Disclaimer: I do not own anything of My Hero Academia (Boku No Hiro Academia), manga or anime, or it's character therein. I do not have any rights to Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine or am I partnered with Kohei Horikoshi so in no way do I make any form of profit of off this. I do this on my own dime and time.
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Author's Note: this chapter will be a kind of a split, like how the first chapter of the manga showed Izuku when he was a kid and then fast forwards about 10 years to when he was a teenager. Granted this ground work could have been used in the first chapter but I wanted to both help establish as well as show a remind why things are going to be somewhat different than canon.
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Chapter 2: Even When Shackled, The Heart Still Beats
As a child begins to grow and learn more about the world, the first rule a child will learn that there will be times that the world can be unforgiving no matter how young or old you are.
It wasn't long after the doctor visit that Izuku Midoriya's status of being quirkless. He didn't say anything the following school day after the doctor's examination but eventually the rest of his classmates learned this fact about him. The credit of the word being spread around the school was directed towards Katsuki Bakugou. Izuku did wonder why his friend would be so loud about it, like it was the kind of news that needed to be spread the way Bakugou did so.
But that thought was forgotten and replaced by a different one on the day Izuku saw Bakugou and what could be considered his closest classmate follows attacking another child to the point where the child actually started to cry.
Izuku asked Bakugou why he was being so mean to another child. Izuku wasn't sure what happened that led things to becoming a three-on-one fight but he knew it still wasn't right. Izuku even knew that the look on Bakugou's face clearly said he wasn't done yet which made Izuku instinctively react to the situation.
He told his friend with the flashy explosive quirk that if he didn't stop hurting the one that was behind him then he would stop Bakugou himself. His body was shaking since he knew he did just challenge someone he considered a friend still and it was clear it would end up being himself against three others and their quirks.
"So, Deku the Quirkless Wonder thinks he can play hero, huh?"
Hearing that from his friend Bakugou, or as he used to call him, "Kacchan", before he and the other two rush forward at him was more painful than the actually blows that were landed on him. At least, on an emotional level. Even when the boy who had the quirk to make his fingers grow in length to hold Izuku's head in place while Bakugou delivered a right hook across his face, the words rang more in his ears than the actually ringing said punch caused.
Izuku wasn't sure how long he was on his back staring up at the blue sky after Bakugou and the other two traded blows with him. Or rather, used him as a punching bag/target practice. The hits to the head did cause his vision to blur but when it returned did Izuku tried to understand why the situation unfolded the way it did.
Without question did Izuku knew that Bakugou wanted to be a hero like All Might. Both of them worshiped the legendary hero to the point where he heard their parents thought it was some kind of religious fixation, whatever that meant. With that being the case, Izuku knew that the only time All Might ever attacked or even threw a punch was because someone was in danger by a villain. And Izuku also knew that whenever a villain who thought they could defeat All Might were defeated did All Might stop and make sure that everyone in the immediate area wasn't in danger or hurt.
Whatever the reason was, Izuku could see that even if Bakugou worshiped All Might, he certainly wasn't acting like All Might or even someone that would be called a hero.
That moment left a lot of things for Izuku to think over as he made his way back home. The boy was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't think about what to tell his mother about the reason for the state he was in since his face was now showing a significant bruise where Bakugou had punched him. Not to mention that his shirt was ripped a bit around the collar when Bakugou grabbed the front of it with one hand so he could punch Izuku with the other.
Izuku didn't like lying to his mother. Mostly because he was a terrible liar and somehow she seemed to already know the truth before asking the question itself. He did his best to reassure his mother by saying that Bakugou played a little too roughly on accident today. Whether she believed his words or now, Inko didn't press the matter any more which was something of a relief to him. When he was told that dinner would be ready in an hour, Izuku returned to his room to change his shirt and address the bruise on his face.
There was a mirror he had in his room that was on top of his small dresser which he used to examine the purple area on the left side of his face. He noticed that it seemed there was a little bit of blood on the edge of his mouth as well but nothing too serious overall. When he lightly touched the bruise, Izuku did wince at the sudden flare up of pain and retracted his had quickly in response.
After taking full stock of his current situation, Izuku stared into his own reflection with eyes that were on the verge of shedding tears. He was still hearing Bakugou calling him "Deku the Quirkless Wonder" as if it was on repeat. The only thing that kept the tears from forming and falling freely was something that his vision noticed in the mirror's reflection. It was enough to stop the tears and to get Izuku to turn his head to look at what got his attention.
The shield and it's red, white, and blue stripe color scheme with a five point star in the middle.
Izuku walked over to it and place a hand on it in an almost instinctual manner. Not because he saw it as some kind of symbol that a boy might see as a kind of security to help handle the unknowns of the world. But because he wanted to remember that what he found in the forest was something that was without any question or doubt was special.
At first glance there was nothing special about it. Even he knew that if anyone saw it would assume it was related to All Might just because of how it seemed to inspire such an image. But he also knew and checked as much as he could that All Might never had anything remotely resembling this shield. A cape definitely but nothing else that Izuku could remember about All Might and his previous costumes.
The boy was still puzzled by a lot of things about this shield. The first and foremost being that it wasn't as heavy as it looked. Izuku may have some problems moving a full bag of trash because of his small frame and this shield felt about the same weight in comparison. Even his mother said that it felt like around 10 to 12 pounds in her hands. She even used her quirk on it and said it was actually surprising to her of the amount of effort, or rather lack thereof, she had to put into lifting it.
Inko voiced the idea that maybe it was some kind of new frisbee that might be used in the UA High Sports Festival and someone threw it by accident and that's why it landed all the way out in the forest in their town. Even Izuku agreed to that idea since he had seen several Sports Festival events posted onto the internet that showed every year the high school did something different in competitions.
It was because of that idea that Inko put up a couple of flyers around the neighborhood and a post online about having found something in the forest and was wondering if it belonged to someone. Izuku was somewhat sad at the idea that maybe it did belong to someone but was glad that Inko said they would give three weeks of time and if no one came to claim it then Izuku could keep it. It was kind of a shameful feeling to have, hoping someone wouldn't show up to their home and claim the shield but Izuku knew it was only fair to do what his mother did.
Until that time, Izuku still looked at the shield as a symbol that his dream still had a chance to live.
Picking up the shield with both hands, and still being amazed about it's weight, Izuku lifted it up over his head as best as he could. He wasn't sure why he was doing it but somehow or other it felt like a kind of reminder to himself that even a boy can do things no one else might think possible.
That thought did bring a smile to his bruised face and take his attention away from his surroundings since his eyes were focused upwards. When he took a step forward, Izuku had forgotten that when he took of his torn shirt to replace it that he had left it on the floor. The moment his foot landed on the shirt did Izuku lose traction and fall backwards. Reflexively to the situation, Izuku flew backwards to try and catch himself from falling completely to the floor and that meant throwing the shield out of his grip.
While Izuku failed to stop himself from landing on the floor with an audible 'thud', he didn't fail to see what happened. It may have been brief but he saw the shield that he threw behind him as he fell backwards, it bounced off the wall with a metallic sound. And then it flew forward and bounced off the opposite wall and then flew back at the first wall it bounced off of before falling to the floor just shy of hitting the opposite wall again.
The commotion that Izuku made in his room easily got the attention of Inko who burst into his room with the look of pure panic on her face.
"What happened in here, Izuku?!" Inko looked around the room, trying to see what caused multiple sounds that made her think someone was trying to bash in the wall of her son's room.
Izuku looked at his mother and the shield a couple of times before coming up with reply that was the honest truth of it all.
"I, um, fell. I had the shield in my hands and I...fell and threw it at the same time." Izuku replied while pointing at the shield on the floor.
The response coming from his mouth was rather sheepishly but it was also the truth so it didn't feel like Izuku was lying to his mother. He wasn't worried if he was going to get in trouble for making such a noisy racket. He was more worried that his mother might take the shield away from him because she might now consider it too dangerous to be in his hands.
Inko looked at both her son and the shield and noticed also on the floor the ruined shirt that Izuku had worn earlier. She knew her son sometimes had the habit of leaving the clothes on floor and was somewhat improving on picking up after himself in his room. It was fortunate for Izuku that in Inko's mind that she envisioned what her son said playing out like it did. She had seen him many times before with an All Might action figure in his hand running around in his room pretending or imagining that All Might himself was flying in his room or himself as All Might flying in his room.
Satisfied with the answer she was given, Inko only gave a somewhat stern order for her son to always pick up after himself if and when he was going to run around the room and reminded him to finish cleaning himself before dinner was ready.
Izuku nodded his head in reply and got up from his spot on the floor to put the shirt it belonged. Whether it could be repaired or thrown away was Inko's final decision but Izuku still threw it in the clothes hamper as he was told. After seeing that did Inko leave Izuku's room to continue finish making dinner. When Izuku was sure his mother's attention was no longer focused on him did he look back at the shield.
In his mind he replayed over and over what he had seen. Izuku was trying to understand what he saw, to see if it was some kind of trick since when he fell backwards he did smack the back of his head against ground. But each time he reviewed the memory, what his eyes saw did not lie to him.
Somehow the shield did in fact bounce off the two walls on opposite sides of his bedroom. Bouncing off of one wall was a given since he remembered how hard he threw the shield when he fell but Izuku knew he had nowhere near the kind of strength required to make the shield bounce off two walls that were clearly not next to each other.
Then the realization hit him as remembered again when he remembered that after the shield bounced off the wall that was in front of him…..
That it bounced off the wall behind him a second time.
The first thoughts that came to Izuku's mind seemed to contradict what he knew about the world. The only way something can bounce off two walls quickly enough would be if rubber materials like a bouncing ball had been thrown. But the shield was made of out metal with nothing to indicate that anything about it was even remotely made of rubber. The straps that were on the inside of the shield were, which Izuku figured was meant so an arm can be used to support the shield and wear it on the arm at the same time, were certainly not rubber nor were they what connected with the walls after the shield was thrown.
The second thought was that maybe some kind of quirk had been applied to it that changed the metal's properties. That seemed logical to the boy because Izuku had seen several villains that fought All Might did do somethings to everyday material like concrete or steel that made them either melt or change forms. There was also that one video Izuku saw where All Might saved a child that fell into a river and his quirk was able to change the property of water into vinegar. Izuku knew that sometimes a kid, one that probably the same age as himself, might not know how to swim all that well. And he doubt swimming in vinegar was the same as swimming in water.
That seemed to be the answer the more Izuku thought about it. That maybe somewhere else in the world someone had a quirk that could make anything that was made of metal or had metal properties to it to be the same as throwing a rubber ball around the room.
And yet….it also felt wrong.
There was a nagging voice in the back of Izuku's mind telling him that the shield was special on it's own. No quirk had been used on it ever.
Izuku picked up the shield again with his small hands and lifted up enough where it seemed he could faintly see his own reflection in the metallic surface. It wasn't too strange that he could see his face in the five point star symbol in the middle of the shield but it also seemed right to him in some strange way.
Izuku thought back to the night before he found the shield, to when he made his wish to the night sky. How he made the wish with all of his heart to be a hero. His heart told him that his wish was heard that night and that this shield that fell from the sky was meant to used by someone who embodied what it meant to be a hero.
For any rational adult, it may have been too much of a leap that Izuku made in his mind that how special this shield was and that somehow it was meant to be with someone special.
That conclusion brought a smile to Izuku's face, the kind where a boy isn't just showing his teeth but how much joy something they felt that their mouths were almost fully open because of said smile.
Even though his mother did put up notices to see if anyone in the area might be the original owner of the shield in his hands, Izuku was now more sure than ever that this shield was meant for him to use in the road to becoming the next world's greatest hero.
It was with some reluctance that Izuku put the shield where it was originally in his room. This time he was making sure that he didn't accidentally throw it and cause his mother to become unnecessarily worried. Well, any more than she probably already was at this point.
Izuku walked over to a small desk that was in his room and pulled out a notebook he had been writing it. Since it was in crayon, the writing within was somewhat legible or at least it was with Izuku. The purpose of this notebook was to record all the information he could get or see about any hero or villain that appeared on the news or on the internet.
He had another notebook in the same drawer and it's original purpose was to be used when the first notebook was full of all the information that Izuku could write in it. Now this one had a different but no less important purpose.
With a nearby red crayon, Izuku wrote on the cover of the notebook: "Plans to become the mightiest Pro Hero with a shield!"
The minute he finished writing what would be on the cover did Izuku follow up writing within the notebook's pages what he believe to be the necessary steps to realizing the success to the plan. To be the hero he saw within his mind.
Even for a 5 year old, that was a fateful week that would be next to impossible to forget. A week that created a drive within him to do more than he every thought possible over the next 10 years.
Izuku Midoriya became more physically active than he was before or for any child that was his age. Doing just about everything that could increase his strength and endurance in whatever ways he could think of. Even if it meant that in the beginning he could only run at his best speed for less than 30 seconds, that fact told him he wouldn't get better unless he constantly gave it his all each day.
Soon enough, when he could run for over 30 seconds without needing to stop and catch his breath, Izuku took that as proof he was getting stronger each day.
He also continued his research each day in regards to how to continually develop physically and about the Pro-Heroes that appeared not to mention anything related to All Might. His mother might have thought it was a tad obsessive but she felt it was something that her son needed to keep his spirits up.
During those years, Inko had some thoughts that she wasn't able to put to rest satisfactorily. She wasn't entirely positive but she had her suspicions over time that her son was getting into fights either while at school or when he was out of the apartment. Izuku would keep telling her that he might've over did it with his training but she recognized burn marks on fabric like shirts or even bare skin. Inko did ask Mitsuki Bakugou if her son Katsuki Bakugou was being cruel to Izuku. Some of the answers she got from Mitsuki weren't all that reassuring but even Inko could see as one mother to another some issues had arisen with her son over time and she wasn't having much success in addressing them. Whether or not her son and Mitsuki's son were getting into fights was never fully answered and neither parent heard anything from the school about such things so both had to go by the assumption that Izuku and Bakugou were still friends.
Or at least until clearly proven otherwise.
But Izuku took his ordeals and issues with Bakugou as a challenge. When it was made clear the entire school, classmates, teachers and faculty members, were fully aware that he was quirkless, Izuku didn't let the comments and the taunting wear him down. There were days when it was easy to deal with such things and others where it felt like giving up seemed the only course left to him. Especially the times when Bakugou mocked his research into other Pro-Heroes and told him almost each time that he should just kill himself to spare the world of his quirkless nature.
Being told by someone you once considered a friend that your best choice in life is to end it always stung the heart every time you hear the words. But what kept those 'words' from taking root in his heart was reminding himself that he was facing the same kind of challenges that All Might faced. Too many times did villains that stood against the Symbol of Peace and Justice call him practically every kind of insults and profanity known in the world and then some.
Never once did the legendary hero let the words cause his every presence smile to falter even once.
No doubt in Izuku's mind that was something of a constant issue that All Might dealt with and not all of his exploits were followed in great detail. One thing Izuku saw that seemed to be common among Pro-Heroes which did include All Might was that the villains they fought only had the kind of information that explained what kind of problem they caused and what kind of quirk they had or used in committing said crime or fight against Pro-Heroes. Maybe a few other details here and there like what they called themselves but clearly nothing about what they said to the Pro-Hero they face off against which made a kind of sense since it was doubtful any newspaper or media wanted to report the insults of captured villains.
And if All Might had to deal with that and never once let it get to him, then Izuku wasn't going to let what everyone who called him the Quirkless Wonder get to him either. His mother once told him an old saying about how actions speak louder than words and if Izuku kept getting up no matter how many times others put him down, that proved to himself he could still be a hero.
Even if it meant Bakugou kept knocking him down on an almost daily basis followed up everyone else at school laughing as he did so and enduring it all.
Now 15 years old and in the last year of attending Aldera Junior High, Izuku felt the drive to be a hero more than ever before. It was probably what allowed him to have the extra energy to easily run to school without any heavy breathing. He wasn't running late since he had more than enough time to make it to school. It was part of his on-going training to keep his body both into shape and increase his physical abilities.
Some of the books he had obtained over the years on exercises told him that jogging did help increase leg muscles and breathing capacity. Some even said that if developed properly over time then the person can do a flat run with increasing extended periods of time. That was something Izuku saw to be true or at least true in regards to his body. Couple of times when Bakugou and his two 'faithful' followers decided to gang up on him, Izuku managed to outmaneuver them and goaded into chasing him in some of the back alleys. Izuku learned that Bakugou had learned to use his explosive quirk to have a kind of flight capability if directed properly and the one whose quirk allowed him to have bat-like wings which could achieve flight made them both rather solid tests in seeing how fast Izuku could run.
It was easy to outrun the one who could fly with his bat-like wings since it seemed he either never thought about developing them more or had no drive to do so but Izuku learned early that Bakugou also took Izuku's runs as a kind of training for him and his quirk as well. There were a few times Bakugou caught up to him but the rest of the time Izuku managed to outrun or outmaneuver him by using his surroundings to his advantage. Each time that happened, Bakugou would use the following day to let off some new insults to either put Izuku down more or remind Izuku that someone with a quirk is just better than a 100 people without a quirk.
That increased his drive to be a hero all the more. Just seeing Bakugou getting better on his own just told Izuku he couldn't slack off even for a moment. And that also meant learning new ways to become better both physically and mentally.
While the jogging to school increased his body's strength, what happened before him was what he used as a means to increase his mental abilities and comprehension.
It was something of a common scene that could happen at any given moment. Someone who clearly had a rather impressive quirk was going out of his, or her since sometimes looks alone couldn't tell you if they were male or female, way to make a mess of things. At a train station that was above the streets, Izuku could see what looked like someone who resembled a kind of shark but was clearly three times the height of a person roaring like a wild animal and causing destruction by flailing his, or hers, arms around.
The police were keeping people from getting too close and Izuku overheard someone talking in the crowd that the person causing the destruction in public had tried to steal some woman's purse. Izuku agreed when he heard someone said it was an idiotic move to make in both broad daylight and during the time when a lot of people were on the streets. The odds were good that a Pro-Hero would on patrol at this point of time during the day and said Pro-Hero would catch this criminal almost immediately.
That was when Izuku saw something move just outside the corner of his eye. Looking up, he smiled when he recognized the Pro-Hero Kamui Woods. Izuku had heard this new Pro-Hero had just come on to the scene recently but word on all the internet sites was that he was making a name for himself at a rather fast pace.
Always on hand was a notebook for recording Pro-Hero information. Because he felt that at any given moment something new or someone new would appear and the information would prove beneficial later on and Izuku felt that this was the best time to see and record what Kamui Woods can do for himself.
Watching how the Pro-Hero moved around using his quirk, Izuku could tell that his movements were well polished and honed. A sign that this one knew what he could do with his quirk.
Izuku wasn't sure how long the fight between the giant villain and Kamui Woods had been going on but he also noticed other Pro-Heroes appeared. When the villain knocked over some high-tension power lines trying to take a swipe at Kamui Woods, another Pro-Hero by the name Death Arms came rushing in to catch the large metal framework of the power lines before impacted on the ground using his super strength quirk.
It wasn't rare that multiple Pro-Heroes would appear at a scene like this, just more information for Izuku to write down in his notebook.
But what was rare was a teenager writing in a notebook and muttering himself about what he was seeing in front of him. Among a crowd of people that was staring at the fight between two quirk users, Izuku seemed to stand out the most to a man that standing next to him.
"Writing down what's going on in a fight and smiling while muttering, gotta say that makes you a most unique fanboy I've ever seen."
Izuku turned towards the man and gave a sheepish smile as a response. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with being a fan of Pro-Heroes. Not to mention there was a group of girls that was also watching the fight were all calling out how much they love Kamui Woods.
"Its one thing to see a hero in action on the tv or internet video. It's a whole other and better thing to see them in action like this!" Izuku couldn't really keep his excitement in check as he watched Kamui Woods dodge two more attacks with the villain yelling at him that they'll break them to bits.
The man only gave a smile in response as he returned his attention to the fight as well. When it became clear that Kamui Woods was getting ready to end the fight, Izuku felt his heart race a little more in excitement since he would get to see the specialty attack: The Preemptive Binding Lacquered Chain Prison.
"Take him own Tree Man!" yelled out the man standing next to Izuku.
Izuku was entirely focused on what Kamui Woods was preparing to do that he didn't notice something else until he heard a female voice yell out.
"Canyon Cannon!"
Izuku turned his attention to what he couldn't believe he didn't see coming but another Pro-Hero, a blonde woman and a giant one at that, come flying into the fight and connecting a powerful kick strike to the villain's head. That alone ended the fight but Izuku was more surprised that the woman, would was clearly bigger than the villain, appeared out of nowhere.
Sneak attacks to end a fight weren't necessarily a bad thing for Pro-Heroes to do but, seriously, Izuku was asking himself where did she come from.
"Today's my debut. Pleased to meet you all. You can call me 'Mt. Lady'." the woman Pro-Hero said while striking a pose that even Izuku knew was to get a certain kind of response from at least the male side of the crowd. Even the voice she spoke in definitely had some undertones to it.
Izuku wondered if this was part of the legacy that the R-Rated Hero Midnight had created when she first became a Pro-Hero herself. There were plenty of other known Pro-Hero women all across Japan that had fan clubs just for their looks but most of them didn't try to stand out in said looks alone. To Izuku, this one before him seemed be following the same path or alongside the same path as Midnight.
Then Izuku had to remind himself that Pro-Heroes were basically peacekeepers overseen by the government and those that performed the best got paid the most and also got all the fame and glory that came with it. Their careers depended on their ability to stay in the spotlight. Izuku didn't fully agree with that aspect of being a Pro-Hero but since Pro-Heroes were civil servants, that followed the reason that they would get paid for said services.
Another part that Izuku didn't fully agree with was how fast most of the men in the crowd whipped out any kind of camera they had and started taking pictures of Mt. Lady, especially as she continued her said pose.
He wasn't entirely sure but Izuku could have sworn some of them were saying the same word in sync as they took pictures: Money Shot.
Izuku continued to watch even after the fight had finished, when the police quickly moved in and placed restraints on the villain before he regained consciousness. He wanted to see what kind of quirk Mt. Lady truly had since there had been reports of other quirks that can allow people to grow big and some required certain conditions be met. Watching her shrink down and literally be the same in appearance at human size formed several conclusions in Izuku's head.
"Clearly her quirk is Gigantification. Definitely a powerful quirk and she's got the looks and the attitude to instantly be a crowd favorite but it seems to have a couple of obvious drawbacks with the first one being the great risk to property damage if she intends to work in city and urban areas. She clearly has significant strength, easily amplified when she increases size but can she control her quirk so she can be between her normal height and maximum height or is there also a time limit to how long she is able remain in such a state since the bigger one gets, then the body might require more nutrients or even calories to maintain her giant form…."
"Ha! Never seen a fanboy mutter so much and take such extensive notes at the same time. Guess that means you wanna be a hero too, huh?"
That was enough to break Izuku out his habit in writing down new quirk and Pro-Hero information in his notebook. He looked back at the man who said and saw he was giving him a smile and a thumbs up at the same time.
"Hold onto that dream. The world can always use another hero in the making. Make sure to aim for being the best!"
To hear a rather complete strange say that to him definitely made the smile on his face beam even more.
"I will! Thanks!" Izuku replied before noticing the time and that he had to hurry to make it to school on time. In a way, this was the perfect time to test himself on how fast he could really run if he gave it his all.
Just with time to spare, and it literally was just, Izuku got to his classroom and took his seat that was one step shy of being at the back of the class. Some of the other students noticed him while most paid not attention to him at all. Even Katsuki Bakugou who was simply lounging at his seat in a manner that said he was so bored with everything.
When class finally started and the students all took their seats, the teacher came in with handful of paperwork that he set down on his desk.
"So, as third year students, its time to start thinking seriously about your futures and what you want to do with your lives. I could pass out some career aptitude tests…..but why bother?" the teacher throws away the paperwork that was on his desk. "I know all of you want to take the hero track!"
The entire classroom cheered and began showing off their quirks in response to the excitement they all were collectively feeling. Izuku wanted to join in on the class' cheer but virtually all of his classmates were showing off their quirk which meant at the moment he had no place in the cheer.
"Yes, yes, you all have impressive quirks but you know it's against the rules to use them in class." the teacher said even though the other students were still happily showing off what they could do.
Izuku did admit there were some in his class that had decent looking quirks. But he also knew what was about to happen after the teacher had said 'you all'.
"Hey, Sensei! Don't lump me in with these losers!"
The entire attention of the students focused immediately on Bakugou in an instant. Izuku felt like letting out a sigh to the situation but kept it to himself. Based off of past experiences, what was going to happen next was something of the norm with this class.
"As if I had anything like their crappy quirks! Ha!" Katsuki Bakugou said while still reclining in his chair with his feet up on the desk.
"Get over yourself, Katsuki!" "Like you're actually better than us!" "Man, does the ego on you have an actual Off Switch?!" And other statements were directed at Bakugou. Each one that was said did have a small part of Izuku agree with them but he opted for being silent at the moment.
"Shut up! Extras should act like extras! Most of you will be lucky if you end up as sidekicks to some busted down D-lister!" Bakugou yelled back which made the other students quiet down enough but some were still voicing their current levels of irritation Bakugou had created.
"Huh. Well you certainly have impressive test scores." the teacher said while going over the current information he had on said student. "Maybe you will get into U.A. High."
"He's gonna try for the national school?!" "The cutoff score for this year is 79, right?!" "I hear they barely accept anyone!" "That place has a 0.2 acceptance rate, no matter what year it is!" "It's impossible to get into!" Izuku was impressed how fast the other students went from yelling at Bakugou to being shocked at what they learned about Bakugou. Then again, there probably wasn't a single student with a quirk in all of Japan that didn't know about the most prestigious high school for Pro-Heroes.
"Ah, the stupid chattering of extras!" Bakugou said while standing up and taking a stance on his desk "It's impossible for extras to get into but its the only place worthy for someone like me. I aced the mock exams! I am the only student at this school who stands a chance at getting in!"
Izuku had to keep himself from letting out a groan at how Bakugou was so effortlessly stroking his own ego. Izuku remembered that before both of them started attending Aldera Junior High, Bakugou would flat out say he had what it takes to be a Pro-Hero. Now, if given half a chance, Bakugou wouldn't hesitate to either show or 'remind' the others why he was the best there is in this school if not the whole country.
"I'll end up more popular than All Might himself! Not to mention I'll be one of the richest people in the world! People all across the world will know who I am! And it all starts with U.A. High!"
Izuku wondered if Bakugou expected the other students to start applauding to his declaration. They all certainly had a look of wonderment on their faces with a few being either just jealous or annoyed with him.
"Oh yeah, Midoriya, don't you want to go to U.A. High, too?"
That caught Izuku and the class by complete surprise. So much so that even Bakugou seemed to freeze in place after hearing those words being spoken. Izuku gave the teacher an annoyed look because there was no reason why he should have said it outloud in the first place.
Then again, being the Quirkless Wonder of Aldera Junior High, being mocked for wanting to be a hero seemed to be synonymous with his name and most of the teachers either did so to be cruel or didn't think they were being cruel. Like reminding the students there was an actual quirkless person in the same class as them and not caring if it creates a bullseye on him or not.
All the students turned their attention from Bakugou to Izuku at that moment before all of them uproariously laugh at him. Izuku was used to the mocking by his fellow classmates but it didn't sting any less each time they did it.
"You're kidding right?!" "There's no way you're getting into the Hero Course without a quirk!" "Good grades alone won't get you in, you know that!" "You hit your head or something because that sounds like the worst kind of fever dream to have!" "You can't get into a school meant to train those with quirks if you don't have a quirk yourself!"
Izuku stood up from his desk to address his fellow classmates. "Actually they got rid of that rule. Without question getting in would be a challenge for anyone but I could be the first one to pass the entrance exam who doesn't have a quirk."
Izuku was more than prepared for more mocking but he didn't expect Bakugou to react to explosively to what he had just said by slamming his hand onto Izuku's desk and causing a strong enough explosion to knock Izuku backwards.
"Listen up Deku! You're even worse than the rest of these damn rejects, you quirkless wannabe! You really think they would let someone like you into their program when they could have me!?" Bakugou yelled out at Izuku with some significant smoke coming from the hand he used to create said explosion.
Izuku shot a glance at the teacher and noticed he didn't show any signs of surprise at what Bakugou had just done. The teacher had just reminded all the students just minutes before about there were rules against using quirks on school grounds and Bakugou's quirk was easily a dangerous one that hurt someone even if the hot-tempered teenager didn't mean it. And being sent flying out of his chair as a result of using said quirk was definitely the intent on Bakugou's part and there was no way the teacher didn't missed that.
Another sad example in Izuku's view that not only is everybody not born as equals, but some don't even care for equality later on in their years.
Looking back at Bakugou, Izuku saw the anger on his face and his hand raised in the air like he was getting ready to use it to unleash another explosion on him. There was some nervousness in him at this moment but he knew it was better to stand up than stay on the ground which was something Bakugou seemed to do what he could to remind Izuku that was his constant position in life.
"If you think I'm competing with you, you're wrong. I've wanted to be a hero ever since I was little. I may not have a quirk but that doesn't mean I can't try my hardest. Just as any Pro-Hero does." Izuku's words were honest.
And yet somehow it seemed to annoy Bakugou even more.
With both of his hands out in the open, Bakugou glared at Izuku with smoke emanating off of each hand. Like a sign that his personal patience and temperament were burning away.
"You never be able to hang with the best of the best! You die in the entrance exam alone!" Then a rather harsh smile appeared on his face before he spoke again. "Defenseless Izuku! The school's already crappy and you really want to embarrass it more by failing so hard!? Think about it what you just said! You said you're gonna take the entrance exam just to 'try'?! What can you even do?!"
It actually pained Izuku that he didn't have an answer for Bakugou. The only answer anyone in the class wanted to hear was the kind that had the term 'quirk' in it. The entire classroom was quiet for about a minute before the teacher reminded everyone that they should be focused on their academic studies and leave at the mocking they wanted to do to Izuku for after school.
Bakugou let out a 'harumph' when that was said and returned to his seat after shooting one more glare at Izuku.
When Izuku returned to his desk, he noticed something about the surface of it that confirmed a suspicion he had for the longest time and Bakugou's explosive quirk uncovered it when he slammed his hand on the surface.
So far each year in Aldera Junior High, the desk that was assigned to Izuku would inevitably have someone etch or scratch words into it. Works that called him everything in between 'quirkless' and 'loser'. He made mention to the teacher about it a couple of times and managed to convince him using the excuse of damaged school property in order to get a new desk. But as he thought, the only thing the school actually did was paint over the surface. A practical means of a fixing a problem but it also reminded him that even if he didn't see it, he was still being mocked because of being quirkless.
The rest of the school day continued on after that. It wasn't as if they all forgot what was said, or rather yelled out, by Bakugou but when the end of the day school bell finally rung, it seemed most of them were in a hurry to be somewhere else than at school.
Izuku didn't pay much mind to the others leaving but he found it rather strange that Bakugou and his two followers decided to stick around until it was only the four of them left in the classroom.
Izuku was in the middle of gathering his things into his backpack when Bakugou walked up to him. His eyes seemed to convey the message that he was bored at the moment but there were hints of anger within too.
"Most first string heroes show their potential early on. People just look at them and know their destined for greatness." Bakugou said when he knew Izuku had focused his attention on him. "Make no mistake, Deku, that when I'm the only student from this garbage junior high to get into U.A., people will start talking about me like that. They'll realize I'm legit, the next big thing."
Bakugou showed off a smug smile before his finished saying what was on his mind. "That's not ego talking, I just know I'm that good."
Izuku could have sworn that he heard one of the other two behind Bakugou say the word "Ego" right after Bakugou himself said that he wasn't speaking from his ego.
If he hadn't heard that, then Izuku would have stopped Bakugou from reaching into his backpack and removed the notebook he had been writing in, the one he used when he saw Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady.
"Give that back!" Izuku tried to reach out to grab it but Bakugou smacked his hand away while holding the notebook as if he just picked up a piece of trash.
"You're still taking notes on Pro-Heroes?" Bakugou looked at the notebook with growing disgust before he looked at Izuku. "Consider this a favor I'm doing for a worthless nobody like you, Deku."
With both hands slapping together with the notebook in between them, Bakugou caused a minor explosion that essentially burned the notebook.
But it didn't end there. When it was certain the notebook would continue to burn until it turned into a pile of ash, Izuku watched as Bakugou casually threw it out the window behind him in the same manner someone does when throwing away a used napkin near a waste basket and not caring if it fell into the waste basket or not.
"Give it up, Deku, You maybe good at running but that only says you're good at running away from danger and heroes always run towards the danger."
Izuku wanted to retort, wanted to even yell out the words at Bakugou. But he could tell just from his eyes that no matter what he said at the moment, Bakugou wasn't going to hear it.
Both teenagers just stared at each other for a few moments before one of the two followers of Bakugou said something about leaving the 'Quirkless Wonder before his loser stink stains their school uniforms'.
As the three of them walked away from Izuku, the teenage boy was trying to keep his anger in check. Right now he so wanted to just lash out for being told to give up his dream of being hero.
But apparently someone either knew that's what Izuku was feeling or decided to throw more salt on the wound he just made.
"You know, if you really want to be a hero that badly, there actually might be another way. Just pray that you'll be born with a quirk in you next life and take a swan dive off the roof of this school." Bakugou actually smiled at Izuku when he said that.
That got the attention of the other two teenagers who shared a look thinking that Bakugou stepped out of line with that comment.
Izuku couldn't help but shoot a glare at Bakugou when he was told that. Bakugou only response was to show off another demonstration of his explosive quirk and a smug smile at the same time.
It took some doing but Izuku was able to reign in his anger which made Bakugou let out a laugh and the other two making comments about how Izuku proved he clearly doesn't have any kind of fight in him. After they were gone did Izuku make his way down to where he saw his notebook was. It was burnt and waterlogged and some fish were apparently nibbling on it which felt strange to Izuku since what were the odds that throwing a notebook out the window would have it land in the school's fish pond.
That thought didn't last in his mind since it got replaced when Izuku could see his reflection in the water surface. His mind was repeating the last thing Bakugou said to him as a way of reminding him that it wasn't the first time Bakugou said that exact same thing.
It didn't hurt the first time Bakugou said it to him so Izuku just let it slide. But now whenever Bakugou felt the need to, he would always say that Izuku should kill himself with no other reason than because he had no quirk.
Those thoughts plagued his mind more than usual. He wasn't sure why now was any different than all the times before. Maybe it was because the thought of getting into U.A. High wasn't as real as it was now and maybe Bakugou was somehow threatened by Izuku.
That last part made Izuku laugh because he knew that if there was anything that threatened one Katsuki Bakugou, it wouldn't be him even in a million years.
Whatever the case may be, it was something that Izuku decided wasn't worth the time thinking about. He hadn't done all that he could over the last 10 years to get himself into the kind of physical shape he knew he had to be in order to use the shield. Wasting even a minute of time on such depressing thoughts would be not only an insult at himself but it would mean he wasn't worthy of the goal that the shield represented.
Izuku made himself remember what he learned about the shield after the time had passed where his mother said no one had come to claim it so it officially belonged to him.
The first thought he had was when he wanted to see how strong the shield was in protecting something which involved an experiment using several eggs and a hammer. With the shield covering the eggs, Izuku used a hammer and hit the shield as hard as he could, even though he was still a little boy at the time, and learned very quickly two things.
The instant the hammer hit the shield did the hammer bounce back with the same amount of force Izuku had put into swinging it. Izuku had put all his weight and strength in bringing down the hammer as hard as he could so it completely surprised him when he somehow fully body vaulted backwards like an action figure that fell forward and then got finger flicked backwards.
The second thing he learned, which he wasn't sure why he thought it was a good idea in the first place, was to use to couch to jump off of in order to put more force into the hammer hitting the shield. The end result of that test, which started with Izuku jumping off of the couch and bringing the hammer down as he fell to the ground, was Izuku full body bouncing off of the shield and on the opposite side of the room.
Landing with a hard thud on the floor as a result meant Izuku needed a moment before he tried something else with the shield. He was glad that at the time his mother was out doing some shopping and wouldn't be back for at least an hour.
Double checking on the state of the eggs that the shield was covering did come as a surprise that none of them cracked. Izuku knew that there were some strong metals that when hit hard enough tend to flex as a result but only for an instant and the status of the eggs were telling him that the shield was indeed made from some kind of rigid form of metal.
The final test he did that day took some doing but he used the eggs to prop the shield off of the floor at four points. He wasn't sure why this kind of test seemed important to do since the was a good chance the eggs would just break under the weight of the shield. But when it didn't happen right away, Izuku quickly seized that moment to hit the shield again with the hammer. This time he decided to simply toss the hammer onto the shield since the other times had him end up flying after hitting it.
On the first try did the hammer land directly in the middle of the shield and, to his surprise even today, that the hammer bounced off of the shield about as high as it had been when Izuku threw it. Izuku had to collect himself after seeing that since it made him forget the eggs he had used to raise the shield off of the ground.
For a moment, all four eggs didn't show any signs that they had been cracked. Eventually one did but it seemed to be due to the weight of the shield and not what Izuku had done with the hammer.
That test was all that Izuku could think of doing in examining the shield at the time. That and he couldn't keep using eggs since his mother would get suspicious of why she had to keep buying more. But the results of the test was more than enough for a small boy to imagine what else could the shield do.
When he became old enough and strong enough to carry the shield on his own, Izuku took the shield to the same nearby forest and wanted to see if what he saw before of the shield bouncing off of his walls was real or a fluke of some kind.
When he found what looked to be a hard and flat enough surface, which was the form of a rather large boulder, Izuku used both hands and threw the shield at it. His form of throwing almost involved a full body spin so as to ensure enough momentum was achieve but Izuku wanted to see how strong he was at the time.
Izuku's reaction time at that point in his life was average but it was too slow to catch the shield when it came back at him after immediately bouncing off of the boulder. He had thrown it at about his chest height so when the shield came back, it easily knocked him flat on his back and the air out of his lungs.
Despite the pain he felt that day, Izuku was actually happy at what had happened to him. It took some years but knowing what he saw as a child about the shield was true made it worth it.
Those memories connected to the shield gave him the answer that he wished he could have said when Bakugou was basically screaming at him about he could do.
With a smile on his face as inspired by his idol All Might and the shield by his side, Izuku Midoriya would become a hero in his own right.
Some would say that he was actively denying reality with such thoughts and dreams. But Izuku would tell them that once upon a time what happened daily world wasn't that of a comic book as it is now.
A kind of rule that Izuku would later realize that he shouldn't have forgotten since on his way home he decided to take a different route that cut through a park which had a small tunnel that went under the park. He was just about halfway through when he heard that manhole cover that he walked passed rattle loudly before something appeared that looked easily dangerous.
Whatever it was, it had eyes and a mouth but the eyes alone said it wasn't friendly at all.
"Ah, good. A meat suit that I can hide in!" the thing said before it shot straight at Izuku and enveloped him almost completely.
It had moved so fast that Izuku didn't have time to react. His mind did register that what came at him was a villain but that was all he could clearly recall. The next thing his mind was telling him that it whatever it was, some kind of slime villain, it was forcing something down his mouth which was choking the life out of him at the same time.
"I didn't expect to run into him in this city of all places. Guess its wrong time and wrong place for the both of us." the voice said which sounded like someone speaking while their head was underwater. "Still, even he won't to think to look for me hiding in a meat suit until I get clear of the city. So thanks for all your help."
Izuku was trying to claw at anything in order to get a grip on whatever it was holding to him. But each time he tried it felt like he was just grabbing sand that was under water at beach.
"Don't bother, kid! My body's isn't gonna be ripped off so easily so just be a good little boy and die already!"
Izuku felt himself starting to slip into darkness. He was running out of strength and air and there was nothing he could do. He wanted to plead to anyone that might hear him to save him. He didn't want to die like this. The last thing he remembered clearly before the darkness took him completely was a sudden rush of wind passing over him.
'Is this what it feels like when your spirit leaves you body?', he thought.
Izuku wasn't sure how much time it passed but he began to feel something that got his attention. Something that definitely seemed out of place if he was dead and this was the afterlife. To him, it felt like someone was quickly slapping the side of his face. When he heard, 'Hey, wake up!' and 'Are you alright?', it was enough to make Izuku realize that he wasn't dead….or so he hoped.
Opening his eyes and seeing who it was that was slapping him, well slapping him back to consciousness.
"Oh, good. For a minute there I worried. Sorry you got caught up in my hero work. I chased the vile villain into the sewer system and, well to be honest, I got turned around a bit."
It took a minute for Izuku's mind to fully understand what, or who, he was seeing standing before him. Even wearing what could be call street clothes, there was no doubt that the man smiling before the teenager was the No.1 Pro-Hero in all of Japan if not all of the world: All Might.
"But with your help, citizen, I was able to catch the dastardly fiend!" All Might said while showing the slime villain current situation, contained in a large soda pop bottle.
Izuku might've wondered how that was possible since he remembered that the villain itself probably could have filled up a couple of baths at public wash houes. But his mind was entirely focused on the Symbol Of Peace And Justice standing before him.
"All Might….in the flesh….standing here….Wow, he actually looks so cooler in person….." Izuku said in a tone of voice that was barely above a whisper.
When his mind finally made the connection that he was actually in the presence of All Might did it switch hard over to his fanboy mode. He desperately looked for his notebook so as to get an autograph of the legendary hero. When he noticed the one that Bakugou had damaged earlier was on the ground, he reached for it and began practicing on how best to as All Might for his signature. It was when he was looking for a blank page to use did he notice that All Might had already signed his notebook.
Seeing that signature made Izuku so happy and grateful that he repeatedly bowed before All Might while expressing his gratitude and how All Might's signature in the notebook would become a family heirloom passed down for generations to come.
"Well, I must be off. Gotta get this guy to the police. A hero's work is never done, you know!" All Might said while making sure the bottle that held the villain was secure in his large pants pocket.
Hearing that from All Might brought Izuku out of his fanboy mode.
This was literally a once in a lifetime chance. Izuku knew that All Might got fan mail that asked questions ranging from everything but the odds were good that he wasn't personally answering any of them. Even if and when he did personal interviews, some of the questions felt like they were scripted or the response given to some of them were scripted.
'Wait, that's it? He's just gonna leave? No, I still got so many things to ask him!' Izuku thought to himself. He knew if he didn't ask the questions he had now, there will never come another chance let alone would any of the answers he would get feel real.
All Might did a couple of leg crunches to make sure he had a stable spot before launching himself into the air. His back was facing the person he had just saved so he was completely unaware of what the teenager's expression was showing. He might've spent a few more moments with this person but he was worried about the time limit since it took longer to stop the villain he was chasing than he thought and he couldn't afford to waste what time he had left.
The towering man of superhero muscle bent his knees one more time before he spoke up one more time. "Now stand back, I'm taking off."
The moment he said that, All Might used the strength in his legs to launch himself into the air.
"Thanks for your continued support!" All Might yelled out as one final compliment to a fan of his. He figured he might never see him again but at the very least he could make sure that the teenager was made aware that All Might recognized him as one of his fans.
Being a Pro-Hero meant getting a fanbase the longer you're in this line of work and after a couple of decades, All Might was sure if taken count of his fans, it would probably be close to the combined population of three cities in Japan at least.
About several seconds into his flight, All Might noticed something was off since it seemed he wasn't going as fast through the air as he expected. That was when he noticed some extra weight on one of his legs. When he looked back to see what it was, to say he was caught by complete surprise would have been an understatement.
Wrapped tightly around his left leg was the same teenager he had just saved.
"Hey, hey! What are you doing?!" All Might yelled out while trying to free himself from the teenager's grip. "Let go already! I love my fans but this is too much!"
"Wait! Don't! If I let got right now, I'll fall and die!"
All Might stopped in his attempt to break the teenager's grip on his leg after realizing something that was so obvious. "Oh, that's a good point."
Looking back at the teenager's face, All Might had to restrain a laugh at seeing how flying through the air as they were was somehow causing the teenager's face to make comical shapes. Probably as a result of him trying to talk while wind was rushing past his face so quickly.
"You're my all time favorite hero, All Might! There is so many things I want to ask of you!"
"Alright, alright!. Just close your eyes and keep your mouth shut!" All Might replied while taking a hold of one of the teenager's arm to make sure he didn't suddenly let go while they were still in flight.
He looked forward as he gauged as best as he could where he would land safetly. At the same time, he suppressed a cough using his right hand but felt something leave the over of his mouth. He didn't have to see it was a drop of his own blood leaving his mouth because the sensation of it alone was more than enough to tell him about his worries for his time limit was justified.
'Shit! Gotta land fast!' All Might thought to himself before finding a suitable rooftop that he could aim for as a landing spot.
It was a bit tricky of a landing, especially making sure the extra weight on his leg didn't take of the impact upon landing. When he was sure that the teenager was still alright, well as alright as someone who was claiming that they just saw their life flash before their eyes, All Might decided he had waste more than enough time.
"That was a rather foolish thing you did." All Might didn't like to scold people, much less a fan of his but something had to be said for the teenager's actions. When he was sure there was a door that allowed rooftop access of the building they were on, he told the teenager to bang on it and someone would eventually come along to open the door for him.
Once All Might began walking towards the rooftop railing in preparation of taking off again, the teenager spoke up, asking him to wait.
"No! I don't have time to wait!" All Might was starting to get a little annoyed but he was more worried about how much more time he had left in his current form.
"Can someone without a quirk be a hero like you?!" Of all the questions that Izuku wanted to ask, that was the most important one he had within his heart and the only one he knew had to be asked. To put it simply, if there was only one question in all of their life that someone could ask because they knew the answer held the most meaning than anything else in the world, would they seize the only moment where asking said question matter the most?
For Izuku Midoriya, this was that moment. He could ask a hundred random strangers on the street and a hundred random Pro-Heroes everyday for a year and Izuku knew none of the answers he would get would carry any more meaning to them than the last one. This man before him, this legendary hero for decades, was the only one who not only had an answer but to Izuku, it was the final answer to the question of his dream.
Even with all the effort he had put in to training himself to be better, to prove one day to all that he can be a hero, there was always that one voice in the back of his head that appeared the day the doctor told him that there was no hope for him to develop a quirk. There were days it was loud and days when it was quiet and even some days when it was silent.
But now in the presence of the No.1 Pro-Hero of Japan, the voice was practically screaming in his head that Izuku saw what it took to be a hero and no matter what he does that he will never have anything close to what he needs to be even half the kind of hero All Might is.
For All Might, there was some questions he was expecting to be asked. Some were a common theme among his fans, others were uncommon and some were just down right weird in his view. But what this teenager just asked him was literally the first time in years he had ever heard something he had once asked himself.
Alot of painful memories came flooding into his mind as a result which made All Might stood still in place. It may have seemed like he was waiting for the teenager to clarify what his question meant so Izuku decided to help All Might understand his question by explaining a little history behind it.
"Because I don't have a quirk, I….well, maybe that's not the only reason. But I've always been picked on…" Izuku wanted to say everything but decided against it. He knew he had to say what he felt matter the most to his question. "That's why...maybe that's why….I think saving people is just about the coolest thing someone can do."
All Might did hear what the teenager said after he reigned in his memories and thought about what he was being asked.
"Without a quirk you say?" All Might looked back at the teenager and noticed he was fidgeting with his thumbs and his gaze was turned away from him.
He decided to tell the fanboy what he felt was the honest answer to the question. But was stopped when he felt his body suddenly become weak and steam started to emanate all around him. The time limit had been reached and there was nothing he could do stop what happened as a result of it.
"They say no one can be a hero without a quirk but I think they're wrong." Izuku, whose gaze was still directed away from where he knew All Might was standing, inhaled some extra air to ask again the only question he had within his heart. "Without a quirk, can I still become a hero?!"
The moment he looked at All Might's direction to see what kind he would get from his favorite hero, in the midst of steam or smoke stood a man that was barely above a living skeleton looking right back at him.
The proverbial needle stopping on a playing LP record happened in Izuku's mind. He could have sworn on his life that All Might was standing where this skinny man was just moments earlier. His reaction wasn't surprising, the surprising yell alone from the teenager was loud, but it did annoy All Might a bit. Mostly since now he had to explain to a fan of his what was going on and trust that said fan boy didn't blab all over the internet about what he was going to reveal.
All Might did considered lying to the teenager, telling him that he was a Pro-Hero who doubled as All Might, that his quirk allowed him to copy others and their abilities for a set amount of time. It wasn't entirely a lie but All Might decided against it since it wasn't entirely the truth and if he told anything less than the truth to this fanboy then the answer he would give to the teenager's question would be an insult in many ways.
After extracting a promise from the teenager to keep what he was about to say a secret, All Might showed Izuku the rather large scar on the side of his body. He told him that he got it in a fight over 5 years ago which left him with a severely compromised respiratory system and most if not all of his stomach gone. All the surgeries he had to undergo took their toll on him and as final result restricted his hero time to about 3 hours each day. The teenager asked if it was because of his battle with the villain Toxic Chainsaw. All Might was impressed that the teenager knew about that fight but told him that as bad as Toxic Chainsaw was, he wasn't someone that gave merit to him being a serious villain.
Or at least not as serious as the one who gave All Might such crippling injuries.
All Might explained he did what he could so the world would never know of the fight in which he almost died to win. He said that the world needed to know that the Symbol Of Peace And Justice would always remain smiling and never be daunted by evil.
"And being the guy that always save people with a smile on his face, I have to make sure that the people don't know that there is plenty of fear behind said smile." All Might laughed at himself when he came to a realization of sorts. "I guess the main reason why I smile is to mask the overwhelming pressure and fear that I feel at times."
Izuku was quiet as he heard All Might speak to him. The words on the surface were spoken at normal volumes but for Izuku, it felt as though All Might was screaming them at him. Each word seemed to chip away or form a crack.
"Make no mistake, young man. A Pro-Hero should always be ready to risk their lives. Its just that...sometimes, villains can't be beat without powers."
Hearing that last part from All Might felt like a dagger had hit his heart. It hurt a lot but not as much as what he was about to hear next.
"So no, I honestly don't think you can become a hero without a quirk." All Might said with as much seriousness as he could put into his voice.
And that part from All Might felt as if the dagger that stabbed his heart was not being twisted to make sure the kill was confirmed.
"I see…." Izuku was doing his best not to show how much pain in his chest he was feeling at All Might's words. He hoped that the tears he felt wanting to form didn't appear on his face. At least not for a while.
All Might was aware of what he said but felt the need to continue speaking. "If you want to help people, there are plenty of other ways to do it. You can become a police officer. You may get a lot of crap because heroes capture most of the villains but it is a fine profession."
There was truth to it since there were some police officers that did have quirks but weren't exactly Pro-Heroes either. Even All Might knew of someone he felt was an exemplary police officer and the man proved his merits without a quirk either.
All Might moved from his spot on the rooftop and walked over to the door to see if it was unlocked. Thankfully it was since with his time limit had been reached, he couldn't use his muscle form any time soon so jumping down to the street wasn't an option.
Before he walked through the door, All Might felt he might have been too harsh with his words. He did see how the teenager's expression reflect what he was feeling inside and in his career as a Pro-Hero, All Might had seen it enough times to know what it was.
The person's whole world just fell apart right in front of them.
Whether it would seem like he was doing it to ease his own conscience or maybe remind the teenager that there was still hope left for him, All Might spoke the thoughts left in his own mind.
"It's not bad to have dreams, young man. Just...make sure your dreams are attainable. Realistic. Understand?"
With that said, All Might disappeared past the door and into the stairwell.
Izuku's mind was as conflicted as one could be with what he was told, what he knew, and what he felt in his heart.
The No.1 Pro-Hero, the Symbol Of Justice and Peace, the one he had looked up to all his life who even saved his life just minutes earlier, told Izuku the one thing virtually everyone else told him. Something he both knew and didn't want to hear.
To be a hero, you needed a quirk and Izuku Midoriya was born quirkless.
The teenager might've stayed standing still in his spot on the roof until the sun went down. But when a distant explosion sound and the rise of a large column of smoke appear not too far off in the distance, Izuku's curiosity about what villain appeared and which Pro-Hero was at the site sparked him to move as quickly as he could to the location.
No sooner did his hand reach for the door handle to open the door did his mind replay the answer that All Might had given to him in regards to his question.
That alone killed the curiosity that was strong within him and made Izuku all the more depressed as a result. His mind was more or less set into a kind of auto-pilot as he walked down the stairs and out of the building, not really caring where his walking legs were taking him.
He wasn't entirely sure why he pulled out the burnt notebook and read the information that he had written into it. Reading what he had written about Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady, both practical and side observation notes.
One last ditch attempt to remember why he wanted to be a hero in the first place?
Or maybe it was a kind of a farewell since now he knew without a doubt that he had been running from reality. That he knew the truth deep down all this time.
Whatever the case maybe, Izuku had never felt so depressed in his life. It actually felt like now was the worst time in his life, far worse than when he was told he didn't have a quirk. It made him come to a realization of how desperate he was in trying to prove everyone wrong and that included himself. That everything he did over the years was essentially him running as hard and fast as he could from the truth.
The sense of depression was strong enough that Izuku didn't realize where he had walked to, which was the Tatooin Shopping District, and that what was causing the smoke and fire he had seen from the rooftop was the result of the same slime villain that All Might had defeated and capture.
When Izuku remembered how All Might had captured the slime villain and which pants pocket he had put the soda bottle in, he remembered that when he saw All Might had changed for that said pants pocket was completely empty. So distracted he was at seeing All Might in such a state that the obvious flew right past him and only now did he remember it.
That formed a connection that the damage and destruction the slime villain was causing was the direct result of his interference. Had Izuku not grabbed onto All Might's leg when he took off into the air, then either the bottle wouldn't have been knocked out of the pocket or All Might would have noticed before the villain woke up and started causing such destruction as it was doing now.
Even with all the thoughts running in his head that told him what was happening was his fault, Izuku was aware enough to hear some talk among the crowd of people who were watching it. He heard one of them ask why none of the Pro-Heroes that were gathered were doing anything to stop the rampage. Someone said that the Pro-Heroes may have met their match and if not, they couldn't do anything at the moment since the slime villain had taken a kid as a hostage.
Hearing that greatly worried Izuku since he wasn't sure how long it was but the slime villain almost killed him by suffocation and if the slime villain had a hostage then there was no doubt it was doing the same thing to person as it did to him.
Izuku also took note of the Pro-Heroes that were facing off against the villain and saw that none of them were doing anything against the slime villain and mostly trying to keep any and all damage to a minimum. He even noticed Mt. Lady in her giant state but saw that she was doing nothing to help either. Where the slime villain was at the moment was too narrow of an area for Mt. Lady to be even remotely effective. All of the Pro-Heroes and their quirks were totally useless in this situation.
He was already blaming himself since it was his thinking that had he not did what he in regards to All Might then the slime villain wouldn't have gotten free to cause this kind of chaos. Izuku blamed himself even more when someone in the crowd said that the slime villain had to have been the same one that All Might had been chasing earlier. Someone else said that there was no way All Might would have lost against the slime villain or failed to capture it. That was followed up by someone wondering why someone hasn't called All Might to help the heroes.
It was clear that no one at the scene knew that All Might, that the time limit he told Izuku, had been reached and because of Izuku, he wouldn't able to stop the slime villain much less save the hostage it had taken.
It was all his fault that this happened. That was what he was telling himself over and over in his mind.
'Someone will come and help save the day. I'm sure. Someone….a real hero will come soon!' Izuku told himself.
He kept repeating that in his head until he had a clear view of who the slime monster had taken hostage. Without question did Izuku Midoriya see the panicking face of Katsuki Bakugou half submerged within the slime villain. The moment he recognized what, or rather who he saw, Izuku felt his entire mind go blank. Nothing else existed around him at that moment.
What happened next wasn't a conscious decision on Izuku's part. His body moved faster than it ever had before. He ran past the crowd and the Pro-Heroes so quickly that they only managed to register someone was running directly at the slime villain.
Unbeknownst to Izuku, All Might was at the scene as well and was in the middle of yelling at himself for how much of a failure he was in being unable to do something that all Pro-Heroes were supposed to do without question. He almost missed the sight of the fanboy that asked him earlier if he could still be a hero without a quirk run directly at the slime villain with a purpose. The sight also showed All Might that all the other Pro-Heroes that the teenager ran past did nothing stand still at the sight themselves.
"Stop you idiot! You're gonna get yourself killed!"
All Might heard the Pro-Hero Death Arms yell out after the kid but his entire focus was on what was happening. He watched as the teenager barrel right through burning debris until he got close enough to throw his backpack at the slime villain. Whatever the contents that were in the backpack, something caused the slime villain to react in reflex manner and the reason was clear. His body was maybe a semi-liquid form but his eyes were more vulnerable then the rest of him.
What the teenager did created and opening where he began clawing at the body to help free the other teenager that the slime villain was using as hostage. In that moment, that very sight before him, All Might realized that he was right in calling himself pathetic. Even more so when he heard the teenager say something that drove that point straight home.
"I couldn't just stand there and watch you die!"
That was what All Might needed to remind himself that he had to do something, no matter the cost. Forcing himself to transform caused a lot of pain but he powered through it and made his move just as the slime villain recovered and was going to strike down the teenager in the next few seconds.
The crash of the slime villain's attack against All Might's arm was indeed strong since it sent out a shockwave the sent some of the burning debris on the ground flying.
"I really am pathetic."
Izuku had braced himself for the attack but seeing that All Might blocked it and then hearing what he said about being pathetic caused more confusion than reassurance at what was happening in front of him.
"I told you the traits that make a great champion but I see now I wasn't living up to my own ideals!" All Might said before knocking the slime villain's arm away and then reaching forward to grab ahold of the hostage and pulling him free. "Pros are always risking their lives. That's the true test of a hero!"
With Bakugou freed, the slime villain cursed All Might and tried one last desperate attack to kill him. But All Might was already making his next move by throwing a specialty punch of his called Detroit Smash. The force from the punch was more than enough to blow apart the slime villain in an instant and resulting gusting winds were a little too much for Bakugou and Izuku to handle as both were unconscious.
While ending the fight against such an opponent was indeed impressive, All Might unwittingly added more to his fame and legend since his Detroit Smash actually caused the blue skies above them to change over to a sudden downpour. Even the gathered Pro-Heroes were impressed with some speculating that All Might caused the impromptu storm to put out all the fires that were still going on in this part of the shopping district at the same time.
When the rain stopped and all bits of the slime villain had been gathered up by the Pro-Heroes, the Pro-Heroes took their time in chewing out Izuku for his reckless behavior while praising Bakugou for his bravery. All Might got caught by the reporters that seemed to appear out of nowhere and began asking him for any and all details about what happened.
After the Pro-Heroes felt like they had made sure they had gotten their point across to Izuku did they let him go. Izuku noticed that a couple of the other Pro-Heroes were still giving their praise to Bakugou with some saying that they would be happy to have him as a sidekick if and when he turns pro himself.
Izuku laughed at the sight but paid no more attention to it when he started walking home. He knew he was going to get chewed out some more when he got home. Being late getting home from school would be the first reason but considering that the reporters were already spreading word of All Might's latest work as the No.1 Pro-Hero, and probably making mention about how two junior high school students got caught up in it, Izuku could already hear his mother yelling at him that his hobby of recording information on Pro-Heroes and villains didn't mean he had to get up close and person to the point where his life was actually in danger.
He was in the middle of his thoughts at how best to apologize to All Might. He figured it be best to do so on his fan website but he knew he would have to keep some of the details that All Might told him a secret. It was at that moment he heard an all too familiar voice coming up from behind him.
"Deku!"
Turning around and seeing Bakugou was in a full run sprint towards him, Izuku's curiosity was piqued at the moment. Bakugou knew where Izuku lived but to the best of his knowledge, this was probably the first time in years that Izuku had ever seen Bakugou on this block of the suburban area.
When he got within about 10 meters from him, and after taking a breath from his hard running, Bakugou leveled his gaze at Izuku before he spoke. "I never asked you to save me! As if you could! Huh?! Well?! I could've beaten him myself!"
Saying Izuku was puzzled at the words being yelled at him by Bakugou was a clear understatement.
"How dare a quirkless failure like you pity me! Trying to win me over?! Don't you dare mock me!"
Then it hit him. Izuku saw that Bakugou's ego was hurting and it needed a reminder of sorts. Because Bakugou had always gone out of his way to remind Izuku that the world didn't accept quirkless people, Bakugou had also made sure to establish that his quirk alone was unbeatable. And if that was the case, if it was indisputable inside of Bakugou's mind, then the fact he couldn't easily free himself from the slime villain introduced a fact Bakugou couldn't readily accept.
"You're just some quirkless failure that won't even cut it as a rent-a-cop! You didn't help me! You did nothing so don't think you can look down upon me!"
Bakugou turned his back in a huff before yelling out one last thing as he walked away. "You're a useless nerd and don't you forget it! I don't owe you anything!"
That pretty much confirmed it for Izuku. Bakugou's pride took a hit today. Of that there was no question but how bad of a hit would probably have to be determined for another time. In Izuku's mind, there was nothing that Bakugou said to him at that moment worth mulling over. He had already been given the answer to the question that was burning in his heart by his idol. It wasn't an answer that lifted his spirits but it was an answer nonetheless.
All that was really left was for him to go home and think about what kind of future he could make for himself now that being a Pro-Hero was definitely off the table.
"I am here!"
Seeing All Might appear before him in such an instant definitely surprised Izuku. "All Might! What are you doing here?"
Izuku looked around and he didn't see anyone around them. "How did you get rid of all those reporters that surrounded you?"
All Might just laughed wholeheartedly at the questions. "Hahahahaha! I stand for Justice, not Sound Bytes!"
He did several muscular style poses as he continued "Because I am All Migh….."
Seeing him change back into his skinny form and spewing up blood at the same instant was a very distressing sight.
After getting his hacking cough under control and wiping off the excess blood from his mouth, All Might spoke up but in a tone of voice that clearly hinted at someone having expended a lot of their energy and need some time to recharge. "Young man, I came here to thank you. And also to discuss your question from earlier."
Izuku was puzzled by that. He was sure All Might had given him his answer at least.
"If you hadn't told me about your life….no, if you hadn't run into that fight….I would have been a worthless bystander watching from the crowd, so thanks."
Izuku felt the need to apologize after hearing that. He told All Might that it was his fault to begin with since he basically got in the way of All Might's hero work. Izuku said it was solely on him that All Might wasted his energy and time which he felt was what led to the slime villain being free and causing chaos.
"I'm not done."
When All Might said that, Izuku stopped dead in his apology and looked at his idol as he continued.
"You told me you didn't have a power. So when I saw this quirkless boy try to save a life, it inspired me to act too." All Might said and noticed how he now had the teenager's complete and undivided attention. "There are stories about every hero, about how they became great. Most of them have one thing in common: their bodies moved before they had a chance to think, almost on their own."
Izuku wasn't sure but for some reason it felt like his heart was starting to hurt. A kind of pain he never felt before and would later find the words to explain what it was. It was the pain that comes after, after having a part of you being shackled down with weights is finally freed.
His idol was saying the words that he had been waiting his whole life to hear in earnest.
"And today, that's what happened to you."
All Might watched as his words caused the teenager to start having tears fill his eyes and his body fall down to his knees. He knew he wasn't causing him any kind of pain. All Might knew he was saying exactly what this teenager had been waiting his whole life to hear and decided to make it clear that indeed the words were spoken to him.
"Young man, you too can become a hero."
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Author's Note: Now the ground work has been fully set will the story start to take a different course than canon. Won't spoil the surprise too much but since Izuku has been training his body some, which was something he never did until he met All Might, then the 10 months of physical training he did in canon won't be the same here.
And in hindsight, even for a story like My Hero Academia, it was pure plot armor trope that Izuku passed the entrance exam especially since he literally had no kind of training with One For All which is expected of a shonen series but also a little too overplayed: hero gets a power but has no idea how to use it when the situation calls for it since it and becomes the only means of victory at the time. A little one-on-one training with All Might in how to use One For All before the entrance exam and things changes in many ways.
Also, a little tidbit for future chapters. I'm pretty much bouncing from the anime and manga of My Hero Academia since both tend to have something that the other does not. Such is the way of manga and anime but there's a reason for that. In the anime, during the entrance exam when Present Mic is explaining the rules, the only rules he says are what point values are for the four kind of battle robots they'll face and how they'll be separated into different groups, that no one can attack or interfere with another student in the exam and how long the test will be. Now it does show that some of the would-be hopefuls students at the entrance exam brought some gear with them but it's implied in the anime straightly that it is to help them with their quirks such as Yuga Aoyama and his Navel Laser.
But in the manga, Present Mic literally tells the students this: "This is how the test will go, my listeners! You'll be experiencing ten-minute-long 'mock cityscape maneuvers'. Bring along whatever you want!"
With that being said in the manga, that will be when Izuku Midoriya brings the shield with him and show the other students what he can do with it. And to give a frame of reference, in the Marvel Comics, it has been shown that Steve Rogers as Captain America can throw his shield, the metal one not the one made of energy, hard enough and fast enough to where it can actually cut THROUGH the armor of a tank which no doubt is the same kind durability the battle robots at U.A. High have for their armor. And that is from a man that is the basic reference of a super soldier. What would happen with the shield in the hands of someone who has the power One For All at his disposal?
