“GET AWWWWWAYYYYY!” A gigantic person with a strangely-shaped head roared as he batted a much smaller figure away.

“A villain appeared at the train station.” A salaryman was nervously saying into his phone. “I’m at the train station. No clue when I’ll get in. The villain is messing up the tracks-” His voice faded.

“What the heck happened? What did he do?” Someone watching in the distance asked.

“Snatched a purse and started rampaging when he got cornered.”

“What an idiot.” A young teenager with green hair and eyes laughed as he came to a stop near the chatting adults. “If he had just taken the fines and community service, he would have probably gotten away much better than now.” His name was Midoriya Izuku.

“You know your stuff, kid.” The man with what looked like star-shaped growths on his head laughed. “By using his Quirk, it’s an automatic villain ranking. He’ll probably get jail time now…”

The young man grinned, his diamond-shaped freckles stretching, “Looks like Kamui Woods is fighting him. He’s a popular rising star, isn’t he?” He whipped out a notebook and a pencil, starting to take some notes. His pencil was actually moving so quickly as he glanced back and forth between the fight and the notebook that smoke was rising.

“Illegal use of your Quirk during rush hour, as well as robbery and assault!” Kamui Woods yelled, “You’re pure evil!”

Izuku sweatdropped. “…I… don’t think that tracks.” He muttered, his pencil stopping for a moment before he continued writing and drawing. “Really? He’s going to use his Preemptive Binding-”

“Laquered Chain Prison!!!” The wood-themed Hero roared.

And then, surprising everyone, a gigantic woman even bigger than the villain in a purple-themed costume leapt over the entire railway, kicking the villain in the face. “Canyon Cannon!” Part of the bridge holding the tracks shattered as the villain fell over. She landed, posing with her ass stuck out.

The young man took out his phone and took a picture, “Money shot. Damn that ass.” He grinned, before starting to draw the woman as well. “You snooze, you lose, Kamui!” He laughed as the men behind him also started chanting ‘money shot’ and taking pictures.

“Today’s my debut!” She yelled out cheerfully. “I’m Mount Lady!”

“I’d sure like to mount that lady.” Izuku muttered, making sure to get the curves right in his drawing. “Not too sure about her Hero instincts though. That was a lot of collateral damage for one idiot. If she had kicked him up instead of back he might have missed some of the bridge.”

“Ooh, you have a point kid.” The star-head winced. “Hero pay is great, but not so great that she’ll be able to tank damages like that bridge every time she captures a villain.” The woman was still cheerfully waving and posing for the cameras.

“Plus, a gigantification Quirk might limit her use if she can’t control her size.” Izuku muttered.

“Well, you sure know your stuff, kid. Good notes will surely help if you want to be a Hero too! Good luck!”

Izuku turned and smirked at him, “You got it, old timer.” He looked at his watch, “Oh, going to be late. See ya!” He took off running.

-]|[-

“You guys only have one year of high school left! It’s time to start thinking seriously about your futures!” The teacher yelled at his students. “I would hand out these career forms, but…” The teens all started to use their Quirks in class. Quite illegally, it should be said. But everyone always got away with such things at Aldera. “I assume you all want to be Heroes!” He yelled, tossing the papers overhead. Only two didn’t. Midoriya Izuku, and the blonde, red-eyed Bakugō Katsuki. “Yes, yes, you all have wonderful Quirks, but you know better than to use them in school.”

“Ha! Don’t lump me in with these losers! As if my Quirk is anything like their crappy Quirks.” Katsuki jeered, and the class erupted angrily.

The teacher chuckled, not bothering to reign in their star student. “Bakugō, you must be aiming for U.A., huh?”

The class all gasped, with some of them even starting to sweat. “The national school?! But they’re ultra-competitive! You can’t even register without at least a 79!”

Katsuki laughed and jumped on top of his desk, “The stupid chattering of extras! I aced the mock exam! I’m the only one here with the stuff for U.A.! I’ll even surpass All Might and become the best Hero out there! I’ll top the charts of the biggest taxpayers in the world!”

Izuku rolled his eyes. ‘Of course he wouldn’t just say ‘I’ll be one of the richest.’ No, he has to make it about a fucking leaderboard.’ He eyed the teacher, ‘And 3…2…1…’

“Oh, you’re also going for U.A., aren’t you Midoriya?” The teacher asked.

‘Fucking called it.’ Izuku sat back and waited for the fireworks.

“BWAHAHAHAHA!” The students all laughed and started to jeer at him. “A Quirkless going to U.A.?! Good grades alone can’t get you into the Hero program!”

“I don’t know what’s so funny.” Izuku said blandly, leaning his chair back onto just two legs. “As if not having a Quirk is any worse than being able to stretch your eyeballs two feet.” He snarked back at one of them. “What are you going to do? Wink the villains to prison?” He sneered, earning a flinch. “Maybe stretch your neck three feet.” He snarked at another. And then he put a foot on his desk and pushed it forward. Katsuki, who had jumped at him, crashed knee-first into the edge of his desk and pitched forward. He slammed chest-first onto it with an ‘oof.’ Izuku rocked back and landed with his feet on Katsuki’s back and uniform. “Grab them with those easily-breakable twigs you call fingers? Miss me with that shit.” Izuku continued as if nothing had happened.

He then rolled back, leaping wholly over the person sitting behind him as Katsuki roared, “DEKU!!!” And his hands started exploding.

“Don’t fucking call me Deku, Nitrogremlin.” Izuku shot back.

“ENOUGH!” The teacher roared. ‘Fucking Quirkless brat, making a fool of Bakugō.’ He bit his tongue. “Both of you take your seats at once!”

Izuku and Katsuki glared at one another before making their way to their seats. Izuku wiped the residue off his desk with a scoff and got ready for another boring class session.

…

‘Finally.’ Izuku sighed as he got up. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have read so far ahead…? I’m bored to tears here.’

“We’re not fucking done here, Deku!” Katsuki yelled at him.

“Oh, I think we’re pretty done.” Izuku shot back, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “How’s the jaw by the way? Looks like it healed up nice.” He jeered.

“You fucking Quirkless piece of shit.” Katsuki seethed, “The best Heroes out there showed signs of greatness even as students. I’m the only one from this shitty high school worthy of the honor of being our first U.A. student.”

“Ha!” Izuku shot back as he started walking away, “Greatness. Right. Because All Might totally spent middle and high school trying and failing to bully Quirkless kids. You don’t even know what a fucking Hero is.”

Katsuki’s hands started to crackle, the scent of caramel wafting off his explosions. “Ha, and you do?! You’re just a loser with delusions of grandeur! No Hero would take some worthless, Quirkless fuck even as an intern, much less a sidekick! You’ll never make it anywhere, Deku! But hey, if you really want to be a Hero that badly, you should just fast track it! Take a swan dive off the roof and maybe you’ll have a Quirk in the next life!” He yelled at Izuku’s back.

Izuku’s eyes widened. That… was farther than the bitch had ever gone before. He was silent for a moment as even Katsuki’s patsies paled and backed away from the blonde. After a long pause, he replied. “Take your own advice and maybe you’ll be a good person in yours.” His tone was dead even despite the sudden fury he felt.

“What did you say to me?!” Veins started to pulse on Katsuki’s forehead.

Izuku turned around and forced a nasty smirk at the ash-blonde. “I said your mom’s pussy was delicious last night, bitch.”

“DEKU!!!!” Katsuki both figuratively and literally exploded, rushing for Izuku.

Izuku dropped his bag, setting his feet and watching closely, unblinkingly. ‘Left jab.’ Preparing himself for some pain, he grabbed Katsuki’s wrist, wincing as some of the explosions seared his hand. But he ignored it. He always had, ever since the first time he’d fought his former best friend when he was five. When the blonde’s arrogance had started to rise and he began bullying others. Izuku had never been able to ignore it, not even when it was none of his business.

Izuku drove his head forward, slamming his forehead into Katsuki’s nose and stunning the blonde. A right hook to the jaw followed by a left spinning back kick to the liver had Katsuki flying into the desks and crashing to the floor. He smirked as he grabbed his bag off the floor and rose. “Ten out of ten, would eat again!” He called out as he exited the classroom.

That smirk lasted all the way until he was off school grounds and away from all the assholes within it. He let out a sigh, “Dumbass. What would you do if I was actually suicidal? You want to get charged?”

He really didn’t know what had happened to the boy. There was a limit to how delusional and arrogant someone could be. It had taken over a year before Izuku became good enough at fighting to actually grab a win off Katsuki. And since then, he had only grown better, taking self-defense martial arts, exercising, and beating the shit out of his punching bags at home.

You would think that the blonde would have gotten with the fucking program by now with all the times Izuku had kicked his ass. Today though? Today had been way beyond the pale. At this point, Izuku absolutely despised the blonde bomber. And the only thing he wanted more than to break Bakugō’s spirit was to be a Hero. Like All Might. The best Hero.

He walked under an underpass before he heard a strange burbling. “A medium-sized bodysuit… you’ll do.”

Izuku turned and looked at the liquid sludge surging from the holes on a manhole. And then he was engulfed. “BWUAH!” He started trying to pull the sludge off to no avail.

“Calm down kid.” The evil bastard laughed, “I’m only taking your body over. All it’ll take is about forty-five seconds and it’ll all be over.” Izuku struggled against the bastard and managed to free a hand. He grabbed onto three of the villain’s large teeth and ripped them out. “ARGH!” The villain roared and spasmed, freeing more of Izuku’s body as sludgy blood started to pour from the otherwise green mass.

“GET THE FUCK OFF ME!” Izuku yelled as his fist landed squarely in the villain’s eye.

“FUCK!” The sludge rippled away again. “MY EYE! YOU LITTLE FUCK!”

“AHAHAHAHA! THAT’S WHAT YOU DESERVE, EVILDOER!” A third voice rang through the underpass and Izuku actually forgot to fight to free himself. A ludicrously muscular man punched the manhole cover away.

“NO! NOT AGAIN!” The sludge, still hurting from his missing teeth and very bruised eye, screamed in fear. “ALL MIGHT!”

“SMASH!” The blonde roared, and the shockwave of his punch was enough to strip every bit of sludge off of Izuku and splattered it all over the walls of the underpass.

Izuku swayed for a moment before grinning, “WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!” He yelled, clenching his fists with a massive smile on his face. “THAT WAS AWESOME!”

“AHAHAHA! WHAT A FUNNY KID!” All Might laughed. “Now…” He reached into his grocery bag with a bit of a wince of regret, before pouring out all of the cola. “Time to clean him up.” He started zipping around the underpass and scooping the villain into the empty bottles. A moment later, they were both in the sun again as All Might posed with the villain. “I apologize for getting you caught up in my villain hunt, young man! Mistakes like that aren’t my style, but I’m not familiar with this part of Japan.” He grinned at Izuku as he slipped the bottle into his large pocket so as to not get it confused with the actual bottle of cola he had remaining. “Still, you seemed like you had him right where you wanted him!”

Izuku laughed, “Hell yeah I did! Good thing you showed up to save him!” All Might bellowed in laughter. “Oh!” He started to dig through his back, “Can I get an autograph?!” He pulled out his notebook.

“OF COURSE!” The greatest Hero ever declared, taking the notebook and pen and signing with a flourish. “My, my, quite good analysis you have here!” He beamed at Izuku, “You’ll need some help to take it up to a professional standard, of course, but this is quite good, nonetheless. You have talent that usually needs to be trained, young man!”

‘Ooooh!’ Izuku swayed, ‘All Might just praised my notes!’

“I take it you want to be a Hero as well?” All Might grinned down at him.

Izuku grinned back, “Hell yeah!”

“Ahahaha! That’s the spirit!” All Might declared. “Unfortunately, I can’t stay and chat. I doubt these bottles will hold this guy forever!” He patted his pocket, jostling the bottle. “But worry not! With good notes like those and that strong Quirk of yours, you’ll be a Hero in no time!” He bent his knees and prepared to jump.

“Thanks!” Izuku said. And then just before All Might left the ground, he managed to yell, “But you’re wrong! I’m Quirkless!” He waved as All Might disappeared into the sky. “Holy shit, that was awesome!” He started walking cheerfully.

And in the sky, Yagi Toshinori was very glad that he was already in the air, because he most certainly would have missed a step and landed face-first on the pavement. ‘Quirkless?! He was Quirkless?!’ He looked back but had already left the area far behind. He wasn’t sure how far he had flown. He had just tried to get as far out of sight as possible, seeing as he was losing time fast.

He also didn’t notice the bottle slip from his pocket. It landed right in front of Katsuki and his two patsies, both of whom were giving the blonde a wide berth. It had been ages since Katsuki hadn’t managed to get even one hit in on Midoriya, and both were tempted to just leave the blonde to rage with how furious he was. Said blonde roared, “DAMN IIIIT!” As he kicked the bottle, rupturing it and waking the villain at the same time.

-]|[-

Izuku was flying high after his meeting with All Might. Not only did he get to check out that hottie Mt. Lady in person, but he also got to embarrass Katsuki and meet All Might in the same day! Things couldn’t possibly get any better!

“Oi, Midoriya!” A gruff voice called out.

Aaand there went his good day. Izuku rolled his eyes, immediately stashing his notebook and turning around, “Honda. Looks like that nose didn’t heal so good.” There were five of them in that thin alley.

The thug from Musutafu High School’s eye twitched, “Can’t you even remember my damn name, Midoriya?! You didn’t even get the letter right! It’s Tanabe Kazuo!”

Izuku shrugged his backpack off and tossed it to the side. “Sorry, side characters make me face blind.” He followed it up with his shirt, leaving him only in his compression top, showing off his muscular arms. “Five of you today, huh? You should have brought more.” He cracked his knuckles.

“You’re fucking DEAD, Midoriya!” Tanabe roared, charging forward. His arms bulged into gorilla arms, and he attempted to smash Izuku. Izuku stepped forward instead of backing away. His fist flashed and buried itself into Tanabe’s liver, making the bleached-blonde gag. Izuku’s fingers pointed, and he jabbed them into Tanabe’s armpits and disabled his arms from the pressure-point strikes. Then, a palm-strike upwards had the boy three feet in the air and landing flat on his back. He let out a pained wheeze as his arms morphed back to human.

“KAZUO! GET HIM!” The second asshole rushed forward, his legs longer than Izuku’s whole body. His short and squat upper body made him look hysterical. He lashed out with a kick, but again Izuku stepped into it. He caught the enlarged limb after taking the roundhouse to the side without even a grimace of pain. His smirk had the boy yelling, “Oh FUUUUUU-!” before Izuku grabbed his leg by the pants and yanked backwards. The boy sailed towards him before he started singing soprano as Izuku buried a crushing blow directly into his crotch.

“ARATA!” The blonde one yelled. “YOU DIRTY BASTARD!” His arms grew pipes and he started swinging at Izuku. The verdette dodged it a few times, catching one of the last two’s head morphing into… a… seahorse? Out of the corner of his eye.

Izuku blitzed forward, grabbing the thug’s wrists, and burying his knee into his sternum. He grabbed him by the face and moved him between Izuku and the seahorse Quirk guy. Black balls of ink blasted into his enemy’s back with loud TWACKS and splashing sounds. The guy howled in pain, muffled by Izuku’s hand and strong grip.

“Oh shit!” The seahorse cried out, in a very warbled voice. Izuku picked the guy (Awata or something) and charged the seahorse guy. “What the-?!” That was all he got out before Izuku, and his improvised battering ram ran him over. He then punched down, tweaking the boy’s jaw before he grabbed the pipe and broke it with a knee drop and pull. He turned and hurled it at the final guy.

Said enemy turned into stone. He still stumbled back from the impact, but he growled out, “What now, Midoriya?! What is your Quirkless ass going to do now? I’m rock hard! Your puny, Quirkless fists won’t do shit agains-”

Izuku’s heel crashed into his nose and shattered it anyway. “Enjoy the concussion, asshat.” He said dryly as he started to grab his stuff.

Tanabe managed to get onto his side. “F-Fuck you, Midoriya!” He slurred. He had a bruised jaw, at minimum.

“Huh, you stayed awake this time.” Izuku smirked as he put his blazer back on, “Maybe you’ll make D-lister someday, Honda.”

“It’s TANABE!” He yelled, before grimacing in pain, “And you’re never going to be a Hero, you Quirkless fuck!” He managed to spit out.

“Just fucking watch me.” Izuku threw his bag over his shoulder, walking away with a careless wave at the five downed idiots behind him.

-]|[-

“Today was awesome even with those idiots. Time to go grab some grub.” Izuku was obviously buying pork cutlets. He smirked slightly, ‘Mom’s fault for leaving food up to me today.’ His thoughts were cut off by a loud explosion, “Huh?” His eyes narrowed. Those blasts sounded familiar. He took off running, “Just what is that idiot doing?” He rounded a building and saw a crowd. He didn’t notice a tall, lanky blonde man clenching his side with a look of despair on his face. “What’s going on?”

“A villain captured some kid!” One of the bystanders told him, making his eyes widen.

“Wasn’t All Might chasing this guy? Did he manage to dodge even All Might?!” Another asked.

Izuku’s eyes hardened, forcing his way past the mob, pushing, and shoving his way forward, ignoring their indignation. He got to the front and took stock, grinding his teeth when he noticed Katsuki engulfed with what looked like living sludge. ‘How the hell?’ He thought to himself. ‘Did All Might miss some of the sludge?’ His sharp eyes flit along the street, watching as Backdraft tried to put out the fires. Kamui Woods was keeping bystanders away and pulling people from rubble but was making no effort to get close. “Explosive fires are my weakness!” He groaned, “Someone else has to take this one!”

He was at least rescuing people, but Backdraft was right there. ‘Why aren’t they teaming up?’ Izuku’s fists started to tighten as he watched Backdraft put out fires that just lit right back up when Katsuki’s dumb ass blew more shit up.

He then saw Mt. Lady and smiled. She could reach right in and pull Bakugō out of the sludge. As much as he hated the bastard, he didn’t want him to die! Especially since it meant he wouldn’t be able to beat him to Number One himself! He almost relaxed to allow himself a bit of light perving, but it was no time to take in that sexy bod. Not when her first words were, “Oh no! This street isn’t wide enough! I can’t get close!” She had frozen above them, with the pervs looking up and drooling at the skintight Hero suit clinging to her body.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Izuku snarled inside his mind. ‘Okay, so she really only does have one size. FUCK!’

“He’s too slippery to get a hold of!” Death Arms snarled out, “We can’t do anything against him! At least his hostage is resisting!”

‘Are you-’ Izuku cut himself off. Katsuki was causing more problems by resisting, not less! They had been useful in getting attention but now they were actively impeding the Heroes! If he stopped then just that by itself would allow Kamui to get close and try to pull him out! Plus, he was just blasting around wildly and causing property damage everywhere!

“It’s no good! There’s no one here that can stop him!” Kamui cried out, “We have to wait for someone with the right Quirk! That boy just has to hold on a little longer!”

Izuku’s blood was pounding so hard in his ears, everything else was drowned out. Wait for the right Quirk? These morons already had everything they needed to save Katsuki! Izuku’s knuckles cracked and then he saw Katsuki’s face. The despair in them. The terror. The pleas written right in his eyes for help.

Izuku vaulted the barrier before he knew what he was doing, his bag and shirt falling to the pavement behind him. “NO KID!” Death Arms yelled, trying and failing to grab him.

Once he had, Izuku committed fully. He gazed all around the battlefield, taking in every detail he could. And the sludge let out a roar when he saw him. “YOU AGAIN?! I’LL KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING BRAT!” He sent out tendrils of sludge towards Izuku.

Izuku dodged to the right, jumped on top of a heavily damaged car, and then leapt over the sludge while flipping. His hands grabbed the villain’s undefended eyes. The sludge let out a hysterical roar of pain, his muddy body rippling as Izuku dragged his eyes back. He freed a bit of Katsuki’s body, allowing the blonde to take a big gasp of air. “DEKU?!” He coughed out as he began to struggle anew.

Izuku ignored him. “LET HIM GO OR I’LL FUCKING POP THEM!” Izuku yelled as the villain continued to scream and his body followed his eyes. Izuku had lined things up perfectly and the sludge was dragged over a fire hydrant. “BLAST IT, IDIOT!”

“DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO FUCKING DO, DEKU!” Katsuki did as ordered anyway, knocking the hydrant off the pavement and sending a deluge of water into the muddy sludge above.

“ABLHNBJDFEGH!” The sludge villain roared as he started bulking up but losing consistency. The immense amount of water instantly diluted his body and started splattering him about. The man went unconscious in moments, running down the street.

Izuku and Katsuki panted before cheers erupted around them. And then was silenced as the ‘heroes’ arrived. “That was reckless!” Kamui yelled at Izuku, who sneered back.

Death Arms also rounded on Izuku, “What the hell were you thinking?! There was no need for you to put yourself in danger!”

Izuku immediately snapped. He hadn’t taken shit from anyone since he was five. He wasn’t about to take shit from a shit Hero, “Maybe if you morons knew how to do your damn jobs I wouldn’t have had to!” He bellowed back at the man, before snapping a finger at him, “I heard every word you lot said! ‘He’s too slippery!’ His eyes felt damn solid to me! Maybe aim for the obvious weak point next time!” Eyes practically glowing in rage as he turned his gaze to Backdraft, he continued sending them to the burn unit, “And you! If you hadn’t wasted time putting out fires that this idiot-” He pointed at a scowling Katsuki, “-just kept reigniting with every explosion, you could have COVERED KAMUI’S BRANCHES WITH WATER! Wet wood wouldn’t have burned as easily and Kamui could have yanked him right out! Not to mention you could have just done what WE did and fucking drowned the bitch!”

The crowd was absolutely eating his words up, and both Kamui and Backdraft looked thunderstruck. “‘That boy just has to hold on a little longer?’ So that someone with the ‘right Quirk’ can show up? What kind of Heroes are you?!” He spat on the ground, “No wonder All Might can never take a fucking break when the rest of you can’t think your way out of paper bags!”

Death Arms then made things worse as he saw his reputation being shredded before his eyes. “Maybe I should just take you in for vigilantism!”

“Good fucking luck, bitch! That law is only for Quirk usage, and I’m Quirkless!” And the crowd went silent as Izuku flipped him off. “And I’m already a better Hero than you’ll ever be! Maybe when I go pro I’ll make you my sidekick? Nah, you’re not worth even that!”

And as Izuku turned and stomped away, All Might stared at his back with a sweatdrop on his head. Had the vestiges inside his Quirk been fully awakened, he would have heard at least half of them howling with laughter.

-]|[-

Izuku was still steaming when Katsuki finally caught up with him. “DEKU!”

“Oh for fucks sake!” All Izuku wanted was to go get his fucking pork cutlets so he could make some fucking katsudon. He turned, “What the fuck do you want?”

“I NEVER ASKED FOR ANY HELP!” Katsuki yelled, “I WOULD HAVE BEATEN HIM MYSELF!”

“Yeah, because you were doing such a stellar job of it.” Izuku snarked back. “Fuck off.” He turned and started walking away.

“Get in my way again and I’ll fucking kill you, nerd!” He kicked a rock and turned, walking away.

“Not the friendliest kid, is he?” Toshinori stepped out with a sweatdrop.

Izuku took him in and realized he was wearing a familiar outfit. He couldn’t quite figure out how that outfit was familiar though. After a moment, he recalled seeing the guy in the group of bystanders moments ago. ‘Huh, guess this geezer must be pretty quick. Or maybe we just walked the same way?’ He shrugged, “Nah, his personality is smellier sewage than that sludge asshole.”

Toshinori grinned slightly, “I thought you were friends when I saw you jump in, but you two sound like you hate each other. Why’d you do it?”

Izuku shrugged again. “He may be a cunt, but I wasn’t about to let him die.” He sighed, “And we were friends once, back before his Quirk came in and mine didn’t. He became just another asshole after that.”

“I see.” Toshinori said softly.

Izuku smirked, “Plus, it’ll be all the sweeter when I’m number one if he’s around for me to rub his nose in it.”

“Ahahaha!” Toshinori laughed, “And why do you want to be a Hero? Fame? Fortune?”

“Why the fuck else?” Izuku asked, looking offended, “So I can save people and put a smile back on their face. Just like All Might! He won’t be around forever and it’s more than clear the rest of these jackoffs won’t cut it.”

‘He’s the one.’ Toshinori’s grin widened. “That’s quite a dream, young man. Now, can you keep a secret?”

Izuku narrowed his eyes. “…Depends on what it is.”

Toshinori’s grin widened as he bulked up, “THAT I AM HERE!” He declared and watched Izuku spittake.

“Wh-What the fuck?!” He yelled, wide-eyed. “What the fuck was that?! How did you-?! Why didn’t-”

“I intervene?” Toshinori sighed as he bulked back down. “A fight that was never disclosed to the public from five years ago left me down a lung, most of my stomach, and large tracts of my intestines. I’m afraid you’re more right than you know that All Might won’t be around forever.” He sighed, “In fact, I’m now limited to just three hours a day as All Might.”

“H-Holy shit.” Izuku felt his knees weaken and he leaned against the fence. “Th-that’s bad.”

Toshinori chuckled, “Knack for understatement, my boy. Most days, I’m just Yagi Toshinori now. I’m growing weaker by the day.”

“But why are you telling me this?” Izuku asked, his eyes wide.

“Tell me, what do you think my Quirk is?” Toshinori asked, “I saw all that analysis of yours. It was quite good.”

“I don’t have a fucking clue.” Izuku deadpanned, getting a surprised cough of blood from All Might. “H-Holy shit! Why are you coughing blood?! It’s been five years!”

Toshinori wiped his mouth, shaking his head. “It’s all the pressure I put on it when I’m working. It jostles the wounds too much.”

“Holy shit All Might, take a day off!” Izuku exclaimed. “Or a week! Society won’t collapse if you take just a bit of time to heal!”

“Heh. You sound like Mirai and Dave.” Toshinori looked away, “A Symbol of Peace must never be daunted by evil.”

Izuku shook his head, “I can’t believe this. You didn’t have to disclose that you were injured, dumbass! You could have just had the powers that be make it known that you were taking a secret mission and then fucked off for a month! If you had healed properly maybe now you’d have six hours instead of three!” His mental image of All Might was being shattered. Shattered!

Toshinori stared at him and sweated. “You… might have a point.” His cheeks pinked in embarrassment. Izuku facepalmed so hard the back of his head hit the fence. Toshinori shook his head, “Regardless, you don’t have any idea about my Quirk?”

“Not one! You’re too strong for a strength Quirk, too fast for a speed Quirk, and clearly you’re not actually made of graphene!” Izuku groaned, “And you always make jokes about it on talk shows! Nothing fits! The only idea even remotely possible is that it’s a stockpile, but that makes no fucking sense because it takes decades to build those up and you were strong like that right out of High School! Not to mention that not a single confirmed stockpile Quirk has ever been even a tenth as strong as you are!”

Fun fact: All Might had been the primary proponent for raising the age restrictions for heroism to college age rather than high school age. When he first came out of U.A., it had been a high school rather than a university!

Toshinori let out a howl of laughter, “Oh, that’s good, kid! Very good!”

“But still wrong.” Izuku grumbled.

“And what if I told you that you were only missing one key bit of information to get the correct answer?” Toshinori asked.

Izuku’s eyes flashed, “Forbidden All Might lore?” He asked eagerly. “What is that bit of information?”

Toshinori grinned. He couldn’t wait to see Izuku’s face. “That I’m not the first person to hold this Quirk.” Izuku froze, “I’m the eighth.”

Pictured inside Izuku’s head was a toy monkey smashing a pair of cymbals together. “What?!” He managed to croak out after several seconds.

“My Quirk, young man, is a stockpiling Quirk.” Toshinori revealed, “Only it’s one that can be passed along like an Olympic torch.”

“…Holy fuck.” Izuku swore, staring at him in awe. “It’s fucking Baton Pass!”

Toshinori laughed again as he heard the Pokémon reference. He’d played far too many of those games lately. “And when I saw you, a Quirkless boy, jump into danger without a thought to save even a hated rival, I knew that you were the one I’d been searching for!” Toshinori declared. He held his hand out, “I think you’ll be a fantastic Hero, young one. But you can be better than just fantastic. You can be the best. So the only question remaining… is whether you’ll accept the baton. So young man… how would you like to be the next bearer of the legacy of One For All?”

“One For All…” Izuku breathed out. “Honestly…” He looked straight ahead, “Ever since I was four years old, I knew that not all men are created equal. I was bullied a lot when I was younger. Beaten up. Exploded. Mocked. Told I was less than dirt…” Toshinori clenched his jaw as Izuku spoke to him. “And I could have sat there and listened to it. Could have been a timid crybaby. Could have let everyone walk all over me. And if Bakugō hadn’t started bullying other kids as well when he got bored of me, it really might have happened.” He said, “Instead… I fought back. I got angry. Was as mean to them as they were to me. Protected others. And I got my ass kicked. Again and again. But I kept getting up. And kept getting a little better each and every day.” He looked over at Toshinori. “You might think I’m the perfect successor, but at least half of what gets me up in the morning is pure fucking spite. A desire to prove all of the assholes around me wrong. You really think that’s what your successor should be like?”

Toshinori laughed, “Kid, I chose the persona I did because when I was the Quirkless kid just a bit younger than you-” Izuku choked at the information, “I couldn’t walk a single block from my house without a baseball bat in hand. People avoided one another. People wouldn’t help others. They’d just ignore everyone who needed it, because maybe that time would be the time the helpless lamb had a big, bad wolf lying in wait. Crime was rampant and out of control.” He said grimly, “And I knew that people needed a symbol. Someone who would say ‘no more.’ Someone who would put fear in the hearts of villains and hope in the hearts of the innocent. That is why I became the Symbol of Peace.”

“All Might…” Izuku whispered, staring at his idol in awe.

“But I’ve clearly made mistakes. More of them than I ever knew.” Toshinori said heavily, “And it is clear to me that another simply stepping into my shoes and making the same mistakes I did will only delay the inevitable. What I saw today disgusted me, kid. While I stood there helpless, a group of Heroes stood there without daring to risk themselves to save a young life. I hate to speak ill of my colleagues, but you were right. Everyone around me simply became complacent.” He looked down at Izuku, “So maybe you’re not the same person I am. In my book, that’s a good thing. Maybe you’ll make fewer of my mistakes.”

Izuku leaned his head back against the wall. “…I should say no. I should stick to my guns. Become a Hero without a Quirk.” Toshinori almost choked, “But I’d be a fucking selfish idiot to pass this up. A Quirk is a tool. And if I don’t use every tool in my arsenal, if even one person I could have saved died because of my pride, then I’d be as worthless of a Hero as Bakugō.” Izuku stood and grinned confidently at All Might, holding out his hand. “So where do we fucking start?”

Toshinori’s grin split his face.

-]|[-

“HA! I didn’t think you’d be able to do this even with those muscles of yours!” Toshinori called out as he sat on top of a huge double-door refrigerator. Said fridge was bobbing up and down slowly, as Izuku took step after exhausting step up the beach towards a commercial dump truck Toshinori had parked up on the road.

“It would be a lot easier without your fat ass on top of it too! You’re like two-hundred-and-seventy-four kilos alone!” Izuku gasped up, his face red as he took another wobbly step.

“Nah, I lost weight! I’m two-hundred-and-fifty-five now!” Toshinori laughed before he hopped off the fridge and slimmed down. Izuku immediately… well, he didn’t relax but his face was nowhere near as red. “Still, I’m impressed kid. I honestly didn’t think you’d be up to this quite yet.”

“Heh. I’ve been Quirkless all this time. If I couldn’t haul a fucking fridge up a beach I would have given up long ago.” Izuku took a few heavy breaths. He continued to walk the fridge up to the steps and then up them. He put it down, panting, before setting his feet. “UP YOU GO!” He yelled before lifting with his knees and throwing the fridge over his head. He just barely made it over the edge of the truck and heard it land in the bed with a satisfying clunk. “Hooooly shit.” He wheezed.

“Well, I’ll be, kid.” Toshinori laughed and tossed him a water bottle. Izuku began drinking from it greedily. “Looks like I’ll probably need to revise my plans a bit.”

“What’s this even for, anyway? A workout?” Izuku asked as he rested against the truck.

“Oh yes.” Toshinori, “One For All is the combined strength of eight people. It is an avalanche of power. If your body can’t handle it, then it’ll explode when you try to use it.” Izuku grimaced at the mental image, “But it’s more than that. I could have trained you more efficiently at my home gym.” He turned and gazed out at the mountains of trash. “I did research on this beach, you know. It’s been like this for years.”

“Yeah.” Izuku grimaced, “Mom told me stories about this place. It was beautiful when she was a child, but when she was a teenager, people had stopped bothering to keep up with the junk flowing in from the ocean currents.”

“Mhm. And once people stopped cleaning it up, others started using it as a dump regardless of this sign.” Toshinori kicked the ‘no dumping’ sign, making it clang loudly. “Kids these days are all about the flash and pizazz. They’ve forgotten that at the end of the day, Heroes are public servants. But even if many have forgotten it, that is what we are at our roots and we must never stray from it!” He turned and grinned at Izuku. “You’ve got ten months to train to receive One For All-”

Izuku scoffed. “Ten months?” He looked all around the beach, his eyes taking in all the details he could see. He smirked, “I’ll do it in seven.”

“AHAHAHAHA!” Toshinori laughed, “That a promise?”

“You fucking bet.” Izuku slammed his right fist into his left palm, “I aint walking into no entrance exam without knowing how to use a fucking Quirk because I just got it.”

“Well then, young man… you better get going!” Toshinori yelled.

Izuku grinned back, “-and I have just the thing.” He walked over to his stuff and pulled out a… boombox? He set it up at the foot of the stairs and turned it on. It synced to his phone and then started blasting. Drums hit, and then the lyrics came.

My hero! Go and show me what I gotta do! Made up my mind, wanna be like you! We don't care what other people say!

Izuku grinned as All Might burst out laughing. He leapt at the trash with a bloodthirsty grin. He grabbed a whole set of steel mailboxes and hauled them up the stairs, tossing them into the dumpster. He then ran back and vaulted over the railing into the sands down below. He landed lightly and ran to a pile of fifty-five-gallon steel drums. Each was close to fifty pounds empty, and he tossed one over each shoulder before running up the stairs.

I know I’ll resurface you. You know I will! Stop anything, nothing will go wrong! Oh, I’ll keep trying, keep moving forward! I will believe what I’ve been working on! Can anybody tell me the way to make it?

The seasons turned. Izuku, looking significantly bulkier than he had two months ago, was flipping a gigantic tractor tire up the beach. He hit the stairs, turned it around, and started flipping it back to the trash. He picked a full fifty-five-gallon drum with a grunt of exertion and started hauling it back up the stairs.

I feel something happy from my heart. Something beating for sure. Either it’s somehow bad, I will see. What I've gotta be in the future! Strong will, amazing, ran away. You know a strong-willed ace, you’re great, alright?

Much of the piles of junk had been removed already. Izuku was in full swimwear and enjoying the refreshing coolness of the ocean. He was swimming laps up and down the beach while All Might watched. And then a bunch of girls showed up, and his mentor dutifully started posing for them. Izuku saw it as he was freestyling up the coast and almost drowned when he started laughing.

They were still there when he came back doing the breaststroke.

Everything I see, everything I feel… All the things that I have for it to at least break!

Izuku had found another fridge, only he felt like testing his strength against it. He punched and kicked at it, denting the heavy steel with each blow as All Might watched proudly.

Switch out an enemy, doesn’t go well. I will believe in what I’ve been working on! Do what you like, just give me one thing. I see the future, don’t miss out now!

Izuku wasn’t just pushing the small pickup truck through the sands. He was lifting the front end up and dragging it up the stairs. His shirtless body was packed with muscle now and he was glistening with sweat. Some of the watching girls weren’t even drooling at All Might as they stared. Several took pictures. Some even recorded videos.

Hero is in my heart; hero is in your heart!

The seasons had turned again. It was too cold to be shirtless with the chilly winds once again coming in. But Izuku just wore a light jumpsuit and some compression gear beneath it. He was sweating and heated up enough to still be comfortable. And the piles of trash were ever shrinking. More and more vanished into the bed of the second commercial pickup All Might had to rent.

I don’t care what other people say!

Izuku was doing squats with the massive tractor tire he had found. Honestly, he kind of wanted to keep the thing. He wished they had room for it at home.

I can be a Hero; you can be a Hero! If you wanna make it, just try hard! I know I’ll resurface you!

Toshinori let out a yawn as he made his way to the beach. Seven months had passed since he had first met Midoriya Izuku, and he was eager to see how far his protégé had come. It had been about two weeks since he had last been able to find the time to come. He’d been on the other side of Japan for that time. But as he pulled in, he let out a gasp. He stopped the truck and got out.

“RAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Izuku stood shirtless atop a huge pile of trash on the last remaining pickup, roaring to the sky like a Dragon Ball Z character.

“Midoriya-shōnen!” Toshinori gaped as he ran out to look at the beach, “Y-You cleaned everything?! You even did outside of where I told you to! There’s not a speck left! Holy stinking SUPER CRAP!” He bulked up into All Might and roared the last words.

Izuku gasped for breath atop his tower, swaying for a moment. He then looked down at All Might and roared, “SEVEN MONTHS! FUCKING TOLD YOU!”

“Ahahahaha!” All Might roared with laughter, “SEVEN?! YOU DID IT IN SIX! IT HASN’T EVEN BEEN A FULL DAY OVER THE SEVENTH MONTH YET!”

Izuku leapt off the tower, allowing All Might to catch him. “Still counts!” He laughed tiredly. It certainly hadn’t been easy. But look at him now! Now standing at nearly six feet and packed with wiry muscle, he looked like a fucking Hero!

“Bah!” All Might scoffed playfully. “Excellent work! Truly! The path forward has never looked clearer! You’re a true-blue vessel now!” He put Izuku down, “And now it’s time for the award ceremony.” He plucked a hair from his golden tufts, “You know what they say: there’s a big difference between being born with that silver spoon… and working your butt off to earn it!” Izuku grinned widely, “Take this to heart. You’ve earned this fair and square. Now… eat this.” He held the hair out.

“…Eh?” Izuku looked at him blankly.

All Might laughed, “You just have to take some of my DNA. I figured this was the least gross thing.”

Izuku grimaced, “Don’t suppose I can bleed you instead? I doubt I’d be able to eat that thing.”

“BAHAHAHA! You didn’t tell me you were a vampire!” All Might laughed, hiding a sweatdrop.

“Just put a few drops in some water or some shit! I’d probably barely taste it!” Izuku snarked, still looking grossed out.

…

They had, in fact, done just that. Izuku had still gagged but had gotten the whole bottle down for good measure. “Huh…” He said, forgetting all of a sudden what he had been saying to his mentor as they sat up on the stairs and chatted. He put a hand over his heart, “I… feel weird.”

Toshinori grinned, “Looks like it has kicked in, then!” He said, “You ready to use it for the first time, then?”

Izuku clenched his hand into a fist, his eyes burning. “Hell yes!” He hissed.

Toshinori bulked up, “Then listen well! When you use One For All, clench your buttcheeks and let your heart roar “SMASH!””

Izuku almost fell over. “…Toshinori-sensei…” He facepalmed, “No offense, but please go buy a fucking Teaching for Dummies book or something.”

Toshinori sweatdropped as he shrank down, “Some offense, not going to lie.” He wasn’t that bad, was he?

Izuku rolled his eyes, “That’s not how you fucking teach!” He yelled, pointing up at the man imperiously, “Especially not someone who didn’t even have a Quirk!”

“Well, it always came naturally to me…” Toshinori rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“Ai, ai, one of those.” Izuku groaned, “Okay, that means you’re just naturally going to have a tough time actually explaining yourself. Natural geniuses almost always do. It’s why in pre-Quirk days, the best sports players weren’t necessarily the best coaches once they left their playing days behind.”

“Ah!” Yes, that would be a problem, wouldn’t it?

“Okay, have you ever taken a programming class before?” Izuku asked him.

“Can’t say I have.” Toshinori looked confused at the non sequitur. 

“Well I have. Figured it would be a fun elective.” Izuku said, “And one of the first things the teacher did was sit his ass in a chair and have us ‘program’ him to stand up.” Toshinori looked even more confused now, “It was a lesson in how a computer will not do what you mean, it will do what you say. It can’t interpret your commands. Only follow lines of code. It was pretty funny actually. We told the teacher to push off the ground, and he actually did just that. He pushed down with his legs and flipped himself and his chair over.”

“Oh, jeez!” Toshinori grimaced, thinking. “So what you’re getting at is that I shouldn’t assume you’ll know what I mean when I say something.”

“Right.” Izuku nodded. “So now, tell me how you use One For All. Tell me what it feels like to you. Tell me how you actually use it. Do you cycle it through your whole body or do you just, like, send the power to a limb when you want to smack a bitch?”

Toshinori sputtered some blood, “Uh, no, definitely the former. The latter sounds like a really bad idea.”

“See? There you fucking go!” Izuku smirked, “Now come on. Give up the goods, sensei!”

Toshinori laughed, “Alright, here goes then…” The two discussed things for a good while.

…

“Alright… I’m as ready as I think I’m ever going to be.” Izuku sighed as he closed his eyes and sank deep. He definitely could feel the power of One For All inside him. He seized it and let it engulf his entire being. Immediately, green lightning began to crackle around him like a thunderstorm. It was a straight up aura of power.

“Woah! This is different!” Toshinori yelled in surprise.

But Izuku could feel something was wrong. The thunderstorm was raging through his body. He could feel his bones starting to creak and his muscles start to tear. “FUCK!” He cried out as he cut off the storm, the lightning vanishing in an instant. He fell to his knees and panted.

“Midoriya-shōnen!” Toshinori ran up, “What happened?”

Izuku grimaced as he kneeled up, wincing as his muscles felt taut. “Fuck, I think that was too much.”

“Crap…” Toshinori sighed, “I was afraid of this. I knew there would be kickback but…” He shook his head. “It’s a good thing you didn’t just follow my advice blindly.”

“Yeah. I’d probably have broken my everything.” Izuku got up and stumbled a bit, holding onto the man for balance. “Shit, that hurt. Okay, I think I have to turn it waaay down.” He took a few deep breaths. “Okay, let’s try this again.”

“You don’t want to wait for tomorrow? You worked your butt off all day and last night and are already tired. You have three months before the exams… There’s time to let your body get used to your new strength.” Toshinori patted him on the shoulder.

“Fuck no.” Izuku said, his eyes burning. “Mama didn’t raise no quitter.” He reached inside of him again and called up his new Quirk. Only this time, he didn’t pull all of it. He pulled just a fifth of what he had originally. He sparked up again, gritting his teeth as the power ripped through his body once more, “Gkkk!” He felt his bones clicking. Not good. “Better than last time.” He ground out, “But still fucking hurts.” He cut it down by a fourth again and finally sighed in relief as he at least didn’t feel like he was getting more hurt with every passing second.

He dropped it and sat on the sand. “Fucking hell… even after all this…” He grimaced, “I can only handle five percent?” He punched the sand. “DAMN IT!”

“Relax, my boy.” Toshinori soothed him. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

“But you-”

“Still had several stones of muscle on you when I received it, even with all your gains.” Toshinori interrupted him. “Don’t forget, five percent of One For All is still five percent of One For All.”

“Heh… I guess you’re right.” Izuku smiled, “What about the lightning? Did anything like that ever happen to you?”

Toshinori smiled and sat next to him, “Only once.” He chuckled, “Honestly, I think I was legitimately trying to burn out the Quirk.” He sighed, his chuckles falling silent, “It was when I fought the guy who did this to me.” He tapped his side.

“Who was he?” Izuku asked curiously.

“The boogeyman.” Toshinori said flatly. “The one who could steal Quirks at his leisure.”

“HE’S REAL?!” Izuku yelped, his eyes bulging.

“Was.” Toshinori smiled. There was none of the usual warmth there, but plenty of satisfaction. “He created One For All by accident, hundreds of years ago. And through eight generations, we toiled to build up its power to one day take the madman down. The task fell to me, and for the first and only time in my career, I killed a man. Squeezed his head until his skull popped like a grape.”

“Holy shit…” Izuku murmured in awe at yet more Forbidden All Might Lore. “How the fuck did he accidentally create it?”

“All For One had a brother. A Quirkless brother. Weak and with poor health.” Toshinori grinned, “Or so they all thought. Whether due to genuine affection or out of a desire to control his brother who was constantly challenging him for his evil deeds, he decided to give him a Quirk. A stockpiling Quirk.” he laughed, “But the joke was on him. The First had never been Quirkless. He had merely possessed a Quirk with no real use: the ability to pass itself on. Once it combined with Stockpile though?” He grinned.

“One For All.” Izuku laughed.

“Mhm. And he regretted his mistake for decades after that… and then he met me.” He said, satisfaction burning within him.

“Fuck yeah.” Izuku stood up and called up One For All again. He overshot five percent by quadruple, grimaced, and canceled it. He then did it again, overshooting by quintuple. Then again, by double. And on and on until he finally felt comfortable with getting his safe percentage right each time. “Alright. I think I have a handle on it now.” He said before facing the water. “Let’s check this shit out!” He got in a proper stance and threw out a punch.

The winds blew from his fist in a shockwave, striking the water and parting them for about fifty feet out. The waves weren’t huge, but definitely noticeable. “THERE YOU GO, YOUNG MAN!” Toshinori yelled in congratulations.

But Izuku was frowning at his fist. “That’s it? You can generate hurricanes at full power! Five percent may only be a twentieth of that, but that felt pretty underwhelming in comparison? Maybe the electricity is me bleeding power off?”

“Or there could be something we’re not seeing.” He patted his protégé on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, Midoriya-shōnen. You’ve had the Quirk for less than an hour. Even I wasn’t knocking down skyscrapers like that.”

“Yeah, but you’ve had forty years to build the damn thing up too.” Izuku muttered, still looking at his fist. “Hmm, I wonder if I can do anything with the aura.”

“Like what?” Toshinori asked him in confusion. “I don’t think lightning control is part of One For All.” He said dryly.

“…” Izuku said nothing for a moment, before he smirked as he thought of an old, pre-Quirk anime he had enjoyed. He made a gun shape with his hand and pointed it out, bracing with his other hand. ‘Come on, One For All, work with me here! It would be so fucking cool!’ He charged up five percent just to the tip of his right index finger, and to his surprise felt the power obeying his command. He could also sense it wasn’t anywhere near enough for what he wanted. He spiked to ten percent. And again, to his surprise, he didn’t really feel anything since he was focusing the power away from him. So he doubled again. Nothing.

‘Fuck it, we ball!’ He thought to himself as he spiked all the way to a hundred percent. Instantly, the power compressed into a ball at the tip of his finger. “SPIRIT GUN!” He yelled gleefully before a god damned beam of emerald energy erupted in front of him. It flew over the ocean, throwing water up on either side dozens of feet up.

It was bright enough to almost blind them and they shut their eyes. When the energy petered out, Toshinori yelled, “Holy stinking super CRAP! What was that?!” He turned to Izuku, only to see him falling over. “Young man!” He yelped, catching him. “Are you alright?”

His response was the loudest snore he’d ever heard.

“…Well…shit.” Toshinori muttered.

-]|[-

Izuku yawned as he walked through the gates of U.A. The remaining three months had passed quickly, and he was so ready to shove Katsuki’s nose into the dirt.

And speaking of the devil, “Move aside, Deku!”

Izuku smirked as he turned around, “Morning, Princess.”

“Get out of my way or you’re dead!” He snarled back.

“Nah, that would risk you getting kicked out.” Izuku snarked, “And we both know you won’t do anything to risk that with all these cameras watching, lil’ bitch.”

Katsuki looked like he was going to blow a gasket. “You better hope we have different exams, otherwise you’re fuck-”

“Yeah, yeah, dead. Find some new material.” Izuku rolled his eyes and continued walking.

And as the two entered, others looked a little intimidated. “Holy shit, that was the Sludge Duo!”

“Didn’t the green one kill Death Arms’s career?” The whispers followed them in and Izuku smirked. He hadn’t bothered keeping up with any of the dumbasses from that incident, but if that cunt had retired, then Izuku had already done his good deed for the year.

…

“WELCOME TO TODAY’S LIVE PERFORMANCE!” Proving he had zero inside voice, the Hero Present Mic roared out, “EVERYBODY SAY ‘HEY!’”

And Izuku, perfectly ready to nerd out, did. “HEEEEY!” He was the only one. Laughter erupted around the hall. “Hmph. Plebs.” Izuku turned his nose up at them.

Present Mic, however, was delighted. “Looking good, Examinee 5126!” He pointed at Izuku and got the horns from Izuku in response. The laughter died. “This is how the test will go, little listeners! You’ll all be doing ten-minute-long ‘dry runs’ against villains we will be providing. These are ‘Mock Cityscape Battles,’ so you can bring anything you want with you! After this presentation, you’ll be moving to your assigned battlegrounds.”

“Consecutive IDs are all assigned to different locations.” Izuku muttered after taking a peak at Katsuki’s sheet as well as the unknown person next to him.

Katsuki also realized what was going on. “That’s so people from the same school can’t just form a group and slay the exam together, huh?”

“Probably.” Izuku replied, “We’re much more unlikely to form a team with random strangers, and even less likely to actually trust them or be able to coordinate abilities with such a time limit. Too bad. Looks like your ego gets to live another day.”

“Eat shit and die.” Katsuki snarled back.

They started paying attention to Present Mic again, “Each site is full of three different types of Villains! You can think of it like that old retro game, Super Mario! Every type of enemy is worth a different amount of points, from one to three. And that’s your goal, little listeners! You want to use your Quirks to destroy or incapacitate as many of these Faux Villains as possible and RACK THOSE POINTS UP!” He grinned and waved a finger at them, as if chiding a disobedient child, “And of course, playing a naughty antihero is strictly forbidden. No attacking fellow examinees or else!”

“My kind of test!” Katsuki had a mad grin on his face, almost salivating at what was to come.

“Really? What happened to killing me?” Izuku snarked at him.

“May I ask a question?” A tall, muscular boy stood up with his arm raised high. Present Mic agreed and pointed at him, causing a spotlight to shine down. He looked like he moved incredibly stiffly. Whether that was nerves or otherwise was unknown. He had blue-tinted black hair – combed perfectly – and square-rimmed glasses. He raised his provided sheet of paper and pointed to it, “There appear to be no less than four Faux Villains printed on this sheet! If that is a misprint, then as the most prominent school in Japan, U.A. should be ashamed of such a foolish mistake! We are here as examinees in this place because we wish to be molded into exemplary heroes!” He then whirled around, “And you two! You’ve been muttering this whole time! If you’re just here to fool around, you should leave!” His voice was loud and prominent as he stared intensely at the pair.

Izuku raised an eyebrow as Katsuki looked ready to blow a gasket again. “Hey, how about a nice cold glass of ‘Shut the fuck up and let Present Mic explain?’” Izuku replied and the boy rocked back as if punched. Several people giggled. “Little bit of muttering between classmates never killed anyone. Fucking relax.”

But before things could escalate, Present Mic interrupted, “Okay! Good catch, Examinee 7111!” He pointed at the dark-blue-haired, shocked boy. “And yeah, that fourth one isn’t a misprint or mistake. It just isn’t worth any points.” He explained, “It’s a distraction and an obstacle, not something to waste your time trying to take down. Kinda like a Thwomp! There’s only one of them at each test site too.”

7111 still looked shocked and embarrassed, “T-Thank you sir. My apologies for the interruption.” He bowed and then sat stiffly.

“That’s all from me, little listeners!” Present Mic yelled, “I’ll leave you with our school motto! As the great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said, ‘True heroism consists of being superior to all the ills of life.’ PLUS ULTRA!” He grinned again, “Break a leg, everyone!”

…

Izuku shucked off his sweater and stuffed it into his bag as he got off the bus, leaving him just in his compression shirt. Several of the girls and even some of the guys looked at him and got a little hot under the collar. Some were outright drooling.

That same blue-haired kid seemed to have a problem with it. “You again! Are you only here to be a distraction?”

Izuku turned around quizzically. “You again dude? Fuck’s your problem?” He sighed, shaking his head. “You being a nervous bitch is no reason to take it out on the rest of us. Mind your own fucking business.” He began stretching himself out.

“I say! That is no way for a Hero to talk!” The young man chopped his arms at him.

“I’ll talk however I fucking want.” Izuku stretched out his legs and then stood, cracking his neck.

Before another word could be said between them, they heard Present Mic yell, “AND START!”

Izuku didn’t skip a beat and was engulfed with lightning. He vanished, making the other young man’s eyes widen as he saw just how fast Izuku actually was.

Izuku was the first in the city and the first to see one of the robots; a massive three-pointer that leapt off the roof of one of the smaller buildings. Izuku grinned and kicked off the ground, inverting himself and kicking through the robot. Sparks flew everywhere as shattered metal rained down on the ground below. Izuku landed on the roof and took in that section of the city within moments. He sped down and a green lightning bolt shot through the city, taking down over a dozen bots with punches, kicks, knees, and elbows as he went.

As he dashed around the city at speed, he came across numerous contestants who looked like they were shitting themselves. The first was a young lady with brown hair who managed to destroy one of the robots surrounding her with what looked like a thorny water whip coming from a bottle she was carrying.

But the whip also split apart and rained on the ground, and she looked like she was having trouble getting it back together. A Two-Pointer’s stinger tail whipped for her head. And then Izuku was there, moving so fast the villain bot seemed to vanish as he hit it. The young lady gasped as he landed. “You good?” He asked, kicking over her head and shredding a gatling arm from a One-Pointer. He spun over her, grabbed it, hauled it over his head and chucked it through a two-pointer.

“T-Thanks!” She said, before tearing up. “Looks like this is as far as I go though.”

“Don’t give me that!” Izuku yelled at her, grabbing an arm off the ground and stabbing it with his fingers. “Go pop open a fire hydrant or something! Hit one of the self-destruct buttons! You’ve only lost when you give up!” He tossed it at her and then he was gone.

“Easy for you to say with a Quirk like that.” She glared at where he had been standing. She bit her lip before surging up and running for the nearest hydrant. She jammed the arm on and grunted as she pushed. It spun, before she jammed it on the nozzle and busted it open. Water started spewing out and she beamed, collecting it all around her and running for the nearest bots.

Izuku continued racing around, saving other examinees who looked to be in danger and taking out bot after bot. ‘It’s been eight minutes or so.’ Izuku thought to himself after a quick glance at his watch. ‘Where the hell is this Zero Pointer supposed to be?’

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

“Holy fuck! It’s fucking kaiju-sized!” Izuku yelled as he stared at it. At minimum, it was skyscraper-sized. “Fucking hell…” He watched as it took down an entire building with a swipe of one of its massive arms. And like Present Mic had warned them to do… almost everyone was running away from it.

Honestly… he had so many points already that he was kinda tempted to fight it anyway. But before he could, he heard something, “HELP!”

Every cell in his body shifted to ‘save’ mode. He vanished, appearing next to a… void in a pile of rubble? He was confused for a mere second but could see the shifting. There was definitely a girl there. He could even see two sizable… squishes in the ‘sand layer’ of destroyed concrete she was on. ‘Invisibility.’ He thought immediately as he grabbed the rubble and tossed it off her like it was paper. “I’ve got ‘ya, gorgeous.” He picked her up and almost flinched when he felt completely bare flesh.

“GorGEOOOOOOUUUUUSSSSSSS?!?!?!?!? OH MY GOOOOD!” The girl in his arms squealed as they sailed through the air, landing far away from the rampaging zero pointer. “What do you mean gorgeous? I’m invisible!” She managed to get out as he put her down.

Izuku grinned at her. Or where he assumed she was anyway. “I can’t see anything bad about your looks!”

“Pfftttt!” The invisible girl sputtered and started to laugh. “Th-Thanks for the save!” She managed to get out.

“You got it!” Izuku looked over at the Zero-Pointer, “Man, but that guy is absolutely just wrecking shit, isn’t he?”

“It’s so dangerous! I can’t believe U.A. has something like it! How would anyone even get at the self-destruct switch to shut it down!?” She exclaimed.

Izuku smirked, “I don’t need no self-destruct switch!” He made a finger gun. “Close your eyes, gorgeous!” Energy charged at his fingertip. “SPIRIT GUN!” He roared, the blast erupting from his fingertip. A green flash lit up the entire testing ground.

And then, when Hagakure Tōru opened her eyes, she gaped. The Zero Pointer was dead. Its entire face plate had a massive gouge carved out of it. “Holy crap! You freaking KILLED it!” And then his head flopped onto her legs. “Eep!”

“Ugh… still gets me every time.” He groaned, utterly exhausted. “Fucking hell, at least I’m not passing out when I do that anymore.” He tiredly turned his head, “Mind giving me a lap pillow, beautiful?”

‘Don’t go visible. Don’t go visible. Don’t go visible.’ Tōru’s face was on fire. “O-Only if you turn the other way… and only because you’re cute.” She then flinched, “Oh, the exam!”

“TIME!” Present Mic yelled out. “It’s all over!”

“Never mind.” Tōru said dryly. She smiled down at Izuku’s fluffy hair, “So does my Hero have a name?”

Izuku smiled, “Midoriya Izuku. You?”

“Hagakure Tōru.” She beamed at him. “And my next question iiiiis… what are those digits?”

He started to chuckle before pulling out his cell and handing it to her on ‘add contact.’ She immediately started typing it down and double-checked it to make sure she didn’t mess up the number. She gave it back to him and he sent her a “:D.”

Tōru began to giggle. “I’ll make sure to add you later, Izuku.”

He smiled, “Yeah, don’t imagine you can carry much like that.”

Her face went nuclear again. ‘HE NOTICED!’ She wailed inside her own head.

“If you’re not already aware, DNA fabrics matched to your Quirk exist.” He told her. “Make sure any costume requests to U.A. include explicit requests for them.”

“You’re serious?!” She yelped, looking down at him.

“Mhm.” He nodded, “I imagine U.A. regretted not letting that one kid from two years ago wear one during the Sports Festival.”

“What happened?” She asked curiously. She also couldn’t take it anymore and started rubbing his fluffy hair.

“I’m not sure what his Quirk actually was, but his U.A. gym uniform just fell off him, and he flashed the whole world.” Izuku snickered as Toru’s jaw dropped.

“I’d die!” She whined at the thought. “I’d combust!” Izuku started to laugh.

“Are you two dearies alright?” A wizened voice asked as a short and squat old lady walked up to them.

Izuku gave her a thumbs up, “Just exhausted, RG. That move always wipes me out.”

‘RG’ chuckled, “Well, here you go then. These Haribo candies are formulated to help regain some energy.”

“Thanks!” Izuku smiled at her, “Can I trade you for an autograph?”

“You’ll have to wait until the semester starts, dearie. Too many of you kids to look after.” ‘RG’ chuckled before looking at Tōru. “And you, dear?”

“Uhh, my legs kind of hurt.” Tōru admitted, “The concrete fell on them.”

“I’m not hurting you, am I?” Izuku asked immediately, turning to look in her direction.

“Nope, you’re all good. It was my lower legs.” And he was on her thighs, very close to private places. She was trying very hard not to think about it.

“Give me your hand, dearie.” ‘RG’ said, and Tōru did so. She puckered up and kissed her hand.

“Oh! Oh, wow, they’re all better!” Tōru said excitedly. “Kinda made me tired though.”

“That’s how Recovery Girl rolls.” Izuku grinned, “She’s the only reason U.A. can be so extra.” He sat up, feeling some of his energy returning from the gummies. “Hooo, these are the good shit!” He popped another gummy and got up, holding a hand out. He felt Tōru grab it and helped her up. “Thanks RG! We’ll get out of your hair.”

“Gosh, I’m so nervous!” Tōru mumbled as they started walking through the city back to the bus. “I think I did pretty well, but…”

“Don’t worry, beautiful!” She flushed again when Izuku grinned at her, “I’m sure you did great. Be confident!”

She beamed at him, “You know what? Hell yeah! I can’t wait until we’re in class together!” She punched the air.

“That’s the spirit!” Izuku laughed as they got back to the bus and separated. Tōru had a date with a towel (for the grime she could feel sticking to her) and her clothes.

-]|[-

“I GOT MY LETTER!” Tōru’s voice squealed through Izuku’s phone.

“Lucky!” Izuku laughed, “Mine isn’t here yet.”

“Ooooh, shoot! I want to open them together!” Tōru whined.

“It’s fine!” He waved her off, “I’m all ears!”

“You sure?” She asked, gulping nervously. After a moment, she opened the letter. “The heck is-HOLOGRAM?!” She yelped as a very squeaky voice came through the phone.

‘Am I a mouse, a dog, or a bear? What matters is that I am the principal; here to deliver your results!’ Izuku smiled as he listened, crossing his fingers for her. “Miss Hagakure, you scored an eighty on the written exam, which is just barely enough to earn you admission into our illustrious institution’s General Studies course!”

“OH MY GOD!” Tōru audibly flopped onto her bed. “I ALMOST FAILED!” She wailed.

“A pass is a pass.” Izuku told her. “Stand proud. You cooked!” He snickered as she let out a groan.

“Neeerd!” She said playfully.

Nezu had evidently given enough time for a freak out, “But I’m sure the General Studies is not what you’re interested in! I’m sure the real question you’re asking iiiiis… ‘How did I do on the Hero Course Placement Exam!’ And to that I say, well!” Nezu said and they both shut up. Tōru could hardly breathe, “Your clever use of our self-destruct buttons and improvised weapons with the detritus was enough to net you sixteen points. A good result, but sadly not good enough for direct entry into the Hero Course.”

There was silence for a moment before Tōru, already tearing up, mumbled, “N-No way…”

“But despair not, Miss Hagakure, because if all that was needed was to beat up some villain bots then we wouldn’t be a very good Hero University!” Tōru sucked in a sharp gasp, trembling on her bed. “We also judged you by a secret metric! Hero Points! Earned by helping others during the exam where needed! And you earned a fair number of points saving other, less fortunate examinees! You managed a full twenty-five additional Hero Points, netting you forty-one total! That is a much better score and earns you full entry into the Hero Course! Welcome, Miss Hagakure, to your Hero Academia!”

“EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!” Izuku was glad he had it on speaker and not against his ear, because she would certainly have blown his eardrum out. “I DID IT! I DID IT!”

“Told you! Congratulations, Tōru.” Izuku said warmly.

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear if you got in too!” Tōru said excitedly. If she hadn’t stopped paying attention to the hologram, she already would have known since the top ten popped up.

Izuku laughed, “Now that I know you passed with forty-one, I know I’m in.” He teased her. “Just a formality now.”

“Seriously?” Tōru gasped, “How many freaking bots did you blow up, Izu-kun?!”

“Uhhh, I had like… eighty-nine points.” Izuku said sheepishly.

“Ei-EIGHTY-NINE?!” She screamed in shock, “YOU FREAKING LAPPED ME?!”

“Kinky.” Izuku grinned as she made another embarrassed noise. “But yeah, I was slaying.”

“No kidding!” Tōru exclaimed, “Maybe you even broke a record! All Might is the record holder, right?”

“No, actually.” Izuku laughed, “I figured he would be too, but he wasn’t quite that strong at the time. Endeavor actually holds it with a hundred-and-eleven.”

“Oh, you’re going to smash it then! Eighty-nine is most of the way there already! Surely you got a bunch of Hero Points too!”

“We’ll have to wait and see.”

“I really hope we’re in the same class then!” Tōru said happily. “Wish we didn’t live so far away. I wanna celebrate!”

“We can always have a party at the dorms.” Izuku grinned, “Should be fun. And-”

His door slammed open. “IZUKU!” His mom wailed, “It’s here!” She held up the envelope with trembling fingers.

“Hell yeah!” Izuku grinned, “Let’s see it then!” He grabbed it from his mom, shot her a confident smile, and opened it up. He patted the bed next to him.

“BOOYA!”  All Might, wearing a golden, pinstriped suit that looked hilarious, appeared. “I am here! As a projection!”

“You got ALL MIGHT?!” Tōru yelped as Izuku gave the projection a confused look. All Might hadn’t contacted him all week, so this better be good!

“Been a while, young man! There’s been much to deliberate on! But I’m sure you’re wondering, ‘what the heck is All Might doing in my U.A. letter?’ Well it’s simple! You’re looking at U.A.’s newest teacher!”

“OH MY GOD!” Tōru squealed, “We get to learn from All Freaking Might?!”

Izuku started to sweat. ‘Fear. Great fear. Please tell me you bought a ‘Teaching for Dummies’ book, Toshi-sensei.’

All Might laughed boisterously, “I’m sure that excites you, so without further ado, here’s how you did! A ninety-six on the written exam guarantees entry to the General Studies Course here at my alma mater! Congratulations!” His grin widened, “But of course, I doubt that’s what you’re interested in. Eighty-nine points! That alone earns you the top spot of the entire exam, my boy!”

“T-TOP SPOT?!” Inko gasped, looking wide-eyed at her son. “Y-You got the top spot?! Oh, honey! I’m so proud!”

“Thanks mom!” Izuku smiled at her, before starting to cackle, “ALSO, FUCK YOU, KACCHAN! I WIN!”

Inko sweatdropped and Tōru began to giggle. All Might waited a few moments more before declaring, “But you weren’t satisfied with JUST the top spot, were you, young man? No, you were trying to break records! Eighty-nine points was only what you managed from the villain bots you destroyed! And U.A. isn’t some lame school that idolizes pointless destruction! Hero Points are also taken into consideration! We judged you on acts of bravery where you sacrificed time you could have spent earning points to rescue and aid others! And you, my boy, performed splendidly there too! You saved dozens of students throughout the exams and inspired many of them to keep going when they were close to tapping out! You even sacrificed the last remaining minute to take out the Zero Pointer so that it couldn’t continue to wreak havoc! And that’s enough to have you annihilate Endeavor’s old record of a hundred-and-eleven! The new bar to beat is in the stratosphere, young man! A hundred-and-fifty-six! Welcome to your Hero Academia!”

“WE DID IT!” Tōru cheered.

“Hell yeah we did!” Izuku grinned as he hugged his mom. “Hey, I’ll talk to you later, okay Tōru? You should go tell your folks the good news.”

“Mhm! Catch you later, Izu-kun!” Tōru hung up and he faced his mom.

“You got in.” She wiped her tears away, “I’m so proud!” She hugged him tight, with Izuku squeezing her as well. “I… I’m so glad I told you that you could do anything you set your mind to… after that awful day.” She looked down. “I-I sobbed for hours that night.”

Izuku smiled and kissed his mom’s forehead. “I’m glad you did too. If even you hadn’t supported me, I really think things might be different now.” He said softly. And then he grinned evilly, “Oh, and speaking of that awful day…”

Inko twitched, “Honey?”

Izuku’s grin widened madly, “We can add another name to the list of cunts I’ve proved wrong.” And then he was engulfed with lightning as he showed off One For All to his mom for the first time. Inko stared. And stared. And stared. “Mom?” Izuku’s grin fell. He waved his hand in front of her face… and then snorted. “Seriously mom?” He picked up the unconscious woman bridal style and brought her to her bedroom. He tucked her in, pecked her on the forehead, and left, chuckling as inaudibly as he could.

-]|[-

Hey everyone! Hope you liked this one! I’ve been wanting to write this one since I first started Emerald Phoenix, honestly. One where, instead of turning into a doormat, Izuku just gets angry and lets out the feral side of him we rarely got to see in canon. He’s lean, he’s mean, and he ain’t here to take any of your shit.

That said, I do hope I managed to set a balance. Courser, rougher, and way more confident, but still Izuku. Even with the burning hate he feels for Bakugō, he didn’t skip a fucking beat before going for the rescue. AKA, nice to you until you’re not nice to him. Then he’ll tear you a new one physically if verbally doesn’t send you crying to mommy.

Now, THIS one has potential to be expanded on… in many different ways. I did write it out through the Entrance Exam here, but I EASILY could take it in another direction and have Izuku just graduate Aldera early and then go spend three months with All Might at I-Island instead.

Aka, combine this with Two For All, which is probably my favorite of my bunnies… just with the downside of it having doormat Izuku. Would take a fair bit of rewriting of that one but I could work it.

Anyway, let me know how you guys liked it!