14/09/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 51 - Dragon's Coat Tails

Dabi was aware that in terms of combat ability, Dragon, Izuku was better than them. But what was becoming clear was exactly how large the gulf in ability was. He'd thought if they worked together, with Twice making clones that they'd have a chance, and there had been a few times when it had looked like they made Izuku strain.

A little.

But as much as they might have made him strain, Dabi had to acknowledge that Izuku was limiting himself. In real combat…

There wouldn't be combat.

He hadn't been at the Shie Hassaikai compound but he could figure out what had happened. When Himiko had been shot, Dragon had grabbed their quirks. That had pretty much ended their resistance.

And watching Dragon fight, it was obvious he was not a one trick pony. He'd known that already from when Dragon had first entered the scene but-

The kid was so unprepossessing that it was hard to remember that he had skills. He was friendly and kind and… Had fangs and claws that were ready to strike if you rubbed him up the wrong way. He'd found that out himself.

"I think we just have to swarm him," Dabi said. It wasn't a good plan but they'd already seen what anything more complex did.

Mr Compress didn't look thrilled at the suggestion but he sighed and nodded. "That seems to be the most likely chance," he allowed.

"What about Gigantomachia?" Himiko asked.

That was another complication. The kid had claws and fangs and even more importantly, those who followed him. The huge man was new but it was obvious from the way he spoke that his loyalty was to Dragon. He was one of those huge, muscular types who no doubt loved nothing more than to be in combat. It was kind of worrying that he was participating but maybe they'd be able to use that.

"Actually… We could wait to see what Dragon does with him?" Whisper suggested.

"That is a good idea. We can't wait!" Twice agreed with her suggestion.

"Are you ready?" Kurogiri called.

"Ready," they heard the huge man say, quickly followed by Izuku's call that he was also ready.

"We wait to see what the big man does, and failing that we swarm them?" Dabi quickly outlined their plan, such as it was. He got nods from all round. "We are ready," he told the warper.

"All right," the misty man agreed. "Go!" he yelled for them all to hear.

Before the echos had finished going through the clearing, Dabi felt flattened. Two presences flared. He gasped, and fought to remain standing. It wasn't a comfort that he wasn't the only one. Whisper's eyes were wide and her throat was working as she tried to breath.

"What-" she swallowed. "What is that?" the woman managed to gasp.

There was an ominous growl in reply.

Dabi felt like he was moving through treacle as he forced himself to turn and then-

The view was a nightmare.

Dabi liked to think that he was on his own side. Now he was thankful that he was, at least, allied with Dragon because in the clearing was a dragon. It was huge and green with vibrant, glowing green eyes. As he watched, the jaws opened, revealing what seemed to be row upon row of sharp pointed teeth. They had to be at least a foot long! Huge wings mantled over the dragon and as he watched, it reared up onto its hind legs. A long tail lashed behind it, and Dabi could see claws on the forelimbs that… If the dragon hit you with them, you weren't getting back up.

He gulped. This was what the heroes were going to see.

This was what the heroes were going to fear.

This was what was going to … do whatever it darn well pleased.

Dragon was still a bit of a myth in the underworld. Once other villains began seeing this aspect of Dragon, no one was going to care that behind it was a sixteen year old boy. No one would care that-

They weren't even going to be able to think.

Then the dragon roared… It was loud and Dabi didn't think the kid had any sort of noise quirk but frankly, at that size, he didn't need one.

"How do we fight that?" Whisper moaned.

Even Himiko, who had, when Dragon first appeared, been completely at ease in his presence was just staring. As Dabi watched, her expression shifted from one of shock, into ecstasy. She was twisted if she wasn't afraid of that. But, she had always been accepting of the kid, so maybe…

As Dabi watched, there was an answering roar and belatedly he realised he could feel two presences. The second had to be Gigantomachia. There was an aspect of pleasure in his presence and Dabi knew that he was pleased with Dragon.

It didn't appear that Dragon was pleased with him because the creature's neck turned towards Gigantomachia and as he watched, the dragon snarled at the huge man, baring his teeth.

Gigantomachia bared his teeth in return. It was enough of a challenge and the two of them charged.

With the two presences beating down upon them, and the sheer intimidation the sight of the dragon gave, it was easy to think that the dragon was just an animal. When the fight began, Dabi immediately saw that Izuku wasn't lost in an animalistic rage. He was acting in a logical manner. But Dabi could also see that Izuku wasn't completely familiar with his skills and abilities in this form. That wasn't surprising. Dragon had only had some of the quirks he was using for a few days. He was adapting fast though and while it initially seemed as if Gigantomachia would have the upper hand, Izuku was adapting his tactics.

He swung one front leg out, claws wide in a slashing motion. Gigantomachia caught the limb, carefully moving so that he was close enough to avoid the claws. Dabi heard the sound of a fist hitting flesh right before there was a snap of teeth. For such a large man, Gigantomachia moved fast. He had to since Izuku had bitten where he was standing.

The two of them circled each other and while Dabi knew this was the first time they had fought like this, he could tell that this was not the first time they'd sparred. He suddenly understood exactly how Dragon had such skill. If he'd been sparring with Gigantomachia then… He had the feeling Izuku had to learn to fight to hold his own.

As the two of them clashed, the sense of their presence dimmed slightly as they focused on each other. Whisper wasn't the only one who could breathe a bit more easily. He could too.

And he realised exactly how stupid he'd been.

He might have been able to steal that Nomu, and it might have been able to do what he wanted but then where would he be? There was a set of unspoken laws in the underworld… Not pissing off the boss was the most important. It was how they maintained order and sure there was plenty of factional fighting, fighting he'd remained clear of for the most part. But that single rule was observed, and when the boss was as powerful as this… The factions weren't fighting to replace the boss, like the Shie Hassaikai had delusions of, the factions were fighting for relative position.

And while Dabi knew he had skills, he also knew that the factions would not take on anyone who had pissed off the boss. He might have killed Endeavor but then… he would have nothing but a long life, stretching before him, probably in solitary confinement, or a short death.

That was only if the Nomu won. If it didn't… The outcomes were the same, just he'd know he failed.

Dabi had joined groups in the past. But they had always served to advance his cause. He'd never cared about them, and he'd certainly never gotten involved in their petty politics. If you'd asked the enemies of those groups if he was a member, they'd have said no, unless of course he'd been hired to take out that enemy. That had happened a few times, and since it did his reputation no damage, for the right pay, he'd complied, all while gathering information and favours.

Now… Dragon had accepted them as 'his' group and he'd said that they would go through Endeavor. He'd even shown him what was being prepared for that very purpose. He wasn't a fool though. Dragon could terminate that Nomu and find another way, and Dabi had the impression that Dragon was just petty enough to do that, if he pissed off the kid enough and given his actions… he had to have been close.

But the kid had shown him, and had given him a chance and… Yeah, he'd been stupid.

Dragon wasn't one of those bosses who lied, and couldn't even keep it straight. The kid had no need to lie to him because there was no advantage to it and the kid could see that. He dealt honestly and had the strength to ensure that his honesty was not abused.

God, that was such a change in his thoughts, Dabi realised. He'd never… He'd never tried to get into the upper echelons of the underworld because he didn't really need that. He might need a favour but he figured he could buy that and now… He almost laughed to himself. Now he was on the way there. If he stuck with the kid, he'd get Endeavor and- from there… who knew?

And he'd almost thrown that all away.

The Dragon made an upper cut slash at Gigantomachia and Dabi saw the kid clench his clawed fist at the last second so he didn't slash the huge man open. He might look animalistic but he was controlled. Very controlled.

It was an example for the future. The kid may not appear like he was in charge, may appear like he would consult and just let them run riot but… Nah, the kid had said it himself. He was open to ideas and suggestions but in the end he would make the decision.

And he had made the decision to give him another chance.

He wouldn't waste it.

-ted-

Jin vaguely remembered that as a child he'd been told his quirk was powerful. He hadn't thought about it much at the time because he'd never been allowed to use it. The last decade or so had seen the relaxing of quirk use rules. Of course, he knew they hadn't actually been relaxed but their enforcement had been relaxed. Or maybe it was just-

It didn't really matter. He'd been told he had a powerful quirk but he hadn't used it much. And there was never any talk that his quirk could be used for heroism. Heroics was for other people, rich people. For folk like them they just had to carry on. He'd never really thought about it and life had gone on.

There had been opportunities, growing up, to use his quirk in other ways. He hadn't but Jin had seen the opportunities and that was when he'd learned he could copy someone else. Again it was a skill he hadn't had a lot of opportunity to master.

And then when he had used his quirk-

At any other time, he would have been determined to forget that, but now, watching Dragon fight he couldn't help but remember the battle they'd just had.

Dragon had said that he could tell which was the original, that the copies didn't have quirks. He'd said that a while back but today was the first time Jin had seen it.

The kid had been vicious in ending the fight, not very All Might like but that didn't matter. He had gotten them all to relative safety in the air and then killed the clones. And he hadn't made any mistakes. Even fighting, when a Dabi clone had almost hit him with fire, the kid hadn't hesitated. He'd shown no hesitation in taking out the clone, and when he'd moved, later, there hadn't been a single doubt.

Dragon could tell which of his copies were the clones, and-

Jin pushed that thought aside. It was easy enough with what he was seeing.

Dragon had transformed, using quirks that he'd gotten the other day and then he had begun to fight the huge man. The amount of presence the two of them were putting out was ridiculous. They were…

It had been explained to him that force of presence largely came down to your sense of purpose and how deeply you felt that purpose. It was a measure of how much you wanted something. If that was the case, then the two combatants really wanted this battle.

The others were awed. Jin was equally awed but he was afraid.

He'd been with several villain groups before. He knew his quirk made him a good addition and he'd never really thought much beyond the jobs they'd done. With this group it was different. He wanted to stay. Himiko treated him well. Mr Compress gave his opinions the same weight as he gave everyone else's. Dabi didn't get frustrated with his speech and Whisper treated him the exact same way as she did everyone. She was just quietly polite to them all.

And Dragon… He wasn't pushing for him to use his quirk and he seemed to understand his problem. He hadn't said anything about it. He'd just shown him a solution. Just shown him that he was the orig-

He wanted to stay.

But unlike every other group he'd ever been with, Jin couldn't honestly say he was good enough.

His quirk was powerful but… was it enough? Dragon had a powerful quirk already. Several powerful quirks!

He had followers with powerful quirks. The huge man had made it very clear that he'd follow Dragon. Himiko would too… And Himiko was another reason he wanted to stay. Dragon obviously cared about his followers. Himiko had been injured and…

Jin couldn't remember another boss who'd have done the same. Himiko had been injured and Dragon had destroyed the group that had injured her. And when he'd found Yakuni there… If Dragon had any leanings towards mercy for the Shie Hassaikai, they had disappeared then. It wasn't just that. There were leaders who would attack those who injured their followers. They had to, if they wanted to be taken seriously but once that attack was over, the follower, if in Himiko's position, would be abandoned.

Dragon hadn't done anything of the sort. He'd actually exerted himself on Himiko's behalf to get her a new quirk. Jin was sure that other leaders, even if they could, wouldn't do that.

But more than that, Dragon learned from his mistakes. Himiko's quirk was lost, so he made sure that even if the same thing happened to one of them, it would only be temporary. Every other leader Jin had been with would assume that since they'd destroyed the source of the quirk erasing bullets, then it wasn't a risk. Dragon didn't assume that.

Dragon was… Darn it, why did he have to be so good?

He was… He wasn't perfect. Jin knew that but he was good… for a villain. With the skills he had, and the power he had… he was going to be one of the rulers of the underworld, if not the ruler, given the gap left by his father's incarceration.

So, how could he serve that? Was he good enough for Dragon? Was he good enough to be there with one of the rulers?

Jin worried at his lip beneath his mask as he watched Dragon fight the large man. They appeared equally matched, though… The man was familiar with his skills and this, as far as Jin knew, was the first time Dragon had fought in this shape… He would improve.

Which just highlighted his power.

So how did he serve someone like that…

Something someone had told him a long time ago came to him. It was about quirks but it applied now. A good quirk will get you so far, but skill will get you further, they'd said. Who had said it? Jin couldn't remember and really, it didn't matter. It was true.

No matter how powerful the quirk, someone more skilled could do better… And in this case, it was his answer. If he didn't think he was good enough to serve Dragon, then there were two choices. He could either leave, or he could get better.

Under his mask, Jin smiled.

The answer was actually easy. Dragon had faith in him, so he had to have faith in Dragon and… If the teen could tell he was the original then that was the first thing he'd believe.

And then, until he felt that he'd earned his place with Dragon, he'd get better. That was fair. That was right. Which meant he'd start now…

"Dabi, Mr Compress, give me your hands," Twice demanded, holding out his.

They were meant to be part of this fight.

As the two of them grabbed his hands, Twice promised himself, he'd make sure they put in a good showing.

-ted-

Two different looks at Dragon. Both with respect but one with more regret and one with doubts. I know a lot of the villains proclaimed they'd be big but how many of them would be ready to make it big? Not many. Doubts are normal. And in this case, well, Izuku would understand, does understand Twice's concerns but won't just come out and say it. Jin has to figure it out for himself. As for Dabi... he's finally realised he has stumbled across the best ally he could ever hope for in his quest.

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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