Meanwhile in Mob's home town: ^
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][ Previously: Mob did some math homework, spoke to some other kids, and met All Might for the first time. ][

It's time to release my favorite blind boye. UwU

     A dark figure made his way to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Hands in his pockets, he sauntered as though he owned the place. Not like it was an impressive place to own, but still. The door was cracked just enough for him to enter.

     "Hyyyelo!" He called after sliding in, but he already knew where they were.

     There were seven of them, most sitting atop crates waiting for him.

     "Ryo Shimazaki.. Hmf, so you actually decided to show up to the meeting you called." Tomura Shigaraki, the leader of the group, who sported a few disembodied hands grabbing at his clothes, huffed. "Made us wait ages for you to show. This better be good."

     "My apologies~" Ryo bowed as he smirked. "Had to take the trash out first."

     "Just cut to the chase already!" A blond girl sitting way up in the rafters whined. "Nobody cares about your stupid chores! So are you joining or not??"

     Ryo pulled his hands from the tight leather pants he wore and sent the girl a finger gun. "Just one thing first, real quick." Unlike the others, who were all but one elaborately dressed up in cute little costumes, this man wore a plain dark red shirt and business casual black top over it. And though his eyes were closed, he knew everything going on around him just fine. "First of all, I used to work for a highly professional organization, and, well.. you could say this is a bit of a downgrade." He gestured around the warehouse.

     "So what are you getting at, then? This isn't exactly a charity for criminals." Tomura hopped down from a crate and strode toward their guest. "We all fight to survive down here."

     "Hey... That's fair." Ryo tipped his head, still smiling. "I just want my confiscation in knowing whether or not you guys are the real deal. Can you actually handle what you're up against?"

     "What kind of a question is that?" A man with spiky black hair rasped from the shadows. His face was scarred with burns. Not the prettiest sight to behold. Ryo moved his head subtly to acknowledge him.

     "We know this part of the country far better than you." A guy with a decorative white and black mask spoke up. "In case that's what you're wanting to know~ And Tomura here has been putting a fine plan together."

     Ryo rolled his closed eyes. "I have a feeling you don't know what you're up against. The heroes are the least of your problem right now.."

     "What kind of a threat is this?" Tomura growled. The members of the league began to sit up a little more as Ryo shifted his weight.

     "Not a threat. Just a fact." The guest stated, again sticking his thumbs in his pockets to better relieve the growing tension in the room around him. "You remember what happened to the leader of Claw, right? He's the guy I used to work directly under."

     "Wait so you're telling me that whole giant broccoli thing is real??" Tomura scratched his neck idly. "Huh, I was certain it was all just a government coverup or something."

     "No. And the kid who grew that thing is none other than the newest student in class 1A. And he's just the tip of the iceberg. His master is far more powerful. I'm telling you; you're stepping on a land mine by attacking that school again."

     "Well we don't mindlessly run into fights anymore. In case you're wondering, we've evolved from that. Though we may not have the highest numbers, we're sure to win in the end." Shigaraki boasted.

     Ryo only sighed, face downcast. "Hhhh, you guys don't get it, do you..? I'm not here to see how well you can scheme; I'm here to see how well you can FIGHT-" He vanished in the blink of an eye, appearing right behind Tomura and kicking him in the back. The league leader flew across the room, only stopping at the large doors that broke his flight. Everyone else gasped, but Ryo was already attacking Mr. Compress before any of them could react.

     The speedy teleporter used the darkness of the warehouse to his advantage. Everyone was up quickly and trying to fight him alone. Because of this, everyone got a couple or so bad blows no matter how good they were at predicting his next move.

     "I was worried you'd all just be a bunch of sewer rats!" For the first time he scowled as he fought, easily dodging Toga's knife attacks. "But it appears even I over estimated you weaklings!" He teleported in front of Magne and fooler the villain into pulling the large metal brick back to herself and teleporting away right in time to let her catch the full force of the object with her body. He didn't appear to be having as much fun as he hoped he would with these guys. Felt a little bad for them, even.

     "Dabi, light up the shadows!" Tomura gave an order once he had his barings.

     "On it!!" Blue flames crawled around the walls, creating a near perfect circle around the league. "Toga, watch his movements!"

     "You got it!" She and the others met in the center. Together they watched as the dark form's silhouette teleported around. His combination of walking and teleporting created the appearance of a glitched avatar.

     His circling slowed, hands folding behind his back. "Huhuhuh -- aww.. -- Now you've -- All gone and -- trapped yourselves -- for me. -- I'm flattered -- but -- You really didn't need to -- make things even easier -- on me like that.."

     He then teleported across the circle and grabbed Toga by one of her hair-buns, about to toss her into the blue flames. But Magne grabbed him by the legs, making him stumble. He dropped the teen just in time to dodge one of Mr. Compress' pearls. When he reappeared, Tomura was right there with his hand out. He was just barely able to dodge. The pale blue haired one managed to touch his sleeve. In a terrifying twist, cracks crawled up his clothing until that sleeve was completely gone, nothing but dust. Now he felt the heat of the fire against his skin.

     For the first time in a while, Ryo began to panic. He activated his special senses earlier than usual just to be safe. Now he was focused on only them, their weapons, and the flames. He opened his eyes, his pupils red in a sea of black. The others weren't phased. They'd seen a lot of strange stuff in their time as villains.

      But wait-, now there was something off. Now there were FOUR Tomuras! It took just a little more focusing to pinpoint which one was the real... Two of them were... Huh?? This wasn't good! Ryo continued dodging and teleporting just fine, but as things got more tense so too did his anxiety increase, in the end being the thing to trip him up.

     This was good, right? Good that they weren't so easy to pick off; that is why he was fighting them after all! So why was he suddenly so nervous about losing to the point of self sabotage??

     A moment of distraction allowed Spinner to nick his chin with the blade. Ryo stumbled back and fell down. He teleported right before Magne could land the massive chunk of metal on top of him. Dabi shot females the moment he reappeared, forcing him to teleport again. Now every movement of his was controlled by them. As a whole, they'd all figured out his tricks and adjusted their fighting styles accordingly. Just like last time...HE was the one who was cornered.

     Ryo kicked through a fake Tomura, destroying it instantly. He thrashed more at his attackers this time, his heart racing and NOT in the fun way! And when he was debating on just teleporting out of the warehouse all together and congratulating them for being alright, a certain dry hand touched the back of his neck.

     Ryo fell to the ground, expecting it to be all over in a matter of seconds. ... But then nothing happened. The Tomura behind him laughed loudly, a bubbly kind of laugh that was uncharacteristic of him. "Tag! You're it!" (He?) teased. Ryo shivered and clutched himself. This must have been a fake as well. But what a scare that had been!

     What had happened to him?! After the encounter with that boy and his master, he could no longer hide behind his invincible facade. And now he'd nearly tasted death. The fear simply could not be hidden away any longer.

     A second later, his body was encased in a small teal pearl. He could hear faint mumbling outside the teal. Though he could barely make out what any of them were saying.

     The blue flames died out slowly as the small gang celebrated their victory by tossing the pearl between the few of them. The game ended in the hands of Tomura, who very delicately caught it with only three of his fingers.

     "Shimizaki, I choose you!" He laughed and tossed the pearl to the ground. Out of it came the Esper, now with a missing left sleeve, other cuts and tears in his clothes, and a handful of cuts and bruises on his skin. For him, this was utter defeat. "Had your fun?" The leader of the league snickered down at the Esper on the floor.

     Ryo swallowed and tried to clear his mind. Everyone stood in a circle around him, waiting for him to make the next move. "I, um.. well done, I guess." Chuckling uncomfortably. His eyes closed to how they usually were. "But-but just because you managed to defeat me doesn't mean you'll be able to handle that kid who took down Suzuki! He-he's on a whole nother level!!"

     "Aw, sounds like someone cares about us." The other Tomura leaned forward, smiling cutely. The real one gave it a look.

     "I-I- don't care! I just want the only remaining villain organizations to not act so stupidly!-"

     "..You should change back now."

     "Okay..." The other Tomura pouted and started to melt into a disgusting gray goop. The girl from before appeared from it, rushing to her pile of clothes before it all melted off of her.

     It was quiet again for a little bit. Tomura even knelt down to Ryo's level as if to say they were waiting for him to do something. The once thought to be the second strongest Esper in all the world now sat with a trembling heart, unsure of what to do.

     He spoke in a much quieter voice than before. "...I'm telling you guys, you're going to need an entire army if you ever want to win, and you don't even have tha-at.." He couldn't believe his own voice. He was truly breaking down. He was broken, wasn't he? "Damaged goods" as his old boss used to put it.

     Tomura stared uninterested for a little bit. Then, "Eh... We'll make it work." He pushed himself back up and turned to walk away. Ryo opened his mouth in shock. How was he so confident??

     "Are you just being smug or do you actually have a plan?!"

     "Sheeesh. So bossy for someone who hasn't even said whether or not he will join."

     "I'll join, alright?!" Teleporting upright.

     Shigaraki turned around with a prideful smirk under that hand mask of his. "Nice to see that pride has left you. It really was annoying to listen to.." Ryo bit the inside of his cheek and sulked. These guys were more childish than any of his past masters. Maybe if he played along, he'd eventually take second place like the last organization he was in. Surely he'd prove himself more useful to Shigaraki than the rest of these bozos! Then he'd be able to use his position to grow the organization into something really special. "Now, as for my plan, it is still a work in progress.." Tomura spun back around on his heel toward the crates. "But, if you weren't lying about that kid and his master from before, perhaps we can use your insight to figure something else out... Everyone has a weakness. No matter how powerful they may be, we're living in a world where even the great All Might can fall."

     Ryo glanced around at this little rag-tag team of villains. Everyone gave him some kind of a smirk or scowl...or a smowl. He didn't exactly feel welcome, but then again he had nearly killed a few of them only a couple minutes ago. It would take a while to gain their trust, and then some more to rise in the ranks. But...he didn't really have anything better to do.

     He began walking after Tomura towards everyone, steps landing in a casual pattern now that he'd shaken off the anxiety.

     "Why'd you choose to join us anyways??"
"Yeahh! Why did you join a group you knew would face off against the people you're so scared of?!" Some guy named twice asked in two different tones.

     Having regained his cool again, Ryo placed a hand on his hip and pretended to roll his eyes. "Pssh! Because life isn't fun without a challenge every now and then. And the sooner those two are gone, the sooner I can get back to doing whatever the heck I want."

     "Hah! Same, little man." Magne laughed.

     Calmly but also a little offended, "What did you just call me?"

     In truth, Ryo felt in his gut that a new reason had bubbled up in these past few weeks. He didn't want to live in a world where he would fear another man. One where he was the strongest; completely untouchable by harming hands!

     Maybe then he would finally find peace.

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     Izuku was free to attention class again. He walked beside Mob as they made their way toward the class room. Uraraka and Iida accompanied the two, for the first time since arriving providing Mob with friendly conversation to join in on. He was still terribly awkward and nervous, which led to him saying very little, but they had grace.

     After everyone had seated themselves, Mob sitting at a desk in the back row, Mr. Aizawa stood to make an announcement.

     "Because of your coming internships, we thought it would be a good idea to invite some students with more experience. Everyone, meet the big three; the top third year students in our school." Everyone's eyes followed Aizawa's to the door as three even bigger teenagers appeared. Mob slunk a little more into his chair and watched quietly. Everyone else either gasped or started mumbling to one another.

      Sure enough, there were three. One girl with long blue hair and two boys, one with yellow hair and another with black hair. Every one of them were different in every way imaginable, the darker haired one especially stood out, just staring at the floor as he entered.

     The blond guy tried to get everyone to finish a phrase no one knew. The girl asked a lot of personal questions about everyone, including pointing out a scar on Shoto's face Mob originally thought was just a birth mark. And the dark haired one tried to imagine everyone as potatoes before giving up and spinning around to face the wall. Mob was tragically reminded of the time he did something similar...except his was arguably even more embarrassing.

     "Well I'm not very good at giving lectures, so how about we go outside and I just SHOW you what I'm all about!!" The muscular blond shouted to the class. Everyone quickly changed into their outdoor uniforms -- Mob's was a little too big for him -- and headed outside at once.

      When everyone entered the gym, the middle schooler's eyes widened at the sight of a mountain that had somehow grown inside it. The bouncy blond faced all of the class with a confident kind of smile.

     "Let's start off with a bang, guys! All of you against me; let's do this!!" He challenged an entire class. Mob stood in the back of the group. Such confidence to take on over twenty super students. He must be really powerful.. The boor boy was too shaky to choose between getting involved or sitting out, so he stood more on the outskirts.

     Why were these guys treating violence like such a casual thing? It should be a last resort. Not for fun.

     Izuku jumped for the blond first, striking with his foot through his head. Literally through. The older one's head was completely unfazed. His clothes slipped off for whatever reason. The senior chuckled nervously while he slipped his pants back on. As he was attacked again, the blond simply fell into the ground. Mob frantically shifted his gaze to the ground. He must have a phasing quirk or something. Either that or he can create illusions.

     "Whapaah!" He flung out of the ground not too far from Mob, completely naked. The poor girl next to him was traumatized. One after another, the blond struck from the ground with a mighty punch. He was like the shark in that horror movie. No one knew when or where he would strike next.

     The middle schooler didn't really feel like getting involved. He just didn't see the point in any of it. 'We were all supposed to work together as a school, right? So why were we attacking each other?? Wasn't this school a target of villains, too? Why weaken each other like this when the real threats could arrive at any minute??'

     There seemed no other way out of the position he was in. While everyone else getting beat up, Mob laid on the floor like those who had already fallen and played dead.

83%

     It was only about a minute later that the blond won. "POWERRRR!!!" He struck a winning pose.

     Mob pushed himself off of the floor and glared at the senior. "Why would you beat up those younger than you for your own entertainment..?" Mirio spun around, his smile dropping the moment he saw just how intense the young one was. Mob's eyes were set and dark, a strong aura emanating off of him, hair floating a little.

     "Ah, didn't see you there, little guy!" The senior smiled again and chuckled.

     "Do you think this is funny? That because you have a strong power you can just do whatever you want?" Some of the other kids pushed themselves up and looked up at Mob, surprised by his sudden change in attitude. Mirio chuckled again.

     "I don't think you're getting the point.. I was just about to explain-"

     "-And you couldn't explain before you beat everyone up?--" Suddenly Mob felt his hair flop back into place on his head, his aura vanishing in a second.

     "That is enough, Kageyama." Mr. Aizawa's hair was floating now, his eyes a bright red. He stared the youngest down with a reprimanding glare. Mob immediately calmed down. He was struck. So the teacher could suppress his powers?? ...Cool!

     "Thank you, teacher." Mob even smiled a little. No wonder this school was so confident that it would be easy to handle him if he ever lost control! A teacher like this would for sure be able to suppress his powers until he calmed down! Mr. Aizawa was a little confused as to why his student was thankful of all things. He turned his attention on to Mirio.

     "You'll have to excuse him. He's a new student tasked with defending his classmates."

     "Oh?" Mirio scratched the back of his head. "Sorry for the scare, little guy." Now Mob was more embarrassed than anything.

     "I'm just wondering why you would attack them... I mean, you seem like a pretty nice guy.."

     "Oh!" Mirio laughed. "So, you're a pacifist; I see! That's a good quality to have!" Then his eyes met the boy's directly. "But you can't expect to defend yourself if you don't have any experience, right?? That's what this school is all about! Giving us all the practice we need before charging into the big deal!" He...had a good point. Mob remembered the time when he took down Claw. Suzuki was so powerful that he had to resort to violence, and even attempt to kill him, just to end his schemes. Guess it makes sense, then, that people even less powerful than him would have to resort to this level of violence on the daily just to get criminals off the street. A real shame, though. He felt kind of bad for these kids now. They were only a year older than him, after all, and having to think about possibly killing people.

     "...Okay then... I'm sorry for disturbing you." Mob backed off, fidgeting with his hands and staring down at the floor. Mirio forgave him with a simple smile. Then he started to help those up who hadn't stood yet with nothing more than his pants on.

     When all were standing and alright again Mirio gave his speech. "You all might be thinking about how cool my power is! How lucky I was to be born with it! Well, truth is, it isn't as easy as you might think. I used to randomly fall through the floor sometimes which, was pretty scary." He laughed. "But then I went to this school and learned how to harness my quirk and turn it into something useful! I'm a walking testimony of how no matter how strange or 'useless' your quirk may be, there's always potential waiting to be harnessed!" Though Mob wasn't personally touched by the message himself, he did think it was cool how such an inconvenient thing could be harnessed like that. Made him wonder if there were more creative ways he could use his telekinesis in the future.

     Afterwards, everyone talked a little more about internships. Mob wouldn't be involved in all that since he just joined. He hoped to spend his after school hours with Reigen and Serizawa once they moved into town anyways. The idea of working under an actual hero professionally was pretty interesting, though. He wondered what they were like, since his home town had no real heroes. Whoever wanted to become one ended up just moving away to a city with a higher crime rate.

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     "Have a villain name in mind?"

     "Nah, I'll just stick with Ryo Shimazaki." The league he was now a part of stood again in the warehouse. They basically had no base, so he had offered to let them stay in his simple suburban house where he pretended to live a normal life. Since he had now become their main source of travel since some guy named Kurogiri was arrested, that essentially forced everyone to trust him a little more. Only a week and he could already sense he was rising up these unclear ranks. The gang respected him a little more, at least, especially when they were crashing on his couches. Hhhh, hopefully this will all be worth it soon... Though he wasn't necessarily the moustache twirling schemer kind, Ryo was already starting to make a few plans of his own now.

     Everyone lounged around the semi-burnt crates and waited for the man Twice had said was interested in joining. Where was that Twice anyways? Ryo stood leaned against the wall in a dark corner, invisible to the untrained eye. His telepathic senses made darkness a useless foe to him, so he used that to his advantage. His arms were crossed over his chest, a new black jacket now on, same kind as the old one since he had a hundred of those.

     "Sh. I sense some movement on the premises." Ryo spoke. Everyone else's murmuring ceased. There was conversation, mostly from Twice, outside the large doors. Then one of the massive doors was creaked open.

      "Hey, guys, I brought the man himself!" The happy villain bound in. After him came a curious figure. Ryo settled his attention on the man. He wore a green jacket with purple frill around the neck and a plague doctor-like mask covered the lower half of his face. How strange... How come he was quickly becoming the only one who wore anything normal?!

     "Kai Chisaki..." Tomura spoke the new newcomer's name. The stranger looked up and stared directly into the handyman's one visible eye.

     Trouble was a-foot. Ryo knew that much.