Izuku laid on the grass, frosty dew chilling the hands that supported him. His breath fogged in the early morning chill and his eyes bore wide, taking in every detail of the figure before him. He honestly couldn't believe the sight before him…
"My quirk…" He whispered, not believing the words… even as they left his lips
His quirk seemed to be an emitter type, a golden hulking apparition of a man. His body was lined with muscles of the kind that he was genuinely sure were carved of stone. The triangular helmet and scuba equipment that adorned it shone a bright gold, just as a majority of it did. The apparition turned to him, as if expecting a command.
'I guess that answers the question of independence.'
He would need to order it around.
Did mental commands work?
'Punch the air.'
In a blinding flash, it let loose a flurry of blows that left small sonic shockwaves rippling through the grass.
'Stop.'
It did as commanded.
Izuku looked at it sharply. It's form floated, still as a rock as he examined it. It's muscles looked quite powerful… at least on par with a mid tier strength enhancing quirk such as Death Arms. Now, how physical was it? At the moment, it was slightly translucent, the rest of the early morning park visible through his Quirk's form.
'Can it phase through things?'
Gesturing to a nearby tree, he gave a mental command.
'Place your hand through it without damaging the material.'
Izuku watched as it's hand phased through solid matter, Almost like a secondary quirk. Izuku frowned. While his quirk seemed quite… powerful, he had yet to see some downside or weakness. All quirks had a weakness.
The more powerful the quirk, the more detrimental the weakness. It was an indisputable fact. Did bringing out this fighting ghost cost him anything? He took a breath… Checking his heart rate. It wasn't a stamina limit. If so, the first awakening would have drained him and taken a sizable toll on his stamina. If that were the case… that would mean that either he had the first quirk with no weakness… or… there was more to this quirk… an ability he'd yet to see.
"First though, you need a name…" He looked to his quirk, wracking his brain
"Diverman?" No… far to obvious
"Goldmight?" No references to All Might
"Boxer?" The scuba look kinda killed that… and considering how it just materialized from thin air, he doubted it could just put boxing equipment on it
He frowned, tapping his fingers in rapid succession against his thigh.
"The World?" He smiled, "The World, you are the key to achieving my dream of being a hero… to be the best hero on the planet… no…"
He paused, bringing out his hand, "In the World."
Izuku blinked. Ah. He forgot it wasn't s-
It clasped its hand around his, in a firm, but not unpleasant handshake.
Izuku smiled.
He had a lot to learn about The World.
_
"Hey mom… is it okay if I ask you to do something?" He spoke, placing another dish into cupboard
"Sure honey, what is it?"
"Toss me the next plate."
"Toss… you it?" She put down the mug she was washing, "Why?"
"I want to show you something." Izuku smiled and winked
"You know we can't afford to break any plates…"
"Then how about one of the plastic ones?"
Inko let out a sigh, quickly washing a plastic plate before looking up at Izuku. She couldn't help but smile in response to his own smile.
"Catch, honey." She gave a motherly toss, fully expecting her son to reach out, and grab the plastic plate
Moments later, she had to rub her eyes in disbelief. Her son stood, arms up in a surrendering gesture… but that's not what shocked her. Roughly a foot from her son's face… floated the plate as if suspended by a form of telekinesis. Her lower lip quivered, years of guilt washing away in a flash. She… she hadn't failed him… She hadn't failed to give him what would make him happy. She… she wasn't a failure of a mother who couldn't even giver her baby boy a quirk.
It was just late…
All the pain… all the suffering… it wasn't for nothing.
Her baby boy had a quirk.
"I-Izu-chan…" She took a few wobbly steps forward, a shaky hand grasping at his shoulder
Slowly, from behind, she felt a force embrace her. She could feel a chest, and arms… heroic and warm… almost as if she was touching her beloved son's soul.
"Izu… when?" She said, embracing her son in a deathly tight hug
"This morning. He suddenly appeared… it kinda shocked me."
"He?" She looked around, not seeing anything
"You can't see him?" Her son raised an eyebrow, "I'll make note of that for later."
"You keep saying 'him'." She pulled out of the hug, instantly concerned
"Oh… It might be invisible to you. Er… actually, I have an Idea!" He smiled, "Do you know where you left the notepad?"
"On the coffee table, why?"
Momentarily, she saw a pencil and paper float over to Izuku, but he didn't reach out to grab them.
"It's an apparition of sorts… I've been testing what it can do. So far, I've established it's incredibly fast, strong… and now, invisible to some people, at least."
She nodded.
"The World… Can you draw a picture of yourself?"
Instantly, the pencil and pad snapped into position, scribbling at a dizzying speed.
Izuku turned to her.
"I have a drawing in my notes, but I want to see how well he does."
By the time he finished his sentence, the pad floated towards him.
"Wonderful!" Izuku smiled, gently grabbing the pad from the invisible entity
He flipped it towards her, revealing a photorealistic image of what appeared to a seriously buff person. He wore strange garments and a scuba tank on his back.
"He's entirely gold."
"You named him The World?"
"I got a Tarot reading a while back… That's the card I got. It's supposed to predict accomplishing your goals."
"So… you named your quirk after the Tarot card?"
"Yep!" He practically squealed
"I love you, honey." Inko said, wrapping him in a tight hug, tears flowing down her cheeks, "You better be the best damned hero out there."
"Better than All Might?"
"And with an even bigger smile, mom."
_
6 Months Later
"Sir… our first application came in."
Nezu blinked.
Applications weren't supposed to start coming in until several months later, roughly four months before the exam. Now… how had someone snuck an application into a box, in the center of UA's campus… without a single person noticing. Perhaps a friend or family member already attending?
Nezu drummed his paw against the desk, as the TA left, not sitting squarely on his desk.
He briefly considered opening it, but decided against it.
He'd much rather enjoy speculating. Someone of his relative intellect rarely came across surprises such as this very often. So, he figured he might as well cherish this one for a few days.
He slid down from his seat, deciding to take a walk. He could use some exercise, especially with the upcoming enrollment season. He'd be unlikely to leave his office much for the peak two or so weeks. As he exited his office, he saw an oversized suit before him.
"Ah. Yagi-san. Can I help you?" Nezu looked up, sunken cheeks and alabaster skin stared back, "You should also look into your Vitamin D intake. You show signs of deficiency."
"I'll look into that… but… er… could I speak with you?"
Nezu's eyes darted over the man for a moment. His posture was slouched more than usual, though in this form he did lack eyebrows, there was still a slight narrowing to the location where his brows would be. His lips were pursed, upper lip hanging slightly lower than normal. His nose was flares and a twitch in his abdomen.
It took Nezu only a second to respond to the man's question.
"Of course. You look worried. Let's walk." Yagi blinked in response, hand moving to the back of his head, "And no need to be embarrassed. You humans give a lot away with your faces. You're quite emotive, from my experiences."
"I wasn't aware of that…" Yagi mused
"Indeed… You haven't had much time around me, have you?"
"No, no I have not…" The blond responded, following the
Now, they'd exited to a field, one of UA's many. The warm summer sun beat down on them as a gentle breeze meandered through the grass, providing a hint of relief. Nezu turned around, his vest's fibers slightly reflective in the light of the sun. He kept his hands behind his back as he spoke.
"Now, All Might. You'd like to speak to me… I assume about One For All."
"Y-yes." The husk gave a sigh, "Would it be okay if I kept Mirio for a few days?"
"You want to check him out and make sure he's the right choice?" Nezu guessed
"Yes." He gave a guilty sigh, "I know Nighteye chose the best candidate… but I want to make sure he's the one."
"What made you consider this all of the sudden?" Nezu inquired
"I… I realized my limit is hurting my abilities as a hero. It's twisting my thinking… and I don't like it."
"I'm assuming it has something to do with the slime incident today?"
"Yeah… I nearly let a kid die today. Just so I wouldn't cut my limit with One For All any shorter. I… I think I should pass it on before I become more desperate to hold onto a power that was passed down to me."
"I see…" Nezu said, taking several seconds to think, "If that's what you're worried about… how about I have you on as an advisor? You can watch the classes at UA, seeing how Mirio performs in practice."
He left the subtext open.
"Classes?" Ah… so he did catch it
"Well… if you are hesitant about Mirio… it's only fair to sample the crop so to speak. You might find someone you deem better fit for One For All."
"You'd do that?"
"It is my job to oversee these students' futures. If one of them is capable of accepting the most powerful quirk in the world, I think it's only fair I give them every opportunity in the world to show their true character."
"When would I start though?"
"How about Next Year?"
"May?"
"Ten months should give you plenty of time to set aside whatever arrangements you think would work best for training your successor, Mirio or no. Diet, Exercise, training materials… etcetera."
_
Bakugo was practically ready to murder the next person in sight.
He felt disgusting in more ways than one. First, Deku didn't show up to school… the little bastard had gotten pretty jacked in the past few months so Bakugo figured the little shit was gonna try his luck at UA… not that he'd make it in… but still. The fucking audacity the little shit had to try and rival him pissed him off beyond belief. Second, he'd gotten attacked by a Villian on his way home… which wouldn't have been an issue if not for the fact that the fucker was slime. That provided a few annoyances alone that made him want to hit something. Of that, his explosions did jack shit to the fucker. He couldn't build up enough sweat fast enough before the fucker drained that shit.
If not for All Might, Bakugo knew he'd be six feet under thanks to the useless fucks that called themselves heros and watched him getting fucking suffocated by the Villian.
Now though? The thing that pissed him off most was the fact that he was cold, covered head to toe in slime and would have to deal with his hag of a mother's bitching on top of it for being late.
"Where the fuck have you been?"
Speak of the devil and she shall appear.
"I got attacked by a slime villain. Check the news if you want to hear about it, hag."
As she came into view, she seemed to blink. Her eyes softened.
"I'll run you a bath. Get out of your clothes before you track that shit into the carpet."
"Fuck off." He replied, moving to remove his jacket
"Love you too, honey."
Bakugo didn't respond, only accepting the towel and leaving his slime soaked clothes in the tiled entrance.
He wrapped it around his waist as he entered the bathroom, running shower already set to the highest temperature, the way he preferred it. As the water ran down him, he let out a sigh… his mind, despite his protest coming back to Deku.
Just what's changed with him? The little shit never missed school, choosing to keep his record as clean as he could… but now? You'd be lucky to see him two days out of the week, something about therapy. Bakugo let out a scoff. As if it was just that.
Deku was hiding something… Bakugo didn't like people who hid shit. It was one step from lying and he fucking hated liars… like Deku.
He let out a devious smile, though.
Deku was just going to have to learn who's best when he kicks the fucker's face into the dirt, where it belongs. The quirkless deku wasn't going to pass UA's exam. He may be smart, but there's no way in hell he could meet the minimum point count in the practical. So, Bakugo would be able to elevate himself above the trash he grew up with.
Things were only going to look up from here.
_
So… that's chapter one. Probably the hardest bit to write was Bakugo's segment. Nezu was a lot of fun since I could focus on what I wanted, so long as it'd further the depiction of Nezu.
Anyways… see yall.