Hello! This is my very first attempt at writing a story for anything other than a class project! I'm hoping to use this story to get a feel for writing and using this site, before I move on to projects I'm more passionate about. The idea for this story is fairly simple, so I hope my execution makes it an enjoyable read!

Any feedback at all is extremely valuable, thank you!

Oh and I guess I should make a disclaimer: I own none of the characters or settings involved in this story.

Enjoy!

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As he walked, Izuku Midoriya sighed in an effort to relieve some of the nervous tension built up from his awful day at school. Every day he struggled to calm down after the bullying he endured from his peers, so as not to worry his mother when he arrived home. Today though, he found that he couldn't shake the feelings of despair and resignation that came from Kacchan's most recent and vitriolic taunt.

"If you think you'll be reborn with a quirk in the next life, go take a swan dive off the roof!"

Izuku turned towards the center of town, taking a detour to give himself more time to think.

He rolled Kacchan's malicious words around in his mind, struggling to dull the sharpness of them. Kacchan… no, Bakugo, as Izuku realized that the battered and abused fondness he once held for his childhood friend had finally been bled dry. Bakugo had been bullying him for years, but it had been worse every day since Bakugo and the rest of his peers began developing quirks.

As Izuku reflected on the behavior of his friend-turned-tormentor, he couldn't help but think, "Someone like Bakugo, someone so callous and cruel… he doesn't deserve to to have the power he was given."

A wave of guilt washed over him, cooling the heated emotions of his inner turmoil.

He had always been envious of Bakugo's quirk, as well as many others, how could he not? He would give anything to be like All Might, or any other hero he idolized. To have the power to save people with a smile, no matter the situation. However, he had never had a thought like this before, that one might be unworthy of the quirk they had. The thought felt… wrong. If he wanted a quirk, but judged someone else to be unworthy of theirs, would he be any less arrogant than the boy he currently resented?

Just then, the ground shook as Izuku heard a resounding explosion, tearing him from his train of thought.

"That sounds like Bakugo's quirk! But why in the world would he be using it in the middle of the city?!" Izuku worried.

Without any further hesitation, Izuku began sprinting towards the now frequent sound of violent detonations. After running several blocks, he also began hearing screams, as pedestrians fled from the direction he was running towards. He wiped away the sweat dripping down his brow, and redoubled his speed.

When Izuku rounded the next corner, he came across an unbelievable scene. A man was standing in the middle of the street. The man was handsome in a generic sort of way, with short brown hair, brown eyes, and a clean shaven face. He would have looked downright harmless in his white T-shirt and baggy gray sweatpants. However, the effect was ruined by the soot and burn marks marring his clothes. He cackled madly, a malevolent glint in his dark eyes. Small explosions rhythmically popping in the palm of one hand, and in the other…

Time seemed to stop for Izuku, as his heart lurched in his chest. In the villain's other hand was the bruised neck of the very boy Izuku had been ruminating about, his eyes closed, and his body limp.

"Kacchan"

"Sooooo destructive! I could get used to a quirk like this!" The villain preened.

Despite all Bakugo had done, Izuku couldn't let this villain harm him any further. Having hardly caught his breath from the sprint, Izuku nonetheless flung himself into a reckless charge at the man and his hostage.

Upon noticing the approaching boy, the villain paused his gloating and address this threat.

"Well aren't you a brave little hero in the making?" He said. "Why don't we have a look at what makes you so confident, eh?"

With that, the villain tossed Bakugo aside, an explosion from his palm sending the unresponsive boy 20 feet away to crash limply against the wall of a shattered storefront, unconscious or dead Izuku couldn't bear to contemplate. Then, just as Izuku began to clench his hand into a fist, the villain brought his hands together in a clapping motion.

In that instant, a feeling like a surge of electricity traveled through Izuku's body, starting at his navel and intensifying into a painful sensation as it reached the ends of his limbs. Then, he felt a powerful force knocking him back, like the kick of a mule, only centered on the palm of his clenching hand.

The last thing he saw before his world went white, was abject confusion replacing malice in the eyes of the villain.