Chapter 2- Rise through the Decade
"What do you mean,'you awakened your quirk', Izuku?" Inko asked. She was having a hard time believing that her son could deceive her by having a quirk. He was too excitable around quirks before this entire business started.
Izuku chuckled, eyes smiling at her, dancing with mirth. "To explain this more efficiently, I'm going to have to explain one particular theory that has been making the rounds on the internet. It's called the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory. Most who know of this theory tend to dismiss it as outlandish, or cultist. However, the evidence points to it being true. About seventy years ago, Dr. Kyudai Garaki presented this theory, according to which, as the generations follow one another, Quirks blend and evolve, producing stronger and more complex Quirks. However, with this increase in power, the Quirks will also become more difficult to control, since the human body doesn't evolve quickly enough to keep up.
"Eventually, there will come a point when Quirks will become too overpowered and complicated, and no one will be able to control them anymore. This theory was originally called the Paranormal Singularity Theory. Back then, no one believed Kyudai's thesis and mocked it, citing that they found it absurd and lacking in evidence, and eventually ignored it. In an era struggling to return an impoverished, conflicted world back to peace, no one believed there was anything to indicate the 'collapse of the future'. After his theory was rejected and he was ostracized from society as a result, Kyudai went missing"
Listening to this, both Inko and Toshinori felt that this theory bore looking into, considering that quirks were shown to be stronger with each passing generation. Why did it even come up, though? Toshinori voiced this thought out.
"Why is this theory even being talked about today? A good question, and here is my answer… If a quirk is too powerful for its user to control, then when will they control it? The person in question would be considered a Villian by today's standards, all because they have no control over it. That is not the ultimate point of this theory's fulfillment. You see, quirks can grow even stronger than that point, just by genes being passed on to the next generation… If we went by that logic, then we wouldn't even be alive at this point in time." Horror covered the duo's faces, as they realized the problem with the theory.
"Luckily, I found more proof that the Ultimate point- the Singularity point as I like to call it- is different. The quirk simply becomes dormant, and is undecided. When the holder- or creator, since the quirk is decided by the user at this point- awakens their quirk by fulfilling the conditions, THEY get to decide what their quirk does… and the first ever quirk that was awakened in this type is that of All For One, or AFO's younger brother… The so-called transfer quirk. The younger brother's quirk merged with the stockpile quirk, which makes One For All, or OFA the first ever quirk of the Singularity type!" Izuku declared emphatically. Receiving deadpans from everyone.
"Young Midoriya, how do you say that OFA is this Singularity type quirk?" Toshinori asked, trying to understand what he was saying. It would make the quirk an unknown after all.
"Those who are truly quirkless don't awaken quirks in their lifetime. They will instead be phased out of the system, being determined by Darwinism as weak. Those who do, however, are people who should never be fucked with. That's because of the conditions that I managed to discern just now. One: the person must have a will stronger than steel. Two: the person must be balancing on the line between life and death. Three:Their emotional state must be unstable at the time of crisis." Izuku began.
"Of these three conditions, the third one is easiest to achieve- just have one emotion dominate over the others. The hardest to achieve is the first one, truth be told- too many people have weak wills, and even among those with strong wills, the truly strong ones already have quirks. Toshinori and I are two individuals, that younger brother is another. I'm sure that there are others out there. In these times, all I'd need is to look into their family quirk history. If the quirkless individual in question was born of two born-quirkless individuals, then they are completely quirkless. If one of their parents was born quirkless, then they could have it. If they were like me, then they definitely have the potential to awaken it. That said, even the first category could have it. They just didn't awaken their quirk."
There were signs that said that they were impressed at the deduction, and the fact that the conditions are super hard to fulfill is an added bonus to not discovering it. Izuku didn't just take the status quo for granted. He managed to find the answer to questions that occurred to him.
"So then, how do you say that I awakened my quirk?" Toshinori asked. It was valid, he felt, as a doubt, since while he was born quirkless, OFA is a quirk…
"Simple. What most quirkless individuals don't realize is that they don't have the resilience to handle a quirk. It's one reason that they are born quirkless. Singularity type quirks come from the soul- yes, people have souls- of the person, negating the necessity for a Quirk Factor in the person in question. That's why I register naturally as quirkless, and don't have to worry about fudging records in regards to quirks. OFA has a Quirk Factor due to the Stockpile quirk it merged with. That said, YOU have a quirk as well, Toshinori, you just don't realize it. I'd call it Adaptamonster. It awakened due to you, a person born quirkless, receiving OFA." Izuku sensed that another explanation was necessary, and preempted the question.
"Despite the training, there is no quirk factor in the person, no vessel to contain its power. That is an issue resolved with the awakening of your personal quirk, just to safely use OFA, as without that vessel for the Quirk Factor, there is no way for OFA to preexist. If the quirk was weak enough, like Mom's, for example- no offence but it's true- then OFA can bolster that vessel as well, thus strengthening their quirk. If there is a strong quirk in existence, then the lifespan is taken in exchange for the use of OFA. All Singularity type Quirks are like that. Adpatamonster allows you to adapt to any situation in such a way that you can live a normal lifespan, no matter what. It's how you survive without a stomach, or a lung.
"But enough about that, we're about to talk about my quirk. My quirk isn't the first Singularity type Quirk in existence, nor do I know if there are many of them in existence, but I do know that it's the strongest quirk- period. I named it Evolution, because that's what it does. It allows me to evolve in many ways- no limits whatsoever. High durability, high strength, high agility, whatever it may be, I can improve on it. It's also capable of a nifty ability I call Ability Control- I can adjust anything about my body to any situation, on the fly. Adaptamonster should be able to do it as well, but not to the extent that I can. I can adjust my stats to be stronger, or faster. I can be heavier, or I can have high fat reserves. I can even copy, steal, give, create, modify or destroy abilities, quirks included. Almost no one can take it from me, because it's a quirk I wouldn't trust in most hands. Heck, once I discovered my quirk, I instinctively knew that I had replicated Katsuki's quirk immediately. I could've just said that I awakened the same quirk as Katsuki, but I hid it because I knew that the government would just have me experimented on, or killed when the truth eventually came out."
Shock.
That was the only thing on Toshinori's face. He was inclined to believe Izuku because the things he explained fit in perfectly, and he could also see in Izuku's eyes that he was only hearing the truth. That was an ability that he had honed as a Pro Hero, since he was exposed to a lot of the public, he could discern the intentions of a person almost immediately, and consequently, he could also detect lies almost as easily as his confidant, Naomasa Tsukauchi, who had a truth-detecting quirk. That meant that Izuku was that good of an actor, to deceive a quirk unassisted person who had a good idea of a person's thoughts. It slightly scared him to be honest.
"That's why Toshinori doesn't have to retire, if he doesn't want to. Like I said, I have the Ability Control aspect, and I modified Evolution itself to allow myself to affect other bodies too…Which means that I can heal him, restore him to his prime, and then give him a copy of OFA." And he just made himself sound scarier.
"With this, I think that's enough of my bag of secrets being opened. I have some more secrets, but they don't really matter for now. The point is-" Izuku was cut off by Inko. "Are you sure you want to be a hero, Izuku? There is a lot to unpack, and I don't want you to be in danger…"
Tsukasa beat him to the punch. "Izu would never endanger himself in this world, I can guarantee THAT! Hell, he'll wipe the floor with both All Might here and AFO at the same time easily if he released just about 2.5% of his full ability!" He seemed to take in the faces of the pair of uninitiated people with one of smug confidence, before he was smacked up the head by Izuku.
"Why is Tsukasa-san here anyway? What connection does he have to all this?" Inko asked, she was feeling faint at the level of strength her son had, and needed some assurance from the one who stated that.
Izuku just sighed… "That. That is why I told you that I'm opposed to having you in the open. You wanna reveal yourself now?" Tsukasa seemed to become somewhat sheepish, and then that image was rescinded. He seemed to have an air of authority.
"My history is something I'm not going to get into right now. What you are about to see is something that is to remain an absolute secret… or I WILL kill you." Saying so, Tsukasa stood up, and he seemed to radiate an aura that screamed at both hero and mother bear to RUN AWAY. Toshinori, ever the reckless one, asked the last question to be asked in that situation. "WHO are you!?"
"Me? I'm just a passing-through Kamen Rider. Remember that!" was the answer, because right then, he placed a magenta and black belt buckle(?) on his waist. The pink portion was bulky and had a glass opening in the centre, surrounding which was silver, and surrounding which was ten symbols, which neither of the other two recognized. It was split in the middle by a black strip. The opening had a black interior. Surrounding the pink portion were two black handle-like structures with six crystals embedded into them.
Tsukasa drew a card from his pocket. It was black and held an image with some writing on one side. The other side had a… barcode? This side was pink. He pulled on the left-side buckle handle and the magenta portion flipped 90 degrees. He put the card in, and a 'Kamen Ride!' rung out, followed by a build up jingle that ran on repeat. He then placed the crook of his hand between his thumb and forefinger on both the buckle handles. Then he drawled out a lazy "Henshin" while pushing on the handles.
The effect was immediate. With a 'DECADE!', he glowed. Ten silhouettes formed around him and then merged, forming a familiar mask and suit around him. Tsukasa was covered in magenta, with black and white details around. His mask was a series of magenta with black protruding stripes. In between the stripes, two large beetle-like green 'eyes' reflected the light around them, almos glowing. Toshinori gasped and pulled Inko behind him, heroic spirit acting up due to the aura around Tsukasa… until Izuku went and smacked the now armored Tsukasa up the head again. "Did you need to add the Killing Intent?" he asked sharply.
"You admit that it gives us the respect we deserve on the battlefield, so-" "We aren't on the battlefield, dipshit, pull it in!" was the amusing squabble being witnessed at the moment. Toshinori did agree with Izuku, but then he didn't know whether he could trust Tsukasa, seeing as "Why is the world's biggest Vigilante even being this casual right now!?"... yeah, that. Inko asked the right question.
Izuku answered this with a "It's a long story, and we've got time… YOu wanna listen to it?" And so, the two learnt the full story of Tsukasa and Izuku, who is also Tsukasa's successor. To save time, the summary outside of Tsukasa's big storyline is given below.
While Tsukasa was travelling worlds, he stumbled onto his homeworld again- this world. He even stumbled into five-year-old Izuku, who by that time had already developed Evolution into a monstrous quirk. Izuku, still having the mistrust of people he had developed as a result of Katsuki's attack, had subdued a Tsukasa who was stuck in his combat prime, and then gotten the entire story out of Tsukasa. Feeling bad, he had asked Tsukasa to take him to a dimensional rift so that he could heal. Then they had bonded over their tragedies… Izuku realized at that point that he could trust Tsukasa, and Tsukasa himself had a world where he needed to be a therapist, so he became Izuku's therapist.
Time passed, Izuku and Tsukas developed a bond similar to that of brothers, and Tsukasa wanted to give Izuku the best he could. Naturally, that meant he trained Izuku in everything he could, and Izuku being the sponge that he was, absorbed everything. Tsukasa knew that he needed a partner, so he named Izuku his successor at the age of eight. Since then, Izuku had been going to different worlds, and doing Tsukasa's work to practise, while Tsukasa was investigating this one. When Izuku became 10, they noticed their path to other worlds being partially blocked. That could only mean that this world was a target for Decade.
So they made their presence known as a Vigilante, Izuku and Tsukasa alternating between patrols as Decade. They got involved in Kuckleduster's crusade alongside Koichi Haimawari and Kazuho Haneyama, and prevented her possession by giving them the push they needed. So Step Up and The Skycrawler are allies he can call upon from the US if needed. Iwao Oguro, AKA Knuckleduster or O'Clock (this caught Toshinori off-guard) is another ally they can call upon if needed.
Izuku took over more of his duties as Decade, which meant that Tsukasa was enjoying a vacation as Izuku's strategist. All of this while he pretended to be a quirkless child for the world to see.
This deeply affected Toshinori- his chosen successor might actually be too powerful to pass OFA on once again… then again, it probably isn't necessary to pass OFA on along past AFO's death, when he comes back. And he is getting a copy of OFA that he can pass on when he's ready to retire… He can live with it.
"Young Mido- Young Izuku, I still think I should pass OFA to you, but when you said I would be getting a copy of OFA to use, what did you mean? Would I be able to pass it on?" he still asked, just to be sure.
"First off, take out the Young part, I'm not a shounen anymore. Actually, with the time I spent in other worlds, I'm pretty sure I match AFO in age… ANyway, I actually meant that literally… A copy of OFA will be embedded into you, which will be capable of being shared… The shared part is because you're the Symbol of Peace." This surprised Toshinori, since he didn't expect anyone to state his title as a reason. "
I don't intend on succeeding that title, I intend on becoming the Pillar of Hope, the 'Kibou no Hashira' as it is, my own path, you could say. You will be capable of using the copy of OFA at full strength, for as long as you wish, but you cannot completely pass it on until death, at which point, the next user can cultivate the power stockpiled. This copy will not copy the quirks of the users, because that's just asking for trouble. OFA is capable of that, by the way. It also won't kill anyone who has it due to a filled up Quirk Factor, like I said earlier OFA could do. You were originally looking into a successor at UA, right?"
Inko knew her son well, and his secrets didn't change that, which is why she wasn't thinking that that was the only reason. In fact, it sounded a lot like he was intending to make a play using this… which is when she saw it- the plan he concocted. She didn't know how much time it took to make up the plan she hit on, but she wasn't sure that she would want to cross anyone who could cook this up. She voiced her epiphany, just to be sure.
"That's not the only reason, is it, Izuku? I know that you are kind enough to do that, but you're using this opportunity to bamboozle AFO, aren't you? It would make sense to try and trick him into seeing a red herring as the real thing, and with your quirk, you are making the facade as real as possible. The only question that is remaining is, how will you cover the super strength that you will get from OFA?"
Silence reigned again, if only for a second, and then Izuku burst out laughing. "Pay up, old guy, you clearly don't know Mom as well as I do!" Tsukasa, who has powered down from his armor, just pouted and passed 20000 yen to him. "How did you know, brat?"
"Mothers know their children the best, man, didn't you realize that in your journey?" Izuku retorted. "To answer your question, Mom, I have a quirk to do ANYTHING… I also have an elemental quirk of unknown origin that I'm gonna use to cover it up. That one is named Elemental God, and I think you can understand how powerful quirks can be when I use them."
Toshinori only knew that plans were just being made. He didn't even realize the possibility of a decoy being used…
Now, if you're wondering how Izuku got the power he did, I simply point to the fact that he's capable of improving quirk usage for others in canon. This aspect of him led to him getting the Ability Control portion. Exodus12345, does this answer your question? For those who are wondering what the drawback of Singularity quirks are, I'll reveal that next chapter. I wanted to get most of Izuku's modified childhood outta the way. You'll notice that most of the time, I refer to All Might as Toshinori. This story is mostly from Izuku's POV. Sometimes there is a small shift in perspective, this is to let the readers (you lot) know about the other characters' thoughts.
I'll also appreciate it if you could all comment on the direction I'm taking this fic in. If you're wondering, yes, Vigilante's storyline took place before Canon, even canonically speaking. So the Naruhata Vigilantes and Stain will be allies. This is a spoiler that I'm going to have to put out there because I have a plot set for this one, along with an execution plan for it, and that execution means that I NEED to spoil it. Feel free to speculate and tell me about it in the reviews!
Read and Review, I feed off of the flames and compliments (one fuels the drive, the other fuels my motivation)
Seiichi and his brand of Insanity are off to the Races!