Chapter 4 I'm Going To Level Up Like Crazy!
Izuku stared at the cans arranged in front of him. He focused on the orange one, imagining an invisible rope tied around its diameter. Then, he grabbed onto that rope, and tugged. The empty can came hurtling his way, but dropped down on the ground the moment Izuku grinned in surprise.
A roll of paper smacked his head. "Just because it moved doesn't mean you are allowed to lose focus. Wait for it to come towards you before you let it go." Inko explained.
"I know, I know." Izuku sighed. Pull might seem like an easy to use quirk, but no one realizes how difficult it is, until the invisible rope keeps slipping from your hand just because you loose focus by blinking once.
He took in a deep breath, and started again. An invisible lasso wrapped around the can, tight and secure. He grabbed onto it, and pulled. The can came spinning his way, a little too fast, but Izuku managed to snatch it out of the air at the last moment.
Okay, the next one… He took in another deep breath, and repeated the process with the purple can next to it. Hook. Secure. And pull. He grabbed once the purple can came hurtling his way. He heard a snicker come from behind him as the juice from the half filled can spilled out all over him. But Izuku was too deep into his focus to pay any mind to it. He didn't realize the way his eyes glowed a gentle viridian hue, or the blue notification pop above him.
[Concentration Is Now In Effect]
[Increase the user's concentration, allowing them to focus on every detail, and memorize it.]
[Intelligence and Dexterity have gone up by +2 points for the duration of the skill]
The three cans in front of him were all of different weights. While Izuku had succeeded in pulling empty cans, pencils, or anything of similar weight range towards himself, anything heavier ended up in failure. So, he focused on the third, and completely full can of cold coffee. Imagined the invisible lasso settling around the surface of it, securing tightly before he pulled. The can shot his way, all 500 grams of it settled perfectly in his hand.
A million watt smile lit on his face as he turned around. Inko looked at him with a soft but proud smile. Hands clutched onto her chest as she watched him. Izuku turned further around, to find Shouta watching from the couch. The exhausted Pro-Hero's lips twitched up the tiniest bit as he gave him a thumbs up.
[Congratulations, Your Skill Pull Has Leveled Up!]
[Pull Level 2]
[You can now pull objects upto 0.5 times your weight towards yourself!]
"Pull leveled up!" Izuku cheered, pointing towards the notification even though no one apart from him could see it.
"Oh, congratulations, sweetie." His mother smiled.
"What level are you at right now?" Shouta asked, turning around until he was lying on his back on the couch.
"I'm at Level 15 right now." Izuku answered, "And… my rank's—," his lips jutted into a pout, "—D"
"Hmm, does it say how long it'll take you to level up?"
Izuku looked at his profile. "Hmm… not really…But, something new showed up this morning."
[Quest: Get Stronger!]
[In order to level up your skills at a higher rate, and gain more stat points, you need to get stronger! Also, the higher your skill levels are, the more strain they will put on your body. Therefore, you will need to build your body to be able to endure them! Complete the given daily tasks until your body is prepared to handle stronger skills.]
[Daily Tasks]
[Run 10 km Completed: 2.5km/10km]
[Do 50 Push Up Completed: 30/50]
[Do 100 Sit Ups Completed: 45/100]
[Plank For Total 15 minutes Completed: 5 mins/15mins]
[Do 100 Squats Completed: 40/100]
Izuku narrowed his eyes at the atrocious number, "It's a set of daily tasks in order to… build up my body."
"Even your quirk thinks you're too brittle. Hehe." Shouta smirked, and lazily caught the can of cold coffee Izuku hurled his way.
" Izuku! " His mother chided, giving him a stern glare for throwing the can. Izuku huffed and pouted, slumping his shoulders.
"Sorry…"
Then his mother turned to Shouta and glared at him as well. The Underground Pro Hero stopped abruptly in the middle of opening the can, and blinked owlishly at her. Then, he looked at Izuku and then back at her, before sighing and slumping his shoulders as well.
"Fine, fine," He got up, and headed towards the door, "Come on, Problem Child, I need to be an adult… or whatever."
Izuku muffled his giggles behind his hand, before collecting his notebook where he kept track of his quirk and getting up.
"Don't cause too much trouble, you two!" Inko said as he walked out of the apartment and into Shouta's.
"Yes, Mom !" Shouta and Izuku chimed together.
"Don't make fun of me." Inko deadpanned before closing the door.
Shouta and Izuku looked at each other.
"See, you upset her, Problem Child." Shouta said, pointing fingers at him and then taking a sip of his coffee.
Izuku feigned an offended gasp, " Lies. "
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Shouta shook his head, ignoring his reply as he walked into his apartment.
"Hey Coffee," Izuku greeted the black American shorthair that greeted them with a meow. The black cat with baby blue eyes looked at him, before gently raising her paw. Izuku laughed as he approached before lowering his head so the cat could pat him. He had no idea why she did it, but every now and then, she would come up to him, and then pat him very gently on his head a few times, meow at him before walking away.
Two pats on his head later, the cat walked along the edge of the couch before jumping onto Shouta's shoulder. The raven head didn't even flinch when she landed on him. Sometimes, Izuku strove to be as unbothered as the man in front of him.
"Alright, which skill do you want to test next?" Shouta asked, downing whatever amount of coffee was left in the can before tossing it away over his shoulder. Izuku gaped, mildly amazed as the can landed squarely into the trash can.
"Um… Disassemble." Izuku replied, blinking away from the trash can.
Shouta grunted in acknowledgement, before plopping down on his couca, Mocha jumping off his shoulder at the last moment. "What does it do?"
"I don't really know…" Izuku replied, he hadn't had the chance to look into the description of all his skills ever since he got discharged yesterday. He crashed into his bed, and was out like the light the moment he entered the apartment.
Izuku opened up his skill window, and clicked on Disassemble to read its description.
[Disassemble Lv 3]
[Allows you to disassemble any piece of machine]
"Huh…" Izuku huffed, "It's basically what it says. I can disassemble any machine. Though, the time required will depend upon the complexity of the machine."
"I can think of so many people who would kill to have that skill…" Shouta mumbled as he grabbed his toaster from the island counter and placed it on the coffee table in front of Izuku. "Here. Go crazy."
Izuku ignored the last comment and took the toaster in his hand, "You sure?"
"Mhmm."
"Okay…" Izuku placed his hand on the toaster, and activated the disassemble skill. It took three minutes, and drained a lot of his EP before the toaster was completely disassembled in front of him. He looked at Shouta with a proud grin. But the Pro Hero only watched with an uninterested expression before nodding to himself.
"Now, try to assemble it back." Shouta laid down on his bed. Picking up Coffee in his arm before placing her on his chest.
"But I don't know how…?"
Shouta turned around, tucking Coffee in the gap between him and the couch, "Figure it out, or I'm telling your mom you broke my toaster."
" What?" Izuku cried out.
***
It took him two whole hours, ten videos, and five failed attempts, to put the disassembled toaster back together. But it was finally done. And-
He blinked as a new notification popped up.
[Congratulations, Your Skill Pull Has Leveled Up!]
[Disassemble Level 4]
]Time period for disassembling has decreased by 15 seconds. You can now disassemble more complex machinery.]
[Congratulations! You have learnt a new skill!]
[Assemble Level 1]
[You can now use the disassembled parts of any machine to create a new machine of your choice! It also allows you to repair broken machines, or build machines from scraps.]
"Dad!" Izuku yelled, rushing up to the sleeping hero to share the news.
"Mhmm." The hero grumbled.
"Dad! Wake up!" Izuku shook him, trying to gain his attention.
"If the house isn't burning, don't bother me." Shouta mumbled.
"Dad, I got a new skill!"
At that, the hero opened his eyes, and turned to look at him, "What…?"
"A new skill!" Izuku repeated, pointing to the notification hovering beside him. "It's called Assemble. Look! Look!"
Shouta slowly got up while Izuku ran back to the toaster. He placed his hand over it and used Disassemble to break it apart. This time, however, three new options floated on top of the removed parts of the machine, as the new skill got activated.
[Reassemble: Toaster]
[New: Heater | Explosive]
"I can now… create another toaster, heater, or a small scale explosive." Izuku declared.
"One of those things isn't like the other. Find the imposter." Shouta replied dryly, getting up from the couch. "Do not make an explosive inside the apartment."
"Does that mean I can make one outside the apartment?" Izuku asked. Shouta sent him a look much to his displeasure. Huffing, he turned his attention back to the parts, and chose the heater. He watched with barely hidden amazement as the parts slowly faded out, appearing like green tinted holographs as they assemble themselves to create a new machine. It took Izuku five minutes to make the heater, along with way more EP, a little bit of HP too.
[Congratulations, Your Skill Assemble Has Leveled Up!]
[Assemble Level 2]
[You can customize the machine from a set of choices!]
"Wow. It leveled up." Izuku mumbled.
"I think your quirk is sentient and biased." Shouta commented. Silence. Shouta stared. Izuku stared back. "Kid, what-"
"I-I don't know for sure," Izuku rushed to explain, "It's just… when I first got my quirk, I was in this weird space…? Or was it a void of some sorts, anyways, that's where I interacted with the System for the first time. And um, it did something… humane. Like, I was upset and it replied to me... or comfort me by playing tidbits of my memories."
Shouta stared, "Why is it, that everytime something unusual happens, you're always involved?"
"I uh… I'm not that bad." Izuku protested weakly even though he knew his history proved to be against him.
Shouta only shook his head and went back to taking his nap. Mumbling, 'I didn't have enough energy for this,' under his breath. Izuku awkwardly hung around for a while, before deciding to continue working on his quirks, and roamed around Shouta's house looking for usable machines.
After 3 hours, and a long nap, Izuku had made two makeshift drones, a little robot, a mini shotgun that shot crumbled paper, and or anything similar in size, and a low voltage taser. Shouta confiscated two of those items, although he did look awfully proud of him. Or maybe that just his sleep laced mind making him see things.
***
Izuku stared at the notification in front of him.
[Daily Tasks]
[Run 10 km Completed: 5km/10 km]
[Do 50 Push Up Completed: 50/50]
[Do 100 Sit Ups Completed: 60/100]
[Plank For Total 15 minutes Completed: 10 mins/15mins]
[Do 100 Squats Completed: 70/100]
He had really tried to complete the task, but his body was aching by the time he headed to bed. And once he had showered and had gotten comfortable in his bedsheets, he had decided to go through his profile once again, to check how much he had progressed. It was then that he noticed a previously overlooked notification.
[Failure to complete Daily Task before midnight will result in penalty]
[Time left: 2 : 13 : 54 ]
Safe to say, Izuku was worried. He wasn't sure what kind of penalty he would receive, but he was worried nonetheless because Izuku hated failing to do something. It didn't just come from his pseudo perfectionist nature he had adopted from Shouta, but also from the fact that failing to do something at school usually meant a lot of bruises, taunts, and jeers. And if it was the teachers then humiliation, degradation, threats to call parents, or at times indirectly (and one teacher in specific, directly) egging the other students to bully him. And as much as he could bear the rest of it, he did not want them to call his parents. Both Shouta and his mom were busy with their jobs. Shouta had to patrol for hours at night, only to go and teach at UA in the morning. And his mother would often come home exhausted from work due to extensive quirk usage. Izuku would rather not have his teachers call them, just for them to leave their work and meet them, because he wasn't competent enough.
"It probably won't be something too bad right..?" Izuku asked himself.
His quirk may seem broken (Okay, it was) but it wasn't completely outrageous. Doing the same thing over and over again won't work. Izuku realized he had to progressively work harder and harder in order to grow. Disassembling small household machines, only to assemble them, or make new things won't help him with his progressive. He needed to work with more complex machines for that. Pulling things of a constant weight range became ineffective after the first minutes. Izuku realized, if he wanted his quirk to grow, he had to constantly work hard, and be smart . Obstinately using the hard path each and every time was useless as well. Especially when he could have just taken a second to come up with a smarter, and easier way. His quirk demanded brawn and brains in a balanced amount.
"I'll try to complete more tomorrow." Izuku told him, burying the guilt of failing to do his daily task in his chest and crawling underneath the blanket. "I promise…"
He had no idea what was coming for him when the clock would strike twelve.
Izuku was an anxious person. He would hide his anxiety behind his quips, and snark (something he picked up from Shouta, and his mom when she was pissed out and stressed due to work) but in the end, anxiety bubbled inside of him. It wasn't the 'I'm scared of people and crowd kinds', but instead it was the 'what if I'm not good enough?' kind, the 'what if I missed something important?' kind.
So that's why, he found himself awake until the clock struck twelve, counting the minutes and hour. As soon as the hour hand reached the number twelve, he waited. Waited for the penalty to come. His mind raced to filter all probable possibilities.
But nothing could have prepared him for what happened. One second, he was staring the clock, waiting for the penalty to start, and the next his world went black.
It was a split second change. One moment he was inside his room, comfortable, but anxious under his blanket, and the next he found himself on cold, harsh ground, and a strong erathy, and musky scent.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring thick, dense canopy with sunlight filtering through the gaps between the leaves-
Wait-
Izuku shot up straight, and looked around panicked. The scenery snapped him out of his initial panic only to sent him into another fit of panic but for a different reason, because am I in a freaking jungle?
He looked around. Dense vegetation, towering trees, shadows, and thin streams of light, wet soil, dried, rotting leaves, and-
" Oh my god I'm in a forest… " He whispered to himself. Then the second realization hit him. It was morning wherever he was. That meant, he was either passed out on the forest floor (which he belatedly realized was very unlikely) for the entire night, or worse, he was on the other side of the goddamned planet.
Slowly he got up. He was in a forest. He had a sense of mind, or at least he wasn't stupid. Forest floor in tropical forests like this (it's a topical forest alright, have you seen that dense canopy? And the sparse ground vegetation?) aren't safe at all. And when thinking of tropical forest, he can only think of a few at the moment and-
[Penalty Quest: Survival]
[Welcome to the Amazon! The largest rainforest on this planet, and home to a diversity of animals.
Goal: Survive the Amazon for the given time period]
[Time Left: 4 H 59 M 50 S]
Izuku whimpered, "Biased quirk my ass."
[Aural Sense is Activated]
He heard it. The barely audible sound of footsteps heading his way. It was so quiet, and quick. Almost like a feline- Izuku froze and gasped.
I'm in a rainforest…
He remembered enough from his Geography classes, and his quirk unfortunately helped him piece the pieces together. He's in the rainforest. He's heard barely audible running footsteps. Something agile, and fast is coming his way. It is not wrong on the ground. It's using the low branches of the trees.
[Sprint Lv 2]
Izuku bolted just in time for a shadow to appear overhead, and something dangerous landed just behind him. He made the mistake of glancing behind, and found a beast, chasing after him, on all four, yellow fur with prints, dangerous canines, and yellow eyes that seemed to glow in the shadows.
It's a jaguar.
I'm going to die.
Penalty? This is a death sentence!
***
The only way he was going to survive this was by a miracle. And given his streak of bad luck, that was very unlikely. Izuku curled up on himself, trying to make himself as small as he physically could after crawling into a hole of a huge tree, and praying to whichever god was listening to him to let him stay hidden.
After twenty minutes of goose chase, Izuku came to another demeaning realization. It wasn't just a normal jaguar chasing after him. It was a jaguar with a quirk. Which is why, despite using his Stealth skill, and hiding himself within the bushes, the jaguar always found him. Sniffing him out from his hiding spots.
Izuku was currently using multiple skills at once, and his HP and EP were dropping at a dangerous rate. There was no way he was going to last for an hour, forget about three.
He checked the time left.
[Time Left: 3 H 8 M 20 S]
"Oh…" He breathed out accidentally, only to slam his mouth shut. He didn't dare to breathe for the next few seconds, using Concentration, and Aural Sense at the same time to listen for movements around him. Apart from the few song birds, and soft hissing sound from what he guessed was a snake, there was nothing else.
Did I lose it?
No… don't be an idiot. You thought that the first and the jaguar dropped in front of him from the sky.
He had two more hours left. He could either stay in-
Something croaked, his Night Vision activated, and he spotted the bright coloured golden amphibians on the wall of the bark right next to him.
This quirk is a fucking nightmare!
He did not have poison resistance, and he did not want to if he could ever get it. Dart frogs, his brain helpfully provided. Their skins are coated with poison. And while most of the dart frogs aren't lethal to humans, their poison's effect is limited to paralysis and nausea. There is one specific kind, the golden dart frog, the most dangerous of its kind, capable of killing humans with its poison. Of all the dart frogs, it just had to be the one that could kill him. And Izuku had enough small lacerations on his arms.
He stopped when his lungs started to burn, and his legs felt like they were on fire. His HP was low, as was his EP, he needed rest of he'll pass out in the middle of the forest, and then some hungry predator will find and he will-
Shutting his unwanted chain of thoughts, he found the nearest tree with low branches. He climbed up as high as he could before until he could no longer reach the branches above, and settled himself against the trunk of the tree.
He activated Situational Awareness, Aural Sense, and Concentration at once. Using a combination of skills was something he didn't know he could. But he was running blindly through the forest with no idea where the jaguar was and he needed to know its position. And when people are close to dying, they can come up with all kinds of ideas. Combination of skills was one of them.
While his skills didn't drain his EP while used individually, using them in combination apparently did. Because mental exhaustion was a kind of exhaustion after all. And, his passive skills were at low levels. They didn't stay passively active for long either.
He checked the time once again.
[Time Left: 2 H 38 M 20 S]
***
"I… am…" Izuku wheezed as he dragged himself on the ground, " Never not completing… the daily… task again."
He stared at the timer with pleading eyes as it counted down the last five seconds. And once they were over, darkness washed over him, and he found himself on the floor of his room. The door opened just that moment, and Shouta peeked his head in. He was still in his Hero Uniform, so Izuku guessed he just came back.
"What happened?." Shouta asked with a raised eyebrow. Izuku was dirty, but he didn't look injured so he wasn't worrying yet.
Izuku was panting and wheezing like he was a decade old chain smoker. He looked up at Shouta with tired eyes and growled, "This quirk is a fucking nightmare."
Shouta's eyes widened in shock, and subdued amusement, "Did I miss out on something hilarious?"
"Ugh!" Izuku whined. "Kill me."
"Tempting. Too bad, I'm a Hero." Shouta replied.
"I don't snitch." Izuku shot back.
Shouta huffed and shook his head, "I don't know what you're doing this early in the morning, but you stink. Coffee will bite you if she smells you. Go take a shower. We'll talk later"
Izuku watched the man leave. The door closed and Izuku rolled over onto his stomach, and scrambled into the ground. Then, he got up and stomped over to his table. Ripping a page off his notebook, he wrote 'DIE BEFORE YOU MISS OUT ON DAILY TASKS' on a loose sheet of paper and stuck it onto the board on the wall in front of his table.
He flinched when a notification popped. And then another. And another. And then there was a flurry of notification popping up one after the other, encircling him.
"What-" The flurry of notifications finally stopped and Izuku could read the words on it.
[Congratulations, Your Skill Pull Has Leveled Up!]
[Congratulations, Your Skill Stealth Has Leveled Up!]
[Congratulations, Your Skill Sprint Has Leveled Up!]
[Congratulations, Your Skill Aural Sense Has Leveled Up!]
[Congratulations, Your Skill Situational Awareness Has Leveled Up!]
[Congratulations, Your Skill Fear Resistance Has Leveled Up!]
[Congratulations, Your Skill Concentration Has Leveled Up!]
[Congratulations, Your Skill Regeneration Has Leveled Up!]
[Congratulations, You Have Leveled Up!]
[Congratulations, You Have Leveled Up!]
[You Have Earned 5 Stat points for leveling Up!]
[You Have Earned 5 Stat points for completing Penalty Quest!]
Izuku shook his head, eyes burning from being open for too long as he read the notification. Most of his passive skills had leveled up multiple times. Same for Sprint, Stealth and Night Vision. He had no idea he could earn rewards. And-
"Open Profile." He said out loud.
[Name: Midoriya Izuku]
[Username:
[Age: 12 years, 11 months, 29 days]
[Language: English, Japanese]
[Level: 17]
[Rank: D]
[Status:]
[Title(s): Born To Be Hero (L), He Who Cheated Death (M)]
[HP: 28/450 | EP: 12/500]
[Statistics:]
Strength: 48
Dexterity: 55
Agility: 67
Speed: 69
Charisma: 40
Intelligence: 80
"Wow…" A wide grin spread on his face, the change in his stats slowly settling in his body. One of the rewards included instant healing, and his fatigue was already disappearing from his body. He didn't feel stronger, but he did feel lighter on his toes. Then the realization, that he survived what was essentially a death penalty settled man. It was an exhilarating feeling. He should be scared. He came close to being eaten alive by a few items. And maybe the fear resistance was messing with his common sense and survival instincts, but he couldn't deny the blissful numbness in his muscles as he stood underneath the shower.
He almost died. But he didn't.
He got stronger.
He leveled up.
He couldn't wait to level up further.
Maybe with less danger hanging on his neck the next time around.
***
[Fire Breathing]
[A form of deep conscious breathing through the mouth instead of nose. User inhales the maximum amount of oxygen within a specific breath pattern to raise their physical and mental prowess ]
Fire Breathing was the only skill of his that was still at Level 1 while the rest had leveled up. It's been one month since his quirk has activated, and he is yet to figure out how this specific quirk works. At first he was confused. How are there different styles of breathing? He spent days scouring through the internet, and through books in the library until he finally stumbled up one century old site, and a few century old books that helped him understand. Apparently, back when quirks didn't exist, martial artists, and swordsmen used different methods of breathing that helped them relax, and keep calm. It was a meditation. But the breathing techniques could also be used during fights. Breathing through their mouths increased the amount of oxygen they inhaled. And once they could train themselves to maintain the optimum of air inhalation, it reduced their fatigue, allowing them to fight longer.
Izuku thought it was freaking cool. He had no idea why the practice was forgotten. He couldn't find enough information about it.
And apparently, his skill Fire Breathing is an advanced form of it. From what he understood, he concluded that fire breathing at lower levels was supposed to increase his strength, and speed, along with his mental skills. The description also mentioned that the breathing technique could increase his core body temperature. Increasing his Cold Resistance skill as well.
And once he could reach a higher level, he could breathe fire . The skill could probably be upgraded and be used in ways Izuku couldn't currently fathom. And he couldn't wait to learn it.
But boy was it difficult. It was hard to focus on breathing. Even harder to focus on breathing through his nose. He only managed it for a short period of time, but after that, he felt so relaxed. Like he was floating. His mind would clear up. And stress he didn't even know he had in his body would fade away.
But he felt that two minutes of calmness, and tranquility and he was already addicted to it.
Izuku focused on his breathing. Teeth pressed together as he inhaled. Abdominal muscle contracted as he breathed in as much oxygen as he could, before relaxing his muscles and letting it out.
He had been so amazed to learn he could apparently breathe even more than he normally did. And after using the breathing technique a few times, he could hold his breath over a minute and half.
He has so many skills. And yet the most fun, and interesting one he found was the breathing technique. Sue him, he wanted to see how it worked at full potential.
Izuku continued breathing in and out, focusing on the soft hissing sound he produced each time. After a few minutes he realized why it was called fire breathing. He never knew he could start sweating simply from breathing. He had to stop. His lungs burned as if they were on fire. His abdominal muscles were aching. And his body felt so light he was scared he might pass out.
It was early at dawn, he would go out for a run after this. But, despite the ache, he wanted to continue with the process. It was just so addicting.
***
"Oi, nerd, I saw you running around the block in the morning? The fuck was that?" Katsuki asked as they walked to school.
"Oh um… training?" Izuku replied. He had told Katsuki about his quirk the day after he got discharged. And maybe it was his own excitement, but his friends were gleaming at the mention of it. But, Izuku didn't tell him what his quirk actually was. Apart from Shouta no one knew about the full extent of his quirk. He didn't know why, but something was stopping him from sharing it. He guessed it was because of his Passive Skills. Selective Focus was a bit of an ambiguous skill and Izuku had no idea when it worked or how it worked. But, he guessed all the time, he moved just at the right time avoiding injuries, it was because of the skill.
He had only shown Katsuki his Disassemble and Assemble skill when asked. Katsuki, despite not having said it in words, thought it was cool.
"What for?" Katsuki frowned.
So that I don't have to do another of those hell quests. "To increase my endurance. Dad says I get tired too easily."
"Huh." Katsuki huffed, "You're still weaker than me though."
Izuku looked up and read Katsuki's profile.
[Name: Bakugou Katsuki]
[Username:
[Age: 12 years]
[Language: Japanese]
[Level: 13]
[Rank: C ]
[Quirk: Explosion (B)]
[Status:]
[Title(s): Born Fighter (B)]
[HP: 350/350 | EP: 455/525]
[Statistics:]
Strength: 50
Dexterity: 48
Agility: 36
Speed: 45
Charisma: 40
Intelligence: 76
Katsuki was weaker than him in terms of stats, but his quirk was a B level quirk with a high attack damage. It balanced out the little gaps in between their stats. If they fought, he wasn't sure who would win. Bakugou had innate fighting, and battling skills. Izuku knew that. In terms of simple skills Bakugou was definitely stronger. But Izuku knew him for years. He knew how his friend ticked. And that was a major advantage for him.
"Maybe." Izuku replied, finally.
"Tch, wait till we get into UA. Then, I'm gonna beat your ass." Katsuki gloaded.
Izuku smirked back, "We'll see about that, Kacchan. "
"Nerd!"
"Hot head."
"Shit face!"
"Angry Pomerian."
"I told you not to call me that!"
"But you are like one though! Remember the time you were growling-!"
"Shut up, you fucking nerd!"
Izuku snickered, and ducked when Katsuki swung his arm to smack his head.
Usually, Izuku tried to come to class as late as possible, stepping in just before the bell ran so he could avoid confrontation with the other students. But ever since he had gotten his quirk he had stopped. Instead, he walked into his class with his friend. Before, he refused because he didn't want Katsuki to face problems because of him. Despite his friend telling him on numerous occasions that he didn't 'fucking care about shitass opinions from weakass extras'. Now? He didn't really care about it. It was probably because of his Fear Resistance skill activating any time he felt nervous. Which was during school, the entire time.
He had tried to walk through the hallways, be in class without his Fear Resistance, but each time he tried, the anxiety, fear, and nervous crashed into him at once and he ended up having a panic attack, or falling at the edge of want. He hated how he had to rely on his skill to go through his day. He didn't even want to imagine how his life would have been if it weren't for it.
His homeroom teacher walked in a stack of papers in his hand.
"It's time to start thinking seriously about your future!" Their homeroom teacher barked. Flapping a sheet of paper around. "I would hand out these future forms but…" he grinned widely, "I assume you all want to be heroes!"
Izuku frowned. He didn't like assumptions like that. He didn't like how they made it seem that being a hero is the only acceptable job choice. It was a toxic mindset. But,he slowly and carefully raised his hand along with the rest as well.
"Yes, you all have wonderful quirks. But you know that it's against the rule to use them."
You've literally never cared before.
"Sensei, don't lump me in with these losers!" Kacchan said out loud, proudly. "As if, I had anything like their crappy quirks."
Izuku ignored as the class booed and complained about Kacchan's proud declaration and what came next. Until he heard his name being said.
"You're also going for U.A, aren't you Midoriya?"
Izuku froze. His heart beat probably would have skyrocketed if not for his Fear Resistance skill. He slowly inched his head upwards and saw his teacher looking at him with a twisted smirk, and a nasty glare. He did it intentionally. He knew exactly what's going to happen next.
The class broke into sneers, and laughs. Several comments about his quirkless were thrown his way. And the teacher just watched. Officially, he was quirkless until 25th of the month. False negatives are rare, and False Negatives at his age are practically unheard of. Henceforth, there was a lot of paperwork related to his quirk status update. Given that his quirk was of unique nature, Shouta and he had a long discussion before they decided upon how to describe his quirk officially.
Izuku had long before told him that he might become an Underground Hero. And keeping information about him as minimal as possible was advisable for it. Anyways, his was officially still considered quirkless and henceforth all the taunts, and degradation he had to face. Although he kept an impassive face, the words still stung.
Not because he doubted himself, or his quirk. But the words by itself were hurtful.
And… words like useless and worthless were triggers for anxiety attacks for him. It was only his Fear Resistance that was keeping him together at the moment. But his skill was only at Lv 4, and if his thoughts got too bad, it wouldn't work. His skill would fail, and once it does, the backlash would be so much worse.
"Shut up, you fucking extras!" Katsuki growled. "Like you all losers have any room to talk!"
"Oh come on, at least we aren't useless and quirkless like him." One of the boys replied, grinning cruelly at him. Izuku heard Katsuki growling and reached out to stop him. But thankfully his teacher decided to interrupt first. Although, his teacher only condescendingly said, 'It's alright, students. Everyone likes to dream. No matter how impossible dreams are. Let's not judge one for that'. His words stung, but at least the attention was off him.
Or at least for the moment it was.
As soon as the class ended, and Katsuki was out of the room, Izuku found himself being ganged up on by three of the boys of his class. He recognized them by their quirks. In the middle stood the guy whose fist grew spikes, the one on his left could produce steam with his hand, and the one on his left had a transmutation quirk that turned his hands into talons.
The guy in the middle placed his hand on his shoulder and smiled. Izuku could feel the pin pricks of the spikes tear through his uniform and dig into his skin.
"You really think someone likes you? A quirkless loser can get into UA?" He asked venemously and leaned in, "You know, as you classmate, I feel responsible to tell how you how fucking impossible your dream is. You'd die before you even get into UA."
The door opened, and Izuku heard Katsuki's heavy footsteps enter. They stopped a few steps in. Izuku didn't dare to look up. The boy removed his hand from his shoulder, and Izuku saw the tips of his spike tinted red.
"If you're so keen on dying, how about some advice from your worried classmate?" He sneered, "Pray for a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the rood-"
Katsuki exploded. A loud growl tearing out of his mouth, "You fucking-" He froze. And so did the rest. Because the moment the boy finished giving his little advice, Izuku snapped his head up. He could take the insults and sneers, but suicide baiting was crossing the goddamned line.
Izuku's never been this angry. It was ugly emotions, boiling inside of his veins. His vision tinged, as his eyes glowed in the shade of toxic green. The temperature in the room seemed to drop by a few degrees just from his intense glare.
"How dare you?" Izuku hissed, "Insults, taunts, sneers, I endured all that shit. I didn't say anything back, when you called me things to satisfy your fragile egos. But suicide baiting me?", He stepped closer, crowding the boy's personal space. Even though he was shorter than the one in front of him, Izuku still stared him down with a menacing glare. Relishing from the terror in the boy's eyes, "That's crossing the fucking line, asshole." He grabbed the boy by his collar and pulled him closer, "I'm letting you go just this once," he pushed him back, and bared all his teeth in a snarl, "Say shit like that again, and I'll make you regret being born." he looked at guy's lackeys, and then back at him, "Am I understood?"
Izuku heard them glup before nodding. With an eye roll, he picked up his bag and walked away. Grabbing a very surprised looking Katsuki by his wrist before pulling him along his side.
"The fuck was that?" Katsuki asked once they stepped out of the school building.
"What was what?" Izuku asked. He didn't like being angry. It tasted bitter on his tongue.
"Since when can you glare like that?" Katsuki demanded.
Izuku looked at him somewhat judgmentally, "Have you not met my dad, Kacchan?"
Katsuki's expression slowly changed as he considered it, and then his lips stretched into a smirk, "That was some scary ass glare back there, you nerd."
"Thanks Kacchan!" Izuku grinned.
"I'm still better though."
Izuku nodded solemnly, "Sure, sure."
" Bitch. "
Izuku snickered and felt the tension release from his shoulder. At that moment, a notification popped up.
[Congratulations! You have learnt a new skill!]
Izuku blinked, " Again? "
"What?" Katsuki asked.
Izuku ignored it for the moment as he tapped onto the view button.
"What again, nerd? Whatcha doing with the air? Did you lose your mind?"
"It's a part of my quirk," Izuku answered absentmindedly, "I can see screens with information."
[Dominance Level 1]
[Intimidates anyone weaker than the user into submission.]
"Huh…that'd be useful." Izuku mumbled. He could definitely use this skill as a Hero. But he'll need to grow enough for that. Which, (he checked his profile) was doable for him. He'll just have to level up like crazy.
Chapter 5 This Is Not How I Planned Things To Go
"Kacchan, I'm going to head to the mall," Izuku informed, fishing out his wallet from his bag.
"What why? Katsuki asked.
"I need to buy some new notebooks." Izuku answered, "I got my allowance so I wanna buy the hero themed one."
"You still write those creepy notes?" Katsuki asked distastefully. His face scrunched up as if disgusted, "Fucking stalker."
Izuku grinned as he dropped his presence with his stealth and stepped behind his friend without his notice. And then, he grabbed onto his neck, and stepped close to his back. The effect was immediate. Katsuki's body went completely limp in his hand as he froze. Izuku grinned wider.
"Then you should know that I know everything about you Kacchan," He purred, mentally thanking Nemuri for all the classes. Her method of being seductive while threatening people felt incredibly uneasy. "I could kill you," he pressed the tip of his pointer finger of his other hand into the small of Katsuki's back. His friend flinched at the action, "make it look like an accident, and get away with it."
"Ngh." Katsuki let out a while, almost non audible sound of distress. It came from the back of his mouth, and Izuku knew the boy probably didn't even realize making that sound. He doubted Katsuki could hear anything above the sound of his own heartbeat at the moment. His flight and fight response must be hitting him at full force.
Izuku let him, and watched the tension slowly slip away from his friend's back. To Katsuki's credit, he snapped out of his stupor with only a few blinks and spun around to glare at him.
"You fucking nerd, I'll-"
Izuku leaned forward, shutting Katsuki up mid sentence. Completely unaware of his new Dominance Skill taking effect. Although his friend wasn't intimidated, he did feel uncomfortable due to the silent threat. "Kill you? Hmm… anyways," he leaned away, "Should I get a Hawks themed pencil set, or Wild, Wild, Pussycats?"
"The fuck am I supposed to know?" Katuski grumbled, and stomped forward, "I'm going to buy a Mirko key chain."
Izuku blinked, and his eyes widened, "You're coming with me?"
"Yeah, I was planning to go to the mall before you told me anyway." Katsuki replied grouchily. He held up a couple bills in his head and smirked, "I'm going to buy the new Edgeshot figurine!"
Izuku beamed, "Then let's go together Kacchan!"
"Tch, whatever."
All Izuku wanted was to buy the new Hawks pencil set (Kacchan grabbed it and slammed it onto the counter after Izuku spend ten minutes trying to decide which one to pick) and two new notebooks. Really, that was all. Izuku hadn't even thought about the lack of villain attacks this month. Too busy working on his own progress, and learning Fire Breathing.
But no, Shouta had to be right, and he just had to be a danger magnet.
He was in the middle of deciding what ice-cream to buy with the extra they had left, when his Passive skills flared. Selective Focus, Aural Sense, and Situational Awareness worked together to ring the alarms in his mind. His sudden change in demeanor must have been too drastic, because Katsuki noticed. And instead of grumbling, he looked at him truly concerned.
There, Izuky spotted with the help of his Selective Focus, a bubble gum pink haired women walking through the crowd. His attention zeroed in on her.
"Oi, nerd, what's wrong?" Katsuki asked.
Izuku continued looking at the woman while dragged Katsuki away from the shop, and into a much less crowded place. He cursed in his mind when the woman used the escalator to go downstairs and out of his sight.
"I think there are villains in here," Izuku whispered. He must have sound really grave because Katsuki didn't get angry at the sudden declaration and call him mad, instead, he only asked-
"How do you know?"
"I just," How was he supposed to explain, "I don't know. I just felt danger around me, and for some reason there was this pink haired woman that caught my attention."
"You just… felt it?" Katsuki repeated.
Izuku knew it sounded crazy and tried to come up with a better explanation, when a loud commotion broke out. Both of them snapped their heads in the direction of the escalator and saw a large crowd of people running down, practically pushing each other.
"Oh no," Izuku breathed, "It's bad. If one of them falls-" And as if he had just jinxed himself, someone did fall from the side of the escalator. Izuku cursed at the same time as Katsuki, but he reacted first. Using Sprint he covered as much distance as he could, then held his hand out in front of him. He imagined an invisible rope wrapping around the falling teenager's body, and pulled. His Pull Skill did level up last week, but he didn't know how much the kid weight. He could only hope it was within ten kilograms within his range.
And maybe he was, or maybe Izuku couldn't tell for sure, but the boy's body got pulled towards him. Once he was close enough, he let go of the invisible rope and caught him in his arms.
"Are you okay?" He asked the terrified teenager.
The boy looked at him with misty eyes, both shocked and confused and nodded, "Ye-Yeah. Tha-Thanks."
"You're welcome," Izuku smiled back and put him down. He turned to check on his friend, only to find him barreling forward towards the escalator. Oh shit, he thought as he used Pull on his friend and stopped him in his tracks.
Katsuki turned back with a furious expression, "What the fuck, Zuku?"
Izuku pulled him backwards, grateful that the blonde only weight a few kilograms more than him, despite the difference in build. "What do you think you're doing, heading first like that?"
"There is a villain-"
"We don't know if there is only one, Kacchan," Izuku said, cutting of Katsuki, "Unless the villain has some really strong quirk, no one would be stupid enough to attack in a mall by themselves."
Katsuki frowned, but considered his words. He dropped his tense posture, and asked, "The fuck are we supposed to do now?"
"We can't use quirks," Izuku replied.
Katsuki growled, 'I'm not going to just sit and play-"
"Use of quirks to fight villains count as vigilantism, Kacchan. If you get caught, you'll lose your chance at UA!" His friend maybe be a good fighter, but he sure as hell was reckless.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Katsuki hissed angrily.
"First, let's help those people coming down the escalator before someone else gets pushed off the escalator, or someone dies from getting stampeded on." Izuku replied. Katsuki pressed his lips together in a thin line, obviously wanting to fight the villain.
"Being a hero isn't just about fighting villains Kacchan," Izuku reminded, "You need to help the people too."
"Shut up! Don't give me a lesson. I know, okay?" Katsuki snapped. Izuku then gave him and then ushered him to go help the people. It was hard, trying to reign in the flurry of people trying to hurry down the escalator. Katsuki had to threaten out loud before they snapped back into their senses. Izuku used his Pull skill to get the children down first, while Katsuki kept them in line.
"Someone call the police!" Izuku shouted.
He noticed some of the teenagers nod and take out their phones to call the cops.
"Juni?!" Izuku heard one of the people shout in panic. He turned around, after putting a little girl down on the floor to find a man frantically looking around. He glanced back at Katsuki to find him helping the older people through the commotion and decided to go check up on the frantic man.
"Juni?! Juni, baby where are-"
"Sir?" He called out. The man snapped his attention towards him. "Sir, what's wrong? Can I help you with something?"
"My daughter!" The man exclaimed, "My daughter! I can't find her."
"Shit," Izuku whispered under his breath, "I can help you, sir Were you on the fourth floor?"
"Yes," The man nodded, "And I was so sure she was holding my hand but now-"
"It happens often in crowds, sir, don't worry, I'll look for her. Can you tell me how old is she? And what was she wearing? And does she have any unique features?"
"She-She's 10 years old, and um,she was wearing a purple coloured jumpsuit. Her-Her hair it's dark-dark pink and tied up in um… um, two pigtails."
"Okay," Izuku nodded, "Sir, please stay here just in case she came down with the crowd, while I'll go look for her, okay?"
"Okay-Okay" The man nodded. With a nod, Izuku sprint back to the escalator.
"Kacchan," Izuku called, "I'm going upstairs."
"What?" His friend snapped his head towards him. "I thought you said no hero business, Zuku!"
"No hero business, I swear!" Izuku held up his hand, "I'm going to look for someone. That sir," he pointed towards the man he just met, "lost his daughter. They were up on the fourth floor when it happened. So I'm just going to check-"
"I'm coming with you," Katsuki said.
"No," Izuku shot back, "Kacchan, I told you we don't know how many villains there are. I'll go look," He took out his phone and tossed him at his friend.''Pass me your phone. Use mine to call my dad, or Uncle 'Zashi, or Nemmi for help."
Katsuki did without any question. Izuku grabbed the olive green cased phone being tossed his way with practiced his ease.
"Oi, Nerd, what's the password?"
"Are you even my friend? I'll message you when I find the villains" Izuku shot back as he aimed his hand towards the railing of the floor above. There wasn't anything to pull towards him, but he could get pulled upwards. He found out about it during a mishap that let him to hitting a broken fridge face first. If it's too heavy or something that can't be moved, Izuku would get pulled towards it instead.
As soon as Izuku got on the floor above, he spotted the villains. Selective Focus filters out every other person from his vision apart from them. But at the same time, it focused on another person. A kid, just like the man had described, being held hostage by the villains.
"Shit," Izuku hissed as he hid behind the pillar. He used Stealth to completely hide his presence, and crouched down. From the group of three villains, he recognized two of them. The guy with bright yellow haired, called Lemon Bomber. His quirk being exactly what his villain name suggested. He could create lemond shaped grenades. And the woman with cropped electric blue hair: Rai; Her quirk was lightning.
How are they here? Izuku thought to himself. They are supposed to be in Tartarus!
Situational Awareness notified him of the pink haired woman he had seen before pressing onto her as she talked. His guess turned out to be right. There were more villains. Izuku realized he needed to hide. There was a fourth unknown villain, and he was out in the open. It was practically inviting the fourth villain to catch him.
Izuku used the huge potted plants to his advantage, and camouflaged against them.
"Aegis, is it complete?" He heard the woman say out loud once he was close enough. Izuku froze. Aegis is the fourth person?! How-
He remembered Aegis, a villain with a terrifying shield quirk. Exactly as the name entailed. He had caused huge disruption but was caught by All Might three years ago.
How are these people out of Tartarus?!
Izuku peeked through the bushes, and gritted his teeth together. He saw Lemon Bomber crouching down in front of a group of kids, with a sickening smile as he held a Lemon Bomb in hsi hand. He didn't need to hear him to know what might be saying. The kids, teenagers to be exact, flinching away from the man was enough for him.
Lemon Bomber was known for playing nasty games with his victims. He would place a number of Lemon Bombs in front of them, only one of them being live and ask them to choose one and pull the pin. If they didn't, he would threaten to use the live one he carried in his hand. Luck didn't even matter in the sick game. Anyone who played, always ended up picking the live bombs.
He thanked his Fear Resistance as it cleared his mind, and Concentration kept him for doing stupid things. He couldn't fight all of them without risking the hostages. He wasn't allowed to use quirks. But-
He had gone over the Heroics Laws with Shouta several times and figured out enough rules.
It was only considered vigilantism if quirks were used. Or to be more specific, if there was proof of quirk usage Izuku had a set of skills he could use that would leave no trace behind. So, he hid himself under the gap of one of the seats, and tried to come up with a plan.
I can't take them all head on… but, if I can separate them, or at least take them away from the people…
He looked in front of him. The hallway curved. The hallway curved.
All the flours are in the circles. He could attract them to the other side!
With that plan in mind, he started crawling away. Once he turned around the curve, and was out of their sight, he got up and used Sprint to cover the rest of the distance. Reaching the other side, from where he could see their backs, Izuku stopped.
Then, he took out his phone and sent two brief messages to his friend, before focusing back on the situation and switched his phone off.
He couldn't use Disassemble or Assemble. There were cameras around. Sprint didn't make him excessively fast and could be chalked off as a normal high speed runner, but he couldn't explain ripping apart machines and putting them together with just his touch.
I need something else to get their attention.
He looked at the potted plants around him.
Well…
"Don't break, don't break, please don't break," Izuku whispered as he pushed one of the pot forwards. It fell down with a loud thunk, but it didn't break. Aural Sense told him that he had succeeded in getting their attention.
With Stealth, he swiftly changed places, and waited.
It didn't take long before he heard footsteps heading his head. And god was the person loud. Izuku listened to the sound of the footsteps, and concluded it was Lemon Bomber coming his way. The footsteps were heavy, like combat boots. Therefore, it couldn't be the pink haired woman who he definitely saw was wearing heels, and it wouldn't be Rai either, she wore platforms. (Yes, his analyses are that detailed.)
Izuku caught a glimpse of the Bomber, and took a quick glance at his state.
[Name: Noguchi Kunioi]
[Username: Lemon Bomber]
[Age: 26 years]
[Language: Japanese]
[Level: 35]
[Rank: D ]
[Quirk: Lemon Bombs (C)]
[Status:]
[Title(s): Convict #1423, Lemon Bomber]
[HP: 550/650 | EP:566/600]
[Statistics:]
Strength: 35
Dexterity: 48
Agility: 40
Speed: 45
Charisma: 57
Intelligence: 40
This guy relies too much on his quirk. Izuku thought with narrowed, and somewhat judgmental eyes. Thankfully, he was the same Rank as him. Which means, he could use his newly gained skill. A somewhat devilish grin spread on his lips as the man continued walking towards his trap, while muttering curses and grumbling complaints.
Once he was close enough, Izuku activated Dominance. The effect was immediate. The man froze in his path, standing ramrod straight. Izuku's presence was hidden, so he guessed all the man would sense was an ominous aura without any source.
Ooh, sounds terrifying.
Izuku took the chance, and approached him with quiet and agile steps. (Shouta would be so proud of him, he thought). The man was already under the effect of his dominance, so it was easy to knock him down with a swift kick to the back of his knees. As soon as he knelt down, Izuku quickly apprehended him. He wrapped his arms around the man's neck and put him in a chokehold while using his palm to cover his mouth.
The man, scared and panicked, thanks to his skill, could only let out muffled screams. Izuku dragged him away as far as he could, while counting the second in his mind. He trained everyday because of the scary ass system, and he had been trained by his number one for a year now. He can knock out one unaware villain, alright.
Even after the man went limp in his arms, Izuku maintained the chokehold just in case before letting go. Then, very gently he laid him down on the ground and looked around. I need something to tie him up with.
Izuku looked at the glass door of the shop right beside him. And idea popped in his mind and he walked in. Jumping over the empty cash counter, he looked through the bags, and drawers until he found what he needed: Twist ties
Not really that effective, but the man wasn't strong enough to snap out of it. He grabbed a few with him, and walked back out. Turning the villain over on his stomach, he tried his hand and legs with twist ties. Before dragging him aside and hiding him underneath the marble seat. A new notification popped, telling him that his new skill Dominance had leveled up. Then, he moved back to his original position.
It didn't take for his second victim to come to his head.
" What the hell is Bomber doing? Why is it taking so long?" The pink haired woman hissed.
" Isn't there a jewelry shop on this floor, he's probably there." Rai replied. " Go check on him. "
"What? Why me?" The pink haired hissed.
He didn't hear anything in reply, but whatever reply she got was enough to convince her as he heard the tell tale sound of his heels heading his ways.
Goodness, these people are loud.
Once again he checked the woman's profile.
[Name:Arakawa Hitomi]
[Username: Hypno]
[Age: 29 years]
[Language: Japanese]
[Level: 35]
[Rank: C ]
[Quirk: Hypnotism (C)]
[Status:]
[Title(s): Mind Controller]
[HP: 550/650 | EP:566/700]
[Statistics:]
Strength: 30
Dexterity: 42
Agility: 50
Speed: 46
Charisma: 78
Intelligence: 60
Huh.
Hypnotism should be a strong quirk, so Izuku didn't understand why it was C ranked.
Not the problem.
I need to knock her out.
He didn't know how her quirk worked, and he didn't really want to find out either. Unlike before, he couldn't use Dominance on her because of her being a rank higher than him. He didn't know if her Hypnotism was touch based, or ocular. There were so many variables. He couldn't afford to give away his position. That was his only advantage.
And he need to take her down quickly before she figured out Bomber was missing.
So, Izuku focused on his breath. He still hadn't been able to level up, but he could feel the changes in his body. Even if for a short period of time, he knew he got stronger.
" Hiss " His mouth quietly produced as Izuku breathed in and out. He could feel the heat rise up inside his body, and moved. He needed to knock her out, hard and fast. With Sprint, he dashed towards her. She noticed him, but Izuku was faster and sent a well aimed kick towards her head.
He panicked when her body dropped, and used Pull to grab her before she hit the ground. Then, just as quickly he grabbed her by with his hand and prayed the camera didn't catch his accidentally quirk usage.
He dragged her into the shop he got the twist ties from and tied her up inside. Two people were already missing, there was no way Rai wouldn't notice. She was probably on guard at the moment, and already informed Aegis.
He had no other choice apart from head on confrontation.
But before he reached her loud explosion echoed on the floor below. Izuku froze for a moment.
Why is Kacchan using his quirk-
His eyes widened when the realization hit him. Four villains were present. Two, he knocked one. One was with the hostages, and the other, the most dangerous one was yet to be found. Izuku ran. Rai had her back towards her, as she looked over the edge, probably to see where the explosions were coming from.
No time to waste.
His lungs burned as his temperature rose up. Fire Breathing was strong, but its backlash were harsh. Izuku's muscle ached, and burned once he stopped Fire Breathing. His EP would pummel down because of it.
Izuku kicked her behind her knees, destabilizing her, before sending another kick to the side of her abdomen. He heard her let out a startle sound, before she growled. The smell of ozone filled his nose. Rai was preparing to counter attack and Izuku did not have resistance against lightning.
His legs burned when her hand came in contact with it. Izuku hissed out in pain, and used his other leg to kick the back of her head.
She groaned as her head hit the marbled floor. A small zap of lightning hit his shoulder. Izuku hissed in pain, resisting the urge to clutch the wound. Be fast, overwhelm her.
He sent another kick to her stomach, sending her flying back and hit the pillar. She groaned in pain. Izuku grabbed her leg and pulled her towards him, before climbing up on her. He pinned her arms down on the floor, and placed his knee on her neck.
"I'm going to kill you, brat!" She hissed.
Kill me? Are you blind? Do you not realize the position you're in?
Concentration, and Selective Focus made him ignore her threats and push her down to the ground as she tried to push him off. Izuku looked up at the ground of hostages and quickly checked their position.
His eyes landed on the pink-haired girl, Juni , his mind provided the reason he came here in the first place. She had the perfect quirk.
"Juni?" He called, with a smile, "Hi, I'm Izuku Midoriya. We don't really know each other, but I met your dad downstairs and he was looking for you. He was really worried. Anyways, I need a little help here, um, you dad said you quirk puts people to sleep?"
Juni, bless her courageous soul, nodded hesitantly.
Izuku smiled encouragingly at her, "Right um, could you lend me little hand and put her," he jutted his chin towards Rai, "to sleep? Don't worry, I'm holding her down and she won't be able to touch you."
Rai needed to move her hands to call for lightning.
Juni, glanced at him, and then ar Rai with panicked eyes. But then her eyes steeled and she nodded. God, she's so brave for a 10 year old. Izuku thought. He beamed at her, and chirped, "Thanks!"
He waited, patiently, pinning Rai down harder and harder, while Juni slowly approached them. She crawled towards them, and stopped at a hand's reach above Rai. Smart, Izuku thought. In that position, Rai won't be able to reach her directly even if she managed to move me.
Then, slowly she reached and tapped her hand on Rai's hand. Her finger tips glowed in the same shade as her hair and Rai went limp under his grip. Izuku waited for a seconds, slowly loosening his grip. Once he heard the woman snore softly, he let go.
He looked up to the hostages once again, "Um… can anyone get the twice ties from the shops? I need to tie her up."
One of the teen, a guy with black and white hair, nodded quietly before getting up and rushing to the nearest shop. He came back a minute later carrying rope and twist ties in his hand.
"I… found this behind the counter…" He said hesitantly, holding it out for him.
Izuku grinned, "Thanks! It's perfect."
As he was in the process of tying Rai up, more explosions echoed through the floor below. The hostages yelped, and crouched down in fear.
"Don't worry," Izuku said out loud, "That's my friend. He has an explosion quirk."
At that, they seemed to relax a little. Izuku took another glance at the people around him, and noticed most of the hostages had been below 18. He pressed his lips together and frowned.
"The other two, the Lemon guy, and pink haired women are tied up there," He pointed to where he had been hiding. "Lemon guy is under one of the seats, and pink haired is at the gate of one of the shop. You can keep an eye on them, if you don't want to go down."
He stood up, "Stay here, hide in the shops you want. We've already called the police, but you guys can try again."
With that he headed downstairs.
The moment his feet touched the third floor, Izuku had to jump out of the way of an explosion. Luckily all the people were gone, except for a small group that Katsuki seemed to be protecting. Or well, they were behind him, while Katsuki was fighting the villain.
Izuku turned to the fight. The Aegis shield was exactly as he remembered seeing on the TV. Absolutely terrifying . He didn't need to check the man's profile to know he was way out of their league.
But, Izuku wasn't planning to fight him anyway. He just needed to stall time before the heroes. To be honest, it felt like everything has been going on for hours, while in reality it's only been fifteen minutes. Even if Katsuki managed to call Shouta, Hizashi, or Nemuri, it would take a minimum of 30 minutes for them to reach this mall all the way from UA.
Even the nearest police station was twenty minutes away. The security guards of this place were probably already knocked out, given how there was absolutely no one present.
Izuku focused back on the fight. Katsuki, despite the scowl, and growling, looked petrified. That was the power of the Aegis quirk. Exactly like the mythical shield.
Selective Focus helped him spot something. Something that made his eyes widen. Something Katsuki had yet to notice.
Lemon Bombs. Bunch of them hung around Aegis' belt. He grabbed one of them, and pulled the pin.
Shit!
Izuku sprinted around, and tackled Katsuki away while shouting, "Everyone get down!"
Lemon Bombs were C ranked for a reason. The heat of the explosion burned his back, despite his heat resistance. And the shock wave was enough to throw them across the floor. Izuku groaned in pain as his back hit the ground. But he didn't have the time to relax before Aural Sense and Situational Awareness were blaring in his mind. He acted on instincts. He grabbed Katsuki with one hand, and aimed his hand to the pillar on the side and pulled. Their body skid across the floor, just as another Lemon grenade hit the part of the floor they had been on a fraction of second ago. The shockwave threw them across, and Izuku wheezed out as he hit the pillar. Katsuki's weight behind him only added to the pain. He was sure he broke a rib.
Glass splintered above them, and rained down. Digging into his at different parts. He screwed his eyes close and held hand over his head to keep the glass shards from hitting his hand. Once the shower of shard stopped, he pushed himself off the ground. The shards on the ground dug into his palm, but Izuku ignored the pain. He looked at his friend. Katsuki had been knocked out from the blow earlier.
He looked up to find Aegis glaring menacing at them. And then shield-
Izuku felt his heartbeat skyrocket. And for the first time after a month, he felt blood curling fear settle in his body. The fear from when he died because of the sludge villain, the fear he felt when he was chased by the jaguar with quirk. All of it, condensed into his body at once. The sturdy shield of his Fear Resistance skill shattered from the pressure of the shield.
Izuku whimpered.
I need to fight the fear
I need to fight the fear
Kacchan is not awake-
I need to protect him.
I need to-
Tears streamed out his cheeks as the villain approached them.
I need to…
Distract myself from the fear!
Izuku crouched down and grabbed one of the shards. He gritted his teeth, and tug the shard into his thigh. Pain blossomed like fire, and snapped him out of his fear induced paralysis. Izuuku grabbed Katsuki and pulled himself out of the way.
"There's nowhere to run, kiddo." Aegis sneered, pulling out another grenade. Izuku felt his eyes widen. He won't be able to move out of the way fast enough while carrying Katsuki. Even if he used sprint.
He-
A loud crash came, followed by something being burst open, and blur of yellow, red and blue passed by him.
With fear no longer clouding his mind, Fear Resistance back in place, and his other passive skills aiding his mind, he shouted, "He has Lemon Bombs!"
Maybe, Izuku only thought he shouted, and in reality his voice hadn't been loud enough, or maybe he wasn't quick enough to shout the warning because All Might did not dodge the bomb. Instead, he attempted to swat it back. But Lemon grenades didn't explode just because the pin was pulled, they exploded at touch, Analytical Mind helpfully provided.
Izuku used his body as a shield to cover Katsuki from heat, shock wave, and the splinters.
"Wha-" Katsuki blinked his eyes open. His eyes fell on him, and widened like saucers, " Izuku! "
"I'm fine," Izuku blurted as Katsuki pushed him back and sat up.
"The fuck? Fine? You're bleeding!" He paused and looked at All Might, then at Aegis, and the splinters around them. "Did you… Did you just use yourself to shield me?! "
"Kacchan, not now." He really didn't think now was the time to talk about his actions.
"The fuck you mean not now?-" Katsuki grumbled.
"Kacchan, we need to move!" Izuku snapped. The blond snapped his mouth shut and clenched his jaw.
"Detroit Smash!" All Might loudly declared. Katsuki grabbed him, and spun in around just as the shockwave from the punch hit him.
"Kacchan!" Izuku cried out in alarm.
"Shut up!" Katsuki snapped, "I'm fine. Unlike you!"
Aegis was down with one punch. The police came swarming inside at that moment. Two officers approached them.
"Jesus, what-" One of them gasped upon seeing him.
"There are three more villains upstairs," Izuku interrupted, "Along with 8 hostages ranging from 10 year old to 18 year old. The villains upstairs are Lemon Bomber, Rai, and third one with bubble gum pink hair, with a touch based hypnotism quirk."
The police officer looked at him in shock. Izuku wanted to scream Stop staring and go get them!
"What are you staring at?" Katsuki snapped instead for him, "Didn't you hear him? There's three more upstairs. Arrest them."
One of the officers, a man with a mutation to look like a cat, snapped out of his stupor and nodded at them before rushing upstairs. The other continued staring at them for a few more seconds, before speaking into his walkie talkie and asking for medical assistance.
"Young man," A very familiar voice called. Izuku sucked in a sharp breath and turned around. His hand clutched onto Katuski's shirt as he looked up at All Might. "Thank you for protecting the people. I am sorry for being unable to arrive earlier." He held out his hand, "And because of your help, I will talk to the police officers in return and request them to let you go despite vigilantism."
Izuku stared at the man that was once his favorite number one hero. All Might was still the number hero, but he was knocked out of that position from his list the day he left him on the rooftop by himself after crushing his dreams.
He doesn't remember me at all.
Izuku scoffed internally and shook his head. Of course he doesn't. Why would he remember a Quirkless person like me.
Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, he grabbed the hero's hand. Personal emotions aside, the man was the Number One Hero, and he was good at his job as well. Nice in general, and competent. He still respected the man nonetheless.
But as soon as he touched the man's hand, and felt something wet and sticking under his palm, something happened. He was something being pushed into his body. Something powerful, and strong. Something breathtaking. He looked up at All Might, and found the Hero looking at him with wide shocked eyes.
So he felt it as well…
I wonder what that was-
"Wha…," He couldn't even finish his sentence before he passed out.
***
Shouta was in the middle of teaching his class when his phone rang. He stopped writing on the board. Apart from a few people, no one's calls were supposed to reach him. And the ones who could call him, would only call him for emergency. Nemuri, and Hizashi didn't need to call him. If they needed him for something, they could find him. Tensei won't call him while he knows Shouta would be teaching. That left Inko, Izuku.
And neither would call him while he was at UA unless it was absolutely necessary. So putting down the chalk, he went to fish out his phone from his sleeping bag. (A gag gift from Hizashi and Inko.)
"What's wrong-" He never finished his question as a loud voice cut him off.
" Oi, you fucking moron! There's a kid here, are you fucking blind or what?" The Bakugou kid's very familiar loud voice came.
"Bakugou?" He called, trying to figure out why he would be calling him with Izuku's phone.
"There's a villain attack in the mall at the shopping district!" Katsuki shouted into the phone, "Izuku— the exit's that way you blind fuck. Kid, kid, kid, stop crying, what's wrong? It's fine. I'm going to beat up the villains. Go with the adults. Stop crying- The fuck, bitch? See where you're-"
"Bakugou," Shouta said sternly. A villain attack in the mall. Is that why they were shouting. But why-
God please no.
Do not let it be what I think it is.
" The damned nerd went to find the villains ," Bakugou informed, " There's four of them: Lemon Bomb, Rai, Aegis, and pink bitch he didn't know the name of. There are hostages upstairs, and no fucking hero in sight. So hurry up and get your hobo looking ass over here now . "
Shouta was already running, shouting at his class's representative to take over. As soon as Bakugou hung up, Shouta called Nedzu. The Chimera picked up after the first ring, most likely already watching him run down the hallways.
"I need to leave, there's an emergency." Shouta said, not bothering to explain. He didn't have the time to. He needed to hurry. Lemon Bomber, Rai, and Aegis were criminals who were supposed to be in Tartarus. And even if Shouta believed Izuku could take on Lemon Bomber, and Rai didn't mean he was okay with his son fighting villains years before he was supposed to. And even more problematic was Aegis. That villain defeated several Pro Heroes, before he and All Might tag teamed to capture him. His shield can paralyze anyone with fear. Even if Izuku had Fear Resistance, it wouldn't stand a chance against the shield's overwhelming power.
"I have already messaged Present Mic to take over your class." Nedzu replied. Shouta was glad that the Chimera knew it wasn't the time to play mind games. Because if he had, Shouta would've snapped. Fuck the job, he didn't need it if it meant he would have leave his kid in danger. "And I have taken the liberty to prepare one of UA's private cars for your transportation. You will find it waiting for you outside the gate."
"Thank you," Shouta replied, completely unaware of the shock settling on his boss, as he race across the UA grounds, and out of the door. There was a black jeep waiting for him outside with keys inside.
Shouta knew he was going to be too late, but he still sped through the road. He can deal with the traffic police, and fines later on. He just hoped someone, any pro hero, got there at time. Aegis was ruthless, and Izuku -
Shouta shook his head. Thinking the worst, and panicking won't help anyone. His phone rang, a glance at it told him it was Hizashi. His friend was smart enough to figure out something very wrong must have happened. And maybe he should pick up the call, and answer him, otherwise he would be worried. But Shouta didn't want to get distracted at all at the moment.
I'm sorry, he thought and hoped his friend would understand his rush.