Chapter 1: Proving My Worth
(Ryu's POV)
Once I got my quirk, it became downright mess at this point, and that's not considering the fact that I almost once blew up an entire park with it. After that incident, people have been spouting insults and telling me to become a villain. If you don't know what my quirk is, it's an emitter quirk that allows me to grab onto objects and use them as fiery weapons, but it also allows me to fire projectiles from them, so I keep something metal by me at all times. Sadly, it's a highly unstable quirk, and if I can't keep it in check, I lose all sense of control and become a walking atom bomb, and that's not a fun experience, just look at my right arm, it's in a sling. It makes your insides feel like they're melting, and your skin feels like it's peeling off on it's own. And this is the sole reason most people tend to stay away from me, except for one person. His name is Izuku Midoriya, and we're best of pals. We've just done about everything together, but the one thing that sets him apart from the others is that he's quirkless, and people make fun of him as well, so they categorize him in the same group as I, which then made us joined to the hip, always looking out for the other. Then there was Bakugo, or Kacchan as Midoriya calls him, and his just a complete a**hole. He's got a superiority complex the size of the Space Needle is Seatle, and his temper is shorter than potato chip. Seriously, Midoriya and him were best buds before I came along, and now he's bullying him on a daily basis. Anyway, today is when we get to enroll for our preferred hero schools, and I opted to choose UA High School, one of, if not, the most prestigious hero school in Japan. I've always wanted to attend because I get to be in the same leagues as Eraserhead, Gang Orca, Ryukyu, and even All Might, the number 1 Hero of today. Speaking of...
Teacher spoke plainly. "Oh yeah, Yoshitsune and Midoriya wanted to go to UA too, right?" The teacher had to have ratted the two of us out, and now I feel embarrassed as the whole class, excluding Bakugo, is laughing at us. My patience is starting to wear thin from them, but I squeeze a stress ball from under the table to calm down.
Student 1 laughes, not caring about our feelings. "Huh? Those two? No way!"
Student 2 does the same. "Yoshitsune's quirk is more villainy than any one of us here! And you can't just get into the hero course just by studying, Midoriya!"
"Th-They got rid of that rule! There's just no precedent..." Midoriya says with a stutter. Then Bakugo suddenly stands up and rushes to Midoriya's desk and explodes it with his quirk, which prompts me to stand in his way and grab a metal pipe from my bag and heat it up until it's red hot before holding it up to his face with a glare.
"Don't think about it, Bakugo. If you so much as undermine Midoriya with a mumble or a glance, we can take this outside and see who has the most explosive quirk." I say before I lower the pipe as it starts to cool down but keeps it's red hot appearance.
"Is what I would say to entice you, but I don't want to do that since Midoriya doesn't want us to fight." That only serves to make him angrier as vein sprouted from his head.
"What did you say to me!? One-armed bastard!" Bakugo shouts as we glared at each other so hard that our foreheads are pressed against each other's while we grumble. The teacher manages to break us up before we go back to the classes. Luckily, we manage to go through the entire day without anyone making fun of us, which is a new record in my book. And after school, I usually meet up with Midoriya at the entrance of the school, but on my way there, I see him with Bakugo, who is holding up the notebook that Midoriya usually uses when assessing quirks. As soon as I see this, I speed-walk over to the two of them and snatch the notebook out of Bakugo's clutches before I shove him with my shoulder, making the hot-head even angrier.
"What happened to you, Bakugo? You used to be much better than this superiority complex nonsense. C'mon Midoriya, let's go home." I say with no emotion whatsoever. Midoriya only nods as I help him up to his feet and head on out, leaving a really pissed off Bakugo, shouting at us to come back and all that annoying stuff. On our way home, we usually pass by a tunnel on the way, and it's usually empty for the most part.
"Umm, Yoshitsune-kun? Thanks, for what you did back there." Midoriya says to me while fumbling with his notebook.
"Izuku, we're best buds, I told you to call me Ryu. My family name isn't something to really gawk at." Speaking of family, my father and mother are underground heroes both named, Fenrir and The Crow Mother, respectively. My father's quirk is a transformation quirk that gives him the features of a wolf, legs and arms, because of this, his speed is can be comparable to Ingenium, the Turbo Hero, or even better than him. My mother's quirk is an emitter quirk that allows her to basically control murders upon murders of crows with her mind, but she can also transform into a murder of them as well to cover her escapes and such. I'm an only child like Midoriya, but I'm still happy as I am. Back on topic, as we make our way into the tunnel, we hear an evil laughter echo through the tunnel until we turn around to see some sort of sludge-like villain. I quickly guide Midoriya behind me as I get out my lead pipe, ready to whack the villain into submission.
Sludge-Villain laughes evilly. "Medium-sized invisibility cloaks…" The villain goes in for the pounce, but I manage to swat him away with the burning lead pipe in my hands, searing some of the sludge on his presumable face.
"Do that again, and that burn won't be the worst thing you've gotten." I say with a harsh tone. The villain groans in annoyance and attacks for a second time, but I give him a one-two swing with my pipe as he shrieks in pain from the heat. Midoriya looks on horrified at what might happen to me.
"Ryu! Be careful!" He exclaims.
"I got this. Don't worry." I reassure him, but somehow I have to jinx myself again as my right hand flares up from underneath the bandages and the sling. I became too focused on my arm that I forgot that the villain went in for yet another attack while I was distracted, but lucky for the two of us, help has just arrived.
"It's all right now, you two. I am here!" The number one hero says in his heroic tone as the lid of the sewer flies out and hits the sludge villain in the face. It turns to him, and we look on in wonder.
"All Might!" We shout in joy. The sludge-villain attempts to attack him, but that's a big mistake on the villain's part.
"Texas Smash!" He punches the villain so hard that the wind begins to pressurize and make the sludge villain fall apart into small pieces. Then All Might uses a glass soda bottle to trap the villain in it before he turns to me.
"Well done, young man. If you hadn't held out like you did, I would've been a little late." He says as he gives me a salute, which I respond with a salute of my own. Luckily, my quirk has died down after the sludge villains defeat. Then, Midoriya's eyes become as wide as saucers and as shiny as stars before he holds up his notebook for All Might.
"Please sign my notebook All Might!" He says while bowing in front of him, making him chuckle as he grabs his pen and signs it across two pages of the notebook, which makes Midoriya's day that much more special. But then he starts to ramble about how much he's his idol and all that, so I place my hand on his mouth to quiet him for a bit.
"Sorry for him, All Might. But thank you again for saving us."
"No problem, you two. Now I gotta take this villain to the police station. See you on the other side of the screen!" He starts to leave with a huge leap into the air.
"Well, you got to meet your idol, how amazing is that, Izuku..." I trail my sentence as turn to him, but I find him to be gone, so I search for him around the area, but realized something and look back to All Might. Midoriya was clinging onto his leg for dear life, high up in the air.
I gasp in shock at what is happening. "Oh god, that's not good." I quickly rush after them for about half an hour before I hear an explosion at the shopping district. I quickly sprint as fast as my legs can take me and that's when I see a terrifying sight. It's that same sludge villain from before that attacked Midoriya and I, and now it has Bakugo in it's clutches. But what's most horrifying is that none of the heroes are making a move on the villain. I push my way through the crowd to get in front, and I see some of the heroes standing there as the sludge villain is nearly done engulfing Bakugo in his clutches.
'Why isn't anyone doing anything to help Bakugo!? He's nearly done for and everyone is just standing there! I need to help him, but if I do, my quirk will flare up again, and it could cause more damage to civilians than the villain. Grrrrr, think Ryu, think!' I think to myself as my teeth are clenched. However, I see something even worse, Midoriya is charging into the fray alone. My eyes widen with horror as he throws his backpack at the sludge villain and tries to remove the sludge off of Bakugo, but it's no use. I don't know what I was doing, but my body starts to move by itself as I grab my lead pipe from my bag and charge in as well.
"Not you too! Get out of there, you're gonna get yourself killed!" Death Arms, The Punching Hero says, annoyed that I am running in blindly.
As I am running, I glare straight into his eyes."I wouldn't be doing this if you guys weren't just standing around like cowards!" I shout, before turning back to the sludge-villain. Everyone's reactions are that of shock as I continue to charge in before I right arm starts to flare up, so I decide to use it. I know that my parents have told me to keep it from doing anything physically straining, but my friend's, no, friends' lives are at stake, and I have to do what must be done. I loosened the sling from my right arm and remove it entirely as the bandages burn away revealing my charred skin that reaches up to my elbow. It starts to glow even brighter no longer giving off a black and burnt appearance, but becomes more magma-like and bright. I grip my lead pipe with both hands before I jump into the air to dodge some of the sludge's attacks.
"If you guys won't do what you heroes do best, then I WILL!" The lead pipe starts to emit some magma before I send it down with all my strength onto the sludge villain away from Midoriya and Bakugo.
"GRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" As it makes contact with the villain, it bursts into a huge explosion that could level a small house, bringing along a big cloud of dust, but luckily for me, it's away from any civilians. The dust cloud impedes everyone's vision, but as it subsides, I was standing there with All Might, as the villain is no more.
"Young man, you and your friend risked your lives to save your other friend when no one was able to do it. That gave me the motivation to do the same." He says to me in a mellow tone, with his smile still on his face. I look at him with a nod before I feel my vision blacken as I stumbled a bit but kept on standing. Sadly, my arm's condition probably has gotten worse, and now it's charred all the way up to my shoulder.
"C'mon, Izuku, let's go...home..." I try to reach my friend who has passed out on the ground, but I quickly join them as I fall in the middle of them face first.