Disclaimers: I do not own My Hero Academia, Dungeons and Dragons, or Pathfinder.
A/N: Still pressing on. Be aware if you also follow this story on as well, it will be awhile before I can post it on that website due to connectivity issues.
Chapter 9
"Every dragon has a weakness; good luck living long enough to find it though."
-Unknown
Of Your Own Actions
Minutes later after the parking lot "discussion", Ryuko, Takako, and Tomi found themselves at hospital room 876 where Takako was surprise to see Mr. and Mrs. Bakugo in there alongside Inko and Izuku, the latter who seem to be about to say something.
"Did something happen?", she asks, "Because I must warn you that if you two are trying to pressure the Midoriya family into something that could-"
"I assure you that we are doing no such thing, Miss Higa", Masaru says.
"Then what is going on?", Ryuko asks.
"Our children have confess to my wife and I that not only did they attack Izuku first in the alley earlier today but that they have been physical assaulting him for years", Masaru states.
The uneasy expression on Mitsuki's face was not miss by Ryuko though she did not comment on it.
"If that is the case then what is going on now?", she decides to ask instead.
"Well Izuku and I left the room to allow Mitsuki and Inko a chance to talk alone and we just came back a moment ago before you show up", Masaru tells her.
Ryuko turns her attention to the man and the fashion designer found himself shrinking back a little from her gaze.
"You were alone with Izuku?", the Pro Hero asks.
"Like I said already, I didn't pressure Izuku into doing anything he didn't want to do. He simply wants to voice what he wants to happen in this situation", Masaru says, though the slight fear in his voice could easily be heard.
Ryuko kept her eyes on Masaru, looking him up and down slowly.
This did not go unnoticed by his suddenly possessive wife.
"First your assistant and now you, does my husband have something that draws women like you to him?", Mitsuki practically growls.
"Well, since you ask Mrs. Bakugo, a man like your husband, who have a gentle personality but also a fierce inner aura about them, would be consider quite the catch where I am from. Not to mention he is easy on the eyes", Takako answers, causing Masaru to blush a bit, "Now if only he was a few years younger and single..."
Ryuko's sharp eyes notice Mitsuki's clenching fists but decide that it was best that she not comment on that as well. She could also feel the negative aura that was rolling off of Tomi after Takako's comment but kept quiet about that too.
"Moving on before this gets a bit out of hand", she interjects as she turns her focus to Izuku, "What did you want to say?"
Now all eyes were on the green haired boy who suddenly got very uncomfortable.
"W-W-Well, you see, I-I just think", he begins to stutter out and the idea of just being quiet and letting the adults handle the situation was seeming more appealing by the second.
But then an image flash in his head.
One that show all five of the dragons he saw earlier standing in a row while staring directly at him from a distance.
Suddenly the stuttering and the uncomfortably cease to exist and Izuku clear his voice as he spoke.
"I don't think that assault charges should be press against Katsuki and Kasumi", Izuku declares.
"Absolutely out of the question, young man", Inko immediately replies before looking over at Masaru, "I don't know what you told my son but if you think-"
"He didn't tell me anything, mom", Izuku interrupts her, "This decision is my own."
Inko stares wide-eye at her son. She could not remember the last time her own son interrupted her while she was talking. But she recovers quickly and presses on.
"Oh? Is it?", she asks, "Then please explain to me why I shouldn't press charges."
"Because I want to prove something to Katsuki and Kasumi", Izuku answers.
Mitsuki raises her eyebrow at this, "Excuse me?"
"While Katsuki and Kasumi were... teaching me a lesson in the alley I told them that they would never be great heroes like All Might even if they were going to U.A.", Izuku explains.
"Okay, I'm following", Inko says, throwing a glare on Mitsuki at the "teaching" comment.
"So am I", Mitsuki adds, ignoring said glare.
"I decide that now I have the chance to go to U.A. myself I want to hold true to what I said by being a better hero than they ever could be", Izuku states, "And I can't do that if they get assault charges on them."
"Izuku, baby, if I press charges against the twins then no hero school in the Japan, if not the world, would accept them", Inko counters, "You would become a great hero while they would be stuck with a nine to five job, if they are even lucky enough to get that."
Once again, Ryuko notices Mitsuki's expressions were not positive after that comment but also once again she decides not to say anything.
"I feel like that would be a hollow victory and I also feel that after everything they put me through I deserve more than that", Izuku says, "I feel like the only way I'm going to get any satisfaction from all of this is to beat them at their own game."
...
...
Silence reigns as everyone in the room process what they just heard.
"Hehe", suddenly breaks through tension and everyone turns their attention to source of the voice.
Mitsuki Bakugo.
What starts as a small chuckle soon develop into full-blown laughter as the woman soon had tears rolling down her face as she leans on a nearby hospital bed for support.
"HA! HA! HA! HA!"
"Honey?", Masaru says as he takes a step toward her.
Mitsuki holds up a hand to stop him before using it to wipe away the droplets in her eyes.
"I'm fine, I'm okay", she says as she takes a deep breath, "Oh man, haven't laugh like that in a while."
She then turns her full attention to Izuku.
"You're sure that what you want, Izuku? You want my kids to basically get off scot-free, just like that?", Mitsuki asks, "Because if you give them this... handout they will not be grateful; I assure you of that."
"I understand that", Izuku says back.
"Do you? Because if anything this is going to piss them off and motivate them to absurd levels. The fact that the only reason they get to continue with their dream of attending UA and becoming heroes is because the kid they called useless decided to show them mercy; pity even", Mitsuki says, "Oh no, they are going to be absolutely livid."
"Honestly, Mrs. Bakugo, probably for the first time in my life I don't care what Katsuki and Kasumi think. I especially don't care if they think I'm pitying them", Izuku boldly replies, remembering back to the creek incident with the twins when they were four, "And if I'm being honest here, Mrs. Bakugo, something inside of me want them to be mad. Something inside of me want them to realize that the only reason they aren't getting charges press on them is because I decided to have pity on them. It makes me feel good about myself for some reason that I can't really explain."
Izuku, Inko, Mitsuki, and Masaru did not notice the brief glance exchange between Ryuko, Takako, and Tomi as the boy said those words.
"Well then, if that's how you feel Izuku", Mitsuki starts as she turns to Inko, "What say you?"
Inko narrows her eyes at Mitsuki for a moment before softening her expression as she turns to her son.
The two members of the Midoriya family seem to have a non-verbal discussion as they simply stare at each other for what seem like an eternity before Inko finally lets out a huff.
"Fine then, Izuku, I won't press charges against the twins", she relents before turning to Ryuko, "And I'll allow him to get quirk training from you."
The smile on Izuku's face instantly lights up the room.
"I hope I don't come to regret this", she adds before turning to Mitsuki, "But don't think for a single moment that we are done here. Just because I'm not pressing charges against your kids doesn't mean I'm letting them off scot-free."
"I assure you that those two will be punish", Masaru states.
"And I want a say in that punishment", Inko says.
"I beg your pardon?", Masaru asks.
"Either you let me dictate how their punishment goes or I go back to pressing charges, regardless of what Izuku wants.", Inko says, "I am not budging on this."
"Let her do it, Masaru", Mitsuki speaks up.
"Are you sure about this?", Masaru questions.
"Trust me, Inko was always the creative one back when we were kids. She will no doubt think up a way worse punishment for the twins than we ever could", Mitsuki says, "Can't wait to see the looks on their faces though."
"Okay then", Masaru hesitatingly agrees.
"Okay, if everything is in order then I bid everyone a good night", Takako says as she excuses herself, Tomi following behind her.
"Have a nice night", Inko says, "I am going to see the hospital about when Izuku can be release and then I would like to have a word with the twins myself afterwards."
Mitsuki and Masaru share a look but ultimately nod their heads in approval.
"If it is alright with you, Mrs. Midoriya, I would like to have a few words with Izuku", Ryuko says.
"I see no problem with that. I will be back shortly after I done", Inko says and with that she and the Bakugos left the room leaving Izuku alone with Ryuko; her yellow eyes staring directly into his green ones.
The two of them merely stare at one another for a moment before the Pro Hero starts talking.
"You don't see something like that very often", Ryuko says as she starts walking around the room, her hand gliding along the rails at the foot of one of the hospital beds, "Showing mercy to someone who wronged you just so you can twist the knife further along down the road. Some might call such behavior... sadistic, maybe even... evil."
The image of Buraee, the dragon that allegedly represents his evil side as he was told, flashes in Izuku's mind, his red-glowing eyes burning into his soul.
"I felt like that is a far worse punishment than pressing assault charges on them would have been. If we're being honest though, that idea just suddenly came to me out of nowhere", Izuku admits.
"Do you suddenly regret your decision?", Ryuko questions while stopping at one of the windows, looking out it toward Musutafu proper.
Izuku hesitates as he tries to come up with the right answer.
"A word of advice for you, Midoriya", Ryuko speaks, "Never regret the decisions that you make."
"Huh?", Izuku says.
"Regret is like an addiction. The more you do it the more out of control it gets", Ryuko explains, "Soon you will be questioning every single decision you make and your life will never be yours again. It's okay to wonder what would have happen if you took a different course but never regret."
Izuku's eyes widen in surprise at what seem to be a piece of advice from someone's personal life experience.
"Umm", he starts to say before Ryuko turns to face him.
"Moving on, your training will start on Friday, three days from now, Izuku Midoriya", Ryuko declares, "I will message you what time I will be arriving at your home to pick you up."
"So soon", Izuku thinks before speaking, "What do I need to bring?"
"A change of shoes, clothes, and a lot of motivation. Everything else will be provided by my agency including food", Ryuko answers as she starts walking toward the door, "You will be notified if anything else is require."
"O-Okay", Izuku says after a moment.
"Good, I will see you then", Ryuko says before walking to the door, stopping when she was right next to Izuku.
"Another piece of advice. Your senses are more than likely going to be greatly heighten like mine did when my quirk manifested. The reason I am giving you three days is to give you time to get used to world that you are now going to experience differently."
Izuku lifts an eyebrow at this.
"Your mind should automatically adjust to the changes in time but if you want a head-start I advise breathing through your nose instead of your mouth for the time being. It will help, trust me. Plus I advise not trying to activate your quirk on your own during these three days and by that I mean your scales, wings, or breath attack. You don't know what over surprise your quirk might have in store and we don't want you hurting yourself or others", Ryuko states before finally walking past him.
But then she suddenly stops once more.
"One final thing,", Ryuko says with her back to him.
"Yes?", Izuku says as Ryuko turns around.
"Have a bit more confidence in yourself. You're a dragon now and you should start acting like it. A dragon fears nothing or no one and is brimming with confidence", Ryuko declares, "Confidence is also everything for a Pro Hero. Having it can often end a fight before it even starts. Not having it just causes more problems than you can handle."
Izuku finds himself taken aback by this statement.
"You're going to have a lot of obstacles in your way from here on out and I'm not going to give up on you no matter what, but I'm going to need you not to give up on yourself either", Ryuko continues on, "My training will push you to the brink and beyond but you will have to endure it in order to achieve your dream. But know that I believe in you Izuku; because like I said, you're a dragon. So remember this one thing...""
More silence from Izuku as Ryuko takes a breath.
"A dragon will do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, and dare someone to be foolish enough to tell it otherwise", the Pro Hero says, "It's an old saying pass down through my family and I feel that it can work for you as it did me.
Before Izuku would think of a response to such a thing, Ryuko damn near marches out of the room, leaving the boy alone.
"She must be in a hurry. Probably important Pro Hero stuff she has to handle", Izuku thought before sitting back down on his bed, replaying the events of today in his head while wondering what the future held for him.
Meanwhile, just a little bit down the hall away from room 876, there was an open window where just a mere seconds ago the ninth highest ranked Pro Hero in Japan made her exit. High above the hospital and circling the area, Ryuko was having a conversation with herself.
"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! What the hell is wrong with you?!", she berates herself.
She brings herself to a stop and began flapping her wings downward as she hovers in the sky, throwing her head back in frustration.
"You're a dragon now? That's what I fucking tell him?! You just had to keep going on and on with your mouth, didn't you?!", she asks herself, "He's not just a dragon! He's the dragon, for fuck's sake! The dragon of all dragons! Get your fucking head in the game, Ryuko!"
Finally, after ranting for about two more minutes, the Pro Heroine calms herself down.
"Okay, Ryuko, this is it. Everything has come down to this and it is time to get down to business", she says as she pulls out her phone. She then takes a quick glance around to make sure that a certain bird theme Pro Hero was not out for a night flight before looking down at her phone.
"What is it about Hawks that puts me on edge?", she asks herself before shuffling that thought to the back of her mind. She then presses in a sequence of number on her phone and spoke into it.
"Operation Herald is a go. I repeat, Operation Herald is a go. Everyone at the agency is to meet in the conference room in one hour for a brief. I will be there shortly. Everyone will acknowledge."
Ryuko then waits.
Within the span of twenty seconds, ten message notifications came in and all of them said the same thing.
Bensvelk ekess gethrisj.
Ryuko lets out a breath she did not realize she was holding.
"So it begins. May the ancestors watch over us and give us strength to our success", she says as takes off toward downtown Musutafu.
Back in the hospital room of the Bakugo family, Inko Midoriya had just finish talking to Katsuki and Kasumi with a shining smile on her face.
""Well, that is the plan your parents and I have come up with and I hope you two learn a valuable lesson today in how your actions have consequences", Inko says.
Neither Katsuki and Kasumi could focus their minds enough to form a sentence for the first twenty seconds after Mrs. Midoriya finish, theirs brains working overtime to make sense of everything that was said to them.
Finally, though the older sibling turns to his parents.
"That's some bull-!"
"Not another word out of you, young man", Masaru says as he crosses his arms, "It was either this or assault charges press. And you should be thanking Izuku that you even got this option."
Kasumi snaps out of her daze and moves to help her brother.
"You mean to fucking tell me that the only reason the cops aren't getting involve is because Deku-",
"Call my son that name one more time in my presence, Kasumi", Inko coldly speaks up with a smile with no warmth behind it still plaster on her face, "and I'll press those assault charges on you so fast you'll think All Might just Texas Smash you in the face."
Kasumi feels a cold shiver travel through her spine and for a moment she was sure she saw the grim reaper himself briefly flash in her mind.
"B-Because Izuku decided to take pity on us?", Kasumi wisely finishes.
"Yep, that's right", Mitsuki answers with a smile of her own, "Hilarious, isn't it?"
"Why that little-", Katsuki starts.
"AHEM!", Inko says, catching Katsuki's attention, prompting him to breaks out into a cold sweat.
"Sorry, Mrs. Midoriya", he says.
...
"Well then, I hope you two have a swift recovery and I wish everyone here a good night", Inko then says as she turns around to leave.
But as she got to the doorway and put her hand on the knob, she stops for a moment
"By the way, one more thing, Katsuki and Kasumi", she says.
She took their silence as acknowledgment that they were paying attention.
"Izuku has been expel from Aldera. We live on the opposite side of town from where you live. You three will more than likely not see each other face-to-face again until U.A.", Inko starts, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that until that day..."
She suddenly looks over her shoulder and shoots the twins a death glare that made the one they received from their father earlier look like a baby's smile.
"You will stay the fuck away from my child or I will bring the wrath of heaven down on top of your heads in the form of a legal shitstorm", Inko declares in a voice bordering on demonic, "This is your first and only warning. Are we clear?"
...
Inko took the twin's horrified frozen faces as a yes and then silently left the room.
"Wow", Mitsuki says after a moment, "Been a long time since I heard Inko curse out loud."
"I didn't realize she was capable of cursing", Masaru comments before correcting himself and turning to his children.
"Well, I hope you two learn a lesson today and are ready to start your punishment the moment you are release from the hospital which I believe will be Thursday afternoon", Masaru adds, "Now despite what you may believe your mother and I still love you and feel that this punishment will help you grow to become better people."
"Oh, by the way", Mitsuki says as she reaches into her pockets and tosses something at Katsuki and Kasumi, "You're going to be needing these in the coming days. Got a nurse to give me some."
Both of the twins effortlessly catch whatever their mom threw at them and look down at it in confusion.
"Um", Kasumi starts, "Why the hell did you give us earplugs?"
Mitsuki suddenly pulls Masaru into an aggressive yet affectionate hug, "Because your father and I plan on rekindling our love life starting tonight and we don't want you two to hear anything that might require you to have therapy later on down the road! Have a good night you two! See you tomorrow! Bye!"
And with strength that would have impress All Might himself, Mitsuki lifts up Masaru and heft him over her shoulder and proudly walks out of the room while the man could only give his kids a weak smile and a small wave of the hand as she did so.
...
...
"That's it", Katsuki said as he laid down, "I'm going to sleep now. I'll be angry at all this bullshit in the morning."
"I'm with you there", Kasumi says as she mimics him as the duo falls asleep.
"Um...honey?", Masaru says from his position on her shoulders.
"Yes dear?", Mitsuki answers in a song-like voice as she walks proudly out of the hospital to their car.
"Shouldn't we be acting less like horny teenagers and more like responsible parents right now?", Masaru asks
"We can do that when the kids get out of the hospital but until then you and I going go at it like rabbits!", Mitsuki hoots.
"Great Buddha, I ask that you give me strength", Masaru prays.
Thirty minutes later at a multi-story building located near the center of downtown Musutafu, Ryuko enters a dimly lit room, her draconic eyes shining brightly in the dark. In front of her was a table where ten people were sitting with single empty chair at the head. Takako herself was sitting at the front of the right side of the table smoking on another cigarette while Tomi sat across from her. Yui was sitting in the next chair down from the public relations manager but as for the other seven occupants their features were hidden. Silently Ryuko made her way and sat down at the head of the table, lacing her fingers together and looking directly down at project screen at the other end.
"Let's begin", she simply says.
Takako reaches for a remote control that was next to her and press a button.
And on the screen appear a drone-taken video feed of a certain green-haired boy in the midst of a crowd that was watching Kamui Wood and Mt. Lady do battle against the giant villain, taken just an earlier that day before the boy encounter with the Sludge Villain.
"Midoriya Izuku", Ryuko voices aloud, "Let's just see if you can live up to toward who came before you."
A/N: Inko is still a Mama Bear and Ryuko knows a lot more than she lets on. Katsuki and Kasumi get off lucky, or do they? They also might have a sibling on the way soon.
Also, before anyone asks why Mitsuki and Masaru let Inko talk to their kids like that, Inko never threaten physical violence against them. She only threaten to press charges.