Hey guys, so I heard some of you have issues keeping track of all the characters in this story.
I've been thinking of a solution to this problem, but that probably won't come for a while.
For now, I'd recommend using the T.V. Troups page for this story. It's not 100% complete but it does have all the characters.
Also, I'd like to thank the people making that page, from the bottom of my heart.
Anyway, onto the story.
"Are you ok?" Ren and Izuku were in Izuku's office, sitting on opposite couches once more.
"Honestly no, but I don't want to talk about it right now," Izuku sighed as he started chugging his coffee.
"You do realize this is therapy right?" Ren asked, taking a sip of his own coffee.
"I'll talk about it eventually just…please not right now," Izuku begged.
"It's fine, I'm not gonna force the matter, just wanted to remind you that this is a good place to get things off your chest," Ren told him.
"Thank you, I'll touch on this one day, just today," Izuku said, before finishing his decaf coffee. "Shall we get to the point?"
"If that's what you want." Ren took a few seconds to finish his own decaf coffee. "Then let's go."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Entering the Velvet Room, now that he knew what was happening, was a rather pleasant sensation.
He awoke at the bar, facing Lavenza who quickly gave him a polite bow.
"It's a pleasure to see you again Mr. Midoriya," Lavenza told him. "When we heard of the attack on your home, I was worried for your health. But it appears you are mostly intact. Although the stress seems to be negatively affecting you once more. But you seem to be handling it better than before."
"Thank you, and I appreciate the concern." Izuku bowed back. "I'm just glad we got through it all without anyone being killed."
"Things like that make me wish I could use my fighting abilities in the real world." Ren sighed.
"Same." Izuku chuckled. How useful Heracles would have been during that attack. "Speaking of which, sorry for not staying longer Lavenza, but I really would like to get to the palace."
"It's fine. There are many people who are more eager to get into the palace after their first experience." Lavenza explained, before motioning to the back door. "The palace is ready. Please remember not to rush through it. Even though this method, healing takes time."
Izuku nodded. "Right. Thank you."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Izuku and Ren were back in front of Aldrea and quickly entered through the gates.
All the shadows surrounding them on the outside avoid them.
"Now that they know, we can fight back, it seems the ones outside won't touch us," Ren noted as they strolled up to the school. "Typical of bullies."
"Without the teachers covering for them, they don't have any protection." Izuku sighed. "As if only it was that simple in real life…then again I never really tried to stick up for myself back then."
The two of them arrived at the front doors and took a moment to stop.
"Well, it's time to fix that," Ren told him. "Are you ready?"
"No," Izuku answered honestly. If he had it his way, he'd never enter through those doors again. But he needed to confront his trauma if he was ever going to move past it. "But let's get this over with anyway."
Ren and Izuku put their hands on the door, and pushed it open, before entering inside.
SLAMM!
The moment they went inside, the doors slammed behind them, with an almost deafening sound.
Ren turned around and tried to pull the door open, with a tug. "Looks like we can't go back through there."
"You said this place worked based on cognition right?" Izuku recalled. "Whenever I was here, I always felt like I was trapped here until school let out. So I guess that means we're stuck for…six hours."
"Perhaps," Ren said, turning back towards the school hallway. "But just in case we should keep looking for exits. Until then, stay on guard."
"Alright." Izuku agreed as the two made their way deeper into the school. "You said we were looking for my shadow, so where would it be?"
"I don't know, you tell me," Ren said. "It's your past and your cognition."
"Right." Izuku started thinking, as they turned around the corner in the hall. "And that would likely be-"
"Deku…"
Izuku froze, as a familiar voice made itself known.
They both looked down the hall and saw Bakugo Katsuki charging toward them, but this wasn't the real Bakugo obviously, it was a cognitive Bakugo, based on Izuku's view of Bakugo from back then.
Naturally, this led to this Bakugo looking more intimidating than normal. His eyes were pure red, and explosions danced on his palms, constantly. He was also way taller than the real Bakugo, standing tall over both Ren and Izuku.
"This was the guy you thought would make a good hero?" Ren asked Izuku.
"He doesn't look like this in real life!" Izuku defended. He himself was surprised by how Bakugo looked in his cognition. Considering that he didn't view Bakugo as a bad guy by any means. Then again, he always knew to fear Bakugo whenever he saw him at school, so perhaps this made sense.
"I heard you caused quite a ruckus out there Deku!" Cognitive Bakugo laughed, before charging at them. "Guess I need to put you back in your place!"
BOOM!
Cognitive Bakugo used his explosions and blasted himself toward the two of them.
Izuku froze. He wasn't scared of real-life Bakugo, because he knew if the blonde did anything to him, that would be the end of his hero career.
That was not the case for Cognitive Bakugo, and now he was starting to feel like he really was in Aldrea again.
Fortunately, Ren was there and managed to react in time. "Persona!"
Arsene came out and shot a ball of black fire at Cognitive Bakugo.
Cognitive Bakugo charged through the fireball and took no damage as he made his way toward them at an alarming rate.
"Shit!" Ren cursed, as he and Izuku dodged to the side.
KABOOM!
Cognitive Bakugo, hit the wall, causing it to explode, sending Ren and Izuku rolling, away across the ground.
"Agh," Izuku grunted in pain, as he and Ren stood back up, while Cognitive Bakugo walked out of the hole he created in the wall, and stared the two of them down.
Ren summoned a handgun and started opening fire on Cognitive Bakugo.
The bullets bounced off Bakugo's skin, doing absolutely nothing to him.
"Heracles!" Izuku shouted out, summoning Heracles behind him, who then rushed at Bakugo in order to attack him.
Heracles raised his weapon to strike Cognitive Bakugo…only for Cognitive Bakugo to fire off two massive explosions at Heracles, engulfing the Persona entirely.
The muscled persona was launched back, and Ren barely managed to pull Izuku out of the way, to keep Heracles from crushing him.
Heracles hit the school door, and slumped against it, before vanishing.
"Alright, I'd say that's our cue to leave," Ren said.
"How! My cognition won't let us leave?!" Izuku asked a bit freaked out that Cognitive Bakugo seemed to be invincible.
"True, but what do you think is stronger. However, there's such thing as a cognitive contradiction." Ren explained as he got into the middle of the hall. "Watch. Hey, super pissed pomeranian! Come and get me!"
"What was that!?" Cognitive Bakugo shouted as he emerged from the smoke, staring right at Ren. "I'll kill you!"
With that, Ren started running towards the door, and Cognitive Bakugo unleashed another explosion behind him, to launch himself at Ren.
Ren was a few feet from the door when Cognitive Bakugo caught up, but just when Cognitive Bakugo was raising his hand forward to unleash another explosion, Ren summoned Arsene.
KABOOM!
Cognitive Bakugo unleashed a massive explosion from his hand, that blew through the door, tearing the doors off their hinges and sending Ren flying through the opening.
Ren flew through the air, as bits of the barrier he had summoned at the last minute floated around him before vanishing completely.
The therapist flipped through the air in an overly flashy style, before landing on his feet.
"It worked!" Izuku gasped, looking at the now open entrance/exit. A cognitive contradiction…I guess my idea of the school being unescapable clashed with my idea of Bakugo being strong. I guess Bakugo couldn't be strong if he couldn't destroy a door.
"Come back here you bastard!" Cognitive Bakugo fired an explosion at Ren, who dodged by jumping back.
"Midoriya it's time we took out leave don't you think." Ren took out a grappling hook and shot it at Cognitive Bakugo.
The hook wrapped around Cognitive Bakugo, and Ren flung him to the left, sending him into the air, and out of Izuku's way.
"Grrrrrr! DIE!" Cognitive Bakugo shouted as he blasted himself toward Ren once again.
While Ren distracted Cognitive Bakugo, Izuku ran through the door and quickly made his way towards the gate.
Once Izuku reached the exit, he turned back towards Ren and Cognitive Bakugo. "Heracles! Make some cover!"
Heracles appeared in front of Izuku, and quickly raised his weapon up into the air, before slamming it down.
SLAM!
The attack smashed into the ground, causing it to shake and rumbled, as well as creating a massive cloud of smoke and rubble.
"Gah! Deku! Where the fuck are you and that masked loser!" Cognitive Bakugo shouted.
Meanwhile, Ren started running towards the exit, before stopping once he reached Izuku. "Good work. Let's go."
With that, the two ran away from the school, exiting the palace.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ren and Izuku were back in the real world, sitting on the couches once again.
"Well, it appears we've reached, a cognitive roadblock," Ren explained now that the two were settled back into reality. "To explain, a cognitive roadblock is something in your cognition, which prevents you from resolving your issues. Taking the form in the cognitive world, as an overwhelming oppressive obstacle. In this case, the blonde boy."
"Katsuki Bakugo." Izuku sighed. "I always thought he was strong. The strongest even. I don't think he's THE strongest anymore, but I still consider him VERY strong…I didn't think I thought he was that strong though."
"I'd be easy to just tell you he's not invincible, but that's likely not going to work." Ren sighed. "We're going to have to deal with this, with same some plain old fashion therapy. During our next session. I apologize for not getting much done today."
"It's fine. Like Lavenza said, these things take time." Izuku pointed out, leaning back into the couch.
Ren smiled. "Thank you, for being understanding."
Meanwhile, outside the office, Yonda was listening in, with a massive smirk on her face. So all I need to do to help father is show him how pathetic Bakugo is. Oh, this will be fun.
With that, Yonda ran all the way back to her room, before taking out her phone and texting Mineta.
"Change of plans. I'm going to need some additional favors." She texted.
"I'm going to hate this aren't I?" Mineta texted back.
"I need you to have Bakugo Katsuki, humiliated in battle." Yonda texted. "I don't care how you do it, just make sure it happens. And make sure to record it, and send it to me."
"Come on! Bakugo's one of the strongest people in class how am I supposed to do that!?" Mineta texted back. "Isn't the video I gave you enough! People will be pointing and laughing at him for a while already! What if he finds me out! Do you have any idea what he'd do to me!?"
"Is it as bad or worse than what I'll do to you?" Yonda replied.
There was a brief pause before Mineta responded. "I'll do it. But you have to promise me you'll give me more of those dirty books Midoriya confiscates from the library."
"Good boy. Don't worry, I'll make sure you get your treat after you perform your trick." Yonda giggled manically.
She got to hurt someone she hated, and help her father. What a wonderful day today was.
It's time to pick on Bakugo again! Don't worry I won't be picking on him forever. Eventually, he will grow. But growth is painful, and this case, entertaining.
Anyway, please review and have a nice day.
