Hey all, it's been a while hasn't it?
A/N: Don't own MHA or Marvel, what else is new?
Ben Turner1: That's the plan, I'm not much for over the top angst in stories. A little here and there? Sure, but not too much.
A10riddick: Thanks, again, again, yes, he did, and yes he was.
AnimeFan13579: Yeah, I didn't put too much thought behind it but yes, he could easily tell anyone that he's not doing anything wrong and they'd practically believe him. And I'm working on that part of their bond.
Otakufreak1799: I try to be realistic (ironic in a world like MHA) and I actually do have some plans for Life to return at some point.
Blaze: Yep. No one really gets overly upset at Bakugo and he's always threatening to kill others. But then again he's never eaten a hulking monster's brains, so who know?
Guest: Thanks! Hope this is suitable!
taiwoeretan1: It is from space, but I'll probably dive deeper into that later. And I'm glad you also appreciate Woods. And spoiler, he'll be making another appearance (albeit a small one) in the near future.
Anyway, hope you all are ready for another chapter!
Understandably, Inko was reluctant to let Izuku return to school once UA announced classes would resume. She was fully aware that he and his classmates were more than capable of handling themselves, but a mother's heart can only take so much.
"Just…please be careful," the short woman begged her son.
"I will Mom, I promise." Izuku gave her a long hug, then ran off to catch the train.
"You better watch after him, you hear!" Inko cried from the front door.
"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Scarlet shouted back.
With seconds to spare, Izuku hopped through the closing doors and plopped himself in the nearest empty seat just as the train started moving.
A few people watched as the green-haired teen fed a sharp-toothed mouth a handful of chocolate, but said nothing about it. Having had his morning fill, Scarlet retreated into Izuku's body, leaving the hero student to browse his phone for a few minutes.
"Hey man, how you doing?"
Midoriya looked away from his phone to see Kirishima taking a seat next to him. There was a slight unease in his appearance.
"I'm good. How are you? And how'd your parents react to the attack?"
"I'm fine. And they didn't take it too well. My dad was considering withdrawing me from the hero course, but my mom talked him out of it. Still, neither of them were very eager to let me come back today. They say we should have had more time off."
Izuku looked out the window and took in the passing buildings for a few seconds. It had only been a few days, but he was already realizing how much he missed having friends to talk to. Even if he had traumatized them all in one day.
"Yeah, Mom was really worried. I wouldn't be surprised if she's worrying about another villain attack as we speak," Izuku replied.
Kirishima nodded. The two fell silent and listened to the clickety-clack of the train and the mixing conversations of the other passengers. Finally, Izuku turned to the redhead and asked something that had been on his mind for most of the ride.
"You're scared of me, aren't you? Or at least what I can do, right?"
The lack of an immediate response was all he needed.
"I am, but running and ignoring your fears isn't manly. Neither is abandoning a friend over a quirk. Just because you did something scary doesn't make you a bad person; if anything, it makes you stronger for keeping it under control," Kirishima declared suddenly.
"Well, let's see what the others have to say about that," Izuku murmured in response.
There was so much energy in the hallways. A lot of it was just students happy to be back in classes and see their friends again. Passionately told stories and excited exclamations rang through the halls. But there were waves of nervousness that were almost tangible just beneath the merriment and joy. It almost felt like some people were already waiting for another attack.
Nearly everyone was already in homeroom by the time Izuku arrived. Upon his entrance, the room went silent. But only for a few moments.
"Greetings Midoriya. How was your time off?" Tokoyami asked once the teen had sat down.
"It was fine. Mom was really stressed but I get where she's coming from. I bet your parents were reluctant to let you return?"
"Admittedly a little, but they understand the necessity of conquering the darkness in our hearts," the crow-headed teen replied stoically.
"They cried for nearly fifteen minutes when he first got back and told me that I have permission to physically drag him home if things start looking bad," Dark Shadow corrected.
"Why must you betray me like this," Fumikage dramatically whispered.
A flash of pink, yellow, and black passed in Izuku's peripheral vision. Evidently Tokoyami saw it as well, because he was already watching Mina and Sero push a frightened Kaminari towards Izuku.
"Why me though?" the blonde whisper shouted to his friends.
"Because you're the dumbest and least likely to have tasty brains," Mina whisper shouted back just in time to push Kaminari in front of Izuku.
"Uh, can I help you?" he asked, not quite sure how to take the current situation. Kaminari looked like he was about to vibrate through the floor, Sero was trying to hide behind the blonde despite being nearly 10 centimeters taller, and Mina's face was so pale she almost looked white.
"I've been unwillingly sent to make a proposition. If you can promise not to eat our brains, we'll give you this two and a half kilogram chocolate slab."
To prove the point, Sero unzipped Kaminari's backpack and pulled out the mentioned sweet.
Without even giving Izuku a chance to respond, a large mass of red and black sludge shot out from his cheek and neck. The three classmates instinctively jumped back as the candy was absorbed into the sludge, which somehow pulled the lump through the greenette's skin.
Seconds later Izuku coughed up a scarily clean wrapper.
The familiar shape of a face grew from Izuku's shoulder and took the usual form of piercing eyes and needle-like teeth.
"You guys never were in danger. I don't really know why you thought I would hurt you, but I figure Izuku would find a way to stop me even if I did," the being said before once more retreating into Midoriya's body.
"So…are we good?"
The three looked amongst themselves for a handful of seconds, then nodded in unison. They didn't look fully convinced, but much more relaxed at the same time.
Then the classroom door slid open and in walked Aizawa. Aside from the casts on his leg and the pair of crutches, he looked fine for someone who was attacked by something that was supposed to fight All Might.
Before he got halfway to the front podium, everyone had rushed into their seats. Even Mina, whose desk was on the opposite side of the room.
In a much slower fashion than usual, Aizawa placed himself behind the podium. Using the crutches as supports, he leaned forward and pulled a few sheets of rumpled paper from his black uniform.
"I'm sure you are still recovering from what happened not too long ago. I understand that it may be a bit soon to drop this on you, but it would be illogical to wait until the last second," the teacher started. Everyone's nerves began acting up, dreaming up worrying situations that would lead to anything from expulsion to death.
"The U.A. sports festival is nearing."
"Excuse me Sensei, but is it really a good idea for U.A. to hold such an event after a villain attack? If the sports festival is televised like usual, it'll just give the villains a better understanding of when to attack should they plan to!" Iida quickly asked with a raised hand.
Much of the class had a similar opinion and voiced similar concerns. Aizawa used a quick flash of his quirk as a warning and successfully reverted the room to a more orderly state.
"Evidently, proceeding to hold this event will be seen as a display of a solid crisis management system. However, there will still be upgraded security compared to previous years. In addition, as a sign of goodwill, each of you will be given two front row tickets for your parents or legal guardians. Homeroom is dismissed."
Without wasting a second, the teacher slumped to the ground and wrapped himself in his yellow sleeping bag in one fluid motion.
Days passed and the sports festival inched closer. Everyday, more and more signs of the approaching excitement came to light.
One such sign being the wall of students standing outside the 1-A classroom.
"Why are you all here?" Mineta demanded. "We can't get out and I want to go to lunch!"
"They're scouting out the competition half-pint," Bakugo answered unapologetically. "After all, we've already fought villains. They probably want to get a look at us before they have to fight us in the festival."
"Outta my way you damn extras," the spiky haired blonde seethed as he pushed his way through the front of the crowd. Iida began reprimanding him from behind, but his words fell upon deaf ears.
"Are you really the best 1-A has to offer? I must say, 1-B is much more polite."
A boy with purple hair and eye bags similar to Aizawa's stood in Bakugo's path, refusing to budge an inch for the explosive student.
"Dare I say you give all of the heroics classes a bad rep. After all, so many of us tried out but were denied for people like you. Almost makes me wonder if I still want to try to transfer after the sports festival."
"Eh? What're you on about?" Bakugo asked, suddenly very interested in what the stranger had to say.
"Didn't you know? Fitting; ignorant and arrogant. See, depending on how we do in the festival, students can be transferred in and out between heroics and general education classes. This is our chance to make into the hero classes. I came with a declaration of war for both hero classes. We will be coming after you, so be ready."
With the support of other general education students behind him, the teen turned to leave, but looked over his shoulder for one last statement.
"I also heard there's something of a monster in your class. I hope they don't do anything too villainous," he said with a wicked smile, then walked away with several of the other students.
"Wow, talk about an attitude. Must've been fun to play with him in preschool," Kaminari sneered as he, Kirishima, Tokoyami, and Izuku finally stepped out of the room.
The group passed Momo and Iida, who were conversing with Kendo and Shoda from 1-B, who went through a similar ordeal just before 1-A.
"If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get. It'd be unmanly to step down from a challenge like that!" Kirishima declared, punching his fists together for dramatic effect.
Tokoyami looked between Izuku on his left and Kaminari and Kirishima on his right. "Yes. A fight they will not forget anytime soon."
For the next two weeks, everyone spent as much time as they could training. Izuku and Tokoyami had taken up sparring to take advantage of Dark Shadow's and Scarlet's ability to act independent of their respective hosts, which also meant said hosts did not need to focus completely on controlling their partners.
"Take him down, Fumi!"
"Give him a reminder of why he should fear us!"
"Kick his ass…I didn't mean it literally but that worked!"
"Eat his brains!"
"Stick it where the sun don't-wait what?"
As the two entities began bickering again, Izuku latched on to a wide punch from Tokoyami and, with a quick weight shift, threw him to the ground. Both remained still, panting heavily and sweating into their clothes.
"That was good. Have you been trained in martial arts?" Izuku asked as he pulled Tokoyami into a standing position.
"No, but he watched a lot of anime as a kid and pretended he was the main character," Dark Shadow interrupted, receiving a scolding from Tokoyami.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I used to pretend to be All Might all the time when I was little. Watch."
In a quick act of contortion, Izuku's face morphed into a nearly perfect imitation of All Might, with a loud "I am here!" to boot.
"Please, never do that again. I pray to never see that again."
The two laughed for a little, but were interrupted by the arrival of Bakugo and Kirishima.
"Hey bros! Training for the festival? Mind if we join?"
"I don't mind," Izuku offered, and Tokoyami nodded in agreement.
"Great! This way we can give each other pointers on how to do better in the sports festival. I was going to have Bakugo hit me with some explosions to see if I can toughen my Hardening. Care to join?"
"I am willing if you are."
"I'll watch for now," Izuku said.
So he did. Dark Shadow and Bakugo took turns striking at Kirishima, who just tanked each hit. Two minutes in, Izuku noticed something about both Dark Shadow and Kirishima.
"Keep going! It's finally breaking through!" Kirishima excitedly urged.
Half a minute later, the two had completely broken through Kirishima's quirk. Small chunks of still hardened skin and flesh remained, but more spots were littered with burn marks and slashes.
"Man, that was such a manly workout!" the redhead shouted with a fist pump. "At this rate I'll be the hardest there is in the sports festival!"
"I'm still going to crush you. Same for you Crow and Nerd. None of you are going to beat me, got that?" Bakugo suddenly shouted.
"Don't let him get to you, he's always been like that," Izuku quietly whispered as Katsuki left to blow down some practice targets.
Series of rumbling booms and repeated shouts of "Die!" echoed through the training room for the next half hour. Throughout that time, Izuku left to go home, leaving Tokoyami and Kirishima to their own devices.
He had a few things he wanted to practice in secret.
Inko watched silently as Izuku juggled three baseballs with his hands and another three with a pair of tendrils at the same time. Ever since the news of the approaching sports festival, he had spent more and more time training with his classmates or practicing on his own. Sometimes he didn't get home until nearly midnight.
It still amazed her when she really thought about everything that had transpired over the last year.
So much had happened, and she knew so much more was going to happen.
Especially with the sports festival happening the next day. She could only hope his efforts would pay off.
"Really is packed out there, isn't it?" Sero thought aloud as he adjusted his gym uniform.
"Tell me about it. My mom almost got swept away on the way in," Mina replied. She was currently bent slightly backwards in the air against Kaminari's back. A few satisfying pops were released when the blonde leaned forward, then set her down so the two could switch places.
Meanwhile, Iida was showing Uraraka, Sato, and Kirishima the proper way to stretch before running.
Ojiro and Koda were sitting in the back of the room, neither saying anything as they observed their classmates.
"Midoriya, Bakugo." Todoroki stepped to the center of the now quiet room, looking back and forth between his two classmates. "You both are two of the top students in the class. Midoriya, you have an unnaturally powerful and versatile quirk. Bakugo, your quirk is no laughing matter either, and you have a natural gift for combat. I want you both to know, I will beat both of you. I have something to prove, and defeating you will further my goal."
Before Bakugo could start something that no one wanted to be around to finish, Izuku stepped forward and returned the piercing stare that Todoroki was giving. Tensions crept skyward even as Kirishima tried to separate the two.
"We all have something to prove, Todoroki," Midoriya finally retorted. "And if you're going to talk big, you better be willing to back it up."
"Ladies, gentlemen, and anyone in between; it's the moment you've all been waiting for!"
Present Mic's announcement rattled the stadium, thankfully diverting everyone's attention from the three that had been involved in a declaration of war.
On the teacher's cue, the twenty students made their way down the hall and towards the gateway that led them into the blinding sun.
Deafening cheers fell upon them as they walked out just in time for Present Mic to announce their class. Out of all the voices, Izuku made out a faint "Izuku!" from the crowd. Izuku smiled as his eyes fell upon his weeping, waving mother. She was seated next to Mitsuki and Mararu; the latter gave a friendly wave while his wife tried to get Katsuki's attention.
The green-haired teen let out a soft chuckle when Mitsuki loudly shouted, "Brat! I know you can hear me!"
The rest of the classes were introduced as they entered the stadium and collected in front of the podium. Several voices muttered varying disdains about the hero classes, and others pumping themselves up to steal a spot in one of said hero classes.
"Time for the player pledge! Would Izuku Midoriya please step up to make a speech?" Midnight requested with a crack of her whip.
"Of course it's someone from a hero course," a general education student scoffed.
"Like I said, we're just here to make them look better."
"Let's see if he's as cocky as we've heard."
"Bet he's just as bad as that blonde in his class."
By the time Izuku took his place behind the microphone, he'd come up with roughly half of a speech.
The stadium went silent and all eyes fell on the student, awaiting a grandiose speech.
"Um, hello everyone. I'm glad you all could make it."
Nothing. Not a great start, but could be worse.
"I'll get to the point; I know a lot of you have a grudge against the hero classes. I still don't understand why; if you thought you had what it takes to make it in, then you shouldn't be afraid to stand against us. If you're going to declare a war on us, then come at us with everything you've got. Show us that just because you're a general education, support course, or even business course student, you shouldn't be overlooked. This is UA, go beyond!"
"Plus Ultra!" the crowd roared upon the beginning of the school's cheer.
Izuku quickly hopped off the stage and rejoined his classmates, several of whom gave him encouraging shoulder punches or words of enthusiasm. Even a few of the general education students gave him accepting nods.
"An excellent start! Now, let's see what the first event will be!"
A giant popped up behind her and began cycling through options. As it started to slow, many of the options became readable, such as "Quirkball", "Capture The Flag", and "4v4 Arm Wrestling", which Kirishima and the gray-haired student from 1-B were shouting for.
Finally the cycling stopped, and the words "Obstacle Course" shone down on the mass of students.
"Excellent!" Midnight cried out. "For the first event, all of you will have to run a full lap around the stadium. On paper it might sound like an easy four kilometer run, but there are surprises galore just waiting for you! As long as you stay on course, anything that wouldn't cause serious injury to other students is allowed!" the teacher explained with a point towards a tall but narrow opening in the stadium.
Many of the students rushed to get a spot as close to the opening as possible so they could zip right through, but Izuku stuck towards the back.
Apparently everyone else forgot what school halls were like at the end of a school day.
"And go!" Midnight shouted. Everyone bolted for the door, which proved to be the unforeseen first obstacle.
Exclamations of pain and shouts to move rattled the walls around them as the majority of the students pushed and shoved to little avail. Although some students were lucky enough to have quirks suited for the situation.
Mineta and Asui simply crawled up the walls then towards the exit where a field of ice waited for them.
Izuku, like his two classmates, quickly hopped onto a wall and used his tendrils to pluck out his classmates. At the end of the tunnel he set Jiro, Koda, Uraraka, and Sato down before running off without a word.
"Ready to show off a little bit?"
"You know it."
Izuku grinned eagerly and, with a spread of his arms, was suddenly in the air. Elongations with thin membranes had replaced his arms and a single, thick tail with fins had quickly covered his legs and feet, then extended another foot and a half.
With just a few flaps, Izuku soared almost ten feet into the air and rocketed forward. His shadow flew past the students that had emerged from the tunnel before him as they struggled to deal with Todoroki's ice.
"Of course he can fly now," Dark Shadow complained. With renewed vigor the entity dug his claws into the ice and pushed up, springing the pair forward with a giant leap.
"You already can fly, why don't you just carry me?" the bird-headed teen sarcastically retorted.
Both stumbled as they landed; both were busy thinking of the same thing.
"You can carry me, right?" Tokoyami asked again, this time curious instead of sarcastic.
"Uhm…" Dark Shadow let out. Understanding the plan, the shadow wrapped his arms around Tokoyami and floated, successfully lifting his partner with him.
"Well I'll be," Tokoyami muttered, staring at the ground inches beneath his feet. "Shall we resume the race?"
"Yeah, let's do it!" Dark Shadow cheered then sped forward, far behind Izuku but gaining on the others.
And just like that, we're done. It took a while to really get into this one so it's probably more on the "Meh" side of other chapters I've written, but I still think it works.
Leave a review if you like it, have a good day, and drink you milk! (Unless you're lactose intolerant or allergic to milk, then don't)