LJAG Chapters 1-2
Chapter One
At the young age of four, I learned that not every child was born equal. I was labeled Quirkless and was from then on demoted to second-class citizenship in most areas of life. And when I complained I really had a quirk, nobody listened.
At the young age of four, I woke up to a sight I never forgot. The world was tinted green as never before, and thin grey lines ran in between green squares. A voice said hello and a prompt menu was displayed before me, with my tasks of the day. I shrieked at the sight and passed out. My mom woke me, having heard the shriek, and was pleasantly surprised when the Quirk I had manifested was something entirely new, not a product of either her's or father's Quirks. We went to the doctor for the first time about Quirk testing that day. He told us the results, that I didn't have a Quirk. My mom hugged me as I cried, but told me she believed me when we got back home.
—
It took me a while to realize that my quirk was neither some sort of hallucination, nor the standard function of human existence. I physically see grid lines overlapping reality, and there's an assistant bot that helps me remember things. It'll remind me about Daily Chores, Schoolwork and Studying, as well as exercise. As I got older and began filling journals more and more with analyses of heroes in action, I noticed a new meter, and eventually discovered a new system of my Quirk.
As I was updating the analysis note for Endeavor after a new move of his was just debuted, I noticed the usual progress bar for taking an action. I hadn't figured out yet how my quirk knew what my progress was, but it always did. I finished the update on "fire fist, — grabs enemy villain with both fists, unleashes flames, and leaves them on the ground" with a detailed picture to go along with it. I gave it a 5/10 for sheer effectiveness, but deducted by impracticality of such close range combat where many villains excel and that it causes unnecessary harm. Suddenly a screen popped up in front of me, one then I had to physically tap away after reading instead of quietly muttering 'exit.' It read: "Congratulations! You've reached Level 1! Here are your ATTRIBUTES:
Vigor: 2
Finesse: 3
Charisma: 5
Intellect: 6
Reason: 10
I clicked the window away, only to find another popping up a few seconds after:
"You may now add THREE POINTS to your ATTRIBUTES. You may SAVE these POINTS for a later date if you are not sure. They will not expire." I click the window away.
Next window reads,
"Here is a list of SKILLS you are EXPERIENCED in:
Analysis (Distant)
Cower
Observation"
Each of the skills listed are written in maya blue on the weird black background, underlined in a neon green text. I decide to click on the links one by one.
The first link showed up in a pop up window, as did the others. They read,
"Distant Analysis: Level 4
Used for situations when you must determine important attribute and gain understanding from a distance, without taking a more personal look. Useful for deciding wether to investigate a situation further."
"Cower: Level 6
Used to deflect attention given to you by bullies onto others. At higher levels of Cower, you gain minor bonuses in: Hiding, Stealth, and minor protection from Intimidation." "Observation, Level 5
Used to discern what is going on among commotion, as well as spotting minor details from a distance. Useful side-skill to Analysis: Distance, as well as Cower"
By the time I had finished dealing with the mass of pop up windows that I couldn't vocally exit from, only a few minutes had passed. Endeavor had the Villain he'd been fighting securely tied up and was waiting for the police to arrive, I suspected. I thought about the message towards the start about ATTRIBUTE points and LEVELING UP. I had given some thought about my quirk before, including as to why the doctor either couldn't detect my quirk or refused to tell us about it when we had our third quirk assessment visit at the doctor's last week.
Chapter Two
When I was eight, I noticed a new progress meter. I had grown up with progress meters on every action I took, from solving homework to taking a test, reading a book, or watching a television show. It was labeled "puberty." I knew the word from reading and from hearing some of the upperclassmen talk at lunch, about their siblings. I felt uneasy at the sight of the meter down at the bottom of my vision, just constantly there. There was only a tiny sliver and I knew it would take years to manifest any changes but the sight of it itself was creeping me up. I groaned and flopped my head back into the pillows of the bed as a pit grew in my stomach.
I pretended I was still sleeping, and then that I was sick when my mom eventually came upstairs to wake me, already worried by my lateness itself in getting up for the day. She clearly saw through my lies, which didn't help my anxiety about the whole mess. I grumbled and pressed my face further into the pillow, and long post the time when I should have left for school that day I finally turned the my head out of the pillow and told mom about the progress meter I saw and how bad I felt. She lovingly coaxed me out of bed and made me breakfast.
I didn't go to school tomorrow, and noticed the progress meter for "going to school" disappeared while eating breakfast. Instead, another new function appeared. It was entitled "QUEST." I vocally opened it, and told my mom I would show what was happening to her later on the computer, and then resumed to exploring the new quirk function. As I opened the QUEST function, a progress meter entitled "explore the QUEST function" appeared just above the puberty bar. I clicked on the display in floating blue that read: "See QUESTs available"
The first entry read in a dull red,
" ~ Discover Reason For Unease at Puberty Progress Meter ~ "
The next two were on a greyed out background with large black blocks covering the center of the text. I asked for it to be Revealed to me, but nothing happened. I clicked on the blocks and they buzzed softly but refused to do anything.
" ~░░░░░~ "
" ~░░░░░~ "
Since mom was still looking at me funny, I proceeding onto the clicking the first QUEST.
It looked like a dialogue box out of one of my RPG games.
In a funny font it wrote, filling the the letters as it went,
QUEST System Activated.
First Quest:
QUEST Provider: ░░░░░
Recipient: Izuku Midoriya
Objective: Understand why the progress bar on body's puberty feature makes you nervous and anxious.
Difficulty Rating: *** Description: You woke up and found a progress meter that surprised you, what do you do? Side QUESTs: ░░░░░, ░░░░░
QUEST PARAMETERS
Outside Help Allowed: Yes
Suggested Resources: Internet, Library, Mother
REWARD: Understanding,
Clearer Mind
50 XP [Currently 45 / 270 to level 3]
Then in green and red lettering at the end, it reads
DO YOU ACCEPT THIS QUEST?
I ACCEPT I DO NOT
I click the accept button, and then rush back to my room to log on to my computer where I transcribe the entire QUEST dialogue options, making a complete copy with a design program. I print the sheets out, depression from earlier in the morning all but pushed to the background of my thoughts. I stick them in the binder I have specifically about my quirk and exploring it. It had been a while since the last chance I'd had to update the binder. The first year after I discovered my Quirk, which I've since decided upon the name Game for, there were a lot of discoveries. Between figuring out the ATTRIBUTE system, how it applied to others and learning to see what the ATTRIBUTEs of others around me are. There was also the process of understanding the progress bar and how it managed to know the progress of my actions when I myself did not. My research led me to find descriptions of Quirks semi-sentient and independent on their owner. One described was a birdlike weird that flew around its owner and attacked others who got too physically close, no matter what their owner had wished, though he had eventually learned to control it, according to the news article. The next page documented the skill system, and with a few pages following it about the skills and some of my hypotheses about them; there was now the newest entry added: QUEST System. I jotted down a few notes on a separate sheet of paper, initial suspicious and thoughts on how it might work, and add that.
Then I bring the updated binder to my mom, who I've been exploring all this with the assistance of. I explain what I saw and how I how it worked. My thoughts were split as far as QUEST formation might work; on one hand it might be my Quirk recognizing a need or trouble of my own and then creating a QUEST based upon that. The other possibility is any time a problem that is long term is identified in general, it will give me a QUEST regarding it.
After doing some reading together on Quirks somewhat related to mine, or as closely related as we could find, we had lunch, and then my mom sent me off to school. Just because I was late did not mean I should miss the entire day, after all.
— At School —
I arrive at school ten minutes before the end of the lunch period and find, predictably, Bakugo waiting for me at the school gates. Ever since I manifested a Quirk improvable by doctors (which he somehow heard about), he has made it his mission to ostracize me. Unfortunately for him, as proficient as I am with Cowering, in the past year, I've also learned the skill Dodge. This meant that when the punch was thrown with an explosion as I entered the school grounds, Game detected it and showed me the path to dodge into, as well as where to Lift him in order to topple him into the ground in a fluid motion. I walk straight to the classroom, not having to dodge any more attacks for the day, and take a seat.