Chapter 18: Cracked
I had a plan. I promise!
I didn't just attack Nomu for the hell of it. I was one of maybe five people in the area who could conceivably survive his attacks and give as good as I could get. Todoroki could freeze huge portions of the guy and All Might could body him. But neither of them was there.
So I moved in on him. Flames blasted across him, but he pushed through it even as the claw marks I'd put in his chest earlier scorched over into cooked flesh. I had enough time to realize what that meant before he suddenly was in my face, his fist pressing into my cheek.
And I took a hit harder than anything that had ever hit me, in Bowser or my former human form.
I felt blood fill my mouth. Red filled my vision. I instinctively pulled back into my shell when a pair of purple arms reached out to wrap around me. Just when the Nomu grabbed me, I began to spin.
I felt resistance. Insane resistance, harder than even stone or dirt was when I did the Bowser Spin. That must have been shock absorption at work. I forced myself to continue spinning.
I heard my spikes slice and tear flesh, the horrific sounds filling my ears before I was forced to come to a stop by a squeezing pressure around my body. I popped from my shell to find the Nomu trying to crush my shell, ignoring the bleeding wounds carved into his muscles. He was on my left now. Perfect. I twisted my left arm back, my right head grabbing his head as my feet pressed on the ground.
I began a judo throw. The Nomu's strength, even greater than mine, tried to fight against it, but my tail smacked into his ankles, unbalancing him enough for me to lift him off the ground. I tossed him upwards, then tackled him on the way down, breathing fire as I went running through the courtyard, smashing through the fountain that stood on a hill in the center off the courtyard. His fists bounced off my shell as I ran, but still smashed on my arms and legs.
The pain of it. Nothing, not the building falling on top of me, not Izuku, not even Cow Lady's strongest blows had hurt me that much. But the Nomu was a creature made to kill All Might. It wasn't breaking my shell, but the rest of me was tearing apart.
"RAAAAGH!"
My fire burned the cuts on his body, cauterizing the flesh where my spikes opened up his skin. My plan was simple. I couldn't beat him without severely weakening him first. My claws were barely ripping through as I held on and smashed into a grove of trees. Nomu smashed me in the chest hard enough to finally loosen my grip on him, forcing us apart. I unleashed a huge ball of fire, the burst of heat sending him back a step.
In a forest grove, we faced each other, eyes meeting. Damn it was tall. Until now, All Might had been the only person I knew personally who really matched me in height. But the Nomu was even taller than I was.
"Hrrrrgh. Hrrrgh," he swayed forward, creepy-ass eyes spinning, his exposed brain pulsing momentarily. God. He was so... unsettling. Seeing him in reality, outside anime and fanart, with those wandering insane eyes... he really was a monster.
Blood burned to steam on my lips as I stared right back, fallen to one knee. I tried to stand.
"F-Fuck!" I buckled briefly, my leg shaking. I looked down at it. My scales looked deformed. Same with my arms. They were throbbing. God. Were my bones broken? Could that even happen to Bowser?
The smell of cooked flesh made me smile though, a small and vindictive smile.
"...That's what I thought," I mumbled to myself as I watched the cuts on his body heal… until they didn't. Where my flames had burned, at those openings I'd clawed and spiked out, the regeneration struggled.
I struggled to raise my fists in front of me. My win condition was obvious now.
His shock absorption meant my strength was useless. I was powerful. But I wasn't All Might strong, not yet anyway. So my only chance was my claws and fire. My fire couldn't burn his skin, and he would regenerate the damage of my claws. But when I combined the two? Rip open the skin, cauterize the flesh below. I had a chance.
Right until he disappeared in a blur. I pulled my head into my shell, feeling a fist brush past my hair. I pulled back out and clawed at him, only for the speedier monster to back away.
Shit! I needed him to hold still! If only Todoroki or Mineta were there to slow him down with ice or sticky balls.
A lightning-fast blow struck my chest. I gasped in pain, then shock, as a snapping sound filled the air. I stared down.
My shell, across the chest of it, had cracked.
Ah… shit.
The Nomu stood tall over me, mad eyes swiveling, then raised his fists high. I grit my teeth, clenched my fists, and ran in.
"All right then! Raaugh!"
Moving into the stance Cow Lady taught me, I started clawing and punching, keeping my guard up and breathing flames, while the speedy super-strong monster began beating the shit out of me.
------
Izuku Midoriya
"Bowser!" Izuku shouted in shock as Bowser carried the Nomu out of the courtyard, moving into a grove of trees.
"Are you kidding me!?" the man with hands across his body, the one Bowser called Mr. Hands, shouted, moving to follow. Aizawa shifted to block him, glaring at the other man, who sank down. "Was that thing really a student?!"
"Yes," Aizawa grabbed his bandages, moving into a stance as Mr. Hands (it was easier than thinking of him as 'the man with hands across his body' every time) and the remaining villains surrounded him. "A disobedient one. But a good one."
"Rrrrrr," Mr. Hands began scratching at his neck in apparent frustration. "How. How could this all have gone so wrong?!"
The villains rushed for Aizawa, the exhausted teacher preparing to attack.
"Rhode Island Smash!" Izuku felt his fist slam into a female villain's face before he knew what he was doing. She flew back, eyes rolling into the back of her head. "Aizawa-sensei!"
"Midoriy-" Aizawa was about to say, before he was cut off by Mr. Hands rushing him.
Then the villain stumbled, his foot stuck fast. He staggered, looking down at his foot.
A purple ball attached Mr. Hand's foot to the floor. "W-What the hell?!"
"GRAPE ASSAULT!" Mineta screamed, throwing dozens of purple balls at the villains. His head began to bleed, but even as he teared up in pain, he kept attacking. "You aren't touching him!"
"Get that ki-AUGH!"
A beefy villain rushing for Mineta was kicked in the face by Asui, who followed by twisting around to smash him in the face again with her tongue and sending him flying.
"I'll have to discipline you all later," Aizawa said in amusement. He wrapped a villain in bandages to hold him, then twisted to roundhouse him in the stomach, folding him over.
Izuku ducked under a villain punching at his face, and snapped his fist up in an uppercut that sent the villain backflipping backward. He winced at the soreness that filled his arms and back, muscles tearing apart, but forced himself onwards. "Y-Yes, sensei!"
"Stupid brats!" Mr. Hands dropped to a knee and grabbed Mineta's purple ball. To Izuku's surprise, the ball turned to dust, falling apart. "I'll-"
"Yah!" Mineta tossed another ball, trapping the villain again. "You aren't going anywhere, Mr. Hands!"
"Stop calling me that, you don't even know what it means!" Mr. Hands shouted, turning the ball to ash again. "I'm going to-"
"Tomura," the dark shadow man appeared at his side. He brought a small army of villains with him, increasing the number of enemies dramatically. They must have been from the other parts of USJ.
"WHAT?!" Mr. Hands asked, looking at him.
"We have to leave. The other teachers are here."
The white-haired villain stared at the other villain. "Are you kidding-"
"You aren't getting away!" in a burst of explosive fire, Bakugo appeared, blowing away two villains that Mineta had attached to the ground.
Kirishima smashed his fist into another villain, grinning at Asui. "Hey Tsuyu-chan!"
"Kero!" she said cheerfully, twisting to kick a strange villain that looked like a Venus Flytrap to the ground.
A beam of light smacking a villain to the floor was followed by a flamboyant knight dancing into view. "Bonjour les méchants!"
Mr. Hands reeled back as the reinforcements the shadow villain bought were attacked by the young heroes. "Oh, come on!"
A wave of ice-covered three more and left them unable to shift. Todoroki slid across the ice, barely noticing Izuku kicking a villain past him.
"We can still-" Mr. Hands said weakly.
"VILLAINS!" Thunder. A sensation fell across them all. The room turned to face the source of the voice.
And Izuku stared in shock.
The footsteps of a god echoed in the room. All Might ripped his necktie off. He wasn't smiling.
"Students… You've done well. But the fight is done. It's fine now. Why!?" All Might roared.
And he wasn't alone.
Every teacher in the school stood behind him. Midnight, Snipe, Power Loader, Ectoplasm, Cementoss, and a few more who rushed off to other parts of USJ.
"Because we are here!"
A group of villains tried to rush them. One raised hands surrounded in strange pink fluid, while another raised a hand shaped like a rocket launcher.
Aizawa-sensei, moving quickly, glared at them, their quirks shutting down before they could fire. One of the villains threw a boulder his direction, forcing Izuku to jump in his way and shatter the boulder with a kick. The young man almost screamed at the feeling of his toes breaking, but he'd given the teachers enough time.
The stairs moved on Cementoss's command, tossing the villains into the air on pillars of stone. Midnight unleashed a stream of her aroma, knocking them out. Another group tried to follow, only for Snipe to fire insanely accurate shots, rubber bullets sending them to the ground.
Just like that, around 40 villains turned to 20 or so.
All Might took a step forward.
And Mr. Hands gave in.
"GO, GO, GO NOW!"
"Damnit!" Aizawa snapped his head around, trying to get a look at the teleporting villain, but the chaos of the battle allowed the shadowy figure to hide from his sight behind the remaining villains.
Shadows surrounded him and Mr. Hands. Aizawa moved to get a better line of sight.
"This is just… unfair," the villain said as he ran.
"Get back here, Mr. Hands!" Mineta shouted.
"For the love of-" the villain disappeared, just before an enraged Bakugo came rushing in, barely missing them as they faded away into a dot of shadow.
"GODDAMNIT!" Bakugo roared. He turned and exploded against a villain made of stone, sending him flying. "They got away!"
All Might appeared at Aizawa's side in a flash. "Aizawa! Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Aizawa said, sounding exhausted. "But Bowser needs help."
"Where is Bowser-ku-"
In the forest beyond, an explosion rang out in the distance. All Might's face turned into something like stone, golden pupils glowing with rage.
"I see… I'll be right back."
"All Migh-" Izuku began to say, trying to warn him.
All Might disappeared in a flash, forcing Izuku and Aizawa to block their eyes from the dust kicked up in his wake.
"Damnit, rushing off like that," Aizawa grumbled.
"Aizawa-sensei!" Izuku began to say.
"I know! That thing is likely what they thought could kill him," Aizawa barked. "Ectoplasm! Get the kids out of here!"
"Right!" the math teacher sent off dozens of white blobs that transformed to copy his appearance, each one landing next to a student and pulling them out.
"Aizawa-sensei," Izuku was about to say something, staring after All Might.
"He'll be okay," Aizawa said reassuringly. "Help get your fellow students out. Okay?"
Izuku bit his lip. For a moment, just a moment, he wanted to go anyways. To help All Might.
But then Snipe went running after him. Then Cementoss, Midnight, a few of Ectoplasm's clones. Professional heroes.
Izuku swallowed and went to help.
"Kaachan, come on-"
"Shut up, Deku!!!"
Maybe he could have picked someone less abrasive to help first.
------
Bowser Koopa
He was so goddamn hard to cut!
Shock absorption made it so that any 'slash' attack I made on the Nomu just didn't have the impact it should have. I'd slam my claws into him. Then my claws would stop, and I'd have to 'dig' my claws into his skin, ripping rather than slicing into his flesh. So all the cuts I made were shallow. It was like sawing into a sofa. A sofa that bled.
There was something interesting though. While the Nomu was fireproof, I could see that he wasn't heatproof. As the forest around us burned and I continued unleashing my flames, he got easier and easier to cut into. In fact, I guess my own heat was rising too. It was like a hot knife slicing into already warm and melty plastic. My white-hot claws tore easier into the thing. Shock absorption did not prevent that part from working.
Or maybe something else was coming into play? In the (literal) heat of the moment, I couldn't think about that stuff outside of a general awareness of it.
We dueled in the burning forest. I stood in the center of a clearing of ash, taking blows across my arms, shell, and chest, as the Nomu advanced on me, returning them with claws ripping and tearing, with gouts of flame, punches smashing into it's chest and stomach when I couldn't claw it.
I grabbed the Nomu's arms just as it punched me in the stomach. I belched fire across his face on reflex at the pain that followed that blow, but dug my claws in deep into his arms. He pushed against me, arms and legs flexing, but I used my greater height and weight to force him to stand still, glaring down at the slightly smaller monster.
"Come on, you stupid..." I growled. Clearly I both underestimated just how tough this Nomu was and overestimated my own durability. This thing was made to kill All Might! Even in his weakened state Japan's number one could punch so hard he could alter the local weather. I might have been tougher than most but I was still green as heck compared to the average pro hero, and now I was paying for it by being slowly broken down by a super tough and fast brain dead Frankenstein monster. I needed a way to turn the odds!
Wait… what was All Might's original plan to deal with this thing before Kurogiri interfered? Drive him into the ground head first so he couldn't move?T I mean, my plan was still sound, it just needed some… addendums.
Held in place, the Nomu began punching me in the stomach, fists cracking against my scales, ignoring my flames scorching his skin as I tore chunks out of his triceps. I took I don't know how many blows before I slid around a right hook, tearing my claws out of flesh. The Nomu stumbled past me as his superfast punch whiffed, before I wrapped my arms under his armpits, then locked my hands around his neck, then into his neck, ripping handholds into flesh.
Just like that, a classic full nelson.
"Not so tough with no leverage are you, you bastard!" I cried as I held on for dear life as Nomu did his damndest to break my hold on him.
It let out an inhuman screech, bucking and bouncing in my arms. I squeezed hard, pulling it close and standing tall, using my leverage and weight to get his legs off the ground.
I roared before biting deep into his neck. My fangs tore and ripped, my flames heated up those wounds. Over and over, I dug into it, hot blood entering my mouth before cooking into steam. Damnit, where was All Might-!
The Nomu flexed its legs and abs. My teeth tore a chunk out of it's back. It's neck slipped down my chest then it's legs were pointed up into the air. I gaped in shock as it flipped over me in a display of impossible flexibility and strength. Then it was punching down towards my head.
I pulled into my shell and spun at high speed, breathing flames as I went. The Nomu's fist slammed into a blender of fire, the rotations sending his fist bouncing before his shoulder landed and he landed next to me on his knees.
Using the speed of my spinning rotations, I snapped out of my shell in a single movement, my claws out and clenched before they dug into its stomach. I forced myself to push through shock absorption, the horrific sound of ripping flesh joining the roaring flames around us, and tore out a section of abdomen before I forced up a fireball that exploded against his stomach, sending him back a step.
"Gah!" I fell to a knee, trying to breathe. My freaking chest and stomach was beginning to hurt. I'd never breathed so much fire before, not even against Todoroki. It felt like I was on my last bit of flame.
"GROOOO!" howling mindlessly, the Nomu disappeared in a blur. I raised my arms up-
Crack!
I was sent flying back like I'd been shot out of a cannon. It was twenty feet before I bounced off the ground, then slammed into a boulder, the stone shattering around me. I fell to my knees.
"Ahhhh…" I squeaked out weakly, trying to breath. "H-Holy shit…" I brought my left arm forward and pushed against the ground. And my arm bent the wrong way. As pain screamed through my body, I let out an anguished howl.
My arm was limp and hanging loose. I couldn't move it. I tried to stand up.
Then the Nomu surprised the hell out of me. It grabbed the section on the back of it's neck that I'd turned to burnt hamburger.
And ripped it off.
A massive chunk of cauterized flesh, removed like tearing a piece of cheese out of a larger mass to reveal blood soaked spin and ribs.
"Holy-" I said in horror.
In a blur, the Nomu was in front of me. He grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off the ground, then punched me in the stomach. I wanted to scream, only for another punch to slam my mouth shut and rattle my brain. I grabbed his arm and started clawing at it desperately with my right hand. My left arm continued to hang limp. I pulled and tore, but the Nomu ignored it, punching me in the stomach, chest, and head. Then he stopped.
I swallowed blood as the clawed up and cooked Nomu glared up at me. Then I kicked him in the stomach. The big asshole barely budged. I wanted to say something pithy, but I couldn't think of anything.
Then I saw it. The chunk it had ripped out. It was healing back completely. I suddenly realized what happened. THe Nomu had pulled off the chunk of cauterized flesh to allow it grow back. Like in the original timeline, when Todoroki had frozen it, and it shattered it's limbs to let it regrow.
Well. At least the rest of him was still covered in cauterized wounds...
I didn't have long for that thought to pop into my head. The Nomu raised its hand up, preparing to punch me again.
Then a white and yellow blur smashed into it like an approaching storm. I fell for a moment before a warm hand caught me, gently lowering me to the floor.
"Bowser-kun! Are you okay!?" All Might said, looking me over. The Number One Hero smiled down at me.
I wanted to laugh. "Heh… leave it to the hero to show up in the nick of time."
All Might let out a small sound of surprise. Then he smiled. "Ha. Of course, Bowser-kun. Everything is okay now!"
He turned around, facing the Nomu and standing tall. "Because I am here!"
I couldn't help the relief I felt, hearing that. Still, I had to help.
"All Might. This thing has shock absorption and high-speed regeneration. That guy, Mr. Hands, said he was meant to kill you."
"Oh?" All Might chuckled. There was a dangerous edge to it. Like an engine revving up. "There are many who have said things like that. As far as I know…" he stepped forward, a gust of wind erupting around him. "I'm STILL HERE!"
He exploded forward. The Nomu raised its hands, but was a hair too slow. All Might unleashed a combination of punches across it's chest, ducking and parrying returning blows. All Might's smile widened. "Bowser-kun. Thank you for weakening this beast for me!"
Weakening? Then I saw it. The cuts I'd torn into the Nomu. On its back, arms, legs, and stomach. Burnt sections of flesh that even now were struggling to heal. The Nomu was trying to fight back, but had to work with less muscle. It was slower, weaker than it would otherwise be!
My plan worked!
"As your teacher, allow me to impart a lesson!" All Might's fist slammed into the Nomu's fist. Then again, and again, and again. First, All Might punching directly into the Nomu's fists, shutting down its attempts to counter-attack. Then, hitting the Nomu's actual body, his flurry of blows sending shockwaves outwards. I felt my jaw drop. "Shock absorption is not nullification! Which indicates a limitation! All I have to do… is overcome it!!!"
The Nomu began to fall back. I felt the earthquake, gusts of wind following the massive blows. All Might's punches felt like the blows of a god establishing his reign. Power almighty, unleashing it's wrath. The Nomu's back cracked, burnt flesh cracking and sending out sprays of blood. All Might's smile widened.
The Nomu moved faster, trying to catch up, but All Might began to laugh. "Made to fight me!? Let's see about that!"
Someone landed next to me. Ectoplasm. "Bowser. Come along-"
"No," I brushed him off, standing up. "I… need to see this."
"Final lesson for the day!" All Might roared. He grabbed the Nomu's arm, spun around and slammed it into the ground in a perfect throw. The Nomu rolled to its feet, trying to face him. But All Might was already there, inside it's grasp. "Remember this! Go Beyond! Pluuuuuus…"
His fist, reared back, moved into the monster's belly. The shockwaves put out the fire that had burned the forest around us, sending trees flying.
"UUUUULTORAAAAA!"
The Nomu exploded. Thunder filled the air. In a flash of violet, it slammed into the wall of USJ, then through, shattering the wall apart.
Just like that. All Might stood. He smiled, turning to look at me. "Lesson's over."
"...You absolute fucking badass," I mumbled to myself. Goddamnit, I had a dopey grin on my face. I chuckled. "That was… awesome…"
Why was the world spinning?
Suddenly, my cheek was on the ash-covered floor. The last thing I remembered before I passed out was the sound of Ectoplasm calling my name.
------
Toshinori Yagi/All Might
"Bowser!" All Might rushed forward, stopping next to Ectoplasm. The math teacher kneeled next to the fallen dragon-turtle. "Is he-?"
"He's okay," Ectoplasm said, sighing as he looked over the injured student. "He'll need Recovery Girl of course, but he's alive. Took heck of a beating though."
"Thank god," All Might sighed in relief.
"All Might!" Snipe, Cementoss, and Midnight showed up, rushing over. Snipe looked down at Bowser. "Is he-?"
"He's fine."
"Looks like he took quite a few hits," Cementoss noted idly.
"A few?" Snipe looked over Bowser. "His scales are cracked! And I'm pretty sure those are his teeth over there…"
All Might sobered. It was true. The young hero looked as though he had been beaten to hell. "I'll take him to Recovery Girl. Let me just- ugh!"
He winced, falling to a knee. In a burst of smoke, All Might shrank, his muscles deflating in a moment and leaving him in his weaker form. "Hurk."
"All Might," Midnight moved to him, helping him up. The beautiful superhero looked worried. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah," All Might said weakly, coughing a little blood. "Just did a bit more than usual today."
"Uh… how do we move the kid?" Snipe noted, looking around. "Also is he bigger?"
All Might blinked, then looked down at Bowser. Now that Snipe mentioned it, the young man did look bigger. When he first met him, Bowser was of a height with his larger form. Around eight feet tall. Right now, however, he looked to be at least a couple of feet taller. He was already a giant of a student, so it had been hard to tell, but it was obvious when you knew what to look for.
"A transformation of some sort?" Ectoplasm asked.
"Whatever it is, we need to move him to the infirmary… does anyone know where Power Loader went?" Cementoss asked. "Or I could lift him with my quirk... maybe."
As Bowser snored, All Might let out a small breath.
The USJ assault was over. All that was left was to clean up.
Chapter 19: I Don't Know Man, He's Pretty Sus.
It took me a moment to wake up. I was feeling… well, like absolute shit. My mouth hurt, my chest hurt, my arms hurt, and my damn head hurt like hell.
"Ahhhh, fuck me," I mumbled softly. That had… sucked. Like, my god that sucked. I slowly blinked my eyes, trying to fight past the pain.
"I'd rather not," the voice drew my attention to my right, where Recovery Girl was frowning up at me. "And really, the younger generation is so filthy-mouthed."
When I spoke to her, every word was kind of mushy. Were my teeth missing?
"An't hel it," I said with a chuckle before wincing in pain. When I spoke again it was slower "Ahhh. Sorry. God, this hurts."
"I should think so," Recovery Girl shook her head and walked over to me. "The shell on your chest and stomach was cracked. You lost most of your teeth. Torn ligaments and tendons in your left arm, likely a concussion, it looks like you swallowed a portion of your cheek, bruises all over you. If it wasn't for your scales, you would likely look like a black and blue tapestry."
Well… damn. I sighed. "Gaaah," couldn't get much more out.
Then Recovery Girl kissed me on the cheek. I felt something like, I don't know, a siphon? Almost like a pull on something I'd never been in touch with before? Then I felt my teeth grow back. My arms, chest, legs, and head, throbbing with pain, were back to normal so fast that it threw me.
Healing is a process after all, weeks or months. Sometimes you get so used to the pain that you don't even notice when it leaves. 'Oh hey, my arm doesn't hurt anymore.' So going from 'Oh god, kill me,' to fine levels of pain left me a bit shocked.
"My, my, you have quite a bit more stamina than I expected!" Recovery Girl said, her outstretched lips pulling back. "More than many of my pro hero patients."
"I make sure to eat my veggies," despite the joke, I couldn't help a grateful smile. "Thank you, Recovery Girl. That really sucked."
"Be more careful from now on," she admonished. "I heard what you did, pulling that monster away from everyone. Brave. But it could have killed you if you hadn't been careful. You're lucky we have a room set aside for our larger students."
Come to think of it, the room I was in did look more like a very clean storage room than a nurses office.
"I, uh… Didn't have much choice," I rubbed the back of my neck as I rose off the bed. "That guy. He was strong. Very strong. If I left him there, I think he could have done a lot of damage. I mean, I tried to be careful, but…"
"I know, dear," she sighed, patting my knee. It was a funny image, this tiny elderly woman reaching up to pat my giant knee. "No one could really help it. We were all shocked when we got the message."
"I'm glad Iida managed to get the teachers to us," I said with a sigh. "All Might saved my ass."
"It wasn't Iida-kun," Recovery Girl frowned. "Every teacher in the school got a message to our public email addresses… Oh, but that isn't anything for you to worry about, Koopa-kun. I'm just happy we were able to help the students. Really, a small army of thugs," she shook her head. "What is the world coming to?"
"Indeed," a voice drew our attention to the door. Then a bit lower. The speaker was quite short after all.
"Principal Nezu?" I asked, surprised to see him.
"Good afternoon!" he walked over to join us. Like Recovery Girl, he was tiny, shorter than my knee. But unlike her, he was a bipedal mouse, with a scar on his right eye and a pair of ears wiggling cheerfully on his head. "It's good to see you up and healthy. How are you feeling?"
"Good, considering I was run over by a truck in the shape of a beaked bodybuilder," I said without much heat behind it.
"If you consider all of life by such a metric, you will likely go far in it," Nezu chuckled.
"He's healing well," Recovery Girl said, patting my knee fondly. "Likely an effect of his more lizard-like DNA boosting his healing. I'll have to wait and see what else I get from my tests."
"...tests?"
I asked that because I was worried about what would happen if anyone, at all, looked into my body's makeup. What Nezu and Recovery Girl got out of it must have been more general worry about my health. They shared a look.
The mouse-like principal coughed into his hand. "...Bowser-kun. We have a record of your history. Or, the lack thereof. I spoke to Ranma."
"My social worker?"
"Yes," Nezu continued. "He told us that you had no memories or history beyond when you were found in the street. We had some idea about that, but when Ranma sent your medical file on hearing about your injuries, we discovered something about your body."
"...I'm not human," I mumbled. I was basically confirming what I already knew, but Nezu nodded.
"Indeed. You are, much like me, an intelligent being with only as much in common with human DNA as… well, as an animal."
I stared at him. I mean… I knew that. I was a Koopa now, one of the more powerful ones like Bowser and his kids. But hearing it again, after I'd spent so much time working past my body image issues?
"Oh."
Nezu smiled gently. "I would understand, child, if this is something you suspected."
"...I never really had proof," I mumbled. "Did Ranma know?"
"Not as far as I know," Nezu said. "But I would ask him. Regardless, it may be that your origins are similar to my own. In addition, we may have discovered a new aspect of your quirk."
"What do you mean?"
"Size changing," he looked me over. "When you passed out, you were around 350 centimeters tall," around 11 and half feet or so. "And now you are back to your original height of 244 centimeters I believe," 8 feet.
"I grew?" I rose to my feet, eyes wide. "I can change my size?"
Yes! Bowser's gigantification thing! I'd never figured out how to do it, to activate it on purpose like he seemed to!
"Indeed, you can," Nezu stroked his chin. "Strange. Your dragon-turtle quirk has more aspects to it than I believed."
I calmed down a bit. "...So, I mean… what happens now? I'm not human? Can I even still go to-"
The realization of what I was about to say hit me, and I stopped with some embarrassment. Nezu chuckled, clearly already understanding where I was going with that.
"You can still continue your schooling. If you couldn't then as the non-human principal of the school, I would have some objections to you leaving for such arbitrary reasons."
My inhumanity was arbitrary? Hail to the new age I guess.
"Regardless," the super-intelligent teacher said. "I imagine you may want some rest. The day has been full of revelations for you, yes?" when I nodded slowly, he chuckled. "Go ahead and go home then. And if you need anything, please let the school know. We are always available to help, and Hound Dog has made himself available for those students needing assistance."
"Dismissing students without my permission?" Recovery Girl asked.
"Ah!" Nezu waved his hands quickly. "My apologies-"
"It's fine, it's fine," she waved her hands back. "He's perfectly healthy now. And I imagine his friends are waiting for him."
"...Thank you," I said after a bit. Then I stood up and walked out, keeping my thoughts to myself.
There were a lot. Felt like my head was going to explode with the implications. Not the whole 'not human thing', I'd long since gotten used to the obvious possibility. So having it confirmed was no big deal.
It was all the other stuff, really. The last event I could ever remember from My Hero Academia, one of the most fun anime I had ever watched, was over.
Where did I go from here?
------
Nezu
After watching Bowser walk out and saying his goodbyes to Recovery Girl, Nezu let himself think. He kept his thoughts in order, nodding as he passed some of his students, humming cheerfully to himself.
There was a lot to do. He'd checked on his students personally, spoken to the police, looked in on the villains that had been captured, taken in the statements of his teachers on the events that had gone down/the villains that had escaped. Aizawa in particular had been a wealth of information, but Thirteen had given a better explanation of Kurogiri, the warping villain. Of them, he was the most worrying.
And then. The anonymous tip. One, sent as a text message to every public phone address the teachers of UA had, and another to their public emails. And then the one All Might and Nezu himself had received. Whoever had sent it knew.
All Might's Quirk is inherited and can be passed down from person to person.
An anonymous tip about an attack, from someone who knew the truth about All Might's quirk. At the least, whoever had sent it was an ally, or pretending to be, and was interested in hiding their identity.
The police had tracked the phone that sent the text messages to an alley in town. It was taped securely to the bottom of a dumpster. The phone itself had no fingerprints and was a burner phone that could be bought over the counter at any store. The email had apparently been made only recently, had no other accounts tied to it, and the IP address it had been sent by was masked by a program anyone could buy, likely a proxy service or the like. Very simple counter-espionage tactics.
Still. He had some thoughts on that.
Nezu worked slowly through his thoughts as he entered his office. He sat behind his desk and mentally checked boxes, made plans, and began thinking over the various profiles in his mind.
And as he did, he pulled a real file up on his computer. Bowser Koopa.
Nonhuman. Like himself.
"Now… what secrets are you hiding, young man?" Nezu asked quietly. He reached for a cup of tea resting on his desk, and prepared to get to work.
------
Bowser Koppa
I shouldn't have been surprised that once I left the storage area masquerading as a nurse's office when I turned a corner and a tiny blonde slammed into me.
"Bowser!" Pony said, arms wrapped around my neck and forcing me to hold her up. "What happened?! Everyone said you got attacked, and you got hurt, and Toru-chan was worried, and we couldn't find you in the nurse's office, and-"
"Calm down, calm down!" I patted her on the back, laughing a bit as she spoke frantically. "I'm okay. Mostly."
"Bowser," Iida, Momo, and Kendo came over to us, Momo being the one who spoke. She looked relieved. "I'm glad you're okay. We heard you were really beat up."
"Only my ego and organs," I joked lightly. Pony dropped down to look up at me, worried.
"Got a lot of the school talking about it," Kendo said with a shake of her head. "I can't believe a whole army of villains attacked you guys."
"Not really us," I corrected.
"All Might," Iida adjusted his glasses. "How devious, attacking the USJ to attempt to kill the Symbol of Peace! Not to mention interrupting a very important lesson!"
"Iida…" Momo sounded aghast at his sense of priorities while Kendo, Pony, and I chuckled a bit.
"You fought that thing, right?" Pony punched my arm, looking annoyed. "What were you thinking!? That thing was made to kill All Might!"
I winced. "Yeah… In retrospect, I should have waited around for help. But all I could think was that I had to get it away from everyone else."
Pony glared up at me, but she looked more worried than angry. "Toru-chan said your shell was broken."
"..." I placed a hand on top of Pony's head and rubbed her head gently between her horns. "I'm okay, Pony. It sucked. But I'm okay now. I walked away from a fight with a guy who was a hell of a lot more than I was ready for, and I'm alive."
I looked everyone over. "We're heroes. Going to be at least. Eventually, we were going to face something like this. We don't choose the ballroom, we just dance."
Stole that from Spider-Man Noir. But it was true. Heroes can actively hunt down villains, lay down ambushes even. But usually? They ended up working with what they had. Being a hero, in terms of the day to day job, was reactive, same as police.
"We don't choose the ballroom…" Pony stopped frowning a bit. "That makes sense."
"I'm saddened I was unable to help you in your battles," Iida said regretfully. "If I'd known the teachers were already on the way-"
"How could you have known?" Kendo said, stopping Iida before he could get going full steam. "I don't think the teachers have explained how they knew actually. Vlad stopped in the middle of our lesson and got us ready for an attack."
"Maybe one of the villains got cold feet?" Momo asked, though she looked like she didn't believe it.
"What were they like?" Kendo asked Iida, Momo, and I.
"The villains?" Momo asked. When Kendo nodded, Momo tapped her lips with one finger thoughtfully. "...Unprofessional."
"That's a weird thing to call them," Pony said.
"Well, untrained might be better?" Momo corrected. "They had some dangerous members, but none of them knew how to fight, not really."
"They attacked the school with an army that couldn't fight?" Pony looked up at me, wide eyes blinking. "That seems dumb."
I nodded in agreement, while Kendo hummed to herself. "Maybe. But if they were trying to kill All Might, then they would just need to distract you guys and the other teachers, right?"
Iida nodded. "So because their plan broke down so early, the little weaknesses in it became exponentially worse!"
We started walking as a group, Kendo, Momo, and Iida moving forward and leaving Pony and I alone.
"Hey," Pony looked up at me. There was an odd look on her face. "You… you would tell me if something was wrong, right?"
I thought about that. "Not every time."
Her head snapped to look at me. "What!?"
"Calm down, calm down," I chuckled. "There are some things I just wouldn't want to say to my female best friend. If I had a crush on someone we knew for example."
"That's not what I mean," Pony shook her head quickly. "I mean big things! Things that matter…"
"...It would depend," I said weakly.
Internally though, I was panicking. The look on her face was so strange. You ever have someone you care about look both worried and suspicious all at once?
I had that look on my face, in another world, when one of my brothers had done something life-changing and I'd suspected it.
"Bowser," Pony continued giving me that look, her big blue eyes watering. "I-"
"Hey, you guys okay?" Kendo asked, turning to look at us.
"Yeah, we are! Just a sec," I waved the trio off. Kendo looked curious, but walked off, with Momo giving me a smile and Iida a nod. As they turned away, I turned to Pony. "We're in school right now."
She got what I was saying immediately. Her eyes widened. The short blonde nodded. "After school?"
"Well, the club is probably cancelled for today, so sure. Let's go to your house."
I sighed internally as she nodded furiously.
Well… fuck. I always was a bad liar. Guess it was going to turn against me today unless I could come up with an explanation that would work.
What did she even suspect of me? How much was I supposed to tell her?
I was finally done with the final event I'd been preparing for, and now I had a whole host of things to worry about next.
At least life stayed interesting?
Chapter 20: Wait, There's A Second Season?
Once we went over to her house, Pony and I went up to her room. I sat down on a pillow and looked over at her. She was on her bed, curled up to look me in the eyes. Even with her elevated position, I was still a bit taller than her, but this made it easier for her to meet my eyes.
I sighed, rubbing my hands together, my scales rubbing against each other with a soft and soothing rasping sound. "I'm going to be upfront, Pony. I can't tell you everything."
"Because you don't trust me?" Pony's voice was soft, her eyes swimming.
I scoffed. "I trust you more than I trust myself. Pony, just because I keep some secrets doesn't mean someone is untrustworthy. There are some things people keep close to their chest, like your crush on-"
"Ah!" a pillow smacked into my face, falling to land on my face. Pony had gone beet-red. "I-I don't have a crush on anyone!"
"And I don't have a poster of Mirko on my wall," I said with a chuckle. I forced myself to become serious again. "Pony, what I'm going to tell you is everything you ever need to know about me. Things I might never tell anyone else, even my wife. Because you matter. Being honest about these things is hard for me. But like I said, I won't tell you every last thing about me. Just know, it's for a good reason."
The embarrassed look on her face faded the more I talked. By the time I finished, she had calmed down as well. "I guess that makes sense."
I sighed. "Then I'll start with the big one. I knew the attack on USJ was coming."
She stared at me. "You knew!? Why didn't you-"
"No one would believe me if I told them," I said, heading her off. "I'm a kid in high school. I came out of nowhere? How could I explain that I'd gained knowledge about an imminent attack on the school specifically set up to kill All Might?"
"How did you find out?" Pony rose up a bit, staring at me.
"On the internet," when she scowled I realized how that sounded. "I'm not making a sarcastic joke, I'm being serious. I suspected something was going on while I was doing research into online forums in support of villains."
"They have those?" she said, sounding more than a bit disgusted.
"For as long as evil exists, there will always be those who decide to remove their brains and decide that evil is worth following," I said with a sigh. "And I don't mean the folks who think evil is sexy, I mean the type that thinks serial killers are tragic figures fighting against the man."
Pony swallowed, looking disgusted. I moved on.
"Point on that is, there are people who hate heroes for being popular. Some of them have actual grievances, like heroes that use their fame to take media jobs that others might want, or who use their fame to get away with crimes for years," after all, being hero, in some places, was less a day to day battle and more an all-you-can-eat buffet. Half-cop, half-celebrity, with all the problems tied to both.
Pony wasn't speaking, though she looked uncomfortable. "Yeah… mom talks about that sometimes. About heroes who don't deserve their… their jobs."
"Well, some people complain about that. Some people also have really stupid greviances. But where those people congregate is the internet. Forums, blogs, all that sort of thing, all on a few different websites. I ended up on those websites, and I decided to take a listen to them when they started getting into attacking USJ."
I raised a finger. "Keep in mind. I haven't mentioned why I started looking into things. That's part of that larger secret I'm keeping. Just know that the instant I suspected someone was doing more than talking, I started preparing just in case. I kept it to myself."
"You didn't even tell me and mom," Pony mumbled.
"Because I could have been wrong," I chuckled. "Pony, imagine. If I'd somehow managed to get a big enough response ahead of time, then I was wrong? I would have wasted everyone's time! Worse, what if there was an attack planned, and someone got word I knew about it? They would have backed off, or worse, come with a larger group, attacked a different day. I had to keep it to myself."
"No, you didn't," Pony said sternly. "You could have told me and mom, explained why you were worried that you were wrong. We would have kept it secret if we had to, and mom could have let the teachers know about it when it happened."
"...That did not occur to me as an option," I admitted a little bit weakly.
"I noticed," she said with uncharacteristic sarcasm.
"Look, I had a lot on my mind," I sighed, rubbing my face. Damnit. That would have worked. Cow Lady could have even helped during the battle. She may not have been All Might, but she was fast, powerful, and experienced, as worthy a hero as any.
"You said you had a lot on your mind," Pony asked. She sounded like she was coming to a realization. "I noticed you've been stressed a lot recently. This is why. You were planning how to stop the attack."
"I was planning how to circumnavigate it," I quickly broke down my plan with the burner phone, the VPN's, how I'd spent as much time as possible forcing my plan to be simple so that it wasn't doomed to fail when one cog in the machine went wrong. "So in the end, all I had was a way to broadcast the warning to everyone right as it was happening, and do my best to protect everyone until then."
Pony hit me with a pillow. "There was so much that could have gone wrong with that plan!"
"Actually, not much," I argued. "I knew what the possibilities were, but I made sure to cover what I could. The text messages and emails were something I tested in advance, the phone was placed in an area with both service and little to no interaction from the public or any homeless folk who might find it, during a time period where garbagemen wouldn't find it by some random chance."
She still looked annoyed. "Just, talk to me from now on, okay! Let me know about these things! I was so worried about you! Bowser, you almost died!"
Looking away from the tearful look on her face, I tried to hold in a bit of a wince. Thinking back on my fight with the Nomu, all I could remember was the pain. His fists had been like… god, how do you describe something like that? Unless you really had been beaten by a superhuman, it's hard to imagine the pain of it.
"I was the only one who had a chance against that thing," I mumbled.
"And it still almost killed you," Pony pointed out. "You said we don't choose the ballroom, but you did."
"And I danced," I said with a small smile. "I had to."
"...Bowser, you won't keep this kind of thing from me anymore, will you?" she asked unsteadily. Her fingers wrapped into her blanket on her bed, shifting the cloth around, her big blue eyes never leaving my face as her mouth twitched.
I scratched my chin, claws 'skriching' against scales. "No way. From here on, I'm letting you know anything and everything I learn. I want you in my corner, Pony," I reached out and rubbed her head in between her horns. "Need my little sis to have my back next time I fight a giant monster, right?"
While she did blush, she also scowled and pushed my large hand away. "I'm being serious, Bowser."
"Same here," I lowered my hand. "This shit was hard. It was stressful. I kept picturing all the thousand ways things could go wrong. I'll be so happy to have someone I trust to help me with the next event."
Pony looked me over, but shook her head a bit rather than speaking. Then she seemed to realize something. "Next event?"
"All Might is still alive."
No need to explain further. Pony understood.
"I guess you still have an account on those sites?" she asked immediately.
"I do."
"T-Then lets get ready!" Pony clenched a determined fist. "We can stop them next time, right? If we prepare. We can protect everyone!"
There is no explaining the relief that filled me as I saw her shine with hope, with sheer willpower.
Finally. I no longer had to lie.
—---
The next morning, I ate in the kitchen with Pony and Tauren as we watched the news, where a report on the attack was being displayed. School was closed for the day after the attack, so we were taking the time to relax and hang out together.
"72 villains were arrested, though the ringleaders managed to escape. Police are still investigating into-"
"I don't know how I feel about this," Tauren mumbled. "On the one hand, I was worried about you guys. On the other, Seventy-Two grown adults attacked a class of teenagers and ended up in jail with not a single kid dead."
"Not for lack of trying," I mumbled.
The Cowgirl Hero winced. "Well, yeah, but I'm lookin at this like a hero. I'm trying to understand what the point was of attacking with such a large group of people who had little to no ability to attack."
Pony and I shared a glance. "What are you thinking, mom?"
She looked between us, all of us ignoring the plates of eggs in front of us. Tauren rested her elbows on the table. It was like she was readjusting her thought process, shifting from mother to hero. When she was done, she spoke.
"All Might was the target, as we all know. But I think he was only a secondary target."
"Secondary?" I was genuinely surprised. "They brought in a superweapon guy to kill him!"
"One. They brought in one superweapon," Tauren said slowly, her voice serious and soft. "You said that one villain, Mr. Hands? He was the ringleader. But it sounds like he was young, inexperienced, treating things more like a game. The villains weren't coordinated or trained, making me feel like they were meant to be cannonfodder from the start."
She leaned back, continuing to brainstorm. "The rest of the attack was really professional though. Jamming communications, portaling into the school with that one guy, checking to make sure All Might would be one of the teachers there by infiltrating while using the media as a distraction. So. Professional in making the USJ Attack happen. But the actual attack was a mess beyond that."
I frowned. "Now that you mention it, sending me into a fire zone and Tsuyu into a water zone is sort of the worst idea. They just shuffled us anywhere they could."
"So they did research into where All Might would be, but didn't account for the students," Tauren agreed. "Which is a mistake only rookies make. I think this whole thing was, a test, or lesson maybe? Someone was trying to find out more about something."
"About All Might?" Pony asked.
"Or the school," I suggested.
"Or the villains themselves," Tauren pointed out with a raised finger. "Think about it, kids. Inexperienced leader, new experimental weapon. Makes me think that part of this was just a big test for both of them."
"They attacked a school for a test?" Pony asked incredulously. Then she frowned, likely coming to the same conclusion as me. "It's like something out of an anime…"
Attacking the greatest hero on Earth just as a test. I could sort of see the reasoning though. Forcing All Might to fight in order to discover just how weakened he was, seeing how viable Nomu was as a weapon, teaching that brat of a decay kid a bit of humility. If they'd killed us, that'd have been a win, but the bad guys still got most of what they wanted.
It was like the Light in Young Justice, smugly laughing about how all their losses still got them a win in some way. Smug assholes…
"In truth, I shouldn't really be talking about this with ya," Tauren said with a wince. "But I'd rather you guys take this as a learning experience. Villains are closer to the stuff in shows and such than I'd like. We get bank robbers and such, but a villain that manages to learn from their mistakes is something you see a couple of times. It's why the hero course has lessons on investigative work available."
She smacked the table, making us jump in surprise. "But enough of that! Chow down, all right?"
I shared a look with Pony, then we got to eating quickly.
—---
After breakfast, Pony created an account on a couple of the websites I used to monitor those who followed villain activities, so that she could keep an eye with me on the shit that might pop up soon.
While she was doing that and I was about to talk about more ways for us to coordinate things, Ranma, my social worker, showed up at the door. We sat down in the living room, just Ranma and I.
"Bowser-kun, you've made the last day the most stressful I've ever had," he said with a truly pained look on his face.
I blinked slowly. "Um… sorry?"
"No, no, let me start over," he rubbed his eyes, sighing. "When the attack happened, I had to find out from the school that you were safe. That was fine. But then some reporter found out that you were one of the kids who directly fought the Nomu thing, and suddenly I had to fight off two different reporters asking questions about you. I imagine a few of the other students have parents dealing with the same thing."
"Sorry, again," I said a little helplessly.
"I was mostly worried about you," Ranma said with a sigh. "The school said you were okay, but had to go to the nurses office. I didn't even know something could get through that shell of yours."
The memory of a violet fist cracking across my shell, a sensation like my heart was being squeezed in a vice, filled my mind before I pushed it back.
"Well, I am a hero trainee," I said with a small sigh. "I knew all along that someone could eventually step in and break this thing," I smacked my shell, thankful that it was unmarred. Likely my own healing combined with Recovery Girl's power. I assumed, at least, that Bowser was capable of healing without anything like compound fractures being a thing. Hopefully.
"Bowser, that isn't right," Ranma scowled. "I've worked as a social worker for years. I've never had a student get injured because a villain attacked their school! Once or twice, out on the street. But never at a school, let alone UA. Do you want me to try and talk to the school-"
I held up a hand and shook my head. Still, I couldn't help a smile. "It's fine, Ranma. But thank you, honestly. Having you worry about me is gratifying."
He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. I noticed that he'd grown his hair out since he met me, all the way until he had a neat little pigtail at the base of his neck. "Changing up your style?"
At my question, Ranma blushed. "Ah. Yes. My partner and I are doing a joint cosplay soon."
That made me grin. Guess the world around me moves on without my input, huh?
"Anyways, Bowser-kun," Ranma lowered his hand. "My fashion aside. Please. Call me when something like this happens from now on. This may be a job, but I am truly invested in your wellbeing. I want to make sure you're safe, okay?"
Damnit, I wanted to give the guy a hug. I held back the urge. "Okay… I'll do my best. But I don't think you have to worry. Can't think of any big events coming up that will-"
—---
The next day, UA
"The sports festival!" the class said as a whole, cheering together.
I held in a groan. Goddamn it, I knew I forgot something.
Chapter 21: Put The Time In
The day after meeting Ranma, Pony and I headed to school together. In class, I sat down next to Sato and Shoji, the other biggest students in class greeting me.
"How are you?" Shoji asked, his eyes poking out over his mask. "I heard you were immensely injured after the battle."
"I was a bit banged up, sure, but I think we all were," I shrugged, throwing off the memory of purple fists. "It was a superhero fight, what else can you expect?"
"You weren't freaked out?" Sato asked, rubbing his nose just a bit. "Those villains came out of nowhere! My mom didn't want me to come to school for a while."
"Nah, I kinda expected it," I said.
"Expected it?" Shoji asked, looking confused.
"Yeah, all the comic books show superhero school kids getting attacked in their first few weeks, so it was about time for us too."
Sato and Shoji blinked. Sato was the one who decided to comment. "Bowser-kun, reality isn't like that."
"And yet, it still happened."
I don't think they knew how to take that little explanation.
"Besides, I'm mostly happy we all came out alive and safe. Thank god the teachers came in to kick some ass."
"Right?" Mineta walked over to join us, Jiro coming up as well. "I got so scared we were going to have to fight like that for hours! My head still hurts…"
I patted him on the shoulder. "I heard you gave a good accounting of yourself man. Nice work."
"Those villains really didn't know what they were doing though," Jiro noted, leaning against a desk while swinging one of her earphone lobes around casually. "A couple of them were smarter, but really they were all newbies, right?"
"Some of them," Shoji agreed. "Except for the purple one."
"That guy was trained," I grunted, scratching at my chin. "Or sounded like it, at least. He was confident. Not arrogant."
"Is there a difference?" Sato asked.
"A large one," Shoji said. "After all, while they can be confused, confidence tends to be tied to capability, rather than foolishness."
"You think we'll have to fight like that again anytime soon?" Mineta asked, sounding worried. He also glanced at Jiro's skirt but quickly looked away with a blush. He's learning. Kind of.
"Not at the school, I think. The teachers aren't idiots. They'd pull out all the stops to make sure this doesn't happen again," I pointed out. "Plus, there is no way that Decay guy and Teleport dude will be able to do anything but run. The Quirk Registration Records would have their quirks listed."
Hell, even my quirk was listed. Dragon-Turtle, put in almost a week after I'd shown up.
More students walked in.
"So, how many do you guys think you took out?" I asked them cheekily.
"We were supposed to count?" Sato asked, smiling just a bit.
"And do we get points for assists?" Mineta added.
A girl's school uniform walking by itself joined us, Toru sounding excited. "Hey, did you watch the news last night!?"
"Oh right," I replied, remembering. "I didn't, but my friend Pony told me about it."
"We showed up on-screen for a second!" she told us as she sat down in her seat. Though I couldn't see it, I could imagine the wide smile going with her excited voice. Followed by a bit of sadness. "I didn't stand out at all."
"Toru…," I said hesitantly. What am I supposed to say? The girl is LITERALLY invisible!
"Man, weird that we all showed up on the news like that," Sato mumbled.
"Nah, that's normal," Jiro said. "A hero course getting attacked like that-"
She was cut off when my phone alarm rang. Jiro quirked an eyebrow at me as I got up. She gave a teasing smile. "Got a hot date to head to?"
"Not today, but let me know if you're free this weekend," I grinned at the blush that flashed across her face. Sorry Jiro, I may not be a Casanova, but you're years too early to embarrass me. "But no, I have to act like the class president."
I strode to the front of the class, bumping into Izuku as I walked past. "Ah, sorry. I was about to… huh."
Everyone was already sitting in their seats. 19 high schoolers, sat calmly at the beginning of class? Yeesh, hero kids really were built differently.
"Awww, come on guys. I just became class president. Can't any of you be unruly enough to give me a reason for this job?"
"You want us to be unruly?" Ida asked, sounding like I'd offended something deep in his soul.
"Yeah, how about it, Ida? Maybe head to the bathroom without permission?"
"I would never!"
"Ah, Bowser-kun!" Mina leaned forward. "Do you know who is going to be teaching us today?"
"No idea," I shrugged. "The administration didn't feel like telling me, and I haven't had time to ask. Maybe All Might-sensei or Midnight- Kamanari, wipe that hopeful grin off your face, she'll never give you a chance."
"Oy!" Kamanari said, Mineta and Jiro chuckling at him.
Before I could joke around more, the door slid open. We all looked over at…
"Morning," said a familiar figure wrapped up in an entire hospital's worth of medical supplies.
"Aizawa-sensei!?" Mina shouted in surprise.
"Excuse me, Mr. Mummy, have you seen our sensei?" I asked the bundle of bandages shuffling in.
"Cute," Aizawa said, taking his spot at the head of the class while I walked back to my seat.
"That's a pro for you, I guess," Sato hesitantly said.
"Seriously, you all right?" I asked while taking my own seat.
"No, but it doesn't matter," Aizawa said.
"Does it really not?" Momo mumbled, looking horrified at the state of him.
"No. Because our fight isn't over yet."
"...Well that's freaking ominous," I mumbled.
"Right!?" Ochaco said, her eyes shaking.
Aizawa lowered his gaze, eyes glaring through his bandages. The class held their breath. "...The U.A. Sports Festival is drawing near."
It felt like the tension snapped apart in an instant. "THAT'S A SUPER NORMAL SCHOOL EVENT! The sports festival!" the class said as a whole, cheering together.
"Man, I forgot this was an actual school!" Sato said loudly.
As for me, I held in a groan. Goddamn it, I knew I forgot something. "We're having a tournament arc already!?"
"You need to stop comparing real life to manga and anime Bowser-kun. People might think you are chuunibyou, ribbit," Tsuyu warned.
Tokoyami scoffed out of his beak, while I shrugged.
"I'll stop when real life stops."
"AHHHH, I'm so excite-" Kirishima roared, only for a hand to push into his face.
"Hold on, hold on!" Kamanari said, the lightning kid looking worried as he shut up Kirishima. "Is it okay to have a school festival right now? I mean, we did just get attacked by a small army of villains."
"Yeah, what if they attack again," Jiro added.
"The most televised event in all of Japan?" I asked. "Don't we have tighter security than most government buildings when that goes down?"
"An exaggeration, but not too much of one," Momo agreed. "And I assume public perception is part of why it's continuing?"
"You got it in one," Aizawa said. "Since we're going ahead with it, it'll show that the school is confident that our crisis control is airtight this time. We're also going to have five times the police and hero presence we've had before. Don't worry about the security from here on out. Instead, focus on the chance ahead of you."
"The chance ahead of us?" I mumbled.
"Bowser-kun, you don't know?" Izuku said, turning to look back at where I was sitting. "Have you never seen the UA Sports Festival?"
"Only some clips on the internet," I said. "I know everyone calls it the 'Olympics Killer'."
"That's a fair name," Aizawa continued. "Our sports festival is one of the largest events in Japan, long since replacing the Olympics for our country."
"It's also a chance to get noticed!" Toru cheered, invisible hands waving.
"The top heroes in Japan watch the event," Momo said. "Scouting us!"
"What, we're all gonna put on a show to try and impress someone enough they'll make us a sidekick?" I asked. What the hell, how hadn't I heard about this?
"Yeah, but some people end up becoming sidekicks forever after high school. Especially if they're dumb," Jiro noted.
"...why are you pointing at me!?" Kamanari yelled when he noticed Jiro's mocking finger.
Aizawa shuffled, bringing the attention back to him. "Naturally, interning under a popular pro hero is a good way to get noticed. That means higher status, more experience, and a brighter future."
I frowned. Damn. He wasn't wrong. I mean, even without powers that logic applied to most careers.
And it looked like the others felt the same way. The same tension I felt. Momo and Ochaco had determined looks on their faces. Ida looked more stern than usual. Bakugo was smirking wide enough that I could see it from the back of the class.
"This is a chance you'll only get once a year. Three chances. If you want to be a hero," Aizawa intoned deeply. "This is an event you can't overlook!"
"...You hide it, but you have a real sense for drama," I said to Aizawa.
"Blame Present Mic."
During lunch, I ended up joining Toru and Tokoyami, standing next to their desks.
"Ahhh, you two are so lucky! You both have quirks that allow you to stand out so easily!" Toru whined as she waved her arms in the air. "I don't know how I'm going to show off during the Sports Festival at all!"
"Well, breathing fire helps," I chuckled. "Of course, unlike you, sneaking around is pretty much impossible for me, even Tokoyami can at least hide behind something effectively if he ever needed to. I need to own being big and loud to get anywhere in life. More than a few heroes appreciate a stealthy type."
"I don't want to just be stealthy though!"
The stealthiest person in class was also one of the most stand-out and outgoing ones. Oh, the irony. Then again, Izuku, the quiet kid, was also the one with the second most explosive quirk. At least Bakugo lived up to his powers…
"She is not wrong," Tokoyami opened up a bowl of ramen and sighed at the scent that came from it. I chugged a protein shake while watching him stir the noodles within. Wait, when had he gotten that? We hadn't gone to the lunchroom yet… Had he gotten it for drama's sake? Just to have the steam curling around him? "Despite my wishes, the festival watchers tend to pride a good show over good results. This is the darkness at the heart of heroism."
"Ohhh, Tokoyami is being cool again!" Toru cheered. He sipped at his noodles without a hint that he'd heard that.
"I hate to say it, but you're right," I scratched at my cheek, my claws rubbing at the scales with a little 'shf-shf' sound. "I guess our training is going to end up going over showing off what you can really do… Toru, how are you with baseball bats? Or, how MUCH of you is invisible? Could someone take your hardened feces and turn them into-"
"BOWSER-KUN, WHAT ARE YOU SUGGESTING!?" Toru screamed in horror.
"I mean, it doesn't have to be that, it could be your hair or something, it's just easier to shape that into a weapon-"
"That is so gross!" she said while waving her arms, her voice positively terrified.
Was I the weird one here? Maybe my old days on internet forums full of inventive weebs was catching up to me. Oh, couldn't hair be used as garrote wire? Like in Hitman, or Goblin Slayer? Or was that too dark?
"I'm nervous enough without you putting that into my head," Toru grumbled, distracting me from my thoughts on the merits of teaching assassination techniques to minors. "I need to stand out!"
"Not much point in standing out if we don't also show our usefulness after-"
A shout at the back drew my attention. "EVERYONE! I'M GONNA DO MY BEST!"
I looked behind me to see… what the hell?
"Ochaco-chan?" I mumbled. The cute gravity girl had a fist in the air, looking more like a boxer after winning a match than an adorable school girl.
"Y-Yeeeeah!" Mina, Izuku, and Ida hesitantly raised a hand in solidarity, while Mineta said something that made Tsuyu reprimand him.
Then she spun to face our direction, and I swear her eyes were alight with fire. "I'm gonna do my best!!!"
"...Dope."
Wonder what that was about. Ah well. In the meantime, I'd come back to Toru about my theories on her body later. No idea if she could make weapons from her hair, but that might be an option.
In the lunchroom, Pony and I sat down alone.
"I completely forgot about the Sports Festival," Pony admitted, her food already half-done. "Are you still going to have the training after school?"
"As long as people are willing to do them."
"You might be training your competition," she teased just a bit.
I shrugged. "Honestly, if someone benefits from the training sessions enough that they end up beating me, I'm not going to be mad. I'm gonna give the best showing I can to make sure some heroes notice me, but winning isn't the goal. Just doing well."
"Not everyone sees it that way," Pony mumbled.
"Monoma?"
"Monoma-kun," Pony said with a sigh. "He's been pretty excited since he found out. He really wants to win."
"We gotta a guy like that in our class too. Still, I can't blame them. A lot of us have to depend on a good showing to make sure a hero agency notices us. How about you, you gonna sidekick with your mom?"
"No," Pony shook her head, long blonde hair flopping around. "I don't want to do that. It feels like cheating? Plus, we already train with her. If I sidekick with someone, it should be someone I can learn new things from."
Way more logical than I expected. But then, that was Pony.
"Are you really not worried about the festival?" Pony asked.
"Not really?" I said with a shrug. "I just need to show off what I am good at and get a decent agency willing to intern me for a bit. Don't need to win it all to get what I want. Sure, the higher you place the more likely the top agencies will request ya, but there is plenty to learn in any hero agency if you work hard enough," I then give her a savage looking smile. "Doesn't mean I won't try my hardest though and make sure that anyone that overcomes me earns every inch."
I kind of had to. When I watched My Hero back in my world, it struck me as one of those Dragon Ball or Naruto types. Something that was going to be around for a WHILE, maybe with a few sequels too. Deku and the rest of the school was probably going to end up in one mess or another over and over again. I had to stay on top of my game if I wanted to survive.
…and I really didn't want to become Piccolo, Tenshinhan or heaven help me Yamacha because I didn't work to keep up.
"Well I am," Pony said hesitantly. "There are going to be cameras! All of Japan is going to watch us!"
"Then it's practice for when we become pro heroes since baring underground types like our homeroom teacher they tend to be in front of the camera a lot," I toned back my casualness a bit. "It'll be okay, Pony. We'll train like crazy. Come up with nutso moves that draw the eye."
Pony still looked nervous, but clenched a fist in determination. "Right! We'll kick their butts!"
"Well, don't know about that," I said with a chuckle. "We might be competing with the other kids, but we're all in the same boat. Any logical person would know we stand a better chance working together, showing all our merits, instead of trying to leave everyone else in the dust."
Later on, looking out at a sea of students with angry looks on their faces outside our classroom, I sighed.
"Oh right… people aren't logical."
Looking out at the sea of General Education first year students while looking over Ochaco's head, I barely noticed Mineta hopping onto my shoulder to get a better look. The grape kid stared out at everyone in shock.
"Wh-What are you all doing here!?" Mineta shouted.
"Scouting us out," I said.
"Idiots," Bakugo grumbled as he passed me by. "We made it out of the villain attack, so they wanna check us out before the Sports Festival."
"Can you blame them?" I asked the weirdly calm hothead. "We're probably the only first years to fight villains right now."
"Of course I can blame them," he walked up to the batch of students. "It's pointless to waste time on shit like this. So why don't you extras," he looked over them all, his rage clear under a sea of calm. "Get out of my way."
As Ida shouted out in shock at the rudeness, Mineta looked over at me. "Shouldn't you stop him from pissing everyone off?"
"..." Goddamn it.
I walked up to join him. And as I did, the other students noticed me. They began to back away as eight-feet of scales, muscle, and shell moved to stand behind Bakugo. I looked around, before noticing one student standing in the crowd hesitantly. He didn't speak, but he looked thoughtful.
"Hey Shinso. Ready for club?"
The brainwashing violet-haired kid looked surprised to be pointed out, but nodded as attention was drawn to him. "Yes, I am."
"Good. It's good that we can all go out and work hard together. Improving our powers and such. Because those of us who want to be heroes can't be wasting time on bullshit like complaining things are 'tough' or 'unfair'. Heroes don't complain when a building falls on them. They just hold that shit up."
Shinso kind of sighed. "Can you blame us? We can't all hold up a building."
"Neither could our ancestors. So they made cranes. They found a way," I pointed out, looking at a small sea of students. "I know you all want to be heroes. No one who comes to UA wants anything less, except maybe the Support and Management Courses, but if you want it, know that those of us in the Hero Course have 25 hours in this school where we actually learn about hero work."
Bakugo's eyes narrowed up at me, but he didn't speak, letting me continue. "The rest of the time, we train constantly. Every day. Shinso here has spent three hours after most school days training with us, same with some of the others. We actually opened a club, open to all students, just to try and train further. So if you're here to try and scout us out, know that you're only wasting your time and ours."
"He's not wrong you know," the sea of students parted for Monoma. The blonde copycat had a smug grin on his face as he walked through, continuing on his way, with Keito and the other Class-B kids following. "If you really want to show up Class 1-A you need to work hard to make it happen or else you'll make those of us actually going to do it look bad."
"You have a problem with us?" Tetsutetsu, the kid of steel, and I am pretty sure Kirishima's brother from another mother, boomed out just behind Monoma. "What the fuck are you doing here wasting time when you could be training to prove you deserve to be heroes more than us?!"
"Ahhh, that's my line!" Kirishima roared.
"So if you all came to try and steal a spot?" I continued. "Then feel free. I'll even respect you for it. But you better be ready to work your fucking asses off for it."
"Heh!" Bakugo smirked, grinning just a bit. "Steal a spot? No way. I'm gonna sweep all these extras away. And you along with them."
"Bring it."
Bakugo and I shared a wide grin, then turned and started walking. Shinso followed, along with the other hero students.
"Hey!" one pink-haired girl with cat ears and tail asked as I walked by. I looked over at her. "Is the club really open to anyone?"
"Get a damn gym uniform and come along. UA Sentai is open for business."
Mineta was shaking on my shoulder as I walked along. "Ahhhh. I'm never going to stand on you when something like that happens again!"
I laughed, continuing on.