Dungeons And Heroes

Join Me

     There he was. Izuku Midoriya, out on a campaign of his own! He waved goodbye to his mother from their rented cottage a couple days after the fire. Oh, how excited he was! Nothing but the clothes on his back and a small pack to keep him company. This was going to be such an adventure!
     "Hey."
     Izuku nearly jumped out of his pants. Looking around skittishly, he tried to identify the speaker. Izuku had thought he was alone on his forest path to nowhere in particular. "Who-Who said that?"
     "I did!" huffed someone beside him. "Man. Adventurers these days."
     Izuku turned to see a transparent, ghostly figure. He had long, black hair, and ominous, evil eyes. Well, either that, or he was just tired. The young adventurer bit back a yelp. "Are you a ghost or something?"
     "No," the transparent man sniffed, either annoyed, or again, tired. "I'm your dungeon master. Obviously."
     "Dungeon master?"
     "Is this your first campaign? Honestly. Why do I always get stuck with the young adventurers who don't know anything?" He sighed. "Oh, well. Let's get this going. My name is Eraserhead."
     "Eraserhead?" Izuku asked with a curious tilt of his head. "That's a funny name. Kind of like... All Knight!"
     Eraserhead sighed again, twirling the end of his white scarf around his finger. "Why do adventurers always make that connection? I don't see it... Continuing on. Don't question the name. It is what it is. I'm basically just here to guide you through your campaign."
"Sounds great!" Izuku chirped excitedly. "So, can you tell me what to do first?"
"Indecisive, are you? Well, I can always make suggestions. Go ahead and roll for perspective," Eraserhead said with a wave of his hand.
"Huh?"
"Just look around," mumbled Eraserhead, slightly annoyed.
"I see... lots of trees."
"Ooooh, good deduction," Eraserhead crooned sarcastically. "C'mon kid, even I know you can do better than that."
"Um, okay," Izuku replied, not offended at all. In fact, he felt like his dungeon master was upping his potential big time. "Oh! Wait, I think I heard something!"
Both turned their heads to listen. Sure enough, a young maiden's screech was heard again.
Izuku tightened his grip on the strap of his bag. "A damsel in distress! Yes! This is exactly what I've been training for!"
"Training? What training?" Eraserhead deadpanned, unimpressed.
"I have to save her!" Izuku shouted with determination, racing in the direction where he heard the shrieks.
When he reached the area where he thought he had heard noise, as if a gust of wind blew by, Izuku was swept into the air, and was soon hovering upside down. He yelped. "Help! What-What is going on! Dungeon master? Eraserhead? Hello?"
"Oh dear stars!" The surprised exclamation came from below Izuku. Upside down, he craned his neck the best he could to see who had spoken. Hopefully who was also the person holding him captive in the air so that he could be let down. He saw a frazzled girl with pretty, shoulder-length brown hair, and a rounded face. She was cute, and she was holding onto a floppy witch's hat. "Oh, I am so, so sorry! I wasn't expecting- here, let me get you down."
The release was far from gradual. He dropped from the air like a stone, nearly hitting his head on the ground. Landing on his shoulder instead, the rest of his body flopping to the ground after, Izuku wasn't in the most comfortable circumstance. "Owww..."
"Goodness gracious, I'm- Oh, I don't even know what to say!" The girl tried to apologize, her hands moving in a frenzy, not quite sure what to do with herself.
Izuku picked himself off the ground. "No, no, please don't worry, Miss, it's really not a big deal! It's fine, I'm fine!" he rambled, almost as stressed as the little witch. "Um, m-my name's Izuku!" he stammered, blushing.
"I'm Ochaco," the girl said with a slight curtesy. "I apologize again for that. You just startled me, and I've been working on my levitation spells, so... well, you saw how that went."
Izuku sighed with relief. "I thought you were in trouble or something."
"In trouble?" Ochaco pondered, wringing her hat. "Oh! You must have heard me! Like I said before, I'm still working on my spells. My staff just backfired a couple times, and that can be a little frightening when you don't expect it. But yes, I'm doing wonderfully. Though I appreciate your worrying about me."
"So... what are you doing out in these parts?"
Ochaco lit up with a little hop. "Just working on my spells. And have you seen those dragons recently? Maybe if I could perfect my magic, I could be of use! I'm not very good at anything yet, though..." She looked down, embarrassed, rubbing the toe of her boot in the dirt.
"Then, if you aren't incredibly busy," Izuku replied, his fingers crossed behind his back, "would you like to join me on my campaign? I need a few more members."
Ochaco's mouth dropped. Lost in thought for the moment, she tugged on the hem of her dress. "Y-Yeah! I'd love to join you! That sounds like so much fun!"
     "Not bad, kid," the dungeon master grumbled in approval.
     Ochaco literally shot twenty feet in the air from shock. "Oh my!" she exclaimed. "Who is that?!" Her legs dangled, and she slowly came back down to the ground. "My magic went a bit haywire there."
     "I am Eraserhead, your dungeon master," he introduced himself with a little bow.
     "You must not have been able to see him until you joined the campaign," Izuku realized.
     "Well!" Ochaco exclaimed with a big sigh. "We may as well get going, shouldn't we, Izuku, Eraserhead?"
     "We shall," Izuku replied with a large, beaming smile. "Where off to next, Eraserhead?"
     "I would suggest you continue down the path," Eraserhead droned, "but knowing you, I can already tell you're going to stray from it at some point, so it's up to you. Roll for initiative."
     Izuku frowned. "I still have no idea what that means."