Chapter 67: Camp Camp
The next day, the eighty students of both UA and Seiai woke up to the sound of fighting. Thankfully the fighting started at nine AM, and they had all slept like logs, so it took awhile for the sound of battle to wake the eighty-two students up.
"Stop smashing up my forest!" Pixie-Bob screamed as she stormed out of the building. "My family spent a good fucking century making this place! Stop smashing all their hard work up!".
Izumi groaned. "What's that noise?" she asked, too tired to care that her face was being smothered by Ochaco and Mei.
"I think someone pissed off Pixie-Bob," Ochaco replied with a groan.
"Oh," Izumi said before she went back to using Ochaco's bust as a pillow. "Let her suffer".
"What's going on out here?" Kaina asked as she and Inko walked out, both having a bad case of bed hair.
"Daidōji and Suzune are fighting each other," Mandalay replied with a sigh.
"I told you it was a bad idea to have those two here at the same time," Yomako groaned as she walked out. Wearing her pyjamas and holding a body pillow of the pro hero Gurren.
Yes, she owned a dakimakura of her boyfriend/fiancé. How else was she supposed to cuddle him when he was not around?
Anyway, about an hour later, after Daidōji and Suzune had stopped fighting each other and Pixie-Bob had repaired the damage. Suzune won by the way. The eighty-two students were gathered in a large clearing, their four homeroom teachers stood before them.
They would have started much earlier, but after yesterday's mess, they decided to allow the students to have it a bit easier today. Tomorrow it'll be back to the standard plan.
"Now, the Seiai students already know about this, but, for those who don't, the purpose of this camp is to help train your quirks," Shota said before he threw Katsuki a ball. "Katsuki. Same thing as the quirk appreciation test we did on the first day of school. Use your quirk to throw the ball as far as possible".
Katsuki smirked as he walked forward a few steps, and threw the ball, generating a large explosion to send it flying.
Izumi shivered as she stepped behind Ochaco, seeking protection. The sound of Katsuki's explosions caused phantom pain to flare up all over her. Remnants of the countless times Katsuki had blasted her with his quirk.
Ochaco, sensing her girlfriend's distress, took hold of her hand and gave it a gentle, comforting squeeze.
Shota waited a few moments for the ball to land before he showed the distance on his tablet. The ball flew over seven hundred metres. Which looked impressive, but the 1-B students didn't look that impressed. In fact, they looked confused.
"Hold on a second, that's only four metres further than last time," Katsuki said, sounding shocked.
"Exactly," Shota said. "Like our bodies, quirks need to be trained as well to get stronger. For most of your time at school, you've been focusing on improving your bodies. Here, you'll be improving your quirks".
"The next two weeks will be spent working to improve your quirks," Kaina added. "Don't worry, it won't all be quirk training. There will be fun activities to space the training out. All work and no play isn't good for the body".
"No excluding those who failed the exams," Shota muttered quietly.
"After yesterday's clusterfuck, the remedy classes will only anger them more," Suzune muttered back.
"Training sessions will last half an hour, with twenty-minute rest breaks in between sessions," Kaina continued. "Lunch break will last forty minutes. And, our two schools will be training separately".
"Well that's good to hear," Ochaco said with a relieved sigh. Whilst she was okay with Rolls and Saiko, she was keeping an eye on the rest of the Seiai girls, especially since one of them tried to grope her girlfriend.
"And, to help keep an eye on all of you, we have our hosts," Kaina continued.
"Rock on with these sparkling gazes!".
"We've come to lend a paw and help!!!".
"Coming out of nowhere".
"Stingingly cute and catlike!".
"Wild, Wild Pussycats!!! Full squad!".
Had yesterday not happened, Izumi probably would have been excited at seeing the full Wild, Wild Pussycat group, but, after nearly being thrown off of a cliff yesterday by one of their number, she wasn't all that impressed.
A little warning ahead of time would have been nice.
"We'll be assisting in your training, as well as running the activities you lot will be doing over the next two weeks," Mandalay explained. "We've run camps like this before, so, we know just how much to push you to help you improve. We will be pushing you to your limits, but not too far. Push too hard, and you'll only break".
"We're starting a bit later today, just so you lot can ease into the training," Pixie-Bob said, getting a few glares sent her way. "So don't get used to it. Tomorrow you will be getting up later".
"I'll be keeping an eye on all of you," Ragdoll said in a non-creepy way, eyes wide as a cat's.
"Anyone with strength-enhancing quirks will be training against me!" Tiger added.
Izumi let out a relieved sigh. She could deal with training from Tiger. A member of the top ten, on the other hand, she could not.
Hopefully, she doesn't have to fight her one on one. She would not survive something like that. Hell, she wouldn't survive a fight against All Might, not when she can only use 12 percent of One for All. Even with the other quirks thrown in.
Well, time to get to work.
Everyone was working hard to improve their quirks. Momo and Rikido were eating a lot of food, Momo to increase her Quirk's efficacy and reduce the time needed to create objects, and Rikido to increase the augmented physical strength his Quirk granted. Neito was copying everyone's quirks to improve his time with them. Mina was constantly producing acid in order to increase her skin's durability. Tsu was working out to improve all the muscles in her body, including her tongue, by rock climbing on the side of a cliff whilst her elongated tongue remained in place at the top of the mountain.
Tenya was engaging in hardcore, long-distance running to increase his leg strength and stamina to run faster for more extended periods. Denki was running his currents of electricity through a high-capacity battery so he could handle larger amounts of electricity. Eijiro, whilst in his hardened form, was punching Tetsutetsu from 1-B, whilst the other student was doing the same as well. Koji was engaged in vocal exercises to increase the range of his Anivoice, which wasn't easy when you had an explosive blond shouting 'fuck' every time he let off an explosion.
Speaking of blonds, Neito was running around and using everyone's quirks to improve the amount of time he could use them for as well as the number of quirks he could copy. Kyoka was honing her headphone jacks by repeatedly piercing them into a stone cliff. Hanta was continuously producing tape from his arms in order to increase his capacity and improve his tape's textile strength and shooting speed. Fumikage was sitting in a dark cave to increase his control over Dark Shadow. Toru was working on improving her stealth prowess by remaining undetected from 1-B student Mezo Shoji. Minoru was continuously pulling off the balls on his head to increase their adhesiveness, strengthen his scalp, and reduce the risk of bleeding from his head.
Yui was enlarging and shrinking objects to improve the speed at which they changed size and how big and small she could make objects become. Inasa was making larger and larger tornadoes to improve how much air he could control. Mei was using her quirk to zoom in as far as possible to improve how far she could see. Chiharu was focusing on laying large fields of mines to increase the number of mines she could make. Ochaco was using her quirk to lift super massive boulders to improve her weight limit, whilst also secretly working on her non-quirk abilities. And Izumi was working on controlling Blackwhip. Once she had mastered that, she could move on to the other aspects of One for All.
It wasn't just the 1-A students. All of 1-B's students were working hard to improve their quirks as well. As were the Seiai girls, but they were working in a different area. Well, all save for one of them, the Hungarian girl was by Momo, stuffing the dolls the heiress was making down her cleavage. Because of course, there was someone out there with 'Victoria's Secret Compartment' as a quirk.
Whilst the students worked hard on improving their quirks, Kaina watched on, keeping an eye on her students, Izumi especially.
The girl's quirk confused her. A late bloomer with an energy stockpiling quirk that came in during the entrance exam. Simple enough. Some quirks are like that, difficult to tell that you have them. She was a late bloomer as well, but that was because it took her rifle a while to properly form. And, whilst she can understand the same thing happening to Izumi, there were some things that didn't make sense.
The other abilities her quirk can do are odd. Her Gearshift and Danger Sense techniques were, understandable, she's stockpiling energy after all, who knows what she can do with that energy? Although Gearshift was pushing that. Smokescreen and Blackwhip on the other hand, made no goddamn sense in the context of the quirk. She's seen her fair share of bullshit quirks before, and Izumi's Energy Stockpile was up there among the most bullshit ones. Tendrils and smoke, where the fuck did those things come from? How can she use her stockpiled energy to make those things? It just didn't make sense.
It was almost like they were completely different quirks.
"You know, I am so glad we agreed to throw out the 'new' training plan All Might sent us. Yesterday was just a disaster," Yomako said as she walked up beside Kaina, knowing her out of her musing.
"Agreed. I don't think it's a good idea to have Daidōji try to train Izumi," Kaina said with a nod. "Even with the weights we used during the exam, she wouldn't be able to learn much. Apart from how to get punched in the face over and over again. Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on your girls?".
"I am," Yomako replied. "Since one of them is over here stuffing her chest full of dolls. Suzune's keeping an eye on everyone else".
"Is that a good idea?" Kaina asked. "She's almost as bad as Gran".
"Again, who is this Gran?" Yomako asked. "All Suzune would say was that he was her homeroom teacher during her first year, nothing else".
"Trust me, you don't want to know," Kaina replied before focusing back on the students. "God I wish he was here. He's one of the few people who can put the fear of God into All Might. He may be the number one hero but after that nonsense with that training plan of his, he needs a good scare. God that stunt in the forest must have killed some of her trust in me".
"Oh, why's that?" Yomako asked.
"She has trust issues with teachers," Kaina replied. "The teachers at one of her previous schools failed her, badly. She didn't show it, but I could tell she was watchful of me during the first few weeks. I don't think she even knew she was judging me. But she was. And yesterday's little stunt didn't help things. Damn it All Might, why did you have to insist on us using your training plan?".
"I'd have to agree with you on that one," Yomako said with a sigh. "We had this all planned out, up until All Might sent that 'revised' training plan. We only had a few days to plan this and not a lot of time to get everything ready".
"I'm sorry about this, but I only knew that we would be doing a joint summer camp once we came back from the trip to I-Island. Which got attacked by villains by the way," Kaina said. "Members of my class have been involved in four separate villain encounters, three of which resulted in combat. I'd rather my students not get involved in another villain attack like that. Not until they graduate anyway".
"I agree to that as well," Yomako said. "All those villain attacks are bringing back memories of the Avalon War. Students made to fight a war they were not supposed to, just because the HPSC didn't want to rely on the JSDF to fight a literal war. I'm glad they had their power reduced so they can't do something similar. We're heroes, not soldiers".
"The war brought a lot of changes to society," Kaina said. "Some good, some bad. I just hope these kids don't end up in another war. One war is enough for one lifetime. Let's hope that there isn't another one. These kids aren't ready for it".
Yomako nodded. The Avalon War wasn't a great time for anyone. No one benefited from it, millions died, and whilst robots got more advanced, people are now scared of them. And heroes are in high demand. They are still recuperating their losses from the war after all. Even after eleven years, they were still nowhere near to reaching Japan's pre-war number of heroes.
Just goes to show just how devastating the war was for the country.
"You can tell that All Might is still getting used to being a teacher," Kaina said after a while. "That training plan of his he asked us to use was bad".
"I noticed," Yomako said with a nod. "Honestly, I'm glad we're throwing it out in favour of the old version. Why would he ask Daidōji of all people to train Izumi? How is that training? I'm just shocked he isn't here to do it himself. It's his plan, why doesn't he do it?".
Kaina looked around before moving closer to Yomako. "Tell no one, not even your fiancé. All Might's time is running out. Six years ago he fought a villain that almost killed him. You'll never have heard of the battle, since it was heavily covered up. He killed the villain but was badly injured. The injury severely reduced how much time he can use his quirk, he can only be All Might for about an hour and a half per day. The rest of the time, he's almost skeletal-like. He can barely make it through a single lesson".
Yomako looked shocked. "He's running out of time? Damn, that means Burning won the pot!".
"The pot?" Kaina asked, looking confused.
"Oh, right. There's a betting pot amongst the top ten, minus All Might, on why he's taken up a teaching position," Yomako replied. "Burnin bet that it's because he's planning to retire. Looks like she's going to win the pot".
'That's not all that she's going to win,' Kaina thought with a smirk, knowing full well that All Might, and his secretary Toshinori, are one and the same.
Man, she's in for one hell of a surprise when he retires.
"Well, looks like she's lucky," Kaina said. "Anyway, the villain he fought was powerful, too powerful. With one punch he was able to destroy All Might's stomach and one of his lungs. It took him months to recover from the fight. And even then, he's never fully recovered".
"Sounds like you know a lot about that fight," Yomako remarked.
"I was there, I watched him fight that, monster," Kaina replied with a frown. "All Might brought me as backup to kill the man, just in case he or the other heroes he brought in to help failed to do so. He wanted that villain dead and had good reason to. That villain may have looked human, but there was nothing human about him. His quirk allowed him to take and use the quirks of others, and he had thousands of them. According to All Might, the villain had been around since the dawn of quirks and once ruled the entire country. That thing was powerful, terrifying. It felt like he could rip my soul out if he so much as grabbed me".
"You mean your quirk, right?" Yomako asked, an almost horrified look on her face.
"That too," Kaina said with a nod. "He was powerful. I was well away from the fight, but just seeing him, terrified me. He had this aura about him. One so terrifying that, if it weren't for the training the HPSC put me through, I would have turned and run the moment he appeared. All Might survived but was left heavily weakened. And his time is rapidly running out. I know we need to prepare these kids for his retirement. But if we carried on with that altered training plan of his, we would have run these kids ragged in three days".
"So, that's why his plan focused heavily on quirk improvement," Yomako said with a sigh. "He's running out of time. But, that doesn't explain why he's so adamant they all get stronger quickly, or why he wants us to focus on Izumi more out of all of them. Is the villain he fought six years ago still alive or something?" she asked, really hoping that she was wrong.
A villain that old and that powerful, who could go toe to toe with All Might and almost win was something she doubted few people could fight.
Kaina shook her head. "No, that 'thing' is very much dead. All Might crushed his skull into paste. We then cremated the body and scattered the ashes across the entire globe, even sent some of them to the fucking moon. He could not have survived, nor can he be revived, not with his ashes all over the system. Yet, ever since the I-Expo, All Might's been acting strangely. I don't know what's gotten him all worked up, but he's adamant that the students improve quickly," she said. "Whatever the case is I'm going to have words with him once he gets back because that training plan of his is utterly ridiculous. I know he said they'll have to go Plus Ultra whilst they're here, but we can't Plus Ultra everything! Work too hard too quickly and you'll break".
"Well, I wish you luck," Yomako said, still shuddering from the news of this villain who crippled All Might. "Hopefully you get some answers out of him. Because that plan of his was just ridiculous," she said before she looked over towards the soul Seiai student. "Aoki looks to be doing well. I'll head back to check on the rest of my students. I'll talk to you later," she said before she walked off. She had a few things she needed to think about.
Kaina nodded before she focused back on the students, Izumi in particular. 'Why is Toshinori so adamant that Izumi gets stronger? I know they all need to get stronger, that's a given, but why is he so focused on her?' she thought. It's been something that's been bugging her since the entrance exam when All Might asked her to keep an eye on Izumi. 'Why is he so insistent that she get stronger out of all of them? That's why he asked Daidōji to be here, to train her and make her stronger. But she won't be able to do that. She's a fighter, not a teacher, she doesn't hold back. Toshinori, just who is Izumi, and what the hell are you doing to that poor girl?'.
Later that day, during the lunch break.
Izumi sighed as she sat down. Blackwhip was taking longer than she thought to get control over it nailed down. She knows it works on emotions, it was getting the right emotion down that was difficult.
She wasn't sitting down with Ochaco, as apparently, to help train her psychic abilities, she needed to meditate as well. So that's what she was doing, meditating.
She didn't want to interrupt her, so she let her be. Opting instead to talk to Himiko, who looked troubled.
"Hey Himiko," Izumi said as she sat down next to her. "You doing okay?"
"Yep, I'm fine. Just practising some of my knifework," Himiko said, twirling a stick around her fingers like it was a knife.
Her knives were all confiscated.
Tsu hopped on over to them. "You sure about that?" she asked.
"Positive," Himiko said with a smile. "Why would you think otherwise?".
"Well, I noticed that you weren't using your quirk," Tsu said. "I half expected to see you biting people and turning into them. But you haven't, ribbit".
Izumi raised an eyebrow. Now that she thought about it, Himiko hasn't been using her quirk since the internships, mostly focusing on using her swords. In fact, she hasn't been seen drinking as much blood as she used to.
Himiko chuckled nervously. "Of course I was using my quirk. You just didn't see me".
"Himiko, I was keeping an eye on everyone. Not once did you drink someone else's blood and use your quirk," Durandal said.
"Himiko. We're here to train our quirks," Izumi said, a worried look on her face. "You can't neglect it like this. You have to train it-".
"I don't want to!" Himiko suddenly shouted, causing Izumi and Tsu to back off a bit. Realising what she did, she collapsed onto the floor and started to cry. "I'm sorry. It's just, I'm scared of using it".
"Y-your scared of your quirk?" Izumi said.
"Not this again," Durandal said with a sigh. "Didn't you say you were over that?".
"I did," Himiko replied. "But, after my, change, during the internship, things happened to me and my quirk. My eyes and hair weren't the only things that changed. Izumi, I used your quirk. I can use other peoples quirks now".
"When you used my quirk?" Izumi muttered. She already knew that Himiko had somehow used One for All to kill that Nomu (who was once a human, like her). She had suspected Himiko knew that she had used it, and now she had confirmation.
Would have been nice if she confirmed this after the incident.
"That's great, you can mimic people's quirks now, ribbit," Tsu said. "I don't see why you would find a problem with that".
"That's not the problem," Himiko said. "Using your quirk, Izumi, freaked me out. Not just because it was yours, but because, I saw something when I used it".
"What do you mean, you saw something?" Tsu asked.
"It was only for a second, when I punched that, Nomu," Himiko said with a shudder. "I saw a room, like the inside of a vault or something, with eight large chairs arranged in a semicircle. Each one had someone sitting on it. There was also this black humanoid shape, standing before them. That's as much as I can remember".
Izumi gulped. Did Himiko see the vestiges of One for All?
"Oh, so that's what that anomaly was," Daigoro said. "Don't worry. It shouldn't happen again. Probably".
"Now that I think about it, they all looked to be holding, uno cards?" Himiko continued before shaking her head. "Whatever it was I saw, it freaked me out".
Izumi sweatdropped. Were the vestiges playing Uno inside of her head?
"Hey! We've got to entertain ourselves somehow".
"Himiko," Tsu said, looking at her with a blank stare. "I love you, but you can't hide this shit. You hurt more than yourself when you hide stuff like this, ribbit. I was worried about you, Himiko".
"That's what I keep telling people!" Durandal said. "Seriously, I am this close to forcing everyone to watch a presentation on the 'Importance of Telling people your problems!'. Because bottling these things up is not healthy! We have Hound Dog for a reason! Talk to him for crying out loud!".
"I-I know," Himiko said with a frown. "I wanted to tell you about this, but, there's more. After the change, I-I started hearing things, voices. They get clearer after I drink blood. At first, I didn't know what I was hearing until I remembered Eri could read people's minds. Then I realised, t-that I was like her. I-I think I'm a telepath".
Izumi gulped. Another telepath, and this time it's Himiko. This was starting to get ridiculous. Three telepaths, two of whom whose abilities aren't tied to their quirks and a third whose ability might also not be tied to it.
Just how common were these guys? Who's next, Mandalay turning out to be one of them as well!
"So, you can read our minds?" Tsu asked, a surprised look on her normally blank face.
Himiko nodded. "I believe so, b-but, it's very, very weak. Like barely audible whispers. But they get clearer when I drink blood. I've never tried to use telekinesis. I-I don't think I can move things with my mind. I don't feel like I can".
"Ok, let's do this logically," Durandal said. "Himiko, I know you might not want to talk about them, but, who are your parents and what are their quirks?".
"My mother had a minor cat mutation, just cat ears and eyes," Himiko said. "And my father could change his eye colour. Neither of them had telepathic abilities. If anything they hated telepaths, or anything they didn't consider 'normal'. Like normal means anything in this day and age".
Izumi blinked. "So, no blood-drinking quirk?".
Himiko shook her head. "No. My quirk is probably a heavily mutated version of theirs. But neither of them ever displayed powers like Eri's none quirk abilities".
Izumi frowned. She was going to need to talk to Rolls about this (because who was she kidding, Rolls definitely had powers like Ochaco). Because a telepath whose telepathy gets stronger by drinking blood was very new to her. Rolls might be the only person out there who can explain this nonsense.
God damn alien psychic bullshit. If it was a quirk then she would understand and may be able to help, but these non-quirk psychic powers were weird, even for quirks.
Life was so much simpler before she knew about the existence of aliens.
"Wait, you said you were drinking less blood than before," Tsu said, waiting for Himiko to nod. "Himiko, you can't do that, ribbit. You said that you could go crazy if you starved yourself of blood".
"I know that, but, these new abilities of mine, they scare me," Himiko cried. "I was perfectly fine with how my quirk previously worked, but, these additions, the telepathy, the ability to use other people's quirks,
Izumi frowned. Why didn't Himiko tell anyone about this? This was important information she should have told someone. As Durandal said, you can't bottle this stuff up. But, she needed help, and Izumi wouldn't be a hero if she didn't help someone in need.
With a warm smile, she held out an arm in front of Himiko. "Himiko, I know you're worried, but you can't do this to yourself. Please. It'll be alright, nothing bad will happen to you if you use my quirk".
Himiko looked up at her. "B-but what if I see that, place, again? I don't even know what that was?"
"We won't know if you don't try," Izumi replied.
"Please Himiko," Tsu added with a pleading look in her eyes. "I don't want to see you hurt yourself".
Himiko frowned before she looked at the arm that was being presented to her. She remembered how juicy Izumi's blood was, especially since it was given to her freely.
Freely-given blood tasted so much better. Especially Izumi's blood.
She slowly leaned forward and bit into Izumi's arm, purring and she drank her friend's blood. Accidentally activating her quirk and turning into Izumi.
"There we go," Izumi said with a smile. "I knew you could do it".
Himiko quickly realised she had accidentally transformed into Izumi and shot back away from the other girl's arm. She then looked down and examined herself, poking her breast. "You know, I keep forgetting you're busier than me".
Izumi blushed. "Just, please focus on using my quirk, ok".
Himiko nodded. "Ok," she said before she closed her eyes and focused on the memories of watching Izumi use her quirk, watching the green lightning cover her body, noting how she said she had to use a small percentage of her power, otherwise she risked breaking herself.
Her eyes shot wide open when she felt a tingling sensation all over her body, looking down she saw green lightning arching all over her body.
And she didn't see any strange images of people playing Uno.
"Wow, so you really can use other people's quirks," Tsu said.
"Looks like it," Himiko said before she noticed Izumi had a notebook out and was muttering something about her quirk.
She pouted, slightly annoyed that Izumi had instantly gone into quirk analysis mode. She hadn't even started on the telepathy yet. But that was part of her charm.
She then turned to Tsu and gave her a Cheshire cat grin. The frog girl smirked back and held up a disposable camera, because she wanted to take photos of the camp but wasn't allowed to bring her phone.
Himiko then turned back to Izumi, leaned in close and, whilst still looking like Izumi, kissed the girl on the cheek. Tsu made sure to take a photo of it.
Izumi instantly stopped muttering as her face went bright red, her notebook slipping out of her hands.
Himiko giggled as she let go of her transformation, really, really hoping that Ochaco would not be angry at her for kissing her girlfriend.
Fortunately for her, Ochaco did approve of the kiss. But, next time would require permission.
Still, she was shocked that Himiko was a telepath like her. She couldn't even sense her telepathic abilities, unlike Eri, who, even with her limited understanding of her powers, could be detected. Even now, after Himiko had drunk blood, she could not sense any form of telepathic ability from the girl.
She'll have to tell Rolls about this, maybe even bring Himiko into the know as well. Because like herself, Himiko needed to know how to control her new abilities as well.
Chapter 68: The Telepaths
"Ochaco's a telepath!" Himiko gasped loudly before the girl in question covered her mouth.
"SHHHHHH! We're trying to keep that on the down low!" Ochaco said quietly.
Himiko nodded frantically, not wanting to be thrown into orbit for this.
Izumi sighed, Durandal standing next to her. This was going slightly as she expected it to go.
The four of them had just finished dinner and had gone off to have a private talk about Himiko's blood-fueled telepathy, finding a small spot along the side of a cliff. Not a great place for Izumi due to her fear of heights, but it was a good distance away from the camp.
Ochaco removed her hand from over Himiko's mouth. "Yes, I am a telepath like Eri. With telekinesis thrown in as well. It's how I can move things around that are under the effects of my quirk".
Himiko nodded. "Ok, that I understand… Ok, I lied, I didn't understand any of that. I know Eri has non-quirk powers. But, how do Ochaco and I have them as well?"
"I'm still working on that part," Izumi replied. "Ochaco already knows, but she's refraining from telling me all that stuff until she's ready to tell me. Prior agreement and all that. Best guess is that you're a hybrid of, something" she said, not wanting to dump the existence of aliens on Himiko just yet.
"Something?" Himiko asked, looking annoyed. "What do you mean by something?"
"Not sure," Izumi replied. "That's why I'm calling it something. It's only a placeholder until I know what that something is".
Himiko nodded. "I see. And Ochaco already knows this, but isn't telling you until you're both ready".
Ochaco nodded. "There's still a lot I still don't understand about what I am, so I want to fully understand exactly what I am before I go explaining it to Izumi, or anyone else. Just to be sure that I don't make any mistakes".
Himiko nodded. "Right, understood. I can wait. Let's just deal with me now, worry about what I am later".
They were still in the middle of testing Himiko's quirk and what new changes it had. Blood magnetization and absorption were already a given, and now she had blood-fueled telepathy. Well, sort of. She could only read the minds of those she had drank blood from, and only if she transformed into them, which at the moment, was everyone in 1-A plus Mei and Chiharu.
They had no idea why her telepathy functioned like this. Izumi thought that she might form some sort of psychic link with the person she transformed into, but she wasn't one hundred percent sure about that. There were just so many unknowns that these telepathic abilities bring to the table.
"So, since you just told me you don't really understand your powers," Himiko continued. "Who can we bring in to help teach me, and why is it Rolls?"
Ochaco spluttered. "W-w-w-what makes you think it's her?" she asked nervously, wondering how Himiko figured it out so quickly.
"Because she has powerful telepathic and telekinetic powers," Himiko replied. "And we know from Eri that these powers aren't linked to quirks. Plus she has red shoes, and as we all know, quirkless people, all, wear red, shoes," she said slowly as she looked down at Izumi's red boots. "Well well well. If it isn't the consequences of my own actions," she said nervously, realising that she may have just stumbled upon something concerning their resident cinnamon roll.
Mainly, that she has a quirk yet wears red boots.
Izumi gulped. "W-would y-you believe m-me if I s-said that I-I liked the colour?" she asked nervously.
Himiko looked at Izumi with an unimpressed look on her face, before she smirked. "Nah, I'm just kidding with you. You said you were a late-bloomer who thought she was quirkless. I can understand why you still like wearing red shoes even after your quirk came in".
Izumi breathed a sigh of relief. That felt too close to comfort.
"Well, that was close," the third user remarked. "Maybe you should think about losing the red shoes".
Himiko's head suddenly shot around, "Who the fuck was that?".
Izumi blinked. Did Himiko just hear one of the vestiges? How? Not even Eri could hear them. Well, she could, but she could never make out what they were saying, she just knew that her quirk could speak.
"I didn't hear anything," Ochaco said, looking confused.
"Well, someone just said something about losing red shoes!" Himiko said looking around.
Ochaco turned towards Izumi. "I think she can also hear the vestiges of One for All," she said telepathically.
"What's One for All?" Himiko asked before shaking her head. "You know what, never mind, don't tell me! I'm already going down one rabbit hole at the moment. I do not need to dive headfirst into another one. Just pretend I didn't hear that, okay".
Izumi gulped. this was bad. Himiko just found out about One for All. Yes, she promised not to tell anyone, but she still knew. And she was going to need to be told what it was. Hopefully later, because she did not want to dump anything else on her right now. As long as the vestiges remain quiet, things should be fine. For now at least.
"Telepathic interception," Ochaco gasped. "But, Rolls said that telepathic transmissions can't be intercepted by other telepaths".
"Knew she was an alien," Durandal remarked smugly.
Himiko stared at Durandal with wide eyes. "Please tell me these powers aren't alien in origin?" she asked, having watched enough Sci-Fi to know where this was going.
Durandal banged his head against the floor "Fuck!".
Izumi sighed. "And here I was hoping to ease her into this".
Ochaco frowned and nodded. "Yeah, ur, these non-quirk telepathic powers are, not exactly from around here," she said before glaring at Durandal.
"Look, in my defence, she is named after a fucking car," Durandal said. "And now that we know that she's an alien, she will be teased endlessly because an alien naming themselves after a car is just asking to be noticed".
"So, back up. Aliens are real?" Himiko asked.
"Yep, we exist," Ochaco said with a sigh. "I'm technically an alien. Half-human hybrid thing. It's where the telepathy comes from. As is Rolls, who is named after a car. Honestly, I have no idea why no one thought to connect the dots".
"Huh, well, that explains a lot," Himiko said with a shrug. She then grinned. "And yes, I am so teasing Rolls about this~".
"I wouldn't advise it," Ochaco said. "She can force choke you like Darth Vader".
"Oh yes, please harder Mommy!" Himiko blurted out.
Izumi and Ochaco blinked. Durandal would have as well, but he didn't have eyes.
"What?" Himiko shrugged. "Have you seen Tsu's thighs? She crushes my head between them like every other day. I'm also still waiting for my turn to have my head crushed like a watermelon between Izumi's thighs. I am so very annoyed that some annoying British guy got his head crushed between them before I did".
Izumi blushed heavily. "Why is everyone so interested in being choked out between my thighs?".
"Because it's hot," Ochaco replied bluntly because she too wanted to feel Izumi's thighs around her head, Mirko style.
"Ok, so, ignoring the fact that I've just been flat-out told that aliens do indeed exist," Himiko said. "And how Ochaco also wants Izumi's thighs around her head. Let's back up a bit, telepathic interception?".
"You just intercepted a telepathic message I sent only to Izumi," Ochaco explained. "You should not have been able to hear it, but you did. And that's new, even to me. Also, you seem, rather calm about being told aliens exist?".
Himiko grinned. "What, I've been teasing that girl with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy references. And now I know I am completely justified in doing so. Also, I kind of suspected something was off with me after I survived getting my head crushed. This just confirms it".
"Ochaco, just call Rolls here, please. We need her help," Izumi said, still blushing.
Ochaco nodded before she closed her eyes, breathed out, and searched for Rolls' mind. It wasn't easy, and it took her a while to find her, but she eventually did. "Rolls, I need your help with something".
"Don't worry, I'm already on my way," Rolls replied. "I'll be there in a moment".
"Ok, I heard that as well," Himiko said. "I can definitely intercept telepathic transmissions".
"So, close range mind reading of those you've drank blood from, and telepathic interception," Izumi said, writing in a notebook labelled 'ET'. "I think your telepathy works more along the lines of a listening station. Other telepaths are just like radio transmitters, and you're a listening station intercepting the transmissions other telepaths are sending out. I think that's why it needs blood to fuel it, it functions so differently from the norm that it needs an additional fuel source to power it. But then, why didn't these powers make themselves known with the rest of your quirk, or before it? Why did they only appear after the Hosu incident?" she wondered.
Plus, she could hear the vestiges as well. Did this mean that One for All had some sort of telepathic element to it?
She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Himiko, but this just has me stumped. If it were a normal quirk, then I'm sure that I'll be able to help. But this telepathy is new to me. The mechanics are so much different from what I'm used to. Eri can read the mind and speak to a machine with her mind, yet Ochaco can't. You can only read the minds of those within a few feet of you if you drank their blood, but you can intercept telepathic transmissions. It's almost like there are different variants of telepaths out there".
"Like speciation," Durandal said. "These telepaths, wherever they came from, might have, at one point, been related to the same species. But after hundreds of years, they evolved into separate branches, forming a new distinct subspecies. Not only will their bodies have changed to adapt to their surroundings, but their telepathic abilities may have changed as well. Forming a monophyletic group," he said. "Hell, these variants may not even be able to procreate with each other due to how different they are. But, this kind of bio-diversity among something like humans requires thousands of years of isolation".
"Two-thousand, seven-hundred and seventy-nine years," the voice of Rolls spoke into their minds before the girl in question flew up the side of the cliff. In several jumps, of course, since it was too high to make the jump in one go. She was also wearing her blazer. "That's how long it's been to the day since the great collapse".
"How long?" Durandal asked, having not heard the number.
"Right, forgot you have a synthetic as well," Rolls said as she walked over to Himiko. "Two thousand, seven-hundred and seventy-nine years".
"Wow. Yeah, that's enough time for speciation to happen," Durandal remarked.
"So, you're an alien, right?" Himiko remarked as Rolls walked over to her.
"Yep, I'm an alien," Rolls replied as she held some kind of crystal up to Himiko's head, which glowed an odd shade of red. She then glanced over towards Ochaco, who gave her a nod. 'Just the basics'. "We're called Sematicks. We look exactly like you humans, but our brains are far more developed than yours, allowing us to use psychic abilities like telepathy and telekinesis without the need for a quirk. There are about a hundred different variants of Sematicks, each one having different levels of telepathic abilities. And you are right, Durandal. The different variants can't procreate with each other. Ochaco and Himiko are both hybrids of different variants. Save for Izumi, she's very much human".
"Oh, thank god," Izumi said with a relieved sigh. That meant that both her parents were very much human. Great. She did not need being a hybrid on her plate. It was starting to get rather full right now. What with One for All, Durandal, All for One, knowing that aliens exist, all that stuff.
"Huh, so, I'm part alien then," Himiko said calmly. "When we get back to school, I'm going to call the police who handled my parents' arrest, because I'm starting to question the validity of my family tree".
"You seem oddly calm about this, Himiko," Ochaco remarked.
"I've already vented my panic about not being fully human," Himiko said. "Now all I need is some answers from my parents about which one of them isn't human, because I want to know which one of them gave me these bullshit powers that keep freaking me out! I can freak out about being an alien after I find out who's responsible for this!".
Ochaco nodded, that was a far placement of priorities.
"Damn, just what kind of telepath are you, Himiko?" Rolls asked, still holding the crystal up to Himiko. "I can tell that you're a hybrid, but I can't sense any form of telepathic ability from you".
"Do I look like I know?" Himiko asked with a shrug. "I didn't even know I had these powers until about a month ago, and all I know about myself is that I can magnetise blood towards me, read the minds of those I've transformed into at close range, intercept telepathic transmissions, and regenerate from fatal wounds, memories intact. Also, what is that crystal thing you're holding up to my face?"
"Well, I've never heard of a Sematick with abilities like yours before. Might need some help with finding out what variant of Sematick you are, because even I'm stumped," Rolls said, before shaking her head. "I'll have to call my dad, he may know more about this. As for the crystal, it's a scanning crystal. It's a medical device used to check on someone's soul".
"I'm sorry, check on someone's soul?" Durandal said, sounding confused. "Why do you guys even need a device to check those things?".
"Because there are 'things' out there that can damage and destroy them," Rolls replied as she pocketed the crystal. "Pray to any and every god out there that you never meet one. Because a damaged soul can not be repaired".
They all nodded, feeling slightly freaked out. If there were things out there that could damage or destroy a soul, then they had no interest in dealing with them. But knowing their luck and because they now know these things exist, they'll inevitably encounter one anyway because the universe hates them.
Fun.
"So, you have no idea what variant of Sematick I'm a hybrid of then?" Himiko asked, looking annoyed.
Rolls nodded. "I'm afraid not. I've never heard of a Sematick variant that has blood-fueled telepathy and can also intercept telepathic transmissions. If it was Eri I was examining, then I would know, there was a variant that could read the minds of what you would call Alpha-level AI, but they're all dead, ish. There's one known survivor of that variant running about. The pirate empress Paltheus, also known as 'Paltheus the god slayer'. Not someone you want around a child, by the way."
"God slayer," Ochaco said, looking confused. "How do you kill a god?"
"By ramming a starship into it," Rolls replied.
(Insert low-budget clip made in Gmod of the Enterprise ramming God).
"I should probably mention that our definition of a god is slightly different to yours," Rolls added. "Only slightly though. They're still absurdly powerful beings. They're just, real".
"I'm sorry, they're what?!" Durandal asked as the others gulped. This was nowhere near where they thought this discussion would go.
"Ok, so, let's put a pin in 'your gods are real' thing, as well as this 'Paltheus' woman, because I do not want to deal with those things today, thank you very much," Izumi said, not wanting an existential crisis brought about by knowing that godlike beings exist out there in the universe and that someone managed to kill one of the fucking things.
She wondered why Paltheus was called the 'pirate empress', but after killing a god, you can probably call yourself whatever the hell you want to; you got bragging rights after all.
"Save that till I need to know! Which is hopefully never," Izumi continued. "My puny human mind is not prepared to comprehend this stuff. And never mention Paltheus again, even though she may be from the same variant as Eri, I do not need her messing up my home! I live here, and I don't want someone who kills gods for a living to come here and mess it up".
"Same," Himiko said. "I am too panicked already learning that I'm not fully human, I do not need more things to panic me! So, Rolls. You mentioned something about a great collapse. What's that all about?" she asked, changing the subject to something less disturbing.
Rolls frowned. "The great collapse was the fall of the old Sematick Republic. Thousands of years ago, my species had a great empire that covered a small part of the galaxy, spanning the Abyss Cloud and Odysseus Cloud nebulas, and all the stars in between. And yes, that is small in comparison to the rest of the galaxy. But an empire that big isn't easy to run. The story of the collapse is a long one, one that would take days to explain due to just how much happened to cause it. So, to cut a very long story very short, our homeworld was dying, it was evacuated, and during the evacuation, the government fucked up! The republic collapsed violently. Every starship, every interstellar communication satellite, every space station, and so much more, was destroyed in a single day. No one knows how it happened, only that it did. Such was the devastation caused by the great collapse, it took two thousand years for the survivors to reinvent space travel".
"Two thousand years!" Izumi gasped. "How did it take you so long to reinvent spaceflight?".
"Simple, the old Republic limited starship construction to a single system," Rolls replied. "Everything that was required to build a ship, as well as the knowledge to build them, was confined to that one system. None of the necessary information was stored elsewhere, so it all had to be reinvented. The republic was run by idiots. They wanted to control everything from the homeworld, but the galaxy is so vast that even an empire the size of two nebulae was too much for them to control on their own, especially from the homeworld. And in the end, everything collapsed".
"It was the greatest mass extinction the galaxy had ever seen. Untold billions died, their deaths either quick or slow. It was the colonies that were on the uninhabitable worlds that suffered the most. People tried desperately to keep their colonies running, staving off their inevitable deaths as long as possible. But, they lacked the resources to maintain them; no ships meant that they could not gather the resources they needed. In the end, they fell into disrepair. A few did manage to survive the reach for the stars once again, but they were few. Only the colonies on habitable worlds survived the collapse. And even then, they had to reinvent almost everything. Out of thousands of colonies, only about one hundred survived to reach the stars again, building their empires within the corpse of the old Republic. There are a few other worlds that survived, but they regressed so much that they still haven't developed enough to develop space flight. Some worlds are still using sailing ships to traverse their world. We leave those alone".
Izumi, Ochaco and Himiko all stared wide-eyed as Rolls told her story. This great collapse sounded horrifying. It couldn't have been a pleasant time to live through, especially on the planets that needed domed colonies. She couldn't imagine how those people felt, trying to maintain their homes despite rapidly running out of the resources they needed to survive, holding onto life for as long as they could.
"Yeah, I can see how that could cause a species as complicated as yours to undergo speciation," Durandal said. "And here I thought the Avalon war was a senseless loss of life".
"Your little Avalon war pales in comparison to any war my species has fought ever since we went interstellar," Rolls said. "Entire worlds nuked into oblivion in senseless slaughters. War is so much more different when you have the threat of orbital bombardment looming over you during every battle".
"Don't let Ochaco get her hands on one of your ships then," Izumi said. "She'll try to create the Imperial Mochi Empire in real life".
Rolls blinked. "Imperial Mochi Empire?".
"It's my custom race in Stellaris," Ochaco replied nervously.
Rolls sighed. 'Of course you'll make an imperium, you crazy Imp.' "Well, don't worry about that. Combat-capable warships require hundreds of people to crew and would take months to even years to get here. Space is big after all, and it takes a long time to get anywhere".
"Oh, well, that's annoying," Ochaco said with an annoyed sigh. "There goes my idea of exploring the galaxy Star Trek style".
"Reality is often disappointing," Rolls said. "Our ships are slow, take days or weeks to get to wherever they need to be. Travel between star systems takes weeks, months, or even years to get anywhere important. We need to use tiny wormholes to send transmissions between star systems. And that's just in our 'small' part of the galaxy. If it wasn't for a convenient stable wormhole, it would take us over one hundred years to get here," she explained. "We don't even have inertia dampers, with 'jump' capable ships requiring to be designed to use both thrust gravity and centrifugal gravity. We are very much limited by the laws of physics".
Well, that answers the question of how these aliens build their starships. But then, how do they travel interstellar? And why did their ships need to use both thrust and centrifugal gravity?
Questions for another day. Her brain was already at max processing capacity. She could ask those questions later.
First things first. "Ok, let's promise to never tell Mei about the existence of aliens," Izumi said.
They all nodded. The last thing they needed was for the crazy inventor that was Mei to find out that aliens are real. Because knowing her, she'll be after that sweet, sweet alien technology.
They did not need her messing around with whatever these aliens used to travel between star systems.
"We should also probably head back now," Izumi said. "The others might get suspicious if we stay here any longer. We can go over more of this on a later date, I've got a lot to process already".
Himiko nodded. "Agreed. I've learned most of what I've wanted to learn. As well as a few things I wish I hadn't. We can cover more about this nonsense later, I need to sleep this off," she said before she turned to walk off.
Only to stop when she saw Eri and Kota peeking out from behind a rock.
They blinked, shocked to see the two young children just standing there, watching them.
"How did I fail to notice them?" Rolls wondered, having not sensed either child.
Durandal sighed. "Normally, we are so much better at hiding this kind of thing".
"How much did you two hear?" Izumi asked.
"Yes," Kota replied, looking rather nervous. Which translated to, 'I heard everything'.
Well. Bugger.
"Why are you even here?" Himiko asked.
"I wanted to show Eri my secret place," Kota replied, still looking nervous. "I didn't realise you found it as well".
"Who's this Paltheus lady?" Eri asked, a curious look in her eyes.
Izumi turned towards Rolls, an annoyed look on her face. "I blame you for this".
Rolls sighed. "I'll tell you about her. Later. Right now we need to get back to camp".
Eri nodded, an excited look on her face. Izumi had no idea why Eri was so interested in this woman. Check that, she did know, they had the same powers. She guessed she wanted to learn more about her, so that she may be able to get a better idea of how to control her powers.
She shook her head, she can deal with this later, she's got enough in her head already that she needs to process properly before she gets another info dump.
At least she knew what species Ochaco was a hybrid of. These Sematick's sounded interesting. They all had the same base powers, but after thousands of years, different variants with different levels of abilities sprang up.
They certainly had things easier than humanity did. Humans had to try and control a society full of billions of unique abilities that not everyone had. The Sematicks, on the other hand, only had to worry about one ability that they all had. She wanted to learn more about them, like what variants Ochaco, Himiko and Rolls were. But later, she was still processing what she learned today, not helped by learning that someone killed a god!
She can learn more about them later, like next year. She needs to rest her brain.
As they made their way back to the camp, they did not notice that they were being watched. Even Rolls, with her overpowered telepathy, failed to notice them.
Someone, wearing Humarise robes, watched them as they walked away. Well, watched would be an odd term to use, since underneath those robes was a mindless, soulless husk. Someone who had their soul, the very thing that made them 'them', gone, stripped away and consumed by something that knew nothing but hunger.
A hunger that could only be satiated by consuming the souls of others.
Unfortunately, for this consumer of souls, the souls of those around him were pathetic. Not like the ones he was used to. They were so weak and unfilling. Like a single grain of rice. It would take thousands to saturate his hunger, millions maybe. And on this world, that was an impossible task to do without being noticed. He was powerful, but there were limits to his powers. Especially now that his body was weakening. Everything had its limits after all, such as his body.
He needed a new one. Younger, stronger, and free from the toxin that was killing it. Thankfully for him, there was a fresh one he could use.
The robed figure collapsed into its base components, its purpose complete.
His new body had been selected. Now all he needed to do was take it!
Meanwhile, on I-Island.
A loud bang echoed across the testing room.
Toshinori smiled, his fist smashed against a training dummy built to withstand his punches. A hole blasted straight through it.
He smiled as he looked down at the gauntlet on his right arm. With a simple flex of his arm, the gauntlet shifted and compressed into a bracelet that blended in with his suit. "Perfect! You really outdid yourself this time, David! All for One won't know what hit him!".
"Glad you liked it," David said as he walked over. "I made a few modifications to the original design, such as the compact mode. Should be hard for All for One to detect. Unless he can read your mind, he won't see it coming".
"Don't count on it," Toshinori said. "He has probably gathered thousands of quirks over the years. He just might have one," he said. 'Plus, he may have Mirai's Foresight quirk. I can't let him make eye contact with me. If he has eyes, that is. I should ask David for a tinted visor'.
"Noted. I'll give you a telepath blocker, just in case," David said. "Still, why did you ask for only one gauntlet capable of firing one shot? Wouldn't a gauntlet with multiple shots be better?".
"I'll only get one shot, David," Toshinori said as he shrank down to his weaker form. "If I miss, All for One will not give me a second shot. I need to hit him with the first shot. Besides, we only have a few quirk erasing bullets, and we can't make more, not without torturing a young girl".
David nodded. "Yes, what happened to Eri was despicable. How could a man do something like that to a young girl?".
"Unfortunately, there are people like that out there," Toshinori said with a frown. "People who don't care about the suffering of others, and use others to their own selfish ends. That's why we heroes exist, to deal with such people and help those they hurt".
David nodded. "Well, I'm glad she's being looked after by someone who actually cares for her".
Toshinori nodded. Eri was safe, and if Kai Chisaki ever tried to take her back, well. Let's just say that almost everyone in UA wanted a piece of him.
"Oh yeah, Izumi's new hero costume is coming along nicely," David added. "It should be ready for her by the time the next term starts".
"That's great," Toshinori said with a smile. Izumi's current one was, well, he had no qualms with those heroes who wanted a sexy costume; it was just, well, he questioned why she wore it. At least she'll be able to get a new, less sexy costume this time. "Hey, by the way, where's Melissa?".
"Oh, she's working on some little side project of hers," David replied. "Not sure what it is, she won't tell anyone, not even me. She's only got robots working on it. But that's probably to be expected. Her kind do prefer to use robots for their projects".
Toshinori nodded. Cardrians did like using machines and robots for almost all of their hard labour. They kind of needed to, since their own population was quite small. Half a billion individual swarms, and that's just the Cardrians. Counting the other five races from their homeworld, it only counts up to three billion. A small number compared to humanity's eight billion, and absolutely tiny compared to some of the other races out there.
It's no surprise, then, that they use an ungodly number of robots and droids. They just don't have the population required to maintain an empire that spans over a hundred star systems.
"Yeah, that sounds like Melissa," Toshinori said. "She always did prefer working with and on robots. Although I may be partially responsible for that," he frowned, remembering how badly he had treated Melissa during the early years, and how undeserving she was of that treatment.
"Just don't make the same mistake with your successor, alright," David said before he removed the gauntlet from Toshinori's arm. "She's not like you, you know. She's fragile. I fear if you push her too far, she'll break," he said as he examined the gauntlet. "There are still a few adjustments that I need to make", he said before he walked off. "I'll be done soon, I promise".
Toshinori nodded as David walked off with the gauntlet. All for One was still out there, and Izumi was nowhere near ready to deal with him. He had to be the one to finish him off! He could not let Izumi be the one to face him, he wouldn't give her time to be ready, not this time.
'Don't worry, Izumi, you will become a hero. I just know it'.