Showdown! The Best of the Best

Chapter Twenty-Four

When the battered Boy Wonder and the decently unscathed Zoldyck returned to where the heroes had made camp, the group stood at the ready. Deku and Danny stood at the front of the congregation, the former with his arms crossed. The conglomerate of heroes stood fanned behind them in either direction. Danny's brow narrowed as he saw that Robin was battered and bruised, and his gaze shifted to Killua, eyes silently searching for answers.

"What happened?" He demanded.

Killua held up a hand in a meaningful gesture for Danny to let it go. "I took care of it."

Danny's head turned, following Robin, as the sidekick limped pathetically into the hero's ranks. Some quiet murmurs transpired between himself and Starfire, which Danny could not decipher, but their talk ended with the alien princess smacking Robin upside the head. Aela snorted in amused delight. As this was taking place, Deku came up alongside Danny, his face pinched with worry.

"I think we should say something to the others before this goes down," he suggested.

Danny gave him a sidelong look. "Any ideas?"

Deku's face recoiled with shock, as if he'd been insulted. "Me? I mean...no? I've never really been much of a...a leader."

Danny turned his knowing green eyes on Deku, trying to assemble the words to reassure him. Frankly, Danny had never been much of a leader, himself. The only time he could have ever truly said he'd led something was the effort to save the world when the Disasteroid had threatened the lives of everyone on the planet. He'd spearheaded a global effort to turn the earth intangible so the asteroid would go right through. But, even then, he had never felt like a leader. Hell, he'd never felt like a hero, either. 

He had simply been doing what he had to do. 

Danny analyzed the aspiring hero who wasn't much older than himself carefully.

"You're telling me you've never been in a situation where you had to be the leader that you never expected yourself to be?" Danny asked.

Deku's eyes trailed off, studying the forest around them. "Well..."

"Midoriya," Danny insisted, putting a hand on his shoulder supportively. "I don't buy it."

Deku's eyes shut, and he felt a tide of honor and bravery surge within him. He still knew almost nothing about Danny Phantom's deeds, but, ever since their brief battle upon arrival in Kringle's Realm, which felt like a forever ago, he had learned much about the hero's character. Any hero in the Hero Association back in Deku's world, be it Endeavor, or Hawks, or Ectoplasm, would be honored to have someone like the Ghost Boy in their agency. Hell, he considered, Danny could probably have an agency of his own, if he weren't so young.

"Yeah, well," Izuku sighed, also putting his hand on the fellow hero's shoulder. "You'd make just as good of a leader as me."

Danny smirked. "Okay, how about this?"

He thrust out a fist, and Deku knew what he was getting at pretty much immediately.

"Rock, paper, scissors," he beckoned. "Loser makes the speech."

Deku raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Oh, you are so on."

The two heroes had an honorable duel. In practice, the thoughts that both had had about how similar they were proved true as they had to go at it several times. Eventually, a winner was determined. Deku took the clutch, with his scissors crushing Danny's rock. Giving Deku a wry grin, Danny nodded, sighing deeply.

"Okay."

He turned to face the crowd. 

"Okay, people, this is it!" He exclaimed, taking heart as the heroes seemed to perk up. "The plan here is simple:  take out Kringle's forces, charge his base, find the remainder of Clockwork's amulets, and destroy them! The Kriegbots are advancing, so this is about to be the first part of that plan!