Chapter 5: New Allies

"Alexander, you better hurry before you miss breakfast."

"Coming mom, just gotta get these last couple of weeds out of the garden!"

Sigh "I swear, that pup works way too hard for his age. It's no wonder why people think he's older than he is."

"That may be so dear, but you can't argue with the results. It's thanks to that hard work that our son has tree trunks for arms," my dad said proudly.

"You're not wrong Magnus, but I honestly wish Alexander would relax a bit more. We no longer have to worry about things like brutal blizzards, hunting for food, or growing crops that will last longer."

"Catrina, I completely understand, but you should know that he finds enjoyment out of working hard. If he didn't, he wouldn't still be gardening or practicing his crafting skills. And as I mentioned before, he's getting bigger everyday thanks to his constant weight training."

"Come on dad, you know I can hear you," I said with a laugh.

"I know, that's why I said it."

"Hehe, thank you. Although, I only got this big because of everything you put me through. Martial arts training, calisthenics, and survival exercises, I wouldn't be anywhere near this big without it."

"Got that right! Not to mention working on Mr. Alson's farm and being Mr. Ericson's blacksmith apprentice definitely helped build up all that muscle. Heavy lifting and physical labor plays a bigger role than people tend to give credit for. You also owe a lot of your wrestling skills to Mr. Alson's two sons."

"Heh, you're definitely right about that. It's a little funny that a family of fox people would be such good wrestlers or that a polar bear man could run a forge, but they definitely had the strength and stamina for it."

"Of course, that didn't stop me from getting way ahead of Ulfric and Gorm on the win ratio. When we left, my score was twenty-five wins to their twelve wins and most of those were from before their dad taught me proper techniques."

"I know it's dumb, but out of everyone we knew, I think I miss those two the most. Sure, they were annoying at times and they challenged me to fights, races, chess, and anything else they could think of, but I always had fun with them. Now that I think about it, I think they kept me on my toes more than you did dad.

"Yes, we certainly knew a lot of good people back in Norway," my mom said with a smile. "How do you think they're doing?"

"That's what I'd like to know too. We should really write them a letter sometime soon."

"Yes we should. Although, it would be easier if we could just call them."

"Yea, good luck with that," my dad said with a laugh. "They may not be Amish, but with how little they trust phones, they might as well be."

"Now honey, you really shouldn't say things like that. Especially when you weren't the biggest fan of smartphones either," responded my mom.

"Hey, I've never had a problem with smartphones. It's the companies I take issue with. Those guys always promise either free gifts or more affordable plans, but once they get you, you find out just how expensive everything really is."

"Now that's something we can all agree on," I said as I pulled out the last weed.

"Well either way, I'm sure we'll find a way to see how they're doing," my mom said with a heartwarming smile.

"Speaking of finding out how someone is doing, is Nikolas feeling better? I know how upset he was about what happened."

"He seemed ok this morning when I woke him up, but I think he might be pushing down his feelings. He's such a sweet child and I know he'd never want to worry us."

"Now, now, you two. You should know better than to think like that. Nikolas may be six, adopted, and a raccoon, but he's still a Talbain! That means he's not only tough, but that he also knows we'll be there for him when he needs us," my dad said in a stern voice.

"That's true dear, but you should remember that we're not in a small community anymore. Everything here is so new to us, and a lot of people here aren't exactly the friendliest. Alexander and I can handle it no problem, but I'm not sure if it will be the same for a child like Nikolas."

"I know how you feel, but we can't just hide him away until he's ready. Nikolas has to learn how to deal with living in Japan and we have to make sure to help him as much as possible."

Sigh "Yes, I suppose you're right. I'm just worried about how the other children will treat him. Just look at what happened, it was only the first day and already our son had to deal with bullies."

"So did I mom, but it's nothing we couldn't handle. Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy about any of this and I'd love to have just five seconds alone with those brats. But it did help activate Nikolas's second quirk, so we can at least take solace in that. Plus, his teacher said that he'd help Nix get in contact with a pro hero. So for now, I think we should just wait and see what happens," I explained

"Oh, very well. But, if any more trouble comes up, I am marching down to that school and giving them a piece of my mind."

"I agree," my dad added. "But for now, we should get ready for the day, that includes you too Alexander."

"Yes sir!"

With our family talk over, I headed inside and took a quick shower before changing into my school uniform. When I sat down for breakfast, I noticed that Nikolas wasn't at the table.

I asked my mom where he was, and she said he should still be getting ready. Usually, I would leave it at that, but after what happened yesterday, I decided to go upstairs to find him.

"Nikolas, are you ok?"

There was no answer at his door.

"Nikolas, we have to go to school. I know we already talked about it yesterday, but I really do get how you feel."

The door opened and out came my raccoon little brother.

"I know you do," Nikolas said sadly. "And I know mom and dad are worried about me. I just… I don't know what to do."

"In that case, I'll tell you what you're gonna do. You're gonna go to school, talk to that teacher of yours, get the information for that pro hero he told you about, and then, as soon as you get home, we'll go directly to the pro's hero agency."

Nikolas looked down for a second before looking back up at me, his ears folded back and his tail drooping.

"Are you sure? What if everyone hates me or those guys try to take revenge or something?"

"Come on Nix, you can't think like that. Sure, people will probably look at you weirdly at first, but it's not like all of them have complete control over their powers either. In fact, I'm sure some of them haven't even gotten their quirks yet. As for those bullies, who cares? Guys like that always go after people who are weaker than them. They're cowards! Now that you've shown them that you're stronger than they are, I get the feeling they aren't exactly eager to mess with you again."

"You really think so?"

"Of course I do! Besides, even if those two do try something again, I'm sure your teacher will help out. Plus, dad and I will be more than willing to have a little 'chat' with them afterwards."

"That's what worries me..."

After giving my little bro a well-deserved nuggie for his negative attitude, we headed downstairs and had breakfast. I was about to walk out with Nikolas when mom said that she would take him to school today. I shrugged at this, wished my family a good day, and headed off to class.

As I sat down at my desk, Seteth came over and started talking to me. He asked me if everything was ok and if my brother's quirk did any damage. I explained what happened and that Nikolas was doing ok, but that he was still shaken up by everything.

Seteth understood the situation and was glad to know my brother was safe. He mentioned his powers also caused some trouble when they first activated and that he could probably talk to Nikolas about it. He had helped other children get over their fear of their own powers before and figured he could try to do the same here.

I told him that it wasn't necessary just yet, but that I'd be happy to take him up on his offer once Nikolas calmed down a bit. He nodded at me and we spent the rest of the time talking about everything that happened during the quirk assessment.

After about ten minutes of waiting, Mr. Aizawa stood up from behind the deck, still wrapped up in his sleeping bag. He shed his banana-colored cocoon and started class.

During his lecture, he explained that all heroes fall into one of three categories. There were battle heroes, who specialize in fighting villains, rescue heroes, who specialize in helping civilians during times of need such as natural disasters, and support heroes, who work behind the scenes to do what they can to aid other heroes.

Out of the three, the support heroes caught my attention the most. It was probably because my dad's work is similar or maybe it was because I knew what it was like to do that kind of work, but the idea of support heroes really stuck with me.

Obviously, I wanted to be a battle hero who could double as a rescue hero, but I honestly liked the idea of someone being able to help other front liners like myself. That, and having a support hero on the team could open up a lot of new possibilities. They could help get the team better equipment, heal us when we were in a pinch, or maybe even help us further develop our quirks.

As I thought about this, Mr. Aizawa noticed that I stopped paying attention and called my name, snapping me back to reality.

"So Alexander, want to explain why you decided to stop listening?".

"I was listening sir, it's just that what you said got me thinking. Support heroes sound pretty cool and it'd be great to have one on the team."

"Interesting, care to elaborate why?"

"Well sir, it's pretty obvious why. Support heroes are able to keep other heroes going and are able to aid them in strengthening our powers. Not to mention the fact that support heroes have to be both smart and creative in order to do their job. So having someone like that around can only benefit us."

"Heh, well color me impressed. Good to know that someone was able to understand the point of my lecture."

"Hmp, you can't be serious!" Bakugou scoffed. "Everyone knows support heroes are just a bunch of weaklings who couldn't make it as real heroes. So really, if you honestly need some worthless support hero's help, then you're even worse than they are!"

Mr. Aizawa and I glared at him. It drove home just how ignorant he really is. One thing's for sure, whichever agency ends up hiring him will need all the help heaven can give.

"Are you done yet?" Seteth said, catching everyone's attention.

"What was that?"

Bakugou obviously tried to start another fight, but he was quickly shut down by Mr. Aizawa's quirk. However, that didn't stop the blond idiot from getting in Seteth's face and yelling at him for calling him out.

Seteth just rolled his eyes at this before asking Bakugou if he was done with his temper tantrum. We all smirked at this, but Bakugou only got even more pissed. He was about to punch my friend, but Mr. Aizawa quickly intervened by wrapping Bakugou up in his scarf.

Bakugou growled at our teacher, but stopped immediately when he was threatened with expulsion. Personally, I would have got rid of the idiot right then and there. Bakugou was basically the equivalent of a three-year old and it was honestly embarrassing to watch. It made me question how he got into this school in the first place.

Luckily, the bell rang, signaling that it was time for lunch. We all gathered our things and I invited Seteth to come eat with me. He couldn't though since he already made plans, but said that he'll definitely come next time.

I soon arrived at the school cafeteria where I saw some of my classmates already sitting together. Except for Shoto and Tokoyami who were missing for some reason.

"Are they having lunch together?" I thought to myself.

As I looked for a place to sit, I noticed a small commotion at the other end of the room. Curious, I decided to see what was going on. Ordinarily, it would be hard to see anything, but because I was pretty tall for my age, I was able to see over everyone. To my surprise and amazement, sitting in the center of the group was another animal folk, a ring-tailed lemur to be precise.

Just like Seteth and I, this person was a fully humanoid animal and not an in-between person like Asui or Tokoyami. As soon as I saw him, I felt my tail start to wag.

I know it was silly for me to get excited about this, but whenever I see someone like me, I can't help but think of home. There almost everyone was an animal folk. I'm not saying I have no interest in becoming friends with people who aren't animal folk, I'm just not drawn to them as much. It could be an instinct thing, but I don't know.

Of course, I'm not about to say hi to every person with an animal quirk either. There are some people with these quirks who are predators or alphas like me, so I get very tense and even territorial around them. It actually led to several fights and I've learned to deal with it.

This guy was ok though. Lemurs aren't predators and I could tell that he wasn't an alpha, so it was safe.

With my mind at ease, I walked over to him to say hi. As I got closer to him, I saw that the guy sitting next to him had an arm around the lemur boy. At first I thought they were friends, but then I noticed that the lemur boy was uncomfortable.

"Hi there, is everything alright?" I asked as I approached the table.

"Huh? Who are- GHAH!"

The guy who had his arm around the lemur boy let out a yelp as soon as he saw me and ran away, along with the other students who were hanging around him. I expected this since I know how scary I look, but what I didn't expect was for the lemur guy to not notice at all. I said hi to him as well, but he didn't respond.

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked as I tapped the table, hoping to get his attention.

"Oh, that won't work," someone from behind me said.

I turned around and saw a girl with pink hair standing behind me. She had goggles on her head and what looked like very heavy equipment on her waist.

"That guy, the lemur, you won't get his attention like that. His name is Wynn and he's a first-year student."

"His name is Wynn? That's not a name you hear every day."

"Hehe, yea I know. Anyway, Wynn is deaf, so just saying something won't get you anywhere. Oh, I'm Mei Hatsume by the way."

"Alexander Talbain, nice to meet you," I said as I shook her hand.

After we finished our greeting, I pointed at Wynn and explained that I wanted to talk to him. Mei said that I should just tap his shoulder, but I told her that I didn't want to be rude. She said it was fine and that Wynn was ok with it and asked me if I knew sign language or if I needed her help. I explained that I knew a little, but that I might need her help. She agreed with me and ended up starting a conversation with Wynn before introducing me.

"Hello Wynn, my name is Alexander, it's nice to meet you," I said out loud while trying to make the appropriate hand signs.

"Hello Alexander, it's nice to meet you," Wynn signaled, his hand signs much better than mine.

The three of us spent the rest of lunch time talking to each other, with Mei helping me keep up with Wynn's sign language. He was really fun to talk to and I was glad Mei helped me get to know him.

Sometime during our conversation, I let it slip that I was in the hero course. Both Mei and Wynn's faces lit up and they started asking me all kinds of questions. I answered them as best I could and ended up telling them about both my quirks.

They practically burst out of their seats after that, but quickly settled down, allowing me to ask them some questions. I ended up learning that they were both in the support hero course, which further piqued my curiosity. They explained that their course mostly deals with learning about and working with new technology, studying different kinds of quirks, and inventing new gadgets for heroes to use.

I thought it was so cool that they worked with such complex stuff and that they must be really smart to be able to handle the curriculum. I joked that a scatterbrain like me could never handle it and that the most I would be good for was carrying the heavy equipment while flexing my arms.

I was good with numbers and dealing with financial stuff thanks to my job's back home, but I really wasn't a computer science kind of guy. Heck, I barely understood the stuff my dad worked with, even after he went over it with me.

They laughed a bit before explaining that their course isn't that big of a deal. They encouraged me to try and sit in for one of their classes so I could see it for myself. I told them I would love to do that and that I would talk to the teachers to see if it was possible.

I wanted to talk to them more, but the bell rang, signaling that lunch time was over, and it was time to go back to class.

As we gathered our things, I noticed Wynn was having a little trouble standing up. I offered to help him up, but he signaled that he was ok and that he just needed to make a quick adjustment.

Before I could ask what he meant by that, he pulled up the left side of his pants and revealed his prosthetic leg. I asked him what happened, and he explained that he got into a bad accident when he was younger.

I was taken aback by this, but he seemed fine with it and the prosthetic honestly looked cool. It didn't look like a rod or anything like that, but rather, a full on metallic leg and foot.

We were about to part ways, but before we did, I asked Wynn if he wanted to hang out after school. He was surprised by my invitation, but I explained that I wanted to talk to him more and even introduce him to my friends. He gave a big smile and agreed to meet up later.

With that done, I raced back to my homeroom, excited to tell the others about the two students I had met.