"You can be a hero!"
The worth that those words had for the young Izuku Midoriya was immeasurable, specially considering that they had been said by his idol, the greatest hero in the world, Archetype.
Izuku had never imagined that his action of trying to save Bakugou from a villain would attract the attention of such an amazing figure. But things had happened like that, and Izuku could now see hope of being able to achieve his dreams.
Archetype (or "Takeshi Takato", which was apparently his real name) had told Izuku that they would talk more about that on the following day, and since it would be a Sunday, there would be more than enough time for them to hash out everything.
Izuku thought that he would have been unable to sleep due to the expectations, but it seemed that all the excitement of the day had tired him more than expected, and he fell asleep almost immediately after going to bed.
The next day, after waking up, he almost thought that it had all been a dream, so he took out his hero notebook and looked at the most recent page, where Archetype had written a particular place and time where they would meet up (a cafe in the city, at 10:30 AM).
Having convinced himself that it hadn't been a dream, Izuku could hardly contain his excitement during breakfast, wondering how exactly Archetype was planning on helping him become a hero. His mother noticed his attitude but didn't question it, simply being happy that he seemed to be more upbeat.
After breakfast, Izuku prepared his backpack with a lunch, money and his trusty hero notebook, and left his house after telling his mother that he might be away for the whole day.
He took the bus and got where he had to go one whole hour early, so he didn't actually go inside the cafe, but wandered around the proximity, taking note of the nearby places. And when it got to 10:00 AM, Izuku went back into the cafe and sat at a table to enjoy a cup of coffee with milk.
Time seemed to be moving very slowly, so Izuku busied himself by rereading the most recent entries in his hero notebook and trying to think of something else he could add, some new insight that could help even more in his struggle to be a hero, now that the opportunity had reignited his will.
Eventually though, the appointed hour came, and Takeshi walked through the door. And it was definitely Takeshi this time, instead of Archetype, which was understandable, considering the uproar that would be caused by the arrival of such a famous hero at a public place.
Izuku had been surprised once Archetype revealed his true appearance to him. Instead of the tall and muscular titan that he appeared as while in battle, Takeshi was a short, skinny man with a face that wouldn't stand out in a crowd.
Takeshi sat down on a chair in front of Izuku, on the same table. The boy opened his mouth to talk, but the man stopped him with a raised hand. Izuku waited, and felt something like a pulse of energy going through the air.
"There." Takeshi said "Now we can talk without the risk of anyone overhearing."
"Right." Izuku said, a little embarrassed for not having thought of that "Then..." He hesitated for a moment "What do I need to do to become a hero?"
Takeshi smiled "As long as you kept your heroic soul and your analytical mind, you would eventually become a hero even without my help." Then his expression became serious "What I am offering you is something far more serious. I am offering you the chance to become my successor."
Izuku's brain shut down. His mouth opened and closed a bunch of times, and Takeshi waited silently until the boy finally reacted. That reaction was:
"WHAT?!"
It was pretty smart of Takeshi to have already blocked the sound.
-0-
It took a while for Izuku to calm down. He muttered furiously, tried and failed to get a coherent sentence multiple times, fidgeted hard enough to qualify as a minor earthquake and a bunch of other stuff.
Eventually thought, he managed to get himself under control "How could I become your successor? I am Quirkless. Even becoming a hero at all would be difficult, so how could I take the place of the greatest hero in the world?"
Takeshi didn't smile, he simply spoke calmly "There are many heroes without Quirks, but that's not really the point, because I can give you a Quirk. Mine, in fact."
And then the previous scene repeated itself.
-0-
It took slightly longer for Izuku to recover that time, but Takeshi still waited patiently. And finally Izuku managed to get out a complete sentence:
"I couldn't... You are far too important to lose your powers, and I'm not worthy of getting so much power." Izuku said, even though it hurt him to speak that.
"There are two things wrong with what you said." Takeshi explained "The first is that I'm not going to lose my powers by giving you my Quirk. The nature of my abilities is different from what most people think. You must know of the theories about my power, right?"
Izuku took a deep breath and started speaking with ease "Considering the sheer versatility of your ability, the most plausible theory is some sort of extremely precise telekinesis coupled with a heightened perception, which allows you to manipulate the environment to produce different effects." He stopped to breath "Other theories involve similar things, like versatile transmutations of the environment or the ability to manipulate energy."
Takeshi nodded "That's pretty thorough, but the truth is even stranger than that. Technically you could call it 'manipulating waves', but that is only half of the equation. My true ability allows me to learn from witnessing other Quirks at close range, allowing me to affect the world in similar ways through the manipulation of waves. It is the Quirk that takes everything the user saw and learned and turns it into their strength. It is called All for One."
Izuku was speechless. The sheer magnitude of what he had just heard... He now knew an amazing secret from the greatest hero in the world, and he didn't know how to respond. Thankfully, Takeshi kept going.
"As such, even after handing the Quirk to you, I'll still retain all of the abilities that I acquired over my life, and you will have to develop your own set of skills. As for not being worthy of it..." His eyes softened "As I already said, you have the heart of a hero, and your mind is sharp. You are the person I chose to be my successor, so have a little more faith in yourself."
Izuku still couldn't respond, and Takeshi grinned and spoke again:
"But if you're still reluctant... How about we have a little test to see whether or not you are worthy of inheriting this power."
"A test?" Izuku managed to ask.
"Exactly. But first you have to decide." Takeshi became serious again "You want to become a hero, right? That means you must take responsibility for your own decisions. Will you accept to become my successor or will you try to go on a different path? Only you can make that decision."
There was a moment of hesitation, but then Izuku answered "I'll do it. I don't know if I'll be able to, but I'll do my best to become a hero worthy of you."
"That's what I wanted to hear." Takeshi smiled "Now, about the test I mentioned... Come with me."
He stood up to leave the cafe, and Izuku followed.
-0-
The place where Takeshi brought Izuku was an empty beach, which was isolated from the rest of the coast by some sharp rock hills on both sides. They had to get there via boat, and Takeshi said that it was a private beach that he owned.
"What do I need to do?" Izuku asked.
"Not much." Takeshi said, then he shifted, turning into the form of Archetype "Just defeat this guy."
And Archetype raised a hand and caused the sand in the entire beach to start trembling. Izuku watched in awe as a huge amount of sand coalesced into a sort of humanoid figure.
It was only sort of humanoid, because it didn't have a head, and the arms and legs were short and stubby, while most of its mass was in a rounded torso that was shaped sort of like a boulder.
The sand golem put one feet forward and advanced towards Izuku with quick steps, and the boy took a moment to realize that he was supposed to fight that, before jumping out of the way when the construct almost crashed into him.
"What?" He muttered, as the construct turned to face him again.
For a moment, panic gripped Izuku's heart at the thought of having to fight something like that when he didn't even have a Quirk, but then his eyes fell over the figure of Archetype, who was watching him with arms folded, and the boy realized that he was much more afraid of disappointing his expectations than he was of fighting and being hurt.
His mind snapped back into focus, and Izuku started analyzing every single aspect of the opponent and the environment, looking for anything that could be used as an advantage for him.
The sand golem advanced at him again, and this time Izuku realized that, while it managed to move pretty fast, the way the construct was built meant that it took a bit of time to gain speed, and it wasn't capable of turning very well.
Deciding to test a theory, Izuku prepared himself for another jump, while he kept looking at the opponent.
At the last second, he jumped to avoid a swipe of the thing's arm, and managed to confirm his suspicions. The arms of that construct were too short, so it would have to "bend down" in order to reach Izuku if he was crouching. And the boy had no doubt that this weakness had been deliberately put there by Archetype.
With this detail in mind, Izuku took into account the movement pattern of the enemy and the state of the surroundings to come up with a plan.
Again and again the construct advanced towards him, and Izuku dodged it, little by little luring the thing closer to the water. Also, he took off his backpack and held it in his hand.
He timed things out so that the next wave was about to arrive at the same time as the golem was reaching his position next to the water. Izuku waited until the last possible instant, knowing that this was the only way to make it work.
And when the sand construct swung its arm, Izuku moved.
He threw himself on the ground at the same time as he swung his backpack at the right leg of the enemy.
Izuku felt the arm of the golem passing right over him, and his hit caused the leg to crumble, making the construct collapse forwards, straight into the water.
But it wasn't very deep, so Izuku's plan needed to have one more step. He stood up again and pushed the golem forward with all his strength, making it slide deeper and deeper into the water.
Izuku only stopped when the water reached his waist, and he moved backwards, keeping an eye to see if the golem construct would be able to recover from that situation.
He didn't need to worry about that. The construct struggled, but it wasn't designed to swim, and the water soaked into its sand, making it heavier and heavier, until eventually it broke into pieces.
Izuku got out of the water, and looked at Archetype, who had a satisfied smile on his face.
"I think this should put to rest any doubts as to whether you are worthy of it or not. And in any case, you just need to always strive to improve yourself, and that is enough to satisfy All for One." Archetype went back to his Takeshi form "At least, that's what the previous holder told me."
Izuku's eyes widened "There was a previous holder?"
Takeshi nodded "Yes. Otherwise, how would I know that this power could be passed down?"
"That makes sense..." Izuku looked down in thought "How many holders have there been?"
"I am the eighth." Takeshi said.
Then he pointed a finger at Izuku, making his clothes dry in a few seconds.
"How about we go back to the cafe, and then we talk about how this will work?" He said.
-0-
They went back to the same place they had been before, even sitting at the same table. And Takeshi did his anti-snooping thing again.
"I'm sure you know what the best way for you to become a hero is." Takeshi said.
Izuku got confused for a moment, but then it clicked "You mean going to the International Hero School, right?"
"Yes." Takeshi said "Not every one of the great heroes started by going to that school, but it is definitely the best way to improve oneself quickly."
"I heard that the qualification process is extremely demanding." Izuku said "Even Kacchan wasn't completely confident about passing it." His eyes widened "The next opportunity to do it will be in ten months. Do you think it's enough time?" Izuku panicked a little bit.
"Yes." Takeshi nodded firmly "It will be enough time, because I have the perfect training program in mind." He grinned, and for some reason, Izuku felt a bit uneasy.
"And what will be that training program?" He asked.
"The first month will be preparing you physically and mentally without having the power." Takeshi started "You will have to train your body to get into shape, just as much as you did with your mind." He paused "I will also teach you some of the basic mechanisms behind powers, so that it will be easier for you to use All for One." He smiled a bit "You should be happy, since the first few holders of this power had to do it blindly, but recently there's been more and more superpowers research, and I also found out a few things."
Izuku was stunned. He knew that the powers theory stuff that was taught at school was very basic and missing quite a few things, with the teachers saying that the more complex stuff was college level. So the notion of receiving instruction about it from Archetype himself was something that he was barely able to conceive.
Takeshi kept talking "After that first month, you will receive the power of All for One, and will start developing your own skills based on the Quirks you are able to witness, specially those of your classmates." He waved his finger "You're not gonna be able to get a lot, but that is exactly what I intend. It's better for you to master a few techniques instead of trying to learn a ton of things you won't be able to use well." He smiled "I'll also help you in mastering those techniques."
Izuku nodded in understanding.
"And from that, the rest is self explanatory." Takeshi said "You'll keep training your body and your techniques, as well as learning some useful knowledge about heroing that will help you pass through the qualification process... And of course, you will also have to study in order to pass the academic requirements as well."
"Right. I understand." Izuku said "So will we start tomorrow after class?"
"Yes." Takeshi nodded "And you better be prepared, because this training program will push you to your limits."
Izuku swallowed and nodded. But he had already made up his mind, so what was left was just to do it.