30 Trial of Fools: Ch 9
Ah, "Viridescent" the former #1 MHA fanfic on FF.N, as of the posting of this chap, it's been well over a year since the last update of that fic.
All salute, and raise a glass to the fallen.
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
It's actually kinda sad, because I was there when it happened, when the ship sank, when the original chapter 59 was published… I happened to be online when I got the notification, I tabbed over and read it almost immediately, but when I read that intro, I knew there was gonna be backlash. Then, about 40ish hours later, chapter 59 was deleted.
The whole thing that had people angry was the chapter opening (or maybe it was at the mid-point? I can't quite remember), which had all of class 1A on a voicecall, where they all came out as gay or bi for some reason or another. All the comments of the chapter were calling it "Preachy" and "Forced" and "OOC".
(I personally didn't like the scene from a writer's pov, it had zero set up, didn't use/establish any plot threads, and wasn't even used for character development. I mean, c;mon man, the character development!)
Eventually the angry note from the author explaining all this was removed, ch 59 was entirely rewritten, this time with half as many words, and no mention of anyone from class 1A. It's all been cleaned up, but you can still find remnants if you look through old comments.
… And there hasn't been another chapter since.
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
F in the chat. I think this is just more evidence for my personal stance of "keep real world politics separate from entertainment". In-world politic, that's fine obviously (think the Star Wars prequels), but IRL stuff, that's a recipe for disaster, and I honestly can't comprehend how the multi million dollar entertainment companies still haven't learned this.
*Cough* High Guardian Spice *Cough* 2016 Ghostbusters reboot *Cough*
It also backs up what my Dad used to always tell me.
"Remember kid, opinions are like assholes, everyone's got one, but no one wants to see it unless you're famous."- My Dad.
(NOTE FROM AFTER PUBLISH: Sorry, I kinda worded this AN weirdly, and some people got mad, lol. I'm not saying "women MC bad, gay mean politic", I disliked the scene Viridecent used because it didn't have setup and wasted a good character development moment for basically nothing. And HGS/GB reboot, were recent major economic failures that I thought people would instantly recognize. On the flip side, Arcane is an example of those done wonderfully, and I absolutely adore the show because of how well it developed it's characters and made them feel alive.)
-Rain of Sins-
-Trial of Fools: Ch 9-
Toshinori coughed as he hunched over the bathroom sink, and looked at the man in the mirror with an empty feeling in his gut. The man staring back at him looked half dead, scrawny, bony, malnourished, with deep bags under his eyes, and blood trickling from his lips into the sink below.
Of course the giant scar on his face didn't help with the image either.
A knock on the door brought him back to reality.
"Hey All Might!" President Mic shouted through the door. "The festival's gonna start in ten minutes! Are you gonna do your speech or what?"
"HAHA! DON'T WORRY! I'M ON MY WAY!"
The number one Hero in Japan, and top contender for the whole World, laughed loudly with an award winning smile.
The gangly arms had been replaced with tree trunks of muscle, the matted mop of hair with a golden crown, his hunched over poster was gone, his ribs weren't visible through his skin, and the bags under his eyes had vanished.
…
But the scar on his face remained, just as the one on his side did. A reminder for what that reflection really was.
…
A hollow lie.
-Rain of Sins-
Lightning crashed, and thunder shook the ground, as the very Heavens seemed to fall to the earth in a torrential downpour.
Black tar like rain fell from the sky, the sheer volume drowning out the cacophony of violence that was tearing the city in two, but did nothing to extinguish the flames that were melting the stone coliseum from their incredible intensity.
In the middle of it all stood one man, his hands outstretched, head back, cackling at the top of his lungs…
His bone white coat standing out starkly against the black backdrop.
Nighteye gasped for breath and his eyes snapped open.
"Sir? SIR! Are you alright!?"
"I'm fine, Mirio." The Hero forced himself to take measured breaths, and nodded to his apprentice. "Just tired from my recent all nighters at the office."
"If you say so sir…"
Nighteye shook his head and tried to focus himself. He hadn't lied to Mirio, his frequent all-nighters recently, trying to dig into what his vision had warned him about, had been wearing him down both physically and mentally.
Standing up straight he narrowed his eyes at the coliseum looming in the distance which had triggered his flashback to begin with.
It wasn't the one in his vision, he could tell that almost immediately. It was too small, almost too humble in that way, but much too gaudy in others. It was built to look nice, prioritizing form over function, while the one he'd seen almosted looked rushed. But it was… similar, to the one in his vision, oddly so, almost as if both of them had been designed by the same person, and designed around using a similar power to Cementoss' to cut construction costs.
Could the one he saw be of UA design?
Nighteye scowled.
He'd had trouble finding anything related to his vision, as far as he could tell the coliseum he'd seen didn't even exist, and there were no matching villains on record. The only lead he had found was the lizard villain that attacked the USJ. From eyewitness accounts, it was similar to some of the beasts he'd seen in his vision.
But pinning his vision to something surrounding the League of Villains was hardly what he'd call a breakthrough, Nezu already had most of his resources looking into them and had so far come up with very little.
The Mouse thought they were working under someone as a front of sorts, mainly because their leader, Tomura Shigaraki, lacked the traits necessary to rally people under a banner- at least from what they'd seen.
But… maybe they weren't just working under someone, Nighteye had seen the fragments they'd salvaged from the USJ tapes, he'd talked to the eyewitnesses. The "Nomu" as they'd called it, hadn't seemed keen to listen to Shigaraki, and had instead prioritized saving someone offscreen. A man in a black coat, according to the students, who also hadn't been keen to follow the supposed ring leader's orders, even retreating himself before the teachers got there, leaving Shigaraki behind.
Then there was the fact that Nomu had been sprung from its cell without tripping any alarms, someone even looping the camera feed for several hours afterwards, a level of finesse and subtlety that seemed to run against what they'd seen of Shigaraki's personality.
Nighteye had a suspicion, one that Nezu dismissed, but one that he personally thought was very possible.
The League, the largest threat in years, was working with a partner syndicate, one with far more resources than they did.
The League, who had the media in a frenzy and who everyone was watching out for, who people were worried about attacking the festival, was being used as a distraction by their partner to conceal the real threat.
"Sir?"
"I'm fine Mirio, just lost in thought." Nighteye sighed and turned to his sidekick. "Don't worry about me, you need to be focused on your upcoming role in the festival. You might not be competing for a few days, but that doesn't excuse slacking, you need to do well."
"You got it sir!" The sidekick grinned and snapped a cheery salute. "I'll do my best to put the right foot forward!"
"No Mirio." NightEye firmly grabbed his shoulder, and leveled his gaze in an attempt to convey the gravity of the situation. "You can't just 'try your best', you can't just 'win' either, you need to dominate, you need to completely eclipse everyone else. Do you understand?"
Mirio looked at his mentor with an expression of shock before scolding his face and nodding. "Yes sir." He said in complete seriousness, all traces of his previous jovial attitude gone. " I'll go even beyond plus ultra if I have to."
"Good." He nodded, releasing Mirio and turning back towards the coliseum as a gust of wind blew through the festival grounds.
As much as he wanted to deny it, All Might was fading, getting weaker by the day, while the forces in the shadows seemed to be growing stronger and stronger as time went on. All Might needed a successor, and whether he liked it or not, he couldn't afford to be picky any longer, and Nighteye had found the perfect candidate. Unfortunately Toshinori would never let anyone pick his successor for him, wouldn't let anyone determine, not only his, but also Nana's legacy like that.
…But Nighteye knew his old friend well enough to convince him that he'd made his choice himself.
-Rain of Sins-
Endeavor growled as his phone went off, right before he was about to go over and find Shoto for a talk, and it was his personal phone too, not his work phone, so it was something actually important.
"What is it!?" He snapped as he answered the call.
"Howdy, friend." A friendly tone came through the line, one he would have thought was genuine if his job didn't include hunting down and catching some of the best liars in Japan.
"Dixie." He growled at the southern accent. "What does the HPSC want now?"
"Oh nothin' much, just got some new info for you."
…
"Have you forgotten? I'm working security at the festival, to better my public image, just like you suggested! I'm occupied at the moment."
"Oh don't worry." Dixie chuckled. "I'm not telling ya to leave your post, just to keep your eyes open. I had some new intel come in, and while I was gonna direct you to the abandoned warehouse district on the far end of the festival, well…" The head of security smirked as he glanced at the hacked security footage of the festival stadium- or rather the various vacant posts whose assigned Heroes never showed up for some reason.
It seemed like someone was about to give his false flag operation a lot more truth to work with.
"I think it would be best if you kept your ear to the ground in the stadium itself, acting as security might look good, but actually leading the charge in the event of a crisis would practically leave you glowing."
"The stadium?" The anger melted from Endeavor's voice, replaced with cold seriousness, as he entered work mode. "You know something's going to happen?!"
"Not enough to stop it, say what it is, or where it'll happen, but enough to give you the head's up you need." Dixie paused for a moment before continuing. "Keep it on the down low though, causin' a mass panic would just make the situation worse, not to mention it could cost you your chance to be first on the scene."
"…"
The phone was silent, and for a moment he worried that the Hero might have hung up.
"Why?" Endeavor growled through the line. "Why is the HPSC suddenly so interested in helping me?"
"You know why." He chuckled.
"No I don't!"
"Well then you haven't been listening! I've told you all this before, All Might's performance numbers are on a downward slope- no matter how hard people believe otherwise, he is just a man, just as mortal as any of us. This added with his penchant for jumping in without thinking means that one day or another the statue society's decided to lean itself on will crumble." The chief of security leaned back in his chair. "The president and I have decided that when that happens, it'd be best for society to have already started to lean on a different pillar."
"…"
Once again the phone was quiet.
"Now that I've had to all but spell it out, you should know your part. Prove that you deserve your upcoming title, King. 'Cause if you don't, well, remember that for as much as all you Heroes fight for it, the position of 'number 1' is just that, a number, and it can be given to whoever the nation needs to have it."
"…"
"Do you understand?"
"Crystal."
"Good."
Dixie leaned forward to turn off the call device on his desk, but he was beaten to it.
"Well then, I guess you'll be working with me for a long time then. I look forward to our next meeting."
Dixie smirked as the Hero had the balls to hang up on the HPSC.
"Cocky Bastard. It's like I told Kino, he's perfect."
-Rain of Sins-
"Unfortunately I'm just a medical assistant, so there's not much I can do for what they have set up in between rounds." Izuku shifted through the papers in front of him, student medical files, for a few more seconds before glancing up at the person standing across the desk. "But if you come to the clinic after your matches, I'll have someone fetch a gallon of Orange Juice from the school kitchen to fuel your quirk."
"Thank you, sir!" Tenya Ida said with a slight bow. "With all the high intensity work, I was concerned that my quirk may run out of fuel before the festival ends."
"It's no problem." The scientist hummed as he skimmed through several more files, making a mental list of any interesting quirks he came across- a list that, unfortunately, Mr Ida wasn't on, or his visit would have been a lot more exciting. "If anyone else has any concerns or needs accommodations for their quirk, please send them to me so I can get them situated. We all want our plans for the festival to go smoothly, after all."
"Of course sir! Thank you for your time."
Izuku just gave a lazy wave as the student left, as interesting as it would have been to figure out how the Ida boy's quirk turned Orange Juice, and only Orange Juice, into refined gasoline, there were far bigger fish in the sea.
Take Miss Ochako, for instance. She could nullify gravity! How did a quirk, a strand of genetic code, allow for someone to alter the fundamental forces of the universe!? He had to know! He needed to know!
He paused and drummed his fingers on the desk as he read her profile again. Her face seemed oddly familiar, like he'd seen it somewhere before…
He shook his head and got back to reading.
Maybe he was just weird, or his serum had messed up his hormones, but he found that knowledge of how to potentially bend a fundamental aspect of reality to one's will, was far more alluring than a pretty face.
Though speaking of pretty faces.
Izuku pushed his chair back and stood from his desk. He walked across the small white office he'd been given to work with and poked his head out the wooden door. The cute newbie Hero who'd been standing guard outside his door and had clumsily tried to flirt with him when he first arrived, was nowhere to be seen.
Huh.
He hadn't even heard Stain drag her body off, and he'd just been on the other side of the door.
…
That was actually kind of scary.
The scientist wearily glanced up and down the hallway for a speck of red, be it blood, a scarf, or both. But when nothing turned up, he frowned and slowly closed the door, groaning at how it squeaked like something out of a bad horror film.
It looked like the red ghost wasn't having any trouble "cleaning up" the patrols and lookouts who were near enough to stumble upon something, when they started setting up for the big event- something Izuku could start with, now that his lookout was gone.
All that was left was for Izuku to put his pieces into place, and for Stain to deliver Endeavor's present.
Above him, loud cheers pierced through the thick concrete floor, as the President Mic announced the start of the festival.
Now, it was just a matter of waiting.
-Rain of Sins-
Bakugo scowled.
Now normally, that wasn't something surprising or even all that noteworthy, but he'd been having a weird day.
He finally talked to Momo, then Ochako bailed on him, then he got forgiven(?), made a vague promise, then had to deal with him and his only usual conversation partner awkwardly shuffling around each other for twentyish minutes, unsure how to resume whatever the hell their relationship was.
Now he was being cornered in the changing room, not by a hot chick- like in those crummy fics you'd find online, but by one of the dudes he disliked the most in his class.
"Bakugo." Todoroki spoke coldly as he glared at his classmate.
"What do you want half & half?" Bakugo growled in annoyance, but tried to keep any real heat out of his voice in lieu of his conversation with Momo earlier.
"You're strong. You're skilled. You're smart." Shoto narrowed his eyes, spitting compliments like they were insults. "You're one of the best in the class.
"Yeah…" Bakugo trailed off, really not sure what he was supposed to say in this situation.
"You placed first in the entrance exam, and frequently place in the top during any combat exercises, you're one of the only ones who challenge my scores, and even beat them at times..."
"What do you want?" The blond snarled, trying to ignore the weird look Mineta was giving them from across the room.
"To beat you!"
…
"Huh?" Bakugo blinked.
"Bakugo, you're one of the strongest in the class, and are the teacher's favorite- I've seen how many times Aizawa calls you to his office! But I will beat you! I will win!"
…
"Huh?" Bakugo blinked.
He tried to process what he heard, he really did, but just didn't make sense.
'Everyone's going to try to win, it's the FUCKING festival you dipshit! What on God's Green Earth made you think you needed to announce that? Did you take something to scramble your fucking brain a damn egg!?'
That's what he wanted to say, that's what he really wanted to say. But Momo's face flashing through his head made him bite his tongue.
"Yeah right," He instead said with a snort, as he turned around. "Good luck with that."
"I won't need luck." He heard from behind him. "I have my ice."
-Rain of Sins-
…
"Woah, dude." Mineta whispered as he watched the scene across the room unfold. "That was weird. Bakugo didn't explode at him."
"He didn't kill him either." Aoyama whispered back. "It was oddly tame."
"And then there's the fact that Todoroki went and singled out a single person to say he'd beat, like, he totally forgot everyone else exists!"
"Yeah, it's definitely weird."
…
The Grape glanced up at his friend. "Dude, you think they've got history or sumthin?"
"What?" The knight scrunched up his face as he tried to picture it. "Those two? No way, they're like mixing water and oil, one's icy and the other's explosive."
"Yeah, but that's what you said about him and Momo- also, isn't Todoroki's whole thing opposites?"
"This is different, and we haven't confirmed if he and Momo are together, so I haven't lost the bet yet." Aoyama watched Todoroki sulk off in one direction, and Bakugo storm off in the other. "Nah, there's no way, absolutely no way…"
…
"Yeah, no way."
…
"At least I think."
…
Mineta gave him a sideways glance. "Wanna make a bet on it?"
-Rain of Sins-
"...loveheroesiloveheroesiloveheroesilovehe…"
"Hello and welcome to the annual UA Sports Festival! Can I see your ticket please?"
The gate attendant smiled as her next customer walked up. It was always so sweet to see someone who still held the same enthusiasm for Heroes even after they grew up.
The man was wearing a Mirko shirt, Best Jeanist pants, Ingenium merch shoes, a Hawks jacket, and a plastic All Might mask to pull the look together, the only part of him you could even make out was his light blue hair. AKA: He was a walking wall of merchandise, and would probably make UA a lot of money at the festival.
"...heroesiloveheroesiloveheroesiloveh.."
"Uhm sir?" The receptionist tilted her head, unable to hear what the man was muttering under his breath. "Are you okay?"
"I LOVE HEROES!" The man shouted, throwing his hands out to the sides.
"Yes sir! We all do, it's why we have this festival! But can I see your ticket, please?"
"You don't understand!" The man said as he slapped a ticket down on the table. "I LOVE Heroes! Like A-All- ALL MIGHT! He's my Favorite!"
The receptionist just nodded happily as the man howled, practically frothing at the lips. She was honestly a little moved, he said the words with such passion, that if it weren't for his getup, she would have thought he was having to physically force them out in pain.
She scanned the ticket, and her eyes widened as her computer screen lit up gold indicating a [Plus Ultra] level ticket. Usually you only saw student's family members with those tickets, because students could request a couple for free, front row seats were expensive!
"Oh! Wow, sorry sir! I didn't realize you were a VIP, If I'd known I would have sent you through the fast pass line!" She smiled sheepishly and handed him an All Might armband that signaled his VIP status, instead of the usual paper wristband that normal ticket-teers got. "I hope you enjoy the festival, and have fun seeing all the Heroes!"
"Yeah… I… LOVE Heroes!"
The fact that Tomura was repeating it in a desperate attempt to convince himself not to reach over and snap the closest guard's neck, was apparently lost on everyone around him, who just laughed and agreed with him.
-End Chapter-
Welp, looks like All Might's scar cracked his "Invincible" persona a little earlier in this timeline- at least for those who were looking closely. This combined with a harder hit at the USJ has different factions playing their cards for the "Next no.1 Hero" a bit sooner than they did in cannon.
Hopefully, NE doesn't die before he can actually get around to shelling Mirio to AM, this time around.
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
Random side notes: (And I do mean random)
-This ain't Bakugo x Todoroki, and it definitely ain't Bakugo x Izuku- Aoyama and Mineta are just connonically idiots, who got the chance to "bro it up" in this timeline.
-I have never ever gotten into the NFT thing. But I got bored and spent like 3 minutes on MS Paint and sold the result as an NFT for a few bucks, and during the process I learned that when you buy an NFT, all your actually buying is the hyperlink to it, and since there's no term of service and people try to do it anonymously via crypto, there's literally no real legal accountability from the original seller.
Damn it! If I'd known about this and gotten in on it during the initial boom, I could have made the scam of all scams by taking advantage of some outdated copyright laws!
-Just because something is the alternative to a bad idea, doesn't by nature make it a good idea.
The Atlantropa Project was a proposed alternative to Funni-Mustache-Man's Lebanstraum concept, but building two of of what would be the largest dams in the world by a landslide, and then draining the entire fucking Mediteranian Sea to settle the resulting desert, is what I, in my humble opinion, would call a bad idea. Not only would it be painfully hard to grow things because of all the salt, it would disintegrate the economy of every mediterranean nation, and completely fuck up the weather cycles of Europe and North Africa.
"B-Buh what if we only drain it a lil bit? Hehhe. Thicctaly go Brrrrrr. Hehhe wide Greece, heh, it's Greeeeeeeece."
(Thicctaly NFT when?)
