The Soul of a Hero
Chapter 14
Now for some fun and a bit of respite after the last three chapters. I know people like the dramatic stuff, but everyone needs a bit of breathing room. So I'll peek in on all of the new happenings with the DWMA branch of UA now. As well as how all of the students are handling Star as a teacher. On with the show.
(No POV)
"C'mon! Is this all you can do?!" Star asked the first years as they were fighting against him again out on the outdoor battleground. Having already taken out half of both classes and only a few of the longer ranged ones were still standing.
Well more or less. "Damn. I think he broke more than my arm with that last attack." Jiro said with a wince while taking cover with Momo. She herself was sporting a puffy eye and a few cracked ribs from an attack that broke right through her metal staff. "And his damn wooden swords haven't even got a chip on them!"
"Allow me to finish this!" Aoyama announced before leaping up and firing his laser at full power. Jon sensed it coming and was about to dodge when a different thought came to him. 'Guess it couldn't hurt to try. Pops only told me about it once, but I think I can do it!' he thought with a smirk. Taking a stance before opening his mouth. And through his willpower and soul, he ate Aoyama's attack.
Jaws were dropped upon seeing this, both on the battlefield and in the observation room. "THAT'S IT! I'M DONE!" Aizawa screamed before storming out of the room. Nezu meanwhile was cackling like a madman at what he saw. "I take it…. This is more of that uh….. War God thing right?" Mic said with a twisting of his head.
"Uh….. probably?" Midnight murmured out before noticing the uncomfortable look on Star's face. "That really just happened didn't it." Bakugo said as Aoyama crashed unceremoniously behind him. Both of his hands and arms broken from trying to attack and then getting struck by four swords. "Seems like it yeah. What the hell is he?" Juzo asked with his faceplate cracked.
Before anymore questions could be asked, Star looked like he was about to vomit and then launched the laser he just ate back at the teens. Blasting both Bakugo and Juzo, as well as taking out Kaminari and Jurota with it. "*COUGH!* OH MAN! Shit! Pops never told me how much that hurts! *Hack!*" Star groans out before wiping some blood from his face. He shakes his head again and coughs before looking out to the battlefield and sees the rest of the teens holding their hands up.
"Not worth it! Not today! It was bad enough with the butt kicking, but after that!? I'll take a F!" a handful of them say while holding up their hands and dropping their gear. The only one who still looked like they wanted to try was Pony and she was trembling as she had her horns at the ready.
Star saw this and nodded a few times (coughing while he did) then brought his wooden sword up to his eye. Pointing the tip at the girl. "I'm… I'm not giving up that easy!" she shouted before firing off her horns at Star. Who rushed in and evaded or deflected her quirk. Right as he was swinging at her neck, Pony fired her horns up and changed their trajectory as quickly as possible. Aiming for the meister's head.
He gently moved to the side to dodge the attack and stopped his blow right next to her throat. Pony was still terrified (and had lost control of her bladder) but she held her ground as best she could. "You'd be about the third girl I've said this to: I'm impressed and good job." Jon said before backing away slightly.
As Pony collapsed, Jon felt the side of his head. "You actually got me. It's just a graze, but you did manage to draw a bit of blood. A plus for the day," he said before picking up his scattered swords. The members of 1-B who saw this interaction quickly hurried to Pony's side to congratulate her and the girls helped her to cover her shame. "Wait. Thank you for the lesson," she said while still trembling.
Jon looked back with his exposed eye. Taking a breath before nodding and walking away. Pony winced again before her classmates took her back to the locker room. "How true is that?" All Might asked Ming as they were leaving the observation room. "It's pretty close. Given I was the first he said that to. And the second was one he met later at school. One of the twins from the Evans family."
The number one nodded before chuckling about his stand off nature regarding women. "I'm guessing there were plenty of girls from your world who tried to say they were the best and take him on? And he didn't respond well to it," he asked with some worry. Ming sighed a little and admitted it was accurate.
"Didn't help that most of them thought his misogyny was based solely on ego or similar. They learned the hard and painful way more often than not. Not even sure some of them have recovered after all this time. Because he doesn't hold back against girls or women. If anything, he puts out more against them."
All Might hums but doesn't say more as they leave to check on the rest of the students. "I can't believe that the principal is still allowing that man to teach!" Recovery Girl shouted while patching up the students after their session with Star. Resetting Jiro's arm before kissing it to help her recover. "I'm personally glad our injuries aren't as bad as before." Ida said while nursing the concussion he'd mostly recovered from.
Momo gave her vice rep a look before taking a breath to enjoy the fact her ribs weren't broken anymore. "I still can't believe that nutcase ATE freaking Aoyama's laser! And then puked it back up to take four others out!" Setsuna said while opening and closing her bandaged hand. Recovery Girl turned back to the lizard splitter teen and asked, "are you serious?! How does he not have internal damage or rather: how did he not DIE from that?!"
"It's quite simple Recovery Girl. It's because he's the War God's successor." Nezu said while still laughing at the sight he'd witnessed. Speaking of him though, he was currently in a special room that Nezu had designated to let the meisters and weapons talk with Lord Death. "Well done all of you. But this does lead to some unsettling revelations for that world," the Reaper said with his hands clasped before his face.
Jon sighs and says, "yeah. It proves that some of them are likely up to their same tricks. The problem is we don't know where they are and we don't have enough operatives to work with." The door then opens and Tensei walks through the door. "Well you've at least got one more with me. I think I can handle some of it now. Just need a weapon."
"Unfortunately, that's the other problem. We still don't know where or what all weapons are out there. And it's hard to say how some of them will handle these matters." Ming noted with a shrug. All the meisters and weapons sighed at this before Izuku mentioned, "well we'll just have to go looking for some. Eventually. Right?"
Jon and Ming smiled at the boy before noting that he'd probably have to be the one to do that. "As it stands, the two of us need to stay here and protect the region. Though I could maybe use a new weapon too." Star said with a smile directed Ming's way.
Who snorts before saying, "what so you can try to make a second Death Scythe?" The weapon/meister pair chuckle before moving on to discuss more matters involving missions and dispatching the few meisters they had. "I don't think we really need to worry about that right now. Instead, why don't you let them relax. You're too much of a workaholic as is Jon. You should learn to relax more." Lord Death advised while holding up his hands. And then twitching slightly when one hand was slightly higher than the other.
Jon seemed ready to argue, but the Grim Reaper cut him off and told the group to take a few days to really rest. "I'll have new targets for you all later. Goodbye." Death said and the mirror faded. Star grumbled before stepping outside of the room. He had considered using Kosho, but his own wavelength was too intense for her. "She might be just right for you Tensei. Though she was only a NOT prospect when we were there. Maybe you can figure something out."
Tensei looked at Jon funny but thought about the odd pink haired young woman who had been working with UA for a while. Considering the idea of teaming up with her and trying to do both hero work and working as a meister. 'Maybe I could do something like swinging around the city with her. Wouldn't give me the same speed, but still.' Tensei thought while making his way through with the rest of the meisters.
Izuku and his partners decided to take some time and spend it with a few of the first years. Including Bakugo who, while a bit uneasy given how he treated his "friend" for so long, was happy to at least catch up and make sure he was okay. "There had always been talks between our folks that if something happened to them, you'd stay with us. Sure, I was a complete piece of shit. But after…. Well," he started before trailing off.
"Yeah. I'm not a fan of remembering it either. But I guess that's a better sign." Izuku said as they hung out at the library for a while. Izuku getting back into doing proper studies since all Jon focused on was physical skills and training. Mary and Jane meanwhile were glad to talk a few things with the girls from 1-A and 1-B. "Not that miss Ming isn't nice, but it's definitely been more fun to be around those our age." Mary said with her sharp teeth showing in her smile.
Mina meanwhile couldn't help but compare the two to the rest of them regarding figures. Causing all to blush before giving the pink girl a smack on the head. Johari and Muwali took their own time exploring the town of Mustafa. The former enjoyed doing more people watching. Even if sometimes her Soul Perception messed with her to the point she couldn't help but see certain things that she reported. "Yes. A man with blue spiky hair and wearing a business suit. I noticed him following some young girls with an unsettling look in his eyes. Understood. No problem," she said before hanging up her cell phone.
Muwali though had fun watching some of the heroes doing what they do and trying all kinds of snacks from vendors. Though he did get into a bit of trouble when he used his wind blades to cut a spider quirked person's threads and free some captives. "Thanks for the help, but you should still wait until you've earned your license." Rock Lock said while the villain was being taken away.
Only for the hero to be shocked when Muwali turned into his weapon form. "I'm just taking a break for now. You better hope a lot of them don't get out, because we'll be coming for them!" the mamebele knife said with a laugh. Which disturbs the few heroes near Rock Lock as he turns back into a human.
For the Shield duo, they were each doing things independent of one another. Melissa was again working on support equipment and stopping Mei from causing explosions in the lab (much to Power Loader's gratitude). "I'm telling you! It needs a better junction for the power core to function as we want," she said while looking over the blueprint of a capture device Mei had designed. But it was still not working properly.
Eldora chose to take some time to teach a few people sign language. Not just to talk with her, but in case it would be needed in the future. "I'm kind of surprised you want to learn this little guy. Thought you'd be only interested in well…" El signed while looking at Mineta and then her chest. The boy was looking there intently at times, but he had taken the time to properly learn. "I was, no. I want…. To fight, no. I think it be help in other springs. No. Things. Things." Mineta clumsily signed. Blushing at his misspells or wrong patterns.
The golden shield used her perception to get a look at his soul and could see he was mostly sincere. 'If only for a shallow reason. But he does seem to think it could be useful for heroes. And really it could.' El thought before teaching again.
Ming chose to do one of her favorite pastimes while on the break. That being playing games. Even finding some non hero course teachers who enjoyed both tabletops and video games to play with. "Jon's never been interested in these too much. But honestly I think it's because his luck is terrible when it comes to rolls." Ming mentioned while playing a board game with some teachers.
Speaking of Jon, he was trying to find something to do for the next few days. But kept feeling an uneasy twitch that told him to train or fight. 'I spent so long doing that for one reason or another. I guess I just can't relax,' he thought while wandering the halls of UA. Eventually taking to practicing stances and attacks. Even trying out a few of the things he knew he'd seen Black Star practicing. Finally getting the ability to levitate through his will and soul.
"And this is normal for your father?" Snipe asked incredulously as he saw the fighter levitating. Or he was until his concentration was disrupted. "Yeah. Pops has pulled off some crazy things through all that. And he started to learn and do all of it when he was twelve." Jon said to the shock of the hero teachers observing the man. "What the hell are we doing then?" Mic asked with a laugh before the others chuckled with him.
But this only annoys Jon, and he leaves to get some space. "Damnit. I just can't seem to calm down. Probably because of all my trauma and whatever. That and I know dad didn't take much time off. He was always training too." Jon thought aloud while making his way into the city. He felt a few people looking at him funny but he mostly ignored it and just went about checking some back alleys.
Getting his own brand of stress relief in beating down all kinds of dirt bags who had been looking for people to rob. "Over a dozen of you idiots and you can't even land a hit. Shows where you stand." Star said atop a pile of goons before the police showed up. "Ha… I suppose this helps us out so it's fine. But you really shouldn't be doing this." Tsukauchi said as he led a task force to escort the criminals to jail.
Jon just rolled his eyes at that and was about to leave when he felt something behind him. Turning back to spot a woman (of course) who turned her arm into a lasso and looped it around one of the goons. "Interesting. What's your name?" Jon asked while walking up to the woman. She appeared to be of a mixed Indian and Japanese descent, given the slight accent when she said, "uh Nagenawa. Nagenawa Pashra." She had a tan complexion and red eyes. With long black hair braided behind her back.
The meister nodded while looking to her hand. 'It just had to be another woman didn't it. Whatever. I can still work with this.' Jon thought bitterly before asking how she was doing that. "I uh…. I'm sorry, you're that meister right? Why does it matter to you what my quirk is?" Pashra asked with a shake of her head.
"Because it's not a quirk. You're a weapon from what I can tell." Star said with a smile. All of the officers looked at him funny as he said that and Tsukauchi asked if he was serious. "Yep. She's actually, my guess, a pasha. A Hindu weapon used to bind evil. But you've probably never actually fully transformed," the meister explained before asking if she'd be willing to come to UA to learn more.
Tsukauchi coughed and said that they needed to get the criminals at least loaded up first. "But if he is correct, then maybe it would be something new for you," the detective said with a look to the young woman. "Don't I really get a say in this?" Pashra asked in some worry.
The two chuckled before Jon just suggested that she should give the UA Meister course a look. "We've been looking to increase our numbers as is. If there are more like you, we might be better off. But aside from all that, wouldn't you like to know more about who you are?" Jon said with a look directed her way.
The young woman hummed uncomfortably but she couldn't deny a bit of curiosity. 'I always did wonder if there was something else I could do with my quirk. Or no he said I'm a weapon. I'm finding that hard to believe, but maybe I'll prove them wrong.' Nagenawa thought before agreeing to visit with Star.
And then feeling intimidated at the sight of UA itself. "Don't worry. I called ahead and someone, ah Hizashi." Star said as the hero arrived. The Voice hero chuckled before asking what was going on. "You'll see when we get further in. C'mon." Jon said with a gesture to Pashra. Who gulped as she crossed the UA barrier and made her way into campus.
She looked around the halls as they made their way through the main building. Some of which is still being repaired from Izuku's first attempt to resonate with Mary. "Yeah that's kind of normal for weapons and meisters. You'll get used to it." Star said nonchalantly. Pulling his eyepatch up to look for Ming and the ones she was playing games with. Bursting through the door when he found them and partially to the embarrassment of Ming.
"Really?! Again!" Ming asked while quickly taking off some of the costume elements she was wearing for her role playing game. "This takes priority." Jon says with a gesture towards the young officer. Ming grumbles before adjusting her glasses and sensing what he was getting at. "Another one like Muwali? Interesting," she said while tilting her head to the side.
Which just made Nagenawa uncomfortable as Ming moved around her. "We'll have to see what her weapon form fully is. I'll be back later guys!" she said to the other teacher before turning Pashra around and pushing her towards one of the gyms. "I thought you two would be sticking together?" Mic asked as they followed the pair of women.
The meister shrugged and admitted that it would be interesting to learn how to use another weapon. "Besides, a Death Scythe needs to stick to one region. And I like to drift around. After everything I've been through, I'd prefer to stick with that rather than being tied to a continent or whatever." Mic chuckles at this and said that he'd probably get along with Mirko. "She's of much the same mind. Always wandering Japan looking for fights."
Jon gave the hero a stink eye at this while focusing on his partner and a possible new partner. Once in Gym Gamma, Ming started showing what she could do with her own weapon abilities in human form. Proving to Pashra that it was similar to what she always believed was just her quirk. "But…. how do I become a weapon?" she finally asked after watching Ming create her blade, staff, and pommel.
Then was amazed by the transformation into her full guandao form. As well as feeling the intimidating presence of her soul. "You have to do two things. First, feel it. You know a rope is part of it, but you need to feel it through your whole body. Second, don't try to control the change too much. Just let it happen." Ming explains while tilting and gesturing in her weapon form.
The officer was willing to try (while also still hoping that they were wrong and she would go back to her normal life) and closed her eyes. Feeling the way she usually just transformed her hand into a lasso. 'Just feel it everywhere? That's odd. Then again, I never thought to do that before and even with it's restraining potential, there's still limitations given the rope could be broken and whoa!'
As her thoughts were swirling, Pashra's body started to glow and dissipate into light. This is when Star (who had just been listening and watching) rushed forward and caught the weapon the woman had turned into. As he suspected, Pashra had turned into a pasha. One with some minor weights on the ends of the rope.
"Okay! This is weird! And I'm still confused on how I'm a weapon!?" Pashra asked within her soul space. Star smirked before pulling her weapon form taut. Passing a bit of his soul wavelength to her and feeling the energy from her own soul. He spun the weighted ends a few times before launching them at some of the concrete structures around. Shattering them with a single blow.
While the weapon woman is still shocked by this, she suddenly feels her new form constrict and change. Star senses it as well and uses the pasha in a new way. First wrapping around a rock and slicing it in two, and then making the rope form extend through his soul and tying up another rock. Looping it up to the top of the rafters and then lifting the stone. "Shatter Bind." Jon mutters before pulling and releasing the rope with a *twang*. Which makes the rope constrict sharply and slice the rock into dust.
"I just crapped myself a bit at imagining you doing that to some villain or target." Mic announced after watching a while. Pashra returned to her human form (though not without some disorientation) and was stunned by what she could do. "Maybe I should have tried for a hero school," she muttered.
Star snorts and says "that wouldn't work. After all, most weapons can't be used without a meister. And that's where I come in. You up for this?" Pashra looks around and then down for moment before saying, "honestly no. But I can't exactly go back the same way as before now. So, maybe I'll see where this goes." The warrior nods before offering a hand to shake with Pashra and the newest member of the UA Meister branch was brought into the fold.
I know that end was a bit rough, but I wanted to add more weapons and the like to the group. And some of them will be found in the next few chapters, but I need to put things in order to do that. Besides, even though Ming is Star's main partner, it wouldn't hurt to have him using more weapons. And it gives me the opportunity to be more creative with the weapons I add. Please review!