Step 1: Locate 5 more alternate-universe Ochako Urarakas

Ochako didn't even try to stop her tears of frustration from spilling onto the paper she was holding in a death grip.

"Deku… why? Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you reach out to us? Why didn't you reach out to me?"

Izuku had finally woken up from his coma after the battle of Jaku, but he was distant and sad. No matter how hard she tried, Izuku just brushed it off with a smile that never reached his eyes, and a polite 'thank you for caring about me.'

Until tonight. When Izuku had run away, leaving her with just a letter, explaining that he was actually quirkless until All Might had given him an ancient quirk. And that quirk made him the target for Shigaraki and someone called All For One.

That wasn't the part that hurt though. To be targeted by villains came with being a hero. The worst part was when Izuku explained that the villain had stolen Ragdoll's quirk, and it was dangerous to be around him. So he left his cell phone behind and was leaving UA with All Might, and please don't try and find him.

He had decided he would rather die alone than even bother asking if his friends would be willing to fight for him.

"Of all the stupid, idiotic…"

Ochako was too busy insulting Izuku, that she didn't notice the pink glow appear behind her in her room, forming a portal, nor did she notice the five familiar figures stepping out of the portal.

Suddenly, a familiar voice started speaking, "Izuku ran off here too?"

Ochako was confused when she heard the same voice responding, "But it looks like he just left, that means we got here in time!"

Ochako spun around in shock, only to see five more versions of, well, herself standing there, dressed in hero costumes.

One of the five Ochakos stepped forward and looked at her "It's a long story, but I know where Izuku is. We'll fill you in along the way, but we have an adorable idiot to save."

2 weeks ago

Ochako Uraraka, the inheritor of All For One's quirk and shadow empire, was angry.

When All For One was grievously wounded six years ago, she, out of all of the children raised in All For One's hidden sanctuaries, was chosen to carry his quirk. She thought it would be an honor to receive his quirk and finally get a chance to strike back at the heroes that took everything from her.

It turns out that was all a lie. According to Kyudai Garaki, the three months of unending pain she spent receiving his quirk was a total failure.

As she had learned recently, the part Dr. Garaki didn't tell her was that when she received All For One's quirk, she was also supposed to receive his personality, which was intended to completely overwrite hers, causing her to cease to exist. The good doctor only cared about her body, and how suitable it was to becoming All For One's next host.

But that didn't happen. After the transfer, Ochako was still in control. In fact, she didn't even feel a hint of AFO's presence inside the vestige realm that now resided inside of her.

Of course, Dr. Garaki lied to her and claimed it was a total success, and praised her for quickly mastering her new quirk, giving her the keys to the kingdom. Apparently, his plan B was to hope that the personality override would still happen, just at a slower pace.

Sadly for him, it never did, and Ochako was still fully in control of her facilities.

She had already begun aggressively rebuilding the criminal empire into a new, leaner form when one of her contacts had informed her that All Might had found a successor, some kid named Izuku Midoriya. When she looked into him, she discovered that he was actually around her age and that he was applying to UA.

So she began forming a plan. She would apply to UA as well and arrange to be in the same class as him. She would be so close to the ninth holder of One For All, and nobody would ever suspect a thing until she decided that she was done toying with him, and took it for herself.

She chose to enroll with her original Zero Gravity quirk, and couldn't help but laugh when, during her walk to UA for the entrance exam, she saw Izuku stumble and fall. Activating a speed quirk, she rushed to his side and used her quirk on him.

"Sorry if I used my quirk on you without permission! But it's bad luck if you trip and fall before a test, right?" She put on a sweet, innocent smile as she looked at him. Meanwhile, she was laughing internally as he turned red and incoherent.

This was going to be too easy.

"Well, I'll see you later, ok?" Ochako said sweetly as she turned and ran towards the school, dropping the act as soon as her back was to him.

And then, during the entrance exam. She found herself pinned by a piece of stray debris. She had things under control, and could easily free herself before the giant robot would reach her, but then she saw him, running towards her. It was her first experience with One For All's true power, and honestly, it made her heart race a little bit. She watched Izuku rush towards her, only to jump skyward and take out the massive 0-point robot in a single shot.

Sighing, she freed herself and with practiced ease used her quirk on a falling Izuku, to keep him from splatting the pavement, before she collapsed.

Keeping up the nice girl act was hard.

When she heard him crawling away and saying he had 0 points, she became concerned. Her entire plan depended on Izuku getting into UA! So afterward she wandered around the school until she found Present Mic's office, and begged him to take some of her points. She knew she had more than enough for two people to pass the exam and would take a lower ranking to ensure he got in. But then he assured her that Midoriya would have enough points to make it in.

That was when things started going sideways. On the first day, she easily joined his friend circle, along with a too-strict Tenya Iida, and she couldn't help but laugh as she walked to a dark corner of the train station, only to have Kurogiri teleport her back to her sanctuary. This was even easier than she imagined.

She fell asleep smiling as she imagined Izuku's face when his best friend betrayed him and stole One For All.

However, slowly, subtly, without her realizing it, things began to change.

"Uraraka-san," Ochako heard Izuku behind the door as she sat there seething over her loss to Bakugo in the sports festival. She absolutely should have won! Except that the tournament format was uniquely designed to play in his favor, and she couldn't exactly tilt things to her advantage, not with the entirety of Japan watching her, "can I come in? I want to make sure you're ok."

She began to see Izuku as an actual friend and began to genuinely care for him.

She misjudged a jump during parkour training, and fell off the side of a building, messing up her ankle. Wincing in pain as she looked at it, she was about to call upon a regeneration quirk when she heard Izuku. "Uraraka-san! Your leg!"

"I'll be ok Midoriya," Ochako assured him, trying to stand only to wince in pain as she felt her ankle buckle before she felt herself being scooped up by Izuku, who started carrying her, bridal-style, towards the school.

"It wouldn't be good to put pressure on it, let's have Recovery Girl take a look at it!"

As a friend and… maybe as more than a friend.

Himiko Toga was leaning over her, acting all sinister and bloodlust-y. She trusted her vampiric bodyguard with her life, but even she had to admit that she was hell of an actor and if it was anyone else doing the same thing she may have been scared.

And then she saw a familiar green light crash into Himiko, sending her flying as Izuku stood over her. From her vantage point, she saw both of his arms were shattered, but he was still willing to go to such lengths for her.

His face softened in relief when he saw she was ok, and Ochako couldn't help but feel herself blushing as she realized the lengths he would go to for her.

As she learned more about Izuku and his past, she found herself less and less interested in stealing One For All, at least until after he had retired. For someone who went through everything he did, who still was a genuinely good person at heart, and who wanted to help people… She couldn't help but wonder if maybe the tragedy surrounding her parents could have been avoided if there were more heroes like him in Japan.

And of course, once she found out what Bakugo did to Izuku, Ochako was furious. She made a note to eventually steal Katsuki's quirk and chain him up somewhere, stick a regeneration quirk in him, and make him suffer as she used his explosion on him. Repeatedly.

However, the entire house of cards began collapsing a few months ago, when she learned that Dr. Garaki had betrayed her, and had begun installing another copy of AFO into one of her lieutenants, Tenko Shimura. She panicked and had to carefully arrange it so that the heroes would learn about his lab in Jaku City, without compromising other parts of her network.

Unfortunately, her caution proved to be her undoing.

Back in the present, she walked through the remnants of Jaku hospital, a grim reaper for all that stood in front of her. Dr. Garaki woke Tenko early when he discovered the heroes were assaulting the hospital, and even in his incomplete state Tenko easily tore through the heroes.

Izuku, the brave, stupid, wonderful idiot that he was, of course, flew to Jaku hospital to engage him, thinking it was his duty as the holder of OFA to deal with AFO.

When she heard that Izuku had defeated Tenko, but was in critical condition, she dropped all pretenses and had Kurogiri teleport her directly to the hospital. There she saw Izuku, battered and wounded, still standing his ground against multiple Nomu in an attempt to protect the wounded heroes.

Nomu that she helped create over the last six years.

Raising her hand, she began pulling up quirks. "Rivet Stab, quirk enhancement times four, precision strike, lava touch." Out of her hand shot searing bolts, each one striking a Nomu's brain and destroying its ability to regenerate. She then rushed over to Izuku.

"Izuku, no."

"Ocha.. you shouldn't be here."

"You shouldn't be here either."

"I had to… I was the only one who could stop Shimura."

Ochako shook her head, "No dummy, that was my mess, I should have been the one to clean it up."

Izuku didn't seem to hear her, instead slowly raising his broken hand up to gently touch the side of her face. "Thank you… for being my first friend."

When Izuku's hand went limp, Ochako screamed.

Once she recovered, she began her descent into Garaki's lab, intending to clean up the rest of her mistakes right now. She cut down every Nomu along the way until she finally got to the sealed doors she knew Garaki was hiding behind. Pumping strength-enhancing quirks into her arms, she grabbed the doors and removed them, and a large chunk of concrete, from the walls, only to throw it aside.

"You- you ruined everything!" Garki pointed a finger accusingly at her.

"I had everything under control! I was rebuilding my empire! But it wasn't good enough for you!" She pointed a finger accusingly at the doctor. "Because I am not Him!"

"You were too young! Too emotional! You let yourself get close to the enemy! And look at where that got you!"

That hurt, because Ochako knew it was true. She had fallen completely for Izuku and had completely changed her plans on how she was going to handle One For All.

But none of that mattered anymore, because Izuku was dead.

"Yes, where did it get me," Ochako sighed longingly, "a kingdom without a king. And I have you to blame for that."

Without giving Garaki a chance to reply, Ochako had already crossed the room, her hand on his face as she pulled his immortality quirk out of him before she threw him into a wall. Without looking, she activated hair quills and launched hundreds of strands of her hair at him. Once her search quirk registered him as dead, she went over to his video terminal and began making a call.

To say All Might was surprised when he answered was an understatement. At least she had that final moment of satisfaction.

"Y-young Uraraka! Where are you?"

"I'm in the basement of Jaku General Hospital. Where Dr. Kyudai Garaki had installed All For One into a second candidate. Izuku took care of the candidate but he- but he-" She tried stopping her tears, but even with all of her quirks, she couldn't keep herself from crying.

"What do you mean, the second candidate?" Nezu asked cautiously. Leave it to the rat to figure that out.

"Six years ago, I was given All For One's quirk after your battle left him comatose," Ochako said, taking satisfaction in their responses.

"What? But How?!"

"It doesn't matter," Ochako said sadly, "Izuku Midoriya is dead, and One For All along with him. There's nothing left for me here."

She activated an ancient quirk, dimensional portal, and a pink light appeared behind her, slowly forming a gateway. It was a very difficult quirk to use, and All For One didn't see the point in using it, because without knowing where you're going, your destination is random. But right now? It was perfect for her needs. She just didn't want to be here, and would rather be anywhere else.

"W-what are you doing?" All Might asked cautiously.

"I'm leaving. You won. With Garaki and Tenko dead, and this lab in ruins, I am the last owner of All For One. Once I step through that portal, you will never see me again. Congratulations All Might, this ancient feud is finally over."

They tried to talk to her, but she wasn't listening. Turning around, Ochako stepped through the portal, not caring where she would end up.

12 days ago

Ochako was growing concerned. She had stepped out of the portal into what should have been Jaku General Hospital. Instead, she found herself in the middle of a crater.

Naturally, the first thing she did was bring up Search to see which heroes and villains were alive. She frowned when she saw Tenko was alive, and apparently struggling to control his copy of All For One, currently about a hundred miles away from Tartarus… along with most of her former associates. Apparently in this universe, she either never received AFO, or something else happened.

Unfortunately, since she's never met an alternate universe version of herself, she couldn't exactly use Search to check up on, well, herself.

She vaguely wondered what would have happened if her parents never died in that villain fight. When she was 5, the "hero" Thunderbolt was chasing a villain through their hometown, and he didn't care about the collateral damage, as long as he took the villain down.

Collateral damage like the building her parents were in.

Three years ago she finally got her revenge, but it felt like a hollow victory, honestly. At least his super speed quirk was useful.

Ochako shook her head, no time to dwell on what ifs, she had an Izuku to find. Her search quirk showed that he was currently in Mustafu, but he was actually at Endeavor's agency, not at UA, while the 18 other classmates she was expecting were at UA. Odd, she wondered what he was doing there.

Sighing heavily, Ochako realized she probably can't just telepathically call Kurogiri for a pickup. At best it would lead to confusion and at worst… she didn't exactly feel like getting into a war with another AFO user right now. If she was at her best, maybe, but right now she was just tired and worn out.

She began walking through the crater until she found the undamaged buildings at the edge of the destruction, all hastily abandoned. Thankful for small favors, she broke into one of the buildings.

As much as she wanted to track down Izuku and see how he was doing, a hot shower, a warm meal, and a couple of hours' nap sounded good right now. Maybe she'll even get lucky and find some clothes she can change into so she isn't forced to wear her hero costume everywhere, too.

It took Ochako two days before she finally was approaching Mustafu. That was a day and a half longer than she would have liked, but hey, she was trying to be discreet until she knew more about the situation in this universe.

At least, she wasn't worried until she saw Izuku's vital signs go haywire as she was getting close to the city limits.

Panicking, Ochako forced the driver she was hitching a ride with to stop as she got out of the car. Giving up all pretenses, she activated her speed quirk, bolstered by a couple of quirk enhancements, and began running into Mustafu, trying to find Izuku.

She still wasn't fast enough.

As she saw Izuku's life signs flicker and die, she tripped and fell, already feeling like she was too late.

Again.

No, she had to see this through. Forcing herself to stand, she continued onwards, approaching the crater where she last saw his life signs from. As she approached, she heard a familiar voice in the crater, already crying.

"Zuzu… Zuzu… why? Why didn't you let us help you?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Ochako began approaching the brown-haired girl clad in a familiar yet distinct black-and-pink hero costume. Very carefully, she reached out to place a hand on the grieving Ochako's shoulder.

Like she was struck by lightning, Uraraka (hey, Ochako needed some way to tell the two of them apart) spun around with a startled gasp, only to come face-to-face with… herself?

"Toga? Seriously this isn't the time!"

Ochako couldn't help but laugh, "Don't worry, I'm not Toga. I'm actually you. You might wish I was Toga though."

That caused Uraraka's face to screw up in confusion, "How can you possibly be me?"

"I may have used a dimensional portal quirk to leave my own dimension behind, after Izuku…" Ochako knelt down beside herself and gently brushed Izuku's fluffy hair out of his face, before closing his lifeless eyes. "After Izuku sacrificed himself to save a bunch of people who didn't deserve saving."

"Dimensional portals?" Uraraka asked, still completely lost.

Ochako laughed. That explained one thing at least - this universe's Ochako didn't have All For One, putting her at a distinct advantage. Not that it matters, since she was too late to help this Izuku.

"I've got a quirk called All For One, you may have heard of it," Ochako said, giving a sinister smile to her counterpart, "one of the quirks contained within it lets me travel between dimensions, but it's sort of a one-way trip."

"All For One?" Even in her emotional state, that was enough to jar Uraraka out of her slump, causing her to jump back and enter a fighting stance, "You really are worse than Toga!"

Ochako laughed bitterly. "Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything to you. If Izuku was alive I may have considered using my quirks to kill you and replace you, but well." Ochako adjusted Izuku's body so he looked more comfortable lying on the ground after Uraraka dumped the body in surprise. "Seems kind of pointless, doesn't it?"

Once she was done, Ochako sat down on the ground facing Uraraka. The other girl slowly lowered herself to the ground, still concerned that there may be some sort of trap. Ochako couldn't really find it in herself to blame her, in fact, she may be more upset if the other girl wasn't worried.

She just didn't know how much of an effect Izuku had on Ochako.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Uraraka asked cautiously.

"Honestly? I'll probably just… activate my dimensional portal again and keep going," Ochako shrugged. She hadn't really put much thought into it. She had just wanted to see how Izuku was doing. Maybe she would have taken the time to form a more coherent plan after that, but now that was up in smoke.

"I can't imagine," Uraraka said with a faraway look in her eyes, "I know what it felt like, being too late just this one time. To know you've had to experience it twice now."

Ochako frowned, unhappy with the reminder, "Yeah. It kind of sucks."

"So what are you looking for?"

"Honestly? At this point a dimension where Izuku is alive and well," Ochako laughed bitterly, "I'm afraid I may be too good at my job, even if I am a 'failure'."

"A failure?"

"Yes," Ochako sighed, "you see, when I was given All For One, it was supposed to be a package deal, and I was supposed to literally become him. All For One that is. But nope. I got the quirk and everything that comes with it, but I'm still me." She looked longingly over at Izuku, "I had planned to end this centuries-long feud to prove I was better than AFO, but then Izuku was too much, and I fell for him."

Uraraka giggled, "You too, huh?"

Ochako sighed, "It seems that way. I wonder if it's some sort of universal constant."

"Well, one way to find out!" Uraraka jumped up, "I want to come with you!"

Ochako looked up at her counterpart in surprise. "Seriously?"

Uraraka had a look of determination on her face as she pumped her fist and nodded. "Yes! There's got to be a reality out there where Izuku doesn't die, right? And we just have to find it!"

"And then what?"

"I don't know, we fight for Izuku's love?" Uraraka giggled nervously.

Ochako rolled her eyes, "Just for the record, I would win."

"Probably, but that wouldn't stop me from trying!"

In hindsight, it probably should have been obvious that if she ran into her alternate universe counterpart, they would share some personality traits, even if they came from wildly different backgrounds. "You're really serious about staying in a universe with another Izuku?"

Uraraka had a faint blush growing on her cheek, "Look, I failed Zuzu here, so there's nothing left for me. Maybe it's the guilt talking, but right now I'm filled with nothing but what if's. What if I pushed everyone harder to search for him? What if I decided to go looking for him myself earlier? But…" she waved her hands helplessly at Izuku's body. "If I can follow you to a universe where Zuzu is alive, maybe I can do things right next time."

As she heard Uraraka speak, Ochako felt as if it was her own consciousness trying to vocalize her own thoughts. She realized that was exactly what she wanted, too. To find a world where Izuku was still alive and to see, would he accept her as she was? Would he still reach out for her hand, knowing she was the successor to the literal ancient enemy of One For All?

Turning to Uraraka, Ochako felt the same determination growing on her own face. "You're right!"

Even if she wasn't willing to admit it out loud yet, Ochako had found a kindred spirit in herself, of all people. It may be one of the strangest things to happen to her, but she has just accepted that strange things are a fact of life in a world with quirks.

"And if we find Izuku?" Uraraka asked nervously, her hands suddenly behind her back as she fidgeted nervously.

Ochako laughed and gave her a reassuring look, "I promise we won't fight to the death. Hopefully, we can convince Izuku to let us share."

While that statement would be utterly unthinkable for any other girl, for some reason Ochako didn't seem to mind the idea when she would be sharing with Uraraka.

Uraraka sprung and wrapped Ochako in a hug, "Yay! We're gonna get along great!"

Ochako smiled as she hugged Uraraka back. "Let's go find a universe where we can make a difference, stop Izuku from being such a suicidal idiot, and show him how much he means to us."

Uraraka pulled away and pumped her fist into the air, "This is going to be amazing." She suddenly paused, as if realizing something very important, "Umm… we should probably go back to the dorms and pack some clothes and supplies before we leave, shouldn't we?"

Ochako looked down at her own borrowed clothes, a worn-out duffle bag containing her hero costume discarded at the edge of the crater. "Actually, yes. Let's do that. I'll sneak us into the dorms and make sure none of our classmates know we're there."

"Our classmates?"

Ochako looked at Uraraka and gave her an almost playful smile, "It's a long story, but I'll give you the highlights along the way."

AN: What started as a silly idea ended up growing into a whole thing over on Discord Server between myself, Mirrond, The Mad Mystic, and several others. So now I present the first chapter of nonsense. It starts off serious, but don't worry, that is just a prelude to this turning into pure crack.