"So, how has the UA experience been for you so far?" Yagi asked over his shoulder while dropping a can into his growing trash bag. He turned to see Izuku dragging a small stack of tires that were attached to the rope that was gripped tightly in the boy's hands.
"It was strange at first. More for me rather than the school itself. It's just that I've been working towards getting into UA for most of my life, and now that I'm actually here… It feels good." Izuku gave his best explanation of his short amount of time being a student at the #1 hero school of Japan. It was many things, but most of all, it was exhilarating.
Izuku plopped the large tires into the back of Yagi's truck one by one as the man dumped the contents of his bag on the other side of the trunk.
"And I'm sure that it'll just keep getting better. After all, you have the next few years to be taught by the well-trained heroes that the school has hired." Yagi replied; fully knowing of who is working there and that the students have yet to have Hero Basic Training.
The blond was honestly looking forward to seeing the reactions of the classes he'll be teaching.
"Yeah, most of them are pretty cool. It's understandable why Principle Nezu would want them as staff." Izuku said back as the pair headed back down to collect more trash. Meanwhile, Yagi was confused at the specific answer.
"What do you mean 'most'?" At the adult's question, Izuku set down the wobbly shelf and gained a strange look.
"I'm not sure what to think of my homeroom teacher. I don't recognize him, and it especially doesn't help that he looks like he's been living underneath a bridge for the past 20 years." Each interaction between himself and the hobo-looking man flashed through Izuku's memory. All of which were odd and random.
Izuku wasn't able to think about it for long before his attention was caught by the sound of strained laughter.
Looking over, he saw Yagi with the back of his hand covering his mouth and an immensely humored expression forcing itself across his facial features. Sure enough, Yagi was trying his hardest to not burst out laughing.
But… why?
"Aaaare you okay?" The greenette was concerned, but also not sure whether he should just let the man be. Izuku wasn't really certain about what he said that could have brought this kind of reaction, but who was he to judge?
It would seem that his question was the breaking point for the man as he fell into a howling laughter. The quite beach was filled only with Yagi's amusement as Izuku looked on; wondering if he missed something.
Then, the scene took a sudden turn.
Izuku nearly felt his soul jump in his body as he heard the laughs turn into wet coughs out of nowhere. Focusing on Yagi's face, Izuku quite clearly saw the blood spilling from the man's mouth. The dirty smell of the air was mixed with the irony crimson substance as it spilt down his chin and onto the sand below; dotting the ground with red splotches.
If Izuku wasn't so shocked from what he was witnessing, he would have noticed his left arm suddenly undergo a spaz.
"Yagi!" The boy was on the man just as fast as the grimacing sounds of his coughs reached his ears. Izuku had no idea what the first order of business about treating someone with the abrupt session of coughing up blood. His first thought was to whip out his phone and call the ambulance. "Hold on! I'll call for help!" His black eyes were wide with worry and focus as he started to dial the number on his device while holding the man reassuringly on his shoulder.
Or at least he would have if another hand hadn't grabbed onto his wrist. It wasn't forceful nor did it hurt, but just enough to get his attention. Sparing a glance away from his phone and to the man, he saw that Yagi was smiling... Why was he smiling!?
"Midoriya, there is no need for you to do that. I'm fine." The blonde's words were calm and relaxed which was the complete opposite of what Izuku was as he stared with disbelief into Yagi's blue eyes. "I apologize if I had worried you over nothing. It was not my intentions." Yagi said sheepishly with an apologetic smile.
"You're fine? What the hell is this then? Did you stomach not agree with the full can of tomato sauce you chugged, or what?" Despite no longer calling for help, Izuku was still freaking out about what he just witnessed.
"Haha. No. It is rather that it is the absence of a stomach that has put me in this condition." The blonde's answer was hesitant and a bad attempt of a joke. Yagi subconsciously placed a gentle hand over the left side of his body; his fingers tracing over the old scar that still throbbed with pain.
Meanwhile, Izuku was still trying to process that words that just registered in his brain. When it finally did…
"How does that make it any better!?" Izuku actually shouted slightly with that question as he flung up his arms to accentuate his confused state. "You're missing an entire organ that any functional human being shouldn't be missing." Izuku stated half to himself as he took a step back to look over the man more clearly.
Yagi's meek and frail body should have been a dead giveaway for something that was physically unhealthy. The way he always seemed to be hunched over; as if he was trying to protect himself. For why someone could be so close to the brink of malnutrition without being a Cibophobic (fear of food).
"I'm afraid it doesn't. But just know that this is nothing new, and that I know how to cope with it." Yagi pulled out a wrinkled tissue from his pocket that he used to wipe away the crimson stains around his mouth.
"I don't know if that's the best definition of 'coping with it', but if you really say so." Izuku didn't want to shrug it off. The amount of blood Yagi just upchucked was unsettling, and very well kept the boy concerned. Guess he'll just have to keep a close eye on the man.
Yagi gave another apologetic smile; one that was more light spirited before carefully folding the tissue and placing it back in his pocket.
"Like I said, there is no need to worry. I figured you would have seen me do that at some point, but I didn't want to scare you. Just like I did now." Izuku gave a hum of acknowledgement; although it was reluctant. "Well, no point in dragging this on any further. We should get back to work. There's still plenty of sun today."
"Mmm. Yeah, but I have to leave a bit earlier now that I'm in UA. The school is further than my house and I have an actual curfew that comes with." Izuku responded; slowly pulling himself away from the concerns in his mind.
"That's quite alright, young man. We don't have a deadline or such. Just as long as it gets done." Yagi brought up a confident thumbs up to lighten the mood.
Izuku returned it with a small smile before bringing his attention back to the shelf he had abandoned. He also couldn't help but notice that Yagi's thumbs up looked funnily enough to the same thumbs up All Might gave him in the tunnel.
..............................…
*knock knock knock*
"Come in."
The command was followed by the door that was knocked on to be opened from the outside. The one who arrived simply walked in and closed the door behind them with a satisfying click to compliment the pristine looking woodwork.
They then walked to the center of the room; stopping just before reaching the desk. Instead of sitting in the variety of chairs of seats provided, the person resorted to standing with his hands dug into his pockets.
"Seeing that you are here, I assume that you have learned something." Asked the one who sat comfortably behind the large desk.
"Not much, but yes." The second individual replied.
"Then please, Mr. Aizawa, I'm all ears." A cheery tone laced the response of the small white-furred creature. Despite showing their usual personality in front of the hero, they were actually very intrigued, yet troubled at the same time.
"Of course, Nezu. I'm sure you saw my specialized report on him." Aizawa said dryly. To relay the information in text isn't much easier than in person, but either way, the hero was able to pull through.
"Indeed, I did. And I must say: not even I could have predicted that reaction. We truly have a unique student this year, wouldn't you say?" Nezu let his mind trail over the worded message that relayed the quirk assessment test. By the minute, the principle was growing ever more obsessed with the quirk of this un-seemingly dangerous boy.
"Hmp. I would just say that we kick him out, but you're not gonna let that happen at this point, you are?" As he's said before, Aizawa was more bent on ridding of this predicament rather than playing with it, unlike his superior.
Speaking of, the little white creature simply beamed his already present smile and clapped his paws together in an innocent fashion.
"My, my. You know me better than I thought. Yes, I know of the possible risks that come along with this kind of ungiven knowledge, but that is exactly why we must keep him here. If we were to let someone like that out of our sights, who knows what could happen? I wouldn't be surprised that if something already has." Relating the subject that they were talking about, Nezu was making this entire thing sound more like a game rather than a hazard. It honestly made it hard for the teacher to stand the principle at times.
"What do you mean 'something has already happened'?" Aizawa questioned; the knew thought coming to mind that didn't sit well.
"Well, just think about it. There are countless quirks out in the world that all have special traits, aspects, and even drawbacks. What's to keep these three things from coming together in such a way that it creates something truly magnificent?" It was noticed that Nezu's voice went low at the last part. It was a foreboding sight for the hero to see the animal with his eyes closed, and the only hint of his internal scheme to be visible in the wicked smile stretching across his snout.
"You have a weird definition of 'magnificent'. I'm not sure what's going through that head of yours, but what I need to know is if the rest of my class is in actual danger for as long as Midoriya stays here. What happened when I erased his quirk wasn't natural. If he is indeed a threat to the lives of my class, then I will not hesitate to expel him; no matter what your word is." Aizawa stated it; plain and simple. He's seen the dark side of people and what they could do with their quirks. While he hasn't seen any red flags from Midoriya himself, the dark presence he gives is enough to make the hero uneasy.
Nezu didn't respond for quite some time. The smile he showed shank into a thin line that was hidden from him lowering his head. The white-furred creature whose eyes were brimming with curiosity and maybe a little insanity turned eerily calm. A strange silence fell upon the two who said and did nothing to break it.
Until finally, Nezu looked back up to meet the eyes of the tired man.
"I cannot tell you for sure how good it can be until we further observe him. For all we know, it can be nothing but a simple mental retaliation that came when his body realized that it under attack by you trying to erase Midoriya's quirk." Nezu spoke softly. His voice was level as it reached into the feeding ears of Aizawa. Then, the principle hopped down from his seat before walking slowly to the window on the far side of the room. The silence welcomed itself back into the room as he looked out the transparent sheet for some time. "But for how bad it can be? I just hope that we can help young Midoriya before that happens."
Aizawa widened his eyes at that answer before narrowing them back down. It wasn't the answer he wanted, but it was better than nothing.
No use in trying to pry Nezu for what he wasn't telling him.
Rather than announcing his leave, Aizawa turned towards the door and left.
..............................…
"Oh man. I can't wait until tomorrow." The hardly restrained excitement in Kirishima's voice caught the attention of a few others around him.
"Huh? I mean, I know it's UA and all, but why are you excited for high school classes?" Kaminari asked as he had no idea of the redhead's plans. A few others, however, knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Because tomorrow is the first day of our Hero Basic Training. How are you not excited?" Sato exclaimed from his position of leaning over the couch where the first two boys sat. The number of students who also didn't know of what was to come in the following day or that have forgotten all felt that same eagerness for tomorrow's events.
"Oh! Holy crap! I completely forgot! It was like the biggest reason I wanted to go to UA so badly." Kaminari perked up from having his previous question answered. "I heard that they have a super epic kind of place they made themselves where we can do all sorts of hero stuff."
"Kaminari, I highly urge you to pay attention to the schedule that was handed to us." Iida scorned the electric blond from the dining room table where he was tending to his studies. "Also, I don't find your reasoning very dependable. All, if not most, hero schools have the necessary resources to teach their students such as ourselves."
"Yeah, but UA does it better. That's why it's #1, am I right?" Kaminari quickly shot back while turning towards the small group that has listened on the conversation. His question was answered by a number of agreements and equally excited shouts.
While Izuku wasn't one of the students to applause, he couldn't deny that he also supported that statement. It was the reason why he was here and not at Shiketsu or at any of the other hero schools of Japan. He bet himself on UA, and he'll go with it until the end.
But for now, he'll continue to work on his notebook. Izuku, along with most of 1-A, were in the commons room. The greenette was sitting on one of the couches this time with his back leaning against the arm of the furniture. He had his notebook in hand as well as his own comfy little spot where he could work and listen to the room around him.
For the most part, he was just keeping to himself while occasionally picking up on some of the talk from his classmates.
That was until someone decided to talk to him out of all people.
"Watcha doin~" Izuku saw the shadow come over his lap before he heard the curious voice from above him. Looking up, he found Mina leaning over the couch with the friendly smile that never seemed to go away for long.
"Um… writing." Izuku gestured to the notebook and pencil he had in his hands by holding them up briefly before putting them back down into his lap. Sure, it sounded boring, but it wasn't like he could answer with 'sitting'.
"Oh yeah? What about?" Mina questioned again with curiosity being the main feature in her expression.
"Nothing amazing. Just some notes." It was true. Izuku had been writing down some of the ideas and explanations that Aizawa had said. While he thought the apparent hero was still odd, he understood what he had said. It was perfect material that he could use.
"Notes? But we're not in class." Confusion was the next readable emotion on the pink girl's face.
"Mm. It's just some things that I wanted to write down about what our teacher said; about the whole society and their standards on quirks. I thought it would be good to write them down." With his explanation finished, Izuku ended the last sentence of his writing before Mina had showed up.
Speaking of, when Izuku looked back up to said person, he saw that she had an amused expression.
"You take notes on that kind of stuff? A little odd, but okay." Mina lightly joked over the matter as she shrugged her shoulders; figuring that Izuku would have a similar reaction. She's always been one of the most socially adapted of her friends, so it was easy to see the hint of defensiveness come over the greenette's face. Luckily, the pinkette was quick to recover. "I mean, it's super cool that you take this seriously. A good hero is always the ones who have the head screwed on right, you know what I'm saying?" Mina mentally sighed with relief at seeing her coverup return Izuku's relaxed state.
"I suppose." It sounded more like a question than an answer, but it was good enough to Izuku.
"Alrighty then. What do ya say that we both do our best in the hero class tomorrow, black eye buddy?" Mina pumped up a fist along with a determined smile. Izuku couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the girl's random energy.
Although, in the end, he couldn't bring himself to turn her away.
"Well, that was the plan. But sure, I guess." The boy didn't out too much effort into returning the girl's liveliness, but it would seem he didn't need to. Mina somehow got even more excited as she looked like she was about to start bouncing all over the place.
"Alright! I wish you luck." The pinkette gave an exaggerative wave before walking off to presumably return to her group of friends.
Izuku on the other hand blinked at the interaction. He would surely have to get used to these positive surroundings and keeping up with the conversations with the much more high-spirited students around him.
But so far, things were going smoothly.
Let's just see how the battle exercise goes.
..............................…
"I AM HERE!" Everyone in the class all silenced at once as they instantly recognized the inspiring voice. Looking to the door of their classroom, they saw the man himself. "COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A HERO!"
All Might struck a dramatic pose with him leaning inside the class while pulling off his signature smile. It was without holding back any further that the class all peaked with amazement at seeing the very Symbol of Peace being in the same room as them.
Even Izuku himself couldn't help the barely noticeable curl on the edge of his lips. The difference in his excitement was that it was not all his own. In the moment that All Might had introduced himself, Izuku felt nearly his entire body tense against the sudden strain of his bones. It was beginning to become an old and repetitive process that he just ignored it this time.
However, his short struggle had led him to missing the first part of the hero's explanation.
"-NOW, LET'S GET TO IT. IN TODAY'S LESSON- "Along with every other dramatic movement, All Might whipped out a single card from his pocket and flashed it for the class to see. "WE WON'T BE PULLING PUNCHES!" The card read 'Battle Training'.
"Finally, some fight training!" Bakugo basically oozed with the anticipation to punch or blow something up; Izuku could tell that much from where he sat behind the blond. It just so happened to be the greenette's luck that his lateness on the first day had placed him in the only seat left.
"JUST KNOW THAT ONE OF THE BEST FEATURES OF BEING A HERO IS- "All Might spun around to the right side of the room where he pointed to an empty wall. "LOOKIN GOOD" Suddenly, the very wall itself dislodged where multiple electronic shelves revealed themselves. Each held what looked to be a suitcase of some kind; each fashioning their own unique number of 1 through 20.
Wait… were those?
"Hero costumes!" Nearly the entire class all erupted in a collective cheer.
Izuku felt his body jerk once more but kept it from being seen by his classmates.
..............................…
All Might stood before a dark tunnel.
His pose was just as strong as he was eager to see the ones to reveal themselves.
After another few minutes, the hero caught the movement of color being illuminated by the small amount of light that stretched into the dark. Shapes began to make identifiable figures that he could tell who they were. One by one, class 1-A emerged from the tunnel; all wearing specialized clothes or armor that suited their style, quirk, and taste in design.
By the second, All Might could feel himself getting pumped up for the oncoming exercise.
"IT IS SAID THAT THE CLOTHES MAKE THE PROS. JUST FROM LOOKING AT ALL OF YOU, I KNOW THAT STATEMENT TO BE FACT. AND YOU MUST KNOW THAT FROM HERE ON OUT, YOU ARE ALL HEROES IN TRAINING!" Every one of the students stood tall. Simply living in this moment was filling them with a powerful drive that they couldn't ignore, but in fact, embraced it. "NOW, WHAT DO YOU SAY, YOU BUNCH OF NEWBIES? LET'S GET THIS STARTED!"
..............................…
A singular pair of footsteps could be heard coming from the tunnel. It was the last to arrive as the rest of the 19 students were already preparing for the battle exercise. However, unlike his classmate's footsteps of tough shoes or hard boots, Izuku's steps were soft and light. He could feel the air around him moving around his body as it brought a sensation of freedom.
Izuku's costume wasn't like the others, he could already tell that much. However, it was what worked for him. So, he wore it with the pride he had.
"Whoa, Midoriya!" Uraraka was the very first to address the newest arrival. As soon as she did, the brunette couldn't stop the extra blush overcoming her already permanent one.
Izuku was wearing only two pieces of equipment. One of which were a black pair of shorts that barely even reached halfway down his thighs. The sides of it were fashioned with large white stripes that also jutted inwards and downwards to form two large points. Strapped securely around his waist was a thin metal belt of dark green. Along the front of it was a singular dark brown pouch that matched the few that were also on the back. The same pouch could be found on the strap that was around Izuku's right leg.
As for the second piece, it was a very revealing tank top that was just as black as his shorts. Coming in from that sides were a set of four white points that curved in to look like a ribcage. The shirt was short enough to easily show the last two pairs of abs that Uraraka has found out to be a chiseled six-pack.
Along each edge, except for around his neck, was more of those dark green metal straps going across his stomach and around his shoulders.
Overall, it actually looked intimidating to anyone who looked upon it rather than the muscular teen who wore it.
"Th-that's um. That's a really c-cool costume you ha-have." Uraraka hoped that by having her head tilted down enough that Izuku wouldn't be able to see how flushed she was. It was then that she was grateful for her own costume simply being a bit more skintight rather than showing most of her body.
"Thanks. Yours it nice too. I see that you're going along with the space theme." Izuku gestures to the astronaut-like helmet and visor she wore to which Uraraka hummed in agreement; her previous blush fading away and going undetected by the greenette. "I'm not too picky when it comes to design, so it really just came down to how well it was compatible with my quirk."
"If your quirks makes it so that you are highly unprotected, then surely you could contact the designing industry to help you fix you problem." Both teens turned to face a full set of armor. Based on the voice and dialect, it was easy to assume that Iida was underneath it all. "You could get seriously injured with such minimal clothing to protect yourself. Such exposing attire could easily lead to a villain attacking a weak spot." When the armored teen finished, Izuku glanced back to the brunette who just shrugged her shoulders before looking back at the other male.
"That's… kinda the point, Iida." There confused looks were to be expected from Izuku's answer, so he just sighed to himself as he knew that he would have to explain. "In case you hadn't already figured it out, my quirk has a sort of instantaneous regeneration. You saw how I was reforming all my flesh after using my quirk, right?" His question was answered by a pair of nods. "Well, I can do that for injuries. No point in wearing anything protective if I don't need to be protected. Plus, it's also so that my clothes don't get in the way of my transformations." It took a long enough explanation, but the two finally seemed to understand why he was trying to say.
"NOW NOW, YOUNG ONES. THE TIME FOR ADMIRING YOUR FELLOW HEROES CAN WAIT." The class was drawn to the voice of All Might who was standing on a small stage. "IT IS NOW THAT WE GO OVER THE BASICS OF WHAT TODAY'S EXERCISE WILL BE COVERING."
Everyone listened intently to the brief and simple explanation what the hero provided. Izuku went over each detail in his head as it was given to him with accuracy. Their class of 20 students would be divided into teams of 2 at random; that meaning there would be 10 teams in total. Half of which were to be also randomly picked as heroes and the other half to be villains.
Then, one team of heroes and villains were to be set up against each other based on lots. The villain's job is to protect a faux nuke that would be placed somewhere within the building. The heroes were assigned to either take out the villains or retrieve the bomb.
Basically speaking, they were to be reenacting a basic action movie scene.
'Well, here goes nothing.' Izuku's thoughts were followed by him plucking out the small white tag that being handed out by All Might. Around him, other students were all taking their own small piece of paper and looking for whoever had the matching one.
Looking down to his white slip, the bold letter F found itself at the center of his gaze.
"Hmm… Does anyone have an F?" During his pause, Izuku looked up to search for a response. He could see that other people were already forming their teams. The few that were alone didn't react to him announcing his letter. Izuku was just about to ask again before he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Turning, he found the culprit looking at him with a nervous expression. "Oh. Hey, Koda. Are you perhaps answering me?"
Koda gave a small nod before holding out his tag for Izuku to see that letter F printed on it.
"Well, that settles it. We're a team then. You ready?" Despite keeping himself neutral, Izuku tried to speak in a more inspiring tone as to help alleviate the evident nervousness of the other boy. The bigger of the two gave another nod; this one being visibly hesitant.
'Guess he doesn't like to fight.' Izuku concluded while looking him over. No matter. He could make do with that.
"NOW THEN, WITH THE POWER INVESTED IN ME, I DECLARE THESE TWO TEAMS TO GO FIRST!" It was like watching a T.V with how animatic this large man was as 1-A observed him plunging his hands into two separate boxes; one being labeled heroes and the other being villains.
In one swift movement, All Might shot back out his hands with a ball grasped in both.
The first ball came from the villain's box as it was jet-black. The letter in white bold caps was the same that Izuku and Koda held in their own hands.
They were on the villain team.
The second ball was obviously heroes. On it was the same styled letter of B.
'Alright. I just need to figure out who is team B and we should be good.' Izuku thought to himself as he scanned the crowd around him to locate said team.
His eyes landed on both Mina and Tokoyami; both were holding slips that read B.
"Oh boy."
..............................…
Izuku and Koda were both making their way through the building. All Might had gone ahead and had them enter to prepare. For the most part, it was silent between the two. Actually, it was completely quite as the only sound were their own mixed footsteps.
It was pretty obvious that Koda was too shy to speak and that Izuku didn't really have a reason to say anything at this point of time.
Besides, he was taking this time to form a plan.
When they finally came upon their last hallway on the fourth floor, the two found themselves turning a corner where a large nuke-shaped object came into view. Izuku walked up to it with Koda just behind him. The greenette took minute to inspect it. A light tap of it with his finger, he was able to learn that it was hollow and made up of a much lighter material that what it was supposed to look like.
"Hmm, could be useful." Izuku saw Koda look at him in the corner of his eye with confusion. The smaller teen simply met his gaze and waved it off. "Or not. We'll see."
Another few minutes passed along with the stretching quietness; the plan in Izuku's mind becoming more solid as the time went by. While he wasn't trying to ignore his classmate's strength, Mina wasn't the real threat in the match-up. The few times that he's seen Tokoyami and Dark Shadow in action, Izuku could only say that he was impressed.
However, that wasn't the only problem.
For whatever damn reason, his own quirk had something against the raven-headed teen. Whether it was the user or the quirk, Izuku didn't know. Guess it didn't really matter when they're always together. Either way, it was an unforeseen obstacle that he would just have to overcome.
It was still so strange, though. Unless someone was actively doing something to belittle Izuku or has left that impression (Bakugo for example), then his quirk wouldn't act out of the norm.
The only possible explanation that Izuku could come up with was both their quirks were sentient. But how could that be the reason?
…
Does…
Does Grimm feel threatened by Dark Shadow?
The thought hit Izuku out of nowhere. It only slightly made sense to him, but it was all he could work off for now.
"YOUR TIME IS UP! HEROES, YOU MAY ENTER THE BUILDING AND ATTEMPT TO COMPLETE THE MISSION! VILLAINS, BE CAUTIOUS AND BEWARE!" The booming voice of none other than All Might came through the multiple intercoms that were spread throughout the building.
Izuku stood there for a moment; polishing the last part of his plan. When that was done, he turned to look at Koda who also turned to him after noticing the greenette's movement.
"You don't really like to fight, do you?" Izuku asked with a straight face; unlike the ever-rising anxiety coming from the timid animal-lover. An emotion of slight guilt crossed over his features before Koda gave a weak nod. It honestly wasn't much of a surprise to Izuku. The smaller boy raised an arm and planted his hand gently onto Koda's shoulder as a form of reassurance. "Don't worry about it for now. Although, I highly suggest that you try to fix that nervousness in the future. Just watch over the bomb for me. Think you can do that?" Izuku wasn't nothing but calming and kind in his tone, despite his neutral expression. After all, he knew what it was like to be afraid to fight someone.
The only difference was that Izuku was sure that Koda wasn't afraid of accidentally hurting others.
The bigger teen looked relieved at first, but then shifted to confusion. Even so, he answered with another nod. Izuku took that has his cue to take his hand back to his side and begin to walk towards the closest hallway.
By now, Koda was ultimately puzzled at what his teammate was planning and attempted to stop him. His nervousness kept him at bay. But it would seem as though Izuku knew of his struggles.
The greenette stopped just before turning out into the doorway. Koda watched as he turned his head just short from being able to see his eye.
However, that didn't stop him from being able to spot the dark cracks growing over his cheeks.
"Don't worry about me. I'm just going to go take care of some stuff." With those last words, Izuku walked out of the room.
..............................…
"Alright! Let's do this!" Mina was way more that pumped up to rush into the building. Her only goal in mind was to either find the bomb or fight the villains. While the girl thought the second black-eyed teen was cool and all, she would rather not have to fight him.
That was why she and Tokoyami devised the plan for them to somehow get Midoriya away from the bomb and have Tokoyami keep in distracted. Meanwhile, she would find the bomb and finish things off from there.
In hindsight, it sounded right as rain. The only problem was that her teammate was currently not with her.
"What the- Tokoyami. The heck are you doing back there?" Before she could even open the front doors, she had to spin around to find that Tokoyami was still in the same spot where they had started.
With Mina being so socially observant, it was easy to identify the look of worry in his expression; which looked kind of odd considering his head was that of a bird's.
"Something is wrong." Was his only response. His frantic eyes jerked in several direction at once; all looking over the building that were supposed to be in by now. Mina merely looked unimpressed as she trudged back towards her teammate.
"Is this seriously about you thinking that Midoriya is strange again? Come on, Tokoyami. I figured at least you of all people knew not to judge someone by their quirk or appearance." Mina scorned the boy. Before they had come up with the plan for the battle exercise, the raven had spoken to her about Midoriya; something to do with 'a darkness within him' or some other mumbo-jumbo stuff like that. Honestly, Mina took some offence to that as she thought Tokoyami to be referring to his eyes or quirk.
"No, I'm not talking about that." The boy snapped back; causing Mina to flinch under the unnecessary aggression. They both looked at one another for a tense moment before Tokoyami looked back to the building.
Then, in a low and cautious voice…
"It feels like we're being watched."
The pinkette raised an eyebrow and turned back to the structure behind her. Every window that came across her focus proved that no one was doing as her teammate has suggested. Every transparent glass pane was empty and void of any movement or figure that could indicate of anyone spying on them.
The girl sighed while shaking her head.
"Are you sure about that?" Mina let a bit of sarcasm leak with her words. To her, Tokoyami was being overly paranoid. The girl thought that he was strong and independent but seeing just how anxious he was made her think otherwise.
Obviously, he didn't take too kindly to her rhetorical question.
"Fine then. Let ignorance consume you." The raven growled before finally walking up to the building and going through the doors. Meanwhile, the girl was a little more than stunned to hear such an… insult? Was that an insult?
Either way, she crossed her arms and momentarily pouted to herself.
"Hmp. 'Let ignorance consume me'. I bet I taste bad... I should probably get going." Mina took realization that she should wasted too much of her limited time being out here and ran inside.
It didn't take very long at all for her to find and catch up with Tokoyami. While it was hesitant, Mina took her place by his side as both traversed through the large and empty exterior.
The entire place was like a maze. Hallway after hallway that led to empty rooms or big centers that could serve as small arenas. It was all polished and in pristine condition; most likely because they were the first team to use is this year. It also probably helped that they had an employee who could bend cement to form these impressive structures.
It was after nearly a minute of walking that they came upon the first set of stairs. If Mina remembered correctly, there were 5 stories where Izuku and Koda could have hidden the bomb. With there being multiple paths to get both up and down the building, they would have to speed up their search a bit.
It could also result in them having the chance of passing someone from the villain team who took a different route than them. If they were lucky, then could hope to only confront one person with the possible scout not even realizing they had avoided each other.
The hero team was now on the third floor. Along the way, they would brisk past rooms and isolated hallways to spot for any sign of either the villains or the weapon.
With each second, their search grew more tense.
With each step, their hearts quickened.
Mina wasn't so much smiling anymore as she instead looked focused on the task at hand. The pinkette still couldn't feel anything along the lines of being watched, but she could for sure feel the stress of the situation.
The same couldn't be said for Tokoyami.
Not at any given point did the sensation leave. In fact, it got worse. The boy didn't know how that could be possible, but it felt as if whatever has laid their eyes on them was getting closer. It was like being stranded in the middle of the ocean with a shark.
The difference being that you couldn't see the fin but could feel it swimming around your feet as you kicked to get away.
Until…
They found the fin.
Mina was understandably surprised to turn a corner and find Midoriya standing ominously at the other end of it. He was still and staring directly at them. It was almost as if he knew that they would be here at this exact time.
Tokoyami on the other hand was much more disturbed by this sudden appearance that was too much to be coincidental. To see those piecing black eyes and pinprick green irises glaring right at him sent shivered down his spine.
It really didn't help that small strands of black trails were coming from Midoriya's voids; an aspect that neither Tokoyami nor Mina have seen up until this point.
Whether Midoriya was really good at acting or if he was always this intimidating when he fought, it was easy for the hero team to faulter in his presence.
"If this were a horror movie, this would be the part where he would show off his murder weapon." Tokoyami silently nodded at Mina's concerned whisper.
As fate would have it (or Midoriya heard what she said and decided to fuck with them), the greenette unballed his fists to reveal bladed fingertips.
Tokoyami spun his head to face Mina with a glare. Said girl only shrugged with an apologetic smile.
"I highly suggest that the both of you surrender now." The two heroes turned to look back at the singular villain. Once again, they were overcome with flight or fight instincts, but managed to stay put. Even with the black-eyed boy seemingly having no emotion in either his voice of expression, it was evident that there was a challenging radiance in his glowing eyes. "You may be my classmates, but that doesn't mean I will hold back in any way."
The threat was clear.
Simple as that.
Mina and Tokoyami both tensed even more than they already were when Midoriya began to walk towards them; clawed hands held out to his sides. After taking the first few steps, the boy outstretched his left arm and let his pointer finger drag along the wall. The sharp bone left a trail into the concrete that grew longer with each gaining step.
Despite the scary situation, Mina couldn't help but to smile. An action that didn't go unmissed by the villain.
"I gotta say, Midoriya: I really appreciate that you went out of your way to make things easier for us." At that, they could see the greenette narrow his eyes. Mina turned to Tokoyami who barely took his eyes of their opponent. "You got my back, right?" The boy in question looked hesitant to answer.
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Tokoyami took the one second he needed to steel his nerves.
"Go!" The raven shouted as he shot open his eyes that were filled with the will to fight. Not a moment later, Mina dashed from his side and towards Midoriya. Said teen looked stunned only for a second before raising his right arm to attack.
The two opposing forces never met as Mina turned a sharp right into a connecting hallway and disappearing from sight. Midoriya was only able to give her one last second of attention before he realized Dark Shadow was charging at him in her place.
The living shadow had both its giant claws held out at the ready to strike the boy with precision and force.
_____________________
Izuku instantly dropped into a battle stance. The incoming mass of darkness was sure to pack a punch, so he made sure to have one foot farther back than the other.
Not even a second after seeing the hidden attack, the two clashed.
Bone hands interlocked with physical shadows; both of which had their claws jabbing into the back of their hands. Despite Izuku having prepared himself, the force behind the charge was enough to make him slide backwards by several feet.
Once he came to a final stop, the two looked into each other's eyes. It was strange because Izuku didn't remember Dark Shadow having such a frightened yet furious look on him before. Then again, he's only known him for a couple days and every interaction resulted in some not-so-nice reactions.
One thing Izuku could tell for sure that in Dark Shadow's big yellow eyes, he was fully intent on fighting. For once, the jerks of his bones seemed content at the moment, allowing him a steady pose.
Good.
Izuku put all his strength into his back leg and kicked upwards with all the force he could muster. The result was a jarring thud as Izuku's foot smashed straight into the beast's jaw and sending it upwards.
Using the given opportunity, Izuku charged forward and past the temporarily stunned sentient quirk. With the greenette's new target being the quirk user, he spread his quirk up his knuckles to deliver a mean punch. The soon-to-be receiver of said punch looked to be more than shocked to have his quirk see easily overpowered.
Well, almost.
Izuku clicked his tongue in mild annoyance when he had to divert his path in order to dodge the attack from above. Dark Shadow had managed to recover in time just before the freckled teen could reach the other. There was a large open hand slammed down where Izuku had been not a second before. His first realization that it was much larger than before.
The yellow-eyed quirk then swooped in and struck with a sideways claw that forced Izuku to dodge away from Tokoyami. Thus, putting them back at square one.
After gaining a considerable distance between one another, the greenette quickly deduced that Dark Shadow was indeed bigger. His first thought came to mind that Tokoyami was feeding his quirk power of some kind. It made sense as Dark Shadow was permanently connected to its user.
That meant he could tire Tokoyami of all his energy which would leave Dark Shadow at a weakened state.
No, that would take too long. Mina would find the bomb by that point. He needed to either beat the dark quirk senseless or to beat the quirk user senseless. Whichever Izuku decided, someone was about to get knocked the hell out.
Dark Shadow let out a battle screech as it charged straight for the black-eyed teen.
'Looks like it's gonna be you.' Izuku's thought was followed by him fully blocking the second side swipe to his left. The next attack was a straight jab aimed for Izuku's chest. For that, he side-stepped to the left and pivoted for the dark hand to travel past him. He then locked the arm of the beast into his left arm using the inside of his elbow and holding it close.
With his right hand, he clenched the back of Dark Shadow's neck and forced the sentient quirk to follow his lead.
Taking the shadow bird's momentum, Izuku pivoted on his foot and slammed the beast's head straight into the wall. A chorus of breaking concrete and the pained screeches of Dark Shadow filled the halls, but Izuku wasn't done. He pulled the quirk out of the small hole and lightly threw him upwards while letting go.
When the time was right, the greenette turned on his side and extended his left leg for another powerful kick that landed in Dark Shadow's midsection. Now, Izuku was placed between the quirk and quirk user.
The dazed bird was airborne for a whole second before landing on the ground with a thud. Dark Shadow continued to slide for another meter before managing to stop. At first, it seemed that it had come to a complete stop.
The sentient quirk lay motionless for a moment, but only for that long. There was a small struggle for the being to raise itself back up and glare into Izuku's black eyes with rage.
"Why?"
Izuku had to process that for a second. Dark Shadow… could talk? Well, that's something that he's glad his own quirk doesn't do… Or does it? Questions for later.
"'Why' what?" Izuku asked cautiously.
"Why don't you let. It. Out?" The dark beast hissed. The emphasis made it perfectly clear what Dark Shadow was talking about, and Izuku didn't like it.
"So, you really can sense it." Izuku's statement was answered by Dark Shadow narrowing his yellow eyes.
"It's hard not to. We just don't get why you keep it hidden." The shadow beast said while raising itself off the ground. No one needed to know why Izuku kept it inside. All they needed to know was that just as long as he was still in control, there was nothing to worry.
"Let's just say that you'll like me much better than when I let it out." It was the truth. By no means would anything good come out of Izuku letting Grimm take over. Strangely enough, Dark Shadow had a peculiar reaction to this answer. The black beak of the sentient quirk formed into a smirk and his eyes squinted mischievously.
"Oh yeah? Or maybe your quirk is just too much of a chicken to come out." Dark Shadow's voice was nothing but teasing mockery. It threw Izuku quite the loop as he wasn't at all expecting this powerful shadow monster to suddenly be so… goofy.
The greenette's concentrated expression was far gone at this point as his eyes were furrowed and his mouth slightly agape.
"… You. You can't be serio- "
"Bawk! Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!" Izuku was interrupted by the sentient quirk falling into a dance with his wrists at his hips and waving his elbows around. All the while, shouting the same noise over and over. Dark Shadow was doing the damn chicken dance.
Izuku would have done nothing more than scoff at the childish attempt to get under his skin. The only problem was… that was exactly what was happening.
His expression shifted into strained panic as he was forced to tense his entire body to prevent every bone in his body from lunging forward. Izuku could still never get used to the feeling of his own skeleton trying to force itself out of his body to his degree. It was absolutely frustrating.
'Are you for real!? You're seriously going to listen to this stupid bird!?' Izuku practically screamed in his own head. Because of his damn quirk wanting to act on its own, he was stuck wrestling with himself.
"Aaaww. What's wrong? Is the chicken scared?" Dark Shadow must have noticed Izuku's internal struggle. It wasn't really surprising as his entire body was twitching uncontrollably.
'Come on! Get it together!'
..............................…
"What's he doing?" Sero was the first to talk in some time as the entire class had their eyes glued to the screens in front of them.
In another building that wasn't to far from the exercise taking place, the rest of 1-A all watched the first battle between hero and villains. And so far, it looked to be quite one-sided. It was a surprise to them all when Midoriya went out on his own from the very start. It was then led to curiosity as the greenette headed straight to the third floor and mark several walls using his clawed pointer finger to make long cuts into the concrete.
It was at the exact moment that the hero team took their first step on the third floor that Midoriya stopped and headed straight towards them. All in all, it kept them on their toes as to how they would confront and who would win.
Their excitement only kept going on the rise as Midoriya was able to hold his own against Dark Shadow with impressive skill. One move after another, the two went at it with ferocity.
At last, their collective expression morphed into confusion.
It was only All Might that was able to hear the audio. So, after seeing that Dark Shadow was saying something and even did some weird dance, it puzzled them all for Midoriya to react in a strange way.
He looked to be… in pain.
For a while, he looked to be fighting off an invisible force holding his body in place. His only large movement for some time was to hunch over slightly and hold his head down; his messy hair obscuring their view of his eyes.
All this time, no one could find any possible answer for why Midoriya was acting this way for the life of them.
All except for one.
"He's about to lose his shit." Even in the near quite room, it was only Bakugo who could hear his own whisper. The blond stared anxiously at the screen before him as did the others. However, it was only Bakugo who knew of the severity of what was to come.
At least he thought no one had heard him.
Jiro's enhanced sense of hearing has done her well once again as she was more confused than ever at what Bakugo had meant. As she side-eyed him, she could see the fear rising in his crimson eyes.
It was really unnerving.
Jiro set her eyes back on the screen just in time to match the look of the rest of her classmates.
Shocked.
..............................…
Dark Shadow blinked with confusion as he was trying to understand what just happened. He had stopped his taunting when he realized that Izuku was no longer twitching. In fact, he almost entirely motionless. His only sign of life was the steady rise and fall of his chest to show that his breathes were slowing.
Even if it was just a little; nothing but a mere budge, Dark Shadow felt the dooming presence of Grimm become more apparent. It was the raven's turn to be tense. A trickling fear had made itself home in the back of mind the moment he first spotted Izuku. But now, at this very moment, it was all he could think of.
Izuku began to raise his head back up. The first to come into view was the thin mouth that showed the smallest scowl. Next were the assortment of cracks forming all across his face, but those were already there in the first place.
Dark Shadow very well wished that he hadn't taunted the greenette when his radioactive pupils stared right into his yellow eyes. They were wide with no emotion to spare. They were the kind of eyes that gave no mercy.
"You must think I'm an idiot if you think I forgot about you." The tone in Izuku's voice was harsh, but it was the meaning behind it that caused Dark Shadow to widen his eyes with dread.
In one single movement, nearly all of Izuku's right arm stripped itself of anything but the bones underneath as he spun in place. The black-eyed boy and Tokoyami were only able to meet each other's gaze for a brief moment before the latter had their throat in the bony clutch of the former.
The force behind it caused the raven to both shout and cough in pain as the skeletal hand tightly gripped his throat. Human instincts took over as he brought up both his hands to grip the attacker's arm and attempted to pry off the grip crushing his neck.
Izuku peered over his shoulder to find Dark Shadow charging towards him with the intent to protect his master. If the black bird wanted him, then he could have him.
The greenette spun around for a second time and threw Tokoyami at the incoming attack with full force. The beaked teen's body collided straight into his own quirk that caused both to go flying in the opposite direction of Izuku. Their short flight ended when the two came crashing to the ground in a loud thud and another shout of pain.
This time, Tokoyami was there with Dark Shadow to pull themselves off the ground with aching bodies.
Izuku took his eyes off the pair for a moment to acknowledge the small object on the ground. He bent over to pick up the roll of capture tape that had been given to them before the round started. The greenette looked at it for a moment with narrowed eyes before looking up to his opponents who have managed to right themselves back up.
"Tch… pathetic." Using the tips of his claws, Izuku closed the hand he was using to hold the roll; causing it to shred into unusable pieces as they fluttered to the ground like snow. Tokoyami flinched away at the word, and Dark Shadow shrunk farther back behind the former. There was now a look of fear on the living shadow monster.
As much as Izuku hated it, it made him feel exhilarated.
"I'm done playing with you two. I'm ending this now." He felt his quirk surge through the rest of his limbs to match his right arm. However, only kept the second form to his arms. Then, Izuku rushed down the hall right for the heroes.
"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami called out his command to which his quirk responded with a whine but did as told. They both met in the middle with Dark Shadow leading up with a straight jab. At first, it seemed that the attack would land.
And it did.
The large black claws of Dark Shadow crashed against Izuku's chest where a vibrating thud rang through the halls. However, the booming sound didn't at all match Izuku's reaction to taking the hit full force. The greenette easily powered through the attack as if it wasn't even there at all and continued to rush towards Dark Shadow. Having his strike completely ignored, Dark Shadow was more than stunned enough to be utterly unprepared for the piercing bone claws that clamped around his jaw.
Izuku then leapt into the air using every ounce of his enhanced strength; nearly reaching the tall roof. After letting gravity take its course, he then began to fall to the ground with Dark Shadow still in tow. Throwing his arm like a punch, Izuku smashed the shadow monster's head down into the concrete floor.
The very impact could be felt across almost the whole floor as spider-web cracks etched around Dark Shadow's head. All through the halls, the sound of the concrete splintering echoed like a dying banshee.
The black bird underneath Izuku's unforgiving grasp only struggled for a moment, but it was only of weak movements and ungiving efforts. Then, all movement ceased entirely as Dark Shadow went limp without another noise to fill the now silent hallway.
When Izuku finally let go, the quirk shrank to a much smaller size and was dragged away by its tether where it was absorbed back into Tokoyami's body.
Said raven-headed teen wore an expression of shock. Never has he seen his own quirk so easily beaten. What he just witnessed wasn't a fight. It was an elimination.
Now, it was just him and Izuku.
The greenette's focused eyes were now trained on and only at Tokoyami. Their stare-down was short-lived as the hero noticed that cracks around Izuku's eyes grow ever more. As if it were a switch, a small grin came over his face.
"Well then… now that little weakling is out of the way, you and I can get down to business." Izuku let the words roll off his tongue like a sweet magma. They felt so natural, he didn't even need to think for them to come to mind.
Seeing Tokoyami give him that fearful look just made him want to do it more.
"M-Midoriya?" Tokoyami knew he sounded pitiful. But nothing he did could help him calm his nerves. The presence that Izuku was giving off was suffocating him. He felt trapped in this open building; like a mouse trying to run from a lion.
The greenette took one step forward.
The raven took one step back.
"What's wrong? Aren't you supposed to be distracting me? Well, you have my full attention, so keep me entertained, why don't ya?" His words were a sinister smooth that crawled like spiders into the ears of the frantic Tokoyami.
He continued to walk towards the raven who kept himself walking backwards while keeping his eyes on the green pupils that watched him like he was a plaything.
"Midoriya, you must stop! I haven't known you for very long at all, but I know that this is not you!" Tokoyami made desperate attempts to get through to Izuku. The battle exercise had been long forgotten between the two who were only immersed with each other.
Tokoyami must have said either the right or wrong thing, because Izuku developed a look of annoyed aggression.
"Not me? Not me!? What the hell do you know about us!? From the very moment we got here, you've only looked at us like we're monsters! You wanna be that way!? Fine!" Just as the cracks on his face grew longer, a sadistic grin stretched over his lips. From the small gap between his lips, Tokoyami was able to make out teeth that were beginning to turn into points. "We'll give you a reason to fear us." Unlike his previous shouts, his last sentence was but a cold whisper.
Izuku then outstretched his right arm to his side. The bulky bones began to shift once more. Their form became more rigid and thick; almost to the point where it could look Izuku was wearing a gauntlet. A large spike emerged from his elbow as did from the back of his fingers that looked like reverse claws.
The glow in his eyes became more vibrant with power, but it came with the loss of control.
"No. You won't." Izuku faltered at the sudden sternness of Tokoyami. The raven suddenly stood his ground as he looked the greenette straight in the eye. "You won't. But Grimm will." Both stood there for a moment as the words were left hanging in the air.
The stunned expression of Izuku slowly morphed into rage.
"Wwwwhat?" The one word was hissed through clenched teeth.
"Midoriya, I'm going to need you to listen. Grimm is taking control of you. I can clearly see that. But Midoriya, I cannot help you unless you fight it and take back control. I know how it feels to constantly struggle for that- "
"Shut up!"
Tokoyami recoiled from the sudden reaction of Izuku's shout. If the greenette looked mad before, then he was seething at this point. It was only accentuated as Izuku's voice was distorted; as if two people were talking at the same time. One sounded like the usual Izuku while the other was much more high-pitched and reminded Tokoyami of nails dragging on a chalkboard.
As if someone had jabbed him in the eye, Izuku let out a frustrated grunt as he clutched the left side of his face with his left hand. Growls could be heard trailing down the hall as the freckled teen breathed rapidly.
The next to reach Tokoyami's ears was the sickening sound of tearing flesh.
With the hand that was on his face, Izuku was digging his claws into his own head. Blood came out like rushing streams from the cuts as they dripped down his face; intertwining with the black cracks and forming a sickly crimson.
"Stop-"
"How?" Tokoyami was cut short as Izuku's whisper completely silenced him. "How do you know that name?" The skeletal hand slowly inched down the greenette's face. Its pressure had been lightened so it no longer gashed through his skin, but it didn't do much to lighten the fact that the new scene before Tokoyami was utterly horrifying.
Between the teen's pinky and ring finger of bone, the raven could clearly see the deep void that lay behind it.
But there was no green iris.
His hand fell limp from his face as Izuku looked to have his emotions drained from his body. On the left side of his face, the cracks grew far enough to reach the bottom of his jaw. A pair of small horns formed behind the eye; continuing the one-sided shift.
It was happening.
It was really happening.
Tokoyami was witnessing Izuku be overcome by his own quirk.
"Hey. We asked you a question." The raven was having a hard time keeping up with the roller coaster of emotions that Izuku was presenting. All of the sudden, he was now an eerily calm. Almost bored even.
"I-I heard Mina say it w-while we were talking outside." Tokoyami couldn't help the stutter in his words. Somehow, this level calm version of Izuku was more frightening than the ones from before. The half-skeletal teen looked to process it for a second before looking straight up at the ceiling. It was confusing to the raven, but before he could question it…
"Mmm. That's right. She should be making it to the fourth floor by now." Nothing could even begin to describe how Izuku's voice was able to chill Tokoyami to the very core. It made him feel so insignificant and small in the presence of this black-eyed boy.
But it was exactly what he said that made the raven realize something. If Izuku was right about where Mina was currently at, why had it taken her this long to move up a floor. She should have been able to reach the fifth floor a long time ago. What has kept her this long?
"It shouldn't take her long now before she gets to Koda and the bomb." Tokoyami was dragged out his thoughts when Izuku looked down back to him with a near glare in his expression. But it felt so wrong. The eye that still had the bright glowing pupil seemed to have no life.
Any and every great presence of power came from the empty void that Tokoyami could feel was starting at him with an unholy darkness.
"Then you've lost." For the first time since stepping into the building, the raven felt a sense of power of the other sentient quirk user.
That feeling quickly dropped when the slightest grin grew on the greenette's lips.
"On the contrary."
There wasn't even a second left for Tokoyami to decide his next move as Izuku became a blur and was now standing right in front of him; massive right arm pulled back with full intent to launch it.
The pain was indescribable as the hard fist crushed against his gut. There was absolutely no holding back his scream of anguish as the force was more than enough to rocket Tokoyami down the rest of the hallway before crashing into a wall. With a noticeable dent to show exactly where the teen had hit it, the wall shook from the collision.
It gave no help to the boy as it let him fall to the ground.
And the ground is where he stayed.
Tokoyami did not move or make a sound.
A single attack had rendered him completely immobilized.
"You were the ones who lost the moment you were matched against us." Izuku was the only one to hear his own remark.
"U-U-UUM… TOKOYAMI HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT. ONLY ONE HERO LEFT TO SAVE THE DAY." All Might's voice came through the intercoms again. This time, he sounded worried and unsure.
Izuku wasn't sure why, but a part of him really wanted to hurt that man.
"Another time perhaps." Izuku put the idea behind him and set his mind on the task at hand. He had an exercise to win.
He took one deep breath while closing his eyes. A moment passed by with him focusing on his voids. Suddenly, he snapped open his eyelids to show his remaining green pupil had dilated to a major degree. As before it was a pinprick, it was now a mere dot in his empty sockets. The reaction was instant as the world around him became dark and void of color. Basically, as if he had shut his eyes again.
However, it did not stay dark. His radius of vision expanded into the dark abyss as bright white lines filled every corner of his perspective. These lines looked to be placed randomly and unorganized. Of course, it was only Izuku who was able to make out what these lines meant.
He looked back down the hallway where he had just fought. All the way down the path, there was a white mass slump on the ground. It was easy to identify it as the passed out Tokoyami. Izuku then looked up to find what he was looking for. It didn't take him long before another white mass found itself in his focus.
He made it out to be the shape of Mina who was quickly making her way to the next set of stairs. Above her, the third white mass was tagged to Koda who was still standing next to the bomb.
Looks like he needed to pick up the pace.
..............................…
"Finally!" Mina exclaimed with both triumph and annoyance. She was able to find the third set of stairs. For that past few minutes, she had been stuck running in circles on the third floor due to the trick that Izuku pulled on her.
Just as she had dashed out of the way to let her teammate and the greenette to duke it out themselves, the pinkette almost immediately encountered a problem. For a bit, she thought to be on the right path and heading straight for the next set of stairs. That was until she came across a very confusing detail.
In one of the hallways, she came across a long mark along the wall… the exact same mark that Izuku had made when he was walking towards them on their encounter.
To Mina's great confusion, neither Izuku nor Tokoyami were in sight. So, she continued to run, but went the way she had gone the first time. It didn't take too long before she came across another mark.
Some more running and another mark later, the girl finally realized that trap she had been set into. Mina's path had been disturbed and thrown off due to her having gone the wrong way and using the marks in any way just kept leading her to the wrong spot.
It was with great relief that the pinkette found the stairs leading upwards. From there, it was one simple and quick route that she followed to take her straight to the fifth floor. No other floor had shown signs of habitancy, so that meant the bomb had to be here.
"Aha!" Koda nearly jumped out his skin when he spun to see a panting and sweaty Mina standing in the doorway while pointing accusingly at him. "Found you!" The boy looked overly anxious as he looked to his left and right before pointing to himself with worry. "Now, now, Koda. We can do this the easy way… or we can do it the hard way." Mina grinned devilishly while punching the palm of her hand to indicate that she was down to get rough.
The boy looked sheepish, but surprisingly hopped in front of the weapon while spreading his arms out as to protect it.
"Oh? Is that your way of saying the hard way?" Mina asked but didn't expect an answer any time soon from the timid teen. "Well then, prepare yourself villain!" The girl shouted before sprinting straight for the boy.
Until something caught her foot and tripped.
It was by some miracle that she didn't smash her noes against the concrete floor, but that didn't mean she came out unscathed.
"Oooow. What the heck was that?" As if getting an answer, she finally felt the pressure around her ankle. Looking down, the girl was not at all expecting to find a skeletal hand coming through a hole in the ground that she was sure was not there previously. "Midoriya!?"
The next sensation was a smooth papery texture around her wrist. Spinning back around, she found Koda crouched down next to her with the capture tape in his hands that he was using to wrap around his arm.
"MINA HAS BEEN CAPTURED! THE VILLAINS TEAM WINS!"
"Aaawww Maaan! What a bummer." Mina's exaggerated claim was met by an apologetic smile from the boy that still had an anxious look. "Oh well. It was fun… ish." The pinkette chuckled to herself. The battle exercise was definitely an experience, that's for certain.
It was out of sudden realization that she no longer felt the hold on her foot. Turning to look, her suspicions were correct as the skeletal hand was gone; leaving the hole it made empty. Wanting to shout a 'congratulations' down to the greenette, she scooted over and peered down.
The word never escaped her throat as she saw Izuku laying unconscious on the floor.