MHA : Evolving : Chapter 30

' Izuku '

"Welcome back."

Aizawa nodded to the gathered class, "To those here, well done in the sports Festival." Many of Izuku's classmates straightened proudly at that.

"But things are only going to get harder from here." Tapping a button, the board started showing names and projected statistics "Normally this doesn't happen till your second year, but Nezu has decided to speed things up.

Starting next week all of you will be spending a week Interning with various hero agencies. The statistics on the board are the offers sent in by heroes wanting to work with you.

Don't be worried if you don't have an offer, the school has forty agencies willing to take first years regardless of offers." Looking at the board, Izuku saw that Todoroki had the most offers at four thousand one hundred and twenty-three.

"What's with those numbers though?" Kaminari asked confused.

"I mean, Midoriya won so shouldn't he have the most offers?" a glance at the chart showed that Izuku had a grand total of eight offers.

"It's a sad fact that many offers Todoroki received were likely from people wanting just his raw power, a connection to Endeavor, or both."

Aizawa sighed, clearly not happy about the topic "But more than that many Heroes, unfortunately, tend to be very closed minded. Midoriya, your Pledge at the festival paired with your appearance when you transform would have made things harder for yourself.

Still, I'm positive you'll overcome it." The promise of faith made Izuku feel a surge of determination.

"How long do we have to decide?" Tokoyami asked warily, noting the number of offers he had in the hundreds.

"You have till the end of the day on Wednesday to get your choices sent in." Aizawa answered,

"Thursday and Friday will be spent preparing you for those internships. I'm about to give you your offer lists to begin going through.

You may go to the cafeteria to meet with any friends from 1-B to compare and consider your choices. Shinso, you're the exception." Aizawa looked at the class's newest member.

"Given that you only just joined you'll be spending the internship week with me getting caught up to speed."

"Understood." Shinso nodded, clearly determined to catch up with the rest of them.

"As for the rest of you, come collect your offer lists." Aizawa tapped the stacks "This week is free training to prepare for the internships and work on any issues you may have found during the Sports Festival. The exception, is going to be after lunch."

"What happens after lunch?" Tsu tilted her head confused.

"You'll be picking your Hero names." Aizawa stated firmly as the class got excited, picking up their offers and heading to the cafeteria, hoping to meet up with the rest of the group from 1B.

"Yooooo!" Tokage landed in a seat beside Kirishima with a thud, "You guys got your offers? So, who got the most? Was it Midoriya?"

"Todoroki got four thousand one hundred and twenty-three." Izuku answered as he nervously eyed his small stack "I…got eight."

"What?!" Tokage looked outraged "But Bakugo got over three thousand!"

"You're kidding!" Mina gaped indignantly, "But he's a jackass!"

"Many heroes don't care." Midoriya scowled, "Only wanting someone powerful and flashy to boost their own rankings. They also prefer those who look human, or at least less 'scary'.

Think about it, Ryukyu is arguably stronger than Mirko, but Mirko looks more human and, as fucked up as it is, is more easily fetishized. That's why Mirko is ranked higher.

The polls are primarily based around popularity, it's why Endeavor is still number two despite having solved far more cases than All Might has in the past few years."

"That's messed up." Kirishima and Tetsutetsu scowled even as Reiko was glaring at Izuku's stack of offers, as if her glare could make more manifest from the ether.

"So, who did make you an offer?" Hagakure decided to try and get the conversation to focus on something more positive.

"I don't know." Izuku tilted his head as he opened his folder, pulling out the first one and freezing "The…the Water Hose Duo." His voice wavered slightly, noting that they'd sent in the request the day that the term began, before they went against the villain Muscular.

"I'm sure they'd be proud of you winning the festival." Reiko kept her words simple even as she gave his hand a squeeze, Izuku giving her a grateful smile.

"Next…best Jeanist?" Izuku blinked in surprise at the offer "That's a no."

"What, why?" Yaoyorozu tilted her head confused "He's one of the highest ranked Heroes in Japan."

"He also tends to have very…rigid views on heroism." Izuku shook his head, remembering interviews where people asked his opinions on what a hero should be.

"He probably made the offer wanting to mold me into the same type of Hero he is himself."

"Rather than let you be yourself." Kendo nodded.

"Exactly." Izuku went through the rest of the offers, seeing ones from Hawks, the Wild Wild Pussycats, Fat Gum, Ryukyu, Sir Nighteye and Gang Orca.

"I get Fat Gum, Ryukyu, and Sir Nighteye." Ururaka tilted her head, "You said they were the Mentors of the Big Three yeah?" and hadn't the group been more than a little jealous till they found out how often he got his ass beat in those training sessions.

"But what about the rest of them?"

"I'm…not sure about the Wild Wild Pussycats." Izuku frowned as he worked to remember, "I think they did a few team ups with the Water Hose duo in the past.

Maybe it's out of respect for them? Hawks I don't know but I don't know what all he could teach me; his method of heroics is very speed based thanks to his flight. But…hey, Gang Orca included a note in his request."

Izuku unfolded it even as his friends leaned in to snoop. The letter was rather simple, it simply stated that Gang Orca though Izuku had a lot of potential, but many would be wary of him due to his appearance.

Gang Orca, as the reining title holder for 'hero who most looks like a villain', was used to this and would be able to help Izuku get used to dealing with it, find work arounds, and more.

"I…I think I'm going to go with Gang Orca." Izuku nodded as he read the letter again, "He reached out because of me, not because I was already friends with their pupils, or to mold me into something else. Plus…he does kinda have a point."

"Well, that's you sorted at least." Tokage gave Izuku a slap to the back, "Now let's figure out what the rest of us are going to do."

"Midori-bro, we need your Hero Nerd knowledge!" Kirishima and Tetsutetsu pleaded in tandem "Help us find good choices please!"

...

' All For One '

"Young Tomura." All for One called the least experienced of his Acolytes "Come." Kurogiri warped in the still sulking disintegrator.

"The others have already arrived." Tomura scowled darker at that, having not taken the news that he wasn't the only pupil well.

"Take your seat." He nodded to an empty chair, the other members of the five rings sitting in their own seats, their allies not currently at the meeting.

"So, who are these NPCs?" Tomura gave a dark scowl at the various villains.

"They are my pupils, same as you Tomura." All for One's tone made the violent young man stiffen for a moment.

"But as for their names. There is Nine," he nodded to the man who had requested the Midoriya boy's quirk, likely to overcome the cellular decay his own power caused "Wolfram," the German based villainous mercenary and thief "Overhaul," the local Yakuza who was an admitted genius when it came to quirks and chemical weapons "and finally Lex Luthor."

The last one was admittedly an oddity amongst his ranks, a Quirkless businessman based out of America. The man had in fact turned down an offered quirk for the simple fact that everyone always underestimated him.

That and it gave him pleasure making his own weapons and gear to defeat those who had powers of their own.

"Master, you said that you had some contacts that would be useful in acquiring the Midoriya boy without drawing attention to us for now?" Nine asked, always focused on the task at hand.

"Yes, I'd rather avoid letting the world know of our connection as of yet." All for One nodded to the only survivor of the experiments to transplant his quirk.

"Not to mention if he can adapt as well as the information, we acquired implies then all it would take would be a single failure to make any subsequent attempts that much more difficult."

"But your new grunts don't have that problem?" a still jealous Tomura sulked.

Snapping his fingers, two figures stepped into the light "Meet a pair of old 'friends' of mine." All for One smirked "First is the Scarecrow, who's quirk makes those he uses it on to suffer hallucinations based upon their fears.

As there's no physical harm, only a mental aspect, then UA's adaptor should be unable to grow resistant. Second is a friend of mine from the dawn of quirks, Lobo."

"Suuuuuup." The blue skinned bruiser belched "Oh, that tasted like lunch."

"And…his aide?" Overhaul looked at the rather unwashed Lobo skeptically, the man's aversion to germs shining through.

"His quirk is that he is immune to side effects." All for One had always found the man's quirk bemusing, but given the confused expressions of his acolytes, he supposed he would need to explain.

"If he was thirsty and drank poison to quench his thirst, he would be unharmed because the intent was to quench thirst, dying of poison would be a side effect. He has done several jobs for me over the centuries and has been paid in weaponry or quirks, the loss of brain function being a side effect he is, therefore, immune to.

All Might is growing weaker, if he hasn't chosen a successor now, he'll choose one soon. I have trained the five of you to take the remnants of my empire All Might shattered. We stand upon the precipice of change. Let us take that leap and fly."

...

if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to p atreon :

p atreon.com/Huvnn