The Digital Traveler
Tides of the Digital Depths
The luxury bus ride to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint—or USJ—was supposed to be a standard field trip, a milestone in their journey toward becoming heroes. For Soa Sakihara, it was a rare moment of peace. They sat near the back, the engine’s low hum vibrating through their seat, grounding them. Their indigo eyes drifted across the bus, watching the social dynamics of Class 1-A play out like a well-scripted cutscene.
"Your Quirk is so flashy and strong, Bakugo! It’s totally pro-level," Kirishima was saying, leaning over the back of his seat with his trademark toothy grin.
Bakugo scoffed, looking out the window with a characteristic scowl. "As if there was ever any doubt, Shitty Hair. I’m gonna be the top hero, no matter what."
"It is true your Quirk is powerful," Tsuyu Asui chimed in from across the aisle, her finger pressed to her chin in thought. "But you’re so unrefined and angry all the time. I don't think you'll ever be very popular. You have an explosive personality to match your explosions."
The bus went silent for a heartbeat. Soa felt a small, amused twitch at the corner of their mouth.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, FROG-FACE?!" Bakugo roared, jumping out of his seat. "I’LL BE PLENTY POPULAR! I’LL BE THE MOST POPULAR HERO EVER!"
"See?" Tsuyu noted calmly. "Explosive."
Soa let out a soft, huffing breath—a quiet laugh. It was fascinating to see how the group was gelling. Even the intense, prickly Bakugo was being integrated into the fold, whether he liked it or not. Soa adjusted the device on their wrist, checking the status of their digital contracts. Everything was green. The world felt stable.
When they arrived at the USJ, the sheer scale of the facility was breathtaking. It was a massive dome partitioned into different ecological disaster zones: fire, wind, landslides, and a central plaza. The Pro Hero Thirteen stood before them, giving a solemn speech about the weight of their responsibilities and the potential lethality of their Quirks.
"Your powers are not meant to kill," Thirteen’s voice echoed within the space-suit helmet. "They are meant to save."
Soa nodded along, their heart swelling with a strange sense of purpose. But then, the atmosphere shifted. The air in the center of the plaza began to warp, swirling into a dark, purple-black mist that defied the laws of light.
"Stay back!" Aizawa-sensei’s voice was sharp, his goggles snapping over his eyes. "Those are villains."
In an instant, the peaceful field trip dissolved into a nightmare. A tall, mist-like figure—Kurogiri—appeared before them at the entrance, blocking their path. Before anyone could react, the dark portal expanded, swallowing the students whole.
Soa felt the sensation of falling, but it wasn't a physical drop. It was the feeling of being de-rezzed, their data being scattered and reassembled. They plummeted through the darkness and hit a surface that was cold, wet, and unforgiving.
*Splash!*
Soa plunged deep into the water of the Shipwreck Zone. For a moment, they were disoriented, the bubbles obscuring their vision as they sank. Above them, they saw three other figures thrashing in the water: Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Mineta.
Scanning the murky depths, Soa saw movement. Shadowy figures were swimming toward them—villains with aquatic Quirks, their teeth bared and weapons drawn. They were trapped in the water, and the villains had the home field advantage.
*I have to change,* Soa thought, their mind racing through their library of OCs. *I need something fast. Something that belongs here.*
They reached for their wrist device, the interface glowing bright blue underwater. They didn't have time for a full summoning; they needed to become the solution. They selected a specific file—a creature designed for the high-pressure, high-speed environments of the Abyssal Trenches.
"Digital Nexus: Aspect Shift—Maris!"
The transformation was violent and swift. Soa’s body elongated, their human skin replaced by shimmering, microscopic blue scales that felt like silk but were tougher than Kevlar. Their legs fused together, stretching out into a long, powerful fish tail tipped with a translucent caudal fin. A jagged sail, reminiscent of a sailfish, erupted from their spine, and their royal blue hair merged into the sleek, wolf-like head they had used before—only this time, it was streamlined, with gills pulsing at the neck.
Webbing stretched between their fingers, and long, elegant spines tipped with a faint purple hue—venomous lionfish needles—extended from their forearms.
Soa kicked their tail once, and the sheer force of it propelled them through the water like a torpedo. They circled the three struggling students, creating a protective vortex that kept the nearest villains at bay.
Tsuyu grabbed Midoriya and Mineta, her powerful frog legs kicking toward the surface. Soa swam alongside them, their movements a blur of sapphire light. When they finally broke the surface and scrambled onto the deck of a nearby shipwreck, Soa hauled themselves up, their long tail draped over the wood, their gills fluttering as they transitioned to lung-based breathing.
Midoriya coughed up a bit of seawater, his eyes wide as he looked at Soa. "Sakihara-kun? Is that you?"
Soa nodded, the wolf-snout of the Maris form twitching. Their voice came out as a low, gurgling resonance. "It’s me. This form is optimized for the water. I can move faster than most of those villains can think."
Tsuyu tilted her head, observing the blue scales and the venomous spines. "It looks like the form you used at the school entrance, but adapted for the sea. You’re a chimera, ribbit."
"It’s a variation," Soa explained, their indigo eyes scanning the water where the villains were circling the ship like sharks. "I have the wolf-base for the sensory input, but the rest is pure aquatic data. The spines on my arms are venomous—enough to paralyze, not kill. And the tail... well, you saw the speed."
Midoriya’s analytical mind was already turning, his fear being replaced by the rapid-fire calculations of a strategist. He looked at the villains, then at the shore, and finally at his teammates.
"Okay, we have a chance," Midoriya said, his voice gaining strength. "Sakihara-kun, what’s your maximum speed in this form? Can you create a wake?"
"I can break the sound barrier if I have enough room to run," Soa replied. "In this confined zone, I can definitely create a massive displacement of water. A tidal wave, if I circle fast enough."
Midoriya nodded, a plan forming. "Tsuyu-chan, you’re the most mobile on land and water. You can grab Mineta and me. Mineta, your Pop-Off spheres—can you throw them with enough accuracy to hit moving targets if they’re clustered together?"
"I—I guess! If I’m not dying of fear!" Mineta squeaked, clutching his head.
"Here’s the plan," Midoriya said, his eyes sharp. "The villains think they have us cornered because we’re 'land-dwellers.' They don't know about Sakihara’s speed or the paralysis. Sakihara-kun, I need you to dive back in. Use your speed to circle the ship as fast as possible. Create a whirlpool that pulls all the villains into a single, tight cluster in the center."
Soa’s tail flicked in anticipation. "I can do that."
"Once they’re bunched up," Midoriya continued, "I’ll use a Delaware Smash to create a massive updraft of water. That will launch them into the air. Mineta, that’s your cue. Throw as many spheres as you can into that cluster while they’re airborne. They’ll stick to each other and be unable to fight back when they land."
"And me?" Tsuyu asked.
"You’re our extraction," Midoriya said. "As soon as the water clears, you grab us and leap for the shore. We need to get to the central plaza to help Aizawa-sensei."
Soa looked at Midoriya with newfound respect. The boy was a natural leader, able to weave their disparate abilities into a single, cohesive thread. "Understood. I’m going in."
With a powerful leap, Soa dived back into the water. The transition was seamless. As Maris, the water wasn't an obstacle; it was an extension of their own body. They dove deep, then began to spiral upward, their tail lashing with incredible force.
*Faster,* Soa thought, channeling the energy from their Digital Nexus. *Break the code. Overclock the speed.*
To the villains in the water, Soa became nothing more than a blue streak. The pressure of their passage created a vacuum, a terrifying suction that dragged the villains from the shadows of the wreckage. They cried out, their aquatic Quirks useless against the sheer physical force of Soa’s momentum.
The whirlpool grew, a massive funnel of churning turquoise water that centered right in front of the ship’s bow. The villains were tumbled together, a chaotic mass of limbs and weapons, trapped in the eye of Soa’s storm.
"Now!" Soa’s voice echoed through the water, a sonic pulse that Midoriya felt through the hull of the ship.
Midoriya leaned over the railing, his finger flicking with the power of One For All. "DELAWARE SMASH!"
The air pressure collided with the water, and the whirlpool erupted. A pillar of water shot into the air, carrying the cluster of villains with it.
"TAKE THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS!" Mineta screamed, his fear turning into a manic frenzy as he plucked the purple spheres from his head and hurled them into the spray.
The spheres found their marks, sticking the villains together into a giant, purple-spotted ball of defeat. As the water crashed back down, the villains hit the surface with a collective groan, bobbing like a single, giant cork.
Soa shot out of the water, clearing the railing of the ship and landing in their Maris form next to Tsuyu. They were breathing hard, the blue scales on their chest heaving. "They’re... neutralized."
"Great job, everyone!" Tsuyu said. She didn't waste a second. She wrapped her long tongue around Midoriya and Mineta, then grabbed Soa’s arm. "Hold on tight, ribbit!"
With a monumental leap, Tsuyu propelled them off the ship, soaring over the water toward the shore. Soa looked back at the Shipwreck Zone, seeing the cluster of trapped villains fading into the distance.
As they landed on the concrete of the central plaza, the reality of the situation hit them again. Below, in the plaza, Aizawa-sensei was fighting a losing battle against a monstrous, brain-exposed creature—the Nomu. The air was thick with the scent of blood and ozone.
Soa felt a wave of fatigue wash over them. The Maris transformation was taxing, and the 30-minute limit was ticking down. But looking at Midoriya’s determined face and Tsuyu’s steady gaze, Soa felt the fear retreat.
They weren't just a digital traveler anymore. They weren't a glitch in the system. They were a part of a team.
"Sakihara-kun," Midoriya whispered, looking at the Nomu. "Can you still fight?"
Soa looked at their scaled hands, then at the device on their wrist. The device was humming, the data for their OCs ready and waiting. They could feel the 'Big Brother' energy of Sonic lingering in the code, a silent encouragement.
"I have ten minutes left in this form," Soa said, their wolf-eyes glowing with a fierce indigo light. "Or I can shift into something even stronger. Tell me the plan, Midoriya. I’m not going anywhere."
In the heart of the disaster, amidst the villains and the chaos, Soa Sakihara finally understood what it meant to be a hero. It wasn't about the power or the flashy appearance. It was about the bridge you built between yourself and the people standing next to you. And Soa was the best bridge-builder in the world.