"Alright students, I've got these career aptitude tests for you to take, being that this is your final year and all..."
Izuku and his friends were now 14 years old and currently in their final year of Aldera Junior High. If you needed any of their professional opinion on the school, it sucked. The teachers were constantly stroking the egos of students with good Quirks while outright sabotaging and neglecting those with boring Quirks or, dare to say it, no Quirks at all.
Thankfully, Hisashi had paid the principal a visit after he realized that Haruko's test scores had been suspiciously sabotaged one too many times when it was clear that she had scored fairly well. The new principal that had been instated was making strides to improve the school as well as make it a more safe educational center for students.
As for the old principal? Well...he was still in a prison hospital bed with every major bone in his body broken, sipping tea through a straw, and needing nurses to change him every 5 hours.
"...But why should I bother? You all want to be Heroes!"
The homeroom teacher threw the papers he had been carrying into the air, causing the students to let out cheers and show off their Quirks excitedly. Izuku ignored everything and just focused on his notebook while Kurai, who Vegapunk had allowed to attend public schools, noted that Aldera still hadn't fixed the issue with students using their Quirks without permission.
A cocky chuckle caught everyone's attention as they turned to see Katsuki Bakugou, his feet propped up on his desk like your typical delinquent without a care in the world.
"Oy, teach! Don't go lumping me in with these shoddy extras! They'd be lucky to be Sidekicks to some washed-up has been!"
Naturally, this got the students ticked off as they started booing and jeering Katsuki. However, before the blonde could shut them up with an explosion, Kurai spoke up.
"Ironically, Bakugou is correct in his assumptions. I have run the calculations in my head and only about 20% of the student body in this classroom has any capabilities of becoming Heroes."
"Dang supercomputer robot brain..." One student mumbled jealously.
"Ah, yes, Irogane, you and Bakugou are actually planning to enroll in UA High?"
This got the rest of the class's attention. UA High was the most famous Hero School in the world and was every Hero hopeful's dream of getting into. Before Katsuki could smugly boast about his dreams of becoming the next #1 Hero, Kurai spoke up first.
"Yes, as well as my friends."
Katsuki turned white as a sheet as he realized that Kurai meant Izuku, Chie, Akito, Himiko...and Haruko.
"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Katsuki snarled as he turned to Haruko's desk, making her reel back as he slammed an explosion down on it. "DEKU, I CAN TOLERATE, BUT YOU?! YOU'RE QUIRKLESS!"
"So?" Izuku asked as he stood up from his own desk and grabbed Katsuki by the shoulder, making his former friend face him. "She has a right to try and attend as a potential Hero at UA. It doesn't matter if she has a Quirk or not."
"Yeah, when are you gonna get your own head out of your ass, Bakugou?" Chie asked, picking at her ear.
"SHUT THE HELL UP, DEKU!" Katsuki snapped as he tried to punch Izuku off him...only to be thrown into the door to the classroom, breaking it in two from the impact and knocking the explosive blonde out.
The teacher watched this and could only sigh as he pinched the bridge of his forehead. At first, he tried to stop it but eventually gave up and considered it a daily part of life, especially since Izuku was protective of his friends.
"I'll get the door, sir," Kurai said as she opened up her hand and fired a translucent blue beam from her body that coated the door in zero-point energy before holding out her other hand and firing a red welding laser that helped put the door back together...although there was still a big crack in the middle.
"Thank you, Irogane."
Later in the day, schooltime was over and Izuku and his friends were heading home. Himiko, who was in a separate class, had managed to catch up with them after her class got out.
"So, what do you guys want to do today? Go to the arcade? Watch that new movie that came out? Get that new action figure of Kamui Woods?"
As Himiko was excitedly rambling on, Haruko had a look of contemplation on her face. Even with all the training she had done with Izuku and Rayleigh, she still had that lingering doubt in the back of her mind if she could really become a Hero even without a Quirk.
"Are you thinking about what Bakugou said in class?" Izuku asked his friend worriedly as Haruko nodded.
"Do you guys really think I can do it? I mean, it'd be nice to have a Quirk...but can I still be a Hero even without one?"
"Quirk or no Quirk, you'll become an amazing Hero, Haru-Chan!" Akito said reassuringly.
Haru smiled. "Thanks, guys..."
The six had walked under a bridge when a rather concerning sound alerted them. They turned to see a nearby manhole cover shaking violently before popping off as what could only be described as a massive viscous green slime rose out and revealed a pair of yellow eyes and sharp white teeth.
"Look at this! Six perfectly-sized skinsuits!"
The Sludge Man lunged at the group but Akito got in front of everyone and held out a glowing white talisman with the kanji for 'Wind' on it. This was part of her Quirk, [Elemental], which allowed her to harness the elements of nature through talismans and other mediums like symbols, hand signs, and more. It was a Quirk that had been in her family line since the time when Quirks first appeared in the world and she was the latest holder of the ageless power.
In a flash, the talisman created a sphere of wind that sucked up the Sludge Man, leaving him swirling around helplessly as he began freaking out and crying for help. Taking advantage of this, Izuku reached into his shirt pocket and used the [Pocket-Pocket Fruit] to pull out a soda bottle he had been planning to recycle earlier before having Akito seal the Sludge Man into the bottle and cap it shut.
"Well, that was a close one." Chie sighed.
Before the six could continue on their way, a boisterous laugh filled their ears...a laugh that Izuku himself was oh so familiar with.
"No way...c-can it be?"
"HAVE NO FEAR, FOR I AM HERE!"
A blur shout out of the manhole that the Sludge Man had come out of and then landed down with a crash, kicking up dust as the six stared in awe. The figure rose to its full muscular height to reveal none other than the #1 Pro Hero and Japan's Symbol of Peace: All-Might.
"HOLY CRAP, IT'S ALL-MIGHT!" Izuku screamed in fanboyish glee. "HARUKO, PUNCH ME IN THE FACE!"
Haruko complied, punching her best friend across the face as hard as she could. Izuku's head snapped to the side before he grabbed it and turned it back straight to see his eyes weren't deceiving him and he wasn't dreaming either.
"You are not suffering from hallucinations, Izuku. That is indeed All-Might in the flesh." Kurai said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
"Pardon me, young ones! But have you seen a Villain with a body made of green slime around here? I was chasing him after he had stolen some goods from a store and got a bit lost in the sewers."
"O-Oh! H-He's right here, sir!" Izuku said, holding out the bottle containing the sealed Sludge Man.
"Young man, did you and your friends catch this ne'er do well?"
"Yeah, we did. It was mostly Aki-Chan and me." Izuku admitted as he handed the bottle to the Symbol of Peace.
"Well, you must have some strong Quirks if it allowed you to catch this fiend! Don't worry, this'll be our little secret, okay?"
"Our lips are sealed, sir!" Chie grinned cheekily as she and Himiko made a zipping motion across their mouths for emphasis.
"Well, I'd better be off then! Oh...and I left you a little gift as well!"
Izuku gasped as he saw his notebook had been dropped...but it had All-Might's autograph written in it. This practically made the green-haired lad faint on the spot before Haruko caught him and shook him back to his senses.
With a laugh, All-Might jumped off, the kids watching him head off into the distance like he was flying. Izuku collected his notebook and stared at the autograph with awe before smiling and pocketing it. However, Kurai did not move to join the others when they began walking again.
"What's wrong, Ku-Chan?" Himiko asked the Android Girl.
"I sensed something abnormal with All-Might's vitals...his energy signature is much weaker than Father's research notes on him said...something is wrong."
"All-Might is sick? W-We should probably warn him then!" Izuku said before Himiko noticed the bottle with the Sludge Man on the ground.
"Oh, crud! He must have dropped him by accident!"
"Come on, we gotta find him. Kurai, do you still have his location?" Haruko asked as the Android Girl nodded and the backs of her heels opened up to reveal jets in them.
"Yes, I'll lead the way.
"Shit...I must have dropped that bottle mid-jump." All-Might sighed as he landed on a nearby building rooftop after realizing he had dropped the bottle. "Note to self; don't jump so hard next time and make sure what you're carrying is fastened to your belt."
"All-Might!"
Perking up, the Symbol of Peace turned to see those six kids again...except the green-haired one was floating with the blonde piggybacking on him as the girl he now recognized as Dr. Vegapunk's android daughter flew in on jets from her heels while carrying the three other girls via a harness coming out of her back.
"You dropped this, sir!" Himiko said, hopping off Izuku's shoulders to hand the bottle containing the Sludge Man to All-Might.
"Thanks, you kids really saved my bacon." The #1 Hero said as he took the bottle and was about to leave before Izuku spoke up.
"Wait, All-Might! Kurai-Chan noticed that there was something wrong with your energy signature...a-are you sick? Hurt?"
All-Might was surprised but then sighed, figuring that Dr. Vegapunk's greatest creation would be able to figure things out. Steam began pouring off of his shoulders before a puff of smoke covered him. When it cleared, the once tall and muscular All-Might was replaced by a gaunt and skinny man with a skeletal face and sunken eyes.
"W-What the?!"
Seeing all the kids, even Kurai, looking absolutely floored and in disbelief, All-Might decided to explain things to them.
"Suppose I should start with the obvious. What you're seeing is the effect of my Quirk. It increases muscle mass and subsequently physical ability. I can hold it for about seven hours at a time. It would have been three hours per day, but luckily a friend of mine was able to heal some nasty injuries I got battling a dangerous Villain."
"W-What kind of Villain could do THAT to you?!" Himiko asked.
All-Might sighed as he lifted up his shirt to reveal a gruesome crater-like scar covering the whole left side of his torso.
"Ugly, isn't it? Five years ago, this had my guts spilling out of it. The Villain I was fighting was one so dangerous, so fearsome, that it took the combined force of me and several other Pros to bring them down. Even then, they left me this little present as a reminder of how close I was to dying that day."
"Five years ago..." Chie pondered, a memory she had long kept in her mind playing briefly before she shook her head. "Could it be...that same day?"
"What kind of Villain were you even fighting anyway? They'd have to be super powerful to leave a mark like that." Akito noted.
"Kids, this was a fight that most of the world never even heard of. A Villain that's known only to me, and a select few individuals."
"Do you require medical aid? It looks like a truly terrible wound." Izuku asked worriedly.
All-Might shook his head reassuringly. "It's alright, my boy. I was patched up pretty well by a dear friend of mine. It still hurts but I've grown to live with the pain."
Haruko had been silent throughout the conversation but something was nagging in the back of her mind and she needed to get it off her chest. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"All-Might, sir...?"
"Don't need to be formal when I'm like this. Call me Toshinori Yagi, that's my real name."
"O-Okay, Yagi-San...Listen, I...I don't have a Quirk. I've been training so hard my whole life ever since I met Izuku to make up for my shortcomings but I need to know...can I still be a Hero regardless if I have a Quirk or not?"
Toshinori looked at Haruko. A part of him would have said it would be safer for a Quirkless person to pursue other occupations that were just as helpful to society as Heroes, like police officers, firefighters, or doctors...but he saw that gleam in Haruko's eyes that made him flash back to a moment when he was her age.
"It won't be easy, I'll tell you that...but if you're truly serious, I have faith that you may become a great Hero nonetheless."
Haruko felt tears well up in her eyes. Sure being reassured by Izuku and Himiko's parents and her friends that she could be a Hero no matter what helped, but to hear it from someone she didn't really know all too well, someone who believed in her even if they didn't personally know her, that was something that made her heart swell.
"There is something else I wish to notify," Kurai suddenly said. "There is foreign energy residing inside you. It is a mixture of a Quirk and a spiritual essence, almost as if seven other souls are inhabiting it."
Toshinori looked surprised at Kurai before chuckling and shaking his head.
"Vegapunk built you with everything, didn't he? Yes, I feel like I can't keep secrets, can I?"
"I could see it too, actually." Chie pointed out. "A part of my Quirk allows me to see the Quirk energy of others...and yours is like a lit bonfire with eight different colored flames."
"Well, I guess I should be truthful with you kids then, especially you," Toshinori said, nodding to Haruko. "You see...I was born Quirkless."
"EEEEEEHHH?!" Everyone except Kurai exclaimed, the Android Girls' eyes merely widened slightly.
"The Villain who nearly ended my career, and life, is one that has been fought before. Only I have ever come close to ending the threat he possesses and even then, I have a dark feeling in my gut that he's not gone for good. I only barely survived against him the first time... Which means I need to pass the torch so that my successor might have greater success."
Toshinori held out his hand, a shining multi-colored light emitting from it as the six teens stared at it in awe.
"This ancient power has been around since the dawn of Quirks and has been passed down through generations. It is called...[One For All]!"
After bidding Toshinori farewell and offering to keep what he told them a secret, Izuku, Himiko, and their friends returned to the Midoriya household to see Hisashi and Inko along with Tatsumaki, Fubuki, and Eve.
"Where have you kids been?" Inko asked as she was busy cooking dinner.
"Would you believe us if we said that we actually got to meet All-Might and he shared some secrets with us?" Izuku awkwardly asked in a rhetorical manner as Hisashi and Inko's eyes widened.
"Y-You kids met Toshi?"
"Yeah?" Haruko awkwardly said.
"And he shared some secrets...was one of them...[One For All]?" Inko asked.
"Yeah! All-Might said he used to be Quirkless and that he got his Quirk from someone else!" Akito added. "Kinda like with my family line!"
"Wait...you know about All-Might's secret too?" Himiko asked her adoptive parents.
Hisashi and Inko nodded. Tatsumaki, Fubuki, and Eve were also in the know-how apparently as they nodded as well.
"Honey, we were his childhood friends a long time ago," Hisashi smirked as he put a hand on Himiko's shoulder. "He trusts us with ALL his secrets."
"And he clearly has trust in you kids too if he was willing to share that secret. It's a closely guarded one that he defends with his life." Inko pointed out.
Izuku and his friends all looked at each other. Haruko especially had a contemplative look on her face as she recalled Toshinori's words earlier.
"He needs a successor to finish what he started...maybe I could be the one who helps him. I've always wanted to know what having a Quirk was like...could he possibly...Nah, there's no way."
If only the kids knew how much things would change in the following days...
Next Time: Training Time and somebody else that isn't Izuku gets One For All!
This was the plan from the beginning...