Disclaimer: I don't own My Hero Academia or Sword Art Online.
Author's Notes:
((Title))
[Skill]
Summary: They said he couldn't be a Hero. That there was no way for him to gain a Quirk. Just like how they never thought that a madman would create a Death Game using a virtual reality machine?
"You're telling me that not only was the madman who created the first virtual reality massive multiplayer online role playing game capable of creating a Death Game on a grand scale, but that he was also capable of creating an artificial Quirk that is a forced collection of over a dozen of different rare Quirks that combined to create a Quirk that allows me to use everything I learned in the Death Game and have the body I had gained in literally a video game? And that because I was Quirkless and wanted a Quirk had me collaborating with a mad man to achieve my dream by consciously shoving myself into the biggest death trap in the virtual world as a twelve year old who supposedly knew a genius in his fields of expertise when I had just begun my first year of middle school? You're still going along with that frame of thinking when you have multiple accounts of me being a Hero fan who literally had a complete room filled with All Might merchandise everywhere? Not only that, but you also have a wide amount of people that you can interview who have interacted with my character in Aincrad enough that I gained the title of the ((The Green Dragon Hero)) from not only the regular players and Clearers, but also the ones who stood up against Kayaba Akihiko and beat him who directly heard him calling me a Hero?"
Izuku took a sip of water from a white foam cup. The cold from the liquid drenched his parched throat. The handcuffs around the fourteen year olds wrist were uncomfortable in the room. The cold metal was an odd feeling compared to the warm room. The plain metal chair squeaked as the teen adjusted himself on the chair.
Across the plain wooden interrogation table a tan trench coated man with a tan hat and plain face chuckled at the boy. The other man had his eye twitch. His mouth was turned into a sneer and black eyes glared at the boy. The robust man growled.
"Boy do you not understand the accusations placed upon you? You are the only Quirkless person to survive the Death Game. You are the only one that came out healthy and with a Quirk that no one understands. And you are daring to question an official of the Public Hero Safety Association?" The man jumped to his feet and slammed his palms face down on the table. It shook the table and the water spilled.
Izuku sighed and stared at the spilled water instead of the man. "Do you know how utterly stupid you sound?"
"Excuse me?" The man recoiled as if he was hit.
"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't know government officials were dumb enough not to get their facts straight. Especially since you deal with Hero's and there messes. Or is there something else that you can't tell me that revolves around giving and taking Quirks that is potentially a National Security level threat that won't allow a minor to have a parental figure with him when being interrogated by officials whose duties are not supposed to deal with arresting known civilians?" Green eyes started to glow as they seemingly pierced the man with a cold gaze. He noticed the PHSA man pale and stumble back into his chair.
"What the hell are you kid?" Whispered the middle aged man.
"Well, it depends on who you talk to. If you talked to Argo ((The Rat)), then you'll probably hear that I'm some sort of crazy ninja master that destroys every monster I came across. If you talk to Silica ((The Dragon Tamer)), then I'm the ultimate dragon tamer brother that can never be beat. If you talked to Kirito the ((Beater)) or the ((Black Swordsman)) and his in-game wife Asuna the ((Lightning Flash)) then you'll hear that I'm a reckless adventurer that has a tendency to save everyone because I have a hero complex with a crazy ability to destroy enemies with a horde of varied dragon like creatures and a lunatic that ambushes a known red player guild on his own that ultimately destroys an organization that kills people for fun in a game where killing other players is the last thing that needs to happen in a game that almost everyone wants to leave. If you talked to Lizbeth or Agil they would simply call me the guy who does all the side or sub-quests before beating a boss. Or a weapon hoarder. They could call me that too. Klein would call me a battle maniac though."
The man in the trench coat coughed and gained the teens attention as he noticed he was staring off in a direction passed them as though he was lost in memories. He could remember a close friend of his that would sometimes space off like the teen in front of him. It was rare, but it did happen enough that he recognized it. "Sorry kid. Everyone is in a state of shock right now. A lot of players are in rehabilitation and the school to teach them to adapt to society isn't fully ready with staff that also hold a psychology degree along with a general degree. Not including the mess that Kayaba made when his friend apparently gave you the Quirk with an injection and destroyed any evidence of its creation before getting arrested. It doesn't help that the PHSA has to be involved in the matter when their stretched as thin as they are. My fellow here hasn't slept in over fifty-five hours You can understand that right? I was able to have a short power nap before dealing with you so I can handle it better."
He nodded towards the other man. "How about you take a rest while I talk to our friend here. He's right when he says he's not a criminal. Besides, if I have him discuss what he did in the game, then maybe we'll understand just what he potentially gained for his Quirk. Go on."
The PHSA member sighed. "I guess your right. I don't know how much longer I can stay awake at this point. Try and get something that isn't either sarcasm or sass will ya?" The man shakily stood and left the room. without hearing his answer.
"I will." The man said even as the door shut before he got a napkin out with his white gloved hand and cleaned up the spill. He put the napkin in a cup and stood. "I'm going to take the handcuffs off in a second and be back with a new cup."
A moment of silence passed and Izuku could feel a headache form as the man left and returned after a few minutes. He felt the cold metal fall away as the lock moved with the key.
"Thank you. Uh. Forgive me, but what is your name? You didn't tell me anything before the guy started ranting his crazy theory." Izuku started to rub his wrist.
"Detective Naomosa. I'm part of the local Police Department here." The detective took off his hat and placed it on the dry table before placing the replacement cup down. He watched as the teen seemed to calm down from the obvious aggressiveness that he held towards the PHSA member. "Don't worry about lying. My Quirk allows me to detect lies so I'll believe whatever the truth is."
"Sorry about the attitude. I've been stuck in the game so long that I've had to deal with a lot of stupidity. The idea that I could be with a Villain just pisses me off you know? Well, then again you probably wouldn't understand." A dry chuckle left Izuku's mouth.
"Hell. This is just unbelievable for me. I expected to be on my death bed with how skinny I was. I thought I would be killed almost every other day in that Death Game trap." A tear dripped down his face and the teen wiped it with his right arm. "I even achieved my dream of being a Hero to people. Something that everyone told me that I could never be. I had a feeling I would end up dead or dying when I returned and I find myself like this!" The green haired boy pointed at himself.
"All it took was a ton shit of luck, a virtual reality game turned a Death Game, gaining the title of being a Hero, two years of fighting for my life, a genius evil mastermind, suddenly I have a Quirk with the ability to be a real Hero and then I'm accused of being a Villain accomplice?" He choked back a sob. His voice became a whisper. "What do you want to know?"
"Why did they call you a Hero? Especially the ((The Green Dragon Hero))?" The man smiled genuinely. "What did you do to get called that?"
"Well. I guess you can say it all started with the Beta Test? Um, uh, detective? Aren't you supposed to be writing stuff down?" Questioned Izuku after he took a sip of water.
"You're right." Naomasa reached into his pocket and took out a small notebook and pencil. He placed them in front of himself and motioned for him to go ahead.
"First off, I think you should understand why I wanted to play the VR so badly." Izuku sighed sadly. "I was Quirkless. My mother was the only one who supported me. I'm pretty sure that at one point my former friend wanted to protect me by shoving me as hard as he could away from the dangers of being a Hero. He was my only friend. Or I at least thought of him as a friend. I haven't had a chance to see him since I woke, but never mind that. The important thing was that it was an escape from reality. In the VR, nothing could stop me. I could do whatever I wanted. I had a freedom to explore a new world. No one could tell me how to play. Everyone was on the same level as myself because of the Quirk suppression device in the NerveGear that made everyone equal without influencing or destroying the gear. How many times can a Quirkless person deal with a strength enhancement Quirk user in the real world? Unless they trained like crazy? Not likely going to happen. Besides I was a Solo Player until the end."
The green haired boy looked into his water to see his eyes and freckles. "Did you know I was the first to tame a monster in the game? I found it in the beginning of the first day of the Beta during a Quest to help an old retired NPC couple cook eggs for breakfast. I didn't even bother with using the beginner Skill Slots to use a battle skill and go further into the floor. It hatched out of a green egg that seemed to have emeralds or other precious crystals on its shell. Heck, it was in the middle of a basket of eggs." He chuckled with a small nostalgic smile.
"What type of monster was it?" Asked an intrigued Naomasa who started to sit up straight on the edge of the chair.
"It was pretty cool. It was labeled as an Emerald Small Scaled Drake. It had two small coned emeralds as horns, the spine had numerous spikes that held the same pattern as the horns, the outside of its limb joints held a thin green transparent material like a small blade jutting out, and its tail was like a mace with small sharp coned emeralds at its tip. When it broke out of the egg it was the small size of a cat. I had a plate full of eggs and placed them in front of it. When it started to eat I got a notification that I had gained a Unique Skill called Dragon Tamer and the notification said that I would be the only one to gain that skill and that it would be one that would be held in a Skill Slot that I hadn't used since I just had a [Cooking] skill, and was a Hidden Skill of the game. Apparently it was a gift from the creator of the game. Hidden Skills were Unique Skills that would be granted to users by the creator of the game to talented players. I didn't even know Kayaba's name then. Funny right?"
The teen took another sip of water. Naomasa scratched into the notebook with the pencil. "How did the Beta affect the game play you had in the Death Game?"
Izuku smiled. "Dragons are sort of my thing. The Beta was three months and there were three months before the official release. I received a notification before I logged out that told me that Taming would be a known thing amongst the players when the official game came out. I was known as the only Tamer in the Beta, let alone Dragon Tamer. I saw that the monsters created were known to have a basis in other stories so I learned as much as I could about dragons and the different types associated with them. I grew to like the idea when I realized my dad's Quirk is literally labeled Dragon Breath and thought it would be cool if I could tame even more dragon like creatures."
"Did you? Were you able to tame more of them?" A curious Naomasa tilted his head.
Izuku chuckled and leaned back in the chair. "How good are you with labeling dragons?"
"What do you mean?" The detective flipped to a new page.
"I think Kayaba did it as a joke or something, but I can't really ask him why he did it. Each dragon type that I found had a type of green somewhere on its body and they always came from a Sub-Quest. I had just hatched my fifteenth egg before the last Boss Battle."
"Fifteen of them? That's quite a bit. The only other ones to gain a Familiar never had more than one."
Izuku smiled. "I know. I'm glad you know the term we have for Tamed beasts. Yeah. I had fifteen Familiars at the end. It didn't hurt that each one had two Unique Skills that it could use to help in battle. For example, the first one I had, the Emerald Small Scaled Drake I nicknamed Emerald, had the skill [Emerald Powder] that made a small smokescreen that blinded a monster and another called [Emerald Shot] that let it shoot an emerald off of its tail and hit an enemy with a small chance to daze a target."
Naomasa looked up from his notes with surprise. "That's sounds extremely useful. You said you had fifteen of these Familiars with skills like that? Why didn't more people get Familiars then?"
"You can't Tame a monster if you kill a lot of the same monster type. It's why I avoided any dragon type after that. I didn't want to have the chance of loosing a Familiar because I struck a dragon monster."
"Okay. How many elements did you have access to?"
"Well...with my Familiars...since only a few of them were elements...Earth. Poison. Fire. Water. Shadows or Darkness. Ice and Snow which since it was combined into one I might as well call it Winter. One used Sound and Lightning so that would be Storm. Light. Plant life. So I guess that would be nine different elements. The others had passive type of skills. Nothing much." Izuku shrugged his shoulders.
"What could the others do?"
"One could heal. Another could disappear. A different one could make smaller versions of itself. There was one that could place either a buff or debuff with a range of ten meters that would affect anything in that area. My favorite one let me erase other skills in the game. It was one of the most useful ones I had. I don't know what the last one could do. I didn't practice enough with her before I had to leave for the last boss fight."
"You talked a lot about the Familiars, but what changed in the official game?"
"Well I used One of my Skill Slots for the [One Handed Dagger Proficiency] and gained Sword Skills for the weapon. I leveled up until I gained another Slot so I could get my dragon back. I used the second for [Cooking] and got Emerald. I used him like an extra weapon to distract enemy monsters and played it safe by going for places with the chance of critical hits. Unfortunately that's where people started to get the idea that I was a ninja. It didn't help that the next skill I gained helped me look for monsters more efficiently. Or that since I used my Familiar frequently in combat that I rose my levels twice as fast even if I took a dip in experience points due to sharing with my Familiar." Izuku started to stare at his cup in a longing matter.
"I know this is far from a usual talk, but would you mind trying to activate your Quirk? It may act like the SAO interface that you were used to. Also do you mind telling me what level you were? I'm afraid that the data in your NerveGear didn't give us the information of your level due to it being erased after you woke up. We believe it had something to do with the artificial Quirk." Naomasa leaned back in his chair as he talked to the teen.
Izuku put his water down and rubbed the back of his neck. "This is going to be awkward then."
"Oh. Why's that?"
"I sort of just told you that I used my Familiars to fight alongside me. Since it was a makeshift Party system, my Familiars and I all gained experience. You have to remember that there were certain Floors and Dungeons that people avoided due to the difficulty. You understand that concept right?"
"I don't think I understand too much about what you're implying."
"If you wanted to raise your level fast, level up Familiars that have the ability to grow stronger through battle, continue to gain multiple Familiars that need experience, and there were floors that people refused to go to that not only included normal monsters, but mid or field bosses, along with numerous missed Sub-Quests rip for the picking, and the chance to use Skills until they are mastered without anyone around to bother you would you take it?"
"That sounds like a lot of things to think of. Your level?"
"Kirito had himself in the nineties when we all escaped."
"You're avoiding the question kid."
"Yes I am. To both of your questions. That is a fact. I'll avoid trying to use my new Quirk until I get a feel for it because who knows what surprises Kayaba gave to it. I also don't trust the PHSA right now and I don't know if the government wants to lock me up to do tests on myself since I am no longer Quirkless. Even All Might avoids discussions on just how strong he is capable of being and all of his abilities. Why would I bother with that when I am clearly in the dark about something that you all aren't telling me that can possibly put my life in danger? In that case I have to think of the worst case scenario that someone in the Police, the PHSA, the Government, or the Heroes have contacts with the criminal underworld since clearly Kayaba had more connections that officials are trying to piece together and if anyone has a problem with my newfound Quirk, that it will make me a perfect target until I figure out my Quirk to fight back." A deep frown was shared between the two.
"You're really not making this easy kid, but I think I understand."
"I already told you everything you need to know. I should be a master at stealth, good with a dagger, I explained all the dragon abilities I may or may not have, gave an idea that you can use to estimate my previous level, and gave you contacts to look into for verification. I don't need to say anymore upon my relationship with a mad man as I was a Solo Player. I never really interacted with the man. That was more Kirito and Asuna's thing."
The detective nodded his head towards the boy in acknowledgement. "You have a year before you get into a high school. Do you know what you're planning on doing after this?"
"I already became a Hero. I might as well get the slip of paper that makes it official. Besides, I doubt you or anyone else in the government will give me the answers I need." The teen shrugged and looked away from the detective.
The detective frowned at his response. "What do you mean? What questions need answered?"
"How did someone that worked with computers and created a system advanced enough to change someones lifestyle have the time or capacity to gain the knowledge to make an artificial Quirk that shouldn't exist. How did he get the source for the rare Quirks he combined? Who helped him and who was able to give him the idea to use a Quirkless person as a base? Who would want this Quirk and why was it given to me instead of someone else? How does my Quirk work in the real world and what little secrets may have Kayaba put into the Quirk?"
"Those are some deep thoughts you have. Are you sure you want those answers?"
"How else will I get them? Getting captured by Villains or other crazy people after me that you and everyone else won't bother to tell me? At least with a license I'll be able to protect myself."
A somber silence sat between the two. Detective Naomasa sighed in resignation. He pulled out a card that had his contact information. "You're going to be a Problem Child as someone I know would say. I have a feeling that you've already talked to people about your plans since you're a smart kid."
"We've only been here talking for an hour or so and you seem to know me pretty well Detective."
Detective Naomasa sat his pencil down. "Do you need help finding anyone?"
Green eyes narrowed and a smirk lifted onto his face making his freckles stand out. "No. I don't. I may have been young in the game, but I have multiple people that will know my real name. I had concerns at the beginning of the game and spoke them to my friends. I know their Quirks and names too. I also remember their descriptions. Not only that, but once word gets out that I still have the SAO systems as a Quirk, I know a bunch of people that will be behind me. If anything, I could possibly have my own Agency right out of high school."
"Are you sure about that?"
Izuku chuckled. "I had plans on what I would do if I survived. You have to understand something Detective. I was in a Death Game and labeled as a Hero within it. I dealt with Merchants, Info Brokers, Beast Tamers, Craftsmen, Clearers who were essentially Heroes of the Game and the strongest of those Clearers on a daily basis along with a variety of players that attempted to live as best as they could in a civilian life style. I was there when Kirito challenged Kayaba in game. If I've retained everything, then people will know me as soon as my Quirk is known. I was extremely recognizable. Even more so if I have my Familiars."
"I think that's enough information. The people in charge of the SAO survivors should be able to set you up with a Quirk counselor-"
Izuku interrupted him. "Yeah. No. Not happening. Give me a Hero like Nezu or someone else. "
The detective sighed. "Do you have to make this difficult?"
"I'm sorry. Do you want me to try to figure out a Quirk that is potentially extremely dangerous around civilian Quirk doctors that have no understanding of games and a multitude of abilities I might have acquired or be hostile to people who have a connection to the PHSA who seem to think of me as a lowly experiment of a madman making my paranoia greater than it already is?" The teen shrugged as he took a bigger sip of water.
The older man slumped in his chair and groaned. "Okay kid. Fine. I'll get into contact with him. Maybe Nezu can help you."