Hello again my dear readers, I managed to write up this in the day before my trip so I decided to post it so I go on break at what seems like a better spot than last chapter. For real this time I won't be updating for a while after this, like for a week and a half maybe as I go on my trip and write up enough to form a new chapter that I would be satisfied with. As always, I welcome all reviews and comments on my work and look fowards to hearing what y'all think of this chapter. Anyways, lets get right into the story!
Bakugou groaned as he massaged his head a little, walking down the street after a small session of studying back home, just enough to prove to his parents that he was in fact dedicated to being the best in every way and that he needed to keep his Quirk Gym membership, at least until he got into UA where he could just practice his stuff there but still, he needed to go braindead for a bit and relax some. So he was on his way to his favorite arcade in hopes of retaining his high score records on his favorite machines.
Cutting through one of the back alleyways as a shortcut, the young hero to be hummed some Skillet to himself, mentally cursing himself in the back of his mind as he did so, once Deku had introduced him to the old culture of pre-quirk society through the comics they loved Bakugou couldn't help but investigate more and he just fell in love with the sound of hard rock and a bit of metal, though he stayed away from the heavy stuff.
"Man, when I get big I outta investigate some modern bands in that style get them to compose my theme song or something oooh that would be sweet" Bakugou could just imagine it then, him charging into some jackass villain's lair, blasting his theme songs as hard guitar riffs played in the background triumphantly displaying his willpower with lyrics about his awesome battle abilities and triumphs, the legend of the Explosion King! Chuckling a bit to himself at the idea he shook his head as the tune shifted towards a bit of Dragonforce to really get himself in the mood.
"Though the band would have to be someone pretty low key that I find and like myself, give a really kickass section of people their big break sounds just perfect for a heroic guy like myself." With another laugh and smile on his face he started kicking a few bits of trash along the road, sticking his tongue out a bit as he lined up a shot in his mind before giving his best Muy Thai-Style front kick to a can, bouncing it off the nearby building and into an open trash can.
After landing that first shot, Bakugou spotted his next target, it was a soda bottle filled with some green shit, probably some dude's chewing tobacco he put in a cola bottle, it was disgusting but hey, at least it wasn't on the street or something. Lining up his target once more with his impeccable focus before he ran forward and kicked it with his full force again his eyes widening when he saw the cap hit the wall and turned away, bracing for some disgusting spit and stuff to land all over his clothes man...Mom was gonna chew his ass out for that.
"Thanks kid! Now...Give me your body to hide!" Hearing the voice Bakugou lowered his arm to see the muk in that bottle was a dude...A dude who wanted to kill him! Acting instantly he thrust his left palm forward as he prepared his quirk.
"Yeah no, fuck you asshole!" With that battlecry, the young blond set off an explosion in his palm, sending the wave of heat towards his foe while he looked around. The other way out the alleyway was too far to escape from this psycho and he couldn't very well run left or right in the this tunnel.
Moving around the explosion, the mud-man smirked joyously when he saw this kid's quirk ooh what the jackpot he hit with this new puppet to use! "Gonna have to hit harder than that to defeat me you brat! Though your quirk is something I will enjoy abusing oh so maliciously."
The man of liquid then charged around toward his prey, making his body flow out on all sides so he couldn't very well dodge easily. Making the young man look around for anything he could use. He hadn't produced enough sweat so far to use anything more than his minor explosions so far, spying a bit of mislayed paper on the ground gave him an idea though if he could manage to sweat more than maybe he had a chance but this guy was serious.
Thrusting his other hand forward to form a wide cup, Bakugou started firing off his explosions at a rapid rate, dispersing the heat through as wide an area as he could to alight all the very dry and flammable materials on the ground while backing up and he smirked seeing the flames start to ignite but still, the liquid man's body just seemed to move around his explosions though they just slowed him down a bit. Forcing the young man to dodge with a few side hops along the walls of the alleyway to avoid getting caught as the heat started to build up.
As the battle crawled on from seconds to minutes, with Bakugou desperately using his explosions to avoid the mud man through the air, his clothes getting covered with slime through all the near misses, pro heroes finally started to show up slowly, with Bakugou's own quirk starting to get stronger through his perspiration in the fire everything seemed to be looking up in this situation, jumping with one more explosion aimed forward, getting ready to blast himself towards the heroes with a smirk on his face, he had managed to hold out in this bad quirk matchup! Though it was after he came up with that idea that the mud-villain threw two trash cans at him suddenly changing plans as his palms shifted towards the projectiles flying at his head in that moment each blast able to send the can off its intended course but one still landed on his forehead the impact dazing Bakugou for a few moments...The only time needed for him to be grabbed and taken in by the sludge.
After their talk on the roof, Izuku quickly zipped down the stairwell rushing past All Might on the way down, sliding a bit along the railing as he past the man without a second thought. Determined to get to his damn dojo on time to not suffer any massive training consequences... Shivering a bit at the thought of what Fumai might subject him to in order to make up for the lost time. Once on the base floor he started his real sprint towards his dojo, going through all the little shortcuts he could, jumping over a few of the smaller paved rivers along the way to save time. His powerful legs easily letting him clear the gaps without even letting a drop of water touch him though as he dashed one scene in particular caught his interest as it looked like a giant fire had erupted near the Mos Eisley shopping district where Bakugou often went to blow off steam.
A little worried that his friend was caught up in something dangerous, Izuku slightly altered his path to run by the area, running across the scene and hearing something about a villian taking a middle schooler hostage. That gave him pause and stopped the green haired boy's stride as he heard the distinctive boom of his friend's quirk. H-his friend was in trouble and from what his looked like the pros couldn't do anything as a result of Bakugou's struggle against the villain, slipping his way through the crowd, Izuku let out a gasp seeing the sludge villain again. He must have fallen during that struggle... Meaning Bakugou's current predicament was his fault!
For a moment, Izuku was tempted to just stand back and watch as his friend suffered, hoping for some sort of hero to come out and save him with an amazing quirk. With each passing second his wrists seemed to become heavier, the web shooters on his wrist seemingly urging him to get in there and help. If he held back here, when his best friend was in danger than...Than he would be betraying what he just told All Might wouldn't he?
Staring forward to his friend who was desperately struggling against the sludge villain's control, Izuku met eyes with his friend who was more vulnerable than he had ever been before. In his eyes there were emotions he had only ever seen once before, ones of uncertainty, desperation and, disappointment in himself. Legs tensing Izuku suddenly started to dash forward out of the crowd towards his friend body moving like a well oiled machine. Ignoring the cries of the heroes to come back, to not risk his life so recklessly like that.
"Oh? It looks like my old puppet is wanting to return to me? You gonna offer up yourself for this kid? Well too fucking bad! I am keeping this one for myself no matter what you may want to do!" The violent villain then tossed a few heavy metal trash cans towards Izuku, who just reacted as they hurtled towards him, well honed reflexes letting him jump over the first before dropping under the second, using his momentum to slide right under the metal projectile harmlessly and hop back up. The boy's mind racing on what he should do, trying to think of anything as he came back up.
Doing the only thing that came natural, Izuku planted his feet firmly on the ground and took in a deep breath, his lungs expanding out to their maximum as his hand started to rise again, aimed right at his friend within the muck.
"Kaa-chan! Catch!" After shouting his words Izuku waited for a moment for Bakugou to catch on and hear him through the liquid, eyes widening and giving only the briefest nod Bakugou gave all his strength to fully free his arm from the Sludge Villain's grasp hoping his friend had a plan for this. When Bakugou's bare palm exposed itself Izuku formed his aiming pose for a moment to assure himself that this was accurate and gave the trigger on his palm its first tap and as his second one came down it was like his first shot all those years ago, everything seeming to slow down while his fingers came down the second time to fire off his web.
For all the others watching this happen, it was only a few seconds but for Izuku, Katsuki and a cautious All Might, in his civilian form again it was like years while the silver-white threat shot out of the nozzle, going on its straightforward path towards Bakugou's palm, All Might in particular was admonishing himself for what was going on. Why couldn't he just get the grit to help the boys in their time of need? He shouldn't be forcing this quirkless boy to do the job he had signed up for! He could only watch like some helpless civilian as the web line connected with the hostage's palm and stuck there, refusing to give in.
Once the web was finally connected Izuku braced himself against the ground and gripped his silken cord with both hands before he started to pull against the villian with all his might. For a few seconds, it seemed like he wasn't doing anything to free his friend from the grasp of the mud villain but soon enough the hero to be felt his rope come forward just a bit meaning...He just had to give it harder. Letting lose a ferocious battle cry and digging deep into himself, Izuku summed all his strength, trying to muster every bit of training he had done to himself over the past four years to bring out his best as he pulled, the well toned and defined muscles bulging a bit as they flexed together, causing the tight threads of his black jacket to start ripping apart by the seams. Izuku was visibly shaking from the effort as he pulled against it, knowing Katsuki couldn't pull back to help him without hurting the efforts in full, it was all on him, the ash-blond boy coming forward out of the Sludge villain's grasp bit by bit until a loud plorp echoed throughout the alleyway and Bakugou flew forward as he was freed from the grasp entirely.
Flying forward with the momentum, Bakugou crashed right into Izuku, coughing out sludge and gasping for any breath he could get now that he was freed. Spitting out a bit of it onto the ground he looked to his friend.
"Fucking Deku, why didn't you come any earlier? I could have used your help taking this shithead down with how damn annoying his quirk was to fight."
"S-Sorry, but you know what they say right? A hero always arrives just in time to prevent disaster" He let out a chuckle, trying to ease the tension of what just happened his eyes catching the Sludge Villain dashing forward to attack them again.
"You little fucking brat! I was gonna leave you alive after this but now you will die!" The mud man exclaimed in pure anger his arm sweeping around to grab a jagged metal pipe that had been destroyed in the struggle before sweeping it towards the boys laying on the ground, their exhaustion from the actions clear enough that they couldn't move in time. Izuku braced himself for the pain that would come, this time around glad he at least managed to stand his ground against the villain.
"Not yet!" A proud cry of defiance demanded everyone's attention as All Might flew in and blocked the blow meant for the boy's the jagged pole bouncing off the rippling mass of pure muscle and power that was the Symbol of Peace's arm.
Looking towards the boys on the ground, All Might smiled right at Izuku though it wasn't his usual one that he wore now a days, it wasn't the hollow grin that he always used to try and trick himself into not fearing what was going on in front of him. It was a genuine smile of pride and heroic joy, turning back to the villian in an instant the top hero decided to start making a speech.
"Young man! I must apologize for what I said earlier, you have more than enough strength within you because my boy you were right!"" Winding up his other arm for a powerful blow, a gush of blood erupted from All Might's mouth as he conjured up more power than what his body could handle right then.
"Our types, we are not ones to conform to reality! We are the men and women who turn dreams into reality because we are heroes!" All Might's triumphant baritone voice rang out for the two young men listening to him in that moment before the hero could go through with his attack.
"Detroit! Smash!" Calling out his attack name, the fist rocketed forward, carrying behind it the will and power of seven generations of heroes, wind concentrating around the impact area before blasting all around with the force of a hurricane, separating the sludge villain into dozens of pieces and causing a massive area of low pressure around the shopping district so that a downpour would come and put out the massive blaze that had been raging just a moment before. Ending the confrontation with the force of a demigod.
After the sludge man's bits had been cleaned right up by the rest of the heroes, Izuku was hounded by the heroes at the scene, being berated for going out so needlessly and risking his life without any semblance for his own safety it seemed.
"Either way, you shouldn't have gone out there alone even if your quirk did help save the hostage, though...I do admit that it was quite effective, mind if I give you some advice on binding techniques sometime?" Kamui Woods grumbled a bit, knowing that he had to keep up a good public face of admonishing the recklessness of youth but, despite his limited expressions it was clear he had been impressed by the young man.
"Oh, about that" Izuku blushed as he reached back and started to scratch his head awkwardly, not sure how to break the news to the hero, his right sleeve, now a very loose fit on the boy feel down to reveal the silver bracelet on his wrist.
"I...I don't actually have a quirk, that web line was something I developed on my own to make up for the fact that I don't have one." Izuku cringed away then, expecting for there to be some form of admonishment from the tree-man.
"Q-quirkless?" Was the only word on Kamui's mind as he repeated the events in his head, his actions all indicating that he had some sort of spider-silk quirk it couldn't be true right? Ears twitching, Kamui noticed how the entire scene seemed to go silent. Before it errupted into chaos as reporters started to surround Izuku, desperate for a scoop with one particular woman with chocolate brown hair and eyes closing in first.
"Did we hear you right just now? You said that the amazing thread ability you displayed was created by support gear and not you? Where did you manage to get such gear? None of the top support companies have anything like that in their catalogues" Ossekai smirked inwardly, any support company dishing out that kind of thing to unliscened minors or even just having this unrevealed tech put out there early would do wonders for the station's ratings!
"Um I made them myself? I have been working on these things since I was ten refining the mechanics and formula for my web fluid for the past six years, was really hard to get right though I am confident it is strong enough to support at least a car using a single webline I haven't t-tested them yet." Izuku started to shrink underneath the reporter's pressure, not being used to this level of scrutiny and the camera rolling in his face wasn't making it any better for him as it broadcast to the entire country.
"I created these because I want to be a...Be a hero that can help everyone and inspire others just like All Might has inspired me before. C-can I go now? I have to get to my Dojo or Sensei will kill me!" Izuku's panic was genuine as he started to push through the crowd of people to get out of the alleyway, waving to Bakugou as he received praise from the heroes about his resolve to not give in. Giving the cameras one great shot of his left web-shooters before he dashed off, cursing in his mind as he ran as fast as he could again.
Power loader, who had just been working on a new little support project with one of his seniors in the workshop with the local news in the background heard something that caught his ear and made him look up from the anvil. Thinking he had misheard something from the broadcast but, had a feeling he needed to check just to make sure.
"You should be fine here without me right? I need to go check on something real quirk." With his student's nod the pro went over to the TV and rewinded it few seconds to watch through again.
"Um I made them myself? I have been working on these things since I was ten refining the mechanics and formula for my web fluid for the past six years" The voice of a young, emerald haired boy came through the television as the hero looked on in awe, rewinding the tape back again to watch it in action, the cameras were able to get a good image of this wanna be hero raising up his arm and shooting out some sort of thread. Pausing the tape tv then, Higari started to make it go by frame by frame, watching in amazement as the web stuck to the young man and stretched perfectly.
"Such strength, I could probably make something like those myself in about a week or two but..." Power loader started to mumble to himself before he played the tape through again, paying close attention to the boy's wrists for the form of the thing. Finally catching it at the end of the broadcast, they were nice and compact and the costume maker could probably replicate it within the day if he really tried but that wasn't the issue here was it. Heading over to the phone and dialing Nezu's office number carefully.
"Did you just see the same report I did? I need that kid in my course, he looks like he has way too much potential to just ignore!"
"Yes Maijima but you did hear him right? This young man wants to become his own hero after all, not someone who creates support gear like the rest of your class. Though I do predict he will be trying out for our transfer exam next spring." The high pitched voice of the principal rang out in the man's ear who just gave a small curse, of course... Though maybe this wasn't the end of it.
"Then he can be part time student or we can offer him full use of the lab if he will take tutoring from me or something. He will be able to be in the hero course just fine, but I feel like it would be a waste if he couldn't have access to our resources here. Look what the kid made at home for pete's sake!"
"That sounds like it can be arranged, but he would still have to pass your transfer exam, we can't show such favoritism after all. Also if he fails to get into the hero course than he will have your own class as a backup. Sound acceptable?"
"Yes! Yes of course, thank you sir for the consideration." Hanging up his phone, Power loader sighed a bit to relax himself before the sound of a small explosion errupted in the workshop forcing the teacher to get off his ass and head towards the incident.
"I thought you said you could handle it! Please don't lie to me to impress, you should know by know that wont fly!"
The setting sun on the small japanese neighborhood was giving one Izuku Midoriya an immense amount of anxiety as he raced towards his Dojo, cursing his luck with crowds today when he was stopped suddenly by All Might zipping in out of nowhere.
"All Might? W-what are you doing here? Trying to admonish me again like the others because I really do not have time to deal with that right now!"
'Nothing of the sort my boy, I actually came here with a bit of an offer to you if you would accept it. I know I admonished you for what I saw was reckless fanaticism at the time we first met, but after seeing you in action back there I can only say I was wrong on all accounts"
The tone in All Might's voice gave Izuku pause as he looked towards the man as he shifted back into his true form, the stream being bathed in the orange sunlight giving the hero a bit of an angelic glow to him as he spoke and...The young man let out a sigh, he was going to be punished heavily anyways. Might as well hear this man out.
"You see, my power is one that has been passed through the generations since the very birth of quirks themselves! One for All, that is the name of my power! Within this quirk contains the strength of seven generations of men and women like you and me, with a true passion for justice and helping the innocent and once I pass it to you, then it will be eight if you include myself. I have chosen to give you, the young man who even without any quirk to be my successor." Taking a pause, All Might spread his arms wide to bask in the golden-orange light of the beautiful sunset behind him before closing his arms again for dramatic effect.
"Because if I had not met you young man, if I had not heard your story and put your words into action than I believe the flame of heroism would have died out forever in me. If I had held myself back and watched two young men die because I was too afraid of my own mortality, than I would lose the right to call myself a hero ever again. Now, young man what do you say?"
Toshinori looked to the hero to be, eager to hear his confirmation that he wanted to be his successor and met eyes with the boy once again, his own were now filled with a rekindled flame of hope, burning brightly through the bitterness that had once been there.
"Oh man this is awkward... What would you do if I said no?"