I found myself standing in darkness. It felt like the darkness was trying to harm me, but the light from my shield's gem was stopping it. Then I heard a very mangled voice speak slowly.

D͚͕̘̤͍̞̏̂̉͛ͤ̅̀̐͜͢Ǫ̡͎̻̬̝̥̟̝̫̑͋ͪͣ̃̇̓̚͜ ̵͕͍̟͙̗̓̀̍̈́̔̿̚Y̲̱̻̽̉ͨ̈͊̂̕O͂ͯ̃ͩ͏̞̜͚̗ͅU̸̜̘̦ͨ̅̎ͦ͑͟ ̢̥̪̤͔͖͕͉ͨ͊͒̇̽̒ͨS̶̞ͦͩ͜E͇͓̽̍̈̒̊̂͡E̡͉̘̼̤̞̫ͥ̚̚K̵̡̥͙̣̈̒͌̂̓ ̦̲̓͌̇̈́̐̓̌ͨP̴͚̘̻̪̹̰̙̹ͬ̿̆͛̈ͭ̉̃U̷̢̝̼̣̞͔̦̙͈̽ͧ͛͊͒ͤ̄̕R̸̛̹͔̤̤̩̫͓̆̔̔Ę͚͎̘͈ͮ̾̍̾̌̊͜ ̓̌ͨ́͂̋̓͞͏҉̬̺͈P̵͉̩͖͙̱̱͋̒̉ͬ̐͝O̘̗͖͔͈͕̲͇͆̐̇̇̅̇Ẉ̨̮̫̼͎̞̼̗͔̓ͤ̓̈̌ͪ̕E̵͙̙̬̝̜ͮ͒̌ͨͪ̂̌Ŗ̙̹̯̦̞͍̣̩̅͗̆̏̿ͧ̃?͖̪͍̼͋ͯ̿

"What…?" That was all I could say before the voice spoke up again.

Ā͇̞͐̃́̃ͯͬG̛̣̣͍̩͎̘̤͙͚ͯ̽̉ͨ͌ͮ͝A̜̞̠̙̣ͧ̔̉̍̋͢I͗̌̓͆͏̵̘̪̱̕Ń̮̗̤͖͚̩͍̖̘̊ͧ̀͆ͬͪ̌̐͜,,̷̛̗͈̩͈͖͍̏ͤ͗̋̈͑̈͊ͅ ̸̿́̅ͥ͢҉̰̠̘̟͙̜͙͔D̷̫̝̹̥͆̐͝O̭̳̎̃̾̿ ̸̮̣̭̺̱͌̄͗ͯͬͭ͢͟Y̴̳͈̹̣ͧ̂̓̃͘O͈̟̼͕̼̿̚͘U̸̝̬̜͚̇͌ͅ ̠̝̱̹ͣ̄͑̈́̓̓ͅS̫̟͌E̸̺̼̭ͦ̃ͨ̓͟Ḙ̱͇̹̓̑ͨ͊ͣ͘K͐̆̓̍ͯͮ̄ͧ͟͏͉̹̞̬͕͠ ͗ͨ͒҉̺̙̻̦̫̟̞P̫̻̖ͭ̌͂͌̕Ṳ̢͎͉̙͇̺͓͆̅̃͢͝R̴͆ͤ̃͊̌ͭ͊͛̏͟͏̭̭̟̲͇̠Ẽ̩̙͈ͪ͟ ̭̹̠͙̃͑̿ͨ̓ͅP̭ͥͪ̊ͣ̈́̈͛̉͋͟O̯͍̦̗̙̫̰̔̓͘͝W̍҉̙̜͓̻͇̰ͅÉ͇͕͓̘͔͛̐̊ͧ̇̿̌͑͡͞ͅṘ̥̮̼̜̲͕̬͔̽͋ͮ̾͘?͈͒̔!̷̫̭̼̺̖ͣͫ͡

"No, I don't!" I said fiercely. The voice seemed to click for a second.

Ț̴͓̗̗̗̖̝͚ͯ̉H͉̝̗̩̦̫̻͒̒͊ͣͨͣ͜Ẻ̛͚̌̈N͚͋ͫ͆͌͒̾͊ͤ ̯̫̟̥ͦͯ̾ͥ̔͐͂̏͢B̦̹͎͙̌̔͜͡E̷̺̣͕̘͚̬͓ͯ͒̆̓ͧͬ͊G̴͌̑̇̓͐̆҉̺̗̰͕͔̲O͔̪͈̼ͪͮ͂ͨ̄́͞Ṉ͍͚̫̥̟̥̽ͪ͒̉͆ͣĘ̷̶̗̆!̢̤̭͌̓ͦͥ

The darkness then engulfed me. I suddenly wake up in a hospital bed. Mom is looking at me, and she hugs me tightly when she sees that I'm awake. "Promise me you'll never do something that stupid again, Izuku!" she said through sobs.

I weakly chuckle. "I'll try my best mom. Sorry for worrying you."

She was sobbing as she said that. Did I almost die? As I thought that, a doctor walked in. "Oh, your awake, Mr. Izuku! You gave us quite the scare; you flatlined two times. How does it feel to be back in the world of the living?"

I glance up at him and shrug. "I...can't really explain."

As the doctor started to undo my IV, I look around the hospital room and see the same skinny man from before, asleep in the chair. 'Huh, wonder why he's here.' Beside him was Katsumi, who was staring at me in shock.. Then she suddenly closed the distance and hugged me tightly. She was crying as well.

Mom looked at him "Oh, he's All Might's Secretary or something. After what unfolded, he stayed by you to help you."

"...Alright then, I should thank him when he wakes."

"No need, Young Shiretoko ." The man said, surprising me as he got up. Maybe he hadn't been sleeping after all."Doctor, Miss Katsumi, and Ragdoll; I need to talk to him in private about something important—if it's alright."

Ragdoll and Kaachan looked at him for a moment, concern evident on their faces, before they both nodded and left with the doctor.

The skinny man sighed, perhaps in relief, before he suddenly buffed up into...ALL MIGHT!? "A-A-All Might!?" I said, panicked.

All Might chuckled. "Yes, Young Midoriya, it is me, All Might. What you just saw is a secret that only a select few know. This conversation that we are about to have will never leave this room, understood?"

I nod quickly. "Understood!"

All Might sighed as he transformed back into his skeletal form. Lifting his shirt up, he revealed a wound that looked like a cookie-cutter shark bit him. What could have caused that? "When did you get that scar, All Might?"

"About five years ago. The fight wasn't made public; I made sure it wasn't. I couldn't be the Symbol of Peace if the public knew my time was limited. And Young Midoriya, I find you worthy of inheriting my quirk."

A few moments of silence followed that as I tried to process that statement. "W-What? You can't inherit quirks other than through genetics, although it has been theorized to be possible. How is yours different?"

All Might sighed in exhaustion. "My quirk stockpiles power and is able to be passed from person to person. If you were to accept, you'd be—" he counted on his fingers "—the ninth holder of it. Its name is One for All. You had training from Tiger, yes?"

I nod quickly "Yes, I did, five years of training. And not just from Tiger; Mom—that's Ragdoll—Auntie Mandalay, and Auntie Pixie-Bob helped as well."

"Good Young Midoriya! That means the training in order for you to be fully r—"

I hold up a hand to cut him off. "Hold on. My quirk allows me to absorb DNA of someone to get a 'quirk' shield, and the shield has a skill tree. I could get it, then train to unlock the shield and its skill tree. that'll allow you to find a successor without a quirk like mine."

"...W-what?"

"Yes, my quirk's weird like that. Its how I unlocked the Mom's passive scan, which gives me something like a minimap in my head."

"That... is quite unique, Young Midoriya! But keep up Tiger's training; I'll be looking forward to your entrance exam. Keep this between us as well, but I am going to be starting as a teacher next semester at U.A!" He plucked a strand of his hair out and offered it to me. I take it and place it against the shield's gem and watch as it is absorbed. A message with a blinking exclamation mark popped up in my HUD;

'LEGENDARY SHIELD UNLOCKED! ONE FOR ALL SHIELD'

"Time to see what the shield looks like."The shield transforms into an eight-pointed, emerald-green, star-like shield. Each tip of the star was colored differently, being white, blue, red, green, orange, brown, black, purple, and yellow respectfully. "Well, this is unique among my shields. It's the first one to have a different shape than my default shield, and it hurts me to use its effect. None of the skills are unlocked; the first skill says... full cowling? It requires me to have a regeneration shield. It says it'll allow me to use the shield passively without harm."

All Might looked a bit taken back by all the info, but coughed and pulled himself together. "How about this; if you place first in the exam, Young Midoriya, I'll introduce you to someone who has a regeneration quirk that may be willing to give you some of her DNA to get a regen shield."

I think it over for a few seconds. before nodding. "Right!"

*Timeskip*

It's been ten months since I met All Might. Uncle Tiger made my training as hard as possible, as I asked him to do. I kinda regret it; my body has been feeling like hell as a result of my training, but I'm finally here. U.A's Entrance Exam. I see Kaachan running over to me as I walk through the gate.. "Deku! You better try your best, especially since your taller than me now!"

I smile. "You too, Kaachan!" We fist bump before she walks in ahead of me, leaving me in the gateway as I check over my I'm satisfied with my current options, I start to head inside, only to trip on my feet. I brace myself for impact with the hard ground, but it never comes. I open my eyes and notice that, rather than being smeared against the pavement, I appear to be floating about a foot above it. A bubbly voice spoke up, startling me. "Sorry for using my quirk on you! It'd be bad luck if you fell before you got into the exam, right?"

I look at her and feel my face flush slightly. "Y-yea, it would be. I'm Izuku Midoriya, by the way. That's a nice quirk you got there," I said a bit timidly. 'She's cute.' I flush a bit more as the thought crosses my mind.

"I'm Ochaco Uraraka. It was nice meeting you Izuku!"

I smile and walk after her into the auditorium and find a seat next to Kaachan.

The presenter smirked as he spoke up.

"WELCOME TO THE U.A ENTRANCE EXAM! CAN I GET A 'HEY?'"

There was silence.

"Tough Crowd! Anyway, there are two parts to the exam, Written and Practical. The written test is self-explanatory. The Practical test has you pitched against robots that are worth 1-point, 2-points ,and 3-points respectfully as f—"

He was interrupted by some kid with engines on his legs who honestly looked a bit like a robot. "Is this a misprint then? There are four robots on this pamphlet! If it is a misprint, then this is very disappointing for U—"

I interrupt him. "Maybe instead of jumping to conclusions, you let the presentation finish?"

He looked flabbergasted for a moment before composing himself. "You're right," he said to me before turning back to the examiner. "Sorry for interrupting you!"

He bowed towards Present Mic and sat back down..

I notice several people looking at me, including a dark-skinned girl with long rabbit ears, silver hair, and red eyes.I groan and wait for the presentation to finish.

"R-Right, where was I? Oh, there we go. The fourth robot is an arena trap that is meant to be avoided. They pop in at a randomly-determined time! That is it for the presentation!"

The written test goes smoothly, and I think I scored well, finishing within twenty minutes.

Nothing interesting happens for the rest of the duration of the written exam, now the fun moment the gates open I along with the girl with the bunny ears rushes out. I shouted, "Air Strike shield!" making a phantasmal shield pop up behind that I jumped on. Once I was on it, the shield flew at high speeds towards the fake city, leaving most of the other shocked participants behind.

As I flew away, I heard Present Mic's voice blaring from behind me..

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? THERE'S NO COUNTDOWN ON A REAL BATTLE!"

The other participants scrambled to get into the false city. I find a group of 3-pointers which I quickly take out using air strike shield and Kaachan's shield. I repeat this with any robot I find as the test goes on. I see a 2-pointer sneaking up on a shy-looking boy, who seems to be controlling animals? I quickly go into action and use another air strike shield to boost myself into the path of the 2-pointer and bash into it with my shield, causing its head to explode. The boy thanks me in sign language and I just nod.

I go to find more robots after that. I see a second person in trouble, a girl with blue-ish lavender hair and eyes surrounded by 3-pointers. I quickly swap to Auntie Pixie-Bob's Shield and use a skill I acquired in the past ten months that allows me to control concrete. I use it to cause buildings to fall onto the back of the 3-pointers.

The girl looked confused before muttering a thank you and running off. Then IT came, the zero-pointer. People were screaming and running from it. It was huge, and it looked like an Ultralisk, from a popular pre-quirk era game franchise called StarCraft. Talk about scary

I turn to try to find more robots to destroy, only for a pained yelp to catch my attention. Turning toward the sound, I immediately spot its source. Uraraka had gotten trapped under some rubble—right in the path of the zero-pointer. I run up to the robot and swap to the One for All shield. When I activate its base ability, my arm without the shield begins to glow brightly. I use several air-strike shields to get face to face with it and punch it with my glowing arm, making it explode as its face caved in.

Then I realized I'm out of mana and the airstrike shields dissipate. "Oh shit…" I say as I fall, my broken arm flapping uselessly, both my HP and MP bars flashing red.

I move my shield to cushion my impact, but right before I hit the ground, something slaps me in my face.. As I look around, I realize that I'm floating now, and I can see Uraraka barely holding it together before she puts her fingers together and says "R-Release!"

I can hear her vomiting as I harmlessly fall the last few feet to the ground. "Heh, guess I owe you one, Uraraka."

She gave a weak nod. Must be her quirk's downside. I could really go for a coke right now myself.

As I rested, I noticed an old lady hobbling through the false city, asking anyone injured to come to her. I grab Uraraka with my good arm and help her to the old lady. Some of the examinees we passed were commenting on her being Recovery Girl, and that she is the only reason why U.A. has this dangerous practical test.

Huh, the more you know. Recovery Girl looks horrified at the sight of my arm after treating Uraraka. "That has to be some quirk if it causes recoil like this. It's like your body isn't used to it, I'll hea—"

I interrupt her. "No, I'm low on stamina already, part of my quirk allows me to heal by drinking caffeine or anything with high concentrations of electrolytes. That is if what I read about your quirk is true"

She looked confused for a moment before nodding. "Go get something to drink quickly then, deary."

I nod wearily and walk out of the false city. Luckily for me, there was a vending machine that was stocked with pop. I take out 150 yen and buy a can of Coke and chug the whole thing. I can feel my arm slowly start to heal as I see my mana bar rise a bit before being depleted. The mana regeneration/depletion cycle continued for a few minutes, and when it stopped, I looked and felt like new. Just to be safe, I buy another Coke to restore my stamina.

As I went to leave U.A, I'm stopped by the lavender-haired girl from before. She seemed to mentally psych herself up before speaking up. "I'm Saiko Intelli. I just wanted to properly say thank you for rescuing me from the 3-pointers." She gave a curtsy after she was finished speaking before quickly walking away. I shake my head in confusion before leaving.

*One week later*

I'm at my temp apartment waiting anxiously for the letter, doing meditation as Uncle Tiger told me to do instead of my training while I wait. A knock on my door signals that the mailman had arrived. I open the door and take my mail, thanking the mailman before closing the door and sitting down with the sole letter I had received. It was from U.A.

"Well, only one way to find out." I sigh. I open the letter and slide out a holoprojector. As soon as it's flat on the table, it turns on, projecting an image of All Might in front of me. The sudden appearance of the Number One hero startles me, and I raise my shield instinctively in defense. "God damn it!"

"I am here as a projection! Young Midoriya, I'll be keeping this message rather short, as you know most of it. You have far exceeded my expectations. You scored a 98 on the written test. As for the practical. You got a whopping 100 villain points! That alone would put you at the first on the scoreboards. If it wasn't for rescue points, that is. Your actions in saving three other people in the exams and your sense of self-sacrifice show the heart of a true hero! How could we not reward heroic actions like that? For those heroic efforts, you have 100 rescue points, which brings your total to 298, a truly record-shattering score! This is your hero university, Young Midoriya!"