Mystic Hero: Power Beyond Quirks(A Doctor Strange & My Hero Academia Crossover)

Chapter Four.

          I stayed at the back of the control room, hiding in the shadows.
     "This is capture tape," Almight said, referring to a roll of white tape in his hand. "Wrap it round any of your opponent's body parts and they will be declared captured."
     My heart was actually racing as I watched Bakugo fight Izuku. Bakugo was ruthless. Not holding back. Attacking with everything in his being, like he actually wanted to kill Izuku. That was the lunatic I agreed to fight. Great. Just wonderful. I watched closely. The fight was getting really violent, and I was wondering when Almight would step in to stop the battle before Izuku became a lifeless corpse.
     But he didn't. Complaints rose from the students around, mostly about the violence Bakugo was exhibiting. But I felt like Almight was curious and wanted to see what it would all come to.
     I didn't know how the fight ended as I got lost in thought halfway through. All I eventually found out, was that Izuku and Ochaco won against Iida and Bakugo.
     The only other things I took note of were how each fight ended, the names of all my classmates, and Todoroki's battle which he won under ten seconds. He just froze the whole building to the top by touching a single wall on the ground floor.
     That was brutal.
     Once it was my turn, Almight came up to me with a piece of paper.
     "Take this," he said. "You're the villain and this is a layout of the building. You have five minutes to prepare before Bakugo and Todoroki come looking for you." I examined the map. The weapon was on the highest floor of the six-storey building.
     Once I was in position, I conjured a force field around the missile. That way it couldn't be retrieved. Now Shoto and Bakugo had only one way of winning—capturing me. I examined the room. It had a window a few metres behind the weapon. Other than that, the room was plain.
     I waited the five minutes out, and started hearing explosions downstairs, but these weren't a result of Bakugo's Quirk. I had set traps for them. Suddenly, the temperature in the building dropped by several degrees and my breath began to manifest mist everytime I exhaled.
     This wasn't good. I cast a heat spell and my temperature returned to normal. Frost began to coat the walls, and ground, but the area around me had absolutely no ice. My spell was working effectively. Then Shoto slid into the room on an ice trail, but I conjured a mandala in front of him. He slammed into it and fell backwards.
     Where's Bakugo? I thought. Then it dawned on me...
     I quickly turned to window behind me to see Bakugo blasting himself towards it. I conjured another mandala there and he slammed into it hard, before falling six storeys to the ground.
     "So that was your plan," I said. "Distract me so Bakugo can sneak up on me through the window." Todoroki went round the mandala but I conjured several clones, all of them swarming Todoroki. He tensed up, and a trail of ice arced, dissipating all of my clones. Cold mist flooded the room and I immediately reached out sending powerful winds at Shoto. The force shattered the ice and threw Shoto out of the room, through the door, and into a wall. Next, Bakugo blasted himself in through the door, straight at me.
     He reached out with an arm, but I stepped forward. Once he blasted, I dodged, shifting to the side. He missed and I grinned. I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the ground.
     Shoto had risen and sent more ice my way, but I evaded. Unfortunately, that was all the time Bakugo needed to recover. Him and Shoto charged at me simultaneously, but I was prepared. Shoto used precise ice attacks, while Bakugo's explosions aided his mobility. They engaged me in hand-to-hand combat, and even without summoning an ounce of magical energy, I fought them as they used their Quirks.
     Magic wasn't the only thing Doctor Strange taught me. According to him, sorcerers were required to learn martial arts. I was now thankful for his lessons as I stopped low, dodging Bakugo's explosion. I noticed that Shoto only froze surfaces he was in contact with. So before he could conjure more ice, I swept him off his feet, and immediately sent a kick upwards at Bakugo who was still airborne, knocking him out of the air. The air in the room was now really chilly, and when Bakugo rose he aimed his arm at me and released an explosion. I stepped back, but I froze upon realizing his explosion packed very little force.
     Why was his attack suddenly so weak? Was it the cold? Did it negate the heat of his explosions? Nah. I'd been close to him when he used his powers before. It wasn't the heat that made his explosions powerful. It was the force. The shockwaves. Plus if his forte was heat, then his softball throw wouldn't have been that good.
     He charged at me once more and green flames flickered on my fingertips, but I quickly extinguished them.
     Was I just about to use the Flames of Faltine on a person?! I thought. The goal is to wrap him in capture tape, not kill him.
     "Huh?!" Bakugo yelled and I quickly dodged his next attack. "Think I'm not good enough for your stupid flames?! You'll regret holding back against me!" He sent another explosion. A really big one this time, but I just opened up a portal in front of me, and placed its twin in the air beside Bakugo. His attack backfired and he was thrown across the room into a wall, where he slumped to the ground, apparently unconscious. Not wanting to go close to him, I enchanted a piece of capture tape which zipped through the air and wrapped itself round his wrist. Bakugo down. Only Shoto. I turned to see him, striking the barrier around the weapon with everything in him. While he was distracted, I simply sent an enchanted piece of capture tape at him, wrapping up his ankle. He looked down at the tape and realized what had happened. He froze, shaking...
     "The match is over!" Almight's voice called through my earpiece. "Ethan Vale-Strange, the villain, has won!"
     Upon returning to the control center, I was swarmed by my classmates.
     "I can't believe you beat those two at once!" the guy with spiky red hair said. His name must have been Kirishima. "I thought Bakugo was good at hand-to-hand combat, but you were like a black belt out there!"
     "Kirishima?" I asked and he smiled. "I learnt all your names from the matches. Thanks."
     "What even is your Quirk?" the frog-like girl asked.
     "Tsuyu Asui," I identified her. "I call my Quirk Magic."
     "So like spells?" the blond boy with a black lightning bolt symbol on the side of his hair asked.
     "No, Denki Kaminari," I said carefully. "I can manipulate the energy around myself to achieve various effects."
     "What if there's no energy?," Ochaco asked.
     "There's always energy," I replied.
     "What about a place like a vacuum?" the tall girl with dark, lush hair asked.
     "There's energy even there, Momo Yaoyorozu," I replied, sure of her name. I'd subconsciously paid a lot of attention to her. "Your Quirk's Creation." She nodded. "And assuming there's no energy around me, I can draw energy from faraway places." Like other dimensions.... But I didn't say that. "Or tap into my innate energy, or the energy of others."
     "What if you need to perform a big feat and the energy around you isn't adequate?" a short boy with purple balls for hair asked. "I'm Minoru Mineta."
     "I'm aware," I said. "And if the energy isn't enough, I've found that I can increase it just out of will, or boost its effectiveness, so I can still use it to do what I want."
     "Okay, everyone, class dismissed," Almight said, and we all turned to leave.
     "Just a heads-up," Kirishima said to me. "Bakugo will probably wanna kill you now you've defeated him."
     "What does it matter?" I said. "He always wants to kill everyone."
     "Young Ethan, can I have a word with you?" Almight asked. I stopped walking, and turned to face him.
     "Sure," I said. "Also, call me Ethan, don't call me Young Ethan." He didn't respond to that as I stepped into the empty control center.
     "You have a very powerful Quirk," he said. "Easily one of the strongest I've seen. And you're a good fighter. But your fighting style out there shows that you haven't really been practicing with your Quirk or refining your combat skills. You relied on instincts and innate ability. Which is good, but not necessarily ideal. Also you held back at a point. You may have won this battle despite these factors, but you can't continue like that, or you won't be able to keep winning."
     "Before I respond, I'd like you to understand that I didn't hold back because I felt I was better than Bakugo," I said, just to clear the air.
     "I'm aware," he said. "You were being cautious. Which is good, considering your overwhelming power. But it won't be long before some of your peers also develop overwhelming power."
     "Almight, I held back some of my skills, and why do you think I did?" I asked, annoyed that he thought he knew the first thing about my powers.
     "Because you might have hurt someone," he said.
     "No," I said. "You're wrong." He looked confused. "I held back because if I didn't, I would surely have killed someone." There was a short moment of silence between us. "Can I go now?"
     "Of course, you're dismissed."
     We gathered with Almight at the end of the class.
     "...super work! You really stepped up to the plate. And we didn't have any major injuries except for Midoriya. You should be proud. Excellent first day of training all round."
     "It's nice to hear some encouraging words after our homeroom class," Asui, the frog-like girl said. "Mister Aizawa was kind of a buzzkill."
     "I'm happy to bring such staggering positivity to my alma mater," Almight said. "That's all for now, folks. I should go and check on Young Midoriya's progress. Now, watch how a pro exits" Then he took off leaving a wave of wind pressure to roll into us.
     "Okay, you guys," Kaminari said. "That is a hero."
     "Super awesome," Mineta said.
     We all went to class to wait for Izuku to return from the nurse's office. I stared at my desk, thinking.
     "Hey, it's Midoriya!" Kirishima, the boy with spiky red hair exclaimed. "Good to see you back, Super." Some of them swarmed him. "Man, I don't know what you were saying during that match, but you were all fired up, huh?"
     "I can't believe you held your own against Bakugo," the boy with weird elbows said. His name was Sero if I could recall. "He's super-strong."
     "You did a great job dodging," Mina, a girl with pink skin and pink hair, two small yellow horns sticking out of her hair said.
     "You guys really turned up in the first match so none of us held back in our rounds either," a tall, muscular guy said. Sato.
     "You were far from elegant but I suppose..." the blond boy with the laser from his navel, and strange belt began, but Mina cut him short. I think his name was Yuga Aoyama.
     "You were dodging it like WOO!!!" Mina interjected.
     "Hey, I'm Eijiro Kirishima, we've been going over training results while you were in recovery."
     "Hi, I'm Hanta Sero," the boy with weird elbows said.
     "More importantly, I'm Yuga Aoy-," Aoyama began, but Mina cut in once more...
     "I'm Mina Ashido and I just gotta say, your dodging was awesome." Would she stop commenting on his dodging already?
     "Tsuyu Asui," the girl with the Quirk, Frog said. "But please call me Tsu." She didn't tell me to call her Tsu.
     "Hey, Sato," the tall, buff boy introduced himself.
     "Um..." Izuku began, clearly unnerved. "...hey guys..." But Mineta cut in...
     "My name's Mineta."
     "So noisy," a boy with a bird's head said, sitting on a desk.
     "Tokoyami! Stop using that desk as a chair," Iida said, running over. "Get off of it this instant.'"
     "Dude you need to chill," Jiro, a girl whose earlobes were elongated into earpiece plugs said.
     "You're carrying a lot of tension," Ojiro, a boy with a tail said. Ew...
     "No one understands," Iida said. "I can not condone actions that disrespect these desks. Not when great men and women and upperclassmen used them."
     "So, anyway, wanna grab a bite sometime," a boy's voice was saying. "What kinda stuff you like?" I turned to see, Kaminari and Uraraka entering the class holding stacks of books.
     "Anything sweet," she replied, then noticed Izuku in class.
     "Hey, Deku, why didn't she heal your injuries?" Ochaco said, running over.
     "Oh well, it has to do with how much stamina I'm using," he answered.
     "Stamina?" Ochaco asked. Izuku's eyes scanned the classroom and then widened when he spotted something. I followed his line of vision and found he was looking at Bakugo's empty seat. Oh no. Not this, Izuku...
     "Um, Uraraka, where's Kacchan?" Izuku asked.
     "We tried to stop him from leaving but he wouldn't listen," Ochaco said. "You just missed him." Izuku moved like he wanted to run, but I intervened.
     "Stop this, Izuku," I snapped. "Give it a rest. Stop chasing after Bakugo. Stop being a pacifist. Stop placating him everytime he throws a tantrum. He has to grow up eventually. The sooner you stop exalting him, the sooner that happens. He can't handle losing, then why's he here?!"
     "Deku, Ethan does have a point," Momo said.
     "You guys don't understand," Izuku said, and with that, he ran off. I walked to stand by the window with Mina, Ochaco and Tsu. We watched out the window as Bakugo walked down the path towards the school gates. Izuku immediately followed and caught up to him.
     Midoriya, you little idiot, I thought.
     Bakugo turned around and started yelling at Izuku. Well, we all expected that. Then he stomped off. Almight was next. He ran down the path towards Bakugo, and held his shoulders. At first I was afraid Bakugo would actually attack the symbol of peace, but all he did was say something. Almight let go and Bakugo left.
     "Huh. I wonder what that was all about," Mina said.
     "The fated between rivals," Ochaco replied.
     "Whatever Midoriya was saying, it looked like Bakugo really wanted to punch him," Tsu said.
     "Childhood friends turned enemies," Uraraka said. Childhood friends? That wasn't true. At best, when they were kids, Izuku was one of the kids who thought Bakugo was really cool and followed him around like an eager-eyed puppy, and thought they were friends, when he was actually just another stepping stone, another punching bag for Bakugo.
     "I highly doubt you could have called it a healthy relationship," I said, shocking the three girls. "Much less a friendship. Izuku's obviously been oppressed by Bakugo all his life. Or should I say Kacchan. Izuku is a fool for believing he's Bakugo's friend. Bakugo doesn't care about him. He's just mad that he can't smack Izuku around as easily now that his Quirk has manifested, and let's face it guys, it's stronger than Bakugo's." I looked at them. "If Izuku learns to control that power, then he'll easily be better than Bakugo. Even right now, in a death match, I bet Izuku would dominate. One of his punches could tear through six floors with just the wind pressure that it generated, and the blast kept going. If Izuku aimed that punch at Bakugo, we'd be scraping his remains off a wall." With that, I walked away.
     Bakugo had to understand that he was in a world of people. That he wasn't the only one who mattered. He wasn't even the only one that mattered. He had to understand.