Ok, let's get this straight…
I'm what many would call a "nerd". It's not that I disagree with that statement, I really am a huge nerd, geek, whatever you wanna call it. I mean, I'm a really good student. I've gotten all A's on every report card since grade school, though I would have to say that those grades were a result of my own hard work rather than pure intelligence.
Plus, my favorite pastimes LITERALLY consist of things like Dungeons & Dragons, comic books, memes, and videogames, though none of those rage-inducing shooters like C.O.D. or Fortnite. Seriously, why do SO many people find it compelling to keep playing when they are constantly putting their wall or that expensive controller in danger of being smashed out of anger. I saw my little cousin play Fortnite once and the whole time he was just screaming at the top of his lungs and hitting his bed every time he got killed, which happened every five fucking minutes! I mean… wait, hold on, I'm getting off topic again.
Anyway, I was always a MUCH bigger fan of Nintendo games. In fact, the first videogame I ever played was a Super Mario platformer. Man, that was a fun game. The music and characters, the powerups and enemies, it all just spoke to me in ways that those dumb shooters never could. The sense of adventure, the idea of being someone both skilled and powerful enough to take on an entire army to protect the ones you care about… that's what got me.
Back then, Mario was my idol, my hero! I was obsessed with his games, and played every new kind of Mario Bros. game that came out. Heck, I even did stuff in real life that made me feel like him, y'know, cringy stuff. I'd shoot my arm in the air and bend my legs to jump like him whenever I had something to jump onto, eat mushrooms thinking they would make me grow up bigger and stronger, and I'd even play that invincibility theme you get when Mario grabs that yellow power star in my head if I wanted a boost of energy for whatever reason. I was such a little dork back then. But that was a long time ago. I must have been around seven or eight years old at the time.
Now, I'm 16 years old, halfway through highschool. I've grown a lot since then, both physically and mentally. I left those childish things behind me, I am a young adult afterall.
However, since then, even though I still love playing Nintendo games, I've gained some new interests. For instance, when I was about 14 or 15, I started to get into anime. I watched your basic starter pack anime shows like Dragon Ball and One Piece, as well as a few other lesser known ones that I can never seem to remember the names of. However, it is now summer break before my junior year at highschool, and one of my friends recommended this one anime to me called "My Hero Academia". It sounded interesting enough, I do enjoy the hero trope afterall. I pull up the site I always use to watch anime on my phone, grab my airpods, head to the living room, plop down onto the old purple leather couch, and pull up the first episode.
Before I can press play, my mom walks in and sees me sitting there. She looks straight at me, and I knew she was about to say something, so I pull the airpods out of my ears and look at her expectantly.
She begins to speak with a look of excitement in her eyes, "Corbin, they're gonna launch that new particle accelerator here in a little bit, wanna watch it with me?"
She walks over to the couch next to me and picks up the remote to turn on the channel that was broadcasting the accelerator.
I glance quickly between my phone and her and say "Uuummm, I mean, I was just about to start watching this new show I've been meaning to watch. Plus… that accelerator isn't all that interesting. All they're gonna do is just smash a couple of atoms together and make a tiny black-hole that would only last for just an instant before hawking radiation makes it disappear. That, or try to make some kind of energy explosion that other accelerators have already done before."
She furrows her brow and asks, "How on earth did you know all that?"
I take a moment to get my shitty memory to remember where I learned it and then reply, "I learned it while at camp. One of the campers in our cabin was the son of a scientist who works with particle accelerators."
My mom raises her eyebrows and mumbles, "Really… huh, neat."
She finally finds the channel that was covering the particle accelerator, tosses the remote to the side, and turns her gaze back to me.
She smiles and says, "Well, this one is one of the biggest ever made. They cleared out all that land just south of town that used to just be forest and fields back when I was a kid. They started construction decades ago and now it's the size of a whole city! Plus, for it to be so close to us, it makes it all that more special."
She seems to be so invested in this accelerator, but according to the timer they set up on the t.v. broadcast, it'll be a little less than an hour before they actually activate the accelerator.
I hesitate and say, "Ehhh, I still don't know if I want to…"
She sighs and leans onto my shoulder with her hands and head. Then she speaks using that persuasive disappointed tone of hers, "Aw come on, please? Your dad's on a business trip and your brother and sister are both at their friends' houses. Can't we have a little quality mother-son time?"
She sticks out her bottom lip and gives me her puppy-dog-eyes in an attempt to guilt-trip me.
*Sigh*... it works.
I never like being the one responsible for someone feeling down, nor am I good at resisting such innocent requests.
I sigh and tell her, "Ok, I'll watch it with you. But can I at least watch my show until they activate the accelerator?"
She smiles and replies, "Oh alright, I'll just be sure to tell you when they are about to activate it."
She sits back and begins to watch the television and the reporters that were explaining the intricacies of the particle accelerator.
Now, time for me to get this little party started. I place the airpods back in my ears and press the play button.
In the first episode, I'm introduced to this character named Izuku Midoriya, who explains how his world became a world of superpowers. These "quirks" come in every shape and size, but apparently, Izuku was born without a quirk. I get very emotionally attached to the shows I'm watching or the books I'm reading, so I felt really bad for him. What's worse is that he has a bully named Bakugo who treats him like shit. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Izuku, as he seemed to try his best despite Bakugo, who calls him deku. I wondered what that meant? Probably an insult, but I just kept thinking of the deku tree and deku scrubs from zelda.
I watched and listened, soaking up all the information I could about this bizarre and awesome world. I learned about the number one hero All Might, whose power seemed to rival superman. I jumped straight into episode 2 and saw how brave Deku was, and how he will inherit All Might's power due to that heroicness. Next came episode 3, where I learned how one-for-all works, and that Deku had to go through hellish training to be able to gain one-for-all.
After finishing episode 3, I began to wonder. I wonder what quirk I would have? Rather, not just a quirk, but a power, an ability. Those usual abilities like invisibility, flight, superstrength, they never appealed to me. I would want something unique, but also something powerful, as I enjoy the whole overpowered hero trope. The first thing that came to mind was something that could take out a bad guy with a low chance of me getting hurt.
Not being able to get hurt huh? My mind suddenly reeled back to the time when I was younger, a time where I imagined having Mario's invincibility star. I would imagine that I would have this power whenever there was something ailing me. If it was too cold or hot outside, I imagined I was invincible ible and therefore immune to the hot or cold. If I was too tired or low on energy due to running or being sleepy, I'd imagine invincibility curing and preventing any fatigue.
Being invincible, now THAT sounded really cool. However, it's too simple to say you're invincible. Mario got that ability from the energy provided by a power star. Where would my invincibility come from? Actually, how does Mario's invincibility energy work? I suddenly remember what I had learned in school, about the duality of things like light as both energy waves and particles. Energy can be particles too huh? Then, it hit me, what if the energy used by Mario could also act as a particle? It actually made sense when I thought about it. The rainbow colored light Mario gave off when he was powered was just the energy leaving him as visible light in particle duality form. That also explains why the power runs out over time and why he kills anything he touched. The energy from the power star runs out after Mario uses all the energy and turns it all into light which escapes him. At the same time, since he's emitting that kind of energy, he would be so unbelievably hot to the touch that anything that got near him would feel like they were touching the surface of the sun. It all makes sense now. But he runs out of power and has to find another power source to use it again. Plus, he doesn't really control the power either, he just absorbs and emits it without having any control over any of it.
Suddenly, a wonderfully outlandish idea came to mind. What if I had the ability to both control AND generate/create these invincibility particles at will?
Huh, invincibility particles…. Man it would be so EPIC to have those kind of powers in a world like My Hero Academia.
It's around this point when my mom shakes my arm and points to the television. I look up from my phone and see the accelerator. The timer on the bottom of the screen had reached zero and there were multiple scientists scurrying about a large room with many different computers and scientific equipment. I pull out one of my airpods and listen.
They had activated the accelerator and are currently monitoring the results. Then, I see one of the scientists suddenly and quickly jolt up out of his seat. He turns and yells at his fellow scientists, who then seem to go into a panic. A red light begins to flash and yelling can be heard over the television.
I quickly become concerned and turn to my mother, who has also put on a terrified face. I look back to the t.v. and see that the scientists now seem to be fleeing the room in terror. Then, a massively bright light engulfs the image, cutting the broadcast off.
The moment the feed was cut, a strong light began to form outside the window to our left. My mom and I both jump up off of the couch to see the light growing brighter. The whole house then shakes violently and my mom grabs me and pulls me to the ground with her.
She wraps me in a tight hug and whimpers, "Dear God please save us!"
At this point I come to realize what is about to happen, and I return my mother's embrace with my own. I begin to sob, as I know that this is the last time I'll get to see my mother alive.
Before the light reaches the house, I call out to my mom in fear and sadness, "I love you mom."
She looks at me with tears in her eyes, a look of hopelessness peers back at me. She tucks my head under hers and cries, "I love you too sweetheart."
With those last heartbreaking words, the light swallows us up as I hold my mother in my arms.
. . .
The instant the light engulfed me, I feel the presence of my mother fade away, as if she just dissolved in my arms like cotton candy in hot water. I had braced for the inevitable pain that would envelope my flesh, but it never came. I had thought that my body would disintegrate in an instant, yet I still feel all of my extremities. I was just... falling. I'm falling through an infinite void of endless blinding white light.
I feel no pain, emotional or physical, I'm just drifting… drifting through the sea of white. Is this the afterlife? Am I in limbo? I try to come up with any kind of thought, any idea to distract me, but they soon just disappear as well, like a fading dream you will never remember.
I stay like this for a while, how long I do not know. For all I know I could have been here for centuries, or even just a few seconds. I begin to curl up into the fetal position, accepting that this is now my existence, falling through an endless white void. I close my eyes, but the light doesn't fade, as if closing them was the same as having them wide open. It doesn't matter, nothing matters anymore. I'm just going to end up staying here like this for the rest of eternity, alone, emotionless, and with no purpose other than to drift.
I continue on like this for an unknown amount of time, if time even exists here. Then, suddenly, I hear something. It was much to faint for me to know what it was or even what it sounded like, but it was a sound nonetheless. I lift my head and look around me. Nothing but the void looks back. I hear the noise again, but this time, it was louder, closer even. I uncurl from my fetal position and twist around to try and see if the sound was emanating from somewhere. I see nothing but more of the endless void. Once more, I hear the sound, this time I could make out what it sounded like. It sounded like a distant and muffled mumbling. Was this a voice I was hearing? The voice once again called out, louder but still not understandable, but this time I knew for sure it was a voice. As time goes by, the voice grows clearer and clearer, but there was still no sign of a source. Eventually, I could make out exactly what it was saying.
Once understandable, a seemingly genderless voice softly rings out, "What is that which you desire most of all?"
Did I hear that correctly? Desire most? What the fuck is happening?
Suddenly, my mind began to reel, like something was trying to pull a memory right out of my head. The reeling stopped, and what was left floating around in my head was a recent memory, a recent desire. It was what I was thinking about before the particle accelerator exploded.
The disembodied voice softly recites my thoughts, "The world of My Hero Academia…. This shall be your destination."
The memory then seemed to float out of my head and into the void before me. What now floats before me is the most bizarre thing I have ever experienced. It's like the very moment I had daydreamed about My Hero Academia stood before me. It's like seeing the physical embodiment of a thought or desire. No words, no visuals, no sounds, just… feelings… it's a blob of pure feelings.
Suddenly, the blob of emotions and thoughts begins to shift and seemingly focuses on one specific thing inside.
The ability to create and control invincibility particles….
The blob began to glow intensely, but not with light, rather the rising glow was that of what I could only describe as the combination of both the embodiment of desire and pure raw energy and power. The aura coming off of it grew almost unbearable, as if the increasing amount of raw physical desire and power were trying to explode into existence. Funny enough, it was kind of like what you might feel if you could sense "power levels" from Dragon Ball, but this power level was scary in that, it just kept rising. In fact it was already at a point where it was bordering the theoretical value of infinity.
The growing mass before me just got stronger and stronger, and soon finally reached a point of stability. The ball of desire and power was now so immense, it turned the blinding white light of the void black. I feel like I should be blind at this point, or insane, one of the two, yet I was still here.
The voice boomed, "You have chosen to go into this world with the power you created. However, due to its immense power and strength, you will need to start off with it in its weakest form, lest your body, mind, and soul be torn asunder by its sheer intensity."
I manage to squeak out a single word, "W-what?!"
The voice replies, "May your journey be fruitful little one."
Before I can make any sort of reply, the massive mound of power is thrusted towards me, and I am once again engulfed by an immense and blinding light, but this time, it was much different.
The pain, oh man the pain. It was nothing like I ever felt before. Everything felt like it was on fire, EVERYTHING. I could feel it in every cell, every molecule, every atom of my being. Did I say fire? Yeah, no, compared to this, fire might as well have been equivalent to absolute zero, KELVIN! If fire was absolute zero, this was like taking a dip into the core of the hottest star known to the universe. It's amazing how I could be conscious to feel this kind of suffering, let alone be alive for that matter. After a couple seconds of pure unimaginable agony, I finally slipped into the sweet forgiving embrace of unconsciousness.
. . .
I had no dreams, nothing, it was just black for God knows how long. It was definately way fucking better than going through whatever shit happened before it. Soon, however, I feel myself begin to stir. Eventually, I gain enough consciousness to force myself awake.
I force my eyes wide open, take in a deep, sharp breath, and rocket my upper body into a sitting position. The first thing I notice are two sharp and loud yelps coming from either side of my body, one much deeper than the other. The second thing is that I see that I am in what looks to be a giant crater the size of a building filled with sand and what looks to be charred glass that seems to either be hot to the touch or on fire. The third and final thing I notice is that there are two people next to me, one on my left and one on my right. To my left is an absolute mountain of a man with blond hair and massive muscles wearing a red, white, blue, and yellow skin-tight suit. To my right is a boy with green hair wearing a white t-shirt and blue-ish sweatpants.
Green hair? Red, white, blue, and yellow suit?
I instinctively do what I always do when faced with a situation this fucking bizarre and do the following, "uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh", I go fucking braindead.
As that rotating loading-screen wheel in my head continues to turn, the boy to my right stammers, "U-um, w-well, looks like he's awake now All Might."
The man to my left regains his composure and responds, "It-it appears you are correct young Midoriya."
All Might… Midoriya….
My brain stops buffering and all the clues snap together at once.
I mutter under my breath, "Whaaaaaaat the fuuuuuuuuuuuck."
I'm… in… THE WORLD OF MY HERO ACADEMIA!?