CT-3122 had admittedly seen a lot of less than ideal choices being made in his so far short life, but the electric blonde flirt, Denki Kaminari and the short pervert, Minoru Mineta, had probably made the dumbest choice he had seen yet, after tricking the girls from their class into cheerleader uniforms during the interlude of the Sports Festival, which had earned them a severe, yet deserved beating after their ploy had been found out.
"You know, I'd say that I'm feeling sorry for you, but you really deserved this beating, Kaminari…" He sighed as he wrapped a bandage around the boy's head. He may not have been a medical clone, but even he knew basic medical care and first aid.
"Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time-ow! Please be careful…" The electric boy whimpered, as the clone started to treat the tongue lashing he had gotten from Tsuyu.
"Just how did the thought process of 'let's show these girls to the world on live TV half naked' seem like a good idea at any point in time?" 3122 deadpanned, having a hard time imagining how embarrassing them like that could ever bring good results.
"Well, I… they did look cute in them…" Kaminari muttered embarrassed, to which the clone did his best to not groan in exasperation.
"Listen here, Lightningboy… not everything is about eye candy… look at it like this; how would you feel if you were just minding your own business, then someone comes up to you and essentially tricks you into wearing something embarrassing and sends you out on live TV with the whole world watching?"
"I… wow… I never really thought about that…"
"Exactly. You didn't think, and that's one of your biggest faults from what I've observed and read in your profile. Listen, kid, you are a good person, and way smarter than most other people in the world just by being here, even if your academics are on the low end, but you need to think before you act. Use that head of yours more, and you might not end up with the short end of the stick every time," 3122 said, as he raised his fingers and lightly flicked Kaminari on the forehead, to get the point across.
"Ow…okay…"
It would be later, after the Sports Festival, that Kaminari by himself had asked the girls to stay behind and personally bow to each one of them while apologizing for his actions and prank.
While most of them seemed to forgive him, one Jiro Kyouka seemingly refused, only huffing and turning her head with crossed arms as she walked away after having jabbed him with one of her jacks, the remnants of a blush still present on her face.
"Ow… where did I go wrong in my apology?" He asked while his clone companion just slowly face palmed and let out a groan of exasperation.
"You messed up with her the moment you decided to pull that prank, buster…" he said, looking at him with a deadpan look that even went through his helmet, causing the electric blonde to flinch.
"B-but she did look good in that outfit though…" He muttered, before yelping in surprise as the clone fast as lightning reached out and put him in a headlock.
"While I admit you're right about that, there is just a single little problem; bodily self consciousness, you fool of a Took!" He yelled as he put more pressure on the boy's neck, who just had an expression like he was in a guillotine right about now.
Kaminari sighed and shook his head before blinking at the odd word.
"Did you just quote Gandalf at me!?"
Now it was 3122's turn to blink.
"Wait…you know Gandalf?"
"Of course I do! He's one of the most argued about characters in literary history! Sir Tolkien and C.S. Lewis is famously known for arguing about messianic figures."
3122 blinked again.
"Who are you and what have you done with Kaminari?"
"H-hey, I can have my passions! I may suck at math, but I rival Yaoyorozu in literature!"
Funnily enough, it was one of the most argued topics for some of the students, how somebody who, as even he would admit, could absolutely bomb a mathematics test but manage to leave Yaoyorozu fumbling every now and then with his questions whenever they argued about literature.
There were talks about hosting a book club.
"Look…my brain's just not wired for numbers, but I really like literature…I don't know why…it's just easier to understand for me."
3122 nodded in agreement.
"That's fair, we all have our strengths."
The next few hours, they ended up discussing Tolkien's works, Kaminari proudly declaring that he had an original copy from the time before quirks in perfect mint condition. Apparently he'd gotten it for a ludicrously small amount of money since the previous owner didn't know its value, bought by his mother who knew how much he liked the books.
3122 would forever deny that he was jealous.
"I told Yaomomo about it the other day and she just about offered me her house in exchange for the book…but I refused…it's special to me."
"No amount of money would ever be able to replace something special to someone, nor anything as pristine as an example of one of the foundations of Fantasy literature from before the Dawn of Quirks. That thing is a holy relic that must be protected," The clone answered, a dead serious look on his face, having taken his helmet off to really put emphasis on how much he meant it.
Kaminari nodded, before deciding to quote one of the most famous, or rather infamous characters from the series.
"You could kinda say it is… my precious," He said with a grin, to which the greenet returned.
"Erm… I think Yaoyorozu is lurking over there…" He deadpanned once more, having noticed the heiress looking from behind the corner.
"Go away, Yaomomo! You're not getting my book!" Kaminari teased. "You can stop staking out my house!"
"I-I would never!"
Kaminari cackled.
"Don't tell her this, but I am considering letting her at least read it for a bit."
CRASH!
"REALLY!?"
The force the ravenette had arrived with, had been enough to send the two boys flying.
Later on, Kaminari would find himself hanging out with his new friend 3122 and although it took some time and many more apologies, he'd managed to even build a tentative…friendship? Acquaintanceship? With Jirou and the others.
It was nice…having friends.
It would be one day that he would bear to open his heart to 3122.
"When I was a kid…cause I kept on shorting out, I didn't make a lot of friends. They were afraid of getting electrocuted, and even the teachers wore rubber gloves when going near me," Denki began as his leg began to bounce.
"Sure I made 'friends'," He emphasized the falseness of the word with some quotemarks from his fingers, "But in the end, they all kinda drifted away…and I'd invite them to hang out but…they slowly just stopped coming."
"I…I had to sign a medical waiver to apply to U.A. Apparently it's something that all electricity-based heroes have to do, or anybody with a self-harming quirk in general. Basically saying that if I caused too much damage to myself before I graduated that I would be relegated to General Education."
"I'm sorry to hear that," 3122 said.
"It's nothing to worry about, my mom had to do the same thing. My uncle too before…anyway, I know what I have to do. As long as I don't short circuit myself too much, I should be fine and also surround myself with friends to keep me in check," He said, the last line sounding to the clone like something a prisoner on parole would say, which internally made him feel disgusted over the fact that the electric kid probably felt exactly like that.
Imprisoned by his own quirk.
"That's a lot…Kaminari."
"It is what it is," Kaminari said softly, this time the constant meme sounding more disheartened than amusing.
"But…I wouldn't change anything…I feel like I'm finally making real friends…brothers and sisters…" Kaminari said as he recalled his interactions with primarily 3122 and Yaoyorozu and even some of the other girls. "Though please don't tell them that I said that."
3122 smiled softly and gave him a side hug.
"Your secret's safe with me," 3122 said before turning down the hall and staring at a guilty looking Kyoka who was far away, but he knew that she could hear him.
She softly nodded before leaving.
"As for us in the Vod'e. We'd be proud to call you brother too," he said with a nod and a thumbs up that seemingly appeared out of nowhere due to how fast he put it up.
"Thank you… Blitz."
"Blitz?"
"Well… You seem to be faster than most of the other of your brothers, so… plus, you're willing to hang out with an electric output like me, and 'lightning' seemed a bit generic so… well I borrowed a word from the German dictionary."
"From the word Blitzkrieg, aka Lightning War… I like it," The newly named Blitz said with a grin.
After the Sports Festival, several of the students were packing their things up to go home, with several of them having clones accompanying them, such as Thorn and Itsuka of course, Waxer, Boil, Mayhem and Setsuna, Echo with Tsuyu, CT-1121, CT-1999 and CT-1108 had found Yui's company pleasant and CT-3322 was talking to Jurota.
Blitz had gotten permission from Nezu and Izuku to go with Denki for the day so they could get to know each other better outside of school and share more of their interests.
"I'm telling you, Peter Jackson's adaptations of the books into the movies aren't all that bad, sure the Hobbit Trilogy is a bit on the iffy side, but the extended cuts really adds to the experience." Fil said, having watched some of the movies from Izuku's memories within the mindscape from when his older brother was a child.
"And I'm not saying that they're bad, but there were some liberties taken. The remake was a lot better, especially with the quirk effects."
"Oh sure, quirk effects. Where's the appreciation for the old hard-working CGI, practical effects and costumes?" Blitz said with a raised brow, while Denki thought about the comment for a bit.
"I'll give you that… The Lord of The Rings Trilogy had some damn good practical effects and costumes, along with the limited CGI, but what they used for the orcs and goblins in the Hobbit were 'meh'." The electric blonde shrugged for some time as they reached the train station.
Getting onboard the rather stuffed cart, Denki noticed how Blitz got a lot of glances and curious looks from the other passengers, most likely wondering what a kid in armor was doing with a UA student.
"Mommy, look! A big action figure!" A young boy said to his mom excitedly, pointing at the armor clad teen, while his mom quickly shushed her son and told him it was rude to point fingers.
"Isn't it a bit difficult having to deal with people constantly looking at you like this?" Denki whispered to Blitz, who just shrugged.
"You get used to it. Plenty of students stare at us all the time back at U.A."
"Huh…now that you mention it, that is true."
"What people don't understand, they'll fear or try to rationalize…sometimes that involves a lot of staring. Besides, if I ever get tired of it, I can just take a nap inside my helmet. Or watch some videos…I think this thing can get internet…that or I need to install a plug-in."
"Dude that is so lucky, I really want one of my own now!"
"Hehehe, maybe one day, Denki."
They soon made it to their station and Blitz would find himself introduced to Denki's family.
"Hi there! You must be Blitz, I'm Kaminari Kirai, also known as Thunder Hero: Arashi," A beautiful, blonde woman introduced herself with a small child holding onto her hand with a pikachu plushie. "And this little one here is Hoshiko," She said, gesturing to the little girl who hid behind her mother's leg and glanced at the armored teenager.
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am. Look forward to working alongside you." Blitz said with a bow, before he looked down at Hoshiko who let out a small squeak and quickly hid behind Kirai again, before Blitz knelt down and took off his helmet, showing the little girl that underneath was a human of flesh and blood, and not an amalgamation of metal and wires.
"Hello there, ad'ika. It is nice to meet Kaminari's biological vod'ika he said with a smile, while the little girl slowly came out from behind her mom, curiosity starting to fill her eyes as she slowly approached the freckled clone, staring at him for a good two minutes.
"Mlep."
Noshiko suddenly stuck her tongue out at him, before waltzing over to her older brother holding her arms out, asking to be picked up, which he did.
Seemingly a bit confused at the action, Blitz looked to the two older Kaminari's, who both just grinned.
"Don't worry, she doesn't mean anything ill, that's just how she says hello." Denki said as he gently stroked Noshiko's hair while she snuggled into him. "She doesn't talk very much, you see."
Nodding, Blitz stood up once more and looked at the trio, before closing the door behind them, so that the house wouldn't get cold.
"Ah, how rude of me, please come in!" Kirai said with another smile as she stood to the side to allow her son and his new friend to come inside.
Entering the house, the group would soon find themselves lost in talk about books and stories that they enjoyed, with even Noshiko warming up to Blitz, who felt just as much at home like they were his biological family.
Training, Blitz saw how much Arashi cared about her son. She was tough when training him, but fair and made sure to impart lessons to him when she could.
Right now, they're greatest challenge was getting Denki to not short himself out.
"The problem is that Denki can't project the electricity from out of his body. Right now he acts like a conductor. Just channeling the electricity through him, the surge from his body is what can cause damage to enemies, but it's not truly leaving him. All the current surging through his body eventually overwhelms him," Arashi sighed as she observed the most recent experiment.
"And that's what causes him to become like that?" Blitz said as he pointed his thumb over to where Denki was in his 'whey' mode. Noshiko pulling him along by his hand to help him rest.
"Yes…the same thing happened to…" Arashi trailed off as a pained expression passed over her face.
"Your brother, right? Denki's uncle?"
"Yes…he tried to become a hero, but the backlash of his quirk was worse. At first, he was such a kind, sweet young man. But the more he tried and failed to control his quirk, the worse he got. He became cruel, petty, destructive…even hurting his fellow classmates…his friends."
"If you don't mind me asking…what happened? Cause I doubt that Denki got the full story."
"He was forcefully removed from the hero program and he snapped. His anger overcame him and he finally lashed out. His rampage ended up destroying multiple power plants and city blocks as he fully delved into the darker aspects of his power, completely absorbing the energy from them and even draining people of their bioelectricity, shutting down their hearts and brains," Arashi said as a tear trailed down her cheek.
"All Might was dealing with a disaster on the other side of the country, and no other hero could get close to him except for me…"
18 years ago
"Brother, please! Stop this!" A younger Arashi cried as she redirected the lightning strikes away from her as her brother began to laugh cruelly.
"Stop? And become what? A worthless dropout of a hero student? I finally feel like myself, Kirai! Finally feel free! If you want me to stop so badly, YOU'LL HAVE TO KILL ME! AHAHAHA!"
"Our battle ended with me using my ultimate move..."
Arashi sobbed as she pulled her hand out of her brother's chest, his hateful gaze glaring at her harshly as the light began to drain out of them.
"You…you were always…the perfect one…Arashi..." He muttered as he expired and she held him tightly as the last remnants of energy dissipated from his body.
Present
"Ever since that day, I've never used that ultimate move again…" She said, before lifting her right arm to him, which he only now realized was completely covered up unlike her left, before she pulled on some strings and let the cloth on it fall off.
What Blitz saw that day would forever be etched into his mind.
From the edge of her fingertips, all the way up to her shoulder were lightning shaped scars along with several second to third degree burn scars.
"His lightning interacted with my own, causing my own super move to backlash against me as I went through his chest…the doctors said that I'm cleared to use the super move. Have been for years…I just can't bring myself to do it."
Looking back over towards her children, she gave off a weak smile as she saw Noshiko continuing to drag around her older brother by one of his fingers while still clutching her Pikachu plushie.
"Denki means the world to me…he wanted to become just an EMT but I knew that he could become so much more…but I worry if the day may come where I might have to strike down another member of my family, lost to darkness."
Blitz laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"You don't have to worry. You can count on us, all of us, to keep him on the straight and narrow. We'll help him figure this out too."
"Thank you…I'm glad Denki has such good friends."
Later that day, after Denki recovered, Blitz would have dinner again with them and feel a part of their small family.
But he couldn't help but feel worried, especially as he saw Denki's continued frustration at his lack of progress.
"Come on! You're my quirk so obey me!"
Blitz walked outside the patio into the training area to where Denki was channeling electricity through his body, but unable to actually throw it.
"Ugh! This is so frustrating!"
"I know a way that you may be able to somewhat 'throw' your lightning, Denki. You're able to channel your quirk through things, correct?"
"I am, but why?"
"The Vod'e have cables, primarily used for climbing and preventing falls, however they can also be used for restraint and for gliding. We would normally attach them to our blasters, but we've also been working on some that can be attached to vambraces." He said, as he pulled out said gadget and held it out towards him.
"I'll…think about it…" Denki said as he shook his head in frustration and left the training area with Blitz.
Neither noticed the single arc of lightning that had shot of Denki's finger and hit the ground.
It would be later on however, as Blitz saw Denki ride with them to go support Izuku and his friends at the mall that Blitz realized that there'd be no one else he'd be prouder of to call vod.
"Hey Blitz…quick question. What's the Mando'a word for storm?" Denki suddenly asked.
"Storm? Hmm…Buurenaar."
"Buurenaar…huh…"