All for One stared at the red peg on the wall map absentmindedly, his mind elsewhere as he processed the latest news from his assistant. He twiddled the handset in his hands for a couple of seconds, before setting it back down on the receiver, a wide smirk on his face.
“Not only did our first version fail the mission, it couldn’t stand up to All Might’s power,” the doctor said, anger seeping into his voice as he took notes while he stared through a microscope. “What a waste of time. That ball of sludge... utterly useless.”
“No, Doctor,” All for One said sternly. “Not useless. Just the wrong tool. We used a wrench when we should have used a pry bar. But for all of his failings, he did give us a wonderful opportunity.” All for One’s smirk grew into a manic smile as the idea spun in his head.
The doctor looked up from his microscope, glancing at All for One as he stood up from his chair, dragging the life-support equipment with him over to the map. He pulled the pin out of the board and stared at it for a second, before setting it into a small box next to the board. He looked up at another pin, this one blue, across the map to the opposite side of Japan.
“One piece falls, but I have another piece that will rise to this challenge wonderfully. He just needs some… reinforcement. A firm push in the right direction,” All for One stated as he reached out for the pin. He plucked it from the board and carefully stuck it into the same place the red pin had been located. He regarded it for another second and then turned away from the board.
“Hmmm…” he hummed deeply. “Yes. That settles it. I think it’s time to accelerate Young Tomura’s training,” All for One said, rubbing his chin as he walked back to his chair. Sitting back down and flipping a tube over his shoulder, he reached for the phone on the table beside him. He dialed a number quickly.
“Kurogiri,” he said as the line connected after a single ring.
“Yes, Sensei.” The deep voice on the other end of the line was polite and firm, much like its owner.
“Send for Tomura. We are accelerating the schedule,” All for One ordered, “That is all.”
“Understood. I’ll alert you when he is settled,” Kurogiri responded, hanging up with a soft click.
All for One placed the phone back down, his smile still in place. He ‘looked’ to his left, regarding the doctor behind him, still immersed in his work.
“Tell me, Doctor. What do you get when an unstoppable force and an immovable object meet?”
The doctor looked up from the microscope at All for One, a confused look on his face, saying nothing.
All for One continued, “They either pass through each other. Or they annihilate each other.”
His grin grew wider as he turned back and focused on the blue pin.
The next morning, Izuku woke with a start, his breathing deep and ragged, his sheets sticking to him from the sweat. He sat up, glancing at the alarm clock that showed it was a little after two in the morning. He ran his hands over his face, trying to wipe away the image of the green sludge that was covering Katsuki’s face, as he steadied his breath. The fear in his friend’s eyes was burned into his memory now. Izuku sighed heavily as his heart rate settled.
He had been told to expect something like this by Toshinori, but his nightmare got progressively worse as the night drifted on. Izuku swung his legs out of bed, and peeled off the damp clothes, tossing them into his closet hamper. He flipped a lamp on as he stood up and walked over to his dresser, and picked out a fresh t-shirt and boxers, his eyes unfocused as he tried to fight the memory of the nightmare. First Katsuki, and then Ochako. The sludge was relentless. He had been powerless.
He snapped out of his stupor when there was a light knock at the door. “Izuku?” came Toshinori’s voice softly.
“One sec,” Izuku said, quickly throwing on the fresh clothes before walking over to and opening the door. Toshinori looked concerned, giving Izuku a once over.
“I heard you groaning and tossing. A nightmare?” his father asked.
Izuku sighed and nodded, pulling open the door all the way and walking away to sit on his bed. Toshinori followed and sat down in Izuku’s desk chair, facing his son as he looked at his knees, hands folded together.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Toshinori asked in a low voice.
Izuku didn’t say anything for a bit, his hands unfolded and grabbed onto the bed, squeezing the material tightly. He took another deep breath, “It was the sludge villain. I know you beat him, but I can’t get Kacchans’s look of fear to go away. I’ve never seen him scared before,” Izuku said, keeping his eyes resolutely on his knees.
Toshinori nodded, “I figured it was something like that. Before now, you had only seen me hurt. Now you have seen your friends get into the mix of things, too. But this is nothing to be embarrassed or shy about, Izuku.” Toshinori said, holding a hand out towards his son.
Izuku looked up, glancing at the warm smile his father had.
“All heroes will have this trial to face. Sleepless nights, nightmares, even full-on panic attacks. If you don’t have some sort of reaction to destruction and fear, then I don’t think you’re truly sane,” Toshinori continued, glancing down at his left hand, a slight twitch running through his thumb and index finger. “When I was in the hospital, there were... several sleepless nights.”
He looked back up at Izuku, “There are still some nowadays too. I’m not saying that it’s a normal thing or trying to dismiss your pain,” he said, raising a hand. “What I’m trying to say is that you aren’t alone and that you can always talk to me. Something everyone needs is someone else they can rely on, especially heroes. Because at the end of the day, even heroes need saving sometimes.”
Izuku looked back down and swallowed, thinking over his nightmare. “It starts with Kacchan. The sludge takes him and I try to fight back, but nothing happens. I can’t move or fight or even scream. But then Ochako is taken next. And not being able to help her hurts even more,” Izuku said, gripping the sheets as the tight feeling in his chest started to build again.
Toshinori placed his large hand on Izuku’s shaking shoulder as he fought to contain his emotions, “I know that feeling, Izuku. More than I would like to admit. The feeling of being powerless, of failing. Every time I fail to save someone. You feel like no matter what you did, it wasn’t enough,” Toshinori said softly.
Izuku nodded as he wrestled for control over his breathing, his father continuing, “But you need to remember, son. To overcome these fears, you must realize that you can’t save everyone, and that as long as you try your absolute hardest, it’s never your fault.”
Izuku felt the dam break and lost control, the tears flowing freely now as his grief and fear took over. Toshinori reached forward and embraced him, wrapping his arms around him tightly, “Just let it out, son.” he said, patting Izuku’s back, “Keeping it bottled up will only make things worse.”
He let Izuku release everything, wishing he could take away his son’s pain. He only pulled back as he felt Izuku shift away from him, his son wiping his red eyes, grabbing a tissue from the box Toshinori handed him.
“Thanks, Dad.” Izuku said shakily, huffing slightly as his breathing normalized, “I didn’t realize how much it was bothering me.”
Toshinori smiled warmly and nodded, “It’s funny how that works sometimes. Your mind and will are strong, but your emotions and psyche are a different beast entirely. Now, let’s get some tea and talk for a little bit then get you back to bed. I want you as well rested as possible for today,” he said as he stood up, and walked out to the kitchen.
Izuku wiped his eyes and nose again, before smiling softly and following his father.
Several hours and a well-earned rest later, Toshinori and Izuku walked to the beach in silence, Izuku stretching his back and arms while Toshinori sipped from a coffee mug as they walked. The cool morning air reinvigorated the both of them as they felt the last dregs of sleep leave them once they reached the overlook of the beach, the piles of trash and broken appliances greeting them with a foul stench.
“Now, Izuku, before we begin...” Toshinori started, pausing as a black sedan pulled into the parking lot, parking in a spot close by. Izuku smiled as he watched Mirai Sasaki exit the car.
Toshinori waved, “Mirai, my old friend! Thank you for coming,” he called out.
Mirai adjusted his glasses and shook Toshinori’s outstretched hand with a smile. “Toshi, good to see you. My apologies for the delay,” he said, bowing slightly before turning to face Izuku. “Good to see you, Small Might,” Mirai said with a small smile, “This should be a very interesting day, Izuku. Are you ready?”
Izuku rolled his eyes at the nickname, and smirked, “Good to see you, too, Uncle. And yes,” he answered.
Mirai’s smile faltered a bit, “Then I don’t need to impress the importance of this upon you. Your father is leaving you with some big shoes to fill,” he said with a smirk.
Izuku grinned, and lifted his leg to look at his large red shoe, “I think I’ve got that covered, Uncle.”
Mirai chuckled, “Good. Now then,” he turned to Toshinori as he fixed a stray strand of hair.
Toshinori nodded and looked at Izuku, a prideful smile on his face. “Izuku, you have proven yourself to have an honorable and noble heart, the heart of a hero. You are worthy of being my successor. However, before you gain my power, we need to ensure that you are capable of fine control over your own power.”
Izuku cocked his head with a questioning look, “You mean how I unleashed the power when I punched?” He held out his hand, staring at it intensely.
Toshinori nodded, “Yes, my boy. You have great power, but you are barely able to contain it when it is released. I watched as you threw your punches yesterday. It was crude but effective. So, what I want is for you to spend some time focusing. Instead of containing the power and simply letting it out, you need to learn how to control the flow and direction. You need to learn to consciously direct the energy out of your body, instead of building it up and letting it explode out,” Toshinori said, gesturing to Izuku’s arms and core.
Toshinori took a deep breath, and steam exploded out from around him, his giant form stretching out his t-shirt and pants. He looked down at Izuku and struck one of his signature poses. “My quirk is a massive crystallization of stored power, and in your current state, while you can barely control your own power, you are just containing it until it is released. That won’t work with mine. It would overwhelm you,” All Might said, “and who knows what would happen then.” A concerned look briefly appeared on his face before morphing back into his wide smile.
He turned to the trash covered beach and gestured for Izuku to follow. All Might stopped at a large metal dumpster that had been turned over and unceremoniously righted it. He slapped the side heartily and grinned back at Izuku.
“Here’s the plan, Young Izuku. The toaster yesterday was small potatoes compared to the amount of trash you are going to melt down today.” He pointed to the massive pile of trash; appliances, scrap, even small vehicles were scattered throughout.
“I want that whole pile slagged and put into this dumpster. You need to figure out how to command your power best in order to meet your goal!” All Might held his fist up and nodded to Izuku, who smiled and returned the fist bump before facing the trash heap.
Izuku studied the pile and settled on his course of action, just pushing heat into the metal. He walked up to the pile, and focused on the car at the bottom of the pile, steadying his breath and stirring the power inside of him, pulling it up into his arms.
Behind him, watching on, All Might deflated, and Toshinori leaned over a bit towards Mirai, “Now, watch this,” he said quietly. Mirai glanced at his old friend, before turning back to watch Izuku. Mirai had initially been skeptical of Izuku’s sudden power arrival when Toshinori had called him the previous night, but he was intrigued. Izuku had shown great strength and his character was never in question.
He turned back to look at Izuku, his gaze widening as bright green rings of light appeared around Izuku’s biceps, motes of light rapidly coiling down his arms that pooled around his open palms. Izuku stepped forward and placed his hands on the exposed metal frame. It took a second, and at first, Mirai wasn’t sure about what would happen, but seeing the metal change from a dull grey, through red and orange, to bright white in a couple of seconds was something to behold.
Izuku continued to ramp up the intensity, pushing more power into his palms, the motes of light rushing down his arm as he slowly brought the metal in the car to its melting point, the frame warping from the weight of the trash on top. The heat spread upwards as Izuku pushed more power out, a steady stream of rising air whipping up around him as the heated air rushed up.
Izuku felt his own temperature rise, power channeling through him meeting resistance throughout his body, as sweat rolled off of his arms. But he wasn’t even close to being done. He pushed through, continuing as the car and appliances sagged in front of him, their metals combining into a large pool of steaming and smoking aluminum, steel, and copper.
Only after the entire stack had been rendered down did Izuku pull back, releasing his control, the rings of light vanishing. He steadied his breath and wiped his brow with his sleeve before looking back at Toshinori and Mirai, Toshinori gave Izuku a thumbs up, Mirai simply stared with a surprised look on his face.
“Well done, Izuku. You controlled the output well, though I can see it took a lot out of you to melt something that large.” Toshinori walked over and handed Izuku a rag to dry himself with.
“Next, you need to focus on accuracy and precision,” Toshinori said, gesturing to his left fist. “My punches are directed so that they are accurate applications of force, hitting exactly where I want them to hit. If I missed when firing off one of my smashes, I could very easily hurt or kill an innocent bystander.”
Izuku immediately thought of the punch in the alley against the sludge villain, and a chill ran down his spine. His father had unleashed a full-powered punch right next to him, and all he felt was a slight breeze. If that had hit him… he shuddered at the idea. He turned his focus back to the task at hand and studied his fist, pulling up on a tiny bit of power, a small ring of light steadily moving down his arm and settling around his fist.
“Punches are easy to do but wide and uncontrolled. I need something smaller and faster, with more precision,” he muttered to himself, running through ideas. Out of the corner of his eye, movement caught his attention.
Mirai flicked away a bug that was crawling on his suit sleeve with a single finger. The proverbial light-bulb went off in Izuku’s head. He glanced down at his fist and opened his fingers, keeping his focus on the ring so it slowly slid down his palm, stopping it around his middle finger.
Izuku smiled at the success of his first attempt and turned to face the wall of trash, throwing his arm up and taking aim. He released his finger and the control at the same time. The ring of light burst out from his fingertip, exploding outward. A cone of light and heat burst out, impacting the wall, impacting it heavily, forcing heated air up and over the wall, knocking some trash off.
“Yes!” Toshinori called out. Izuku caught his wide smile, seeing his father’s excitement at his rapid improvement. “Just like that! Keep focusing on that, Izuku.”
Izuku smiled broadly and nodded, turning back to the trash heap. He focused again, pulling more power into his finger and letting it loose at the wall, launching more trash into the air. He switched it up on the third go-around, using different fingers, and then finally focused his punch into a tight cone, blasting right through the wall of trash as a cone of heat and light, scattered sand and debris around Izuku and the adults observing him.
He panted through the exertion, finally letting his arms fall as he felt his power dwindling. He laid down on the cool sand, catching his breath. He smiled through the pain he felt in his arms the effort had left him, success was worth every ounce of pain.
A shadow crossed his face, and he looked up to see his father smiling down on him.
“That was good, Izuku. Now, let’s go again. Plus Ultra,” he finished, holding out a hand for Izuku to grab.
Izuku smiled, “Plus Ultra.”
Over the next couple of hours, until the sun was right above them beating down with all of its might, Izuku had spent the time pushing his control to its limit, building more and more powerful attacks, and even improvising a concussive ‘shield’.
“Stopping attacks with a repulsive blast,” Izuku muttered, shaking his head as he watched the fifth concrete block rocket away from him, launched by his ‘Repulsor Smash’. All Might throwing the bricks at Izuku was a great way to test, even if it scared Izuku a bit to see his father’s hulking form throw ten-kilogram concrete bricks like they were baseballs.
“Catch, son!” All Might called out, and Izuku’s eyes snapped to the incoming projectile, launched at high speed from across the beach. He prepped his arm with power, and released it in a wide arc as the block hurtled toward him, the cone of compressed air bursting out and slamming into the projectile. The energy transfer sent it careening away uselessly further down the beach.
Izuku watched carefully as it sailed away, only noticing its trajectory a split second later; it was headed right for Mirai, who was turned away, talking on the phone.
Izuku’s mind raced. There was no way he could stop it in time, let alone get over there to move Mirai. He needed an even more precise attack to destroy it.
“Now that’s an idea,” he muttered, pulling up his hand, and focusing hard, channeling as much power into his open palm as he could and compressing it, before pushing it out all at once.
A column of light burst out from his palm with a rushing sound, the air jumping away from the beam as it impacted the brick, shattering it on impact, turning the brick into tiny chunks of rock and dust. It rained down on Mirai, who had been startled by the close explosion. He dusted himself off, looking at Izuku with an exasperated grimace, glancing down at his once pristine suit, now covered in dust.
Izuku smiled and waved apologetically, rubbing the back of his head before turning back to All Might, who was laughing loudly, having watched the scene with bemusement.
“Good work, my boy!” All Might said, walking over to Izuku, grinning broadly.
“That was too close, Dad.” Izuku said, grimacing apologetically.
“It would have been fine. I was watching. But you did exactly what you needed to! Uh, what was that anyway?” All Might asked, glancing down at Izuku’s hand.
Izuku smiled and raised his hand, holding his palm up, letting a ring of light encircle it before settling just above his skin, growing tighter and tighter, a high pitched whining sound coming from it.
“I decreased the size of the ring, but increased the power, making it turn in on itself, focusing the power into a single point, almost like a laser pointer,” Izuku explained, turning toward a pile of tires, before firing the power at them, blasting a hole right through two of them. “It’s almost like Kacchan’s ‘AP Shot’, the penetrating move he uses. Accurate over long distances and controllable.”
All Might’s smile broadened as Izuku explained, and he clapped him on the shoulder. “Well my boy, I think it’s finally time. You have proven that you are quite capable of controlling your own power. Now, let’s add mine into the mix and see what happens next!” All Might announced proudly.
‘All of that work and some quick thinking, and he already has a new technique that’s entirely his. How cool is that?’ All Might thought to himself as they walked back to the entrance to the beach where Mirai was waiting, finally clean of all of the dust.
“It’s time, Young Izuku,” All Might said, smiling with paternal pride as he stood opposite Izuku. “You have proven to me that you have a heroic heart, risking your own safety to protect others.”
Mirai, standing next to All Might, spoke up next, “Izuku, in just the short time of watching you, and speaking with Toshinori, you have proven that you can control your power and use it effectively. You have surpassed my wildest expectations, even going so far as to create your own technique.” Mirai’s gaze changed from stern and observant to kind and paternal, before turning to All Might, “All Might, you chose a good successor. He will be the best of all of us.”
Izuku watched them both, eyes shining with pride and admiration as they praised him. Tears of joy began to form in the corner of his eyes.
All Might nodded and plucked a hair from his head.
“Are you ready to accept my gift? Are you ready to become my true successor?”
There was no hesitation from Izuku. He couldn’t wait to see what he could do with All Might’s power.
“Yes, I am ready!” he said exuberantly.
“Good. Now… Eat this!” All Might called out, holding out the golden hair for Izuku to take.
Izuku didn’t register what his father had just asked of him. He stared at the hair, confused.
“You have to eat some of my DNA. That’s how it’s passed down, son,” All Might said, a weak smile on his face.
Izuku blinked and looked up at All Might and saw that he was fully serious.
“Well, I suppose that makes sense,” he said, taking the hair, “I thought it was going to be one of those ‘power transfer’ things like in cartoons or the movies.”
“This isn’t make-believe, Izuku,” Mirai said.
“For all you know,” Izuku said, glancing at the hair and knocking it back quickly, swallowing it as fast as he could. He grimaced from the odd feeling, taking a gulp of water from the bottle Mirai handed him.
He passed the bottle back to Mirai and shrugged, “I mean, this could all be a simulation or a universe someone thought up,” Izuku said, before turning to look at All Might. “And now we wait. It’ll take some time for your body to process the DNA. Let’s keep working on your control training to see how your body eases into the new power.” All Might ordered, jumping back down to the trash, with Izuku hot on his heels, eager to see what was going to happen.
Deep inside of Izuku’s cells, his mitochondrial DNA began processing new information, delivered to them by the carrier molecules that feed each cell. New segments began replicating rapidly, and the protein DNA readers began adding the code to the massive chain of spiraling RNA molecules they were in charge of, slotting the new code right next to a similar code.
The DNA was then handled by CRISPR protein molecules further down the chain, activating the code by zipping the RNA molecules together, forming a tight atomic bond, and passing it further down the incredibly small and complex assembly line, onto the final stage of DNA replication. The next version of the CRISPR protein within Izuku’s cells began copying the new DNA molecules and passing them to even more proteins that would edit it into the cells nucleus, where it would be copied into the main chromosome.
The new code sat in its new home, its journey finally complete. But it still had work to do. It recognized the power sitting next to it and sent out the first instruction.
There was a small spark, a handful of electrons that passed between the new code and the similar code that had been there since the cell’s creation. The old code was very unique, however. A closer examination of it would determine that not only were the molecules more tightly packed together, there were also some things that shouldn’t have been there. Dark areas of power contained in the matrix of atoms, pulsing against the control the atoms exerted over them. The first spark was a request for fuel, and the old code had plenty to spare. It pulsed in response, forcing the dark matter in its core to begin spawning electrons. The spark was returned to the new code, much bigger than before. It was tiny in comparison to the size of the cell it was in, but a second push from the new code, and the old code gave up more and more electrons freely. The spark grew with each pulse of power.
The process repeated endlessly across each one of the cells in Izuku’s body as he trained with All Might, his body stressing and pushing his quirk to the limit, going beyond anything he had ever done before. His quirk listened to its new partner, and began feeding it the energy it needed, latching onto the new quirk and flooding it with all it could soak up. But when it finally hit its limit, it did the only other thing it could do: pull in as much power as it could.
It began with a soft buzzing feeling in Izuku’s chest like his heart was beating too fast, or he was nervous. He dropped the oven he had been carrying and rubbed his chest, concern etched on his face. He felt his arms get cold suddenly. He pulled them up and stared, turning them over in front of him. A chill ran through him, like the worst brain freeze he’d ever had, making him grimace in pain.
All Might looked back at his son at the sound of the appliance falling heavily into the sand, calling out as he turned, “Now, now, Young Izuku, you can keep- Izuku, what’s wrong?” All Might asked, his smile vanishing as he saw the confused and pained look on Izuku’s face.
Izuku looked up at his father and hero, “I’m… not sure. I’m cold-d,” Izuku said, starting to stammer as he felt his breath catch in his chest. He wobbled from the sudden exhaustion that washed over him, and fell to one knee, leaning over as he tried to make his lungs expand, struggling to breathe.
All Might quickly stepped over and kneeled next to Izuku, “What’s happening, Izuku?!”
Izuku shook his head as he felt the cold penetrate everything in and around him, soaking into his clothes, through his abdomen, down his thighs, and into his feet. His vision started to darken, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw ice start to form around his feet as the cold rolled off of him, freezing the sand beneath him.
All Might stood quickly and looked over at the entrance to the beach, but didn’t see Nighteye anywhere. “Damn it, Mirai. Bad time for a phone call,” he muttered, scanning for his friend. He needed to get Izuku help and fast.
“D-dad!” Izuku managed to squeeze out. All Might looked down quickly at his son, fear flooding him as he saw the pain in his son’s face looking up at him, ice hanging off of his hair and frost forming on his face.
“H-hit…” Izuku forced out again, a pleading look on his face. He could barely mouth his next word.
“Me.”
All Might felt a chill run through him. Izuku’s face sent fear racing through him. The ice spread from Izuku’s body in the sand in a rapidly creeping circle. He backed away for a couple of steps, and he glanced back at Izuku’s face, the pain and fear in his eyes reminding him of far too many scared faces he had seen throughout the years.
‘Now isn’t the time!’ his internal voice screamed at him. He could feel the cold washing over him now, while the intense pull of Izuku’s body soaking up the heat around him was starting to move the air as the pressure dropped, wind starting to whip around him. He clenched his fist. Fear was doused, as courage rose up and took its rightful place.
“It’s fine now, Izuku. I’m here.” All Might said calmly, forcing himself to be steady for Izuku. He took a step forward, pushing through the wall of cold ahead of him, the light around Izuku looking dimmer as Izuku’s body pulled on every source of energy it could. With each step closer, the cold burned through All Might’s clothes into his bones, the chill running through him like lightning. He reached Izuku’s nearly frozen form and pulled back his large fist. He steadied himself, the cold freezing his boots to the ground and reaching up his feet. He aimed for his son’s hunched over back, his largest surface area.
“DETROIT SMASH!” All Might called out, swinging his fist down in one of his signature moves, creating a shockwave and blast of compressed air. It collided with Izuku’s back and laid him out flat, his legs and arms splaying out as his body was forced into the ground with thousands of newtons of force.
The shockwave exploded out, launching a couple of pieces of trash away from them, but the majority of the force had been delivered to All Might’s target. He felt the cold abate as Izuku’s body normalized, the ice around him slowly thawing in the midday sun. All Might deflated, and Toshinori sat down on the cold, hard sand next to his son and checked his pulse. Relief flooded him as he saw Izuku was unconscious, but breathing, his chest rising and falling slowly, small bits of sand kicking up around his nose as he breathed out.
“I’m sorry, my boy. I didn’t know this would happen,” Toshinori said softly, watching Izuku carefully.
Izuku felt wet?
That couldn’t be right. Sure, he was on a beach with his dad and he had been sweating a lot today, more so than he had in a long time. He chalked that up to his new power usage. But they were far from the actual bay and he was pretty sure the sweat would have evaporated by now.
But he definitely felt wet, along with an odd warmth, distant and strange, but familiar at the same time. The wetness was only on his backside and back.
‘Tide might be in? It’s only a couple of inches deep,’ he thought to himself.
He groaned as he rolled over, splashing the liquid around him as his arm fell to his side. He opened his eyes, and blinked at the bright light. Flashes of green and gold crossed along the black water that surrounded him. He looked up to see a star above him. His mouth opened in awe as he watched the swirling currents of plasma and heat roll around the ball of golden and green light.
“Hey kid.”
The voice made him jump. He sat up quickly, looking around for the source, only seeing the black liquid stretching out in all directions.
“Hello? Who’s there?” he called out hesitantly.
“A friend,” the voice responded. The liquid started to rise in front of him, slowly forming a slightly humanoid shape, more details sliding into view as the liquid drained off of the person.
He stared into the eyes of the person in front of him, jet black hair and white cape gently moving in a non-existent breeze. A woman.
She looked familiar for some reason, but he couldn’t place why. He definitely felt at ease around her, so she probably wasn’t dangerous.
“So... you are the ninth bearer?” the woman asked with a slight head tilt and knowing smile on her face.
Izuku cocked his head to the side but didn’t take his eyes off the stunning woman in front of him. Her hair was styled like his mother’s, but pure black instead of forest green. Her muscular forearms and legs rippled as she walked closer to him. Her smile never faltered, only drawing his eyes in more.
She stopped in front of him and held out her hand for him to take. He grasped it firmly, but before he could pull himself up, he was pulled up by her incredible strength.
“Sorry, but... who are you?” Izuku said, his stare continuing.
She laughed, her smile stretching a little further.
“I am the seventh bearer of One for All, Nana Shimura.”
Izuku blinked. “Seventh bearer,” he said slowly, turning the concept over in his mind. “So my dad-”
“Toshinori was eighth, yes,” Nana said, interrupting him. “He passed his power onto you.”
She chuckled lightly, a sound that Izuku immediately enjoyed hearing. “It’s funny though, with you being his son. Not only did he not follow my advice and settle down, he passed his power onto his son. Under different circumstances, I would say that was a bad idea, but it seems that this was actually a better idea.”
She turned to look up at the star above them, “Your power is very unique, Izuku. One for All helped create it, and so it was able to latch onto your power easily,” she said, turning back to look at Izuku. “The capacity to store energy in its raw form, and the ability to release it in a controlled fashion. Your quirk is exactly what One for All needed,” she continued.
“One for All,” she said, waving her hand out in an arc, gesturing to the black liquid around them, “is an amalgamation of quirks, emotions, and wills. The culmination of lifetimes of fighting and inheritance, building itself up until it could overcome All for One. Both the quirk and the man who wields it. But until now, we’ve never had enough power, nor had the ability, to truly finish them off.”
Izuku cocked his head again, “All for One... Dad hadn’t mentioned him.”
Nana frowned slightly, “In due time then. What you need to know is this: he is devious, deadly, and dangerous beyond anything you can imagine. Before you can even hope of beating him, you will need all of the help you can get. And you still have so far to go before your own journey is over.”
She smiled brightly, placing her pointer fingers on the corners of her lips and pulling them up, making her smile wider.
“Be sure to smile brightly through all of it, and remember this: We are always here for you. Even when all else fails,” she said.
A large ripple passed through the liquid, making both of them look down.
“It’s almost time,” she said, looking back up at Izuku, “Before I go, I will leave you with this.”
Nana began to rise off the surface of the liquid a couple of inches, and floated towards Izuku, reaching out with her hands to grasp his shoulders, pulling him in for a hug.
Izuku sighed as he felt calm wash over him, her motherly hug soothing his spirit. Nana squeezed him tightly and then pulled back to stare into Izuku’s bright green eyes.
“One for All is many quirks in one, fought with and built over the years. With you,” she lifted her right hand and placed it on top of Izuku’s head, patting it gently, “We now have the power to use all of them. Here is the first,” she said, resting her hand on his head.
“May Happiness make you light, to Float amongst the stars.”
She smiled broadly as Izuku felt a surge of power flood through him, electricity arcing between him and the liquid.
His eyes rolled into his head as he felt the power spread, the surge unlike anything he had felt before. And then, it was gone.
He opened his eyes, shaking his head, but didn’t see Nana anywhere around. He glanced up at the star, streaks of green and gold racing across it, and then back down at liquid below him.
“Not sure what that was...” Izuku mumbled, rubbing the back of his head, yawning widely. A wave of exhaustion hit him suddenly, his body falling towards the liquid as he fell asleep.
His body descended towards the liquid, stopping for the briefest of moments before settling into the pool beneath him.
‘Pounding head… Cold ground… Feels niiiice…’
The ground was wonderfully cool and coupled with the hot sun beating down on him, it was perfect. He could sleep like this forever. But then he felt wet again, and his clothes were sticking to him, the unpleasant sensation roused him from his unconsciousness. He blinked his eyes open and saw his father looking at him with concern.
“Izuku? How do you feel?” Toshinori said, reaching out for Izuku’s shoulder and pulling him up as Izuku pushed himself up into a sitting position.
“I’m fine. Tired. Hungry. But fine,” Izuku huffed, looking himself over and then up at his father. “How long was I out?”
“About thirty minutes. Take it slow; you need to relax and rest,” Toshinori said, patting Izuku’s shoulder gently.
“Dad?” Izuku asked, looking down at his hands. “I, uh… well… something happened while I was out.”
Toshinori looked surprised but didn’t say anything, letting Izuku continue.
“Well, I’m not sure how to describe it, but I saw Nana. She… well, she told me about One for All, All for One, and then did something to me,” Izuku continued, looking up at his father questioningly.
“You...saw Nana…?” Toshinori’s eyes went wide, “You actually saw her? What did she say?”
“Uh, something about how One for All has more power now, and that my quirk is what it needed to be able to beat All for One,” Izuku shook his head as he finished, “And I think she did something to One for All, but I’m not sure what. Anyway, it was strange.”
Toshinori was contemplative for a second, placing his hand on his chin. “Well, I have no idea about you seeing Nana, but if I had to guess, perhaps One for All hijacked your quirk for more power. Or maybe your quirk started to feed One for All. Either way, it seems that you are fine now. As for All for One, that’s a conversation we will be having later. I was hoping to train you for a while before I told you about that, but the cat’s out of the bag now.”
Toshinori’s brow furrowed in concerned contemplation. After a second or two, he shook his head, “We’ll get there soon enough. Anyway, that was quick thinking on your part.” He gestured towards Izuku with his hand, “Very clever using my power to overwhelm your quirk.”
Izuku grimaced, “It was all I could think of,” he said before sadly glancing at the sand around them, “I saw the energy drain from the area, and felt the hunger for more. It was desperate. It’s scary. Will that happen again if I use too much power? If it does, how do I stop it?”
Toshinori shrugged, and smiled softly, pulling Izuku in for a hug. “That is something that we will work on together. For now, I’m proud of you, son. You did well.” Izuku smiled broadly into his father’s shoulder as he enjoyed the comfort of the hug before Toshinori pulled back.
“Come on, then. Let’s get lunch, and then we’ll do some more training,” Toshinori said, standing up and holding out a hand to Izuku.
“And, uh, don’t tell your Mom that I had to hit you,” he finished, rubbing the back of his head, a nervous smile on his face.
Izuku laughed as he grabbed the helping hand and pulled himself up to his feet.
Lunch was at a small restaurant nearby. Mirai joined them and listened carefully as Izuku and Toshinori explained what had happened. Izuku stuffed himself with as much food as he could get his hands on, the hot pot being refilled four times at his insistence. Even after the bill had been paid and all three of them were walking back to the beach, Izuku’s stomach growled loudly and he felt another pang of hunger.
‘Hopefully, that’s not the new norm.’ He rubbed his stomach as it churned through the large meal.
After a rest on the benches at the beach’s entrance, and a good conversation with Toshinori and Mirai about life at UA and what he could expect in three years, Mirai left, citing a new lead on one of his cases, and wished Izuku good luck. As Mirai left, Izuku followed his energy signature and was pleasantly surprised to see a cool purple shade attached to Mirai as he drove away. He thought about it, but then reflected on what Nana had said. Perhaps this was part of One for All giving him access to new abilities. He would need to do more testing with his energy sense.
He turned back from watching Mirai leave and started taking stock. He felt good, he felt energetic, though still hungry. He would need to eat again and soon. His energy levels were low, but not dangerously so.
He stopped for a second. He could actually feel his energy level. He could tell that he was lower than he wanted it to be, but it was enough to get some work done. But not knowing exactly what it was at was sort of bothering him.
‘I should look into ways of monitoring my power levels. Maybe some sort of meter or scouting device. Food for thought.’
Toshinori walked back up from the beach after leaving Izuku to rest a little while longer.
“Alright, my boy, how do you feel?” Toshinori asked as he approached the bench.
Izuku bounced up off the bench and onto his feet, ready to go.
“I’m good. Lots of energy. What’s next?” he said, excitedly. A dark thought of using too much power trickled into the back of his mind, but he pushed it back, too eager to care.
“Next is the main event!” Toshinori said exuberantly, “You are going to activate One for All and use it to power a punch!”
He gestured for Izuku to follow him, and they navigated through the maze of trash until they reached the bay. In front of them was a lonely fridge that sat a couple of meters in front of the water.
“Oh look, it’s your old friend, back to get revenge,” Toshinori said, turning to look at Izuku with a smile, “You know what to do.”
Izuku smiled back and nodded. He squared up against the fridge and closed his eyes, reaching deep.
He focused, immediately feeling the pull, but it was much stronger this time. He pulled the power up from his core. It paused in his chest, resisting. Izuku faltered for just a second before he pulled with all of his mental strength. He felt it click, and then the dam burst. A colossal amount of power was dumped into the river of energy that flowed into his chest and his shoulder, creating a large green ring that encircled his upper arm, spinning rapidly.
He opened his eyes, looking at the fridge. Smiling, a green glow behind his eyes, he started to run towards it. After two long strides, he flashed forward, and willed the energy into his arm as he cocked it back, fist clenched tight.
The ring of light, before the transfusion of One for All, a simple halo of white light, was now a neon green circle of sunlight and static. It traveled down his bicep, into his forearm, and settled into his knuckles. His fist connected with the fridge and emulating his father, he yelled “SMASH!”
The energy was released into the metal plating of the appliance, and there was a huge flash of bright light and an ear-popping sonic boom as the shockwave burst backward.
Izuku blinked.
The fridge was just… gone.
The sand in front of him was cleaved into a ‘V’ that extended deep into the water.
The water had parted down to the ocean floor, sand and rock were shoved aside, cleaved or both. Izuku could just make out the waves crashing back together near the horizon as steam ebbed off his body in thick clouds.
Toshinori stood in disbelief looking at his son.
‘What on Earth have I created?’
Shoko Todoroki considered herself a very neat and organized teenage girl in all things, except when it came to her bedroom. This meant that while her closet was jam-packed and organized by season and color, her bedroom floor was a disaster zone of clothes, plushies, and other miscellaneous items strewn about chaotically.
That was just the way she liked it. It was perfectly contrasted to her twin brother, who was borderline obsessive-compulsive with his cleaning, taking a dust strip to his entire closet at least once a week and making sure that his underwear was pressed and folded so it fit neatly in the drawer.
Their parents had tried to find some explanation for the reason that the twins were different in so many ways. Shoko huffed as she read over the report from the quirk specialist for the fifth time. Her father’s latest attempt at understanding their powers had been a wonderful time. Not only was her ice less powerful than Shoto’s, but it seemed that her fire was less powerful too.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
“It’s open,” she said softly, tucking away the report and sitting up on her bed.
The door opened, and Fuyumi, her eldest sister peeked around the door carefully.
“Hey, ‘Ko. Um, I’m about to make dinner. Any requests?” she asked, watching her younger sister cautiously. Fuyumi could tell when Shoko was in one of her moods, and boy, was she in one now.
“Soba,” Shoko said shortly, throwing the papers onto her desk harshly.
“Soba?” Fuyumi said, a small knowing smile popping on her face.
“Soba,” Shoko repeated. She turned away from the door and Fuyumi, wiping her cheek of what were definitely not stray tears.
It was so frustrating to her. She pushed and she pushed, and Shoto was still better. Her parents were better. Ochako and Katsuki were better. She hated it. She hated not having their strength. She wanted Izuku’s strength. He never stopped. He was strong enough for anything.
“Well, okay then. Give me a couple of minutes,” Fuyumi said, closing the door as she turned away down the hall.
Shoko slumped over onto her pillow, pulling the green bunny plushie close as she buried her face into its soft fur, trying to dry her eyes. She was only mildly successful, as more tears started to fall.
The rest of the day had been grueling for Izuku, running across the beach, picking up materials, melting them down, and dumping the recyclable scrap. The first attempt with his newfound power was still cooling down in a pile of sand, the white-hot steel truck rims turning the sand around it to glass as it sank.
He had to turn down the power immensely in order to continue slagging the metal safely, using barely a trickle of his power for plastics. The plastic chair he had attempted to melt after the steel rims stood as testament to the necessity of control. He looked to the small pile of blackened carbon residue, currently billowing wonderful smelling smoke into the air. His focus at this stage was paramount, as any slip up really could be a disaster if the chair was any indication.
He continued until his father walked up, keeping his distance from the heat.
“Excellent work, Izuku. You have really improved since lunch. But I think that’s enough for today,” Toshinori looked back over the beach and nodded.
“I think you’ll keep working on the beach until it’s clean, in addition to your dojo training. I’ll work on getting heavier weights for you, as One for All will increase your strength as well,” he continued, walking towards the beach entrance, gesturing for Izuku to follow.
Izuku set the cube of steel he had been processing down and followed after his father, glad to finally be done for the day. He was exhausted after hours of pushing his power and his stamina to their limits. He was glad to be finally going home.
They left the beach and walked back in peaceful silence, Izuku too tired to start conversation and Toshinori in a contemplative mood.
At the halfway mark, Toshinori slowed down a bit and spoke up, “Izuku, my boy, there is one more thing that I need you to work on.” Seeing Izuku’s wary glance, he chuckled and put up his hands defensively.
“It’s not more physical training, I promise,” Toshinori said with a smile, “I need you to build yourself a support network. You, of course, have me and your mother, but you need to have a select group of people that can help you. One for All is your secret now. Yes, eventually, I will burn through the last embers I still have and soon enough, the burden of One for All will be entirely on you.”
Toshinori patted Izuku on the back as he continued, “You should tell one of your friends about it, so they can share this burden with you. And before you interrupt,” he said as Izuku opened his mouth, “trust me on this. Keeping this a secret from everyone and not having help is far worse than someone close to you knowing. There is a very real possibility they will get hurt for knowing, but it is guaranteed that you will hurt them more by keeping it a secret.”
Izuku looked surprised and closed his mouth. He thought for a second, “I guess I never thought of it like that,” he said, rubbing his chin in thought.
“You obviously shouldn’t go around telling everyone, but having friends that can support you is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Share the burden, lighten the load,” Toshinori said.
Izuku nodded, his mind settling on Ochako and Katsuki at first. Katsuki would probably be pissed at him for accepting a power boost. But Ochako would be supportive and helpful. She was the nicest person he knew, besides his own mother, but still. She was awesome.
Having made up his mind, he looked at his father and smiled.
“Good,” Toshinori said, turning back to the walk, “Oh, and be sure to get yourself a good support technician, like David is for me,” he said, “Hm… it’s been a couple of weeks since I last heard from David. I should check in with him.”
Izuku pondered his father’s words some more. A support tech would be helpful, especially with the energy meter idea he had earlier. Knowing when he might hit his threshold would be really handy, especially so he could prevent his quirk from overdrawing power.
“Hm… Overdraw. Good name,” he muttered, “just need a source of power to prevent… Oh!”
The lightbulb clicked on again.
Ochako’s phone chirped, letting her know that she had a new text. She put her pencil down and stretched her fingers as she reached for her phone, immensely glad for the interruption from her mathematics homework. She wasn’t bad at it; on the contrary, she was really good at math, but it was dull and boring.
Flipping open her phone, her face lit up with a smile as she saw the message was from Izuku, listed as Deku in her phone. She had co-opted Katsuki’s ironic nickname for Izuku years ago without realizing the meaning at first but eventually it stuck and she had Izuku’s blessing.
She read the message, a simple question about meeting him on the roof of the apartment complex, a frequent meeting spot for the group of friends when they wanted to be alone and talk.
She sent her reply in the affirmative and stood up quickly, grabbing her hoodie and sandals, walking to the door.
“Going upstairs, Mom!” she called back to her mother in the kitchen, who was currently making dinner.
“Dinner in an hour! Don’t stay up there too long,” the reply came back, but Ochako was already halfway out the door.
She looked around to make sure the coast was clear, and not spotting anyone, she stepped up to the railing. Their apartment was on the fourth floor, the Midoriya’s was on the third and a couple of units to the left. She took a breath and touched her hands together, pushing her quirk into herself. She felt the weight of the Earth’s pull disappear from her body and kicked off the railing.
Soaring up to the roof silently, she could feel her stomach start to churn during the steady ascent before she released her quirk, landing deftly in front of Izuku, who had a big smile on his face. He watched her catch her breath and adjust her clothes.
“Hi Ochako,” he said with his wide smile that made her stomach turn off a bit. He needed to stop doing that.
“Hi Deku,” she murmured, smiling back at him, trying desperately hard to contain her blush. Ever since the previous day, images of him fighting had been running through her mind, the strength and determination he had shown made her feel funny.
“Thanks for coming up,” Izuku said, gesturing for her to sit next to him on the wicker chairs in the sitting area. The sky had been steadily getting darker, and the first of the stars were starting to appear, practically begging them to watch together.
They settled into the chairs and sat in silence for a couple of seconds.
“So what’s on your mind?” Ochako asked, looking over at him curiously. He was staring up at the sky, eyes bouncing around the dim stars before they fell to look at her own.
“Well, I’m not sure where to start, so I guess I’ll start at the beginning,” Izuku said, turning back to look up at the stars.
Ochako rotated herself in the chair to face him more. Whatever he had to say must be important. He looked nervous, almost... scared?
Izuku sighed heavily, “Basically, Dad gave me his quirk so now I’m his successor to fight one of the strongest villains in the world, and I have to keep it a secret until I’m ready to face him. Dad’s quirk gave me a massive power boost, and if I’m not careful and use too much power, I could cause serious damage, even kill someone. I need to eat a lot more than I used to, even though I was eating a lot already. I think I can see peoples’ energy signatures because you show up as bright pink when I focus on you, while my dad is a soft yellow. Also I… I’m rambling...” He took a deep breath and looked over at Ochako, “Sorry.”
Her mouth was open, eyes wide, her face showing a great stunned reaction. She blinked and closed her mouth.
“Well… uh… okay…” She blinked, taking a moment to process the torrent of information Izuku had just trusted her with. “Pink?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow at him curiously.
Izuku chuckled and nodded, “Bright pink.”
She thought for another second. “Huh…"
She looked back up at him and met his eyes, smiling. "Cool.”
They ended up spending most of the evening on the roof, just talking. Izuku went over everything he had been told and discovered in detail, with Ochako occasionally asking questions, mostly for clarification. She sent a text to her mom midway through, letting her know she would miss dinner, but otherwise, she had kept her focus on Izuku. So much so, that she was surprised to see that it was almost eleven at night when she next checked her phone.
“It’s getting late,” Izuku said as he stood up, stretching out from sitting for so long, “Sorry for keeping you up.”
Ochako stood up as well, and stretched lithely, briefly enjoying catching Izuku glancing at her exposed midriff. She shook her head, and smiled, “It’s not a problem, Deku. I’m happy you trust me enough to share your secret with me.” She bounced over and hugged Izuku tightly around his chest, smiling into his shoulder as the warmth of his muscles seeped into her.
She pulled back, a wide smile on her face, “Just let me know whenever you need to talk again.”
She looked up at him, the bright smile on his face making her stomach turn again. Had he always been that tall?
“That makes me really happy, Ochako. Thank you,” he said grinning from ear to ear.
She nodded, and turned to leave, her eyes sweeping down him as she turned. The gap between his shoes and floor almost slipped past her. She stopped and looked back at his feet in surprise.
“What is it, Ochako?” Izuku asked, concern creeping into his voice.
“Uh, Deku? Since when can you hover?” she asked, gesturing to his feet.
He looked down, and suddenly realized his feet weren’t touching the ground anymore.
“Huh. That’s new.”
