Izuku Midoriya, the purest hero possible, stands between a victim and his victimizer. The victim is a 4-year-old boy incapable of defending himself. The victimizer is Izuku's best friend. An overzealous and overconfident boy named Katsuki Bakugou. Bakugou's ability allows him to create explosions in his palms. His only use for his quirk is to hurt others and put them below him. "Get out of my way Deku," Katsuki snarls angrily. Izuku responds, "No… you can't do this Kacchan, it's wrong!" Bakugou grins before telling the goons behind him to "get him."
As the three 4-year-olds come within striking range of Izuku, one with long fingers and another with bat's wings, something clicks in Izuku's head. He firms his footing and swipes his right foot towards the heavier kid with bat wings. He grabs the wrist of the long-fingered boy pulls him around him, increasing his centrifugal force. While this is happening, the heavy kid trips on Izuku's forward leg, sending him swiftly forward and towards the ground. Once Izuku finished his rotation on the long-fingered kid, the two bullies clacked their heads together. Now on the dirt, "Ow," "My head!" the two cry while holding their skulls.
Midoriya looks down at his hands and the whimpering boys in shock. 'I did this?' he thinks amazedly. "Hey! What was that?" the last boy shouts angrily. "I don't know what that was," he responds. Bakugou walks towards him saying "you're going to regret that!" Katsuki crackling palms command authority, but Izuku is not giving up any ground. Bakugou swings wide for a concussive slap. Izuku simply ducks and backpedals before running away. "Get back here Deku!"
From Izuku's perspective, he sees no reason to stay around, the victim is safe and so is he. Still in a heightened sense of stress, Izuku runs all the way home. Like all 4-year-olds, the green-haired boy's running form is poor. However, over the course of running, his body responds to miniscule pressure on his joints and muscles, correcting his movements cumulatively. By the time he is home, he is using a spookily perfect running form. His legs land directly perpendicular to the surface at every step. The surface of his shoes lands all at once, distributing the force from his body into the ground as effectively as possible before springing up.
Izuku slows down in front of his apartment. He finally releases his stress response, his gait returning to its original form. Izuku says, "Man, that was crazy. I hope Kacchan isn't too mad at me." The boy takes some time to reflect on what had happened. Over the following weeks, Izuku learned that his reaction was the result of a quirk. After a series of tests with his family quirk specialist, the mother and her son learned that his quirk activated whenever he had a stress response. He was so happy to finally have a quirk.
When Izuku shared his new quirk with his classmates, Bakugou was quick to shoot him down saying that Izuku was "basically a quirkless loser who can only run away from his problems." Midoriya's social life went downhill from then on. He was verbally harassed; however, he rarely got physically because he could indeed run away from his fights. When a fight was unavoidable, though, he made sure to quickly wipe the floor and leave just as fast.
Izuku's heroism never waned. Whenever someone was getting bullied on his watch, he would step in to give the victim enough time to escape. Izuku's preferred method of dealing with bullies was composed of distraction and swift dodging.
Izuku never stopped wanting to be a hero. However, he was painfully aware of his limitations, he still had the body of a quirkless person. So, he trained. He trained as hard as humanly possible. Izuku had learned to turn on his stress response on command; however, being stressed all day is not good for anyone so he has to choose when he should use it. He can handle being stressed for about as long as a normal person. Izuku's training was intentionally brutal because he could push his body to the biological limits. He never injured himself thanks to the self-correcting nature of his quirk, but it still was not easy.
He would start by learning a simple exercise, the push up for example. He studied the intended purpose of the exercise, in the case of the push up, activating and strengthening the chest. He gets in position, activates his quirk and starts the exercise. Initially, his body makes the injury prevention adjustments, externally rotating his shoulder and softening the impact on his wrists with a myriad of minor adjustments that would be invisible to the naked eye. Then, his body would make optimizations on the push up. Focusing on the chest, the other muscles like the triceps and shoulders would lose involvement. This in turn made the push up harder for his chest but provided a more efficient contraction of the muscle group.
He would go through this process with squats, sit ups, dips, and dumbbell exercises to use his body in the most efficient way. [A/N the reason one would want to isolate a muscle group is not to make the force generated more efficient, but rather the time spent working out more efficient] Izuku never said anything of his training, but he was on Bakugou's level of physicality.
After an eventful day with the teacher announcing Izuku's plan to apply to UA, and Katsuki yelling up to him after class before storming out, Izuku made his way back home. Whilst in a tunnel, a manhole cover exploded from behind. Izuku's stress response activated immediately. He got in a defensive stance and slowly backed away from coagulating sludge. The sludge spoke, "Ooh, a well-sized skinsuit for me to where. Tell me boy, what's your quirk?" The sludge did not get a response, just a mechanically smooth backpedal from the teen.
"Aah! Come over here!" the slime shouted before pouncing. Izuku, working on impulse, Izuku ran towards the slime at an angle. A meter before colliding, he jumped. His perfect jumping form and functional lower body sent him flying through the air. Izuku, having already predicted not being able to get enough height to clear the monstrous villain, decided to kick off the wall to gain just enough height to be untouched. The villain swiveled around with a grin on his face, "Super-jumps huh? That'll be very useful. You're my hero, you know that?" The villain proceeded to expand to be as tall as the tunnel. Reacting immediately, Midoriya threw his open backpack towards the villain, letting the sharp contents fly towards the eyes. "Aargh!!"
A whoosh of air from the manhole cover behind Izuku distracted the boy. Izuku yelped, "All Might!?" The man responded, "Yes, I'm sorry I had to get you caught up in my justicing, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again… Detroit Smash!" Izuku ground his feet into the dirt to avoid getting blown away but even he was unprepared for All Might's power. He was blown back a few meters and almost fell. "All Might! I'm your biggest fan!"
"Can you please sign my notebook?" the boy pleaded. All Might boisterously laughed, "Ha Ha Ha, of course young man! Say, do you go to a heroics high school? The fact that you held him off for that long really had me wondering." Izuku sheepishly responded, "No, I'm ju-just in junior high." All Might's eyes widened, "Well, you should definitely consider it, I'm sure you'd make a great hero!" Izuku looked into All Might's eyes dreamily, "You really think I can become a hero?"
After their short interaction, Izuku left feeling even more confident in his potential to be a hero. However, an explosion broke him out of his daydreaming and turned on his battle instincts. Midoriya gathered the information in his immediate surroundings, determined the position from which the explosion originated, and started his sprint. Once he came across a crowd of people and a set of heroes standing around an inferno of explosions and sludge, Izuku did not hesitate. He slid right past the crowd, ducked under the dividers and ran straight towards the villain.
He used his perfect jump to sink his legs into the few solid parts of the monster. It screamed out in pain, a kick straight to the eyes will do that. The sludge released its hold on Katsuki for just enough time to push him out of the slime. Now Izuku had another problem, he was stuck in the villain with no foreseeable way out. Izuku had prepared for this, he would hold his breath for as long as possible in the hopes of a hero saving him. If he was not saved, he was prepared for that as well. Midoriya made the decision to give up his own life for that of his bully.
His efforts would not go unnoticed. All Might, weakened and reprimanding his own weakness, saw the shine of heroism in the boy's heart. That shine pushed him to go beyond his own limits and unleash his power in a great "Texas… Smash!" All Might's entrance and punch saved the boy and changed the weather. The villain was splattered over the walls with no hope of re-assimilating. All Might had saved the day once again.
After a rough berating from the pros, Izuku was ready to go home. He did not make it half way without being insulted by Bakugou and did not make it fully before being interrupted by All Might. He swiftly came around the corner, "Young citizen, I have an offer-Gah!" The mountain of muscle shrank down to that of a Holocaust survivor and continued to eject blood from his mouth. "All Might! What happened? Are you really All Might? Your bleeding!" The man stopped him, "Calm down kid, I am All Might, I just received a nasty wound five years ago and now I look like this most of the day." Izuku stares at his idol in disbelief.
All Might started, "Young man, I have an offer to make". The boy looked worriedly at his hero, still shocked by the fact All Might was bleeding out of his mouth. "They say that every hero had a moment in their youth where they saved the day, where they moved before their body could tell them otherwise, where they sacrificed their own wellbeing for that of another. That happened to you, right?" Izuku could do naught but nod with tear-soaked cheeks. "Young man, I deem you worthy of inheriting my power…" Looking up, Izuku's face said it all, "Huh?"
Izuku's confusion was palpable. "But, what do you mean by 'inherit your power' All Might?" He laughed largely, "It's really quite simple, my quirk is like a sacred torch, being passed from one generation to the next, growing stronger with each person. You are worthy of holding that power, One For All…" "One… For… All…" Midoriya muttered. Izuku then went into his analysis mode, "But, that doesn't make any sense. The ability to transfer quirks must have been made known by this point in time, is it possible that there are no other recorded cases of such a thing happening? Quirks can do amazing things, but given the fact that they are fundamentally genetic, that would mean that genes would have to be passed in order for a quirk transfer".
All Might looked at the kid closely. He had just told him that he would give him great power, and his first reaction was to nerd out on the potential legitimacy of the claim. If nothing else, he was analytic. However, he had to stop the boy somewhere, "Young man! Don't think too hard about it! But I must know, will you accept my offer, it's a big decision." Izuku's response was an emphatic "I accept." "An instant response, I like it Young Midoriya. Meet me at Dagobah beach at five in the morning tomorrow."
Izuku's next morning had him staring out a dump. "Umm, All Might, what are we doing here?" All Might spread his arms, "This is where you will be training to inherit my quirk. An untrained body would break apart by the application of One For All." Izuku gasped, "What? Really?" "Yes, we need to make you as durable as possible before the UA entrance exams." Midoriya said, "Wow! That's amazing! But why are we doing it here?" All Might smiled, "That's a great question. Most heroes are only focused on the glamour and flashiness of pro hero work. True heroism has its roots in community service, that's why you'll be cleaning up this beach, even if it's a bit boring." The boy excitedly voiced his understanding and got to work.
His first assignment was moving a metal cabinet with some ropes and All Might's extra weight. He crouched down, activating his stress response he became as smooth as a newly oiled gear. His feet dug into the sand until they found it suitably hard enough. He realized even before activating his quirk that he was going to need his whole body for the push. He aligned the ropes to compliment the force exerted by his center of gravity and pushed off with every muscle fiber he had. The cabinet slid forward an inch, then another, and soon he was getting into a rhythm.
"Hey Hey Hey! You can stop down there!" All Might yelled from the top. This brought Midoriya out of his stress response as he looked at All Might in confusion. All Might said, "I didn't expect you to actually pull that thing. I just wanted to check your form when dealing with an immovable object. What's your quirk anyway kid?" Izuku, flattered at All Might's curiosity in his quirk, said, "We-well it's called Battle Instincts and basically whenever I get stressed, I go on autopilot where anything physical I do is done to the max of my abilities. Other than that I'm basically quirkless." All Might beamed, "Are you kidding? That's a wonderful quirk! What I would give to have a quirk like that, this gives you a leg up on the competition in terms of battle prowess already." Midoriya was so happy to finally have someone compliment his quirk, and his idol being the one was icing on the cake.
"Thank you so much sir! It means a lot," Izuku said, reminiscing on all of the times Bakugou called him basically quirkless. "Don't sweat it, this will make your training much more efficient. I bet you'll be able to clean this section of the beach up in only eight months," All Might said with a wide grin on his face. Izuku grinned back, it was the first time in a long time that Izuku felt someone believed in him.
For the next two hours, Midoriya moved the manageable trash off the beach. It was now seven in the morning and Izuku collapsed on the sand, snapping out of his instincts. The thump of hot blood coursed through his evenly abused body. Frazzled spots appeared in Izuku's sky and he let out a long sigh. "You worked hard kid, harder than I've seen anyone your age work," All Might complimented him. Izuku's body and brain was not ready to respond, two hours of intense physical and mental stress will do that. Looking up to All Might, Midoriya got a little mental clarity and was able to respond, "I really pushed my limits here, but if I'm going to be the best, my standards need to be higher than just people my age." The wisdom found in Izuku was not lost on All Might, he really found the one.
"I think that's enough for now, you rest up and we'll meet at the same time and place tomorrow," All Might said. He was right, his limits were stretched, not just physical limits, but mental limits as well. Izuku sunk back into the sand, only to be picked up by All Might and escorted to his home by car. He took a shower and a nap as soon as he got home. He didn't wake up before eight on the average weekend, and according to his mother, nothing had changed when he woke up from his nap at nine. He felt like a wreck both mentally and physically. Maybe a full night's sleep would rejuvenate him further. He passed through the rest of the day listlessly, not capable of paying attention to any single thing.
The following day was a little better. Waking up before five on a weekend was still foreign to him, but there was no way he was going to disappoint his hero. At 4:45, he took a jog to the beach and found All Might waiting for him. The routine was much the same; however, this time All Might brought a paper schedule for Izuku to follow. The schedule, "Aim-to-Pass American Dream Plan," detailed every minute of Izuku's life, including his sleeping time. Izuku looked at his schedule solemnly, then grinned as if to say, 'come at me'.
Izuku lifted trash for two hours once again. Once he broke out of his battle instincts he was even more tired than yesterday. His body and mind had not rested enough, was All Might's verdict. "Young Man, you take the day off tomorrow. It seems as if your quirk is incapable of sustaining this pressure day to day," All Might said, disappointed by his lack of awareness. "But… I have to work harder than everyone else to be as prepared as possible," Izuku weakly put. "Your drive is admirable, but we must not push ourselves to destruction if we are to properly recover. Trust me, you will feel much better after a day's rest," All Might said.
He was disappointed with himself, he couldn't even get two days into All Might's training without having to take a day off. His frazzled brain couldn't do much more than hold that feeling of disappointment. He went to school as usual, and went to bed when his schedule told him too. After waking up on the fourth day, he was ready to get back to training. His body and mind really did clear the fog like All Might said.
Izuku hauled trash again, his quirk working in full effect to bring out the most of his training. After his two hours of strong manning, breaking from his quirk had him feeling better than ever. The rest allowed his body to respond to the increasing demands, allowing it to be more suited for longer stretches of time. He felt good.
"That was some mighty fine work out there! I can tell you're feeling better already, I told you the rest would benefit you," All Might said, affirming his predictions. Izuku responded, "Yeah. I don't know how, but I feel so much better than before." All Might smiled, "That's because the body needs its rest, some people are all 'GO! GO! GO!' but in reality, the body of a champion gets built when they are sleeping and eating. Which reminds me, make sure to follow your eating and sleeping plans, if nothing else." Izuku responded, "I won't let you down!"
So the training went on, All Might's expansive knowledge on bodybuilding and strength training expedited Midoriya's progress greatly. He slowly got stronger and leaner, cutting down his baby fat and pulling some looks. Being unused to female attention for his whole life, he misinterpreted what he saw greatly. Why are they being so nice to me? At least they aren't making fun of me like before . Izuku also received a greater deal of negative attention from Bakugou though. How the hell is that nerd getting more muscular than me? Doesn't matter, he won't be able to do anything with that quirk anyway .
The dawn of the eighth month. All Might said he should have completed his section of the beach by this point. What he saw was not just a section of the beach clean, but an entire coastline clear of debris. Midoriya could be seen resting on the beach, all five limbs extended, his preferred position after using his quirk for an extended period of time. All Might spoke, "Well done young man! I see you've cleared even beyond my predictions." Izuku got up to meet eye-to-eye with his hero. He said, "Am I ready to take on One For All?" All Might responded, "Well, you are ready for it to not tear your limbs off your body, but you would still suffer major repercussions for using it. Sadly, I have to say that I will give you One for All at the latest possible time, ideally right before the U.A. entrance exam." Izuku looked downtrodden, but he said, "I understand, it would be best to make me as strong as possible before taking this on. What should I do now?"
He held the bar just above his chest, commanding the weight that would crush him if he lost control, and then pressed it a meter above his body, racking it. Izuku should have expected traditional weight-lifting to be part of his routine, it was one of the things All Might was most known for. It provided an entirely new challenge, the focus shifted from strict strength gains to muscular hypertrophy. He took his new training very seriously, he researched everything he could on body-building and weight-lifting, eventually becoming a bonafide "gym nerd". He learned to identify which of his muscle groups were weak, which needed attention, and what exercises to effectively target those needs.
Of course, his quirk provided huge help in the gym. Initially, he received coaching from All Might on how to perform the proper form associated with each exercise, but he quickly realised it was useless when Izuku's smooth mechanics brought out better form than All Might could perform. On top of his squeaky-clean form, Izuku could push a lot more than his build would suggest. A large part of lifting is creating a sufficient "mind-muscle" connection, wherein athletes would train their bodies to bring out the performance of every muscle fiber they could. Needless to say, Izuku's quirk skipped the whole training part of that.
Izuku's weight training brought on a new set of "newbie gains" that parked his physique far above that of anyone else his age. He stayed as humble as he could with all of the praise directed at him and his body. Baugou's rage was still present, though he seriously wondered if Izuku had used any substances to achieve his physique. All these extras don't realize that Midoriya's body is just for show. I'll show them when I get to UA and he doesn't . The attention he was receiving from the opposite sex was nothing more than girls being nice to him, Izuku thought.
The dawn of the entrance exam. All Might spoke, "Eat This!" Izuku tilted his head, "what?" All Might said, "You have to digest some of my DNA in order to get my quirk. Eat up kiddo!"
After choking down All Might's hair, Izuku finally made his way up to the gates of UA. His jitteriness and stress made it so he was unintentionally going into and out of his battle instincts. To everyone else, it looked like Izuku was walking like an incredibly smooth robot, then stumbling out of it, and then repeating. Once he was able to get his nerves under control he had the amazing luck to trip on his own feet, he really was clumsy when he wasn't using his quirk.
Before being able to activate his quirk and break his landing, he felt a sense of weight leaving him. A girl said, "Sorry for using my quirk on you, I just thought it would be bad luck to trip right before the exam." Wow, she's so nice . Izuku responded, "Oh, thank you! That's a really cool quirk you have, what do you call it?" Both talked on the way to the building, they exchanged information on their quirks and their names. Some of his awkwardness stayed, but he was better at talking to girls now.
They had to seperate but said they would talk later. Izuku had to sit next to a seething Bakugou for Present Mic's explanation of the exam. In short, the students would be filed into different mock cities and fight against four types of robots. The robots had point values associated with how difficult they were to defeat, one, two, and three points respectively. The fourth robot was worth zero points and intended to be an obstacle. Izuku and Bakugou were placed in separate city zones.
Izuku unloaded from his bus, standing around with the rest of his test-takers. He noticed the girl he talked with before the exam standing 10 feet away. He spoke, "Hey, nice seeing you here. Are you nervous?" She turned around and responded with a smile, "Yeah, really nervous, but I guess your quirk makes you better when you're nervous, right?" He returned, "basically, I guess you'll see once the exam really -." "START!!!" Present Mic yelled, and Izuku was off.
Midoriya ran as fast as his body would allow, weaving between those in front of him and making a mad dash for the center of the city. His battle instincts locked on to a one-pointer and determined the ideal path to and destruction of the robot given his limited knowledge. He ran as fast as he could until he was just underneath the robot's head. By transferring his forward momentum into upward momentum, Midoriya rocketed off the ground with a curl in his body. Finally, he directed as much force as he could muster perpendicular to the neck of the robot. His foot went into the neck, but not completely through, thankfully that was enough to make it shut off.
The robots were not weak, UA had high expectations for those without physical quirks. He tried his luck at the chassis of two-pointer, but its materials were simply too much for an unboosted body to break through. The same was true of the three-pointer. Izuku got more worried, he could only hope to collect one-pointers throughout the exam, he didn't know if he could make it. His body kept performing though, he tore into one-pointer after one-pointer, gathering up as many points as physically possible. Suddenly, things started slowing down.
Izuku felt the dramatic shift in his perception of time, it was like he was watching a slow motion video right in front of him. Wait, I can think during my Battle Instincts too. What's going on? He could see the sign at the end of the street, he could see everything in his field of view at once. It was as if he had uniform depth perception, and could see clearly the things at the edge of his vision. His skin picked up on the tingle and temperature of his clothes and the air. His hearing covered everything, he could so clearly understand what was behind him he would not even need to look. The world got more vibrant, reds go redder, greens got greener, and blues got bluer, he might as well have been seeing in grayscale before. Whoah! Is this One For All? All Might said it would enhance my quirk, but this is way more than I expected!
Izuku felt a spark tickle his skin and noticed tiny little bands of green electricity cover his body. The sparks of electricity quickly grew to a throttling sensation filling his whole body with inertia and the force to make do with it. Without realizing, Izuku knew exactly what it would do and how to use it.
Izuku's activation and symbiosis with his quirk took less than a tenth of a second and in a flash of green Izuku was gone from his previous location and on top of the nearest three-pointer. Izuku loaded his arm back and smashed the robot underneath him. Before evidence of Izuku's visit could be found, he was already gone. Now he was tearing through the machines, Midoriya could control his new quirk like a surgeon his scalpel. His first observation was that One For All worked by manipulating the inertia of the quirk-holder and providing for force required to accelerate the mass how the user saw fit. It was a truly ingenious quirk, one which the previous bearers probably did not fully understand.
Nevertheless, Izuku was having a hell of a time ripping through the streets with his enhanced perception of time. The other participants were subject to having the robots in their vicinity crumple with a flash of green and a strong gust of wind. This is amazing! All Might's quirk is so interesting and I can finally use it. My body realizes it can't use all of it but it is using it as efficiently as possible. I hope All Might's proud of me!
"Holy hell! What's going on in zone beta? The robot count is going down like crazy!" Present Mic yelled. All Might's eyes widened, under his breath he spoke, "No way, did Midoriya activate One For All right now?" Nezu spoke, "rewind to when it started, I want to see this." The control did as told. "That flash of green," Eraserhead said, "that's what caused it.'' All Might gasped, "It really is young Midoriya!" Eraserhead looked quizzically at him, "You know this kid?" All Might responded, "ah… uh, well, yes. I met him earlier, but I'll have no say in his performance." Nezu spoke, "I don't think he'll need it."
The internal counter in Izuku's head kept rising. Forty… Fifty… Sixty… Seventy… Eighty … Then, a metallic screech was heard in the distance, like a large gate opening. Izuku hopped onto a skyscraper, and let control over his Battle Instincts drop. He gasped, "Haah, haah, haah. That took a lot out of me, I don't know for how much longer I can do this." His eyes drifted to the horizon, where he saw a behemoth of a robot looking to the streets for victims of its destruction. Izuku immediately went to scan the area directly in front of the robot to see if anyone was in danger.
"Ow! I'm stuck, what am I gonna do?" Ochako said. She had received a decent amount of points during the exam, but now she was in the direct line of the zero-point robot. She was trapped, unable to move the debris crushing her leg. Someone, please help right now . She wouldn't say it outloud, but she wouldn't need to.
Once Izuku's eyes landed on the girl he met before the exam, his quirk activated. He rocketed towards the ground. Broke his fall about a foot away from the girl, and transferred that downward kinetic energy into his right leg which he swung upwards into the debris covering her leg. The debris shattered into an uncountable number of pieces and Izuku went straight to rescue. He cupped her neck in his arm and held her against his body. Izuku shared his inertia with the girl in his arms to fly to safety with the other examinees. This is amazing! So this is how All Might saves everyone in the blink of an eye without giving them whiplash. This quirk truly is ingenious.
In a moment, Ochako was no longer beneath the rubble and the foot of the robot, but a mile a way and in the arms of someone very muscular. What the… What happened? I'm okay, but who is this? She moved her eyes up to see the underside of the boy she met before the exam. He looks very serious. He must've saved me, how though? I didn't even see it happen. He looked down and smiled wide, he said, "you're safe now".
"TIME'S UP!" Izuku looked again at what he was doing, "Oh, I'm sorry, do you want me to put you down?" She looked at his eyes a bit longer than normal but replied, "Um… my leg is still busted. So uh… no?" Goddamnit Ochako stop tripping over yourself, you know how to talk to boys . She said, "So um, until the nurses come, please." He looked relieved, "Okay, no worries. How do you feel you did by the way?" She was glad he would continue to hold her, "Oh I think I did alright, but I couldn't find any robots in the last two minutes. I hope I'm good enough to get in." Izuku said, "I think you're definitely good enough to get in, just wait for the results, I'm sure."
"Very good everyone, is anyone injured?" a short old lady with a needle poking through the bun said. "Yes, she is," Izuku said. The woman looked quizzically at the pair, "Oh, so you're a ladies man huh?" Izuku nervously rejected the claim, "What? No, I swear I'm just helping her not put any weight on it!" Ochako thought, he totally could though . "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let me give this girl a kiss," she said. Wait, what? Izuku calmly explained, "Don't worry, it's her quirk. Her hero alias is Recovery Girl, she's the reason UA can hold these exams." *Smooch* Ugh I'm really tired. I'm just going to rest my eyes for a sec… "Um, Recovery Girl, I think she just fell asleep."
Recovery Girl sighed, "Take her to my office. Just don't do anything to her." Izuku gasped, "I won't! I wouldn't even imagine!" As Izuku carried Ochako, he was deep in thought. All Might's Quirk and my quirk have serious potential. I don't want to get cocky, but I might eventually be an even better hero than him, I guess that's why he chose me though. Finally reaching the office, Izuku laid Ochako down on the bed. I hope she gets in . Before leaving, Izuku decided to leave a note by her bed.
Ochako felt refreshed when she woke up. Oh right, I fell asleep in that guy's arms. So embarrassing. I guess this is the UA nurse's office, he must have carried me. Before she could chide herself anymore, she noticed the slip of paper next to her. It read, "Hey Ochako, I hope you're doing alright, I hear Recovery Girl's quirk can take a lot of energy. Anway, I had fun talking with you before the exam. I hope you get in! Here's my number if you wanna call: [IZU-MIDO]." Her heart floated for a second before resting back down. He's so nice, I should get to know him . She immediately added his number to her flip phone.
"Young Midoriya! Let's talk about what you did during that exam!" All Might boomed at the edge of the beach. Izuku yelled back, "All Might! I have so much to tell you!" All Might, now in his skinny form, laughed, "you sure do, what the hell was that!" Izuku responded, "I'll tell you what, it was crazy. For the first eight minutes of the exam your quirk didn't activate," All Might interrupted, ''I noticed," "But then all of a sudden everything slowed down, it was like *bwyoooom, and I could see, hear, and feel everything." All Might widened his eyes in shock, "It enhanced your quirk." Izuku nodded, "Yeah, I could also think clearly during my Battle Instincts and knew exactly how your quirk worked too."
All Might chuckled, "You amaze me every day young man, I couldn't have chosen a better successor. To be honest, the reason I was training you so hard was because I was worried you would break your limbs as soon as the quirk activated. Looks like I had nothing to worry about." Izuku smiled widely. It took half an hour for Izuku to stop rambling about his experience with One For All and his own quirk. They finally parted ways with All Might saying, "I won't be in contact for the next week or so, I have some stuff to do… think of it as a surprise."
When Izuku received the letter from U.A., it was very difficult for him to contain his excitement. In fact, he was so confident that he opened the letter in the living room. Both Midoriyas watched as the mini-projector activated and showed All Might standing in front of them. The news was even better than expected, Izuku had gotten first place for points. All Might told him he would be representing his class in the upcoming sports festival to give a starting speech. That last piece of information had Izuku very nervous, but very happy at the same time. Once the video ended Izuku immediately texted Ochako the news.
Izuku's first day of high school had him staring up at the high walls of U.A. He had finally done it, he was going to his dream school… if only he could find his class in time. He was stressed as usual and was constantly slipping in and out of his battle instincts. He checked his watch, 60 seconds left. Fuck it, if I don't make it to class it'll be worse than getting caught . He dipped into the power of One For All, time slowed around him and the world became more vibrant. He dashed down the corridors in rows, he covered the first floor in 20 seconds. He covered the next floor in another 20 seconds, still no sign of his classroom. On the third floor, Izuku saw at the end of the hallway a huge door with 1-A engraved on it. Three seconds left, someone in a yellow sleeping bag was walking towards the door. I have to make it before him! Two seconds left, Izuku went around the sleeping-bagged man and grabbed the door handle. One second left, he grabbed the door handle hard enough to indent the shape of his hand in it, Izuku converted all of his horizontal inertia into rotational inertia on the door handle. It turns out that amount of rotational inertia is simply too much for a door handle; because instead of opening the door, the handle just spun off at high speeds. Oops . He was still not fond on being late, so he decided to punch through the door and pull on it that way. When he finally got inside and in his chair, he released his battle instincts.
It took a moment for the sound to reach his and everyone's ears. Once it did though, everyone was looking at the wide open door with a hole punched through it and the man on the other side holding some floating bandages and his eyes glowing looking to attack something. There was a long pause. Should I say I did it? I would get in serious trouble. The man with the glowing red eyes spoke, "Who did this?" Crap, I guess I don't have a choice . "Um, I… did sir," the boy raised his hand weakly. Impressive, he even caught me off guard. What is he trying to say with that? "I see, don't do it again. Anyway, I'm your homeroom teacher, be on the field in ten minutes."
The whole class was nervously waiting on the field. Izuku was getting many side glances, after all, his little stunt earlier had the whole class on edge. Finally, the teacher came out to introduce his challenge. "Today we will be conducting a quirk apprehension test, it will be similar to your middle school fitness tests with the exception that you are allowed use of your quirks. Izuku Midoriya, what score did you receive on the baseball toss in middle school?" the teacher said. Izuku responded, "I got 73 meters I believe." At this point, Izuku was terrified he might anger the teacher in some way. The teacher responded, "Alright, get in the circle and throw the ball as far as you can, you may use your quirk though." Izuku stepped up, he calmed his nerves and activated his quirk.
A calm ran through him, the flap of the birds in the sky conducted a ritardando and settled to a rhythmic adagio. He could hear and see everything around him. The lightning given off by All Might's component in his quirk stayed tightly knitted over his skin. The arcs of electricity flowed over his body like water. He looked down at the baseball in his hand and gave it a firmer grip. The ball compressed to accommodate the new pressure and the material of the ball went around the sides of his fingers slightly. He walked slowly to the back-edge of the circle, his heel staying just behind the painted line. His body twisted and he let gravity do its work. His feet rotated him progressively faster until he reached the front end of the circle. Then, he planted his right foot directly in front of the separating line and prepared the transfer of rotational kinetic energy to translational kinetic energy. His arm acted like a whip, as it left his hand the velocity was so high that a vacuum formed behind the ball. His foot also compressed with an equal force into the ground, meaning his foot sunk in past the ankle. At the end, Izuku stayed still for a moment waiting for the crack of the sonic boom to hit his ears. Once it did, he turned off his battle instincts.
To the other students, this plain looking boy did something beyond their imagination. He suddenly started glowing mellow green and then walked towards the back of the circle before turning around and spinning like a beyblade, reaching a blur. In the next second they saw him stop spinning immediately and along with it came the sonic boom of faster-than-sound travel. The wind pressures exerted by Izuku's show made people stumble on their feet and those unprepared to fall to the ground. Collectively, What the hell!? was the singular thought occupying the minds of the students of class 1-A. Izuku then just turned towards the teacher and nervously scratched the back of his head while giving a weak smile. Aizawa continued looking at his counter, his eyes getting progressively wider as the numbers counted up. 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 2000m, 2500m… 2705.3m, Jesus Christ. "Well… you got 2705.3 meters." Izuku asked, "Is that good?" The entire class erupted into various shouts.
"What!?", demanded Katsuki.
"Huh? Obviously!" stated Momo.
"You're insane dude!" exclaimed Eijirou.
Izuku could only smile awkwardly at the shocked faces. He was starting to suspect that his performance was out of the ordinary. Everyone one else was thinking, Is this kid some sort of prodigy? Even Aizawa, with pro experience, could see the immense potential this student possessed. However, he kept a straight face and said, "Alright, let's move onto the 50-meter dash starting with Tenya Iida and Asui Tsuyu."
Despite the unexpected upset, the competitors were quick to refocus and perform at their best ability. Tenya Iida hunched down in a traditional sprinter's pose. Izuku studied his actions carefully. He could see a wrinkle in the air behind Tenya's exhaust pipes on his calves indicating the heat coming off of them. On closer inspection, he could a ring of scar tissue around the auxiliary exhaust pipes, demonstrating the willpower and pain tolerance required to use his quirk for extended periods of time. On Asui's side, Izuku noticed how she squatted fully to maximize her ability to spring forth at a full extension. He also noticed some other things about her position but refused to verbalize them.
At the moment of the time start, Izuku activated his quirk for greater analysis. Because his quirk was not being used physically, the characteristic green glow was not present around him; however, he did exhibit an intensity on his face and especially his eyes. His pupils dilate allowing for a greater volume of light to enter his retina, showing the greatest display of mydriasis naturally possible. The world became more vibrant and time dragged on. The 'Bang!' of the gun alerted his fellow competitors at the starting line. They were not as quick to react, following a roughly 100 millisecond delay he saw the sharpening of the eyes along with the striations of muscle fibers along the exposed calves of Tenya. Asui had a similar reaction; however, she had greater explosiveness and was able to gather a substantial lead. Despite this, Tenya's faster top-speed led to him securing first with an impressive 3.04 seconds. Tsuyu had to make do with non-ideal grip for her hops, she crossed the finish line in 5.58 seconds. Izuku analyzed both styles and started hypothesizing about optimizing their performance right away. For Tenya, he needed a greater focus on his explosiveness. Fighting often required explosive movements and it would be a waste to not utilize the amount of power held in his legs. Izuku would prescribe heavy leg presses with a mental focus on the speed at which the exercise is executed. For Asui, it was as simple as optimizing her form and getting her to do concentrated sprints in addition to her training routine. Shortly after Asui crossed the finish line, Izuku ended his quirk, and hence, his analysis.
The other competitors were called on two-by-two and in short fashion almost all of the class had run. The last two competitors were none other than Katsuki and Izuku, the tension between the two was high and the spectators could tell. The air stood still as Katsuki and Izuku quietly got into position for the sprint. Izuku activated his quirk and the air stood even more still. The arcs of green electricity traced close to his skin, close enough to weave between the hair on his arms and legs. He looked up to Aizawa holding the starting pistol and watched keenly. In his waiting, he clarified his image of the hand and the pistol, making it more clear and detailed. Aizawa's finger started squeezing on the trigger. In that moment, Izuku could see exactly when the pistol would fire. He didn't need to react, he started running as soon as he knew the shot was fired. He sprung from his position, leaping in a near straight line towards the finish. It was only 100 milliseconds later when Katsuki explosions rang out. I guess I can't expect much more than the best of human reaction times . By then Izuku was quickly approaching the finish. 657 milliseconds. Izuku more anticipated than measured that fact, it left him wondering. Izuku stuck his landing and turned back to appreciate the ripples in the dust caused by his explosion of speed. He also appreciated the look of focused rage on Katsuki's face. He deactivated his quirk and the world returned to normal.
The spectators around were thrilled to see how this exercise would be performed. They were not so concerned with the result as that was quite certain; however, they did want to see exactly what he would do. Their eyes were initially on the starting line but that attention quickly moved to the finish line where Izuku stood casually looking back towards the start. Most did not even see him move from one place to another. Even Aizawa found himself gawking at the display. He looked down at his display to see an astonishing "0.66s". Once Katsuki crossed the line Aizawa stated the fact.
"Izuku Midoriya, 0.66 seconds. Katsuki Bakugou, 4.10 seconds" he said as nonchalantly as possible.
Izuku responded without thinking, "Shouldn't it be closer to 0.657 seconds?"
While Aizawa grumbled at the slight interruption, he checked his reader for a greater precision measurement. Unexpectedly, Izuku was spot on, "Yes, 0.6570 seconds precisely." Silence impregnated the field. The silence was obvious in source yet exaggerated as the students realized the implications it brought. How could he possibly know exactly how long his run was? Is his internal clock atomic? What more can this kid do? Izuku stood awkwardly as he observed the expressions of his classmates and teacher. The amazement dawning on their faces triggered his embarrassment as he took an awkward jog back to the largest group of students.
His classmates gave him a proper amount of space as if to express their unwillingness to compete in the same league. Their lack of competitiveness angered Aizawa to the point of action. He said, "Just because you all are intimidated by Izuku's performance doesn't mean you should slack off! To motivate you runts, I am going to expel the four lowest-placing children in this test." The desired effect was immediate. While some students wanted to voice their concerns, they rationalized that it would simply bring them closer to expulsion. Expelling students was not something Aizawa enjoyed doing, but he enjoyed wasting time even less.
The air became cold with the cutting ferocity of real stakes. These students now had to prove that they were in the top 80% of the top 0.2% of aspiring heroes in all of japan. The students were no longer getting to know their fellow classmates, they were attempting to deceive and take winning chances from the others. The battlefield was now cutthroat and no dirty tricks were off the table. Aizawa looked forward to seeing how his more sportsman-like classmates would supercede their morals in the pursuit of survival.
Next was the test of grip strength, a baseline measure of general strength. Here, the most physically gifted were generally ignored as untouchables. However, the attention concentrated on the less physically talented as stepping stones to higher rankings in an isolated event. A girl named Kyoka Jirou with the ability to amplify sounds via earphone jacks extending from her earlobes decided to play dirty. She took target on two individuals close together that would likely beat her in the competition, if by slim margins. She acted normal until they started their test, where she started amplifying sound from her earphone jacks at such a high-frequency to be well outside of the typical range of hearing. Even though the sound could not be perceived, it could still have effects. When she raised the volume of her original signal, she caused the two taking the test to feel a massive headache which ultimately impacted their performance. Those two were frustrated with their performance but decided it was their own fault for having a headache at such an inopportune time. Izuku, from a distance, felt the start of a headache as well; his solution was to activate his quirk in the attempt to soothe his overactive brain. However, once he let his senses sharpen, he realized the source of the headache: an extremely high-pitched signal emanating from one student. Izuku became a little less naïve in that moment, realizing the lengths people would go to secure their place.
The next test was the standing long jump. This test left a gap between the ranks. Some students were fortunate enough to have a quirk suited to the task. Others were simply left behind. However, among the students capable of pulling the longest of jumps were only distinguished by their ability to jump over the sandpit. Next were the repeated sidesteps where almost everyone had normal scores save Minoru and Izuku. Minoru bounced rapidly between the balls that grew on his head before eventually being flung out of the loop by the randomness inherent in his bounces. He still scored respectfully. Izuku started his test in silence waiting for the gunshot to signal his start. His quirk was activated and was plunged into a world of vibrance and sharpness of sense. As soon as the click of the gun reached his ears, he took a quick step with his right foot, cementing his left into the ground. For the next minute, Izuku kept up a rapid and blurred dance focusing on his footwork. All he needed to worry about was getting his feet over the middle line and he made sure to take the smallest path always. He kicked up copious amounts of dust, obscuring the observation by the camera robot. Aizawa sent him an annoyed glare before manually putting him at the top of the scoreboard.
The seated toe-touch was the one event Izuku did poorly in. I am going to need to make flexibility a priority of mine, maybe that girl Mina can help . The distance run ended the Quirk Apprehension Test. Here, the runner Tenya was the favorite. Despite all of Izuku's accomplishments, it is still hard to overcome the genetics of not having turbo-jets built into one's calves. Tenya and Izuku stared each other down, agreeing to a personal competition. The four students slotted into the lowest ranks were getting very desperate. This was their one chance to put their all into this last even and hold onto their prestigious position at U.A. The gunshot sounded and the students were off. Izuku and Tenya lined up with each other in a steady but still incredibly fast run. Tooru would not stand losing in this competition, her status at this school depended on it. She gained a headstart on the crowd and used her light manipulation to blind her fellow competitors. She did not like what she was doing; however, she could easily justify it. The blinded students: Jiro, Denki, and Minoru were pissed. Their dreams of becoming a hero were being compromised and they were willing to do anything to break through. Jiro went to emit a screeching pitch to mess with her opponents and Denki was producing small amounts of electricity in the air around him to occasionally zap a student momentarily with no suspicion beyond static electricity.
The result, these students were holding each other back and were isolating themselves from the ones who would already comfortably pass. Aizawa was aware of everything happening, but refrained from stepping in. Yes, this is the desperation I wanted . Desperation is what he got when he saw the last section of students pass the finish line in absolute agony, suffering ringing ears, spots in their vision, and a buildup of electrostatic shock.