February 29th 2406 — Durand Family Estate — Musutafu, Japan
The warm morning sunlight cascaded through snow covered branches down upon the frost covered dirt, carved into the dirt the trampled snow forms a long straight track leading back to main compound.
Lying on the snow covered ground Sage huffed heavily, her breath coming out in thick clouds of mist the lingered just above her before slowly dissipating.
Faint trails of sweat could be seen evaporating in her face despite the cold as she flushed from obvious exhaustion, sitting up slowly she gently played with the snow around her as she looked up at the little robot hovering silently next to her.
"What was by time now Hela?"
Hovering down the little robot stopped in front of her as its screen flickered to show a stop watch.
"Well done mistress you completed the one hundred metre sprint in 9.57 seconds."
Smiling widely Sage jumps to her feet in excitement.
"Yes!! It took a bit longer then I thought but I was finally able to beat the prequark world record."
Hopping around in the snow Sage beamed with a childlike innocence as she summoned her quest menu, scrolling to one in particular.
[Side Quest – The Need for Speed
Goal: Beat the pre-quirk era 100 metre world record. - Completed
Reward: 200xp, Quirk – Speed Enhancement]
[Quirk – Speed Enhancement
Passively augments the user to increase their speed, stamina, acceleration, and more. This quirk grows with training.]
{Accept Y/N}
Mentally accepting the new power Sage waits for a few seconds for something to change, as the seconds tick by her excitement slowly fades as she focus more on herself.
As she focuses a sudden sharp beep rings from her system as a new deep red panel opens automatically.
{ Warning
Due to the effect of the curse 'Two Body Problem' the user must determine which form receives the reward. Both forms cannot have the reward as there is only one quirk}
Cocking her head to the side Sage looks at the panel in mild confusion as she contemplates the implications.
'That kind of sucks, I have two forms but only one reward and it can't be split.'
Pacing in thought Sage mentally goes over the pros and cons of assigning the quirk to either of her forms, groaning in frustration she rubs her brow as too many thoughts come to mind.
Needing to cool off she looks around for a bit before noticing a large mound of snow piled beneath a large oak tree.
Smiling she hops over to the pile and dives head first into it, burrowing fully into the snow she stops and spins before sticking her head out at the edge of the hole.
Something she had begun to notice as the months passed was the growing affects her quirks had on her mind, whilst in her male form she tended to like walking and exploring more, and whilst in her female form she found herself far more battle hungry and energetic.
Sighing she rest her chin in the pile of clean snow enjoying the feeling off the cool winter treat on her skin.
That was another quirk she had noticed, she had begun to exhibit animalist tendencies like her mum. This desire to burrow into the snow was fairly common in arctic foxes, something her mum had taught her about in their many sparring sessions.
Shaking her head she tried to get back to her original thoughts regarding the quirk.
'Let's consider the pros' and cons if I took the quirk in my male form it would effectively invalidate my natural quirk as I wouldn't be able to trigger my quirk whilst moving fast. On the other hand there is a low chance the two quirks will fuse into a better one.
If I was to consider my female form then with my more lithe form the quirk would be able to boost my already good speed, I am faster in my female form then my male one. Also I could focus my male form on being a strength type build and my female form on a speed type build?'
Sighing aloud she continued her pondering for a few more minutes until steam erupted from her, instantly the once comforting snow began to pierce it's icy coolness through his skin as he scrambled from the mound of snow.
Shaking off the majority of the snow he shivers slightly a soft laugh echoing from the side as he does so. Turning his gaze on the little robot he feigns annoyance with exaggerated movements.
"Stop laughing, it wasn't that funny."
Tapering off the sentient little robot hovers closer, a coat somehow hooked over one of her little arms.
"Okay young master, here put on your coat so you don't catch a cold."
Gratefully taking the offered garment he swings it over his shoulder whilst giving her a gracious smile.
Then checking his watch he starts walking back towards the house whilst still thinking, halfway to the door he finally comes to a decision.
'I'll bind the quirk to my female form, that way I can claim it is just a slight mutation to my physical abilities.'
Nodding to himself Sage mentally responds to the systems alert, the red panel slowing dissolving as it accepts his answer.
'I guess I'll have to wait till I switch again to try that new quirk.'
Sighing mildly in disappointment he pushes open the front door and steps inside, taking off his shoes and jacket he puts them in the correct place before moving to the kitchen. After a quick cheese and ham toastie for lunch he heads off to the library to study for a bit.
Reaching the expansive library within the confines of his home he casually strolls along the aisles till he reaches the back, there he finds a well lit desk with two books on one corner and a blank notebook in the centre.
Sitting at the desk he grabs a sharpened pencil and opens up the book on static equilibrium, his mind already at work as he breaks down the complex content within.
**********************
Hours later after a delicious dinner cooked lovingly by his mum, Sage made his way to the dojo before grabbing a arming sword from the extensive collection.
Settling into a stance he goes through the first few basic slashes as he gets warmed up, after a few minutes he begins moving into more complex techniques, his mind razor focused as he focuses on the movement of his muscles with surgical precision.
As he moves towards the end of his kata the bamboo sliding door opens and his mum steps in, waiting by the side she watches as he smoothly finishes the kata before sheathing the blade.
"You've certainly improved I'll say you've almost reached an advanced level of mastery over that blade. Something I've noticed though is you haven't been making many changes to the style."
Pointing out her observations Inari moves around the room to grab a blade of her own. Sighing Sage shakes out his stiff hands before responding.
"I've been trying to work on the movements first, if you forgot despite having all the knowledge I need I've still got to train my muscle memory separately in the two forms."
Nodding Inari slowly circles Sage as she draws her sword, pivoting on the spot Sage pays careful concern to not get caught up on his own feet as he keeps his mum in sight.
Suddenly a burst of steam engulfs him, feeling her body shift slightly Sage notices a new feeling that wasn't there before. The feeling is like a new limb, it feels similar to her quirk but with slight differences.
Mentally stressing the new feeling a few times her perception seems to speed up a minute amount and her limbs feel like tiny arcs of energy course below her skin.
Not feeling anything harmful she decides to test the new power out in the only way she knows, mentally activating her new quirk she draws her blade in a blur of motion before dashing forward.
Eyes widening slightly Inari seems confused for a few seconds before easily parrying Sage's thrust. Over estimating her control Sage tumbles forward slightly as she stops, seeing this Inari grins as she gently kicks Sage in the back of the knees.
Eyes widening Sage falls face first on to the floor as her mum cackles like a hyena behind her, getting up her cheeks are flushed slightly with red as she levels her sword.
Walking in a circle around her Inari seems to analyse her like a predator does its prey, as she does she talks.
"You're faster than yesterday, what happened?"
Shrugging Sage mumbles out a half hearted "I don't know" dashing forward again. Coming down with a slash Sage's blade is blocked by the flat of Inari's as she sends the blade sliding towards the floor.
Moving with the motion Sage crouches down and pulls her sword towards Inari's ankles as she steps back. Sidestepping the attack Inari thrusts her blade whilst gazing into Sage's eyes.
"I think I know you well enough to know when you lie, you obviously know something so spill."
Sighing Sage parries the blade to the side before stepping into Inari's guard and attempting to jam the hilt of her sword into her chest.
"I think it's just a mutation of my quirk that awakened as I was practising earlier."
Nodding Inari seems to accept the answer despite the doubt in her eyes. Stepping back she knocks Sage's attack off course before following up with her own attack.
Getting into a rhythm the mother and daughter duo continue to escalate their spar as the hours drag on around them, the motion familiar to the two despite the seeming oddity of it.
Eventually though despite her improved physique Sage succumbs to exhaustion and admits defeat, smiling Inari sheaths her sword before ruffling Sage's long ebony hair.
Pouting half heartedly Sage attempts to brush off the offending hand, her movements sluggish and easily dodged.
Hanging up her sword Sage trundles back to her room and gets in the shower, turning her head she finally decides to check the panel that appeared mid-way through her spar.
[ *New* Side Quest – A Broken Blade
Goal: During your spar, your weapon chipped and shattered in parts due to your growing strength, in the future weapons may not be able to withstand your full strength. Chip, Shatter , or Destroy 1/20 blades in combat.
Reward: 300xp, Skill – Reinforcement]
Closing the panel she began to review her fight in her head. Despite stumbling at first she had quickly gotten used to the improved speed the new quirk granted her, which made her eager for it to grow from where it was.
At the moment if she pushed herself Sage could get up to ten percent more speed from her quirk when compared to her base speed, and despite the increased stamina cost she was able to fight for nearly as long as always tonight.
Stepping out of the shower Sage dried off her hair and tail before slipping on her pyjamas, making her way to her bed she crawled under the covers as steam erupted from them.
Laying in bed Sage began thinking back on the past few months. Since his memories first awoke almost two years ago he had slowly changed, his mind becoming more childish as he adapted to his new life.
Despite the change though he found himself liking the outcome, he was far happier in his new life constantly pushing his own limits each day.
Thinking about his family a genuine smile crossed his face, the love he felt from them was the nicest feeling he had ever experienced, even including within his fractured memory.
Thoughts drifting he began thinking of his first quest, and his first friend.
'Hhm I wonder how Izuku is doing, I haven't seen him in a while – maybe I should do that soon. I could probably also introduce him and Momo.'
Smiling Sage continued to ponder away to sleep eventually claimed him.
{A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I would appreciate it if you could donate your stones?}