Lightning – My Hero Academia
Chapter 25: Hero Identities
"Check it out! The minute hand of the clock was pointing towards the door, and now it's pointing towards the floor! That means it's time to start sharing your hero names! Now who's got one ready?" Present Mic called out. The students looked up nervously.
"Guess the pressure's on...man, I don't have a name yet. Hopefully someone here will give me an idea." Ako thought to himself.
"I'll go," Zachary raised his hand up. "Mine's kind of a no-brainer." He said.
"Word! Come on up and show us your hero name, Russo!" Present Mic said. Zachary got up and stood before the class, holding up the whiteboard displaying his hero name.
"The flying hero, I'll be forever known and remembered as The Angel." Zachary said.
"Yeah, kinda figured that one." Takara chuckled.
"Are you including the 'the' in your hero name?" Present Mic asked.
"Yep."
"Wicked! Way to get us started! Now whooooo is next?!" Present Mic asked as Zachary sat down again. There was a little bit of hesitation before Fizo Sasaki raised his hand.
"Well, since everyone's got cold feet, I'll do it." He said as he got up.
"Alright, show 'em how it's done!" Present Mic encouraged him.
"I'm Shard, the reflection hero!" Fizo declared, holding his whiteboard up for everyone to see.
"I see what you did there!" Present Mic pumped his fist in approval.
"Oh, can I go next? I just thought of mine!" Erena Ogawa raised her hand up excitedly.
"Come oooon down!" Present Mic gestured for her to come to the front of the classroom. Ako didn't recognize Erena at first; she had blonde hair last time he saw her. Now she had red hair.
"I'm the water hero! Call me Rain! Yeah!" Erena said excitedly, spinning her whiteboard once before holding it up.
"Perfect name for a water-based quirk!" Present Mic gave her a thumbs up.
"Oh crap! Now I gotta pick something else." Lia muttered to herself, erasing the name off of her whiteboard. From where Ako sat, he could see that she had a small list of names that she was debating on.
"I'll go next!" Yui raised her hand. That was the hot-tempered blonde girl that Ako had a run-in with the other night. She marched up to the front of the classroom to present.
"Let's hear it!" Present Mic grinned.
"I will be known as the proud and fierce heroine! So call me Pride!" Yui declared.
"Excellent!" Present Mic grinned.
"Ooh that's an awesome name, Yui!" Erena cheered. Yui smiled pridefully as she went back to her desk.
"Man, this name thing is actually really fun! Can I go next?" Takara requested.
"Step right up!" Present Mic invited her. Takara smiled pleasantly as she made her way to the front of the classroom.
"Well, ribbons are my quirk, so I might as well be the ribbon hero. I'd like to be known as Rainbow!" Takara decided.
"Rainbow, the ribbon hero! Rolls right off the tongue!" Present Mic grinned, "Man, you kids are good at this!" He laughed.
"Whew, got that out of the way," Takara giggled, quickly returning to her desk. "Who's up next?" She asked curiously.
"Ugh," Yamato, the guy with the blue and red hair, sighed. "Let's just get this over with." He muttered as he raised his hand up to go next.
"Lovin' the enthusiasm, Mr. Matsui! Come on up and share with the class!" Present Mic encouraged him. Yamato walked up to the front of the classroom looking far less excited than the others.
"I was gonna go with Siren, but that didn't really feel like an accurate representation of what I can do, so I'mma make it simple. Call me Voice, the hypnotic hero." Yamato said, holding his whiteboard up with one hand.
"Cool! Next?" Present Mic looked towards the class again.
"Heheh, I'm ready." Hideo grinned, holding his hand up.
"Yamazaki, my man! Bring it on, bone dude!" Present Mic grinned. Hideo scurried up to the front of the classroom, chuckling in excitement.
"My bone quirk makes me the skeleton hero. But I want to be remembered as simple and straightforward, so I have a simple and straightforward hero name. It's just one letter: X!" Hideo grinned, holding up his whiteboard. All that Hideo had written on it was the letter X.
"Now that's rad, dude! Love it!" Present Mic clapped his hands.
"Man, we're really rolling, and I still haven't come up with anything. Everyone's enthusiasm is really distracting!" Ako thought to himself. He was still scratching his head, desperately trying to come up with something before anyone noticed he hadn't gone yet.
"I would be happy to go next." A guy that Ako didn't recognize raised his hand.
"Kaito Shimada! Let's see what you got!" Present Mic invited him up.
Ako watched as a guy with dark blue hair with green highlights walked up to the front of the classroom. It was hard to tell from here, but his skin looked different – it was rougher rather than smooth. His brown eyes did a quick sweep across the room.
"I picked a fairly obvious pop culture reference for my name: Zilla, the iguana hero." Kaito said.
"Lovin' the culture, my man!" Present Mic nodded, "Man, you kids make my job easy!" He laughed again.
"I'd like to be nexxxt." A girl with light brown hair raised her hand, hissing as she accentuated the 's' sound in the word next.
"Slither on up!" Present Mic joked. She made her way up to the front of the classroom. Ako was surprised to see that she had green snake-like eyes.
"My name is Midori Nakamura," She introduced herself. "I only say that because Tanaka doesn't know who I am yet." She said with a little smirk, looking directly at Ako. All eyes went back to him.
"Um...cool." Ako said awkwardly.
"As for my hero name, I'm a snake hero with a snake quirk, so my choices are fairly obvious. I thought Queen Cobra might be a little much, so instead I'll go with something simple and straightforward like Hideo said. Call me...Viper!" Midori said before holding her whiteboard up.
"Better watch out for this girl's fangs! The Viper is comin'!" Present Mic said. Midori snickered and hissed and stuck her forked tongue out before returning to her desk.
"These hero names are awesome, guys! I've got mine, but it's not nearly as cool." Cain chuckled.
"Let us be the judge of that! Come on up, Fa!" Present Mic motioned for Cain to come up. Cain got up and stuck one hand in his pocket as he stood before the class.
"Heheh, well, metal quirk means metal hero. But I named myself after the strongest type of steel out there! I'm Tungsten!" Cain said.
"Nice! I don't even know what that is, but it sounds tough!" Present Mic said enthusiastically.
"It sure is!" Cain chuckled and sat back down.
"I would like to go next!" Aya raised her hand up.
"Miss Ayala! Don't be shy!" Present Mic invited her up. Aya walked confidently up to the front of the classroom and held her whiteboard up with both hands.
"I want to be known as a hero who inspires order! So I'll be known as Enforcer, the lawful hero!" She said with a proud smile.
"That's what it's all about! Way to go!" Present Mic said with a nod.
"Thank you! Before anyone else volunteers, I think that you should go next, Tia." Aya said, going over to her desk.
"What? M-Me?" Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Yes, you, silly. We all gotta go, you know, and you've had your name for like the past 20 minutes now!" She said with a giggle.
"Yeah..." Tia shyly admitted.
"Come on! Show us!" Aya encouraged, taking Tia's hand and pulling her to her feet. Tia held her whiteboard close to her as she nervously made her way to the front of the classroom.
"Sorry to keep everyone waiting. Anyways...my hero name is Star. I want to be a shining hero...no, the shining hero. So I can give others hope." Tia said, starting off quiet and then raising her voice a little towards the end.
"Beautiful!" Present Mic said approvingly.
"Aww great job, Tia! Here, I'll go next, okay?" Lia volunteered with a smile, following up after her.
"Well, I really liked the name Rain, but somebody already took it!" Lia joked.
"Aww sorry, Lia!" Erena giggled.
"It's okay. So I eventually picked out Crystallize. Crystallize, the ice-water hero." Lia said, turning her whiteboard around for everyone to see.
"That sounds cool! And unique!" Present Mic said.
"Yeah? Thanks!" Lia said, smiling to herself as she sat back down.
"I'll go next!" Another girl suddenly exclaimed, raising her hand up high.
"Hurry on up! Uh...shoot, what's your name again?" Present Mic asked, suddenly forgetting.
"Yua Abe, Present Mic, sir!" She answered.
"Yua, thank you! I knew that! Come on up!" He invited her.
Ako didn't recognize her either, but her features were quite astonishing. She looked a little more muscular than the other girls. This was in stark contrast to her shoulder-length pink hair. Even more interesting, her eyes were two different colors! One eye was blue and the other was green.
"I'm the pick-me-up hero, because that's what I do! My hero name? Energy!" Yua declared, holding her whiteboard high up with one hand.
"You're fired up and full of energy! I can tell! It fits perfectly!" Present Mic exclaimed.
"Yes! Exactly!" Yua nodded and returned to her desk, clutching her whiteboard to her chest like it was a prized possession.
"Heheh, everyone's so fired up. This is fun," Another guy said, getting up from his seat. "Well, I've kept you all waiting long enough. Now it's Saburo Yasuda's turn to present his hero name." He said out loud as he made his way up.
Saburo Yasuda had a very confident way of carrying himself as he walked up to the front of the classroom. He had long dark hair and black eyes. He smirked a little, scanning his classmates' expressions before presenting his name.
"I couldn't decide between 'night' and 'dark', but my hero name's also a no-brainer. Call me Shadow, the dark hero!" He said, holding his whiteboard up with three fingers.
"Edgy and cool! I love it! These names are all killer!" Present Mic said.
"Okay, now me!" Another guy with spiky green hair raised his hand up.
"Hitomu, right?" Present Mic pointed at him.
"Yes, sir!"
"Nice, I got it right! Come on up, kid!" Present Mic waved him up.
"Yes, sir," Hitomu made his way to the front of the classroom. "Perhaps it's juvenile of me, but I'm the jumping hero, Nomura!" He declared. There were a few weird looks from other students.
"You're just using your name?" Yamato asked.
"Yes. I want everyone to know who I am, and recognize me when I save them!" Hitomu explained his simple reasoning.
"Now that's dedication! I dig it, jumpman! Let's keep this train rollin'! We're almost done!" Present Mic said.
"Got it!" Another guy suddenly exclaimed. Everyone turned to him. He quickly shrunk down, realizing that he had accidentally spoken up.
"Well don't be shy! Share it with us!" Present Mic said with a laugh.
Ako didn't recognize this guy either. He also had dark hair, but it wasn't as long as Saburo's hair. He stood before the class and took a moment to compose himself.
"You got this, Katsuo." Tia encouraged him. Katsuo nodded and took in a deep breath.
"I'll share my art with the world and use it to save lives! I'll be Canvas, the artist hero!" He said boldly.
"Now that's a name! Good one, Mr. Sakurai!" Present Mic said approvingly. Katsuo sighed in relief and sat down at his desk again.
"Well, I guess I've waited long enough," Koko said, getting up and making her way to the front of the classroom. "I have to say though, isn't it kinda silly to be coming up with hero names if everyone's gonna know who we are anyways? It's not like in comics where you have a secret identity." She pointed out.
"Oh, come on, have a little fun! Besides, picking a hero name is all about your identity! Who are you? What do you want citizens to know you for? It's heavy stuff!" Present Mic said.
"Fair enough. Well, in any case, I have my name picked out already: Precision, the marksman hero!" She said, holding her whiteboard up.
"That's a really cool name, Koko!" Erena clapped her hands.
"You had that ready to go but still asked anyways!" Present Mic pointed out.
"Yeah, it was worth bringing up." Koko shrugged and sat down.
"Oh man, after hearing him say that, my name feels kinda silly now." Lula said, rubbing the back of her head.
"Don't overthink it now, Lula! Share it anyways!" Present Mic encouraged her. Lula nodded and walked up to the front of the classroom.
"Well, my quirk will make me especially good at capturing villains! So they better watch out for Parafreeze, the paralysis hero!" She declared, holding her whiteboard up with both hands.
"Now that's a classic sounding hero name!" Present Mic laughed.
"Really?" Lula asked.
"Yeah! Keep it!" Present Mic nodded.
"A-Alright! I will!" She smiled and sat down again.
"There's only one person left before I gotta go next. Crap, still thinking!" Ako's heart started to beat faster due to his nervousness.
"Heheh, you're not gonna go next, Ako?" Chikashi asked, turning to look back at him. Ako swallowed.
"U-Um, you go ahead, man. I've been so busy listening to everyone else's that I haven't exactly figured out mine yet." He admitted with an awkward chuckle.
"Oh yeah? Ha! Well, I'll buy you a little more time," He laughed then made his way to the front of the classroom. He took in a breath and decided in that moment to give a little backstory to his name choice.
"I'll be honest, I've gotten plenty of teasing about my quirk just being a 'copycat' of what other people can do. But you know what? I intend to own that! Yeah, I can do things that others can do, and I can do it at least the same if not better!
"That's why I'm going with Mimic, the copycat hero!" Chikashi said, beaming as he held up his whiteboard.
"Now that's what I'm talking about, Mr. Sugawara! Make it your own!" Present Mic clapped, "Well, that just leaves you, Mr. Tanaka. You ready?" He asked. Ako swallowed nervously.
"Uh..."
"You're really having a hard time with this, speedy?" Takara giggled. "Your quirk is super speed! It should be easy coming up with a 'fast' name!" She said.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Aya asked.
"Well, there's...um...speedy?" Takara shrugged. The whole class laughed at this.
"Speedy...speedy hero. Going fast...fast as...sound? Bullet? Train? Bullet train? Wait...I got it!" Ako realized.
"I know what my hero name's gonna be!" Ako said, quickly writing it down on the whiteboard.
"Oh ho, looks like inspiration just struck for our speedy friend! Let's hear it, Tanaka!" Present Mic encouraged him to come up.
Ako made his way to the front of the classroom, taking in a deep breath as he stood before his class for the second time today. He tapped his whiteboard a few times before speaking.
"Thanks for getting my mind going, Takara. I am a speedy hero! I'm all about speed and going fast – fast as lightning! That's why my name will be...Lightning, the speedy hero!" Ako declared, turning his whiteboard around for everyone to see.
"Sick! Even though you don't have electric powers, the analogy makes perfect sense, and there's a good quality to it! Nice pick, Lightning!" Present Mic said with a chuckle.
"Lightning...yeah, it has a nice ring to it!" Ako thought to himself, a proud little smile creeping onto his face...
