07/09/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 49 - Those Who Play Games

There were a lot of things Hitoshi liked about being a hero apprentice. Unfortunately, they usually went hand in hand with things he didn't like. Right now, the one to one training time was high on the list of dislikes. But Hitoshi knew one to one training was a privilege the other hero students would … well, not kill for, but do quite a bit to get. They weren't stinted by their teachers, but they were students, which meant they were in classes of about 20, and that meant their teachers had to split their attention.

He, on the other hand, got the full attention of his teacher.

Which was both good and bad. Good because the teaching he got was personalised, and focused on his quirk and his abilities, and bad, because he absolutely could not shirk, at any point.

Hitoshi knew that Eraser Head hadn't wanted to take him on as an apprentice. The man had never said anything but it was obvious. Even so, Aizawa was a professional, and hadn't let his preference get in the way of training. He took his responsibilities seriously. The underground hero had made up a realistic training schedule for Shinsou and had made sure he followed it and before that, Aizawa had insisted they have a candid talk about Hitoshi's quirk and its abilities.

Once Hitoshi had been deemed 'adequately' fit, he was given a more intensive exercise schedule and expected to follow it, but Aizawa had then begun one to one training time with him. The underground hero had made it completely clear that he was not going to take Hitoshi out with him on patrols. Aizawa had let Hitoshi work out the reasons for that himself but had quizzed him to ensure he had arrived at the right answers. There were several reasons. One, apprenticeships were not work experience, so while field experience was expected, it was not an immediate requirement as the apprenticeship would last longer. Two, while Hitoshi was an apprentice, he wasn't actually enrolled in a hero course, so the rules were slightly different. Three, Aizawa had absolutely no intention of slowing down or coddling him in the field so the Hero had to be absolutely certain that Hitoshi could handle himself. And four, Hitoshi had no license. Not even a provisional one, which added legal complications, even for simple things such as patrolling on a rooftop. People could, and did complain that it was trespass. Heroes got away with it. Civilians, even civilians under supervision and training to be heroes, didn't get away with it.

So that meant that Aizawa gave him one to one training a few times a week, as well as making sure that some of his free periods were spent with the hero classes during their practical lessons. Mostly Aizawa made him run through an obstacle course. It was to simulate the difficulties with patrolling.

Other times it was actual combat lessons.

Today was combat lesson and when Aizawa sent his capture scarf straight at him, Hitoshi knew what today's lesson was about. The underground hero had done this a few times before, usually when he was running short on sleep and needed a nap. Eraser Head would throw his capture scarf at Hitoshi and let him struggle with it.

That's how he'd known he couldn't burn it, and couldn't cut it and…

Well, not today!

And if he was appropriately sneaky he might be able to score a win. Hitoshi bucked as the capture scarf wound around him and then he braced as it constricted movement and he inevitably fell to the ground.

He wriggled in it, trying to get free, which is what he had done previous times.

Aizawa sighed. "You know that's not going to work," he muttered.

"Maybe," Hitoshi told him. Aizawa hated when people tried the same thing over and over and expected better results. To show that this wasn't quite the same as the previous times, he waved the hand he'd managed to get free from the bandage like support item.

Aizawa shook his head. He knew better than to answer. They were, after all, still in the simulation and since the point wasn't for the underground hero to 'bring him in', Hitoshi wasn't surprised when the man turned away and sauntered off into the training area, no doubt to find a good place to nap.

Which was exactly what he wanted. Hitoshi wriggled a bit more, until he was sure Eraser Head had gone before he flicked his wrist. It extended a knife hilt and with another flourish he activated it.

After he'd tried to cut the capture scarf with his regular knife, Mei had made him a series of knives in their quest to find the best cutting implement that worked on carbon nanofibre enhanced, steel woven alloy. They had been making progress and he had been able to cut the scarf in the past, just not quickly enough. So Aizawa should be aware that he was going to try again but there was a timing to these things. Hitoshi only brought in a new knife every week, and he'd brought one in yesterday. To make today's knife completely unexpected.

Mei promised him that today, this one would cut the fabric like butter.

Actually in her words it would cut everything like butter, including butter, the plate, the table, etc… so he had to be careful. And Hitoshi was aware of that.

Eraser Head might be known to the hero students as the teacher who preferred to teach with a hands on method, with Vlad King favouring a more theoretical approach but Aizawa could give lectures. And one of them was on the importance of knowing your equipment, and knowing what it could do against you. The underground hero was not blind to the fact that his capture scarf, if it fell into a villain's hands, could just as easily be used to capture him! Eraser Head apparently carried something that nullified the scarf but he had refused to tell Hitoshi what it was. Finding his own method was part of his training.

A short blade, about an inch long appeared from the hilt. It didn't need to be longer, but there was a setting on the hilt that could make it longer, and cautiously, Hitoshi sat up. He was still wrapped up but he could move that much. Carefully he moved his arm under the scarf. So long as he was careful, it wouldn't constrict further. Then, very, very carefully he turned the knife so that it was parallel to his body and put the tip under one of the encircling layers before pulling the knife upwards.

He immediately bit his lip.

It worked.

There, on the capture scarf was a neat, perfectly neat, slice through it.

It worked!

And it hadn't exploded but the hilt was getting warm. Not dangerously warm but warm. The batteries were there.

With more confidence, Hitoshi slipped the knife back under the loop and this time managed to cut through the whole thing. It was only one layer, one bit in the scarf but he could actually feel the entire thing loosening.

And…. well, hopefully Aizawa had another scarf. But the man had told him to come up with his own solution, and any solution to the capture scarf was likely to be destructive.

Hitoshi took out another layer and used the extra movement that gave him to free his arm further. He reached down slightly and cut through several layers. There was no ripping sound but it was working. He managed to kick his legs free and then turned his attention to his torso. The motion to free his legs had freed some part of his arms but the capture scarf was still around his chest, constricting his arms to his elbow. And the knife hilt was getting quite hot now. Mei had explained why this happened. It had to do with energy powering the blade encountering resistance. Not the capture weapon, because the knife would heat up once activated even if it wasn't cutting anything. It was the energy exchange in the hilt, the bit that turned the battery power into the blade and took the remaining energy back.

All it really meant was that he had to work fast and turn it off. In Mei's words, it shouldn't explode but it would burn… Shouldn't is what she said when she didn't expect it to but was a possibility. If it couldn't explode, and there were a few, minor, things she made that couldn't explode then she'd say that.

Hitoshi put the blade under the loops covering his torso and cut before he flicked the knife off and released the hilt to return to its hiding place.

FUCK!

That was a bad idea. He gritted his teeth. The stupid thing had been hot in his hand, and he had a glove… against the skin of his arm… Yeah, not his best idea. He'd have to get padding there, or something if he was going to use this knife more.

Hitoshi concentrated on moving quietly to take his mind off the pain. He quickly collected the strips of capture weapon. If Eraser Head came to check on him, he wanted to make it seem like he'd wriggled away like a caterpillar. Aizawa, of all the UA teachers, could appreciate how far you could get that way when you were really determined.

Now he had to figure out how to try to capture Aizawa but before that… Hitoshi carefully folded one of the loops of the capture weapon he'd destroyed. Mei had complained all through the creation process that it would be easier for her to make something if she knew what it was going to cut, so she deserved the little trophy to prove that she'd done it. Hitoshi was pretty sure that Aizawa would want all the pieces back but maybe he wouldn't notice one loop.

At least not immediately.

With that secured, Hitoshi moved into the training area, careful to be quiet as he contemplated his next move.

-ted-

Garaki looked at the two naked women in the tanks before him. He felt nothing from their nakedness and was instead thinking about how he could transfer the quirk of the smaller woman into the other one.

He had managed to get Gigantomachia and Kurogiri to obey him. Kurogiri had opened a warp gate to Tsu, and Gigantomachia had grabbed Inko Midoriya and wrestled her through. Kyudai had been waiting and the instant Inko was through, he had stabbed a pretty hefty syringe with a specialised cocktail of drugs into her.

That had subdued her, thankfully before she decided she needed to show off her enhancements. Gigantomachia was stronger but… She probably wouldn't have shown them off. Inko well knew her enhancements had been given to her so she could protect Izuku. Being assaulted herself wouldn't trigger them, but it was best to take no chances. After all, in life, Inko had managed to break the compulsions All For One had left in her.

The easiest way of transferring quirks between people was to have All For One do it, and when making the Nomu, Sensei had done exactly that. Garaki could transfer them another way, physically implanting the quirk but it took longer and… There was another way. He had copies of All For One. Not great copies, he admitted but they were enough for the holder to have a couple of additional quirks.

But they also made it possible for the holder to transfer quirks.

Kyudai never bothered giving a Nomu a copy of All For One, though it would probably be implanted into Tomura because Nomu didn't need the protection All For One gave against the dangers of multiple quirks. And the Nomu didn't need a quirk that was as subtle to use as All For One but they could use it.

Or at least a Mid or Upper Tier Nomu could. And he could order the Nomu to do the quirk transfer.

The Doctor nodded to himself. That was a good solution but it would be one for next time. For now… He was going to have to do this the hard way.

-ted-

Kyudai looked at Inko. She was aware but wasn't quite 'with it'. She was still groggy from the drugs but they were rapidly wearing off. He had completed the surgery, transferring the wanna be villain La Brava's quirk to her, and he had put a copy of All For One into Tsubasa. He'd then had Tsubasa move several quirks between other Nomu just to prove it could be done.

For now though it was time to return Inko to Tsu. Gigantomachia was holding her, and it would take another few days for Inko to recover but she could go about her business well enough in that time. She could lie and say she was recovering from a bout of gastro, or any number of mild illnesses that cropped up from time to time. Inko was aware enough to be able to lie like that.

Beside Gigantomachia was a tank. It was the tank with All For One's holder in it. Seeing it had reminded the Doctor that he needed to ensure that Tomura's corpse was capable of holding the quirk. It should be but he probably needed to strengthen it.

Before he could think further, Kurogiri appeared and looked at him. The warp gate saw Inko and understood what his role was. With a nod, a gate opened and Gigantomachia was quick to move through it.

A moment later the large man returned, no longer holding Inko and Kurogiri was quick to close the gate.

"Is that all?" Kurogiri asked.

"For now," Garaki acknowledged before the warp gate disappeared.

Gigantomachia remained and turned to pick up the tube.

"Let me look at that for a moment," Kyudai told him.

He could tell that the large man was curious but Gigantomachia knew he was loyal to All For One and knew he was the one who had created the holder, so let him near it without objecting.

To Garaki's naked eye, there was nothing wrong with the holder. He didn't expect there to be. He'd made it to be durable. "Could you lift it up there?" he asked, indicating towards an empty tank pedestal. "While it's safe, I should make some observations. I've made quirk holders before, but this one-" He didn't need to elaborate. Gigantomachia may appear stupid but in the service of his lord, he was anything but.

The huge man moved the tube easily and it clicked into place. The lights of the base went on and the tube began bubbling as the connections were made. The liquid would be refreshed and that would do no harm.

"Hmm," Garaki murmured as he moved to the base to look at the little screen.

"A problem?" Gigantomachia demanded.

"No, but it would be beneficial to have maintenance performed every now and then," Kyudai told him.

"Maintenance?" It was obvious from the way Gigantomachia phrased the single word that he did not understand and he doubted the Doctor's statement. It did go against what he had previously been told.

"The holder will be fine without it," Garaki was quick to reassure Gigantomachia. "But while there is opportunity, performing maintenance would do no harm," he added. "If I change the nutrient fluid, I can also monitor the health of the holder."

The huge man looked at him for a few moments before he nodded and Garaki knew that he'd see to it that the holder was brought to him every now and then.

Anything that went into preserving his lord's quirk would be accommodated. Anything that helped return his lord's quirk to his lord would be expedited.

Garaki pressed a few buttons on the base to initiate another few scans and to cycle the nutrient fluid.

Gigantomachia watched with interest and Kyudai knew the large man could probably see the change in colour of the fluid. It would continue cycling for a while and Gigantomachia could probably hear the scans.

"Do you want to leave it here?" Garaki asked.

The look Gigantomachia gave him was more than answer enough.

"You are training with Izuku tomorrow, yes? You would be better able to fight if you are not guarding this," the Doctor pointed out.

The huge man's expression changed to be speculative. Kyudai knew Gigantomachia was trying to reconcile his orders with his desires.

"The Nomu will guard it. All of the Nomu will guard it," Garaki said as he shook his head. "I'm not going to let anything happen to it," he reassured Gigantomachia.

"Temporarily," the man rumbled.

"Temporarily," the Doctor agreed. Once Gigantomachia agreed to let him have the quirk holder, even temporarily, then the next time would be easier. The holder would be perfectly fine with Gigantomachia but it would be better if he could maintain it.

In the end, they both wanted the same thing. It was just a matter of reminding Gigantomachia of that.

-ted-

Garaki is up to his old tricks but he is developing things that will be useful to Izuku. As are Mei and Hitoshi.

Discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.

-ted-

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