AN: Sorry about how long the update took. I can now unfortunately say through fist hand experience that getting hit in the face with an airbag SUCKS.
Shards of Power
Chapter 7
-Izuku-
Cracking his neck, Izuku finished putting on the pieces to his costume. He'd tried going as best he could with the 'Frankenstein' theme but wasn't about to run around shirtless to show his scars. Not only was he still not all that comfortable with people looking at them yet, but he didn't want to scare kids with them.
"Izuku, are you ready?" Mizo stretched, getting used to the armored Viking like outfit, following the culture most associated with 'The Kraken' for his own costume.
"Yeah." He nodded, the two of them stepping out alongside the rest of their classmates, Izuku doing his best not to look at some of their outfits even if just to keep his face from turning permanently red. Stepping into the 'control room' for the days lesson, he noted Nejire-Chan standing beside All Might, along with her classmate and Mizo's new mentor, Suneater.
"Hello Zygotes!" All Might laughed boisterously, Izuku noting a hastily tucked away script still peeking out of the Number One's pocket, "And welcome to your first practical Heroics lesson! As you've no doubt noticed, we have two guests with us today. These are two of the top three students from UA's third year classes and they'll be joining us from time to time when they have free periods lining up with your hero training. This is due to the fact that they're the mentors to young Midoriya and young Shoji." He nodded to Izuku and Mizo.
"Hey hey!" Nejire waved happily, Tamaki doing his best to hide behind her.
"Daaaaaamn!" Mineta growled, "Midoriya, first you get x-rays and now her!" Mineta's eyes were locked on Nejire's form fitting costume which he hadn't seen before "Curse you, you lucky bastard!" that comment had Tamaki actually stop looking scared for a moment to give Mineta a look that had the purple haired midget whimpering.
"Yes…well…" All Might coughed, seemingly unsure how to handle this situation, "For today's lesson we'll be helping you all dip your toes into teamwork, planning, and combat! The scenario is going to be a simple one." All Might pointed to a screen that lowered down at his command, showing little stick figures "You're all going to be divided into groups of two, and each match will be one group against another." All Might nodded.
"One group will be the 'Villains'." Nejire took a dramatic pose at that, clearly having fun hamming it up, "Their job is going to be to defend a bomb from the Hero's coming to stop them."
"I-I-if the Hero's capture the v-villians or touch the bomb. T-t-then they win." Suneater stuttered, pointedly not meeting any of their eyes and hiding his face within his hood, "V-v-v-v-v-villain team wins if they h-hold out for the time p-period or capture the h-heroes."
"And one last thing." All Might took over again to give poor Tamaki a break, "Neither side, whether hero or villain, can do any actions that would set the bomb off should it be real. Now, everyone come up one by one to draw a letter from this bag!" All Might jiggled the fabric "Once everyone has theirs, find whoever shares the same letter as you, then we'll announce who's going up against who."
Nodding, Izuku stepped forward, drawing out the letter 'I', "How ironic." He snorted, moving against the wall to wait for everyone else to draw.
"I have the letter 'A'." Mizo commented as he stood beside Izuku, everyone starting to pair up.
"I got 'I'." Izuku shook his head, disappointed that he wasn't with his best friend in the class.
"Then it would seem we are partners today." The tired monotone voice of Todoroki had Izuku turn, seeing the heterochromatic student holding up a marble identical to Izuku's.
"I shall go find my own partner." Mizo nodded before departing, leaving Izuku with Todoroki.
"And the first match, will be team I as the heroes, and team J as the villains!" All Might called out as Izuku glanced up, seeing his face beside Todoroki's on the screen, along with the faces of their opponents, Bakugo and Ashido.
"Alright Zygotes, get moving!" All Might laughed as the four of them were taken to their training location, Bakugo and Ashido sent inside with a bomb to hide, five minutes remaining before they could go in.
"Well, this will be an interesting match." Izuku muttered as he observed the building, "If it wasn't for the rule about moves that could set the bomb off then you could have just frozen the whole building."
"Yes, that would have made things go faster." Todoroki nodded, the half of his face Izuku could see deadpan, "Would your x-ray quirk be able to locate the bomb?"
"Once the match properly starts and it wouldn't be considered cheating? Easily." Izuku shrugged, "I will say that Bakugo is likely to try and come for me, assuming he hasn't changed since we were kids."
"You knew of him before UA?" Todoroki looked mildly curious, but it was likely just to find more advantage for this fight.
"He…we went to school together back when everyone thought I was quirkless." Izuku grimaced, "He was a bully and thought having a strong quirk guaranteed he was the next number one and that he could treat everyone with a weaker quirk or no quirk however he liked." He never noticed Todoroki's face darkening with every word he spoke "I don't know how he's changed since then, or if he has. But if his attitude is the same then he has a short temper and a massive ego."
"Good to know." Todoroki's arctic tone had him glance over in confusion.
"Still, his sweat is similar to nitroglycerin so he can make explosions and Ashido makes acid which would eat through ice. We'll have to handle this smart."
"You're positive Bakugo will come for you by himself?" Todoroki questioned.
"Eighty percent sure." Izuku shrugged, "Like I said, I haven't seen him in years."
"We stick together." Todoroki nodded, "I can freeze the hallway he finds us in as that wouldn't set off the bomb and you mentioned before that being frozen wouldn't hurt you."
"Yeah, if anything it'd help as I would start healing from anything Bakugo would be able to do." Izuku nodded "So we take him out together then move on to deal with Ashido?" Todoroki nodded just as All Might gave the signal to begin.
Eyes snapping toward the building, Izuku activated his quirk, "Second to last floor, last room on the right after the stairs." Izuku found the bomb quickly, "And yep, Bakugo's already charging out of there, leaving Ashido behind."
"Fool." Todoroki scoffed, surprising Izuku with the sudden amount of disdain the ice user had for Bakugo. Moving to the door, they loudly threw it open, not bothering to hide where they were. They wanted Bakugo to find them after all.
"He's almost here." Izuku had kept his x-ray vision on Bakugo the whole time, keeping track through the walls as the mad bomber practically flew at them, "Almost…now!" At his signal, Todoroki flash froze the hallway, ice glistening from the walls, floor, and ceiling as the cold air hit like a physical wave. With his resistance, Todoroki seemed fine, and Izuku felt better than ever thanks to 'Cryostasis'.
Bakugo on the other hand, "Fuck!" the furious blond snarled, "Fuck you half-n-half! This is between me and Deku!"
"Thunderclap and Flash!" Izuku called out the technique, shooting forward with hardened fists as Bakugo had to rapidly propel himself out of the way, almost getting frozen to the wall on impact when Todoroki added a second layer to his existing ice.
"Fuck off!" Bakugo snarled, struggling to focus on both of them attacking him from different angles in tandem while also dealing with the extreme cold of the frozen hallway.
"No." Todoroki sent a wave of ice at Bakugo who had to rapidly use both hands to fire explosions, lest he be frozen and trapped in the ice. Unfortunately, for him, this left Bakugo to being hit from behind by Izuku who slammed into him just as the ice stopped, the tape being brought out of his 'inventory' to tie up the blond bomber.
"Bakugo is captured!" All Might's voice filled their earpieces as the blond went limp from shock as some robots came in, dragging Bakugo out of the frozen hallway.
"Come on, Ashido and the bomb haven't moved." Izuku took off to the stairs, Todoroki keeping pace with him as they found the pink skinned girl waiting, a fistful of acid eating through the ice Todoroki sent her way.
"Todoroki, freeze the ground." Izuku shouted, leaping up as he began to float, Todoroki icing the ground over as Ashido began to scramble, trying to keep her balance on the frozen surface. Charging forward alongside Todoroki who was sliding on the ice, Izuku's forearms turning a glistening black as he hardened them to power through Ashido's diluted acid.
"Oh, come on!" Ashido groaned when she saw her acid didn't affect him at all, Todoroki running past them both to reach the bomb while Izuku kept Ashido occupied.
"The Bomb has been captured, heroes win!" All Might declared as Izuku let out a whoop, Todoroki even giving the barest hint of a smirk as he thawed out the frozen floor.
"Good work today partner." Izuku grinned, holding his fist out for a fist bump to Todoroki who, after a moment, returned the gesture awkwardly.
-Shoto-
Closing the front door behind him, Shoto stepped into the large entryway of the Todoroki household, noting his father's shoes weren't there so he wasn't back yet.
"Hey Shoto!" Fuyumi noted his return from the nearby kitchen, smiling as she continued to cook "How was school?"
"It was…interesting." He admitted, sitting at the counter by his sister as he brought out his textbooks to get started on his homework. After their team had won, with All Might admitting he couldn't figure out who between Shoto and Midoriya would be the MVP, the next groups had gone up. Only a few had caught his attention, one of them being Shoji for the sole reason of Midoriya's connection with the large tentacled teenager. Shoji had gone up against Ojiro and Sato, fighting the both of them by himself while his partner, Hagakure, ran on ahead to find the bomb.
"…I believe I have found my rivals." He decided as Fuyumi looked torn between happiness for him and concern.
"O-oh?" she cautiously probed for more.
"Yes. In fact, one of them has multiple quirks. Including that of Great Uncle Haku." Todoroki sipped the tea that Fuyumi gave him with a grateful nod.
"…Heh?"