Lightning – My Hero Academia
Chapter 29: A Step Too Far
"Okay! So you're Zachary and you're Ako, right?" Shock Fist, the pro hero in charge of them today, asked as they started their patrol. Ako didn't recognize Shock Fist: he had long blonde hair and a matching gold and white hero costume.
"Yes, sir," Ako answered. "Ready for the patrol. Where are we going?" He asked curiously.
"Well follow me. I'll show you. We'll need to take the train over one station. Excited?" Shock Fist asked with a chuckle, tapping a hand against his fist.
"Yeah. I'm hoping we get a more eventful day today. Yesterday was a little slow for me." Zachary commented.
"Oh yeah? Well we'll try to get ourselves in some trouble today," Shock Fist said with a laugh as they made their way to the train station and boarded the first available train. "So, I'd like to know what your hero codenames are. Has your class gone over that yet?" He asked curiously.
"Yeah. Mine is The Angel." Zachary answered.
"That makes sense. I like it. It's on the nose but in a good way," Shock Fist said with a chuckle. "And you. Ako Tanaka. What's yours?" He asked.
"It's Lightning, sir." He answered.
"Oh yeah? Very nice. You know for awhile, I was considering going by Lightning Fist instead of Shock Fist. But I ultimately decided on Shock Fist because you can say it faster haha. What made you go with Lightning? You have a speed quirk, right?"
"Yes, but I like the idea of being fast as lightning. I think with practice I could get pretty close." Ako said with a chuckle.
"Respect. Well, my actual name is Teno, but I just go by my codename most of the time. When we're on the streets, either one is fine. I'm not a stickler for formalities." He reassured them, gesturing to Ako since he was the one who had been referring to him as sir.
"Understood." Ako nodded.
After messing up yesterday, Ako was determined to do better. He was going to push past his discouragement and handle whatever came up today in a proper and proactive way...
After reaching their stop, the three of them started their patrol. Ako kept his eyes open, looking around and remaining alert. Thankfully, no one was approaching him this time, so he was able to stay focused on his goal. Zachary, however, was walking along casually and talking to Ako.
"I heard that you and Aya ran into some stuff yesterday. What was it like playing hero?" He asked.
"Playing hero?" Ako raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
"You know what I meant, relax." Zachary waved it off with a chuckle.
"It was fine. It's still new to me...I didn't handle it as well as I would've liked, so I want to do better today." Ako admitted.
"Oh yeah? That sucks. Well, hopefully we get something good today. I'd like something a little cooler than just dealing with petty thieves and loitering." Zachary expressed with a chuckle.
"Is that what you got too?" Ako asked.
"Yeah, pretty much. But hey, if we're gonna become pro heroes, I want the good stuff." Zachary said with a chuckle.
"Don't get too ahead of yourself now, angel boy. Just because we're pro heroes doesn't mean we only handle the 'good stuff'. We help anyone we can, no matter how big or small the problem is." Shock Fist reminded him.
"My balloon!" They heard a small child yell. Everyone looked across the road and saw that a young boy who was walking with his mother had lost his grip on his singular balloon. Zachary rolled his eyes.
"Alright. If you say so." He said before flapping his wings and flying into the air.
He flew over the road and caught up with the balloon, grabbing it with both hands. Once he had it, he took hold of the string and slowed the beating of his wings so he would gracefully lower down to the ground. He landed on the sidewalk gently and crouched down, handing the balloon back to the boy.
"Here you go, kid. Why don't you try tying the string around your wrist so it doesn't float away again?" He suggested.
"O-Okay." The boy stuttered, staring up at him in awe.
"Thank you." The mother said appreciatively.
"Of course. You mind helping him tie that string? Keep an eye on that, lil buddy." Zachary said, giving the kid a casual salute before flying back across the street to the others.
"I see you catch on fast. Good job, Zachary. Way to handle that." Shock Fist said, clapping his hands and smiling approvingly.
Ako's eyes scanned around the street. People all around them were starting to look over at Zachary, who seemed to be enjoying the attention but wasn't outright acknowledging it in any way. Once again, Ako was reminded that he needed to be paying more attention to his surroundings.
Later on, Ako got his chance. Their patrol continued on without incident for almost another hour when Ako caught sight of an accident about to happen. A lady was crossing the street and a car was coming, evidently not paying attention.
"Come on stop stop stop." Ako muttered to himself before suddenly taking off, shooting right past Zachary and Teno.
Ako shot across the street, weaving through two parked cars to get to the crosswalk. He moved in a curved motion to line himself up with the crosswalk. He then came up behind the lady and scooped her up, moving her to the other side of the intersection so the car wouldn't hit her.
"Waaah! What the heck?!" She exclaimed in shock as Ako picked her up and set her right back down.
"That car almost hit you, ma'am. You alright? I didn't hurt your neck or anything, right?" He asked, looking at her and making sure she wasn't hurt.
"N-No...I almost got hit! Jeez! Thank you so much!" The woman said thankfully.
"Haha, you're welcome. You have a good day, miss, and make sure to keep an eye out." Ako said with a smile, waving before running back to Shock Fist and Zachary.
"Dude you're like a speeding bullet with that quirk of yours! Good hustle! You just saved that woman, and saved us a lot of paperwork," Shock Fist said with a laugh. "Man, you two kids are doing great! I feel like I'm the one having to keep up with you." He joked.
Zachary's eyes widened in surprise. He had to remind himself that he'd seen Ako move this fast before, just never in a public area. Ako had way more control over his speed than he was expecting. It wouldn't be long before Ako became the guy to beat in Class 1-A...
And Zachary was determined to be top of his class.
So what started out as just another day of internships soon shifted into a competition between Ako and Zachary to see who could respond to problems the fastest. Zachary was able to sweep a few incidents out from under Ako's nose, but Ako was usually able to get to more distant issues faster.
Shock Fist very quickly caught on to this weird unspoken competition going on between the two, but he didn't shut it down. In his eyes, this was just a smaller scale version of what being a pro hero is like anyways – competition is just a natural part of the job.
To their credit, they were being very alert and proactive. Neither of them tried to get in each other's way to stop a crime or help someone who needed help. It was just a matter of who could get there first. After a certain point, he was only concerned with making sure they didn't jump into something too dangerous.
Ironically, that's exactly what ended up happening.
"So let's suppose we were dealing with, say, a bank robbery/hostage situation," Shock Fist began, running them through a hypothetical scenario. "Now normally we'd be able to stop something like that before it turns into a hostage issue, but my question for you two is: why wouldn't we just go busting into a hostage situation?" He asked them.
"Because that would put the hostages in danger. The whole point of having hostages is to try to keep us outside." Ako answered with a shrug.
"Correct." Shock Fist nodded.
"Plus, it would put us in danger too. We'd be at a severe disadvantage running in like that, not knowing where everybody is. And even if we do, we might not be suited for the job." Zachary pointed out.
"Also a very good point. It's always good to work in tandem with law enforcement. They've been dealing with these situations longer than we have. Let them assume command and await orders from there." Shock Fist summarized.
"Would either of us be called in to assist in that specific situation?" Ako asked curiously.
"Hey, I can't really say. It depends." Shock Fist shrugged.
Suddenly, an abnormally large man with a bodybuilder physique came bursting out of a building down the road. He was clutching several large sacks full of stuff. Ako's eyes widened in surprise. Shock Fist stepped in front of the two students.
"Looks like we got a robbery in progress. Okay, kids, you two hang back. This is above what you've been trained to handle right now." He quickly directed for Ako and Zachary to hang back. However, they weren't listening to him.
"Finally, something good." Zachary said with a smirk, flying ahead.
"Don't go it alone, you idiot!" Ako shouted, rushing ahead.
"Wait! Agh!" Shock Fist groaned and ran after them.
Ako reached the huge robber first. He ran until he was a few feet in front of him then slid to a stop. The force of his speed caught up with him, sending a strong gust of wind rushing into the robber's back. Ako got into a fighting stance.
"Hey there, big guy. Can't help but notice the property damage and stolen goods you're holding. I'm pretty sure that's illegal, last I checked." Ako quipped. The robber stopped and looked at him in confusion before dropping the sacks he was holding.
"One of the hero students. You want to be a man, little boy? Fine! Let us see what you can do!" The robber accepted his challenge, slamming his fist into the road.
He punched a hole in the ground that sent a shockwave outwards, making the ground shake and the road crack. Ako stumbled a little bit and took a defensive step back. The robber smirked at Ako; he was looking to intimidate Ako before the fight even began.
However, Zachary flew in above the robber and beat his wings, sending down sonic waves. The robber growled in pain and covered his ears. Shock Fist finally caught up with them and balled his fists.
"Alright, guys! Keep your distance! I'll hold him off until more pros show up!" Shock Fist said, still trying to get them to back off.
"What are you talking about? We got him!" Zachary yelled.
While Zachary was momentarily distracted, the robber pulled a large chunk of asphalt out from the road. He turned and hurled it at Zachary. It caught him in the shoulder, knocking him into a spiral. Ako flinched in surprise before sprinting forward.
He rushed directly into the big guy, who raised his arm to block Ako's hit. He leaned back a little from the force of the impact before chuckling and standing up, "Good attempt. Now it's my turn again." He said as he raised his fist up.
"Actually, it's mine!" Shock Fist yelled, jumping in and uppercutting the robber in the abdomen. The punch sent an electrical shock through his body. It wasn't enough to stop him, but it did catch him by surprise.
The robber flinched and stumbled away from Shock Fist. He regained his footing and threw a punch, which Shock Fist was barely able to dodge. Ako launched himself at the robber again, this time jumping up and slamming his knee into the big guy's face.
This time, the robber actually spun a little from the hit, turning his back to Shock Fist. He uppercutted the big guy in his back, sending another electric current up his spine. He yelped in pain and swung wildly at Shock Fist. His attack missed him and smacked Ako, who was still hurting from hitting him with his knee, knocking him to the side.
Zachary used sonic waves again to keep the robber off balance. He clutched his ears again and was about to grab something else to throw at him, but before that could happen, Zachary divebombed and crashed on top of the big guy's head. This was enough to force him down to one knee.
As Zachary flew out of the guy's reach, Shock Fist punched him right in the head. This electric punch finally immobilized the robber, causing him to flop on the ground and convulse uncontrollably. He seethed in pain through his teeth, still trying to fight.
That's when Ako ran back around and delivered the finishing blow. He lined himself up and delivered a swift punt kick to the robber's head. This knocked him unconscious immediately. The resulting burst of wind caused Ako to stumble and almost fall before catching himself.
Just as quickly as the fight had begun, it came to a definitive end. There was suddenly a calm silence all around them. Ako looked around to make sure that Shock Fist and Zachary weren't hurt.
"Alright!" Zachary exclaimed happily as he flew down, landing on the street, "Looks like we got him!"
"And just in time too!" Ako said with a nod. Several more local pro heroes had just arrived to provide backup, but they were surprised to see that the fight was already over.
"You two, stand to the side. We'll talk about this later." Shock Fist said, sounding less than thrilled about the win. Ako and Zachary looked at each other, not understanding what the problem was. However, they wordlessly obeyed anyways...
"So as it turns out, I had kinda the wrong idea about what this internship program was meant to be. I thought it was supposed to be our first taste at what being a pro hero is like. However, we were just meant to mainly observe and only step in for minor things that could be better controlled...we obviously didn't do that."
"What you two did today was reckless and dangerous," Ryukyu said to them when they got back to headquarters. "Either of you could have gotten seriously hurt. Not to mention you were so focused on winning the fight that you paid no attention to the civilians that were nearby." She pointed out.
"Was anyone seriously hurt?" Ako asked.
"No. Thankfully." She answered.
"Well then we can consider it a total win anyways, I'd say." Zachary commented.
"You got lucky, and lucky is not the way that we do things here at this agency. We'll be keeping a close eye on both of you for the rest of this week. But for now, you two can go home. We'll see you tomorrow." Ryukyu said, sending them off.
"Alright. Thanks." Zachary said before walking away.
"Sorry for causing so much trouble." Ako apologized before leaving too.
He left the building with his hands in his pockets. He sighed to himself and shook his head. He was getting really frustrated now with how he kept running into these problems.
On the one hand, he wanted to take initiative and show what he could do, but on the other hand, whenever he'd go too far he'd make mistakes and get in trouble. But he had no idea where he was expected to draw the line since he'd started off school in the wrong program.
He wasn't sure if he needed more patience or more experience...honestly? Probably both.
