~ ~ ~ Previously ~ ~ ~
Our team was announced the winner and there was a short break to prepare for the next event, which would be one-on-one battles.
~ ~ ~ Now ~ ~ ~
Small minigames were prepared to entertain the audience while the teachers prepared for the next round. The first round was a word game. We would all draw cards with words on them and find whatever things in the area that matched the word on the card. The winner would be the first person to find all five items. Originally, I wasn't going to play, but the only "things" in the area were people which meant that this was basically a game of associating people with items, nouns, and verbs. It was a game of mockery and I was more than glad to make fun of others.
We all drew our cards and mine was the word "fluffy". I can't exactly present Bunny, which means I need someone else that's fluffy... hm. Shinsou looked pretty fluffy. I walked over with the intention to drag him to the stage only for him to confront me as well. "My word was 'gold', so you're gonna have to come with me," he said. "Well, that's just perfect, you match my word too," I smiled, showing him my card. He didn't seem to mind, and we walked to the stage, turning in our cards. My next word was "bomb"... oh, this is too easy! "Hey, Katsuki! C'mere a sec!" and with a fuming pomeranian in my grasp, I got my next point. "'cute', huh? Hm. This is gonna be a tough one," I thought to myself. "Hey, Cipher, I need you again," Shinsou called. I walked over to him, his card revealing the word "mysterious". "My my, you flatter me, Shinsou~" I teased. "Shut up and help me get my next point." I laughed when Midnight approved both of our cards again. "It appears you're cute now, Shin-chan~" I cackled as he stomped towards a girl with vine hair, grumbling the whole way with a face redder than Kirishima's hair.
I pulled Izumi for the word "snake", and Tokoyami for the word "bird"; claiming first place with my final card submitted. Shinsou managed to score second place after turning his last card only two seconds after me. Mei got third and Neito followed not long after. I didn't care enough to pay anyone else any mind, but it was fun nonetheless. That was until I met Ibara Shiozaki; the girl with vines for hair that Shinsou went to earlier. "Pardon me, demon, but I implore you to comply with this task. I loathe to request the assistance of a devil spawn, but alas, you are the only one worthy of it." And good golly did I want to suffocate her with those thorny whips on her head. "'Devil spawn'? Are you implying that I am a child to that knock-off lawyer because of my quirk? Go pray in a corner for forgiveness if you want to be so rude, you priestess wannabe!" I snapped. "And I am not 'evil', I am insane. There's a big difference."
So yeah, I have a sworn enemy now.
. . .
The battles were actually rather entertaining. I used the Shinsou's quirk against him. Shoto wiped the floor with Sero... along with half the stadium. Kaminari didn't stand a chance against Izumi, as she just kind of awkwardly floated him out of the ring. My future business partner used McStick-in-the-ass as a living billboard and then walked out of the ring, leaving a humiliated Ilda in the arena to throw a fit over his shattered pride. Shoka defeated Mina in a rather painful manner (turns out her acid is flammable). Tokoyami went up against Miss Know-it-all and pushed her out of bounds (good birb). Katsumi blew Tetsu (x4) to hell. Katsuki knocked Kirishima unconscious after slowly tiring him out. So, the ones to move on were: me, Shoto, Izumi, Ilda, Shoka, Tokoyami, Katsumi, and Katsuki.
The next round was me vs. Shoto. A fairly quick fight when using Endeavor's quirk to melt his ice shield and burn the shit out of him (his reaction was priceless). Then it was Izumi and Ilda, and the poor guy was annihilated. Tokoyami actually put up a good fight with Shoka, but she was still victorious. The Bakugou twins were the last match, and boy was it a laugh. Katsuki shoots explosions out of his hands, and Katsumi explodes anything her hands touch; she couldn't explode Katsuki, so she exploded the area and used the rubble like grenades. Katsuki dodged her first attack and blasted away the rest. He won when she ran out of ammo and sauntered off the stage without even sparing her a glance. Damn, does nobody give a damn about family anymore?
The semi-finals consisted of me, Shoka, Izumi, and Katsuki. We were given a short break to repair the stage after the twins demolished it, which was apparently the perfect time for Shoka and Katsumi to pull me aside. And so here the three of us were, standing awkwardly in an empty hallway. "Alright, what's this about?" I said, breaking the tension. Shoko flinched, "We um... we know it's not right to apologize after everything we've done..." Katsumi nodded, "But we felt like we owed an.. explanation as to why we did it. Izumi is going to hate us for this, but it's better than what she's planning." Now that got my attention.
Katsumi held up a hand, "Before you ask, we will tell you, just let us explain first." I nodded and leaned on the wall. Katsumi looked over to Shoko and the two shared a look and nodded. Shoko spoke up first, "It all started when we all got our quirks. Katsuki was the first to get his quirk, which made him think he was better than everyone for getting it before us. Next was Katsumi, which was expected at that point. Then it was Shoto, me, and finally, Izumi. When Izumi came to us that day and told us about her quirk, she also told us that Izuku was quirkless," she said. Bunny phased into existence, "So she started this?" he asked, his sudden appearance causing the two to falter a moment before nodding. "Tsk. Of course, it would be her."
Katsumi decided it was her turn, "She was worried you'd try to become a hero because she knew if you went off into battle without a quirk, then you'd die. She didn't know how to save you from that, so she came to us. Katsuki was the one who suggested bullying you. In hindsight, we should have seen the signs sooner. I'm sorry for remaining ignorant of his true intent. As his sister, I should have known better. And as your friend, I should have done more to stop it." Her head hung low as she began to cry. Shoko gently put a hand on her shoulder for reassurance.
She turned back to us, her hand still on Katsumi's shoulder and softly petting the crying girl's arm. "We did try to resist at first, Izumi most of all, but he just told us that 'Izuku is too stubborn to listen to anything else', so we gave in. Anyone could tell how much Katsuki enjoyed putting Izuku 'in his place'. A few months later, he started flirting with Izumi, big time. Before, he would make promises to protect her and be her knight in shining armor, but then the bullying started and he... well, it wasn't very long until they got together. Then he told us all how the plan wasn't working so we needed to kick it up a notch. Yeah... things only got worse after that, but by that point, we already knew that we couldn't back out. Katsumi and I did everything we could to stop it when things started to get physical. It felt wrong to hurt you for something so stupid, but he wouldn't let us go that easy. He threatened to tell everyone what we did and ruin our careers as heroes. He threatened to tell our parents. He even threatened to frame us for his crimes. Besides, 'Izuku still wanted to be a hero. Isn't that what we were doing this all for?' We... were too weak to stop him, and now you're... We're sorry. We're so sorry, Izuku..."
This time, it was me that looked to Izuku.
(Izuku POV)
I hovered next to Bill, pondering this new information. Katsuki was the true villain, no matter how you looked at it. Even if my being quirkless was the reason Izumi betrayed me, Katsuki would have found literally any other reason to bully me. It was just like they said, Katsuki likes Izumi. Katsuki would have found some other way to get me away from my sister. Not that I mind, she stopped caring for me a long time ago. Even if she did try to resist Katsuki's offer, she still seemed awfully happy to break me. That would mean she didn't deny it because we were family, she denied it for some other reason... but for what? These two denied it because we were friends, but Izumi? What was her reason? She can't be a hero with a bad record? She can't look bad in the eyes of our parents? No, that can't be it. She could tell mom didn't care when she left me at the hospital, and she figured out how helpless dad was when mom pushed his attention toward her and away from me. The teachers practically encouraged other kids to abandon or bully me, so the abuse wouldn't be acknowledged in school. None of it adds up.
Well, no use in pondering over the hatred of a traitor. That's what Bill says anyways, and Bill's always right. "Well, I had a feeling something was up when I saw you two holding back; along with you convincing Katsuki to leave me alone sometimes. But thank you for telling me, I'm proud you came forward despite your fears," I smiled warmly. They smiled and nodded. "And hey... for what it's worth, I forgive you." Their heads snapped up, tears pricking from the edges and obscuring their vision. "R-really? But-" Shoko stammered. "No! You should hate us! We -*hic*- we don't de-*hic*-serve this. Y-you can't... y.. y-you..." Katsumi sobbed. I hovered forward and stood in front of them, arms crossed. "Hmph, honestly! You two should know by now that hatred won't solve anything. I lived with it for years and it's only ever given me pain. So you shouldn't live with it either, especially if you never wanted to do what you did. It's not your fault; so stop blaming yourself, okay?" I spoke softly, patting their heads even though I knew they couldn't feel it.
We stayed there for a few more moments before finally returning back to the stadium.
. . .
(3rd POV)
Dipper and Mabel are seen in a cafe watching the Sports Festival from a nearby television. Mabel stares intensely at the screen while Dipper occasionally glanced away from his computer when Bill was on display. He is currently attempting to hack into UA's security system to find out where Bill is right now, but the principal is putting up one heck of a fight (bothersome rat). Every now and again a chess board will pop up in the corner of the screen, but he'll ignore it, even when the pieces start moving on their own. It was only when Dipper noticed what side he was on that he began to split his attention. He was even more focused after the fight with the twins because there was a break. This made time for him to break past certain firewalls and move a chess piece into the right place, but he also had to watch out for other defenses and codes that threatened his own defenses, because he saw a virus headed right for him and he had to be ready to block it.
A second too late, he grabbed onto a single security camera with a short image of a blonde boy leaving an empty hallway with two girls, all three wearing the school's gym uniform. So, basically, he got nothing. There were four yellow-haired kids in Class 1-A, but only two had yellow hair with black mixed in. Kaminari Denki, a boy with yellow hair and a single black stand in the shape of a lightning bolt. And Bill Cipher, yellow hair with black roots. But there is one problem... the angle the image was in left no room for true identification other than height. Unfortunately, Bill and Deki were also the exact same height, so Dipper was back to square one.
And while he did manage to block the attack from the principal, he still got kicked out with only a fuzzy image as evidence of him even being there in the first place. Well, if he couldn't get any leads here, maybe he check in with the clones. 1 used a bunch of papers, rumors, and maps to locate Cipher's mansion and let Dipper know that he was going to sneak in. 1 went offline a few seconds later. He was about to contact them when 2, 3, and 4 notified him that they managed to sneak into the shop and 2 found a locked door leading to what looked like a basement.
2 sent images of what looked like an apartment. Of course, there it was a basement house. Why live in a fricken mansion when you have a creepy basement to summon demons in? He made a mental note to ask 1 to check the mansion for a basement. If Dipper can even reach him, that is. 2 sent pictures of... is that a plushie? Wait, isn't that the kid that showed up in his dreams? Why does he have a plushie of Izuku? Did he make it for Izuku? Is that what the puzzles and art books were for? His theories were confirmed when a green bunny plush was seen on a yellow bed. That's definitely for Izuku. This is frankly... kind of cute. There's no way this is Bill's house. No house of his could have anything but demonic sigils, triangles, and traps. A normal shop? A normal apartment? CHILDREN'S TOYS?! There is no way... no way in hell.
Check again. There is no conceivable way he could have such a normal house. Something is up here.
A ping of affirmation from his phone and he was back to square one. "Hey Dip-Dop, what's with the face?" Mabel inquired. Dipper glanced up at his sister for a moment before accepting his fate, "Fine. I'll show you, but you have to be quiet." She nodded, suddenly much more interested now that he didn't brush her off. He showed her the pictures and she put a hand over her mouth to hold in her squeal. "Oh. My. Gosh. That is sooooo cute~! Izuku's practically got him wrapped around his tiny finger. Hehehe," she cooed quietly. Dipper rolled his eyes at his sister who was giggling like she was looking at a video about kittens. Figures she would like this. "I still feel like he's hiding something. Because the last time we went into his "house", it was a triangle labyrinth from hell. I highly doubt it could possibly be this perfect and pristine," he dismissed. Mabel pouted, "You're just mad that he isn't the evil overlord you want to fight."
Dipper huffed, "We still don't know for sure that he isn't. 1's comms went offline when they snuck into Bill's mansion. Speaking of which, I have a feeling he wants to summon his demon friends there. Like, why would he have a basement apartment and a friggen mansion? I could understand having a backup house to hide at, especially after the incident in the papers, but why keep it?" he questioned. Mabel shook her head. "Well, it was because he kept it that police were capable of fully investigating the scene. If something like that were to happen again, and he had gotten rid of the apartment, he'd have nowhere to go. And knowing Bill, I don't think he'd be that ill-prepared. He manipulated, tricked, and even possessed you, Dipper. He cracked open reality and caused Weirdmagedon. Do you think he wouldn't have plans if someone double-crossed him the way Gideon Grey did? He planned all of that by himself, there's no way he wouldn't plan for something as small as this," she replied
"Which is all the more reason to investigate! What if he is planning to do that to this world, too? Izuku might be able to pacify him long enough for this world to have a chance, but do you honestly believe he isn't plotting world domination right now?" Dipper whisper-yelled. Mabel sighed, "Maybe he is, but this world doesn't play by our rules, Dip. I'm pretty sure he's figured out by now that he won't be able to bulldoze his way through it as he did in ours. He's gonna have to play it safe if he really wants to take control... and as for Izuku... judging by what he said in the dreamscape, I think he's somewhat on board with it." Now that made Dipper think. Izuku did mention that this world needed to be destroyed in order for it to live. So he was helping Bill? Or was he just redirecting Bill's wrath into something productive? So many questions, and so little time.
They only had a couple more days before they had to leave. They had to do this fast.
-----------------------------------------------------
(Draft for next chapter: prepared. Layouts for future chapters: written. I do plan on updating this book more, but this one is still just beginning. I'm also doing a book commission, but I'm honestly just thinking of writing storyboard one-shots for authors to go off of. So I'm just kinda giving off the main idea or storyboard of the book and letting the OG creator figure the rest out.
I think it would be better for the creator of the OC and the idea behind them to write their own story and characters so that I can further inspire their imagination. I want to see the result of me just helping them along, so you'll all be seeing a third book very soon. Please go read my first one tho. It's not a prequel to this one, but it is almost finished. I just have to fill in some final plot holes and finish what I started.
But yeah, that's what I'm up to lately. Thanks for reading you all, and I'll see you soon.)