To Be A Hero...

Chapter 12: (Not) Good Enough

Name: Dabi

Quirk: Cremation, his quirk grants him the ability to generate blue flames from his body instantaneously, expelling them at will from any part body with minimum effort. His flames are extremely hot, and due to their blue coloration. He can also combust anything he touches, including materials such as wood, rock, and cement.

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"Wow! I even get to go!? I'm so happy I could explode. I can't wait to see Uraraka and the others. I want to see what they can really do." Izuku giggled, creeping out the scarred villain who was sitting next to him.

Dabi crossed his arms and looked at the floor. "You are really obsessed with those students."

Izuku tilted his head. "Of course I am. They are being taught by All Might. I've admired him since I was little. I'm glad Stain felt the same way about All Might being worthy, I want to see how his students end up. One boy in particular."

"Who?"

"I like to call him Kacchan. He's narcissistic and only cares about being number one. He is smart and strong but his mindset is totally unlike a hero's. I'm not surprised that the league chose him." Izuku clenched his fists. He had to assist in kidnapping his friend, someone he admired when he was younger. He didn't like the idea but he knew he couldn't speak up about it.

Dabi stared at the ceiling. "Oh, I see. You're curious to see if he actually joins us. I didn't know that you knew him."

"Yeah...I'm unsure about his motives. He's so devoted to being the number one hero and I don't think Shiguraki knows just how determined he is." Izuku played with his hair, his green roots had begun to show. He'd have to dye it soon.

"Shouldn't you tell him?" The blue eyed villain crossed his arms, still staring at the ceiling as if he were deep in thought.

Izuku sighed. "I tried, he didn't believe me...the master didn't believe me either. They really think Kacchan is going to join us."

"Well, this is all speculation. Let's just go through with it and see how it ends. If he refuses, we'll make him join us." Dabi grinned, his grin sent shivers down Izuku's spine.

"Right. Well, I'm gonna go do some training. I have to train twice as hard to catch up to you and Toga!" He forced a smile on his face and left the room, heading out of the hidden bar and to a nearby park. It was nearing midnight so not many people were out, leaving him the chance to train in peace.

He sat on a bench after an hour of training, taking a short break. He drank some water and sighed. 'Not enough. I need to get stronger. I need to be strong enough to help Stain...I need to help him escape.' He set his water bottle down and went back to training.

He practiced his knife techniques, he practiced his flips, his punches, his kicks. He ran to train his stamina. He practiced his knife throwing. He just trained and trained until he finally collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. He clenched his fists around the hilts of his knives, it wasn't enough.

"So...tired..." He used a tree to support himself as he got up. He sheathed his knives and grabbed his water bottle. "Need sleep..." He stumbled his way back to the league's hideout.

'Not enough.'

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Bakugou sighed as he sat on the bus, it was finally time for the training camp but Bakugou wasn't too happy about it. Being away from civilization meant that he couldn't continue his search for Deku. He tapped his foot as he thought over all the evidence and clues that he did have, trying to make sense of it all.

Why would Deku run away?

Where would he go?

What was he doing?

These questions filled his mind as he tried to fit all the puzzle pieces together. Besides the Deku situation, he was on edge after meeting 'Haru', he didn't know why but he didn't trust that guy at all. He looked so much like Deku but at the same time seemed like a different person. He had a feeling that Haru was connected to Deku's disappearance somehow.

"Bro, you've been tapping your foot for a while. You okay?" Kirishima looked worriedly at his friend.

Bakugou stopped tapping his foot. "I'm fine, just trying to wrap my head around my theories about that dumb Deku."

Kirishima frowned. "You call him dumb and you call him Deku but you're still going out of your way to look for him."

"I may hate him and I may have said something...bad...but I didn't mean for him to go missing. I've known him and his mom since I was born, it's weird without his annoying self following me around all the time."

"Sounds like you care about him and Miss Inko a lot. I don't blame you, if he's like his mom then I'm sure he's a cool guy. I feel bad for her...why would he run away from such a kind lady?" Kirishima looked down at his lap, twirling his fingers around nervously. "Are you sure he ran away?"

"There's no other explanation, the evidence doesn't lie."

"Maybe he was brainwashed?"

"His mom did say he was acting strange...giving up on being a hero? That really doesn't sound like the Deku I know." Bakugou crossed his arms. "You and your weird hair might be onto something."

Kirishima pouted. "Hey! Your hair isn't that much different than mine."

"Mine looks better."

"It's basically the same." Kirishima huffed and looked out the window.

Bakugou poked Kirishima's hair. "Nope, yours is weird. Mine is cool."

Kirishima swatted Bakugou's hand away. "Don't make fun of my hair, it's cool and manly. I bet you're just jealous." He stuck his tongue out like a child.

"You're acting like a child, that's not very manly." Bakugou went back to his theorizing, now trying to connect the dots with Kirishima's brainwash theory in mind. "Hmmm...maybe..."

Kirishima looked back at his friend who was once more lost in thought and tapping his foot. He sighed and looked back outside the window, Bakugou really wanted to find that Midoriya kid
kid. Why was he so worried about a guy he claimed to hate?

Kirishima frowned, he wished he was smart enough to help his friend. He wanted to be useful, he wanted to help, he wanted to be equal to Bakugou. He had to get stronger, he had to get smarter.

He was going to become good enough to stand by Bakugou as his equal.

-Sky