Izuku woke up from his bed sweating profusely as he looked around his room, he wondered for a moment if he dreamed about what happened yesterday and the villain fight, but when he saw the bandages on his body that seemed like a good sign that it did, although he wasn't in pain when he touched the places he was wounded, that made him wonder if he had a healing factor
He was taken out of his thoughts by the Gochizos in his room all jumping and calling his name excitedly, that got him a smile as he got up, putting on a shirt as he excited his room, the sound of his door opening and closing got Inko to perk up from her setting up breakfast
"Izuku dear, are you alright?" Inko said as she looked at him from the corridor, a slight worried look on her face. He didn't blame her, yesterday was pretty much a major point of stress and shock for both of them
"Yes mom, I seemed to have healed just fine. I'm a bit peckish though" he said as he placed a hand to a bit above his Gavv, it was probably the fact he had passed out thus losing dinner
"Alright, breakfast will be done in a minute, take a shower please" she said as he lifted his arms to smell himself, it was definitely not good, probably from the dried blood and sweat.
"Ah and don't worry about going to school today, I told them you weren't coming" she added before she could forget, going back in to set the table. Izuku thought about that decision, it was probably a good call to have a day to recover from that and he could always get whatever was passed on class with katsuki anyways
He obliged to his mother's previous wishes and cleaned himself with a shower and put on a more casual outfit as he went to sit on the table with her. He would be enjoying his meal more if it wasn't for the fact that his mind was totally focused on yesterday, he could transform! His Gochizos could make him so much more stronger, not to mention he was able to create a sword out of nowhere, he had so many questions and theories he wanted to try out. His hero notebook about his quirk was just about to get at least ten more pages filled! If not a whole new notebook for itself
Ding
"I'll get it!" Izuku said as he got up from his chair and went to the door and opened it "Hello, who..."
"Hey kiddo" said the figure on the other side of the door, he was inhuman in appearance as he resembled a cross between a person and a whale, dark blue hide with some markings in silver, and yellow eyes, having two long grey hair brands on the back of his head, though the most interesting feature was the face in his stomach, having a pair of silver eyes and a open mouth full of spiked teeth at the bottom while the top row had the teeth there seemingly removed or forcefully extracted, with a strange metal device inside
"Uhm who are you?" Izuku asked a bit tense, he had never seen this guy before but he did look very similar to that canine villain he fought yesterday in some physical aspects especially with that mouth with spike teeth in his stomach. Now he realized that maybe the two were partners and now he has come here to get revenge for his fallen friend
"Oh so you didn't tell him about my visit?" The whale man said as he tilted his neck to look over Izuku's head, staring at Inko who sighed awkwardly, Izuku turned to look at his mother confused as she came in between them and allowed the whale man passage into their house
"Izuku this is your father's uncle, mister Dente" Inko said as she held a hand up to the man who just waved at Izuku before his attention got grabbed away by something else as he went into the dining table and grabbed a few of the snacks there
"I never knew there was anyone alive from my father's side of the family" Izuku said to his mom as he never had met any family members from his father lineage, he just assumed they were all dead but now he had a... Grand uncle? Gruncle? He was a bit confused, specially since he resembled more the villain he fought yesterday... Although he hadn't any pictures of his father to compare, heck his father died before he was born so he couldn't go off from memory, he had once asked his mother why there weren't any photos of dad and she just replied that it brought her great sadness just looking at them and he never pressed the matter, did that mean he might be part whale?
"Oh, that's because I'm a bit of a hermit kid, and I only come out of my grotto to get snacks" Dente said as he joined in the conversation as he grabbed a box of cereal and ate it, box and all. Izuku looked at it strangely while inko seemed less enthralled by the old man's strange behavior "Now show it to me"
"What?" Izuku said as Dente came up to him and pointed downwards at his guts
"Your Gavv boy! Come on let me see it" Dente clarified as Izuku realized he was talking about his stomach mouth, it was what that weird villain called it as well, he had so many questions
"Huh, seems like it is good, different from your old man's but it's to be expected" Dente said as he kneeled down to better examine it, the shape was much different from others as it seemed to bulge out instead of being fully integrated into his abdomen, it also had the crank and button on the side that was definitely not natural for a Granute to have. He was pulled from his examination by a sound below, seeing one of the Gochizo
"And I suppose these are your minions? They're so small, your dad could pop out fully grown people" Dente said as he held the gummy Gochizo up on his palm, that revelation caught Izuku by surprise, fully grown people? His father could do that? Inko did say their quirks were similar but she never talked about the minions he could make, he simply assumed they were exactly like his gochizos
"Well I know they don't look like much but they have their usages" Izuku said as he picked one up and placed it on his shoulder, he knew his gochizos could do amazing stuff for such small bodies, especially now that he knew they were a catalyst for him to transform
"Yeah, these little things could do some good corporate espionage, like cockroaches with cameras!" Dente said with a hearty chuckle, Izuku found it very strange and suspicious that his immediate thought on how to use his quirk was for what was considered a crime
"Please don't call them that and don't suggest that" Izuku said as he picked the Gochizo Dente was holding, he looked at it and then at the whale man as a question popped up in his head "... Could my father use his minions to transform? Creating armor around him from them?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Dente tilted his head slightly as he asked, Izuku deciding to do a demonstration as he placed the gummy Gochizo on his Gavv, turning the crank before pressing, transforming into his popping gummy form
"Ah, so this is your Granute form. Interesting, usually it's the opposite" Dente said as he looked over Izuku's transformed state, seems like his human form was his natural base state instead of his Granute form, a first for the old man to see but then again, the boy was the first hybrid he has met
"Granute? What is a Granute?" Izuku asked, that seemed like an important detail, he never heard of the word before but from what Dente had said he was one of those
"Is a subcategory of mutation and transformation type quirks. Where the individual has a mouth in their stomach even if it doesn't match their quirk in a logical sense, that additional mouth is usually called a Gavv" Inko responded quickly, too quickly even, like she had that response prepared and practice for the occasion her child asked about the matter, but Izuku didn't pay much attention to his mother's strange behavior... for now
"Uh yeah! Like that, you probably didn't hear much about it since we are very few and far between but we still pop up from time to time. Heck, your mother said you fought one yesterday" Dente added as he took Inko's lead, Izuku nodded as he took in that information. It seemed like how emitter types have subcategories of the stuff they are able to control and generate, whether that be elemental, inorganic, organic or even reality bending. Although it was a highly specific thing, it didn't break the logistics of how quirk categories and subcategories worked, plus Dente specified that it might be a aspect that is slowly being erased from the gene pool so it would explain its absence, now that they mentioned it he did hear about how a underground hero took down a traffic operation involving a bunch of villains with their leader having a mutation quirk with mouths placed in their bodies with help from the police
But that guy he fought was also a Granute because he had a mouth in his stomach according to them, he was going to look at this matter later, he would research it today if he wasn't more interested in his own powers and abilities
"Welp, we should run some tests, check your status before and after transforming and more." Dente said as he grabbed a biscuit from the table and went to Izuku as he gave him a tap on the back "This place is too small for that, let's go somewhere more spacious."
"Huh... Why are we in a forest?" Izuku asked as he and Dente were finally off the dirt path and into deep into the forest close to the town, he had expected them to go to the beach or a empty lot for this
"Why? Because of those dumb laws of quirk usage in public, at least here we can see what you can truly do without fear of being reported" Dente said with annoyance in his voice, Izuku gave a same nod of understanding. Quirk regulation in public use was restricted on what was allowed, there were things that were socially acceptable to do and use, like for example if his mom dropped something on the ground no one would complain or bother her about using her quirk to pick it up, and people with mutations couldn't turn off their bodies so they weren't bothered on this. But he did receive some complaints about his gochizos following and hanging around him before and with the regulations he probably couldn't use his transformation or "Granute form" in public without a hero license, his mom had to inform him to detransform before exiting the house for that reason, less he get mistaken for a vigilante
"So tell me what you can do" Dente said as he went ahead and sat upon a large rock
"Well, I was able to transform using the Gochizos, even made a sword come out of my Gavv as you called it" Izuku said as he recalled, he was getting around the sword thing as he was used to things coming out of his Gavv, though he wished to have known that he could pull out a sword sooner, the transformation thing was still having his thoughts being wrapped around it on how it worked
"Huh, interesting. Can you only use gummies to transform though?" Dente asked and Izuku gave it some thought to that, he had only used gummies to transform, so he was yet to know what gochizos made from different snacks could offer
"I... don't know, let's test" Izuku said as he went and grabbed one of his Gochizos from the ground, a yellow one he got from eating a potato chip and placed it on his Gavv as he began to turn the crank
Eat chocolate! eat chocolate!
Melted chocolate began to pour down from his Gavv, He then pressed the button, opening his upper jaw slightly and deploying the Gochizo, which screamed. The chocolate quickly came up with Izuku's body and enveloped it as it then took the shape of armor and harden, some parts covered in tin foil that were quickly blasted away
Izuku now was dressed in his black and grey armor as the under suit as it was covered with a melted chocolate poncho with some chocolate cubes on his shoulders. In his head there was also a cowboy hat made of chocolate cubes. In one of his hands held a chocolate bar with a handle and trigger
Chocodan! Pakipaki!
"I did! I'm a... Chocolate cowboy!" He looked at his new form but more specifically at the gun in his hands, evaluating how he felt physically. He looked at the distance, a lone cigada on a tree, he pointed the gun as his eyes focused on it, he pulled the trigger and fired as the shot hit its mark, he went close and saw the brown splatter mark, but upon looking closely he saw that it had made a hole that went through the tree
"My precision has improved, but I feel slightly weaker than the gummy form" he said as he could tell that his hand eye coordination and eyesight seemed better but he didn't feel the same surge of power as the gummy form, though this one did come with a long range weapon to compensate
"Well boy, we got the whole afternoon to train and test out those powers so let's get to it" Dente said most intrigued, seems like his nephew was the most interesting person he has met in a good long while, Izuku nodded enthusiastically, ready to see the true extent of his abilities
"Marshmallows, potato chips, lollipops and more! I have to say, you're a swiss knife of dangerous treats!" Dente said as he and Izuku walked the way back home, the sun having just beginning to set. Izuku had learned a lot more about his power for now and was very exhausted from all the testing they did and he knew there was more to do, but it was getting late and both could go from some chowder made by Inko
"Although passing out after using a finisher can be a problem, we got to work on that stamina" Dente commented as Izuku nodded in agreement, the special finishers he could do were powerful techniques that would be essential for his dream of being a hero, but they were too draining on his body, Izuku wasn't the type to tire out easily but he was panting and sweating just from using a single chocodan finisher, eating helped restaure the lost energy but he couldn't just stop in the middle of a fight to the death or rescue situation to eat now could he?
"Huh? What's that?" Izuku said as he caught sight of something going on, a guy was shouting at a woman behind a counter in a small general store, pointing something at her while wearing a ski mask. It didn't take much for the boy and whale man to understand the situation
"Seems like a robbery" Dente said very casually while Izuku had already started plucking his phone from his pocket
"I'm calling the police" Izuku said as he dialled up to get help
"Guy would probably be far away by the time they get here" Dente said as he scratched the side of his head, he then thought of something as he slowly looked at Izuku that was informing the cops
"... If only someone could do something to stop it" the whale man suggested as he looked forward, Izuku finished the call and looked at his relative confused, as the whale man sighed while shaking his head side to side disappointed before clarifying "... With their quirk that fully masks them in armor that passes as a hero uniform"
"You're not suggesting I-"
"What? I'm not saying for you to do it, couldn't care less about some small shop" Dente said as he shrugged his shoulders, Izuku looked at him and then at the shop. He really shouldn't do this, but he knew he just couldn't walk away, it was the responsibility of those with power to help those who can't do it themselves, he ran into a alley as Dente chuckled a bit
"C'mon hag, you wanna taste lead? Just empty the cash register!" The robber said as he pointed the gun at the lady's head, while looking around anxiously on the look out for any pesky hero
"I would suggest dropping the weapon, sir" a voice called out as it entered the shop, it was Izuku in a form with a big and soft white armor akin to marshmallow, the thug and lady both looked at him
"Who are you? Some no name hero?" The thug said as he eyed the mysterious hero that appeared, he seemed more like the Michelle man than any hero he heard of, though that red belt was weird as it was designed as mouth what the heck was this guy's deal?
"Drop. The. Weapon." Izuku said more assertive as he took a step forward and the thug took one back
"Fine, take this instead!" The hooligan said as he rolled back his head before throwing it forward as a flame came from it, he held his fire for a moment before it stopped as he went into a coughing fit, he opened his eyes to see that Izuku was fine, besides looking a bit toasty as the marshmallow looked a bit burned.
The thug lifted the gun to shoot as he unloaded the entire pent on Izuku, the boy instinctively put his arms up to protect his face, the bullet sank deep into his marshmallow armor as their momentum came to a crawl and they fell from his armor slowly on the floor.
The thug looked at the bullets on the floor before looking back at Izuku who hit the guy square in the face with his fist, sending the guy back as he fell unconscious
"Are you alright, ma'am?" Izuku turned to look at the woman, that seemed a bit scared but after a second recomposed herself and nodded
"Yes, thank you sir" the woman thanked, he helped her restrain the robber as he blocked the guy's mouth with a can of soup and tied it with tape as well as his hands. He fled the scene and de-transformed before meeting back with Dente that was waiting for him underneath a post light
"So? How was it?" Dente asked while laying his back against the post light as he looked at Izuku
"Well, marshmallows make good bullet proof armor and... It was nice helping someone" Izuku said as he reminisced, it wasn't much and it definitely didn't compare to yesterday's battle but it was nice to save someone's day
"And did you get the reward?" Dente asked as he looked at Izuku with a tilt of his head
"Oh, she didn't give me a reward, and being a hero isn't about-"
"I'm talking about her smile, did she smiled after you saved her? From where I'm from, someone's happiness is worth a whole lot" Dente said as he cut off Izuku, an individuals happiness was truly a priceless thing, specially for Granutes. Izuku thought about it for a moment, he remembered the faint little smile on the woman's face after he helped tie the crook and call the police, that smile... It was filled with a reassuring warmth and it was because of him, because he did something right
"... Yeah, bringing happiness to people is gratifying" Izuku said as he clenched his hands as he knew felt like he understood better why heroes did what they did, why they put themselves in danger, all to protect people's smiles. Dente looked at Izuku's face, he had the eyes of a addict, but who's drug was helping and now he was introduced to vigilantism, he would throw himself into danger again and it might not be against a simple robber next time
"Tomorrow, we get started on getting you in shape boy, so you don't die too easily! Hahaha!" Dente laughed as he gave Izuku a few hearty slaps on the back, the boy flinching from it, but smiling none the less as the two began walking back to his home
[Author's Notes]
So this chapter is the introduction of Dente! He's going to be Izuku's mentor for this period before the entrance exam. I realized that he wouldn't have how to fight Granutes during UA so I plan on at least have him fighting some more Granutes before getting into the school, so... Mini vigilante arc!
A commenter asked who was going to be Valen in this and I honestly don't know if he should even be in the story since with quirks and heroes, they have a way to fight back against Granutes without the Valen buster. I would like to hear any suggestions on how he could be introduced and who he might be, anything is on the table here
