Unicorn Tuesday (this is all iida's fault)

by The_Fyre

Summary:

*************
Aizawa watched Problem Child #3 move his arm in a circular motion, creating blue sparks. A small jolt of blue lightning zapped about Todoroki's hand.
"Hey, look, I did it! I figured out how to lightningbend!" he said, and spun his hand again, wreathing it in crackling energy before blasting a small amount into a training dummy.
"What." said Denki.
"It's small, yeah. But! This is better than the last time I tried this, I nearly blew my eyebrows off. Then I yelled at a storm." Todoroki said.
"WHAT?" Denki asked.
"That was because I was full of inner turmoil." Todoroki explained. This explained nothing.

************

In which Himiko is adopted by the Iidas, Hitoshi is best friends with an amnesiac Dabi, Katsuki has magic powers, Shouto and Zuko bodyswap every Tuesday, and Denki is dEfInItELy nOT the UA traitor.

Notes:

To anyone interested: this fic is completed and updates will continue regularly, and we’ll get to the chatfic part, I promise.

Chapter 1: iida tenya handchops canon into a picnic table

Most people will tell you that Tuesday is nothing special. It's not the beginning of the week, nor the middle, nor the weekend, nor Friday, which is important because it's just before the weekend, and everyone looks forward to then. However, Tuesday, though nothing remarkable, was the day Iida Tensei, sometimes known as Pro-hero Ingenium, took his five-year-old brother to the park. Of course, he did so often. What was different about this particular Tuesday was that it was the same day a young girl, ostracized for her quirk, had escaped a villain attack and ran away for good. It's not like anyone was left to take her back; not that they would have, had they survived. Her travels took her to a certain park, where she met her first friend in a while. 
"I'm Iida Tenya." said the boy with engines in his legs. "Toga Himiko." the girl replied.

Fate is a curious thing. There's no such thing as 'supposed to be' except when there is. And in this case, the two were fated to meet once, go their separate ways, and not see the other again until a forest burned blue, and by then have forgotten. However, fate only has a certain amount of true control; and what they could not control was the general speed and force with which Tenya waved his hands in the air, because Ingenium was the best hero in Japan and no one can tell Tenya otherwise--

It's interesting how many lives were changed with a simple

THUNK.

"Owww!" Tenya shouted. Slamming one's hand into a picnic table hurts. 
"Can I see?" Himiko asks, looking at the small cut on her friend's hand. Tenya finds no trouble in that request, and holds out his hand. Himiko, displaying the general lack of self-restraint common of most five-year-old, licks it.
"Hey!" Tenya shouts. Tensei is not sure what to think of this, and walks over, reaching the table in time to see the girl Tenya had been talking to magically (quirkily?) assume Tenya's appearance. There was a single second of silence, and Himiko knew she'd messed up. She'd just made a new friend, and--

"Your quirk is so cool! Tensei, look! She turned into me!" Tenya shouts, and slams his hand into the table again.
"You--you don't mind?" Himiko asks. Tensei, somewhat concerned by the general creepiness of the girl's quirk--were those fangs?--was smart enough not to say so. 
"Of course not." he says, realizing that though he had some tact, many did not. Himiko's quirk was one that would get her discriminated against, he thought. That was when Himiko burst into tears, and Tensei learned some things.

A few days later, there was one new (foster) member of the Iida family. 
"You're like Shouta." Hizashi said, when he found out.
"He's always adopting cats." However, that's for later. Back to Tuesday;

One of said stray cats, running through the city, avoided getting vampirized by the fact of Himiko's absence from the forest that hour, and ran in front of a car. The car swerved, knocked a crate off a tower of them, and the crate landed on top of a young man, skin stapled together, who was hiding in an allyway. He woke up with amnesia, knowing nothing about his life--at all. Naming himself after his quirk, and with the only things guiding him being a desire for self-knowledge and an irrational hatred for Endeavor, he moved on, after accidentally melting a pipe in said alley, when waking up in a panic. The melting of the pipe caused an issue in the building, and so while a family waited in the library for the issue to be fixed, a twelve-year-old with hair that was black, no it is not dye, wait is it? met a five-year-old with lots of purple hair and a brainwashing quirk. The two exchanged emails before going on their separate ways, and Hitoshi was inspired to become a hero. Use your quirk without hurting yourself, he'd said to the other, who had been overjoyed to discover there was a fashion, a way of moving the flames, that allowed him to use his quirk beyond his limits without getting burned, he'd figure it out, but this boy's amazing quirk had helped him, he could help others, he could become a hero. The two kept up their communication, over the years.

Dabi, texting his friend without looking at the path before him, ran into a woman, who accidentally used her quirk on him. 
"What does it do?" he asked her. 
"It's really strange and specific. Um. So if you have a brother, and he is, at the moment, being affected by someone else's quirk, and if someone who was born at the same time and with similar life experiences as your brother is being affected by the same kind of quirk as your brother, they'll get bodyswapped. For the full day. And every other of the same days of the week after it, every week, unless I can touch both at once and reverse it. Um. Do you have a brother?" the woman asked. Dabi stared at her a moment. 
"No clue." 

Shouto was sure the training mat had not been stone, a minute ago. And why was everything red? And what was wrong with his hair, and he felt really strange and since when could he summon fire from both hands and he was going to pass out now.

Prince Zuko, while training his firebending, experienced a similar sentiment.

Somehow, the two rather confused boys managed to get through the rest of the day, each realizing somewhat they had been shoved into the body of someone on another planet. Zuko, though two years older than Shouto, had been, by virtue of the way time works across the endlessness of space, had been born at the same time, and fate found things too interestingly similar between them to resist being able to switch the two. 

They thought it was over, until the next Tuesday, at which point each wrote a note for the other, and things were figured out. Fuyumi discovered what was happening, kept a secret from her father, and decided she would adopt Zuko, at least on Tuesdays. Neither's father, Ozai or Enji, found out, and Fuyumi realized that though Zuko's situation was terribly worse, it wasn't all that different, and a few months in, she re-evaluated her life, and some years later, when she was old enough, moved out with her two brothers and won the ensuing custody battle. Rei was doing better as well, and the family became four. Fuyumi only regretted that she could not save Touya, because he was long gone; that she could not save a similarily blue-fired sibling, because she was a galaxy away; because she could not save all those that needed help. She did her best, though, and that was all any good woman could do.

Azula was often deeply suspicious of of her dorky brother, and boiled it down to: he's weird on Tuesdays. The day after his Agni Kai, the day before he was to be banished for good, was a Tuesday; he'd looked in the mirror at his new scar, and laughed dryly. 
"We match now." he'd said.

That was not the end of that fateful Tuesday; no, there was one more soul caught up in the butterfly effect. Bakugou Katsuki, running from the playground a few days after his best friend Izuku was declared quirkless--how could they be heroes together now, they couldn't, Izuku was just a Deku--ran into a cat that should have died, drained of blood, a few hours earlier. A life living longer than fate had accounted it for caused trouble, at least until the timeline sorted things out. Katsuki patted the-cat-that-should-not-exist at the same moment as the timeline figured itself out and the cat ceased to exist, dragging Katsuki through The Place Between as it vanished. Katsuki's soul left reality for exactly eight seconds there...

and exactly eight minutes in a reality where there were no quirks at all.

And what Katsuki realized was that in a world where everyone was quirkless, everyone was

Still
The
Same.

He was no stronger nor weaker than Deku, there, and yet his alternate self believed he was, as did all the other extras--they treated him the same. Which made no sense. And if it didn't make sense there--why did it make sense here? It really didn't, when he thought about it.

Every night, he traveled. Every night, somewhere different. By the fifth one, Izuku was his friend again, and the two continued as if they had never paused. They'd be the greatest heroes, not only of Japan, but of all the other realities too, if Katsuki had anything to say about it. And he had a lot to say about it; since the universe in which a quirkless Izuku had defeated a League of Villans, he'd realized that anyone who could look down on his friend was stupid, as Izuku carried around notebooks of mass destruction, holy frick the stuff written in those was dangerous.

Another thing he'd been thinking of: how do quirks even work? Most mutation ones are pretty straightforward, but just--he can produce sparks from his fingers. Never mind the nitroglycerin--that was biological--but sparks. From his fingertips. How? And that didn't even touch on the quirks that were just plain weird. Ingenium has engines in his arms. Biological, metal, fueled, speed-increasing, engines. Just--what the frick?

Chapter 2: katsuki's -reality- check

Tenya very quickly fell in love with his new sister. After figuring the more interesting parts of Himiko's quirk out, Tensei remembered he knew a doctor whose quirk created blood. Once Himiko figured out how to copy people's quirks as well as their appearance, she was easily able to keep a continuous supply of her favorite snack.
"Himiko, I need space for the ice cream!" Tensei yelled, looking at a freezer that was mostly full of red packages. In the gym downstairs, Himiko was practicing with her brother's quirk; by the time the two were ready to take the UA exam, she knew Tenya's almost as well as her own. She understood it no more than Katuski, however. Speaking of...

Katsuki was pretty sure patting a cat should not turn one into a ghost in another universe, but here he was, floating above his own drastically changed class. Lots of his classmates looked really different without their quirks. In a world like that, he thought, everyone would be viewed by their own merit. Katsuki was very surprised to find this was not the case. Eight minutes later, Katsuki had finished getting his worldview overturned, and decided he would think about what to do with Deku later. What he didn't know was that travel through the fabric of existence had given him a secondary quirk; every night, he'd travel. At a loss, he followed Izuku's example and got a notebook to detail the four worlds he was interchangeably tossed into; the quirkless world, the one where Deku was a vigilante, the one where he was a villain (and didn't that creep him out to no end) and the one where Deku was a hero. The time period in the other worlds was not consistent; he'd appear before himself as an adult, or a teenager, or his own age, or younger. Katsuki told no one about his nightly adventures; he kept four notebooks, labeled "Quirkless," "Vigilante," "Villain," and "Hero." He didn't let Izuku see them, writing notes on each universe continually. Many things were different, across the four, but there were a few consistencies. One: they always met an Underground hero named Eraserhead. Two: something always happened at a place called USJ. He wasn't clear on what, only that it was bad. Three: something had gone down in Hosu. Deku and two people called Iida and Todoroki were involved. They were, he realized later, the names of two Pro-heroes. Four: there was a forest fire at a summer camp, and people got kidnapped. It changed who, depending on the reality; the villains went after either Deku, Todoroki, some idiot with stupid red hair, or some idiot with stupid purple hair. Four: there was a girl called Eri, and Deku tried to save her. In two realities, he succeeded. In the other two...he didn't. Five: There was a quirk Katsuki was calling "Green Lightning," and it was connected to All Might somehow. In the quirkless universe, it was a magic sword. (Did I mention the quirkless universe had magic? Because it did.)

It took five years before Katsuki found the second part of his informative though unwanted quirk. Exactly five years and a week after that Tuesday, Katsuki fell off a bridge. Eight seconds passed in a place that was gray and empty, and Katsuki ran home, and blood was washed away by rainwater. His reality-traveling quirk had pulled him away from the darknessthatglowedblue, from the womanwithouteyes, from the everlastingandunbrokenpillarsoftimethatheraldedtheend.
Immortality quirks were very rare; as a secondary aspect of another, unheard of; as a second quirk, nonexistent. The day after, Katsuki went to the library, to read up on quirks, and maybe get an explanation.

Hitoshi was having a good day. Two years ago, with Dabi's help, he'd gotten his previous foster parents arrested. Now, he lived with the heroes Eraserhead and Present Mic. He hadn't told his friend that part. At the moment, he was looking for evidence of people getting randomly bodyswapped on a particular day. If he could find Dabi's brother, he could find Dabi. Carrying his books to a table, he slammed them down, not noticing the table's other occupant.
"@$$&#*@*!" said other occupant shouted. He had blond, spiky hair, red eyes, and a notebook and library book open before him.

Katsuki, finding nothing that could help, had started copying some runes from memory into his notebook, with the help of a historical textbook. Maybe he could figure magic out. Unfortunately, the spells didn't seem to be working. Someone dropped a pile of books on the table, and Katsuki looked up, cursing, before he cut off in shock. Before him stood the purple-haired idiot. In the reality he'd gotten kidnapped, he'd managed to reach the Heroics course of UA; in the other three, he'd been in General Education. Katsuki glared at the boy, noticing a chat app open on his phone. He was texting someone named Dabi. Where had he heard the name before? Katsuki went back to figuring runes out, ignoring the other table's other occupant. Dabi, where had he heard that?

Hitoshi watched the other boy scribble in his book.
"Hi. I'm Shinsou." he said, holding out his hand.
"Did I ask?" the other grumbled.
"It's too bad, really. I did a project on celtic runes last year, I might be able to help you out." he said. The other boy looked up, and handed Hitoshi his notebook, pointing at a line of symbols.
"What's this mean, then?" he asked.
"It looks like you're trying to say [divine the other's uniqueness]. What this really says is [divide the over's unicorn]. You're mispelling everything, the lines work like -this-." Hitoshi said, scribbling a correction.
"If only it was known how to pronounce them." Hitoshi mused. The boy glared at the notebook, muttered something, then looked at Hitoshi oddly.
"What are you looking at?" Hitoshi asked.
"Nothing. What's your quirk?" the other asked.
"I'm not going to tell you that, you haven't even told me your name." Hitoshi said. The nerve of some people.
"I'm Bakugou. My quirk's Explosions. Yours?" Hmph. Telling someone his quirk was a good way to lose friends, but this guy was rude, so who cared.
"Brainwashing. I can control people I talk to," Hitoshi said, waiting for the reaction.

"It worked. It actually [bleeping] worked! Suck it, magical quirkless alternate!" Bakugou grinned, writing in his notebook. Hitoshi gained the impression Bakugou was not talking to him.
"Wait...HalfnHalf's brother! I knew I knew that name. See you later, Runes!" Bakugou ran out of the library. Hitoshi stared after him, feeling as though he had just encountered a cryptid.

Katsuki had figured out magic. He had actually figured out magic. He could see impressions of other's quirks, with this spell. In the other world, it was used to view magical proficiencies, but after seeing glowing ropes floating from Shinsou's mouth to wrap around his head, he'd assumed it was some sort of verbal mind control, which it had turned out to be. Katsuki was going to be the number one hero in every reality, and no one could stop him.

Notes:

Katsuki! Has! Magic! Powers! (and all his swears are censored out) I just thought that there were so many cool fics in which Izuku has dimension travel/immortality and decided Katsuki should have a turn. I Really Do Not Like Canon Katsuki (at least before his redemption arc). So I fixed him.

Next chapter: Shouto and Zuko are both very confused, and Fuyumi does her best

Chapter 3: he's weird on tuesdays

Azula was too young to realize anything had changed, the day Zuko faceplanted into the ground and woke up terrified, snatching at his eye. At five years old, her firebending was her one focus, and she did not notice her brother collapse as she slowly incinerated a flower, licks of flame not yet blue.

Shouto was sure he was dreaming. There was no other explanation to waking up taller, in a different world, wihout his ice or his scar. The door to the room opened, and a tall woman with long black hair walked in.
"Zuko, honey, what's wrong?" she asked. Shouto waved his left hand, which was aflame.
"My ice is gone." he said.
"Your ice?" the woman asked. "Yeah. I make ice with one hand, and fire with the other. And my face feels different." Shouto said. He didn't know this lady, but she was nice.
"You--you...ice?" the woman asked again, confused. Shouto didn't see the problem.
"I was just making ice yesterday. Then I melted it by accident. I'm still working on it, though." Shouto said. "You can't make ice here, honey. You have to keep it secret, okay? Because--that would mean you're the Avatar, and you know your Father doesn't like the Avatar." the lady said. Shouto frowned.
"The Avatar? Who's that? Father doesn't like All Might." he said. Shouto wasn't sure why everything was different. Maybe he'd been hit by a quirk? That's what people said when confusing things happened.
"Oh, go see Azula, she's been waiting for you to get out of training." the lady said, and opened the door. A girl a few years younger than Shouto ran into him.
"Zuko! What happened?" she asked.
"I got hit by a quirk." Shouto announced. Somehow, he managed to get through the rest of the day without much incident, although Ursa became convinced her son was the Avatar, which only increased her protectiveness over him.

Zuko woke up to an unfamiliar girl standing over him. She had really strange hair.
"Who are you? What did you do?" he asked, swinging out of bed--and what was wrong with his eye, why couldn't he see? Zuko reached up to his face and oww, that hurt.
"What did you do to me?" he asked, stumbling in front of a mirror--what was wrong with his hair, it was all wrong he was all wrong this wasn't him! Only the spirits could change someone like that--oh no, the girl was a spirit and she'd done this to him what should he do?
"Great Spirit! I apologize for however I annoyed you can I please have my own body back I want to go home!" he said, bowing.
"Shouto--what--are you Shouto?" the spirit asked.
"I'm Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, sir. Um. Miss. I don't know how to address spirits sorry!" Zuko said. "Okay. Provided you aren't Shouto...I'm not a Spirit. I'm Todoroki Fuyumi. I'm going to assume you got hit by someone's quirk, and hope this ends soon. And what do you mean, you're the Prince of the Fire Nation?" the girl asked.
"You have two names? Are you Earth Kingdom? I'm the Prince of the Fire Nation, and we're gonna beat you! Cause we beat the Air Nomads and most of the Water Tribes already. Fire always wins--aaah!" Zuko shouted, because he'd firebended, but one of his hand was covered in ice he wasn't a waterbender wait that meant that...oh no.
"I don't want to be the Avatar! The Fire Nation wants to capture the Avatar, I don't want to be captured!" Zuko said, staring at his hand. Wait. Waterbenders couldn't make ice. Only firebenders could create their own element. "What." said Fuyumi. Zuko saw her mobile phone.
"What's that? It looks spirity. Ooh, what's this?" he said, picking up a hero figurine.
"Right. Zuko; that's your name, right? You can't let Father know about this. It'd be bad, he'd get angry at Shouto and after Touya...well, I hope this doesn't last long." Fuyumi said.

Fuyumi asked the boy in her brother's body about 'firebending.' She discovered he was quite talented, even though he was reluctant to let the fire go past his hand--was his quirk similar to Touya's? She then explained Shouto was not the Avatar, whatever that was, and then quirks in general, while Zuko explained how his world worked. His WORLD. Fuyumi now had dual motivations; another planet, less technologically advanced, with both terribly restrictive and terribly powerful quirks, was not something she wanted getting out. The next day, Shouto was back, and he told her exitedly all about Zuko's world. And that was the end of that, until the next Tuesday.

And the next one.
And the next one.

Fuyumi and Natsuo began marking the kitchen calendar's Tuesdays by drawing a small flame symbol. She decided to adopt Zuko, learning of how similar--yet how worse--his life was to theirs. Shouto's fire improved; as much as he despised using it considering 'who it came from' firebending techniques`were extremely helpful, as were earth and waterbending for his ice. Due to the fact Shouto could not control his ice after it was created, it was difficult, but he, Fuyumi and Zuko figured out a bending style for it, and for it used in tandem with fire. Zuko loved his new brother, even if they only met with notes left to the other. In turn, Shouto helped Zuko with his fire--the two traded techniques, and though it took until Zuko's banishment for him to figure it out, he managed to bend beyond his hands.

Iroh was rather astonished, the day his nephew made an unforseen breakthrough in firebending. Zuko always acted differently on Tuesdays, writing in his notebook that had a half-red, half-white leather circle stitched on the cover, and poring over bending scrolls. Today was a Thursday, and Zuko was meditating on deck, a flame held in each hand. And then--the flame rose. Twisting, weaving, both Zuko's arms produced fire. Zuko stood up, and practiced a firebending kata--the amount of flame produced was amazing, almost unheard of for benders his age; more surface area equaled more fire created. Sheets of flame, flickering blue at the edges, curled around the deck. Then Zuko slammed his hands together, and his entire body burst aflame, blue flaring visibly through the red-orange. Iroh was playing Pai Sho with a crewmember when Lieutenant Jee tapped him on the shoulder.
"You'll want to see this, General." he said. Iroh turned around, and dropped his teacup. The last firebender who had achieved what Zuko was doing had been Avatar Kagome--and it had been said she had received aid from beyond the Spirit World. Of course, back then there had been the whole thing with the half-demon and the Shikon Jewel--that period of history was particularly murky--but the facts were undeniable. Zuko had accomplished something unheard of for a good seven thousand years. (and he thought he was better at swords)

Oh, Shouto learned how to use the dual dao, but preferred the less lethal version known as escrima sticks.

It had been eight years since a certain Tuesday, and Katsuki and Izuku were sparring; Izuku was winning. Despite explosions.
"Hah! I won, Kacchan!" Izuku shouted.
"You are going to be the greatest quirkless hero ever, you stupid nerd." Katsuki said, as the two sat down to rest. "Better than you?" Izuku asked.
"Of course not. I'm going to be the best hero, total. You'll be the best quirkless one." Katsuki told his friend.
"I'm going to be the only quirkless one." Izuku mumbled. Kacchan was his best friend, and unlike the world in general, had supported him fully (although somewhat rudely) on his quest. He hadn't realized how great his notebooks were, until Katsuki had asked him to do an analysis of how to take down the heroes he wrote about without using a quirk. Izuku had done so easily, and then Katsuki asked him what was preventing him from doing the same to villains.
"I'm not strong enough." he had said.
"Well, [bleep] get strong enough! How the [bleep] else are you supposed to challenge me?" Katsuki had asked. "Challenge you?" Izuku wondered.
"Yeah! There'll be no point surpassing you if it's easy. We have to beat all the extras together, see. Once that's done, I'll kick your [bleep]!" Katsuki yelled. Izuku loved his friend, even if he kept secrets, and never let Izuku see his four notebooks.
"We'll do wonderfully, don't worry. You're almost as good as analyzing people's quirks as I am!" Izuku said.
"I cheat." Katsuki said.
"You can't cheat at analysis!" Izuku cried. Katsuki just smiled.

Unfortunately, it seemed that magic came from an internal funnel to entropy, accessible by draining the power of his quirk. It was limited compared to the magic of the other world, but worse than that was the fact that Izuku, quirkless, could not cast any.

Many things were different, because of a certain Tuesday. However, when it came down to it, the path of fate as a whole barely wobbled, and for nine years, few things changed.

And then everything did.

Notes:

Kagome and the Shikon Jewel--taken from a manga I read once, Inuyasha, which is named after the main character. Inuyasha means "dog demon" and he's half dog demon, like, why are all anime characters' names right on the nose like that?

Chapter 4: we welcome the ninth

"Bakugou and Midoriya are applying for UA. Midoriya, are you sure you don't want to consider an alternate option?" the teacher asked. The class considered laughing, but if they did so, they'd probably regret it. Midoriya was actually pretty terrifying for someone quirkless. "Kacchan, did you hear about the new hero, Mt. Lady? She has a gigantification quirk, which is awesome!" Izuku said, showing his friend his notebook--Hero Analysis #14. The two sat on the school roof. Kacchan wasn't listening, though.
"Kacchan?" Izuku asked.
"[bleep] that Tuesday." Katsuki muttered, before casting a gaze across where the two were.
"Let's...leave here." Kacchan said, a strange look on his face.
"You okay?" Izuku asked. Kacchan mumbled something, and the two walked towards home.

Last night, he'd traveled. Traveled to the world where Izuku was a vigilante, to--for the first time ever--the exact same day, parallel in time, to the current day. And the alternate Katsuki had said something horrible, awful, abominable, to Izuku--

s\w\a\n\d\i\v\e...r\o\o\f...q\u\i\r\k...n\e\x\t\l\i\f\e

He couldn't understand how their alternate versions haad become friends again, a few years later. Then, they had gotten attacked by a sludge villain. That was why he was heading home, instead of towards the arcade--he didn't want to risk it. Then, as they passed under a bridge, a manhole cover exploded.
"RUN!" Katsuki yelled, throwing explosions. They weren't enough.

"KACCHAN!" Izuku screamed, watching the sludge cover his best friend. He pulled and tugged at the mass, but Kacchan's explosions were getting steadily weaker. He had to think. Analyze--he could see the villain's eye. Izuku grabbed a pencil, and stabbed it towards the eye, point blank. The villain screamed, and Kacchan twisted as Izuku scrabbled at the weakening slime. It was working--Kacchan was almost out--and then--and then he stopped. Katsuki's hand dropped, he stopped struggling, his explosions gone, red eyes no longer scrunched in a terrified grimace.
"NO, no, KACCHAN!" Izuku yelled, going for the villain's eye again.

He Had To Save His Friend.
Even If He Was Already Gone.

Kacchan was still on the ground as Izuku pulled the villan away--

BOOM!

Izuku and the villain were thrown back by one of the strongest explosions Izuku had seen from his friend. Eyes again glowing red with rage, fire tearing through the dirty gunk, Kacchan coughed up slime as nitroglycerin sparked, lighting up the shadows of the tunnel. He looked for all the world, thought Izuku, like a creature rising from the depths of the earth. Izuku could almost see an unearthly glow surrounding Kacchan, who was growling something in a strange language as explosions echoed through the space, snapping from his feet as well as his hands. The villan, beat back though he was, rose up from the corner in all his disgusting, slimy glory before lunging once more--

"I AM HERE!"
SMASH!

"All Might!" cried Izuku, because the Number One Hero himself had punched the sludge villain into unresponsiveness. All Might poured the villain into a soda bottle before turning to the two.
"Are you two all right?" he asked. Izuku could hardly believe his eyes.
"Can you sign his notebook? He's too overcome with hero-worship to [bleeping] ask for it himself." Katsuki said, holding out Izuku's notebook. All Might gladly did so.
"I am glad you're all right. For a moment, I thought I'd arrived too late; that's an excellent quirk you have there, young man." All Might said.
"That's what he said." Katsuki glowered, before muttering something. It was, Izuku recognized, what he often said before analysing someone's quirk.

Okay, what the [bleep]. Katsuki was just getting over being dead for eight seconds--this had been only his second time in the gray space between, and he was terrified of nothing more--when he remembered no one knew what quirk All Might had. He had a quirk identifying spell, so--yup, he wasn't expecting seven ghostly figures, some more distinct than the others, and All Might himself surrounded in a nimbus of green lightning. Wait, this was the Green Lightning quirk? The one either stupid-faced million guy, stupid red hair guy, or stupid purple hair guy had? Why did All Might have it? In the quirkless world, All Might had given the magic sword to million guy, so maybe he gave the quirk when it was a quirk--wait, you couldn't GIVE someone a quirk. Unless you had All for One. Did that mean All Might had multiple quirks? Most of the ghostly figures had quirk-markings too, they were following him around, did All Might steal their quirks or something?

"Kacchan, are you okay? You're mumbling." Izuku asked his friend, who looked as though he had seen a ghost. Or several.
"Okay--I'm just going to--leave now." Kacchan said, and ran away.
"He's scared of you? Not that you're scary, Mr. All Might, this is so embarrassing, I meet my greatest hero and my best friend runs away." Izuku mutters.
"Now that I have confirmed you're okay, I must be off! I have to take this villain into custody--what are you doing? Let go!" All Might shouted, leaping through the sky with Izuku attached to his leg. He landed on the top of a building.
"All Might, please, I need to ask you a question!" Izuku said, once he was safe from death by falling. He looked up at his hero--and suddenly, there was a burst of smoke. Once it cleared, All Might looked, very, very different. "All Might?" Izuku asked. All Might, his secret put on the spot, explained.

"Can--can I be a hero without a quirk?" Izuku asked. Kacchan had told him so, many times, as had his mother, but this--this was All Might.
"My boy--" All Might started to speak, but before he could finish his sentence, a door leading downstairs slammed open. Katsuki was there. He didn't look surprised by All Might's appearance at all.
"Kacchan! Um, what are you doing here?" Izuku asked. The interruption allowed him to gather his courage, and realize what, exactly, All Might would say to him.
"Don't you dare say what you are about to say, All Might. My entire life, people have been telling me, that because I'm quirkless, I'm useless. But you know what? Kacchan says I'm the greatest hero he has ever known." Izuku said.

"He stands up for those who need help, and this past danger--I couldn't have escaped without his help. So don't you [bleep] dare to tell him what all other adults have told him." Katsuki said, almost in a single breath, following up on what his friend said.

"Your concern for your friend is commendable, young man, but that wasn't what I was going to say. Young Midoriya, you save your friend's life, and I was going to tell you that that ability of yours--to just move, to act regardless of danger--is the mark of a true hero. I'm confused as to how you do not look surprised at my appearance, young...Kacchan." All Might said.
"You're wearing the same clothes, and have the same hair. Wasn't hard. And my name's Bakugou!" Katsuki says, trying not to look at the ghosts, who, even though the spell for quirk-viewing had worn off, had not disappeared. It was beginning to annoy him.

"Young Midoriya, I believe you have the drive, and the ability, to become a hero without a quirk. But, should you desire one...due to my failing powers, I am in need of a successor. I would be honored if you accepted my quirk, and with my guidance, became the next Symbol of Peace." All Might said.

"Toshi, you had better tell him about All for One first." the most visible ghost said. Hah! Katsuki knew there was something strange with all the floating quirk symbols--uh oh.

Shimura Nana saw the young boy with blond hair turn towards her as she spoke, and realized the truth of his running away, earlier--he could see her. He could see her, and the other past holders.
"How?" Fifth asked, realizing this as well.

Katsuki grabbed Izuku's wrist.
"Let's meet at Dagobah Beach tomorrow. I've had [bleep] enough for one day." he said, dragging his friend back home.

Notes:

Katsuki is not having the best day. In other news, Izuku is no longer going to be the first quirkless hero! That honor goes to...

?

Chapter 5: izuku does not break his bones

Over the course of a few months, Katsuki and Izuku cleaned off Dagobah beach, training even further. And the moment All Might--Yagi--said the power might explode Izuku's arms, what the [bleep], Katsuki set to work creating a permanent spell to help Izuku. The fact that the stupid nerd needed his help just furthered the fact that Katsuki was better than him, he told himself as he flipped through his notebook, combining runes as he attempted to figure out a way to make this particular spell last. He'd need a source of magic...One for All itself could do. Yagi informed the two he would be teaching at UA, but it was a new experience for him, and he mentioned how he had been trying to cast something to Class 1-A's tv, but accidentally sent the info somewhere else.
"And, I lost the projector. Shouta was not amused." Yagi said, to their amusement.

Shimura was somehow becoming more aware of the world around her, getting dragged back from the gray along with her fellow past holders. She knew little about being a ghost, even after a few decades, but one thing she did know was that the only thing that could reinvigorate spirits was the lifeblood of the universe, also known as magic. She'd learned from First that quirks were a person's body becoming connected to magic, in a singular and locked way. She knew the glow of quirks--and now, watching the aura around the explosive Bakugou, knew the glow of magic. Which, according to First, was nearly all gone nowadays. Somehow, this pomeranian-looking boy had rediscovered it.

"Before you accept my quirk, I must tell you about All for One." Yagi said one day. He had not been originally planning to, but he felt as though his previous mentor would not approve. He thought of her more, recently. Yagi told Midoriya of the ancient enemy, and his danger. "Honestly, I just want this quirk more, now. He'll come to get me, and I can stop him, preventing him from causing any more trouble." Izuku said.
"You must not underestimate him; and I hope you will not face him for a while. He had hundred upon hundreds of quirks, and two hundred years of experience. Defeating All for One will not be easy; it will take a lot, much more than either of us currently have." Yagi admitted.

If that day, someone had told him All for One would be defeated thanks to a simple misunderstanding Yagi himself was the cause of, he would not have believed them.

The day of the UA exam, Katsuki grabbed Izuku's arm and scribbled the spell he'd spent ages on in marker--when Izuku received One for All, it would bind to and power the runes, which would make his bones near-unbreakable for as long as Izuku held the quirk. (The marker would wash off.)

"I cannot [bleep] believe he gave you hair. Idiot." Katsuki said, as they walked to UA.
"Wow. Look at the door! It's huge!" Izuku cried. Then he nearly faceplanted, and some girl with a round face caught him. The ghosts followed him now, as well as an inanimate silhouette of All Might. Sometimes, they'd talk to Katsuki, who generally preferred to ignore them. Magic was enough; he didn't need ghosts.

At UA, he ran into stupid-purple-hair; Runes.
"I think I've seen you before." Runes said.
"From the library, Runes." Katsuki told him.
"Runes? My name is Shinsou, and I have no idea who you are." Runes said.
"It's Bakugou, and don't you forget it! I'm going to beat you, and all you other extras--[bleep] off, Glasses!" Bakugou turned to a blue-haired, loud, handwaving, conversation interrupter.
"Foul language is not appropriate for heroes-in-training. Please stop distracting the other participants." Glasses said.
"Tenyaaa! Everyone's jussst soooo exiiited to be heeere! I'm Iida Himiko, and this is my brother, Iida Tenya. I have a knife!" said a girl with fangs, her hair in buns, and--yep, that was a knife.
"Are you allowed that?" Izuku asked.
"It's support gear! Oh, you're cute! What's your name? Ignore my silly brother." Knife said.
"Himiko--I--never mind." Glasses walked off to accost Round Face.
"I'm Midoriya. Nice to meet you." Izuku said. Katsuki noticed HalfnHalf and Stupid Hair among the other examinees.
"I'm just grateful the exam wasn't on Tuesday." HalfnHalf said.

(We're going to assume they did the written portion at some point.)

Present Mic finished his presentation, and yelled "GO!" Glasses sped off in front of everyone else, and his sister Knife drank something out of a small bottle before turning into Glasses and doing the same. Katsuki exploded through robots liberally, and while Izuku wasn't using his shiny new quirk, he'd figured out their weak points and was smashing plenty with a iron pole--although, if he didn't keep stopping to help random extras, he might get more points. Stupid Hair was doing okay, he had a pretty nice quirk, and HalfnHalf was only using ice, for some reason. Katsuki had seen him in the other realities using both ice and fire--maybe he only had ice here? Katsuki ran towards a robot to blow it up, but it was stabbed through with ice spikes. Katsuki had been training with his quirk for a while--but this guy had nothing less than true mastery. A new challenger appears! Oh [bleep], the zero-pointers were here. Katsuki wasn't stupid, and neither was HalfnHalf. They ran.

"Help!" someone shouted. Izuku turned around--the pretty girl who'd stopped him from falling, Uraraka, was stuck under some rubble as the zero-pointer advanced. He ran towards her, and pushed against the rubble, straining. The zero-pointer was almost upon them, he was running out of time...wait, he had a quirk now. Izuku looked up at the zero pointer, touched the good-luck charm Katsuki had written on his arm, and--jumped.

Green lightning exploded across his body.
"Detroit SMASH!" he shouted, slamming into the zero-pointer with incredible force. He wrecked it, instantly. Oww, his arms hurt--wait, he was in the air. He was falling.
"AHHHHHHH!"

Slap!
Uraraka grabbed his face, saving him from painful death by collison with the ground.
"AND TIME'S UP!" roared Present Mic. Kacchan walked over. "Tch. Good job, too bad you won't get any points. Your hand needs Recovery Girl." he said.
"You're really lucky nothing's broken, dear." Recovery Girl said, after healing Izuku. The two walked to their homes, hopeful for the future.

All Might was also surprised Izuku didn't break anything; he had used a dangerous percentage of power. A few weeks later, they received their scores; Katsuki got second place, and Izuku fourth, through rescue points. Which were apparently a thing.

Notes:

Katsuki: hmm I wonder where I've seen Himiko before

Katsuki later: oh

Chapter 6: todoroki gets launched through the roof

The first thing Katsuki did, after entering Class 1-A, was put his feet on the desk. The second thing he did was tune out Glasses's ranting. Katsuki watched Glasses's sister bounce around the classroom making friends with everyone, and wondered how different this reality would be from the others, if [BLEEP]ing Toga was Iida's SISTER. That had been a difference he hadn't expected. Izuku was talking to Round Face; they seemed to be getting along well. HalfnHalf showed up and didn't talk to anyone.
"I'm not here to make friends." he'd told Izuku and Knife. "Hello! I saw you during the exam. Your explosions are so manly!" Stupid Hair told Katsuki, who just glared at him. "I'm Kirishima, and this is my friend Kaminari." Stupid Hair said. His friend waved.
"I'm Bakugou. You have a stupid face." Katsuki told the potential friends. Anyone who wanted to be his friend would have to earn it. Then, the teacher had rolled into the door in a bright yellow sleeping bag. What the [bleep]?

"We're skipping orientation and going straight to the class assessment. Whoever comes in last is expelled. You may call me Aizawa-sensei; welcome to UA High School." the teacher said. He looked like a hobo, and wore a stupid scarf. Runes, strangely enough, did not appear to find this concerning. Katsuki made a point of glaring at everyone; HalfnHalf was doing the same. Wait, ball toss with your quirk?
"DIE!" Katsuki shouted, launching the ball over seven hundred meters with an explosion. Then Round Face got infinity. Tch.

The people doing the worst appeared to be the invisible girl, Izuku, and Runes. When it came to the ball toss, Izuku was stopped by Azawa-sensei.
"You have a perfectly good strength-enhancer quirk, and you haven't used it once." he pointed out. This was, Katsuki realized, because Izuku had literally gotten it the day of the exam. He didn't have much practice. Katsuki, reluctantly, turned to the mostly-faded, flickering ghosts.
"Help him out a bit." he said. They'd been hanging around him for the past few months, since they'd found out he could see them. He avoided talking to them unless necessary, because ghosts were creepy, [bleep] it. HalfnHalf was the only one who noticed him speaking, but he didn't say anything, probably because he was trying to avoid an offer of friendship from Dunce Face (who had already said five stupid things and lived up to his appearance). Izuku concentrated, and felt the power ripple up his arm, feeling a strange sort of control. He flicked the ball, and a shockwave of energy snapped through the air. "Awesome." he said. Aizawa-sensei gave him a look.

The group was picking up their bags to go to Foundational Hero Studies when Katsuki noticed a notebook in HalfnHalf's bag. It had a stylized flame symbol that Katsuki knew he'd seen someplace.
"What's that symbol from?" he asked.
"None of your business." HalfnHalf said.

Teaching Hero Studies was none other than All Might himself.
"I AM HERE! ENTERING THE ROOM LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" Izuku freaked out like any fanboy, which Katsuki found odd--he saw the other nearly every day.
"Today, we're having 2v2 battles; wearing your hero costumes, no holds barred. One group will have thre members, as we are an uneven number with 21 students. One side will act as villains, the others will be the heroes. The heroes' goals are to deactivate the fake bomb; the villains' are to either capture both heroes or have five minutes pass. Teams are assigned randomly."

Katsuki and Izuku had designed their costumes together; the one part he had refused to elaborate on were the orange lines crossing on his vest. They were actually detailed, scrunched-together lines of runes that cast auras of protection, stamina, speed and similar. In fact, Katsuki had managed to translate improvements to everything except his quirk, which was powering the runes through whatever nitroclycerin sweat his shirt soaked up. As the quirk powered the powers, he couldn't power it with the power. He'd also sent in a similar request for Izuku's costume (which looked like a green rabbit) except Izuku's runes were hidden. He had to make sure someone could give him a proper challenge.

The Iida siblings had similar color schemes to each other in their costumes, but where Glasses wore armour, Knife had a resistant, skintight suit, which allowed her to, when turning into other people, assume their clothes without ruining her own. Parts of it on her back, legs and arms folded up to allow for mutation quirks, and she wore a massive device around her neck that had a stylized fang design. It was equipped with syringes, tubes, and similar ways to store blood. Her boots could be easily kicked off, and each held a knife as did a sheath at her waist.

Predictably, Katsuki ended up against Izuku and HalfnHalf, on a team with Glasses.
"As much as I want to blow HalfnHalf's face in--I don't care what his name is--Izuku is the more dangerous opponent. Glasses--I don't care what your name is--you should probably guard. I'll fight Izuku, you keep the bomb away from HalfnHalf." Katsuki said.
"I am not sure of the moral ramifications of pretending to be a villain." Glasses said.
"Just--think of it as practice for undercover situations. Or something. Let's explode these guys' [bleep] faces!" Katsuki said. Glasses said something about profanity, waving his arms.
"Be careful, you could hit your hand on something. And villains don't care about--tch--profanity." Katsuki said.

"Stay out of my way. I'll freeze the building, trapping them, then go up and deactivate the bomb." Todoroki told Midoriya. He hoped to be able to tell Zuko, tomorrow, that he won the exercise.
"What if that doesn't work?" Midoriya asked him.
"It will work." But then again, Zuko had, last week, broken into a Fire Nation stronghold and been forced to improvise while rescuing--sorry, capturing--the Avatar. Zuko was very stubborn; couldn't he realize he had no obligation, not even any moral ground to listen to his father? Zuko even told him to use his flames, which was stupid. Zuko didn't have a choice, having only fire, and Todoroki had no choice on Tuesdays--but that was Zuko's fire, in a way, it didn't count.
"Fine. What's your plan?" Todoroki asked. Midoriya began talking at super-fast speed, and Todoroki had grudging respect. Zuko's plans mainly consisted of: break in, hit people, break out.

The building was encased in ice, but Katsuki had been ready. He'd seen HalfnHalf's actual glaciers firsthand in other realities.
"What's really cool about these simulation buildings, is that the temperature is adjustable." Katsuki said, ripping off a wall panel and messing with wires.
"How did you know about that facet of the area?" Glasses asked. Spells, Katsuki thought, looking for what he could modify to his advantage. He knew nothing about wiring, but a good deal about using magic to mess with such wiring.

"Is the ice supposed to melt so quickly?" Izuku asked. "No. It isn't." The two entered the building, and stopped before the stairwell to the second level.
"You go around the other way." Izuku said, and the two split up. Todoroki found the bomb room, guarded by Iida, and iced the entire thing. It melted, seconds later, and the bomb still ticked. It was really, really hot.
"Give up, hero. Your efforts are in vain; we, the all-powerful villains, will bring the city to ruin." Iida said. Zuko gave better villain monologues. Speaking of Zuko...he'd said there would be situations in which he could not use his ice; that was what his fire was for. Nope. That was what his escrima sticks were for. And even if he couldn't make ice, he knew a good deal about waterbending. Iida's engines revved as he dashed at Todoroki, who dodged, tripped him with one stick and hit him with the other before using the capture tape. Now, to defuse the bomb--

Todoroki had not counted on the floor exploding.

Katsuki encountered Izuku in the corridor.
"Ready, Kacchan?" Izuku asked. Katsuki charged. Explosions rattled the overheated area, and green lightning crackled as Izuku dodged. Katsuki grinned. Izuku could just beat him while quirkless--now, he would be near unstoppable. A real challenge, for once! [bleep], Katsuki was losing. "Hey, know what these are for?" Katsuki asked, motioning to his gauntlets.
"If the idiots in the support course made it the way I was thinking, they'll be full of nitroglycerin." Katsuki said. Izuku's eyes widened.
"You have bombs on your arms!" he said.
"Yup. Dodge." Katsuki swung. Izuku dodged. The ceiling blew up--and Todoroki was launched through the roof. All Might ran, and just managed to catch him--he had burns on his ice side, his shoulder was dislocated, and two fingers were broken. He was also unconscious.
"Oh [bleep]. I did not mean to do that! [bleep][bleepbleep]!" Katsuki said in horror as All Might rushed Todoroki to Recovery Girl.
"He moved the fire from the explosion to protect me." a rattled Iida said.
"I hope he'll be okay." Asui--no, it is Tsu, stop calling me Asui--said.

The class agreed, after some discussion, that Todoroki was the MVP.

Notes:

oh I wonder where that flame symbol is from!

also: next chapter--the USJ

Chapter 7: usj

The next day, friend groups were made. Katsuki, slightly against his will, got dragged into sitting with Pinky (alien queen pink acid girl), Pikachu Dunce Face (self-zapping idiot), Stupid Hair (stupid hair) and Soy Sauce (the guy with tape elbows) at lunch. Izuku was with Glasses, Round Face, Knife, Runes and Frog.
"Soooo. Izuku calls you Kacchan." Pikachu pointed out.
"He's my friend. He gets to. You aren't my friends. You don't get to." Katsuki said, hoping that would cover the matter. It did not. However, just then the annoying reporters who had been pushing at the gates managed to get in. Everyone was panicking, Glasses was floating (Katsuki wasn't going to ask) and Katuski left the chaos. He hated loud, crashing, continuous noise, because it reminded him of a bridge over a river, a river that though long clean of blood still bore the stain of his first death. Soon enough, the trouble cleared up, and Iida was reinstated over Yaoyorozu as class president. That would have been the last of interesting things to happen, with the exception of Todoroki.

"You remember him yesterday, right?" Dunce Face asked Katsuki, looking over at Todoroki. Katsuki had been about to tell the Pikachu to [bleep] off, but he thought about the other's remark.
"Huh." Katsuki said. Yesterday, HalfnHalf had been aloof, rude, and full of self-importance. Today he was attempting to make friends, although terribly awkwardly. He also seemed to have forgotten half of what he had learned yesterday, in English, as well as dumping masses of spices on his food at lunch--where yesterday he had specifically requested none. However, the most major discrepancy occured in training. Stupid Hair had rushed him, punching through the ice, only to get a faceful of fire.
"Since when did you have fire?" he asked before dodging.
"I don't use it very often. Unfortunately." Todoroki had said, before launching both ice and fire successively in an obviously well-practiced move. Yesterday, his attacks had been straight and brutal, instead of clever and twisting.
"I think I'm the only person who noticed--hey, do you think Sato's costume looks like a pineapple? Without the green stuff on top, thought. Midoriya's hair looks like that, oh, and your grenade gauntlets also look like pinapples, except green." Pikachu said.
"They do not. And we were talking about HalfnHalf--seriously, he's weird." Katsuki mused.

The next day, Todoroki was back to acting strange (normal?), and staying away from people.
"I'm not here to make friends, and I'm not going to use my fire," he'd said, when Kirishima asked him for an actual challenge.
"Today, we're going on a field trip to the Unforseen Situations Joint: the USJ." Aizawa-sensei had said, and Katsuki's hand exploded. He knew about the USJ; in every other reality, something bad happened there. Involving villains. He was going to be ready.

"Welcome to the USJ. We'll be practicing rescue scenarios..." Hero Thirteen led the group through the massive dome, and Katsuki was nothing if not on edge. "Kacchan, you okay?" Izuku asked.
"I'm fine. Go away." Katsuki said. Then, as Thirteen finished their presentation, Aizawa-sensei looked towards the fountain. A great curtain of purple mist was spreading through the area.
"What's that? Is it part of the simulation?" Uraraka asked.
"No. It's villains. Thirteen, get the students to safety." Aizawa-sensei said, and Katsuki remembered their teacher was Eraserhead, an underground hero.
"Don't let them escape, Kurogiri!" shouted a guy with whatthe[bleep] he had HANDS all over him. The mist-faced guy suddenly created a lot of swirling portals, and Iida ran out the door but everyone else was trapped--Katsuki was falling, rushing water roared below him and

he
was
falling.

"Prepare to be scattered and killed!" the mist villain, Kurogiri said, and Izuku landed on a boat in the flood zone with Uraraka and Shinshou. Kacchan was falling, and Uraraka managed to slap him so he didn't hit the deck--but instead of yelling profanities at the surrounding villains, he stood, shellshocked.
"Kacchan?" Izuku asked, but his friend reached up and grabbed his hair.
"You're not on the bridge, get it together." he muttered. Then, the ship rocked, and Shinsou caught Katsuki as he swayed--he seemed to be out of whatever state he had been in.
"I'm okay. Let's destroy these villains." Katsuki said.
"Shinsou, your quirk depends on response, right? If you can get them to attack each other, we can drive this boat out of here. Shinshou yelled insults to the villains gathered at the edge of the shore. A few with aquatic quirks were swimming towards the boat. One villain started to speak, but was cut off by his friend.
"There's one with a mental control if you answer him. The other floats stuff, but there's nothing for her to float here, heh, and the other explodes things, but has trouble doing so while wet. The last guy's got some strength enhancement." the villain said.
"They know our quirks." Izuku realized.
"Hey, Round Face, can you float the boat?" Katsuki asked.
"I guess...but there's no fuel." she replied. The villains were getting closer.
"This is probably a bad idea," Katsuki said, and he ripped the top off the engine, and shoved his hand in.
"Go!" Shinsou yelled, and Uraraka slapped the boat while Izuku clapped his hands together, creating a massive shockwave as nitroglycerin dripped into the fuel tank. "AAAAAAHHH!" the four screamed, barreling through the team of villains as the boat was launched across the USJ.

Eraserhead was having trouble. He had managed to get rid of the two-bit villains, but three stood, waiting.
"Good job, Eraserhead, but you're not who we're looking for. Where is All Might? I'm here to kill him, not some miniboss," the villain covered in hands said. The mist man, Kurogiri, was beside him, as was a massive, bird-headed, exposed-brain, monster. Eraserhead hoped Iida would reach UA quickly, as the hand villain pointed towards him.
"Nomu. Kill." he said. Eraserhead wasn't fast enough, and the Nomu slammed him into the pavement. It lifted him up again--and it was suddenly knocked out of the way, as a boat crashed into it, sending wood shards flying. Uraraka threw up, spinning from the wreckage with Midoriya, Bakugou and Shinsou.
"Maybe All Might will show up if I kill some students." the hand villan said.
"Shigaraki, maybe--" Kurogiri was cut off as Bakugou threw the boat engine at him.
"[bleep] you!" Bakugou shouted, then he said something Eraserhead could not understand. Shigaraki, however, snarled.
"He has illegal mods! Those shouldn't work for this console, you cheater! Nomu, kill him!" he yelled. The creature dropped Eraserhead, dashing towards Bakugou, who leaped into the air with an explosion.
"That thing has multiple quirks." Bakugou said after he landed, astonished.
"You've got two." he then said, looking at Kurogiri.
"How can he--" Bakugou leaped away from the Nomu, but his explosions were weakening. Shigaraki reached for Uraraka, but Izuku swept his legs out from under him.
"Go [bleep] yourself!" Shinsou shouted from behind what was left of the boat.
"Another one--" Shigaraki stood still, caught under Shinsou's quirk.
"Runes, tell him to stop this thing!" Bakugou screamed, blasting away from the Nomu. Shinshou aquiesed, and the monster stood as still as its master, but only for a second; Kurogiri had given Shigaraki a shove. Then, the doors to the USJ blew open. All Might was finally here, and he wasn't smiling.

"Finally! Nomu, forget the cheater, go after the Symbol of Peace!" Shigaraki shouted. All Might punched the thing, but it easily shrugged it off, and tackled the Number One hero. The group watched the Nomu and All Might, go head to head, neither winning nor losing.
"It can withstand his punches...how?" Izuku asked.
"Shock absorption." Shigaraki and Bakugou said at once, then they looked at each other.
"Die, hacker! Go back to the RPG you belong in!" Shigaraki shouted, dashing towards Bakugou, who threw a weak explosion. Shigaraki had almost grabbed his face when a wall of ice erupted in front of him, but he disintegrated it with a touch.

"All Might! Shock absorption means you can beat it, if you punch it enough!" Izuku yelled, his analytic mind coming u with a solution. All Might changed his strategy, as Todoroki and Himiko came over the hill.
"Give." Himiko said, and Todoroki held out his hand. She bit it, turning into him, and twin waves of ice rushed at Shigaraki, who held out his hands, turning them to dust. "Decay this!" Himiko shouted, throwing a lance of fire. Todoroki stared at her, full of mental conflict.

All Might, punching the Nomu, soon found himself outmatched when Kurogiri joined the fight, aiding and abetting with portals. All Might had punched off the Nomu's arm, but it had regrown it. He stared in consternation at this impossible ability.
"Multiple quirks..." he said.
"That's what I said!" Bakugou yelled, chasing after Kurogiri but only landing in a portal. Izuku was going after Shigaraki, playing a sort of keep-away game while trying to hit him without getting hit himself. Shinsou yelled insults, but the villain did not respond as he dodged Uraraka's thrown boat pieces. Todoroki and Himiko attacked Kurogiri, but he expertly manuvered around them while distracting All Might from his battle. Himiko's transform melted away, and she dodged a portal, landing next to the Nomu's discarded arm. Wow, that was a lot of blood...ooh.

Himiko scooped up a handful, drank it, and shifted into a second Nomu.
"RAAAAAHHH!" she shrieked, tearing past Kurogiri's portals and pouncing on the other Nomu. Wrestling the creature, All Might was able to land multiple solid hits, with the last one launching the Nomu through the USJ dome as Himiko rolled away.
"I suggest we leave." Kurogiri said. Shigaraki, busy fighting off the students and Eraserhead (who though he could not move, was aiding the others with Erasure), had missed All Might's battle, and saw only his Nomu standing next to his enemy.
"Nomu! WHY aren't you attacking him!" he shouted, and then the Nomu ran towards Shigaraki, who stumbled backwards as it leaped through the air, claws reaching. Shigaraki, who had tripped over a piece of boat and fallen, held his hand simultaneously towards the Nomu, to disintegrate it.

(no one noticed until later, but at that moment, Todoroki's phone had fallen out of his pocket and taken a picture).

Kurogiri opened a portal under Shigaraki, transporting him away from Himiko, who faceplanted. Then, Iida ran through the door, followed by Snipe and other heroes, so the two villains portaled away. Snipe raised his gun towads Himiko, who transformed into herself just in time. The heroes spread out, going after the villains in all the other zones as All Might brought Eraserhead to the EMT. The USJ Incident was over, for good or for ill, and Katsuki knew it was a miracle everyone had survived, and few were injured.

(Himiko stole as much blood from the Nomu's arm as she could fit in her device when no one was looking.)

Notes:

I don't actually know if you could power a boat engine with nitroglycerin

Shigaraki: *looks at Katuski* aargh he can see and edit the game's code! *looks at Shouto* oh that is so unfair he has access to a playable character from a DIFFERENT franchise!

Shigaraki just casually breaks the fourth wall I love him

I wonder how the villains know the student's quirks? Maybe there's...a traitor

Chapter 8: todoroki, master of erroneous assumptions

Todoroki noticed the photo, later, and remarked that Shigaraki's and Himiko's poses were reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel. In the background, Uraraka was hurling a massive wooden plank, while only Shinsou's legs were visible, poking out of the right side of the frame. He posted it in the class groupchat, and it quickly became a meme.

In more important news, the fact that all the student's quirks (they'd all been sent to disadvantaging zones) and time of the projected field trip were known by the villains meant that someone at UA had given them the information; that there was a traitor. Oh, and Katsuki was in a room with some detective and Eraserhead for...reasons.

"You knew the villains' quirks. Can you tell me why that is?" Aizawa asked Bakugou. He didn't want to suspect his student, but his behaviour had been odd.
"I have magic powers," Bakugou said.
"Bakugou. I expect you to take this seriously." Aizawa said, pinching his nose. He did not want to deal with this, and his head still hurt.
"Uh." said Tsukauchi.

"Fine, I figured it out, okay? Izuku's been teaching me to analyze people's quirks for ages." Bakugou muttered. "That's true...technically. How did you figure it out?" Tsukauchi asked.
"By looking. What do you mean, that's true? Of course it is." Bakugou said.
"Detective Tsukauchi's quirk is Lie Detector. Do you have any idea of who the UA traitor could be?" Aizawa asked. "No. Can I go?" Bakugou asked.
"Yes. Thank you for your time." Tsukauchi said. He had decided not to process the truth of Bakugou's first statement.

Tsukauchi asked the same question of every 1-A student, and found no leads.

Shinshou texted Dabi, asking what he knew about the attack.
"Sounds like the League of Villains. They're a new group, pretty powerful." Dabi had replied.
"You're a vigilante, though. You won't get involved with them...right?" Shinsou asked.
"Sure." Dabi had replied.

"With that over with, I would like you all to know something about this year's Sports Festival." Aizawa told the class the next day, and all the students held their breath.
"It will still happen. Don't worry. Also, you all have a mandatory appointment with the school counselor, Hound Dog; should he determine you have experienced trauma, they will continue. Okay, to practice!" Aizawa said.

Outside the classroom door, 1-A was verbally assaulted by Monoma, while 1-B looked on.
"I'll find a way to prove how inferior you are, record it, and post it online," he snarled. Katsuki almost exploded his face, but Camie whacked him over the head first.

Kaminari was paired up with Todoroki for the day's duels. "Heeeyy! Are you friendly or unfriendly today?" he asks. "I'm only friendly on Tuesdays." Todoroki replied, and lashed ice as though it were a whip before it solidified. Kaminari dodged, sending a bolt of electricity at his (potential) friend. A pillar of ice appeared under Todoroki's feet, and he leaped into the air, over Kaminari's head, swinging with a frozen escrima stick. Kaminari grabbed it, electrifiying the metal, and as it jolted up Todoroki's arm he kicked a blunt spike of ice up from the ground, and it knocked Kaminari back with an 'oof.' Kaminari caught himself, twisted, and threw his hand outwards, and yellow lightning burst from his fingertips. Todoroki slid away, and summoned an entire iceberg, which Kaminari just managed to roll out of the way of. Flipping to his feet, he made fingerguns, which shot forward crackling lances of sparks. Just at that moment, a few feet over, Tokoyami's Dark Shadow covered the ceiling light, casting a blue glow over the area. Kaminari's electricity flashed, and appeared blue in the shade. Todoroki, a second ago bold and sure of his success, widened his eyes in what Kaminari recognized as fear--not of him, but of the lightning, of what memories it invoked. Todoroki sunk to the ground.
"Are you okay?" Kaminari asked, pulling his lightning back so it wouldn't hit the other. This was a mistake.

Aizawa saw Todoroki fall without getting hit, then Kaminari spin in a circle a second later.
"Wheeeey!" he sang, tripping over Todoroki's escrima stick and landing in his lap. Aizawa rushed over, to find Todoroki holding his side, muttering something while breathing far too eratically.
"Todoroki?" Aizawa ran him through breathing exercises until he calmed down, then walked him and Kaminari to Recovery Girl.
"I'm sorry, I didn't--it's not Kaminari's fault. I have...bad memories connected to blue lightning." Todoroki said, still holding his side.
"I need to see it to heal it." Recovery Girl said. Todoroki lifted up his shirt, but there was no mark.
"It was a while ago." Todoroki said, but did not elaborate.
"Todobro--hehehe--are you okaaaaay?" Kaminari asked, still a little out of it.
"Stay here until you both feel better." Aizawa said, and went with Recovery Girl out of earshot.
"Do you wanna-wanta-want to talk about it? I'm sorry about bri-i-i-innng-ing up bad stuff." Kaminari said.
"It's okay. There was this girl--Azula--she's like...we're not really related, but I think of her like a sister, or at least used to. There was this...thing...that happened when I was five, and I started seeing her every week. I haven't seen her for three years, but that's because of her brother, not I. She used to be really nice, but she had a pretty hard life, and kind of got worse and worse. I tried to help her, but I just ended up really annoying her--and she had this lightning quirk. Like yours, but way deadlier, and she wrapped her hand in it and punched me. You're lucky you'll never meet her." Todoroki said. The two talked for a while, until they walked back to class. "So, are we friends?" Kaminari asked.
"I don't see why not." Todoroki replied, and opened the door to a glowering Bakugou.

When the to had left the gym, the others finished up their battles (Katsuki totally defeated Sparkle Stomach) and went to History Class. Izuku volunteered to carry HalfnHalf's bag, and Katsuki noticed the strange fire symbol again. Where had he seen the thing...oh yeah, the Quirkless world? Was it a spell, or something? No, he realized, it was the symbol for fire, in an anime that didn't exist in the real reality. It could be a coincidence, Katsuki thought, but he dismissed the idea immediately. Todoroki had connections to another reality, and Katsuki was going to call him out on it.
"HalfnHalf. Talk. After class." he said, then stomped back to his seat.

After school hours ended, Todoroki met Bakugou a few streets away from school.
"What is it?" he asked. He had not had a good day today, and hopefully this would not make it worse.
"The Fire Nation symbol. On your notebook." Bakugou said. Okay, what.
"What do you know about that?" Todoroki snarled, getting into Bakugou's face.
"I know it's from another [bleep] world, and I thought I was the only one dealing with that [bleep]. Did you touch the murder cat?" Bakugou inquired.
"The...what?" Todoroki asked.
"Ten years ago I patted a cat and it murdered me into another dimension. I get [bleep] shoved there on the regular now." Bakugou told him.
"Ten years ago? I got sent there ten years ago too, but it was in the middle of a training session. I can probably find the exact date." Todoroki said, and flipped through his notebook.
"It was a few days after Izuku was...hah, I remember when." Bakugou said, and Todoroki showed him the written date.
"It's the same." the other said.
"So, you patted a...'murder cat', and we both get shoved into another dimension? I get sent there every Tuesday...you?" Todoroki asked.
"You were acting weird as [bleep] on Tuesday. I go every night, eight minutes there, eight seconds here." Bakugou said.
"That's different than mine." Todoroki noted.
"Yeah, you're lucky enough to only get it once a week." Bakugou said.

So the two parted ways, each sure of the other's predicament, each wrong, and proceeded to ignore each other for the next month.

Todoroki, now that the option to make friends existed, began hanging out with mostly Kaminari, and also Izuku (because he was reminded of Aang). The three trained for the Sports Festival, and Todoroki never explained why he only used his fire on Tuesdays.

Notes:

So:

Shouto shouldn't have to deal with Azula, but he's friends with Denki now;

Katsuki and Shouto both have the wrong idea about each other;

and, Tsukauchi is questioning existence. Oh, and there's a reason he couldn't catch the UA traitor.

Chapter 9: *among us noise* yellow sus

One Tuesday, Zuko and Denki were sparring in a gym, a few hours after school. Without quirks; Zuko was teaching the other escrima sticks.
"Shouto, I think I'm doing better!" Denki said, when the two were taking a break.
Better, certainly." Zuko realized Denki reminded him of the Water Tribe peasant, Sokka; who he was trying not to think of while serving tea in Ba Sing Se, but as Jet so aptly put it, one can't run from their past. Well, Zuko though wryly, you can if you run to another dimension. Although he now had three names to answer to, which was troublesome.
"Denki; I feel your lightningbending could use some improvement. Try this. One...two...three." Zuko showed his friend the kata to create lightning, which Iroh and Azula could both figure out but which blew up in his face. "That's an interesting maneuver." Denki commented.
"You have to separate the energies, and pass the lightning through your stomach, keeping well away from the heart. And preferably the brain." Zuko said.
"Well, it's worth a try."

Denki stood up, felt the electricity crackling around and within him, and copied Zuko's movement, taking care where the sparks twisted. One, two, three--KABOOM! Denki stared at the massive hole in the quirk-proof wall. He gaped.
"That could kill someone!" Denki yelled, waving at the carnage. Aizawa and a tall, skinny blond man they'd seen around the school sometimes poked their heads into the school gym they'd been using.
"Young Todoroki, I was sure we warned you against freezeflash explosions. However...this one seems to have been of an incredibly dangerous caliber." the blond man said.
"That was me, actually." Denki waved his hand sheepishly. The two looked at him.
"Kaminari, you would have to summon enough power to recreate a lightning bolt to blast such a hole in the wall, and we tested your volt limit; there is no way you could get anywhere near that without killing yourself." Aizawa said.
"Tell that to Shouto's special lightningbending manuever!" Denki said, swinging his arms towards Zuko.
"Todoroki, what did you do?" Aizawa asked.
"I, uh, told him a a way that he could properly lightningbend? It's based off martial arts. I figured it out, thought it could help." Zuko said.
"Problem Child. Explain." Aizawa said.
"Okay. It's different with Denki, because his energies are different--here, let me show you." Zuko realized he couldn't lightning bend through Todoroki's ice side, and adapted the manuever accordingly.

Aizawa watched Problem Child #3 move his arm in a circular motion, creating blue sparks. A small jolt of blue lightning zapped about Todoroki's hand.
"Hey, look, I did it! I figured out how to lightningbend!" he said, and spun his hand again, wreathing it in crackling energy before blasting a small amount into a training dummy.
"What." said Denki.
"It's small, yeah. But! This is better than the last time I tried this, I nearly blew my eyebrows off. Then I yelled at a storm." Todoroki said.
"WHAT?" Denki asked.
"That was because I was full of inner turmoil." Todoroki explained. This explained nothing.
"Todoroki, your quirk is half-hot, half-cold, not lightning." Aizawa pointed out.
"...lightning's hot?" Todoroki offered. Aizawa gave him a look.
"Enough practicing for tonight. We'll get the gym fixed; go home." he told the two, and they walked off.
"I must admit, I am somewhat concerned." Yagi said. "You're not the only one." Aizawa muttered, staring at the hole in the (quirk-proof?) wall.

The two walked through the school corridors, and Zuko caught sight of a yellow laptop in the AV room.
"That's yours, isn't it?" Zuko asked. One of the reasons he loved this world; laptops and similar technology! They were amazing. Denki ran over, unplugging his laptop.
"I was downloading this cool game; it's finished now, we can play it later." Denki explained, stuffing the laptop into his bag.
"What's that?" Zuko asked, catching sight of an oddly shaped device plugged down low, nearly hidden in the clutter.
"Hmm." Kaminari bent down, and poked it; it was yellow, and looked like a kind of transmitter.
"Oh, I know these things. This one's an old model, over fifty years old; it's for sending information to a big screen. There's a little fold-out demo screen here, see? This is plugged into the school information outlet though; judging by the bashed wire, it seems someone tried to use this to project something to class 1-A's tv, but they messed up, 'cause this model doesn't work like that. I wonder what it's actually projecting to...I can find out if I...aha!" Denki fiddled with some buttons, and the small fold out screen turned on. Denki shoved Zuko out of view.
"Our traitor finally decides to contact us in person. What do you gain out of sending us information and betraying UA, Kaminari Denki?" Shigaraki Tomura asked.

Denki flicked a nervous glance to Zuko, then back to the screen.
"Um. UA traitor, that's me. Aha. See--the problem with heroes--um--" Zuko grabbed the camera. Denki could not act to save his life. Wrapping his hand around it to prevent Shigaraki from seeing, he spoke in a passable imitation of Denki's voice.
"The Hero system is a blight on this world. They're our first responders, yet we treat them like movie stars; make idols out of people because they have a strong quirk and bright costume. Heard of Stain? He's got the right idea, but even All Might is not above the others; the very backbone of what he does is corrupt and rotten, and don't even get me started on the Hero Safety Commission," Zuko snarled. Mostly lying, he held true resentment towards the commission, for how they 'helped' train Touya; not that he'd ever met Touya, but he'd heard Fuyumi and Natsuo talk about him. He imagined Touya as a less sadistic Azula, in his head. Denki was staring at him. Zuko waved towards the device, making a face that conveyed 'what else was I supposed to do?'.
"Stain. Everyone loves Stain. I'm glad you understand All Might is as much a problem as the rest of them." Shigaraki said.

As Shouto and Shigaraki ranted at each other, Denki breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief. The other hadn't noticed Denki's true loyalties; hopefully, he would retain no suspicion. After Shigaraki signed off, Shouto freaked out, and went to tell the teachers, but Denki stopped him.
"Dude. We can't. That way, the villains will realize they've been tricked." he pointed out.
"There are cameras everywhere, Principal Nedzu will have seen already." Shouto told him. Uh oh. The two looked towards the camera in the corner...which was blacked out and sparking. Shouto climbed on a desk to look at it. "It's deactivated. When you blasted the wall in the gym, this was knocked out of alignment." he said, and looked at the plugs surrounding the yellow device.
"If whoever did this right did it right, it would have recorded stuff about 1-A and sent it to the class tv; do you think Monoma tried to set up something and accidentally broadcasted to the villains?" Shouto asked Denki.
"Looks like it." he replied, still getting over the fact that Shouto had up and lied to Shigaraki's face. Shouto snapped the yellow device in half.
"Well, that's that fixed. Who knows what the villains managed to learn, but they won't be learning anything anymore." he said, and walked home. Denki walked to the bus stop, holding what was left of the device. The truth of the UA traitor had been found out, he thought, and, after Shouto's (actually quite excellent) acting, to Denki's amusement, his deception had gone unnoticed. As a bonus, he'd learned an amazing new battle technique. Denki was not nearly as stupid as he often appeared; the electricity in his brain often jolted him to say whatever he was thinking in the moment, and sometimes stuff he wasn't. He was glad he'd made Shouto his friend, as he was quite interesting, especially on Tuesdays.

Zuko, back at the Todoroki house, wrote down the new info on the UA traitor--that the USJ was Monoma's fault, while music played on his (well, Shouto's) phone. Another reason he loved this world: it had the most interesting music. There was nothing like it back home.
"I'd rather listen to the silence telling me...I cAnT hEEEEAR yOOOOu,

(meanwhile, in Ba Sing Se, Shouto sings while making tea: "...I won't FEAR you!" Iroh cannot place the song, much to his consternation.)

Notes:

forgive me for the cringey title I couldn't help myself

but yeah there's NO way teaching Denki lightningbending will cause any sort of problem

Chapter 10: what would zuko do

It's the day of the sports festival. Shouto is infinitely glad it takes place on a Monday; he would not want Zuko winning for him. This is his chance to show his father how he can beat everyone else without using his fire, and Zuko would ruin that. Katsuki pledges to win, and they stand in front of a massive obstacle course.
"START!" yells Present Mic, and they run. Shouto skids past everyone except for the Iidas on a skatboard of ice (thank you, Zuko, for that waterbending trick) and pushes into the air with a ramp.
"TODOROKI IS SOARING AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION, CLOSELY FOLLOWED BY YAOYOROZU AND BAKUGOU!" Present Mic says, and Shouto looks behind himself to see Bakugou exploding himself through the air, and Yaoyorozu on fricking ice skates, what the the frick, zipping over his ice. Ashido is sliding by on acid, some girl from the Support Course catching up with a jetpack that Tsu has attached her tongue to, practically jetskiiing. Midoriya has stolen some of Sero's spare tape, and is stuck to Tsu in turn, trailing after her.
"ASUI TAKES ADVANTAGE OF HATSUME'S JETPACK, AND MIDORIYA USES THE SAME STRATEGY!" announces Present Mic.

Soon enough, Shouto reaches the next part: ropes, over a chasm. Iida Tenya is scooting across hesitantly, while his sister has transformed into Shouto himself--that's still weird--and is icing a bridge before melting it behind her. Shouto wonders briefly what would happen if she drank blood from him on a Tuesday; would she turn into Zuko? Shouto copies Iida Himiko's strategy, watching a Gen Ed student slip off. Next up are the robots; Shouto smashes through beside Bakugou, who is passing him. He manages to pull ahead, stopping in front of a minefield. He and Bakugou begin hopping through, hesitantly, and Shouto takes inspiration from waterbending once more. Sending a line line of ice curling around the mines, it crashes into one near Bakugou, who steadies himself with an explosion--a mistake. The two are ahead of everyone, passing Shouto!Himiko, who is having trouble controlling Shouto's quirk and getting herself exploded. Suddenly, a massive boom occurs as he and Bakugou battle through a maze of tunnels.
"MIDORIYA HAS USED THE MINES TO SHOOT HIMSELF FORWARD, BEATING OUT MOST OF THE COMPETITION!" Present Mic yells, and what does that mean...oh. Midoriya flies through the air on a sheet of metal, avoiding smashing into the ground by spinning around a pole. Now neck and neck with him and Bakugou, Midorya runs beside them in the tunnel. They are closely followed by the Support Girl--Hatsume--and Shouto!Himiko. Shouto creates a pole made of ice, hurls it at Bakugou, who stumbles, and jumps off the side of the wall, beating out Midoriya by a few inches, thanks to Zuko's parkour lessons.
"TODOROKI WINS FIRST PLACE! AFTER HIM COMES MIDORIYA, THEN BAKUGOU, THEN HATSUME, THEN IIDA HIMIKO!" Present Mic yells. Midnight is smiling at him. That does not forebode anything pleasant.

A Calvary Battle, okay. One only passes to the next round with enough points, sure. First place gets a headband with 1 million points, what the frick. He can deal with this. Shouto ends up on a team with Denki, Ashido and Sero; no one else wants to be a target. Midoriya is grinning, with Hatsume, Uraraka and Tsu. They seem to have a plan set up. Bakugou has Kirishima and the Iidas.

The moment the event starts, everyone goes after team Todoroki, predicticably--except for team Midoriya, who is stealing headbands from everyone else, as they aren't paying attention--also, they're flying, with Uraraka's quirk and Hatsume's equipment (also known as babies). Shouto is keeping people off with waves off ice, while Sero tries to grab headbands with tape, Denki zaps people and Ashido throws acid. Bakugou has turned from Shouto, and is blowing Monoma's team apart when Monoma turns Shinsou's quirk against him. Bakugou wobbles his team's pyramid, and Shoji!Himiko falls on top of Denki, leaving Shouto open to attack; Tsu takes the initiative to steal the million-point headband, and soars away. This means war. Everyone's after team Midoriya now, but as they're flying, they cannot be reached. Someone from 1-B with purple sticky balls on his hair knocks off one of Hatsume's jetpacks, but they barely falter. Denki shoots lightning, but his attacks are easily warded off by an umbrella-looking shield Midoriya holds. Right.
"Anyone have a plan?" Sero asks. In the absence of ideas...what would Zuko do? His usual first resort is to yell and throw fireballs. That's not an option; his usual second resort is to break into some impossible-to-break-into fortress. Also not an option. Then, he caught sight of the discarded jetpack. Aha.
"Sero, I need lots of tape; Ashido, some acid that reacts with whatever this fuel is; and Denki, quite a few volts." Shouto said.

"WHOA! CLEVERLY USING HATSUME'S JETPACK, TEAM TODOROKI IS SOARING THROUGH ALL THE COMPETITION, WITH STICKY STATIC STEALING DOZENS OF HEADBANDS! AND THEY'RE GOING FOR TEAM MIDORIYA!" Present Mic yelled.
"What are you teaching these kids, Shouta?" he asked Aizawa, who shrugged, remembering a blackened hole in a wall.

Shouto, holding onto the tape, slid across an ice skateboard, knocking others aside. The jetpack, blasting them through the air, had multiple lines of tape flapping off it, each snapping and crackling, sticking and pulling away headbands. Shouto created a ramp, and launched into the air, towards Midoriya. Ashido reached for the million-point headband, missed, and Uraraka slapped Shouto, floating him into the air. He grabbed onto the tape-and-headband-covered jetpack, swung into Midoriya, and flared up with fire as a reaction, partly because of all the static reaction between himself and partly because of Midoriya's green lightning. Uraraka released him, and he fell, dragging his team to the ground, and Sero catches him and the jetpack.
"TIME!" yells Present Mic. They didn't get the million-point headband, but they still got second place. This, however, was not a good enough consolation prixe to reassure Shouto; Midoriya had made him break his vow, and use his--Endeavor's--fire. He didn't need Zuko to ruin the Festival for him; he could do it just fine on his own.

The 1v1 matches were starting, and Goggles made a complete fool out of Glasses before forfeiting, as witnessed by Katsuki Bakugou. He walked through the corridors, and stopped before an area in shadow, where HalfnHalf and Izuku stood.
"Are you All Might's secret love child?" HalfnHalf asked. Katsuki stared, hidden.
"Wha--no. Of course not." Izuku replied.
"I know you have a sort of relationship with him. No matter the specifics, you are my opponent as much as All Might is my father's. Today, you made me break my vow, and use fire. I don't think you understand the seriousness of this. Have you heard of Quirk Marriages...?" HalfnHalf outlined, in great detail, his tragic backstory.
"It's not his fire. It's yours." Izuku replied, but HalfnHalf didn't listen.
"I am going to beat you with only my ice, and restore my honor. Um. Ignore that last part." HalfnHalf said, and marched away. Okay. Sure.

After a fight against Stupid Hair--which had actually been somewhat difficult, until Bakugou had the bright idea of casting a minor spell of slipperiness. His explosions faded to popping sparks, but Stupid Hair kept tripping over nothing, and it was hilarious. When he landed on his face for the third time, Katsuki grabbed by the leg and hurled him out of the ring. Tailboy had recorded it, much to Katsuki's amusement.
"Look, Kouda. He's just--falling over--great job, Kirishima." Tailboy said, laughing.
"Delete that!" Stupid Hair cried. Katsuki wondered if it counted as cheating, taking advantage of something no one else could. He settled down to watch HalfnHalf and Dunce Face's match.

CrackcrackSNAP! Lightning lanced and leaped across the field as Shouto shunted blocks of ice at his friend, who kept blowing them up.
"Beat this!" Denki shouted, twisting his hand in a familiar manuever. What the frick, that was lightningbending, that could kill someone! Although, Denki was trailing absurd amounts of electricity, siphoning off from the lethal levels. Good--oh no. Shouto threw up a wall of ice, which was promptly shattered. Hmm, what would Zuko do? He hadn't been taught lightning redirection for nothing. However, chances were he could only hold the electricity on his fire side--it wasn't technically using the fire, and was worth a try.

Katsuki and Izuku watched Shouto and Denki dance across the arena, Izuku taking notes. Kaminari twisted his arm back, pointing a finger gun, and a truly massive lance of lightning exploded from his hand. And Todoroki--instead of dodging, or shielding--reached out his hand as well, and--

"Did he CATCH it?"

Shouto caught the lightning, twisting it through himself as he spun, and kicked, the energy exploding through his shoe. Denki stared in surprise, before getting smacked full in the face. The electricity went straight to his brain, leaving him spinning.
"Wheeeyyyy!" he sang, letting Shouto easily walk him out of the ring.
"AND IN A TRULY SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT, TODOROKI HAS SOMEHOW MANAGED TO KICK KAMINARI'S LIGHTNING BACK AT HIM!" Present Mic yelled.

Notes:

"in a truly shocking development" I think I'm hilarious

next up: todoroki vs midoriya

and uraraka vs bakugou yaaaayyyyyy

Chapter 11: the hand crusher

Izuku flipped through his notebook, and turned to Katsuki.
"How did he do that?" he asked. Katsuki shrugged, unable to think of any spell that would allow that.
"It's my match next," Izuku realized. Todoroki, uninjured except for a slight soreness in his hand, waited for Izuku.
"START!" Midnight shouted, and Todoroki launched an iceberg at him. Izuku exploded it with a flick.
"Use your full power!" he shouted, but Todoroki just launched another iceberg, which Izuku easily flicked away.
"You asked for it." Izuku said, and with his whole body lighting up green, ran towards his opponent, dodging glaciers and flying shards.

"LISTEN TO ME! It's not his fire, and it's never been his! Your quirk is not Ice, and it isn't Fire. Your quirk is Half-cold Half-hot, and everything about it belongs solely to you." Izuku shouted, hoping to get through to his friend. Todoroki's side was completely covered in ice, and Izuku smashed through another wave.
"Can your father control your fire? Can he create flames from you as he does from himself?" Izuku asked.
"Of course not." Todoroki replied, steam rolling off him. "Then there is no way it belongs to him. Todoroki, it's your power!" Izuku shouted, and Todoroki stood, thinking. Then he smiled.
"Do you want to lose the fight, or something?" he asked.
"I will, if that's what it takes for you to understand." Izuku offered.
"Zuko said much the same." Todoroki said, and then his right side exploded into flame. Izuku grinned, and Endeavor yelled from the stands.
"Don't listen to him." Izuku warned.
"I wasn't going to." Todoroki said, and then he leaped, fire and ice swirling, twisting in quick succession. Izuku dashed to the side, and looked up. Todoroki stood before him, a sword made of ice in one hand, and one made of fire in the other. Then he swung, and holy frick, Todoroki actually knew how to use those. Spinning, dancing, flipping, smoke and steam erupting around green sparks, the two sparred. Izuku dialed up his power, and slammed his hand into the ground, creating a massive shockwave that rippled with electricity. Todoroki didn't move, though. He dropped his swords, and kicked off his shoe. As the wave of energy reached his outstretched foot, instead of knocking him back, it wrapped up his leg, looking as though Todoroki held One for All himself. How...?

The green crawled up Todoroki's right side, and around his arm. Energy sparked and crackled, and Todoroki spun his hand in a strange movement, trailing lines of electricity through the air. Izuku stepped back, and lightning erupted in a green, rumbling, roaring, BOOM!

Izuku was blown backwards by a massive explosion, as big as anything he'd ever seen made by All Might. A veritable dome of energy ripped up the ground, crashing, smashing and destroying, and Izuku was hurled from the circle as Todoroki screamed, and everything went black.

Toshinori, in the stands with the rest of the teachers, watched young Todoroki take control of One for All and throw it back with terrible force. It was greater than anything he'd done for five years, since his quirk began fading. This, combined with Kaminari's destruction of the gym, pointed fingers of suspicion at Todoroki, because his quirk was definitely NOT energy absorption and redistribution. Or whatever had just happened.

Shouto and Izuku woke up in the nurse's office, and Shouto's arm hurt like frick. He looked at it, and...
"My arm broke." he realized.
"Your hand, too." Recovery Girl said, healing it. This was the second time it had been broken, too.
"How did you do that? You stole the power and made it stronger...you did that with Kaminari, earlier." Izuku said.
"It's, uh, something I've been practicing." Shouto said, and focused on the energies, spinning his arm, which became wreathed in blue seed lightning. What. He could lightningbend now?
"This is new." Shouto noted.
"Can you do the same on your ice side? I've noticed you only use the fire side--which should be better classified as the hot side, I think." Izuku said. Shouto copied the motion with his left hand, and suddenly, the ice covering his arm changed, and glowed blue. Huh. It looked like waterbenders tried to heal someone...wait. Shouto reached to his bloody right hand, and enveloped it in the glowing water. He was healed almost instantly.
"You can heal with the energy too." Izuku said. Still holding the energy, he created more ice--and a wave of water splashed across the room.
"Looks like I'm half an Avatar." Shouto said, and fell back asleep from quirk overuse.

"THE NEXT MATCH IS IIDA VS IIDA, BROTHER VERSUS SISTER! WHO WILL WIN!" Present Mic shouted. Katsuki only watched superficially; he was more interested in WHAT THE [BLEEP] HALFNHALF DID. Because seriously. What the [bleep]. The Iidas' match ended rather quickly once Knife turned into Invisible, and the two walked past Katsuki as he got ready for his match against a certain HalfnHalf bastard. Suddenly, Glasses' phone rung. He picked it up, and Katsuki watched his face go from confused to terrified.
"We have to go." he said, and he and Knife ran the [bleep] out of there. Katsuki wondered briefly what had happened, and continued. Anyway, in good news for the day, HalfnHalf was using his fire and it wasn't a Tuesday, so Katsuki would get a real challenge.

Was anyone going to tell him HalfnHalf could create water now, or did he have to learn that himself by getting soaked?

Or what about the fact that he could drag the explosions away from Katsuki, and make the fire vanish with a wave of his hand?

And what about the part where he slammed his hands together, which created a compressed beam of hot energy that exploded on impact?

"I can combustion bend! Zuko is going to be so jealous." said the bastard, and shot another explosion. Fine; you want to play with magic? Katsuki could see that HalfnHalf was twisting the limits of his quirk in ways that were normally impossible. He could play, too.

Katsuki muttered a quick barrier spell (a very small one) as HalfnHalf clapped his hands, and the energy built up at the end of his fingers, glowing.
"What--"

Katsuki grinned as the bastard blew himself out of the arena. Some fights weren't about who tried harder, but about who could cheat better. Round Face was supposed to fight Knife next, but she was still off with Glasses doing whatever, so Uraraka won by default, and was paired off against Runes. Wait.
"[bleeping] Hosu!" Katsuki yelled, remembering a detail from other realities.
"Bro?" Stupid Hair asked. Katsuki remembered that in every other reality, something happened during the Sports Festival, which caused something else real troublesome in Hosu, which involved the [bleeping] Hero Killer, and Glasses, HalfnHalf, and Deku. He'd have to figure it out later, though. He was up against Uraraka next, as she'd won in like, three seconds, by simply walking up to, ignoring, and slapping Runes.

The two walked towards the circle.
"Why do you call him Runes? You're the one that got them incorporated into your hero costume." Round Face asked.
"Because he helped me figure them out, a few years ago." Katsuki admitted. The two faced off, in the circle.
"START!"

Thus begun a rather difficult match. Round Face just kept coming, no matter how many explosions he threw. People yelled at him to go easy on her but that was stupid; Round Face--Uraraka--was the most difficult challenge he'd had so far. He'd need magic to beat her, he decided. But even with Uraraka tripping over nothing and missing him by impossible inches, he still couldn't win, but neither could she. And then--

and then--

There was a [bleeping] meteor shower that she'd been building over his head. Creating a massive explosion with what was remaining of his nitroglycerin--oh he was running out he'd used it up for the magic--while dodging rubble, Uraraka slipped on thin air and crashed into him, activating her quirk and nearly sending him soaring out of the ring. He managed to explode himself into the ground, and then bounce himself off it like a pinball, soaring high, and still technically inside the ring. Time to bend the rules a little. Katsuki activated a spell to remove himself from the effects of Uraraka's quirk, which pulled massive amounts of quirk energy from him--he wouldn't be able to explode anything, or cast spells, for at least thirty minutes, with a spell of that caliber. But quirkless didn't mean useless; and he had eight seconds of timeless existence to exploit. Just because he traveled every night didn't mean it had to happen then.

Uraraka felt the nausea disappear, and Katsuki, from his barely-visible position in the air, begin to speed downwards. How--? She hadn't released him. Then, she remembered something Izuku had told her, when he was given her strategy hints to win against Katsuki.
"He cheats. Like, at reality. I've never found a way to explain it, but sometimes stuff just happens. You saw his match against Kirishima, right?" Izuku had said. Kirishima had tripped over his own feet--ridiculous, until she found herself doing the same. Currently, Katsuki was going to collide with the ground, dangerously.
"DIIIIEEEE!" he roared, and Midnight stared upward with horror. He was the one who was going to die; there was no way Uraraka could slap him, not at the speed he was going. Katsuki twisted in midair, falling feet-first. Uraraka begin floating the ground, maybe she could catch him with rubble, but he smashed straight through it, obscuring the arena with dust. He was right above her and then--

and then--

he
was
gone.

The clouds of dust were slowly settling, and Katsuki was nowhere to be seen. Uraraka had nearly died at the USJ; she knew terror. This--this was horror.

Then she got tackled from behind, and the relief was overwhelming. She wrestled him back, hitting him with her quirk, WHICH WASN'T WORKING. The two rolled away from each other, breathing heavily.
"How the [BLEEP]!" Uraraka screamed.
"Since when do you swear?" he muttered, and they rushed each other again.

"SOMEHOW, BAKUGOU AVOIDED BECOMING A PANCAKE, AND NOW HE AND URARAKA ARE FIGHTING QUIRKLESS! THE BATTLE'S GETTING BRUTAL, LISTENERS!" Present Mic shouted. Swinging, sliding, Uraraka attacked Bakugou, who had no more explosions to give her, and she, somehow, could not float him. However, she could float some of the rubble laying around, and hurled a massive piece before releasing it from her quirk's hold. Maybe Bakugou had overused his? But that didn't explain his brief disappearance from existence, nor his immunity to her quirk, nor whatever had been happening earlier. If she was going to win this, she'd have to innovate. Hmm.

Uraraka slapped the ground a few times, and massive chunks ripped themselves out, floating. She shoved them towards her opponent, and he smashed through them, but he was struggling. What else could she do?
"URARAKA IS TEARING UP THE GROUND, BUT BAKUGOU IS HOLDING STEADY! THE TABLES HAVE TURNED!" Presen Mic shouted, and Uraraka remembered how earlier, she'd been the one running at him, trying to get through the explosions. The table was on her side, now; she had almost won. What else could she float at him, she wondered. And then, flinging another chunk of the ground through the air, she had an idea. There was no way it would work...but if it did?

Katsuki was getting slowly pushed towards the edge of the circle. Dodging another chunk of earth, suddenly he was pushed upwards, into the air.
"HAAH?" he yelled, wondering how Uraraka had managed to float him when a) the immunity to her quirk still hadn't worn off and b) she was nowhere near him. Wait--he wasn't floating, gravity was still pulling him downwards. He was being levitated by the air itself...
"YOU FLOATED THE AIR!" he shouted, realizing. Uraraka walked up to him, smiling. He was trapped by the pressure. "Amazing." he said. Uraraka blinked at the compliment, and stepped closer to push him over the line, and then--

and then--

she tripped. Over a piece of the shattered arena, not even his spell. Time seemed to slow as she fell forwards, past Bakugou, and over the edge of the circle.
"What?" Bakugou asked.
"BAKUGOU HAS WON THE SPORTS FESTIVAL!" roared Present Mic, and an indecipherable look passed over Bakugou's face as Uraraka released the air from her quirk.
"No. No, that's not fair. She tripped, it doesn't count. She was going to win, you [BLEEP] [BLEEPING] [BLEEPS]!" Bakugou shouted. Midnight walked over.
"The awards ceremony will start once you both get checked over." she said.
"It can't be over, we need a retry. I didn't win fairly, Uraraka was about to win! SHE should have first place!" Bakugou growled, following Midnight out of the arena.

"I'm not accepting that medal." he told the volunteers, who were gathered to lead him to the podium.
"I don't deserve first place. I cheated, anyway." Katsuki said.
"You...cheated. What, with unregistered support items? Yeah, I don't see any. He's trying to get out of it." someone said.
"I refuse first place." Katsuki snarled.
"You don't get a choice in the matter."

Notes:

Shouto is the hand crusher...because he crushes his own hand

Chapter 12: shouto and friends

Shouto received the bronze medal, and looked out over the cheering crowd. Zuko would be so jealous. Uraraka walked to the podium, and was given the silver. She shone with happiness, but Shouto could see there was something wrong. Then, Bakugou was brought out. Emphasis on brought.
"Oh, no." Uraraka whispered. Bakugou had been restrained to the podium, and muzzled. He was twisting, his face contorted in anger.
"Well, this is a bit much." All Might said. Frick this. Todoroki hopped off his podium, and shattered the chains with ice. Bakugou ripped off his muzzle, and glared at the crowd.
"YOU SEE THIS? I won your stupid festival. I wasn't supposed to win; Uraraka was. But that's not the [bleeping] problem. The problem is that this--this [bleeping] ceremony, it's to show off who's the strongest. And whether that's Uraraka or I--you don't make them weak! You don't set them up on a pedestal to be looked down on, but to be looked up to! What was done to me--you know what that [bleeping] shows? It shows that no matter how powerful your heroes are, they can always be chained down. So [bleep] this. Uraraka, you win by default; I [bleeping] quit." Shouto watched in amazement as Bakugou tossed the gold medal over his shoulder, and stalked away. There was a moment of silence. Well, if no one else was going to do it...
"I don't know about you, but that was the best speech I've ever heard." Shouto said, and threw his medal to Uraraka in turn, following Bakugou. It's what Zuko would do; the most dramatic and awkward thing possible.
"HalfnHalf, the [bleep] are you doing?" Bakugou asked him, in the tunnel beneath the stadium.
"Being a supportive friend." Shouto replied.
"You won your medal fair and square." Bakugou protested.
"Not really. I had outside help." Shouto said, as there was no way he could have learned lightningbending without Zuko.
"Hah. That's what I thought, with whatever the [bleep] that explosion was. And the water--since when could you create water? Also, that absorb-and-shoot-back lightning thing. You need to teach me those." Bakugou said.
"You won't be able to make water, with your quirk, but I could see the combustion bending happening, easy, and maybe even the lightning redirection? You kind of have firebending." Shouto said.

Kirishima and Denki ran up to them.
"Dude. Bro. That was so manly! You just told them the truth they couldn't see themselves. You are amazing!" Kirishima said, trying to hug Bakugou.
"Stupid Hair. Shoo." Bakugou said, but let Kirishima hug him anyway.
"You really feel that way about it all?" Denki asked, and Shouto remembered how he and Zuko had discovered the true UA traitor: a technical mistake.
"Wanna go hang out with the rest of the Bakusquad?" Kirishima asked. The...what?
"The WHAT?" Bakugou asked. The Bakusquad consisted of Sero, Kirishima, Denki, Ashido as well as Bakugou himself, and apparently, Shouto, since he'd somehow ended up as Denki's best friend. It was all Zuko's fault.
"Shouto's part of both squads." Ashido pointed out.
"Both squads?" Shouto asked.
"Yeah! We should meet up with the Izusquad. Go out for ice cream together." she offered. The Izusquad was Izuku (of course) Tsu, Uraraka, Tenya, Himiko, Shinsou, and apparently, Shouto. (Why did Zuko have to make friends with everyone?) However...
"Where are the Iidas? They just disappeared halfway through." Uraraka remembered. Shouto didn't know, but he noticed Bakugou looked extremely guarded. He wondered what that was about.

The two squads met up at the mall, and ice cream was only the beginning of their adventures that afternoon. Shouto was wandering through a random store when he ran into Tokoyami and Kouda.
"You guys are here too?" he asked. Kouda pointed towards the pet store.
"I viewed those of my kin who have no souls to light their darkness." Tokoyami said.
"[He looked at the birds]," Kouda signed.
"I have a second soul who only shows himself in shadow." Tokoyami told Shouto.
"Okay? I know that." he replied.
"You have a second soul who only shows himself on Tuesdays. Fear not; Kouda and I vow to hold our voices, even should the world fall apart in ashes and smoke." Tokoyami said.
"Wha--how'd you know?" Shouto asked.
"[The beasts can smell such changes]," Kouda signed.
"Dark Shadow is a spirit from a world too far away to fathom, and he recognizes those who carry experience impossible without aid from somewhere beyond what is known." Tokoyami said.
"Wait, Dark Shadow can see if someone has connections to another world?" At the other's assent, he continued.
"Have you...met anyone else who has?" he then asked.
"[Katsuki has magic powers]." Kouda signed as Tokoyami said the same.
"Oh yeah...he said he was visiting another world." Shouto realized.
"He does not visit the same one as you; Dark Shadow has noted four separate traces, and they are not of faraway planets that are, but of worlds that could have been." Tokoyami said.
"What?" Shouto asked.
"[Different realities]." Kouda signed. Then, Shouto noticed something.

"That's--that's the hand guy from the USJ. And he's holding Izuku hostage." he said, watching the otherwise nondescript man in a hoodie sitting next to his green-haired friend. Shouto had learned from Zuko to always memorize an enemy's body language as well as their appearance, in case you met them in disguise. The villain was talking about something emphatically, waving his hand not holding Izuku through the air. How could Shouto separate them without giving the villain an opening to disentegrate Izuku?
"[If Bakugou was here, he could just explode them apart]." Kouda signed. Aha! Shouto slammed his hands together, sending a bolt of compressed energy at the bench the two were sitting on.

Izuku was trying his best not to die when Shigaraki was knocked off of him with a massive explosion. Izuku crashed into the wall, and as people screamed and ran away, he saw Shigaraki, whose sweater was on fire, disappear into a purple mist portal.
"Are you okay?" Tokoyami asked. Izuku turned around, to see three of his friends. The other ones were running over as well, coming to find the source of the explosion.
"What happened?" Kacchan asked him. Wait...
"You weren't here, who exploded the bench?" Izuku asked.
"I can do that now." Shouto told him. Huh. Shouto had been able to do a whole lot of interesting things, lately.

After everything had been sorted out, the group of friends decided to go to a restaurant for dinner, to calm down after first the adrenaline of the Sports Festival, then the villain attack. They recounted some of their favorite parts, from the events that day.
"Oh, it was awesome! Shouto just like, grabbed the electricity, spun in midair, and kicked it back at me. Where are you coming up with all these amazing ideas?" Denki asked, and Shouto smiled.
"That's for me to know, and you to wonder." he replied. He trusted his friend, but didn't feel ready to tell him about Zuko, yet. Shouto loved having friends; he watched Ashido tell a joke to Tsu, watched Kirishima practically hang off Katsuki (and Katsuki letting him), watched Izuku and Shinsou argue about quirks, watched Uraraka and Sero take turns trying beat each other's high score on a game, and finally, he talked with Denki about every subject the two could think of. He hadn't had anything like this for...well, ever. He loved Fuyumi and Natsuo, of course, but Fuyumi was twelve years older and Natsuo had his own apartment. Zuko was his friend, of course, but they'd never actually talked. (Zuko had been working on a trans-spatial radio, but that had been destroyed when Zhao blew up his ship.) He was glad Zuko had integrated him into these friend groups, now.
"Life is awesome." he said.
"It really is." Denki replied.

The next day was a Tuesday, and Zuko, having just restored his honor and returned to the Fire Nation, was not in a good mood. He'd left a detailed description of what had happened for Shouto, who would be surprised to wake up back in the palace. He was sure he'd done the right thing, so why did he feel so angry? That day, they were choosing their hero names, and internships. Shouto wanted to just choose 'Shouto', for his, which was stupid. He also wanted to go to Endeavor's agency, which was even more stupid. Zuko was going to ignore Shouto's guidelines.
"He's going to hate me for this." he said.
"Who is? And for what?" Shinsou asked.
"Just...something," Zuko replied, thinking. He'd figured out the deal with the Iidas, however. Their older brother, the hero Ingenium, had gotten attacked, and paralyzed from the waist down, by Hero Killer Stain. Denki had said something terribly stupid, as usual, but had apologized for it immediately after. The two had been agitated all day.

"My hero name is Ingenium. I am going to carry on my brother's legacy." Tenya told Midnight, who approved it solemnly.
"I choose Wraith; the nightmare hero. The bad guys won't know what bit them." Himiko said.
"You mean hit?' Midnight asked. Himiko grinned.
"Nope!"
"King Explosion Murder." said Katsuki.
"No." Midnight said.
"I am Dekiru, the persistent hero; I will do whatever it takes to improve the world." Izuku said.
"Lord Explosion Murder?" Katsuki asked. Midnight vetoed it.
Ojiro chose Tailman, which...okay. Ashido was Alien Queen, Sero was Cellophane, and Uraraka was Uravity, which Zuko considered to be pretty neat. Katsuki eventually came up with Dynamight. Anyway...Shouto, as a hero name, was not an option. 'The Blue Spirit,' was, technically, Zuko's vigilante name, and so also not an option.
"Chargebolt!" Denki said. Maybe he could pick 'Firelord'. Heh. But not really. No, Shouto needed a cool name. How about...

"My hero name will be Coldsun." Zuko said. Denki gave him a thumbs up. Shouto would like it...after he stopped yelling. Then, he signed up for Hawks' agency, grinning madly the whole time.
"What's got you feeling so happy?" Jiro asked him.
"I am going to be so angry about choosing this agency, and this hero name, tomorrow." he said.
"So why are you picking them?" she asked.
"Because. It's hilarious." Zuko replied.

Notes:

Shouto and Denki are such great friends!

:) :) :) :) :)

Chapter 13: anyway, here's hosu

Notes:

Stain: *has not one, but two bloodthirsty Iidas after him*

Stain: *chuckles* I'm in danger

"Aaaargh!" Shouto yelled, upon entering the classroom. He was staring in horror at the board on the wall, which listed each student's hero name and chosen internship.
"There is no possible way I picked HAWKS. Nope. And--and--my hero name was going to be Shouto, what the actual frick is Coldsun? He is going to regret this. He is going to regret this so fricking bad." Shouto said.
"I'm confused." Jirou said.
"I can't deal with this." Shouto walked to his desk and sat down.
"I am not going to deal with this. No one talk to me." he said, with his face in his hands. He spent the next few minutes ignoring everyone who tried to talk to him.

Aizawa entered the classroom.
"All right, everyone to the bus; we're heading to our internships." he said. Izuku watched the other students slowly gets up, collecting their bags. Tenya and Himiko looked very odd; the two had chosen an internship with Manual, a hero stationed in Hosu, where the Hero Killer roamed. Himiko looked bloodthirsty--more than usual--and Tenya looked determined. Izuku hoped the two weren't going to do anything stupid, but resolved to watch the two. Shouto also was acting strange. He'd walked into class, looked at the board, screamed, and ignored everyone. That was not normal Shouto behavior. Not even normal Tuesday Shouto behavior. (Shouto was weird on Tuesdays. It was a thing.) Izuku walked up to Denki, Shouto's best friend.
"What's wrong with him?" he asked, and Denki shrugged. "Heck if I know." Huh. Denki and Shouto knew, like, everything about each other.
"Yesterday, he'd said he was going to be angry about his choices. And he laughed." Jiro told Izuku, walking up to him.
"HE FRICKING WHAT?" Shouto yelled.

He swore, when he got back to the Fire Nation he was going to burn the last chapter off every single one of Zuko's precious scrolls. And then he'd give him a mohawk.
Tokoyami and Shouto entered Hawks' agency.
"Hello, interns! Time to learn stuff. Todoroki and Tokoyami, right? I'm Hawks! But you already know that." Hawks said, his red wings flaring out behind him.
"You're angry at Tuesday's passenger." Tokoyami said, as the two followed Hawks' tour around his agency.
"Angry does not begin to cover it." Shouto muttered.

"You two both have very powerful quirks; what you need to work on is precision, and accuracy." Hawks said, after the two showcased their skills. Oh, Shouto could do that all right. Creating a water whip, he slashed a line directly through the centers of three targets. Then, he focused his fire into heat rather than area, and holding a fire-dagger, leaped at the dummies, ducking under the swinging obstacles and leaving charred, exact cuts.
"O...kay. Well, you did have training from Endeavor, presumably." Hawks said, and Shouto flared up.
"Hey! I learned this stuff all by myself. Well, a friend helped. I'll have you know we invented an entirely new form of bend--uh, technique, together!" Shouto said. They'd spent ages on it, too.
"Tuesday's passenger?" Tokoyami asked.
"Yeah. Him." Shouto replied, before realizing what he'd said and looking back at Hawks, who, thankfully, didn't ask any questions.

Tokoyami figured out how to fly with Dark Shadow, and Shouto, wanting to help one of his few friends that knew about Zuko, told him about spiritbending, which he'd never managed. Tokoyami could not bend, but he copied the movements, and strands of shadow twirled and glowed, easily calming down the bird-boy's sentient quirk.
"I wish I had known that before the Ramen Noodle Incident. It would have prevented quite a mad banquet of darkness. Incidentally, that was actually when I came up with that phrase." Tokoyami reflected.
"What--what happened?" Shouto asked. Hawks seemed equally interested.
"Some secrets shall remain forever shrouded in shadow." Tokoyami replied.

Izuku, after getting over Gran Torino's general...everything, told him about his successes with One for All. He punched one of the training dummies, exploding it. Gran Torino stared.
"How is your arm not broken? It shouldn't be able to sustain the level of power you just used." he said.
"I improved my physical ability before receiving the power." Izuku said.
"Yes, but--Toshinori wasn't able to use that level for years. Izuku, there is no possible reason for your arm to still be intact." Izuku looked at his intact arm.
"Todoroki absorbed some of the power and punched it back out, and he broke his arm." he remembered.
"I'll try again, can you look closer, and see if you can figure it out?" Izuku asked his mentor, and punched the next dummy, feeling One for All roar through him.
"That should be impossible. I'm going to call Toshinori here...and in the meantime, tell me about this Todoroki." Gran Torino said.

A few days later, Izuku, on the train with Gran Torino to meet with All Might at a training dojo, gets a notification on the class chat. It isn't @-ing him, but he looks anyway.

______
Kaboom, Bastard: Glasses and Knife, stay the **** away from Stain if you know what's ****ing good for you.

 

Stain? The Hero Killer? Wait...he'd attacked their brother, hadn't he? Were they going to go after him, or something stupid? And how would Katsuki know about it?

________
fractalblooddungeon: stay out of this

Sonic: We aren't going to go after Stain.

TheScarIsOnTheWrongSide: i'm in hosu currently and we're being attacked by nomus if you're near get your mentors to come help

Dekiiiiru: there's one attacking my train

 

Izuku ran past the monster, just knowing the Iidas were going to fight Stain. He had to get to them in time...dodging fires, he ran past the alleyways. He had to get to them in time! The Iidas had been acting so strange recently--he wouldn't put it past them to go after the man who'd injured their brother. He skidded to a stop in front of one, where multiple people were. Tenya, Himiko, and someone who was undoubtedly Stain. He shared his location in the chat, and charged into the alley.
"Hey!" he shouted. Tenya was slumped against the wall, as was Pro Hero Native--they were both bleeding.
"What are you doing here! I am Ingenium, and you shouldn't have interfered." Tenya says. He doesn't look in good shape, at all. Himiko's equipment has been tossed a few meters away, where she can't access any of whoever's blood she has inside it. Stain dodges Izuku's punches, and the battle is on.

They are so outmatched it's not even funny. Izuku realizes Stain paralyzes people by drinking their blood, once Himiko collapses, frozen. Izuku manages to slice Stain with Himiko's knife, but it drops from his hand as Stain licks his katana and he falls beside Tenya.
"You come for revenge. None of you are fit to be true heroes." Stain says.
"Izuku, why did you come? Now, you are just going to die with us. This is all my fault!" Himiko says.
"I came to protect you," Izuku says, but it's futile, as Stain raises his sword. Then--the world explodes into fire. Todoroki is there, and he's saved them. Suddenly, Tenya shifts. He can move again, and he does, dashing at Stain with his engines roaring.
"All the fake heroes must die. If you leave, and do not interfere, you may live another day." Stain said. Leaping over Tenya's kick and sliding by an iceberg, he runs at Todoroki, who claps his hands together, creating an explosion, and he and Stain both fly backwards. Izuku stands up, and the first thing he thinks of is one of Kacchan's good-luck phrases that somehow only work for him--they never work for Izuku, but he says one anyway, because Stain's coming at him with a sword and it's not like he has anything else going for him, with his foot stuck in Todoroki's ice. He's going to dieeeeee--

Stain trips. He fricking trips over absolutely fricking nothing, and Himiko, who has just shrugged off her paralysis, leaps over and bites him. She turns into a second Stain, while the real one lies paralysed; she used his own quirk on him.

Of course, then a nomu nearly kidnaps Izuku, Stain kills it, Endeavor shows up and takes all the credit, and the four of them receive medical attention while Tenya and Himiko realize their mistake.
"We almost got you killed. I'm sorry." Himiko says. Then there's the whole debacle about how they used their quirks without permission, and only Hawks and Gran Torino had given any but the others temporarily lost their intern license, which was a problem.
"I would have come too, had I known of your predicament." Tokoyami says, visiting Shouto.
"It's okay. Well, I guess I can thank Tuesday's passenger for something--without the stuff I've learned, who knows how that fight could have gone." Shouto mutters.

Notes:

So we've got a bit of chatfic, finally; people are finally catching on to how suspicious Todoroki is; and Izuku can use magic!

In case it isn't obvious:

Dekiiiiru: Izuku
Sonic: Tenya
fractalblooddungeon: Himiko
Kaboom, Bastard: Katsuki
TheScarIsOnTheOtherSide: Shouto

Chapter 14: incidents

The rest of the year passes without much incident. Okay, that's not entirely true; there was something worth noting. One day, as usual, Denki and Shouto sparred in the gym, and Shouto had an idea.
"What do you think will happen if I absorb lightning on my cold side?" he asked.
"Let's find out." replied Denki, and with his friend's permission, blasted the other, and the lightning wrapped around his arm similar to before.
"It's working the same...wait, something's wrong." Shouto said, and as the lightning reached the invisible line between hot and cold, it exploded outward, sparks and trails of energy shooting from Shouto, who collapsed to the floor.
"Oh, no. Shouto, are you okay? Wake up!" Denki said, shaking his friend, who wasn't answering. And then he was.

"[Denki, what the frick.]"

Denki blinked. Shouto hadn't moved his mouth, but he'd heard the other's voice clearly.

"[Did we switch bodies? Why does this sort of thing always happen to me?]"

Shouto's voice...was coming from inside his head.
"You're in my head. Why are you IN MY HEAD!" Denki screeched, because this was a Major Problem.

"[Considering Tuesday, my soul must be loose in my body or something.]" Shouto's voice says.
"[Considering Tuesday?]" Denki thinks, and then realizes, oh no, Shouto can hear his thoughts, he is doomed.
"[Long story. Don't worry--I can only hear your thoughts if you specifically think them at me--and how do I get out of you?]" Shouto thinks at him.
"[You phrased that wrong.]" Denki thinks aggressively.

"Is Shouto all right? What's going on?" Tokoyami shouts, stalking over from the other end of the gym.
"He's fine. Nothing." Shouto says. Then pauses.
"HEY! How did you do that?" Denki shouts, because Shouto had just spoken to Tokoyami using his body, which was very creepy.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Tokoyami asks, looking first at Denki, then at the prone Shouto.

Tokoyami was attacking a punching bag when he heard Denki scream. He didn't hear the words, but looked over to see Denki holding his head with an air of panic, standing over Shouto, who lay unconscious, eyes closed. He asked what was going on.
"He's fine. Nothing." Denki responded, face sliding suspiciously to a sudden calm. And then--
"HEY! How did you do that?" Denki shouts, panicking again. Tokoyami narrowed his eyes. Something was definitely wrong. Was someone using a quirk to disguise themselves as Denki?
"What the frick. It's not Tuesday." Shouto suddenly said, jerking himself awake, and Denki screamed, and leaped backwards--but stopped.
"Something seems to have gone wrong." he said, in a very monotone voice.
"Shouto? Are you possessing Denki? How'd that happen?" Shouto, who is not Shouto, what the frick, says.
"We tried to figure out what would happen if I tried lightning redirection on my ice side, and it exploded, and now I'm in his head. And you're in my head. And it's not Tuesday." Denki, who was actually Shouto, said. Wait.
"Are you Tuesday's passenger?" Tokoyami asked.
"Who--who are you?" Denki asked, looking at whoever was possessing Shouto.
"Hey. I'm Zuko. Sometimes known as Tuesday's passenger." he said.
"What." Denki asked, then screwed up his face.
"This--is is why you're so strange on Tuesdays? Because you switch bodies with someone else? And how does Tokoyami know about him?" he asked, and a moment passed.
"Huh." he said, and then a jolt of electricity shot from his fingertips, lancing into Zuko, whose eyes flickered from Todoroki's mismatching blue and grey to an orangey-red and back again. Denki's eyes changed from brown to Todoroki's colors simultanously.
"That was weird." Denki said.
"I wonder what happened back where Zuko was." Shouto muttered.

(Zuko had collapsed while reading; Mai had poked her head into his room once she heard the thump, and seen him with his face on the table. She then decided it was none of her business.)

The rest of the year passed with little incident, and it was soon time for the summer camp; it was going to be awesome!

It was not awesome. Todoroki, Katsuki and Shinsou ran through a forest that burned blue, trying to get away from the villains--the actual [bleeping] villains, how'd they find the camp?
"If it isn't...Todoroki Shouto." There's a villain in front of them, wearing all black and covered in scars, hand burning blue.
"Dabi?" Shinsou asks. It is Dabi, it's his best friend, and he's a villain. Dabi immediately drops his evil grin and looks terribly uncomfortable.
"Um. I'm just going to. Leave now." he says.
"You know that [bleeper]?" Katsuki asks Shinsou, who is low-key panicking.
"We met a long time ago, we've been friends forever, I had no idea he was a villain, I promise!" Shinsou says, turning away from his friend, who doesn't respond. Shinsou looks back. They aren't there.
"KACCHAN!" Izuku screams, and there's a masked villain holding marbles, and a swirling portal of mist, and it's over as soon as it begun.

"We have to save Todoroki and Bakugou." Yaoyorozu says, and waves a tracker at the group.
"We can't. This is a very delicate situation, and we are forbidden by the teachers from getting involved." Tenya says.
"I want to stab bad guys. I'm in." Himiko says.
"Kacchan's in danger." Izuku says, and Kirishima explains how unmanly it would be to leave Shouto and Bakugou in the hands of villains. The only other person nearby was Shinsou, and he had his headphones in, and was texting furiously.
"He won't answer, the bastard!" Shinsou shouted, and stalked out.
"I attached a tracker to one of those Nomus. We're going to go help--and judging by whatever happened at Hosu that you two refuse to talk about--we aren't going to attack anyone with our quirks. We have to get in and out." Yaoyorozu says.
"We need disguises." Tenya says. This isn't a problem for Himiko, but the others all go shopping for disguises; Izuku looks like a gangster, and Kirishima's hair is oddly flat.
"It's at Kamino; that's where all the heroes are gearing up to attack, anyway." Izuku says, and the group continues on. It's only been a day since Katsuki and Todoroki were kidnapped, and UA hasn't heard anything from the so-called League of Villains yet.

Chances are, most of you know the story. Pizza delivery, running, crashing, iceberg, soaring, KACCHAN! JUMP!, the fight, Small Might, the punch, you're next. That's what's fated; what's foretold. However, here, fate had long since been handchopped off the rails, and there is only one sentence that properly sums up what happens next:

Everything is fricked. That's what Dabi thought, watching Endeavor's son (he feels so much hatred towards the hero, he doesn't know why) and the potential recruit, Bakugou Katsuki, wake up in the main room.
"You're like us, Bakugou." Shigaraki gives the two his recruitment spiel, but Dabi can tell neither will go for it. He hadn't expected to run into Shinsou; he was joining the League to change the world, to fix it in the same way that it broke him, but now, remembering the look on his friend's face, he wondered whether it was worth it. Maybe things would have turned out differently, if he knew who he was; if he had any memory of anything before ten years past. Bakugou and Todoroki yell how they are heroes, and they'll never be anything else, and so Dabi hauls them to the back room.
"We'll work on them again tomorrow. I'm especially interested in the mod-user." Shigaraki says, and Dabi hopes maybe things will be better, tomorrow, as well.

Notes:

Denki knows about Zuko!
Dabi is so very awkward

Things will get even more awkward, because tomorrow...mwahaha...is Tuesday

Chapter 15: kamino

Zuko wakes up with his hands bound behind him, in darkness, and sucks in a breath. Azula must have caught him and the rest of Team Avatar, they were going to be executed! Almost as if on cue, a blue flame lights up the shadows before him.
"Are you here to commit fratricide?" he asks, and Azula (it has to be her, even if he can't see a thing in here) chokes out a strangled gasp.
"What? Thought you wanted to become an only child. You do realize Father never actually liked one of us over the other? He just wanted us for our firepower." Zuko says. Azula isn't interrupting him. Maybe he can get everything out.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, the past few years; I hadn't seen it then, and I was just following his orders, hoping maybe he'd respect me. But he didn't, and he didn't for you, and he never will, for any of us. I'm sure you're aware your life choices are questionable, but you don't have to go down that path. We can save the world together, if you help me, and I help you, because even though it's been ages since we've been a proper family, I still love you, and it might be too much to hope for, considering my current situation, but I hope some part of you still loves me. We can get past this; we can change things, as siblings instead of enemies." Zuko says, and Azula makes another one of those choking noises.
"What the [BLEEP]." a voice says.
"Shouto? Oh my God...Shouto. I'm so sorry, I swear by all that's holy, I had no idea. I got [bleeping] amnesia. I got hit on the head ten years ago and woke up with no memories. Dabi...no, my name's Touya. Todoroki Touya, oh my God. Everything came back at once, and I--I've always wanted to be the best, and you were the best to him, but you weren't, were you? This...this is awful." someone says, and Zuko looks up as the light flicks on. He stares at the scarred man before him.
"What the [bleep]." Katsuki says, again, from the chair behind Zuko. Zuko blinks, and looks closer at the man, who actually does look a bit like Natsuo--and didn't Touya have blue flames? Touya, who ran from the family before Zuko met him.
"...Touya?" Zuko asks, because there is no way he just sleepily monologued to Azula and every single word applied to Touya, but maybe for once, he'd actually caught a break.

"You're HalfnHalf's long-lost amnesiac brother? Of course you are." Bakugou says, wondering how exactly HalfnHalf recognized the other with the scars, because in every other reality, he had trouble doing so. Actually, HalfnHalf had just looked up, and was watching Scarface with astonishment, as if he hadn't known who the other was, when he was lecturing him. But he must have.
"Hey, they're awake!" the hand villain, Shigaraki, says, walking into the room. Scarface walks into a wall before running away.
"What did you say to him? No matter. What I really want to know are your cheat codes. Your mods. They're illegal for this console, and shouldn't work." he says. Katsuki grimaces. He must be talking about the magic. He'd explode them, but can't with the quirk restraints. He can't cast spells, either, as they siphon from his quirk power. But there is one thing can do, come to think of it.
"I'll show you, if you all close your eyes." he grins.
"And have you trick us?" the magnet woman asks.
"He cannot escape the quirk restraints. Besides, due to Sensei's newest ability, he will sense him if he tries to escape." Shigaraki says, and okay, what? No matter. Time to get himself and HalfnHalf out. Eight minutes there...

Quirk-restraining cuffs clank to the floor as Katsuki fricking disappears. The villain with the spandex suit, Twice, shrieks, and then they all panic.
"I told you! HE CHEATS!" Shigaraki screams.
"Find him!" Kurogiri shouts, and a good majority rush out of the room.

...eight seconds here. Katsuki rips the cuffs off HalfnHalf, and explodes. Then the two of them are running, and there's a portal coming after them, and all the villains, and oh [bleep], everything is fricked. And then some awful smoke is forcing itself out of his mouth, and Todoroki's too, and they're somewhere else, and someone's there; he's wearing a suit, and a helmet full of pipes. Katsuki knows this someone. It's the ultimate bad guy; All for One, and he steals people's quirks. Which is terrifying.
"I, like Tomura, am wondering how you managed that. If it's a secondary quirk, it's nothing you need any longer." the man says, and his fingers turn red and black, and he reaches--and HalfnHalf dives in front of him.

Zuko doesn't know what he's doing, but the man's elongating fingers stab into his chest, and all he can feel is fire--and it's gone. The man's fingers are smoking, burning.
"What. What kind of quirk is that? Why could I not take it?" the man asks. The guy was trying to take Shouto's quirk? Maybe...the firebending interfered.
"DIE!" Katsuki shouts, and throws an explosion, but the man waves it away as though it was nothing.
"Don't bother. I am All for One, All Might's nemesis." the man says. So, he's like, the anti-Avatar? Or something. Unluckily for him, Zuko is a master at fighting Avatars. He grins.

Katsuki stares as HalfnHalf leaps at All of One, twisting massive sheets of flame and launching an iceberg. The man removes both from existence, and waves his hand, and the floor rises up to trap HalfnHalf--but he dodges, like the ground trying to grab him is a normal occurence. It's interesting, how Shouto is always much better at fighting on Tuesdays. Maybe he can help. Katsuki casts the first spell he can think of--tripping, and All for One falls. On. His. Face.

Katsuki will treasure this moment forever.

He blows up a wall, and the two run full-on into a Nomu factory. HalfnHalf sets the whole thing on fire, sliding himself and Katsuki on an ice skateboard (skateberg? skateberg.) through the area.
"I didn't know you could make blue fire." Katsuki says, conversationally. HalfnHalf looks at the fire behind him.
"I can do that now? Take that, Azula!" he says, and they slide on. There are loud noises erupting everywhere.

Shouto!Himiko creates a massive iceberg, while Tenya and Izuku run Kirishima through walls and up the ramp. Soon enough, they're over the Kamino area, where All Might is fighting the Big Bad Evil Guy.
"Look!" Tenya shouts, pointing to two people sliding away from villains on a small skateberg (that's a word now).
"JUMP!" Izuku shouted, and there was a massive explosion, and Katsuki, trailing smoke, blew himself into the air. Kirishima held out his hand, and he grabbed on.
"Wait! HalfnHalf!" Katsuki shouted, but they were flying through the air, and a small red and white point watched them leave from the ground below.

"If we aren't going to get to keep the other, you can be ours." Shigaraki snarls, and Zuko flicks two swords into existence--and not just that. Half his face is covered in ice, the other in blue flame, formed to resemble a certain water spirit.
"Bring it." Zuko growls.

All Might, fighting for his life, is aided by how his enemy keeps tripping, as well as the storm of frost and fire only a few feet away. However, he's outmatched, and losing, and there is pain, and smoke, and he falls, and he's small.

But it's not the end.

"You're next!"

The villains teleport away; All Might saved the day.
He captured their leader, anyhow.
Things wind down.

Notes:

Zuko: what just happened

Katsuki: it was inevitable, really

Chapter 16: todoroki touya

There are tearful reunions, and everything's sorted out, but nothing is. Shouto wakes up to a quickly-scribbled note:
"The villain Dabi is your brother Touya, he had amnesia for ten years." Fuyumi and Natuso are freaking out.
"We have to save him. If he's just remembered, he must still be trapped with the rest of the villains." Natsuo says.

A day or so later, class was back in session. Shouto was talking with Izuku about cats when Shinshou's phone beeped.
"He texted back!" Shinsou said, and looked closer at the screen. His expression grew steadily more incredulous.
"Wait. Wouldn't that mean...a Tuesday." he suddenly looked at Shouto.
"I'm good friends with your brother." he said.
"No, you aren't. Natsuo would have told me." Shouto pointed out.
"Not Natsuo." Shinsou said. There was a moment of silence.
"He got hit by a quirk ten years ago on a Tuesday." Shinsou offered. Shouto stared at him.
"I met him one day in a library; he was trying to find out who he was. Now he has, because of you. Um. Also, he got hit by someone's quirk that body-switches his brother on Tuesdays. Which is concerning, because of the fact that you recognized and talked to him on a Tuesday. Because it wasn't you, then." Shinshou said. Shouto wondered how to handle this.

"Hey, come back!" Shinshou shouted, as Shouto took off across the hall.

It was some time after that the Big Three came to Aizawa's class. Izuku quickly made friends with Mirio, and despite certain troubles, joined Sir Nighteye's internship. One Tuesday, Kacchan suddenly privately messaged him.

_____
Kaboom, Bastard: i'm immortal

Kaboom, Bastard: when you meet eri, grab her and run

Kaboom, Bastard: don't listen to mirio or the birdface

Dekiiiiru: are you okay?

 

"Is something wrong?" Mirio asked.
"I got a concerning text from my friend." Izuku said, and showed him.
"Huh."

_______
Kaboom, Bastard: look ask nighteye to do his future seeing thing

Kaboom, Bastard: if you don't trust me

Dekiiiiru: how do you know Sir's quirk?

Kaboom, Bastard: i know a lot of stuff

Kaboom, Bastard: i know about halfnhalf's brother wait you don't know about him nvm

Kaboom, Bastard: ask halfnhalf about touya

 

"He has an explosion quirk, right? This is strange. Maybe you should ask...HalfnHalf...about a Touya." Mirio said.
Izuku privately messaged Shouto.

_____
Dekiiiiru: do you know a touya

TuesdaysAreSuperior: touya is my brother. I have recently come across new information about him. is this what this is about?

Dekiiiiru: kacchan says he knows about touya

TuesdayAreSuperior: he was at kamino he would. has he told you?

Dekiiiiru: what does Kamino have to do with it?

(1) private message from (Kaboom, Bastard)
Kaboom, Bastard: i forgot about kamino ask runes about touya he'll freak out

______
Dekiiiiru: hey hitoshi what do you know about touya

Purple Cat: Did Shouto tell you I know him?

Dekiiiiru: no kacchan

Purple Cat: WHAT how does bakugou know did Shouto tell him

Dekiiiiru: he found out at kamino?

Purple Cat: he found that I'm touya's friend at kamino?

______
Dekiiiru: shouto did you tell kacchan that hitoshi's friends with touya

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I don't think so I only found that out after Kamino we haven't really talked since then

TuesdaysAreSuperior: but I might have and can't remember

_____
CLASS 1-A GROUP CHAT
Dekiiiru: who here knows touya

Nevermore: I don't

TuesdaysAreSuperior: izuku why

Purple Cat: yeah why

Kaboom, Bastard: no one else knows

Dekiiiiru: Kacchan did Shouto tell you about Touya

Kaboom, Bastard: no i just know because of stuff

Kaboom, Bastard: one example is the fire nation

Dekiiiiru: the what

TuesdaysAreSuperior: HOW THE FRICK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT

TuesdaysAreSuperior: wait I remembered

TuesdaysAreSuperior: who do you switch with? We could meet

Kaboom, Bastard: switch with?

TuesdaysAreSuperior: you said you switch at night

TuesdaysAreSuperior: we probably shouldn't talk about this on the group chat

Kaboom, Bastard: i did not say that there may have been a misunderstanding

REDRIOT: there is no context to this and I love it

TuesdaysAreSuperior: Prince Zuko

Kaboom, Bastard: the guy from the quirkless-magic anime

TuesdaysAreSuperior: the what

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I mean on Tuesdays

Purple Cat: aha! So how did you recognize Touya?

Purple Cat: wait a prince really

Purple Cat: and what does Bakugou mean an anime

Dekiiiiru: kacchan is weird sometimes

Uraravity: He can temporarily disappear from existence

TuesdaysAreSuperior: yeah how'd you do that at kamino you had quirk suppressant cuffs on

electric_attraction: I am here to confirm that Shouto is sometimes Zuko

Nevermore: Are we telling the class about Tuesday's passenger?

King of Beasts: I can help

HearMyEars: does this have something to do with you yelling about Coldsun and Hawks

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I do not regret that and actually neither does he, once he thought about it

fractalblooddungeon: who

fractalblooddungeon: who is 'he'

Frog: who is he

Tailman: who is he

MasterChef: who is he

Spider_Tape_Man: who is he

Fullmetal Ponytail: who is he

Now-you-see-me: who is he

talktothehands: who is he

Sonic: What is going on here?

electric_attraction: Shouto

TuesdaysAreSuperior: what?

Dekiiiiru: I just wanted to find out why Kacchan said to kidnap someone named Eri

REDRIOT: he said what

Kaboom, Bastard: no you have to save her from Overhaul

Sonic: The yakuza villain?

Nevermore: the what

Kaboom, Bastard: **** y'all I'm coming I'll do it myself

Kaboom, Bastard: don't get shot

HearMyEars: I am concerned

Purple Cat: Bakugou please don't fight the yakuza

Purple Cat: Touya says they have quirk-erasing bullets

Tailman: who is this mysterious Touya and how does he know the yazuka

three people are typing...

Kaboom, Bastard: he's a villain

TuesdaysAreSuperior: he's my brother

Purple Cat: he's my friend

Purple Cat: frick we all posted at the same time

Fullmetal Ponytail: Your brother is a VILLAIN!?

TuesdaysAreSuperior: he's not a bad guy he just had amnesia for ten years

Spider_Tape_Man: which villain

Kaboom, Bastard: the blue fire scar ****er Dabi

TuesdaysAreSuperior: don't call my brother that

talktothehands: he attacked us!

electric_attraction: he's not really your brother tho

TuesdaysAreSuperior: excuse me

electric_attraction: yeah because tuesdays

Nevermore: he is as much his brother as the other siblings

King of Beasts: you don't have to be blood to be family

electric_attraction: you've never met him! And he attacked us!

REDRIOT: I don't know what's going on here but Denki has a point

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I can't save Azula, so I'm going to save Touya. Agni himself can't stop me.

Now-you-see-me: who are Agni and Azula?

Kaboom, Bastard: the god of fire and Zuko's sister

fractalblooddungeon: the god of fire?

Purple Cat: I'm sorry about your sister

Purple Cat: Touya knows he's going in the wrong direction don't worry

Purple Cat: he knew joining was a bad idea to begin with, but says he can help take down the League of Villains now

Frog: *your* sister he said Zuko's sister who's Zuko

Purple Cat: oops

Dekiiiiru: What have I done I just wanted to figure Kacchan out

Kaboom, Bastard: I have magic powers

Sonic: I highly doubt that.

Dekiiiiru: actually that would make perfect sense

Uraravity: it would explain so much

Dekiiiiru: are you the reason I haven't broken any bones

Kaboom, Bastard: yeah remember the runes the day of the entrance exam

Dekiiiiru: Why haven't you told me this before?

Kaboom, Bastard: bc you need a quirk to use magic

Kaboom, Bastard: i would have taught you otherwise

TuesdaysAreSuperior: Are you spirit-blessed?

Tailman: are we going to question this or

Kaboom, Bastard: no its because of the murder cat

MasterChef: the what

TuesdaysAreSuperior: so it sent you somewhere with magic

Kaboom, Bastard: among other places

Kaboom, Bastard: i would still like to clarify whether you are an anime character or not

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I don't think so

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I think I would have found out at some point

REDRIOT: I can say with confidence you are not an anime character

Purple Cat: wait you're switching with someone from an anime?

Purple Cat: is that even possible? and which one

Kaboom, Bastard: no its not an anime here it's one in the magic place

Kaboom, Bastard: which still begs the question of where you come from

TuesdaysAreSuperior: the Fire Nation

Fullmetal Ponytail: and we're back to the beginning and still know nothing

Kaboom, Bastard: so a different planet?

TuesdaysAreSuperior: we think so

Sonic: Are we actually considering whether Shouto is an alien or not?

Nevermore: not Shouto Zuko

King of Beasts: Tuesday's passenger

Dekiiiiru: this clarifies nothing

Kaboom, Bastard: there's probably a reality where we're all anime characters

Kaboom, Bastard: imagine if I went there and everyone freaked the **** out

Kaboom, Bastard: wait maybe i can

Kaboom, Bastard: see you in eight seconds

fractalblooddungeon: what

Notes:

In case it isn't clear: Shinshou knows Shouto switches with someone, and Katsuki recognizes the Fire Nation symbol as ATLA, as a tv show, exists in the magic reality.

In case it isn't obvious:

Kaboom, Bastard: Katsuki
Dekiiiiru: Izuku
Sonic: Tenya
fractalblooddungeon: Himiko
TuesdaysAreSuperior: Zuko (on Shouto's phone)
Purple Cat: Hitoshi
Nevermore: Tokoyami
REDRIOT: Kirishima
Uraravity: Uraraka
electric_attraction: Denki
King of Beasts: Kouda
HearMyEars: Jirou
Tailman: Ojiro
Frog: Tsuyu
MasterChef: Sato
Spider_Tape_Man: Sero
Fullmetal Ponytail: Momo
Now-you-see-me: Hagakure
talktothehands: Shoji

Not in the chat at the moment:
Alien Queen: Mina
CannotStopTwinkling: Aoyama

Chapter 17: nothing is clarified, and plans are made

Unfortunately, Izuku was not able to see the rest of the chat, as a small girl with a single horn barrelled into him. He put his phone away.
"Oh!" she said, and reached towards her horn. She did not look very well-off, covered in bandages and a thin dress.
"Are you okay?" Mirio asked.
"I'm trying to get away--don't touch me, my quirk is dangerous!" she said, backing up.
"It's okay. What's your name? I'm Miro, this is Midoriya, and we're heroes-in-training." Mirio said.
"I'm Eri, but you can't touch me, my quirk hurts people! It's bad!" the girl said. Then, someone with a mask shaped like a bird's beak, a fluffy coat and white gloves stepped from the alley.
"Eri. Come here." he said. Mirio and Izuku looked at each other.

Grab Eri and run, Kacchan had said.

"I'm not sure she wants to." Mirio said, as Eri was hiding behind Izuku.
"She's being silly. Eri, come to your father." the man said.

Don't listen to the birdface, Kacchan had said.

"My daughter runs away, sometimes. Her quirk is extremely dangerous, and she still has to train it." the man said.

You have to save her from Overhaul, Kacchan had said.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot let a young girl go with the villain Overhaul." Mirio said. Oh, they were fricked, Izuku thought, as the man extended his hand and dived towards them. He grabbed Eri and dived out of the way, but then Overhaul pulled out a gun.
"Don't move." he said, pointing it at Izuku while looking at Mirio, who was ready to attack. Izuku powered on One for All, and ran. A shot echoed from behind, and Izuku, feeling no sudden pain, kept running.

Katsuki stood in the alley, blood dripping down his chest.
"Told you I'd come." he said, and fell over. Overhaul leveled his gun at Mirio, who dropped into the ground, and launched himself at Overhaul, who ducked out of the way as Mirio fell back into the ground. Overhaul whistled, and multiple armed thugs appeared from the darkness of the alley. How could he get himself and Bakugou out before the other died?

Izuku was regretting leaving; he'd left Mirio and heard a shot, but he had to save this girl. He ran to Nighteye's agency, which was close, and skidded into the building.
"Mirio's fighting Overhaul! He needs help!" Izuku shouted, and the heroes rushed out.

Mirio, holding Bakugou, was running through the ground from the waist downwards. Shots rang out as he speeded towards the agency, which had an emergency medical room. "I'll--I'll be okay, just [bleeping] get yourself out!" Bakugou said, coughing. He was not going to be okay. Unless Mirio could save him, he'd die in the next minute.
"Oi. I'm immortal." Bakugou said, and Mirio remembered the chat.
"Secondary...murder cat quirk. This'll only be the thi--" Bakugou stopped and went limp, staring upwards with dead eyes.
"No!" Mirio screamed, and nearly got run over by a car. He'd gotten away from the villains, but at what cost? He stopped in an alley, hidden by boxes, and set Bakugou's body down before reaching for his phone. Before he could call Sir Nighteye, Bakugou choked and sat up.
"That was very painful." he said, spitting up blood.
"My shirt is ruined."

Mirio stared at him.
"Immortal, remember? Oh [bleep], the bullet might have been quirk-erasing!" Bakugou said, and reached out his hand. No explosions were forthcoming.
"[BLEEP]! Wait. Maybe..." Suddenly, there were explosions again. Then, he pointed towards the wall, which was then affected by a small explosion.
"I'm quirkless...but the funnel broke." he said, grinning.
"The funnel?" Mirio asked, still failing to process Bakugou's apparent immortality.
"The funnel through entropy that quirks are. Now, instead of just getting what I could draw from my quirk, I can use magic to its fullest extent, which includes a way to replicate my quirk--but better. I bet I could replicate your quirk. Maybe even Izuku's." Bakugou said, and then there were footsteps. A group of heroes, including Nighteye, were there.
"Hey. Stuff happened." Miro said. Nighteye gave him a look.
"It's all Bakugou's fault, really." Mirio said, edging away.
"What does Bakugou have to do with this?" Nighteye asked.
"What do you, he's--" Mirio turned around. No Bakugou.
"Huh." Mirio said.

The group reconvened at the agency, where Izuku was with Eri. He had been talking to her, and telling her that he quirk wasn't bad, and she could learn to control it--and maybe Eraserhead could help. Mirio walked in.
"I have some questions for Bakugou." he said, overcome. Izuku's phone beeped.

______
Kaboom, Bastard: if i had a nickel for every time i've died i would have three nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened thrice

REDRIOT: do you mean clinically or metaphorically or

Dekiiiiru: Mirio and I just saved Eri

Kaboom, Bastard: yah cause i was there

Dekuiiiiru: u were there?

Kaboom, Bastard: ask Mirio

______
"He was there...he disappeared when the heroes showed up, though." Mirio said.
"He attacked Overhaul?" Izuku asked.
"No, he, uh, stopped you from getting shot. Then we ran away." Mirio said.
"Izuku, can I borrow your chat?" he asked.

_______
Dekiiiiru: This is Mirio borrowing Izuku's phone. Bakugou, how did you do what you did?

Kaboom, Bastard: i thought we covered this. magic powers

TuesdaysAreSuperior: what did you do

Kaboom, Bastard: so i'm quirkless now

TuesdaysAreSuperior: WHAT DID YOU DO

Kaboom, Bastard: i'm going to be the first quirkless hero instead of izuku isn't that ironic

electric_attraction: You lost your quirk? HOW?

Kaboom, Bastard: stuff happened

Uraravity: what do you mean, instead of Izuku?

Purple Cat: wait did you actually lose your quirk?

Kaboom, Bastard: what do you think

Nevermore: you do remember there's a UA traitor who might be seeing all this

electric_attraction: no there isn't Shouto and I found a device accidentally transmitting info to the LoV and broke it, we're pretty sure Monoma put it there to mess with Class 1-A and set it up wrong

TuesdaysAreSuperior: yeah

Sonic: Monoma only announced his rivalry after the USJ.

TuesdaysAreSuperior: FRICK

electric_attraction: we may have a problem

Dekiiiiiru: kacchan use your magic powers to figure out who the UA traitor is

Kaboom, Bastard: it doesn't work like that, but there are four other realities

Kaboom, Bastard: in one Dunce Face is the traitor, in one it's Present Mic, in one it's nobody, and in one it's Izuku

Kaboom, Bastard: but that doesn't mean anything bc Knife's a villain in all of them, and Izuku didn't get One for All in any of them

fractalblooddungeon: I'm what

Uraravity: what's One for All

Kaboom, Bastard: ****

TuesdaysAreSuperior: don't worry! everything is fricked

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I found out who my great-grandfather was and am having an internal crisis

TuesdaysAreSuperior: and then I come here and this happens

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I need a distraction is there a secure facility anyone wants me to break into?

REDRIOT: u could break into the LoV headquarters and find out who the traitor is

REDRIOT: I'm kidding

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I have to find it first

Fullmetal Ponytail: wait no don't actually do that

TuesdaysAreSuperior: too late

TuesdaysAreSuperior: everything changed when the fire nation attacked

Frog: so, the UA traitor

Sonic: We should not start suspecting each other. That would cause just the type of problem the traitor is no doubt looking to cause. We need to leave this to the teachers.

MasterChef: Bakugou said in one reality Present Mic was a traitor can we trust the teachers

Now-you-see-me: are you actually listening to Bakugou's rubbish

MasterChef: I'm taking it with a grain of salt but do you think Bakugou would just randomly lie

Dekiiiiru: I believe Kacchan

Uraraka: I believe Bakugou

TuesdaysAreSuperior: I do too

Nevermore: Dark Shadow and I do as well

King of Beasts: I also believe Bakugou!

electric_attraction: I got possessed by Shouto so anything is possible

REDRIOT: I believe Bakugou he's too manly to lie!

REDRIOT: wait Kaminari you what

Nevermore: I was there when it happened it was weird

Nevermore: Shouto and Zuko and Kaminari were all yelling at each other

Uraravity: who is this Zuko who keeps getting mentioned

Nevermore: Tuesday's passenger

Bakugou: an anime character from another reality

Purple Cat: Todoroki on Tuesdays

TuesdaysAreSuperior: me

King of Beasts: Todoroki's adoptive brother

REDRIOT: this tells me nothing

TuesdaysAreSuperior: all of the above

Dekiiiiru: I don't know what that implies, and I'm not sure I want to

fractalblooddungeon: let's ask him tomorrow

The next day, a team of heroes had led a raid on the yazuka and won. This definitely had nothing to do with the fact that Katsuki needed some targets for his new and improved powers. Also, All for One broke out of Tartarus, and so it was only while Shouto walked to school that he checked the notebook.
"READ GROUP CHAT!" it said, so Shouto did.

______
TuesdaysAreSuperior: what the frick

(TuesdaysAreSuperior) changed their name to (HeroShouto)

HeroShouto: what the frick happened yesterday

Dekiiiiru: you tell me

Kaboom, Bastard: good day to all you bastards

electric_attraction: everyone wants to know who Zuko is

HeroShouto: did you tell them

Nevermore: not exactly

HeroShouto: please don't

fractalblooddungeon: I want to know tho

Sonic: Himiko, you should respect his wishes

fractalblooddungeon: fine

HeroShouto: so Bakugou has magic powers

Uraravity: yup

REDRIOT: wait did you use your magic to make me trip at the Sports Festival I knew something was up
Kaboom, Bastard: yeah but I knocked All for One on his face back at Kamino so

Frog: wait All for One got out

Purple Cat: we're fricked. Touya says he's inventing a device to steal the quirks from everyone in the world

Fullmetal Ponytail: I'm still dealing with the fact that Shinsou has regular correspondance with a reformed villain who also happens to be Shouto's brother

Spider_Tape_Man: are you still planning to break into LoV headquarters

HeroShouto: no, not one bit, but I'll probably do it next Tuesday

King of Beasts: I'll ask the city pigeons for clues as to where it is

Tailman: I can ask my cousin to help he's got a postcognition quirk

Now-you-see-me: a what

Tailman: if you find something that belongs to one of the villains he can touch it and learn about things that happened in its past

talktothehands: this all very interesting but can't we just ask Touya

Purple Cat: hang on I'll text him

Dekiiiiru: Are we actually doing this?

Sonic: The last time we tried to hunt down a villain, it ended rather badly.

REDRIOT: the last time you what

fractalblooddungeon: remember Stain

REDRIOT: didn't Endeavor catch him

HeroShouto: yeah after we beat him up

electric_attraction: how is that ending badly

Sonic: We almost died.

HearMyEars: Fair.

Fullmetal Ponytail: things went well at kamino though!

Purple Cat: Okay we have a location!

Sonic: We should tell the teachers, and they should organize a hero team.

MasterChef: there are twenty-one of us, I bet we can take the villains, and we'd have to tell them about Touya

HeroShouto: won't we at some point anyway? Like, after we beat the bad guys I don't want him to get arrested he hasn't even done anything bad besides attack us at summer camp

Purple Cat: True.

Dekiiiiru: We can't! It's illegal!

Kaboom, Bastard: I can disguise us with magic.

Fullmetal Ponytail: Are we just accepting that Bakugou has magic powers now?

REDRIOT: yes

fractalblooddungeon: We have a man on the inside that is sooo cool!

Purple Cat: We aren't the only ones. Hawks has joined the LoV.

Nevermore: HAWKS HAS WHAT?

Purple Cat: Touya says he's undercover and bad at it, and is letting him join anyway bc he thinks he's hot

talktothehands: We didn't need that part.

HeroShouto: I still have his number from the internship

electric_attraction: ooh text him freak him out

HeroShouto: nah but maybe Shinshou should text Touya

Notes:

to summarize: Eri was saved, Mirio was traumatized, and the bad guys have no idea what's about to hit them.

(Just kidding. All for One will be fully prepared by the time the raid's ready to go.)

Chapter 18: aizawa shouta, you know nothing

"I don't trust you. Neither does Shigaraki; he says you have to kill Best Jeanist if you want to join." Dabi told Hawks, who was terrified and trying not to show it.
"I don't see why he'd want Best Jeanist dead when Endeavor exists...I hate him even more now that I remember." Dabi said, and did not elaborate. Suddenly, Dabi's phone buzzed. He picked it up and looked at it, before blinking in confusion.

________
Hitoshi: so Bakugou has magic powers, and he wants to disguise himself and teleport over to you to get a good idea of the Lov's hideout

Touya: I hope this is a joke

Hitoshi: Nope.

Touya: Then tell him I'm at my apartment with Hawks

Hitoshi: He's coming anyway

 

"Are you texting someone?" Hawks asked.
"A sort of friend is coming over." Dabi said.
"Is he a villain?" Hawks asked. He was really getting deep into this.
"Not exactly."

_________
Hitoshi: Oh Shouto says Fuyumi, Natsuo and your Mom all really miss you! And he's looking forward to introducing you to Zuko

Touya: Who is Zuko?

Hitoshi: Shouto's adoptive brother

Touya: they replaced me?

Hitoshi: No! Zuko was...kind of unavoidable. You, uh, remember the brother bodyswap quirk you got hit by

Touya: oh no

Hitoshi: yup he's been switching bodies with Shouto for the last ten years

Hitoshi: also he may be a) an alien b) an anime character c) from another reality

Touya: very funny

Hitoshi: no im serious

"Something wrong?" Hawks asked. He was not eager for trouble. Then, there was a flash of light, and a man appeared in the apartement. He had spiky green hair, was dressed in a fancy red suit, and had horns and four arms.
"Hey, Dabi! I'm your brother's friend." he said.
"Interesting...look." Dabi said, stressing the last word.
"Yup. The purple guy told you about my abilities, right? You can call me Lord Murder." the man said.
"I'm not calling you that." Dabi growled at the man.
"What about Ground Zero?" the man asked.
"Okay. Ground Zero. What are you DOING HERE?" Dabi yells, walking into his face.
"I'm here to introduce Hawks to the League of Villains, of course." Ground Zero says, setting one of his lower hands on Dabi's shoulder. Dabi looks at it oddly before turning back to Hawks.
"Didn't Shigaraki say I had to kill Best Jeanist?" Hawks asked, hoping it would be this easy. Ground Zero looks at Dabi.
"He said that." Dabi told his 'friend'. Ground Zero types something on his phone, which Dabi looks at.
"Are--all twenty-one on there?" he asks. All twenty-one what?
"Yup." Ground Zero says.
"What about the traitor?" Dabi asks.
"You know who it is?" Ground Zero asks, and Dabi points to something on the screen.
"That guy." Ground Zero glowers at Dabi.
"You sure?" he asks.
"One hundred percent. He called us after transmitting information." Hawks wished he knew what was going on.
"I have a recording of the video, actually." Dabi says, and passes his phone to the other, who watches something. Hawks can barely hear it, and feels left out.
"That's--that's your brother." Ground Zero says.
"What?" Dabi asks.
"The voice changes a bit after the camera is covered. That's your brother talking--wait, this was on a Tuesday." Ground Zero says. This must mean something, because Dabi jolts.
"So that's Zuko...your brother probably knows something, but we'll have to wait until next Tuesday for a clear account." Ground Zero says. Dabi hums.
"What do we do now?" he asks.
"Don't tell Hawks here about any of this. Keep figuring stuff out, and keep us updated; we're making a plan." Ground Zero says.
"A plan?" Dabi asks.
"So far, it consists of having Zuko break into the headquarters. We're...working on it." Ground Zero says, and teleports away.

_________
Kaboom, Bastard: so we have to fake Best Jeanist's death

Fullmetal Ponytail: what why no we can't do that

Kaboom, Bastard: okay then Hawks has to

HeroShouto: you look ridiculous

Kaboom, Bastard: it's a magical glamour I can do what I want

Dekiiiiru: we need an assault team--and a plan

Kaboom, Bastard: punch All for One's face in

REDRIOT: good plan

HearMyEars: We still should get the pro-heroes involved

King of Beasts: I know! I should get a bird to bring an anonymous tip to a hero and then when they go to raid the LoV, we follow and help

Purple Cat: I approve of this plan

Purple Cat: also I'm adding Touya to the chat

(Purple Cat) has added (Touya) to CLASS 1-A GROUP CHAT

Touya: hello

HeroShouto: Hello brother.

Touya: hi

Touya: this is awkward

Spider_Tape_Man: there is a villain in the group chat is anyone concerned

Touya: I'm not a villain anymore

Touya: I only joined them because I had nothing else going for me and now I have everything.

HeroShouto: you should come over to our house tonight

HeroShouto: Mom got divorced a while ago

Touya: you're okay with that? I literally joined the League of Villains

HeroShouto: you're family.

Uraravity: it's a reunion!

Touya: You're children, you can't take down the Lov

electric_attraction: you'll help us though right?

Touya: of course.

 

Aizawa and Hizashi were bringing a criminal in to a police station when a bird dropped a note in front of them.
"What is it?" Tsukauchi asked.
"It's the location of the new LoV headquarters, as well as a list of members and quirks--and the fact that All for One is working on a device to steal the quirks from everyone in the world." Aizawa said, incredulously.
"It could be a trick." Hizashi pointed out. Despite that, Aizawa called All Might and multiple other heroes; a meeting was scheduled.

"We don't know who sent us this information." Nemuri, the pro-hero known as Midnight, pointed out.
"What if it's a trap?" Tensei asked. Despite the fact that he had since retired from heroism, his email was still on the main contact list, and he'd shown up for the meeting anyway. Similarly, All Might was there as well, though he was permanently stuck in his small form.
"We'll have to risk it. This amount of information is too much for us to ignore." Fat Gum said.

"We've finished our investigation on the note...and I thought I'd show you first." Tsukauchi told Aizawa, in a hallway outside the main room. The note had been typed, but one of the interns in Tsukauchi's departement, Ojiro Kazuto, had a very useful quirk.
"Postcognition. When touched the note, he was able to see the person who typed and gave it to the bird. He couldn't see how they got the information in the first place, though." Tsukauchi said.
"Doesn't matter. Who is it?" Aizawa asked.
"Kouda Koji." Tsukauchi replied. His student?
"Kouda can speak to animals...I can see him gathering all this information from doing so. I'm going to talk to him, tomorrow." Aizawa said.

"We can take down the LoV! That's awesome!" Hawks said. He'd get to stop being undercover...although he'd actually miss Dabi. Over the few weeks he'd been a part of this, he'd began to like the villain. Which was not very heroic.
"We can't just put All for One in Tartarus again." Endeavor pointed out. The other had broken out so easily it was unfair. Endeavor, the number seventeen hero, was known for often using too much force on villains; here, though, it may be necessary.

The next day at school, all the teachers were tense, as the raid was being prepared. Aizawa asked to speak with Kouda, and Bakugou, suspicious, turned invisible and followed. He loved his newly improved magic.

"Kouda, we know you sent the note." Aizawa said. He'd brought Tsukauchi, to corrobate his student's answers.
"[I was trying to help,]" Kouda signed.
"How did you come across that information?" Aizawa asked. He was worried about his student. Kouda thought over his answer.
"[One of the members of the LoV is actually a good guy; he sent us the info.]" he replied.
"Which member? And who is 'us'?" Aizawa asked.
"[Dabi. The only bad thing he's ever done was the attack on the summer camp. I don't feel like I should answer the second question.]" Kouda signed.
"Dabi. How did he get into contact with you? How do you know he isn't tricking you?" Tsukauchi asked.
"[He's been friends with Shinshou for eight years.]" Kouda replied. Tsukauchi's quirk worked on sign language, and it had not alerted him once.
"Eight years? He only joined the LoV this year, why?" Aizawa asked.
"[To help the world, kill Endeavor, and get his memory back. He remembered who he was at Kamino, and that's when he realized he was wrong and started to work against the LoV.]" Kouda signed.
"Who else knows about this?" Tsukauchi asked. Kouda grimaced.
"[All of Class 1-A.]" he said.
"That means the traitor knows." Aizawa realized.

___________
(Principal Nezu) has added (Eraserhead) to CLASS 1-A GROUP CHAT

REDRIOT: what how did Nezu get in our chat

Dekiiiiru: he's a hacker

Eraserhead: What am I doing here?

Principal Nezu: Chances are your students know more that they are letting on! You are here to keep an eye on them.

(Principal Nezu) has left CLASS 1-A GROUPCHAT

HeroShouto: I locked it so he can't scroll up

Kaboom, Bastard: nice

Fullmetal Ponytail: why would you do that

Eraserhead: I heard all of you are in contact with the villain(?) Dabi and he gave you info to take down the League

Touya: what who told Eraserhead?

King of Beasts: he's our teacher I had to

Eraserhead: I am having trouble understanding who everyone is due to the usernames but there are twenty-two people in the chat? Explain. I have twenty-one students.

Touya: I'm Shouto's brother

Nevermore: well actually there are twenty-five people here

Purple Cat: what? Who?

Nevermore: Eraserhead, Dark Shadow and Zuko

electric_attraction: Zuko's only here on Tuesdays

Eraserhead: Who is Zuko?

electric_attraction: Shouto can we tell him

Uraravity: yeah I want to know who Zuko is

Frog: tell us

talktothehands: we know that Zuko is Shouto's friend and/or brother, has something to do with Tuesdays, and may be an alien or an anime character

HearMyEars: Denki, Tokoyami, Kouda, Shinshou and Bakugou all know who he is but they won't tell us

Eraserhead: I'm concerned about this can you trust him?

Shouto: yeah I've known him since I was five it's Touya's fault I met him

Touya: Hawks is here again what do I do

Purple Cat: Flirt with him

Touya: excuse me no

Eraserhead: How do you know Hawks?

Purple Cat: uh

Touya: should we tell him

Kaboom, Bastard: do you want me to erase his memory I can do that

Dekiiiiru: please don't do that

fractalblooddungeon: yeah do that

Sonic: Himiko!

Dekiiiiru: oh Mirio's here

Dekiiiiru: he says 'ask Bakugou what the other two times were' and 'is he okay'?

Kaboom, Bastard: fell off a bridge and slime villain

Dekiiiiru: those answers are scaring me and I don't even know the question

Dekiiiiru: Mirio's freaking out wait he wants to join the chat

(Dekiiiiru) has added (Lemillion) to CLASS 1-A GROUP CHAT

Lemillion: Bakugou are you sure you're okay

Lemillion: I only saw what happened and I'm not okay

HeroShouto: what happened

Eraserhead: I would like to know as well.

Kaboom, Bastard: I'm fine, Stupid Face.

Dekiiiiru: that's rude

Kaboom, Bastard: you're lucky he didn't get the Green Lightning

Lemillion: how'd you know about that

Dekiiiiru: he has magic powers, remember!

Lemillion: yes HOW could I FORGET

Lemillion: frick you and your traumatic magic powers

Lemillion: how am I going to save a million people if I can't save one

Kaboom, Bastard: I didn't need saving

Lemillion: you jumped in front of a bullet for Izuku of course you did

Dekiiiiiru: Kacchan you did WHAT

Eraserhead: Bakugou, when did this happen?

REDRIOT: did you use your magic powers to deflect it

MasterChef: guys remember what he said in the nickel meme

Dekiiiiru: OH NO

Dekiiiiru: THE SLIME VILLAIN I'M SO SORRY

Dekiiiiru: when did you fall off a bridge

REDRIOT: Bakugou really?

Kaboom, Bastard: yes

REDRIOT: oh my God

HeroShouto: are you the Avatar

Eraserhead: What did Bakugou do?

Kaboom, Bastard: none of your ****ing business

Sonic: Bakugou! Don't swear at teachers!

Sonic: Wait. Did you actually dihpuh3fb3fhvdiuepuqei

fractalblooddungeon: no Tenya don't say it!

Spider_Tape_Man: Himiko keysmashed him haha

Tailman: my cousin works with detective Tsukauchi and he says he used his quirk on the note and found it was Kouda!

Tailman: why is Eraserhead here

Eraserhead: To keep an eye on all of you.

Eraserhead: I'm trying to find out what happened to Bakugou.

Tailman: what happened to Bakugou?

Lemillion: he died

Tailman: he what

Lemillion: he died but he's okay

Eraserhead: What really happened? Bakugou, Mirio, can you please clarify?

Kaboom, Bastard: clarification is for the weak

Now-you-see-me: As evidenced by the fact that we still aren't sure whether Shouto's brother is an anime character or not

Touya: I'm not. and neither is Natsuo.

Touya: Wait. is he? Shouto help

Kaboom, Bastard: actually we all are in one reality it's called BNHA

Kaboom, Bastard: things went differently in the anime that actually happened though

Eraserhead: I'm going to assume you are speaking hypothetically.

Kaboom, Bastard: Zuko's not an anime character here he's just an alien

Eraserhead: ??????

Notes:

People who know Bakugou's immortal:
Izuku
Mirio
Tenya
Himiko
Sato
Kirishima
Zuko (and therefore Shouto)

yeah Ojiro's cousin is the SAO dude

Chapter 19: presumably

Eraserhead: Who's Zuko?

King of Beasts: I don't think Shouto will tell you

HeroShouto: sorry that's a secret

Dekiiiiru: ask him again tomorrow

HeroShouto: NO PLEASE DON'T

Kaboom, Bastard: I have just discovered the source of all our problems

HearMyEars: what is it?

Kaboom, Bastard: Iida

Fullmetal Ponytail: which one

Kaboom, Bastard: Ten years ago, Tenya slammed his hand into a picnic table

Sonic: That's how I met Himiko! How did you know that?

fractalblooddungeon: magic powers, keep up

Kaboom, Bastard: it set off a chain of events that are the only reason our existence isn't the same as the alternate reality's BNHA

Kaboom, Bastard: don't worry we have it better

Eraserhead: When you say Bakugou has magic powers, what are you referring to?

Frog: the fact that Bakugou has magic powers
Uraravity: Do you not remember the Sports Festival

electric_attraction: yeah especially Kirishima's match

Eraserhead: Where he tripped multiple times?

talktothehands: yup

Eraserhead: That was coincidence. Bakugou just has incredible luck; there's no such thing as magic.

Kaboom, Bastard: not in this reality but I stole some runes from a different one

Purple Cat: So this is the reason for the runes

REDRIOT: hey can you teach us all magic

Kaboom, Bastard: Actually, yeah! I can even teach Izuku now that he's got a quirk

HeroShouto: what does that mean

Lemillion: Bakugou no

Dekiiiiru: Kacchan no

Eraserhead: When did Izuku get his quirk?

Dekiiiiru: the day of the entrance exam

Purple Cat: WHAT

Purple Cat: And I was thinking so differently of you I'm sorry

Purple Cat: being quirkless for fifteen years is worse that having a villainous quirk oh my god

Dekiiiiru: your quirk isn't villainous! and I have a quirk now! it's okay

Eraserhead: No, it isn't.

Dekiiiiru: besides Kacchan always stuck by me

Kaboom, Bastard: if I hadn't been murdercatted I wouldn't have

Kaboom, Bastard: and that's awful

Kaboom, Bastard: the fact that I needed a LITERAL reality check to be nice to Izuku

HearMyEars: murdercatted?

HeroShouto: yeah it happened

Kaboom, Bastard: this is all Iida's fault

Sonic: what is

Kaboom, Bastard: Everything. I guess I should thank you

Kaboom, Bastard: also you're the reason Touya lost his memory

Touya: he's what

Kaboom, Bastard: it's better though bc in BNHA you joined the LoV anyway and were way worse than you are now

Kaboom, Bastard: like, an actual villain

Eraserhead: Touya, are you Dabi?

Touya: yes?

Touya: surprise

Eraserhead: didn't you say you knew Hawks

Nevermore: What a mad banquet of darkness I love this mess of a groupchat

Touya: yeah he's undercover!

Touya: and he doesn't know I'm undercover it's hilarious

Touya: Shigaraki wants him to kill Best Jeanist to join and I hope he won't actually do that

Touya: Eraserhead you should tell him to fake his death so Hawks can get the credit

Eraserhead: Hawks and Best Jeanist were having a very suspicious discussion yesterday; however, we are still prepping for the raid.

Touya: Ooh when you show up I can just arson the place I'll get Hawks to help he'll be sooo confused

Touya: Twice stole something from the Hero Commission it's machine blueprints what does this mean

Touya: they can't build the thing without them I'll find a way to burn them

HeroShouto: No, they'll catch you! Stall them from building it until tomorrow and then Zuko can break in and steal it

Eraserhead: Don't let him do that, you'll alert the villains that we're onto them.

HeroShouto: Zuko has broken into seven different impenetrable fortresses so far, he'll be fine!

HeroShouto: also he's a vigilante

Eraserhead: Why are you friends with a vigilante? And which one?

HeroShouto: the Blue Spirit you wouldn't have heard of him

Kaboom, Bastard: Glasses is also the reason Zuko shows up here at all

HeroShouto: wait what

Kaboom, Bastard: yeah without the murdercat Touya wouldn't have gotten hit by that quirk

Touya: I still would like to know why, out of all the possible options, you ended up with Zuko

HeroShouto: we have very similar lives? He thought you were his sister Azula at Kamino remember

Touya: wait he thought I was his sister?

HeroShouto: she has blue fire too

Eraserhead: Why was this Zuko at Kamino?

HeroShouto: it was a Tuesday

Purple Cat: Zuko's always around on Tuesdays

Touya: but everything he said was specific to our family.

HeroShouto: and his

Touya: I guess the universe noticed the similarities and thought the chance was too good to pass up.

Eraserhead: None of this explains who Zuko is.

Now-you-see-me: They haven't explained it yet.

Tailman: and I don't think they're planning to

HeroShouto: we're not

Touya: wait Hawks is here I'll be back in a bit

Eraserhead: I'd like to talk to Zuko.

King of Beasts: You can't until Tuesday.

electric_attraction: He can! Shouto and I can do the weird lightning cold side thing

HeroShouto: sure, but what if I interrupt Zuko during something important

electric_attraction: he'll tell us and we can send him back

MasterChef: Denki just went to Shouto's dorm room what does this mean

HeroShouto: Hello, Zuko here! *dragon emoji*

HeroShouto: I have figured out emojis and they are amazing

HeroShouto: *multiple fire emojis*

(HeroShouto) has changed their name to (hellozukohere)

hellozukohere: in news for today I am at the Western Air Temple with the Gaang!

electric_attraction: wait really you joined them?

(electric_attraction) has changed their name to (Shouto & Denki)

Shouto & Denki: are you teaching Aang firebending?

hellozukohere: Yes! Oh, why'd you bring me here? I was sparring with Sokka and he's probably worried.

Eraserhead: We should meet in person; I would like to know who you are, so I can confirm the safety of my students.

Shouto & Denki: bad idea

hellozukohere: really bad idea

Purple Cat: terrible idea

hellozukohere: I'm sixteen and I'm basically Shouto's brother.

Eraserhead: How are you involved with the League of Villains?

hellozukohere: I'm not, unless you count Touya

Fullmetal Ponytail: Why can't we meet you in person?

hellozukohere: I love that anime

hellozukohere: and there is a very good reason for that I promise but you really can't

Shouto & Denki: He really ca just because Shouto hasn't not exactly we can tru look he's my thi on Tuesdays Sho it's a secret bodies known since I couldn't tell ten years every Tuesday Nezu might firebending lightning Tokoyami wqiqwefuhoiewijkwkkkqwwqnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Dekiiiiru: are you guys okay

Shouto & Denki: we are working on this it is not working yes it is it's mine give it back stop

Kaboom, Bastard: I don't think they're okay

Eraserhead: What happened?

Shouto & Denki: Problem solved!

(Shouto & Denki) has changed their name to (electric_attraction)

hellozukohere: let's never do that again

(hellozukohere) has changed their name to (HeroShouto)

HeroShouto: Zuko's gone now but to be fair I couldn't hold that for much longer

Uraravity: hold what

Nevermore: Sometimes it is better to leave some secrets to the shadows.

electric_attraction: It might come in useful at some point in time, actually.

HeroShouto: seems unlikely...and what would happen if we did it on a Tuesday?

electric_attraction: presumably Zuko--> me and you--> you

Frog: you should not do things on a "presumably"

Eraserhead: I don't know what happened, but I am worried.

Touya: MAJOR FRICKING PROBLEM GUYS

HeroShouto: what

Touya: Ground Zero get your magic self over here right now

Kaboom, Bastard: I'll be there

Purple Cat: what happened?

Purple Cat: Touya?

Notes:

In case it isn't clear, they did that thing where Shouto zaps into Denki and Zuko takes over; suffice to say, they both tried to text at once.

Fun Facts! Because I'm bored!

This fic was originally meant to be Iida and Himiko centric

Hagakure was going to have a big part too

It was going to be about Hakagure, Iida and Himiko infiltrating the LoV, and accidentally curing Dabi's amnesia and getting him on their side, featuring an extremely confused Hawks

But then I remembered Zuko existed, and randomly thought 'okay what if they switched bodies and had to deal with each other's oddly similar lives' so then I had to add that to the fic

There was going to be a scene where Aoyama and Jet broke the fourth wall

Then I realized my plan for making Katsuki be nice involved him traveling to another reality, and thought 'what if I made it better' and gave him magic powers

There was also going to be time travel. And Shouto was going to temporarily become a nomu.

Actually I'm planning to write a fic with a good deal of the elements I left out of this one, sound interesting?

Chapter 20: the brothers todoroki

Katsuki teleported near Touya, appearing next to him, Hawks and--
"Is that Best Jeanist?" he asked. It was Best Jeanist, and he was very dead.
"Who's this?" Shigaraki asked. He and Kurogiri were there as well. Uh oh.
"I'm, uh, Dabi's friend. Ground Zero." he said.
"Do your thing. Check if that's actually the number five hero." Touya said, looking much calmer than his text implied.
"I thought your quirk was teleportation." Hawks said.
"No, that's a friend's quirk." Katsuki said, and thought of a verification spell.

"So...it is Best Jeanist." Katsuki told Touya, who looked at Hawks in panic.
"You--you actually--?" he asked, incredulous. Hawks looked nervous.
"Yeah. I'm serious about this, guys." he said. Shigaraki grinned.
"Welcome to the League, bird." he said, and he and Kurogiri teleported away.
"He's not dead though." Katsuki told Touya once they were gone, and Hawks jumped.
"No, he is, I stabbed him!" he said, and waved his hand.
"Does he look alive to you?" Hawks asked.
"He's alive. In some sort of stasis though." Katsuki said. Touya put his face in his hand.
"Thank God. I was worried. Hey, he can't hear us, right?" he asked.
"No, I shouldn't think so." Katsuki replied.
"You aren't going to tell the others?" Hawks asked.
"Nah. See, the Hero Commission aren't the only people who decided to send someone in undercover." Touya said. Hawks' jaw dropped.
"Wait, you knew about--you're undercover? What?" he asked.
"It's complicated. Oh, the chat's freaking out." Katsuki said.

______
Kaboom, Bastard: don't worry problem solved Hawks has faked Jeanist's death and joined the LoV

Eraserhead: How do you know that?

Touya: he teleported over here

Sonic: he what

Dekiiiiru: MAGIC POWERS!

Eraserhead: You're serious.

Kaboom, Bastard: 100%

Kaboom, Bastard: they've been much stronger since I lost my quirk

Eraserhead: Since you WHAT

Kaboom, Bastard: long story

Lemillion: we still need to talk about it

Eraserhead: There are a lot of things we need to talk about.

 

"The...chat?" Hawks asked.
"Oh, let's add Hawks." Katsuki said.

_________
(Kaboom, Bastard) has added (Hawks) to CLASS 1-A GROUP CHAT

Nevermore: Good day!

Eraserhead: Why are you undercover? You're the number three hero!

HeroShouto: hi Hawks

Touya: everyone meet the newest member of the League

 

"Dabi? Is that you?" Hawks asked.
"Yup! My real name's Touya." Touya said. Katsuki teleported back to UA.

_________
electric_attraction: my day just keeps getting better and better

fractalblooddungeon: fresh blood!

Sonic: Himiko no.

fractalblooddungeon: Himiko yes

Hawks: Is this class 1-A?

Dekiiiiru: Yes, plus Eraserhead and Mirio

King of Beasts: And Dark Shadow and Zuko! But they don't have phones.

HeroShouto: I wonder if I could get a phone to Zuko.

Purple Cat: you don't even know what planet he's from

Hawks: what

Eraserhead: That's a joke. I think.

Kaboom, Bastard: so the raid on the LoV is tomorrow right how do we help

Eraserhead: You don't.

Kaboom, Bastard: mirio tell him I can join I'll be fine no matter what

Lemillion: You want me to tell him about,,,, that

Kaboom, Bastard: no nvm we dont want the traitor finding out

Lemillion: seriously you don't want anyone finding out

Kaboom, Bastard: I think most of the class knows already though

Kaboom, Bastard: sound off who knows about That

MasterChef: I figured it out and honestly I don't know what to say

HeroShouto: I understand what happened to Bakugou and am concerned

Sonic: Himiko and I know, and three is three too many.

REDRIOT: Bakugou. Bro. I don't know whether it's manly or awful

Dekiiiiru: it's definitely awful

Lemillion: please try and avoid it

Eraserhead: What's the matter with Bakugou?

Uraravity: I don't know but it sounds bad.

Kaboom, Bastard: so about the raid

Dekiiiiru: there are over twenty of us we'll be fine.

HeroShouto: since it's tomorrow we'll have Zuko

Eraserhead: You are all forbidden from joining the raid.

Touya: You can't stop me!

Hawks: I'm literally a Pro-hero

Eraserhead: Only Hawks and Dabi are allowed on the raid.

Touya: my name is Touya

Eraserhead: And you're Todoroki's brother...? Do you want me to tell Endeavor?

Touya: NO NO NO i'll arson you DON'T YOU DARE

HeroShouto: in this groupchat we hate Endeavor

Eraserhead: I'm going to refer to you as Dabi so as to avoid questions.

Touya: fair

HeroShouto: it's getting late you should come over before tomorrow

HeroShouto: Tuesday starts at midnight

Touya: I'll be right there

(Touya) and (HeroShouto) have gone offline

Purple Cat: also you can't stop Zuko from joining

Nevermore: well he probably can

Purple Cat: not if he doesn't know

Eraserhead: Will I meet Zuko in person tomorrow, then?

King of Beasts: not exactly

Kaboom, Bastard: you can talk face to face with him

Kaboom, Bastard: but you won't find out what he looks like, what he sounds like, or even know it's him unless he tells you

Eraserhead: Does he have a disguise quirk?

Purple Cat: I don't think so. does he?

Nevermore: He is quirkless.

Kaboom, Bastard: except not

Nevermore: True he can use Shouto's quirk

Eraserhead: He has a copying quirk?

electric_attraction: no a fire one

electric_attraction: although it's not really a quirk; All for One couldn't take it

Fullmetal Ponytail: so in summary we still know nothing

 

Touya, full of trepidation, entered the house and is immediately tackle-hugged by Fuyumi.
"TOUYA! How did you get amnesia for ten years? Why would you join the League of Villains!?" she shouted. Natsuo and Rei hugged him, too. That night, a family was brought back together, and Touya decided things might turn out all right in the end.

The next morning, he woke up, and went to see Shouto, who was having breakfast.
"I can't thank you enough for this." he said, and Shouto fell off the chair.
"DABI'S here! Fuyumi what is he doing here I know he's your brother but he's a villain! What do you want?" Shouto asked, hand on fire.
"Zuko! He's good now." Fuyumi said. Wait. Zuko? The guy who Shouto body switches with on Tuesdays.
"You sure?" Shouto--Zuko--asked.
"Yes. Say hello to your new brother. He's going to help you take down the LoV." Fuyumi said. Zuko flipped through the group chat.
"Sure. Sorry for freaking out, it's just, the last time I saw you was Kamino." he said.
"I hope we can get to know each other. What part of the world do you live in?" Touya asked.
"Shouto didn't tell you? I'm from another planet." Zuko said. Fuyumi nodded.
"I thought he was joking." Touya remarked.
"I have to get to the Lov hideout, and get ready for the raid tonight." he said.
"I have to go to school, so, see you later!" Zuko said, and headed out.

There was no school that day, because of the raid; the class met in a field a few blocks away from the LoV headquarters. Miro showed up too, with Nejire and Tamaki.
"I really don't think we should do this." Nejire said.
"Yes, Himiko, I have spare blood for you, and a knife. I don't know why you want me to take one." Tenya told his sister.
"Knives are always useful!" she said, poking him.
"Do we have a plan? We can't just go in, we'll be recognized." Mirio said.
"I can't disguise us all; for one, a huge group will be noticed, and for too, it'll use lots of magical energy that I might need later." Katsuki said.
"Magical...energy?" Tamaki asked. He was ignored.
"Actually, there's one person who won't be recognized, not with this." Izuku said, and held up a quirk-repression bracelet.
"I can turn into anyone!" Himiko said.
"I know. You'll go with Hagakure and Kacchan." Izuku said, and held out the bracelet to Hagakure.
"Put it on." he said. She did--and then she appeared. Izuku was right; no one would recognize her.
"Hey, where's Mina?" the newly visible Hagakure asked. She had blue hair.
"Didn't we add her to the group chat? She wasn't in the conversation at all yesterday, or the day before." Kirishima said. Aoyama hadn't been in the chat either, due to being on vacation; they'd have a lot to tell him when he got back from France.
"You don't think she's the traitor?" Sero asked.
"Of course not. I'll call her." Denki said, and did so.
"You weren't in the chat at all the past few days. Why?" he asked.
"Oh, my mom took my phone away for a bit. What happened?" Mina asked.
"Look, it would take too long to explain; just come to *gives location* and read the group chat on the way." Denki told her. Ojiro brought out a bag of snacks.
"We gotta eat something while we plan." he said.
"I still don't know what's going on." Nejire said.
"Touya says All for One has built the machine, and that it will take quirks away from everyone except for League members; obviously, we have to stop this." Zuko said.
"Who's Touya?" Tamaki asked.
"Dabi." Izuku said. Tamaki exchanged a glance with Nejire, and then they both looked at Mirio.
"It would take way too long to explain, I swear." he said.

Notes:

Next chapter: the UA traitor! Mwhahaha I am hyped for the next chapter like you would not believe. Also the Major Character Death tag is for someone else besides Katsuki just warning you...

and in other news:

my brother saw me watching this show, and he--

my brother: is that the show with the annoying green haired kid

me: he's not annoying, and you haven't even watched it

my brother: yeah but my friends have, and they say he's annoying. What's his name again? Goku?

me:

me: nO

Chapter 21: the ua traitor

Notes:

I've been fixated on MHA for too long

I almost called my brother Kacchan yesterday

Mina hopped off the bus, and walked to the park to find the entire class, plus a few others.
"What's going on?" she asked Shouto, who was talking to Yaoyorozu about something.
"We're planning to join the heroes' raid on LoV headquarters." he said, and Yaoyorozu handed him two swords.
"These are perfect! Thank you." he said, and swung them through the air before sheathing them. Shinsou walked over.
"Hawks says everyone's nearly in position. We should get there before we can't." he said.
"Eraserhead says if we go, he'll expel us." Izuku says.
"[Bleep] him!" Katsuki shouted, writing something on Kirishima's arm.
"Oh! I have Nomu blood!" Himiko said suddenly, and Uraraka grinned.
"You could use that and then Sato and I could launch you through the wall." she said.
"They won't expect that." Asui said.
"A raid? But that's illegal!" Mina said.
"That's what I'm trying to tell them." Nejire said.
"What are you three doing here?" Mina asked.
"Not sure." Tamaki replied. "I know! We could have Bakugou attack Dabi, and then they travel into the hideout and destroy the machine while fighting." Tokoyami said.
"What--you can't do that! He'll die!" Mina shrieked.
"Not a problem." Bakugou grinned.
"Nope. Very big problem. Our main goal for today is nobody dying." Mirio said.
"I wonder how Shouto's doing at the Western Air Temple." Shouto said suddenly.
"What?" Tenya asked.
"Nothing." Shouto replied, looking incredibly evasive.

Sometime after, Himiko, Katsuki, Denki, Izuku and Zuko were in one group, sneaking with magic past the heroes and into the fortress while a visible Hagakure distracted Eraserhead.
"Miss, you really need to leave. This is going to be a danger zone soon enough." he said, exasperated.
"Mic, come help me deal with this." he said, and Hizashi walked over.
"Is that a UA identity card? And a quirk-repression bracelet?" Hizashi asked.
"Ah, frick." Hagakure said, and turned to run, but Aizawa grabbed her with his capture scarf before picking up the dropped card.
"Hakagure?" he asked.
"Surprise?" she said, and pulled off the bracelet.
"Okay, as much as I like being visible, this feels a lot better." she said.
"What are you doing?" Aizawa asked.
"Distracting you. Please don't expel me!" she said.
"Distracting us? Why?" Hizashi asked.
"Oh, no. They're inside already, aren't they." Aizawa realized.

The second team consisted of Kirishima, Tenya, Mirio, Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami, and one very confused Mina. They climbed into a window, and into a mostly empty room.
"You're late." Touya said. Mina started to scream, but Kirishima covered her mouth.
"I've broken some parts of the machine, so it shouldn't work until it's fixed. Also, All for One is aware of the raid and will literally crush the heroes, which is a problem." Touya said.
"I should have gone with Katsuki." Mirio said.
"Come on." Touya said.
"What did I miss?" Mina asked, as everyone followed a known villain without question.
"Quite a bit." Tokoyami replied. They walked through the empty halls, but then Touya walked into a broom closet to enter a code. While the group waited for him to finish, a team of villains exited from the darkness.
"What do we have here?" one asked. He was wearing blue and purple armour.
"Hero students. Die!" another shouted, and waved his hand; the stone walls turned to slime, and began crawling at them. Miro phased through it, Mina melted it, Tokoyami flew up on Dark Shadow, Kirishima hardened himself and the slime shredded on him, Yaoyorozu created a chemical to make the slime not sticky, but Tenya--Tenya's engines were clogged, and he was stuck. The villain in blue and purple armour walked towards him, and touched him on the head. At the same time, Tokoyami dived down with Dark Shadow, whose flickering energy got in the way of the shining purple glow coming from the villain's hand. Touya slammed on the closet door, but it was slimed shut and made of metal. He started to melt through it, but was too late. The villain touched Tenya's head, purple energy spotted with black spread through the air, and Tenya collapsed as the villain jolted backwards.
"What did you do to him, Bruce?" the slime villain asked his companion, who was shaking his head.
"Uh. I knocked him out. We can, uh, take him hostage." Bruce said. Touya burst down the door, and blue flame roared into the room--but the instant it touched the slime soaked in Yaoyorozu's chemical, there was a massive explosion. Touya was slammed into the wall and Tokoyami, Mina, Kirishima, Yaoyorozu and Miro were blown out the window. Touya stood up a few seconds later, blinking.
"What happened?" he asked.
"What was that for, Dabi? We could have caught them all, but no, you had to burn them. Now we've just got one." the slime villain said. Bruce was holding Tenya, a confused look on his face.
"When will he wake up?" Touya asked, worried.
"He won't. Not until I let him." Bruce said.

Himiko, Katsuki, Zuko, Denki and Izuku walked up a stairwell.
"I hope the other team is doing okay." Izuku said. Two people were waiting at the top of the stairs; Kurogiri and Shigaraki.
"Well, if it isn't the miniature raid team. The sister of a broken hero, the mod-using cheater, a crossover event, our traitor, and All Might's successor." Shigaraki sneered.
"What?" Katsuki asked, because Shigaraki did not just say what he just said.
"The time for deception is over. Why don't you help us out a bit, Denki?" Shigaraki said. The others looked at Denki.
"OH no." Zuko said, remembering what had happened with the device. Was it possible he'd completely misunderstood the event?
"In the other reality..." Katsuki said, remembering that in the one most similar to their current one, Denki had been the traitor. He'd dismissed it instantly.
"Denki? You're not, are you?" Himiko asked. Denki was everyone's best friend...the guy who said all the wrong answers, charged everyone's phone, and was inseparable from Shouto.
"They know about our raid, and about All Might and I. How?" Izuku asked, glaring at Denki with a terrible, sorrowful gaze. And Denki--Denki smiled.

"All of you are SUCH idiots." he said, taking a step towards Shigaraki.

"Denki, no!" Zuko cried.

"I'm the UA traitor. Oh, Shouto? I have to thank you, for lightningbending. It'll be so much easier to kill people now." Denki said, and spun his arm, pointing a finger gun straight at Izuku. Zuko threw up an ice wall, diving in between Izuku and the bolt. The electricity blasted through the wall, and Zuko pushed Izuku behind him, as he absorbed the lightning up his cold side, eyes flickering to orange. Then, he jerked backwards, a corona of lightning exploding from his chest as he fell to the ground.

"SHOUTO!" Izuku screamed, but Shouto's body, motionless and surrounded by shards of ice, was unresponsive. Gray and blue eyes stared, half-closed, as smoke rose from Shouto's shirt.
"I wasn't aiming for him, but good riddance." Denki said, a hand covering his face.
"No! Shouto! Wake up!" Izuku screamed.
"Who's next--who wants to die?" Denki yelled, speaking in a strange tone of voice, and Katsuki teleported everyone out of the building before the electricity stuck. They appeared in a green flash at where the Pro-heroes were--and the second team was already there.
"They have Tenya!" Tokoyami shouted.
"We have to go back and save him." Mirio said, standing next to Tensei.
"Oh my God, Shouto! Is he okay?" Mina yelled, running over. Izuku just cried.
"Oh, no." Yaoyorozu gasped.
"It--it was Denki. He's the traitor. I'll kill him." Katsuki said. Aizawa and Hizashi hurried over, but there was nothing they could do. Nothing anyone could do. They brought Shouto into a tent, and Katsuki was hating himself, because if he'd jumped in front of Izuku instead of Shouto, Shouto would still be alive.

Of course, just then, a car drove up to the hero camp, weaving between tents.
"HEY!" Natsuo shouted. He and Fuyumi leaped out of the car.
"We're here to help, we are not letting our brothers deal with this alone--WHAT HAPPENED?" Natsuo screamed, seeing Shouto.

Far, far away, at the Western Air Temple, a boy with a scar blinked, looking into a mirror with surprise as his eyes flickered colors for a second.

Notes:

so

was this plot twist blatantly obvious,

or entirely unexpected?

Chapter 22: climax

Summary:

here we fricking go

In Izuku's headspace, a conversation was taking place. "This is a problem. They know Izuku is Toshinori's successor; it will only be a matter of time until All for One steals the world's quirks, and then he will have no problem getting Izuku to give One for All to him." Shimura told Fifth.
"We have to do something!" Fourth said.
"What's that?" Sixth said, pointing at something enroaching upon their headspace.
"It's someone else's shared headspace; it's close to a third shared headspace, and so is bumping into ours." Shimura said. All headspaces shared the same plane of existence. Shimura looked over at the two boys who had appeared, arguing.

"I can't believe you did that!"
"What else was I supposed to do?"
"It wouldn't have hurt him!"
"How was I supposed to know that?"
"Do you really think that little of me?"
"Considering what you had just said, at the time, yeah."
"You actually thought I was--"
"Frick. Touya's going to kill us."
"We just have to do our best, okay? If we play this carefully, I bet we can fix everything all by ourselves."
"What about Tenya?"
"All for One probably has a mind-reading quirk."
"We're doomed."

Shimura turned to the others.
"We should tell Bakugou about this." she said.

Katsuki and Izuku sat together, staring listlessly at the wall.
"What do we do now?" Izuku asked. Suddenly, Katsuki looked up, eyes fixed on something only he could see.
"Wait. What?" he asked. There was a moment of silence.
"You're sure?" he asked, again. After another pause, he sunk his head into his hands.
"Aaaaaaaaaaa..." he said, and then disappeared in a green flash.
"Where'd he go?" Tsukauchi asked.
"No idea." Izuku said, and then he disappeared in a flash as well. Tsukauchi remembered something Bakugou had said after the USJ; 'I have magic powers.' Whether that was true or not (and it was), there was something strange going on.

"Everyone! Meet our UA traitor--and he brought us some new Nomu material!" Shiagaraki said, walking out of a portal

with Denki,
and Shouto.

Touya's mind blanked. The world roared past his ears, and the only thing he felt was fury.
"The number seventeen hero's son? Good job. Anything else?" All for One asked.
"[Nope, noth]--oh, there's something. Dabi--[shut up]--is working for the heroes--[what are you doing]--as is Hawks--[NO STOP]--Best Jeanist's still alive [what the frick is wrong with you?]" Denki said, switching tone multiple times.
"Oh! Are you like me? [That would suck.]" Twice said. Touya launched a massive plume of flame at Denki, but the floor reached up and wrapped around him, as well as Hawks. "I was aware of this already." All for One said.
"What?" Hawks shouted.
"You are not nearly as discreet as you would wish. Now, let us continue." All for One said.
"That's Ingenium's brother." Denki said, looking at Tenya, who was tied to a chair on the far wall.
"I captured him. All for One will destroy all these pathetic heroes, and we will help him rule the world. Mwhahahaha!" Bruce said, gesturing expressively. Touya struggled, but could not burn his way out.
"You sound like you took those lines from a play [you're one to talk]!" Denki said. Bruce stiffened.
"Excuse me? I will have you know I am as much a villain as you, and intend to see this crusade of darkness to the end!" he said, shoving his finger in Denki's face. Denki blinked.
"[Did you actually just say tha--] He's--he's like I am to you!" he said, and an odd look passed over his face.
"[You sure?]" he asked himself. Frick, Denki was completely insane, Touya realized. How had he hid it for the whole year?

Then, there was an explosion.
"KAMINARI DENKI!" Katsuki screamed, blowing open the door. Oh, no.
"You killed HalfnHalf. I'm going to kill you, you Tuesday Bastard!" Katsuki yelled. What?
"You can try [what did you call me?] but you'll fail." Denki said. Katsuki hurled an explosion, wrecking half the room, before dashing towards Denki, screaming. Denki dodged, electricity crackling from his fingertips.
"Leave, you idiot! You're going to die!" Hawks yelled. Katsuki snapped with explosions, barreling right over Shigaraki. For a moment, it almost seemed as though he would win--but then a black lance jutted from the ground, straight through him. All for One flicked his finger again, and the lance disappeared.
"A good try, but ultimately futile." All for One said, as Katsuki sunk to the ground, and blood pooled across the floor. Two students were dead, and one was captured, and

it
was
all
Touya's
fault.

A look of horror passed over Denki's face, but it quickly disappeared.
"I would have liked to deal with him myself [HE'S DEAD KATSUKI'S DEAD] but I suppose it was unnecessary." he said. The armoured villain, Bruce, looked slightly sick. "Not...dead...yet. Haah." Katsuki gasped, and grimaced. "You will be soon." All for One said, and pointed to a camera that had been broadcasting to the entirety of Japan before placing his hand on a small box-shaped machine that sat on the table.
"People of Japan. This device is almost finished powering up; by five minutes after midnight, it will be, and all your quirks will be mine. The heroes cannot stop me; even now, they attempt to battle their way through my fortress, but the traps are too much for them. Even should they reach this room, I could kill them in an instant, and I have a hostage, for extra insurance." All for One said. Not too far away, a Nomu roared, and someone walked through the remains of the exploded door.
"KACCHAN!" Izuku screamed.
"People of Japan, look upon your hero: this child is All Might's successor. Unfortunately for him, he is nowhere near the level of power the other once held. There are only five minutes until midnight, boy. If you hand over your quirk now, I may spare your life." All for One told Izuku.
"Kacchan, don't die!" Izuku cried, before glaring at All for One with a ferocious anger, his green eyes shining like emeralds.
"It'll...haah...be four...times now. Give that bastard a good beating for me, huh?" Katsuki said to Izuku, his breathing becoming shallower.
"I will stop you, All for One; for Kacchan!" he yelled, and then, lighting up with brillant electricity, aimed a kick at All for One's face. All for One reached out, twisted, and slammed Izuku into the floor.
"There's nothing you could possibly do to me." All for One said.
"You can't do anything to me either, not if you want to keep me alive for my quirk!" Izuku growled.
"I could turn you into a Nomu, but I'd rather not, true. Oh, there is something I can do, actually. Kill the hostage." All for One said. Shigaraki turned towards Tenya, hand outstretched, but Bruce pulled a knife and stabbed Tenya in the chest. Blood dripped down his white armour.
"Awww. I wanted to decay him." Shigaraki said.
"TENYA!" Izuku screamed, and ran towards his friend, who sat as silent as before--he hadn't moved once, while sleeping, and wasn't going to move now.
"Don't bother. You are doomed; we are inevitable." Bruce said, and laughed menacingly. Izuku rushed towards the machine, which Denki was standing next to; Denki stuck out a foot and tripped him. All for One grabbed Izuku's leg, and twisted.
"OW ow ow ow!" Izuku screeched, swinging and missing at his enemy.
"That should have broken your leg. I thought you had only one quirk." All for One said.
"I guess I still have some of Kacchan with me," Izuku said, kicking All for One in the chest. He stumbled a step backward, dropping Izuku.
"That cheater! I told you he used illegal mods! Good thing he's done for. You dead yet?" Shigaraki asked the boy on the floor.
"Nearly...you bastard." Katsuki answered, breathing heavily.
"I'll save you!" Izuku said, punching at All for One again. All for One caught his fist.
"Why are you even trying?" All for One asked, throwing Izuku into the structure holding Touya. It cracked a little, something only Touya noticed, as Izuku stood up, shakily.
"One minute after midnight." All for One said. Izuku kicked the wall, and the camera went dark. All over Japan, millions of people stared at black screens, wondering.

Izuku made a few more useless attacks towards All for One, and Katsuki breathed his last shuddering breath.
"NO!" Izuku shouted, kneeling beside his friend, hardly daring to touch him. Katsuki lay still.
"Five minutes after midnight, and your friends are dead." All for One said. Izuku stood up, his hero costume covered in blood and sweat.
"You never stood a chance. Whatever plan you had was always doomed to fail." All for One said, then turned to the device, placing a hand on it. Denki stepped back, mouth twitching nervously.
"You're wrong." Izuku said, a ghost of a smile gracing his face.
"Really? Explain how; if there's a way you could beat me, even now, I would love to hear it." All for One said, as the device lit up and spun.

"I only ever needed eight seconds." Izuku said, and though he was covered in blood and tears, he smiled. He ran towards All for One, who lazily lifted a hand to stop him. At the same time, Touya exploded from his restraints, sending a wheel of blue fire spinning towards All for One--and Tenya, with a Recipro Burst, dashed from the chair he'd been tied to. Bruce collapsed for no apparent reason, and Tenya leaped into the air, swinging his leg around at an incredible speed. All for One turned to look at Tenya--and stopped.
"How...?" He reached, for Dark Spikes, for Search, for Shatter, for Fire Breath, for All for One itself, but found himself as quirkless as Izuku had once been.

"I reversed your device!" Denki shouted. There was a triumphant smile on his face--so different from the malicious ones he'd been previously sporting.

Izuku's breath caught in his throat.

Tenya's foot slammed into All for One's head, Izuku punched him so hard there was a shockwave, and a burning line of blue fire seared through the air. Quirkless, All for One could not defend himself, and Japan's greatest villain fell.
"Take that, bastards!" yelled Katsuki, exploding all the other villains into a cage that he had formed from the walls with his. None of them could get out, and Shigaraki, who would usually be able to decay the walls, strangely couldn't.
"NOMUS! SAVE US! KILL THE HACKER!" Shigaraki screamed, and a veritable army of Nomus ran into the room--but the wall exploded with fire, and Shouto, riding on a wave of ice, flashfroze and incinerated them in one fell swoop.

Notes:

details! are! important!

you may have noticed that I specified that Denki hit Zuko on his cold side, which proceeded to launch Zuko's soul into Denki's body. He thought he was doing something incredibly intelligent by shooting low voltage at Izuku to pretend that he really was on Shigaraki's side, but Zuko interfered, "died", and made it worse.

everything will be explained in detail in the next chapter!

Chapter 23: unicorn tuesday

Aizawa skidded into the room, followed by Himiko--after the cameras went dark, everyone had panicked. He had been the first one through the traps--he had hoped beyond hope he could get there in time if not for Tenya and Katsuki, for Izuku. Looking at the scene before him, he was overcome with confusion.
"I'm fine." Tenya said to his sister, who had tackled him in a hug.
"There's blood all over your shirt!" Izuku said, running over to his friend.
"It's not mine." Tenya grumbled.
"How is it not yours? You got stabbed in the chest!" Izuku cried.
"I'm alive...if anyone cares." Katsuki said.
"I care." Shimura said.
"Thank you for that info, by the way; I don't think Izuku and I could have won if we hadn't known about Zuko, Denki and Iida." he told her. Eraserhead stared at him. Right, he was talking to thin air.
"Good news! I didn't kill Shouto!" Denki said, standing next to his friend and waving to Aizawa. Shouto, at a lack of what else to do, waved as well.
"Hey." he said.
"Shouto!" Touya ran to his brother, crying with relief.
"Is anyone going to let me out?" Hawks asked. Izuku did so. Touya glared at Denki.
"Blame Zuko! He's the one who jumped in front of Izuku." Denki said.
"So...you aren't the UA traitor?" Aizawa asked, just to confirm.
"Nope! There was a misunderstanding, and they thought I was. I don't think there ever was one, actually. I took advantage of that, and I was going to zap Izuku into sleep--deep enough that they thought he was dead, I can do that--but Zuko interfered and got himself shunted into my head. Having someone else in your body is strange." Denki said.
"Zuko?" Aizawa asked.
"Touya here got hit by a quirk ten years ago, and so I've been switching bodies with Zuko every Tuesday." Shouto said.
"Every Tuesday, you're someone else?" Aizawa asked. Shouto nodded.
"Wait, you said the cameras turned black?" Denki asked.
"Does that mean everyone still thinks I'm a traitor who killed Shouto?" Aizawa shrugged.
"Probably."
"That went well, but I have some questions." Himiko said, turning to her brother.
"This villain, Bruce, has a possession quirk; it reacted with Dark Shadow and I ended up possessing him. I made the best of the situation, and actually, Himiko, I am grateful for that knife, and the extra blood I was carrying for you." Tenya said.
"I knew it was you! No one else waves their hands like that, or says nearly as awful villain monologues." Denki said.
"Thank [bleep] for headspace collision." Katsuki told Shimura.
"Katsuki, who are you talking to, and how are you alive? You got impaled." Aizawa said, looking at his student. Katsuki pulled off his bloody shirt, revealing no injury.
"I'm talking to ghosts, and I'm immortal; this was the fourth time I've died. Third time was getting shot by Overhaul; that's what Mirio's so freaked out about." he said.
"Hey, I turned the camera back on!" Denki said, and everyone looked towards him.
"Heyyy, people of Japan! I'm not evil, and no one's dead! Except for All for One. He's dead. I messed up his device, and all his quirks are inside it now! All of the quirks he put into the Nomus are there too, I think; and Shigaraki's quirk; I guess he gave it to him." Denki said.
"What?" Shigaraki asked.
"We won!" Denki shouted, and turned the camera off.
"Problem solved!" he said, and pointed finger guns at Shouto.
"Can you not do that?" Izuku asked.
"Why?" Denki wondered.
"Maybe because I died in front of him after you zapped me?" Shouto pointed out.
"All of you need therapy." Aizawa said. The group walked downstairs, and straight into the hero team.

"YOU KILLED MY SON!" Endeavor roared, stalking up to Denki, who 'eeped' and hid behind Shouto.
"I didn't think you cared." Shouto said. Endeavor blinked; how was Shouto alive?
"Guess who's not dead!" Touya exclaimed, waving his hands at Shouto.
"You're that villain." Endeavor growled, turning.
"Touya's not a villain!" Hawks protested, pulling Touya behind him. Endeavor stared.
"Touya?" he asked.
"Guess who's not dead!" Touya announced, and Shouto facepalmed.

As for Shouto, here's an explanation: Earlier:

"Zuko got Shouto killed!" Fuyumi cried, seeing her brother, and burst into tears.
"Wait--Zuko. Shouto ought to be Over There, right now." Natsuo suddenly said, snapping his fingers.
"You thi--think?" Fuyumi sniffled.
"There's a chance; he might be fine come Wednesday. Is--he physically damaged at all?" Natsuo asked Tsukauchi.
"He was electrified." Tsukauchi responded, confused.
"HA! I bet he'll zap back here at midnight. He has to." Natuso said.
"That would mean Zuko was dead." Fuyumi noticed.
"[bleep]." Natsuo said. They'd lose a brother either way.

So three people waited in a tent, waiting for midnight, watching the fight on a small screen; all the heroes were trying to break through All for One's fortress of death traps. Fuyumi, Natsuo and Tsukauchi sat in horrified silence, and another, also silent, lay beneath a sheet. Until he didn't.
"Fuyumi? What's going on?" Shouto asked, pulling the sheet off his face.
"SHOUTO!" Natsuo screamed, and hugged him.
"You're alive!" Fuyumi shouted.
"Yes...today was supposed to be the raid, what happened...what's that?" Shouto looked at the rather one-sided fight before the screen went dark.
"I have to help." he said.
"You can't! Denki killed Zuko." Natsuo said.
"What? But he can't be the traitor." Shouto said.
"He killed Zuko, Shouto." Fuyumi said.
"I don't feel very killed. Maybe Zuko just got launched into his body when he zapped my cold side? We've never tried that on a Tuesday." Shouto wondered.
"What are you talking about?" a still-processing Tsukauchi asked.
"Remember that time I absorbed lightning into my cold side, and I got blasted into Denki? Maybe Zuko did. And although Zuko went to my body, maybe I wouldn't go to mine. Anyway, I've got to get up there." Shouto said, and ran outside. Summoning a massive pillar of ice, he lifted himself onto the fortress's roof, burning through drones and projectiles. Tsukauchi stared after him, still unsure as to what had happened.

Soon enough, things were sorted out.
"The rest of the class is in this tent. They should have seen Denki's postscript video, so he shouldn't get attacked." Aizawa said, and Denki grinned.
"I'll be a hero!" he said, and marched into the tent.

Mirio sat with Mina and Yaoyorozu, knowing it was his fault Tenya, Shouto and Katsuki were dead. If he'd only been there for them, he coud have saved them. He'd tried to phase through the building, but was prevented by a very thin layer of lead--which no matter how much he practiced, could not phase through. After the cameras had blacked out, Yaoyorozu had made a bag, and stuffed everyone's phone into it.
"I don't want to see it when it comes back on. We'll hear the bad news in person." she'd said, and no one had argued.
"At least Aoyama's away from all this." Shoji said. Katsuki may have been immortal, but he'd wake up to find his friends gone, and Mirio could not think of a worse fate. Then, there were voices outside the tent. Everyone looked up, and Denki, THE EVIL MURDEROUS TRAITOR, strode in, smiling brilliantly.

"AAAAaaaghhh!" Hakagure screamed.
"DIE!" Kirishima shouted, hardening himself and rushing towards Denki. Mina hurled acid, Yaoyorozu threw a flashbomb, Sato ate a cupcake, Ojiro got into a fighting stance, Sero shot tape, Jirou stabbed her earjacks into the ground, Shoji spread his arms, Asui leaped into the air, Uraraka ripped up the ground, Shinsou started yelling insults, Tokoyami summoned Dark Shadow, Kouda called at least twenty ravens, Hakagure threw a lamp, Tamaki extended tentacles, Mirio phased into the floor, and Nejire raised her hands.
"Help!" Denki yelped, stumbling back outside. The full wrath of Class 1-A ran to follow him--and Aizawa stepped inside the tent, deactivating everyone's quirk. Shouto poked his head in.
"I guess they didn't see what happened after the cameras went black." he said.
"You think?" Denki's annoyed voice came from outside.
"SHOUTO!" Uraraka yelled.
"Wait, what about Katsuki and Tenya?" Asui asked.
"We're fine!" Katsuki said, walking into the tent with Tenya and Izuku; all three were covered in blood.
"Whose blood is that?" Shinsou asked.
"Mine." Katsuki said.
"Katsuki's. And All for One's." Izuku said.
"Himiko's." Tenya said.
"So, frick went down." Touya said, leaning on Hawks' shoulder.
"I can see that." Jirou said, confused but happy.
"I'm going to get nightmares, I think." Izuku said.
"Izuku?" Shouto asked.
"Shouto, I held your dead body. Tenya, I thought you'd been stabbed. And I knew Katsuki was going to be fine--it was part of our plan to let him get killed by All for One, anyway--because when the villains think they've won, that's the best time to defeat them--but it's one thing to say that, and another to watch your best friend bleed out." Izuku said.
"It actually hurt a lot. I'm going to try and avoid dying in the future." Katsuki said.
"Most people do that." Ojiro pointed out. Katsuki shrugged.
"Therapy for all of you." Aizawa repeated.

It was a week and multiple news articles later when Zuko returned.
"We beat the Firelord! I'm Firelord now!" he said to Fuyumi and Natsuo and Rei and Touya--wait, Touya?
"I'm an official part of the family, now." he said.
"He stays here as much as he stays with Hawks." Fuyumi said.
"So, how'd things go with All for One?" Zuko asked.
Touya gave him a quick rundown on the way to school, where Zuko walked into the classroom, to the students cheering.
"Zuko! We've been waiting a week to thank you!" Denki said.
"Touya told me what happened; amazing plan, Katsuki, Izuku." Zuko said.
"So are we just accepting that Zuko is here instead of Shouto on Tuesdays?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"Yes, and I will format his schoolwork to account for that. Zuko, on Tuesdays you get a summary of the week's work, and Shouto gets one day's extra spread across the week. Principal Nezu approves." Aizawa said.
"Wait--Nezu knows?" Zuko asked.
"He had his suspicions since the second Tuesday." Aizawa replied. Then, Aoyama walked into the classroom.
"I'm back from vacation, mes cheris! I heard All for One was defeated; what happened?" he asked. He was met with a vibrating silence, full of so much potential it was deafening, before everyone started shouting at once.
"SHUSH!" Aizawa shouted.
"To summarize, frick went DOWN." Katsuki said.
"It sure did." Zuko said, smiling.
"That was one heck of a Tuesday." Izuku said.
"You know, I read this book once; it was about a bunch of unicorns appearing in someone's yard on a Tuesday, and cloning themselves, and everyone was confused at the fact that it happened on a Tuesday, because there's no day more normal than that. I hereby declare last Tuesday as Unicorn Tuesday." Yaoyorozu said.
"What happened last Tuesday, though?" Aoyama asked.

"I died!" Katsuki shouted.
"I possessed Denki." Zuko said.
"I pretended to be the UA traitor!" Denki announced.
"I kicked All for One in the head." Tenya said.
"I punched him in the face!" Izuku said.
"I almost killed Kaminari." Kirishima admitted.
...and so on, leaving Aoyama even more confused than before.

All Might walked in the classroom.
"You will not believe what I found today," he said.
"What, Yagi?" Aizawa asked. All Might held up two pieces of a yellow device.
"My computer caster! I lost it after trying to project info to the computer, remember? Before the school year started. But I couldn't figure it out, and then I lost it, and now someone broke it." he said.
"That's the--the thing." Zuko said.
"The thing?" Aizawa asked.
"The thing that was broadcasting info to the League. I turned it on and Shigaraki recognized me, so he thought I was the traitor." Denki said. The entire class glared at All Might.
"So the USJ was your fault." Asui said.
"Your technological inexperience nearly killed us!" Kirishima shouted.
"Wait, that means the real UA traitor is All Might!" Izuku said.
"Who would have guessed? Oh! The betrayal!" Uraraka said, pretending to fan herself. Aoyama was poking through the group chat.
"Mon Dieu! What happened?" he asked, becoming steadily more appalled and proud at the same time.

Notes:

this is probably one of my favorite chapters. I have been planning the "aizawa runs to save everyone and arrives to a tableau of chaos" and "denki, shouto, touya and hawks talk to endeavor" scenes since the very beginning of this fic. if I could draw, I'd draw these scenes out like manga panels. unfortunately, the only thing I've ever been able to draw properly was a panther. once.

Chapter 24: the road goes ever on

REDRIOT: ayyyy how's everyone's spring break

electric_attraction: I have a girlfriend now

Kaboom, Bastard: somehow i don't believe that

Purple Cat: yeah he's lying

electric_attraction: don't call me out like this

Purple Cat: he has a boyfriend

Purple Cat: it's me

electric_attraction: why did you tell them? dude

Dekiiiiru: don't worry we support you

HeroShouto: Zuko has a boyfriend

HeroShouto: I woke up to said boyfriend shirtless his sister yelled at him "IT'S TUESDAY YOU IDIOT" anyway I support Electricat

Uraravity: omg a ship name

Purple Cat: please don't

Alien Queen: too late

Dekiiiiru: I have a girlfriend

Frog: wait really who

Uraravity: guess ;)

Fullmetal Ponytail: IzuChako!

Now-you-see-me: ship names are a thing now

Touya: I have a boyfriend

Hawks: our ship name shall be Hotwings

Touya: no that's stupid

Touya: I like Scarfeathers

Tailman: my cousin has a girlfriend her name is Asuna

Tailman: or that could be a nickname? I'm not sure

Tailman: they met on an online MMO; it was less romantic than you might think they almost died

Nevermore: almost dying IS romantic

King of Beasts: how do you almost die by meeting on an MMO

Tailman: there was a villain with a weird quirk don't ask

Kaboom, Bastard: I don't have a boyfriend

REDRIOT: I don't have a boyfriend and his name is Katsuki

Kaboom, Bastard: I DON'T HAVE A BOYFRIEND

REDRIOT: you know we love you bro

REDRIOT: and I love you the most

Kaboom, Bastard: I have Ejirou.

REDRIOT: BRO!

Spider_Tape_Man: Bro!

Alien Queen: Bro!

electric_attraction: Bro!

HeroShouto: Bakusquad unite!

Sonic: Shouto, you're in the Izusquad.

HeroShouto: Baku and Izusquads, unite!

CannotStopTwinkling: Class 1-A, unite!

Lemillion: *Class 1-A + friends

Eraserhead: Everyone, we have a new group chat member.

talktothehands: who

(Eraserhead) has added (Eri) to CLASS 1-A GROUP CHAT

Dekiiiiru: Eri! Hi!

Eri: Aizawa and Hizashi adopted me! Shinsou is my new brother.

Touya: Shinsou why did you never tell me you were adopted by Eraserhead

Purple Cat: to be fair you were a vigilante at the time

Purple Cat: and then you became a villain

Touya: it was for three months! can people stop bringing that up

HeroShouto: no

Kaboom, Bastard: Izuku, Ejirou, don't get mad

Dekiiiiru: what did you do

Kaboom, Bastard: five times now

Lemillion: NO

Kaboom, Bastard: unfortunately

Tamaki: what does this mean

fractalblooddungeon: were you not there on Unicorn Tuesday

Nejire: to be fair a lot happened that day

Eraserhead: Bakugou, are you okay?

Kaboom, Bastard: so i'm interning with Tensei

HeroShouto: Tensei retired, though, after Stain

Sonic: Bakugou healed him

fractalblooddungeon: with his MAGIC POWERS

CannotStopTwinkling: I am still processing that part

Kaboom, Bastard: so now there are two Ingeniums, but anyway

Kaboom, Bastard: we're chasing this villain called The Destroyer, which is very creative. His quirk is growing stone out of himself, and I'm trying to explode him, and he grows a massive curved stone blade from his arm and goes for some poor girl who was nearby

Kaboom, Bastard: so obviously I jumped in the way

Tamaki: how did you survive?

Dekiiiiru: uh

Sonic: uh

REDRIOT: uh

electric_attraction: uh

Eri: I want to know what happened!

Kaboom, Bastard: **** I forgot Eri was here

Kaboom, Bastard: I blocked his arm blade, but he knocked me down, and then Tensei came around the corner; while he was gloating to Tensei about beating me I thwacked him over the head

Eri: Yay! Hit the bad guys!

Nejire: why do i get the feeling he left something out

Touya: shh

Kaboom, Bastard: so yeah five times; it didn't hurt nearly as much as two or four though

Kaboom, Bastard: in more interesting news I can travel to more places than other realities!

Kaboom, Bastard: I'm adding new members to the chat

(Kaboom, Bastard) has added (Zuko), (Sokka), (Suki) (Katara), (Toph) and (Aang) to CLASS 1-A GROUP CHAT

HeroShouto: OH MY GOD

Kaboom, Bastard: guess who brought phones to an alien planet

Sokka: I invented Spirit Wifi

Zuko: we can actually talk now! this is amazing!

Nejire: who are these people

HeroShouto: my alien friends!

Suki: no offense but how do you expect Toph to use this

Kaboom, Bastard: text to speech is a thing

Toph: Hello. I AM THE GREATEST EARTHBENDER IN THE WORLD!

Nevermore: what's an earthbender

Toph: We have so much to talk about.

Kaboom, Bastard: also

(Kaboom, Bastard) has added (Mean Katsuki) and (Korra) to CLASS 1-A GROUP CHAT

Kaboom, Bastard: So here's Katsuki from BNHA, ie a world where Tenya didn't hit the picnic table, and Korra, from seventy years in the future on Zuko's planet

Mean Katsuki: what is this

Korra: why are Sokka and Suki in the chat please tell me this is a joke

Kaboom, Bastard: time travel

Korra: okay it's not a joke I don't know if this is good or bad

Aang: you're from the future! Tell us about it!

Korra: the ****

(Korra) has left CLASS 1-A GROUP CHAT

Kaboom, Bastard: she broke the phone

Kaboom, Bastard: anyway

Mean Katsuki: So this is another reality?

Dekiiiiru: Hi other Kacchan!

Mean Katsuki: **** off Deku

HeroShouto: yeah he's mean

fractalblooddungeon: fresh blood!

Sonic: Himiko, please stop.

Mean Katsuki: the **** is that vampire **** villain doing here

Kaboom, Bastard: sorry I forgot! Himiko, you're a villain in his reality

fractalblooddungeon: I promise I'm nice

Touya: Why are there two Katsukis in the chat

Mean Katsuki: ****ing DABI

Kaboom, Bastard: and Touya's nice here too

Mean Katsuki: next you'll tell me that hand ****er is a good guy

Dekiiiiru: no! but a while ago we thought Denki was the UA traitor

Mean Katsuki: who was it really

electric_attraction: All Might

Purple Cat: just kidding

Alien Queen: but yeah it was his fault

Mean Katsuki: why am I here though

Nevermore: entertainment value

Eraserhead: why are there two Bakugous

Uraravity: One of them's mean, and from a different reality!

Eri: hi, other Katsuki! why are there so many stars in the things you type?

Hawks: he sparkles! like Aoyama

Mean Katsuki: HOW DARE YOU ****ING BIRD

Frog: why is he so mean tho

Purple Cat: we should tell him about Unicorn Tuesday

Mean Katsuki: what is that

electric_attraction: i'm sending a news link

Mean Katsuki: I read it? And watched the video. I DIED? And Glasses got stabbed, and Dunce Face killed HalfNHalf? and then the screen went black and we were all okay and All for One was dead?

Dekiiiiru: yeah stuff happened our Katsuki has magic powers

Mean Katsuki: yes I ****ing gathered that from the fact that I'm texting people in a different reality

Mean Katsuki: wait ****ty Hair you're dating alternate me?

REDRIOT: ye

Mean Katsuki: I am going to say this because I know there's no way my ****ty Hair can find out, but that actually doesn't seem too bad.

Fullmetal Ponytail: O.o

Mean Katsuki: oerhubwfiwrfb wuohqevoj-9

MasterChef: what

Mean Katsuki: I don't know who this is! My name is Kirishima and I stole Bakubro's phone to find out if he's texting a girlfriend

HeroShouto: we have a problem

Mean Katsuki: Todoroki? Why are you texting Bakugou? And this appears to be a group chat

Touya: what do we do

Mean Katsuki: Todoroki please tell me you know more than one person named Touya

Uraravity: we're fricked

Mean Katsuki: Uraraka? But that doesn't make sense I can see you playing soccer right now

Dekiiiiru: give mean kacchan his phone back

Mean Katsuki: DEKU? Okay you're playing soccer with Uraraka like a few feet away what is going on

fractalblooddungeon: should we tell him

REDRIOT: heyyyyy I'm your alternate self! Katsuki was texting Class 1-A and friends from a different reality

Mean Katsuki: please tell me you're Kaminari playing a joke

electric_attraction: sorry bro

Mean Katsuki: there's no way this is real

Kaboom, Bastard: I'll travel over!

Kaboom, Bastard: Touya why did you touch me now you're here too

Mean Katsuki: WHAT THE FRICK

A few minutes pass...

Mean Katsuki: that was weird, i'm giving Bakubro his phone back

Mean Katsuki: Why did you send that fire ****er here Reject Zuko freaked out

Zuko: are you talking about Shouto

Mean Katsuki: but to be fair he had a decent talk with a decent version of his brother after

Mean Katsuki: Who are you?

Zuko: I'm Firelord Zuko, but I'm guessing you know me better as the quirkless-magic anime character

Katara: what's an anime

HeroShouto: like a series of plays

Mean Katsuki: why is there an anime character in the groupchat

Zuko: fun fact! I'm a real person in this reality! Also I'm Shouto's adoptive brother

Mean Katsuki: you're ****ing kidding me

 

THE END

Notes:

I just watched all of MHA this week, and started on the manga--it's pretty good.

By which I mean: I wrote this entire fic before watching or reading any canon material. yeah.

I was reading Avatar fics, and saw one was a crossover with MHA--decided to read it anyway, because it looked interesting--found that it was interesting, and later, when I was looking at time-travel fics, saw a MHA one and decided to read it even though I only knew the smallest amount about like, three characters.

I understood frick-all of what was going on, but then I started reading more MHA fics, got an idea of the plot, and wrote this. In fact, Katsuki going over the difference between other realities and figuring out the main constanst was a lot like what I was doing--although I still missed on some points.

You may have noticed the Sports Festival was in the wrong order, I forgot that Aoyama and Mina existed for a time, and completely left out the provisonal license arc. I think I still did I good job, though, and if you've read to this point, that (probably) means you like the fic, and I'm glad I was able to write something people could enjoy.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of the inconvenience of tuesdays