The Hero and the Genie

Chapter 24: Todoroki and Rottytops vs Techno Baron

Meanwhile, Todoroki and Rottytops were wandering down the maze on their own. Rottytops kept glancing at the boy while smiling. That is until she saw the scar over his eye. It had been bugging her for so long that she felt the need to ask about it.

"Hey, um... Shoto," she said. "May I call you Shoto?"

Todoroki glanced at her with a smile. "Of course," he said. "We are friends, after all. Right?"

Rottytops giggled at his innocence before nodding. "Of course we are," she replied. "Anyway, I have a question."

"Um... okay," said Todoroki. "What's your question?"

"Well," said Rottytops. "How did you get that scar over your eye?"

Todoroki was silent for a moment. Then he let out a quiet sigh and said, "My mother caused me to have this scar due to my abusive father."

Rottytops gasped and placed her fingers over his scarred eye. "That's terrible," she said softly. "Why was your father so abusive? Does your scar still hurt?"

"My father was once the #2 Pro Hero," Todoroki began. "His name is Endeavor. All his life, he wanted to become the #1 Pro Hero. However, he realized that it was impossible to surpass the #1 Pro Hero at the time. So he decided to have an arranged Quirk marriage. Long story short, I was born and I inherited both of my parents' Quirks. My father's Quirk was fire while my mother's was ice. After a while, he started to train me to use both sides." He sighed sadly before continuing. "Unfortunately, the training was so intense that I threw up a few times."

Rottytops covered her mouth with a look of horror on her face. "Oh, my goodness," she whispered. "You poor fellow!" She pulled him into a hug. "I'm so sorry that your training was too intense. You don't have to keep going if you don't want to."

Shoto smiled a little as he gently pushed the zombie girl away. "It's okay," he said. "I needed to tell someone sooner or later. Midoriya already knows. Anyway, one day I heard my mom talking on the phone with my grandma. She said that whenever she saw, she thought of him. I don't know if she meant my father or someone else. When I called out to her, she turned around with a scared face and poured boiling water onto me!" He touched his left eye with a sad face. "I don't think she meant to do that. But, after I got my eye bandaged, my mother was put into an asylum. I was angry at my father and vowed to use his flames at all."

"Whoa," said Rottytops. "Do you... hate your father?"

Shoto shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "Last time we spoke, he tried to make amends with me. I'm not sure if I can ever forgive him for what he did. But, I know that he wants to be a better father."

Rottytops smiled gently. "I may not have known my parents at all," she said. "But I've seen plenty of families looking happy with each other. As far as I can tell, family members should never turn their back on each other. Even if they hurt each other. So... I hope you can forgive him someday."

Shoto smiled back. "We'll see what happens, I suppose," he said.

"Ugh!" A ride voice rang out in front of them, startling them. "This mush is making me sick!"

The hero and the zombie looked towards the source of the voice and saw Techno Baron. He was riding in an alligator themed mech. Shoto took a fighting stance. His fireside flared up and his icy side covered him a little.

"I've heard that alligators are cold-blooded," he said. "Does that mean your blood is cold?"

Techno Baron laughed. "Wow," he said. "You really are innocent, aren't you? My body temperature is whatever the temperature is around me!"

Shoto grinned a little. "Then if I make the temperature too hot or too cold, you'll have a bad time?" He asked. "This shouldn't be too hard."

"Think again," said Techno Baron as he climbed into his mech. "My mech is designed to protect from extreme temperatures. Therefore, your attacks won't affect me!"

Shoto decided to test that. He sent flames towards the mech... only for them to get absorbed into it. Then he tried to freeze it. But it easily broke free.

"I told you," said Techno Baron. The mech swung its tail at the icy-hot hero! Shoto dodged out of the way, sliding on ice. Before he could recover, the mech swung its tail and legs around, trying to hit him!

The tail hit him and sent him crashing into a wall. Shoto gasped as he crashed and got up shakily. How can I beat this mech if my fire and ice can't affect it? He thought. Maybe if I attacked it from the inside, I could beat it! But how can I do that?

He slid around the mech, desperately looking for a way inside. He saw the hatch and slid over to it. Only for the mech to swing a claw at him! The claw pounded him into the ground as Techno Baron laughed again.

"Did you really think that getting inside my mech would be easy?" He asked. "I'm not stupid! I thought this fight all the way through! You have no chance!"

Shoto brought up a thick wall of ice just in time! The mech began to pound against it, trying to get to him. "You can't hide from me forever," said Techno Baron.

Rottytops watched and became scared for her friend. Think, Rotty! Think! She thought. How can I help him out? She noticed the snout of the mech and got an idea. Taking her head off, she aimed carefully and threw her head onto the snout. As soon as her head landed, the rest of her body popped up with her head reattached.

From inside the mech, Techno Baron yelped as he saw Rottytops appear on the snout. "What the?!" He said. "Where did you come from? Get off of me!" He tried to shake the zombie girl off, but Rottytops held on tightly.

Shoto saw what Rottytops was doing and decided to go for the hatch again. This time, he was able to get inside since Techno Baron was distracted by the zombie girl.

Techno Baron got really angry and shook the mech even harder. Soon, Rotty was going off of it. Luckily, she got back up and dusted herself off. "You annoying zombie," Techno Baron shouted. "I'll crush you!"

The mech raised its claw up... and remained stuck! "What the?!" Techno Baron cried. "Why can't I... well, I just... Wait! Why can't my mech move?! Hey! How did you...?!" What followed was the sound of Techno Baron screaming as fire and ice was seen inside the cockpit. Soon, the mech toppled over!

Rottytops ran over and saw Shoto throwing an unconscious and dizzy Techno Baron to the side. Shoto glanced up at her with a smile. "Are you okay, Rotty?" He asked.

Rotty charged at him and hugged him. "I'm okay," she said with concern in her voice. "But what about you?! Are you okay?!"

"Don't worry about me," said Shoto. "I'm fine. Thanks for the help!"

Rottytops didn't say anything else. She just clung onto the boy and held him tightly. Shoto hugged her with a gentle smile. As their embrace continued, Rottytops felt her heart melt.

*****

Meanwhile, from inside the fortress, Katrina looked at the two battles that had already taken place. "Interesting," she whispered. "Very interesting. It would seem that these heroes are very strong!" She turned to Villain Deku and Shigaraki. "I can't wait to see how well you will do against your hero counterpart, Deku."

"I'm not in the mood to kill him," said Villain Deku. "I just want to know how he became a hero while I became a villain. Besides," he added as he saw a certain explosive boy with hatred in his eyes, "there's only one person among that group that I want to see suffer!"

"You'll get that chance," said a new voice. Villain Deku looked and saw a figure who was gray and blue with red eyes. "Meanwhile, I have a half-genie to deal with!"

The figure stepped out and revealed herself to be someone who looked just like Shantae! "Brace yourself, Shantae," she said. "I, Nega-Shantae, want a rematch!"