Third-person POV
"Come on Akio, we're gonna miss it!" Midoriya said in excitement.
"Midoriya, will you slow down and wait for me?!" Akio yelled for him to wait.
Midoriya and Akio were running to the Tatooin Station to see the villain that was going nuts. As they got to the scene, a huge crowd was in front of theme and they saw a huge villain on the tracks.
"That's one huge super villain!" Midoriya exclaimed
"You could say that again."
They got through the crowd to get a closer look. When they got closer, the pro heroes Dead Arms and Backdraft arrived at the scene with Dead Arms catching a part of a steel tower from the tracks and Backdraft creating a line of water in front of the crowd so nobody else would get through. Kamui Woods came flying into the scene as well, causing some girls to think about him.
"This is gonna be good! It's Kamui Woods, he may be new, but he's making a big name for himself!"
"By the look of that dopey face I know what you are. A fanboy!" A civilian called him out.
"Uh, sort of…" Midoriya said shyly.
"Nah he's a fanboy alright." Akio said as he teased him.
"Akio!"
"What, it's true. You can even ask Ryoichi." He chuckled at them.
"Oh yeah that reminds me, where is Ryoichi? He was the one who told us about this."
"Yeah, he told me to tell you that he's got a surprise."
"A surprise? What is it?" Midoriya got curious at his statement.
"Heh, you'll see."
They looked back at the scene and saw Kamui on the train car in front of the villain.
"Assault, Robbery, and illegal use of power during rush hour traffic. You are the incarnation of evil!"
Kamui then began to use his special move on the villain.
"There, his special move!"
"Come on tree man, show us something flashy!"
Akio looked behind him and saw a figure heading towards their direction.
"Hey Midoriya, remember that surprise I was talking about?
"Uh, yeah what about it?"
"Well here it is!" Akio pointed to who was coming into the fight.
Just as Kamui was about to use his special move on the villain, the figure Akio saw earlier came into the scene. The figure revealed to be Ryoichi as he came in punching the villain in the face causing him to fall off the tracks. Ryoichi then landed in front of the villain and was wearing some sort of outfit. He had a black short-sleeved shirt with a flowing red vest with a long backside that is secured with a blue obi tied over it, black baggy pants, black shoes, and blue wristbands. He also wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face, along with his hair being tied into a ponytail.
"Ryoichi?! Ryoichi's the surprise?!" Midoriya exclaimed as he was surprised.
"Yep." Akio nodded at him. "He really wanted to show us that hero costume of his. 'Such as show off.'" He thought as he chuckled to himself.
The villain got up from the punch he received earlier and looked down at the young saiyan.
"You're gonna pay for that!" The villain shouted at him.
"Me? I don't have to pay for anything. But you? You definitely have to pay." Ryoichi said with his quip.
The villain threw a punch at him but Ryoichi dodge his punch and jumped at the villain and uppercut him in the jaw. While the villain was too focused on his injury, Mt. Lady came in and finished him off with a drop kick. When Mt. Lady landed in front of the knocked-out villain, and a bunch of photographers began to take pictures of her behind.
"Piece of cake for the world's next hottest hero. Hi everyone I'm Mt. Lady and you don't have to worry about this bum anymore!" She showed off her butt to the crowd.
Even more, photographers began to take more pictures of her, mostly her behind.
"Ugh, amateurs." Ryoichi said in annoyance.
Mt. Lady returned to normal size and Ryoichi fled the scene, leaving Kamui in shock at what just happened. Ryoichi went into an alleyway to avoid the press and changed back into his uniform.
Ryoichi looked for his friends and found them as he walked up to them.
"Woah, that was amazing, Ryoichi!" Midoriya said in excitement. "Where did you get the costume from? Are you already training for UA?" Midoriya asked him a bunch of questions until he silenced him with his finger.
"Easy there, fanboy. One question at a time. You're acting like a whole press conference." Ryoichi teased him for his parade of questions. "But just to answer them, this is just a prototype for my hero costume. I thought I could take it for a spin. If you're wondering about the hair earlier, trying to hide my identity so my name won't get all over the news."
"I see. The old classic way of being a hero." said Akio.
"Right, now let's get going before we're late for class."
"Wait, hold on! I gotta take some notes down for a second!" Midoriya said as he was writing down some notes in his hero journal.
Ryoichi and Akio were about to drag him to school, but decided to let him have his moment for a bit.
"Classic Midoriya… He never changes." Ryoichi thought.
"Hey, you three!" The same civilian from earlier called out the three as their attention was turned to him. "You two are friends with that fanboy, right? I guess you all want to be heroes yourselves. Good luck!"
They were surprised at what the old man said, and then smiled.
"Thanks, we'll try!" Midroiya said back to him.
After Midroiya had his notes, they made their way to school. As they arrived at the school in time for class, they were walking until they stopped when they saw Akio's now girlfriend, Selvaria Bles, and she didn't look too happy.
"Hey Selvav-" Before Akio could finish, she interrupted him.
"What took you three so long? You're five minutes late!" She said as she showed them the time, and they were.
"Shoot… Sorry, we got caught up by something." Akio apologized to her. "We'll explain later, okay?"
She sighed in response. "Fine, let's just head to class, quickly."
They made their way to class and they were lucky to be there on time as it started. They may have had different classes, but each of them would share the same class with Midoriya, so no one would bother him. The school day was nearly over as they were in homeroom, going over their future careers.
"So, as third-year students, it's time to start thinking seriously about your futures and what you want to do with your lives. I could pass out some career aptitude tests but…" The teacher trailed off as he threw the papers away. "Why bother? We all know you want to go to the hero track!"
The entire class started to cheer and used their quirks even though the teacher told them not to. The only ones that were not acting like the class were Akio, Selvaria, Ryoichi and Midoriya. Akio began to whisper to Selvaria about the class
"Jeez, they really don't need to get too worked up about it." Akio said in annoyance.
"I know. There's more to being a hero than just showing off your quirk." Selvaria agreed in response.
Then, the voice of an overconfident explosive pomeranian piped up, and the group didn't really want to hear it.
"Hey teach, don't let me in with these losers, I'm the real deal but these losers would be lucky to end as sidekicks to some busted D-Lister." Bakugo said, sounding confident as he insulted the class.
Then the entire class, besides the main group of the main characters, started to boo and yell at him.
"C'mon I'll take you all on!" Bakugo barked at all of them.
Ryoichi had the idea of putting him in his place, but he's not that kind of person and he was only keeping his cool for Midoriya. But, he would still smack some sense into Bakugo.
"Huh, you got impressive test results, maybe you'll get into UA High." The teacher said as almost everyone was surprised.
"That's why it's the only place worthy for me." He then jumped onto his desk with a smug on his face. "I aced all the mock tests, I'm the only one in this school who stands a chance at getting in, I'll be more popular than All Might himself! And be the richest hero of all time, people all around the world will know who I am!"
"Oh yeah, Midoriya, Akatani, Mendez, Bles, don't you four wanna go to UA too?" The teacher spilled out.
"Aw, crap baskets. This isn't gonna end well." Ryoichi thought.
Bakugo then froze at what the teacher said. Midoriya was uncomfortable from how everyone in his class was staring at him. Few seconds later of being silent, the entire class bursted into laughter because of how quirkless Midoriya was.
"Oh that's it." Ryoichi said under his breath as he stood up from his seat. "HEY!"
The entire class was taken back by his sudden outburst.
"Enough of this nonsense! We all know that UA got rid of that rule so Midoriya can get into UA even though he doesn't have a quirk." Selvaria defended him.
"And Midoriya did nothing to any of you and is trying his best, so why are you all mocking him?!" Ryoichi joined in with her.
"Because he's quirkless!" A classmate said to them and everyone agreed with them.
"So what if he's quirkless?" Akio then joined in with the two. "At least he's still trying his best to get in! Besides, is anybody else here, besides us and Bakugo, trying to attend UA?" Akio asked the class.
Everyone else just sat there in silence or talked to each other about Akio's questions. Bakugo had enough and then blew up Midoriya's desk, blasting him to the back of the class.
"Listen up Deku, you aren't worthy enough of going through the exam, hell I'll say you're worse than the rest of these rejects. You really think they'd choose you when they could have me?!" Bakugo insulted him.
"N-no, wait, you got it all wrong! I'm not trying to compete against you, you gotta believe me!" Midoriya tried to explain himself, but Bakugo wouldn't let him.
"You'll never be able to hangout with the best of the best! You'll die in the exams within the first day!"
Bakugo continued throwing his insults at him, until Midoriya's loyal childhood friends came in to defend him.
"Hey, quit messing with Midoriya! The only thing you're going to end up with is a cowardly hero if you pick on people like Midoriya!"
"We don't have to end this with a fight. But I'm this close to losing it. So, back. Off!" Ryoichi said as he showed signs of anger.
"Bring it on! I'll just beat you into a pulp in seconds!" They were about to start a fight before their teacher stopped them.
"That's enough! You three, return to your seats or I will give you a four hour detention after school! Now UA wouldn't be taking in troublemakers now would they?"
They just looked at each other for a few seconds, then Akio helped Midoriya up and went back to their seats before Ryoichi and Bakugo glared at each other. After school was over, Midoriya and his friends were packing up their things and were about to head home.
"Guys, look!" Midoriya showed his phone to his friends. "The incident from this morning is all over the place!" He said, showing them the incident they saw on their way to school.
"You mean the same incident you stopped to see?" She looked at the video of the attack to them as she zoomed in to show that Midoriya and Akio were in the crowd. "You're still not off the hook, you know."
"Oh… sorry, Selvaria..." The trio said simultaneously as Selvaria only sighed in response.
"What am I going to do with you three?" Selvaria sighed.
Before they could leave, Bakugo suddenly came by and snatched his notebook from Midoriya.
"Kacchan?"
"We're not done here, Deku."
"What's that you got there? Don't tell me you're taking notes on how to be a hero, that's so pathetic!"
"He's delusional!"
Two of Bakugo's lackeys came by and were laughing at him for having his journal of hero notes.
"C-come on. Give it back!" Midoriya tried to get his notebook back from him.
"Listen, we don't want any trouble. So, for the best of us here, give Midoriya his notebook-" Akio was interrupted when he heard an explosion and saw that Bakugo destroyed Midoriya's book then threw it out the window.
He tried to get it, but it was already out of his reach. Akio clenched his fist in anger and looked back at Bakugo with pure rage in his eyes.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Akio yelled at him.
"I'll be the first and only hero from this crappy public middle school!" Bakugo declared to him. "The first to win the honor of becoming a student at UA High!"
He then put his hand on Midoriya's shoulder as he used his quirk to heat it up.
"In other words, don't you dare get into UA, nerd! Especially you three!" He said as he pointed to Ryoichi, Selvaria, and Akio.
As Bakugo and his lackeys were leaving, Midoriya's friends checked up on him as he looked sad. Just as things couldn't get any worse, Bakugo chose his next words not so carefully.
"You wanna be a hero so bad? I've got a time saving idea for you. If you think you'll have a quirk in your next life… Go take a swan dive off the roof."
Poor choice of words. That's when he snapped. Not Midoriya, or even Akio, but Ryoichi had the last straw.
"That's it!" Ryoichi shouted before he was about to punch Bakugo.
Before he could, Akio had to hold him back from starting a fight. Bakugo was taken back by his sudden outrage, but still kept his ego up.
"Ryoichi, calm down!" Akio said as he tried to calm him down.
"Don't worry about him, Ryoichi! Just calm down for us!" Selvarai chimed in to help him calm down.
He struggled to get out of his grip, but eventually calmed down. Akio let him go, but still had some words for Bakugo.
"Bakugo…" Ryoichi said quietly
"Oh, you got something to say, Hedgehog?" Bakugo said with a smug look.
"Oh don't get me started on you, dynamite head."
Everyone was shocked to hear Ryoichi say that to Bakugo.
'Uh oh...' Midoriya thought in shock.
"What'd you say to me?!" Bakugo said in anger.
"What's your deal with picking on Midoriya anyway? One minute you guys were childhood friends the next minute you just decided to pick on him. He didn't even do anything to you!"
"My deal? My deal is that Deku is quirkless and he doesn't even deserve to be a hero! Even if he had a quirk, he'd still be useless!"
"That's your problem?! So what if he doesn't quirk, he can still make it in without one! Besides, aren't you blind, we both know that he is quirkless but me and Akio are still his friends and I don't judge people by if they have a quirk or not and tell them to go kill themselves, unlike you selfish bastard!"
"You wanna go, Hedgehog? Bring it! I don't care if you have that superhuman strength of yours, you're still quirkless!" Bakugo had his explosions ready to fight.
As this was happening, Midoriya noticed that Ryoichi's hair was different. He saw that some of his hair was glowing bright blue and some electricity was appearing from it.
"U-um, Ryoichi?" Midoriya called out to him.
Ryoichi just looked back at him with an angry expression as his eyes were slightly glowing blue, until he calmed down when he saw how scared Midoriya looked .
"It's fine… Let's just go home."
Ryoichi was going to retort back but decided to stop arguing with Bakugo and just leave. He calmed down as the glowing disappeared from his hair and eyes.
"Ok... let's just go get his book and go home..."
As they were leaving, Bakugo was going to yell at him again but Ryoichi interrupted him before he was the last one to leave the room.
"And Bakugo... If you want to be a real hero, then think about your actions and compare them to All Might, since you want to be better than him."
Bakugo just stood there, baffled from Ryoichi's words as he left the room. They left the school as they found Midoriya's notebook in a small pond where fish were nibbling at it.
"That's not food, it's my notebook…" Midoriya said as he grabbed it and wiped it off.
"That Bakugo's an idiot. He can't just say stuff like that!" Akio said as he was angry about what Bakugo said to Midoriya earlier.
"And he would've been charged for bullying him into suicide." Selvaria agreed with him.
"If Midoriya actually did…" Ryoichi was about to say something, but he just shook it away. "No, let's not think about that…"
"Let's just forget about this and move on." They agreed and walked home.
"And Ryoichi." Selvaria said his name as he jumped a little. "About the incident earlier, I know that it was you who knocked that villain off the rails. You know you're not supposed to do hero work without a license, quirk or no quirk in your case."
"I know but…" Ryoichi sighed as he was getting his thoughts together. "It's just… You know how I feel about that rule. I get that if it didn't exist…"
"Then more villains would appear." Midoriya finished his sentence.
"Exactly. But what about people with quirks that could hurt themselves with it? Does no one think about how that could be a problem?" Ryoichi questioned.
Selvaria was about to say something back, but she thought about how there could be someone Ryoichi is talking about. She then thought about how Midoriya is looked down upon by people and no one believes in him, other than her, Ryoichi, Akio and his mother.
"I suppose you're right. Believe me Ryoichi, I want to help as many people as possible." She admitted. "But no one would ever listen to us."
Ryoichi swore under his breath when he heard that.
"But, that doesn't mean we can still try to change things. Maybe you and Midoriya could be the first quirkless heroes." She said, trying to cheer him up, but thought of something again. "Then again, Midoriya would be the first quirkless hero, since you have that strength of yours, and anybody would guess it's super strength or something."
"I guess that makes him lucky then, huh?" Ryoichi said as he chuckled a little. "Right, Midoriya?"
Midoriya didn't respond to him and they got a little worried for him.
"Midoriya? You Okay back there-"
When they turned around, they saw him being held by a weird slime person, clearly it was a villain. Ryoichi was shocked at this but then got angry and charged at the slime person and threw a punch at him but only for his punch to go through him.
"What the?!" Ryoichi was confused when his punch didn't do anything
"Punch all you want, but it'll just waste your time. My body is made of fluids and that means your punches mean nothing to me."
"Well how about we try harder?!"
Akio and Selvaria then joined Ryoichi to get Midoriya from the villain's grasp. They even tried to use their quirks to try and stop him, but still no effect
"Ha! Your quirks are useless! There's nothing that can stop me!"
At this point, they were doing anything to get him out. Midoriya was slowly losing consciousness, until he heard Ryoichi's voice. He could barely see, but he saw the worried look on his face. He reached his hand out to him, and he grabbed it. Ryoichi tried to pull him, but it didn't do anything. He could feel his hand slipping and tears were slowly forming in his eyes. While they were focused, the cap flew up and someone came out of it, getting their attention and they're eyes widened with hope.
"Have no fear, you're safe. Now that I'm here, that is!" All Might appeared on the scene.
"All Might?!" They all said in surprise.
"You've done your best to take down this villian, young heroes, now allow me to finish this."
The sludge villain was too focused on All Might's sudden appearance, and that gave Ryoichi the time to yank Midoriya from their grasp. He went behind him, with Akio and Selvaria while the villain tried to attack but All Might pulled his fist back to attack him.
"TEXASSSSS SMASH!"
All Might then sent a strong wind blast from his fist to the villian. The Villain tried to hold himself together but he couldn't due to the pressure and they were blown apart into small pieces.
"That was a close one. Are you all okay?" All Might asked them.
"Yes, we're fine. Thank you." Selvarai thanked him
Ryoichi checked for Midoriya's vitals and sighed in relief as he felt he was still alive, but unconscious for a bit.
"Come on, Midoriya! Wake up!"
Ryoichi slightly slapped his face repeatedly until Midoriya came around and opened his eyes.
"H-huh? Ryoichi?"
Ryoichi then hugged him tightly as Akio joined him and Midoriya was surprised for a bit.
"Thank god you're okay." Akio said in relief.
"O-oh. Ok, but what happened? Where's the villain?"
"I have him now!" said All Might, getting his attention
When Midoriya heard All Might's voice, he screamed in shock as he got out of the hug. He thought it was an impression, but he was in disbelief to see the real All Might in front of him.
"Well it looks like you're moving around all right, sorry about that back there, I didn't mean to get you caught up back there in my justicing, usually I pay more attention to keep bystanders safe but it turns out the city's sewer system is pretty difficult to navigate! Hahaha! Anyway, you four were a big help, thanks to you, I've captured the evil-doer!" All Might said as the sludge villain was captured in water bottles.
As Midoriya was flustered to meet All Might in person, Ryoichi and Akio were trying to keep their cool. But they're seeing the number one hero close up, in person, so it's kinda hard to do that. They all had the same thought in their mind at this moment.
"He looks so much cooler in person!" They thought at the same time.
"Oh crap, I have to get an autograph!" Midoriya said as he was searching for his journal
He found the journal on the ground and saw that he already signed and exclaimed in excitement. Ryoichi tried to take the journal from him, but Midoriya noticed and hugged his journal close to him.
"Get your own autograph! This is my journal!"
"No way! You got plenty of other journals, let me have this one!
"No!"
As they were fighting Akio and Selvaria looked at the two as they slightly shook their heads.
"Fanboys…" Akio and Selvaria thought.
"Hey young man! Check your bag!" All Might said to Ryoichi
"My bag"? He questioned him.
Ryoichi then took his red bag off and noticed the huge All Might signature on his bag. He looked astonished at it and he and Midoriya were just bowing like crazy as they were thanking him.
"Thank You so much!" They said at the same time.
"Uh-huh! Welp. I've gotta get this guy to the police so they can take care of him. Stay out of trouble. See you around!"
All Might then did some stretches as he was about to take off.
"Wait, you're leaving?" Midoriya sounded sad to hear that.
"Well of course he's leaving. He's a hero so clearly he has some hero work to do." Selvaria stated.
"Exactly, Pro heroes are constantly fighting time as well as enemies."
"See what I mean? Alright boys let's go."
Akio agreed as they continued walking home. Just as they were walking, something felt off between the two. They looked to their sides and noticed the two fanboys were not there.
"Huh? Where did they go?" Akio wondered where they were, until he found his answer and looked up.
Selvaria looked up too, and saw that they were holding onto All Might as they were high in the air.
"Midoriya don't go ahead and do things like that!" Ryoichi yelled at him while holding on.
"S-sorry!" Midoriya tried to apologize but was screaming due to how fast they were going.
"Hey, now!" All Might said in surprise and tried to get the two of them off him. "Let go! I love my fans but this is too much!"
"If we let go, we'll die!" Midoriya pointed out how high they were above the ground.
"Oh, that's a good point." All Might realized he was right.
Back down on the ground with the two valkyrus, they looked in disbelief at what was going on and went ahead to go after them.
"Oh son of a- Come on! Let's go get them!"
Akio and Selvaria followed them as he held Selvaria's hand and they used her quirk to go after them.
Selvaria's quirk is energy control. She can control energy from her body and use it for many things, like giving her the ability to fly. She can also share with others, but only for a short period of time.
After some time looking for them, they spotted them on the roof of a building. They landed and saw Ryoichi trying not to vomit from flying at high speed and Midoriya was talking to All Might. As Midoriya was talking to him, Akio checked up on Ryoichi as he was hunched over.
"You okay, bro?" Akio asked.
"N-no… I'm not… I feel like my stomach's all-" Ryoichi said before he felt the need to vomit.
"Let me go get something for you so you won't make a mess…" Selvaria said as she left the three boys alone.
"I have to know! Can I still be a hero, even if I don't have a quirk?" Midoriya asked All Might.
This got the other two's attention for a bit. They looked up at All Might as they waited for his answer.
"Without a quirk, you say?" All Might asked before he suddenly hunched over like he was in pain while steam was coming off of him.
"Because I don't have a quirk, I… Well, maybe that's not the only reason. But I've always been picked on, and only a few people believe in me…" Midoriya said as he mentioned Ryoichi and Akio being the first two real friends that has hope for him. "That's why… maybe that's why…"
While he was talking to himself, completely unaware of what was happening with All Might, Ryoichi and Akio noticed and were concerned for him.
"Hey, Midoriya?" Ryoichi tried to get his attention.
"You might wanna stop talking for a second." Akio suggested but he was still rambling on.
"I think that saving people is just about the coolest thing someone can do. The way you save people with that fearless smile! I want to be the strongest hero, just like you!" Midoirya said with gleam in his eyes, but quickly faded away.
What was in front of them left them stunned as they no longer saw All Might. What they saw was a man with a skeleton-like appearance, and they wore the same thing All Might had earlier. Along with the fact that he had the same blonde hair and blue eyes. While Ryoichi and Akio looked confused and shocked, Midoriya was more shocked as he screamed in disbelief.
"You're all shriveled up! Where'd All Might go?! You're not him! An impostor!" Midoriya accused him in denial.
"I assure you that I am All Mig-" He tried to say before blood spilled from his mouth.
"Impossible!"
"You know how guys at the pool are always suckin' in and flex' and tryin' look buff? I'm like that."
"This can't be real!" Midoriya could only try and deny what was real.
"I don't understand, how-" Ryoichi was going to ask him a question but he felt his stomach rumbling as he covered his mouth. "Oh no…"
"Ryoichi don't. Hold it-"
It was too late. He vomited onto the floor, only a little though. But still, Akio looked away in disgust.
"...in… So gross…" Akio said
"Sorry… I swear I didn't mean to do that because of how you look…" Ryoichi apologized to All Might while Akio gave him a handkerchief.
"It's… fine. Don't worry about it young man." All Might said, trying to ignore the mess.
"All Might's a giant of a man who saves everyone. He defeats all obstacles, and wins the day with a fearless smile." Midoriya said while still in denial.
All Might sighed as he sat down against the railing. "There's plenty of fear behind that smile. I'm counting on each of you to keep your mouth shut. Don't go talking about this online or telling your friend when she gets back."
"Alright…" Ryoichi nodded.
All Might then lifted his shirt and the others were grossed out as they saw a big wound on All Might's side.
"W-what the hell?" Akio said in disgust.
"Pretty gross right? I got this in a fight five years back. My respiratory system was basically destroyed. I lost my whole stomach. All the surgeries pretty much worn me out. And it can't be fixed. Right now I can only do hero work three hours a day. Rest of the time, this is what I look like."
"Five years ago? You mean the fight with Toxic Chainsaw?" Ryoichi asked.
"Most likely." Midoriya stated as he still tried to understand all of this information.
"Wow, you kids know your stuff. But no. The punk may have landed some hits but he couldn't bring me down."
"Wait hold on, I thought most of the world didn't know about this fight." Akio questioned.
"Exactly. Most of the world doesn't know. I did everything I could to keep it under wraps." All Might corrected him. "I'm supposed to be the guy who always smiles, right? I'm the symbol of peace, people everywhere have to think that I'm never afraid. But honestly, I smile to hide the fear inside. It's just a brave face I put on when the pressure is high. This job isn't easy." All Might admitted to the group.
All Might then looked at Ryoichi and had a confused look on his face.
"I feel like I've seen you somewhere". You're Yui's youngest child right?"
"Yeah, she's my mother. How do you know her?" Ryoichi asked as he was surprised.
"Well believe it or not she was my sidekick when we were younger. Then she went from being a sidekick to becoming a pro. She was a great one in fact."
"I see. 'OK calm your ass down Ryoichi. Your own mother previously being one of the top 3 heroes is one thing to accept, don't flip out at the fact that she worked with All Might.'" Ryoichi thought to calm himself down.
"Well anyway, to answer your question from earlier young man, Pro heroes are always having to risk their lives. Some villains just can't be bitten without powers. So can you be a hero? Not without a quirk."
Midoriya was shocked and then just looked down in sadness as All Might, the one person he looked up to his entire life, just told him he can't be a hero.
"I see…" Midoriya said, looking down gloomy.
"If you want to help people, there's plenty of other ways to do it. You can become a police officer. They get crap because the heroes capture most of the villains, but it's a fine profession. It's not bad to have a dream young man, just... make sure your dreams are obtainable, realistic, understand?" All Might then got up and was leaving.
"Wait now hold on a sec-" Akio tried to reason with him, being clearly upset that Midoriya's idol shot him down, until Ryoichi put his hand in front of him.
"Akio, let me handle this." He said to him.
Ryoichi was upset too, but he tried his best to keep his anger in check and not accidentally snap at him. "Hey, All Might?"
All Might then looked back at the saiyan as he called out to him.
"You say he can't be a hero without a quirk right?"
"Yeah, no quirk, can't be a hero. Why?" All Might questioned him.
"Well, what if he can be a hero in alternate ways?"
Everyone just looked dumbfounded at him as he just basically repeated what All Might said. Or did he?
"I know it sounds like I'm repeating what you said, but I'm talking about alternate ways. You know, maybe do some training to get strong enough to become a hero?"
"Hmmm." All Might pondered on the question as he thought that could be possible. "Maybe, but who would even train him?"
"Well…" Ryoichi thought for a moment on who to train Midoriya.
His luck only ran out as nobody would do it. People would just think it's a dumb idea and reject him. But not Ryoichi. He was determined to help Midoriya, no matter what. Part of him wants to do it so he could make up for those times when he was gone, feeling like he was a bad friend to him. After some thinking, he came to a conclusion.
"Maybe… Maybe I could train him?" Ryoichi suggested, sounding unsure of the idea.
Akio and Midoriya looked at him in shock while All Might seemed a bit interested in the idea.
"Ryoichi, are you sure?" Midoriya said, sounding a bit concerned.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not a bad idea, but you're…" Akio trailed off as he was thinking of the right words. "Basically… too strong for him to handle."
"I get that. But I still want to try." Ryoichi said with determination. "You've been sticking up for him ever since I moved away, and I want to do something about it."
From his small speech, Midoriya felt a little better that someone still believes in him. He was hit with reality by his idol, but Ryoichi still wanted to help, even Akio was on Ryoichi's side.
"Listen, Ryoichi. I understand how much this means to you for Midoriya, but-" Akio tried to reason with him, but was interrupted.
"I-it's fine!" Midoriya piped in, getting the two's attention.
"Midoriya?" Akio questioned him.
"I'm... actually fine with him training him. I know it'll be tough for me, but seeing how you're still believing in me, and I was just about to accept it and give up…" Midroiya said as he sounded like he was upset with himself. "I couldn't let myself do that!"
He looked up at them with determination in his eyes while still feeling a bit nervous about this.
"Are you sure about this?" Asked Akio with some worriedness in his voice.
"I'm sure... I'll do anything to become a hero!" Midoriya said with some confidence.
The two of them were surprised to see Midoriya was still willing to do anything to fulfill his dream, especially All Might. He was about to say something but he quickly hid himself when he heard the door opening as Selvaria came back.
"Sorry it took so long- And he already made a mess, didn't he?" She asked, sounding disgusted.
"Sorry…" Ryoichi apologized.
Selvaria sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's fine, just… clean yourself up." She then noticed that All Might wasn't there with them. "Did All Might leave already?"
"Oh, yeah he already left. He was in a hurry so…" Midoriya told her as he tried to not tell her what happened.
"I did say heroes always have some important work to do, not have time for their fans, Midoriya." She said as she scolded him for his stunt.
"S-sorry…" Midoriya apologized.
"That means you too, Ryoichi." She said as he got surprised from her calling him out.
"Me?! I only jumped onto him to get Midoriya off!" Ryoichi yelled in frustration.
"Yet you could've just stopped Midoriya before he could." Selvaria retorted back at him.
Ryoichi was about to argue back but could only make some more angry noises. Eventually, Midoriya managed to calm him down before things were about to go south and they were walking home.
"Anyways, me and Akio should get going. I have to help him and Alicia for the entrance exam. So I suggest you two should start as well if you really want to get into UA, Midoriya." Selvaria told him.
"O-oh, right! I guess we'll see you later then." said Midoriya.
Both Selvaria and Akio left to prepare for the exam while Ryoichi and Midoriya went on their route.
"I'll ask my mom if she can let you come over, okay? She probably wouldn't mind you coming over from time to time" Ryoichi said as they were leaving, until he noticed Midoriya still looked a bit gloomy. "You okay?"
Midoriya got out of his trance when he heard him talking. "O-oh, I'm fine. Really." He put on a fake smile to convince him, but Ryoichi wasn't buying it.
"Listen, if this is about what All Might said, don't worry about it. I said I was going to help you become a hero and I'll help you all the way." He said as he tried to cheer him up.
"I know, but…" Midoriya said before he felt himself tear up. "Even the best of the best said it. I already knew that, which is why I was trying so hard. But… Just hearing it from him…" He said before wiped his face from tears trying to fall out.
Ryoichi couldn't stand seeing Midoriya like this. He understood the reality of needing a quirk to be a hero, and couldn't help but agree with that. At the same time, he wanted to help him prove to everyone that he can still do his best.
"Midori-... Izuku." Ryoichi called him by his first name, catching him off guard for a bit.
"Ryoichi?"
"So what if he said you can't become a hero? You can still try to be one. I mean, look at me, do you see me giving up after being looked down on?" He asked him.
"Um… No, but you have your-" Izuku was saying before he was cut off.
"Yeah, yeah, my super human strength. I know." Ryoichi said, sounding not happy about it. "Look, the point is-"
Before he could continue, an explosion was heard. They looked across the street and some sort of fight was going on. The two went over to see what was going on, and why the heroes hasn't done anything to stop it yet. Their eyes grew wide once they got their answer.
"What the…" Ryoichi said in shock to himself.
They saw the same sludge villain from earlier that tried to capture Izuku.
"All Might let him go?! Did he drop him?! That means…" Izuku thought as he put the pieces and realized his mistake was grabbing onto All Might. "This is my fault!"
Ryoichi was thinking the same thing, as if he was having a panic attack. 'I was only trying to fix one problem, not make another one!'
His breathing was hard as he was hyperventilating. He looked around in hope to find anybody that could help, but no luck. Not even Akio or Selvaria was there.
"Why're the heroes just standing there?"
"Seems the villain's grabbed a middle schooler."
The two heard that and their hearts sank even further. The thought of someone enduring the same pain were like weights on the shoulders, and made their stomachs twist. The crowd was questioning where All Might was, making their fears worse.
"It's my fault All Might can't do anything!" They blamed themselves for this incident.
Ryoichi held his chest tight, feeling more weight pressed down on him. Selvaria's words from earlier were going through his, about doing hero work without a license even without a quirk, but he didn't care if he got into trouble at this moment.
"I can't just sit back and blame myself. I have to do something and fix my mistake!" Ryoichi thought to himself as he tried to help whoever was caught.
Before he could try and go in, he froze when he saw who it was. It was Bakugo, and he looked scared as Izuku when was caught. He may not like him that much, but one thing was going through his mind... To save him.
Before he could even go and save him, someone made it through the crowd before him. He saw Izuku run towards Bakugo, ignoring the pros warnings. He was surprised to see Izuku try and help him. He even threw his backpack at the sludge villain to blind him, and reach for Bakugo.
"What the hell? Why are you here?!" Bakugo asked Izuku.
"I don't know, my legs, they just started moving!" He responded as he was trying to pry Bakugo free. "I couldn;t stand there and watch you die!"
As he continued his attempt to free Bakugo, the sludge villain went smack Izuku out of the way, only to receive a small pain in his eye. Izuku looked to see Ryoichi deliver a punch to the eye, with his fist being oddly ignited by something for a second.
"Ryoichi!" Izuku yelled in surprise.
"Let them go!" Ryoichi yelled with a fiery look in his eyes.
He then joined with Izuku to help him break Bakugo free.
As the villain was about to smack them, something came in and blocked the attack. Midoriya and Ryoichi looked shocked at who blocked it.
"I really am pathetic. I told you the traits that make a great champion, but I see now I wasn't living up to my own ideal."
All Might then grabbed Bakugo's arm and protected the two as he was getting ready for an attack. "All Might: Pros are always risking their lives! That's the true test of a hero!"
"Damn you All Might!"
Before the villain could attack, All Might yelled these words...
"Detroit... SMASH!"
All Might threw a punch as he pulled Bakugo away and the villain was blown to pieces again. The other heroes had to hold onto something from the large gust of wind from that punch All Might delivered. After everything settled down, everyone looked in awe until it started raining.
"Woah, after that punch…" Ryoichi said in slight amazement
"Holy Crap. He changed the weather"
All Might stood up in victory with his fist in the air as the crowd cheered for him. The press showed up and were surrounding All Might some pros where praising Bakugo for his quirk. The authorities showed up to gather the villain's remains and the villain went into custody where he belonged. Unfortunately for Ryoichi and Izuku...
"You morons. You have a death wish?!"
"There was absolutely no reason for you to put yourselves in danger like that!"
Yeah, they were scolded instead of being praised. Ryoichi wanted to talk back, but he remained calm instead of making things worse. After everything was done, the two were on their way home. But before they could go, they ran into Akio and Selvaria as they looked worried for them.
"You guys okay? We heard the explosion and saw what happened." Akio asked them.
"We're fine. I'm just glad Kacchan's okay." Izuku said, sounding relieved.
They sighed in relief knowing nothing too bad happened to them. Selvaria then noticed Ryoichi was looking away as he looked a bit upset.
"Ryoichi-" Selvaria spoke before Ryoichi spoke first.
"I know. I shouldn't have done something that reckless." He said in an upset tone. "I wasn't just going to sit back and not interfere. Someone had to do something."
He still looked away from her, until she put her hand on his shoulder and looked at her.
"I'm just glad you're both okay. I guess your recklessness can make you a real hero." Selvaria said to him.
He looked surprised at her and then looked away in embarrassment. "Y-yeah… sure, thanks. And I'm not that reckless..." He said that last part to himself quietly as the others chuckled a little.
They continued their walk home, with Akio joining them for obvious safety reasons.
"Are you sure you want to walk with us? What about Selvaria?" Asked Izuku.
"I'll just meet with her later. I'm just walking with you two so nothing bad would happen." Akio said, looking out for them.
As they were walking, Bakugo's voice was heard and they looked back to see him running towards them.
"Kacchan?" Izuku wondered what he wanted.
"What does he want now?" Akio questioned as well.
When he caught up to them, Izuku sort of expected things to change, but of course, Bakugo only came to bark at them for what happened.
"Listen. I would never ask a weakling like you to help me. Don't think you can look down on me. Huh? Got that?! I was fine by myself! You're just a quirkless failure who won't even cut it as a rent-a-cop! You didn't help me. You did nothing! Don't forget it. I don't owe you anything!" He told him as he scoffed and walked away.
"What even was that?" Ryoichi questioned, slightly irritated.
"Bakugo being Bakugo. Come on, let's head home." Akio said, but before they could go, they were stopped by another person.
"I am here!" All Might introduced himself in a dramatic pose.
Midoriya screamed as he saw All Might appear right in front of him while the others just jumped a little.
"All Might? Where'd you come from? And how'd you get rid of all those reporters?" Izuku questioned his sudden appearance.
"Hahaha! I stand for justice! Not soundbites! Because I am All Mi-" Before he could finish, he became his skinny self again as he spat out blood and frightened the boys.
"Excuse me for that, but I didn't came here for fan-service. I came here to thank you two. And also to discuss your question from earlier." said All Might. "If you hadn't told me about your life... If you hadn't run into that fight... I would've been a worthless bystander watching from the crowd. So thanks."
Midoriya would've taken the compliment but he remembered how all of this happened.
"Oh, no. It was my fault he was there to begin with. I got in the way of your hard work. I wasted your energy. And... not to mention your time. And it's my fault Ryoichi got wrapped into this too…" Izuku blamed himself for letting this happen.
"I'm not done. You told me you didn't have a power. So when I saw this timid quirkless boy try to save a life, it inspired me to act too."
The boys looked at him surprised, thinking about what he meant.
"There are stories about every hero. How they became great. Most have one thing in common. Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think. Almost on their own"
Izuku got emotional and clenched his chest as he remembered what he did when All Might said those words. Izuku got down on his knees and he was still crying as he was taking all of this in for him and his two friends went to support him as they were happy for him. All Might then uttered these words that he wanted to hear for a long time.
"Young man. You too, can become a hero." All Might told him.
It's true what they say, dreams can become a reality. As Akio was happy for Izuku, he then heard sniffing and saw it was coming from Ryoichi. Looks like he had a little moment to himself.
"Ryoichi... Are you crying?" Akio asked
"What, No!" Ryoichi quickly denied. "I just got... something in my eye... that's all." He said as he tried to hide it as he wiped away a tear.
"Mhm, yeah sure there is." Akio said as he rolled his eyes.
And then, All Might just gave them the most confusing information they heard in their life.
"Now, without that out of the way... I deem you worthy of my power. My quirk is yours to inherit." He said suddenly.
They just looked at him like he said something crazy and just went...
"Huh?"
"Wait, what do you mean inherit? Inherit what?" Izuku asked.
All Might just laughed at their reaction as they were confused by his words. "You should see your face right now. Don't worry, I'm not gonna force this thing on you. Listen well young man. This is your choice... Do you wanna accept my awesome power or not?!" He asked Izuku.
They didn't quite understand fully what he meant. A bunch of questions went in their heads, like what is even talking about, what is this power he's speaking of, is that even possible? All Might began to explain what exactly he was talking about.
"There are a couple of things you should know about my power." He said, getting their full attention.
"Right, explain because none of us have any idea what you're talking about." Akio said as the others agreed with him.
"Journalists always guess my quirk is super strength or some kind of invulnerability. When people ask in interviews, I always make a joke and dodge the question."
"So that means your quirk must be kept a secret. But why?" asked Ryoichi.
"That's because the world needs to believe that their symbol of peace is just a natural born hero, like any of them. But I'm not." He paused for a moment before continuing. "There's nothing natural about my ability. I wasn't born with this power. It's a sacred torch that was passed on to me from someone else."
"Someone gave you this quirk? No way." Izuku said in disbelief.
"Yes way. And you're next. I can give you my abilities." All Might told him.
"It's true that there's a lot of debate as to what your quirk actually is. Nobody's ever figured it out, It's one of the world's greatest mysteries! People are constantly talking about it online." Izuku then went on muttering about the whole thing about All Might giving his ability.
Everyone just looked at him and kept talking about it, while for Ryoichi... Yeah he may be one of the few top students in the class, but when it comes to Izuku's muttering, his eye twitches meaning that he has no idea what Izuku is even talking about anymore.
"Uh, sounds like you're overthinking this whole 'inheriting' thing." All Might deadpanned at his muttering spree.
"Stop nerdin' out! You're making my brain hurt!" Ryoichi shouted for him to stop.
"Huh? Oh sorry!" Izuku apologized to him.
"You'll just have to adjust your reality and accept this new truth! I can transfer my quirk to someone else. And that's just one facet of my secret abilities."
As if they could see it, a bright light glowed from All Might's hand as he told them the name of his quirk.
"The true name of my power is One For All."
"One for all…" Izuku muttered to himself.
"Yes. One person improves the power, then hands it off to another person. It continues to grow as it's passed along. It is this cultivated power that allows me to save those who are in need of a hero. The truth behind my strength."
"But why would you choose to give me a gift like that? What if I can't live up to it?" Izuku asked, doubting he could do it.
"I was on a long hunt for a worthy successor. And then, I watched you jump into action as the rest of us stood idly by. You may just be a quirkless fanboy, but you tried to save that kid. You acted like a hero." All Might complimented him.
"And it's like I said, you have potential Izuku. This is your chance for your dream to be real." Ryoichi said, adding more fuel to his emotions.
Izuku looked at his older brother like figure and felt like he was about to cry again.
"Come on Midoriya. You gotta stop crying' so much if you want this quirk." Ryoichi said jokingly.
Izuku got up from his knees and wiped his tears away, now motivated by All Might and Ryoichi's words.
"Okay, I'll do it. Yes!" Izuku said with determination.
"No reluctance. That's exactly how I figured you'd respond." All Might said as he smiled at his successor.
Akio sighed and then put his hand on Izuku's. "I guess if Ryoichi and All Might's helping you with training, I might as well join in." He said.
Izuku looked at him, surprised. "You're going to help too?"
"Of course I am. We're friends, and we're helping each other become our own heroes. What do you say?" Akio asked him.
Izuku felt more motivated and was happy Akio was joining him. He accepted his offer and so began the story of how Izuku Midoriya, a quirkless boy, became the world's greatest hero.
