So this is Mount Fuji…

The darkness stretched out across the sky with the only illumination coming from the small towns at the base of the mountain. Except for the lights coming from the drones as machines dug away at some parts of the mountain. ‘Extractors’ is what Kori and Mei called them. They would assist her in drawing lava from the Earth and into her core.

Teka looked down at her arms and legs. It had just been three months ago that she was on the edge of shattering. Her limbs were so thin that she could barely stand up. But now they’ve nearly gone back to their original size. The nanites had filled all the cracks down the bone. As for her core, the nanites had begun resonating with her Ether flow so her core didn’t reject them. They even flooded her body with painkillers so she wouldn’t feel it when they dug into every inch of her body.

Now that she thought about it, she realized that she was similar to Mei now. Mei also had something similar to this across her body.

A tap on her head brought her out of her thoughts. “You doing ok bugger?”

Aiko took a seat next to her as Luna circled around Teka. With the extra nanites, Mei decided to build another body for Luna. She now had an entirely new body that could reform into whatever.

Her voice was low and didn’t hold a lot of emotion. “…Doing as good as a beast with a cracked core can do.”

Aiko nodded and looked out onto the skyline with her. She wanted to talk about Hato’s message but didn’t feel comfortable bringing it up. “So what’ll you do now? Ya know. After your core is healed?”

“I haven’t really been thinking about that. Some countries in the world have put out warrants for our arrests after the stunt Kori pulled. Doubt they can even do anything though.”

Bits of blue rose around her and her eyes narrowed to a slit. “…As for that bastard trying to become King. He can get some other beast to do it. I have no interest in ever going back to that hell hole.” Aiko shivered a bit at the aura leaking out of her. It’s like she can read my mind…

“Um… why don’t you tell me about that bond of yours. Katsuki Bakugo right?” Aiko quickly thought back to the talk with Mitsuki. “…I wonder what he’s like. Oh right! Before I forget,” Her eyes began to glow as she held out her hands. A golden light, different from the orange that she usually emitted, stretched out across her hands. Seven golden envelopes materialized in them. Each had a name etched into the sides.

Teka’s face twisted in disgust once she saw some of them. Aiko spoke before she could. “I know exactly what you’re thinking. Nana and Kori both told me that. So here. Take these two for now alright?”

She pushed two letters into her arms and quickly stood up. It was perfect timing since Kori suddenly materialized next to her. The machines had planted themselves deep in the mountain. “It’s up to you from this point on. Are you ready?”

She responded by slightly touching the ground around her and melting it into lava. She sunk the letters into her void and faced towards the crater. “I’m only pulling lava from the magma chamber. And this is just a test. Remember that. Luckily, this volcano is still active. Though it hasn’t erupted for a long time.”

The drones disappeared into the sky as she climbed into the crater. Looking back at her friends, now in their beast forms, they nodded towards her.

She closed her eyes and focused on the ground around her. No, not the ground. Farther down. Deep down in the Earth. Her skin became cracked and began to change. The rocks around her began to melt and the cold air began to heat up substantially. The nanites in her body began syncing up with the machines. At this very moment, it was only her and the lava rising through the Earth. She pushed past the emptiness and entered her third state.

This was the beginning of the restoration of the Fourth Candidate.

“Adusta Tellus.”

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

*

A few hours after

It couldn’t possibly get any worse than this, right?

That was the question David Shield had asked himself when he came to Japan to assist in look for his missing research. After his research had been taken away by the executives after they rushed the testing… after they killed an innocent civilian and covered it up in an accident. He was secretly glad that the nanites were stolen and didn’t dare show that to his daughter or the executives.

With a sigh, he silently looked outside of the van and noticed a lot of people were looking down at their phones. He questioned it and asked his best friend about it. “Toshinori. What exactly is happening? I know the world is advancing… but isn’t this a lot?”

The car came to a stop as they rolled into the parking lot of the police headquarters in Musutafu. “I’m guessing you haven’t seen the news huh?”

David shook his head as they walked inside. There, he picked up that most eyes were on him. “Not much. I wasn’t able to take any of my devices back to Japan. So I’m not really sure what’s going on. All I have is a laptop, but it’s not connected to the internet.”

Toshinori shuffled with his phone for a bit before handing it to him. David’s eyes widened as he read the top news article from last night. A small, but 2.6 Earthquake around Mount Fuji. An active volcano that shouldn’t erupt for another 500 years.

Lava could be seen clear as day flowing out of the center and small plumes of thick smoke entering the skies. When he took a closer look, he could make out signs as if the ground around the crater had been excavated. “Mount Fuji is erupting?!”

“No! No it’s not,” He stopped in front of the large metal door and knocked twice. “It’s not erupting. But someone told us Kai and her friends are planning something.”

Nothing happened at first. But they could make out the sound of locks clicking, and unlocking made David a little nervous. And he had the right to be. The door opened to Akihiro Ami, Yuko Rin, Tsukauchi, Gran Torino, and Akako Kage. David froze a bit once his and Akako’s eyes met.

He took a seat next to Toshinori, his eyes never leaving Akako’s. “You’re the girl from Flaming Christmas right? The one with all of those shadow soldiers?”

She nodded. A few of her shadows in their chibi forms rose up in response. “And you’re the one Kori stole from, right?”

“Yea,” He thought back to when Melissa came running to his office after the I-Island shutdown. How she was panicking that about his research and how it had been stolen. “But before I get to that, how did they get you here?”

She leaned back in her chair, her shadows eyeing David. “I’m doing this for Izuku’s and Inko’s sake. Ever since this detective over here and All Might showed up, they’ve been bothering them. …It’s annoying feeling Izuku’s nervousness.”

“You can feel his emotions?”

“That’s what it means to be bonded.”

Yuko Rin interrupted their little talk with a cough. “I’m sorry to interrupt your little chat, but we have bigger things to take care of.”

Holograms of the erupting Mount Fuji appeared in front of everyone. The shadows that had risen hissed at the screens and dove back into her shadow. It shocked David, but the others seemed used to it. “Mount Fuji is erupting. But we've confirmed the cause is from Teka."

“…” Kage’s eyes began to glow. The smoke leaking off of her morphed into a hazy blue. “They’re healing Teka’s core. But it won’t work. She needs a specific type of Ether to heal it. One that’s only found in the Aether.”

“Then I guess it has something to do with the nanotechnology that they stole?”

All eyes shifted to David, who was already two steps ahead of them. “They’re using it for an energy source.”

He pulled out a laptop of his own and pulled up some documents. Documents of early versions of the nanites. “I’m not supposed to be showing this to anyone, but these are the blueprints for them. Originally, they were designed for quirk enhancements. But after a failed test, they were sealed away. The nanites feed on calories for an energy source. Kori must have known this and decided the best alternative was to drain Mount Fuji.”

“What will happen to Mount Fuji though?” Toshinori questioned the relaxed nature of the room. “It’s erupting, right? People around the base of it have already been evacuated, but if it explodes, then much more people will be in danger.”

“You don’t have to worry about them. If they’re doing this, then they know it won’t hurt a single person.” Kage’s eyes began glowing as a light red smoke began rising from her body. “Those two were the type to never hurt another beast.”

“...What do you mean by that?”

“They would never shatter another beast out of their own free will.”

For a moment, it was quiet. Rin quickly filled it in by requesting something from her. “Kage… I would like to request something.”

Her red eyes met his own. “Fire away.”

“Next month, we’ll be holding a national press conference. As a princess of the beasts, will you be willing to talk to the representatives?”

She looked at Monkey, who was shaking his head no while sitting on a pile of clouds. Rin and All Might both eyed him suspiciously. “…Why?”

He pulled out a tablet and slid it over to her. Multiple articles from different languages. But they all had the same meaning. All of them criticized beasts and Japan. Most were about Kori’s stunt, but some were from when she resurrected the cat. “As it stands now, the world doesn’t trust them. If they get the chance to talk to a princess of this new race…”

“Then they’ll understand us better.” She thought about it while Monkey circled her head, still shaking his head. "Alright then. I'll do it."