The Hero and the Genie

Chapter 20: The Truth Revealed

Izuku stood in front of his friends with a nervous expression. This was it. The moment of truth! It was time for them to know what trouble was brewing and why he was meant to be here in the first place.

"Okay," he said. "First off, the genies of the genie realm intended to bring me here in the first place."

"The genie realm?" Asked Ochako. "What's the genie realm?"

Shantae answered the question for her: "The genie realm is where all of the genies live. My mother is also living there." She turned to Izuku with a worried stare. "Is my mother okay?"

Izuku gave her a reassuring smile. "She's okay," he answered. "She requested the other genies for me to come here and protect you."

"What are you protecting her from, Midobro?" Asked Kirishima.

Izuku took a deep breath before answering: "Katrina. Katrina the Rogue Genie."

Bakugo narrowed his eyes. "Who is this Rogue Genie? I'll kill her!"

Izuku looked down sadly. "She was once a friend to Shantae's mother, Dalia," he said in a sad tone. "But then, they met Shantae's father, John. They both fell in love with him. But in the end, John chose Dalia over Katrina. In a fit of jealous rage, Katrina attempted to defeat her friend to win John's heart. But soon, Katrina was defeated by Dalia and sealed away by the Counsel of Genies."

Shantae stared in awe. "Wow! How come I never knew about this?"

"I'm not sure," answered Izuku. "I guess your mother was afraid of how you'd react."

"Do you have a plan for how to beat her, Deku?" Asked Ochako.

"Nothing yet," he answered. "I don't even know how powerful she is yet! No matter how strong she is, I will stop her with everything I've got!"

"Yeah!" Said Kirishima. "That's so manly, Midobro!"

Bakugo then spoke: "Considering that Katrina is a genie, I think it's safe to assume that her magic is stronger than genie girl here!"

"Hey," said Shantae. "My name is Shantae! Not genie girl!"

"I'll call you whatever I want," scoffed Bakugo.

"You wanna go, Bomber Boy?" Snapped Shantae!

They both glared at each other with fiery auras! Izuku got nervous.

"I never knew Shantae could be this angry," he said.

"Wow," said Kirishima. "Looks like Bakubro has met someone who can be just as angry as him!"

"I don't care how powerful Katrina is," said Shantae with an intense glare to Bakugo. "I'm not gonna let some evil genie harm the people I love! She wants to fight? I'll take her on!"

Bakugo glared at her for a moment. Then he smirked. "That's what I wanna see!"

"What?" Asked Shantae with narrowed eyes.

"You gonna fight her?" Asked Bakugo. "If she attacks us, we'll kill her!"

Shantae knew that this was just the way Bakugo spoke. So, she nodded. "Yeah! Katrina won't know what hit her!"

"Wait," said Izuku. "We need a plan to beat her! Shantae, do you know how strong she might be?"

Shantae thought for a moment. "Well, since she's a full genie, I imagine that she's twice as strong as me. Her magic might even be more powerful than mine. Wait! Maybe Uncle Mimic can help with that!"

"What makes you so sure?" Asked Kirishima.

"He made a device to help me save the Genie Realm," Shantae explained, recalling her fight with the corrupted Dynamo.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Said Ochako excitedly. "Let's go see him!"

Everyone nodded in agreement and set off to find Shantae's inventive uncle.

*****
"A rogue genie?" Asked Uncle Mimic in surprise. "I've never heard of such a thing! I'm amazed that this was never mentioned till now!"

"Um… Uncle Mimic, sir," said Izuku. "Shantae told us that you could invent something to help us counteract Katrina's magic the same way you invented something to help her save the Genie Realm."

"Ah, yes," said Uncle Mimic. "This was when I was inventing the Dynamo."

"Dynamo?" Asked Ochako. "What's the Dynamo?"

Shantae answered: "The Dynamo was an invention of Uncle Mimic's. It was supposed to help me keep Scuttle Town safe by providing enough light to scare off monsters."

"Wow," said Kirishima with admiration. "Mr. Mimic, you are so manly to help your niece out!"

Uncle Mimic let out a hearty chuckle. "Fond of manliness, eh, lad?" He asked.

"More than anything," answered Kirishima. "I always look up to the manliest heroes so I can be a man!"

"So, how did you make it, sir?" Asked Todoroki. "Did Shantae help with that?"

"I did," answered Shantae before looking sad. "But… I didn't realize that Risky had changed the blueprints when she stole it. So, the whole time I was actually helping Risky more than Uncle Mimic. I still feel so bad about it."

"You're naive, huh?" Asked Bakugo calmly. "Was there anything in the blueprints that made you question the design?"

Shantae shook off any offense she felt from Bakugo calling her naive before answering: "Yeah! One of the parts was a dark crystal. I thought it was a bad idea since dark crystals give off dark magic. Uncle Mimic told me that if there was a white crystal, it would keep the Dynamo balanced."

Bakugo growled. "I don't know who  to be mad at right now! I'm mad that you didn't figure out that Risky was tricking you. On the other hand, I'm mad at Risky for being so crafty."

"Whoa," said Kirishima. "Do you care for Midobro's girlfriend, Bakubro?"

"SHUT UP, CRAPPY HAIR!" Snapped the explosive teen. "I'M JUST SAYING WHAT'S ON MY MIND!"

"Yeah, sure," said Ochako with a smirk.

"Tch," muttered Bakugo.

"Anyway," said Shantae, "the machine started up after I got all the parts and… I got corrupted by the dark magic."

"Corrupted?" Asked Izuku in shock. "How did you get free?"

"You can thank the three of us," said Sky as she came in with Bolo and Rottytops. "We had disagreements at first, but we ended up working together to save Shantae.'

"I felt like a real hero," said Bolo with a smile.

"It felt good to kick some butt," said Rottytops with her big cheerful smile.

"Mind if we lend you all a hand?" Asked Sky.

Bakugo stared at them and asked, "Can you fight?" When they nodded, he added, "Just don't get in our way or be a distraction to us."

"In the meantime," said Uncle Mimic. "I'll see what I can come up with for your battle with the Rogue Genie."