Alright, here we go. I took the hundred or so entries(granted many were duplicates) and I finally decided which would work best for Izuku. Especially this fic's Izuku. Hopefully, I can pull this off, well, there's only one way to find out. On to the story!
Izuku's mind
Weak, tiny, and sore all over. This was the condition Izuku Midoriya found himself in, the circumstances that brought him to this point were rather blurry though. It hurt to move, even his thinking felt sluggish. He did recognize his environment however, he remembered it all too well. After all, this was the day his hope, his wish to become a hero crumbled and nearly faded completely.
The day he saw what heroics had become, what his best friend had become, and what he would grow to be. The day that he decided to stand up not only for himself and for an innocent person, but for his ideal of heroism itself. Only to be brutally beaten into the ground.
To many, heroes were simply glorified police turned celebrities. They captured villains and upheld the law, nothing more. All for the glory, fame, and oftentimes wealth that came with the position.
Izuku refused to accept that.
This denial was partially why All Might was his favorite hero without question. In some ways, he was the only hero that Izuku truly believed in. Celebrity he may be but All Might did not do what he did for the sake of the fame. His fame was a consequence of his heroic actions and outlook, and at times it acted as a medium for him to inspire others to follow in his footsteps. Nothing more.
His fortune, while significant, was almost entirely used for charitable causes, arguably doing more to benefit the common people of the world than the rest of the country's government top and philanthropists combined. Meanwhile, the man himself lived a relatively quiet and humble lifestyle, only spending money on his medical treatment and other necessities.
Even to this day, as the man's successor, Izuku could barely fathom how he made such sacrifices, how he risked himself day in and day out for no reward other than the smile on the faces of those he saves. It was one of the many reasons why Izuku had a hard time accepting his position as the man's protege. Could he live up to such an example?
Well, he'd sure as hell try!
Picking himself up from the ground, the visage of Izuku's five year old self had a face that did not belong to a child. It was the look of a young man who had finally discovered his calling and who prepared to place his all into it. It was a look filled with a strong conviction for his chosen path, the path of a guardian who fought against all who dared tarnish the meaning of the word hero.
"Oh, you're getting back up you stupid Deku? Are you that desperate for another beating, or do you think that a quirkless nobody like you can stand up to me?" A shadowy effigy of what was once his best friend appeared the moment he stood up. Eyes filled with a fiery malice that was still there in the real kacchan, even if it had mellowed out with age.
"Spoken like a true villain." Izuku said what he should have told the boy years earlier, his true feelings over what his friend had become. Using your quirk to hurt others, just for the sick pleasure of having power over someone? That was the act of a villain, no matter how many sycophants and greedy adults said otherwise.
The copy of kacchan flinched back, looking angry beyond words. It charged at Izuku shortly after though the young man in a child's body paid his attacker no mind. He was far removed from the childish problems of his past, his current enemy was beyond such petty problems, and in his mind, beyond his current ability to deal with.
The scenery around him changed once again, this time to a surreal wasteland, filled to capacity with blades of seemingly infinite variety. The only distinguishable feature of the land, aside from the weaponry, was a small hill that was seemingly empty except for a single blade, a particularly beautiful one if Izuku was being honest. And standing next to this blade was an auburn-haired boy, grasping the handle as if to pull the sword. Behind him was a familiar silver-haired man who was attempting to discourage his younger self.
"Younger self? How did I. Ah, I guess our memories have finally started to merge, at least a little." It was only a matter of time, having another persona sharing brain space would do that to a person. While Izuku was listening in to the two Emiya's conversation he couldn't help but grow angry and decided to step in.
"You're wrong! Wanting to save someone doesn't mean that you wish that they were in danger! A hero saves those in danger, but they also help prevent the danger from happening in the first place!" My interruption shakes the two Emiyas out of their somber poses, the younger of which looks at me in confusion while the familiar older hero paused to listen.
"This world isn't perfect, it's downright nasty sometimes. But that's why we're here. To try and change it for the better." I hold out my hand to them, it wasn't wrong to help others, and it wasn't wrong to search out those who needed help. Even if the reasoning behind his actions were somewhat selfish, Emiya's dream of being a hero wasn't a mistake.
"That doesn't stop his ideals from being borrowed, he doesn't even know why he wants what he wants. His suicidal approach to upholding a dead man's dream is only going to get himself killed, a pointless loss for a fake dream." Archer's justified pessimism tried to shut down Izuku's point. He knew better than anyone where his younger self's ideals were likely to take him.
"Neither did I." Archer stopped in his tracks, a look of mild shock on his face. "The day I first saw All Might on a screen... It's difficult to explain. It felt like the rest of my life was opened up to me, my path in life was already laid out and I just had to walk it." Izuku's thoughts turned darker, images flashing through his mind of his early childhood. Hope was eclipsed by despair and almost disappeared entirely. Pain and anger took the place of admiration and happiness.
"I still walked that path despite the darkness and pain that it promised, even when I was diagnosed as quirkless, or when my mother didn't believe in me I refused to give up hope. Now? Now my dream is closer than ever before, so close that I can almost taste it." Nobody would stop him from realizing that dream, not even himself.
"Hm, it would seem that you have the conviction to chase after your dream but tell me this. How will you handle those who claim to be heroes but act otherwise, those false idols that your society loves so much?" Archer was more willing to indulge his new master's ideals, mostly because he understood what he truly wanted, unlike Shirou Emiya, but partially because it was his own ideals that Izuku was fighting for, not someone else's.
"I'll follow All Might's example and prove them wrong myself! I'll remind the people of this country of what a real hero is. No, I'll surpass even All Might and bring society into a new golden age, even if I have to drag it there kicking and screaming!" Archer smirked, amused by the fire in his master's eyes.
"Well said. Fine then, go ahead and do as you wish. I'll be there to offer help whenever I can, just try not to pull the same stunts as I did when I was young and stupid." The younger Shirou elbowed Archer in the stomach at what he said, thankfully Izuku's vision started to white out before he had to watch the rest of the brawl that was sure to happen.
Training field
"Master seems to be progressing well, though the way his mental landscape manifested itself was rather concerning. Mind meld or not he shouldn't have access to your memories, let alone that gods forsaken place." Medea said as she laid down next to her master, several monitoring spells on standby to make sure her master remained stable.
"Oi." That was all Emiya said, not bothering to defend his soul since it was quite literally god-forsaken. He was somewhat disturbed that Izuku could access his reality marble but it seems as if he had no influence over it. Other than having him come into contact with his younger self there was little to be concerned about.
"He definitely has some Origin related to protection, though not of himself. He has a nearly suicidal desire to protect others and would pay almost any price to do so, especially when in a dire situation. However, there is something...More. Something I can't quite place." Protection but not necessarily through defense, her master was willing to attack preemptively if needed. An interesting quality for a hero.
"At least his Origin wasn't Hero or something equally ironic." Said the hero wannabe. "Perhaps zeal for the second one? A zealous want to protect others would make sense from what I've gathered of master's character." The boy did get rather intense at times, especially when he heard about the reward for doing well against Arash.
"Perhaps, however, I believe the word avidity fits better. An avid desire to protect, yes, that may be the closest this language can come to describing our master's Origin." A dual origin, however the desire to protect is clearly the dominant force, her master's avidity merely acted as a fuel for the first concept.
"Avid/Guardian, a good set of origins that should benefit him in any endeavor he takes so long as it's in the name of preserving something. Though he'll need others to be there to keep him grounded in reality...Speaking from experience here." He dealt with his own issues and those of his younger self enough to know that a good support structure was essential.
"Luckily our master seems like quite the hero gatherer, and without the misplaced arrogance and stupidity this time!" Medea said, happy that her master didn't grow arrogant with everything he was given, unlike a certain blonde from her past life. Thankfully Izuku seemed to be the exact opposite of Jason in every way that mattered.
"That isn't necessarily a good thing, the poor fool doesn't know the burden he's placing on himself." ...Oh, he didn't mean the hero business, Izuku was perfectly aware of how difficult that road would be. Emiya just understood all too well the dangers of being a harem protagonist. May Alaya have mercy on his master.
Hours later, Izuku's bedroom, 4:00 AM
"Ugh, ok the first two dreams I understood, but why did the third one have to be a multi-hour long tutorial on how to feed and maintain a pride of lions?" There was also something about avoiding the king's hammer? Weird. Well, might as well get up and check on Medea. *Grumble grumble.
"...Right after breakfast." He did miss dinner, after all, maybe he should time his training sessions a bit better, especially if falling asleep for several hours after heavy exercise became a common occurrence. "Mom's probably worried too." Best to get going before the apartment floods again.
"Don't panic again mom! Sorry about missing dinner, I just pushed myself a bit too far yesterday and went to bed early. Please tell me breakfast is ready." I apologized and let my stomach do the rest of the talking, physical, mental, and magical exhaustion is a killer combination.
"O-Ok sweetie, just make sure not to make it a habit. And yes breakfast is ready, I made you something a bit heavier since I was sure you'd be hungry!" Izuku took no time at all to start drooling. If only he could show his appreciation for her…
"Hey mom, my quirk gave me something pretty amazing yesterday. It's a drink with healing properties that rejuvenates the body, would you like to try it?" He wouldn't give her the full potion since that seemed like a bad idea, but mixing a small amount of it with her orange juice couldn't hurt right?
"Really?! That sounds wonderful Izuku! Is it ok for me to drink it though, shouldn't you save it for an important occasion?" Inko was reluctant to take such a seemingly valuable item for herself but those concerns were immediately denied by Izuku.
"Who could be more important than my mom? You deserve it! I've noticed that you've been more tired lately and I just thought a few sips of it could help you with that. And don't worry so much, I could always get more later." At least Izuku thought he could, it was just a silver card so he was bound to pull a few more eventually right?
"...You're too sweet sometimes Izuku, thank you. Now eat your breakfast. By the way, you should check your phone, I heard it ringing a few times while you were asleep." With a quick thanks, Izuku dug into his breakfast, idly wondering who could have called him. The only people that had his number were his mother, kacchan, a- Oh right, he had friends now!
He ate the meal a bit faster than he should in anticipation of possibly hanging out with people who didn't bite his head off at every word... 'Wow that sounded sadder than I thought it would.' Izuku thought with a mental cloud over his head up until he checked his messages. There were four! That had to be a new record for him.
"Oh that's right, I did promise to talk with Yaomomo about our quirks. Uraraka and Iida texted to see if I wanted to train with them after school...And Kacchan cursed me out over the phone again and promised to beat me in the sport's festival." That last one was just business of usual, but at least he had something to look forward to after school today!
And the school itself was obviously awesome, he still forgot that he was going to U.A sometimes and every time he remembered it brought a burst of joy to his heart. 'You know, I never knew what people meant when they called someone a precious cinnamon roll but after meeting you, I think I get it." 'And a compliment from Emiya! Could the day get any better?' Izuku thought, not picking up on Emiya's teasing.
Hours later, U.A Ground Alpha
Classes for U.A had thankfully been made relatively easier in preparation for the sports festival, it was a small mercy that allowed the students to train themselves for the event. The classes themselves were aimed at practical hero training much more than normal. Even the mathematics class with Cementoss was turned into a practical exercise!
Izuku now knew more about the aerodynamics and physics of artillery than he ever thought he needed.
But now wasn't the time to reminisce, now was the time to talk shop with his new friends...Sure he wasn't a professional quirk analyst but this was his passion for well over a decade now! Izuku felt that he knew what he was talking about when it came to society's superpowers.
"Wait, you mean there's more than three categories for quirks?" The same could not be said for his new friends. It would seem that he'd need to educate them on proper quirk categorization. Not that half-assed, inaccurate classification system the government used and hasn't changed in decades.
"Yes, there are quite a few categories along with sub-categories for most and a robust amount of terms used to describe various quirks. I won't go over them all right now since there are so many but I can send you all a link to the wiki when we finish for today. I can go over each of your quirks and categorize them though, just to show you how comprehensive the system can be." This was the culmination of multiple generations worth of quirk nerds and actual data analysts working together to properly categorize every quirk under the sun.
After all, how else would you argue with random people online about semantics without sharing common jargon?
"Starting with Iida since his quirk is the simplest, his family Engine quirk falls under the category of Mover and the subcategory of Propulsion. Overall it has the archetype of Speedster with a tier rating of a C from what I could see of your overall physical abilities." Izuku blasted off, not noticing how his friends began to buffer from the info dump he just gave.
"Uraraka is a Shaker/Striker variant, with the subcategory of levitation. The Gravity archetype fits best, quite a powerful one. I haven't gotten a good look at your abilities but your quirk's limit is well within the B range, I'd guess your weight limit was about three tons?" Ochako slowly nodded while smiling, barely keeping up with what was said.
Momo on the other hand finally caught up and was paying close attention to what Izuku was saying, especially now that the information concerned her.
"Finally there's Yaoyorozu, I'll be honest there aren't many quirk's similar to yours. At least not with its sheer versatility. Mine comes close but it's so different at the same time that comparing the two would just be ridiculous." We both created things from something, and that's about where the similarities ended.
"Funnily enough it falls under the archetype of Creation quirks, the category of Physical and the subcategory Biological since you need lipids to create things...But it's easily an S-ranked quirk if used correctly, right up there with All Might's quirk." And his own quirk Izuku supposed though he'd rather not say that.
"Ok...I think I know how we can discuss our quirks most efficiently. Each of us can describe one aspect of it at a time, discuss how it can be used or improved for hero work, and discuss possible weaknesses that could be corrected. Is this acceptable?" Leave it to Iida to seek the most efficient yet equitable way of doing things. Not like they had a problem with it, they all agreed.
Izuku was still a bit unsure about how much he should tell his friends about his quirk, but he'd never get anywhere if he wasn't willing to take such a small risk."I guess I should start since everyone's been asking for details. So...How much do you all know about gacha games?" Izuku could practically see the question marks over their heads.
'Oh boy.' This was going to take a while.
This chapter took a bit more time than I thought it would, there were so many good options to pick from among the reviews(and PM's some people sent me) that I had a difficult time choosing. I hope that my choice is satisfactory, and if it wasn't hopefully the upcoming sports festival will make up for it.
Until next time readers.