Chapter 0: The Merchant and All For One
Chapter 0: The Merchant and All For One.
I was an ordinary boy, I just liked things that a 17-year-old might like; Video games, parties, all that shit was one of my favorite things, but if I had to choose what I liked the most it would be, without a doubt, anime.
Even today I miss being able to just relax on my couch, turn on the TV, put on Netflix and watch some anime.
My favorite anime was Boku No Hero Academia. I loved everything about him, the characters, the drawing ... Everything.
Even to this day I can remember anime and manga so clearly that I am ashamed to say it, I can remember the characters, but I can hardly remember the faces of my friends or even my ... Brothers ...
I don't want to get nostalgic, so let's continue. My favorite characters were by far All Might and All For One, but All Might was my favorite of the two of them.
His ideal of justice, holding the weight of peace on your back, being backed by love and the biblical difference between your power and your enemy, the maturity with which he spoke in the anime and manga every time he was asked about his experiences , all that made him win my love as a fan, but what I loved the most was that, even at worst he didn't stop smiling, not even in his fight against AFO he could leave that smile behind.
However, I also had a soft spot for everything that All For One represented, how he manipulated everyone, how he fought, and he as his power was overwhelmingly greater than that of any other being in his serie, which, nothing else. It was countersigned due to the use of a damaged body. That made him my second favorite character.
So, like every kid who loved his show, when I got a chance to go to a convention, I took it.
I saved up for months for my costume, however due to my lifestyle and responsibilities I was unable to get in shape to dress as All Might so I decided to dress as All For One.
Once I raised the money, I went to the next convention that was in my city, it was going to be in a few months, but that gave me time to adjust the details in my suit / costume.
Over the days, I saved even more money from my part-time job as I tried to get in some exercise so I could look a little slimmer.
And so, with the exercise, and with the money saved, the promised day for me arrived. It took me a few hours to get ready; after all, this must have been perfect for me. I wanted to have the best possible suit.
... That was until I got to the convention, and realized that the mask that gave life support to AOF was broken at one of the joints. In a panic, I searched the entire convention to see if there was anything enough similar so that no one would notice it.
So, in a nutshell, I walked all over the place without the mask, just with the suit.
Or ... That was until I got to a position which, without a doubt, blew my mind at the time. There were the most exquisite pieces / replicas of anime objects that I had ever seen.
The stall was manned by someone dressed as the bloody merchant from Resident Evil, believe me when I tell you that if I had known what that bastard was I would have run for my life.
However, like a moron, I approached and saw a mask that, in a nutshell, was the same as AFO's, I was speechless, it was a perfect replica, even better than mine.
I remember how I bit my lower lip to hide my little annoyance that someone had the mask in an even better quality than mine, after all mine was made by hand and with a 3D printer, it cost a lot, but it was worth it .
However, the one on the counter, showing the beauty and exquisiteness of life support reproduction, was magnetic. I don't think I even experienced that effect on myself more than on that occasion, and maybe a few more, but that time I saw the mask ... It was as if we were two magnets, two pieces that fit together perfectly.
So, carefully, I approached and checked the price, I could not contain my surprise and amazement when I saw the price. It was absurdly cheap, too much, it seemed that this thing was a scam. But ... Carefully, I approached and realized that it was not, it was not some kind of scam, it was made of very good materials.
How do I know?
Have you seen the difference between a cheap control and an expensive one? Have you noticed that the cheap one has poor quality plastic, how the color is less saturated than the expensive one? The feeling of holding it? How did it feel?
It was the same, or rather, similar. Simply my intuition told me that I was looking at something that, in any other place, would have cost thousands of dollars, but that in this position was worth only 300 dollars and that, in some way, had a quality equal to or much better than that of professional companies specialized in this kind of thing.
I did not notice how the merchant approached me while he was watching the helmet.
"Are you interested in him? It's only three hundred dollars." He said kindly as he pointed to the helmet.
I automatically took out the money, gave it to him, and just took the helmet.
There was no visible reaction from me when I just did that, it was ... Natural.
It was a reaction that, for lack of words to explain it, I could only call it a reflex, a primal instinct.
There was not even an exchange of words, it was just a phrase and an action.
And that was what completed the invisible deal I was unknowingly part of.
The simple act of giving him the money was enough for him to be at the will of this Lovecraftian being.
It didn't take more than a few minutes since I bought the helmet in which I noticed that everyone around me was distorted.
Unable to beat the distortion, I blacked out.
And so ... It all began.
Author's Note
So... This is my first story, I am not new in the world of writing, but I am really new and excited of writing in this site. I also don't know a lot about this web, so I don't know how the system
of uploading the chapters works or how to create some effects for the chapters... Be patient you all, please.
Meanwhile, I am gonna try to learn as I fast as I can some of the tricks of writing in this web haha.
Chapter 1: Everything now makes sense.
When I got up the next morning I couldn't help hissing in pain, I couldn't even move a muscle in my body without feeling how everything hurt.
Thus, I opened my eyes.
And even now, I admit that if I hadn't gotten used to my new eyes in the hours that followed, I would have had an unacceptable amount of difficulty for the upcoming events. Near the place where I woke up, I could see how that mask was that caused all that.
I grabbed it, because at first I didn't know that that thing was responsible, and after that, I started walking in an unknown direction.
And so ... My adventure in this new world began.
Sure, I didn't know it until it was too late.
*********************
I walked for hours in the place where I woke up, trying to get used to everything that surrounded me, I went through everything that was there as best I could.
Honestly, it was one of the few moments in which I felt fear, not knowing where I was, it felt like the reality punched me just to remind me that I was fucked up in a way that I never was before. It was worrying how I traveled for miles without finding anything. And so, I started to despair, I did everything I could, I made smoke signals, I tried to make the word SOS with stones in a plain, damn, I also followed a nearby river for 3 full days. I even climbed a gigantic tree to see civilization; I did not see anything. It didn't matter how hard I tried to find civilization in that place.
I spent whole days looking for any sign of civilization, and yet I didn't feel any need to feed myself or even drink water, I know you can't believe me, after all, something like that is impossible, right?No, I was too focused on my goal of finding a city or town that I neglected the basics of being human; Food.
When I started to feel hungry or even thirsty, the first thing I did was go to a river that I saw in one of those many days of work, when I approached the river was when I saw my reflection
... I had my same face, however, I could notice how in some way, I was not myself, after all, I could see how some of my features were different, for example, the color of my eyes was not changeable nor my skin was so clear. I looked... Kinda sick, which worried me.
I was white due to my father, an American, yes, but I got a tan for working with my abuelo back in Mexico. And now all the color of my skin, all the tan that I acquired living in Mexico all my life until I moved to USA, had faded. I thought for a moment if I was sick, but I didn't feel anything wrong. So, it was something else.
So, I looked back to my reflection.
And there... I did not stop feeling that I was looking at a stranger.
Even some of my features had changed, my eyes, previously with dark circles, seemed to have disappeared, and my unruly hair had gone straight, and ... Somehow ... Was it floating ...?
No, rather, it seemed as if something tried to escape from him, like a species of smoke, I could even notice how my black hair shone with different colors at the same time that an unprecedented darkness hid some parts of my face.
I slowly took off my clothes, only to notice a completely different body, while my previous body was ... Regular, I could feel that this body was full of muscles.
And although they were smaller, I knew, no, rather, I felt and knew that this body was much better than the previous one.
And yet ... I felt uncomfortable, because even if it looked like my body, it wasn't my body, it was taller, more intimidating, it expounded an amount of authority that I knew I didn't have, and most of all, it was more... Unknown.
Every time I looked at myself in that river, I couldn't help suppressing a shudder. After all, my mind wanted to see me, but the only thing that looked back was another being similar to me.
It took me a while to get my shit together, for that reason I tried to focus on the next thing of my list than looking my reflection; I began to test how strong I was.
After all, I was more muscular, so I felt an unhealthy curiosity about how strong was I, however, when I picked up a branch that I knew I shouldn't have been able to lift with my old body, and that I should have had a hard time in this new body, all I got was ... The branch was lifted without even straining.
Believe me when I tell you that I did not feel happy when this happened, I felt a chill go through my entire body. I didn't feel like I was putting in any real effort, in fact, it looked like I was carrying a damn sheet of paper.
I literally let go the gigantic branch to go through something heavier, I went with a fallen log that was on the side of the river, and so, I tried to lift it, at first I was relieved, because I was not that strong ...
However, that happened, when I felt that I could not lift it, something instinctive, almost primordial, was activated, I could feel a wave of familiar power run through my entire body, I could feel my muscles tensing and drawing strength from an unknown place.
I could feel how my body felt comfortable with this event, but my mind and my own soul screamed in confusion for what biologically it must have been impossible to achieve.
It had been impossible, and so, completely scared and out of my mind, I applied a lot of force, causing the damn log to explode into splinters.
And it was an even bigger shock when I couldn't feel any of them penetrating my skin, in fact they were repelled, almost as if they were colliding with a metal surface.
Even if I was relieved that I did not receive any injuries, I could not help but feel nervous about what I was feeling at that very moment, even when I felt that all this was familiar to me, and that I had had it forever, my mind refused to accept it. .
It was ... Too unreal, which made me think it was a dream for 30 minutes, believing it was all a dream in an attempt to fool myself, I just tried to change my dream.
Ha ha...
I'm scared.
I never thought this was possible, but splitting, no, destroying a fallen tree trunk with just my hands should have been impossible, implausible at best.
And yet here I was, with a completely shattered tree trunk, and with a bunch of splinters that, in all right, should have pierced my skin and made me scream in pain at the amount and depth inside of me.
And yet ... My skin seemed to simply ignore its stabbing attempt, and I very carefully decided to check for myself if somehow one of those splinters passed through my (for now) indestructible skin.
And so, I took a quick look at my completely bare and hairless chest, it was not a big problem to check that I did not have any splinters buried in my flesh.
And so, I stayed for a few minutes, trying to synapse between my neurons with the sole purpose of knowing how the hell I managed to explode a trunk with my bare hands, and how the pieces of the tree could not have their retribution against me.
Slowly, I grabbed a sharp piece of wood, and ran it over my skin, I didn't feel anything at first, so I decided to do it over and over again with more force.
And I spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out how the hell it was possible that a sharp piece of wood couldn't cut or even irritate my skin, about five minutes later I noticed how there was ... Acerrin on my skin.
I quickly returned my gaze against the piece of wood, and there I noticed how the sharp piece had become more ... No, rather, it had lost its edge, it almost seemed as if ...
Wait, is my skin strong enough to act like high quality sandpaper ...?
"What the hell ..." I mumbled as I saw how the now useless piece of wood had lost its edge from just being rubbed against my skin.
I carefully placed my hands against my face before starting to panic.
How was this possible? It didn't make any sense that he was now a super human!
The more I got lost in my thoughts I could feel something crawl close to me, I quickly jumped up and, with an agility that I knew no human should possess, I got into an amateur fighting stance.
As soon as I raised my arms to the front as I felt my blood begin to flow faster throughout my body, I could notice how that feeling so ... Familiar was invading my whole body again.
When I could see what had touched me I was speechless ... It was ... A plant ...?
No, rather, that thing was a plant, but nevertheless, it moved anti naturally, it seemed as if ... Responding to the will of ...?
Fearing the worst, I decided to try to control her, and to my dismay, I could feel an invisible link was established between my consciousness and the plant, at first the plant tried to stop my attempt to usurp control of her body, but not it worked, actually ...
I think ... Without realizing it, I just made a plant, now it is a vegetable ...
The joke was bad, I know, but I think it somehow left a plant in a vegetable state ... I don't even know how this works, believe me.
At least it served to bring me out of my mental breakdown.
Now ... how the hell do I get back to a normal life without suffering at the hands of the FBI, CIA or even not being hunted like a dog by entire organizations ...?
Well, that doesn't matter now. At first I know that a bear will not kill me easily ... Which in hindsight is something that relieves me a lot, after all, I could subdue the bear and even let him know that he was stronger than him.
So ... There should be no problem. I think...
Wait ... I don't think I have seen any animals yet, is it true that animals feel insecure when something stronger than them approaches? Or maybe it was survival instinct?
No, I can't be that arrogant. It may be stronger, but I couldn't have those kinds of thoughts in my head, that would just lead to an early death.
Nervously, I started walking again to my unknown destiny.
Being careful not to attract anyone's attention or anything I started testing to see how strong I was ... At first it was testing how long a branch could last against my new strength, and after that, I started testing things every time more extreme.
********************
It has been hours since I left the river, and right now I just saw that, somehow, I can pulverize rocks with just my hands, which made me to wash my hands multiple times because when I crushed a rock it released a lot of dust.
I continued like this for the next two days while searching for civilization. The main reason I decided to smash so many rocks was because ... Yes, it sounded childish and all, but ... I wanted to test how strong I was now, and from what I could feel, I wasn't using anywhere near at all my potential.
... I didn't now how to describe what happened while I was walking through the forest, I could see out of the corner of my eye how a lot of branches and wood moved, and I swore I saw the silhouette of a wolf.
However, in addition to that I have been noticing how little by little the more I advance in my search for civilization, the more unknown plants I find ...
Which, under everything I knew, should not exist, and that started to scare me, but what really brought me to my true breaking point was when I saw a damn bunch of Chimeras cornering a hydra ...
When I saw them, all I did was run, I felt that I had to get away from them, even if my body told me that I was not in danger, my mind told me that I was.
I suppose it was a consequence of not being fully used to a completely superhuman body.
Or so it was until my mind went over the characteristics of those things in detail ...
Hydras ... Chimeras ... Wolves of ... Timber ... Timberwolves.
Its features, everything, everything looked the same as its MLP counterparts, only more realistic.
Believe me when I say that I have tried to deny what I saw for hours, I did not want to believe that this was happening to me, I could feel how the tears wanted to come out of my eyes, but my body and my mind refused to let them go for the simple fact that I couldn't believe what had happened to me, nor did I have the courage to even acknowledge what had happened to me, I convinced myself for the next few hours that it was all a dream, or so it was until I tried to test if I was in pain, so I pinch ... And ... Yes, I felt it, which ... It meant that, somehow I had been taken to another world ...
How was it possible? I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary, in fact, I was very common, I hadn't made a pact with any entity that he knew of.
Moment.
My Little Pony ... Entity ...
From the Void ...
Perhaps...? No, it wasn't possible, was it?
Was ... the man I met at the convention was ...?
The Merchant? But it is not possible. He is only a subject created by people in Fimfiction, a being who provoked the first action that begins most stories of displaced people ...
When I thought about it, I opened my eyes as wide as I could in surprise.
I could feel how the pupil in my eyes narrowed at the same time that my blood froze to think of the only possibility that explained everything that had happened to me ...
Now I was a Displaced...
And worst of all ... I had disguised Me as All For One...
But... Then, why didn't I have his ... Appearance ...?
Was it because he didn't have the mask on, and the merchant's power interpreted it as if ... All For One was healthy ...?
But, that meant that ...
Damn, I was All For One now, and worst of all ... he was in the best of his health.
Having that revelation, I could not done anything but fell to my knees and later began to suffer a terrible disgust for what I had become.
I was All For One. The greatest villain of all time in My Hero Academia.
Even if this body was a copy of the original, I couldn't stop the feeling of hate and...
This was... Horrible.
I loved the character for everything he represents, but I would not jokingly love him if he were real, in any case, I would've hated him with all my being.
After all, he had ruined many lives... And the powers of those people... Now they ran through my body.
I could feel a shock in my identity as a good person left to be replaced with an impossible quantity of hate for this body...
I had unintentionally turned into a monster.
... However, I began to remember something ... My face, my face was in this body, just like my whole body looked like the previous one ...
And my face is nothing like All For One when he was young. I had some of his characteristics like his aura and all, but the overall appearance was mine, just more ... Handsome?
Which meant that ... he had sent me with the same powers, but with my body ...? That ... It didn't make sense, that had never happened in the stories I had read ... No, if there was a time when I read something like that.
I couldn't help but start laughing at noticing this.
In fact, it was a very pleasant relief to know that this was my body that only underwent modifications to satisfy the hunger of a Merchant.
Meanwhile in another place
POV Hurricane
My army is pressing. They are doubting my abilities only because I am giving in to the princess ... Unicorn, her damn name angers me every time they say it, who names her daughter Platinum hers?
Putting that aside, are they idiots? I have my pride, and I sacrificed a lot of my own pride to make sure those damn unicorns don't kill us with their horns.
The tensions between the three races, even after being unified under the rule of Princess Luna and Celestia, have not entirely subsided.
Racism among us is more present than ever, no matter what those ... Alicorns try to do.
Pff, what a joke. An abomination born of magic. Why did the world, and most importantly, Harmony create that race? It is a mockery of all of us, even the noble unicorns admit that they are disgusted with them for being alicorns.
A headless government. That is who we are, we let ourselves be carried away by sentimentality, and now we can no longer turn back this damn mistake because of that promise we made in the name of Harmony.
Really, I am frustrated beyond what I thought I could feel. Unicorns are asking for more tribute than ever, and because they are the closest to princesses, they are the ones that take priority over the rest.
No matter how hard I try to get a hearing, the damn unicorns won't let me get past the first few levels of bureaucracy by objecting that I didn't provide the necessary documents for the hearing.
Dammit! Can't you understand how close we are to asking for blood? Literally land ponies and pegasi are in revolts because none of their needs are being cared for.
In conjunction with all this, a war effort is being carried out by Princess Luna in an attempt to acquire more lands, which are in dispute with the Griffin and Dragon territory.
Many Pegasus advisers warned her that this was a bad idea, they told her that we possibly did not have the resources, and yet she believes that we can fight dragons and griffons.
We can not! Even I, being a full-fledged militarists, admit that our economic situation does not allow us it as well as our social situation. No matter how much you say there is fairness in the military, everyone knows there is not.
The Earth Ponies, even if I hate to say it, are always in the front line, they are ... To put it in some way, the foot soldiers while the Pegasi are the rear guard and the ones who fight in the sky.
However, the damn unicorns are the ones in the lieutenant position or even higher ranks without any problem.
They should be in the front! They are the easiest to turn the tide of a fight! Their magic, even if it pains me to admit it, is a huge bonus, but due to their arrogance and the way the equestrian army is organized, no matter how hard they try to hide it, there is favoritism.
And that is breaking the army. Currently, I could safely count that 2/3 of the army is planning to rise up against the princesses because of their inability to rule effectively.
And if they rise up ... Well, a supreme commander like me needs to lead the ranks, doesn't she? ...
I really thought this was going to work ... But if even princesses can't get past that bias that unicorns are the best, then it will all fall apart.
Ahh ... Damn it ... Right now I can count the towns in which they have refused to remain part of Equestria, obviously Princess Luna sent a part of the army to force them to unite them, but ... Let's say no It went well, and right now they are asking for the blood of the princesses.
Honestly, if they don't do something soon, and if they keep ignoring my advice, then I'll have to rebel, and if I rebel ... Well, let's just say all the Pegasi will follow me, all the soldiers, even if the princesses don't know, they are loyal to their races, and at the same time, to their former leaders ...
Something that none of them have been able to do in more than 10 years.
And honestly, I think they earned what might happen to them.
