"While we have this precious time to ourselves, care to discuss more pressing matters?"
Yagi perked up an eyebrow as he looked to Nezu from his barely touched cup of tea.
"Are you … referring to if I've found a possible successor yet?" The man questioned to which Principle Nezu revealed a glimmer in his beady black eyes.
"A pressing matter indeed. Not what I was planning, but if that's the first thing that comes to mind, then by all means, do tell." From the sound of it, Nezu had seized the opportunity to discuss the subject.
Yagi gently clicked his tongue in amusement. He knew that Nezu was simply urging him to find a successor as soon as possible before… well, before it was too late.
"Hm." Yagi gave a short hum of thought. "Plenty of promising students that could turn into fine heroes one day, especially some of the first-years." Yagi recalled some of the interactions and observations he'd taken during his role as the heroics teacher.
"I believe it's safe to assume you're talking about class 1-A"
"Yes. Some of the students have demonstrated some incredible things during their battle exercise."
"Oh? Tell me what you think." Nezu's eyes gleamed maliciously, with undeniable curiosity for what the future might hold for them.
Yagi gulped.
"It's impressive that none of them have been expelled yet. I would have figured he'd have already thrown some of those poor kids out the door by now." Yagi stifled a chuckle upon remembering exactly who their homeroom teacher is.
"Yes, Aizawa does have that reputation, doesn't he?" Nezu sighed to himself with his paws folded, surely having recalled the many times the underground hero had sent students home with no mercy. "Is it perhaps you have an eye out for one of them?" Nezu pushed aside the memories, interest sparking in his eyes.
"I wouldn't say that for sure yet. Of course, some could utilize One For All's power in amazing ways. With it, I wouldn't doubt it would turn some of them into unstoppable heroes." Yagi was confident in his words about that statement. After watching some of his students in the battle exercise, he felt his skin tingle with the thought of how OFA could transform them.
"Any possible candidates?" Nezu displayed clear interest in his question. The white animal took a long sip of his tea before looking back to Yagi with an expecting gaze.
The lanky blond thought over it for a moment. For sure, there were several possibilities. All it came down to was who was the best one. He looked down to the nearly full cup of tea in his hand. He saw his own reflection in the surface of the liquid; his eyes staring back at him.
"Well… there is a third-year that I know of. Kind of." Yagi finally answered.
"Oh?" Nezu hummed in affirmative.
"I haven't met him, but he's apparently under the agency of my old sidekick; Nighteye. His name is Mirio, and Nighteye has been urging me to meet him recently. While I don't mean to distrust the word of my friend, I need to be able to find someone myself before I can come to any final conclusions." Yagi said in a low and nostalgic voice upon mentioning the man.
"I think I understand what you mean. Have you any luck in this search of yours?" Nezu took a moment to go over what he remembered about the third year in his school. Nezu had to admit that he showed promise in both heroism and skill.
Once again, Yagi took a moment to remain in his thoughts. A certain someone that has had his attention for some time now.
Maybe…
"Perhaps-"
*SLAM!*
Yagi and Nezu both jumped in their seats when the loud sound shot into the room.
They both looked over to see that the door had been swung open with great force, causing it to hit the wall.
In the doorway, a familiar face greeted them.
However, the expression of the youngest Iida was new. What could have possibly ignited this fearful look in the boy's eyes?
"Villains are at the USJ!"
And now, both adults adopted the same expression of terror.
..............................…
The area was dark. Almost pitch black if it weren't for the flashlight in his hand.
That alone wouldn't have been too bad. However, the rain that poured down on him and soaked his clothes and sent a chill down his slightly trembling body. He was cold and ready to get out of here as soon as possible. If only his angsty companion would have more patience.
"Karkirraaaaaa! This rain is so annoying! Why won't it just stop!?"
Speaking of his companion…
"Dark Shadow." Tokoyami said the name with authority, quickly turning around to shine his flashlight directly at the sentient quirk who hissed under the light. Immediately, Dark Shadow shrunk in size from a truck to a small car.
Tokoyami silently sighed with nervousness as he noticed that Dark Shadow was bigger than last time. The surrounding darkness was feeding Dark Shadow and making him bigger with every passing moment.
All the more reason to get out of here as soon as possible.
"Koda." Tokoyami averted both his gaze and flashlight to land on the other student. Koda slightly flinched under the sudden light on his face but said nothing. "We're picking up the pace. Let's go." Tokoyami barely gave the boy enough time to nod before turning and trudging on with haste.
This turn of events had caught them completely off guard.
Neither of them expected villains to emerge from some strange portal and begin attacking. If that wasn't enough, they then had to deal with the howling sound of the screech that sent Dark Shadow into a blitz.
That was fun…
Not.
When that was finally done, the sound of the heavy rain overshadowed the falling glass, causing the two students to receive a few small cuts. Thankfully nothing major, as Dark Shadow enveloped the both of them before any serious harm could be done.
Since then, they've been heading in one direction, hoping that they would soon come upon the wall of the dome. From there, they could follow it along until they found the exit.
The plan sounded simple enough. And once they made it out, they wouldn't have any more problems.
However, there was a problem.
They weren't alone.
A bright flash came from in front of them. It temporarily blinded the two students, who used their arms to shield themselves from the light. It was so intense; they could see it flaring past their eyelids.
Tokoyami could feel Dark Shadow squirming in the exposure as the quirk shrieked with discomfort and anger.
It took every ounce of Tokoyami's will to pretty much force open his eyes over the cover of his forearm. Ahead of them in the street, there was a source of light being emitted from something he wasn't able to see. It had come from just out of the range of his flashlight.
However, there was something that he did see.
Against the powerful ball of light that stung his eyes, multiple silhouettes revealed themselves. The dark figures were familiar enough for Tokoyami to make them out to be human.
And from the looks of it, the figures were running right for them.
"Koda! Run!" Tokoyami spun on his heel and grabbed hold of Koda's shoulder. The taller boy quickly got the signal and turned tail along with his classmate.
They both raced down the wet street as fast as they could, their chasers in hot pursuit.
"Get the hell back here!"
"We've been looking for ya this entire time! You could at least stop to say hello!"
"Leaving so soon!?"
As they ran, shouts rang out, past the sound of their footsteps and the rain behind them. With their backs turned away from the light, it was much easier to see where they were going. Both of their bodies cast long shadows down the road. Unfortunately, they were accompanied by several other shadows coming closer to them.
Tokoyami cursed their foul luck. They had managed to run straight into an ambush. He would have stayed back to fight them just like the other villains, but it just so happened that whatever or whoever had made that blinding light was exploiting Tokoyami's exact weakness.
Dark Shadow no longer boasted his large size with confidence and power to back it up. Now, he was hardly the size of a small lizard as he cowered beneath the dark cape that hung around Tokoyami's shoulders.
With everything they had, both students raced through the city. Their feet splashed against the wet ground as the rain bared relentlessly down on them.
"Quit! Yer! Runnin!"
The villains screamed from behind them in rage and amusement.
It sickened Tokoyami to think that some of them were here simply for the pleasure of killing children.
With that in mind, the two teens had plenty of reason to keep up their speed to prevent that from happening. To ensure their survival, they needed a plan of escape, or at least some way to get rid of that light.
After running long enough for Tokoyami to feel his lungs begin to burn, a plan did come to mind.
"Come on!" Tokoyami yelled out as a warning before grabbing hold of Koda's shoulder and pulling the taller boy with him. At the intersection they had come onto, Tokoyami directed them both to the right.
The strange light was cut off as a building was now between them. They only had a short period of time before the villains would cut around the corner.
It was now or never.
Tokoyami braced his shoulder and charged to his right.
Koda only saw it for a second before he felt the impact of his classmate having collided into his side. The larger boy couldn't keep his balance, falling to the ground with a grunt. He scrambled on the wet concrete, trying to regain his centre of balance before sitting up in time to see the object coming at him.
Koda was able to catch it, but just barely. He didn't even have enough time to acknowledge what it was before he spotted the figure of Tokoyami running off past a corner.
It dawned upon Koda that he had been shoved into an alley.
Tokoyami made a last effort to protect Koda by hiding him away for the villains to go after him instead.
Even with that in mind, Koda couldn't believe the sacrifice that was made. He felt his natural instinct to return to his peer's side and help. However, it was too late as the blinding light flashed across the street as the villains turned the corner.
"There he is!"
"After 'em!"
"Where'd the other one go!?"
"We'll get that one later, just keep going!"
The angry shouts of the dangerous men and women rushed ever so closer to Koda's alley, causing the boy to fill up on fear once more. He scurried over to the wall on trembling hands and knees before pressing himself as close as possible to the wall to hide his figure.
Just in the nick of time.
Koda saw the several figures of people dashing past the alley and towards where he had seen Tokoyami vanish. A little further behind, he saw the source of the light run by. Koda could have sworn he saw the shape of a person near it, but it was hard to tell as he's nearly forced to shut his eyes from the level of brightness.
Soon enough, Koda had been completely left behind.
Out of sight, out of mind, and out of danger.
Koda could only sit there in shock.
His eyes stared at the end of the alley, but he didn't really acknowledge it. It was hard to think about anything. He was torn between taking the chance that Tokoyami had given him or to go after him and help.
All he could do was beat himself over about those two options as he sat in fear. His hands clutched around the object that Tokoyami had thrown at him.
Koda finally brought himself to realize that it was Tokoyami's flashlight.
What should he do?
..............................…
"You can't keep running forever!"
Tokoyami was well aware of the words shouted by one of the villains from behind him.
It was only because of his training to be a hero that had made him able to continue running for so long. Unfortunately, the villains themselves were in good shape as well. No doubt from fighting in the streets and running from heroes.
Although, Tokoyami was actually thankful for that. The longer they chased him, the further they got away from Koda. As long as he didn't draw attention to himself and used the flashlight Tokoyami had given him, Koda should be able to get out of there no problem.
All that was left was for the raven to deal with his own problem; that obviously being the crusading villains hunting him down.
If he was quick, he might be able to escape simply by getting out of their line of sight long enough to hide just as he had Koda do.
Another intersection was coming up.
He might be able to-
*Bang*
Tokoyami's vision blurred, his ears ringing with the sound of a heavy metal object smashing into his left side. He chokes in anguish as the air was knocked out of him and he is flung to his right. If it weren't for the fact that all of the glass was already shattered, Tokoyami would have crashed straight through the window of a building.
That didn't mean he was safe from it however, as he landed on the broken shards. His momentum carried the boy sliding across the ground and his back bumping into a wall.
The effect of the sneak attack left the raven with a dizzy head and a hard time catching his breath. All he can do at that moment was sit there and regain his bearings.
"Hah! Nice one, bro!" A villain near the front of the group shouted with gratitude and wheezed. He and several other villains turned to look at one in particular.
Around the corner of the intersection, a villain walked into view. He was large. At least twice the size of a normal person. He had muscles that bulged through the rough grey skin of his body. The long horn protruding from his nose was an easy indication of his rhino mutation quirk.
Hanging over his shoulder, he held the streetlamp that he had used to take out the student. His expression displayed mild annoyance and confusion as he looked back and forth between the group of villains and Tokoyami.
"The hell all of ya doing over here? Weren't you the group that went to cover the west side?" The towering villain grumbled with a deep voice.
"Hehe, yeah." The same villain from before chuckled nervously at the intimidating presence of the rhino. "We were and we found some of the targets. Although, they ended up running away instead of trying to fight like the other guys said they would. We weren't expecting them to run. So we chased after them, and, well, here we are." The villain explained, still slightly winded from the long run.
The Rhino snorted when he was finished before he narrowed an eye at the man.
"You speak as if there were more." At this, the smaller villain sighed with annoyance.
"Yeah, there were. That was before one of them managed to lose us at some point." The villain huffed over his loss of another chance to take out one of them UA brats.
"Hmp. We'll go look for the rest as soon as this one is taken care of." The tone in the rhino's voice indicated his ominous intentions, as he looked at the stumbling figure of Tokoyami still on the ground.
"Sounds good to me." The villain smirked before slamming a fist into his palm. His glaring eyes set upon Tokoyami as he struggled to get up. Behind him, the other members of the squad began to chuckle and grin at the thought of what was going to happen to the lone student. "Yo, Bulb!" He turned to address the man all the way in the back while shielding his eyes from the intense light. "Turn that down a bit, would ya? I wanna be able to have my fun without feeling like I'm staring into the sun."
"Yeah, yeah. I gotcha." A response came from behind the group. More specifically, from the blinding light. In response, the brightness gradually toned down to reveal its origin.
A man was revealed from the light's cover. His figure was smaller than most and his only detail of interest was the foot-long antenna that sprouted from his forehead. Hanging from the end was a small bulb-shaped sphere that emitted a powerful light.
"That's bett…" The first villain cut himself short.
At that current moment, he was the only one looking back behind them towards Bulb.
He was the only one to see the long boney tendril, tail, tentacle, whatever the hell it was looming over Bulb's figure.
The villain didn't so much as get the chance to shout a warning before its pointed tip pierced straight through the villain's back at a breakneck speed. The sound of tearing flesh and crunching bone turned the heads of many who managed to get a single glimpse of Bulb being lifted into the air and pulled away in a blur.
All they could really see was his glowing light shooting off into an alley on the same street. The only trace left of him was the glow of his light seeping out of the alley before quickly diminishing into the distance.
Just like that, they were all plunged into darkness.
With no light for them to see, the villains instantly went into panic mode. Their surroundings were no longer lit up for them where they could see with ease, but rather a film of black, where they could only identify dark shapes and figures.
"The hell was that!?"
"What just happened!?"
"Something just got Bulb!"
The villains babbled like scared chickens among themselves, petrified that they would meet the same fate as their colleague.
"Was that the student you missed?" Rhino shouted out above the chaos to the villain he had spoken to earlier. The tone in his voice was as gruff, but now held an evident caution to it.
"I-I-I don't know. I don't think so. And it certainly wasn't any hero since…" The villain stopped mid-sentence once more. A look of realization and dread came upon him. Even in the darkness, the rhino could somehow make out the other man turning to look at him. "That roar from earlier…"
As if right on cue, the yells of the villains were overlapped by a shriek of fury.
Although they were in their panicked state, they could detect that this one was different than the first. They could also tell where it was coming from. Turning to where the student had fallen, they see a large dark mass burst from the building with vibrant red eyes.
The rhino moved to react but was simply overwhelmed as Dark Shadow charged straight through both him and the other villain as if it were nothing, knocking the two down to the ground.
The wrathful quirk rampaged among the group of villains. His size was comparable to that of a small house, the ginormous mass easily thrashing his claws through the group, effectively throwing them all over the place like toys.
It didn't matter if they were able to defend themselves or not. The sheer power of the beast took the villains out, several at a time, with a single swipe. Rhino was able to recover for a moment looking upon the dim scene.
Glowing red eyes glared from the top of the massive creature as it howled in a fit of rage. The silhouettes of his comrades taking whatever attacks it dished.
He growled in anger as he stood back up; his streetlight pole in hand and ready to swing. The rhino charged forward. Dark Shadow was too occupied to notice the incoming villain. Once the distance was closed between them, he poured all of his strength into smashing the metal pole right into the bird creature's head.
Another resonating sound of metal rang around them. This time, much louder than the surrounding sounds of rain and the glass under their feet.
The villain had swung so hard, he felt his weapon bend under the pressure.
However…
It didn't seem to affect Dark Shadow in the slightest.
The quirk halted from his rampage for a moment to slowly turn towards whoever had struck him with such a pitiful attack. The two met gazes of completely different expressions. The villain had regret and dismay. Meanwhile, the glowing red eyes of Dark Shadow burned with rage.
The mass of sentient shadow raised a claw and backhanded the pole straight out of the villain's hands, lodging one end into a building.
The rhino wasn't so sure of his ability to fight back at this point. He backed away in hope that the beast would see him as a meagre target and leave him alone.
That hopeful thought quickly went down the drain as Dark Shadow slowly moved closer to him. The villain backed away further, now extremely on edge.
"Stay back!" He shouted to the large raven, but it fell on deaf ears.
Dark Shadow raised another hand. This one was raised far above the quirk's head, preparing to crush the rhino under its claws.
"Wait!"
Dark Shadow swung his hand down.
A massive explosion of force erupted on the street.
The concrete cracked and broke in a wide radius. Glass shards were flung in every direction. The ground rumbled and shook intensely.
Enough for the rhino to stumble and lose his balance, causing him to fall backwards.
He was confused beyond belief. What just happened?
He regained his focus and leaned upwards to find his answer.
The thick cloud of dust was cleared rather quickly by the rain. Once the cover it provided was gone, the rhino landed his gaze on something truly bizarre.
Somehow, the beast managed to get even bigger. The dark shape of its body was over twice the size as before.
Wait…
No…
That wasn't right.
The rhino blinked a few times and focused deeper at what he was seeing. It wasn't just one big figure.
He discovered that he was looking at two.
Narrow red eyes of the dark raven were near the bottom of the mass. Atop of it, another figure stood tall. Again, it was too dark to be able to make out any details. However, that didn't prevent the two glowing green eyes from having shown themselves.
Whatever this new monster was, it raised its head up high. The only way to know this, was by following the green eyes.
Then, it roared.
That same horrifying shriek from earlier filled the miniature dome of the storm area. It wasn't as booming as the first but was more than enough to make him feel like a gun went off mere inches from his ear.
Neither did it last as long before the thing lurched downwards, its roar shifting into a hostile growl. The sound was followed by the sound of multiple sharp points stabbing into a strange texture.
It wasn't much of a guess what happened as Dark Shadow's eyes burst open and the raven howled in pain.
The sequence of events that came after can only be described as the most savage fight of monsters anyone could be unlucky enough to witness.
Thankfully, they couldn't see much anyway; almost nothing at all as the two figures thrashed like animals. Growls of intimidation before one took the next strike. Shrieks to indicate their charge at one another. Their bodies collided, the size of their figures producing massive sounds of impact.
They were at each other's throats on the ground, before they smashed into a building.
The carnage of the fight left the area in a devastating ruin. Unfortunately, the terrain that was meant to take damage was not the only thing in the crosshairs.
The villains screamed and tried to run, only to be silenced when the red-eyed monster fell from an attack. The total calamity of the fight left no one safe.
If you could even hear the villain's screams that is. Even the pouring rain could make no effort to drown out the battle cries of both beasts.
The cover of darkness was the only thing that kept the clash from the fearful eyes of any praying for their lives… only to be killed in a fight they weren't in.
Dark Shadow screeched in anguish when a mouthful of fangs sank into his left shoulder after he had missed an attack. He was immediately pulled downwards and dragged against the ground. His attacker swung him around and threw him against a building.
The structure wobbled and several cracks formed around the crater where Dark Shadow found himself embedded. Before he could attempt to pull himself out, he felt boney claws clamp down on his head.
Dark Shadow was thrown to the right, scraping against the buildings before falling to the ground. The concrete splintered under his weight as he grunted with pain. He's not so much as given a chance to recover before the green-eyed monster's tail latches around his neck. The spiny bones dug into him like a blade.
The raven was lifted into the air without any warning. For a second, Dark Shadow was straight up in the air, only to be swung down even faster. His head was the first thing to come into contact with the wet floor before the rest of his body came crashing down.
One thing was for sure.
This fight was completely one-sided.
Even with Dark Shadow at his full power, he was being tossed around like a child having a temper-tantrum with their doll.
Dark Shadow was a quirk that was fueled by darkness. He was a creature that was made of darkness.
But the monster that loomed over him with the eyes of a living nightmare radiated darkness.
Past his blinding rage… Dark Shadow felt fear.
In one last great effort, he lunged from the ground towards the figure.
Only to be slammed back into the ground as a hand crushed his head.
With Grimm standing tall and unscathed, Dark Shadow moaned and trembled under the merciless claws of the evil eyes of green.
Quite ironic…
For this scene was similar to that of their first fight in the battle exercise. Only now, both quirks acted free of their user's commands; their minds and bodies succumbing to their sentient power.
The victorious monster stood over Dark Shadow, sending its cold gaze at the raven. It reared up high while still pinning its victim to the ground. Dark Shadow suspected a powerful attack of some kind to finish him off.
Now that he knew that if he had… Dark Shadow would have been lucky .
Because there came a light.
It was more of a small glow.
Like a tiny green ember so insignificant you could extinguish it with a gentle blow of the wind. Its origin was unknown. All that was noticeable of it that the speck came from the monster's body.
Or rather, from within.
As the speck unexpectedly grew, there were silhouettes that surrounded it. These silhouettes were parallel to one another and curved. The ball of green light increased in size at a rapid pace. Now it was the size of a basketball in just a few seconds.
Something was different about it. In the centre of the green glow, there was a pitch-black mass. The two colours swirled around each other like a slow-moving vortex. Actually, more like a black hole.
Its size was large enough at this point to cast anything close to it with a shade of green. Because of that, the silhouettes surrounding it were revealed to be…
Bone.
To be more specific, a ribcage.
The inside of an exposed ribcage.
It became apparent that the ball of green energy that looked eerily similar to the unmoving eyes staring at Dark Shadow was still growing. In almost no time, its magnitude was that of a large bed.
That was right about when Dark Shadow began to squirm in pain. The light cast from the mass of green energy was bright enough to push away the shadows that comforted the raven. And so, his power diminished.
As the ball grew, Dark Shadow shrunk.
At the same time, it slowly revealed the true form of the monster.
Its entire body was of bone.
Not a single scrap of flesh or blood to be seen.
No trace of its user's existence except for the green eyes they shared.
Dark Shadow resisted against not only the light, but also the fear of Grimm. Due to his power slipping away, the raven was merely the size of a small car. Dark Shadow couldn't hold onto his rage anymore.
So, he let go.
Tokoyami was freed from within the restrictive cage of Dark Shadow. The quirk had no choice and retreated into his user's body in total exhaustion. The teen was almost done for himself. His worn-out physique from trying to fight for the control over Dark Shadow left him unable to move.
His tightly shut eyes tempted him towards sleep. However, confusion and panic allowed him to open his eyelids.
As soon as he did.
*Crack*
The violent sound jerked Tokoyami's eyes wide and made his heart skip a beat. What he saw before him was something so much worse than he could have ever anticipated.
*Cr-crack*
There it was again.
Tokoyami eyed the crouching monster with horror in his expression. The glowing green ball of mass illuminated its ribcage easily. Everything else was either at such an angle or was barely out of the light's reach to be seen.
But it was enough. More than enough for Tokoyami to see where the sound had come from.
The top of its ribcage had a large crack breaking down the middle.
*CRACK*
It happened again. This time, it doubled in length and grated against Tokoyami's ears.
And it only kept going.
The cracks came more frequent and louder with each time it travelled straight down the monster's ribcage. Tokoyami had no idea what to do. He didn't know what was about to happen. There was no way of knowing what Grimm had planned for him.
All he did know… was that he was afraid.
In one last and final thundering crack, the ribcage was split in two. For a moment, nothing happened. Tokoyami watched on, his gaze unable to move from the swirling green black hole.
And then, a sound.
The sound of groaning bones as they moved under pressure. The pressure of both sides of the separated ribcage spreading apart like a blooming flower. Tokoyami had to wince as the green energy flared even brighter, now emitting a deep hum of power.
Tokoyami didn't know what was going to happen next.
So, he was thoroughly freaked out when a large skeletal hand reached from the darkness towards him.
He tried to crawl away. He tried to call for help. However, his current state is too weak for him to make any meaningful attempt to save himself.
Tokoyami feels the air in his lungs rasp against his throat as the hand grips around his body. He coughs in pain as he tries to wiggle free.
But nothing…
Nothing worked as Tokoyami was lifted from the ground.
To his ultimate horror, he's brought close to the vortex. Its color was mostly black now, with magnificent green energy pulsing around it.
His greatest fear was realized when he discovered that the mass of energy wasn't what he thought.
Looking closely, he found that he was in fact looking into an abyss.
A portal.
Tokoyami screamed with everything he had. But neither his body nor Dark Shadow had the strength left to fight.
Thus, the hand put him inside.
His screams stopped.
His struggle halted.
His efforts ceased.
The skeletal hand went in with a boy… and came back out empty.
Like a prison cell, the ribs closed back in. Both sides clacked together in a bang. The swirling mass of energy faded within Grimm's body, sealing away the abyss. As the energy dwindled back into its first stage of a tiny speck, those glaring green eyes flashed for a brief moment.
And when the speck completely died out, all that was left were the two green dots themselves.
Only one last thing to do.