Howdy folks, how's it going?
Hope you all have been keeping safe.
Another month, another long awaited (I hope) chapter. Not much to say here, but you may want to check the bottom notes. And apologies if you find more mistakes than usual.
As always, thanks to Chaos Productions for his input.
And as always, I own neither BNHA nor WH 40K.
Now, enjoy.
/
"That was…" Kaina started saying, slumping back into her seat as if her legs had momentarily forgotten how to function, a dumbstruck look on her face. "I don't even know what that was."
"Hang on." Toshinori replied with a long-suffering sigh, getting up and heading over to the minifridge bar, pouring a cup of soda and one of water, then heading back to his seat while offering the woman the former, all with a downright tired expression on his face. "Here."
"What, no booze?" The heroine inquired, but still took the cup.
"I requested no alcoholic beverages in my booth, partly for health reasons, partly because Power Loader's already drinking enough for the whole faculty." The lanky man explained, taking a small sip himself, with a deep, pondering expression. "In hindsight, I am kinda regretting it now."
"Kid has that effect on people, uh?" Kaina commented, looking down towards the stadium as the winner of the first event helped his hapless drag-along classmate to the ground, the screens in the booth showing slow motion replays of the absolutely insane stunt that had just occurred just to prove which one of them had actually crossed the finish line first.
"My son can be a bit overwhelming that way." Inko stated, that motherly smile ever on her face. "Few are ready for how he sees opportunities where others see problems."
"You mean for how reckless the stunts he pulls are? Yeah, I can see why that'd be the case." The heroine replied with a snort, before downing the rest of her drink. "Ah… And yet, seems like the kid's approach keeps getting results. If it's stupid but it works and all that, I guess."
"First place in even just one of the festival's events is nothing to scoff at." Toshinori agreed, a bemused smile on his face. "Knowing young Midoriya, however, I'd say he's just getting started."
/
Even as the grapey boy was losing his lunch for some reason (could it be nerves because of all the audience), it didn't take too long for the other contestants to begin making it past the threshold back into the stadium.
Having snapped out of their initial shock due to the loud announcement of the winner and just who the second place was, Frosty boy and Ol'Katsu were the first, taking third and fourth place respectively.
The ashen blond looked positively murderous at the result, glaring at those who had beat him as if he was willing them to drop dead, all gnashing teeth and grumbled swears. Pretty on brand behavior from him, all in all, nothing new there.
Rather, it was Frosty's reaction that had Izuku curious (which without him noticing seemed to aggravate Katsuki all the more). While there was a cold annoyance to the way he was staring at the green-haired boy that indicated he wasn't happy with the lost round one, there was also an oddly calculated, pondering expression before looking away and acting like the rest of the world didn't exist. Izuku was still on the fence on whether he was a better sport than expected or if he had something in mind.
He didn't take too much time pondering on that however, instead watching quietly as over the next few minutes everyone else arrived, alone and in small packs. He spotted the Boss Lady somewhere among the top fifteen, the pony-tailed girl staring sternly in his direction, which took him a moment to realize was actually directed at the Grapey Boy, and might have something to do with the balls he faintly glimpsed attached to the back of her jacket as she turned. Oh yeah, Grapey boy had mentioned something about that…
Didn't take long to realize that it was gonna be mostly the hero course classes taking up all the top spots. In fact..
"And with Aoyama crossing the line, that makes all the 42 students that make it to the next stage!" Present Mic cheered loudly as the blond in question staggered past the finish line, looking rather winded from the jog. "To all the students that didn't make it, don't be discouraged, there's always next time!"
It still took a solid 15 minutes for the rest of the contestants from the support, management, and general courses to finish trickling trough, some downcast, some exhausted, some just looking relieved that it was over, and a little while more for the faculty to collect the ones that had dropped off at random points during the track, and even a few that never made it out of Todoroki's initial move. Then there a little break for people to take a breath and have a drink, and for all the students who didn't make the cut to leave the stage.
Then, Midnight, acting like the close call from earlier hadn't happened, once again took the stage.
"Alright, kiddies, listen up!" The heroine called out, catching everyone's attention with a crack of her whip. "Congrats on making it this far, but don't go resting on your laurels just yet! Especially because now we are about to see just what awaits you all next. Hit it!"
She pointed towards the big screen, where once again the roulette popped up. Once again, a solemn tension spread among the participants as the wheel started to slow down, until…
With a 'ding, ding, ding' it stopped, showing a picture of a chibi Midnight on top of a pillar, holding up a chibi Aizawa in one hand while swinging her whip with the other at a bunch of chibi robots that seemed to be climbing up to get to her.
Unheard by the audience, the actual man grumbled to himself about the portrayal.
"Well, well, well…" The R-rated heroine stated, a grin on her fate that was barely appropriate to the public situation. "Looks like we got Tower Defense! Cementoss, take it away!"
As the general reaction of confused blinking spread among the crowd, suddenly in localized sections at the edges of the arena, the ground split open, revealing large, circular patches of concrete in stark contrast with the grassy field, at the same time as windowed barriers seemed to rise along the walls, to the shouts of surprise from the spectators in the lower rows. While this was happening, the blocky hero promptly walked towards one of the newly raised areas and placed his hands upon it. Within a few moments, the concrete shifted and squirmed and then began rising, forming into a medieval looking tower in the center and walls all around the perimeter, battlements, and all. Once he was done, checking his work with a satisfied nod and moving towards the next one, a drone descended upon the tower and placed a flag post there, a white banner clearly visible.
"Now, while Cementoss's setting things up, allow me to explain the rules!" Midnight proclaimed, once again earning her the crowd's undivided attention, as over on the screen a small animation played out to aid the explanation. "The 42 of you will be splitting up into teams of six, and each team will take a fort. Once you are all sorted out and ready to begin, from the center of the stage, waves of "Enemies" will start "spawning", increasing in number and intensity as the event goes on. They will march towards each fort, and try to breach and take the flag. Your job, naturally, is to prevent that from happening."
The R-rated heroine took a moment to look over the crowd, a look that cause a fair few of them to have some complicated feelings even as she grinned once again.
"Any team that has been overwhelmed or is otherwise without a flag when the timer runs out is naturally eliminated. But here's where it gets interesting, because you are allowed to make sorties to attack the other forts and take their flags, which will bring a team that has lost its own back into the game. Risk vs reward, ladies and gentlemen! How much can you risk going on the offensive while your own defenses are being tested?"
"But what happens if the timer runs out and most of us still have our flags…?" Sero couldn't help but muse out loud, trying to wrap his mind around what would be expected of them all very soon.
"I was getting to that!" Midnight retorted with crack of the whip in his general direction, making the boy flinch (and wonder about why he did). "Much like in the entrance exam, there will be a scoring system in place, based on the number of defeated assaults and successful sorties that any given party has, and the personal performance of each member. And of course, then there's the cutoff point. Two entire teams will pass no problem, while for the third and last one only the four highest ranking will make the cut. And then of course, there's the "reward" for the first place of the previous event!"
At that, her gaze fell upon Izuku, who simply blinked owlishly in return, before pointing towards one of the buildings Cementoss had created, drawing attention to how the banner's color differed from all the white ones around.
"Midoriya's team gets the red flag! That means that whoever teams up with him is guaranteed to pass on to the next round… if they can keep it safe all throughout. If the "enemies" destroy it, or another team manages to take it, his team will be eliminated with no chance for a comeback, while the team that took the flag gets the guaranteed pass instead!" If the heroine's grin seemed slightly vindictive as she explained all this, well, nobody had the guts to call her out on it. "Also, Midoriya himself is not allowed to sortie, and has to remain within the confines of his fortress at all times or be eliminated."
As those words sunk in, the atmosphere around the crowd of students grew heavy, with all eyes turning simultaneously towards the boy in question, even as he was suddenly isolated as people stepped away from him, with glints from the calculating to the hungry shining in each and everyone.
The stares didn't last too long however, because Izuku's response to the ominous ruling and the reaction it prompted was to return fire with a grin of that could only be described, in the most charitable of terms, as "gleefully demented", looking for all the world like he was a kid in a candy store, and the suddenly kinda nervous people around him were the candy…
"Now-Wait, hang on… Yeah? Yeah…? Ok… wait, really? " Midnight suddenly broke character, reaching a finger to the comm piece in her ear and having a quick, hushed conversation with whoever was on the other side. "Well, if you said so… One final, last-minute ruling, kids! Considering the nature of some of the quirks at play here, damage to the structural integrity of the forts themselves will incur a penalty to the score of the offender, all the way up to elimination in should they just destroy it outright. You've been warned. Now, you've got 10 minutes to form up into teams, so get to it!"
/
"Is it just me, or does this event kinda feel a little all over the place?" Kaina could not help but ponder even as the kids scrambled to do as instructed. "Like, having to balance between offense and defense I get, but isn't it weird to enforce cooperation while also encouraging competition within a team for who gets those spots for the next round? Sounds like a recipe for things to fall apart…"
"That is part of the idea, or so I was told." Toshinori explained, thinking back on the long meeting that were head to set up each potential event and the long hours they had taken. "Nezu makes it a point to have every event also be a learning experience for the students, and the point for this one was to test how they handle chaotic situations, such as an attack on multiple fronts. It's odd, though, I thought it had been decided that this particular event was gonna be left for the third years potential roster."
"Probably a fuck up from tech support." The heroine shrugged, watching closely as the crowd split up into small groups with several individuals migrating from group to group as they tried to find a spot to belong, while at the center of it all, one particular kid stood alone. "Your son sure has his work cut out for him, uh, Midoriya-san? Not many chances for willing team-ups with a handicap like that hanging over him."
"Oh, it is a challenge to be sure. Just the way my son likes it, I'd imagine." The woman replied cheerily, glancing down at the arena as something seemed to catch her attention. "But I wouldn't quite say that he's alone in this."
As the Midoriya senior's words registered, both the heroine and the sickly man curiously looked back down at the stadium… and they both did a double take at what they saw, a sentiment that oddly enough seemed to be shared by Izuku himself as he blinked owlishly at the person approaching him.
"Huh, can't I saw that coming…"
/
"Midoriya." Frosty boy said in his usual, bland way as he made his way over. "How about we team up?"
…
…
…
…Well, that's an unexpected development.
"Wot evah happened tah defeatin' me bein' a guarantee?" The green-haired boy inquired with a slight tilt of his head, not out of any sort of mockery, but rather genuine curiosity. "Not much goin' on on dat front yet."
"Oh, I still fully intend on following through on that. But I must confess that I have underestimated you in the first event." The scarred boy reassured, his expression neutral as always, but his tone one of grudging admittance. "The way I see it, the best place to defeat you at your best will be during the combat rounds of the next event, and after having given it some thought, I decided that the best way to guarantee that happens is if we pool our efforts now. Between my ice and your machinery, we should breeze through this round with little effort. So, what say you?"
"So, a truce now, fer a proppah scrap aftah…" Izuku summarized ponderingly, a wide grin growing on his face as he reached his hand out to his rival. "I like dah way ya fink, Frosty. Sure, I'm in."
"Excellent." The half-red-half-white-haired boy stated with a nod as he shook the offered hand, his cool façade not giving away even a wince at the enthusiastic grip. "Now, we should probably look for our remaining teammates. Just between the two of us, we've got power and defense in spades, but personally, maybe a little more mobility and versatility won't hurt."
"True dat," Izuku replied, his grin widening, turning his head to the crowd with a searching look. "And I know just were tah start."
So focused on their conversation were the duo, that they did not notice a newcomer approaching them.
/
Hitoshi was a self-aware enough guy to recognize that he could, sometimes, be too spiteful for his own good, which, in the long run, didn't really do much for the perception that people tended to have of him. In his defense though, when the world starts seeing you as a villain in the making from the moment your quirk first comes in and treats you accordingly all throughout, no matter how many times he tried to show otherwise, nevermind the fact that he never actually used his quirk on someone unless it was in self-defense from the bullying, that all he wanted since he was a little kid was to be a hero and help people, it is kind of hard to not become at least a tiny bit jaded and cynical.
Jealousy was another part of it, he recognized, but again, is it really so odd, that he'd not have the best opinion of people who always seem to have the world handed to them on a silver platter just because they have cool, flashy quirk, while his own earned him nothing but scorn from anyone outside his own family?
By this point, the purple-haired boy had longed since resigned himself to the fact that the deck was stacked against him, but that didn't mean he was gonna stop trying. That was why he had come U.A, and tried for the hero course, which obviously didn't pan out with how biased the entrance exam was. That was why he was now trying again with the festival, which was, quite, possibly his last chance.
And if he showed up some of those Hero Course types and knocked them off their high horse in the doing? So much the better.
That was precisely why he was heading towards the winner of the previous round, the guy who had snubbed him earlier, acting like he was nothing.
The corners of his lip turned to a frown as he considered Midoriya, his thoughts going back to the warning he was given a while ago…
/
Class had just finished, and Hitoshi was making a beeline for the gate, eager to get home and do some research on previous festivals, try to get some insights that might grant even the tiniest advantage…
"Hitoshi Shinsou, a moment if you will."
…Which nearly made him jump out of his skin at being so suddenly addressed, his eyes widening as he turned around an realized who was talking to him. He had gotten more or less used by now to actual heroes being his teachers even in the general course, but in all his time in this school he had yet to see this particular one. If he had to guess from the hobo like appearance, this was probably an underground hero…
"Yeah?" He replied curiously, his mind racing to try to recognize the scarfed, bored-looking man.
"You're not sure who I am." The man replied, causing the boy's eyes to widen. "No, you're not being obvious about it, I just have a lot of experience figuring this stuff out. Anyway, I am Shota Aizawa, the homeroom teacher of Class 1-A."
"…And what does a homeroom teacher of the hero course want with me, if I may ask, Aizawa-sensei?" Hitoshi asked, now both curious and interested.
"I'll get right to the point. I have been keeping an eye on you." The man explained, levelling an even, but unnerving stare at the boy. "You applied for the hero course, but had the misfortune of the entrance exam's structure working against you. Believe me, I know how that feels. It's illogical how many people with potential we let slip through the cracks. I've been trying to suggest changes for years now, to no avail. I imagine you're going to gun for a transfer with the upcoming festival, correct?"
"Uh, yes, yes I am, sir." Hitoshi answered, trying to hide the hope in his tone, which just increased as the man nodded in seeming approval.
"Good, I will be watching how you perform. But on that note, there is something important that you should know."
"Ahuh…?" The purple-haired boy prompted eagerly.
"There is a student currently in the hero course, Izuku Midoriya. I believe you've met him earlier, when people were crowding the door to my class." Aizawa stated, to which Hitoshi couldn't help but frown.
"That green-hair guy? What about him?"
"Whatever you do, do not, under any circumstance, use your quirk on him."
…
…
…
"…What?" Was all Hitoshi managed to say, all the hope that had been swelling in his chest dying a swift death. What bullshit was this…?
"You seem to be under the impression that I am showing blatant favoritism for one of my students." The man noted, his expression and tone still mild and even, despite the accuracy of his observation. "Let me assure you, it is quite the opposite. Midoriya's quirk is one that we don't understand very well, but one with a history of poor reactions to outside interference. I should know, it attacked me when I tried. This warning is not for his sake, it's for yours."
"But, but how can I win if you're telling me there's one guy I am all but useless against?!" Hitoshi demanded, his usual calm and careless demeanour cracking.
"You don't have to win. You just have to do a good enough performance. You will have a lot of opportunity to show off what you can do at the festival, I am just telling you upfront that there is one person you must not target for your own safety." The hero pointed out seriously. "Also, some further advice, you should probably try to do some exercise until the festival, and try to have a game plan with contingencies. One-trick ponies don't tend to last long as heroes, especially those with an extremely useful but fairly obvious trick like you."
Hitoshi did not reply, not sure if there was even something that he could say. The teacher seemed to accept the silence as an end to the conversation, as he nodded and turned.
"I will be keeping an eye on you, kid. Best of luck."
The purple-haired boy did not reply, turning to walk away as his teeth grit in frustration. As always, the world wasn't fair, and as always, it never bothered to be unfair in his favor…
/
The purple-haired boy shook his head, focusing on the now. So, he just had to do a good enough performance to have a chance, right?
Well, the motto of the school was 'Plus Ultra', right? Go beyond. Might as well prove that he too could do it. Moreover, the first event, if nothing else, proved that Midoriya was crazy and had Hitoshi feeling even less respect for the entrance exam's standards, but that guaranteed pass into the next event was too good to pass up.
"Hey." He called out as he approached the two rising stars of the hero course. The scarred guy, who he'd looked up and recognized as Endeavour's son, another guy with the world handed to him on a platter, immediately noticed his approach, but again, the green-haired guy mocked him by acting confused, looking around at everything but him. "Hey, I am talking to you."
It took a few, extremely aggravating moments before the prick deigned to look in Hitoshi's general direction, blinking owlishly.
"Dah zog did you'ze come from?" He said, before finally some recognition filtered into his expression. "Oh hey, you'ze dah purply boy."
Hook, line and sinker.
"Team up with me." Hitoshi said with a smirk as he triggered his quirk, to which the green bastard stood there, staring blankly…
"…Why, tho?" He asked, tilting his head in confusion, which only grew when Hitoshi looked like he had the wind knocked out of him.
It couldn't be…
"I am telling you to team up with me." The purple-haired boy growled, anger and panic warring in his mind as he triggered his quirk again.
"But why, tho?" The guy just repeated without a care in the world, as Hitoshi tried with all his might to get his quirk to just work…
"SHINSOU, STOP-!"
/
The sudden, alarmed call from the commenter's booth escaped Hitoshi's notice as the whole world seemed to slow down, and the next time he blinked, he found himself somewhere else.
Shocked and confused, the boy tried to look around to figure out what the hell just happened, but wherever he looked, there was only a walls of thick, black fog that smelled of car exhaust, of all things, while in the distance, there were faint echoes of noise, things that sounded like thunderous bursts and bellowing cries, that he could just make out.
With rising alarm, Hitoshi noticed that there were shapes in the smog, apparently hiding just beyond sight, except for a flash of green just at the edge of his vision every time he turned to look. It gave the panicking boy the distinct impression that he was being watched…
"WAAAAAAAGGH!"
Another bellow rang, this one far more nitid, far closer, and a cacophony of echoes followed, as the indistinct ground beneath his feet seemed to rumble. Something was approaching, something big…
A hand suddenly clasped his shoulder and-
/
Hitoshi blinked, breathing heavily as he looking all around in distress, only to realize he was back at the stadium, flat on his ass, with some of the other competitors around staring in curiosity and confusion.
What the fuck was that…?
Looking back up, he noted Midoriya staring down at him, a frown on his face, as the green-haired boy squatted down by his side.
"You really should be more careful poking around in other people's heads, you know." He said matter-of-factly, reaching to pull something out of his pocket. "You never know who'll take issue with it. Here, clean up your nose."
With that, he flicked something at the purple-haired boy's lap and walked off. Hitoshi could only dumbly look down to see that it was a handkerchief. That made the guy's words register, and he reached a hand up to his nose, to realize that it was bleeding.
"To those confused in the audience, we just saw a case of a bad quirk match up." The voice of Aizawa rang out from the commenter's booth, sounding terse in the way that only an adult exasperated by the antics of kids could be. "Shinsou's type of quirk has proven ineffective against Midoriya's, despite his best, if ill-advised efforts."
The boy winced at the words, because the hero kind of had a point. He had been warned, hadn't he? He'd been warned and he hadn't listened out of sheer spiteful stubbornness, and now not only did his stunt fail spectacularly, but he lost a lot of the element of surprise to his only trump card in the doing.
"Ffffuuuuck…" Hitoshi muttered with a sigh as he got up, wiping his nose clean. "Great going, Hitoshi, way to add self-sabotage on top of everything else going against you…"
"Excuse me," A polite call suddenly got his attention, making turn to see a large, furry guy, that he vaguely recognized as a member of class 1-B, approaching him. "But are you feeling quite alright? Do you require assistance to the infirmary?"
After a moment of consideration, Hitoshi held back the barb that was just at the tip of his tongue. No need to antagonize someone who was sounding genuinely concerned.
"Nah, I'm fine. Like he said, it was just a bad match up." The purple haired boy waved away the concern.
"I see, may I inquire what is it you were trying to do, if it is not too much to ask?" The guy asked, sounding oddly erudite for someone so beastly looking, but then again who was Hitoshi to judge a book by his cover?
And besides, he was already busted, so what was the point of refusing?
"My quirk's brainwashing." He said quietly, after a few moments to make sure people around had lost interest and nobody was listening. "I was trying to take control of him to get into his team. Didn't pan out, as you saw."
He braced himself for the repulsion and anger…
"…I see." The guy replied simply, his tone pondering. "Would you like to join my team instead? I do believe we could put such skill to good use. My name is Jurota Shishida, by the way."
…Hitoshi could only blink. Really, that's it? Just a 'Hey, we can use that'? He staunchly ignored the rising feeling in his chest at the words, but now was not the time to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Hitoshi Shinsou. And sure." He replied. Maybe things weren't unsalvageable quite just yet…
/
"Well, that's a disaster averted." Hizashi sighed in relief after ensuring the mic was off and they had some privacy. "Kid got off easy, all things considered. What the heck do you think happened?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." Aizawa replied, considering the scene of Shinsou being introduced to his teammates. "Either Midoriya got a little better at keeping his quirk in check, or this was sheer dumb luck. I really should have seen this coming either way."
He made a mental note of asking the kid for his perspective of what had happened. A point of comparison to his own experience could be just what he needed to help solve the mystery of his class' top problem child…
"So, you're still gonna keep an eye on the kid, despite everything?"
"He's a teenager." The erasure hero replied as if it explained everything. "A teenager with something to prove, who got told not to do something that is a big part of his identity, for better or worse. If anything, it was illogical of me to expect any other outcome. I'll have to study his file, seems like his issues run deeper than I imagined. Probably bring Hound Dog into this too."
"True, we're all idiots at that age." Hizashi conceded the point, before giving his friend a knowing grin. "Kid really reminds ya of yourself, uh? Admit it, you were gonna take him under your wing regardless of his performance."
"That would be illogical." Aizawa replied seriously. "But it'd take a very bad performance to make me reconsider, and that hasn't quite happened yet."
/
"So, what was that all about, Midoriya?" Todoroki asked in his usual, blank manner when the duo begun walking away from the scene, curious, despite himself.
"Zog if I know." The goggled boy replied with a shrug. "Dah git was tryin' tah do sumthin', but I'z not sure wot exactly. Didn't seem like a gud idea tah let into dah team aftah dat tho."
"…I see." The scarred boy replied neutrally. "Regardless, we should find ourselves some other teammates."
"Duncha fret none, Frosty," Izuku replied with an eager grin as he looked around clearly looking for something. "I know just dah person fer dah job. An' dere she goes. Oi, Boss Lady!"
Off he went towards his intended target, startled Momo as she noticed the duo approaching her, one at a brisk jog and the other at a more sedate pace.
"Midoriya?" The pony-tailed girl inquired by way of greeting, looking curious but not particularly surprised by him approaching her, although she did take a couple of seconds to stare at Todoroki like he'd done something unexpected. "I assume that you're looking for teammates?"
"Right ya are!" The goggled boy replied cheerily, his grin growing in that way that the girl had by now learned to associate to an eagerness for coming violence… "Remembah back in that first hero class, when I sed dat between dah two of us, we'z culd make a roigt an' proppah fort? Well, what say you'ze we put dat intah practice?"
"Well…" Momo stated hesitantly, apparently mulling over the invitation, but not looking particularly eager at the prospect.
"It does sound like a tactically solid idea." Todoroki supplied, in his own, pragmatic show of support. "You two have quite possibly the two most synergetic quirks in the entire class. It'd be a huge advantage for our defenses if you're amenable, Yaoyoruzu-san."
"I suppose… that you do have a point." The girl conceded, unable to find any reason to contest their reasoning, and despite her misgivings, the benefits did seem to outweigh the risks… "Very well, I'll join."
"Great!" Midoriya cheered, clapping Momo on the back in what she supposed was meant to be a friendly gesture, even though it nearly made her stumble forward despite their height difference. "Well, dat'z half dah team done. Now we'z need dah rest."
"So, you still got room, ribbit?" A voice called out, making the three of them turn to see two other familiar figures approaching, one looking a bit nervous while the other one was as collected as ever.
"Right ya are, Froggy girl!" Izuku confirmed, looking over Asui and Uraraka with a considering eye. "I'z take it you'ze an' Floaty girl want in?"
"If you'll have us, ribbit." The amphibian girl confirmed with a nod.
"Not concerned about the red flag handicap?" Todoroki inquired, not sounding disapproving, but rather like he was weighing the pros and cons. "Also, I recall do you do not do so good in the cold, which might be disadvantageous around me."
"It's true, ribbit, but our idea was never to be near you." Asui replied in her usual blunt manner, putting a finger to her chin. "While the three of you are ensuring nothing gets through, and I imagine most other teams will be trying to get the red flag, which granted is a risk, me and Ochaco-chan can be doing the sorties while they're busy and ease the pressure. Also, Midoriya-chan's suicidal stunt earlier gave us an idea we'd like to try, ribbit."
"Yeah, what she said." Uraraka joined in with that oddly enthusiastic demeanour she'd oddly shown since the festival had been announced to them, sounding like she was trying to psyche herself up as much as them. "We'll be the spear while you are the shield, and take out the competition while they're busy regretting their life choices!"
"…That's a bit extreme, isn't it?" Momo couldn't help but ask, worried about her friend's… intensity.
"We have a Midoriya." The brunette replied, as if that single, simple fact explained everything. "Tell me I'm wrong."
…
…
…
"…Fair enough." The pony-tailed girl conceded, unable to refute that statement. Which, in all honesty, felt kind of foreboding…
"Ah! Lovin' dah enthusiasm, Floaty, you'ze should show it more often!" The menace in question stated, laughing approvingly at the interaction. "I say they'z in. Frosty, Boss Lady?"
"I have no objections." Todoroki replied evenly.
"Neither do I." Momo agreed as well. "So, now we're down to just one last teammate left. Any ideas?"
"Oh that's easy." Midoriya immediately replied, before looking to the side. "OI, ARMY BOY! YEAH, YOU'ZE! GET OVAH'ERE!"
The other participants present all blinked at the sudden shout, glancing at each other in confusion before they stared in the same direction, to see the large figure that had previously been walking aimlessly around the gathering crowds veering towards them.
"Yes, Midoriya?" Shoji inquired as he approached, via the mouth he grew in one of his limbs.
"We'z needin' a bit o' brawn in dis' ere outfit." Midoriya replied, grinning widely as he looked up at the much taller teen. "Interested?"
The masked boy, blinked, glancing around at his gathered classmates, before staring blandly back at the goggled teen.
"You seem to already have firepower to spare." He commented, with just a hint of dry wit in his placid tone.
"'Course we do, but I sed "brawn", not dakka. A big'n bulky lad like you'ze is always gud tah have around." Midoriya clarified, before staring at the speaking limb itself with what its owner noted to be a distinct lack of apprehension. "Plus, wiff dem big eyes'n ears you'ze got you can help us stop any ol' sneaky gits wot try tah get past us."
Shoji tilted his head briefly, apparently considering his prospects, before the lips in his arm spread into a grin.
"Very well, Midoryia, you can count on my cooperation." He said with a nod. Say what you will about the guy's questionable sanity, Midoriya's simple reasonings could be quite persuasive.
"Great! Anyone got anythin' against?" The green-haired boy inquired, only for everyone present to shake their heads and voice their 'no's. "Aight, den, boyz and girlz, I fink we'z in business! So, lezz talk strategy, shall we?"
Again, he might have probably meant it as a friendly gesture, possibly, maybe, the nearly too wide, hungry grin on his face honestly just had his teammates both glad that the green-haired boy was on their side and feeling kind of sorry for everyone else…
/
You know how sometimes you wanna do something, then you start doing it, and you notice as you're doing it that things are getting away from you a bit and you realize you're not gonna be able to do all that you intend in one sitting?
That's more or less this chapter in a nutshell. I had wanted to get the whole second event done in one go, and by the time I noticed it I had a lot of words and the event itself hadn't even started. So yeah, naturally I've been forced leave the rest of it for the next update. My apologies for that. I hope you found this to be an original choice for a festival event, at least.
Also, regarding Shinsou, just to nip anyone getting that impression in the bud, none of the events of this chapter were meant as bashing the character in any way. I hate bashing, it's a waste of time and effort and few things make me turn away from a fic faster than notices that it'll happen, even if it's towards characters I despise. And I don't despise Shinsou, at worst I think he is a little overused in fanfiction. This was just, as Aizawa said, a teenager making poor choices as teenagers usually do, and he's gonna learn from it and better.
Anyway, next time we have Izuku, with prep time, in a kind of scenario where someone of his skillset thrives. What could possibly happen?
Before that though, next month we got the next update to Through the Eternities, so look forward to that.
And to compensate for having to leave all the action for the next update, have this Omake.
/
Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, to be quite honest, had no idea what had just happened, and was in fact fairly certain that this was not supposed to happen. One moment he and the lads and been onboard of a rok preparing to breach the atmosphere of Armageddon, because he had been feeling nostalgic and decided to come pay good ol' Yarrick a visit (and truly, he was almost ashamed at how few boyz he'd manage to scrounge up for his old friend, could barely be considered a proper Waaagh, but he had been in a bit of a rush to get here all the way from the Octarius sector and the rest of his forces were taking too long to catch up, the pansies!), then there had been a bright, green flash of Waaagh energy, and the next thing the Prophet of the Waaagh knew, he and the ladz were standing in the middle of a place that he immediately realized couldn't be Armaggedon.
Sure, it looked humie enough, but the sky was far too blue and not nearly smokey enough, the air was far too clean and smelled bad, there was a distinct lack of open battlefields and charred, lifeless wastelands. The humie style buildings were far too small and puny for this to be any of the planet's hive cities, zog, none of them even broke through the cloud cover.
And then there were the gits all around what seemed to be a big road intersection that he and some 100-something of his lads had popped into, who were staring in confusion and curiosity, but no outright fear, which was as huge a sign that something was wrong as a gargant's foot to the noggin'. Like any good Ork, Ghazghkull could barely tell humies apart from each other on a good day, but none of these were equipped for a scrap, and to his confusion, some of them actually were easy to pick apart by having brightly colored heads. There were also other gits around that didn't look much like humies and rather like other aliens, which only increased the Ork's confusion because from what little he understood of ol'Yarrick's chain of command, humies and non humies together was usually a big no no for the humies.
As he considered the scene before him, looking up at the big screens of flashing lights and weird pictures and text that he didn't recognize as the usual humie writing, Ghazghkull could only conclude that some mekboy had probably been fiddling with the tellyportas again, and that had somehow dumped him and the lads into some backwater dump of a planet rather than the intended battlefields of Armageddon. The Warlord promptly made a mental note of being more selective with which Mekboys to let into his service in the future, screen his forces when he got back to the rest of them, and feed whichever ones had cause this to happen to the squiggoths. Don't get him wrong, he loved the unpredictability of Orkish tellyportation and warp travel as much as the next git, but even to him there was such a thing as a time and place, Gork dammit!
But still, Ghazghkull was an Ork. The Ork, if he had anything to say about it, and like the rest of his kind, he prided himself in having a practical, pragmatic approach to unexpected situations.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" He bellowed, grabbing the nearest humie vehicle and tossing it straight at the big screen, causing it to fritz out and explode in a decent boom. His ladz, proper Orks one and all, were quick to pick up on his example, and the wrecking of this place begun, as the humies and weird humies and not humies finally got it through their dumb heads that they should run.
Nothing like a little stress relief after a teknologee mishap.
/
It didn't take too long for him and his lads to find resistance, but he had to say, as far as humie resistance went, this one had potential, but it disappointed in crucial places. A few weirdly dressed humies arrived, alone or in small groups, mobilizing together quickly, and on the one hand, it was a curious thing how they seemed to be able to do weird things that Ghazghkull was fairly certain humies could not normally do. Or at the very least he hoped not, because if it turned out after all this time that Ol'Yarrick could control plants to strangle gits, or could grow to the size of a gargant, or create and wield fire to make a burna boy jealous (and probably try to figure out how to get a fire moustache of their own), and had not once used those tricks in their confrontations, well, that was just gonna hurt Ghazghkull's feelings.
But on the other hand, while all these weird gits seemed like they could make for an interesting scrap, and a few were trying to keep him and is lads busy, a majority of them seemed to prefer working on just evacuating the other gits that were wearing only slightly less weird outfits. Again, just how humies ever managed to figure out who was who and get anything done was beyond the warlord.
It was as he was calmly considering all this, with one of the weird not humies that seemed to have a weird black and white animal head struggling in the grip of his power klaw, that suddenly…
"WAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHH!"
…Was that some sort of weird, delayed echo?
No, the warlord realized with a blink, dropping the git in his hand out of sheer confusion, a sentiment that seemed to be share by all of his lads as the fighting ceased as everyone noticed the new presence join the field, but this one was one that was actually recognizable. Sure, there was still a lot of bright colors to it, and it was puny compared to Ghazghkull's own massive bulk, but it was almost comforting to see an actual, proper suit of Mega armour around this place.
"IT'Z AWIGHT NAW, CUZ I'Z HERE!" The newcomer bellowed, shocking the ork with the flawless diction, contrary to the usual humie barely intelligible mumbling, even as the words just added to the confusion.
"…Wot dah zog kinda war cry iz dat?" The hulking, towering greenskin couldn't help but ask, which seemed to make the figure stop and stare, apparently as surprised and confused as Ghazghkull himself felt, before the yellow helmet popped open with a hiss to show… a small, green-haired humie?
"…Wot." Was all that the Prophet of the Waaagh managed to say in the face of what stood before him.
"It'z dah bezt kinda warcry, dat'z wot!" The little humie replied defiantly. "Cuz it'z dah warcry of dah git dat'z gun stomp yer wotevah you'ze iz arse back tah wherevah ya came from!"
…
…
…
"…You an' wot army, Lil' Humie?" The Ork asked, torn between being offended at the sheer gal of the humie and amazed at the sheer guts he was showing. "Kinda stupid tah fink you'ze can face me an' the ladz alone."
"YOU'ZE DAH STUPID!" The lil' humie replied as his helmet closed again, green lenses flaring ominously and oh zog no he didn't.
"NO, YOU'ZE STUPID!"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"
Ghazghkull had to give it to the lil 'humie even as they charged each other. It wasn't often he found one of their kind so well versed in the ways of a healthy debate.
/
The fighting lasted for four days and four nights. By the dawn of the fifth day, the entire ward of Shibuya had been reduced to rubble. Fortunately, casualties were surprisingly minimal, as relief forces and most of the heroes in the country had worked overtime to get the civilians out of harm's way as a select few engaged the weird hostiles that had popped out of nowhere. Any similarities in tactics and methods between the invaders and the U.A student keeping their massive brute of a leader at bay were a point of speculation that nobody had the time to give much thought to during the crisis.
Amidst the smoke and rubble in the middle of the square where it had all begun, two figures were lying on their backs, their arms and legs spread, both of their armors one stiff breeze away from falling apart, staring up at the sky as they both panted heavily for breath.
"Dat all… ya got, Lil'Humie?" Ghazghkull stated, trying and failing to swing his arm in the git's general direction.
"I'z just… warmin' up, ya ugly git." The humie retorted, weakly trying to take aim with a shoota that had since run out of dakka. "Why, feelin' tired?"
Neither of the combatants said anything else for a long while as they both struggled to catch their breath… which they immediately proceeded to spend in sharing a bout of loud, uproarious, and in the opinion of some of the heroes close enough to hear it, borderline maniacal laughter.
"Aaaaaaaahhhhh, I like ya, Lil'Humie." Ghazghkull stated with a content sigh, before working his way towards standing with some effort. "Remind me a' Ol'Yarrick, ya do. Didn't fink dere'd evah be anothah humie dat'd give me a fite."
"Yer not so bad yerself, ya big git." The lil'humie replied evenly, getting up on his as well.
"Lil' humie, I'z Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. I'z dah Prophet of dah Waaagh, dah greatest Boss dat evah lived. And I," He stated, poking a massive finger into the lil'git's chest. "I'z gun conquer yer lil' planet and stomp it tah dust."
"I'z Izuku, and I'z gonna be dah bezt hero diz world has evah seen." The little git replied back, red eyes glaring defiantly. "And you'z not gun do any conquering cuz I'z dah one doin' dah stompin'."
The Warlord and the Hero stared at each other in a long moment of heavy, tense silence… and then they both burst into laughter.
"So, how'z about a rematch some time?" Ghazghkull inquired as he rolled his shoulders.
"Works fer me!" Izuku agreed cheerily. "I'll get some good'n proppah defense workin' fer den! You'ze not even gun get dis far next time."
"We'z shall see… Izuku, we'z shall see." The lumbering behemoth replied with a chuckle, before turning and walking away, yelling obscenities at what troops he still had standing to get them moving.
Meanwhile, a single figure approached the green-haired boy.
"Oh, hi there, Boss Lady." He greeted the girl as she stood next to him. "Dat wuz quite dah scrap, uh?"
Momo, for her part, blankly gave a long, silent look at the sheer destruction that surrounded them, before her eyes once again fell on the boy.
"Izuku, what the f-?"
/
5 years later
Nezu had been taking care of some paperwork regarding this year's budget for the school when Aizawa suddenly entered his office.
"Ah, something the matter?" The animal inquired, noting how the man looked as if he was one to few cups of coffee away from collapsing from sheer exhaustion.
"Our satellites have picked up readings of attack moons getting past Mars." The man replied, sounding literally dead inside. "The Orks are coming."
"Oh, dear, they're early. It's barely been two months since the last incursion…" The principal commented, as bothered by this as one might be by hearing something was misfiled. "Midoriya?"
"Already in route for the moon and getting the defense grid ready." The hero reported.
"Very good." Nezu replied with an approving nod. Then he jumped down from his seat, walked over to the control panel on the other side of his office, and pressed the big red button that read, in bold white letters, 'Evacuate Japan'.
/
Chaos (no, not THAT Chaos, don't call the Grey Knights) put this idea in my head quite a while ago. Really, it's been a long time coming.
Cya all in the next one, stay safe and take care.
