Well it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry for the delay, but things came up. Nothing bad, just been busy lately. No comments from last time, so let's just hop right in.
Quickly paced footsteps echoed down the empty halls. Drake's breathing was fast, but he kept running and did not stop until he reached the door he was looking for. The nameplate read "Akio Tanaka" and he knocked three times just below it.
"Come in," the man answered from inside, which Drake quickly did.
"Ah, Drake. What brings you down here unscheduled?" Akio questioned, having looked away from his computer long enough to see who had entered. The wall that was littered with papers displayed an ocean; waving and stirring. A change from the man's usual choice of a forest or the city.
"Sir, I would advise you to tune into the UA Sports Festival," Drake answered.
Akio looked back up from his computer, a quizzical expression showing through his usually professional demeanor. "If you have a reason to come down to my office and take my time to recommend it, I will. But I would like a less cryptic opening next time," the man replied.
A few clicks of a mouse and a handful of key taps, followed by more mouse clicks led the man to a live streaming of the event. Drake walked around the desk and stood behind his boss, bending down just enough to get a good angle of the screen.
The two watched as just over forty children, most of which were huddling into small groups, stood at attention, carefully listening as the woman Akio recognized as "Midnight" explained the rules of the event.
"There!" Drake exclaimed with a point to a head of green hair. Familiar green hair; very few people Akio saw had green hair that bushy.
"That's…the kid from a while ago. He was the last test subject in Project Symbiosis. He's attending UA?" Tanaka questioned. As he spoke, Drake turned the laptop towards himself and scrolled through the time bar to less than fifteen minutes prior.
"Yes, and this is what you'll want to see."
Akio recognized the face of the boy, and his memory was further jogged when the announcer mentioned an "Izuku Midoriya". But that was far from the most important detail.
Akio's jaw nearly dropped upon seeing the boy sprout two wings, each red with black swirls, and a similarly colored tail with fins. Then the boy created tendrils from his arms that wrapped around and crushed the oversized head of an enormous robot.
"Such power and versatility, right?" Drake asked. Akio rewound again and rewatched the footage.
"Project Symbiosis wasn't a failure," the man declared. He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his blood as he viewed the spectacle once more.
"While not entirely guaranteed, I cannot come up with any other explanations," Drake offered.
"But that leaves so many questions. Why him? Why was the specimen undetectable? God, this is such a turnaround."
"What should we do? Bring back the boy and the specimen?"
Akio opened his mouth to respond, but closed it and thought for some seconds. Drake patiently waited for an answer, which he received in good time.
"Not yet. If he suddenly goes missing after the Sports Festival, that might raise some flags. I think we should start slowly. I'll send an email to the mother asking about any unusual changes, especially any that might not have been mentioned at the time of the procedure."
"Understood. If you don't need me, I'll leave you be," Drake suggested.
"That would be appreciated. Thank you, and do let me know if anything else happens. I have work I must return to."
Drake nodded and left the room. Alone in the space, Akio nearly smiled at the screen, displaying the live stream paused on a frame of Izuku Midoriya flying through the air.
"I look forward to seeing you again. Both of you," Tanaka said aloud before returning to his work.
Izuku and Tokoyami stared at the scoreboard. The R-rated heroine had just explained the Cavalry Battle and point system, which led to an interesting repercussion for helping a friend come in first. Despite only having 205 points for second place, Izuku could feel the intense stares falling on Tokoyami and his ten million point band.
"Such a dark turn of events," the crow-headed boy muttered, to which his shadowy companion timidly nodded.
"Groups of up to six are allowed, but only sixteen will pass to the next and final event, so not everyone on a team may move on," Midnight announced once the atmosphere became a little less hostile. "You all have ten minutes to make your teams, starting now."
Immediately, students either flocked to Tokoyami or agreed to make teams of their own friend groups. Izuku admittedly felt bad for Tokoyami until Dark Shadow let out a loud, "Back off heathens!"
Izuku felt a hand clasp his shoulder and quickly turned to see who it was. Kaminari stood right behind him with Momo and Uraraka. "Hey, interested in joining? It's cool if not, but we just saw you standing there and figured we'd ask."
"Go for it," Tokoyami replied for him, suddenly right behind the green-haired teen. "This will be a good chance for the two of us to compete against each other as a team rather than one on one."
"You're gonna eat dirt!" Dark Shadow shouted.
"Just remember we haven't had lunch yet, Chickenbreast." Scarlet had appeared from Izuku's shoulder to commence another bickering session, which was shortly lived.
"So what's our plan?" Uraraka asked.
"I'll be the front, Kaminari, Yaoyorozu, you two will be back. That'll leave Uraraka up top. That way she can easily reach all of us to use her quirk," Izuku suggested.
"Sounds good. Hey Momo, could you make me some kind of metal staff or chargeable ball bearings? I can't risk using my Indiscriminate Shock too early."
"Yes, I can do that. Do either of you have any requests?" Momo replied, releasing a handful of marble-sized ball bearings into her left palm. After handing them to Kaminari, she generated a staff and handed it to the blonde as well.
"If you can, could you make medicine to deal with the nausea that comes from using my quirk?" the brunette requested.
"I think I'm good." Izuku said with a shrug.
"But that leaves us with a plan of attack. Do we go for Tokoyami? Or go for the teams that'll be too busy focusing on Tokoyami to notice us stealing their bands?" Kaminari asked.
"I believe the latter would be best. But we must also stay alert for teams that are planning to do the same thing. I also think we should take our positions."
At the girl's suggestion, she and Kaminari crouched down and cupped their palms together, allowing Uraraka to step into them and hoist her up. Izuku placed himself in front of the other three and felt Uraraka grasp his shoulders as she repositioned her feet.
"Here, let me try something," Izuku said aloud as several tentacles sprouted from his back. Two traveled downwards and wrapped around Ochaco's shoes before heading up and wrapping around Momo's and Kaminari's waists. Similarly, another two gently coiled around her underarms, snaked around her midsection, then fixed themselves on the two in the back.
Effectively harnessed, Kaminari and Momo were able to use their hands freely without dropping their leader.
"This is going to go down fast. Everyone be ready and keep your guards up," the brunette urged, but with a slight shake in her voice.
"Just trust your gut, Uraraka. We're all behind you on this," Kaminari offered. "Uh, well, Midoriya is in front of you technically, but you get my point."
"Yeah, yeah, we got this!"
"Scarlet, let's go with Red One for now." At his declaration, his entire body shimmered and darkened into a deep crimson. Traces of black etched themselves along his limbs and torso as two semicircles expanded where his eyes would have been.
"Man, I wish I had some kind of power-up mode," Kaminari grumbled softly.
"Maybe you could work on focusing your electricity on yourself? I'm not sure how different your bodily structure is due to your quirk, but the human body is run by electrical signals. I'm not an expert on the subject but I would be willing to help you look into it when classes resume."
"Thanks, Momo, I'd like that," Kaminari replied.
There was something different today. To an outsider, it would be just another morning. The sun was out, people were living their lives; it really should have felt normal. But Tensei knew something was wrong. He knew because he was chasing after the source.
There had been reports of Stain, the infamous "Hero Killer", coming in throughout the last few days. The man was elusive, but every now and then Tensei would suddenly feel cold. Like his steps were taking him to his grave. That's how he knew he was getting closer.
He passed an alley, and his instincts started screaming. His body was telling him to run, or hide, or simply stand still; anything but go down the alley.
But he had to; how could he call himself a hero after running away from danger? Ingenium was not a coward, so he propelled himself down the dark alley, using his elbow pipes to make sharp turns that led him closer and closer to the feeling of dread.
"Ingenium. I was wondering if I would see you." It was a calm voice that spoke, one that lacked the hatred or dripping malice Tensei had expected. But that figure was unmistakably the one he was looking for.
"Stain. I have backup already on the way. Surrender now or I will have to bring you down myself," Ingenium warned, preparing himself to move at the slightest hint of trouble.
"I have looked into you, Ingenium. You are a good hero that has helped many. You are not one of my targets, but I will cut you down if I have to," the masked man warned. His sword, blade chipped and dirtied, glinted slightly in the light that managed to peak into the alley.
"If you won't surrender yourself to justice, then I'll bring you in myself," Tensei declared, charging at the man who had slayed so many before him.
Tokoyami and his group were doing less than ideal. Very much less than ideal.
"Hey Ten Million! Can you get us in the air?" Tokoyami looked down at the eccentric pink-haired girl that had been insistent on being part of his team. She hadn't even flinched when Dark Shadow had shouted at everyone that had flocked to him.
"I can try, but I can't say for sure that Dark Shadow is strong enough to carry four people with this much light," Fumikage replied.
"Well hurry up and think of something!" the enlarged Shishida yelled from beneath him, prompting Kuroiro to pop out of the beast's shadow.
"I do believe my friend has a point. We must find a way to rid ourselves of those that stand against us."
It had taken Tokoyami by surprise when the two students from 1-B had requested to join him and Hatsume. Monoma had not taken kindly to their "betrayal" as he loudly put it, but Shishida had said something to the blonde that calmed him down surprisingly quickly.
If Tokoyami wasn't mistaken, Monoma even smiled.
"If it helps, I can lighten the load by hiding in the shadows of your cloak, and my friend can shrink back down," the pitch-black student suggested.
Tokoyami observed the teams closing in on them, all readying their quirks in any way that could get them the ten million points.
"Dark Shadow, let's take to the skies!"
"You got it boss!" Two shadowy arms wrapped around Tokoyami and grabbed Shishida and Hatsume as Kuroiro emerged from the ground and shrunk into Tokoyami's cape. Then, with a sudden lurch, the four were in the air.
"Man, y'all need to lose some weight!" Dark Shadow exclaimed. The weight made it difficult to dodge the vines, scales, lasers, and ice that came from all directions, but the pink-haired girl's hoover boots made up for a little lost mobility.
"At least we're safe for the moment. While we are in no position to steal any points, at least ours can't be taken." Shishida, having returned to his normal form, was calm enough to observe and plan rather than run and fight.
"For now, but that will not hold true for long," Tokoyami cryptically responded.
"Hey Shitty Hair! Get moving will you?" Bakugo shouted as he used an explosion to blow away a thorny vine that had gotten too close to his headband.
"Take it easy Bakugo, we're all moving as fast as we can."
"Are you really though?"
A purple haired student, the one that had barely made it into the second round, quickly approached the blonde's team. Ojiro and Aoyama from 1-A, as well as Shoda from 1-B, were all carrying him obediently.
"What was that?" Bakugo shouted back at the same time Kirishima sent out a warning not to provoke his team leader.
Both went silent at the same time, eyes as blank as the tired looking student's team.
"Too easy. Now, hand over your headbands," the boy said, almost like an order. And to the great shock of Mina and Sero, their two teammates began to do just that.
"Bakugo! What're you doing?" Sero exclaimed with confusion lacing his tone.
"Stop Kirishima! We won't make it to the next round!" The pink haired girl shook the redhead, then followed up with a slap to the back of the head that was slightly harder than necessary.
"Huh? What…who?" Eijiro frantically backed away from the purple haired enemy, but tripped when he backed into his two teammates and fell to the ground, with Bakugo landing on top oh him.
"Kirishima, are you good? Why were you going to just hand over your headband?" Mina asked. Any answer he may have been able to produce was cut off by a very enraged screech from Bakugo.
"You fucking brainwashed me? I'll kill you for that! Let me back up so we can put this extra where he belongs you extras!"
"I think you might want to start running, dude," Sero offered, already preparing for Bakugo to tell them to attack.
"Let's get them," Bakugo seethed, giving off an aura of bloodlust. At his command, the three ran towards the other team.
"Run!" the leader shouted, which his supporters obeyed without hesitation.
I think this is a decent place to stop. There was a lot of jumping around, but such is the nature of a story based on an anime made from a manga. I hope you liked the chapter. Leave a review if you wish, and have a good day everyone!