Chapter 8:
Many years ago. Humanity went through an evolution. The first recorded cases of super powered individuals were reported. Then all across the world, powers became more common. We began calling these strange powers, quirks. Then, like wildfire, they spread through the entire world. Now it's believed that almost 90% of the world's population has some kind of quirk. Almost overnight, the supernatural became the totally normal. However, there remained a few who were born without a quirk, called the quirkless. I would know about them because I used to be one of them.
My name is Izuku Midoriya, and this is how I became the world's greatest hero. But you already know that story. You know about how I inherited the quirk One for All from my idol, All Might. You know how I went to UA to train to become a hero, and how I became the number one hero in the world. However, in life, you never know what your future may hold so this is not the story of how I became the world's greatest hero. Instead, this is the story of how a new generation became something greater.
My Hero Academia Next Generation: New Heroes:
Ronin POV:
Why? Why would she do that?
Holding the broken and beaten girl in my arms, I had no idea what to do. Everything had just happened so fast. I had just been flying like normal when that giant robot came up out of the ground. I was so surprised I couldn't dodge all the falling debris. Being trapped under the debris, and seeing the huge robot looming over me, I thought for sure I was dead. Until that little girl saved me.
"It's okay. I'm here." I tried to reassure the broken girl as I saw her eyes slowly flutter shut as she fell into unconsciousness. Reaching up, I brushed a tear off her face and got a good look at her.
The blonde girl would have seemed unremarkable to any on looker. Her dirty clothes and messy look were not becoming of an up-and-coming hero. But her actions were.
I couldn't even remember her name. Was it Hinata? Hanabi? Haru? Whatever the little heroines name was. I had other things to worry about.
Looking down at her unconscious body, I saw the long red veins across her skin begin to slowly disappear. This was followed by a damp substance falling into my hands, and that's when I noticed the girl was bleeding. Not just from her broken legs and arm, but also from several other cuts across her body.
"What do I do? What do I do?!" I screamed in my head as I tried to come up with some way to help her. She was losing blood fast and I had to do something.
"We have specialty medics on every site to patch you up!" I remembered back to Mrs. Jirou's words from her lecture. I had zoned out for most of it, but still remembered bits and pieces.
"Okay. Okay. Just got to get you to a medic!" I looked down and told the bleeding girl even though I knew she couldn't hear me.
"Alright let's go!" I tried to psych myself up as I summoned a great big gust of wind by flapping my wings hard. This caused me and the girl I was carrying to fly straight up into the sky. I soared above all the buildings, ignoring any robots or students I passed, with one single goal in mind. Save her.
Reaching the top of the arena I looked around and I would have loved to have stayed up there to admire the view, but I didn't have time. Seeing the big gate, we'd entered from. I dived down and flew as fast as I could straight at the entrance. Taking a couple glances down to make sure the blonde girl was still alright. Flying this fast could hurt many people not used to it. However, other than a couple groans of pain, the girl remained blissfully unconscious.
"HELP! PLEASE!" As my feet touched the harsh cement of the outside of the arena, I screamed for assistance from anyone who could hear me.
"Please! She need's help!" I continued to yell until I looked to my right to see a couple of medics running over to me. I smiled a little at seeing the doctors and nurses running to help.
Cough! Cough!
However, I immediately became worried again when I looked down to see the girl had begun to cough in her unconscious state. She began to cough up blood. Staining her ripped apart jacket red, my eyes went wide as I realized how truly badly, she was hurt.
"Here! Place her here!" Luckily by that point the medics had reached us. They'd brought a long stretcher that I placed the injured girl on. For a second, I didn't want to let go. Holding my hands on her back, I wanted to protect her. But seeing the medics begin to bandage the girl up and try and wheel her away, I knew they would take care of her.
"She's gonna be okay, right?" I frantically asked one of the medics next to me. It was a stupid question, but my heart racing, arms covered in blood, and hyperventilating caused me to plead with the woman to reassure me.
"We have the best doctors here today! We'll do everything we can!" Of course, she gave the typical answer all doctors would give, which didn't make me feel any better. Still, I couldn't stop her and the rest of the medics from wheeling the girl away as I just stood there and prayed that she would be okay. At least so I could remember her name.
"It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay." I told myself as I paced for a moment to calm myself down. Taking a couple deep breaths, I was able to calm down and re focus my mind.
With the little blonde girl gone, I could finally rest. But then I realized something. The exam isn't over.
I still had some time to go. Time that I desperately needed. I felt like I was doing good, but I couldn't just sit around and let the other students earn more points than me.
"Argh!" I grunted a little as some of the injuries I'd sustained began to manifest. My mind finally being able to focus on the pain.
Still, I had to keep fighting. Flapping my wings and angrily clenching my jaw, I shot up into the sky. Ready to smash some bots. Not just for me but for that girl who had saved me.
Looking out at the many machines. I could only feel rage. Gritting my teeth again, I dived straight for the beasts, intent to show them no mercy.
Elsewhere:
Shiho POV:
"Huh! Huh!" I panted as I kept running down the long road of the city street. All around me, students had begun to fight. Most of them smashing headfirst straight into the machines, others using strategies to dodge or evade. Some even seemed to be biding their time. Maybe waiting for an opportunity to attack.
Me. I was just trying to escape the onslaught. Having no quirk, there wasn't much I could do to fight right now. Luckily, most of the robots were too busy attacking the more powerful students, so I was able to slip away.
"Ahh!" Letting out a sigh as I slipped into a nearby deserted building, I hid behind some of the furniture. I rested for a moment before looking back outside to see most of the fighting had begun to disperse. The students separating from one another. This lead most of the robots out of the main area and left me alone to sneak out. However, it couldn't be that simple.
Boom!
Right beside me, the wall of the small store exploded. Getting up as fast as I could I ran past some of the rubble and ran right back out into the street. That's when I saw it.
Right in the middle of the wrecked store was a thin agile robot. It looked quite fast and had two guns on its shoulders, likely what had caused the explosion.
My heart rate skyrocketed as the machine turned to face me standing in the street. I was so overwhelmed that I just stood there for a moment staring at the deadly machine. I froze and I couldn't move.
As it continued to look at me, I decided to wait, and try and figure out a way to dodge and escape after it attacked. However, the robot never moved.
For a moment, I thought it was trying to lure me into a false sense of security. Trying to keep me calm for a moment before attacking. However, it just stood there staring at me. That's when I remembered something.
"Yeah, motion tracking is the only way to make em' this self aware." I flash backed to a time when I had been helping Aunt Mei work on one of her "babies."
"The optical scanners sense for any sudden movements and then create a 3D model around the movement to track." Mei finished explaining the intricacies of how she programmed her "babies". That's when I realized something. She had worked on these bots.
Taking a deep breath, focusing my mind, and doing a fair amount of praying. I stood perfectly still, hoping this bot was one of the ones she made.
It was almost like a stare down for a moment. We both just looked right at each other in the street. I didn't even move my eyes off its metallic shell since it might even be able to pick up that movement.
It's bright red eyes staring right at me as its entire body remained perfectly still definitely unsettled me. But I kept my eyes trained on the beast. Then, it began to move.
It's thin legs slowly moving across the street right towards me. I felt my heart skip a beat as it didn't stop its slow methodical movement until it was right in front of me.
Leaning down, the tall machine looked right at my face, the red glow of its eyes being all I could see for a moment. Remaining unflinching, I tried to focus on anything else.
"Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale." I thought to myself as I took in slow breaths through my nose in order to remain calm. Then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone.
Turning around, the robot ran extremely fast in the opposite direction. Running into one of the buildings walls, it leaped into the air and began to scale the structure. Off to find some other hero to challenge it.
"Ahh!" I let out a sigh as I almost fell over. Leaning against the wall. I closed my eyes for a moment and allowed myself a brief rest.
A rest that I knew wouldn't last.
Opening my eyes, I started to move again. Ducking into a nearby alley, I took my backpack off one last time to check and see that everything was ready.
Opening the top zipper, I saw the entire pack was filled with the white bricks of the plastique and the black and grey detonator i'd made. Then, I opened the front zipper and pulled out all seven vials of the detonate solution. Everything was ready. Now all I needed to do was find-
Boom!
Having my thoughts interrupted by explosions was beginning to become a trend.
Running all the way to the other side of the alley and into the opposite street. I saw what had made that explosion.
A few blocks down, almost at the horizon line of the setting sun. I saw the one-million-point robot.
It looked very small from this far away almost like an action figure. But I knew that once it got closer. The machine would be almost as tall as the skyscrapers surrounding me.
"Right on schedule." I said to myself like I'd planned this. While I didn't intend to find the monster this early. It was still a welcome sight.
You see, this was the plan. I had a payload of explosives and one target to destroy. There's no way I could destroy enough of the smaller bots to get enough points. So, I had one shot, and there was only one robot that would give me enough points.
Unfortunately, I hadn't really thought of anything else to do.
I couldn't just run up to the machine and throw my backpack at it. Nor could I just wait around forever. I had to come up with something.
Looking around frantically at my surroundings. I tried to use my mechanics brain to piece together some kind of strategy.
Then, as the robot got closer, I figured it out. Its size was a little smaller than one of the skyscrapers next to me, and its scanners seemed to always be looking down. Which means it wouldn't be looking up.
Nodding to myself, I ran over to the building next to me with a new plan.
Breaking through the glass door was easy enough with a simple kick. Making my way deeper into the building I could see it was set up as an office. Complete with office chairs, long desks, and cubicles. But I couldn't focus on that right now.
Running off to the side, I reached the back door of the building where I assumed the staircase was. Flinging the door open, I was right.
However, I gravely underestimated the height of the building and so looking up, I was met with an interesting sight.
For as long as I could see, the staircases led straight up into darkness.
"Oh, come on!" I yelled to myself as I realize how high I was going to need to climb to make it to the roof.
"Well, it's now or never." I continued to speak to myself as I just shrugged and began to hustle up the steps.
Moments Later:
"Ahha! Ahha!" I took sharp inhales in as I was out of breath. Leaning against one of the handrails, I rested for a moment as I clutched my burning gut.
"I. Ahha. Fucking. Ahha. Hate this. Ahha!" I slurred out the complaint between sharp breaths. All I wanted to do was just lay down in those steps and drink a big bottle of water, sweat continuing to flood my face.
However, looking down. I could see the ground floor was gone. It having disappeared into darkness from how high I had traveled.
"Almost there." I told myself as I decided to stop bitching and keep running, and miraculously, I made it.
"Ahha! Ahha! Ahha!" I continued to pant like a dog as I finally climbed the last set of stairs. I say climbed but my legs were so weak that I was on my knees pulling myself up the steps.
"Ahha! God! Ahha! I really! Ahha! Need to! Ahha! Run more!" I was able to push the door to the roof open as I choked on air. My stomach feeling like a rock and my legs turning to jelly. Still, I made it to the top.
Bracing myself against the rail of the stairs, I hoisted my weakened body off the ground and stumbled onto the roof.
"Oh. WOAH!" As I stumbled against the guard rail, I almost fell off the side of the building. Screaming like a little girl, I could see how high I'd climbed.
The ground looked so small; it was almost like I was up in the clouds. However, as scary as it was, the view was amazing.
"Wow!" I said to myself as I looked out into the distance. The view only being matched by the times I'd gone flying with mom. I could see the huge open fields we'd driven through on the way to this arena. I could also spot some of the other arenas in the distance, they looked like tiny little dots sitting on the horizon line.
I would have loved to just sit up on this building and look out at the vast landscape all day. But something roused me from my blissful thoughts.
Stomp!
I felt the entire building shake under me, the small pieces of gravel on the roof getting stirred up.
Stomp!
Another loud stomp caused the structure to shake. Finally deciding to act. I looked over the side of the building and saw what was making the noise.
Coming right towards me was the one-million-point robot. It's shiny red and blue armor continuing to glow, not having a single dent on it.
Stomp!
It was walking right under me now, the machine seeming to be programmed to travel down a given route.
"Okay. Okay. Right. I got this." I nodded to myself as I flung my backpack off my shoulder and poured the contents out. My quick adrenaline high snapping me back and getting rid of any exhaustion I might have had.
Looking down at what had been poured out of my bag. I mentally checked to make sure I had all the supplies.
Explosives, check. Detonates, check. Duct tape, check. Detonator, check.
Smiling again, I picked up the white blocks and began to stack them up into a pile.
Stomp!
The building shook again as I peered over the side one more time to see the robot was getting closer. Luckily, I could see there were some students attacking the giant monster. Which slowed him down a little. However, I couldn't make out who they were since they seemed to just be little dots.
"Ahhh!" Even if I couldn't see the aspiring heroes. I could definitely make out their screams as the robot began to attack back.
"Come on. Focus." I told myself as I knew I couldn't worry about the other students right now.
Getting the bricks all stacked up, I grabbed my roll of duct tape and frantically spun around the explosives to tape them all together.
Picking up the connected bricks, I moved them around to ensure they wouldn't come undone. Which they didn't.
However, now was the tricky part. The detonate solution.
Grabbing all the vials in my shaky hands, I tried to think as fast as I could to figure out how much I should use. Calculating the amount per vial and how much the explosives weighed.
Stomp!
Another loud stomp caused me to lose my train of thought and looking over one last time. I could see that the red and blue head was right under and about to move. I didn't have time to do any calculations.
"Fuck it!" I just grabbed the seven vials and injected all of them right into the congealed mass of plastique.
This had taken me months to perfect, and now it was time to put it to the test.
Seeing the familiar red veins crossing across the white block, I knew this was gonna be the biggest one I ever made.
"Alright! It's now or never!" I told myself as I stood up and picked up the large brick. Looking over one last time, I could see the robot had sent all the other students out of its way, likely from some kind of counterattack. Good, that meant they wouldn't be caught in the explosion. However, I could also tell that the robot was about to stomp again and be out of range. It really was now or never.
"Suck on this!" I said some cheesy quip line as I underhand tossed the brick off the side of the building.
I watched as it plummeted to the ground, hoping my throw arc could make it. Then it landed, right on the robot's dome.
"YES!" I screamed as the brick landed right on top of the monster. However, my celebration was cut short when the machine stopped and turn to look up.
"Oh no." I realized if the machine turned to look up at me then the bomb would fall off. Oh, and it would also try and attack me, I guess.
Moving with haste, I ran to the other side of the building. Grabbing the large door, I opened it and held it in front of me as a shield. It wasn't ideal but I had never tried this much of the detonate solution. Better be safe than dead.
"VVVRRRRMMM!" Hearing the machine power up for some kind of attack. I readied myself.
Heart pounding, hands sweaty, and fear rising. I pushed up the cap of my homemade detonator. And hovered my thumb over the red button.
"Please don't let this kill me." I told anyone who could hear me. The fear in my heart only rising the closer I got to pressing the button. Still, I shut my eyes and pressed my thumb down.
BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!
After pressing the button and slamming my eyes shut. The next thing I remember was waking up in a lot of pain.
"Ah, what the hell?" I asked myself as I felt an immense weight on my body.
Opening my eyes, I saw I was laying in a pile of rubble. I was covered head to toe in soot and debris, and I could feel my body was broken in several places.
Then it all came back to me. The exam, the robot, the explosion.
Eyes dilating, memories coming back to me, and adrenaline running through my blood again. I shot up out of the debris. It was rather easy to peel off as it was made up of pulverized bricks and stones. The only part that gave me trouble was the door I'd been holding. Or rather what was left of it.
Holding onto the nob and picking up the wrecked piece of metal. I could see I was only holding half of it. The other half having been blown away in the explosion.
Either way, I made it to my feet and immediately regretted it as I felt my body ache. My bones felt broken, and I could tell I was bleeding in a lot of places, but I couldn't focus on the pain.
Finally hobbling over to the edge of the building. I could see my handiwork.
Looking over the edge, I saw the robot was completely gone, all that was left being a huge black crater. Observing the rest of the carnage, I could see fragmented pieces of the machine. Various pieces of blue and red metal strewn about the scene.
"Aha. Aha. Ahhh!" I had to scream to stop myself from crying. I really did it! Poor, pathetic, quirkless Shiho had done something no one else with a superpower had ever done!
I was so excited I didn't even notice when I felt my body get woozy. As I jumped around all goofily, my body began to sway, and my vision got darker.
I knew I was about to pass out, but at this point, I welcomed it. I never stopped smiling even as I fell over onto the gravel of the buildings roof. Eyes shut and head empty, a smile plastered across my green haired face.
Ready to join my hero course at UA.