Chapter 8 – Preparations
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<Japan / Musutafu / UA / 12:32>
In the conference room of the prestigious UA Hero Academy, several extravagantly dressed people could be seen sitting around a long table.
At the end of this table was... a mouse... a hedgehog... no one really knew but this mysterious animal was UA's current Director, Nezu.
"Alright, you're probably wondering why you're here, right?" Nezu asked with amusement looking around the room.
Sitting around the long table were Heroes Powerload, Cementoss, Eraserhead, Recovery Girl, Midnight, Snipe, Vlad King, Present Mic and Ectoplasm.
Each and every one of them very capable Heroes in their own right, some well known for their exploits, some feared in the underworld and some... for showing a little fanservice to their fans.
"Get to the point Nezu, if you've gathered us all here it can't be a normal announcement..." Eraserhead said looking at Nezu with gloomy eyes and a tired face. "I don't have all day."
"You don't have to be such a curmudgeon honey, and aren't you busy, you kicked all the students out of your classroom... fufu, what are you saying honey? You and me alone in a classroom? fufu" Midnight said seductively as she started fantasizing about different scenarios. "Maybe we'll get a special student hehe..."
The others just rolled their eyes at Midnight's attitude before turning their attention back to Nezu.
"Well it's true what you said Aizawa, I'm making an important announcement..." Nezu replied calmly as she took a sip of tea. "In fact I think it might be the most important announcement ever made in the history of UA."
Eraserhead simply grunted under his breath, he didn't like it when Nezu shrouded things in mystery for his own enjoyment.
Nezu naturally knew how much Aizawa resented such things and it was exactly why he did it in the first place.
"It is an honor to inform you that All Might has been hired as the new Professor of Heroism at UA!" Nezu finally revealed to the teachers. "He will be officially teaching next class cycle!"
These immediately widened their eyes in surprise at the unexpected news, most of them were excited to be co-workers alongside the greatest hero their country has ever had, and then there was the case of Eraserhead and Recovery Girl who didn't show much excitement, rather they seemed irritated at the news.
"Tomorrow after school, All Might will come to the school to introduce himself to you, but I must remind you that he has never taught before so he doesn't have much experience in the teaching field" Explained Nezu looking at all the staff and clearing the doubt that Eraserhead had in his head.
Eraserhead sighed before he put some drops in his eyes. "What a pain..."
"Now moving on to other matters, the new entrance exam..."
***
<Japan / Shizuoka / 12:57>
"One!"
Bang!
"Two"
Bang!
"Three"
Bang!
Lena was hitting a sandbag with her legs, she was practicing her Taekwondo moves. High school had ended a few weeks ago, so there were a few months left until the UA entrance exam, so she had to prepare as best she could.
Contrary to what she thought, her Quirk didn't have as steep a growth curve as she thought it would, of course, that didn't mean her earnings were minuscule by any means, but she was expecting a little more....
Bang!
Concentrating, she went back to practicing with the dummy.
It is well known that the Quirk works like a kind of muscle, the more you use it the stronger it will progressively become. Obviously with its respective moderation and care.
Bang!
After training for some time she knew that her main Quirk had become stronger. Lena was that she now possessed much more Entropy Energy inside her. She could feel it coursing through her body, as part of it was attached to the Slipstream.
Bang!
While this meant that she could now use more "Acceleration's" and "Recoil's"...
Bang!
Lena didn't dare go beyond 3 "Acceleration", mostly because she was terrified of the idea of becoming a ghost lost in time again....
Bang!
On the other hand, her Secondary Quirks had also grown with her as she worked out.
Lena felt stronger and faster, but she didn't know if it was the result of the workout or if her Secondary Quirks had improved a bit.
Bang!
"Haa...Haa...Haa...Haa" Lena breathed heavily, it had been about 4 hours since she started practicing her moves.
After catching her breath finally determined to take a break, she walked over to the bench where her towel was, sat down and took a big sip of water from her bottle.
"Are you okay?" asked Winston's voice next to her.
"KYAAA!!!" Lena shouted in surprise as she took a big leap backwards to look at her Father's figure.
Lena took a deep breath to calm her heart before looking at her Father with anger filled eyes.
"DON'T DO THAT I ALMOST SCARED MYSELF TO DEATH!!!" Lena screams at the top of her lungs as she pouts at her Father.
"HAHAHA!" Winston starts laughing due to the fact that his plan worked out perfectly.
Sighs Lena as she squeezes her heart that feels like it's going to explode. "God I feel like my heart is going to explode out of my body..."
"You're not very good with scares... eh?" Winston says with a smile on his face as he sees Lena's condition.
"If you do that again I swear I'm moving in with Uncle David" Replies Lena with a smile of her own on her face before sitting down on the bench. "And that's final."
That made Winston freeze for a moment, before scratching the back of his neck and apologizing to Lena, though he still had the smile on his face.
"Well, I just came to see how your training was going" Explained Winston as he sat down on the floor since the bench was full of sweat. "Remember to study too, UA always does written exams and a surprise practical exam."
Lena shrugged with a chuckle. "I know, I know, don't worry, I always get the best grades."
"I know, but as your Father it's my obligation to repeat it to you until you know it by heart" Explained Winston with a chuckle of his own. "More than your grades though, I'm concerned about your social life."
Lena simply dodged his gaze.
Winston sighed. "You can't keep avoiding people dear, in the Hero trade you're going to have to work with strangers and getting to know them can be key. That you don't have any friends is worrying in itself you know?"
"...I have one friend...I think..." Lena muttered under her breath but Winston heard it anyway.
Winston was worried about Lena's social life, not because Lena was shy or anything, but because she made no effort to talk to anyone unless it was strictly necessary.
But now Lena says she has a friend, which caught Winston's attention as she had never mentioned anything like that before.
'She must have met her in the last days of school.' Winston thought.
"Well, I don't know whether to consider her a friend. Anyway, I usually go to the rooftop because the silence is so relaxing, but one day I was surprised to find a girl already on the rooftop, apparently she was listening to music with her Quirk" Lena says while scratching her head and for some reason she seemed embarrassed to tell her father.
"Her Quirk?"
"It's like... one of those wires for headphones, apparently she can hear sounds through them so she uses them as headphones, anyway, it seemed like she didn't notice my presence so I went to the other side of the rooftop and sat down to eat in silence, after a few minutes she noticed my presence and asked me what I was doing there, I simply replied that I liked the silence of the rooftop. Since then we only greeted each other briefly... and that's it." Lena explains inexplicably embarrassed, even she herself wonders why she feels this way... perhaps because of her father's look of astonishment and pride.
She turns her head to look at her Father.
Yup, definitely from the look of a proud father.
Without saying a word Winston hugs Lena even though she was sweaty from training, Lena is surprised by her father's hug but simply hugs him back, after a few minutes they part ways.
"Hehe, looks like my little girl is growing up" Winston says cheerfully as he gets up from the bench and heads for the basement stairs, these words make Lena feel a little embarrassed and a little upset for some reason.
"I'm not a kid anymore..." Lena mutters without daring to say it out loud.
As Winston was about to go up the stairs he turns his head towards Lena and asks "By the way, there are 7 months left until the UA entrance exams, have you made the prototype of your Hero costume yet?"
"Ah..." Lena had completely forgotten about it....
***
<Japan / Unknown>
In a dark and gloomy place one could observe many giant tubes containing strange creatures with dark purple and light green skin which floated in a strange fluorescent green liquid. The place looked like some kind of a scientist's laboratory with the moral compass a little too crooked.
"This is all I can reveal to you, you should be receiving the master's gift shortly..... now I want my part of the bargain" Said an old, quiet voice.
At the back of the lab a short person could be seen dressed in a doctor's coat, he wore Steampunk type glasses and was bald, this person was: Doctor Kyudai Garaki.
"Yeah, yeah, calm down cheap copy of Doctor Eggman.... I'm already sending you the data.... I hope you will use it for the advancement of humanity otherwise I will be very disappointed in you..." Said a venomous female voice from the other side of the screen.
"And when will your little soldier arrive?" the doctor asked excitedly with a sickly smile on his face.
"God your smile is more disgusting than mine..." Replies the person on the other side of the screen. "And he's already there..."
Suddenly a jet black mist forms on the ground and from it is born Death himself in person. The person was dressed completely in black leaving only a skull-like mask in sight emitting a sense of imminent danger.
Garaki's glasses were activated analyzing the person in front of him with great speed. When the analysis was finished his eyes widened in surprise and amazement at the creation before him.
'Perfect...a perfect specimen!' thought Garaki trembling with excitement.
"Ha...Haha...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Garaki started laughing as he realized that his master was right again, making deals with Moira O'Deorain was beneficial, now almost all the preparation is ready.
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