A Friend

Chapter 3

Upon arriving at the trash filled beach after the rather uneventful day Izuku noticed Martyr as he said was waiting for him. Sat on the top step leading to the beach with his back facing towards the ocean. Martyr seemingly already knew Izuku was there and began to say "So you've decided then?"

"Y-yes I have, I've decided that I want you to train me to be a hero." Izuku said while walking forward wondering how Martyr noticed him, as far as he knew he didn't make much sound when he walked, as it would be rude to everyone else to actively make more noise than necessary. Not to mention the sounds of seagulls, ocean, and wind should have made it harder to notice him even if he was walking loudly.

"Good, very good now to begin. I want you to look around and tell me what you see." Martyr said, waving his left hand around as he raised it up into the air.

"Alright," Izuku said puzzled doing as instructed as he looked at the surrounding buildings, the trees, the empty walkways and the crests of the trash mounds "but what am I looking for?"

"Hmm so you don't see them? No matter, in a few weeks you should be able to spot them."

"Spot what?"

"The runes I scattered about that allow me to observe whatever they're facing, not too dissimilar to security cameras, just... they're more organically based being the main difference. As well, are you not gonna question the fact you can't hear the waves hitting the shore or the whistling of the wind as it blows through the trash mounds?" Martyr asked Izuku, making him question the man's sanity as he could ...in fact ...not ...hear what he mentioned! It was quiet, ya sure the mounds may dampen the sounds of the waves striking the shore and other things, but it was as if someone had muted all sound from where the ocean touched the sand to the raised top of the stairs leading to it. However as Izuku was about to ask Martyr about it Martyr simply stood and started heading down while waving for Izuku to follow him down to the sands and trash.

As they made their way through a pseudo path through the trash Izuku couldn't help but gag at the horrendous smell of it all. The stench of decaying matter, rot, and who knows what else just sat their trapped by the wind pushing it either out to sea or trapping it in the trenches of the mounds almost like a low hanging near visual fog of miasma, but he followed Martyr regardless heading deeper into the maze till they finally reached oddly enough a nearly circular clearing hidden deep in the rubbish.

Turning around and smiling at Izuku Martyr began to say "Well this is where I'm going to train you and through the next ten or so months we'll meet here for four hours each day if possible. The first two hours will be you cleaning up the beach as much as possible-"

"You can't be serious!" Izuku shouted as he looked around him at the piles of garbage containing vehicles, refrigerators, boxes, bags full of whatever, furniture, rotting cloth, and numerous pieces of scrap metal rusty enough that even a tetanus shot would cringe away at the sight.

"Oh but I am as you'll be training your mind and body here, as well learning magic that later on will result in you becoming a accomplished craftsman among other thing," Martyr said while looking around him with a gleam in his eye before walking over to a mound with a reasonable good piece of metal. That he then proceeded to pull off the mound and walk back towards Izuku, who watched in amazement as the metal began to glow and metal in Martyr's hands. All while the man slowly and expertly molded it into a perfect shiny ball of steel seemingly free of all impurities "this is what you'll be able to do one day!" He said while smiling before pocketing the steel ball "Now get going, the two hours are ticking and I don't expect you to clear the beach, but I expect a good effort from you! So go and push yourself beyond the limit, and don't worry I'll keep an eye on you and tell you when the two hours have ended."