Katsuki and Izuku were doing individual training on the beach, now that school had finished they had more time then ever to dedicate towards their training.
All Izuku heard from Katsuki's direction was a staccato of explosions, they eCh did seperate training to work on super moves and secrets to use in their spars.
Izuku was sat with his eyes closed facing a large scrap pile. His hand was extended and glowing as he grabbed an item.
He was working on identifying objects with ultrahand, everything had a slightly different feel. While weight didn't really affect his control, size was a limiting factor.
He felt a something hollow. Another empty milk bottle, he assumed.
He continued picking up items sticking them together into a ball, once the ball was as wide as he was tall he opened his eyes and was pleased to see that he had been right.
He had pictured the individual items as he added them in, he smiled at the smiley face on the ball in front of him.
"Young Izuku you have progressed well with your control of Ultrahand." Rauru spoke from with Izuku's head. "At this stage I would name you a master builder."
As those words rang in Izuku's skull he noticed a new purple glow from his palm, a new rune had etched itself there, three stylised hands curled around each other.
"That rune there marks you as a master builder. It will give you the power to recreate constructs you have made before. It has a memory of sorts, within that memory you will find a variety of zonai devices." Rauru's voice paused seeming to contemplate his next word choice, "I would advise caution Young Izuku. When I used Autobuild in the past I was able to use the rare mineral Zonaite to supplement the material requirement. Without Zonaite I fear the cost would be your very life force, sapping your energy, if you use to much it could kill you."
"That's a lot to take in Rauru"
"I know, hence why I waited until now to tell you"
A solemn silence filled the air for a moment before Rauru continued.
"Focus on the rune, you should be able to see items or constructs that you could make"
Izuku stared hard at the purple rune in his palm, after 20 seconds he began to feel slightly silly.
Finally however he felt his eyes go soft as his focus looked through the rune, within his mind's eye he saw a variety of shapes. There were wheels of different sizes, a fan, a triangular bird-like, what looked like a joystick and a few others.
Deciding to start with the fan as he didn't think there could be many issues with it.
He puzzled for a while about how to bring the item out, he settled on picturing the item sitting on the sand in front of him.
He felt a drain and a sudden rumble from his stomach. Jerking his eyes open he saw a caged fan almost a meter in diameter sitting on the sand. It didn't seem to be made of any material he could identify, it felt metal but was an opaque green colour, reminiscent of Jade.
Filled with excitement he tried to activate it, he searched along the sides, looking for a switch or button.
"Just hit it Young Izuku" Rauru interrupted.
Feeling a bit dumb, Izuku rapped his knuckles against the cage. His face was instantly hit with a gust of wind, his cheeks blew out and his eyes watered before he could move his head out of the way.
He could see the swirl of air blasting from the fan directly upwards. Sand began to be sucked into the gust, forming a pillar of sand into the sky that rained down from far above.
'What the hell is this bullshit now?' Izuku heard Katsuki yell from a short way down the beach.
Attempting to hide this new advancement from Katsuki, so that he could use the surprise in their next spar, Izuku quickly kicked the side of the fan. The sand rained down covering the fan in a small mound.
Izuku saw Katsuki round the scrap pile between them, scowling suspiciously.
'Uh, Sorry Kacchan. I was just messing around with a new combination.'
Completely fed up with the continued bullshit of Izuku's quirk, Katsuki simply asked 'Do I have to wear goggles again for our next spar?'
'That'd probably be for the best Kacchan'
With a huff Katsuki returned to his side of the scrap and soon rapidfire large explosions started to ring out again.
Izuku brushed the sand away from his fan before activating it again, blowing away the rest of the mound.
"There should also be some basic vehicles within the memory of the rune. They should serve you well. I encourage you to summon each item individually first so that you know what kind of energy is needed for each component." Nodding at the wisdom of that. Izuku quickly focused back on his palm, scanning through the items he saw an item that looked like a stylised unicorn head.
Summoning the item into the world, feeling a slightly greater draw on his energy. Izuku tried to puzzle out what it could possibly do. Rauru seemed to be staying quiet, letting Izuku work it out for himself.
Figuring that the horn probably did something he picked it up and pointed it at a broken couch. Knocking on the side the emitter started to hum as a brilliant laser of light beamed into the couch. The apholstery started to catch alight.
Panicking Izuku whipped the laser away, hitting a light of objects. Trying to steady the beam Izuku pointed it at the sand. The emitter didn't seem to heat at all.
Izuku watched as the sand began to smoke and blacken. It took a good thirty seconds, but Izuku saw the start of a glowing liquid at the point of impact.
Admiring the constant laser he noticed that it began to flash green. The flashing accelerated, worried that it was going to explode Izuku lobbed it into the waves and hit the deck.
The laser spun in the air, making a short light show, unknown to Izuku, causing Katsuki to curse and work even harder.
Waiting for a bang that never arrived Izuku eventually sat up. He peered into the surf where he had thrown the laser and couldn't see any sign of it.
Soft laughing within his head made Izuku realise he had been the butt of a joke. "How can I get you back for stuff like that if you dont even have a body?" He pouted to himself
"I am sorry Young Izuku, but that was quiet entertaining" Izuku could feel the smug smile emanating from Rauru's spirit.
"Some items have time limits before they expire. When they do they harmlessly shatter, like your fusions."
"Well thanks for letting me know. Are you going to tell me which items do that?"
...
...
"No"
Izuku felt Rauru's spirit recede as his laughter faded quietly.
'How did your training go today Sweetie?' Inko asked as she served Izuku a heaped bowl of pork katsudon.
'It was really good Mum, I found an entirely new aspect to my quirk' Izuku remarked as he began shovelling food into his mouth like only a teenage boy could.
Inko's eyes dimmed at the mention of his quirk.
'As long as you're safe and happy Izuku, I'm happy.'
She remembered the day when Izuku returned from the beach with a new arm grinning ear to ear. She was filled with a curious mix of joy and dread that day. Overjoyed that her son finally had two arms again but she couldnt get out of her mind the cost that was sure to come due.
She knew Izuku was quirkless, the doctor had told her so. She had seen the X-rays herself.
When Izuku suddenly claimed that his quirk had arrived she simply couldn't bring herself to crush Izuku's hopes. She did her best to ignore the questions within her, focusing only on the fact that Izuku was happy. It was hard to ignore however the monstrous appearance of the arm with its claws and fur.
Every time Izuku brought up his quirk she struggled with the decision to drag Izuku to the doctor to get the truth. She just couldn't force him to admit the lie. She submitted the form online to update his quirk status and smiled whenver anyone asked how his training was progressing. She changed doctors, she avoided anything to do with the Tsubasa family at school. Fear clutched at her heart that Izuku would become an experiment.
It was clear to her that his arm and quirk weren't natural. But after so many years she had come to accept that it was better if everyone believed they were.
'That great Sweetie, you're going to be the best hero out there'
Izuku buried his face in his bowl to hide the guilt that was surely showing, he hated lying to his Mum. But what was more believable? That he suddenly developed a quirk or that there was an long-dead, alien king from an ancient land that deemed him worthy and gave him his own arm.
Izuku knew that people would think he was crazy, so he kept it to himself.
The rest of the meal passed quietly, like most others. Both of them trying to work up the courage to tell the other the truth, but neither knowing how.
After dinner Rauru spoke, "You know you can tell her. A mother's love is a precious thing, she will believe you."
"Yeah, and what if she doesn't? What if she thinks I've gone mad? What if she takes me to some doctor? One who experiments on me. What then?"
"You are overreacting Izuku, but if you are not ready, so be it."
Rauru was silent after that point.
Months passed and the UA entrance exam was fast approaching, Rauru had not spoken since but Izuku did his best to put it out of his mind and focus. He and Katsuki had fought many more times, constantly pushing each other to new heights.