So, as of writing this, considering I wrote this the night after I wrote and uploaded Chapter 1, this story already has over a 100 views, 10 favourite's and 24 alerts. I'm ULTRA (forgive me) happy each time and email pops up with news of this, I wasn't expecting this kind of response from one chapter in ONE DAY! Pressure is on now to deliver! I'll let you get to it, but there will be another A/N at the bottom for those interested. Sewrtyuiop, I'm lookng at you! Thanks for my very first review!
I'll just clarify this here as well in case anyone is confused and i'll explain in a new chapter if someone gets their own type of speech.
"Normal Speech bubbles is just normal speech!"
'Italics in single quotes is thoughts' Izuku might get the odd thought heard out loud for his muttering :)
"BOLD CAPS IS ALL MIGHT IN MUSCLE FORM! He'll get normal speech as Toshinori!"
Chapter 2 – Actions and Consequences
"He's got some pretty bad burns along one side of his body and some falling rubble injured his leg, but he'll recover." Kamui explained, the three looking at him with wide eyes. The spiky blonde-haired schoolboy had stopped looking at Kamui, just staring in shock as the stretcher carried the unconscious man away for treatment.
Sure, he had picked on kids at school and given them the odd bruise or burn mark, but this was different. This was just a random stranger that probably didn't even know what was happening outside of his building.
"Hey kid, I know it looks bad, but you shouldn't blame yourself, it was an accident. You were fighting for your life against a villain!" Death Arms stated, placing one of his large hands onto Bakugo's shoulder.
"No, you shouldn't blame yourself kid, but make no mistake, it was your fault." Kamui continued, a sombre look on his varnished face. Bakugo turned to stare at the Pro, meeting his eyes with shock and confusion.
"Kamui!" How can you say that! You can't blame him for what happened here?! It was the villain's fault!" Backdraft shouted, turning on his fellow Pro.
"I didn't mean it like that, and you know it! Kid, as hard as this may be to hear, your power did this to that man." Kamui explained, crossing his arms. "While it was an accident, this is what can happen when we let our quirks get out of control. While the situation WAS desperate, if you were a pro using that kind of power with no care as to your surroundings, you're no longer trying to save people. You're just a child playing around with a loaded gun."
Bakugo looked between Kamui as he spoke and the ambulance carrying the burnt man as it drove away, sirens blaring.
He had done that to him. His quirk. His power. His actions.
He had wanted to be the number one hero from the moment he got his quirk, his teachers had made it obvious. His quirk was amazing. He deserved to be number one. No one had stood in his way before, no one had ever called him out on how he used it before.
And now here stood Kamui Woods, a popular but relatively new Pro Hero, saying he was acting like a child. No one had ever spoken to him like that before, not his friends, not his teachers, not even his parents. Bakugo stared down at his hands, still twitching slightly from overusing his arms. He saw the small smoke marks littered across his palms that always came with his quirk, before his vision blurred and the marks became blood before his eyes.
Bakugo's eyes shot open, staring down in shock as he tried to understand, but all he could see was the body of the burnt man and then every kid he had ever picked on over the years, lying in place on that stretcher. His body started shaking, air flowing in and out of his lungs. He screwed his eyes shut and clenched his fists, pushing the images out of his head.
'What are you doing idiot? You've never doubted yourself before…' he thought
'…we've never put somebody in the hospital before…'his conscious replied.
Bakugo opened his eyes and stared back at his hands, back to the normal smoky pattern.
"Kid?" Backdraft called out
Bakugo looked back up at them, realising he had been silent for a while. The three pros sighed, thinking he was having a panic attack or something.
"I'm not saying don't try and be a hero, because you could do some real good. But just keep this in mind when you're going through school. Power is just power, plain and simple. It's your attitude and the decisions you make that make you a hero…" Kamui finished, finally turning and walking away.
Bakugo watched him leave, his wooden body creaking as he walked, disappearing around a corner, not bothering to stop and talk with the press. Bakugo followed suit, picking up his discarded school bag and walking in the opposite direction towards his home, brushing past the two remaining heroes and through the crowd of civilians.
"Damn tree…" he muttered to himself.
Back in the alley, All Might was still stood surrounded by cameras and microphones but had watched and heard the entire conversation with the young boy.
'Kamui Woods…You'll go far…' He thought, smiling to himself.
'Now…. how do I get myself out of this?' He continued, smiling awkwardly down at the media, looking for any reason to escape.
He eyed up a group of firemen trying to move the section of wall from earlier and saw his chance. "EXCUSE ME EVERYONE! A HEROES WORK IS NEVER DONE! YOU MEN THERE! LET ME GET THAT FOR YOU!"
Izuku was shuffling his feet towards his home, not really caring at what speed he got there. Even ignoring the physical stress he'd been through today; his mind was just exhausted. He had been picked on by Kacchan, nothing new there, had his newest analysis book blown up and nearly fed to the fishes, been attacked by a villain, saved by his favourite hero, decided to latch onto said heroes leg to go city jumping, got his dream rejected by said hero, threw himself into a suicidal rush at the escaped villain only to be saved by All Might again and then lectured by other pro heroes.
How was he still even standing?
He couldn't help but laugh at himself, somehow making it through all that.
"Well, at least Kacchan is safe and the villain was caught aga-."
"I AM HERE!" All Might shouted, skidding into his path, the setting sun silhouetting his form like a golden cloak.
"A-All Might?! What are you doing here? You were surrounded by reporters?!" Izuku stuttered out, half panicking that the villain had escaped AGAIN.
"HAHAHAHA! I HAVE MY WAYS OF GETTING AROUND THE-'blurgh!'" He started as blood fountained out of his mouth, his body deflating. 'Damn, I really pushed my time today, I'm going to feel that tomorrow' he thought to himself.
"Are-are you alright? I know you said you were out of time before so you must be-." Izuku started.
"Young man" All Might interrupted, taking on a serious tone, his dark eyes stopping any reply from Izuku. "I want you to tell me what back there. Why did you go running into that fight, knowing that you couldn't fight him?"
Izuku's mouth opened for words, but nothing came out. Really? He had just been lectured by the other heroes for his actions and now All Might had chased him down, in hero form no less, to lecture him more?
"I-I..." Izuku started, emotions tumbling around in his head. "I don't know what happened, one minute I was watching in fright the next my legs-."
"Started moving by themselves, without you being able to stop them? Your heart racing in your chest and your brain going a mile a minute?" All Might finished for him, a smile forming on his pointed face.
"Y-Yeah, I couldn't think at all, I didn't even realise what I had done until after everything was finished…" Izuku explained, looking down at his feet, still not sure himself why he had done what he did.
"Young Man" interrupting again, All Might walked forward, placing a bony hand on the boy's shoulder, making him raise his head. "Every Top Hero has a story, usually from some time before they even got their license, of a time where their bodies just moved without them thinking, rushing straight on into certain danger, acting only on instinct to help those in need."
Izuku's breath caught in his throat, staring into the man's eyes, two points of vivid blue shining amidst the dark.
"Today, you did what no one else could do, not civilians, not Pro heroes, not even me." All Might continued
Izuku fell to his knee's the hand falling from his shoulder, tears springing to his eyes. All he could think right now was what his mother had said to him on that dark day of his childhood, crying into his hair.
'I'm sorry Izuku. I'm so, so sorry!" Midoriya Inko had squeaked out between sobs.
'No mom, that's not what you were meant to say…You were meant to say…'
'You can-.'
"-be a hero." All Might called out.
The words seemed to echo inside his skull, burning themselves into his memory so that he would never forget this moment, the defining moment of his life were someone, finally, said yes.
"You truly are a worthy successor for my power" All Might stated, looking down at the boy crying a river into the pavement, his body shaking with joy.
"Now…" All Might said, grabbing the boy by the shoulders and raising his head to look at him in the eyes before smiling awkwardly.
"What did you say your name was again?"
"Dagobah Municipal Beach Park. Because of the currents frequently bringing in waste from out at sea, a large collection of trash has formed here over the years and since no one decided to keep cleaning it up, people decided to use it as their own personal dumping ground." All Might rattled off as if reading from a textbook. He turned to Izuku, who was currently face down in the sand, exhausted. "Careful where you do that, you never know what other kinds of things could be littered around here…" He said, making the boy hop to his feet quickly.
"So, not that I doubt you All Might, b-but why am I here again?" Izuku countered.
"I told you. The essence of being a hero is in self-sacrifice. Whether that be risking your life to save them from a villain or giving up your time to help improve their lives, it's the same idea. Volunteering yourself for this task is not only training your body, but your first act as a true hero! And when people come here, ten months from now and they can finally see that glittering sunrise, you will be ready!" All Might explained.
"You mean, I have to clear all of this?" Izuku gestured out to the roughly mile long section of beach with trash as high as two All Might's. "In ten months?! Even working around school, homework, sleep, getting in a proper diet…"
"NOT TO WORRY! WITH THIS! MY AMERICAN DREAM PLAN!" All Might interrupted having burst back into his muscle form, waving a stack of paper in his face. "THIS PLAN WILL COVER YOUR ENTIRE LIFE, FROM DAWN TILL DUSK, FOR THE NEXT TEN MONTHS! IT'S GOING TO BE HELLISH WORK KID, ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE?!"
Izuku leafed through the plan in front of him. It really had everything! It was a good thing he didn't really have a social life, otherwise that would be completely ruined. Food, School, Homework, Sleep and… "Who's Mirio Togata?" Izuku asked, finding one odd page, with a picture of a student by the looks of it.
"OH! MY MISTAKE, THAT MUST HAVE GOTTEN MIXED UP IN THERE! HAHAhaha ha haa…" All Might answered nervously, snatching the paper from his hand, screwing it up and launching it into a trash can by the parking lot. 'Shit! I didn't mean to leave that in there! Hopefully he doesn't realize what it was for…' All Might thought to himself.
"Umm, okay. Well, I think, looking at the rest of it…I-I can do it! No, I will do it!" Izuku stated, steeling his resolve. 'I'm going to do this! Ten months, it's cutting it close, but I'll prove to everyone that I can do this! To my mom, to Kacchan, even to you All Might. I'll make you regret ever doubting me!' Izuku decided, locking eyes with the titan of a man in front of him.
"GOOD! NOW…Welcome to hell!" All Might replied, handing him back the ropes to giant cabinet behind him.
And there you have it! Chapter 2! I'm sorry if it's a bit too much like canon, but changes are coming next, dont worry!
I'm also seeing this as an exercise for writing as it is, even if I am repeating some canon it's helpnig me define how I write and the little quirks i have in writing. Do let me know if the way i'm doing things is awkward or difficult!
I appreciate any reviews! A quick comment about anything or even questions, I'm happy to try and respond!(avoiding spoilers of course!) It lets me know those views are for some reading the whole chapter, not just a quick look!
Sewrtyuiop, thank You! I thought it was a good cliffhanger, even if you only have to wait a day to hear the results! No, the 'casualty' was not fatal, I just couldnt think of the right word to have the same impact on the scene, 'Victim' doesn't really fit. And Izuku and All Might continue as normal, for now, but Izuku now has another person he want's to make eat their words! And I like this for Bakugo, lets me develop him a bit differently to how i've seen. Youll have tyo wait and see!
