Chapter 1
Some people are born lucky. This was something that Izuku Midoriya had heard plenty of times in his life, especially in relation to quirks. He would hear them muttering to themselves or whispering in groups, glaring in secret as they looked at another. How lucky that person was to have such a flashy, useful quirk. That they had scored big time in the genetic lottery of life with their lives set on cruise control. It was no different than being born into a wealthy or influential family. Some people just had it made before they even opened their eyes for the first time.
But for Midoriya the truth was that some people were just born unlucky. It was a subtle but important difference. Nearly everyone was born with a quirk and those without were growing more and more in the minority to the point where it was almost extremely rare to find someone without something, anything, unique or fantastical about them. And it was that minority that Midoriya belonged to. He had not been lucky to be born with the power to levitate objects like his mother or breathe fire like his father. He could not become a giant, or manipulate his body like wood like some of the newest heroes on the block. No explosions came from his body or wings sprouting from his back. He didn't even have strength beyond imagination like his favorite hero All Might. Those people were all lucky to have been given the gift of quirks while he was simply unlucky.
That streak of unluckiness seemed to have escalated to a new high…or low, depending how you looked at it, as he was suddenly thrown to the ground, falling onto his hands and knees as he gasped for air. With each intake of breath Midoriya slowly lifted his head, the events of the last few hours slowly coming back to him. How he was trying to lighten his spirits from a particularly bad day of school, laughing in an impersonation of his idol, All Might, as he walked under a bridge. The next thing he knew, he was being surrounded by sludge. He struggled as it quickly covered his body and entered his mouth. Slowly darkness began to overtake the green-haired teen and the last thing he could clearly remember was a large, toothy mouth covering his own, thanking him for the body and calling him a 'hero'. How he survived, Midoriya had no idea as his vision blacked.
Now that he was free, Midoriya looked around to see that he was no longer in the city. Silence filled the air, save the wind blowing through the massive trees that surrounded them. Stars dotted the darkened sky making Midoriya wonder just how long he had been held captive. Hours? Days? Weeks? All of that seemed possible, especially in this era of quirks. His body trembled as the weight of this information fell upon him bringing with it a new horrible implication: just where was he? Without the knowledge of just how much time had passed, there was no way of knowing if he was in the woods near the city that he called home or if he had traveled across the ocean! Worst of all, he wasn't alone.
"There you go kid," laughed the sludge villain, its towering body looming just behind the freckled teen. Slowly, Midoriya turned around to look at the gelatinous, sickly dark green form of the one who held his life in the palms of his slimy hands. His toothy grin hadn't changed since the first time Midoriya had seen it and his red eyes almost seemed to glow in the darkness. "Go on and catch your breath for a bit. Can't have you keeling over before I'm sure we've gotten away from the pros." As Midoriya's heart raced in utter panic, a circle of tears forming around his eyes, the grinning sludge man bent down on one of its disgusting knees. From there, the upper part of its body reformed in order to push itself out so that its grinning face was right in Midoriya's face. "Don't worry. I'll only need your body until we clear the forest. Then we can go our separate ways."
The sludge villain's smile curled upwards even more, slightly parting open as it did so. Fear nearly made Midoriya's mind shut down, wanting nothing more than to escape this horrible sight. Yet, his brain was still functional enough to point out that the villain was most likely lying to him. Yes, there was a chance that this villain would let him go, but that chance was extremely small given that he had kidnapped a minor using his quirk. If he did and Midoriya went to the police, they would have a great idea where he was as well as officially knowing his crime. He was probably only saying this so that Midoriya wouldn't fight him as much, not that it would do him any good anyways. The more realistic options were that he would either use Midoriya as a hostage in case the pros showed up…or just kill him to leave no witnesses.
Heart pounding in his chest, Midoriya balled his hands into fists collecting dirt and grass as he did so. He was scared beyond belief. He knew he was powerless as people had been telling him that since he was four years old. But if he was going to die anyway…shouldn't he do something? Even if it was just a token effort, wouldn't it be better to at least try and defy this living piling of sludge? To stand up, despite his fears, and tell the villain he was going to fight him! Just telling him off. Even if it was a little, the equivalent of a tiny puppy barking at a hurricane, it would still be something!
…And, if this was going to be the end for him, it was better than doing a swan dive off the school roof as Bakugo had said.
Before Midoriya could even open his mouth, however, a noise similar to a 'Meow' echoed unusually loud through the night sky. Both quirkless teen and villain blinked in utter confusion, their expressions asking if the other had heard that as well. Together they looked around with Midoriya wondering if they had stumbled upon a cat that had somehow developed a quirk that made its cry louder. Something like that would have been an amazing find and maybe, if he was lucky, he could take some notes one last time! But, if there was such a creature out there, neither of them voiced that they had found it. When their gazes returned to each other, a hint of red could be seen out of the corner of their eyes from above.
The two moved their heads upwards in unison seeing a sight that left them both screaming! For, crashing through the clouds above their heads, was an object unlike anything either of them had seen before. A cone of red, probably created due to friction in the atmosphere, surrounded the tip of the object that reminded Midoriya of a massive black crystal. The cone went all the way up to a large mass of grayish-white which also had four more crystals pointing upwards in a claw-like manner. It took a second or two for the duo to process what was happening: something was crashing down from the heavens and, by the looks of it, was going to either crash on them or near them!
Once they realized this, the pair got to their feet to try and run away. But it was too late. The object, whatever it was, hit the ground with enough force that Midoriya was sent flying through the air as fire and dirt pelted his back. The world spun around with the boy screaming his lungs out, refusing to close his eyes and creep back into the darkness it would provide, fearing he would never escape it. Once or twice he thought he felt a part of his shoe or a finger graze a tree while flying through the air, thankfully he had not made a full-on impact. Then, finally, Midoriya collided hard with the ground.
A groan escaped the young teen as he pushed himself off the ground and looked back. What he saw brought forth another scream as he twisted his body so his back was lifted off the ground, staring wide-eyed at the forest behind him. Or, rather, the large gaping hole that had been a part of the forest whose edge he was dangerously close to. Dust flung from the impact still hung around the crater, filling it like mist and making it difficult to see inside. Despite that, the hole was massive, and Midoriya judged that it might be deep enough so that half of the apartment complex that he lived in with his mother could easily fit in!
As the green-haired teen continued to stare at it, his mouth twisted into a happy grin despite how sore his body felt. He had survived! He had no idea how it had happened, be it simply being flung away from the impact due to the force, a hidden quirk he never knew he had, or he had rolled a natural twenty for his luck. But regardless of how it happened, he was alive and the villain was nowhere to be seen! Now he could make a break for it and find a way home. He could see his mother again, hugging her tightly as he explained why he was so late coming home. He could-
The teen's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the quickly settling dust, revealing a sight that left Midoriya in a state of awe. Slowly getting to his feet, the tips of his shoes at the very edge of the crater, Midoriya could now clearly see that whatever had crashed was still perfectly intact! It laid on its side in the middle of the crater, a large red dome at the top of the grayish-white mass with those four crystals surrounding it. It was imposing yet something about it drew Midoriya's attention all the more in sheer wonder.
"Is this because of someone's quirk?" mumbled Izuku to himself as he began examining this thing from a safe distance. "It is possible that this could be a transformation quirk of some kind or their quirk allowed them to produce this. Why haven't I heard about this before? If there was a hero in Japan that could make something like this the news-feeds would have gone crazy! It could be from a hero overseas or someone whose quirk just manifested. But…" Midoriya paused to gulp as he looked upwards towards the now non-existent clouds. "From what I could tell, that thing must have started falling from above the stratosphere. And it looks like it weighs a ton. How could someone create something like that and then launch it so high up? Was that a support item like a rocket ship? No, the government wouldn't allow it."
For some reason, a shiver ran through the teen's body before he looked back down at the object. Slowly he began to examine it, starting with the four crystal-like spikes, wondering what they were made of. His eyes then roamed down to that grayish-white mass wondering if it was made of metal or some other crystal. For a moment, he even entertained the idea that it might even be organic! Yet that didn't make any sense to him.
Before Midoriya could look to the side to examine the last of the black crystals, he spotted something that caused his body to begin running down into the crater before his mind realized what was happening. Laying next to the main body of the object was the outline of a person. While nothing more than a speck to the teen from this distance, he could make out the red and black attire this person wore against the dirt and other rubble. Or, at least, he hoped that it was part of their costume and not blood. Just thinking about that caused Midoriya to run even faster, nearly tripping several times on the way down. His legs began to ache, but he ignored it while his eyes never left the unmoving figure. When he reached the bottom, the teen nearly fell forward into the ground but somehow managed to use the momentum to keep moving forward faster.
When he finally got close enough, Midoriya saw that this person was a woman who looked to be in her late teens to early twenties. He sighed in relief when he saw that the red he had seen was not blood, but rather part of her half red and half black costume that clung to her slender form. Looking up, Midoriya took note of her long, spiky cyan hair.. Happy to see that she didn't appear to be bleeding, Midoriya knelt down to check and see if she was breathing only to reel back quickly while holding his nose!
"S-S-Sake," moaned the teen, identifying the scent that reeked off the woman. After taking a moment, Midoriya steeled himself as he went closer to her, placing his hand close to her mouth and nose. He smiled as he felt her breath on his hand. That was a good sign.
"But what should I do now," mumbled Izuku as he pulled his hand away, bringing it to his chin as he began to go over his options. "I really don't have any first aid skills beyond the basics. If I tried examining her myself any further I might end up hurting her. Maybe I could try and take her to a hospital… but picking her up without knowing the full extent of her injuries might cause her more harm. There could be internal injuries that would be worsened if not handled properly. Not to mention the fact that I don't even know where I am right now. If I went the wrong way then we might be traveling for days with her condition growing worse. Even if I did know the right way, the extra weight will slow me down. Leaving her here while I go by myself to find help is an option as well. I could potentially cover more ground that way. No! She'll be helpless if anything finds her. Maybe I could call someone and they could track my GPS?" Quickly Midoriya reached for his phone and turned it on…only to frown. "Of course. No bars."
"Uh, would you keep it down a little?" came a muffled voice that nearly made Midoriya jump back in shock. Looking down, he saw that the woman was slightly biting her lower lip as her shoulder began to lift. Her eyes opened, yellow orbs with black slits that reminded him of a cat or snake, gazed at him.
"B-Be careful," began Midoriya, raising his hands slightly as the woman began to sit up.
"Careful? I…" began the woman only to stop with a sudden groan, her hands racing towards her head, clutching it tight.
"Oh my God!" cried Midoriya, waving his hands in pure panic. "You should lie back down. You were in a crash and…"
The woman stopped her groaning, opening a single eye to look at the green-haired teen. "A crash?" she asked before looking around her to take in the scenery around her for the first time. Midoriya sat there, expecting her to freak out, wondering what the hell happened to her. That or faint as the sheer weight of the situation fell upon her. What he was not expecting, however, was for her to simply shrug. "Huh, I guess I was. Well, I've been in worse situations."
"W-W-What?" asked Midoriya, waving his hands around as the woman stood up, still holding her head. "But you're head injury!"
"Chill out, it's just a hangover," she admitted with a wince. "Not one of my finest moments." She paused to give Midoriya a small smile. Yet as she stood there, her legs began wobbling slightly. Fearing that she might fall down the green-haired teen jumped up and, before he realized what he was doing, wrapped an arm around her waist. A moment passed as he helped keep the woman steady, his body pressed close to her own with his head meeting at her shoulder before she turned to look at him once more. "Well, well. Aren't we forward."
Midoriya's face instantly turned scarlet, small wisps of steam rising from the top of his forehead as both her words and the realization of what he was doing finally sank in. He was touching a woman that wasn't his mother. Someone close to his own age. He was talking to her! A-And she was talking back to him! "W-W-W-Well I-I-I," he stammered, the apology he wanted to spit out becoming stuck in his throat while his body trembled. Thankfully, he did not let go of her to start waving his hands in protest.
The woman threw her head back and laughed. "Oh relax, I'm only teasing," she said with a cute wink, causing the still red-faced teen to become silent as he looked away. "But, really, thank you. The name's Ryoko by the way. And what shall I call my knight in shining armor?"
"I-Izuku Midoriya," the teen managed to say. "And I'm…Well, I'm not much of a…" As his words trailed off, Ryoko gently placed her hands on the arm around her waist to push it off. Once free of his hold the woman took a few steps forward before turning around to look at him with only the smallest of pained looks. "A-Anyways, we s-should b-be getting out of here. There's a villain nearby."
"A…villain?" repeated Ryoko, looking a little nervous as she began scratching the back of her head rapidly while looking away. "Well that sounds…bad. Do you, ah, know who this villain might be?"
"Yeah, I've seen him myself," said Midoriya with a nod, not noticing the sigh Ryoko let out. "I don't know his real name so I've just been referring to him as the sludge villain. From what I have seen firsthand, his quirk makes it so that his body is like slime or, well, sludge. He, ah, sort of used it to take control of my body for a while." A thoughtful look then crossed Midoriya's face, a hand coming up to his chin as his thoughts began to spiral. "But I'm sure that's not all he can do. With a body that is malleable he can probably manipulate it to slide through cracks or holes. Maybe even pipes, allowing him to go anywhere. He also seems to be able to manipulate his appearance, moving his mass around to alter the size and location of his features. Perhaps he could stretch himself to become larger? Possibly, but I don't think that would make him stronger. More likely, he could put as much mass as he could into a single limb increasing the power of his blows. I wonder if…" Midoriya managed to stop himself, realizing that he was mumbling again as his face went red once more. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I know this isn't the time for this, it's just a bad habit of mine!"
"Hey, don't worry about it," said Ryoko, her hands going to her sides as she spoke. But, Midoriya only noticed that briefly as something else caught his attention. It was the look she had in her eyes. She really didn't seem annoyed or angry like so many others when he began his muttering marathons. Instead, she looked…impressed? In all honesty, it wasn't something he was used to seeing.
"W-Well, w-we'd better get going," stammered Midoriya, his eyes downcast as he spoke to hide his blush. While this blush hadn't turned his face beet red like prior blushes tonight, only warming up his cheeks, somehow it felt all the more embarrassing. Yet, oddly enough, it also felt kind of good.
Turning away from her, Midoriya made his way to the incline that would lead them out. Upon closer examination , he saw that the dirt and rock looked fairly smooth with enough of an incline that they could walk up with only some difficulty. That said, fairly smooth and completely smooth were two different things. Just by looking around, Midoriya could see spots that appeared to be slightly more rigid or had bits of earth jutting out. However, there were areas that looked like a collection of stones that might give way if too much weight were put upon them. Biting his lower lip, Midoriya recalled his not-so-long-ago sprint downward and how he himself had nearly tripped on the way. Whether that had been due to gravity combined with his own rapid momentum or the rocky terrain, he honestly couldn't remember. Overall, it seemed more than likely that they could just walk up and out of the crater. But it would be best if they played it safe and moved slowly.
Midoriya's thoughts then shifted back to Ryoko. She seemed to be recovering from her hangover pretty quickly, but her head could still be hurting. That along with how she wobbled when she first stood up, gave Midoriya some pause. Like that, she might not watch where she was going and if she made the wrong step…
Gulping, Midoriya turned back to Ryoko and offered the woman his hand. "I can lead the way if you want," he said in a trembling voice, only briefly noticing the woman's shocked expression. For a few seconds, Midoriya just stood there as he mentally kicked himself for his stupidity. This was the longest conversation he had ever really had with a girl close to his own age and now he was suggesting this?! Ryoko probably thought he was just trying to act cool or something and was going to tell him that she didn't need some quirkless kid to hold her. Ok sure, she didn't know he was quirkless but-
"Oh, my hero!" she giggled in a playful and not at all cruel manner as she took hold of his hand. Now Midoriya felt like his heart was going to explode out of his chest as he felt her bare skin against his own. He could feel how warm it was and, despite appearing dainty, it felt tough. Like she had seen and been a part of plenty of fights before. Slowly he looked up and saw that Ryoko was smiling brightly at him with her eyes closed.
"Right!" Midoriya exclaimed with a nod, turning to lead them up and out of the crater. Midoriya's first step was almost robotic, lifting it up high and positioning it at a ninety-degree angle before pressing down. The force which nearly caused the ground to give way. Thankfully Midoriya didn't make an utter fool of himself, realizing he had to keep his wits focused on the path ahead. So with the slow and precious placement of his feet, the green-haired teen helped lead them both upwards.
"So," said Ryoko after a minute or two had passed. "How did you meet this sludge villain? You live around here and ran into him? Or are you aiming to be a bounty hunter and you went after your first big payday?"
"I…" began Midoriya, his heart slowing down as he lowered his head in shame. "No, I'm just the unlucky guy he happened to kidnap. I'm not even sure where I am right now or how far away my home is. I couldn't even run away properly. I'm nothing special." As he said this last part, Midoriya thought he felt Ryoko's hand squeeze his own. But it was so brief that he probably just imagined it. So the teen just kept moving forward without bothering to look back.
"Hey, it can only get better," said Ryoko. Her voice was lighter now, making it sound like she was trying to cheer him up. "I mean, sure you got kidnapped and dragged all the way out into the middle of nowhere with no way of getting home." Midoriya felt his shoulders slump at that, the gravity of the situation he was in, something that had been on the backburner of his mind, had returned with force. "And look at you now! You managed to get away from this guy! Plus, now you get to have a midnight stroll through the forest with a pretty girl. So things are already looking up!"
Tears began to form in Midoriya's eyes, brimming with happiness by what she said. She was right! Things were looking up! He had gotten a chance to save…No, he had helped someone. Not save them. But, he was still doing that. Helping someone in trouble without being asked is just like what a real hero would do! Just like what All Might would have done. What's more, he was doing it without a quirk. Maybe…maybe this was what he needed. Maybe he could hold on to this feeling whenever people told him he couldn't be a hero without a quirk and tell people like Kacchan that they were wrong. He could do it! And with the sludge villain gone, it should be smooth sailing from here on-
As Midoriya's foot stepped out onto the forest floor, the universe decided to punish the green-haired teen for his hopefulness, as a large mass of sludge began to form right in front of the pair. Sweat began to dampen Midoriya's fear-filled face as the sludge began to take shape, soon becoming the very being that he had thought wouldn't show up.
"Haha," laughed the sludge villain as he looked down at Midoriya. "Not very bright, are you kid! Just wasted your one chance to make a break for it. Should have run off while you could. Oh, and what do we have here?" The sludge villain's eye turned to look past Midoriya while a lecherous grin grew. "It seems like my day just keeps getting better and better. First I manage to shake him off my tail and now I get to have some fun."
"Shut up!" yelled Midoriya as he took a step forward. "Ryoko run! I'll hold him off for-" Midoriya's words were cut off as sludge descended upon him, quickly filling his mouth and lungs. The boy struggled, clawing at the stench-covered substance that began to consume him. Somehow, either by his own will or that of the villain, he was turned to face Ryoko. She was just standing there, eyes wide and head tilted to the side like she was trying to comprehend what she was seeing.
"Hahaha!" came the villain's laughter right in Midoriya's ear. "You really must be stupid kid! Face it, you're powerless against me! If you had any quirk that could have even slowed me down, you would have used it the first time I did this to you! Now be a good little body for me and just surrender so I can have some fun with that girl."
"Oh, really?" came Ryoko's voice, sounding both sweet and dangerous at the same time giving the teenage boy shivers. As Midoriya's vision began to grow dark once more, he saw that Ryoko's eyes had narrowed and a smile played on her lips that didn't look like the ones he had seen before. It sort of reminded him of the smile a predator would have when spotting its prey, but maybe he was just seeing things. After all, his brain was shutting down due to a lack of air, while his vision began to swirl in darkness.
Then, suddenly, air filled his lungs once more as he was pulled out of the sludge villain and tossed to the ground. But the weird thing was that it didn't feel like he had been pulled out in the normal sense. No, it was more like the sludge around him no longer existed; the area surrounding him feeling like a heavy mist while he was being pulled out by Ryoko's hand. The boy then looked up and saw Ryoko standing in front of the sludge villain, an orb of bright red light in her hand that seemed to crackle as if electricity was dancing around it. The red light shined in the sludge villain's eyes reflecting his fear. Then, in the span of a breath, the orb was fired out into the sludge villain's chest, causing him to explode! Midoriya could only watch with wide eyes as pieces of the criminal flew in every direction, splashing onto trees and plants before rolling down towards the earth.
"That…That was amazing!" exclaimed Midoriya as an excited smile appeared on his face. "You…You have to be an amazing up-and-coming hero with a quirk that powerful! Why haven't I heard of you before? Is it because you're so new? I bet you just graduated from U.A." Midoriya's mind was going into overdrive, trying to figure out what her quirk was. A dispersal quirk? That was a possibility. If she could disperse anything, then she could disperse the damage she took from an attack or a fall or a crash. It would also explain how she had been able to save him and defeat the villain. No doubt he was just split in pieces and she had the means to bring the villain back together. Heroes didn't kill after all.
"Sorry Izuku, but I'm no hero," said Ryoko as she turned around while placing a hand on her hip, causing the boy's blood to run cold. He now looked up at the woman before him, her eyes still narrowed as they seemed to glow yellow in the pale moonlight.
"…What?" was all the teen could say, a new layer of sweat appearing on his forehead while his tear ducts began to prepare for another use.
"Never said I was a hero. Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Ryoko, the most wanted and dangerous space pirate in the known universe." As if to punctuate this, the woman before him created a blade of red energy in one hand that reminded Izuku of the weapons in the ancient Star Wars movies. The light sabers! Only she didn't need a device to make it! And she was pointing it right at his chest!
"That's…That's," began Izuku as he wanted to deny this. To say there were no such things as aliens or that there couldn't be one in front of him. Yet his mind was letting the pieces fall into place. It made too much sense. The object that fell from the sky was a spaceship. That's why she was in the crater with it. And her weapon…Crap!
"And today is your lucky day Izuku," said Ryoko as she began to float in the air a bit, her blade still pointed at the teen. "Because I've taken a liking to you! You are joining my crew!"
For a moment, Izuku could only stare at her in wide eyed silence."I-Is this optional?" he asked, his gaze shifting from the woman to the blade she held and then back to Ryoko.
"What do you think?"
A cry escaped Midoriya's throat as he spun around, his survival instincts finally kicking, he ran with all his might through the woods. One of his red sneakers stepped in the sludge, nearly causing him to slip and fall, but he managed to right himself. Teeth clenched, tears began running down his face. He didn't want to go into space! He didn't want to be a villain! He didn't want to be a space villain! No!
Appearing in front of Midoriya was Ryoko. His brain paused for a moment, processing what had happened. He didn't see her super speed in front of him or fly. Had she teleported? Could she teleport? A question for later for, as Ryoko swung her blade, Midoriya managed to duck under it. Thanks to the many times he had to escape from bullies in school, Midoriya knew how to quickly turn on his heels without losing his speed and zip past Ryoko.
Laughter erupted behind him followed by one of those red orbs zooming past his sides. It landed several feet in front of him causing the earth to explode and trees to singe. But the boy didn't slow down, waving his arms around as if he were trying to claw through the air itself as if hoping that would increase his speed just a little. Random noises escaped his mouth as he ran with all the strength he could muster as another orb was launched from behind, missing him again only to explode in the area in front of him. As more dirt and splinters of wood rained down on him, Midoriya heard more laughter behind him. He looked behind him, eyes widening in fear beyond measure as he saw Ryoko passing through the trees as if she were a ghost! There was no doubt in his mind now that she was an alien of some kind to do all this!
Before Midoriya could look away, Ryoko vanished from his sight. For a brief moment, the teen wondered if she had just given up. Foolish, he realized for when he turned to look in front of him again he found her floating there. With her free hand, Ryoko pointed at the ground before him and shot a smaller red beam from her finger which scorched the ground in front of Midoriya and caused him to fall on his ass. As she slowly floated towards him, Izuku Midoriya despaired as he finally realized something: she was playing with him. With all those abilities, she could have taken him whenever she wanted.
"So you finally figured it out," said Ryoko as she teleported in front of him, blade mere centimeters from Midoriya's chest. "It's hopeless."
"No!" screamed Midoriya, body shaking as he stared up at Ryoko who looked shocked for a moment. He wasn't going to let it end here, he wasn't going to just give up! With eyes full of determination, he stared right up at Ryoko ready to defy her to the end. "I'm not going with you into space! I'm staying here so I can fulfill my dream of becoming a great hero! Someone who saves everyone he can with a smile on his face! Even if you take me away into space, I'll try every day to escape and come back!" Tears were now streaming down his eyes, but despite that, he gave Ryoko the most determined look he could. His teeth then clenched as he prepared himself for whatever 'resistance if futile' speech she would give him. Something that he would deny for…
"Okay," said Ryoko as her sword vanished and the playful, friendly smile returned to her face. "Let's do that then!"
"…What?" Midoriya felt both his brain and his tear ducts shutting down as he tried to make sense of what she just said. At just how random she seemed to be. Was she insane?
Seeing this, Ryoko just laughed as her hands moved behind her head and her legs crossed as she continued to float in the air. "Come on, it sounds like a fun way to pass the time," she explained, a mischievous smile playing on her lips as she looked down at Izuku. "So what do we need to do to make you a hero on this planet?"
"W-Well it's a little complicated," began Izuku. "There's a lot of steps to becoming a professional hero. Like, ah, getting a license and going to school and…" Izuku then lowered his head slightly, a frown appearing on his face as he stared at the dirt. "But everyone around me says that it's impossible to get into a good school like U.A. without a quirk. Sure, the school is now allowing students without quirks to enter its hero program and I still want to at least try. It's just that…"
"Is that all? Sounds like a simple fix." Izuku Midoriya's head whipped up so fast he might have given himself whiplash, staring at Ryoko with hope beaming in his eyes.
"Really?" he said in a skeptical tone.
"Sure, sure. Just, ah… what's a quirk?" Midoriya's face slammed into the earth while Ryoko gave out an awkward laugh. Really, he should have guessed this.
"A quirk is what we here on earth call a super power," explained the green-haired teen as he pulled himself off the ground. "Like with that sludge villain, his quirk allows him to do stuff like that. My dad's quirk lets him breathe fire and my mom can levitate things. But me? I was born without one. Do…do you think you can help me with that? Or maybe teach me how to use your space weapons?"
Ryoko hummed for a moment. "No idea," she said with a laugh, causing the teen to slam his face into the ground once more. "But you know the galaxy is a big place. I'm sure I'll figure out something." Midoriya looked up to see Ryoko giving him a thumbs up and not noticing the piece of sludge moving away from them.
-x-
Two weeks later, Izuku collapsed onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling with a near-dead expression while his backpack fell to the floor. His red shoes were still on, messing up his All Might sheets. But right now, he didn't care. Not after the day he had. Oh, who was he kidding! The last couple of weeks had been a nightmare that never seemed to end.
Honestly, he thought things would have been better. After Ryoko had left, getting to watch a real-life spaceship from another planet lift off, Izuku had stumbled through the forest all night and a good part of the morning before the heroes found him. They had questioned him about the sludge villain, trying to figure out where he was before returning the teen to his mother who had been worried sick. That hadn't been so bad. Heck, even the heroes told his mother that Izuku had been brave to push through everything and keep working to find a way home despite his quirklessness.
The nightmare, however, started when he had gotten back to school. There, no one cared that he had been kidnapped. In fact, many thought it was pathetic that someone who dreamed of being a hero would allow himself to be taken. That if he was so useless as to not be able to keep his own neck safe then how would he be able to protect anyone else. And the leader of this group was, of course, Kacchan. His former friend turned bully amped up his abuse, both verbal and physical, to the point where it felt like the entire school was now mocking him for having a dream. The teachers, well, Izuku wasn't sure if they were clueless about what was really going on or if they just didn't care.
This depression lasted for only a few moments before Izuku began to psyche himself up. He knew he couldn't let them drag him down! And he had the perfect way to cheer himself up: his favorite All Might video! Seeing that scene of the Number One Hero saving people with a smile on his face, letting everyone know that things were going to be alright because he was there. What sort of person wouldn't be cheered up from seeing a scene so heroic?
As Izuku began to turn in his bed, the green-haired teen froze when he saw something sticking out of his wall. Or, rather, someone! It was Ryoko, smiling and waving at him while sticking out at a horizontal angle from the wall defying gravity. What's more, there was an adorable creature that looked like a cross between a rabbit and a cat sitting on the top of her head. This creature had grayish-brown fur, large yellow eyes, and a red gem in the middle of its forehead. When it saw that Izuku was looking at them, the rabbit/cat thing began to jump up and down causing its large ears to flop about before mimicking a wave with one of its furry paws. It took a moment for Izuku to process this and, when he did, he let out a scream. Not because he had forgotten who Ryoko was, oh no. It was because there was a girl in his room. There was an alien in his room. THERE WAS AN ALIEN GIRL IN HIS ROOM!
"Sorry it took so long," said Ryoko as she flew in the room fully, disregarding the screaming as if she were used to it. Now that she was in the room, Izuku saw that she was wearing a blue dress with yellow stripes running from side to side. Once she had landed, she began reaching into one of her sleeves and began to fish for something. "But you wouldn't believe how hard it was to find something that would help you. I thought about having one of the cat beasts of Malzanru bite you and hoping you turned into one, but the folks there said I had just watched too many cheesy movies. Then I tried to get you a nanite injection, but hauling all of that across the galaxy would have been a pain. I mean, just getting the tank out of a lab would have been trouble without breaking down a few dozen walls and, well, it might not have survived. Not to mention all the other gear I'd need to get. I almost decided on just getting you a few weapons that would put the most advanced ones on this planet to shame until I heard about this baby!" As if on cue, Ryoko pulled out an object that seemed almost unremarkable. It looked like a silver pen with caps on both ends.
"What is it?" asked Izuku as he scooted off the bed.
"Well according to the people I beat up and stole this from, it's supposed to allow one to transfer traits of one species to another."
"Y-You stole that?"
"Space pirate, remember," said Ryoko with a huff and giving Izuku an indignant look. "Besides, I don't think it counts since they were part of a terrorist group planning on trying to steal the Jurai Empire's secrets and causing trouble with Galaxy Police. So, I'd say it was more like I was giving the police a hand and keeping a little something for myself." She then paused, taking a breath as a smile returned to her face. Gently she lifted herself off the ground and floated over to the younger teen. "But anyways, with this, I can give you all of my abilities. Everything I can do, you'll be able to do as well, making you as much of a powerhouse as me."
Izuku's eyes widened at that. He had witnessed what she was capable of. With the quirks, no, powers Ryoko had he stood a chance, a real good chance at getting in U.A. At becoming a hero. One that could save lives with a smile on his face just like All Might!
"Hold on there, don't get too excited," said Ryoko suddenly, drawing Izuku out of his thoughts. Ryoko then held the device up and when she spoke next there was a level of seriousness that he had never heard her use before. "I'm willing to use this device to give you all of my powers, but once I do that there will be no going back. You'll never be able to go back to being a human. Or, at least, a full one. So, are you sure you want this?"
Midoriya only eyed the device once more, his eyes narrowed in determination as he nodded.