Chapter 01: There's Only Been One Flash?
"Alright, let's do this one last time."
A blond blue-eyed superhero dressed in a red bodysuit with a lightning bolt emblem and golden lightning details grinned as he pulled on his cowl and sped off in an electric blur of red.
"My name is Toshinori Yagi. I was struck by a lightning bolt. And for 40 years, I've been the one and only... Flash."
He dashed across the city streets, lightning trailing his movements as his surroundings passed by in a blur. Or would've had he not the reflexes to perfectly regard it all as easily as he would've while walking.
Coming to an instant pause atop a skyscraper's gargoyle, he paused to regard the city below.
"I'm sure you know the rest."
"People need us. We help them. That's what it means to be a Flash. Run the Race, and prepare to pass the baton." His predecessor gently pushed ahead of him, her smile a serene version of his as she adjusted her helmet. "Those who keep smiling are the strongest, after all."
"I saved a bunch of people."
He sped across the entire length of a derailing train, saving every passenger before it even had the chance to stop moving.
"I got a best friend who also my 'Guy in the Chair'."
He and his best friend fist bumped before he sped off, David adjusting his glasses before getting to work.
"And then I saved lots of people again."
He broke the sound barrier as he landed the punch, rendering the villain's rock-like skin meaningless before him. With barely a pause, he caught the detonator that had been flung upwards before zipping allover the building to find and retrieve the hidden bombs.
"And again..."
The mugger holding a knife against the lady's shirt didn't even see him coming before being literally dumped into the nearby trashcan.
"And again..."
Even as Captain Cold and Heat Wave escaped again with their loot, he focused on saving the men trapped within the contraption.
"And again..."
The building was burning and Backdraft looked like he really needed the help in easily evacuating all two hundred and seven residents in less than six seconds. Really, it showed in how he screamed his thanks at his afterimage while the sidekicks were instead cursing.
"And I did, uh... I did this..."
"I Am Here... photobombing Endeavor's photo session!"
"...we don't really talk about this. Any contradictory thing you might hear from Dave or Melissa is a damn lie. Look, I'm a comic book. I'm a cereal. I'm a footwear franchise. Even got invited to do a Christmas album. But after everything..."
He choked as Doctor Alchemy slammed him through a wall.
He dodged about Amunet Black's attack as it destroyed the railing behind him.
He circled about as Grodd pounded the earth with both fists, easily rupturing it apart with his gorilla strength.
"I still love being the Flash. I mean who wouldn't?"
He ran across the skyscrapers' sides, easily zipping across with gravity as an afterthought as he nimbly jumped across to the next one.
"So no matter how many hits that do manage to hit me..."
Being blinded by the sudden flash of the Super-Collider, he winced as Grodd scored a mostly clean hit on his side.
"...I always find a way to get back in the running."
Shaking it off, he gingerly got back to his feet and regarded the rumbling of the giant machine below.
"Because no matter how many heroes and villains fill this world, the only one fast enough to save them all from oblivion... is me."
Lightning danced above in the rainstorm above and the speedster below, the two merging for an instant as a leap powered by a speed of 850MPH easily boosted him several meters into the air.
"There's only one Flash..."
He grinned excitedly as he prepared to land again, the excess energy from the thunderbolt only supercharging his stamina even further.
"...and you're lookin' at him."
It started as a little storm cloud that came together off the coast before drifting into Japan over land. It took a rather long time to reach it's destination, but as it approached Musutafu, it slowly grew darker and larger...
And it wasn't the only storm cloud around...
"Since we've now entered well into your final year here, it's time to think seriously about your future."
Izuku Midoriya, sixteen years old and Quirkless in a world where 80% weren't, paid Murakami-sensei little as he continued to write down his notes on Mt. Lady. Gigantification was good, but it seemed that she would have to be quite careful in populated areas. Why had she been stationed in a place as congested as Musutafu?
"I'll pass out handouts for your future plans now, but..."
Paying even less attention to another of his classmates' casual display of their Quirks, Izuku hummed quietly as he decided that Mt. Lady probably just wanted the media attention for whatever reason.
"You're all pretty much planning to go into the Hero Course, right?"
As the class cheered all around him, Izuku finally finished up with a note that confirmed that 'well, she does have an ass worth taking pics of.'.
"Teach!" Kacchan scoffed from his seat, leaning back with his legs crossed over the table. "Don't lump us all in the same group. I'm not gonna be stuck at the bottom with the rest of these rejects!"
Ouch. As expected of Kacchan to casually insult everybody in the room.
"That was uncalled for, Bakugo!"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"You all should shut up like the extras you are!" Kacchan retorted.
"Oh, if I remember correctly, you want to go to U.A. University, right, Bakugo?" Murakami-sensei remarked, causing Izuku to frown. Even if it would only stroke Kacchan's ego, should a teacher really be revealing confidential information like that?
"That's exactly why you guys are just extras!" Kacchan's smirk grew even cockier as the protesting students stilled from the shock, all of them stunned at his obvious but very difficult choice as he proceeded to leap onto his desk. "I aced the mock test! I'm the only one at this school who could get into U.A.! I'll definitely surpass Endeavor and become the top hero!"
Izuku wondered on how Kacchan would react on learning that he'd aced the mock test as well.
"Oh yeah, Midoriya wants to go to U.A., too, right?" Murakami-sensei's words were casual, sounding more like an afterthought as he brought up the one other student in class who aspired to enter the prestigious institution.
...fuck.
Predictably, the class broke into uproarious laughter while their teacher looked disinterested.
"Huh?! Midoriya?! No way!"
"You can't get into the Hero Course just by studying!"
"You can if you're not directly aiming for the Hero Course." Izuku quietly protested as he put away his journal, eyeing Kacchan as the blond looked fit to erupt. "Besides, it really isn't-"
Kacchan roared as he slammed his hand against Izuku's desk, his {Explosion} blasting it apart and nearly blowing Izuku away. "Hey, Deku! What the fuck do you think you're doing with your Quirkless ass applying to U.A.?! How can you even stay in the same ring as me?!"
"Frankly, I fail to see how it's your business, Kacchan." Izuku got back to his seat and idly waved away the smoke. "No matter your opinions, not a single person here has the right to determine my future."
Of course, even as he said that, Izuku fought not to show how hard his heart beat at Kacchan glaring at him while their classmates had stopped snickering to instead stare. It wasn't the first time Kacchan had disparaged his dream to become a Hero. Hell, nobody had thought much of Izuku's dream. Not even his mom who loved him unconditionally.
Izuku had read all sorts of books to make up for being turned away from the local dojos, exercised daily with parkour Aunt Mitsuki had introduced to him.
But there were still times when it felt impossible with his meagre resources.
"Besides, I'm not becoming a hero because I'm aiming for the Number One spot." Izuku stated confidently as he and Kacchan locked glares. "If you're not as insecure as you appear right now, you'd know that."
Kacchan scoffed before returning to his seat, finally prompting Murakami-sensei to take back control of his class just as the ground seemed to shake a bit as it had been doing for the past few days.
What a sycophant. As if Kacchan would remember a single thing about this school later on. Izuku was still 40% he'd forgotten everyone of his classmates' names other than Izuku's, and that last one was only because Aunt Mitsuki frequently visited and called him by name.
Outside, lightning rumbled ominously across the darkening sky, causing Izuku to curse at having forgotten his umbrella.
Izuku's phone then lit up with an alert.
"Another report just in about the latest in a series of mysterious seismic events. If any information is discovered, please call in..."
Thunder cracked within the darkened skies above Musutafu, rain finally unleashing it's load upon the earth. The rainstorm was a strange anomaly, one that even those with Quirks related to weather felt unease at it's occurrence and many immediately seeking shelter from the rampant lightning above.
Then things got really weird when the lightning started to flash different colors.
Sometimes, Izuku genuinely wondered if the world hated him. Not just the bigoted people, but the very planet itself. Because of the rainstorm, the usual bus he would've taken had gotten delayed in traffic. And because of that, he'd definitely be late in getting home to his plans for Project Psych. And if he was late for that... Well, there really wasn't any repercussion for that, but Izuku had a mental timetable he liked to adhere to.
Izuku sighed as he dashed through the rain, the experience basically being like rushing underneath an endless waterfall.
The sooner he got home, the sooner he could-
*CRAAAAAAACK!*
Izuku was no stranger to pain, being a frequent victim of bullying thanks to his Quirkless status.
But this?
This made every past pain in his life feel like a joke.
Imagine for a bit that you possessed very sensitive skin and were allergic to ant bites. Then imagine being dumped into an ant pit large enough to easily fit into. Multiply that by nine thousand and that would be the closest example of what Izuku could describe what being struck by lightning felt like.
Thankfully, unconsciousness soon followed after.
Tears streamed down Inko Midoriya's cheeks as she stared down at her unconscious boy, Izuku still in his coma with his breathing barely visible. This was how it had always been for the past three months ever since that dreadful storm.
She still remembered how she had nearly fainted from her initial sight of him after the lightning strike: His hair had been completely burned off with the pores sealed, his skin had become riddled with Lichtenberg scars from the impact and apparently, he'd gotten heart problems severe enough to warrant many of the doctors and nurses in a panic.
"He's going to be okay." A calming voice whispered at her side, a familiar soft hand massaging her shoulder. "Izuku has always been a fighter than and even that showed now. Plus, now we've got good news to tell him when he wakes."
Inko weakly chuckled at her husband's words, Hisashi moving forward to replace the flowers at the bedside table. One good thing from this debacle was that Hisashi had immediately flown home from abroad after she'd called him, with him even transferring into a workplace in Musutafu, even if he had to work more hours.
Also, Izuku's horrific injuries had long been healed over within hours of his hospitalization. Now his skin had returned to normal, with him even gaining more muscle than she was sure he'd never gained before.
What a strange and unfortunate way to finally awaken a Quirk he had always desired. Then as if he could finally hear her mental prayers, Izuku's eyes slowly flickered open.
Like a switch being flicked, Izuku went into a small spasm that quickly had both Inko and Hisashi at his sides before he even realized that there was a tube going down his throat. It didn't take long for Inko to help him to pull it out despite her hesitation to let him while Hisashi left to find the doctor.
As soon as it was out, he panted rapidly, as if he'd never taken a breath of air before in his life.
"M-Mom..." Izuku's voice wasn't at all hoarse. It sounded as if he hadn't gone into a coma at all.
Inko didn't stop herself from wrapping her arms around him as tightly as she could.
She would not let go, at least until the doctor's strong insistence ten minutes later.
A whole five days passed before Izuku finally got discharged.
Even in the advent of Quirks, the doctors had declared his situation to be a medical miracle and had wanted to study his potentially new Quirk as much as Izuku himself did. Coma patients never awoke as good as he did and even got a better body than what they'd had before.
He'd even gotten abs out of it! Not the smooth lean torso he'd had before, but a bona fide Olympic-level physique!
A nurse had even snuck him her phone number!
However, his mother had put her foot down hard enough to intimidate them all into letting Izuku go, quickly reminding him of how scary she was whenever she wasn't being her usual doting self.
But still, he really did feel great even if his appetite seemed to have skyrocketed. He'd finished his dinner, then gone on to almost empty the fridge before his father jokingly commented that they'd have to go shopping tomorrow to restock.
However, an unprecedented problem suddenly showed itself the morning when Mom finally let him go back to school.
Having usually worn baggy pants or shorts, Izuku frowned at the sight of his uniform trousers stopping too high from his ankles. "Damnit, my pants shrunk."
It was the same for some of his clothing as well, which meant that he'd have to either refit them or buy new ones.
"You don't have to go to school yet if you still feel unwell." Mom fretted. "We don't really know what else that lightning bolt did to you."
"Not to mention that freaky lightning storm." Dad muttered over his coffee cup as he looked at a news site on his phone. "Definitely caused by some dumbass's Quirk. As if we weren't having enough of that with all the surprise miniature earthquakes."
"I'm fine, Mom." Izuku reassured her after wolfing down his breakfast, nearly biting his tongue with how quickly he'd attacked it. When Izuku was finished with that, he hugged her goodbye and rushed out to school.
The moment he was outside, Izuku steadied his breath as the sudden rise in sensory input drove his high tension to further heights.
The same energy that had all but catapulted him out of bed earlier in the day was like a small rubber ball bouncing around inside of him, begging to come out. It prompted him to move. It prompted him to-
RUN.
He couldn't stand still any longer than this. He could still make it if he did a little parkour halfway, right?
Izuku burst into a jog right there, and his world immediately rushed past in a blur of emerald and a swoosh of superheated air. The feeling was unparalleled. His body felt so charged and was brimming with so much energy.
Even his cells felt like they were all quivering under the wave of pure exhilaration made manifest, and he didn't even know how he could feel his cells!
No matter how far he ran, his legs didn't feel ready to give up on him as they normally would at this point. It didn't feel like they could.
He didn't want to stop running. Not ever.
Still, he probably had to stop soon-
Izuku stuttered to a halt before Aldera High, ignoring the surprised looks of his schoolmates as he regarded his surroundings in a stunned manner.
He'd made it? All the way to school?
Suddenly catching the scent of something burning, Izuku shrieked a little as he noticed his smoking shoes and hastily stomped on them while his mind easily multitasked what he'd just accomplished.
He'd run at super speed. He'd ran several miles all the way to school in three minutes!
Forget Olympic body, he had superspeed!
Probably Flash-level, too!
He had a Quirk! An actual Quirk!
...wait.
Flash-level?
As in the same Flash that sometimes left electricity in his wake?
Was the Flash... the same as him...?
KingVessel: Gimme your thoughts, readers.