Their Guardian
3. The Journey Starts
Disclaimer: I do not own Boko no Hero Academia.
Warning: Their will be course language and elements of blood as the story progresses.
'I… am… really… hating… this… right… now…' Jason's thoughts come sporadic as he continues to run through the streets. While he's been exercising for a bit now, he hasn't focused on his cardio training as much as he would like and is feeling a little out of breath. It also doesn't help he immediately took off without preparing himself to run, nor the fact he's starting to get sore again from the hit to his ribs earlier ago. But damn it all is he going to simply go home without making sure his best friend is okay after his unexpected airborne hitchhike to who knows where. Izuku was his best friend and he was going to do everything in his power to protect his friend whenever he can.
"Really… hating this." Jason grumbles as he trudges up to the building he was led to.
He just has to get to his friend first. Jason takes a second to get his breathing under control as he stares up the structure. A quick look back at his phone shows his friends phone signal is coming the building as well as remembering the direction that All Might took off in. Due to being friends with the Number One All Might fan of all time, Jason knows that the hero himself can't really fly, but his strength and ability just allows him to jump really high and really far. He takes one more calming deep breath as he pockets his phone. "Alright. Now I just have to find him." He walks in and immediately looks for the stairs. "They were flying through the air, so naturally they would land on the roof. Just have to find… there we go." He smiles as he spots the door to the stairs and runs to them. Just as he makes it to the door that it flies open and he barely stops himself from getting hit. "Whoa!" He yelps in surprise at the door opening.
"Uh!" The man, who looks like a thin skeleton of a man to be honest in too baggy clothes, freezes as he sees Jason right in front of him.
Jason looks at the man oddly before getting his senses back. "Hey excuse me, have you seen a fourteen-year-old boy in the building? Green hair, a little meek, wearing the same uniform as me?" He gestures to the school uniform he is wearing.
The man coughs for a second before stepping out of the door and thumbing back to the stairs. "Yeah. I saw him on the roof. I was uhhh… doing some maintenance when… All Might dropped off the kid and left. He should be on his way down."
"Great! Thanks!" Jason quickly thanks him before bolting through the doorway. A few seconds pass before Jason slowly pokes his head out the door again, seeing the back of the man slowly trudge his way to the main doors of the building. "… Huh." Jason mutters in confusion and slight curiosity, getting a weird but not bad feeling from the man he just met. He shakes his head before continuing up the steps.
Minutes later, the Quirkless duo have reunited and are making their way along the sidewalk towards home.
"He said what?!" Jason almost screams as he learns the news of what the Number One Hero said to his best friend.
"I-it's okay Jakkun. You don't have to get so worked up. Let's be honest, I think I was just kidding myself all this time and you were being a good friend supporting me. I guess I just wanted to try to prove to myself that I could be hero even though I don't have Quirk. But if All Might said it…" Izuku's downtrodden expression gets deeper as he thumbs the pages of his 'Hero Analysis for the Future #13' notebook before eventually closing it. Izuku tries to keep the tears from pooling in his eyes but he quickly wipes them away.
"… Fuck him."
"J-Jakkun!" Izuku shouts in surprise at his friends cursing, even as he talks about All Might of all people.
"No Izu! I was always willing to go with your dream of being a hero and am always ready to back you up on that. If you still want to be a hero, then no one's opinion, not even All Might's, should stop you." Jason passionately tells his friend. From the amount of times that Izuku has always talked about being a hero, Jason refuses to believe that now, of all times, no matter who it is, that his friend should just give up being a hero without actually trying. He continues to walk for a few more steps until he realizes he's walking alone. "Izu- Oof!" As he turns something barrels into him. He's about ready to hurt whoever crashed into him until he realizes its his friend hugging him. No words are exchanged as Jason smiles and returns his friends hug. They stay like that for a few seconds before they separate and continues walking.
Izuku sniffs a little with a small smile on his face. "Thanks."
"No problem man." Jason pats his shoulder. They continue on in silence for some uncomfortable amount of minutes until they hear a small explosion go off. They both stop and look to see a large gathering of people nearby with what looks like another villains fight going on. "A villain? Wait, wasn't there a fight here this morning?" Jason asks as he glances around the familiar area.
"It is. Is the fight from earlier still going on?"
"I don't think so. They had the guy in custody when we left so I doubt it's the same fight that continued until now." Jason muses as he gets a thoughtful look.
Izuku meanwhile gets a depressed forlorn look as he gazes at the crowd. 'Why are we here? Did I subconsciously walk us this way to check it out?' He thinks depressingly as they wait for the light to give them the go ahead.
"C'mon, lets go see."
"Wha- Hey!" Izuku shouts as his stronger friend grabs his wrist and pulls him quickly across the street.
"C'mon man. Your never in a bad move whenever your examining Quirks. Let's get that brain of your turning and focused on something else." Jason explains as they make it to the back of the crowd.
"But… I don't…"
"Here I'll get you started: this alleyway is too small for Mt. Lady to come in and steal the show. So who else can you see taking down villains in here?" Jason asks as he tries to get an angle amidst the crowd.
Izuku himself though just stares at his friend before he gets a genuine smile on his face, glad to see his friend doing what he can to elevate his mood. "Okay, well we know Death Arms and Kamui Woods were here earlier so maybe—"
"No way…"
"Yes! I'm sure they can—" Izuku begins to analyze until his friend roughly grabs him and forces him to look forward instead of at his notebook. He's about to question why, until his eyes widen at the scene before him. A familiar giant green sludge monster can be seen rampaging in the alleyway amidst many patches of fire scattered about. "That's the guy who attacked us!" He reminds his friend next to him, who nods grimly at the memory.
"Yeah, it is. But how in the hell is he out?" Jason asks.
Izuku's breath hitches as he remembers the little joyride he took with All Might when he saved him. In his attempts to hold on, the bottle carrying the villain must have dropped. 'But the bottle… If he dropped it…' He gets a horrified look at the realization. "That means…"
"It's my fault." Izuku snaps out of his thoughts as he hears his friend say. Glancing over he's surprised to see his friend slowly placing his hands on his head, a frustrated look about him. "If I hadn't grabbed the bottle… if I hadn't shook it… I must have loosened the cap… and he…" He curls his fingers in, gripping his hair in handfuls at his stupid move.
"Why aren't the heroes doing anything?" A man nearby asks. This causes them both the freeze.
"It looks like they've met their match. Plus, the villains captured a kid. Things aren't looking good for him."
Both Quirkless boys stare at the men talking before turning back to the villain, attempting to take a much more careful look at the villain. True enough, they see a small head of hair sticking out of the villain as it thrashes about.
Both boys despair deepen at the realization that now someone else has gotten caught up in the villain and has the potential to die. Nearby, sharing in their despair is the deflated form of All Might, unable to buff up and save the captured kid do to having reached his limit for the day. All three blame each other in their own heads in various ways but no doubt all feel the pain of either their uselessness of the situation or the fault of them messing up on the villains capture.
Thing is, between the three of them, only one of them looks up. His eyes lock onto Bakugo Katsuki's eyes, the hostage of the sludge and he sees one thing in them…
Fear.
"Wait kid!" A hero calls out. All Mights despair turns to surprise and shock, even more so than the crowd.
"IZUKU!" But none more so than Jason as he calls out to his friend.
Izuku Midoriya bolts through the crowd of people, past the barriers and past the heroes, heading straight for the villain without a single bit of hesitation.
"No you idiot! Stop! You're gonna get yourself killed!" Death Arms futilely calls out.
"Not this brat again." The sludge villain growls out in annoyance.
"Deku?" Bakugo groans in disbelief.
Despite it all, Izuku continues to run towards them. 'What am I doing?' He questions in his head. 'Why am I running? Why can't I stop?' He shouts in his head despite not stopping or slowing down at all.
"You're toast, kid!" The villain shouts as he gets ready to strike Izuku.
'What do I do? What would a hero do right now?' He questions. Suddenly flashes of his Quirk Analysis notebook appear in his mind, more specifically to a page belonging to Kamui Woods. 'Page 25! Right!' The villains stop his strike as he sees Izuku spin around as he runs. "Take this!" This costs him as Izuku took the opportunity to pull his backpack off his back and toss it right towards the eyes of the villain. His tactic works as several of the bags contents fly out and impact the villains eye, making him recoil and growl out in anger. This gives the opportunity for Bakugo to free his mouth and cough. "Kacchan!" Izuku shouts to the captive and rapidly begins to tear at the sludge holding him.
"What the hell? Why are you here?" Bakugo angrily asks now that he's got the opportunity to speak.
"I dunno. My legs… they just started… moving!" Even through it all, as Izuku desperately tries to free him, memories of before flood his mind. All the things from before, from the doubt, the disbelief, the lack of confidence, the bullying, everything that nearly everyone has down to put him down and crush his dreams brings itself to the forefront of his mind, giving just one question to ask himself.
'Why did I rush in?'
"I couldn't just stand there and watch you die!"
It's a simple answer… but it's a good answer.
"You brat!" The sludge villain finally gets himself together and glares at Izuku. "I'm done with you!" He brings one of his arms around and gets ready to hit Izuku, intending to crush him, much to the horror of the child himself.
"Stop!"
"Hey!"
"Bluah!" The villain grunts as a glass beer bottle slams into his face. Izuku and Bakugo look down the alleyway.
"Remember me?!" Their eyes widen as Jason sprints towards them, having just barely dodged the outstretched hands of Death Arms and another hero before they could grab him. Jason reaches down, scooping up more glass bottles and tossing them one after another with wide swings of his arm. They flip through the air until they slam into the villain, messing up his form and making him even angrier as he glares at the annoying kid from earlier.
"You little brat!" He shouts in anger and attacks.
"Jakkun!" Izuku shouts to his friend as a couple sludge tentacles head for his friend. This time though, Jason sports a look as they come at him.
Not a scared look, not an angry look…
A focused look.
Before the first one can hit him, he barely ducks under the appendage, before coming out from under it to the side. The second appendage comes towards him too but he dodges to the right, able to avoid it. Several more tentacles head for him but as he passes by a couple trash cans, he rolls over the top of them, grabbing the lids as he rolls over and puts both of them in front of him, one in each hand. The tentacles slam into his makeshift shields but he doesn't let that deter him as pushes them off to the side and continues running to the villain. As several more blasts of sludge head for him, he uses his trashcan shields one after another, tanking the hits but with angled grace, allowing him to push the attacks off to the side so he can keep going.
Izuku along with the heroes and civilians alike stare in awe, seeing him push his way to the villain without stopping. "I'm gonna turn you to a crisp!" He eyes widen in fear as he turns back to the villain, seeing him forcibly raise Bakugo's arm, even as the boy struggles to stop him, before beginning to activate his Quirk as small pops can be seen on the outstretched hand.
"Jakkun!" Izuku shouts to his friend. Jason stops at the shout as he spots the telltale signs of the familiar violent Quirk he's been subjected to for a long time now.
The explosions goes off, Jason's eyes widen before he steels himself and brings his arms up just as the explosion blast reaches him. The blast hits him, throwing flames and smoke all around, momentarily obscuring everyone to what just happened, more specifically what happened to Quirkless child that ran in. The villain grins at his triumph as he lowers Bakugo's arm.
"No…" Izuku almost cries, the thought of losing his best friend beginning to etch itself to the front of his mind as the only thing he and anyone else can see is the smoke cloud covering where he friend was. The only sound accompanying it is the smoke dissipating and the crackles of the fires nearby.
"… HRAAAH!" Pushing through the smoke, Jason for a moment is airborne as he yells with his right lid shield held back behind him with the left held in front of him. Both of his impromptu shields are blackened from the scorch marks of the blast and dented. Jason however takes the opportunity of surprise, the villain having not anticipated him to survive the explosion. With a heave, he throws the right trashcan lid towards the villain. The sludge villain grunts and groans as the lid impacts his eyes before burying into his sludgy body. With one last sprint, Jason covers the distance to them and makes it.
"Jakkun!" Izuku calls out in joy seeing his friend safe and sound.
"Hraaaah!" With a shout, Jason shoves his last shield into the sludgy mess, attempting to cut through the mass of thick fluid. "Damnit Izuku! One of these days your going to get me killed!" He shouts in annoyance as he repeatedly slams the shield into the villain behind Bakugo. "Well come on! Help me get him out of there!" Jason snaps Izuku out when he notices he's not moving.
"R-Right!" Izuku replies and goes to try to claw and grab handfuls of the sludge and prying it off of Bakugo. While not as effective as Jason is with the lid, its still peeling some of it away as the villain focuses on trying to push the garbage out of him.
"What… are you doing here Mutt?!" Bakugo manages to yell out once his mouth his clear.
"I'd like to question myself about that too…" Jason begins to say in an annoyed tone before it turns into a wide grin. "But apparently now I'm saving your ass!" He yells as he cuts off more of the sludge from Bakugo from behind, allowing him to free his arm. "Izu! Grab his arm and pull!"
"I gotcha!" He grabs onto Bakugo's arm and begins to pull with all his strength as Jason grabs his shoulder and tries to pull him out. All three of them groan and strain as they just barely manage to slowly inch Bakugo out of the clutches of the villain.
"I'm getting really tired…" But its not enough. "Of you brats interfering!" The sludge villain shouts as he slowly regains himself, one of his eyes peering angrily at them.
'Not fast enough! Not fast enough! We can't pull him out fast enough! But… maybe I can push him out!' Not wanting to wait for the villain to strike them, Jason makes the insane move of pushing himself INTO the sludgy body of the villain. Izuku watches with stunned eyes as watches what his friend is doing. Jason places the lid behind him, putting a small barrier between him and the villain as he pulls both his legs up as he's behind Bakugo and pushes with all his might. "Pull Izuku! Pull!"
The green haired boy is knocked out of his stunned state and pulls with all his now renewed might. This time, with Jason having a more leveraged position and using his entire body, Bakugo is pushed out of the villain much faster than before.
"Oof!" Both boys grunt as with one last exertion Bakugo is torn out of the villains body. Bits of the sludge still cling to him but melts away now that its not connected to the main villain. Bakugo goes into a coughing fit now that he's out.
"Kacchan! Are you okay?"
"Get off me Deku!" Despite his anger, Bakugo makes no move to push Izuku off him as Izuku helps him to his feet.
"Glad your okay, but what about— JAKKUN!"
Bakugo's eyes widen at the loud voice of the normally quiet boy before turning around.
While Bakugo was able to be pushed out, Jason is now swarmed in the clutches of the villain. The trash and lids that were thrown and pushed into the villains body have been expelled and now the villain tries to wrap itself around Jason. Jason himself has his eyes closed and a hand placed over his mouth and nose as the villain tries to get inside him. "Your really stupid aren't you kid? You got him out but now your trapped inside me!" The villains boasts. Izuku looks on in fear for his friend while Bakugo stares in anger. "Now I'm going to use your Quirk to destroy your friends. Say goodbye brats!" The villain lets out a loud boisterous laugh and extends Jason's free arm towards the two boys.
…
… But nothing happens.
"Huh? Wait, what?!" The villain questions, much to the confusion of the heroes and civilians and slight satisfaction of the boys. "What's going on?" He shakes Jason's arm up and down, trying in vain to get his Quirk to work. "Why isn't anything happening?! Why can't I feel anything?!" He should in anger.
Amidst the angry rants of the villain, he gets cut off as everyone hears the sounds of laughter in the air but its muffled. It doesn't take long for people to find out and notices it coming from the new hostage in the villain.
Jason finishes laughing before slightly moving his hand, allowing him to talk. "You… stupid dumbass. You downgraded your hostage. You just got a Quirkless as your hostage." The villains eyes widen at the news. "DESTROY HIM!" Everyone flinches in shock at the loud voice Jason exudes and his request. "DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME! JUST TAKE HIM DOWN NOW!" The villain tries to move towards Bakugo again, making him and Izuku take a step back from the appendage coming to them. Except Jason reaches forward and tries to pull the sludge back to him, hindering its movements. "Do it! While you have the chance!" He yells one more time as he does whatever he can keep the villain from grabbing his friend like the first time, hoping for him to escape. Yet he watches as Izuku stands his ground, not wanting to leave his friend behind despite the fear on his face as the villain gets ready to swing one of tis arms down on them.
And Bakugo just looks pissed off and angry as he gets ready to try blow up the villain.
"Admirable work boys!" Their eyes widen at the familiar voice. "But you need not fear any longer!" A figure blurs right in front of them, stopping the appendage from hitting the boys. All three of them stare in surprise as they the Number One Hero: All Might holding the villain back. He grabs onto Jason's arm through the sludge and rears his other arm back into a tight fist.
The only thing they hear next is a large gust of wind, All Might's trademark 'Smash' move, and someone calling themselves 'Pathetic.'
Minutes pass by and the villain attack is over. For the kids who were a part of the villain attack, they were more or less knocked out from the proximity force of All Mights punch but awoke not soon after. The fact that they were a little pelted with rain that All Might was miraculously able to make after his punch. The clouds formed and rain fell, waking the boys up and making them realize that they are no longer in the midst of a villains clutches. Police officers and some of the heroes got to work in cleaning up the scattered remains of the sludge villain.
The media and reporters immediately swarmed the Number One hero, trying to get some form of interview with the guy as he smiles and waves to them.
"Are you two crazy?!"
"You morons. Do you two have a death wish?"
Meanwhile the boys have been split up into two groups: Bakugo is sitting nearby, sulking and angry about the whole situation while a couple heroes and some reporters are praising him for his bravery in the attack, while Jason with Izuku are sitting next to one another with Death Arms and Kamui Woods lecturing the two of them.
"Their was no reason you should have put yourselves in danger like that!"
While Izuku flinches at the tone the heroes talk down to him with, he can't help but glance out of the side and look at his friend. He is more than a little confused when he sees the grin on Jason's face.
"You could have easily gotten yourselves killed and- why are you smiling?!" Death Arms asks even angrier as he sees the smile on Jason's face, despite the talking to that he and Kamui Woods are saying to the two of them.
His smile doesn't leave his face as Jason pushes himself up to stand in front of the two heroes. "Because no matter what you say, no matter how much you preach to us how reckless we were, the fact of the matter is… we did your job for you." He tells them with a straight face, making them look at him a little stunned. "We did. Two Quirkless boys. We went in… we engaged the villain in order for us to defend and save another… when you all, fully licensed and experienced heroes, just stood back… and did nothing." He adds the last part in a small whisper, even stepping closer to the heroes. "You can't say anything to us, because of how much you failed until you relied on All Might to end this." He glances and gives a quick hostile look to the Number One hero before looking back at the ones in front of him. He smiles again and stepping back and picking up his backpack. "C'mon Izuku. Let's get out of here. It's time we get home."
Izuku scrambles to his feet as he grabs his own backpack as well so he can follow his friend. Jason already left the alleyway but Izuku quickly stops and turns back to the heroes.
"Thank you for your help!" Izuku thanks them and bows before running after his friend.
"For what good they did!"
"JAKKUN!"
The heroes meanwhile don't stop them from leaving, a little too stunned from the defiance that one of them exhibited right to their faces without a hint of backing down.
The day quickly passes as they make their way home, the sun already beginning to set and
"Did you really have to antagonize the heroes like that?" Izuku asks his friend in a tired tone.
"Well excuse me for speaking the truth. I'm alright with heroes, I really am, but I start to get a little annoyed with them when they treat being a hero as being nothing but a celebrity, or they fail at their jobs and decide to yell at the people who actually did something." Jason explains in an annoyed tone. To Jason, heroes are meant to be that: heroes who selflessly save lives and do their jobs of keeping people safe. When they almost completely forgo the priority of saving lives and go for publicity and popularity his annoyance levels rise.
"Still…"
"Just give me this one man. They just stood there while we went in first and got Bakugo out despite being Quirkless."
"I guess." Izuku relents with small shrug. "I wonder how Kacchan is doing?"
"Probably getting praised still for getting his ass captured."
"Jakkun…"
"I stand by what I said." Jason replies without hesitation to his friends condescending tone.
"Deku! Mutt!" Both boys turn around at the loud call out of their insulting nicknames. Running up to them happens to be just the person they had saved not too long ago. Bakugo breathes heavily as he just jogs up to them but stops some several feet away from them. He still has an angry glare about him but it softens for just a moment before returning to his usual anger as he clenches his fists. "Listen, I would never ask either of you pathetic weaklings to help me. Don't think you can look down on me." Jason looks a little confused at what he means but doesn't say anything, letting the guy continue his rant. "Huh? Got that?! I was fine by myself. Your just Quirkless failures who won't even cut it as rent-a-cops! You barely did anything to help me. You only got in the way of everyone else for being stupid. Don't forget it. I don't owe you anything!" With that final statement, he turns right around and stalks over angrily and weirdly, leaving the Quirkless duo not angry at his words but more or less confused.
"He's delusional." Jason comments with a smirk.
"What was that about?" Izuku asks in slight confusion, an emotion that Jason is equally feeling at the display Bakugo was showing to them just right now.
"Hm." Jason questions with a thoughtful look before he gets an idea. "You know… I'm not sure… but I think Bakugo was trying to thank us for saving his ass today but he only has one emotional setting," Izuku looks at his friend but blanches as he sees the wide grin he sports. "Pure unbridled anger! So his words pretty much just translated into nothing but angry words from the blonde porcupine."
Izuku deadpans at his friend. "Uh-huh."
"Oh don't give me that. WE saved him!" Jason reminds his friend of that. "Not matter how he spins it, no matter what delusions he can try to shove into that ego of his, we did in fact save him." He says in a low tone, a look of complete joy and satisfaction that kind of leaves Izuku a little disturbed at the mood he's practically never seen his friend in. "This is something that will stay in his mind forever. No matter how much he'll try to deny it, it'll be a seed of doubt that will forever grow within the depths of his blackened little heart!" Jason lets out an almost demented little laugh as he grips his hands together at the idea. After a long time of being on the end of that guys bullying tactics, having this slight bit to lord over the guy is something that Jason seems like he's going to treasure for a long time.
"… You scare me sometimes."
"Then why am I your friend?" Jason straightens up and asks evenly, completely forgoing the demented persona he slowly slipped in.
"Because we both know I'm the only way that can keep you in check." Izuku tells him in a playful tone.
They both laugh at that before chuckling good heartedly. "Yeah, that's true." Jason smiles and pats his friends shoulder. Truly Jason would have gone a bit overboard at times with his fights, not just the ones with Bakugo, if it wasn't for Izuku calming his fellow Quirkless down. "C'mon, lets get back home. I'm sure our families are worried sick about us."
"Do you think they'll see us on the news?"
"Maybe but I can't say for sure. Besides I'm sure All Might's probably keeping the interviewers and reporters busy."
"That I did!"
"AAAHHHHH!"
"DUAAH!"
Izuku screams at the sudden appearance of All Might while Jason lets out a loud yelp and immediately adopts a fighting stance but relaxes at seeing it's the hero that saved them.
"All Might! Where'd you come from?" Izuku asks once he stops screaming while Jason tries to get his back to normal. "How'd you get rid of all those reporters?"
"HAHAHAHA! I stand for justice! Not soundbites! Because I- I am All- Bleugh!" And Just like that, when All Might tries to flex a small puff of steamy smoke appears, revealing All Might in his weakened form as a gout of blood sprays from his mouth.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
"DUDE WHAT THE HELL?!" Izuku screams loudly while Jason just yells and stares in surprise and worry at the sudden change, along with the sudden volume of blood. For a second they all stop. Izuku stops screaming with All Might only delving into a small coughing fit, muttering a little about hoping he had just a little more time. "Hey." All Might looks up a little and is pleasantly surprised to see the concerned face of Jason close to him, patting his back to help if only a little. "You alright? Do you need to go to the hospital?"
All Might smiles at the concern he shows but waves him off. "No don't worry. That's a little normal for me." He tells him as he straightens up.
Jason looks at him oddly. "… I think we have different definitions of normal… especially," He waves a hand up and down the skeletal form of All Might. "This."
"Jakkun!" Izuku steps forward and pulls his friend back a step or two. "Don't be rude."
Jason looks at his friend as he gets a thoughtful look on his face. "You know, I find it odd how your not freaking out even more when you've just seen your idol turn into a shell of himself right in front of you." Jason's theory for his friend starts to become even more reinforced when he sees the worried and almost sweating state his friend quickly turns into. "And now that I remember, you were at building that I found Izuku on." All Might flinches a little at the memory. "I had a feeling I met you before when we passed each other. Just wasn't expecting this of the legendary All Might." Jason comments in disdain, making no effort to hide his annoyance.
"We-well, y-you see Jakkun—"
"Save it Izu." Jason interrupts his stammering friend as he holds hi hand up. "I really don't care right now. You can tell me later. What I wanna know," Jason crosses his arms as he glares at the hero, "Is why you're here? What? Come to crush my friends dreams some more?" He steps closer, making no effort this time to hide his anger as he remembers what the hero told his friend earlier in the day. "Step on them? Grind your shoe into them until their nothing but dust?!"
"Jakkun stop!" Izuku comes right up to his friend, placing him between his friend and the hero and pushing him back, although with great strain compared to his much more developed friend. "It's not as bad as you—"
"No young man. It's okay." All Might speaks up in a tired tone, getting their attention as he sighs. "In truth, I kind of deserve that after what I said." He looks up and stares at Jason. "I was hoping I had a little bit more time so I could talk with your friend there, but I couldn't really hold my form for too long. Since you've seen me, I promise I'll explain to you why I'm like this… but first I came to thank you young man." He directs the last part to Izuku, making the boys looks confused but overall calmed down now as the hero speaks. "I also want to discuss your question from earlier."
"Huh?" Izuku perks up in confusion.
"If you hadn't told me about your life… if you hadn't run into that fight… I would've been a worthless bystander watching from the crowd. So thanks."
"Oh no." Izuku immediately begins to dissuade the hero of his thanks. "It was my fault he was there to begin with—"
"No way Izu." Jason interrupts him. "I was the one that shook the bottle that held the villain. I was so pissed off at him for trying to kill you that seeing him so vulnerable… I just wanted to give a little payback." He clenches his fists tightly in anger and frustration. "I probably loosened the cap, thereby letting him escape so soon.
"But I was the one that grabbed onto All Might!" Izuku round on Jason. "It's because of me he wasted his energy… and his time."
"I wasn't done." All Might interrupts before Jason can rebuttal. "You told me you didn't have any powers. At the same time, you… Jakkun was it?"
"Takeda Jason, but essentially." Jason shrugs and lets him continue.
"Your friend Izuku there, when we were talking on top of the building, he mentioned how the two of you are Quirkless, correct?" Jason narrows his eyes but nods. This makes All Might grin slightly wider. "Young man, in all my time as a hero, never have I seen a Quirkless person move like you did, fight like you did, move to protect another like you did." While Jason may have just a bit of reservation for the hero in front of him, that fact he is saying so is starting to spark something in him as his eyes widen. "It's because of this, when I saw this timid, Quirkless boy and his also Quirkless best friend try to save a life, it inspired me to act, too." Izuku lets out a small gasp and stares in awe at his favorite hero's words. "There are stories about every hero. How they became great. Most have one thing in common. Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think. Almost on their own."
Jason looks at his friend, seeing the stunned face he's making. Its then he realizes the exact reason why his best friend ran in without a care. He notices a slight glinting in his friends eyes… right before he begins to weakly sob. He stares at his friend as Izuku clutches his chest, eyes brimming with tears, teeth gritting as the realization begins to take hold in him. As Izuku lands on his knees, Jason kneels next to him and places his hands on his friends shoulders as comfort.
"And today, that's what happened today." All Might continue, not put off by the scene in front of him. Izuku continues to cry harder, his hero's words only spurring him on and providing much needed relief that he wanted for so long.
Jason wears a fake smile to cover his guilt. Being Izuku's friend, and not wanting to lose his one and only friend, he always kept supporting him in his dream to become a hero, wanting to be the person right next to him to offer his support and help when he can. But the act of actually becoming a hero was something that Jason himself never had a dream for, only Izuku did. He never had much of a plan when it came to helping his friend become a hero, only just going with him and that's it. When they were younger, despite not having a Quirk, Izuku still insisted on protecting a boy from Bakugo and his friends. The difference in strength was easily seeable with the difference of their Quirks and not. Jason, not wanting to see him hurt, joined Izuku to help fight. They both lost, but its what drove Jason to train, to work to be a better fighter to help his friend. He was always training, always preparing, always wanting to be ready to help his friend. He wore a fake smile and offered fake words to comfort his friend.
Seeing his friend so emotional right now, crying in what must be happiness for him, Jason's own eyes are starting to prick with barely contained tears of his own.
"Seeing the both of you move to save that boy… I was completely wrong about not being able to be a hero." All Might stares at them with a level determined stare, conviction flowing through his voice as he utters the next words.
"The both of you… you too, can become heroes."
Jason smiles at his friend, a real smile this time.
This is how Izuku Midoriya became the worlds greatest hero, and how Jason Takeda became the worlds first Quirkless hero.
And there you have it. You've seen a taste of Jason's skills, his conviction, and his feelings towards heroes. Now it seems he and his friend Izuku are getting ready to start their first steps into becoming heroes.
While Jason himself may be Quirkless, what little training and instincts he's honed in himself shows his means and readiness to take his first steps.
I think I did alright with this chapter. Wanted to give Jason a bit of his own little inclusion into saving Bakugo, as much as he loathes the guy, as well as giving his piece of mind to the heroes berating Izuku when they themselves stood back. Yes I can understand them saying they needed to wait for someone with a proper Quirk to help fight the villain… but when a Quirkless boy runs in and shows you up, I feel like that kind of negates that excuse.
Anyway, next chapter may be shorter than this one but will no doubt be the setup for Izuku and Jason's training regime's for their trek into getting into the prestigious U.A. Academy. I was going to wait the extra week to upload this one, but since this story is still short at the beginning, decided instead to upload this after only a week. So the next couple chapters will come out within a weeks' time each.
Thank you everyone for reading. I hope you continue to like my work and give it a follow, favorite, review and such. Take care everyone and hope you all have a great day.