Chapter 1: Prologue
For Izuku Midoriya, a quirkless girl born in a world where 80% of the world is born with some kind of power known as a quirk while only 20% of the minority is born without one and thus are unfairly treated like garbage because of it unlike everyone else, It was just a typical early Sunday morning as she was at Dagoba beach once again removing garage from it in her training to acquire One for All from her hero and mentor, All might, whom had chosen her to succeed him one day.
Before their meeting that fateful day, Izuku was treated badly by everyone except her mother for not having a quirk.
Bullying, name calling, favoritism towards quirked students while being completely antagonistic towards students who don't have one (she being the only one in her neighbor), The teachers blatant disregard towards the bullying And some even going to encouraging it, some even giving her punishment for things that the other students had caused (She tried fighting back a few times in the past and it didn't end well).
She wouldn't be surprised at this point if the staff was purposely manipulating the profiles of her and other students just so particular favored ones can have an easier time getting into a future hero school and the school itself getting credit for producing such heirs, so to speak, since the reputation of her school was anything but stellar well also degrading other students unfairly even though they were working diligently and hard to get good grades so that they themselves could get into good schools one day.
No matter what she did, no one paid her any mind nor defended her when she was abused.
She never even told her mother because she knew that she would worry, And she knew from the past that her mother had tried time and time again to get to schools to acknowledge that her daughter was being bullied and to get it to stop only for her words to fall on deaf ears which led to her mother crying her heart out which broke her heart. So she thought it was better to just hide it and treat her own injuries herself.
Despite all the abuse and her quirkless status she wanted to become a heroine, No matter how much pain she faced and no matter how much beating she endured she wouldn't give up on it, she even started writing notebooks full of quirks from heroes listing pros and cons and how they can be improve upon ever since she was a little girl.
This however she chose wisely not to show to anyone fearing that the bullying would only get worse if anyone knew or even worse if any villain somehow got their hands on them then this would spell doom for other heroes and innocent civilians out there.
Especially not to her main bully, Katsuki Bakugo, who was once her dear childhood friend but then turned on her the moment that it was revealed that she was quirkless.
Despite how badly he treated her, She always admired him for his confidence and for his quirk and for his determination to get stronger and to become a hero, but even she was aware that he wasn't perfect, far from it in terms of his personality and how he treats others, She can acknowledge that his attitude was anything but stellar, and was most certainly aware that he hated her, no matter how much admiration she had for him and how much she genuinely complimented him he always yelled at her and antagonized her.
It almost seemed like he was completely blind to the fact that she admired him and looked up to him, like in his eyes she was actually belittling him and looking down on him when really that was never the case.
The old saying you can admire someone but can still find faults in them, really ring true.
The final straw that broke the camel's back was what happened that faithful day, as she was about to leave the classroom after class got out when Bakugo, who at the time she still called Kacchan, had snatched up to her hero notebook, Which thankfully both he did not read and the fact that the title of the book was dubbed "HNFTF #13" and thankful still that he didn't question the title or made any indication that he knew what it meant, and used his quirk on it to burn the cover before tossing out the window.
He made his own threat that if she attempted to enter the UA exams then he would destroy her, And his final words before leaving was what stung the most.
"If you want a quirk so badly then here's what you should do, make believe you'll get one and take a swan dive off the roof."
Suicide baiting.
He really did it.
She was pretty sure that he wasn't even aware of how much those words can truly affect somebody, and could seriously get someone in trouble should their victim commit suicide after that.
Before it was death threats and him hurting her with his quirk, doing everything he could to belittle her, But in all the years she had known him he never said such vile words like that until that day.
Before a part of her kind of hoped, even if The concept seemed worthless, that he would one day realize his actions and be her friend again.
But that day, He really crossed the line, he went way too far.
Any hope of them being friends again, any admiration she had towards him, was completely turn to dust in an instant.
That day, she broke in tears, but she didn't break down in front of him completely as her only words to him after he said those words were this:
"It's a wonder how your parents can still love you despite how much you act more like a villain than a hero."
After that she shoved past him and his small posse, and ran out of the classroom as fast as her legs could carry her, not wanting to stay and face any sort of backlash from him after saying that.
The thing she had said was awful but she knew it was the truth, it was a very hard pill for her to swallow but she knew that after he had said those despicable words, words you should absolutely never say to an abuse victim, she knew that she couldn't look up to him anymore.
True heroes never bully nor abused anyone, let it be other heroes, civilians or even villains. She already knew this, she especially also knew that they especially absolutely never tell someone to go kill themselves.
Doing so would only make you no better than a villain yourself.
What he said... was anything but heroic.
Before she would (painfully) shrug off all of the beating as a part of her still hoped that he would come to his senses, but now after those vile words came out of his mouth... the potential hero she once saw in her eyes was replaced of that of a villain.
She always knew that, why she didn't really and truly accept that full fact before that day would elude her but she's, heartbreakingly, willing to acknowledge that she had been a fool for not accepting the fact that with his attitude becoming a hero was not ideal.
But even if she could tell someone what he had said, a part of her figure that no one was going to listen to a quirkless girl.
Only her mother would listen but even then it broke her heart with the mere thought of telling her mother and risking breaking her heart more.
Don't get it wrong She had tried a few times to tell Kacchans parents, who she saw as an aunt and uncle to her due to the fact that Mitsuki was a dear friend of her mother's ever since childhood, about him treating her badly, and while the parents did listen and punish their son accordingly, their son on the other hand didn't take it too well and thus attacked her for it, threatening to hurt her worse if she did it again.
That and she didn't want to risk destroying the friendship that both the mothers had for each other.
If She tried it again now? After what he had said, She believed that it would be the absolute last time as this time she feared that he really would kill her.
After fishing her notebook from the fish pond and checking how its condition was Which thankfully was rather good as only the cover suffered more the damage and the edges suffered a bit of the pond but everything else was still intact including her writing and her drawings inside, And after taking time to try her notebook, She made her way home deciding to take a shortcut so she could avoid running into Kacchan, briefly wondering at that point if she should even still call him that after what he had said.
She was determined to continue following her dream despite what had happened, she would be like All Might and stand strong with a smile and She was going to work harder in her training as soon as she could.
For years she had tried to go to an actual professional gym to do training but more often than not she was turned away by the mere fact that she was quirkless, no one wanted to train her, and the martial arts dojos she tried to attend before, while they had accepted her, she was immediately treated like garbage as she was made to be a target by the other students plus forcing her to drop out all together. So she instead tried to do her own set of training without telling anyone, not even her mother.
Mostly it consisted of running all the time, trying to get notes on each hero fight she encounters, which really helped to build up stamina, And she did work outs in her bedroom mainly setups and push-ups and the like, when it came to weights she had to use the smaller training weights as getting more heavier metal ones were while affordable were kind of pricey and she didn't want in trouble her mother in getting some for her.
And She tried to self-teach herself martial art lessons but that was tricky.
Her training was rather mild but she at least was getting her body into decent shape even though she was still rather scrawny looking.
She was determined to become a hero even if she didn't have a quirk, she would fight quirkless if she had to much like the Erasure Hero Eraserhead, whom she found inspiration from to do her training, as despite him having a quirk that wasn't battle oriented that didn't change the fact that he was still an efficient hero that could fight even villains that had muting quirks. But she understood that for him he had to use his brains as well as his brawn.
It was wiser to choose how you battled and wiser still to make sure you wouldn't become a one-trick pony as The underground hero always had more than one tactic to use to take down his opponents.
Really it was both All Might and Eraserhead respectfully who inspired her to follow her dream.
But then everything changed when she was attacked by the Sledge villain and almost killed via suffocation with him attempting to use her body to try and escape the heroes trying to find him. But thankfully to her shock and surprise, All Might appeared and saved her, granted the attack knocked her out but mostly it was from having almost suffocated to death but thankfully she was resuscitated and the villain was captured and placed into two liter bottles (Which was clever as due to him being out of uniform he had to use something to try and efficiently contain the villain without the proper restraints to do so).
All Might had even signed her notebook while she was recovering from the whole thing. But as he was about to leave She clung onto his leg as there was something important she wanted to ask him, Which was a bad idea as she almost got killed the second time as she clung to him for her life as the two of them went flying across the city.
After landing on a building, She asked him if it was possible for someone like her to become a hero even without a Quirk, But in the midst of her telling him the shorthand version of her story (Hiding how bad the bullying actually was) And how much he had inspired her to follow her dream to be hero who can give hope to others with a smile on her face, It was revealed to her what All Might true condition was and him revealing that he had actually been badly injured 5 years ago and that the true nature of the battle itself that caused it had been kept out of the public just so people wouldn't panic, and He had asked her to not say a word about this which she promised that she wouldn't.
He had even explained to her that the reason why he smiled was to hide his own fears and pain and insecurity, the smile was just a mask to give people hope and to make sure that they wouldn't worry about him and trick his own fear into believing that there was nothing to worry about, he understood that being a hero was tough and it was pretty dangerous, gently telling her that No he didn't believe that she could become a heroine but had encouraged her to try becoming a police officer as they too were just as important as without them heroes would have a harder time trying to arrest criminals as he himself had a buddy in the police force who he trusted and he had worked with several times on different cases over the years, telling her that while it wasn't wrong to dream that she had to dream a little more realistically but at the same time to work hard if she wanted to obtain such a dream, it all depending on her.
It stung, deeply so, but at least on the bright side, her hero was willing to give it to her straight and unlike everyone else he didn't belittle her or made fun of her dream and instead try to encourage her to try a different career so that she wouldn't risk getting herself killed early on.
He was kinder to her unlike everyone else. Which was a nice change of pace, though his words were the only things she had to fight off the overwhelmingly dark thoughts despair that still whirled in her heart viciously after what had happened at school as she made her way home, letting her legs take her, Which led her to unknowingly come to a hero fight subconsciously as it become body instinct at that point after having done it for so long.
At first she was going to just ignore it but her own curiosity got the better her and she wanted to see what was going on, only to be met in horror as not only did the sledge villain somehow escape All Might but also that he had a hostage.
Immediately she blamed herself as she recalled that the bottles were in his pants pockets when she had clung onto him earlier, believing that she was the one responsible for setting him free unknowingly and causing another innocent person to get caught in this madness because of her. With All Might out of time and the other heroes not having the right quirks to handle this, it would only be a matter of time before the victim died of suffocation like she almost did.
What shocked her the most was seeing who was being held hostage, it was ka-eh, Bakugo, what happened next felt like it all happened in bullet time. Her body had moved before she even had a chance to think, She went towards the conflict trying to think of something, anything to save him, quickly using her backpack as a distraction to throw it straight at one of his eyes causing him to flinch and release Bakugo, around his mouth, allowing him to breathe Even if only temporarily as she clawed desperately trying to dig him out as her bully had demanded to know why she was there and she in Hysteria screamed that she didn't know and that her legs had moved before she could think, after thinking about everything that happened she then told him that despite how badly he had treated her and all the horrible things he did to her, she couldn't just stand there and watch him die.
Thankfully this provided enough of a distraction to allow All Might to be able to regain his muscle form and jump in just as the villain was about to knock her away, using a Detroit smash to splatter him while hanging on to the children so that they wouldn't get blown away by the whirlwind caused by a smash which also caused the weather to change as it rained briefly Which helped put out the fires caused by Bakugo's explosions while he was trying to use desperately to escape but to no avail into a nothing but causing property damage and making it harder for the heroes trying to save him.
After getting chewed out by the other heroes while all Might was surrounded by the press, She made her way home, But before she could even reach her neighborhood she was stop twice by two people She didn't think she would encounter again that day.
First was Bakugo, who told her that he didn't need any help and that she should have just minded her own business and screamed that she would never become a hero And that she would always be a Deku (which was a nickname he had called her since childhood, and always called her that since then, which literally meant worthless) before trotting back home himself but in a different direction.
The second almost immediately after was All Might himself, who is still in his muscle form before changing back to his original form after finally having escape the media as he stood for justice not sound bites.
He told her that he was sorry for earlier and wanted to thank her for if not for her he would have been a worthless bystander in the crowd.
At first she told him that He shouldn't thank her as she was the one responsible for accidentally letting the villain escape The first place and that all she did was cause more trouble, but he stopped her telling her that despite her being quirkless she unlike the other heroes there actually did something to try and save Bakugo which was really inspiring and allowed him to push past his limits to save them both.
He told her that there were many stories out there about how heroes came to be, but most had one thing in common, that their bodies moved before they even had the chance to think. And that, She was one of those people.
Which brought tears to her eyes as she recalled her mother's words, her apologizing and wanting for things to be different after her daughter had asked her if she could still be a hero despite not having a quirk, which broke her heart as those were not the words that she wanted to hear.
But that day he said the very words that he wanted to hear from anyone all her life:
"Young lady, you too can become a hero."
Which made her break down as tears of relief and joy flowed down her cheek as she collapsed on her knees, clenching her chest, finally hearing the words that freed from her despair.
And it was All Might, her number one hero, who had said those words to her.
After that he had decided to choose her to become his successor and told her the truth about his quirk that he was not born with but instead was like a torch that was passed on to him by somebody else (Which understandably shocked her and left in disbelief but if this was coming from All Might of all people then it had to be true), And that the reason why it was kept a secret was because this quirk was made to fight against villainy, And If anyone knew that it could be passed on to someone else that it could easily be abused and use for evil as villains would stop at nothing to get their hands on it from the current user.
After thinking about it briefly she accepted without hesitation, which he anticipated with a big grin.
Of course obtaining the quirk itself was going to be anything but easy, as first she had to train her body so that it would be strong enough to contain it as the quirk itself would essentially kill her if it was passed down to her in the state she currently was in.
And while Her training before was decent he knew that there was always room for improvement especially as she was going to need all the help she could get.
So All Might chose to use the beach, which was once a popular tourist destination had long since become an unofficial city dump as people dump their garbage illegally there so much to the point that It couldn't be visited for fun anymore, To train her as it would be her task to clear the beach of the garbage for the next 10 months before the UA entrance exam.
He even gave her scheduled meal plan and exercise plan so that not only would she be able to get enough work in but also be able to allow her time to be able to rest in between and not overwork herself.
He had told her early on that while he understood that she needed to hustle And work harder than anyone else to achieve her goal, she should not disregard the fact that she absolutely should not overwork herself to the point of exhaustion as that would be extremely dangerous and detrimental to her own physical health, as himself had learned the hard way when he was young, granted he had been a little younger than her when he started training but nonetheless he understood all too well how bad overworking oneself can truly affect them, and told her that if she wanted to add more work into her workout going forward she should talk to him first so that he can make the appropriate adjustments needed to do so.
And even told her that in public she should call him Mr. Yagi so that no one becomes suspicious and she doesn't accidentally expose him, Which shocked her as she now knew her mentor's name, which was Toshinori Yagi, But nonetheless accepted knowing it was a wise choice.
So for the past 7 months she was hard at work, devoting her time to training and following her mentors instructions and plans to the letter, and yes on some days going beyond but the same time making sure that she didn't overdo it as she kept her teachers warning to heart, Her workouts becoming harder and harder but In an appropriate way so that not only she could get more work in but at the same time she wouldn't do harm to her own body because of it.
At school, things were still rough but for some strange reason Bakugo didn't pick on her during the time, I mean sure he would glare at her more often than not but he didn't yell or attack her, which made her rather weary But she nonetheless was grateful so that she could focus on her schoolwork and her training without issue, hoping that he was just focus on getting his own work done before the end of their last school year before the exams so he had less to worry about later.
At home, while her mother was a bit suspicious of her training she nonetheless decided not say anything and instead supported her daughter training and even followed the meal plan she had given her, Which was her mother's way of trying to make up for making it seem like she had given up on her dream years ago after she had been diagnosed as quirkless, and was willing to give it her all to help her daughter succeed even in her own small way. When asked about why the change, her daughter had told her that she realized that if She wanted any hope of being able to pass the exam She needed to start training more vigorously If she wanted to achieve that. Of course her mother was suspicious that her daughter wasn't doing her training alone but her mother decided not say anything and decided to let her daughter tell her in time, And if things went too far she would step in to stop it.
Of course Izuku herself never told her mentor how bad the bullying had been over the years and how things really were at school outside of basically how her day was (Just telling him that things were well without going into full detail which made him a little suspicious but he nonetheless bought it), which made her feel guilty but focused only on getting her training done in an attempt to combat that.
All in all, everything was going well.
But little would she know that on this supposedly normal Sunday, it would be the day that everything would change, for better and for worse.
Chapter 2: In a flash of light
"I wonder if I should recommend Young Midoriya to share her hero analysis with other heroes? It might be good for her Not only to show her Great potential in analysis skills to others and give her a confidence boost but also be able to help each of the pros so that they'd be able to work more efficiently on the job?" Toshinori thought as He was browsing through one of her hero analysis notebooks (with her permission) as he watched his chosen successor work hard as usual cleaning up the beach which she is made pretty huge headway of it and was almost done, in just a few short months The beach will be completely cleared though he briefly wondered if his successor will have any time be able to learn how to use the quirk before the entrance exam because he started to wonder if he probably might be cutting it just a little close but he was hoping to allow his successor to be able to have at least a little bit of time to be able to learn control of it so that she will have a chance at being able to use it in the exam without hurting herself.
Looking back at his own experiences, while he was able to use his quirk almost right on the fly without issue, the problem he had was the control of strength, he remembered he ended up accidentally causing too much damage during his own entrance exam years back sometime after he received the quirk itself, and believe me when I say it did take him a good long time before he figured out how to regulate the percentage of how much strength he uses in each of his punches let alone how much he may need to apply depending on what type of enemy he's facing off against.
And knowing that One for All increases in strength with each user it is passed on to, he wanted to make sure that she wouldn't end up making the same mistakes that he did, If not around the surrounding area then both that and on herself as he too also recalled a few times he went overboard and hurt himself (thankfully not enough to incapacitate him indefinitely but definitely enough to really hurt a lot) though he briefly wondered frightfully just how much damage his own successor might face once that comes.
He honestly could not help but sigh sadly, he may be a great hero and he may be good at helping in physical training, and now that he thought about it he really should start incorporating some martial arts lessons into her schedule so that she'll be able to learn how to throw a proper punch let alone be able to throw proper moves in battle later on, but that didn't change the fact that... he in all honesty didn't feel like he was competent enough to be able to teach her how to use the quirk itself.
Sure he could give her a few pointers of how it feels like, but that doesn't always exactly transition to proper instructions on how to use a quirk, this will especially be a little difficult as for his successor there's a difference between learning how other people's quirks can be used and learning how to use your own quirk in general.
It didn't help either that Nana died before she could properly teach him how to teach later when the time came for him to choose a successor in the future as she died when he was 18 during his final year at UA, the only sort of training he got was from his other master Gran Torino and even then it mostly consistent of him beating the stuffing out of him to the point that he could still feel the phantom pain from all the beating he endured way back then.
He still fears that man to this day, he may be an old man now but that didn't change the fact that he could still wipe the floor with him if he wasn't careful.
A lesson he learned the hard way that you should never underestimate somebody no matter what their age is.
He had been contemplating this for days now, trying to weigh his options to see what would be the best course of action for his successor.
As much as he wanted to be the one teaching her mainly as he's grown fond of her to the point that he sees her as the daughter he never had (But was not brave enough to say it out loud), he's willing to admit that he needs help, being the number one hero doesn't mean that he's completely invincible as he does need help sometimes as he's learned from all the experience he has received over the years as All Might.
And he knows that she will need all the help she's going to get ... especially as, looking back at his own past mistreatment, she probably may need to see a therapist, if she wasn't seeing one already (as far as he was aware) as he was well aware that the quirkless go through a lot of trauma (he was already dreading what he'll find out about what the quirkless truly go through these days compared to decades ago once he gets down to doing research on it, He would have done it sooner but he was very focused on the training, hero work and getting a lot of paperwork done so he would be ready for his first tenon at UA, though in hindsight he really should actually try to make time to get down to it soon).
He didn't want to pry but he knew he had to ask her eventually.
Weighing his options and still contemplating whether or not he should either ask for help at UA or ask his old master, or Nighteye, both those two of which he dreads Just as much but not so as the former knowing that a certain principle would absolutely take his student under his wing to cultivate and nurture her analysis skills.
One Nezu is bad enough, he honestly didn't think the world was ready for another like him, forget the fact that the two of them were different species as well as different genders, but the very thought of it terrified him to the point that he was almost afraid to sleep at night with the potential threat of nightmares ensuing from it.
Though really, he honestly wanted to be able to help her in more than just her physical training alone (and wondering if he should disregard his own fears and just go for it).
He was not naive of her brilliant analysis skills, for he highly believed that if any certified quirk analyzing professionals were to get a glimpse of her notebooks, she could very well get an early scholarship to the best university and could potentially earn her license early.
Even though that was a long ways away as she still had to finish the rest of her schooling before she could even think about attending college If she chose to do that rather than start her pro hero profession immediately after graduating high school, the skills which she had here that she had been nurturing and growing for years was not something to scoff at by any means.
Because for heroes you not only need a strong body and skills on how to fight (as well as a quirk that can be incorporated into a battle in some manner), you also need to use your brain too, for knowledge is power and it would serve one well when applied to hero work.
After all hero work isn't about pure muscle alone let alone being so heavily reliant on your quirk to the point that it becomes a crutch should you be unable to use it for some reason or another, And it was most certainly more than just fighting bad guys in general.
Looking at her now, he could see that both of them shared so many qualities and traits, he could see it in her eyes that she cares about saving and helping people more than she would fighting but that won't change the fact that she would fight with all her might to defeat the villains to save people.
Even if some of those people would claim that they didn't need saving, doing good for the sake of good was what mattered at the end (so long as it doesn't cost you gravely in return).
And those who claim that they didn't need saving, they usually would be ones that needed to be saved the most whether they were even aware of it or not.
He briefly wondered if this is how Nana felt when she was training him, he may have been a little younger than her when he first started training but that didn't change the fact that he too had worked his fingers to the bone to achieve his goal so that he would be able to wheel One for All without badly hurting his body or getting himself killed, he could only hope that he'll be able to do just as good as his mentor had for him.
"Mr. Yagi."
The voice of his successor was what brought him out of his thoughts as he turned the face her as she wore a simple white sweatshirt and grey gym pants, And her hair was down as he could see that she had taken her hair out of the ponytail and put the hair tie around her wrist to free her hair of some of the tension from being in that position for so long as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.
"Is everything all right? You've been staring off into space for the better part of an hour, is something wrong?" She asked in concern.
He smiled at her reassuringly as he told her, "I'm fine young Midoriya, I was just contemplating on how to change things up it in your training, because it hit me that as much as you need to build muscle in your body, you also need to learn how to properly fight when the time comes for you to fight against a villain."
She believed it was a little more than that but she didn't want to worry him so she nodded and replied, "I understand that, I mean I have tried to teach myself how to fight at home but I'm honestly not sure if I'm doing it right."
He nodded and said, "it's often like that with beginners who are unable to afford proper training at a gym for some reason or another, for your case we both know that the very reason why you're not able to go to a proper gym for that is because...well..." The last part he said hesitantly.
She sat down next to him on the bench as she placed a hand on his shoulder as she nodded, silently telling him that she understood as she knew from experience that the quirkless were unfairly treated like they were nothing but garbage.
And people didn't care if they were going to lose a potential customer because they were too biased to their own belief that the quirkless were worthless.
No matter how much it stung they both knew it was the truth.
But that didn't change the fact that she was grateful to have what she had now, someone who believed that she could become a hero and was willing to train her, who's willing to give her the chance that she needed to prove that she could become a hero despite what everybody said, to prove that she wasn't worthless.
She had both him and her mother on her side to support her, even with only just two people she honestly felt like she could achieve anything with them right behind her helping her to push forward.
The two of them smiled at the other giving their own silent conversation that no matter what they were going to overcome the trials ahead of them.
It was right then that the young greenettes stomach decided to make its presence known as a Loud grumbling came in to tell her that she needed to eat.
This made her blush brightly as she got annoyed that her stomach ruined The moment so rudely, Her mentor on the other hand was laughing, though thankfully not hard enough that it would cause him to cough up blood again.
"I guess this would be the perfect time for us to take a lunch break." He told her, "You have been working pretty hard all morning, and seeing that it's almost noon It would be a good time to stop and get a bite to eat before getting back to work."
She nodded as her blush started to fade, grateful that her mentor was more considerate than most people she had met in her life.
Were it anyone else they would have mocked her for being hungry and quirkless, But that was not the case whatsoever here. And for that she was glad.
As the two got off the bench, Toshinori gave Izuku back her notebook which she put in her backpack before they made their way to the stairs so that they could get into the truck, but it was then that Izuku spotted something in the sky.
It seemed to be a white cluster of 7 bright lights That were culminating around the other until eventually they all merged into one singular ball of light and it seemed to be falling from the sky, looking at the direction of where it was going to hit She realized in horror that the light was about to hit her mentor!
Just like with the Sledge villain she ran before she could think.
"LOOK OUT!" She shouted as she leapt towards the man who she saw as more than just a mentor but as a father that she didn't have (but was hesitant to say it out loud) as she covered his body with her own as a shield as the light struck her at that very moment.
There was a bright flash of light immediately after that as Toshinori had to cover his eyes so that he wouldn't go blind as he shouted for the girl in fear.
It seemed to last for very long seconds but really to the number one hero it felt like an eternity as his mind was running in a worry tangent over his successor hoping that she wasn't hurt and really hating the fact that the light was so bright that he couldn't see a thing and that he was helpless to help her.
Thankfully the light finally dissipated as he immediately looked at the girl and was about to ask her if she was okay and check to see if she was hurt, only to be met with something rather... shocking.
He rubbed his eyes in disbelief before looking back, seeing that he wasn't imagining it.
Izuku's clothes and hairstyle had changed. She now wore a hot pink skin tight (but not in a showy way) sleeveless suit that has the legging part stop in the middle of her thines and it came with a skirt That stopped there too and black lining at the end of it along with black lining around the collar area of said suit, a light pink fest with a white lining with a hot pink stripe in the middle around the end of the vest (which was unbuttoned) and around the collar area along with hot pink buttons And the cuffed sleeves were of the same color And on her vest was a yellow "P" with a white outline to it on the left side right where her heart was, A black choker with the same initial at the center that was white, White Pearl earrings, black fingerless gloves with the cuffs of them being kind of rounded and were white with a pink stripe in the middle (much like the collar and ending of her vest), on her middle finger on her Right hand was a simple ring with a hot pink gem that had the same initial like on the choker and vest only the "P" was light pink like her vest, She wore hot pink and white shoes with the cuff like socks of the shoes being just like the cuffs on her gloves, around her waist was a white belt that seemed to have a compact-like buckle at the center as said center had three different colors to it which were pink, blue and green with a white "P" at the very center of it And on the belt itself there seem to be two golden buttons on each side around the buckle compact area And on the right side there were three circles that had the same colors as that on the compact, And lastly on her head was a big red bow which held up her hair which was once down and around her shoulder blades up in a high ponytail.
And lastly, now that he got a good look at her face, he saw that her eyes which were once emerald green like her hair was now the same color of hot pink as her new theme color attire.
The two of them blinked as both did an examination on this.
Toshinori being confused as all get out while Izuku was shocked in trying to contemplate what on earth just happened.
It was just too weird, even for their world as it was when it came to it this day of age especially when it came to quirks as generally anything was possible at that point but this was just ridiculous.
And that was saying something.
"What .. just...?!" She tried to say as she was so shocked she almost felt like she was floating, not knowing that she literally was until Toshinori had to grab her by the ankle to keep her from getting too far off the ground Which made her look down and yelped in disbelief.
"I'm just as confused as you are but I think it would be in our best interest if we calm down and help you get your feet back on the ground first before we try to contemplate anything." He told her in gentle urging, trying to stay as calm as possible as he too was just as freaked out, it honestly was hard trying to keep from coughing up blood from all this.
After taking a few deep breaths, Izuku was able to calm down and guided herself back down on the ground safely as her mentor let go of her, surprised that she was able to do it so easily as if she had done this her whole life.
"I really do not know what to say about this." Izuku told him.
"That makes two of us, But still I have to ask, are you all right?" Toshinori asked her in concern.
"I'm all right, actually more than that, I feel... stronger than I ever had before, I feel really great actually like I can easily lift a truck up over my head and toss it like it were a volleyball without even trying." She explained, feeling a little giddy though still kind of cautious.
"I'm glad that you are well, but still how did this happen? Was it somebody's quirk?" Toshinori asked as he looked around the area trying to see if there was anybody close by that could have potentially caused it, but there wasn't.
"No I don't think so, for some reason I could tell that this isn't a quirk nor was it caused by someone else's quirk." She explained to him as she looked down at her hands in contemplation, "It feels like this came from somewhere else, like... almost like.. It came from another world altogether, but I can't explain why I feel like that's the case."
"It looks like we're going to need some help in this." Toshinori said as Right then an idea struck him, he was already thinking about this anyway so he might as well say it, "I think we should both head to UA and see what we can figure out there. If anyone can help us then it's the principal himself and the staff there."
Not able to think of any other solutions she agreed with her mentor believing that was the right course of action.
With that said and done they both headed to his truck as Toshinori soon started the engine and they made their way to UA.
Izuku then remembered to text her mother telling her that she might be out for a little longer than intended (but not elaborating why) and she'll text her when she would be back, The last thing she wanted was her mother to have a heart attack from forgetting to text her.
Whatever had happened to her she can only hope that it wasn't anything bad And she would soon understand why she understood that it wasn't.
Chapter 3: Establishment
If he had a dollar for every time something went wrong or something unexpected happened to the point that he really considered retiring early and just disregarding the consequences, he would be a millionaire by now.
There were some days he regretted taking on the position as teacher, but most others he didn't regret it whatsoever especially if it meant that he can help raise the next generation so that they wouldn't become idiots when the time came for them to tackle a playing field as heroes.
Not that he would admit it out loud.
What was supposed to be his day off today was quickly taken away from him when he got a call from his boss telling him that he was needed at UA for an emergency.
And it would be better if he came in person so that he would get to know the whole story.
All he knew was that a child, a teenager around the age required to take the entrance exam, was involved and it required his assistance.
He really hated being left in the dark.
This he would never say a loud too but, deep down he really did care about his students, in general he cares about any child that may need his help.
Though that will not stop him from lecturing said child they did something wrong.
Whatever was going on he hoped he would get the full story soon enough.
However when he got to the principal's office he really was not expecting to meet a man who looked a lot like a skeleton in flesh and blood and a girl who seemed to be in some kind of weird Supergirl costume as her color theme practically screamed "Pinkalisious", as Nemuri would probably say.
He assumed that she was the child in question that needed his help, but he knew he'd never seen her before, surely anyone would have recognized someone in a costume like that.
"Ah, Aizawa, good of you to join us." Said principal Nezu with the same charismatic smile that hardly ever wavered like nothing was wrong.
"It had to be on my day off." He stated grudgingly in a tired manner as he soon took his seat on the couch next to the skeleton like man while the girl was seated on the chair right by the couch while the principal himself was on the other couch that was across from theirs with the coffee table being the only thing separating them from the other.
"I do apologize for calling you at this time especially given the work you got done late last night..." Nezu started.
'No you're not.' Aizawa thought as he underneath his tired expression was glaring at the rat as this was not the first time that something like this had happened.
"...But it was rather urgent that your presence was required for this odd little conundrum." Nezu finished before he pointed to the girl as he told him, "This Young lady here was caught in a very strange amount of circumstances as of two short hours ago. She and Mr. Yagi were planning to take a break from training to go eat when suddenly she spotted a white cluster of lights that soon merged into one and was about to hit her mentor to which she leapt towards him in order to shield him from the impact which engulfed her in a flash of light and soon resulted in her not only getting a change of wardrobe but she seems to have gained powers from this as well."
The greenette, who had been observing him for a while since he came in, gave him a shy nod before she turned her gaze towards her knees like they were a very interesting art piece.
The man next to him, Mr. Yagi, then told him, "I looked around to see if it was the result of somebody else's quirk but I spotted no one, and young Midoriya told me that to her it felt like it came from another world beyond our own and doesn't understand why she feels like that's the case."
Aizawa blinked once.
Then twice.
Before he gave them a look that told them that if this was some kind of weird joke then he was out of here.
But just as he was about to say something, Nezu stopped him as he then told him, "Before you say anything, i would like you to see this."
Nezu then pulled out his handy tablet with what appears to be a video ready to be played on the screen as he handed the device to the underground hero as he told him, "I've managed to procure a video that was recorded from a video camera nearby from a store that has long since closed down, the camera itself was thought to be long since disabled by everyone but coincidentally for us that wasn't the case, so I was able to secure the video in question and send a virus to the camera in order to prevent it from getting hacked into or abused for malicious purposes. I believe young people would say "Seeing is believing", in this case in question."
Despite still being rather skeptical, he knew not to underestimate the rat if he managed to actually get evidence of what he claimed, which is one of the scariest things about the principal and something nobody should ever underestimate, he decided to take his word for it and accept the tablet before playing the video to see for himself.
If he showed any remnant of surprise, then he did well to hide it underneath a seemingly neutral gaze although anyone with a keen eye could see in his eyes that he was stunned at the revelation before him.
And any skepticism and doubt that was there was blown away in an instant as he understood that they had not been lying nor joking.
He sighed as he turned to the man next to him, then to the girl, then to the principal before he handed the tablet back to him (who accepted it) as he then told them, "Perhaps we should get introductions out of the way before we really dive into all of this."
The man next to him nodded in agreement before turning to the girl who he can only guess was his apprentice, or maybe his daughter? Before she nodded and then told him, though nervously, "M-my name is Izuku Midoriya, a-a middle school student in Aldere, i-its nice to meet you Mr Eraserhead."
Okay now that actually made him raise his eyebrows, how did this girl know that he was...?
She then told him, though now slightly less nervous, "I'm actually a fan of you, in fact I'm actually a fan of a lot of heroes and I tend to do analysis on quirks, and have been for years. Due to your profession being an underground hero you prefer not to be in the spotlight so it makes it hard for people to spot you when you're doing hero work as you're very stealthy which could rival that of the ninja hero Edgeshot, but I've actually managed to see you at least a few times on the occasion when you were around my neighborhood. Your quick may not be battle oriented but you're more than make up for that with pure skill in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat while using your quirk to disable most your opponents quirks, and you're even able to fight against those who have mutant type quirks that are not affected by your own quirk. And The reason why you dress as you do is so it makes it harder for people to recognize you which can really come in handy when it comes to apprehending villains if they can't recognize which hero you are..." She then stopped herself when she realized what she did as she blushed a bit before bowing her head and apologizing immediately with a shameful frown, "I'm so sorry! I know people get really annoyed when I go off like that when it comes to heroes, I'm just a big fan of yours and I never thought I'd get to meet you in person. Please forgive me?"
He could only blink at the dumpster load of information he just received from this girl, Midoriya, who apparently knew a lot more about him than most people did outside of his colleagues.
The fact that a lone Middle schooler was able to recognize him and had actually seen him at work a few times clearly told him that He really needed to work on his stealth and vigilance in his surrounding area.
But it also showed that she was very knowledgeable and perhaps stealthy herself in that spectrum.
He was a bit confused when she started apologizing as if she had done something wrong, But only years of work as a hero and working with police detectives a good number of times told him the tall tale signs of her having been treated not so kindly for the things she seemed to be passionate about. But he chose not to pry for now as he told her:
"it's fine, no harm was done, though I am surprised at how knowledgeable you are. Is this a hobby of yours?"
This seemed to make her perk up before she blushed a bit, rubbing the back of her head as she said, "I've been into analysing quirks for years, ever since I was 3 or 4. I thought it would come in handy as this kind of information would be useful for hero work."
"More so then words can describe, her skills are something to marvel at." The man next to him told him before he introduced himself, "My name is Toshinori Yagi by the way, I'm her personal trainer and mentor and have been for the past 7 months."
The Erasure Hero nodded before a thought struck him as he said, "Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't you All Might's secretary? I've heard rumors about you here and there from other heroes I've worked with sometimes. Why are you mentoring a middle schooler outside of the office?"
Mr. Yagi was silent for a bit before he briefly turn to the principal who gave him a brief nod before he gave one in return as the man got up from his seat as he told him, "While that is true, there's a good reason for why I'm mentoring young Midoriya, but there's more to me then meets the eye, for you see the secretary job is just a cover up to hide my real identity."
This made the man raise an eyebrow, curiosity peaked as suddenly steam started to come off of the man.
The girl was startled and looked like she was going to ask her mentor something with a look of shock and worry but was stopped as the man held his hand up and gave her a thumbs up, silently telling her that all would be well which the girl nervously nodded as the look in her eyes did not betray her concern but deep seeded trust she had for him.
Abruptly Aizawa was startled by a big plume of steam that came off from him as the steam itself covered the man with what sounded like a brief "popping" sound that followed immediately after.
Eventually the steam dissipated a moment later revealing, to his astonishment, the number one Hero himself, All Might, as the man turned back to him and gave off his trade mark smile and catchphrase, "I am Here!"
If He had been drinking a cup of coffee he was sure to have spat it out by now in shock.
About a million questions flooded his mind as he was trying to process what he just witnessed.
The skeleton man who looked like he hadn't eaten in years and could easily be blown away by a gust of wind turned into the man who he both acknowledged as a great hero but really disliked him at the same time, and knowing that from what he said a moment ago, it was obvious that Mr. Yagi and All Might were the same person.
He blinked hard a few times at him before Blonde hero spoke, "Undoubtedly you have a lot of questions, I'd be happy to tell you, but summing it up so we don't waste too much time and get back to the case in question."
The man, in a brief puff of steam, then returned back to his skinny form before he frowned and slowly lifted the left side of his shirt, Which now that he thought about it He felt like face palming for not realizing that he been wearing clothes that were too big for his own physical body and now understood the reason behind that, revealing an awful scar that, The Underground heroes shakenly admitted, was The Worse one he had ever seen in his life.
It was true that heroes got hurt more often than not on the job and he had seen more than his fair share of bad scars from other pros, villains and even the people he was working with over the years, but this? This one looked very serious, It was red and a purplish gray, shaped like a spider with multiple legs and that fact that he had been hiding something like this without anyone knowing it only told him that there was more to the hero then he had imagined, and by the look of it The scar had to have been there for years and on The blondes face he could tell that the scar caused him some pain.
"I got this scar almost 6 years ago while I was fighting a very dangerous villain, the injury I received badly damaged my left lung and destroyed both my stomach and some small intestines beyond repair. Because of this I can now only operate on 3 hours a day of Hero work before returning to this form. And before you ask, the fight I had with the man who did this to me was kept quiet and kept out of the public in order to not scare people and ensure that peace could be maintained because the man in question was, to put it bluntly, worse than any villain you've ever met. Even though he's gone the mark he left on me remains." He told him a tone that disturbingly told him how serious he was about it as he let go of his shirt and let it go back down on its own.
To say he was too shocked to speak after having such a bombshell dropped on him would not give the true description of how he felt any real justice.
As hard as it was to believe, Even someone like him was in such disbelief that he had to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn't having a sleep deprived, induced dream due to going on too many all nighters in a row.
The fact that All Might, The number one hero who seemed to be nigh invincible to any serious attacks, who had been a hero for several decades, who could smile no matter what situation he was in, who practically seemed untouchable... could be hurt this badly that it gravely affected his physical health and hero work and the fact that, seeing as he was now, made him really look... just as human as everyone else... completely threw any misgivings and doubts about the hero out the window and buried itself so deeply that it wanted to rot away and die.
Yes he admits that he too assumed a few things about the hero (for oblivious things and because of his dislikes towards him) and yes he knows he was human like himself and others, but for something that was this secretive to be revealed to him in this manner... really made him reevaluate what he actually thought of the man.
But...
"But..." He started after practically having to metaphorically yank his voice back into his throat as he started off a little croaked, "...If it's supposed to be a secret, why reveal it to me?"
"Several reasons really," The number one hero stated, "First is that I wanted you to be the first to know that I'm actually going to be joining the staff this year, I'll be teaching heroics with you, but because I'll be new at this I'm going to need your help in learning how to teach so that I'll be better prepared for the upcoming year. The second reason, and this goes with the first, while I am able to do well teaching how to do physical training without too many issues, when it comes to actual quirk training I'm lacking in that department and when the time comes to it I'm going to need help teaching my successor so that she'll be better prepared for the upcoming exam and hopefully the upcoming school year. And lastly, since you are a homeroom teacher for 1A in the Hero course, And after pondering about it for a while, I thought it would be best to inform you so that I can have some more assistance going forward so that my successor can have all of her blind spots covered not to mention someone to talk to if I'm not available, or two others who I'm planning to call in soon, Not to mention that If I were to miss something I know wholeheartedly you'll help me cover whichever basis I'm missing. Being the number one hero doesn't change the fact that I'm going to need help every once in a while, especially in areas I can't cover on my own."
He was both equal parts stunned and at the same time understanding on why he revealed all this to him, looking at the hero before him and the girl who is still seated on the chair it was obvious that she was the successor in question.
Even though all this revelation piling on top of him was feeling quite overwhelming, even he had to admit, he can understand why The symbol of peace would come to him for assistance.
Years of being a hero and teaching classes has taught him there is a difference between training somebody physically and training somebody quirk-wise as the two subjects themselves were, although similar, were otherwise as different as the Sun and Moon, so it makes sense that he would be one of the few people that would be able to help in this case.
But there was still one thing that was kind of bothering him that he had to ask him.
"But if that's true, I still don't understand why you're choosing to join the staff here at UA as it's just as big a responsibility as being a full-time pro hero is." Aizawa questioned after finally having been able to calm himself enough to speak without being rendered silent.
"Quite simple really," He told him sincerely but firmly, "I'm planning on retiring soon."
Wait what?!
He's retiring?!
I mean sure with that scar on him it only makes sense that he would have to eventually but to actually be told this in person point blank? Yeah that would be shocking to anybody.
Okay hear him out, he was aware that every hero retires when the time comes, and that's different for everybody depending on the case, and he knew that while All Might was just as human as everyone else, he knew he would probably have to retire eventually, there's a huge difference between thinking that and actually learning it himself.
It feels very shocking learning this from somebody who was far more secretive about a lot of things in his personal life to the point that numerous rumors rolled over the web and nobody can figure out which one was actually true.
His expression had to have been very clear to all of them because All Might then replied to it with a rather sad smile, "As much as I want to keep on doing my job, I'm aware of that I can't keep it up forever, and with my injury as it is and it draining my time and how long I can maintain my hero form, I know that inevitably I'm going to have to step down from my position and think about retirement. But if I were to retire I wanted to be so that I could still help others even if on a lower But still important scale and be sure that the future will be in good hands. Hence why I chose to join the staff here at the very school I attended and graduated from, and why I chose young Midoriya to take my place someday. So I can slowly transition into the career of being a teacher as the retirement plan and allow the spotlight for a new generation to come forth so that once I retire, I'll know that the future Will be just as bright even if I'm not there."
He was actually starting to get sick of getting shocked so much in one day, this was more shocking than any other revelation he was either told or stumbled upon in all the years that he had been a hero in the underground department.
Though can anyone honestly fault him?
Still, He now understood why the man is choosing to do this.
Yet he couldn't help but look back at the girl who he saw had a look of sadness as her gaze was cast down to her lap again, as he could clearly see that she was well aware of what he had been planning to do as it was clear that he either had told her ahead of time or she found out herself or a little of both at some point.
But then she looked back up and turned her gaze to her mentor and then to him as he could see a new light in her eyes that sparks like a flame, one that was determined to achieve victory no matter how sad that fact was.
It was the kind of spark he often saw in his students who were determined to achieve their goal and become heroes, willing to go beyond their limits to do so no matter what obstacles might happen to appear.
If she was intending on becoming a student here and was working diligently so that she could be prepared for the entrance exam, and someday become a hero just like her mentor, Then He was willing to help however he could in this dilemma.
If she planned on not weavering, then he was willing to assist.
Aizawa, whose face returned to a neutral but also understanding look, nodded to him.
"I'll do what I can to help, But I need to know the details about how you two met and why you chose your student specifically to take your place." Aizawa told him, his tone saying that if he was going to be helping him then he needed to know all the details so that he wouldn't get blank sided.
All Might-, eh, Mr. Yagi, Nodded in agreement before he sat back down next to him and began to tell him All the details that he was going to need.
1 hour later
So quirks that were capable of being transferred to another person outside of inheritance from the genes of the parents was apparently a real thing.
That sounded unbelievable, but then again he has seen tons of quirks that were pretty unbelievable themselves until he actually saw them with his own eyes, and knowing that the number one hero has been a hero longer than he has he too has seen many a quirk that seemed out of this world.
And knowing that his intended successor was a quirkless middle schooler made it clear that she had a lot of catching up to do if she wanted to be able to be ready for the entrance exam.
And he could definitely see that she understood this pretty well too and was willing to go beyond so that she could close that gap between her and her future classmates.
He understood why she had to work as hard as she had been for the past 7 months, if the quirk was transferred into an unprepared body then she would most certainly die, he has seen what All Might was capable of doing with all that raw strength behind him, so it was a little wonder why she had to prepare her body so that if there was a backlash then it wouldn't be as severe, Especially after learning that the power of the quirk gets stronger each time it was passed down.
But honestly, having this, suddenly gaining powers out of nowhere, being thrown at them just when they were 3 months away from the exam, anyone would be pretty sure that they were never prepared for something like this happening.
But if this power could be used to give her an advantage and if it was capable of possibly helping her to be able to control that strength of One for All once the time came for it to be passed down to her (if the powers she had were permanent), then it was absolutely important to get this under control and figure out how,it all worked before hand.
Although there were a few things to note, besides the girl having her entire attire changed into a costume that looks like it came straight out of it teen girl anime, Mr. Yagi had noted that he had noticed that in this form she seemed to have gained much more muscle tone, not enough to be really bulky but certainly enough to stand out and look physically stronger than a track and field athlete mixed with a pro female swimmer. Not to mention that the girl seemed to be floating more than walking as it appeared that she was doing it subconsciously and only having that made known to her once one of them pointed it out before she planted her feet back on the ground and continued to follow them as they all made their way to one of the training gyms.
They could see that she was capable of hovering off the ground without issue, But he knew that there was a difference between hovering off the ground and actually flying as they would soon see how well she will do once they got started.
Upon arriving inside the giant gymnasium which was made specifically for indoors quirk training, they met up with one of the fellow staff of UA who is also capable of helping in training students on how to better use their quirks, Ken Ishiyama, Also better known as Cementoss, who can help provide remakeable targets for their future student candidate to practice with.
Upon seeing him Midoriya gave off a huge smile as she exclaimed as she started bouncing and floating in place, "It's the cement hero Cementoss! A hero capable of molding, manipulating and controlling cement at will and his quirk can very easily tire out and incapacitate multiple villains seemingly all at once without tiring himself out or putting his fellow heroes in danger. Knowing that there are heroes who are staff members here is super cool!"
Honestly Aizawa now wasn't surprised that she knew this. He had seen her journal entries earlier so he knew that she was really capable of doing a thorough quirk analysis and breaking down the pros and cons of said quirk And even writing down ideas on how they can be improved upon and really helping them to be as versatile as possible.
With the brain like that, She would most certainly be a very formidable hero someday.
He too agreed with Mr. Yagi that with skills like that she would definitely be qualified in attending the best quirk University and even perhaps obtaining her license early If she were to choose to attend college after graduating high school instead of going pro immediately after like All Might did, at the very least she could easily achieve a scholarship.
He also, upon knowing that Nezu had already seen her journal and was planning on making her his personal student, agreed with the number one hero that one Nezu was bad enough, In knowing that the principal was going to be helping the cultivate her growing mind meant that this would mean doomsday for everyone.
Sure that may seem extreme but if you knew just what the principal was capable of especially with his high specs quirk and knowing what he's been through before he became a principal and hero, then you would understand why the idea of there being someone like the principal was so terrifying that the thought of sleeping soundly would practically be impossible from here on out.
In fact both the men were dreading the IQ test that the principal was planning on having her do after they saw and figured out just what she was capable of with her new powers.
It was at the moment when Cementoss chuckled in amusement did Midoriya stop and blushed before apologizing.
"You needn't apologize, young lady, there's no harm in showing admiration towards someone you look up too." The walking block of cement told her with a smile, "And I'm impressed you know quite a bit about me."
This made The girl sigh in relief before she then asked him if he could sign her notebook, to which he agreed as he accepted the notebook and pen that she seemed to pull out from out of nowhere and began writing in it.
Not surprised there either as he had seen Nezu and Mr. Yagi's autographs earlier while browsing through her entries.
And it looked like she wanted to ask him too but was hesitant and wanted to respect his space, which he appreciated, though he was pounding on whether or not he should give her one of his rare ones depending how things went today.
After getting her notebook and pen back after being complimented for her work, to which she thanked him for it, before turning back to the others, realizing her reaction, was about to apologize but was stopped by her mentor as he told her that it was alright and that she needed to stop apologizing constantly as her reaction was understandable.
Aizawa could see in the man's eyes that he was concerned about her mental welling being, he honestly was in the same boat as him and was thinking about talking to Hound dog about it later.
For now though, it was time to get to work.