Disclaimer: I don't own My Hero Academia; that belongs to Horikoshi. Nor do I own Pokémon; that's GameFreak/Nintendo. I am also not someone who worked on the Fangame Pokémon Reborn. I also have not written and do not own any songs that appear in this fic or work as the title of each of my chapters.

A/N: Unfortunately, I have become attached to Endo. I just felt like Saori could use some more friends. Particularly a safe one that isn't complicated.

WARNING: Nothing explicit, but Suicide is mentioned, along with manslaughter.

I hope you enjoy this chapter and this story!


Chapter 5: Leaving crumpled bodies in my wake

"I know you're the new vigilante in the area, Kaida-san." When Saori met up with Endo for their weekly lunch between friends, this wasn't what she expected him to immediately say. "Vigilantism is a crime. I should be arresting you right now."

"And yet you're not. Why?" She asked. Partially distracted by trying to recall what was on the menu.

Endo sighed. "Well, there's no evidence for one. I can't convict you if there's no evidence." His fingers drummed on the table. "Besides, as intimidating as you look, the others won't believe you could do it. You're good at not leaving any evidence."

She smirked at him and stood up. "I'll order, you want anything?" She could feel his resigned glare. Endo was good, and he followed the rules to a T, but he was empathetic. He knew she couldn't do much better in life than she was doing now.

"I'll have a Ham and Cheese Toasted Sandwich and a Mochaccino." He let out, defeat colouring his tone. She nodded and went to order. When she returned, the topic wasn't brought up and their conversation was filled with the normal topics. This was funny considering how her undoubtedly weird questions were what qualified for normal.

As they were gearing up to leave, Endo told her something she wouldn't have expected from him. "There's some kind of crime being committed a kilometre to the west. It's constant, so they have a stable base and it's been going on for a while. We can't get a warrant or a court order to let us on the premises. My quirk alone isn't enough for that since its subjective." He paused here, this was going against himself, and she could hear his heart stuttering along with his breath. His voice was choked as he continued. "If you could check it out? Maybe just raise a ruckus. We'll be allowed to respond."

She folded her arms into her sleeves, letting the movement give her a bit of time to respond to the unexpected prompt. A kilometre away. Locating the area took only a minor bit of effort. The conversations were impossible to define, but there was a small crowd of people. She nodded at Endo. His shoulders slumped and he shuddered.

"When will be appropriate for you? I haven't got any commitments." She asked.

"Around dusk. I'll be back on duty then. I don't want to give those people a chance to actually do damage. I hope I don't see you then, Kaida-san." He waved and started to walk away.

"You won't. Stay safe, Endo-san." She walked away.


A few hours later, Saori was lying on the top of the roof of the posh building. The small crowd of people was about twelve people. Most of them were faintly familiar but it was their conversation that let her recognise them.

"We need to figure out that vigilante's weaknesses. It's too fast and strong to fight. It's got to have a weakness." One stated. "We were lucky they couldn't pin any crimes on us when it left us at the police station, but they're going to catch on if we can't even get a good look at the thing to blame in our stead."

"It's more active at night, maybe we should just use the daytime? If we get caught, then maybe we can at least get a good look at it." Another suggested.

"Are you kidding me, Seigo?" One shouted. "Hawks is more active during the day. And unlike the vigilante, we're done for if he catches us."

Whoever this Hawks was seemed to have as terrible a naming sense as her Mum. She smiled and sat up on the roof. She heard all she needed to hear. The fact that vigilantes couldn't convict criminals they found was never something that she didn't know. The fact that the people below her were people she had fought before also wasn't a surprise. Hoping that they'd change their ways was nice, but she knew it would never get results. Hence why she never pre-empted an assault or mugging.

Witnesses could do what she couldn't. She'd learnt that from her Mum years ago. It just depended on whether the witnesses would speak up.

One of the people below choked on air and started to hyperventilate. Advanced senses or foresight? It didn't matter. Shifting her form, she slashed through the roof and ripped the entire thing off with a claw. She flung the roof directly up. Knocking them out and getting them out from underneath the soon to be falling roof would be a small challenge. It'd be more invigorating than the actual fight itself would be.

A mouth full of layered, serrated teeth grinned down at the doomed group. A darkening sky and the fading sunlight silhouetted a tall lithe form. She let out an almost deafening roar that echoed through the streets. One person fired bullets at her from their fingers, and another transformed to become a hulking, heaving being.

She hardened her forehead like Kiefer taught her and rammed into the transformative quirk user, dodging the bullets in the process. The close proximity let her launch the gorilla-man, if she got the animal right, into another person. Two in one, nice.

A person punched one of her sensory head protrusions. They screamed as their flesh ripped and tore, clinging to her. She grunted and shook her head, reorienting herself. Another tried to take advantage of the distraction, throwing a growing rock at her. She cleaved through it and rushed the thrower.

Her claws dug into the flesh, she restrained herself from going too deep into the male's chest. No need to kill any of them.

She swept with her tail to knock the person attempting to attack from behind off their feet. Long pants were ripped off at the knees and the skin lightly grazed underneath. They swung out with their sword, so she caught and crushed it in her teeth. The shards in her mouth were spat out at the small cluster off to the side. Not very accurate, but it impaled one of them and scratched another.

Hearing returned to her protrusion and the faint rustling of feathers and beats of large wings in the distance became apparent. The roof reached its peak above them and started to drop. Small pieces of debris that had broken off rained down on them. Time to stop playing.

She sunk into the ground. A few tried to run, others attacked where she had just stood. Rushing out of the ground at the runners, she got hit in the face with a blast of pressurised water. It barely slowed her down and with the weakness of the attack, it barely hurt her. She bit down on and threw the water wielder, the other runners trampled beneath her. They groaned in pain, even unconscious.

The roof reached peak velocity on its downward path. Blades flew through the air, directed at the roof. They changed their path in mid-air. Telekinetic, interesting. It didn't matter though; her job was done. She broke through a wall, followed the familiar scent, and picked up the blade oil the katana user used on their sword. Then she sank into the ground and left.

Saori didn't know the range of the psychic hero that sent those blades to catch the roof. Although after reconsidering it, they were probably merely ferrokinetic. Why else would they use blades to catch a roof when they could do it themselves? Or maybe it was a size issue?

She rose out of the ground near her home. The best place was a construction site. It was still the early days so the ground is still mostly dirt, but eventually, it will be concrete, and she'll have to find another trackless area to emerge from.

She spat out the tub of oil from her cheek and picked up her robe where she buried it a few feet underground with her necklace. The bracelet was able to stay on her other form due to a slit she had made for her wing. The lingering taste in her mouth was horrible. She knew the first thing she'd be doing when she got back was rinsing her mouth out.


"They gave a description of you," Endo said a week later, sipping on his Mochaccino. "Over two metres tall, black as night, glowing eyes, a giant maw filled with hundreds of teeth. They're hysterical though, so not many people think their descriptions are accurate. I'm actually one of the few that do." He put down his mug.

"Only because you knew I'd be there." She bit a chunk out of her steaming hot pie. "Although, I'm more of a navy blue and I'm under two metres, unfortunately. Biggest disappointment really. Also, my eyes are apparently reflective, so that's probably the glow."

He stared at her bewildered. "You know, most people wouldn't try to say they look like a criminal." The laugh was restrained, but it was so clear in his speech.

"Well, I unfortunately do. I'm almost identical to my father, that fucking psycho shitstain." She snorted a laugh. "I lack the throat scar my Mum gave him though. Oh, and he's got a notch in his dorsal fin if I'm remembering the term right. The big one out of our back." She gestured then leaned back, she dropped the other half of her pie in her mouth.

"Oh." Endo remained silent for a while. "Anything you want to say about him or…" He cut himself off as she shook her head.

"Nah, that arsehole is in another country and doesn't know where I am, so no need to worry about him. Oh, just so you know, my Mum never so much as met the guy before I was born. Mum didn't know about me until I was like… Fuck, I can't remember how old I was when Mum rescued me." Well, she did actually, she just didn't want to say it.

But if there was one thing that Saori hated the thought of enough to bring it up, it was her Mum and father actually… doing it. Especially since her Mum was asexual and romantically 'pre-dating' someone else at the time of her conception. Said pre-dating was more of a presentation stage or courtship if you asked her, but she wasn't exactly around to see it.

"I see," Endo said, voice full of understanding and acceptance. "I can't actually relate that much. I've got the stereotypical, hetero, caring parents deal. But I've dealt with cases like yours."

"One day, I'm going to reveal something that'll make you take that back." She smiled at him. "But thanks. You're a pretty good friend, Endo-san."

He snorted at her. "Please, Kaida-san. You've just revealed a part of your tragic backstory to me. We can at least let go of honorifics."

"Endo then." She sipped her hot chocolate. "So, any tragic backstory things you've got? I can keep secrets."

"Oh, it's nothing compared to yours, Kaida. But back in school…" He revealed how he was bullied in school, some referring to his quirk as a snitcher or his teacher's pet traits. He has a younger brother at university at the moment. Studying Nursing. Along with an older sister who's a psychologist.

She let slip a few things about her older siblings.

"Wait, how many siblings do you have? I swear you've referred to at least four." He asked, counting on his fingers.

"Seven older ones and one younger." She admitted. "Three are dead. Manslaughter, I think the term is, for two of them, and a suicide. I haven't seen the rest in… fuck, I'm bad at time… um, over a year at least. Doesn't matter, I can't go back to them anyway. Shit happened."

"Ah." Endo merely said.

She shrugged at his speechlessness. "The situation's fucked up. I can't really talk about it without swearing to try to lighten it up." The faint smile on her face she'd forgotten was there dropped off it. "Unfortunately, that doesn't always work. I don't want to talk about this anymore. Sorry."

He shook his head. "No problem. Anything else you want to talk about today, or should we go our separate ways?"

She considered it for a second before gesturing for the second option. "See you next week, Endo."

"I'll see you next week, Kaida." He replied. She snorted at his tone.

He left the park they met at this time first. She sat and listened. At least six different birds, a scattering of bugs, some 'rodents' though she doesn't know why they got that name. They made good emergency rations or snacks after all.

The winged hero was off to her right. Helping an old lady and a few other civilians on the street. Dabi was in the mall. Probably buying hair dye. She wasn't looking forward to the renewal of the stink it will leave in the bathroom he'd choose to use. Why did she let him in where she lived again? Right, because he figured it out and he's her only other 'friend'. Though it's quite a loose title for him.

Maybe she could let him move in if he promised to do the groceries? She'd been slipping most of her extra food into her sleeves because she couldn't really shop. Stupid inability to read and calculate the expenses.

She could make do with her handouts from the centre though. Although going out in winter will be hellish. Except… he does have a fire quirk. Maybe, just for the winter? She doesn't really trust him. It would make sleep in short supply that season, but she could make do with that easier than freezing.

She shelved the idea for later. Maybe if she's desperate or, more likely to break her resolve, closer to the season that's already only two weeks away. It was already bad enough, but it was sunny enough to not make her hate the world. Standing up, she started the track home. Maybe she could steal some blankets? They'd likely get torn to pieces, but nests exist.

Hope filled her with the idea. She barely refrained from skipping but she did sing a song on the way home. Some of the looks and whispers at her song choice were funny.

"You'll break your back to make me feel again
Suffocate to make me breathe again
Lose your mind from endless praying
Some things never change, never change, oh
Redemption never came."


Coming up next: Sometimes to win, you've got to sin

The last update and the ending of Pokémon Reborn is going to be released to the public soon. Ahh, I'm so excited. But I'm also going to wonder if it'll change anything major for the backstory.

The song of the chapter was Redemption, Besomorph and Coopex.