Chapter 6: Jericho's Woe, Part 3

It took a while, and I had to take some breaks, but I finally made it to the beach park on the other end of town. It was worse than I had expected it to be. I've seen photos of this place, a beach a few miles long was absolutely covered in trash. From small things littered about, like cans and bottles, to gigantic pieces of refuse, including refrigerators, cars, and I'm pretty sure there is a plane in there. The trash is stacked higher than a human person, honestly, there could be hundreds of people hiding in this place, and I would've never known.

The note never told me what to do, so I decided to make my way deeper into this junkyard. The worst that could hapen is getting stabbed by a hobo.

*Sneeze* "Huh?" As I turned around, I came face to face with someone who can only be generously described as homeless. A long patchwork coat dragging against the ground, long white hair that looks like it hasn't been washed in years, and fingerless gloves that are only fingerless due to age. He stood up from his crouching position, one that looked as if it was from a video game because it was so cartoonish, and coughed into his hand.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get caught there, it seems like someone is talking about me~!" *Kick* "WHEZZE"

The man crumpled over, the result of a 12 year old boy fed up with bullshit kicking him in the groin.

Jericho decided to ignore this and continue on his way.

"W-wait! I was here to bring you to my base!" The man wheezed out, Jericho not hearing, or caring, continued on his way.

Jericho soon found himself faced with a gigantic pile of steel pipes, he then thought that climbing to the top, and getting a better view of this place would be a good idea.

-0- Hobo King

That hurt. I knew it was coming the moment he wound his leg up, and I could have dodged it with my eyes closed, but I think he deserves to land that hit. I got up, and went after him, and I'm pretty sure he went towards my pride and joy, the Tower of Pipes! A monument I made when I was bored by collecting all of the pipes I could find on the beach, and built a massive tower out of them, about 2 stories tall, and so structurally delicate, that if even a single pipe is removed, the entire thing will collapse.

I walked over, just to be met with a shocking sight. The boy was standing on top of it, no collapsed tower. Kind of impressive actually. Able to climb that tower so fast without messing up the structure is a good skill to have, but it's really dangerous, so I yelled at him, "Hey, kid! Get down from there!"

He looked over from on top of the tower, and yelled back, "What do you want, old man?"

Old man!? I am not an old man! I am 35... not really... but I'm 35 at heart! The kid started to climb down, and his foot knocked a pipe out of place, causing the entire thing to wobble.

"Oh... oh no." I said, as I realized the danger that the boy was in. I prepared to jump up there and catch him, but then he started surfing down the side of the collapsing tower, avoiding any damage entirely. I do have to say, the boy is very talented, but in my distraction, I failed to notice, and was thus stuck under, the enormous wave of pipes that just washed over me. I'm in no danger, something like this hurt less than when the boy kicked me, it just makes me feel dumb for getting distracted... that's happened a lot recently, hasn't it?

-0- Jericho

I slid down the pipe pile like a skateboard park ramp, luckily I frequented those when I was younger. The old man from earlier is gone, but that isn't a big deal, I saw a pagoda off in the distance, and it's probably where my 'savior' intended to meet up. Wow, a lack of details really makes the world go round, doesn't it?

Off in the distance, under some steel pipes, *sneeze* "wow... someone... thinking... me~..."

-0- Toshinori Yagi

Ah, Takoba Municipal Beack Park, I remember this place from when I was a kid. It was never this filthy though. It disheartens me, knowing that people have simply abandoned this place as a place to dump their trash. If I wasn't injured, I would probably clean this place up between jobs, but as it looks now, my first priority is to find a successor for One for All. Well, I might as well spend this rare period of relaxation here on this pagoda, which mysteriously remains the cleanest place on the beach park. Hmm? Who is that?

Coming along the dock leading to the pagoda, was a 12 year old boy, one that had a specific look in his eyes, one that he had only seen a few times in his career, a look of pure desperation, yet a violent unwillingness to be saved. I don't know why he has come here, but I'd better stay, just in case.

"Are you the one who 'saved' me?" The boy asked, with a touch of venom.

Wha!? Does he know who I am!? How did he discover that I'm All-Might!? No, he doesn't know, he must have been meeting someone who saved his life when he didn't want to be saved. One of the downsides to being a hero, the resentment you accrue from people who didn't want to be saved.

"No, young lad, I did not save you. I don't even know who you are." This calmed the boy down some, allowing me to see the shadow of pain in his eyes, coupled with indifference. So I decided to ask, "Are you meeting someone here? This isn't the safest area to be meeting up with someone, you know."

"I'm just here looking for answers." Oookay, that is never a good answer.

"What kind of answers, may I ask?"

"What to do with my life? Why am I alive? What does being a hero truly mean? Those kinds of questions."

"Wow, that's pretty deep. I may not be who you're looking for, but may I try to answer your questions?"

"Sure, can't hurt."

"Well, what does being a hero truly mean? Many different people can be many different kinds of heroes, what you do depends on who you are. Saving people is what someone thinks about when they describe what a hero is, but isn't every parent a hero for their children? Isn't every child a hero to their mother? It's all about what's inside you, no one else can find it, only you can."

"Huh, I kinda expected the whole 'Being a hero means you're the good guy' speech, that's kinda refreshing actually. Thank you. What is your name?"

"I'm glad I could help, for at least one of your questions, my name is Toshinori Yagi, but my friends just call me Toshi."

"Toshi? Well, good to meet you, Toshi. My name is Jericho Abernathy."

"Sounds American. Did you move to Japan?"

"No, I was born here, but my father was from America, and named me after a movie from the Pre-Quirk Era."

Toshi and Jericho talked like this for a little while, before Toshi noticed that someone was watching them, and gave Jericho his phone number. Secretly, Toshi had extracted some basic identifying information from Jericho without him noticing, and was going to look into the kid, because the kid is oddly mature, but also childish. And that look in his eyes, that look just kills the Symbol of Peace on the inside.

-0- Hobo King

Oh shit! It took me longer than I thought to dig myself out of the piping, and by the time I managed to track the boy down, he was already talking to someone else! I thought that I had managed to drive everyone away from this place, how did he get here without me noticing! The boy might be in danger, I've got to figure out a way to save him, because that guy with the gaunt figure and deep voice just oozes villainy! Looks like they are done talking, and the gaunt guy is walking away from the boy, phew, looks like I over reacted.

I just let the gaunt guy pass me, no need to make a scene, but sadly, it was not to be, because within a single moment, I realized that I was a few miles away in the blink of an eye, surrounded by trash. Meaning I was still on the beach, but now I was faced with something I only ever have nightmares of. All-Might. Wait, how did he get here!? I knew he was fast enough to travel between cities in mere moments, but still, there was only the boy and the walking skeleton man. All-Might was nowhere near!

All-Might looked a little surprised, and then addressed me, "Hobo King! I didn't think you'd taken to stalking citizens at Takoba Beach!"

"Stalking!? What on earth are you saying, All-Might!? I might be a criminal in the eyes of the law, but you know well and good that I'm no villain!"

All-Might knew that what the Hobo King said was correct. The Hobo King had been on the streets for nearly a decade now, and had never committed any crimes beyond vigilantism, not even littering, which is ironic for a man who uses trash to fight with.

"Well, none the less! It is time to turn yourself in! You know that inspiring vigilantism with your actions has gotten many people killed!"

"I've told you before, All-Might! That is someone else's choice, and if not for me, someone else would inspire the same people to recklessly endanger themselves! If you truly want to protect people, how about I tell you a story!"

Now, while the Hobo King was known for being kind of a clown, and distracting his opponents, this felt different, so All-Might decided to listen. Besides, as long as he doesn't move, his muscle form lasts much longer than it does when he is fighting.

"Go ahead, I believe that everyone has the chance to speak!"

"Let me tell you the story of a boy that I saved not too long ago." And so the Hobo King told All-Might the story of Jericho Abernathy, leaving out his name. Now, All-Might knew that no matter how hard he tried, he would not be able to help everyone, he knew this, but hearing about a boy who had gone through 3 entire months of torture, and no one found him because the Pro-Heroes didn't bother enough about a petty drug ring, that crushed All-Might's heart. It was the same feeling that All-Might had gotten when speaking to that boy... a little while... ago...

All of a sudden, All-Might understood everything. That look in the boy's eyes, it was one that had screamed for help at one point, but feels that it is too late to be saved. All-Might looked at the Hobo King, who he had fought with and against on numerous occasions, and realized that this time, the Hobo King was in the right, and he was not.

"I'm sorry for ambushing you like that, but I'm pretty sure there is an emergency elsewhere that needs my help, and you are a lower priority, so we will have to postpone this fight for now." Saying this, All-Might jumped away.

Later that week, the news had shown All-Might making a resurgence in fighting petty crime, something that a lot of news stations criticized. Not All-Might himself, but his focus. Instead of saving people caught in attacks and disasters, he decided that it was time to take on petty crime. This also aggravated lower ranking pro heroes, because now they had no way to quickly generate prestige and rise up the ranks. Most of the people critisizing All-Might were quickly silenced when it was revealled that the majority of organized petty crime was in fact just a front for more large scale crimes, like human traficking. This event was later known as 'All-Might throwing the curtain of crime wide open', causing most organized crime in Japan to weaken significantly.

Anyways, back to the Hobo King.

A cold sweat ran down the Hobo King's back as he thought to himself, 'Being against All-Might is never a pleasant experience, even if I could have gotten away, this being my home turf and all gives me the advantage. But he could have blown it all away, because there is no threat of civilian casualties if he goes all out here.' As he finished thanking whoever, he went back to the pagoda, in hopes that Jericho hadn't left yet.

Luckily, even though getting back there took 20 minutes, Jericho was still there. I mean, he has nowhere else to go at this point, but I'd prefer to imagine that he was really excited to see me!

-0- Jericho

Well, I guess I just wait until the person I'm supposed to meet shows up. It's been over 20 minutes since Toshi left. There is finally someone coming, and it looks like that old homeless dude from earlier, I guess the worst that can happen is getting mugged.

*Sneeze* "Looks like someone is talking about me~!" The old hobo said. He keeps repeating that same thing, I think he's a bit funny in the head.

"Hey, old man. What do you want? You've been following me. If you want money, you're out of luck, I don't have any."

"Aww, shucks!" The hobo said with a snap, and turned around. Before suddenly turning back around and saying, "That's not why I'm here! I'm here because you must've gotten my note!"

This made Jericho very upset, until he remembered what he did to the guy when they first met, and basically called it even in his head. "What do you want?"

"I want you to be my sidekick!"

"No."

The man fell over comically after Jericho denied him so vehemently.

"You won't even consider it?"

"No." Said Jericho, without a shred of hesitation. "The last thing I would want to be is a Pro-Hero, if I were to be a hero, it would be on my terms!"

After saying this, the hobo lost all of his clownishness and slack, saying, "Good choice of words."

This was the last thing Jericho heard before passing out somehow.

The Hobo King stood there, a glass marble in hand, commented out loud to himself, "Lesson 1: Hitting someone with a marble in the base of the neck is an instant knockout, but can be deadly if too much force is used."