Chapter 170: The Sports Festival Part 5
Tiger Claw had been confident going into this.
He'd never failed a mission before and had no intention of starting now. Regardless, of how strong his enemy was, or how well-guarded they were he'd always prevailed through some method.
But the Midoriya Foundation was another beast entirely.
The moment he got here through one of Kurogiri's portals, he was immediately confronted with two giant apes and a giant vent snake.
They weren't very tough, but it was bizarre.
Then, when he found the turtles he was tasked with getting back, guarded only by two little girls, he thought this would be easy. Now he was aware of both their quirks, but he'd already planned ways to deal with them if he had to.
Namely his gun.
But what he wasn't prepared for, was for the white-haired girl to pull out a crystal, and put up a force field.
Because who would expect that? Who would prepare for that!?
But he didn't have much time to figure out a way around it, as one of the butlers came in to fight him.
Now normally that wouldn't be a problem, except this guy was just fucking invincible apparently.
Tiger Claw let loose and a flurry of blows, at all of Tokoshi's vital points. But if they bothered Tokoshi at all, he didn't show it. As the man simply looked down at his opponent, unimpressed.
Tokoshi then raised his hand, and backhanded Tiger Claw in the side of the face, sending him flying through several walls until he ended up outside, and fell into the grass and dirt below.
"Ughhhh." Tiger Claw landed on his back and shook his head to get rid of the pain and dizziness. "Damn, that old man is far stronger than he looks. And my attacks can't even make him flinch."
As he got up, he heard something step on the grass behind him, close, about two feet away.
Tiger Claw immediately roundhouse-kicked whatever it was behind him, hitting something and knocking it back.
The Hound became visible, and its claws dug into the ground, stopping itself before it could go very far away from its target.
It opened its mouth, and let out a stream of fire heading right toward Tiger Claw.
In response, Tiger Claw jumped to the side of the house and dodged the attack, before running across the wall, getting closer to the Hound, and then leaping at it, claws first.
Tiger Claw pounced onto the Hound, grabbing it by its shoulders and biting into its neck, destroying most of it, but this was not nearly enough to stop the Hound.
The Hound grew bone around that area in its neck, locking Tiger Claw's fangs in its throat, before growing a pair of wings.
Tiger Claw's eyes went wide, and he quickly realized how dangerous the situation just became, as he and the hound lifted into the air. He dug his claws into the bone around his teeth, trying to tear away at it to free himself, but everything time he scratched it, it rapidly regenerated.
Eventually, he managed to kind of wiggle his teeth out of the Hound's neck, but just as he freed himself, the Hound started glowing.
KABOOM!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Karai looked over the Midoriya Foundation Lab, looking over it to see what methods of infiltration were available.
It seemed simple, but she knew the place had to have Grimm hidden somewhere.
Before she could make her move, however, suddenly she got a message in her earpiece.
"This is Tiger Claw, I'm retreating." Tiger Claw said, sounding absolutely pissed.
"That's unlike you, what's the cause?" Karai asked. She wasn't exactly pleased about that, but she knew if Tiger Claw was retreating there must be a good reason.
"The cause would be me exploding out of the sky and falling six stories." Tiger Claw hissed. "Not to mention this whole mission is going south. The butler is practically invincible to our attacks, and the mousers can only hold off the other one for so much longer. Not to mention some of the children have started fighting back as well."
"I see. Damn, it seems we severely underestimated Midoriya." Karai swore. "Fine, leave. I'll be on my way after inspecting the lab…and taking care of this."
Karai jumped down from the tree she was hiding in, just as a Hound dropped down, crashing through the tree on all fours.
Without hesitation, Karai charged toward the Grimm, which let out a stream of flames at her in response.
Karai jumped over the flames, and onto the Hound's back. Then, she transformed her hand, into a snake, and bit into the Grimm's back. Injecting its venom into it at a rapid pace.
However, the Hound seemed unbothered, turning its head back to face Karai, before letting out another jet of flames.
Karai managed to jump off in time, leaping into the air and landing a few yards in front of the Hound.
The Hound turned its head back at her, before looking up. "AWOOOOOOOOO!"
It's calling for help. I wanted to stick around and see if my poison eventually kicked in, but it seems like I'll just have to conclude that it doesn't. Karai thought to herself, before jumping away onto one of the trees, and attempting to flee. "The Midoriya Foundation attack is a failure, requesting immediate retrieval."
"AWOOOOOOOOO!"
Karai looked back, and saw the Hound following her, flying through the air to chase her down. How annoyingly persistent.
Fortunately, Kurogiri had already opened a portal, just a few feet in front of her, thanks to her positional locator.
Father won't be pleased about this. Karai thought, as she lept into the portal, leaving the foundation grounds, as the portal closed behind her.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
DINK! DINK! DINK! DINK!
Ochaco, Todoroki, and Bakugo sat in an ice dome, created by Todoroki, trying to catch their breaths.
Bakugo's arms were sore, Todorki was using his flames to fight off his frostbite, and Ochaco was only still standing thanks to the adrenaline. And all of them were covered head to toe in wounds.
"Where the fuck are all the other heroes!?" Bakugo shouted. "Haven't they seen the giant fucking starfish yet!?"
"The villains are likely doing something to keep them from noticing." Todoroki speculated. "Otherwise All Might would have already taken care of this."
"Which means we can't rely on outside help." Ochaco pointed out, looking rather frightened, as the ice dome cracked around them. "...I think maybe the best thing would be for one of us to go get help."
"Damn it you might be right." Bakugo begrudgingly agreed. "Round face, you get out of here, me and Icy-Hot will cover for you."
"That'd be for best, you're the fastest one here, and the one in most need of medical help." Todoroki agreed.
Ochaco wanted to argue, after all, she'd hate to leave her friends when they were under the villain's control, but she knew they were right, and arguing would only endanger them further. "Ok, when-"
SMASH!
The mind-controlled Tetsutetsu smashed through the ice, surrounded by Shishida, Sato, and Shoji.
Bakugo got ready to unleash a hell of an explosion, to blow all of them back and give room for Ochaco to escape, but before he could charge forward-
"Hey, over here!" Shouted Izuku off to the side.
The mind-controlled students looked over, and they were suddenly shot, the bullets getting lodged into the starfish on their faces, which promptly fell off.
"Huh?" The now freed students sported confused looks, as they didn't know how they got here or what just happened.
"What!?" The three students in the dome looked at the freed students in shock before Ochaco rushed out of the dome.
When she got out, she was Izuku standing on top of the dome, shooting down at the starfish on the student's faces, while some of the now freed students and heroes such as Mineta, Ibara, Death Arms, Cementoss, and Kaminari, kept him safe.
"Izuku!?" Ochaco shouted in surprise. Out of all the people she expected to come to save them, Izuku was not one of them, maybe one of his kids, but not the green-haired teen himself. Nor did she expect him to be wielding a gun.
"Ochaco!" Izuku gave the girl a look of relief and slid down the dome to meet her. "I'm so glad you're not mind-controlled. Wait, what happened to your leg!?"
"I got stabbed, but I'll be fine," Ochaco reassured him with a forced smile, but Izuku was having none of it.
Izuku then pulled a fractal from his sleeve and offered it to Ochaco. "Take this, and try using it like an extension of your quirk."
Ochaco was confused, but didn't question it, and quickly grabbed onto the crystal before doing as instructed.
Suddenly, the fractal started to glow white, and that white glow spread over Ochaco's body.
Her wounds started to close up, and she could feel the pain and fatigue quickly fade away until she was fully healed and rejuvenated in only a few seconds.
"Huh?!" Ochaco looked over her body in disbelief. "What the heck was that?"
"It's a long story, for now just focus on the fight!" Izuku told her. "Get that crystal to Kacchan and Todoroki then-agh!"
Suddenly he was shot in the side of the head by Snipe. Fortunately, his cloak stopped most of the damage, but Izuku was knocked down to the ground.
"Ah, someone needs to deal with Snipe!" Izuku ordered. "Is there anyone who can take care of him!?"
"I'll get him!" Tetsutetsu shouted. "Someone give me a boost!"
"On it!" Sato picked him up and threw Tetsutetsu toward Snipe as hard as he could, sending him flying toward the mind-controlled hero.
The mind-controlled Snipe tried to shoot Tetstutetsu out of the air, but the boy's metal body blocked every attack, and he collided with Snipe, tackling him into the wall and holding him there.
"Alright! Netsu! The sky is clear!" Izuku shouted.
"YEAH!" Netsu shouted as he jumped out of Mt. Lady's hand, and soared into the air. "Time for some fried starfish!"
Netsu started charging up his quirk, ready to unleash a massive attack at Starro.
Starro once again knew he was in trouble, but he didn't have any minions left that could stop this.
So it did the only thing it could.
Starro stretched out one of its arms, touching part of the arena, before lifting it up with its suction cup, and smashing it into Mt. Lady's face.
"Ah!" Mt. Lady fell as the piece smashed against her face, and then Starro jumped on top of her, pinning her to the ground. "Ah! Get off you stupid!"
Netsu looked down with wide eyes, and stopped his charging, knowing now if he tried to blow a hole through Starro, Mt. Lady would get caught in the blast. "Uh oh! Guys I can't fire!"
"Damn it!" Death Arms shouted, "We need to get that thing off Mt. Lady!"
Of course, that was easier said than done. No one had the power to lift something so massive off of her, and any attack that could significantly harm it would hit her as well.
"No, it's too risky!" Izuku shouted as he shot another starfish off someone. "I have another plan, we just need to hold off the people until it's done! Everyone, get ready!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Damn it!" Shinigami shouted as she threw a kunai at Gentle.
"Gentle reflect!" Gentle called out, as he bounced the kunai away, hitting some more elastic air until it was headed right back toward Shinigami.
She narrowly dodge it, but unfortunately for her, she was pretty much surrounded by invisible trampolines, that not only restricted her movement but also reflected attacks.
The kunai she dodged, bounced around her, forcing her to dodge it, again and again, it managed to actually cut her cheek before getting lodged into the ground.
I can't attack from afar, and I can't get close enough to attack. Damn it I can't win this without my quirk. Shinigami thought, before pressing down on her earpiece. "I've got a situation, I can't beat my opponent without my quirk. But I can't fight him and keep up the illusion at the same time. I'll hold out for as long as I can, but we need to hurry."
"Curses!" Karai swore. "This whole operation is going right to hell. What the hell is taking that damn mutant so long to get to those kids?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Giza casually strolled back to the room where the children were held up. Walking past what one might mistake for a massacre. The unconscious bodies of hundreds of ninjas littered the halls, so numerous that Giza had to walk on top of the bodies to get through. "It seems that Sori had some fun."
After getting a bit farther, he found Sori, sitting in the remains of…something. There were bits of flesh and guts thrown around a blood-filled hall, and Sori seemed to be trying to clean the blood off her.
"Mind explaining what this was?" Giza asked her.
"You know, I don't really know. Some kinda animal. Wasn't very strong though." Sori responded, not even looking at him. "This gem is no joke, I feel like I could fight All Might with this thing."
"I see. In that case, go assist Midoriya, I will escort the children outside." Giza told her. "I have already found an exit."
"Neet. Let's see if this is more fun." Sori smirked.
And then, she vanished, in a gust of wind, moving so fast that Giza couldn't even perceive her movement.
"Now then, I must hurry," Giza said to himself. "I have something to take care of after all."
Chapter 171: The Sports Festival Part 6
Damn this guy is annoying. Thought Stop Sight as he and Dogpound searched for Aizawa through the smoke.
This was supposed to be a simple mission. Keep Eraserhead from stopping Starro's assault, by killing him. With his quirk and Dogpound's power, this should have been simple.
But that damn knockoff ninja just had to be difficult and hide in a smoke screen. Seriously how many smoke bombs did that guy have?
"Just come out!" Dogpound demanded.
"Sure thing man!" Shouted Present Mic somewhere in the smoke.
Both their eyes widened, as they quickly realized what was about to happen, but couldn't do anything about it.
"YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Back in the arena, with more forces to work with, the uncontrolled managed to get a foothold on the battlefield.
They'd created a center, surrounded by a field of Mineta's balls and Bondo's glue, as well as a short wall of Todoroki's ice to make cover and stall anyone who came close.
Izuku was shooting at anyone who had a useful quirk, getting rid of their starfish and bringing them to their side, while Bakugo and Uraraka knocked back anyone who got close, and everyone else did their part, either fortifying their defenses, hitting back people from afar, of knocking back anyone who got too close.
"Damn it, can anyone do a thing to that fucking oversized seafood!?" Bakugo asked. "Round Face, can't you make that thing lighter or something!?"
"Not without using more power than my body could handle," Ochaco said before her eyes widened. "Wait! Izuku give me that crystal!"
Izuku nodded and threw her the fractal without question.
Ochaco clutched the fractal and took a deep breath. "Alright, here goes nothing. Full cowling, 100%!"
Pink electricity covered Ochaco's body, and her hair rose up as the power coursed through her body.
And boy did it hurt.
Ochaco could feel the power tear apart her muscles and insides, and while the fractal healed the damage quickly, it did nothing to dull the pain.
Despite this, she knew what had to be done, and dashed out of the makeshift shelter, so fast that no one could see her move.
In no time at all, she reached Starro and touched it with her fingers. The power of One for All enhanced her quirk, allowing her to make the extremely heavy Starro, completely weightless. "Mt Lady! Now! Lift it!"
Mt Lady felt the weight lessen and knew this was her chance. She pressed her hands against the ground, cracking the concrete, as she pushed against the ground to push herself up.
Slowly but surely, Mt Lady started pushing herself and Starro up, but Starro kept its grip on the ground via its suction cups.
But that wouldn't be the case for long, as Netsu saw this, and blasted its arms with fire, burning them off, and allowing Mt. Lady to spring up, freeing herself of Starro's trap.
"Get! Lost!" Mt. Lady shouted as she tossed the weightless Starro into the air, leaving it completely defenseless.
"Finally!" Netsu yelled as he rapidly charged up his quirk, using every bit of power he had, to finally put an end to this thing. Netsu's fire turn white, as he aimed his hands up at Starro. "White! Hot! Hell!"
BOOM!
A wave of white-hot fire shot out of Netsu's hands, with a deafening roar, in the form of a huge burning beam.
The last thing Starro ever saw, was white, as the beam pierced through its center like a bullet through paper.
Netsu's beam pierced the sky, putting an end to the star-shaped threat.
"Release!" Ochaco quickly deactivated her quirk, allowing the corpse to crash into the earth.
She quickly deactivated her quirk, and collapsed from the pain, drifting off into unconsciousness.
"WHOOOOOOOO! YEAH!" All the remaining fighters cheered, celebrating their victory, as all the mind-controlled people, came to a stop.
And then they started going berserk.
Suddenly every mind-controlled person started wildly flailing about, hitting anything around them, including themselves, and using their quirks wildly.
The fighters looked at the chaos with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"No…I thought taking out the main one would kill them all…but it was just keeping them in control!" Izuku shouted out in horror. "Everyone! We need to restrain as many people as possible!"
"Got it, boss!" Shouted Sori's voice from out of sight.
SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!
Suddenly, every mind-controlled person was stuck in quick succession, knocked unconscious in mere seconds.
Once again, everyone looked up in disbelief, as Sori appeared in front of Izuku, holding the chaos emerald. "Done."
"...What, the fuck." Bakugo said simply.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Giza brought all the children aside from Ken, Sansan, Mu, and Netsu, outside the stadium, easily incapacitating any mind-controlled civilians that they came across until they reached the outside of the stadium, where they found Ken, Momo, Jiro, and the rest of the civilians who had evacuated.
"Ken!" Nara immediately ran forward and hugged her brother, glad to see he was ok. "Thank goddess. I was worried you'd do something stupid and get yourself killed!"
"Pft, no way I'd get offed by an overgrown starfish," Ken said confidently.
"It is good to see you are all unharmed," Giza said, as he brought the rest of the group together. He turned his attention to Momo and Jiro. "I do hate to burden you, but could I ask you to watch over these children for a short while. There is something I must take care of."
"We're kinda on our last legs here." Jiro pointed out, as she held onto an exhausted Momo.
"I merely need you to keep your ears open," Giza said as he turned the other way. "The rest will be taken care of."
With that, Giza ran off, back towards the arena.
All while a cloaked figure watched from within the crowd of people, before turning his gaze towards the still unconscious Kiba.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Gentle and Shinigami were at a standstill.
Shinigami was in a defensive stance, while Gentle stared her down, looking for openings.
"You're far more formidable than your reputation would lead people to believe." Shinigami praised while stalling for time. "To think someone who could give me trouble in a battle would spend his days robbing small convenience stores."
"How I spend my time is of no matter to you." Gentle told her harshly. "All that matters is that you remove you're illusion and free my La-"
BOOM!
Their conversation was cut short, as Netsu had burnt a hole through Starro, killing the monster.
Shit. Shinigami thought as she looked down at Midoriya who was very much still alive. Well, that was a bust. Although.
She looked over at Gentle, who was now distracted by the death of the beast. I should be able to get away and kill Midoriya, now that I'm not being shackled by holding up that illusion.
Shinigami quickly activated her quirk. Illusion, allowing her to manipulate light in an area to project illusions over an area. She'd been using this quirk to make it appear to the people outside that the arena wasn't under attack, but now there wasn't really a point.
She made herself completely invisible while leaving a fake doppelganger to trick Gentle.
Shinigami attempted to run off the side of the arena, to jump down and make her way to Izuku, however, as she jumped off, Giza flew up, and kicked her in the jaw, knocking her back up, onto the top of the arena, and breaking her illusion.
"Gah!" Shinigami slid back, as Giza landed on the top of the arena. "You. So you finally show yourself."
"Given you were about to assassinate my benefactor, it would be inconsiderate for me not to show myself," Giza said, as he put his hands behind his back and took a relaxed stance, before looking to Gentle. "I must thank you for keeping her occupied, otherwise I may not have been able to stop her before she moved location."
"No, no. If anything you have my apologies, a gentleman should finish his own business in a timely manner. Something which I have failed to do." Gentle gave him a polite bow. "If I may, I'd like to ask you for your assistance in punishing this woman, for harming my dear LaBrava."
"Gladly, catch." Giza swiveled around, and kicked the air, hitting a cloaked Shinigami, and sending her flying toward Gentle.
Gentle made the air in front of him elastic, which Shinigami bounced off of back towards Giza.
Shinigami took out her shorts and slashed at Giza as she flew towards him, but he caught her hand stopping her slash, and threw her around and into the ground, before kicking her in the specific part of the arm, forcing her to release the blade.
Shit! I need to get away. Shinigami activated her quirk and made it appear that more Foot ninjas had run up the wall, and come to attack Giza who was keeping her pinned.
Gentle was about to rush over to help, but Giza gave him a look that told him to stop.
The illusionary soldiers struck at Giza, but of course, they did nothing but pass through him.
"You're illusions, will not work on me," Giza told her. "Your plan ends here."
STOMP!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
She was close, so, so close.
So close, and so weak. If he could just get close to her, then he could do what he came here for.
But that was a big if.
She was surrounded by her adoring fans who were currently body-blocking him from reaching her, and she had all her extremely powerful siblings around her.
He might have been able to get in a sneak attack if it weren't for that Jiro girl.
She was already giving suspicious looks in his direction, likely hearing the subtle clang of his blades under his cloak. If he acted, he knew she'd hear him, and alert the others before he could strike.
Stain was not a greedy fool like the fake heroes he slayed. He'd manage to kill quite a few fake heroes during the chaos of today's event, and he'd have to be content with that.
Kiba would be safe yet another day it seemed. But for how long?
And so ends the Sports Festival Arc.
This arc…feels a bit worse than the other villain attack arc.
That arc was more planned, whereas this one I was just flying by the seat of my pants, and some elements just feel…underwhelming to me.
Tell me your thoughts, which arc did you prefer? Please tell me and have a good day.
Chapter 172: The Foundation Strikes Back
Nezu looked over the ravaged arena with a glint of disappointment in his eyes.
Aizawa was using his quirk to remove the starfish from the reaming vitamins faces, while other heroes cleaned up the damage left behind, and escorted any civilians out.
Today was supposed to be a good day. A day where the students could show off their hard work, and gain connections within the hero world.
But instead, his students spent the day either under the control of villains or fighting for their lives. If it weren't for Midoriya, someone likely would have died.
This could not stand. Nezu would NOT take this lying down.
Mark my words. The league of villains. The Meta Liberation Army. The Foot. you will regret this one day. I swear it. Nezu thought as he walked off.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Overall, this attack had far fewer repercussions than the last one.
The house was nowhere near as damaged so in the span of merely a week, everything was good as new. No one had gotten all that injured, and most of the children seemed unaffected mentally, if not a bit shaken. Gin hadn't even noticed the attack at all, having slept through the whole thing.
The only outliers were Kiba and Nise. Kiba was mostly just upset about her being incapacitated during the entire attack, but Nise seemed…off. She seemed frustrated and a bit scared, and Fuku told her that she'd see her jump at seemingly nothing.
But that was something he would handle later, for now, he had three things that called for his immediate attention.
Namely, his guest in front of him.
Izuku sat behind his desk in his office, with Chole and Sai beside him.
And in front of him, was none other than the Prime Minister of Japan, Pura Miu.
She looked rather good for a woman at the age of 75, with only a few wrinkles on her face, and she wasn't super thin under her suit, but her age showed in her grey hair and her squinting eyes behind her glasses.
"Hello, Miss Prime Minister." Izuku greeted with a bow. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Yes, yes." Pura said dissmisivly. "Mr. Midoriya, I don't believe I need to tell you, why I'm here correct?"
Izuku sighed. "You're here about the reports you got on my Fractal and Chaos Emerald. A woman with speed that rivaled All Might holding a bright gem. And a crystal that would heal anyone who touched it, as if it were giving them a healing quirk. I can't imagine the government wouldn't be interested in that. Although, I didn't think the Prime Minister herself would be coming to greet me."
"I've already looked into what we know about Fractals and the Emerald," Pura told him. "And fired the people who dismissed Ms. Jikan when she stumbled upon the discovery of the century and failed to report this to me. But I'd now I'd like to ask you, what exactly have you been doing with that lab Mr. Midoriya?"
"A lot, and not enough," Izuku explained. "We've found out so much about chaos energy, that's what we're calling energy by the way, and yet there is still so much to be found, and so much to do. Its potential is nearly endless, and once we can find a way to produce it without relying on Mu, it'll be an absolute game changer. The Fractals are just fractions of their potential. Soon chaos energy will run the world."
"And since you control it, so will you." Pura deduced. "To think this opportunity could have been ours. But nonetheless, I trust you know what needs to happen next."
"You want access to my research, as well as the things made from it," Izuku said. "But unfortunately for you, you lack the power to simply take them, as they are all private property."
"Given you're recent unapproved use of them in public, it could be argued, we have the right to confiscate them," Pura argued/threatened.
"Incorrect. The Chaos Emerald is not, by definition, a weapon. Neither is a healing Fractal. Nor are they quirks, so there are no laws against being able to use them in public." Izuku retorted.
"But according to what little we have of Ms. Jikan's notes, quirks and fractals operate of the same energy and do very similar things. So it could be argued that they are an illegal use of quirks." Pura contended. "Not to mention the definite use of the quirks by your children during the attack."
"If you recall, Mt. Lady said that she gave permission for my children to use their quirks." Izuku reminded her. "And we have several witnesses backing this up."
"Heroes can only give permission for people to use their quirks in such a manner if those people are hero students." Pura corrected. "Which your children, are not."
"Incorrect, heroes can give permission for normal people to use their quirks, in dire situations," Izuku added. "Of course, whether or not the situation was dire and if the given permission was necessary will be later judged by the Hero Public Safety Commission, but I think myself, and the public can agree, there is no way that situation couldn't be considered dire."
"Those permissions still do not allow the use of quirks to harm others," Pura said.
"Other people. Netsu only hurt that starfish and there is no proof of any of my children having harmed a person during the attack." Izuku told her, getting frustrated at this point. "Look, you have nothing significant to use against me. So here's what we can do, we can either work together and come upon an agreement that benefits us both, or you can keep trying to get one over on me and make me angry. And I assure you, that won't do you much good."
Pura glared at Izuku. "Tch. Fine, what is it that you want?"
Izuku smiled. "Thank you. Now, as for what I want…
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was about time, Izuku decided, that the lab had a dedicated room for important meetings.
And so now he and the scientist were in one of the plain white rooms, sitting along a long rectangular table, with Izuku at the front.
Things were rather tense, as all the scene sits except John gave him nervous and somewhat sympathetic looks.
"Now." Izuku started. "I'm sure all of you can figure out to some extent, why we are here."
"Guessing it has to do with the massive attack that just happened." John, as opposed to everything, didn't seem too concerned. He was still taking everything seriously, but he was far more relaxed."
"That's right." Izuku nodded, before taking a brief pause. "Now…before this, I was willing to just do everything I could, to keep my family safe…but this has shown me, that that is not enough. They won't let us be. They will take EVERY opportunity to attack us, no matter who gets hurt. And they will make our lives, miserable…So long as my enemies remain free, my children won't be able to leave the grounds of the foundation, without risk of something like this happening. This is unacceptable. This can NOT be allowed. And so, I can't stop at just defending us anymore. I need to attack. I need to CRUSH my enemies if I want my children to be safe. And so that's exactly, what we're going to do."
It was then, that Izuku took two things out of his pocket, a quirk-erasing bullet, and a vial of blood.
"The best way to defeat your enemies, and defend yourself, is to amass power." Izuku continued, putting the bullet down on the table, and lifting up the vial. "What I have here, is power. Unrefined, absolute, power. This is Eri's blood. As you all know, Eri's quirk allows her to return things to a previous state. In whatever way that entails. She could erase your memories, heal your wounds, turn into a child, and erase you entirely. And even revert a person back to an evolutionary state, before humans developed quirks. Which is why her blood is a key ingredient to making this quirk-erasing formula It's also the key to our plans."
"Sir…do you want to…mass produces this formula?" Mai asked, looking very unsure of this concept.
"Not quite." Izuku shook his head. "While I would like to have some quirk-erasing bullets on hand, the quirk-erasing formula is not a key part of my plan."
"And what exactly, is this plan sir?" Dr. Hikari asked.
Izuku took a deep breath and got ready to explain. "First, we need to find a way to replicate the effects of Eri's blood, without actually having to use Eri's blood. This will make Eri's life, significantly easier, and allow us to move onto step two, using that to create a drug that can cure nearly anything."
Everyone's eyes went wide at what Izuku just suggested, as the implications of what such a drug could do and the effect it could have on the world would be enormous.
"I'm not a scientist, but this should be possible correct?" Izuku asked them before he continued. "If all quirks come from chaos energy, and if we can produce a way to create chaos energy, then we should be able to create the effects of her blood, and that should allow us to create the cure-all. Right."
The room went silent, as everyone started to calculate the plausibility of this in their heads.
"Well…we have developed a blueprint for something that can produce chaos energy, so if we can find a way to turn that pure chaos energy, into something like Eri's unique chaos energy, then we should be able to create something that could replace her blood as an ingredient," Mai explained. "And if we can do that, then in theory we could create this cure-all."
"So it's possible?" Izuku asked them.
"As far as we know," John spoke up. "There's still a lot of big ifs in the picture, but it doesn't sound impossible."
"But if it is possible, we're talking about something that could change the world as we know it." Uchi pointed up.
"Yeah, the entire drug and medical world would be turned on its head. And who knows how many businesses would go bankrupt." Futaba pointed out. "And even more people lose their jobs."
Izuku nodded solemnly. "I know…and I have a plan for that too. It's not perfect, but it's the best I can think of at the moment. At the very least it will save millions if not billions of lives."
"That is true, but that does worsen the problem of overpopulation." Dr. Hikari brought up. "Not that I'm in any way opposed to saving all those people, it's just, that's another issue we'll have to worry about. Not to mention, how exactly are we going to distribute this drug across the world? As much as I would love to simply give it away, at the end of the day we at least need enough money for this project to sustain itself. And if we charge for it, then there's no guarantee that everyone who needs it will get it."
"Not much I can do about that, but either way, we're going through with this," Izuku said. "So, after we produce this drug, obviously we won't have to worry about money anytime soon, not to mention this also allows me to gain favor with the public, which opens up plenty of doors for us. And as for all the people who will end up employed, well the only solution for that is to hire them myself. Some of them will be responsible for mass-producing the drug, but most of them will go into my other big project. Involving project seed. If we can produce chaos energy reliably, then we can grow products that are unlike anything else. And do things unlike anyone else. What those things are will depend on what we can grow, but no matter what happens, I don't think I need to tell you just how much we can make with this."
"Combing this with the drug, you could be the richest man on the planet." Futaba whistled. "Boss, what are you planning to do with all this money and power?"
"A few things. Firstly, as Dr. Hikari pointed out, not everyone will get access to this drug. Particularly places without free healthcare, like America." Izuku's expression shifted into that of disgust for a moment. "And much as hate it, I can take advantage of that. While I can't give the drug out to everyone that needs it, I can give it to a few…useful individuals. People who will be extremely grateful, for my help."
Everyone looked a bit uneasy at that.
"Well, it's not like we can fix that problem either way, so might as well take advantage of it I guess." John shrugged. "That's just the way it is, some people will always be unlucky."
"You got that right," Futaba said, looking rather dismayed.
"Alright, now that I've told you the plan, here is what we're going to do," Izuku said, sifting to his final point. "First things first, we have to focus on creating chaos energy. Once we do that, I want your focus to be on creating that blood substitute, and finding out if the cure-all is plausible. But don't start development of it until I tell you too. Once I have confirmation, I'm going to ask various other parties to pitch in on funding this research. With something like this, people will be tripping over themselves to have their names attached to this. The good P.R. they'll get will offset any money they may have actually put into the project. So not only will I get to save some money, they'll be in my debt."
"Huh, that's actually pretty clever." Mai pointed out.
"Bara, keep focusing on project seed, I want you to experiment with as many different kinds of plants as possible," Izuku told Uchi before looking over to Futaba. "Akira, I heard you were experimenting with making portals into other dimensions."
"Um, kinda? It's mostly making a portal into the cognitive world." Futaba explained.
"I see, do you think that sort of research could help us learn more about portals, and warp quirks in general, and maybe how to stop them?" Izuku asked.
"Well that's not really my area of expertise, but probably," Futaba answered with a shrug. "To be honest, I'm kinda stumped on certain parts of the project, maybe we could bring in someone who specializes in wormholes or something."
"Noted." Izuku nodded. "I want to find some way to stop villains from warping into the facility."
"That's gonna be a tough one," Futaba muttered.
"I would also like to drastically increase the personnel working around here," Izuku said. "As of now, we have far too many scientists working on our various projects, forcing us to pick and choose a select few projects to work on at a time. It limits us by quite a bit. Find people you can trust, in any way you can."
It was then that everyone started to consider how to do this. Colleges, students, old friends, there were a few options if they went out of their way.
"Another thing, I need you to find a way to extend the range in which Yami can absorb negative emotions," Izuku asked. "Since he can't go outside, he can't absorb as much energy, this is a big issue for obvious reasons."
"So you want us to create some kind of emotion vacuum or amplifier?" Futaba mused. "Yeah, we're definitely going to need to increase our work staff for all this."
"I'm sorry for asking so much of you," Izuku said. "But it's all necessary to protect the future of my kids."
"We understand sir, and it's the least we can do for all you've done for us," Mai reassured him. "We will do our best, sir."
"One last thing, and again I'm sorry for asking a lot." Izuku then reached into his sleeve, and pulled out a jar, containing one of the starfish from back at the arena. "I'd like you to analyze this."
"Isn't that one of the things that attacked the Sports Festival?" John asked. "Is it ok for you to have that?"
"It is now," Izuku told them, before taking out his phone to look at the time. "Oh, sorry, I have to be somewhere to be soon."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"So then, everything is in place."
Nezu and Izuku were currently in the private room, of a very high-class restaurant, enjoying some steaks and salads.
"Once everything is finished, I'll have the power to do whatever I want," Izuku said, not liking how sinister that sounded. "And enough money to buy a country."
"Good, good. I always knew you had incredible potential Mr. Midoriya." Nezu praised. "Combine that with your, peculiar luck, and you have something truly special. So long as the right people help out along the way. Now, let's celebrate, our plan to destroy the Foot, The M.L.A., and the League of Villains."
Izuku gave his food a sad, longing look, and sighed. "I don't get it. Why does nothing ever go the way I want, when all I want to do is help people? I wanted to be a hero, and I ended up quirkless. I want to quietly raise children and mind my own business, suddenly powerful organizations are coming out of the woodwork to try and kill me. I just…"
The green teen looked at his reflection in his glass. Aunt Mitsuki was wrong. I have changed a lot. I don't think I've ever felt this angry before.
He shook his head. "Sorry, I'm just-"
"It's ok to be dissatisfied," Nezu assured him. "Being cruel is not in your nature. Unfortunately, if you want to do anything of note in this world, good or bad, cruelty, is required."
Izuku looked deeper into his reflection, noting the malicious look in his eyes. "I know. Don't worry, I won't let it stop me. Anything that tries to ruin my children's future, must be destroyed."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Damn it! This was nothing but a miserable failure!" ReDestro shouted over a video call with All for One and Karai.
"Oh, you think so?" All for One asked, seeming unbothered. "I'd say that while things didn't go the way we wanted exactly, we got some rather decent results."
"Indeed, we took some losses, but so did Midoriya." Karai agreed, looking a bit miffed but not nearly as furious as ReDestro. "Although now I will have to go through the trouble of freeing Shinigami."
"What are you two talking about?" ReDestro barked.
All for One sighed. "Come now, are truly so blinded by your own fury, that you don't see that we made Midoriya show his hand."
"Those crystals, they possessed an unbelievable power, one that we were not prepared to face," Karai said. "We cannot face Midoriya head-on, that much is clear. First, we must acquire information about those crystals, and how we can acquire them. Until then, attacking Midoriya is a suicide, especially now that the heroes are angrier than ever, and will be looking for any clue they can find on us. I'd recommend keeping your head low. Because if we're dragged into the light, then that will be, our end."
Chapter 173: Intake
Hey, Futaba here.
So there was this big attack that happened recently, and the boss is NOT happy. Like he's a really nice guy so it's not like he was being a jerk or doing anything bad, but he's REALLY on edge. And now none of his kids are allowed off the grounds.
But he still wants Yami to absorb negative emotions, so he wants us to find a way to do that.
So the first thing we gotta do is figure out exactly how his quirk works.
For this, we've put Yami in an observation chamber for a night. This chamber is equipped with chaos energy monitors, so we'll be able to tell exactly when and how Yami gains more chaos energy.
And now…we wait. Oh yeah forgot to mention, since he needs someone to absorb negative emotions from, I'll be sleeping on the floor in front of his chamber…oh what I do for science.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Geeze, talk about back-breaking efforts.
I can't wait to go home and get a massage from Ren. Feels like I'm walking around with a bag of rocks on my back!
Ugh, anyway, the results of this test were, pretty helpful.
So, I saw the chaos energy flowing in from his heart, into a special organ in his stomach, which seems to store the black chaos energy. Note that I say store, not convert or create.
The negative emotions seem to get converted into power by something else inside him, around or inside his heart to be specific.
So that means I need to get a look inside his heart. Yeah, the boss is gonna love this.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ok, thankfully, we managed to get a good look at the inside of his heart, without dissecting him.
The answer? Nanomachines son! Oh, I'm so happy I had a legit reason to say that. Tick that off the bucket list.
Anyway, we put some nanomachines into his water and had them circulate throughout his body, giving us a good look at his insides…don't take that out of context.
So, we managed to get a good look at the process, Yami's quirk goes through to give him energy.
It's hard to trace, but it seems negative emotions are absorbed into the skin and seep through his blood vessels into his heart, where they are then made physical, and fused with chaos energy. Which then goes into his stomach organ.
As much as I'd love to focus on the process of turning emotions into physical energy, right now I need to focus on his skin.
Now, after taking a small skin sample, I can see that the chaos energy clinging to Yami's body, is a bit different from the chaos energy found in his Grimm. I think this chaos energy might be able to attract negative energy.
I think the best way to test this, would be using the Chaos Emerald.
I'm just gonna hand it to him, and see what happens. If there's any difference in his chaos energy absorption rate.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ok, there was a difference alright.
So Yami's negative energy intake just exploded. Not only did his absorption radius increase, but so did the number of negative emotions he absorbed from a person.
In short, he absorbed all the negative feelings and emotions from our bodies, actually getting rid of them, and putting everyone in the lab in a state of… euphoria.
Let's just say I'm glad I work with good people, otherwise some shenanigans would have occurred.
Anyway! Back to the experiment. During the test, the chaos energy on Yami's skin, expanded into some kind of invisible field, massively extending the range in which negativity was absorbed.
Given how far the normal radius for Yami's absorption reaches, this field likely allowed him to absorb negativity from the edge of the city, even while still in the lab.
Fortunately, it seems like the uh… unexpected fun time, only happened to us in the lab. Although the people at the main building did report feeling a bit lighter, emotionally that is.
So it seems that my goal is going to be, finding a way to expand Yami's chaos energy, and negativity absorption field, without giving everyone nearby a happy ending.
Mai knows more about chaos energy than I do, so I'm gonna ask her for a little bit of help here.
Project Contamination
This is Mairu Jikan, reporting on Project Contamination.
The point of this project is to find a way to convert pure chaos energy, into what we're calling, impure chaos energy.
To explain, impure chaos energy is chaos energy that's somehow become more defined than normal chaos energy, through exposure to other elements. Pretty much everyone possesses impure chaos energy, whereas Gin is the only one to have pure chaos energy. Impure chaos energy is what allows us all to use the unique abilities known as quirks.
Now chaos energy is very volatile, and it's actually hard to keep pure. Simply exposing it to the air can cause it to become somewhat impure, which is why Fractals are different from Chaos Emeralds. Fractals aren't able to contain and insolate chaos energy, as well as Chaos Emeralds, so their energy becomes impure, limiting their abilities, while Chaos Emeralds, are just pure power.
So then, how do we control this corruption, in order to replicate different kinds of chaos energy?
Well, quirks are somewhat hereditary, so my guess is that D.N.A. can heavily affect chaos energy.
So, what if instead of exposing a fractal to air while it's being filled with pure chaos energy, we filled it with something containing D.N.A?
And so I have three samples. One fractal will be splashed with a bit of Yami Midoriya's blood, another will be slathered in his saliva, and the last will be in a tank of his urine.
I'll wait until the fractals are full, and see what happens.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ok, so they're were three results, all of which were successful on their own.
They all managed to obtain Yami's chaos energy, but varying degrees of power.
I had Futaba test all three, and it seems that the urine Fractal has the lowest absorption radius, while the blood Fractal had the highest. Although the blood Fractal still had a smaller radius and weaker pull than Yami himself. This is actually a good thing because it means that Yami can absorb negative emotions by just getting close to the fractal.
Anyway, I'm going to call this project a success.
Project Intake Continued
Alrighty then, so it took a bit of time and a lot of help, but I managed to find a way to make this negativity absorption machine.
Firstly, we need to place several machines around the city, with the explicit purpose of absorbing negative energy. These machines will make use of a Fractal to absorb negativity around them, as well as other Fractals to amplify its power.
These machines will all be connected, to one massive crystal, which will suck up negative energy from all the other fractals, via tubes. Focusing it all on the chaos energy that the Fractals collect, into one, larger Fractal, which Yami will then pull from whenever he likes.
Although it'll take a lot of time to actually make any of this. Just getting that many fractals charged full of energy is gonna take weeks, not to mention how long it'll take to build everything.
But hey, what can ya do. I did everything I could, I just gotta wait for everything to get set up now.
Project Starfish
Hey there, Professor John Hada here, with a rather… interesting side project.
While I was waiting for the chaos engine prototype to start its growth, I decided to do some analysis on that starfish thing Mr. Midoriya brought, and boy was it strange, to say the least.
First, of all, its D.N.A. is all over the damn place. I obviously found some starfish D.N.A., but its D.N.A. belonged to humans. And I'm not suggesting this thing is some kind of hybrid, rather, it's like some kind of mish-mash of different creatures all forced together.
What's even weirder, is that once I got a tissue sample, I noticed it was entirely made of dead tissue. Despite it obviously being alive.
It's like a little Frankenstein's monster. Both are fascinating and utterly disturbing.
I tried finding the sources for all the different D.N.A. samples, but I got no luck. It's all too deformed for me to get a good idea of where it came from.
My only guess as to how this thing was made, was someone mashed up a bunch of dead bodies and revived them somehow. No idea how though. As I said, fascinating, but disturbing.
Putting that aside, I decided to do some behavior studies, as well as get some brainwave samples.
And honestly, it acted a lot like a toddler.
No, I'm serious, it never showed any signs of anger, or malicious intent like you'd expect, instead, it just seemed, curious. And its brainwaves are very similar to what you expect from a young child, between the ages of 1 and 3.
Anyway, I'm gonna keep it under watch for a while.
Oh, and I should probably give it a name.
I heard that the villains called this thing Starro, so I'll call this thing Jarro.
Chapter 174: Life Goes On
Izuku woke up like he did every day before the sun rose.
And just like every day, he got to play the game of, sneaking away from the children clinging to him like a liferaft.
Today he got to extract himself from the combined hug of Kioku and Nise. Easy work.
Kioku was a sound sleeper, at least she was when she was with Izuku, by herself she tended to have nightmares, and as such was more easily woken up. Which was also the reason she often slept, with Izuku.
Nise on the other hand was a bit more…difficult. She'd always been jumpy, as one could expect from a person who didn't know who they were and didn't have many people they could trust, but after the attack, she'd be even jumpier than usual. But Izuku could manage.
Quietly and very slowly, Izuku moved himself out of their grasp, and stood up, before putting the blanket over the two girls.
Izuku did some stretches, before getting dressed. Alright, time to start my day.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Izuku and Fuku were hard at work in the kitchen. Fuku was working on biscuits while Izuku made some bacon and eggs.
The teen dad looked over at Fuku, as she pulled out the finished biscuits from the oven, and smiled. "I'm so proud of you."
"H-Huh?" Fuku froze, and she nearly dropped the tray of biscuits, as her face went as red as a tomato. "W-where did that come from."
Izuku chuckled and smiled fondly at her. "Sorry, sorry. It's just…look at you. Back when you first arrived, you refused to even step foot out of your room. And now, you're helping me make breakfast for your friends. I'm just…I'm really happy seeing you like this."
Fuku's face somehow got even redder, as she started mumbling incoherently for a while, before eventually spitting out a "Thank you…"
Izuku's smile widened. "It's my pleasure."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SLAM!
"Agh!" Izuku grunted, as he was thrown to the ground, Giza holding his arm while his foot was planted firmly on his back.
Izuku was not a combatant, yet despite that, he often found himself in combat somehow. As such, remaining inexperienced, and powerless, would not stand, at least not for him. Sure there was Shina and the Fractals, but not only did he not always have the luxury of those methods, but both of them only lasted so long. And so he decided he would spend some of his free time, training with Giza.
"Midoriya…do you know what your main issue is. Not just in fighting but in general?" Giza asked him rhetorically. "It is that you are far too eager. You lack any sort of patience. That attack was far too unbalanced. Distributing that much of your weight into an attack when you have no guarantee that your blow will even land, is simply unwise. You must show more patience, and restrain. Especially as your lack of quirk, will leave you lacking both defensively and offensively."
Izuku sighed. Always his quirklessness. But he was right. "I get it. I'm sorry."
"Do not be sorry. Be better. After this session you and I will be practicing breathing techniques, that should aid you in claiming yourself during battle." Giza told him, before getting off of him, and helping him to his feet. "But now I believe it is time we discussed the matter of your weapon."
Another thing Izuku decided, was that he needed a weapon, one aside from his quirk-removing gun, because might not always be effective at close range, and he didn't want to have to use it as a first resort.
But since he had little experience with combat and weapons, he decided to leave it to Giza to find the best weapon for him.
Giza put his hand up his sleeve. "I asked the fine people from the laboratory, to make this for you."
He then pulled out a metal cylinder, covered green grip, and handed it to Izuku, who looked at it confused.
"And…this is?" Izuku looked at it, wondering what kind of weapon this was exactly.
"Try gripping it as you would a weapon, to be used in battle," Giza told him.
Izuku held the thing out, not knowing what might happen, and clenched the grip tightly.
SHING!
Suddenly the cylinder extended, into a long metal bo-staff.
"A…bo-staff?" Izuku relaxed his grip and the pole retreated back into the grip.
"It's lightweight, and easy to move around with. And you'll be able to take it with you anywhere you like. And it's a good tool for mobility, and keeping your foes at a distance, two things you should be prioritizing." Giza explained. "And, it's a weapon that requires patience, good timing, and mastery of weight distribution. All things you need to focus on most."
"That all sounds great." Izuku looked at the weapon considering what Giza had told him. "But how effective is it at causing damage? Not that I'm out to hurt people, but I probably need to at least a little if I'm using it."
"Here, let me demonstrate." Giza held out his hand, and Izuku gave it to him.
SLAP!
"Ow!" Izuku cried as Giza slapped him across the face, before taking two steps back. "What was-"
BONK!
"AGH!" Izuku fell face-first onto the hard metal floor after Giza smacked him across the face with the staff.
"Tell me, how much damage do you think that did?" Giza asked him, with a smirk on his face.
"Point taken." Izuku groaned as he rubbed his jaw and pulled himself up. "Alright, let's get training then."
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Ugh, nothing good is on," Yaba said as she and her sisters sat in their room, trying to watch TV.
Ji turned off the T.V. and looked at her more aggressive sister. "So what do you wanna do?"
"I don't know." Yaba sighed. "Maybe spar with someone."
"But we've been sparing a lot." Inu protested. "I don't really wanna fight anymore."
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
"Come in!" Said all three girls at once.
Izuku entered the room, and after a quick look, he could figure out the situation quickly. "Hey, girls, board?"
"Yup," Ji responded casually.
"None of us can figure out what to do." Yaba sighed. "Hey bro, you got any idea?"
"Hmmm." Izuku started thinking.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"YEAHHHHHHHHH!" Yaba shouted, as skidded across the water on skies, alongside her three siblings. "This is amazing!"
The Midoriya siblings were being pulled by a cord they were holding, which was attached to a harness on a Sea-Feilong, which was swinging at full speed through one of the larger lakes.
"Faster! I wanna see how fast it can go!" Ji cheered.
Inu just giggled as she felt the water splash on her, refreshing her after walking here in the hot sun.
Well, I don't think young me would have thought of this, but this works. Izuku thought, enjoying the ride as adrenalin ran through his veins, and a smile crawled onto his face.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Once again, Izuku and the scientific division, met in the meeting room, for a discussion.
"Progress?" Izuku asked simply.
"Sir, I've completed the research for project Intake." Futaba started, handing Izuku a file filled with plans for the machine that would feed, Yami negative energy from all over the city. "All that's needed now is to build this machine and we'll be ready to go. That and also we have to charge all the Fractals we'll need."
"Well, that might not take as long as you think. Because we're already experimenting with something special." Hada said as he slid Izuku another file.
Izuku looked in the file and saw a drawing of what looked like a weird egg. Parts of it seemed fleshy, while others seemed to be made of wood, and its center glowed so brightly it was like looking at a small star but up close. "And this is."
"It's the fruits of project chaos control," Mai explained. "The chaos engine. An organic chaos battery, that'll produce chaos energy more efficiently than any human, plant, or animal. And will allow us to get pure chaos energy without Gin's quirk."
"It's currently growing, but we should have one ready to use by the end of the month," Uchi explained.
"Very good. Much faster than expected." Izuku praised. "Soon we'll be able to create that cure-all."
"Um, actually sir, there is an issue." Mai then pulled out a vial. "We already did."
"Really?" Izuku's eyes went wide, as Mai handed him another file, this one for project contamination. After figuring out how to control Fractal contamination, Mai's next issue was figuring out how to implement this into a formula. So she experimented a bit, and eventually, she was able to create a new type of fractal, one that would melt after becoming full. Normally not desirable, but that meant she could use that liquid, for the formula. However-
"But, there is an issue." Mai sighed. "The chaos energy from Eri Fractal is not as potent as Eri herself. And the energy from a melted fractal is even less powerful. Don't get me wrong, this can already act as a cure for millions of different ailments, including some lower stages of cancer, and would make us a huge amount of income, but it's close to being the cure-all we want to be yet."
"I see." Izuku took on a thoughtful expression. "That might not be a terrible thing. If we can make various different cures of different qualities, that means we'll be able to price some of them lower and sell them to people who have lower incomes. It won't fix our problem entirely, but it will help. But I will need you to see if you can increase the potency."
"Working on it sir. It's second priority right after the chaos engine." Mai responded.
"And you said that you could create fractals with specific powers?" Izuku asked. "If that's the case, then there's something I need."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Oh, here it comes!" Izuku was now sitting on the couch with Aka and Netsu, watching the news showing Blue Blurr fighting a villain.
Blue Blurr had run off, building speed to perform his finishing attack.
"SONIC BOOM!" Shouted Blue Blurr, as well as Izuku, Aka, and Netsu at home, as Blue Blurr, drop-kicked into the villain so bast, it created a boom as air exploded from the epicenter.
"So cool!" Netsu cheered.
"Amazing! That villain won't be able to eat for days!" Aka added gleefully, before turning to Izuku. "How did he do that much damage?"
"Oh well, it's simple. Blue Blurr's quirk doesn't just let him go fast, it also creates a little protective shield around him while he's running. It doesn't do much against attacks but absorbs all the friction and wind pressure that goes up against him whenever he runs. And he can release all that energy, whenever he wants. Letting him do stuff like that." Izuku explained. It's been forever since I did this. Feels better than it used to.
"How fast can he go!?" Netsu asked.
"No one really knows, he keeps it a secret." Izuku shrugged. "But we've him go faster than sound before, so I can only imagine how fast his top speed is."
"Amazing!" Netsu shouted, getting fired up, literally. "Do you think I could go that fast?"
Izuku gave him a sympathetic, sad smile. "Sorry, you might be able to, but your body wouldn't be able to take the wind pressure."
"Awww." Netsu instantly became less ecstatic, as his fire dimmed slightly.
"Don't feel too bad, there's lots of stuff you can do that others can't," Izuku reassured him. "And you can still go really fast. Not many people can keep up with Kiba in a race."
"Your right! Thanks, dad!" Netsu instantly perked up. "Bet Blue Blurr can't set a whole forest on fire."
"Y-Yeah." Izuku stuttered not sure what to say to that. "I'm sure he can't…please don't set the forest on fire."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Geeze, I swear this thing gets torn up so much it's ridiculous." Izuku was now in Kiba's room, fixing up her cloak.
"Sorry Caretaker," Kiba said, twiddling her thumbs apologetically.
"It's fine, seeing your cloak as this tells me how active you've been. And that makes me happy." Izuku assured her. "Better to use something than try to keep it in perfect condition forever, and never end up using it. Then it might as well be useless."
"It wouldn't be useless," Kiba muttered with a pout.
"And besides, no matter how much it gets tattered and torn, I'll always be here to fix it up," Izuku said as he finished up the repairs, and placed the cloak over Kiba.
"...Always." Suddenly Kiba gained a worried and slightly fearful expression, and Izuku quickly regretted his choice of words, as he knew exactly why she was like this.
"It's not your fault Kiba, you got sick, there was nothing you could have done," Izuku reassured her, knowing she was still upset about being a liability during the Sports Festival attack.
"I could have been more healthy," Kiba argued.
"You're already being pretty healthy. You even eat your greens, like a good girl." Izuku said, giving her a pat on the head, and a heartwarming smile. "You exercise every day, and don't eat too much candy. Sure you spar a lot, but that's not what made you sick. It just happens sometimes."
"I guess." Kiba sighed, before shaking her head to get herself back in high spirits. "Don't worry dadd-I mean Caretaker, I swear I won't get sick for many more years! Illness will not weaken me!"
Izuku laughed. "I hope you keep that promise."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Alice was currently working hard in the library, once again trying her hardest to master Japanese.
"Hello, Alice!" Izuku greeted as he came into the library, holding something behind his back.
"Mr. Midoriya!" Alice greeted in English.
"Just wanted to check on you. It must have been scary, being attacked like that in a foreign land, after coming here for safety." Izuku said with a sigh. "I wish I could have checked up on you sooner, but I was busy. So, are you ok?"
"I'm ok Mr. Midoirya, it was scary, but Ms. Sori was really cool! She beat up the bad guys so fast we couldn't even see her!" Alice exclaimed, still remembering how amazing Sori was that day thanks to the Chaos Emerald.
"Good, good. I'd hate it if you thought Japan was scary after that." Izuku smiled. "Also I got you a gift."
Izuku then pulled out a rather strange-looking brown hat, with a fake Sakura tree on the top, and roots going down the side. "I heard you liked weird hats, so I got you one."
Alice gasped. "It's perfect! Thank you Mr. Midoriya! I'll add it to my collection."
"Great! I'm glad that you like it!" Izuku said happily. "Rember if you see any hats you like, or anything else, within reason, just ask me."
"Ok…um…Mr. Midoriya…why are you so nice to us?" Alice asked innocently. "You let me and mommy live here and get away from the bad men who were after me, and you're always doing nice things for us. I'm really happy, but…why?"
Izuku smiled down at her and patted her on the head. "I just love, making people happy. The same way you feel when you get a new hat, I feel when I make people smile."
"Ohhh. That's cool." Alice said, looking up at him in amazement.
"I think so too," Izuku responded happily.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Ahhhhh." Izuku sat back in his chair, after finishing a stack of paperwork, as the sun set behind him.
"You seemed to be in a pretty good mood today sir, all things considered," Chole noted as she did her own load of paperwork. "All things considered, I thought you'd be a bit sourer, considering everything that happened."
"Well, I can't be negative all the time, it's bad for the kids," Izuku explained. "Plus, Amai's candies help."
"Fair enough, just be careful with those sir." Chole reminded.
"I will, thank you for your concern." Izuku praised. "Oh, and get ready. The paperwork for the farm is going to be here soon, and there is a LOT of it."
"...Paperwork for the what?
Chapter 175: Setting Up the Board
The lab had gotten far livelier in the past month, which could be seen as Izuku walked through the front door.
Many more scientists, employed by the already employed scientist, scurried about, talking, jotting notes, and doing calculations.
Of course, many of them were looking at him. It'd be hard not to pay attention when you're boss walks in the room.
And the boss is a teenager wearing an evil-looking cloak oozing darkness.
But he ignored all of them, except for the two people he came to see, Dr. Hikari, Mai, and Uchi, who were all standing in the center of the lab.
"Hello everyone, I trust you all prepared what I asked you for?" Izuku asked.
"Yes sir, right this way," Mai said, as she guided Izuku deeper into the facility.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The four of them arrived in a test chamber, where they met with Professor Hada at a table behind him.
"Yo! Nice to see ya, boss." Hada greeted.
"The feeling is mutual, now if you kindly show me what I came to see," Izuku respond.
"Sure thing." Hada moved aside, giving a clear view of the table, on it was a stick, a huge dumbbell, and a circular metal device with a fractal inside. "Let's start with the twig."
"Right." Uchi moved over to the table and picked up the stick. "As I told you During my investigation of plants' abilities when infused with chaos energy, I came across this apple tree with very peculiar properties. The apples literally weighed a ton, however, this was only noticeable when the apples were plucked from the tree. After further study, it appears these branches have a kind of anti-gravity effect, in that they can literally support anything."
To prove her point, Uchi put the stick under the handle of the massive dumbbell and proceeded to lift it with no issue. The branch, no bigger than a ruler, lifted the entire thing without any sign of strain, and Uchi, whose arms were only slightly thicker than that stick, also didn't seem to have any struggle.
"Of course, it does have to have something keeping it up, but so long as it can carry a stick, whatever is fine," Uchi said, as she held the stick, and the dumbbell up with her finger.
"Fantastic." Izuku looked very pleased, as he could already see his plan coming together. "And what about the device."
"Well, as you know, machines, while they could access the raw energy of a Fractal, could not utilize their unique properties. Their quirks rather." Dr. Hikari explained as he came over, and picked up the device. "However, the metal from those cacti is not technically metal at all. But rather, an organic plant issue, similar to that of metal. So with a bit of help from , we were able to make a deceive that's able to make use of the Fractal's unique energy."
"In other words." Mai went over and pressed a button on the machine, causing the Fractal inside of it to glow for a second, before the entire device turned invisible.
"Amazing." Izuku looked at the now invisible device. "Good, good. I am very pleased. And, what about the Fractal enhancer?"
"Still working on that. We have an idea, but it's going to take some time." Mai explained apologetically, causing Izuku to frown a bit.
"How much more time?" Izuku asked.
"About a month, month, and a half?" Mai sighed. "I'm sorry sir, but we have to make sure we do everything in our power to make it so things don't get explody."
"Understandable." Izuku nodded with a frown. "Take the time you need. But do put this project on the priority list."
"Right." Mai nodded.
"Now, I believe you wanted to show me the finished Chaos Engine." Izuku reminded them, causing everyone's eyes to perk up.
"Yes sir! Come this way." Mai said as she started leading them to another room.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Quickly they reached another room, and immediately the Chaos Engine was the first thing they saw.
Floating in a glass tube, was a half-fleshy, half-plant-like egg, covered in skin and bark, giving off a glow that could be seen from even behind its exterior.
Flesh/root-like tendrils spewed out of the top and bottom of the egg, pulsing as they pumped something that gave off the same glow.
"Behold! The pinnacle of bioengineering! The Chaos Engine!" Dr. Hada introduced grandly, as they all walked over to the device. "This beautiful work of art can produce chaos energy, at the same rate as Gin. Except since we can make multiple of them, the rate at which we can produce chaos energy has skyrocketed."
"It only takes us about a month to make an engine, and we can produce multiple, simultaneously," Mai explained. "Soon our lack of energy will be a thing of the past sir."
Izuku clapped. "Wonderful. Fantastic work everyone! I knew all this would pay off…Now, I have something I need all of you to build for me."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"It'll take a month, maybe a little more," Izuku said into the phone. He was back in his office, alone, on the phone with none other than Nezu. "My scientist has already finished most of the research needed to make it, I have faith they won't make me wait much longer."
"Good, I have to say your idea was rather…creative," Nezu responded. "Not something I would have thought of, although I suppose that's a good thing considering what we're doing."
"Have you done everything on your end?" Izuku asked.
"Everything is ready, once I give the word, they'll all be gathered together," Nezu answered. "I have to say, I'm quite surprised you came up with such an idea, considering your love of heroes."
"I don;t think I would have if not for Giza's report about the Gentle Criminal," Izuku explained. "But afterward I couldn't help but think about the potential…even if I'm not a huge fan of doing something so… blatantly illegal."
"We're here to upload the spirit of the law, not the letter," Nezu argued. "And is it really all that illegal if it's government approved?"
"I'm fairly certain it's still illegal, but that does ease my mind a bit," Izuku said. "Oh, and there is something else I would like to add to the plan."
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
"Dad, I have what you asked for," Yami said on the opposite side of the door.
Izuku smiled. "And there it is, I'll tell you the details later. Goodbye."
"Have a good day Mr. Midoriya," Nezu said before the call ended.
"Come in," Izuku signaled,
Yami opened the door,, and Izuku was thrilled to see that in his hand, was a black and white, Grimm spider.
"Oh Yami, What a gift you are." Izuku praised.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
In Ken's room, the game development team had met up again, to discuss a very important matter.
The release of their game.
"Ugh! The stupid villains! Now we be able to sell the game with the help of the festival!" Ken complained loudly.
"That is a problem, but at the very least, people who were looking to see what 1A could do, have all come to watch Kiba's channel, so it's not all bad," Fu explained. "And Kiba's got a lot more subscribers now, which is pretty good."
"We have a lot of preorders, so we already know it's going to sell well," Mu said from the closet.
"Enough about sales, what are we gonna do for the release?" Amai asked over a video call. As Izuku deemed it too dangerous for her to be coming in and out of the foundation for the time being. "We have to do something special, it's our first game after! We need to show the fans that we care about them."
"How about we add a bonus game?" Ken suggested casually, causing everyone to give him confused looks, except Amai.
"Oh yeah, that thing," Amai remembered. "I almost forgot we made that."
"Wait, did you two make a game while we were…making a game?" Shiruku asked.
"Yeah, we just made a little fighting game with Ken's transformations," Amai said casually. "We did it while we were waiting for you guys to give us more stuff to work with. It's not much, but I'd say it'd be a pretty good bonus."
"Anyone disagrees?" Fu asked the room, getting a responding no from everyone. "Alright, then all we have to do is finish the game. Is everyone done?"
Everyone nodded except Fuku, who blushed with embarrassment. "I still need to make some final edits on the story. But I'm almost done! Just give me a couple more days."
"It's fine, you had the most to do, so it makes sense you'd take the longest," Kiba reassured her. "But with that said, I'd say we're set to release the game in just a week! Everyone! Let's get to work!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Everything is going so smoothly, soon people will absolutely fall in love with my designs. Shiruku thought with glee as she sat back in her chair and enjoyed her literal finger food.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Hello dear, sister. Yonda said with a hum.
Instantly Shiruku scowled. Oh, it's her.
Yes, it's me. Goodness, why do you sound so unhappy to see me, dear sister? Yonda asked, opening the door and entering the room with her usual too-sweet smile. You're tearing me up on the inside I swear.
I know what you did, and what you do. I don't care what it is, I won't let you trick me! Shiruku told her determinedly, crossing her arms and glaring at the other girl with all five of her eyes.
Ahahahaha. Trick you? Oh dear sister, you have it all wrong. Yonda said, waving off her accusations. If you've heard about what I've done, then you must know that everything I've done, has been to help father and the rest of you.
That's true. Fu did tell me she really cares about helping daddy. Shiruku thought. Fu had given her a warning about Yonda, but he also told her about her reasons. But still, what you do is mean, and makes daddy upset.
Yonda put on a guilty face. I know, I've gone too far in the past, and after father scolded me I understand that I was wrong. I don't have any plans to try and trick you, I just came to ask for some clothes.
You want clothes. Just clothes. Shiruku asked skeptically.
Is it really that hard to believe? Everyone knows how lovely your clothes are. Of course, I would want some. Yonda said filling her sentence with praise.
Oh, well that makes sense I guess. Shiruku said, smiling at all the praise filling her head. I suppose I could do that for you, you are still my sister after all. Just let me get your measurements.
Thank you, dear sister. Yonda said with a grin, as Shiruku went over and measured her. I've seen your designs before, and they are quite dazzling, I wish the whole world could know just how great your clothes are.
That's the plan. One day, I want my clothes to be worn by people all across the world. Shiruku explained casually while she measured.
Oh…that's going to be difficult. Yonda frowned, forcing a worried expression. Due to all those heroes.
Heroes? What do they have to do with fashion? Shiruku asked, stopping her measurements and giving Yonda a confused look.
You don't see it? Yonda gave her an equally confused look. People like fashion, and there are those that will live and die by it, but the masses are obsessed with heroes. Why would they wear something stylish when they could wear something with their favorite hero's face on it. Just look at father.
Shiruku thought about it. Wait…she's right. Most of father's old clothes were either hero merch or garbage.
That's right, and he's hardly the only one. Look at a crowd, you'll find loads of people wearing hero merch, of all different kinds of heroes. And since the heroes pretty much ask them to wear it, that's not going to change any time soon.
That…that's not fair. Shiruku thought.
Don't worry! I'm sure plenty of people will buy your clothes! They are beautiful after all! Yonda reassured her. I'm just saying that it'll be really hard to accomplish your dream…unless…
Unless what? Shiruku asked, eager for an idea that would boost clothing sales.
You could always just become a hero. Yonda pointed out. People will trample over each over for clothes with a hero's face or logo on them, imagine what they would do to get their hands, on clothes that were handmade by a hero. And not just any hero, but a hero from the Midoriya Foundation. A Foundation that makes very powerful heroes, like Kiba and Yami.
Shiruku pondered the thought. Yonda made a very good point, and it's not like she couldn't do it. She was strong, very strong and she knew it. Plus it's not like she would have a hard time training.
The more I think about it, the better the idea gets! Yonda added. To be honest, I'm very worried about all my brothers and sisters, rushing into danger. But if you're there, you can help them. You can save people who would have died otherwise, you can even defend father from bad guys.
That is…a really good idea. Shiruku thought. How did I never think about this? Being a hero can help me with everything I want to do. Making clothes defending my family, I can't believe I didn't see it before.
Yonda's smile grew, seeing her plan had worked. Well, you're welcome for coming up with it.