25/12/2021
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The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 31
Yakuni was trying not to hyperventilate. He was taking deliberately deep breaths to calm himself. Dragon had said he thought the quirk was ready, and apparently Dragon's Dad had checked later that day and had confirmed his son's assessment.
So today was the day. They'd find out today if his theory was correct. And if it was…
Well, he didn't know if he was going to be given this quirk. Daruma had indicated that Dragon's Dad had said he would be given one of them, but it could be one of the ones still growing. The man might want the job completed first. Dragon had said he could do the transfer but no one had ever said it would be this one.
He'd thought a lot about it over the last few days. The idea of getting a quirk… it actually sickened him in some ways. It reinforced that a quirk was the only way to get ahead in this world. That a quirk was the only way to be seen as human. Despite living that reality since he was four and a half, he wanted to reject it but Yakuni knew that even if he rejected it, the world didn't. All that would lead to was starving, shame and death.
He might hate this but it was a chance.
"Do you see the way the quirk is less nebulous now, my Little Dragon?" That was Dragon's dad. He wasn't present but was here via an audio only call.
Dragon himself was looking at the tank with curious eyes. "It's more condensed," he reported.
"Yes, exactly!"
"But it's still a bit like Giran's quirk. Why are some quirks fuzzy like that?"
Yakuni had no idea what they were talking about. He was fascinated and he could see that Ujiko was similarly interested but it didn't make any sense. He guessed that unless you could see a quirk like they could it wasn't going to make sense. But it was interesting. Quirks seemed to vary so much, not just in what they could do but in how they looked and felt.
"I believe it is a reflection of their use, my Little Dragon, and I think this one will sharpen with use."
Dragon blinked and then he nodded, apparently understanding that statement.
"Now, my Little Dragon, would you like to transfer the quirk to Mr Tanaihito, and then, while it settles in him, we will discuss updating his terms of employment."
Yakuni almost panicked when he heard that. No! Was he getting fired? He couldn't be! Why would they fire him?
"Um… won't having a second quirk hurt Yakuni?" Dragon asked.
The question penetrated Yakuni's panic. Why was Dragon asking that?
"It will not hurt him," Dragon's dad said. "Why don't you look?" It was odd to hear him sounding encouraging when Yakuni distinctly remembered him as terrifying.
Dragon turned to him and while Yakuni didn't know what the boy saw, he knew when Dragon understood. "Oh," he murmured, and then smiled. "A second quirk can't hurt you if you don't have a first," he said.
Yakuni blinked. He wasn't sure he understood that but that wasn't the matter. He stared at Dragon for a few moments. Did the boy truly not know he didn't have a quirk? Had he never checked? If that was the case then… Why was… Was Dragon really just that nice to people? Did he not care about quirks? Was he really that good of a man?
From the look in Dragon's eyes he was. Yakuni almost trembled. What do you feel about someone like that?
"Are you ready?" Dragon asked, grinning. The boy was excited.
He took a deep breath, steadying himself. The sheer thankfulness he felt towards Daruma was accompanied by … he didn't know what to call it but he was going to work for Dragon's Dad for as long as he could, even if after getting this quirk he had to beg to stay. "I am," Yakuni said finally, though he still felt like trembling.
Dragon was still grinning and he held out one hand to the tank. He made a grabbing gesture. Yakuni wasn't sure what he was expecting but he realised then that he was being stupid to expect lights or some other sign.
"You are ready?" Dragon asked again.
Yakuni nodded.
"Be gentle," Dragon's Dad said softly. It almost sounded like he was anticipating something.
"I'll be careful," Dragon replied and for a moment Yakuni froze under his gaze. He reached a small hand towards him and…
It felt odd. He had never thought about what it might feel like to have a quirk. The few times anyone would talk, they all said it didn't feel like anything. This felt odd. It felt as if something had been added to him. It was actually true. Something had been added to him. A quirk.
"There you go," Dragon announced. "All safe and sound."
"Very smooth," Dragon's dad complimented his son.
Honestly, Yakuni wouldn't have known the difference but he supposed it was better to have the transfer be smooth.
"Do you feel it, Mr Tanaihito?" Dragon's Dad asked.
He focused for a second before he nodded.
"He does," Dragon replied.
Yakuni blushed, remembering that Dragon's Dad was on a voice only call. "I'm sorry, Sir. Yes, I can feel it," he said, thankful that his voice was steady.
"Good," Dragon's Dad said. "Now, we will let it settle before you can practice with my son. In the meantime, I believe this is an opportune time to discuss alterations to your terms of employment."
"I still want to work for you," Yakuni said swiftly.
There was a chuckle from the TV. "I have no intention of firing you but I believe we can expand your duties," Dragon's Dad said. "With an appropriate adjustment to your remuneration."
Yakuni couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd just been given a quirk and the man was talking about giving him a pay rise as well? He was dreaming. He had to be dreaming. Ijime had to have knocked him out and he was having a really long dream.
"While you are getting used to your new quirk, your first task will be to accelerate the other specimens," Dragon's Dad instructed.
It was something Yakuni should have expected. "I think you can also find some more assistants for Daruma," he continued. "I do not need people like yourself. They do not need to have ideas, they just need to be reliable," he described the people he was looking for.
"Yes, Sir," Yakuni said as he nodded. He already knew a few people he could ask. They were quirkless but they would work hard. That's what Dragon's Dad wanted.
"While you are working on that, I believe you will be in an ideal position to collect other genetic samples. There are other quirks that I believe would be most beneficial to me," Dragon's Dad said.
"Dad?" Dragon asked.
"My Little Dragon, Mr Tanaihito has come up with a method of copying a quirk without needing to remove it from its owner. While I will still help people, there are other quirks, I believe will be useful. Especially now that the quirk can be copied, without the original owner having to lose it."
"Oh," Dragon said, and Yakuni could hear that he understood.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Mr Tanaihito?"
Yakuni paused slightly, trying to think of a good way of asking this question. It was probably one that could wait but he felt that he had to ask now. "Do you have a preference for the type of genetic material?"
"What do you mean?" Dragon asked.
Yakuni gave him an apologetic look. "Genetic material may be collected from just about anywhere. Blood, bone, skin, teeth, spit, poo," he added the last, almost cringing.
"So long as the sample is viable, I do not care," Dragon's father replied almost immediately.
"Yes, Sir,' Yakuni indicated. He should have anticipated that answer. The man was one for results, and given what he was working on, human cloning, he didn't care about rules.
"Now, it is time to learn what your quirk does," Dragon's father said and the sign that said 'voice only' disappeared.
Dragon smiled at him and Yakuni could see that he was excited. "Come on!" The boy said, taking his hand and dragging him away.
Yakuni didn't resist as he was led to a large room. The floor was lined with matts, and more were strapped around each of the support pillars. Near the back of the room was a series of hanging punching bags. Benches were against another wall and there was a set of weights in one of the corners, accompanied by a frame that looked horribly complex.
Dragon led him to the middle of the room, and they stood in the centre of a circle that was marked on the matts. Yakuni smiled at him.
"Thank you," he said.
Dragon cocked his head slightly. "Hmm?" It was question enough.
"You, and your Dad have helped me more than you know," Yakuni explained. He'd never said thank you before, not to someone with a quirk and actually mean it. He did now.
Dragon nodded, and Yakuni got the impression that he actually understood. The young boy didn't say anything and Yakuni could understand that. Before the silence stretched too long between them, he broke it again. "How do I practice with a quirk?"
It was a silly but obvious question. Until half an hour ago, he'd been quirkless! He had no idea what to do with a quirk.
The question caused Dragon to smile before he chuckled. "I was like that with my first one but dad explained," he said. "First you need to feel it."
Yakuni nodded as he closed his eyes. He could feel it. It was a foreign thing in him.
"Just feel it for a few moments," Dragon instructed. "Get used to it. It's your quirk now," he added.
The words were fantastic. His quirk. His quirk. He'd thought… He'd be lying if he hadn't wished, when he was younger, that he would develop a quirk. His parents had hoped that as well. At least they had, all the way up until the time he was diagnosed as quirkless. Then they'd stopped hoping. He'd dreamed for a little while longer. He'd wished, he'd prayed… but reality had ground that out.
And now reality had given him a quirk. He didn't know what it did though but he could feel it.
"When you are ready to try it, pull on it a little bit and feel what it wants you to do."
That wasn't exactly the best instruction but… Yakuni almost laughed hysterically. There weren't quirk instructors. Everyone simply knew how to use their quirk. He had to figure it out. Dragon's instructions were probably the best he was going to get, unless he could ask the original owner but he was pretty sure they were dead. Or at least in one of the experiment tanks and that was as good as dead.
He took a deep breath and poked at the quirk within him. He tried to remain relaxed so that he would move without thinking. That seemed the best way to test the quirk, except nothing happened.
"I should have asked what this quirk did," Yakuni said. In all the time he'd tended to the experiment, he'd never bothered to ask what the quirk did. "Can you tell?"
Dragon shook his head. "Unless I get told, I have to figure it out by using it," he replied.
"And how long does it take you to figure out?" He couldn't help the question.
"Not long. But I've practiced with a lot of quirks," Dragon was quick to reassure him. "Dad lets me practice on his. Some of them are so difficult!" He added.
Yakuni nodded and tried not to feel frustrated. He wasn't frustrated. This was his first day with a quirk. He knew that kids had trouble with quirks at first and that's what he was now. A four-year old with a new quirk. He couldn't expect to be proficient immediately.
"Try it again," Dragon encouraged.
Yakuni reached inside himself again, poking the quirk. It didn't do anything. He poked it again and again there was no reaction.
"Maybe try pulling it? And really think that you want it to work," Dragon instructed.
This time Yakuni grabbed the quirk, and thought Work!
He didn't know what he expected. He felt something happen but he didn't know what. Yakuni looked around, trying to work out what had happened.
Dragon looked at him quizzically.
"It did something," he reported.
Yakuni was sure most people would have doubted him because nothing appeared to have changed but Dragon just nodded. Then the boy grinned. "We'll just have to figure it out. Try running?"
He obeyed but immediately knew the quirk wasn't doing anything for him there.
Dragon shrugged when he stopped but wasn't disappointed. "Hit one of the punching bags," he said instead.
Yakuni moved to the back of the room where they were set up and hit one but again knew that the quirk hadn't done anything. "I don't think it's got to do with physical ability," he said. He didn't know how he knew that, he just knew it.
Dragon grinned at him. "Great! You are already learning about it," he said brightly.
"What, you think I instinctively knew that?" Yakuni couldn't help but demand.
The boy nodded, not catching his sharpness. "We all use our quirks instinctively at first, before we learn how to control them," he said, as if it was fact.
Yakuni realised it was fact. It was just a fact someone quirkless didn't know. "So how am I going to figure this out? Am I just meant to wait until something happens?" He asked as he wandered over to one of the benches. There was a gripper on it.
Dragon came to sit with him. The boy picked up one of the other grippers and began squeezing it. Yakuni tried as well but blushed when he realised he could barely move the tool. The other boy didn't appear to have any problem as he rhythmically squeezed the gripper. How much grip strength did he have? Yakuni didn't want to find out. He slouched, and put his hands in his pockets.
Dragon stopped moving. He stared at him.
"What?" Yakuni demanded.
The boy smiled. "I know what your quirk does," he announced.
At that, Yakuni sat up. "What? How?"
The boy grinned. There was a happy glow to the expression. "Take your hands out of your pockets and look at them," he said.
Yakuni did that and then held them up. His eyes went wide. "How?" He was still holding the gripper and there was no way that fit into his pocket.
"Put them back in your pocket," Dragon said.
He did. The gripper went in. They were both watching this time so they both saw it warp and shrink to find into the small space.
"That's fantastic!" Dragon cheered.
Yakuni didn't know what to feel. It was… This was… It was his quirk! He couldn't believe it. It wasn't a minor, almost useless quirk either, which he would have accepted. This was something useful…
Dragon's father's words came back to him. I believe you will be in an ideal position to collect other genetic samples. He could. With this quirk, he could! And he could hide them. He could hide almost anything! He could run materials through checkpoints. Lots of material. No one would believe that he could fit large things in his pockets.
"I wonder if you need a physical pocket or can make one at will?" Dragon asked.
"I think," Yakuni said, suddenly breathless. "I think that will have to wait for another day," he got out as he slumped back on to the bench. He closed his eyes and wasn't surprised to feel that they were wet.
"Thank you," he sobbed. The reality was setting in. "Thank you so much," he said as he shook with tears.
Yakuni didn't see the look Dragon gave him but he did feel the boy's hand on his shoulders. It was comforting. He turned towards the young man as he cried. He was crying for the past. He was crying for his future. He was crying for everything that had ever happened to him because he didn't have a quirk.
It shouldn't have to be this way. But it was. He knew that. He wasn't a fool.
But now… now things were different. And he couldn't thank Dragon and his father enough for that. He didn't care if the world called them villains. That didn't matter. They had helped him. They were helping others. He knew that because he knew other's had been put on as staff and now he was going to suggest even more people who could use a job. And they'd given him a quirk. He couldn't thank them enough for that.
He was going to try though. He would definitely try.
-ted-
So yes, we all knew what the quirk was going to do. AFO knew what the quirk would do, but Yakuni and Izuku didn't and now they get to bond over it.
Obviously, Yakuni is one of the lucky, lucky quirkless people who gets to interact with AFO and thus be paid in the currency of social acceptance. Others will not have that privilege and he does recognise how lucky he is. Still he will still be the voice of the quirkless and since he has AFO and Dragon's ear that voice just got a whole lot louder.
My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out.
-ted-
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