A Fool's Bonds
Chapter 11
-All Might-
"Do I have to?" All Might shuddered as he sat with Nezu in the rodent's office, looking at the cell phone in front of him like it was a venomous snake.
"Yes." Nezu smiled happily, stirring his tea while the evil little creature's teeth gleamed.
"But…but why can't you talk to him?" All Might whimpered even as the phone continued its ominous existence.
"Because watching you tremble is hilarious." Nezu answered with brutal honesty, "Now. Call…him." Shakily picking up the phone, All Might put in the number for his old home room teacher, holding the phone away from him like it was about to explode as he hit the call button.
"You fucking DONKEY!" the angry voice of Gran Torino was easy to hear even from the distance the phone was held at, "You stay silent for years and then just call me out of the blue without any warning?!"
"I'M SORRY!" All Might had to catch himself from prostrating in fear to the cell phone.
"You should be!" Gran Torino barked at him as All Might managed to, barely, hold back a whimper.
"Ah, I knew this would be entertaining." Nezu smiled, sipping his tea.
"So Nezu's there too? Meaning this is about One for All and not just a social Call." Gran Torino figured out, All Might able to picture the man nodding calmly.
"Y-yes sensei." All Might nodded and instantly knew, he fucked up.
"So, you don't think checking up on your old sensei is important?!" Torino was back to shouting, "I put up with your incompetent buffoonery for years and you can't even take five minutes every now and then to check up on me in my retirement?"
"I'm sorry!" All Might begged for forgiveness as Nezu cackled happily at his misfortune. Hopefully the rodent would save him eventually, he needed to head to help watch class 1A at the USJ after he convinced Gran Torino help with Young Yaoyorozu during the internship week.
-Izuku-
"Alright everyone, lets load up!" Izuku gestured to his class as the UA bus arrived to take them to wherever Aizawa was having them go for the day. The man seemed to like leaving things as surprises if for no other reason to laugh silently at their reactions.
"Yes, Class Rep!" Ida shouted, arm chopping robotically as he attempted to herd the rest of the class onto the bus.
"Ida, not your job." Momo gave Ida a look as the stickler for the rules looked abashed and just boarded, letting out a dismayed cry at seeing it being open seating, making the seating plan he'd prepared to offer pointless.
"Thanks Boss. Lady Boss." Mina gave them a grin and a two fingered salute as she eagerly got on the bus, the rest of their group nodding as they all climbed aboard, Izuku and Momo waiting to go on last with Aizawa.
"At least you two are taking your jobs seriously." The tired looking Emperor contract nodded toward them, "No issues with who has what role so far?"
"Oh no, not at all." Momo shook her head, "I think Midoriya will be brilliant as the class rep."
"You'd have been perfect for the role Momo." Izuku tried to protest even though he knew she wouldn't let him swap places. After the lunchroom alarm incident she, along with the rest of their group and even a few others from the class, had insisted he take the president roll.
"You two can argue about who's best on the bus." Aizawa rolled his eyes, shooing them on "We need to get going."
"Right!" Izuku and Momo nodded in tandem, sharing a grin before they climbed back onto the bus, noticing that Kirishima, Mina, and Jiro saved them a couple spots.
"Alright, let's get going." Aizawa nodded once he and Momo were seated, the driver heading to one of the more distant facilities, "Today you all will be getting your first introduction to disaster rescue."
"Then should we be in our uniforms for this sir?" Ida asked, chopping the air erratically, "Many of them aren't viable for such a situation!"
"That's why I waited till now to mention it." Aizawa didn't even bat an eye at the loud volume, "You don't get to choose when a disaster happens, and most hero uniforms have enough equipment that they're not something you can take off part of rapidly. You need to get used to working around those limitations. Also, Ida, volume. You have an indoor voice, use it."
"…Yes sir." The abashed speed knight nodded awkwardly.
"Good. Talk amongst yourselves till we get there but just keep it down." Aizawa got settled, seemingly napping.
"In that case, Midoriya, I have a question." Tsuyu put a finger to her lips, "You said your quirk takes energy but some of your forms don't seem as draining as others. Is there a system or a rule for it?"
"I guess I never really explained it." Izuku gave a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his head, "But yeah, each form takes energy to take and use their abilities. My energy reserves can be improved like I'm training a muscle. Added to that the more I use a form and the stronger the bond with the person who I gained that Arcana from then the less energy costs they take. They also aren't created equal and, as best I can tell, it's based on the conceptual and potential power of each form. Like how when I first started using some forms, I could only hold them for a few seconds when others I could hold for a few minutes or more."
"I still wanna know what the Star form is." Kirishima pouted; the hardening quirk user just as flummoxed as he was by the star form warning him not to try transforming yet.
"There, there," Izuku pat his friend's shoulder "have some Kibi Dango."
"Are you seriously making that your go to?" Kirishima sighed in exasperation even as he took a dango, the bag being passed around for the others to try it.
"If it ain't broke then don't fix it." Jiro shrugged as she popped a bit of dango into her mouth, "Damn Boss, these are good."
"I do my best." Izuku grinned at four he'd been finding himself growing close to, "It will be interesting to see what my forms can do for disaster rescue."
"Can't you just freeze stuff in place again so others can pull stuff out?" Kirishima tilted his head curious.
"The things I freeze tend to start degrading apart." Izuku shook his head, "That sounds like it's asking for trouble. At least until I get a bit more control with it."
"Probably wise." Tsuyu nodded, "I'm looking forward to the water rescue training personally."
"I think I'd be best for dealing with burning areas or lifting jagged rubble." Kirishima pumped a fist eagerly, "Mina would be great for breaking that stuff up into smaller pieces with her acid."
"While Momo has the ultimate quirk for rescue scenarios." Izuku gave his vice rep a grin, "Able to make anything if you know what it's made of? Put you in charge of a large-scale rescue to coordinate and you'd shine." Izuku gave a nervous grin after realizing just how much he was praising his friend, the dark-haired girl's cheeks darkening to match her hero costume.
"Save your flirting for after class you two." Aizawa grumbled, cracking an eye open as Izuku choked on his own spit, Momo letting out a startled squeak while their friends all cackled.
"Holy shit it's Universal Studios Japan!" Kaminari pressed his face against the window eagerly.
"I don't think it's a theme park Kaminari." Izuku managed to keep from laughing at the ludicrous idea "This is for rescue training. Plus, we weren't driving anywhere long enough to get to Universal Studios."
"Aaaaaaaw." Kaminari pouted as Aizawa led their class out "Now, All Might apparently has a meeting right now, but he'll be joining us halfway through the lesson. I'm here primarily to observe and give advice on quirk usage so the person leading this section is the UA's expert in rescue operations. This is an advanced facility and if you goof off, you're liable to hurt yourself or someone else. Ignore that warning and there will be consequences." Aizawa's eyes flashed ominously at that.
"As serious as ever, huh Aizawa?" a muffled, yet still amused sounding, voice called out from the door as Izuku turned and spotted a person in a puffy white space suit.
"Oh my gosh, it's Thirteen!" Ururaka squealed excitedly "She's my favorite Hero ever!" it felt odd to Izuku to be the one watching a Hero nerd fangasm rant.
"I see I have a fan." Thirteen gave a good-natured chuckle as she approached, "But still, what Aizawa said was true. This facility is designed to let you practice rescue situations in a mostly controlled environment, but the hazards are still there. Training to rescue someone from a burning building and those will be actual flames. The water rescue area has an actual lake. Take this seriously and communicate if you're running into problems that you don't think you can handle so we can get you out."
"Right!" Izuku and his class nodded in tandem, eager to prove themselves to their teachers.
"Oh, such eager little brats." A disgusted third voice filled the area as Thirteen led Izuku and his class into the domed building, stepping from a swirl of purple mist as the massive doors closed shut behind them.
"Who are you?" Aizawa was instantly on alert even as Izuku saw Thirteen trying to push a button to get the doors back open. A button that was clearly not working.
"Me?" the pale figure covered in severed hands chuckled, sweeping their arms out grandly as the purple miasma spread, more and more villains emerging.
"I'm the leader of those you so called 'heroes' cast aside. The ones trampled under your self-righteous lies. You want to call yourselves the heroes?" a massive hand slammed into the ground from the miasma as the figure spoke, a giant figure with black skin and an exposed brain emerging "Then I'm the God damned Boogeyman."