Hey guys, so just going to change this my schedule to Fanfiction Wednesday since I honestly have been in the mood to do it on a Wednesday more than any other day.
Next, you might be wondering why I apparently removed one of my stories only to essentially re upload it. The answer is very simple: I didn't like the quality of the story, and halfway through I started to go in a different direction.
This will be essentially the same story but with a revised focus and hopefully better quality. See below for more details.
I own nothing save for my characters and plot.
Prologue: Quirkless
"I'm sorry young man." The doctor said with a frown.
The blonde woman in the room put a hand over her mouth. "Is there any chance at all?"
"No ma'am. The joint doesn't lie, I'm so sorry." The doctor said with a sad glance towards the boy playing with his Snipe action figure.
"Why are you sorry?" Came the boy's reply, startling the doctor. The doctor struggled to find the right words as the boy stared at him curiously.
"It means...actually don't worry about it. It just means you won't get a quirk."
"Ok" then the boy went back to playing with the action figure he had brought. The doctor raised an eyebrow at this, and motioned to the mother. When she came over he whispered to her "Keep an eye on him. I know how badly he wanted to be a hero. Sometimes they try to act brave, but crack later."
"We will, thank you."
With a sigh the doctor said "Don't thank me, I wish it was better news."
"Good night buddy… I'm sorry the trip to the doctor didn't work out."
"Why does everyone keep saying that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is having a quirk all that makes you a hero?"
Smiling at his son, all tucked into bed, the man ruffled his hair "Not everything. But no school is accepting the quirkless. It would be way too dangerous with all the quirks out there."
"But Eraserhead can only turn off quirks, and Snipe can just shoot very accurately. If they can be a pro with just training and gear, why can't I?"
"Well...huh...I guess there isn't one. You would just have to work extra hard I guess."
"I will."
"I don't doubt it. Good night Dalton."
"Night dad...oh hey dad?"
"Yes?"
"Could you write your workouts down for me? That way I can be as strong as you! Then I'll be a hero for sure!"
"Sure thing bud, now get some sleep, your gonna need it if you start training tomorrow."
5 Years Later
"INCOMING!" Dalton barely had time to turn to the voice before a pink haired girl fell out of the sky on top of him. The girl immediately began scrambling to get off of him and started to run away.
"Ow."
"Sorry about that. I tried to warn you, anyways gotta go bye!" But the pink haired girl only made it a few steps before an older boy grabbed her arm, stopping her harshly and making her cry out.
"Not so fast! First you're going to give us that trophy you little thief!"
Dalton saw the trophy the girl was clutching, but didn't the announcer say that a girl had won? A Mei something? He grabbed the older boy's wrist, pushing his thumb into the soft spot, making him release the girl. Standing between the girl and the older boy he said "Why don't you just back off, she won the competition fair and square."
"As if, her dad made the invention! How else do you explain the first time she uses it without him it breaks? That trophy was ours and she used her famous inventor daddy to cheat!" Looking at the girl's feet Dalton saw some kind of rocket boot-things.
"I made these on my own! It's called an emergency escape boost, it's supposed to be a last ditch move." The girl was downright indignant at the accusation, Dalton didn't blame her.
"Please, what are you nine? Shouldn't you be over there playing dolls with my little sister, instead of turning in your daddies inventions?"
"Hey! Don't be a jerk, just try again next year!" Said a blonde girl with horns that was standing beside Dalton.
Dalton was getting annoyed at how rough the older boy was being. "Look pal, try back next year, the girl won fair and square and you guys are just looking foolish, so back off."
At this the older boy smiled, and went to push Dalton "And what are you gonna do about it?"
"This." Dalton grabbed the boy's wrists before the older boy even touched him and yanked down. The boy stumbled forward and right into Dalton's forehead. As the boy clutched his busted nose Dalton stepped forward "Now why don't you just-" He never finished the sentence as his world went black.
"Honey come over here!"
Smiling the pink haired lady walked over to her husband who was talking with another couple. "Who are your friends dear?"
"This is my old college roommate! Honey, meet the biggest dick I've ever known!" She was appalled at her husband's rude comment and went to apologize before she looked at the other couple. The man looked like he had just heard the same joke for twenty years straight, and the woman was trying not to laugh.
"Wow Reiki, that joke is just as funny now as it was a decade ago...oh wait." The man's delivery conveyed his fatigue at this particular joke, while the woman smiled and put her hand out.
"My name's Karen."
Shaking her head Reiki's wife said "I'm Mako."
Extending his hand Karen's husband said "The name's Richard." Now the joke made sense. Kind of, the man wasn't that tall, must be an inside joke on top of a pun. Knowing her husband, it probably only barely made sense even if she knew what was going on.
Mako asked "Where's Mei?"
"She was going to get her trophy."
Richard clapped Reiki's shoulder at that. "Figures it would be your girl who won."
"You know it, though I hear you got two of your own. Where are they?"
"Elizabeth is spending the weekend with friends and Dalton is- Where is Dalton?" Karen asked sounding concerned. Both couples shot to attention when suddenly a boy cried out.
"Mei!"
"Dalton!"
What neither set of parents were expecting was to find Mei attempting to perform CPR on Dalton, yelling at him to stay with her, and a little blonde girl with horns trotting back from where she had sent a larger rock boy flying. By the time they had gotten there, they had only seen a teenager with a busted nose dragging a rock boy away from the three. Checking on Dalton revealed only a minor cut on the back of his head, where he was bleeding from, and some bruises on his chest from where Mei had been more beating than pushing. Mei told them what had happened and they all laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation, until security arrived and asked them to leave for their kids causing a disturbance. Reiki and Mei headed back to the apartment they were staying in while in America, and Mako stayed and talked with Karen while they made sure that Dalton would be ok. Seeing that he was, and knowing how shaken up Mei was, the mother's planned to have to two of them spend the weekend together. Which would allow for Karen and Richard to have a much-needed date night, and the house to themselves for a bit.
After being warned that Mei could be extremely distant while working, Dalton was shown to her room that evening. "Honey a friend is here to see you."
"Can't see mom. Working now."
"He's going to be here for the weekend so please be nice."
"Busy."
With a sigh Mako left the room mouthing sorry to Dalton. Dalton simply looked around the room, before being hit by a crumpled up blueprint and hearing Mei release and angry grunt. Followed by "STUPID! None of my designs are right!"
"Maybe because you don't know who you're building for."
That got her attention. She spun in her chair to see the boy she had thought died sitting on her bed! Well maybe not died but still, he should be in the hospital surely? She scrambled over and turned his head so she could see the back and zoomed in on it. "I thought this was way worse...but it's only a tiny cut?"
"Yeah head wounds bleed a lot. I learned that from my teacher."
"Hmph. Wait...you can read my blue print?"
"Of course. I'm an inventor too!"
Mei was now sitting almost on top him "What do you think of the design? I think it's horrible but it should keep your head safe!"
"You were making this for me?"
"Of course. You stepped in when you didn't need to and got hurt."
"Well that was my fault."
"Nope you must have a pretty cool quirk to be that fearless. Which makes you a potential customer. And the customer is never at fault!"
"... I don't have a quirk."
"But you-"
"Don't need one to be a hero. I'm a quirkless boy who's going to become a hero!"
"Silly, everyone knows you can't be a hero without a quirk!"
"Well I'm going to. I'll use technology, my wits, and my training to become a hero!" She smiled even wider, he sounded just like her when she was talking about her babies.
"OK then hero, what do you think your design will be?"
"A Ranger."
"...Like the fantasy class?"
"No! Here let me show you-" He pulled out his phone and showed her a picture of a ranger sitting on his horse.
"You want to be a cowboy?"
"No! A ranger!"
"That's a cowboy."
"Ugh. No a cowboy took care of cows. A ranger hunted criminals."
"Whatever you say cowboy. I can work with this." At that she turned back to her table and began drawing out the blueprints for her new cowboy baby. She was surprised when Dalton suddenly sat down right next to her though and began helping.
"Ok…... doc, if you're gonna work on this then I'm gonna help."
"Doc?"
"Well I mean you know a lot about science, right? Then you must be a doctor!"
"That is so not the same."
"Is so!"
"Whatever cowboy!"
"Whatever, Doc!"
3 years later.
"Hey son, got another delivery from Mei!"
"Ok Dad, I'll be there in a minute!"
After waiting for a few minutes, Richard took the box to his son's room. Finding the room covered in paper, and his son in the middle of the chaos banging his head on his notebook. "Ya know, I think I saw the answer almost fall out that time, maybe hit a little harder?" Turning to his father Dalton's eyes were completely unamused, which was countered hilariously by the red mark on his forehead.
"Thanks Dad, I'll get right on that."
"You know I'm just playing, what are you working on that has you so worked up?"
"*Sigh* Neutralization. I don't have a quirk which means I need a definite way to shut one down without getting right next to someone who might be on fire."
Looking at the blueprints and sketches around him Richard was slightly startled. The blueprints were littered with iterations of old west style firearms. "So your solution is a gun?"
"Just to administer a drug of some variety, the issue is with dosing and time till it kicks in."
"So why do these all look like real firearms?"
"Marketing. By having a consistent theme, it adds to ease of marketing and the symbolic side of showing up."
"Like Batman."
"Shut up..."
Laughing Richard set the box down. "I'm glad you're not giving up. I know that You and Mei can do this, now do you want to see what she sent you or not?"
Taking a break Dalton got up from his desk and set the box on his bed. Taking out his pocket knife he opened the box and removed a sheet of paper. Reading it he asked "Did you send my payment to Mr. Hatsume yet?"
"Yes, I always send it as soon as you send the request."
"Double it."
Wide eyed Richard asked "You want me to send the same payment again?"
"Yes."
"Didn't you have plans with Pony this weekend?"
"I know. I'm gonna have to cancel, but Pony will understand. Mei just answered my problem."
Then Dalton handed his father the paper and removed a black leather Cowboy hat. He began reading it as Dalton put the hat on, only to stop, shocked. "A NERVE AGENT!"
"Yep. And a tagging agent hooked up to the UI in the mask."
"Mask?"
"Yep. Voice Command: One riot, one ranger." Then the hat began plating itself in metal from the studs on the band. But what was more, the hat was spreading the metal down over Dalton's face, leaving him with a white v shaped visor and covering the rest of his face.
"I guess I'll go double it."
"Thank you-huh... this is interesting? Leave it to Mei to somehow take my amazing robot voice disguise idea and give it a darn drawl... oh, a profanity filter, nice!"
Shaking his head and leaving the room Richard laughed. "Good to know, and the next time that filter is used you're in trouble, but I'm glad you're getting closer to your goal. Keep it up... Ranger."
"Mei you must have done really good work on that mask… Aren't guns a little archaic for your tastes?"
"No papa, just working on the next piece, marketing is everything!"
"True."
"Why do you say that my helmet must have been good though? I mean it was amazing, but why?"
"He doubled your usual payment. I figured you must have don-"
"HE WHAT!"
Taken back by his daughter's sudden rage he stammered "H-he doubled your usual payment, is t-that an issue?"
Then suddenly the anger was gone "He's not supposed to be paying me anything."
"Then how else did you think you would have the allowance to work on all of his projects? He is just trying to be a good friend and customer."
"That's why my allowance has gone up? I have been putting the extra away like momma said. I've done all his work on my usual funds."
"Why are you so upset about this though?"
"...I can't say I brought him up from nothing if he pays me..."
"MEI!"
"If I do it from the bottom of my heart with no reward, just think of the press when he becomes an amazing hero off of my gear! But if he pays me then I'm just like the rest of the companies, but if I do it for free, I'm now looking out for the little guy! And I get to count it as charitable donations on my future tax returns!"
"...Mei...THAT'S BRILLIANT I WISH I HAD THOUGHT OF THAT!"
"I KNOW RIGHT!"
"But you know if you want you should just take his money as a donation towards your work and use the extra to make extra gear."
"Extra gear?"
"Of course, even the strongest quirk heroes' need handcuffs, medical braces, flash bangs. Just make him support items for his load out, maybe a metal brace that functions like a cast in helping reset and hold a broken bone in battle?"
"MEDICAL BABIES HERE I COME! THANKS PAPA GOTTA WORK NOW!"
Suddenly Reiki found himself outside Mei's room and the door slammed behind him. I swear Richard, what are the odds that neither of our kids could just have kid dreams? I guess we just need to keep supporting them until they make it themselves.
I will be a hero!
I will be the greatest inventor!
He's going to be so surprised!
Ok so hopefully yall could see my changes and what I am aiming for with the rewrites. Alot of this is the same as I do like it, but I felt it needed something extra. Honestly this was supposed to be my way to ship Mei with a character so I didn't feel the need to write another fic shipping mei and someone, but Pony kinda crept up on me. The discovery that she was a transfer student from america was too big a detail for me to pass up. And as I kept writing the three's interactions I discovered that Mei is honestly a character that rarely needs to be shipped in my opinion. She doesn't feel like that would be a driving force for her, and Pony... well there is not enough out there really flushing Pony's character out. Plus I find the idea of the horse themed hero x the cowboy themed hero both funny and cute.
Now as for why this story has taken so long...
I got really downhearted after posting the first chapter. The third and fourth were in production and I was about to post the second when I got an anonymous review: "OC is a little shithead, meh, on to the next story." Combined with its very low number of views and I realized he might be right. So I kept looking for ways to polish the story, but thats when everything went to crap and I had a fairly decent sized bout of depression. I'm doing much better now and I hope you all will enjoy some of these changes. Just to be clear, I have no animosity or negative feelings towards that reviewer. I want yall to give me the good and the bad. But going forward if yall don't think my work is up to par, I want your honest feedback AND what you didn't like, that way I can know what to fix. You guys are the fuel that keeps me going, and I hope I can at least moderately entertain you!
