Chapter Text
Disclaimers: I do not own MHA, D&D, or Pathfinder
A/N: Sorry for the late update, been busy with personal problems, other stories, and work. Decided to make this a full chapter.
Also, let me address one thing. Izuku isn’t a full-on dragon when he transforms, at least not in the way Ryuko is. He is more of a hybrid right now. While he grows a tail, wings, etc, he can still easily stand, walk, and run on two legs though he can also drop down to all four if needed. He is also still 5'5 while transformed, he has not gotten any bigger. This will come into play later because this is not what some people were expecting.
Chapter 12
Beyond Expectations
You want to awaken a sleeping dragon that is just minding its own business? Fine then, go ahead. Least there will be nothing left of you afterwards to hold a funeral; saves money.
- A wise old man
Earlier in the morning at Ryukyu’s Agency
“Ayano”, a disgruntle Takako with her coffee mug in hand says from her seat at the conference table why Yui was sitting across from her and Ryuko was next to her at the head of said table, “I hope you have a good reason as to why you woke us all up just a few hours before we had to get up anyway to pick up Midoriya. I would also like to add to the fact I had to pick up our little guest from the airport just a few hours ago as well.”
Directly down from the table as an equally displease Ryuko, a woman sporting a green lab coat with emerald hair tie up into a single bun with matching eyes stood in front of a projector screen, a remote in her hand. She was Ayano Oshiro, the Ryukyu’s agency local Quirk Analyst and researcher.
“I assure you, this information will certainty warrant the need for you three to be up at this very moment”, she replies, “It involves the boy-”
“Midoriya”, Ryuko suddenly says, catching Ayano’s attention.
“Pardon?” came the analyst’s reply.
“His name is Midoriya Izuku”, Ryuko says, “He has a name. He has a family. He has a life that just got turn upside down. We are not going to dehumanize him just to make our task easier.”
…
“Very well”, Ayano says after a moment, “The information I have involves Midoriya and is something I think you should see before you get in a car with him and bring him to the agency.”
“And what exactly is that?”, Takako asks as she yawns.
“So, I have been looking over your drone recordings of your battle with Midoriya and I have discovered something quite unique during the instance that he first used his breath attack while in his white dragon form”, Ayano starts to explain.
“Unique how?”, Ryuko questions.
Ayano pushes a button on the remote she was holding and a screen pops up, it read the following.
6.6 °C (43.8 °F)
Naha, Okinawa
February 1947 / January 1967
“The hell is this supposed to be?”, Takako asks before taking a drink from her cup.
“It’s the coldest recorded temperature ever taken in Okinawa. It was the exact same on both dates”, Ryuko answers, receiving a nod from Ayano.
Takako and Yui both throw a "How the hell do you know that?" look at the Pro Hero.
“Correct”, Ayano then says before pushing the button again.
-41.0 °C (-41.8 °F)
Asahikawa, Japan
25 January 1902
“What is this?”, Yui asks.
“This is the coldest recorded temperature for Japan”, Ayano answers, “There’s a dispute with a lower unofficial recording taken in Bifuka on 27 January 1931, but that is neither here nor there.”
“So the rice eaters get a little cold, whoopie. I am assuming this will all have a point eventually, correct?”, Takako says before taking another gulp.
Ayano says nothing and merely presses the button for a third time.
-35.5 °C (-31.9 °F)
"And this would be?", Ryuko wonders.
“This was the temperature of Midoriya’s ice breath attack at its peak coldness according to the drone's readings”, she then says.
Yui ducks down quickly for it was the only thing she could do to prevent hot coffee from being spray all over her, courtesy of Takako responding to Ayano’s statement.
“BULLSHIT!”, the lawyer then says as she wipes her mouth, “You must be snorting cocaine if you expect me to believe that!”
“I’ll take some pure Colombian if you know where to get some for a good price”, Ayano says with a shrug, “But as much as I wish I could say that I was joking, I’m not.”
"There is no possible way he could be this powerful right off the bat! He does not even take on a real dragon form! He is more like a drake than anything, standing on two legs and all!", Takako points out.
"Depends on what type of drake we are talking about here", Yui interjects, having move to a different chair, "Personally I think he is more in line with a wyvern in-regards to the form he takes."
"Here it comes. Same argument they have had since we were kids", Ryuko thought.
“Wvyerns do not have breath attacks, drakes do!", Takako adds, getting agitated.
"Once again, it depends on what types of drakes we are talking about here!", Yui retorts, "Also a wyvern can have a breath attack!"
"You better not be talking about those bootleg, wannabe, sickly-looking "dragons" from that third-rate franchise you like!", Takako argues.
"And here comes the latest addition to this argument", Ryuko then thought, while wondering just exactly why she was allowing this "discussion" to continue this early in the morning. Perhaps it was because deep down she just wanted some entertainment right now to get her mind off everything that has been going on. Or perhaps the reason was because she felt that she really had no room to talk when it came to how a dragon is supposed to look seeing how in her dragon form she somehow still had breasts which she deduce was the main reason she has a "scalies" following.
A massive "scalies" following.
Like her own little army of worshipers and some days she wonders just how much some of her scales would go for on the internet.
"A Song of Ice and Fire is a masterpiece! One of the best of all times!", Yui snaps back as she stands up, though she did relent a bit, "As long as you do not talk about the seventh and eighth season of the first TV show."
"Also, the author never got around to finishing the books either, did he?! The guy's brain was uploaded into a super-computer and yet people are still waiting on the sixth book! What else could he possibly be doing?!", Takako says.
"It takes time to complete a masterpiece! The Winds of Winter will be perfect when its eventually comes out!", Yui fires back.
'Masterpiece my ass! Compare to the Lord of the Rings, it is a two-bit rip-off! Even the Hobbit is better and that is a kids' book", Takako states.
"Enough! You can have this argument ~again~ at another time!", Ryuko shouts, silencing both her attorney and doctor, having finally reach her limit with their antics.
"I wonder if any of the so-called "dragons" from Harry Potter would count as real dragons", Ayano points out which earns her a glare from the Pro Hero and prompts the researcher to continue with her brief.
"Right, moving on. Anyway, while I'll admit that Midoriya's unique transformation has caught me off-guard and raised a lot of questions I highly suspect that overall it has something to do with his half-draconic lineage. Regardless, he is definitely not lacking in the physical combat department because of it; if anything, he is excelling in it", Ayano says, "Now I will require further research before I can come up with a definite answer, so take that with a grain of salt."
“Is it possible that the drone's readings were faulty?”, Ryuko asks, trying to make sure that this information was one hundred percent accurate.
“I had Gakuto run a system diagnosis on it a dozen times and it was working at optimal efficiency every time”, Ayano answers.
Takako stifles another yawn, "Okay, so we establish that Midoriya has a bit more power in him than we first thought. Is there anything else you have for us?"
"Actually, yes", Ayano answers as she brings up another picture. This one showcases a still frame of Ryuko escaping Izuku's ice breath.
"Now what?", Takako asks.
With another push of the button, a set of measurements appear around the ice itself, causing all three women at the table to go wide-eyed in disbelief.
"No fucking way", Takako says after a moment.
"Yes fucking way", Ayano corrects, "At its maximum width, Izuku's ice breath was measured at being a little over twelve meters at its max width with the length and height of it being roughly the same. For it to spread that quickly from a mouth that small in that amount of time, there must have been a massive amount of energy behind it. That is also probably the reason why he was only able to fire it only once; he simply used up all his energy in one go due to it being his first time using it."
"Was it really that massive?", Ryuko thought before speaking, "A ice breath attack of that size and temperature though. That's on par with a..."
"As I am sure you are all aware, there are twelve age categories for true dragons that also serve as a power scale for them. Basically, the older a dragon is the more powerful it is generally believed to be”, Ayano says, "Those twelve are wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, young adult, adult, mature adult, old, very old, ancient, wyrm, and finally, great wyrm. Going off my study of Midoriya's white dragon form alone, at the moment I would have to place him between juvenile and young adult. Once again, I require further research before I can accurately place him in an age category."
"H-How? He should be starting out as at wyrmling, maybe even in the young category at best. He should be no different than his predecessors", Takako states as she rubs her temples, "This makes no sense whatsoever. Midoriya is not even pure. His mom's lineage is completely human without a single drop of draconic blood in it."
"We definitely verified that aspect several times through multiple sources just to be sure", Yui adds, "But what if perhaps because he is not pure is the reason he is so powerful? Perhaps the non-draconic part of him is filling in the gaps."
"That is a possibility. But we should also consider that maybe Hisashi's bloodline is just that potent that it makes up for Midoriya's impurity", Ayano speculates, "He was always abnormally more powerful than anyone else."
"Is that how genetics works?", Takako questions.
"We are talking about draconic genetics here. They tend to do their own thing whenever they want", Yui answers.
"But still though, Midoriya should not be this strong right off the bat", Takako says.
“As of right now that seems to be the case”, Yui tells her, “But if it is then Midoriya is already far exceeding the expectations that were previously placed on him by the committee; in fact, by anyone really.”
“Exactly, as one of the ways to determine the true measure of a dragon’s power is through the potency of their respective breath attack”, Ayano says, “And that is why I believe we should take a more cautious approach to Midoriya.”
“How cautious are we talking here?”, Yui asks.
Ayano looks directly at Ryuko who was deep in thought.
“If I can be honest for a moment, you’re damn lucky you got out of range of Midoriya’s breath attack in time. If you would have been even a second slower in reacting and didn’t have your scales up then we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now and we would all be attending your wake at the moment”, she explains, “If his other dragon forms are going to be this powerful then no doubt he is going to be too much of a handful for you to handle on your own and thus I advise seeking out assistance.”
....
"Let's say I do require assistance", Ryuko starts, "How far along in Midoriya's training would I need it?"
Ayano blows out a stream of air as she ponders the question for a moment before shrugging, "It's going to be awhile, that's for certain. Not like Midoriya is going to awaken another dragon today or anything."
Present Time
Takako, Yui, and Izuku manages to pull up in the car only a few moments after Ryuko landed on the ground with the two women quickly getting out and spotting the boundary line that the remaining police officers who were still on their feet formed in order to keep civilians out of harm’s way. The medical practitioner then quickly made her way over there to provide medical aid but as Izuku moves to get out a hand from the lawyer stops him.
“Midoriya, I would prefer if you stay back until this situation is resolve”, Takako states, “You will be safer here.”
“What are you two going to do?”, Izuku asks, greatly disappointed that he would not get to see Ryukyu in action.
“Yui is going to provide medical assistance while I am going to monitor the situation for the police report later”, Takako answers before her phone rings and she answers it quickly upon seeing who it was.
“What you got for me, Tatsuhiro?”, she asks.
“Not only are they siblings, they’re triplets. The Tsuchi triplets from Kyoto. Sera is the female and the oldest and the other two are named Jura and Kenji”, the intel specialist relays, “And get this; they have been particularly active on a number of dark web forums in recent months.”
“What type of forums?”, Takako ask though she had a good idea herself.
“The kind where you can get hired to do illegal jobs ranging from simply burglary to murder and everything in between”. Tatsuhiro answers, “The kind where up-and-coming villains group do most of their recruiting.”
“So you’re saying this might not be a random act of violence?”, Takako asks.
“That’s a possibility”, came the reply, “But that’s not the problem right now.”
“Then what is?”
“The forms they’re in right now are not the full extent of their quirk: Rock Giant. I have found pictures and video of them assuming even larger forms and they could create quite a bit of collateral damage in an area like that”, Tatsuhiro answers, “Also, they can move way faster in their rock armor than what you would think, even in their larger forms.”
“This day keeps getting better and better”, Takako tells herself, “Tell Ryuko everything you have learn and keep us up-to-date with any more information you find.”
“Got it”, came the reply and as Tatsuhiro hangs up on her, Takako spots Yui working with a single police officer to provide medical assistance to the wounded, pouring a vial of silvery liquid out on a civilian with a broken arm. She then looks back down at Izuku who was still in the car.
“Stay here”, she orders again before heading to the police line.
Izuku lets out sigh as he complies and sits back down in the seat, looking out the window as Ryukyu moves to confront the criminals.
“I guess this is still better than seeing it on TV”, Izuku thought as he focuses his eyes so he could see the action better.
Meanwhile, Ryuko’s eyes slowly strafe across the criminals, scanning each of them but never lingering too long on any single one all while an unamused expression don her face.
This was a technique she learned during her intern/sidekick days; one that made weak-willed villains jittery and strong-willed ones anxious or angry. The reason being that it shows criminals that the hero that they were facing had better things to do than waste their time with them. This was useful in a non-hostage situation for it could potentially make the villain either give up or rush into attacking, especially if said villain was hot-headed and had an ego problem.
“Well”, Ryuko then speaks, “Are you going to answer my question? How would you like to leave here?”
The two foremost villains which Ryuko assume were males seeing how their rock-encased bodies were more masculine than the third one, step forward.
“Wait”, the third one says and the first two stop in their tracks. Ryuko takes note of this and focus on the one who spoke whose rock-encased body looked more feminine in comparison.
“She must be in charge”, Ryuko thought.
“Why are you stopping us?”, the man on her left says, “We can take her.”
“I said wait”, the woman says again while keeping her focus on the heroine.
“You should listen to her”, Ryuko says, catching everyone’s attention, “She is obviously the smart one here and she is no doubt aware of just how much trouble you three are in.”
The woman scoffs, a motion that catches Ryuko by surprise, “Don’t act like you know how I tick, potato-eater.”
Ryuko says nothing but lifts an eyebrow at this statement though this was also due to Tatsuhiro relaying information to her via her earpiece at that very moment.
“You know, I honestly expected you to be more intimidating”, the woman says while crossing her arms, “You know with the whole turning-into-a-dragon bit you got going on; but I have to say that I am greatly disappointed right now.”
“Are you?”, Ryuko asks, “Well then, Sera, I’m sorry you feel that way. I haven’t been to Kyoto in quite a while and I don’t really recall ever hearing about you while I was there.”
If the woman was a little put off by Ryuko knowing her real name and where she was from, she barely showed it. The only reaction that statement got out of her was a small raising of her right eyebrow. Perhaps if Tatsuhiro would have gotten her the information regarding the Tsuchi triplets a minute or two around the time before she got into the vicinity of the market, she would have had time to come up with a better way to make the woman lose her cool and possibly surrender without a fight, but fate did not seem to be on her side today.
“She has good control over her emotions”, Ryuko mentally remarks but briefly turning her focus to the other two, “Let’s see how her brothers hold up.”
“And what about you, Jura and Kenji? Are you as disappointed in seeing me in the flesh as your sister is?”, she asks.
Their reactions were a bit more predictable as the two brothers took a step back from Ryuko, fear evident on their faces.
“Still think you can take me now?”, Ryuko wonders.
“Stop!”, Sera barks, freezing her siblings in place, “She is just trying to get in your heads!”
They both turn to look at her and she fixes them with a glare in turn before directing her attention back to Ryuko.
“Head games? Seriously? Is that the best you can do?”, Sera asks, “Maybe you ought to go back to your backwater island where you belong.”
“This is not good”, Takako says as she and Yui both listen in on the whole conversation via her phone through Ryuko’s ear-piercing communicator with the aid of a special program, “This might go south really quick.”
“Ryuko can handle these guys just fine in a fight”, Yui says as she came up to her, having treated all the wounded in her vicinity to the best of her ability.
“Therein lies the problem. She should not be fighting them in a place like this!”, Takako says as she motions a hand to the entire shopper center, “Way too much potential for collateral damage!”
“Well, she looks like she keeping her cool from here”, Yui points out, “Plus, it’s not like she need her dragon-form to deal with them.”
“We can only pray to the ancestors in that regard”, Takako replies as she returns her focus to Ryuko.
“I’m getting the feeling that you don’t see me as a Pro Hero. So now I’m starting to wonder what exactly do you see me as.”, Ryuko says to Sera.
“Oh, you want to know?”, Sera laughs, “Fine then, I’ll tell ya.”
“Good, keep talking”, Ryuko told herself, “Then more Pro Heroes and more police will show up and then you will no doubts have second thoughts about wanting to fight.”
“You’re a wash-up”, Sera starts to rant.
“You’re going to have to do better than that to get me rile up.”, the Pro Hero thought.
“You’re a has-been.”
“I’m still in my prime.”
“You’re nothing more than a potato-eater.”
“I have been called that before and worse. It’s nothing new”, Ryuko thought.
“Can’t believe there are people around that are afraid of an overgrown lizard like you”, Sera finished.
Ryuko’s eyes widen in surprise and Takako and Yui both don a grimace expression on their faces at those last words.
“Fucking damn it”, Takako voices aloud as she quickly presses a series of numbers in her phone.
“On the bright side, at least Ryuko can finally have an outlet for all the stress she has been dealing with recently”, Yui says, trying her hardest to find a silver lining “It is not good for her to keep it all bottled up.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Yui”, Takako said as she furiously dials a number, “All I see is a potential media shitshow about to erupt.”
Meanwhile, Ryuko just stood there in silence as Sera’s last words played over and over in her mind.
To say that the last few days of her life were hectic would be putting it mildly. From dealing with Izuku’s awakening and the mess that came along with it all the way to the “special guest” who just arrived last night at her agency on top of her patrols and such along with the bombshell Ayano dropped on her this morning, the Dragoon Hero has had a total of ten hours of sleep altogether and she was desperately in need of a source to vent out her frustrations on.
“Overgrown lizard. Overgrown lizard. Overgrown lizard.”
Those two words entrenching themselves in all corners of her mind and took over. They took a hold of what little self-control she had left and brutally stab it with knives, threw it out the window of a hundred story building, fill it full of holes with an minigun as it fell, and then repeatedly stomp it into the ground once it hit the pavement. Then they promptly ran it over with a steamroller just for good measure.
“Overgrown lizard. Overgrown lizard. Overgrown lizard.”
“Ryuko, I beg you do not do this”, Takako pleads in her ear-piece says, “I know you have had a long week and you hate those words with a passion that rivals that of a thousand suns, but you have to let it go.”
But the Pro Hero pays no heed to this as she starts slowing walking toward the triplets with an emotionless expression and steel-like eyes.
Sera looks to her brothers.
“Get her!”, she orders, receiving a nod in return from both of them who then charge the heroine.
Jura was the first to make contact, ready to land a heavily-rock form fist straight into Ryuko’s face.
Only for Ryuko to swiftly sidestep him, rapidly grow out her pale gray scales all over her entire body, and deliver a roundhouse kick to his head that sends him flying back past Kenji and Sera into a park delivery van, wrecking it upon impact with chucks of rock breaking off of him in the process, especially at the location where Ryuko’s foot struck him.
“I feel like I brought this onto myself”, she says before leaping at Kenji, striking him with an open palm to the chest that sent him flying back into a lamp post next to where Jura flew into and cracks started to visibly show in his rock armor as well along with a clawed hand imprint in the middle of his chest.
Sera then decided to try her luck and rushes the Okinawan. For her troubles she receives a kneecap to the gut that while it did not fully penetrate her rock layer of skin, it was powerful enough to lift her off her feet just high enough that Ryuko was able to grab her leg and slam her into the ground behind her, the impact cracking the concrete surface. The Dragoon Hero then follow up with tossing Sera into the same park delivery van that Jura first got kick into, the brother barely moving out of the way in time not to be hit by his sister.
Sera slid downward from the van and barely manages to stay on her feet, staggering for a bit once she lands before straighten up, a testament to her endurance and the durability of her armor. She then starts advancing back at Ryuko, not at all deter by the beating she just took, along with her brothers when they suddenly halt upon Ryuko speaking.
“I guess not using my dragon form to save lives or stop crime for two years has led quite a number of people, especially criminals such as yourself, to forget just how dangerous I can be when properly rouse”, Ryuko says as she glares directly at Sera with her yellow eyes.
At the very moment, the villain could feel every fiber in her being tell her a single word: Prey.
For now that what she was in comparison to the woman in front of her.
“So let me demonstrate to you why I am a top-rank Pro Hero”, Ryuko then says as she takes a menacing step forward and a pulse of a familiar yet strange energy spreads throughout the area; one that was only pick up by Yui, Takako, and Izuku who was the only one of the three caught off-guard by it.
“What was that?”, the teenage boy thought.
Meanwhile, Sera take a step back in response to Ryuko’s aggressiveness.
“Let me show you why it is not a good idea to anger me”, Ryuko says as she then takes another step and unleashes another pulse.
“There it is again. I can't help but think that I have felt this somewhere before”, Izuku thought as he got out of the car. He knew that he was willingly disobeying Ms. Higa's orders but his curiosity was getting the better of him. He also felt that he was just a bit closer to the action he might be able to pick up useful knowledge from seeing Ryukyu fight as well as pinpoint what exactly this strange energy that he was feeling come off the heroine was.
Besides, how could he possibly past up an opportunity to see a Top Ten Pro Hero take down some villains in person?
Meanwhile Sera kept moving, except she continue to go backward instead of forward, only stopping upon realizing that she had walk right back into the delivery van she was thrown into.
“But most of all. for all the criminals, Pro Heroes, and everyone else in-between including yourself”, Ryuko says as she stops moving and looks up to see a news helicopter come flying into the market and hover directly above her, its camera aim straight at her, “Let me jog your memory, as to the terror I can bring.”
She then places her left hand on the set of claws that don her face and the wind began to rapidly twirl around her, temporarily obscuring her from view as they kick up a large cloud of dust in the process, causing the triplets to shield their eyes.
And when the wind died down a moment later and they were able to open their eyes again, the trio themselves staring upward in terrified awe at the true might of the number nine Pro Hero in the country in all of her large, winged draconic glory.
Too bad she did not share the same sentiment if the piercing heated glare she was giving the triplets was anything to go off of and all three of them instinctively started to shake fiercely as Ryuko open her serrated teeth-filled mouth to speak.
“Now let me teach you a few things about me”, she declares.
“Aw crap, here it comes”, Takako says as she massages her temples.
“MY TEETH ARE KAMAS!”, Ryuko then roars as she lunges at the criminals, making an attempt to bite Jura who narrowly dodges the attack as the need to keep living overran the fear that was coursing through his body.
“MY CLAWS ARE ROCHINS!”, she then shouts as she brings her front right foot down on top of Kenji, who manages to roll out of the way in time of the giant claw, the sheer force behind the impact shaking the very earth itself and leaving a crater in its wake.
“MY WINGS….ARE A TYPHOON!” as she roars as flings her wings out with such force that they created a powerful gush of wind that lift Jura and Keji off their feet and into the buildings behind them, though it seems that Sera was of a different built as she used her quirk to quickly connect her feet with the ground underneath her, anchoring her down and preventing the gush from uplifting her.
"Ha, easy!", Sera thought right before she heard....
"AND THE SHOCK OF MY TAIL....A THUNDERBOLT!"
"What?"
Half a second later, Ryuko's tail slams into her, effortlessly picking her off the ground and sending her flying across the market. The pressure of the impact of the tail striking Sera was so great that it actually cracks the windows of a nearby store.
The few police and civilians that were still conscious could only watch the scene unfold in front of them with frighten expressions stretch across their faces. They all knew that the Pro Hero was on the side of law and order but that did not make this display of draconic might any less frightening as more than a few civilians took to fleeing the scene.
Even high above the action in the sky, the people in the news helicopter were fighting the urge to suddenly head back to the news station.
Meanwhile Yui and Takako watch on with looks similar to someone dealing with a massive migraine on theirs.
“She chooses now of all times to be a drama queen?”, Takako asks.
“Like I said, at least she now has something that she can legally vent her anger and stress out on….as long as she does not go too far”, Yui replies, "Plus it’s your fault she got into Lord of the Rings and actually liked the Hobbit movies."
"Smaug was the best part of those movies", Takako adds.
Izuku, who was a couple meters behind the two afro mention women, however found himself utterly memorizes as Ryukyu rampages through the market as she attacks the villain siblings, giving them no room to breathe, let alone counterattack, as she had them completely on the defensive. Sure, he has seen videos of her using her dragon form in the past but watching it in person was a whole other thing.
The way the ground shook heavily under her every step.
The way she towers over the battlefield with her imposing, dominating stature.
The way the villains had to constantly scramble in order to avoid her attack though she made it seem like she was merely swatting at flies.
And the way her roar echo throughout the area, drowning everything else out through sheer volume and magnitude.
She was marvelous and Izuku could not take his eyes off of her nor did he want to.
“Oh man, I really hope I’m not becoming like those scalies”, he thought for a moment, briefly recalling that out-of-the-way forum he found by accident but chose not to tell Ryukyu, or anyone for that matter, about. Safe to say that some of the drawings of the heroine he found in it were.... unique to say the least.
Shaking such thoughts aside, Izuku began to compare Ryukyu’s dragon form to his own and while there were obvious differences between them, the main one being how she had to move on all fours while he mainly stood on two legs only going down on his hands and legs if the need call for it, the absolute overwhelming prowess she projected visibly show the wide gap that laid between the two of them.
Even without a breath attack she was powerful and Izuku was not sure if he would have survived their encounter three days ago had she use her dragon form. At best he might still be in the hospital in critical condition if she did.
In the back of his mind though, he was now starting to wonder that if the Pro Hero rankings were solely based on how powerful a person was, would Ryukyu easily be a Top Three?
All Might and Endeavor would be one thing, but everyone between Ryukyu and them would be another as she possesses a number of advantages that other Pro Heroes simply did not have or as to as great of a degree as her; including defense and flight.
Plus, from what he has gather from his research of her, she was also a highly-skilled hand-to-hand combatant who has mastered a large number of martial arts from across southeast Asia while the average Pro Hero was usually either self-taught or relied completely on their quirk for combat.
But all that would have to wait as he focuses his mind back to the battle at hand and kept his eyes glued to the Dragoon Hero.
“That bitch!”, Sera screams as she slowly got up on her hands and knees from within the parking lot that she landed in after being hit by the full force of Ryukyu’s tail swipe, “How dare she?!”
This was supposed to be her and her brothers’ big debut as villains. Their spectacular entrance on the grand stage of the Japanese criminal underworld. They were ready for this; they even managed to get recruit by a rising villain’s group, called the Devil’s Palm, who set everything up for them for them to pull off this small heist of robbing a few stores in the market and causing a bit of collateral damage.
Sure, they were well aware that they were just one of four diversion teams used to distract the authorities while the Devil’s Palm was pulling off something big in another part of town, but as they were told, that operation, once it was fully complete, would put the group in the big leagues and known worldwide.
And it started off so well.
Sure, a few cops did show up but this was expected and they were handled rather well. Then when the first group of pro heroes showed up, her brothers panic for a moment but after she took down the first Pro Hero with relative ease they quickly got back on their game and help her beat down the rest.
And then this Okinawan bitch had to show up and ruin everything just as they were about to leave.
“Fuck!”, Sera shouts as she slams a nearby car with her rocky fist, creating a large dent in it in the process and lifting it a couple of inches off the ground, “Fucking dammit!”
She did not know what was fueling her adrenaline more; her anger or her pain.
Sure, her second layer of rock skin protected her from the brunt of the tail swipe but she still felt the impact of the hit and she definitely felt the landing in the parking lot. A quick glance back at the fight reveal that her brothers were barely doing any better with Ryukyu as both Jura and Keji had resorted to throwing anything they could get their hands on at the Pro Hero, including cars. None of this did any visible damage to her though and she looked more annoy by their antics than anything.
“No doubt more cops and heroes are on their way too”, Sera thought as she realizes that this has gone on far longer than what they had plan and pretty soon this place would be swarm by law enforcement.
“Got to find a way to salvage this! Got to get one up on that bitch!”, she told herself as she looks around the marketplace for a solution, “But how?”
A patch of green hair in the midst of the small crowd that had gather caught her attention for a brief moment.
“Hey, it’s that kid who-” Sera thought before suddenly stopping and a sinister grin began to form on her face underneath her rock armor, “Who the Okinawan bitch said on national television that she was going to train.”
This was Sera’s shining grace; her silver lining.
She realizes that she could not defeat Ryukyu, but perhaps she could kill two birds with one stone and simultaneously tarnish the Pro Hero's reputation while gaining some infamy in the process by killing the boy that rock Japan just a few days ago; the same boy that Ryukyu said she was going to help become a hero.
The boy was famous at the moment and doing him in would transfer that fame to her and turn it into infamy.
Should be easy enough for all she had to do was avoid the kid’s ice breath attack and if she could pull it off just right, the heroine might be so distraught that Sera and her brothers would be able to escape.
But she needed her brothers to distract the Pro Hero while she did so.
“Jura! Keji!”, she shouts as she stood up.
Her brothers, while in the process of picking up picking up more things to throw at Ryuko, briefly stop what they were doing to focus on her.
“Go titan form! Now!”, she orders.
It only took a moment for Jura and Keji to process and acknowledge this command before they started to carry it out. Rapidly slamming their rocky fists into the ground with incredible strength, they easily punch a hole into the concrete until they find the natural dirt and rock on which the outdoor shopping center was built over. They then raise their hands to the sky and soon enough a geyser of rock and dirt erupt from the hole and split apart into two streams. Each stream began to circle around the brothers, adding more layer of rock and dirt to their already formidable earth-like armor and causing them to grow in size until they were as almost tall as Ryukyu herself, no different than the golems of Eastern European folklore.
But before Ryuko, or anyone else for that matter, could rationalize this sudden turn of event, the heroine spots Sera sprinting across the shopping center toward the crowd, a third stream of rock and dirt rising out of the hole and swirling around her, turning the woman into the same rock giant as her brothers only larger.
“You’re mine now, kid!”, Sera says aloud, her charging stature making the onlookers, including Yui and Takako, instantly jump out of the way as she lock-in on her target who merely stood there.
“Oh no”, is all Ryuko could think as she realizes just where exactly Sera was heading; but before she could try to intercept the woman, both Jura and Keji tackle her and their combine weight along with their momentum send her backward into the side of a bakery, demolishing the building and everything inside as they all went crashing to the floor of the shop.
When Izuku spots the giant rock woman barreling straight toward him the boy could do nothing but freeze in place, terrified beyond all belief that death was charging right at him. Something from deep inside told him too that the woman was targeting him specifically because he has analyzed hundreds, if not more, video of criminals fleeing from Pro Heroes in the past, especially footage involving All Might.
He has pick up that fleeing villains always had tell-tale signs that they were running away from a fight such as constantly looking around for a means of escape, having a look of pure fright engraved on their faces, or screaming for the Pro Hero to stay away from them as they ran.
This woman was doing none of those things but instead was calm, focus, and running straight at him, her footsteps shaking the ground in the process.
While the chances of such a thing like this happening to the average person is high, most people more than likely do not think too much about it. Mainly because people always tell themselves that that sort of thing only happens to someone else; even Izuku himself thought that way sometimes in the past.
Unfortunately for him though, to everyone else he was that someone else.
Also, the fact that this was the second time within a week that a criminal has had him in their crosshairs was not lost on him either; three if he counts his encounter with Himiko.
He was now starting to wonder if his real quirk was attracting trouble and the dragon stuff was just a bonus.
“Izuku!”, Ryuko screams from her position on the ground but before she could even struggle to get the brothers off of her, a bright reddish-brown light fills her vision and the surrounding area, the source of it being Izuku himself.
And if the Pro Hero had to associate the color of the light that was illuminating with a name the first word that would come to mind would be....
Copper.
A/N: According to D&D and Pathfinder, True Dragons fall into twelve age categories which is a major factor in determining how powerful a individual dragon is as their Challenge Rating (which determine how deadly a monster is, the higher it is the more deadlier the monster is) goes up as they get older and move into the next age category for dragons are one of the few creatures that get stronger with age:
- Wyrmling
- Very Young
- Young
- Juvenile
- Young Adult
- Adult
- Mature Adult
- Old
- Very Old
- Ancient
- Wyrm
- Great Wyrm
On a different note now, Izuku does gets targeted way too easily sometimes, in canon and fanon.
For this story, dragons have four legs and wings. Anything else is not a dragon but of a sub-dragon species. Another difference in this story in compare to canon is that Ryuko’s
scales cover her entire form when she transforms into a dragon, not partially. So far this is the members of Ryuko's staff that Izuku has seen or heard about:
- Ayano Oshiro, the Ryukyu’s agency local Quirk Analyst and researcher.
- Takako Higa- Secretary and Lawyer
- Yui Tamaki- Medical Advisor (Doctor/Nurse)
- Tomi Taira- Public Relations/ Social Media Manager
- Tatsuhiro Shimabukuro- Intel Gathering Specialist.
So, one of the things that people have pointed out to me was the slow progress of Izuku getting new dragon forms. I have developed a system to increase that rate but still keep it balance story-wise so he is not too overpowered. Also, those first two temperature records are real, you can look them up if you want.
Ryuko's line of "Jog your memory as to the terror I can bring", is Gajeel line in Fairy Tail, right as he is about to fight Rogue after he unlocks the Shadow Iron Dragon-Slayer mode. (Ch 319 in the manga).
So before you address the cheesy parody of Smaug’s line from the Hobbit movie, know this:
Kama is a blade weapon of Okinawa. It was originally a farming tool but once the
Japanese took over and ban weapons, the locals began to use it as a weapon along
with many others. Couldn’t find the Okinawa word for blade or sword. Rochin is Okinawan for short spear. I couldn’t find the word for just “spear”. Typhoon: a different name for hurricane in that part of the world. Thunderbolt: Decided to keep it as it is.
If anyone knows the actual Okinawa (Ryukyuan) words for these things, please let me know. But anyway, swords, spears, and hurricane are the western sayings. But since Ryuko is Okinawan and not Japanese, I also decided not to use Japanese terms either.
Final note, I actually do like the A Song of Ice and Fire franchise. I just like the Lord of the Rings one more.