AN: Professor Donger: New Chapter, more fun times, what more can you want? I hope you guys enjoy this one, and We hope you all continue to like the fic. It's been a blast to write.

Damian: This fic is so fun to write. We can't wait to get into it more. But, other fics need our attention. So in the meantime, We hope you enjoy what we cooked up this chapter!

"So let me get this straight."

Izuku sat on his "throne" in the void world, having listened as the strange man (Yoichi, he said his name was Yoichi) explained… a lot to him.

He held his hands together and pointed at Yoichi. "You're the First user of One For All."

"Correct."

"The previous holders were also here." He gestured to the void around them.

"At one point, yes."

"But something went wrong during the transfer, and something, most likely their quirks, caused One For All to become unstable, and it was going to kill me unless something was done to stop it, hence why they aren't here anymore."

"Exactly, I essentially did a factory reset on the quirk."

"But yours and All Might's ghosts-"

"Vestiges."

"Right, vestiges, are still here because you," He pointed at Yoichi, "Are the origin for the quirk, so you naturally weren't making it unstable and All Might didn't have a quirk to destabilize."

"Mhm."

"And now if I wanna use One For All at full power, I have to make 'bonds' with people so the quirk can use them as mediums to stabilize the flow of power, otherwise what almost happened when I received the quirk pre-vestige purge will happen again?"

"Yes, I believe that sums it up quite well." Yoichi nodded.

Izuku sat back and felt his head thunk against his throne as he took a deep breath. Yoichi chuckled at his reaction. "It's all a lot to take in, isn't it?"

"I mean… kinda?" Izuku leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I thought I was just getting a super strength quirk at the end of the day, but… it's so much more."

"And that's not even the end of it," Yoichi said as he slowly stood up. Izuku blinked and moved to stand as well, before following Yoichi over to the edge of the platform-island-thing (this place was weird) that they were situated on. "I know you haven't forgotten the massive green sun at the center of this place."

Izuku looked at the star in question. Unlike the real Sun, his eyes didn't burn looking at it, so he was able to see it quite clearly. That didn't change the fact it was still bright as hell, and yet he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of it. "Yeah, that's supposed to be One For All, right?"

"Your mental representation of it, yes." Yoichi nodded. "At the end of the day, this place is a mindscape, a metaphysical representation of your psyche."

Izuku stared in awe. "That's really cool. Is it like this for all quirks?"

Yoichi shrugged. "Who can say? I doubt most people are being pulled into their quirks on a regular basis."

"Wait, I thought you said this was my mind."

"One For All is unique. Your mind and quirk are indelibly tied together. They are one and the same." Yoichi once again shrugged. "I honestly don't know what other people's quirks would look like in their minds, but I know that One For All is a special case, for many different reasons that we don't have time to touch on right now."

Yoichi pointed off to the side of the massive star, and Izuku followed, his eyes locked onto something he hadn't noticed before, further in the sky, three smaller stars seemed to orbit the larger one, one pink, one yellow, and one a lighter green than the more…forest green of the main sun. "Are those…?" Izuku trailed off.

"The bonds that you've made," Yoichi confirmed with a nod. "So far you have made three. Well, technically you've only personally forged two. There was already one in here but the connection was rather… weak."

Izuku scratched his head in confusion as he tried to think. "But who…?"

Yoichi chuckled. "Use that brain of yours, Ninth. Who do you think?"

After a moment of squinting at the stars his eyes caught the yellow one and widened in realization. "All Might!"

"Indeed. When Eighth passed the quirk onto you, his incomplete vestige carried over. That vestige turned into a bond that was not fully formed until you made contact with Eighth in the physical world."

"But when did I…" Izuku trailed off as he remembered that one morning on the beach when he fist-bumped All Might and there was a small shock between them. Then he remembered the same thing had happened when he kissed his mom's forehead the day of the Entrance Exam, and then it happened again with Ochako later that same day. After that realization, he looked at the stars and really started to take in their colors.

"...Oh my god." Izuku started panicking slightly when he remembered the voices he had been hearing and everything clicked. "Wait, the people I bond with, they can't… I don't know, read my mind or anything, can they?!"

Yoichi's grin turned mischievous. "Something to hide, Ninth?"

"N-No! No, of course not, just lots of thoughts and stuff I'd rather… you know… keep private."

"Relax, I've been monitoring everything going on with you since the day you received One For All. While mental communication has been shown to occur, the bonds don't relay every one of your thoughts to your bonds. Mostly smaller, more vague signals." Yoichi vaguely gestured with his hands. "Think emotions, tied with words, rather than full-on thoughts, though sometimes deeper thoughts can push through if the person thinking them is determined or emotionally charged enough."

"Well, that explains the parking garage," Izuku shivered as he recalled that moment in the exam. "I could hear Mom's disappointment in my recklessness."

That caused Yoichi to pause and look at him with a raised eyebrow. "She wasn't there with you during the exam, so how would she know?"

"...I thought you were the expert here." Izuku looked at him with wide eyes. "That's been happening a lot… now that I think about it. I'll be thinking about something, or doing something, and I'll get words of encouragement from someone, usually my mom…"

Yoichi scratched at his chin with a frown. "I mean… This is all relatively new territory for me. I didn't design the bonding function One For All has, I just hijacked something that was already here and repurposed it…" He looked at the stars and continued to think.

Izuku furrowed his brow at what Yoichi had said. "Wait, hijacked? What did you repurpose?"

"A story for another time, and not relevant to our current discussion sadly," He waved Izuku's concern off. "I'll explain eventually but for now we need to figure out One For All and the changes it's going through, as well as the changes it's making to you, that's what's important right now."

"Changes to the quirk? Changes to me?" Izuku repeated.

"One For All was supposed to reach singularity with you, its ninth holder, and with it, I believe you would have inherited the quirks of every previous holder. But as you've been told… something went wrong. We had to start from scratch." Yoichi and Izuku both looked out across the void, the light of the sun that was One For All shining bright, yet still unable to fill in the darkness that lay beyond. "As of now One For All may as well be an entirely different quirk. It's… like a mold, being shaped into something new, something extraordinary. It's changing itself, being influenced by the bonds you make. Tell me, Ninth, I'm sure you've noticed the changes yourself recently."

Izuku thought about it, but he didn't have to think hard. The end of his fight with Katsuki during their match. The way he held back the massive explosion and redirected it. The way he had pulled Katsuki toward him in the air when their gravity was negated. Then he remembered the Entrance Exam where he had launched all of that debris off of Ochako to save her. He didn't think much of that at the time, but now…

"Yeah," he nodded, looking down at his hands. "I've noticed."

Yoichi nodded, pleased. "One For All has manifested an entirely new ability, using the bond you've made with your mother as a way to tap into her quirk, using that as a mold to shape a new aspect for itself and for you to make use of."

"Wait… I have my mom's quirk?!"

Yoichi opened his mouth to correct him, but Izuku had already devolved into a mutter storm as he nibbled on the knuckle of his finger. "No, wait, you didn't say it copied her quirk, you said it shaped itself to have a new ability using her quirk as a basis. So that would mean anyone I make a bond with would influence how One For All shapes itself in the future, and I'll manifest more powers. That's amazing! I wonder what all is possible. How would it work if I was bonded with someone who had a mutant quirk? Would it change my body? What about Ochako? Will I be able to cancel out my gravity? What about All Might? What about-?"

A tap on his head brought Izuku back to the present. He looked to his side and saw Yoichi staring at him and he chuckled in embarrassment. "Sorry…"

"It's alright, those are all valid questions, but let's take it one step at a time." He gestured back towards the stars, putting a focus on the smaller ones. "For now what you need to understand is how the bonds work. How they're made."

"Right!" Izuku instinctively went to grab his notebook, only to deflate when he realized he didn't have it with him. "Oh… okay, doing this the old-fashioned way."

Yoichi waited for Izuku to pay attention again before beginning. "For a bond to form there needs to be a true, genuine desire to become closer in some way. Your mother and Eighth are simple enough. One is your parent, the other your mentor. Ochako Uraraka, though, is how the situation is normally going to play out. You two had just met, and both of you wanted to know the other, to become closer. One For All used that to make the initial connection between you, then as you interacted more and spent more time together, the connection grew stronger before properly establishing. That's when the mental link was created."

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "But wait, if it takes more interactions for the connection to properly form for mental messages to go through, then how was I able to hear Mom and All Might during the exam?"

Yoichi hummed. "Those were special cases. With Eighth it wasn't him that you were hearing, but rather the vestige that was in here. It was sending you encouragement to do your best. With your mother, that's where it gets interesting. When you established a bond with her, it was properly formed instantly. My guess is since you both were already so close to begin with, your relationship boosted the bond straight to what I've taken to calling 'Phase Two.'"

"Phase Two?"

"The Phase where the bond is strong enough to begin influencing the shape of One For All. It's what gave you the potential to tap into the aspect of your mother's bond. One For All quickly reshaped itself and learned to mimic Inko Midoriya's ability to attract objects to her, as well as using that to develop its own ability to repel."

"And that's only at Phase Two…" Izuku said in awe. "Is there more?"

Yoichi nodded. "Phase Three. Where the bond is fully established. By this point the connection is strong enough to help One For All stabilize, allowing you to access more of its raw power safely without burning up like you almost did at first. On your own, you can handle about ten percent of its power, but with each bond that reaches Stage Three you should be able to access an additional ten percent."

Izuku hummed. "But this is all speculation, right? There's no way to know for sure until one of the bonds reaches that stage."

"Actually, one already has." Yoichi pointed at the lighter green star. "Your mother has already achieved a Stage Three bond. It didn't take much, having already been boosted to Stage Two at the very beginning. But I don't suspect the other bonds will be as easy."

Izuku thought about it for a moment. "So that means I should have access to twenty percent of One For All's total power?"

"Exactly," Yoichi smiled. "The math is simple, Ninth. Ten percent on your own, and ten per bond."

"Nine bonds to reach my full power…" Izuku let the information settle before he let out a groan and grabbed his hair in minor frustration. "Are you kidding? I have to make meaningful relationships with nine people?!"

Yoichi blinked before resting a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "It can't be that difficult, Ninth. You already have three bonds."

"That's all because of dumb luck! I was lucky enough to have a Mom as amazing as mine. I was lucky to have gotten All Might, the Number One Hero's attention. I was lucky enough to meet a girl as awesome as Ochako. My luck has probably run dry! I've cashed it all in!"

Yoichi patted his shoulder with a laugh. "I'm sure you'll find making friends isn't as difficult as you believe it to be."

Izuku lowered his hands and stared at Yoichi. "How many actual friends did you have when you were alive?"

"...We're not talking about me." Yoichi deflected. "I'm sure you'll figure things out."

Izuku sighed. "You know, this kind of feels like a one-sided deal. I get access to more power and more abilities, and my bonds don't get anything."

"They get you, and that alone is worth a lot if you ask me, Ninth." Yoichi gave him a kind smile. "But if you're truly worried about them getting something in return, then allow me to put your mind at ease. One For All does something for your bonds as well."

"Really?" Izuku perked up at that.

"Yes. Take your mother for example. She seems to be a lot healthier lately, hasn't she?"

"She has," Izuku confirmed. "Are you saying that's One For All?"

Yoichi nodded. "One For All used your bond with her to alter her body to a more healthy state. It physically made her stronger as well."

Izuku sighed. "I'm honestly thankful for that. I love my mom, so seeing her more healthy, active, and happy, means a lot." He looked out at the green star that represented his quirk. "Thank you."

The sun glowed a little brighter, and Izuku felt a warmth in his chest.

"That's not all," Yoichi grabbed his attention again. "By Stage Two, as One For All taps into the quirk of your bonds, it leaves behind… let's say, imprints within them."

Izuku's eyes widened for the umpteenth time. "Wait, does that mean the bonds also have One For All?!"

"You catch on quick. Eighth chose his successor well." Yoichi smiled with pride. "But you're not quite on the mark. While One For All leaves imprints at Stage Two of a bond, the bonds themselves don't have true access to the massive, near-infinite stockpile of One For All's energy. What happens instead is One For All affects their quirks when it taps into them to change itself. In doing so it has the same effects as it would if One For All were to be given to that person, their quirk becomes empowered and changed. They become stronger."

"So that's why Mom's quirk got stronger so suddenly." He then thought back to the battle trials. "And Ochako! She went way beyond her quirks limit and negated the gravity of a whole building!"

"A limit that can be easily broken if she had been given One For All instead of you," Yoichi added. "And while your mother is at Stage Three, I'm not sure what effects One For All will have on her now. But if I had to guess…"

"She could use One For All just like I can." Izuku stared across the void, speechless from all he had just learned in so little time. His entire view of everything he thought he knew about quirks was just shattered and replaced with something even more amazing than he could dream of. "This is incredible…"

"Obviously, not the full quirk, but the small amount that she's been given to nurture yes." Yoichi put a hand on his shoulder and stared out at him. "And it's only the beginning, Ninth."

As the oldest and the newest One For All wielders looked out across the void, Izuku couldn't help but notice something… off.

"Wait a minute. One… two… where's Ochako's star?"

"Hm?" Yoichi looked around the orbit of the green sun for the missing pink star, but he couldn't seem to find it. "That's odd, she was just here a moment ago, and I can still sense her. Where…?"

~Behind~

Izuku blinked in confusion before slowly turning around.

A pair of beautiful brown eyes that he'd become familiar with were staring right at him, wide in shock.

Izuku was sure if her mouth wasn't more than just a misty black cloud of nothing then it would have been on the floor.

Yoichi had turned around as well and was staring at the girl with concern. "Oh my, this was not what I expected."

And just like a rope snapping from too much tension, Izuku and Ochako pointed at each other and screamed.

Well, one screamed, the other couldn't because she didn't have a mouth, but it wasn't hard to tell what she was going for.

The room was filled with screaming as the two teens shot straight up in their hospital beds, pointing at each other from their positions on opposite sides of the room. The screaming persisted for no more than five seconds until one of them decided to use actual words.

"Izuku, what the fuck was that?!" Ochako shouted in a panic.

"W… what were you doing in there?!" Izuku stuttered out, but he was ignored as Ochako started freaking out even more.

"What was in there?! Where was I?! Where were we?! Who was that?!" She had to take a deep breath, calming down slightly before asking one more question. "Why was the sun green?"

"It's…" He sighed and rubbed his eyes " It's a Long story… Okay, it's not that long. The long and short of it is that what we were just in was a metaphysical representation of my quirk, but you weren't supposed to be there!"

Ochako looked at him like he was crazy. "What kind of inception shit is that?! Since when can people just go inside their quirks?!"

Izuku gestured to himself. "Since me… apparently." He sighed as he laid back in his hospital bed. "Hey, where are we?"

"It looks like the infirmary. We both got knocked around pretty badly after our match." Ochako said. "But back up a bit, you told me that your quirk was some kind of stockpile of energy that results in super strength."

"Well… it technically is." Izuku lay back in his bed, looking at the ceiling to avoid looking at her.

"But obviously there's more to it." Izuku could feel Ochako narrowing her eyes at him. "Izuku, what's going on? Tell me."

"It's… It's complicated, Ochako." Izuku lay there, staring up at the ceiling when he heard the sound of movement. He sat up and saw Ochako struggling to get out of her bed. "Uhm, should you be doing that?"

"Nope, my head hurts and I can barely walk straight, but that ain't gonna stop me from coming over there and kicking your ass for lying."

"I'm not lying though."

"You're lying by omission!"

"That's not- okay, stop," Izuku moved to get out of bed himself, ignoring how his whole body ached in protest. "I'll come to you."

"You'll come to me so I can kick your ass?" Ochako raised an eyebrow, though her voice held a note of hope.

"No, so we can talk. Plus you shouldn't be walking."

"I can walk just fine!"

"You just said-"

"Shut your dumb mouth and get over here!" Ochako stomped her foot but immediately regretted it as she started stumbling back. Izuku reacted before he even thought about it, reaching his hands and pulling Ochako to him, causing her to fly through the air before slowing and landing on his bed, though not without her face planting onto her stomach.

She looked at him and puffed out her cheeks. "See! Tha' was like yer Ma's quirk! Explain!"

Izuku scooted to the side as much as he could to allow her more room before sighing and looking away. Ochako frowned at that. "Izuku, please, tell me what's happening to us. I promise I won't be mad, I know you won't do anything to hurt me." She flicked him, "But I'm kinda freaked out. I held up a fuckin' building with my quirk! I've started hearin' voices every so often, some kinda sounding like you, and I woke up in your quirk looking at a green sun and a weird white-haired dude, throw me a bone?"

"I… I want to tell you, it's just…"

"Just what? Why can't you tell me what's up with your quirk?" Ochako narrowed her eyes at him "Is someone threatening you? Do I gotta send them into orbit?"

"...Wait, my quirk." Izuku sat up as he came to a sudden realization. "Yeah… Yeah! It is my quirk now, isn't it?!"

Ochako blinked. "Wait, what do you mean 'your quirk now'?"

"...Nothing."

"Izuku."

"I didn't mean to say that out loud, therefore you should just forget about it!"

"Not how that works!"

"Well, it should be!"

"I play the best friend card!" Ochako held up her fist in the air.

Izuku clenched his fist, closed his eyes, and sighed in defeat.

"Can…" He trailed off, "Can we talk about this after school? We can go to the beach and I'll tell you there. I just…" he sighed as he laid back in bed. "I just need to sort some things out, but I'll tell you, I promise."

Ochako looked at him intently, her cheeks puffed up in a pout before she smiled and nodded. "Fine, but you owe me mochi for worrying me so much!"

"I always owe you mochi though…"

"The debt will always rise!" With that, she snuggled into Izuku's side.

"Uhh…" His cheeks began to turn red.

"You're warm, and I can't get back to my bed. Take responsibility," Ochako whispered as she started to drift off.

"HUH?! W-wait!" Izuku nudged her, but Ochako didn't respond. "...Okay, so this is happening."

Izuku lay there tense for the longest time before he slowly began to relax. His face was bright red as he moved one arm and slowly wrapped it around Ochako.

"...Okay, yeah, this is actually pretty nice." He admitted just before a yawn escaped him. "Oh, come on. I just… woke up…"

Soon he was also asleep, Recovery Girl eventually returned and blinked when she saw them together. She thought about waking them up and scolding them before settling on just leaving them be.

She could give them the grumpy old woman treatment later.

"Ah! I feel so much better!" Ochako sighed as she and Izuku walked down the hall toward the 1-A classroom, the two of them now back in their school uniforms.

Izuku nodded in agreement, stretching. "I still can't believe we slept through the rest of the day. Did Recovery Girl's quirk really need to take that much stamina to heal us?"

"I don't know, and I don't care. We got to skip the rest of the day, and I have a new favorite pillow!" Ochako teased, laughing as Izuku's face instantly turned red.

"E-even still, the other classes are important Ochako, no matter how boring you find them."

"Geez, now you're starting to sound like Tenya," she grumbled as they closed in on the door. "You gonna start doing the arm chopping next?"

"Ochako, that's mean!" Izuku said despite the laugh that escaped him.

"No, it's not! If I was trying to be mean, you'd know." Ochako booped him on the nose before she turned to the door and slid it open with a loud thud. "WE LIVE!"

Everyone in class turned to look at her with raised eyebrows, while Aizawa sat up from the ground, got out of his sleeping bag, and stood behind his desk.

"Oh, you're not dead… hooray. Now that you're finally back we can go over All Might's heroics class before I send you all home." He waited for the two to take a seat before continuing. "Alright, first things first, Bakugou."

Katsuki, who was leaning back in his seat with a scowl on his face, scoffed when his name was called.

"Detention." Aizawa deadpanned, causing the explosive teen to finally sit up and slam his hands onto his desk.

"For fucking what?!"

Aizawa raised an eyebrow but pulled out his phone, after a few seconds he found what he was looking for and started reading. "Ignoring a direct order from a teacher, excessive use of force." He looked back up. "Heroes need to know when to hold back, There are going to be situations where you can't go all out, and you kiddos just learned one of them, what if that empty building had been a busy bank? You would have been the cause of a ridiculous number of deaths or injuries all because you couldn't hold yourself back when needed."

Katsuki once again slammed his hand onto the desk, "What the fuck about Deku?! He's the reason the stupid building came down in the first place!"

"Midoriya," Aizawa emphasized, "responded to your excessive force in kind, specifically to save his own life because the blast you sent toward him could have very well killed him." He waited for Katsuki to show any sign of remorse before he sighed through his nose, "Midoriya is going to be criticized for his own faults, like everyone else, but he isn't to blame for your mistakes, you have detention with me after school for an hour starting today, it'll last until the end of the week."

Katsuki growled before crossing his arms, knowing that arguing was futile. Aizawa let out a hum before continuing.

"Lose the attitude kid, and learn from your mistakes, or it will be a lot worse than detentions. Next up… speak of the devil, Midoriya."

Izuku looked back at Ochako before looking at Aizawa, "She's the devil, not me."

"Aww!" Ochako smiled at the "compliment".

"Irrelevant," Aizawa shook his head, "Overall you did fine, you knew that Bakugou was the biggest threat in that building and knew that of the two of you you were able to handle that threat better than Uraraka." He pierced Izuku's soul with a glare. "However, you let Bakugo's words at the start of the confrontation spur you into action, and yes," He cut off any objection from Izuku, "it worked out and you landed a solid hit on him, but there are situations where a villain will want you to react a certain way, either because they have a plan in place to counter you or they have a quirk that requires it, and you'd be walking right into their trap."

"Yes, Sensei," Izuku nodded, taking notes.

"And Iida, while it was an exercise, and you were playing the role of a villain, it's better to tell you now rather than later that villains don't act like that unless they're idiots, on drugs… or in extremely rare cases powerful enough to mess around. Either way, don't expect villains to go into a monologue like it's some kind of old-school TV show."

Tenya nodded. "Yes, Sensei. I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Good." Aizawa then looked at Ochako, "...Your stealth needs work."

"Yeah, I know," Ochako cringed at the reminder that she had outed herself by talking to the voices.

…If she didn't know that some bullshit was happening because of Izuku's quirk she'd swear she was going insane.

"Anyways, that concludes the first match. Next up…"

The rest of the class went by pretty quickly after that, with Aizawa covering a few more matches before dismissing them. "We will be going over the rest of your matches tomorrow, but so far you have all met my expectations, good job." Before the students could celebrate however he continued. "Don't let it go to your heads, get out of here. Not you Bakugou."

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde leaned back and made to put his feet on the desk before Aizawa used his capture scarf to pull out his chair from under him, making him fall to the ground.

"I'm going to start doing that every time you try," Aizawa warned him.

"What is your deal?!" Katsuki growled.

Aizawa's response was to look at him and give him his creepy shit-eating grin. "I'm a petty bitch."

Ochako quickly grabbed Izuku's arm and pulled him out of the classroom. "Come on, let's go before he explodes."

"You don't have to tell me twice." The two quickly made their way out of the classroom, bumping into Tenya on the way out.

"Izuku! Ochako! I am glad to see that you are both alright – What was that for!?" He flinched as Ochako pinched him.

"That was for you being a fucking ham in our match!"

"I was getting into the role!"

"You sounded like a villain from some sentai show!"

Izuku just chuckled and listened to the two banter. The two finally calmed down and they started talking about the exercise.

As the three talked on their way to the front of the school, Izuku looked down one of the hallways and caught a glimpse of a familiar tall skeletal man.

"Uhm…" He slowed his pace as he kept his eyes on where he had seen All Might heading. He then quickly turned to his friends as he began to walk backward. "You guys go on ahead. Ochako, I'll meet you at the front. Tenya, get home safe. Gotta go!" He then turned and quickly ran down the hall before he lost track of his mentor.

The two watched him leave, Tenya holding his hand to his chin. "Curious. What do you think has Izuku rushing off so suddenly?"

Ochako furrowed her brow and hummed. "I don't know."

'But hopefully I will soon.' She kept to herself as she continued walking with Tenya.

Meanwhile, Izuku was rushing down the hallway after All Might, weaving past students who were on their way to the front of the school from their final class of the day. When he eventually caught up to the man he called out, "Mister Yagi!"

Toshinori paused and turned around, his eyes immediately noticing the familiar green of his apprentice's hair. "Ah, Young Midoriya. I heard what happened during your heroics class. How are you feeling?"

Izuku walked up to him before answering. "Great now. Uhm, can we talk? I need… quirk counseling."

Toshinori blinked but quickly caught on. "Ah, I see. This way."

The two once again commandeered an empty classroom like they had done during lunch. Luckily the classrooms were pretty well soundproofed, as Toshinori had been told, so those with enhanced hearing wouldn't hear something they shouldn't know if the two spoke quietly enough.

"What is it, my boy?" Toshinori asked once they were sure they were alone.

"Okay, so… I figured some stuff out with my quirk and…" an excited smile crept its way onto Izuku's face. "You won't believe what I've learned."

"Why don't you give me the short version, and you can go into more detail later?" Toshinori offered as he sat down at one of the desks.

"Okay, short version, got it. So…" Izuku took a deep breath before he began to talk fast. "One For All almost killed me when you transferred it to me, but it didn't because the vestiges of the past users inside of it deleted themselves because they were making the quirk unstable, so the quirk got reset so it wouldn't kill me. So anyway, while I was knocked out I was pulled into the quirk, which is my mind too now, and I met the first user who told me that in order to use One For All at full power I needed to make bonds with people so they can help me channel the power without it killing me and those bonds also make people stronger and oh boy I'm getting light headed-"

"Young Midoriya, breathe!" Toshinori put his hands on Izuku's shoulders to ground him back into reality. "We don't need you going to the infirmary again so soon. Now, I caught most of what you said, and while some of it is concerning, I'm glad you are alright. To think… One For All almost killed you."

"I mean, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known that would happen."

Toshinori sighed. "I'm just relieved it all worked out. Now, moving on, you said One For All bonds with people?"

"Oh, right." Izuku nodded. "Yoichi, that's the first user's name, explained that the quirk is trying to return itself to some form of equilibrium by making bonds. One For All was originally supposed to give me access to the previous holder's quirks, but something went wrong, and now it's trying to make up the difference."

Toshinori rubbed his chin, not seeming to be surprised by any of the information he just received. "That explains a lot. Let me guess, these bonds can only be formed between you and someone you are close to?"

"Y-yeah, how did you know?"

Toshinori shrugged "It's kind of in the name, but I've also been uh," He scratched his chin. "I've had a hunch for like a while now. Your mother and I had a conversation about this after your little fainting spell a few days ago."

"Wait… my mom knows?!" Izuku gripped his hair.

"...I should not have said that." Toshinori sighed. "We didn't tell you because we didn't want you to worry or think about it more than you had to. We wanted to give you time to adjust to One For All. But yes, your mother knows about the quirk, she said she had some kind of vision that told her about its existence. I just filled in the blanks with what I knew. You said it makes those you bond with stronger. Well, that would explain her sudden boost in fitness and her quirk's increase in power. And it would also explain Young Uraraka's impressive feat during your match."

Izuku's eyes widened. "Oh, right, Ochako! Uhm… how do I say this?" Izuku scratched the back of his head. "I want to tell her… about One For All."

Toshinori's eyes widened before he narrowed them in seriousness. "Young Midoriya, I hope you remember that the true nature of One For All is a closely guarded secret, entrusted only to a select few for a reason."

"I know," Izuku sighed, looking down. "I know. It's just… obviously, I've bonded with her too, and she knows something is going on with my quirk. I could just lie and tell her it's how my quirk works, but… she's my best friend. She helped save my life earlier. If I can't trust her, then who can I trust?"

Toshinori watched Izuku silently for a few moments before sighing, a smile spreading across his face. "Very well then. Not like it's my decision anyway."

Izuku looked up at him. "Huh?"

"One For All isn't my quirk any longer, my boy." He pointed at Izuku. "It's yours, Izuku Midoriya. You've been entrusted with this power, and I've put my faith in you because you're my successor and I trust you. If you want to tell Young Uraraka about this sacred torch you bear, then so be it, the decision is yours alone. All I can do is offer you my council."

Izuku smiled, and he tried to hold back the tears in his eyes that formed from hearing just how much his hero and mentor trusted him. "Thank you, All Might."

"Of course. Now, you best get going. It's rude to keep a lady waiting." Toshinori chuckled.

"Oh shoot, you're right!" Izuku quickly ran over to the door to leave before stopping and turning to Toshinori. "Oh, that reminds me…" He nervously shuffled his feet, causing Toshinori to look at him in concern.

"Yes?"

"I'm meeting up with Ochako later to explain all this…would you mind meeting us? To help explain it?"

Toshinori smiled and gave his successor a thumbs up. "It would be my pleasure, Young Midoriya."

"I swear, every time I come here I have a hard time believing it was once a trash heap." Ochako stared in awe at the sparkling water of the ocean. "I'll never believe you, you know."

"How will I ever live with that?" Izuku snarked as they walked down the steps towards the sand. Izuku led her over to a very familiar rock with cracks all over it in a spider web. "Hello, old friend. We meet again."

"Izuku, you're talking to a boulder." Ochako deadpanned.

"It's not just any boulder." Izuku placed his hand on the stone, patting it like Ochako's dad patted their old dog's belly. "It's a rock."

"Are you good?" Ochako furrowed her brow in genuine worry.

"Yeah, sorry," Izuku quickly dropped the bit and turned to her. "When I first got my quirk I was testing it out here on the beach. The 'tests' were mostly me punching this thing as hard as I could." Izuku jutted his thumb at the large rock.

"Oh, that explains the cracks." Ochako inspected the rock, running her fingers along them. "Strong enough to break rocks like this at your weakest. That's not a terrifying thought whatsoever. Also, you wanna explain why you keep wording it like that?" Ochako turned to him. "You keep saying it like someone gave you your quirk."

"Well…" Izuku scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "That's because someone kind of did."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

Izuku was about to explain further when he heard another "mental message".

~Above~

"I think it'll be better if he explains it." Izuku simply pointed up into the air.

"What?" Ochako looked up, and-

"HAHAHAH!" Coming in fast was none other than the hulking form of the Symbol of Peace himself, out of his hero costume and sporting more casual wear, landing on the sand in front of the two teenagers before standing at his full height. "I AM HERE!"

"A-ALL MIGHT?!" Ochako yelled. "What are you doing here?! Shouldn't you be, I don't know, out there saving puppies and shit? Something wholesome and heroic?"

Before All Might could answer they heard a thud and a squeak, causing them to look behind him to see the trembling form of Inko Midoriya who was hugging the sandy ground like her life depended on it.

"M-Mom!?/Miss Midoriya!?" Izuku and Ochako shouted out in surprise.

"Don't ever do that again All Might or so h-help me, number one hero or not I will find a way to kill you!" She hissed from her spot on the ground.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Izuku asked.

"Ah, yes, I figured that since your mother was one of your other bonds then she should be here as well, just so that everyone is on the same page." All Might explained with a thumbs up.

"We couldn't just use your truck to get here?!" Inko cried as she finally stood up and dusted the sand off her blouse.

"Wait, hold on!" Ochako held her hands out. "What is happening right now? I need answers! Why are you guys so casual with freaking All Might!?"

"Uh…" Izuku looked to All Might for some help.

"Okay, so don't scream." With that, All Might exhaled and seemed to deflate, like literally deflate, right before Ochako's eyes. He turned from the jacked, number one hero that everyone recognized to a skeleton almost instantly.

Ochako stared at him for a minute before she pointed at him and shouted "Who tha' fuck are you and where'd All Might go!?" Before the imposter could respond she put her fists up, and everyone blinked as pink lightning started to appear around her. "Ah know how ta' punch, don't test me!" She moved to slap the imposter, her speed increased enough that All Might immediately puffed back up as he braced himself.

"Woah, woah! Ochako calm down, that is All Might!" Izuku moved, his own speed enhanced by One For All to try and intercept her. Unfortunately for him, he managed to, his cheek getting slapped, his friend's hand leaving a bright red mark. He blinked expecting to start floating thanks to her quirk, only to exhale in relief

That relief quickly vanished as he felt himself get rapidly pulled down to the ground.

He slammed face-first into the beach, and every time he tried to get up he felt himself getting heavier. Soon a small crater began to form beneath him and he began to groan in pain.

"Young Uraraka, release your quirk!"

Ochako blinked and looked down at Izuku, "My…my quirk? That's not me, is it?!"

"Yes! We'll explain everything but you need to release your quirk!"

Ochako, after a moment of hesitation, put her fingers together and released her quirk. Sure enough, she felt the tell-tale queasiness of her quirk settle into her stomach and she had to resist the urge to throw up, both from this sudden change in her abilities as well as the effect it had on Izuku.

Izuku wobbly stood up from his miniature crater, and dusted himself off, thankful that One For All had been active during the ordeal. He stepped out of the two-foot hole he had been digging with his face and grinned at his friend, ignoring the sand and blood running down his nose.

"Feel better?"

Ochako let out a sniff and shook her head, she blinked as Inko walked up to hug her.

"I'm sorry that these two are inconsiderate," Inko said as she patted the girl on the back. "They should have at least given you some form of proper warning."

"You know why we couldn't do that," Toshinori said as he deflated.

"You could have at least told her something to keep her calm during all this," Inko reprimanded as she moved away from Ochako toward Izuku, she took out a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed it to Izuku's nose, he thanked her and took it from her without complaint, cleaning himself up.

"What…" Ochako looked down at her hands and the pink lighting coursing through them. She was having trouble staying calm, her confusion mixed with her nausea and lingering head pain didn't help, especially once her mind caught up with her. She had hurt Izuku with her quirk, her quirk that was supposed to only make things weightless. She started taking shallow breaths, futilely trying to calm herself down as she looked at her hands, they were shaking. "What's happening to me?"

Inko turned to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Ochako, sweetie, it's okay, just stay calm and breathe. I know a lot is happening at once, and it might seem scary, but I promise it's okay."

Ochako took deep breaths as she followed Inko's advice and tried to calm down.

As she did that, Izuku moved over to Toshinori and whispered, "How much does Mom know?"

Toshinori whispered back, "Only that I gave you my power, but that's about it. She knows it's a transferable quirk."

"Right, okay…" Izuku turned to the others, Inko's advice helped Ochako calm down enough that she wasn't at risk of hyperventilating. "Okay, so I guess it's explanation time."

"Damn right, it is!" Ochako may have calmed down, but she was still understandably freaking out. "What the hell is happening to me?! Why can this skeleton man turn into All Might?!"

Toshinori actually looked hurt by that comment. "Do I actually look like a skeleton?"

"Yes, Toshinori," Inko nodded. "You do."

"Toshinori?" Izuku raised an eyebrow at the man before shaking his head. "Pin in that for later. First thing's first, Ochako, this is All Might."

"What?" Ochako rubbed her eyes and squinted at the man before throwing her hands out at him and looking back at Izuku "WHAT?!"

"Yeah, I know, I didn't believe it either," Izuku nodded.

"And I don't blame either of you," Toshinori chuckled. He then lifted his shirt, showing off the nasty scar left from his injury. Izuku cringed and looked away, still not liking the site of it. "Six years ago I faced a villain so powerful he was able to do this to me. I lost my whole stomach. Ever since then… I've been getting weaker by the day."

"All Might can only use his power for three hours a day at this point," Izuku jumped in. "Outside of that, he looks like… this." He gestured to the man.

Toshinori lowered his shirt. "It's a hard pill to swallow, but my time as a hero is nearing its end. Soon I won't be able to use my power at all."

"What?" Ochako stared in disbelief. "What kind of villain could ever hurt you like that?"

"It doesn't matter anymore." Toshinori looked away.

"Toshinori," Inko said in worry, this being the first time she actually heard the reason behind All Might's deteriorating health. "If there's a villain out there that's this powerful, then-"

"There isn't." Toshinori took a deep breath before looking at all of them. "Because I killed him."

The air grew cold as the others took in that information. All Might, the Symbol of Peace and Justice, the nicest man one could have the pleasure of meeting, had killed someone.

"You… you never told me that," Izuku quietly said.

Toshinori sighed. "I suppose I have been holding back information from you, Young Midoriya, but it wasn't out of mistrust. I just didn't want you to worry when you needed to focus on adjusting to your new power." Toshinori looked down at his hand and clenched it into a fist. "This… this man, this monster, I had no choice. He had ripped out my stomach by then, and I thought I was going to die, but I knew, I knew I couldn't let him walk away. He was too dangerous, and if I didn't stop him there then he would have brought the world to heel. So I used every last ounce of strength I had… and I crushed his skull beneath my fists."

The beach was silent after that, the only sound being the waves and the sea birds flying about. The silence was then broken by Ochako.

"Well… if you had to kill him then you had to… right?" She said unbothered. "I mean, I'm not gonna stand here and think you're a bad person just because you killed one man. If he did that to you," Ochako pointed at his injury, "then he must have been super strong, and would have been close to unstoppable, right? Who knows how many people he would have killed or hurt if he won that fight."

"No one blames you for having to end the fight like that," Inko told him. "You were doing your job, protecting the people. If this man absolutely had to die and there was no other way, then it isn't your fault that he gave you no choice."

"Yeah, no matter what you're still All Might," Izuku smiled. "You're still the greatest hero in the whole world in my eyes. It's not like you just went out and killed this guy." He gestured to All Might's torso, "If he was fighting hard enough to do that, I can understand why you'd have to use lethal force. I mean… I still don't like the thought, but I can't blame you."

Toshinori smiled and chuckled. "Well, that's relieving. I was worried that the truth would make you see me differently. I must admit, I'm not proud of what I did that day, my actions were somewhat driven by hatred toward this villain for all he had done. But in the end, I'm glad I managed to stop him." He shook his head after that though, "But back to the topic at hand."

"As I've said, my time as All Might is nearing its end. I'm not sure when it could be this year or five years from now, I'll soon have to retire. But this quirk, this power I wield, it doesn't have to go with me." He clenched his fist. "The power I used to bear is called One For All, it's a quirk that has the ability to be passed from one person to another and has existed since the dawn of quirks centuries ago. I was its eighth holder. For a long time after my confrontation with that man, I had searched for someone to become the ninth, a successor to train and pass my knowledge and abilities off to so they may also use the quirk to protect those in need of a hero. It was only a year ago that I finally found him."

"Wait…" Ochako looked like she was undergoing a system restart before she suddenly pointed at Izuku and yelled, "HOLY SHIT, YOU'RE ALL MIGHT'S APPRENTICE?!"

Izuku nervously laughed. "Yeah…"

"AND YOU HAVE HIS QUIRK?!"

"I still find it hard to believe sometimes," he admitted as he scratched the back of his head. "I wanted to tell you, but…"

"Let me guess since the power is able to be passed on, you were afraid someone, probably a villain, would try and force you to give it to them or something." Ochako shrugged. "I may be from the country, but I can make a guess."

"I was going to say that I couldn't tell you because I thought of it more as All Might's quirk than my own, but that works too."

"It's as I said, Young Midoriya, it's your quirk now." Toshinori put his hand on his shoulder. "It's your responsibility and all I can do is my best to teach you."

"Okay, but none of that explains what's happenin' to me," Ochako waved her hand. "What the hell is going on with my quirk? I suddenly get a power boost and it increases gravity instead of negating it? What?"

"The same is happening to me, sweetie," Inko said as she used her quirk to pull over a nearby rock in the sand and sit on it. "Apparently, not even All Might knows what that's about, it never happened to him or any of the previous holders of One For All."

"Ah, yes," Toshinori turned to Izuku. "I believe that's where you come in, my boy."

"Right…" Izuku took a deep breath before explaining. "So when I passed out earlier, I woke up in this strange place…"

And so Izuku talked, and all three of them listened. He tried to explain the best he could, about One For All being "reset" by Yoichi, how the quirk nearly killed him due to being unstable. He explained the bonds, how they worked, how they were needed to help stabilize the flow of power, and how they would give him new abilities and enhance anyone he bonded with, making their bodies and quirks stronger.

When he was done, the sun had almost fully set, its orange glow barely lighting the sky as it turned to night. Ochako had taken a seat on the sand, leaning against the rock that Izuku had tested his strength on.

"That's… whoa."

"Yeah, I'm still trying to process it all myself. But hey, that means I can do this now!" Izuku held his hand out to the side, away from the others. He felt energy flow into his hand and a moment later a blast of force launched a cloud of sand into the air. "Hey, Mom, it's like your quirk!"

"Yes," Inko quietly said as she tried to hold back some stray tears from seeing her son happy and with the powerful quirk he always wanted. "It is."

"Wait, if you get new powers from your bonds," Ochako began, "then… shouldn't you have gotten something new from me?"

"..." Izuku blinked. "...Holy crap, you're right! Your quirk was boosted which means your bond is at Stage Two! W-what can I do now?!"

"Quick!" Ochako gestured to her face "Slap me in the face!"

"Uhh…"

"Don't question it!"

"I really don't think that's how that…" Inko began only for Izuku to just shrug and do what his friend told him to, slapping her lightly on the face.

"That slap was made of babies!" Ochako pouted as she crossed her arms, very much not floating.

"I'm sorry! I didn't want to just outright slap you!"

"Okay before whatever this is continues," Toshinori interrupted, "We know it doesn't work exactly like young Uraraka's quirk, meaning it doesn't require full five-point contact, so what else?"

"Well, it's gotta be something like what I do, right?" Ochako hummed. "How does it work? Does it just give you a new quirk, or…?"

"I'm… actually not entirely sure." Izuku scratched his head. "Yoichi said the quirk has started to mold itself into something new using the quirks of those bonded to me as a reference. It's why I'm able to repel things instead of just attracting them like Mom can."

"Well, whatever your new power is can be figured out some other day," Inko said. "It's late, and you kids need to eat and Ochako needs to get home."

"But Mom/Miss Midoriya!" The two kids whined.

"No buts."

Toshinori raised his hand. "I'll be happy to give all of you a lift home."

"Yes, and you'll be joining us for dinner because frankly, I don't trust you to remember to feed yourself after you leave." Inko side-eyed him. "And you'll go get your truck because so help me Toshinori, if you jump through the air with me again-"

Toshinori immediately buffed up, a nervous smile on his face. "Well, my truck is good ways away, so I better go get it. Time is of the essence. Off I go!" He wasted no time launching himself into the air, his figure disappearing past the buildings.

"Huh," Ochako watched him leave. "...All Might is scared of your mom… awesome."

Izuku turned to her. "Hey, while we wait, wanna see what we can do? We have plenty of rocks."

Ochako held her hands to her face and pretended to act like a flattered maiden. "Oh, Izuku Midoriya, you know me so well."

Inko watched from her place on her rock as the two ran off. Ochako would use her quirk on as many large rocks as she could, sometimes needing Izuku's help to pull them out of the sand. The two would then make a game of how far they could "yeet" the rocks into the ocean. Izuku swore it was a rigged game when Ochako would just throw a rock and its distance would be indefinite due to her negating its gravity, so it never landed in the ocean unless she wanted it to. Even when Izuku used his new abilities he could beat her.

"Cheater!"

"How's that cheating?!"

"Your quirk is cheating!"

"Oh, so you can use your quirk, but I can't?"

"The game's rigged!"

"Nah, it's a skill issue!"

"You dare skill issue me?!"

Inko smiled as she watched the two playfully argue, Izuku blasting a cloud of sand onto Ochako and her retaliating by tackling him. The whole time Izuku was laughing and smiling.

"Oh, Hisashi," she fondly said as a tear ran down her face. "I wish you could see this."

She stayed for the rest of their time at the beach like that, watching the two of them try and beat each other at their rock-throwing game. After Toshinori arrived in his truck they made their way back to the apartment, and Inko worked her heart out to make everyone a fantastic dinner.

Izuku and Toshinori sat on the couch talking about some tips Toshinori had for Izuku's fighting style as well as more personal retellings of his most memorable moments as All Might, while Ochako happily volunteered to help her cook, too energetic to just sit and talk like the other two.

It was the most lively her house had been in a while, and Inko couldn't help but smile wider, her heart full for the first time in nearly a decade.