Izuku the Phoenix
Chapter 4
A morning can be so perfect, when the all-encompassing light of the rising sun illuminates the cloudy sky. Strikingly vibrant colors reach all the way across the heavens, ranging from a deep purple to a light blue.
He'd woken up early, so the streets were relatively empty. Without people rushing to work and cars speeding by, everything felt calm. As if the world itself was asleep.
It was damp outside, the air fresh, and he could feel the lingering moisture from yesterday's downpour. He breathed in a lungful of clean, fresh air. The feeling of the morning cold spreading in his chest almost intoxicating.
The malachite-green trees planted along the road were speckled with dew, the grass drenched, and small pools of water littered the road to Aldera Junior High.
The weekend had been spent celebrating with his mother, followed by an entire day of experimenting with his quirk. It'd been a lot of fun. His mother had even accompanied him to the beach for a couple of hours, watching him try figure out every aspect of his newfound power.
Today was his first day at school after discovering his quirk, and Izuku felt equal parts nervousness and excitement. All these years everyone had known him as 'the quirkless kid'. He'd debated with himself over whether or not he should tell everyone at school, and to be honest, he saw no reason not to. He didn't really stand to lose anything from it. Most treated him the way they did because of his status as quirkless. Maybe he could finally be just another student, and not 'Deku'.
The school had been pretty much empty when he'd arrived, except for the teachers and other staff.
Students started steadily trickling into the classroom as the clock ticked, nearing the start of the first class.
He'd wanted to show off his quirk immediately, but quickly realized he didn't actually know how to initiate the conversation, nor who he would tell. While not all of them bullied him or even approved of Kacchans behavior, none of them were his friends. And he knew for a fact that they all thought of him as weird.
The solution to his problem, came in the form of Katsuki Bakugou. The moment the door to the classroom slammed open, his own eyes met Kacchan's. They'd both frozen, and in that singular moment, he'd observed his childhood friend turned bully go through a myriad of emotions. Surprise, confusion, then contempt, before settling on silent fury.
Izuku watched Katsuki take measured steps towards him, and belatedly he realized the classroom had gone deathly quiet, as if sensing their explosive classmates barely restrained anger. Kacchan stopped before his desk, eyebrows knitted together.
"Explain." was the only word that came out of his mouth.
Izuku thought for a moment. "I got my quirk..."
"Yes, I realized. Any idiot with eyes could see that, moron. I meant how, why now."
Izuku frowned. "I don't really know myself. It just happened. I was as surprised as you were."
Katsuki held his gaze for a moment, and Izuku could see he was searching for something. Apparently satisfied with what he saw, perhaps finding no hints of a lie, Kacchan scoffed, breaking eye contact.
"…What is it?"
Izuku's mouth quirked up into a small smile at the hint of interest in Kacchan's voice. "Regenerative quirk based on fire." Izuku replied. "I don't really have a good grasp on how it works or what it can do. Haven't had enough time to study it properly."
Kacchan nodded before he strode wordlessly over to his desk and seated himself.
Then the class react as one.
"Midoriya has a quirk!?"
Izuku could hear everyone chatting in hushed tones.
"Is he for real, Deku has a quirk?"
"Since when?"
"Are you sure he's not just making it up?"
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Tomoka, one of his classmates, turn to him with a questioning look.
"Ne, ne, Midoriya, do you really have a quirk now?"
She was pretty, her hair long and colored a pale blue. Her quirk, he remembered, let her control her hair, each individual strand of it, as though it were a limb. He pointedly avoided looking her in the eyes. Talking to girls had never been his forte.
"Y-yes, I do."
From his seat in front of Izuku, Borudā turned to look.
He can grow rocks up to ten centimeters from any part of his body. Definitely a quirk suited for hero work if he can learn to cover his entire body.
Tomoka brought a finger to her lips, gazing at him curiously. "What does it do?"
Izuku fidgeted a little, nervousness settling in at having become the center of attention.
"I- I haven't had it for long. B-but from what I've been able to discern, it's a regeneration quirk."
"Aren't those really rare?" someone in the class whispered.
"Didn't he say something about fire though?" another asked, Matsuda most likely.
"Really? Can you show me?"
"Huh?" Izuku replied, caught a little off-guard.
"Your quirk, can you show us?" Tomoka tried again.
He hesitated a little, and in his periphery, he could see Kacchan turn slightly to watch.
Izuku lifted an arm and focused. She eyed the appendage curiously, then startled when it caught fire. A mixture of blue and yellow flames dancing on his extended arm.
"Oh wow" she breathed. The others had similar reactions.
Borudā raised an eyebrow. "But didn't you say it was a regeneration quirk? All I can see is fire."
"W-well, yes, but t-the fire doesn't actually burn. When Ka-" Izuku risked a glance at Bakugou, but he wasn't paying attention any longer, having turned away to glare out of the window.
He was about to continue when the teacher abruptly entered. Seeing as the entire class was facing Midoriya, he raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong, class? Why are you all turned towards Midorya?"
"Midorya got his quirk, sensei. We were just asking him about it."
That made the man pause, eyes flitting over to the student in question, and the flames licking up and down his arm. "R-really? A quirk at this age?"
Izuku nodded, albeit shakily, not knowing if the teacher would approve of him using his quirk in class.
"Well, I'll be damned. Congratulations Midorya." then the man straightened, gathering himself. "I can understand that you're excited, but do remember that public quirk usage isn't allowed, alright."
"Yes, sensei."
The man nodded, satisfied. Then class started.
When Izuku finally returned home, he immediately set upon the task of creating a training regimen.
His goal was UA, the most prestigious hero school in all of Japan. Thousands took the entrance exam each year in hopes of being part of the two hero classes UA boasted.
The statistics from last year revealed that only one in three hundred made it into the hero course. Two classes divided into twenty students each, meant there had been approximately 12000 applicants. It was crazy to even think about!
There was a minimum prerequisite grade point average required to even take the test, though Izuku didn't have to worry on that front. His grades being top-tier and all.
No, that wasn't what worried him.
The exam was divided into two parts. One written, the other practical. The written exam he could study for, but the practical exam was one that focused on your quirk and skill with it. Something like an apprehension test to gauge your potential as a hero.
Even ignoring the quirks, Izuku knew he was unfit for any physical exam, especially one with UA's standards. Hence why he was trying to come up with a training regimen.
He stared down at the open notebook and started feverishly scribbling notes.
... 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, 10km...
Izuku dropped bonelessly on the couch, sweaty and tired after having returned from another grueling ten-kilometer jog.
His mother stood by the entrance to the living room, watching him worriedly.
After two weeks of arduous, back-breaking training, Izuku had finally concluded that this wasn't going to work.
What was I thinking when I came up with that stupid plan? I can barely run a hundred meters without breathing heavy.
"Izu, are you alright?"
"... I feel like I'm about to become bald..."
"You're overworking yourself, Izuku." his mom chided.
He pushed himself upright so that he was facing her, then smiled. "Yeah, I guess I need to come up with a better plan."
After a moment of thought, his mother spoke up again. "Say, Izuku, why don't you start at a gym? I'm sure you'll get more out of your workout if you have proper equipment."
Izuku blinked. "That's... a good idea. Why didn't I think of that."
The very next day Izuku signed up at a local gym in Musutafu.
He found some videos on the internet that detailed workout exercises for each part of the body and decided to stick to it no matter how tedious it got. Along the way he also made considerable changes to his diet to include as much healthy, nutritious, and protein-rich food as possible.
He went to the gym every other day, and soon enough he started seeing results, small as they were.
His quirk was the real problem here. While you could easily make up for a weak constitution with a strong quirk, the reverse was almost impossible. And he knew there'd be all kinds of strong people like Bakugou gunning for UA, with amazing quirks to boot. To compete with them, he'd have to find some way to bridge the gap in experience.
The first month of quirk training was terribly dull. He spent hours trying to control the flames at will, which worked to some degree. He was able to make the flames appear and disappear from anywhere on his body.
Trying to shoot them in controlled beams like endeavor, unfortunately, failed. No matter how hard he tried, the flames just wouldn't budge, clinging to his body like a second skin.
Testing the strength of his healing factor was a painful process. It didn't take long to realize that the pain negating part of his quirk responded to intention. When deliberately harming himself, the wound remained unless he healed it consciously.
Somewhere down the road, he was hit by the idea of trying to heal not just himself, but others as well.
"Mom could we test something?" Izuku asked.
"Hm? Sure Izuku. What is it?"
"Well, I was actually wondering if my quirk could be used to heal others."
Her eyes widened a little, not having thought of the possibility, then nodded.
Opening a drawer, she picked up one of the smaller kitchen knives and cut the tip of her index finger.
Seeing she was ready, Izuku summoned a small patch of fire in the palm of his hand. He covered the small cut with his fiery hand, and when he let go, it was gone, replaced by unblemished skin.
The entrance exam is eight months away and I've yet to find any real combat application for my quirk besides being able to tank hits. And, even then, I don't know how much I can take. Can I heal a broken bone? Can I take a gunshot or stab wound and survive? Will my healing work then?
He desperately wanted to know, but short of actually getting shot or stabbed, or breaking a bone, there wasn't much he could do to find out. It didn't help that his mother had expressly forbidden him from trying something so dangerous.
Better now while there's no real danger, than in a life-or-death situation.
Up until this point, he'd focused mostly on control, seeing as raising the temperature of his flames and finding a way to shoot fire-blasts had failed.
Today, he would be trying to create flames all over his body simultaneously. It would perhaps serve as a viable method of intimidation. No one in their right mind would want to get in close to someone covered in fire.
Unless they have a counter quirk that is.
Yet again, Izuku found himself at the beach. It had become a favorite spot of his. The sight of the ocean, the calm setting, the comforting sound of waves, the cool breeze ruffling his hair. They all resonated with him, making him feel at ease.
It also helped that the mountains of garbage obstructed anyone's view of his training, giving Izuku some measure of privacy.
His backpack and sweater were placed near the same old freezer, leaving him in shorts, his trademark red shoes, and a simple white t-shirt.
He felt for his quirk, searching deep within himself. Finding the usual feeling that he associated with his quirk, he grasped it with all he had, pushing it to its utter limit. Stoking the flames until they were a raging inferno threatening to swallow him whole.
Tentatively he opened his eyes. Only to notice everything looked a bit... smaller. Or perhaps further away?
That's weird. It's as if I'm taller.
He glanced down at himself, wondering if it'd been successful. Only to find his arms and legs gone, replaced by fiery wings and talons.
.
.
"huh?"
AN:
Yo, I'm back with another chapter.
Leave a review, tell me what you think of it. Maybe even suggest some things I could include or incorporate in some way. I'm always open for ideas.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!
~Zenix404~