Master Control
Chapter 27
"He's…alive."
All Might let out a massive sigh of relief, relaxing his muscle form as everyone else in the booth with him stood in shock of the development.
"But what happened?" Nighteye muttered, still living in disbelief. "I saw it, just like I've seen the deaths of so many others."
Naomasa though, was the first to come to his proper senses. Taking out a pair of handcuffs, he brought them on Nighteye's wrist in a swift fashion. The hero was puzzled, holding up his arms and glancing back to the detective. "Why?"
"Failure to act and child endangerment are the ones I'm arresting you for as of right now. The court may find you guilty of plenty of other crimes. Your authority to act as a licensed hero is now suspended until further notice."
"Naomasa." Toshinori gently put a hand on the man's shoulder. "I understand that what he did is very wrong, but we can't afford to expose our interest in the boy."
Gran Torino came back from the shattered window, joining in with a slightly raised voice. "Expose our interest? What about the interests of the entire world after that?! A quirkless kid just came out of a block of ice and an explosion without a hair out of place! Who isn't going to be paying attention?"
Nezu continued to stare at the screen, rewinding the cameras repeatedly in an attempt to see what had transpired. "We might have to hold off on any legal arguments until we grasp the full situation. But one thing can be confirmed, that Sir Nighteye's interests in the protection and benefit of Izuku Midoriya are not aligned with UA's, or our own it seems."
"Are all of you forgetting what Midoriya has?" Nighteye swept his gaze across the other adults. "There's no doubt All for One is aware of its existence, to remove quirks, to give anyone any number of abilities, if we are not cautious with who is in possession of the omnitrix then they could become as powerful as an influence as All for One himself!"
"But it is not your choice who wields the omnitrix."
A new voice interrupted their chat, all heads turning to see a simple man in a white lab coat with goggles hanging over his neck. He smiled, giving a small wave to them. "I was wondering when you were going to notice my arrival."
Wasting no time, Gran Torino jutted off of the floor, bouncing along the walls, and speeding towards the intruder, only he wasn't where he was just a moment ago. His head on a swivel, the rest couldn't locate the newcomer.
That is until he stepped out from behind Toshinori.
"I hope you can calm yourselves quickly, I do have some things I need to go over with you all."
Nighteye sent out a kick, his foot meeting air as the man vanished once again.
"Are all professionals lacking in manners at this establishment?" Professor Paradox questioned, sitting in a chair near the Principal.
The heroes and officer were about to rush the man, until Nezu held up a paw to stop them.
"Principal Nezu!" Naomasa called out. "This man clearly knows about the omnitrix and could be working for him."
"I am employed by no one." Professor Paradox corrected, then smirked at the detective who was giving out a puzzled expression. "You have the ability to know if someone is speaking a truth or a lie, correct?"
"Who the hell are you?" Torino grumbled towards the mystery person.
"Call me Professor Paradox." He pulled a small box out of his pocket, grabbing a piece of candy from it and chewing it briefly. "I am the one who gave Midoriya the omnitrix."
"Did you create it?" The Principal inquired immediately.
"No no, but it was put into my care for safekeeping." The Professor got up, moving towards the broken window to see the aftermath of the fight. "I searched for someone I knew who would keep it safe and not abuse the power it holds. Izuku Midoriya was one of my top candidates."
"I have to ask." Naomasa stepped forward in a non threatening manner. "Are you here to help Izuku Midoriya?"
"Do not worry, I would never take any action to harm the boy." Paradox's answer made the detective's shoulders finally relax. "The reason why I am here is to make sure that nothing inhibit's Izuku Midoriya's growth. As of right now, he is figuring out what more there is that the omnitrix has to offer."
"More?" Toshinori's brows twitched. "What more can it do?"
"That is not for me to reveal." The Professor checked his stop watch, a slight groan coming from his mouth as he put it away. "I must be going soon, but do not try and steer Midoriya into either giving up the watch, or to use it for a purpose he does not agree with. It was him who was entrusted with its care and use, and no one else."
"Then I just have one thing to ask." The Principal leaned forward. "How will we know if he's making the right choices?"
"A wonderful question." The man complimented. "By the fruits of his labor of course."
And just like that, he was gone.
"What did he mean?" Toshinori asked the smartest being in the room.
"If the result of Midoriya's actions are good." The mammal spun in his spinning chair to face them. "Then he is doing the right thing. For now let us continue to simply observe Midoriya, and let him come to us if there are any developments."
"We can't afford to wait and watch." Nighteye warned them. "If his actions are unpredictable, then what if by the time we discover something he's doing is wrong it's too late?"
"Luckily that is something you don't have to worry about." Nezu grabbed his cup of tea, taking a long sip from it. "You are no longer a part of this private investigation. If you decide to interfere or investigate Izuku Midoriya yourself, we will allow the detective to carry out the arrest he so wishes to do. Understood?"
After a brief few seconds of silence, Sir Nighteye begrudgingly nodded. Naomasa came up to remove his cuffs, whispering into the man's ear as he did it. "Don't make me regret this."
The moment Sir Nighteye had left the room, Gran Torino stretched and laid himself on the couch. "Either my age is getting to me or this is too confusing. I'm gonna take a nap."
As the old man began to snore near instantly, both remaining adults immediately looked to Nezu for answers.
"Are you sure we can trust that man?" Toshinori asked hesitantly. "It didn't seem like he had ill intentions, but how is he aware of so much?"
The detective hummed to himself in agreement. "If this is the same person Izuku mentioned before, then he could have easily convinced Izuku to use the watch for his own gain."
"I agree." Nezu nodded. "He willingly gave up a powerful device and let Izuku Midoriya choose what to do with it. No one with villainous goals would do such things."
"But still, who was he?" Toshinori asked the other two.
With a sip of his tea, Nezu answered in the simplest terms possible. "I have no idea. Isn't that fascinating?"
Izuku rushed into a private bathroom stall, activating the omnitrix and browsing through the history of functions. The teleportations, entering the device itself, switching clothing, and the most recent item.
Emergency Transformation.
But, if it was the main function, how did he miss this?
Scrolling way back, Izuku suddenly stumbled upon a different user's history. Benjamin Kirby Tennyson. Nearly all of his use with the omnitrix was transformation, ever since…
"Ten years old?!"
He got the omnitrix the same age he did? And IMMEDIATELY used the transformation feature?! Though the layout looks slightly different for the history in the very beginning. Glancing to the side, he saw it was labeled 'Ver. 1.01.'
So maybe it had a different, easier to use interface?
But if it's the main function, how come he never discovered it until now.
"Omnitrix, access transformation function."
'Confirm, do you wish to unlock transformation function?'
"Since when was it locked?"
The history scrolled back up, to only a month after he received the omnitrix. "I locked the transformation function?"
'Confirmed.'
Why? Why would he ever do that?! That would have done non stop as a kid!
Wait….was that?...
Roughly five years ago, Izuku was writing in another notebook, the omnitrix hologram showing the image of an alien that was shaped like a six limbed monkey. He hummed, scribbling the blue over the image to give it its fur. Once he was done, he scrolled to the next one.
As he started to take in its form, Izuku became curious about something. "Hey omnitrix, how come all the aliens are boys?"
"Default transformations are set to the user's current gender: male."
Transform gender?
"Can I set it to female?"
"Affirmative"
"Ok, well let's see what the female versions are like."
In a flash of green, Izuku felt…different. Looking at the image, the large four arms alien did seem more like a girl, a really muscly girl, but something else was off. He brushed his hair away from his face to get a better look, then realized his hair was much longer than it just was a moment ago.
Izuku shot up from the ground, pulling at his longer hair.
….No….
Immediately checking his pants, Izuku was horrified to see a lack of what was there all his life.
"AHH!" The little girl screamed, horrified that just like that, his privates were altered. "Omnitrix! CHANGE BACK!"
*SKREE*
In another quick flash, Izuku went straight for his pants again, flopping down to the ground in relief.
His bedroom door opened, his mother rushing in and seeing her son on the ground.
"Are you ok sweetie?"
"..yeah mom."
"Why did you scream?"
"...I was a girl."
"...ok…well dinner will be ready soon."
"Kay."
He watched her slowly leave, keeping a concerned eye on him as she went back to the kitchen. Once she was out of ear shot, Izuku brought his arm up to his face.
"Never do that again."
"Confirm, you wish to lock transformation features outside emergency functions?"
"Yes."
"Affirmative, transformations now locked. This can be undone at any time with master control active."
Whatever the watch just did, Izuku knew one thing for certain. He would NEVER use transformations again.
In the present, Izuku was brought out of his memory visit by a knocking at the stall door.
"You in there bro?" Eijiro asked.
"Uh, yeah." Izuku replied, still getting out of his funk. "Just, remembering some stuff is all."
"Are you avoiding recovery girl again?"
"What? No!" Opening the stall door, Izuku showed Eijiro that he was fine. "Did you think I got injured again?"
"Well yeah!" The redhead exclaimed with some panic. "I mean, after that big explosion you think none of us thought you weren't hurt?"
"Ah..that."
As he got looked up and down, Eijiro giving a quick pat down and not seeing Izuku flinch, he gave his approval. "Ok, damn. You are fine after that. Guess Todoroki really did just knock himself out."
"Not exactly." Izuku muttered, but still within hearing range of his best friend.
"What do you mean? Wait, did the omnitrix do something?!"
"Yes but, I need to look into it first. I promise I'll tell you about it sometime this week when I have my head on straight."
"Is it not on straight?" Eijiro grabbed the sides of Izuku's head, twisting it back and forth until setting it back to where it was. "There, it's straight."
They couldn't help but share a short laugh over that, Izuku feeling more relieved than just earlier. "Denki and Reiko are up next right?"
"Yep! We better go catch it!" Eijiro rushed out, Izuku following right behind him with the omnitrix in the back of his mind now. It's not like he needed to know everything about the transformation feature as soon as possible anyways.
"Rah!" A possessed Denki took a swipe at the others, who simply jumped away.
"How are we gonna beat her without beating ourself?" Denki asked another Denki.
"How should I know?! I know what you know!" The Denki avoided a kick, Reiko leaping from the previous body into the new one.
The three Denki's all gathered together, staring off against the possessed one.
"Can we just, throw him out?" One asked, getting a shrug from the other two.
"I mean, most of us are staying in the arena. One of us has got to win."
"Oh gross!"
They all saw the possessed one rush them on all fours, the limbs starting to turn in very uncomfortable ways. Running away from the horror, they began shouting like madmen.
"STOP TAKING THE GHOST THING SO LITERALLY!"
"I'M FREAKING OUT!"
"WHY CAN'T WE JUST ZAP HER MORE?"
"WE ALREADY USED UP ALL OUR JUICE!"
"SHE'S IN ONE OF US! SHE JUST TAKES THE HITS!"
"AHHH!"
The possessed one threw itself at them, the boys dropping down to dodge the lunge. Reiko maneuvered the body mid air to land on its feet, narrowly avoiding the edge. One of the Denki's kicked at the body, making it tip over and tumble into the grass.
They all glanced at one another, their fear turning into joy over their victory as they began to slap one another again on hands, cheeks, stomachs, whatever.
Now that she was healed up and had ear plugs for future matches, Midnight was back in action as referee. Right now she had her hand in her earpiece, talking with someone until smiling at the crowd. "It is decided since the Kaminari possessed by Yanagi was thrown out, Kaminari is the winner!"
Reiko sat up in Denki's body, stricken by the announcement. She had done so much, fought so hard, but she didn't win. Scowling to herself, she launched out of Denki's body and flew into the shadows, leaving them to celebrate at her defeat.
She failed, failed to be strong with her new body, failed to win. Izuku believed she could have won, but she didn't.
"You're back!" Pony jumped up, seeing Izuku walk into the stands with Eijiro.
"Yeah, he's all good." Eijiro gave Izuku a slow pat on the back. "Turns out he didn't need to go to Recovery Girl."
"Yep." Izuku smiled with exaggerated pride. "No injuries."
Himiko piped up, jabbing her thumb towards Mina. "Can't say the same about others."
The pink skinned girl had some bandages over her face, looking like all her energy had been sapped from her.
"Yo, you doing ok?" Eijiro called out to the girl.
"Just tired now." Her head bobbed up, the girl desperately fighting the urge to sleep. "Recovery Girl had to reset some bone and teeth stuff before she used her quirk."
"Oof." Eijiro winced at the thought of it.
Jiro filled in the short pause as he sat down next to her. "Yanagi is taking it pretty far isn't she?"
"You're telling me!" The Denki's flooded into the seating area. "She was all poltergeist down there!"
"It was a horror movie!"
"What was it like?" Himiko asked with great intrigue. "Getting possessed? Mina said she doesn't remember a thing."
"I don't." The Denki freed from spiritual torment shared. "It's like, the moment she entered me my thoughts just stopped."
"Like you actually have thoughts." Jiro teased.
The Denki's all reacted to that.
"Hey!"
"I got into this school didn't I?"
"I think about stuff!"
"All I do is think about you." The last Denki finished with two finger pistols, the other Denki's staring at him in shock.
"DUDE!"
"WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?!"
"Nice."
Jiro turned her back to him, burying her face in her arms to hide her reaction.
"Ahem." Himiko interrupted. "Does anyone know where the almost murderer is?"
Among the very many suddenly concerned members of the class, Uraraka leaned forward to engage her. "Um, what do you mean?"
"The guy who put my brother in a glacier." Himiko shifted her hand to make a little Shoto. "This one."
"I'm fine." Izuku tried to calm her down. "Look at me, I'm ok."
When her eyes snapped towards him, Izuku saw her pupils had become slits again. Taking in the courage tucked away somewhere inside, he talked her down. "Himiko, remember the first time you were mad with him it was over a misunderstanding? Please, don't do anything to threaten him until we figure out what happened. Ok?"
She remained silent, slipping back into her chair with her arms crossed. "We're talking later." She demanded, Izuku putting her on the list of people she needed to explain things to. Though, maybe saying the omnitrix reacted to something it considered a real threat to his life was not to be shared with her.
"Ah crap I'm next!" Eijiro suddenly saw the giant board, rushing out of the stands to hurry and get into the arena.
Izuku looked up, seeing who Eijiro was fighting.
Bakugo.
He….hasn't actually talked to him at all has he? They've just been ignoring one another, and it was fine. Izuku would have been a fool not to notice his childhood friend turned bully be in the same class as most his friends.
But, neither of them acknowledged each other's existence so far. As long as Bakugo was putting the past behind him, Izuku would let him.
Eijiro walked into the arena, gauging Bakugo's somewhat serious posture.
"Hey." Eijiro called out. "Let's have a clean fight."
A twitch of annoyance crossed Bakugo's face, the boy holding his hands to the side with his palms up. "Don't die."
"FIGHT!"
Eijiro knew Bakugo would hit hard and fast, so he created a large crystal slab on his arm to try and bat away Bakugo. The blond kept his distance, circling Eijiro while throwing massive explosives at him.
"You can't hurt me man!" Eijiro yelled out. "We've gone over this!"
"I'm not trying to hurt anyone except villains." Bakugo grumbled, a smokescreen thickening around him from the blasts. "I'm just here to win."
Eijiro's eyesight was failing him through the smog, but he could still feel the many explosions against his body and all around him. Throwing blunt crystal shards into the smoke, he hoped to hit Bakugo during his rampage. Those words kept ringing in his head though, they were the last things he expected out of his mouth, well not entirely.
Bakugo was always driven to win, he just seemed so violent about it. But, between when they were kids, and now, Bakugo was different. He was still loud, quick to anger, and dangerous, but he was in control of himself now. Back in USJ, he expected to have to fight Bakugo on not blowing up every villain he saw, but he was quick to agree to a plan, prioritize the safety of others, and strategically take down the leaders.
The explosions stopped, Eijiro seeing the slight breeze reveal a sweaty Bakugo standing only six feet away in front of him. Curiously, the crystal teen let the boy stand there. "You're different now, aren't you?"
"No shit." Bakugo dragged his palms along his forearms in a swift motion, gathering up his sweat and aiming it for Eijiro.
The crystal teen threw out crystals towards Bakugo's legs, commanding them to grow and entrap-
*BOOM*
It didn't really hurt, but that explosion was still big enough to take Eijiro off his feet and the ground with him to fly out of the arena. Oh, so that's what he was doing. Bakugo was using his explosion to weaken the ground around him while building up sweat. Pushing himself up, Eijiro wasn't that hurt over the fact that he lost. Not to a guy who's changed so much to be better.
Still, Eijiro would still admit Bakugo was a prick. Just a manly prick now.
"Bakugo wins!"
Endeavor finally found his son, sulking behind one of the vending machines. "You have little control over your flames."
The boy didn't respond, staring into his own hand that could summon fire but he refused to do so.
"Do you understand why you must learn how to use them properly? So something else like this never happens again."
Again, no response, but Endeavor knew that right now the boy was beginning to change his mind. Now that he saw first hand how powerful his quirk was with ice and fire, he could master it, be the next number one hero.
"Your control over your ice needs more attention too. If not for your flames you could have killed the child."
He thought at least that would have gotten a reaction, but no, Shoto held absolutely no sign of living besides the steady breathes he took.
"Though it would please you to know that I have decided not to take legal action against his family."
There, Shoto finally acknowledged him by looking him in the eyes. Curiosity instead of the usual hatred. "Why?"
"You are my son, and what you do reflects me. You nearly killed one of the Midoriya children, and while I could win a court battle against them over that their reasons outweigh my own for legal action. So, I will have a new document drafted up, one that will benefit both parties involved."
Shoto nodded, then returned his gaze to his hand, letting a few licks of candle light come off his hand. "...they're not the same."
Endeavor was quiet, awaiting for an explanation from the boy as to why he briefly confirmed the existence of his own fire. Shoto didn't expound though, getting up and leaving without another word.
Well, as small as it seemed this was the greatest progress he had made with his fire in years. Perhaps this Midoriya family was serving a purpose after all.
Kendo had seen a lot of great fights so far, and while the air around Midoriya was chaotic she felt it was being resolved on its own. She had kept watch like All Might wanted, and that fight with Todoroki was concerning, but it all worked out.
Maybe she should stop worrying about everything going on around others and start focusing on herself. It felt like she had been on the verge of unlocking more power from One for All, but she just needed to find out what. Her own original quirk seemed to be doing better, so maybe that was the key?
Glancing at her competition, she was happy to see Jiro be more comfortable with herself. Now, she wasn't super into others' love lives like Toru, but it was cute to watch her and Kaminari support one another.
"Let's have a good match." Kendo called out, Jiro smiling and giving a nod.
"FIGHT!"
Kendo opened up with a large sweeping blast of energy, Jiro hopping over it and rolling onto the ground. One became four, and Kendo knew what they were going to do.
She only had a moment to grab the arena floor itself with her quirk to use as a shield, because the moment Jiro screamed her ears were already busted.
One was bad enough, but she never had to deal with four at a time. The sound tore apart her makeshift shield, and when she erected a large pink barrier around herself it did little to block out the noise.
"AAH!" She couldn't even hear herself scream out in pain, the Jiro's closing in on her from all sides. One circled around the perimeter, more copies jumping off from it and rushing to close in on Kendo.
The noise increased, Kendo lashing out with punches, blasts of pink, whatever she could make to try and knock away her opponent. She couldn't tell if she hit one, because they just kept multiplying and increasing her suffering.
Her mind began to go blank, the noise filling every corner of her head as it banged from ear to ear. Jiro saw her opponent wasn't going down, so one of her copies hopped onto Kendo's back, screaming point blank at her head.
The body had had enough, everything within a ten foot radius of Kendo being grabbed in that vibrant pink light. Kendo's eyes began to glow, a roar escaping her as she latched onto everything around her and began to silence it.
A wave of energy was unleashed from her, ripping up everything around her atom by atom. The rock turned to dust, the ground into sand, and the copies of Jiro turned to mist in a second.
"RAH!" Kendo's reaction only lasted a brief moment, for when everything was silenced her mind was allowed to think again. The glow behind her eyes died down, as she saw she was standing on a pit of fine sand with a strange mist around her. Not to far from the perimeter of absolute elimination, Jiro's eyes were shaking, her hands going numb.
She just died, so many times and there was nothing she could have done.
Every thought screamed to escape, so she let her panic take over and ran away from death.
That was when Kendo realized what she had done, and why Jiro had reacted.
"Jiro has forfeited the match, Kendo is the winner!" Midnight announced with less pride than usual, trying to save the distressing moment.
"Jiro wait!" Kendo called out, wishing from the bottom of her heart that she could have lost instead. This wasn't winning, this was slaughter.
"What was that?" Pony asked Izuku, who's pencil hovered over his notebook.
"She…ripped everything apart." He stuttered out, seeing the perfect circle of sand in the center of the arena. "Maybe even down to a molecular level. She just, tore it all up."
"Damn." Eijiro winced. "Could I even survive that?"
"I don't know." Izuku pondered over his notebook. "But that…is a power to be used in rare circumstance."
"Alright Denki's!" Denki got up, his other selves saluting. "Fan out and find Jiro! If we miss the next match so be it, but at least one of us needs to check on her!"
"Roger that!"
"Yes sir!"
"I'll check around the bathrooms!"
"She's in Recovery Girl's office."
"AAHH!" All of them were spooked by the sudden appearance of Reiko, who seemed more eerie than before she literally possessed one of them.
"Uh, thanks." Sports festival outfit Denki then ran off to find Jiro, the others cautiously leaving to get to their prep area.
The class was on edge with her arrival, Reiko paying no mind as she looked directly at Izuku. "Good luck on your match. I hope you win."
"Umm, thanks." The green haired teen got up, a sudden thought crossing his mind he mine as well share. "He should be better to fight. He used up a lot of his electricity fighting you right?"
She nodded, Izuku feeling like he had a chance to win now.
"Ok, well thanks then. I'll be off."
"I'm glad I could help you Izuku."
"...yeah. Maybe I'll be able to help you more soon….hopefully."
Staring off against three Denkis, Izuku could see they weren't as hyper as their last fights. There was probably a lot on their minds about Jiro, they did seem really concerned over her.
"Hey Izuku!" One of them called out to him. "We don't know how to put ourselves back together, so are you ok fighting three on one?"
"I mean, we don't want to treat you unfairly, but we're not sure which way of fighting would be fair to you."
"We're not trying to treat you differently because you're quirkless, but we're not sure how to approach this."
That probably would have sounded offensive if it wasn't so innocent. Izuku was just glad they were asking his thoughts about it first instead of just assuming. "Just come at me with everything! I didn't exactly expect to get this far!"
"Ready!" Midnight signaled the opposing sides. "Fight!"
The Denki's ran right towards Midoriya, sparks charging from their hands as Izuku realized he must have a quicker recovery rate than he thought.
*zap*
"Ow!" Izuku jumped at the sensation. It wasn't as much as he thought, like touching a bug zapper. But there was three of them, and one of him.
*zapzapzap*
"Ah!" Well, there was one advantage Izuku had, and that was height.
*Wap*
"Ow!" One of the Denki's was bopped on the head, the other two jumping onto Izuku to restrain him. They were strong, but they were also light. Izuku grit his teeth, standing up with the two living bug zappers clinging to his arms. The third Denki floated up, zooming towards Izuku and shoving him back down to the ground.
Izuku switched strategies, prepping his legs he waiting for the flying Denki to come back around to pin his torso. He did just that, charging straight from in front as Izuku was laying on his back.
He kicked, hard with his two legs, shoving Denki back into the air. The sparky blond stopped, hovering as he rubbed his torso. "You're hard to beat Izuku! I guess if you're asking me to go all out you'd do the same right?"
Why is he going all out?
"Ahem." Midnight called out to Denki, pointing at where he was.
He glanced down, seeing he was hovering right outside the boundary line. "Does this mean I'm out?"
"Well, since you, one of the parts of you participating in this have been pushed out of bounds-"
"Ah dang." He flopped his arms, the other Denki's moving off of Izuku.
"Izuku Midoriya wins the second round!"
The blonds helped Izuku up, tugging him by his arms and lifting him onto his feet.
"Great fight man." Denki congratulated Izuku.
"You were intense."
"I would have given up in your shoes."
Izuku bashfully accepted the compliments, but their words kept striking him. Was he that intense? Why was he fighting so hard? He never planned on winning.
"What do you mean you're not going out there?" Toshinori Yagi, after seeing his protege perform such a deadly move and rush out, knew he had to find her. It didn't take long, because she texted him right before her semi final match saying she needed to speak with him.
"What I did out there." Kendo's eyes were littered with tears. "That was wrong, I killed so many of her!"
He wasn't sure how to console her. Against anyone else that would have instantly killed them, but she would never do that to a real person right? But young Jiro's duplicates, they seemed like they really were her with flesh, blood, and thought. The autopsy on the one from USJ proved that they were alive.
"We will speak with her." Toshinori decided. "Let's ask young Jiro herself if she blames you for what you did."
"I killed her! Why wouldn't she hate me?"
"But she is alive, right?" He gently reminded the girl. "Maybe she's upset, but she's also alive. You're making new strides in One for All and your quirk that I've never seen before to the point I don't know which is which. We may need to spend time training this new aspect, and maybe we find it's incredibly dangerous, but I have faith you can master it. You will, be a great hero."
She entered his arms, Kendo crying against the frail man as he did his best to give the calming presence she dearly needed.
"If you truly fear you might do what you did back there again, I will not force you to. These are simply tournaments, not life and death scenarios. This is a safe place, so don't feel like you have to force yourself to fight."
"..Thank you, All Might."
"OH MY GOAT WHAT A DAY WE'VE BEEN HAVING SO FAR!"
"Oh my goat?"
Two very silent teens made their way onto the arena floor. For the first time since their childhood, they had to acknowledge one another face to face.
Katsuki Bakugo, and Izuku Midoriya.
Bakugo, his palms sweating profusely just from nervousness as he looked on the person who he had beaten so much. Ever since he was ten, Bakugo had to go through so much anger management therapy. Nearly every topic they discussed was how he treated Midoriya, how he beat him, used his quirk on someone who couldn't fight back, defenseless.
Wrong wrong wrong, over and over he revisited those memories with professionals, some with quirks that let him see himself in the moment. It was wrong to fight Midoriya, it was wrong to hurt Midoriya, that was the discussion they had for years of his life.
Now, he had the opportunity to use his quirk against that same boy again. He was always being watched, the teachers knew about his past, they knew his history with Midoriya.
What would they do to him if they fought? What would happen if he used his quirk on him?
They always said it was wrong, so was it still wrong now? It felt like it, everything about this felt wrong.
Meanwhile, Izuku couldn't help but place his hand over the omnitrix, his own nerves starting to get to him. It was a miracle he got this far, and even then it was because of help with friends, an accident, the omnitrix activating, and even Denki just tired from using his powers so much.
But Bakugo, he was a fighting machine. It wasn't surprising that he got this far, and he doesn't even seem that worn out despite the opponents he's had. A fight against him, it might even have the omnitrix activate an emergency feature again.
Would he even need that? Bakugo showed enough restraint now to not try and kill someone right? Even if he held back, it could be enough to trigger a reaction from the omnitrix. Besides, second place? That was more than he even dreamed of competing today.
He had already fought so hard, and there was no way in a straight fight he would ever win against Bakugo.
…Unless he transformed.
No, the omnitrix was supposed to be secret, and that would surely be showing the world he had something otherworldly. Present Mic already leaked it that he was quirkless, so if he suddenly turned into something like a To'kustar or a Vulpimancer.
He couldn't think of a single person who would fault him for turning down this match, throwing in the towel against someone so strong.
So why was he hesitating?
"Ready!" Midnight raised her whip, Izuku knowing he needed to say something now!
He took in a deep breath, making sure he would be heard by Bakugo and Midnight of his decision.
"I forfeit the match."
Izuku planned on saying those words, only they didn't come from his mouth. Across from him, his hands in his pockets, was Bakugo who was already turning around.
"Are you sure?" Midnight asked him. "This is the final round, you could get first place."
"I've done enough." Bakugo walked out of the boundary line, glancing back towards Izuku. "I'm not that kind of person anymore."
The audience whispered back and forth to one another, the final match having been so…disappointing compared to other fights they saw.
Izuku hardly noticed Midnight coming down, lifting his arm with her own.
"Then your winner for the first year's sports festival is none other than Izuku Midoriya!"
"YYEEAAAH!"
Izuku couldn't help but feel embarrassed, hearing Cueball's voice scream over the others. The woman kissed her eightball, whooping and hollering to it. "I'm never doubting you again for financial decisions!"
Just ten minutes later, Izuku found himself standing on the highest pillar in the stadium. To his right, was Bakugo, standing with his hands in his pockets and he kept his gaze on the ground like a beaten dog. On his left, was three Denki's. The fourth must still be with Jiro, but Kendo wasn't here either. She must not have wanted to come out after what had happened.
Midnight raised the microphone to her mouth. "Here we have our winners! Standing here before you to receive their acknowledgements for their hard earned victories!"
The cheers were muddled together, background noise as Izuku was still in a dream like state. It still didn't feel real, he was a business course student who just managed to scrape by and somehow get first place? Against so many he KNEW worked their whole lives and were going to be amazing heroes? Yeah, that wasn't realistic.
"And who better to acknowledge their achievements-"
Izuku's fanboy ears perked up, hearing the popular theme for his favorite hero ever.
"-Than the number one hero himself, All Might!"/"I AM HERE WITH THE MEDALS!"
The legend himself landed before them, his words talked over by Midnight's own announcement as she gave a quick apology to him.
It didn't make sense still, Izuku was here, something his child like self would probably go into shock over. Had he really won first place? Was he really meeting All Might for the first time properly here? The world is seeing this, it's believing this.
The questions wouldn't leave his head, the biggest one of all rumbling to the surface. Why did he fight so hard to win when it didn't matter for his current plans?
"Ahaha!" All Might boisterous laugh echoed as he approached the many Kaminaris. "While I would love to give each of your selves a medal, I'm afraid I only have one to offer."
"That's alright sir!"
"We'll share!"
"I mean, we're going to be one person again anyways so-"
"Oh how far you've come." All Might leaned in, dawning the center Denki with the bronze medal. "While you have been aiming to be a hero for a while, and have overcome great challenges, you have made risky sacrifices in order to be a better hero. And despite the unknown that has come recently in your new transformation, you have proved to push through the unknown and conquer it! I look forward to seeing your continued sporadic growth."
"Thanks!"
"This is so cool!"
"I hope we do get some sporadic growth. I'm tired of being a midget."
"Same."
"Same."
"Young Bakugo!" All Might approached the silent child. "Many of us make mistakes, or seek to overcome our inner turmoil, but you've demonstrated the strongest aspect of any hero or man. Restraint. You have great power and are discovering how to use it responsibly. While your match with Uraraka may have been seen as brutal to some, you used only as much force as was necessary. You will make an excellent hero out in the field."
Bakugo held out his hand, All Might handing the silver medal directly to him. The blond looked at the reflective metal, seeing his own face in it before stuffing it in his pocket.
All Might, pulling out the gold medal approached the last one. He felt some guilt for being so cautious around Midoriya, but he knew this child was a good soul who had been targeted by bad people and entrusted with a huge responsibility. Maybe he could use something like that as some words of wisdom for the boy.
"All Might." Izuku spoke first, appearing so lost. "There's a question I wanted to ask you, ever since I was a kid and…for some reason, even though I abandoned it, I feel like I need to ask it."
"What is it?"
"...Can someone who's quirkless become a hero?"
That question, it was the same one he asked long ago. Izuku looked right up into the man's eyes, seeing those electric blue rings shadowed under his brow.
"Can I become a hero?"
All Might could see himself in the boy, though maybe Izuku was smarter having taken a more realistic path. But, it appears it never satisfied his heart.
"I must admit young Midoriya, while I said many times that anyone can be a hero, if someone had asked that question I would have tried to push them towards a different career. I don't think I would have been able to say yes to anyone quirkless."
Izuku nodded, accepting that as a realistic answer from the number one hero.
"But-" All Might resumed with a wider smile than his usual one. "-you are hardly like the others are you? So perhaps you deserve a different answer."
The mountain of a man clasped a hand on Midoriya's shoulder, meeting his soul head on with his own. "Young Midoriya, you have already faced many dangers head on, saved many lives, and helped so many to be greater than they could have done alone. You already are a hero. And if you decide that going pro is the right path for you, just know there are many who will support you, me included."
All Might lowered the gold medal over Izuku's head, the boy watching in respect as the metal gleamed in the sunlight.
Izuku couldn't help but let that childlike wonder out, smiling brightly as he finally accepted it. He had gotten this far, he had gotten first place, he had met All Might, he had gotten his answer.
I didn't feel like writing my other stories until I completed this chapter. For those curious as to what Izuku will do with his transformations, I can't reveal too much without being spoiler heavy. BUT! I will take a similar approach as I have to the other parts of the omnitrix, to see how it could be useful in other settings instead of just straight up fighting with it. Now that Izuku has some renewed confidence thanks to All Might, and knowing that the omnitrix can transform him, how will he go about his life? Will others see the benefits of being hybrids and decide to mix it up themselves?
What events are waiting around the corner for Izuku and his friends? Next chapter will be a little more lax as we celebrate.
What kinds of fusions do you want to see?
List of Hybrids (In order of splicing):
Eijiro Kirishima & Petrosapien/Diamondhead
Himiko Midoriya & Lenopan/Sludgepuppy
Kyoka Jiro & Sonorosian/Echo Echo
Reiko Yanagi & Ectonurite/Ghostfreak
Shota Aizawa/Eraserhead & Thep Khufan/Snare-oh
Denki Kaminari & Nosedeenian/Buzzshock
Any grammar errors please point it out.
Credit for helping me make this story goes to Animeguy1101
Let me know what you think about it and if you want to see more!
Ben Turner1: You're right, alongside timing wise and showing off a new function of the omnitrix, this was a good point for him to discover he can transform.
leoromerocalvo: While transformations are always beloved, I'll still take it a new direction that other stories rarely explore upon.
SonicMax: I hate harems, and I will never write a story with them.
Entomoid: A Sero/Spidermonkey would be a cool one!
Sabdol916: I'm writing lots of other stories that are in this arc so perhaps my tiredness for the sports festival leaked into my writing to rush through things. Don't worry, I won't turn this into a Izuku beats up badguys all the time sort of story. He'll be clever and mostly use his transformations in non battle settings.
HaloZealotDemon: That would be a fun thing to see Eri with other time walkers. Maybe it could even be its own spin off.
optimismchuks1113: What do you mean stop delaying it? I always planned for transformations to happen then, and it's already happened now. You can't delay something that already happened.
FShield96: It was a callback, but Izuku shouted the name out of surprise and not really on purpose.
morsemadison532: So far he's the only one to actually witness it and has an idea on what happened.
alinur1561: It is tempting, and I can see some ideas on how it would work for Aoyama. Hmm, let me ponder on that.
As for transformations, Izuku can use them at will but will use them only when he sees fit.
Mashot Tito: I want to try and get through my stories before the end of summer, and I felt that more than ever writing the last chapter. I tried fixing that in this chapter, so hopefully the jumps turned out better.
AnimeFan13579: I like to think there's another aspect about Nighteye's quirk that he doesn't know about. I've also got a lot of Ship ideas, so I'm gonna do something like that in the future.
Guest: That's really just his suit, not his body.
Omar: It's funny you mention that, because I plan on touching on that very soon. Also, Ben was 14 when he had that experience with Big Chill if memory serves me right since it takes place in Alien Force.
Felipe: Albedo stole the ultimatrix core, simply giving it a housing and activating it.
Guest: I'm not going to go into anything like that regarding Clock work. It would change the direction of this story too drastically.
