Flames of Hope

Chapter 39

Boop! Hello! I hope y'all enjoy this bloody chapter! feel free to listen to the song above; Whatever it Takes by Imagine Dragons!

Shivering, Red Riot – No, that's a hero name; one he's not fit to bare...– watched the fight drag on. His arms had been shattered by the villain's – Rappa's – strength, and he could feel his arms ache and bleed with each movement.

'I'm such a coward... Fatgum's fighting for his life, and I'm stood quivering in my boots...' Eijiro's mind shuffled memories from before U.A before his eyes. The time he couldn't step in to stop a pair of bullies to the titan of a villain threatening his classmates, and he just stood there like a weak coward; and now it's repeating again. He's stuck, frozen in fear watching as his mentor gets pummelled by Rappa, his size decreasing with every bullet like punch to his fat.

-A year before the U.A entrance exams, Eijiro Kirishima can only watch, locked in sheer terror, his body frozen as he watches a hulking titan with a grey cloak tower over some of his classmates. He couldn't even activate his quirk, his red eyes watered slightly, his shaking form almost falling under the deep, animalistic voice that comes from the titan.

"Do you know the way to the Stark Hero Agency?" when neither of the pair answer the titan, its voice comes out again, more angered and tense.

"Answer me!" Right at that moment, a pink saviour literally glides in, horns waving around as she gestures wildly, telling the titan;

"It's 5 blocks that way! Turn right after that!" Immediately, the titan backs off, offering a quick thank you, then mutters as it left.

"All I do is for my Master..."-

After that incident, Eijiro sat alone in his room, wallowing in his own self-pity, until he found a small disc with a recording on it. Activating the disc, he found an old Crimson Riot interview, and it struck a chord within him, setting his ablaze with Hope.

"When I first encountered a villain, I froze. Fear is natural but a hero, a true hero pushes their own fears and doubts aside to help others in need. That is the spirit of a hero. Not a quirk, or power of any sort, but that innate spirit to help others."

Blinking, Eijiro dragged himself out of his memories, his red eyes widening at the sight before him. Fatgum was slouching, his suit barely hanging onto him anymore, his once fat body now muscly and thin. This was bad, really bad, one more hit and Fatgum won't be able to take it; his fat was all gone. Red Riot pulled forward, igniting his quirk, and leaping in front of Fatgum, who exclaimed,

"Red Riot?!" Rappa just scoffs and charges Fatgum and Red Riot, only to be held back by Red Riot. His skin hardened, and he chanted to himself:

'If it breaks, harden it again! And Again! And AGAIN!'

Wind kicked about as Red Riot gritted his teeth, his crossed arms taking a beating as his feet dug out trenches from the blows. The villain pulled back, thinking;