Hey all, sorry for the delay, I'm currently puppy sitting atm, so updates will be slightly later than normal! D:
Chapter 35
Sports Festival Part 3:
The Monster's Loose
The first rounds of the final event for the UA sports festival raged on after Mina and Izuku had disappeared into the darkened space of the inner stadium.
While only missing Mineta's and Shinsou's match, which Izuku knew that the general ed student would win rather quickly (although Izuku did feel a little bad for Mineta, but not a whole lot given how the purple pervert tricked his girlfriends). Izuku had made it back for the rest of them, sitting with his classmates, scribbling away into his notebook.
He watched how the two stand-ins for Kirishima and Tetsutetsu had duked it out, both hardening students having to bow out as both of them could really continue from quirk overuse in the cavalry battle, fighting one another. If one could call it as such.
The student to replace Tetsutetsu was Neito Monoma, who was someone that Izuku wished he could get a proper conversation about the copy quirk he had, but Monoma wasn't exactly the most approachable, especially if you were from 1-A.
For Kirishima, Shoji had been chosen, and while Monoma had the quirks from a few of his classmates, even the steel hardening of Tetsutetsu, no one could deny the raw strength of the multi-limbed hero in training. Though the fight wasn't as short as the previous ones, it was a rather impressive display of strategy and quirk use between the two. However, Shoji had bested Monoma, but as a good show of sportsmanship, he led the class 1-B student off the field as the blonde copier was concussed.
The next few fights, if one could be called that, were of some notable import. The least interesting one was the fight between Tenya and Mel. The support student had somehow "convinced" the speedster to wear some of the Magitek she had created and shown it off like some sort of showcase on television.
Eventually, Tenya caught on to what Mei was doing, but before he could do something about it, she had already walked off the platform, which declared him the winner by default. Izuku felt terrible for his friend, considering not only not being able to properly show off his skills but also being used as a marketing tool for Mei.
Setsuna's match was next, and quite honestly, it was a rather one-sided match against her opponent, Ibara Shiozaki. While Izuku had a good grasp of who the religious plant-haired woman's quirk worked, thanks to the joint training sessions between the two hero classes, Izuku had felt that Ibara was always "not going a hundred percent" during those sessions.
It probably didn't help that one of her "partners" was Kaminari. He was still unable to fully utilize his quirk without being one big AOE that would harm himself and the spectators.
Despite how fast Setsuna could move when she split up, nor how many pieces she could control now (his best count was thirty-five), his fellow green-haired friend wasn't able to surpass the many vines of Ibara and was fully constricted together before having her match called due to her being immobilized. Admittedly, it was rather sweet that Ibara did go up to make sure Setsuna was alright, an apparent worry on her face as the lizard hero in training waved her with a big sharp-toothed smile.
It was hard to watch the second to last match… considering it had Bakugo as one of the combatants. Not only that, but Ochako was his opponent. While both he and Kirishima had spoken with her before her match, both offering her tips or strategies to deal with the blonde bomber, she told them she "had it handled" but thanked them for offering to help at least.
Izuku had raised an eyebrow at how long both Kirishima and Ochako were staring at one another, their cheeks a faint rose color before the final announcement for the fighters to head to the battle platform, and Ochako had to get to the entrance.
"Huh," Izuku had thought, having turned around and leaving the two before the announcement, "So that's what it looked like from the outside."
When Ochako said she had it handled, Izuku had no idea that launching massive boulders as meteor's at Bakugo was what she meant by it, but by Hydaelyn, did it even make Bakugo look scared for a moment. However, while Izuku was amazed at Ochako's perseverance in fighting Bakugo, she still lost in the end, and how Bakugo was just as brutal as he always was really left a sour taste in his mouth.
However, while it looked like Bakugo was toying with Ochako for the most part, as called out by the audience members and several of the "heroes'' in the stands, Izuku knew in his mind that the bubbly and blushing cheeked woman had actually been keeping up with Bakugo, forcing him into a corner a few times and pushing him to fight at his fullest against her. Her final move even caught him off guard before leveling the debris into nothing but dust, leaving the blonde's arms shaking from having used too many explosions.
The crunching of metal caught Izuku's ear during the fight when he noticed Kirishima was gripping the railing in front of him so hard that his quirk activated for the briefest of moments and crushed the steel under his grip. Despite how angry and worried he looked, Izuku could see the admiration for both of his classmates in the redhead's eyes. However, he had a feeling Ochako was far higher on the list than Bakugo. When the match ended, Izuku tapped Kirishima's shoulder and suggested he visit Ochako in the infirmary to let her know how much of a great job she did.
Kirishima's eyes widened before he gave Izuku a stern nod, smiling and dashing up the stairs towards the exit.
Izuku chuckled lightly as he watched his classmate dash off before feeling someone's arms wrap around his neck from behind and noticing the pink coloration to his "ambusher's" skin made him blush.
"And since when are you, Mr. Matchmaker?" Mina had asked gently into his ear, teasing him and causing him to shiver slightly from her breath moving past his earlobe.
"J-just thought it was a good idea…." Izuku said after a few moments, calming himself before turning his head slightly back to her; his cheeks were still ablaze in red. Still, he had a very coy little smile on his lips, "P-plus I learned from the best."
Mina froze for a moment before her cheeks went purple, quickly removing her arms from around his neck and sitting back in her seat, "Y-YOU pay attention to the next match, mister!" she squeaked out and pointed towards the center of the stadium once again, causing everyone around her to snicker at her flustered look, with Izuku smirking and turning around to face forward, eager to see how well Momo's match would go.
Momo slowly slid against the wall of the hallway as she gently began to sob while curling into herself, ignoring most of the sounds around her. How could she perform so poorly in front of everyone?
To say her match went poorly was a vast understatement, as Tokoyami struck quick and hard, forcing Momo to a more defensive position, creating a shield, and trying to think up a formula that could help her fend off the occult-loving bird-headed man. Alas, the constant strikes from Dark Shadow, as well as how hard it clanked into her shield, pushed Momo off of the battle platform rather quickly.
Was she really cut out to be a hero? Sure, her quirk allowed her to "conjure up" cannons and relatively advanced technology. Still, she needed time to think about the proper formula and piece them together to make sure they worked once she had created them. As Tokoyami had just demonstrated, any sort of overwhelming force would interrupt her thoughts and make her as defenseless as a kitten.
What would her parents think of her now? Would they see her dreams as being nothing but a small child's foolish desires and have her leave UA? Or worse yet, what about those close to her? Would they even want to associate with her after such a poor performance? It's not like Momo has proven that she could even be a hero most times, given how many times she had been saved by Izuku or something with ties to the green-haired boy.
Oh god, what would Izuku think after such a lackluster performance? After all her hard work with him during their first year together, she frequently had him all by her lonesome, studying and helping her strengthen her knowledge and quirk. Was all that for naught? Would Izuku even look at her the same after such a display that he would deem- OUCH!
Momo winced as she felt something jab her side, turning her head towards where she was struck to see a frowning Kyoka looking down at her, "Of all the things to have picked up from Izuku, it had to be the mumbling?"
The heiress turned her gaze from the punk rocker, looking slightly hurt. Kyoka sighed gently before moving to sit beside Momo, shoulder bumping into one another as Kyoka's violet eyes gazed upon her friend and… she guessed "girlfriend" at this point considering the unique relationship they all had, "So, just going to start right off and say that you did a damn good job-"
"I did no such thing, Kyoka… my thought process crumbled under such skillful mastery that Tokoyami has with Dark Shadow; I couldn't even come up with a simple flashbang to weaken it."
"Her, actually." Kyoka said with a smirk when Momo looked back at her with a confused look on her face, "Apparently, Dark Shadow is a girl... Or identifies as female, it's hard to figure out with sentient quirks sometimes."
"H-How do-?" "How do I know? It's because Dark Shadow had asked for tips on how to dress all punkish like yours truly, much to Tokoyami's embarrassment."
Momo giggled at the rather humorous thought of how that went down, which caused Kyoka to smirk some more, "There's our princess's smile."
Said "princess" blushed and looked away again, "I-I am not a princess."
"Babe, you totally are… not like me, or the others are going to hold it against you, but you gotta admit that you were so clueless about some things and flashed your wealth at us, albeit innocently like it was a normal everyday thing for everyone." Kyoka giggled gently as Momo pouted at the memory of their first few interactions.
"I have gotten better at that." Momo said, still with a pout as she looked back to Kyoka, "Thanks to you and the others, of course."
"Yeah, well... " Kyoka began to blush as she felt the gaze of girlfriend on her, making the punk rocker shift back and forth, "... We gotta look out for one another, not just Izuku. When one of us is feeling down, we all should try and pick them back up, you know?"
"True, but still… I feel like I should have been able to do so much better, Kyoka. I am a recommendation student, after all, I spent years perfecting not only my quirk but my combat skills as well, and lately, it just feels like…."
"You're a damsel in distress that needs to be saved by a hero?" Kyoka spoke up suddenly to catch Momo's attention again, "Yea, I know exactly how that feels, since the USJ, in fact…."
"Oh, Kyoka…"
"But that's the thing, isn't it? There will be times where we are outmatched, and someone will have to save us, especially now since we are still in training." Kyoka very slowly moved her hand towards Momo's, taking a gentle hold of it as she continued to speak, "That's why we are here in the first place, to train and be heroes, to BE the ones to save those that need saving."
"Trust me, I am not a fan of having my butt being saved by you or Izuku all the time. Not that I don't appreciate it, but during my sessions with Hound Dog, I admitted my feelings of inadequacy to him, and he told me the same thing I just told you… well, minus all the growls and that."
Momo began to giggle as did Kyoka, the taller woman gently leaning into the shorter punk and pulling her into a soft hug, as she did Kyoka, although blushing heavily, continued on, "And I know it doesn't feel like it, but Izuku has been saved on more than one occasion by us."
"I very much doubt that… usually he's the one throwing himself into danger for our sake."
"Oh? Did we forget about the cuddle pile? Helping him be more confident with himself? You have to admit that he's changed quite a lot from the boy he was, mostly because of us."
Momo had to think about it for a moment, but as she did, she remembered how timid and shy Izuku was when they first met, and while he was still like that at times, it was nothing like he was before.
"Besides," Kyoka said as she slowly pulled herself up from the floor, offering a hand to Momo, who took it gently to also get up, "We now have a little girl to take care of with him, and lord knows he's going to need the help with raising our unicorn."
Momo gently smiled once again, nodding her head, "Eri has been a very positive influence on him, just as much as Izuku has been for her."
"God's help when she's old enough to date, I can totally see Izuku go all "dad" mode on her boyfriends."
"Or girlfriends," Momo said with a smirk, which Kyoka giggled at. The punk rocker froze when she felt Momo's hand squeeze hers, looking up to the onyx eyes staring down at her, "S-speaking of… Kyoka… before we go to our internships and after the evening party at my parents, c-could we… I mean to say… oh goodness…."
Momo was blushing fiercely as Kyoka waited with bated breath, her own cheeks a bright red as she stood still, staring at the shifting taller woman.
"C-Could we go out on a date? I-I found a lovely new music store with a w-wide variety of rock and punk music selections that you could introduc-" "HELL YES!"
Momo leaned her head back in shock at the rather loud approval of Kyoka, who looked up at her with the brightest smile she had ever seen the violet-haired woman give to anyone. Kyoka had cleared her throat and was blushing madly, "Y-Yea, we can totally do that… g-go on a date, I mean."
Momo gave off her own bright smile, leaning down and lightly pecking Kyoka's lips before tugging her down the corridor, "Come! We must root for Izuku during his next match!"
Kyoka said nothing as she was being dragged back to the seating area by Momo, all the while with the biggest smile on her face.
Izuku sighed as he watched Shinsou climb up onto the battle platform. At the same time, he was excited to be facing the general education student; he mentally was still worried about Momo.
Initially, after her match had ended, Izuku, along with Mina (who had recovered enough to make it back to their seats), Kyoka and Tsuyu had rushed down to try and comfort her. But Izuku had been called to his next fight. Of course, Izuku was more adamant on making sure not only Momo was alright and to cheer her up over what he needed to do, which to the slight annoyance of his girlfriends.
Who knew that Tsuyu and Mina were strong enough to push and pull him away while Kyoka was shooing him off with a wave of her earphone jacks with the biggest smile as if to say she had handled.
A crack from Midnight's whip broke him out of his thoughts as she looked towards both students, "Now you both know the rules, commence the fight when you next hear the sound of my whip, boys!"
As Midnight made her way to her position, the tired-looking Shinsou placed his hands into his pockets, tilting his head back and to the side as he spoke, "So… you're the "golden boy" of Class 1-A? Don't seem like you're all that special if the rumors that you were able to hold back the villains at the USJ are true." The wildly purple-haired student spoke with a monotone voice, only to get nothing but silence back from Izuku, who frowned and readied himself into a basic fighting stance.
'Shit…' thought Shinsou, 'He must've figured out how my quirk works somehow, well… as much as I hate to do this, I REALLY need him to say something.'
The crack of the whip rang out as Izuku dashed forward, Shinsou however, began to speak again, "It's no wonder you had to, given the lackluster performances the rest of your class has shown today."
That had stopped Izuku, causing Shinsou to smirk a little bit, "I mean, first you clear the way for all the participants during the first event, and then during the second you didn't use your quirk at all and relied mostly on that weird support girl's machines to keep your lead."
"And don't get me started on your first match; you were holding back so much that you and that pink-skinned mutant girl were playing until she was exhausted and surrendered to you? What kind of potential hero does that?" Shinsou's smile grew a little more as he saw a visible twitch of Izuku's eye.
The general ed student kept pushing on, "And then there was that engine guy who got duped into basically being an ad for that support student, and lord knows the world needs another Endeavor with how that psychopath of an explosion user was to your fellow classmate."
"Oh! And then there was a match before this one? A rather poor performance for a recommendation student if I ever-" ''SHUT UP!" Izuku roared loudly and angrily as he once again began to rush towards his foe, only for him to stop suddenly and let his arms and head hang down.
Shinsou smiled wide now, his arms crossed over his chest in a smug sort of satisfaction, "Got ya."
"I have to admit, you had me worried since you were initially quiet, and I had to say some rather awful things. But when people get angry, it makes them do stupid things, like forget important factors like how one's quirk activates…." Shinsou kept smiling while not noticing a twitch of Izuku's right finger as he continued, "Well, now I can progress forward and show just how brute strength and flashy quirks like yours aren't the best for potential heroes. You can walk off the platform now."
A few silent moments had passed, and Izuku was still rooted where he stood, causing confusion not only to the brainwashing quirk user but also to everyone watching from the stands. A few moments of nothing passed before Shinsou growled, "Hey! I command you to walk off the plat-" *BANG*
Everyone froze as the echoing reverb of a gunshot bounced in the deathly silent stadium as Shinsou, with a frightened look on his face and the few strands of his hair falling past his ears from the missed shot, was staring into the barrel of a pure black colored pistol pointed directly at him.
And standing before him instead of his fellow student was a person that was pulsing with a dark looking aura, covered in what could be seen as a light grey outfit that had obviously seen better days. While it had looked regal, what with the ornate looking features on the clothes and the faded white scarf hanging from his neck, many of the edges were tattered looking, with what could be seen as dried blood marred the leather boots and fringe edges on the tail end of his coat.
What further perplexed Shinsou was the rather dark mask now fully covering Izuku's face that was partially hidden under a large hood. As dark looking wisps of shadows wafted off the boy, the darkness soon engulfed him, shifting and pulsing with a cold aura that froze everyone close to it in fear as the gun faded away as if it dissolved out of existence, only to be replaced with a large and brutal ax.
With a sudden wind burst, the darkness faded from Izuku's body to reveal the boy now clad in dulled and equally as worn-out plate armor, a matted green scarf hung off of his shoulders as the helmet he wore now had covered everything in that metal sheen, with darkness only showing through the slots on the front meant for his eyes and breathing.
Everyone watched in bated breath as Izuku gripped the giant ax in both of his hands and lunged at Shinsou with burning red eyes shining through the darkness. Then the most feral and bestial voice echoed throughout everyone's body, chilling them to the core.
"O̷͚̦̓̀͘͜Ń̸̛̤͙̲̱̰̹͓͖̂̈́̐̊Ś̶̨̧̌́̈̉͗̈́L̸̘͚̦̩̫̂̾̌̀̚͝A̴̹͆̀͐͛͑̑̏̔Ù̴̦̗̀̈̓́͂G̵͚͉̈̑͗̓͘H̴̺́̌͗̈́̚̕͠͝Ţ̷͙̙̘̮͚̅͛͗̽̆̀"
Nezu had risen from his chair, catching the standing Toshinori off guard as the dean turned towards him, "Yagi, get down to the stadium immediately! We have to stop Midoriya!"
"S-Sir?" was all the skeletal number one hero said as he followed Nezu out of his private viewing office towards the door of the elevator, waiting for it to arrive after being called.
"The boy's 'inner beast' has been unleashed, and young Shinsou hasn't released his quirk to allow Izuku to reign it back in." Nezu spoke while looking up at the now buffed-up All Might, "That's the flaw with the "Warrior" kit. Its power is based on rage, but that rage comes from a chaotic primal essence known as an 'inner beast'. Someone training as a Warrior would spend years to hone it, so it didn't get loose and go on a destructive killing spree; Izuku didn't need that training as the knowledge of how to contain it was passed off onto him by Quinn."
All Might paled at the image that conjured up, "B-but, young Midoriya has excellent control over his kits."
"Normally yes, but since his mind has been "locked" from his body by the brainwashing quirk, and when he somehow shifted into his Warrior kit, it unleashed the beast."
"... Could it have been Fray?"
Nezu stepped into the now opened elevator, his expression stone cold as he looked at All Might, "No… Fray wouldn't have access to Izuku's Kits outside of the Dark Knight, and that thought alone is what worries me, if we do not put a stop to this soon, this could kill Midoriya."
"Go now and subdue your successor, All Might, for his own good."
People screamed in worry as Shinsou could barely dodge the attack, leaping out of the way as he heard the crunch of cement break behind him. Turning his head, he gasped loudly as Shinsou saw the utter devastation of the strike, seeing nothing but a crumbling crater where once he stood as he watched his opponent lift up his ax and ready another strike.
"Screw this!" He shouted out as he made a beeline to the edge of the platform, falling off of it and onto the grass.
Shinsou quickly scrambled up and ran towards Cementoss, who was waiting close by, the pro hero shielding himself from the other student as the stomps of Izuku could be heard coming towards the pair with another bestial roar echoing out and drowning all the screams and shouts of the audience.
"NEVER FEAR! FOR I AM HERE!" All Might proclaimed as he landed upon the battle platform himself, causing a bit of the surface to crack upon his weight. With a bright smile and the cheers of the crowds echoing out now, the number one hero turned towards a snarling Izuku, weapon readied within both of his hands, "Young Midoriya! If you can hear me, please try and calm down! The fight is over, and I do not wish to harm you!"
The only response he got was another bestial roar as his student charged towards him, ax raised and slamming down onto to be caught by both of All Might's hands; when the two forces met, a burst of air buffed around them from the amount of power they both wielded.
The audience watched stunned as All Might seemed to have been struggling against the student's strength, or more they were on equal footing. The number one hero's smile faulted for a moment as he began to push back, using more of his strength, "Izuku, try and calm down; you do not want to worry your family!" All Might said low enough for only the crazed student to hear, only to get a rather disturbing response back.
"Ņ̸̛͓̹͚̰̭̹̜̈́͒̉̈́̐̿̄Ǫ̴̱̪̐̏̑̂͐͗!̸̨̤̝̮̓͊̋́̅̏͌̕ ̶̥̪̩͉͉̘͗̈́͝M̶͈̄̉U̸̦͈̗͚̼͙͑̇̋S̶̰͙̮̼̋T̷͉͈̖͒̈́ ̷̻̫͙̎͐̐̒D̶̞͑̍̀̿̏Ȩ̴̛̩̭̩̀͂̃̿̈͌S̵̻͇̳̺̖̬̺̣̀̈́̌̈́͛̏̓̾T̵͎͍͖̮̆̍͗̀͆R̴̠͕̭̪̈́̓̈̑̓̊̈́͜͠Ơ̶̹̾̿̆̆Y̸͎̫̯͔͔͐̋̀̈̾̓̀ ̷̧̜̱̭̲̪͔̈́̉̇̽̚Ę̸̭͇͍̤̀N̸͚͑̀̅̃̿̐̂͠Ę̶̘̫͓̓̔́̚M̷̪̫͓̩̩͉̯̉͌̓̀̈́̚ͅI̵̮̬̼̍̑͐̓̿̔̈͜͜͝Ȩ̷̲͓̻̉ͅS̶̡̤̭͍͇̝̊͐͌̊ͅ!̸̧̨͖̖̮͙͙̳͒͛̄͛̿̽͐̚ ̷̨̬̹͆̓̉̿ͅM̷̬͙͍̥͖̺̍̑̆͆́͂̚͜Ṵ̸̒͘S̴̮̺͕̺̭̠̿̽̃͗̇̿͘͝ͅT̴̞̮̙̠͔̫̳̞̀̿͗̕ ̶̞͉̟̟̳̪̯̜̓Ḳ̶̳̀̽͠͝Į̵̛̘̝̝̜̤̀̊̊͊̐Ḽ̶̛͔̰͔̉L̵̢̯̦͔̪͂͌̀̈́͘͝!̵̧̰̟̹͖̾͜͠"
To say that All Might was almost taken back from the usually calm and timid boy was an understatement; what was even more shocking was the burst of red that surrounded the boy's body as his glowing red eyes got even brighter, almost forcing All Might onto his knee from the added strength and pressure.
Off to the side of the platform, Shinsou and Cementoss had retreated back towards Midnight, who was shaking slightly from the pressure of the aura coming from Midoriya. Shinsou took a shallow gulp as he watched in fear from what looked like All Might himself was STRUGGLING against his former opponent.
"Mr. Shinsou," came a voice from behind the student that nearly made him jump, turning not only himself and his teachers around to see the dean standing behind them, "If you could release your quirk, that will end this rather disturbing display."
Shinsou blinked for a moment; the gears in his head ground in his head before realizing that his quirk was still activated on Midoriya. Turning back to the fight, his gaze hit the metal glad warrior and cut off his quirk's control over the boy's mind.
As soon as that had happened, Izuku's strength disappeared almost instantly, and the armor reverted back to his gym outfit with a small flash of light, causing the ax to disappear as well. The green-haired boy was panting heavily, sweat rolling down his body and face as a gentle and somber voice caught his attention, "Young Midoriya?"
Izuku looked up to see his idol looking down at him in complete worry; the stadium was silent as the number hero gently took a step forward, a little cautiously, "Are you alright?"
"A-all Might…" Izuku heaved slowly, unable to catch his breath and before he could do anything else, fell straight onto his hands and knees, vomiting out the blackest of sludge from his mouth before falling onto his side, passing out to the shouts of his name from various sources within the stadium.
While the entire stadium and even the viewers at home watched the events unfold of the student's quirk going berserk and taking on All Might of people. From the shadows of the inner corridor where the bullet shot had left a small hole, a tiny black wisp of darkness slowly slithered down the wall before moving further into the dark recesses of the inner stadium. A swirling mass of the dark energy gradually formed into a vaguely human-shaped shadow standing and looking back out into the bright open entrance to the center field.
A pair of cat-like magenta eyes watched the events fold out as it squinted when it saw the warrior give out and fall to his knees, puking out the disgusting sludge from within his body. And as the sounds of machines could be heard coming towards it, the shadow faded into the darkness, turning its gaze away from its weaker self.
A/N: the outfits mentioned are the Cryptlurker's Garb of Aiming, and the Cryptlurker's Garb of Fending!