Chapter Text
Blood pooled under her as she slumped against the massive door. Her clothes were shredded, her green hair soaked in crimson.
There was a loud pounding from the other side of the door, but it wouldn’t give. The sword jammed into the hinges made sure of that.
She looked up, watching as the monsters approached. She knew this was the end. This is where she would die. But at least this way, others would live. And that alone was enough for her to crack a smile.
The monsters were almost upon her, stalking towards their prey.
She couldn’t stand, her legs had given up a while ago. So, she used all her strength to pick up another sword.
With determination in her eyes, Izumi Midoriya raised the blade towards the beasts. “Bring it"
One of the monsters lunged at her, and the world began to slow down as it closed in, claws inches away from her face..............
[3 Hours Earlier]
“Just 10 more minutes. Just need to hold on a little longer" Izumi thought to herself, as she pretended to listen to what the teacher was saying.
He was going on about career paths, about all the opportunities the students had ahead of them. At least they had that luxury.
He must have taken notice of how disinterested they all were, as he stopped, and looked over the class
“I can see none of you are really care, do you? Cause you all want to be Heroes right!?” he tossed the papers he was holding into the air, as the class suddenly erupted into cheers, Quirks going off around the room.
Izumi looked up, watching as her classmates displayed their powers. All of them wanted to be Heroes, though she honestly doubted all of them would. Pulling eyes out of their sockets isn’t that useful after all.
A loud explosion sounded out, and all the students went quiet.
“You guys as Heroes?. Don’t make me laugh. I doubt most of you losers would get past the Hero exams" a loud, arrogant voice that Izumi recognized all to well called out, his hand still smoking.
Katsuki Bakugou, Izumi’s former best friend.
“Hey screw you Bakugou!”
“Yeah what the hell man!?”
“You think you better than us!?”
But Katsuki turned around, wearing a cocky grin “I don’t think I’m better, I know I’m better than you scrubs. Because unlike all of you, I aced all of the UA mock exams, and, I’m one of the only Awakened in this school and a an S-Rank at that! So yeah, you just don’t even compare to me”
The teacher nodded approvingly “Yes Bakugou, you have quite an impressive Hunting Record as well. 8 A-Rank Dungeons raids this week I believe?”
“Damn right teach. So yeah, I am better than all of you. I’m the only one here who’s getting into UA!” He boasted.
The teacher nodded, before looking down at one of the papers still on his desk “Oh, Miss Midoriya, your planning on going to UA as well?”
As soon as he said that, there was a deafening silence in the room. Everyone’s heads turned to Izumi, which on it’s own made her want to crawl up into a ball and pretend she didn’t exist.
“Midoriya? UA? Don’t make me laugh!”
“She’s got to be joking right? As if she has chance!”
“A Quirkless E-Rank as a Hero!? As if! Get your head out of the clouds!”
“Does she think she’s better than us or something!?”
BANG!
Another explosion sounded off, once again sending the class into silence. Green eyes met red as Katsuki stared directly at Izumi.
After what felt like a minute, Katsuki turned away, and the teacher took that moment to continue where he left off.
Class had finally come to an end, and Izumi was one of the last to leave.
She packed her stuff into her bag, but a she went to pick up her notebook, it vanished in the blink of an eye. She looked up, seeing Katsuki holding the notebook, looking down at her.
“Hero/Hunter Notes for the Future Volume 14? Damn, that many already huh Deku?” He said. He sounded calm, but Izumi knew him better than anyone, and she could sense he was angry.
“You still want to be a Hero Deku? Didn’t I make it clear by now you ain’t got a chance of being a Hero?”
Izumi sighed. They had had this conversation countless times before. “I wasn’t applying for the Hero Course. I applied for the General Support Course”
The General Support course was different from the Support and General Courses. The General Course was simply a form of higher Education, which also focused on helping Students find a suitable career path. The Support Course involved creating new technologies, mainly for Hero Support Gear, and after the emergence of Hunters, creating Mana infused weapons to hunt magical beasts. The General Support course was mixture of both. It mainly focused on higher education, but it also sought to teach students how to create Support Gear and Weapons, rather than expecting them to already know.
Katsuki still didn’t look impressed, though his anger seemed to lessen “Fine. But why the hell are you still going on Dungeon Raids?”
“We’ve been over this. I haven’t got a choice. I need to money Kacchan” She shot back.
“And if your die? Who’s gonna look after your Mom huh? Your all she’s got left!”
Izumi looked down at her hands, unable to give him an answer. She knew he was right, but it wasn’t like she had any other option. “Just, leave Kacchan. Please"
He sneered, and threw her notebook on the desk with a loud smack!. He turned and left without another word, only stopping the door for a moment to look at her one last time. He glared at her for a few seconds, before finally leaving.
After a few seconds, she sighed a breath of release. “Well that could have gone worse" Izumi knew Katsuki meant well(?), but she didn’t have any other opinion but to be a Hunter. There wasn’t any other job that paid the bills Izumi needed to pay.
Izumi took a quick look at her watch, and quickly finished collecting her things. The green haired girl then swiftly jogged out of the room, heading for the school gates “I need to hurry! If I miss my train, I won’t be able to participate in the Raid!”
(Engine Street, Hosu City)
Engine Street was as busy as it normally was this time of day, or as normal as it could be with a 9 foot tall Gate in the middle of it. Despite the Despite the fact there was a portal that lead to a dimension of monsters and beats that would kill humans without a second thought, people just treated it like a tourist attraction, taking photos from the other side of a police cordon.
Near the portal entrance, inside of the of the local cafe, stood a figure, dressed in a bright red spacesuit. Upon closer inspection, one would see what appeared to be armoured plating interwoven with the suit. Next to them was a large war hammer leaning up the side if their chair. As the Red Astronaut looked through the news on their phone, a female voice called out.
“Hey, Shoichi!”
The Space man, Shoichi, looked up from his phone to see his friend, Pipi Vesper walking towards him. She was 17, a year younger than himself. Pipi looked much like a bat, with pointed ears, black eyes and a nose to match. She wore a dark purple hoodie, a pair of rough looking trousers, and black boots.
Shoichi raised his hand, waving back to her. Pipi walked over and gave him a hug. “It’s great to see you! Feels like forever since we went on a Raid together!” She said as Shoichi returned the hug.
“It was only last month Pipi. But I does feel like longer. How have you been?”
“Not bad I guess. Trying to fit studying in after exams is a freaking nightmare” she replied, massaging her temples.
“Hah! Sorry to say it doesn’t get any easier. I would know after all. But you did well with the mock exams, so just keep studying and you’ll make it in” Shoichi reassured the bat girl.
Pipi smiled back at him “Thanks Shoichi. So, who else is here today?”
“Well apart from us there’s Ono, who’s a Tanker like me, but he’s a D-Rank. We have Hangu, he’s an E-Rank Fighter. Then there’s Aza and Kurēn, their both D-Rank Fighters. Bingu and Rūpu, we’ve worked with before"
“Their both Assassin Class right? D-Ranks as well I think. Brother and Sister?”
“Yeah that’s them. After that we have Surasiu, she’s a E-Rank Assassin. There’s a girl I know called Jiku who’s a C-Rank Ranger. She’s quite polite. Then there’s Hotai. He’s a Healer like you. D-Rank. Then we got Janpu, he’s a C-Rank Mage, though I hear he’s a newbie. Then there’s Hako, she’s a E-Rank Tank. And finally we got Aita, he’s a E-Rank to, a Ranger.
“So that makes 3 Fighters, 3 Tanks, 3 Assassins, 2 Rangers, 2 Healers and a Mage. That’s not bad. Good Offence and Defence all round”
Shoiash nodded, before leaning over slightly, looking past Pipi and out the window “I’d make that 4 Fighters”
Pipi turned around, quickly spotting a familiar bush of green hair.
A few seconds later, Izumi walked in, clearly out of breath. “Hey guys" she greeted as she sat down. She was wearing a plain black zip up hoodie with green pants and her usual red shoes.
“Hey Izumi. How’s it going?” Pipi asked her.
“Well, considering I had to get here from Musuatfu doing school hour? And find a place to get changed on route? I’ve been better thanks”
Both Pipi and Shoichi gave a small giggle to that, but they both knew how Izumi felt. Being a Hunter had it’s time constraints after all.
Just as they were about to continue talking, one of the Hunters from outside came in, walking over to them.
She had dark green hair tied up in an neat bun, with contrasting bright yellow eyes. She wore a dark blue jacket with matching pants, and small hand held crossbow at her hip. “Hey Shoichi, everybody else is getting ready to enter” She spoke in a quiet tone.
Shoichi nodded “Thanks Jiku, we’ll just be a moment. Oh Pipi this is Jiku, the Ranger I was telling you about. Jiku this is Pipi”
Jiku turned to the bat girl, extending her hand, “Ah Pipi, Shoichi has told me a lot about you”
“Good things I hope” she laughed as she shook Jiku's hand.
“Nothing but. And hello to you Izumi”
“Hey Jiku, keeping busy?”
“As always” Jiki sighed “Anyway I’ll see you all outside. It was nice meeting you Pipi”
“Same to you!”
As Jiku left the Cafe, the three Hunters quickly gathered their stuff and left, joining the group waiting outside the Gate.
After 5 minutes, the group began to enter, disappearing into the portal.
Though as Izumi approached, she couldn’t help but shake the strange feeling brewing in her stomach.
“It’s just nerves" she thought. But it didn’t help her feel any better.
As they passed through the Gate, the group had no idea what awaited them.