Chapter 41: Frog Dungeon, pt. 2
[Arrangement at start of scene, left to right, front to back: Tsu, Katsuki, Momo; Shouto, Hitoshi, Mic; Izuku, Aizawa.]
They're making good progress, Izuku thinks, and are more or less between frog attacks when Momo goes down with a small yelp. It makes his heart jolt with fear, even though, logically, she's probably fine. And as it turns out, she is. Her head and shoulders are still above water.
Then she pulls her armor aside and stabs down into her chest.
He gasps and peripherally notices Hitoshi and Yamada sensei reacting the same way and Aizawa sensei flinching.
"Momo!?" Both he and Hitoshi call out, hurrying forward.
"What the fuck, Ponytail!?" Kacchan demands.
She drops her hold on her armor and pulls the knife back, and says in a composed tone, "A frog swarm up under my armor. Be careful. There's either a drop off or a sink hole here."
"Kero. You scared me." Tsu comments.
Hitoshi and Kacchan give Momo their hands and pull her back out of the water. Izuku resists the urge to hug her tightly and burst into tears, instead poking through the water with his spear staff.
"So, are we swimming?" Aizawa sensei asks after a bit.
"No, uh- No. It seems to be a sink hole. We should be able to get by it as long as we're careful." He replies, relieved.
Yamada sensei clears his throat. "I think Bakugou and Asui should move back and Midoriya move to the front with Yaoyorozu, since they're the two polearms long enough to check footing in between demon frog attacks."
Aizawa sensei frowns a little. "It's not a perfect solution, but it should help. Todoroki, Asui, swap places with Midoriya. Bakugou, you take Todoroki's spot."
It only takes a minute or so to rearrange themselves after they make it safely past the sinkhole.
~
[From left to right, front to back: Izuku, Momo; Katsuki, Hitoshi, Mic; Asui, Aizawa, Shouto. This is their current arrangement.]
Katsuki is fine, just fine, punching and kicking frogs as he drips dry. Until a murder frog the size of a small terrier gets its teeth around his wrist and almost bites his hand off before he explodes it from the inside. FUCK! It's something of a miracle that his hand had enough sweat to explode it at all.
"Ponytail, make me a damned weapon!" He barks out, though it hurts his pride. Look, he's not going to let himself be maimed just because of his ego. He's better than that.
"Can you hang on a while? I'm a bit busy here." She replies, whacking frogs with her oversized stick.
He grunts, because that's fair.
"Also, apologize for being a bitch about it when she initially offered." Two-toned Wonder says a little bit forcefully, which is pretty much shouting from him.
"Fuck off, IcyHot." He snaps.
"No, I agree with him. You should apologize." Tsu says, fucking blunt as always. Which he can respect, even if he doesn't like it.
"Or are you too cowardly?" Eyebags taunts.
Katsuki turns his head enough to glower at him and sees Peacock sensei turning to give Stubble sensei a blown away look. Whatever that's about.
"Fucking fine. I apologize for brushing you off, Ponytail." He apologizes graciously, dammit. Redirecting his attention back to the frogs, he's just in time to duck one trying to take his face of. Fucking murder frogs!
~
Ponytail makes him a club once they're free of the latest batch of murder frogs and everything is going fine. Until his foot tangles in something as the steps forward and he fucking face plants.
The look on his face as he gets up is probably murderous. Fucking Eyebags has to help him untangle his boot from some water weed he hadn't thought twice about stepping in.
After that, he dumps out his boots again before spending a few minutes searching through the water for the club that he dropped in his surprise. The others try to help until he growls at them to back off. In the end, it's the freaking Menace, poking through the water at the edge of Katsuki's range with his pointy metal bar, who finds it.
Katsuki grumbles something that could be mistaken as thanks if one happens to be delusional, but the Menace smiles and chirps, "You're welcome, Kacchan!"
~
Tsu sidesteps a patch of the same kind of water plant that caught Bakugou's foot and-
She blinks a few times at being in water up to her chin. Oh, another sink hole.
Aizawa sensei holds out a hand for her to take and then bodily hauls her out of the sink hole once she does. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." She says and with an inward smirk, adds, "I didn't even drop my knife."
The sound of gritted teeth and rage from Bakugou is music to her ears.
~
Dungeon Party Status Report
Midoriya HP: 1158/1170
Yaoyorozu HP: 145/198 Mildly poisoned
Bakugou HP: 94/132 Mildly poisoned
Shinso HP: 82/96
Yamada HP: 544/612 Mildly poisoned
Asui HP: 72/84
Aizawa HP: 590/600
Todoroki HP: 109/120
"Uh oh." Izuku says.
"What's wrong?" Momo asks.
"Kacchan, you and Yamada sensei are mildly poisoned." He answers.
"Oh dear." She says, understanding immediately. "Should we go back?"
"Hah!? It's a freaking dungeon! Just look for a healing item." Kacchan scoffs.
"I don't think-"
Healing item ahead.
"Oh. Okay then. Find-san says that it's ahead of us." He relays.
Kacchan looks smug.
They don't encounter more frogs, but more and more plants start appearing instead of the floating greenish leaves that the frogs had rested among. He wonders idly if any of them have any use.
After a bit, they come upon a waterfall pouring from near the top of one wall and making big, soapy bubbles at the bottom.
"Sink hole." Momo warns, feeling around with her staff for the edges of it.
They edge around it and another sink hole Izuku finds a few feet further along. The ground gets higher for a bit, then drops again as they get to the waterfall.
Waterfall Water: Mizu koka (Water cure)
Healing item
Effect: Negative status effect removal, 100%
May be ingested or given topically. Topically is generally preferred, as the flavor is not the best. May be used as a base for status cure potions.
Highly unstable. Does not store well.
Does not restore HP.
Does not replace STA.
"Told ya." Kacchan boasts.
"How did you get poisoned anyways?" Hitoshi wonders.
"Probably because they all touched a frog." Tsu answers.
"Then it would probably be better to apply it directly to the respective body parts." Momo observes and starts wading towards the waterfall. Yamada sensei and Kacchan follow a bit slower.
The area where the water falls is deeper, maybe two and a half feet deep instead of a little over one. The three of them step carefully. Fortunately, the current from the waterfall isn't very strong, so they're not jostled around too much.
Momo briefly steps into the waterfall, holding open her armor so the spot on her chest is reached. Then she steps back and slicks off the worst of the water before wading to the other side of the waterfall. The ground there is higher and she takes the opportunity to dump out her boots.
Kacchan sticks his hands in the waterfall before turning and stomping past it.
Mic sensei looks at the two of them, looks at the waterfall, then stares at his hands before following Kacchan's example.
Dungeon Party Status Report
Midoriya HP: 1158/1170
Yaoyorozu HP: 143/198 Cured
Bakugou HP: 92/132 Cured
Shinso HP: 82/96
Yamada HP: 542/612 Cured
Asui HP: 72/84
Aizawa HP: 590/600
Todoroki HP: 109/120
"It worked." Izuku reports dutifully, noting that their HPs are lower than when he was given the warning. As Kacchan would say: Fuck. No wonder Find-san warned him. If it had kept dropping that fast, they would've been in bad shape by the time the dungeon was conquered.
~
As the rest of them cross over to the other side of the waterfall, Momo, Kacchan and Mic sensei move around a bit to make room for them to regroup. Mic sensei steps backwards and apparently steps in a hole, because he starts flailing, staggering backwards and then sitting abruptly.
The water comes to about chin level. Mic sensei sighs loudly. "Ah, damn. My jacket isn't going to like this."
Aizawa sensei gives an evil little smirk and it occurs to Izuku that Mic sensei's coat is leather and quite probably thoroughly ruined by the unexpected bath. Oops.
They resume their formation, with Izuku and Momo probing for holes as they go, allowing them to edge around several holes. They also run into a couple more armies of way too big for comfort monster frogs along the way, but the holes seem to be the main hazard in this section of the dungeon. Well, and water plants, which they walk around after Kacchan's mishap earlier.
~
Eventually they come to a large, dry room with a massive crack in the far wall that is spewing purple mist. They look around suspiciously, but the room seems to be truly empty.
"Fuck. Where's the fucking boss?" Kacchan demands.
As if on cue, there's a scuffling sound and something that resembles a popeyed, large terrier sized eldritch horror version of a frog emerges, a thin trail of purple mist seeping from its beak-like mouth.
"Oh, hell no!" Kacchan exclaims. "That's a Dark Souls basilisk. What the fuck is it doing here!?"
"'Dark Souls basilisk'?" Mic sensei asks.
"Yeah. Don't let that mist hit you. It's instant death." Kacchan advises. "The safest way to kill it is from behind. They're deaf and they can't see directly behind them."
Well THAT's not terrifying at all.
The mist shifts in color to pink.
"Does the pink mist do something different?" Hitoshi asks.
"I don't fucking know! The Dark Souls version only has one color of mist!" Kacchan sounds vaguely hysterical to Izuku, who knows him better than most.
"Then we should consider that this may not be the Dark Souls version." Momo says a bit grimly.
"You fucking think?" Kacchan replies sarcastically.
"Chill." Hitoshi says with an edge to his tone. "We'll just avoid the mists and distract it so someone can get behind it and hope that's the weak spot."
"Find-san?" Izuku ventures. "Do you know what the different mists do?"
Basilisk Breath Weapon
Paralysis (Purple)
Poison (Pink)
Best avoided.
"Well, at least neither of them are instantly lethal." Aizawa sensei observes. "We should spread out."
That's true. The basilisk has just been standing there as they talked, not reacting to their voices. It reacts to their movement, though, googly eyes attempting to track them all before locking on Momo and scurrying towards her with shocking speed, the spew of poison mist from its mouth steadily gaining volume and density as it moves.
She yelps and dodges its teeth, managing to smack its head hard enough to stun it for a moment. Unfortunately, she doesn't manage to entirely dodge the mist.
Status warning:
Yaoyorozu HP: 140/198 Poisoned
Hitoshi throws his capture scarf at it, but it turns towards Kacchan's explosions, either seeing the light from them or getting the reverberations, causing him to miss. Then it rushes Kacchan, mouth spewing purple mist.
Kacchan steps forward to meet it letting off a large explosion. Unfortunately, while this causes the basilisk to flinch back, it also causes the resultant billow of mist to spread and envelope Kacchan, Shouto on his right and Mic sensei on his left.
Status warning:
Bakugou - Paralyzed
Yamada - Paralyzed
Todoroki - Paralyzed
Izuku winces and rushes towards it from behind. He swings and misses entirely as the basilisk moves towards Tsu, who has also run at it, knife out. She backpedals from the now pink mist, but the very edge of it catches her.
Status warning:
Asui HP: 70/84 Lightly poisoned
Aizawa sensei throws his scarf at it, but it sees the movement and rushes him, teeth first, no longer spewing mist. It tries to take a chunk out of his thigh, but his newly bite-proof hero suit earns its keep as the teeth slide off instead of penetrating. It'll bruise like hell for sure, but at least he's not maimed.
Izuku again runs up behind it, only to miss comically again. It's not funny, though. He freezes as it turns towards Momo again, because he loses any advantage if it sees him.
Fortunately, Aizawa sensei and Hitoshi react smoothly, ensnaring its fanged beak from both sides, clamping it tightly shut. Fortunately, because Mom is leaning on her staff, wheezing and completely unable to defend herself.
"Don't miss this time." Hitoshi admonishes.
Izuku nods and advances with a steady stride before pausing, aiming carefully and bringing his metal spear staff down hard between its bulging eyes.
A sickening crack fills the room and the basilisk collapses, half its head caved in, before dissolving into pixels.
Boss drop:
80 caret Tiger's Eye
Dungeon Party Status Report
Midoriya HP: 1150/1170
Yaoyorozu HP: 121/198 Poisoned
Bakugou HP: 89/132 Paralyzed
Shinso HP: 79/86
Yamada HP: 540/612 Paralyzed
Asui HP: 65/84 Mildly poisoned
Aizawa HP: 580/600 Bruised
Todoroki HP: 99/120 Paralyzed, mildly poisoned
Aizawa sensei's expression turns dark as he reads the report. "Shinso, Midoriya, go back to the waterfall and bring back enough water to negate the status effects. Find-san, provide them with containers. I'll stay here and keep an eye on Yaoyorozu and the others."
"Yes, sensei." He and Hitoshi chorus.
Yes, Aizawa sensei
Find-san replies.
~
Going back to the waterfall definitely goes faster with two people instead of 8. It helps that Hitoshi remembers roughly where the holes are and there's no murderous frogs to hold them up.
It also helps that Find-san supplies them with jars for the water and his inventory holds the jars without a problem. It still takes them a good twenty minutes to go and come back.
~
Dungeon Party Status Report
Midoriya HP: 1150/1170
Yaoyorozu HP: 41/198 Cured
Bakugou HP: 89/132 Cured
Shinso HP: 79/84
Yamada HP: 540/612 Cured
Asui HP: 45/84 Cured
Aizawa HP: 580/600 Bruised
Todoroki HP: 79/120 Cured
Even cured, Momo looks like she's one unfortunate encounter with a frog away from death. Mic sensei ends up carrying her back.
Tsu isn't much better off than Momo and Kacchan surprises them all by keeping a sharp eye on her, walking next to her and offering his hand to help her around the tricky parts.
Hitoshi acts as a 'as needed' crutch for Aizawa sensei, who is definitely in enough pain that a normal person would be crying.
Izuku and Shoto check for holes, with Hitoshi warning them of the general vicinity of them. Find-san stores Shouto's quirk metal wushu staffs and Shouto uses Momo's staff as a water probe.
~
When they ditch their footgear after stumbling into the doors' room, Nedzu comes through the door in his office, takes one look at them and goes, "Oh dear. I'll fetch Recovery Girl."
Apparently, though, he already had her waiting in his office, because he's back with her in tow by the time they reach a consensus of just leaving all the footwear to be taken care of when they are less A. wet, B. injured and C. exhausted.
Recovery Girl hobbles in and looks around curiously for a moment, before homing in on Momo, who Mic sensei has set down to remove their boots. "What happened to you, deary?"
Momo lifts her head slowly. "Poison. Twice. But cured. I'm just tired. Aizawa sensei is the only one who is seriously injured."
"I'll be the judge of that." Recovery Girl replies and puts Momo through several tests before giving her a kiss to heal up the few bites she has after Recovery Girl disinfects them. Momo lays down and passes out after that.
Recovery Girl works her way through all of them, leaving Aizawa sensei for last, then shoos them to their rooms so she can look at his injuries in private.
Izuku carries Momo, since he's the only male allowed in the female dorm without negotiation. Once Momo is safely tucked away in bed, he goes to find his own bed for a couple hours. He, of all of them, doesn't really need a nap, but his body will certainly appreciate it.
Chapter 42: New Rooms, Sales, Chat, Chat
Saturday…
Izuku doesn't sleep very long. Not too surprising given his higher stats and general lack of damage taken. He suspects that Aizawa sensei and Yamada sensei will be up soon too, if they aren't already. Bored, he decides to check on the drops for the dungeon. "Show quest rewards and dungeon drops."
Quest accomplished.
Quest rewards.
+607 Exp.
+1 StP
Remaining alive. Congratulations, the Player cannot remedy death.
Optional quest accomplished.
+538 Exp.
+1 StP
Remaining unmaimed. Congratulations, the Player cannot heal maiming.
Optional quest failed.
Quest rewards.
+0 Exp.
+0 StP
+10 monster frog bites
Optional quest accomplished.
+538 Exp.
+1 StP
Avoiding negative status effects. Congratulations, negative status effects are the bane of dungeon parties.
Optional quest accomplished
Dungeon clearance rewards.
+1000 Exp.
+1 StP
+130 monster frog legs
+1 basilisk meat (inedible)
+130 monster frog skins
+1 monster boss basilisk skin
+130 monster frog skeletons
+1 monster boss basilisk skeleton
+1 80 carat tiger's eye
+5 flasks of paralyzing gas
+5 flasks of poison gas
Congratulations, you have completed another instance dungeon!
"Huh. Trade all skeletons for drop points."
Basilisk teeth are of use in some potions. Save basilisk teeth? Yes | No
Oh? Well that's interesting.
"Good to know. Yes."
+ 329 dp
"Hm. I don't think I need poison. Trade poison flasks for drop points. I'll give the paralyzing gas to one of my teachers."
+ 25 dp
"I guess I'll have to ask about the frog legs, but trade basilisk meat and frog skins and basilisk skin for drop points."
+ 5 dp
+ 325 dp
+ 5 dp
--------
Total dp available: 779
"Is that enough to purchase a dryer for the laundry room?" he asks.
Yes.
Purchase dryer for 625dp? Yes | No
"Yes."
Laundry area.
Level 2
Expand laundry area? Yes | No
Tools: 2
Purchase wash machine for 625dp? Yes | No
Purchase dryer for 625dp? Yes | No
DP (drop points) available: 154
Well, that's not enough to buy anything else. Hm.
"Show stats."
Izuku Midoriya
Level 15
Exp. 9206/28000 + 2683 = 11889/28000
STR: 57
VIT: 195
DEX: 87
INT: 137
WIS: 155
HP: 1170/1170
MP: ∞/∞
STA: 252/252
StP: 0 + 4 = 4
"Add stat points to vitality," he instructs. The numbers change accordingly, then the screen disappears.
What else? It would have been convenient to have somewhere to sit other than the floor while removing their boots and being treated by Recovery Girl. And it would be fun to have a living room to relax between dungeons.
"Can we create a living room and a post dungeon recovery room with easy to clean surfaces?
…
Calculating…
Living room/Den
Level 0
Buy couch for 500dp? Yes | No
Buy extra long couch for 700dp? Yes | No
Buy beanbag for 20dp? Yes | No
Buy large beanbag for 35dp? Yes | No
Buy entertainment center for 2390dp? Yes | No
Buy coffee table for 365dp? Yes | No
Buy extra long coffee table for 470dp? Yes | No
Located on hallway.
Ready/Recovery Room
Furnished.
Located next to kitchen/craft room.
Well, now he needs to check these out. "Is anyone else awake?"
Aizawa, Nedzu and Yamada.
"Cool, can you ask them if they want frog meat and tell them where the living room and recovery room are?" he asks.
Yes.
"Thanks."
He leaves his room and walks down the hall, finding the living room near the entrance door. Unsurprisingly it's just a big, empty, carpeted room. With a shrug, he continues into the doors room and finds the new door with ease.
The recovery room has a bunch of smooth plastic chairs with vinyl covered cushions. It has a linoleum floor. The far wall is lined with a series of vinyl upholstered couches. Along the wall to the right, there's a few curtained cubicles, presumably for changing in.
"Very nice," he compliments.
Thank you.
Aizawa doesn't want any frog meat.
Nedzu says he'll take a couple large frog legs and says it's kind of you to offer.
Yamada likewise does not want any frog meat.
"Got it. Can you ask the others when they wake up?"
Yes.
"Thanks."
He wanders back to the living room and does some mental math. "Purchase 2 large beanbags and 4 beanbags."
DP (drop points) available: 4
He flops on one of the smaller beanbags and proceeds to be bored until Yamada sensei pokes his head in, followed by Aizawa sensei with Nedzu on his shoulder.
"Hey there, listener. Mind if we join you?" Yamada sensei asks.
"Not at all. Pull up a beanbag."
Aizawa sensei and Yamada sensei each take one of the larger beanbags and Nedzu takes a couple moments squishing one of the smaller ones into having a specific shaped indent before climbing into it.
Yamada sensei starts up some chitchat that keeps them entertained.
Hitoshi and Shouto show up together, about an hour later.
"I don't want any frog legs," Hitoshi announces and takes the beanbag closest to Izuku.
"Me either," Shouto agrees, gingerly sitting in the last beanbag. "Endeavor's the only one in the household who likes them and he's already had his quota of Fuyumi-made frog legs for the year."
"Okay," Izuku accepts the declarations.
"How are you two doing?" Yamada sensei asks.
"I'm fine," Shouto says.
Hitoshi shrugs. "A little tired still and hungry, but good. I probably should be getting home though, before my parents start worrying."
"I can stay," Shouto notes, probably hoping to worry Endeavor.
"Oh, alright. I'll walk you to the front door, Hitoshi," Izuku volunteers.
And then does just that.
"Thanks for the escort. I appreciate it," Hitoshi says with a wink that brings color to Izuku's cheeks. Then he opens the front door and pauses. "This is my house?"
Yes.
Hitoshi looks like he wants to ask questions, then shakes his head. "Thanks, Find-san. I wasn't looking forward to the trip home."
You are welcome.
Once Hitoshi is gone, Izuku goes back to the living room to find Yamada sensei, Nedzu and Shouto having an animated discussion about memes while Aizawa sensei pretends to be asleep. Izuku allows himself to be drawn into the topic.
Tsu shows up maybe 35 minutes later, looking tired but much better than before her nap.
"How are you, listener?" Yamada sensei asks in concern.
"I'm good. I need to get home, though. And Izuku, I don't want any frog legs," she replies.
"A little too much like cannibalism?" Yamada sensei jests.
She shrugs. "Maybe."
Izuku ends up walking her to the front door too and Find-san delivers her to her front door too.
Momo all but staggers into the living room not fifteen minutes later, looking exhausted. He stands up instinctively. "Oh, Izuku, I don't want any frog legs, but I was wondering if there was another drop I could have because my parents are going to want something to show for letting me come."
"Uh. There's basilisk's teeth, a tiger's eye and five flasks of paralyzing gas," he offers, taken off guard.
She grimaces. "Okay, I'll take a couple teeth and the tiger's eye. I'll just remind them that it's a level 0 dungeon, so there's not much in the way of drops."
"Okay. Retrieve 2 basilisk's teeth and tiger's eye," he says, holding out his hands expectantly. The objects materialize on his palms and he hands them over. "Did you want to stay and rest some more or go home now?"
"I should go home," she admits.
"I'll walk you to the front door. Find-san can take you to your front door."
"I would appreciate that," she agrees.
Her balance is a little wonky as she walks and Izuku ends up offering his arm as support.
"Thanks," she breathes, grip tight.
"Yeah. Actually, I think Find-san should deliver you straight to your bedroom," he posits.
She laughs a little. "Much as I'd like to take you up on that, I'd rather not give my parents and the servants a heart attack by bypassing the front door. Thanks for the offer, though."
"Ah, yeah," he says sheepishly.
When she's gone, he goes and wakes up Kacchan by pounding on his door.
It's a couple minutes before Kacchan yanks the door open with a snarl, hair wild. "What. The. Fuck. Do you want?"
Izuku smirks at him. "If you sleep any more you won't be able to sleep tonight. Besides, your mom is going to wonder where you are soon."
Kacchan snarls something incomprehensible, then shoves him out of the way, steps into the hall and slams his door shut. "Fucking Menace."
He follows Izuku down the halls and then looks confused when Izuku stops in the living room.
"Find-san is going to take Kacchan home, so if you want to go home now, you can."
The three adults get up instantly. Shouto gets up after a slight hesitation.
"Sounds good, listener. How are you doing, Bakugou?" Yamada sensei asks.
"I'm fucking fine," Kacchan sneers.
"Glad to hear it, listener."
Find-san drops Kacchan off at his front door, Nedzu at UA with a baggie of frog legs in paw (the rest exchanged for 322dp) and Aizawa sensei and Yamada sensei in Aizawa sensei's apartment before Izuku finally takes himself home.
"Mom, I'm home!" he calls.
"Welcome home!" she calls back from her bedroom. She bustles into the living room a minute later. "Tell me all about it!"
He smiles. At least someone's excited about the dungeon.
~
Sunday…
(Seen)
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Warning: Max number of preorders reached. No further preorders can be made until a third or more of the backlog is cleared. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
# of preorders, Sanskrit: 312
# of preorders, Mandarin: 461
# of preorders, Korean: 338
~
Sunday…
Rumble Room chat
RiseNShine: Momo, is it just me? Or is the numbers jumps on those shirts concerning in an 'is this an organized thing?' kind of way?
LetsSayGrace: Let me check.
HelloDarkness: Holy hell. I just checked and I'm sorry, unless there's some internet meme that concerns JUST European countries, there's no way that you'd normally sell that many that fast.
RiseNShine: No need to be sorry. I totally agree.
LetsSayGrace: Indeed. It's quite concerning. Should we bring it up to Present Mic?
RiseNShine: On it.
~
Activities chat
Novell: @MrPrincipal, @Rocking, @Sleepy [attachment] Please tell me this isn't as concerning as we think it is? We just posted the language options a little over a week ago.
MrPrincipal: Hm. Just the ones that could be construed as anti-quirk? Unfortunate.
Rocking: Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Because what I'm thinking isn't good for anything but the kids' pocketbooks.
MrPrincipal: I believe so. I'll look into it.
Sleepy: Humarise?
EMP: What are you fuckers talking about?
Hypnos: Maybe try reading up before you ask questions.
EMP: Fuck off, Eyebags! I did read up! I'm asking what Humarise is and why three heroes are concerned about shirt sales.
Sleepy: It's kept on the downlow, because very few people want to hear their message, but it's essentially an organization that fears the debunked quirk singularity doomsday theory to the point of believing quirks should be taken away from people to preserve humanity as a whole.
Rocking: They like to preach to those with no quirks, useless quirks and highly dangerous quirks. If these shirts, which reflect their sentiments in a skewed way ARE being systematically ordered by Humarise or a similar organization, then Europe may have a much larger problem than the hero community thought.
MrPrincipal: Japan might as well, if the original order numbers reflect member numbers locally.
Novell: Fucking dammit!
Rocking: Language.
Novell: Japanese at last check.
Novell: Haaaaaahhh! Okay, okay, then what do we do?
MrPrincipal: Do nothing.
Rocking: What he means is that you're running a business. You can't just refuse to fill orders without explanation or based on speculation. Go ahead and fill orders and act like nothing is wrong.
Sleepy: There might ACTUALLY be nothing wrong. We don't have enough information to say that there is. It could be due to some educational system push or a meme.
Hypnos: See? That's what I said. It could be a meme.
Novell: You also agreed that it is alarming.
Hypnos: Yes. But not all alarms are for real. We need to chill out and let the professionals do their thing.
MrPrincipal: Indeed! Keep us posted, but otherwise try not to worry about it. There's no use in giving yourselves ulcers, after all.
Novell: Yeah, okay.
Creati: Thank you for taking our concern seriously, senseis.
Rocking: Of course! We'll always take you seriously when you think there's a problem, listener.
Sleepy: It's literally our job. Both of them.
Rocking: Or all three of them in my case!
EMP: So you're all jumping at shadows over some ignorant crazies who are afraid of quirks? Because of shirts.
Sleepy: Wars have happened over equally ignorant philosophies. Never underestimate a potential enemy, Bakugou. You know better than that.
EMP: Whatever.
Novell: It's Kacchan's bad habit.
EMP: Haah!? Fuck you! I don't have any bad habits!
Novell: So you DIDN'T lose to Momo and me during our first battle trials of the year because you underestimated us?
EMP: F. U. C. K. Y. O. U. You fucking cheater!
Sleepy: If you expect villains to play by the rules, then you're going into the wrong profession, Bakugou.
Hypnos: Just because you don't use all your resources in a battle doesn't mean others are cheating when they use all their resources.
EMP: HAAHH!? What do you mean I don't use my resources?
Hypnos: You're top of the class, so I know you have a brain. Which you definitely didn't use in that fight. You're so eager to kick ass that you don't think about doing anything else, even when it's the wrong move.
EMP: Eyebags, I'm going to fucking murder you.
Hypnos: For being right?
Rocking: Hey, hey, listeners. Let's not fight.
EMP: FUCK YOU!
Hypnos: Nah, you're not my taste at all. I like my men gentler and my women classier.
Rocking: What did I JUST say?
MrPrincipal: That's enough. If you must squabble, do it in your private chat.
Hypnos: Yessir.
EMP: Yes, sir.
Uravity: That would require Bakugou being added to that chat again. Which I think we're all against.
EMP: You wanna go, Cheeks?
Uravity: Sure. Next time we have 1 on 1s in Heroics class.
EMP: Good. I'm not going easy on you.
Uravity: If you tried, I'd kick your ass.
Sleepy: And when you both end up in the infirmary, Recovery Girl will kick your asses.
Uravity: Fear.
EMP: I'm not afraid of that old hag.
Sleepy: Be sure to tell her that. So I can laugh at your pain.
EMP: Whatever.
Chapter 43: Flight, Shields, Girls, Boys, Robots, Chat
Tuesday…
Izuku hasn't flown before. The airport is kind of overwhelming and he sticks close to Yagi sensei. At least they're in first class of a nice plane. He's pretty sure that All Might wouldn't fit in a smaller seat with less foot room. There are other heroes aboard, but mostly they spend the time napping. He spends most of the flight peering through the window to see the clouds and ocean far below.
I-Island's airport is smaller, but just as busy and All Might has to turn down attention, stating he's doesn't have the time.
Izuku himself garners some attention too, both from people having watched the sports festival and from All Might's hand resting on his back to keep track of him. Fortunately, people leave them alone as they walk.
They take a trolley that takes them to another part of the island, leave their bags at a hotel and then walk to what looks to be a laboratory.
"David!" All Might calls out as a brown-haired man opens the door.
"Toshinori, old friend, what brings you here?" The man looks pleased.
"I thought I'd introduce my successor to you. This young man is Izuku Midoriya. Midoriya, meet David-"
"Shield!" Izuku blurts. "You're the support technician behind all of All Might's costumes!"
Mr. Shield smiles at him. "You really know your stuff. Please, call me David. It's nice to meet you. Come in!"
"Nice to meet you too!"
All Might and Shie- David chitchat as they walk into David's laboratory and after some initial curiosity, Izuku finds himself accidentally excluded from the conversation until a blonde girl bounces in and exclaims, "Uncle Might!?"
She hugs All Might and then demands, "How come you didn't let us know you were coming?"
"I wanted it to be a surprise," he replies.
"It's a big surprise! Are you here for the tech fair?" Then she notices Izuku. "Who is this?"
"This is my protégé Midoriya, the one I've been telling you about. I thought he'd like to see the tech fair and I wanted to introduce him to you and David. Didn't you say you have something for him? Midoriya, this is my niece, Melissa Shield." All Might introduces him.
"Nice to meet you," Izuku offers.
"Same. I've heard so much about you! I actually have something I made to help with the stress your quirk puts on your arms. Would you like to see it? I can show you my laboratory," she enthuses.
"Oh, um, sure. You made something for me?"
Which is how he ends up in Melissa's lab for an hour before she offers to show him around the island, only stopping to get permission before they head out.
The tech fair is really interesting, but they don't get far before someone calls out, "Izuku!"
He turns to find Momo, Ochako, Tsu and the other girls from 1-A in a group approaching him.
"Midoriya! What are you doing here?" Ashido asks.
"I should be asking you that. I came with All Might."
"Yaomomo had a ticket and offered to pay for the rest of us to come, too," Ashido replies cheerfully. "The big guy really likes you, huh?"
"Izuku, who is this?" Ochako asks.
"Oh! I'm being rude. This is Melissa Shield, the daughter of All Might's support technician, David Shield. Melissa, this is Momo Yaoyorozu, Ochako Uraraka, Mina Ashido, Tsu Asui, Tooru Hagakure and Kyoka Jiro. They're classmates of mine."
"It's nice to meet you," Momo says politely.
It doesn't surprise Izuku that the girls and Melissa get along well and soon they're looking at attractions together until Tsu comments that she's hungry. Everyone agrees that it's time to eat and Melissa leads them to a nearby restaurant.
~
It takes a bit before there's a table large enough for them all to be seated, but it doesn't take long for a waiter to show up. "Hello, I'm Shinso and I'll be your waiter for today."
Izuku's head jerks up. "Hitoshi?"
"Shinso, what are you doing here?" Hagakure asks.
"Uh. It's not just me. Most of 1-A's boys signed up to work food service to get a ticket out to attend the tech fair," he admits. "But I didn't expect to see any of you."
"All Might brought me and Momo brought the girls," Izuku explains. "And this is Melissa Shield. She's showing me around while All Might and David Shield talk shop. Melissa, this is my friend and classmate, Hitoshi Shinso."
Hitoshi nods. "Alright, but I should take your orders. Nice to meet you Shield-san."
"Oh, call me Melissa. I'm American, so I'm used to first names. Nice to meet you too."
~
When Hitoshi brings back the receipts from the meal, he leans down and says in Izuku's ear, "Can you wait outside for five minutes? Our shift is ending and I want to go with you guys."
Izuku nods.
"What did he say?" Ashido asks eagerly after Hitoshi leaves and they're getting up to go.
"He asked us to wait outside for a few minutes because it's shift change and he and maybe some of the others want to go with us."
So they wait for Hitoshi and the others outside and it's only a few minutes before they come out in a group, now in casual clothes. The groups mix and then break off into smaller groups until it's just Izuku, Hitoshi, Momo and Melissa left.
They let Melissa guide them around, along with Momo's curiosity until nearby explosions attract their attention. Ducking around a row of exhibits, they come across an arena full of robots, mostly broken ones, while Kacchan screams "DIE!" at the other robots as he explodes them. When he's done, a speaker announces, "32 seconds. A new high score!"
Kacchan fist pumps and stalks over to Kirishima. "Beat that!"
Hitoshi elbows Izuku gently. "Want to show off and beat his score? The look on his face would be priceless."
Yes, yes it would.
"Well…"
"You should do it," Momo encourages as someone uses their quirk to restore the robots to pristine condition.
"I agree. I want to get a feel for what exactly you can do without support gear," Melissa adds.
"I can only go up to 35% before I start getting microfractures unless Find-san is boosting me," he warns.
"Ah. Then stay at 34%. Having to take you to a doctor would ruin the day," Melissa concedes.
Kirishima has a go before they find someone to ask if Izuku can go next and gets an impressive 54 seconds.
When Izuku steps into the ring to wait for the start signal, he distinctly hears Kirishima say, "Hey look, it's Midobro!" and Kacchan reply with a scoff, "Like that Menace can beat me."
The timer goes off and he powers up as he swings into motion, brutally uppercutting robot after robot, moving as fast as he can, painfully aware that his footwork is subpar. Then the last one hits the ground and he looks around for another one before powering One for All down.
"23 seconds! A new high score!"
Izuku turns and smirks at the angry look on Kacchan's face. Then he turns around and goes back to Hitoshi, Momo and Melissa. "Good enough?"
"It's good data!" Melissa looks suitably impressed.
"Excellent job," Momo compliments.
"Eh, could use some work," Hitoshi teases. "Your footwork is worse than Aizawa says mine is."
He sighs with a smile. "I know. I'm really looking forward to learning more martial arts. All I know how to do is a few punches and like one throw. I figured the throw might not work right on robots."
"Fair enough. And the look on his face was great. I got a picture." Hitoshi holds out his phone and sure enough, there's a zoomed in picture of Kacchan's look of sheer disbelief and ire.
Izuku laughs. "He's just going to challenge it until he beats my score, you know."
Hitoshi shows the picture to Momo and Melissa, which makes them laugh too.
"He sure is hotheaded. Why do we not like him, though?" Melissa asks.
"He thinks everyone is beneath him and he's not subtle about it," Hitoshi answers. "Also, I'm fairly sure he bullied Izuku before Izuku got his quirk."
He did.
Everyone pauses, then Izuku says weakly, "I know Kacchan's a bit much but he is getting better."
If you call being forced to change 'better', then sure.
"Find-san…"
Hitoshi sighs and pats his shoulder. "Hey, we're giving him a chance because you want us to and because he hasn't totally blown it yet. Take it as the win it is. We're still going to make fun of him."
Izuku smiles a little. "Thanks. And admittedly, teasing him is fun. It's good for his ego problems, too."
"12 seconds. A new high score."
They turn their attention back to the arena and find all the robots frozen solid in a mini-glacier and Shouto walking towards them.
"I beat your score," Shouto greets Izuku with.
He grins. "Yes, you did. More importantly, you beat Kacchan's score and he's going to be here the rest of the day trying to beat yours. Did you come with Endeavor?"
Shouto smiles the slightest bit. "His expression was funny. Yes, I ditched him the first time he turned his back."
"Was it this one?" Hitoshi offers his phone.
Their friend peers down at the pic, then nods. "Yes."
Hitoshi takes his phone back and does something on it.
Izuku pulls out his phone to find a message in the group chat.
~
Activities chat
Hypnos: @all [BakugouAfterMidoriyaAndThenTodorokiBeatHim.jpg]
Hypnos: [MidoriyaSlayingRobots.jpg]
Hypnos: So there's this robot arena and so far the high scores are: Kirishima 54 secs, Bakugou 32 secs, Midoriya 23 secs and Todoroki 12 secs.
EMP: Shut the fuck up!
EMP: And then there's your cowardly ass.
Hypnos: Sorry, my quirk doesn't work on robots, so I'll pass.
Rocking: I'm gonna be real. If you don't want embarrassing photos taken of you, Bakugou, then learn to control your expression.
Rocking: Also: Bahahaha! Good job, Todoroki! Nice punch, Midoriya!
Novell: Thanks, Yamada sensei!
Shouto: Thank you, sensei. I would've done it faster, but it would've endangered the crowd watching.
EMP: Yeah right. I'll fucking murder your time.
Shouto: Get good.
EMP: I'm going to fucking murder YOUR knockoff candy cane ass, IcyHot.
Hypnos: Sure you will.
EMP: Fuck you, Eyebags. I'm going to murder you too.
Sleepy: Have you thought about diversifying your threats?
EMP: …
EMP: Whose side are you on?
Sleepy: Mine.
MrPrincipal: I have a social question for you, Bakugou. If you were to hear someone that you didn't know personally angrily using death threats, would you think they were a hero or a villain?
EMP: …
EMP: I'm not fucking stupid, you know.
MrPrincipal: I am aware.
EMP: Fine. Let me rephrase.
EMP: I'm going to beat your score into the fucking ground, IcyHot, and then I'm going to kick your
ass up between your fucking ears.
EMP: And I'm going to kick your cowardly purple ass six ways to fucking Sunday, Eyebags.
MrPrincipal: Excellent.
Hypnos: Mmhm. Sure.
Shouto: Get good.
EMP: Sick me ducking dock!
EMP: You're dead to me.
Shouto: Did you hit your head? The feeling is mutual.
Hypnos: What he said.
EMP: Fucking lame autocorrect.
Novell: Kacchan, you shouldn't be saying that anyways.
EMP: What are you going to do about it? Tell my mom?
Novell: Not enough? I can always tell MY mom.
EMP: … I fucking hate you.
Novell: Enjoy trying to beat Shouto's high score!
EMP: HATE YOU. Fucking Menace.
Novell: Lol.
Izuku puts his phone away and grins at the others. "This is literally the first time someone with authority besides Aizawa sensei has told him his temper is a bad look on him."
"Do you think he'll actually change how he talks?" Momo asks.
He shrugs. "It's the first time he's tried, so I don't know."
As they walk away, explosions start up behind them. Kacchan is apparently taking the next turn. Honestly, Izuku will be surprised if he beats Shouto's time, if for no other reason than that the organizers want people to take turns, which gives him time to cool down and stop sweating between rounds. He might beat Izuku's time, though.
They spend a couple more hours at the Expo before Momo admits to being tired, Melissa admits that her dad and All Might are probably starting to miss them and Hitoshi volunteers to escort Momo back to the hotel. Before they split, they agree to meet up again in the morning with Hitoshi joining them in the afternoon after his shift.
Momo says, "The other girls might join me. I'll have to ask."
Hitoshi tilts his head. "If they do, let me know and I'll tell the other boys."
"That reminds me, are you planning to attend the banquet in a couple days?" Melissa asks.
"We are," Momo confirms. "I plan on paying to have dresses tailored for the other girls, though, of course I have one of my own." She glances at Hitoshi. "I'd be happy to pay for the boys too if needed."
"Unnecessary," Shouto says. "I'll pay for the boys' suits. Endeavor will never notice and I enjoy spending his money."
Hitoshi raises his brows in mild concern. "Sounds like a plan."
"Oh, uh. I don't need a suit," Izuku confesses. "Auntie bought me a nice one."
"Well, I have a dress too, but I'd be happy to point out a good tailor," Melissa volunteers.
"We'd appreciate that," Momo accepts gracefully.
When they get back to the Shields' laboratory, David admits that All Might has gone back to the hotel already, so Izuku ends up making his way back from memory. He lets All Might know that he's back and then takes a nap before supper.