Chapter 1: Modes Awakened
Chapter 1.1: Eighteen
Izuku Midoriya, a boy who once had aspirations to become a hero, finally lost that very ambition after his idol told him that his dream was impossible. Having grown up a Quirkless, normal person in a superhuman society, it was to be expected and thus it was. At least, until the fateful day during the summer break of his last year in high school.
It had only been a couple months since his idol had snuffed out his dream when the day came where he awakened his Quirk. The sun had barely crept over the horizon when Izuku woke up to an unassuming message ingrained directly into his stream of consciousness.
[Rank 1 Achieved]
[Charges: 1/1]
[Modes: Ninja, Martial Artist, and Summoner]
"Am I… hallucinating?" Izuku asked himself as he rubbed his eyes and sat up on his bed. "Even if this was a hallucination, why would my brain be so abstract with these delusions? Like, seriously? Ninja Mode? What even—"
[Ninja Mode
Submode(s): Academy Student (1 Charge)]
Izuku froze and when he regained control of his body, after a figurative ton of information was smashed into his head, he looked down at his body in shock. Either he really was hallucinating to the point of mental collapse, or whatever was in his head was real; or at least, as real as the foreign clothes that had replaced his pajamas.
"What the… Wait. Ah! My hair?!" Izuku shot out of his bed as if it were a near-frozen river. His naturally shaggy unfettered green hair had sharpened dangerously into a more spiky style; though, its green hue was retained. He looked as if he were dressed casually, but all the clothes on his body were fitted with hidden pockets and by some magic, he could pull out training ninja gear like blunted shuriken and kunai from said pockets.
For a long minute Izuku just sat still on his bed, trying to process what had just happened. He recounted, 'Ok. Today is July 15, the day of my eighteenth birthday. I woke up and, well… I can't say I heard a voice since there was no sound component to what was communicated to me, but I just had some innocuous information about "Modes" implanted into my head.'
'I thought it was a hallucination, but after thinking the words "Ninja Mode," I was transformed,' Izuku narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he slowly got up from his bed and made to leave his room and witness the extent of his transformation by looking at this appearance with the only full-body mirror in the apartment.
Unfortunately, he only made it to his door before he committed the first of many ensuing accidents. He gripped the handle of his door as lightly as he usually did and turned, but in his transformed state, the action carried more than enough force to break the doorknob.
'Is this supposed to be the passive enhancement to one's physique all ninjas with chakra possess?' Izuku asked himself before carefully putting the broken door handle down and amending his thought.
'No, no… Ninjas at the level of Academy Students are supposed to be children between the ages of eight and thirteen. Children that had lived their entire lives with chakra and had all that time to control their energy.' Izuku by contrast was just leaking all of his chakra unconsciously, lacking any finesse to reign in what could now be called a common strength enhancing Quirk; albeit one that strengthened all aspects of his physique.
He put his theories to the side and made his way over to the bathroom. Unfortunately, another door knob was sacrificed to his casual superhuman strength, but once inside, Izuku confirmed the extent of his Ninja Mode.
He retained a normal human appearance, where only the style of his hair and his clothes seemed to have undergone any change. But beyond superficial appearance, he confirmed his body had changed to adopt a chakra pathway system which was similar to the average human's nervous system. It didn't grant him any extra vital organs, but it did give him a way to store, train, and use chakra energy.
"Clone Technique," Izuku muttered as he weaved through three hand signs, before three illusionary static images of himself appeared beside him in the bathroom. Curiously, the clones were vampiric in the sense that Izuku couldn't see their reflection when he looked through the bathroom's mirror, but besides that, the only other interesting aspect of his clones were the fact that they would fade the moment he touched them.
"Transformation Technique," Izuku continued, cloaking himself in chakra and adjusting his form such that he had become a near perfect copy of his mother. Despite having lost a couple inches in height and even gained a couple pounds of weight, he found no problem with moving in the familiar yet foreign body.
Unfortunately, the last technique that he had seemingly inscribed in the back of his mind, the Substitution Technique, could not be practiced neither in the confines of his bathroom, nor even within his house. But by now, Izuku had more than proven to himself that he was not merely going insane by succumbing to depression or something of a similar vein.
The Modes, his… Quirk? It was very much real and he was at a loss as to what he should do. He had already given up his dream, with the years of rejection piling up just because he was Quirkless. But now… He wasn't just Quirkless.
Izuku mindlessly walked out of the bathroom and headed over to the kitchen to make his breakfast as he thought, 'Even as I am right now, after just moments into transforming for the first time with Ninja Mode, I am more technically capable than over a hundred pro heroes I can think off the top of my head.'
He started preparing his meal as he continued to think, 'I have minor super strength, presumed minor super speed and reflexes, as well as the ability to make illusionary clones, transform myself, and displace myself with what is virtually teleportation.'
Somehow, despite having previously shattered two door knobs, Izuku managed to gently crack two eggs into a bowl as he continued, 'I haven't even gotten started with the methods of training, I just somehow already know, or even the other Modes I've yet to even see!'
He began frying some fish as he thought, 'Not to mention my own Quirk has gone through the effort of insinuating it could become all the more versatile by establishing a Rank system.'
He finished tossing a salad as he added, 'In an instant I've gained the chance to fulfill my former dream!'
He scrambled the eggs, 'No. I could even surpass simply becoming a pro hero. I could become the best! The next All Might. The Symbol of Peace of my generation!'
But then the light in his eyes died as he lost focus and thought, 'But… Can I say I really have what it takes?'
His eggs started to char as he failed to remove them from the pan, 'Everyone I've ever shared my dream with has told me how much of a joke it is. No one believes in me.'
As black smoke began to rise from his ruined egg dish, Izuku frowned as he thought, 'In fact, before now and even when it was still my dream to become a hero, I never once even entertained the thought of training.'
'It really is a joke to even consider it now, seeing as everyone my age has had nearly a decade and a half to figure out their Quirks. How could I even catch up?'
Inko, Izuku's mother, approached, worried over all the smoke and burning scent coming from the kitchen. "Izu—" She nearly choked at the sight of a somewhat depressed version of her doppleganger hunched over the still burning eggs being cooked.
"Y-You?!" Inko squeaked with hardly concealed nerves as she flexed her fingers and attracted a parrying knife from the countertop faster than Izuku had even seen her use her Quirk in the past. "A burglar?! W-What do you t-think you're doing?!"
"Huh?" Izuku tilted his head at the accusation. How could she mistake him for a bur…
Oh.
He released his Transformation Technique and smiled nervously at his mother as she just gawked in return. "Uh… Good morning, mom?"
Inko promptly fainted. Though, she had barely even fallen before Izuku noticed her eyes rolling back and caught her. He thanked his newfound powers for being able to catch her before the fall, or worse, the knife still clenched in her possession, could harm her.
Chapter 1.2: Quirkless Son No More
By the time Inko woke up, Izuku had completely overhauled his understanding of his Quirk.
He had transformed out of his Ninja Mode mere seconds after Inko had fainted and learned that it would take around ten minutes to recover his sole Charge and transform again. In the time it took to recover his Charge, Izuku cooked another portion of eggs and finished his breakfast before taking the opportunity to transform once again.
[Martial Artist Mode
Submode(s): Amateur Ki Disciple (1 Charge)]
In many ways, Izuku found his Ninja Mode and Martial Artist Modes to be similar. Both used a type of internal energy and both revolved around increasing his personal ability. Over a cursory look at the powers he gained in both Modes, especially when only allowed to look at their base submodes, the only difference between the two appeared to be lack of versatility and complexity in the part of Martial Artist Mode which didn't have something to measure up to Ninja Mode's chakra-based jutsu.
However, the deeper understanding and training methods that Izuku gained when transformed into both Modes dispelled any notions of Ninja Mode being superior to Martial Artist Mode or vice versa. In the end, Izuku calculated that both Modes would probably end up being comparable albeit in different areas of expertise.
Ninja Mode was all about tact and versatility, while Martial Artist Mode was all about building up an overwhelming force. Sure, Martial Artist Mode possessed advanced techniques later down the road, but never would Izuku gain the ability to summon and control the elements like he could with Ninja Mode through its elemental techniques. Conversely, while there would be a chance in the future for him to learn techniques that augmented his body with chakra, even the best of such techniques would lag a full step or two behind if he kept his chakra and ki developed to the same level.
Then, there was Summoner Mode and admittedly, the first time he transformed with it, Izuku nearly suffered an aneurysm.
[Summoner Mode
Submode(s): Badgeless Trainer (1 Charge)]
His entire understanding of his Quirk nearly had to be figuratively thrown out the window when instead of gaining a different type of energy, Izuku seemingly only had a change of wardrobe. When he found out that the source of that particular mode's power came from the small marble sized balls that were affixed to his transformed clothes' belt in the form of literal pocket monsters, Izuku lost the ability to move until he sorted out his thoughts.
When he found it in himself to continue despite the absurdity of his power, he plucked the aptly named Pokeball from his belt holder and considered which of the dozen or so creatures currently within his ability to summon. He only had a single ball, but the belt holder suggested that if he moved up in Rank he'd gain more to summon more Pokemon, if not simultaneously than at least by widening the pool from which he could choose from.
It was somewhat disturbing, the feeling of being in his Summoner Mode as Izuku felt both as powerless as he was when he was Quirkless — because in Summoner Mode, for all intents and purposes he was — while simultaneously knowing he had the utter trust and loyalty of the Pokemon he summoned.
The little monsters he could call on at the moment themselves somewhat reminded him of his Ninja Mode as he knew that they could learn certain Moves that did things similar to many advanced Ninja Techniques he himself couldn't even learn at the moment. Moreover, if what he knew instinctively was to be believed, which he had no reason to distrust given it had yet to mislead him, they were practically indestructible. Not all powerful, invincible, or anything like that, just… while they could get hurt, they would never be able to die; at most just faint only to return without so much as a scratch the next time he called on them.
It was around the time Izuku was waiting for his fourth Charge of the day to regenerate that his mother woke up. At first, she thought what she had seen prior to fainting was just a figment of her imagination — a dream, perhaps. But, then, Izuku transformed again and she nearly fainted for a second time.
"Mom! Relax! Calm down! Calm… Down..." Izuku coached her as he began to explain. "I know this looks ridiculous. I myself am having trouble accepting the fact that I just spontaneously grew a Quirk. But, I'm still me, ok? This doesn't have to change anything between us, right?"
She was nervous at first, no doubt the fact that her son kept breaking things while on Ninja Mode as he explained didn't help the situation. Her expressions just kept devolving no matter what Izuku said and eventually, she snapped and voiced the one true concern she thought she'd shelved away for the rest of her life.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
Izuku blinked at her question, clearly confused as he was in the middle of detailing the abilities of his Summoner Mode to her. "What am I going to do?"
"Yeah… You know, now that you have a Quirk."
"Well, I haven't finished detailing my plans to train with each of my Modes, but I imagine I'll have to get out of the house to do that. I mean, look at me now. I can't stay here when I'm this out of control and keep breaking things."
"Yeah, but… you know… after that… What are you going to do now that you have a Quirk?"
"I..." Izuku faltered, "I don't know right now." With as even a tone as anyone had heard from him, he continued, "I still have that full-ride scholarship to the Tokyo Institute of Mechanical Engineering. So, at least until I figure out my Quirk, Plan A will be going there to get a Support Development License."
As he hadn't even thought of becoming a pro for the last couple of months, Izuku had thought pragmatically about what he could realistically do that would also interest him in the same vein that being a hero once did. Naturally, as someone who had been studying pro heroes since he could write as well as being one of the top students in his entire school, it didn't take long for Izuku to decide to focus on researching and developing gear for the pros.
With his work ethic and the fact that being Quirkless did not at all restrict him in that field, Izuku was already reaching the point where he could put theory to practice and start inventing things. Though, now that he had a Quirk…
"Are you sure you don't want to, you know… still become a hero?"
For a time Izuku just looked at her in a mix of shock and dread. Of all the people in his life, she was one of the last he would have expected to bring the topic up as blatantly as she had. After all, while she hadn't been the first to put down his dream — that honor went to his childhood Quirk Doctor — she soundly secured being second when she apologized for what he had understood to be "giving birth to a worthless Quirkless son."
"Why do you ask?" Izuku asked evenly, "Do you think I can become a hero?" He nearly laughed out of habit.
"I..." She took a deep breath and considered her words carefully before saying, "I wouldn't mind if you wanted to become a hero or took up any other job." Under his suddenly scrutinizing gaze, she continued, "I'm ashamed to admit that I wouldn't have been able to say that before, but..." the sudden coldness from his expression sent a shiver down her spine, "You have to understand where I'm coming from, Izuku!"
She started having a mental breakdown as the words came out of her mouth before she could think them over, "You were a Quirkless trying to follow in All Might's footsteps! You wanted to enter the most dangerous profession of all time and measure up to the greatest hero that was famous for taking down the most threatening super villains! With no power! No way to defend yourself!"
"I know I should have supported your dreams from the very start. It would have been what any good parent would have done. But I didn't want to lose you! I didn't want to fill your head with delusions and set you up for failure..." She couldn't meet his eyes as she sobbed and rubbed her eyes.
Izuku made his way over to her and comforted her to the best of his ability. As he rubbed circles on her back, he said, "It's ok. I understand. Really, I do." He was an adult now and thought he didn't have a child of his own to find common ground with what his mother had to go through, he could sympathize with the struggles of her decisions.
Chapter 1.3: First Focus
[+1 Maximum Charge]
"Hmm..." Izuku opened his eyes with an unreadable expression. For hours, he had been diligently working on controlling his chakra while in Ninja Mode whenever he had the Charges to be in that state. He was still a ways away from being capable of not bleeding chakra like a broken faucet, so despite being surprised by the fact that his Maximum Charge count had increased, he was unable to muster a smile.
Izuku sighed, "Welp, at least I'll only have to wait five minutes now instead of ten while I have down time."
Situated right in the middle of summer break, it wasn't like he had anything else to do. Though, considering his academic records and work ethic, even if he was being pressed for some sort of upcoming exam week, not much would have kept him from using and learning about his Quirk as much as possible.
On the one hand, it was amazing, thrilling even, just being able to sit down and cycle the chakra inside his body. Working on his chakra control or not, Izuku felt like he could do anything by just assuming his Ninja Mode. Then again, while filled with such a feeling, all he could do for now was sit still and work on not breaking anything accidentally due to his carelessly empowered state.
It was somewhat ironic to Izuku.
'Like, this seriously shouldn't be possible,' he'd often complain after using a ninja technique after eventually getting tired of just working on his chakra control. 'I don't have the control to stop my chakra from leaking from my body uncontrollably, but I can easily perform E Rank Techniques?' A real ninja would be hard pressed to explain the phenomenon.
'Though, I guess it kind of makes sense. I mean, I also can't regenerate chakra without renewing Ninja Mode,' Izuku thought. 'Maybe I'm not supposed to be able to stop chakra from leaving my body. Maybe, I'm at most only able to suppress and control it to not always have unwanted casual super strength and speed.'
The next day, after Izuku finally managed to reach a standard of control good enough to not casually break household items by accident, he found that his assumptions had merit as he still lost chakra uncontrollably; albeit, at a noticeably slower rate. It took another day or so to do the same with his Ki in Martial Artist Mode, before Izuku was left without an immediate goal.
Chakra, Ki, and Pokemon…
Focusing on any of his three Modes meant training in some capacity; personal physical cultivation for the former two and his little monsters for the latter. The question Izuku had to ask himself was, "Which Mode should I focus on first?" Naturally, that would lead to, "Should I even entertain the thought of focusing on more than one Mode in the first place? After all, any one Mode could be considered decent Quirks on their own."
In the end, Izuku settled on working on his Martial Artist Mode first. "It's the only Mode I can train with little regard for anything but myself," he reasoned. "Ninja Mode is too technique oriented for me to work outside of a specialized training area and it'd just be plain inefficient to work on Pokemon without targets for them to train against."
Assuming his Martial Artist Mode, Izuku found his clothes displaced with what looked like a standard white training gi. Already downloaded into his subconscious were the forms and methodologies behind over a dozen martial arts as well many techniques to cultivate and enhance the meager amount of Ki in his body.
All Izuku had to do to advance as a Martial Artist was raise his overall "Power Level" which he currently couldn't even deduce. From what he could tell from the information in his head, this involved dealing with heavy weight, technique drills, and spars for optimal progress. Though, considering his body's constitution could at best be described as "skin and bones," simple calisthenics should be fine to start with.
And so… Izuku completed a routine of dynamic stretches to warm up before dropping to the floor to build his triceps and chest with push ups.
1, 2, 3… 5… 10… 20?!
By the time Izuku reached twenty he was sweating and panting, but he was amazed to see himself complete so many reps without stopping. He had performed better than his last attempt at the physical education apprehension test before summer break by a factor of 5.
More alarming, though, was the fact that Izuku could tell in real time how quickly the burning in his arms were fading as less than a minute after he was done, he was completely rejuvenated and ready for more.
Smiling uneasily at the future of hardship and pain he could already see coming, Izuku wiped some of the sweat that had started building on his forehead before he decided to start performing squats for larger quad muscles on his legs. He then worked on his abs with crunches before realizing that he was lacking any materials suitable for working out his other muscles.
He sighed, somewhat tired from already having encountered a mishap. Now, even his Martial Artist Mode couldn't be trained at the comfort of his own home; at least not nearly as optimally as he wanted.
"Whatever," Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose. "I should still be able to work out my biceps and back with pull-ups at any of the local parks. I knew I'd need to do long distance running to improve my endurance anyways, so now all I need to do is find a remote, preferably abandoned place, with objects heavy enough that they're worth pressing over my head for stronger shoulders."
Fortunately, with the power of the internet, Izuku spent a negligibly short amount of time before he found his ideal training spot.
Dagobah Municipal Beach was a short ten kilometers away from the apartment he shared with his mother and due to years of neglect and illegal dumping, the place was more a junkyard than it was a dump. From street view pictures taken from a mapping application Izuku found on the internet, he decided the beach was worth visiting.
So, with it being only two hours past noon, he bade his mother goodbye and left for the trashed beach.
Eventually, he made it to the beach after exhausting over three Charges, though he still managed to cross the ten kilometer distance in just short of an hour. When he finally arrived, after waiting for a Charge to transform once more, Izuku began working out in earnest once more.
With his phone and earbuds, he had all the music, radio, and podcasts in the world to keep himself entertained as he spent the rest of the day training. It wouldn't be until he noticed the sun started setting that he decided on returning home. When he finally managed to make it back home, just before dusk had settled into night, he let himself indulge in a bit of relaxation, browsing the internet and working on his Hero Analysis Notebooks, before turning in for the day.
That day set a standard for Izuku's routine during summer break, where he would work on his Ki at home until noon before heading to the beach to work out, only to relax at his leisure for a short time before going to sleep.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, Izuku found that despite the fact that he was quickly surpassing the bounds of normal human ability while assuming his Martial Artist Mode, he increased his Maximum Charge count at a depressingly slow rate.
After a week of diligent training, while he had already started pushing and pulling around some of the junkyard cars at the beach, his Maximum Charge count had only increased by one. Then it took over two weeks after that to see it rise from three to four; this despite the fact that his raw power was rapidly catching up to established pro heroes with Strengthening Quirks like Death Arms.
It wasn't until a whole month after he awakened his Quirk, just shy of a week before his final semester of school was due to start, that he struck enlightenment after deciding to at last start working on Ki Techniques.
[+1 Maximum Charge]
[Rank 2 Achieved]
[Current Mode: Martial Artist; Amateur Ki Disciple
Rank: 2
Charges: 1/5]
[New Mode: Spirit Empowered]
[New Submodes: Junior Trainer Summoner, Soul Student Spirit Empowered]
At the time that he made his breakthrough to Rank 2, Izuku ignored the achievement and even put aside looking into his new Mode/Submodes.
"This can't be right," he muttered as he stopped to consider the progression of his Maximum Charge count. "It took a couple hours to increase it the first time, then a week, then over two weeks… but this last time it happened in less than a week?"
He closed his eyes to focus all of his efforts on deducing a reason and eventually, his eyes widened and he said, "Wait a minute. Could it really be that simple?"
He resolved to work exclusively for the next couple of days on developing the most basic of Ki Attacks, the Base Ki Bullet, to test his hypothesis. Though, when he managed to increase his Maximum Charge count after only two days, it seemed all but confirmed that mastering techniques was the best way of training; his actual Quirk, perhaps not each individual submode.
Coincidentally, over the next couple of days, after Izuku managed to actually perform a Base Ki Bullet, he quickly found a ceiling to the amount of Ki, and physical strength by proxy, that he was able to cultivate. If not for his earlier discovery, it would have only been a matter of time before he would only be able to learn and master new Ki techniques to improve his abilities while under Martial Artist Mode and discover the secret of increasing his Maximum Charge count more efficiently.
Chapter 1.4: Back To School
Izuku hadn't expected much to change after the time came for him to return to school for his final Fall Semester. He hadn't at all even thought of disclosing to his peers or the school staff about the circumstances behind his Quirk's sudden manifestation. The only change he could foresee coming was having to set aside about eight hours of his previously schedule-free summer regiment to spend at school.
It had all been going accordingly, that is, until the time for Physical Education class came and suddenly the radical changes to his physique were noticed by, well… everyone.
"Holy… Was Midoriya always this fucking jacked?" Izuku could hear someone in the boy's locker room ask.
"I don't know… 'Skin n' Bones' Deku definitely wasn't this muscle-y before summer break. You think he started taking steroids or something?"
"Maybe. Though, aren't those types — especially the ones that overdo it, like he certainly looks like he has done — usually riddled with acne and other weird symptoms and deformities?"
"Right… Although, it could just be that they haven't kicked in just yet."
"Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens over the next couple of months."
'Uh… What?' Izuku could only wrinkle his eyebrows in confusion at their ridiculous conversation. He certainly hadn't felt like he had changed that much.
Sure, he was definitely a lot muscular. But then again, it wasn't really that hard to add on twenty to even thirty pounds of muscle for someone as malnourished and untrained as he had previously been. Add to that the fact that he was still growing and his Martial Artist Ki made fatigue recovery and training much more efficient than it would for most people and it suddenly didn't seem like that big of a change.
Of course, no one but his mother knew about his Quirk or the abilities of his Modes. To them it just looked like a Quirkless teen had returned from a natural bodybuilding competition; one that he won at that. His "skin and bones" constitution was filled in with lean muscle in all the right places and just enough fat to not look like some grotesque abomination whose every muscle was striated and strained for anatomists to study.
"Is… Is that D-Deku?" During the class' mile run, one of the girls in a group that opted to walk through the entirety of the test asked the others in her friend group.
"Who?" A reply came from the girl to her left.
"Curly green hair, check. Freckled face, check. But uh… isn't he little too, I don't know… handsome?" Another different reply came from the right.
"Yo! You can totally see he has an eight-pack when his shirt shifts around as he runs!"
"The Quirkless kid and hero wannabe?" Derision wafted from this particular comment.
"No, no. I think I remember during homeroom one day our teacher congratulated him for getting a scholarship at some big-name university for engineering. I don't think he's still chasing some sort of fantasy."
"Does that even matter? He's still a Quirkless freak."
"Really now?" The girl speaking raised an eyebrow as she playfully asked, "Then you're saying you'd rather date rock-face or long-fingers over a well-built, perfectly normally-looking, young man who's already being approached by a university, just because he's Quirkless?"
"..."
"It really does look like Dek— Er, Midoriya is going to end up being much more successful than most of the idiots in our class. Besides, if you really think about it, if he's really given up on becoming a hero, then being Quirkless is more of a plus. I mean, at least whoever ends up dating him won't be surprised by some weird Quirk-related body mutation."
"..." Now instead of just the one girl, everyone in the group was left speechless.
Izuku, of course, was so far ahead of the group that he was completely unaware of their discussion. Focused more on getting the routine mile run over with, he failed to notice the looks most of the girls around him were casting in his direction.
"Deku!" Wrath incarnate suddenly called out to him and Izuku naturally responded by running just the slightest bit faster.
'Shit, shit, shit! Why is she mad at me, now?!' He cursed internally as he took off in a sprint, and despite not using his Quirk, his base physical speed was such that he was actually losing the object of his most immediate fear.
"Don't fucking run from me, dumbass!"
'Uh oh,' Izuku gulped as he noticed the sounds of indiscriminate cursing were getting closer. 'Gah! Of course, I wouldn't be able to outrun her! Not when she's been training to become a hero for nearly a decade and a half by now!' She probably hadn't expected him to run away and was only now actually putting in her best efforts to catch up to him.
"Oi! You think this is a race?!"
"Uh… Yeah!" Izuku shouted back, hoping it would be a good enough excuse for her to not stay mad at him by the time she caught up.
"So little Deku wants to compete with me, huh?!"
"Eeeh!" Izuku yelped rather pathetically as he couldn't help but confuse her tone with murderous arrogance. He somehow started running even faster.
"Oh no the fuck you don't!"
Izuku didn't turn around, but he felt like he could sense the air about her start scalding as his back began to warm and her grunts of pursuit grew louder and louder until…
"Time!" The Physical Education Coach called as Izuku and his pursuer crossed the one-mile mark on the track at the exact same time.
Izuku didn't even react when the coach started raving and ranting about how he had just set a class record for the boys. He was more concerned with the fact that Katsumi Bakugo had been running with him and not for him. She'd expressed as much by virtue of going through the effort of crossing the finish line with him and taking a moment to catch her breath while letting him do the same.
"What the fuck was that, Deku?!" Katsumi barked as she jabbed a finger into his ribs. Her eye twitching erratically at the sensation of coiled muscle resisting her touch.
"Whatever do you mean, Kacchan?" Izuku asked as he looked everywhere but directly at Katsumi.
"That speed!" She pulled up his shirt rather shamelessly and narrowed her eyes as she continued, "These muscles! What the fuck happened to you?!"
"Ahaha, well, uh… You see, during summer break—" he didn't get the chance to finish.
Pulling his shirt back down and staring him right in the eyes, Katsumi grew frighteningly cold as she asked, "You didn't start taking some bullshit drugs to start chasing U.A's College of Heroics, did you? You're not on Trigger, right?!"
"Uh, no?" Izuku lost all his nerve at the notion of something ridiculous. As a social outcast, with hardly a background worth mentioning, he struggled to comprehend how Katsumi could even think that was possible. Who would he go to for drugs, and more importantly, with what money would he buy them if he was insane enough to want that?
"That doesn't sound too convincing!"
"I..." He shuddered at her concerned expression. "I have a Quirk now, ok?"
"You fucking what, now?" Katsumi was so taken aback that she actually didn't yell.
"It let me build a lot of muscle over summer break, so… Yeah."
"You," she pointed at Izuku, "have a Quirk."
"That's right," Izuku sighed.
"Huh?!" She narrowed her eyes dangerously as her posture shifted offensively. Hands smoldering with nitroglycerin a twitch away from igniting, she pointed at him and asked, "Alright motherfucker, who are you and where is the real Deku!"
"Uh… What?"
"There's no fucking way the real Deku would have been able to keep himself from going insane from happiness if he really manifested his Quirk over summer break! Aunty Inko would have been overjoyed as well and told my mom right away, and I'd have known about it immediately. So I'll ask nicely one last time, fucker. Where. Is. Izuku?"
'Oh crap,' Izuku thought, 'She's serious!'
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down Kacchan! I'm Izuku and I really have a Quirk," He said, yet Katsumi only grew hostile if the explosion unleashed over her right hand was any indication.
"I can prove it!" Izuku shouted, completely ignoring how the scene Katsumi created had drawn the attention of more than just their class by now.
"You better hurry up then, before I start to think you're just stalling for time," she threatened.
Unfortunately, as Izuku was panicking, he couldn't quite so easily prove he was in fact himself conclusively. He just said the first things that came to mind.
"You mentioned my mom. Er… She has a Telekinesis Quirk!"
"Is that supposed to be some kind of proof?!" Katsumi growled as another explosion blossomed on her hand.
"Well then, what about this? People might know I used to obsess about pro heroes, but only you and I would know that I've written over twenty Hero Analysis notebooks and your entry on the very first volume was made back when we were just five-year-olds!"
"Good," Katsumi would have sounded pleased if not by the aura of murder that was being cast by her body like the mirage over her superheated palms. "Your very next words better erase all doubts or so help me god, I'll kill you twice over for going this far just to impersonate Deku."
Now blanching as he felt like Katsumi really would do something drastic if he didn't convince her with his next choice words, Izuku blurted out, "I once said I'd marry you!" Upon realizing the embarrassing nature of what he had just shouted for everyone within earshot to hear, Izuku tried to ignore the reddening of his face as feigned joking and said, "Oops, haha. I meant, I said that I promised we'd be 'together...' at the top of the pro hero rankings, as the best duo."
Amazingly, to Izuku anyway, Katsumi looked to have been so shocked that she completely dropped her intent to cause him grave bodily harm as she just stared at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.
'Did he really just...' Her own mind betrayed her desire to stay enraged at him. After all, what he said had utterly and thoroughly confirmed his identity to her, as it forced some memories of a long and distant past to resurface.
"But you know, that was all in the past," Izuku said with a strained chuckle and more sorrow than most could pick up on. Katsumi, though, was so keen on him that she saw right through him as he said, "I may have finally gotten my Quirk, but… I don't really think I should restart trying to become a hero again. Not like I'd get very far against the very best of our generation, like you, who have had over a dozen years to master their Quirks."
Ding! Ding! Ding!
A short moment later, before either Izuku or Katsumi could get another word in, the bell rung and just like that, the air was cleared out and peace was restored. Izuku was approached by some guys and was praised for both accepting reality and graduating from Quirklessness as they made their way to the locker room, while Katsumi grew uncharacteristically silent as she followed the rest of the girls to their locker room.
Chapter 1.5: Trainer Woes
For the rest of his first day back in school Izuku was surprised to see Katsumi become completely passive towards him. She neither came up to him demanding more information nor did she send glares nor malintent his way. It was just like it had been since the start of their final year, after his dream had been utterly snuffed.
'And yet, for some reason, I feel concerned for her,' Izuku thought as he walked past the school grounds and headed towards the beach. 'I just have this hunch that she's not really feeling as well as her image seemed to suggest.'
To him, she looked like she was trying her best to act like something was not bothering her, despite that not being the case. 'But that doesn't make sense,' Izuku shook his head. 'If something was bothering her, she would definitely let it be known,' he assured himself.
When he finally made it to the beach, he set aside his things atop a broken microwave before opting to finally check out his newest Mode as a "Spirit Empowered." After surviving another migraine induced from the sudden influx of information downloaded directly into his consciousness, he found his clothes had switched from his school uniform to consisting of a blue undershirt, a white shirt with blue stripes, blue baggy trousers, and… socks and sandals?
"This is definitely not what I would have expected to be an apprentice Death God's uniform," Izuku muttered as he shook his head.
When he finally became serious once more, he still had to take a second to sigh at the monumental task before him. Spirit Empowered Mode had him literally assume the identity of a Death God, and even if he was just an apprentice as a Soul Student, he was given a veritable tome of spells to learn as well as a blade and an entire system of blade arts to master.
"Kido, Hoho, Hakuda, and Zanjutsu… I've got to learn all of that on top of developing Spiritual Power, and I've got a sentient sword to figure out as well?!" He asked aloud with no one around to hear his cries. "Welp, I might as well get—" At that moment he realized that all five of his Charges had been consumed to enter the Rank 2 Mode.
Fifteen minutes later, he would find out that even without any training to control his draining Spiritual Power, he could maintain his Spirit Empowered Mode for much longer than any of his Rank 1 Modes initially. By then, he had already recovered more than enough Charges to continue training in any other Rank 1 Mode.
Now, despite having recently spent the last month or so working on his Martial Artist Mode, as Izuku was given plenty of time to idly think during the school hours, he had decided to start training one of his other untrained Modes.
It only made sense given it would be much more efficient to either focus on learning techniques from the get-go under Ninja Mode to also increase his chakra control and capacity at the same time; something which he could no longer do with Ki after having reached its growth ceiling for Rank 1.
Focusing on his Summoner Mode had also suddenly become much more viable after unlocking its Rank 2 Submode as a Junior Trainer. Sure, he'd have to wait for all five of his Charges to recover every single time to train optimally, but with the option to summon two Pokemon at the same time now on the table, he could have his little monsters fight each other to get stronger. Not to mention he could literally double the rate of experience he gained from teaching, when he could spend his time teaching two different Pokemon new moves at the same time.
Naturally, after having spent the last month working on himself, Izuku was ready for a change of pace. He still hadn't gone all in on trying to master every facet of his Quirk, but since he had already taken Martial Artist Mode as a way to be personally stronger, he decided to supplement that "inner" strength with Pokemon as his "outer" strength.
So, while he waited for his Charges to completely recharge, he withdrew some homework to finish while he was on his down time. A couple minutes later, the time had come for the first of many rounds of glorified dog fighting as Izuku assumed his Junior Trainer Mode.
"Alright," Izuku felt strangely compelled to turn the cap on his head backwards as he reached for the two minimized Pokeball on his belt holder and called, "I choose you! Squirtle! Poliwag!"
At the sight of the two strange water-type creatures, Izuku took a deep breath before he commanded, "Alright you guys, let's have an all out fight to see how you measure up without any training!"
With cries of affirmation from both Pokemon, Izuku counted down before calling for the two to fight and the results… Well, suffice to say that even if Izuku had lost all his Martial Arts, Ninja, and Soul Empowered knowledge on tactics and fighting, he could still clearly see that his Pokemon were beyond incompetent as they struggled to fight each other any harder than children would. They never actively performed moves that Izuku knew for a fact that they knew, nor did they even attempt to dodge each other's pitifully weak attacks or attempts at grappling.
It was so bad, in fact, that Izuku decided he had seen enough after five minutes and called the fight off.
"This… I might just regret focusing on this over my other Modes," he said with a silent prayer for his patience before he recovered his resolve and began directing his Pokemon in earnest.
"Ok, new plan," he said, summoning the totality of his Pokemon's attention. "Squirtle, you innately know the defensive move Withdraw, I want you to focus on dodging Poliwags attacks in your next battle while only resorting to using that move if you think you won't be able to evade in time."
Seeing the blue-hued turtle nod, he turned to his Poliwag and said, "Poliwag, I want you to try to hit Squirtle by all means necessary. Use Water Gun at all ranges to confuse Squirtle as best as you can, and switch it up with Tackle if you think you can land the hit."
Seeing his Poliwag nod, just like his Squirtle did after receiving its instructions, Izuku smiled and said, "Good now get ready, I want to see you guys give it your all and get stronger!"
With zealous cries, the two Pokemon distanced themselves a bit from Izuku before they started… not quite fighting. It looked more like roughhouse playing than anything, but it was a marked improvement on the utter incompetence of letting the two fight each other unchecked.
Before Izuku felt his transformation fade, Squirtle had managed to outmatch Poliwag. Though, that was more because Poliwag was a terrible shot with Water Gun and somehow only marginally better at performing a Tackle. It really wouldn't have seemed like much of an accomplishment to anyone with the misfortune of bearing witness to Squirtle's display, for even with all of Poliwag's ineptitude, Squirtle still managed to only succeed in defending against an average of half of the attacks that manage to hit it.
For the next couple of days, Izuku's cries of frustration and borderline depression would resound across most of Dagobah Beach as he could only find solace in drilling the basics of combat onto his entire roster of Pokemon by working on his homework. Not even the music from his phone would take his mind off the tedious grind after all his homework for all his classes were completed.
Fortunately, after about two weeks, Izuku found that it only got easier to coach his Pokemon as he gained experience as a trainer over the days, and, more importantly, only the roster of Pokemon he had gained from his Rank 1 Badgeless Trainer Submode included completely imcompetent Pokemon.
Once he made sure that all of his Pokemon could attack, evade, and block without his explicit direction, he finally started teaching them new moves. By then, his Maximum Charge count had surpassed twelve.
However, although it started off harmless enough with Izuku starting simply by teaching Normal and Fighting type moves. Eventually…
"Perfect!" Izuku naively said as he instructed his unassuming Ratata, "Now try it against that broken refrigerator."
Following its master's command, the purple rat took off in a charge to try out its newly learned move against a stationary target. It squeaked out its name as a cry before jumping, and as it maneuvered to somersault, it's tail began shining with power before accurately striking the refrigerator's closed front door.
Thud!
The refrigerator toppled backwards and after Izuku approached to assess the damage, he paled as he took in the sight of irreparably dented metal.
Quickly enough, Izuku would learn to not underestimate the Pokemon he had once found incompetent as even the most adorable, lovably cartoonish of his summoned monsters all possessed the ability to learn deceptively destructive moves.
Chapter 1.6: Unexpected Reunion
[+1 Maximum Charge]
[Rank 3 Achieved]
[Current Mode: Summoner; Junior Trainer
Rank: 3
Charges: 7/25]
[New Mode: King]
[New Submodes: Blue Monarch King, Genin Ninja, Turtle Disciple Martial Artist]
"King?" Izuku raised an eyebrow at the mention of his newest type of main Mode. He wondered what kind of new insane powers would be at his disposal as he let his now decently trained and misleadingly harmless-looking Pokemon finish fighting each other.
When the time finally came nearly half an hour later, after his time as a Junior Trainer expired and he managed to fully recover all of his Charges, Izuku assumed his newest Mode.
"You can't be serious," he said to no one in particular after the baptism of information accompanying his initial transformation finally ended. "These Modes just get progressively more and more unreasonable," he added as he started to compare his newest Mode with the ones he'd previously had.
Ninja, Martial Artist, and Summoner were all available to him since his Quirk manifested, and though they were each ridiculously powerful in their own right, even a child could see that they were fairly simple. Ninja Mode made him a superhuman ninja, Martial Artist Mode made him a superhuman martial artist, and Summoner Mode gave him the ability to summon uniquely superhuman monsters.
Then upon reaching Rank 2, Spirit Empowered Mode transformed him into a Death God in training, of all things. And now King Mode… Well, to be completely honest, it didn't directly make him much more powerful than he was without activating his Quirk. His body didn't at all change to grow energy storing organs like Chakra Coils or a Ki Center. However, it might have given him something much more versatile with the potential to be as powerful if not even more so.
"To think that I can actually subject reality to the power of my will, now..." Izuku muttered as he recalled the many, horrifying applications of Haki which he had just come to learn about.
He raised a hand and slowly grew somewhat terrified as he watched one of his fingers blacken. "It isn't impressive now, but this is definitely Armament Haki," Izuku said as his focus trembled and his finger returned to normal.
If ever he decided to train the ability, Armament Haki on its own had the potential to make Izuku one of the most annoying heroes, villains would ever have the misfortune of encountering. The ability was almost nonsensical in its uses, doing everything from directly amplifying Izuku's physical strength, to granting him practically unrivalled and universal resistance against any and every thing, to even having the uncanny aspect of bypassing virtually all the defenses of Transformation-type Quirks.
It was an overpowered ability if ever Izuku had heard of one, and yet it wasn't even the greatest application of Haki Izuku knew of. Of the three, Armament and Observational Haki were essentially tied in usefulness as far as Izuku could tell, where Observational Haki was essentially just as overpowered an auxiliary ability as Armament Haki was an offensive one.
No, the most ridiculous use of Haki, Izuku learned he was capable of one day wielding, was what gave King Mode it's name; Conqueror's Haki. The ability to literally manifest and subject your will onto others and the world itself… Izuku could only imagine how useful such an ability might be against countless scenarios. Single handedly, with that power, Izuku could resolve villain hideout raids, hostage situations, entire wars… All without so much as lifting a finger!
"Hey, look!" Izuku suddenly heard someone's voice from behind him. "Crud, it looks like someone already beat us to this place," Izuku turned to see it was a lively blond-haired young man speaking to…
"Al—" Izuku cut himself off by covering his mouth rather forcefully. When recovered enough control over himself, he let go of his mouth and shouted, "It's you!"
"Oh, uh… Hi again," All Might lamely said as he shrunk in on his already withered body.
"Whoa, sir! It looks like this civilian totally just recognized you," the young man said, striking a careless expression with his tongue slightly left outside the corner of his mouth.
"Indeed, he's one of the few that know about my state..." All Might said before he looked Izuku right in the eyes. Alas, he couldn't keep eye contact even as he went about blurting out, "I… I made a mistake back then."
"Huh?" Izuku said with a raised brow, not knowing where All Might was going with the conversation.
"Back then," All Might started, "back when we met and I told you all those things… I still regret it to this day. That hollow look you left the scene of the slime villain's second attack with… I know I caused it and I'd meant to try and correct my mistakes that day, but by the time the media and the police were done with me, I couldn't find you and..."
"What are you talking about?" Izuku asked with genuine confusion, drawing in the rapt attention of All Might and his... associate, or whoever it was that tagged along. "That day, you just said what I'd known all along. It was a wakeup call to reality and I needed it." By the time he was done talking, Izuku was looking down at the sand and his shoes with melancholy.
"No, I was wrong," All Might solemnly said.
Only after Izuku raised his head to meet with All Might's eyes did the number one pro continue saying, "You had caught me at the worst possible time that day. With myself frustrated over my declining ability to work and my time limit expired before your very eyes. I told you then something borne out of my own insecurities, which I had no right in saying."
"So, right here, right now, if it even matters to you at this point, just know that I believe you can be a hero. Even if you're Quirkless, if you really put all your effort into it, you could strive to be, well… just about any kind of hero, bar the strictly assault-type like Endeavour. You might not end up becoming the very best, but becoming a pro hero is objectively attainable by anyone with the drive to become one."
At the heartfelt apology, Izuku could only stare with wrinkled brows.
Taking in Izuku's strange expression, All Might felt compelled to ask, "Young man?"
"Sorry," Izuku snapped out of his dazed state as he moved his hand to rub at the back of his neck, "It's just… I really don't know what to make of this. Especially not after..." He grew mute as his mind was assaulted by a collage memories detailing his lived experience.
For as long as he could remember, from his childhood all the way back to the day he met All Might live and in the flesh, all he had ever wanted was to become a hero. He'd lived through being Quirkless as an adolescent, growing up with at most Katsumi being the only person he considered a real friend.
He'd ignored everyone who had doubted him growing up. He'd ignored his peers, his teachers, his sole friend, and even his own mother… It had taken the word of All Might himself to finally give up on his dream. And yet, not a quarter of a year to the day he had finally stopped trying to become a hero, his Quirk finally came. Overnight, he not only gained a Quirk, but an extremely powerful Quirk with unfathomable potential.
When he showed his mother, she actually went out of her way to tell him that she would now support him if he wanted to continue wanting to become a hero. When he returned to school, the attitudes of literally everyone bar Katsumi changed; like they had all forgotten the years of isolation and ostracization they had all subjected him to. And now, less than half a year later, All Might had shown up out of the blue and apologized to him?
"Did something happen to you?" All Might asked, shocking Izuku out of his thoughts.
"Haha," Izuku laughed without much mirth as he looked to the side and said, "I, uh… finally got a Quirk." He held up his hand for All Might to see the process of his right index finger blackening with the power of Armament Haki.
"Really?" All Might said before shaking his head and saying, "Well, congratulations. It's unprecedented for someone to manifest a Quirk this late into their life, but I guess all logic goes out the window when we're talking about superpowers."
"Heh heh, thanks." Izuku said, "I actually came to this beach to improve upon it, where I'd been sure I wasn't going to bother anybody. But I guess, seeing that you're here, you want me to leave… right?"
"No way man!" The much more impressive-looking blond to All Might's side suddenly interjected. "He doesn't have to leave, right sensei?" He asked All Might.
"I guess not?" All Might said, not sounding too sure of himself. "I mean, it's not like his presence will interfere with your own training. Maybe it'll even help to have someone around to talk to for the next couple of months while you focus on your task."
"Alright!" The young man turned to flash Izuku a smile before he said, "Maybe I could even pitch a couple pointers to you, man! I mean, I've also got a transformation-type Quirk."
"Oh… Uh, I wouldn't want to distract you," Izuku said.
"Don't worry about it, er…"
"Izuku Midoriya."
"Right! Midoriya, I'm Mirio Togata." And as the two moved to shake hands, the succeeding turn of events cemented yet another major event in Izuku's rapidly changing life.
Izuku's onyx pupils twinkled with red as his nascent Observational Haki subconsciously activated and urged him to apply Armament Haki to his reaching hand. When his faintly blackened right hand met Mirio's, the blond almost immediately reacted with shock.
The smile on his face vanished, replaced with hardly disguised surprise as the hand turned intangible had actually been caught. It was rather ironic given, he had been the one intending on surprising Izuku by showing him his Permeation Quirk's ability.
"Uh… Togata-san?" Izuku grew nervous as Mirio stared at the ebony hand that completely ignored the effects of his Quirk.
"Amazing!" Mirio said, now very much curious about Izuku's Quirk as he said, "Your Quirk can actually touch me when I become intangible! That's never happened before."
"...What?" Confused to the point that all the tension in his body died, Izuku's straining use of Armament Haki broke and he felt his hand suddenly lose the feeling of behind grasped in a handshake.
"In...tangible?!" Izuku's eyes widened as he thought, 'That'd definitely be considered one of the best abilities a pro hero could ask for in a Quirk.'
"Hahaha..." Mirio full-out chortled before a menacing look escaped his overenthusiastic eyes as they stared at Izuku. "Now, I'm definitely going to help you out with your Quirk."
Deep in the recesses of his mind, he was already planning on putting on his best effort in turning Izuku into one of his juniors at U.A. University. If not out of the goodness of his heart and desire to help, then mostly for the selfish desire to see himself one day fight against an actual physical counter to his Quirk.
Author Notes:
Alright people, you should already know the drill by know if you're familiar with my "works." For those who've either forgotten or don't know, I like to think that I'm known for starting things I don't plan on finishing. This story is one of those things.
It's not that I enjoy getting people interested only to cuck my readers by never finishing a story. I've just never found the strength to think things through and eventually plot points or things that I want to do wouldn't make sense so I just give up.
Anyways, this time, the story is more of a writing challenge for me that I've set up with the idea of giving Izuku what I would consider the most overpowered Quirk I've ever thought of, where the challenge is keeping his progression in check for long enough that the story reaches a satisfying conclusion by the time the original canon's timeline reaches the end of the war with the paranomal liberation army.
I've gone through the effort of charting out the progression of Izuku's power in an outline up to that point, so here's to hoping I don't give up on this story after just the first chapter.
Now, before I conclude these "notes," I like to remind you to follow and favorite, If you've like what you've read so far. Despite what I've written at the top of these author notes, I like watching the stats of my stories increase. Oh, and comment too, since that's practically worth a dozen favorites or double that amount in follows in my nonexistent ranking system.