Chapter 8: A Rider's Judgement

"Again!", shouted the old man.

The boy was bent over, sweat dripping off him. He had been training after school with his grandfather for the past week. So far he made progress, but was having trouble with this lesson. CJ picked his head up and glanced up at the clock on the wall. Carter Sr. followed his gaze. The boy had been training non-stop for almost three hours, and although the boy didn't say a word, he understood what he was trying to say.

"Fair point. Alright boy, take a breather. We'll try again later."

CJ walked over to a bench lining the wall, sitting down and leaning over with his elbows on his knees. His clothes were drenched in sweat. He was wearing black cargo pants and a white tank top along with his cross and his hat. The door to the gym swung open, revealing Kirishima and a few other students.

"Yo CJ!! I got a few of our classmates you haven't met yet!"

Following him were all the girls of 1-A who had previously listened to his story from outside the locker room. CJ took a swallow from his water bottle as he stood up. As the girls got closer, they all couldn't help but notice how toned his arms were and began to ogle them as they had done at the entrance exam.

"Guys this is Carter Slade, the dude who saved me in the exams."

CJ approached the group and removed his hat, taking another drink out of his water bottle.

"Ladies… nice to meet ya. And y'all are?"

One by one they introduced themselves.

"I'm Ochaco Ururaka! Nice to meet you too!", she said in an upbeat manner.

"Hey, I'm Kyoka Jiro. We've met before."

CJ glanced over at the next girl, who was just a floating set of clothes.

"Hi, I'm Toru Hagakure!!", she said.

He then turned to a girl with pink hair and skin. Atop her head were a set of horns, resembling a beetle.

"Hiya! I'm Mina Ashido! Your powers are pretty cool!"

The last girl caught CJ's attention. She was tall with long black hair tied up in a huge ponytail. She had fair skin and she stood with a sense of decorum and class. But what caught his attention the most was her eyes. They were kind and calming to look at, almost as if they were his mothers. Finally she spoke.

"I'm Momo Yaoyarozu. Pleased to meet you", she said, giving a slight bow in her greeting. CJ looked her in the eye and extended his hand towards her.

"Carter Slade…", he introduced himself again almost as if he were in a trance.

He had no Idea what this feeling was. All he knew was that he felt comfort when he looked at her. He couldn't help but stare, blocking out the rest of the world around him. Carter Sr. sees this and clears his throat, bringing CJ back to reality.

"Ahem… alright. Now I don't mind you all staying as long as you don't become a distraction. CJ, are you ready for weapons training?"

"Weapons training?", asked Asui, "I thought he was already proficient with guns".

"And he is, but he needs to be trained in melee combat as well."

The old man walks over to a lockbox sitting against the wall and opens it. Out of the box he pulls a long black chain, which he then hands to CJ.

"In the past, the Ghost Rider has had one weapon that he or she could always rely on. The Hellfire Chain is that weapon, infused with the power of the Rider. The chain and the Rider will then become one. Try hitting the target without using your powers."

CJ unravels the chain and swings a length of it around over his head. After a few swings, he throws it forward, but unfortunately it doesn't make it to the target.

"Hmm… that's unusual… I have an idea. Miss Yaoyorozu? Your quirk is creation correct?"

The girl turns to the old man to address him.

"Yes sir, I can create any inanimate object out of the lipids in my body."

"Excellent. I think CJ might need a counterweight. I needed one when I used the chain in the past, so it's only fair. CJ, you got any preference for it?"

CJ thinks to himself for a moment before deciding.

"How about since we're from Texas we make it a railroad spike. Can you do that?"

Yaoyorozu flips through the pages of a small book. She then holds out her hand and within seconds a nine inch steel spike appears out of her palm.

"Will this work?"

Carter Sr. takes the spike from her and takes the chain from CJ as well. Holding the end of the chain up against the blunt end of the spike he ignites his hands into their rider form, melting the metal together.

"Here boy, try it now."

CJ takes the spiked chain from the old man, feeling the weight on the one end. He swings it over his head once again and lets go, flinging the spike towards the concrete target.

'THUD'

Everyone looked up at the block of stone, only to see the spike embedded into it.

"Excellent. Now whip the chain to pull it out of the stone."

CJ does as he's told, whipping the chain and pulling out the spike, which flies back at him and lands at his feet.

"That wasn't bad. Now this time I want you to use your powers on the chain. Imagine the chain is a part of you and activate your power there."

CJ nods and closes his eyes. Just like before, his hands slowly became enveloped in fire, which then slowly spread along the chain and caused the spike on the end to glow red hot. CJ's eyes burst open, revealing sparks in them. He takes one step forward and whips the chain towards the stone block. Everyone looked on in amazement as the block shattered in half from the force of the blow. CJ then collapses to his knees, breathing heavily. His classmates try rushing to his aid but Carter Sr. beats them to it.

"Easy, you're good. Like I said, only using a portion of the Rider's power will take more out of you. Eventually you'll be able to use the full extent of your powers. But also be careful not to let your emotions take over, as they can blind a Rider's judgement."

Carter looks his grandfather in the eye, heeding his warning.

"And CJ… don't ever let that happen… trust me. It'll only hurt the ones around you."

"Is that why you left?"

The old man looked his great-grandson in the eye. He knew the answer was yes, but it still hurt for him to have to admit it. He helped his grandson up off the ground and walked him over to the bench by the wall. He sat next to him as everyone present gathered around them, ready to hear the old man's story.

"I'm going to be honest with you CJ, and it's going to hurt me to admit this, but I never even thought of you the day I left. The Rider blocked my judgement and allowed me only to focus on finding the son of a bitch that took down that plane. I tracked him from Okinawa to north of Hosu City, and like I said, I've only been able to get a basic description along with his quirk. I should never have abandoned you boy, and I realized that far too late. The only way I could know if you were okay is by reading about you on the front page."

CJ listened to his grandfather's explanation, hanging on every word. He stood up and began wrapping the chain up to store.

"Tell me what you've found out."

"Well, from what I've gathered, he has blonde hair and is built like a freight train. He's over 8 feet tall and he wears a signature red tank top. His quirk allows him to increase his muscle mass, giving him beyond superhuman strength. Some people say he's even stronger than All Might."

This shocked CJ's classmates, causing some of them to worry amongst each other.

"No way! All Might's the strongest hero in the world! There's no way someone could beat him", exclaimed Kirishima.

"Well it could be possible, ribbit. There's a whole world of quirks out there."

"That's very true Asui, and the Ghost Rider is one of those powers", says Carter Sr.

"WHAT?!", shouted Mina, "Are you saying CJ is stronger than All Might?!"

Everyone looked over to CJ in awe. There was no way that he was stronger than the Number 1 hero in the world.

"Do any of you know about an old hero named Hulk?", asked Carter Sr.

"You mean the big green monster guy? Wasn't he just some scientist?", asked Hagakure.

"The very same. Anyway, a Rider by the name of Johnny Blaze defeated him in a fight many years ago in New York City."

CJ decided to cut in.

"Speaking of Grandpa Johnny, how is he? Have you heard anything?"

"Wait, I thought you were his grandfather", interjected Ururaka.

The old man chuckled at that.

"Please, I'm not THAT young. Johnny Blaze married my daughter, Susie, then they had CJ's father, who was also named Carter Slade. Unfortunately things didn't work out between Blaze and my daughter. They split when CJ's father was ten."

"Was your dad a Ghost Rider too?", asked Asui.

"No, but he was a Texas Ranger, a peacekeeper. He died in the line of duty when I was three."

Everyone felt sorry for him, as none of them knew what it was like to grow up without a dad. Suddenly Kirishima shot up.

"Alright, that's enough sadness for today! I came down here to let you know I found you a place to stay!", he shouted excitedly.

"I already have a place to stay. Principal Nezu put me up in a hotel nearby."

"Nah man, I already talked it through with him. You're coming to live with me now man!"

CJ couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"How much does your family know about me?", he asked, worried about their reaction to his criminal background.

"I left that up to you. I did tell them that you're a recovering prisoner though. They respect the fact that you're trying to do better, and are more than willing to help."

CJ had forgotten how it felt to feel wanted by anyone. After his grandfather left him all those years ago he stayed until the bank foreclosed the ranch. He was in foster care for a few months, but ran away and lived on the streets until he was nine. People saw him digging through dumpsters, but no one stopped to help him. They wanted nothing to do with him, and quite frankly he didn't want them to. By that point he had lost all faith in people.

"Alright, I guess I'll start packing then."

Later that evening, he stepped out of the taxi holding a rucksack slung over his shoulder. He walked up to the front door of the residence, but before he could knock the door flew open and CJ was greeted loudly by his red haired classmate.

"CJ!!! You're finally here! Hey guys, CJ's here!"

More people crowded the doorway, including a few of CJ's other classmates. Among them were Denki Kaminari and Hanta Sero, as well as Kirishima's parents.

"You must be CJ, we've already heard quite a bit about you. Eijiro told us that you have some pretty unique quirks", said Kirishima's father.

CJ couldn't help but notice that both of his parents had black hair, while Eijiro's hair was bright red. Upon mentioning this, his parents told him that he used a lot of red hair dye to be more like his favorite hero, which embarrassed Eijiro to the point where his face was as red as his hair. The group shared a laugh, then Kirishima's mother motioned everyone over for dinner. It had been so long since CJ had eaten with anyone like this that it started to remind him of home.

"Hey CJ, what does your name stand for? All I know is Carter but what does the J mean?", asked Sero.

"Yeah, I've been wondering that too", added Kaminari.

"My full name is Carter John Slade III. My dad was Carter John Slade II. He was a Texas Ranger, the best of the best."

"You mentioned he died when you were young… Do you know how?", asked Kirishima.

CJ thought back to the stories his mom would tell. He remembered always begging for stories about him before he went to bed.

"He was a hero…", he began.

"He was one of the best peace officers in the midwest. He was a true cowboy too, whenever he wasn't on patrol, he was building or tearing down something on our ranch. He died running into a burning building. The building collapsed, but when they were digging through the rubble they found him holding up a steel beam, keeping it from crushing a few people he found. He had been holding that beam up for nine hours. His teeth were bleeding from gritting them so hard, and when they lifted the beam off of him… he just collapsed. He died on the spot. He held out long enough for the people to get out safely."

A single tear formed in CJ's eye, rolling down his cheek and landing on the patio below. Kirishima noticed this and decided to console his friend.

"Hey man, it sounds like he died a noble death. I'm sure he wouldn't want to go out any other way."

He put his hand on CJ's shoulder.

"I'll be fine, man. It's just hard to live up to that, you know?"

CJ dries his watery eyes and looks back inside.

"Come on, they're starting to serve dessert."

The two walked inside to join the others. CJ was once again reminded what it was like to have people care for him. It was a feeling that would take some time getting used to. Little did he know though that tomorrow his judgement would be tested.