Chapter 2: Take Flight

(Ryu's POV)

My eyes flutter open from the sound of the heartbeat monitor, and all I could see was the white ceiling along with the ceiling fan too. I quickly assume that I am in the hospital, and have been here for a while, since it's already night time. I look down to my arm, and it's in a cast, and I also can't move my fingers that well. I try to move them, but it's almost as if the gears of a machine have rusted off too much, and this is how it felt like. Then, the door opens to reveal the doctor and my parents, my father Okami Yoshitsune, and my mother Kurou Yoshitsune. You can guess which hero is which. Once they see that I'm awake, my mom rushes to me and hugs me tightly, careful not to touch my right arm in the process.

"Oh my sweet Ryu, what were you thinking back then!? You could've killed yourself." She says with tears in her eyes, but I just shrug my shoulders with a small smile on my face.

"Mom, I told this to the other heroes, if they were just gonna stand there and do nothing to save my friend, then they're basically cowards for doing so." My father chuckles at me for stealing one of his quotes he would tell the press.

"Hmph, really son? I see you've taken one of my many quotes. It seems you've been learning well." He says to me as his arms cross in front of his chest.

"I have, but I disobeyed you guys for using my quirk too much...Now my recovery will take longer than it's expected to be." I hang my head in disappointment, but my father just hums, disagreeing with my claim.

"Nonsense, son. You saved Midoriya and Bakugo, and that's much better than keeping yourself safe from harm. Putting others first before yourself is a hero's ideal objective, even if it costs us our lives. That's what separates us from the villains." I nod at his short lecture before my mother lets go of the hug as the doctor walks up to us with a clipboard in hand.

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Yoshitsune, after the incident with that sludge villain, your son's arm has sustained slightly major damage. The recovery will have to be extended either five to ten months at least, a whole year at most." He says plainly while flipping through the papers attached to the clipboard.

My mom looks the more concerned than my father as she clasps her hands. "He'll be okay, right?'

The doctor gives off a warm smile to my family and I. "Of course, all he needs is the right nutrients, proper care, and rehabilitation. And, with enough time, he could even recover within one month ahead of the expected recovery time." After the report from the doctor, I look back down to my casted arm as I let out a sigh of defeat, but my father hears this and kneels down and places a hand on my shoulder.

"Son, UA is not an easy school to apply for. You need perseverance, courage, and grit. I see that in you. Now, stop making that face of defeat and once you're discharged, we'll go straight to training and recovery. Got that?" He says reassuringly. Then, my mother kneels beside my father and gives me a small smile, and with a motherly voice, she speaks

"We'll be with you, every step of the way." Tears threaten to stream down my face as I feel so happy to know that my parents will always be there for me even when the world think I can't do it. I wipe them away before I give them a determined smile and a nod.

"I'm ready to face what's ahead. Let's do it."

(Timeskip)

And just like that, my parents have helped me through the ten months of training, rehab, and school. It was a struggle, that I can tell you, but I never backed down from it. My arm is now fully recovered, but I decided to keep it in a sling since the charring is still visible. During those ten months, Midoriya has told me that he's also been training as well, but I could tell that he is hiding something from me that he refuses to tell, so I just decide to leave it at that. Now, is the day of UA enrollment, and I am both nervous and excited. Before I left for the school though, my parents told me their good lucks and advices for the exams, which I gladly take to heart. I walk to school and see Midoriya do the same before he clumsily tripped over his own heel, but as he is about to make contact with the floor, I see a brown haired girl use, what could be, her quirk on him which negates gravity. I decide not to disturb them as I head on in auditorium, but as I do so, I hear the chatter and gossip from the other enrollees.

"Woah, is that Ryu Yoshitsune?" One student says with a hand to cover his lips.

"It is! I heard that he managed to take down that sludge villain with his quirk ten months ago." The one beside him says in a not so discreet fashion. I manage to block out the constant talking before I take a seat surrounded by other empty seats. After a few minutes, someone sits beside me, and it's a girl with wide eyes and green hair. She looks at me, and I do the same before we turn to look in front at the same time. Deciding that it's starting to become awkward, I strike up a conversation with the girl. My hand is raised for her to shake.

"Hi, I'm Ryu Yoshitsune. Nice to meet you." She looks at my hand and then at me before shaking my hand with a slight smile.

"I'm Tsuyu Asui, but you can call me Tsu. Nice to meet you Yoshitsune-kun." She says with a ribbit at the end of her sentence, making me assume that her quirk has something to do with amphibians, specifically frogs.

I wave dismissingly at her. "Since we're on a nickname basis, Ryu is just fine."

"If you don't mind me asking, what's with the sling?" She asks me a little bit concerned about it. I looked down and move the fingers on my right hand before responding to her question.

I respond softly to prevent others from listening in. "It's my quirk. It went unstable and caused an explosion. So I had months to recover from my injuries. Now, I mainly use it to prevent people seeing the aftermath of my arms." Both of my arms are wrapped in bandages, but my left arm is much more covered than my right due to the sling covering it, and because I am mainly left handed. All that aside, all the students are already in and soon after, the written exam starts, which I feel like I passed with ease. After the written exam, Present Mic enters the room and tries to hype up the students, keyword "try", as all he's met is with silence. He then explains that our practical exam is set in a city and that we're to head to a specified battle center of which there are seven of them.

She holds up her examinee card to me "I got Battle Center C, where are you going, Ryu?" I look at the card with my Battle Center area and smile.

"Center C as well. I think they picked us like this to prevent classmates from teaming up to pass together. I say to her while also showing my card to her.

"That makes sense." Then Present Mic tells us about the main objective of the exam, destroy robots within ten minutes. There are three types to destroy, one pointers, two pointers, and three pointers, but there is also a four type of robot, a zero pointer. He tells us that we're to avoid them at all costs, but looking into the exam, destroying robots is not the only thing we should be doing. We're heroes, so there has to be an underlying feature in the exam. I shrug this off before we head out to our Battle Centers.

(Timeskip)

Once we arrived, I've already changed into more suitable clothing to fight, which is just a black t-shirt, black shorts, and black rubber shoes. I kept my bandages on me, and also the sling as well, but this leads to many underestimating my potential as I hear them chatter on about how I was gonna fail the exam. But in the words of my father, "Underestimation is both a hero's and a villain's downfall, never, and I mean NEVER, underestimate your opponent". I nod at his words of advice he once spoke to me, before I take out a sword from a sheath that's strapped behind my back for easy use. This sword is a gift from my parents on my birthday on March 17, and they forged it with my quirk mind. They told me that the sword can output more power with less risk of injury, so I feel much safer with it by my side. However, the gates open up, and I sprint right into the thick of it, leaving everyone to look surprised. Until Present Mic spoke.

He stands atop a tall tower as he riles up the students. "GET MOVING! THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL BATTLES! RUN, RUN, RUN! YOU'RE WAISTING AIRTIME! JUST LOOK AT THAT GUY, HE'S ALREADY ON HIS FIRST ROBOT!" Just as Present Mic said, I am already on my first robot, which is a three pointer. I grip onto the hilt of my sword as my magma-like energy is emitted through the sharp edge of the sword. It starts to fire it's missiles at me, but I dodge them with ease before I struck the robot with a single slice. One, two, three seconds after, it's upper body is severed from it's lower half and falls to the ground while the inner workings and electronics are heated up to a hot orange color. I quickly move onto the next one as I take down every single robot that comes across me with a single slash every time, and when I felt like that was enough, I sheath my sword behind my back. Suddenly, the ground started to shake as if an earthquake has just hit, but it's no earthquake. It's a zero pointer that stood over all of the buildings in the vicinity, and it's making it's way to all of the students with me. I look back at the students then back at the zero pointer before sighing and unsheathing my sword once more.

I hold the sword out in front of me as my grip tighten around it. "I'll cover your escape! Everyone, make a run for it!" They all do so. I eye the zero pointer with a glare before I take off my sling and gripped my sword with both hands, making the sword glow brighter than before. My bandages slightly burn away but stay on as I raise my sword up to the sky before plunging half of the blade into the ground. Soon after, the ground starts to heat up and create lava spouts before a trail of heated asphalt and concrete makes it's way to the zero pointer before I take out my sword from the ground as it reaches underneath the robot. The ground bursts into a massive explosion of magma and heated rock, destroying the it completely. As the explosion dies down, I let out a battle cry before the buzzer sounds off in the distance, signaling the end of the practical exam. Everyone soon gathers around but keep a considerable distance away from me as they all start to talk to each other.

"Woah, that guy is seriously good. He took out that zero pointer like it was nothing." A students says, not caring to tone down his voice.

Another students responds. "Yeah, but don't you think that's all for nothing. I mean, it is zero points after all." Having enough of their gossip, I turn to them as I pick up my sling and place it back on my right arm before sheathing my sword.

I reply bluntly. "The exam is not just about destroying robots, I realized this since the teachers have been watching us throughout the exam. Think about it, we're heroes, not trained soldiers." With that, I walk away, leaving everyone to wonder what has just happened. All that's left is to wait...