Chapter 9: One For All and All For One
"All For One?" Ochako repeated the words.
All For One. A complete inversion of One For All. Whoever this person was, he claimed to be her nemesis, and that he knew about her second Quirk. But what exactly was All For One?
"Yes, that is my Villain name," the masked Villain said, "Unlike your Quirk, which allows you to theoretically give this single power to anyone, my Quirk allows me to take any Quirk straight from someone's body, effectively stealing them, and then either using them for myself, or even giving them to someone else. Considering my fascination with Quirks, I don't think I could have asked for a better one. One quirk for all people, and all Quirks for one person."
Ochako heard what this Villain said, and her mind went into overdrive. A Villain like that sounded seemingly unstoppable. Would All Might even be able to stop him?
"I guess you could say that the two of us are "strung together," heh."
"Your corpse may be strung on a tree if you don't GET OUT OF MY LINE OF SIGHT!"
Activating One For All, Ochako went straight for a punch, but –
"Stress, plus Strength Enhancer."
GRAB!
In an instant, All For One's left arm became this massive black… thing that grabbed Ochako's arm with ease. Her punch may have landed in the palm of the Villain's fist, but he didn't make any reaction to indicate that it hurt. "Now, that was just rude."
"Says the man who attacked the USJ with his Villains," she growled.
"It was necessary, to get to both All Might and you," the helmeted monster said. "Now, I suggest we talk things out and wait for our cues, rather than simply fight one another. Though, if you do wish to fight me, I must warn you beforehand, I have around one hundred and thirty Quirks currently stockpiled within me, while you haven't even fully mastered One For All yet."
Ochako remained still, as she mulled over her options. Even now, this prick was calm, in control. He was probably right that she couldn't fight him, not at her strength level. All she could do was sit down and listen to what he had to say, and hope that All Might prevailed.
"All right, you wanna talk?" she hissed. "Let's talk."
"Excellent."
The icy winds kept howling and howling, as the water below began to freeze.
Shoto didn't know what was going on with those two Villains. Were they set up by his father? No, not even Endeavor would stoop as low as to hire Villains to attack the school. But that still doesn't explain why they seem to know he refuses to use that bastard's power.
Who were they? Why did they want him to use the fire?
"Shoto Todoroki," the red one said again. "Why won't you use your fire?"
"SHUT UP!" Shoto shouted at the two of them.
"Dude, what's going on?!" Kaminari yelled. "What do these guys want with you?!"
"Shoto Todoroki," the blue one said. "Use your fire."
"NO! I REFUSE!" he shouted, as memories of his past flooded him.
"Please stop pushing him! He's only five years old!"
"Moronic woman… to hurt you at such an important time…"
"I can't raise him anymore… I wanna run away from this life…"
"He can take it! Get out of my way!"
"I REFUSE! I REFUSE TO USE HIS FLAMES!" Shoto shouted, as more and more frost formed over the boat, even going so far as to freeze the entire artificial lake solid.
"DUDE, STOP!" Kaminari shouted. "You're only giving them more ammunition!"
"It's true," the one in the light blue parka said. "My Quirk is the ability to manipulate ice. The more ice you give me, the stronger I become. The only way you can beat us –"
"NO!" Shoto screamed. "I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN USE HIS FLAMES!"
"Perhaps you're fine with that," the red one said. "But are they?"
"What…?" Kaminari asked, before he looked over to his classmate. "Wait, Tsu!"
"Ribbiiit…?" Asui slurred out, before she collapsed.
"Tsu? Hey, Tsu! Tsu, wake up!" Kamiari shouted, as he grabbed her and held her in a tight hug, in an effort to conserve their heat. "Come on, wake up! WAKE UP!"
"The amphibian girl had gone into hibernation," the blue-hooded Villain said. "And the electrical boy was completely submerged earlier. He'll catch hypothermia soon enough."
"What…?" Kaminari whispered, the tears on his cheeks solidifying.
"The only way you can save their lives is if you use your flames," the red one said.
"No…" Shoto said, his face turning feral. "NO! I REFUSE!"
"TODOROKI! TSU'S DYING! COME ON, MAN, HELP HER!" Kaminari cried out.
"NO! I REFUSE TO USE HIS FLAMES!"
"THEY ARE YOUR FLAMES, SHOTO TODOROKI!" the red hooded figure shouted. "YOUR FLAMES! THEY ARE NOT HIS! THEY ARE YOURS, AND NO ONE ELSE'S!"
And then, something inside Shoto Todoroki snapped.
A memory of something he had long forgotten…
"Yes, that's right. Children often do develop Quirks from their parents, or develop similar power sets. But the most important thing is that a Quirk is what you make of it! Regardless of your history, you decide how you use it! That's what I mean when I say, "I AM HERE!" Only you can decide to become a Hero, no one else! Take this to heart, kids! You got it!"
As a young Shoto watched All Might smile on the TV in amazement, his mother asked, "Honey… you still wanna be a Hero, don't you? Just remember… stay true to yourself."
First, it was a flicker.
And then… It was an inferno.
Hitoshi gritted his teeth as he kept fighting his opponent.
Hit, parry, dodge. Those three basic moves that Eraserhead taught him were what the purple-haired kid was doing right now to make sure to keep Mr. Compress at arm's length. Using his staff, he blocked the magician's cane, which he was using as a sword.
The tophat-wearing creep was fast alright, but it was clear that he wasn't a built fighter. He relied more on tricks and acrobatics to get the drop on his opponents. Despite that, the fact that Hitoshi was still new to close quarter combat meant that they were evenly matched.
One lacked strength but had experience, and the other had strength back lacked experience.
I could actually win this, Hitoshi thought to himself. If he managed to hold off this guy long enough for reinforcements to arrive, that meant he could be able to save Kodai –
WHAM!
Pain flared up on the back of Hitoshi's head, as he felt the sensation of something fast hitting him hard. And then, he saw a new figure within his peripheral vision.
A new player had entered the game.
WHAM!
POW!
BOOM!
"Oh, yeah! You're a really tricky one, aren't ya?!" the Villain snorted.
Katsuki clicked his tongue as he saw the masked bastard was still standing. Every time he tried to explode the bastard, he would activate his Quirk and send a barrage of fists towards the blond's direction. Both of them were close combatants, and they knew it.
At the moment, Katsuki was trying to use his acrobatics to dodge and wave around the big bastard, in hopes that he could blast him from the back. But this Rapper guy was clearly an experienced fighter. After seeing Katsuki use that trick once, he was ready for it.
Both he and Shitty Hair were trapped.
"You! Red hair!" The masked creep pointed towards Shitty Hair. "What's your Quirk?"
"Uhh… Hardening? I can make my whole body jagged and rock-like?"
"Great! I'm fighting you now!"
As All Might kept hitting that Nomu thing, Shouta was still busy.
As it turned out, both of these Villains he was dealing with were hand-to-hand experts, kind of like him. They weren't typical things who would over-rely on their Quirks, these two knew how to fight like actual Underground Heroes, and this was starting to annoy him.
The biggest problem was this "Tomura Shigaraki" guy (weird Villain name, but whatever). He seemed adamant about grabbing Eraserhead with his fingers, which meant that his Quirk was touch-based, and was most likely the culprit behind the gate's destruction from yesterday.
To make matters worse, Himiko Toga, or Carmilla, as she went now, had some sort of support gear that complimented her fighting style. Those needles of hers, aside from apparently sucking up his blood, were also heavy enough to be thrown like throwing knives.
That meant that she could basically either throw her knives at him for a bigger attack, or use her needles that, while smaller, would always come back to her. Wonderful.
The only thing that could make them worse was if they were rocket-guided.
Ugh, he didn't need to think about that right now. Dodging and weaving the two Villains, Shouta did everything in his power he could to avoid either getting dusted, or stabbed by these two psychos. Thankfully, as long as it was those two, he should be fine –
BOOM!
An explosion?! But from where?!
Shouta looked towards the blast. While it was technically in front of him, he could see the smoke plumes' direction, and following the line of sight… he saw her.
Floating in midair, near the wall of the USJ, and farther away than both Eraserhead and All Might, was a woman. She had short pink-and-purple hair in a dark dress with a serious expression, but what caught Shouta's attention the most was her right arm.
It was in the shape of a rifle.
Hitoshi didn't know what hit him.
Literally.
One minute, he was fighting the acrobatic asshole that called himself Mr. Compress, the next, someone hit him in the back of the head before they flipped over him.
WHAM!
"Ow! What the –?!" he hissed, as he looked up.
Landing next to the tophat-wearing Villain was the newcomer. A girl around his age, judging from the physique, wearing a white mask, but with blue glass around the eye area. Her suit, in terms of colors, was mostly a dark blue and yellow, as opposed to the guy's orange and black. Interestingly enough, she did have some gauntlet-armband hybrids with claws on her hands, as well as a vest jacket instead of the weird coat that Mr. Compress had.
It almost looked like a mix between Kodai's and Mr. Compress' costumes. Weird.
But the most outstanding thing about her costume were the razor-sharp metallic protrusions on her elbows and the baseball cap she was wearing. There were even two tiny spikes on her boots. Like, seriously, was she planning on goring someone with those blades? The hell?
"Ah, my lovely assistant, Megethos!" Mr. Compress said, this also being the first time Hitoshi ever heard something out of the guy. "Glad to see you have decided to join us!"
The masked girl remained silent, simply giving him a thumbs up.
"Hey, isn't that a little unfair?" Hitoshi asked, getting a little concerned.
As soon as he said that, Mr. Compress left. Seems like he still didn't trust the purple-haired boy enough to tell him that he was leaving for the sake of keeping things fair.
"I guess… you're my new opponent?"
"Megethos" nodded, as she got into a fighting position.
"Ugh… this is gonna suck," Hitoshi groaned.
"Don't worry," the female Villain, Dabi, said. "We're not interested in killing children."
"I don't believe you," Fumikage hissed, as Ojiro stayed behind him.
The situation was bad. With Fumikage being in the Fire Zone, he couldn't bring out Dark Shadow due to all of this intense light. Even if he could, his Quirk's size and range would be pitiful at that point, nothing more than a small shadowy bird on his shoulder.
To make matters worse, while Ojiro was an expert in hand-to-hand combat, that woman's flames were blue; clearly hotter than usual. If they even risked trying to fight her, one quick blast from those flames would be enough to reduce them to nothing but bone fragments.
The only thing they had going for them was the fact that the Villain in front of them clearly wasn't interested in a fight. If she was, she would have lit them alight a long time ago.
"What do you want with us?" Ojiro asked.
"Simple," the black-haired woman said. "We want you all to witness All Might's fall. Once the Nomu is done burning through his stamina, you will all watch the grand finale."
"You Villains murdering the Symbol of Peace?" Fumikage asked.
"No, no, no," Dabi said, shaking her head. "We're not going to kill him. In fact, we are not killing anyone. You have my word, no one is going to die here today. Now, shall we go?"
The raven-headed student mulled through his choices. Even if the Villain was telling the truth, could they really defeat All Might? No, they couldn't, right? Even if they went all-out, this was All Might they were talking about. He couldn't be beaten by anyone. He was unstoppable!
Looking towards the woman, he couldn't see much. Her nose and mouth were covered up by that black medical mask of hers. But her blue eyes, they didn't seem cold, but more… reassuring? Reasonable? As if the whole "evil Villain" thing she was doing was an act.
What was her, and the rest of the League's end goal. He had to know.
"Fine, you win," Fumikage said. "We'll go with you."
"Tokoyami, are you sure that this is a good idea?" Ojiro asked.
"We can't fight her," he said. "Our only option is to cooperate."
"Fine…" Ojiro said. "But I don't like this."
"You don't have to like it," Dabi said. "You just have to do it. Oh, and please don't try to escape while on our way there. While I won't kill you, you will end up with some painful burns."
"Alright, alright, we'll go!"
"Great!" Dabi said, her eyes conveying happiness. "To the main plaza!"
Tenya ran as fast as he could.
He still remembered everyone in the class who wasn't scattered, yelling at him to run for the exits, but he still felt like a coward for doing so. Regardless, he was on this path now, and there was no way to change it. All he could do now was reach the main campus and call for help.
Then, out in the distance, he spotted it. One of Ectoplasm's clones.
Skidding to a halt, he yelled, "ECTOPLASM-SENSEI!"
The Hero looked over to where the shouting was coming from to notice Tenya. "IIda, what's going on? The outdoor alarms at the USJ were set off suddenly –"
"THERE ARE VILLAINS ATTACKING THE USJ!" he shouted with all his voice. "ALL MIGHT IS HOLDING OFF ONE OF THEM, BUT HALF OF THE STUDENTS HAVE BEEN SCATTERED!"
"I'll contact Nedzu," the Hero said. "Iida –"
"I'll go back to help my classmates!"
"Wait, kid –"
FWOOSH!
It was too late. Tenya had already blasted off back towards the USJ.
He just hoped that everyone was fighting as best as they could.
"We are not here to kill you, or anyone," the shadowy Villain said.
Mina had a hard time believing that, given that she was currently holding Thirteen's body. Sure, the Pro Hero was still alive, but these injuries were still very serious, regardless.
"Yeah, then what the hell are you here for?!" Sero shouted.
"We are here to show you that All Might is not infallible," the Villain said. "He is old, and getting weaker, and if this society keeps acting like he's going to be around forever, then the world as you know it will collapse even harder when the No. 1 Hero eventually does bite it."
No one said anything, as the living warp gate continued to talk.
"So, here's the deal: Either you all come to the main plaza to witness the Symbol of Peace's defeat willingly, or I'm going to drag your beaten bodies there myself. What is your choice?"
FWOOOOOOM!
In an instant, a tornado of fire had appeared, engulfing the ship, and turning all the ice that had been created into steam. Kaminari could feel the effects of the cold leaving him as it was replaced by warmth, the white all around him replaced with a bright orange.
The two hooded figures looked at one another, and nodded, signaling that it was –
"YOU ARE NOT LEAVING!" Shoto shouted, as he sent a pillar of massive plumes of flames towards the figure in the red hood, knocking them off of their ice platform.
FWOOOOOOM!
"GAH!"
"TOUYA!" shouted the blue hooded figure.
Wait… Touya…?
Looking over the ship, Shoto looked down at the red figure, who had been caught by his partner, but their hood was still knocked off thanks to Shotot, to reveal… a face identical to Shoto's father. No, there were differences. The face was slimmer, younger, like a man in their twenties.
But the rest was the same. The same crimson hair color, the same icy blue eyes, and the same spiky hair that his father had. If it wasn't for the lack of white hair, this would be exactly what Shoto would have imagined his brother to look like, had he survived that fire. Wait…
"Todoroki! We have to go, NOW!"
Snapping out of his thoughts, Shoto looked behind him to see that Kaminari was grabbing his arm, and that Asui was now conscious. "Make an ice slide off the ship! We need to go!"
"Hurry, ribbit!" Asui said. "While they're still distracted!"
Shoto stared at them for a few seconds, before making his decision. "I… you're right. Let's make a break for the main plaza," he said, as he made an ice slide off of the ship."
As the three of them ran out of the freezing zone, Shoto looked back to see that the other Villain removed their hood, revealing white hair, and was now assisting "Touya."
For some reason, his supposed brother's lips were saying the word "Geten."
At this point, Shouta was more dodging than fighting.
BOOM!
These bastards were good. They had planned this attack perfectly. They brought two close quarter combatants to take him on, and they added a sniper in the mix to make sure that Shouta would stay put in the event that managed to beat Carmilla and Tomura Shigaraki.
BOOM!
Getting out of the way of another explosive shell, Shouta went over what he knew: The sniper shot regular bullets through her arm, but was also able to detonate them whenever she felt like it, given that not all of them blew up the moment of impact on the ground.
Most of them blew up whenever Shouta got too close to them.
It was now obvious to him that these bastards were trying to keep him boxed in, stuck in this small area of the USJ, unable to help his students for even All Might. If he tried to disengage his two opponents, the sniper would fire. If he tried to stop fighting, the two Villains would jump him.
All he could do was fight until he collapsed from exhaustion.
And to make matters worse, he was now juggling staying out of the line of fire and using his Quirk on both the hand man and the sniper. The problem was, they knew when their Quirks weren't being erased, so the other one would attack when they weren't the one getting their Quirk erased by Shouta. And as for Carmilla? She just fought Quirkless.
BOOM!
Shit, another round just went off next to Shouta, there was a small window for him to blink before the debris cleared and the attacks could resume. He could see this Shigaraki guy, the crazy amount of severed hands he was wearing for his costume gave him away.
Wait a minute, where's –?
BAM!
Feeling his legs giving away, Shouta looked to the side to see that Carmilla had knocked his legs right out from under him with a kick. Before he could even fall to the floor, Shigaraki was already on top of him, with the guy's left hand right on top of his chest.
"Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't move if I were you, Eraserhead," the creep said, his red eyes staring at Shouta's. "See, my Quirk allows me to decay anything I touch, regardless of how many fingers I place on the body. Hell, with a tap of my pinky, you're as good as dust."
"So why aren't you killing me…?" Shouta asked. Not like he had many options.
"Two reasons," the Villain smiled underneath his hand mask. "The first is that you're Eraserhead. A legendary Underground Hero who lives up to their hype? You actually have my respect… and the second reason I'm not hurting you is that, if I did… well…"
"..."
"...it would make Eri-chan cry, wouldn't it?"
For a few seconds, Eraserhead was motionless.
They knew. They knew about Eri. They knew about his daughter. Which meant they also knew about his wife. They knew about his whole family, and they were using it against him.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" he shouted. "IF YOU LAY YOUR HANDS ON HER, I'LL KILL YOU!"
"Oh, calm down, Eraserhead, we are not going to hurt her, we don't do that," Shigaraki said. "And as long as you comply, you'll get to live to see your daughter another day."
Shouta remained silent for a moment, before asking, "What the fuck do you want?"
The way Tomura Shigaraki and Carmilla were smiling did not make him feel any better.
Sato, Sero, and Shoji all decided to fight.
They were all solemnly beaten.
Mina watched as this Kurogiri creep redirected each one of their attacks back to the other, sending Sato's sugar-powered punches towards Shoji's face, sending Shoji to fall through his portal, tackling Sero, and sending Sero's tape towards Sato's body, trapping him.
Aoyama, meanwhile, tried to blast the Villain, only to end up hitting Toru instead, when Kurogiri decided to warp her towards him and use the invisible girl as a human shield.
Mina would have been amazed at the aristary of it, if it wasn't also painful to watch.
"Now… is there anyone else?" the mass of living shadows asked.
Koda wasn't anywhere where he could summon animals to help him, which only left… Mina. She stared at the Villain, internally screaming at her body to move, to help, but…
…all she could see in front of her was that giant from so long ago.
That thing was terrifying, and yet she still rushed forward and helped her classmates. Why couldn't she do it now? She was Mina Ashido, the girl who could diffuse any situation!
Why can't I move?!
Was it because she was holding Thirteen? Was it because she saw five other people try and beat this Villain, and failed? Was this guy somehow even more powerful than the giant?!
Maybe… maybe she wasn't cut out for the Hero Course…
"No?" the smoke Villain said, snapping Mina out of her thoughts. "Good. Let us proceed."
Tenya ran as fast as he could back towards the USJ.
He hated how he had to leave his friends behind, but he had no choice. He was the fastest among them, he had to go get help. And that's exactly what he did.
Now, he was on his way back, faster than the teachers could keep up.
Friends… I'm coming… HELP US ON THE WAY!
"So, what is it that you want to talk about?" Ochako asked.
"Tell me, do you know One For All's origins?"
"I know that it's a Quirk that can be passed on from person to person, and that the more the power gets passed around, the stronger the power gets," she said.
"That's it?" All For One asked. "My, my, All Might taught you little…"
"What is that supposed to mean?" the brown-haired girl asked.
"Have you ever wondered how such a Quirk came into existence?"
Ochako slowly shook her head.
"Well… what if I told you it was the result of two Quirks merging together?" the Villain asked. "Two Quirks that were placed inside the same body? Say… the first wielder's body?"
"What? But people can't have more than one Quirk, except –"
Ochako stopped as she realized what he was saying. In front of her was a person capable of giving and taking Quirks. Theoretically, if he wanted to, he could give a person an extra Quirk… but that would mean that the Quirk that belonged to All Might, the Symbol of Peace…
…originated from a Villain. From the Villain in front of her. From All For One.
"Finally figured it out, didn't you, Ochako Uraraka?"
Author's Note: Merry Christmas! And Happy Hanukkah! And Kwanza, Yule, New Year, whatever holidays you guys are celebrating, I'm more than happy to cheer for them!
Anyways, I'm just here to let you know that I won't be taking any breaks during the holidays! That's right! I'm gonna still be posting! That's my gift to you! So, please, keep those comments coming, so I can fill out the end of my chapters! Speaking of…
Norisu Ninja: Yeah, the USJ attack is way more competent this time. Also, the idea of having Yui reveal herself as Megethos was brought on from an empty space on the paper and impatience on my part. Also, Larceny and Punch Drunk aren't OCs, they're former Shir Hassaikia goons. In fact, everyone in the League is a canon character, it's just that a few things about them have changed, whether that would be Quirk or otherwise. Trust me, it'll make sense in the future. And as for if Izuku will take centerstage in the future? Oh, he'll show up, just not as a protagonist. Also, I saw the TV Tropes page you made for my last work, and loved it! Hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
Knightmare Lord: Part of the Shie Hassaikai are with the League, yes, but not Overhaul. That guy has decided to join a different group, and will show up in the future…
VinHD15: I actually watched the music video. It was… meh, to be honest.
EmilMobile: Glad you're back! Hope this ride was worth the wait!
guest c: Ah, I see that you and "guest :D" are the same person, so I'm just gonna do both of your previous comments together. For starters, yes, I responded! I always do! Akatani Mikumo won't make an entrance for a bit, but trust me, he's gonna be popping up soon, and quite often. Also, while I could have Kodai make a bunch of bugs bigger to scare Present Mic during the Final Exams, I have a different idea that will leave an even bigger impact, but who knows? Maybe I will do both ideas, just for the funsies. And as for the legal status of dear old Mikumo… I'll leave that one to your imagination.
And now, for the last bit of shilling…
If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules!
Thanks for reading, and enjoy your holidays!
- Ernalore