnival games.

Izuku adjusts his hoodie as he steps out of the parked car. "Is this what you wanted to do?"

"Yup!" Inko states ecstatically. "It'll be fun, promise!"

Izuku believes her, after all who doesn't enjoy a good circus? "Shall we?"

"Of course, and I already have the tickets."

The two Midoriyas make their way through the crowded street and up towards the circus tent. As they make their way, Izuku can't help but feel that something is a bit off about the place. The stalls that should have bright fun colors are dreary and dark in color. The carnival games look rundown and the prizes are rather odd: fake shrunken heads, creepy masks, voodoo dolls, and other odd trinkets. There's also an abundance of decorations of the same creepy clown plastered all over the place, the eyes of the signs and decorations really make Izuku's skin crawl as if they're watching his every step.

Inko, however, notices something else about the circus. "With this crowd, you'd think the entire town showed up for the show." She chuckles as both Izuku and her come across a large crowd of people who are trying to make their way inside the giant tent.

Izuku chuckles. "No kidding." He's pretty sure he spotted a few of his old classmates from junior high school.

A part of him feels a bit smug and excited that pretty soon he's going to get the chance to show them all up. To prove that they were all wrong about him! God, he really can't wait for the Sports Festival to arrive.

As the two wait in line to enter a carny steps upon a nearby stage swinging his cane around to gather the crowd's attention. "Step right up! Step right up and see! A fingerless Freak of nature! Whose strength knows no bounds, Thumbskull!"

A large hulking figure steps out from behind the dark-purple curtains and his name is definitely fitting.

As Thumbskull's name implies, he has a giant toenail on his otherwise bald forehead. Not to mention, his large size is rather intimidating, and his dark-colored jumpsuit with grey stripes that match his pale skin.

Thumbskull takes a long metal bar and places it atop his skull. He then grips the ends of the bar with his meaty hands and pulls down on the ends; bending the bar into a perfect U-shape.

The crowd applaud as Thumbskull tosses up the bent bar into the air.

An orange-red tendril lashes out and grabs the bent bar while it's spinning in midair.

The carny takes his que to introduce the next Freak. "And presenting Frightwig!"

Frightwig is a woman with pale skin with black-paint coated on her cheeks and head. Speaking of her head, a series of orange-red tendrils protrude out as locks of hair with little black balls attached to the ends. She's wearing a black tight-fitting jumpsuit with yellows stripes.

"When this beauty lets down her hair there's no telling what could happen."

Frightwig smiles as her hair grips the bar and begins to twist it with minimal effort to the point that she essentially creates a large metal pretzel.

As the crowd cheers, she passes on the metal pretzel, placing it atop a nearby anvil.

"And last but not least, the Freak whose unique skill is as vile as his attitude, Acid Breath!"

Acid Breaths is a wrinkly, pale skin man that stands with a hunched back, and he too is wearing a loose black-jumpsuit with orange stripes.

Acid Breath bends down over the metal pretzel and anvil, he then removes his mask and opens his mouth wide revealing a nasty set of teeth and green gums. And as his name implies, an eerie green smog filters out from his maw and pours out onto the metal objects melting them down and even through the wooden floor of the stage.

The crowd gags but clap out of politeness as the Freaks take a bow.

Inko covers her mouth. "G-gross." She looks over to Izuku and she isn't that surprised to see him scribbling away in his Quirk Analysis notebook.

She should have expected that he'd try to jot down everything he could tell about the Freaks' Quirks. His muttering however is starting to ward people away from them.

"Izuku, come on. The show's going to start soon."

"Coming!" Izuku tucks away his notebook as he follows the rest of the crowd.

If he had taken one last look at the Freaks, he would have noticed them watching the crowd disappear into the tent with suspicious smirks on their faces.

---

It seems like Izuku's weird vibes about the circus were more unfounded then he'd first thought. The show so far's been pretty fun. He greatly enjoyed the acrobatics show; his adrenaline was really going when a group of motorcycle daredevils came out. Although Inko looked like she was going to have a panic attack from watching all their crazy stunts. That said, she did greatly enjoy the cute puppies that came out to perform a set of fun tricks.

Shortly after that the ringleader steps back into the center just as the lights dim down. "Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages! Zombozo's Traveling Circus of Laughs is proud to present the sultan of smiles! The crown prince of chuckles! The grim tickler himself! The star of our circus, Zombozo the Clown!"

From the end of the tent a small cartoonish car zips its way into the center ring as slapstick music plays in the background. The impossibly small car comes to a halt and from it out steps a full-grown human, he squeezes out of the car like toothpaste from a tube, springing up at his full height without any issues from being in such a cramped space.

Good thing Izuku isn't afraid of clowns because Zombozo has to be one of the creepiest clowns he's ever seen.

The guy is wearing such dark colors, his dark-clown suit and top hat are the complete opposite of what clowns should represent. The only things that suggest that this guy is a clown is his pale skin, face paint, messy red hair, oversized shoes, and dark-blue clown nose. And his grin, oh his wicked grin, is absolutely disturbing with his yellow stained teeth. Finally, cryptic eerie blue orbs are embedded into his sleeves and hat.

Zombozo holds his arms out in greeting to the crowd as they applaud his entrance.

As Zombozo's car begins to act on its own accord, as part of the act, Izuku reaches into the popcorn bag only to realize that it's empty. "Hey, Mom. I'm going to go get more popcorn. Want anything?"

Zombozo defeats his rampaging car in comedic fashion making the audience laugh in the process.

"Ha ha, oh, no. That's okay, you get whatever you like." Inko can't seem to take her eyes off the show, she's clearly having a good time and that fact makes Izuku happy he agreed to come with her.

His mom deserves to be happy and it makes him happy to know that he can spend it with her. "Okay, I'll be right back."

As Zombozo finishes his opening act he finally has a chance to address the audience. "Good evening, ladies and germs! If you love clowns, then this is the place to be! Be sure to keep your eyes on me; you're going to die laughing." He grins maniacally as the spheres on his arms and head light up enveloping the audience with its eerie blue glow. "That's a Zombozo guarantee."

---

"Where is that darn popcorn stand?" Somehow Izuku managed to get himself lost amongst the empty stalls and carnival games, and he just can't seem to find the popcorn stand.

He's been looking for a little bit now so much so that he's already made his way back towards the main entrance to the circus's property. With nowhere else to go Izuku turns right around to head on back to the show, he'll just have to accept that they won't be having anymore popcorn. Oh, well.

He barely turns away when the sound of shattering glass hits his ears. "What was that?!"

Being the Hero Course student that he is, Izuku forgets all about the circus and takes off down the street. It doesn't take him long to find the source of the disturbance, a band of three felons are robbing a jewelry store.

Izuku takes cover behind a nearby car and uses his time to analyze the whole situation. One, the entire street is closed off thanks to the circus being so close and by extension all the businesses nearby have closed up shop for the day. Two, this part of town is so far from the main downtown area that there aren't a lot of hero agencies around so a chance of a hero stumbling onto the scene is low. Three, each of the felons are disguised in varying clown getups the only real difference he can tell between the three are their disproportionate sizes to each other.

Izuku continues to watch as the biggest of the three clowns enters the busted-up store while the other two head off to do their own things. One of them approaches a nearby car and breathes down on it and a familiar green smoke eats away at the metallic surface. The clown reaches in and pulls out a purse. Finally the thinnest of the clowns walks over towards an ATM machine that's been built into the brick wall of the Jewelry Store. Their clown costume consists of three pink-sleeves that stretch from their head and wave behind them as if alive.

The clothed tendrils lash out and pierce right through the bricks and with a sharp tug the ATM is priced right out of the wall.

The skinny clown laughs in glee as the tendrils hold up their prize. "Hahahaha! It's payday!" Judging from the clown's voice, Izuku can instantly tell that it's a woman hidden under the very concealing and baggy clown costume.

Izuku easily puts two and two together, those clowns are actually those Circus Freaks he saw earlier. A group like them are not forgotten that quickly as they would think. 'They must be using the circus as a way to get around and commit crimes without any witnesses. Is the rest of the circus in on it? Or is it just them?' Izuku shakes his head. 'It doesn't matter, they need to be stopped first. Answers can come later.'

But there's another issue, there are no heroes around and even if he calls the police it's going to take them a while to get here anyway. And by then these guys might be long gone.

So there's only one thing he can do.

Izuku grips the Omnitrix. 'Looks like it's up to me.' He stops dialing up an alien when a sudden thought occurs to him. 'Maybe after I report the robbery to the police.' This way by the time he stops them the police and the heroes will get here.

---

The biggest of the disguised clowns, mostly likely that Thumbskull guy, notices a bright green flash from behind a nearby car after placing his loot inside their escape vehicle.

"What was that?"

He approaches the car, leaning over it to have a look only to be met by the sight of jagged fangs lunging at him.

"Wha!" Thumbskull jumps back in fright just as a pair of powerful jaws snap shut.

Ripjaws growls and bares his teeth as the Freak backs away in fright.

"Good fishy. No reason to pick a fight."

"I think there is." Ripjaws smirks before jumping up and over the car, he throws his webbed-feet forward and just as he lands on Thumbskull, slamming him into the ground.

The fishman moves fast, faster than a fish-out-of-water should, right towards what he assumes are Acid Breath and Frightwig.

Acid Breath doesn't react fast enough to fire off his Quirk when Ripjaws grabs his head and slams him face first into the asphalt.

"Too slow. Woah!" Ripjaws leaps away as Frightwig lashes out at him with her three-clothed tendrils.

Assuming that there are more tendrils inside the sleeves than he can see, Ripjaws opens his maw and catches one of the strands while using his free hands to catch the others midair. With his built-up momentum, he spins himself around and with it pulls the disguised Frightwig along before she's tossed away, skidding across the street.

With the Freaks currently down, Ripjaws makes a move for their escape car, a van. He digs his claws into the side and tears the metal away like tinfoil revealing the stolen goods and money. He even bits down and rips away an entire wheel ensuring that they can't escape.

Thumbskull doesn't like that. "Hey, that's our stuff!" He doesn't recognize this guy as a hero, so it must be another villain.

Acid Breath glares up at the fishman. "No, fish is going to steal my loot. Get him!" Acid Breath takes a deep breath before releasing a steam of acidic gas.

The experienced hero student sees the attack coming from a mile away giving him plenty of time to get out of the acid cloud's way by jumping on and off the van to gain some height.

The acidic breath melts away at the van and by extension all the stuff they stole.

"Now that wasn't too smart." Ripjaws lands right between the Circus Freak Trio.

He body checks Acid Breath from behind, and spins around to deliver a side kick that strikes Frightwig's side, and while still in motion he delivers a swift backhand into Thumbskull knocking him away, too.

"You guys really need to clean up your acts." Ripjaws grins from his little joke. "I mean for real; you all need to stop clowning around, Ha ha ha!"

Frightwig growls up at Ripjaws as she's the first one to get back on their feet, which is a mistake. Because now she's the first one to have the fishman's full attention. "What's the matter? Haven't you seen someone as freaky as me before?"

"Believe it or not…yes."

Part of Ripjaws wants to know, but the other part of him wants to end this. He charges right back in but Frightwig is ready as she lashes out at him with her sleeved-tendrils creating a temporary barrier between her and the Piscciss Volann.

In the meantime, Thumbskull and Acid Breath are back on their feet.

Thumbskull looks to his teammate for guidance. "Should we call the boss?"

"Are you crazy?!" Acid Breath snaps. "He's busy feeding." They need to finish this guy off on their own. "Come on! It's time for a fish fry!"

Acid Breath rushes in and this time he's ready letting out a large puff of green eerie smog at Ripjaws' back.

Ripjaws can almost sense the oncoming attack, good thing too because he vaults himself to the side allowing the acidic smog to float on by. The cloud continues with its trajectory and melts away the side of the jewelry store.

The morphed Izuku grimaces at the fight. "I'm so glad I don't have nostrils." He can only imagine how bad that Acid Breath's breath is, and he doesn't want to imagine it.

He doesn't have much time to collect himself as Thumbskull is soon upon him. Ripjaws barely has enough time to sidestep Thumbskull's powerful fist as it smashes into the asphalt. "Dammit, you would have been roadkill."

"And you're fish food! Roahhh!" Ripjaws pounces at Thumbskull but Frightwig's animated hair wraps around his feet and pulls him down.

Ripjaws gawks in surprise before adrenaline kicks in, making him roll out of the way of Thumbskull's oversized foot before he could crush Ripjaws' skull. The Piscciss Volann uses his claws to sheer the hair wrapped around his legs, freeing himself and just in time too because Acid Breath is back and with another belch of horrific acidic smoke.

He needs some elbow room, so Ripjaws jumps up and onto the side of jewelry store, his sharp claws dig into the bricks and with a secure hold he begins to climb his way up the three-story building.

The Freaks watch on in anger as the fishman climbs his way to safety.

Thumbskull chuckles at the sight. "What do you call a fish that can climb?"

Acid Breath, for some reason, humors him. "What?"

"A catfish, Ha ha." The lughead smiles, proud of his oh-so clever joke. "Get it? Because…cats climb but…fish don't."

The other two members of the Circus Freak Trio leer at their comrade through their clown masks, wondering why someone as stupid as him is part of their gang.

Meanwhile, Ripjaws is safe upon the roof; he's taking deep desperate breaths. He's been lucky up till now that his lack of water intake has finally started to take ahold. But if he doesn't do anything soon, he's going to choke on air.

No, in truth it would have been better if Izuku actually paid attention to which alien he dialed up. That's what he gets for assuming the Omnitrix would just give him the correct alien every time. Lesson learned.

But right now he has a more pressing matter, he needs water! But where can he get it?!

He scans the street below and spots his oasis, a lone fire hydrant is stationed next to a patch of wild bushes and trees. Maybe he can sneak his way into the woods to get there, before the Freaks notice him.

Before he can enact his plan, Frightwig used her acrobatic skills to leap upon the roof and whip the fishman's back making him stumble forward.

"You can't just run away after what you did!" She jumps into the air, twirling her body around while stretching out her hair.

Her whirling hair uppercuts Ripjaws striking him so hard that he's launched backwards and off the roof.

With sharp reflexes, Ripjaws jabs his claws into the side of the building, stopping his fall.

Acid Breath smiles up at Ripjaws. "You'd look good as a wall mount." He releases a huge cloud of acid that climbs its way up towards the fishman.

Ripjaws kicks himself off the wall and lands atop a parked car, making its alarm blare out. He grabs at his neck as that familiar sense of choking strikes him. He needs water, and soon.

Frightwig uses her hair to scale the wall before she lands gracefully on her feet. "Aw, what's the matter? Don't you have a funny quip?"

Acid Breath grins. "Maybe the big mouth's bitten off more than he can chew."

Ripjaws glares at them, and he so would love to put the villains in their place, but first he needs water. No! He needs to stop them first.

'I don't need it. I don't need it.' But it's so close, just a few meters away is his key to even breath. 'I definitely don't need it.' He doesn't need H2O he can get on just fine without it. It's only ten minutes he can handle that. 'I don't need it. I don't need it.'' He chants this mantra in his head over and over as he turns to face the approaching villains.

They can tell that the fight's in their favor now since they're taking their time to get to him.

'I don't need it.' He continues to chant even as he huffs and puffs from being out of breath.

…

"III NEEED IIIT!" Ripjaws' will power gives out as he whirls right around and practically flies right towards the fire hydrant.

He's so desperate for the life-giving liquid, he rips away the hydrant with just one bite releasing a geyser of water that crashes right into his gills. "Aw, sweet relief."

"Got ya." Thumbskull's voice laughs out.

Before he knows it a flying car crashes right into the Piscciss Volann, launching them both into the bushes and thorns.

Thumbskull smiles from underneath his clown mask. "I got him!"

"You sure did." Frightwig smirks.

Acid Breath laughs. "Let's finish him."

Before they can the sound of fast approaching sirens are heard in the distance.

Thumbskull gaps. "It's the cops!"

"And mostly likely heroes, too." Adds Frightwig.

"We need to go." Acid Breath begins to run back towards the circus.

"What about the boss? He's not going to like this." Asks Thumbskull.

That's actually a smart observation from Thumbskull of all people. Their boss really isn't going to like how they'll be returning empty handed except for heroes knocking on their doorstep. Oh, well the boss is smart enough to draw them away hopefully.

Acid breath frowns. "Come on, let's get out of here."

The Circus Freaks take off in sprints, or at least the best they can while wearing baggy clown costumes. Leaving behind an unconscious Izuku Midoriya to lie in the thorn bushes.

---

"Hey, kid. Please, wake up. Kid!"

Izuku groans as his eyes blink open. "K-Kamui W-Woods?!"

"At your service." Sure enough the pro hero, Kamui Woods, is standing over Izuku.

Izuku sits up and notices that he's lying on the grass, the heroes must have pulled him free of the thorn bushes while he was unconscious. "W-what happened?"

He briefly checks himself over for any signs of injuries, it looks like he got out scot free other than a few scratches here and there. On the plus side, he has his black and green hoodie on, and he's glad to find that it got out of the skirmish without a single tear. Looks like Power Loader was serious when he said that they laced the hoodie with a good amount of kevlar to help make it more durable.

"We were hoping you'd tell us." States someone else.

Izuku peers around Kamui Woods and spots two other heroes: Mt. Lady and Death Arms as well as a patrol of police cars overseeing the crowds of people that are leaving the circus tent.

Death Arms was the one to ask Izuku for clarification.

Death Arms is a very tall, muscular man of a wide build, slightly-tanned skin, a square jaw, and spiked-short white hair. As part of his hero costume, he wears a large headband with a yellow and black-striped caution pattern, matching his thick wrist-guards and the belt. He wears a cyan-colored cardigan, which exposes his lower torso and the center of his pectorals. His pants are dark blue and baggy.

Mt. Lady casually checks out her finger nails not at all interested in being here. "Spill kid."

Izuku's eyes pop out. "Oh, yeah! It was the Freaks!"

Kamui Woods eyes Izuku oddly. "The freaks? Going to need more specifics than that."

"The Freaks! The Circus Freaks, there's three of them. They were the ones that robbed the jewelry store, car, and ATM. I saw them!" Well actually he saw and fought them, but that last part doesn't matter. "I saw their Quirks and everything, they must have run back to the circus."

Kamui Woods nods in understanding and heads off to inform the police officers, so they can all investigate and interrogate the said Circus Freaks.

In the meantime, Death Arms eyes Izuku suspiciously. "So, why did we find you pinned under a flipped car?"

'Flipped car?!' Wow, nice to know his hoodie was able to survive that too. "Um, that big guy, Thumbskull, threw it at me."

"He threw it at you?" He scans Izuku up and down taking note of unscathed he is,

"Uh, I'm much more durable than I look." Or at least Ripjaws is.

Soon after the heroes lead Izuku away towards the circus tent where they meet Kamui Woods and the police officers inside. They appear to have approached the Circus Freaks but as well as Zombozo who is explaining the situation.

Zombozo waves his arms about as he hams up his performance. "My dear officers there appears to be a misunderstanding. My valued employees couldn't have been the ones to perform those heinous crimes, after all they were here performing to the audience!" He throws his hands up gesturing to the now empty bleachers. "If you'd like, please feel free to search the premise. I doubt you'll find anything out of place."

Kamui Woods stands tall trying to remain as the authority figure of the situation. "We'll take you up on the offer."

The police officers head off to investigate and with any luck they'll turn up with something.

Death Arms crosses his arms as he looks at the suspicious Freaks. "Do you three have an alibi?"

"Of course."

"Yeah."

"We were here, performing."

Izuku rushes in, he is not going to stand for this. "That's a lie!"

Kamui Woods grabs Izuku's shoulder and pulls him back. "Easy kid, let the adults handle this."

"But they're lying! I saw them robbing the jewelry store!"

The Freaks glare at Izuku. They don't know what this brat has against them, maybe he did see them take on the fishman.

Zombozo eyes Izuku with intrigue. "Are you sure about that?" He asks with a smile like he already knows the answer.

"Of course I am."

Zombozo thrust his head forward, grinning madly, right into Izuku's face, making the teen flinch as well as uncomfortable. "Really? Are you sure you saw them? Or are you just looking for attention."

"Excuse me?"

"I get it, trust me, I mean I am a clown." His entire living is about drawing in the attention of others. "And I like a good joke as much as the next guy, but you can't just go around and throw accusations like that." He leans in covering his mouth as if sharing a secret. "You may find yourself in a hole you can't climb out of."

That suspiciously sounds like a death threat.

Izuku backs away so the clown isn't in his personal space. "But I'm not! They're villains and I bet you're in on it, too!"

"Oh, my." Zombozo feigns being hurt. "You wound me!" He grins wildly. "But I'm a reasonable man. So, I say let's bury the hatchet!"

Zombozo pulls out a cartoonishly large hatchet from seemingly out of nowhere, holding it over his head as he prepares to swing it down onto the teen's head.

The startled heroes panic. "No, wait!"

Izuku grips his Omnitrix just as Zombozo brings the hatchet down on him. But rather than his head getting chopped in two, the rubber hatchet harmlessly bounces right off.

The heroes, police, and Izuku blink in confusion as Zombozo cackles. "Hahahaha!" He wipes his eye free of tears. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. I am a clown after all." He grins widely like that should explain everything.

Death Arms deadpans. 'Talk about morbid.'

'Creep.' Thinks Mt. Lady.

"Excuse me." Two of the police officers return.

"What is it officer?" greets Kamui Woods.

"We investigated the jewelry store for evidence, and we came upon this video surveillance system." The officer holds up a laptop which begins to display video footage of a trio of criminals dressed as clowns robbing the store.

The clown costumes are big and baggy, easily disguising any obvious features of the robbers.

The other officer chimes in. "We also took statements from the audience and we can confirm that these…" He pauses when gesturing towards the strange looking Freaks. "circus performers were indeed on stage at the same time as the indicated time of the video." He points to the video's timestamp to confirm his point.

Izuku is totally stumped. "What?! That can't be!"

Zombozo shrugs it off nonchalantly like. "See, what did I say?"

Kamui Woods eyes the video curiously before addressing the boy. "I can see why you were mistaken."

"What?!" Izuku snaps.

Zombozo smirks. "It's obvious isn't it? What kind of villains would commit a robbery, in clown costumes, and next to a circus?" Clearly the villains used the circus to their advantage to frame the circus for their crimes. "The real thieves are still out there. How awful, especially after they tried framing my poor innocent employees." Zombozo pouts as he pulls down Thumbskull and pinches the giant's cheek.

Thumbskull nervously smiles, trying to look as innocent as possible. And somehow, it's working. Mt. Lady cups her chin in thought. "Makes sense to me."

Izuku is absolutely stunned. "You can't actually believe him!"

"Quiet kid, after all you lied to us." growls Death Arms.

"Huh?!"

Kamui Woods nods. "He's right. You said you saw these three robbing the bank, when you really saw three people disguised as clowns."

"But I know it was them! I saw their Quirks!" Izuku is completely astounded, are these professional heroes seriously considering this excuse!?

"For shame." Zombozo frowns, shaking his head in disapproval.

Izuku can't help but feel nervous as a cold shiver runs down his spine.

"Kids these days, always jumping to the wrong conclusions." Zombozo shakes his finger at Izuku like a parent scolding a child. "I am very ashamed in you, young man."

"Huh?"

Zombozo grabs at his suit, adjusting his collar. "You see, I provide an opportunity for people with odd mutations such as my precious flunkies." He gestures towards said flunkies who all smile, but it comes off as awkward rather than comforting. "I give them purpose, a place to stay, and allow them to use their special gifts to bring smiles into this world!" Zombozo grins happily. "Doesn't that sound nice?"

Kamui Woods agrees, finding the clown's motives to be quite admirable. "It does." He drops his kind demeanor as he turns his attention onto Izuku. "As for you. You can't judge people based off their appearances!"

"I-I'm not." Izuku is restored to his usual nervous self. His mind trying to figure out how the tables could have been turned on him so quickly.

"No excuses!" Kamui Woods is really annoyed now. "You've not only distracted us from pursuing the real criminals, but you falsely accused these carnies just because they're different." He folds his arms and shakes his head. "Shameful."

"But I-"

Zombozo cuts in before Izuku could defend himself. "Oh, it's no harm done. This young man was just trying to do his civic duty." He grins and wraps his arm around Izuku's shoulders. The boy stiffens up in fright, he can smell the clown foul breath, as Zombozo leans in closer. "Perhaps now he'll learn not to stick his nose where it doesn't belong." For comedic effect, Zombozo squeezes his own blue clown nose, it squeaks in response, but Izuku doesn't find it at all charming.

The clown, thankfully, releases the boy. "But I would hate to think that you fine heroes wasted a trip all the way out here. So, as a sign of good will. You can all feel free to stick around for our next show! It should be starting in another hour or so."

"I'd be happy to take you up on that offer." Kamui Woods accepts the offer, but more likely he accepts the invitation out of politeness.

"Same." adds Death Arms.

Mt. Lady shrugs. "Sure, why not?"

The clown turns his smiling face to the nervous and stunned greenette. "The offer goes for you, too, boy."

No way in hell is he going to stick around. But more importantly, how could the heroes just brush him off so easily?! Can't they see that these guys are up to no good?! They should be hounding them, not him!

He needs to get out of here, this is all too much.

Death Arms calls out to Izuku as he runs right out of the tent. "Hey, don't you walk away!"

At least he's being attenuative because the heroine of the group is completely uninterested twirling her hair around with her fingers.

Zombozo waves it off. "Oh, let the boy go. He meant no harm, he's probably just a bit embarrassed." He chuckles. "Ha, he's really got to learn to just laugh things off!"

"Right, well anyway." Kamui Woods rubs his head sheepishly as he turns to Zombozo. "Sorry to bother you."

With nothing else to say, the heroes and the police officers leave the tent as Zombozo and his Freaks wave them off.

The moment the heroes are gone Zombozo drops his facade. "Meet me in the back." He growls as he turns to face the cowering Freaks. "We need to have a little chat."

---

"Where is she?" Izuku asks mostly to himself as he circles around the main circus tent.

Things are really not going Izuku's way. First, he got his ass handed to him by literal clowns. He's been dismissed as a nuisance by his own local heroes. And finally, he just can't seem to find his own mother.

He's been searching for her all over the place, even making his way to their parked car to make sure she didn't leave without him. Not that she would ever do that, of course. But the longer it takes to find her, the more freaked out Izuku becomes.

'Come on, Mom. Where are you?'

This is bad, what if the Freaks got to her?! Hell is she freaking out herself?! She's been way more wired than lately, and the show's been over for a while now. There's no doubt she'd be panicking, crying her eyes out, because she lost her darling baby boy!

"I should call her." He hastily grabs his phone and begins dialing, hopefully she's fine and he's just somehow walking past her without realizing it. "Pick up. Pick up. Pick up."

The phone's ringing and he prays that she answers, but the worst happens. "This is Inko Midoriya. I can't answer your call at the mo-"

"Shit!" He hangs up. 'Come on, Mom. Where are you?'

"You morons! Buffoons!"

That's Zombozo's voice, and he sounds angry.

Izuku scans the area and notices a little back entrance to the circus tent. He tiptoes his way over and peeks inside through the curtains. Inside he sees what appears to be the backstage area of the circus with stored props, makeup tables and mirrors, and other circus-related items. But what really has Izuku's attention is the mad clown that's shouting at the trio of circus Freaks.

"Do you have any idea how close we were to being caught?!"

The Freaks cower in fear. "Sorry boss."

"Sorry?!" Zombozo strikes each of them with one long slap. "Sorry, doesn't make us rich or powerful." He grabs Acid Breath by the collar, pulling him in so close that Zombozo's nose is squeezed between them. "You listen here. Because of your blunder we have no loot, and we have unwanted attention by pro heroes!" He shoves Acid Breath away. "You're lucky your disguises threw them off."

Talk about hiding in plain sight: the idea was that if they were caught, none of the heroes would suspect the circus because it would look like they were being set up. Which of course worked out in their own favor.

Acid Breath growls. "But boss!"

"It was that fish freaks' fault." Finishes Thumbskull.

"And that brat!" Frightwig adds.

Zombozo scowls at them, silencing them with a single look. "I don't care who's fault it is, I just want it fixed!" The mad clown drags a hand down his face, releasing an exasperated sigh. "At least it's not a complete loss, that last show was really…satisfying." He licks his lips as if savoring the taste of a delicious meal.

And Izuku picks up on it. 'Wh-What…does he mean?'

Acid Breath tries to look as non-threatening as possible. "Look boss we're sorry. We screwed up."

Thumbskull nods looking mighty ashamed as well. "Yeah, we can go rob more stuff."

Zombozo shakes his head. "No, you can't."

"Why not?"

"Because idiot! We now have the heroes on guard." They can't pull anything otherwise they risk being found out. But they are not the only ones they need to worry about. "That fish freak is still out there too. No to mention that kid." The clown strokes his chin. "I didn't like that look in his eye. Like he's not going to let this go. And that can be very bad for us."

Frightwig asks the million-dollar question. "Then what do we do?"

"Nothing." Zombozo states rather simply and calmly. "For now we just act like everything is normal. We put on our next show and then move on. This place is a bust anyway."

Izuku sighs, relieved that he did effectively stop their potential crime spree.

However, that feeling soon vanishes as Acid Breath brings up some new information. "Hey, boss. What about the hostages?"

It feels like everything has gone cold, even his heart stops beating for a moment. 'Hos…hostages…?'

Zombozo acts like the question wasn't out of place for them. "Just follow procedure. Just be sure to keep them quiet, we don't need the heroes to find out about our little operation."

Izuku is literally panicking, sweat buckets as he scrambles for his phone. 'Oh, God. Please don't let it be her!'

His mind keeps telling him the worst possible outcome, but he refuses to believe it! She has to be okay! She just has to be!

Her phone's ringing! And it's close! Oh thank God! Wait…

Izuku slowly reels around and peeks back into the tent and what he sees shakes him to his very core.

Izuku watches in horror as Zombozo picks up his mother's phone off the floor. "I thought I told you morons to get rid of these!" He tosses the phone towards the Freaks.

"Acid Breath, get rid of it! We can't leave any evidence behind."

Izuku is absolutely horrified as a feeling of uselessness and helplessness washes over him just as the phone melts away along with any sign of Inko Midoriya's presence.

Izuku feels like he's going to hurl as tears leak out of his eyes. He has to get away from here and fast! So, he takes off running his thoughts filled with images of unspeakable terror his mother must be going through. This is the worst thing that could happen! What's he supposed to do?! The heroes aren't going to take him seriously without proof, same for the police. And he's totally outnumbered by those Freaks. And now, now because he had to get wrapped up in all this his own mother, the only parent that's been a constant throughout his life, is gone. And he's helpless to do anything about… he's back to being the weak, useless Deku from a year ago.

But…he's not that useless Deku anymore. He's the Deku that can do anything! If the heroes won't help him then he'll just have to take matters into his own hands. Besides it's his mother that's in danger, he should be the one to save her!

But maybe not by himself. If he runs into all those circus villains at once, his chances of winning will be too slim. He needs backup, but who? Thirteen is still recovering so they're out. And Magister Nezu's been far too busy with preparations for the Sports Festival so fat chance of him even picking up his phone. But there is one person that lives relatively close, and he knows that they will have his back.

So with a lot to lose, Izuku makes a quick call. "Please, please, please pick up."

"Hello, Deku?"

"Oh, Uraraka." He's so happy to hear a friendly voice that he could cry. "I-I'm s-so happy to hear your voice."

He can almost hear Ochaco blushing from the opposite end. "W-What?! Is something the matter?'

"Y-yeah. Listen I need your help." His voice drops in sorrow.

"Um, sure with what?"

"Okay, I'm at the circus at the edge of town. Can you make it here within the next hour?"

"…Wait, which circus?"

"Zombozo's Traveling Circus of Laughs. Why?"

"Hang on." She ends the call then and there.

Did she just hang up on him? How rude! What's with that?!

"Deku?"

Izuku freezes up. That didn't come from his phone. He turns around and comes face to face with his very good friend, Ochaco.

…

"I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!" The wielder of the Omnitrix practically throws himself at her, wailing at the top of his lungs as streams of tears flow freely down his cheeks.

Ochaco struggles to free herself from Izuku's crushing hug. "Woah, Deku?! What's the matter?!"

Before Izuku can form a reply a second much younger voice interrupts. "Stop crying will ya. Sheesh, and people say that I whine a lot."

Izuku sniffs peering down at the little girl holding onto Ochaco's hand. "Oh, I remember you. ML-E right?"

Sure enough, accompanying Ochaco is the little Kineceleran girl that they both met at Mr. Baumann's store a while back.

"The one and only." ML-E waves up at Izuku as he finally releases Ochaco.

Izuku eyes the two of them. "Wait, did you two come here together?"

Ochaco smiles. "Hehe, yeah. After I moved into my new apartment, I needed some extra cash. So, I talked to Thirteen and they got in contact with ML-E's mom for me and I've been babysitting for her ever since." And it's been great.

"Oh, good for you."

ML-E thinks so too. "Yeah, she's great. Ochan is so cool and fun!"

Ochaco is smiling brightly in response to the compliment. "Why, thank you."

Wow, Izuku can almost see the praise inflating her ego.

"But I can't be the only one with all the praise."

Izuku raises an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"Because ML-E here is essentially my meal-ticket!" Ochaco's smile shines like the sun as she holds up the little Kineceleran like she's a prized possession. And ML-E is more than happy to be treated as such.

"Don't say things like that!" Izuku cries out, looking around to make sure nobody hears and takes it the wrong way.

"But it's true! Thanks to her, I've been raking in the dough!" At least for what a babysitting job can get you, but it's more than enough. "She's why I was able to get a new phone! And she's even the reason I was able to afford your hoodie!" She finally seems to notice that he is wearing the very same hoodie. "Oh, it looks like Power Loader fixed it already."

"Oh, yeah he did." Izuku grins as he pulls at the hoodie's end so Ochaco can have a proper look. "It's laced with kevlar so it's much more durable." Hang on a minute. "Wait! No! There was something I needed to tell you."

Izuku proceeds to explain the whole situation to them both starting at the very beginning. From how his mom wanted to bring him here, to him witnessing the Freaks rob the jewelry store, how Zombozo is totally in on it and is running the gang, and finally how they've kidnapped his own mother for some nefarious purpose.

"Oh, my gosh! That's horrible!" Ochaco gasps as she reaches for her phone. "We have to call the heroes."

"I already tried that." Izuku replies. "They didn't believe me."

"What?!"

"Boo! Boo!" ML-E boos in response; what kind of heroes don't do their job properly?

Ochaco worriedly looks around in case the Freaks show up. "So, what are you planning to do now?"

Izuku slumps back against the chain link fence, flopping onto the ground. "I…I don't know."

"I thought you guys were heroes." ML-E states this like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Huh?"

"Ochan said you two are hero students or something, right? So, shouldn't you stop the bad guys?"

Izuku shakes his head in defeat. "It's not that simple." How can he properly explain this to her?

Ochaco strikes her chin. "Or maybe it is."

"Huh?"

"Deku, we've fought real villains before. We survived the U.S.J. Incident, I think we can handle a few clowns."

"But their Quirks are dangerous."

"And you analyzed them, right?"

"Of course." he pulls out his Quirk Analysis Notebook and opens it up revealing the notes he was able to jot down about them.

"Then we have enough info to make a plan." Ochaco reaches her hand out to her friend. "Come on Deku. We can do this?"

"Yeah!" cheers ML-E.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Ochaco asks naively.

Izuku smiles up at her. She's right they're more than enough to take on these Freaks. Together they'll show them what experienced Space Cadets/Hero Course students can really do. All they need now is a plan.

---

The same carny from before waves his cane around as he herds the crowd inside for the next show. "Step right in folks! For Zombozo's Traveling Circus of Laughs! Step right in, we promise you'll be knocked dead just from laughing!"

Mt. Lady chews away at her popcorn. "It sure is a big crowd."

"No kidding." Death Arms marches on taking in the large crowd around them. He notices how Kamui Woods is holding himself. "What's with you?"

The Arbor Quirked hero is acting like a weight is sitting upon his shoulders. "I was just thinking about that kid. He sure seemed really upset."

Mt. Lady swallows her food. "I wouldn't worry about it. Kids like him are just after attention."

'You would know, wouldn't you?' thinks Death Arms.

Kamui Woods chuckles as if sensing Death Arms' thoughts, but while he's distracted, he accidentally bumps into someone from behind. "Oh, pardon me. I'm so sorry."

A blue-skinned raptor wearing a yellow poncho peers around and upon laying his eyes on the hero a look of worry flashes across the reptile's face. "It's okay, no harm done."

The reptile walks away pulling along what the hero assumes is the reptile's little sister behind him.

XLR8 and ML-E are able to catch up to Ochaco.

"Deku, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." At least he thinks so, his heart's racing though. Somehow, he forgot that the heroes would be here too.

In all fairness, they did only have twenty minutes to throw together a plan. Basically, Izuku bought them three tickets to get inside, and then he transformed into XLR8 and threw on a poncho to hide the Omnitrix. And since both ML-E and him are the same species, it would hopefully help sell the disguise that they are just a pair of siblings tagging along with a friend on a trip to the circus.

As they near the entrance, they pass up the Freaks' stage where the Circus Freak Trio are performing their acts once again for the waiting audience. But they seem to be more on edge than last time, they're constantly scanning the crowd as if looking out for any unwanted intruders, mainly Ripjaws or Izuku.

ML-E points up at them. "Are those the Freaks?"

"Yeah." nods the older Kineceleran.

Acid Breath, once again, melts away a metal bar and anvil with a single breath.

Ochaco gags. "Ew."

ML-E however has a different reaction. "Cool!"

XLR8 pulls ML-E along a little faster, the sooner they're inside the better. Ochaco hurriedly follows along, she just wants to get away from the Freaks, that guy with a toenail growing out of his forehead is disturbing to her.

They eventually make their way inside and just in time too as Izuku's Omnitrix times out, thankfully the poncho was big enough to cover up most of the flashing red light and his sudden transformation.

The show goes the same as last time with acrobatics and daredevils. But Izuku can't bring himself to enjoy the show, he's far too nervous. Although he can't help but laugh at how similar Ochaco's reaction is to his mom's after the puppies came out to perform.

Finally. After what feels like forever Zombozo takes center stage.

With Zombozo distracted on stage, this will be their best chance to search the premise for Inko and the other hostages.

"Alright, let's go." Leading them under the bleachers, as the audience laughs away at Zombozo's act.

From there they sneak their way under the tent sheet and find themselves among the empty food stalls and carnival games.

"This is so cool!" ML-E quietly cheers.

Ochaco suddenly remembers something. "Um, hey ML-E."

"Yeah?"

"You're not going to tell your mom about this are you?"

ML-E stares up at her babysitter as if expecting something.

Ochaco sighs in defeat, digging into her pocket, before handing the little girl some cash.

ML-E happily accepts, making a gesture of locking her lips and throwing away the key.

Ochaco, however, greatly dislikes the taste of being blackmailed by a six-year-old.

The trio snake through the thankfully empty stalls, checking each one for any sign of hostages. As Ochaco crawls around a stall she quickly jumps back before she's spotted by Thumbskull.

The trio sneak a peek, The Freaks look like they're patrolling the circus grounds. They're probably keeping an eye out for any intruders, they probably think Izuku or Ripjaws are going to try and sneak back in.

Looks like they're going to have to be more careful, if they get drawn into a fight, they might lose their chance to rescue Izuku's mom.

As they quietly sneak behind a carnival tent Izuku is too busy keeping his eye on the Freaks that he fails to notice the wire strung tightly off the ground, and he trips right over it slamming into several boxes that clatter against the ground.

The Freaks spin around and smile when they spot the very intruder they were ordered to find.

"Hahahaha, look who it is boys." Frightwig smiles wickedly. "Looks like someone wants to see the show without buying a ticket."

Izuku gulps. "Oops."

"Get out of here, Deku!" Without waiting, Ochaco charges the Freaks. "I've got them!"

The Freaks are definitely surprised by the sudden appearance of another kid.

"Stupid girl!" shouts Thumbskull.

"Get out of our way." growls Acid Breath.

"Hm, na." Ochaco states with a smirk as she raises her fists for a fight.

With the Freaks occupied Izuku grabs ML-E and takes off. "ML-E come on!"

Frightwig spots Izuku fleeing the scene. One of her hair-tendrils lash out and swing her up and over the stalls, she twirls in the air, and leaps from stall top to stall top chasing after Izuku and ML-E.

With a flip, Frightwig whips her hair at Izuku's back. The Hero Course student acts quickly shoving ML-E away as he jumps back allowing the tendril to whip between them.

Frightwig lands between the two, effectively separating them from each other. She leers down at Izuku with a sadistic smirk. "I think I'll convince the boss to let me keep you. You'd make a good laborer." She whips her hair. "Or at least a nice little play thing."

The way she licks her lips makes Izuku very uncomfortable.

Frightwig chuckles at the sight of Izuku's nervous expression, she is so going to enjoy this.

A little blue blur spins around her feet, as if a mini tornado decided to target her, making her stumble and throwing her back into a stack of boxes filled with soda.

A little Kineceleran laughs at the sight of a grown woman being humiliated by a six-year-old.

"ML-E!" scolds Izuku, what is she doing?! She should be running away not running into danger. That's his thing!

ML-E doesn't see the issue. "What? It's fine. Besides I'm way faster than her, she'll never hit me."

Frightwig growls. "Why you little-" Before she can even get back up ML-E speeds over and whacks her with her tail before running back to Izuku.

Izuku blinks as Frightwig rubs her head. "O-okay…just don't let her catch you. And run back to Uraraka when it gets bad."

ML-E grin. "Okay!"

Izuku runs off to a nearby Mirror Maze that's located next to the main circus tent, if there's any place they could hide hostages it might just be in there.

He must be on the right track because Frightwig isn't going to let him just stroll in. "Oh, no you don't'!" She whips her hair out at Izuku but ML-E spins around her feet again and throws the woman off balance.

As Frightwig lands onto the ground, ML-E smiles and blows a raspberry before running away as a little blue-blur.

"Get back here you little shit!" Frightwig uselessly chases after what she assumes is a little girl with a Mutation type Quirk.

Meanwhile, a weightless Ochaco jumps atop a small tent to get away from Thumbskull's fists. She then leaps away to another tent as the one she was on melts away from Acid Breath's breath. Ochaco releases her Quirk as she slides down the side of the tent and takes off running and just in time too as Thumbskull charges right through, missing her by just a hair.

"Hold still!"

"Ha, you really are a clown!" laughs Ochaco as she sprints away. "Because that was funny!"

Thumbskull growls as Acid Breath chases after her.

Ochaco ducks behind a row of carnival games, as Acid Breath runs on by. She crawls low against the ground until she comes upon a strength test game with an oversized wooden mallet.

She smirks mischievously at the sight of the potential weapon.

Acid Breath continues to scan through the various carny games, but he just can't seem to find her.

"Looking for someone?"

Acid Breath frowns peering around for the annoying girl but she's nowhere in sight.

"Yoo-hoo!" A grinning Ochaco jumps down from her perch with a weightless giant mallet in her hands.

Acid Breath looks up, opening his mouth to ready an attack.

Ochaco swings the huge mallet down on to Acid Breath. The mallet smashes right into the side of the Freak's head, a few of his teeth fly out, as his entire body spins in the air before he crashes onto the ground.

Ochaco presses her fingertips against the huge mallet and then heaves it onto her shoulder and smiles at Acid Breath's still form. "And then there was one."

"Rah!" Thumbskull crashes through a food stall.

He takes a few swings at Ochaco, but she twists her body in order to move herself out of the way. She holds out her mallet and swings around, hopefully with this momentum she can take out the hug lug with one hit. She swings around and BAM the mallet collides with Thumbskull's skull.

"Gah!" Thumbskull yelps as the mallet collides into his face, he keels over as he holds his head.

With his guard down, Ochaco presses her fingers onto the huge Freak's shoulder and a pink glow emanates out. Ochaco then swings her mallet like a golf club right into Thumbskull's chin and because of the Zero-Gravity he gets launched into the air, spinning uncontrollably.

When he gets high enough, Ochaco releases her Quirk and watches as Thumbskull plummets downward landing right into a dunktank of all things.

Ochaco picks up the mallet, admiring how effective of a weapon it turned out to be. "Maybe I should hold on to this… you know, just in case."

Meanwhile, ML-E continues to zigzag her way from stall to stall, from hiding spot to hiding spot as Frightwig lashes out and misses her every single time.

"Hold still! You little brat!"

ML-E pops her head out of a barrel, and tee-hee's the annoyed Freak.

"Rahh!" Frightwig lashes out all of her tendrils.

ML-E smirks as the hair appears to be moving in slow-motion, at least to her. She grabs a strand and runs straight for Frightwig, she then spins around her while still holding onto the strand of hair.

"Woah! What are you-Ah!" Frightwig falls over as ML-E finishes wrapping her up in her own hair.

"Woah-woo! That was fun!" cheers ML-E.

"ML-E!" Ochaco comes running, dragging her large mallet behind her. "Are you okay?"

"Yup!"

Ochaco releases a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank goodness."

ML-E holds her hand out, waiting for Ochaco to hand something over.

The older girl raises an eyebrow. "What?"

ML-E clenches her hand before opening it again.

Ochaco lets out an exasperated sigh as she digs out her wallet and hands over some more cash to the six-year-old. Hopefully this will ensure that she keeps quiet about all this and doesn't tell her mom that she fought a villain.

But she can't be too upset, now they've given themselves a better chance of saving the hostages and helping Deku. Wherever he is.

---

Izuku bumps head first into another mirror. This is really starting to get irritating; he's been running into nothing, but dead-ends and he's so turned around he can't even find the exit. It doesn't help that this place is so dark and devoid of life, but Izuku just can't shake the feeling that he's being watched.

All he can do is keep going with only his reflections to keep him company. The reflection that follows him from mirror to mirror copying his every move…at least until his reflections are replaced by images of a disturbed clown.

"Huh?!" Izuku gasps as he reels back in fright as the reflections of Zombozo smile gleefully at him through the glass mirrors.

"Well, hello again, son!" Shouts the disturbed clowns. "I knew from when I first saw you that you'd be a barrel full of laughs!"

The reflections of the mad clown run off leaving behind the very confused and startled boy.

Izuku chases after them, there just might be a chance that they'll lead him to the exit or at least the hostages. He'll just have to be ready to fight off the clown in order to get out. Or he would if he doesn't hit another dead-end.

"Hey Mr. Serious." Zombozo's floating head appears in the mirror in front of Izuku's face. "How about a smile?" His grin somehow stretches past what's capable of a human.

Izuku backs away in horror as each mirror surrounding him displays a towering Zombozo of their own. "What is this?!"

"I'm a clown kid, haven't you ever heard of magic?" As to prove his point, the reflections are somehow able to reach out of the mirrors. "Now why don't you give me a hand?"

Before Izuku can finish processing, what's happening the many cold-dead hands grab at him and begin to pull him, throwing him around between reflection to reflection all the while laughing in his face. After being flung around so fast and hard Izuku takes a tumble landing hard on his rear.

Before he can reach for the Omnitrix, the reflections reach out and prop him up before restraining his arms.

"So, what's your story? Why are you being so persistent?"

"Let go!" screams Izuku as he struggles to free himself but the Zombozo reflections are much stronger than they look. "And give me back my Mom!"

"Oh, so that's it, isn't it?" An oddly colored version of Zombozo steps out of his mirror standing before Izuku with a mad grin and a gleam of mischievousness in his eye. "You want your dear old mommy back! Hahahaha!" Zombozo strolls forward swaying side to side. "You know what! I'll take you to your mommy!" He grabs Izuku's head, pulling him by his hair so they can be at eye level. "And when I do…I want to see you smile with joy!" Zombozo's devilish smile stretches cartoonishly wide before he gives a hard shove.

Izuku yelps as he falls backward except, he doesn't land on the ground, instead he's plummeting into an endless void of darkness!

"Ahhh!" screams Izuku. What the hell is going on?! Is this Zombozo's Quirk at work?! It has to be. "Oof!" His gut landed right on a trapeze of all things.

Izuku groans as he adjusts himself, but his hand slips. "Woah!" Thankfully he's able to securely grip the trapeze, although now he's just dangling there helplessly.

"Hahahaha!"

Izuku peers up to find Zombozo standing atop of the trapeze.

The clown smiles down at Izuku. "You better hold on!" He grins madly as he makes hand scissors and with one snip, he cuts the rope with his fingers alone.

"Yahhhh!" Izuku screams in terror as he falls towards a fiery ring below.

The fiery ring morphs and shifts becoming a large flaming image of Zombozo's grinning face. The flaming clown opens his maw as if gulping Izuku up with one flaming bite.

Izuku shields his eyes as he continues to spiral in the air until he crashes onto something thin and sticky.

Izuku peeks his eyes open and finds himself bound to a giant eerie green spider web. And a giant spider is crawling towards him.

The spider lurks above him, but what's most disturbing about the creepy-crawly is that its head is actually Zombozo's only it's upside down amplifying the scare factor.

"Come on, kid! You really got to learn to loosen up! Crack a smile! Laugh a little!" The mutated spider presses his sharp pincers against Izuku's neck. "It's what keeps me going." His grin somehow widens before he rears his sharp pincers back and slashes downward.

Izuku shuts his eyes expecting the worst but instead the spider cuts his own web and Izuku plummets down even further.

Thankfully he lands on what he believes is solid ground as an uproar of laughter echoes around him.

Izuku groans, taking in his surroundings. Somehow, he ended up in the middle of the circus tent and during the show no less because the audience are still seated, laughing away at what they think is a performance.

'What's wrong with them? Can't they see what's going on here?'

A bright spotlight shines down on Zombozo who's laughing down at Izuku's prone form. "What a performance kid! You're really killing 'em! Hahahahaha!"

The audience laugh along with Zombozo. The clown's eerie blue orbs glow as the audience laughs leading Izuku to assume that whatever's going on it has to do with him!

Izuku crawls away from the terrifying clown. He needs to get away and form a real plan! He needs to find his Mom! He needs to stop this psychotic clown!

Zombozo kicks his feet and he begins to float in the air, following Izuku without having to take a step. "Now don't tell me you have stage fright!"

Izuku glares up at the clown and immediately begins to laugh. "Hahaha!"

He clasps his hands over his mouth to stop himself from laughing, but he just can't seem to stop. He shakes his head violently and finally he's able to rid himself of his giggling fit. "What…just…happened?"

"Hahahahaha! You know, you're a lot of fun." Zombozo soars into the air, holding his arms out for the continuously laughing audience. "Tell me, do you know what I'm after?"

Izuku glares up at the clown again, only to enter another fit of laughter. With a shake of his head, he's able to stop. "I…don't know…money maybe."

"Hahaha! Ah, wrong!" Zombozo slips down to Izuku. "I want what any clown worth his floppy shoes wants; to make people laugh!" He towers over Izuku, and all his features become cartoonishly monstrous with a large head, sharp fingers, and crooked teeth. "Then drain their positive energy like a sponge in a pool party!" he deflates back to his normal size. "Is that so wrong?" He asks innocently enough.

Izuku is able to speak, but he doesn't peer up at the clown as he speaks. "There's more to it, isn't there?" After all neither the heroes nor the actual audience are reacting; they've been laughing nonstop, that can't be healthy for them.

"Oh, you really are a sharp one, aren't ya?" Zombozo twirls and flies up into the air and the spotlights follow his every move. "But yes! It's my Quirk: PsyClown! Isn't that right, folks?!"

The audience laughs even harder so much so that some of them are coughing and choking from the lack of oxygen intake.

"PsyClown allows me to drain the positive energy of others through their own laughter!" With a pop he comes cartoonishly monstrous again. "But that's not all it can do!" With a snap of his fingers the upper half of the circus tent lights up.

Izuku looks up and spots a broken trapeze dangling over a hoop of fire, which is positioned over a slashed-up safety net. Izuku puts two and two together, the clown somehow messed with his sense of perception. 'Can he make illusions?'

Zombozo flies around among the stage props. "What do you think I do with all this positive energy?! I make it my own to bend the laws of physics to my will!" He rockets down and whispers the following into Izuku's ear. "But between you and me, my favorite trick is to make mirages. Ha ha ha!" he soars back into the air, throwing his hand out as bright sparkling lights spark in front of the audience.

Izuku glares up at the clown only to spontaneously laugh again! He throws his head down as he tries to catch his breath. 'PsyClown? That explains why no one can stop laughing. And it explains so much more. Like that hatchet from earlier was definitely real, he must have messed with the object's elasticity. And those reflections were just mirages and so were the other terrifying imagery I had to go through.'

Zombozo glides over the audience. "Soon I will have stockpiled enough power and I will be strong enough to do whatever I please!"

He'll be able to collapse buildings with a little love tap! Make money erupt out of bank vaults! And most importantly. "Not even All Might will be able to touch me!"

Izuku finally jumps back up to his feet. "I'm going to stop you-Hahahaha!" he covers his mouth and looks away to catch his breath.

Zombozo smirks down at the boy. "Oh, really? Allow me to give you a full demonstration of my power!" A new spotlight snaps on. "Look up will ya."

Izuku does look up, and his heart drops at what he finds.

His mother is all tied up in a thin rope, dangling high up in the air as an almost lifeless corpse. The only sign that she's still alive is that every now and then she lets out a weak wheeze that is supposed to be a laugh.

"Mom!"

"Oh, so that is your mommy." Zombozo flies up and examines Inko's features. "I can see the resemblance. But it surprises me that you care about her."

"What?!"

The crazy clown lowers back down to Izuku's level. "Do you know how we pick our hostages?"

"Because you're a sick freak?" snaps Izuku.

"Hahaha! Nope!" Zombozo is pleasantly surprised by the kid's foul language. "We pick out those that we assumed had come alone! This way no one would be looking for them for some time, giving me the opportunity to completely drain them of their energy!" he whispers this next part. "And their lives."

'No… Mom…' He didn't mean to leave her alone. He just…he just wanted to be the hero… But what does it matter if she gets…if she gets killed? 'Is this what Mr. Aizawa meant?' That if he acts recklessly, he'd put himself and his loved ones in danger? It must be, and he failed to learn his lesson. Because Izuku did leave her behind, and now…now she may just lose her life because of him, her own son. But if he got them into this mess then he'll be the one to get them out.

"Not if I can stop it!" Izuku grips his Omnitrix, the faceplate pops up, and he raises up his right hand. "It's hero time!"

He slams his hand down onto the alien device and it immediately gets to work.

Izuku can feel his body shifting, becoming smaller and smaller as a staticky surge of energy sparks within him.

"Buzzshock bzzz!" The Megawatt glares up at the tall villain. "You're going down clown, hahaha bzzz!" He enters another laughing fit, even so that doesn't stop him from launching out sparks of electricity.

The sparks harmlessly bounce off the grinning mad man. "I told you kid; I can bend the laws of physics to my will." Well, depending on how much energy he has stored up anyway.

"Hahaha bzzz!" Buzzshock keeps it up out of frustration, he floats upward as he continually fires off bolt after bolt of electricity.

Zombozo however is completely unaffected even going as far to seem bored, yawning into his hand.

Buzzshock keeps it up until he has to stop and try in vain to regain his breath after laughing for so long.

"My turn!" Zombozo pulls out the same hatchet from before out of his pocket.

Buzzshock grimaces in fright as Zombozo takes a swing at him. Fortunately, the little alien is far too small and fast for the clown to land a hit. "Stay still now! I only want to axe you a question!"

He takes another swing at the little nuisance, he of course misses. With an opening to strike, the giggling Nosedeenian fires off another bolt of sparks. The shock is strong enough to break Zombozo's hold and the hatchet goes spiraling through the air landing within the bleachers. Thankfully without burying itself into someone's head.

With his weapon gone, the psychotic clown takes a deep breath and then blows out a hurricane wind that blows Buzzshock away.

Buzzshock harmlessly bounces off the side of the tent, he then zips downward taking cover behind the laughing audience.

Zombozo flies over trying to locate the little nuisance. "Sorry, kid. I sell the tricks; I don't buy them!" He floats over the audience trying to see if he can spot the transforming hero wannabe.

Meanwhile, said hero wannabe is small enough that he can run along the bleachers without standing out. And he's making a beeline for the immobilized and laughing pro heroes.

"Come on, guys bzzz. This isn't funny anymore bzzz!" He floats up and knocks his little fist against Kamui Wood's helmet, but he gets no reaction.

The hero just continues laughing away in pain.

"I'm sorry about this bzzz." Buzzshock sticks his finger out and releases a tiny static shock into the hero's side.

The hero jolts up a bit in his seat, but he doesn't stop laughing.

"What tha bzzz?" Buzzshock lowers himself back down and observes the other two heroes.

They seem to be in the exact same state, laughing, unmoving, and unable to take their eyes off Zombozo. It's almost creepy to watch as their eyes shift from one end to another as Zombozo zips around the tent.

"Wait…his Quirk, PsyClown…bzzz. There's even more to it bzzz. Isn't there bzzz?" That's it! A Quirk like his has to have a major drawback! It's almost a staple when it comes to Quirks! And Zombozo's is that his victims have to be watching him in order for his Quirk to take effect.

"And judging by everyone's reactions bzzz, the longer they watch him the further they fall into his spell bzzz." They're essentially in a trance of some kind, continuously laughing until their bodies eventually give out.

"But how can I use that to my advantage bzzz?"

Something shiny peeks out from the corner of his eye. Looking over, Buzzshock spots Zombozo's hatchet embedded into the bleachers, with most of its blade sticking out.

An idea begins to form in the morphed Izuku's head as he eyes the sharp blade. "Maybe I can …bzzz."

He approaches the hatchet, rubbing his hand against its sharp edge. "Oh, boy bzzz." He gulps as his idea continues to form.

With a deep breath and a grimace, Buzzshock looks away as he sticks his arm out shakily. And with a terrified wince he thrusts his arm up and into the blade. Surprisingly there's very little pain. Huh, who knew losing a limb could feel like a pinch.

Buzzshock watches on in intrigue as his chopped-off arm floats into the air and green electricity sparks out as a second Buzzshock begins to take shape.

The duplicate blinks at the original who is just amazed at how well his plan worked.

The original morphed Izuku grins wickedly. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking bzzz?"

His duplicate grins right back. "I'm pretty sure I am bzzz."

---

Zombozo is starting to get impatient. "This isn't funny anymore!" Did the kid run off? His mom is still here so he's not going to leave.

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Oh, there you are." Zombozo spins around and floats on over towards the stands.

There he spots a lone Buzzshock laughing his head off at the sight of the clown. "Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

Zombozo smiles at the sight. "See, now isn't that better?"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

The clown licks his lips. "Oo, that is some good eating!" Oh, he so does enjoy the taste of laughter and the vitality of his audience.

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

Those are three different laughs all coming from behind him. Zombozo spins around and is very surprised to find three more Buzzshocks floating in the air, all of which are laughing at him.

"Hahahaha, man you're a freak too kid!" He smiles as the Buzzshocks laugh even louder. "Who knew you could multiply, too! And transform, oh! I wonder what else you can do!" He leers up at the three little nuisances. "Too, bad I'll never get to find out."

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

More laughter rings out.

Zombozo grins widely as he takes a look, but what he sees makes him a bit nervous. There's an entire swarm of Buzzshock all of whom are laughing gleefully as they float and zip about in the air, surrounding him in a ball of sparking green lights.

"What's happening?! What's going on?!" The clown is starting to panic, mainly because this kid is up to something fishy.

He pulls out a soda siphon bottle and fires off a blast of highly carbonated liquid out at the Buzzshocks.

He successfully blasts a portion of them away, but they are quickly replaced by even more Buzzshock as if they're continually multiplying from within the bleachers.

Which they are, a number of Megawatts are running about the depths of the bleachers using anything sharp edge that they can come across as a means to make even more friends to combat the killer clown.

Zombozo's soda siphon runs dry, so he tosses it at Buzzshock, but they easily swat the item away. The laughing swarm now begins to encircle around the very nervous clown.

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Stop it! Stop it What are you doing?!" It's starting to become too much for him! There's too much laughter for him to take all at once! It's as if someone is shoving gallons of food down his throat.

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Stop laughing! I said stop laughing!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

It's too much! All those smiling…laughing…faces…all mocking him!

"No! No! NO!" Zombozo grabs at his head as flashes of terror appear in his mind. All the while the swarming mass of light continues to envelop him and laugh in his face. "Don't laugh at me!" He desperately swats at the laughing terror as the feeling of being stuffed becomes too much. "Stop it! Stop it! STOP LAUGHING AT ME!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

"Hahahahahaha bzzz!"

It's all too much for the sad clown as his entire body begins to inflate like a balloon. And like a balloon, he pops releasing a loud bang as a large puff of smoke, confetti, and wind whips around scattering the large swarm and ruffling the circus tent.

Zombozo plummets and flops to the ground, his blue eerie spheres are cracked, the upper half of his top hat is ripped away, and his eyes spin around in a daze. Blue eerie silhouettes leak out of the clown in mass, the blue silhouettes float back to their respective bodies revitalizing them all.

Even the heroes snap out of their trance looking around in confusion.

Meanwhile, Zombozo lets out a weak pathetic wheeze as he becomes terrifyingly skinny.

A lone Buzzshock smiles down at the defeated clown. "Look like I got the last laugh, creep bzzz."

Zombozo glares up at the little menace.

Green sparks begin to discharge around the little guy's body. "Oh, one more thing." He points upward.

Zombozo looks up and if he wasn't already pale-skinned then the color would have drained from his face as the swarm of sparking Buzzshocks grins menacingly down at him.

A tear escapes the sad clown's eye as he waves a tiny white flag between his fingers. "Mercy?"

Izuku isn't sure if it's the Nosedeenian DNA, or his own vindictiveness, but he grins wickedly, and the smiling swarm descends upon the helpless clown who lets out an ear-piercing scream as thousands of volts are released upon him.

The Buzzshock eventually disperse revealing a charred and paralyzed Zombozo. While the original Buzzshock admires his handy work another group of Buzzshocks are lowering down his revitalized mom.

"Mom bzzz!" Buzzshock zips over to her just as his duplicates gently lay her on the ground.

She's unconscious probably from laughing for so long.

He tries to hug her even in his diminutive state. "I'm so sorry Mom bzzz." He sniffs as he shuts his eyes closed. "I shouldn't have left you alone like that. I'm so sorry."

Inko's hand moves and caresses the small alien's back. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

Buzzshock opens his eyes and sees his mother smiling down at him. Tears well up in his eyes before he leaps into her arms. "Mom!"

Inko caresses her shrunken son, hugging him like she used to when he was a toddler. She doesn't speak a word instead she savors the moment, happy to be with her loving son once again.

---

"Well that was fun!" states Ochaco with a smile as she flops down on the bench.

"Maybe for you it was." retorts Izuku.

After saving the day, the heroes were finally able to do their parts: they arrested the Freaks, found the other hostages, and led the remaining audiences away to safety.

"Then again it wasn't a complete loss." Izuku smiles down at his notebook, admiring the three new autographs that he was able to snag.

After saving the day, the admittedly shamed and embarrassed heroes offered to make it up to Izuku for not taking him seriously. Izuku's never been one for rewards; however, he's not above missing a chance to add to his hero fanatic collection in some way. Hence, he asked them each for autographs, which they were all too happy to comply with.

Not to mention, they're not going to write Izuku up for interfering in hero work, mainly because it would involve admitting that they got their own asses saved by a kid. But Izuku's not going to press them, he's just happy to have his mom back.

And so here they are. Izuku, Inko, Ochaco and ML-E watch as the police haul the dazed Zombozo away.

Zombozo wobbles around, unable to keep his balance with his arms bound by the restraint jacket. "So…many…smiles. Stop…laughing…stop laughing…at me…"

"Shut it." The officers shove him inside the transport vehicle along with his captured and equally humiliated Freaks.

Izuku turns to Ochaco and ML-E as they eat away at some cotton candy. "So, what happened after I left?"

Ochaco swallows her bite and shrugs. "Oh, nothing much. We stopped the bad guys and then searched for the hostages." She takes another bite out of the cotton candy.

"Was searching the snack bar part of the search?" Izuku asks snarky.

Ochaco chokes on her candy and ML-E laughs at her reaction.

"Also what's with the hammer?"

Ochaco peers over at her brand-new hammer as it sits beside her. "Souvenir." She states a matter-of-factually.

Izuku shrugs, deciding not to dwell on it any further.

"Izuku."

The greenette turns to his mother. "Yes, Mom?"

Her eyes cast downward. "I'm so sorry, honey. Today was meant to be fun. To let you unwind and relax…so much for that idea."

"Mom…" Just because it didn't turn out the way she wanted doesn't mean it's her fault. "Mom, I had a great time. Minus the killer clown part, but I still had fun." He grabs her hand letting her know that he's here and that he's not at all upset with her. "Mom, I'm glad I was able to spend the day with you. I've always enjoyed our time together and I can't blame you for this. You just wanted to show me a good time. And I thank you for that." He wraps his arms around her. "I'm just glad to have you back, safe and sound."

Inko sniffs as tears leak from her eyes and she returns the gesture. "Oh, I love you Izuku, my baby!"

Izuku chuckles. "I love you too, Mom."

While the Midoriyas hug it out, Ochaco watches with a bright smile. She so loves touching moments such as these.

Inko releases her son. "I'm also so proud of you."

"You are?" Izuku shyly asks.

"Of course, I got to see my baby be a hero today." Inko's smiles just as brightly as the sun. "And I couldn't be prouder!"

Izuku can't help but smile. Hearing that his mother is proud of him is probably one of the greatest rewards he could receive. Literally nothing can ruin this moment.

ML-E tugs on Izuku's hoodie.

Izuku smiles down at the little girl. "What is it ML-E?"

ML-E innocently smiles up at the Hero Course student. "Wanna see what I found?"

"Sure." He'll humor her.

ML-E smiles before turning around and putting on some sort of mask before spinning around showing off her smiling clown mask.

"Eeeek!"

The three girls blink in astonishment from Izuku's reaction. Is he…?

To test the theory ML-E leans in closer with her clown mask.

"Eeeek!"

Uh, oh.

Ochaco sweat drops as Izuku remains frozen in fear. 'Oh, boy. I hope this doesn't come back to bite him one day.'

This is probably the worst time to develop a new phobia, after all they only got five days left until the Sports Festival. Hopefully, her friend can snap out of this before then.

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Well, I thought it was fun and hope you guys thought so too. Besides the next chapter will officially begin the Sports Festival Arc! So this was sort of my last opportunity to do something a bit more original and fun for a little while.

Also, I am well aware that some characters made some odd choices during this chapter. For example, Ochaco could have tried to call All Might, but that would defeat the purpose of what I wanted to do with this chapter. There's also how the heroes just brushed off Izuku; I actually like Kamui Woods, Death Arms, and Mt. Lady and I just wanted to include them in this chapter somehow. Overall, this chapter was meant to be fun and not taken too seriously.

*The title of this chapter, Last Laugh, is also the name of the episode this chapter is based off of.

*Did any of you get "TheOdd1sOut" joke for the Ditto Monopoly scene? If so, then I'm sure you greatly enjoyed it. If you don't know what I'm talking about then check out "TheOdd1sOut" on YouTube and watch his "Tabletop Games" video. James is hilarious and I'm sure you'll all love his content. Here's the link: /rvUzuK0ygI4

*There was also a SpongeBob reference in this chapter.

*One thing I'm most proud about this chapter is that I was able to display Izuku as six different aliens rather than limiting him to one or two. I got him to be Lodestar, Ditto in a flashback, Terraspin, Ripjaws, XLR8, and I gave Buzzshock some much needed attention.

*Also, I know someone is going to say it, but there was a reason why Izuku didn't get Ghostfreak in this chapter. There's a specific way I want to introduce that alien so please be patient. He is on the way.

*I'm sorry, not sorry for the puns scattered throughout the chapter. I like a good groan inducing pun, plus I feel like they're a staple of the Ben Ten series, so I thought they were justified.

*If you don't remember the character ML-E then you can check out Ch.8 Space Cadets. Other than that she's the little Kineceleran girl from Ben Ten Omniverse.

*Another thing, I actually wanted to have Ochaco babysit ML-E for a while now, but I was never able to address it until now.

*Speaking of ML-E, this next part has to do with the odd character decisions in this chapter. I just want to say that I know that neither Izuku nor Ochaco would willingly put a child as young as her in danger. But in fairness, it's not the first time Izuku actually did involve a child in a fight. For example, when he saved Kota, he could have easily grabbed Kota and ran away, but he didn't. Also He literally had Eri involved with the fight against Overhaul. So, I feel like this wasn't that far of a stretch or even as dangerous as the other two scenarios.

*Ochaco's hammer was thrown in at the last second because I got some last inspiration to include it. Because the hammer is inspired by Harley Quinn's own hammer, the idea occurred when it sunk in that Ochaco was fighting clowns with carnival games all over the place. So, yeah, she has a new weapon now. But it's not going to be permanent, it's just going to be a nice funny gag every now and again. So I wouldn't expect to see it again for a long while.

*If you know your Ben Ten villains then you know that Zombozo's Quirk, PsyClown, is also the name of the machine he used in the original episode. The original PsyClown was the source of his powers anyway so I just made it his Quirk for this story.

Replies to "Guest" reviewers for Ch.19:

Aztec 13: You work fast, this chapter is great filler we get to see what is doing the after the usj event with the teachers meeting about it and we get see new characters like Mei Hatsume from the support class and find out that the sports festival is broadcasting in space talk about no pressure, again this a great filler but I one question what did Thirteen promise to Mina ?

Please continue

CreateGunner1209: Yeah, I decided to introduce Hatsume a little earlier. She actually had a short cameo in Ch.14 Shocking Development but it was really quick. Anyway, yes the U.A. Sports Festival will be broadcasted into space. As for what Thirteen promised…you'll just have to wait and see.

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Guest: This is awesome new arc is starting and new characters showing and new mysteries keep the awesome work

CreateGunner1209: Yup, the new arc will begin in Ch.21 and it should be interesting.

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Atom king: So the chapter start with Gran Torino reading a letter from All might talking about Ochaco, since in the main story Izuku is one who went to Gran Torino for the internship but here it will be Ochaco, I wonder who will Izuku go to since thirteen wants him to have real world experience?

Than the pro heroes along with the detective is having meeting about the USJ event, but afterwards All might and the detective are taking about Izuku past before he found the Omnitrix and most importantly his dad and how there's barely anything about him but we all know the real reason why he's not there but All might jumping to conclusion and thinking that Izuku is a victim, I will say this and keep saying this untill it happen, I can't wait for All might reaction towards everything that's going on.

Now with thirteen shows up to let Izuku and Mina know that they're alright but what got my attention is what thirteen say that they're promise something to Mina, who did they promised to and what is the promise?

Now Izuku and Ochaco got to meet power loader and Mei Hatsume, I wonder what be Mei reaction when she see alien technology like the proto tool ?

Ochaco and all might having lunch talking about the sports festival, her attitude and determination about being hero really scared everyone, and the parts with Ochaco and Bakugou are funny they're arguing like an old married couple.

Now about the sports festival being broadcast across space that is pretty cool, hey will the little alien girl ML-E from earlier show up during the sports festival arc , and like the speech that thirteen give Izuku about why showing festival across space is important and with Izuku having the Omnitrix he could inspire everyone across the universe, and he has make speech, no pressure right?

Now back at the classroom Izuku shows off his new alien diamond Head, Tsuyu still calling the names lame now Momo wants to study a piece of diamond from Izuku, yeah she's going some fun time discovering the make up of the piece, later we see the other classes showing up to declare to go to war with class a during the festival can't wait to see that .

This is great filler chapter and I can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter.

CreateGunner1209: I have an idea for who Izuku should intern under. Do you have any guesses who? In all fairness I chose the hero because I just like them and not because they can actually teach izuku something important.

As for when some answers will be revealed to and about certain characters, we are gradually getting to those points.

As for the promise Thirteen made about Mina…you'll just have to wait and see. Sorry, but some elements from the MHA and Ben Ten are easy to guess, but I have some points that are more on the original side of things and I rather keep quiet about that kind of stuff.

If/when Hatusme discovers alien tech I can only imagine how happy and crazy she would be.

I'm happy you liked the character interactions between Ochaco I thought it would be a nice way to liven up the chapter.

As for ML-E, I hope this chapter satisfied the need to see her. I've been meaning to bring her back for a while but couldn't figure out how until now. And no she won't be appearing during the Sports Festival, unless I can sneak in a quick scene where she's watching from home.

Anyway I'm happy you enjoyed Ch.19 and I can only hope you had fun with Ch.20.

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Guest: Technically the aliens that I mentioned (snake-pit, sandbox and shellhead) they are canon for the franchise the problem is that we never saw their physical appearance but technically if they are available and we did get certain descriptions more or less so technically you can use them, it is also more material to work with, but well do it as you want.

CreateGunner1209: That is true, and I am not against including them. But I'd rather include the prime/favorite aliens first. If that's okay. Anyway I hope you enjoyed Ch.20.

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Guest: Once again, great work and i'll wait patiently for the next chapter.

CreateGunner1209: I hope you didn't have to wait too long ;)

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Guest: Hey I got this idea, when deku finds out that all might is spying on his personal life I think in a sense he should disowned him like deku stopped being a fan of all might , what you think?

CreateGunner1209: That's a good idea and I will keep it in mind for when the time comes. Thank you for the suggestion

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Guest: I agree with Phantom Thief of Hearts, also those are really good ideas and references, but how about using in some way more dangerous/predatory creatures and planets too, like the locations and monsters from "Evolve" or the planet 4546B from "subnautica" or the aliens from "xcom", good idea right?

Also the plumbers have a base in Mount Rushmore and grandpa max said there are plumbers in China too, will they travel around de world as well?

CreateGunner1209: Those are good ideas but I cannot make any promises as of yet. When the opportunity shows itself I will try my best to include the cameos and easter eggs that I can. And if I can get my characters to said planets then great. As for Izuku and friends traveling the world, as of now I just want to focus on Japan and their Plumbers. At most the rest of the world's Plumbers will be referenced from time to time. Eventually I'd like izuku to travel around but that's way off for now.

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Aztec 13 (again): Hey you say that you are going to do one shots with Izuku going to different universes and alternate timelines I can't wait to see that, ones I would like to see Izuku meeting Ben ten that meeting I can see it happen like Peter Parker meeting Miles Morales in the comics.

The next one is the Izuku from the main my hero universe that one I hope that Izuku from this story goes to the prime universe and show off how different the two Izuku are from one other I can only imagine Izuku prime reaction seeing a other version of him and the last one is the classic reverse universe where Izuku and the other students are villains.

Please continue

CreateGunner1209: To be honest, all the suggestions you said are exactly the ones I want to do the most. I hope to write it up eventually but not until Izuku's alien arsenal gets a much needed boost.