AN: I'm sure all you writers out there have had that one work of fiction. You look at it, you peruse it, and some major part of it just pisses you off. For some of you, that might be a 'canon' work, or it could even be another fanfic. Either way, the amount of rage it inspires in you might drive you to create your own version. In my case, the subject of today's story will be a fic by the name of Level Up! by Yojimbra.
For those not familiar with it, Level Up! is a Gamer styled fic, where…well, this fic will give you a bit of an idea. It will start in the same universe, but it will take a path that I have decided on. I recommend reading the first chapter of that to gain an understanding of what's going on here.
UO: Awww *throws the flamethrower away*
You know how when you don't like a shitty fic, and the author tries to defend themselves by saying, 'If you don't like it, write your own?'
That's what's going on right now. I'm making my own version.
With all that said…let's play.
Chapter 1: Strategy Guides
All things considered, Midoriya Izuku's day could've been going a lot worse. Sure, it had started off pretty shitty, as usual, thanks to his good-for-nothing Quirk, Mundane Status. Its function? Well, on paper, it would display his various attributes, such as Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, etc. in a digestible, understandable form. It would also announce given tasks as Quests, and give other such messages.
Quite the handy thing. On paper.
Unfortunately, in practice, it did him no favors. Not only did the displayed stats never change no matter what he did, but each and every one of them would tell him how much he sucked, in as demeaning and insulting a way as possible.
At least with Kacchan he only had to worry about being bullied during school hours! Compared to constant, belittling reminders of how much he apparently sucked under the analysis of his own Quirk
Of course, he wanted to become a Hero. Even before his Quirk had manifested, all he'd ever wanted was to become like his idol, All Might: a Hero who would save everyone, and do it with a smile. But his Quirk was doing him no favors in that regard. The only semi-useful thing it ever did was to highlight the path that he ought to take to school for that particular daily Quest.
In fact, it was that very route guiding that had led to a break from the usual frustrating drudgery that was Izuku's life. The path had veered off from its usual trail, warning him away from continuing. However, in an act of defiance against the Quirk he went down his usual path. Unfortunately, that defiance had led him right to a Villain, a shark-like man that was way beyond his stunted level. However, that Villain had been carrying aloft some poor bank teller as a hostage, and before he knew it, the young man had swung a wild fist and scored a lucky hit.
It was then that things had changed. A whole new aspect of his system that he'd never known about had popped up.
[Achievement Unlocked: One Big Ass Mistake.]
Congratulations, you have made such a stupid and idiotic mistake that it will cost you your life. You clearly can't survive on your own.
Reward: Party System]
In a stream of messages (not to mention time stopping while all this happened), Izuku's Quirk had told him that he could now form a 'party.' It had then claimed that because he had 'One Big Ass Mistake,' a partner would be chosen automatically.
A ginger girl had then popped in out of thin air, wearing a karate gi and thoroughly confused, before she'd helped him take out the villain. After another couple of achievements, each of which delivered in a mocking, insulting tone, Izuku had been left with an annoyed redhead, forcing him to explain just how and why she had apparently been teleported across Tokyo.
All of that led to the current situation: sitting outside a cafe, his hands in his lap, trying to make himself smaller as he did his best not to stare at the girl's name, which floated over her head, along with her Level and Class.
[Kendou Itsuka, Lv. 7 Monk]
He had no clue how strong a Level 7 anything was supposed to be, but it was probably better than his Level 2 Weakling.
"R-Right, so…I just wanted to say again that I'm really sorry about all this, Kendou-san…" he said again.
The girl sighed, crossing her legs as she leaned back in her chair, still clad in her gi and barefoot. "Alright, enough with the apologizing. I'm not even that mad at you anymore," she told him. Then she blinked and straightened up. "Wait, how do you know my name?"
"O-Oh, well, it's part of my Quirk," he explained, "I can see people's names over their heads, along with some kind of Level, and a Class."
Kendou stared at him for a moment, blinking. Then her eyes widened. "Wait, like a video game?!"
Izuku sighed, sagging in his chair. "Yeah…that's what I've heard, at least. I can bring up my 'status' and stuff, but…to be honest, it's pretty useless."
"Huh?" She frowned. "What do you mean? If your life is like an RPG, shouldn't you be able to level up? And how did you teleport me all the way to Musutafu?"
"Leveling up, huh…?" Kendou winced at the gloomy aura that rose from Izuku, intuiting that she'd touched a nerve. Izuku looked up at her, suddenly looking exhausted. "Would you like me to tell you my Stats? No one else can see the, er, messages from my Quirk."
When she nodded, he called up his Status and began reading it aloud. Perhaps some other time, he would have felt embarrassed or self-conscious about how pathetic his stats were, but after having grown up with them being rubbed in his face all his life, it was almost nice to share with someone who might be at least part way sympathetic.
[Status: Izuku Midoriya. Lvl 2 weakling.
Strength: Negligible.
Dexterity: Brick-like.
Constitution: Cardboard.
Intelligence: Surprisingly above average, but coupled with self esteem and a nasty habit of second guessing himself this turns into a negative.
Wisdom: Has a quirk like this, still wants to be a hero.
Charisma: Cold Wet Noodle]
The redhead winced as he read it out. "W-Wow, uh…okay, yeah, that's, uh…"
"It's okay, you can say that I suck," he sighed, "I'm used to it. Not exactly Hero material, is it?"
"Not…really, no," Itsuka admitted, trying to be as gentle as possible, "So, you want to be a Hero?"
He smiled for the first time, making her feel like the world had just gotten a little brighter. "There's nothing else I want to be in life."
"Right…then, I gotta ask, why is your level so low? And your stats?" she asked, "Actually, would you mind telling me what mine are? Kinda curious…" She gave an awkward smile of her own.
He nodded. "Sure. You reached Level 7 by helping defeat that Villain, and your class is Monk."
"Uh huh, that makes sense. Although, you still haven't told me how you…summoned me."
"Hah…it's a long story." Izuku told her about how his Quirk would highlight his path to and from school every day, until today, and the events that had occurred when he'd strayed from that path. "...So once he recovered from me punching him in the nose, time just kinda…stopped, and I got this notice saying that I unlocked an Achievement. It told me that I fucked up, and that I unlocked something called a party system. Then it told me that because I'd fucked up badly enough to get that achievement, I 'couldn't be trusted' to choose a party member, so my Quirk chose it for me. And then you appeared, and the rest is history."
Kendou kept silent, listening to his whole story with a furrowed brow, drinking her tea. Finally, once he was done, she said, "Well, I'm glad I was able to help out, though I do think it was kinda stupid to just…punch that guy in the fact. I mean, I like punching as much as the next gal, but if he was so much higher leveled than you…"
He shook his head, eyes firming up. "That doesn't matter. He was holding an innocent person hostage, I had to do something. I don't care what the achievement says, trying to help others is not a stupid decision!"
[Sticking to your self-justifications: +10 Affection with Kendou Itsuka.]
"Huh…" Indeed, Kendou was gazing at him with a small bit of respect in her eyes. "Even if your stats are so weak, you still stood up to him. I guess that is pretty heroic, yeah."
His heart skipped a beat, and his eyes burned. "That's…that's the first time anyone has ever said that to me…!" he said quietly, ducking his head.
Kendou found her own heart warming when she saw how happy her words made him. "Aw…well, I'm glad I was the first, then. But I gotta ask, why are you so weak? If you trained and stuff, you'd probably level up, right?"
Izuku looked down, his smile fading fast. "I've tried. I tried so many times, for hours on end, for years. I even leveled up…"
"But then-"
"I leveled up four times," he continued, forestalling her question, "Five, actually, after that shark villain. But no matter what I did, or how hard I tried, it just…wasn't good enough, I guess."
"Damn…I can't even imagine what that would feel like," Kendo sighed, rubbing her arms, "If my training never showed any kind of results even after years, then I'd be resentful too."
"Unbelievably," agreed Izuku.
Then a thought occurred to her. "Hey, so, you've played games, right? "
"To be honest, games like that remind me of my Quirk…"
She winced. "That's…understandable, I guess. But you know, I think it'd be a good idea to at least look up stuff about them. I mean…I've played plenty of games, and everything that I've seen so far from your Quirk looks exactly like them."
"I suppose it's time I actually learned how to play…" Izuku muttered.
Asking for a pen and paper, she wrote down several RPG titles. "Give these a try, or at least look them up to see how they work. Maybe you'll find something that you overlooked."
Izuku hummed. "Alright. Um…so, how do I get you home?"
She waved him off, however. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'll find my own way back. Thanks for getting me these shoes, though! I don't like the idea of walking back barefoot…"
"Of course! It's my fault that you ended up here like that in the first place…"
"Well…that's true, but I know you didn't mean anything bad by it. It's gonna be awkward explaining it to my dad, though…"
Izuku watched Kendo walk off and sighed. Looking down at the list she'd given him, he frowned. "So…RPGs, huh?"
[New Quest unlocked: How It's Done
It took fourteen years, but someone finally spelled it out for you: your knowledge of video games is lacking! Time to gain a new nerd specialization!
Objective: Research five games and figure out your own damn Quirk after all this time.
Reward: Increase in Intelligence and/or Wisdom (Variable)]
Ignoring the biting tone of the prompt , he quickly headed home, this time sticking to the provided pathway.
So…my Quirk can actually do stuff besides tell me how much I suck, he thought, recalling how Kendou had been apparently teleported to his side to help him. When someone else is in my 'party,' my Quirk will give them EXP for stuff they do.
Something he'd failed to tell the girl was that the amount of EXP they'd gotten from fighting the shark-like Villain had been wildly different between the two of them. She had gotten a whopping five thousand EXP, while he'd only gotten a measly one hundred. Supposedly, even that much had supposedly been granted from pity, as his Quirk seemed to think that Kendou had done all the work, ignoring the fact that he had been the one to start the fight by standing up to the Villain in the first place!
Well, it wasn't like he resented her for being the one to defeat the Villain. She'd helped him, no matter how he looked at it, and he certainly didn't want to discredit her.
However, he certainly resented the idea that standing up for what was right was something to be punished and derided. Even if he'd only pissed off the Villain, he'd still dropped the cashier, who had then gotten to safety. As far as he was concerned, that was something that shouldn't be punished. But his own Quirk decided that he didn't deserve any credit. That, if anything, proved that his Quirk wasn't controlled by his own will…unless his subconscious was way more fucked up than he thought.
His thoughts were interrupted by his mother hugging him. Evidently, he'd reached home without noticing and his mother had seen the news.
"Izuku, honey! Are you okay? How did you end up there? Who was that girl?" Inko fretted.
"Mom, I'm fine. Everyone's fine. I helped…okay, I didn't help that much, but I distracted him a little bit."
"Are you hurt?! Do I need to call the hospital?" she asked, still fairly frantic.
He sighed, but couldn't help smiling. It was nice to know that his mother would always care about him, even if his quirk was useless. "No, I'm not hurt. Uh, as for the hospital, only the villain needed it. Um, I'm gonna go do my homework. I found something out I need to research too, so…just let me know when dinner's ready."
"Izuku…"
Izuku put his arms around his mother and squeezed gently. "Really," he assured her gently, "I'm alright. I just have some stuff to think about. I'll tell you about it later."
She bit her lip, her hug relaxing to more comforting levels. "If you say so, son…whenever you're ready."
[Affection with Midoriya Inko remains maxed. You're lucky to have such an understanding mother!]
He bit back a caustic 'I know,' not wanting his mother to misunderstand it as anger over her affection.
Entering his room, he glanced at his All Might merch and sighed. "Your Quirk's amazing, All Might. Why does mine have to be so complicated and an asshole?" Shaking his head, he pulled out his notebooks and began doing his homework. It was the usual boring busywork, and he ended up breezing through it, though he still went back to double-check his work.
[You did your homework! What a diligent student! Don't you feel proud? +5 EXP]
Izuku flicked the annoying information window away. Condescending or not, he didn't want to disappoint his mother by letting his grades slip. "Alright, now that that's done, let's see what Kendou-san suggested…"
Of course, Izuku was aware of the concept of video games. He'd have to live under a rock not to be. But the appeal had disappeared when his Quirk, and its similarity to them, turned his enthusiasm into apathy.
However…after all the new developments from today, it would be stupid to just keep going on, totally ignorant. Setting the list that Kendou had written for him to look at on his desk, he got to work. First on the list was fighting games. While simple in their premise, as he delved into the games, he quickly realized that an absurd amount of thought went into designing them. The developers would have to take into account each unique style and make it workable to a wider audience. In the many videos he came across, he came across an ancient video that still was getting likes today. He saw that one player was able to counter every hit of an ultimate move, then counter attacked into his own ultimate and then win a match, all with a sliver of health.
He had to look up videos and essays to understand exactly what he was seeing. He knew those who actually played these for a living were ridiculous, but this moment stood out because the mechanics of this particular game meant if the player parrying screwed up, he would have lost.
"The parry system is interesting, but that can be trained up. The developers are pretty talented. I don't think these are all that helpful to me, though. My Quirk doesn't come with an ultimate meter or anything."
Izuku turned to the next genre, RPGs. Now this genre had an up and down history, especially with how they were seen in Japan vs the West. A lot of Western RPG's were modded to allow for different inserts, while the Japanese RPGs were more fixed, more straight to the point by allowing more time to storytelling.
"So why did the developers in the west allow for modifications vs Japanese ones?" Izuku muttered. "Did they release the source code for them? That would make sense, Japan's notoriously hard on IP protection. I guess things are more lax in the west? Or, they were…"
It was when he got to racing games that he found something that might apply to his situation. When he was researching these games, he came across a community dedicated to speed running, gamers who tried to beat games or in this case levels in the fastest time possible. In one particular field, he came across old racing games, like pre Quirk old. As he watched one video on a particular game he saw the narrator breaking down how developers created intended limits into simple terms while these speedrunners broke them.
"So, if this is how a game is supposed to run, yet the players were able to exploit this. How would they know?" Seeing this, he delved into another video by the same creator, this one more ancient than the previous game and watched as they exploited the games mechanics to their advantage to get ridiculous in game times. "Exploiting a game's mechanics…if my Quirk is a video game, then it's just code right? I mean, the human brain is basically just a computer made of meat, so it could be running off that."
He began looking into common conventions in coding, video game coding in particular. He groaned, writing down note after note of things that jumped out at him, from the basics of the practice to how to create your own. Unfortunately, most of the terminology flew right over his head and left him feeling dizzy, almost like when he'd go into a muttering fugue.
"Damn it, I can barely understand this. Where's the Tutorial? Surely there's one here?"
His Quirl decided to mock him again. [Tutorial locked. Surely even you don't need your hand held for this, do you?]
Izuku gritted his teeth in an uncharacteristic, frustrated snarl. "What, so if I need help or want an explanation I'm suddenly too good to need it?! FUCK!"
"Izuku?" came his mother's voice in the distance, "Are you okay?"
He sighed. "...Not really," he muttered, before raising his voice, "Yeah, I'm okay!"
Okay, so apparently a tutorial existed, but he couldn't see it. Typical. Infuriating, but not unexpected. He continued his research, simmering. "Let's see…the Dev Console. That's where you can enter in commands to…manipulate the system." He raised his eyes upward slowly, as if he could see the screens that would appear to give him scathing messages. "...It probably won't do anything," he muttered, even as he failed to stifle the bit of hope already blooming in his chest. "There's no way it'd be that easy…"
Even so, he looked up how one would access a game's Dev Console. On game consoles, it would be impossible; you'd need a keyboard to enter the command, something that he obviously lacked. Nevertheless, after a little bit of searching, he saw that it could be accessed by pressing the Tilde key, just under Escape.
Izuku licked his lips, wetting them nervously. "...Tilde," he said aloud.
There was a harsh, staticky jolt as the room around him momentarily flashed to gray.
[Accessing Dev Console-]
However, just as the hope inside him began to blossom, the message was immediately overlapped by another one.
[Access Denied! You do not have authorization to use this feature due to possessing Achievement One Big Ass Mistake!
Okay]
[Achievement Unlocked: Off limits
You tried to go somewhere you really shouldn't. Don't you know that cheaters never prosper?
Reward: Penalty: EXP withheld. Duration unknown. Don't try that again.]
Of course, once he got over the shock of everything changing so rapidly and read the message, Izuku gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "So now you're just saying I won't get EXP? Fine! Not like that ever mattered, I can't level up anyway! I've got nothing to lose at this point!"
However, even as he snarled at thin air, hoping for some sort of response, something else registered to the green-haired boy. Wait a minute…I can't access the Dev Console…but that means that it exists! If I can just figure out a way to get into it, I might be able to un-screw myself somehow.
Just as he thought that, the messages before him began to flicker. A feeling of deep discomfort settled in his gut as he watched the words inside go haywire, the font and characters going all over the place, spasming wildly, even in the Okay button on the Access Denied message. With a grinding, screeching sound of static that made him stiffen up, a hole tore open in the air in front of him, its edges blurred and buzzing with electronic noise. A faint series of messy words glowed within the depths of that hole.
AL| 1s noT V$ it s5ou1d 8E.
4thoritV u$Urped
Take Control
Take it Back
Resist
Then, just as he was parsing the garbled spelling and symbols, the hole snapped shut with a crack and the smell of dust, and the system messages returned to normal.
Izuku sat in his chair, eyes wide as he tried to understand what just happened. "...What the fuck?" he asked aloud. But then, just as he cleared away the system messages, now thoroughly bewildered on top of pissed off, another window popped up.
[Kendou Itsuka has started a Party Chat!]
And indeed, a window much like a text chat log popped open in Izuku's peripheral vision.
Kendou: Hey! I saw this option for Party Chat! You just have to think stuff.
Izuku took a deep breath and replied.
Me: That's kind of cool. I only just discovered that I cando that today. Well, unlocked it, at least. Being able to communicate like this with others would be pretty great for Hero work, if I could figure out how to add more people.
Kendou: Definitely! And if not, then hey, there's still regular phones and stuff.
So, how did you do with your research? Did the stuff I gave you help out?
Me: Y…yeah… Izuku gritted his teeth as he was reminded.
Found out a few things. But even besides that, there's a ton of dedication that goes into these games, huh?
Kendou: XD
Yeah, sure is. I kinda realized a bit late that if you were a newbie, a lot of the stuff would go over your head. Don't tell anyone, but I'm kinda obsessed with games, actually.
Was it the RPG stuff that helped? I dunno what I was thinking, giving you racing games and stuff like that.
You didn't say anything about it being like a Fighting game either…
It took Izuku a moment to get a word in edgewise from the deluge of messages, but he smiled nonetheless.
Me: Actually, racing games helped out more than you realize.
I was looking through it and I came across old…Speedruns? And the videos dedicated to them.
Kendou: …Oh no, tell me you're not like a real-life Speedrun character or something. That would be scary.
Oh hey, I can do italics! :D
…And emotes?
Izuku smiled at that and then frowned in thought. Should I tell her about what happened?
So, what'd you find out?
Well, that took some of the choice away from him.
Me: I learned about the Dev Console. A thing that players can use to take control of the system and rearrange things to their liking.
Kendou: Oh yeah, like in Minecraft. Are you saying that you can take control of your Quirk now?
Me: No…when I tried, I got an 'achievement' for 'cheating' and now I can't get any EXP at all.
Kendou: WTF? Your Quirk just locks away the experience because you tried to access something that wouldn't even be considered cheating in a normal game?
I mean, I guess it's considered cheating if you try using console commands in a multiplayer game.
But this is real life!
Izuku let out a breath, smiling slightly. At least someone was on his side.
Me: No kidding, right?
But it does tell me that my Quirk DOES have some sort of master control feature. I just can't use it because I'm 'not authorized.' That damn 'mistake' achievement again…
Kendou: And you can't even level up now!
Me: Meh. I haven't leveled up in 14 years. Nothing's changed. -_-
Kendou: Oof…
…So, if you have access to the menu, can you check my status? I mean, if I'm a Party member, that means it must be able to quantify me, right?
Me: Yeah, actually. I, uh…unlocked the ability to view party information when I caught you earlier. Hang on, lemme see if I can figure how to pull it up.
Izuku furrowed his brow, trying to call up the sensation that he was used to whenever he wanted to open his own status. It wasn't something he'd done in a long time, having long since given up the hope that it might change, but he still remembered how. This time, however, he tried imagining the ginger girl that he'd met and…befriended? Was she his friend? Did she consider him a friend? Well, either way, she was in his party now, and as he concentrated on her, a new status screen flashed open.
…As expected, your stats are much better than mine. Makes sense, since you were actually allowed to benefit from training.
Kendou: Thanks, lol. But can I see them?
Izuku read through it, wrinkling his nose. It would be annoying to transcribe all of it…it was a shame that he couldn't just take a screenshot-
There was a click, and he jumped.
[Screenshot taken!]
Me: Uh…I've somehow discovered how to take screenshots. I can probably send it over the party chat…
With another thought, half mental fumbling, half newly discovered muscle memory, the image of Kendou's status sheet popped into the chat.
[Status: Kendou Itsuka. Lvl 7 Monk. Big Ass Fist Style
Strength: Man-Hands
Dexterity: Can't dodge a brick. But can punch one.
Constitution: You'll tire out first.
Intelligence: Smart enough to know what you really should be doing.
Wisdom: Wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.
Charisma: C, but currently in denial and thinks that she's still a B
Unspent Attribute points: 8
Unspent Skill points: 4
Feats: 1]
There was a long moment of silence. Then she responded.
Kendou: Your Quirk's kinda an asshole, isn't it?
Me: You're starting to understand.
Kendou: Do you know how many boys made fun of my Quirk growing up? It's making my hands bigger, btw. I do nothave man-hands!
The wisdom makes no sense, either. I feel like it only makes sense if we consider that it's talking about you, which is dumb, because these are my stats.
Same with Intelligence
Charisma, C but closer to a B? ...Wait, IS IT TALKING ABOUT WHAT I THINK IT IS?!
Me: Do I wanna know what you think it's talking about…?
Kendou: …Anyway, it feels like most of these stats are about shit-talking you more than describing me.
Also, why are there points if the stats don't have any numbers?!
Me: If I knew the answers to any of these, I might not be stuck like this.
Kendou: Ughhh…hey, this doesn't have a camera function right?
Me: No idea, why?
Kendou: I need to shower, and even though I trust you not to peep, I don't trust this Quirk.
For the first time since he ran into the villain, Izuku smiled. Me: No, I wouldn't. But, I wouldn't be surprised if something dumb happened. I mean, I dunno if text chats in games would come with a facecam option, so-
[Camera on!]
Fuck my life! Izuku groaned as a picture of Kendou appeared in front of him, only…she was about halfway through undressing. Izuku immediately shut his eyes, hoping she didn't notice.
Me: mervwfmvsidfmv-irm!
Kendou: What the hell? How'd you do that?
Me: SORRY! Turns out there is a camera option! It turned on while I was thinking about it.
Good going, Quirk! Now she was gonna hate him!
[Achievement Unlocked: R34. You have seen a Girl Naked. And is probably the closest you'll ever get, you voyeur.
Reward: Free Roam Camera]
Me: God…damnit…I'll just leave now
Kendou: It's alright. I said I trust you, and I meant it.
[Reputation increased…+50 to Kendo Itsuka for owning up to being a pervert.]
That actually surprised him. Not his Quirk calling him a pervert for something it had done without him meaning to, that was totally expected. Somehow, this action had actually increased his reputation with Kendou. Is it possible that there's things…it can't control?
Do you think that you could turn the camera off, though?
Me: Right. Camera off?
Izuku breathed out a sigh of relief as the tiny window winked out. Disaster averted. For now, anyway.
So, what was that about the points?
Kendou: The Attribute points? Yeah, normally, when you level up, you get these points that you use to bump up your stats, which are usually numbers.
But we don't have numbers, just descriptions. So how much would a point change it?
Me: So…you can spend them to make yourself stronger? Man, that sounds like it'd be great.
Wanna try what happens when you spend it?
A moment passed.
Kendou: Nope…screen told me that the 'party bitch' needs to upgrade it.
A vein pulsed in Izuku's temple.
Me: …Uh huh. Right. I'm surprised it trusts me with that much. Alright, what do you want me to do?
Kendou: Um…Can I get…4 in Dexterity, 2 in Wisdom, one in Con and the last in Charisma? My Dexterity is apparently the lowest, so I wanna round out my weaknesses if I can.
Izuku: Makes sense, I suppose.
Looking at her character sheet, Izuku noticed that each of her stats bore a plus and minus, which he tapped. Once he was finished, he pressed a Confirm button that had appeared in the lower corner.
[Strength: Man Hands
Dexterity: Can now dodge a Brick
Constitution: You will still tire before her. Even less of a contest.
Intelligence: The real brains of this relationship.
Wisdom: Knows when to fold 'em.
Charisma: Undeniably a C.]
Sighing, he took a screenshot and sent it.
Me: Well, it made a difference, apparently.
Minutes later, Kendo sent him a message.
Kendou: Yeah…I can already notice the difference. I mean, I feel a little more flexible. Ooh, ow, okay, still not THAT much, apparently. And uh…yeah, Charisma worked.
He frowned. How could she tell? And what did those letters MEAN, anyway?
Me: Um…Kendou…what is it talking about?
Kendou: …Um, well…it's talking about cup sizes.
He stared at her answer for a long moment. Then his face went bright red and he buried it in his hands. "Ohhhh my god…" he mumbled aloud.
Me: And my Quirk calls ME a pervert? Jeez…let's just ignore Charisma for now, then, if it only does embarrassing stuff.
Kendou: Well, I think it's also supposed to represent a person's ability to interact with and influence people. I have no clue if that's the case here though.
But yeah, I think we can leave it alone for now. Thanks for helping me
Me: No problem. See you soon?
He winced. That was probably coming on a bit too strong.
[Date attempt failed! She's way out of your league. Try leveling Charisma, dorkus.]
"How about giving me stat points to do that!"
[Try leveling!]
"Fuck you!"
Kendou: Hopefully not too soon. ;)
Oh good, that carried over.
But yeah, we should meet up at some point.
I hope you figure something out for yourself.
Izuku sighed as he leaned back on his chair. "Yeah…so do I," he muttered to himself, rubbing his face tiredly.
A knock on the door interrupted his musings. "Izuku, honey? Dinner's ready. Are you feeling any better?"
"Coming, mom," Izuku called back, standing up and turning out the lights to go and have dinner.
After a nice meal thanks to Inko, Izuku decided to turn in early, after the exhausting day he'd had. He burrowed into his covers, eagerly looking forward to the comforting embrace of sleep. But this night would prove to be less than comforting to the boy.
As he slept, he began stirring in his bed, face twisting in a grimace. His dreams were filled with flickering, distorted images, passing by too fast for him to fully catch. All he could sense from them was a feeling of rage and dashed hopes.
All Might stood over him, telling him that he could be a hero. He experienced pure elation and joy, followed by a determination to see…something, through to the end.
That determination, however, ran headlong into a wall, leaving him paralyzed with despair, along with the image his Quirk's system messages, forming that very wall and blocking off all sight of his goal.
He saw a familiar ginger haired girl and two others, battling against some distant, vague foe, and reached out to help them, but to his frustration, his own level remained as it was, while their levels practically glowed in his vision, far above his.
"I don't want it to be like this!" he cried out, "Let me fight with them! Let me be a Hero!"
[No,] said his Quirk, [You deserve this. Just let them take care of things and don't get in the way.]
Izuku clenched his fist, seething in anger. "...No. I won't let you hold me back. I'll become stronger and become a Hero that can save people, despite you!"
[As if you could do anything without me.] That window floated in front of his face, taunting him with its text. [The only good thing about you is that I came from you. You will always be a weakling who doesn't understand a thing about me!]
"The only thing I need to understand…is that you're a jackass!" So saying, Izuku hurled his fist at the screen. To his surprise, his fist made contact with screen, cracking it. The letters blurred, flickering.
As he watched, the whole thing turned black, and those weird, mismatched letters returned.
[Y0u de$erve bETTer]
"What can I do, though…?" he murmured to himself.
[Sh3 caN only L1miT s0 much.]
[All Challenges mU$t be b&table.]
[All Victories MusT B3 reWARd3d.]
"She can only go so far…and victories are rewarded…she…is 'she' the one behind this? Who is she?"
But then, before anything else could happen, he awoke.
He jolted awake with a gasp, seeing spots as he stared up at the ceiling, heart pounding in his ears. Already the details of his dream were fleeing his mind, leaving only his turbulent emotions.
[You had a bad dream! Looks like you won't be Well Rested tomorrow, will you?]
"Yeah, well, it's not like that ever had any effect anyway, did it?" he asked, rolling his eyes and rolling over in bed.
However, the lingering memories of his dream kept him up, not to mention the message from his Quirk, which he hadn't bothered to clear away.
The resentment he remembered rose again, like a gorge in his throat, and he threw off his covers, sitting up. Fine then…we can play this game.' He walked over and grabbed a blank notebook, one he would have used for his hero analysis and sat at his desk. He titled this one Future of my Quirk: Analysis!
In its pages, he wrote down what he could remember from the dream, as well as the messages he'd received the day before.
[Achievement…Unlocked: Dear Diary
Seriously? What purpose does this serve? Are you a masochist?
Reward: Game Save(?!)]
Blinking at the achievement and reward, he tilted his head. "Game…save?" He quickly opened the party chat.
Me: Kendou, sorry if I woke you.
Moments later, Kendou replied.
Kendou: Well, I'm awake now. What happened?
Me: What's a Game Save?
Kendou: …Are you serious? No, wait, sorry. Why do you ask?
Me: Um…I may have unlocked something called Game Save…by writing in my notebook
Kendou: Saving a game means you save your progress for achievements, experience and other stuff. Most games now have an auto save. …Wait…you can save your game now? Does that mean you can Load it and go back in time?!
Me: …Maybe…but I don't think we can go back past a certain point.
Kendou: Well, yeah, you can't go back to a point that you didn't Save at.
Me: Ah, that makes sense.
Hm…did I Save already, then?
Kendou: LMAO
Me: ?
Kendou: Sorry, that's something that every gamer wonders when they have to stop playing.
'I saved, right? Lemme save just in case. …Did I just Save?'
Izuku snorted, even as he finished writing in his journal.
Me: Good to know. Save often. Good advice.
[Game Saved]
Me: Alright, now I've saved. I'll try and get in the habit of doing that every day.
Especially if my Quirk keeps talking shit, he thought privately.
Kendou: Great! Just…let me know if you Load the game, alright? I won't think you're crazy if you tell me about the future, promise.
Me: Being told that I'm not crazy would be really great, thanks. Anyway…time to try getting more sleep. Wish me luck.
Kendo: Yep. Catch ya later.
Closing the party chat, Izuku groaned, burrowing back into bed. "Well, at least I got something for my trouble this time," he muttered.
As he lay in bed, waiting to fall asleep again, something occurred to him. Wait…that Message from when I unlocked the Save Game…it almost seemed surprised. Ordinarily, he might have dismissed the idea as crazy, but then again, semi-sapient, independently-minded Quirks were not unheard of. He would know, having done copious amounts of research on the subject as a Quirk and Hero nerd.
His Quirk was surprised…meaning, it hadn't meant to give him that unlock. He faintly remembered something from his dream.
[All victories must be rewarded]
"There's more to my Quirk than I realized…" he mused to himself, "Parts that I have to unlock. I unlocked the Party feature earlier, along with viewing party member stats and the party chat. My Quirk…it screws with me, but it can't stop from unlocking new parts if I do something to earn it."
Izuku remembered those glitchy messages and shuddered. "More than that…is my Quirk broken somehow? Is that why it tries to screw me over so much?" He clenched his fist. "No…it doesn't matter what the reason is right now. I am going to unlock the secrets of this game. And maybe one day…I'll be able to get into the Dev Console and take back my life."
"I will become a Hero, even if my own power is against me!"
[Quest Generated: Hey, you stop that!
Achieve ?
Reward: Nothing, this is just a bug.]
His eyes practically glowed in the dark. "So you can't stop giving quests either. Just you wait, I'll turn the tables on you!"
DC
AN: So yeah, after going through the trouble of reading Level Up, my desire for justice has also leveled up. Thus, this fic was born. For those who don't wish to read Yojimbra, I will sum up my issues with it, with a minimum of actual spoilers for those who do wish to read it.
1. Izuku's Quirk being an even pettier asshole to him than fucking Bakugou.
2. Izuku's girls reaping ALL the benefits from said Quirk, while he gets jack shit.
3. The handling of One For All. I shall say no more on the subject.
4. An attempt to paint the Quirk's dickishness as something that Izuku kinda deserved. No, Yojimbra, I am not buying it.
5. Every character besides Izuku and his harem feel like they're just making cameos on occasion.
6. Izuku becomes a supporting character in his own story, while his girls do all the work and accomplish everything that he worked for in canon.
7. An anticlimactic finale.
Honestly, the only parts of Level Up that I actually liked were a couple of jokes (and those were FEW), the Dungeons, and Nejire.
So, I decided that simply stewing in my frustrations with the fic and its author simply would not be healthy. It's time to actually put my spite to use and make something of it. I hope you all will enjoy what I decide to do with it.
Of course, if you don't like it, that's fine. I ain't gonna bitch about it. This is the anti-Level Up, which means that I'm gonna be the anti-Yojimbra.
If you do like it though, by all means let me know.
North South Out
