You know, the chapter for Path of Waves took more time than normal to write, partially because of the fact it's pretty damn long but this should be done before it's due to be posted. But there is some good news! I might be able to get Grammarly premium again sometime this or next week, which means that the quality of my chapters going forward will see improvement in their quality, which I'm sure all of you would be more than happy about. Hopefully, the workaround I came up with works, so fingers crossed. Also, as I finished this up, I was listening to League of Legends music which came in clutch near the end.
Chapter 13: Group Bonding!
"We begin the evening news with a continuation of yesterday's top story, which will be the recent and unprecedented Felu incident. Our on-the-scene reporter, Sugiyama Tsuneyo, has more." The newscaster started, their face serious as they faced the camera from their place in the studio, the feed cutting off to show the clearing that had once been Kon's home, an older image of the place from a satellite which showed up white the place had been covered with snow.
"Yesterday this field was a sight of beauty, covered in freshly fallen snow and surrounded by 4 km of forest in all directions, now it's a crater ruinous wasteland." A voice said over the footage as it changed to show the present conditions, with it being pitted with craters, kicked-up dirt, burnt and destroyed trees and police tape keeping the press at bay as law enforcement still went through the area, the lack of evening snow keeping the scene preserved, at least for now.
It then shifted to a mild-mannered reporter with wild pink hair and glasses, facing the camera as he directed their gaze towards the clearing from their side of the police tape. "Hagino, yesterday, police arrived in the area after being informed of a distress call. Only to be met by an ambush by villains. The first to appear is a known native to Felu city, one Kon Chōjūrō who savagely attacked them, forcing the police to immediately call for pro heroes to be sent to handle the threat." A mugshot of the man was shown to the left, his beastly features seeming to be increased.
"While they were able to beat him back, more villains appeared out of their hiding spots to attack them, all three are known to law enforcement. Two of which, identified to be Midoriya Izuku of Shizuoka and Hasaki Kiruka of Kyushu, were last seen in Kyushu where they evaded capture by the number 3 hero, Hawks, before robbing a store and escaping the city." It was replaced with images of the two new villains, one was Midoriya's last middle school picture, which showed a timid boy, and another was an image of Hisaki, most likely the one her employer had taken of her. These images were underscored by the large red 'wanted' below them.
"It would appear that in the 2 weeks since that incident, they had met up with 2 others, one as of yet unidentified, the other is a Kanagawa native by the name of Makihara Hōyō." The last was of Makihara, but a blurry one as they didn't have a person, they could ask for a better one, and only a rough sketch of Nine. "Together, the five-person gang assaulted the police and pros from all sides, with trusted sources stating that they made liberal use of their quirks to maim and burn many officers."
The footage shown next came from the body camera of a police officer that had been there, but it was shaky and hardly captured the full thing. But it was enough for the studio to show what they were reporting to have occurred, from the beastly roars of Kon as people went flying, to the explosions and fireballs that flew by, most missed by the bodycam footage as the yelling and cries of pros and police made it hard to discern what was happening and to whom, before they cut back to the on the field reporter.
"At present, the casualty list stands at 34 pros and 75 police officers, many of whom are in critical condition after being pierced by dozens of hair-thin needles fired by Hasaki, being savagely beaten by Kon or burnt by Midoriya." The image of Midoriya was replaced to show him when he was transformed during the most recent incident, a fearsome image as he stood amongst the flames of his creation. "We also have reports of a freak thunderstorm that appeared above the area, which law enforcement believes to be the effect of the 5th unidentified member of the villain group that has been confirmed to have caused tens of millions of damage and their cases of grave injuries."
"Sugiyama, what has been the response of locals and law enforcement about this heinous act?" The news presenter in the studio asked, having to wait a moment for the question to reach her fellow journalist on the field.
"Outrage, Hagino. Local city council officials have made no secret of their feelings about Kon, stating in a press report this morning that he should have been arrested months if not years ago and this was only the result of negligence on the part of local law enforcement who their part place blame both at the feet of the arresting officers for trusting Kon would go quietly, and not searching the area beforehand for his compatriots." Some footage of outside the local city hall was shown, with locals crowding it with signs denouncing Kon and the villains for their crimes, for hurting loved ones or just being unsightly, the footage quickly cut before that last one could be seen.
"One such official is the mother of a wounded officer, who was one of the worst cases recovered on sight, in which we can only pray that they make full recoveries." The mother of the police officer Midoriya had spoken to was shown to be leaving the hospital, inconsolable in grief and rage as she cried for what her son had been through, and towards the people that put him in that state.
"In light of such a brazen attack, the Hero Public Safety Commission has stated that they've increased the threat level of all the still-at-large villains to Low C and has released all known details to hero agencies across the county." Back in the studio, the newscaster revealed that piece of information, but the TV was turned off. Having been watching it from the comfort of his home, All Might took a breath through his nose, as deep as he could manage, before exhaling through the mouth, his weakened frame all the more brittle looking from it.
With him were U.A's principal Nezu and Tsukauchi, the first had been there to sort through some of the final things before the school year started, while the second was merely visiting a friend whom he had convinced to take the day off.
"I feared this would happen, but it's still surreal." All Might, Toshinori stated, his hand on his face to try and ease the strain of the stress as before, he could see a way out for young Midoriya, as his crimes had been in self-defense or simply vigilantism which for a youth were little more then the same as jay-walking in most cases. The escapade in Kyushu was a little worse, but when he found out that they didn't harm anyone and just took some clothing, he could say that they were merely after clothes paying a fine for them and the criminal offense would be easy enough to get through as a punishment.
But he couldn't say that anymore, not when the boy had been involved in such an attack.
"Things are far worse than what the media is reporting, I'm afraid." Tsukauchi, who had called up some buddies he had in the local precinct in the area when they saw the news story, added to the bad news now that he had finished his call.
"Have there been any deaths as of yet?" Nezu, the only one who was still calm, asked.
All Might felt some relief when the detective shook his head. "Fortunately, no, but I would chalk that up more to luck than any deliberate withholding of force. That being said, what went down wasn't an ambush but an arrest gone wrong." If only that was good news as Tsukauchi explained what went down, though he suspected he didn't have all the details, same to say that by the end of it, both principal and hero were left deep in through.
"I see, that is quite unfortunate. But taking into account that a freak storm happened the day Midoriya fled from the town and then his temple home, it's safe to say this unknown 5th person must have been the one to recruit him." Nezu stated, recalling the sketch they had been shown of the suspect and trying to recall if he knew of any villains with a similar appearance or quirk but alas, he came up empty.
"It would fit the incident, but that doesn't give us much as we're combed through every person he's ever been in contact with, friends, family even neighbors-not a single person with a quirk that could do this level of damage," Tsukauchi replied, as after the temple incident a couple of weeks back, All Might had asked him to look as deeply as he could into it but he came up empty.
"Could he have been whisked into this by a villain?" All Might asked, grasping for straws as he couldn't believe what he heard, both from the news and from his friend. He had seen the boy, seeing the passion and kindness in his eyes, how honest he had wanted to be a hero despite the discrimination his quirk gave him. It just didn't make sense that that boy, the same young man who restored a temple and cared for it with diligence and zeal for months would up and join a villain group.
Tsukauchi wasn't as invested in the boy's situation as his friend, but he did see that the situation didn't make much sense. But he also knew that sometimes things didn't make sense. "Possible, as he was in a vulnerable position, isolated and scared. But Toshinori, that doesn't change the facts. He wasn't just there; he was one of the worst of them. 19 of those pros and 31 police fell to his flames, Frost nearly died and won't be expected to make a full recovery for the next 4 months." The woman had been engulfed in his flames and barely clung to life long enough for her to be rushed to an emergency room.
To say that she was badly burned would be an understatement, she looked closer at someone who was dipped in magma as 80% of her body was covered in 3rd-degree burns, she had lost all her hair, eyebrows and lashes included, and one eye was considered nearly unsalvageable. She had also breathed in incredibly hot air while in that vortex and her mouth, throat and lungs had also been badly burnt, enough that she needed machines to breathe while quirk healers and drugs did their thing.
He might have said she wouldn't recover for 4 months, but he left out the fact that didn't mean she'd be cleared for anything hero-related for at least 8 as she was well within the boundaries of retiring with a generous pension fund that the commission set up for pros forced into it on the job.
"I can't see Shiketsu taking that lying down, she was one of the more popular graduates in the last few years, she could have made the top 50 in just a couple of years." Nezu, who he suspected knew he was keeping things from All Might to spare him from it, spoke up as Frost was also a young pro, only 21. He had even attended the graduation ceremony as a favor to the principal and recalled how proud she had looked at completing her education.
"I suspect there is more." All Might stated as he might have tried to ignore it, but that didn't mean he couldn't see the facts for what they were. And as a hero, he had to look at it all, no matter how much he wished not to.
Tsukauchi sighed, wringing his hands together. "I wish there wasn't, but one of the officers at the scene knew Kon and they didn't have a good history. Midoriya not only severely damaged his hands when he blew up the gun he had been holding, but assisted in what came next, which was Kon nearly destroying one of his legs. From what the police have been told, whatever was left had to be amputated."
Hearing that shocked the man "He…he did that?"
"He did All Might, I'm sorry but the best thing you can do for him now…is stop him before he hurts anyone else," Tsukauchi told him, as he could only imagine that the group was planning after this as it wasn't every day that a villain group managed something like this.
"In light of such a brazen attack, the Hero Public Safety Commission has stated that they've increased the threat level of all the still-at-large villains to Low C and has released all known details to hero agencies across the county." Muting the TV, Kon and Midoriya sat on the couch placed in front of an old TV.
At present, the group was hiding out in another of Nine's safehouses, this one being an old warehouse under a fake name. Having crossed into the next prefecture up north sometime in the early morning, they had only settled for the…morning once they were on the outskirts of Lothal City as that was where Nine had a place for them to crash, which they did for as soon as they arrived, they had found their bedrooms and slept on the floors, not caring that they didn't have beds yet.
Now it was around 2 in the afternoon, with the group being refreshed after a good night's rest and showers. In the back, Makihara was seated in the makeshift kitchen area while Makihara came down from the 2nd floor, where their rooms were located.
"Of course, they paint us as the bad guys, can't let people know we kicked their asses even when they had the jump on us and the numbers advantage," Kon stated, not surprised in the slightest that they seemingly went out of their way to show him as a rampaging beast.
"It was pretty obvious, it's how the world works. We broke the mold, can't have others seeing what we did and wondering if they can't do the same." Hasaki said, sitting down and gently combing her hair.
"Still, maybe we went a bit too far, as it was fun at the moment but it's not so fun to hurt people for no reason," Midoriya replied, as now that he wasn't in a mood thanks to being covered in snow, he felt that he had taken things too far, especially with that ice lady even if she was being mean by trying to cool him off by force. "But they did pick a pretty good shot of me, the flames around me made my clothes dance in the haze." He chirped as he patted Koharu's head, the snake resting in a pile on his lap.
"You focus on the weirdest of things," Makihara replied as Koharu looked his way and he had a feeling that she was saying something about him. Whatever it was must have been funny as Midoriya had a hard time covering up his laugh.
"It's fine." None raised any questions about that, having long since learned that he could communicate with her thanks to their connection, one he was sure to say that in time, they'd have as well. At that moment, the side door's handle moved, and it was slight but everyone present flinched as they readied themselves for a possible fight, but relaxed when Nine walked in, the sight of the man wearing such casual clothes and cap made it that it wasn't just Koharu that laughed, in his hands, he carried two bags with their food.
If Nine was unamused with their snickering at the fact he was wearing 'normal people' clothes, he was hiding it pretty well as he was the only one that could go into town and get them stuff like take-out without alerting the authorities who already knew they crossed prefecture lines more than ones, last thing they wanted for them to pin-point in what direction they went this time.
"Anything important happened while I was gone?" He asked as he placed the bags on the dinner counter, the others getting up and opening them up.
As Kom took out the containers of food, he shrugged his shoulders. "Just the news reporting on us again. We've been elevated to Low C-rank." Nine hummed at that, handling the drinks and making sure they were still cold.
"Be prepared for that to only rise as time goes on, but for the attention, it'll die down when someone high ranking does something flashy." Nine replied as he helped to organize the food, with one of the last things being a pack of raw beef which he handed to a surprised and very happy-looking Midoriya.
"You got it." He looked up to the man, holding the container like it was made from glass as Koharu eyed it hungrily.
"I said I would, didn't I?" Nine replied as Midoriya had asked that he get something for Koharu to eat as the place was surprisingly bare of rodents as one would expect of an abandoned warehouse. Koharu looked towards the man herself, with him nodding her gaze. "You're welcome."
"You understand her?" Hasaki asked as Midoriya set the container down close to his food, the snake slithering off of him and onto the table to have her meal.
"No, it was just the vibe." With that reply, the rest sat as well and started eating, enjoying their first meal as a group, appreciating the atmosphere as much as the good food as none could really remember the last time they could sit at a table with others and remain so relaxed, free of the weight of suspicion that something might happen, or that one of the others would pull something.
"So," Kon swallowed the streak he was chewing, turning the leader of their little group who calmly ate his bowl of donburi. "What now? We need a plan now that most of our faces have been plastered all over the damn place."
"We'll continue to fight to correct this ill-designed society, but there are steps that need to be taken, things that we need first." Nine replied, calm and collected as ever even if they could see that he was enjoying his food, the same as them.
"Such as?" Kon pressed the issue.
"Strength, not just in body but in wealth, supplies and influence." Nine had amassed funds over his years of travel and isolation, but as he rarely used it or replenished what he had, they were burning through all that fast. Even if they weren't, they needed to work their way up the underground to be seen with any sort of respect. They had made a big splash but the waters would settle soon enough.
"What about a training trip?" They turned to Midoriya as he continued to munch on his pork, taking in a large piece and swallowing it without issue before he continued. "I mean, we're going to need to be as strong as possible to get everything, right?" They nodded at that.
"So why not go somewhere far from others and train, not only do we improve but we learn about one another as we're a team, we gotta figure out the best ways to fight as one." He explained himself as plenty of hero agencies trained their sidekicks to work like well-oiled machines, they had to for the sake of efficiency. Why not do the same with their group?
"I would assume you already have ideas on this?" Nine raised an eyebrow as Midoriya's eyes sparkled with an eager energy.
"Yup, hold on!" Tossing back the rest of his food, he got up and raced up the stairs, still chewing it, the hard cluttering upstairs as he pulled his door open with more force than necessary, before he dug through his meager belongings before coming right back down, the boy skipping towards the table and slamming down a simply looking notebook, the sort of which you could get at any office or school supply store, written in bold black words as the title 'Analysis for the Future. Vol 1'
Excitedly, he flipped it open a couple of pages, passing pages which they saw had sketches of three of them, barring Kon. "Here! I wrote down some ideas about what we could work on, combos attack plans. I don't have anything with Kon but I'll figure something out, after that fight, I can tell that Kon and I would be a powerful combination as he excels in close quarters, speed and strength while I can cover him from mid to long range via my flames, especially since they're as not a big a threat to him as they would be for Hasaki and Makihara-" He just kept going while Koharu ate her food, but none had the heart to stop as he looked so happy to share his observations and ideas.
"You knew this would happen, didn't you?" Makihara looked towards their leader who followed Koharu's advice and kept eating as Hasaki only rolled her eyes but smiled nevertheless.
"Does he do this often?" Kon asked, new to one of Midoriya's staple mutter sessions.
"Only when he gets invested in something, such as quirks." Nine replied, as he had learned pretty early on that the boy's love for heroes, at least in concept, hadn't weakened in the slightest but with them moving around all the time, he didn't have time to fan over them like he used to. If they were common criminals, out for selfish gains, he probably would have taken issue with one of his idolizing the people who stood against them.
But they weren't, and he didn't. If he made the kid happy to analyze heroes? Who was he to stop him? Besides, he had easily turned his attention to them in their off time, watching from a corner as he and Koharu conversed about their quirks, writing down whatever theories and observations he had.
"As much as those ideas sound interesting," He spoke louder, to draw Midoriya's attention, the boy blinked for a second with a deer in headlights looking at him as he got lost there for a second. "It wouldn't be ideal for us to pair two of our heavy hitters in one group, it seems excessive and leaves the others underpowered."
Flipping through to his most recent page, it was a pretty bear as he hadn't the time to study or ask Kon about what he could do, and he didn't want to put in the speculations from the media either since they were going to meet him soon, why not wait till them and get it straight from the horses, or in this case, Chimera's mouth?
"You have a point; we can't risk being top-heavy on this…there is also the fact I need to be close to you to heal any damage your quirk does to you." As powerful as the two would be, it would learn the others weakened, even if Nine was in their league of power, he wasn't as sustainable as the two. Then there were Makihara and Hasaki, who while no slouches in a fight, were more technical fighters that lacked raw power or strength.
"Makihara or I would be enough to cover Kon, controlling targets and giving him openings as he's the second strongest of the group." Hasaki, her hair picking up the empty tray and chucking it into the trash, the woman not needing to get up at all.
"Second?" Kon turned his gaze towards her, which she met without a hint of fear.
"You're a powerhouse, Kon, no one is denying that but you're weaker than both Midoriya and Nine." She started, which felt a tad insulting to the man as Nine stepped in to elaborate.
"However, he's far more reliable than me if Midoriya isn't present, I can't be reliable in battle, especially if it's prolonged by my quirk which comes with the drawback of damaging my cellular tissue, outright destroying it if I use my quirk for too long." Kon could accept that rationale from the man, having heard of similar quirks in the past, abilities that hurt the user but most had been pretty useless shit.
"So, you're a glass cannon?" He summarized as Nine took another bite of his food.
"Yes."
Makihara took it up from there, his half-eaten bowl of misaki maguro ramen left for the moment. "Midoriya on the other hand has no such drawback as you heard him, every time he transforms himself, he's burning away his skin, muscles, blood, bones and organs. All of it turns to ash in seconds and is replaced with a body made of animated flames, magma and rock."
"It's not just when I transform, every time I use my power, I burn myself or did you all think that the steam just came from nowhere, something has to be boiling to make it, which the doctors think is the water content of my muscles and blood," Midoriya added, to the surprise of the rest who looked at him like he was insane, now that they had added context for that little habit of his.
Recovering from that rather morbid detail, the bandaged-covered man continued. "Which helps make my point, you can dish out large amounts of firepower, and are self-healing so as long as you got stamina in the tank, you're a walking volcano."
"How the hell are you still standing? I thought it was just that transformed state of yours, but I've seen you use your quirk whenever the hell you want, you used it just now to heat your damn tea." Kon asked, as Midoriya had just casually drank his tea, noted it was a bit lukewarm and after retrieving a mug from the cupboard to transfer it into, simply held it and increased the temperature of his hand till it burst into flames, how the cup itself wasn't destroyed he didn't know.
Midoriya for his part, just shrugged. "I'm not sure if there is a problem there to be honest, for as long as I can remember, I've not had an issue with burning. Sure, I feel it, but it's like the warmth of a summer's sun on your skin, just on my insides, you know?"
"You're batshit insane, you know that?" Kon replied to how crazy that statement was, but he held no judgment and was more impressed that the kid could just take such an experience. "But even then, I could squash you." Before Midoriya could reply, Nine spoke to break things up before it descended into a pointless argument.
"We can figure that out while we train, it would also serve as a good time for Midoriya to finetune his notes on us and our abilities so we can better plan our steps going forward. It will also serve as a means for us to get into sync." Nine informed them, with the two in question eyeing the other for a moment longer before nodding, as Makihara and Hisaki were already on board with this.
"When are we leaving?" Hasaki asked as Nine finished his meal.
"In a couple of days, once some more of the heat dies down so I recommend you get some rest as it's going to most likely be a long trip." He replied as they finished up their food and tossed the now useless containers. While Nine went to the back to meditate, Kon returned to his room to take a nap now that he had a full belly. Which left just the three as they went back to the couch to sit and relax.
With Makihara paying more attention to the show playing on the TV, Hasaki got a little closer to Midoriya, Koharu fast asleep wrapped around his neck. "Hey, I gotta know something."
"Shoot."
"Have you…ever been afraid of fire? I mean, there must have been a time when you were even just a little unsettled by your quirk." She asked, as she still found it insane that he didn't so much hurt himself to use full power, but every time he used it regardless of how much it was. Even the act of warming himself a little to stay comfortable in the winter cold must have hurt him, yet he did it without hesitation or complaint.
Midoriya thought about her question, as he had considered it in the past a few times, more so when others brought up how fire was dangerous or evil or some other word for bad and he just didn't understand it. "Maybe there was a time since it's my quirk and I only had it since I was 6 but the funny thing is, I can remember stuff before them, but not if I was afraid of fire or not." He replied as if it wasn't like his quirk erased his memories before it came in late, and more that even when he thought back to those days he couldn't quite fit into that mindset.
"Maybe my mom would know if I was like everyone else, but as far as I see it, asking me that is like asking if a fish was afraid of water if she's afraid of air." He concluded as Hasaki gave him a dry look.
"But fish live in water and we kinda need air to breathe." She stated, finding his example to be a poor one but he didn't see it like that as he explained.
"Yet a fish can be killed in water if there isn't enough oxygen in it, or if the current turns on them. Same with you, the air can become a typhoon and sweep you off your feet. Fire's the same for me, it's dangerous but it's a crucial part of my existence."
True to his word, they were gone a couple of days later, once more they crossed prefecture lines into northern Niigata. They had avoided busy roads and traveled at night, camping away from the road in case anyone came by. Once they arrived, they spent another 3 hours hiking to put as much distance between themselves and everyone else as possible as the last thing they wanted was a repeat of their last battle with heroes.
Once they found a spot among the trees wasn't as hard as he expected, as it was easily large enough for them to set up camp with their stolen gear, gear acquired from a camping store they robbed in the middle of the night and burnt down to cover their tracks. He hadn't been thrilled by it, but it was nice to watch the place burn emerald into the night. They even left a box marked payment at the scene with the exact amount of cash the stolen goods were going for! Everything else could be covered by insurance.
When things were done, they had 3 tents, one for Midoriya and Nine, the other was for Kon and Makihara and the last was for Hasaki. Villains they might be, but the lady should still have a space for herself, he was happy that he could follow that rule he had learned from his mother growing up. Along with the tents, they had a little locked chest with supplies that didn't go into any one chest, and a put dug in the snow for a fire, Kon was easily able to tear a couple of trees down and break them into dry timber which he could light whenever they needed, such as now as a fire burnt in in it, warming Hasaki and Makihara as Midoriya was happy to say that Kon joined him and Nine in the 'the cold never bothered me anyway' group.
But they came with a purpose and that was to train. And to settle which of the two was stronger, they decided that it would be best for Kon and Midoriya to duke it out, with the others watching from a safe distance as this was going to involve a lot of fire. With the two, as Midoriya had handed Koharu to Hasaki for the match, they stood across from one another in another clearing, Kon cracking his neck while Midoriya did some stretches to get himself limber for what was to come.
"Ready?" Kon asked him, finishing his cigar with one final drag before tossing the bud to the side.
"Of course." Midoriya crouched low, his hands close to the ground as his body started to heat up, his eyes started to glow as he called on his inner.
Kon saw this and with a savage grin, yelled out. "Then let's have some fun!"
And we'll cut things here. There was more planned but unlike in Path of Waves, I didn't want to stretch this chapter past the word limit, as that would just take too much time and I do have other things to do. It was a change of pace to see All Might's POV of all this, as it's been a while. As for the coming fight between the group's heavy hitters, you'll have to wait for the next chapter, which will be out on February 14th.
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