Desire to Escape

'Ugh... What kind of dream was that?' I muttered groggily within my mind as my body itched with the incessant urge to be wrapped in a warm and loving embrace.

'That woman was speaking Japanese or something and I could understand it? Weird. Where the hell even am I, anyways?'

Feeling increasing irritation along my whole body and an intense desire for sustenance and affection, my mind finally woke up from its slumber.

I opened my eyes to the sight of a dilapidated ceiling full of cobwebs and insects as I groaned internally and attempted to move my body only for me to notice the extreme weakness in my limbs.

'Huh? What the hell?' I thought to myself with a shocked expression as I shifted my eyes from left to right in frustration and glanced at my now-smaller hand.

'Shit! That wasn't a dream!?' I thought irritatedly as I continued to try to move my body before giving up a few seconds later due to the lethargy that was eating away at me.

"Waghwa!" I tried speaking loudly only for a gargled bunch of gibberish to escape my lips as I groaned and shook my body violently in anger.

I was angered by the implication of being trapped inside an unknown baby's body in what seemed to be some Japan-esque place judging by what that woman from before was speaking.

However, my angered thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a strange noise ringing from outside whatever wooden place this was.

"Ugh, what the- *Cough* -hell are you doing?" A frightened voice asked, the sounds of knocked-over trash reverberating throughout the area as a man's shadow was cast onto the wall in front of me.

Hearing the tussle going on outside, I muted myself in an effort to not get noticed in my vulnerable position and listened closely as the situation continued.

"What the hell did I do, you asshole?!" He shouted fearfully, a gunshot suddenly ringing out from behind me as my ears picked up another pair of feet running at top speed.

'What the hell is going on? First I find myself in some random baby's body and now there's a damn gunfight outsi--!' I ranted nervously to myself before being interrupted by another loud gunshot and a gut-wrenching scream of pain.

I muted myself and flinched slightly at the sound of something heavy hitting the wall in front of me as a dark shadow loomed through the window.

There was nothing but silence as my gaze remained fixated on the strange red liquid that had begun to drip through the cracks in the wall and form a pool in the space under the wall.

'Shit... How the hell did I even end up here? I was just sleeping in that girl's arms a second ago...' I thought to myself in a nervous tone.

I stared in concentration as the shadow in the window in front of me blocked the light streaming in and his heavy breathing echoed through the room.

'Fuck... Can that guy see me?' I thought nervously, hiding myself under my little blanket as I stared stonily at the fogged-up window.

I soon got my answer when the assumed man on the other side of the door began turning the rusty knob and hitting the wood of the door aggressively.

It would seem as though the strange figure had indeed spotted me through the milky windows and was attempting to break into whatever abandoned building I was laying in.

I tried using my limbs to hide under the blanket but was disappointed by the lack of motor control as the door finally burst open and moonlight flooded the dark, dungeon-like, wooden cellar.

I lay frozen in dread at the prospect of the murderer in front of me and gained a shocked look as my eyes adjusted to the light, the man's face getting revealed to me as a byproduct.

The man had an unexpectedly kind-looking face and wore an all-black outfit with a single gun held in his hand and a-- is this guy carrying a bottle of alcohol?

Actually, on second glance the man in front of me looked practically zonked out of his mind with a bright blush, inebriated movements, and an expression of drunk anger.

'I'm fucked, aren't I?' I muttered hopelessly within my mind as the intoxicated man's gaze locked onto me.

"The hell? What's a fuckin' baby doing out here?" He questioned drunkenly as he hobbled over to my position with janky movements and an expression of confusion.

"What an ugly little fucker..." He whispered rudely as he picked up a small slip of paper that seemed to be torn from scrap paper and had writing on top.

'Hey, you aren't so sexy yourself, my guy...'

"Hmm, Riku... What kind of actual dumbass, names someone that?" He clicked his tongue at the paper and flicked it off as he stared curiously at me.

'Huh... So that's my new name... What the hell even happened to this baby's mother anyways? I can barely remember anything from between the time before I passed out and after I died from the bomb...'

"Hey. You got a brain in there or are you just retarded?" He tapped my cheek, my arms instinctually latching on to the finger as he gained a surprised expression.

Seeing his surprised expression devolve into irritation at my persistent grabbing, I forced my arms to fall back onto my chest and gazed nervously at his red face.

"Tch, dumb fucker..." He wiped his finger on his shirt as if it had been touched by something disgusting before he seemed to ponder the situation.

While I remained still in my basket for fear of the drunken man doing something, the man continued to delve into his thoughts.

'What the hell is he thinking about?'

However, after a short time of concentration, the man gained an eerie smile and turned to me with a thoughtful look.

"I wonder how much some creep would pay for you..." He asked himself, his eyes studying me closely as though he was judging my cost and worth.

'Huh?'

"A groomer or someone who'd turn you into a sandwich would really love you..." He noted to himself, suddenly grabbing me from my basket.

'What the fuck? Shit just got dark, fast!' My eyes widened in shock at the man who had begun to call someone on an old-looking flip phone, 'Is this shithead gonna sell me off?'

"I wanna sell something." 'Shit.'

'Now, what the hell do I do? How did I go from scientist to literally becoming a damn product in the middle of fuck-all nowhere!?' I ranted to myself in frustration, attempting to distract myself from my own nervousness at the prospect of being sold to some drugged-up groomer with a pedo vibe.

A bit too intrigued by who would want to literally buy a baby, I attempted to listen in closely to the conversation between this psycho and the person on the other end.

Thankfully, the drunk man had placed it on speakerphone so I could hear their conversation clearly.

"What are you talking about?" The voice on the other side of the phone questioned.

"Well, I found this wacky little thing that I thought you might wanna help me sell to someone," He said with a smile that caused me to wince internally.

"Well? What exactly did you find? A special gem or something?" The voice questioned curiously.

"No... More like a human being..."

"Wha--? Damnit, you idiot! You shouldn't be talking about shit like that over an unsecured line!" The other voice reprimanded.

"It's fine. Do you have anyone who would want to buy a person?" He spoke nonchalantly.

The voice sighed dismissively, "Well, whatever. I think I can connect you to that strange doctor guy..." It stated hesitantly.

"Really? Great. Call him and let me know what he thinks..."

"Are you sure? I don't really think it would be safe to talk to that guy. We know nothing about him--" The other person spoke before being interrupted by the man's irritated grunts.

"Just call him already. I don't give a shit if it isn't safe. If he's willing to pay, I'm not gonna say no!" He whisper-shouted frustratedly as the phone girl sighed.

"Fine... Just give me a minute..."

'Holy hell, he's actually just going to sell me off... Exactly what kind of place did I end up being born in?'

"Okay, turns out, he's been looking for patients and asked what the person's quirk was," The voice spoke quickly as I gained a look of confusion.

'Quirk? What the hell is that?' I questioned myself, attempting to think about what that might mean.

The asshole holding me gained a surprised look, "Um, that's actually a bit difficult to answer..." He said with a chuckle.

"What? Why? The doctor said he'd pay a hefty price for a young specimen with a good quirk, so what's the matter?" The voice questioned ludicrously.

"Well, um, the person in question is a baby..."

"Huh!? Where the hell did you find a fucking baby!? Did you steal it from its mom or something?" The voice questioned frantically.

"Dunno? I just found it in some abandoned building... But I CAN confirm that this baby has the potential for a strong quirk," He explained confidently, "As far as my quirk is telling me, this kid could unlock something good later on."

The phone person sighed once more, "Alright... I'll tell him what you told me..."

After making that confident declaration, the man turned his gaze to me. His eyes turned completely black with a single white dot in the center, his eyes staring into me as though they could see into my body.

'What the hell happened to his eyes--? Wait, is this what he meant by quirk!?' I asked myself as the drunken man gained a confused look.

'If these people are talking about quirks like I think they are; as superpowers, then exactly what world have I reincarnated into!?' I thought to myself strangely, my body interpreting the surprise as fear and causing me to begin crying.

'Is this like some kind of anime or something?' I thought before interrupting myself in exasperation as I internally shook my head, 'Damnit, Erich, are you still making everything about anime? I thought you got over this...' I thought disappointedly.

You see, back when I was still a fully grown adult named Erich Stringer and an inhabitant of the planet Earth, I was, at one point, a big fan of many different anime. I used to love the entire genre as a whole, immensely.

You could say that I was an actual addict when it came to my love for that specific genre of entertainment. Sure, I liked movies and such but if it came to watching one or the other, I'd watch anime.

Though the incessant love for it was unnecessary, it made sense at the time since it had helped me out of a depressive spiral when I was still stuck in poverty.

Granted, that was only the first of many depressive spirals that still affect me to the day of my death.

I was emotionally volatile while still being emotionally unavailable in practically every scenario which was strange... but made sense. I'm pretty sure that I had once attempted to unalive myself and I'll stop speaking now.

Of course, this mental instability was not exclusive to me nor was it completely due to my own mind doing anything in particular.

At some point in my previous world's history, there was some sort of accident that resulted in a spew of chemicals that travelled via natural means to flood the entire world.

It was some type of strange smog that I managed to learn about but was basically incurable due to, y'know, pollution and shit. The smog essentially became clouds to us and replaced existing weather patterns with this agitating formula.

The strange mix of chemicals within the smog itself had this odd effect that messed with everyone's minds in a variety of ways.

Prolonged exposure to smog storms or physical smog remnants could incite other diseases and also cause random bouts of unadulterated rage due to the chemicals boosting certain things in the brain and nervous systems like causing serotonin levels to increase vastly.

However, the smog isn't so bad when you take into account that the chemical-induced smog also caused more beneficial parts of the mind to get boosted like neurotransmitters which can also be accounted as one of the causes for our society placing more importance on sciences; since most people got some sort of brain boost.

I, myself, am also quite a large victim of this, my escape from poverty being partially due to my long exposure to the gas my whole life with increased effect due to being in the slums.

Though, someone less lucky would've probably died from so much exposure. And many did-- all the time --to the point where people were encouraged to have sex more so that they could pump out more kids.

Again though, I probably would've died if I didn't have a certain mental illness I'm not going to mention and if I wasn't super lucky and also if I didn't luck out on having a very accepting nervous system and brain that evolved with the times.

However, going back to the topic, I loved Anime when I was younger, and less busy, because it made me feel better.

The reason this is relevant is because of the implications of anime-like powers existing within an actual, real-life world in the vast multiverse.

Was this some sort of fictional thing in some parallel reality or was it simply a strange universe not dictated by universal laws that would otherwise shut down everything here in an instant?

I just found that fascinating due to my own scientific mind... and I'm on a tangent again... so I suppose this short interlude should be moved back to the matter at hand.

During my long, internal tirade, the man was staring at me with a mix of confusion, amusement, and annoyance.

'Did this brat finally notice it was being kidnapped?' The man humoured to himself.

"Just got a response back. The doctor suggested that you should raise the kid in a healthy environment until his quirk awakens. He said that he'll pay a hefty lot for him after."

"What? Why should I raise the kid like a damn farm animal? Why doesn't the doctor just raise him himself?"

"Apparently it's because his so-called environment is not suited in any way for children and he wants his subjects to be in peak condition, being raised safely and nourished greatly until he receives them..." The person on the phone repeated to the man.

The man groaned aggressively, "Oh come on!" He gritted out, staring at me intensely in consideration before swearing madly.

'Damnit, I really need that money... It could set me for life and keep those damn sharks away from me...' He muttered nervously within his mind as he bit his lip, considering the proposal.

"Fucking fine! But I'll only do it if I can have a set pric--!" He said sternly before being interrupted by the phone person.

"Already did that. Doctor said it was..." The woman on the phone told him the price, the man gaining a look of bamboozlement as he grinned stupidly, ignoring his previous concerns as he drunkenly nodded and spoke frantically.

"Alright, alright! I'll do it! I'll fatten up the kid and sell him off once everything is done!" He whisper-shouted gleefully.

'That price is insane! I spend a few years fattening the kid up and I never have to work again my whole life? Sign me up!' The man grinned to himself.

While the man was giggling, I had already managed to control my crying and was now staring into the man's eyes with a sour gaze, feeling immensely unnerved.

'I have to live with this guy... I have to spend years in this world alongside a murderer who intends to sell me off...' I thought to myself doubtfully.

'Yep. I'm fucked,' I thought assuredly as the man gained confirmation on his phone.

"I'll routinely check up on you on behalf of the doctor, but you can do whatever you want as long as the kid is kept healthy. However, I suppose we're done with this exchange. Just leave me alone for a month and clean up your mess," The phone girl said, hanging up on the man.

The man shoved his phone back into his pocket and dropped me back into the basket, walking over to the dead body outside and grabbing something from under it as I gained a surprised look.

It would seem that the man had wrapped the dead man in a tarp to stop any trace of blood and was currently dragging the body off somewhere.

And while the man was doing that stuff, I was currently contemplating the increasingly strange thought of inhabiting a world full of folks with literal powers as... as an entirely different human being...

I was going to have to spend another whole new LIFETIME in this place. And under the banner of a literal psycho! I'd been through crazy shit in my old world but I'd never been kept as a farm animal to be sold to the chopping block!

Overall... I'm just completely fucked, aren't I?

The only remaining hope I have is to grow up properly and think of a way to escape. And if what that man said about his power sensing other potential powers in people was true, then I can only hope that I awaken a power that can help me escape.

However, this subject also involves a few other bad considerations...

I could get experimented upon for having a strong quirk... I could be plain murdered in anger for not having a quirk... I could be trapped forever with this psycho until I can awaken a quirk.

In general, there are two things I've learned from this short but horrifying encounter: One, a lot of insane shit could happen to me in my future as a reincarnation in this world... And two...

I really need to escape.