Chapter Text
1983
It was an average day at the arcade. Turbo had become accustomed to the usual song and dance that was being a video game character. You race, you win, you gloat. Strolling by, flirting with the ladies as usual, occasionally dropping by Fix it Felix Jr’s arcade cabinet to muddy up the floors Gene oh so preciously just cleaned. It was a rhythm he was comfortable with. A rhythm that was comfortable. One day, THIS day, it all had to come to a stop. A halt, even. As Turbo finished his final race of the day, casually shining his trophies as usual before using to hit the twins over their heads- he heard commotion just outside his game. As he walked out, talk of seeing a new cabinet bubbled up around him. Pushing through the crowd, he and many others could clearly see a new plug slowly crowding out any light that came from the empty socket. With everyone squeezing through to get a look, the display sparked to life, suddenly flashing text that read “MY HERO ULTRA RUMBLE”.
Turbo squinted at the name. It didn’t appear to be a racing game, so all interest was mostly if not all lost at the game. He sighed, immediately brushing off the non-competition and walked off to Tappers for a drink. Felix stopped him, temporarily.
“Turbo? Dontcha want to see the new guys?” He raised an eyebrow, looking a little confused on why the top racer was leaving so soon. Said racer waved him off, “Oh please, it’s nothing all that interesting. It just looks like another fighting game of sorts.” And with that, he continued his trip to Tappers.
…
“Two beers. The real stuff please.” He sighed, watching the bartender walk off into whatever back room was coded to exist there. Tappers was unusually crowded because of all the talk about the new cabinet. (Seriously, it was just ANOTHER fighting game. Who cares that much? His game was clearly superior anyway.) He groaned. All this yap about “my hero” infuriated him. He remembered when he was the talk of the bar. When he was the hot shot. How quickly it’s all slipped away now. Was he really getting that stale? That quickly? “2 beers. You’ve got quite the tab here. You thinking of paying me anytime soon?” Tapper glared, expecting the usual “ah, put it on my tab”, but this time, a new voice came instead. “I can pay for it.”
Turbo looked to his left, and then up, his eyes absentmindedly tracing the figure (to see if he may have been a threat of course, nothing else) and was met with a toned face with bright blue eyes and stylized blonde hair. It was just about nothing he’d seen before. Did they improve sprite quality that quickly? A slam of money snapped the racer out of his thoughts, and the abnormally tall man smiled, with pure pride and confidence. “Since it’s my first day here, I want to show my appreciation. Drinks on me, everyone!” The bar erupted into cheers.
Turbo’s cheeks burned with both slight embarrassment and jealously. He didn’t get this kind of fanfare when he first showed up. He still muttered a “thanks” before taking a sip from one of the drinks he ordered. It was sweet, and certainly took the edge off from all the accolades and applause not aimed towards him. “I don’t believe I saw you earlier.” He looked up. Locking eyes with the hulking character. “Wanna tell me your name?”
Turbo snickered, before grandly announcing who he was- (as he didn’t get to do it as often anymore) “I’m Turbo! The greatest racer ever! And you are?”
“Toshinori Yagi. But you can call me All Might.”