Chapter 2. I'm a Conduit!?
In a dark place, our main protagonist opens his eyes to see two faint lights flickering in front of him. Confused and slightly nervous is his emotions remembering that he was supposed to be in an alleyway. How did he get here? Where is he anyways?
Standing up, he glanced towards the flickering lights shining like Christmas lights.
'It feels like their calling me.' he thought as he looked around.
As he wondered where the heck is he, he flinched when he the lights suddenly zoomed it's way toward his face, stopping only a few inches away from him. He backed away from it
Looking at it, the lights were in a shape of orbs. They are same in shape and size, but different in color and aspect it shows.
One has dark orange hue, comparable with the color of sunrise. This orb has white and black smoke covering and circling around it.
The other orb is showing an electric blue hue. Noticing the blue lightning and cold smoke coming from the orb, he concluded that this shows an aspect of lightning and ice combined into one.
For a couple of minutes, he stared at the orbs. Izuku was so lost in thought that he didn't notice his left and right hand slowly rises at the orange and blue orb, respectively.
As the quirkless boy touched the orbs, a surge of power suddenly entered his body. His left side feeling heat while his right feels tingly and cold. However, he can feel his right side begins to heat up for a bit until it was the same as his left side.
He looked at his hands and noticed that they were glowing orange and smoke was surrounding it.
Izuku can't explain why, but he couldn't stop himself from smiling at the power he was feeling right now. But a part of him was saddened. He knew to himself that he was only dreaming and this will be gone as soon as he woke up.
So before he woke up, he was about to use this power as long as he is still sleeping.
Izuku began to channel the power on his hand and experimented on it. He tried running with the smoke covering him and he found himself to be faster. He can also phase through objects as long as the object has holes or spaces where smoke can travel or go through, using the steel screen barriers and vents that somehow appeared out of nowhere.
He can also shoot balls of smoke. It took him 3 tries for him to shoot smoke from his hands. He even made a larger one, but causes too much energy. When Izuku tried to use the large blast, he couldn't produce the right amount and collapsed to the ground, panting.
As he was about to rise, a figure appear in front of him. Izuku was startled and fell onto his back. He stared at the figure in front of him, which was only a shadow. Izuku began shaking in fear, when the figure began releasing lightning energy and walked towards him.
The figure stopped a feet away from Izuku and knelt on his level.
"Iz..u .. ... M. ..n, .se ..u. p..e. t. ..o..ec." the man said in a distorted way. Izuku couldn't understand what the figure had said. He was about to ask what the person in front of him was saying when a he was shook out of the dream...
Izuku groggily opens his eyes and slowly sat up. He had headache from the craziest dream just experienced.
"Man, that was a crazy dream." He mumbled to himself as he rubbed his temples. Not noticing the man standing in front of him.
"What kind of dream, kid?" Izuku flinched, now noticing the man who had saved his life, Delsin Rowe. He was leaning on a wall with the boy's hero journal on his right hand. The man was looking at the boy with a smile.
"M-Mr. D-Del-Delsin R-Rowe! Th-thank you f-for saving m-me!" Izuku said as he bowed rapidly and repeatedly.
Delsin sweat dropped at the boy's stutters. "Don't sweat it, kid. I'm happy to help." he then handed the notebook to the stuttering teen. "I think this is yours."
Izuku looked at the outstretched notebook and saw that it was his Hero Journal. He slowly took and bowed again, thanking the man for the nth time for saving his life.
The conduit just laugh at the boy's awkwardness. "You're one awkward kid, aren't ya'?" Delsin said causing the boy to stop bowing and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Say, your Hero Journal is interesting kid! Do you plan on becoming a hero?" he asked the boy, who noticeably changed from sheepish to gloom in seconds.
"Yeah, I was planning on applying for the hero course in UA. But I can't be a hero since I'm quirkless." Izuku said the last part in a whisper, but Delsin was able to hear it.
"What are you talking about, kid? You can be a hero even without a qui-" he was cut off when Izuku interrupted him, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"NO! I CAN'T BECOME A HERO WITHOUT A QUIRK! THAT'S WHAT KACCHAN AND ALL MIGHT SAID!" Izuku snapped at Delsin who was shocked to see the boy crying. "NO ONE BELIEVE THAT I CAN BE A HERO EVEN IF I AM QUIRKLESS. HELL! NOT EVEN MY MOM BELIEVES IN ME!" Izuku collapsed onto his knees and cried.
He wasn't having a great day. He just got his ass kicked by Bakugo and got suspended for fighting back, he was attacked by villains twice this day and his dreams was crushed by his idol. The dream he had about having a strong power only made his dreams unreachable. He knew well that he wasn't going to get a quirk some time soon and the entrance exams was only 10 months away. He was just going to embarrass himself trying to go into the best hero school in Japan without a quirk.
Izuku was still crying when the man in front of him sighed, making him look. There he saw Delsin rubbing the bridge of his nose and groaning some words.
"Argh.. Of course that blonde idiot would say that!" Delsin said making Izuku look at him in shock.
"Y-you know A-All Might?" Izuku asked in between sniffles. The man looked at him with a deadpan.
"Know him? Yeah, I know that blonde idiot! I even fought him once." this caught Izuku's attention.
"You f-fought All Might?" the boy asked with wide eyes.
Delsin looked at the boy and gave him a smirk. "Of course. I clapped that blonde idiot's ass cheeks and he couldn't keep me down for 3 seconds." he triumphantly said as he remembered his fight against the Number 1 Hero, 3 years ago when he was tracking Akira, who was still lying on the ground unconscious. "Let's say I won that fight." 'It barely was a fight anyway..' he thought and looked at Izuku.
"Y-You're kidding, right?" The boy asked the man who just looked at the boy straight in the eyes.
"Did I stutter?" He simply said proving his point.
Izuku's eyes widen and jaw dropped. He just met All Might and the person who beat him and was saved by both. He was about to talk when the Banner Man talked first.
"Anyway, Midoriya, you can be a hero even without a quirk." he saw Izuku open his mouth and quickly cut him off. "And don't listen to what All Might says, just because his the Number 1 Hero that doesn't mean that he's always right.. Don't let what other people say pull your dreams down, the only person who can determine your future is you and only you." Delsin said as he pointed at Izuku, who was in a mix of shell shock and in awe at the man's words.
"And 'can't be a hero without a quirk'? Hah! I fought villains and All Might Quirkless and I still win." that confused Izuku.
"You don't use your Quirk in battle?" Izuku asked while tilting his head, making Delsin chuckle at the childish gesture.
"No. I don't even have a quirk in the first place..." he said grinning like a madman at the boy. It took a solid 8 seconds for Izuku to react at what he said.
"HUH!?" Izuku exclaimed earning a chuckle from the man. He was so confused about this. Is he messing with him? For sure he was the man use a smoke/fire quirk earlier. Izuku was still confused when he remembered the memories that he saw when he touched Delsin's hand.
Conduit.. Delsin's a Conduit!
"You're a Conduit!" Izuku said to the man who smirked at the boy, confirming his claim.
"Yes. I'm a Conduit.." Delsin said while nodding as he looked at the boy straight in the eyes. "And so are you.."
Izuku blinked once. He blinked again. And again. Before...
"HUUHHHHHHH? M-me? I'm a Conduit!?" Izuku asked incredulously while pointing at himself, earning a nod from the man. He looked down before asking. "H-how?"
"Well, you seems to have an inactive Conduit Gene like me. And through exposure or contact with Conduits those genes became active, making you into a Conduit." the older Conduit paused before saying, "After I touched your hand, my Smoke powers were copied into your genes, Izuku. Meaning you now have Smoke Manipulation in your arsenal." that made the boy nod.
Izuku then remembered his dream and now know what the orange orb symbolizes, Smoke. That is when he remembered the blue orb. It was lightning.
"Does that mean I also have his lightning powers?" Izuku asked as he looked at the unconscious criminal. 'It'd made sense that I got his lightning powers since I touched his hand, but why is the orb blue and has ice?' he thought as he looked back at Delsin.
"Yes, but I don't have an idea in using Lightning since I don't have it." Delsin said, then looked at Akira. "And I'm sure that he won't say a thing about it." Izuku nodded.
"But here's my proposition..." the older smoke user said making Izuku look at him. "In two weeks, I'll be leaving to go back to America. So tomorrow, same time, meet me in Dagobah Municipal Beach Park. I'll help you master your Smoke abilities." he said as he grabbed Akira Takahashi and turned away.
"I'll wait for you..." he said walking two steps, only for Izuku to call back to him.
"I-I'll go there tomorrow morning, Mr. Delsin Sir!" Izuku yelled out making Delsin look back at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Huh? I thought you have classes tomorrow morning?" the Smoke Conduit asked. Izuku just scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"I kinda got myself suspended for fighting back to a bully and breaking his nose." the green-haired boy said emphasizing the word bully. Izuku saw Delsin's face turn blank making him nervous all of a sudden.
Suddenly, Delsin had a smirk on his face, "Did it felt good? Was the punch satisfying?" he asked the boy who looked at him in confusion but when he caught up to what the man was saying, also smirked.
"Damn right it was!" Izuku said as both Conduits laugh, before going their separate ways.
Izuku began walking towards home with a smile that he felt was gone after his diagnosis. He was now given a chance to prove himself that he can be a hero, a quirkless hero. He is a Conduit and tomorrow, Delsin Rowe, the Banner Man himself will train him master his Smoke powers. His Lightning was not a priority for now. He'll just train it when he got into UA, no scratch that, WHEN HE'S GETTING INTO UA!
Kinda cocky but can you blame him? He parried 2 explosions from Kacchan, no from Katsuki and broke the Pomeranian's nose while being quirkless and later at the same day that he became a Conduit, met The Banner Man and became his student for two weeks. Let him have this! His confidence somehow was raised after the encounter with Delsin and is really grateful he met the guy.
He was snapped out of his day dream when an ambulance rang and sped passed by him in a fast pace. "Looks like someone else got caught in a Villain Attack." he mumbled to himself and continued walking home, not realizing that he knew who the person in the ambulance was.
As our green-haired protagonist entered the apartment, he was met by his mother, Inko Midoriya. She was standing on the entrance with crossed arms and a disappointed expression on her face.
"Izuku Midoriya..." she said making him take a step back. She never calls him by his full name, and when she does, he's fucked! "Care to explain why you got two weeks suspension? And where have you been? " she asked looking at Izuku straight in the eye. She thought Izuku would look away as usual when she ask him about school, but to her surprise her son didn't look away and stared back at her, making her flinch slightly.
"I got two weeks suspension because I defended myself from bullies and broke Kac-Katsuki's nose. To why I'm late, I got caught between two different Villain Attacks with the latter one knocked me unconscious. Don't worry I was healed by the hero." he said lying about the last part as he kick off his shoes and walked past his mom who was still shocked that his son didn't even stutter. That is when the words registered in her mind.
"W-wait!? Yo-you broke Ka-Katsuki's nose? Wh-why? You two are friends, r-right?" she stuttered out. She was confused at why would Izuku do such a thing to Katsuki, their friends right?
Izuku stopped and looked back at his mother, "No, mom. We're not friends. We weren't friends anymore since he got his quirk and I didn't. He started bullying me since we were 4, got mad at me just because I tried to help him up after he fell off to a river, called me names and used his quirk on me just to prove his point." he paused to take a deep breath before continuing.
"I punched him in the face, since I had enough and as an act of self-defense since he pulled the trigger first by using his quirk on me when I wasn't even doing anything to annoy him. To why I didn't tell you, I don't know. I was too focus on getting our friendship back when it can't be fixed because of his ego." Izuku said and waited for his mom's respond. He was surprised when his mother ran towards him and hugged him.
"I-I'm sorry, Izuku. I'm sorry I didn't know.." she apologized to him and cried on his chest. Izuku could only hug her back as patted her back to calm her down before she flooded the apartment. Again.
After calming his mom down, Izuku told her about his day, even the encounter with All Might and Delsin. But he wasn't gonna tell his mom about what All Might had told him and wasn't gonna tell her he's a Conduit until his ready. He don't know what his mom would felt about him being a Conduit or some would call it Bio-Terrorist.
As his mom left him to make dinner, he entered his room and immediately cringed at the amount of All Might merch he had in his room. Not even hesitating, he quickly removed all of it, as in ALL OF IT. After his encounter with the hero and hearing his dream get crushed by the man, he was convinced that the man wasn't worth the amount of money spent on merch.
Though he still admire the man's reason to be a hero, he knew damn well that the man wasn't different from those who told him that he couldn't be a hero without a quirk.
After 10 minutes of removing all the merch, his room was bare and looked dead. But better this than a room filled with the face of the person who rejected his dream.
He has 2 and a half medium boxes of All Might merch and planned to sell them to collectors to earn money to buy new clothes and interior designs for his now plain room.
Izuku was about to open his computer to look for All Might merch collectors when his mom's voice was heard by from the door. He was confused by what that was about but shrugged it off.
He continued browsing when he found someone who likes to collect All Might merch. The person was called Mirai Sasaki or something. Izuku contacted the person, showed the items and had came up with a price before accepting the offer.
He was going to meet the man before going to the Beach tomorrow.
Feeling thirsty, Izuku walked towards the door to get a drink. As he exit his room, he overheard his mom on the phone.
"Mitsuki! Calm down! I can't understand what you're saying. Will you slow it down?" Inko said to the person on the other side of the line which was Katsuki's Mother. Izuku hadn't saw her since he was 8. How is she?
Izuku continued to the kitchen to get a glass of water when his mom spoke once more.
"What!? What happened to Katsuki?" That made Izuku stop on his tracks. He looked at the direction of his mom, she was in the living room. "He got attacked by a villain?" Izuku's eyebrows raised at that. So he also got attacked by a villain, huh?
The green-haired boy shrugged it off before continuing to the kitchen to get his glass of water. After drinking the water, he walked back to his room only to meet his mom walking towards his room.
His mom saw him and quickly walked towards him. With a worried expression on her face.
"Izuku, Katsuki was attacked by a villain earlier this afternoon." Inko said to her son, only for him to blink.
"Oh. I know. I heard you when I was getting my glass of water." He said nonchalantly.
Inko didn't question his son's reaction and just told him that they were going to visit him tomorrow on the hospital.
Izuku looked at her for a second and shook his head. "Sorry mom. But I'm going to meet someone tomorrow. I can't go to the hospital." He said wishing for his mom to not force him on going to the hospital, since he didn't really want to see Katsuki after what had happened in school earlier.
"But Izu, he got attacked by a villain.." she was cut off when Izuku interjected.
"I also got attacked today. Twice." He said trying not to raise his voice. He really want to escape this conversation.
"But his you're frie-" she was again cut off by Izuku who had enough of the conversation.
"He's NOT my friend! And he will never be! After everything he did to me, me making up with him will only lead to me getting blasted by an explosion enhanced punch." He walked past her and opened the door of his room. Before entering he stopped at the door and looked back at his mom, who was now crying. It broke his heart to see his mom like this but he wanted to be selfish for once on his life.
"If you want to see him, then go. I don't give a damn about him getting attacked and ended up in the hospital, because frankly he deserved it! Good night!" He said as he slammed the door.
Izuku leaned on the door and heard footsteps going away from his room. He know that his mom went to her room and was crying. He felt bad for yelling at his mom and he knew he shouldn't have done that, but hearing her worry about his bully for 10 years and disregarding what he said literally 15 minutes ago just because the angry Pomeranian was in the hospital.
He knew that this was going to be awkward in the morning so he was going to sleep early tonight to wake up early in the morning to go to the meeting place tomorrow. These All Might merch needs to go.
And after that, he'll meet up with Delsin in Dagobah Beach. He promised Izuku that he will train the boy to master the Smoke Powers to become a hero.
As he lie on the bed, a thought then struck him.
Who's the shadow figure in my dream earlier?! he thought before letting his eyes close, leading him to slumber..
End of Chapter 2.
Please give me your thoughts of the chapter!