In an unknown location in the mountains.
. "I…DEVOTE MYSELF TO ALL FOR ONE. NOW, SUCCESSOR. PROVE THAT YOU ARE WORTHY."
Less than a minute later, the League of Villains - that powerful group at the name of which the rest of the world trembled - was being blasted back by the swipes of the hands of the towering behemoth.
"WHY…TELL ME WHY? OH LORD, WHYYY?! WHY IS HE SO WEAK!?
"What's up?" Asked Spinner. "He doesn't make any sense!"
A voice came crackling in over the radio which had hung on the giant's neck, now seated on the ground. A crackling, horrible, smug, old voice. Dabi's head turned with a slight start of recognition towards the box.
"You seem to be at a loss, Tomura Shigaraki."
"Doctor…" Shigaraki murmured.
"Did you say 'Doctor?" Asked Spinner. "Could it be the doctor we're looking for?"
"Are all your pals there with you? How've you all been doing?"
"Fine, thanks. But we're about to be mincemeat," said Shigaraki as the creature raised its fists preparing to smash them into the ground. The force of the blow turned the rocks around them to beaten pieces of rubble and sent the League scattering.
"I WANT TO ACCEPT HIM! BUT ALL FOR ONE, I - I JUST CAN'T!"
"Why not?" Asked Shigaraki.
"I take it you've met Gigantomachia?" Came the Doctor's voice. "He's a big supporter of All for One. He even used to be his bodyguard! He is one of the people All for One trusted most. With that extraordinarily durable body of his, he could handle multiple quirks even without getting remodeled first. When All for One was weakened by All Might. He knew his defeat was inevitable, so he hid Gigantomachia away. Such careful planning! And all this happened just a few years after he picked you up. No matter what might happen to him, he made sure his hopes and dreams would live on."
"Call me crazy," snapped Dabi, "but I'm having a hard time seeing this as some generous gift."
"Nice insight, Dabi! I'd say you're right. Gigantomachia is loyal to a fault. So loyal that it hurts him to think that Shigaraki doesn't measure up to his old master!"
Dabi's hands twitched, the words of competition hitting a nerve. From the open hands, a wall of flames blasted him into the sky, high above the others.
"We'd better go all out to show him we're worthy!" And a wall of flames came barreling towards the monster.
"That won't be enough," came the calm, impersonal voice over the radio. "For now…hm, let me see."
And the flames came into Machia's mouth, swallowed and ineffectual.
"Not very effective, Dabi!" Cried out Himiko Toga.
"Machia," came a radio voice - but a different voice this time, not the Doctor's. The familiar voice of the League's old master. All for One.
The creature instantly changed. No longer raging, he was bent on all fours over the radio, clutching it in his large hands, and rubbing his head up against it. Even purring rather like an over-sized cat.
"A recording of All for One's voice is just the thing to calm him down," the Doctor explained.
"We don't want this guy," said Shigaraki.
"Oh, you don't? He could be quite handy to have in the future! Kurogiri has been babying you for too long. Open your eyes, boy."
"That's harsh, Doctor."
"Hpmh. Give me a minute…"
There was silence.
"A minute for what?" Asked Toga, looking nervous.
"I swear, if this old coot doesn't get to the point -urk - burp!" Gasped Twice.
"Really, Jin? Burping? Gross," began Toga, but she was interrupted by the same noise coming from her own mouth.
From her mouth came the black sludge, a familiar one…
"Isn't this the quirk All for One used in Kamino?" Cried Mr. Compress. "How? Why? What's going on1?"
"Let's have a real chat," the voice of the Doctor echoed behind them as they all disappeared in the black sludge.
They were no longer at the hideout, but instead in a large laboratory surrounded by test tubes - test tubes containing what looked like larger, even more powerful Noomu.
Watching them from a chair before a large monitor was an old man. Bald, with a large mustache, shiny goggles and a hooked nose.
"Stinky," coughed Toga.
"This is…" Shigaraki looked around..
"Where're we now?" Asked Dabi, but then something in attack caught his eye.
"NOmu? But unlike any we've seen before…"
"HO HO!" Came the Doctor's voice. "Can you tell the difference? HO HO HO HO! Once again you've got sharp pair of eyes, Dabi! Yep, these little ones are nothing like the mid and low level Nomu. They're High-End! Super Nomu! I could almost call Master-pieces! Impressive, huh? My finest work yet."
The League of Villains stood in between the gigantic test tubes, filled with floating Noomu, peering towards the end of the corridor where the silhouetted doctor sat just peering at them from his chair.
"Doctor," said Shigaraki. "I've been looking for you for a reason. I need you to reproduce some bullets I've got."
The doctor, rather than responding to him, chose to say "You've let your hair grow out, Shigaraki! How're your father and the other doing?"
After a pause in which he looked down at the many severed hands covering his coat, Shigaraki replied, "Fine."
Mr. Compress, peering into the shadows, remarked, "Our doctor, I presume? It's too bright to make anything out -"
"STAY BACK!" The doctor suddenly shouted, his chair zipping along the ground and further out of sight, into an even more shadowy corner. "Ho ho, sorry bout this, but I wouldn't recommend coming any closer. When we need to meet face-to-face, I'll come to you. And if you break this rule, I'll send you right back to that big old meat grinder."
"You're the one who summoned us, you freaky geezer," snapped Twice. Dabi, sighing a little, asked, "Why are we here?"
Once more choosing not to respond to the direct question, the Doctor called, "I'd rather not give out my location, so I transported you all here instead. Besides Shigaraki, you're all fresh faces to me, I guess. We might've met somewhere before, though," he added, and though it was not clear from his silhouette, the 'we' seemed to be addressed more directly to the villain who had asked the question. "Like Gigantomachia, I'm one of All for One's confidants. Daruma Ujiko is the name I'm giving myself for now. Anyhow, Shigaraki, I summoned you here out of respect for the boss. My life, my tech, and my little ones here, I offered them all up to the great All for One. Up to now, you've been getting by with just scraps and leftovers of my work. Now I've got nothing against you. I just need to judge if you're worthy of having all of this." His tone, which had before been light and playful, suddenly became deadly serious. Had the League been able to see his eyes, they would now have seen them narrowing. "Cuz so far, you're NOTHING. Just a 20 year old kid palling around with the dregs of society. So what do you have to show me, Tomura Shigaraki?"
UA HIGH
We were going to take part in our first Joint Training exercise with Class 1B that day, at Gym Gamma. It was the first time most of us had debuted our Winter Gear as ell, so I'd be seeing how my classmates were changing up their wardrobes for the change in the weather. For the most part, my costume was the same. The costume was still designed to regulate my ice side with heat to keep me from freezing over, and my fire side with coolants to keep me from overheating.
We headed out from the boys' locker rooms and joined the girls. Yaoyorozu's costume had the biggest change, with a large cape a bit like a sorceror's covering her from top to bottom, showing only glimpses of her costume from beneath. AShido had added a jacket, Asui a neck warmer. Hagakure still wore only gloves and boots.
"Aren't you cold, Hagakure?" asked Jirou.
"Totally freezing!"
"Toughing it out, huh?"
"My winter style's cool as heck, don'tcha think?" Smiled Ashido, spreading out her arms to show off the cape.
"All of our costumes have undergone considerable transformations since the school year began," said Iida, whose costume looked to me identical to the first he'd worn.
"It's crazy how you made it through the summer in that getup, Iida," said Sato as he pulled on his mask.
Nearby, Midoriya had caught sight of Bakugou's new winter look and had immediately seemed impressed.
"You've got a new look too, Kacchan!"
"Huh? Got a problem with it? Then say it - to my face, you stupid nerd!" Bakugou yelled. Midoriya by now seemed to be totally used to his loudmouth ways. He'd swapped out his tank top for a sweater with a turtleneck, the rivets from his usual costume on the turtleneck outline, long sleeves, the same gauntlets as always. It was still quite fitted.
Midoriya seemed quite enthusiastic about it. "Your costume must guard against the cold and generate heat, yeah? Since your sweat glands serve as weapons, it only stands to reason. What great modification!"
"I don't want your praise either!" Bakugou snarled back.
"You've got the most drastic upgrades though, Midoriya," said Ojiro. "Those gloves are recent, right?"
"I need to keep up my new abilities, and yeah the gloves are pretty awesome. This is already my second pair, actually. Hatsume modified them to take more of a beating!"
Uraraka was wearing a funny look and suddenly punched herself in the face.
"Oh, are we slacking off?" Came that smarmy, arrogant voice we all knew way too well. "Is that your way of underestimating us?"
"Oh, they're here," said Kirishima. "Nope, we're not underestimating anyone. Just excited!"
"Hey, is that so? Too and for you. The tides are rolling our way now! Hear me Class A! Today is the day we settle this rivalry!" Monoma screamed as Class 1B shot him weird looks.
Monoma pulled a sheet of paper dramatically out of his pocket.
"Check out this survey I took at the culture festival! Which did people prefer - Class A's dinky concert or Class B's ultra-high-quality Theatrical production? Well take a look! Yes, our margin of victory was two entire votes!"
Kirishima and Jirou both took up the paper, and Jirou's face fell.
"For real? Well, can't argue since we didn't see their show."
"You've been hogging the spotlight like pigs in slop ever since school started, but those days are coming to an end! Because today it's A vs. B! Our first joint battle training! And we're gonna - argh!"
Kendo had been heading towards him to karate chop him silent, but Mr. Aizawa got there first.
"Quiet, you."
He and Vlad King Sensei were facing both our classes now.
"WE've got a special guest today," said Vlad sensei.
"So try not to make fools of yourselves," said Mr. Aizawa.
"A guest?" asked Yaoyorozu.
"Fresh meat!" Bakugou yapped.
"A girl, I hope!?" Said Kaminari.
"We'll show em the ropes!" Said Tetsutetsu.
"He's hoping to transfer to the hero course," said Mr. Aziawa, and Midoriya and Ojiro both gasped.
It was the boy Midoriya had fought before me at the Sports Festival.
"Hitoshi Shinso, from Class C of General Studies!"
"Shinsou!" Gasped Ojiro.
"So that explains the look you gave me earlier in the hall!" Said Midoriya.
Everyone had started buzzing about our new guest. He was dressed in regulation gym uniform, but with a neck cloth not unlike Mr. Aizawa's and a strange device around his neck shaped bit like Midoriya's own metal grille. He had spiked purple hair, dark circles under his eyes...his face actually reminded me a bit of Sensei's. Don't tell me THEY'RE secretly related.
"Isn't that Aizawa-sensei's binding cloth?"
"The mask looks unique, though."
"Good to have ya, man!"
"He can brainwash those who respond to him, right?" Aoyama asked Ojiro.
"I didn't stand a chance."
"Midoriya got whammied too, but broke the spell somehow," Mineta commented.
"That was just a fluke, really," sweated Midoriya.
"Go on, introduce yourself," Sensei told Shinsou."
He looked around at all of his, sporting a serious frown.
"I had encounters with several of you at the Sports Festival, but don't think that we're friends just because we fought. I'm not the type for displays of good sportsmanship like that. I'm already so far behind you all. I'm doing everything I can to catch up. I'll be a great hero some day, and strive to use my quirk to help people. So to me, all of you here are just obstacles to overcome. I'm not here to make friends."
"Wow, delightful," sighed URaraka.
"How stiff," said Tokoyami, clapping politely.
"Reminds me of Early-roki," Sero said, looking at me.
"Oh yeah?" I asked. Was I really ever that rude?
"Uh huh."
Monoma alone - no, not alone, Midoriya wore the same look - was grinning. "I like this guy."
"Let's get right to it, then…" said Sensei.
"Battle training time. It's a series of matches pitting class A against Class b. The Battlefield is one section of Athletic field Gamma. Both classes will split into teams of four and square off against another team!"
"Four person teams!" Said Tokage, one of my fellow Recommendation students. "Should be fun!"
"Yep, fun!" Said a girl next to her, who was dressed like a large mushroom.
"With Shinso added in," said a boy who looked rather like a large beast, "we've got 41 altogether. How do we account for him?"
"Shinso will be participating in two matches, joining Class A for one and Class B for the other. Meaning two of the five matches will be five vs. four."
"That's not fair for the four person teams!" Cried Hagakure.
Vlad King sensei shook his head. "The four students who have to incorporate the inexperienced Shinso are actually at a disadvantage. Having five members will give you the edge numbers-wise, but it's also a handicap. The scenario this time around is 'Heroes trying to capture steam of villains." So think of the opposing team as villains! Capture four of your opponents to win."
"Villains do the team-up thing too, huh?" Said the Mushroom girl to Tetsutetsu, the boy who Kirishima had fought at the Sports Festival. He punched his hand and fist together. "Nice n simple! Love it!"
Iida seemed to be having some kind of stress-inducing crisis. "So we're heroes, but the opponent views us as villains!? Which role to we play up then!?"
"Let's go with heroes," suggested Yaoyorozu.
"Each team's home base has a cutesy-cutesy lock-em-up prison. The instant someone's thrown in the cage, they count as captured."
"What high stakes!" Cried Iida.
"The efficient strategy would be to disable the enemy near our own base," said the beast boy. "Easier said than done, probably."
"Capture four opponents to win? Is that what you meant by handicap?" Asked Bakugou.
"Yes," said Sensei. "Not only is Shinso inexperienced, by the five-person team he's on still loses if four members are caught."
"So that team's gotta fight while carrying deadweight? Crap," said Bakugou.
"That's a nasty way to phrase it."
"He's not wrong," said Shinsou.
"This guy's light-years ahead in the maturity department!" Cried Kaminari.
Sensei and Vlad King both held up boxes labeled "Lots A" and "Lots B."
"Now, time to draw lots."
We drew. I was in the third group, alongside Iida, Shoji and Ojiro. Midoriya was in the fifth group with Uraraka, Ashido and Mineta. Yaoyorozu was in Group 2, with Aoyama, Tokoyami, and Hagakure. Kamianri was on the first team with Kirishima, Asui and Koda; Bakugou was on the fourth with Jirou, Sero and Sato.
"Now you, Shinso," said Vlad King. "You'll join one team from each class."
He was to be with 1A for the first round, and 1B for the fifth.
"I know you said all that stuff," said Kirishima. "But heck, I still wanna be friends! Good to have ya!"
"Tell us how your quirk works," said Tsu.
"Wit those looks, you must be popular with the ladies. I can tell," said Kaminari.
"Thanks for having me," said Shinsou.
"I like you already! You seem ready to crush that rotten Class A into the dirt!" cried Monoma.
"Please ignore everything he says," said one other 1B boys on his team.
"Thanks for having me," said Shinsou.
"Teams start at their home bases. The time limit is 20 minutes per match. If time runes out, the team with more remaining members wins."
We gathered then in the Entertainment Zone, where we could watch the Field on the monitors. Ashido had turned around and cried, "All Might and Midnight are here! Together! Is love in the air?"
"Cut that out," Midnight replied. "I don't mess with older men." They joined us and continued speaking in the back.
"Now," said Vlad King Sensei. "Match 1, START!"