Chapter 87: Living Furnace

Having resigned himself to his new reality, Midoriya needs a new means to use his powers if he's going to be a hero, thus he seeks out some help from the support studio where he recalls something important.

(Previously)

“Midoriya, I hope you’re not getting distracted.” Midoriya jolted, looking to where his Ectoplasm clone was supervising his training, which at present was just basic combat moves with the armour.

"It's just…all my ultimate moves require me to breathe them out, but my suit was designed to counter that." He stopped as he reached for his face, his armoured hand contracting with the metallic plate. It was why he felt a little weird about the praise early, as he couldn’t use those Ultimate Moves now, not when he was a walking danger.

Ectoplasm had plenty to say about that, but now wouldn’t be a good time for any of it, so he focused on the issue at hand. “What about Yellowstone? Is that still viable?"

“I’m using it right now; it’s why I’m moving so fast.” Ectoplasm was glad his mask kept him from exposing how surprised he had been by that statement. He…he hadn’t even felt the temperature shift as it normally would with Midoriya’s abilities. How good was that suit of regulating temperature?

Lucky for him, thinking about his prosthetics was a specialty of his, so he pivoted focus. “Then we'll work on your physical capability for now; however, you'll need a new means to expunge your flames if you're not leaving the suit."

“Yes, sir…” Midoriya confirmed as he went back to combat kata.

Line Break

Training has ended for the day, and most have either chosen to remain a little longer to finish additional training or returned to the dorms to relax. Midoriya was not one of them as the afternoon sun shone on campus, casting orange and red light into the well-lit hallway, and he walked through the main school building.

Since it was summer, there weren't any other students around. Hence, his armoured, heavy footsteps carried on, echoing as he was too absent-minded to minimise the sounds, as he had been for most of the day. He wasn't heading towards class; he was looking for the support studio.

"You may need to have the support course look over your suit and make some modifications to the spare." Ectoplasm had recommended such earlier, as they had squeezed as much as they could out of it at present.

'If they can help, then maybe…' Midoriya thought to himself, as Koharu dozed off, having spent most of the training out napping in the sun, and she was still far from awake.

Getting there, he found that the door was less a door like the classes' and more a solid block of steel, covered in rivets and framed by thick steel frames. Above it was an almost out-of-place cutesy sign reading 'Design Studio'.

"What an odd choice for a door. Is it meant to keep the stuff inside safe? But…how would anyth-!" Izuku couldn't even finish the thought as the door, as heavy-duty as it was designed to be, was blown off its hinges by a massive explosion, which alerted Koharu, who hissed in shock as the wave of heat struck them, along with something else.

Through the smoke and dust, a voice could be heard wincing in pain. “Ow-ow-ow, that smarts…”

"Yeah, it should! What have I said about being careful? You nearly blew up the entire lab, Hatsume!" Another cut in, gruffer and much older, Powerloader stood where the door used to be, coughing as he tried to wave the smoke out of his face.

“Failure is the mother of invention, Mr. Powerloader, Thomas Edison said that once,” The named Hatsume, a girl who needed no introduction, hardly seemed phased as one could hear the joy and blasé tone she still spoke with even as she coughed. "Even if something I make doesn't work like I want, it doesn't mean it's a loss."

"It does when you nearly blow yourself and your workspace to hell and back. We have safety protocols for a reason." Powerloader scolded her as he caught sight of the fact that someone had been on the other side of the door. And while he would typically be in panic mode, as one would be when they realised a human being was in the direct line of fire of the reinforced steel door's fragmentation, they looked…fine, standing upright as if nothing had happened.

Hatsume, who had been caught by a surprised Midoriya and now held bridal style, hardly seemed to notice; her attention was still in Power Loader. “When did we get those?”

Powerloader sighed, and Koharu, coming out from her hiding spot on Midoriya’s back, wondered how humans could look much older than they were with just a single tired breath. "On the first day, we spent the entire first lesson going over them. Were you listening at all?" The teacher asked, though he feared he already knew the answer.

“Hmmm…probably not, I was too focused on what I’ll use to make some fresh babies!” Hatsume giggled about in Midoriya’s stunned and silent arms, the boy not knowing what to do, or say…or…anything really, how does one react to any of this?

"Pardon me, but" Eventually, he regained enough of a voice to speak, and this was enough for Hatsume to realise her situation as she turned to him with the gaze of a surprised, yet calm and curious cat. “Is this a bad time?”

For a few moments, she was uncharacteristically silent, her eyes zipping over his form, zooming in and out as she rapidly scanned his suit and all its details. As she did so, her smile returned, brighter than ever, as ideas started to form in her head. “Oh, hey, who are you? Pretty sturdy if you didn’t get thrown back by that, pretty sure that was the first time the door went with a blast.” She seemed more impressed than concerned with the blast as Midoriya gently let her down.

“Is that a normal thing to bring up in the support course?” Midoriya asked as Hatsume patted herself down and turned to walk right back in, ideas on the mind and babies to be made.

“It is not, Hatsume,” Powerloader emphasised her name, Hatsume having enough sense to tell she was in trouble, but the teacher focused on their visitor. "Is just someone who seems to believe safety is an afterthought. What can I do for you, Midoriya?"

Midoriya would just take his word for it, recalling that Hatsume was the same person who was pretty honest about why she teamed up with Monoma during the Sports Festival and how she used her match with Iida as a glorified tech expo.

But she didn't seem all that interested in the topic; since Powerloader wasn't punishing her, she just hummed as she returned to her workstation. "We were working on creating Ultimate Moves, which I already had a few, but the thing is, I can't use most of them like this," Midoriya explained as he gestured to his suit.

“Makes sense, you want to get the suit removed? Should be easy enough to handle that yourself.” Powerloader asked, as did the rest of the staff; he had much to say about a student being emotionally compromised to the point of willingly wearing something like that.

“No!” Midoriya's response was quick, loud, and bordering on desperate as Powerloader took a step back in surprise, something Midoriya noticed as he quickly backed off, trying to appear smaller as he corrected himself. “I mean…no thank you, I just…I was thinking the spare could be modified so I can better fight in it?”

“You can count me in!” Midoriya almost screamed as Hatsume seemed to teleport right back in his face, as it seemed she wasn't as laser-focused on her tasks as she seemed. Still, more likely, she just always had an ear out for potential projects.

“Wha!” Before Midoriya could respond, Powerloader spoke up.

“Hatsume,” His tone wasn't friendly as his patience was wearing thin. “It’s fine for you to frequent the support studio, but if you keep breaking rules and scaring people, you’re banned.”

Hatsume again paused, as it took a moment for the statement to register and make sense to a person who could best be described as 'driven'. “…Oh…that’s bad.”

“It is.” Powerloader nodded.

Line Break

“This place is amazing, it's like you have a little I-island lab in here." Midoriya looked around in awe.

Having cleared up the issue with Hatsume and pulling out a curtain to hang where the door used to be, Powerloader let Midoriya into the support studio's workplace. Now, Midoriya couldn't say he knew what it should have looked like, as he always assumed it would just be a better mechanic shop looking set-up.

But this was far from that. So much further as only U.A could spend what had to be tens of millions of yen on the equipment around them.

Powerloader chuckled at the compliment. Newcomers always had something like that to say. “Thanks, but I’ve been to I-island, and not even U.A. can match what they have, but we make damn sure we’re not too far behind them.”

“Now, let me just look up your suit’s specs and instructions.” Powerloader booted up his personal computer and quickly located Midoriya's file. Opening it, the student saw it contained nothing about his academic or personal history and was focused solely on his quirk and his suit.

“Is that needed? Can’t you just work on the suit as is?” Midoriya asked, as a lot of the information on the screen flew right over his head. He had only been told the basics of it for maintenance purposes, as he was expected to handle some minor repairs and cleaning.

Powerloader was quick to respond. “Yes, but that’s a fast way to lose my license to even be here. I’m allowed to do small changes and repairs to costumes and even build whole support items. Still, bigger changes would need the gear sent to the original designer and manufacturers for that.”

As he spoke, he pressed a button that highlighted details about the suit, including its many pieces and the materials used to build it. "As for you, that's a special case as your suit is more a containment unit than a support item, one supplied by the hero commission, so I need to run any changes through them, also," He glanced to Midoriya, who saw how the short man was smirking. “It’s just smart to know the specs of something before you tinker with it.”

"It's usually a 3-day turnaround, but as your containment suit is American-made, that could be a week, maybe longer if the commission decides it can't be made in-house. So, what changes did you have in mind?" Powerloader warned him as he turned fully to Midoriya, not needing a notepad as he had long mastered the art of remembering details.

Midoriya nodded, as he didn't mind the wait time. Besides, he had 3 suits, so even if one was sent away for the modifications, or another shipped over, he would have one and a spare to use. "Well, I can only control flames I create, but the suit's designed to keep them in. Is there a way to…not do that?"

"You want us to find a means to create a suit that contains your flames, to have a means to release those flames whenever you want?" Powerloader asked, just to be sure he was hearing this right, to which Midoriya had enough sense to at least appear bashful. However, it was more in body language than expression.

“Got it! Leave it to me!” Hatsume sang as she laid her hands on Midoriya’s suit.

“H-hatsume…what are you doing?” Midoriya stuttered as this was very much new. Not even Tokage, with how much she liked to tease him, would just grope him!

Hatsume saw it as nothing to write home about. “Feeling up your suit, they don’t kid about that American tech, this is high quality, I would love to pick the brain of whoever made this baby,” Her mind was focused on what it always was focused on, and once she had er fill of how the materials felt and were forged and shaped, she immediately dived into a pile of support items in the corner.

As she dug around them looking for whatever she had on her mind, she continued to speak. “But, that just makes me want to modify it even more and give it the Hatsume touch! If I can show I can improve already exceptional tech, then my name will spread all the way across the Pacific, which means new clients and partners!”

Midoriya was a little concerned as he turned to Powerloader, as he could appreciate her honesty-it reminded him of Tsu. Still, she was also a bit much for him.

Well, she was also crazy fast as she found what she was looking for, zipped back to Midoriya's side, and slapped a pair of red and orange gauntlets on his armour, connecting them to the vents on his elbows. "Try this! The Pyro-Reflector Gauntlets can catch an internal flame output and reflect it outward! Meet baby number 42!" She presented, with the palms housing small nuzzles that could expel super-hot gas and flames.

"Oh, then can you try it right now?" Midoriya asked, since he wasn't expecting they'd have a solution that fast.

“Go right on ahead!” Hatsume confirmed before Powerloader could tell them they needed to use the experimentation room. Midoriya, ignorant of those safety concerns, just tried up his quirk…and promptly melted the connection between his suit and the gauntlets.

“Oh…” He sounded sad about ruining Hatsume’s prototype, as she must have worked hard on-

"Hehe, sorry about that, made that for someone with a hell of a lower flame output."  Hatsume hardly seemed bothered by her support item being ruined; she just turned and dived right into the pile, and after a few more moments, dug up something else.

When she came out next, she carried another one of her support items, this one looking like the shoulder padding American footballers would wear, only it came with additional attachments around the chest and sides. "Have no fear, I have just another baby, whom we can try out! Baby number 53, the Thermo-Sync Shoulder emitters! With these, they'll sync with your internal body temp and let out tiny flame pulses."

“Why are they attached to my-” Midoriya asked, as it seemed like he blinked, and he was wearing it.

“Emitters, go.” Hatsume didn't give it a moment to rest or for him to question her; she pulled out a remote and pressed its big red button. As she did so, the support item fired up, its sensors tracking Midoriya's internal temperature through the shoulder vents, but seconds after it activated, it showed its issues: the emitters fired intermittently and randomly, forcing Midoriya to make increasingly bizarre poses just to remain standing.

“Why am I posing?!” Midoriya cried as he kept going till Hatsume eventually shut the unit down.

"Hmmm, maybe it wasn't the best idea to use a dance program as a base for the A.I.," Hatsume mused, as it seemed like a good means to save time, but perhaps a VR combat game would have suited it better.

"Sorry about that, but hey, we know 2 ways which don't work, so we can work on other ways!" Hatsume seemed unbothered as Midoriya was left on his hands and knees, Koharu glaring at this pink human.

“How?”

“Don’t know, but there’s always a solution, besides a suit like that gotta have some crazy heat sinks, cause if you don’t, then the walking volcano’s gonna pop like Fuji!” Hatsume chirped as Powerloader, who had remained silent as he put out the fire from the first unit, finally spoke up.

“Hatsume, what have I said about using people as unwilling test subjects? I shouldn’t need to carry a fire extinguisher when you’re around!” Powerloader swung the nuzzle of the fire extinguisher around, as this wasn't even the first time he's used it, nor was this the first canister of the stuff they've gone through during the year.

“Heat sinks…” As the teacher scolded a confused Hatume, Midoriya sat, his words bouncing around his head. His suit didn't just use heat sinks; it also used an advanced cooking system running through his backpack. However, those vents still existed, and the biggest was the one that adorned his chest.

Reaching for it, his armoured fingers sailed across the surface of this vent, along with his gaze going to his elbows, which also had vents, as he thought about what he had seen of himself at Kamino. “Is it…possible, maybe...”

“Powerloader-sensei, Hatsume, I have an idea to run by you,” Midoriya gulped as Hatsume, tossing aside Powerloader's scolding, looked at him like he was the tastiest bowl of Katsudon. Or more likely, the pig, which would need to meet its maker so that the bowl of Katsudon could be made.

Line Break

Later, as I approached the support student studio, I saw 2 other students from class B. “You just want more durable watches?” Tsunotori asked as he walked alongside Monoma.

"My costume was already designed to be pretty tough, but I need reliable watches to keep track of the time for the quirks I copy. What about you?" Monoma replied as he held up one of his watches, which had been smashed in a minor training accident.

Tsunotori reached for one of her horns, detaching it and holding it like a sword for him to observe. “Well, my quirk’s different now, as I didn’t have a laser beam thingy before, so I wanted them to run some tests before I make any choice.” She explained that even when she handed it to Monoma to hold, he could tell it felt different, not just its rougher shape, which he knew irked Pony as she couldn't polish them to the same shine as before, but also the fact that it seemed to buzz with a certain type of energy.

“Still find that whole thing insane, does it have any history in your family?” Monoma asked her.

Tsunotori shook her head. “Nope, spoke with my parents and I’m the only one.” Her parents, understandably so, focused less on her developing this quirk awakening and more on how she had nearly been killed by a murderous psychopath.

She was just lucky they could be talked down from demanding she either transfer to general studies or return to the states for her hero studies.

“Is that Midoriya?” She hummed at Monoma’s question, glancing ahead, she spotted the armoured figure standing by the support studio.

“Hmm? Hebimi! How are you?” Tsunotori called out as she ran ahead, Monoma only increasing his pace.

Hearing them, Midoriya turned to address them. "Hi guys, and I'm doing okay. Are you able to speak with Powerloader-sensei?"

“Pretty much, is that why you’re here?” Tsunotori confirmed, but then she noticed the lack of a door, the soot, and clear blast marks around the door frame. “Wait, what happened to the door?”

“I would say you had something to do with it, but you’re too nice…” Monoma commented, to which Midoriya turned his head away.

"Hatsume's pretty dedicated to the craft, but she can be a little careless…" Midoriya didn't want to say more, as despite how much Hatsume made his heart rate reach concerningly high speeds with how forward and danger-prone she could be, he could see what Powerloader was talking about when it came to her as a person. He quite liked people who gave what they loved all the effort they could.

"This is just a little. I fear what she would be like when she stops caring altogether. Is that why you're outside?" Monoma questioned as they could clearly hear the sounds of machine tools being operated through the curtain.

Midoriya shook his head. "No, I already finished my business with them and was going to head back to the dorms. I can wait so we can go together."

“Nah, you get going. Tokage might get mad if she doesn’t see you get back soon.” Tsunotori giggled, as she already saw Tokage starting to panic without her Hebimi in sight.

'"Tsu as well, they've been really worried about you from what I've seen." Monoma chuckled, hiding how such behaviour only started after the summer camp and following the rescue mission.

Midoriya thought about it, and that, along with Koharu's reminder that dinner was soon and that she was hungry, pushed him toward a decision. “Then I’ll get back now, see you later!”

Line Break

Powerloader's worries proved mercifully false, as the Hero Commission had no issue with it so long as U.A. properly handled the modifications to Midoriya's containment suits, so long as they documented each and sent the revisions to the original manufacturer contracted for it. They even handed the contact details so that Powerloader could supervise Hatsume's communications with the Denver-based design team.

It was 2 late nights thanks to the time zone difference, but for someone like Hatsume, who regularly didn't sleep for 48 hours plus, that was nothing. So, they completed their modifications and finalised them in a little over 2 days.

In that time, the rest of class B's training continued without many issues. Each handling something to either increase their current abilities and tolerances or develop a new means to use their quirks.

Thus, 3 days into their training, Nezu had no reason to be worried when he made a surprise visit to watch class B train, All Might already present, and as was becoming a norm for him once more, he was still in his muscle form.

‘Though I suppose this would be his new true form, or even a return to it.’ Nezu chuckled as he mused over it, as thanks to Toshinori being bathed in Midoriya’s flames at I-island, even if he only had a few weak embers of One for All, having burned most of it out at Kamino, the man’s health was back to what it had been before his first clash with the dreaded villain.

"Principal, I wasn't expecting you," Vlad noted as he and All Might greeted their boss, Ectoplasm, and Midnight, still working with the students, and probably didn't notice Nezu being present.

“Come to watch class B train?” All Might asked as Nezu happily made his way onto All Might’s now much taller, sturdier shoulder.

"I found some time between paperwork and meetings to get a closer eye on our students. Any issues?" Nezu inquired as they all turned to look over the students, scattered around the space as they worked with an Ectoplasm clone or Midnight.

"A few hick-ups, but nothing time and diligence can't solve, it's worked so far with others who were struggling early on," Vlad replied, as it was well over a week before the exam date. He was impressed with his students' progress.

“They all seem quite motivated; did you promise a reward?” Nezu asked, a cheeky smile on his fuzzy, adorable face.

“As if I needed to,” Vlad chuckled as he shook his head, though his amusement was suppressed slightly. "No, they're motivated because of each other, and the challenges they've faced. Especially Tokage and Honenuki…"

All Might nodded as he looked over to the two. One might have been wearing a helmet, but decades of experience in the field made it easy for All Might to track the frustration and impatience Honenuki's stiff posture was giving off. Tokage, for her part, seemed far too focused and serious, as she was always a diligent student, but one who kept her cool and humour, not now it seems.

"I can imagine why; both are recommendations, and both weren't able to help much during the summer camp attack." All Might guessed, as he knew that feeling well. Even with his health back in peak condition, he wasn't able to do hero work for more than 30 minutes. If he pushed it, he was effectively retired.

And yet, despite that, it still burned each time he had to just…let someone else handle an incident, or stop a crime, or stop a villain because you just couldn't, even if you only learned about the incident after the fact, and you know that logically, you couldn't have done anything in the moment. That feeling didn't go away; it only got worse the higher you got, and for those 2, as recommendation students, they surely must feel like they should have accomplished more to justify that fact.

Nezu agreed with both men, frowning as he looked over the two students, his mind an impregnable maze so no one could truly know what he was thinking. "And as foolhardy as it is, I suspect it's also stemming from Hosu and I-island. I would never wish for our students to be thrown against such dangerous criminals, but..."

"They and a few others see it as being robbed of the chance to prove themselves," Vlad grunted. “But at least they’re limiting it to training for their provisional license.”

“If they bring that sort of fire to the exams and pass, then they’ll have no issue finding an agency to sign them on.” All Might added, as even with that worry, neither had done much to warrant more than mild concern. Besides, they were working as hard as the rest.

Line Break

Awase, in costume, faced off against an Ectoplasm clone who stood close to a concrete wall. “All right, here I go!” He rushed the man, pulling out pieces of bars, bolts, and nuts from his pouches, and quickly bound the clone to the wall by interconnecting the bits and pieces into longer, heavier lengths that fastened to the clone's coat and prosthetic legs. “I call it: Construction-Done-Kwik: Weldcraft.”

Midnight, who had been walking, nodded as she inspected the binding, with the Ectoplasm clone confirming he couldn’t move, not without losing his coat and legs. “Not a bad choice for your quirk and vibe.”

To another corner, Tetsutetsu stood at the ready; between him and his Ectoplasm clone was a thick concrete wall, around twice as thick as most commercial buildings' outer walls. “Here I come, Tetsutetsu Fist!” With his entire body covered in steel, he rushed the wall. He gave it a deceptively simple jab, the impact shattering through the wall and striking the clone in the chest, not destroying it, but sending it flying into its back with a grunt and skid.

As the clone got up, Tetsutetsu pulled his fist free from the wall, testing it by opening and closing it and messing with the fingers. Still, to his joy, he didn't feel or see anything weird.

“Excellent, while it's a simpler approach, it doesn't mean it's a bad choice; instead, it relies on its simplicity to be reliable in a pinch, the core of an Ultimate Move.” The Ectoplasm clone informed him as Tetsutetsu slammed his fist into his chest in celebration.

“All right, all that time in an oven paid off!” he didn't have Midoriya to bathe him in flames like at camp. Still, U.A. was able to create a giant furnace for him, which he would sit in for up to 2 hours at a time as the temperature increased.

“Roaring Rage!” An Ectoplasm clone had been running through concrete spires, hunted by Shishida, who came out of nowhere, still in his normal form till he transformed and leaped towards the hero, his giant hand grabbing the clone and slamming him into a spire so hard it suffered several large cracks. In contrast, the clone was destroyed in the impact.

"Very good. When it comes to any engagement, catching your opponent off balance can prove critical, and being able to dish out such power can end most fights with minimal time lost." Another clone spoke up, having been formed almost immediately after the first was taken out.

“It’s…” Shishida growled as he slowly de-transformed, his tone becoming more level and civil. “Still a work in progress, I need to better handle my emotions while I'm transformed, else I could end up led by the nose."

"We'll continue to address that," Ectoplasm called out.

Shiozaki wasn’t too far from them, and in reaction to an attack from the clone she was assigned, she swiftly created a wall of vines that pierced into the ground, anchoring itself before he severed ties to it, leaving behind a tall, thick defensive barrier.

“Shield of the Faithful.” She called as she clasped her hands in prayer.

Midnight, who had made her way over, reviewed the technique and found it both solid and easily deployable. Unlike with other moves, Shiozaki cutting ties to it meant that any damage which could otherwise spread back to her simply couldn't. "It would make sense you'll focus more on defense than offense, but I recommend you cut the number of words down; it's important that you can call it out in a snap."

Shiozaki frowned, but didn’t fight her on this. “I understand.”

“Are you ready, Midoriya?” Another Ectoplasm clone asked, as he wasn’t alone but stood with Cementoss, the man on a knee with a palm to the ground, waiting for the signal.

As for Midoriya, he stood quite a ways from them both, his back to the wall. Much like his other days in the TDL, he was still wearing a containment suit, but this one looked much different from what had been seen before.

The gauntlets had been reworked, almost looking like Endeavour's, only where his resembled the burners of a stove, Midoriya’s looked like 3 rinds circling his arm from right below his wrist to right below his elbow. There was another around the chest vent, 4 along his knees, with one right above the ankle, moving up to his knees. There were additional vents on both his forearms and a change in design along his shoulders and even the back of his neck, as if designed for something to slot into place.

Clenching his hands a couple of times, Midoriya allowed them to fall loose, even as his body temperature started to rapidly rise. “I am.”

"Cementoss," Ectoplasm called out as Cementoss silently did what he had been asked to do. The ground beneath him started to rumble as he called on his quirk, summoning a massive wave of concrete.

This did not go unnoticed by the rest of the students and teachers. As Tokage looked to where she could see the cause of it. “What the?”

“That’s a lot of cement…Midoriya?” Monoma frowned, only for his eyes to widen as he saw just how much cement was being pulled and formed into a giant wave. And right as the wave was halfway to the ceiling, it came down on Midoriya, who didn’t move.

“Koharu!” He called out as Koharu, already ready, shifted forms and lunged for Midoriya, getting into position along the nearly added placement for her along his shoulders and head, small ports opening up and piercing into her, as well as Midoriya and in moments, allowing her firery form to bleed past one valve, while his body, pushed to near boiling, did the same from his end, activating another valve.

Once connected, they become close enough that her flames become his, and vice versa, as the power built up in and around him, which includes a pulse of electricity, similar to what he had used at Kamino. As the power surged, the rings around his chest plate, gauntlets, and boots all started to glow purple, spinning in place as power levels rose.

Having not moved from his spot, Midoriya held both arms out towards the incoming wave, palms wide as flames poured out from his gauntlets valves in short bursts. “Serpent’s Electrocinder!” He called out as he created a familiar force field, fused with his flames, forming a spiralling dome around him, with his flames forming the outer edge.

On contact, to the surprise of the students and teachers, he didn't move as the wave of cement crashed into him; his sphere barrier held, but it was a rock against the tide.

“Come on….come on…!” Midoriya grunted, feeling the strain of maintaining it. Still, within seconds, his inexperience and lack of control proved too great as the barrier broke, the cement got past, and swept him into the back wall with a hard thud.

Cementoss nodded as he ceased the assault and reformed the area to what it had been before. “That’s not bad for a first attempt, but we should work on the duration and strength of your defense.”

"Yes, sir…" Midoriya groaned, as he didn't feel the impact with the wall. Still, the suit's backpack cooler meant lying on his back was an awkward affair.

“Ow, why am I on the back?” Koharu complained as she very much did feel that, even if her seat in the suit had good padding.

“Midoriya, what was that?!” Tsunotori called out as she rushed over, Monoma and others not far behind, as Midoriya picked himself up.

“Did you just use electricity? Isn’t that Kaminari’s thing?” Kendo asked, as she was pretty sure it wasn't just some variant of flames. Still, she couldn't figure out why, as he did something like that, Kamino, but she just figured it had something to do with that trigger dose.

Midoriya’s helmet shifted as he looked at all of them. “I got the idea from watching clips of Kamino, as well as you, Tsuburaba?”

“Me?” Tsuburaba, who hadn’t run over, paused in his training when he heard that.

"Hmm, the shield works like your solid air, as I can basically use it wherever, and it can be suspended in place, at least I'm working on that." Midoriya gestured to the now-cooled and still rings along his body, which helped with another feature.

“As for the spinning, it’s similar to your Hado flame, being a spiral sphere?” Monoma asked, and when his friend nodded, he chuckled and shook his head. “Figures, you wear your inspiration on your sleeve.” He wondered if she knew about that yet…probably not, as Hado-sempai seemed like the type who would have announced that by now.

“Is that why you went to speak with Powerloader the other day?” Tsunotori asked.

“I wanted some modifications done to the suit, and Hatsume really delivered. Along with the new gauntlets and back ports for Koharu, she also added in new conductive pathways, insulated channels, electromagnetic containment, redirective coils, active electrical flux dampeners, magnetic ignition suppressors, and a whole bunch of other stuff." Midoriya sounded happy as he talked about the changes made. However, most had to be internal since they couldn't spot much difference in it outside the new gauntlets and rings.

“And she got that done in 2 days? Does that woman ever sleep?” Tokage asked, as she figured the girl was a little crazy from how she handled the Sports Festival, but not this crazy.

"Probably not, since Powerloader-sensei seemed annoyed with her when I went to switch out my old suit for this one," Midoriya noted, as she didn’t look like she had spelt in a while and without shame, gleefully informed him she was planning on sleeping for 12 hours straight…so at least there was that, even if he questioned if that was a healthy choice.

“Old?” Tsunotori asked.

“Yeah, old, I have more than one. But since this works so well, they might need to work on the other one.” Midoriya explained that it was a good thing, too, as it meant Hatsume could work on this whenever she found time.

“Well, I think that was quite the impressive form,” A voice spoke up as All Might and Vlad approached, but it wasn’t any of them but the one riding on All Might’s shoulders.

“Principal Nezu?!” The students called out, shocked that he was present.

Nezu, as always when he surprised his students, let out a jolly laugh. “In the flesh, but what am I? Have any of you figured it out?"

“Small bear?”  Midoriya proposed.

“Big rodent.” Tsunotori offered.

"Medium-sized dog?" Tokage guessed.

“Well, the answer is,” Nezu paused, seeing the anticipation in their eyes before he finally answered. “I’m your principal, haha!” He laughed at how Tsunotori whined at the non-answer.

"But back to what I was saying, I've seen most of your work thus far, and I can tell you're all on the right track. Give it more time and training, and I'm sure you'll all achieve some wonderful Ultimate Moves." Nezu complimented not just them, but the entire class as All Might turned to allow him to track as many of them as possible.

“Thank you, sir.” Monoma bowed, followed by the rest.

"But I can see that Midoriya was not the only one who's been visiting the support labs." All Might smiled as he looked them over, and aside from Tokage, the small group all had new additions to their costumes.

“Well, when you’re working on moves like this, it only makes sense you’ll want to change it up, get some new gear.” Monoma smiled as others who had also made the trip flashed their new gear or altered costumes.

“It’s a necessity when the exams have a 50% pass rate.” Yanagi reminded them.

“And with our luck, we could end up in a particularly capable group of students, which would only make it all the harder to manage.” Kaibara sighed, as they were sure of it.

“At least we won’t need to worry about going up against class A.” Komori reminded them.

“Yeah, it would probably ruffle some feathers if he ended up taking each other out.” Honenuki agreed, even if he thought his class would come out on top, they didn’t need to make enemies where it wasn’t needed.

Vlad hummed, but wished to impart something to them. “Remember, just because you’re all first years, I expect you to give it your 120%, that’s the only way I would accept any failures from you.”

"Yes, sir!" The students replied in unison, since they had already heard some additional info earlier upon arrival, even though Midoriya was late because he needed to pick up the suit.

Still, even with over a week left to train, he didn’t feel anywhere near as comfortable with his new suit and moves as he did with his other ones. Still, he clenched his armoured fist first, determined to see that changed. ‘I only have a few days to perfect this, and the other move…no room for slacking off.’

Line Break

And welcome back, and hello 2026! We're here with the first chapter of Path of Waves for the new year. I have so…SO many ideas I want to use, some which can just be thrown into chapters since they don't alter the flow of things, others for entire chapters and arcs! I will also work on tightening things up, since the whole mess with the best room contest was never meant to last as long as it did; it just kept going on because 40 rooms is a lot.

Also, this would be the first time I've worked with stories for a fandom I've been a member of for years, which has ended. Both the manga and anime of MHA are done, and as a fan who's been around since 2019, it's been a fun, wild ride. My Code geass stuff doesn't count, as while I am in the fandom, I joined long after the main series ended, as that's not a young IP.

Still, with just vigilantes to look forward to, and the special, which is probably just going to cover the last volume, that gives us fans a complete set of characters, lore, and worldbuilding to work with, even if only to disregard when we go and make Aus.