A/N: I'm just speechless. This fic is the 40-something-th most followed Academia fic, and the 50-something-th most favorited, and it got there in all of 2 months. You guys have favorited and followed this thing literally by the hundreds. I can't thank you enough for your support, so I'm just going to express it by putting out the best writing I can. You guys are awesome.

Bakugo glared suspiciously at the at the green-haired annoyance who was currently staring off into space, seemingly lost in thought. The blond hothead was impulsive, but he wasn't stupid or oblivious; Deku had changed drastically in the last couple of months, but that wasn't concerning to him. What was concerning was the truly massive change that had just happened to the useless kid. The boy had been happier and more confident leading up to that point, but now he seemed fairly glowing about something. Bakugo supposed that something had happened yesterday.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Deku was Deku, the useless, quirkless nobody that was desperately hoping for an impossible dream. He was supposed to be realizing that his dream was impossible, that only those with quirks could become heroes, that strength required good genes and innate talent. The little dope shouldn't still be hopeful, not with the Yuuei entrance exam just a few months away. Something was off, and Katsuki was going to get to the bottom of it.

The hero aspirant decided he'd follow the green-haired annoyance, if only to figure out how to disillusion him of his ridiculous dream once and for all. So, instead of following his friends to go hang out after school, he stuck around, waiting for Deku to slowly gather up his crap and leave. Bakugo had no trouble following the distracted boy without being seen, staying a half block back from him as they both made their way across town at Deku's frustratingly sluggish pace.

Finally, the two arrived at Dagoba Municipal Beach. What's up with the beach? Last time I was here, it was a shithole from one end to the other. Did someone clean it or something? Bakugo remained at the edge of the beach, unable to follow Deku any farther without being out in the open. Bakugo suddenly caught movement out of the corner of his eye, seeing a gaunt, almost skeletal man plodding down the beach towards Izuku. Wow, he looks like shit, but the fuck is this chemo patient doing with Deku?

The man approached the quirkless kid, smiling slightly and murmuring something too quiet for Bakugo to hear. Izuku nodded, and proceeded to remove his shirt, facing the ocean before him. What the fuck… is this creep some kind of pedo? I might have to go down there and-

That was as far as he got, before his was rendered mentally speechless by Izuku. Specifically, by the massive wave of power that started to roll off of him. Lines formed across Izuku's exposed skin, the muscles underneath bulging with a massive influx of power. The boy shifted his foot backwards and cocked his arm as far back as he could, letting out a great, bellowing yell. The power pulsed a moment, gathering in the primed arm, before Izuku drove it forward with as much force as he could.

Wind and sand whipped around Bakugo as he watched, incredulous, as the ocean parted before the weak, timid, useless Deku. How… how is he that strong… he's not supposed to be strong, he's supposed to be weak. There's no way he could possibly be that strong, he's quirkless! He's not supposed to be stronger than me! I'm supposed to be the strongest!

Izuku, oblivious to the incredulity and anger growing behind him, examined his arm. It was an angry red, showing a lot of bruising. He lowered his arm and winced hard as his shoulder gave off a sharp pain. It seemed to be dislocated, having been stressed by the significant force of his impressive punch.

Status Effect: Dislocated Shoulder (-20% DEX, -10% STR, arm usage causes more damage)

Congratulations! You have discovered the skill "Detroit Smash"!

The new wielder of One For All's grimace turned upward, and he quickly opened the ability's description to read more about it.

Detroit Smash - LVL 1: The user uses the power granted from One For All to unleash a massive punch, which creates pressure waves that can hit opponents even from a range. Strength increases the force of the punch as well as the force and range of the pressure wave. Dexterity increases the speed and accuracy of the pressure wave. Deals standard One For All self damage. Significant damage may cause status effects.

Izuku checked his health and, indeed, using the move had dealt a solid 350 damage to him. Damn, that's pretty dangerous to use in combat. Between the debuff and the lost health, I could put myself at a serious disadvantage if my attack doesn't put my opponent down or if there are multiple opponents.

"HOW THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT DEKU!"

The young Gamer turned at the shout, only for a blur to slam into him and tackle him to the ground. Bakugo cocked his arm back above Izuku, his open palm releasing small explosions because of the blond's anger.

"TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK THAT WAS RIGHT NOW! YOU'RE FUCKING USELESS, YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO BE THAT POWERFUL!"

Izuku looked between the enraged Kacchan, the explosive hand hovering above him threateningly, and his wide-eyed and nervous mentor for a moment before bringing his uninjured arm up and shoving his childhood friend off of him, instinctively adding a bit of One For All enhancement to the blow. Bakugo was sent tumbling backwards across the sand.

Congratulations! You have-

Izuku ignored the message, waving it away as he got to his feet, only for it to blink back into existence a second later.

Congratulations! Y-

What? Why is it back? Izuku dismissed the message again, wondering if it would reappear a third time. When it didn't, he brought his attention back to his childhood friend. Oh crap, I powered that up, did it hurt him? He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Kacchan get to his feet, but tensed up again as the boy leveled a heated glare at his former friend.

"Goddammit, Deku… you're not stronger than me… you're NOT! How the FUCK are you doing that!? Is it some sort of trick!? TELL ME!"

Izuku grimaced internally. He couldn't tell Kacchan the truth for obvious reasons, and ignoring the question would likely just incite the blond to attack, so he'd have to come up with some kind of lie to satisfy his curiosity without giving anything away.

"I have a unique genetic defect that left part of my quirk dormant much longer than usual, even after the first part, the Gamer quirk, activated when I was four. He-" Izuku nodded at All Might, whose sunken eyes were shifting back and forth between the two boys uncertainly, "-is my doctor, the one who discovered the dormant component of my quirk and figured out that physical fitness could activate it. I only got it working yesterday, and he's here to help me through any side effects from unlocking and using the quirk."

Bakugo sneered at the two. "Really? That much power was just dormant for you, and you just happened to unlock it yesterday? Do you really expect me to believe that pile of horseshit?"

All Might turned toward Bakugo fully at this. "It's entirely true. I am young Midoriya's doctor, Dr. Toshinori Yagi, and I've been helping him through this unusual problem of his. Now, if you have no further plans to assault my patient, I must tend to the damage that Midoriya's arm suffered from his new ability. Please leave me to my work, I'm sure Midoriya can fill you in later."

All Might moved to Izuku and began examining his arm to keep up appearances, even producing a small first aid kit from his pocket that he'd brought along in case Izuku's usage of the quirk caused him any major injuries. Bakugo watched them for a moment, uncertain, before snarling and spinning around to stalk away. "This isn't over, Deku. You owe me a fucking explanation."

The hero and his protégé held up the act until the blond was out of sight, before sagging and sighing in relief. All Might was the first to speak. "Wow, I must be losing my touch if I didn't notice him following you. I apologize."

Izuku shook his head. "No, I was the one that should have noticed him, he isn't exactly the most subtle person. I just had my head in the clouds because of this…"

All Might shrugged, before turning his attention back to the boy's arm. "You really did a number on yourself with that punch though. That probably hurts quite a bit. Let me fix that up for you." The hero grabbed the Gamer's arm with one hand and his shoulder with the other. "When you're ready."

Izuku nodded, before grunting in pain as All Might pulled his arm to reset his shoulder. He rubbed his now properly seated shoulder, smiling at his mentor in thanks. All Might glanced at Izuku's other arm and blinked, his brow crinkling. "How is your other arm? It looked like you used One For All to push that boy off of you."

Izuku looked at his mostly uninjured arm as well, curious. I did use One For All, I think… but it isn't dislocated like my other arm, only a bit sore. The boy blinked for a moment, remembering the new ability that he'd ignored earlier. Maybe that'll explain it. He pulled up his skill list and found two new entries. Oh, so the two messages were for two skills… but what could the second skill be? I only used one new move.

Kansas Smash - LVL 1: The user uses the power granted from One For All in a palm strike, which disperses the power of the blow but increases its concussive force. Creates a pressure wave that can hit enemies at a distance, similar to Detroit Smash. Strength increases the force of the strike and pressure wave. Dexterity increases the speed and accuracy of the pressure wave. Deals standard One For All self damage. Significant damage may cause status effects.

Power Limiter (10%) - LVL 1: The user limits the amount of power he draws from One For All when using One For All abilities. Reduces potency of and self-damage caused by One For All abilities. Automatically activated when attacking human targets to prevent accidental death.

"Oh, wow. I unlocked two abilities when I forced Kacchan off of me, on top of the ability I unlocked just from the normal punch. I think I didn't hurt myself seriously by forcing Kacchan away because one of my new abilities, Power Limiter, activated automatically. My arm is still a little sore, probably bruised a bit, but the limited power reduced the damage significantly."

All Might nodded, smiling slightly. "Well, it seems that One For All has integrated quite well in you, if you are able to instinctively call upon it as you did. We will still need to increase your Strength, since you are unable to use One For All's full power without injuring yourself considerably, but you are likely able to use a significant portion of One For All's power without injuring yourself seriously even now."

Izuku smiled at the praise and nodded, before tilting his head and looking at All Might with curiosity. "You introduced yourself to Kacchan as Toshinori Yagi…" He trailed off as All Might (or was it Toshinori?) coughed a bit of blood into his hand. "Yes, that is my real name. I… hope you don't mind that I didn't tell you until now. When you keep your identity secret for years it just becomes second nature."

The young Gamer shook his head. "I don't mind, I understand the kind of secrecy that heroes have to keep to protect themselves. Now, what else do you have in mind for training today?"

"I don't want to push you too hard today, since you don't know how to control the power output of One For All to keep yourself safe, but I would like to see if you can produce any other new abilities." All Might gestured towards the ocean behind him. "Try powering up your legs and jumping into the water."

...

Izuku glanced nervously over at Bakugo, who had been eyeing him suspiciously throughout class that day. He was glad he was able to heal so quickly, having fully healed since his training yesterday, because he wouldn't want to face this inevitable confrontation while sore. Not that he thought Bakugo would attack him- well, not that he thought Bakugo would try to seriously injure him, but it was better for him to be 100% just in case. He didn't know the blond as well as he had when they were 4.

He wasn't too worried, though. Izuku had spent several hours thinking about what to tell Bakugo last night, and he'd come up with a more likely and better explained version of the lie he'd told yesterday, one that (he hoped) would convince the skeptical blond that he was telling the truth. If not, Izuku supposed he would have to completely refuse to answer Kacchan, because there was no way he was going to tell the unstable blond the truth and put his mentor and idol at risk. The green haired boy hoped it wouldn't come to that; they'd been friends for as long as they both could remember, and despite Kacchan's treatment of him, Izuku didn't want to totally alienate or push his old friend away.

With one part relief that the wait was over and one part trepidation at the main event coming up, Izuku realized that class was over and students were filtering out of the classroom, all except for the one whose eyes were trying to melt him from across the room.

A few moments after the last of the students left the classroom, Bakugo got to his feet angrily, sending his chair backwards a short distance, slamming his hands on Izuku's desk. "Alright Deku, you owe me an explanation for that shit I saw yesterday. You've been keeping serious shit secret, and I'm gonna get the truth from you right now, got it?"

Izuku steeled himself mentally, hoping that his Bluff would work, before starting to weave his yarn.

"Alright, I'll tell you. I've had the Gamer quirk for my entire life, but I recently discovered a new ability within my quirk's framework. Y'know how you can unlock new abilities in RPGs periodically?" Bakugo nodded impatiently. "Well, I just unlocked my first ability two days ago, the one you saw on the beach yesterday. It lets me power myself up a lot, but costs HP to use. I figured out that I could unlock these abilities a few months ago, so I hired a personal trainer with a medical background to supervise me and help me get stronger quickly. That was the guy you met yesterday, Dr. Yagi. He-"

Bakugo cut him off angrily. "Yeah, yeah, that's all well and good, but it doesn't explain why you were keeping it all secret from everyone. You got an explanation for that, shit-for-brains?"

Izuku silently pulled out his phone, opening a bookmark for a news article that he'd found last night while preparing his explanation for Bakugo. The blond read the headline and frowned, before paling as he read the body of the article.

Missing Child Found Dead in Supervillain Hideout

A team of superheroes and police today found the corpse of Yoshirou Matsumoto while searching the hideout of the recently captured supervillain coalition "The Four Horsemen." Matsumoto was kidnapped two months ago, shortly after manifesting his quirk, Atomiser. His quirk, an Emitter type, was capable of disintegrating almost any material, with the exception of heavy metals such as lead. His abilities gained significant media attention because of the high applicability of such a quirk, and the likelihood of the child becoming a successful hero in the future. First responders reported-

Bakugo tore his eyes away from the horrible article, looking at Deku's grim facade. He was trying to protect himself… while I've been trying to convince the world that I'm the next big hero, like that kid in the article was said to be… what if I had been taken away too? But… if Izuku knew this, why didn't he warn me? Why did he let me keep putting myself at risk?

Bakugo's face contorted into a vicious snarl. "You knew about this shit and didn't think to tell me? What the fuck, were you trying to get me killed, like this fucking kid?"

Izuku's eyes widened in alarm. "No, no! Not at all! I didn't know about this at all until a few months ago, and I kept the new information about my quirk secret because I hadn't unlocked any abilities yet! I knew you would be fine, because you already know how to use your quirk really well to defend yourself!"

Bakugo grabbed his collar. "Yea, I can defend myself so well, I was able to get caught by that sludge fucker."

Izuku cringed. "I'm sorry. I should have told you. I was worried that you would just ignore me or belittle me because I was trying to rain on your parade. I mean, think about it, how would you have reacted if useless, quirkless Deku came up to you and told you not to show off your quirk?"

It was Bakugo's turn to grimace. Deku was right, he probably would have blown the wimp's ass up for suggesting something like that. He released his former friend's collar and sat down on his desk heavily, cradling his face in one hand.

"So that's what you've been doing. You've been training with your personal trainer to unlock your new abilities and get into Yuuei without drawing villains' attention." Izuku nodded.

The explosive blond sat for a moment, contemplative, before standing suddenly. "I want to train with you."

At Izuku's startled expression, the blond sneered a little and explained himself. "I've been resting on my laurels too much. I'm so far ahead of these small fry in our class, I just assumed I'd be set without having to put in any work. Meanwhile, you, with a quirk that's crazy powerful, have been training for months." His expression turned up into a smirk. "I can't just let you get ahead of me like that."

After a beat of silence, the smirk fell from his face and he looked down a little bit. "I'm also not strong enough to handle villains yet, which I really should have figured out when that sludge guy took me hostage."

Deku was speechless. Wow… Kacchan want to train with me… I guess my story convinced him pretty well, huh?

Congratulations! Your skill "Bluff" has increased to LVL 5!

Izuku ignored the popup, instead opting to extend his hand to his fellow hero in training. "I have to ask my trainer, but I think it'll be alright. I don't want anything to happen to you, so I'd be happy to train with you so we can both get stronger. Who knows, maybe we can both get into Yuuei that way?"

Bakugo's smirk was back. "Heh, there's no question about me getting in, but if you're gonna be my rival, you better get in too."

They shook on it.

B/N

Greetings, fellow readers! It is I, your friendly neighborhood beta guy, here to answer some common questions I've seen in the comments section.

What's the pairing going to be?

As of now, there is no pairing planned to the best of my knowledge. Our aspiring author may have secret plans I am unaware of, but I don't think so. Either way, if anyone mentions some mpreg bs, I will banish you to the timeout corner of fanfiction, and force you to read an mpreg sonic harem prison fanfiction with at least 12 OCs until you go insane. (Aka-go wild, I want to see how deranged you can be.)

What's the update schedule going to be?

The author rotates jobs every four months, between professional belly dancing, writing fanfiction, and preparing for the possibility of an imminent Spanish Inquisition. He wishes to test the theory that nobody expects it, as he now does. As such, his free time is very random in its temporary existence. Rest assured that the next chapter will be here by February 31, 2019.

Now. Complaints. I've heard a few. Some of them are smart, and some I even agree with. I will take everyone's complaints into consideration for future edits to this story.

A/N

Disregard the above comments, my pet beta got out of his cryogenic storage in the basement. Apologies about the slow updates, but the belly dancing has been very demanding lately and I couldn't find the time to write. Rest assured, I will continue this story so long as I don't get smote by an angry deity, and the updates will probably not be further than a few months apart at the very most unless I get smote by a mildly annoyed deity.