A Tarnished Hero

Izuku breathed in deeply as he reclined on a chair, the rest of the students behind him quietly observing the feeds being broadcasted via the various drones and cameras that littered the area. Kendo and Tokage's squad were going at it, with Kendo in the lead as she slapped one of her classmates into a concrete wall.

Said student growled as he pried himself off from the concrete, his furred body reminding him of the Leonine Misbegotten he fought in the Weeping Peninsula. Shishida – if he recalled his name correctly – roared and rushed Kendo with vengeance, all previous signs of a civilized person tossed to the wayside as he assumed the stance of a rabid beast.

"Woah, I knew Shishida sometimes lost control, but I haven't seen him become straight up feral." A voice from the class piqued his interest. Turning his head, he zeroed in on a brunette boy who was looking at the screens with barely contained awe. His name was Tsuburaba – at least that's what he remembered from the class list. "Damn, he's wailing on her."

Various murmurs of agreement followed his remark. A brief glance at the feed showed why. Kendo no doubt had practice with her Quirk, taking into account the sudden increase in mass as well as surface area of her hands whenever she used it, but against a man who was strong enough to literally not care about the force being smacked against him, it did jack shit.

She tried to apply her knowledge in martial arts, but to no avail, the feral teen proving that martial arts did nothing against overwhelming strength. Kendo was swatted away this time, but before Shishida could follow-up, numerous vines held him in its vice grip, its thorns prickling him in every part of his body.

The feral teen roared and growled as he struggled to get them off, but a quick slap of a capture tape on his wrists signaled him out of the match.

"Woooo!" The class cheered as they saw the end of the sudden altercation. The feed showed that Tokage's team withdrew to fight another day, with Kendo heaving in deep breaths of air as she struggled to her feet.

Smiling, Izuku nodded to himself. The students were shaping up to be fine combatants. Tokage would surely have some problems directing her team after that failed ambush, but it was all part of the exercise.

To see if they have what it takes to lead under pressure. It went great for Kendo this time, but who knows what might happen in the next fight. After all, battles are unpredictable.

Time became a blur as the match continued, with Tokage doing her best to derail Kendo's group with hit and run tactics. It was made infinitely easier because her quirk made it possible to get a bird's eye view of the entire arena, making it harder for Kendo's team to run from sight.

As they neared the extraction point, a new mechanic made itself known. The VIPs that they were escorting suddenly fell to the floor. This caused no small amount of confusion and panic amongst Kendo's group, while Tokage saw this as an opportunity to wrap things up.

The moment the VIPs' knees met the ground, Tokage gave the all clear to rush the panicking group. Not ready for the sudden assault, Kendo's group floundered for a brief moment until they were all captured by a grinning Tokage, who had separated and floated her hands amidst the confusion to tie their wrists with the capture tape.

All in all, the exercise was a success. Now it was time to call in the next group so they could be tested next.

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The whole afternoon was spent with the students all going at one another with wild abandon, all the while Izuku observed and took note of their strengths, weaknesses, tactical ability, and creative thinking. Overall, he had a good grasp on each of the students' physical and mental profile. At least, when it came to fighting and escorts.

Sadly, none of them tried to kill the VIPs. One team was able to take one of the VIPs hostage, but they didn't destroy them. Did his words really have that much of an impact? What if he didn't say the word, 'kill'? Would they then try to destroy the VIPs as fast as possible to prevent further losses?

It was mind-boggling how brainwashed the students here were when it came to morals and ethics. Out there, in the cold, cold world, villains wouldn't care about the lives lost. If this was a real scenario, the VIPs would surely be dead right about now.

Palming his face, Izuku sighed to himself. Despite their competence at combat, they still had a long way to go if they wanted to make it in their careers. No matter how hard some of his temporary colleagues try to hide it, Izuku could see it in their eyes. They all had bad days, and some days, it took something from them that would never be returned.

"Not a big deal, they'll grow out of it once they get their first taste of criminal activity." Izuku muttered, a hint of frustration seeping into his voice as he bid the students goodbye, most of them hunched down as they slowly made their way to Recovery Girl's infirmary. 

The old heroine held one hell of a grudge against him, and he fueled it even more by sending her a batch of bruised and beaten students every time he held one of his more physical exercises.

"Now then, care to show yourselves? The kids aren't here anymore." Izuku called out to one of the buildings, the shadows darkening the interior making it impossible to see it from the outside. An amused snort echoed from the once thought empty building, a tall figure slowly emerging from the shadows.

"Been a while, eh? Izuku." Izuku's eyes widened when he saw the familiar snout of the man who he counted as a friend in that dreaded continent. "Not where I thought you'd be after missing for a few weeks, teaching whelps like those with not an iota for killing."

"What the wolf said." And his face scrunched up the moment he saw Patches and his big shiny head peer through the open door. "Aw, don't look at me like that. Why not give your ol' chum here a great big hug? Oh, right, by the way, Rya is still waiting for her item."

"... Ah… I knew I was forgetting something." Izuku scratched the back of his head, fully aware he had made a big mistake. "It's still with me, just got stuck in my homeland because of something I didn't know was even possible."

"Ah, are you perhaps speaking of the strange black portal that sucked us as well?" Izuku nodded at Blaidd's question, the wolf man grunting at the affirmation. "Hm, quite a problem, eh? Stuck in a strange place, far from the Lands Between. Dare I say it feels like a different realm altogether."

"Ah, yeah, about that." Blaidd's eyes widened just a tad when Izuku began to speak. "We are currently in our homeland of Japan. Which, as you can see, is very far from the Lands Between. I've been stuck here for weeks, while also consulting some of the Tarnished in the Roundtable Hold on how to get back."

"So, what you're saying is, we're stuck here for an indefinite amount of time?" Blaidd looked a bit distraught, his fingered gauntlets twitching ever so slightly.

"Well, that puts a dent in my plans." Patches grumbled to himself, but otherwise, seemed not that much put-off by the sudden turn of events. "Well, anyways, as long as you're here, it means that my shop is still open for business!" His face morphed into a frown for a moment. "Well, until I can get stock of my items, until then, Patches' Emporium will remain closed."

"There is just one problem with that, Patches." Izuku's words caught the bald man's attention. "This place isn't like the Lands Between. You can't just loot people here, otherwise, the authorities in charge of the functioning government will haul your ass to the nearest dungeon."

"... There's a functioning Order here?" Patches pursed his lips, hand coming to rub against his bald head. "That puts a dent in my plans, then…"

"Oh, yeah, one more thing." Izuku turned around and beckoned for them to follow. "We might want you to get settled with one of the main people running this entire school."

"School? You mean like the Academy of Raya Lucaria?" Blaidd asked while striding along, Patches following suit, completely lost but doing his best to look unaffected.

"Yeah, you could say that, but instead of learning about magic, they mostly learn about society, history, some laws and rules, and the most important of all, combat."

"So, a knightly school, eh?" Patches grinned, hand coming up to rub his bald head, the harsh sun rays stinging against his shiny dome.

"... Not that far off, the name's different though." Izuku knew his next words were gonna get some laughs from the slimeball, and with the added context of the Lands Between, it was understandable. "It's a hero school."

"... What?" Patches had the look of a gobsmacked commoner that had lost all hints of sanity. "A… Hero school… You're not joking, are you?"

"As much as I wish I was, nope. The institution I am currently teaching at is a bonafide hero school." It was silent for all of five seconds, before Patches burst into a laughing fit. Even Blaidd wasn't exempt from this, an amused snort coming from his snout as he towered over them.

This continued for a few more seconds, the three of them moving on even as one of them howled like he was going to die of lack of breath. Once Patches finally calmed down, Izuku found it the best time to break it to them.

"Alright, you got that all out of your system?" If Patches wheezing was any indicator, it meant that yes, he was done. "Good, because here's the hard part. Since both of you are here, I'll have to let the principal know. Not that I really need to since he has the entire place on his watch 24/7."

"Why, you know me too well, Midoriya." Nezu's voice echoed through the entire area, spooking both Blaidd and Patches, the half-wolf growling and drawing his greatsword while the bald man cowered behind the tall figure, his weapons nowhere in sight. "Why, I do apologize for spooking two of your guests, but you must know after what had happened in the USJ, we can't be too careful with our security details."

"Who was that?" Blaidd glared at anything and everything, nose twitching as he tried to smell anything that was off in the environment.

"The principal." Izuku commented, not too bothered by their reactions. It was a given that they would react this way. "So, Nezu, mind if I brought these two to your office?"

"Yes, I would at this time." This got Izuku to raise his eyebrow. "At the moment, there are still students roaming the halls. I would like your two guests to remain unknown to the student body for the time being. Can't have them spreading the word about two sudden appearances, one of which looking armed to the teeth."

"... Yeah, that's understandable." Izuku hummed and gestured for Blaidd to lower his weapon. The wolf-man looked a bit apprehensive, but Izuku's demeanor made him agree and sheathe his greatsword. Patches still cowered behind him, though. "So, what are we supposed to do? Wait?"

"Yes. I'll give you a call once the school is empty enough." Izuku looked at both Blaidd and Patches, Nezu's proclamation giving him a few ideas to burn time. "In the meantime, you can do whatever you want, so long as you don't damage the area too much, as well as make too much noise enough to be heard in the main school grounds."

"Alright then. See you later, Nezu." Giving a mock salute to one of the cameras littering the area, Izuku turned back to the two who were looking at him with confused looks. "So… Wanna spar?"

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Nezu sat upon his throne made of soft cushions and heightened legs, paws tapping against the smooth surface of his desk. He reached for his cup full of tea and took a gentle sip, his honed technique making sure that it didn't spill onto his pristine clothes.

He brought a paw to his head, head throbbing as he thought of the future headaches he was going to have thanks to Midoriya's… unforeseen guests. If it was just the bald human, he could spin dozens of tales since he looked harmless enough. The wolf-mutant, however, was harder. 

From what he'd seen while looking through the lenses of various cameras around the school, he managed to see how they managed to arrive in his school: Teleportation.

He was this close to calling for an emergency, only to stay in hand once he noticed them just looking at the gaggle of students led by Midoriya, or more specifically, at Midoriya himself. It made him wonder if they had some sort of past with each other.

Sighing to himself, Nezu leaned back into his seat, paws covering his face. If word of this gets out, no doubt the media would immediately hound them about the safety precautions they had set-up after the USJ incident. If one was able to teleport within – inside their school grounds, no less – it would be a scandal unlike any other.

It was imperative that what happened doesn't get out into the masses. The public already has fewer brain cells than they have their average IQ. Just imagining them jumping onto the bandwagon that their most prestigious hero academy wasn't fit to teach their children was going to be a nightmare. The HPSC was already brainwashing them, Nezu didn't need even more of their brain slop seeping into the masses.

He moved his paw towards one of the buttons present underneath his desk. Pressing it, he cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone hidden within the desk.

"Eraserhead, kindly come up to my office, will you? Also, bring Midnight with you. We have a special case of code 1 - 1 AC." Letting go of the button, Nezu took another sip of his tea, only to find it empty. Pressing the button once more, he spoke into the microphone. "Also, please bring with you another box of tea, I'm all out, unfortunately."

Done with relaying his orders, Nezu waited for the time the two entered his office. Checking the time, it was just shy of 5:00 PM. That would signal the end of most club activities, thus leaving the school a barren wasteland during the night.

That would be the optimal time to go meet Izuku's guests. A smile formed on his snout as he recalled the first time he met Midoriya. Maybe they could be of use with his plans going into the future. Only time will tell, however.

Ohohoho… He couldn't wait for them to meet.

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A/N: Feeling a bit lethargic this week.

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