Chapter One: A Certain Imagine Shadow.
The sun lit the many buildings and structures of Academy City, warming the very air as it rose. Most of the population of Academy City would begin to wake up and head off to the various schools, colleges, universities, labs and factories that littered the area. As the clock hit 6 am, most alarms for teachers went off who were followed by the students soon after. One such student, ironically woken up by his teacher was Yuuki Minase. The 13 year old was promptly woken up by the sound of two cymbals being bashed over his head. Slowly opening his eyes, the boy found a black haired woman standing over him. "Time to wake up Yuuki!" the woman smiled at the boy who squinted at her. Groaning, the boy sat up, letting his brown hair fall down his face. "Why do you need to wake me up so early Kana? Students don't need to wake up till 7 on school days." The boy asked, irritated. The 33 year old woman pouted at the boy. "I felt like having some company in the mornings, but if you're going to complain guess I can always arrange for you to stay at the lab than with me." The boy shuddered at the thought and quickly got up. "Actually never mind, time to wake up after all." The woman smiled at the boy who returned the smile. This relationship was to be expected between the two after 7 years of living together, a relationship akin to a younger brother and an older sister who were constantly at odds with each other and yet were inseparable. A relationship that was out of the norm for a teacher and student and yet one that worked. Due to the fact that had it not been for Kana, Yuuki would have ended up as Academy City's next dissection at the age of 7 because of his ability, however because she stepped in, Yuuki was allowed to live a semi normal life with lab visits once or twice a month.
After finishing their breakfast and getting ready, the teacher and student duo parted ways to make their own separate ways to school: Yuuki by walking and Kana by car. Yuuki breathed in the fresh air and smiled as he walked. "I think today will be a good day". He said aloud. He slowly continued his way around the city towards his school, Hanamura Academy. Hanamura wasn't prestigious like Nagatenjouki Academy nor Tokiwadai but it did offer a place for low to high ranked Espers to study and improve their abilities like most schools, though this school accepted people from elementary to high school level meaning that people didn't have to continuously switch schools. As a school itself, most of it's population were levels 2-3 with only a few students being level 0's and even fewer being level 4's with no level 5's in the past or present to speak of. The school did offer an equal chance to those who were seen as powerless, often seeking other talents than just Esper powers. The school however did turn out quite a few of Academy City's leading scientists over the last few years and as such had a number of connections to the heart of the city. This was why Kana was originally chosen as a supervisor of the Curriculum program and why Yuuki was accepted in.
As Yuuki approached the school building, he noticed several people walking in the opposite direction to him. Two boys looking around a year or two older than he was. One had blue hair which shouldn't have been possible unless he either dyed it or had some mutations in his genes, and the other boy had abnormally spiky black hair. The two of them wore black jackets and black trousers which told Yuuki that they were from a different school from him. At the sight of the three, he felt a rushing sensation up his spinal cord and into his head, a sensation that indicated that Imagine Shadow had activated, however this time there weren't any abilities around. "That's weird, I didn't see any abilities in use." he thought as he noticed another abnormal thing. No calculations or information was flooding his mind unlike the normal flood of information that happened when Imagine Shadow scanned an ability. The only guess he had was that maybe he unconsciously activated the ability out of reflex by seeing the two even though there wasn't any ability to be traced. "This day is just going to get weirder today." he thought as he felt Imagine Shadow fade away.
After the ability confusion, the boy made his way inside the building. "Greetings students, today I am delighted to inform you that today is your system scan. Can all first years please get changed and make your way to the designated places". The cheerful voice of the school director announced. The students all started moving around, sorting out their stuff. "Crap. I forgot it was today. I didn't bring my gym stuff." the boy groaned,clearly annoyed at the sudden announcement. "Wait, if I forgot, does that mean that Kana also forgot?" The boy wondered, and slowly made his way to the teacher's lounge. Once there he saw a sight that made his day one hundred times brighter than it was. The sight of a teacher looking like a scared chicken at the fact that it was the system scan and she forgot to tell her class and her ward. Said teacher was Kana Shiraki as she pulled over documents and tablets and charts with one hand whilst typing on her laptop frantically and speaking into a microphone telling her students to get ready. "Ah good morning Minase." One of the other teachers said "We've set up your test at this location." he said, handing Yuuki a piece of paper with the location marked down. Yuuki looked down at the paper and opened his mouth to inquire about something. "We've already cleared the report and finalised the details, just go down there and do your scan, everything's all ready for you." The teacher swiftly remarked, predicting the youth's question. The boy smiled and walked out of the door, unnoticed by his panicking guardian. "Well it's better than last time." Yuuki thought as he remembered that the last system scan had to be delayed due to the details not being reported and organised.
Making his way to the designated location, he found three supervisors wearing tracksuits, accompanied by several machines and robots, each designed to measure his capabilities as accurately as possible. "Are you Minase Yuuki?" One of them asked as the boy approached. The boy nodded in response. One marked Yuuki's name as present and pressed a button on one of the machines. The scientists looked a bit disgruntled because of how Yuuki was still wearing his uniform though didn't ask questions and just continued their preparations. "If you would look at the screen please." Another ordered. Yuuki obliged and stared at the video on the screen. The video depicted an Electromaster producing lightning from his hands and firing it towards several targets. Yuuki activated Imagine Shadow and felt the information flow into his mind. The information told him that this was a level 2 demonstration and how the boy was producing the electricity. After feeling the ability settle, Yuuki made calculations and replicated the boy's ability, producing black electricity around his body and letting it loose with a flick of his wrist. He looked at the supervisors who nodded back in response. Letting the ability go, he watched the video again and saw a Pyrokinetic demonstrate his ability. After processing the information, Yuuki once again replicated the ability that was shown and unleashed small torrents of black fire to prove it. The next one was a Teleporter. Yuuki delayed himself this time in order to make sure all the calculations and information were in place before he touched the object placed in front of him and acted on the calculations. If a Teleporter wasn't exact in the calculations, it wasn't going to be pretty, after all calculations and information was already hard but moving an object or a person through the 11th dimension meant that you had to make sure that nothing bad happened or else someone could end up seriously injured or killed, the case where a girl severed her own leg when losing concentration weighed heavily on everyone's mind. After all the calculations were made and put forth, the object was teleported to the set destination.
The cycle of replicating abilities was tedious but did show results as Yuuki begun processing abilities that were level 3 and finding that it was easier than it had been several months ago. After cycling through level 3 abilities, the boy faced a video showing a level 4 Electromaster. After processing the ability, Yuuki put all the calculations in place and started to produce the electricity. This was interrupted however , when his vision turned white and his head erupted in agony as images and information were processed and overwhelmed his cerebral cortex causing the matter formed to explode and dissipate violently. Out of reflex and shock, Yuuki stopped Imagine Shadow and felt the abilities fade away. Through his migraine, he heard the machine report the data gathered. "Level 3 replication achieved, Level 4 is now the limit of Imagine Shadow's capabilities." The boy breathed a sigh of relief and held his hand to his nose, which had blood trickling down his face as his vision faded entirely and he passed out.
The boy woke up in the infirmary, with several electrodes attached to his body. He was wearing his shirt and trousers but his tie and his shoes were placed on the side. Slowly pulling himself up, he found two scientists observing him. "Jesus, do these people not have anything better to do than to stalk me!?" Yuuki screamed inwardly as he looked at the stalker-scientists. The scientists murmured to each other and made notes as they did so. It didn't take Yuuki a second to realise that he was the subject of those notes. "We are pleased to inform you that you haven't sustained any internal or external injuries despite the earlier nosebleed and reaction you had to the level 4 ability." One of them stated calmly. "As such we highly suggest that you don't try to replicate any Esper abilities that are level 4 and up." The other one chimed in. Yuuki rolled his eyes as he felt rage boil up inside of him. "Yeah, no shit I won't copy any level 4 abilities any time soon. I don't particularly want to have my head explode!" Yuuki thought, clearly pissed at the scientists who clearly didn't care about his health. "Alright, fine." Yuuki agreed, trying to not show contempt towards the two.
After an hour of having nurses and scientists examine him, Yuuki was allowed to go home. By now school was over and all the results from the system scan had been collected. Kana had thoroughly chewed Yuuki out for trying to exceed his limits, ignoring the fact that it was to get an accurate reading on his power, and then giving him dinner straight after. As the boy settled down for bed, he remembered how his ability was acting that day. After thinking about the overload he suffered when replicating the level 4, he felt a thought occur. Reaching for his nightstand, Yuuki grabbed a case that contained a pair of blueish black computer glasses and placed them on his nose. Reaching for his laptop, he searched up a level 4 Electromaster video and watched it intently. Nervously, the boy activated his ability and replicated the Electromaster.
After having all the information and calculations fill up his head, Yuuki slowly organised the calculations and put them into action. He felt the current flow in his body as the electricity was slowly produced. Immediately Yuuki felt his head start to throb. Ignoring the pain, Yuuki carried on and focused on finishing the necessary procedures. Black electricity flowed around his body and illuminated the room in a sort of glow despite the dark colour. The pain in Yuuki's head stopped increasing after the final calculations though Yuuki still felt nauseous and knew that if he used any more, he would end up damaging his body quite severely. "Kana!" Yuuki called. His heart rate increasing in excitement and fear. The teacher entered the room, clad in a towel after getting out of the bathroom. She looked up and froze. "I-I-is that a level 4 Electromaster ability Yuuki!?" the teacher asked, shocked at the boy who was attempting something that almost killed him 8 hours ago. The boy nodded happily at her, clearly exhilarated with his achievement.
After a while, the boy let the ability go and collapsed on his bed, exhausted and his head around to explode. "So I can replicate level 4 abilities I guess?" Yuuki asked, wondering why earlier he had ended up in a worse position a few hours ago compared to just now. "Maybe it's because you already used your ability too much. How many abilities did you replicate before the first level 4 experiment?" Kana asked, intrigued. Yuuki thought back. He had copied around five level 2 abilities and another five abilities at the level 3 trail before trying level 4. "Around 10." Yuuki answered before remembering the small incident outside of school with the boys. "I guess around 11 times if I think about it." Yuuki thought, wanting to tell Kana but holding that information back out of a feeling that he would be sent to the lab if they found out about that incident. "Anyway, you're probably quite tired, get some sleep please Yuuki." Kana said as she walked out of his room and closed the door. After a while of pondering, the pain in Yuuki's head grew to be too much and he fell asleep.
As the boy slept, a number of scientists were celebrating at a crowning achievement that Tree Diagram had predicted. Another level 5 had emerged from the womb of Academy City, this time in the form of a 12 year old Electromaster. Mikoto Misaka, 'the Railgun'.
Author's Note: Okay so that was the second chapter completed. I'm sorry if this is starting a little slow without talking about the main plot line. These first couple of chapters are just establishing a couple of characters and their abilities. For the people who are wondering where the canon main characters are, e.g. Touma, Index, Accelerator, Mikoto, just wait for the first couple of chapters to go by. With these chapters, I can arrange the characters as I see fit without adding set variables because once I add in all the others, I do have to make sure that this stuff doesn't overlap too much, but that's something I have to deal with so don't worry unless I make a massive mistake in which case pull out the pitchforks and wow that's a lot for a note.
Anyway thank you for reading and be sure to criticise if I make a mistake.
Cheers.
