I guess I should have explained this sooner. A recent review reminded me that I didn't explain this. Skills such as Lying which will say it has a 1% chance of working, does not mean him just lying to someone will fail at 99%. It simply means if he uses the skill by itself, he can cause a lie absolutely no one will believe to become believable. If he doesn't use the skill, he simply relies on his own personal skill at the trait.
I hope this clears things up. Sorry for not explaining sooner.
Chapter 20 - Quests
Quests can be obtained from people and objects you find around the multiverse. There are many types of quests and each is a unique journey that will take you on its own adventure. To gain a quest from a person, you might need to gain their friendship or just talk to them. Objects can be harder as you will need to use Observe on them.
Note on page -
Quests are super hard to find, unless your life is a series of unfortunate events. You being you should be more than enough to gain quite a few of them. Complete as many as you can, the rewards are actually pretty nice.
—
"Goodnight Uraraka."
"Night Kendo." They hugged and parted, leaving him to say goodbye next.
She turned slightly stiff as he hugged her, which she returned lightly. "Night Uraraka."
"Ochaco." Her voice was super quiet.
He pulled away slightly, "What?"
She wouldn't look him in the eye. "Call me by my first name. Please?"
'Huh. Color me surprised."
"Uh, sure. Ochaco." He gave her a reassuring smile. "See you tomorrow?"
She returned the smile and nodded, "You betcha."
She had a brilliant smile on her face as she turned around and walked through her front door. His sense of spatial awareness alerted him to quick movement as he walked away and Kendo was looking at Uraraka.
'The hell is going on?'
'Girl shit."
He sighed, 'Really wish you could help with this stuff.'
'No dice kid. I might sound and act like a female, but I'm you.'
He sighed again and stretched his non-aching neck. "You ready?"
"Yep."
The walk back to the station was silent at the start until Kendo told him something that he wasn't prepared for. "You know she likes you, don't you?"
He paused for a second but kept walking. "Maybe?"
"Well why don't you ask her out?" She started walking backward and looking at his face.
"I don't know if it would be right."
She did a 180 and walked by his side. "What do you mean?"
"I feel like my life is going to be filled with hardships and danger. Should I really subject someone to that?"
She let out a small hum. "Probably not, but if it was going to be anyone, why not a hero?"
'She has a point. An ordinary person wouldn't be able to keep up, and if you plan on being number one, you can't guarantee their safety. They'll need to be able to protect themselves.'
Answering both, "You're right."
"So what's stopping you?"
He shrugged, "I guess I don't want to fail."
"Can't fail something you never tried."
He raised an eyebrow at her, "When did you become a monk?"
She smiled, "Not a monk, I'm just smarter than you."
"Okay smart ass." Both of their bracelets went red and displayed an arrow pointing west northwest. He looked at her and saw fright, he had told her about the missing heroes a couple of days ago. "Kendo call the cops and tell them to go to Tobu's place." He had forced her to learn the addresses of the other students, she ended up becoming his impromptu secretary.
She nodded and pulled out her phone. "Hurry Izuku."
He nodded and took off full sprint and buffs.
—
"Lightning God's Speed."
He ran straight for the massive villain, lightning arcing off him and snapping at the air. The villain raised its hand, and started to use its quirk, he didn't let it. He pushed his muscles even more and practically teleported behind the head of the villain. "Back off her!" He channeled his quirk into his fist and punched, unleashing about 250,000 volts.
The villain let out a roar and spun with unnatural speed. He managed to barely lean out of the way, and return with a punch to its face. Every second he spent in this mode, he built up electricity. It increased his speed drastically, but it tore apart his muscles and slowly fried his mind. The only way to get rid of it? Let it unleash and channel into his enemies.
It let out another roar and tried to smack him away like a fly. Back flipping off, he landed on his feet and dashed between its legs. With a yell, he smashed his hand into the back of it's knee. He felt the electricity leave his body, relieving his muscles and heart slightly. The villain's knee buckled allowing him to jump and deliver a haymaker into the neck. It's skin felt like rock, he could tell his hands were getting messed up by it.
It let out another strained roar and he was forced to dodge spears of rock jutting from the ground. One managed to catch him as he landed and pierced his right side. Rolling on to his feet, he dashed up the spears and smashed his knee into its head. "Go to sleep!" He channeled every bit of electricity he had built up at that moment, his vision going white as it went off.
It let out another roar and exploded in fire. He was thrown back and smacked into a nearby building. His body was radiating in pain, but he knew he couldn't stop. As it started standing back up, he dashed in and smashed his bloodied fist into the thing's thigh.
The hit only seemed to make it angrier as it let out a roar and attacked him with more spears of rock. He wasn't as lucky as the first time. A spear managed to pierce his arm and tore a hole in his muscle. He bit back the pain and dashed a bit away. He hurt, everywhere. He couldn't keep this up for long. He glanced down at the bracelet, it was still giving off an intense red
"Come get me!" The ogre of a person turned to him and started walking, the street breaking under its feet. He saw water start building up around it and couldn't help but smirk. 'Your loss.'
While pure water wasn't an amazing conductor of electricity, he figured out way before UA, that he could cause his quirk to only affect the impurities. As it roared, it tried hammering him with a torrent of water. With his super move still active, he was easily able to jump to the side. Holding out his hands, he ended it. "Cascading Discharge!" Relief washed over his body as every ounce of electricity left his body.
The giant didn't make a sound as it stilled, seemingly stunned.
He let out a breath and slumped onto his knees. 'Hehe. I need to work on large opponents.' He was losing blood at a steady rate and combined with the electricity, he was seeing double. 'Tobu.' Forcing himself to his feet, he dragged himself over to where she was thrown into a building. "Tobu? Where are you?"
A bit of rubble moved. "I'll help." Using his good hand to push away a couple of rocks. It took a few seconds, but they were able to free her. Her arm was broken, her head was bleeding, and she had a rock stuck in her stomach. He smiled, "You look like shit."
She glared at him and then smiled. "I could say the same about you. Is it down?"
He nodded, "I managed to stun it. We should hurry."
Helping each other, they shambled back toward the station, safety.
A voice in English resonated out of thin air. He didn't understand a word of it, but whatever it said was combined with a bright white light. The villain started twitching and looked straight at them with a roar.
"Tobu, you need to run. I'll try to stun it again." He pushed off her, stumbling as he swayed on his feet.
She glared at him. "No."
He turned away from her. He didn't want to show her the fear that he knew was on his face. "Just go!"
"No." The villain started running at them, the ground shaking with every step.
As it got closer, he let his adrenaline take over. "Indiscriminate Discharge 1.3 Million Volts!"
He heard the villain let out a yowl. The girl behind him also let out a yell which was cut short before she went silent. He had no doubt the shock was freezing her body up and probably knocked her out. The electricity cut out a second later and he fell to the ground, his head feeling empty. He was already close to his limit before using this attack, he'd probably be out for a few hours now. 'I hope this bracelet worked.' He blacked out, his only solace, the villain was frozen again.
—
He was currently riding a boulder, flying toward the bright white light he saw a second ago. A vigilante, who he'd never met before, was running away from the fight. Something about the villain being too strong. What saved him time though, was that the vigilante, named Rockslide, had felt extremely bad not being able to help the kids. It took a few seconds of convincing but he got his ride.
'Faster! I can see the villain, it's only a few steps away from them!'
"[Momentum Bomb]." The boulder's smooth arch through the air quickly picked up speed and forced him to hold on tighter. As he got closer, a bright light slammed into the giant and it started moving again.
'It sees us!'
"Ignition!" At the beginning of the trip, he had used a fire snake to form the runes necessary to ignite the boulder with a keyword. He had no doubt this was one hell of a view, but he was too close to appreciate the beauty singing his face.
'Okay kid, jump in 3, 2…. 1!' He let go of the boulder, giving it a massive shove with One for All.
The villain held up both hands and Izuku watched water fly up and attempt to both slow and stop the boulder. Channeling his aura, he turned up the heat and evaporated the water. He ended it as soon as the boulder hit.
The boulder, which had barely slowed, slammed into the being and sent it flying backward into the side of the building. 'We have to get them and run for it. While I would love to fight, I don't see the point if we'd get in trouble.'
He made his way over to his classmates and hefted both into his arms. Denki's HP, Mana, and Stamina were all in the red. Tobu's Stamina was still good but her HP and Mana were dangerously low. Both were messed up something fierce and he could tell they fought tooth and nail.
He heard a massive amount of rubble start to move and before it could even stand up fully, it was slammed back down by a woman with bunny ears. "Get the hell out of here kid! This is no place for you!"
He didn't need to be told twice, he started running toward sounds of sirens off in the distance.
He peeked behind him to watch, who he guessed was Usagiyama Rumi, smash the villain's head in. The pressure and shock wave of every attack after the first rippled the air and buried the villain even further.
'Can we fight her?'
He nearly tripped over himself. 'Are you stupid? She smashed that thing to bits with a single kick. She'd pulverize us.'
'Can't we at least try?'
'No.'
'Please?'
'No.'
She let out an annoyed huff and started to play music.
—
"How are you? Is everyone okay?", his call right after Kirishima was from Nezu. His principal was the first person he gave a bracelet to. The mouse had sent every available teacher to make their way to him, and strong armed Izuku into not fighting himself.
"Yes sir. Kendo made her way back to Uraraka and is staying with her for the night. Denki is unconscious, I'm currently waiting for my spell to finish before healing him again. Tobu is asleep but communicating perfectly fine. She's slowly recovering, and currently talking with the police."
His principal let out a relieved sigh, "That's good, that's good."
"Sir?"
"Yes Midoriya?"
"These two almost died defending themselves. I think it's time to warn the public.
The principal didn't answer. "Were you able to get any useful information?"
He let out a sigh, "Unfortunately no. It went out of range with my initial attack and it didn't get any closer as I ran away."
"Can you inspect the body for information? I have no doubt Ms. Usagiyama will have no problem with taking down the enemy."
"I'll try sir. I don't promise anything, but I will try."
"Call me back the instant you learn anything. Thank you Midoriya,"
"No problem sir." Click.
"[Medic's Respite, Emergency Aid]." As both spells worked their magic, he turned to a nearby EMT and bowed. "He'll be fine in a few minutes. Please keep an eye on him." The man just nodded and continued working.
Jumping off the back of the ambulance, he made his way over to the pot marked battlefield. A single civilian had gotten injured during the altercation, but he accepted that it was his own fault. He had gone to investigate the commotion and instead of running away, had stood at his window and watched. Only to end up getting hit in the head by rubble flying through the window.
"Izuku!" Turning he caught Aki soaring through the air at him.
[Skill Check Passed!]
He set her down and gave her a hug, "Hey Aki." He had contacted her while he was healing and told her thank you for the bracelets.
She puffed up her chest and looked proud of herself. "Am I good or what? They worked perfectly!"
He smiled, "You're amazing Aki. What are you even doing here?"
She smiled, "There's someone I want to see."
He shrugged, "Alright, also I'll take you to dinner sometime later."
Her smile became wicked, "Prepare your wallet!"
Letting out a strained laugh and scratching the back of his, he remembered the last time they went to eat. They had gone to a buffet at the heed of her father and the small girl had nearly eaten her body weight in food. Gamer's Body prevented them from gaining weight, and they didn't need to eat at all, but she liked to.
"I'll be sure to find a different buffet." They had gotten kicked out of the last one.
She spun to the direction of the fight and walked with him toward the hero, who was standing on top of the villain waiting for it to move. Aki lit up upon seeing the woman and began to run straight at her, fully buffed.
"Auntie!" Usagiyama, caught off guard, was smashed into and laid flat against the ground with the small girl pinning her down. "I've missed you!"
"You little shit! I'm working!"
The cursing and anger didn't seem to penetrate Aki's thick head. "You know you missed me so shush. Also are you telling me you didn't bring it down permanently?"
The woman glared at Aki before breaking out into a smile and grabbing the girl into a hug. "How are you doing squirt? I'm sorry about your mom, I tried to force her to take me with her."
Aki shook her head. "Can we not talk about that?"
The hero gave a sad smile but nodded. "Sure kid." She stood up with Aki clung to her side. Upon seeing him, she squinted at him in confusion. "Who are you?"
"I'm-"
Aki let go and got in front of her. "His name is Midoriya, he's mom's successor!"
Rumi's ears went ramrod straight at that and she looked at him in surprise before it turned sinister. "You in school?"
He nodded, "Yes Ma;am."
"UA?" Again he nodded.
"You got a work study picked out?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Who?"
"Sir Nighteye."
The woman let out an annoyed hiss. "Just had to be him." She looked back at him and folded her arms. "What are you two doing here anyway?"
He walked over to the body and used [Observe]. "I was asked to inspect the body and see what I can find."
"I'm here because I heard you were here!"
Rumi flicked her forehead and walked over to Izuku, "So what you got?"
[Ikehara Isamu (Morphed)
Level: 29
Quirk: Pain Distribution
(Not gonna bother with stats.)
Conditions: Morphed, Unconscious]
He looked at Rumi and asked, "Do you know the name Ikehara Isamu?" She shook her head after a second thinking and Aki pulled her into a conversation.
He took out his phone and let the two ladies catch up. "Hello?"
"I've inspected the body. The villain's name is Ikehara Isamu, his quirk is pain distribution, but looking at the battlefield. I have no clue. It looks like Pixie got into a fight with a water hero."
"Hmm. We'll have to see. Anything else?"
"His stats say he was 'morphed' I have no idea what that means though."
"Please let the police know once they debrief you. Mr. Aizawa will be there in about 3 minutes to escort you." After a brief pause he added, "He's not in a great mood from what I can tell so please keep the others under control."
He chuckled slightly, "I'll try sir. Have a nice night."
"Have a nice night Midoriya." Click
He turned back to the two and watched them interact. Rumi was acting like a gentle giant interacting with a squirrel. While the woman wasn't tall, hell, he was taller than her, she was giant compared to the small girl. In both presence and body.
"I heard you beat up a drug ring!"
Rumi put her arm up and flexed, "A couple actually put up a good fight too."
"Did they have any cool quirks?" She was bouncing as she talked.
"Only one, the others just had mutations. Their leader had this really neat quirk that allowed him to attack with air."
"Like the guy you and mom fought?"
Rumi shook her head, "This one was a lot weaker. That one could level a town."
"Did you find a boyfriend yet?"
Rumi grabbed Aki into a headlock and started to scrap her knuckles on the girl's head. "You little shit, I told you to stop asking me that!"
"Stop, stop!"
Rumi stopped, but only to literally boot her across the street into a bush. She looked at him, "What did the mouse say?"
He smiled, "To inform the police and keep everyone from annoying Mr. Aizawa."
The older woman snorted, "Fat chance. The lazy bastard is annoyed with everything."
Aki soared back, latching onto her neck and just hung there. "Auntie, can I spend the night with you?"
"Eh? Don't you have school?"
Aki raised an eyebrow, "And?"
Rumi smiled, "Sure kid, tell your dad." Aki jumped off and started to text her father. "So, Midoriya is it?" He nodded. "Do you know who killed Kat?"
He saw the rage in her eyes. "No ma'am. I didn't know she even existed until she died. She wiped my memory of meeting her when I was little."
Her expression softened, "That idiot." She let out a sigh and stretched, her toned muscles on full display in her hero outfit.
Misaki whistled, 'Bun gots some buns.'
'Oh shut it.'
"Dad said yes as long as you bring me back tomorrow." The older lady waved away the concern and began to walk back toward the area the police set up.
"Let me deal with the police and we'll go." Both of them followed her, until he saw Denki moving around. He gave Aki a hug, said his goodbyes, and joined his classmate.
"So Kaminari, I heard you and Tobu were kind of badasses."
His classmate smiled, "How is Tobu?"
"Talking to the police, Mr. Aizawa is on his way right now. We're heading toward the police station after that and then we go home."
Denki laid his head back groaned, "I really wanted to sleep too."
"Well you're out of luck. Are you able to walk?" Aizawa appeared from around the ambulance with Tobu in tow, who was now awake.
Kaminari shot out of bed and stammered a yes, before throwing his shoes on. His clothes had been incinerated, and he was wearing scrubs.
"Midoriya."
"Yes sir?"
"Good work, you kept yourself out of trouble. Tobu, Kaminari, I'm sorry you had to deal with this."
"It's okay sir. There's no way you knew it would actually happen.", she finished with a yawn.
As he got his last shoe on, Denki answered the teacher. "Yeah. You did everything you could to prepare us for something like this."
Aizawa grumbled something unintelligible and began to walk away. "Come on let's get this over with."
—
The next day
—
The police station had gone as well as it could have. Lots of questions and lots of paperwork. Denki and Tobu had apparently fallen asleep after questioning and were woken up by an annoyed Aizawa, who looked even more tired.
He was currently sitting at his desk, going through the random paperwork Aizawa had given him. 'This all looks like stuff a teacher should be going over.'
'Maybe he's just lazy?'
He hummed, 'I don't know. Maybe he wants my input?'
The first thing on this list was about the sports festival and how the first year events will be chosen. The list of options was short and some didn't make much sense. If it was too random, he doubted, even with how strong the teachers were, they could prepare for any of the events. If you made it to uninspired, then it would be a rinse and repeat from last year.
He had watched every single festival at home since he was little. Every student and event had inspired him even more. Maybe they could just go for a roulette of six things? Seven?
'Go for seven.'
He marked the paper with a check mark next to seven and flipped to the next paper. This was on the events themselves. It contained a list of all events from the past years and ideas for new ones. Straight up fighting was normally left to the last rounds, as people could actually get injured. That left things like relay races, scavenger hunts, and tag.
'Tag would be fun.'
'That wouldn't be really easy to implement though.'
'Come back to it then.'
He set this one to the side and looked at the next. "Summer Camp?" He couldn't help the smile that came over his face. The Pussycat's mountain home was more than sufficient and was a closely guarded secret of UA staff. Apparently besides him, all the other students had been sent in circles before making their way there.
'You think we could find a secluded part of the forest and have som-'
'Shut up!' He read the rest of the paper. They wanted ideas on how to train the actual quirks of each class. He'd probably just give Aizawa the written down book from his archive, he had been thinking about this since training started. He flipped over the page and went to the next.
"Midoriya!"
He looked up to see Iida enter, with Momo in tow. "Hey you two, what's up?"
"How are Kaminari and Tobu?"
He leaned back in the chair and threw the pen on the table. "Fine. Both are actually in pretty high spirits, all things considered."
"Did the police figure anything out?", Momo sat down in her seat after stealing some paper from his desk.
"I don't know. They have the guy in custody, but I don't think he was in charge of anything."
Iida let out a small huff, "I was hoping for better news. Checking every corner and alley was getting rather tedious." He heard Momo silently start to snicker. "What are you doing right now anyway?"
Izuku shrugged, "Mr. Aizawa gave me a bunch of papers and told me to go through them. What paper do you have Momo?"
"It's about the work studies. You have a work study already don't you?"
He looked at his next paper and answered her. "Apparently Sir Nighteye requested me after Togata told him about me."
She leaned forward with her head in her palms. "I wonder if I'll get any offers."
"If you'd like, my brother would be more than happy to offer several students a chance."
She let out a hum. "Ill see if anyone sends an offer, I appreciate it though."
Iida waved away the apology, "Mind if I help Midoriya?" He didn't answer and just handed him a piece of paper.
'Why the hell is he asking me about possible super moves?'
'See I told you he was lazy!'
"You do realize this asks about 'what ifs' in the event of us getting attacked again."
Izuku leaned back and groaned. "I don't know what he wants me to answer with. If we did get attacked again, it would probably be best if this place just had dorms. All the students, stuck on campus and unable to leave without an escort."
Momo let out her own groan, "Please don't let that happen. I tried staying in a dorm once for elementary and it was so small."
Iida handed him the paper back and grabbed another after writing his answer. "Why not just ask Cementoss to make your room slightly larger? I'm sure he would be more than happy to oblige."
Izuku put that paper with the done pile and put the super move paper into the WTH pile. Grabbing the next paper he was relieved to see it was just about possible field trips that their safety could be secured on.
"If it happens, I'll have to ask. Midoriya?"
"Yeah?" Iida grabbed the last paper.
"He wants to know what you think about certain work studies."
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Wouldn't he know more about that than I would?" Momo shrugged. "Say to just go based on previous work studies. Previous safety records and learning rates, maybe some other stuff."
Iida had just finished the paper he was reading. "Any idea what he means by licenses? He cant mean actual hero licenses, right?"
Izuku grabbed the paper from his open hand and read through it. 'That crazy son of a-'
'Yes!'
He looked up at Iida and grinned. "He does." Both Iida and Momo had shocked looks on their faces.
The door slammed open, revealing a bundled up Aizawa. "Did you manage to get any of the paperwork done?" The three students looked at him with smiles, causing the man to narrow his eyes at them. "Whatever it is, no."
Momo handed him the paper, as he gathered up the small stack of papers. "I answered what I could, and as for the training idea, I'll give you a notebook toward the end of the day."
Aizawa took the papers, leafed through them and left without a word. "We should keep this to ourselves. We don't want to make the others feel pressured."
—
The Morning Before
—
"Mr. and Mrs. Sero, I'd like to once again give my apologies for not being able to protect your son." Aizawa bowed to the parents.
"And I'd like to apologize for not being able to help him before now." Midoriya bowed with his teacher.
"It-it's okay. I'm sorry for how I yelled at you the last time we met." The woman bowed to his teacher.
Everyone stood straight as Hanta came walking down stairs. The first thing his eyes were drawn to was the limp sleeve. He had tried to heal at USJ after his talk with Nezu, but a normal person's body wasn't able to regrow limbs. They could have reattached it, if the arm wasn't mangled and destroyed by the process of removal. It also didn't help that when All Might had gone berserk against the Nomu, he accidentally dropped part of the glacier on it. The spell didn't accept the ruined flesh and shattered bones.
"Mr. Aizawa! Midoriya! What are you two doing here?" He ran over to them, giving him a fist bump and a bow to Mr. Aizawa.
"Hanta, I'm actually here with two others you don't know. This is Mr. Maijima, he's a teacher in our support classes and this is his apprentice, Hatsume." Bows were exchanged.
"Hi kid. After what happened, the principal asked me to make something for you. Think of it as an apology gift. Hatsume?"
The pinkette pulled out a box from behind her back and smiled when she handed it to him. "You take care of my baby, you hear?"
Hanta raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Uh sure."
Izuku nudged him, "Go on, we didn't spend forever making it for it to be in a box."
Power Loader smirked, "I suppose you could leave it in there, be really weird though."
Hatsume pointed at Hanta and gave him a half hearted glare. "My babies don't belong in boxes either, so get to it!"
Hanta took a step back, "Alright, alright. Sheesh." Setting down the box, he pulled the ribbon and opened the top. Izuku saw the moment his thoughts processed. A large smile went across his face as he pulled out the arm. "This looks sick! I was wondering why I had to get this metal ring. Midoriya, a little help?"
"Sure." He pulled the sleeve up and exposed the metal ring that had been grafted to the wound. According to Hatsume, the ring was the work of I-island and wasn't even available for purchase. She had apparently tried to sneak a peek at the working of the ring but was caught by both Power Loader and Aizawa. It didn't end well for her.
Clicking the arm into place, the black and grey lines making up the artwork lit up. They were giving off a dark glow that looked rather menacing. He flexed his new arm, the appendage responded with the impulses of his nervous system. "This feels great!" He flexed both of his arms, "I feel like I can lift a car."
'Probably could if you tried really hard.' Misaki's dry humor made him smirk.
"Besides the mechanical muscles under the hardware, your friend there." Power Loader pointed at him, "Did some really weird stuff to it."
When Hanta looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he explained. "You know the runes I draw on myself?"
"Yeah. You drew one on my piece of tape before and blew it up on my face." Hanta's eye twitched.
Izuku smiled, "That's them! I used my runes to empower it with my quirk. It won't ever run out like my normal ones."
Hanta grinned, "This is awesome!" He looked at Hatsume, "What can it do?"
'Uh oh.' Hatsume's eyes lit up and he could see the imaginary flames coming off her. At his question, she began to list off all the features of the arm. He was pulled out into the street by the girl and led through drills on how to use his new appendage.
"Did you decide on a school?" Izuku turned to Aizawa.
Mr. Sero answered him, "Ketsubutsu. He begins this week."
Aizawa's face twitched, "It's a good school. He'll do well there."
The meeting ended an hour later when they were chatting with Hanta's parents. Hatsume had run Sero ragged with drills, but he had a massive grin on his face. He bowed to them, "Thank you all so much for this. Mr. Aizawa, I'm sorry I won't be in your class from now on, but I swear I'm going to push myself harder than ever."
Aizawa actually smiled, "I expect to see you in two years when you face off against your former classmates, got it?"
Hanta stood straight and smiled, "I promise to take them down." He looked at Izuku with a lopsided grin, "Well at least most of them."
Returning the smile and waved away the declaration. "Don't be so sure of yourself, Ketsubutsu scum, I've been having my classmates trained to their breaking point."
"Two years is a long time Midoriya, be sure they keep it up!"
—
The Next Week
—
'Wait. Is it actually today?'
'How would I know? You don't know!'
He threw off his dirty clothes and put on a clean outfit. He got a call midway and put it on speaker. It was Kendo.
"Hey! Where are you?"
He put on his socks. "I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Uh-huh. You went on a hunt, didn't you?" He didn't answer and finished as she let out a sigh. "Whatever. You got 10 minutes before we start."
"I know. I'll be there in four."
"Wait."
'Don't say it.'
"You forgot didn't you?"
"Got to go! I'm on my way!" He hung up and grabbed his bag.
'Smooth.'
—
Aizawa shrugged, "No."
"Then why are we using the arena?"
Another shrug, "All the teachers wanted to watch."
"Couldn't we have just used training grounds?"
Aizawa thumbed behind him toward Present Mic.
"Oh."
'Cheer up! You get to show off!'
"I'm not a show off though Misaki."
"Could have fooled me." Aizawa adjusted his scarf. "With the flashy spells you throw around and the way you act around people, you're probably the biggest show off I know."
'Did he just make fun of you?'
'I think he did.' She broke down.
"Get dressed. You got ten minutes before we start." He walked toward the rest of the teachers.
"You know. You're not going to lose right?"
He turned to Aki who was sitting in a chair next to him. "It's not about win or lose, it's about testing their progress."
She raised an eyebrow, "Do you honestly think any of your classmates see it like that?"
He sighed, "You're right."
She stretched and yawned, "Better get dressed. I'll be cheering for my three by the way. Cheering for you has become tiresome." She stood and began to walk away, "Good luck though."
He sighed, "Why me?"
'Because you're ridiculously strong, fast, and your quirks are just down right BS.'
He smirked and turned to face the woman, "Love you too Mandalay."
She didn't respond for a second and squinted at him when she saw his smirk, 'Very funny kid. I hope my girls kick your ass.' She sauntered out.
Misaki whistled, 'Look at that a-'
'Stop it!'
He felt the heat in his neck almost instantly. He hated when she did this to him. He turned to the changing room and started to change.
—
'He just checked me out. He just ch-', she slapped herself. 'He's a high school student, get a hold of yourself.' She walked to the stands and sat down with her teammates.
'He really caught me off guard there though. Since when did he joke around like that?' She thought back to all of his jokes before and all the times they talked. It had never been like that before. 'What changed?'
She watched a couple of the students from 1-B filter in. 'Why does it even matter? He obviously didn't mean it.' The nagging voice at the back of her head started to point out stuff to her though. 'He did check me out when I walked away though. He always locks eyes with me when we chat via quirk also.' That could probably be chalked up to her own quirk though.
She also had never sensed pink during their conversations. The first time she ever sensed it was just now. None of their previous conversations had indicated he was interested. What changed? Did it change? Could something like that even work out? What would people say? What would his mom say? How old is his mom? Would it be weird for him?
"Auntie?"
She jumped at the small hand that grabbed her leg. She turned to the owner and let out her held breath in a sigh, "Kota don't scare me like that."
"I've been saying your name for a whole minute." He pointed to his cheek, "I was wondering if you were okay? You're red in the cheeks and you're squeezing your leg really hard."
She smiled and fanned her face, "I'm fine Kota, I was just thinking. Don't worry about it." She let go of the death grip she had on her knee. "Are you excited for the fights?"
He shrugged, "The idiot better not lose after all the time he spent at our house."
She couldn't help but tease him. "Aww. Admit it, you've taken a liking to him."
"Do not! The idiot is a wannabe!"
"Such a potty mouth. What are you teaching this kid Mandalay?"
Both turned to see Power Loader and his apprentice sit down behind them. She gave a defeated shrug, "I think he learns it at school, and you're not one to talk, Higari." She crossed her arms,"I've heard you fight before, you cuss like a sailor."
He grinned, "At least I didn't start that until high school. At this rate the little one will start in a year or two." He rubbed Kota's hat.
She looked at her nephew. 'I should probably put a stop to it.'
"WELCOME! To the first ever Class 1-A battle royale!" She sweatdropped at his tone.
"He's acting like the seats are full."
Higari laughed, "Did you expect anything less from the nut job?"
"First, we will explain the rules of this battle royale! Go for it my sleepy friend!"
'He managed to drag Aizawa into the booth?'
"Every fight will be 3 minutes long, no more. If the challenger successfully lasts at least a minute, they're allowed to participate in the sports festival. Each challenger will be allowed to fight to their full potential, if they don't, then I'm sure they'll lose."
In the middle of the rules, All Might, in his skeleton form, had sat down next to Kota.
"There will be several rules for these fights and breaking them will be immediate expulsion. Rule #1, no lethal force. Rule #2, follow rule #1." She could sense the grin on his face. "Other than that, fight to your full potential, my students."
"WAHOO! Let's get this party started! First up we have Mr. Sato! The brawling boxing sugar induced monster of the battlefield!"
Sato stepped out off the side passage a minute later and waved to everyone with an embarrassed smile. She looked over at Tiger who positively radiated a fierce aura. He stood and yelled with his arms flexed, "You can do this Sato!"
Hizashi heard the shout, "That's the energy I want to hear! The only opponent all these students will have is the one, the only, the president of 1-A, the conqueror, the amazing, Midoriya Izuku!"
Lion walked out onto the field with a smile, and waved at everyone. When he glanced at her, she felt her heart skip a beat. 'God damn it! Focus on the fight!'
"Your referee for these fights will be none other than the scarily cool, Ectoplasm!"
"I expect a clean yet brutal fight from each of you. Bow."
They bowed and walked to their starting points.
"3.2.1. Fight!" Ecto jumped backward out of their way.
They just stood there for a second as Sato consumed a few packets of sugar. He was the first to attack, letting out a roar, and flew at Izuku.
Izuku met his charge, catching both fists and sending a knee at his stomach. Sato took the hit in stride and went for a skull bash. The attack caught Izuku off center and allowed Sato to free his fists. She had winced as the first attack landed, but cringed when Sato twisted Lion's hands and smashed them into his skull. The move allowed him to get into stance and start hammering away.
He really had taken to boxing like walking. Punch after punch, he never hit the same area and changed the direction of each punch at the last second. She looked at Tiger who was still standing, mimicking his student's moves.
She smiled and projected her thoughts to the other two members of her group. 'I'm glad he finally opened up again.'
Pixie smiled at her and started cheering alongside Tiger. RagDoll looked ready to cry at first but when Pixie stood, she followed suit.
"They're so weird." Kota was hiding himself and looking at them from around her.
She could only laugh as she turned back to the fight with a smile. Izuku was able to back pedal and free himself from the onslaught. A bright light appeared in his hand and he met the berserker's charging punch with his own. The shock wave from the two attacks meeting was heard, and saw, but not felt. They battled in a rapid succession of punches, which slowly morphed into a fight between boxers. Her Lion was clearly more skilled though and was getting 3 punches in for every hit Sato sent his way.
The fight ended when Sato took a punch to the gut and leaned a little too far forward. An uppercut later, and he was on the ground.
"And he's out for the count! Sato Rikido, 1 minute and 54 seconds!"
Everyone cheered for the boy as he was taken off stage by Akito. Her and Recovery Girl were the designated healers for today, and their nurse was not too happy about it.
"Next up we have the kid as fast as lightning, and smile just as bright, Denki Kaminari!"
—
"Kid. I told you to go all out."
He sighed, "Sir, I'm pretty sure if I did that only two students would pass."
"I never said you had to actually hit them, just make them work for it." Aizawa turned off his side of the radio.
"Fine."
—
She could immediately feel the change in the air. Everyone in the crowd went quiet as Izuku talked loud enough for everyone to hear, "Sorry Kaminari. I have orders to take it up a notch." He then used a spell.
'That's new.', She thought in surprise.
Higari whistled, "Damn. That kid is going to be scary." She couldn't help but smile at the words, he was that scary. Lion's body was covered in a veil of electricity that snapped at the wind, and gave off a hum of energy. She saw his opponent's smile falter and say something.
"Fight!"
Izuku jumped forward and slashed through the air with enough speed to displace the air. What she wasn't prepared for was Denki's reaction. He moved just as quickly, dodging the attack by the skin of his teeth.
She looked at Tiger, "The hell did you teach him?"
Tiger smirked and posed, "It was the kid's idea. He can only do it for a few seconds at a time and it destroys his muscles. He calls it Lightning God's Speed. His very first super move." She could see tears in his eyes.
Their fight had become one of speed and attrition as they matched blow for blow. Izuku was holding back though, she knew that a single serious hit from him would lay out the average hero.
The fight ended when Denki didn't block a jab, causing him to take a punch to the face, knocking him out. A massive bolt of electricity went off as Ecto called the fight and he was taken off the field. Everyone cheered for him and his performance was even good enough for Aizawa to give him a pass. Something about if the fight was slowed down it lasted two and half minutes. She watched Izuku buckle as the electricity died down and he pointed his right hand upward. A large amount of electrical discharge went off in the sky. He seemed to let out a breath and stood back up, ready to fight.
"Kyoka Jiro! Please bring your rockin' personality to the field!"
"Okay. This is a setup. I thought the fights were supposed to be random?"
Small Might answered her. "It was and is. They drew names from a hat, and all but one of Tiger's students had been picked together."
"Talk about chance."
"Begin!"
Izuku began the fight with his fire portals, caging her in, and charged into melee with the girl. 'Aww, he's so sweet.' He was giving her a fighting chance to prove herself, instead of just blasting her away.
Kyoka had taken to mixed martial arts with some hesitation. Most of it disappeared when she got her support item from the man behind her.
Higari must have read her thoughts. "Mei. Look at the fight."
After a brief second, "My babies!"
'She's quite the character.'
Kyoka had attached one ear jack into her glove and another in her boot. Each strike she sent at Izuku resonated with a deep vibration. When a strike almost hit him, he jumped back and cast his screaming spell. Kyoka matched the pitch and sent a blast of sound back at him. This was where you could tell the difference between their powers. Kyoka's quirk was a muscle that could grow strong with every use, while Izuku's plateaued until leveled.
The girl's was also based on her heartbeat, so as long as it kept beating she could fight. Izuku's was timed and required a cool down. He was thrown back as his attack ended and used his midair jump to gain a bit of distance. He commanded the portals to circle closer and started sending out a multitude of spells that littered the area.
A loud pitch screech resonating from Kyoka before all the projectiles froze midair and dropped. Izuku looked surprised for a second but charged back into her guard. She prepared to block, but fell for the feign and took a single punch to the sternum. That spelled the end of fight as she crumpled and caught by the throat.
Ecto called the fight. "And that's the end of the fight! Midoriya stands victorious and Jiro proves her mettle!"
Izuku had let her down and rubbed her back as she coughed to get air back into her lungs. Hale came out and started casting on the girl, the change in her condition was almost immediate. She was escorted up to the stands with Denki and Sato, who congratulated her as Aizawa announced she passed.
"Tiger what was that?", asked RagDoll.
He rubbed his chin. "I honestly don't know. Maybe she figured something out?"
"Kendo Itsuka! The girl with a personality as fierce as her fist!"
Izuku's first student. She had watched them fight before, and was expecting blood to spill. "Kota, you might want to look away." The girl walked out of the gate into the field without waving or smiling. Her eyes were trained on him, like two predators coming face to face.
When start was called, there were no words exchanged and no doubt in their eyes, they charged at each other. The first strike came from the faster Midoriya, and was dodged. The counter that came from her was caught, but still managed to hit when she expanded her hand. Izuku must have sensed something she couldn't, because the next thing that happened was that he yanked her hard into his face. She flinched as she watched. The hit sent Kendo recoiling, leaving Izuku a second to prepare.
Fire curled around his fingertips, condensing into makeshift gauntlets. Kendo reciprocating by putting on her own gloves.
She picked up Kota and put him on her lap, much to his anger. She didn't want him to see them beat each other to a bloody pulp, so she covered his eyes.
The fight that happened, was a bloody spectacle of fists, fire, and martial skill. Every punch was either blocked or dodged, and met with an equally powerful attack. A couple of Kendo's fingers were broken and she saw Izuku pull his own fingers and arms back into place. The fight only ended when Ectoplasm called time. While Izuku didn't go completely all out, he did use his super strength multiple times throughout the fight.
When they pushed away from each other, Izuku was as ever left without any bruises. Kendo however looked like she was used as a punching bag by Endeavor. Her arms and hands were covered in bruises and singed patches. Her face only took the one attack from the start.
The first person to cheer was Midnight, and with that people joined in a minute later. Kendo seemed to have forgotten the crowd and looked at the ground, refusing to look up when she heard the clapping.
'I guess that was a little bloody for most people.'
Aki had run out and healed both of them on the spot since she didn't need to carry anyone. She told Izuku something and she could see Kendo laugh in response. When Aki ran off the field, Kendo joined the crowd, her bruises and burns slowly started to fade.
"Next up! We have the girl that with a single touch will send you flying, Uraraka Ochaco!"
She flew to her feet with a cheer, throwing Kota off her lap. The girl had improved remarkably over the last month. During the last week, their hero duties began to dwindle so they had a lot more time on their hands to help out. The students weren't too thrilled about it, but it allowed them to dedicate more time to them. For her girls, that meant a lot of hand to hand combat practice, and a lot of getting beat up by her own two paws.
When she sat back down, Kota was giving her a glare. In return she gave him a strained smile, "Sorry Kota. I got a little excited."
He made a noise and turned back to the arena.
'You can do this girl! I believe in you!' Uraraka scanned the crowd and waved when she saw her.
"Fight!"
Her student attacked first, throwing a support item that Hatsume had made for her. It probably wouldn't work against Lion, but who knew? The small disks soared through the air quickly enough to avoid a spell aimed for them. When they hit, little claws protruded out and dug into his uniform.
Dodging both spells, and she put her fingers together. Izuku was forced to a knee from the massive amount of weight that was now on him. The discs themselves weren't heavy, but whatever tech Hatsume had put in them made each weight 250 kg.
The girl seeing her chance, ran for him, but was forced to dodge spells again. While none of them connected, she was thrown to the ground by some unseen force. Whatever he did, forced Izuku even further to the ground. Her student wasn't done yet as she used her quirk on herself and Mandalay saw her face go slightly green.
'We'll need to work on that during training camp.'
With her quirk activated, the invisible force lost all control over her, and she began to float. Izuku used a spell straight at the ground and launched himself in the air. The wind force from the spell launched Uraraka straight into the air after Izuku and for a second she got worried. Then she remembered who the girl was fighting and Izuku threw her back at the ground.
She kept her quirk up just long enough to land safely and canceled it. Her green queasy look was still present, yet she still kept fighting. Spell after spell and a charge here or there, while a few did hit and threw the girl to the ground. She kept getting back up until Izuku used something she had never seen before.
Fire rolled off his hands and body solidifying into a liquid form. The fire rolled across the ground and engulfed Uraraka. For a brief second she disappeared, and before Ecto could call it, she was flying at Izuku. Her uniform was burned badly, and she looked tired and queasy.
As the attack had no power behind it, Izuku caught her easily. She ended her quirk and the match was called. He said something to her, but the noise of the crowd and distance obscured it. Uraraka went red in the cheeks but had a smile. Hale came out to heal both of them.
"Mandalay? Who is that girl anyway?"
She turned to Higari and shrugged, 'All I know really is that she's a friend of Midoriya and was one of his first teachers.'
He nodded, "She's a potent healer, can she fight?"
'Yes, but she's heavily ranged and can't go into melee very well.' Orange began to permeate off him, Curiosity.
"Next up, we have the kid who could probably fly if he has wings, Iida Tenya!"
Iida was stiff as a board when he came out on stage. His normally fluid, but robotic motions turned mechanical. They exchanged bows and immediately attacked when start was called.
Izuku's normal style of fighting wasn't sufficient in this fast paced kicking frenzy and he was forced to jump into the air. He used his fastest spells, trying to zap Iida and only managed to graze him a few times. Then Iida's training came to fruition. When one of the spells broke the cement and gave a little bit of rubble, he ran off it, jumping stone to stone.
Izuku caught the hit, and threw him straight at the ground. Akito must have been a damned good teacher, because the instant he started falling his engines went blue. He took off straight into the air and slammed straight into the surprised Izuku. Iida, with his huge burst over with, started falling back to earth and landed into a roll. Lion was smiling as he started falling down toward the ground and when he hit, he disappeared. It was the same thing he did to Pixie during the exam.
Iida went on the defensive, but without his engines, he was an easy target. Appearing behind him, Lion caught the counter and threw Iida back into the air, jumping after him. The fight turned into a midair juggle/brawl. The larger student had quite a bit of experience now when it came to this type of stuff, but Izuku had a lot more time and power in the sky. The fight ended when Izuku grabbed his arm and the air around the two went white. Iida crashed to the ground and Izuku gently floated downward.
As the crowd began to applaud the fight, Akito ran out onto the field. She picked up her student and made a face at Izuku. It earned a few chuckles from the crowd who managed to see it.
"Yaoyorozu! Please come to the field!"
At that moment, she felt a huge amount of orange and yellow. Turning to the source she saw Kyou holding a doll by the throat, trying to squeeze the life out of it.
'She'll be fine Kyou. You trained her well.'
The former student gave her a half hearted glare, "You're not the one who had to deal with her PTSD."
Mandalay could only nod. The girl joined in the day after Izuku visited her. Her whole personality changed overnight, and when she had asked him what he did, all she got was 'it's not important.' The girl altogether seemed fine, unless she was under great duress or fighting way too hard. During a spar with Tobu, where the girl caused her usual death fake, Yaoyorozu had lost it and nearly shut down again. Tobu was banned from using the move during all spars from that point forward.
"Begin!"
The girl summoned two swords and charged Izuku. Her technique was beginner with them. Even Mandalay, who fought with claws, could see the flaws in her technique. Izuku matched her but instead of two swords used a spear and his bone sword. His own technique wasn't much better, but he could easily fight her off. Momo's greatest fighting attribute was her flexibility and her quirk's near instant ability to create more weapons.
When she was disarmed, she'd feign, smack Izuku with an open palm and create a new one. This went on for nearly a minute before Izuku's sword busted, creating a debris field of ivory dust and black energy. Momo jumped backward out of it, covered in cuts but kept on fighting. She created something not even Mandalay was expecting. A machine gun popped out of her stomach and she fired it straight at Izuku, her aim was spot on but Izuku didn't stand still.
Seemingly casting two spells at once, he fired off a storm of electricity and disappeared entirely. She stopped firing to create a shield of some sort, and absorbed the electricity. When the spell ended she looked around and was taken to the ground as Izuku materialized above her.
She must have reached her quirk's limit as she tapped out and the match was called. Izuku helped her up to the applause of the crowd and she bowed smiling brightly.
'She's more confident now than when she started.' She tried to appease the woman.
"That's because she knows she can hold her own if it comes to it. That's not the training, that's the results of what she's been through." She started to emit pure green, somber.
The next few fights were similar to the last few. Ojiro and Izuku fought in a bloody melee much like he had with Kendo, the fight ended when Izuku charged a punch with his super strength. Shoji and Izuku's fight was another midair brawl ending with Shoji being thrown into a wall. Her girl Ashido had bobbed and weaved through most of the spells fired at her. It ended when Izuku destroyed the floor, throwing her off balance.
Aoyama's fight was interesting, he managed to dance around Izuku with the help of his lazer. He never took any risks that would lead to defeat and only fired on Izuku when he was casting. It ended when his stomach couldn't take anymore and he vomited. The last of Izuku's students was next and the fight lasted the whole 3 minutes. Kirishima's quirk kept him in the fight and watching them was like being in an underground match. Each punch was precise, powerful and merciless. In the end, Kirishima was missing chunks of his skin and Izuku's body was covered in cuts.
Koda's fight wasn't nearly as raw as the others, but he did use his quirk in conjunction with his melee. Birds would go for Izuku's head, not only blinding him but forcing him to divert attention. The punches that came from that weren't very powerful, but against a sane person they would be tiring.
"Next up, we have the walking detonator, Bakugo Katsuki!"
Pixie stood and cheered.
'This should be good.' She looked down at Izuku and noticed something seemed off about him. His posture and facial expression were completely different. His stance was a lot more brutish, yet fluid. His face had a smile so savage, it looked like he was ready to kill.
—
'Okay Misaki. Your turn.'
'Finally!'
'Just so you know, if you seriously hurt him or say something embarrassing, I'm telling Aki to transfer you to a squirrel.'
'Fine.'
He could feel his mind recede into the back of his head. They had spent quite a bit of time training in this form and he found himself in her 'apartment'. He walked over to the CD player and began to play music.
'Mind playing something for me? It will help me not talk?'
'Fine what do you want?'
She hummed, a weird sensation, 'Fallin' Flower?'
He cringed, 'A boy band? What's with you and boy bands?'
'Hey! I don't diss your style of music!'
'Whatever. You'll get your music.' He found the CD and started to play it.
Bakugo walked out on stage with a mad gleam on his face. She matched it and started to finalize her control.
[Gamer's Mind has been replaced with Berserker's Mind!]
—
Izuku took off into a run, meeting Bakugo halfway. They crashed into each other, axe meeting fist, the axe being his ice spell, shattered instantly against the explosion. Seemingly with thought alone, another axe materialized and the fight began in earnest.
Blow for blow, the two teenagers hammered away at each other. Each blow from Katsuki sent a shock wave over the crowd, while each axe swing from Lion carved the air around it. Suddenly Katsuki jumped up and away with his hand extended. With a quick breath, he blew at his hand. She was nearly taken off her seat by the wind pressure of the next explosion.
It was Pixie that cheered, "Explosive Goodbye!"
'Pixie, What was that!'
Her teammate and friend turned to her with a triumphant look on her face. "Expanded distance between each molecule of sweat. With how fine it is now, he can use it like a dust, giving him the same explosive potential without being at the center of the explosion. I named it Explosive Goodbye."
She raised an eyebrow, 'And what did the kid name it?'
Pixie smile became a wide grin, "Thermobaric Murder."
A couple of the teachers around them laughed and they went back to the fight, at least to what they could see. The air around the two combatants was still filled with smoke, the walking explosive was the first person they saw. He was thrown out of the smoke and slammed into the arena wall. When it finally cleared, Lion was standing there, his skin glowing like the sun.
Bakugo stood, an angry scowl on his face. "That all you got, nerd?"
Lion started laughing like a crazy person, 'The hell is wrong with him?'
Using an axe, he struck the ground in front him. "Why don't you come over and find out, Pomeranian!"
His angry scowl on Bakugo's face turned into pure unadulterated rage. With a yell, and an explosion, he rocketed forward. It was like watching a rocket trying to hit an underground bunker. Lion dropped his axes and held his hands out, like he was going to stop a bull. "Howitzer Impact!"
The two met in an explosive clash, the explosion itself and the loose dirt clouded the area. A series of explosions, ice shards, and a bright light could be heard and seen from inside the cloud.
She called out to the crowd, 'Can someone please?'
She didn't see who, but a burst of wind cleared the debris. They got to watch the two teens decimate each other, and suddenly the air began to freeze. Her and the two other females on her team began to shiver thanks to their outfits.
It was sudden, but Katsuki blasted away and pointed one of his gauntlets at Lion. "Die!"
The explosion went off and she heard Izuku yell, "Solar Flare!" Her eyes widened and she grabbed Koda and protected him from the blow back.
The two attacks met and exploded outward. Several of the heroes in the crowd grabbed their neighbors and jumped out of the way. The stadium got wrecked and the arena was engulfed in smoke. Her and Koda were thrown backward against their chairs, the air knocked out of her.
When they fell back into their seats, she peeked an eye open and saw Ecto call the fight. There was no way the timer was hit, was there?
Her ears were ringing. "-was called by Aizawa! While both participants stand firm, it 'might' be too dangerous for this small venue."
"Mic."
"Alright! The match has been declared unsafe and the challenger has passed!"
There was muted applause as the dust settled and both were standing ready to continue. Then like a switch, her normal crush came back, a smile plastered on his face. Bakugo spit at the ground and walked off stage. Ecto walked up to Izuku, more than likely confirming his need for a break.
'Lion. What was that? It looked like you were a completely different person.'
He looked up at the crowd, locked eyes with her and mouthed, 'Later.'
'Fine, but don't think you're getting out of it.'
"Next up we have the unseen but never forgotten, Hagakure Toru!"
A pair of boots and gloves walked out onto the field as Cementoss repaired the damage. She began to wave to the crowd, "Hi everyone!" RagDoll waved back at her.
When Cementoss finished, Ecto came back on stage and started the fight. Toru didn't so much as fight as she did dodge. Taking off her gloves and kicking off her boots, the invisible girl just disappeared. Izuku seemed to have an idea of where she was, but never hit anything the entire time. He gave up toward the end, and started using AoE spells to blanket the area. No cry of surprise or pain, the three minute mark was called and Toru picked up her boots. Putting them and her gloves back on, she waved to the crowd yelling goodbye.
The students and teachers clapped for her, but a confused silence permeated the air. Mandalay called out to the crowd, 'Does anyone have any idea what happened?'
No one said anything, until one of Class 1-B spoke up. It was the class representative, Shishida? He spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, "She dodged the first few spells and climbed up the wall when he started attacking everywhere at once."
There was a moment of silence until RagDoll started laughing hysterically. More than a handful of people started laughing with her. Izuku looked embarrassed after realizing what happened and gave a small wave to the amusement to the crowd.
"After that hilarious display, we have the dark and mysteriously cool Tokoyami!"
Mandalay perked up at that, the last time she had seen the kid fight, it was a week after training started. He had completely destroyed his opponent, but had to be sent somewhere else to calm down.
The kid walked out as the arena ceiling started to close itself. Small purple flames came to life giving the arena a dark, depressing aura. "Dark Shadow! Come out and play!", she could feel the yellow coming off Lion.
At Izuku's call, the kid's quirk manifested itself, the normal bird-like visage gone. In its place, a giant monster born of darkness and nightmares emerged. "Dark Shadow. Hunt!"
The beast let out a roar and dragged itself toward Lion. Seemingly not scared at all, he pulled out a bone blade and blew on it. His whispered spell turned the blade of the sword into a rainbow. When the beast took a swipe at him, he blocked the strike with the sword, the monster recoiling.
"Sorry Tokoyami. I have a bit of experience fighting shadows." After training with his classmates, he went off into the place he called, the ShadowScape. She had asked about it before and learned that it was a different dimension from theirs. The world was split into several levels and he had apparently spent the time on level 3.
As the monster recoiled and Lion's spell went off, a miasma of rainbow energy flowed off him into the sword. Pulling his arm back he slashed forward calling out his attack. "Supernova strike!"
She sweatdropped and called out to him, 'This isn't some anime kid.' While she said and meant it, she couldn't deny the name. A rainbow of energy shot out from the blade, cleaving the permeating darkness in two. Dark Shadow was split in half, instantly regenerated once the light faded.
'It's like a shining knight versus a demon.'
She was nudged by Pixie. In a whisper, "Keep your thoughts to yourself girl. We're in public."
Her cheek flared, 'Shit.'
Higari started to laugh, "Maybe we should build him some armor and an actual sword."
"We could give him babies that morph how he wants them.", added Hatsume. Her orange was overwhelming. They instantly began to go over ideas as the fight raged on.
"Abyssal Maw!" The creature's face contorted and its mouth opened large enough to engulf a small building.
"Solar Aura!" Izuku's inner sun created a halo around him as he was swallowed.
There was a stunned silence as Dark Shadow started to convulse. With a shrill cry, the dark mass exploded into smoke. With his Aura burning brightly, Lion flicked his sword and flourished it. "Give me all you got."
The entity, after repairing itself, roared. "Dark Shadow, Fury of the Night!" The mass of shadow begrudgingly listened to its master and grew in size. Dark tentacles ending in sharp blades, mouths made of darkness, and arms ending in clawed hands began to materialize from the dark form.
Kota grabbed her arm with a death grip. She picked him up and turned him away from the fight.
Dark shadow roared as it slashed through the air with blades, and claws. Izuku sent waves of light at his enemy, cutting the tentacles into pieces and severing fingers. He began to run toward the beast, his arm pulled back.
RING~!
Izuku faltered and crashed into Dark Shadow. The ceiling opened up instantly and the mass of shadows, with a final shrill cry, dispersed. Tokoyami was on the floor heaving, his face was covered in sweat and his body was twitching.
Akito ran out onto the field and instantly started to heal him. When his body calmed down, he was led out to the sound of applause.
Hizashi coughed into the mic, "After that display, I believe our competitor needs a moment. We'll be back in 10 minutes."
—
"I wasn't ready for that."
'That was so much fun! Can I fight him next time?'
"Yeah, sure whatever." He laid back on the floor of the waiting room, waiting for the timer to go off.
"Izuku?"
He looked up, "Ochaco?"
She sat next to him on the floor. "Are you okay?"
He laid his head back down and closed his eyes. "Yeah, just mentally tired."
"Do you need more time?"
Sitting up, "No. I only asked for some time to get my reserves full again." He gave her a smile, "I should be good in a minute."
Uraraka matched his smile and started acting like she was swinging a sword. "That was so cool! Since when could you fire a sword like that?"
He laughed, "I was actually just slashing at the air, the blade was fused with light."
Her face filled with excitement, "Can you only do it with the sword? What about a fist?"
"It's way harder since my fist can't cut the air so it ends up looking like a fireball."
She grabbed him by the arm and started shaking, "That's still so cool! You'd be like Fire Fist! Do you think you could kick like that?"
"Maybe? I didn't really bother to try and figure out."
"Did you see how Tokoyami fought? He was like a monster from a nightmare! Your fight with Bakugo was cool but super weird too. Why did you fight in melee like that with him? Hagakure's was really funny. How were you finding her anyway?"
He pulled away from the shaking, "Tokoyami was really cool. He's been learning to point and aim Dark Shadow over the last month. As for Bakugo, I was trying something different. Also Hagakure's fight was sort of embarrassing, I was using her scent to find her."
"Really?" She pointed to herself, "What do I smell like?" She realized what she said and started to wave away the question. "Forget I asked, sorry."
He smiled at her, "I don't mind, you smell like strawberries mixed with Mochi."
She went red in the cheeks, "They're cheap snacks okay?"
"And the strawberry?"
She looked down at the floor, "Hair products."
He grinned, "I like the smell, it's more memorable than the other students. Hagakure smells like unscented products, except when she's wearing perfume. That's why I lost track of her a bunch."
She punched his shoulder, her face beat red. "Don't-don't say things like that."
Ring-ring.
"Will Midoriya please come back to the field!"
Both looked at the intercom and Uraraka stood up first. "I guess you should be going, I'll be cheering for you!" She held up a fist to the sky.
Before she left, he called out her name and tossed the object he had in his pocket. When she caught it, he said, "See if you can wear it. If you can, keep it."
She opened her hand to reveal a super simple looking necklace. "What is it?"
He grinned as he stood. "Lucky charm." He walked out, away from her protests.
[Amulet of the Downtrodden
Quality: A
This pendant is a symbol of a lost tribe.
Requirements:
6 or less in Luck
Effect:
+10 Luck]
—
"Midoriya!" She let out a whine. She hated accepting gifts from people. Turning the pendant over in her hand, she gave it a close look. It was a diamond shaped piece of metal with a weird symbol scratched into the front.
'It doesn't look expensive.' She let out an annoyed sigh and unwound the simple leather cord. Throwing it over her head and pulling her hair out, the pendant glowed with an energy that looked like some of Izuku's abilities. When it died down, only the scratch marks were letting off a super weak rainbow color.
'What did he mean by, if I can wear it?' Would it have exploded? Something else she'd just have to yell at him about. Maybe she could wear it daily? Did it look out of place?
'It looks cute.'
She jumped out of her skin at the voice. She saw Mandalay standing in the doorway. "M-Ms. Mandalay!"
She gave a small chuckle, 'Don't freak out girl. I was just giving a compliment.'
She felt her cheeks flush and a smile come over her face. "Thanks."
'I was going to ask him a few questions, but you beat me to it. I didn't want to ruin your guys' moment.'
Her eyes went wide, "M-M-Moment? What moment?" Her stammering was accompanied by nervous waving.
The older woman laughed, 'You can't lie to me, even without my quirk you're an easy tell.' She slid over next to her, an arm pulling her close. 'Now. Spill.'
She tried to push her away, "There's nothing to spill, I swear!"
Mandalay wrapped her arms around her stomach and whispered into her ear. "So unfair, you get a gift? I've known him for longer."
She gulped, "I didn't ask. I swear."
"That's the problem. Does he like you more?"
She tried to escape but the woman had a death grip on her.
Her mentor spoke into her ear. "I'd be a lot more jealous if it wasn't so cute to watch you two react to each other."
She squeaked out, "Jealous?"
Mandalay hummed, the sound vibrating her ear. "Just a tad."
"Sorry?" Why was she apologizing?
Mandalay gave a small chuckle, "Don't be, he checked me out when I was walking away, so I won."
Uraraka felt her cheeks flare, causing the woman to laugh. Letting her go, she walked out the room. Uraraka watched her walk away, her eyes taking a traitorous peek. She did have a nice butt, it was perky.
Mandalay turned and smiled at her, 'Enjoy the show.' She winked and swayed her hips as she walked away.
She began to smack her cheeks trying to get rid of the blush. 'I didn't do that. I didn't do that!'
"Next on stage we have Asui Tsuyu!"
'The fight!' Giving herself one final smack, she ran out of the room.
—
"[Odin's Rage]." The instant the air started to shimmer, Tsuyu used her tongue to pull away. As the spell finalized he used an [Air Step] to chase after her. She was ridiculously fast now, but he didn't spend nearly a month in the ShadowScape to be out sped so easily. Instead of going after her, he went for her tongue.
It was sticky, and slimy as he grabbed it. "Sorry Tsuyu. Fire Branding." The fire serpent raced off his arm and curled around her stretched appendage. Her eyes widened and she detached trying to retract her tongue. It was too late.
'[Rune of Agility Down]!' The serpent stretched its body into the required shapes and burned itself into her tongue. The rune took effect a second later and they were back on the floor, him trying to hit her. He was having better success now, but even reducing her Agi by 10% didn't do much.
"[Bubblegum Bomb]." He let the spell explode in front of him, his aura burning away any of the spell that hit him. Tsuyu, with her reduced Agi and her tired state, wasn't able to get out of the way in time. Her leg ended up getting caught.
He pulled a fist back and she held up her hands. "I gibe, ribbe." Her burned tongue gave her a slightly wonky voice.
"And Miss. Asui passes the exam by lasting 3 minutes and 27 seconds!"
There was clapping for her as he released his hold on the spell. With the sticky substance fading away, he was forced to catch her as her legs went wobbly. He handed her to Aki as she ran in. Tsuyu punched his arm as she was carried away.
'So, Tobu or Todo?'
"Next up we have Todoroki Shoto!"
Misaki started to laugh maniacally.
—
Hope everyone enjoyed some part of that.
—-
New Spell: Bubblegum Bomb Lvl: 1
Create an explosive sticky grenade. The substance created can be easily burned or be broken with sufficient Str.
Radius - 1 meter
Cool-down - 1 minute
Cost - 100 Mana