Author's Note: Hey everyone, Fire Slash here and welcome to my new fanfic. Now, I'm pretty sure you're wondering why I'm starting a new fic despite already having others out. Well, I'm the type of person who needs to have multiple projects going or else I won't progress in anything. Anyways, this fic was actually quite requested after I put the initial summary on my profile a while back.
Before we begin, allow me to explain some stuff: If you don't know much about the Green Lantern Mythos, don't worry. You don't have to know much about them to enjoy this story. A simple Wikipedia search about the various Lantern Corpses is all you might need. Just know that the reason I picked the Blue Lanterns over the Green Lanterns is that the Blue Lanterns use hope instead of willpower and Naegi is the unofficial 'Ultimate Hope,' so not giving him a Blue Lantern ring would be a sin.
Now for pairings... you see, I don't know what I'm going to do regarding this. I want to ship Naegi with a girl, but I don't know who, so I'm letting all of you decide. Ya'll can vote for the girl in the comments (options are anyone from the first, second, or third games. In this fic, the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles will be a rival school to Hope's Peak).
If you haven't, I'd suggest following my IG account (fire_slash_fanfiction) if you wanna contact me or be informed as to when I plan on updating stories.
Now, with that out of the way, let's get to the story. Review and enjoy :-)
0000
Location: Elpis (a planet light-years away from Earth)
The universe is a vast and seemingly infinite place, and it's a place that many lifeforms call home. Various species of sentient life can be found no matter how far you travel, each with various traits which make them distinct.
The existence of multiple lifeforms does come with its set of problems though, for not everyone is going to get along. Sometimes, an individual or an entire society commits intergalactic crimes and starts unnecessary wars. Thankfully, there are those who are willing to band together, no matter what species they are, in order to protect the universe. One of these groups is the Green Lantern Corps. With their power rings and willpower, they make sure no evil escapes their light.
The Green Lantern Corps isn't alone in this endeavor, for fighting alongside willpower is hope. One of their sister groups, the Blue Lantern Corps, utilizes the emotion of hope to combat cosmic threats. Despite the Green Lantern Corps being older, the Blue Lanterns are known to be far more powerful. There was a drawback to being a member of the Blue Lantern Corps though: one needs immense willpower to enact hope. In other words, a member of the Blue Lantern Corps needs to be around a member of the Green Lantern Corps at all times or else they can't use their rings to their fullest potential. They can only fly and create a small protective aura around themselves, which is nothing compared to that to the Green Lanterns. By themselves, the Green Lanterns have the same powers plus the ability to create solid constructs made of green light. Now, while in close proximity to a Green Lantern, someone wearing the Blue Lantern can do the same while also gaining the user the ability to regenerate limbs and other abilities the Green Lanterns can only dream of having. Some might ask why the Blue Lantern rings were designed like this, but that's something not even the Blue Lanterns themselves knew. The creators of the rings went missing eons ago.
With both intergalactic organizations aiming for the same goal (and due to how much Blue Lanterns rely on Green Lanterns), the two organizations became and remain close allies. Now, there are other Corps which utilize power rings powered by emotion, but both the Blue Lanterns and the Green Lanterns prefer not talking about them…
Back to the Blue Lanterns, leading the Corps is Saint Walker, an alien who managed to not only install hope to his home planet that was about to face extinction due to a dying star, but used that hope to save everyone by deaging the star by 8.9 billion years.
As head of the Blue Lanterns Corp, he was in charge of making sure the Corps stays afloat. Typically, he discussed strategies and the building of negotiation treaties alongside the heads of the Green Lantern Corps, but today was going to be different…
"Saint Walker? Do you have a moment to spare?" Asked an elephant-like alien.
Saint Walker smiled fondly at his fellow Blue Lantern. "Brother Warth, what can I do for you?"
"I need to speak with you about something urgent regarding recruitment." This caused Saint Walker to raise an eyebrow. Brother Warth was the primary recruiter for the Blue Lanterns. He usually never asked Saint Walker for help seeing as the Blue Lantern rings avoid those wishing to use its power for corrupt reasons, so for him to do so meant something important was going on.
"Of course. What's troubling you my friend?"
Entering the room, Brother Warth caused his power ring to display a map of the known universe. "Well, while scanning all charted territory for potential recruits, I found something, or someone, of immense importance."
"Immense importance you say?"
Brother Warth nodded. "Yes. A young member of his species who can harness the powers of a Blue Lantern ring without aid of a Green Lantern."
Saint Walker blinked in surprise. Such a thing was rarely heard of in the Blue Lantern Corps. The only time a Green Lantern wasn't needed was when someone had a large quantity of beings behind them, lending a Blue Lantern their hope. "I assume this individual has powerful allies behind them, right?"
"No. This individual possesses both the hope and willpower to power the ring to its max potential."
The head of the Blue Lantern Corps gawked at this, this being one of the few times he lost his composure. Now this was something unheard of… someone like this was game changing. "Then I'd suggest we give him a ring immediately!"
"This is where my problem comes into play," Brother Warth said before having his intergalactic map hone in on a specific point in the universe, Earth to be precise. "This individual resides in Sector 2814."
"Sector 2814…" Saint Walker frowned. Ever since 'that day,' Sector 2814 was cleared of all outside influence, which was a shame for both the Green and Blue Lantern Corpses as some of their best members had come from Earth. No one, not even the hungriest war tyrants, ever bothered coming to Earth after 'that day,' and for a good reason. "Give me some time to think it over."
"Understood."
If Saint Walker was to send a power ring to Earth, there was no telling what might happen if others got word of this news. However, the Blue Lantern Corps was created to spread peace. Giving this individual a ring would be for a great cause. Not granting him a ring would be sending a countless number of people to their deaths, though granting him one would put many in danger as well. It was a tough call, one that took Saint Walker the equivalent of one Earth week to decide, but eventually, he made his choice.
"Brother Warth, send it," Saint Walker suddenly told him. In the end, the benefits outweigh the risks.
"Are you sure?" Brother Warth asked, wanting to make sure he heard his superior correctly.
"Yes. Hope must shine and if that individual can make it shine brighter than ever, then as Blue Lanterns, it is our duty to make sure this occurs."
"Understood. I'll send a ring to Sector 2814." With that, Brother Warth left the room, leaving his leader all to himself.
Pulling up a map of the known universe, he sighed to himself. "Now how do I go about informing the Green Lanterns about this?"
0000
Location: Earth
If one were asked to describe Makoto Naegi, the first thing they would remark is that the boy was painfully average. In general, they were correct. In terms of physical appearance, nothing about the boy stood out except for his somewhat below average height and his unique ahoge. Personality-wise, Naegi was your typical teenager. His interests and hobbies often lined up with what was most popular at the moment.
However, Naegi did possess two unique qualities. First off, Naegi's luck was extremely bipolar. When it came to the boy's luck, Naegi was practically the physical incarnation of Murphy's Law: what can go wrong WILL go wrong. Sometimes, a situation would go wrong in a way in which Naegi didn't think could happen. Strangely enough, somehow his bad luck would end up aiding him in the long run.
Secondly, Naegi was a very optimistic person. He was the type to believe that a situation wasn't over until it was over. This allowed him to get along with many people and avoid trouble (unless his luck decided to come out and play).
These two qualities were what made Makoto Naegi unique, though it didn't cause him to stand out. To be honest, Naegi didn't mind this aspect about himself. Sure, it would be cool to have a talent to call his own, just like those who attend the famous Hope's Peak Academy, but he was content with being an average joe. It was simple, and with luck like his, simplicity was always welcomed.
Of course, the legend of the Blue Lantern of Sector 2814 wouldn't be a thing if Naegi had continued living a normal life. No, he would go on to become the greatest hero to ever exist after 'that day.'
And unknown to the boy, his journey was about to start…
0000
Groaning, the middle-schooler walked home, which was where he was supposed to be three hours ago. To make matters worse, it was pouring outside and all he had to cover himself was his trusty hoodie that was now soggy from all the water it had absorbed. How come Naegi was arriving home so late? If one were to ask him, he'd blame his luck. Having walked past some of his middle-school acquaintances, he was invited to play a game of 'rock papers scissors' with some of their acquaintances and them. Despite none of them being Sayaka Maizono (the famous idol attending his school that he wanted to meet), he decided to give it a shot. After all, he was on a streak of doing things differently than usual today, having decided to take the long route home. To make things interesting, it was proposed by someone in the group that the loser would buy snacks for the winners. There were ten other people playing, and Naegi felt his odds of not being the first one were decent.
… And of course he lost. In the first round no less. One would think that he would have learned his lesson by now. Somehow, everyone played 'rock,' except for him who decided to play 'scissors.'
From there, the boy would somehow end up getting involved with catching a high-profiled bank robber after tripping up multiple people. It was certainly a story… one of which Naegi would like to forget. Well, now that he thought about it, it might actually make for an entertaining short story he could publish for some side money…
"Just a few more minutes until I get home," Naegi mumbled to himself. "I can take a bath, go to bed, and put today behind me…"
Unknown to the young boy, the Blue Lantern ring Brother Warth had sent him had just reached Earth's Solar System. Moving beyond the speed of light, it shot straight towards Earth, where it flew around in the planet's atmosphere as it searched for its new owner. Eventually, the alien artifact managed to find what it was looking for and began to fall towards its destination, making sure to slow down so it wouldn't kill Naegi when it landed on the poor boy's head.
"Ow!" Rubbing his head in pain, Naegi looked around to see what fell on his head. Eventually, he found the ring. Picking it up, he inspected it, trying to see if he could identify the object. "Huh, so this is what hit me. It somewhat looks like a Green Lantern ring."
Yes, Naegi knew what the Green Lantern Corps was seeing as children were taught about it in history class alongside the dead planet of Krypton and the history of the Amazons. However, only the Yellow Lantern Corps had made contact with Earth alongside the Green Lantern Corps, so the rest were unheard of on Earth. It wasn't like either Corps were willing to share information about the existence of the others, especially the Yellow Lanterns. They were more interested in trying to conquer the world with the power of fear than in aiding the search for knowledge most people craved…
"Was someone trying to cosplay as a Green Lantern?" Naegi asked himself. "I think they got the color scheme and symbol wrong…"
It was then that the ring began to glow. Initially, Naegi had no problem with this. Perhaps it was a toy that glowed when a button or something was pressed. It was when it suddenly flew out of his hands and attached itself to his left ring finger that Naegi started to panic. However, before he could physically react, his eyes were blinded by a sharp blue light as he began to lose feeling over his body.
If one were to pay close attention to the boy, they would notice that he suddenly stopped before continuing to move forwards at a robotic pace.
0000
When Naegi came to his senses, he found himself in some sort of blue void. Naturally, the boy began to panic.
'What's going on? Where am I?' Frantically looking around for a way to escape, the boy soon noticed that there was a blue ring floating in front of him, one similar to the one that had fallen on his head. 'Am… am I supposed to do something here?'
Naegi soon had his question answered for him as the ring suddenly displayed a hologram of Saint Walker. If he wasn't freaked out already, he was now.
"A-an alien? I thought they disappeared after 'that day-'"
"Greetings Makoto Naegi of Earth," the hologram greeted, interrupting the boy's train of thought. "My name is Saint Walker and I am here to deliver an important message."
"Import-"
"You see, you have been chosen to become the newest member of the Blue Lantern Corps," the hologram interrupted yet again, revealing that the hologram was a pre-recorded message. "I assume you know of the Green Lantern Corps, correct? My intel shows that your species is quite familiar with them. Just like the Green Lantern Corps, the Blue Lantern Corps aims to make the galaxy a safer place. We do so with the power of hope. Now, typically we would avoid Sector 2814 as if it were a plague, but you see, you are not someone we can pass on. Normally, a member of the Blue Lantern Corps needs to be around a member of the Green Lantern Corps at all times or else they can't use their rings to their fullest potential. You somehow do not have this limitation. As such, I've decided to grant you a power ring. I must warn you though that due to your lack of exposure to the ring, several of its abilities will be sealed away for now, but will be unlocked once you get used to using its power."
Just then, a robotic voice interrupted the recording as the ring blinked. "NOW INSTALLING BASIC USAGE MANUEL IN USER."
"What?" Suddenly, Naegi felt a jolt in his head, the blue light from before replacing his vision for a brief second. When it returned, Naegi realized that he now had an understanding on how to use the ring at a basic level.
Before he could react to this, the hologram continued its speech. "Makoto Naegi, no, Brother Makoto Naegi, allow me to welcome you to the Blue Lantern Corps. May your light consume despair's darkness…"
The hologram then disappeared, causing Naegi to shout at it to return "Wait! I have so many questions!" Like how did they even find him, what other Lanterns existed, what was he supposed to do now, and why did they pick him among all people? Sadly, he never got a chance at asking anything as the room began fading, his vision returning to normal…
0000
Blinking, Naegi found himself back in reality. Taking a quick peek around, the boy noticed that he was now closer to his home despite having stopped moving when he was blinded. Honestly, this didn't bother him so much. He blamed the ring for having moved him. What did though was the events that transpired not even a second ago. He was granted a Blue Lantern ring seemingly out of the blue with no explanation as to why he was given one. Instead, he received what was the human equivalent of an exposition dump.
"What do I do now?" Naegi asked himself, currently at a loss as to what should be his next course of action. He then clutched his head in confusion. "I-I think I need to rest. I'll figure out what to do tomorrow…"
Naegi immediately made a beeline to his home, having had enough strange stuff happen to him already. Eventually making it home, the boy pulled out his keys and began unlocking the door. Once he did so, he entered his house and made his way to the living room. Dropping his bag on the floor, Naegi continued to stare at the ring as if it was going to give him any answers. "At least this day can't get any more strange…"
"Makoto! Is that you?!" A female voice shouted, nearly startling the boy. Quickly, he hid the ring in his pocket out of reflex as three people made their way to the living room, them being his parents and younger sister Komaru. Without hesitation, the younger Naegi sibling showed something into his hand. "This was mailed to you from Hope's Peak!"
This caused his eyes to widen. Hope's Peak is a government funded school with state of the art facilities and the best teachers around. It is an elite school which only accepts those who are the best at what they do and helps them enhance their abilities. The point of the school is to spread hope around the world, training their students to spread the concept around the world. What do they want with an average joe like himself? Opening the letter, Naegi began reading the contents out loud.
"Dear Makoto Naegi," the letter read. "Every year, Hope's Peak holds a lottery and accepts one ordinary student. This year, your name just so happened to be drawn. As such, you have been accepted to Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Lucky Student. Congratulations! We hope you accept our invitation. Sincerely, the staff at Hope's Peak."
As his family started congratulating him on his accomplishment, Naegi had one thought lingering in his head. 'Today really was a weird day…'
0000
Author's note 2: In case some of you were wondering, all lantern rings grant the user knowledge on how to use the basic functions of the ring, which certainly makes some things easier regarding the story. At the moment, Naegi only has the basic powers of a rookie Green Lantern. He'll unlock all the Blue lantern exclusives later on in the fic. After all, no one likes an overpowered character. Also, let's just say that Naegi may have attracted the attention of the other lanterns, especially the evil ones...
On an unrelated note, if you read my fic 'Hajime Hinate Ultimate Hero,' you'll notice that I had Hinata, Koizumi, and Souda as the main friend trio in the fic with everyone else coming in later. In this fic, Naegi will be forming a similar friendship with Kuwata and Maizono (aka: the two most normal members of his class). Of course, they won't be the only ones playing a role in the story. Other characters, such as Hinata and Kirigiri will be playing a significant role as well...
Oh, and the DC Universe did exist in the past in this fic...