The Emperor's Dragon

Wipe The Floor

The day had passed slowly for Izuku. After he'd spoken to Doctor Garaki he'd messaged Ochaco to make sure she was okay.

That was just before disbelieving messages flooded their chat from Mei and Hitoshi. News travelled... well not that fast really since he was expecting them to message earlier. He answered for Ochaco, emphasising the stupidity of the heroes. Hitoshi had messaged him privately but he'd promised to talk to his friend later. He didn't want to be distracted, though at about 3pm, he regretted saying that. 5pm seemed a long way away.

He'd messaged Mei and Hitoshi telling them Ochaco would be fine, and he'd help her out. Physically she was going to be fine but... Being expelled from UA meant she wouldn't get a place at another hero school. Not in their heroics course. So he didn't know what she was going to do yet but... He'd make sure she was okay, somehow.

He'd messaged Himiko as well, though he didn't expect her to answer if Kurogiri was keeping them off comms as Doctor Kyudai had indicated could be the case. Then he'd spent some time looking up what it would take to get another number. Thankfully it wasn't much. He could take care of it when he got out of here.

Doing such mundane research had taken the edge off his anger but he could still feel it bubbling away under the surface of his mind. He had to release it somehow. Dad had taught him to think about what he did, what society did, and so, he thought about the heroes. They had expelled Ochaco but not those who had gone on the rescue, not even the one who'd attacked. What did that mean? What were they trying to do? The Heroes could have gotten away with expelling just the one who attacked, while lauding the others as being careful, so why hadn't they sacrificed him? Why Ochaco?

The students hadn't been at school yesterday but they were today. Shoes had been in each of the shoe lockers he'd put his challenge notes in. But... why were they punishing Ochaco? Could it really be just that she had a connection to him? The heroes obviously knew that she'd been spared at the camp... Why weren't they just thankful that had happened? If she hadn't had his scale, she could have been killed!

He shook his head. 5pm was still so far away... and he still didn't know why. He probably wouldn't ever know why but one thing he did know was that those who had gone on that so called rescue mission... they weren't heroes. They didn't deserve to be here. And...

He knew what he had to do. Izuku made his way to training ground delta and was waiting in the centre. He was early but... he had nothing better to do.

Interestingly the sense of being watched came back almost as soon as he got to the training ground. A cursory look around had shown no one obvious and it was curious that they suddenly knew where to find him because he hadn't sensed it for the rest of the day. So, the person watching him was either one of the people he'd challenged, or... they'd read one of the notes.

The second option seemed far more likely. He closed his eyes briefly and focused on the feeling. Whoever they were, they were good at staying out of sight and out of his immediate sensing range. That probably meant they were watching him pretty intently. He had a pretty good sense of what was around him at most times but if he concentrated he could extend himself a bit more. He hadn't figured out how to do it without concentrating though.

Training ground Delta was pretty open, which was why he'd chosen it. Others were industrial complexes or city scapes, this was more a gentle field or more likely set up to represent a large city park. There was a tarmacked 'road' running around the edge of the training ground. And it was... Ah, there they were. Izuku sensed the person. There were a few other students around but they were moving to and fro as they went about their business. This one was standing still and... there was something, a particular prickle on his senses that said they were interested in him.