The Emperor's Dragon

Graduation Day

"Are you ready, your Highness?" Giran looked down at the teen who stood beside him.

No one was going to recognise him though a lot of people would want to own him. His Highness was covered in brilliant green scales. They caught the light, so that each scale had a little rainbow on it that then threw out the light to make it appear as if the teen was a human shaped pile of emeralds. His eyes were glowing green, which only added to the appearance.

They were at one of his facilities. His Majesty was not going to allow that many people at his training facility, so Giran had gathered them here. It was just a warehouse but it had been emptied and then filled with people for His Highness to practice on.

It was graduation though All For One had assured Giran that there would still be training opportunities to come. The sessions were a good earner for him so he was appreciative of that.

"I am," the teen replied, looking up at him.

The boy had not inherited his father's stature. At least not yet. There was time for him to grow. That didn't matter though, it was startling to see the glowing eyes looking up at him.

"There's a lot of people today," Giran warned him.

"I know. I have to take as many quirks as I can today."

Giran knew the teen smiled at him. With the scales it was sort of a show of sharp, pointed teeth. It was meant to be reassuring. He knew it was reassuring. Others would not see it that way.

"All right then, your Highness," he said as he moved to the door. He opened it for the teen and walked through.

The gathered people were expecting him and they had been told to expect someone else but Giran could feel their curiosity, especially since there was no denying that his highness was still, relatively short. "Stay where you are," Giran advised them. "Move and you don't get paid," he reminded the group.

Some of them, at least, had been used for training before so they knew the drill. They weren't the smartest of people but they knew enough to obey. That was enough.

Today the warehouse was packed. It was a good thing it was a relatively small warehouse really since each of the people had about half a metre squared to themselves. The gathered people were divided into two unequal groups and there was a visible divide between them. The larger group was there to allow His Highness to practice taking quirks. All For One wanted to know what the upper limit of his son's ability was. The smaller group was again there to have their quirks taken, but in such a way as they fell unconscious. That was harder for His Highness so there weren't as many people.

Giran wasn't privy to all the results but he knew there were lots of variables to His Highness' effectiveness and the consequences. If he took a single quirk in such a way that the individual became unconscious, there was a chance he couldn't give it back. From what Giran understood it had something to do with the way his quirk worked to take in other quirks. If he took more than one quirk, while making the people become unconscious, then his quirk couldn't absorb them all so he could give them back. And if he grabbed quirks without the person becoming unconscious then again he could give it back, so long as he didn't keep it. In that situation, Giran had gathered that time was the key.

His Highness was a good boy, a nice boy in fact but god damn was his quirk scary. Giran knew why All For One kept his son close, because when the boy was allowed out... Heroes wouldn't be running for their lives, they'd be running for their quirks! It was going to be a glorious ascendance.

He led Izuku to the centre of the larger group. "Stay in position," he told the people as he took a position behind the teen. His Highness had been working on selectively taking quirks and he had been getting better but there was still a 25% chance that he'd lose his today as well. Not that it mattered. Izuku knew the feel of his quirk now and always quickly returned it.