"Whoa, you can fly?" Ochako asked, wide eyed.
Izuku was at Ochako's apartment after school, visiting after getting a text that she had been feeling lonely. He had made his way over, not wanting to keep her waiting, but had to almost beg Aizawa to let him leave. After his stunt with the DnD session the week before, Izuku had been put on a form of house arrest, where he hadn't been allowed to leave campus for a whole week. After that had ended, Aizawa had been hesitant to let him leave, in case he tried another late night run trying to train his Quirks without the permission to use them granted to him by being on school grounds. He had to show the text Ochacko had sent, and had been allowed to go under the condition that he was back within an hour and a half. Izuku had already been at Ochako's apartment for about an hour, which meant that he'd have to leave soon. The two had gone out and Izuku had bought them both food, knowing that Ochako couldn't afford it.
He had been catching Ochako up on what had been happening at school. He had left room for pauses where Ochako could ask questions, and they had been like that for an hour. She had been thoroughly disturbed by the story of how Shigaraki had dusted the gate, and how he had almost considered giving up the title of Class Rep. Now, Izuku was talking about the USJ Incident, and had just gotten to the part where he had manifested Float for the first time.
"No, I can't fly. I can Float. They're different," Izuku groaned.
"Aren't they the same, though?" Ochako asked.
"No. I can hover in the air, but I can't move myself without needing to generate kinetic energy. I can't get into the air and move myself through my own will. I need to push off the ground, activate my Quirk, and the force I used to push off the ground will carry me, because I am no longer affected by the force of gravity. That's the best way to explain it," Izuku said, trying not to get mad.
"Oh. Like how my Quirk works," Ochacko said.
"How so?" Izuku asked, taking a bite into the burger he had bought.
"Well, my Quirk is Zero Gravity, right?" Ochako asked.
"Yeah," Izuku said.
"Zero Gravity doesn't make the things I use it on float into the air. It makes them weightless. The force of the earth spinning does that. So they're kinda similar when you look at it like that," Ochako said, not looking away from the ceiling as she spoke.
"Huh. I guess you're right. Hey, have you ever considered experimenting with your Quirk?" Izuku asked.
"How?" Ochako asked back, looking at Izuku.
"Well, I've found that taking a step back and looking at what I can do helps me find branches of abilities that I could perform. Like with Blackwhip, knowing that it was a physical object and knowing that I could influence the whips' shape helped me figure out that it could potentially be a shield, and that became my Whip Shield. Do you see where I'm going with this?" Izuku explained.
"That's easy for you to say. Your Quirk is adaptable by nature. It's literally raw energy, just waiting to be shifted into another form. Zero Gravity is a solid, stable power, with set limits," Ochako said, looking away with a pained expression.
"That may not be true. You know how I talked about helping Hagakure figure out that she could become visible if given a bit of help with technology?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah," Ochako said.
"Well, Hagakure's Invisibility was always a stable, set status that she had no control over. Now, she's been working to learn how to warp the light that comes into contact with her, and has seen some success. We've also managed to make her visible for an admittedly brief moment. We still did it, though. The same general idea of helping your Quirk with a new perspective and applied technology applies to everyone, except for powers that are so far ahead of technology, like All Might's overwhelming strength," Izuku said.
"I guess that could work. What would you say to me?" Ochako asked.
Izuku thought for a moment. He had always seen Ochako press all of the pads on her fingers onto their counterparts on her opposite hand to cancel her Quirk's effect. He had never seen her press the pads onto different pads on the same hand, and thought about what kind of effect that could have on the object her Quirk was currently activated on. Making contact with different combinations of pads on the same hand could increase gravity, make gravity turn sideways or have any of hundreds of different effects that Ochako had clearly never thought of. Izuku wasn't judging her, but he kind of thought that it was a simple conclusion to make, taking him less than a minute to make as opposed to Ochako's eleven years of having her Quirk.
"Have you ever tried to press your Grav Pads to different Pads on the same hand?" Izuku asked.
"No. I haven't. That's … a really good idea," Ochako said, slowly making the same connections that Izuku had.
Ochako sat up and grabbed the cup she had been drinking out of a few minutes earlier. She activated her Quirk on it, and began to lift into the air, floating out of her reach. Ochako, once the cup reached the ceiling, carefully pressed her middle finger's Grav Pad to the one on her thumb on the same hand, and the Pads glowed pink, the telltale sign for Zero Gravity being used.
The cup immediately glowed pink, just like the two Grav Pads, and it fell to the ground like a magnet flying toward another magnet. It was plastic, and the floor was carpeted, so it didn't smash, but the cup had fallen so quickly that Izuku had barely seen it move.
Izuku and Ochako looked at each other, grinning from ear to ear. Ochako laughed at the effect Izuku's experiment had on her powers, and cheered into the ceiling, carefully not to move her arm inside her cast. It was due to come off tomorrow, but she still had to rest for another week; Recovery Girl's orders.
"Do you know what this means? This means that my Quirk isn't Zero Gravity! It's … it's just my Grav Pads," Ochako realized.
"Grav Pads. That's not a bad name," Izuku said, glancing toward his backpack, where his notebook was hidden.
"Oh, go. Write your notes," Ochako said, knowing how comforting it was for him.
"Quirk Revision, name changed in lieu of discovering much more potential abilities. Quirk Name: Grav Pads. Description: The user, Ochako Uraraka, is able to touch objects with her Grav Pads, having one on each finger and needing to use all Pads on one hand to activate her Quirk. The initial effect is to remove the effect of gravity on the object, but additional combinations of Pads, when touched together, unlock more effects. Right Middle Finger pressed to Right Thumb: Increase Gravity," Izuku muttered as he wrote the information at a feverish pace.
Ochako looked back at the cup, noticing that the plastic was bending under the extreme gravity. She quickly cancelled her Quirk, letting the cup return to its natural shape, after bouncing away. Looking back at Izuku, Ochako saw that he was ready to write more, and gave in.
"Experiment Two: Right Index Finger to Right Thumb," Izuku said, openly talking to himself. "When you're ready," he said, look at Ochako to record the results.
Ochako used her Quirk to make the cup float, and then pressed the Grav Pads on her pointer finger and her thumb together and, once again, they lit up pink with the cup. This time, the cup flew to the left, hitting the wall at the speed it would normally drop due to gravity. Izuku returned to his notes.
"Results: Success! This combination produces the effect of shifting the object's gravity to the left. It appears to be the equivalent of one G," Izuku said as he wrote.
He walked over to the cup that had landed near him, and picked it up, handing it back to Ochako as she walked to the middle of the room again. Izuku loved this. It had been a while since he'd done some good old Quirk Analysis, and it felt nice; like he was back at home watching All Might videos and trying to figure out what on earth his Quirk was. He missed that homey feeling, and got it when it was just him and his notebook. When he thought about it, he got that feeling around Ochako, as well. He chalked it up to being good friends and moved onto his next experiment.
"Alright! Test Three: Right Ring Finger to Right Thumb," Izuku said.
Ochako made the cup float once more, and let it drift into the air before doing as Izuku had said, and pressing the Grav Pads on her ring finger and her thumb together. The cup immediately glowed pink, along with the Grav Pads, and threw itself to the right, almost going out the window. Ochako and Izuku sheepishly laughed, knowing they would have been in trouble if they had destroyed a window while experimenting with Quirks. If they had, the owner of the apartment building would be liable to sue for Destruction of Property with a Quirk, which was a chargeable offence.
"Results: Success. This combination produces the effect of shifting the object's gravity to the right. It appears to be the equivalent of one G," Izuku said, walking over and grabbing the cup once more.
Taking a closer look at the cup, he knew it couldn't take much more of this. Small cracks had splayed out across its surface, and Izuku knew that already it was done as a cup. Small pieces of it had broken off, some at the bottom, meaning it could never be used to hold liquid again, and his experiments may be the last thing it ever did. Handing the cup to Ochako, making sure she saw the cracks before proceeding.
"Test Four: Right Little Finger to Right Thumb," Izuku said, nodding to Ochako.
Ochako pressed the Grav Pads on her little finger and her thumb together, and once again, both the pads and the cup lit up pink. The cup instantly fell upwards, just as Izuku had suspected. It was the only direction the cup had yet to fall in. The cup fell toward the ceiling and finally shattered as it slammed into the hard surface, shards of plastic floating around. Izuku nodded to Ochako to release her Quirk, and the shards began to fall to the ground.
Izuku threw his hand out and shot out five different, smaller strands of Blackwhip to catch a shard each, which managed to catch all but one of the shards. As the final part of the cup fell to the ground, Izuku decided to try something he had been thinking about for a long while. The way he had seen Tsu do so many times, Izuku thrust his head forward and poked his tongue out, willing Blackwhip to manifest out of the tip of his tongue. To his surprise, it worked, and a smaller, thin strand of Blackwhip shot out and curled around the final part of the cup, and as he pulled his tongue back in, the shard flew toward his face. Izuku caught the shard, making it join the five other pieces in his hand, and looked at Ochako.
"You're getting really good at controlling Blackwhip," Ochako said, relaxing.
"Thanks. I've been training a lot in the lead up to the Sports Festival," Izuku said, dropping the pieces in a trash can.
"When is that, by the way?" Ochako asked, sitting down against the wall.
"This coming Monday," Izuku said, joining her on the ground and writing in his notebook the results of his last test.
"Wait, that's in three days!" Ochako shouted.
"Yeah. Everyone at school is really excited," Izuku said, something in his voice making Ochako worry.
"You don't sound like you're excited," she said, tilting her head.
"I am, I just know how hard everyone's going to be trying. It's making me want to try my best, not that I wasn't going to. I just feel like I'm cheating somehow. With Super Strength, Blackwhip and Float, I feel like I have three fully fleshed out Quirks at my disposal, but I'm only using them a third of the time. I feel like I'm cheating the Festival, cheating our classmates and cheating myself," Izuku admitted.
"You think you should focus on one power to make it fair?" Ochako asked.
"Maybe? I don't know. I know that I'm just using my powers to the best of my abilities, but the only other person that gets close to my best is Todoroki, because he basically has two Quirks of his own. That may sound a bit arrogant, or self-centred, but I'm just worried that the others hate me because of my powers," Izuku said, closing his eyes.
"That could never happen!" Ochako said.
"I know. I know that it's a stupid, irrational fear, but it's one I can't help but have. I've been hated and judged because of my Quirk status for my whole life, and I'm still in that mindset, I think, of them turning on me at any turn," Izuku said.
Izuku's phone buzzed, and he immediately checked it. It was a message from All Might, asking him to meet with him when he has the chance before the festival. He closed his eyes, sighed deeply and stood up, walking over to his backpack in the corner.
"I have to get back to UA. A … izawa needs to talk to me about something, and he needs to tell me as soon as possible," Izuku said.
"Alright. Thanks for stopping by, even though you didn't have to," Ochako said.
"I had to," he replied, smiling before walking out the door and running down the stairs.
When he arrived at the teachers' lounge, which he had become increasingly comfortable with over the course of his time living just beyond it, he walked in and set his backpack on a chair to the side. He went over and sat on a chair next to Midnight, who was reading the book the class was studying in Hero History, The Meta Liberation War by an old freedom fighter named Destro.
"Yo, 'Zuku. What's up?" she asked, not looking away from the book.
"Hey, Kayama. All Might said to meet up with him here, so I'll wait until he gets here," Izuku said, leaning into his seat.
All Might had gotten out of the hospital a few days after the USJ Incident, and they had begun having talks in the lounge after class and during lunch. He had to come up with more and more elaborate excuses to get out of eating lunch with Shinso and Tsu, or writing some more of his speech with Kendo, or planning out the next Class Rep meeting with Yaoyorozu, but he managed it. All Might was liable to pull him out of lunch to talk about just about anything, and Izuku sometimes thought that All Might didn't really have a reason, just wanting company. He had noticed that even the man's own coworkers viewed All Might as this untouchable entity, something other than human, and not as a man, the man that Izuku had gotten to know. That irritated him, and he had brought it up to Midnight and Mic a few times to success. The staff had started to recognize when they were deifying All Might and had started to back away from that mindset, much to Izuku's appreciation.
Izuku had grown to be far more comfortable with the teachers and staff than he had ever expected. The teachers even had nicknames for him, such as Midnight's ''Zuku', which she had started calling him after he had tiredly said his own name after pulling an all-nighter to study for a test she had given him. He had a variety of nicknames, but his favorite was 'Problem Child', given to him by Aizawa, though the man adamantly refused calling him this. Midnight had told him about his teacher's name for him after school one day, and it warmed Izuku's heart to know he had a special place in Aizawa's heart, even if it was mock hatred.
Midnight had taken on a kind of 'big sister' role for Izuku, and reveled in it. Present Mic was kind of a cool older brother who would sometimes bring him souvenirs from Hero patrols, even though Aizawa told him not to. All Might took the cake, though, and everyone knew it. The staff had rarely heard them talking, but when they did, they had told Izuku that they were taken in by the homey feeling of the two's energy. Midnight was by far the most enthusiastic about the whole 'Izuku is All Might's real son' theory, which he didn't mind.
Izuku had recently gotten permission to call Midnight and Present Mic by their names, but stuck to Present Mic's Hero code name, due to his real one being oddly similar to his father's name. Present Mic's name was Hizashi Yamada, where Izuku's father was called Hisashi Midoriya, and it wasn't a connection he liked making. Izuku tended to call Mic by his Hero name, then, to avoid the feelings his father brought up.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Izuku saw All Might in his true form walk into the lounge. He spotted Izuku and smiled, and Izuku smiled back. All Might sat down next to Izuku and asked him about his day, and Izuku told him about his visit to Ochako, and how they had experimented with her Quirk.
"You truly have a unique mind when it comes to Quirks, my boy," All Might said, ruffling Izuku's hair.
"Thanks. Uh, what did you wanna talk about?" Izuku asked.
All Might glanced over at Midnight, who, despite having her nose buried in her book, was listening intently. Izuku chuckled to himself as Midnight walked out of the lounge, pouting. She made a face at All Might as she closed the door, getting Izuku to laugh out loud, giggling like a little kid. She closed the door, satisfied.
"So, the Sports Festival is in three days," All Might said, moving to sit across from his successor.
"Yeah. Do you think I'm ready?" Izuku asked.
"Definitely. You've come a long way, and not just in your application of parallel processing. Your safe limit of One for All has raised from five percent to seven percent in just ten days! I'm so proud of you!" All Might said.
"Yeah, well, I couldn't have done any of this without your guidance and your Quirk, so thank you," Izuku replied.
All Might sighed, and Izuku wondered if he had said something wrong.
"You always call it my Quirk, and my power. Young Midoriya, I think it's safe to say that you've begun to make One for All your own, or have at least differentiated yourself from me enough to the point where you're your own Hero, now. Two of your Quirks weren't even available to me, and you'll manifest four more by the time you've mastered OFA! That brings me to the reason I called you here," All Might said, patting Izuku on the shoulder.
"What is it?" Izuku asked.
"I want you to announce to the world that 'YOU ARE HERE' at this Sports Festival. I want you to show that you have the stuff to become the next Symbol, just like I know you can. You've proved that to me, but you need to prove that to them. Japan. They'll need a new Symbol, and they'll need that new Symbol to be just as powerful as I was, and that's where you come in. They'll need a new Symbol, but they won't want one that is just like me. They'll want one that can be more powerful, while still retaining the same philosophy, and you've already proven that you've got the stuff, Young Midoriya," All Might explained.
"All Might," Izuku sighed.
"I was wrong when I said you can be the next me; the next Symbol of Peace. No, you can be something more; a different symbol. Get ready to introduce the world to Izuku Midoriya, the Symbol of Hope," All Might said, shifting into his heroic form in a fit of passion.
"Ah! All Might, conserve your energy!" Izuku said, and All Might shifted back into his skeletal form.
"Sorry. I got a bit … worked up. I'm well aware that I'm down to only fifty minutes after that damned Nomu reopened my wound from All for One," All Might apologized, sitting back down.
"Is there any news on that front?" Izuku asked, scared to even say the Villain's name.
"No. The League of Villains hasn't made a move since the USJ. All for One is biding his time, waiting for me to make the next move. I won't play his game, though. I'm going to take him down so that you don't have to. Don't you worry, Young Midoriya. You'll never have to fight the evil that is All for One while I live," All Might said, trying to be a positive reassurement to Izuku.
It was the opposite. Izuku knew that All Might didn't have much time left as a Hero, his leftover sparks of One for All being used up every time he used his power. Those sparks were small, and they were dwindling faster than Izuku's own powers were growing. That, partnered with the reduced time in his heroic form due to his recent battle with Nomu at the USJ, spelled out trouble for All Might in the near future, and Izuku feared that he may die before Izuku got to show the man what a great Hero he could be.
"So, will you do it? Will you announce yourself as the future Symbol of Hope during the Sports Festival?" All Might asked, grinning from ear to ear, already knowing the answer.
"Yes. I'll show the world that I can be the greatest Hero," Izuku said, flashing All Might's grin back to him.
"Then, let's get to work," All Might said.