The first thing Izuku did when he got home that night was get scolded by his teary eyed mother.
He had expected as much considering it was past midnight when he finally found his way back, thankfully it didn't escalate more than a stern telling off and a week of being banned from hero watching.
Which, honestly, the boy wasn't sure was even a punishment anymore, a week felt too short even, considering the green haired boy had a lot of thinking to do in regards to heroes.
Next, however, he collapsed on his bed, he was completely exhausted from the day, he didn't even have enough energy to change out of his uniform, despite the unsightly state it was in.
Thankfully, the weekend was rolling up, so it wouldn't matter much if his blazer smelt of slime and sweat.
When he woke up in the morning feeling refreshed and ready, he changed into more comfortable clothes, switched on his computer and began researching and writing notes around his newly found device.
"If I assume that the watch works on a similar basis to temporary transformation quirks like that Mount Lady I saw debut yesterday, rather than something permanent, like Gang Orca's, I can see if there information on anything specific they had done in order to prolong their transformation time…" the boy muttered to himself.
After surfing around forums and reading some of the more publicly available medical documents on quirks of the aforementioned nature, the boy managed to deduce that it all came down to something as simple as how strong their bodies were.
Transformation quirks worked by changing someone's genetics, for example, Izuku had read a report on someone with a quirk called Lycanthropy, which allowed them to transform into a werewolf of sorts, this was done by changing certain genes in a way that made them emulate those of a wolf, whilst keeping others the same to allow the remaining parts to stay human.
Using this report he managed to gather that not only did being faster or stronger in their normal human form make them even faster when they activated their quirk, but their endurance played a big part in allowing them to maintain their transformed state, this was because maintaining a transformation was and extremely taxing ordeal as not only did the body's cells have to hold that new form, which already required a lot of energy, but they also had to store what they usually looked like, which was probably done in the nucleus of the cell, to allow the user to return to normal without side effects.
From what the boy could tell, maintaining a transformation longer than the body was capable could lead to cellular deterioration and incomplete reversion, a kind of limbo between the full transformed state and human state that required extensive surgery to heal.
Luckily for him, the watch seemed to have some in built fail safes to prevent both those things, namely the time limit.
These reports were also extremely helpful in the field of extra appendages too, as they gave great tips and exercises to help learn to control new body parts that may appear as a side effect of a quirk.
Happy with the conclusion that he would have to start working on his body so he could stay transformed longer and spend time in his actual transformations to learn how to control them, Izuku decided that he would have to plan a routine later, after he checked to see what the other forms the watch gave him were.
He kept rigorously researching quirks and physical training methods until his mother called him for breakfast.
"Morning Mom, sorry again about yesterday." The boy said sheepishly, whilst sitting down at the table.
"It's alright honey," his mother said, tending to the rice cooker, "I just wish you would tell me where you're going before running around, I can't imagine something like what happened to Mitsuki's son happening to you."
"Kacchan? What happened to Kacchan?" Izuku asked curiously, conflicted on whether he should worry for his friend or cheer the downfall of his bully.
"You didn't know? He was held hostage by a villain yesterday on his way home from school, poor thing was being strung about like a puppet, and even though it only took fifteen minutes for the heroes to save him, but he had to be sped to the hospital in critical condition."
Izuku froze. He had never imagined something like this happening, especially not with All Might of all people in the area.
"W-which villain was it?" He asked.
"They didn't have a name for him, but he was made from some kind of slime or sludge if that rings any bells."
'Slime? Like the one who attacked me? But All Might caught that villain. Unless…' Izuku felt sick to his stomach, it was his fault, because he had grabbed All Might to ask him that stupid question, he was the reason his childhood friend had almost died.
No.
He couldn't blame himself.
So what if the villain had freed himself? At least a couple dozen heroes operated in the area, not to mention All Might had been nearby, so how come all these professionals had been unable to save one person before he ended up in the condition he was in?
The problem must have lied with the heroes, he'd noticed it of course, since he spent most of his time studying them and their abilities.
Sometimes Image and prestige were all that mattered to a hero, the top percentile of the career were better for it, having impressive track records when it came to saving people.
Even then, Mustafu was a hotbed of pro hero activity, quite a few were in the double digits, some were even quickly coming up on the single digits, so why had it taken fifteen minutes for someone to get their ass in gear and save Kacchan?
He couldn't help but feel it was a case of fearing negative exposure, he had no doubt a few heroes were just terribly matched with the situation, but he could name five heroes off the top of his head that would have been near the area that could have solved the situation his mother described to him.
The manner was messy, sure, and the hero would likely have gotten some mild damage, but that's just what you sign up for when you take the job really.
Then there was All Might.
Where was he?
He had literally been in charge of taking the villain into custody not five minutes ago, he understood the man probably solved three separate crimes in that time span, but he couldn't be so bogged down that he had failed to follow up on his own arrest.
Unless of course, he was, and that was another issue all together.
Still, It all stemmed from the current members of the hero society slacking off.
Izuku had to change that, if people thought all it took to become a hero was a flashy quirk, and that constant hard work and dedication to the job rather than yourself were not principles all heroes lived by, then the bar needed to be raised urgently.
The boy clenched his fists and looked at the watch.
'I can't let the title of hero, the thing I've been chasing my whole life stay in such a state, if everyone else is content with ignoring how low standards have been gotten recently, then they won't mind if I raise them.'
A plan began formulating in the boys mind, people felt safe simply because of All Might's existence, that was the power of a symbol of peace, so could the boy bring about change by being something else?
A symbol of progress maybe?
Someone so strong that others had to up their game to keep up or fall behind?
"Um, Izuku, what's that on your arm?" The boy in question looked up at his mother in surprise, being broken out of his thoughts had always been disorientating, as she was placing a bowl of rice on the table.
"Uh, I-It's a watch, but it doesn't really tell the time, so it's not actually a watch. It's not dangerous though so there isn't a need to worry or anything…" the boy muttered, quickly trying to piece together some kind of plausible lie that went beyond, I found it in the park.
"You're muttering again sweetie."
"Ah, s-sorry, it's a project I've been… helping someone work on." Izuku began, "he's a um… Q-Quirk scientist, who saw my notebooks by chance one day and um… I-In exchange for my help analysing quirks and helping him progress with his research, he gave me a prototype." The boy lied, and he could tell he'd done so terribly, but he was banking on the fact that he seldom lied to his mother to give home some extra point into convincing department.
"Izuku honey, please don't tell me you accepted a weird device from a stranger." His mother stated worriedly. "That's very dangerous you know."
"He's not a s-stranger mom, I've been helping him for almost a year." The boy was digging a hole and he knew it, but objectively speaking, convincing his mother the device came from someone with professional knowledge was much better than telling her he had almost got crushed by a shooting star and then took something potentially dangerous from said star and was planning to use it to kickstart his hero career.
"Hun, I would really prefer if you took that off until we take it to someone for appraisals, just because you talked to someone for a long time doesn't mean they have nothing but good intentions." His mother said sternly.
Izuku could tell where this was going already, his mother would demand to keep it in a safe place for a while, and then take it to someone for them to check out what it did, once they found out the abilities of the watch, Izuku was sure he'd never get it back.
There was no escaping it, the only thing worse than upsetting his mother to the point of tears was activating her mama bear mode, and Izuku had done both in the span of two days.
He would not be bested today, however, for he had a trump card.
"A-about that, it kind of, sort of, doesn't umm… come off…" the boy said with a trailing voice.
"What?" The sternness in her voice made Izuku flinch, well that had backfired horribly.
"It doesn't come off, it's a very important project okay. So my friend had to make sure no one could take it from me." Izuku defended, his voice raising a little, he loathed to yell at his mother, but at the rate things were going, he wouldn't be able to use the watch, and he was under no illusion that he could chase his dream without it.
"Izuku, you must understand how suspicious it is the leave a teenager with something potentially dangerous that he can't take off, we need to get you to a doctor or someone who can get it removed." His mother said, her volume raising to match his own, annoyance plastered on her face.
Izuku was never disobedient outside being a little over zealous when it comes to heroes, and arguing with her when it was clear she was in the right was not helping his case.
"We have to get it off you." His mother commanded almost angrily, she couldn't understand why her son was fighting her on this, it was obviously not something that could be trusted, and for some reason the anger reflecting onto Izuku.
"I don't want to take it off." Izuku semi-yelled, "The watch is safe, and I can use it to be a hero!" The boy exclaimed, tears threatening to brim from his eyes. "I won't let you stop me Mom, I know you've never believed in me, and always hated my dream because of how dangerous it is, but if you don't want to support me either, then I'll do this without you too!" The boy yelled, burning tears pouring from his eyes.
His mother looked taken aback by his actions, it was never something she had expected her meek little Izuku to do, and the words he had said, they finally sinked in.
The woman's eyes widened in realization, tears coming to her own eyes. She realised finally that she too was at fault here, she'd never supported her son, not when he was diagnosed as quirkless, not when he had spent days trying to figure out how to be a hero without one, and not even now that he had finally found the solution he had always been searching for.
The reason was simple, she didn't want her son to be a hero, she hated the notion, it was dangerous, horribly so, and the thought of her baby boy putting himself in danger everyday tore at her very soul.
As a mother she couldn't outright go against her sons dream so blatantly, in truth she was even been happy when he'd been diagnosed as quirkless, as horrible as it was, but she'd seen the videos Izuku loved so much, she rather her son spent his life an outcast than actively risking his life.
Which she realised was horrible of her, but she just wanted to be a little selfish, she had never thought that what she had been doing was unforgivable.
However, now that she looked at the burning determination in her son's eyes, even through the tears on his face, she realised her mistake.
Being bullied for being quirkless wasn't even an issue to her son, no, what haunted her baby boy wasn't that he was born with no powers in the world of heroes, no, it was the fact that he poured his heart and soul into something no one believed he could achieve.
Not even his old mother.
As that realisation set in, Inko Midoriya understood one fact, she had failed as a mother.
Various emotions passed through her face, before she settled on tears sadness and tackled her son in a bear hug.
Oh my god, Izuku, I'm so sorry." The woman cried, holding onto her son as if her life depended on it. "All these years, I've been horrible to you, haven't I?"
"W-what? Mom no, you're the best mother I could ask for." Izuku protested as he returned her hug.
"Even though I've never given you the support you've needed?" Inko asked.
"You've always supported me in your own way mom, you might not consider it much, but you've always supported my crazy hero watching habits even though I know how worried you get." Izuku comforted.
His mother looked at him with hope for forgiveness in her eyes.
She'd relent today, about the watch, she wasn't convinced it was safe, but Izuku seemed sure he needed it for his dream, and she had just decided to support his dream as much as humanly possible.
"Okay, you can keep the watch," Inko said finally, "but I don't want you putting yourself in danger or doing anything remotely dangerous until you're under supervision at U.A, understand?"
Izuku simply nodded.
The two eventually sat down for a now cold breakfast.
"So what does it do." Inko asked finally.
"Well umm… I think it basically replaces the need for a quirk genome by temporarily alerting your genetic composition. It's actually pretty cool, I'd love to show you some time mom." Izuku said.
"I'm like that honey, is there anything you need for it? Anything I can help with?" Inko probed, wanting to help in anyway possible.
"Well actually, turns out I'm not in good enough shape to use it just yet," Izuku said in embarrassment, "So I'm planning to start a workout regime, could you possibly help me with the dietary needs?"
"There's nothing I would like more." Inko smiled.
After a cold but lively breakfast, where Izuku had been happy to admit he felt closer to his mother than he had since his pre diagnosis days, the returned to researching in his room.
He spent a whole day planning out a work out schedule based on tips by professionals, and during late evening he got a whiff of a place called Dagoba beach. He had a vague recollection of it as somewhere that used to be beautiful, but was now covered in rubbish both due to the ocean's current and people littering, it offered a good, out of the way place to train his skills and work out his body.
The boy decided to throw on a tracksuit and check it out.
It was about as much as he expected, miscellaneous pieces of trash of all shapes, sizes and utility, it smelled like a sewer and was completely devoid of any people.
Perfect.
Izuku carefully made his way down to the beach, careful not to displace anything in case it caused the mountain of things around him to become an avalanche.
He looked at the trash surrounding him before his hand found the watch.
He transformed himself into the only form he had been in before, and aimed a powerful punch from his now red arm at the ground that blasted away everything around him.
Izuku returned to normal a few short seconds after, and his eyes filled with wonder as he saw the beautiful scene of the sun resting gently on the break between the ocean and the sky, painting it's usual cerulean in an orange colour similar to the one it had been last night.
He smiled, as the sound of waves gently hitting the shore was the melody which marked the beginning of his journey.
His start line.