WaterDragon02

-------{WD}-------

It was a dark and stormy night. Dang that's cliche. It was a bright and sunny morning. Well, Frito salt.

I lean over and bang my head against the window on the bus a few times, trying to knock my writers block out. That earns me a few weird looks from the other passengers, and T raises an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?" he questions.

I glance over at him. "You know when you want to draw or something and your brain denies you access to to anything remotely interesting?"

He nods. "That's when you give me a phrase and I draw that."

"Well, my brain has decided that I don't get to write."

T sighs. "You have probably over three dozen stories already in the works. Why not add something to one of those?"

I scrunch up my face. "I only have one short of two dozen, thank you. But that doesn't mean that I can just 'add on' to one, as you say. Each one that I look at ends in a blank!"

"Okay, okay!"he says, trying to calm me down. "Let's not freak out everyone in the bus."

I cross my arms and change the subject. "So who was it that called again?"

"Some sidekick from Blockbuster's. He said his boss wanted to talk to us."

I sit up in my seat. "You just said we were going back to Blockbuster's! You didn't say they wanted to talk! We are a couple of outlaws, T! We're walking into a lions den!"

He grabs my arms to stop me from waving them around. "Again, let's not act like we should be in an insane asylum. And calm down. You enjoyed breaking out of the house, didn't you?"

My mind flashes back to my crawl through the attic, my jump from the third story window, and my somewhat scratchy landing in the bushes. The good thing was, no one heard me from inside. After all, I am the Silent Shadow. Though it was mostly because I had tested out a new Latin word, which practically canceled my noise for a few seconds, but I'll take what I can get. I had already run three blocks before remembering that I had told T that I would help him with his escape.

But now we're on the bus, so none of that really matters now.

I continue staring out the window, my mind scrolling through all twenty three of my in progress stories to see what I can do with them.

After fifteen minutes of coming up with absolutely nothing, the bus rolls to a stop and T bumps me with his elbow. "Hey, this is us."

Letting out a long, overly dramatic groan, I follow T off the bus. Directly in front of us, Blockbuster's Action Agency practically glows with its bright yellows and oranges.

"And a-nope." I turn around to hop back on the bus, but T grabs my shoulder, stopping me just as the doors close.

He pulls me to the doors of the building and opens one. "No backing out, sis. They told us to get our butts here, so we're kinda obligated to listen."

"Not if they plan to to jail us for vandalism," I whisper back, already scanning the room for improvised exits.

Before I can use any of them, the receptionist at the desk in the middle of the room looks up. "Can I help you?" she asks, sounding slightly confused.

"As a matter of fact," I start with a smile, "we actually just walked into the wrong place. Have a nice day though!"

T grabs my arm as I start to book it out of there. "We've got the right place. I'm Trey Caveat."

"Oh!" The receptionist nods. "Blockbuster is expecting you. He's waiting in his office on the third floor."

"Thank you," T says as he guides me over to the stairs to the side of the room, butchering my plans for escape.

I mumble as we walk up the stairs. "The Silent Shadow sighs as the malicious guard leads her up the stairs to her ultimate demise."

"Hush up," T scolds.

I ignore him. "Her plans for escape have dimmed, but are not gone entirely. She has her soul set on dodging this meeting that will surely not end well."

"Don't you dare say that to Blockbuster's face. If you're right, then we need this to go as smoothly as possible."

I stare at the door that we've come to a stop at on the third floor. "Or we're toast."

With that, T opens the door for us to look inside. However, we're both surprised and drastically confused at the odd office, if we can even properly call it that. There's a regular looking desk on the left side of the room with casual business things decorating the surface, but on the right is an assortment of entertainment furniture and accessories. Various movie posters cover the wall around a large screen TV currently playing a Justice League cartoon and it's flanked by a set of speakers. In front of the screen is a half ring of couches and cushioned theater chairs, and on the center couch is the pro hero himself, Blockbuster, who turns his head towards us upon his door opening.

He smiles brightly and greets us, "Ah, there you two are." He turns off his screen and stands to beckon us in. "Come in, come in. Please, take a seat."

T and I glance at each other skeptically before wandering around the seats to the chairs on the right.

The pro walks to the left speaker and opens the front to reveal a mini fridge. "Refreshments anyone? Sorry, we don't do a lot of soda, so that's limited."

"Uh, Gatorade?" T asks, I guess wanting to be polite.

I decide to test this man's mental capacity. "If you're offering and have it, chocolate milk."

"Coming up!" He nods and quickly grabs a bottle of Nesquik and a cool blue Gatorade from the mini fridge and walks back to hand them over.

That's a pass in my book.

T takes his while I take a few seconds to analyze what exactly is happening. I'm almost at a loss for words. I was expecting a stern talking to about skipping school and a warning about vandalism. Yet, here we are in the pro's office being comfortably treated like we're long distant relatives.

I finally come back to the present and accept my beverage. "Um, thank you."

"My pleasure," Blockbuster nods before walking back to his chair to sit down and begin his conversation. "Now, I had wanted to talk more yesterday after our little encounter, but we seem to have gone separate ways without properly introducing ourselves. First off, hello. You may know me as the Animated Hero, Blockbuster, but friends call me Steve Binji."

I snort at such a hilarious name, almost spewing milk everywhere, and cover my mouth with a fist. I manage, "A pleasure," before I shake it off and regain my composure. "I'm WD."

"And I'm T," my brother joins.

"Just letters?" the hero clarifies. "Do they stand for anything?"

T answers "Trey" at the same time that I answer "No."

"Okay. Do you have a last name?"

"Caveat," T answers.

Blockbuster smiles. "Well, an upmost pleasure to meet you both. Now forgive me for jumping right into ice breakers, but tell me about yourselves."

"Okay," T starts. "We're both fifteen, in tenth grade, are supposed to be quirkless, and I do not have a girlfriend."

Dang dude.

"Back up," he stops him. "'Supposed to be?' So you both have quirks, but don't have an origin for them?"

I look up, ready to spout off about how quirks are basically considered a curse, but back down after remembering we're talking to another quirk holder.

Instead, T continues. "Yeah, actually. Us manifesting is probably the greatest mystery ever. Our parents have walked through our family tree countless times now to find out which of our ancestors even had a quirk. Thus far, nothing."

The pro rubs his chin for a few seconds. ". . . Okay. If you don't mind, what are your quirks exactly?"

I let T speak first, still deciding how much I want to tell him about myself. "As far as I know, my quirk is called Illustrate. I can turn the water in my body into a kind of ink that I can dispense from my fingers. Additionally, I can control the dryness of my ink though only for a few hours before it all turns into straight up liquid. I've learned that it can be incredibly sticky and hard to just wipe off. Oh! And fun fact: the color of my ink changes based on the drink I last took in until it fades back to black after about an hour."

"Oh, is that what's going on with your eyes right now?" Steve asks while circling his own eye with his finger, indicating T's irises.

"If they're blue, then yes."

I look up at my brother and confirm that his irises are in fact the color of his drink.

"And what about you, WD?" he asks me. "What's your quirk? I know you may have threatened me with it a tiny bit yesterday."

I consider ignoring the question, but the dang man gave me chocolate milk. "My quirk is called Dictate. Basically, I can take any kind of verb and some nouns and turn it into some kind of spell. However, it's determined on two different factors. First, the range depends on how big I write the word. Second, it's effectiveness depends on how ancient the language is that I write the word. I'm currently studying Latin to get the best effects."

"Also, her spells drain her of her energy," T adds. "Let's say she were to use one on you yesterday, then she would be this close to collapsing right there."

He laughs out loud at the last part, holding his pointer finger and thumb just a tiny bit away from each other, earning himself a punch on the shoulder from me.

"I'd have had room for a few more!" I argue.

Blockbuster chuckles at our bickering. "Those are both very interesting quirks. I mean, all mine is that I put on an act, and I am suddenly any character from any movie or series, but a single misstep or a slight break of character would turn me back to myself."

"So," I interrupt, interested, "you can be Elsa from Frozen?"

He smiles and sighs. "Yes, I have performed a couple hundred Disney songs for my daughters. Don't think you're getting a number though." T laughs before he goes on. "Anyways, how do you think your quirks will benefit the world?"

I raise an eyebrow in skepticism while my brother answers. "As of now, I'm just an artist, so I'll be more of an inspiration if anything. As for her, she wants to be an international translator."

The pro leans back in his seat. "Interesting. What do you see yourselves doing ten years from now?"

T starts to answer again, but I speak before he can. "Slow your roll, pickle. Why does this now sound like you're interviewing us for jobs?"

Blockbuster chuckles and sighs. "I knew I should've started with this. Okay, so you know how Blockbuster Action Agency is the only hero facility for miles, right? I know there aren't many heroes in the country, but truth is, kids, this place has a secondary purpose after serving the community with our blessings. Quirks may be more rare in this country than others, but they're actually more evolved. They're more complex, useful, and powerful. No one can explain why, but it's just what ratios say, which brings me to the agency's duties. Interestingly enough, there are schools in the world that train quirk holders to hone their powers and use them for the greater good. There aren't any registered in the states, but definitely some outside of them, and most of us here, including myself, happen to be scouts for one of the best in the world."

"That's some advertising," T smirks.

"No, it's true. Take a look." The pro reaches behind him and takes out a pamphlet.

"How long have you had that?" I ask.

"Think of it as movie magic, okay? That aside though, read this."

T takes the pamphlet and stares at the front with me leaning over his arm to check it out for myself.

"UA High?" I ask, being the faster reader.

Blockbuster nods. "Exactly. This is a school in Japan most of the successful pro heroes graduated from. Anyone can apply, a test would just have to be-."

"Wait, stop," T interrupts. "Get your points together before giving specifics, because I think I see where this is going." He glances at me. "Us heroes?"

"In Japan?" I join, staring first at my brother and then at the hero. Then I lean back slowly in my seat. "No fricken way. . ." Then I whip around to T. "It's exactly what I was suggesting! We move to another country where our quirks won't be the shame of the world! And on top of that, we'll be able to train them into something that will benefit it!"

"Now hold on," T interrupts. "We both know that Mom and Dad would never get on board for something like this, let alone fund it."

Blockbuster waves to get our attention. "Hello? That's where I would come in. Because of my position as a scout, I have the ability to send a student through the recommendation exam. If you qualify, you'll get a full ride scholarship for UA."

I inhale to continue talking, but then I pause and glance at the pro. "Wait. A student? Just one?"

Nodding slowly, Blockbuster steeples his fingers. "My capabilities as a scout only spread so far."

I stand up abruptly and plant my hands on my hips. "Then why the frick did you invite me here?! We all know you're gonna pick T!"

Blockbuster holds his hands out in defense. "Hold on! I thought it'd be inappropriate to confront one twin without the other, and there's the fact that you could still try out. I have no doubt that either of you could pass the recommendation test, but think about this. Your quirk, WD, is more capable of getting you through the regular exam which involves a ton of mass destruction."

"So. . ." I begin, slowly sitting back down. "You think I'm more kick butt than T." I smirk. "That would be a valid assumption."

My twin starts to interject, but the pro shoots him a glance with some sort of message that I don't understand. He snaps his mouth shut, then mumbles, "Sure."

"Now, moving on." Blockbuster claps his hands together. "Like I said, I could fund your transportation, but there will still be a few roadblocks. You'd need your parents' permission for this, just in case. And then there's the language barrier."

"Under control," T replies in Japanese. "My mom's side is from Japan."

I give a thumbs up and speak the same tongue. "Languages are no problem for me."

Blockbuster laughs. "Well, there you go! One problem solved! Now just tackle the other, and leave the rest to me."

<><><>

Tick, tick, tick. . .

The clock in the den continues echoing in my ears. That paired with T's pencil scribbling homework answers every few minutes is almost enough to drive me insane.

I'm currently laying on the floor in front of my laptop, trying to think of the best way to "tackle" our other problem. AKA: convince our parents to let us go to Japan. And the littlest things are distracting me from brainstorming.

Tick, tick, tick. . .

Like that stupid clock.

The screen to the computer dims from inactivity before I scribble on the touchpad to keep it awake. Then I sigh and look down at the clock in the corner of the screen. Nine twenty seven at night.

Tick, tick, tick. . .

"Welp," I begin, sitting up to stretch, "we've been at this for an hour, and I've got nothing."

"That's honestly pretty surprising for a devious author such as yourself," T points out. "One would think you'd be able to apply one of your wack ideas to our situation."

"I'm trying, bro, but the best I can think of is faking our death."

T looks up from his homework at me with a surprised expression. He holds his gaze for a few seconds then looks away and stares into space to consider the idea. He finally shakes his head. "That's not gonna work."

"Yeah, I figured," I sigh again, holding backspace on my keyboard to scratch the suggestion from my very short list.

"If that was your best idea, I think you should just forget it. It's not gonna happen. No way on earth are Mom and Dad gonna allow us to travel to Japan, let alone attend a hero school there."

"I told you already! They don't have to know it's a hero school! We could just ask them to let us go so we can learn more about the culture of our second nationality."

"They're just gonna permit the trip for the summer, and it'll be too late to apply to the school by then!"

"Ugh!" Tired of my brother making sense, I throw up my hands and fall on my back, nearly bashing my head into the coffee table. I draw in a deep breath. I have to break the situation down, starting with the most believable excuse we could give our parents to let us leave to Japan.

"Okay, I'm just brainstorming," I continue. "But what if we told them. . . we could get get rid of our quirks? In Japan?"

"Okay. Then what?"

"Then. . . I dunno. . . fake actually losing our quirks?"

"Literally impossible."

"How so? I think it's flawless!"

"D, we were offered a chance to attend a school where we could get a career in the hero field."

"But that's what secret identities are for!"

"Yes! In comics and cartoons! People know we have quirks!"

I groan. "Fine! I'll just Google it!"

I aggressively punch in the characters on my laptop, probably harder than I needed to, to look up 'is it possible to get rid of your quirk.' The results load up, though they all share the same negative answer. I skim and scroll past all the useless articles and highlighted comments about the matter.

Seriously internet? You just had to fail me here, didn't you?

"And?" T presses, waiting and looking like he's actually hoping for some sort of exciting discovery.

I finally sigh, still scrolling. "Nah, just a buncha nerds saying that it's impossible, you're stuck with it for life, blah blah blah." Suddenly, I stop on a result. Unlike all the others on the page, it's in Japanese. "Wait."

"What?"

I read through the title, translating it to English. "'Living Quirk Bank?'" I ask aloud.

"I'm sorry, a bank??" T clarifies.

"That's what the title says. Hang on, what does it mean by that?" I click on the result, pray that I'm not downloading a virus, and the screen loads to a new website. Someone wrote an entire article on this supposed 'quirk bank' and shared it for everyone to see.

I read in Japanese out loud for my brother to hear. "'I was down on my luck with nowhere to go. I had just gotten evicted from my home and cheated on before I suddenly met him. A kind man with white hair specifically came to me in my spot under the bridge and asked why I was here alone. I told him what had happened to me, and he smiled in pity. He apologized for my misfortune and offered me what I had lost and more. There's no way I could say no to that, so I accepted and followed him back to where he lived.

"'When we arrived, he gave me everything he promised including my own quirk. Interestingly enough, this man can take and give quirks! A perfect quirk for such a saint!'"

"He can take quirks?!" T exclaims, shooting up from his seat and stumbling to my spot on the floor.

"That's our answer! That's what we'll tell them!" I add, already getting excited.

"Wait, who is this guy? Skip down."

I scroll down to the end of the article and read aloud. "'Come join the cause of All For One today.'"

The message is of course in Japanese, but the words 'All For One' are in English. T stares for a few seconds and blinks. "That's his name??"

I shrug, also unsure. "I'm sure it's just a crazy typo. Bet they meant to put 'Alfredo' or something. Either way! This is our chance! We tell them we want our quirks taken away by this guy then that we want to start a new life over there! We can get information as to where he is exactly, and it'll be foolproof!"

T frowns and thinks hard to himself. I consider what I'm suggesting as well. On one hand, it's a new freedom we never got to experience; on the other, we have to lie to our parents to get it.

After waiting for him to say something, I stare up at him. "Look. I'd totally be down for this, but Dad and Mom will only buy it if we both ask. However, I'm not gonna force you. We just deserve a fresh start. A new canvas, in your case."

T thinks a little longer, draws in a long breath, and lets it out. Finally, he nods. "Fine. I'm in."

I smile wide and bookmark the article on the computer.

I can't believe it. We're really doing this!

I close the device and pick it up to take to my room. "Right! I'm gonna prepare our request! We want to leave to Japan to get our quirks taken away, start a new school life, and learn more about our culture!"

"'Kay. Good luck," T responds, scooping up his homework and leaving to his room. "I'm goin' to bed."

I bid him goodnight and wander to the room that I share with my little sister, Kaitlyn. Normally, I'd be brainstorming scenarios for stories about now, but this time, I'm brainstorming on how to tell the biggest lie I've ever told my parents in my entire life.

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Author's Notes:
Hi guys. I don't feel like doing an author's note, so here's our next Character Spotlight!

Blockbuster
Creator: WaterDragon02
Quirk: Animate
Fun fact: Due to watching a horror film at age thirteen, Blockbuster prefers to watch and reenact cartoons such as Justice League and Teen Titans.

Blockbuster is a master actor of various characters from all sorts of movies, whether for entertainment or hero work. He's played so many roles for the sake of entertaining his kids or making people laugh, he most likely has played a role from your favorite movie. Just try him! What is it?

My favorite movie is probably The Greatest Showman. It has, in my opinion, a great story and an even better soundtrack. Would totally recommend for those who have not seen.

Thanks for reading! Peace out!

Words:  3,834