Hello everybody, appreciation goes out to those who liked and favorited the first chapter. An even bigger thanks to those who took the time to leave a comment. These help me see other potential routes my story could go that I may not have thought of before and they help me identify problems that I can either fix or improve upon. So, don't hesitate to leave a comment about what you like or what you would like to see. I even enjoy reading the ones outlining what you don't like, just keep it civil and actually point out why something bothers you. On another story of mine I had someone leave a comment that was vague and not at all helpful. Updating this fast is very unusual for me. I would like to be able to keep up this pace, but I make no promises. Without further adieu happy Easter and please enjoy the second chapter.
Justus3138
After lots of explaining I accepted All Might's offer to inherit his quirk. I was already going to try and get into the hero business. So, unless there was some real mean villain that knew about the nature of his quirk and had a hate on for it. I couldn't see any downside to it. Also, my inner fanboy would have started a riot if I turned it down, and I don't need split personality syndrome.
But being out on this beach moving an old refrigerator with him on top of it made me question his sanity or rather, his attention to detail.
"Wow! Your pretty strong already!" he shouted but that just sent the alarm bells in my head a ringing.
"Why do you have me dragging garbage across the beach?" I asked, fearing I already knew the answer.
"Ha! Ha, take a look at yourself, you're not ready for my power." He answered while taking photos.
First time I ever felt bad about keeping this skinny form.
"My quirk, One For All, is a whole lot to handle. The combined physical abilities of everyone who's ever used it creates a hurricane of pure force. An unprepared body can't fully inherit it. Your arms and legs would shoot off if you tried to." He continued.
"So, this whole trash thing is a hardcore gym workout?" I asked, getting more concerned.
"You got it but there's another reason, too. I did a little online research yesterday. Turns out this part of the beach used to be beautiful, but its been a total mess for the last few years." He dented the refrigerator he was sitting on.
"Illegal dumping and ocean currents collected and moved it here. Heroes these days are all about showing off and capturing flashy villains." He started to crush the fridge.
"Things were different before quirks. Service is what mattered. Back then, heroes were those who helped the community." Even if it was kind of boring." Don't know how but when he flattened the fridge the garbage behind him took off like it was afraid of him.
"You will restore the coastline for this entire section of the beach. That is the first step on your path young man. Towards being a hero." He declared.
Normally I would be in an otaku coma by now but necessity breeds sass.
"Did you come up with this before you looked up my quirk?" I asked.
"Eh?" was my idol's response.
"I thought heroes had access to the quirk registry?" I pressed.
"We do but only if we are looking into someone for investigative purposes, looking up random citizens quirks is not only not allowed but raises red flags." He replied.
"Is your quirk not some regeneration power?" he asked.
"No, my quirk, machine phase matter, is a mutation type that has a lot of applications." I explained.
With that I changed into a perfect replica of All Might, including his current clothing.
"I have control of my entire body on the cellular level and one of the draw backs is that I can't build muscle from working out, but I can change my shape to increase my load capacity." I said in a perfect imitation of his voice.
His surprised face was something that I would never forget.
"This entire exercise is pointless if the only goal was to make me ready for your quirk. I'm either ready for it or I am not." I finished, switching back to my skinny form.
He went silent for a minute after that. He did eventually speak.
"I see, well, we will need a specialist's go ahead before I can give you my quirk. I just so happen to know one who also knows about One For All." He declared.
"Oh, who is this specialist?" I asked.
"The pro hero Recovery Girl." He replied.
If I had blood it would have froze at those last two words.
"All Might, please tell me that you didn't just say that Recovery Girl is the only doctor who can determine if I can handle One For All." I begged.
All Might was alarmed by my reaction but if what he said is true then I don't feel bad at about it all.
"Do you have some sort of history with her?" he asked.
Do I have a history with her? A few years ago, my regular physician had asked her to consult on some of my test results. That was the first mistake. Letting her call the house phone was the second. That woman became obsessed with my 'revolutionary physiology'.
Her passion was extremely unsettling, in fact me and my mom both agreed to cut her out of the loop. That was the third mistake. The letters and call backs were bordering on harassment. After the threat of a lawsuit was uttered, we agreed that she could send one letter a year and we would not press charges.
Mom didn't want to give any ground, but I pointed out that she was the nurse of the school I wanted to get into, and it was easier to play nice. Also, despite how off putting her mania was she is one of the best doctors in the country and her status as a hero pulled on my heartstrings. Besides, it wasn't agreed upon that I was obligated to read her letters, just receive them.
I told All Might this and he looked like a light bulb went off.
"You're the god's gift to science and medicine she rambles on about when I have to go to her?!" he exclaimed.
"Probably." Was my flat reply.
"Then I'm sorry young man but she is the only doctor alive who knows about One for All. If there was another with her skill set and knowledge, I would go to them." He apologized.
With that he escorted me to my funeral in a nondescript car, probably to keep his identity and location a secret.
I didn't pay attention to anything, not even my dream school could drag me away from my panicked thoughts of what kind of tests she would try to slip in.
All Might knocking on her office door though, was like a bucket of ice water.
"Oh, Toshinori, what a surprise, you aren't due for another week." She said in her sweet grandma voice that could put people at ease, but I knew better. I didn't even register All Might's real name.
"Yes, well I chose a successor." All Might began.
"Really? That's great but why do you need me? Don't tell me they've already hurt themselves because of your stupidity!" She shouted at the end.
"No, in fact I'm being cautious. I'm not sure my successor could handle my quirk, given his own quirk and I wanted your medical approval before I gave it to him."
"Oh, then where is he?" she asked.
With that I stepped out from behind All Might. It was difficult hiding behind his skinny form, but fear was a great motivator.
As soon as she saw me, we both stiffened. For what seemed like an eternity neither of us spoke.
"Brat." She said in a cold tone completely different from her granny persona and in my opinion her true voice.
"Witch." Was my mature response.
"So, your fanboy nature finally bit you in the ass." She replied smugly.
I was honestly considering turning down All Might's offer if it meant I could get away from her but my respect (yes respect, not worship) of All Might stayed my feet.
"Yes, so go fire up your gingerbread oven, or do you have to go out on your broom to get more children?" I shot back.
"Oh, don't be silly, you'll do." Was her chilling response before she turned around.
"I thought you were joking." All Might said.
"There are two things I don't joke about, hero merchandise and that green skinned goat." I hissed.
We followed her into her metaphorical gingerbread house. She sat on a chair next to a bed.
"You could sit on the bed if you want but if your more comfortable standing, I understand." She said, back in her granny voice.
Just to prove her wrong I sat on the bed.
What followed was the typical examination during a physical. It was pointless given that I don't have a heartbeat or blood pressure unless I want to, and my lungs were just for speaking. I think she was just trying to put me at ease, but I wasn't going to let my guard down.
Once she finished with the pointless tests she got to the uncomfortable stuff.
"Before our talks went south, I heard about a battle mode. It strips down your body to only things you need in a fight and increases your strength and speed?" she asked.
"Yes." I responded curtly.
"If you could show me it would give me a better idea of what's actually going on." She said.
My battle mode, as it was called was something that I didn't have to think about to form. It was strangely instinctive, like my base form (Skinny me takes conscious effort.) I haven't found a way to improve it strangely enough. My curiosity about it was what allowed me to nod my head in acceptance.
I grew taller and more muscular then even my base form. Skin and hair retracted to reveal a body structure not possible for anyone else. I looked like a robot's idea of what the human body should look like.
I'm not normally self-conscious about how I look now but given who my audience is I felt strangely naked. Ironic considering that when I'm like this I don't have reproductive organs to be embarrassed about.
All Might's slack jaw did give me a little ego boost though.
The feeling of a thin piece of metal in between my sci fi ribs interrupted my preening.
"What are you doing?" I asked pointedly.
"Checking if you're hollow or if your organs are still there." She replied.
"Well next time you decide to probe me buy me dinner and then ask." I shot back.
"But then I wouldn't know if you could feel the probe." She returned.
"I can guarantee you that I can feel everywhere that probe is touching and that it FEELS weird." I stressed.
"Oh god! Is it vibrating?" I shrieked.
"That's the ultrasound, not many people can detect such high frequencies." She explained.
Not that it helped.
"Alright sonny I think I have everything I need." She said while taking the metal rod with a cord attached to a computer out of my side.
I shifted back to my base form and after a few seconds of waiting All Might sat next to me.
"Is this how you normally look?" he asked.
"Yes, I use the skinny version to train my shapeshifting and to keep the shallow females at my school away." I replied.
He nodded in understanding. Probably thinking about the All Might bunnies that have popped up on occasion. Yes, that's what they call themselves.
"Alright so here are the results. I used that modified ultrasound to get an image of your internals. Aside from really small lungs your chest cavity and abdomen are a honeycombed flexible mass. Your cells are still shaped like cells but smaller and denser." She explained.
"From the tests I did on All Might, One for All stores itself in the cells of its holder. Given that your cells are superior to a normal human's I am confident that you could inherit the quirk without it damaging you. At least until you use it for the first time." She tacked on.
"Wait, you couldn't have found that out from the probe. Was it even necessary?" I asked.
"I was confident that you could inherit One for All before you walked through the door. That probe was just to confirm that you didn't have any weak points in your body structure that the quirk might strain." She replied smugly.
"Damn, she dodged the bucket of water again." I muttered just loud enough for her to hear.
"I had a speech about hard work and how you earned my power, but it looks like I'll have to use something else when you finish cleaning up the beach. We can still use it as training with One for All." All Might interjected.
It was then that he buffed up and pulled one of his hairs out.
'Without further ado, eat this." He declared.
I took one look at the greasy hair and wondered if the witch had any more probes she wanted to use.
Dagoba Beach
After eating a disgusting, product covered hair and a ride back to the beach we had about a minute before I digested the hair and gained One for All. When I take on a human form, I create a stomach organ that somehow draws energy from food without acid.
"So, when you get my power your going to try and use it on the ocean in front of us."
We were standing in a small cleared spot on the shoreline.
"When you go to use it, clench your butt cheeks and yell from the depths of your heart, smash!" he shouted. Turning into his buff form at the end.
"What if I don't have butt cheeks?" I asked puckishly.
"Then make some and clench. Until you've had some practice that's the only advice, I can give you on how to activate my power. Each user of One for All is different so your going to have to figure out how to limit how much you use on your own."
Great.
"Well you should have digested the hair by now, how you feel?" he asked.
"I don't feel any different. Guess my body can contain One for All." I said.
"Great! Well then, take her for a spin." All Might encouraged.
I squared off my stance and clenched my butt cheeks. Yes, I do have them, rather nice ones I might add, and I yelled with all my heart, smash!
For what felt like an eternity but only lasted a few seconds, the ocean was split in two as far as the horizon. When the waters came together, I noticed the lack of weight on my right side.
Turns out, using One for All at full throttle overpowered my magnetic field and turned my arm, up to my elbow, into dust and the outer layer up to my shoulder was gone, revealing the techno muscle underneath, this self-destruction only happened after the punch landed so to speak. I would have panicked but the dust that was my arm was putting itself back together.
"Midoriya!" All Might yelled.
"It's alright. Its fixing itself already." I assured while showing him my slowly regrowing stump.
It was going to take five minutes to completely repair itself, guess the phase matter was dispersed pretty far. In a fight, five minutes was an eternity. Unless I could overcharge my magnetic field with One For All or find some other solution, I was going to have a problem. These next ten months were going to be a pain in the ass.
My prediction was correct. One for All was the quirk equivalent of an angry bull. After months of practice I was only able to use about two percent across my whole body without disrupting its integrity.
My magnetic field was able to use One for All to increase its charge but for some reason getting it to do more than slightly increase it was proving difficult.
With the practice taking time away I was only able to finish cleaning the beach close to the end of our ten months of training.
Also, my friend Bakugo noticed that I had less free time to spar with him. Thankfully he bought the excuse that I was working on a new application of my quirk and wanted to keep it a secret for when we eventually competed against each other in UA.
So, to summarize, One for All wanted to use too much power to attack and too little to charge my magnetic field. Kachan was almost too perceptive for my own good. UA's entrance exam was just around the corner and the beach was spotless.
So, I am laying in syringe free sand the day before the exams trying to both figure out why One for All was being difficult and forget about everything and relax so I could enjoy the moment and rest before the exams. It was at this point All Might showed up.
"Hey, hey, shouldn't you be at home resting or doing something fun at least?" All Might asked while changing into his hero form.
"Just thinking about the last ten months and enjoying the hard work put into this place, or at least trying to." I said somewhat bitterly.
"Your progress with a new quirk has been more then acceptable young Midoriya. Perhaps you've gotten used to exceling in everything and that's why your frustrated with your actually quick progress?" All Might queried.
I thought about it and couldn't say he was entirely wrong. I was a late bloomer, but when my quirk came in, I blew past everyone. Only Kachan was able to keep up with me. Could it be because I had someone right next to me who picked up skills just as quick for the same goal that my self-expectations became unrealistic?
"So, in actuality my progress is closer to yours then I was thinking?" I asked my predecessor.
"No, I was able to use One for All at its maximum right away, but I was the only one of us who picked it up almost instinctively." He replied.
Well, that was the worst pep talk ever. If I act like the fanboy that I am do you think I will get better service?
Eventually I and All Might had to go home, and sleep eluded me like peace did at the beach. Yes, I do sleep, your phone has to be turned off occasionally, to keep glitches from happening, stop laughing or I'll get Siri to terrorize you.
Day of the exam.
Now that I don't have to go to the witch's office, I can appreciate the grandeur of UA. The building was both impressive without being excessive. Lots of elite schools around the world had famous architects design a stunning building at the cost of inflating their maintenance costs.
Concaved windows and cleaning atypically shaped rooms adds up. UA was blocky but vaguely shaped like the H in hero. It sent a message of practicality and an independence from having to market their own school.
"If you stand there all day, you'll miss the exams and I won't have my favorite punching bag on hand." Kachan jabbed, shaking me out of my thoughts as he passed by.
Then the unthinkable happened, I tripped. I was going to catch myself, but someone did it for me.
"Are you okay?" A female voice to my left asked.
She had brown hair and a seemingly permanent smile on her face. She repositioned my weightless body back in a standing position.
"I stopped you with my quirk, I'm sorry I didn't ask first. But I figured you wouldn't mind me catching you." She continued.
"Isn't this all, like, way nerve-racking?" she asked. Her smile cracking to show anxiety.
"Yes, and people pulling pranks doesn't help." I added.
"Huh?" was her reply.
I knelt down to the stone that tripped me. To anyone else it looked normal and completely level with the rest of the walkway. I, however, could see the mechanism to raise it when someone steps on another stone so that it could be hidden.
I formed points on my fingers shaped like cool crowbars and shoved them into the space around the stone. My brown-haired savior was alarmed by my vandalism. Until I pulled out the stone along with a mess of wires and other bits of machine. If someone wanted to be an ass, then I would happily spite them.
I turned around but she had already left after my destruction of the sidewalk. Too bad I didn't get her name.
Exam Hall
I am not going to survive the first year. Is every teacher at UA a Pro Hero? It was a perfect decision to have Present Mic do the announcements, though, I think the rest of the faculty would be hard of hearing after someone tries to tell him he can't be a public speaker.
The written portion was easy for someone who can interface with any piece of technology he touches and hide his phone inside his thigh. First time I tried that I found out that turning off the vibrate was very important.
Mic's explanation of the practical portion was straightforward, but the zero pointer was bugging me. Oh well nothing I can do about it. What I could do something about was the guy with a grade A stick up his ass.
Honestly, Mic was trying to get people to shout and I'm the problem. My scathing retort explaining as much, was enough to shut him up and get chuckles from Kachan. I think he plans to convert me to his crass ways, but I will remain strong.
Battle Center
Poor Cement Toss. They must work him to the bone to set up all these mock buildings.
"Right let's start." Present Mic shouted and with that, I was too focused on finding villains to hear the rest.
Spotting them was easy when you can see through walls. Dismantling them in a timely manner when you can see the power source and have sparred for years with Kachan the barbarian, is child's play. I stayed in base form and used my two percent of One for All to go through the robots like a meat grinder.
Kachan would probably make some wise crack about how I was murdering my own people. Well, he would if I didn't make it very clear how much I didn't appreciate it the first time. That was also the day he first used the term killer robot mode. He's so silly sometimes.
A big boom knocked me off balance after I destroyed a three pointer by caving in its power supply. My total was up to seventy-six but that was the least of my worries. The zero pointer was significantly bigger than we were led to believe.
I was going to follow the remaining faux villains until my sensitive hearing picked up the sound of a girl in distress. My eyes found her through the dust kicked up by the broken buildings.
It was the girl from the front entrance. Her leg was caught under some rubble, minor fracture. Even if she does get the concrete off, she's a sitting duck and the zero pointer will crush her.
Fifty percent will get me up to the zero pointer's face, the location of the CPU. Fifty percent also, won't completely destroy my legs, I hope. No time to think about it.
I jumped.
Within second I'm right in front of the zero pointer's array of cameras. Just as I'm about to collide with its metal face I let my right fist fly and my fist is no more. But a decent amount of my arm is still there minus the outer layer, about two minutes for a full recovery.
If I was made of flesh and bone, I would have had to use full power to achieve a similar result. But with a metal arm and half power, the zero pointer was toppled and the chassis for its head was compromised enough that when it collided with the ground it crumpled like a house of cards.
Now I'm falling.
My legs had more time to repair themselves than my arm but they still coudnt support my weight.
While I was thinking of a way to land without causing anymore damage to myself, someone else was already implementing their own.
I could have done without the bitch slap, but beggars can't be choosers. Her quirk must do more then just negate gravity. If it was just gravity negation, then I would have hit a building with the same force I would have hit the ground after she changed my direction with her slap. G force still exists in zero gravity and air friction against a weightless mass wouldn't have slowed me down like that.
She must have used the last of her strength to save me cause the piece of robot she was floating on and myself, fell and she started throwing up rainbows. How many pop tarts did she eat for breakfast?
My legs weren't ready to support my weight so when I suddenly landed on them, they broke like what I assume a normal person's would if they fractured their bones. Trying to catch my fall with my right arm had similar results. I've gotten into the habit of forming clothes first before fixing the internal damage to put people at ease while I self-repair. Kachan had mentioned how cool it looked and I knew it would be off putting to most people.
While I was slowly putting myself back together, I heard her voice again.
"My, my, you sure made a mess of yourself." Recovery Girl said.
"Nothing I can't fix. Just give me a few minutes and I will be back on my feet." I replied.
"You know, this would be the perfect time to see if my quirk can help you." Recovery Girl offered.
She is sneaky. Playing off of my own curiosity to perform one of her own little experiments. Didn't change the fact that I nodded my permission. Now if only she didn't say 'give me some sugar' before she used her extending lips to kiss my shoulder.
The sensory input I got from her quirk was interesting. My magnetic field didn't change its power output, but my phase matter repaired itself faster then I thought possible.
Could there be actual cell damage when I get hit?
Then the fatigue hit me. What a novel experience. I haven't felt a change in my energy levels since before I got my quirk. As soon as it came it disappeared, must have been the sudden increase of energy usage rather than a depletion of my reserves that cause it. Like turning a stove on when your using a small generator cause the power is out but then that would mean that I'm more like a power plant then a rechargeable battery.
Questions for another day. I thanked Recovery Girl and told her what happened before I left. The questions that resumed running through my head made me giddy. Could I overclock my body without Recovery Girl to do it? What kind of backlash would happen if I sustained it for too long? And how long would be too long? This tirade was interrupted by a single stray thought.
Again, I forgot to ask the nice girl what her name was.