"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."
A saying of a president from the land of the free that has, for all intended purposes, lost the meaning of the wording, if not its spirit.
But who can blame them? After all, when people are blessed with various superhuman abilities as children, can you really say that all people born are inherently equal?
We hold certain truths evident – freedom of expression, speech, believe – but equality in ability, in strength, in career, in potentiality?
No, that belief was dealt a crippling blow the moment a luminescent baby was born in Quig Quig, China. When children around the world began showing control over the elements, telekinesis, and healing, their career prospects became rather… limited… but not unbeneficial.
Many were enraged by such blatant favoritism.
There were turbulent times: people rebelled, justifiably screaming discrimination based on 'the luck of the draw' in the gene pool. Not say some people weren't born with inherent genetic exceptions, but Quirks made them rather prominent and impossible to overlook.
It didn't help that some people abused their powers, but what did you expect? It was like giving a bullied high schooler a loaded gun and not expect them to express some rage at their abusers.
And the dominoes fell even further when children – young, impulsive, inexperienced, non-world weary children – would wake up one day with a power they couldn't control.
Or worse – die from their own power turning on them because they couldn't adapt.
No grievances were given, no exceptions justified.
The regulations came later, the laws followed.
The plans for the camps were the last straw.
The first century or so after the first Quirk appearance was characterized by rebellions, government overthrows, riots, villain, vigilantes, and most importantly, heroes.
Most of South America was lost to the jungles when a Chlorokinetic took exception to the corrupts government pollution of the wild – recolonization and rebuilding have only started a few decades back.
Canada suffered something similar, but more in that their winters were no longer as cold. Who knew that prolonged Aerokinesis could alter the weather currents permanently, even if it were done by multiple individuals and over multiple years?
The USA remained mostly the same sans a decreased population. If anything, the constant forest fires actually revitalized many national parks.
Europe lost a lot of historical landmarks, Africa lost a few species, and Russia… no one likes talking about Russia. They made Gulag's look like a child's nightmare compared to what came. Despite its best efforts, Russia has yet to truly recover from the mass migration nor the efforts of those who remained.
China and Japan did what they always did: they adapted, for better or worse.
In the end, in the cruelest of ironies, the dramatic decrease of the global population allowed the rebuilding to happen much faster and more efficiently had the population remained the same.
Oh the times, they were a-changing.
Much of the history - written and digital – during that time has been lost, not for the lack of trying to recover it, effectively crippling the cultural progression of humanity by decades, if not centuries.
Thankfully, everything starting from the first half of the 21st century and before remained unharmed.
But considering the world was, in essence, stuck in a global Civil War, some sacrifices were going to be made regardless of the silver linings.
In the end, peace was achieved. The outcomes varied from nation to nation. Some granted Quirked individuals more rights and freedoms like the USA, believing that a Quirk couldn't be regulated and was a given right to use it. Some more restrictive and regulated like Japan, preventing common day usage of Quirks unless a special license was given based on profession and demand.
As a side note, Japan had the highest number of heroes due to unrestricted Quirk usage available to any ranked heroes. On the flip side, their crime rates were the highest in the world.
[That means crimes committed as a whole, not those successfully carried out. The high hero count actually counteracted the rampancy of deviancy.]
Unexpectedly, the USA had opposite rates but much higher usage of abilities in other professions, but that is not important to the story.
Those born Quirkless were a problematic topic. Numbers showed that they would eventually die off, like a member of a species who couldn't adapt to the changing times. As such, discrimination on the lack of an ability seemed pointless in the long run, since the defect would naturally run its course and natural selection would ween it off. Plus, a good chunk of Quirk's were marginal or pointless at best, making nitpicking a rather futile endeavor when selecting via meritocracy.
Still, despite the best intentions, people are petty creatures. Especially children, who are vile gremlins for no other reason than they don't know any better.
Sure, certain professions were forever outside the grasp of the Quirkless with justifiable reasons. I mean, having a hero without a power, while not impossible with the aide of power suits or gadgets, is downright suicidal considering the abilities that appear in the populace.
But preventing a Quirkless from working in a bank, an office building, as a teacher, or any other career where a Quirk was not inherently necessary or beneficial in any way was moronic on the face of it all.
But despite laws and regulations being passed and the 20% rate slowly decreasing over the years, some individuals were still petty.
Especially in Japan, were cultural views and proliferation of heroes created a perfect breeding ground for Quirkless discrimination.
See, not all Quirks were considered 'true' superpowers. Most individuals were 'blessed with suck' as it were – bendy fingers, cow horns, extending neck or limbs, ability to change skin color, manipulating their tears, the list goes on. In fact, the number of Quirks that could be considered hero worthy or 'Flashy' constituted 15% of the Quirked population at best.
And those are just raw numbers: when one accounts for the difficulty of getting admitted into a Hero Academy (or if the individual chooses to become a hero), AS WELL AS pass the rigorous training and psych evals, the numbers wither away into triple digits on a good decade, never mind the mortality rates.
[That issue was amended when it was discovered individuals were being forced into hero profession against their will. The case precedence, Kardemile (aka. Earthmover) vs. The Nation of Japan, was a necessary one when it discovered that the government was for all intended purposes blackmailing the pacifistic Geokinetic into being a frontline hero. The case was won, new bylaws were set worldwide, the government workers and agencies responsible were fined and incarcerated, and Kardemile used his gift to remodel land for new housing and bring life back to dead soil. Still, no one forgot just how far certain agents would go to insure a power worked for the government. Many villains were 'inspired' by that event.]
So in the end, even Quirked could be given less preference in the job market when a Qiurkless with more merits and achievement to their name was available.
So they got back at the Quirkless any way they could, and the poisonous mentality spread.
But let's not get stuck on that particular issue or the fallacy of government-sponsored Heroes.
That is a topic for another day.
The main issue of this whole idea-thread was more focused on the line of HOW Quirks started.
There are many theories regarding the issue proposed by Quirk Scientists, ranging from spontaneous mutation due to radiation in the environment from past wars all the way to the notion that Quirks were the next step in human evolution.
Unfortunately, no one – well, almost no one – ever suspected the true reason for the emergence of Quirks.
In the end, it could be tied back to the actions of three individuals.
Well, technically two, considering one was a power of another.
The ones responsible? Dio Brando, a power called 'Made in Heaven,' and the fallen priest named Enrico Pucci.
Enrico had a bright future set for him in the priesthood. Unfortunately, due to the near-impossible coincidences and death of his sister, as well as the poisoned honeyed words of a vampire, Enrico's worldview was corrupted by Dio. With time, Enrico sought to make every human know their fated paths and give them the "resolution" to accept their destiny, calling it true "happiness." Essentially, Pucci wished that humans realized that they couldn't fight Fate and make them at peace with their status as subordinates of Fate.
How may you ask did Enrico hope to achieve this? Via the unique power of a Stand, a manifestation of a user's fighting spirit, blessed with 'psychic' based abilities, as well as a plan laid out to him via Dio's diary.
In time, Enrico gained a Stand called 'Whitesnake,' which evolved in 'C-Moon,' until finally completing its metamorphosis into 'Made in Heaven,' which 'blessed' Enrico with the power to – in all essence – reboot the universe and its inhabitants in any way he chose.
However, thanks to the efforts of a green-haired individual from the family of Dio's greatest adversaries, her allies, as well as the actions of a child blessed with the power of a brother Enrico never knew, the plan failed.
However, the damage had been done.
In the original timeline, the landing of a meteorite 50,000 years ago in what would become Cape York, Greenland, would introduce a virus that could eliminate all life. However, in lower doses, it had the potential to unlock abilities within the living instead. This was only discovered much later when a man wished to acquire the powers of the gods took what little of the meteorite remained after the eons and fashioned them into Arrows which unlocked Stands in the select few marked by them.
However, there were others affected by the meteorite over the ages, those who lived or passed through Greenland, being partially exposed to the virus either by proximity or whatever managed to carry over with the winds. Some of the 'immigrants' made way to far off lands, eventually passing the potential to unlock Stands into their descendants. However, the bloodlines of many of said 'immigrants' managed to coalesce over time in the landmass closest to Greenland, eventually resulting in the genetically gifted Joestar Family of Britain. Said potential for greatness was made clear in the star-shaped birthmark that adorned the family members back, and that gave them their name.
The same family that was also both responsible for creating and ending Dio's rein over the centuries.
You may be wondering what the damage was, however, when Enrico rebooted the universe. Simple – rather than landing in Greenland, the meteorite exploded in the Earth's stratosphere, spreading the virus globally, exposing a significant chunk of the population at the time to its effects. The results wouldn't become evident until many millennia later due to the weak potency of the virus, but eventually, its effects coalesce into the Luminescent Baby.
However, chunks of the meteorite still managed to find their way into the right hands, ironically becoming Arrows once more, allowing Stands to appear in the world again, especially in the Joestar Family.
Unfortunately, the emergence of Quirks, as well as the loss of the Arrows to the ebbs of the rivers of time, made Stands nothing more than hearsay, until becoming more than a whisper in the wind.
But the Stands never died. No, they simply waited for the right time to emerge, so they waited, they hibernated. Some cropped up other the decades, masquerading as Quirks to those not in the know, and in rare cases, becoming awakened in the hands of Quirked as well.
Those were troubling times.
And what of the Joestar family you may wonder? Well, fear not readers, for the family lived on, becoming nothing more than legends in the pages of journals and historical accounts.
For wherever there is danger and calamity, the star-marked family always finds a way into the fold.
For whenever something extraordinary happens, a JoJo will always find a way to be the hero in the situation.
So begins our tale one Izuku Midoriya and his Bizarre Adventures.
As long as Izuku could recall, his inspiration in wanting to become a hero could be tied down to his mother, Inko (his obsession with All Might came later.)
If anyone could describe her in a sentence, Inko would be called 'a no-nonsense woman who took crap from no one and dished out punishment like it was candy.'
Considering her size – six feet, a rarity in Japan not counting Mutation Quirks – and her rough upbringing as an orphan, Inko was a kickass woman who made her opinions and views well known.
Hence why it was always seen as odd when she chose a career as a surgeon rather than a hero or when she decided to be a single mother rather than marry the shmuck she had a one night stand with.
To this day, Izuku has never met his father nor felt a desire to do so. Considering how his mother described Hisashi as a 'spineless Firebreathing cultural obsessed government worker who wished to tie her down like a housewife just so that he would meet the norms of society.'
Her words.
But considering how 'spirited' his mother is, tying her down as a simple trophy wife was literally the last thing his 'father' should have done.
Besides, Inko Midoriya didn't take shit from no one sans her superiors, but that was more common sense than outright antagonization. And it wasn't like she had issues with correcting them when they were wrong.
The hospitals turn over rate – while high in the beginning – actually helped wean out the spineless idiots who didn't have what it takes in the profession, so her bosses tended to look the other way when she had student rotations to supervise.
It really was awe-inspiring how she managed to take her Quirk to 'attract small objects' and train it to be able to pick out shrapnel, drugs, poisons, and infected cells from her patients. Even her manipulation of sutures and scalpels could be considered near-telekinetic. Her skills as a doctor made her desirable in both the medical and hero community, hence her rather large and consistent hero clientele.
Such exposure to a variety of quirks, interacting with heroes when he played in the office, as well as the capabilities of quirks is what instilled Izuku's love of analyzing Quirks as well as desire to be a hero in one shape or form.
[Granted, a hero as a profession was above being a hero in actions. Nothing wrong with being a metaphorical hero like say a doctor, fireman, or a cop, but still, kids got to have dreams.]
Whenever he would say this to his mother, she would look down, smile wistfully, mutter 'Yare Yare Dame,' and just remind him to make sure he was a good hero and not one of those shmucks who became a hero for publicity, money, and ego.
[She relented slightly on the money issue considering how often she treated heroes who barely made ends meet at times and how much top-rank heroes actually donated away, with All Might at the top of that list.]
She has made her views about such heroes clear by denying them treatment. This was cemented in Izuku's eyes when she personally kicked Endeavor's ass out the third floor of the hospital when he demanded treatment.
She took… exception… when he tried blackballing her afterward.
Long story short, certain information was found out regarding Enji Todoroki, which Inko threatened to send to all news agencies and ruin him unless he 'did the right thing.'
That was the second time Endeavor attempted to fight Inko, which resulted in him ending in the trauma ward - in the hospital of a different district – where he was admitted for intense electrical burns.
When he recovered – after saying he was jumped by an electricity using villain – he divorced his wife out of the blue, giving her full custody as well as a very hefty alimony check every month. To this day, no one ever found out WHY he did this, nor has he ever graced the presence of Inko.
[Izuku would only get the full story years later when he wanted to recount the tale to his classmate Shoto. The boy nearly busted a gut, laughing at what triggered such a change in his life. But that is a tale for the future.]
Izuku asked his mom how she used her Quirk in such a way – again, fueling his obsession with studying Quirks, a potential and well-paying fallback career – since she could only attract small objects.
She would only smile, say that she had better control of things the smaller they are and that 'atoms are small objects as well,' and would explain more when he 'unlocked his power.'
Something that Inko whole-heatedly believed WOULD occur despite … The Event.
"I'm sorry, I must have misheard you," deadpanned Inko, arms crossed, sitting and starring directly at the doctor with Izuku frozen in shock next to her.
The short, rotund doctor held up an X-Ray of her son's foot as if displaying irrefutable proof. "I'm sorry Miss Midoriya, but your son Izuku has an additional joint in his small toe, indicating that he is Quirkless. I'm sorry but…"
"What else?" interrupted Inko to the shock of the doctor and breaking Izuku out of his mental breakdown.
"Pardon?"
"Did you run a blood test to test for mutagenic markers indicating a delay of Quirk Activation? Did you run a broad spectrum trigger test to see if his Quirk requires a specific mental, hormonal, or physical factor to be present for Quirk usage? Did you even bother running a DNA test to confirm that he ACTUALLY lacks the gene?"
With each question, Inko's ire rose further and further, shocking the doctor into a sweat and raising the hopes of her son.
"MADAM!" shouted the doctor. "I don't know who you think you are, but…."
"What I am doesn't matter. What I am is someone informed enough about Quirk Inheritance to know that the Toe-Joint Test is only right 70% at best considering the shortening length and flexibility of the toe joint over the generations. I am informed enough to know that quirk activation at 4 years old is nothing more than an old wife's tale built upon faulty statistics. What I am is someone who ran a chromosome marker and DNA test WHEN I WAS PREGNANT to verify that I wasn't a carrier. Considering the sperm donor I slept with could breathe fire, I am more likely to believe that you are a hack who is too lazy to carry out the other tests simply because it creates more paperwork. Have a good day, sir, and you will be hearing from my lawyers."
The man remained frozen in his seat as Inko left with a smiling yet crying Izuku to make a few calls.
As it turned out in the investigations, the man was using an alias to be a doctor – he disappeared before an arrest could be made – and made similar diagnosis multiple times to past patients.
What few they did manage to track down DID develop Quirks, but they were so late in life and so minor that they never bothered with them outside of registering them.
Unfortunately, too many of the man's patients couldn't be accounted for, which became an open case in the Police Force.
So Izuku remained patient, waiting for his Quirk to activate on his own rather than through 'force.'
And force it he did try – too bad his mother could always sense when he was planning something 'stupid' and stopped him. As a kid, he could only get away with so much.
However, Fate decided to intervene and activate Izuku's… power… early on.
Izuku, Age 8
"Kacchan, STOP THIS!" shouted Izuku, arms spread, defending the fallen and bruised boy behind him.
In front of him stood his 'friend,' Katsuki Bakugo, otherwise known as Kacchan, surrounded by the 'hyenas' he called friends behind me.
Bakugo smirked savagely as explosions crackled in his displayed palm. "Out of my way Deku! This side-character of a reject thinks he has what it takes to become a hero with his weak ass Quirk! I am just reminding him of his place – only someone as powerful as me deserves to become a hero, not this weakling!"
Izuku looked back on the kid behind him, "What's your Quirk?"
"I... I can… I can make anything I touch denser…" sniffled the boy barely seven years old, a year younger then Izuku.
Izuku thought about that, "Can you affect the weight or just make things harder to break?"
"Deku, the hell are you…!?" Bakugo started shouting.
"I can only make things harder to break or change the form via compression. I don't think I can affect weight like that," the boy said more confidently at Izuku's inquiry.
Izuku turned his back to Backugo as he leaned down, smiling, helping the boy stand up. "Then, with training, you can develop a Quirk suited for restraining villains and criminals. Maybe with time, you could create solid walls of air as shields. If heroics isn't your kind of thing, you can be a Support Specialist and help create unbreakable costumes and gadgets for your allies."
The boy looked at Izuku at awe, "Really?"
Izuku smiled brightly, "A Quirk doesn't need to be 'flashy' or destructive for one to be a hero. With the right mindset for heroics, creativity, and hard work, even someone like you can become the next All Might!"
The boy looked up at Izuku, not realizing that he was making one too many similarities to the way All Might smiled, light aura behind him included.
What Izuku stated proudly was, unfortunately, the wrong thing to say next to the growingly enraged Bakugo.
Before the boy had a chance to push Izuku out the way, Bakugo was already jumping towards Izuku's exposed back, his nitroglycerin sweat reacting aggressively with his heightened emotions.
It only took Bakugo making contact with his back before an inferno of an explosion propelled a shouting Izuku in the opposing direction, skidding across the pavement.
The boy watched his 'savior' shout in pain as his shirt burn off him, exposing his now severely burned back to the air.
"SHUT UP, DEKU!" roared Bakugo, all reason lost to rage. 'THIS PATHETIC WEAKLING WILL NOT BE THE NEXT ALL MIGHT! I WILL BE THE NEXT GREAT HERO – ME! I HAVE THE POWER TO DO SO!"
Bakugo turned to the still present boy – his posse already twitching and trying to distance themselves further from the upcoming carnage – as he raised his hands up, walking closer and closer. "AND YOU… time for you to see just what a real Quirk can do."
Bakugo never got a chance, because before he managed to make contact, he noticed the boy's glare focus on something BEHIND him.
Still enraged, Bakugo turned his head, eyes bulging in shock.
Deku – the Quirkless bastard, the one who always claimed that he WILL be a hero – stood proudly, torso exposed, the burning shirt on the ground next to him.
He was twitching, he was sweating, he had smoke coming off his back, but he was standing proudly.
And the glare he gave off…. the focus, the pure cold rage behind them… they were eyes which would haunt weaker men in their dreams.
And for some reason, when Bakugo looked at Izuku, when the light hit him just right, there seemed to be a vague shape behind him, standing by his side.
"You short-sighted (step forward) foolish (another step) angry Pomeranian (step)…. IDIOT!" shouted Izuku, an aura of 'power' radiating off of him, scaring and terrifying those around him. "Of all the things you could have done, this tops the crap filled sundae of your day, doesn't it you STUPID fool!"
Tick mark after tick mark formed on Bakugo's temple, "WHAT…DID… YOU CALL ME!?"
"You heard me, or are you just that STUPID, KACCHAN?"
"DIE!" shouted Bakugo as he rushed toward Izuku, his right hand reared back, ready to explode his targets head away.
What he – nor any of the kids still watching – expected was Izuku to flawlessly slaps his arm away and rear his own fist back.
Bakugo's last thought? "Oh, this is gonna hurt."
[Oroka = Stupid in Japanese]
"OROOROOROOROOROORO!" shouted Izuku, as his fists seemed to blur as he pummeled Bakugo repeatedly, the final punch propelling him into his group of friends, knocking them all out.
As Izuku smirked and admitted his handy work, the strain finally got to him, and he fell forward, collapsing and passing out.
The boy who he rescued ran up to him, checking him make sure Izuku was still alive, noting the palm-shaped burn on his back next to a star-shaped birthmark on his shoulder.
Things… did not end well for Katsuki afterward.
While both he and Izuku were admitted to the hospital for their respective injuries, the boy – who Izuku regretted never asking his name for – gave the police the account of everything.
Izuku, despite his back injury, was let off with a slap on the wrist as he was at the time registered Quirkless and he did nothing more than extreme fisticuffs in his retribution on Katsuki. As no Quirk was used – an intentional loophole left behind allowing individuals to defend themselves with martial arts or any gadget they could get their hands on – there were no charges.
Katsuki however…
It would have been easier to name the bones that WEREN'T cracked or fractured. Unless the kid planned to take an online course or be schooled in the hospital, it would take him too long to recover and make up the lost school days.
[Quirks that could heal immediately were too much in demand for treating a non-life threatening injury and those that accelerated healing could only do so much considering Katsuki was still a growing and developing child with little stamina to spare as it is. This is before one notes just how rare Healing Quirks in general are.]
That wasn't the worst of it. Nowhere close to it.
When detectives started to question both the teachers at the students at the school as to why such behavior was allowed to fester in Katsuki, a marginal discrepancy formed between the teachers and majority of students when compared to the accounts of the minority who questioned why Katsuki could get away with showing his Quirk so much in school.
Suffice to say, 'riding on the coattails of a success story' was heard repeatedly as teachers where terminated and the principal was arrested for not reporting any complaints regarding Katsuki.
Masaru Bakugo and Mitsuki Bakugo were going to be pressed charges for child negligence, but when question by True Man, they revealed that they had no idea regarding Katsuki's behavior outside their home.
Sure, he swore a lot and had a short trigger, but he honestly wasn't a bad kid.
Inko – a close friend of Mitsuki but who was also unaware of Katsuki's behavior– was present at the interview and asked them if Katsuki was ever tested for any negative body adaptations to his Quirk.
While most just assume that it was Mutant Quirks that underwent extreme physical dimorphism, even Emitter and Transformation Quirk users underwent a random appearance change, never mind the body adaptation to use said Quirks.
As it turned out, the Bakugo's had used the same doctor as Izuku once did, and they never bothered looking further than their son's increased rate of sweat and risk of dehydration. They figured Katsuki inherited his temperament from his mother, a justifiable explanation in Inko's mind considering how children imitate their parents, especially the parent who 'wore the pants in the relationship.'
The tests done by REAL doctors lessened Katsuki's punishment somewhat, the blame-shifting more towards his teachers for contributing to both his superiority and inferiority complexes.
As it turned out, the process to create his nitroglycerin sweat as well as sweating in general at such a rapid rate creates a hormonal imbalance in his brain. When he is calm and collected – like at home – he is fine, but when he is angered or when he uses his Quirk too much, the adrenaline overexcites the amygdala, making it near impossible for his rage to disperse. However, the body adapted and instead focused all his wrath on very specific things, either by mental association or some other process. Unfortunately, those things narrowed down to his own perceived superiority and his 'hatred' of Izuku.
Seeing as the two kids were the closest of friends before his Quirk activated, the chemical imbalance held merit, enough so that Inko agreed that no charges would be pressed on Katsuki Bakugo other than the need for him to see a counselor for the foreseeable future to manage his anger.
Unfortunately, the damage had been done: Katsuki had too much rage associated with Izuku, and it would take YEARS of therapy to analyze and disassociate the false anger he had against his friend.
Seeing no alternative and considering the harassment her son had undergone at the school for his perceived Quirklessness, Inko decided it would be better if they moved to Musutafu to be closer to U.A when Izuku would apply to it one day.
A comment that Izuku found out when his mother mentioned it as he wasn't aware he had a Quirk.
Boy was he surprised when he and his mom had a rather… bizarre… talk after he was dismissed from the hospital.
Izuku was shaking in his seat, a feeling not usually felt by him.
Oh sure, he has been known to present a meek front to authority figures for no other reason than to avoid the hassle of getting in trouble of talking back to them, but he and Kacchan were more than a little similar in that both had issues with authority.
Except that while Kacchan was a pompous Pomeranian barking at everyone, Izuku did it in the safety of his home. Mainly because he knew he wasn't strong enough yet to deal with doing it strangers and because his Mom taught him how to swear and destroy someone verbally better than anyone else could.
His mom was awesome like that.
He even had to frequently check the dictionary to learn the meaning of some of the words she used. Who knew you could insult someone without actually using swears or hurtful words?
Doesn't mean that Izuku ISN'T afraid of his mother, oh no. Despite claiming that she didn't have a strength-enhancing aspect to her Quirk, he had seen what she did to Endeavor the first time around.
Her salary took a big hit when they repaired that wall and window.
So he felt justified in his shaking as his mother stared down at him from her seat opposite of him.
"So…," stated Inko, breaking the silence. "You beat up Bakugo?"
Izuku nodded.
"Impressive."
Izuku smiled.
"Could have gone at it in a better way…."
Izuku frowned.
"But you were protecting someone, which is what a hero is supposed to do."
Izuku smiled again.
Inko leaned forward, her smile transitioning to a grimace. "My concern is twofold: how you did it and how you knew that Bakugo was… how did you put it?"
"Not right in the head?" Izuku stated/asked.
Inko nodded.
Seeing as she was waiting for his explanation, Izuku flustered, trying his best to put the feeling into words.
"I… I really don't know what happened. One minute I'm helping the kid up, next moment I'm on the ground, smelling burned pork, with intense pain on my back. I remember looking up, blacking in and out, seeing Kacchan breathing like an enraged animal… I didn't hear what he was saying – or maybe I did but don't remember from the pain. All I know is, I see him approaching the kid…. like… LIKE A VILLAIN of all things… And I think to myself, 'Why?' Why is he doing this? Why is he so mad? Why does he felt threatened by anyone else being better than him? There were questions after questions flashing through my head, but at the end of it all was just the urge to… to…."
"To protect," finished Inko, the edge of her lips raised into a smile. "You saw the boy being threatened by Bakugo, and the only thought going through your head was to stop him from harming anyone else, regardless if you were injured or if your life was on the line."
Izuku eyes bulged as he looked at his mother. "Yes…"
"And next thing you knew, you felt something click or unlock within you."
Izuku nodded, confidence regained. "Yeah. Next thing I knew, I was punching Kacchan. But every time I hit him, I felt like… I started knowing things about him. Little things at first, but the more and more I hit him, the more I started understanding… relating to him. By the time I landed that last shot, I could tell – no… I knew that there was something different about him, something that he couldn't control. It's why I told you that Kacchan wasn't completely responsible for his actions in the hospital."
"And I believed you, my sweet Izuku."
Izuku smiled but had to ask. "Mom… had do you know what I felt?"
Inko sighed in resignation. "I didn't think I would ever have this talk with you. Figured I was a onetime thing, didn't know it was hereditary."
"What are you talkin…?"
Before Izuku could finish his question, a figure appeared behind Inko.
It was tall, that was more than evident. Skinny, or more rather more lanky, built like a sprinter.
It was also orange. Well, more like a mix orange and magenta, alternating in a pattern over its armored body. The figure had a sharp and edgy design to it, almost like it was wearing a collage of lightning bolts all over it.
Except for its overly large hands that ended in soft pads on the fingertips and palms.
The best way to describe this being was if Hariyama – a creature from a defunct game series – went on a diet, grew a few feet and wore a suit of armor.
In a word, it looked… electrifying. Like a samurai who crafted his armor from a storm itself.
Izuku froze, his head slowly looking at his mom, his eyes unable to bulge any further.
"So you can see it, huh?" Inko asked nonchalantly.
Izuku tried nodding, barely succeeding.
"I didn't know what he was at first," Inko began her tale sipping on green tea. "One day, when I was in high school, our chem lab exploded because one idiot activated his Quirk at the wrong moment. Suffice to say, there was a big boom, and a fire broke out. My friend – not Mitsuki, I met her in college – was left behind in the rubble. Only I noticed so I ran back in while everyone else ran outside or rang the fire alarm. I tried getting her out of the ruble, but it was too heavy, and my Quirk only worked on small things. I was panicking, afraid for my friend's life. I had the same thoughts as you did, Izuku, and when I truly felt at my lowest, I gathered my wits and charged on through. But when I pulled myself up from the pit, I dragged something with…"
Inko turned and looked fondly at the figure floating beside her, "That was the day I met Electric Avenue."
Izuku could swear he just saw the figure smile underneath the mask.
"Electric lifted all the rubble off of her, and no one was ever the wiser. I never told anyone about him, thinking that I developed a secondary Quirk and didn't want the hassle. It was only later in college when I met someone who has something similar that I got the full story of what he was."
At this point, Inko turned back to face Izuku and almost laughed when she spotted the notebook and pen in his hand.
"Really?"
"Sorry Mom, reflex."
Inko chuckled. "From what the man told me, Electric Avenue is something called a Stand, a manifestation of the users fighting spirit, their 'life energy' given form. There are created from the user's psyche, which means that they are the truest reflection of the individual they are attached to, even evolving at times. Granted, the man I talked to only hard rumors for the evolution aspect since it is not easy to change oneself so late in life. Maybe as a kid but I really couldn't tell you."
Izuku was rapidly scribbling down everything as fast as his child hands allowed.
"It was then that I was told that Stands also have several abilities to them, as well as a unique power altogether for each user."
"First," Inko started raising fingers for emphasis, "A Stand can only be seen by another Stand user. To anyone else, they are invisible. Which ties into the second point, most Stands can physically interact with the world around them, moving objects and harming people like a ghost would. Third, a Stand is both invulnerable and intangible, and can only be harmed by another Stand or by a Stand user. Fourth, any damage done to a Stand is reflected upon the user and vice versa. Fifth, as psychic projections, the user can link his senses to his Stand and even communicate through it. Supposedly, with practice, one can also alter the size of the Stand, but I never tried that."
Izuku paused his writing, "You said something about individual powers?"
"Right. While I won't bore you with the details of how Stands are classified based on appearance or types, I can say that all Stands have a power unique only to them. The power of my Stand, for example, allows me to increase the property of something – or 'charge it up,' as it were – making some of their characteristics more distinct or more apparent. At first, I did it with little things: make something softer, make something harder, make a feather more ticklish, make water more viscous. With time, I figured out how to increase inherent properties of something, like making metals more conductive, spices 'spicier', or food more flavorable."
Izuku looked up, "You mean the katsudon you always make for me…"
"Exactly. I can draw out all the flavors and nutrients from any dish I make without effort for a fraction of the cost."
Izuku laughed at that – katsudon was his favorite dish.
"It was finally during my pregnancy with you when I was on bed rest and maternity leave that I finally took my power to the next level. I had a genuine fear of you being born Quirkless; I was afraid of you becoming part of the minority of people that suffer from the hypocrisy of people out there born with useless Quirks wanting to vent their frustrations in any way possible. Since I didn't really have anything else to do as I was waiting for my DNA results to come back, distracted by playing around with a little thought experiment. The idea was that if could I take a minority aspect – something so infinitesimal that it didn't affect the item as a whole – and increase it to the point that it became a majority aspect, one that DID affect it? Suffice to say, my Quirk came in handy to do this."
Izuku thought about this statement and things his mom did in the past. "Is this how you learned to control electricity? By manipulating charges and polarity of electrons and protons?"
Inko couldn't help but smile that her little Izuku was smart and well-read enough to know what electrons and protons were. And the maternity books had the nerve to say that it was detrimental to talk with a child like an adult – how else were they supposed to be challenged intellectually and actually bother looking up things their parents were talking about?
"Sweetie, I learned how to do so much more with my Quirk and Stand that I could have easily trounced most heroes and villains. Endeavor? That was me going EASY on him."
Izuku's eyes widened at that statement before breaking it down. "That… is so awesome. Wait, people can have a Quirk and a Stand?"
"That was something I learned much later down the line, long after I met the Stand user who taught me everything I knew at the time. Stand users are rare based on the few heroes I have seen passing them off as their Quirks – LET ME FINISH IZUKU! – but I have never seen a Quirk user with a Stand. Or rather… I have never seen a POWERFUL Quirk with an equally powerful Stand. From what I could gather by observation, there seems to be a balancing act between the two, as if both draw sustenance from the same source."
Izuku couldn't help but raise a brow and give his mother an accusery look.
"My Quirk attracts small objects, and my Stand increases properties of things. Do those sound like 'flashy' abilities?" deadpanned Inko.
"Touché. So you just trained them to be something greater than the whole?"
Inko shrugged. "Creativity and application seem like a common theme with these powers. In any case, it's a tossup at what you get. Hell, I still can't figure out the trigger for the Stands. What I do know is that I have seen powerful Quirks, I have seen balanced out Stands and Quirks, and I have seen weak Quirks with strong Stand abilities. But I have never EVER seen a pure Stand user."
Izuku paused. "Pardon?"
"Izuku, most Stand users that I talked to admit that they activated their Stand later in life, YEARS after they activated their Quirk. I have as of this point met only ONE individual – a sushi chef – who had a tediously useless Quirk but developed a ludicrously powerful Stand ability after getting mugged. You, however…"
"I didn't have a Quirk…. But I can see your Stand, which means that…"
Inko nodded. "You most likely won't develop a Quirk, and all tests will show you as Quirkless since Stand user don't have a genetic marker for them, nor do they advertise their existence. However, all that potential – the power drain - is now concentrated in your Stand. So I want you to look within yourself. Reflect upon who you are, leave no stone unturned, and then take that power, and drag it out."
At this point Izuku's eyes were closed, but as Inko watched, a green aura coated him and raised his hair, causing it to almost float. As he opened them, a figure began appearing at his side.
Both Inko and Izuku – and Electric Avenue – studied the new Stand before them.
The figure was not as tall as Electric Avenue, but he was bulkier, wearing what appeared to be military infiltration garb of a futuristic ninja, minus the obligatory long scarf. Even had a headband covering its left eye with a ripple-wave insignia grafted into it. The most distinct thing about it, however, were its dreadlocks, lazy nonchalance, and yin-yang (black & white) color scheme.
And just to fuck with them all, the Stand greeted them by waving like he was meeting some longtime friends.
"Yo."
Even the ever stoic Inko couldn't help but be surprised by this.
Isuku just went with it.
"Hi. What's your name?"
"Are you referring to my Stand name?"
"You don't have a name?"
"Not that I am aware of. I only know as much as my user knows with maybe a little something extra. I am like the subconscious mind personified."
"So… what's your Stand name?"
"White & Nerdy."
('I fear for my son if THAT is what his subconscious mind names his power,' whispered Inko to her Stand who just nodded along.)
"Okay… so what can you do?"
W&N paused as he thought about that. "According to Quirk terminology, I have something that can pass off as Psychometry."
"Really?" interjected Inko. "Full-on psychometry? As in full-on perception of past events and information on all objects and people? Even Psychocompetence and Retrocognition?"
W&N looked – and I mean really 'looked' – at Inko as Izuku was rapidly writing down ideas and aspects of his new power.
"My power can go as far as my user WILLS it to go. My abilities are TECHNICALLY 'analyses' and 'comprehension.' The 'analyzes' is a passive aspect of my power, but 'comprehension' requires either my user or me to make DIRECT contact with the 'analyzed.' What the user chooses to do with the information is how they want to interpret it."
"And?"
W&N shrugged to Inko. "I only know what my user knows and only perceive what my user understands."
Inko didn't push further – the Stand was still hiding something back though – but instead turned to Izuku, who was looking at her intently. "What?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, Mom, but I can kind of see all your physical measurements next to you – like a character sheet in a game."
Inko thought about that, having played such games in the past. "Is there anything else like health, stamina, or status?"
Izuku blinked. "There's now, but it has questions marks next to them. Does that mean I can't put a number value to something unless I know how you compare to others? Or is it more to do that I have never seen your maximum potential?"
Inko hid her shock better then she anticipated. Izuku's Stand just… adapted… because she asked if his Stand COULD see the information. She looked at W&N who was smirking at her with that a weird 'eye smile.' "I perceive only what the user understands. The more the user knows, the more I perceive."
Analyzing – damn, turn of phrase – that comment, Inko came to one conclusion.
Well, two, the second being her questioning how much of her 'Stand knowledge' she had taken for granted, considering that she had never heard of Stands being ABLE TO TALK.
"Izuku, you're hitting my books."
"YAY!" cheered Izuku. Mom never let him touch her medical books.
An aura of fear emanated from Inko, shocking Izuku out of his joy. "Oh, laugh now, boy. By the time I am done with you, you will be swearing and hating me more than Bakugo does everyone else."
"HEY! Don't compare me to Bakugo!"
"Do you know ANOTHER angry Pomeranian to compare it to?"
"…. Do you call him that as well?"
"….Do you not?"
W&N chuckled, "What an odd little family."
Electric Avenue nodded solemnly.
And so the Midoriyas moved to the new city, Inko apologized and reassigned her patients, found a new hospital, build up a new clientele, and life progressed as before.
Well, mostly the same.
Inko took a more… aggressive stance in training Izuku when she had the time.
Now that Izuku had a power he could pass off as a Quirk – which they did, in fact, write down as Psychometry on his Quirk Registry - Inko figured he was more than old enough to start preparing himself physically.
Considering that Izuku's new school – which Inko investigated thoroughly – didn't really challenge him due to his natural intelligence and the 'cheating' aspects of his ability, he had a lot of free time on his hands.
And yes, Psychometry made studying a breeze, never mind that the teachers had to print tests specifically for him to avoid leaving any residual imprints of correct answers on them. Thankfully, this was only a requirement for anything that required hard logic or straight-up memorization: classes steeped in writing and literature were in the clear – most of the time.
Speaking of training, most of it was dedicated to learning what W&N could and couldn't do.
As Inko argued, Izuku's 'Quirk' wasn't 'flashy' like most pro-heroes, which meant that he had to find ways to 'stand-out' as an individual to draw people's attention if he wanted to succeed.
Inko was flummoxed by this for a while until Izuku inadvertently picked up the 'annoying' habit to guess precisely what people were going to say next.
It was only annoying because it got old real fast and caught people off guard.
Speaking of which….
W&N wasn't kidding that his powers consisted only of 'analyzes' and 'comprehension,' but he failed to mention just how many nuances there were to such simple concepts.
Most of which made Izuku's life… difficult.
W&N wasn't kidding about the passive aspect of his ability. On the surface, it seemed harmless enough: as long as Izuku focused on something, he would get whatever 'surface' information he wanted from an item, object, or individual. Touching them via his own hands or via W&N provided more in-depth 'deeper' information on the subject in question, with prolonged duration providing more information.
While sight gave Izuku some interesting factoids based on what his mind gathered subconsciously, it was actually holding the items that provided him the exciting stuff.
Want to know where an item has been? Touch the item.
Want to know everything written inside a book or manual? Hold the literature long enough to do so.
Want to know what an individual did? Touch the individual.
Want to gather information discreetly or know something a person is hiding? Touch the subject.
The time Izuku could call back was short, but with practice, he could go back further and further.
Granted, it took time to find what Izuku was looking for and such a time delay would be dangerous in the heat of the moment, but using the ability with W&N active actually accelerated the process and lessened the strain. In all fairness, it started seeming like W&N was less the source of the ability and more like an external processing hub to aid Izuku, one that could defend itself.
[W&N neither confirmed nor denied this, only stating that he was simply the hub of all the knowledge Izuku gathered. Considering how much the literature indicated that the subconscious mind was a horde of untapped wellspring of knowledge we forget and overlook, the statement carried weight.]
Both Inko and Izuku calculated that with age and practice, Izuku could theoretically imitate History Reading, a sub-power of Retrocognition, the ability to discern the past and past events. Screw becoming a hero: Izuku would make more money working for the Police Force or the government in solving cold cases, crimes, or just hunting down villains by touching random stuff they left behind or even their own hair and blood.
[Izuku was quick to mark in his notebooks that the amount of living matter tested did affect how far back in time he could 'see.']
Another quirky little thing Izuku noticed about his ability is that if he could gather and retain information from books, could he do the same for other items?
Inko, following the train of logic, decided to test it out by giving her son an old bokken she used in high school for kendo. The first reaction was rather revealing, as the strain of processing all the knowledge visibly drained Izuku. However, when he recovered, he revealed he could use all the sword techniques of the blade, but only while holding it. The moment he released his grip, all that knowledge just… started slipping away.
It came back immediately, however, when he grasped the sword again.
As Izuku practiced over the years with other objects and other people – Inko signed him up for one of Gunhead's multi-martial arts dojos – he managed to gather all the strength and weaknesses of this aspect of his power. As long as Izuku remained in contact with an object, he would gain mastery over it, learning the most efficient method of using it. However, he would lose said proficiency when he stops contact with the item. Additionally, if the item in question has a long history to it or was in possession of someone who used it for a long time – like a sword in the hands of a master – then Izuku would also pick up any personal skills and techniques that the owners 'imprinted' on said item.
It was basically conditional Intuitive Aptitude on steroids.
Humans were slightly different. If Izuku fought someone long enough, he would effectively start 'stealing' their martial art techniques. Izuku had to start leaving his Stand out during practice to avoid accidentally stealing any personal information from people he sparred with. The dojo members knew what his Quirk was so they took it with good faith when he admitted that he still needed to train his body physically to perform said techniques and that he could control what he gathered.
Unfortunately, as the years progressed, Izuku started to realize with growing horror that his Stand ability had three crippling weaknesses to it.
First, while having the Stand out active took a load of his mental strain, it also cost him energy to keep him out. Inko never had such an issue with Electric Avenue, but seeing as Izuku's Stand was always active for its passive, Izuku had a constant energy drain from it as well as headaches from straining it. It was alleviated by eating more often, but naps were still a necessity for Izuku, one that had to be enforced at times by the school nurses, who Inko informed of Izuku's 'Quirk' cost.
This was a minor issue until they processed that though and realized that the Stand passive ability WAS ALWAYS ACTIVE. It didn't seem like a big deal at first since it seemed to be only restricted to his hands and eyes.
However, there was a third weakness: the area of contact started growing. At first, it was barely noticeable, like when Izuku tapped his wrist against something and got information from it; he figured it was a fluke.
Then he started feeling impression from his elbows. Izuku didn't start panicking, but he began to gauze up his arms.
People he interacted with understood, believing that his Quirk was developing as he had entered the age double digits and was approaching puberty, a turbulent time for Quirks.
It only got worse when Izuku woke up one day and started getting 'readings' from his feet.
In all fairness, it wasn't the information overload that was the hassle. Izuku didn't really retain that knowledge, and he had trained himself to consider it more as white noise, stuff the ordinary person ignores in their everyday life. But since his feet were always touching something, the white noise would persist as would the stamina cost. And despite his best efforts, not even Izuku could ignore a constant pressure pressing on his brain.
And so, to his discomfort and Inko's displeasure, Izuku now had to start his day off by bandaging himself his limbs with a gauze every morning. As the years progressed, Izuku had to wrap himself more and more. Since the gauze was something Izuku was intimately familiar with, the stamina cost was minimal.
By the time he was twelve, he had to start bandaging his own face, as even his skin making contact with the wind carried over information for him to analyze.
Both he and his mother thanked the spirits that the ability didn't spread outside his sense of touch. If Izuku had developed Cipopathy, he would have probably been unable to eat anything sans vegetables, as consuming anything made of meat would have made him see EXACTLY how the animal was processed and packaged.
Inko was not about to give up meat just so that her son could be a Vegan.
But despite this apparent 'handicap,' it was not life-changing. Izuku could still interact with people since gauze prevented direct skin to skin touch. Taking a shower was annoying, what with knowing precisely what was in the water, shampoo, and soap he used to the chemicals. Sleeping in the nude was something his mother wasn't particularly happy about, but Izuku locked the door at night so she couldn't complain. He spend all day in the gauze, so taking it off at home was a must.
Frankly, all Izuku had to do to avoid getting a headache at best or a migraine at worst was simply decreased his amount of sensory exposure or take an Advil.
Granted, wearing shades with his mummy-like appearance made people think he was pretending to be the Invisible Man, but since it wasn't hurting anyone, people ignored.
Got really annoying showing the cops and shop owners his ID and Quirk Registration to get them off his back though,
The one benefit of his skin becoming capable of analyzing the world was that by leaving any part of the body exposed, he could actually pick up information from the air itself, creating something like an active map and view around himself.
Without his Stand, it was limited to anything within a radius of a few feet, being able to see behind corners and anything happening movement-wise around him as long there was flowing air. The range was naturally constrained within hallways and rooms.
With W&N active? His range increased significantly, with Izuku becoming the epicenter of a giant XYZ grid sphere, sensing everything within it.
And all he had to do was not cover up his trademark green hair. It limited himself, even more, to barely three feet around him, but that was enough without exposing more skin.
Still, life wasn't all roses and rainbows. As it became more challenging to ignore Izuku's changing appearance, what few acquaintances he had in school started diminishing, to the point where just greeting them seemed strained.
It could be that Izuku's mummy appearance unnerved them. Izuku wasn't foolish and knew that people interacting with him quickly started falling into three camps: those afraid of his power, those jealous of his potential, and those greedy fucks who wanted to ride his coattails.
The students who were afraid of him he left alone, because no matter how much he argued that he couldn't get anything from them without skin to skin contact, they just didn't believe him.
The jealous ruffians needed physical activity to get them off his back. A few fights did happen, but despite how much the teachers and parents of the idiots argued, Inko cowered them all, calling them blind jealous howler monkeys whop couldn't train the students to be better.
[If anything, Inko had to restrain herself from calling the children 'future recipients of the Darwin Award.' Izuku's prowess in martial arts was not unknown what with the tournaments he competed in nor was his growing size something to ignore. Inko figured with his diet, exercise, and genes, Izuku would easily hit the six-foot mark or higher when he started U.A.]
The greedy ones… well, Izuku had seen what happened to Katsuki, so Izuku knew to avoid the pitfalls.
Speaking of Katsuki, Inko and Izuku still kept in touch with Masaru and Mitsuki over the years, to see how his treatments were going. Izuku avoided interacting with Katsuki at first, afraid of triggering his latent anger, even though writing. As the years and therapy continued, the doctors eventually gave the green light for the two to start interacting with each other.
They started off with texting and moved on to long-form letters. Eventually, as Katsuki was desensitized further, they started calling each other over the phone in short burst, progressing to video calls in short durations.
Eventually, as the finisher to his therapy, the Midorias and Bakugos decided to finally meet up after the years so that Izuku and Katsuki could meet each other face to face.
As such, after four years, it was no surprise to anyone that the first thing Katsuki did when meeting Izuku in person was reacting in shock to his appearance and height, before quickly proceeding to apologize for his past actions and behavior.
Izuku just smiled, muttered 'Yare Yare Daze,' and hugged his friend once more, the friendship of Deku and Kacchan restored.
Both agreed to meet each other in U. A in four years, Katsuki shouting to the world that he would become the next Number 1 Hero. Izuku didn't disagree to his friend's surprise, arguing that his 'Quirk' was more suited to working behind the scenes and wasn't as combat nor power-oriented – code word for 'flashy' – like Katsuki's.
He couldn't refute that point, but he still demanded that Izuku put up a good fight anyway.
Both laughed at that as did their parents, the families friendship restored.
As Katsuki talked about the new restraints on his Quirk – such as his health & heart rate monitor and pills when necessary – Izuku couldn't help thinking of what would happen if he could imitate a Quirk if he could comprehend it enough.
But Izuku just shrugged and ignored that train of thought, thinking it was too much of a hassle and he had enough on his plate as it was.
Besides, Izuku couldn't help smiling as he was returning back home on the train: his family was happy, life was good, his control of his power was getting better, and he had his friend again.
Why would he need to rock the boat?
Too bad Fate had an odd relationship with the Joestar family, even if they weren't aware of their heritage.
Because before they knew it, The Midoriya family grew.
Izuku, Age 13
The day was just like any other day.
Izuku would wake up, take a jog, clean himself up, eat, go to school, go to the dojo or a club on alternating days, go home, eat with his mother and discuss their day, quickly finish his schoolwork, and either peruse the hero news and forums to update his notebooks or play some games.
Rinse and repeat.
It was during this odd day that this pattern happened to break.
It was Sunday. The weather outside was delightful, the cicadas were singing, and the sun on the horizon of the sea was just so beautiful.
It was as he was passing by Dagobah Municipal Beach Park that he noticed the anomaly.
Now, rampant pollution had turned what once was a beautiful public spot into a junkyard. However, even a junkyard had the occasional diamond hidden in the rough. Hence why Izuku stopped reacting whenever he saw anyone riffle through it, like that pink-haired girl with weird eyes.
However, on this particular day, he noticed a shirtless kid with indigo hair sweat away his morning as he was searching through the mountains of junk.
He would have ignored this if not for two things.
One, there wasn't just one kid doing the dumpster dive, but several kids who all looked exactly the same.
Two, while he couldn't confirm it, the kid seemed to have a birthmark on his back… a star-shaped birthmark.
Seeing the impossibility of such a thing occurring naturally, Izuku decided to intervene.
Izuku didn't take five steps onto the beach before five of the kids jumped out, tensing, ready to fight.
"What do you want?" demanded the leftmost one.
Izuku pointed at the one who had his back turned. "That birthmark on your back – it's a star, right?"
The kid – kids? – looked at each other in confusion. "Yeah, what about it? Had it since birth."
Izuku started taking off his hoody to the kid's confusion. It wasn't until he shifted his workout shirt and exposed his shoulder that the kid's eyes bulged.
Izuku noted the reaction. "My mother and I both have them."
"Hold on, let me get the boss," stated one of the kids before disappearing in a puff of smoke to Izuku's surprise.
'A clone Quirk? How rare.'
Izuku watched as one completely dressed kid emerged from the horde. Izuku quickly noted his appearance. Unlike his copies which were lively and healthy-looking, this one was slouching and had dark eye bags. He was also much paler and sweating profusely.
'Does his Quirk drain him when he makes copies?'
"So," stated the kid interrupting his train of thought. "You have the same birthmark as me. Where is your family from?"
"No idea – my mother is an orphan, so only her and I have it."
The boy's eyes widened marginally.
Izuku considered what he knew. "Are you an orphan as well?"
The boy got defensive. "How did you…?"
"I am good at making deductive guesses."
The boy paused for a moment before doing something that solidified what Izuku suspected even further.
A Stand appeared by his side.
It was humanoid and sparkled in the light, being made of apparently of some sort of metallic material, with a large spiky crown on his head. However, it was unnaturally skinny, with joints at the waist, hips, shoulders, elbow, and hands prominently displayed in all their gear like glory. If Izuku didn't know any better, he was willing to bet that the Stand wasn't suited for combat despite appearing like a Close-Range Stand.
To add to the confusion, the Stand clapped his hands, causing all the other kids – clones, now that Izuku thought about it – to 'poof' away as well.
Noting the direction of his gaze, the kid couldn't help but be shocked. "OH MY GOD!… can you see him?"
Izuku nodded before bringing up W&N, who proceeded to nod to them in greeting. "Yeah, I have a Stand. What do you call yours?"
"He goes by Eminem. So, they are called Stands… what's yours called?"
"White & Nerdy." Deadpanned Izuku.
The kid couldn't help but snicker.
"Names Izuku Midoriya by the way. Yours?"
"Hitoshi… Hitoshi Shinso" smiled the kid.
It was on this day that family was reunited, and Izuku's Bizarre Adventures took off.
So… yeah… this is a thing.
5 shots of 50% whiskey is apparently enough to trigger this odd gem from the recesses of my mind.
When I woke up the next day, more then half of this was written, so I sat down and finished it.
I left myself a lot of notes as to how this story could progress and who exactly could have a Stand or not, as well as how Stand users could remain hidden from the general public and most of the heroes.
I also managed to connect A LOT of main story characters to past Jojo characters. The only explanation I gave myself is that the 'implied' chaos times when Quirks started appearing, stuff happened, and the descendants of the Jojo cast migrated to Japan over the years.
To be fair, most of them – sans 'Golden Wind' arc – have already had some connections to Japan, so that was a non-issue.
Plus Dio – using the body of Jonathan Joestar – sired A LOT of bastards around the world. We were only aware of a few of them, so who is to say that the Joestar line isn't still active?
It also appears that I managed to write a power for Izuku that can counter – with difficulty - the ability of the final boss, who following the Jojo trend, will be an OP power dealing with either time or space-manipulation.
While the info dump was something I didn't want this chapter to become, when I was correcting it, a twisted sort of logic applied to it. Izuku has always been someone to over-analyze a Quirk (or power in this case) so knowing that he was going to pass off his Stand as one, it was a necessity for him to practice with it to figure out its limitations. Considering I also didn't bother listing COMBAT applications of this ability, what was written is enough to leave an impression of where I plan to take this ability if I pick up this story.
In any case, I hope you readers like this story and if anyone wants to adopt it, send me a message.
IMPORTANT STORY NOTES
The world in Steel Ball Run and JoJolion IS NOT the same world at the end of Stone Ocean
The characters pre-Steel Ball Run all exist in the new world at the end of Stone Ocean, but not all events have necessarily occurred like in the written story
Dr. Inko Midoriya – lost daughter Nana Shimura – descended of Jolyne Cujoh
Tomura Shigaraki – cousin of Izuku in this story, making them both Joestars
Hitoshi Shinso – descendent of Josuke Higashikata, making him a Joestar via Joseph Joestar