Hello all,

Well, it's been a long time since I did a chapter for this story, and I am so very sorry about that. To be honest, it's a little more challenging to write this, considering it's taking place seven years after canon, which means we can't follow the usual story beats which most of my stories follow. But I thank you for your patience as I play catch up.

Anyway, onto the reviews:

Guest 1: I know, and I'm sorry about that :(

ProjectIceman: Oooh, he will... no doubt about that.

Guest 2: It's mentioned in this chapter, but it was the Kushala Alpha + Armor set. And as for Mina... we will have to wait and see.

MosesArk Reborn2000: I am still trying to figure out how the essence will effect Mina, hence where we stopped in this chapter, however, I am thinking along the lines of "a little from column A, and a little from column B." As for the reason as to why Izuku has women's armor in his trunk, while it will most likely be said in the next chapter, I'll just say it here.

It's because sometimes he would partner with hunters that didn't have the appropriate gear to be hunt down the target. And with being the over-achiever that he is, Izuku had a lot of extra monster parts from all the missions he took on, so he commissioned a bunch of sets for both men and women. (and made them adjustable as not everyone is one size lol)

As for the reactions of those people you mentioned, the only one that I think will be a big hit (aside from Inko and Eri and what I have planned for them) would be Bakugo... considering what I am doing with the Pomeranian's fate.

Enjoy this chapter everyone! As the next one will be... interesting to say the least.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Monster Hunter, they belong to their copyright holders. If anyone reposts this or any of my stories on Youtube or any other media streaming platform) without my consent, I will be taking the appropriate actions as is my right.

Chapter 6

Actions and Reactions

Izuku was silent as he looked out the passenger window of the limousine he was sitting in, idly stroking the head of Mochi, who was napping on his lap. On the other side of the fancy car was Shoto, who was idly flipping through reports on a tablet about the current issues plaguing the city as well as any updates regarding the area where they had fought the Zinogre.

Currently, they were stuck in traffic, and Shoto had offered to come with him to discuss the previous fight with the Zinogre and any possible other threats that may come up with the rest of their former classmates. And while Izuku shifted in his seat now, a little antsy to get back to all of his friends, there were some lingering thoughts in his mind as he looked at the civilians going about their day.

While he had imagined that a lot of change would occur while he was away, The green-haired man was happy to see that a lot had still remained. Sure, technology had improved since then, but the buildings and architecture of the city were still reasonably unchanged. In the back of his mind, Izuku wondered if his mother's old apartment was still around, given its age, even when he was a teenager.

"Are you alright, Izuku?" The current number one hero asked, the usual monotone and emotional tone of Shoto's voice making Izuku smile as he looked towards him.

"A little worried, trying to figure out how monsters from the world I was in for seven years are appearing here in Japan, but also as to why…" He sighed and leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling of the car, "Not only that, I'm also concerned as to why the Zinogres body just… dissolved like that."

"It had nothing to do with its essence?" Shoto asked as he kept staring at his friend, placing the tablet down beside him while leaning forward.

Izuku rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, "I mean… it did speed up the decaying process back in the other world a bit, but it was still 'natural' if you get what I'm saying? It was never that fast nor just turned into dust."

Leaning back now, Shoto had his arms crossed over his chest, as Izuku was now rubbing his chin deep in thought, both men silent before the tablet sprung to life with a relatively upbeat and cutesy tune that caught Izuku off guard, considering it seemed so out of place for his normally monotone friend.

Shoto reached over and picked up the device, flicking an app open that ceased the tune as he silently read what was said. Once he was finished, Shoto looked back towards Izuku, "Apologies, that was Toru; she was just telling me she was going to lie down for a bit."

"O-Oh? Is she alright?"

"She's been feeling nauseous for the last week, possibly caught something on her last mission, we suspect; if she doesn't feel better by the weekend, I'm going to take her to the doctors." Shoto said with a gentle sigh, and while not showing much emotion in his actions, the tone of his voice betrayed his worry for his wife.

Izuku smiled gently, "I'm sure she will be fine… um… she did update her costume, right?"

"Of course, she did when she found out about outfits using her hair and weaving into the fabric fibers, thanks to your old journals, by the way, so she actually has something to wear; Toru was all over it within our second year. It helps when she does need to go into public and be visible."

"Wait! She can turn visible now?!" Izuku suddenly shouted, almost sending Mochi to the floor of the limo. The palico growled in it's sleep, pushing it's head harder into his leg as Izuku blushed, quietly apologizing to his felyne companion before looking towards Shoto, "When did that happen?"

"Ironically, it was during the final battle with All for One that she was able to become visible during a fight to save Aoyama. After the final battle and while everyone was beginning to recoup from…" Shoto grew quiet, the tension in the limo increasing heavy for the implications; the number one hero shook his head gently before looking back towards Izuku, "Regardless, she worked hard to train her quirk to turn it off and on and finds it easier to remain invisible so she remains as such, only being visible during special moments, like our wedding day."

Izuku smiled gently, nodding his head in agreement with the reasoning, before a sudden thought came to his mind, "Shoto if I can ask… how did you two get together? No offense, but during our days at UA, you two barely talked, let alone interacted with one another."

Shoto gently nodded, leaning back against the seat he was in, and crossed his arms once again, "It was during our third year that I had been pushing myself, training the moves you had suggested in your journals while under the supervision of Aizawa and my father…"

The mention of the previous number one hero had caught Izuku's interest, but he knew it was better to let his friend continue his story to open that can of worms at the moment.

"During one of my more intense training sessions, Toru had come by to check up on me as I had been training for half a day without any breaks, one of the easier days back then…" Shoto said with a hand on his chin, thinking about it for a moment before shrugging, "She had come by to try and get me to take a break, though Toru first had to get past my father, who had been supervising that day."

"Ooh, that must have… not gone well." Izuku blinked, though the slight smirk on Shoto's lips said otherwise.

"When he attempted to stop her, and she failed to convince my father to move, Toru actually kicked him in the scrotum."

Izuku's eyes bulged out in shock, his mouth agape before trying to stop a stifle of a chuckle, "T-toru… kicked the then number one hero in Japan… in the balls?"

"Actually, Miruko was the number one hero at the time; she took over after the final battle since my father was too injured to continue being a hero." Shoto said, seeing Izuku's reaction to the news.

"W-Wow… I mean, I am sorry he couldn't continue to be a hero, but at the same time, I'm happy that Miruko was number one. But what about Hawks or Jeanist?"

"The populace wouldn't have accepted Hawks, considering how he was heavily tied to the Hero Commission and the people's lack of faith in the system then." Shoto said with a sigh, "And Jeanist was focusing on helping with the rebuilding efforts. Having Miruko was a godspeed for everyone."

Shoto then shrugged gently, "She is brutish and didn't put up with any of the commission's garbage back then, and considering how powerful she is despite missing an arm and a leg… it inspired much of the population during those first few years. But to get back on point, after Toru dealt with my father, she came up to me and through some convincing, was able to get me to take a break."

Izuku, once again back into his deep thinking, trying to figure out how Toru was able to… Ah.

"So, she bribed you with cold soba, huh?"

Shoto's silence and his turning his head away was the only answer given, which made Izuku snicker, slightly glad to see that some things hadn't all changed altogether.

Looking back to his companion, Shoto continued the story, "After that, we started to hang out more, and eventually we started to date. We got married about two years ago and have been happy since."

"Ah, I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend," Izuku said with a sad look to his smile while Shoto gently shook his head.

"You were there, in spirit at least; we had put a placeholder for you, so technically, you were there."

That sobered Izuku's mood a little more, resting back against the chair again and now petting Mochi's back, "So, how is the rest of your family? Your Mom?"

"She is alright," Shoto said with a very gentle smirk on his lips, looking down towards the floor of the vehicle, "Currently, she is living with Fuyumi and assisting her with raising my niece."

"Oh! Your sister got married?"

Shoto gently nodded, reaching for the tablet to pull up some photos, "She started dating back when I was in my second year at UA and was married a year after that. Fuyumi gave birth about four years ago." The bi-coloured-haired man soon offered the tablet to Izuku, who gasped at the rather adorable family photo, consisting of practically all the members of the Todoroki's, but also Fuyumi's husband's family, which caught Izuku's interest when he saw one of his fellow classmates there.

"Isn't that Iida and his bro- Fuyumi married Tensei?" Izuku asked, which got a gentle nod from Shoto, who took back the tablet.

"Yes, Fuyumi and Tensei met one day at the hospital and hit it off pretty much. Tensei works as an advisor for the Ingenium agency now, second only to Tenya."

"Wow, so Tenya is your Brother-in-law, huh?"

"Yes, and Tensei has already dubbed me the 'fun' uncle, whatever that means." Shoto shrugged again with his usual monotone voice, making Izuku stifle a chuckle at the irony of Shoto being 'the fun one'.

"If I may ask, what about you?" Shoto asked with a raised eyebrow, "I know that you would have tried to get back home as soon as possible, but surely there was someone you had grown close to; you do have that way with people."

Izuku gently blushed, coughing slightly and clearing his throat as he looked back out the window, "I guess that's fair to ask with all my questions about you and Toru… No, there is no one back there for me." His emerald eyes looked back to his friend, "It's not like I didn't grow close to people, but my goal was always to get back to Japan."

Gently fidgeting with his scarred fingers, Izuku sighed gently, "I had offers, mind you, some from nobility and the like… even just to have my kids and continue my bloodline. But, that didn't feel right to me; if I was going to have a child with a woman, then I would want to help raise them and be a family, you know?"

"I get it, and while I cannot fault them for their ways, given I do not fully understand the way of life there, I had a feeling you would decide not to be a 'stud horse' for a new generation of hunters. And you decided to remain chaste until you returned to Japan?" Shoto asked nonchalantly, causing Izuku to choke on his spit and cough loudly.

"W-What?! N-no, not… exactly…" Izuku blushed heavily, tapping his fingers together and looking away, "L-Like I said, I grew close to people, and with how essence affected my body…" Izuku's cheeks grew red, and he waved his hands defensively, "B-But it was all consensual, and we took measures to prevent-... oh man…." He groaned and hid his face in his hands, clearly embarrassed for what he just revealed to his friend, a little worried about what Shoto now thought of him.

What Izuku didn't notice was Shoto reaching for his tablet and quickly sending a message to someone about how much cold soba they owed him now.

The elevator doors from the parking garage opened as both Shoto and Izuku stepped out from them. Izuku was carrying a large bag containing most of the gear he had worn during his fight, with the giant sledgehammer resting on his shoulder. Mochi was walking behind the pair, holding the rest of Izuku's gear, though they were the small bits, so it wouldn't be too heavy for the felyne.

Eventually, the trio walked into the main meeting room, where they could see everyone was still working, with the various heroes moving about and directing the operations for those out on the field, making Izuku smile brightly. A sudden gasp caught his attention as Ochako came into the room from behind them, having run down to one of the spare offices to grab some folders and such for Momo, "Deku!"

Turning around to greet his friend, only to be suddenly hugged tightly, making him drop his gear to the ground with an audible thud that caught everyone else's attention if they hadn't already heard Ochako's outcry. Izuku was a blushing mess, though the redness on his cheeks slowly started to turn a little purple as he was losing oxygen, "Ur-Uraraka! C-Can't! Breathe!"

Slowly letting go from her vice-like grip, only to get a light flick to his forehead from the gravity user, Izuku grunted as he rubbed the spot she had hit, "W-what was that for?"

"What do you think you were doing? You could have been hurt or worse!" Ochako shouted, bopping the folders against his chest, "You can't just rush out into danger like that, Deku!"

"Technically, she's not wrong." Shoto said from beside the pair, his monotone voice catching their attention, "You are a civilian now, Izuku; I don't think even your old provisional license would allow you to do any heroic work."

"O-oh… right…" Izuku was now looking embarrassed again, rubbing the back of his head once more, and then sighed. While he would know better, it had slipped his mind that his hero license from all those years ago would have been revoked after his supposed death. Even if that was the case, Izuku just couldn't stand by and do nothing when one of the many monsters from the other world just showed up and started to wreck his home or attack one of his friends.

"Be that as it may, unofficially, thank you for helping me take down that monster, Izuku." Shoto spoke up once more, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder in comfort, while Izuku turned his gaze towards the man and smiled.

"T-thanks, Shoto."

"Speaking of, what exactly WAS that thing? The drones either kept getting shot out of the sky by something, or the feed was fuzzy anytime we went near the fight." Kyoka spoke up from the large table with many holographic displays showing the others in the field assisting the civilians and trying to aid the reconstruction efforts from all the damage caused by the fight. As Kyoka transfixed her gaze on the green-haired hunter, Izuku reached from behind his back, pulled out a rather primitive-looking notebook, and started to flip through the pages to find the information he needed.

His former classmates tried to hide the chuckle at the fact that Izuku was still doing that, and even to this day, they still don't know how he did it.

"The monster is called a Zinogre; it's classified as a 'fanged wyvern,' but has the moniker of 'Lord of Lightning' or 'Spark of Blue.'" Izuku said as he turned the notebook around, showing off a rather detailed sketch of the whole monster, though there were more detailed sketches of the blown-up parts of the creature, "They are solitary hunters by nature, extremely aggressive, and will attack anyone or thing it believes to be an intruder in its territory."

"Hold on," Setsuna spoke up, as she had been one of the more eager ones to see the creature's picture, "You called this thing a 'wyvern', but those are just a sub-species of a dragon."

"Yeah, I was confused when I first heard about it myself; a lot of their classifications revolve around wyverns; the 'fanged' variety tends to have highly developed limbs and are very agile and fast." He handed the notebook towards Setsuna, who began to look through it with a few others and leaned over her shoulder, "Honestly, the variety of just the different kinds of wyverns I came across and learned about could take half a day just to barely scratch the surface… and then there are the other various beasts types-."

"OH MY GOD, THERE ARE DINOSAURS?!" the sudden exclamation that came from a wide-eyed and smiling Setsuna, turning the book over to show Izuku the page on one of the first monsters he ever came in contact with when he arrived in that odd world.

An Anjanath.

Izuku gently nodded to the questions he could see lingering in the other green-haired person's eyes, a slight smirk on his face, "A lot of the wyverns have dinosaur-like qualities; the Anjanath you're currently on the page of can breathe fire. While a variant I later came across could breathe out lightning and thunder." Izuku explained as Setsuna quickly turned the notebook around to try and find said dinosaur.

"Dude, what the hell kind of place was this?!" Kaminari shouted from his seat, continuing his duty of watching the surveillance drones, "And has anyone seen Mina yet? It's been two hours!"

"She wanted to check on Komori, so maybe she's helping her." Itsuka said from her own seat, "Now, can you please stop yelling? I'm trying to coordinate the comms here."

Everyone soon went back to Izuku's explanations of the monster, at which point they moved closer to show Momo, who was sitting near the head of the table, the detailed pages on the Zinogre and what exactly he and Shoto had faced, unbeknownst to those within the room, they would soon be dealing with another crisis.

Mina was smiling brightly; it had taken her a little more time than she thought it was going to, trying to find what she hoped was the look she was aiming for. Admittedly, when she first tried on the outfit, which was clearly meant for the curvy body of a woman, the pink-skinned heroine was ecstatic that it fit her.

Granted, It had to be "loosened" a bit for the top and the waist pieces.

While Komori did help her find some of the other parts that had apparently sunk down into the trunk, which in itself was mind-boggling, the mushroom sprouting woman had declined to wear one herself, even though they found that cute 'mage' outfit and Mina's constant pestering didn't win her over.

Regardless, if there was one thing on Mina's mind, it was how exactly did this protect anyone at all! While she did find the outfit cute, she couldn't see the practicality of it, considering her stomach and the upper parts of her legs were exposed as they were. Hell, the top could just be considered a bikini top with a metal brace underneath to support her girls.

At least the bottom didn't share the design choice of 'scaled swimsuit' and was at least a tight pair of cloth short-shorts, being covered up by the oddly 'caveman-esque' flaps of scaled leather down the front of her body with some more covering her hips and ass.

Just what was the person thinking when they designed this thing? At least she knew that Midori wouldn't be as brazen to do so himself.

At least, she hoped so, given it had been seven years in a pretty much under-developed world; who knows what else had changed about the former green-haired 'cinnamon-roll' of 1-A.

Of the parts of the getup she did like, however, what armor there was for the arms and legs fit snugly against her body, with the various bits of metallic armor underneath to reinforce the reddish-pink scaled leather that covered a good portion of what armor she had on. There was fur lining around some of the edges of the clothing, which had felt ticklish to her since the top part of the 'chest' piece was lined with it. But the one thing she had to leave behind was the headpiece, which looked like a crude version of a medieval European knight's helmet, sadly due to her horns.

Oh well, at least it came with a gorgeous cape that had a thick but puffy fur lining that was covering her shoulders quite a bit, almost similar to her own hero costume, funny enough. The cape itself was lined on the inside with relatively dense fur, while the outer part was covered in the scaled leather that dotted her outfit. Maybe it was made to make up for the lack of any real chest armor?

Also, the question lingering in the back of her mind was WHY Midori had so much female armor in that trunk?

But that wasn't the only thing on her mind, as she seemed to be sweating a bit as she and Komori began to walk down the stairs to 'central command' as nicknamed by some of the fellow agency members. Mina's breath was a little heavy as she huffed when she finally reached the bottom of the stairs; her nose twitched as she seemed to pick up the scent of something sweet in the air but could not quite figure it out yet. But Mina was on a mission to show off some of the really bizarro gear that the recently returned man had in his storage.

"Ashido… you don't look well… are you sure about this?" Kinoko had spoken up from behind her, the worry evident in her voice when the pink-skinned woman nearly tripped, and the much shorter heroine had to help stabilize her.

"I-I'm fine, shroomstar." Mina said gently, hoping for the cute nickname she had given Kinoko those years ago after a rather rambunctious sleepover during their second year, "Just gonna show off, then head back up and get changed… no biggie."

"OK, but I'll be right behind you. Just in case."

Mina smiled at the woman behind her before turning her gaze towards her destination and slowly making her way again, the scent getting stronger as she could hear the faintest of voices coming from beyond the door before her. With a slowly forming smile across her lips, and in her typical bombastic style, Mina pushed the doors open with a hard shove, catching everyone's attention as she shouted, "So! How do I-"

Darkness suddenly overcame her, her vision blurring instantly, and she began to fall forward. The shouts of her name started to be drowned out by the sudden white noise echoing in her ears until she felt something strong catch her and the sweet scent that she had found while coming down the stairs was much stronger now, filling her lungs and entire being and had she not been passing out currently…

She would have seized it for herself.

Izuku held his heavily breathing and sweating former classmate in his arms, having to use a small percent of One for All to catch Mina before she could fall flat on her face. He could hear her groan and push herself to his body, many of his other classmates either getting out of their chairs to watch while some of the others were right beside him; Ochako had been the first to arrive at his side, "Deku! What's wrong with her?"

"She's overwhelmed with all the essence from the gear flowing into her body." Izuku's response was quick as his emerald eyes turned to Kinoko, "Komori, how long has she been wearing this?"

"H-How long? U-Um… a-about an hour and a half?" Kinoko stuttered, the worried look on her face evident as she should have known better than to mess around with Izuku's things, but instead, she had been convinced by Mina.

Izuku nodded as he quickly stood up, taking Mina into his arms in a bridal style of carry that, if the woman was awake, she would have no doubt teased him about. Turning his head towards everyone else still at the main table, the look in his eyes with the same determined look in them that many of his former classmates remembered from years past, "Do you guys have a room where we can be quarantined? Something like if anyone in the agency gets hit by an unknown quirk?"

"The detox room?" Kaminari spoke up from where he was, "Uh, yeah, man, downstairs by the support studio."

"Hold on!" Ochako had spoken up, though worried about her co-worker. The blushes on her cheeks grew more rosy from the way Izuku had been holding Mina, "Why did you say 'we'?"

Izuku looked at his first friend at UA with a fierce look, his grip a little tighter on the woman in his arms, "It's hard to fully explain now, but we need to be quarantined now."

He spoke with a sudden ferocity to his voice that shook Ochako's core; the way he was looking at her also wasn't helping at making her knees a little weak before his gaze soon turned Komori once again, "Komori, did you wear ANY of the gear?"

"N-n-n-no!" She squeaked, also a little shaken by the tone of Izuku's voice, "I-I touched a few things and helped Mina put on that outfit; b-b-ut never put anything on!"

"OK, good, you are fine then, and I'm going to need your help to remove the armor from her when we get into the room." Izuku huffed, ignoring the growing blush on the mushroom woman's cheeks as he looked towards Momo, who was typing away at one of her keyboards, before turning her onyx-eyed gaze towards him.

"I have room two set up for you both; how long do you think you two will need to be quarantined?" The serious tone of the head of the agency spoke with an underlying bit of confusion as to what exactly was going on and would more or less be drilling him for all the information after this was all said and done.

"Three or four days, I need to make sure that the essence within her body is fully expelled before we can come back out." Izuku said as he turned towards Shoto, "Shoto, can you explain everything I told you about essence to everyone while I'm away?"

"Of course." the number one hero nodded, his ever-stoic face hiding his own worries for his two former classmates, especially since he would need to inform Toru that she wouldn't be able to get a hold of her best friend for a few days.

"Mochi, once the armor has been dropped outside of the quarantine room, put it and the Kushala Daora armor back in the trunk and guard it until I'm back, got it?"

"Sure thing, meowster!" The palico saluted Izuku before starting to gather the rather large bag, struggling a little as Izuku winced slightly.

"Erm… Shoto, could you help Mochi?" Izuku said, looking towards his friend, who silently nodded and went to help the feline. The green-haired man looked towards everyone else, a defeated smile on his lips, "Sorry about this, everyone, and I will explain everything once this is all over…" He then turned towards Kinoko, who had calmed down at this point, "Komori, can you show me to room two?"