Part 51
"You U.A. kids really are annoying, aren't you?" Dabi huffed before blasting a flame towards Todoroki. An ice wall was created in Shoto's defence, but quickly liquified, as Dabi's flames were just too hot! Todoroki swiftly rolled out of the way just before the flames could reach him.
'Damn it! I can't get close to him. My ice is no use against this guy, and my fire doesn't do much either... Damn.. He's tougher than I anticipated...'
"You finished now? If so I'll just be on my way." Dabi shrugged before placing his hand back into his pocket.
Dabi stood patiently in the now empty alleyway, as he waited for the teen to come out from hiding & attack. "Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall!!" Todoroki shouted suddenly, sending huge ice crystals racing towards his opponent.
Dabi barely had time to react to his attack, as it was much faster than expected, thus forcing the young villain to drawback. But that was no problem with him. 'Gotta retreat. I've already wasted enough time here... Nomu should've gotten my command by now.' He thought
"Well Shoto, sad-but-not-really-sad to say that it is time for me to go." He started.
Todoroki's eyes went wide as the realization that Dabi was retreating, hit him. Quickly, he came out of his hiding place to face his opponent.
"Don't worry though, we'll be able to settle the score officially another time. Until then..." Dabi nonchalantly waved before suddenly collapsing into a puddle of mud.
'It was a fake?!'
"Tch. Damn.." Todoroki scoffed as he clenched his fist in frustration.
"Whatever. I still need to find-... (Y/n)?" He stopped mid-sentence as he saw you walking down a connecting alleyway. Immediately, he started dashing towards you.
"(Y/n)!" He shout, drawing out your attention shortly before catching up.
"Shoto?" You turned around.
"What happened?! How did you escape? Where's Nomu? What happened to your woun-" he stammered.
"Todo! Todo, one question at a time please! I barely know what happened myself." You interrupted.
Todoroki looked up & down at you with confusion. 'She's completely healed.. but how?'
Questions raced and scattered all throughout his head, but as eager as he was to know what happened, Todoroki calmed himself and patiently waited for you to speak.
"There's not much I can say right now, as I can't remember what exactly happened... But all I know is that one moment, I was strategizing a plan to save my life & the next, I was safely on the ground next to a dried-out Nomu." You explained before suggesting to find & regroup with the others.
"I see... Right then." Was all Todoroki had to say. You felt a bit relieved knowing he wasn't going to pressure you into answering anything. His presence also gave you a lot of relief, because now, you weren't alone.
"So where is everyone? Have you heard anything from them?" You questioned.
...
"All right, Deku. So what EXACTLY are we going to do to save (Y/n)? Did that big brain of yours think of anything yet?" Katsuki questioned, making sure to keep a good running pace going.
"Not yet... I hate to say this but I won't know for sure until we find her." Izuku answered, sounding quite distraught as he followed behind.
The two boys ran up and down the back alleys for a while until they eventually came upon something.
"Gross. What the fuck is that?" Snarled Katsuki as he towered over the deceased creature that lays before him.
"It looks like a Nomu... But why does it look drained?" Izuku analyzed the Nomu to see what could have caused its death, but found no clues.
Katsuki stared at the dried out creature intensely, as he went deep into thought. 'Could it be...?'
"Alright. There's not much I can really get from this, other than that this Nomu has been completely drained of its blood... We should go." Izuku informed before suggesting to leave.
"Don't tell me what to do." Katsuki growled.
"R-Right. Sorry..." Izuku trembled.
The boys continued on with their searching. As they were running, Izuku couldn't help but notice the bothered look on Katsuki's face. He was going to ask if everything was okay, but that would've been a dumb move, considering everything that has happened up to this point...
"Deku." Katsuki suddenly spoke. Izuku looked back to Katsuki and waited for him to continue.
"Do you think it might be possible that (Y/n) could've done that shit back there?" Katsuki shifted a glare over to Izuku & waited for his response.
'(Y/n)??' His eyes widened.
"What makes you think that?" Izuku frowned.
Katsuki clicked his tongue before going onto sharing his thoughts. "Think of it... Every Nomu we've passed by were all burnt to a crisp by Endeavour. Not to mention they were all within a close range of the disaster site... All except for that drained raisin back there."
Izuku was taken back from this speculation. Gradually slowing his running pace down to a jog, Izuku went deep into thought. '(Y/n)... Killing? No... That's illegal. She knows it. She wouldn't do that... Wouldn't she? Her quirk is Water Manipulation. The Nomu's blood is what was tampered with... It couldn't have been her doing... right? Kacchan is just distres-'
"Hey! This is no time to start slowing down to be alone with your thoughts! So hurry up and move your ass!" Katsuki growled, snapping the boy back to reality.
"S-Sorry!" Izuku apologized before shaking his head & picking up his pace.
...
"With all your might... let's put everything we've got into this last punch. Everything we've got, okay?" Spoke All for One before levitating himself higher off the ground.
All Might fearlessly stood in place, barely gathering the last of his power & energy and packing it into this one punch. Despite that, things weren't looking too good, as All for One seemed to have finally overpowered him.
"Wounded heroes are always the scariest. After I roped your guts out... the look on your face when you charged at me... I still see it in my nightmares sometimes." He added, extending his arm & creating a wave of dark electricity to jolt up.
All for One took aim and readied himself to fire the finishing blow. But, before he could send off his attack, a huge wall of flames blocked him off from All Might! "What the hell's going on with that weak little body?!" Yelled the No.2 hero, Endeavour.
"Looks like we've made it in time." Added Edgeshot, who was shortly following behind.
"All Might, Explain this weak state you're in!" Shouted Endeavour
"If your just here to cheer him on... then I'll need you to be a good audience and shut up." Threatened All for One, who was preparing for another attack. He failed to do so, as Edgeshot quickly slithered at All for One causing him to lose his balance. "Not so fast, you destroyer! We're here to do something!" He shouted.
All Might looked around at the assisting pros in action who surrounded him and saw how hard everyone was working. Seeing their full fighting spirit encouraged him to try and fight even harder!
"It's up to you to stop this heartless villain, All Might!! We're all rooting for you! No matter how you look, you're still our No.1 hero!! Everyone is resting all their hopes on your victory!!" Endeavour finished.
"Oh please." All for One huffed before blasting a huge, blinding beam of energy into the ground, causing it to erupt!
"Spirit this... Hope that... wake up. This is reality." He added.
All Might rubbed his eyes, waiting for his sight to return to normal. When it did, he notice that All for One was going through a transformation!
"Springlike limbs, four kinetic boosters, three strength enhancers, a multiplier, hypertrophy, rivets..." the villain spoke, naming his attained quirks. "... air walk, spearlike bones. The shock waves up until now were just meant to wear you down. Not much oomph though."
At this point his transformation was complete. There he levitated with a massively weaponized arm, getting ready to take aim for the weakened Symbol of Peace.
"In order to really kill you, I'll be hitting you with my ultimate quirk combination. HERE IT COMES!!"
Elsewhere...
"Yo, Dabi! Sup! Where the hell is the clone I made?!"
"It got beat. What else do you think." Huffed the young villain.
"Aghh! I made sure to make it stronger than before.. Damn it! It's okay." Cursed his masked acquaintance, shortly before giving him a quick thumbs up!
"I assume you couldn't retrieve the girl?" Questioned Kurogiri.
"Nah, one of the little brats interfered. Pretty sure the Nomu has her though." Dabi replied, taking a seat on a box crate.
"You're pretty sure, or you know for sure?" Grumbled a familiar sinister voice.
"You doubting me?" Dabi nonchalantly replied, relaxing his head against the wall behind him.
"No..." Shigaraki grumbled. He pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning on and lifted his head to shoot Dabi a glare, "I just want to make sure you didn't let the girl escape. After all, I wouldn't want to disappoint my master..." he grit.
"Shigaraki-san~" called Toga. Shigaraki turned his attention to her and saw that she was playing with a knife. "Why do we suddenly need (y/n)-chan back? Are we gonna convince her to join us?"
"Tch. Don't be stupid. Someone like that could never be a villain. Plus the spot for "annoying girl" is already taken." Shigaraki snarled.
"So mean..." Toga frowned.
"The only thing needed from that girl is her quirk. Nothing else." He added.
"A water quirk? Kinda lame if you ask me." Snarled Spinner.
"No... Master says she contains another." Corrected Shigaraki. Hearing this brought the villains curiosity to attention. "What? No way! I thought only the boss was capable of wielding another quirk?!" Spinner gasped.
"So did I... Until recently." Shigaraki replied.
"What do you mean?" Questioned Toga.
Shigaraki took a step forward to unveil himself from the dark before going on to tell his story.
"Back at the forest... Muscular seemed fine after he got the crap beaten out of him by those two brats."
"I thought you said he died?" Interrupted Dabi.
Shigaraki shot a glare in his direction. "I'm not finished!" he hissed. "As I was saying... he seemed okay for a while, other than that stupid slur he suddenly picked up."
"Slur?" Spinner repeated.
"Yuuuuup." Confirmed Shigaraki. "He was walking pretty funny too..." he added.
The area went silent as everyone took a moment to process this new information.
"Okay. So what I'm getting out of this is, the kids beat the common sense out of him. Your point?" Dabi sighed, breaking the silence.
At this point, Dabi was starting to get on Shigaraki's nerves. Luckily, Kurogiri noticed & spoke on Shigaraki's behalf, before the tension between the two got any worse.
"What Tomura is trying to say, is that Muscular was showing symptoms to those similar to a stroke. It was confirmed that he died from this mysterious stroke not too long after Shigaraki & I found him."
"A stroke? Was he THAT old?" Questioned Toga.
"No. That's why it remains 'mysterious'. Although, we do suspect that the girl who was fighting alongside Midoriya, may possibly be the one responsible for his stroke." Kurogiri added.
"Impossible! No way that weak little girl could've beaten a Macho-Man like him!–Huh?! You mean he was beaten by a little squirt?! Pathetic." Gasped Twice as he switched his baffled reaction, into a more cold hearted one.
"Unfortunately she did..." Shigaraki grumbled. "Which brings us back to Master's sudden interest in her. If his speculations based off this were true, and this girl really is the daughter of the duo Water Hose, then she might just contain the ability to manipulate not only water, but blood." He finished.
"A Blood Manipulation quirk?! Wow!!" Squealed Toga.
"She manipulates blood too, huh. It would be a pain to deal with once she learns to control it.." sighed Dabi.
"Which is exactly why we're going to get it before she gets the chance." Shigaraki clamped his hands together and looked around to his comrades who surrounded him. "This is what we're going to do..."
...
"Are you sure you're okay?" Questioned Todoroki, who seemed to be ready to aid you at any moment.
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Besides, we have to get back to the others." You answered.
'This doesn't make any sense. What happened to her injuries?' He thought, staring at your fully healed arms.
"Hey. Is that... It is!" You gasped, taking Todoroki's attention away from your limbs "Izuku! Katsuki!" You called. The two boys stopped at the nearby intersected alley and looked in the direction of where your voice echoed. Once it clicked in their heads that it was you, they ran over immediately.
"(Y/n)! You're okay?! How? What happened? Did anyone hurt you? Who-"
"Izuku, slow down. I know you're worried but please, one question at a time." You politely interrupted, calming the bewildered boy.
"Ah! Sorry." He exhaled.
You took a breather before speaking once again. "I know what you guys are thinking, 'how did I escape'. Unfortunately, I can't answer that as I don't know for sure myself. All I can say is that one moment, I was in the air deep-clawed by a Nomu, strategizing a way to escape it, the next I was safely on the ground right beside it's shrivelled body." You explained.
Hearing that last part seemed to have sparked some of Katsuki's interest. For obvious reasons... Izuku seemed to have pieced something together too, since he glanced at Katsuki immediately after hearing the last of your explanation. Despite this, the two kept their thoughts to themselves.
"I see..." was all Izuku managed to say before continuing on with "Well, I'm glad you're safe now." You gave him a small grin as way to show your gratitude.
Suddenly, the ground started to rumble! A huge cloud of dust & debris roared through the alleys, causing the four of you to be slightly forced back. Luckily, the gust stopped as quickly as it started.
"What the heck was that?" You wondered as you tried to fix your now messy hair. No answer. You stopped what you were doing and saw that the three boys were now running down the alley. "What the- GUYS WAIT!" You rambled before chasing after the three.
It didn't take long for you to catch up with them. When you did, you saw that they have left the alley and joined a small crowd. You followed, and saw that they were watching a live news broadcast of the battle between All Might & All for One.
A few moments before...
"Izuku Midoriya!" All for One shout, causing All Mights eyes to surprisingly widen. "He was the recipient, right? He came to you completely unqualified... he still can't even control it, can he? You've got plenty to regret as you die, All Might." He continued.
"Because you've also failed as a teacher!" He insulted before launching himself forward. The moment the two met fists, a huge outburst of power erupted between them, causing a cloud of dust & debris to kick up while the ground rumbled intensely.
All Might could feel the muscles in his arm ripping and shredding apart as he was forced back, but he wouldn't allow that to stop him! "As a teacher... I've definitely... fallen short!" He started.
Blood spurted out from his arm and splashed onto his face, as his bones began to crack. "But I'm WILLING... TO ACCEPT THAT!!" He finished, shouting his words from the heart.
"I see... Pathetic." All for One exhaled.
All for One began to overpower the pro hero once again, as All Might struggled to keep his strength up. At this point, it seemed he has passed his limit...
But... Just when All for One was beginning to think it was game over, something within All Might sparked! 'I'm more than just the symbol!!' He thought. All Might clenched his teeth and began to focus on transferring his stored up power to his opposite arm. 'Just as my teacher was there for me... I've gotta raise him right... so until then...'
"You would stoop this low and still struggle. So unseemly... I miscalculated." Chuckled All for One
'I CAN'T DIE!!' All Might raised his other arm and threw another overwhelming punch! Unfortunately, the punch was blocked. "Too weak." All for One boasted.
All Might furrowed his brows before swinging his already broken arm back, preparing to land another direct hit on the villain and shouted "That's because I didn't... Put my back into it!!!"
Immediately after swinging & landing the punch, a strong gust of wind kicked up, causing the pros who were closer to the fight, to be pushed back. The debris that was kicked up, cleared, and revealed All Might standing over the defeated villain mastermind.
Everyone who was watching the broadcast, went silent as they were just too shocked to form words. Then, All Might lifted his arm in victory, triggering everyone to scream & shout in happiness and relief.
"ALL MIGHT!!" They cried.
...
You looked over to Izuku, and saw him trembling, trying his hardest to hold in his emotions. You were going to comfort him, but stopped as Kirishima's voice caught your attention.
"Hey, you guys!" He called. Three of you turned and saw him running towards you with Iida & Yaoyorozu following along. You were going to greet them back, but noticed Izuku wiping the corner of his eyes. You looked up to the tv and saw All Might pointing at the camera. You didn't know what to think of it and ignored it to awkwardly pull him into a hug.
"Just let it out." You whispered, wrapping your arms around him, allowing him to become vulnerable within your hold. You felt Izuku tremble weakly as he hugged you back and hid his face into your shoulder. It stayed like that for a moment until one of the others coughed, reminding you that they were still present. Your body went stiff and awkward with embarrassment, causing you to end the hug. You slowly pulled Izuku out of the hug and stood by him as if nothing happened, while the others just stared at you with wide eyes & open jaws.
"We should head back." Iida cleared his throat as he adjusted his bow tie.
"R-Right..." Izuku blushed.
To be continued...
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FINALLY. IM FINALLY FINISHED WITH MOST OF THIS ARC!!!! Anyways, I apologize for taking literally ages to make this, and I'm sorry if there are any grammar/sentence mistakes, I usually have someone else proofread and edit for me but I haven't heard back from them, so I did it myself aha. Other than all that, I hope you guys enjoyed!
- sierra
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