Darraiter (Guest): Will you explain how it was that Genki didn't pass the Entrance Exam? You said through Eraser that it may be because Genki couldn't control his berserker mode, so he may hadn't used until then, but... Considering he can run faster than Iida, knows how to fight, has a strategic mind, has this Cocroach Oil that works for everything... Still, he somehow did worse than Toru or Mineta?
*Re:*
In the midst of Genki's training that morning, the exercise was going the same as always. His peers at the Edgeshot Agency gave him his space, though that didn't stop an inquisitive mind from broaching his attention the only way they knew how.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap-Tap-Tap*
Releasing his dead-man switch and shaking the water from his hair as he was pulled from the water, Genki looked across the dunk tank to see Kana peeking up at him through the cowl of her ninja hood.
"Yes, Kana-chan?"
"I um… I had a… question…" she began. "Feel free not to answer if it's too difficult, but, after watching you at the Sports Festival, I couldn't help but be curious… How come you didn't get into the Hero Course? The first time I mean. You were so amazing at the fighting tournament, so I couldn't help but wonder…"
" . . . The whole thing's a number's game, and the odds weren't in my favor that day," Genki sighed after a moment, dismounting from his training rig and sitting on the lip of the dunk tank to face her.
He knew this was going to be asked of him eventually once people started questioning how someone could do so-well in the Sports Festival, but not get into the Hero Course initially, so he'd had plenty of time to ruminate on everything that could've, and had¸ 'gone wrong' for him, and formulate a satisfactory response.
Just as he was going to explain to Kana, and would probably have to explain again once he got back to Yuuei and people got it in their heads to ask.
Shinso already knew, but it was only a matter of time until his peers in 1-A started to pester him about it.
Maybe he could bribe Shinso with food to do it for him?
Though after the previous instance, it might be a touch-up getting him to respond…
"Each year, only forty students out of thousands are able to get into the Hero Course. Discounting four of those slots that get in from Recommendation, and that 'forty' gets bumped down to 'thirty-six' for someone not getting in on Recommendation," he explained.
In retrospect, he and his mother could've probed the idea to Nezu, and if his father being the ex-No.2 five years ago wasn't enough, he could've just said he wanted to "earn" his spot at Yuuei and not hang off his father's coat tails, instead of saying he'd been a "has-been" for "too long".
Hindsight is 20/20…
"Next problem is what I had to fight; robots. Outside of my 'Super Mode', which I can only control for sixty seconds before all frontal lobe control goes out the window, I just didn't have the 'stopping power' that flashier Heteromorphs like lions, tigers, and so-on had," he thought remembering all the cooler-looking Mutants that had been testing alongside him. "For those without combat-ready Quirks, the 1, 2, and 3-Pointer Villain Bots all had Off Switches that you could trigger to score points; the problem with that however is once that trade secret got leaked, the Villain Bots were all built with modular switch mountings, the location of which is randomized. You might find one Off Switch smack dab in the middle of a robot's back, ripe for the picking, but another of the same type might have it on a limb, or near a wheel well, or the Off Switch might not even work. Toss in the fact that you only have ten minutes and are literally competing against everyone else in your 'City District', and Luck plays a huge part of it."
"So that's how people like Ojiro, Hagakure, and Mineta all got in, but you didn't?" Kana asked.
"I won't say it was all Luck that got them into the Hero Course ahead of me," Genki amended, seeing how that could've been interpreted. "Ojiro's Quirk might be on the plain side, but based on muscle density alone, and he'd have to have been training his [Tail] for years and years. [Tail] might not be as 'flashy' or 'impressive' as other Quirks, but hard work can beat talent if you try hard enough. For Hagakure, since the robots didn't have tactile sensors and their optics were line-of-sight, which doesn't work on invisible people, and she could've searched for points with impunity as long as the Villain Bots weren't 'triggered'."
"And Mineta?" she asked, remembering that pervy bunch of grapes who'd literally piggybacked into the Second Event.
"Technically, 'immobilizing' the Villain Bots nets you points too, not just being able to turn them into a pile of slag," Genki answered, wondering what Hero School Mineta had transferred to on his Yuuei transcripts after he'd been voted out, and if he'd ever see him again.
Hopefully there wouldn't be any malice between them, since he had been the one to broach taking his transcripts to another Hero School, instead of bumping him down to the General Course and having to wait until next year to get back in.
"So then their testing grounds were more favorable?" Kana asked.
"Well, they probably didn't have to put up with the same homicidal nutcase I had to, going around and killing everything before I could even try to find the Off Switches," Genki said remembering aforementioned 'homicidal nutcase' screaming- "DIE!" -at everything, and anything, that moved. "And I couldn't get any of the Rescue Points my mother told me about because A) if it seemed like I was hunting for those points intentionally I might not get any at all, and B) no-one in my testing ground needed rescuing, or if they did, they weren't close-enough for me to capitalize on."
"But you're so fast!"
"On a straightaway, sure, but if I shoulder-checked someone at even half max speed and I'd probably get disqualified," Genki answered, remembering how-badly he'd hurt someone at tag when he was a kid; just another reason he'd been ostracized, tangentially related to his Quirk. "So yeah, I had a lot going against me, but when you pit literal thousands of people against one another with less than forty winners slots, and people are bound to fall through the cracks."
"Oh, like Hitoshi Shinso!"
"Exactly," Genki nodded. "I'm hoping that with the upset I made, Shinso might be given special consideration in the future, given he almost beat a complete nobody who nearly beat the No.2's son."
Not that he thought of Midoriya as a "complete nobody", but as far as the crowd was concerned, he might as well have been. There was a huge difference between a First and Second Generation Hero (in-the-making).
"Wow…" Kana blinked. "I had no idea how-much a 'bad draw' could hurt one's chances."
"Tell me about it…" Genki groaned, making his way back toward the dunk tank.
*Re:*
Re: Hope that cleared things up for you and others who couldn't suss it out themselves, and that I made it clear I didn't have Genki not get into the Hero Course for shits and giggles/so he could make a big splash at the Sports Festival. With so-many competing for so-little, it's only natural that Luck has a huge part to play. If Izuku had been in a City Zone where someone didn't need to get rescued from the Zero-Pointer, he'd have been right fucked, you know?
superpierce: glad to see Sero has gotten some versatility in his arsenal.
Re: He only has [One-Sided] and [Double-Sided] so far. The other stuff is only Hypothetical until he undergoes more training. Maybe changes his diet a little.
LoamyCoffee: Well now, this was a chapter. I am glad to see more on how the others' recommendations and that it gives a little more insight into other aspects of ProHero work. Interesting that Gunvolt is one of those that are trying to rise through the ranks for influence. Hmm, I like that Mina's and Sero's internships are being helpful to them.
And Sero realising he might like older women, he might ask Genki to help with one of the Onee-Samas.
As for Sato... I outright pity him and worry about how he'll be after the internships.
I know he signed a waiver but, I am scared of what constant use of his Quirk which slows his brain functions with zapping his head will do to him.
Re: Glad it turned out that way. Everyone learned something different from their Internships, no-one got an all-around; Izuku did some Quirk Reinforcement, Kirishima tackled the community service angle, Yaoyorozu tackled the brand recognition side of things, Ochako got combat training, etc. In the case of those that Genki pulled strings for, apart from GV, the rest of them are very "niche", largely popular in their own corners of Japan. In my mind, the Arachnid characters who are Heroes in MHA have what it takes to reach near the Top 10, but they're more about taking pride in their work. If anyone has what it takes to make it into the Top 10 that didn't in Canon, I'd have to lean towards the Azure Striker: Gunvolt, and not just because he's a favorite video game character of mine.
GV is young, he's handsome, he has a flashy Quirk, so he has room to grow in the industry; if you don't "strike while the iron is hot" the public will lose interest in you and with it, any rank-climbing momentum will stagnate. Sero was interesting to write for in that regard, though of course it doesn't help that Fuji Alice looking like a teenager even in her adult years sends mixed messages; like how anthropomorphized animals in cartoons turn pre-teens into Furries. No joke, that's how that really happens. For Sato, I wanted him to get stronger, so in this case it's "no pain, no gain", thus, because he's going through a LOT of pain, there will be a LOT of gain.
Mina's was fun in general to write for as well, mainly because there IS some backlash for her "conduct" during the Sports Festival; you know what I'm talking about~ I didn't want to treat that as a throw-away scene, and I got to add some more Hero Industry stuff that would probably get covered in Hero Informatics, or be more-directed at the Business Course.
*MHA*
On the fifth day, training came and went, and once again it was time for patrol. This time, he was partnered up with Ninja Red, whose previous animosity had softened by-and-large during the course of their Internship together. They weren't "best friends" by any measure, but they were amicable toward one another, and in an Agency, sometimes that was all you could really hope for. Everyone wanted to be their own Hero, not just "another sidekick", so competitiveness on that front only made sense. Even though "Hero TV" stopped being a thing decades ago, the industry was still heavily rooted in a contest of popularity, and you couldn't get popular if you were too docile.
Eventually their patrol took them to the railway station; or more specifically, the roof of a building overlooking the railway station. Heroes, like lifeguards, had to "screen" the people getting into the "pool", and other than major roadways via car or bus, the railway station was a good place to keep an eye on any potential troublemakers entering the city because so many people were bottlenecked into a single location. And statistically, the more people concentrated in a single area made it more likely that villainous activity would occur. Especially-
"Looks like we've got a pickpocket in our midst," Ninja Red hummed looking up from the scope he was using, Genki turning his head and closing his left eye, his visor recognizing the blink command as his right eye lens changed from translucent to opaque, a replica of what was before him projected before his eye similar to the Crystal Dome Technology present in some vehicles in lieu of windows; largely in "dust bowls" where sandstorms were common.
Zooming in, Genki eventually spotted what Ninja Red had; a pretty young girl in a black-and-gray sailor fuku, little older than possibly thirteen. Her skin was dark-brown with lighter-colored speckles on her cheeks and a low-key scaly quality, her hair pulled up into a curly ponytail not unlike that of a chameleon's. She was cute, but it wasn't her appearance that'd caught Ninja Red's eye.
"Should we bust her?" Genki asked as with a near-unnoticeable wave of her hand, an expensive-looking wristwatch disappeared from the wrist of a well-dressed businessman.
"No. Let's follow her to her hideout," Ninja Red replied as the girl proceeded to leave; likely before people started noticing their valuables disappearing and a sweep was run; the typical follow-up to a pickpocket scare. "Give her enough rope to hang herself."
"You mean because she might have friends?" Genki asked as he followed the older HIT.
"That's a possibility, yes. Or she could be working alone. We won't know for certain."
"Won't she notice us following her from the rooftops, though?" Genki asked as he undid the Crystal Tech in his visor, the two of them following from behind the girl's left shoulder.
"Not likely. The Tanuki Gakure no Jutsu makes us functionally invisible."
"As long as she doesn't look up, you mean."
"That too."
"Hey, you think you could slip this onto her?" Genki asked drawing a small bug-shaped chip from a pouch on his belt. "In case we lose sight of her, I mean."
"What is it?"
"Mei-chan sent it to me through the mail. It's a Tracking Bug that I can connect to with my visor's software," he answered. "I could go down and do it myself, but you with your ninja uniform in Mie could walk right up to her and she wouldn't bat an eye."
"Hiding in plain sight. I like it," Ninja Red nodded, taking the Tracking Bug from the younger teen's hand before running forward. A minute later and Ninja Red turned a corner on the opposite side of the street at ground-level, perfectly calm. For all intents and purposes, he was just another man in a ninja costume, not a Hero.
The chameleon girl took momentary notice of him, but only because of the red of his outfit, and she averted her eyes, lest she be caught staring. The two continued their course, Ninja Red not even looking at her. When the two passed by one another, Genki saw Ninja Red expertly toss his Tracking Bug toward the girl's schoolbag with an under-handed flick of his wrist, the small brown chip arcing through the air and into an external pocket.
The chameleon girl didn't notice, and Ninja Red didn't look over his shoulder, just angled his eyes upward and received a thumbs-up in confirmation.
*MHA*
The two reconvening at the rooftops, now that the Tracking Bug was in place, they didn't need to follow the girl so-closely that they risked being seen. Giving the girl a bit more "rope", Genki took the time to get acquainted with the software in his visor.
The Tracking Bug couldn't give him precise GPS coordinates, in order to fit in with size constraints, but what it was able to do was give him the direction and distance in the form of a waypoint indicator projected onto the inside of his eye lenses. It wasn't that he could see her "through buildings", just that a dot-shaped marker with a trio of concentric rings around it would be displayed with the distance in meters underneath. The farther away she got, the less rings would appear, giving Genki a good idea of when he needed to close the gap. If you could triangulate, distance and direction were more than enough.
As the sun began to descend in the distance, Ninja Red applauded Genki's patience for not spooking the poor girl. While it could very well only be a one-girl operation, instead of a whole crew like they had hoped, pickpocketing was still a crime, and the more evidence they had against her, the better. That was an issue many up-and-coming Heroes lost face over, and enough instances like that could cripple a hopeful's career.
The fact that she was making her way into a warehouse abandoned after a Villain fight, instead of the girl's private residence, had Ninja Red thinking it was the latter, instead of the prior.
"Sooo… What do we do now?" Genki asked as he eyed the building, Tracking Bug still going strong. "It's only a matter of time before she discovers the bug, and I'd like to keep it on one piece."
"I'll send out a message to the others, cover all entrances. Once Kana runs recon, we'll move in."
Genki for his part could only nod. Slow and steady won the race, after all.
Or at the very least, slow and steady finished the race. If the other guy was faster than you and didn't dick around, the faster guy would always in.
That old story gave a lot of mixed messages once you started poking holes in it.
*MHA*
The rest of the "Color Wheel Ninjas" as Genki took to calling them were quick to arrive, and with Kana's [Vanish], it was a trifling matter for her to peek in through a window and do a head-count. Genki expressed worry that someone with a Heteromorph-type Quirk could literally sniff her out, but Ninja Red assuaged his worries by telling him Kana used a special scent-neutralizing deodorant every day, and her costume was specially designed to remain scent-neutral too.
Functionally invisible and fully clothed? The ultimate Infiltration Hero in the making, with no peer.
'Gomen, Toru-san,' Genki thought as he pressed his hands together in apology. "What kind of opposition are we looking at?" he asked turning his attention back to the present.
"Kana's report says there are nine, including our 'Chameleon Girl'," Ninja Red replied. "All are Heteromorphs to varying degrees, consisting of eel, squid, vulture, scorpion, rhino, armadillo, kabuto beetle, and komodo dragon archetypes," Ninja Red replied. "She says she saw some drugs, money, hardware, and a lot of watches and jewelry."
"Any Yakuza leanings?" Genki asked. Though they'd been on the decline for a couple centuries, the old-fashioned crime families still existed, though were dwindling little by little every year. Pretty soon there wouldn't be any original yakuza families left; just upstarts claiming the word "yakuza".
"Nothing like that. I think they're just small-time. Should be easy to take out," Kana whispered, moving away lest one of them hear her.
"I see…" Genki hummed. Between the twelve of them, mixed together with an ambush and the element of surprise, it seemed like an easy bust; especially since his peers had been at this far longer. "Where's Edgeshot-sensei?" he asked taking note of the man's absence from the discussion.
"He's out in another city making a big drug bust or something," Ninja Red hummed beside him, keeping an eye on the warehouse before something caught his eye. "Oi! Who broke formation?! Everyone, check in!" he demanded angrily.
"Ninja Blue, standing by."
"Ninja Black, standing by."
"Ninja Yellow 1, standing by."
"Ninja Yellow 2, standing by."
"Ninja Green, standing by."
"Ninja Aqua, standing by."
"Ninja Orange, standing by."
"Ninja Cobalt, standing by."
"Ninja Pink, standing by."
"Ninja Violet, standing by."
"Genkiburi, standing by."
"I know that. You're sitting right next to me," Ninja Red huffed.
"I know, but it's the principle of the thing," Genki sighed. "What do you think? Another Villain? Vigilante?"
The blood-curdling screams that flowed from the warehouse's cracked windows answered that question succinctly.
"Everyone, move in but stay vigilant, we don't know what we're dealing with here," Ninja Red ordered over comms, the gathered HITs stealthily moving in, the wails of agony hastening their steps.
*MHA*
All day, the girl with the [Chameleon] Quirk had felt like she'd had eyes on her… though in a country filled with unrepentant perverts and sex hounds, even with everything that'd changed in Japan over the last two centuries, that feeling could've meant anything, honestly.
If she'd been "made", they'd have acted on it instead of letting her go. She'd had a close call earlier when a young man in red ninja attire walked toward her, but that he walked by without even looking at her assuaged those worries. Seemed the sailor fuku she'd been garbed in had done its job; selling the idea that she was "harmless". It was how that underground Villain, "The Bloodsucker", had allegedly gotten close-enough to her targets to cut them all open with a box cutter and lap up all their blood.
The day's haul had been pretty good to boot. A stack of wallets of varying thickness, a fistful of necklaces, a pile of earrings, and a bunch of expensive watches. Sure, some of it might turn out to be fake, and a few of the wallets could easily be duds, but she never overstepped her bounds, and as long as any money came in, that was a "win" in her book.
The Menagerie Gang, those whose Quirks leaned toward the word "mutant", operated more in the shadows than she. While it was always a risk operating in a Leaderboard Hero's backyard, the risks were well worth it, because the feeling of safety the presence of the No.5 Hero brought to the table made businesses confident enough to run their wares, and customers to come in and purchase those wares.
In the early days of Paranormality, people blamed Heroes for the emergence of Villains, especially in the high-population areas. However, "The New Superhero Theory", published anonymously by one whose name had been lost to time, posited that it was the money under a Hero's umbrella that attracted Villains, and not necessarily the Heroes themselves since common sense would dictate, Villains should stay away from Heroes whom were actually capable of fighting them on equal ground; not run towards them.
With that day's haul, the gang had been contemplating their departure from Mie to greener pastures. No-one was onto them yet, but staying in one place for too long heightened the chances of someone happening upon them. They didn't have any Mental-Class Quirks between them, and if some teenager on a smoke break or a randy couple happened by looking for a little privacy or wanted to "get weird", the veterans of the gang would have to dispose of the body, which would kick up a Missing Persons flag, which would put any of their movements under scrutiny.
And call it "profiling" all you want, but the numbers didn't lie; those with Mutant-Type Quirks were twice as likely to become Villains as those with Emitter or Transformation-Type Quirks, and the numbers only grew more solid the "less human" one's Quirk made them.
She'd been lucky. Her mother had been a "softcore" Mutant, her father on the opposite end of the spectrum, and she could've just-as-easily wound up looking like her dad, but she didn't, which meant she was effectively the most-invisible one of the gang.
Of course, all that ruminating went out the window once the screaming started.
A figure all in black had leapt from the shadows, spry as a spider, onto the back of "Horns", the strongest of their number with the Quirk [Rhino]. Before he could even fight back, the man's hand had descended upon his face, flesh bubbling and boiling as a horrific hand-shaped mark was burned into place, the man passing out from shock.
He could've recovered, had the killer not snapped his neck with superhuman strength.
The rest of the Menagerie Gang were quick to act, and the warehouse didn't give them any shortage of space, but it was when they kept tumbling over one another that the killer took advantage, always keeping one of their number between himself and his next attacker before descending with the ruthless efficiency of a hunter, taking them down like something from a nightmare.
Her back pressed against the wall, frozen in fear as her "comrades" died around her in a horrific dance as their strength and numbers were turned against itself, her uncle, the man with the Quirk [Komodo Dragon] died last, and then the Vigilante's attention was solely fixated on her, completely ignoring the undefended spoils. His tall muscular body was covered in tattered black bandages, a gray webbing-like substance holding it together, an equally-tattered red mantle over his shoulders and upper body. The black mask covering his face, leaving messy brown hair exposed, had a white spider emblem upon it, and though she couldn't see his eyes, she could feel his gaze upon her, the scent of burnt flesh adhering itself to him like the cloak he wore.
Windows and doors suddenly bursting in, colorful figures in ninja garb poured in, Quirks at the ready. Heroes! She'd never been more-glad to see them in her life!
"Do not get in the way of my work, little Genin," the spider-themed Vigilante spat before turning his attention back to her, murderous hand raised to deal the final blow.
"I WON'T LET YOU!" a voice out of a synthesizer cried out, a blur of brown all Japanese women came to dread zipping towards her before interposing itself between the two. The Vigilante's hand clamping around the Hero's arm, though the armor on his forearm burnt, what dribbled out of the man's grip wasn't blood, but oil! "GOKI CANNON!" he shouted splaying his free hand at the man's chest, blasting him back with compressed air, the arm beneath his armor unharmed. "Are you alright?"
The chameleon girl could only numbly nod.
"That thing isn't worth saving!" the spider-themed Vigilante growled as he moved forward to strike again, only for water, mud, and nails the size of light posts to bar his path, the other Heroes stepping into action.
"Go! You're the fastest of us! Get her out of here!" the man in the red ninja garb -The same as before!- shouted as he readied another brace of weapons, the Vigilante dodging around an enormous lug nut that churned up concrete.
The young Hero looming over her, clad like a Kamen Rider from the days of yore, only nodded his head in turn before his arms went to her back and under her legs, easily lifting her up before bolting toward the circular opening a wrecking ball-like teen in green ninja garb had made.
*MHA*
The warehouses zipping by, soon gave way to a large park, the shadows of the trees growing dark as the sun began to set toward the horizon. As the chameleon-like girl huddled in the young Hero's arms, wind whipping her hair, as she peered into his green eye-lenses, she saw that a bit of blood spatter had struck her cheek in their reflection, driving home what had occurred minutes ago.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"H… Hai…"
"Don't worry. We'll get you in protective custody soon. I just need enough of a straightaway to-"
The next moment a noise like rustling cloth met their ears, the chameleon girl looking over the Hero's shoulder to see a kite-like silhouette descending towards them. The figure coming into the waning light, it was revealed to be the Vigilante from before, limbs spread with a web-patterned wing suit allowing him to glide after them.
"The others, do you think they…?"
"I don't think so. I doubt he could've routed them so soon," the Hero replied in turn. "If you can handle it, I can go faster."
"Y-Yes please!" she pleaded, clutching onto him tighter.
Before the Hero could accelerate however, a zip-line from above suddenly skewered the ground in front of them, the rustling of cloth growing in intensity as the Vigilante reeled himself towards them on an intercept course.
"Oh no! He's going to get us!"
"I've got you!"
"I don't think so!"
The Hero's shoes squealing loudly on the concrete walkway as he came to an abrupt stop, holding the chameleon girl close to his chest, he quickly shot backwards, jinking to the right and then to the left around the descending Vigilante as he came down where they would've been, a scorching hand mark left in his wake while the Hero whirled around and shot the other way.
"How is he keeping up with us?" she cried as the Vigilante came after them once more, flying at an incredible speed. "Does he have another Quirk?!"
"No. It's obvious the zip line and wing suit are Illegal Support items. He uses the zip line to accelerate, then deploys his wing suit once he gets a strong air current going," the Hero answered. "It must've taken a great deal of practice to master, otherwise he would've smeared himself on the pavement by now."
"What do we do?!"
"We keep running, that's what!" the Hero replied, the murderous Vigilante hot on their trail.
*MHA*
Edgeshot's newest little disciple was giving him a harder time of things than he'd expected. It should've been a sure thing, going in and killing that Villain scum, making the world a better place, and it'd certainly been easy to slip the net since the rest of Kamihara's interns used all the same tricks he did. But it was always the speed types, whose brains could keep up with their feet, that gave him the most trouble.
Still, you didn't reach a confirmed kill count like him by giving up when things got tough. You knuckled down until you bagged your man, and snapped the toe-tag into place.
That said, it was taking everything the Vigilante had to keep pace with Yuuei's Sports Festival winner, who'd made a major splash in the industry as of late with his feats in Mie.
The only edge he had over "Genkiburi" was that he had an inkling of what the fledgling Hero was attempting; to reach a populated area with lots of Heroes, and plenty of witnesses, because the thing about living in a superpowered society was, you had no idea who had "exploding head powers". He'd seen a man take a little girl hostage, only for his head to explode because that was literally what the little girl's Quirk did. So it was just-as-much a gamble to perpetrate a crime, as it was to take a hostage, because for all you knew, it could be the worst-possible matchup, and citizens were allowed to use Quirks to defend themselves if their lives were in danger even after they'd made every reasonable attempt to escape.
That bit of introspection of course only took a single second for the experienced Vigilante, and in his hindbrain he'd already come up with his next course of action.
At the zenith of his flight, the Vigilante palmed a brace of kunai in his free hand and let them fly. Most of them missed, but he only needed one to hit; and hit it did. The Hero intern stumbled, an arc of blood spilling from above the ankle, his speed dropping like a rock; he could've easily dodged were it not for the soon-to-be dead weight in his arms.
It was at that moment the Vigilante dove at him like a hawk, steam trailing from his clawed hand, intent on the pickpocket's head.
What he did not expect was for Genkiburi to round on him, arms thrown up and the pickpocket sent skyward. Naturally his eyes moved to follow, neck automatically craning, catching sight of the girl's fluttering skirt and the biker shorts under-
*Poof*
"AGH!" the Vigilante cried as a hollowed-out eggshell broke against his face.
"Eat metsubushi, bitch!" Genkiburi yelled as the familiar mixture of powdered pepper, ash, and dirt struck his eyes, the pickpocket landing back in his arms with an- "EEP!"
"DIE!" the Vigilante roared as he got to his feet and lunged.
"Ohshithide!" Genkiburi yelled throwing the girl over his shoulders, the pickpocket vanishing into thin air a moment later and landing silently.
"Nani?!" the Vigilante gawped.
"Goki Sand Attack!"
A jet of pressurized air from his palm striking the ground, a cloud of detritus was kicked up and once again struck his eyes, blinding him even more.
Feeling a body moving towards him, the Vigilante lunged to the right, the *BZAAAAAAAT!* of a taser passing him by. Priming his Quirk in his right hand and clamping down on the intern's bare shoulder as his vision began to clear, once again he slipped out of his grasp like an unagi. Genkiburi in turn stepped into his guard, a powerful corkscrew strike like a sledgehammer striking him in the abdomen, the Vigilante leaping back to mitigate the damage. Ire rising, the Vigilante crooked his fingers and lunged once again.
"Why?! Why do you keep getting in my way!?" the Vigilante demanded amidst claw slashes. "Of my mission?!"
"Because that's what Heroes do! We save people! Even if they don't always deserve it!" Genkiburi said as he continued to dodge. "Goki Sand Attack!"
"Agh! Again with the eyes-"
"Goki Heel Kick! And HatsuMei Net Shot!" Genkiburi shouted as he launched the Vigilante against a light post with a powerful side kick before binding him against said post with his net launcher. The Vigilante quickly palmed a kunai in each hand to cut through the netting, but a cry of- "Goki Oil Shot!" -left his hands doused in oil, the knives leaping from his lubricated hands. "And last but not least…!"
*MHA*
When the rest of Edgeshot's interns and the Mie police arrived at Genki's location, following the GPS on his phone, they were surprised to find that the Vigilante had already been captured. Bound against a lamp post with the netting Genkiburi had been seen using before, whenever the Vigilante attempted to get free, Genkiburi would press his taser into the light post, which would conduct the electricity and transfer it into the Vigilante's body, locking his muscles up and preventing aforementioned escape attempt.
What surprised the other Interns even more was that the pickpocket from before was waiting dutifully on a nearby park bench, hands clasped on her lap, twitting her thumbs, no attempt to escape made. The only remotely-suspicious thing she was actually doing was sending glances Genki's way when she thought he wasn't looking
"Oh good, you finally made it," Genki said lifting his visor. "The Support Team wouldn't give me any chloroform, so I had to run the battery down every time this homicidal nutball tried to escape," he said pressing his taser to the light post once again, the Vigilante's body locking up before he went limp.
"What about her?" Ninja Red asked pointing to the pickpocket.
"Well, when I told her to hide, I thought she might try to escape while I fought this guy, but she stayed nearby and agreed to come quietly once the dust settled," Genki answered. "Guess she didn't want to get wailed on for trying."
"You'd hit a girl?" Kana asked.
"In the name of Gender Equality, I'd dropkick her without a moment's hesitation," Genki answered looking the pickpocket's way, the girl straightening in her seat. "You don't see All Might holding back just because of gender."
"The hammer of justice is unisex! Haaa hahahaha!"-Genki remembered the No.1 Hero bellowing one time as he proceeded to repeatedly punch a female Villain with a strength-class Quirk in the face.
"I guess that's fair," Kana admitted, the police moving in and restraining the Vigilante's hands before proceeding to cut him free from the netting.
"Hey, make sure to cuff his ankles too. He's a runner. Oh! And make sure to strip him of his Support Items and shuriken!" Genki shouted over his shoulder before turning back to Ninja Red. "I assume we hang around here until this Vigilante's in the back of the paddywagon?"
"More or less," the ninja in red replied. "Good job stopping him. How'd you do it?"
"Oh, you know, the old 'Ninja Sand-In-The-Eyes' trick," Genki waved off, "way more effective against villains than you'd realize," he continued with a laugh, causing the others to deadpan in his general direction.
*MHA*
As Genki would soon learn, the Hero industry was as-rife with politics as it had been during the "Corporate Age" in America; back when Heroes ran around for the cameras with logos slapped on every part of their bodies like… What's that one American thing with all the tacky decals called? Nascar?
Of course, that was a story for another day.
Back to this day!
Though the actual news coverage itself wouldn't be disseminated to the public for a few more days as everything was fact-checked and approved for distribution by the Quirk Public Safety Commission, Genki and his fellow interns were told by Edgeshot just whom they had gone up against the evening before, even if Genki was the only one to actually fight him.
Shinobi Spider was a Hero-turned-Vigilante who used to go by the name of "The Ambush Hero: Kumo-Nin", and was actually a former apprentice of Edgeshot's, years before any of the color-coded ninja hopefuls had come on to the Edgeshot Agency. The reason he turned his back on Heroics was because of a non-stop barrage of personal tragedies that served to whittle down his compassion, mercy, and sanity until all that was left was a bloodthirsty hunter of criminals; officially-designated by the QPSC or otherwise.
The first in the line of tragedies to befall him was the death of his parents in an airport bombing perpetrated by a Suicide Villain originating from the Middle East, which even two centuries after the onset of Paranormality was still a hotbed of religious and ideological conflict. Quirks, some of which gave people Abrahamic abilities certainly didn't help tensions. Following that was the murder of his uncle by a convenience store robber, his aunt dying shortly later before he graduated Yuuei due to medical complications. A couple of years after becoming a Pro Hero, his then-pregnant girlfriend had been poisoned by a Villain at a restaurant they frequented; allegedly, the chef who had prepared the killing meal was complicit in the plot because of a crippling gambling addiction, which was taken advantage of, as most addictions are.
Amazingly, none of that served to break him, and it was a miracle he'd held onto his heroic ideals even that long.
But it didn't change the fact that eventually, he did break.
The last straw to break the camel's back came to a head during a child kidnapping case. Kumo-Nin had caught the Villain, but upon unmasking him, the man's identity was exposed to be the corrupt son of a foreign diplomat who "just wanted to have some fun". Allegedly, as testified by a homeless vagrant whose Quirk let them hide in dark corners to the point of being almost completely invisible, aforementioned Villain had taunted that he'd be able to escape conviction because of the Diplomatic Immunity he possessed, and that not even a beloved Hero could change that. That Diplomants would be eternally more-powerful than even beloved Heroes like All Might.
That jeering taunt from the lips of a child rapist, piled on top of every other tragedy Kumo-Nin had had to endure, sent the Hero into a bloodthirsty rage, and with his Quirk [Super Adhesion], burned a horrific claw-shaped mark into the man's face.
By the time the Villain's body was found by his fellow Heroes, all that remained was the physically and sexually mutilated body of an eight-year-old girl, a terrified squatter hiding in a corner, and a note written in the victim's blood that read もういや。
No more.
Kumo-Nin had never been seen again; all that was left to herald his departure was his Hero Costume, abandoned in a trashcan in a nearby alleyway like so much refuse. A few months later, and rumors began to circulate about a murderous Vigilante with a spider on his mask. However, because of how-popular the spider motif was for Vigilantes, Villains, and even Heroes, and how many Support Items could be used to scale walls amongst other things, and the fact that acid could cause the same claw-shaped burns, and there was no way of knowing Shinobi Spider had been Kumo-Nin definitively.
At least, not until Genki's intervention had led to his capture. Shinobi Spider may've been an ex-Hero with years' experience over him, but Genkiburi's Giant Interneurons and what little Ninjutsu he had at his disposal, in addition to the Support Items in his possession, stacked on top of [Oilpiration] against [Super Adhesion], had tipped the scales almost unfairly into the HIT's favor.
As for the Chameleon Girl that Genki had rescued, she was still arrested, but due to her age and the fact that her father "Komodo" had been forcing her into a life of Villainy to help pay for her mother's hospital bills, she would later be given mercy by the courts on the assumption that she turn her life around and attend a formally-recognized Hero Academy and actively serve in the industry to follow for no less than four years equivalent work experience.
Of course, Genki wouldn't learn of this until years later when the girl tried to include herself in the Love Triangle that had existed around him since his Yuuei days. But that, was a story for another day.
Back to the present. While the Devil Bug Hero: Genkiburi was slated to receive full credit for Shinobi Spider's capture, the reasoning was compound.
Firstly, while the credit could've been given to Edgeshot, similar to how the credit for capturing Hero Killer: Stain was given to Endeavor (another thing Genki wouldn't learn of until much later), Edgeshot himself abstained from taking credit for the work of his "Genin" because he had been elsewhere during the altercation with an Alibi that couldn't be refuted when compared to the timeframe of Shinobi Spider's capture. On top of that, Edgeshot wasn't one to take credit for work he didn't do. Sure, it would be fitting for a mentor Hero to be the one to capture his wayward student, but the work it would take to make that sort of cover-up felt too… dishonest for the Leaderboard Hero, even if deceit was one of the main tenets of the shinobi in the information age.
Of course, the second reason was what really allowed Edgeshot to give credit "where credit was due". Because Genki hadn't directly injured the Vigilante with his Quirk, but the capture itself instead being facilitated by the use of his "HatsuMei Brand" Support Items, he couldn't be charged with "Improper Quirk Use Without a License", and anything else he'd done could've been chalked up to Self-Defense and a Citizen's Arrest.
Politics would be another part of it, but it would take Nezu explaining it to him for the fledgling Hero to catch on to the more political aspects of the credit distribution.
"Ne, Genki, this is definitely a step up from purse snatchers and hit-and-runners, huh?" Kana asked that morning at breakfast.
"Honestly, I'm amazed I got as much credit as I did," the Mutant teen hummed in turn as he stared at the morning's paper, which directly credited him for the capture. None of Shinobi Spider's past had been disseminated yet, but the news of his capture was something that couldn't be ignored. When there were Quirks that gave people Cameras and Voice Recorders or Telescopic Vision built into their own bodies, and very little could be kept truly secret.
"To be fair, the rest of us were busy playing catchup, and you couldn't exactly hang back to consult us," Ninja Red hummed. "As much as I hate to admit it, your Quirk really was the only one for the job. [Super Adhesion] and your [Oilpiration] was too bad a matchup for his experience to overcome."
"But still, I heard he was loaded up with Illegal Support Items. How'd you beat him?" Kana asked.
"Shinobi Spider might've been formidable, but compared to auntie Arachnid, he was just a rank amateur," Genki replied. "Of course, I've been surrounded by Heroes my entire life, so I've trained against all sorts since I was a child. My auntie can bend steel bars with her bare hands, my uncle can kick through solid concrete barefoot, my other auntie can bite through steel cable, and, well…" he paused, letting the mental images hang in the air.
" . . . Your family sounds scary," Kana hummed.
"Like you wouldn't believe," Genki hummed as he ate. His extended family were rather niche, but he had no doubt that if they cared about popularity more, they could easily break into the Top 10 the next time leaderboard revisions came around. Maybe not all of them were Top 10 material, but they were crazy strong.
At least from the perspective of a pre-teen child training with them to become a Hero with all his might.
*MHA*
Following their discussion at breakfast regarding their now-incarcerated senpai, the ninja interns redoubled their training before going out on patrol. Apparently, their inability to contribute for the least-experienced of their number left a sour taste in their mouths, so instead of focusing on their Quirks or their Ninjutsu, they instead chose to focus on footspeed. In the olden days, ninjas were also called "people with fast feet" for their famed speed; the ninja Idaten were in fact said to have been able to run 200km in a single day. Running fast, or to cover that much ground, was possible mainly through training, though there were secret skills that Edgeshot was proud to teach them, even though admittedly he used his Quirk for his high-speed travel.
One method was "Dual breathing"; breathing in a repeated rhythm of Inhale – Exhale – Exhale – Inhale – Exhale – Inhale – Inhale – Exhale. Doing so increased the oxygen ingested, as well as helping the runner focus on their task without other matters distracting them. Another detail was that it was important to look far ahead when running and keeping the chin down, because when it came up, breathing was said to be disturbed. Another was keeping your hips perpendicular to the road, since twisting would just waste energy.
There was also the method of placing a pickled plum in one's navel, a way of self-suggesting that "I can run fast", similar to the folk belief that drawing the Chinese character for "person"「人」three times on their hand and then eating it would ease anxiety.
Honestly, the only people Genki ever saw do this were those who dicked around and didn't study for exams until the last night… Mainly pricks with flashy Quirks who thought that-alone could get them into a good Hero School until career counselling told them that written exams for Hero Schools were among the most-rigorous in the country.
Genki himself could easily run 200km in a single day, over 124 and a quarter miles for those using the Imperial System. But that was mainly because one of his sub-Quirks let him burn Amylose Polysaccharides for quick energy on-the-fly, and you could find starch-rich bread on nearly any street corner.
In fact it seemed as though there was a bakery around every street corner. Convenience stores, department stores, supermarkets, residential neighborhoods, in front of train stations; these were but a few of the places where one could find freshly baked bread, and moreover, the sheer variety of baked goods with its vast selection of hard breads, soft breads, sweet breads, stuffed breads, fried breads, donuts, cakes, tarts, pies, sandwiches… One was truly spoilt for choice. Especially someone like Genki whose Quirk worked better the more energy he had.
The selection of French breads and pastries alone was enough to leave some French people feeling overwhelmed!
This of course had Genki wondering if that was why Aoyama's parents relocated to Japan in the first place, unless he himself immigrated all the way from France. If one of 1-B's members could travel from as far-off as North America to attend Yuuei, someone making the journey from Europe in-between wasn't outside the realm of possibility.
In all honesty, the more pig-headed of the interns would've run themselves into the ground even if only to match the numbers on Genki's pedometer, but Edgeshot put his foot down and told them to go on patrol. They didn't have to actively seek out crime, not if they were too-tired to do so, but walking off the fatigue at a sedate pace would do them good after the majority had over-trained themselves.
This left Genki with Ninja Orange aka "Negi" for the day.
*MHA*
"You knowww…"
"Whaaat…?"
"Are you doing this on purpose?"
"What are you talking about?"
"All this attention you've been getting, the high-profile busts on your first-ever Internship. Is that because of your Quirk, or are you just really lucky?"
"Well, given cockroaches scatter whenever you turn the lights on, you tell me," Genki said bluntly, eye lenses narrowing his way.
"Gomen, gomen, I didn't mean anything by it," Negi said holding up his hands in supplication. "It's just… Most interns are lucky to see any action within their first year, yet here you are, slated to get credit for bagging one of the biggest Vigilantes in the country."
"Well, it might've helped that my family gave me a refresher course on all the loopholes on the way here," Genki admitted. "Professionally, I'd have preferred if it was all quiet, means no-one's getting hurt; but personally… This is a good start on achieving my dream."
"And what's that exactly?"
"EYAAAH!" a voice screamed from the distance.
'Saved by the squeal,' Genki thought. "Move your fluorescent ass! We've got work to do!"
"Don't think you can dodge the question forever!"
*MHA*
"Come forth, gentleman! It's time to release our inner beast! This town is our new hunting ground!" the leader of a band of Villains proclaimed as they ran through the town, a swath of terror left in their wake. Running in single file, the three Villains were clad in brown leather jackets, jeans, and sneakers, the one in the front wearing a fox mask, the one in the middle a shark mask, and bringing up the rear a vulture mask, the aforementioned masks leaving their mouths visible. They were running at high speeds, and were approaching a prospective victim. "Let's hone our senses to their limit!"
"Kyaaaaah!" a woman screamed as the trio bore down on her.
"I flip!"
"I strip!"
"I wear!" the fox, shark, and vulture-masked villains said in sequence as one flipped up the woman's skirt, the second pulled them off, and the third… well…
"Eyaaaah!"
"I flip!"
"I strip!"
"I wear!"
"S-Stay away!"
"I flip!"
"I strip!"
"I wear!"
"And I punch!"
*WHAM*WHAM*WHAM*WHAM!*
"And punch!"
*WHAM*WHAM*WHAM*WHAM!*
"AND PUNCH!"
*WHAM*WHAM*WHAM*WHAM*WHAM!*
"Hyper Quadfist: Baker's Dozen!" Genkiburi declared skidding to a stop after slipping into their path from between the crevice of two buildings, striking a dynamic pose as the three pervert Villains hit the ground with a simultaneous *THUD!*, moaning as they landed on the grapefruit-sized bruises covering their bodies.
"H… How…?" the fox-masked Villain wheezed.
"We were supposed to be the masters of…" the shark-masked Villain wheezed.
"Land… sea… and air…" the vulture-masked villain wheeze.
"And I'm the master of time, unchanged in 320-million years," Genkiburi said clapping the dust from his fists, Ninja Orange arriving in time to restrain them and sit them up for all to see. "Now… Let's see who you really are," he said as Negi pulled their masks free to reveal…
A fox-type Mutant.
A shark-type Mutant.
And a vulture-type Mutant.
" . . . Was there even a point to the masks?!" Ninja Orange and his clones demanded as the Villains' real faces were exposed.
Genki for his part could only sigh tiredly as an angry mob overwhelmed Ninja Orange and proceeded to beat the crap -and stolen panties- out of (and off of) the perverts, wishing he'd been able to use his Hyper Quadfist on something a little less… stupid.
It wasn't that he wanted people to be put in genuine danger, that one guy getting hit by a car, WHICH WAS TOTALLY NOT HIS FAULT BY THE WAY, still nagged on him even then, but was it too much to ask that the Villains he fight be those with a little dignity, and not your bargain-bin run-of-the-mill pervert sex offenders?
The police arriving to cart off the beaten-and-bruised perverts, the perverts' victims storming off to find replacement panties for those that had been "tarnished", as the "Terrible Trio" swore vengeance and how they wouldn't have been stopped "if not for those meddling kids", Genki couldn't help but wonder what the final day of his internship would bring.
After all, what was the worst that could happen?
*MHA*
AN:
In the "Vigilantes" spin-off there's a branch of Yakuza who take after the Avengers, so a Sinister Six incarnation isn't all that weird for a Cameo since there are plenty on both sides designed to reference Marvel and DC heroes and villains. As for the Terrible Trio, originally I was going to have the Three Sturm und Drang Brothers from the Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals spin-off make an appearance, but then I remembered that episode of Batman: The Animated Series with the three villains, and I just had to re-hash the idea that way with a Cameo. That, and I'm sure that with numerous repeat offenses, it'd only take the SuD Brothers stripping away the panties of one Japanese congressman's daughter (or boxers off a son; they're really not picky) before they landed themselves in some real hot water as "public menaces".
Originally I was going to have Genki fight an evil Fantastic Four expy on his 6th day alongside the rest of the Edgeshot Agency interns, but my Beta advised me that even though it would be cool… it would also be "a bit much" for his first Internship back-to-back, so there's that too.
Next-chapter will be more Tales of 1-A, but with a twist. So, I hope you'll wait patiently while I update my Teen Titans, Legend of Korra, RWBY, and Young Justice stories in the meantime. So until next time…
GO BEYOND!
EXCELSIOR!