Shota Aizawa walked alongside his young charge, the prodigy Izuku Midoriya. The kid was certainly the kid with the most potential out of all of them, but he was reckless, prone to injury and quite frankly, stupid. Not in the way of his exams, perhaps, which Aizawa found to be acceptable, at the very least, but the sort of almost plucky stupidity so common in new, idealistic heroes. He'd throw himself to the dogs to protect his friends, even when it might be smarter to run and live to fight another day. Still, the kid had guts and a heart.
Perhaps, Aizawa thought, that was why his behaviour was so surprising today. Alarming, even. Midoriya was friendly to a fault, even to Bakugo, who seemed to hold Midoriya in absolute contempt. Well, Bakugo held everyone in contempt, but Midoriya especially. Still, somehow Midoriya viewed Bakugo as a genuine friend, so to see him treat Bakugo with such contempt was… interesting, to say the least.
"Tell me, Midoriya, has something happened recently? Is there something you want to talk to me about?"
"No, can't say there is. I'm just getting sick of being picked on so much," Midoriya shrugged. "Bakugo's a grade A jerk."
"If you're sure there's nothing you want to talk to me about, I understand. Still, I'd like you to talk to Mr Yagi."
"Of course," Midoriya nods, as the two walked on in silence.
The two soon arrived at the door to the teacher's lounge, pushing it open with a swing. Midoriya stepped inside, eyes scanning the room, while Toshinori Yagi sat at the teacher's desk, looking sick and tired. His rail thin, lanky frame rested wearily in his cheat, as he coughed blood into a hankerchief. However, he cracked his famous smile upon seeing Midoriya, back straightening as he attempted to look better-off than he was.
"Hey, kid! How are you doing?"
"Uh… pretty good. Classes were interesting, I think I learned a lot."
"Midoriya's been acting a little hostile in class."
"Thanks, Shota. I appreciate you telling me. What do you say, kid, are you up for talking?" Yagi asked with a smile.
"Oh, thanks, I'd love to, but I'm afraid I think I'll have to leave it for a bit, Mr Aizawa wanted me to talk to All Might."
Yagi's draw dropped for a moment, his eyes widening.
"What did you say, Izuku?"
Midoriya seemed to quickly realize he'd said something wrong, stumbling to come up with an excuse.
"Sorry, I have no idea what I'm talking about, my head's been all fuzzy since this morning. I've been sort of been sick all morning… All Might."
All Might's dark eyes narrowed for a moment, staring in at Midoriya, who for the first time all day was starting to seem nervous.
"Hey, kid, I've a question for you. What was the name of your power, again?"
"Umm… look, I'm feeling really sick, can we just…?"
As fast as the wind itself, All Might, transformed into all his muscular glory, raced forward, lightly but firmly pinning Midoriya against the wall, staring at him.
"Sorry if this is you, kid, but I need to be sure. Eraserhead, do your thing."
"Wait, wait! Don't take my power, it's the only thing holding me together! All that fighting and all the injuries I've taken have crippled my bodily systems, I can't survive without using my powers to reinforce them! Please!" Midoriya yelled frantically, but All Might didn't seem to believe a word of it.
"Aizawa," he said, still glaring at his prodigy.
Erasherhead focused his stare on Midoriya, activating his quirk. As soon as he did, Midoriya begin yelping, his face seeming shift into one of pain… before shifting almost entirely. Midoriya's nose grew slightly, weight rapidly disappearing as limbs stretched until a lanky, frail teen's body was all that remained. Midoriya's black hair fell out in clumps, quickly leaving a skinnier, shaved head in its place. The colour drained from his green eyes, leaving only grey, as scars appeared all over his body, from slashes across his face to deep gouge wounds on his arms. After a moment, whatever it was stopped writhing, panting heavily as All Might held it in his grip.
"OK, OK! I've been lying!" the thing said, its voice now deeper, gravellier. "I'm… I'm your illegitimate son, All Might. That's why my powers are so similar to yours. And just like you, I'm secretly far, far weaker, but I can transform into my heroic form. And now that you know the truth…"
"I don't know the hell you are, but unless I start getting better answers than that, you're going to be in serious trouble," All Might said, in as menacing a voice as the symbol for justice and peace could.
The shapeshifter swung his free arm, his fingertips glowing into long claws as he slashed at All Might's face. However, the number one hero dodged with ease, before pinning the free arm under the shapeshifter's body. The shapeshifter began laughing in response, not a hint of worry on his face.
"Holy shit, that was funny! I can't believe the looks on your faces! Honestly, you should see yourselves!"
The shapeshifter continued laughing for a moment, as a trickle of worry appeared on All Might's face.
"Who are you? What have you done with Midoriya?!"
"I'm actually just a figment of your imagination! Spooky, right?" the shapeshifter laughed. "This is all just a dream. You've passed out on the toilet again, old timer. Shit, by the way, is that really you, All Might? I was planning to kill you in your sleep if I got the chance, but seeing you like this, you might actually die in your sleep anyway!"
The shapeshifter broke into hysterical laughter one more time.
"He's no younger than one of my students," Aizawa said. "Probably just some misguided kid."
"You're right. I'm just some poor kid, stuck on the wrong path," the shapeshifter said, snivelling for a moment. "I was raised by my poor grandparents in absolute poverty, sharing one big bed with them. However, I got the chance to make my dreams come true when I found a golden ticket that let me have a tour of a chocolate…"
The shapeshifter continued rambling on, laughing to himself every so often, as All Might stared at his fellow educator.
"We're going to need to find out what happened to Midoriya as quick as we can. Every second wasted is another second Midoriya could be in danger."
"We'll have to ask the other students if they noticed anything. Cracking this kid is going to be tough."
"Thanks, Eraserhead! I was actually worried all your hippy hero bullshit artists were going to miss the nuances of my greatness," the shapeshifter. "Just so you know, your little prodigy Midoriya's gone for good. You're really going to just have to deal with it. You could bury an empty casket, that's supposed to give closure!" the shapeshifter said, suppressing a giggle. "God, I can't believe how fucking decrepit you're looking, old man! Come on, from one skin-changer to another, slip off that muscular mask of yours. Give me another look at the ragged skin and bones underneath."
"You've got a lot of anger and evil inside of you, kid. I'm sorry for that. It's not your fault. Someone's set you down the wrong path in life. But I need you to start talking to me, or I won't be able to help you!"
The teen snarled, teeth sharpening into points as he attempted to bite All Might's nose off, although the number one hero kept him firmly pinned against the wall. Struggling to move, the shapeshifter spit a blob of phlegm right between Yagi's eyes.
"Don't you fucking dare act like you want to help me! There ain't any goddamn cameras here, stop putting on the same goddamn show as always!"
"We need to secure this kid somewhere safe. Make sure there's a tracking device implanted in him so he can't pretend to be anyone else."
"Jeez, All Might. Putting secret tracking devices into a poor young teen? You're a real pervert, you know that? No wonder you wanted to teach at a school like UA, huh?"
"Come on, Aizawa,
"Alright, let's go. Just so you know, skin-changer, I'm going to find my student. I take full responsibility for Izuku Midoriya's safety and well-being, and I won't let you harm him."
"Oh, don't worry, he's going to suffer a hell of a lot, don't you worry. They're going to take your perfect little icon and they're going to ruin him! You understand me?!"
As they dragged the laughing, starved teen off, Shota Aizawa felt a glimmer of fear for his pupil.