Inko Midoriya knew something was wrong; call it mother's intuition or whatever one wished to call it. It doesn't take away from the fact that her son wasn't quite the same since taking the exam to UA. Then again, Izuku hasn't quite been the same for the past year or so, and that was not say he hadn't been the same since he was five. Inko couldn't deny that there was something that her son was hiding from her for these past few years, but she couldn't place her finger on what it was? And there were many possibilities. First, was Izuku's late blooming quirk, and with that fish themed appearance, came a determined drive. It was like he finally had a goal to push for and was trying his damnedest to achieve that goal. While she had reservations about him becoming a hero, it seemed that for the first time in years her baby boy was happy. It was almost like someone, somewhere had answered the prayers of her son, and yet.

And yet, it seemed that it wasn't enough. For the past few days, Izuku was quieter than usual along with the fact like he couldn't focus on anything, like something was distracting him. It made the already anxious woman feel on edge due to her concern for the wellbeing of her son. Maybe he was anxious about his test results, Inko can remember all too well the stress she had when she too had to do her bout of the extreme testing that Japan is known for. Perhaps checking the mail for the third time in ten minutes might ease her nerves. After all, as soon as that letter comes in, the sooner the two can leave this purgatory of frayed nerves. For better or for worse.

When the letter finally arrived exactly a week later, it didn't help the situation, in fact it appeared to make the tension hits its zenith. Izuku looked like he had seen a ghost when she had handed him the letter with the wax. With a nervous gait, Izuku silently disappeared into his room whilst gently shutting the door with a click. Inko Midoriya quickly scooted her way across the painfully polished floor to just outside the door to her son's room. She silently stood there twisting the skirting of her apron to the sound of paper ripping coming from behind the wooden door. For the first time in years, the Midoriya matriarch held her breath and closed her eyes as she awaited the results of her son's test. Despite her desire to have her now blue haired son to choose a safer career, she silently pleaded to any of the gods to let Izuku pass.

"Please! Please! I just want him to be happy. Just let him have this!", the green haired woman begged.

The prayers of Inko Midoriya was interrupted by the tell-tale sound of paper falling to the floor breaking the silence like a sledgehammer. She opened her green eyes to see the door with the All Might themed name plate slowly open with a creak. She held in a gasp as her eyes grew to twice their size at the sight of Izuku.

Izuku was hunched over like he was carrying a heavy load of invisible rocks while his arms hung loosely at his sides. But it the face of her son that tore her heart to pieces. It was like the life had been drained from her son with his skin bleached a sickly white. The blue eyes of Izuku were blank and devoid of any emotion with dark circles underneath them. The eyes also simmered like Izuku wanted to cry but seemed to have no more tears to shed. The worst part of it was the opened half-frown half-smile etched on the face of Izuku like a nasty scar. It was a look that haunted Inko for years in her nightmares, a look that she will never forget. Nearly ten years ago, Izuku had the same appearance when the doctor had told him the worst news of his life.

Inko Midoriya froze on the spot like a deer in head lights. Tears begun to welt up in her eyes, as the realization hit her. Izuku begun to speak, but either he couldn't say it coherently or she lost the ability to understand. Once he was finished with his unintelligible explanation, her blue haired boy begun to robotically move past her, and she did not try to stop him. The soft thumps of footsteps reverberated in the apartment as Izuku moved further and further away. It was only when the door to the apartment finally slammed shut did Inko fall to her knees and begun to bawl uncontrollably. Izuku's mother fell adrift in a sea of her own dark thoughts, blaming herself for being a bad mother and the one responsible for her son's pain.

Just a few feet away, on the floor of a hero merch filled room was a letter from UA High School. The letter contained all manner of words detailing villain points and rescue points, and it all ends with a final phrase. "Izuku Midoriya: Villain Points: 9, Rescue Points: 0. We at UA are sorry to inform you, Mr. Midoriya, that you did not score enough to qualify for the hero course."

The sun was shining bright in the sky, as Izuku Midoriya left the suffocating atmosphere of the little apartment. Years ago, he thought the day he was diagnosed as quirkless was the worst day of his life. He was wrong. Seeing those horrible words broke the spirit of Izuku, making him seem nothing more than a mindless machine as he aimlessly wandered the streets of Mustafu. He wasn't sure where he was going, and frankly he didn't care because it never mattered in the end for Izuku. He was always doomed to be a failure.

"Useless, Useless, Useless, Useless, Deku, Deku, Deku, Deku"

"Deku can't do anything right"

"Marris would've been better off alone than to waste her time on a failure like you"

Then, like a great wave of water, the dark thoughts clouding the mind of Izuku was swept away. The cool feeling of water overwhelmed his numb body, and the familiar feeling did much to calm him down. With the blue haired teen out of his stupor of misery, he became aware of his surroundings. He was at a deserted park of sorts, sitting on an old wooden bench in front of rusting playground equipment. Sitting next to him was Marris, who held him in a half embrace with one of her long arms, while she held one his hands with her free one. The lamprey mermaid also rested her head on his mess of blue hair as well. He hadn't told her or his mother what had happened during the exam because he was trying to hold himself together after that blow to his self-confidence. Maybe he had a small hope that perhaps it was enough to catch the attention of someone in UA. But that was clearly not the case.

"M-Marris, I-I-I d-don't know what to do anymore" "I tried my best, but it wasn't enough" Izuku said trying not to sob

"Tell me what happened that day, Little Minnow" Marris said in her motherly voice

Izuku recanted his whole experience from the practical exam. From the inability to get any villain points, to the other examinees stopping him from saving the girl. It was painful the recount the memory with Izuku having to pause every so often to be able to continue it. Marris surprisingly remained silent throughout the whole telling, but Izuku could feel a burning anger slowly begun to steam off the fish woman. But unlike a certain blonde, Marris never lost her temper. By the end of his story, Izuku was shaken and trying his best to hold himself together, he probably would've collapsed into a sobbing mess if not for Marris holding him. Izuku kept his gaze away from the face of the fish woman, not wanting to draw her ire by failing as bad as he did.

"Izuku", said Marris, "Don't blame yourself for the actions of those snakes. They are too blind and selfish to even understand."

"Thank you, Marris", replied Izuku, "I am glad that you believed in me, and still do, but I-I think they were right about me.

"Little Minnow, a hunter shouldn't give up so easy. You can always keep trying." The fish woman said with encouragement

"I am sorry Marris, but I am not like all the others and I don't think I was ever supposed be like them." Izuku said dejectedly

"Izuku…" Marris said with a slight crack in her voice

"I-It's just…I want to be a hero, but it seems no matter hard I try…There's always someone there to put me back down. Bakugou was right, I am useless, and I just refused to believe him. I-I just tired of it all, Marris." Izuku said with melancholy

Upon hearing those words, Marris was uncharacteristically silenced. When the fish woman had remained quiet for such a long time, Izuku begun to feel extremely anxious. The blue haired teen sunk his head lower and tightened his hold on the four fingered hand of the fish woman.

"DidImakeyouangryorwhatIsaidhadmadethingsworseIamsorryMarrisIdidntmeantoupsetyoupleasedontbemadwithmeIdontwanttobealonerightnowpleaseIamsorry" the blue haired teen quietly pleaded

Thump Thump

A foreign sound was coming from Marris.

Thump Thump

It was like the beat of a drum, and it was so faint, he was only just able to hear its presence.

Thump Thump

… !

It was the sound of a beating heart… the beating heart of Marris.

Izuku turned his head to meet the gaze of the fish woman. Marris was looking at him as well, but with black eyes etched with an age long pain. Her blue skin somehow looked lighter like she had paled, all the while her hair had frozen up completely. It was like Marris had seen something that had made her seized up in terror. Izuku felt his gut twist into knots and a wave a guilt dropped on him like a falling anvil. He opened his mouth to say something to Marris, but she cut him off before the words could even go to his lips.

"I see…Well, that is okay Little Minnow", Marris said with an almost robotic calmness, "The past few suns have been hard on you, haven't they? Let us return to your den so you can rest."

With those words, Marris left her seat and begun to float off in a seemingly random direction. Izuku just sat there confused at the action of his invisible friend, before the realization dawned upon him. He jumped from his seat on the bench and begun to chase after Marris.

"Marris! Wait come back!" exclaimed the blue haired teen.

Izuku frantically begun to chase after the fish woman, as she seemingly weaved in and out the crowds of people or the spontaneous alley ways at random. Despite his best efforts, the lamprey mermaid was always just out of out his grasp or would unexpectantly make a turn for no reason. He dares not shout for her, lest he bring some unwanted attention to himself along with the possibility that he will be taken to a psychiatric ward for chasing after someone that wasn't there.

"Marris please! I am sorry! Did I make you like this? Just please stop!" Izuku thought in hysteria

As Izuku rounded the corner of yet another alleyway, he saw that Marris was within a large gathering of people. She was standing just on the outskirts of the crowd pointing at something that the people had gathered around. At first glance, it appeared that a set of buildings were on fire, but a series of shouting and crashing indicated that there was more going on. Izuku begun to push his way through the crowd, trying to see what was going on and why Marris had led him there.

The scene in which Marris had led him to was something that was almost seen daily in Japan. It was a villain attack, but one in which things were going well for the heroes. The villain appeared to be made out of green sludge with only a set of eyes and a mouth being the only human characteristics on his body. The sludge villain was ranting incoherently, and Izuku was only able to make out a few words such as "need" and "disguise". To Izuku's surprise, there was some squirming within the mass of sludge, it was a young boy, no older than 10. The Sludge Villain appeared to be trying to shove its liquid form through the mouth of the boy, and based upon the words of the ranting, the villain was trying to use the body of the boy to escape the heroes. The only question Izuku had was why the five heroes at the scene were not doing anything?

"I am barely keeping these flames in check, someone else has to do something!"

"I can't use my quirk the alleys are too small!"

"I can't use my quirk because of the fires!"

"My quirk is suited for fighting someone made of liquids!"

The heroes weren't doing anything because their quirks weren't suitable for the situation. All the while, the young boy was slowly being drained of oxygen. A sensation akin to a prick from a needle emerged in the chest of Izuku causing him to start hyperventilating at the sight. Then Izuku caught the eyes of the villain's hostage. The boy's eyes screamed of desperation…it reminded Izuku of that…that nice girl.

Alone, scared, trapped and in grave danger, but no one came to save her. And when someone tried, he was stopped by those who said he couldn't do that. To see pro heroes, do the same was something that lit a flame inside the blue haired boy. He took a step forward without even thinking, and then another and another. He didn't notice when Marris draped that oversized white robe over him, or when he subconsciously helped her put it on. Nor when he took its hood that was too big for him, and flung it over his head, concealing his face while somehow still being able to see. His chest was nearly a raging inferno as he took another step. Then a voice, low and hushed, but soft and gentle like the ocean buzzed into his ear.

"A hero does helps those in need and expects nothing in return. Don't believe in the lies of those cowards, and do what you were destined to do"

And like a bullet, Izuku shot off into the villain attack.

Yagi Toshinori was having a bad day, and that was saying something considering he was the number one hero in Japan. But many tend to forget that the god-like portrayal of Yagi was counter intuitive to the fact that he was just as human as anyone else. And just like any human, he bound to make mistakes. In this case, Yagi had gotten a little too sloppy when capturing that Sludge Villain and dropped the soda bottle containing the villain in his haste to get him into police custody. Now said villain was attempting to kill a boy and use his body to escape before Yagi could come and apprehend him again.

Little did the villain realize that Yagi was well past his daily limit on One for All to be able to do anything. It didn't help that today was the day that Yagi had finally passed his quirk onto Mirio Togata after a year of preparing the boy. Mirio was by far an excellent choice for his successor but was not one that he had chosen himself. However, time and being picker weren't luxuries that he could afford, and reluctantly passed on his quirk to Mirio before One for All could be lost to the world. Yet, it was also a grim reminder that Yagi's time as a hero was coming to an end, and it was a future that he did not want to accept.

The scene before him was a just a small taste of what he could expect, with someone in danger and him stuck on the sidelines unable to do anything. It painfully reminded him of how he had to sit back and watch his master die at the hands of that monster. Yet, he kept trying to force his battered to body to change forms and save the day once again, but it wasn't enough.

"Please, I need to do something. It's my fault that boy is in trouble" Yagi wheezed in between breaths.

However, in the peripheral of his vision he caught sight of something fast and white dash through the crowds before disappearing entirely. Yagi gasped like the rest of the people in the crowd when the Villain recoiled in pain, eyes bloody, and a person dressed in a white robe literally appeared from thin air.

Izuku didn't know what possessed him to run into that villain attack, but it was as if his legs moved on their own. Regardless of why, Izuku dashed through the crowd and with practiced perfection felt his true invisibility shroud him as he passed through the police barrier. He could feel something in his eyes changed as his vision lost its ability to see in color, and slow down significantly like time itself had slowed down. He could see flashes of veiny tendrils of color across the Sludge Villain and his hostage. Specifically, red colors across the hostages' chest and mouth and purple colors over the villain's eyes. Weak points and injured points!

With little time left, Izuku grabbed a rocky chunk of debris and wound up his arm to throw it at the villain's eyes. He felt the familiar touch of Marris on his arm as he prepped for the through, and weight of the heavy object lessened significantly in his hand. It also appeared to be thrown harder as Izuku felt the object left his and into the face of the unsuspecting villain. The object collided into the larger of the two eyes with a disgusting squish. The sludge villain recoiled and howled in pain whilst slacking his grip on the boy, but still not letting go of him.

Izuku continued his dash towards the villain and let go of his stealthy state when he came into reaching distance of the hostage. With Marris enhancing his physical abilities, Izuku shot his hand into the liquid body of the villain and grabbing the trapped arm of the boy. Izuku pulled with all his might, and with Marris aiding him, it was enough to pull the boy out of the grip of the green villain. The boy took a large gulp of air, coughing while doing so, as his mouth became free of the sickening liquid. Like a sack of potatoes, Izuku flung the boy behind him and away from the villain, placing himself as a barrier between the two.

Before Izuku could do anything to put some distance away from the villain, the villain recovered from the blow. With a savage cry, the Sludge Villain begun to slash out at Izuku, using his 'limbs' like whips. Thanks to his enhanced senses and athletics, Izuku could dodge the attacks with ease, but this only served to make the villain angrier. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, the sludge villain could not land a hit on the white robed person, but then a bout of bubbling laughter emerged from the mass of sludge. The Sludge Villain raised a 'limb' higher than normal and brought it down at a near blinding speed, but not at Izuku. It was directed towards the injured child that Izuku had pulled out of the villain's hold. Without even thinking, Izuku dashed in front of the boy and took the blow from the villain. The robe that Marris had given him had served like a piece of amor against the attack, but Izuku was wearing nothing underneath but a t-shirt. While this stopped his flesh from being pierced, it did not stop the force of the blow from breaking several of his ribs. Izuku sank onto his hands and knees and coughed blood onto the ground, he could hear Marris yell out his name before his vison faded into a familiar scene.

Izuku found himself staring at the statue of Marris with yet another marble in its hand. This one glowed hot like the others but was colored a light blue. The blue haired teen reached out and touched the molten hot orb and the shrine disappeared into darkness.

A lone bridge stood in a rainstorm of untold magnitude. Upon this bridge stood two armies battling on the wooden boards of the bridge over a large river. One side was under the banner of a white flag and red cross, while the other side had no banner was more of a rag tag group than anything. Defeat looked inevitable for the rag tag army, until a figure emerged from their ranks and begun to single handedly hold off the army. The figure's face was obscured by a battered helmet inscribed with many runic symbols in blue paint. He was shirtless with only a few plates of metal covering his arms while his pants were armored heavily with metal and animal furs. He carried two axes and used them to mercilessly cut into the enemy soldiers. This continued until he was struck into the gut by a spear. Instead of falling down, electrical sparks danced off the man's body as he ripped the weapon out of his body and charged deeper into the horde. Lighting struck from the sky every time his axes took another life.

Izuku could feel the sparks dance across his body the moment he left the vision, and quick glance to his left arm confirmed his suspicion. Another mark was rested beneath his latest one, this time it was light blue an dictated a tribalistic version of an eel. He had acquired another quirk.

He could still feel his injuries from the villain's strike, but there wasn't any pain, or he just didn't care about pain anymore. Without much fanfare, Izuku took a breath and forced the regeneration to heal his chest of its injures, and too his surprised it worked leaving a sore feeling in the place of broken ribs. Izuku begun to slowly rise from his wounded position, sparks dancing with ever increasing intensity as he did. Clouds gathered in the sky as the wind begun to pick up, the sound of thunder ominously echoed in the sky. The villain in front of him displayed confusion along with fear at the sight of Izuku rising seemingly without injuries combined with the phenomenon in the weather. Like in a trance, Izuku raised his arms towards the sky and squeezed his hands into fists, and like magic rain begun to fall from the sky.

The with the drop a of pin needle, Izuku dashed towards the villain and begun to wail on the liquid body of the villain. His attacks were clumsy and uncoordinated, and even if he were trained in hand to hand, they wouldn't do anything to a body made of liquid. But a body made of liquid would be hard pressed to hand punches embossed with lightning. As such the villain screamed in agony as jolts of lightning shocked his system with every punch. The villain tried to counterattack but any blow that wasn't dodged by Izuku did nothing to stop the onslaught and instead would hurt him even more the more he touched Izuku. In desperation, the sludge villain grabbed Izuku and threw him away from him, eating the damage from the electricity to try to get distance between him and Izuku. The sludge villain turned with a spasm to try to make an escape, but only to meet the one person who he did not want to see. His eyes grew in horror as All Might stood there between him and his ticket to freedom.

"Don't think that you can get away that easily villain!" All Might said in his bombastic voice while rearing his muscled arm back. "DEROIT SMASH!"

With a single punch, All Might knocked out the Sludge Villain out, creating a tornado that simultaneously clearing the storm and leaving the villain as a spot on the wall of a nearby building. The crowd cheered at the sight All Might once again coming in and saving the day, but the number one hero was deaf to their cheers. Instead he was focused upon the white robed figure who rekindled his heroic spirit. The figure was rising from the spot in which the villain had thrown him and for a moment the two locked eyes.

All Might could see that the figure's costume was a white robe, more fit to be on a priest than a hero. It was oversized as well, hiding the figure's face and arms in its white folds. The only physical feature that was visible of the person was a mouth filled with sharp teeth, and for a moment All Might thought he caught a peek at a pair of pitch-black eyes. The staring contest between the two ended when the figure suddenly jerked their face in another direction and back to All Might. Then an orb of a clear liquid floated up to the chest of the figure and engulf him into its folds, and the liquid disappeared within a second and with it the white robed figure.

Izuku for calm for the first time in a week and was celebrating by mindlessly flicking through the channels of the television. Marris coiled up like a snake in her favorite corner of the living room, softly humming to herself. In reality, Izuku was trying to process the events that had happened to him today. Aside from gaining a third quirk, and Marris showing him that his second quirk was a versatile warping quirk, along with the fact that Marris could affect the world in small ways by using him as a medium; he was having a hard time trying to understand why he did what he did. Was it because Marris was angry at the heroes, and their willingness to disregard Izuku and it was her way of sticking it to them? Or was he in fact the one angry about. Perhaps, it was to show that an untrained teen who recklessly charged into danger did a better job than the pros. That was until he saw All Might. The number one hero was hurt, very hurt. Izuku could not forget the red veins stretch across the symbol of peace like cancer with the greatest tumor settled on the left half of his body. All Might was Izuku's idol, with Marris being the only thing to rival him, and it pained Izuku to see him hurt. But he did so while keeping his smile, and it was made clear that All Might was trying make people feel safe as long as he could. A sacrifice unworthy of the cruel world he was protecting. But the realization of such a sacrifice only steeled something within Izuku, UA or not, he was going to be a hero and help bear the weight that All Might carried for them all. It was the least he could do for the man. But the fight with the Sludge Villain had showed Izuku that he still needed to grow in order to carry his weight, but Marris once again came to rescue and told Izuku she will talk to some old friends to help him. Whatever that entails, it will have to wait. For now, Izuku was keen to distract himself from the revelation he learned today by flicking through some channels. That was until he hit the Hero News Network.

In today's hero news, All Might was seen along Pro Heroes Backdraft, Mt. Lady. Death Arms and Kamui woods during a hostage situation along the Old Market Boulevard district of Mustafu. The villain responsible for the attack has been caught and detained while the hostage is said to be making a full recovery at Mustafu General Hospital. However, in a surprising twist, a civilian, seen here in the white robe, ran up an attempted to rescue the hostage from the villain. He successfully managed to free the hostage and hold off the villain before fleeing the scene after All Might had arrived and defeated the villain. The whereabouts and the identity of the civilian are unknown, but his actions are determined to crucial to the survival of the hostage.

[the camera cuts to a man in a business suit with red eyes and tears falling from them]

"I-I just want to say whoever you are, t-thank you for saving my son. You will always be a hero to my family for doing that."

Tears fell from blue eyes as Izuku was called a hero for the first time in his life.

Hello again, and here I am with another chapter. It is actually the longest one yet, and we formally begin Izuku's vigilante career. Also look forward to next chapter, if you came ofr Tooru becuase she is about to meet our fish boy real soon. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it and I'll see you next time.