Blackout
Fed By Comments
- Location
- Who knows?
New avatar, yoink.
Oh my goodness. Can it be? Are my friends actually getting along?
I don't think so?
I've only ever heard Finnish described as Elfish (mostly because Tolkien based Quenya on Finnish)
Dragonspawn (My Hero Academia SI)
- Thread starter Blackout
- Start date
I've only ever heard Finnish described as Elfish (mostly because Tolkien based Quenya on Finnish)
TimEd
Meteor maker
Hmmm. Must have been about a different language or fic then? *shrug*
Could have sworn it was this one.
Guess I'll just have to wait for this story to Finnish.
Blackout
Fed By Comments
- Location
- Who knows?
Translations were in the Author's Notes:
PAGDTenno
Verified Warmind. Probably on fire.
- Location
- South Carolina
Whoops. Must have missed it. Thank you.
Chapter 36
Blackout
Fed By Comments
- Location
- Who knows?
"Oh man oh man, this is great!" Itsuka practically bounced down the hallway in excitement. "Now that you two aren't fighting anymore we can finally do stuff together! We can go shopping together! Oh it's going to be so great."
"You know I can't fit into most shops?" I pointed out. "It might be better if I stay out of it."
"We'll figure something out." She waved off my concerns. "And excluding you would miss the point. You're our friend."
Pony piped in, and even Yui gave an affirmative "Yep". Tokage said nothing, but nodded along.
It would be inaccurate to call the two of us good friends; things were awkward, picking up after months of tension and confrontation. But we were friends, and the distinction was immediately noticeable to our classmates. Itsuka especially had been over the moon ever since finding out.
"So what exactly was it that you had us dragged all the way out here?" Monoma questioned, gesturing at the artificial cityscape around us. The whole class was there, uniforms on.
"Oh, you'll see when they get here." Itsuka replied glibly.
"Who?"
"Oi, shitty four-eyes, why did you drag us all the way out here?" I heard a noise coming from behind the street corner, and I couldn't hold back a snort as Monoma paled and then flushed red.
"You didn't."
"We did."
Iida and Yaoyorozu rounded the corner, followed by the rest of 1-A, similarly garbed in their hero uniforms. Midoriya and Uraraka gave me a friendly wave and even Todoroki nodded towards me in greeting, which I returned. At the back of the pack was Bakugo, suddenly digging in his heels at the sight of us.
"You gotta be kidding me. You brought those NPCs?"
"Yes, that is correct! We, the Class Presidents of 1-A and 1-B, have been working on a joint training exercise!" Iida announced as the four of us moved to stand together, 1-A on our right and 1-B to the left. "In the interests of creating bonds between our classes and learning from each other, we'll be working together for this afternoon."
"So this is what you guys have been up to, whenever you've disappeared."
"Sounds boring." Bakugo shrugged. "Why should I care about this gaggle of losers?"
"Because we got permission from the teachers to make this into an official school lesson!" Itsuka countered his surliness with cheer. "They let us run it since it was our idea, but that means if you refuse to participate you'll be getting an unexplained absence on your record. Are you sure your pride is worth such a blemish?"
"..."
"Alright then!" She clapped her hands together.
"Ahem." Yaoyorozu cleared her throat. "There will be three stages to today's training. Our first order of business is a team game, specifically, football. Quirks are permitted for use, as always try to avoid injuries but Recovery Girl is on standby just in case."
"So we'll get the chance to prove ourselves against this riff-raff?" Monoma asked, a hand on his chin.
"Nope, sorry." I told him. "We felt like pitting each class against one another would be counterproductive to the purpose of this exercise. Instead, the teams will be randomized from both classes."
"After that, we'll be picking groups and doing training together." Itsuka picked up. "You're free to pick how you're doing it, but you should try to find people from the other class who have good compatibility, since you can train with your own classmates any day. Light sparring is fine but you should leave outright fighting for the third stage."
"For the last stage we'll be doing one on one training matches." Iida explained. "Challenge an opponent from the other Class or get a randomized opponent if you have no strong preference."
"I see." Monoma nodded, looking smug. "Hey, 1-A, prepare to get trashed! When we walk all over you you'll have no choice but to admit to our superiority!"
I buried my face on my claws.
-----
The football fields we'd asked Cemetoss to make had had all normal dimensions doubled, to make sure there was sufficient room for all the crazy Quirks that would be thrown around. The sides were walled off and the ceiling covered with a wire net to prevent the ball from being launched outside and lost.
"I think Itsuka's the obvious choice for goalkeeper, no? Any objections?" I asked from my teammates, gathered on our end of the field. We'd split the classes into two matches for four teams of ten. We had myself, Itsuka, Yui, Tokage as well as Honenuki, and from 1-A Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari, Aoyama, and-
"As if I'd care about what you extras will be doing." Bakugo scoffed. "I'll be keeping the ball on the opposite half of the field so you might as well not bother with defence."
"Yeah sure fine whatever." I told him. We'd pulled straws for team captains, and he still refused to acknowledge that I'd won. "You do your thing, maybe you'll even accomplish something. Now, as for the rest of us, Honenuki, Sero, Aoyama, Tsuburaba, I think you guys would be best suited for defence, you've got ranged abilities that can slow down or seize the ball."
"Don't you ignore me, shitty iguana!"
I sighed.
"Wouldn't you make a good defender with your size, Tatsuma?" Honenuki asked.
"If I was faster, maybe. But they can just go around me. I figure I'm better served as a linebreaker, getting the ball through their defence."
I glanced across the field at our opposition. Yui, Shishida, Shiozaki, Yanagi and Tetsutetsu alongside Yaoyorozu, Mina, Mineta, Sato and Asui.
"I should also go on the offence." Tokage stated. "My agility and versatility should be good at seizing and handling the ball."
"That makes sense." I nodded in agreement.
"What should we do?" Kirishima asked, standing by Kaminari. "We don't really have an obvious role, I don't think."
"I think you're right on the money with that. Kirishima, you can do attack and defence so you should be a middle-fielder, and Kaminari… if they group together, zap 'em."
"Got it."
"Are ya done?" Bakugo grumbled.
"Yeah." I glanced across the field again. "The enemy team seems to be, too. Let's get started."
I went to the middle, where Shishida was waiting with the robot referee. The little camerabot was even wearing the t-shirt, cap and whistle. I guessed somebody in the Support Department had had fun.
"Ready for the kickoff, meatbags?" It said as it's lense focused on me, producing an exaggeratedly large coin. "Heads or tails?"
"Tails, obviously." I said, as the robot flicked the coin into the air.
"Oh look, it's heads. Better luck next time, meatbag."
I rolled my eyes as Shishida got into position for the kick. He activated his Quirk and launched the ball forward as if fired from a cannon, and the game was on.
Bakugo rocketed forward, propelled by blasts from his palms, but the ball veered around him mid-air as if guided by an invisible hand.
"That's Yanagi!" I shouted, my voice carrying across the field. "Tsuburaba, Aoyama, you're up!"
As the ball careened towards our goal it was intercepted mid-air by a laser beam, arresting it's momentum just as a pair of solid air shields materialized on either side of it, trapping it in place.
From there Bakugo caught it, holding it between his knees as he boosted across the field with astonishing speed. He kicked it forward mid-air, blasting it forward with another shot from his hands, only for it to bounce off of the wire net that sprung in front of the enemy goal.
"Can they block the goal like that?" I asked as Yaoyorozu simply spooled out more nets,
"I am not programmed to give a damn!" The referee replied. "You said Quirks are allowed, and so they shall!"
"...Alright, we'll just have to go a bit harder!"
Yanagi had guided the ball to the tiny boy from 1-A, Mineta, who then stuck it to Shishida's leg with one of his… grapes.
"Can't lose the ball if it's attached to you!" He announced as he charged up the field.
"Alright then." I replied. "But I see just one flaw with this plan."
I dived towards Shishida, wrapped my claws around him before yanking him off his feet and lifting him into the air.
"If you're attached to the ball… I can just throw you with it!"
"Is that even allowed?" I heard Mineta exclaim. "She's using her hands! That's cheating!"
"Hey, I'm a quadruped!" I replied. "These are all legs!"
"I'll allow it!" The referee whistled. "Meatbag physiology is none of my concern!"
"Are you even a real referee?!"
"Absolutely! Yellow card for questioning the referee!"
I hoisted Shishida up as he flailed, but he was no match for me physically, not without overloading his Quirk and Recovery Girl had been quite specific about what she'd do if he tried that again.
"Tokage! I need help!"
"Gotcha!"
Shiozaki sent her vines to assail me, but as I trudged up the field Tokage's swarm fell in around me in a protective formation, electrocuting vines that would have tripped me up. However, as I prepared to hurl Shishida he drew in a deep breath and bellowed out.
"Mineta! Yanagi! Kodai!"
I was subjected to the peculiar sight of Mineta wailing as he sailed through the air towards me, presumably carried by Yanagi's telekinesis. He wasn't aiming for the ball, however, but the grape holding it attached to Shishida.
"What?"
As his finger brushed against it the grape suddenly lost its stickiness, and flew off under Yanagi's influence, darting to Yui. Then, it suddenly yanked backwards as it began multiplying in size, growing into the size of a massive boulder just as it hit me square in the face.
I slammed into the ground, knocked onto my ass, but I was up again in a moment. A couple of my teammates cast me worried looks, but I waved them off.
If I was capable of it, I would have been grinning.
This was fun.
-----
After a break and getting a new change of clothing- well, except for me, I couldn't sweat and was mildly smug about it -we'd returned to the fake city for the second stage. I saw Sero talking with Shiozaki, Hagakure and Kuroiro discussing the finer points of stealth, Shoji and Tokage exchanging notes, Shishida, Tetsutetsu, Kirishima and Sato setting up a weightlifting station, and more. Everything... seemed to be going smoothly. People were smiling.
Except for one.
"Hey, you shitty iguana! Fight me!"
I sighed.
"You think you're hot stuff, after fighting Stain? I'm challenging you for the third stage, or whatever you call it."
"Unfortunately for you, I already had another opponent picked out."
"Well, I-"
"Worry not!" Yoarashi said as he placed a hand on Bakugo's shoulder. "I would like to educate you on the finer points of what it means to be a hot-blooded hero!"
"Get your hands off me you-"
I gave Yoarashi what I hoped was a grateful look and used the distraction to extricate myself. After a few more moments, I found what I'd been looking for: Itsuka talking animatedly with Rin, Ojiro, Midoriya and a long-suffering Monoma. I began to make my way over, passing Awase, valiantly trying to engage with Mineta, though the smaller boy seemed to not be paying much attention.
"Midoriya. A word, if you could."
"Oh? Did you want to train? I already agreed to work on hand to hand combat with these guys…" He gave me a sheepish smile, but I shook my head.
"No, I was thinking of the third stage. You promised me that rematch once you got your Quirk sorted, remember?"
"Oh! Yeah, that works. I've been looking forward to it as well." He smiled, giving me a thumbs-up.
After a bit more searching I found the other person I'd been looking for.
"Todoroki." He was standing off to the side by himself, looking almost… lonely.
"Tatsuma." He nodded. "You wanted to talk?"
"Yes. I've been thinking… perhaps Endeavour was on to something."
"Allow me to clarify." I added, as the split-haired boy's face soured. "His execution and motives were horrid. But he wasn't wrong in that we have a lot in common. We both need to learn to use our fire. I'm not sure I could go back to Endeavour, knowing what he did. But… I think there's a lot we could learn from each other."
Todoroki mulled over my words, tension bleeding from his shoulders. "That makes sense. As far as I can tell, the only practical difference between us is that your fire comes from the mouth and mine from my left side. The old man's a bastard, but he has a good eye."
"The strength of my fire depends on my emotions." I admitted. "With practice and mental exercises, I can reliably summon reasonably potent flames, but the kind like at the Sports Festival requires an… external trigger. That's my limitation, since my body is immune to overheating."
"Immune, or just resistant?" He asked. "I can tolerate higher temperatures than normal, but it has its… limits."
I tried to avoid glancing at his scar.
"Obviously I don't know if it has a limit, but I've never found anything capable of burning me, from an active furnace to a plasma welder." I shook my head.
Todoroki nodded. "I need to regulate my temperature with both sides of my Quirk, so my costume is also designed to help with that."
"I've always wondered, does that mean that theoretically you don't have an upper limit to how much you can use your Quirk now?"
"No, not quite, because it doesn't apply evenly. If I bring out maximum output from both sides at once, my left side will eventually burn while my right freezes to death. I need to wait for the temperature to even out. But it does allow me to actively regulate my temperature, whereas my father can only wait to cool down."
"I see. There is another limitation to my fire as well. I don't understand the full details of it myself, but from what Recovery Girl's told me my entire physiology is powered by Quirk Factor. So if all of it is being converted into fire and heat, my physical processes begin to slow down and I become lethargic. This is also why I'm weak to cold-based attacks, because I have to expend a lot of Quirk Factor to maintain my high internal temperature."
"So not quite the same." Todoroki conceded the point. "But close enough to work with. With the old man still in the hospital I've been trying to recall all the things he tried to beat into me over the years, but I can't say that I was the most attentive student. I talked to Burnin', but she's… not a good teacher, and busy running the Agency besides."
He sighed, bringing up his left hand as a small flame flickered to life on his palm. "The one thing I recall him yammering on about is that control weakens exponentially with range. It's the same thing with my ice, my control is the strongest near my body."
"I've found that to be true as well. I can control the shape and direction of the flame as it comes out, but something like making it turn mid-air seems impossible."
"Does that extend to the rest of your body?" Todoroki asked. "The flame is expelled from your mouth, but does your control emanate from any part of yourself? I can only control my flames with my left side, but it's not much of an issue for me since, well, it's so close. But at your size…"
"I… never thought about it that way." I blinked. I'd only ever considered controlling the flames as they came out of mouth.
Could I control my flames with, say, my tail?
I gingerly brought it up in front of my face and breathed out a weak stream of fire over it. And then, as I watched, the flames bent. I jolted backwards in surprise, losing control over the fire and it splashed harmlessly against the ground. But they had moved.
I took a step back, my mind spinning with possibilities.
Did Endeavour not consider this? No, he's the most experienced pyrokinetic in Japan. I refuse to believe it didn't occur to him. So did he mean to tell me about it later, or was he deliberately not doing so because I was just there to motivate Shoto so there was no need to go any further than necessary?
I shook my head.
"Actually... that does give me an idea. You see, there's something I've been thinking about…"
-----
Izuku Midoriya settled into a battle stance as he studied his opponent. Ryuuzaki Tatsuma was a veritable wall of scales and muscle, well over ten meters from snout to tail-tip and weighing more than the rest of the Heroics Department combined. Her glowing red eyes focused Midoriya with such intensity that it would be easy to forget she was human at all.
"Are you ready?" She hissed, taking one last glance around them. For the third stage, the classes had spread out over a wide area, giving everyone space, and so the two of them were standing in the middle of a street, fifty meters apart.
"Yeah." He said, dropping into a ready stance. "Let's go."
Tatsuma responded by leaping forward, using her wings to boost herself as she drove her clawed fist downwards into the street where Midoriya had been standing moments before. The pavement rolled and cracked under the impact as he skidded backwards, before jumping into the air to dodge her tail as she rotated her body to sweep it horizontally. Midoriya kept moving back, trying to put distance between them, but Tatsuma was relentless in her assault, rapidly transitioning from one attack to the next.
She's not letting up! That style… it's how Endeavour fights!
She swiped with her claws, shearing the light pole behind Midoriya into pieces that clattered onto the ground as he ducked under the blow, rolling forward to go between her feet. Her forward momentum cost her, unable to adjust in time, and he leapt up the street, finally able to open up some distance.
"You're fighting more aggressively than you were at the Festival." Midoriya noted. "You've gotten stronger, too, and faster."
Tatsuma nodded. "Not by as much as you have."
She clamped her claws to the street and spread her wings wide, their beats generating massive gusts of wind that buffeted Midoriya. He was pushed backwards, sliding on the concrete, struggling for footing.
"Hm." Tatsuma said,
Midoriya paused for a moment, considering his options.
Disorientate an enemy with rapid movements. Knock them down with a hit to the back. Restrain their arms. Three steps. That's what Gran Torino taught me.
It won't work here. With her tail and enhanced senses, an attack from behind is just as risky as a frontal assault. Her sides are covered by her wings, and she can kick and punch to supplement her defence. There are no obvious openings… except for directly from above. Like at the Obstacle Race.
However! Full Cowling relies upon a surface to kick against. I cannot generate wind pressure with my limbs like All-Might. Coming in from directly above negates all of my mobility, leaving me open to a counter.
"Are you… going to do something?" Tatsuma asked, and Midoriya fought down the red creeping onto his face.
"Yes!"
The answer is, therefore, to lure her into a position where there is something above her to kick against. A light pole would work, but it's unlikely to survive long enough to be useful.
One For All…"Full Cowling: 5%!"
Midoriya dashed forward as green lighting played around him, and the fight was on. Tatsuma responded with a swipe of her claw but Midoriya veered left, feinting towards her side before pulling back. He continued to circle her, feinting attacks but never committing to it.
Midoriya saw Tatsuma's eyes narrowing and her ears perking up, trying to track his movements. Then, as he was mid-jump, she suddenly slammed her tail down onto the street, impacting at the same moment as he landed. The pavement swayed and heaved underneath his feet, throwing him off-balance as Tatsuma surged forward, claws reaching out to grab him.
This isn't good… if she catches me, it's all over! I'll have to use it!
"Full Cowling: 6%!"
Midoriya immediately had to fight the instinct to double over, feeling like he'd been punched in every part of his body at once, but he forced himself to move, dashing out of the way by a matter of inches in a trail of green lightning.
He saw Tatsuma's ears perk up in surprise at his sudden increase in speed as he landed and immediately rocketed forward again, cocking back his fist.
Too predictable. Once she realized I was only making feints she could take all the time she needed to find an opening… it's not just a matter of having a good plan, I need to avoid falling into a pattern!
Tatsuma surged forward to meet his attack, her horn clashing against his feet with a sound akin to a gunshot. Midoriya grit his teeth as he was blown back, his boots skidding on the pavement as he regained his footing before leaping away to avoid
I came off worse in that exchange, but it got her on her toes again,
Tatsuma didn't abort her swing as he dodged but instead slashed her claws at the street where he'd stood, shredding chunks of pavement from the surface and flinging them at Midoriya in a shotgun blast. He was pelted with rubble, but Full Cowling allowed him to shrug the smaller projectiles off with at most some bruising while he warded off the larger ones.
Tatsuma pressed the assault, showcasing the same relentless style as before, but this time the aggressiveness worked to Midoriya's advantage. Dodging her blows by inches he gave ground, leading Tatsuma away from the middle of the street and towards the fake buildings.
I just need… there!
Midoriya continued dodging, drawing Tatsuma to where he wanted her. Then, instead of continuing to back up, he dodged her swipe upwards, spinning to land upside down against the bottom of a fire escape ladder. Her eyes widened, but her momentum carried her inexorably forward as Midoriya launched himself straight down, denting the fire escape.
"Full Cowling: 7%!"
Midoriya could hear his bones creaking, but he powered through the pain and drove a devastating punch to Tatsuma's chin, the shockwave picking up detritus across the street.
I did it! I got a clean hit in!
Tatsuma's head was knocked against the wall, smashing apart the brickwork, and she was forced to take a sideward step to compensate.
Then her neck snapped back, her glowing red eyes boring into Midoriya, and his heart sank.
It's not just her scales… her size and weight gives her a substantial defensive advantage. A half-hearted strike won't cut it!
The air suddenly grew warm, and Midoriya threw himself to the side as a thin stream of flame incinerated the spot where he'd been standing, leaving a black mark on the pavement.
It's faster than before, and more controlled. But the heat buildup is an easy giveaway. It's not too hard to dodge at my speed.
As Tatsuma surged forward Midoriya changed tactics, ducking in low and dashing inside of her reach, delivering a punch to her chest that sent a jarring recoil up his arm.
Chest scales are too tough. But I have to keep up the offensive, since a single hit won't take her down.
…
All-Might would have been able to do it.
Midoriya ran up Tatsuma's shoulder, delivering another blow to the side of her head as he went, but the awkward angle and lack of momentum meant it lacked the same force as before. He continued to hang on to her like a monkey as she twisted and turned to throw him off, continuing to hammer her with punches.
It's risky, but it's my best chance. Her size makes her awkward at dealing with small, fast opponents up close.
Tatsuma threw herself on her back, cracking the street beneath her, but Midoriya simply kept moving, circling around her. She rolled onto her feet, but simply couldn't catch him.
Then, her scales suddenly became hot to the touch and Midoriya kicked off of her back as she twisted her neck and breathed out a blast of fire over herself. It wasn't a thin, pressurized stream as before but more akin to a wide, billowing cloud of flame that wrapped around her form, cloaking her in fire and forcing Midoriya to back off.
"That's new." He breathed out as he wound Full Cowling back down to 5%. "That's what you and Todoroki were working on?"
The flame cloak began to flicker and soon guttered out. "It's a move designed to supplement our defensive shortcomings by discouraging physical attacks. Todoroki can't form ice from his left side, and I have a weakness against small, fast opponents like you."
"Or Stain." Midoriya observed.
"...Yes." She grit out.
"That's a really good idea! Does it have a name? How long can you maintain it? Does it take concentration to hold the fire in place?"
"...It's a work in progress." Tatsuma muttered.
"Ah, of course." Midoriya smiled apologetically, rubbing the back of his head. "Should we continue?"
"Yes."
Tatsuma charged forward, and the chase was on again. Midoriya couldn't hurt her, she couldn't catch him. Her claws and horns tore up the street and buildings, but he was simply too fast, too agile. In turn, his hands were covered in bruises simply from repeatedly punching her steel-hard scales, whilst she looked none the worse for wear.
Then, just when he was about to suggest calling it a tie, Midoriya felt the temperature spike again, but Tatsuma's mouth wasn't pointed towards him. In fact it was in the entirely opposite direction. Before he could figure out what her plan was, the flames erupted from her throat, with far more volume and force than before, focused into a narrow stream.
As he watched with growing astonishment, Tatsuma rocketed backwards propelled by a jet of orange flame emanating from her mouth. The force of it tilted her over, sending her into a spinning motion as fire sprayed everywhere whilst she tumbled towards him propelled by a crude but undeniably effective rocket.
The sheer shock and speed of it caught Midoriya off guard, and as he tried to evade Tatsuma's claws wrapped around his midsection, snatching him mid-air. She tumbled to a halt as he struggled to break her grip, but it was no use. Even with Full Cowling, as it was, her strength was simply superior to his.
"Ah, you got me. This is your victory." Midoriya nodded in acknowledgement, and Tatsuma dropped him to the ground. "Man, you caught me off guard with that super move."
"It's a last resort strategy, not suitable for battles where collateral damage is a consideration." She gestured towards the street, blackened and burnt with trickles of molten asphalt running down its length.
"I see your point." Midoriya muttered. "The basic principles are sound, but due to your size the amount of fire needed to propel you makes it untenable for most situations. But maybe something smaller could be viable? Once you've mastered that fire cloak move, you might be able to expend portions of it as smaller, more controlled fire jets, functioning as sort of maneuvering thrusters to help you with your agility?"
"Hmmm. That's… not a bad idea." Tatsuma nodded. "I've only begun to train that aspect of my Quirk, however. I can barely maintain the fire cloak for a few seconds, it'll be awhile before an advanced application like that is viable."
"It's good to have a goal in mind, though! I think you're right to focus on your fire, since your physical abilities are already top-notch and it's a new frontier to explore. All-Might put it like this: a Level 25 ability can't improve as fast as a Level 1."
Tatsuma gave him an odd look, and Midoriya wondered if he'd said too much, but eventually she shrugged her broad shoulders.
"Can't neglect the basics either. I've been doing more strength training since the Sports Festival." She said, absent-mindedly running a claw over her chest scales. "It's not enough to cover up your weaknesses, you need to be growing too."
"I guess that's fair." Midoriya acknowledged as they began heading back towards the others. The blonde-haired boy from 1-B, Monoma, seemed to be going around with a record sheet trying to persuade people into giving him the results of their matches, though from the looks of things he seemed to be having little success.
"Oh, yeah, don't tell Monoma who won." Tatsuma said. "Sparring with your classmates would defeat the point of this joint training, but making it class versus class might breed resentment, so we decided to ask people not to tally up the results to see which class "won"."
"Is he… always like that?"
"Just when you guys are involved." She shook her head. "He's actually quite nice most of the time, if you can believe."
"I find it a little hard."
"I can understand that." She sighed. "He's basically our Bakugo."
"...Fair enough."
-----
"Hey! You!"
I had just left the front gates of UA, deep in thought, but the shouting accompanied by rapid footsteps shook me out of my reverie and drew my attention. I stopped in my tracks, swiveling my head around at the direction of the voice, hoping that it hadn't been addressed to me.
"You're Ryuuzaki Tatsuma, right?!" So much for that.
The source of the disruption was a young man in his early twenties, with short, messy blue hair and green eyes, breathing heavily and slightly double over from running up to catch me. He had something in a sling under his arm, a large plastic carrying case of some sort. After a few seconds of puffing he managed to get his breathing under control and speak again.
"I need to talk to you."
"Sorry, I'm not taking questions." I said and began to step past him, but he moved in front of me and forced me to stop again lest I crush him.
"I'm not a reporter." He breathed out, speaking rapidly as he stepped closer. "I need your help. I saw your interview last week and I thought-"
"Slow down." I cut him off. "Who even are you?"
"Ah! Sorry! I'm a little all over the place. I am Doctor Katsuro Mizutani." He smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "Here, take this."
He unslung the carrying case and shoved it at me, forcing me to catch it. It clicked open on my palm, and I saw a flash of something metallic emerging from within, crawling onto my forelimb and clamping around it.
"What the-" I began, swinging my arm to shake whatever the hell it was off of me, but it was latched on tight. I was about to smash it against the pavement when Mizutani yelled out in alarm.
"Don't! It's harmless!" He flailed in a panic. "I promise! It's my only copy, please don't destroy it!"
I paused, taking a good look at what exactly it was that he'd attached to my forelimb, and… it was a hand. A robotic one, made of metal and with exposed wiring all over, but recognizably a hand, with clamps around it's base fastening it onto my palm like a gauntlet.
"What the hell is this?"
"This is my patented Synth-Hand. It's a cybernetic designed to interpret and return neural impulses even through the skin, allowing it to work without having to be surgically attached to replace a missing limb. The servomotors give it a range of motion and precision identical to a normal human hand. Try it out!"
Skeptically, I tried to focus on it, and to my surprise the metal arm curled into a fist. What was even more astonishing was that it… felt real. I could feel the metal fingers pressing against each other. I willed it to open, and it did. I wiggled each finger, and they responded without delay.
"Okay, that's pretty amazing, but why did you attach it to my arm?"
"I wanted to show it worked, of course?" He replied, as if it was obvious.
"...And you couldn't have explained what it was and asked for my permission before slapping it onto me?"
"Well, um, now that you put it like that…"
"And I still don't know why you're here? I mean this thing is cool and all, but why did you want to show it to me? I've never seen anything like it before."
"That's because I completed this first prototype two months ago. I've been working on it for years. I'm an inventor, it's my dream to make support items to help people live their lives easier."
"Well, I'd say you've succeeded, I'd buy one of these in a heartbeat. But you still haven't explained what you need me for."
"Well, um, that's the thing I need help with. Making them available for purchase. You see, when it comes to finding investors to get these mass-produced, I've run into certain… complications."
"What kind? Surely this would be an easy pitch to get across."
"Ahaha, as you might tell, I am not very… good at that." He rubbed the back of his head again. "I already botched three attempts. If I fail again…"
"And you think I'd be any better at it?" I questioned incredulously. "I'm not- I'm fifteen years old. You can't seriously expect me to do better."
"You're also internationally famous, right now. I only need you to get my foot into the door, to provide a practical demonstration and talk about your experiences lacking normal hands. I just need them to focus on the product, not me.
"Surely there are other Heroes or famous people who you could turn to? I can't be the only one struggling with inhuman hands."
"Ah, see, the thing is… I already blew almost all of my budget on my previous tries. I can't pay, and with my reputation nobody will do it without an up-front compensation."
"So… you approached a high-schooler in the hopes of getting unpaid labour?" I asked. "Are you serious?"
"Well… you legally can't get paid anyway, so it's no real loss, right?" He laughed nervously.
"We're still forbidden from making sponsorships." I pointed out.
"It's not a sponsorship, you'd just be there to talk about it and why it's a good idea."
"...So a sponsorship."
"Legally, only if you're in the advertising material." He replied, which I couldn't immediately refute. "I can even get you an extra ticket if you want to bring a friend along and enjoy the exhibitions once ours is done."
"Ticket?"
"Oh, right, I didn't mention that yet. The exhibition is held at I-Expo-"
"I-Expo?!" I said, taking a step back.
"Oh, you don't know? It's a-"
"Of course I know what the I-Expo is." I shook my head. "If you are in such dire straits, how did you manage to secure a spot there?"
I-Expo was an annual event every summer where the greatest Quirk scientists in the world gathered to show off their developments. It was held every summer at I-Island, an artificial island in the middle of the Pacific that serves as an ultra-high security research station.
"Ahaha, I had to call in every favour I had left from my Academy days. If this fails it's all over for me. For my inventions. Wouldn't it be great if products like these got out into the market? If people like you could get them and regain a little bit more of a normal life? What do you say?"
"That's…" I trailed off, recalling the humiliation from last week, unable to even fill out a paper form. Having to get special accommodations at school. Only being able to play games with voice controls. Having to abandon my miniature hobby. All of those could be fixed with this. But it wasn't just me either. How many people across the country, across the world, struggled with such issues? It could be a chance to do some real, lasting good.
"Look, I understand where you're coming from." I said, taking a deep breath. "But you also have to understand how this looks. You ambush me after a long day at school, try to wow me with grandeur promises while downplaying the legal concerns and pressuring me to agree. Even if you didn't mean it to come across that way, everything about this indicates you're trying to take advantage of me."
"But-"
"So here's what's going to happen." I told him firmly. "You're going to put together a cohesive, detailed, written plan for what you want, and email it to me. I'm then going to forward it to my sister, my parents, and my teacher. If all of them approve, then I'll consider it."
"You know I can't fit into most shops?" I pointed out. "It might be better if I stay out of it."
"We'll figure something out." She waved off my concerns. "And excluding you would miss the point. You're our friend."
Pony piped in, and even Yui gave an affirmative "Yep". Tokage said nothing, but nodded along.
It would be inaccurate to call the two of us good friends; things were awkward, picking up after months of tension and confrontation. But we were friends, and the distinction was immediately noticeable to our classmates. Itsuka especially had been over the moon ever since finding out.
"So what exactly was it that you had us dragged all the way out here?" Monoma questioned, gesturing at the artificial cityscape around us. The whole class was there, uniforms on.
"Oh, you'll see when they get here." Itsuka replied glibly.
"Who?"
"Oi, shitty four-eyes, why did you drag us all the way out here?" I heard a noise coming from behind the street corner, and I couldn't hold back a snort as Monoma paled and then flushed red.
"You didn't."
"We did."
Iida and Yaoyorozu rounded the corner, followed by the rest of 1-A, similarly garbed in their hero uniforms. Midoriya and Uraraka gave me a friendly wave and even Todoroki nodded towards me in greeting, which I returned. At the back of the pack was Bakugo, suddenly digging in his heels at the sight of us.
"You gotta be kidding me. You brought those NPCs?"
"Yes, that is correct! We, the Class Presidents of 1-A and 1-B, have been working on a joint training exercise!" Iida announced as the four of us moved to stand together, 1-A on our right and 1-B to the left. "In the interests of creating bonds between our classes and learning from each other, we'll be working together for this afternoon."
"So this is what you guys have been up to, whenever you've disappeared."
"Sounds boring." Bakugo shrugged. "Why should I care about this gaggle of losers?"
"Because we got permission from the teachers to make this into an official school lesson!" Itsuka countered his surliness with cheer. "They let us run it since it was our idea, but that means if you refuse to participate you'll be getting an unexplained absence on your record. Are you sure your pride is worth such a blemish?"
"..."
"Alright then!" She clapped her hands together.
"Ahem." Yaoyorozu cleared her throat. "There will be three stages to today's training. Our first order of business is a team game, specifically, football. Quirks are permitted for use, as always try to avoid injuries but Recovery Girl is on standby just in case."
"So we'll get the chance to prove ourselves against this riff-raff?" Monoma asked, a hand on his chin.
"Nope, sorry." I told him. "We felt like pitting each class against one another would be counterproductive to the purpose of this exercise. Instead, the teams will be randomized from both classes."
"After that, we'll be picking groups and doing training together." Itsuka picked up. "You're free to pick how you're doing it, but you should try to find people from the other class who have good compatibility, since you can train with your own classmates any day. Light sparring is fine but you should leave outright fighting for the third stage."
"For the last stage we'll be doing one on one training matches." Iida explained. "Challenge an opponent from the other Class or get a randomized opponent if you have no strong preference."
"I see." Monoma nodded, looking smug. "Hey, 1-A, prepare to get trashed! When we walk all over you you'll have no choice but to admit to our superiority!"
I buried my face on my claws.
-----
The football fields we'd asked Cemetoss to make had had all normal dimensions doubled, to make sure there was sufficient room for all the crazy Quirks that would be thrown around. The sides were walled off and the ceiling covered with a wire net to prevent the ball from being launched outside and lost.
"I think Itsuka's the obvious choice for goalkeeper, no? Any objections?" I asked from my teammates, gathered on our end of the field. We'd split the classes into two matches for four teams of ten. We had myself, Itsuka, Yui, Tokage as well as Honenuki, and from 1-A Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari, Aoyama, and-
"As if I'd care about what you extras will be doing." Bakugo scoffed. "I'll be keeping the ball on the opposite half of the field so you might as well not bother with defence."
"Yeah sure fine whatever." I told him. We'd pulled straws for team captains, and he still refused to acknowledge that I'd won. "You do your thing, maybe you'll even accomplish something. Now, as for the rest of us, Honenuki, Sero, Aoyama, Tsuburaba, I think you guys would be best suited for defence, you've got ranged abilities that can slow down or seize the ball."
"Don't you ignore me, shitty iguana!"
I sighed.
"Wouldn't you make a good defender with your size, Tatsuma?" Honenuki asked.
"If I was faster, maybe. But they can just go around me. I figure I'm better served as a linebreaker, getting the ball through their defence."
I glanced across the field at our opposition. Yui, Shishida, Shiozaki, Yanagi and Tetsutetsu alongside Yaoyorozu, Mina, Mineta, Sato and Asui.
"I should also go on the offence." Tokage stated. "My agility and versatility should be good at seizing and handling the ball."
"That makes sense." I nodded in agreement.
"What should we do?" Kirishima asked, standing by Kaminari. "We don't really have an obvious role, I don't think."
"I think you're right on the money with that. Kirishima, you can do attack and defence so you should be a middle-fielder, and Kaminari… if they group together, zap 'em."
"Got it."
"Are ya done?" Bakugo grumbled.
"Yeah." I glanced across the field again. "The enemy team seems to be, too. Let's get started."
I went to the middle, where Shishida was waiting with the robot referee. The little camerabot was even wearing the t-shirt, cap and whistle. I guessed somebody in the Support Department had had fun.
"Ready for the kickoff, meatbags?" It said as it's lense focused on me, producing an exaggeratedly large coin. "Heads or tails?"
"Tails, obviously." I said, as the robot flicked the coin into the air.
"Oh look, it's heads. Better luck next time, meatbag."
I rolled my eyes as Shishida got into position for the kick. He activated his Quirk and launched the ball forward as if fired from a cannon, and the game was on.
Bakugo rocketed forward, propelled by blasts from his palms, but the ball veered around him mid-air as if guided by an invisible hand.
"That's Yanagi!" I shouted, my voice carrying across the field. "Tsuburaba, Aoyama, you're up!"
As the ball careened towards our goal it was intercepted mid-air by a laser beam, arresting it's momentum just as a pair of solid air shields materialized on either side of it, trapping it in place.
From there Bakugo caught it, holding it between his knees as he boosted across the field with astonishing speed. He kicked it forward mid-air, blasting it forward with another shot from his hands, only for it to bounce off of the wire net that sprung in front of the enemy goal.
"Can they block the goal like that?" I asked as Yaoyorozu simply spooled out more nets,
"I am not programmed to give a damn!" The referee replied. "You said Quirks are allowed, and so they shall!"
"...Alright, we'll just have to go a bit harder!"
Yanagi had guided the ball to the tiny boy from 1-A, Mineta, who then stuck it to Shishida's leg with one of his… grapes.
"Can't lose the ball if it's attached to you!" He announced as he charged up the field.
"Alright then." I replied. "But I see just one flaw with this plan."
I dived towards Shishida, wrapped my claws around him before yanking him off his feet and lifting him into the air.
"If you're attached to the ball… I can just throw you with it!"
"Is that even allowed?" I heard Mineta exclaim. "She's using her hands! That's cheating!"
"Hey, I'm a quadruped!" I replied. "These are all legs!"
"I'll allow it!" The referee whistled. "Meatbag physiology is none of my concern!"
"Are you even a real referee?!"
"Absolutely! Yellow card for questioning the referee!"
I hoisted Shishida up as he flailed, but he was no match for me physically, not without overloading his Quirk and Recovery Girl had been quite specific about what she'd do if he tried that again.
"Tokage! I need help!"
"Gotcha!"
Shiozaki sent her vines to assail me, but as I trudged up the field Tokage's swarm fell in around me in a protective formation, electrocuting vines that would have tripped me up. However, as I prepared to hurl Shishida he drew in a deep breath and bellowed out.
"Mineta! Yanagi! Kodai!"
I was subjected to the peculiar sight of Mineta wailing as he sailed through the air towards me, presumably carried by Yanagi's telekinesis. He wasn't aiming for the ball, however, but the grape holding it attached to Shishida.
"What?"
As his finger brushed against it the grape suddenly lost its stickiness, and flew off under Yanagi's influence, darting to Yui. Then, it suddenly yanked backwards as it began multiplying in size, growing into the size of a massive boulder just as it hit me square in the face.
I slammed into the ground, knocked onto my ass, but I was up again in a moment. A couple of my teammates cast me worried looks, but I waved them off.
If I was capable of it, I would have been grinning.
This was fun.
-----
After a break and getting a new change of clothing- well, except for me, I couldn't sweat and was mildly smug about it -we'd returned to the fake city for the second stage. I saw Sero talking with Shiozaki, Hagakure and Kuroiro discussing the finer points of stealth, Shoji and Tokage exchanging notes, Shishida, Tetsutetsu, Kirishima and Sato setting up a weightlifting station, and more. Everything... seemed to be going smoothly. People were smiling.
Except for one.
"Hey, you shitty iguana! Fight me!"
I sighed.
"You think you're hot stuff, after fighting Stain? I'm challenging you for the third stage, or whatever you call it."
"Unfortunately for you, I already had another opponent picked out."
"Well, I-"
"Worry not!" Yoarashi said as he placed a hand on Bakugo's shoulder. "I would like to educate you on the finer points of what it means to be a hot-blooded hero!"
"Get your hands off me you-"
I gave Yoarashi what I hoped was a grateful look and used the distraction to extricate myself. After a few more moments, I found what I'd been looking for: Itsuka talking animatedly with Rin, Ojiro, Midoriya and a long-suffering Monoma. I began to make my way over, passing Awase, valiantly trying to engage with Mineta, though the smaller boy seemed to not be paying much attention.
"Midoriya. A word, if you could."
"Oh? Did you want to train? I already agreed to work on hand to hand combat with these guys…" He gave me a sheepish smile, but I shook my head.
"No, I was thinking of the third stage. You promised me that rematch once you got your Quirk sorted, remember?"
"Oh! Yeah, that works. I've been looking forward to it as well." He smiled, giving me a thumbs-up.
After a bit more searching I found the other person I'd been looking for.
"Todoroki." He was standing off to the side by himself, looking almost… lonely.
"Tatsuma." He nodded. "You wanted to talk?"
"Yes. I've been thinking… perhaps Endeavour was on to something."
"Allow me to clarify." I added, as the split-haired boy's face soured. "His execution and motives were horrid. But he wasn't wrong in that we have a lot in common. We both need to learn to use our fire. I'm not sure I could go back to Endeavour, knowing what he did. But… I think there's a lot we could learn from each other."
Todoroki mulled over my words, tension bleeding from his shoulders. "That makes sense. As far as I can tell, the only practical difference between us is that your fire comes from the mouth and mine from my left side. The old man's a bastard, but he has a good eye."
"The strength of my fire depends on my emotions." I admitted. "With practice and mental exercises, I can reliably summon reasonably potent flames, but the kind like at the Sports Festival requires an… external trigger. That's my limitation, since my body is immune to overheating."
"Immune, or just resistant?" He asked. "I can tolerate higher temperatures than normal, but it has its… limits."
I tried to avoid glancing at his scar.
"Obviously I don't know if it has a limit, but I've never found anything capable of burning me, from an active furnace to a plasma welder." I shook my head.
Todoroki nodded. "I need to regulate my temperature with both sides of my Quirk, so my costume is also designed to help with that."
"I've always wondered, does that mean that theoretically you don't have an upper limit to how much you can use your Quirk now?"
"No, not quite, because it doesn't apply evenly. If I bring out maximum output from both sides at once, my left side will eventually burn while my right freezes to death. I need to wait for the temperature to even out. But it does allow me to actively regulate my temperature, whereas my father can only wait to cool down."
"I see. There is another limitation to my fire as well. I don't understand the full details of it myself, but from what Recovery Girl's told me my entire physiology is powered by Quirk Factor. So if all of it is being converted into fire and heat, my physical processes begin to slow down and I become lethargic. This is also why I'm weak to cold-based attacks, because I have to expend a lot of Quirk Factor to maintain my high internal temperature."
"So not quite the same." Todoroki conceded the point. "But close enough to work with. With the old man still in the hospital I've been trying to recall all the things he tried to beat into me over the years, but I can't say that I was the most attentive student. I talked to Burnin', but she's… not a good teacher, and busy running the Agency besides."
He sighed, bringing up his left hand as a small flame flickered to life on his palm. "The one thing I recall him yammering on about is that control weakens exponentially with range. It's the same thing with my ice, my control is the strongest near my body."
"I've found that to be true as well. I can control the shape and direction of the flame as it comes out, but something like making it turn mid-air seems impossible."
"Does that extend to the rest of your body?" Todoroki asked. "The flame is expelled from your mouth, but does your control emanate from any part of yourself? I can only control my flames with my left side, but it's not much of an issue for me since, well, it's so close. But at your size…"
"I… never thought about it that way." I blinked. I'd only ever considered controlling the flames as they came out of mouth.
Could I control my flames with, say, my tail?
I gingerly brought it up in front of my face and breathed out a weak stream of fire over it. And then, as I watched, the flames bent. I jolted backwards in surprise, losing control over the fire and it splashed harmlessly against the ground. But they had moved.
I took a step back, my mind spinning with possibilities.
Did Endeavour not consider this? No, he's the most experienced pyrokinetic in Japan. I refuse to believe it didn't occur to him. So did he mean to tell me about it later, or was he deliberately not doing so because I was just there to motivate Shoto so there was no need to go any further than necessary?
I shook my head.
"Actually... that does give me an idea. You see, there's something I've been thinking about…"
-----
Izuku Midoriya settled into a battle stance as he studied his opponent. Ryuuzaki Tatsuma was a veritable wall of scales and muscle, well over ten meters from snout to tail-tip and weighing more than the rest of the Heroics Department combined. Her glowing red eyes focused Midoriya with such intensity that it would be easy to forget she was human at all.
"Are you ready?" She hissed, taking one last glance around them. For the third stage, the classes had spread out over a wide area, giving everyone space, and so the two of them were standing in the middle of a street, fifty meters apart.
"Yeah." He said, dropping into a ready stance. "Let's go."
Tatsuma responded by leaping forward, using her wings to boost herself as she drove her clawed fist downwards into the street where Midoriya had been standing moments before. The pavement rolled and cracked under the impact as he skidded backwards, before jumping into the air to dodge her tail as she rotated her body to sweep it horizontally. Midoriya kept moving back, trying to put distance between them, but Tatsuma was relentless in her assault, rapidly transitioning from one attack to the next.
She's not letting up! That style… it's how Endeavour fights!
She swiped with her claws, shearing the light pole behind Midoriya into pieces that clattered onto the ground as he ducked under the blow, rolling forward to go between her feet. Her forward momentum cost her, unable to adjust in time, and he leapt up the street, finally able to open up some distance.
"You're fighting more aggressively than you were at the Festival." Midoriya noted. "You've gotten stronger, too, and faster."
Tatsuma nodded. "Not by as much as you have."
She clamped her claws to the street and spread her wings wide, their beats generating massive gusts of wind that buffeted Midoriya. He was pushed backwards, sliding on the concrete, struggling for footing.
"Hm." Tatsuma said,
Midoriya paused for a moment, considering his options.
Disorientate an enemy with rapid movements. Knock them down with a hit to the back. Restrain their arms. Three steps. That's what Gran Torino taught me.
It won't work here. With her tail and enhanced senses, an attack from behind is just as risky as a frontal assault. Her sides are covered by her wings, and she can kick and punch to supplement her defence. There are no obvious openings… except for directly from above. Like at the Obstacle Race.
However! Full Cowling relies upon a surface to kick against. I cannot generate wind pressure with my limbs like All-Might. Coming in from directly above negates all of my mobility, leaving me open to a counter.
"Are you… going to do something?" Tatsuma asked, and Midoriya fought down the red creeping onto his face.
"Yes!"
The answer is, therefore, to lure her into a position where there is something above her to kick against. A light pole would work, but it's unlikely to survive long enough to be useful.
One For All…"Full Cowling: 5%!"
Midoriya dashed forward as green lighting played around him, and the fight was on. Tatsuma responded with a swipe of her claw but Midoriya veered left, feinting towards her side before pulling back. He continued to circle her, feinting attacks but never committing to it.
Midoriya saw Tatsuma's eyes narrowing and her ears perking up, trying to track his movements. Then, as he was mid-jump, she suddenly slammed her tail down onto the street, impacting at the same moment as he landed. The pavement swayed and heaved underneath his feet, throwing him off-balance as Tatsuma surged forward, claws reaching out to grab him.
This isn't good… if she catches me, it's all over! I'll have to use it!
"Full Cowling: 6%!"
Midoriya immediately had to fight the instinct to double over, feeling like he'd been punched in every part of his body at once, but he forced himself to move, dashing out of the way by a matter of inches in a trail of green lightning.
He saw Tatsuma's ears perk up in surprise at his sudden increase in speed as he landed and immediately rocketed forward again, cocking back his fist.
Too predictable. Once she realized I was only making feints she could take all the time she needed to find an opening… it's not just a matter of having a good plan, I need to avoid falling into a pattern!
Tatsuma surged forward to meet his attack, her horn clashing against his feet with a sound akin to a gunshot. Midoriya grit his teeth as he was blown back, his boots skidding on the pavement as he regained his footing before leaping away to avoid
I came off worse in that exchange, but it got her on her toes again,
Tatsuma didn't abort her swing as he dodged but instead slashed her claws at the street where he'd stood, shredding chunks of pavement from the surface and flinging them at Midoriya in a shotgun blast. He was pelted with rubble, but Full Cowling allowed him to shrug the smaller projectiles off with at most some bruising while he warded off the larger ones.
Tatsuma pressed the assault, showcasing the same relentless style as before, but this time the aggressiveness worked to Midoriya's advantage. Dodging her blows by inches he gave ground, leading Tatsuma away from the middle of the street and towards the fake buildings.
I just need… there!
Midoriya continued dodging, drawing Tatsuma to where he wanted her. Then, instead of continuing to back up, he dodged her swipe upwards, spinning to land upside down against the bottom of a fire escape ladder. Her eyes widened, but her momentum carried her inexorably forward as Midoriya launched himself straight down, denting the fire escape.
"Full Cowling: 7%!"
Midoriya could hear his bones creaking, but he powered through the pain and drove a devastating punch to Tatsuma's chin, the shockwave picking up detritus across the street.
I did it! I got a clean hit in!
Tatsuma's head was knocked against the wall, smashing apart the brickwork, and she was forced to take a sideward step to compensate.
Then her neck snapped back, her glowing red eyes boring into Midoriya, and his heart sank.
It's not just her scales… her size and weight gives her a substantial defensive advantage. A half-hearted strike won't cut it!
The air suddenly grew warm, and Midoriya threw himself to the side as a thin stream of flame incinerated the spot where he'd been standing, leaving a black mark on the pavement.
It's faster than before, and more controlled. But the heat buildup is an easy giveaway. It's not too hard to dodge at my speed.
As Tatsuma surged forward Midoriya changed tactics, ducking in low and dashing inside of her reach, delivering a punch to her chest that sent a jarring recoil up his arm.
Chest scales are too tough. But I have to keep up the offensive, since a single hit won't take her down.
…
All-Might would have been able to do it.
Midoriya ran up Tatsuma's shoulder, delivering another blow to the side of her head as he went, but the awkward angle and lack of momentum meant it lacked the same force as before. He continued to hang on to her like a monkey as she twisted and turned to throw him off, continuing to hammer her with punches.
It's risky, but it's my best chance. Her size makes her awkward at dealing with small, fast opponents up close.
Tatsuma threw herself on her back, cracking the street beneath her, but Midoriya simply kept moving, circling around her. She rolled onto her feet, but simply couldn't catch him.
Then, her scales suddenly became hot to the touch and Midoriya kicked off of her back as she twisted her neck and breathed out a blast of fire over herself. It wasn't a thin, pressurized stream as before but more akin to a wide, billowing cloud of flame that wrapped around her form, cloaking her in fire and forcing Midoriya to back off.
"That's new." He breathed out as he wound Full Cowling back down to 5%. "That's what you and Todoroki were working on?"
The flame cloak began to flicker and soon guttered out. "It's a move designed to supplement our defensive shortcomings by discouraging physical attacks. Todoroki can't form ice from his left side, and I have a weakness against small, fast opponents like you."
"Or Stain." Midoriya observed.
"...Yes." She grit out.
"That's a really good idea! Does it have a name? How long can you maintain it? Does it take concentration to hold the fire in place?"
"...It's a work in progress." Tatsuma muttered.
"Ah, of course." Midoriya smiled apologetically, rubbing the back of his head. "Should we continue?"
"Yes."
Tatsuma charged forward, and the chase was on again. Midoriya couldn't hurt her, she couldn't catch him. Her claws and horns tore up the street and buildings, but he was simply too fast, too agile. In turn, his hands were covered in bruises simply from repeatedly punching her steel-hard scales, whilst she looked none the worse for wear.
Then, just when he was about to suggest calling it a tie, Midoriya felt the temperature spike again, but Tatsuma's mouth wasn't pointed towards him. In fact it was in the entirely opposite direction. Before he could figure out what her plan was, the flames erupted from her throat, with far more volume and force than before, focused into a narrow stream.
As he watched with growing astonishment, Tatsuma rocketed backwards propelled by a jet of orange flame emanating from her mouth. The force of it tilted her over, sending her into a spinning motion as fire sprayed everywhere whilst she tumbled towards him propelled by a crude but undeniably effective rocket.
The sheer shock and speed of it caught Midoriya off guard, and as he tried to evade Tatsuma's claws wrapped around his midsection, snatching him mid-air. She tumbled to a halt as he struggled to break her grip, but it was no use. Even with Full Cowling, as it was, her strength was simply superior to his.
"Ah, you got me. This is your victory." Midoriya nodded in acknowledgement, and Tatsuma dropped him to the ground. "Man, you caught me off guard with that super move."
"It's a last resort strategy, not suitable for battles where collateral damage is a consideration." She gestured towards the street, blackened and burnt with trickles of molten asphalt running down its length.
"I see your point." Midoriya muttered. "The basic principles are sound, but due to your size the amount of fire needed to propel you makes it untenable for most situations. But maybe something smaller could be viable? Once you've mastered that fire cloak move, you might be able to expend portions of it as smaller, more controlled fire jets, functioning as sort of maneuvering thrusters to help you with your agility?"
"Hmmm. That's… not a bad idea." Tatsuma nodded. "I've only begun to train that aspect of my Quirk, however. I can barely maintain the fire cloak for a few seconds, it'll be awhile before an advanced application like that is viable."
"It's good to have a goal in mind, though! I think you're right to focus on your fire, since your physical abilities are already top-notch and it's a new frontier to explore. All-Might put it like this: a Level 25 ability can't improve as fast as a Level 1."
Tatsuma gave him an odd look, and Midoriya wondered if he'd said too much, but eventually she shrugged her broad shoulders.
"Can't neglect the basics either. I've been doing more strength training since the Sports Festival." She said, absent-mindedly running a claw over her chest scales. "It's not enough to cover up your weaknesses, you need to be growing too."
"I guess that's fair." Midoriya acknowledged as they began heading back towards the others. The blonde-haired boy from 1-B, Monoma, seemed to be going around with a record sheet trying to persuade people into giving him the results of their matches, though from the looks of things he seemed to be having little success.
"Oh, yeah, don't tell Monoma who won." Tatsuma said. "Sparring with your classmates would defeat the point of this joint training, but making it class versus class might breed resentment, so we decided to ask people not to tally up the results to see which class "won"."
"Is he… always like that?"
"Just when you guys are involved." She shook her head. "He's actually quite nice most of the time, if you can believe."
"I find it a little hard."
"I can understand that." She sighed. "He's basically our Bakugo."
"...Fair enough."
-----
"Hey! You!"
I had just left the front gates of UA, deep in thought, but the shouting accompanied by rapid footsteps shook me out of my reverie and drew my attention. I stopped in my tracks, swiveling my head around at the direction of the voice, hoping that it hadn't been addressed to me.
"You're Ryuuzaki Tatsuma, right?!" So much for that.
The source of the disruption was a young man in his early twenties, with short, messy blue hair and green eyes, breathing heavily and slightly double over from running up to catch me. He had something in a sling under his arm, a large plastic carrying case of some sort. After a few seconds of puffing he managed to get his breathing under control and speak again.
"I need to talk to you."
"Sorry, I'm not taking questions." I said and began to step past him, but he moved in front of me and forced me to stop again lest I crush him.
"I'm not a reporter." He breathed out, speaking rapidly as he stepped closer. "I need your help. I saw your interview last week and I thought-"
"Slow down." I cut him off. "Who even are you?"
"Ah! Sorry! I'm a little all over the place. I am Doctor Katsuro Mizutani." He smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "Here, take this."
He unslung the carrying case and shoved it at me, forcing me to catch it. It clicked open on my palm, and I saw a flash of something metallic emerging from within, crawling onto my forelimb and clamping around it.
"What the-" I began, swinging my arm to shake whatever the hell it was off of me, but it was latched on tight. I was about to smash it against the pavement when Mizutani yelled out in alarm.
"Don't! It's harmless!" He flailed in a panic. "I promise! It's my only copy, please don't destroy it!"
I paused, taking a good look at what exactly it was that he'd attached to my forelimb, and… it was a hand. A robotic one, made of metal and with exposed wiring all over, but recognizably a hand, with clamps around it's base fastening it onto my palm like a gauntlet.
"What the hell is this?"
"This is my patented Synth-Hand. It's a cybernetic designed to interpret and return neural impulses even through the skin, allowing it to work without having to be surgically attached to replace a missing limb. The servomotors give it a range of motion and precision identical to a normal human hand. Try it out!"
Skeptically, I tried to focus on it, and to my surprise the metal arm curled into a fist. What was even more astonishing was that it… felt real. I could feel the metal fingers pressing against each other. I willed it to open, and it did. I wiggled each finger, and they responded without delay.
"Okay, that's pretty amazing, but why did you attach it to my arm?"
"I wanted to show it worked, of course?" He replied, as if it was obvious.
"...And you couldn't have explained what it was and asked for my permission before slapping it onto me?"
"Well, um, now that you put it like that…"
"And I still don't know why you're here? I mean this thing is cool and all, but why did you want to show it to me? I've never seen anything like it before."
"That's because I completed this first prototype two months ago. I've been working on it for years. I'm an inventor, it's my dream to make support items to help people live their lives easier."
"Well, I'd say you've succeeded, I'd buy one of these in a heartbeat. But you still haven't explained what you need me for."
"Well, um, that's the thing I need help with. Making them available for purchase. You see, when it comes to finding investors to get these mass-produced, I've run into certain… complications."
"What kind? Surely this would be an easy pitch to get across."
"Ahaha, as you might tell, I am not very… good at that." He rubbed the back of his head again. "I already botched three attempts. If I fail again…"
"And you think I'd be any better at it?" I questioned incredulously. "I'm not- I'm fifteen years old. You can't seriously expect me to do better."
"You're also internationally famous, right now. I only need you to get my foot into the door, to provide a practical demonstration and talk about your experiences lacking normal hands. I just need them to focus on the product, not me.
"Surely there are other Heroes or famous people who you could turn to? I can't be the only one struggling with inhuman hands."
"Ah, see, the thing is… I already blew almost all of my budget on my previous tries. I can't pay, and with my reputation nobody will do it without an up-front compensation."
"So… you approached a high-schooler in the hopes of getting unpaid labour?" I asked. "Are you serious?"
"Well… you legally can't get paid anyway, so it's no real loss, right?" He laughed nervously.
"We're still forbidden from making sponsorships." I pointed out.
"It's not a sponsorship, you'd just be there to talk about it and why it's a good idea."
"...So a sponsorship."
"Legally, only if you're in the advertising material." He replied, which I couldn't immediately refute. "I can even get you an extra ticket if you want to bring a friend along and enjoy the exhibitions once ours is done."
"Ticket?"
"Oh, right, I didn't mention that yet. The exhibition is held at I-Expo-"
"I-Expo?!" I said, taking a step back.
"Oh, you don't know? It's a-"
"Of course I know what the I-Expo is." I shook my head. "If you are in such dire straits, how did you manage to secure a spot there?"
I-Expo was an annual event every summer where the greatest Quirk scientists in the world gathered to show off their developments. It was held every summer at I-Island, an artificial island in the middle of the Pacific that serves as an ultra-high security research station.
"Ahaha, I had to call in every favour I had left from my Academy days. If this fails it's all over for me. For my inventions. Wouldn't it be great if products like these got out into the market? If people like you could get them and regain a little bit more of a normal life? What do you say?"
"That's…" I trailed off, recalling the humiliation from last week, unable to even fill out a paper form. Having to get special accommodations at school. Only being able to play games with voice controls. Having to abandon my miniature hobby. All of those could be fixed with this. But it wasn't just me either. How many people across the country, across the world, struggled with such issues? It could be a chance to do some real, lasting good.
"Look, I understand where you're coming from." I said, taking a deep breath. "But you also have to understand how this looks. You ambush me after a long day at school, try to wow me with grandeur promises while downplaying the legal concerns and pressuring me to agree. Even if you didn't mean it to come across that way, everything about this indicates you're trying to take advantage of me."
"But-"
"So here's what's going to happen." I told him firmly. "You're going to put together a cohesive, detailed, written plan for what you want, and email it to me. I'm then going to forward it to my sister, my parents, and my teacher. If all of them approve, then I'll consider it."
I've been doing some edits to the first five Chapters. Nothing major, just to hopefully improve things for any future readers.
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- Location
- Leeds
Gotta use your avatar immediately.
He's an OC?
Ohhh. Little embarrassed that I didn't figure it out myself.
- Location
- Elsewhere
Looks legit to me.
"Despite your work, we can't issue you a degree until you fulfill the requirements."
"You! You're all working against me!!! I'll show you, I'll SHOW YOU ALL!!!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Calm down and don't go all 'Mad Scientist' on us. All you need to do is complete the Informed Consent Training Course. It's online and takes a few hours."
"Bah, a genius of my caliber doesn't need to be limited by whatever this 'Informed Consent" nonsense is."
Blackout
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- Who knows?
Mmm, mine has more pikachu face energy than excitement.Gotta use your avatar immediately.
He is.
Ryuko is rich, but not "fund a production line of advanced cybernetic limbs out of pocket" kind of rich.
Regarding the Two Heroes movie
Blackout
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So, as you could probably tell from the ending of Chapter 36, I will be covering the storyline of the Two Heroes movie in Dragonspawn in the near future. Whilst I am excited to get going with it as I think it will make for an interesting Arc that will have several interesting moments and major plot relevance for the story going forward, it does present me with a bit of a conundrum.
So far I've operated on the policy that I should only show scenes that differ from canon, even if it's only by Ryuuzaki's presence. My default assumption with Dragonspawn has been that the reader is familiar with My Hero Academia, and while I am aware there are a number of people reading this story that aren't and I do try to accommodate for them to a degree, certain sections of the story probably do come across as a bit awkward for those people and they may be missing some of the subtext of the scene.
However, with the I-Island Arc I feel like it may be unfair to presume that readers have had the opportunity to see the spin-off movie. So I'm worried that the plot might come across as stilted without the scenes that set it up, but at the same time I'm loathe to transcribe entire scenes wholesale from the movie without alteration. I might be able to work around it if I try really hard, but then I might not be, at least in full.
While I will obviously make the final decision before I begin the Arc proper, I would like to hear your opinions on the matter. Do you think that I should include scenes from the movie that are unchanged from canon and don't even feature Ryuuzaki, just to give additional context for what's happening?
So far I've operated on the policy that I should only show scenes that differ from canon, even if it's only by Ryuuzaki's presence. My default assumption with Dragonspawn has been that the reader is familiar with My Hero Academia, and while I am aware there are a number of people reading this story that aren't and I do try to accommodate for them to a degree, certain sections of the story probably do come across as a bit awkward for those people and they may be missing some of the subtext of the scene.
However, with the I-Island Arc I feel like it may be unfair to presume that readers have had the opportunity to see the spin-off movie. So I'm worried that the plot might come across as stilted without the scenes that set it up, but at the same time I'm loathe to transcribe entire scenes wholesale from the movie without alteration. I might be able to work around it if I try really hard, but then I might not be, at least in full.
While I will obviously make the final decision before I begin the Arc proper, I would like to hear your opinions on the matter. Do you think that I should include scenes from the movie that are unchanged from canon and don't even feature Ryuuzaki, just to give additional context for what's happening?
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ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
Less recreate the scene, more overhear conversations that summarize things. Maybe a news report or a briefing by the school staff. Haven't seen it myself (Hulu?) but it would be weird to see whole scenes without this protag in them unless they were watching live footage and commenting.
- Location
- Leeds
What where you thinking, different perspectives, with her superhearing Ryuuzaki just hears everything plot critical, Ryuuzaki is in the ball room and taken hostage thus missing everything and at the end of the whole thing Midoriya sits down with a confused Ryuuzaki and talks her through what went down
As someone with no familiarity with the source material, I'd vote for keeping the focus on Ryuuzaki - and if there's missing context, finding some way to incorporate that into the scenes we do see (even if it's, say, an after-the-fact mission debriefing, or Ryuuzaki having to track someone down and ask questions about something that didn't make sense to her at the time.)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Personally, my ideal state of Fanfiction is to either ignore the well-worn stations of canon or rewrite them sufficiently to create something new. This is to avoid being the one-millionth Zabuza arc that writers faithfully recreate beat-for-beat and readers have to repeatedly slog through in literally ever fic they pick up, but also to carve out a more unique identity.
But that isn't what this story has been this far, so I would say to include those scenes to give context. Even with this being a fanfic, straight-up removing the context a reader would require to understand what's going on on the assumption that they have already seen it is mistake. However, I am admittedly okay with Ryuuzaki's narration being limited to just herself and having to carry on without that context, having to pick up the pieces herself as she goes along. That is a better reason to leave readers in the dark.
But that isn't what this story has been this far, so I would say to include those scenes to give context. Even with this being a fanfic, straight-up removing the context a reader would require to understand what's going on on the assumption that they have already seen it is mistake. However, I am admittedly okay with Ryuuzaki's narration being limited to just herself and having to carry on without that context, having to pick up the pieces herself as she goes along. That is a better reason to leave readers in the dark.
- Location
- Leeds
I second that. Please skip the Zabuza arc. The less we speak of the Naruto cross over the better.
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What where you thinking, different perspectives, with her superhearing Ryuuzaki just hears everything plot critical, Ryuuzaki is in the ball room and taken hostage thus missing everything and at the end of the whole thing Midoriya sits down with a confused Ryuuzaki and talks her through what went down
Overhearing stuff, learning it after the fact, exposition dialogue, logical inference, that's what I was referring to with "working around it". And obviously there's stuff that doesn't need to be mentioned and can be skipped. Frankly the biggest problem with Two Heroes IMHO was the amount of stuff that was clearly there because of marketing reasons, not because it served the plot.
What I was referring to was information that would be necessary for the understanding of what's happening and why, that I can't at least at this time figure out a way for Ryuuzaki to reasonably learn about without massive contrivance, especially considering the events that will be taking place. This would be done via scenes shown from a different perspective such as what I did in the Internship Arc with Stain and the League to set up events that Ryuuzaki had no way of knowing about. I will probably be doing a few such scenes anyway to show things shifting around as Ryuuzaki influences the plot, the question that I'm asking is that if I can't find a way to show the relevant information via other methods, should I also include such scenes even if they are just directly lifted from canon without alteration?
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Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
Having suffered the same issue in a couple of omake I've penned in the past, my answer is this: Keep the scenes.
The #1priority in any story is readability. Lacking background details or character development is just not acceptable for any reason. There's twists and mysteries, and then there's 'and then this happened just because'. I know you're going to try and make workarounds, I know you're going to try and create interesting new ways to describe the same thing, but when those fail or can't be applied, I would say take the time to give the context.
TimEd
Meteor maker
Definitepy include choice scenes. Would help build the setting of the fic using info from canon.
Also, from what I know of the movie through osmosis, I think there are some scenes where a dragon just wont fit (literally or not), but said scene is still pretty important due to either plot or setting setup.
Also, from what I know of the movie through osmosis, I think there are some scenes where a dragon just wont fit (literally or not), but said scene is still pretty important due to either plot or setting setup.
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
I agree with including choice scenes. People who've seen the movie can skim them, everyone else can get caught up by them. Best to make the story as self-contained as you can.
Because while you are assuming everyone is familiar with the source material, for the most part you don't need to be familiar with the source material to know most of what is going on.
Because while you are assuming everyone is familiar with the source material, for the most part you don't need to be familiar with the source material to know most of what is going on.
KillingYouNicely
I've seen things. They weren't really interesting.
- Location
- Australia
I've never seen the sidestory, myself - I haven't even seen the Vililante series.
I'd prefer to know what's going on, and why, but you write it the way you want to.
I'd prefer to know what's going on, and why, but you write it the way you want to.