72

Chapter 72: Migration

A/N: And here goes the start of Heroes Rising! If there's anything I'm going to mention before we start, it's my decision to include 1-B into this. I mean, I know that the inclusion of over forty characters in the movie would have been a nightmare. But still, they had to have been participating in the program too, it being Commision-issued and all. Therefore, they must have gone somewhere for their trip (and I doubt that there was another island with a retiring hero). Besides, would a class 1-A without a OFA-powered Izuku really be able to defeat Nine as he is? I think not. Thus, here goes the chapter! Hope that you all enjoy it!

The scent of the ocean breeze tickled Izuku's nose. The calm of the sights and sounds of the sea weren't really something Izuku was used to, that was certain. But leaned up against the railing of the ship, and with a clear view of the water down below, Izuku took it all in with glee.

"You said it was your first time on a cruise ship, right?" Momo asked from her spot on his right.

"Mhm," Izuku hummed, closing his eyes to the world. "Never been on a ship before in my life."

"You're not feeling dizzy, are you?" Pony suddenly asked from his left. "Because when I was still back in America I ended up going on a cruise with my parents. And I ended up being seasick for a whole day!"

"Dizzy?" Izuku shook his head. "Nope. Everything feels the same as always. And we've been on here for a couple hours, so I think I'll be fine."

"Must be nice," Pony pouted. "I'm still worried that it'll catch on eventually or something!"

"That only makes sense," Momo interjected. "Seasickness — motion sickness if you want to be more technical — is a common condition to those not used to sea travel."

"Speaking from experience, Yaomomo?" Pony asked with a giggle. "I mean, you've probably been on ships like these plenty of times, right?"

"You caught me there," Momo said, unabashed. "I was quite young at the time of my first few cruises. It was… less than ideal, I must say." She turned her gaze towards Izuku. "I must admit that I'm a bit jealous as well."

"It might be because of the bugs," Izuku offered. "Being in the minds of millions of tiny little organisms all at once and moving them every which way has to have done something about improving my resistance to jarring movement, right?"

"Yuck!" Pony exclaimed. "You mean that giant mound that you're keeping below deck? Which, by the way, I still don't get as to why you had to bring all of them in the first place."

"And I already told you that it's because I don't know what the island's bug population is like," Izuku said. "So I'll be using them to help around and stuff."

"As long as you don't leave them lying around," Momo said. "Invasive species can be especially bad for the island's populace, especially when you consider their dependence on self-grown crops."

"You don't think that I'm that irresponsible, do you?" Izuku asked.

Momo smiled. "Well…"

"Wow," Izuku said with his own smile. "Vote of confidence right the—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Izuku was interrupted by a slight buzz in his pocket; the telltale ringing of his phone. "Guess I'll answer that," Izuku said as he reached for his pocket. "Give me a second."

He looked at its screen, pausing for a second upon viewing it. "Huh. I don't recognize the number."

Momo tapped a finger on her chin. "It wouldn't be spam since Mei designed the phone."

"A misdial maybe?" Pony asked.

The call ended. Though, just as it did, the same number rang again.

Izuku shrugged. "Guess we'll find out." And then he answered the call.

"Hello?"

–Ah, Midoriya. I'm glad you picked up. I was worried that I'd have to wait to relay the message until later–

Izuku blinked, the owner of the voice slowly coming to mind. "Hawks?"

"Hawks?" Momo and Pony both asked simultaneously, looking at each other in confusion.

Izuku gave both of them a nervous smile. "Uh… later?"

They both shook their heads. Before they could argue anything further, Izuku gave them a nod and stepped away.

"So…" Izuku started as he turned a corner. "Did you get my number from the Commission or something?"

–Yeah, actually– Hawks replied. He paused for a second before continuing. –You fine with that? Or am I overstepping a bit too much?–

Izuku sighed, followed by a shrug. "Your fine. Chances are you aren't calling just to check up on me after our talk in Kyoto. Something important come up?"

–Yep. Thing is, we've finally got some information on Nine–

The mental gears in Izuku's mind began to move into overdrive. "You do?!"

–There was an incident with the League a couple days ago. Car chase, info leak, stuff like that. Endeavor blew the truck up, but it didn't really matter since everybody in it was a Twice clone. Point is, they were transporting someone; in a capsule by the looks of it. But whoever it was escaped before the truck blew up. So, as you'd expect, I did a bit of digging around the past couple days. The name 'Nine' came up as a possible identity of our mystery man–

"That's great!" Izuku exclaimed. "I'll be right there. Just give me a little bit and—"

–Whoa whoa! What are you going to do, jump off your boat? No Midoriya. You're not going anywhere for now."

"But—"

–I know. Trust me, I know how it is. But you'd be of no use right now. We don't know where the suspect is. We're tracking him at the moment, but it might take days before we even catch sight of him again–

"I need to be there, Hawks," Izuku reaffirmed.

–I'm aware of the conditions of your… challenge. And I promise you, I'll personally send somebody over to pick you up the moment we come into contact with Nine. Just wait until then, alright? Just have a nice and relaxing stay on Nabu Island."

Izuku took in a deep breath. He clenched his free hand for a second, but eventually unclenched it. "Fine. As long as it's — and I can't believe I'm saying this — somebody who's quirk helps with instantaneous long distance travel. Like Traveler."

–Oh?– Izuku could feel the man smiling from the other side of the phone. –Don't like him, eh?–

"Anything else I need to know?" Izuku asked, completely ignoring Hawks' question. Hawks, much to Izuku's approval, went along with it.

–Hmm… One thing, I suppose. But don't go spreading it around; especially not to the Commision. It's kind of classified, and the only reason I'm telling you is because I know your phone's secure–

Izuku quirked an eyebrow. "You're trusting me with another secret?"

–Technically. It's kind of an open secret by this point. Though we don't want any sort of panic to arise, so we're keeping quiet for now. Well, that and it's more a personal theory of mine than anything, if I'm to be honest–

"What is it?"

–Let's get the background information out of the way first. Nine has a group with him, three other individuals, quirks still unidentified as of yet. They've attacked several heroes already, though — and this has to do with my theory — each and every one of the attacked heroes have lost their quirks. As to how, they can't recall–

"You mean—"

"Another monster like All For One?!"

"Son of a—!" Izuku took a breath, recoiling from the slight shock to his system. "I already told you not to do that!"

"Sorry Izuku… Again."

–What was that?–

Izuku looked back to the phone in his hand. It took him a second before he realized he needed to answer back. He put the phone back up to his ear.

"Uh… nothing. One of my friends just… jumped out at me is all. Spooked me a bit."

–A friend caught you off guard?–

"Yep."

–Even though you have your bug sense?–

"Erm… I was distracted with the call?"

–… Sure. Back to it though, I hope you understand the situation a bit more now?–

"A bit," Izuku responded. "I'll… be watching out for your calls."

–Alright. See you then, Midoriya–

Hawks ended the call, leaving Izuku standing where he was to contemplate what he just heard.

"This means that I have to k— deal with somebody that's like All For One." Izuku sighed. "Great. Just wonderful."

"Considering everything… Well… at this point in time we're prepared for something like that. Sort of."

Izuku blinked. "We are? Seriously? How so?"

"... You know, I think you friends are gathering up on the other side of the ship."

One of Izuku's eyes twitched. "Really, QA?"

"A need-to-know basis, Izuku. I tell you when it's time."

Izuku, quite begrudgingly, took another breath to calm his nerves. "Fine."

[Nabu Island - Two Days Later...]

"Missing kid on the eastern side of the island!" Momo exclaimed to the room. "Name's Katsuma Shimano! Incident reported by his sister Mahoro!"

"Kids? We'll take it!" Manga exclaimed, jumping out of his seat.

"Roger!" Momo exclaimed, right before she went back to answering calls.

"Alright!" Manga said, as he pumped his fist. He then turned towards the seated form of Izuku beside him, only then realizing that the bug controller was in another one of his dazed states of consciousness.

"Hey." Manga nudged his friend.

"Huh?" Izuku said, jerking his head towards Manga. "What?"

(⌒▽⌒) Manga shook his head. "We're up Izuku; I volunteered us for a job. There's a missing kid on the east side of the island."

Izuku tilted his head. "Oh. Cool…" He went back into his daze. Manga nudged him again, causing him to blink. "Wha… Oh! Right!" Izuku finally stood up.

"Finally," Manga muttered to himself. "Let's go then!"

The two of them moved to leave the building. Though, just as they passed the entrance door and stepped into the outside world, Manga's words finally caught up to Izuku.

"Wait, the east side?" Izuku asked. "That's going to take us forever to get there. Why are we going and not sending someone like Iida?"

"Aha" Manga exclaimed, moving himself in an overexaggerated flourish. "I'm glad you asked! Behold!"

Manga turned towards a nearby pile of leaves and branches. "Whoosh!"

A gust of wind propelled itself forward from Manga''s bubble. The aforementioned pile disappeared, leaving behind nothing but the one thing that was hidden underneath all of the debris.

Once said item was revealed, there was nothing but silence. Eventually, Izuku spared a glance towards his friend. "Umm…"

Manga narrowed his hypothetical eyes. "What?"

Izuku chuckled. "I didn't want to say anything, didn't see a reason to, really. But now that you're showing me this… well."

Izuku cleared his throat. "I sort of noticed you out here last night. I thought it was a bit weird at first, but I knew better than to question you about it. It was obviously supposed to be some sort of surprise. But still, are you really telling me that the only reason you were out here covering up this golf cart in foliage was to show it to me like this?"

( p_q) "Dang it! Are you telling me that you weren't asleep?! It was three o'clock in the morning when I did that!"

Izuku shrugged. "What can I say? My sleep schedule's all over the place."

●︿● Manga sighed. "Pfft. Nevermind." Manga started to walk towards the golf cart, waving Izuku over as he did so. "Come on, get on."

Izuku didn't move from his spot, eyeing the cart and Manga suspiciously. "Umm… are you sure you know how to drive that thing?"

"Of course I can!" Manga exclaimed, tapping the hull of the cart. "Why else would I be trying to surprise you with it?"

"So you can have a joyride? You know that I'm not necessarily responsible enough to feel the need to stop you from doing so. I wouldn't put it past you."

Manga blew a raspberry. "Come ooonnn man. Do you want me to get Yaoyorozu out here or something?"

Manga stepped into the driver's seat. "I know that she has a golf cart or two on her estate. If you wish for me to prove my expertise in all things golf cart, Yaoyorozu and I can go over the differences between how smaller and larger controllers modulate the voltages in different amounts when you—"

"Okay! Okay!" Izuku held his hands up in surrender, making his way towards the cart. "I'll concede. I'd rather not have you two get into an hour long technical breakdown of how golf carts work."

(b^_^)b "Good choice, my friend." Manga patted the passenger seat beside him. "Hop on."

Izuku got onto the vehicle without further resistance. Though, as he did so, a massive swarm of bugs arose from the surrounding area. Made up of his prospective imported bugs, the swarm made its way onto the rear of the cart. Izuku made sure to lay the mass up against the back of the seat, just so that the wind wouldn't blow them away.

Manga merely shook his head at the spectacle. "You and your bugs." Manga sighed. "Well, you better hang on tight."

Izuku looked around. "Hang on? Hang on to whaaa—!"

The golf cart zoomed off, taking a sharp turn left off and onto the road proper.

"Woohoo!" Manga exclaimed. "We're lucky that the island's population is so small! The streets have so little traffic because of it!"

Unlike Manga's obviously thrilled demeanor, Izuku didn't quite feel the same. He was clutching tight onto the support beam that held up the cart's roof, looking around the cart for any other means to ensure his safety.

"Doesn't this thing have any seatbelts?!" Izuku yelled.

"Golf carts don't usually need 'em when they're for recreational use in a golf course!" Manga replied.

"But the island doesn't even have any golf courses!"

Manga tilted his head at that proclamation. "Huh, good point! No wonder this thing's allowing me to surpass forty kph! It was probably that retired hero's cart! What was his quirk again?"

"Minor telekinesis!" Izuku exclaimed, still holding on tight. It didn't help that he was making sure the bugs on the back seat weren't flying off the cart due to all the wind pressure.

"Well, there you have it! It was probably so he could get around the island! Makes sense now as to why the mayor wanted to give it to us!"

Izuku didn't respond, something of which spurred Manga to peek a glance over at his friend. He couldn't quite tell, since Izuku was wearing his mask, but Manga had the feeling that Izuku was drifting off again (despite the high speeds and sudden turns).

"You know," Manga spoke up after a few minutes, "I can't believe that I actually got you onto this thing. It was kind of a bluff; I mean, we do have a kid to find. We can't sit around talking about golf cart mechanics."

Izuku slightly turned his own head towards Manga. "That… is a good point. We're at the east side yet?"

"Uh… nearly."

"Slow down a bit then," Izuku said. "I need to let the bugs off."

Manga complied, slowly down the cart until the mass of bugs waiting in the back seat could safely depart and search the area under the guise of Izuku.

When Manga sped up again — much to the dismay of his friend, even if it wasn't as fast as before as so that the bugs could stay in Izuku's range — he spared another look at said friend.

つ´Д`)つ Manga sighed. "You need to stop being so tense, bro."

"I don't know if you've noticed," Izuku retorted, "but I'm still sort of hanging on for my life right now."

"Not that," Manga said. "Whatever that call was about couldn't have been that bad, could it?"

Izuku sighed. "Am I really that obvious?"

"Uh, yeah. You've been stiff since we got off the boat. And you still haven;t told any of us about whatever business you have with Hawks. Something I didn't quite believe, since he's, you know, Hawks. But I guess you do have your ways. Doesn't excuse you for being more distant than usual though."

Izuku grimaced. "I'm just… worried is all. About something that I need to do."

"Something you want to talk about?"

"I... " Izuku cut himself off. "Take a right; there's a playground up on a hill. I think I see the kid."

Manga noticed the deflection of the topic by the mention of the missing kid, however aptly timed the coincidence of his discovery was. He hesitated, initial words dying in his mouth, before answering back. "Aye aye, captain."

A small swarm clone formed itself near the boy. The kid startled a bit, jumping back from the bugs, but otherwise stayed in place.

"Are you Katsuma Shimano, by any chance?"

The young boy blinked a few times before nodding.

The clone paused, aiming its gaze towards the playground just before them. "And is that your sister Mahoro hiding up there?"

Katsuma nodded at that too.

"Ha!" The clone suddenly yelled, turning to its side and seemingly speaking to thin air. "See? What did I tell you? I told you I was right."

"I just didn't want to walk an extra 10 feet if we didn't need to Izuku," a voice said, originating from the slope leading up the hill. After a few more seconds, the forms of Manga and Izuku revealed themselves as they reached the top.

The bug clone dispersed, joining a small cloud of bugs that followed behind Izuku. "Hi there Katsuma!" Izuku greeted. He then looked over at the playground. "I'm guessing that your sister found you before us, huh?"

An indignant growl came from the playground, Mahoro revealing herself from the wall she had hidden behind. "Hmph! This doesn't mean anything!"

Mahoro slid down the slide, walking forward until she pointed a finger at Izuku. "It still took you twenty minutes to get here! You could've gotten here sooner if you tried hard enough!"

She walked back to her brother, taking his hand and leading him off the hill. "Come on, we're going."

As they left, Izuku and Manga were left to stare after their departure in confusion.

"What the heck was that about?" Manga asked.

"I… think she was actually mad that we found them. Or something."

"Mad? Even though she was the one who made the call? Weird." Manga then went over and nudged Izuku in the shoulder.

\ (Ｔ∇Ｔ) /

"But at least we didn't get hit in the balls this time, right?"

Izuku winced a little, remembering his first encounter with Kota back during their summer camp.

"Yeah… And hopefully the League won't end up attacking like they did back with the Pussycats."

"Oh please, Izuku. You need to stop worrying so much." Manga made a smirk. "So, ready for the return trip back to base?"

Izuku winced. "Can't I just use my flightpack?"

"Not a chance!" Manga yelled, already pulling Izuku along. "You're coming with me!"