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Chapter 4 Gifted
Izuku smiled softly as an item caught his eye on his lunch break. He had to get away from the stuffiness of the cubical office to stretch his legs and see the happenings of the bustling city. He had put aside some money throughout the months in order to get something special for each of the boys. They still couldn't recall their pasts and Izuku thought that maybe they should start looking to their future and make new memories. Honestly, they all should – Izuku had felt like he was in a continuous day by day cycle for years in a practically unresponsive and depressed state, more so since his mother's death. Now he couldn't think about a day without the boys, their personalities brought life back into his every day and he wouldn't change their little family for the world.
Glancing at his watch, he decided he had time to shop if he skipped lunch. He didn't want to keep the boys waiting if he stayed in the city later then normal. His work place was in the heart of the city surrounded by shops and he had a few places in mind to get something special for their good behavior.
Setting an alarm to give himself enough time to get back to the office, Izuku went into the store making a beeline towards the bright red footwear. He had noticed Sonic's feet were getting blistered and burnt from the consistent running with speeds that seemed like his body wasn't accustomed to. For a couple of nights, he spotted Sonic trying to cover his wounds by hiding the winces and spending a long time in the bath to soak out the pain. Izuku would nonchalantly give Sonic ointment knowing the hedgehog would brush off the sediment but he was given a faint of a smile when the boy quickly disappeared to apply the medicine.
Izuku inspected the shoes and asked the storekeeper about the traction and the wear and tear durability of the brand. Satisfied with the results, he headed to a retro store that sold old technology. Old tech is usually scrapped for metal and he was sure he could get multiple items for a decent price with shop owners trying to get rid of their old stock. Izuku spotted a mastering kit that Tails might enjoy with his new interest in computers. The fox had rebuilt Izuku's old laptop to the point where it ran smoothly and the adult has been baffled by how intelligent and eager Tails was with everything that he put his effort into.
The alarm on the stopwatch startled Izuku, resulting with him dropping what he was purchasing. He nervously looked at the watch and then to the old shop owner talking up a storm with a man that wasn't even buying anything. Tapping his foot subconsciously, he stared at the men beggingly in attempts to quicken their conversation. Clearly not getting the hint, Izuku cleared his throat and exclaimed, "A-ah, I'm ready to check out – sir."
The two men stared at him stunned by his erupted interruption. The shop owner nodded as his buddy stepped to the side to allow Izuku to get to the counter with the old tech. The old man remarked, "Did ya parents ever teach ya manners?"
Izuku forced a smile to his face, "They did – but I'm really in a rush to get back to work. I appreciate you sacrificing your time to check out my items." He attempted to keep a professional tone even though he wasn't at fault.
The shop keeper shook his head as he continued to take each item over the scanner. Izuku waited quietly for the total, he pulled out the money and practically raced out of the shop hearing the remarked, "Kids these days don't have respect –."
Izuku hauled his bags in his arms with the sprint, he skidded to a stop and shuffled between his feet nervously as he waited for the crosswalk with the rest of the commuters returning from their lunch breaks. Come on come on! When the signal changed, he pushed through the crowd to make headway to the office building he could see a couple of blocks away. Izuku sighed in relief as one of attendants opened the door for him as he bolted to the elevator. He pushed the up button with his foot as his hands were too occupied of balancing the gifts. He glanced at his watch and grimaced, I don't have time to put these in the car – I can find a place to put them in the cubical. His face paled as the elevator door opened to reveal the annoyed face of his boss.
"Midoriya! I was expecting you back at your desk to finish up the reports, I don't have time waiting on your extended breaks." She scowled.
Izuku froze, "Ma'am, I lost track of time. I generally eat at my desk and decided to take my full lunch break. The reports were done before I took off for lunch."
She stared at him noticing the shopping bags, "Don't excuse your tardiness for your shopping trip. I expect you to stay later to make up for your time or your fired." She turned away back to her office.
Izuku was flabbergasted, he forced himself forward before the elevator doors could close on him. He attempted to keep his face neutral but felt flustered as tears were forming as he made his way to his cubical. He never took his full lunch break; he would always cut it short to finish up work or he would skip it all together. Other co-workers would go out everyday for lunch and come back a few minutes late and didn't get scolded for it. He sighed defeatedly placing the bags under his desk in the space where the clutter of paper and files weren't prominent. He guessed his boss thought he took an extensive break, but that wasn't the case, he worked halfway through his initial break period to make sure the reports were completely done for her. After he finished, he had decided to take his break a little later then normal, and she expected him back from the standard break time period.
Izuku ignored the grumbling of his stomach as he collected all the reports he had typed out and edited on the hard drive and stood up collecting the finished paper reports to put in archive in the back. He avoided eye contact noticing many of his co-workers were in the office today rather in the field.
"Still here being a pencil pusher huh, Deku?" A spiteful voice rasped near him.
Izuku laughed nervously quickly looking at the blonde-haired man and gazing down at the piles of paper in his arms, "I—it's Izuku actually."
The man spiffed, "It's the same thing and you knew I was addressing you, so it doesn't matter."
Izuku forced a smile, "Yeah, I guess so Bakugo. I saw your report of the gas explosion at the factory, your conclusion of what caused it was interesting –."
"I don't need your dumbass editing my reports, there are enough extracts that need your pathetic revisions. You aren't getting paid off of my reports, you got plenty of losers to mooch off of, so hands off of my business." Bakugo spat scowling angerly as he made his way towards the elevator with a hard hat under his arm. Izuku took a deep sigh of relief as he continued onto the archives figuring it was time to clear up his desk of old files since he had the chance to put them away with less hostility since Bakugo and the rest are going back out into the field once again.
Izuku moaned in pain with the stiffness of his neck from the long day of work – especially having to stay later than normal while also carrying heavy files to and from the archives. He got out of the car as he pushed on his back to crack it. It was already dark and the boys were nice enough to leave the porch light on for him.
He struggled to open the door with the bags in hand, but he was lucky enough that Tails opened the door noticing his struggle. "Welcome back." Tails smiled up at him.
"Your home later then usual old man, we thought you got into some accident." Sonic remarked peering over the couch at them.
Izuku smiled, "Sorry about that, my boss wanted me to stay later to finish up some things."
Sonic rolled his eyes, "Maybe tell your boss eight to five means eight to five."
"I will let her know next time." Izuku mustered a slight smirk.
Tails fluttered towards the kitchen, "I started cooking the frozen meals to give you a break from cooking dinner."
Izuku smiled at him thankfully, "That's great, I really appreciate it."
Sonic eyed the bags, "That's not dinner?"
"It's a surprise for after dinner." Izuku remarked, earning curious gazes between both boys.
They went through their dinner ritual of summarizing their days, he smiled listening to them describe their new project of creating a treehouse for their own space for imaginative roleplaying games in the near future once the treehouse was completed. Izuku put a mental note of searching for old bedding and fabric for decorating their project.
Izuku cleared the table once they were done eating, Sonic flashed towards the bags, "Hey Pops, its after dinner."
The green haired adult chuckled, "Can't handle surprises huh?"
"Ah no." Sonic remarked, Tails fluttered towards Sonic as Izuku made his way towards them.
Izuku grabbed the bags from the impatient hedgehog, after peering at each one, he handed the respected gifts to the boys, "I got you both something for your good behavior and to start new beginnings… I know you boys still are scared about not remembering your past, but that's okay. If it doesn't come back just know you have a future here."
Sonic and Tails stared at Izuku with wide eyes, a flicker of emotion flashed through their eyes by his statement. A future, a new beginning.
Sonic opened the bag and gasped seeing the bright red shoes, he glanced up at Izuku in shock. The man smiled, "I'm sure you are going to get faster, so I got you shoes that can hopefully withstand your speed better and last you longer than the ones you have."
The hedgehog quickly rubbed his eyes as he jumped into the new shoes, testing them out around the living room. A grin plastered on his face as his feet felt secured within the fabric. "Thanks, they are great."
Izuku smirked getting a thank you out of him. He put his attention on Tails as the fox smiled brightly examining the tech, "Oh thank you! I can make so many new designs with these parts." Tails ran to his little work bench as he pulled out graphing paper already sketching out his latest designs for the new additional tech.
"Okay boys, you got an hour to wind down before bed. You can test out your gifts more tomorrow." Izuku called out to them as he headed to the shower to prepare himself for the night.
The next morning, Sonic smiled and waved as Izuku left for work. He strapped in his new shoes and prepared himself with stretching exercises. Let's see how fast these babies can let me run!
Tails carried his tools towards the tree they were developing as their treehouse and stared at the other boy, "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like? I'm going in high gear with these shoes." Sonic remarked bluntly as he stretched into a track runner position with his hands on the ground with his feet in the ready.
"You aren't supposed to leave the house radius –."
"You need supplies for the house, right? We looked up the area on Google Maps and there's a lumber yard a couple of kilometers down the road. There's no harm in borrowing some cut wood. Besides if these babies can get me at full speed no one is going see me." Sonic grinned shifting his legs eagerly. With his old shoes and his bare feet, he couldn't go full speed for too long before his feet started to hurt from burns and splinters. Every time he was going full speed, he felt there was something in the back of his mind about to surface from the adrenaline and whenever he was about to break that surface down, his body couldn't take the speed anymore. This time he was sure he will reach it and seize the nagging feeling that came with it.
Tails stammered, "B—but the rules –."
Sonic rolled his eyes, "Who's going to stop me? You? Catch me if you can!" Sonic's body glowed in blue as though he was electrified and he flashed in the blink of the eye.
"Jerk." Tails remarked under his breath as he continued to work on the treehouse.
Sonic whooped excitedly as the world zipped and passed him in a blur – the rush of the wind through his fur, the shadows and shines between trees felt so familiar. His mind flashed with a quick image of a large owl pampering him and an alien world with obstruct hills and cliffs. Sonic dwelled on the images, multiple emotions wretched through him of fear and sorrow. He yelled grabbing at his head as the truths became known of his old life – of the constant running and fear of getting caught.
Through his angst, an electrical surge rippled through him, erupting throughout the forest in all directions. Sonic stumbled, gripping onto the ground as he racked up confused tears with memories flooding through him with the sense of sweet adrenaline coursing through him with his body shaking like electricity. He wiped his tears roughly as he prepared himself to run again – he didn't want this, he wanted to keep going like nothing happened. He wanted that ignorance, to enjoy the new life with the old man and Tails, but to know the sacrifice that was made to bring him and Tails here had shaken him. We are doing fine Longclaw, you brought us to a good safe place.
The surges of electricity downed powerlines and blacked out cities in a large kilometer radius. At an energy plant, the electric surge momentarily cut out for a few minutes before generators kicked in. An intrigued hum filled the air as the multiple computer monitors kicked back on reading the enhanced electric pattern. "Oh... a Class 5 Electric, it has been a while since we got a power outage." The man twirled the ends of his mustache, as his finger tips flew over the computer keys to hone in on the electrical signature. He pushed up his pince-nez glasses to read the screens, and stood up as he walked through his energy plant giddily. He was excited to get his hands on another high tier Electric type for his facility. The issues with using people were their stamina, to efficiently run multiple cities with power, a plethora of electric type gifts were needed and the stronger the tier the longer they can last. The more higher tier Electrics they obtain, the less amount of people they needed to supply with employee benefits and salary. To witness and read the electric signature from this power surge can set them up for a long while with one individual.
"Bocoe, Decoe, time for an outing." Two robots rose from the command, and headed towards the tall large man. "Pinpoint the exact location of this Electric and collect all the samples you come across."
Galaxies away, the energy of the Chaos Crystals surged throughout the skies for the geokinesis sensitive beings. Knuckles opened his eyes finally feeling the power of the crystals calling out to him. He tossed a ring to open a portal to where the power was surging from. His purple eyes took in the bright light of the sun that pierced his eyes; he gripped his spear expectantly as he closed his eyes taking in his surroundings.
This world's components were confusing his sensitive tracking skills; it was like the air and ground was fueled with various powers. He ignored the alien sensations of energy and power that flowed through everything in this planet. He calmed his senses and tried to pinpoint the distinctive energy of the crystals, spreading out his reach of geokinesis. A sensation tugged on him as the energy seemed to be drawing closer to him.
His eyes widened; in the distance a blue flicker obstructed his vision from the corner of his eye. He watched it flash through the trees heading southwards. I finally found you, thief.
