Katsuma hated the big city.
Whenever his dad had taken him and his sister on a trip to Tokyo, he had always found the whole thing uncomfortable. It was always so crowded and bright and loud. There were far too many people to know them all by name unlike back at home, and every building looked the same.
With everyone gone, he figured that he would feel at least a bit better in the metropolitan area, but he felt even worse. The crowds have been replaced with an eerie quiet, the concrete jungle having pushed away even the sounds of nature that were prevalent on Nabu Island.
After everyone had been taken from Nabu Island, he thought he'd at least get to stay with them, but some men in suits dragged him off to another building filled with other children his age. They said it was for his own safety, since he now had a Quirk. Mr. Goro had told him on the boat ride over that other kids his age would probably have Quirks too, but as he looked around at the other kids curled up inside the Convention Center, none of them seemed that interested in them. Most of them were scared and crying for their family or favorite hero. He had tried to get some sleep last night but found himself joining them as he thought about his sister.
'Mahoro…' When she had disappeared, he had thought it was another one of her tricks. He had told her to stop using her Quirk, but when she didn't respond he went back to the island to ask for help from the Island's Hero. It wasn't until he arrived at his office and saw everyone else who hadn't vanished there that he realized something was wrong. 'I feel so lonely without you, Sis. You've always been there for me! What do I do now?'
As Katsuma glanced around the large room again, he noticed something else about the kids. Most of them were alone as well. While there were a couple pairs of siblings, most were huddled around the room alone. There were few adults around, and they were mostly stuck taking care of the especially young ones in a separate part of the building.
'That's right! They need someone like you, Sis! They want someone to tell them it's all okay, like Heroes do!' He looked down sadly a moment later, realizing that there weren't any heroes anymore. But as he stared down at the floor, he saw his own hands, and balled them up with a rising determination. 'No! If they need a Hero, then I'll be one for them! I have a Quirk now, so maybe I can help them with it like I did Mr. Goro!'
With his new goal decided, he stood up and scanned the area for which kid might need his help. There was a small creaking noise, and he turned to see a boy a bit older than him with a red cap slip through one of the doors to outside. He quickly followed him, making sure not to be spotted by the few adults that were around. After slipping through the door himself, he looked around to see he was in some sort of alleyway. The boy he spotted was running away towards the street, and he called out to him.
"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" Katsuma cried out, making the boy turn in surprise at the sound.
"Who-?!" The boy began to say, only to trip over a bottle on the ground when he wasn't looking. He flailed his arms forward and landed roughly on the pavement. As Katsuma ran over to help the boy, he began to cry as he clutched his scraped knee. "Damn it!"
"Are you okay? I didn't mean to surprise you." Katsuma said once he reached the boy, only to flinch from the glare he received. But he pressed on like a Hero should, holding out a hand to the boy on the ground. "I-I'm Katsuma. What's your name?"
"Why do you care! It's your fault I got hurt, jerk!" The boy said as he glanced back at his wounded knee. He held a hand to it and a stream of water shot out, cleaning away the dirt. He seemed to wince at the water making contact, and once he had cleaned his knee the red from the scrape became clear.
"I'm sorry, really!" Katsuma said in embarrassment. His first attempt at being a Hero, and he ended up injuring the person he wanted to help. If only there was some way to undo the damage…
'Oh, right! I have a Quirk now!' Katsuma finally remembered, slapping a hand to his forehead. The boy looked up at him like he was a weirdo, but he ignored him and put a hand on his wounded knee.
"H-Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" The boy began to complain, using those swear words that his dad had told him not to use, but Katsuma ignored him and tried to use his Quirk. A green light began to shine from his hand, which began to transfer through the boy's leg. A moment later the scrape on his knee began to heal, faster than it naturally should. "Woah…"
"T-There! All better!" Katsuma cheered, excited to use his Quirk again. While the boy was staring at his knee, he took the chance to grab his outstretched hand and pull him up to his feet. "I'm sorry about scaring you. When I saw you leaving, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"You didn't scare me! But… thanks, I guess. For healing me." The boy said, the angry look on his face softening for a moment. "It's Kota, by the way."
"It's nice to meet you Kota!" Katsuma said. "So, what were you doing out here?"
"What do think? I was running away." Kota answered dismissively, walking over and sitting on a stair leading to a raised door within the alley.
"What?! Why would you want to do that?" Katsuma cried out, and Kota shushed him.
"Not so loud!" Kota whisper-shouted to him. He signaled for Katsuma to sit next to him on the curb, and he continued speaking in a hushed voice once he did. "I overheard some of those people handing out the food earlier. They said in a couple days, they're moving us kids to U.A."
"No way!" Katsuma couldn't contain his excitement at the announcement. He had always wanted to be a Hero, and U.A. was the best high school in the country for upcoming Heroes-to-be. "Do they want to teach us to be Heroes, since we have Quirks now?"
"Probably." Kota agreed with a nod, face darkening. "That's why I'm trying to get out of here."
"You don't want to be Hero?!" Katsuma turned in surprise. "Why?!"
"Because Heroes are stupid!" Kota spat out, staring down at the ground with a look that terrified Katsuma. "Heroes, Villains, everything to do with Quirks. It's all just a bunch of suicidal idiots with silly powers killing each other over stupid stuff like popularity. When they all disappeared, I thought I wouldn't have to deal with that anymore, but then I got this stupid Quirk," he flicked a hand forward, and a jet of water shot out of it. "And now it looks like they want us to be Heroes too."
"That's… But I want to use my Quirk to help people. I don't care about beating Villains or flashy fight." Katsuma slowly said, confused by the other boys' hatred. "I just want to heal people, like I did with you. Is there something wrong with that?"
Kota snapped his sharp eyes over to Katsuma, ready to shout back, but grit his teeth as he tried to come up with a reply. "That's what my parents said all the time. That they didn't like fighting, that they just wanted to help others," Tears began to drip down his face, and he curled his head down. "But that didn't stop them from leaving me by getting in some stupid fight with a Villain! Everyone always talked about how noble they were, but they're dead, so what does it matter!"
As Kota began to cry to himself Katsuma glanced around nervously, unsure on what to do. He had only meant to help someone, and now they were crying outside in some alley. He tried to think of something that could help, and he wracked his brain. 'What would All Might do?' He needed a moment to think, but he quickly realized the answer.
"Wha-?!" Kota jumped as a pair of arms were wrapped around him. "What are you doing? I don't want your pity. Let go of me!"
"No!" Katsuma cried, refusing to let go as the boy struggled to remove him. "All Might says that being there for someone in need is the most important part of being a Hero. I don't care if you don't want help, you need it!"
"Shut up! Just piss off already! Leave me alone!" Kota shouted, continuing to try and remove Katsuma from him. Anger boiling over, he pushed on the boy's face with both palms and let his Water Gun Quirk loose. As water beamed into Katsuma's face and splashed all over them, he continued yelling. "I don't want to deal with your self-righteous attitude! What do you think you know about me!"
"I don't know anything about you!" Katsuma shouted back, sputtering as a stream of water blasted him in the face. He could feel his own tears welling up, but he pushed through. Kota seemed to pause a moment at the words, and he took the opportunity to push into him further, wrapping his arms around the other boy in a vice grip. "I don't know anything really about Heroes like you do. My Dad's just a truck driver, and the island I live on only has a single elderly Hero. I know nothing about Villains and fighting and everything else. I just think you shouldn't be alone anymore!"
Kota's eyes widened, before glaring down at Katsuma as tears kept flowing. "I said shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Kota shouted, punctuating each shout with a swing against the other kids back. "My parents left me, Auntie Sosaki left me, and you'll leave me too, so stop trying act any different!"
"The only one trying to make me leave is you!" Katsuma shouted, and Kota finally stopped hitting him. He could hear the older boy growling in frustration, but he eventually just slumped over, crying silently as the two hugged in silence.
As Kota began to calm down, the sound of a door creaking home could be heard. They pulled away from each other, turning towards the sound to see one of the elderly caretakers staring at them. She quickly walked over and put a hand on their shoulders. "I thought I heard something out here. I know you dears must be bored, but its dangerous to run off. And how are you two so wet? Come back inside and I'll get you some dry clothes." The caretaker quickly dragged them away with a speed that spoke of many years dealing with rambunctious children.
A few moments later Kota and Katsuma were sitting next to each other again, this time on a couch within the convention center. They had a blanket wrapped around them and a juice box pushed into their hands by the caretaker, who pointed at them sternly. "Now don't cause too much trouble again. I'm sure you two can come up with something cleaner to pass the time with." She said sweetly, before walking off slowly to check on another group of children.
Katsuma wasn't sure what to do now, so he silently began to put the straw in the juice box while avoiding eye contact with the boy next to him. He had ruined his escape attempt, hugged him when he kept saying not too. It seemed like the right idea at the time, but Kota must hate him! As he finally began to sip on the juice, Kota spoke to him.
"Um, sorry for getting you all wet…" Kota said quietly, face covered mostly by the blanket he had curled himself in. As Katsuma turned in surprise, he continued speaking softly. "And for hitting you as well. You were just trying to help me."
"It's fine, really! It's already healed, see?" Katsuma said reassuringly. He pulled the blanket away and his shirt up, and Kota looked over to see his back glowing the same green as when he had been healed.
"You can heal yourself too? That's pretty neat." Kota said, staring at Katsuma's glowing body.
"I thought Quirk's were silly?" Katsuma asked as he wrapped himself back up, remembering Kota's previous comment.
"O-Only the flashy ones! Y'know, like All Might and Endeavour." Kota insisted. "No one talks about the Heroes with weirder Quirks like, I don't know, Edgeshot."
"I know right, Edgeshot's one of my favorites! He's just like a ninja!" Katsuma said happily before stopping himself, remembering that Kota had talked about not liking Heroes.
"… That's not a bad pick." Kota eventually said with a shrug, turning to him with a smirk. "I don't really have favorites, but do you know the Wild, Wild Pussycats? My aunt is one of their members."
"No way!" Katsuma said in amazement, trepidation forgotten.
As Kota began to tell him all about the Hero Group that raised him, Katsuma couldn't help but grin at the small smile that had finally showed up on his face for the first time since chasing after him. Kota may not have been completely over what had upset him. But right now, he was okay at least, and he had even made a new friend (or at least, Katsuma hoped that was the case).
Katsuma internally pumped a fist in excitement. His first mission as a Hero was a total success!
"Dodge!"
Izuku jumped to the side at Melissa's voice, right as a metal arm with a 1 spray painted on it slammed down from behind where he had been just standing.
"Thanks for the heads up, Melissa!" Izuku shouted with a glance over his shoulder, only to start running in a panic when he saw another of the same machines rolling towards him on its singular wheel. He glanced around, trying to regain a target on the one after him.
"Now, Ms. Shield, I know you're worried about him, but you're ruining the point of this exercise!" Nezu chided as he ran through the quadrupedal legs of a nearby two-pointer robot, heading right for Izuku. He tagged the boy on the ankle while he was busy avoiding the robot's laser tail. "And that's another point for me!"
"Grah!" Izuku growled in frustration, before finally jumping up and kicking off the two-pointer's head with his Full Cowling's 5% power. He didn't have a moment to relax however, as the two one-pointer's that had been chasing him finally caught up and he jumped away again. "What's the point of this ridiculous exercise? Is this some punishment for breaking those bots yesterday?"
"I told you, pushing your Quirk is the best way to increase your abilities." Nezu said as he weaved between some more robots towards him again. It wasn't long after lunch that he had strode into the classroom with some brand-new plan for expanding his abilities, before dragging them off to a replica city that U.A. used as a testing ground.
Izuku knew he should have been worried when he saw the small army of robots waiting for him there.
"This isn't much different than the Entrance Exam you were expected to preform in, you know, getting points based off the level of robots defeated." Nezu continued to explain, throwing off Izuku right as he swiveled and punched behind him. The attack missed the one-pointer's head, and its armored upper limb knocked him on his back. Nezu took the opportunity to tag him on the head while he was down. "Of course, without competition, I need to increase the difficulty slightly. Another point for me!"
Izuku threw his arms up, but the principal scurried away, and he got up quickly before he could get surrounded by more of the 'Villain Bots'. The one-pointer that had previously knocked him down approached again, and this time his swing struck true, knocking the robots head clean off. 'There's to much going on for me to charge Fa Jin!' He had no way to repeat any movements enough times to charge it due to being constantly swarmed in all directions. If he jumped away enough his legs might get a charge, but he'd likely exhaust himself and never be able to gather enough points. He couldn't help but clutch his hand as the robot tumbled over. "This would probably be easier if I could have some equipment!" He complained, as he was wearing nothing more than the U.A. gym uniform currently.
Melissa thought from her spot-on a nearby bench with Eri, watching the test curiously. Suddenly, the proverbial lightbulb went off over her head, and she began to shout out to Izuku again. "I know! Izuku, use the-"
"Ms. Shield," Nezu said sternly, turning to her with a chilling smile. "If you insist so much on helping Izuku with his test, I'd be more than happy to let you join in on the exercise."
"Eep!" Melissa suddenly closed her mouth, glancing away from them when one of the missile-launcher carrying three-pointers turned a glowing red eye towards her.
Izuku glanced around due to Melissa's interruption. 'Use what? Clearly Melissa see's something I could use, but there's nothing but me, Nezu, and the robots...' As another one-pointer approached, arm raised, he glanced down at the broken one laying next to him, and an idea formed. He reached down to the defeated droid, ripping the shield-like plating off its forearm and used it to block the oncoming strike. He then pushed back, throwing the one-wheeled robot off balance, before swinging the makeshift shield forward and smashing through the abdomen connecting it's lower and upper parts with ease.
"Nice quick thinking, though you did get a bit of help with that one." Nezu said from behind Izuku, and he turned to see the rat sitting atop a three-pointer, which began to shoot its concussive blasts from the missile tubes attached to its shoulders.
"What's wrong with a little assistance. Heroes have helpers in the field all the time, right?" Izuku shot back as he put the shield in front of him. He pushed against the blasts and slowly stepped towards the larger robot. Once five shots rang out a loud clunk could be heard as it reloaded, and he took the opportunity to spin and toss the shield forward into the eyes of the three-pointer. It slumped over defeated, but Izuku quickly realized that Nezu was no longer standing atop it. "Where-"
'Behind me!'
It was less a voice and more a feeling, that shot into Izuku's brain like a bolt of lightning. He followed the stabbing pain that spoke in his head, and he turned just in time to see Nezu begin to jump at him. He seemed just as surprised as Izuku was that he noticed the attack, and Izuku easily hopped aside before he could be tagged.
"How did you-?" Nezu seemed frozen as he looked between where Izuku was and had just been. He began to stroll over to Izuku nonchalantly. "How fascinating. I hadn't even jumped before you were turning to see me."
Izuku scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, glancing away nervously. "I don't know, I just had this feeling-"
Another stabbing sensation wracked his head, and he rolled out of the way without even looking, somehow just barely avoiding Nezu's lunge. Despite not even looking at Nezu and his guard being down, he was able to determine which way he would need to move to dodge the surprise attack. As he finished his roll and looked back at Nezu, he saw an excited grin spread across his face.
"That was well beyond an increased reaction. So, your new Quirk is some form of premonition or detection?" Nezu asked as he slowly stalked towards him. He then began to jump at Izuku repeatedly. He was slower than before, but the intent was still there, and Izuku's new ability reacted with each attempt.
"I-I think so." Izuku said as he dodged around in every direction, putting a hand to his throbbing head. Every time Nezu attempted to strike him, another bolt of intent came shooting into his head, and the repeated attacks were causing a building headache. It wasn't just his head that was having trouble, as he could feel himself slowing as his grip over One for All loosened. "Nezu, Sir, I think we should stop for min-"
Izuku was interrupted by a harsh blow to the back. Looking in surprise as he rolled with the blow, he saw a one-pointer was right behind him. Glancing around, Izuku noticed that Nezu had pushed him back towards a group of robots that now surrounded him. 'Damn it! Why didn't I detect that attack?!' He thought frantically as the robots closed in, trying to keep one eye on Nezu.
"This is curious. It appears you can't detect the robots." Nezu said, in an equal amount of thought, though without the pressure of a horde of machines about to strike him. He quickly climbed onto another third-pointer. "So, it only works on living things then. Could it be some form of telepathic or empathic reading then? Fascinating, though unfortunately not very useful for your predicament. What will you do now, young Midoriya?"
"The only thing left to do. Go Beyond!" Izuku declared, calling Full Cowling back to 5% now that the premonitions had subsided slightly. He could still feel a slight tingling from it, likely meaning Nezu planned to strike when an opening presented itself, but he could worry about that when it happened. Right now, he needed some way to deal with the surrounding robots. He winded his right arm around in a circle like a cartoon character as they had their stand-off, and Fa Jin finally charged enough to leave its glow.
'Attempting to jump out would either get me sniped by the second-pointers or bombarded by third-pointers. But if I tried to punch my way out, I'd be overwhelmed and surrounded. I just need some way to clear an opening without them being able to react for a moment!' Izuku thought, realizing his options were dwindling.
As he tensed up too strike, his nervousness seemed to grow as some sort of pressure built up underneath his skin. It eventually seemed the robots ran out of patience, as three of the one-pointers suddenly sped forward at once. Raising a fist, he swung at the head of the closest one, and three things happened to him all at once.
Firstly, Izuku tried to increase the amount of One for All in his arm ever so slightly to reinforce against the blow, while simultaneously releasing the force built by Fa Jin. It was only supposed to be maybe a single percent more, but the combination of the two actions threw him off, resulting in him calling upon more power than anticipated.
Secondly, the now familiar stabbing sensation rang through Izuku's head, and he knew that Nezu had jumped at him the moment he swung. The feeling of danger was far greater than before though, perhaps due to the increased risk Nezu's attack carried in the middle of being assaulted by the robots, or perhaps because he couldn't dodge it due to being mid swing. This caused his anxiety to spike and lose control of Full Cowling.
Thirdly, the pressure that had been building within his body was released with the tension of the swing and the panic of an oncoming attack he couldn't avoid. His body pushed to come up with a solution to the predicament he was in, and One for All responded. In a single second, the entire block of the training city become engulfed in a smokescreen that no one, not even himself, could see through.
While any one of these events individually may have been taxing but ultimately fine for Izuku, the pile-up of extraneous actions through One for All caused a strain that he hadn't experienced before. His body completely locked up, and his vision blurred as he began to fall to the ground. The pain from his new warning system exploded throughout his entire head, so much so that by the time he was sprawled out on the ground, he was already out cold.
The familiar shadowy plane of One for All slowly came into view, and Izuku looked around to see who was with him this time. Eventually, he saw three men come into view. He could see them in a bit more detail now, but they were still silhouetted as if standing under a dim light.
One of them was the Third, who was giving him an unimpressed look, likely for pushing himself so much again. The other two were unknown, however.
The second man towered over the others, and Izuku could make out two scar-like lines going down the left side of his face. He seemed rather stoic, simply staring down at Izuku passively.
The third man appeared to be wearing a coat with a tall collar, almost like Best Jeanist. He looked quite nervous about something, judging by the way he kept glancing away from Izuku.
"You idiot." The Third finally said with a sigh, slightly clearer than this morning. "You pushed-… too many at once. We accelerated One for All, but-… body is not ready yet."
Izuku nodded at the man's lecture like a disobedient child. While it was muffled, the message was clear. He couldn't use too many Quirks at once, or it could cause issues. The Third's mention of accelerating One for All was interesting though. It seemed to indicate that this wasn't what was planned to happen. Could the Rapture have caused something to happen to it?
"It's my fault." The one with the high collar said, turning to Izuku. "I'm the Sixth, my-… Smokescreen. You called upon it instinctually-… not the only one that isn't ready."
'So that's what that feeling before I fainted was.' Izuku realized, remembering the sudden burst of smoke that filled the training area. Smokescreen, huh? Seems like a useful Quirk, but his own vision was obscured as well, so it has some major drawbacks. Maybe Melissa could develop some visor that sees through it, depending on what the smoke is really made of? Or he could offset his lack of vision by using his new detection abilities? Perhaps it could-
There was a cough, and Izuku snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at the three in surprise. Realizing he had begun rambling, he quickly shut up and stood at attention. He really hoped they couldn't hear him through the shadows that covered him. It was embarrassing enough when he did that normally.
The final of the three men stepped forward, looking down at Izuku with that same calm look as when he first appeared. "I'm the Fourth. Danger Sense was my Quirk." He said, short and sweet. There was barely any static obscuring his voice.
'Could the reason he spoke so clearly be due to his calmness, or some other factor?' Izuku thought.
"It detects intent-… negative emotions of others." The Fourth continued to explain, static barely slipping in. He ran a hand along his scar. "Combined with All for One-… overwhelms senses. Be careful with it, or else."
Izuku nodded quickly, message received again. Danger Sense clearly had a massive downside, what with the constant pain whenever it triggered. While he imagined that could be managed with training, it was also a passively active Quirk, meaning he'll always have to factor in its usage. He thought about how much his head hurt detecting a single attack from Nezu. If those robots that surrounded him earlier had been real Villains…
He'd probably have dropped dead of an aneurysm before they even landed a hit.
"Now then, with-… out of the way, a warning." The Third said, taking over from the Fourth. "The Second's Quirk is-… Don't use it on yourself. Your body-… enough strain to kill near instantly."
'His Quirk is what? Wait, this seems really important!' Izuku suddenly began to panic. Why did the static have to cut out the Quirk's name? He still had potentially three more Quirks to unlock, and it's not like he could control which order they woke up in! He really missed when he only had to worry about blowing up his limbs with super-strength. Now he had to worry about hyper-migraines and possibly just dropping dead by using an ability he doesn't even know about!
The shadows of the dream realm began to encroach on them, indicating that Izuku had begun to wake up.
"Take it easy." The Sixth said, trying to reassure him. "Just focus-… strengthening your body. The rest will come-… once your ready."
"All for One may be-… But there are still those who want-… the power of this Quirk." Fourth said, not reassuringly. "Stay vigilant."
As the shadows engulfed the three previous wielders of One for All, Izuku let out a sigh. Nothing was ever simple, was it? He only hoped that Nezu and Melissa would be able to help him when he woke up. He may have wanted to be as strong as All Might, but even he knew he couldn't do this by himself. Having multiple Quirks was hard…
"Man, having multiple Quirks is awesome!" Komodo shouted as he lifted a few empty crates and juggled them overhead with just a few hand gestures. His eyes glowed red, and a beam of energy shot out a moment later, vaporizing one of the boxes in a flash of light.
"Tell me about it!" Dragon shouted, glancing over at his friend excitedly from a few feet away. "Hey, try tossing one of those things at me. Go all out!"
"Got it, Boss!" With a spin of his hands, Komodo telekinetically tossed one crate at Dragon. As it sped towards the large man, he merely lifted a hand forward. Upon contact, the box broke into a dozen pieces, while Dragon remained unharmed and unmoved.
The three new minions of Nine played around in an empty corner of the Doctor's lair, messing around with their new Quirks. Dragon had received Shock Absorption and some form of Regeneration from the Comatose Nomu. They weren't quite at the strength of the Nomu they had been taken from however, due to only receiving two of the many Quirks that made up its insane strength. Komodo had received Telekinesis, being able to move objects with a few gestures, and a fiery laser vision. The two abilities combined into a deadly combo. And Chameleon…
"Hey Boss, I want to test something!" A woman that looked like Kagome said cheerfully as she walked towards Dragon. She put a hand on his shoulder, and suddenly her form morphed into an identical copy of him. "Alright Komodo, my turn!"
"Coming right up!" Komodo let loose his final crate, and it slammed uselessly against the second Dragon, Shock Absorption activating like before.
"So, it copies their Quirks along with appearance? This is perfect!" 'Dragon' said as their body seemed to melt away, revealing Chameleon in a skin-tight suit. They were no longer wearing a surgical mask, and two sharp fangs could be seen in their mouth. Another moment later, they morphed back to looking like Kagome. The two Quirk's they had received both had a unique history, and together produced a wonderous result.
The first Quirk was from a prospective first-year Hero student at U.A., who's rich parents had taken him to the best hospital for Quirks in the country to improve his chances at passing. The child was noted to have serious inferiority issues and imposter syndrome due to his Quirk. The boy had the ability to copy the Quirks of anyone he touched and freely use them for the next five minutes. Due to the nature of this Quirk, the Doctor had been sure to snag a copy of the boy's Quirk Factor under false pretenses.
The second was from a young girl who had passed through one of the Doctor's secret orphanages years ago that he used to monitor children with useful Quirks. She was a wanted girl who had a deep bloodlust, and the Doctor had managed to make a trade deal, blood for blood, eventually recreating her Quirk Factor from the donations. Eventually though, she was seen as a risk to the other children and drew unnecessary attention to the Doctor's operations, so she was turned out onto the streets shortly afterward. Her Quirk allowed her to perfectly copy the appearance of those whose blood she drank, which resulted in an obsession with blood and a want to literally become those she was infatuated with.
The two Quirks combined perfectly. The reasons for why so could be numerous. Was it due to the Quirk's compatible abilities? Was it because their new user was originally Quirkless? Maybe it was even possibly due the latent memories within these Quirks resonated with Chameleon's wish to change themselves. Whatever the reasoning, the result was two becoming one, as Nine quickly confirmed.
With a single touch of someone's DNA, Chameleon could perfectly replicate them right down to their Quirk for up to five minutes. They could even freely switch between multiple people that they had touched so long as time remained. It was truly exactly what they had wished for.
"This is perfect! With these powers, even that brat from before will be powerless against us!" Dragon cried, holding his fist up in excitement.
"Wait, did you lose a fight with a kid? Is that how you got that giant bruise?" The real Kagome said suddenly, turning away from the computer for the first time in hours. She let out a laugh. "What did he do, hit you with his car?"
"Hell no! Dragon wouldn't be taken out like such a punk! The kid had a crazy powerful Quirk is all!" Komodo shouted back, which caught both Kagome and Nine's attention. He continued yelling, unaware of the sudden focus on him. "The kid barely looked older than fifteen, but with a single swing he punched our Boss through an entire Supermarket! It had to be a Quirk, even if he'd be the latest bloomer I'd ever seen!"
"But that's impossible. There's no way someone that old would coincidentally awaken their Quirk literally the day after the Rapture. And it's not he could have been given-" Kagome stopped herself, suddenly realizing something. The only plausible explanation for a teenager awakening a Quirk, especially so soon after the Rapture, was if he was given it like the Purple Oni's. But the only one that could freely give and take Quirks had been sitting in this room ever since then. Except she had just finished reading about a certain Quirk that had a similar ability.
That Quirk was transferred from user to user. Though the exact specifics weren't mentioned in All Might's page, it must take some time for it to fully transfer! That's how it could have avoided the Rapture. Not to mention, the ability the boy had was super strength. While it could be the mother of all coincidences, the most likely explanation for that boy's power is that he was the current wielder of-
"One for All…" Nine suddenly muttered.
Kagome froze, turning slowly towards Nine. How did he know the name of that Quirk?! She tried to keep a straight face as she spoke. "What did you just say?"
"One for All." Nine repeated, in an almost trance state. "Some voice that isn't mine is screaming those words out at that explanation. What does it mean?"
'Could it be All for One?! Does the Quirk hold some sort of memory inside it?' Kagome thought, slightly relieved. Knowing that her secrets were still safe, she felt herself calm down as she addressed Nine again. "I'm sure it's not important. Let's focus more on how we are going to plan your grand reveal on the world stage."
Nine seemed to grumble as he stared off into the distance, eventually snapping back to reality. "Yes, you're right." He agreed, pleasantly thinking about the future. "Soon, I will step out of this shadowy lair and crown myself rightful king, and there will be no one powerful enough to stop me."
As she nodded along amicably, Kagome turned away to the computer, face clouding. If a user of One for All is still out there, then Nine may not be able to stand at the top of the food chain for long. She needed to find the true All for One soon, before this place is compromised by Nine or one of his new crew of misfits.
That said, one of them might prove more useful to her than originally anticipated.
Chameleon only needed a person's DNA to transform into them, not the actual person themselves. As the chairman of Jaku General Hospital and local mad scientist, the Doctor assuredly left enough of him behind somewhere to activate their Quirk. Kagome stared down at the biometric locks that currently stood between her and the rest of the Doctors secrets.
It seemed the legacy of All for One and One for All continued even after the end of the world. Whoever held either of these powers appeared to also hold the world in their palms. It was everything she hated about this superpowered world, but at the same time she couldn't help but desire both powers for herself. Forward and back her mind went on the issue presented to her.
All Quirks for only one person, or one Quirk used for all the people without one. To be selfish or selfless. It was all far too big for her, so she'll settle for not getting trampled by the upcoming battle for now. With all luck, the two would wipe each other out, and Kagome could walk away with a Quirk in her hand.
Though which of the two legacies she'd prefer was still to be determined.
Next Chapter: Cross-Class Convention