Quirks

"Whoa. That sounds awesome! So that means you're strong right?!" said Tobias hearing about his mother's quirk.

Tobia's mom seeing him so excited about her quirk, made her smile.

"Yes and no. My quirk is extremely versatile. Anything I can imagine, within reason, is able to exist. If I thought of a dinosaur, I could make it appear right now. Unfortunately, the way my quirk works is not something I like."

"Why don't you like it, mom? You can make anything you want." said Tobias, confused at his mother's statement.

"Some quirks use energy for them to work. For most people, it's their stamina, and for other people, like your father and me, it requires a different kind of energy. Your father's quirk needs energy that is made by movement, kinetic energy. He can also use the kinetic energy from others trying to hurt him. My quirk uses life force." she said looking a little disgusted with herself.

Tobias seeing his mother feeling down, went up and hugged her.

"Oh, sweetie. I'm fine, but thank you." she said hugging Tobias back.

"So the more you use your quirk the faster you'll die?" asked Tobias.

"Yes, for small things like creating toys and everyday household items, it only takes away seconds. But for big things like dinosaurs or really strong attacks, it takes away more."

"Wait, does that mean you're going to die faster than dad?" asked Tobias.

"I don't know. After I found out my quirk used lifeforce, I stopped using it. But the day those people came for me, I also found out that I can use the life force of other people. And that's when I was even more disgusted with myself. So, I promised to never use my quirk ever again.

And now that you're at the age where your quirk manifests, I'm scared. Scared that you're going to get my quirk. Every day since you've been born, I've hoped and prayed that you would get your father's quirk. But I know that life isn't always that fair. So, I decided to talk to you and warn you about your quirk.

I don't want you to get your hopes up, Tobias. Even though my quirk has the potential to be extremely powerful, the price you have to pay to use it is not something I want my child to bear. And your father's quirk also has the potential to be powerful but the downsides to it are obvious. I wanted to tell you now so that on the off chance you don't get a quirk that's compatible with hero work, you won't be disappointed." she said holding his hands.

"It's okay mom. It's not like I have to be a hero. And no matter what quirk I get I'll be fine with it because it's yours and dad's quirk." said Tobias, reassuring his mother.

"Oh, sweety. You don't know how lucky I am. Everything I've gone through until now was worth it if it means you are my son." she said hugging him.

~~

It's been a month since Tobias' mother revealed to him her quirk and her background. It wasn't mentioned but Tobias also began to go to school. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't the most social of kids. Thus he had no friends. That is until one particularly eventful day.

Like any other day, Tobias awoke and immediately checked to see if his quirk had awakened. And like the many before it, he hadn't. Disappointed he wasn't able to use his quirk just yet, he slowly made his way to the restroom to get ready for the school day. After taking a morning shower and brushing his teeth, Tobias ran downstairs to eat breakfast.

"Good morning, sweety." said his mom.

"Morning, champ." said his dad. It was odd because Tobias knew that calling their sons champs was an American thing. So one day he asked his dad why he called him champ to which his dad said he used to love watching American television and he picked it up from there. Tobias' dad was an American weaboo.

"Morning, mom, dad." Tobias responded before seating himself at the table, patiently awaiting breakfast. Recently he had told his mom he wanted to eat more American food, and this was one of those days when his mom made eggs and bacon.

"Here you go, sweety." said his mom before placing down his breakfast and giving him a kiss on the head.

"Thank you, mom. Itadakimasu."

"So, Tobias, did you awaken your quirk today?" asked his dad while his mom noticeably tensed a bit.

"No." said Tobias a little down.

"It's okay, champ. I'm sure you'll awaken it any day now." reassured his dad.

"Yes, your father is right. It's best not to think about it so much, Tobias." added his mom.

"Okay." responded Tobias.

~~

Tobias was sitting in the back of the classroom staring out the window, not paying attention to his teacher. The classes so far were too easy, after all, he had learned it all in his past life. Still, he didn't try to show off as a genius, he just came off as a little smarter than the average kid.

'I wonder when I'll awaken my quirk. I want to start training it already.' he thought.

Taking a look around his class, he could see some of the other kids who had already awakened their quirks. There was a boy who could make small clay soldiers, a girl who could transform into a hummingbird, and even a boy whose skin became polka-dotted. Unfortunately, the last kid had been picked on for his quirk but the teacher quickly put a stop to it.

As Tobias was taking a look at his manifested classmates, he got a splitting headache. A headache that felt worse than anything he had ever felt before.

"AHHHH!" he yelled drawing attention from the entire class.

"Tobias-kun, are you okay?" said the teacher as she rushed over to his side.

"AHH! My head hurts! AHHH!" he yelled.

"Rei-chan go call the nurse! Hurry!" said the teacher to the girl with the hummingbird quirk who quickly transformed before she flew to the nurse.

"It's okay Tobias-kun. Just hold on a little longer. The nurse should be here any moment." said his teacher trying to soothe his pain, unsuccessfully I might add. Unfortunately, that was the last thing Tobias heard before he passed out.

~~

"Uhh. My head hurts." mumbled Tobias as he awoke.

"Oh my god! Tobias, you're okay! Thank god!" said a familiar voice as it embraced him with a bear hug.

"Mom? What are you doing here? What happened?" asked Tobias after freeing himself from his mother. Taking a look around his surroundings, he was able to see he was in the nurse's office.

"You passed out from your quirk manifesting itself. It's rare, but it does happen on occasion." said the nurse who was standing at the foot of the bed.

"My quirk?! Yes! Finally!" yelled Tobias excited at finally being able to use his quirk.

"Though I do recommend getting checked up before you try to use your quirk since it might be dangerous." added the nurse.

"Of course, we're going straight to the doctors." said his mom.

"Good, I've cleared for your son to have a leave of absence for today and tomorrow."

"Thank you, sensei." said my mom bowing her head to the nurse.

~~

"Hmm, interesting." said the doctor taking a look at the test results.

"What is it sensei? Don't tell me it's bad news." said Tobias' mom, clearly scared that her son got a quirk similar to hers.

"Calm down, honey. Let him tell us first before you jump to conclusions." said his dad reassuring his mother.

"Your son has an interesting quirk. Apparently, he is able to use cards as a medium to imbue anything he wants on them." said the doctor before looking up to see Tobias' parents with jaws wide open.

"I-I'm sorry sensei. Could you repeat that?" asked his mom.

"Of course. Using cards as a medium your son is able to imbue them with anything he can imagine, using his stamina as energy." repeated the doctor.

"Awesome!" said Tobias.

"W-wait by anything, what do you mean?" asked his father, wanting some clarification on just how powerful his son's quirk really is.

"Well, it's hard to say considering we don't fully know to what lengths he'll go, but it's possible for your son to use cards to do pretty much anything. He can summon a ball of fire or heal an injured person. Of course, it's nothing but speculation at the moment. The real heights your son will be able to reach are unknown currently."

"Mom. Mom!" said Tobias shaking his mom awake from her stupor.

"I'm sorry about that sensei. Thank you very much." she said before starting to exit the room.

"Wait, before you go. Seeing as this is the very first instance of this quirk appearing, he has the naming rights."

"I can name it whatever I want?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, how about [Wild Cards]?"

~~

Back at the house, in the living room, Tobias sat on the couch with both of his parents in front of him.

"Tobias, sweety. What do you think?" asked his mom.

"About my quirk? It's awesome! I can be a hero now mom. And when I'm strong enough, I'll be able to protect both of you from any villains." said Tobias.

"Y-yes you can. But Tobias, I want you to not let your quirk get to your head?" she warned him.

"What do you mean, mom?"

"I've seen kids who were told just how strong their quirk is, but then fail to make it grow stronger. And they fell into a depression because they thought they were destined for something greater, only to find out they were already at their peak. Some quirks sound very strong in the beginning, but they don't grow like others. So I want you to be careful about setting your expectations too high." she explained to him.

"Okay, mom. I promise I won't let it get to my head. Can I try my quirk now?"

"Okay, but we need to see it first. Here, a new deck of cards." said his mom before his father handed him a new deck.

"Remember, try to start small son. Don't overdo it. That's how a lot of kids end up hurt." warned his dad.

Tobias, knowing he would be able to tell how much stamina creating a card would take, decided to test his limits.

'I think I'll start with the most important part of Twisted Fate's abilities, the stun card.' thought Tobias before picking up a single card. With a card in hand, Tobias began to imagine what ability he wanted the card to have. Instinctively, he knew creating the card would only take up about 5% of his stamina.

'5% of my stamina for one stun card is not bad at all. Thank God for this instinctive stamina bar or I would have to do all of this by feeling. Okay, let's create it and try it out.'

The card glimmered for a split second before it turned into a Yu-Gi-Oh-esque card. It had the name of the ability on top with an explanation of the effect and a picture in the middle.

'Whoa. These look exactly like Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Awesome. Maybe I can summons monsters like in Yu-Gi-Oh! I'll need to put a pin in that for now though.'

"Look, I did it!" said Tobias showing his parents the card.

"Congratulations, sweety. I'm so proud of you. But remember don't overdo it." said his mom giving him a hug.

"Good job champ. What ability did you give the card though?" asked his dad ruffling Tobias' hair.

"It's a stun card meant for capturing villains."

"Does it work?" he asked.

"I think so. Can I try it out on you dad?" asked Tobias with as compelling a face as he could make.

"Fine." he said before backing up.

"Okay, here we go. Try to move after it hits you, so we can see if it works." said Tobias before holding the card in a throwing stance as he had done a million times before.

WOOSH TING

The card rapidly flew through the air before it hit Tobias' dad and it exploded into different particles, making noise as it burst. Tobias' dad was now stuck in the pose he had made before for 5 seconds before he was able to move again.

"Did it work?" asked Tobias' mom.

"Yeah, I couldn't move. That was amazing. Good job champ." said his dad.

"Yes! This is awesome. I can't wait to be a hero." said Tobias with a big smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN

So I obviously wasn't going to make his mom super overpowered, every strong ability must have an equally burdensome weakness. And as a nice person who doesn't like to hurt people, she hates her quirk. But bad people don't mind using others' life force for their own means, so you can see why her quirk is coveted.

Also shoutout to Lebelo, who asked if Tobias would use Yu-Gi-Oh cards, for the inspiration. That opens up a whole new path to develop his abilities.