Kapitel 2265: 7
Chapter Text
"Alright class, listen up!" announced the teacher. "Since you are all third years, it's time for you to seriously think about your future. I'd pass out handouts for your future plans now, but… you're pretty much all planning to go into the hero course, right?"
A cacophony of yells and hollers came from the class, various individuals flaring up with the usage of their quirks. The teacher began to quiet them down.
"Now, now. I must remind you that quirk usage prohibited on school premises. You all—"
"Don't lump us all together as a group!" yelled out Bakugo. "I'm not gonna be stuck at the bottom like all of these rejects!"
The class began to voice their disapproval. Not too far back, Izuku Midoriya's eye slightly twitched in annoyance. How could someone like him be aiming to be a hero?
"Oh, if I remember correctly, you want to go to U.A. High, right, Bakugo?" asked the teacher.
"That's right! I aced the moc—"
"Ah, it says here that so does Midoriya!" interrupted the teacher. Everyone in the class went silent. Then came a small laugh, which erupted into an uproar of incredulity towards Izuku's prospects.
Deep breaths, deep breaths. Keep them at bay.
A slight crackle originated from Bakugo hand.
Izuku sighed. Here we go again. He feigned disinterest, looking out the window.
"You listen here, Deku!" Bakugo said, rising from his seat. "I'm the only one here that's going to get into U.A., you hear!" A growl came from Bakugo. "Hey! Are you listening to me?!"
Bakugo moved, aiming to ignite an explosion atop Izuku's desk. Izuku, eyes widening as his insects followed Bakugo's movements, jumped from the desk to evade the attack. With the brunt of the force having lost its target, it was redirected towards the desk, causing it to collapse in two. Izuku let out a small smirk. Unfortunately, Bakugo saw the expression.
"Well, looky here," Bakugo scoffed. "Think you're so special, huh? Dodging that?" Izuku's smirk faded away. He remained standing, but pressed against the back wall of the classroom. Bakugo continued with his speech. "Well guess what! You're below the rejects! You're quirkless!!"
But only because I haven't shown you. A part of his consciousness went to reach for his bugs, but he immediately went to shut that down. He took another deep breath. In, and out. Izuku stayed leaning against the wall, eyes closed and controlling his breathing.
"What? Not gonna say anything, Deku?"
Izuku's bugs took a look out in front of him. Bakugo had that manic glee in his eyes, the eyes that shone in apparent victory, the feeling of superiority over the inferior. The sight bubbled and seethed in Izuku's mind, but he remembered to keep his control on a lease. His instead responded back with a verbal retort, rather than a physical one.
"I don't need to say anything to you."
The rage was apparent on Bakugo's face."What was that?!?" A larger explosion racked in Bakugo's hand. "You—"
"Bakugo! Midoriya! Stop your fighting! I don't want to have to send you both to the principal again! And I highly doubt the classroom can handle any more damage from your antics!"
Bakugo growled, but went back to his seat. Izuku went to do the same, but stopped himself. With his desk having been destroyed by the initial explosion, her had nowhere to sit. Sighing again, he went to retrieve his belongings and sat back against the wall. The teacher showed no sign of concern or notice.
The rest of the class went on, with Bakugo silently fuming from earlier, and Izuku again observing his surroundings with his bugs, his focus completely away from the teacher's lecture. It wasn't as if he would ever be called upon, after all.
Soon enough, the bell rang and the school day had reached its end. As per usual, Izukku waited for most of the class to leave. However, as he predicted, Bakugo and his cronies stayed behind. It wasn't like Bakugo to leave such a threat to his ego unpunished, after all.
He began to pack his belongings as the trio began their approach. However, the unexpected happened as Bakugo snatched up his notebook. He hadn't done that before, and Izuku hadn't anticipated the move. He just hadn't listened to what his bugs had seen in time.
"We're not done talking yet, Deku," Bakugo said, standing menacingly in front of Izuku. He set his eyes on Izuku, then turned his attention to the notebook. "'Hero Analysis for the Future?'" he read aloud. The other two behind him began racking up, spouting out remarks denouncing Izuku.
"Give it back," Izuku said.
Bakugo simply scoffed, charring the notebook with a light explosion. Izuku mentally cringed. However, as Bakugo went to throw the book out the window, Izuku sent a few fliers after it, catching it just before it touched the water below.
"Listen here, Deku! I'm the only one from this dump that's going to get out of here and get into U.A. So you better get off your high horse and think realistically. I don't care what Horns or No Face are telling you! You're nothing!"
The trio began to walk off, but not before Bakugo left with the last word. "Heck, who knows? Perhaps you'll get a quirk in your next life. Just take a swan dive off the roof, will ya?"
Izuku remained standing there, musing over Bakugo's words. Imagine if I did? I could screw over him right then and there. He'd never get into U.A. then. But I wouldn't.
"Of course. Not with me here."
With Bakugo and his cronies having left the school - Izuku checked with his bugs - he began to walk outside. He passed by the window of his classroom, where he found his notebook being held up by flies and dragonflies. Retrieving it, he began to walk home.
He eventually thought about his friends. It was a shame that they lived in different neighborhoods, since he didn't have much time to hang out with them. It didn't help that schoolwork got in the way, limiting get togethers to mostly the weekends.
As he approached an overpass, he again began to think over his school situation. His thoughts drifted over to Bakugo again. If only there was a way to—
He turned, his bugs having noticed an inkling of sludge moving unnaturally from a manhole cover.
The sludge sped up from its original, crawling pace. It formed roughly into a humanoid shape in seconds, then promptly dashed towards Izuku, encapsulating him in sludge.
"Wow," said the sludge, "you noticed me pretty quickly there. I had to speed up my formation. Some sort of sensory quirk, maybe? I could use that, actually have a way to avoid him."
Izuku began to panic. There was no doubt that he was being attacked by a villain. Horror and fear was forming over realization of what was happening, that he was suffocating, was about to di—
He reached out to his bugs, subduing his emotions. He began to formulate a plan. His skittering bug clone began to form, gathering insects from the surrounding area. The buzzing demonstrated their agitation, a loud, unbearable jarring of sounds filling the air.
"Let me go."
The sludge villain blinked in stupefaction. "Oh shit, that's you." He looked at the chittering mass of bugs, the creatures piling over one another, rapidly falling apart and rebuilding at the same.
"I'm gonna be honest with you kid, that is a whole lot levels creepy, many times overboard more than me. And look at me, I'm an amorphous killer slime."
He's not scared?
"But who am I kidding? It's just bugs. What are they gonna do to me, huh? Nice try, but I'm sorta of in a hurry so…"
He was right, of course. Upon contact the bugs either died or were sucked into the villain's body. It did little but further annoy the villain. The tightening of the sludge quickened, squeezing and suffocating Izuku even further. "Don't worry little invisibility cloak, we're almost there."
Izuku didn't know what else to do. He couldn't quite beat up something he couldn't harm, right? He scoured his mind, trying to come up with something to counteract the villain's quirk. There had to be some sort of weakness. He looked again at the villain with his bugs, scanning its form top to bottom. Then a lightbulb formed. Another plan began to carry out.
He knew the route they were on, knew which bugs carried their way through the area. He reached out, calling upon one of the hives he'd been cultivating during his walks to and from school. It was one of the things ge often refrained from using, bit he had little choice now. Then, a new buzzing filled the air.
A swarm of hornets - the native japanese kind - came upon the villain. The slime yelped a little as he saw them arriving.
Don't blame him. These hornets are pretty terrifying, after all.
"Let go, or else," demanded his swarm, along with the newcomer hornets.
The sludge rolled his eyes. "Look kid, I already said befor—"
I'm running out of air. Can't breathe, can't brea—
The hornets acted, swarming the sludge villain. But rather than just aimlessly attack, they had one goal in mind. They congregated towards the villain's eyes, each taking turns injecting their stingers into the soft tissue. The villain screeched in agony, releasing Izuku and flailing around the overpass.
Izuku gasped for breath, coughing up excess sludge and barely being able to stand. The black spots in his vision were still there, and his thoughts remained fuzzy. He dispersed his bugs, gaining a little more focus with his own eyes.
A clattering of metal came soon after, an easily recognizable voice following the charge. "It's alright now, youn— huh?"
Izuku looked right over, recognizing his childhood hero. Izuku stood and remained there staring, slack jawed.
All Might surveyed the scene, finding the sludge he'd been chasing earlier mostly subdued. Various chunks of him lying about, leaving only a small portion that was about the size of the villain's face squirming to and fro.
He then looked at the boy he had heard struggling earlier, finding him relatively unharmed and standing in what he presumed was awe.
Izulu ran forward, joyfully bouncing up and down in front of his idol. "A- A- All Might! Sir! It- It's really you!!"
"Indeed young man!" responded All Might, who began looking around. He eventually resounded an, "Aha!" and headed over to pick up some discarded soda bottles. "I must say, I'm quite impressed with you! Being able to take down such a tricky villain by yourself? And at such a young age? Amazing!" he laughed.
All Might began to scoop up the villain into the soda bottles. "How did you do it anyway? Super Strength? Aerokinesis?" All Might gathered the last of the villain, closing the caps tightly.
Izuku immediately responded. "It was nothing really, just bu—"
A rough cough interrupted Izuku. He looked over to All Might, who had been looking at Izuku's notebook.
"My notebook!" Izuku said.
All Might smirked. "It's rather extensive, young man. I'm impressed yet again." All Might handed the notebook to Izuku.
He opened it up, and found a page with All Might's signature. He already signed it!
"But alas, I must go. Villainy doesn't fight itself, after all!"
Izuku froze, staring at the retreating figure of the hero. He still had questions he hadn't asked, things that only All Might would know.
"All Might—"
"I'm sorry lad, but I really have to go!" All Might said, stretching. He turned one last time to the boy, uttering, "Stay safe!" And with that, All Might jumped into the air. However, he wasn't fast enough to lose the rather energetic boy now attached to his leg.
Izuku mentally screamed. Oh shoot, oh shoot! This was a bad idea!
"I thought you were over trying to kill yourself?"
Izuku was clutching into All Might's leg for his dear life, trying to resist the hero's efforts to dislodge him.
"Oi oi oi, there's such a thing as being too much of a fanboy, you know!" All Might yelled. "You should learn to keep your distance!" he said, trying to get rid of the green headed boy.
"If I let go now I'll die!" Izuku yelled back in kind.
All Might stopped, considering the boy's words. "Opps," he gave a nervous laugh. "Good point. Just hold on tight then. We'll be down in just a minute." The hero and the boy soared through the air, eventually landing on the roof of a building.
All Might let Izuku down, and immediately began to head towards the railing. "Look kid, I've really got to go."
"But All Might!"
"No buts! I really—" All Might began to cough profusely, interrupting his speech. It wasn't long before steam began to seep from his form, eventually resulting in the complete transformation from the Symbol of Peace to an unknown nobody. "Ah shoot," stretched out the transformed All Might.
Izuku blinked in surprise. "All… Might?" The figure standing before him was without a doubt his idol. The few bugs he had kept on the hero were still where he left them, completely untouched.
"Yeah… sorry you had to see me like this, kid." All Might said dejectedly.
"What… what happened?" Izuku asked.
All Might gave off a small laugh. "It was a while back ago. Five years, actually, when I got this injury in a fight," he said, lifting up his shirt to reveal said injury.
Izuku grimaced in seeing it. "Five years ago… was that the fight with Toxic Chainsaw?"
"I'm impressed yet again. You've done your research!" All Might sighed. "My quirk — One for All — has a time limit on it now. At most, I can go heroing for three hours a day."
All Might sighed again. "Look kid, I can't have this being found out. The Symbol of Peace must remain a beacon of hope for all."
Izuku nodded profusely. "Of course, All Might! My lips are sealed!"
"Good! I trust you, you seem like a good kid," All Might sighed again. "Well, I might as well be going," he said, heading for the door.
"Wait!" Izuku yelled. "I still have some questions… If you don't mind," Izuku added quietly.
All Might turned back towards Izuku, mind in decision. After a few moments, he responded. "Ah, might as well. You've already seen me. So, uh… Um… I never got your name, young man."
"Oh! It's uh, Izuku. Izuku Midoriya."
"Well, all right, Midoriya. What is it that you have to ask of me?"
Izuku looked down at his feet in hesitation. Now that he actually had the chance to ask All Might, he was kind of nervous.
"Hey kid," pitched in All Might. "It's all right. Anything you've got to ask, just go ahead!"
"It's… it's about my quirk. I— I'm not sure what to do about it."
"You mean the thing that got you out of that mess of sludge? Surely a quirk like that had to be super strong to take down that villain. It would make the top ranks! What's got you so worried?"
Izuku gulped. "It's… not like you imagine. My— my quirk… I can control... bugs."
All Might sweatdropped. "Bugs?"
"Yeah, bugs. I can control them, very fine control too," Izuku demonstrated, forming a bunch of nearby bugs into a floating 'HELLO!'
"Oh, wow. That's mighty impressive. But, I still don't see what's wrong?"
"That's the problem." Izuku said. "Hypothetically, imagine that there was a villain with an emitter quirk that focused around their eyes."
All Might nodded.
"If I really wanted to, I could neutralize them completely by placing maggots in their eyes."
All Might blinked. "Uh…"
"Or someone whose quirk emitted from their hands. I could rot the tissue with spider venom and render the hands useless."
" Definitely not going off in a grudge there."
"Or with—"
"Okay, okay, okay, stop. You're looking at this the wrong way."
Izuku rose his eyes in surprise. "I am?"
All Might nodded. "Yup. You can find different uses from your quirk, from the sound of it.
You could just, uh, blind villains with your swarm. Or wrap their hands in… uh… spider silk or something," All Might said, rubbing his hands at the back of his head.
Izuku's eyes widened in realization. "You're right! Why haven'tI thought of that before?!?"
"Damn."
"Personally," interjected All Might, "I believe it was a sense of focusing on the negatives. Bugs are viewed as scary by many, after all. Especially so to young children such as yourself. Maybe you had a scare when you were young? Something that involved insects?"
Izuku thought back. "I don't… think so. Maybe"
"Any way, young Midoriya!" All Might yelled, switching back into his muscled form. "Your quirk is very versatile. In fact, I can almost guarantee that you'd become a pro as long as you groom it right. Just remember, don't let your quirk define yourself. Let you define your quirk."
Izuku smiled brightly from the praise of his idol.
"Now, if you don't mind, I can't stretch my time in this form much longer. I really need to get this guy—" All Might stopped, patting his now empty pockets.
"Oh shoot! I must've—"
"Oh, right!" Izuku interjected. "The bottles! I almost forgot." Izuku ordered his bugs to move, a hidden mass at the corner of the roof coming forward with two sludge-filled soda bottles. All Might went to grab them, securing them in his pockets.
"I noticed them falling when we were in the air. My grip sort of slipped them out from your pockets. Sorry," Izuku admitted, rubbing his head.
"My gosh, young Midoriya! You almost gave me a heart attack! But I've got to say, nice job!" All Might said with a thumbs up.
Izuku jumped. "Bu—but, it was my fault the villain almost got lose!"
All Might laughed. "Nonsense! I should've been paying attention to this fellow. Your quick actions prove that you're hero material already, even!"
"Thank you, All Might!"
"Of course! "I'll be seeing ya!" With that, the Symbol of Peace jumped away, a bewildered Izuku watching from the rooftop.
"Dr. Nakai, sir." The doctor looked over at the nurse that had gotten his attention.
"Yes, Kanako?" he asked.
"It's about the… uh, patient that we got an hour ago," the nurse explained in a reserved manner.
The doctor rose an eyebrow. "The one that the media has deemed the 'Sludge Villain?'"
"Yes sir," she replied, nodding animatedly.
"He just came here for the routine checkup before they were going to process him, no? Did something go wrong? I thought they had heroes watching him."
"That's not it, sir. The check-up picked up on something rather, well…"
"Yes?"
"He's mostly made of sludge, given he's a mutation quirk. His eyes are the only thing that are still made of tissue. And, well, it's his eyes. They've… They're damaged. Irreparably so."
"What'd you mean?"
The nurse took out a file folder. "Here, sir. We took some pictures for record."
Nakai grabbed the folder, opening it and recoiling at what he saw. "By god! What happened?"
The nurse grimaced. "There are signs of them being stung - hundreds of times. We believe that they were from hornets, given the potency and damage. Fortunately for him, his physiology made it so there was no danger of death. Even so, a normal man would have died with the amount of venom in his system.
"...Who took him out?"
"It was All Might."
"Oh. Well, it definitely wasn't his fault." The doctor rubbed his chin in thought. "Maybe it was something in transit? Or something before All Might came along?"
"What do you think, Doctor?"
"I don't know. And I'd rather not bother All Might if we don't have to. What's done is done. We'll just mark it down in the records, leave it be unless someone questions it. Our job's done then. He's a villain, after all. Not like anyone would really care.
"Of course, Dr. Nakai. As you say so."
Notes:
And there we are folks, caught up to canon! We won't exactly be getting right into the U.A. stuff, though. There's still a whole ten months before the Entrance Exam after all! We just have a little bit to get out of the way.
Anyway, 'till next time! Ta-ta!
P.S. - Remember all, I've taken elements from Wildbow's Worm! Go and check that out if you haven't already! It's great!
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
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Stein