Chapter 23:

(Okay, I think i have an idea for chapter structure. A few times, I'll finish writing a match in the sports festival once I get to them, then I'll segue to Claus' side in the story. There will be instances of the Masked Man, as I continue that part of the story. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!)

Lucas explained what he heard from that Nomu villain.

"When I fought it, I heard…well, I heard lots of things." Lucas said, "But it was like a flickering moment. Sometimes I heard "run" or "help." Izuku noticed that Lucas seemed to have a fearful look on his face.

"Like…It's mind was gone, but still there slightly. And it wasn't in complete control." Lucas looked distraught at the very idea. Nomu had almost no presence in his mind, it was like talking to the dead. Nezu looked at his son, and walked up to him. Lucas let his father climb up to his shoulder. Nezu tried to calm his son down by patting his head.

"I see. Could you read anything else?" Nezu asked, "Nothing. Like I said, I felt almost no presence in that things mind, and when I did, it sounded like he wasn't in control of who he was." Lucas said. "I-I suspect that Nomu is something else entirely. Like a genetically altered being." Izuku did think that was possible, the way they treated and talked about Nomu like a pet was already suspicious.

"Maybe it's been programmed to only take orders from that man, Shigaraki." Toshinori said, "Which would explain why it was easy to arrest him after we fought."

Nezu thought about it, "I'll write it down as a possible theory, Lucas." He said to his son, "Thank you, it should be able to help further the investigation of the USJ attack. Now, for another matter…" Nezu put his paw on his son's forehead.

"I'm glad your fever seems to have passed!" He said, smiling that his son was feeling better, "Fever? Lucas, when did you have a fever?" Izuku asked, "Sometime after the USJ Attack, but I don't think it's one of those fevers. It might've just been something else." Lucas said, with Izuku looking confused, "O-Oh yeah! Right, uh…" Lucas tried to explain his fevers and how they tied to his powers.

"So, you always have to check, then? Did you get a new power, then?" Izuku asked, "I'm not sure yet, I don't feel any different." Lucas said.

"Well, we'll figure that out later, my dear boy." Nezu said, patting his son's head, before climbing off of him. "Now then, I think me and Yagi-san have kept you boys here long enough, you can go on ahead to class now." Nezu said, Izuku & Lucas grabbed their backpacks and headed out.

"Ah, wait one second, Lucas." Nezu had his arms held out, "O-Oh, right." Lucas hugged his father, "You never leave without a goodbye hug, my pup!" Nezu said, "R-Right, sorry." Lucas chuckled.

"See you later, All Might! I-It was nice to meet you, Principal Nezu!" Izuku said, "See you, Young Midoriya! Young Sakai!" Toshinori said happily. "Bye, Papa—I-I mean, Dad! See you, Yagi-San." Lucas said, hoping he saved himself on his little stutter. Nezu simply chuckled, "Bye, boys! Have a great rest of your day!" He said, finding his son adorable. As soon as the boys left, Nezu tried to think about Lucas' account on the Nomu. He started feeling his heartbeat move at a faster pace. Toshinori could tell something was wrong, "Everything okay?" He asked, Nezu snapped out of his thinking and put his neutral smile on. "Ah, I'm alright, old friend! No need to worry!" He said, as cheerful as he could muster. Toshinori knew he was just lying, Nezu could plainly see that.

He took a deep breath, "Okay, you've got me. I'm…simply worried, is all." He said, "About the attack?" Toshinori asked, "Of course, but…I keep worrying about my pup's safety. I…I've been afraid ever since he wanted to join the Hero Course." Nezu said, "It's not that I don't trust him to take care of himself, but…I'm worried Lucas will wound up getting hurt at some point." Toshinori looked at him, sympathetically. "I've been protecting him my whole life, I…I don't want to see him get hurt. Sometimes I still wish he was back to his younger years." Nezu worried if he was being a bad father, and then there's situation about the League of Villains, if Lucas' hypothesis about Nomu's origin turns out to be correct, then there's a possibility that the people responsible for Lucas' capture and possible experimentation might be the ones responsible. Which means, Nezu would be fighting the very people who took his pup away from his family, that tried to use him as some sort of weapon, is it possible that they were still after him, after all these years? The chimera didn't want to think about that. Besides, he shouldn't jump to conclusions as it's far too early to tell, so he subsided those thoughts for now, "You need to stay strong. Not just for Lucas, but for the students and faculty." He told himself, "Hey, all parents get worried over their kid, I'm sure." Toshinori said, "You've got nothing to worry about, Lucas is an incredible kid." Toshinori said, "Besides, I've seen how kind he is to Young Midoriya. And from what I've seen, those two stay determined through it all." Toshinori said, when he said that, Nezu started to smile. "I suppose you're right, my friend!" He said, happily.

"Now, why don't we resume our conversation from the other day? About my teaching philosophies?" He said, kindly. Toshinori sighed, remembering that Nezu just went on with that whole conversation. "Here we go…" He said, slightly annoyed, to which Nezu chuckled mischievously.

(Lucas remembers something, meanwhile)

8 year-old Lucas woke up from his nap and went to go see if his papa was free from work. "Papa?" Lucas said, looking around. Nezu wasn't in his office. Where did he go? Lucas yawned, still waking himself up. "What time is it?" Lucas looked at the clock and it showed that it was passed noon. Students would be going home by now. "Is he in the vents again?" He asked, wondering if Nezu was crawling into his favorite hiding spot again. Then, he heard someone taking deep breaths. Lucas looked behind the desk and found his father.

Nezu looked pale, he was taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself down.

"P-Papa?" Lucas asked, Nezu snapped out of his thoughts and looked over. His son was watching him, worried about what was wrong.

"A-Are you okay?" Lucas asked, scared. Nezu took a deep breath and put on a neutral smile.

"O-Oh, Lucas! I didn't know you woke up. Were you calling for me?" Nezu asked, trying to remain calm.

"I-I was wondering where you were, then I saw you. Y-You looked scared…" Lucas said, Nezu took another deep breath, "I'm fine, my dear boy! I probably had too much caffeine and work can be tiring, you know." He lied. Lucas hugged his dad and started crying, Nezu was slightly surprised, but he wrapped his son in an embrace.

"Don't be sad, Papa…please?" Lucas said, through his tears. Nezu looked saddened, but tried to keep his smile. "Son, I'm okay, I promise." He said, assuringly. "Okay…" Lucas was still crying. Nezu patted his son's head. "Come on, dry your tears. You know what would make Papa happy?" Nezu asked, "If my precious little pup laughed instead!" Nezu tried to tickle Lucas, "P-Papa-Haha!" Lucas started giggling.

Lucas snapped out of the memory, as he heard Izuku say something. "O-Oh…S-Sorry, what were you asking about?" He asked, as they walked back to class, "I was just asking if your entrance exam results were…tampered with?" Izuku wondered if Lucas simply got in here by nepotism.

"No, I took the entrance exam and earned my spot. You know that." Lucas always thought if he was recommended, it was purely nepotism, either that, or higher-regard.

"I told my Papa—I mean, my Dad that I wanted to earn my place here. It's that simple, Izuku." He explained, Izuku looked at him.

"Actually, he's right. Lucas…he takes things more seriously and trains with more determination. Now that I think about it, he DOES work hard. Whoever his teacher was…Wait…" Izuku thought to himself, "Did...Did you know Mr. Aizawa before you came to school here?" Izuku asked, remembering a few times that Lucas & Aizawa interacted with each other. Lucas just nervously chuckled, "Y-Yes?" He said, to which shocked Izuku. "Seriously? Wow, so that explains why you seem to know more about his teaching methods than any of us do." Izuku said, Lucas just nodded.

"Yup, I've trained with Aizawa-Sensei from when I was 10." Lucas explained, "Wow, so that's why you have a strong work-ethic." Izuku said, Lucas just chuckled. "Yeah…Still, I'm sorry I never told you." He apologized, he wanted to tell Izuku about it, but he didn't want to reveal his identity. "Well, I gotta owe you somehow. You know about my Quirk, too." Izuku said, sort of getting why Lucas kept the secret.

"So, as the hero-fanboy, what's your take on my dad?" Lucas asked, "Oh, well…I don't know, Principal Nezu seemed a lot less…strict then I expected?" Izuku explained, "Heheh, I guess so. Though I've gotta warn you, he likes to tease and he gets really intense when he uses his Quirk." Lucas said, giving a bit of warning. Izuku shook, "O-Oh geez…" he said, nervously. "Yeah, he gets like that whenever I see him play a game of Shogi, Chess or Reversi." Lucas mentioned. "Y-Yikes…" Izuku said. "So, every strategy game?"

Lucas looked to the side, "I wouldn't bring up Fire Emblem around him." He said. "Oh? You play Fire Emblem?" Izuku asked, "Yeah, I've got Three Houses and I'm just barely on my second run." Lucas said, "I play more RPGs, it's the tons of cool story moments with the party members that make those stories great." He started nerding out, Izuku just chuckled.

"Haha, I sort of get that, I played through both versions of Final Fantasy 7!" Izuku explained.

(Later)

The Class 1-A door was blocked by thousands of students. "U-Um, why the heck are you all here?" Tenya lifted his arm, "Do you students have some sort of business with our class?" He asked, Lucas immediately burying himself in his hood. "A class is-is-is one thing, b-but a crowd is ten times worse!" He shook, "They're scouting out the competition, idiots." Katsuki walked ahead, explaining that they were the class that survived the villain attack at the USJ. "F-For the Sports Festival, then?" Lucas was worried, Izuku was hoping Kacchan wouldn't explode anybody. "At least now you know what a future pro looks like. Now move it, extras." Katsuki said, passively. Lucas looked up at him. "D-Don't call them extras." Lucas said, Tenya getting on Katsuki, "You can't walk around calling people "extras" just because you don't know who they are!" He scolded him. A tired-looking boy with wavy dark-blue hair walked up front. "So, this is Class 1-A, I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound an—" Lucas tripped, trying to walk closer.

"Lu, you okay?" Ochaco asked, "Is everyone in the hero course delusional, or just you?" The tired-boy asked.

Katsuki growled, with everyone else signaling to him not to engage him. "How sad to come here and find a bunch of ego maniacs." He called them out, Lucas picked himself back up. "We're…W-We're…not..." He stuttered, trying to argue back. "I wanted to be in the hero course, but like many others here, I was forced to pick a different. Such is life." The tired-boy said, Lucas then looked at him, sympathetically. "I-I-I'm sorry…to-to hear that…" He apologized, which made the blue-haired boy look at him. Katsuki merely scoffed, "I didn't cut it the first time around, but I have another chance. If any of us do well in the Sports Festival, the teacher can decide to transfer us to the Hero Course. Then, they'll have to transfer people out to make room." This worried some of the students, "W-Well…I s-s-suppose I will wish you g-good luck…" Lucas tried to say, "Stop talking." He said, although Lucas felt himself be silenced with such celerity.

"Scouting the competition? Maybe some of my peers are, but I'm here to let you know that, if you don't bring your very best, I'll steal your spot right from under you. Consider this a declaration of war." The blue haired one finished his declaration. Tenya, Ochaco & Izuku looked nervous, "Where did this guy even come from?" They all thought. Lucas felt a strange chain fall from him that allowed him to speak again. "What was that?" He thought, believing that he may have a Quirk that caused that. "O-Okay then…I-I will wish you luck, H-Hitoshi-san." Lucas stuttered, recognizing the student. "You're still talking and wishing me luck? What for?" Hitoshi asked him, "Sh-Shouldn't I? I-It's better to have someone root for you, right?" Lucas said, trying to calm down his stress to speak. Hitoshi looked at the boy, confused. He just declared war on this class and this kid is…not responding the way he expected. "And if I took YOUR spot? What would you do then?" Lucas looked took a deep breath and stood determined, "I'd be honorable and know that someone better than me earned the position and then I'd work harder next time there's an empty seat in the Hero Course to fill." Lucas showed himself, the class just looked at him, shocked. Hitoshi just looked at him, so freaking confused. "So…Good luck to you, Hitoshi-san." Lucas then felt the anxiety coming back as soon as he was close to Katsuki and the crowd. "O-Ok, I-I can't stay in f-front of a crowd t-too long, o-oh sorrysorrysorry!" Lucas hid himself again and then stepped back, worriedly. "Hey, you!" Another student walked up, "I'm from Class 1-B next door to you! We heard you fought some villains and I came to see if that was true!" He shouted, aggressively. "A-Ah!!" Lucas could take all the shouting from this one, "But you're just a bunch of brats who think you're better than us!" He continued, Lucas shouted, "Sorrysorrysorrysorry!" He was worried for his life, at this point. "Hey, Flower-Boy! Quit being a stupid drama queen!" Katsuki shouted at him. Lucas heard Katsuki talk to him and he was startled. "K-Kacchan, wait, Lucas won't be able to—" Izuku tried to defend his friend. "N-No, Izuku. He's right…I-I'm sorry." Lucas took a deep breath and picked himself back up. "Th-This is embarrassing…" Lucas said, ashamed of himself.

"Talk all ya want, it'll just be more embarrassing when you're KO'd." The student from 1-B continued, well, he was mostly talking to Katsuki, who now was just walking away, deciding this was a waste of his time. "Hey! Don't you ignore me!" He shouted, "Dude, where are you going? You gotta say something! It's your fault they're all hating on us, Bakugo." Eijirou said, Katsuki looked back, "These people don't matter." He plainly said, which confused most of the students. "The only that's important is that I beat them." Katsuki then said, Lucas started to glared at him, "How is it that we deal with the same enemy?" Lucas muttered, still not understanding why he turned to pride and belittling others as his defense mechanism.

"Hey! I'm coming for you!" The 1-B student shouted at Katsuki leaving. Kirishima started to tear up at how Bakugo acted. "I hate that, that was such a manly exit." Denki looked at the three next to him. "You said it." Rikido agreed. "We have to beat them, he wasn't wrong." Fumikage said. Lucas looked at him, "Yes, I suppose." Lucas said. "Yeah, sure, but this sucks! He made us everyone's enemies!" Denki said, "If you want to keep your spot, just train." Lucas said, "Big talk from you, Sakai. You basically said you'd give over your spot!" Denki said, "I said if they chose someone better than me, I'll respect the choice. I didn't say I'm giving up. I just chose to be respectful." Lucas said, "That is commendable, Sakai." Tenya said to him, "Good sportsmanship should be a must in the Sports Festival." Lucas explained, "I don't see why people have need to harbor any resentment towards each other."

Izuku looked at Katsuki leave, and remembered the conversation between the two of them on the second day of training. Katsuki vowed to be the number one hero no matter what, and would refuse to lose to likes of anyone, especially Izuku. "Kacchan…" Izuku clenched his fist. "Maybe I'm just an idiot." He thought to himself. He remembered his friends reasons for being in the Hero Course.

Katsuki wanted to be the Number 1 Hero.

Ochaco wanted to get rich and let her family have an easy life.

Tenya strives to be just like his brother.

Lucas wants to help others, and that's all that was to it.

Izuku then remembered the advice he received from All Might & Mr. Aizawa. He then looked determined.

"Hey, Lucas?" Izuku asked, "Why don't we train together?" Lucas looked up, and grabbed his backpack. "Sure, we can start tomorrow. Anyways, I'll call you later." Izuku looked at him confused, "What do you mean? Didn't you want to go to somedrinks?" he asked.

Lucas pulled his hood back up. "I've…I've gotta maintain the wisterias & peonies for the school grounds and that takes a bit of time." He blushed nervously, gardening isn't totally a masculine hobby. "Wait, is that why Kacchan calls you "Flower-Boy"? Izuku asked, sort of getting that now. "Y-Yeah, I guess he refuses to know by any other thing about me." Lucas said, cringing a bit. "Anyways, I'll call you when I'm done, Izuku." He said, walking out of the classroom.

(Okay, I'm sorry this was pretty time-consuming. I wanted to write how Lucas is with the other students of UA, like Shinso & Neito. So, basically, Lucas doesn't completely disregard Shinso and believe he deserves the chances to be in the Hero Course. Neito'll be a bit of different case. Anyways, next chapter will be the training montage with Izuku & Lucas, so hope u guys look forward to that. So, stay strong & awesome! Remember that God is with you every single day!)