[Three weeks later]
(*Pov: Jack)
My mom grounded me last week after she found out that I was illegally using my quirk without adult supervision. It turns out she thought I was being bullied because I always came home half dead, without any significant amount of energy. So, she followed me to catch them in the act, but instead, she found my dozen and a half puppets loitering around, and me in the act of making two new ones.
I'm not gonna lie, I did go a bit overboard, but at least I discovered two new aspects of my quirk: First, there's a pretty cool thing about my power. The utility puppets are twice as good as me in any non-combat-related knowledge but are twice as bad in combat, and vice-versa with the combat puppets. I only realized this when I did my homework at the base, and a utility puppet finished it before I came back from my lunch break.
Another cool discovery is that I can send them back inside me if I keep my quirk active without summoning one of them. For this, I have Wilhelm to thank again. I accidentally sent him back when he wanted to talk to me right after I summoned him. He described it as being in a large vault with no end or beginning. Luckily, bringing him out again didn't take any significant amount of energy.
With this new knowledge, I ordered my utility puppets to scavenge any usable junk during the day while I'm at pre-school, and bring it back to our base so I can try to bring those things inside me as well. This worked to some extent. I didn't seem to have any problems with smaller objects, and according to Wilhelm, they appeared without any issue. The only problem was a clear limit on how large an item could be. My maximum limit seemed to be something like an old excavator without its tracks, and even that took a considerable amount of stamina and water out of me. It seems that objects not created by me require extra energy to bring inside, but once they're within me, they become part of me, so I no longer need to exhaust myself to move them around.
This little time-out, however, gave me enough time to think. I believe the best solution right now is to improve myself both physically and mentally so my puppets can become more effective in the long run. I think they'd be best suited to do odd jobs for some money at least. They don't have any identification papers or qualifications, but they could be great for cheap labor for now. I talked to my mom about it, and after some back and forth, she agreed, but only after I promised that Wilhelm would look after them.
We then thought the best course of action would be to pose them as construction workers, with Wilhelm as their leader. They could help out at different construction sites. However, this means I'll have to suspend my plans for Takoba Beach for the near future.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Big timeskip: 4 years]
A lot has happened over the past few years. Firstly, I started school at a local institution that Izuku and his mom recommended, as they were planning to enroll him there. My mom and I agreed since we didn't have any better options, and it wasn't too far from our apartment. On my first day, when I stepped into the classroom, I immediately noticed that Izuku was in my class—unfortunately, so was Bakugo.
During the first year, I tried my hardest to protect Izuku, as he was my only friend, but over time I grew distant from him. It wasn't because I believed in the quirkist nonsense everyone else seemed to follow, but because no matter how many times I told him to stand up for himself, he never did. He also seemed to spit on our dream of becoming heroes by not doing anything to improve himself. Eventually, we drifted apart. I still try to stop bullying if I see it happening, but I no longer patrol around Izuku to keep him safe. I have more important things to do with my time.
In my free time, I started practicing martial arts at a local dojo. They mainly teach mixed martial arts focused on disarming opponents and using the surroundings to your advantage. I'm by no means a pro, but I can somewhat defend myself. I also began studying more challenging subjects outside of school with private tutors in chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering. Thanks to these lessons, I'm almost always at the top of my class in these subjects, though I'm just average in history and literature. My mom was initially worried about how we would pay for these services, but thanks to Wilhelm and the puppets, we made enough money from their work to not worry about finances for a while.
One problematic thing that did happen over the years was a few people went missing, including a childhood friend of Bakugo and Izuku named Tsubasa. I didn't know him, so I wasn't sad about it, but I was angry that something like this could happen in the same city where UA, Japan's largest and most prestigious hero school, is located.
As I was musing to myself, I heard a scream from a nearby alley. I rushed to check it out and found three guys dragging a pink-haired girl towards an unmarked car, with unsavory expressions on their faces. My blood boiled in rage as I quickly summoned two combat puppets from within me, and we rushed in to help the girl. The puppets tackled two of the men to the ground, and I managed to pull the girl free by yanking her towards me after kicking the main guy in the shin.
Our victory was short-lived, as the leader quickly recovered and sent a small ball of fire toward me. Before I could react, one of my combat puppets jumped in front of me and blocked the attack with its hand.
I quickly ordered the girl, "Run and get us some help. I can hold them off... I think." I wasn't entirely sure of myself.
She blinked in surprise, then nodded vigorously. As she ran out of the alley, I faintly heard her say, "Thank you." Her voice sounded shaky, and I could tell she was still in shock.
The situation worsened when one of the goons, no longer pinned down, ripped my other puppet off his accomplice. Now I was in a pickle—I didn't know the quirks of two of them, and the one quirk I did know was dangerous.
Before things could escalate further, the three were swiftly immobilized by something resembling cloth, wielded by a homeless-looking man. Judging by his actions, he was most likely a vigilante or an underground hero. After swiftly dealing with the hooligans, he turned to me.
"Who are you? What were you doing here? Do you have any connection to these three?"
I contemplated whether I should tell the truth, but I didn't see any point in lying. I spoke up, "My name is John Adams. I heard a scream and thought someone was in trouble. That's when I saw these three trying to kidnap a girl about my age with pink hair and dreadlocks. I've never seen them before."
The man visibly relaxed. "Yeah, I ran into the girl. She was yelling for help, so I came to check it out."
Just as I was about to ask him some questions, the girl returned, shouting, "You're all right!" I noticed she was holding a pipe, probably to help me or defend herself. She ran over and hugged me, which surprised me since we were still strangers, but she didn't seem to mind.
Before anything else could happen, we heard the man clear his throat to get our attention. "While I'm genuinely glad neither of you got hurt, you broke the law by using your quirk for vigilantism. You also rushed in without alerting anyone, putting yourself in danger."
As he reprimanded me, the girl quickly defended me. "He didn't do anything wrong! He saved me from whatever those guys were planning! It's not fair—he shouldn't be punished!" She looked almost teary-eyed by the end of her rant.
The man sighed, pinching his nose. "Okay, I get it. I wasn't planning on arresting him. I'm just advising him not to do something so reckless in the future. He could get into serious trouble if another hero caught him. I've worked with vigilantes before, so I respect them somewhat. And I get that you're just a kid who wanted to do the right thing, but even I won't be this lenient next time. Wait until you can get your hero license in the future, and don't put yourself in dangerous situations like this again, okay? Also, my hero name is Eraserhead. If you run into any problems, contact me through the police. I have connections there. Oh, and you should check on your thing's burned arm—it doesn't look good."
With that, he dragged the three knocked-out guys toward the police station, disappearing from sight.
I let out a big sigh of relief and was about to tend to my puppet when the girl grabbed my arm and announced, "Hello, my name is Hatsume Mei, the future CEO of Hatsume Industries! Also, John, would you like to make some babies with me?!"
I stood frozen, utterly confused and embarrassed by the situation.