The Emperor's Dragon II

Distraction

Shouto always knew his father worked hard. Even when Enji was pushing him, he worked hard to maintain his position as the Number Two Hero. Now that he was Number One, it appeared as if Endeavor was going to work even harder.

Last night, they'd left the Billboard and flown immediately to Osaka before getting to bed. Then Enji was up at 6am to be ready for the day and while Endeavor had stopped in at the office for an hour or so, the morning patrol had been the first thing on his mind.

Ever since Shouto had gotten his quirk back, Endeavor had been far more hands on with his training. He'd been pleased that Shouto was taking part in the special training UA was offering but he had also insisted his son intern with him. It was... interesting to say the least.

Enji was almost like Aizawa and it had surprised Shouto when he thought that. Aizawa was brutally honest about the hero industry. Endeavor was as well, and his explanations were never sugar coated. Before they'd come on patrol, Enji had said they would be mobbed by people wanting to congratulate him. Shouto had been sceptical about that but... it had happened.

Endeavor had also said that it would be the worst time for a villain to attack them, because there would be so many civilians around who didn't know what to do.

And... a villain attacked them.

But while the civilians didn't know what to do, Enji's sidekicks did. Shouto had been near the back of the entourage and so moved with them. He was learning a lot from his father, but he was also learning a lot from Enji's sidekicks. They knew how to react in almost every situation and were very well trained. Shouto knew what to do. First year UA covered a lot of scenarios, but he didn't know how to do it. Enji's sidekicks moved with such fluidity that he almost couldn't imagine them ever not knowing how to do what they did.

They were very, very good. And most of them were completely loyal to his father.

That was an odd thought, but Endeavor was...

What had Convector said? Ah yes! Endeavor was absolutely demanding. But he never demanded anything he wasn't prepared to do himself. Convector was an older sidekick, and his quirk worked amazingly well with Endeavor's. Shouto could see why Convector wasn't going out on his own. He was just a support hero but saying that seemed insulting and Shouto would never say it to his face. He had a feeling Convector had the experience to take him down... with one arm behind his back. No one stupid survived as one of Endeavor's sidekicks.

So, when the villains attacked, it was Convector and Baptise who had grabbed him and got him out of the way, along with quite a few civilians.

"What are those things?" Baptise demanded.

Shouto hadn't missed the way his father had sent a blast of fire at one of them and it had just flown straight through it. Enji had dodged its charge but if it was immune to fire, then he knew his dad was in trouble. And he had seen these things before. So had his Dad, at Hosu. But he'd seen them at the USJ, Hosu and Kamino. He'd seen them... enough to know that they weren't all the same. The ones had Hosu... they were weak compared to the one at the USJ. He hoped his father worked that out.

"They are called Nomu," he told the sidekicks.

Baptise spun to face him; her eyes wide.

"I don't know much about them," Shouto told them, knowing that they'd want all the information he could give them. He tried to order it in his mind. It was not that easy. "They vary in strength," he emphasised. "The ones at Hosu were not as strong as the one at the USJ," he explained. "They are manufactured and can have several quirks."

"Fuck," Convector said.

"What type of quirks?" Baptise appealed for more information.

"The USJ one had some sort of regeneration quirk. You could injure it but it just reformed. Um... strength and some sort of shock absorption," Shouto told them, racking his memory. "The Hosu ones were different colours, but they were all strong and one could fly but... they didn't regenerate," he remembered. Compared to the fact it had taken All Might himself to take out the USJ Nomu, the ones at Hosu had been easy. He'd never thought of it like that.