Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Izumi POV - September 27
I walked alongside Mai and we ventured deeper into the fake city, which was one of the training grounds we had access to as UA students. I was excitedly carrying a wooden box under my arm; I could have hidden it in my shadow, but I was too excited for that.
"Maki!" I exclaimed excitedly as I looked at Maki who was already waiting in the middle of one of the streets near the entrance. Maki was using her wooden sword as she went from one kata to another before stopping and turning to look at me.
"Izumi, you called me." Maki said directly, and I smiled broadly.
"It's finished." I said as I lifted the wooden box, Maki's eyes widening.
"Did Ryuma-sama finish forging the weapon?" Maki asked, sounding even more excited. I nodded eagerly and quickly approached. I handed the box to Maki; she dropped the wooden sword and took the box as if it were a treasure.
She bent down and gently placed the box on the floor, examining it closely for a few moments before taking a deep breath and then sliding the lid of the wooden box to the side. The weapon inside the box appeared, and my eyes widened slightly before I smiled.
Grandfather had been able to replicate Playful Cloud almost exactly from my design. At first glance, the weapon looked like three sectioned canes connected by rings at each joint. They were completely red with a violet flame-like pattern at the ends.
"It's beautiful," Maki murmured, her eyes shining as she stared at the weapon in front of her. "It's... incredible," she said, still in shock. Her hands reached out to gently touch it before stopping. "...Derf? Are you there?" Maki asked softly. The weapon remained completely silent for a few seconds.
"It's about time, partner!" Derf exclaimed happily, the voice coming from the weapon even though at this moment it did not have the grip that moved when speaking.
"I'm glad you're fine," Maki said with a smile.
"Ha! I'm more than fine, Ryuma did an excellent job with my new body! Go ahead, partner, use me! Let's see how strong my body is!" Derf said excitedly. Maki smiled broadly, her face beaming with excitement. Her hands gripped the batons simultaneously, and she stood up.
Mai and I immediately moved away. Maki took a deep breath, grabbed Derf by her midsection, and began to rock her from side to side, testing her weight. Maki smiled broadly before she started to move Derf.
Maki twirled the staffs with the same mastery she displayed with any weapon she held. The staff spun around her body with ease as she moved from side to side, and she began to strike the air as if testing her attacks.
Each blow left a shockwave strong enough to be felt from afar. Maki laughed gleefully amidst the destruction, moved Derf, spun the staffs around, and the three staffs merged into one, forming a long cane. One of its ends activated a mechanism before a blade appeared and extended to form a naginata.
If Maki was good with severed batons, then she was excellent with a polearm; her preference was immediately apparent. Derf spun around Maki's body at terrifying speed as Maki moved around the street.
A final mechanism activated as it spun, Derf completely separated into three sections, the rings that joined its staffs disappeared, each section opened in half, what appeared to be the outer part retracted leaving the hidden blade inside in view, the outer part retracted and formed a handle forming three katanas that spun in the air.
Maki spun around, grabbed two swords, one in each hand, and held the third in her teeth. Then she began to attack once more. I watched her technique critically; we hadn't had much time to practice the three-sword style, so Maki's version was clumsy, but she was able to compensate for that with her overall swordsmanship.
Finally, Maki released the swords again; all three transformed once more. The hilts freed and covered the blades again before the three short staffs returned to their original form. Maki joined them together; the rings emerged from their tips and joined together again, forming the original three-section staff.
Maki smiled broadly before spinning in the air, grabbing Derf by one of its tips and then slamming the other end against the ground.
Without hesitation, I grabbed Mai by her waist and jumped into the air, just in time as the ground sank into a huge crater before completely shattering, which ended in the destruction of a nearby building.
Maki had a huge smile on her face in the middle of the crater as she looked at Derf with a wild expression, I landed softly next to her with a huge smile.
"I see you approve," I said playfully. Maki looked at me with sparkling eyes.
"It's perfect," Maki said excitedly. "You're perfect, Derf," Maki said with a wide smile.
"Ha! Of course!" Derf laughed loudly. Maki smiled broadly, then grabbed Derf firmly and pointed the cane at me.
"Let's train," Maki said with a wild grin. I raised an eyebrow and then looked at Mai. She glanced at Maki and just sighed. She transformed into a weapon before appearing in my hand. Mai had barely finished transforming when Maki was already on top of me.
I enveloped Mai in Haki and tried to stop Maki's attack—a bad decision. I was very familiar with Maki's strength; we trained often enough for me to know exactly how strong she was.
Derf's new body had fulfilled what he had asked my grandfather to create: a weapon capable of amplifying its wielder's physical strength. And grandfather had succeeded. I had to grit my teeth as I felt every bone in my body tremble violently while I withstood Maki and Derf's attack.
I was thrown back several meters, but I only spun around in the air before landing on the street. Maki had already lunged at me once more. I turned to face Mai, tensed my muscles, and pushed with all my strength as I attacked.
The clash of our weapons made the ground tremble beneath us, yet neither of us stopped. We moved swiftly as Mai collided with Derf at great speed. Each blow seemed so light, but they possessed a force that could not be concealed.
Each clash between weapons caused a loud bang and a strong jolt throughout my body and Maki's; the ground began to crack as more clashes occurred.
Until now, the only people who could physically match me, or who had even surpassed me, were All Might, All For One, and Mirko. The first two beat me by a wide margin, while the last was my equal, though she surpassed me in leg strength.
Maki had never reached this level before. She was undoubtedly stronger than all the girls I trained with, but not to the point where I had to exert myself physically to keep up. But now, every blow was being amplified enough that I had to use most of my strength to prevent my arm from jerking.
The wide, swirling, circular movements of the three-section staff generated enough force to be devastating, but they weren't fast enough to keep up with me; Maki quickly began to fall behind.
Maki spun around as she walked away, Derf's mechanisms activated, and suddenly she had a naginata spinning at her hip. Maki held it and tried to attack me while spinning the weapon at high speed. I easily dodged her attacks.
The naginata spun as it swept the wind around it. Maki made a horizontal turn, grabbed the end of her naginata to extend its range and spun it for a vertical downward attack. I moved to the side, causing the blade to pass by my side.
The naginata blade struck the ground, which exploded as a huge, slash-like indentation formed beneath Maki's naginata; this only made her smile even more wildly.
I snorted playfully, squeezing Mai tightly before letting my haki envelop her, causing her to burst into flames as she used Foxfire Style. Mai swung through the air and met Derf mid-air.
The moment they collided, the fire was absorbed by Derf and completely nullified. I smiled slightly; I knew it would happen, but Derf's limits had to be tested. So I summoned Nue before sacrificing it and enveloping myself in lightning before directing it all at Mai.
The sword, enveloped in lightning and fire, began to attack and pressure Maki. Even so, Derf was able to nullify most of the explosive attacks. The lightning and fire were easily nullified by Derf unless I exerted myself to push them forward with more force.
We continued exchanging attacks for several minutes; she kept changing the shape of her weapons while I just kept using Mai as my only weapon for the time being. Maki had a huge smile on her face the whole time.
She had improved tremendously, but she still needed to master Total Concentration Breathing; she would be a completely different monster if she did. He hadn't had enough time to dedicate to training her properly; he also had to help the other girls.
I would have to take charge once the internships were over. After several more minutes, I finally stopped. Maki took a second longer, but she stopped too and smiled.
"That was a good workout." Maki said with a wide smile as she breathed heavily and sweat ran down her body. I nodded.
"It was. It's a good weapon," I said easily.
"Ha! You better believe it, kid, I'm at my best! I haven't felt this good since my thirties!" Derf laughed happily, Mai snorted as she detransformed.
"Whatever materials Ryuma used, they're definitely drugging Derf," Mai said dryly. I smiled slightly.
"Don't listen to her, Derf, she's just jealous of not being as amazing as you." Maki teased with a mocking smile, Mai's eye twitching slightly.
"Please, I'm far more incredible than any other weapon in existence. I can transform into any sword I can imagine," Mai said haughtily. Maki snorted.
"Doesn't that mean the other swords are better than you? Besides, you can only do it with Miyamura's help," Maki mocked. I could see Mai's vein bulge.
"Tch, you damn gorilla!" Mai growled as she lunged at Maki.
"What?! Bitch! You wanna fight? Let's f- You just stabbed me!" Maki exclaimed, completely outraged. And indeed, Mai had just stabbed her. She had partially transformed her fingers into the tip of a katana and was using it to stab Maki. "Now you'll see, you damned bitch!" Maki growled furiously. Then they both fell to the ground and began to struggle.
"Should we stop them, kid?" Derf asked, sounding genuinely amused. I snorted.
"If you want to get involved, you can learn to navigate it on your own," I said curtly. Derf snorted.
"So, I left for a week to change bodies, Aizawa still won't let Mai change forms?" Derf asked as we watched Maki and Mai's fight.
"Nope, we're both too busy. I still have my internship with Mirko, and he has his job as a teacher and hero. We'll try it once the internships are over and things have calmed down." I said easily, making a face as I watched Maki put Mai in a hold.
"That's a shame, I really wanted to see her new ability," Derf said with a hum, and I nodded.
"Me too, depending on Mai's limits, then it could be a truly incredible ability." I said honestly, and Derf hummed in agreement.
"The internships end this week, right?" Derf asked. I shook my head before raising an eyebrow. Mai partially transformed her arm to free herself from Mai's grip and then bit her breast hard. Putting aside how low that attack was, it was extremely effective as Maki let out a scream of pain and indignation.
"The next one for most of us. Taylor finishes her internship in two days." I sighed as a headache began to form while thinking about the situation in Brockton Bay.
Seriously, Taylor had only been in Brockton Bay for 3 weeks, three damn weeks and the two main gangs in town and their villains had been completely eradicated and locked up.
Just… how? The world hates and conspires against Taylor and Brockton Bay. The problems in BB are directly proportional to Taylor's proximity to the town. Taylor stayed out of town for over a year and a half, and the status quo in Brockton Bay hadn't changed at all. And somehow, when Taylor returned, she managed to completely change it in three weeks.
Oh, I definitely knew it wasn't entirely her fault, I mean, maybe it was with the ABB thing, and a little with Sophia, but in that last one I couldn't blame Taylor entirely, Sophia was a complete and utter psychopath and a massive idiot, a terrible combination.
Even so, it would seem that Taylor was the powder keg that set everything off. And obviously, like the good husband I am, I wasn't going to let her forget this matter, ever. She mocked me for attracting danger and trouble—well, this was entirely her fault, even when it wasn't.
I smiled broadly at that.
Joking aside, the defeat of both gangs simply meant that power vacuums remained in Brockton Bay. According to Taylor, the heroes were rushing to fill them. But she was certain it wouldn't be enough. The villains are like cockroaches in Brockton Bay; they creep in and pop up everywhere.
Most likely, it will happen just like in the canon: The Teeth, the small, extremely violent gang led by Butcher, will return to Brockton Bay to cause trouble. Although Taylor will probably have finished her internship by then.
The worst thing that could happen is that they would attract the attention of The Slaughterhouse 9; those damned psychopaths leave a trail of death that was counted in the dozens, and sometimes in the hundreds, in every city or town they came across.
"Will she be trying another internship?" Derf asked. I blinked and shook my head.
"Not really, with only one week, it's unlikely. She'll finish her reports on her experiences as a heroine in Brockton Bay and compare it to the Japanese system and all that. Then she'll prepare for the second round of internships in January." I said easily.
"Interesting, and by the way, you'd better separate them," Derf said. I sighed as I looked at Mai and Maki. Mai was still biting Maki's breast—no, actually, she'd switched to the other one. When did that happen? And Maki, obviously, wasn't going to be outdone. Somehow, she twisted her body to reach and pinch Mai's nipples hard. They both refused to let go of each other, even though they both seemed to have tears welling up in the corners of their eyes.
I sighed wearily. It would be exciting if I didn't know this was the equivalent of two boys fighting and twisting each other's nipples as a form of attack in the old world. It was simply sad.
I approached them both, grabbed them by the nape of the neck, and forcefully pulled them apart. They both growled and tried to attack each other again. I separated them even further with a sigh. At least they got along.