"When you become a hero, Akira. You'll become even better than me, even stronger than me. Don't worry about high standards or living up to expectations. Those things don't matter. The only thing that does matter, is how you will stand up and fight for what is right. I know you can do it."
"I believe in you, Akira."
When my mother was kidnapped, most of my memories went with her. I couldn't remember many of the things I did with her as a kid. But, there's one thing that stuck with me, her words. The words. The words that made me strive to become the best hero I could be. Those words have never left my head and it will stay that way.
Zephyr, the villain that had broken out of prison not even two months ago, stood in front of me. From what I could tell, his intentions were malicious. He was not going to hold back, even if I was just a kid. I had to think of some way to get the heroes to show up and capture him, and fast.
"You're just gonna stand there, kid?" Zephyr asked suddenly, "You aren't going to charge at me like you did last time we met?" It was best that I kept my mouth shut. If I said the wrong thing, it could've made him angrier. He sighed, "Fine. I'll finish this quickly then." He put his arms back and used his quirk, Blast, to launch himself forward.
With Blast, the user can shoot air pressure out of the palms of their hands. The user can determine the amount of pressure that is released from their palms. With enough force, the user can launch themselves, people, or even cars depending on the force.
Zephyr flew straight at me at a high speed, so fast to where I couldn't even react. He was right in front of me in an instant. He outstretched his right arm and placed his palm on my chest. All of his movements were fluid and quick. They all seemed well thought out and coordinated, much more experienced than I was. I then felt a powerful force push against my chest. It had felt like someone dropped an anvil on my chest. Before I even knew it, I was flying back and bouncing off of the pavement. I was launched at least 30 feet and every single part of my body was in pain.
"...Hnnng... Shit..." I muttered, holding my chest in pain. I tried to stand, but I fell down to my knee and starting coughing violently.
Zephyr chuckled, "Only one hit and you're already out of it? You're still the exact same ragdoll I remember!" He smiled widely, "You better fight back soon... or I'm just gonna have to torture you!" I finally stopped coughing and was able to stand up. There was nothing I could do to this guy. His quirk made him too mobile. Even if I could do something to him, I'm not allowed to fight. I recalled the words of the police chief from his letter...
"But, if you were to attack him without a hero license, you would be in serious trouble."
No matter how much I wanted to fight back, I wasn't able to. If I fought, it could ruin my future as a hero. At that moment, I decided that my best course of action was to call the police and request assistance. I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I instantly went to the emergency call button, but Zephyr realized quickly.
"You're gonna try to call for help, huh?" he smirked, "I won't let you." He put his arms back and launched himself at me again. But, this time he was more to my left side. Again, he was next to me in an instant and motioned his right arm onto my left shoulder. The same force I felt earlier went through my shoulder, but even stronger this time. Honestly, it had felt like he just shattered my entire shoulder with a single hit. It didn't even take a second to reach the wall to the right of me and crash into it with my right shoulder. As I hit the wall, my phone flew out of my hand and crashed into the wall also, destroying it. I bounced off of the wall and fell to the pavement. When I had hit the wall just then, my right shoulder was shattered from the impact and my left was in pain from the force. I lied there on the ground, shaking.
The store clerk from the convenience store heard some commotion from outside and came out to check. She saw me on the ground in pain and Zephyr standing over me. She instantly ran back inside and called the police, and Zephyr noticed.
"I guess I don't have much time left," he said. Zephyr looked down at me and picked me up by the head. He stared me in the eyes with the most menacing look I had ever seen. I just stared back, trying to endure the pain. "Why won't you fight back? This outcome could have been different if you had just tried to throw a punch at me," he stated. I didn't respond. There was no need to. I had my reasons and he didn't need to know them. My reply was continuing to stare him in the face and keeping quiet. "You know what, kid? You're really pissing me off right now. You called me out and now you aren't even fighting back," Zephyr said, "If you won't fight back then I'll just throw you around like the punching bag you are!"
Zephyr then launched me using his quirk down the alley even more. He used less force in that blast, but it was still enough to launch me even further. I bounced off of the pavement again and I stopped in front of the convenience store. At this point, I was in so much pain that I couldn't even move my body. The pain was so immense that my body started to become completely numb. I didn't even use my energy to look in Zephyr's direction. I heard the jingle of the convenience store door opening and the store clerk ran over to me.
"Oh my lord... Are you okay? Can you stand?" she asked me. I slowly turned my head to look in her direction. My vision was blurry and I couldn't see the woman's face at all, but I could tell she was scared. "I called the police. They're sending heroes over here as we speak," she said. Zephyr started to walk over to us.
"Well, thanks for creating another problem for me," he said while walking over, "I'll just have to take care of both of you before the heroes show up."
"S-stop right there!" shouted the store clerk, "I'm warning you!"
Zephyr smiled, "What can you do? If you're working as a store clerk, your quirk is probably useless in a fight like this one!" The store clerk stood up, hesitantly.
"I-I might be quirkless, but I'll stall for the heroes until they get here!" she yelled.
She was quirkless. The absolute worst case scenario in this situation. Me, on the ground in immense pain, and a quirkless, probably mid-twenties, store clerk going up against a villain with plenty of experience. As Zephyr got closer and closer, my mother's words popped into my head again,
"The only thing that does matter, is how you will stand up and fight for what is right. I know you can do it. I believe in you, Akira."
There was no other choice. I didn't have to fight, I just needed to protect this woman from Zephyr. I didn't care what the repercussions would be, I didn't care what would happen to me, the only thing I cared about was saving this woman from this villain.
"...Don't... Don't worry..." I muttered. The woman looked down at me with a shocked expression. Zephyr stopped walking forward and stared at me. I slowly rose up, shakily.
"...I'll save you..!"
