If I have to rate the most annoying things that I have to deal with, the media would easily take the top spot. Today is the day when the new Hero rankings are announced. It's not an entirely stupid move, after all with all the chaos that Stain created what better way to pacify the population than to wave a shiny new thing in front of their faces. Of course, that's not considering the fact that I get to officially move up in the world. Before the event started I got a letter from the hero commission saying that I reached number nine in the ranks. A mind boggling progression from what I was just a few months ago. Still, I can't help but feel that this action is meaningless.
It's been a week since Izuku took down Stain. The currents of the underworld are already shifting, I can feel it in my very bones. Dark clouds are gathering and with All For One on the loose who knows what chaos may befell the world. Honestly, it's not even the slight uptick in villain activity that bothers me, no it's the lack of coordinated villain activity that bothers me. So far all the cases that we've linked to the proliferation of Stain's anarchist ideals have been isolated incidents. A few murder psychopaths and a couple of vigilantes, mostly middle school teenagers emboldened by that video that decided to take to the streets and clean up society's scum, most often than not by attacking popular heroes in their area. It wouldn't be so bad, if said kids didn't have so called 'villainous' quirks. Honestly this entire situation is slowly turning into one giant mess just waiting for the spark needed to blow it all to hell and back.
It's grating me that I can do nothing but stand back and watch it all burn. After all, what could I even do? To the public I am the darling child. The one that o so selflessly threw away a lifetime of comfort and security to protect the people.
All it took was one photo leak of me asleep at my desk over a mountain of paperwork with a conveniently placed clock in the background. The photo was also made in such a way that it was of low quality so that no one would question if the event was staged or not.
Gran Torino was right. I can't go one faking this façade of the perfect golden child. I've got too much blood on my hands to be one, but then again I'm not the hero these people deserve, I'm the one they need. Honestly, this entire situation annoys me. The civilians are entirely dependent on the heroes. That is not a healthy way to form a society and honestly if I didn't know better, I'd say that they are trying with all their might to revert to a cast system with heroes at the top, villains and vigilantes at the middle and the civilians at the bottom.
Enough griping, time to get back to work.
All For One is planning something. A few of his old friends that managed to survive his fall relatively intact have all taken a shot vacation, all at the same time and only for a day. This is no way a coincidence
For Izuku school was shit. From the moment he stepped foot in the class everyone surrounded him and began bombarding him with questions.
They were all saying how cool and strong he was that he was able to defeat such a villain by himself.
Izuku knew the answer to that. He didn't take down Stain by himself, not truly. His ideology was still chewing at him from the inside and the heart to heart with his brother didn't help matters. In fact, it made them worse. Honestly, it was so much easier when he was little. Back then the heroes were always the good guys and the villains were the bad guys.
Thankfully, Aizawa entered the class soon enough.
"Good morning class" said their bored teacher
"Good morning Mr. Aizawa" replied the mindless sheep -class, I mean class
"You're all here, I see. I trust that your internships were enlightening" asked Aizawa
A lot of heads nodded, though a few remained still
"Good. Now, as you know the final exams are coming up, so don't slack off. You'll have a practical portion as well as a theoretical one.
Furthermore, those who fail don't get to go to the summer training camp in the woods" said Aizawa
The class erupted in excited cheers that were quickly silenced by Aizawa flashing his quirk given red eyes.
"Now, onto other matters, Midoriya" called out
Aizawa
"Y-Yes, Mr. Aizawa" answered back Izuku
"Due to your stunt with the Hero Killer, the principal has decided that you should take the provisional license exam that is the closest. That means that you are to take the exam the very next day after your final Exam" said Aizawa
Izuku cringed. He was being singled out, again and honestly, he didn't know if this was meant to be a punishment or a reward. Somehow, he could see
Aizawa making it both
"Anyways, that is all for today"
"Help!"
"Get over here, we have to use our quirks together, otherwise we can't stop him!"
"Oh, god he's her-gah!"
Static filled the radio frequencies and the villains were quiet. Their last line of escape was cut off and Rikudou was out on the hunt.
It was at this point that the leader of the band of villains wondered why he even bothered to rob a bank in this city. After all, it was infamous for being the personal stomping ground of the new number 9 pro-hero, Rikudou. Rikudou was a new name in the fight between heroes and villains, but he quickly made his reputation known. There were rumors all thought the underground, rumors of hideouts going dark and being found utterly destroyed, of high level brokers captured and their entire networks and associates being destroyed. In all these events, the ones that reached the public at least, Rikudou was the one credited for the action. He had heard from the elders among the villains, retired folk whose glory days had long since gone, that it was the same when All Might rose to power, only back then there was the so called 'Symbol of Evil' to oppose him. Now, no one stood against Rikudou's relentless onslaught. All in all, it was difficult to see him as the 15 year old kid he was. Heck, even to most civilians, Rikudou was an adult, not a teenager, or so were their opinions of him.
A harsh knock was heard from the door.
The two villains looked at each other and prepared themselves for their last stand.
The door was blasted inward and from the smoke came a length of chain that wrapped up the lead villain. His companion squeaked and he too was struck by a gigantic war fan, knocking him unconscious. From the door, came forth Rikudou looking pissed and half dressed, considering that he was topless.
"You know what I really despise about you, villain?" asked Rikudou as he pulled back on the chain, dragging the terrified man to him
The man shook his head
"It's the fact that you always choose the most god awful hours to pull this kind of shit! Do you have any idea on the amount of paperwork I need to fil out after I catch you mongrels, do you?" yelled Rikudou in the thug's face
The thug was shaking and pissing himself. A normal reaction when faced with a pissed off man who was more than capable of ripping out someone's spine with his bare hand. Seeing what had happened, Rikudou wrinkled his nose and locked his eyes with the thug. The Sharingan spun and all the man's secrets were left bare for him to
see.
Shortly afterwards, the man dropped unconscious and Rikudou scowled. Another low level without any useful information.
Finally, the day of the practical exam arrived and Izuku was exhausted. He'd had to train twice as hard since not only will he be facing off against whatever the teachers decide to throw at them, but he'd also soon be up against some of the most experience hero course students from multiple schools and it seemed like that, like his brother before him he was doing it alone, he was doing this all alone.
"Ok, now that you're all here, let's start this test.
For today you will be paired off against a teacher.
Your goal is to either ensure that one of you escapes through the designated door or you capture a teacher" said Aizawa "Any questions?
No? Good" he said without giving the students any time to ask their questions.
Then came the team assignments and Izuku's heart dropped. Of course, he'd be paired with Kacchan of all people. And that's not all, he was supposed to either evade or capture freaking All Might. The second part wasn't as daunting as it may appear at first sight, after all the teachers were given a mobility handicap and although All Might was a great hero, he wasn't unbeatable.
Madara had proven that last year when he won against All Might all on his lonesome. And there in lied the problem for Izuku.
Even now Katsuki was scowling, more than likely at the perceived slight the teachers had made against him when they dared suggest that he should work with Izuku of all people. It was sad, but Izuku knew that Katsuki had no chance to stand where he stood now. It wasn't a matter of willpower or determination, it was a simple fact that Izuku was better trained and better prepared to face such a situation than Katsuki and he doubted that Katsuki would ever accept a hand offered in help.
So this left him at an impasse. He could go ahead and plan for Katsuki's reckless charge, but he had the feeling that he should at least try to bring him on board before he discarded him altogether.
Unfortunately, Katsuki was gone by the time Izuku made up his mind to speak with him. It was so, that with a long suffering sigh, Izuku retreated to the camera control room to get a sneak peak at the other's battles and maybe plan a contingency or two.
Thank god that he was allowed the full use of his equipment, otherwise he would have really been screwed.
"Team Bakugou and Midorya Vs All Might, start!"
The announcement was followed by a loud horn and the countdown timer beginning to tick down.
Without even waiting a second, Katsuki took off
"Wait! Kacchan, please work with me, we're up against All Might for god's sake. You can't just waltz in and expect to beat him" said Izuku
"Oh Yeah? Well watch me, you damned nerd. I'll win an indisputable victory, here and now and I'll show everyone that I'm the best!" yelled Katsuki, not even breaking his stride
On the inside, Izuku was screaming
"Could you stop, for once in your life from being such a jackass! You can't do this alone, y-" whatever Izuku was going to say was cut off by a backhand from Katsuki.
It didn't knock Izuku down, but it was more than enough to send him a few steps back and make his nose bleed
"Now, you listen here, you damned nerd" began
Katsuki slowly as he looked at Izuku "I've had enough half assessed victories. This is not going to be one of them. I'll get an indisputable win, no matter what"
Izuku didn't reply as he was too busy trying to make sense of what just happened. It was only the pressure wave of air that brought him out of his reverie long enough to bring out a shield so he didn't get blown off. Unfortunately, Katsuki wasn't so lucky and was blown off without much of a problem, though he did manage to land relatively close by.
'Dammit! I ran out of time' thought Izuku
Looking around he could see the devastation that All Might brought.
'This is going to be a pain'
"Kacchan, you ok?" asked Izuku
"Ugh, course I am, you damned nerd, now where's All Might, I'll beat him up good"
"Hah, you think you can defeat me so easily, heroes" came All Might's voice from the smoke
Looking up at his favorite hero, Izuku couldn't help but compare him to his own brother. Was it strange that he found All Might to be lacking the same presence that Madara usually boasted?
Katsuki's mind, though was focused on other matters as he charged straight at All Might, hoping to blind him with a new move called the Stun Grenade. Izuku took this opportunity to unseal the Gunbai he took from his brother's armory and approach All Might stealthily.
All Might took notice of this but was unable to do anything but widen his eyes as he was smacked away by the giant War Fan into one of the nearby buildings. With two signs from his left hand, Izuku slammed his hand on the ground.
"Fuinjutsu Earth Style: Boulder Dome"
Two half boulders rose from either side of the place where All Might fell and smashed together in an attempt to squash All Might. Knowing that this wouldn't hold up for long, Izuku picked up Katsuki by the back of his shirt and pulled him into a back alley, juts in time to escape All Might's sight
"Phew, we're safe now. Can we please talk strategy Kacchan, we can't afford to make too many mistakes, especially not against All Might" said
Izuku
Katsuki didn't answer, and was instead looking down at his hands with a hooded gaze
"Kacchan?" asked Izuku
"I'll beat him. You hear that, you nerd, I'II beat him and while he's occupied with me you run like the little bitch you are" said Katsuki
"Right, like that worked out so well last time you attempted it. Come one, even a child could see that you don't stand a chance in hell of even being a pebble in All Might's path" said Izuku with more than a little bite in his tone
Katsuki flinched and looked up at Izuku with hate.
Izuku didn't care, though.
"Can you lure him out in the open? I should be able to restrain him just enough for us to make our escape" said Izuku
Before Katsuki could reply, Izuku was gone, having flash stepped to a nearby roof to prepare the tags he would need to craft a barrier of sufficient strength to keep All Might inside. Back in the alleyway, Katsuki was seething.
In his mind, even now, Izuku was looking down on him, so he'd show the nerd and bring down All Might by himself.
Getting to his feet, Katsuki went in search of All Might.
From the rooftops, Izuku was following the progress of his so-called teammate. It was obvious that he wouldn't work with him, so that left Izuku with only one other option, to use Katsuki as a stepping stone, no matter how disgraceful it felt.
He was waiting for Katsuki to engage All Might so that his barrier could be set. It was a devious one, this barrier because it prevented the ones trapped inside from using their quirks. Now, this would be a problem for All Might and his secret, but Madara had constructed a seal specially designed for All Might juts for such an occasion.
Looking down, Izuku saw Katsuki firing his gauntlets at All Might. The smoke was enough for Izuku to launch his Kunai with the sealing tags and activate the barrier
Fuinjutsu: Four Wind Prison
From each tag lines of chakra coalesced and formed an even bigger ring around All Might and Katsuki. Without their power, they were easy prey for the chakra chains that bound them and Izuku easily body-flickered out of the arena.
All in all it was a good fight, even if it left a very sour taste in Izuku's mouth.