Chapter 21 - The Island and Academy

It was massive.

There was nothing else to say.

The moment Lucy Morningstar got an aerial view of I-Island from her plane's window seat, she was marveled, to say the least.

A titanic floating island, floating in the vast seas of the world. 'It's titanic! Hm, though I shouldn't call it titanic, the last ship named like that sunk.'

Lucy was heading for I-Island after she got a call from Leonidas himself that he was accepted into SHIELD Academy. She was so elated her son got accepted into a school of such status that her smile did not drop for hours!

In fact, she was so excited about the news that she ran to the McKenzie household while keeping Leo on hold. And similarly, the McKenzie household, too, shouted in surprise.

Even the stoic father of Siren blurted a loud gasp, breaking the image of the calm and collected person he was known for.

Everyone gave their blessings and praise to Leo. They knew at the back of their heads that Leo had it in the bag, but hearing it now and expecting it felt like two worlds apart. It wasn't every day a neighbor's son would be one of the 50 students to get selected into THAT Academy.

Of course, Lucy got her share of praise. After all, Leo would have never reached his height of strength this quick without his mother's guidance and expertise.

However, it was unfortunate that Leo couldn't fly back to Maine and get another farewell. Since Leo was told to report as soon as possible once he received his acceptance letter into the institution.

With such things, it gave the green light for Lucy to head to I-Island, as they discussed previously.

Honestly, Lucy was downright nervous in this new environment. Especially when she didn't have her son by her side. Despite that, she would brave everything thrown at her.

She was doing this for her son's future as well. Imagine all the new knowledge she could learn to help her son train more efficiently and effectively!

'My son is growing, so I must grow as well. I can't be a mom sitting on the couch and simply watching TV and gossiping about other people's children. That simply won't do.'

Not only that, she would be able to get funding for quirk research, something she is proud to say, a master of. Her primary expertise, to be precise, is quirk development.

Though quirk development is a rather broad term. But to get to the finer details, it's mainly on its evolution and control aspects.

*Ding~!*

[This is your pilot speaking. We will soon be landing on I-Island; I hope you had a pleasant flight and look forward to seeing you on our future flights~.]

An announcement from the pilot got Lucy out of her musings. Looking outside once again, she saw the engine on the plane start to tilt! Amazingly, the plane was landing vertically, and Lucy watched with interest.

Scanning the sights around the plane's window, she found more planes landing vertically while massive commercial ones landed traditionally further away.

'Maybe the ticket provided to me specifically by the Island is for employees?'

Although the noise from the engine was the downside, it was deafening with all the thrust it generated as the plane slowly descended.

Fast forward, Lucy was seen rubbing her forehead as she exited the plane, 'Wasn't pleasant in the slightest.'

Exiting the plane, she was soon greeted by a relatively young man with big headphones, probably a new graduate, from how fresh the person looked. She was no one special, so a mere intern was all she received, something she expected and did not mind even if she became a person with standing.

The receiver walked to Lucy, intending to give a set of thick headphones, ear protection from the look of it. Quickly, Lucy wore them, not wanting to kill her ears from all the whirring engines.

"Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Morningstar! I am Connor Go, the person assigned as your guide for the day. Hope you had a fun experience with the new VTOL Planes, a more efficient process for employees to get around." Connor said, but he held a look of pity, seeing Lucy twitch her brows a bit.

His voice traveled to the headphone's mic, allowing them to speak with all the noise around them. With the headphones working properly, Lucy's agony was relieved immediately, erasing the frown on her features.

He, too, heard the engines when they were being developed. They are not the quietest things to be around. Hell, even right now, he was wearing protective noise-canceling headphones.

"Great to meet you as well, Mr. Go." Both shake each other's hands. "Where can I drop off my luggage first? I wouldn't want a tour with baggage to pull everywhere." She asked through the built-in mic.

"Ah! Not to worry, Doc, the automated bots will bring them to your assigned lodgings, which I will show you at the end of your tour, so you needn't worry." He gave a very casual and easy-going way of speaking, something that Lucy appreciated. She hoped all future colleagues were like this.

Fast forward half into the tour, the guide had to ask. "If it's alright of me to ask, what will you be doing on the Island?" Every scientist or specialist invited or accepted to work on the Island are master-class in their work. It wasn't wrong to say I-Island was Heaven for scientists before entering spiritual Heaven.

Lucy, not trusting the person because of being a stranger, answered in a textbook manner. "The Island tends to accept problematic to control quirks around the world; hence they accepted people with expertise like me," answering with a slight smile.

Deep inside, Lucy knew the precise details of her work. She would be experimenting with artificial quirks under the lead of David Shield, a known name in the quirk and technological development field.

Another reason to work under a renowned figure in this field is his connection to All Might. Another major driving force, and she wanted to see how the man was doing out of curiosity.

Anyway, the young graduate responded in understanding, "Ah, I see. As the generations go by, quirks are getting mixed and churned around, creating all sorts of problematic quirks. The need for people experienced in this field has grown ever. Especially the fifth generation of quirked children."

Lucy couldn't help but release a silent chuckle. She, after all, was a mother of one, and Leo's quirk was... a bundle of impossibilities, well, so was hers.

At the thought of her son, she couldn't help but get lost in thoughts of her son, ignoring the guide ramble on about quirks.

'I wonder how my son is doing? Hope he's eating his vegetables.'

_______________

*Achoo~!*

A teen of lean muscles sneezed all over the dashboard, angering the driver. "Lad! You better clean that up; you got snot all over it!" Shouted Talos as he focused on driving.

Snorting the remaining mucus that threatened to fall from his nostrils, he waved the elder's worries. "Yeah, yeah, I'll clean it. My sneezing is a clear sign that you must clean this car, old man." Sliding a finger on the dashboard, and raising it, a clear line of disturbed dust makes itself known.

"See!? This is dusty."

"Kid, why are you even complaining? This is a stolen car, so don't judge me for someone else's mess!" Bits of saliva sprinkled from Talos' yapping mouth.

Hearing this, Leo stared at Talos incredulously. "You're bringing a stolen car to America's greatest Hero Academy? Do you even hear yourself!?" Waving his hand and arms, expressing his turmoil and situation.

*SCREECH!*

Talos immediately slammed the brakes at Leo's reasoning, forcing the two's bodies to move forward. Only their seatbelts held them in place, but Leo's had dug into his skin due to his massive size, leaving little room.

"Thanks for the heads up, kid! Now, out! I can't have my hiding be compromised all because of some rookie mistake!" He smirked at Leo, insinuating him to start flying or whatever it was Leo did.

Before Leo could even give a voice of protest, a massive duffle bag was thrown at him, all with the help of an elongated octopus arm...

Shapeshifters and their variability, he mused.

And that was how Leo found himself cruising at road altitudes to go to his new school, SHIELD Academy. Currently, he was wearing the Academy's signature uniform, the tactical suit; it was named as such by the public.

The suit, in its entirety, was mindboggling. Leo tried stretching the suit with brute strength but gave up on the endeavor. Apparently, it was tailor-made for everything.

Made of a polymer blend with ten layers of treated composite materials, this sleek suit serves tactical and diagnostic functions, monitoring vitals and providing state-of-the-art ballistic protection for students.

However, that was not all!

A student with a Giant transformation quirk? It will expand.

A student with a pyrokinesis quirk? It will last.

So on and so forth. Well, at least that's what the suits instruction manual said so.

Anyway, the suit's coloration was heavily on the navy blue side, though a bit darker with some accents of black. On his right arm was the Academy's badge, the circular logo with a silhouette of an eagle.

The collar closely resembled a mandarin-type collar when zipped up and was straight all around the neck. On each side of the collars were two different badges.

On the left side was a circular platinum metal pin. It held SHIELD's logo within it. The type of metal it represents shows your ranking categorically.

Rank: Bronze-Iron-Steel-Gold-Platinum

And Leo was placed within the Top 10 of the exam rankings, earning him the right to wear it.

On the right side of the collar was platinum as well, but this was shaped into a single chevron, signifying his year level within the school and ranking type as well.

His uniform, in its entirety, showed that he was under the Heroics department. Unsurprisingly, every other department had specialized uniforms to properly support the students in their respective fields.

[IMAGE]

After half an hour of brisk flying and multitudes of cars passing by him, probably sharing the same destination, Leo reached the Academy.

Looking at the Academy once again, he couldn't help but sigh. Looking around, he saw parents and families dropping off their children and giving heartfelt cries.

SHIELD Academy was a boarding school so students could give their all rather than waste time commuting to and from home. And the Academy's location wasn't the friendliest if a family didn't have access to a car.

All around him, multitudes of different uniforms were on display. 'That tactical-looking polo is probably from the Law Enforcement Department, and the others with white coats and engineering protective clothing are probably from the Scientific and Support Department then.'

However, he received his share of murmurs and shock upon his arrival.

"Psst! That's a Hero-course student and platinum at that too!"

"Woah! Dude is a fricken' unit with that size!"

"Oh my gosh~ I totally dig him; I wonder if he already has a support buddy for his Hero Costume!?"

Hearing this, Leo suddenly had a blush on his cheeks and couldn't help but smile. "I guess people are stunned when they encounter 1 of the 50 Hero students. Oh well, let's get this show on the road."

Looking down at his papers, he quickly navigated out of the entrance, passing through a heavy-looking gate that scanned everything and everyone passing through.

The school-provided pins were the I.D. to enter the school premises. And as he was making his way to the assigned orientation hall, he bumped into someone.

"Ah, sorry about that; I didn't see you there," Leo said instinctively. As a person of size, him bumping into the smaller folks has happened many times whenever a crowd was around.

The victim of Leo's huge body had a reasonably long, rounded face and sizable, expressive, gray eyes. His hair was short and black, and his bangs fell in a natural, middle-parted, curtain-type style.

Although those eyes which turned to look at Leo back calmly, ready to accept the apology, suddenly morphed into one of fury. "YOU!?"

The shout caught many passersby's attention, halting them from their steps, stopping to watch a show starting to unfold.

Unsuspecting of such a thing, Leo was caught in for a loop, "Huh?" was all he could say. He raised a brow and observed the smaller person, trying to see if he knew him.

Nothing.

Leo absolutely did not know this short stack. "Me?" He tried asking to see if he was really the one being pointed out. And it was!

"FUCKER! OF COURSE, IT'S YOU!" The boy ranted, slowly losing Leo's respect.

Not wanting to get a mark on his first day, Leo tried de-escalating the situation. "Listen, I don't know you, nor is my name, Fucker. I know the movie 'Meet the Fockers,' but sadly. I don't share the name." He joked, trying to ease the sudden tension.

Using [Danger Sense], he can tell the person in front of him is merely looking for a verbal confrontation since nothing of ill-will was felt.

"Eren. Eren Yaeger!" The unknown kid spouted and now became a named one. "Y-YOU! You were the person who demolished my team! W-Why did you do it!?" Eren gritted his teeth with clenched fists, seeking an answer.

Quickly, the crowd started gathering up, slowly forming a circle around them.

'Ah! So, this person was a victim; how unfortunate... sadly I don't seem to care, though. I mean, that was an exam.' He thought as he stared into fiery pupils, slowly turning shot from emotion.

"*Sigh*... Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?" Leo said incredulously, 'Seriously, does this guy think he's special or something?'

However, Leo observed some more. The person had a Hero course uniform and had platinum pins as well. 'Platinum... then he should be someone of note, but I just can't figure it out. I mean, his face isn't unique nor handsome to the point I can spot him from a crowd.'

In his thoughts, Leo was unaware of the smaller person's verbal lashing, the sound was literally one ear in and one ear out. Unbothered to process information from someone so emotionally gung ho.

"Look, I'll be the bigger the person and walk away, and allow you to cool your head with whatever it is you are dealing with."

And like wild fire, sparks of 'OHhh's' and 'Damn!' was said around the crowd. Apparently, they mistook Leo's words for an insult, expressing his double-meaning for the smaller individual.

'What on Earth?' Unsurprisingly, Leo was confused, he was literally innocent.

'If only this wasn't the first day. I would have handled it my way... rather than dealing it so passively.'

And as if his prayers were answered, an Academy staff from the looks of it came in and cleared the students. With it being the first day, everyone quickly followed, afraid of getting punished.

However, the short stack was still staring off-handish with Leo, and Leo was calm as a cucumber.

"One minute. One minute to explain whatever is going on here or both of you will receive proper punishments after this thing is investigated. I will not have the image of this school tainted on the first day of classes." Came the voice of the woman, an average-looking one.

Shrugging, Leo complied. "I bumped into this person, then I apologized since I didn't see him. After which, he blew his gasket, end of story. You can check your CCTVs if you want. Anyway, I'm off." After his explanation, Leo walked away, not wanting to deal with such annoyance on a day such as this.

"And you?" She turned to the brat that caused all this, in truth, she has been observing everything. She was merely trying to test if anyone of them would twist the story. And surprisingly, Leo didn't exagerate, simply gave the facts she saw and left, which was of no problem to her.

"He bumped into me and I got mad since he was the person who eliminated my team during the exams." Eren explained, looking down in shame.

'Ah, the Hunter! I remember making bets in how many he could eliminate. Though, I lost. But still, to be mad over such trivial things and especially during the exams?' Looking incredulously at the kid.

"One month of cafeteria duty. Ask your homeroom teacher what that entails. Know that you are the first ever Platinum student to ever be punished on the first day of classes in the history of the Academy. Do act your expected station and as a student of this Academy, am I understood?"

"Y-Yes!" He replied swiftly with gritted teeth. "Good. Get moving. Another outrage like that and you'll be stripped to Gold for Poor Conduct, unbefiting of a Platinum ranked Hero course student." She ordered with authority, making the teen run awkwardly to the orientation halls.

"Hardships of Platinum, every action is watched but the benefits out weigh everything," she said to herself and walked around, watching students enter the premises.

"This is why we teens shouldn't get powers! Such hormonal brats, tsk!"

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CHEERS!