I'm gonna make this clear right now. The comment section of this story is not a forum thread for haters to express their dislike of The Acolyte. So please, from someone who actually liked the show and is incredibly pissed that the whiners got it canceled, STOP.

Alright! We're finally to the Season 2 portion of the show! Been waiting a long time to finally reach this point. Although, I can't deny the reason it took this long is my own fault. Procrastination and life are a pair of merciless bitches. Regardless, we are here now, so let's go!

Also a huge shout out to my awesome beta reader, Destiny_lies!

Patterns of speech:

Normal – May the Plus Ultra be with you.

'Inner thoughts with single quote marks', "Radio speak, transmissions for double ones" – May the Plus Ultra be with you.

All Might – May the Plus Ultra be with you.

R3 – May the Plus Ultra be with you.

I only own my OC and the plot of this here story. All characters and locations in the MHA world are property of Kōhei Horikoshi. Star Wars is owned by Disney. Enjoy the new chapter!

Binding the Galaxy Together

Chapter 39 – Festival Prep Begins

For most kids, even those in the hero course, the first week had a pretty simple vibe to it. Meet your teachers, meet your new classmates, get the feel of the classes themselves, and then progress. Week one had a lot of bumps for the newest class for U.A. Threats of expulsion, insane battle trials, being attacked by villains, and the capper of learning about the existence of life beyond Earth and being forbidden from sharing it with the rest of the world. At the very least, it would make for one hell of a story to look back on in the future. And as the sun woke everyone up Monday morning to begin week two, the majority of them felt lighter.

Izuku and Ochako noticed Camilla in much better spirits on the train, putting them also in a good mood too. The both of them were over the moon that they had been able to convince the class to change their tune about their Jedi friend in such a short amount of time. Now, all of them would be able to walk forward without issue. Well, sans Katsuki and Shoto of course. But the two of them knew they would be a long shot to convince, the first one especially. That was the one thing Izuku wasn't looking forward to today. Katsuki not only had a sour mood towards Camilla, but now he probably had even more anger pointed towards him after that talk in the park. But at the moment, he chose to cross that bridge whenever he came to it. As for Shoto…well that was gonna have to be Camilla's thing to work through. Neither of them knew what his beef was with the Jedi. All they could hope for now was that he wouldn't hold onto that anger, whatever was causing it.

Before long, the three of them arrived at school. Even after being there for a week, it was still hard for Ochako and Izuku to believe they were actually students there. Camilla still felt her own sense of awe towards being integrated into Earth's education system. This school was not the Jedi temple, but it was still grand in its own right. Together, the three of them entered the school ready to begin. Being the last ones to arrive, they were greeted politely by the majority of their classmates before listening into the gossip.

"On my way out the door this morning, my mom showed me the news. Apparently, the story of the U.S.J. is getting around," Eijiro said.

"Yeah, I saw that too," Mashirao replied. "They even got a bit of us on screen for a bit. Gotta admit, it was kinda cool to see."

'If only they had a screencap of No-Eyes being put in a cop car.' Katsuki mentally groused.

"Yeah, my parents showed me when I got home from the party last night. It was so cool to get noticed like that! Though, I bet it was hard to see me at all."

Mashirao sheepishly chuckled at his invisible classmate's thoughts.

"Well, it is kinda hard to make you out when you're only gloves," he reasoned.

Toru just groaned, while Denki leaned back in his seat, smiling.

"It's awesome. We're all basically celebrities now," he said contently.

"Hardly." Kyoka waved him off. "U.A. got attacked, that's all the reporters cared about. They didn't even take our names down."

The electric boy deflated a bit while Eijiro tried to reassure him from behind by reminding him of the reporters' small comment about them, saying they were sure to be good pros if they could handle a villain attack as first years. That did seem to raise his spirits a little. Kyoka just rolled her eyes as she spied Izuku, Camilla, and Ochako in that order.

"What about you? Did you guys see it?"

"No." Camilla shook her head. "I was so tired I went to bed the moment R3, and I returned home. Not that I could see it anyway if the TV was on."

"Right, can't see screen images," Denki audibly recalled.

"I watched a bit," Ochako added as she sat down. "My mom and dad called me right before I went to bed to say how proud of me they were."

"That was nice of them. Ribbit."

Izuku smiled a bit himself as he recalled last night when he got home. After he told his mother about how well the party went and shared the photos Nejire took and sent to him, she hugged him so tight it felt like he would burst. Then she turned the news on and saw the image of her son being escorted out of the U.S.J. along with the rest of his class. The reporter telling the story went on to personally say how he believed the newly-minted hero students would become fine pros once they graduated. That caused Inko to nearly flood the two of them out of the apartment due to her impeccable tear ducts.

The fond recollection of last night was momentarily halted once Izuku approached his seat and caught Katsuki glaring daggers at him. Normally, his instincts would have caused a flinch by now, but after their talk yesterday, if it could even be called that, Izuku just flattened his expression and sighed to his former friend before sitting down. He pretended not to hear the low growling coming from the ticking time bomb in front of him. Never once did Izuku think this day would ever come, but alas, here he was. He no longer had the energy to deal with Katsuki and his plethora of complexes.

As Camilla reached her own desk, she looked to the left. The red and white swirling light emitting from Shoto's Force connection somehow felt colder than usual. The spikes of frustration she could feel from him weren't any warmer. For the life of her, she didn't understand. The guilt still ate her alive for lying to him after he had spilled his life story to her, but why was he so angry? Katsuki, she could understand, at least a little. He was an arrogant jerk who had his shoes kissed growing up, so his anger right now was solely from his fragile ego being bruised. But Shoto? He had sense. He had logic. Was his anger towards his father really overriding his ability to think this badly? It just couldn't be possible. Spite this heavy would do nothing but tear him apart.

She sat with caution, worried that so much as a twitch in the wrong direction would further anger him.

"Good morning." She tried anyway to be polite.

Just as she expected, he gave off no physical reaction. Not even so much as a small grunt of acknowledgement. Camilla thought about anything else she could say, but quickly gave up, and slipped her sunglasses off.

Being in the back row as well, Ochako watched the short interaction with confusion before Mina nearly falling back in her chair caught her attention. Tsuyu caught her before she got too far.

"So Tsu, you think Mr. Aizawa's gonna be good enough to teach today?"

"I think he should be, ribbit. That bacta stuff really prevented a lot more damage from settling in," Tsuyu commented, remembering that moment vividly.

"Right, that healing stuff," Hanta cut in and turned back to look at his alien classmate.

"Really lucky you got something that gives Recovery Girl a run for her money."

"It's probably for the best you don't start thinking I'm just gonna give you some that easily," Camilla replied with a shake of her head. "I only used what I brought because it was an emergency. Had it not been, I most likely would've done nothing."

That specific wording earned the Jedi learner a number of pointed looks of surprise from her class.

"Cold blooded, Camilla," Hanta commented.

"It's not cold-blooded. It's logical," Ochako defended. "There's only a couple dozen vials of bacta left. Once they're gone, there will be no more of it left in the entire world."

"Yeah, it makes more sense to keep them as a last resort type of thing. Recovery Girl has always been U.A.'s go to for healing after all," Mezo agreed.

What the multiple armed student said reminded Camilla of another thing her two heroine guardians relayed to her from the meeting they went to. Apparently, Recovery Girl had expressed a strong interest in getting her hands on a vial of bacta for examination. At first, she was apprehensive about just handing over one of her vials. There was only so much she had left. Ryukyu shared her concerns, but she was also quick to point out Recovery Girl merely wanted the substance so she could study, and if possible, replicate it. That particular avenue was one Camilla didn't think was within her reach here on Earth. Bacta was made from herbs, specifically, herbs from her own galaxy. So the thought of recreating more was something she deemed a lost cause. So keeping what little she had close to her was even more important than ever.

But on the other hand, this world wasn't like most she had ever been to. The population was filled with superhumans. If somehow, replication was in fact possible, maybe this place had the resources to do it. That's why in her backpack right now, along with her cloak and belt, was her case of bacta vials.

She was about to say something further on the matter, but her gaze instead turned towards the door.

"To answer your question, Mina, Mr. Aizawa's here. I can sense him on his way here right now and….huh. Principal Nezu is with him."

"In that case, no more lollygagging!"

The strict voice of Tenya Iida buzzed through the class as he stood at the center podium, chopping his arms like a madman.

"Our teacher approaches and the principal is with him! Everyone, quiet down and take your seats!"

"Ummm….we're all sitting, dude," Hanta replied.

"Yeah, you're the only one who's not," Rikido added.

Frustrated by the very obvious oversight pointed out to him, the youngest Iida returned to his seat with his fists clenched. Ochako was about to offer a small reassurance for the class rep, but she was beaten by the door. Aizawa and Nezu walked in together with the erasure hero's arm still in a cast and sling.

"Good morning, class 1-A." Nezu smiled at the class. "Before you begin your day, I thought it is best to stop by to reiterate a few things to you all."

Before he could get another word in, Tenya shot his hand up.

"Iida, whatever you have to say can wait," Aizawa said, not wanting this to get dragged out.

"Now now, Eraser, let's hear what he has to say." Nezu just waved his concerns off, however. "Was there something on your mind, Iida?"

"Yes, principal Nezu. If you'd allow me to do so, we have something we'd like to let you and Mr. Aizawa know."

By the way his beady little eyes widened just the slightest bit, Aizawa could tell Tenya piqued the principal's interest.

"Well then, Iida. You have the floor."

Tenya stood up, then looked to Momo who nodded and rose from her seat as well. With the attention now on them, the two class reps took turns speaking.

"Over the course of the weekend, we as a class, save for Todoroki and Bakugo, met at my residence in order to discuss Camilla and the revelations about her. After a long deliberation, and quite the harsh wake-up call on Midoriya and Uraraka's part, we decided to give getting to know her a chance."

"Is that right?" Nezu had calculated the probability of this happening so soon, and it was a low number. So he was legitimately surprised to hear it had already happened.

"Yes." Momo took her turn. "After spending the majority of the day with her, we were able to see her for what she is. A girl who, like us, joined U.A. to be a hero. Where she comes from or what she is doesn't matter. Nor does what she's done. We've forgiven her, and she was gracious enough to forgive us."

Momo fondly flashed a smile and a small bow towards Camilla. Though not being able to see Momo's grin, the Padawan reciprocated with one of her own.

"We as a class fully accept Camilla as one of us," Tenya went on. "And we all have given our word to her that we will keep her secrets. Now we give you that same word. You don't have anything to fear from us on that front."

This was definitely not the type of picture Aizawa was expecting to walk into today. Much more animosity he was prepared to deal with, but apparently these kids were capable of pulling their heads out of their collective asses. Good. This meant he would probably be able to get a few naps in today after all. Hopefully.

"And do you all feel this way?" the erasure hero asked his class.

One by one, the other seventeen classmates in full support of Camilla sounded off their approval. This kept going in a chain until only two students had not yet: Shoto and Katsuki.

"Bakugo, Todoroki, are you comfortable with Sharro remaining in your class?"

Katsuki was the first to answer. To the surprise of no one, it began with a scoff.

"Let her stay if she wants. Crushing her now that I know fully what she is will be all the better."

Disturbing as it was, it was probably the closest he and Nezu would get to a yes. But he was still gonna make a note later to recommend anger management classes for the boy. Expectantly, the two pros looked to Shoto for an answer.

The boy of fire and ice didn't even turn to look at the girl next to him. All he did was scowl as if he was tasting ash.

"Alien or not, it changes nothing."

"A little too vague there, Todoroki. Is that your verbal consent?" Nezu further inquired.

"….yes."

The fact that it looked like he practically forced the word out of his mouth was another sign of concern. But Nezu didn't let that ruin the fact that before those two boys responded, the others each gave their voice of genuine approval. Also, a few of them sounded particularly excited about it.

'And here I was ready to give them all some heavy reminders about the severity of the consequences.' Nezu certainly was surprised sometimes by how amazing teenage humans could be.

But he also knew Aizawa would put the fear of God in them anyway, so he decided to leave it to him.

"It warms my heart to see you all be so heroic so young. I know you will all make fine pros." Nezu then directed his gaze to the Jedi. "And I'm glad to see you in better spirits as well, Camilla."

Camilla nodded again.

"Thank you, principal. For that, and for giving me a second chance."

"Think nothing of it. So with that said, I think it's time I step out and leave you in your teacher's hands."

On his way to the door, Nezu stopped once more and turned around.

"One last note. Class 1-A will be getting a new classroom assistant starting this morning. This assistant will merely be around to help with Mr. Aizawa's general routine. So please, treat him well and enjoy your day."

With nothing more to say, the principal left the class in the capable hands of their homeroom teacher and exited the room.

"A classroom assistant? Who is it gonna be?" Mezo wondered aloud.
"You'll learn when he gets here. As far as I know, he's still with Power Loader going over a few things," Aizawa answered, as he straightened himself. "First things first, the principal may not have said it, so I will. While I think it's great you all have taken steps to make Sharro feel welcome here, I still feel it's necessary to remind you just how important keeping these new shared secrets confined to only those who signed the contract. So I'll reiterate. Should any of you speak a word to anyone outside the circle of the NDA about her or where she comes from, expulsion will be brought down on you like the hammer of the gods. Do I make myself clear?"

With fear in most of their hearts, the class nodded.

"Congratulations then, I guess. You're officially the first class at U.A. High to include an alien. Try not to screw it up."

That ominous warning aside, Aizawa slunked over to the podium and looked at his class.

"Alright, enough digressions. Let's get down to business. In the past week, you've all gone through a lot. And as much as it pleases me to see you most of you united, that doesn't mean you're out of the woods quite yet."

'Not out of the woods?'

Immediately, the collective minds of class 1-A began to run in a million different directions wondering what their teacher was talking about. Was it more villains? Another attack?

"The U.A. Sports Festival is coming up."

"DON'T SCARE US LIKE THAT, MR. AIZAWA!" the majority of them shouted in unison.

It was amazing to Camilla just how fast her classmates could switch from drop-dead and fearful to energized and excited. Hyperspace jumping would weep if it could.

"Alright! The sports festival! I'm so pumped up!" Eijiro shouted.

"I'm so excited! Like extra super excited!" Mina threw up her fists to emphasize.

"Wait wait wait! Hold on!" Denki however, was the one to reel them both in and the rest of the class before the attitude spread. "Is this really a good thing?"

Kyoka, to her own surprise, found herself agreeing with the lightning dolt.

"Yeah, is it really a good idea to let the festival happen so soon after we were attacked?"

"What if the villains try attacking again?" Mashirao wondered.

Aizawa looked at his class and saw that most of them were now thinking the same thing. Concern was spreading, and that was one particular fire he did not want to deal with. So he prepared to douse it.

"Concerns of a similar nature were brought up. But it was decided by the administration that the festival was too important an event to cancel over a villain attack. Hosting it undeterred will show the public that the threat has been eliminated and the school, along with its staff and students, are all holding strong. The safety commission has also assured us that canceling the event would do more harm than good in the long run, especially for you students."

That was a term often heard when Camilla would overhear Ryukyu, Mirko, and later on All Might speaking. The Hero Public Safety Commission. Ryukyu and All Might told it flat and even. The organization was basically a government that was assigned to keep an eye on the heroes and ensure they were sticking to the rules.

While those two kept it more informative, Mirko was quick to step in and…well be herself. She stated her obvious distaste for the agency and their tendencies to stick their noses where they don't belong, too often for her liking. She knew of a few other pros who were really cozy with the commission. Hawks was one such hero, as Mirko tended to bring up a few times.

Right now, as Aizawa brought up that tidbit about the commission speaking a small piece, Camilla could feel a slight tinge of annoyance towards them spark off his mind. So chances were Mirko's mindset was not one she carried solo. Shaking that off, she refocused her attention as her teacher continued talking.

"The U.A. sports festival has been a long-running tradition since the school was founded. As the years went by, its popularity grew to the point where it became the most watched event in the world. Usually the Olympics carried that title, but thanks to quirks, those games became obsolete, and the sports festival became the event to see. Anyone who cared about competition, always turned their eyes to one event this time of year: the U.A. sports festival. So canceling the festival would be outright robbing you kids of a chance you only get three times in your life."

"I'd rather get robbed of this than actually robbed of my life," Minoru muttered fearfully.

Already Aizawa was tired of the small teenager's fear, so he tried to nip it in the bud as best he could.

"Also, as far as villains and potential attacks go, we've already thought ahead on that front. Security is gonna be buffed up four times more than usual than previous years. Pro heroes will be patrolling the stadium from beginning to end. So no villain with even half a brain would think about trying anything funny.

The reassurance did seem to do the minimum in cowing Minoru's concerns, but given everything that's happened, the erasure hero had to admit it was foolish to assume all would be a hundred percent well. Katsuki and Shoto seemed to be proof of this as well. So for now, he would take what he could get.

"Sharro, since you're the outsider stepping in here, do you have any questions?"

The Jedi stroked her chin as she tried in earnest to think of anything about the festival that confused her, all the while the gazes pointed her way from most of the other students went unnoticed.

"None that I can think of. Nejire already gave me the basic rundown of the event not long after I landed here," Camilla replied. "To be honest with you, I've already gone through something nearly identical to this a few years back. In fact, it was the final step into how I became a Padawan."

"Padawan?" Rikido parroted back, confused.

"What's that?" Mina tilted her head, just as curious.

"You all can talk about whatever that is later in your free time." Aizawa drew everyone's attention back. "Whatever similarities may be, there are bound to be a few differences too. If you have any questions, if any of you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Better we iron things out now than have you look like idiots on worldwide television." The room went silent for a brief moment as reality seemed to set in for a good number of them. "That's right. I'll say it again, this event is gonna be televised for the entire world to see. That means all twenty-one of you are gonna be in the spotlight representing our school. Not only will the general public be watching, but heroes from all over Japan will tune in."

"That's right." Just to make sure there was no confusion for her Jedi classmate and to try to instill the importance of the event in the perverted Minoru, Momo raised her voice. "This is where every hero course student gets scouted by pro agencies."

"And if you get in with a good one, once you graduate, you'll get officially hired on as a sidekick!" Denki exclaimed.

"And then from there, you go pro if you put enough effort in. Staying a sidekick forever is something too many heroes end up doing." Kyoka gestured to Denki. "For example."

"Hey! What's the big idea?!"

"Well sorry, but if you keep short-circuiting every time you use your quirk, that's kinda where you're headed."

"Oh come on now, Kyoka. Despite his lack of control, I'm sure Denki will make a fantastic hero."

Denki turned backwards and nodded to his alien classmate.

"Thank you, Camilla." He then looked to Kyoka. "Would it kill you to be a little more supportive?"

"Hey, I bet even the Jedi had their own version of lying to spare someone's feelings." Kyoka shrugged.

"Enough, both of you."

The stern voice of their teacher made all the attention refocus on him as it should be.

"That last bit aside, everything else is correct. This event is not only the world's most televised event, it's your shot to show the pros everything you got. You only get a maximum of three chances like this in your life. So you better not waste them. That means you better not slack on your training, no matter what experience you may have."

"Yes sir." The class all answered back, and Aizawa was about to dismiss homeroom.

*Knock! Knock!*

"Well it looks like the new assistant is here." Aizawa looked at the door.

Like a machine, all the kids' heads turned to follow their teacher's gaze. But as they did, Camilla's face scrunched in confusion.

"Huh? That can't be right," Camilla said.

"What can't be right?" Fumikage asked.

The blind teen tried to extend her senses to see if there was anyone on approach, but she found nothing.

"I can't sense anyone on the other side of the door. That usually only happens when-"

As if the universe was playing a prank on her, a very familiar trill of Binary rang out from the other side of the door, causing Camilla's words to freeze in her throat.

Slowly, every other head in the class turned to her, save for Aizawa.

"Is that…?" Ochako muttered.

"It better not be!"

Far before Aizawa could tell her to remain seated, Camilla shot up from her seat, raced to the door herself and threw it open with a wave of her hand.

"Gah!"

To the whole class's surprise and Camilla's frustration, her silver and yellow plated droid was indeed on the other side of the door.

"W-wha! What are you-get in here!"

As fast as she could, Camilla pulled R3 into the classroom rather harshly using the Force and slammed the door. Then she did a fast 180 and glared down at her droid.

"What do you think you're doing?! What if anyone saw you?! Did anyone see you?!"

The astromech just rang out a series of chirps and whistles as a response. Whatever he said, Camilla didn't seem satisfied with it.

"I don't care about any of that! Why are you here?! How did you get here?!"

Another sentence of robotic bleeps was the answer. To twenty-one people in the room, it was just noise. But for the one who knew it as a language…

"Oh don't you tell me to calm down!"

The spectacle in front of them was something that would eventually become a normality. But at that moment, the entire class watched, mostly for the very first time, a blind girl getting into a shouting match with a dome-headed robot.

"Uuuhhh…does this…?"

"Happen a lot? Yes, it does."

Hanta looked away from Izuku and back to the scene in front of him. He thought as most of the others did. It was cool the robot was here, but his presence alone explained nothing.

"Sharro."

The call of her teacher was enough to make Camilla stop and turn to him. There was barely any annoyance in his tone, as opposed to what she or the rest of the class would expect from a situation like this. So did that mean?

"I believe the droid has an explanation ready to play back."

Her head turned back and downwards towards R3.

"What does that mean?"

R3 decided to apparently ignore his master. His head turned away from her back to the center of the room. Camilla was actually reaching to manually turn his head back around, but the sound of his holo-projector powering up stopped her. Light flooded from the nozzle and the image that formed was a life-size recreation of the principal Nezu, only now in a static blue hologram.

"Hero course class 1-A, it is my duty and my honor to introduce to you your new classroom assistant, R3-F14."

Immediately, every pair of eyes in the classroom fell upon the droid for a brief moment before Nezu's pre-recorded voice drew them all back to the message.

"Obviously, there are ulterior motives to having R3 be placed in this position. But for the most part, having him serve your class in such a manner will provide R3 with the means to be allowed into the world alongside Sharro. The papers declaring him an official emotional support companion have been drafted. Miss Sharro, it is your responsibility to keep these papers on your person at all times."

The fact that the holographic Nezu turned his head in the correct direction to "look" at Camilla heavily unsettled a good majority of the students. Aizawa would never admit he too was disturbed.

Camilla just wondered why everyone was suddenly scared.

"For those of you wondering about the validity of this action, let me assure you it is genuine. Having him registered as a support android is only step one. As per the Non-Human Intelligence Equality Act which was put into law in 2239, beings who are not designated as humanoid can attain most of the rights as a natural-born human can, should they prove that they have intelligence to match. After learning how to converse with R3 here, I have decided that he should be allowed to test those rights. That's why I have submitted an application for him to take the intelligence apprehension exam."

The 20 students born of Earth and their homeroom teacher all looked in surprise towards the hologram and the droid projecting it. The IAE was rumored to be one of the toughest exams the country could dole out to anyone. And as luck would have it, the proctors for this test were in fact, officials for the Safety Commission. Passing it on the first go was mostly just a nice fantasy for any taking it. But Aizawa knew. He and the other staff knew. That's why sometimes they couldn't sleep at night. The only one on record to date to ever pass this exam on the first try, and with minutes to spare even, was in fact, Principal Nezu.

So to hear that he himself was signing up R3 to take the same test he did, Aizawa was sure he was gonna have to double-dose on his melatonin tonight to get to any sort of sleep. Recovery Girl's orders be damned.

"As of this moment, they have not gotten back to me. And I don't expect they will for another few weeks. In the meantime, his identification papers and his application provide me with enough of a reason to hire R3. From this moment onwards, this droid is now officially enlisted as a staff member as U.A. High School. And you students will do well to treat him as such. Ta-ta!"

After the hologram vanished, the droid turned again and one of the ports on his head opened up. From the small hatch, a mechanical arm rose up from his head and in its grasp was some folded up papers which Camilla slowly took. She couldn't read them, but she surmised they were the papers Nezu referred to regarding R3's support registration.

"So…you're really the new assistant." She sounded so exhausted already.

"Told you so."

Camilla just groaned, earning her a round of Binary chuckles from her metal companion. It was one thing that R3 was here, but to have him be one mere step below a teacher in her new school, technically outranking her? She knew he was gonna ride this for as long as he possibly could.

"I was against this too, Sharro. But Nezu, even though he's a pain in the ass, does know what he's talking about. With your ship being moved here and Power Loader eager to look it over, he needs all the help he can get if fixing it is at all a possibility. That's where R3 here comes in, I guess. Since your vision is limited, having him alongside Power Loader will be necessary so he can fill in the blanks that you can't."

Resigning herself to the long day she was no doubt gonna be feeling now, Camilla walked back to her seat and slumped back down in the chair. R3 in the meantime wheeled over to the far wall of the room. He turned and retracted his center leg once he was near Toru's desk.

"It's bad enough we got strapped with an alien. Now we have her stupid rolling trash can too?" Katsuki annoyingly growled.

The ire of R3 was immediately earned as the yellow and silver robot turned his head, making his eye point right at the explosive boy.

"Hey, that's not nice, Bakugo." Toru reached over and affectionately patted the droid's head. "I think he's cute."

The low and warning tones from R3 changed to high-pitched chirps as his eye looked from Toru over to his Jedi.

"Yes, I know you like her."

Before Toru could comment on how much R3 flattered her, her teacher cut her off.

"That goes for all of you. As of this moment, R3 here is officially recognized as a part of this staff, even if it's just as a general assistant. You will treat him with respect the same as you would any other teacher. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir."

Thankful was Camilla ever for the open mindedness of her class. During the party last night, Momo being the meticulous vice rep she was, had gone over with the boys just how much the droid meant and how he wanted to be treated. The boys were quick to agree. After all, he was an alien robot just as much as Camilla was an alien. But as expected, there were some holdouts from Katsuki, Shoto, and Minoru, who seemed to be more annoyed than anything about the droid.

Camilla suddenly remembered she promised R3 a shock to the gnome for insulting him during Friday's events. She'd keep it. She just needed the right time.

…of course, that was if the robot would stop chirping out a rapid series of low toned beeps that sounded too close to chuckling for her comfort. Leveling a glare, she fired one last shot at her oldest friend.

"Laugh it up while you can, dome head. Don't forget, Nejire goes to this school too."

Finally, the shoe seemed to be on the other foot as R3 went dead silent, and Camilla was the one smirking at her desk. Of course, she could sense a plethora of questions headed her way once her classmates got the chance, but those would be for later. As Present Mic walked in the classroom and Aizawa walked out, the day truly began.


One at a time, the classes went by and the twenty-one students of class 1-A paid the best attention they could for their studies. But for most of them, the sports festival was occupying the majority of their thoughts. So much in fact, they barely heard the bell ring, and Cementoss announced that class was dismissed. Once he left the room and the literature books were put away, the chatter began anew.

"Oh man, I'm so pumped!" Eijiro clenched his fists in excitement.

The action was mirrored by Rikido who flexed an arm.

"Yeah no kidding! This is something I've been looking forward to since the entrance exam! Now we get to show all our stuff!"

As more kids got up to openly voice their enthusiasm, Camilla looked around the room and took in the mixed feelings of nervousness and excitement, the latter far overpowering the former.

"Wow. All of you sure are looking forward to this," she commented.

"Damn right, we are!" Hanta exclaimed with eagerness. "The sports festival is one of our biggest steps towards becoming heroes!"

"I concur with Sero." Tenya stood up. "The festival is one of the staples of being a U.A. student! It only makes sense that we're all excited for it. Even I have been mentally preparing for it in my downtime. This is our first chance to show the world what we have!"

The young warrior smiled at her friend's words as she began to put her books in her backpack.

"Yup. Definitely reminds me of my apprentice tournament."

Right as she was about to get up, two of her female classmates rushed over, stopping her movement.

"Oh yeah, that's right! Spill! What did you go through already that's like the sports festival?"

"And what's a Padawan?"

The combined questions from Mina and Toru caused Camilla to chuckle. Oh how fast these guys went from fearing her to wanting to know more about her culture. A few of the others turned her way as well, now interested in the answer themselves.

"Oh, well alright. We got a few minutes. So-"

"Hold on! Hold on!"

The Jedi halted her talking and looked to Izuku. The rest of the present kids followed her and watched as Izuku fished into his backpack and pulled out a notebook. Then he clicked the top of a pen and got himself ready to write.

"Alright. Go."
Rolling her eyes, Camilla chuckled and did as requested.

"Pretty much a very similar concept to your sports festival, only for a younger age. An apprentice tournament was an annual event held in the Jedi temple. The whole point of it was for younglings to demonstrate their abilities with a lightsaber and the Force in front of tons of Jedi knights and masters who wished to take on a personal student. Even the Jedi Council came to oversee. Do good enough in the tournament and get the attention of someone who wants to teach you, and you get promoted to the Padawan rank. Then you get a braid like mine, and you enter the next stage of your life under your new master's apprenticeship."

Her fingers fiddled with her braid as she remembered the day she got it. Master Morlev was of course at that tournament, but she had a feeling he intended to take her on regardless of how well she did.

"Huh. So your braid is a symbol? I just thought it was a cute fashion choice," Mina said.

"Jedi don't normally care for having a sense of fashion," Camilla replied.

"Well ,that's obvious once you take in the robes for the first time."

"Hey!"

The light swat to her arm was worth the jab in Mina's mind.

"Ribbit. To think, we had similarities to other cultures in another galaxy, and we didn't even know it. Pretty cool if you ask me."

"It is rather comforting to know we aren't hopelessly far behind compared to the vast other societies in the universe."

Camilla smiled at Tsuyu's and Fumikage's remarks before Tenya made one of his own.

"I agree. I'm actually quite thrilled to learn that our esteemed school has traits in common with the Jedi Order."

"What place did you take in your tournament?" Eijiro asked.

"I actually won mine but just barely. Miram didn't make it easy for me."

"Miram? Who's Miram?"

Realizing the name she just let slip, Camilla froze. Then she looked back at the asker of that question with a reminiscent look.

"Miram Dolomar was my best friend in the order. But…that's a story for another time."

As best she could, Camilla tried to swallow a small bit of pain as it rose up from her chest. Memories were starting to come back that she really did not want to deal with right now. Hurriedly, she zipped up her backpack, while the rest of the class felt they had touched a nerve by accidentally reminding her of the people she's lost. So the subject was begging for a change.

Momo quickly found one when she glanced at Izuku.

"What are you writing, Midoriya?" Momo inquired.

"Hm? Oh, I'm writing down everything she says," Izuku answered as he showed the vice rep of the cover of the journal in his hand. The outer one seemed as normal as the others he carried around with him. But the inside was where it differed. The inner cover was emblazoned with a pencil sketch of the wings of the Jedi Order. "Ever since I first learned about her, she's told me and Uraraka so much about the Jedi. I write it all down here. It's amazing. I've only known about the Jedi Order for like six months, and I've nearly filled up an entire notebook on them."

The way Momo was looking at the book, Izuku could now say he had some idea of how he looked whenever he discovered some new All Might lore he never knew about.

"Could I maybe have a look at it when you can spare some time?" she requested.

"Uuuhh…Camilla?" Izuku looked over to the Jedi.

"So long as she promises to keep what she reads confined to this class alone, have at it."

"Absolutely!"

"Permission granted."

Izuku nodded, and then Tenya said he too wanted a turn at reading the notebook when Momo was done.

"Camilla!"

The loud shout of her name caused not only the Jedi, but a few others to jump, startled at the volume.

"Uh…y-yes, Ochako?"

With an air of determination Camilla had never sensed from her gravity-manipulating friend before, Ochako approached and took her hands into her own, clenching them firmly.

"I need to dial up all my skills! Especially swordsmanship! We gotta start training as soon as we can!"

"Hoooookay! Slow down there, my friend."

Her hands now practically pried free, Camilla took an uneasy step back from Ochako. The other kids immediately surrounding them looked at the scene with equal amounts of concern.

"Uraraka? Are you alright?" Izuku asked.

"Yeah, you're usually like the most laid back girl in class. What's up with you?" Kyoka wondered.

It was off-putting indeed. In the week since starting high school, Ochako had been thought of as a bubbly girl with a constant bounce in her step. Now, she was exuding an aura of intensity one would expect from Katsuki or Shoto at this point.

"I'm just pumped is all! Everyone's right! The world is gonna be watching us! This is gonna be our shot to show we have what it takes to be pros! After school, you and I gotta get to it! Saber skills, quirk practice, and making sure Deku doesn't break himself into a pancake!

"Hey!"

"I'm gonna be sure to do my best, Camilla! So let's get to it as soon-"

*ZAP!*

"Yeowch!"

Ochako was so lost in her own intense motivation, and everyone else was so enraptured by it, they didn't even notice their new classroom assistant had rolled over to her side until after the sparks shot out of his prod and nailed the girl on her thigh.

"Normally, I'd bop you for shocking someone like that again. But in this case, thanks."

As the prod retracted back into R3's body, Ochako rubbed her thigh where she was shocked and glared down at the droid.

"Was that really necessary?"

One bleep for yes was her answer.

"You think we can walk and talk? I'm hungry," Camilla said.

It was then that Ochako remembered it was lunchtime. Lunch Rush's line always got long fast, so the sooner they got there, the better. Her stomach was feeling pretty empty too now that she thought about it.

In agreement, the class began to disperse and head out the door to get their meals. Tenya, Ochako, Camilla, and Izuku approached the door together, only for another series of beeps to sound out.

"Yeah, you too."

Camilla gestured for him to follow, and R3 did so on all three legs. Once they were out the door and in the hallway, the group of four, plus a droid, headed for the cafeteria, more than eager to get their food. Camilla flipped her glasses back on her face on their way out the door, and R3 took his place at her side. On her other one, the other three were conversing with Ochako, who was still visibly more pumped than usual.

"You really are getting excited about this a lot more than I thought you would, Uraraka," Izuku stated.

"I must agree. I know we have not been acquainted for as long as you have with Midoriya and Camilla, but your behavior really does surprise me," Tenya added.

Ochako just clenched her fists as her emotions about the festival strengthened her again.

"This is something I've been looking forward to for a long time too! Finally, I'm gonna get the chance to show all the top heroes exactly what I can do! I can't afford to blow it!"

"Well, I admit I too am feeling similar. It's also a bit nerve-wracking I might add. My brother knows a lot of current pro heroes. As the next in line to join the Iida family tradition, disgracing myself in my first sports festival is not an option."

The Jedi smiled as she regarded her friends' motivations. Izuku hadn't been that vocal yet about his excitement about the festival, but she could sense he was just as eager as everyone else for it, if not also a lot more nervous. Tenya wasn't the only one with a legacy attached to him after all. Even if Izuku's was a secret one, it still couldn't be easy to remember with such an integral step in their hero careers now upon them. All Might wouldn't be the only one watching him. So would all of Japan.

As for Ochako…that was a little harder to read. Mostly because…well…

'We've never asked her. A year of knowing her, and Izuku and I were so caught up in our own stuff, we never asked her.'

The conversation they had in her room came up again, where Ochako admitted she didn't talk much about what's going on with her because she felt her own issues weren't as important as Camilla's or Izuku's. The Padawan insisted that wasn't true, but after all, what did she really know about Ochako? Sure they talked, they were quick to become friends but…whenever heroes popped up, she oddly never brought up why she wanted to be one.

"Ochako, why do you want to become a hero?"

It was time to fix that.

Suddenly, an abrupt wave of shame burst from Ochako's mind so suddenly, Camilla nearly jumped, startled. She wasn't expecting such an intense internal reaction. The external one wasn't much better. The moment she heard the question, Ochako's face quickly fell from being excited and fired up to flat and embarrassed.

"Are you alright?" Izuku asked.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. It's just…well…."

Stopping in their walk to the cafeteria, Ochako decided to spill her guts and answer Camilla's question.

The reactions were about what she expected.

"Money?!" Izuku cried. "You wanna be a hero so you can get rich?!"

"I know I know! It sounds so greedy compared to all three of your reasons!" Ochako frantically waved her hands to the four.

"I don't think it's greedy at all," Tenya said gently. "You're looking out for your wellbeing and desire to bring food to the table. It's a perfectly reasonable goal."

Camilla was about to voice her opinion, but R3 beat her to the punch, chirping out a full sentence in Binary that the other three awaited a translation for.

"He says, 'I assume there's a deeper reason than that. Please don't make me move you down on my favorite humans list.'"

"You have a favorite humans list?" Ochako asked the droid.

The yellow and silver droid responded again in a complete sentence.

"He says 'Yes. And you're near the top of it.'"

"Aaaaawwww! Thanks R3!" Ochako smiled and patted his head. "And yes, there is more to this than just wanting money for myself."

One longer than normal warble sounded out from the droid, which Izuku and Tenya swore sounded a lot like a "Phew" if they ever heard one. Taking a step back, Ochako continued while looking at the four.

"You see, my family owns a construction company. It's been in our family for years, but business has been slower than slow. Mom and Dad barely make anything right now."

"Construction, huh?" Tenya rubbed his chin. "Oh, I get it. If you were to be licensed to use your quirk, you could help them on job sites!"

"Hey yeah, that's right! Her Zero Gravity would nullify the need for so much lifting equipment," Izuku said, catching on.

"I know right?! That's exactly what I told my parents when I realized this! But…they told me they didn't want me to."

"Why not?" Camilla wondered.

"They said they wanted me to pursue my own dreams and not worry about them so much. They told me, my life was mine, and it shouldn't be tied down by them, that the business should be their worry, not mine."

Clenching her fists in the same way as before, Ochako looked to her friends with her thoughts and heart strong.

"So I'm gonna become a pro. I'm gonna bring my best to the sports festival, so a good hero will notice me, and I'll sign with a good agency, so I can give my parents an easy life."

And there she stood, now illuminated in the light of her motivations. And contrary to Ochako's belief, it wasn't a bad one. Not as far as Tenya, Camilla, Izuku, or R3 were concerned. They all saw what was truly there. A girl looking out for her family, by mixing her two dreams together into one that everyone could love the outcome of.

"Your parents are blessed to have you as a daughter, Ochako," Camilla said

Her already vast amount of respect for Ochako suddenly skyrocketed, she and R3. The compliment made Ochako smile bright and relieved. That light she shone, Izuku could swear almost made it look like the girl who could walk on air, had wings hidden behind her back. Ochako Uraraka was an angel…and he could feel his heart begin to beat faster the longer he looked at her.

"Aaaaahhh! No no, not again!"

Iida applauded Ochako, but Izuku's own anxieties were not allowing him to hear it.

'Why am I feeling like this when I look at her?! I mean yeah Uraraka just proved she's more grounded than anyone else here with that speech but….but she's just a friend! A friend! That's it!...isn't it?'

Suddenly, Izuku began to feel very scared.

'I can't feel this way about her! I can't! If I do, then I'll ruin our friendship! I don't want to lose her! I can't imagine my life witho- AAAAHHHH! What am I saying?! SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF THIS! FORCE! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!"

'…alright. Trusting the Force does work sometimes.'

"YOUNG MIDORIYA….IS HERE!"

With that boisterous announcement, All Might came from around the corner and pointed straight at the named boy, and he took a little bit of pleasure in seeing the shocked faces of everyone else. Camilla probably sensed him coming ,but the volume and grand gestures he used got the reaction he was hoping for. It was always his own personal treat.

"Whoa, All Might! What are you doing here?"

"Lunch!" the number one pro replied while holding up a tiny wrapped bento box. "Do you wanna eat with me?"

"THAT'S ADORABLE!" Ochako burst out laughing.

"Oh, uh! You don't mind, do you guys?" Izuku turned back to his friends.

"No, it's cool, Deku. We'll meet up with you later," Ochako assured him.

Tenya and Camilla were quick to agree with her, and they began to leave, only for All Might to call to them again.

"Apologies, but may I borrow young Sharro too?"

"Huh? Me?"

"I promise I won't take up much of your lunch period."

Perplexed, Camilla wondered what it could be All Might wanted to talk with her about. She certainly didn't want to interrupt any time between him and Izuku. The two of them hadn't talked since the U.S.J. She felt she should let them have a moment alone as master and apprentice, but All Might was not normally one to pull someone aside for small talk. So whatever had to be spoken about had to be important. Right?

"I guess I can spare a few minutes."

"Super! Please follow me, both of you!"

The ninth bearer of One For All and the lone Jedi on Earth took off after All Might as he ran down the hall. R3 was quick on their tail, beeping out something Ochako and Tenya couldn't make out. With a couple of shrugs, they entered the cafeteria and got in line for Lunch Rush. As the two got in line, Ochako thought about her two friends a bit and why All Might would want to talk with them. Of course, she had an idea, but the subjects for some reason were starting to make her nervous. And it was evident on her face.

"Uraraka, are you alright?"

Tenya's voice broke her out of her trance.

"Oh! Yeah, Iida. I'm fine. Just thinking about what All Might could want is all."

"Makes sense. Given what happened at the U.S.J., perhaps All Might and Camilla do have something to talk about. As for Midoriya, I think I can see why All Might would want to talk to him."

That nervous feeling suddenly spiked.

"Oh uh…y-you do?"

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it? The two of them are very alike. Both of them have incredible strength quirks that are a lot like each other. It's only logical the number one pro would take a liking to him. Such a lucky meeting, isn't it?"

OK, so it wasn't as bad as she thought. Tenya sure did have that habit of his to jump to conclusions, for better or worse. This time Ochako would take the better.

'Just keep thinking that, Iida. I know you guys know about Camilla, but Deku's secret remains as such until he feels ready…if that day ever comes.'

Not far in front of them, one of their classmates in line couldn't help but overhear his class rep state his thoughts out loud. They couldn't help but make Shoto wonder.

"All Might and Izuku Midoriya, huh?"


"Your limit's down to just one hour?" Izuku asked his mentor.

He and Camilla both chewed on that new piece of info as All Might poured himself a cup of tea.

"That's if I'm lucky," All Might replied. "All that energy spent on Nomu really took its toll on me."

"That's an understatement." Camilla had her focus on another thing: the eight lights only she could see shining within his body. "I've never seen your lights this dim."

Knowing what she was talking about, All Might mournfully grimaced. It was both a blessing and a curse that this girl could somehow see One For All within him.

"Soon I won't be able to use One For All anymore. Thanks to that Nomu, that time is approaching faster."

"All Might….I….I'm so sor-"

"Oh come off it, kid!" All Might stopped his apprentice. "Swear to God, you apologize way too much. Then again, I really wasn't any different. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you both about the sports festival, but there's something I want to do first."

All Might's next actions were to stand from his seat on the couch, direct himself fully in Camilla's direction, and bow ninety degrees at the waist to her.

"Young Sharro, I feel I owe you an immense apology," the symbol of peace spoke. "Had I not frivolously spent my time up on small matters, I would've been with you at the U.S.J. from the start. I feel you having to reveal yourself so soon is because of me. For that, I am so incredibly sorry. I promise I will be better from here on."

Taken aback for a moment, Camilla considered All Might's words and his reasoning for apologizing in the first place. A couple seconds after that, the budding keeper of peace smiled at the current symbol of peace.

"I'm not upset, All Might. Really. I mean, I was at first because the initial reaction wasn't so good, but the class, most of them anyway, promised to give me a chance. Things happened in the way the Force wanted them to. I'm sure of it now."

The number one hero smiled from two things. One was the optimism he heard in her voice over her position now. The other thing was from the amusement he felt at hearing her talk about the Force like that again."

"If only I could have faith like you do, Young Sharro. It's a precious thing. Don't let go of it."

As he sat back down, he looked at the two in front of him. One, his apprentice and ninth bearer of One For All, and his alien best friend. Despite everything that's happened, the two of them still held smiles on their faces and optimism about their paths ahead. That was good. It seemed like the two of them seemed to really be helping each other. That much had been obvious since they first met back at the trash-ridden beach.

"So! The sports festival, how are you two feeling about it?" he asked to get back on track.

The two teenagers looked at each other first in thought before they looked back at All Might.

"To be honest, I'm kinda nervous about it," Izuku answered honestly. "There's already a ton of pressure on us to do good in our first one."

"Yeah, I remember that feeling. Only it's gonna be tougher for your class in particular thanks to the media covering the U.S.J. incident," All Might added.

Suddenly the two teenagers began to feel a mutual nervousness, though their reasons were different.

"Oh yeah…I didn't even think about that," Camilla said, realizing how much more attention she and her class were going to have than the other students in her grade.

"After learning that we survived a real villain attack, the public and the heroes who wanna scout us are probably gonna be even more critical on our performances," Izuku lamented.

"That's right," All Might confirmed, comforting neither of them. "Sorry to break it to you, kids. But that's how the hero world works. Even if you're at the top, everyone still watches every little thing you do and jumps at any chance to throw out some criticism. I can't tell you how many dumb tabloid headlines have been published about me ever since I started my career."

Camilla may not have understood what All Might meant by tabloids, but Izuku sure did. Fake news was unfortunately a virus that no vaccine could ever get rid of. Headlines that read, "All Might Switch's Suit Colors! Drama With Support Contractor?!" were funny for about one second. Then he would read the article and weep for the humans who thought spouting out things like secret affairs between fashion designers or other garbage like that would reflect their profession positively.

Thankfully, he was above letting such pettiness affect his work. He only hoped these two in front of him would have the same steel towards it once they were trained up. The festival, in a way, acted as their first exposure to the media. Well, their first planned exposure. Suffice it to say, with word spreading around about the events last week, stories were probably gonna be inevitable.

"I just hope nothing too extreme happens. Nejire warned me that sometimes this tournament can get a little intense," the Padawan said.

"And she was right," All Might agreed before thinking of something. "The festival is only three weeks away. Twice a week, you're gonna be able to see Hound Dog only six times before it gets here. Do you think that'll be enough time?"

A small string of Binary rang out from R3, making Camilla focus her attention on him and affectionately rub his head.

"I guess we're going to find out. But I don't plan to just rely on therapy to help get my mind back on track. Resuming my training and my meditation should also help with the mending process."

"Uraraka sure is hyped to get back to swordsman training with you," Izuku commented, making Camilla chuckle.

"That she is. She was practically shaking with excitement like a child earlier."

"Good to hear she's excited too." All Might nodded. "Makes me remember my days here. No one could get the sports festival out of their heads until it finally passed. It was all we in the hero course talked about. Some things never change, I guess. Well, present company excluded."

"Obviously."

"Young Uraraka has the right idea. Three weeks are gonna pass before you know it. So you both need to knuckle down and do everything you can to prepare. Especially you, young Midoriya."

"Huh? Me?"

Suddenly, All Might's tone, look, and thoughts grew serious at once. Standing up from his seat, he walked over to the window to look out into the city away from them.

"I told you. My time is nearly up. Soon the world won't be able to rely on the symbol of peace to keep them safe anymore. That's why this year's festival is so important. This is going to be the first chance you're going to have to show the world what you can do. You have to bring everything you can to this event, kid. You need to debut yourself to the world: the next All Might. The whole country is gonna be watching you, Izuku Midoriya! This will be your chance to tell the world, 'I am here!'"

Suddenly, Izuku could feel the pressure mounting on him, like trying to balance an elephant on his shoulders. He can't believe he didn't think of that until now. He didn't just inherit All Might's quirk, the responsibilities that come with it were also part of the deal he accepted without even thinking about it. He's only had this power for barely a month, and he still could barely control it when using it. Every time he has so far, it busted him up really bad.

Except when it didn't.

"Don't you think that's a little too much to put on him right now?" Camilla asked with clear concern for her friend. "Granted, I'm not familiar with how school years usually start out on this planet, but I think last week's events call for a little more tact here."

"I'm aware of that, young Sharro," All Might retorted, "but recent developments have forced me to move things up. One For All needs to be properly harnessed, and it needs to happen soon."

"I actually think I've been making some headway on that."

Izuku paused for a moment as All Might, Camilla, and even R3 turned their heads to view him before he went on.

"I was actually able to throw a smash without breaking myself," he continued. "Against that Nomu thing, I fired off a shot at full power, but my arm didn't break."

"Really?" All Might sounded surprised and excited.

Camilla, hearing this for the first time as well, leaned in, now eagerly wanting to hear more. Had Izuku finally found out how to use his power without horrifically breaking himself?

"That's good news, kid," All Might praised his protégé. "What did you do differently?"

"To be honest, I can't really explain it. I just knew Uraraka was in danger and I…I didn't even think about anything else. I just ran, charged up, and threw a punch as strong and fast as I could. All I could think of at the time was saving her. But…my smash was blocked by Nomu. So I didn't really end up doing anything."

So Ochako was involved in it? No, that couldn't be all. He did the same thing at the entrance exam, and he broke three whole limbs. So what factor made the break not happen?

"Don't say that. According to young Uraraka, if it weren't for you, this Shigaraki would have killed her with his quirk. You saved her life, as well as Yaoyorozu and Sero's. You did good, Izuku Midoriya," All Might shook his head. Izuku had gotten a lot better, but it seemed that his sense of self-worth still needed to be worked on.

"R-right," Izuku shakily tried to agree, thinking more about the image of Ochako about to die in his head.

Camilla immediately sensed his sadness and moved to rub his shoulder.

"Hey, we're alright now. All of us are. How about you, me, and Ochako all train together?" The Jedi suggested. "I mean, it makes sense, right? All three of us know about both the Force and One For All. Maybe bouncing ideas off each other could prove fruitful."

"It's not a bad idea," All Might said as an idea came to his head. "I could meet up with the city and talk about reserving a portion of the beach to ourselves for some privacy. Now that it's cleaned up, that beach has become quite the hotspot for dates and late night parties."

"You? At a beach party?"

"Ha. I wish. I don't exactly look good in a swimsuit, kid."

The two holders of One For All shared a laugh with each other.

"But still, if that's a possibility, then let's do it. The sooner we can get it started, the better." Izuku clenched his fists, starting to feel excited about getting back to training and getting stronger.

'That's it kid.' All Might felt a swell of pride.

"Good. Let me know what days work for you and I'll make the arrangements."

"It'll be that easy for you?" Camilla asked.

"Being the number one hero has no shortage of perks, young Sharro," All Might quipped.

The three shared another laugh, and Izuku looked up at the clock. If he was reading it right, he and Camilla had to get in Lush Rush's line right now if they wanted to get their lunch and have time to eat it.

"We should get going if we want to get some food," he told Camilla.

In full agreement, Camilla and he stood up from their seats and began to head for the door.

"Actually, young Sharro, would you mind staying behind for an extra minute?"

It was confusing being asked to talk with All Might alone, but Camilla knew he had no malintent. She shrugged and then looked at her friend.

"I'll catch up with you."

Shrugging himself, Izuku bid the two "See you later" and walked out of the room, leaving Camilla and R3 alone with Earth's number one hero.


As the day went on and the students of class 1-A were trying to establish a new normalcy at school, others went about their own plans. Teachers taught said students, heroes patrolled, and life seemed as busy as normal.

Miles away in a secluded location, a door that hadn't budged an inch since years ago, was slowly starting to come back to life.

If there was one thing the ruler of the criminal underworld prided himself on, other than his persuasiveness and way with words of course, it was his ability to think ahead. His backup plans had backup plans, and very rarely did anything unfold outside his predicted parameters.

What Tomura Shigaraki had told him and the good doctor were most definitely outside the parameters.

"Why now?" he muttered to himself as he waited for the doctor to finish the unlocking sequence.

To compare the door in front of him to the entrance of a fallout shelter would be an insult. Old shelters were basic compared to this. The surface was thicker than the walls of Tartarus prison itself, radio waves bounced right off it, and it was buried so far underneath the surface of the earth it wasn't detectable from even the strongest seismic or seismology quirks. And if that weren't enough, the locks could only be undone via a special remote process that only he and his trusty doctor had access to. Simply put, as far as the rest of this world was concerned, this door, and the chamber behind it, didn't exist. That included Tomura. No chance was that one ready enough to step foot near this place.

But he was the reason why All For One was here now.

He said to the doctor that he would not come here unless he had something solid to report, but the math he was doing in his head made him feel that it should be rethought. It had been too long since he had last come here to check on things. It wasn't that he was afraid. Nothing like that at all. But the last thing he heard from the person behind this door was an unmistakable verbal order. And for years, decades even, he had followed it. But if it were the time he said was coming, All For One figured now would be a good time to let his master know to get ready to return. He knew he would hear it.

A chain of metal clangs within the slab rang out as the locks finally came undone, and the thick door split open from the middle. Wheeling inside on his life support carrying chair, All For One kept his gaze squarely on the center of the room.

"I promise not to wake you prematurely as promised."
Some of the lights turned on, but the man could only hear some of the machines clicking and whirring to life around the room.

"But I can assure you, my lord, my presence here now is a sign that the time you have told me about is finally coming over the horizon. I know you can hear me. Even when you're lost in a deep sleep like this, your mind sensed I was coming even before I came down the elevator."
A few raspy chuckles echoed off the wall as the devil of the underworld rolled around the room. The infrared quirk he used to make up for his lost sight could only let him view so much, but he was getting enough. He remembered stealing that quirk decades back. That quirk, and the hundreds of others he took and gave away, all of it in the pursuit of a goal that he had never even considered until he met him. The one who made him realize he could be so much more than what he was originally planning.

With all this power, why settle for just one planet?

"To think there was a time when I thought being the devil king of this world would be the greatest thing to attain. Every time I think about it, I'm reminded of little Yoichi. He and I would read a comic together, an old manga where someone falls into another world. And instead of becoming the hero who saves it, he only takes it for himself and becomes the new evil. You taught me over one hundred years ago that I could aim higher than bringing a silly story to life. I could literally take my ambitions beyond the stars if I attained enough power and carried the will to do it. Well, I can clearly say I have enough power. Even that buffoon, All Might, thinks he was enough to stop me. Well, it's like you said, my dear master, a thirst for vengeance can do wonders for the will to live."

After one full lap around the room, All For One redirected his chair to the center of the room and stopped in front of a control console.

"Well now, our time is finally upon us. It hasn't been solidly confirmed yet, but from what my own apprentice has told me, the Jedi have come back."

"I merely came down here to let you know so you may prepare yourself for your awakening. The bacta tank has served its purpose well, but the world outside of it is ready for your return. The endgame of your plan can now be attained."

Using all the power at his disposal to sense the world around him without eyes, the demon lord pressed his hand to the control console and it, along with the machine it was attached to, came to his mind. Upwards slightly, he could see the large tube that was hooked up to nearly every machine in this room. Screens pouring out endless readings of data as they came in by the second on the machine and what was inside it.

Or rather, who was inside it.

Encased in a rube of glass and submerged in a bacta solution was the body of a man. Scars riddled his pale complexion, and his long white hair fanned around him in the liquid.

"Sir, the tank has a stable read on his vitals. I'll begin monitoring them for any change in brainwave activity."

All For One looked to the speaker in the room the doctor spoke from.

"See that you do. I would hate for my own dear master to stay in there for even a second longer than necessary."

A smile was brought to his face, thanks to the potential prospect of a wonderful future finally within his grasp.

"Let us reach our higher purpose, Lord Taabu."

His message sent, All For One turned around and headed out of the room, ending his short visit. The Jedi order may have thought the threat of the dark side was vanquished on this planet an eon ago, just as he said it would. The Jedi were arrogant and trapped in their past victories to see their future blunders before they were already upon them. Now, it was time to reveal the consequences for said actions.

And the galaxy would be theirs.

XXX

OK so….yeah. Here I am. Sorry about the wait again. Hehe.

So just gonna be clear, I'm not exactly thrilled with this chapter, but this was the best I could cook up. I know it's pretty much just retreading the first episode of season 2 some, with just a few new things added in, but I promise the next few chapters will feature a lot more new home-brewed stuff.

Speaking of home-brewed stuff, the little test I came up with for the Intelligence Apprehension Exam (IAE), came to me one night when I wondered to myself, "How did Nezu become a hero and the principal of U.A.?" Well, since the manga itself never covered it beyond his past as a literal lab rat, I decided to make this up. The idea is that Nezu is a rarity when it comes to intelligent creatures, but he's not exactly one of a kind. Several cases in fact of animals or even machines gaining human intelligence and sentience thanks to experimentation, so the government came up with a way to test if they should have the same rights as humans. So this test was created. Pass, and the government grants you the full rights and autonomy as any citizen living in the country said test was taken in. Fail, and you'll have to try again after a determined amount of time.

So yeah, is it too much? Does it work? Does it not work? Tell me what you think.

Anyway, thanks so much to every single one of you for sticking around for so long, and to those of you who joined up recently. I hope to get the next chapter out in a shorter time than it took me for this one. Until that happens, stay healthy and stay safe!