Sento Kiryu: Last time, on "Building Up A Hero!", Team Build found a lead to my past in the form of Tatsuya Kishida, a musician who recognized me as his best friend Taro Sato!
Mina Ashido: I... still can't believe that you of all people was a musician.
Misora Isurugi: Yea, and of a construction-themed rock band of all things.
Pony Tsunotori: It's not so bad, actually. Mr. Tatsuya gave me a demo, and it's kinda catchy. You're got some good vocals, Mr. Sento.
SK: Please do not bring that back to the café. Ever.
Izuku Midoriya: And we finally met the last of the three members in my dreams, the cobra man, Blood Stalk!
Eijiro Kirishima: He's the most unmanliest man I've seen! He turned Kishida into a Smash and let him loose onto Midoriya's school! And when Mr. Kiryu saved him, Banjo came in and turned him back into one!
Ryuga Banjo: Yea, that's on me. I did it to follow him to Faust's hideout, but I was almost caught before going in.
All Might: Do not fret, for we were able to save him and more victims when we broke into those villains' lair! We fought hard against Meta Bolt and Blood Stalk, but those scoundrels managed to escape in the chaos they made by blowing up their hideout!
MA: I mean it didn't help that we had victims to save, two Smashes that needed their essences extracted, and Mr. Kiryu going ballistic on the Faust leaders instead.
SK: Yea that's my bad. I did get back on track and saved Tatsuya and the other Smash victim, but then Tatsuya dropped a big revelation! That on the day that Taro Sato disappeared, he was meeting with Takumi Katsuragi, the scientist whose murder Banjo was framed for! What does this mean!? Did I have a hand in Katsuragi's death!? Let's find out, in this chapter of "Building Up A Hero!"
Itsuka Kendo: What the heck is all this?
SK: Oh. Right. I guess we forgot to address about her.
"Did you kill Takumi Katsuragi?"
Sento sighed as he typed away on his computer while Ryuga loomed over him, staring at him accusingly. "That's the 134th time you've said that," he said, as the keys clacked underneath his fingers. "And we've been over this, right now the evidence that Taro Sato was supposed to meet with Takumi Katsuragi on the same day as you is circumstantial. Not to mention that I'm an amnesiac, so any answer from me about his murder's useless."
"Well what are we supposed to do, then!?" Ryuga asked, when the Purifying Chamber went off, and Sento sprung out of his seat to get the new Fullbottles with Izuku quickly following.
"Ooooh, looks like we got the Panda Fullbottle from the Bamboo Smash," Sento said, holding up a snow white Fullbottle with the image of a panda. "And this is the Helicopter Fullbottle from the Fan Smash!" he added, as he looked at a green Fullbottle with the image of a helicopter, while the third was a light gray Fullbottle with a wolf's image on it. "And we can't forget the Feral Smash's Fullbottle! Oh, this must be the Wolf Fullbottle!"
While he marveled at the new Fullbottles, Misora stepped out of the Purification Chamber. "Tired... Sleepy... Don't wake me up."
She walked past the two on her way to her room, though she looked back on the couch to the teens, who were talking to the girl who they had saved earlier. She had regained consciousness the moment Tatsuya dropped the revelation, and she spotted Ryuga Banjo right next to her, bewildering her, so the teens decided that she deserved to get the full context of the situation, to Sento's and All Might's hesitant approval. Tatsuya was in Sento's room, recuperating after spending so much time as the Bamboo Smash, and All Might had left to go on hero patrol.
"So I'm gonna be Quirkless for the next couple days?" the girl, Itsuka Kendo, said, looking at her hands. "I guess that's not much different from my normal life, since my Quirk just lets me make my hands big. It's gonna make training for UA real hard, though. At least the entrance exams are more than a month away."
"No way, you're aiming for UA, too?" Mina grinned, pointing to the four of them. "All of us are, too!"
"You are?"
"Yep!" Pony said, nodding. "You'll be a shoo-in now, since that Nebula Gas stuff makes your Quirk stronger!"
"So wait, are they targeting UA applicants? How would they know who's applying then?" Itsuka said, scratching her head. The four teens looked at each other, eyes wide as they started to make the connection between all of them.
"That's true..." Izuku mumbled, putting his hand to his chin. "The only way they'd be able to find out would be if-"
"Faust had someone on the inside!" Eijiro yelled out, snapping Sento out of his fawning over the new Fullbottles. "Mr. Kiryu, do you think-"
"Honestly it's possible," Sento stated. "With the fact that Faust framed Banjo for Katsuragi's murder and kidnapped him from prison, there's a likely chance that there are a few Faust agents that've snuck their way into important positions."
"Did you murder Katsuragi?"
"135th time."
The teens froze, trying to process the idea that even UA had some sort of hand in Faust's operations. Eijiro's fists tightened in frustration, Mina covered her mouth in shock, Pony rubbed her temples trying to think, and Izuku looked off to the side at his backpack, which contained his Hero Journals, wondering what this could mean for the future. Itsuka, on the other hand, was just staring at Sento and Ryuga, a little unnerved seeing the wanted convict wandering around.
"I-I'm sorry," she said, shifting her gaze to the ground. "This is just, a lot to take in. I've always wanted to be a hero to help others, but thinking that the best hero course in Japan could be tainted, I-"
"It's alright, it's all just a theory in the first place," Sento assured, walking over to the Pandora Panel to test what Best Matches he could get with the new Fullbottles. "The only extent we're sure of is that there are at least a couple officers and maybe a government official involved. I won't suspect all of UA yet. Besides, if Faust does have someone in UA working with them, I'd say that we should put a few of our own."
"You can count on us!" Pony said, immediately picking up on what Sento was implying. "We'll work our butts off to get into UA and expose that spy!"
"Yea! Faust won't get away with any of this, not when we're around!" Eijiro said, cracking his fists.
"I guess I'll join in, since you all did save me, and decided to trust me with all of this information," Itsuka answered, crossing her arms. "Plus, I've got a bone to pick with them now."
Izuku's broke his gaze on his backpack and turned to everyone. "We should tell All Might about this. I'll bring it up to him when I meet up with him for training tomorrow morning."
"Oh yea, you're his apprentice or something," Itsuka recalled, since she was just as shocked at seeing All Might there with them and not apprehending Ryuga on the spot until they explained his part in all of this. "If that's the case, why don't we all train together?"
"That's a great idea!" Eijiro, Pony, and Mina said all at once, the thought of training together just coming to them right there. Izuku froze, and stuttered, "I-I-I d-don't know, All Might's training is tough, and I don't know if he's quite ready to teach more people, and-"
"I think that it's a great idea, Midoriya," Sento said, sighing as none of the Fullbottles read as a Best Match with either of the new ones. "While we didn't beat Bolt or Stalk, I did learn something from that fight; we need all the help we can get. The ones who can turn into Kamen Riders will need to be the ones to extract the essences, sure, but the others can help fight against the lead members, like All Might was before I went after the two."
"... That is a good point," Izuku conceded, as he reached for his phone. "I'll send him a text about this, and I'll tell you all what he says when I get the text back."
"Oh! I should give you my social media and phone number," Itsuka said, reaching into her pockets before realizing something. "Dang! They must've taken my phone when they kidnapped me. Oh man, my parents are not gonna be happy about having to replace that... Especially after getting experimented on."
"Here," Sento said absentmindedly, tossing her a phone. "That's another prototype of the Build Phone I worked on. It doesn't have the ability to transform into a bike, but it is a fully functional phone, since I used a lot of spare parts from a bunch of different broken phones."
"Did you kill Katsuragi?"
"136th. Seriously, right now we don't really know what happened, we just have to wait for Tatsuya to get better and tell us everything he can," Sento sighed, when Tatsuya walked out of his room, dressed in the spare clothes that were left out for him.
"I... think I'm ready to tell you, Big Bro," he said, as he dragged his feet to an open chair.
"You sure?" Sento said, as he went to the one opposite of Tatsuya.
"Yea, I am," he replied, taking in a deep breath, before telling them all what happened.
"A couple weeks before you went to Takumi Katsuragi, our bandmates Ryo and Kenichi left Lynks because they were unsatisfied with what we were doing, and kept telling us to get a job. You had planned to tell us that you got a job as an assistant to help out with bills and stuff, but they left before you could. I drove you to Katsuragi's place and dropped you off at around 8:50 since you were supposed to start at 9. But when I came to pick you up, Katsuragi had been murdered, Banjo was arrested, and I waited the entire day worrying about where you were. You just... disappeared into thin air, and it was only yesterday when I got any news about you being alive. And then all of this stuff happened, and well, here we are."
As Tatsuya finished his story, Sento had placed his hand on his chin, thinking about every detail that he was just given, though he honed in on one specific part. "So I, or Taro Sato, was supposed to come work with Katsuragi at 9 in the morning? Banjo, when were you supposed to work with him?"
"The time I was told to arrive was at 10," Ryuga stated. "Why?"
"That means that we have an hour between Taro Sato's meeting and yours, which we need to fill," Sento said, though something was still off. "I just don't know what exactly could've happened in between, since there's no guarantee that I actually met him at 9..."
"Maybe you should look at this at a different angle for a while."
Sento turned around, and Souichi came down the stairs, a few bags in hand. "Instead of trying to figure out if this Taro Sato had a motive, try figuring out what Katsuragi was up to. Why would he need two different assistants coming in at different times on the same day? And what could Taro possibly offer?"
"Yea... that's a good point, Owner," Sento replied. "Thanks for the suggestion."
"No problem! Was just planning to leave a disguise down here for Banjo to use later, so I'm glad I could suggest something," Souichi said, dropping the bags onto the ground before walking back up. "Only managed to get one so far from that costume maker who owes me a favor, so I'll have to go back later to get more."
"Wait, aren't you going to get upset about her?" Ryuga said, pointing to Itsuka, who was busy fiddling with her replacement phone and its apps while giving her social media to the others and chatting away, getting to know each other better. "That's another person who knows about everything here!"
"Eh, I've just come to accept that you guys are just gonna recruit random Smash victims into Team Build, even if I'm against it, so I'm just gonna roll with it now," he shrugged, exiting the Build Shop.
"And thanks, Tatsuya, for telling us about what happened," Sento said, turning back to look at the downtrodden man. "I can't promise that I'll actually get my memories back as Taro, but I'll try my best to figure out how to get them."
"Your welcome, Big Bro," Tatsuya said, as he rubbed his left shoulder with his right hand. "Can I ask something, though? Is... is it okay if I'm not a part of this Team Build thing? Don't get me wrong! I think you guys are doing a good thing, it's just... I-I-I'm just way out of my element with this, and I think I'll just get in the way. I promise I won't tell anyone-"
"No worries about it," Sento said, waving it off. "Your story really helped us in the right direction. I'm sorry you got caught up in all of this, even if you are my Little Bro. I'll keep in touch if I find out anything more, though."
"... Thanks," Tatsuya said, finally smiling in what felt like forever since the last.
Night Rogue sat in his armchair, arms crossed, as he glowered at Meta Bolt, who leaned against the wall opposite of him fiddling with his Transteam Gun, while the scientists worked to adjust and set up the large Nebula Chamber in their second hideout.
"So," he spat out, after what seemed like eons. "When were you going to tell me that you rigged our previous lab to explode? And also, why did you decide to let the Kamen Rider and All Might find it?"
"Feh, like I need to tell you everything I do," Meta Bolt scoffed, twirling his Transteam Gun around his right hand. "I had to be prepared to get rid of any evidence if any hero found our lab, didn't matter if it was All Might or the Kamen Rider. As for letting them find us? I had no hand in that. They followed that lame Smash to that entrance, so they were bound to figure out how to find us."
"Of course you need to tell me everything!" Night Rogue yelled, as he flew out of his armchair to slam and pin Meta Bolt against the wall. "We've lost our primary hideout! All of that research, gone! Our first Nebula Chamber, GONE!"
"Hey, we saved your stupid chair, didn't we?" Meta Bolt retorted, shoving the irate bat man off of him. "Plus, Blood Stalk had a feeling something like this would happen, so he already moved the Pandora Panel and our Fullbottles here, so at least we kept the real important things. And it's not like we've totally lost all of our research," Meta Bolt pointed to the newly adjusted Nebula Chamber, "if anything, we got a fresh, ready to use Nebula Chamber instead of the old one that kept breaking because of all the large test subjects and large Smash forms. And it's bigger too, so no need to cram them in!"
Night Rogue growled as he turned to look at the Nebula Chamber again. True, it was much larger than the previous one, which had gotten worn and torn over Faust's existence. Still, the previous hideout had a lot of sentimental value to him. It was where he and that man started the organization. And the fact of the matter is that All Might, Touto's Mightiest Hero, was now working with the Kamen Rider, was very concerning, especially for their goals.
"Fine, I'll accept that reasoning, for now," he muttered, as the scientists rolled in new canisters of Nebula Gas. "All Might and the Kamen Rider working together is deeply concerning, but I suppose the Symbol of Touto's Peace would find a common interest with a vigilante capable of extracting Smash essences. You may take your leave now and return to your primary position."
"Right, right, as you say, your highness," Meta Bolt hissed, mockingly curtsying his fellow executive before walking off. "Blood Stalk doesn't constantly deal with this bullshit nearly enough."
The next morning Izuku, Eijiro, Mina, Pony, and Itsuka had arrived at Might Tower. It was a bit difficult to get All Might to agree with this, since he wanted to keep the circle to a minimum, but he conceded to Izuku's and Sento's point about needing everyone at their best and ready so that any future confrontation with Faust would be in their favor. He told them that they need to ask the front desk to meet with his manager, Choichiro Hikari (in reality an alias he used for his skinny form so no one could make the connection), since asking for a direct meeting with All Might himself could arouse suspicion. Once that hurdle was climbed, they entered the elevator to go to All Might's personal gym, and the teens, sans Izuku, couldn't contain their excitement.
"I can't believe we get to be trained by All Might himself!" Mina said, bouncing up and down in excitement. "This beats training by myself any time!"
"Yea, sure beats just lifting weights and punching bags!" Eijiro replied, showing his sharp teeth in a wide grin.
"I'm just more curious about seeing what techniques he can teach me, since my Quirk's out of commission for now," Itsuka stated, as she began to list off martial arts on her fingers. "So far I know jujutsu, karate, kung fu, judo, aikido..."
As Itsuka listed away, Izuku sweated. He wasn't sure if she'd be disappointed that All Might's technique boils down to "punching hard", or if she'll be disappointed at his lack of progress with his training. It wasn't that he was against the idea of training together, he thought about it a while ago, but the reason why he never brought it up to any of his fellow Team Build members is because he was ashamed; ashamed of revealing just how badly far behind he is in controlling his Quirk. Eijiro, Mina, and Pony were so great at using their Quirks, especially after the Nebula Gas exposure boosted their Quirks' abilities, and he was sure that Itsuka's, while seemingly simple from what she described, was sure to be even better now. All he's done was shattered his bones and bruise his muscles with One for All, and Recovery Girl was still none too happy with the almost regular treatments, since there'll come a point where it just won't work nearly as well.
"I'm gonna see how many different horns I can make now!" Pony said, snapping Izuku out of his thoughts. The elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened, revealing a massive personal gym. Rather, a giant open space with rock-like formations, pits, and all sorts of other obstacles. To the side there were rooms full of gym equipment, showers, medical offices, and break rooms. The space would've been unnecessarily huge, if it weren't for the fact it was made for a juggernaut of a hero like All Might.
"Welcome, young heroes-in-training!"
The teens looked up at the rock formations, and saw All Might standing atop on the tallest spire. He leaped down, and landed in front of them.
"Glad to be here!" Eijiro said, doing a quick bow. "It's an honor to train under the Number One Hero!"
"So what'll we do, All Might?" Mina asked excitedly.
"Yes, er, your training! Well, you see-"
"This old man has no idea how to train all of you yet," an old short woman said, hobbling over towards them. "He's still having trouble teaching his actual apprentice."
"Um, and you are-?" Itsuka said, raising an eyebrow.
"Recovery Girl, I'm the school nurse at UA," the old woman answered. "I've been here as a favor to All Might to help with healing Midoriya's training injuries."
"Injuries-?" Pony said, her eyes wide. Izuku sweated, as the four looked at him with concern. All Might's smile became strained, as he stared at Recovery Girl, who just gave him a shrug after nonchalantly telling Izuku's friends about his less-than-stellar teaching.
"Y-y-you see, it's not that All Might's been beating me senseless to learn," Izuku said, as All Might's grin seemed a little strained at the idea, as if he were recalling something horrible. "It's just... the truth, I thought I was Quirkless for most of my life," he half-admitted, as their eyes widened. "But then I got experimented on and dropped off by Faust for some reason, and ever since, I've found out that I've gotten stronger and faster, and my Quirk kicked in! But since I haven't been used to using a Quirk, it's like, an all for nothing move. Sure, I'm stronger now without using it, but if I try to, my arms and legs just... break. All Might's been doing his best to teach me, but I'm just... kinda hopeless learning how to use something that you guys had from the start..."
All Might sighed. He knew that he was failing his protégé with his lackluster teaching. He definitely wasn't going to have a smooth time when he began teaching at UA later. He had to ask Eraserhead and the others for pointers later.
"... Can you show us?" Mina asked, holding Izuku's hand reassuringly. "Maybe if we see it, we can try to come up with how you can use it!"
"Yea Midoriya, we're here with you!" Eijiro said, patting his back.
"Is this why you've been feeling down lately?" Pony asked, frowning. "I guess that makes sense, since having a Quirk that you're not used to would be trouble."
"I think anyone would have a lot of trouble adjusting to something like that. I mean, I'll probably go through something similar with whatever changes my Quirk will go through," Itsuka said, staring at her hands.
Izuku stared at the four teens, shocked at how well they were taking his admittance of being (formerly) Quirkless. They didn't care about that at all, they just wanted to help him with getting control over One For All. He started to tear up, to the concern of the others. "Sorry, it's just... I'm not used to people being supportive like that. Thanks, everyone."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Mina said, grinning widely. "Let's get down to work on controlling your new Quirk!"
"So did you get all the information you could about Takumi Katsuragi?" Sento asked, as Sawa walked into the café. She pulled out a folder from her purse, and put it on the table. He had called in "sick" for work so he could get away with doing more research into Katsuragi, and he laid out printed physical copies of the logs he downloaded that Katsuragi wrote while at the Institute to see if there was anything he could look for. Souichi was at the counter, wiping some cups to make sure they weren't dusty.
"Yea, but it's some pretty general information I found, plus some old news articles," she replied, opening the file and pulling out several papers. "Father was Shinobu Katsuragi, who led research into the Pandora Box before the Skywall incident. He disappeared after that, and his suicide was reported months later. Mother is Kyoka Katsuragi, who moved to Hokuto a couple months before his murder. He was born Quirkless, but he was remarked as being one of the smartest students his high school and college had, to the point where he was a top student, above even some people who had intelligence-based Quirks. Nothing about him supposedly entertaining the idea of human experimentation, though. It's like your boss told you, they didn't let that leak out besides a few disgruntled coworkers."
"Hm, I figured that we wouldn't get much that we didn't know already," Sento mumbled, reading each of the papers individually and thoroughly. "The Quirkless thing is interesting to think about. Not many Quirkless people are born nowadays. The disgruntlement might've just jealousy."
"So anything you've found out from his logs and stuff?" Misora asked, peering over his shoulder and grabbing one of the logs.
"Nothing. There's some stuff about Nebula Gas, but nothing concrete," Sento sighed. Misora raised an eyebrow, as she read the one she had grabbed.
"This one doesn't really seem scientific at all," Misora said, handing it over to Sento. He frowned; sure enough, it was a bunch of nonsense that didn't fit any of the previous logs, especially the last line.
"'In the end goodbye all'? What gibberish is this?" he muttered. "Why'd he write that?" He took another look at the date; it was the month Katsuragi was fired from the Institute.
"... I wonder..." Sento walked over and grabbed a notepad and pen, and began scribbling down the words.
"What's going on?" Ryuga said, climbing out of the Build Shop's entrance. "Any leads yet?"
"Actually, yes!" Sento cried, victoriously. He slammed the notepad down, having figured out the meaning of the last sentence. "Katsuragi left one last message in his logs, using an anagram."
"Why would he need to his chest checked?" Ryuga asked.
"That's a mammogram," Misora said, shaking her head.
"An anagram's when you mix up the letters of a word or sentence to make a new one," Sawa explained.
"Katsuragi's anagram needed to be written in Romanji first, and then rearranged. From that nonsense of 'In the end goodbye all', I got 'I've left everything with my mother'! That settles it, Katsuragi's mother is the key," Sento said, his chest puffed out. It quickly deflated however, when he realized what that meant. "That means we have to go into Hokuto... That's going to be tough."
"And Hokuto's got much stricter border control than either Touto or Seito, so that means using a ship to get in won't work," Sawa replied. "You'll have to use one of those Sky Road cracks, and those are usually controlled by smugglers."
"You think you can find one?"
"Yea, with my connections. But it'll probably cost a lot of money," Sawa said, when she noticed that Sento had held out his hand. "Oooooooooh no way, Sento, I'm in the red right now thanks to Banjo's Seito trip! I barely make enough as is, and I still gotta pay off that rental van that got blown up!"
Sento turned to Souichi, repeating the gesture. "You expect a guy my age that's working part time jobs to have that sort of money laying around!?"
Sento turned to Ryuga. "You kidding, right? Hell no."
Sento slumped to the floor, having been defeated by finances. Souichi and Sawa had slumped over too, having remembered that finances have beaten them as well. Misora looked at the sad scene, and sighed.
"Well, looks like it's up to me to make that mad cash," she grumbled, walking into the Build Shop entrance. "You're gonna owe me big time for this, Sento."
"Wow, I really did not expect it to be that bad," Mina said, frowning intensely. Recovery Girl healed Izuku's bruised and broken arm while he sat in front of a broken rock formation. Pony and Eijiro were fretting about, looking for things to help wrap Izuku's arm with (even though Recovery Girl insisted that she could handle it herself), while Itsuka had her hand on her chin in thought.
"It's like I said, that old man has no idea how to train you all," Recovery Girl said, throwing All Might a stink eye. She tightened the wrap around Izuku's arm, making the boy wince. "Honestly, it's a miracle that UA's taking him in as a teacher."
"Wait, you're going to be teaching at UA!?" Izuku said, his eyes bulging out of his head as he looked at his mentor. The other four followed suit, staring at the Number One Hero.
"Well, yes, I am, but that was supposed to be a secret," All Might said, returning the stink eye back to Recovery Girl, who just scoffed. "Initially I wanted to look for my successor there on the suggestion of the principal, but then I ran into Izuku, who I thought was a perfect match. And no, I won't be a part of the panel of judges for the practical, so you'll all be getting in on your own merits rather than me sneaking you in."
"That's reassuring," Izuku said, though Itsuka looked a little more unsure.
"All Might, are we sure that we can trust-" she began.
"I know what you want to say, and yes, we can trust the UA faculty," All Might interrupted. "There's nothing that we can't trust with them, I promise."
"I see. Alright, I'll believe in you," Itsuka said, giving him an affirming nod. "Now, let's talk about what we saw with Izuku's Quirk. From the looks of it, you have to consciously activate it, right?"
"Yea," Izuku winced, as his arm was fully healed, though it was relatively numb thanks to his stamina being drained from Recovery Girl's Quirk. "I just have to think it, and it'll activate in one part of my body."
"Hm..." Eijiro thought, rubbing his hand on his chin to bring out as much brainpower as he could. "Does it really work like that? Like my Quirk, Hardening-" Eijiro changed his forearms into their rock hard state, "- lets me turn a part of my body-" he changed his entire body this time, "-or all of my body into rock hard skin."
"Yea, maybe instead of just trying one part, try all parts!" Pony said, to Izuku's confusion. "Like think of a frozen burrito!"
"A what?"
"Oh wait, a frozen taiyaki! That makes more sense in Japan!" Pony said, slapping her forehead. "You know how sometimes you microwave a frozen taiyaki and it doesn't warm up all the way through but a part of it's still really, really hot? Maybe instead of trying to focus into one spot like that, you should just let yourself get warmed up all the way through!"
"Tsunotori, that doesn't make any-" Itsuka started.
"It's makes total sense!" Izuku shouted, leaping to his feet, his exhaustion gone. "All this time, I've been thinking about putting all my power into one arm or leg at a time! Instead of letting this be something that's spread out naturally in my body, I've been treating it like a special power for an all or nothing move!"
"All I gotta do, is let it spread out evenly! I can't let it focus into one area or it'll be too hot!" Izuku took a deep breath, and concentrated. He couldn't afford to let himself lose any concentration. As he focused letting all of his power spread evenly, green sparks of electricity surrounded his body.
"Whoa, Midoriya! You're doing it!" Eijiro said, grinning.
"Yea, way to go!" Mina cheered.
"Nice job!" Pony said in English.
"I know we should be proud and all, but using a taiyaki in a microwave wasn't exactly how I'd imagine he'd get it," Itsuka said, mildly chuckling.
"You... You've done it, Young Midoriya!" All Might said, proudly. "You're finally getting a hang of using your Quirk!"
"No thanks to you!" Recovery Girl said, smacking All Might's calf hard with her cane. "You should've let these kids in on this the moment he became friends with them! Honestly, they taught him more in 30 minutes than you did in months!"
"I know, I know! Still, be proud of yourself, Young Midoriya, for this small step will lead to many more!" All Might said, laughing until he noticed that Izuku wasn't moving. "Young Midoriya?"
"Sorry, I'm still trying to figure out if the amount of power I'm putting into this is safe for me to move around in," Izuku answered. "Let's try!"
Izuku took a deep breath, and leaped forward. He sprung ahead in a flash, crashing against some gym equipment. "Midoriya! Are you alright?!" Eijiro yelled, as they rushed over to him.
"Yea," he moaned. He moved his arms and legs. "Nothing's broken at least."
"Seems like we'll need to start focusing on finetuning that power of yours," All Might said, helping his apprentice up. "But take heart, Young Midoriya! This is a step in the right direction!"
"Yes sir!" Izuku replied, smiling when their phones vibrated. They all checked, and saw a message from Sento about him going on a lead about Katsuragi with Banjo and that the teens could spend their time that day training with All Might instead of going to the café. "Wow, seems like everyone we know is getting somewhere now."
Night Rogue walked around the second lair, trying to get used to the surroundings. It was still frustrating. Here he is, the leader of Faust, and yet Meta Bolt and Blood Stalk kept undermining his authority with their actions and private missions. Why on earth they wouldn't tell him anything about what they were doing, god knows why. And he certainly wanted to know what connections they have, since they've consistently had information that he isn't privy to, even with his own connections to the government.
"Yo, Night Rogue!"
Speaking of Blood Stalk... "Is there any news you want to tell me, Stalk? Such as destroying our previous lab?"
"Wow, Bolt was right, you are still really salty about that!" Blood Stalk said, laughing. "That's what the kids these days say when you're upset about something, you know? Anyways, I got word that Build and Banjo are going to attempt to go into Hokuto."
"What!?" Night Rogue yelled. He leaped towards Blood Stalk, slamming him against the wall by the collar like he did with Meta Bolt earlier. "Do you realize how this jeopardizes everything!? If Hokuto gets their hands on the Kamen Rider-"
"Then all of the war preparations Faust's made will go to the waste," Blood Stalk said, shrugging. "So what do you want to do?"
"We'll go ahead and stop them from heading into Hokuto, and you're coming with me," Night Rogue stated, slamming Blood Stalk against the wall again for emphasis. "Whether you want to or now."
"Fine fine, a little moody today, aren't we?" Blood Stalk said, as Night Rogue let go of him. The two began heading out of the lab, though Blood Stalk eyed the Fullbottles and the Pandora Panel, and snatched the Fullbottle with the image of a rocket before leaving.
"Yep, this is enough money. Follow me, good sir and clown," the smuggler said, as he counted the money Sento handed over to him.
"I still don't get why you're wearing that," Sento said, glaring at Ryuga. Indeed, Ryuga had been dressed in a bright and colorful clown tuxedo with a giant bowtie, complete with orange afro and clown nose.
"It's the only disguise the Owner gave me in that bag!" Ryuga hissed. "If you think this is ridiculous, you should've lent me some of your clothes!"
"You kidding? You'd stretch the fabric out!"
"All you wear are oversized shirts and coats!"
"Hm?" the smuggler grumbled, seeing a group of people coming in from the Hokuto side of the Skywall. "Hey! Who are you!?" he said, walking towards the group. Sento and Ryuga remained behind a few bushes and trees, watching the scene unfold.
"Are those Hokuto refugees?" Ryuga said, looking at the group of people.
"Considering they were just coming in from that side, probably," Sento muttered.
"Please, we didn't mean to cross without paying! There was no one there, so we just came through ourselves. Here's the money!" one of the refugees said, handing the smuggler a handful of cash. He counted through it, though not for long, and scoffed, "This isn't enough. Go back to Hokuto."
"No, please, we need to be free!" the refugee cried. "We promise, we'll pay you the rest when we get to Touto and-"
A gunshot rang out through the forest, and the refugee yelped and fell over, clutching his shin, having been grazed by a bullet. A Guardian troop appeared, surrounding the smuggler and the refugees.
"I-I-I don't know anything! I don't know them, and I certainly don't know about this crack!" the smuggler said, trying to play innocent as the refugees screamed and begged to be spared. A garbled modulated voice laughed, and Night Rogue walked out of the trees, Steam Blade in hand, looking at the group.
"I know you're out here, Build," Night Rogue said, as Sento fumed behind the bushes. "Come out and let's talk. Otherwise-" Night Rogue shot the wall besides one of the refugees, a child not much other than ten, barely missing him. "- things could get ugly here."
"RabbitTank! Yeahhh!"
A loud hiss of steam and the thud of runners slamming together, and Build came out of the bushes, glaring at Night Rogue. "Let them go, Night Rogue!"
The Faust leader glared back at the Kamen Rider, before rushing him and swinging his Steam Blade. Build barely had time to summon the Drill Crusher to parry the attack, while Ryuga came out of the bushes, shaking and twisting the Dragon Fullbottle's cap before running towards the Guardians. "Hey!" he shouted, punching the head off of one of them, grabbing their attention.
"Immediate threat detected, preparing for lethal force," they said in a flat robotic tone, as they started to shoot at him and attempting to stab him with the blades on their rifles. Ryuga ran off, with the Guardians following him, forgetting about the refugees and smuggler, who all ran off as fast as they could from the scene, while two of them carried the injured one to safety.
Build and Night Rogue's weapons sparked as they clashed against one another. Build took a swing with the Drill Crusher's spinning blade, when Night Rogue leaped over him, landing upside down on a branch before jumping back down and striking Build on the arm. He staggered backwards from the attack, which left Night Rogue an opening to spin the valve on the Steam Blade.
"Ice Steam!" He pointed the blade at Build, as a chilling blast of frost hit him, covering his armor in ice, immobilizing him for another attack.
"Elec Steam!" Electricity wrapped around the blade, and he slashed at Build twice, shocking the Kamen Rider and knocking him backwards.
"You're not going to Hokuto," he muttered, turning around to face Ryuga, who was finishing off the last of the Guardians. "Neither of you."
He walked towards the fugitive, blade pointed towards him, when he was struck in the back with a salvo of bullets. He turned around, and was nearly rammed by the Kamen Rider on his motorcycle, with the Drill Crusher in its Gun Mode. He came to a screeching stop in front of Ryuga. "Get on! We're making a break for it!"
Ryuga practically jumped on at the command, and the two sped off. Night Rogue snarled and shouted, "Stalk! Stop them!"
"Yea yea," Blood Stalk said, coming out of the trees, Steam Rifle in his hand and loaded a light blue Fullbottle into it, a small holographic image of the rocket image on the Fullbottle popping up.
"Fullbottle! Steam Attack!"
Blood Stalk pointed the Steam Rifle and looked out the scope. He fired a rocket-shaped steam bullet out of the barrel, which began following the two motorcyclists.
"Hurry! Go faster!"
"I'm going as fast as I can, Banjo!"
"It's not fast enough- Wha?"
The steam bullet suddenly shot upwards, before coming back down and flying towards Night Rogue. Night Rogue barely had time to dodge the bullet, gas dispersing everywhere. When the air cleared, he looked around and saw that not only were the Kamen Rider and Ryuga Banjo gone, so was Blood Stalk.
"That bastard," he growled. "What's he playing at!?"
"That was way too close to comfort," Sento said, sighing as he put the Build Phone away in his pocket. The two scanned their surroundings, spotting a van of soldiers driving by a farm with dying plants, followed by a Guardian Troop. "So this is Hokuto, huh... it's just as they said, the land's barren thanks to the changes in soil composition from the Skywall... not to mention the soldiers patrolling around."
"No wonder those guys were attempting to escape," Ryuga said, the two beginning their trek to find Katsuragi's mother. "I wonder how the teens are doing..."
"I think I'm getting the hang of this!" Izuku said, as he jogged in place while his Quirk was activated. The four other teens and All Might gave the boy two thumbs up, while ignoring all the crashed gym equipment, cracked mirrors and walls, and rock fragments everywhere. "This level of power is getting more manageable now, though I'm not sure if I'll be ready to use 100% of my power any time soon."
"Still, you're getting the hang of this pretty well!" Eijiro said, after Izuku powered his Quirk down. "You went from having no control to some decent control within hours!"
"Yea, if you keep this up, maybe you'll become a master over your Quirk!" Mina said, giving Izuku a high five, who was slow to react at first, since it's been a long time since anyone's given him one.
"Heck, I think being a Kamen Rider wouldn't be too far off for you soon if this raises your Hazard Level!" Pony said aloud. Recovery Girl turned her head and raised an eyebrow. "Now what do you mean by that?"
Pony covered her mouth as the other four teens turned white. All Might's jaw dropped, struggling to find his words. "Um, uh, well-"
"All Might, pray tell, what does she mean by Midoriya becoming a Kamen Rider?" she said, eyes narrowed. All Might started scratching his head, and yanked on his rabbit ear-like bangs. "I... I guess I need to tell you now," he sighed, the giant man slumping his shoulders in defeat.
"Soon after I met Young Midoriya and chose him to be my successor, we encountered and met the Kamen Rider, Build. We discovered that our interests were the same, as Build was looking for the same villains that kidnapped Young Midoriya because they also experimented on him and took his memories. For the most part, we don't actually work on 'missions' that often because of our positions, but we do meet often to discuss what we've discovered and to help him handle Smashes."
"I see," Recovery Girl said, before whacking him in the calf with her cane. "Then why haven't you talked to Principal Nezu about this!?"
"It's not that simple! Like I said, my position as the Number One Hero and his position as a vigilante could cause mass chaos! What would people say if they saw me working with him in the open?" All Might explained. It was a sight to behold for the five prospective heroes in training, seeing a behemoth of a man being talked down to by a small old woman. "This had to be a secret, even Build agreed!"
"Then why are those four in on this?" Recovery Girl pointed at the four teens, who froze upon being brought into the conversation. "They seem awfully young to be trusted with a secret like the Number One Hero working with a vigilante!"
"We... followed Midoriya to the Kamen Rider's lair," Eijiro said, scratching his head.
"We wanted to thank him for helping us out when we got turned into Smash," Mina added, pushing her fingers together.
"It was just a massive accident we stumbled into this," Pony said, shuffling her right hoof.
"I found out yesterday, after seeing All Might and the Kamen Rider working together when they found the lab I was at," Itsuka replied. "They didn't need to tell me, but they did because they felt like they owed me an explanation."
"Please, Recovery Girl! Don't be mad at All Might," Izuku pleaded, clasping his hands together. "It was my idea to work together with the Kamen Rider when we met! I just... I just wanted to know what happened to me, and it just, spiraled into this secret operation."
"Hm... fine, I get it," she said, shrugging. "I won't tell anyone, on the condition that at least Principal Nezu is told. You already trust him with a number of secrets, why not add this one as well?"
"I understand, Recovery Girl," All Might said, scratching the back of his head. "I'll do that soon."
"And while you're at it, coach these five on how to talk about secrets without blabbing them out in public!" Recovery Girl added, pointing at the embarrassed teens. "Honestly, with the way your mouths were flapping about, I could've learned anything I wanted!"
"I know, I know!" All Might said, as the old woman berated them all. "I'll go ahead and call Principal Nezu about this now. If we're lucky, he'll be understanding."
"We should be close to Mrs. Katsuragi's house, according to this address," Sento said, as he looked at the slip of paper with her information. "Thank goodness that Sky Road crack was near it. Could've taken us weeks to find her otherwise."
Sento and Ryuga walked down the streets, having miraculously avoided any patrolling soldiers or Guardian Troops. "This is it," Sento said, pointing to a large open gate that lead to a large old house
"This is Katsuragi's mom's home!? It's huge! Haven't seen a house this big since Kasumi's..." Ryuga said, as they snuck into the open yard. The two heard chattering out in the yard, so they went behind some bushes and trees to see what was happening. In the yard was an upper middle-aged woman with a ponytail, who stood in front of an old dry eraseboard with a group of children sitting on boxes, crates, and pails, with books on their laps.
"Shouldn't they be in school?" Ryuga whispered, looking at the kids.
"I guess those rumors about Hokuto putting their money into military funds instead of social welfare and education are true, since all those soldiers and Guardians were well-armed while these kids don't even have desks to use," Sento whispered back.
"Okay, remember to do the problems on 155 to 157 for homework, everyone!" she said, addressing the children.
"Yes, Mrs. Katsuragi!" they replied, as they closed their books and packed them into their bags. One of them looked up, however, and spotted Ryuga's brightly colored clothes and clown wig. "Look! A clown!"
"No way!"
"Cool!"
"Uh oh," Ryuga muttered, as the group of children rushed him, ecstatic about seeing the funny man. They surrounded him as Sento moved out of the way, letting the kids play with his bowtie and pulled on his arms. "Hey hey hey hey, calm down! I'd need space, you know!"
One of the kids managed to reach up to his face, and yanked on his nose, pulling it off. Mrs. Katsuragi glared at Ryuga, recognizing him immediately. "Ryuga Banjo..." she hissed, the kids not noticing her fury. Sento walked to her, and began to talk. "Listen, there's a long story behind this, we-"
"Leave," she stated, coolly. "That's the only warning I'm giving you. I have nothing to say to either of you two. If you don't, I'll call the police."
She turned around and ran into her house, slamming the sliding door as hard as she could. The kids turned around when they heard the door, which Ryuga and Sento took as their chance to leave.
"Well, that was a bust," Sento grumbled, as he and Ryuga walked away from the house, finding a bridge to take a break on. "But we can't give up yet. We need to talk to her about what she got from her son."
"I know, but she hates my guts, so it's not like we'll get the chance soon," Ryuga said, taking off his wig. "Man, this disguise can't be the ONLY one the Owner could've gotten me."
"In retrospect, it might've been a bad idea to bring you along."
"Yea, a little late to think that, right?"
"Hey, old dudes."
The two turned around to face three kids from Mrs. Katsuragi's class from earlier. "Do you know Mr. Takumi?"
"I'm not that old, I'm in my early twenties," Ryuga replied, taking offense to being called old. Sento ignored him, and walked over to the kids and crouched down to talk to them.
"Not really, but we heard of him," he said, looking at the kids in the eyes. "We wanted to talk to his mother about him, but she's not in the mood to talk to us. If ever."
"I hope she does, Mrs. Katsuragi's super nice!" a boy who seemed to be the leader said, grinning. "She teaches and cares for us for free, since none of our families have money for school."
"When we get older, we want to teach kids for free, too!" a girl with a sunflower growing atop on her head added. "That way, no one gets to be stupid!"
"And we can be scientists, too, like Mr. Takumi!" another boy with pointed ears replied.
"So you've met him?" Sento asked, raising his eyebrow.
"No, but she always talks about him! She says that he's super smart, even without a Quirk, and that he makes her super proud! I wanna be a scientist so I can make her proud of me, too!" the leader said, though he ended up frowning a bit. "But it's weird, she says that he's too busy to ever visit even though he sends money every so often, but she keeps making his favorite rolled sweet omelet every day so that they can eat it when they can."
"I see," Sento muttered. She must've not told any of these kids about what happened to her son, and considering the lengths of control the Hokuto government seemed to have with the soldier patrols, they probably haven't seen any news from the other countries. It would explain why they hadn't recognized Ryuga. Ryuga looked to the side, feeling slightly guilty about the Katsuragis, even if he hadn't been Takumi's murderer. The money she's getting is probably insurance from her son's death.
"Why are you still here?"
Sento and Ryuga looked behind him, and saw Mrs. Katsuragi glaring at them, though her face softened immediately when she looked at the kids. "You three should run along now, your parents might get worried."
The kids said their goodbyes to their teacher, and went off. As soon as they were gone, her face hardened when she turned to face the two again. "Are you here to taunt me? I've already suffered with the loss of my husband and son, I don't need his murderer to come here and-"
"No, that's not it," Sento said, immediately standing up for Ryuga. "He didn't kill your son. In fact, it... it might've been me."
Mrs. Katsuragi stared at him befuddled, but before she could voice or question anything, children screams filled the air. Sento and Ryuga wasted no time in running towards where the screams came from with Mrs. Katsuragi following, and to their horror, the leader of the kids had been on the ground, Steam Rifle pointed in his face.
"Yo, it's been a while!" Blood Stalk said, as the sunflower girl and pointed-ear boy were crawling backwards away, their friend unable to join them. "Well, not really. Heard you were looking for info on Takumi Katsuragi, so I thought, hey, let's make this a little fun!"
"Devil Steam!" Blood Stalk fired his Steam Rifle, and a gas bullet struck the leader in the chest.
"Takehiko!" Mrs. Katsuragi yelled, as the boy squirmed and cried as the gas surrounded and changed him. Once the gas dissipated, in the boy's place was a Smash with a camera-esque head with multiple lens-like eyes, forearms that resembled telescoping lenses, thin tripod-like legs, shoulders with film reel-like protrusions, and a boxy torso. Ryuga held her back, making sure that she didn't attempt to get to the Smashified boy and be potentially injured.
"Oho, this kid's got a Hazard Level of 1.99!" Blood Stalk whistled, as the Smash got up. "Enough to survive, but not enough to get out of this unscathed! Meta Bolt's right, this Steam Rifle's way more useful than the Nebula Chamber! Don't know why Rogue's so stingy about using that old thing, this invention's way better!"
"You... you!" Sento cried, slapping his Build Driver onto him. "How dare you call that an invention! Stop screwing around!"
"Rabbit! Tank! Best Match! Are you ready?"
"Transform!"
"The Moonsault of Steel! RabbitTank! Yeahhh!"
The runners slammed around Sento, as he rushed Blood Stalk and the Smash, parrying each blow with his Drill Crusher, though as before, he was getting slightly overwhelmed with Blood Stalk's superior fighting ability and trying to focus on damaging the Smash while protecting the two other kids. The Smash flashed bright lights from its many lenses, temporarily blinding Build, allowing Blood Stalk a few hits in. Ryuga rushed into the fight, punching the Smash lightly with a Dragon Fullbottle-enhanced fist, in order to grab the two kids in the crossfire and lead them towards Mrs. Katsuragi. "Are you two alright?" he asked them. The two nodded in fear. "Good! Stay with your teacher! I'm going to help your friend!"
He ran off, getting a good punch in on Blood Stalk, while the Cross-Z Dragon flew out of one of his pockets, providing support to Ryuga by grabbing the Gatling Fullbottle from Build and inserting it into itself, allowing it to fire a salvo of fireballs like a gatling gun. This allowed Build to handle extracting the Smash's essence without Blood Stalk harassing him. He pulled out the Deer and Pyramid Fullbottles, and swapped the Rabbit and Tank Fullbottles with them.
"Deer! Pyramid! Best Match! Are you ready?"
"Build Up!" "The Royal Family Guardian! Deeramid! Yeahhh!"
The red and blue of RabbitTank were soon replaced with the blue and gold of Deeramid. With a wave of his left hand, a pyramid energy projection formed, flying towards the Smash and firing its branching laser, striking the Smash in multiple parts. The Smash swung its telescope-like arms at the pyramid, missing it with its cumbersome limbs, before being finally weakened by the heat of the branching lasers. Build cranked his belt's handle furiously.
"Are you ready? Vortex Finish!"
"Deer Destruction!"
Dozens of energy pyramids appeared, firing multiple branching lasers that hit the Smash, causing it to explode in a fiery pillar of smoke. Build pulled out an Empty Bottle to extract the Smash's essence when Blood Stalk knocked Ryuga away, and loaded the light blue Fullbottle into his Steam Rifle.
"Fullbottle! Steam Attack!"
"Gotcha!" Blood Stalk said, when Ryuga tackled him, and pulled the Fullbottle out of the Steam Rifle, with the Cross-Z Dragon firing blasts of fire onto Blood Stalk.
"Sento! Catch!" Ryuga shouted, throwing the Fullbottle to Build. He caught it as soon as the Smash's essence was removed, returning Takehiko to normal. Ryuga rushed to the kid's side and carried him to Mrs. Katsuragi and his friends while Build removed the Deer and Pyramid Fullbottles, and chose to insert the Panda Fullbottle with his "newly acquired" one.
"Panda! Rocket! Best Match! Are you ready?"
"A new Best Match!? Gah, I'll focus on that later," Build said, shocked that Ryuga yet again found a new Best Match. He cranked the Build Driver's handle quickly while a snow white runner formed in front of him while a light blue runner formed behind him. "Because right now, I've found the winning formula! Build Up!"
"The Blasting-Off Monotone! RocketPanda! Yeahhh!"
The runners slammed onto Build, forming his new Best Match's armor. The right arm and left leg were snow white, with a giant bear-like claw on his right hand. The left arm and right leg were light blue, with a rocket-shaped gauntlet and a shoulder pad with thrusters on it. His right eye was a light blue rocket that was taking off, while his left eye was in the shape of a panda's head.
"Tch, you think that scares me?" Blood Stalk said, firing several shots from his Steam Rifle. Build knocked them back at him with a swipe of a claw, following up by combining the light blue armor on his left arm into a rocket, launching into Blood Stalk and knocking him backwards.
"Takehiko!" Mrs. Katsuragi and the other two kids yelled, as Ryuga ran towards them.
"Mrs. Katsuragi... my chest... it hurts," he moaned, as Mrs. Katsuragi checked his heart and his head. "Am... am I dying?"
"Hey hey, don't talk like that, kid," Ryuga reassured, smiling at the boy. "You're gonna be alright, you know? You wanted to be a teacher and scientist when you grew up. So don't talk like that. I'm real stupid, so you can teach me everything you know when you're all grown up."
"... Promise?" the boy said, as he barely opened his eyes to look at the man carrying him.
"Promise," Ryuga replied, nodding. He handed Takehiko off to Mrs. Katsuragi. "Take him and those two to safety. I need to help my friend fight that man."
"Right," she replied, stunned as she watched her son's murderer run off. This wasn't what she expected of Ryuga Banjo at all. He was so... gentle with Takehiko. And how he handled the injured boy... could he really be the person who killed her son? She shook it off, as she and the children ran back to her house to get him the attention Takehiko needed since it was close to them.
Blood Stalk and Build were trading blows with one another, Blood Stalk slashing with his Steam Rifle's blade and Build slashing with his giant panda bear claw. To Build's surprise, Blood Stalk was backing away with each blow, as if he wasn't sure how to handle this new Best Match. He finally got a slash in, knocking the Faust leader backwards, and followed up with another rocket punch before recalling it to his arm.
"Let's finish this!" Build shouted, turning his belt's handle. "Are you ready? Vortex Finish!"
"Pandemonium Panic!"
A circular energy graph formed around Blood Stalk, preventing him from escaping, and Build got onto it by flying with his rocket arm. He flew around on the circle multiple times, slashing the Faust leader with his claw each time, making his armor spark to the point he exploded, sending him flying backwards. Blood Stalk landed in a crouched down position, having regained his balance midfall. He got up, popped his joints, and laughed.
"That's it! You're getting good!" Blood Stalk said, to Build's and Ryuga's confusion. "I think you two deserve a prize!"
"What are you talking about!?" Build shouted, prepared to attack Blood Stalk again. Unbeknownst to them, Mrs. Katsuragi had came back, having left Takehiko in the care of a friend who was staying at her house.
"You wanted information about Takumi Katsuragi? You wanted to know what his death's got to do with Banjo? Well, Katsuragi was one of the founders of Faust!" Blood Stalk said, laughing as he dropped this information onto them. "He's the one who created the base of our technology and work with the Nebula Gas! The one who created the Smashes!"
"What!?" Build said, leaping towards Blood Stalk to force him to tell them more. He swept his Transteam Gun and formed a cloud of gas around himself, disappearing the moment Build attacked him.
"That's all I'm gonna tell you for now! Just keep searching and getting stronger, Build! You too, Banjo! And Midoriya as well! You'll need all the help you can get!" Blood Stalk's voice echoed out. Build grumbled as he pulled out his Fullbottles from the Build Driver, as Ryuga looked at him, frowning.
"Do you think that's true?" Ryuga asked, as Sento crossed his arms, struggling to think.
"This does fit in with Katsuragi suggesting human experimentation with Nebula Gas to the Institute board," he mumbled. "But to think that he actually went through with it..."
"Is this true?"
Sento and Ryuga turned around, finally having noticed Mrs. Katsuragi's presence.
"Is... is Takumi really responsible for something like this?"
"Alright you five, I think that's enough training for now," All Might said, as they finished doing some basic muscle exercises, since he wanted them to take it easy for the rest of their time. "You've all done really well, even with my... less than stellar teaching style."
"Don't sell yourself short, All Might!" Mina said, with Eijiro and Pony nodding in agreement. "You'll get the hang of teaching soon! Just think of us as a trial run!"
"Yea! We don't mind that!" Eijiro grinned, grabbing a towel to dry his sweat off.
"I would say I'm disappointed, but this is something you're doing for the first time, so that's on me, really," Itsuka admitted, shrugging.
"I promise that I'm going to improve as much as I can with my Quirk!" Izuku swore.
"Yea, we'll get better together!" Pony added, as they all went headed to the showers to clean up. All Might sighed, as he rushed to a room, making sure to pick one with no windows, and locked the door, finally releasing his muscle form.
"That took a lot longer than I thought," he mumbled, as he pulled out his cellphone. Now comes the part that he was dreading the most. He went through his contacts list, finally stopping on the one he needed to call.
"Hey, Nezu?" All Might said, as the call got picked up. "I... I have something to tell you."
Original AO3 Notes:
- Here's the next chapter of "Building Up A Hero!". Took a while, but I did it! And it hasn't been over a year while I wrote it! And like I predicted, "Ultraman Hero Academia" does take a lot less time to write.
- If you're wondering about All Might's alias here, it's the name of the human host for Ultraman Joneus. He's technically the eighth Ultraman, and All Might's the eighth wielder of One for All, so I thought it fit. Plus, I wanted to use an alias rather than just him using his real name to pose as All Might's manager. Came up with it after looking up stuff on the Ultraman Wiki for "Ultraman Hero Academia".
- Yee, decided that I wanted Izuku to gain control over One for All kinda early here. I figured that since he got it earlier, that he should also get better control earlier. And I felt that if he had friends to bounce ideas off of concerning how he's treating his Quirk, he'd get a better grasp on an idea, since Eijiro, Mina, Pony, and Itsuka have all had their Quirks since childhood. Will this affect his Hazard Level? Oh you bet. It is a little rushed, though, I'll admit. Mostly because my brain has been fucking stuck during this "Pre-Entrance Exam Arc" for so long, and I want to get to the MHA part of the story. Though I will say that the first arc of the Build side of things will finish just around the Entrance Exams, though it won't go into the second arc for a while 'cuz I'm planning to sorta "extend" the first arc to include a few arcs of MHA.
- The timeline to the Entrance Exam is now a month and two weeks. I'm not saying this to remind you all, I'm saying this to remind myself. It was eight months when Ryuga, Eijiro, Mina, and Pony joined Team Build, and two weeks past when they met Tatsuya. So we'll FINALLY be getting into more of the MHA side of things, which I'm looking forward to 'cuz the plots intermingle much more after that.
- This chapter was a little frustrating to deal with, since the MHA section and Build section don't really intersect or interact this time around, since I figured that Sento would want the number of people going to Hokuto with him be small. It did at least give me a chance to give more focus on the MHA characters this time around. But it's very much a "two stories happening at once in one chapter" sort of deal.
- With the way that Takehiko in canon talked about how much pain he was in, it gave me the impression that he might've had a kinda low Hazard Level. So I picked 1.99 which feels like it's reasonably survivable, but still hurts a lot more than if you were just at Hazard Level 2.
- I checked the Build episode I based this chapter around, and the order of events with the Blood Stalk fight aren't quite the same, but I feel like for what I did, it's not necessarily bad. It still flows well I think.
- Initially the chapter was just going to end at the Build section, but I realized that there wasn't really a resolution for the MHA one, so I figured that I should put that there as an ending so that it wouldn't feel unfinished in a way.
- We'll be getting a Build Files soon, which shouldn't take long to write.