“Those finals were a pain in the ass,” Teka stretched her arms once she passed the test to the front. Finals were finally over, and they were free to do whatever they want for the winter. She took a seat on Bakugo’s desk once the teacher left. “How well do you think you did Explosive Boy? The Japanese section was a bit hard, but I think I did fine!”

“Tch. If you were struggling with that, you won’t be able to get into U.A. Ain’t that right Firecracker?” There was a bit of annoyance in his eyes, but Teka ignored that and questioned him about the nickname.

“Where’d you get that name from anyways?” She turned to Midoriya who was making their way over to them.

“You’re talking about the Japanese section, right? I thought It was pretty easy though. I can help next time if you’d like”

“Oh, that’d be perfect! Hey, let’s go to a gym I found. It’s in the next district over and allows us to use quirks. You down to go?”

He nodded as Bakugo gathered his things. “…You two nerds can go without me. I have something I need to take care of.” He held a neutral expression before he left, giving Teka a bad feeling.

The two left a few minutes after him.

“…What’s up with him?”

“I don’t know. That’s the first time I’ve seen him act like that. Oh, I almost forgot,” He reached into his bag and pulled out five vouchers for a popular hotel in Minato. “My mom won these vouchers from her job. I want to take you, Kacchan, and Kori. Is that alright?”

“Damn right I want to come! Is that even a question?!”

“Alright, now that settles this extra one…” He thought to himself before handing the extra one to Teka. “If you find someone who wants to go with us, invite them! I’m sure the more people there are the more fun it’ll be.”

The first and only person to come to mind was Mei.

“I already have someone in mind…” Her thoughts wandered as she thought about all they could do in Minato. She didn’t have to think very long before a familiar scent filled her nose. Stopping in her tracks, she turned her head around until she spotted a pink-haired girl peeking from behind a corner.

Teka’s eyes widened once she realized who it was. She didn’t waste a second and dove into a bear hug which Mei responded to by freezing up for a second. She quickly returned it. The only reason she froze up was that it reminded her of that night when she saved her.

“Mei! Perfect timing!” Teka’s smile grew even more. “Ah, this is Midoriya! He knows about it, so we don’t have to pretend.”

“Um… yea,” She slipped the tablet back into her bag. I’ll tell her what I found later. Midoriya and Mei shook hands and introduced themselves, unbeknownst that this would be the start of an amazing friendship.

Originally, Mei only wanted to give Teka the information and leave. But she soon discovered that Midoriya also knew a lot about machines from what Kori had taught him. They ended up in a long conversation that lasted the entire train ride to the gym.

Mie didn’t even notice until they reached the locker room and had to part ways. Teka smirked a bit once she was the look of dread on her face. “Come on, a little workout never hurt anyone!”

She was very wrong about that. Mei proceeded to shock not only Midoriya and Teka, but some of the other people there as well. Treadmill? Tripped over her own feet. Bench-press? Couldn’t even lift more than 30 pounds. Lifting regular weights? Got tired just by holding them.

Teka couldn’t help but smile a bit. She lifted the gasping Mei and placed her against the wall with ease. Handing her a water bottle, Teka patted her hair and smiled. “Don’t be upset. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?”

Mei was annoyed, but she still nodded. “I want to build machines, not exercise.”

“Part of doing that is taking care of your body too.”

“…Yea, I guess so.”

After a few minutes of resting, she got back up again and started slow. Teka let her start on the treadmill on the lowest setting. It’ll take a bit, but she’ll eventually get there.

Once she was set, she went to look for Midoriya but found him focused on training with another person. It’s good to see Midoriya socializing more. Her eyes gazed over the gym before they landed on the boxing ring in the corner of the room.

A mix of black hair and calm red eyes caught her attention. Their eyes met and the boy waved at her. She responded by hopping into the ring with him and giving a slight smile. “Is it alright if we do a round? My friends are currently busy right now.”

The boy’s face grew red for a second. He quickly stuck out his hand and introduced himself. “M-My name is Eijiro Kirishima,” She shook his hand and introduced herself.

“Teka Kai. What’s your quirk?” She questioned it while placing on some boxing gloves.

The blush quickly disappeared once Kirishima got his hormones under control. “Hardening! It gives me the power to harden any part of my body.”

“Mine is Pyrokinesis,” She took off the gloves and wrapped her hands in blue flames. Her eyes responded by lighting up a bit. A small sly grin appeared on her face as she went to the opposite corner of the ring. “Let’s not use gloves. I heard this gym allows for quirk usage and I want to take advantage of it.”

He lifted an eyebrow at that. "Are you sure?"

A rush of a blue shot past him and into the supposedly fireproof wall, which had started to singe a bit. Teka's eyes became serious and her smile became sharp. "Positive."

*

Pleasure

It was all he could feel as it engulfed his body. That sweet drug filled him with ecstasy as he savored every second of the drug. He sat like that as his bloodshot eyes opened up at the empty sky. But, like every other drug, the pleasure eventually ended. The empty syringe shattered as it smashed into the ground. The last of his supply too, but his craving didn’t stop. Instead, it only increased. That fucker…

He stumbled out of the alleyway, sniffing the cold air for that sweet drug. People avoided him like the plague. But he didn’t blame them. His quirk turned him into a chimera, which was already discriminated against. It didn’t help that he smelled like dirt and shit. The dead look in his eyes only gave him a worse look. That fucker limited my dose this time… even though I gave her extra, that fucker barely gave me more than the regular. His hands scratched at his neck as his thoughts lusted over it. Just thinking about the drug brightened his mood.

A pure scent overloaded his nose and pleasure more powerful than the drug caused him to fall over. It was so intoxicating that he had to catch himself by leaning against a nearby car. His bloodshot eyes scanned the snowy area and his nose was kicked into overdrive as his nose lead him to the source.

He stopped in front of a gym and his body froze. His dull eyes gazed over Midoriya and Teka. Sniffing one more time, he confirmed it. She’s alive?... and that green kid. He smells... familiar? It was mysterious to him. After Teka was presumed to be shattered, the Aether shifted. Beasts began fighting amongst one another, arguing if it was right to shatter a candidate for merely being curious.

Those thoughts didn’t last long though. He shook his head and reminded himself that he was no longer a part of the Aether. I’m just a Jack… but would it be possible to take on a Royal? So he slipped into a nearby alleyway and climbed onto a nearby roof. There he sat and waited for one of the two to finally leave. If I do this, then they’ll look at me as more than a mere Jack.

*

For the last few hours, Teka sensed bloodlust. Neither Midoriya nor Mei sensed it as they got ready to leave. Neither had Kirishima. Teka tapped away at her phone, trying to get Kori to pick them up. Unfortunately, Nana suddenly collapsed, and he had to take her to a hospital.

She groaned a bit as she looked outside. Dark sky with snowy empty streets. A horrible combination. …I’ll send them off. Grabbing her duffle bag, she pulled out her phone and put on a worried expression. “Mei, please take Midoriya home. Something came up. I’ll be taking a short way home.”

Teka pointed upwards and ran down the street. Her hand slipped into her duffle bag and she put on her fox mask. The bloodlust grew more and more as she ran across one of the cities in the Chiba District.

Blue embers rose off her body as she ducked into a nearby alleyway. A low growl could be heard from behind and the air around her felt like it was shifting. She lept out into the main street as the ground where she just was collapsed.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Her feet glided across the streets as cars swerved to avoid her. Damnit. I thought this led to a plaza. She cursed herself as the man walked out of the alleyway. Her stomach dropped a bit as he stepped under the streetlight. “Tch, you’re not nearly as fast as when you were in the Aether.”

…Is this related to my memories. Blue flames sprouted from her hands as she got ready to fight. She’d think about it later. People quickly moved out of the way, but some stayed and pulled out their phones. “…I suggest you knock it off. Stalking and attacking people is a major no go.”

An awful smell of body odor reeked off of him. Teka backed up a bit but that moment of hesitation was all that he needed. A knee struck her stomach and sent her flying. What was left of the air in her lungs flew out as her body broke through the front of the store. Glass dug into her clothes as she slid across the floor. Alright fine then.

Her eyes narrowed to a slit and she slowed her breathing. The glass shards that would’ve pierced his body fell out onto the ground. The blue flames that she gathered under her hoodie dissipated as she stood up. “…Alright, you win.”

Even though she hated doing this, she figured there was no way out. The flames around her hands grew to a soft white. A wave of white flames covered the entire street, burning the ground and forcing people to run. The man who seemed cocky before suddenly became shocked. But he didn’t back down at all as he jumped to deliver another kick to Teka.

She was ready for it this time. Her black thrusters were propped out of her back deflected the kick, shattering a set in the process. She gritted her teeth while her body was flooded with pain. Using that momentum, she leaped up into the air. The white flames that were still flowing on the ground formed into a swarm of weapons.

Her senses dulled as she took command of them and pointed them at the man. Instead of being scared though, a grin appeared on his face. He grabbed the first sword and chomped down on it. Her eyes widened and she tried to reel back in her flames. But it was too late once she saw the blast of white leaking from his mouth.

A massive laser erupted from his mouth and it was heading straight for her. Using explosions, she was able to just barely avoid it. Fresh blood leaked out of her shattered thrusters as her feet touched down on the scorched ground.

“Why are you doing this,” She mimicked Bakugo and got into his stance. Her eyes stared at his bloodshot eyes; except they were tearing up this time. He can only absorb a certain amount of flames. “You must have a good reason if you want to fuck with me.”

He pointed to the blood currently dripped out of her wings and readied another laser. “That right there. That sweet gold of your blood. They’ll respect me if I come back with a fucking royal! Fuck, it would’ve been even better if that Ice wolf of yours came too!”

From behind her mask, Teka flinched a bit. It felt like something deep down inside of her knew what that meant. Once again, she washed it away. “…What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t matter anyway.”

She dodged the laser more effectively this time and launched off dozens of explosions without rest, causing further havoc to the buildings. The smoke caked the area as she grabbed her wrist. A small, but sharp throb ran through her arm. Firing off so many explosions always caused recoil.

Hushed laughter from behind made her realize her mistake. A fist connected with her mask, sending her flying back into a nearby car. She just barely managed to dodge another massive swipe to her head and blasted herself into the sky again. Bits of her mask continued to fall off as she fell onto a platform of fire.

“Huh… is that all you can do? Throw a few firecrackers and those embers you call flames?” He sighed as his finger ran over the blood. “You really have changed."

“What?”

He opened his mouth and aimed it at her. “Do me a favor and just shatter alright?”

She didn’t fall for the same trick twice, cutting off her thrusters at the last second and ducking under the laser. Her flames grew hotter with every passing second as they morphed into chains and charged forward.

“I can’t die. I have someone waiting for me.”

He opened his mouth and got ready to devour them, but he didn’t get the chance.

The sound of explosions only beckoned All Might to speed faster. He was about to board a train back to Tokyo for a meeting but was quickly notified of a villain attack not too far. He decided to bite the bullet and to move to the scene, even though he was close to his limit for the day.

Bits of blue embers mixed with the snow as he got closer. He realized that it was the Phoenix and… a beast-man? A Chimera! He slammed into the wrecked street, causing Teka to lose her focus and her flames to dissipate.

“It is fine now. Why? Because I am here!” His voice echoed across the city blocks.

Teka dipped next to All Might and pointed at the beast-man. “He’s been stalking me for the past few hours,” She didn’t mention Midoriya or Mei as to not drag them into this. Her sapphire eyes gazed at his through her mask. “A temporary team, alright?”

The blood out of her shattered wing caught his attention. “You’re bleeding. Stay back and just rest. I’ll deal with you once I’m finished.”

“No… he knows something that I want to know. And I don’t know what his quirk is, but I do know he has enhanced strength and can fire lasers from his mouth. He also became a bit weakened after I threw flames at him.”

The beast-man grew tired of being ignored and fired off a smaller blast. “Don’t you dare ignore me, you bastards!” He turned his back on the two and lept on a nearby building. Both of them quickly gave chase. “Alright, I’ll take down the fourth princess and the number one hero in one go! Choose wisely though!"

A group of civilians had suddenly come once they'd caught on to All Might being nearby. He opened his mouth and aimed it towards the group, concentrating a large amount of energy.

She dispersed herself into her flames and materialized in front of the people. Her blue flames covered the massive crowd as she slipped off just a bit of her cracked mask to reveal her mouth. A massive pillar of blue fire flared up out of her mouth just as the laser tore through the air.

Dozens of police cars and arrived just as explosions rocked the block, evaporating the snow and destroying the surroundings. Teka didn’t notice it, but even more parts of her mask started to chip away.

All Might made sure none of the civilians were injured from the beast man’s laser. A sharp pain ran down his side as he slowly approached the last of his limit. I need to hurry this up. A helicopter seemingly appeared out of nowhere, recording every second.

For the first time since this fight, the beast-man showed signs of slowing down. He gripped at his mouth and cursed at himself. I got too cocky… He turned tail and lept off the building. But it didn’t matter since All Might was on him in an instant.

“Detroit Smash!”

His arm twisted in such a way that Teka momentarily forgot he was human. So much wind pressure was created that Teka and a few civilians were lifted off their feet. Her flames quickly took hold of them before they could hit the ground. The beast-man somehow managed to stay on his feet, but Teka could tell from where she was that his arm was either broken or fractured.

“That was it? Your signature smash? Fucking pathetic.” He started to bluff and quickly realized that he was truly in trouble. With the cops behind him and two powerhouses in front of him, he slowly began to realize his fuck up. I need to run.

Dozens of chains rushed forward from all angles. His razor-sharp teeth shattered once he tried to bite down on them. These flames were a light red. And they caused Teka's head to explode in pain. The scream of pain from the Chimera echoed across the streets as the rest of them wrapped around the injured beast-man. All Might took this chance and readied his final attack.

“You villain… You won’t get away with hurting innocent civilians!”

His eyes radiated with a bright blue and jumped into the air. His body spun in a frontal somersault and catapulted back down to earth. Fear could be seen in his eyes as All Might came plunging back down to earth. “California Smash!”

The already shattered ground essentially evaporated as All Might punch connected with the beast man’s face. Teka tried to hold on to the red chains, but her body was too tired from splitting her flames between the civilians and the chains. As a result, she flew back into a building, leaving a large crater in the wall, and slumped to the ground.

The dust of the broken landscape cleared. Police, medics, and even some reporters flooded the scene. The police rushed towards the beast-man, the medics towards the stunned civilians, and the reporters towards Teka. Her head was buzzing as she slowly took in her surroundings. The flames that were in the air calmed down and evaporated into nothingness. What was he talking about?... The reporters were pushed back so they could only watch as medical personal approached Teka.

Her head throbbed with each passing second and she was sure she’d cracked a rib or two from that knee to the gut. The constant voices of the people only made her headache worse. They immediately shut up once they saw the glare in her eyes.

They didn’t hesitate and quickly cleared a path. Blood dripped off her face before she materialized in front of the chimera. The cocky and brazen person who she was fighting moments ago had been replaced with a shell of it. The police instantly pointed their guns, but she paid no attention to them. Though, the headaches were causing her to stumble. “…You called me a princess and you mentioned Kori.”

He didn’t say anything but nodded instead.

“Then does that mean you know what I am?”

His eyes narrowed to a slit and some of her flames popped around her. Suddenly, he bowed down and spoke. “I hope you’ll forgive me once you remember Princess Teka.”

She grabbed her head again as the headaches only worsened. Her flames lashed around her as her blood-stained mask hit the floor. It was only for a moment, but her face was revealed before she exploded into a storm of blue embers. The only trace of the Phoenix was the shattered fox mask and shattered pieces of her thrusters.

*

“Looks like Teka is fighting a Jack,” Nana whispered to Kori, who was nodding off on the edge of the hospital bed. Why did it have to happen now…? The cracked core in Nana’s void suddenly shifted, causing her to use more energy to keep it at bay. As a direct result… Nana grew weaker and had to be rushed to a hospital. Even though it was pointless in the end. “You’re not going to rush to her side?”

“…” Kori eyed the tv in the corner of the room before looking back at Nana. Dark circles decorated his eyelids as the holograms appeared in front of him once more. “Even if she’s just as powerful as a low-tier ace, she can easily take care of a Jack.”

“You haven’t been sleeping enough,” She sat up while pain ran through her body. “Your parents told me to take care of you. You know that right?”

Kori kept on typing away on his holograms and pretended to ignore what she just said. Bringing up parents was a touchy subject for him. Especially since…

He shook his head and continued to work. “Please Nana. Don’t bring them up. Not now,” His icy fingers ran through his hair as he fought back the tears began forming at the edges of his eyes. “I don’t think I can handle it if I have to think about them right now.”

Nana stayed silent for a little bit before making her final request. She stretched out both of her hands and recorded a message that she wanted to say for a long time. Ever since she came back down to Earth. A golden light formed above her shaking thin hands. Her voice was shaking as well but that didn't stop her.

“Toshinori. if you’re listening to this, then I’m already shattered. I know this will seem confusing at first, but I hope that Kori and Teka will explain all of this to you. …I never actually died on that day. After I was hit with that blast, I was transported to another world. The Aether. A place so beautiful that you’d think that it was a dream. I’ve always wanted to come back to Earth but... when I found out my daughter was there; I couldn’t bear to leave her again.”

Her gray eyes started to wet a bit as she continued the message. Throughout the entire process, she spoke out and talked for what seemed to be for hours on end, about all kinds of things before eventually finishing it up. “I hope you can forgive me for not coming to see you two.”

The white illusion compressed in her hands and morphed into the final of many envelopes. It floated over to Kori while he gathered his things. He grabbed it, wrapped it in ice, and placed it in his void. “…I’ll try asking humans for help. And I’ll make sure these reach them. So please, just please last a bit longer Nana.”

She smiled, nodded, and drifted to sleep for the last time.