My Titan Academia

Chapter 5: Crystalline

  Izuku and Uraraka entered the building through a window on the second floor. Uraraka floated herself, while Izuku hardened his fingers to scale the wall.

  They crept almost soundlessly down the corridor, Uraraka's heels being the only thing making noise.

  Izuku peeked around the corner, motioning for Uraraka to follow. They paused, listening to the sudden series of explosions getting louder.

  Izuku turned to Uraraka.

  "I was right, he's racing off ahead without a plan. Iida would be a far better scout, due to his speed. I'll distract Kacchan, like we talked about. Take your boots off and leave them round the corner, they aren't very stealthy." He whispered.

  Uraraka nodded, quickly slipping her boots off and leaving them behind.

  The duo continued forwards, approaching the source of the explosions.

  They rounded the corner, and there he was.

  "Deku!!" Katsuki shouted.

  "Kacchan." Izuku said.

  "Come on, fight me! I want a rematch, where we can go all out!"

  "Alright. Uraraka, will you be alright going for the bomb?" He asked.

  She nodded, giving her teammate a smile.

  "I won't let you down!" She said.

  Izuku watched as she ran past Katsuki. The blonde didn't even react to her.

  The blonde got into a ready stance, while Izuku crouched down, his hands hovering over the ground.

  Katsuki made to take a step forwards, but couldn't touch the ground.

  "Huh??" He looked down.

  Izuku waited for Uraraka to retreat a few meters before activating his hardening, covering the walls, floor and ceiling. He blocked the corridor off behind himself with a wall of blue crystal, and raced past the fuming and rather desperate blonde, turning and erecting another crystalline wall, with a small barred window.

  Uraraka released her quirk, listening to the "oof" from within the explosion-proof prison.

  "Deku!! Let me outta here!! Fight me properly damnit!!" The blonde fumed.

  Izuku and Uraraka ran up to the next floor, searching for the bomb. They found it, in a large empty room with Iida guarding it.

  "It's impossible to sneak around while he's so guarded against everything, so I'll act as a distraction while you slowly go around each pillar." Izuku said.

  Uraraka nodded, remaining behind the pillar, while Izuku stepped out.

  "Greetings hero! I... Did not expect you to be here so soon. What happened to Bakugo?" Villain Iida asked.

  Izuku chuckled.

  "Kacchan's in timeout. Uraraka and I worked together to take him out, but she got blasted pretty badly. Now, Villain, I am here to take you down!" Izuku said.

  Villain Iida chuckled, adjusting his glasses.

  "I see.. so his rashness was indeed his downfall.. however! I shall not let you get to the weapon Hero! I will fight to my very last bre-"

  "HERO TEAM WINS!"

  "-ath..?"

  Iida spun around, looking at the weapon.

  Uraraka stood there, a single finger touching the paper mache.

  "Sorry Iida..." She laughed.

  Iida fell to his knees dramatically.

  Izuku sighed.

  "You got too into it Iida. You acted like a true villain would, you monologued and got distracted. If you had attacked me, I wouldn't have been able to beat you. I used most of my strength on Kacchan's cage." He informed the downcast student.

  Izuku, Iida and Uraraka wandered back down the halls, arriving at Katsuki's crystal prison.

  Iida snorted, covering his face and looking away.

  Izuku was grinning, watching the rabid blonde gnaw on the bars.

  "You can't eat that Kacchan." Izuku laughed.

  "I've seen you eat it, this is how I'm going to get out!!" He raged.

  Izuku hardened his fist, punching the wall and watching it shatter into pieces.

  "I can eat it because I made it. It's just crystallised energy. If someone without my quirk ate a jagged piece, their insides would get shredded."

  Katsuki promptly stopped gnawing on a chunk of his prison.

  Izuku collected up the sizeable pieces that hadn't been slobbered on by Katsuki and returned to the viewing room.

  "Ah, welcome back young Midoriya. Now that he is here, who can tell me who the MVP of this match was?" All Might asked.

  Yayorozu raised her hand.

  "I believe it was Midoriya. He created both plans to beat both opponents, and carried them out alongside Uraraka with excellent teamwork."

  All Might nodded.

  "Yes, I agree. But.. young Midoriya, I have to ask.. why are you eating that..?"

  Izuku paused, a chunk of crystal in his mouth.

  "Eh-nr-gee" he mumbled around the crystal.

  He crunched into the crystal then swallowed.

  "The crystal I make with hardening is just crystallised energy. I can either rest for a day and get topped back up, or I can just eat the crystals, taking the energy needed back into my body. Sometimes I eat it out of a bag to pass the time."

  Izuku picked up a chocolate bar sized chunk from the pile at his feet, biting a piece off.

  "Itsh achtually rlly gud." He shaid.

  The class returned to the lesson, doing their best to ignore Izuku's crystal addiction.

 
  _________________________________

  Izuku, Iida and Uraraka left UA together again, heading to the train station.

  Izuku had a carrier bag full of hardening chunks collected from the battlefield.

  Iida was eyeing his friend warily, as he kept reaching into the bag absentmindedly and munching on the crystal shards.

  "Midoriya, you have a problem."