Chapter 9
The Avatar has been lost for millennia after the death of Korra, with the art of bending forgotten to ancient scrolls. In an age of quirks, watch as Izuku becomes the new Avatar and brings back the art of bending in his hero academia.
Sorry, the chapter is so late. I really struggled with writing the battles especially considering the Deku battle was honestly lacklustre in my opinion. If anyone has ideas about why the battle sucked, please can you tell me. It would really help me improve my battle writing which is important in a fanfiction like this where action scenes are the lifeblood of the story. I really don't know how stories like True Potential manage to write 20k fight scenes. I really recommend True Potential which is a Naruto story. It is epic and written beautifully. Several ANs mention that he had to split the chapter because it was too long.
Absolute legend.
Anyway, hopefully, these battles are better though you may find them a bit short.
Pirohiko-Baltazar: Yes there will be subtypes of bending because I think it is cool and I want Izuku to develop in that direction. While Izuku is limited by not having a proper teacher, he is also more free as he also doesn't know the rules and limits of bending. One subtype that I can 1000% say he won't get is combustion bending. I feel like combustion benders are born and the subtype can't be learnt. Plus it detracts from Bakugo who will be used in this story.
AbyssDragonslayer777: Simple answer, no. The complex answer of what actually happened will transpire over many chapters. What Raava did ties into an overarching theme I am trying to incorporate. However, there will be a scene in the next chapter about it.
xxblakexx27: Thank you for telling me about the fight scene. Yh I wasn't really satisfied by it. I kinda think it was far too serious considering there was no real tension in the fight. That is something I plan to fix. However, instead of just flaming it, can you please give some advice on what I could do to improve on it and battle scenes in general. In regards to One for All's use, I think I've dropped enough hints about it so I'm sorry if you don't see what I'm trying to get at. But don't worry, more will be revealed as I progress through the story. You readers are basically like Deku, knowing nothing about the connections I'm trying to make. So as Deku learns, so do you :)
Enjoy the chapter!
Katsuki's face was set in a scowl as he trudged in front of Momo towards the building where they would protect the rocket. Momo clearly sensed the blonde teen's mood as she stayed quiet throughout the walk.
Katsuki hefted the rocket on his shoulder as he focused on the source of his anger with a vicious intensity.
That damn nerd.
Deku had grown leaps and bounds within one year and looking back at his last year at that useless excuse for a middle school, Katsuki could only feel irritation at how he had wasted it rather than improving his own skills.
He had always been the stronger of the two and even after Deku had gotten his quirk, he had not been worried about losing that position. Not at all. Katsuki glowered as he thought about his feelings at the time.
"Bakugo. What's the plan?" Momo's voice interjected. Katsuki scowled back at her in irritation at the interruption before turning back at her look of no nonsense.
"We'll hide the rocket on the top floor. Then we intercept them and blast the two extras." Momo opened her mouth to voice her objection but by that point, the blonde had already walked inside the building causing Momo to let out a sigh of frustration at her teammate's lack of teamwork.
Meanwhile, Katsuki walked up the stairs with a determined expression set on his face. The question was no longer 'How did Deku get so strong?' but rather 'How strong did Deku become?' He had been hoping to prove it by defeating Deku in this battle trial, but since they were not in the same battle, he would prove his strength by crushing the hero team instead.
Minoru grumbled as he wadd- walked to the front of the building he and Toru would be investigating. There were only six girls in the class. And even after having the luck of acquiring a female partner, out of all of them, he had to be paired with the invisible girl!
Honestly, when he had first heard that he would be paired with a girl that wasn't Jiro, he was ecstatic. His efforts to get into the hero course were already paying off! He would be able to admire the curves of aspiring female heroes up close. But then, he looked at the girl only to realise he couldn't see anything apart from the hands!
He felt cheated.
In her school uniform, Toru looked good. There was something tantalising about the way the uniform hugged her body, but he had never realised that her hero costume would have no clothing besides gloves. And even then, the gloves were a blue-grey colour that blended well with the urban setting. Sure, this was the closest he had been to a naked woman, but what was the point if he couldn't see or admire it. Even Jiro would've been better!
However, after a second thought, he realised he still preferred the invisible girl over the flat earphone jack user.
"So, how do you want to fight against Bakugo and Yaoyorozu?" Toru's voice sounded from somewhere around him and the purple haired teen whirled around before he spotted the grey glove casually waving at him.
Minoru scowled. Bakugo was so lucky to have the busty goddess that was Yaoyorozu on his team. He had almost complained to the blonde about that fact, but after remembering the way Bakugo scowled at him during his introduction, he realised it probably wasn't a very wise idea. Still, it was clear to the purple-haired teen that the explosion user in no way appreciated how lucky he was.
"What's the point? We can't win against them! They were in the top3 for the Quirk test yesterday!" Minoru complained.
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't try." Toru shot back. "You can restrain the two using your sticky balls and I can sneak past them and touch the rocket."
'Sticky balls…' Minoru giggled perversely in his mind. He had purposefully described the spheres on his head as sticky balls, and he was right. It was funny to hear girls talk about his sticky balls.
However, he honestly didn't think his plan would work. Surely the villain team would make traps to reveal his teammate's position. Whatever. Minoru didn't really care if they won or not. He just wanted to be able to cop a feel of Yaoyorozu. That was his mission.
He smiled creepily as the bell sounded and the hero team entered the building.
As soon as the bell sounded, Katsuki started to head down the stairs, intent on finishing the battle as quickly as possible.
"Wait! Maybe I should stay with the rocket in case one of them gets past you." Momo commented. Katsuki scoffed internally. Like he would let one of them get past him.
"Do what you want." And with that, he left Momo to defend the top floor while he walked down the stairs.
He continued down for a few floors till he was on the sixth floor. Katsuki would've gone down another floor, but his instincts told him to stop. Someone was watching him. A subtly noise caught his attention and without hesitation, he fired an explosion to his left.
The yelp that followed didn't fail to light a savage grin on his face. He quickly followed up by firing an explosion angled low towards the ground. As he predicted, he heard a slight thump which would be Invisigirl falling to the ground. He frowned as he realised that the battle was already over. The Hero team was weak. It wasn't even worth it to knock them out.
As he walked to finish off the invisible girl, a purple ball flew towards the blonde from the side. Katsuki just noticed it in his periphery and managed to jump back to dodge it. Unfortunately, as he dodged back, he noticed another purple ball stuck to the ground too late and his foot ended up being stuck to it as well. Katsuki growled in annoyance and turned to the boy, whose smugness far outdid his stature.
"Well, well, well. Look how the mighty have fallen." Minoru boasted. "The third highest in yesterday's test being bested by the third lowest." By now, Toru had gotten up, breath shaky after the sudden explosion that had been thrown her way. She winced slightly as she put pressure on her feet.
"Thanks, Mineta."
"No problem babe." Minoru casually said to the invisible, naked girl. Of course, he was looking in the wrong direction when he said this. Toru resisted the urge to slap the boy for a moment, instead, moving carefully to restrain the explosion quirk user who she could see was turning slightly red in ager at her teammate's taunts. Only one ball was restraining Katsuki, and Toru simply didn't think that it would be enough.
And she would be right. After all, Katsuki wasn't just going to sit idly by.
"Did you two fucks really think you could take me on!" And with a roar, Katsuki unleashed his biggest explosion yet, destroying the section of concrete below the ball, thus freeing the boy. He then leapt forward a surprising distance – considering the chunk of concrete weighing him down – grabbing the purple-haired boy, who had gotten too close during his gloating and threw him against the wall.
Unfortunately, at least not for Minoru, Katsuki ended up throwing the short boy straight into the invisible girl. Somehow, having a sixth sense in this situation, Minoru wasted no time and tried to grope the poor girl. However, Toru had yelped and moved to slap him as soon as he had been thrown into her, not willing to take any chances with the perverted boy.
This was the last straw for Katsuki. While it was easy to get on Katsuki's bad side, it was difficult to get on his shit list. And after less than two days, Katsuki had had enough of the Grape's perverted tendencies.
Katsuki grabbed the flailing boy from mid-air, firing off an explosion for good measure. He then proceeded to pivot using his explosions before slamming him into the ground, knocking him out instantly. Katsuki smirked at the sight and even Toru released a sigh of relief. He would've liked to simply throw the Grape out the window, but he was already on probation. Maybe in a few months
Needless to say, Minoru had to go to Recovery Girl once the battle trial ended less than half a minute later.
Momo frowned at not having done anything in the fight. Sure, her team had won, but she didn't feel like she deserved the victory since she had done nothing except booby traps the top floor for three minutes before All Might announced that the battle was over.
"Hey, are you alright?" Toru whispered, startling the raven-haired girl from her thoughts. Momo sighed quietly and opened her mouth to lie, but as she looked to her right where she could see the gloves of the invisible girl, she thought better and told her honest opinions.
"No, not really. I would've liked to do more. I was completely useless in the fight." She sighed despondently.
"No, no!" Toru waved her hands frantically. It's our fault for not putting up a good fight. We couldn't even get past Bakugo to where you were."
"Still. Instead of going with Bakugo, I stayed with the rocket." Momo looked to the ground.
Toru placed a hand on Momo's shoulder, causing the two of them to stop. "You had a better plan. If one of us had managed to sneak past Bakugo and you weren't guarding the rocket, we would've won! Don't beat yourself up over it. It's only the first day. We all will have plenty of opportunities to improve." Momo brightened up at the words of encouragement. "And anyways, Bakugo was a lot stronger than I realised."
Momo nodded emphatically at those words. "Yes. I was surprised that he managed to defeat you two so quickly, especially since you are invisible."
Toru was about to respond before realising that Katsuki had simply walked on ahead and they were lagging far behind. "Come on. We're holding up the class." Momo nodded and the two of them proceeded to jog towards the control room where the rest of the class was.
At least Minoru was unconscious and didn't see that sight.
The two girls walked in to see All Might lightly 'reprimanding' Bakugo for his ferocity in the last match.
"Young Bakugo, I commend you for your performance in the last match. You played the role of villain marvellously and you will clearly be a strong hero. However, there is something equally as important to pure strength. This is something everyone should take to heart." All Might gazed around the class with a serious expression. "In order to be a strong hero, you must present your kindness to those in need."
All the students were hanging on to what he had said with wide eyes, a fact that All Might picked up on. 'Whew! That actually turned out as well as it did in my head.' His eyes narrowed slightly. 'I may need to have a word with Mineta if he did try to do what I think towards the end of the match.'
Katsuki's eyes twitched slightly at All Might's proclamation, and he resisted the urge to mention Endeavor's name to the class. After all, Endeavor was famous for being unkind, often appearing uncaring to the general public. Yet he had made his way to the number 2 spot in Japan and was likely one of the strongest heroes in the world.
However, Katsuki wasn't naïve. He knew that Endeavor was the anomaly of the current top 10 pro heroes of Japan. While the top 10 heroes all had their different personalities, only Endeavor ever seemed uncaring.
He scowled slightly before making his way back to his spot in the back of the class as All Might announced that the hero and villain teams of the 3rd battle make their way to the battle site.
"Hey." Katsuki gave no visible indication that he had heard what Toru had said and after a brief few seconds of silence, she decided to simply say what was on her mind. "Thank you for stopping Mineta from doing anything during the battle." Bakugo still kept silent, so Toru decided to move away.
"I won't help you next time so you better fucking learn how to do it yourself." Katsuki said. The truth was he didn't really need a reason to teach a lesson to the perverse classmate.
Toru stuck out a tongue at the blunt blonde, not that he could see it. As a matter of fact, no one could see the girl's tongue, a fact that she knew well.
That didn't stop her from doing it though.
'Bakugo is strong.' Thoughts of the last battle filtered through Shoto's mind. Given how he had reacted initially to the hero team's presence told him that Bakugo had great battle instincts. They were likely as good as his own which was highly impressive given that Shoto's battle instincts were metaphorically – and even in some cases physically – beaten into him by Endeavor.
"BEGINNNN!"
Just thinking about that man filled Shoto with anger and slammed his hand against the wall of the building in frustration. Ice exploded out from between his fingers covering the entire exterior and interior of the building in a layer of ice. Mezo's eyes widened at the sheer volume and speed of ice that the dual-haired boy and the multi-armed boy took a step back as a sudden wave of cold hit him.
"Woah!" Mina exclaimed. This was a sentiment shared by many in the class. Even All Might was stunned by the strength the boy possessed.
Katsuki grinned as he saw the display of power. He would relish the opportunity to fight 'Icy Hot' and put the son of the number 2 hero in his place thus proving his superiority.
Meanwhile, Izuku was thinking carefully as he wrote in his notebook. It had embarrassingly taken him longer than it should have to recognise that Shoto Todoroki was the son of the number 2 hero. Even then, Izuku had been shocked by the scale of the ice attack he had used. The craziest thing was that it didn't seem to debilitate him in any way. Sure, he was looking through a camera, but Izuku could see no signs of fatigue.
Endeavor's strength was well known throughout the world and Izuku could only imagine that Shoto's fire would be just as powerful if not more so given the general principle that quirks became stronger with each generation. However, it was surprising to Izuku that he hadn't heard of a strong ice quirk user.
A trait that was common among the top heroes was secrecy and Endeavor had certainly kept his home life quite secretive. And of all of the family members, the identity of his wife was a mystery. Still, given that Endeavor possessed a fire quirk, Shoto must've inherited his ice from his mother.
Izuku smiled at learning a new piece of Hero facts.
"Now we can just touch the rocket. The villain team are frozen in place." Mezo could only nod dumbly and follow the heterochromatic up through the building.
Once they were close to the top floor, Shoji heard something using the ear on one of his arms. "One of them is coming towards us. They must've broken through the ice trapping them."
"Which direction?"
Mezo took a few seconds to carefully listen before responding. "He's coming from the right side."
"Stay back." Shoto simply said. Mezo nodded and stepped back slightly to avoid coming in Shoto's way.
It didn't take long before Shoto could hear a crashing sound indicating the approaching villain. He tensed, preparing to unleash his ice quickly. There was a crash as Rikido burst out from a nearby wall in an attempt to surprise the hero team.
Unfortunately, the heroes were ready for him. As the debris crashed near the heroes, Shoto responded by sending a wave of ice at the bulked-up teen. The ice was too swift for the teen to dodge and quickly reached Rikido and covered him up to his shoulder before he could react.
Rikido grunted as he was brought to a sudden halt. "You don't think this will actually hold me, do you?" Rikido laughed as he started to flex and struggle, and the ice rapidly began to crack. Shoto scowled and was about to fire some more ice, but Mezo moved before him. Mezo leapt forward and swiftly wrapped Rikido in the capture tape.
One villain was captured.
The hero team then climbed the last two floors at which point, Shoto decided the battle had gone on long enough. He used his ice to propel himself through several rooms before coming to the room with the rocket. There was a flash of motion in the corner of his eye, but Shoto just ignored it, leaping off the ice and skidding to a stop right next to the rocket at which point he calmly placed his hand against its metallic surface signifying the end of the battle.
Denki was clearly very annoyed by the outcome of the battle. "Oh, man! I didn't get a chance to show what I can do. I almost had you at the end too!" Denki ranted in annoyance. However, Shoto simply ignored the boy and turned to the nearest wall where he proceeded to melt all the ice, he had created using his left side.
Shoto was quite obviously declared MVP.
The man grinned as he sat in the darkness, the presence of his pawn coming closer. "Ah, Kuro! You've returned." All for One spoke softly as he turned around slowly in his chair to face the young adult.
The man wore a mask that resembled a black panther with whiskers and long, white fangs protruding from the mouth. There were two small gaps to reveal the glowing, green irises of his eyes that stood out in the darkness. Behind the mask, it was clear that the man's face was abnormal due to the shape of the head and the very real panther ears pointing out from above the mask. A veritable mane of black hair fell from his head to his shoulders. His movements were practically silent and almost animalistic.
He was one of his seven generals. The seven Gates to Hell. After his supposed demise 5 years ago, he had cut contact with all but two of them, only leaving the rest with individual orders so to keep his survival a secret. This decision was one that took time to convince him of. Each Gate had a code name and a designated role. Kuro was the assassin, code name: Yurei.
"Did the mission go as planned?" All for One's voice possessed a different timbre to it. A deeper quality coloured his voice as his eyes glowed red. "Come. Give it to me." Vaatu said impatiently.
Kuro immediately responded as a shadowy creature burst from his chest, landing on the ground with a thud. Unlike a normal panther, this spirit had 4 red slits for eyes and was of a purple-blue colour. The spirit seemed to glow with power, brightening the room up. It walked forward - though its tail remained connected to Kuro's chest – and began to rub its cheek and purr, almost affectionately, against Vaatu's hand.
However, Vaatu had no interest in pleasantries and proceeded to grip the sides of the panther's head with both hands. Kuro grimaced in pain as Vaatu started to chuckle. Vaatu slowly started to absorb the power from the spirit. The more power Vaatu stole, the dimmer the spirit became, and the more pain Kuro felt.
After five minutes, Kuro began screaming and Vaatu grudgingly removed his host's hands from the boy. Kuro collapsed to the ground, hardly having the strength to stand up. Meanwhile, the panther spirit seemingly evaporated as it returned to Kuro.
Vaatu laughed. "Thank you, child, for the spiritual energy." The red glow faded from his eyes as All for One took the reins again. He turned around in his chair and Kuro dragged himself up to his feet and prepared to leave. "Why don't you check up on your brother. He'll have joined U.A. in the time you were away. You can go with Tomura tomorrow on his mission to infiltrate U.A. Begin the process of bringing him to our side. After all, having another Tokoyami could only prove beneficial to us."
Kuro gave no indication that he had heard the man, but as he turned around, he frowned, the first voluntary emotion he displayed since he had entered the building. 'I hope you're ready, brother.'
As he walked away, All for One grinned once more. Everything was going to plan. In the deep recesses of his mind, Vaatu chuckled sinisterly. 'The time of Harmonic Convergence is close at hand. As does the time of my rule, Raava!'
It had been five minutes now. Fumikage and Koji had just been silent the entire time, waiting for the other to say something. Fumikage had been stoically staring straight at the animal whisperer, but Koji had only met his eyes once throughout the entire interaction, instead opting to nervously gaze around everywhere.
Fumikage realised that the boy was very shy, especially considering how he had introduced himself in the morning using a whiteboard and writing on it instead of speaking. "Can you talk to some birds to check which floor the villains are hiding the rocket on?" Fumikage asked.
Koji nervously gave a short nod and Fumikage gave a small smile in an attempt to encourage the shy boy. And it seemed to have worked if the slight relaxing of his shoulders was any indication.
"BEGIN!"
Fumikage nodded to Koji and turned his back to let the boy work peacefully. He heard some short mumblings before there was a brief pause. Fumikage suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. Fumikage turned around and Koji held up 10 fingers. "So, they're on the last floor?" Koji nodded in response. The bird he had sent to spy hadn't seen the rocket itself. Hanta and Tsuyu had been smart enough to keep it out of view from outside. However, the bird had seen the villain pair moving around.
"Ok, come on. I'll go first." Koji nodded again and the two entered the building. As they travelled up, Fumikage summoned Dark Shadow. Fumikage placed a finger on his lips just before the impish spirit could talk. Dark Shadow nodded, a woeful expression on his face from not being able to talk. However, Fumikage just carried on, knowing the spirit was just acting.
Some mumbling behind the bird-head teen drew him to a stop. Fumikage turned around to see Koji talking to the same bird as earlier causing some confusion with the teen.
Upon finishing his talk with the bird, Koji took his whiteboard and quickly scribbled something on it: They are on this floor, two rooms over. Fumikage was surprised by the foresight but nodded his thanks. "I'll go in first and draw their attention. You come after me and try to capture one of the villains." Koji had a bit of a frightened expression on his face. He was a bit uncomfortable with having such a responsibility, but he didn't verbalise – or rather, write – it, instead, nodding shakily in agreement.
However, Tsuyu had noticed the bird earlier outside the window. She had thought it odd since there were hardly any birds in the whole city but didn't think too much of it. So, when she saw the same bird inside the building on a lower floor, she quickly realised that the bird wasn't here by coincidence and that Koji must be using it to spy on them. They had to act quickly, or they would lose the element of surprise.
"Come on, Sero. We must trap them before they surprise us." Hanta was a bit confused as to why they were suddenly going on the offensive considering they had originally planned to defend. He had booby trapped the top floor by placing his tape in all the corridors leading to the room where the rocket was kept. He had wanted to booby trap the stairs as well, but after placing his tape in the corridors, he could feel his skin starting to dry so Asu… Tsu – it would take a bit of time to get used to that – had told him to save his tape for an altercation, a decision that he agreed with.
The two of them bounded into the next room only to stop in surprise when the hero team came in at the same time. There was a brief pause where the two teams simply stared at the other in shock before they leapt into action.
Tsuyu was the first to react and immediately leapt to the side to give her teammate space whilst simultaneously shooting out her tongue towards Fumikage. However, Fumikage was quick to respond and sent Dark Shadow out to intercept the tongue. "Ew! What is this? Is this a tongue? I didn't think they got this long." The force of the tongue actually knocked the spirit back a bit.
"Dark Shadow, grab the tongue." Fumikage ordered. Dark Shadow quickly recovered and complied, reaching out to grab the tongue. Tsuyu's eyes widened, and she quickly retracted her tongue.
"Good riddance." Dark Shadow commented. Tsuyu realised that using her tongue would not work and would only lead to her tongue being pulled which was very painful.
Meanwhile, Hanta had decided to engage with Koji. He sent a piece of tape out that wrapped around the shy teen and pulled the boy closer. Or at least attempted to. Unfortunately for Hanta, he simply wasn't strong enough to move the gentle giant and instead, Koji twisted abruptly, pulling Hanta off balance. Hanta quickly cut the tape to prevent himself from being dragged along but the damage had already been done and he had been knocked to the ground. Hanta groaned slightly in pain and moved back, thinking that Koji would come after him, but a brief look up revealed that Koji had instead gone to help Fumikage.
After realising that simply trying to restrain the bird-headed teen with her tongue would be ineffective, she came closer to the teen hoping to engage in a close quarters fight. Dark Shadow rushed forwards, but Tsuyu easily got past it with a well-timed jump. She moved quickly and launched a strong kick at the boy. She moved too quickly for Fumikage who closed his eyes and braced himself as well as protect his face with his arms. However, the kick never came.
Fumikage opened his eyes to see that Koji had grabbed the incoming foot, preventing it from reaching him. Koji threw the girl, but she was prevented from crashing into the wall by Hanta, who had now gotten up and cast a piece of tape to save Tsuyu from a nasty impact. Koji had been slightly terrified that he had gone too far and gave a sigh of relief that she had been saved.
"Thank you, Koda," Fumikage said. "Now we'll-"
BUZZZZZZZZZZ
Hanta, who had been about to rush forward, faltered as the alarm signifying the end of the battle sounded.
"The villain team wins!"
Fumikage frowned at having lost simply due to time and sighed dejectedly. "Wait, Fumi! Were we on the hero team or the villain team? I mean, we must've been on the winning team, right?" Dark Shadow panicked.
Fumikage placed a hand on the spirit's forehead, trying to pacify it before delivering devastating news. "No, we lost."
"Nooooooo!" Dark Shadow fell to the ground and tears started to fall from his eyes. Fumikage rolled his eyes at the overdramatic display while the other students started to smile at the sight.
"Do not worry Dark Shadow. If it weren't for the timer, your team would've probably won." Tsuyu came forward, patting the spirit to comfort her.
"Really?" Dark Shadow looked up with hopeful eyes and Tsuyu nodded in response.
"Come back." Fumikage commanded. Dark Shadow complied and left but not before giving a thumbs up to the group.
"That was a good match. Bro, you're super strong." Hanta came up to the shy Koji, commenting on the strength he had displayed earlier. Koji blushed from the praise. He honestly didn't think he had put too much force into that. He scrambled to write something on his whiteboard: 'You were both strong. Asui's kick was powerful, and you wrapped me with your tape really quickly.'
Hanta grinned. "Thanks! Come on." Hanta held his hand up for a high five and after a tentative moment, Koji returned the gesture before quickly turning around, embarrassed by his own forwardness.
With that, the four left to join the group.
Tenya and Yuga walked to the starting area, the sun glittering off their respective suits of armour. Tenya pulled out the blueprints of the building as the villain team, consisting of Mina and Mashirao, walked in to set up.
Tenya started to talk to Yuga as he examined the blueprints. "The villains will most likely hide the rocket on the top floor as it is the easiest location to defend. They'll probably keep it in the middle of the room to prevent a repeat of what happened in Todoroki's match. However, there is still a chance that the rocket is on a different floor. They might try something similar to Midoriya. Therefore, we must endeavour to search each floor quickly.
Tenya gestured to Yuga to look at the blueprints as he started to explain how they would investigate the building's floors. "Because I can move faster, I'll check these rooms and you must look through these rooms. We'll meet up at the stairs after each floor and head to the next floor. After examining these blueprints, it is clear that all the floors have the same floorplan." Tenya pointed to the rooms as he spoke.
However, there was a brief pause of silence before Tenya realised that Yuga hadn't responded to him. He turned only to see Yuga standing a few feet away. It quickly became clear that Yuga had not been paying attention to him and had instead focused on himself. This was apparent by the mirror in which he was admiring his own reflection.
"Have you been listening to anything I've said?!" Tenya asked, incredulity colouring his voice. He started to rapidly chop his arm towards the narcissistic teen. "Even though this is a training session, we must perform as if it is the real event. Therefore, we must take this seriously and perform to the best of our ability. Unless we work hard, our classmates and All Might-sensei won't be able to give us accurate details on our shortcomings and we won't be able to improve and become real heroes."
"Huh?" Yuga finally turned around to face his classmate, whose arm was still chopping in his direction. "Were you saying something?" Tenya faltered at that and opened his mouth to speak.
"BEGIN!" All Might's voice blared over the intercom and Tenya resisted the urge to facepalm. He placed his helmet on while Yuga prepared himself by… straightening his cape?
Tenya shook his head. "Ok, just check these rooms," he said while pointing to the blueprint, "and I'll check the rest. Then we'll repeat this for each floor." Yuga nodded but Tenya wasn't really convinced of how focused he was given he was simply staring absentmindedly past the teen.
They split up and Tenya sped his way through several rooms, testing the limits of his speed in the cramped space. He frowned as he quickly realised the area was more cramped than he had previously thought. Like with the 50-metre dash from the previous day, he couldn't reach the higher gears his quirk provided because there simply wasn't enough time. Luckily, the layout was quite ordered so there were many straight lines that he could use.
The two heroes met at the stairs and repeated this process several times. Tenya was becoming slightly worried as they weren't searching the floors fast enough. He turned to Yuga to see if he was as concerned but Yuga had already turned down his usual route chuckling quietly to himself. He had done that a few times already and Tenya was starting to get a bit worried about his mental state.
As he sped into the next room, he noticed the floor had a shine to it and quickly realised it had been covered with some kind of liquid. However, by then it was too late and Tenya slipped, falling to the ground. He immediately realised that this was a trap set up by the villains.
"Aoyama! I need backup now! I'm in the southeast corner room of the building." As he spoke, he assumed a kneeling position. He barely finished before a tail came careening his way. Tenya just barely managed to block it with his right hand. He grunted at the force behind the attack and was even pushed back.
"Hyah!" Mashirao yelled as his tail grabbed Tenya's arm and he then proceeded to flip the armour wearing teen onto his back. Mashirao moved to attack Tenya again, but Tenya countered by doing a leg sweep, using his jets to rapidly spin around. However, Mashirao easily dodged by jumping back out of range of his attack though he did stumble slightly as he slipped on the acid covering the ground.
"Acid! That's a dirty trick, villain!" Tenya yelled.
Mashirao's eyes furrowed in confusion as to what he was talking about. He knew what the liquid was but why was Tenya talking to him about it. "Huh?"
"Where is your treacherous teammate? Is she guarding the rocket?" Tenya asked robotically.
"Uh, n-" Mashirao was quickly interrupted by Mina bursting out from a nearby door.
"I'm right here!" Tenya turned his head around to see the pink girl sliding easily over the acid. She threw something which Tenya avoided by moving slightly to the side.
"What was that?" Tenya turned back to Mashirao to see he had caught the white cloth. 'It's the capture tape!'
Mina was skidding around trying to encircle Tenya and trap him, but he very quickly realised the villains' plan and used his quirk to move away. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop in time due to the acid reducing friction and smacked into the wall. "Ughhhh." Tenya groaned in pain and tried to massage his head through his helmet to no avail. Mina and Mashirao came forward but as Mina reached to wrap the boy with the capture tape, a beam of blue energy whizzed right by her fingers causing her to flinch away.
"Ha, ha! This twinkling hero is here to put an end to this frivolous fight. I'll use my fabulous Navel Laser to stop these two villains." Yuga flipped his hair, a smile plastered on his face and his eyes closed as if he was revelling in his own beauty.
Alas, the villains were not revelling in his beauty. Mina was sucking on her fingers which were lightly burnt from the energy attack while Mashirao rushed the boy. Without looking, Yuga stepped into the room, preparing to fire his laser while Mashirao swung his tail towards his midsection. However, Yuga somehow dodged the attack while his eyes were closed.
…By slipping and falling to the ground.
Mashirao hadn't expected to miss his target, so when he did, he was thrown off balance and barely managed to land on his feet. Mina threw acid at both heroes, but Tenya had recovered in the time provided by Yuga's distraction and rushed to pull Yuga out of the way. He managed to pull the boy away and to one of the entrances to the room before the more powerful acid could hit either of them. "Oh, come on!" Mina pouted at having missed the two heroes.
"You will have to try harder than that, villains!" Tenya cried out.
"Nooooooooooo!" Tenya hastily turned to Yuga who was crying in pain. Even Mashirao and Mina turned to the boy to see what was wrong.
"What's wrong?!" Tenya asked. He looked over Yuga's shoulder to see him cradling… his cape? Yuga was holding his glittering cape which now had massive holes in it. Tenya realised that while the two of them might've avoided the acid, his cape hadn't, catching the brunt of the acid attack, resulting in the fabric being eaten away.
Yuga stood up shakily. "I won't forgive you for this." He spoke quietly such that only Tenya heard. He reached a hand out to try the calm the distraught boy but he didn't get the chance. "I will never forget this!" Yuga fired off his largest laser yet, aiming it at the ground where the villains stood. Mina and Mashirao both jumped back, easily avoiding the blast.
However, they underestimated the strength of the laser which was strong enough to pierce the floor of the room. When the two villains landed, the floor broke beneath them. Mashirao tried to grab hold of the floor while holding onto the girl with his tail. Unfortunately, the acid covering the floor now worked against him, preventing him from getting a hold. The two fell to the lower floor, the breath being knocked out of them from the impact.
Yuga nodded in satisfaction. "Sufficient retribution has been dealt." Meanwhile, Tenya simply raised an eyebrow under the mask in confusion as to what just happened.
It was then simple work for the heroes to find and touch the rocket.
"The Hero team WINS!"
"Whew." Tenya removed his helmet and used a small towel to wipe the sweat off of his face. While the battle had been intense, it had only taken place over a few minutes and Tenya hadn't expected to have sweat so much. Tenya gazed at the helmet thoughtfully. Even though the suit was designed to breathable, Tenya realised that the helmet was very warm. When they would get the chance to modify their costumes, Tenya would need to ask for a way to cool the interior. He had no desire to change the aesthetic of his design given that it was based on his brother's.
A hand clapped Tenya's back and he turned to see Mashirao grinning at him. "That was a good match! Sorry about the acid." Mashirao rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "That was my idea. I thought it would be a good way to hinder your quirk."
Tenya smiled softly. "It was an excellent idea. I had no idea how to counter it. Thank you for displaying a weakness in my quirk and fighting style. I must work to fix that!" Tenya eagerly grabbed Mashirao's hand and started to shake it vigorously. After the first 2 seconds, it became clear to the tailed boy that Tenya would not stop the handshake of his own volition and thus started to pull his own hand away only to have Tenya keep a hold of it and pull it back.
"Uh… That's… that's e-." Mashirao started.
"Cut that shit out. If you want to be loud, then do it outside!" Katsuki growled loudly at the pair, his back still turned to them. His comment caused Tenya to stop his assault on Mashirao's hand and turn his attention to the blonde teen.
"Bakugo, it is rude to interrupt another group's conversation and it is even more rude to swear!" Tenya chopped his hand rapidly in the blonde's direction, but Katsuki simply ignored him, simply continuing to change.
Meanwhile, Mashirao took the distraction provided by Katsuki to escape the hand crushing grip of Tenya and retreat to his locker to change while nursing his hand. 'I might have to get the hand checked by Recovery Girl. And to think I considered asking to train with him. I'll need to thank Bakugo later for getting me out of that.'
"Dude, what are you doing?" Denki asked. Hanta looked up and blushed slightly. Overusing his quirk caused his skin to dry, so one of the solutions was to moisturize it. He had been applying the lotion to his skin and elbows where the dryness was greatest when Denki had interrupted him. Hanta was a bit embarrassed to be putting his lotion in front of the others so had tried to remain hidden in the corner but obviously to no avail.
"Uh… I need to put lotion because my quirk dries my skin." Hanta explained.
"Ah! That's cool, dude. I wish I had such a simple drawback." Denki looked down slightly.
"What do you mean?" Hanta tilted his head in confusion.
Denki sighed, "if I channel too much electricity, I kind of fry my brain."
"What!" Sero yelled.
Denki eyes widened as he realised what he insinuated. "No, no! Nothing permanent. Apparently, I become really dumb and say 'Whee' while walking around like this." Denki put both his thumbs up and Hanta couldn't stop a small laugh from escaping his lips. Denki frowned slightly. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up."
"Sorry, dude." Hanta put his hands up placatingly and even Denki cracked a grin.
"Wait, so how much electricity can you channel before you reach that state? How long do you stay in that state? Do you have a maximum amount of electricity you can channel? Can you channel the electricity inwards? How good is your control? Can you manipulate natural lightning?" Izuku jumped into the conversation firing question after question at Denki.
"Uh... Well, I uh…" Denki was overwhelmed by the question and didn't know where to start. "Why don't you ask Sero about his quirk." And having thrown the lanky teen fully under the bus, Denki made his escape.
Hanta shot a look at the retreating blonde. 'Come on dude, not cool!' Hanta turned back to an eager Izuku who had now gotten a notebook and pen from… somewhere.
"That was fun!" Mina said as the girls all walked into their changing room.
Ochako and Toru nodded excitedly. "Yeah! Hero training with All Might-sensei is amazing. I mean, I know he said he would be teaching at U.A. but it only really hit me today." Ochako said.
"To be taught by the number 1 hero is truly a unique experience. We will surely grow strong under his tutelage." Momo commented enthusiastically. The rest of the girls stared at the girl, still a bit surprised by her way of speaking.
Tsuyu put a finger to her chin in thought. "Did anyone else get the feeling that All Might-sensei didn't fully know what he was doing?"
Kyoka nodded. "I mean yeah. You saw the cards, right? I think he was reading off of them."
"That's true." Momo said.
"Well…" Ochako thought carefully. "It's probably because he's new to teaching. All Might has never had interns, has he?" Ochako realised that she had remembered that fact from a conversation with Izuku and blushed lightly at that.
"Yeah." Unlike the rest of the girls, Mina noticed the light dusting of pink on Ochako's cheeks, beyond what she normally had, and decided to shift the topic of conversation to something more stimulating. "So, what do you think about the boys?"
"What do you mean?" Momo asked, tilting her head cutely.
"I mean, what do you think about them? Who's cool? Who's hot?" Mina pressed on.
"Ooh, ooh!" Toru jumped up and down in excitement. "Todoroki's hot! I mean, not only is he powerful and the son of the number two hero, but I think he looks great too."
Mina grinned and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, totally."
"He seems like a bit of a loner." Ochako commented, a bit frustrated that the conversation had instantly turned to the heterochromatic.
"Mina smiled evilly. 'She took the bait.' "Do you not like Todoroki? Perhaps you have your eye set on someone else." Mina's smile grew wider as she prepared to deliver the punchline. "Perhaps… Midoriya?" At those words, Ochako's face grew redder and redder till she resembled a tomato. She struggled to remain calm, and it was only after a few breaths that she had the presence to talk, but she was interrupted.
"Midoriya, huh?" Tsuyu placed a finger on her chin. "I thought he was a bit plain and shy."
"No way, Deku's so cool. He's really smart and is so kind!" Ochako's impassioned words only served to trigger laughter in Mina, who considered Ochako's words as practically an admission.
"Aw, how cute! She already has a nickname for him." Mina gasped out between laughs.
Ochako stuttered, no response coming to mind and she decided she needed to change the topic. "So, anyways. Which boys are a bit weird?"
"Ugh! All I know is Mineta is a creep! I kinda wish there was a bath so I could wash off what he tried to do in our round." Toru growled. The overall mood of the room plummeted.
"Why? What happened in our round?" Momo asked suspiciously. She had caught the little boy staring at the girls several times. He didn't even try to hide it and openly announced his perversion during his introduction. But Momo didn't think he would be one to act on the impulses. Even the other girls were a bit confused as they had found it difficult to keep track of the invisible girl on the cameras.
"Bakugo… he threw Mineta towards me and that creep went to grope me! Luckily I slapped him away before he could do anything." Toru shivered slightly as she thought about what could have happened if she hadn't acted quick enough. The other girls all had horrified looks on their faces.
"Wait, so Bakugo threw Mineta towards you." Momo asked quietly, her already negative opinion of the boy becoming worse.
Toru quickly realised what she had accidently implied, and her eyes widened. "No! It wasn't on purpose. At least I don't think it was. He seemed even more pissed after that and knocked him out."
"Maybe he's not as bad as we originally thought." Mina said tentatively. Ochako bit her tongue to prevent her from saying anything about his situation with Izuku as it wasn't her place to tell. However, she didn't have a very high opinion of the blonde boy.
"With his attitude, it's unlikely that Bakugo will be a top hero." Some of the girls started to giggle at the deadpan statement by Tsuyu.
"Cut that shit out. If you want to be loud, then do it outside!" Katsuki's voice drifted from the neighbouring changing room.
"See." Tsuyu gestured to the boys changing room. "I wonder if any of the boys told him that he was louder than all of them."
"Unlikely." Momo commented. At this, all the girls laughed and continued changing.
The first day at U.A. was over.
Omake 1 – Aizawa's troubled sleep
Shota opened the door to his apartment, tired eyes gazing around the darkened hallway. Unfortunately, due to meetings regarding the upcoming rescue training with the new classes 1-A and 1-B, he had been unable to review the class performances at school and needed to do them at home.
But first, food.
Shota trudged towards the kitchen, passing his bedroom and living room along the way. He suddenly stopped and headed back to the living room and just stood at the doorway, watching the scene in front of him.
About a year ago, Hizashi had bought a cat and kept it in his apartment. He had tried to return it but it would always end up back in his apartment. After a week, he had gotten used to the creature and accepted him. He was a simple British Shortair that Shota had affectionately named Cat.
Shota's eye twitched. Cat was normally laid-back and lazy like a good cat. However, right now, there was nothing lazy about his behaviour. Cat was rolling all around the carpet, obviously high on catnip and had made a mess of the room. Shota sighed and spent the next hour cleaning the room, taking care of Cat and searching the apartment for any and all traces of catnip.
When he was finally done, his stomach was growling at him and Shota entered the kitchen, looking forward to eating the pasta he had made two days ago. However, while his face did glow upon opening the fridge, no smile could be found as the pasta was absent.
On the counter was a plate, evidence of pasta sauce on it and a note next to it: "That was quite nice, Eraser Head." A tiny paw print decorated the note.
That damn bear.
Shota sourly ate a few slices of bread before getting to his work. Here he was also halted from any progress as his personal computer randomly started some update. By the time he had finished reviewing class 1-A's performance, it was midnight.
Next day
"Uh Aizawa-sensei, are you alright?" Mina asked tentatively. Dark circles covered the teacher's eyes and it clearly took a few seconds for him to focus on Mina.
Unfortunately, completing his work was not the end of the night. The night had apparently only just begun for Shota who could not get any sleep due to alarms that kept sounding every half an hour. He had tried to find the devices but had only found one before another alarm reminded him that Nezu always had contingencies.
He had done a cost-benefit analysis of returning the favour to the damn principal. However, in the end, Aizawa realised that it wasn't worth the effort that would be necessary. Aizawa valued his time and if he wasn't working, the best thing to do would be to sleep. But last night had resulted in hours of time wasted a blow that struck deeply in his heart.
"I'm fine."
He wasn't.
That damn bear.
19/6/21
First time writing an omake. I've seen others do it and thought it would be a good place to put the prank war I hinted at with the last Nezu Aizawa interaction. I want to capture a bit of Nezu's sadistic side. I would really appreciate any prank ideas that either of them could do on the other. This might turn out to be like a mini-series within omakes. Is the omake too long or too short?
I will be taking a break from uploading. I know this seems like bad news or maybe nothing seems different considering the randomness and infrequency of my recent updates but I really need to do this so I can appropriately plan the next few arcs. When I posted my first chapter, I had only written the first 2 chapters and hadn't actually planned any proper arcs, instead, making random notes about connections I was going to make between ATLA/LOK and MHA. There will be no updates in June or July and most likely none in the first half of August.
Thanks for reading the chapter, hope you enjoyed it! :)