Chapter 13: Before USJ Arc
We came up with some pretty good ideas together. Just like I thought, Iida and Kendo were perfect as Co-Kaicho's. Iida's rigid need for structure balanced well with Kendo's calmer, yet still strong demeanor. Which meant that he could nail in a pretty efficient way of conducting the club, but Kendo was always there to veto him when he would go a bit too far. Because there's being efficient, and then there is leaving literally no time for anything other than working out, studying and sleeping. What, eating? Why wouldn't you do that while studying!?
That aside, we came up with a solid system. We'd start by figuring out what we all needed as individuals. As a class, we really only needed space to interact with, but our individual quirks had specializations and needs to really get out their full potential. Some of us might need support items to overcome our weaknesses, some might need to just push our quirks harder, and some just needed to think of our quirks in a new way.
We had some ideas to figure out where we'd start with that stuff.
Monoma, as it turned out, was well suited for teaching others how to use their quirks, because he could try them out for himself. So that was interesting as hell to me, on multiple levels. But it also left me curious as to what would happen if he touched me.
See, since arriving in Japan, I'd spent some time contemplating my own nature. Was I a human with a quirk that made him look like Bowser, the same way that Godzillo's quirk made him a copy of Godzilla? Was I really a Bowser copy, right down to my DNA?
And even then, how would Quirk's like Monoma's react with my body? Or Aizawa-sensei's? It was like the question of if their quirks ONLY reacted with quirks, or if they could respond to, say, Kryptonian powers, Naruto chakra abilities, or other things like that. So if my powers weren't derived from a quirk, could they still have an effect on me? Or maybe just a muted effect in some way?
I put that question on the back burner for now to focus on the ideas we were sharing.
One other thing I brought up was the question of specialization. Not every hero was able to be the end all be all of heroics. Bakugo was fantastic in combat, but he didn't have the powers or the mindset for search and rescue. Koda was perfect for search and rescue, but the kid was a lover, not a fighter.
But that was fine. In the future, when we became heroes, we'd all need to find our place. Some would be jack-of-all-trades, some would be overly specialized, but we'd all have a way we could help, and dedicating some time to that would be great.
When the cafe closed, we separated for the night, planning to leave more discussion for tomorrow, though we traded phone numbers so that we could text later. Pony invited me to stay over at her place, so I slept over there, then we headed to school together.
Which of course, had its own problems.
------
"Wow, what are so many people doing at the gate?" Pony asked curiously as we approached the school.
I'd been off in my own world. A thought had occurred to me last night as I'd been about to sleep that was still hitting me in waves, so I wasn't in the best of mindsets. I looked towards the front entrance. There were dozens of people surrounding it. Cameras and microphones were being wielded like swords and shields at the kids trying to get to class. I could see Kaminari getting interviewed, the blonde posing with a grin before sweat dropping when the reporters turned away from him, the dejected kid walking into the gates.
"Reporters?" I asked, before I remembered. Oh right! The reporters! How the fuck did I forget about them!?
Damnit, I'd gotten so distracted. And I'd spent the whole night stressing over… So wait. That meant the decay asshole was somewhere nearby, ready to sneak into the school! Damnit. Then I needed to… do what, exactly?
Well, I did have a plan in place that I'd come up with a while back. For now though, the reporters were coming up to us. They eyed me nervously, but still approached. I blamed my school uniform. I don't care who you are, Darkseid, Darth Vader, or Frieza, nothing ruins the intimidation factor like a school uniform. That and Pony was next to me, so her cuteness was negating my badassery.
"Excuse me!" A mic was shoved into Pony's face. "You're a student at this school, right!? Have you taken any classes with All Might as a teacher? What is he like?"
"All Might-sensei?" Pony pressed a finger to her lips thoughtfully. "Hmmm. Well, he's very happy! And he always tells us how to do our best!"
The brown haired reporter lady looked somehow dissatisfied with that. What was she expecting, All Might to be the second coming of Great Teacher Onizuka?
"And you!?" she turned to me. Then she stared up. "Ah… Are you a student?"
"No, I got the uniform off the internet," I snarked.
She glared at me, while one guy in the back chuckled. "Have you taken a class with All Might as well! Do you have a comment for us!?"
Come on. You can't feed me lines like that and NOT expect me to take advantage.
I nodded. "Yeah. Here," I leaned forward. A mic approached my face. I coughed lightly, whispering just a bit.
"What? Sir, we can't hear you!" more mics came in closer. I took a soft breath, looking over at Pony and winking. Pony's eyes widened a bit before she snapped her hands over her ears.
"GRAAAAUGH!" a sound not unlike the echoing roar of a lion left my lungs, smashing into the crowd of reporters as they screamed in shock, some covering their ears in pain.
I stopped after a few seconds, coughing.
"W-What the hell was that for!?" the reporter lady shouted at me.
"I thought you wanted a comment?" I said with a grin, pushing past the crowd. At the door to the school, I could see Present Mic laughing his ass off while Aizawa-sensei rubbed his forehead.
"Kid, what the fuck!?" one other guy said.
"That was unnecessary! What are they teaching you at this school!?"
"They're teaching me a lot. But here's one thing I already know," I glared at them. "All Might-sensei came to this school to teach. Because, as a guy who has kicked butt for decades, he wanted to share some lessons he's learned. I doubt anyone can say the Symbol of Peace doesn't have some hard-earned teachings to share. And I admire him for that. I do not admire the lot of fucking vultures coming here to find a story or scandal for something this simple and reasonable! We are STUDENTS. You shouldn't be harassing kids to try and get a ratings bump! So the lot of you can kiss my fucking shell!"
I spun around, growling as I went.
I don't hate the media. They have a necessary job. But the way some of them acted. In those guys eyes, nothing mattered more than the story. The prospect of fame and fortune from destroying the lives of others. If the news was a weapon, it was one that could be wielded for good and evil alike. Fuck those guys.
I passed by Aizawa. He gave me a look, then sighed, heading to the gate. Present Mic followed, grinning. I was feeling stressed now. My anger at those assholes at the front, combined with the night I'd had...
"Bowser-kun?" Pony's voice drew my attention. I looked over at her. She was looking up at me, worried. "You okay? You've been distracted all day. And just now… You don't usually yell like that."
"Ah," damnit. "Yeah… just, have a lot on my mind. Been kinda worrying over a lot. Becoming a hero is going to have a lot more complications than I thought."
She looked at me with worried eyes, crossing one arm across her stomach while pressing a finger to her chin with the other hand. "What do you mean?"
"...I think, on some level, making the new club sort of awoke some new concerns in me that I didn't expect. I'm still processing it. Hopefully once we get together after school, I can assuage those concerns."
"What are the concerns?" Pony asked.
"I'll tell you later!" I turned and rushed off. "For now, get to class! See you later, Pony!"
"Bowser-kun!" she called after me. I sighed, pushing my stride a bit more. I just needed some time.
Today, the villains would infiltrate the school, then tomorrow would be the USJ thing. Okay. I could handle this shit. But first, to tell the class about our new club.
------
On getting to class early, Momo, Iida, and I gave the good news. Which led to unforeseen circumstances.
"You made Iida the leader?" Kaminari said, looking super skeptical. "That's not fair, you guys didn't let anyone else choose!"
"Yeah, we should have put it to a vote!" Mina whined, shaking her head.
"And we haven't even met the other person, Bowser," Kirishima said. "We're supposed to just accept her as our leader?"
"I…" I rubbed the back of my neck, looking at Iida, who seemed stricken. "Okay, that's fair. We'll figure it out then, maybe do a short campaign thing? But I honestly do think Iida has what it takes. And in the end, if we wanted to have a club, we needed a captain."
"I can understand expediency, but you really should have asked us first, kero," Tsuyu pointed out.
"I apologize, everyone," Iida bowed, looking contrite. "I was so touched by Bowser-san's offer that I didn't consider others wouldn't feel the same way."
"No, this is my fault," I said, swallowing my pride and bowing as well. "Everyone. I'm sorry. I promise, I'll be more considerate of the class's wishes from now on. But I implore you to consider Iida for captain. He has our best interests at heart, and will do everything in his power. Please, just wait to hear what he's already planned for club activities before you dismiss him."
Momo nodded, bowing as well next to Iida and I. "I agree. We've already come up with several ideas to help us reach our full potential! So please, be patient everyone! We'll meet after school and show you what we've worked on. Decide on who should be the UA Super Sentai captain afterwards."
"Besides, the team captains are going to be doing a LOT of boring paperwork. So, if you guys are down for that…" I pointed out.
Mina, Jirou, Kirishima, and Kaminari sweatdropped, while Ochaco chuckled a little bit. "Oh yeah, that's true…" the gravity girl mumbled.
"Paperwork isn't boring, it is a necessary part of our school experience, Bowser," Iida said sternly, Momo nodding in agreement with him. "It allows the UA Super Sentai to function!"
"Wait, that's the name of the club?" Jirou asked. "Who came up with that?"
I rose up from my bow. "My friend, Pony. I like it. We're all going to be heroes, so naming ourselves as some of the most famous ones is good."
Still. There was a dark thought the name had brought up in me later, when I'd been about to sleep in my shell. I'd been curled up inside in the living room of Pony and Tauren's home, drifting off, thinking about my day and the new club we'd made. And the sudden thought struck me.
Super Sentai died. They had in the past shows. It wasn't often. But while the one Power Rangers death I could remember in the shows eventually got reversed, I knew that Super Sentai could and had died.
I don't know why the thought consumed me so much. It was so fucking dumb! But it did. The brain just loves grabbing onto worries like that, no matter how ridiculous the source. Because that thought led to the next thought. One that had been on my mind all morning. That was on my mind as I stared around at Kirishima, Iida, Mina, Momo, Mineta, Tsuyu…
These kids were trying to become heroes. And heroes died. All the time.
I had to keep that from happening. No matter what.
Driving off those thoughts as best as could, I looked to my right, at Deku, only to blink.
He had his chin cupped, staring at the ground with tight eyes. He was mumbling at a high-speed. He had been for a while. I leaned in to listen.
"-ith-that-we-can-all-work-on-search-and-rescue-but-we-should-also-plan-for-cases-where-pure-combat-will-be-needed,so-some-of-us-will-have-to-plan-out-more-villain-and-hero-exercises,if-the-teachers-help-they-can-even-act-like-villains-for-us,I-should-really-think-on-what-sort-of-team-variations-we-can-make-with-forty-heroes-and-unique-quirks-"
"Man, he really overthinks things, huh?" Mina said, all of us watching as Hurricane Deku continued to blow.
"It's part of his charm," I said fondly. "Plus, when you actually listen, he's making some smart points. But anyways, you guys okay with the name?"
"I didn't really care either way, just sounds dorky," Jirou snarked, shrugging a bit.
"I like it! Super Sentai are super manly!" Kirishima said, pumping a fist. "Can I be Red!?"
"No, that would be Kendo," Iida said seriously. "I'm the sixth Green. Bowser is pink."
"Pink!?" Kaminari said, looking up at me.
"It brings out my eyes," I said, while Mina pouted.
"Seriously! You! I mean, just look at me!" Mina said, waving her hands up and down.
"Don't worry, you can be my understudy," I snarked.
"Bowser," I turned to see Aizawa-sensei at the door. I frowned. He was here a little early.
"Yeah, Sensei?"
He crooked his finger at me. "Come here."
"...Okay."
I rose and left the class to join him in the hallway. I stood before him, ready for anything.
"From now on, when the media is looking for a scoop, don't feed them one on a silver platter," Aizawa said without preamble. "Your little stunt has led to those 'vultures' claiming your actions prove UA students have become reckless and rude. That our hiring All Might is a desperation move to maintain control over our school."
"What the fu-" I cut myself off, but Aizawa noticed. "Sensei, I'm sorry. I was just pissed off. I didn't think-"
"That might as well be where you end your sentence," Aizawa snapped. "I understand where you were coming from. Hell, I've wanted to tell those guys to piss off as well. But you can't let them get to you. We'll go over it in class at some point, but some advice? When you meet the media, and you don't want to give them something specific? Become as flat and boring as a mirror. Factual answers delivered directly with no emphasis. The media hates boring. They don't care about true or false. Just exciting."
I think I'd heard of a tennis player who did something like that in my old world. Damnit. In my defense, I've only been on the news twice before. Once, in my last life, on some crappy local station for a feature on the computer club I was a part of. Then again, when Pony and I rescued those people. I wasn't exactly trained in this stuff.
"Sorry," I said at last.
Aizawa scoffed, waving me off. "Yeah, yeah. Don't do it again. We can create enough controversies without you helping."
I walked away. But as I did, I could barely hear Aizawa talk under his breath.
"Even If I have wanted to tell them where to shove it for years…"
------
"Good work on yesterday's combat training," Aizawa-sensei said to us once we were all sat down. "I saw the video and results," he turned slightly. "Bakugo. You're talented, so don't act like a brat."
The Blonde glared to his left, unable to meet Aizawa's eyes. "I know."
"And Midoriya," Deku jumped. "You settled it by breaking your arm again, huh?" The green-haired kid stared at his desk in shame. "You can't keep saying you can't help it because you can't control your Quirk. If you haven't already, join that club the rest of brats started. Put in more time into mastering your power. Once you master it, you'll become something special. But work towards that with your classmates. Understood?"
"Y-Yes sensei!" Deku said, now more excited than depressed.
Aizawa turned to me. "Bowser. You need to get more control of yourself. You can't go rushing in for a fight anytime you want. Yesterday it made sense, but I saw a similar pattern of behaviour from you during the entrance exam. You may be suited for combat, but learn to fight with a purpose, rather than simply stalling someone till time runs out if you can't beat them."
"Got it," I said simply.
"And Todoroki. Learn to work with your classmates in team building exercises. I don't have to tell you that even a powerful quirk can't always beat enemies in one-shot. It's okay to be confident, but there is a difference between that and foolhardy arrogance. Simply striding into the building like that, assured all your enemies were defeated, was foolhardy. Understood?"
"...Yes, sensei," Shoto ground out after a moment.
"Now, let's get down to homeroom business. Sorry for the late notice, but today I'll have you…" Tension rose in the room. I leaned back in my chair, already knowing what was coming. "...decide on a class representative."
Yeah, there was the surprise at the sudden normal thing that I'd expected from the rest of the class.
"I want to be class rep! Pick me!" Kirishima shouted.
Immediately, a storm of shouts erupted. Everyone yelled out their candidacy, with Bakugo's loud roars mixing together with Mineta's weird ass declarations that he'd change the school dress code to allow everyone to dress as sexy as they want.
Funny enough, I didn't mind the idea of the latter. School uniforms are super constrictive…
"Everyone, please!" Iida said with just enough bass to his voice that everyone stopped. He rose up and looked around seriously. "This job is a serious one. Not something that we can simply take on because we feel like it, but a responsibility. Whoever has it will be leading the rest of the class in all things. Including working with the leaders of the UA Super Sentai in all that they do. I believe we should nominate our leader based on an election, with democracy to decide the job."
Wait. Iida didn't have his hand up like in the anime. "Iida, you don't want the job yourself?" I asked, genuinely surprised.
Iida shook his head. "No. I'm afraid that my responsibilities would not allow me to take on more than one leadership position. I would like to put my focus on attaining that position. So, I formally remove my name from the running in this election."
Well… shit. That surprised me. On some level I kinda thought he'd just grab both positions. Well now I had no idea what was going to happen next.
"Isn't that kind of weird though?" Kaminari noted. "Having an election so soon?"
"We do barely know each other," Sato agreed, looking around.
"Yeah, we don't have any trust in anyone's particular leadership skills," Tsuyu agreed.
"Plus can't we just vote for ourselves?" Kirishima said to Koda, who nodded. The two had been hanging out a bit today. Guess they'd hit it off after the Battle Trial.
"It's fine," I noted, crossing my arms. "I mean, if anyone gets any multiple votes then they probably deserve it. That or they bribed the officials. By the way, I'll buy pizza for the class if they vote for me."
"Bowser!" Iida said, scandalized. "You can't make campaign promises of that sort, it's unethical!"
"Follow me, children, and there will be a pizza for every star in the sky."
"That is impossible!"
Iida really was the world's best straight man. I looked over at the teacher. "Aizawa-sensei, you cool with a vote?"
He was already zipping up his yellow bag. "Whatever. Just get it done before homeroom."
Truly, an inspiration to all educators. Fine, I'd take over.
"All right, then we just need slips of paper and a box," I rose to my feet, cracking my neck. "I'll collect them for everyone. Or we can have someone else do it, if you all prefer?"
"No, we trust you," Tsuyu said. Bless your soul, future Froppy-chan.
Everyone wrote down names on slips of paper. I wrote Momo for my vote. I figured Deku would win like in canon, but maybe with my vote, Momo could become the class rep. Deku might be a good shonen protagonist, but he wasn't exactly leadership material at this stage in his short career.
Once collected, I walked up the front and started counting them out. I wrote them down on the board as I went, taking my time. And… No, wait, that couldn't be right.
Momo had four votes. Deku had two… And I had five.
"What the hell!?" I spun around, staring at the class. "Who voted for me!?"
"Screw that, who voted for Deku instead of me!?" Bakugo shouted.
"Nobody cares about your weird crush on Deku, I'm asking questions here!"
"You motherfuc-!" Bakugo roared, while Deku's face paled in horror.
"Seriously?" I stared at the votes, then at the board. Yeah, no. Five votes. I hadn't voted for myself either. So a few of us had zero votes in the class, which meant those people voted for Deku, Momo, and I rather than ourselves…
"What, are you really mad?" Kaminari asked, confused. "You have enough money for the pizza, right?"
And just like that, the curtains fell. Damn, now I know what every politician feels like when the campaign promises need to be fulfilled.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll get the pizza," I sighed, looking over at Momo. "But seriously, I voted for you."
"Aw, thank you," she said with a smile. "I voted for you as well."
That was nice to know. Well… I guess I could have refused the job. But honestly, this would be the best thing. In a leadership position I could do more. More to protect my classmates. I felt uncomfortable with it, but… we could make this work.
Momo and I bowed towards each other. "Let's support each other as best as we can."
"Yes, Bowser-san."
"You all take too long with every decision," Aizawa grumbled. He rose to look over at us. "Then the Class Representative will be Koopa, and the deputy class rep will be Yaoyorozu."
"And yeah, I'll bring in pizza tomorrow," I said before Kaminari could speak up. He gave me a grin and a thumbs up.
------
At lunch, I joined Pony. Rin came along because Pony invited him. On a whim, I asked Mineta to come along. So of course, the first thing he said when he saw Pony was…
"Hey, I'm Mineta! You single and ready to mingle, beautiful?"
I growled under my breath while Pony stared at him in surprise.
"I mean, uh, nice to meet you," he said more politely, sweating bullets and very carefully not looking at me.
"Nice to meet you too!" Pony said politely, while Rin stared at Mineta like he was trying to figure out if he'd really heard that.
We sat down as a group and began to chat.
"So yeah, Monoma was depressed for the rest of class when no one voted for him," Rin explained with a chuckle. "And Kendo-san is now our class rep as well."
"She isn't worried about adding that to her other responsibilities?" I asked curiously.
"No, she said she could handle it!" Pony said, chowing down happily.
"How are you gonna deal with it?" Mineta asked me. "Don't class reps have a whole lot of responsibilities they have to deal with?"
"I can handle it I think," I said thoughtfully. "I've been working on my multitasking. I'll just need to keep up my studies while I'm at it. Shouldn't be the worst thing in the universe."
Pony frowned thoughtfully. "Bowser, do you even know what a class rep does?"
I took a big mouthful of curry. "I mean… yes. I can't believe you would doubt me. I learned from all the anime of the past after all."
"I'm starting to get worried about you becoming class rep now," Mineta mumbled.
"Yeah, I'm glad Kendo at least knows what she's doing," Rin agreed.
I ignored their byplay. I was waiting for something very specific. I sat away from them, but out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Iida talking to Deku and Ochaco. I tried my best to act relaxed, but couldn't help feeling tense. Any second now…
"Bowser?" I looked over at Pony. She seemed worried for me. "Are you… okay?"
I hesitated. She'd noticed. Of course she had. No one knew me better.
"...Well-"
An alarm rang out. As the ringing sound echoed outwards in an annoying clatter, Mineta looked up, panic in his eyes. "What the hell is that?"
"Did something happen?" Rin asked, scales flickering along the Chinese students arms.
The intercoms in the cafeteria sounded out. "There has been a level 3 security breach. All students, please evacuate outdoors promptly!"
There it was. I snapped to my feet, looking around quickly. Okay. I could see the reporters outside the windows, all rushing through the gate to head towards the doors of the school. I felt more disgust towards them. Invading a school to ask questions. Assholes.
"What do we do!?" Rin asked a third year student nearby.
"What else, we run!" Mineta said.
"No, we don't," I said seriously.
"Wha-Are you nuts!? The intercom said we have to go!"
"Mineta, hop onto my head man and look there," I said, pointing in one direction.
"Hop onto… ugh, fine!" he jumped upwards, scrambling up my spines, while I extended a hand to Pony, who sat in my palm. I lifted her up as Mineta finally sat atop my head, grabbing my horns.
"The reporters?" Mineta said, confused.
"It looks like they got onto school grounds somehow," Pony said curiously. "You think they are the reason the alarm went off?"
"Gotta be," I said, now shouting over the panicking crowd of students. In the distance, I could see Kirishima and Kaminari yelling. Momo was trying to calm people down, but no one was listening to her. This was always gonna be weird, acting like I didn't know exactly what was going on. Felt like lying. "Even as loud as it is, I don't hear anything other than us! Level 3 would be a huge attack, not a bunch of nosy assholes!"
"We should tell everyone!" Pony declared, tugging at my hand as I held her aloft. "Bowser! You're louder than all of us! Roar! Get their attention!"
I couldn't help the rush of pride I felt for her. She'd suggested exactly what I'd hoped she would.
I opened my mouth so wide I could feel my jaw click just a bit. Then I let loose a roar, unleashing a blast of flame along with it.
"Groawwwwr!" FWOOSH!
The combination of sound and fire drew the attention of the others. All the students looked over. I could also see Iida in the distance, floating over the crowd. I guess I'd interrupted his plan. But I could combine his with ours. "Iida! Let them know!"
"U-Uh, right!" the floating speedster said. He spoke aloud, giving an abbreviated version of his speech from the anime. "Everyone! Everything is fine!"
As he explained things, I placed Pony down, plucking Mineta off my head. The grape kid spoke as I put him down. "So it's over now, right?" he looked at the now calm students, some older ones laughing at their earlier panic. "What happens now?"
"We let the adults handle the reporters," I said, sighing. In truth, my original plan had been to rush off and find that Decay asshole once he infiltrated the school. But I couldn't be sure where he was now. I'd have to stay. After all the changes I'd affected in the timeline in a short time, I couldn't be sure that Iida would act the same way.
And yet, he had. I had wasted my time here.
Tomorrow… Tomorrow the USJ battle would begin. My timeline had shrunk to a pinpoint. I had one day to get my plan in action.
Fine. We'd get dangerous then.
Chapter 14: First Meeting of UA Sentai
Back in class, it was time to choose class officers. In the anime, they'd basically skipped over this part for Deku's nomination of Iida, so I was interested in what would happen now.
"We will need a Secretary, Treasurer, and Historian," Momo said next to me at the head of the class. "Do we have anyone who would like to join any of those positions?"
"Pass!" Mina said, giggling with a hand behind her head. "Those all sound way too smart for me."
"Honestly, they don't require that much," I said. "Secretary just has to maintain any correspondence we have, do any signup sheets, take accurate notes-"
"I can do that!" Deku's hand snapped up. He blushed when everyone looked over him, but seemed determined nonetheless. "I can take notes!"
"It's pretty much all you can do, shitty Deku," Bakugo growled.
"Bakugo, if you don't want to contribute, be quiet," I snapped.
"You gotta problem with me, shitty turtle!?" he shouted, rising out of his chair and doing that white-eyed rage look he seemed to have mastered.
"So yeah, Deku can take the minutes. You down to be our Historian as well? They'll need to basically do a narrative of all our activities and such."
"Yeah, I can do that!" Deku said happily.
"Stop ignoring me!" Bakugo shouted, explosions rising from his palms.
"Oy," Aizawa glared at him. "Seriously. I'm trying to nap. Stop yelling."
The blonde stewed in his seat while Deku looked like his world was getting rocked.
"Is it really a good idea to combine both roles?" Momo asked me, looking a little bit annoyed.
"I think it is, to be honest. I always thought both jobs have a lot in common. Just in case though, Deku, do you have anything to prove you can do the job of taking accurate notes?" I asked.
Bakugo scoffed, and Deku nodded frantically. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a burned notebook, rushing to the front of the class and handing it to Momo. "This is my Hero Analysis For The Future journal. Number 13!"
"Why is it burnt?" Momo asked, looking it over hesitantly.
Deku flinched, eyes flickering at Bakugo. "Uh… there was an accident. But it's still in good condition."
She opened it up, looking it over. "Analysis on hero quirks?"
"Yes," he said proudly. "I've spent years analyzing the quirks of heroes I admire to understand them! I even made a page for Uraraka-san and Iida-san."
"You did?" Ochaco said, blushing just a bit.
"Yeah!" he looked around. "I haven't made any for everyone else yet though. I haven't seen a lot of your quirks in action."
"Oh my," Momo had opened the book to a page on Ochaco. There was a listed set of how her quirk worked, her uniform, thoughts on possibilities for her limitations, confirmed weaknesses. "This is very well written! Good job, Midoriya-kun! And you do this regularly?"
"Any time I see someone I admire using their quirks!" Deku said. Iida seemed touched, while Ochaco's blush went nuclear. I didn't have the heart to tell them Deku admired EVERY person who had heroic traits. He was an 'all-loving hero' after all.
"I retract my previous objections then," Momo said seriously, handing him back his notebook. "Okay then. How about a treasurer?"
Things got a little awkward. Finally, Jiro raised her hand with a sigh. "I'd like to volunteer as tribute," oh, that meme was still a thing. That or it had become a super common vernacular and I hadn't heard it. "I need to practice my math anyway. Just don't get mad if I mess up."
"We'll have each other's backs," I reassured her. "Honestly, this job is likely going to be based around us working with the UA Super Sentai as a class. That should be interesting," I said, looking over at Aizawa. "All right, teach. We have our class officers."
"Fantastic," he said with all the sarcasm old age had given him, unzipping his sleeping bag and rising to his feet, sighing as Momo and I sat down. "Okay. Now, we'll be going over some basics of hero law. This will cover the current laws in place for structural damage, what a hero is liable for-"
Even as he went into it, my mind was on our after-school activities.
------
After School
When class was done, we all gathered in front of Battle Ground Gamma. It was a massive pipe-filled area, like someone with a vague idea of how factories, power plants, and other industrial sites worked, had smashed together a whole bunch of them to make a sprawling area with varying levels and sizes of pipes, catwalks, and platforms. Kinda an insane hodgepodge to look upon. And by far one of the dopest things I'd ever seen.
"-have been permitted to use the Battle Grounds as we wish, as long as it is for training purposes," Iida said. Kendo and he were standing in front of us, the two leaders of the UA Sentai. Kendo had a confident smile on her face, while Iida was very seriously reading from a series of notes in his hands.
I took a look around at the students. Class 1-A and Class 1-B were here. All except for Bakugo. Surprisingly, Shoto had shown up. He was standing right next to me actually, with Pony on my other side and Mineta in front of me. I thought he'd be too cool for the class (no pun intended), but having him there would be useful.
Other than Class 1-A and 1-B, some other students had arrived. I didn't recognize most of them outside of just walking past them in the halls. One that stood out was a short girl with a good build, shoulder-length pink hair set into dreadlocks, with a pair of goggles on her head, a giant belt, and... She had crazy eyes. I mean, yes, her eyes had an interesting scope-looking design that had to be tied to her quirk, but she had the crazy eyes in a way that reminded me of an old friend of mine. That girl was nuts. I could feel it in my shell.
Another student was standing just a bit to the side. He looked tired based on the dark bags under his eyes. He had messy, indigo-colored hair that flared out in large tufts around his head, and was looking around at us suspiciously, meeting eyes with me briefly before snapping his head away.
One person I recognized was the leader of the girls who I'd stopped Mineta from perving on. What was her name? Chiku-... something or other? The brown-haired girl with a ponytail. She'd glared at Mineta, and when she noticed I was standing near him, gave me a similar one. I'd clear that up later.
There were three other guys, all standing together in a group. An overweight guy with a beehive blond haircut, of all things, a skinny dude with glasses and green hair currently typing in his laptop, and a short guy with purple hair. The three of them were talking to each other, looking around at us with enthusiasm. I wondered what they were up to.
"As Iida-san said, we'll be working together on ALL aspects of being a hero," Kendo said. "Not just fighting, but skills we might need down the road like investigation, teamwork, management," the trio of random dudes perked up. "And even working with the Support class to make items that will help us with our powers."
The pink girl giggled a little bit. It was creepy and reminded me of an old adage all men must learn when it comes to crazy girls.
"Now, to start, I would like us all to begin with some discussion-"
"Discussion?" Kaminari mumbled behind me. "Damn, won't this get boring quick?"
"We need to get to know each other's quirks," Kendo said, taking over for Iida. They were doing well at that, balancing each other. "We can't exactly go running around fighting each other. We'll have spars down the road, but for our first session, we'll break up into groups of five and simply talk about our quirks, share ideas on training, and ways we can improve in the future!"
"We've already figured out groups we can break up into," Iida began. "I will begin listing them off."
"We'll be on different teams, won't we?" Pony asked, looking up at me.
"That was the plan," I said sadly. "You and I have talked about our quirks to death. Better to see what advice we can give others."
"That's fair," Pony said in English, pressing a finger to her lips.
"I just hope I get grouped with some cute girls," Mineta sighed. "But it would also be nice to be teamed with Shoji."
"...I didn't know he was your type," I mumbled, honestly confused.
"Not like that you dumb turtle!" Mineta shouted up at me, glaring. "He was my opponent in the Battle Trial, so I want to ask him what I could have done better."
"Oh. Well, that makes perfect sense then."
"What about you," Mineta asked as he calmed down. "You hoping to group with someone specific?"
"Yeah. But only two."
Kaminari was one. I had some ideas on how to upgrade him before the USJ incident tomorrow. Granted, that was more of a last resort. If things went right, then I wouldn't have to do much for that. Still, preparation is key in all things.
The other was Koda. His quirk had given me some ideas for a few projects I wanted to work on, and I wanted to talk to the shy guy about them.
Hopefully, I'd get either one.
------
"Well, I guess we better get started," I said, looking around. Izuku was holding onto his notebook, looking around nervously. We'd taken one of the rooftops looking over the area, and were sitting in a circle.
Reiko Yanagi, a Class 1-B student, sat next to Izuku. She was a quiet young woman, with chin-length, pale gray hair, parted to the left, hanging down over her eye and obscuring the majority of the left side of her face. She held her arms up at the elbows all the time, her hands hanging loosely, like a classic ghost or something.
Next to her, Hitoshi Shinso, a General Education student, was sitting on my other side. The kid was leaning against the fence behind him, quiet as he looked at us.
The final person there was Kinoko Komori. She was a short girl with very thin arms and legs, with honey brown hair, curved inwards in a mushroom-shaped bob that reached just below her narrow shoulders. She had yet to really meet any of us in the eyes.
I looked around. Izuku coughed. Reiko looked over at Komori, who fidgeted. Shinso eyed us all silently.
What, seriously? ALL of them were the quiet type? Damnit. Somewhere on a level below us, I could hear Kaminari and Kirishima shouting happily as they chatted with one of the Management kids, the praying mantis kid, and the steel guy. Now there was a group that wasn't running out of things to say. Well, this would work either way.
"I'll start then," I began. "My name is Bowser Koopa. My quirk is Dragon Turtle. I can basically do a variety of things based on my body, with superhuman strength, durability, and stamina as my base powers. I'm hoping to master a few abilities that I should be able to do but have yet to master at all. Now, who's next?"
The others looked at each other. Then Shinso leaned forward. He glared around before finally speaking. "Hitoshi Shinso. My quirk is…"
He hesitated. Finally, he spoke. "My quirk is Brainwashing."
We all froze. I stared at him. "Wait, what do you-"
I froze. For a moment, I was locked inside my own body. I stared helplessly through eyes that wouldn't move at my command. Shinso eyed me with a little bit of bitter amusement.
I immediately began to panic. Ever since I was a kid, I was terrified of getting my mind, my control, taken away. A whole combination of things had turned that fear into something potent. I didn't do drugs or drink. And part of that was because I never wanted to lose control of my body. I prided myself on keeping control of my faculties. Hell, it was part of why being changed into Bowser had such a huge effect on me.
Locked inside my own mind, with no way to move unless Shinso willed it? I wanted to scream even with my thoughts dulled by his quirk.
"If someone responds to me after I use my quirk, I can control their actions. I just need to concentrate on one person at a time. And I can't make them do anything truly complex, like speak. But anything else is under my control.…"
Suddenly my body was my own again. I gasped, staring at him in horror. The others did the same. He smiled, though there was no happiness to it. "That is my quirk. Villainous, isn't it?"
None of us spoke. He didn't seem surprised. If anything, it looked like he'd expected that.
I took a deep breath again. Then again. "I'll be honest. I hate your quirk."
Everyone flinched. Shinso only smiled sadly. "Yes. It's the quirk of a villain after all."
"No, that's absolute bullshit," I spat out, growling with a bit of anger. He snapped his head up to look at me. "I hate it because I fucking hate losing control of my body. I have enough hangups about that sort of thing. So I hate it. But it's also a great quirk for a hero," Shinso stared at me, eyes widening, his mouth opening just a bit. "You can make suicidal people get to safety, shut down hostage situations, distract villains by turning them against each other. Hell, just the threat of your Quirk is useful. If communication is one of the most important parts of warfare, making people too scared to speak to their allies is damn useful."
"Ah, he's right!" Deku leaned forward excitedly. "A quirk like that is perfect for non-violent solutions to problems! Even if it has weaknesses, it's still very useful! Oh, what are the limits of your range?"
"Um, as far as my voice can reach," Shinso answered, leaning back as Deku got close. "And I can't use an electronic device to project my voice."
"And I guess it only works on those of us who can understand the languages of man, the intent of human nature?" Reiko said, hands still in that praying mantis stance.
"..." Shinso stared at her, uncomprehending.
"Only works on humans," Komori explained.
"Oh, uh, yes, it only works on humans."
"So that's why you had trouble with the practical exam," Izuku mused.
"I didn't even take it…" Shinso mumbled. "When I told people I was headed to UA, my teacher encouraged me to go for the general education course."
"...Encouraged, huh?" I scowled. "Well, fuck him. I hate your quirk, but we'll help you develop it, man. We've got enough punchy dudes. Having a guy who can shut down a bad guy with a word is too useful. As long as you prove you've got the guts though. Because we are going to be doing combat training here."
"You want me to fight you?" he asked, smirking. "Now that you know my weakness, won't you simply pick me up and punch me in the face?"
I hesitated to speak. Not because I didn't know what to say, but because I was worried about his quirk. He sighed sadly.
"I'm sorry. I won't use my quirk on you again. I just… sometimes I can tell a lot about someone's true nature based on how they respond to my quirk. I'll hold off on it though. I really do want to become a hero. And I guess things like that aren't very heroic."
"Yeah, to say the least," I sighed. "Anyways, a lot of heroes have quirks that, while useful, aren't built for combat. They find ways around that, usually with support items. If you need a weapon, well," I reached for the railing behind him, my forearm just next to his head. He flinched at the sound of squealing metal before my hand was back in his view. "You can't wrong with a big fucking stick."
A piece of railing landed on his lap, a piece of metal about the length of an arm, and thick around as a tennis ball. "The oldest weapon of humanity, and still useful as hell. We'll figure out support items later, okay?"
Shinso stared at me before nodding quickly. "Y-Yeah! That would be great!" he winced while trying to grab it. "It's um… a little hard to hold?"
I took the metal rod back. I squeezed it carefully near one end, slowly molding the steel, then handed it back to him, a grip of sorts on the end I'd squeezed. "There you go."
As he took a hold of his new weapon, I looked over at Reiko. She pressed a finger to her lips in thought. "I am Reiko Yanagi. My quirk, Poltergeist, allows me to control nearby objects," she held out a hand, and a couple of stones floated up from the rooftop to orbit her hand. "But my limit is the weight of the average person."
"Poltergeist? Shouldn't that be just, telekinesis?" I asked curiously.
"Oh, I know the answer to this!" Izuku said. "Early on, quirks were given names that were very similar to most commonly known versions of that power. So those who could throw fire were called fire-users, telekinetics were telekinetics, etcetera. But, as quirks became more common, they had to give them names that were specific to the variation of that power. My mother's quirk lets her pull small objects towards her for example, so it would need to be called something specific to differentiate it from Reiko-san's!"
That made sense. "Okay. So, Reiko. What is the limit on how many objects you can control?"
"How many? The limits of my power are tied to a body's relative mass or the quantity of matter contained by it, giving rise to a downward force. I have yet to wonder about a quantity of something, especially the total of a thing or things in number, size, value, or extent."
Fuck me, she was a literal living dictionary.
"Okay. So you can probably control a bunch of, say, metal ball bearings? Sand? Even a bunch of crystals? That's pretty epic."
Izuku spoke up next. "How fast can you move the objects? What's the limit of your range?"
"The fastest I've thrown it was around 45.1 meters within a single second, however, I was forced to expend enormous energy and focus to do so. My most consistent is around 30 meters per second."
"That's still not bad at all," Shinso mumbled, still hefting his new weapon a bit.
"As for my range, around 3 meters," or close to 10 feet.
"Damn, that's useful. How about you, Komori?"
She looked around at us. After a moment, she swallowed, girding herself. "My name is Kinoko Komori. My quirk is Mushroom."
Oh, come on universe, seriously? Team the mushroom quirk-user with Bowser?
"It allows me to generate fungus spores. I send them out, and they make mushrooms wherever they touch," she pressed a hand to the rooftop. When she took it away, a couple of mushrooms slowly grew from the concrete. "But it is easier in humid zones. This one here is little grifola frondosa," her shyness faded a bit, replaced by excitement as she pointed at a very frilly-looking brown and white mushroom. "And this one here is Tricholoma equestre!"
"Ohhhhhh," Izuku said, leaning forward to stare at them.
"Be careful," Komori said with a small smile. "Some people think tricholoma might be poisonous," as Izuku backed away in fear, she continued to smile. "My quirk isn't really meant for direct combat, but it is useful for several things, even if they disappear in two to three hours. And they work very well on robotic foes, to gunk up their insides and prevent them from working."
"Oh, is that how you passed the practical?" Shinso asked curiously.
"Yes! My little spores entered the robots and grew inside them, covering their circuitry and destroying them from the inside! So cute!"
I stared at the formerly shy girl as she gushed over that, a little horrified at the thought. Cause if she could do that to robots, then technically her spores just needed to contact any surfaces. So if they got inside someone's throat... Damn. I turned to Deku.
"Okay, Deku. How about you?"
"Oh, I forgot you're calling me that too," Deku mumbled, blinking.
Oh shit. "Uh, is that okay? I heard Ochaco calling you that earlier, so I thought-"
"It's fine, it's fine!" he said, waving a hand.
"Is it really fine?" Reiko mumbled. "Calling him that could be seen as an insult, right?"
Izuku continued speaking. "I'm Izuku Midoriya, but I don't mind Deku, since it makes me think of 'dekiru' now!" he said, using the Japanese word meaning "to be able to do". Also, Deku… your crush on Ochaco is showing when you blush that hard dude. "And my Quirk is called… w-well, I don't have a name for it yet," One For All. "It's a strength-enhancing quirk. But I don't have much control over it. I… break my limbs whenever I use it."
The other three kids stared at him.
"...Like, on purpose?" Shinso asked hesitantly.
"No, I just have issues with my control," Deku sighed, staring at his right hand as it clenched into a fist. "My body isn't able to withstand my own power. So whenever I throw a punch, or I try to jump, I end up using more power than I can handle."
"...Well, looks like we all have something to work on then," I said slowly. "Shinso, I suggest that when you train, you have two goals. Your body and your voice. Plus, maybe some heckling."
"Heckling?" Shinso asked in confusion.
"You know, like Spider-Man, or Deadpool. Taunt, tease, mess with them, make them make a mistake," I grinned. "I've got expertise in the subject."
"I'm not really the… heckling type," Shinso said with some hesitance. "I mean, I can make people angry, but I don't really tease people like that."
"That's the point of training," Reiko said idly. "Twist your words into the noose around the necks of your enemies, choking forth the utterances that will be their undoing."
"...Uhhh, yeah," Shinso sweatdropped. "I'll do that."
"I'll share some videos that might help?" I said, getting a nod from Shinso. "And we'll figure out how to get some agility in ya. Not much point in training you to piss people off if you can't dodge a guy trying to rip you in half."
Shinso suddenly looked a lot less positive about all this.
Reiko spoke up next. "I like your ideas about carrying sand and other small objects with me. I will practice my control with them."
"If you do it right, you could end up being sorta like Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender," I mused. "Tossing rocks, sand, controlling them to make defenses. Even if your limit right now is the size of the average human, the average human weighs a lot. And if we consider how lightweight something as strong as, say, titanium is, then you have a lot more options."
Reiko nodded, her hands still in that weird praying mantis stance she seemed to favor. Then she quirked her head to the side. "Avatar… that is such an old series."
"Yeah, are you an 80-year-old man?" Shinso asked teasingly.
"My tastes are straight out of the past. I blame my upbringing," I said with a smirk. "As for Komori, I'll be honest. I don't know a lot about spores or mushrooms."
"Can you focus your spores to grow the way you want?" Izuku asked the Greenette writing constantly in that notebook of his. "Make them specifically grow in one spot to catch your fall, or surround a limb like a makeshift shield to soften a blow?"
"I can't," Komori said with a little shy smile. "I tried, but my little babies go where they want."
"Hmmm," Deku stroked his chin. "Yes, if the spray of the spores is relatively random, then your quirk would mostly have use as an area of effect move."
"But she doesn't need to work about how her spores come off her body, just where they go after, right?" Shinso pointed out. "Maybe a gun?"
"A support item that can gather my spores and send them out as a projectile?" Komori hesitantly added, brushing back her hair a bit and revealing her eyes had an 'X' in her pupils. "I haven't thought of that. I don't know though…"
"We'll have to test it out I guess," I mused.
"How about me?" Deku asked hesitantly. "Do you think there is a way for me to use my power without breaking my arms?"
"I don't know," I admitted immediately.
"Ahhh," Deku sighed out sadly.
"Sorry. I mean, I have some guesses," mainly from those AMV's I'd seen a time or two that showed him zipping around while surrounded in lightning. "But I think we need to think on your power a bit. Deku, are you a late bloomer?"
He flinched. I guess I was just a bit too close to the truth for his tastes. "S-Something like that!"
"Because, to be honest, you have all the control of a child with your power," I said.
Deku seemed to fall into a depression. "I-Is that so…"
"But if you didn't even know you had a quirk until recently, that would make sense. You've got all the power of a full quirk, but none of the experience withstanding its effects," I scratched the scales on my chin. "Bakugo likely had to work up to being able to withstand his own explosions for example."
"He did," Izuku frowned thoughtfully. "When we were little, he couldn't make nearly as big explosions without hurting himself. When I first realized what my quirk was, someone told me if you tried to get someone who suddenly got a tail to do tricks with it, they wouldn't be able to control it."
"Well, how do you use your powers, anyway?" I felt like I was grasping at straws. Without the context of the other seasons-
I shut down that thought immediately. If I kept complaining about not knowing what happened in the rest of the series, I might as well complain I hadn't arrived with a boxed set of the manga and the creator of the series, Kōhei Horikoshi, giving me a breakdown on his universe. No, I'd need to discard those thoughts. From now on, focus on what I could do with the knowledge I currently had, not on what could have been.
"How does it feel?" I asked Izuku again. "When you use your powers, I mean. That brief second right between when the power activates and the moment after when your limb breaks?"
"There is a lot of talk about breaking limbs around here," Shinso muttered to Kimori, who nodded quickly.
"It feels…" Deku frowned, thinking. He raised his fist and clenched it. "Like my powers are flooding through me. As though energy is pouring into whatever limb I'm using, filling it up and up."
"So… it's an energy that flows through you? Sounds kinda Dragon Ball Z-Esque…" I muttered.
"Again with the ancient references," Shinso teased.
"Well, maybe you shouldn't pour as much energy as you can into a single limb? I feel like I'm grasping at straws here since my own super-strength works off of muscle power, but if the problem is that you can't handle the amount of energy, then maybe use less?"
"Ah, yes," Reiko spoke up, looking thoughtful. "When a cup is full, and you have no other cup, you simply do not fill it further, yes?"
Deku looked struck. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Ah, that's true. I haven't thought of it, but-maybe-if-I-start-channeling-the-energy-of-OFA-in-smaller-amounts-my-limbs-would-be-able-to-withstand-it-better-and-I-"
"It makes sense, I think. After all, a boxer doesn't put every last bit of their power into every hit. You put enough to hurt, but you always make sure you've got a bit of energy leftover," I got up and demonstrated with some quick jabs in the air, followed by a cross. "See? I make sure to use enough power to hit, but I don't exhaust myself. Control is more important than power sometimes."
I lowered my fists. "What do you guys say we practice a bit then?"
"Practice?" Shinso asked while the three Hero students seemed to immediately get what I was saying.
"We have an hour or so. We won't be able to do much, but the amount of effort you put into this hero shit is important," I explained. "In fact, that's the best advice I can give you if you want to be a hero, Shinso. If you really want it, then start training. Find ways to train every day. Doesn't matter if it's as big as a four-hour workout, or as small as reading up or watching the adventures of past heroes to get ideas from them."
"I'll keep that in mind," Shinso said, rising to his feet.
"Deku. You and I should train together since I'm the only who can take a punch from you without breaking in half,"
"I'm not sure how I feel about you describing it that way," the greenette said nervously.
"Shinso, I recommend you look up Deadpool's movies, all nine movies are free to watch and it's a good way to learn from the master of heckling people into making mistakes. Ryan Reynolds is an ancient treasure dude. And maybe look up videos on stick fighting."
"I'll practice with these stones," Reiko said, looking over the gravel on the rooftop. "I believe I can use your advice to find new ways to apply my abilities."
"I guess I should speak to that girl from the Support class?" Komori said, looking around. "So that she can help me with my spores. Where is she?"
I gave her a deadpan look. Then I pointed up and to my left. Komori looked up. Then her hair flew out of her eyes as they widened.
Ochaco was in the distance, rocketed above the battleground, screaming. A pink-haired girl with a pair of jet boots on was laughing happily while they flew together, shouting something we couldn't hear.
"...Maybe I'll talk to her later?" Komori mumbled nervously.
My 'crazy chick' senses were top-notch for a reason.
That aside though… a spar with the main character. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't wanted this.
Chapter 15: USJ Day
Deku and I were soon on our own, though I could hear everyone else in the background. Tetsutetsu and Kirishima were the loudest. Near as I could tell, the only training they'd decided to do was smash into each other with all their strength, so a loud clanging sound came from their direction.
Izuku was clenching and unclenching his fists in front of me, raising his hands up, then lowering them. I stretched, trying to loosen up a bit. "I'll be honest, man. I've been kinda wanting to fight you."
"You have?" Deku looked up at me, a little nervous. "W-Why?"
"Well… your power is probably one of the best to take me down. You can literally toss me into the ocean if you feel like it, make me fly like Team Rocket. You can give me a real fight. And honestly, we should be looking for those. If we want to be heroes."
I could tell he understood. Fighting wasn't the only part of being a hero. When you broke it down, being a hero is sort of a 55-40-5 thing. 55 percent saving people, 40 percent fighting villains, with the other 5 in service in doing those first two parts of the job much more efficiently. Something like that at least.
Deku seemed to get that. He nodded, clenching a fist shakily. "Yeah. I get it. Then, what uh… what are the rules?"
"You punch me for a little," I said easily. "We aren't sparring for a fight, we're trying to learn. Just try and control your power like we talked about. And don't worry about punching me too hard." I smacked my shell on my belly, the dull sound of it echoing a bit. "I can take it."
He still looked unsure. But he finally nodded. Hesitantly, he stepped forward.
At that point, I admitted even I felt a little nervous. After all, I was tough. But not as tough as adult Bowser would be. And Deku had the power to create tornadoes in his body. His problem wasn't a lack of strength, but an overabundance of it. I had no idea if I could really survive a full power blow from him. Considering All Might could turn city blocks to powder.
But I also felt kind of excited.
So when Deku stepped forward and lightly tapped my stomach with a hit that wouldn't have damaged a snowflake in mid-melt, I had mixed feelings.
"...Really?"
"I know," Deku said nervously, pulling back. "I'm just testing it. I need to make sure I can start small. Maybe… if I focus. I can use a small percent. Maybe 2 percent of my power?"
His lips turned down. His eyes flickered with determination. I crouched a bit, setting my stance. This was it! He reared back. And this time, his fist glittered with emerald sparks snapping around his knuckles.
His punch echoed as it slammed into my chest. I stumbled back, grunting as the breath briefly left my lungs. Damn. Two percent of OFA was actually kinda impressive in terms of power. The two of us quickly turned our gaze onto his hand.
For a moment, I almost panicked. His knuckles had some blood on them where they had split, and I worried we'd failed. But then he spoke.
"I-It worked!"
"It did?"
"Yes!" Izuku looked at me, grinning proudly. "My knuckles were split, but that was because I was punching your shell. But I can feel it… My bones aren't broken. It's not perfect," he winced as he clenched his fist again, but his grin was still massive, tears at the corner of his eyes. "But I can make this work!"
"Wow," I said, genuinely surprised. "Well… we better test it. And maybe this time you should hit me on my arms while I guard."
"R-Right." Deku raised his hands. "Here I come!"
He stepped forward, snapping out a quick jab. I blocked it on my right forearm, wincing a bit at the impact, though it didn't hurt too bad. Both of us feeling more confident now, Deku started throwing his fists while I took the blows across my arms and legs. Soon we got into a rhythm. Deku danced around me, jabbing and throwing crosses. His determined face shone with sweat as he started treating this less like a chore and more like a fight.
I took a quick swipe at him. He ducked it, then uppercutted me in the jaw. I stumbled back, staring at him. Then I spat out some blood.
"S-Sorry," Deku said weakly. "I just, when you swiped at me-"
"It's cool," I said with a grin. "Like I said. I want a fight. Now that we know you can throw a punch without killing yourself… How about we take this more seriously?"
I think my smile worried him. Or terrified him. But he still nodded shakily. "O-Okay Bowser-san! Let's do it!"
I nodded back, raising my arms up. I stepped forward and jabbed at him. Deku ducked the punch, only to yelp in surprise when my other hand wrapped around his shirt. I pulled him upwards and tossed him at the wall behind me. The kid twisted in the air, landing on the wall feet first and jumping away in time to dodge my tackle as I smashed through the wall he'd been on. He leaped back towards me, punching me across the chin.
Damn, kid had some power. Not as much as one of Cow Lady's blows, but comparing him to a pro hero wasn't fair.
I raised my other arm and brought it around in a quick hook, barely brushing Deku's arms.
He let out a shout of pain as he was sent back, sliding on the ground. I rushed after him, dropping to all four feet the way that Cow Lady often did.
He jumped over my charge. I watched him pass overhead, grinding to a halt as best as I could so I could turn and face him when he landed behind me-
He wasn't there.
In the moment of surprise I had, I suddenly felt something pulling at my back. As I was lifted into the air to see the ocean of pipes above us, I realized what had happened. The kid had grabbed onto the pipes, spun around them, and landed right back in the same position he had been! He'd known I would try to turn and face him!
Of course. My shell was tough. But it made it damn hard for me to account for shit that was behind me. I just couldn't turn my head enough to actually see things without turning around entirely. So I'd learned to twist as fast as I could, to keep my opponents in front of me when I wasn't attacking with my spikes.
And Deku had noticed that. So he'd used that instinct I'd built against me.
The kid lifted me up with a scream of effort. "Yaaaaa!"
He launched me forwards, sending me flying at the pipes above us. I was pretty impressed.
But I still wanted to fight.
I pulled myself into my shell and started spinning. When I slammed into the pipes above, it was as a spiked cannonball, smashing apart the metal. I snapped out of my shell in time to see Deku below me, mid-jump with his fist pulled back. I punched. So did Deku.
Our fists met in the middle, his smaller knuckles smashing into mine. I went flying upwards a bit more, my fist a little sore.
Deku, on the other hand, smashed into the ground below, bouncing off the concrete. He gasped in pain, eyes rolling back into his head. Oh fuck!
"Kid!" I landed on the ground, rushing over to him. "You okay!?"
He coughed a bit, staring up at me. Then he grinned, raising a hand weakly in a thumbs-up. "Y-Yeah! I can still fight!"
From the looks of it, the fact he could might as well have made it Christmas. I frowned. "...Kid, are you trying to tough out your injuries in some sort of anime protag tough guy thing."
He smiled more weakly. "I-I'm not an anime protagonist."
Well, I walked into that bit of irony.
"Come on, Goku Jr." I helped him to his feet as he winced, bruises growing across his arms and fists. "Let's go to Recovery Girl so she can yell at you."
"She doesn't always yell at me," he said weakly, following me.
I chuckled at that. Man, I felt so much better about tomorrow now. With Deku now able to fight, at least on some level, we'd have a much better chance against the horde… actually-
"Deku, what do you think?" I asked him as we walked along. "If you had to fight villains now, or hell, if you went up against me or Bakugo. Does this help?"
He looked surprised at the question, then cupped his chin in thought. "I'm not sure. My power isn't-damaging-me-like-before-but-I'm-also-sacrificing-a-lot-of-strength-and-it's-hard-to-focus-on-individual-limbs-still-it's-good-I-can-actually-fight-for-prolonged-periods-and-I-suppose-I-can-still-use-a-full-force-blow-"
I let him go off, listening carefully. I kinda agreed with what he was saying. Well… if things went well, then I'd never need to worry about us fighting. But if we had too, at least the kid had an option.
------
"It's not as bad as the usual, but I'm still unhappy with you," Recovery Girl said to a now shirtless Deku as he winced. "Your arms are severely bruised, as are your hips, buttocks, and abdominal muscles. And your knuckles are cracked, likely from punching this stubborn one," she said with a little glare at me. "Not to mention your tendons are likely torn all to hell.
"Better than turning his limbs to spaghetti," I noted. True to her words, the kid looked like someone had been getting beat up by a train. His chest, arms, and abdomen were all black, blue, yellow, and green.
"Barely," Recovery Girl muttered. "Okay, stand still," her lips did that weird extendo thing, landing on his cheek. He glowed green for a moment, then sank in exhaustion as the black and blue across his body slowly faded away. "Thankfully you still had plenty of stamina and the wounds weren't as egregious as the last time you visited me. But I'd like it if every punch you threw didn't end in a hospital visit, Midoriya-kun."
"I understand, Recovery Girl," he said respectfully, looking tired but much better now.
"Now, as for you," she spun to glare at me. "Don't tell me that you were going to hide your own injuries."
"Injuries?" I looked myself over. I had a scrape on my knuckles from when our punches met in the air. Not really a scrape, more like a small mark on my scales. "Oh come on, this is nothing-!"
A pair of lips smacked onto my cheek. I grumbled as Recovery Girl backed away. "Seriously?"
"And take these," she said, holding out a pair of lollipops, smiling. "Have a good day now, and be more careful you two!"
"Yes, ma'am," Deku and I said in unison, going with the flow.
------
After that, nothing much happened. Deku and I said our goodbyes. I headed home, me jogging there, and arrived in time for the next part of my plan. I got everything ready to go.
If my plan worked, then none of the kids had to throw a punch. But if I had too, well… we'd see.
I also looked into the various forums I'd joined. Nothing too crazy there. I'd have thought some idiot in the massive group of villains that showed up at USJ would have bragged about it somewhere online, but it looked like that Shigaraki kid had managed to keep a tighter hold on them than I'd expected. Then again, it was more likely his boss had. The hand-face idiot didn't really strike me as a leadership-type of dude. Or a moisturiser-type dude.
On the other hand, the Hero Killer was still causing damage. He'd gained a following among those who hated heroes, and had yet to be caught. I stared at the postings from people, some cheering him on, others hating him. Then I shut it off.
------
USJ Day. It was finally time.
I got up way too early that day, considering I hadn't been able to sleep very well the night before. I forced myself to get another wink or two, then headed out. I grabbed a bite to eat on the way and texted Pony to apologize that I couldn't walk with her to school that day. Got into class and sat down early.
A couple of the kids streamed in and said hi. I mostly said hi back. But I felt like a bundle of raw nerves the whole time. I knew I could handle a fight. But somehow, waiting for the fighting made me more nervous than the thought of actually brawling.
The longer it took for us to head out, the more I wanted to freak out. I waited and waited and waited. I barely paid attention through my classes. At one point, Aizawa must have noticed I wasn't paying attention. I almost snapped at him when he asked me a question. I gave a wrong answer, and he corrected me before continuing the class.
At lunch I ate a bit, but nowhere near what I usually did, which Pony noticed.
"Are you okay?" she asked me as we put our trays away, a worried look on her face.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just working through something."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
I chuckled, patting her on the head, the tiny horse girl squeaking in surprise. "No. But thanks, Pony."
She still looked worried, which oddly made me feel better. Knowing someone gives a shit is a mood lifter.
But by the time Aizawa stood in front of us and told us we'd be going off-campus for our special, I felt like I was going to break my desk just to relieve the tension.
We all got into our costumes except Deku, who went with his PE uniform since his costume was still getting repaired. Once we were all gathered together outside, I was stretching a bit, waiting.
"Bowser-kun," Iida's voice brought my attention. He was looking sternly at me, carrying a whistle in hand. "The bus will be here soon. I wanted to suggest that we line up by class number so that we may smoothly move into our seats, and therefore leave in a timely manner! Would you like to do the honors?"
Ah. What a diligent kid.
"I don't think we should," I said a little bit more gruffly than I'd wanted to. "We don't know what the seating on the bus will be like. I think just going in single file will work for now. Okay?"
"Ah, I didn't think of that," Iida hesitated. "Also… Are you all right, Bowser-kun?" when I didn't answer quickly enough, he continued. "It is just that you have seemed rather tense today. Is something worrying you? Have you been doing badly in class?"
"No… It's actually just that…" I wracked my brain for a bit, then defaulted to the oldest excuse in the book. "Food poisoning, I think," Iida's eyes widened. "Yeah. My stomach has been bothering me all day. I'm trying to hold out, but I don't like people worrying about me, so-"
"Say no more, Bowser-kun!" he saluted, looking proud for some reason. "To deal with such pain in silence for the sake of showing no weakness as a leader, I understand completely how you feel!"
Oh man, don't do that, now I feel bad for lying to you!
As Iida shed dramatic tears in solidarity for the pain I didn't feel, I sighed. "Thanks, Iida. You're a good man."
The bus rolled up then. I stretched a bit more and walked forward. "All right, Class 1-A, let's go. Single file line so no one is running over each other to get a seat."
"You heard the class rep!" Iida pumped his arms. "Let's go, don't make this hard for him!"
Well, now I didn't feel nervous. Just guilty.
We all filed into the boss, the vehicle bouncing a bit when I stepped on last. I found a seat for myself and pulled out my phone to check the time. I hadn't timed things right. In maybe 10-15 minutes, my plan would go into action. But I had to hope that was enough.
Any moment now…
------
Far away from the bus, in an alleyway, a smartphone taped securely to the bottom of a dumpster would send an automated text message. It would go to the phones of every UA teacher with a public phone number. At the same time, an empty email address would a message on schedule, emailing the school's public email address, as well those of the teachers.
Both said the same thing.
An army of villains is going to enter the USJ facility to try and assassinate All Might using a genetically enhanced weapon with potential to hurt him. The students are in danger. Send your teachers there to defend them.
There were two specific people who got a special version of the message. To the public addresses of All Might and Nezu. At the end of the message, was a single sentence.
All Might's Quirk is inherited and can be passed down from person to person.
But it would take some time for those messages to get sent, then responded to. And anything could happen in that time. Absolutely anything…