Hey all!

Another chapter of The Monster Hunting Hero! and hope you guys enjoy it! Work has been really busy lately with the Black Friday and Boxing Week sales, so any chapter updates will probably be pushed until after we get into the new year.

That being said, thank you all for your patience as I know one of my top stories, "Bearer of the Light" hasn't seen an update yet, but I am trying to get it done and may have to change up how I planned on doing things.

No reviews this time around, but enjoy this latest chapter!

[I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia or Monster Hunter, they belong to their respected owners.]

Chapter 4

That's not supposed to happen.

"Well, Kinoko is resting in one of the spare rooms," Kendo said with a sigh as she returned to the meeting room with Setsuna and Tsu, who had helped carry the unconscious woman to rest and recover from fainting after the revelation of Midoriya being alive. Speaking of which, the red-headed former class president of 1-B quickly made her way toward the small group that had formed around the green-haired man, many of whom were hugging him or shaking his hand, much to his embarrassment.

"Alright, first things first," Kendo spoke aloud to get everyone's attention as she crossed her arms over her chest, her steely gaze on Midoriya, whose blushing face slowly began to return to its standard color, "How are you here? Where have you been? And why haven't you tried to contact ANY of us for these past seven years? And what did that cat mean about slaying dragons before?"

Everyone had grown silent as Kendo began to list off her questions, their gazes turning towards Izuku as he softly rubbed the back of his head, looking away and contemplating something, "W-Well… you see… um… oh gosh how do I explain this…."

"Perhaps it would be best to wait until all parties are gathered, Mr. Midoriya." Nezu spoke from the still-open door to the meeting room, standing there with Toshinori and Aizawa on each side of the furry being, "After all, repeatedly telling everyone your tale would get quite annoying, wouldn't you agree?"

"I-I wouldn't say annoying, sir…." Midoriya spoke gently, looking around at what remained of the former classmates that he knew and worked with during the war against All for One, "But, it would be best if we gathered everyone because… it's a lot to take in."

"Then answer us this then." Tokoyami spoke up, with Dark Shadow wrapped around his body and leaving its elbow on his shoulder, "How did you survive the explosion? We all saw the devastation it had left behind, nor could we find a trace of you or that devil."

"I… don't have a concrete theory." Izuku said, rubbing his chin, letting his mind work as a few of his former classmates smiled fondly at the image of a much younger Izuku in his hero outfit doing the same pose back in their first year at UA when times were much simpler, "But, from what I've been able to put together when All for One had used a quirk to try and escape and with One for All activated at the time… because of something within my Quirk or perhaps the very nature of His and mine, it sent us to where I have been for these past seven years."

Everyone was silent after that until Denki had mulled it over for a moment before snapping his fingers, "Oooh! I get it!"

"...You do?" asked Kyoka, who had been sitting with Momo and making sure she was comfy from where she had been sitting. Her husband beamed brightly at her as Denki puffed out his chest.

"Yea! It's because Quirks are bullshit!"

Everyone collectively groaned, some smacking their foreheads at the blonde's declaration, who had expertly dodged Kyoka's ear jack coming straight at him. Izuku chuckled at the exchange before smiling at the ground.

"Truth be told, he's not wrong, especially considering how weird my quirk and All for One's were."

"See! Even Midoriya agrees with me!" Denki smiled and went to wrap his arm around his shoulder, only to pull back suddenly with a yelp, "YOWCH! Geez, dude, that armor is sharp!"

"O-oh right, sorry about that, Denki. Are you alright?"

"Yea just poked myself on one of the points." The blonde man rubbed his arm where he got poked but waved off the concern, "But seriously, you should let Hatsume check out all that gear you have! She'd have a field day!"

Izuku tilted his head, looking about the small group, and raised an eyebrow, "Hatsume is here?"

"Yes," Momo said from her seat, sitting up a little and adjusting herself to be comfier with a hand on her belly, "She's in her support studio right now and probably won't be out for another couple of days."

"Another 'baby-craze'?" Mina asked from behind Izuku, who had turned around to look at the pink-skinned woman before looking back at Momo, who sighed heavily.

"Sadly, yes… it won't be another couple of days before she comes out again, but I will send her a message to see if I can pry her away for a few spare moments or at least have her call my office at some point today." Momo then looked to Izuku with a soft smile as she spoke, "Would it be alright if I mentioned your return to her? I don't know if that would get turn her attention away from what she's currently doing-"

"Y-Yea, that's fine." Izuku interrupted, chuckling softly and rubbing his cheek with a finger, "If it helps, you can tell her that some of her 'babies' are in dire need of repairs."

A few of the heroes around him murmured to themselves what he meant by that, but before anyone could even begin to ask him, alarms began to blare as well as the lights within the room flashed crimson red.

"What's going on?!" Izuku shouted as everyone around him suddenly got serious and raced back to the large meeting table, where a sizeable holographic display appeared from the middle.

Izuku's emerald eyes gazed over the scene, watching his friends being the heroes he knew they could all be, smiling gently to himself before his attention was brought to the hand resting on his shoulder. Izuku blinked at the bony yet smiling face of Toshinori that greeted him, and despite the ruckus going on around them, The words of the former number one hero were as clear to his returned successor as if the room was utterly silent, "It's a wonderful sight, isn't it?"

"Yea… I knew everyone would make great pros once we-... They finished UA." Izuku said, looking back out to his friends, scrolling through data and feeds that he couldn't quite make out. Toshinori could hear the hurt in Izuku's voice when he had to correct himself, which tugged on the older man's heart, seeing the longing in the green-haired young man's eyes to go and join his comrades.

"They had your example to follow, Young Midoriya… It was because of your drive and selflessness that helped push them through the toughest of times." Toshi smiled brightly now, seeing the bewildered look on Izuku's face, "And while you didn't become a Pro Hero like you initially thought, from what we heard you accomplished in these past seven years… Well, my boy, you became the man and hero I knew you would be, I'm very proud of you, and I know your mother will be too."

Izuku slowly began to tear up, threatening the classic "Midoriya Waterworks" that Toshinori was very familiar with, thanks to his time spent with Inko these last seven years. However, they were snapped out of the touching moment when Setsuna shouted, 'I got something' followed up with what sounded like a roar echoing throughout the room from a radio transmission at her terminal. Toshi turned to the young man beside him and was startled to see his successor's usually bright and large eyes sharpen to a degree that was almost… feral.

"Zzzrt! This is… -roki… Any- can hear me- engaged with- strange creat-*ROAR*" The signal died after that, with Setsuna's fingers flying about to try and reconnect.

"Dammit! There's too much electrical interference; I lost the signal!"

"Did you at least get the location where that was from?" Momo asked, with many holographic screens around her, her onyx eyes scanning each and every one quickly.

"Yea, got the location, about eight blocks south from us."

"Good." Momo said as she slowly stood from her chair, slapping her hand down on the table to get everyone's attention, "Everyone, we will prioritize civilian evacuations; I want a three-block radius of that location to be clear, so Todoroki doesn't have to worry about the public and focus on the fight."

Before anyone could agree, however, a sudden gust of wind erupted within the room, knocking everyone that had stood up to fall back in their seats before a second alarm started to blare loudly. Grunting slightly, with Kyoka and Denki by her side, Momo called out, "What happened?"

"It's the perimeter alarm!" Mina called out, swiping away various flashing red screens to see what had triggered the agency's defenses, "It looks like someone broke in through one of the guest rooms! Turning on the camera… the heck is all that stuff?"

"That's Midori-bro's room!" Kirishima called out as the image of the 'decorated' guest room was revealed to all, including a broken window and an open truck beside it.

Ochako's eyes slowly widened in shock as everyone continued to look at the screen, spinning in her chair and frantically looking about, "W-where's Deku?!"

"The cat is missing too, kero." Tsu spoke up suddenly as well, everyone looking around before they, too, realized what had happened.

"Everyone!" Momo spoke up, her onyx eyes sharpening, "We will deal with Midoriya later; we will stick with the plan right now." She then turned her gaze towards Denki, "Chargebolt, I want you to get the drones in the air; I want visuals on what's happening."

"Got it."

"Everyone else, the operation remains the same, focusing on civilians." Momo said with a stern tone of voice, looking over everyone, "Once everyone is gone, I'll activate the building's defenses so that the broken window left by Midoriya can be sealed and repaired."

"Should we aid Todoroki once the populace has been taken out of the battlefield?" asked Reiko, her arms crossed under her chest as a few of the others looked towards Momo, some clearly worried about their former classmate but others interested to see what he was fighting.

The 'boss' of the agency gently leaned forward, her hands clasped together as Momo rested against them, staring intently at the map. She was silent for a few moments, deep in thought, before sighing, "Even if I would tell you all to avoid the combat area, I have a feeling none of you would listen…."

The pregnant woman gently leaned back in her chair, her hand stroking her stomach protectively, knowing that any high levels of stress would not be suitable for her child, "Once civilians are cleared from the area, head into the combat zone, but do not engage… rather I want reconnaissance if this is something similar to what Ashido and Uraraka faced last night, we will need to be prepared for the future."

"What about Deku?" Ochako said, clearly worried, along with a few others. Just as Momo was about to answer the gravity-defying woman, a clearing of a throat caught everyone's attention; Aizawa tiredly looking at all of his former students with his usual gaze as everyone remembered that not only was he there still, but so was Nezu and Toshinori.

"From what the Problem Child told the Chief and me last night, he will do what he needs to ensure no one is hurt."

"... and what's that?" asked Ibara, looking a little worried from how cryptic the former class 1-A teacher was being. She could feel Aizawa's gaze focus on her for a moment before looking back to the rest of the pro heroes in the room.

"He will go on a hunt."

Shoto grunted as he slid across some of his ice, dodging the literal bolt of lightning that shot forth from the odd creature he had been facing. He gritted his teeth as he raised his left hand to blast the beast with a plume of a raging inferno of fire.

He could hear the pain of the monster before him as his flames met with its body, but ultimately it didn't seem to cause much damage to the creature, who merely snarled at him, its large claws flexing before suddenly charging the number one hero, leaping a great distance towards the man and swiping its large paw at him.

Once again, sliding past the beast and watching it careen into more of the abandoned cars within the middle of the street allowed Todoroki to take a breath, squinting his eyes at the thing he had been fighting for a moment before tapping at his communicator once more.

"This is Icy Hot, I repeat, This is Icy Hot! Come in, anyone!" He panted hard into the device, only getting static back in return which caused him to sigh heavily. The sound of shifting metal and the creature's growl caught his attention as he watched the beast slowly rise back up, its body and fur lighting up with blue electricity that, in his mind, would give even Denki Yaoyorozu a run for his money.

The beast howled loudly, sending a shockwave of lightning out from its body, slamming Todoroki into a nearby car, the door bent from the impact of the pro hero as he coughed out blood and the shout of pain that escaped past his lips as Todoroki collapsed against the ground.

Coughing slightly, The fire and ice user opened his eyes to see that beast lick its maw, its body crackling with lightning and looking more powerful than before. The creature started to slowly descend down its small metal mountain, the broken cars underneath being crushed by its weight and the tiny bolts of lightning leaving burn marks as it idly danced across the metal body of the fallen vehicles.

With a mighty roar, The monster released another display of bright blue electricity from its body, bee-lining towards the struggling Todoroki, struggling to get up. The young hero grit his teeth as he tried to force his hand up in an attempt to release another plume of fire at the creature, only to stop when he heard the voice of someone he didn't recognize.

"KEEP DOWN!"

The number one hero watched as a man clad in the strangest outfit he had ever seen flew by him, wielding what looked like a giant metallic hammer with one end having a protrusion of spikes made entirely of ice, and watched as the two beings collided, the ice on the hammer nailing the creature's gaping maw hard and sending it hurtling a block or so away, smashing into empty cars and street poles before rolling to a stop, staggering to climb up onto its feet. The stranger, covered in bolts of green electricity, blitzed towards the struggling creature, almost as if he was flying towards it. A poking on his head brought Todoroki's attention away from the battle towards a small feline creature, standing on top of its hind legs and holding out a small vial filled with a green liquid.

"Here mew go! This should heal mew up real good!"

An awkward silence fell between the two, the cold, emotionless stare of Todoroki drilling into the cat as it nervously kept holding out the vial. The man's heterochromatic eyes looked down at the vial and raised his right eyebrow, "What is this?"

"It's a Mega Potion! You need to drink this up quickly! Meow-ster needs your help to take out the Meow-nster! He said your ice can easily immobilize it, and then he can finish it off!"

Slowly taking the strange vial, Todoroki brought it up to his nose and sniffed the liquid inside, frowning at the distinct lack of foul smell he would have expected, given the look of the so-called potion and the crude container it was in. Hearing the creature's howl and the slamming of metal pushed any of his doubts to the side, and he downed the liquid in one gulp.

He coughed slightly after swallowing the surprisingly thick liquid, the taste of which was more herbal than what he expected and with a honey-like aftertaste. But what was more surprising was how rejuvenated he felt. He slowly picked himself up with a light groan, still aching slightly in pain but able to stand up fully.

Todoroki looked down at the feline as he stood fully up, "Who are you, and what is your… 'Meow-ster's' plan?"

"Oh! I'm Mochi, Meow-ster's Palico buddy! As for the plan, first off, we wanted to make sure you perfected a move." The feline said as both he and Todoroki began to make their way towards the fight once more, watching the giant beast take a swipe at the clearly human companion, who had raised the shaft of the hammer up in some vain attempt to block the attack, but being sent back a few feet from the strike, "He said it was a 'flash freeze' super move, whatever that means."

The comment stopped Todoroki in his tracks, his eyes widening as, while true, that he had been working on both moves over the years, the fact that his 'Flash Freeze' was one he had never properly used before in combat, and that a few people, that being only Nezu, Aizawa and his father, knew of the move. Yet, this 'Meow-ster" knew of it, and that Todoroki had been working on it, albeit that was a very long time ago, back when he first came across the idea of the moves from within the journals of…

Turning his gaze back to the fight between literal man and beast, Todoroki watched in awe as he noticed the similarities between the mysterious combatant and his fallen friend. A gentle meow soon caught his attention as Mochi looked in with a slight tilt of its head, "Mew alright?"

Todoroki was silent for a few moments before suddenly running past the Palico, who meowed loudly and spun in its spot before regaining its composure and giving chase after the number one hero, heading into the thick of the fight.

"Damn, Zinogre! How in the hell did you get here?!" Izuku shouted to the beast, though he knew he would never get an answer from his opponent; aside from growls and roars, he still needed to at least say something to vent his frustration.

"Ninth, calm yourself… you are letting the essence take hold of you." A voice from within Izuku's mind spoke, the phantasmal image of the fourth One for All user named En appearing alongside the hunter as he expertly jumped over the beast before it landed a headbutt against him.

"We are fighting a monster here! Let the kid go wild!" Another vestige appeared on the opposite side, the 5th user named Diagoro Banjo, who was smiling wickedly with his fists raised, "C'mon kid! Wrap that sucker in some Black Whip!"

"Banjo, please…" En sighed heavily as Izuku shouted and brought the hammer he wielded down against the back of the creature, which yelped in deep pain but was able to smack Midoriya away with its enormous tail, sending him into the side of an abandoned trailer of a semi.

"Something is wrong with this Zinogre though…" another voice, more feminine than the other two as one Nana Shimura appeared beside En, "This one is fighting with reckless abandon, like a mindless creature with no sense of self-preservation. Izuku… be careful."

"Yeah, I noticed." He snipped from his 'seat' in the trailer, quickly pushing himself out when the large beast leaped up and turned itself to land on top of him with its many back spikes. Izuku slid across the concrete as the Zingore struggled to right itself because it was now stuck from the impact. Taking a chance to breathe, the ninth wield of One for All shook his head slightly before looking towards the struggling monster, "Sorry about that… didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's fine, Izuku, but you should end this fight quickly so you can get out of your armor and into regular clothes…." Nana said with a worried tone; Izuku didn't say anything but nodded in agreement to his quirk's predecessor in his mind. As the young hunter began to stabilize his breathing, another vestige appeared suddenly before him, the man formerly known as Hikage Shinomori as the power of the quirk "Danger Sense" flared in Izuku's mind.

"Jump, Ninth."

Not a second after being told, Izuku quickly leaped into the air, hanging a good three feet up thanks to Nana's quirk, 'Float'. Watching as the area around him and the various abandoned vehicles were frozen solid, including the still struggling Zinogre, who howled in pain from the freezing and the sudden temperature drop. Izuku's now visible breath escaped past the faceplate of the helmet as the floating hunter looked towards the stoic gaze of Todoroki, giving him a look that didn't seem to convey any sort of message, but to Izuku, it meant one thing.

He would have to answer many questions to the two quirked person.

However, their attention was caught once again as the creaking of metal and howls from the struggling beast echoed off their surroundings as Izuku gripped his hammer hard and raced towards the Zinogre, who was starting to free itself from its temporary prison, the visual of green lightning surrounded his body as he spun the hammer around his body, some of the lightning seemingly joining itself to the weapon as he brought it down with great smash against the beast's chest, caving it in while shouting "OVERDRIVE IMPACT CRATER!"

The Zinogre howled in pain, its paws and tail flailing for the briefest of moments before all of its limbs and head collapsed against the trailer, unmoving and still as Izuku pulled the now blood-soaked hammer of ice from the spot he had embedded it in the creature and began to land on the ground not to far from the corpse.

The sound of meowing and the clacking of boots against the ice made Izuku turn away from the monster's body to look at Mochi and Todoroki, whose eyes were wide from the blood-stained figure before him, though a sudden realization took place within Todoroki's mind before he walked closer to Izuku, "I assume that killing the creature was necessary?"

"Had to…" Izuku breathed slowly, "Had no capture equipment on me, plus I don't think a pitfall trap would be useful on a city street. Plus, it would wake up again after a short time, and there's no way the city can cage a Zinogre."

"Regrettable, but I can understand the logic." Todoroki said as he looked towards the now lifeless creature, "It was powerful, more so than a Nomu if I could compare it to something, and I guess you have faced creatures like this before, Midoriya?"

"Like you wouldn't believe…." Izuku sighed gently, placing the hammer onto his back before suddenly looking towards his former classmate and sounding shocked as he spoke, "W-Wait! You know it's me?!"

"Apart from the green lightning? The fact you remembered the super move I just used was all I needed to believe that underneath that mask is you, my friend." Todoroki looked back towards his stunned friend, "After all, if it wasn't for your journals, I might have never perfected the move."

"Y-Yea… when Kirishima and Denki were helping me decide on what armor to introduce myself to the rest of the agency in, Denki sort of mentioned you guys went through all my hero journals." Izuku chuckled softly, rubbing his head, "Not that I don't blame you; you guys thought I was dead."

"I didn't." Todoroki said as he placed a hand on stunned Izuku's shoulder, a gentle smile, "There was no body; who was to say you hadn't survived? You have pulled through much worse and still held onto my theories to this day. But I must ask… Different timeline or another world?"

Still stunned and only blinking at the fire and ice user, Izuku slowly answered the question, "Different world…?"

Todoroki simply nodded and commented, "Sero owes me a year's worth of Soba. Now, what do we do about the body?"

Izuku sighed gently, shaking his head before reaching into his pouch to pull out a large knife, "Normally, I'd harvest off any pieces of the monster-"

"Meow-ster! LOOK!" Mochi suddenly cried out, pointing towards the dead Zinogre as all three turned their gazes toward it and watched as the body twitched and writhed wildly. Izuku quickly unsheathed the hammer, One for All flashing into existence once more while Todoroki raised his hands up, ready to blast the thing with a combination of fire and ice. However, what they witnessed just then was indeed both interesting and horrifying, as everyone there could see the body begin to decay at an accelerated rate, its body withering and falling apart before ultimately turning into dust once it hit the ground.

The process was almost instantaneous, and the only thing that showed that the Zinogre had been there (aside from all the damage it had caused previously) was the massive dent against the trailer.

The silence in the air hung for a brief moment before Todoroki lowered his hands, "I take it that wasn't supposed to happen?"

"No… not at all," Izuku said with a deep breath, the display of One for All disappearing before Izuku suddenly went to one knee, the hammer hitting the cement loudly as Mochi screeched in alarm and dashed towards his master.

"Meow-ster!"

"Midoriya? What's wrong?" Todoroki asked, quickly moving to the side of his friend.

"Too much... Essence... Need to… get out of armor…" Izuku panted harshly, making Todoroki's eyes widen slightly; he looked around to get his bearings after the fight, considering he had tried to lead the creature, now identified as a 'Zinogre'. Eventually, Shoto could see some street signs to tell him where they were. Turning his attention back to Midoriya, the number one hero shifted himself to move an arm around his shoulder and help hoist the fallen man up onto his feet.

With his usual stoic look, Todoroki began to walk while holding up Izuku, who had gripped his hammer in his free hand to make sure it wasn't lost, while Mochi followed alongside the pair, and as Midoriya was struggling to keep awake, the hunter could hear the determined comment from his friend as Izuku looked toward him.

"Don't worry, Midoriya, I know the perfect place."

"Shoto, you dummy! Where the heck are you?" Toru Todoroki grumbled as she pressed the redial button on her phone to try and contact her husband. It had been an hour since she last talked to him, and the fact the city was currently on lockdown, and the rumors of a "monster" running amok of the streets had given the invisible woman a terrible feeling.

While the many Nomu laboratories had been discovered and destroyed, the rumors that there were more hidden throughout Japan always gave Toru some anxiety, especially since Shoto had made it to the number one on the hero chart, which meant more than likely he would have to go in and deal with it.

The thought sent shivers down her spine before she grumbled and figured she'd try and call the 'old gang' to see if they had any idea where her husband was and how much he was in the doghouse with her when the chime from their 'front door' caught her attention.

'Front door' being a relative term, given that she and Shoto had moved to a penthouse atop the agency he owned.

"Shoto Todoroki!" Toru screamed as she briskly headed toward the elevator's door, "You have five minutes to explain yours-"

Her words died in her throat, and though she was invisible, it wasn't hard to know that she was stunned at the sight before her.

There was her husband, bloody, parts of his hero suit torn with the arm of an equally as bloody and armor-clad Izuku Midoriya around his shoulders, the green-haired young man looking pale and breathing harshly as beside him was a bi-pedal cat holding onto a helmet that matched the armor he was wearing.

"Hello, Toru; I am home and brought a guest." Todoroki said with his usual emotionless tone, "Could you help me get Midoriya to one of the spare rooms? The armor he's wearing is incredibly heavy."