Well, we broke 1,000 views, so that's a thing.
...A really, really super awesome thing.
A couple people have expressed their concern about posting too quickly and potentially burning myself out. I totally understand the risks, and I definitely appreciate the words of advice. My big goal here was to get through this first major section of the story. You all probably won't see anything new from me until next weekend or the weekend after that one, depending on work and how quickly the next chapter goes, and I didn't want to leave you hanging at this point in the story. Part of the reason I gave myself a 2-week window was so if there was a day when I didn't feel like working on it, I wouldn't have to force myself. At the same time though, I'm a lazy guy by nature, so I needed to have some kind of deadline to force myself to stay productive. Strike a balance, if you will.
Review time:
Silenthawk170: Thank you for your concern. That "yes" was me being coy. So is this: Yes. :P Though this chapter should answer one of those questions at least.
Jerrend: This is definitely not the end of his Quirk's development, no.
Aguion12: I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the concern and don't worry, I'm taking the rest of the day off after this is posted.
BIGGYCHEESE: Well, yes to some of that no to other parts. You'll see.
Legion's Gurdian: I am glad you like that. I'm definitely trying to avoid giving a complete rehash of canon. Izuku's fighting style was the first thing I developed before I even started on the story, so no worries there!
Shiranai Atsune: I hope this lives up to your expectations.
Alright, without further ado, Sludge Villain time! This chapter is nearly twice as long as any other chapter so far (10 pages in Word, Chapter Two was 6), so I hope you enjoy!
Chapter Four: I Expected Nothing Less
Bakugo Katsuki was having a very eventful day. The thought was a fleeting spark at the back of his mind as his vision started to grow dark around the edges, suffocating on the disgusting fluid that had his nose blocked and was working its way down his throat…
He had done as he had told Deku he would, and caught up with the two classmates he was supposed to hang out with that afternoon, one of whom happened to be the same long-fingered boy from their kindergarten days, not that he had bothered to remember him. Sure enough, Katsuki's prediction came true as they took a shortcut through an alley and the pair of them produced a pack of cigarettes and started lighting up. This irritated the Explosion Quirk user so much that he kicked a random bottle on the ground hard enough that it smacked into a nearby wall. He whirled around to face the pair responsible for his current irritation.
"Oi! I thought I told you assholes to stop smoking! If you get caught it'll go on my record too!"
The other two boys did not respond, merely staring at the space behind Bakugo with looks of absolute horror on their faces, the one boy having helpfully extended his pointer finger to illustrate the situation.
Now, the prodigy had seen looks of fear and horror before. Some of them had even been directed at him, so he had a rough idea what different degrees of terror meant. It went in roughly this order: Fear of Bakugo, Fear of a Teacher, Fear of a Parent, Fear of a Villain, and Oh Dear God What The Hell Is That. He had mentioned this rating system to Deku before, and the response the Flame Magnet Quirk user had given had surprised him.
"Whoa, you mean your instincts are good enough that you can read people's expressions?! I knew you were amazing, Kacchan, but that's incredibly useful! Did you know that one of the most common mistakes people make is to follow the gaze of others when they look like they've seen something? It's social behavior that's been part of human instinct for a really long time, but the downside of that is that taking the time to look means that for that instant, they let their guard down."
"Eh?"
"Look, just promise me one thing, Kacchan. If you ever see someone with that fifth look on their face, don't turn, don't hesitate, and don't think. Just move."
"Blast Rush Turbo!" Bakugo immediately sent himself hurtling through the air at an upwards angle towards a nearby wall, kicking off of it to both add more height and face whatever it was he was convinced was about to attack him.
His actions were immediately vindicated by the monstrosity that he beheld below him. It was a mass of viscous green fluid, eyes and teeth that had smashed into the ground where he had been a fraction of a second earlier.
"Get back here, kid! I want that body and that Quirk!"
And it could talk apparently. Fan-fucking-tastic. So, this was a Villain then. Could this actually have been amazing luck? This was his chance, right? He could take the villain down single-handedly and those two flunkies would be there to see the whole thing. He'd be known as the prodigy that was on the level of the pros before he even started high school!
"Oi, shit stain!" It was just too good to pass up, "You picked the wrong guy to fuck with here! I'm gonna paint this alley with your disgusting-ass body!"
With a bang, Bakugo sent himself into an overhead flip while still in the air, intending to land behind the villain and let loose with the biggest explosion he could muster. It was fortunate he moved when he did, otherwise the tendril of slime that suddenly engulfed his right hand might have taken him around the torso instead.
"RAAAH!" A large explosion blew the ooze clear off of his hand before it could drag him back to earth, but his trajectory was all screwed up. No matter. He thrust his left hand downwards at a slight angle and used a steady stream of explosions to correct his course, but any chance of attack was totally shot. The living personification of over-confidence and youthful arrogance he may be, but Katsuki wasn't stupid. He knew that just slugging it out with a living, sentient mass of sludge that moved that fast and had a near-infinite number of ways to attack him was a death sentence unless he was able to do enough damage with a single explosion to blow it into pieces.
And he wasn't sure he could do that. Not without a significant amount of build-up first, and he had just burned what was supposed to be his big gun early to free his hand. How the fuck was he supposed to fight a goddamn mass of liquid?!
Wait, liquid?
A savage grin spread across the blond bomber's face as he raised his hands and sent himself hurtling towards the ground with an explosion, surprising the Sludge Villain so much that for a moment it hesitated. That moment allowed its opponent to slam his hand into the ground next to a sewer access point and cause the cap to flip into the air with the force of his explosion. He propelled himself straight up with a series of explosions, catching the cap between his knees as he rose. He was pouring sweat with the force of his exertions, but that only made his ascent that much quicker. He ceased his explosions and continued to rise for a moment, hands reaching for the heavens as he released the lid from his knees.
"EAT SHIT AND DIE!" his eyes screwed shut from the effort, Bakugo cut loose with a massive pair of explosions, propelling himself downward and causing the sewer cap to be trapped under his feet like some parody of a surfboard. A surfboard made of over a hundred pounds of wrought iron that was currently rocketing towards the ground at an incredibly dangerous speed. With one final boost from Katsuki that took every last ounce of his strength, it collided with the ground directly on top of the Sludge Villain.
*KROOOM*
The result was like someone had set off a bomb in the pavement. Whatever resistance the villain's body had provided had been completely ignored as the air underneath the sewer cap could not get out of the way quickly enough, and the impact had sent a spray of debris and fetid sludge in every direction. Crouched on top of the cap in a pothole of his own making was Bakugo, his face a rictus grin of trimph and pain.
"Nngh! Fuck, my legs…Well at least that pile of liquid shit should be out of commission long enough for me to call the cops or something…"
"Oh, is that what you think?"
"…You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"Heheheh, HAHAHAHAAA!" The Villain's body was reconstituting itself before Katsuki's very eyes, "It took an attack from All Might to put me out of commission for any amount of time. I'll admit, that was a good try, but you're just a kid. How could you ever hope to compare to him?" The ooze began to creep its way up the immobile teen's legs, "It's not your fault though. You were swinging above your weight class from the start, even if you put up a better fight than I thought you would." The slime was now engulfing his torso and making its way to his neck. His body began to move without his permission, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of your body and your Quirk once I make them my own."
A grotesque parody of the human body formed around Bakugo and began to trudge out into the main street, casually taking a chunk out of a nearby corner with a swipe of its hand.
"As a matter of fact, why wait? Let's have some fun!"
It was complete carnage. The Villain adapted to Katsuki's enhanced strength very quickly and began shooting off random explosions at anything and everything. Buildings were destroyed, the street was torn up, and everything in between was wrecked with extreme prejudice. The whole time, the slime crept higher and higher. It was around his head now, the Villain's oversized teeth and eyes making him look like some nightmarish mascot costume.
Heroes showed up then, and that was when the destruction began in earnest. They either had quirks that weren't powerful enough to damage the Sludge Villain or had to focus on evacuating citizens and putting out the fires that were burning everywhere.
It was getting hard to breathe. The goo was blocking his nose, forcing him to open his mouth, and that was when he discovered that the substance tasted every bit as foul as it looked and smelled.
'No…not like this! As if I'd let this crazy fucker take my body!'
With every bit of strength he could muster, Bakugo tried to blow his hands free of the slime's grasp, but all he was able to do was create a small pair of openings that were quickly mended.
His vision was starting to grow dark around the edges, suffocating on the disgusting fluid that had his nose blocked and was working its way down his throat…
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
Midoriya Izuku was dealing with a lot at the moment.
His idol, the man he had looked up to his whole life, had just wildly altered his image of him, entrusted him with the biggest secret he had ever known, verbally torn him a new one, and then walked away.
Sure, he was upset. A part of him wanted to just give up and accept that he would never be a Hero the way he was, but a much bigger part of him was carefully turning All Might's words over in his head, analyzing them and burning them into his memory.
The emaciated man had a point. A Hero had to do more than just run around saving people. They also had to inspire confidence and stop people from panicking. How could he do that when his confidence in himself was so low to begin with? The fact that All Might had flat-out stated that he felt these same fears, these same insecurities, but forced himself to work through them was a real eye-opener for Izuku. It made him realize something that everybody knew, but nobody ever really thought about:
Heroes were people too. They laughed and cried, sweated and bled, and everything in between. They had names, lives, and families. Things that they could lose in an instant if they weren't at their absolute best, and sometimes even if they were.
Of course they felt fear. Of course they felt the pressure.
But they did it all anyway. They risked their lives every day, every time, for every person.
That was what made them Heroes in the first place, and somewhere along the line, just like everybody else, Izuku had taken that for granted. He felt like an absolute ass.
'Yeah. That's right. I've always just assumed that everything would work out as long as I tried my hardest and Kacchan was there to help me. I've always thought that just because I wanted this to happen that it just…would. But things like this won't just happen. I need to take responsibility, and I need to make this happen. I need to- what the hell is going on over there?'
There was smoke, fire, and a large crowd of people. That usually meant that another Villain was on a rampage, which usually meant that there were Heroes present, which meant that Izuku was all over that like white on rice.
His curiosity took a sharp turn into disbelief, and then spun out into absolute terror as he began to understand the situation.
He knew that Villain. He was more familiar with that Villain that he would have ever wanted to be. But All Might had captured him, hadn't he? He had shown Izuku the soda bottles that he had stuffed the villain into after blowing him apart with a single punch, he had had them in the pockets of his cargo pants when-
Oh, dear god no.
Nonononononononono.
They hadn't been in his pockets when they were on that rooftop. He had dropped them. Probably when Izuku had latched onto his leg as he took off.
It was his fault the Villain had escaped.
"Hey, it's got a kid! Looks like he's wearing a middle school uniform!"
Correction: It was his fault that the Villain had escaped, AND that now another kid was suffering the same fate that Izuku had been about to succumb to when All Might had saved him, AND none of the Heroes present at a glance had the correct type of Quirk to deal with the situation.
Midoriya could do nothing but stare in absolute horror, his hands involuntarily covering his mouth as he remembered the sensation of being violated by that mass of evil sludge.
"Isn't that the same Villain All Might was chasing earlier?"
"Hey, yeah! Where's he at?"
"What's All Might doing?"
There, in the crowd, supporting himself on a traffic post, was a familiar head of shaggy long hair, with a gaunt face, and an over-sized T-shirt with a pair of cargo pants.
"I really have to leave. I don't have time for this right now!"
"I can only work as a Hero for about three hours a day now."
"No…"
All Might had already been at his limit when he had saved Izuku from the Sludge Villain. It had taken the last of his reserves to land him safely on that building.
'I'm sorry! It's my fault that All Might is right there and can't do anything! None of the Heroes here have the right Quirk to catch the Villain or to save you! Hang in there until someone with the right Quirk shows up! I'm Sorry! I'm so, so sorry! Someone will come to save you soon! A Hero's bound to come!'
As these thoughts burned through Izuku's head, the unfortunate victim of the sludge villain had his head jerked sharply upwards, and his eyes met Izuku's, filled with pain, desperation, and fear.
It was Kacchan. Kacchan was the one that was suffering because of Izuku's mistake. His friend. His partner. They were always supposed to have each other's backs and now…
No.
NO.
Before he could have any conscious thoughts other than that one simple word, Izuku's body had broken through the crowd of onlookers and his legs were carrying him as quickly as they could past the line of Heroes and towards the horror show in front of him.
"What? No! Get back here you fool! Stop!" One of the Heroes was calling out to him, but Izuku only vaguely registered it in the back of his mind.
The rest of his mind was frantically trying to come up with a way to save his friend. There was fire everywhere, but he was too far away! He needed to be closer. The Villain was getting ready to attack him, he needed to distract it somehow!
"Hiyah!" in a single motion, Izuku had removed his backpack, spun around, and hucked it straight at the Villain's face. By some incredible stroke of luck, the bag had torn open and one of his heavy textbooks had nailed the Villain right in one of it's oversized eyeballs. Distraction complete.
Now that it's grasp on Kacchan was momentarily weakened, Deku was able to tear away the part that was covering his mouth, allowing him to take a breath of life-giving oxygen.
"Deku! No!"
"Kacchan, I need you to trust me!" with that Izuku grabbed a random chunk of slime and threw it over Katsuki's face, so that he was completely covered in the foul liquid.
'Please, I need this to work! I don't care how much it hurts me, just let me save Kacchan!'
Izuku focused his Quirk harder than he ever had before, grasping at every scrap of flame he could reach, which it turned out was quite a lot, and drew it all towards himself as he grabbed hold of the Villain's amorphous body with both of his hands.
The fire that had been consuming the nearby buildings bore down on the Flame Magnet user like a tidal wave straight from the depths of hell itself. In front of him, to his left, to his right, there was fire everywhere, and it was going to consume both him and the villain he was clinging onto. His only hope was that the unintentional protection the Villain's body was providing to Kacchan would be enough to protect him from the inferno. Izuku knew he had no such hope, so he closed his eyes and screamed out with all of his might, waiting for the pain that was to come.
And come it did, but not in the form he was expecting. A sudden explosion caught Izuku in the gut and sent him flying away from the Villain with its concussive force. His control of his Quirk vanished, but the fire was too plentiful and moving far too quickly for it to dissipate before reaching its target.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
A ball of fire had engulfed the Sludge Villain, and it was clearly not immune. It writhed in pain and rage before making a large sweeping motion with one of it's oversized limbs and dispersing the conflagration. There were patches of discoloration all over it and smoke was rising from various places, but the Villain was clearly not out of the game yet.
Izuku forced himself to his feet from where he was sprawled on the street from where Kacchan's desperate explosion had sent him. He glanced from side to side, taking in the situation. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins like never before and his mind was somehow crystal clear. He felt like the world was moving in slow motion around him and his limbs were filled with electricity.
Izuku's lips gradually spread and bared his teeth in a smile that would look immediately familiar to anyone who had watched a particular video on the internet before.
"It's going to be alright, Kacchan! I'm here for you!"
"You little…how dare you...HOW DARE YOU!" The Sludge Villain rushed at Izuku with rage-filled eyes, "I'M GOING TO BLOW YOU TO PIECES WITH YOUR OWN FRIEND'S QUIRK! DIE!"
Izuku ran to meet the Villain as he once again reached out to the fires around him, having come nowhere close to depleting them the first time.
"Let's see you try it! I won't let you have my friend, and I won't let you have anyone else either! I'll take you down with me if it's the last thing I do, NOW SHUT UP AND BURN!"
"I couldn't have said it better myself, my boy. I should really practice what I preach. Now grab onto me."
There, in front of him, facing the approaching Sludge Villain and the wall of fire was the Symbol of Peace. His breathing was heavy, and blood was running from his mouth, but he was there, arm cocked back in one of his signature poses while the other arm was plunged into the body of the Villain, grabbing hold of Bakugo.
"A Pro should always be ready to risk his life! DETROIT SMASH!"
All Might's fist swung downward towards the road, blasting a large chunk of it away as the raw concussive force of the attack created a massive updraft, which resulted in a pillar of fire twisting its way skyward as the Sludge Villain blew apart, leaving Bakugo without a single mark on him.
For a moment, all present just stared at the result of All Might's power, and then it started to rain.
A single swing of All Might's fist had changed the weather from the air pressure he had generated. As the remaining fires were gradually extinguished, Izuku's adrenaline rush left him and his legs gave out. He plopped down on the ground a short distance away from Kacchan and waited for the storm of activity to subside.
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
It didn't take as long for them to be let go as Izuku thought it would. The Heroes had gathered up the pieces of the Sludge Villain and turned them over to the police, and the main concern with the two boys was just making sure they were uninjured. It turned out that Katsuki had pulled some of the ligaments and tendons in his legs earlier from when he had apparently fought the Villain by himself when it initially attacked him. Izuku was amazed as his friend explained the encounter to the officers and Heroes. A couple of Heroes looked like they wanted to recruit him right then and there, but of course they couldn't because he was unlicensed.
Then it was Deku's turn. The Heroes really didn't seem to know what to make of him. Death Arms in particular scolded him for being so reckless and endangering himself the way he did. After his short lecture, they told Izuku to go home. He wanted to stick around until they let Kacchan go too, but decided it was probably a better idea not to argue with the Heroes and policemen.
Izuku was kind of bummed that he hadn't had the chance to apologize to All Might though. Even if everything had turned out alright in the end, he had still screwed up big time and needed to take responsibility for that. He could always send him a letter or make a post on his website or something, but it just felt so insincere that way…
"Oi, Deku!"
Deku immediately spun around as Bakugo's voice rang out from behind him. The Explosion Quirk user was walking steadily towards him, looking a bit short of breath. Apparently, his legs weren't so hurt that he couldn't walk on his own, which was good to know. Once he was close enough that he didn't have to yell quite so loudly, he started speaking again.
"You moron! You would've fucking torched yourself if I hadn't been there to save your dumb ass! And what the hell was with those lines?! 'I'll take you down with me if it's the last thing I do?!' Don't give me that shit! If you're seriously gonna try out for U.A., you'd better work on making yourself less pathetic!"
Izuku was getting chewed out left, right and center today. As usual though, his friend was right.
"Yeah. Sorry about that Kacchan, I just didn't know what else to do."
"Yeah, well, as long as you understand. Troublesome bastard. I'm going home." Katsuki turned around and started heading home, leaving Midoriya to turn around as well and continue on his previous path.
"I am here!" suddenly All Might appeared out of nowhere, skidding to a stop from around a nearby corner.
"Wha- All Might?! Why are you here? Weren't you surrounded by reporters?"
"Ha ha ha! Shaking them off is nothing to me, after all I'm All Mi-*hurk*" With a puff of steam and a spray of blood from his mouth, All Might transformed back into his normal state.
"Ahh! H-Hey, are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine. Anyway, Kid. I was looking for you. I need to thank you and apologize."
"Huh? That's my line!"
"I was there, you know. I saw that scene taking place but I was convinced I couldn't do anything. Then I remembered your story and I realized that at that moment I was feeling that exact same way. Powerless to help, in spite of my Quirk." All Might coughed a few times before continuing, "It was pure hypocrisy. I was nothing but fake muscles and insincerity."
"What? No! It was all my fault from the start! I got in your way, I made you drop those bottles, and then I just went charging in and-"
"Exactly! Of all the people that were there on the sidelines, watching and waiting, it was only you who stepped up and took action! It was because of you, and your willingness to sacrifice yourself to save others, that I was able to act!"
There was nothing that Izuku could say to that. He stood, dumbfounded, his eyes beginning to well up at the praise he was receiving from his idol.
"Did you know? Most of the top Heroes show signs of greatness even as children. Many of them will tell stories about how their bodies simply moved before they even had a chance to think! That is what happened to you back there, right?"
"Y-yes…"
"It is not a question of whether or not you can be a Hero, my boy. Why?" Izuku fell to his knees as his tears began to fall freely. He was hunched over, gripping his chest like he was afraid his heart would explode, "Because you already have the makings of an excellent Hero! And I believe…" All Might took a knee and placed his hands on Izuku's shoulders, causing the boy to look up at him, "…that you are worthy of inheriting my power!"
"Huh?"
"What's with that clueless look on your face? It's not like I'm just going to hand it over you know, you'll have to earn it! It'll be absolute hell, but I'm asking you if you want to try accepting my power!"
What All Might was suggesting was absolutely ludicrous. It made no sense whatsoever.
"This concerns my Quirk, kid, so listen closely. Tabloids and various online discussion boards have all tried to guess what my Quirk is, but I've always avoided the question in interviews and the like. The reason for this is that All Might, the Symbol of Peace, must keep the impression of being a natural-born Hero." The thin man stood and spread his arms wide, "The truth is that my Quirk was passed down to me. Like the Olympic torch."
"Passed down? Really?"
"Yes. And now it just might be your turn."
A million different things flooded through Izuku's head at that point. Theories, points, counter-points, obscure facts, and all kinds of other things. There was only one thing he was actually able to say though:
"Y-you can't be s-serious!"
"Oh? You really doubt me that much? Don't mess with me! I may have many secrets, but I never lie! This Quirk of mine, with the ability to transfer power, was passed down to me! It's name is One For All!"
"One…For All?"
"It works by stockpiling power, and it evolves with each person it is passed on to. It is continually refined, passed on, and refined even further!"
"Okay, but…why me?"
This question caused All Might to waggle a finger at him.
"I've been searching for a successor for quite a while now, you know. And I think that, from what I saw today, you are worthy! You may be a fanboy with a volatile Quirk, but back there you were more heroic than anyone else! Of course," All Might shrugged and shook his head slightly, "it all depends on what you say. I'm not going to force this on you if you don't want to. So let's have it! What do you say?"
The amount of faith All Might had just put in Izuku was overwhelming. All of the man's greatest secrets on the table, as well as offering him his power? Was there any reason at all for him to decline?
No. There wasn't.
"Yes, I accept."
All Might grinned at his potential successor.
"A quick, decisive answer. I expected nothing less."
There! That should answer the most popular question I've been receiving. Yes, Izuku will still be receiving One For All. It won't be quite the same as in canon though.
Now I can see myself getting a few questions about the level of physical strength that Bakugo displayed here. It is actually canon that he has above average physical strength. A good example would be when Izuku tried firing off one of his Grenade Bracers and nearly dislocated his arm, while Katsuki can use them without any apparent recoil.
If you have not yet voted for the Battle Trial, then make sure you do that. A description of what's going on with that is in the ending Author's Notes for Chapter Two.
With that, I'mma go take a break.
As always, thank you for reading!