Chapter 1
The chatter between teachers throughout the following week continued on through a chat box on Ruli’s pending student and Quirk profile; to be filled out by Aizawa after he tested and gained insight on Ruli’s capabilities. Throughout the week, Aizawa poked at Nezu for more details as he read through the fuller notes provided by the previous schools. Since Ruli had requested of Nezu in the appeal to restrict the rest of the school’s access to the full 12 hours of video, he had only what was written work with. Aizawa set it up over the week as he examined Ruli’s profiling papers.
Ruli Kinnari / BeastMode
Editor: Aizawa
Name: Ruli Kinnari / BeastMode
Quirk Name: BeastMode
Quirk Type: Transformation / Instinct Enhancement
Quirk Summary, (from notes of the other schools): Taps into a hyper-instinctual alter-ego that manifests enhanced physical abilities, extreme reflexes, and a partial to higher loss of reasoning. Ruli retains some guiding control, with potential for cooperative evolution of the form. Downfalls are a massive use of stamina, long recovery windows based on usage time, and difficulty on keeping BeastMode engaged with what's going on in front of it, along with heavy limitations to close combat.
For now the rest of the log sits empty until Aizawa can see the Quirk in action, but below a chat log had developed in the separate section of the page that the teachers could view. This allowed them to discuss class plans together between students who had different needs for practicing. Sometimes another student in another class had a Quirk that was beneficial to another’s style. Team games were organized and tests of skills with Quirks between classes organized in this way. Teachers received updates to all student notes that were created, and so wherever most of their focus was was where it was. Not everyone responded at once, but everyone would eventually read what was posted. This helped them keep up on what was going on around the entire campus in as quickly a manner as they could.
Student Teacher Log
02 20:03 Aizawa: Nezu, if we bring Ruli here, the League will notice. Not that I’m not thinking you haven’t thought of it already, but what is your plan on that?
02 20:04 Nezu: I’m glad you asked because yes, I did think about what kind of icon something as wild as Ruli in his feral state showed. However that plan is just to maintain surveillance. I think the campus is our safest haven right now. Though I think Midnight whispered the possibility best.
02 20:06 Aizawa: Feral All Might grin, right. Caught it too, he’s the antithesis.
03 22:10 Midnight: I thought about what I said and realized that’s correct, what if this incites the League to hit harder? Can you imagine what kind of claim they could make that a kid with that kind of…image…appears during this time? All Might retires, and now here’s this kid, a wild and violent image of the always smiling kind. Sure it developed -before- Kamino but now he’s being brought into the open. What if this is another Bakugo kidnapping in the making and we’re just going to parade him out into their view?
03 22:11 All Might: Not like we have the choice; but that also won’t be happening again. Not on this campus, not with all these heroes around. The extra security is tight. Not even a bug gets through the fence without it knowing. It goes down into the ground in a wide bubble to prevent tunnelling and up into the air thousands of meters. It also has biological data on all students and faculty so only they can cross without harm. Asides from that we have less efficient but more ranged equipment and plenty of sensory Quirks on sight. We also have the support of the local police force. This city is one of the last few where villains aren’t starting to get more brazen. And finally we have this chat service on our own private network, no one else is seeing these. Though I do wish I could get the news crews to go away so I can go get some meat buns in peace.
03 22:25 Nezu: This actually makes me lean into a theory of my own about what Ruli’s Quirk is. It follows other Entity like Quirks that we have here at UA, but this one is directly connected to Ruli’s mind and that’s the only place it can manifest. I believe in what he says, his Quirk simply waited until it knew it was needed.
03 22:30 Thirteen: How can it be an entity Quirk when it doesn’t manifest? It hijacks his body. I know Tokoyami has gone berserk once, but this one is doing it nearly every time. All the mindscape and leash view…it’s hard to follow and think how it is he’s really seeing it. It’s just darkness all around him and all he can see is the wolf, yet the wolf runs about as if it knows the terrain? Hound Dog?
03 22:33 Hound Dog: I’ve watched the video a few times and read the rest of the research papers and with this talk my own hounds of such instinct tell me now that what this kid has is a Quirk that’s in image, huge, but in its own experience, a puppy. If it waited this long it waited too long…this would’ve been far easier to contain, and bring into hero training more readily, if he’d manifested it younger than six. It’s been learning off of him but he doesn’t know it, the issue is that he doesn’t know how to make the thing heel or understand that not everything in this world is out to hurt it. Those eloquently put “Quacks” were on point for not bringing this up to us sooner, but they were also on the right track in their profile; but yet it’s also still their fault it’s this bad now. They didn’t consider combining two of their theories. It’s a separate entity with harsh, base, pure instinct as it’s mind and no further experience of the world around it except what it gets with Ruli, and it’s now spent the first six months of its experience with him being poked and prodded and bound to tables…In the video the kid told them that almost every time he goes to use it, it’s almost immediately perturbed by him being there.
In essence: The thing itself might start thinking its own Master is what brings it trouble, and if it does…
03 22:34 Nezu: Oh my…I admit as what I am I did not take the thought of such beastery to myself…
04 09:20 Midnight: I’m sorry I thought of that over the night and I know we’re all in the middle of holding training matches yet I have to say it kind of sounds ridiculous. If it’s been learning from him why would it go pick the swords after claiming to like hand to hand combat?
04 09:22 Hound Dog: It didn’t want the swords, the kid did. You can’t see it like we can. Gonna type something.
04 09:23 Aizawa: As the days go on and I read this stuff more I have to agree Midnight, Nezu and Hound Dog have the court with this one.
04 09:24 Midnight: If that’s the way it works though why did it then go feral after they took them away? Wouldn’t the kid have been able to be okay with having them taken for the time being and it would know or sense that? It shouldn’t have freaked out in that case.
04 09:35 Hound Dog: “Master gets what Master wants.” Instinct. Thing wants to help him too. Master's toys were taken; so it got angry. If the kid himself is just in black blank space with it while it’s the one really interacting with the world that he can no longer see. He has no way of knowing what it is doing to influence it himself, so even though -he- is not aware of them being taken away -it- is. Ruli activated BeastMode in front of the weapons, to it, in that moment, it was driven by what the kid instantly desired the moment his eyes saw them, before his own thoughts even caught up to it. That’s why just as soon as he activated it it immediately went and snatched up the swords. The answer is simply, “It appealed the most.”, and considering how it then went and developed a whole new way of attacking with them, it knew what it needed to do with them just like an instinct.
An analogy: for you, and other morphs with advanced instincts, it's like driving blind with no sound in a car. You know something is coming, turns, bumps in the road, corners, other obstacles, but not when and what and why, only the instincts do which is your car engine, while the car itself is your body. Then hit the gas and don’t stop. It just goes over all the bumps until you crash into something big and you’re stopped dead as that engine gets crushed by something too big for it to handle on its own.
For most morphs, there's a little bit of auto pilot that clears and avoids the small stuff, that’s the slightly enhanced instincts all of the morphs get to enjoy. In Ruli’s case, super charge that auto pilot-replace the instinct engine with a big wolf that’s self-aware, the car/body as his leash, the steering wheel as his focus before activating BeastMode, and the obstacles as the influences of the external world he can no longer see coming but BeastMode can. It’s his instincts, it sees the obstacles before he does, and then it’s the one that pulls the leash of the body when it knows it needs to move to avoid the danger and the mindful Ruli is suddenly yanked along. For us the instincts don’t care, it’s designed to keep you alive, but if you get behind them, they go wild and feral and that’s when you’re actually at your most vulnerable. Afraid, scared, mad, angry, just wanting to get away. If he loses the leash, BeastMode runs amok, taking the leash/body with it, driven on pure adrenaline, while leaving Ruli’s mind behind. Instincts tend to view most things as potential threats, and so it becomes naturally defensive, evasion and distance become preferred, and violent behavior when cornered or even looked at badly triggers ya. Without Ruli there to try and control it through the leash and his own thoughts, it’s just got the only feeling it’s got-the base drive to survive I.E. “Everything is out to get me, gotta get away, gotta find somewhere to hide”.
To summarise: His Quirk has tapped him onto a mental, psychological representation of the primal instincts that reside in his wolf dna, upgrading it to extreme levels nearing what seems like autonomy. It's mixed into his living experiences, and learns from his past, but he’s not familiar with it enough to know how to direct it. That’s its method of control. That’s my take.
This isn’t a bad thing, it’s a good thing. This can be done. The psychological mirror he has to follow is all he needs to realize, and then he can start using something else to try and understand that wildness; Imagination. But we’ll do it the teaching way, and help him realize it himself. Follow Nezu’s advice from the meeting Aizawa, start with Quirk trigger redirection control. Tell the kid how he can redirect those instincts to something more peaceful. He can start to then train it on recognizing an actual threat and when it needs to go into attack mode, then move on to teaching it how to predict threats. Then, we work on his emotions, not just drama, but stress too. If I’m right on this, it will steadily “sync” him to this beast and then he might even start to be able to share vision and dialogue on the go, and his logical insight will begin to guide it on its own. That’s the hope, but we have to see how the Quirk grows once we have him on that path. The rest of the class might have to sit through a repeat lesson this week, but we know they’ll understand. I plan to sit in the lunch room that day over the break to tease the instinct of seeking guidance once he sees me. I do have my own advice for him, hound to hound. I’ll try to bait the instinct in my own way into further realizing that it’s in a place meant to help it, and then also get it to better view the kid as its leader.
04 09:36 Thirteen: Wow…that’s quite the deep analysis…that’s actually understandable to me too.
04 09:37 Mic: Trust the hound councillor that types better than he speaks to know the beast in the kid.
04 09:39 Hound Dog: I have of course taken a keen interest in this one’s case, much like . These are revelations my instincts had come to overnight. I did a lot of research on similar morphic heroes as well as trusting my own instinct. It’s unfortunate that those doctors don’t have the kind of experience in actually handling a Quirk in tense situations for anything more than mundane tasks or specific stimulation–it limits their own ability to understand when their first reaction to anyone losing control is to pin them down...They might have had the reasoning to pull that together if they had tried to even stretch for our level of dedication in deeply understanding Quirks, rather than psychological examination of the person.
04 09:42 Aizawa: That’s -very- good insight and I think it gives me a good idea; I’m going to do a private test with him before he sees the class in the morning he arrives. I’ll have to get up early, but that’ll have to be a sacrifice of my sleep. I’ve already planned what I think may be a good first week itinerary that will help develop him and still benefit the rest of the class, and it does start with that redirection lecture, but I agree to your interest and trust your expertise Hound Dog, I’ll advise him to come speak with you privately in my own way. What about the rest of the kids? This thing is scared by loud bangs and flashes…
04 09:43 Nezu: I know. Bakugo should be his stress test later in the week.
04 09:45 Aizawa: I’m more worried about him being in the DORMS, Nezu. His profiling shows him as a decent kid socially in the rest of the information, the clips were just of him in high stress situations. Besides a stress test, I’m just worried about Bakugo in general as well, we can’t ignore all the other things that have been going on here. That fight with Midoriya was just a week and a half ago. Bakugo and Todoroki have their remedial courses for the license exams at the end of the next week too. I want Tokoyami to focus on more unique manners of using Dark Shadow, and Kamanari -really- needs to learn to direct his lightning better…
04 09:49 Nezu: I understand your concerns Aizawa but I assure you this is why I’ve placed him under your care. I’m trusting your own instincts and thinking, but I am hopeful we may even get to slide him into attending that remedial course on the side…not directly attend but just go along to feel the air, at the least. Though I need to talk to a few officials overseeing that. I also see this as a bonus to our other students anyway, a sudden brush with his chaos if he does lapse would be telling of their progress as heroes, and he’ll make an excellent ally in whatever teams he’s a part of. Imagine him, Bakugo, Midoriya, and Todoroki in a four man squad. Tokoyami, Kirishima, Ida, and others are good match ups as well; there's many possibilities. They’d be unstoppable! Once Ruli has better control, he makes a good opponent for others to grow off like you’ve recently been using Todoroki, Midoriya, and Bakugo for.
04 09:4 Vlad: Yeah Eraser, have more faith in your kids. If they’re nice, the kid and his pup are nice too yeah?
04 09:41 Aizawa: That’s why Bakugo worries me. He knows he has to take a back seat for Deku and support him, but this kind of newcomer…I worry. Bakugo’s ego is on a fracture point. Bringing in something that contends even a sixth place spotting in the power roster...
04 09:42 Mic: Bakugo can get a pretty scary ass grin of his own sometimes. Bet the sight of BeastMode’s grin will have them both hitting it off. Besides, you’re selling short other heavy hitters like Tokoyami and Todoroki! I’m with what Midnight had said, our kids aren’t defenseless against this thing if they really need to focus up or get hurt! That’s basically what Nezu just said.
04 09:50: Aizawa: After some long flexing glares in the air I suppose those are good points…I’ll just have to trust them to keep their chills around him even after they see BeastMode, least I know Bakugo won’t try to break more rules right now, not until he gets his license.
05 16:05 Midnight: It’s the weekend, has his things arrived? Always love to hear about the student’s rooms.
05 17:20 Aizawa: It has. You approved all this Nezu? *He was in the room at the time*
05 17:25 Nezu: Indeed, in his list of needs he was specific to say that he was intending to make “A natural feeling place that BeastMode’s instincts would find comfort in.”
05 17:27 Aizawa: I see…he does have good insight then. Brought the outside inside.
05 17:30 Mic: So it’s what, wallpaper of a plain and woods?
05 17:32 Hound Dog: Too open. He knows the instincts would crave safety above all. Let me guess, it feels like a dark hole in the ground?
05 17:33 Midnight: Ah so it’s just another Tokoyami room…
05 17:37 Aizawa: Dark, chilled, a wall-sized rock waterfall style fountain for atmosphere in front of his bed, synthetic grass carpet, and a small heater that simulates a fire next to his desk. I’m guessing because it’s the closest thing to an actual fire one can be allowed indoors. Following his instructions, robots did their best slapping in extra plaster at different heights along the walls in different amounts and then put the gray wallpaper up while complaining about the unnecessary messy way of doing it…The plaster dried under it all to make it closer to looking like natural rock walls just like his instructions predicted I guess. It somewhat clumped down towards the bottom into bigger pieces towards the floor and dried there too, but not all of it…so it feels like you’re walking into a dim cave where there’s bigger boulders around your feet towards the sides of the path and rocks hanging above your head…but it’s walkable and not dangerous.
05 17:39 Hound Dog: HAH! Good! He made a “Cave Den!” He’ll be able to train and calm it well there. This kid knows he’ll have mental battles with it and wants to give it a new place of comfort right away.
05 17:42 Midnight: We sure this kid doesn’t understand his Quirk better than we think he does? He gave it the place to hide Hound Dog alluded to.
05 17:43 Nezu: Hehe Ruli understands this hero society like the rest of our students. He’s seen the festival. He knows Class 1-A but they don’t know him. He’s clever and knows when it's his show to run. He already has a keen insight to his own Quirk. Asides our insights’ influence, he’s the only one who’ll know what he feels is best for it. Be careful in the way you talk with him Aizawa, at least at first until he learns when to tell your stern side to your caring one; and when you’re using them together. He is very clever himself. I want to ask as I notice which of us have been focused on him all week: All Might, everyone else. Does anyone still have concerns?
05 17:44 Midnight: I don’t.
05 17:44 Vlad: No.
05 17:44 Thirteen: No.
05 17:44 Mic: It’s Aizawa’s pup so I know he’ll have it handled.
05 17:45 Aizawa: You did put him in my class; hope you got my new schedule for my naps. Make sure your shouts don’t startle his Quirk Mic and for that matter, the nap zones.
05 17:46 Mic: No promises!
05 17:45 Cementoss: Mine have been very diminished.
05 17:45 Snipe: Not anymore, no.
05 17:46 Ectoplasm: I only worry about his math skills, everything else has hit me in good ways with this one. He’s planned ahead ever since he knew his old principal was setting up the appeal. He made that room personal because he intends to stay.
05 17:46 All Might: No, I’ve been quiet because it seems you all have this under control and I’m still learning how to really do this teaching thing and keeping an eye on the news and such as well as keep an eye on Midoyira. I have confidence in his ability since seeing that clip and the insight of his own room design shows he’s prepared to really investigate his own Quirk. I think I understood Midnight’s concern, I know All for One and if he found out about this kid he’d stop at nothing to turn it around into an icon of chaos and darkness, framing it as the mirror of myself turned dark.
05 17:47 Nezu: Then we’re still in agreement. Let’s find out what this first week will be like!
05 20:35 Midnight: Hey by the way, how did the class handle the news of a new student on Monday?
05 20:36 Aizawa: General excitement and speculation. I refused to tell them a thing and told them not to tell any other classes, and said I’d leave it a surprise. I got an idea and I tried to play on their group cohesion to test something, their ability to retain secrets as a group. Has any one else’s other students been mumbling about Ruli over the week?
05 20:36 Midnight: Cute~ that’s why I asked, my kids haven’t said a thing so they’re clueless. You didn’t tell us your plan on purpose too.
05 20:38 Vlad: Come to think of it, mine haven’t shown any sign of such rumor either. I realized too that you’ve just got a crazier Shishida Eraser. He’ll feel like he needs to test himself against him… “Beast” & “BeastMode” Very different powers. One’s all about strength while the others focused on speed and dodging. That’ll be interesting in a class brawl.
05 20:38 All Might: You asked them all to keep quiet?
05 20:38 Aizawa: Don’t get me wrong, I did directly tell the plan, that’s why I said I tried to play on their cohesion. It’s Class 1-As own surprise to the rest of the school now, a reversal of the attention.
05 20:39 Midnight: Clever~ I’ll play along, that sounds like fun.
After this point, the chat log had gone inactive for the rest of the following weekend, as the students took their free time to further train, investigate, and explore their Quirks in other ways other than how the teachers did in weekly lessons.
The media attention around UA after the Kamino incident was still high. Several news crews periodically sniped around the area hoping to catch All Might leaving or even a student in other courses, but the campus remained mostly on secure limits. The come and go of allowed visitors and students wasn’t interrupted, but there were large armed security robots watching the main gates as well.
On the Sunday before the beginning of class week that Ruli would arrive, Aizawa messaged Nezu in a private chat.
Aizawa 21:19: So about how I’m gonna test him.
Nezu 21:20: Is that question on how to or the invitation to be told? Hehe.
Aizawa 21:20: Just speaking your interest, how rough am I allowed to go?
Nezu 21:21: Within reason of course! Like other young children he is somewhat active, his Quirkless life didn’t stop him from running through the woods himself or playing with Uni! His Quirk super buffs a hero ready physique, as you know from his biological data the Quirk Specialists sent us.
Aizawa 21:23: Ya know speaking of, I think you should try to have a chat with our leaders of the country about the public schooling systems approaches to “Control”, since they’re recently so keen on cooperation.
Nezu 21:26: I quite agree, however in this case some of those methods are warranted. Unlike the data of himself, there’s no data on the victims that is given. That's an invasion of those victims' privacy and so out of our limits as a school. As such, we don’t know what exactly he’s capable of, only the raw data of tests. I actually am thinking of showing them his log where we made that breakthrough in understanding; it makes good evidence to how quickly we helped what they couldn’t. I’ll wait until I see good progress with him first though and what other evidence we can get! But what about your test? I realize you aren’t stating how rough exactly we’re going~
Aizawa 21:27: Ah, right. It's easy to lose a conversation when waiting for replies. Here’s what I’m going with- Hound Dog’s previous insight on how to visualise Ruli’s quirk has me thinking about how this thing might actually -feel- my Quirk…I’m gonna force crash the living “car”, intimidate it, then put my own leash of control on it.
Nezu 21:27: I think I like the way you make that sound. Stay sensible with him though. He might be trying to join in very late and play catch up, but he’s still just as starry eyed as a lot of them were at the start.
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Hound Dog 23:18: Nezu, wanna think something scary for me?
Nezu 23:19: Ohhh my favorite, go ahead.
Hound Dog 23:22: If Ruli loses control of the leash, and this Quirk then comes up against something it can’t beat like it is now, or something that doesn’t care to contain but instead to kill em, and his body can’t take it or he can’t get away, what happens?
Nezu 23:23: Why, what you already mentioned before. It thinks, ‘The Master brought this upon me’
Hound Dog 23:34: And so…Master becomes food…
Nezu 23:35: In a dark void to be eaten by the void given life. Or at least, a creature residing in it.
Hound Dog 23:26 Any hopeful insight to that or that all you have?
Nezu 23:26: Hehe, I do. Even if such pathology may be true for him, I trust Ruli’s words. He said he felt what it told him in throwing him the rope. That thing does not want to harm him. He knows this. It wanted to save him and his sister from what it deemed harmful. I believe you in your statement, in the manner of your thinking, that reaction might be what his leash prevents it from feeling. And he could very well be eaten as such, but again, you’re forgetting something. That’s simply unknowable, and if he should be dead, is he aware of it?
Hound Dog 23:28: And so we let him carry on without trying to point it out to him?
Nezu 23:29: As one part animal to another, do you trust your instincts?
Hound Dog 23:30 Took awhile, but I do now. Got this place to thank for that.
Nezu 23:31: Then trust mine on my insight: Beasts don’t throw ropes. It’s of anything in this world–Quirky.
Hound Dog 23:32: That actually does help.
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The morning of the following day is at least a well lit one, somewhat cloudy, not too much. Ruli sits in the chair of a train that is taking him to Musafastu. In one paw he holds a jagged, black stone and in his lap, rolling it between his fingers back and forth while he looks down at his phone sitting on his leg, his other hand flicking across feeds.
He wears the standard UA uniform, but he had put on a light blueish white hoodie that allowed his ears through it. He believed news crews were probably still stalking All Might around the city, it’d only been a few weeks since the incident and there’d still not been any new info from the channels.
Everyone was wanting updates from UA; but the school was being true to its words, all info on the students had been zipped tight to the outside and the campus was on lock down. Ruli was trying to get himself up to date on how the atmosphere around the school seemed, to know what to expect as much as anticipation of the potential in placing himself in it.
Dissenters online tried claiming that UA was training a private army, but Nezu had a keen eye for social realms, the schools internal media platforms displaced concerns with the placation of photos of Student development and the promise of more–the school would select key photos from the tests of their students for publicity, while proving the promise they made. As well, the school still intended to hold the upcoming festival, which would momentarily open up the grounds to the city for the proceedings.
Ruli shuddered as he thought about BeastMode in such a place, not out of fear of the thing, but just in how it reacted. The mere thought of it made him feel its reaction. It was tough getting it to understand what wasn’t a threat. With so many people around, speaking things it didn’t understand, BeastMode freaked out heavily. He could feel it in his head. He huffed, frowning. Before the manifestation of his Quirk, Ruli had been fine sitting back at the sidelines of hero society.
Now, looking at every little thing, something in his head kept telling him it was wrong as his eyes scanned along the forests that stretched between places and cities. It was wrong, something was wrong and other things were right. Like Uni and his mom, a lot of the things heroes did. A lot of the things they do. To the basic instincts that made up BeastMode, it was still all nonsense and wrong.
And so the next thing he knew, BeastMode was gone, bounding away inside his head. But it’d come back if he called for it. He knew that. He tried to imagine that it was just running down the train, it helped him keep track of it. It’d come back if he called for it in gentle ways, it usually did. Right now it is frustrating. His anxiety…unable to be dispelled, had BeastMode in a tizzy.
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But, thankfully, a police force led by a very kind officer who had claimed to be personal friends of All Might was waiting at the train station, with a car too, and so the ride to the school was safe from any news crews, although only in passing. Their vans were here and there across the city, as if they were camping out in them in small groups. Every outlet was yearning for anything from UA.
Vans began to follow the car; the crews had begun noticing how they were heading towards UA. Hadn’t been something to really consider to prepare against…
And so Ruli was actually rushed in through the gate of UA into the private grounds beyond, the gate closing behind him steadily into a secure lockdown as the officer waved.
“I’ll take care of the media, just focus on what you’re doing here.” He smiled and nodded.
Ruli felt his tail wag behind him, a flicker of his ear and he nodded. He could see the vans rolling up the hills. “Right, thank you sir.” He tried not to smile too much, but the tail gave away the appreciation. Not the first time it’d done so since the train station.
“Hehe, that’s like the chief.” He said while chuckling. “Always can tell a canine’s mood by the tail. Better learn to control that~”
‘Yeah, blasted tail, always the tattle tail’ Ruli thought. “I will try my best sir, but I think your chief would tell you it’s not that simple.” He rumbled, but then the gate fully closed, forcing an end to that interaction.
Ruli shouldered the backpack of his personal belongings he’d brought as he turned to the large building up the hill UA sat upon, the row of new Dorm building behind it and several other of its buildings. ‘He was nice. So far so good…just, calm down…yeah.’
Beast Mode was tense in the back of his head as he walked up the path. The officer’s presence had helped him reel it in, but now it followed only as the leash wrapped around his mental control needed it too, like trailing behind him with only some light resistance. It felt nervous here, but Ruli felt nervous too, he knew that was why it also was, but he was just the better one at thinking it out. Problem was getting BeastMode to stop long enough for him to talk to it without being pulled around by the leash once it got spooked. He tried thinking about how the officer had been really friendly on the ride there as he made his way to keep it calm.
He’d been told someone would meet him in Gym Gamma at 6am and to go straight there and not stop to talk to anyone, so he began following the guide book from his backpack.
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06 05:50 Monday Morning, Gym Gamma.
The inside of Gym Gamma was filled with large concrete blocks. Ruli felt like he might know what Eraser might want to see of him, but he already had been anticipating something. There wasn’t any way he was going to get out of this without feeling Erasure on himself. It was after all, one of the reason’s he was here. Better control.
‘Control’ Ruli thought, both in bitterness and in appreciation. He took a breath while stepping further along the Gym floor just as he then heard one of the other doors open up and he turned, ears perking as he saw the figure of Mr Aizawa. He knew him from the news where UA had made its promise.
“Mr Aizawa. Hello. Did I beat you here?”
“No. I was just waiting outside, ya walked right past me. I was in the tree by the entryway. Didn’t sense it?” The black clothed hero muttered as he walked towards him, that scarf hid most of his face so just those tired looking eyes were at him with nose and messy hair.
Ruli blinked rapidly. He was? “Uh, no, sir I didn’t…BeastMode doesn’t work quite like that…it’s reactionary.”
“Work on that, you should use all your tools and be constantly aware of them. If you’ve got the nose, it should be used, Hound Dog won’t let you get away not fully embracing your wild side. How’s the demeanour right now?” Aizawa continued, stepping closer to stop just a few steps in front of him.
“It’s the same as mine, keen interest. New person. What’s it want?” He giggled, starting to smile as he rattled off the words. “Myself, I trust you, and so that’s all it’s left with, because it can’t -know- you.” Ruli kept smiling. He found it easy to relax. He knew what Eraser’s power could do, so he knew he was safe there. BeastMode didn’t. It felt safe, but it didn’t know why.
“You think that but what if it can? Have you tried feeding it the visual?” Aizawa said.
“The visual? You mean like I said I did with the rocks and other targets, tell it what's in front of it, right?”
“No, the visual, your visual. You can’t see it there, so why not just make the space up for it? Visualize things in the darkness.” Aizawa’s voice was gentle, but just trying to get the understanding right.
Ruli frowned. “It’s not like that. I’ve told it all kinds of things about how all the testing and stuff isn’t meant to hurt it and what rooms look like that I know the body’s in, but it still hates it.”
“Then we’re going to give it a different visual. I want you to attack me with your Quirk.” Aizawa stated, and he didn’t move from where he stood.
“Right now?” Ruli’s ears perked again.
“Yes Kinnari, right now.” Aizawa stated, as he reached up to grip onto the scarf around his neck, and then the thing started to weave up into the sky behind him. “I’m going to tame your wolf and teach it to heel.”
Ruli’s ears flicked, his heart pounded. Finally, if only it hadn’t taken 5 months of his Mom suggesting it for those doctors to finally do this.
He went ahead and just did then. Right now means right now.
With a sudden jump forward and with the intent to punch the hero, Ruli gripped onto the leash, and slipped into BeastMode as that fist tightened. In just less than a few seconds, his eyes went wide, his muzzle shifted into a snarling grin, and the fur over his neck and shoulders stood up on end. A loud snarling roar burst out of Ruli’s maw as his fist pulled back in the air, the muscles along his arm and the rest of body tensed all across his limbs and core to make him appear just slightly bigger.
“You’re not the only one that does the hair raising thing. Or has such dramatic punches.” Aizawa stated, and his mane of black hair rose up as he activated his Quirk. His red eyes strained and glowed, locked onto the mad gaze.
The crash out went quick, and Ruli’s body slipped back to normal form as Aizawa would then catch the fist in midair, the boy landing onto his feet in front of him, his body still tense, eyes still wide, that grin open into a gasping pant from the aftershock of his Quirk.
“Ahhhhh pin…needles…” Ruli huffed as he felt the shocks sparking across his body, up his feet in waves that just joined in on all the other ones rising up with them from his lower body, but his eyes were wide, looking at Aizawa. What…
“Tell me what you just experienced in your other world with it.” Aizawa stated.
“I uh…” Ruli started, shivering, but the short event allowed him to relax himself quickly at least, not like other times in longer rampages. His muscles finally uncoiled and he huffed, pulling back with a breath, heart beating quick. “It was quick…after the shift I watched it jump forward through the air in front of myself, maybe a dozen feet? Then there was this flash of…red…” He ended, looking right back at Aizawa’s eyes, as they were still on him with that stare.
Wait…he couldn’t even sense BeastMode. The space was empty now. Suddenly a different sensation fell over him. Dread. He gripped his hand a few times. He couldn’t sense the leash.
“Sir…I know what this does, the leash is gone, but it’s still there, and I could guarantee it’s freaking out right now.”
“I know.” Aizawa stated, “To it, it’s like you’ve just completely vanished and the leash went slack. Let it sit with that for a while while I talk to you in an “Alone” way. You’re smart. You know your Quirk already, it’s just been abused by people trying to figure it out in a bad way. We already understand your Quirk, we’re pretty good like that, it’s then our job to show you the way forward and understand how to look at it.” Even though his explanation was calm, the glare and glow of the hero’s eyes kept Ruli rooted in that sensation, a light shiver going up his spine.
“I’m burrowing from Hound Dog in explaining it to you like this:” Aizawa continued quickly, his voice pointed. “Your instincts are like the engine of a car, except yours is a huge wolf. You know that turns and twists are coming but not what or when or where, but your engine does. The body of the car becomes your leash, and also is your body itself. When BeastMode pulls the leash, it’s pulling your body, and then you’re dragged along for the ride. On a normal road that a car would drive, there’s bumps and other obstacles to get around. But for you, you’re also blind and deaf, all you can see and hear is the wolf, your car. Your Quirk taps into your primal instincts and gives you this visual as your method of control. You need to learn it.”
Ruli took a moment to absorb the analogy clearly, his eyes lightening a little as he realized the kind of advice he was being given, though the sensation in the back of his mind while still under that gaze felt…weird. If he had to place it, somewhere between somboring and terrified. “I think I get the analogy, yeah…but what do I do for control when it just does what it wants?”
“Visualize the space you’re in before you channel and as you channel, so that you can then instruct it on the go. It’s not like you don’t know the area.” Aizawa guided further.
“It doesn’t work like that sir.” Ruli answered quickly, shaking his head. He tried to focus on the conversation, rather on the stilled emptiness he felt in his head. “BeastMode doesn’t follow logic, it’s instinct. I’m the logic. I told you, he was twelve feet in front of me. Also, in jumping forward, he jumped up through the air and towards the ground like he’s jumping to pounce on something. That’s an often action of his, it’s like he’s constantly hunting when there isn’t a real threat around. The environment here doesn’t follow that though, unless it’s him jumping over the blocks behind you, it doesn’t match up. It’s like it’s just playing in the environment.” Ruli tried to hold out his hand and gripped it, but with Aizawa’s Quirk on him, his fur didn’t even stand up on end. “You see. I intended to punch you with BeastMode, itself wasn’t the one that deemed it needed to attack you. That entire time, he’s playing, jumping along the blocks, so you actually just made me vanish while it was innocently playing…”
“He?” Aizawa said, his eyes narrowed. He was clearly listening though still, he was only starting with a first question. ‘The kid does know his Quirk better than we think. Good instincts indeed…’
“Yes. I assume if it's my instincts that would make it probably the same. It makes it easier to mention in conversation sometimes.” Ruli nodded, wondering if the teacher had that insight on him as well already, as he’d shown no surprise. “I know you’ve seen the videos sir. Would you like to try talking to it? I’d be curious to find out its reactions now myself.”
“Actually I haven’t seen much, only read what was included on paper, but that was more limited. Nezu followed your request and opted not to show us anything except a short ten minute video of edited footage that painted you as a wild child, but it made a good point at the end.”
And Aizawa dropped his Quirk, his hair settled down.
Ruli felt a relief as that gentle weight settled back onto him in a slow wave, that just barely there sensation like a sheet falling onto his body. Geeze that felt strange to feel, the feeling a part of you just gone and then returning…did everyone feel Erasure like that? There was a tightness around his throat.
Also the wolfboy felt a rise of interest. ‘Only ten minutes…? Not much to go on for how much they already know…yet he’s already got me finding out new stuff about BeastMode…’
“All right, go ahead and bring him out again, no time to rest if you’re going to be on time to meet your classmates.”
Eagerly, Ruli slipped right back into it, his fur standing back on end as he maintained that sneer once more and the body shifted into that tense, always aware mode. This time, BeastMode stood staring with arms slack, standing very still as it faced the hero who simply looked back at him.
“Got a name?” Aizawa asked, hand moving into his pocket.
“BeastMode.” He rumbled back, mouth only just barely moving as it spoke, a short shift of his tail. “Short. Simple.”
“I see, I’m Mr. Aizawa. Your new teacher. Ya know what you’re here to do?”
“You’re testing.” BeastMode answered back, head leaning back slightly with a gleam of teeth and green eyes. “Don’t like tests.”
“Don’t care. Answer the question, or I tighten that leash.” Aizawa said back, words lined with intensity.
BeastMode shivered, the fur along his body puffed. “Don’t…hated that…felt cold…choking…Alpha Glare is scary.”
“Very honest. Answer the question.” Aizawa said lightly and repeated, internally pleased; that was an app description of what others had also said to feel when losing their Quirk, and a telling sign of BeastMode’s ability to process and understand in calm states. For everyone it was something along the likes of feeling a piece of yourself suddenly not be there, like a “phantom limb.” But, he thought, ‘Alpha Glare? I expected it from his notes but damn…Like a nickname floating around is what I need…what a headache’
“Was told…honestly was best policy.” BeastMode continued readily, voice light, though with slight breaks in the syllables. It answers the question then, keeping it’s body still. “Master said we…were going somewhere…important…but tension here…too much…Alpha Glare is…leader here?”
“Exactly. That’s what Teacher means. Your room’s set up just as your Master asked to have it set up, I think you’ll be okay there. The tension you feel in the air is discipline, and you’re going to get a lot of it here, but in a sociable fashion. I expect your best behaviour.” It was strangely easy to see the reason why communication was interesting with this Quirk. A switch of minds but not of body and experience, an alter-ego simply given life by pure instinct.
With a flex of his hand in his jacket, one wrap of Aizawa’s scarf suddenly shot forward. BeastMode’s eyes squinted upon it and then, his body simply moved, hand coming up in a quick and swift grabbing motion to catch the end of it in his paw. “NO SNAKE!!!” He shrieked, jumping away from Aizawa with a growl. “No trick! No!” He shouted as he landed, stomped forward and then made a rushing leap at Aizawa; who then activated his Quirk.
Ruli grunted as the hero then dodged the leap to the side and the boy skidded face first across the ground.
He slumped, then lifted his head. That was a first, usually coming out of BeastMode was less ‘impactful’ and more slow…
“Owwwwww…you…did that on purpose.” That cold feeling was back, but it was only brief as Aizawa quickly released his Quirk again.
“Nonsense, though I suppose it helps to serve the point: There’s always something better, not unless you’re number one. Sorry to break you out in the middle of its jump, but now it should know how to behave.” Aizawa droned lightly. “That’s at least the point of this lesson.” Aizawa said, his gaze steady as he looked at Ruli calmly. “I’m going to tell this to you and to it through you now, this is -my- class, you follow my rules. If that means I have to be called Alpha Glare by it fine but you-”
‘Alpha Glare? It called you -that-?-’ He started snickering.
“It’s not funny.” Aizawa’s voice cut into his thoughts, voice stern. “I hate things like that. It attracts fans and fans attract the media. Much the reason I am a teacher instead of a hero now. I hate the attention-”
“I agree with you sir.” Ruli nodded, trying to cover the action. “I was giggling at what it named you, but I agree, I’ll not let that slip again, but you’ll have to forgive it until it uh…maybe learns better manners…hehe.”
Aizawa closed his eyes and took a moment to rest them, they were dry…so dry…he needed a nap, there was at least still time before class started to get one too. He kept them closed as he turned around, and then only barely opened them as he began walking away. “Well for now, I’ll deem this as good enough, but you’re a problem child even if you are bright minded. I’m fair, but strict. Keep tight on that leash here, make sure it keeps feeling safe. Do whatever you need to, stay in your room often since you’ve planned that ahead if that’s what’s needed for the time being, but the goal is to be able to get you even socializing while in BeastMode–you can’t be a hero if you can’t express the Quirk to the public in a safe way.”
“We’ll do most of your training in class, together, with the others. You’ll learn here in lectures, and then you’ll be tested on how you apply that knowledge to your Quirk. Don’t expect ease, we’ve seen what BeastMode can do and we’re going to squeeze hard, but then ease up to let you learn it and earn it, and help point you towards the right way like we just did here.” At this point, he was at the door. He stopped and turned around as the wolf boy was picking himself up slowly from the floor, face red and marked.
“You’re free to roam the campus for now if you want, but don’t let anyone know what class you’re in. Come to Class 1-A in one hour, that’ll give you time to prethink on how you introduce yourself and explain your Quirk to them in your own words, then you’ll demonstrate your skills to them with. From reading your files, I think I know what would be a good example of it, so I’ve prepared a pair of swords for you. It’ll be your chance to show them what you’re already capable of and get them interested in helping build you up.”
“Swords…So you wanna see X Marks the Spot…” Ruli realized, his ears twitching as he would finally pick himself up, his focus on Aizawa’s conversation and words.
“Don’t tell me you can’t do it, I know it’s one of the few things they were able to succeed in training into this Quirk of yours it was following at least one order, but we’ll work on it working with you rather than just for you. I advise at some point that you visit Hound Dog when you are able. He gave me that analogy, and his insight can help you directly too. Just follow the rules of the school or risk trash duties and other such things, like cleaning up the garbage at lunch time or even the compost recycling…”
Ruli grimaced, ‘ew…’ he straightened his face as he kept standing, “Don’t worry Mr Aizawa, I’ll behave.”
“I know you will. BeastMode told me. “Honesty is best policy.” He paused pointedly, a small grin offered, “Welcome to UA Kinnari.” And with that, the teacher turned and left the doorway to leave the wolf boy alone in the Gym.
Ruli froze as Aizawa walked away. “Shit…it’s gonna spill all my damn secrets.” He muttered to himself, finishing brushing himself off. ‘What we did just now’
What the heck did he learn here though, he thought, and then he squeezed the leash, and when BeastMode was before him he felt a jolt of surprise. There was another leash, a red one, closely connected to the collar around BeastMode’s neck. Beside him, BeastMode sat on his haunches, quiet, and his eyes flicked to him and then away as if afraid of something happening, but seemed to slouch in relief once Ruli was there anyway, but kept their eyes ahead carefully. This was rare, BeastMode was calmed, attentive. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen it sit but it’d been quite a long time.
It clicked. To BeastMode, Ruli had been erased. Gone, vanished, taken by evil red eyes. Twice. Ruli looked at the red leash again as it hung lazily next to the threads of his own blue one, something there only for Mr Aizawa to grab and pull. A visual of Aizawa’s control that BeastMode now perceived upon itself, now manifested to him for Ruli himself to see...
“I get it. Alpha Glare…I gotta try seeing things from your perspective deeper, not the other way around.” He said lightly, a light smile on his muzzle suddenly. As he began moving, BeastMode quickly kept pace beside him.
