EDENS HERO Academia

by MKDremare-Riser

It has been 7 years since Hiroshi Furinji had disappeared in a strange light. Things haven't been very easy for the Furinji family, but they've gotten through the tragedy, each in their own ways. So it came as quite the shock when an alien crashed during the UA Sports Festival and told Fuka that he was alive.

1. Chapter 1

"Why can't any of you understand!?"

An eight year old with steel blue hair glared at his older twin siblings and his little sister. The oldest of the twins, a tall lean boy with short spikey hair named Hayate, rolled his eyes while the younger of the twins, a girl with long hair and noticeable muscles named Kana, crossed her arms. Their little sister Fuka bit her lip, holding the hem of her shirt tight as she watched them argue.

"I'm just trying to help!"

"Hiro, why don't you understand!? We keep telling you, you can't play hero!" Hayate said. "You don't have a Quirk! You're going to get yourself hurt! You already got hurt fighting off that Takagi kid and his friends!"

"I wasn't playing hero, I was just stopping them from picking on Fuka, Setsuna, and Tsubasa," Hiroshi retorted. "You don't need to be a hero to do the right thing!"

"Maybe, but you didn't need to jump in and stop them!" Kana said. "Couldn't you have waited for an adult!? Or us!?"

"You were on patrol with that hero you're interning with! How was I suppose to know that you were nearby!? And there weren't any adults around!"

"You should've tried to look harder!"

"Well, I couldn't, alright!?" Hiroshi grumbled. "Besides, if I really wanted to be a hero, I'd just take some martial art classes and get our family to make me support gear! What's stopping me from doing that!?"

"Support gear and martial arts won't protect you from everything, Hiroshi! They're no replacement for a Quirk!" Hayate said.

"Why not!? There are plenty of pros that have Quirks that aren't combative like yours-"

"It's just- It's out of the question!" Kana said.

"You don't even have an answer for me, do you!?"

"Hiro, we're just worried-" Fuka tried to say.

"I don't need you to worry, I'm fine!"

"What's going on, you four?" their mother said, as she and their father walked into the living room.

"Hiro's being a little idiot and risking his life trying to play hero!" Hayate said. "And he thinks that he can get by as a hero with just martial arts training and using support gear!"

"I wasn't playing hero, I was trying to stop bullies! And I was just using that as an example!"

"Bullies who'd use their Quirks, Hiro!"

"Hiroshi," their father sighed, as he lowered himself to Hiroshi's level. "I know you just want to help, but there are just some things that you shouldn't be doing."

"I know that, but why can't I help my friends!? That's not being a hero, that's being a good person!" Hiroshi said, crossing his arms.

"And that's something we want you to remember, to be a good person," their mother said. "But sometimes, being a good person means letting others handle something that you can't."

"But what if there isn't anyone else around!? I know that I'm Quirkless, but I'm not helpless!" Hiroshi shouted.

"You basically ARE, Hiroshi!" Kana shouted back. "Without a Quirk, everyone's gonna trample all over you! Even the ones that sound unimpressive! For goodness's sake, it's already happening with that Takagi kid and his friends! So just accept that and let others handle things for you! You're helpless, Hiroshi, so let us help you!"

Hiroshi gritted his teeth as he turned around and ran out of the living room and down the hall to the front door.

"Hiro!" Fuka cried out, as she watched her brother run out.

"Leave me alone! I hate all of you so much!" Hiroshi shouted. "None of you ever understand anything!"

"Hiroshi, where are you going!?" Kana said, as the door slammed. She ran out to the front, and opened it, only to see Hiroshi making a bolt for it to the front gate. "Hiroshi, come back here and-"

"Kana," their father said sternly, as she turned around. "There was absolutely no reason for you to say that to him."

"I know you two have his best interests in mind, we do, too," their mother sighed. "But that was a step too far. You're his older sister, not his parent."

"But mom, dad-"

"Kana. Leave the disciplining and scolding to us," their father reiterated, as they went out of the front gate. "Now let's go and pick up your brother before he gets too far. We'll talk more about your behavior later."

---

"Stupid Kana. Stupid Hayate," Hiroshi grumbled, as he kicked a pebble away. He wiped his eyes with his arm. "I know that I can't be a hero... so why can't I just at least help others?"

"What're you doing out, Hiro?" Hiroshi looked up and saw his friend, a girl with shoulder length green hair named Setsuna Tokage, standing in front of him. "Did the twins say mean stuff to you again?"

"It's the usual stupid things, like how I'm helpless since I'm Quirkless," Hiroshi said. "I know that I can't be a pro hero since I don't have a Quirk, but that doesn't mean I can't help!"

"Yea, that's so mean," Setsuna pouted, before patting Hiroshi on the back. "Even if you're Quirkless, that doesn't mean that you can't do anything!"

"I know, right!? Hayate and Kana think that they're helping, but they're just being jerks," Hiroshi said, crossing his arms. "They always jump to thinking that I want to be a pro hero, but I know that I can't... All they do is just rub it in."

"Well, even if you can't be a pro hero, I think you're still real heroic," Setsuna said, smiling. "I mean, you're always helping me, Fuka, and Tsubasa whenever we're in trouble!"

"Thanks..." Hiroshi muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "I wish that Hayate and Kana saw it the same way."

All of a sudden, Hiroshi noticed a ring of light that surrounded the two of them. "What the-"

"Hiroshi! There you are!" Hayate said, as his family turned the corner and saw him.

On instinct, Hiroshi shoved Setsuna out of the ring of light. A blast of light blinded nearly everyone there, and when they opened their eyes, Hiroshi was nowhere to be seen. Only a strange scorch mark remained where he was standing.

"... Hiroshi?" Setsuna whispered, as everyone stood there, stunned.

---

It had been a few months since Hiroshi's disappearance, and the police had given up after some time, if only because there wasn't much evidence to help determine what happened to the boy. With little to no hope, the Furinji family held a small funeral for the boy, attended only by their son's friends Setsuna, Tsubasa Tensou, and their parents, their close family friends the Yaoyoruzus, their honorary uncle Takehiko Hiyama, and Hayate's girlfriend Mizuna. Hayate and Kana in particular were completely silent throughout the whole ordeal, staring at the picture that represented their little brother. The adults were busy, comforting the weeping Hitomi and the despondent Fumihiro.

"Hayate, is everything alright?" Mizuna asked, as they sat outside the funeral home. She put a comforting hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "I... You haven't really been the same at UA."

"Y-Yea, I'm fine," Hayate muttered, looking away.

"Are you sure? I know that this is hard, you don't need to-"

"I-It's alright, I'm... I'm fine..." Hayate said, his fist tight.

"I see... what about you, Kana?" Mizuna asked, only to see that her boyfriend's twin sister was now struggling to hold back her tears.

"... The last thing I did was yell at my little brother..." she whispered, her hands gripping her dress tightly. "If... If I hadn't yelled at him, maybe he would still be here..."

"Kana..."

Meanwhile, Setsuna, Tsubasa, and the Yaoyoruzu's only daughter Momo were with Fuka, who was in tears through the entire thing.

"You alright, Fufu?" Momo asked, patting her friend's shoulder.

"N-No..." Fuka admitted, wiping her eyes on her dress. "T-The last thing Hiro said to us was that he hated us... Did... did he really hate me?"

"I-I don't think he did!" Tsubasa stuttered. "H-He always helped us whenever Takagi picked on us!"

"Hiro... was a real hero in the end," Setsuna sniffled. "He saved me from whatever that was, and I can never thank him..."

The four girls hugged tight, as Fuka bawled at the center.

---

The Day After

It was several minutes before class started, and Fuka, Setsuna, and Tsubasa stared at the empty desk where Hiroshi sat at.

"Boy, it's sure is nice that we don't have to see that Worthless Quirkless anymore, isn't it?" Kenji Takagi, the class bully, said loudly. "We won't have to see his worthless face around here!"

"Yea, glad he's not around anymore!" Kumataro replied.

"That's what he gets when he thinks that he can be a hero!" Kin'Ichi added.

"I-Isn't that a little too much, Kenji?" Ryunosuke said, biting his lip.

"Yea, Takagi! Be a little sensitive!" a fin-eared girl said.

"Why should I!? We all know that he was a jerk-" Kenji said, when Fuka got up from her chair and decked him in the face. "Gah! What the heck was that for, Gradeskipper-"

"Don't you talk about my brother that way!" Fuka shouted, as some of the students around her held her back. "Hiro's a bigger hero than you'd ever be!"

"What was that!? There's no way a Quirkless loser like him can be a-" Kenji said, when Setsuna's detached fist flew and socked him in the nose.

"Shut up! We're so tired of you saying mean stuff!" Setsuna cried out. "You're not nearly as great as you think you are!"

"You little-"

"What's going on!?" the teacher said, entering the room and seeing the commotion.

"Furinji and Tokage punched me!" Kenji whined.

"Only because you and your friends kept insulting my brother!" Fuka cried, as the other students besides Kenji and his friends came to her defense. She thought she couldn't cry anymore after all the tears she shed yesterday. She was wrong as more streaked down her cheeks.

"I see... Furinji, Tokage, stand outside the hallway. Takagi, come with me to the principal," the teacher said, shaking his head.

"B-But-"

"No buts, Takagi, come on," the teacher commanded, as Takagi reluctantly obliged. Fuka and Setsuna also followed, though they stopped and stood outside at the door.

"... Stupid Takagi..." Fuka muttered, once the teacher and Takagi were out of earshot.

"I know... At least he's also in trouble, too," Setsuna grumbled.

"It's not fair... why does someone like Takagi get to have a Quirk, but someone like Hiro didn't?" Fuka said, staring at the ground. "If he had gotten a chance... maybe Hiro would've been a great hero..."

---

Noon at UA

"Hey, Hayate! Let's get something to eat-" one of his classmates said.

"N-No thanks, I'm good," Hayate said, getting up and walking out. "I... I should use this time to train after all."

"Again, dude?" another one said. "You've been avoiding us way too much lately."

"Yea, Hayate, you should really-"

"I'm need to train."

"Seriously, you got to ease-"

"I NEED TO TRAIN!" Hayate shouted, startling his classmates. "Just... I got to go."

As Hayate left the classroom, a girl with a unicorn horn smacked the two boys on the back of the head. "You IDIOTS! The guy lost his little brother, and you're telling him to ease up!? What the hell!?"

"But it's been a few months, shouldn't he-"

She smacked them in the back of the head. "You don't get over losing a little brother, idiots!"

---

"Furinji, how're you doing?" Kana's homeroom teacher said, as she stood in front of his desk in the teacher's office. "Your grades have been slipping. You're still passing your classes, but there's a significant drop."

"I... Um, I'm fine," Kana lied, her eyes shifting to the side.

"You don't need to lie, Furinji," he said. "Listen, I know you're having a hard time with your little brother's death. I think you should see Hound Dog for help. He-"

"I-It's alright, I'm good," Kana said, holding her arm tight. "I... Can I go?"

"... Alright, but you should know that Hound Dog's door is always opened for you to talk to him," he said, shaking his head.

"I'll... keep that in mind," she mumbled, as she left the teacher's office.

---

"Hey, Hayate," Mizuna said, walking into Gym Gamma. He had been leaping from rock pillar to rock pillar, breaking apart targets. Hayate spotted her, and landed on the ground, grabbing a towel and wiping his forehead.

"Hey Mizuna... how did you know I'd be here?" he said.

"You've been coming here every day now, why wouldn't I know?" she answered. "You know... you should get something to eat."

"I can't... I have to train," Hayate grumbled.

"Yea, but you're going to run yourself ragged at this rate," Mizuna pointed out.

"It's alright, I'm fine," Hayate replied, before taking a seat. "I'm... fine."

"You don't have to lie to yourself," Mizuna said, taking a seat next to him. "I understand that everyone in your family is having a hard time. But I want you to know that I'm here for you. You don't have to shut yourself away by burying yourself into training."

"... Thanks," Hayate mumbled, as he stared at the ground. "Thanks..."

---

Furin-Kazan Corporation

Fumihiro looked through some of the old requests he had helped designed at his desk, and sighed. On his computer were some old news stories he searched for as well. Something stuck out to him the night Hiroshi and the twins had their argument. Hayate mentioned that Hiroshi had said something about how he could take martial arts classes and have support gear to help him out. While he knew that most heroes tended to have Quirks best suited for combat, there was some hint of truth to Hiroshi's point.

"Hey, Fumihiro," Takehiko said, opening the door to Fumihiro's office, followed by Hitomi. "What're you up to?"

"Just... looking through some old requests and some old news stories," Fumihiro answered. "Like Rubberball."

"The girl who's Quirk just let her be extra bouncy?" Hitomi said, remembering when the heroine-in-training at the time came into Furin-Kazan.

"Who was able to use that to great effect in doors, letting her build up momentum to make her punches and kicks stronger. Add some punching gloves and steel-toed shoes, and they're even better. Not to mention that bullets and blunt weapons bounce off of her, too."

"Right, right..."

"And there's Slipaway..."

"He was just constantly making slippery sweat, right?" Takehiko said, grimacing at the memory of the mess that they had to clean up when he visited.

"Made it impossible to grab him, and he could use his sweat to slide around. Trying to hit him in general was impossible, really."

"Yea..."

"Yea... Oh, and there's Master Ken..."

"He just had extra joints in his arms, didn't he?" Hitomi said, as she began to catch on to Fumihiro's thoughts.

"Which he could use to increase his punching distance and power by keeping one joint folded until he released it..."

"True..."

"And Eraserhead..."

"Oh, that underground hero whose Quirk lets him nullify the Quirks of others? That's useful," Takehiko said, crossing his arms.

"But it provides him with no combative ability. He had to learn how to fight using hand to hand combat and that capture scarf of his."

"... Why are you looking through these heroes?" Takehiko finally asked.

"Hayate... Hayate mentioned that Hiroshi said that he could take martial arts classes and get support gear if he really wanted to be a hero," Fumihiro said.

"Really? But that's-"

"- Not really impossible, I think. Sure, I don't think a Quirkless pro hero would get very far on their own, but maybe... maybe if they were given a chance and help, they could be a lot better than someone might give them credit for," Fumihiro answered. "Think about it. Hiroshi... Hiroshi was never really helpless... he was always willing to jump in to help his friends, even when that Takagi bully of his would threaten to use his Quirk. It's how he died, even..."

"That is true..." Hitomi said, closing her eyes as she thought about the missing boy. "He was just like his older siblings. Always wanting to help, even if it seemed impossible..."

"We just kept trying and trying to discourage him from his dream, but maybe... maybe we should at least give people who're Quirkless the chance to be heroes," Fumihiro said, pinching his forehead. "I don't know, I just... I think we could at least open up the possibility for the kids like Hiroshi who dream of being a hero, but were unable to due to circumstances out of their control..."

"Do you really think that's a good idea? People might think you've lost your mind if we suggest that even Quirkless people can be heroes," Takehiko said, putting a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I... I agree with Fumihiro," Hitomi said, nodding her head. "Maybe if we tried to help him figure out different ways to become a hero, maybe things could've turned out differently."

"Then it's settled," Fumihiro said, taking a deep breath. "We'll start helping people like Hiroshi... so that they can become the heroes they dreamed of."

---

The news spread like wildfire when Furin-Kazan Corporation announced the start of a program to help Quirkless people to become heroes. Many critics rose up against the support company, claiming that they were encouraging reckless endangerment from Quirkless people. Supporters rose up in droves, however, pointing out to the many pro heroes whose Quirks never seemed to be useful because of their lack of blatant combat ability, but still managed to make it as pros, however small they may be. Fumihiro himself reiterated that they weren't going to make every Quirkless person a hero, just the ones who were willing to put in the effort to do so.

The program gained traction as more and more heroes put their support into it, and even UA, one of Japan's premiere hero schools, put their weight into supporting the program, becoming one of the first schools to start using the program. Even All Might voiced his support of the program, saying that when he says that anyone can become a hero, that anyone can become a hero. Though still, many would discourage the practice, as schools weren't required to accept the program, and many small ones wouldn't or hadn't. Still, a change was building over the years, though no one was prepared for what would truly rock the world.

---

Seven Years Later

"And Hurrikana takes another win!" the commentator shouted, the crowd cheering as the referee raised her hand triumphantly. Kana smiled a bit, looking to the side as she walked back to her waiting room.

"Hey Kana," Hayate said, startling the girl when she opened the door.

"Gah! Hayate, what're you doing here?"

"To pick you up for family dinner night, and reminding you that we're going to go to the UA Sports Festival to support Fuka tomorrow."

"Oh... right..." Kana said, having forgotten about it. "That's tomorrow... It's like Principal Nezu to still have it happen, even after an attack on the school."

"Got to show the world that they're not afraid, right?" Hayate said, smiling sadly. "And, well, we should be there for Fuka. She'll need it after everything that happened there."

"I guess... I don't know, I haven't really done any hero work since graduating, so-"

"You're a UA graduate, so you're always welcomed, remember? Principal Nezu said it himself before. Once you're in UA, you'll always be welcomed at UA."

"Still, it's going to be weird for someone from the Amazon Heroines promotion to be there..."

"You're coming with me and Mizuna, so I don't think it'd be too weird," Hayate said. He sighed a little bit. "I know you're still having a hard time with everything after what happened with Hiroshi... trust me, I am too... but Mizuna's been a big help, and we should spend some more time together, right?"

Kana looked to the side in thought, holding her left arm with her right hand, still nervous. "I... I guess you're right... I'll come with you to the UA Sports Festival."

"Good," Hayate said, giving her a small smile. "So let's go and pick her up, alright?"

---

At UA

"You guys ready for tomorrow?" Fuka said, smiling as she and some of her new friends in 1A and 1B walked together in the courtyard. While Fuka was upset that Setsuna and Tsubasa weren't in 1A with her, she was happy that Momo was. Especially since they're having to deal with Katsuki and his terrible attitude (the explosive teen trailing behind them all). And it wasn't like she never got to hang out with them, they always hung out at lunch (in fact, it's arguably thanks to their friends that the two Hero classes interact at all).

"Yep! I'm pumped!" one of Fuka's classmates, Ochako, said, an intense look on her face.

"To think, that the world will be watching us!" Tenya, 1A's class rep, said, his arms moving up and down robotically.

"A-As good as I think I'll be..." Izuku, a shy classmate that Fuka became fond of, mumbled, his hands trembling at bit in nervous excitement.

"Yep! It's gonna be fun!" Setsuna said, her hands behind her head and grinning. "So you guys good?"

"Yea, it must've been scary to go through something like that so early," Tsubasa added.

"It's been a couple weeks since the USJ Incident, so it's alright," Fuka replied, shrugging. "I'm just glad we're all okay."

"Indeed, it was a harrowing experience, but it isn't something we'll let stop us," Momo said.

"Hopefully a Sports Festival is just what we need to relax," Setsuna said.

"Yea, it's not like we'll have something else crazy happen so soon, right?" Denki, another 1A student, said.

That was when a strange metal pod came crashing down into the courtyard. Everyone ran away from it as dirt and concrete flew everywhere, taking cover wherever they could.

"What the hell is that!?" Kyoka, a girl with long earlobes in 1A, shouted, pointing at it. The students approached it cautiously, inspecting it. As they took a closer look, they saw that it looked like some sort of ship, with a small window for a cockpit. The pod opened, and a horned lion-like man clambered out of it.

"Gah, what a rough landing..." he muttered, rubbing his head. "But it looks like I made it here safely, at least..."

He turned around, looking at the stunned students. "Huh, he wasn't kidding that humans here look different..."

"W-Who are you!?" Fuka said, as she and the others backed up. The man's eyes fell onto her, and examined her from head to toe.

"Hm..." he mumbled. "You match the description he gave, but-"

"HEY ASSHOLE!"

The lion-like man turned around and managed to dodge Hayate's and Kana's kicks, rolling away from them before getting blasted by water from Mizuna, who was running after them. Strange glowing lines began to appear on his body, as he prepared himself for a fight.

"What you want from our sister and her classmates!?" Hayate said, keeping an eye on him as the homeroom teachers, Aizawa (who was covered in bandages after the USJ Incident) and Vlad King, rushed out of the building, with All Might and Principal Nezu close behind.

"Eraserhead!" Vlad King said.

"Don't need to tell me twice," Aizawa mumbled. He activated his Quirk and stared at the lion man as All Might charged at him.

"How dare you villains show your faces here again!" All Might shouted, throwing a punch at the lion man. Lines glowed on his arms, and two clones appeared, tanking All Might's attack and instantly disappearing afterwards. The lion man rolled away, and two more clones appeared.

"What the-" Aizawa said, as he glared at the lion man. "How is he using his Quirk? That's definitely an emitter type."

"Quirk? Emitter type? I must be on the right planet," the lion man said, as he took another look at the Furinji siblings.

"Hm... three steel-blue haired people with gray eyes... wind powers... ages are off, but he did describe how you three looked like when he was a kid... that does it, you are the people I'm looking for!" the lion man laughed, standing up as the lines on his body disappeared.

"What are you talking about? Who sent you!?" Kana said, as she stood between him and her little sister.

The lion man grinned and simply stated, "Your brother Hiroshi. He's-"

"Don't you lie," Hayate said, his voice cold. "My brother died 7 years ago."

"He did figure that you'd think that, since he did disappear in a flash of light... but trust me, he's alive-"

"STOP. LYING!" Hayate shouted. Setsuna, Momo, and Fuka stared at the lion man, who crossed his arms and tapped his foot in thought.

"Oh! Right! He gave me this to prove to you all that he's alive!" the lion man said. He pulled a strange metal cube that was hanging off his neck on a necklace, and pressed on it. To everyone's surprise, a hologram was projected, showing them all a picture of a group of people.

At the front was a black-haired teen with wide eyes and a wide grin, wearing a white shirt, red jacket, and green pants that were tucked into his black boots. Next to him was a young curvy girl with long blond hair, a white and blue tank top, black arm sleeves, a black skirt, and black boots, who was holding a blue cat with a black-tipped tail. To the right was a blonde man with a long green coat with a cocky smirk, and a long blue-haired girl who was dressed in a what seemed to be a kimono. The lion man was in the back with them, but what got the attention of Fuka, her friends, and the twins' was who next to the boy standing next to the blonde girl. He was taller with lean muscles, dressed in a blue shirt, green jacket, and black cargo pants with black silver shoes. On his right arm he was wearing an armored gauntlet and shoulder pad, while a strange silvery slime creature sat on his shoulder. He had steel blue hair, gray eyes, and a toothy grin on his face.

"Hiroshi?" Fuka whispered. There was no mistake about it. He was certainly older, but she knew her brother anywhere.

"H-He's alive?" Tsubasa coughed out, tears welling up in her eyes.

"H-How is that possible?" Kana said, trembling. "H-He was vaporized in front of us years ago!"

"Actually, what if I tell you that he was abducted by, well, what you'd call aliens, since they're not native to your planet," the lion man said. "My name's Treyo, and I'm a friend of his. He's been in space with me and our other friends for-"

"He's in space!? How has he been doing!? How has he survived!? He doesn't have a Quirk-" Hayate said, before slapping his hand over his mouth.

"Oh yea, that's something he though you'd say..." Treyo said, rubbing his chin in thought. "Don't worry, he's fine. I'm just here as a messenger for him."

"Is he going to come back!?" Setsuna said, grinning.

"Sort of? I mean, even with our actual ship, it'd take a day or two to get here. My pod has a homing signal on it, so they'll be here eventually," Treyo said, pulling out a strange glowing orb. "I knew getting this portable favor from that Xiaomei lady would be a good idea..."

"What is that?" Izuku said, as Treo poked the orb.

"A special recording she created for us to show you how he's been doing," Treyo explained, as the orb began to project a large video. "The kid owes me for making me use my favor for him..."

---

Seven Years Ago

"Ugh... what... what happened?" Hiroshi mumbled, rubbing his head. He looked around, and found himself in a strange room made out of metal. He was in a surprisingly soft bed, and a night table next to him. Directly across the room from him was a man sitting in a chair who was dressed in robotic armor. His helmet was simple, being relatively featureless, save for a blue visor, a smooth faceplate, and some pointed fins on the side that resembled elf ears. He was wearing a cape that hung off his shoulders, and he stared at the boy.

"Good, you're awake," the man said. His voice had a robotic reverb that matched his appearance. His visor flashed with every word. "It's been a few days since I saved you from those traffickers. You were in cold sleep and everything."

"W-Where am I?" Hiroshi asked. "W-Who are you?"

"Well, a lot of people call me Demon Knight Jack," the man said. "So what's your name, kid?"

"H-Hiroshi Furinji... And I don't think I've ever heard of a pro hero with that name..."

"Pro hero? What's that?" the man asked. "What part of the Sakura Cosmos are you from?"

"W-What's the Sakura Cosmos!?"

"You don't know what the Sakura Cosmos is-? Why wouldn't- Oh wait, I think I get it now," Jack said, snapping his fingers. "You're from the Origin Planet for humans, huh?"

"O-Origin Planet? A-Aren't we on Earth-"

"Oh right, that's what the natives call it," Jack said, stroking his chin in thought. "You see, humans like you had been abducted from all over Earth over the thousands of years you've existed on it. Experiments, slavery, stuff like that."

"Why are you talking like that!?" Hiroshi said. Jack pointed out the window, and what Hiroshi saw completely stunned him. He was out in space, with Earth no where in sight. "W-What!?"

"You see, humans like you had been abducted from all over Earth over the thousands of years you've existed on it. Experiments, slavery, stuff like that. Earth is one of the most easily accessible planets in the Sakura Cosmos," Jack explained. "A lot of the time aliens would just leave you out to survive on your own after they were done with whatever they wanted. But surprisingly you humans are a lot hardier than most thought. Lots of planets ended up getting taken over by dumped humans who banded together and overthrew the local populace when they least expect it. The reason why none of those humans go back to Earth is because they've settled on those planets. Because of those human uprisings, lots of planetary and interstellar governments restricted travel to Earth and patrol the galaxy it's in, though some traffickers can slip through. So it's pretty rare to encounter a human that's actually from Earth nowadays."

"S-So aliens are real!? Are you an alien!?" Hiroshi said, startled.

"Actually I'm a robot," Jack said, sitting up straight and opening his chest, revealing a battery that looked like a heart, with wires connected to it. He closed his chest plate, and sighed. "I'm a pretty old model, though. Robots nowadays can pass off as humans or other living creatures."

Hiroshi stared out the window. "I... I'm really in space..."

"Is it that shocking? I'd have figured that humans would've achieved space travel by now," Jack said. "It's quite accessible, really."

"Oh, yea, I guess you don't know much about Earth's current state, huh?" Hiroshi said, as Jack shook his head no. Hiroshi began to tell him everything that he could understand about Earth, about Quirks, about pro heroes, and about Quirkless.

"I see... so humanity had gone through something like, huh?" Jack said, tapping his chin. "That's intriguing. You're rather informed for a child."

"When you have no Quirk, you tend to want to learn as much about Quirkless as possible..." Hiroshi said.

"I suppose that's why those traffickers were trying to kidnap some humans. For the novelty of having a human with natural abilities. Seems like they didn't get the chance to get too many, seeing as you were the only one that they got."

"Y-Yea... how far away are we from Earth?" Hiroshi asked.

"Hm... I think we're relatively close. This ship isn't the biggest or the fastest, but we should be back there in a few days-"

"I don't... I don't think I want to go back."

---

"Hiroshi... didn't want to go back?" Fuka whispered. Her eyes moved to the ground as she struggled to fight back tears.

"But why?" Setsuna muttered, biting her lip.

Treyo scratched the back of his head. "Well-"

---

"Huh?" Jack said, crossing his arms. "I would've thought that a kid like you would want to go back home. Being in space must be scary-"

"It is... but I don't really have a place where I belong," Hiroshi grumbled, pulling his knees up to his chest. "My siblings keep talking down on me for being Quirkless, that I'm helpless, and just keep yelling at me for wanting to help... Not to mention I get picked on at school by bullies, so it's not like I have a lot of friends."

"Not a lot of friends?" Jack said, catching Hiroshi's words.

"Well, there are some people... or well, at least one person, it feels like," Hiroshi sighed. "What's one less Quirkless kid, anyway?"

"Hm..." Jack said, tapping his foot in though while he pinched his chin in thought. "What if I tell you that there's a power that I can give to you?"

"Huh?" Hiroshi said, picking his head up.

"If you don't want to go back home since you don't have a Quirk, I think I can help you by giving you something that might be better than any Quirk in existence. Or at least in versatility and utility," Jack said, as the door opened.

"How's the kid doing, boss?" Treyo said, walking in.

"Ah, good. Hiroshi, this is Treyo, a friend and attendant of mine. He helped me take down those traffickers that kidnapped you," Jack said, introducing the lion man to Hiroshi.

"Hi. Thanks for the concern, but I'm doing alright."

"That's good, kid," Treyo said, giving Hiroshi a big toothy grin. "So which planet we taking you back home to?"

"The boy said he doesn't want to go back home," Jack said, shrugging.

"Really? But I'm sure your parents would-"

"I just... I just don't want to go back..." Hiroshi mumbled. "It's complicated..."

"And since he doesn't, I think of making him my apprentice and heir," Jack said.

"Really? You wanna make the kid the next Demon Knight?"

"You didn't want to."

"Your Ether Gear's way too hard to understand," Treyo said, scratching the back of his head.

"Ether Gear?"

"You never heard of Ether Gear?"

"The boy's from Earth," Jack explained. "They don't use Ether there. But they do have something called Quirks. And Hiroshi is one of the few that doesn't have one of his own."

"Yea... I'm never going to be able to fit in there," Hiroshi said, sadly.

"I see... Well, if you're not going to go back, welcome aboard!" Treyo said, sticking his hand out to shake.

"Thanks... so what is Ether Gear?" Hiroshi said.

---

The recording became fuzzy, as if something was blocking it.

"What's going on!?" Hayate shouted.

"Ugh, it's probably that Xiaomei woman... she must've made it so that this recording only shows certain moments," Treyo grumbled, as he smacked the orb. "She's an eccentric one, that's for sure. Though I guess it's to cut down on what needs to be told."

"So we're not going to get the full story?" Momo said.

"Probably not, but since he's coming here in a few days, it shouldn't matter," Treyo said, shrugging.

"Can you tell us what Ether Gear is, then?" Izuku asked, having become engrossed in the story.

"I guess so. Ether is a kind of energy that's found in all things. Humans, aliens, animals, even machines and nature. It's possible to compress Ether into forms such as bullets or crystals, and they can be used to power devices. But for someone to be able to use Ether and transform it into power, you need an Ether Gear," Treyo explained. He held up his arms, and lines formed on them, reaching his shoulders. "There are several types of Ether Gears that exist. Mine's Triplicate. It lets me create two Ether clones of myself that are as strong and fast as me, but they can be broken with enough force."

"And Hiroshi got this Ether Gear thing?" Setsuna asked.

"Indeed, though considering that Xiaomei made this recording omitting that, she might want me to keep it a surprise for later," Treyo said, shrugging.

"So since Ether is find in everything, can... can we get Ether Gear?" Izuku said, looking at his hands.

"Yep. There are ways to awaken a person's Ether and develop it into Ether Gear, but the most reliable way is to get a teacher to help you learn," Balreo explained.

"Really!? Does that mean that someone here on Earth can get one!?" Izuku said, getting excited at the prospect.

"I mean, Hiroshi's got Ether Gear, so yes-" Balreo said, when everyone heard a scoff. They looked to Katsuki, gritting his teeth.

"So a weakling like him can be handed power like a toy?" he muttered. "What type of dumb shithead do you think I am to buy-"

"Don't you fucking say another word, Bakugo," Fuka said, gritting her teeth as Setsuna and Momo held her back.

"What!? Mad that I'm pointing out that losers shouldn't try and halfass their way into trying to be a hero!?" Katsuki said. "He's using a power that isn't his to begin with!"

"That's some massive bullshit you're spouting out-" Fuka growled, before All Might came in between them.

"There is no need to say such things, Young Bakugo," All Might said sternly. Katsuki scoffed and turned his eyes away, though the Furinjis threw him a nasty glare.

"Man, the kid wasn't kidding when he said that some people here on Earth thought highly of their Quirks..." Treyo muttered. He smacked the orb again, clearing up the recording. "There we go..."

---

Four Years Later

"You've come a splendid way from where you started with your Ether Gear training, Hiroshi," Jack said, patting the now twelve-year old Hiroshi on the back as they walked in a forested area. Hiroshi was now wearing a gray shirt, red pants, and black combat boots.

"So you think I've really mastered it!?" Hiroshi grinned, making the lines of his Ether Gear glow as they reached from his arms to his face.

"Hm... not quite. You've still yet to attain the highest level," Jack said thoughtfully. "But I'm sure that with the right pushes, you'll get it soon."

"I see..." Hiroshi said, deactivating his Ether Gear. Treyo lumbered behind them, carrying all of their supplies in his backpack.

"I don't get why we're here on this planet," Treyo muttered, swatting a bug away. "Bugs are the worst..."

"To get a breath of fresh air, of course," Jack chuckled, looking at the lion man. "We've been on the ship for quite a while, haven't we?"

"You don't need air, you're a robot."

"A robot that wants to make sure his joints don't get rusty from inactivity."

"But why landed so far from any of the towns on this planet!? I hate the outdoors! Messes up my fur..."

"To let the kid experience other planets of course," Jack replied, shrugging.

"Whoa, Treyo, Jack! Check out this plant! It's huge!" Hiroshi said, pointing to a giant flower on a tree that seemed to have a face on it, with two arms underneath it.

"Excuse you, I'm not a plant!" the plant said. "My name is Nakajima!"

"Oh, it talks!"

"'It'!? How rude!"

"Alright, let's not bother the native life here too much, Hiroshi," Jack laughed, ushering Hiroshi away.

"Teach your child better manners!" the plant shouted, waving a fist at the three.

"Man, I don't think I'd ever see a talking plant like that," Hiroshi said.

"Aren't there some mutant Quirks that make people plant-like?" Treyo asked.

"Yea, but they're human. That guy wasn't a human, was he?"

"I suppose not," Jack said, shrugging. "We should be getting to town soon enough, you two, so don't-"

"Go! Shoo! Leave me alone!"

Hiroshi stopped when he heard the girl crying out. "Get away!"

He looked around, and saw a big horde of birds surrounding something, and ran towards them.

"Hey! Shoo! Get out of here! Leave that girl alone!" Hiroshi shouted, waving his arms around. The birds flew off frightened, cawing as he manically ran at them. "Alright, that should stop- Huh?"

Hiroshi looked around, not finding the girl who was screaming for help. "Hey, thanks for the help."

"Where are you-"

"Down here."

Hiroshi looked down, and saw a silvery puddle of goo on the ground. To his surprise, eye opened and blinked, the puddle gathering together and forming a tiny bloblike creature. "Whoa, what are you?"

"Hiroshi, you shouldn't run off like that!" Treyo said, as he and Jack caught up to him. "What if you got hurt!? What would we do-"

"It's alright, the boy's got a good heart in him," Jack said. He looked down, and crouched to the ground. "Oh my, a Metal Slime. Those are some of the rarer Slimes in the Cosmoses. How did you get here?"

"By accident," the Metal Slime said. "I was sleeping on some metal ore on my home planet when it got mined and taken here. By the time I woke up, I was here and the ship had already dropped the ore off. I tried to figure out where I was when those birds started to surround me."

"I can sorta relate," Hiroshi said, sitting down and crossing his legs. "I got taken off my planet too."

"Eh, it's no big deal, I didn't particularly like living there, really," the Slime said.

"Heh, same," Hiroshi chuckled. "So what's your name?"

"I'm Alexandria, but you can call me Alex for short," the Metal Slime said.

"I'm Hiroshi Furinji," Hiroshi said, sticking out his hand while pointing to Jack and Treyo with his other hand. "That's Demon Knight Jack and Treyo. We're just a group of travelers in the Cosmoses right now, so if you wanna go anywhere, you can just join us."

"Really? Sure!" Alex said, shaking Hiroshi's hand. "Would be nice to visit some other planets!"

"Hey, you can't just be inviting people on board our ship-"

"It's alright, Treyo. What's one more on our ship?" Jack said, shrugging. "Besides, she's a Slime, so it's not like she'll take up too much room unless she uses her human form."

"Huh? Slimes can have human forms?" Hiroshi asked, looking at Jack and then at Alex.

"Yep!" Alex confirmed, as her form shifted and changed shape. When she was finished, she took on the appearance of a curvaceous blonde girl with medium-length blonde hair, silver eyes, and what appeared to be a bodysuit. "This is what I look like, but if it's more convenient-" she changed back into her slime form, "- then I'll stick to my slime form for when we're traveling. Plus, still learning how to transform for long periods of time."

"That's so cool!" Hiroshi said, grinning. "Welcome aboard, Alex!"

---

The recording became blurry again, prompting Treyo to smack it again. "Dang it, not again..."

"So what happened after she joined?" Momo wondered.

"Well, we went and applied to be Adventurers at Shooting Starlight, a guild on a planet called Blue Garden," Treyo explained. "It's the best way to get some work done. Hiroshi wasn't allowed to join by Jack until he finally got a good grasp over his Ether Gear."

With another smack, the recording became clear, and Treyo sighed at seeing what it had changed to. "Oh, right..."

---

Two Years Later

Treyo, Hiroshi, and Alex left the mausoleum that they had made for Jack on Blue Garden. While Treyo remained the same, Hiroshi was now older, taller, more noticeably muscular, and was wearing a blue shirt, green jacket, black cargo pants, and silver shoes, while he wore a gauntlet and shoulder armor on his right arm. Alex, meanwhile, was now in her human form, though now she sported what appeared to be a beanie cap, and her hair reached the base of her head now.

"You alright, Hiroshi?" Alex asked, looking at her friend.

"I... I guess," Hiroshi sighed, shrugging. "I mean, we all knew that this was coming soon, that his battery would run out. Hell, it's one of the reasons why I ended up becoming his heir. I'm just glad that we managed to pay for a mausoleum here like he wanted, and that the cemetery and funeral home allowed robot burials."

"You don't need to pretend that you're fine, Hiroshi," Treyo said, struggling to hold back tears. "It's alright to cry."

"I think you should say that to yourself, Treyo," Hiroshi said dryly, rubbing the back of his neck. He smiled sadly, "Still, I'm gonna miss that old creaky computer. Meeting him and you two was the best thing that's happened to me."

"But you were kidnapped from your home planet," Alex pointed out.

"Yea, I thought by now you'd feel homesick," Treyo said.

"I've already told you, I didn't fit in to begin with," Hiroshi sighed, his brow furrowed as he recalled his past. "The twins talked down on me, I kept getting picked on by people who really don't have the right to, and society on Earth sucks. Always praising the flashiest and strongest Quirks, when they all just got lucky from genetics. Not like they actually earned their powers like I had to do."

"Hiroshi..." Alex said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're doing it again..."

"Right, right, sorry," Hiroshi said, pinching his forehead. "It's just... I never was really happy, you know? Meeting Jack really turned it all around for me."

"But what about the girl that you cared about?" Treyo recalled, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Her? She was the first person to really believe that I wasn't helpless, but... it's been so long now," Hiroshi said, looking up to the sky. "I've changed so much, so she has to have too, right? Would she even recognize me? Would... would I even recognize her? I want to see her again, but..."

He reached for the sky with his right hand, and clenched it. "I just... I don't think I have the right to, and I really can't go back now. They've all probably gotten over me, anyways. What's one less Quirkless person on Earth, anyways? I don't really matter to them, I think."

---

"You're wrong!" Setsuna shouted, startling everyone around her. Tears were dripping down her cheeks. "You... You always mattered, Hiroshi! I know it felt like it didn't, but you were... You were-!"

"Are you alright?" Treyo asked, as the recording became blurry again. "He... he won't hear you from this, this is just a recording after all."

"S-Sorry, it's just... he saved me from getting kidnapped by that light," Setsuna sighed, as Momo, Tsubasa, and Fuka hugged her. "He was... he was always a hero..."

"Aaaah, I see how it is," Treyo said, finally looking at her. "You're just as how he described you as."

"Huh?" Setsuna said, wiping her tears away.

"He never stopped thinking about you, you know," Treyo said, smiling at her. "He always talked about how he missed you, even after everything he's gone through."

"R-Really?" Setsuna said, blushing at the words.

"Yea, if there's anything that he consistently thinks about Earth positively, it's you," Treyo said, before covering his mouth. "Oops, he asked me not to say anything about that. Don't tell him that I told you."

"So... he never talks about us happily, I take it?" Hayate said, feeling ashamed as he parsed what Treyo had said.

"Oh, uh... No, he's, er..." Treyo said, scratching his head. "... Yea you got me."

"Not even me?" Fuka whispered.

"Not nearly as badly as the older ones," Treyo said, before covering his mouth as the recording cleared up. "I shouldn't have said that."

---

One Year Later

"Man, it's been a while since we've actually visited Shooting Starlight, huh?" Hiroshi said, as the trio walked in. "Not since Jack's funeral and all."

"Can't help that, since we've been busy doing odd jobs," Alex sighed.

"At least they haven't been too dangerous-" Treyo said, when they heard someone smash a table. The three looked, and saw a black-haired teen with goggles on his head, who looked rather pissed off, with a broken cat robot and a small rabbit-like robot near him. The receptionist was also next to him, covering her mouth in horror. Hiroshi looked up at the holographic screens to see what they were looking at.

"A bunch of B-Cubers were kidnapped-?" Hiroshi said, as his fist tightened. "... Traffickers."

"Reckon we should go and handle that, huh-" Treyo said, when they saw the boy run off after picking the broken cat robot back up, saying something about getting back to the EDENS ZERO. "Looks like that kid's got the right idea."

"EDENS ZERO..."

"Did you just say EDENS ZERO?"

Hiroshi and the other two looked over, and saw a blond man talking to a girl who was dressed in kimono-like clothes. They were talking about getting onto it.

"Excuse me?" Hiroshi said, walking over to join the two after they finished talking. "You're going to go save those B-Cubers, right?"

"... And if we are?" the blond man replied.

"Take us with you. We want to help out, too," Hiroshi said, crossing his arms. "I hate traffickers, so I'll do anything to take them out, too."

"Well, the offer's only for the girl, so-" the blond man said, when Alex rubbed against his arm.

"Please let us help?" she said, fluttering her eyes.

"Okay!" the man said, giving her a thumbs up. "But you gotta promise me something-"

---

Later

"So you all have Ether Gears, too, huh?" Hiroshi said, as Homura (the girl dressed in the kimono) showed off her Ether Gear's lines as a way to show her resolve to helping out the B-Cubers. Hiroshi got the story from them all about how one of the girls is a friend of Shiki's (the black-haired teen), and that Homura wanted to fight the Demon King in combat. His own Ether Gear lines formed on his arms and face too. Treyo's also made his appear. "What a coincidence, we do, too."

"Really!?" Shiki said, jaw dropped

"What is about this ship and attracting Ether Gearists?" Weisz (the blond man) said, crossing his arms.

The ship's caretaker, Witch, observed Homura's and Hiroshi's Ether Gears in particular. "Hm... your help can prove useful, I think."

"Yea, of course. Didn't work my ass off to get this Ether Gear for nothing after all," Hiroshi said, as his Ether Gear's lines disappeared. "So let's go save your friend and the other B-Cubers, alright?"

---

The recording blurred again, and Treyo smacked the orb once again. "Come on, quit fritzing out on me..."

"So that's how you all met up?" Fuka asked. "To stop people from trafficking others?"

"Yep, and, well-" Treyo smacked the orb more, and the recording started up again.

---

"Thanks a lot for the help!" Shiki grinned, as they left Guilst. They had managed to escape the planet, and they had saved all of the kidnapped girls and Rebecca, Shiki's friend. They also explained more about themselves to the three, such as who the Four Shining Stars were, and why they had to gather them. "You've got a really cool Ether Gear!"

"Thanks," Hiroshi said, as he stared at his hand. "Got it from the robot who saved me from traffickers myself years ago."

"A robot... was this robot's designation Jack?" Witch asked, looking at him.

"Huh? How did you know?" Hiroshi said.

"I thought so..."

"Who's Jack?" Rebecca asked.

"He was a rival of Ziggy's. The Demon Knight to Ziggy's Demon King," Witch said. "The two were fierce rivals, and both were searching for Mother. Neither were successful, and Jack moved on with his own life after that."

"I guess he ended up going down Ziggy's route and take a kid of his own, huh?" Sister snickered. "So what's happened to ol' smoothface?"

"Oh, he... died a year ago," Hiroshi said, sadly. "One day he just stopped moving, and we had to bury him on Blue Garden."

"Really? Sorry, kid," Sister said, realizing she touched a nerve.

"It's alright, we all knew that it was coming. It was one of the reasons why he taught me how to use his Ether Gear," Hiroshi said.

"Rivals, huh... those are like friends, right?" Shiki grinned.

"In a way, those two really were good friends," Witch said thoughtfully. "They always loved to challenge one another before they chose to give up finding Mother."

"If that's the case, then we can be friends, too!" Shiki said, sticking his hand out to shake Hiroshi's. "So what you say about that?"

"Sounds good to me," Hiroshi said, shaking Shiki's hand. "From now on, we're friends."

---

The recording stopped, only this time it turned black instead of blurry.

"Huh, I guess that's it now," Treyo said, putting the orb away. "That was all a couple weeks ago. We took that picture before I left to go find Earth while they handled something else."

"So he's really fine..." Kana said, covering her mouth.

"I can't believe that your brother went all space hero on us!" Kyoka said, looking at Fuka.

"That's so incredible!" Izuku said.

"Yea... so... so is he really coming back here?" Fuka said, looking at Treyo.

"He should be here by tomorrow," Treyo said, grinning. "I'm... I'm sure he'll be excited to see you all again."

"That's great!" Setsuna said, having the biggest grin on her face. "He's going to be impressed with all the things that've changed here since he left! I know it!"

"Yea..." Treyo said, as his gaze shifted to the left. "Yea..."

---

The Next Day

"Are you alright, Fuka?" Momo asked, as the combined Hero Course classes stood out in the courtyard. Because of the USJ incident, people were concerned about the metal pod that crashed into UA's courtyard, though thankfully the faculty managed to pass it off as an undisclosed Support Course student's malfunctioning project. The UA Sports Festival had come and gone (ending with Katsuki's victory, making Fuka a bit unhappy), and Fuka's family were waiting with them (the three kids having revealed to their parents what happened with Treyo's assistance and his orb), while some of the teachers stood off to the side, ready in case anything went wrong. Even Katsuki was there, though still fuming over his perceived undeserved win.

"I... I don't know," Fuka admitted. "I'm going to be able to see Hiroshi today after so long. What am I going to say to him when we see him?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine!" Tsubasa said, puffing out her cheeks. "He... he can't have changed that much, right!?"

"Right!" Setsuna said, though her gaze fell to the ground. "He's... We'll just have to help him catch up to speed on what's happened here!"

"So when is he supposed to come?" Izuku asked, when a small blue spaceship flew down and landed several yards away.

"Oh, they took the Aqua Wing down, huh? Probably a good idea," Treyo said, as they ran towards it. "A lot less noticeable in the sky than the EDENS ZERO."

A door on the side opened, and a figure that Fuka, her family, and her friends hadn't seen in years walked out of it.

"Holy shit, Treyo landed at UA?" Hiroshi said, taking a good look at the building near them. "That must've been some big news... Oh man, I really hope they didn't take him and do experiments on him, that's going to-"

"Hiroshi!? Hiroshi is that you!?" Fuka shouted. Hiroshi looked down, and saw Fuka staring up at him, with his family close behind her.

"Fuka? You're at UA now?" Hiroshi said, unsure of how to make of it. His gaze then fell onto his parents. "Mom? Dad?"

"It's... it's really you," Hitomi said, while his father reminded stunned, staring at the son that he long thought to be dead. "You're alive-!"

"... Yea, I'm alive-" Hiroshi began to say, when his gaze fell onto the twins. "Oh. Hi you two."

Hayate and Kana winced at the words, the flatness of his tone slapping them as a reminder of the argument all those years ago. "Honestly, this is perfect. I can say what I need to quickly."

"Wait, don't you want to check out your home before you say the important stuff?" a voice said. A cap on Hiroshi's shoulder armor opened, and silvery slime flowed out before forming into a small blobby creature. "It's been seven years since you were here, right?"

"Alex, it's fine, I-"

"Yea, come on, Hiroshi! I want to explore!" someone said behind him, shoving him out the doorway. A black-haired teen looked out, staring at awe at the people on the ground, a little rabbit-like robot following him. "So this is the planet where all humans came from!?"

"Biometric scans confirm that they are all indeed human, even if some do not appear so," the robot said, looking at the students that were there.

"Wow, you weren't kidding about how far back technological progress was here," a blond man said, following the black-haired teen out. "Forget ancient, this technology's downright primitive."

An ash-blond girl walked out, looking at everything. A blue cat stood near her feet. "Still, to think that humans here actually have special powers that aren't related to alien heritage, technological modifications, or Ether Gears!"

"This is going to make a great video, Rebecca!" the blue cat said, catching the people down at the ground by surprise.

"Yea Happy! 'Me and My Friends Go to The Planet Where Humans Came From'!" Rebecca said, her eyes sparkling.

"Rebecca that's a mouthful," Hiroshi snickered as he climbed down from the Aqua Wing.

"It is accurate, I think," a blue-haired girl wearing a kimono-like dress said, looking around the courtyard. A woman dressed like a nun followed her out.

It's one of the plainest planets I've ever been to, but hey, I'm sure it's got a lot of surprises," the nun said, smirking as she climbed down from the spaceship, though her eyes landed on All Might, squinting them as she scanned his appearance. "... Lots of surprises, I think."

"Hiroshi, you're really alive!" Hayate shouted, going over to his little brother. He went in for a hug, only to find that it was the black-haired teen. "Huh? But I swear I was-"

"Wow, Hiroshi, your brother is really friendly!" the teen said, returning Hayate's hug. "Not at all like what you'd talk about!"

"Yea, 'friendly'," Hiroshi said, who was now standing where the black-haired teen was earlier. "Well, if you want to get hugs from him and Kana, be my guest."

"How did you-"

"Well, anyways," Hiroshi said, cutting off Hayate. "Since we're all here now, I can say what I need to. You guys-"

"Hey!"

Hiroshi raised an eyebrow, and looked behind Hayate. He saw an ash-blond teen with red irises glaring at him as he stomped on over, a medal hanging off his mouth that he pulled out.

"Bakugo, what are you doing!?" Eijiro said, as Katsuki made his way to the front.

"Can I help you?" Hiroshi asked.

"You're the guy that got handed his powers like a toy, right?" Katsuki said.

"Excuse me?" Hiroshi said, gritting his teeth.

"Kacchan, that's-!"

"Stay out of this, Deku!"

"What's your deal?" Hiroshi said, walking up to Katsuki. The two butted heads, glaring at one another. "You scared that I'm probably better than you?"

"As if!" Katsuki said. "I worked my ass off on my own to get as good as I am!"

"Yea right! You and most of the humans here on Earth got lucky and got super strong Quirks!" Hiroshi retorted. "I actually worked to prove that I earned my powers unlike you!"

"Oh, you think so, huh!?" Katsuki said. "I've been waiting for you to get here so I can beat your ass and make you wish that you stayed Quirkless!"

"I had other plans today, but you know what!? Fine!" Hiroshi said. "And to make this fair, I'll let anyone in the Hero Course fight me if they want to!"

"Sure! Those two-bits can join in if they want!" Katsuki sneered. "But I'm all that needed to kick your ass!"

"Hey! Rat-Man!" Hiroshi said, pointing to Principal Nezu. "Is there anywhere here that I can beat this guy's ass!?"

"D-Did he just call the principal 'Rat-Man'?" Tsubasa muttered, as Kyoka held back a chuckle. Fuka and the others stared at Hiroshi in disbelief, caught off guard by how equally confrontational he was with Katsuki. He did have an abrasive side to him when they were kids, but to see that it had gotten that bad was offputting.

"I-I guess it's good that he recognizes who Principal Nezu is..." Setsuna said, nervously.

"Indeed we do, Mr. Hiroshi!" Principal Nezu laughed, unperturbed by Hiroshi's insult. "You can use Gym Gamma as your fighting ring! Just as long as you let us teachers watch and make sure that nothing goes too far!"

"Fine by me!"

"Principal Nezu, is that wise?" All Might whispered to the small enlightened rodent. "Considering how Young Fuka's brother is behaving, this might end up badly."

"I know, but I am deeply curious as to how strong these Ether Gears can be," Principal Nezu said, stroking his chin with his paw as he led the group to Gym Gamma. "After all, it isn't every day that we get to be graced by the arrival of aliens!"

"I know, but one of them... one of them keeps eyeing me," All Might said, having long noticed the nun's gaze pointing at him. "It just seems like this could end up badly."

---

Gym Gamma

"Are you sure that you're alright with fighting with so many of us at once?" Eijiro asked, as Hiroshi stretched and popped his joints. In the end, the people that chose to sit out the fight were Fuka, Setsuna, Momo, and Tsubasa who didn't want to fight the teen they thought had died, those that weren't very combative like Kyoka, Toru, or Kinoko, those that didn't want to fight, like Ochako, Mezo, Toru, Pony, Hitoshi, and Tenya, those that were afraid to fight like Kinoko and Minoru, and Izuku who was unable to thanks to being bandaged and in casts. All Might and Hiroshi's space friends were standing near them, while the rest of the Furinji family and the faculty that was present at Hiroshi's arrival were standing on the other side. "You're up against like, uh... over 25 of us right now?"

"Appreciate the concern, but I've fought large crowds of people before, so I'm used to it," Hiroshi answered, having been the one insistent on getting as many of them to fight him. "And to make things fair, I won't have Alex help me out here. Alex?"

At the mention of her name, Alex flowed out of Hiroshi's shoulder armor, changing into her human form, and helped Hiroshi take it off his arm armor. "You sure you want to do this? This seems a little excessive for a welcome home visit."

"It's fine. I want to vent a little, anyways," Hiroshi said, as Alex went off to join the others off at the side.

"This is not how I imagined our reunion to go," Setsuna said.

"He's more aggressive than I remember..." Tsubasa admitted.

"I guess that's what happens when you don't interact with the people you argued with for over 7 years..." Fuka said sadly, as Hayate shifted his foot around in guilt and Kana looked to the ground. "Resentment just grows..."

"He's not normally like this," Treyo assured them. "It's just... he's been through a lot over these past 7 years."

"Has... has he been doing well in space?" Hayate asked.

"From our time together, he's capable of handling himself rather well," Homura (the girl dressed in a kimono-like dress), said.

"The guy's Ether Gear is scary strong," Weisz (the blond man, who's apparently a version of some professor that got moved 50 years into the future) added.

"Hey, kid," Sister (the (android) nun, who had a very appropriate name for herself) said, walking over to Izuku. "You looked like you went through a war with all those injuries. Let me help."

"I-It's okay! I'm-" Izuku said, as Sister created an orb of light in her palm. She touched Izuku with it, who flinched. She picked up his casts, and smashed them open.

"What the hell are you doing-!?" Fuka shouted, when Izuku moved his arms around. Despite how badly damaged they had been, to the point of almost getting permanent scars, his arms were completely healed.

"I- What!?" Izuku said, looking at his hands. He unwrapped the bandages, and he found out that he was completely healed all around.

"My power's Heal Atomizer. Lets me heal any living thing, including sapient machines," Sister said, with a smug grin.

"What are the side effects!?" Izuku asked.

"If you count 'feeling awesome' a side effect, none," she answered. "Though I hope that you breaking your bones and tearing your muscles isn't a habit of yours. I can't be here all the time."

Sister turned towards All Might. "Now it's your turn, big guy."

"What are you talking about? I'm not injured in the slightest-"

"I'm talking about those big old wounds you have," Sister said, pointing to the left side of All Might's torso. The people around her raised an eyebrow, and the Number One Hero himself sweated a bit (as did Izuku).

"H-How did you-"

"I specialize in healing Ether, so I know how to sense Ether flow. And yours is all messed up right there," Sister said. "It's too late for me to completely heal your old wounds, especially since it seems like you're missing parts of your organs. But I can at least fix your body's Ether flow so that you're more comfortable."

"... Let's talk about this later," All Might said.

"Sure. I guess it's some sort of pride thing with you," Sister said, shrugging.

"Alright, last chance, man!" Tetsutetsu shouted, as Hiroshi finished his stretches. "You can back down now, or we'll come at you with everything we've got!"

"I should be saying that to you all," Hiroshi said, smirking. "Because I'm going to absolutely wipe the floor with all of you, especially Mr. Volcano over there."

"And begin!" Principal Nezu said, as Midnight cracked her whip. In a flash, Katsuki had flown over to Hiroshi by launching himself with an Explosion, and threw another one right in his face.

"Ha! Take that, you bastard! You aren't-" Katsuki started to taunt, when Eijiro popped out of the smoke instead.

"What the heck, Bakugo!? Why did you attack me!?" Eijiro said, having managed to Harden in time to tank Katsuki's Explosion.

"Wow, friendly fire," Hiroshi said, standing right in the middle of the crowd of Hero Course students, making them all jump backwards. The lines of his Ether Gear were glowing. "Gotta say, you Hero Course kids take the whole hero competition thing seriously."

"Holy shit he's fast!" Denki said, as Tetsutetsu changed his flesh into metal and went in for a punch. However, instead of hitting Hiroshi, he had struck Neito across the face.

"Gaaah!" Neito shouted, rubbing his face. Before anyone could figure out what was happening, Hiroshi had appeared behind Itsuka and Mashirao and struck their backs. The two turned around to hit him, only to knock Jurota off his feet.

"What's going on!?" Hanta said, when Hiroshi grabbed him by the back of the shirt and threw him over his shoulder.

"That bastard-!" Katsuki said, noticing what was happening. "That cheating power of his lets him swap places with other people!"

"Close, but not quite," Hiroshi said, when he felt his feet get cold. He looked down, and saw that his feet were frozen to the ground. "Oh shit!"

"Hmph, seems like you're not quite as strong as you thought you were," Shoto said, as ice crept up Hiroshi's legs.

"Yea, you got me," Hiroshi said, when he disappeared. But no one had taken his place.

"What the-" Shoto looked around, when he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. He looked up, and saw Hiroshi doing a handstand on him.

"But not good enough!" Hiroshi said. All of a sudden, Shoto found himself high in the air, and Hiroshi threw him downwards. Before he could understand what was happening, Hiroshi disappeared after falling for a bit, and reappeared right above him, kneeing him hard in the gut as they landed on the ground.

"There he goes, showing off," Treyo sighed, shaking his head.

"He always has to do that, huh?" Alex said, crossing her arms.

"Do what!? How's Hiroshi that fast!?" Fuka asked, watching as her brother disappear, only to reappear in the air. He fell a good distance down, before disappearing again and reappearing behind Denki and kicking him extremely hard.

"It's not him being fast," Setsuna realized. "He's... he's warping place to place!"

"Exactly," Happy said. "It's not just warping though. Right now, we're all in his Space."

"What?" Tsubasa asked.

"Hiroshi's Ether Gear's one of the most insane ones I've ever heard about," Weisz said, nervously sweating as the blue-haired teen warped everywhere. Eijiro swung his fist at him, only for a slab of concrete to take Hiroshi's place. "It lets him create a big Space that he controls. He can move himself anywhere in an instance and he can manipulate everything in the Space to a degree. I'd never imagine something like that could exist."

"I mean, there's a bunch of Ether Gears we don't know about that're super strong," Rebecca said. "Though Hiroshi's aptitude with Space Operator is real intimidating."

"The actual intimidating part hasn't even started yet," Alex said, to the others' confusion. Katsuki tried to keep up with Hiroshi, but he kept teleporting around him, or replacing himself with one of the other Hero Course students.

"Is that why he was so insistent on getting nearly everyone to fight him?" Hitoshi said, rubbing the back of his head. "No wonder, his power is way better the more targets he has."

"Stop jumping from place to place, asshole!" Katsuki shouted, as Hiroshi came to a stop. "And fight me like a man!"

"Alright, if you insist!" Hiroshi said, rearing his fist back. Before he swung a punch, however, he disappeared right as Katsuki threw another Explosion, appearing behind him and slugging him on the back. Katsuki turned around, but he disappeared once again.

"Geh... This is exactly why you're cheating!" Katsuki said, as Hiroshi landed on top of a rock pillar. "You got handed a fucking power like this as if it were a fucking toy!"

"Oh fuck off!" Hiroshi retorted. "I actually worked to get Jack's Ether Gear, thank you!"

"As if! Me and all the fucking extras here actually took our Quirks and improved them!" Katsuki shouted. He launched himself forward at Hiroshi, only for the teen to reappear on the ground. "All you did was get lucky to be handed a power that you would never have had!"

"Yea, you all totally earned the powers that you all got because of fucking genetic luck!" Hiroshi said, as he reappeared and kneed Katsuki in the face. Hanta attempted to grab him with his tape, but Hiroshi vanished, only for him to reappear in front of Yuga and slam his fist into the poor boy's gut. "What about the Quirkless who'd never get the chance to be heroes like you all!? What about the 'useless' Quirks like turning into a guinea pig or just glowing in the dark!? So many of you talk big, but the truth is that you all got lucky!"

"Alright, now I'm really mad!" Tetsutetsu said, charging at the blue-haired teen. "What do you know about working hard, punk!?"

"Enough to be able to do something that Jack couldn't! Like THIS!"

Hiroshi ducked under Tetsutetsu, and sprung back up immediately, uppercutting Tetsutetsu's jaw. The metal teen grunted, and to everyone's shock and horror, his head flew straight off.

"Oh my god he KILLED HIIIIIIIIM!" Minoru shouted, pointing at the flying head. Fuka and Setsuna covered her mouth in horror, Tsubasa looked like she was about to faint,

"He's gone too far, I'm-" All Might started to say, when Sister grabbed him by the sleeve.

"Look again," she said, pointing to the head. As everyone looked up, they noticed that Tetsutetsu's head wasn't dead, but screaming.

"What the hell is happening!?" he shouted. The fighters all turned their attention to his body, which was desperately grasping for where his head was.

"You're all open!" Hiroshi shouted, as he warped constantly, appearing right next to them, striking them before moving to the next. Lines began forming on their bodies, as they all stared in horror. "You wanna know something neat!? Not only do I control Space, but I inflict 'Space' as well!"

Before anyone could react, Hiroshi slammed his foot onto the ground, and everyone's bodies began to fall apart. "This is the accumulation of my own take on the power I gained! Space Operation: Separation!"

"Gaaaah! What the hell is happening!?" Denki cried, his body parts floating around. While he was separated into parts, he could distinctly feel each of them.

"T-This is weird! Really weird!" Mina said, as she felt her body parts being juggled around in the air. Someone's elbow bumped against her chest. "H-Hey! Watch where you moving our parts!"

"Is this how Tokage feels when she uses her Quirk!?" Itsuka shouted, trying to make heads and tails of which parts were hers.

"Tokage-?" Hiroshi said, when he was caught off guard by an attack from Katsuki, being flung backwards.

"You think that shit's gotta work on me!? As if!" Katsuki said, who was surprisingly still whole, though he clearly had the same lines that the others had. Every time it seemed like he was going to fall apart, he forced himself to stay together.

"Damn, looks like you've got a really strong handle on just who you are, even if you've not familiar with Ether or Ether Gears," Hiroshi complimented, wiping the dirt off his chin. "Not everyone can force themselves to hold together like that without understanding who they are."

"Damn right I know who I am!" Katsuki shouted, launching himself forward with his Quirk. He swung his right arm at Hiroshi in a right hook, though Hiroshi moved Tetsutetsu's and Eijiro's torsos to his left side to protect himself. "I'm Katsuki Bakugo! The next Number One Hero!"

"Sounds like a big goal! But can you keep yourself together while fighting me!?" Hiroshi said, as he kicked Katsuki's left knee. He buckled for a second before forcing his knee back into place, only for Hiroshi to grab his arm and fling him over his shoulder. He felt his arm separate at the elbow, but he forced his arm back on. Katsuki went for another right hook, only to feel the recoil of the blast he made nearly separate his arm off. "I take it that you can't!"

"Man, Hiroshi is just relentless," Weisz said, shivering and holding down his lunch as he watched all of the body parts floating around the teen. "I don't know how he keeps calm with all those limbs flying around."

"It was really terrible when he used it on me the first time," Treyo said, recalling the horrifying first attempt that Hiroshi made when he figured out that he could inflict 'Space' onto others. "It took us hours to figure out how to undo it."

"Facing him in spars is difficult," Homura said, crossing her arms and remembering when he quite literally disarmed her.

"Man, Hiroshi really hit the jackpot in powers, huh?" Setsuna said. As she watched Hiroshi juggle her classmates' separated body parts, she wondered if he had used her as inspiration for the technique.

"Only thing that keeps him down is his stamina," Rebecca said.

"Really? He hasn't slowed down all that much," Hitoshi said, watching him leap around from Katsuki's attacks.

"Oh really?" Alex said, pointing at him. Now that they were paying attention, he was sweating and breathing heavily. "He's not warping himself or anything else anymore. He's focused on holding up all of your classmates' body parts."

"You're getting tired, aren't you!?" Katsuki taunted, as he launched more Explosions. "Don't have the energy to do that fancy teleportation of yours!?"

"Same with you!" Hiroshi said, as he threw Eijiro's arms like a javelin, following up with throwing Eijiro's head.

"AAAAAAAAAH SORRY DUDE!" Eijiro screamed, as his body parts collided against Katsuki. The explosive teen grunted as he felt his body parts separate yet again before forcing them back together.

"You can't keep using your Quirk while keeping your body together!" Hiroshi shouted, throwing more of the Hero Course students' body parts at Katsuki. "And it's about time I finish this off!"

Hiroshi made a movement his right hand, rearing it backwards. The body parts flying around began to gather together, forming what could be generously described as a fist. The only parts that weren't a part of this amalgamated fist were everyone's heads, which were kept floating away from it.

"Oh god I think I'm going be nauseous," Sen said, looking at the fist and feeling everyone else's body parts intertangled with his.

"This is the worst feeling!" Hanta shouted.

"I'm going to need a long, long shower after all of this is over," Itsuka grumbled.

"Let's see how well you can keep yourself together with this!" Hiroshi shouted. "Space Operation: Amalgamation Knuckle!"

Hiroshi threw the fist of body parts towards Katsuki. He tried to use his Explosions to divert the amalgamated hand away, but with the struggle of having to literally hold himself together, the fist struck him. In desperation, Katsuki tried to push the fist away, only for him to finally come apart at the seams, and scatter from the impact of the attack. Once he did, Hiroshi released his fist and the amalgamated hand fell apart. Everyone that was a part of the fist groaned.

"And that's that!" Hiroshi said, dusting his hands off and wiping the sweat off his brow. "I think this is my victory now, right?"

"Indeed, but may I ask you to put our students back together?" Principal Nezu said.

"You want them back together?" Hiroshi said, sounding gravely serious before he broke out in laughter. "Nah, no problem, I can do that."

Hiroshi lifted Reiko's head since she was the closest to him, and tapped her forehead. In an instant, her body parts came out of the pile, and attached themselves back together.

"That was quite the peculiar experience to ever go through," Reiko said, as Hiroshi repeated the process over and over.

"I am never going to take my body for granted ever again," Denki said, patting himself down to make sure that he really was all whole. He looked around before hiding behind a rock formation. "Oh thank god it's still there."

After Hiroshi finished putting everyone back together, he sighed and stretched his joints. "Now that I got that out of my system, it's time I get to why I'm here."

Hiroshi walked up to Hayate, Kana, and Fuka, while their parents came to join them while the faculty checked on the students to make sure that they were really alright. "The reason why I came here today... is to finally cut all ties here."

"... Huh?" Fuka squeaked, as they all stared at him. Treyo shuffled his foot around, as he looked away, while Alex sighed and shook her head. Homura raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms as the other EDENS ZERO members looked at each other with concern, except for Weisz, who was busy checking out Midnight.

"W-What are you talking about-" Hayate said, when Hiroshi held his hand up to stop him.

"Something happened a while ago that made me think about you guys, and, well, it's time I actually make this official," Hiroshi said, running his hand through his hair.

"I realized that, well, I never felt like I belonged here. I don't have a Quirk, I was an easy target for bullies, and I... just never happy. But out in the Cosmoses, I'm finally am." As Hiroshi talked, Fuka felt her breath grow shorter and shorter, while Hayate stared at the ground, Kana gritted her teeth and held back her tears, and their parents struggled to keep their composure. "I'm sure you all have moved on already, so-"

A fist flew out from behind Fuka and struck Hiroshi across the face. He rubbed his cheek before looking behind his sister and seeing who owned the hand as it reattached to her wrist. It was a face he hadn't expected to see. A very, very angry face.

"Setsuna?" he said softly.

"Move on!? Did you really think we all moved on!? Ever we thought you died, we always kept you in our minds!" Setsuna shouted, as Hiroshi stood there, shocked. "Did you know that your parents found a program that helps Quirkless people become heroes!"

"... What?" Hiroshi said.

"It's true. When we thought you had died, and from what Hayate and Kana said about how some heroes with noncombative Quirks excelled because they were given the chance, we decided to try and help the Quirkless people who aspired to be heroes like you by giving them the chance," his father said, sadly.

"I... We... We never stopped thinking about what we said that night, Hiroshi," Kana said, as she finally let her tears fall. "About how the last conversation we had was... was a stupid argument!"

"I don't... I don't blame you for wanting to cut all ties to us," Hayate said, his fist clenched so hard that his nails threatened to break his skin. "But still, let us say that we're sorry for everything we said!"

"I-"

"Hiroshi, I... I never stopped thinking about what you could've been like if you were given the chance to be a hero," Fuka said, trembling. "So I always tried to help people that reminded me of you! Because I know that if the right people were given the chance to be heroes, that they could be the best heroes out of all of us!"

"I-"

"I never, ever stopped thinking about what would've happened if it had been me that had disappeared that night!" Setsuna said, as tears fell from her cheeks. Hiroshi stood there, staring at her. "How we could've both died, but you saved me without a second thought! You were always my hero since that night, but- but if you want to cut all of your ties to here, then FINE! I don't even know why you decided to come back, you should've just STAYED IN SPACE!"

Setsuna stormed off, as everyone stared at the distraught girl. The Furinjis and Fuka's closest friends looked between them, and decided to follow her, since he had made his position clear. Hiroshi stood there for what seemed like hours before heading to the entrance on the opposite side.

"H-Hey! Where are you going!?" Izuku said, following the boy as he, some of his friends and classmates, and Hiroshi's space friends followed him. Hiroshi hadn't made it ten steps away from Gym Gamma when he fell flat on his face.

"I'm such a fucking idiot," Hiroshi said, as Treyo went to pick him up, only for Hiroshi to just move himself out of the way with his Ether Gear to avoid getting touched. "Of course they all still cared! All I've been doing was projecting my own stupid insecurities on my family 'cuz I was being a dumb eight year old!"

"I should've realized that you were inspired by me cutting my mother out of my life," Homura sighed, shaking her head. "But the circumstances between her and I are very different from what you're going through."

"I know, I should've realized that. She was a sociopathic dictator of a planet, so I have no idea why I thought I could cut my family out for good, too," Hiroshi said.

"Um..." Ochako said, uncomfortably.

"I feel like that's a lot to unpack," Kyoka said,

"Long story," Weisz said.

"I mean, it was seven years," Rebecca said, trying to pat his shoulder, only for Hiroshi to warp away from her.

"Seven years that I spent being angry at my family when they genuinely cared for me! But I was just too stupid to try and look at their perspective," Hiroshi groaned. He rolled over onto his back, and stared at the sky before pulling at his hair. "And I... I pissed off the one person who I thought was the only one to really care about me... God I'm such an asshole."

"Do you want us to-" Shiki began to say, but Hiroshi held his hand up to stop him as he got up by himself.

"No, it's... I need some time to think to myself," Hiroshi sighed. "I think that they do, too. If you need me, I'll be walking through the woods here... You guys... you guys can do whatever."

"Alright, if you say so. Just know that we're all here for you," Shiki said. "Come on, let's give him some space."

As everyone dispersed, Hiroshi was left to his own devices, and began to walk off around campus for an undeterminable amount of time, not really thinking about a destination when Principal Nezu approached him at the stairs in front of the school.

"Hello, Mr. Hiroshi," the enlightened rodent said cheerfully, catching the teen's attention.

"Oh, um, hi... listen, I'm sorry I called you Rat Man, I've just-"

"It's quite alright! It's not every day that you get to meet a person who was abducted and managed to come back to Earth!" Principal Nezu laughed. "Though I can see that your time away from here has colored your perception."

"I... yea. I mean, I should've realized it from the beginning," Hiroshi sighed, sitting down on the stairs. "I knew that in my heart that they were looking out for me, but I let myself be blinded by my own frustrations for so long... I thought I knew who I was after being in space for so long, but now that I'm back... I don't... I don't recognize myself anymore."

"Do you still think that you want to cut yourself away from this world?"

"I... don't know. But it's not like I have a choice now. The original reason was all wrong, but I still ended up cutting my ties by pissing off the one person that believed in me," Hiroshi said, putting his face in his hands.

"Miss Tokage is upset, certainly, but I do think that you can still make it up to her," Principal Nezu assured him. "After all, you still felt the need to talk to your family in person when you could've easily let them keep thinking that you had passed away."

"Yea... I guess somewhere, in my heart, I was hoping that I was wrong," Hiroshi said, sighing as he looked up to the rodent principal. "And I really, really was..."

Hiroshi got up, and popped his shoulder. "Thanks for talking with me, sir..."

"So what do you plan to do while you're here?" Principal Nezu said.

"Well, we're probably just going to just... hang around here, I guess," Hiroshi said, crossing his arms, when he realized something. "Oh no, I let Shiki and the others go walk around in town! They're going to-"

"Don't fret, Mr. Hiroshi. They had offered to take some of the Hero Course students onto your main ship for a tour. That, and Miss Sister wanted to bring All Might to it for some reason," Principal Nezu said.

"Huh, I guess I'm just stuck here for the moment, then," Hiroshi said, though he rubbed his chin in thought. "Wonder why she wanted to take him up there, though."

---

In the EDENS ZERO's medical bay

"Oof, I knew that it was bad, didn't think it was this bad, though," Sister said, as All Might laid on one of the beds and she examined him. The gargantuan man, in a word, had deflated. Gone was his gigantic muscles and powerful frame, and what took their place was a skeleton of a man. The only thing that stayed the same was his height. Even when he lost all of his muscle mass, he was still impressively tall. The man had asked her to lock the doors so as to keep this form of his a secret. "And this is all from an old fight you had?"

"That's right," All Might sighed. "5 years ago on this planet, I had to fight a villain like no other. He hit me hard, but I hit him just as hard as well. The injuries and surgeries I got made me wither away into what you're seeing now. I can only work for a few hours now these days."

"Not a lot of people know about this, though, and I need to keep it that way. The world needs a Symbol of Peace, and if people knew that this is what the Number One Hero looked like in his off time, villains would become bold, more crimes would happen."

"That seems like a burden you should be sharing with more people, honestly," Sister said, rubbing the back of her head. "But if that's what you want, then alright."

"Thank you... so you said that you could fix my, um, body's Ether flow?" All Might asked.

"Yea. If I was here the day you got those wounds, that would be a different story. Would've been able to heal them in an instance, and you'd be good as new. But since they're old, there's nothing I can do to fix that, short of growing you new organs, which the EDENS ZERO isn't equipped to do," Sister said. "The next best thing is fixing your body's Ether flow. It's all messed up thanks to your missing organs and the massive scarring left behind. Can't promise that you'll be able to work like you used to, but you'll at least be significantly more comfortable."

"That's fine with me," All Might sighed. "So why are you helping me?"

"Well, for one, when that Hiroshi kid told us about Earth, he'd mention you since you're Number One," Sister said, as orbs of light formed in her hands. She began moving them over All Might. "You looked the part for sure, but you're hiding some serious pain. And hey, heroes need help too."

"I suppose so..." All Might said.

---

EDENS ZERO Main Deck

"This is so crazy!" Ochako said, as she and a few of her classmates looked around the ship. "I can't believe we're actually on an alien spaceship!"

"My family's never gonna believe this!" Pony said, as the ship's caretaker Witch watched over them, while Hermit did a maintenance check of the ship.

"I still can't believe it myself!" Shiki said, as he sat on a big throne-like chair. "Space is great, isn't it!?"

"Yea. Thanks for letting us check this place out," Itsuka said, crossing her arms.

"It is our pleasure to have you aboard as guests," Witch said, giving a polite bow to them.

"It's not problem. After all, we really should apologize about Hiroshi going nuts like that in your fight," Rebecca said, chuckling nervously as she rubbed the back of her head.

"What's his deal, anyways?" Toru said, shuddering as she thought back to when she saw the giant fist made from her classmates' body parts.

"You can blame Jack and me for that," Treyo sighed. "I'll admit, while we loved and treated Hiroshi like he was family, we never really helped him parse his feelings about Earth. If anything, Jack deciding to take him on as his apprentice probably just exacerbated his issues with Quirks, and led him to be a bit... cocky over his control over his Ether Gear, since he earned it."

"I mean, I don't blame him. His power is way better than a lot of Quirks!" Denki said, shivering as he remembered how he literally fall apart. "He can swap places with other people and objects, he can just warp wherever he wants, and he can inflict 'Space' onto people to take them apart? What can't Ether Gear do!?"

"Plenty," Treyo said plainly. "For instance, it's very, very difficult to learn or use multiple Ether Gears. Most of the time, a person's body can only handle one. It's very rare that a person naturally uses multiple Ether Gears. There are ways to get more, but they involve a lot of machinery, and they tend to just transfer someone's Ether Gear to another."

"So they're kinda like Quirks in that regard," Kyoka said. "Only get one at a time."

"And there's the fact that if an Ether Gearist gets their arms tied, they lose their powers," Alex stated.

"Really? That's a weird weakness," Ochako said.

"But Fuka's brother didn't lose his when Todoroki froze him..." Izuku pointed out.

"He wasn't frozen at the arms, was he?" Weisz replied. "Meaning that he could use his Ether Gear still."

"And even so, Ether Gearists can train to overcome that weakness, though with great difficulty," Alex added.

"Let me guess, Furinji's brother did that?" Sen said.

"Makes sense. He trained for like, 7 years with it, right? I'd be surprised if he didn't," Kosei said.

"Yes, but it was one of the most difficult things he had to learn," Treyo said. "Same for everyone here, actually."

"Please don't remind me," Weisz shuddered, remembering the training they did.

"So... so is Hiroshi really going to do what he said and cut himself away from Earth?" Kinoko asked, the room becoming silent.

"Honestly... I don't know," Alex said, shrugging. "After what happened down there, who knows what's going through his head right now?"

---

At UA

"... I should've asked for a map or something. I have no idea where to go," Hiroshi said. He had wanted to go find Setsuna and the others, and actually have a real proper conversation with them, but because he left Earth years ago, he realized that he didn't know where to go anymore. "Guess I'm just stuck here at UA for a while..."

---

Later

"Wow, I can't believe that this place has such a big spa and bath!" Ochako said, as she and the other girls that came onto the EDENS ZERO relaxed in the pink water. Rebecca and Happy had joined them all as well.

"Yea, this is just what I needed after everything that happened," Itsuka said, as she floated in the water. She checked her body every now and then to make sure that the seamlines where she fell apart were gone. "Thank god those aren't permanent."

"It's a shame that Fuka, Momo, Tsubasa, and Setsuna aren't here to enjoy this with us," Kinoko said sadly.

"Yea..." Mina said. "... Is there any reason why Alex and Homura haven't joined us?"

"Slimes and water don't mix well together, and Homura's really sensitive to heat," Rebecca said, shrugging.

"Makes sense, I guess," Kyoka said, as she looked up to the giant glass dome, watching the stars. "Man, this a really pretty view..."

"I know! I wish that we could go into space, too!" Toru said. "I wanna go to different planets and-"

Everyone stared as glowing Ether lines appeared in the air, outlining an invisible hand. They looked down, and saw more lines outlining Toru's body.

"W-Whoa, what!?" Toru said, as she examined her body. "W-Why do I have Ether lines!?"

"The spa's water has properties that can awaken a person's Ether," Rebecca said, remembering when it happened to her the first time. The other girls checked themselves, and Ochako, Kyoka, Itsuka, Reiko, and Yui found out that they were forming similar Ether lines.

"So this means we can use Ether Gears, too!?" Toru said, incredibly excited by the idea.

"Aw, I wanna be able to use Ether Gear, too!" Kinoko whined, looking at her lineless arms and legs.

"Yea, but just be careful," Rebecca said. "Without actual training, it'll just be-"

"Ether powers gooooo!" Toru shouted. To everyone's shock and horror, a large beam shot out of her hand, breaking through the top of the glass dome. The hole began to suck the air out into space, pulling everyone up towards it.

"Not agaaaaaaain!" Rebecca cried as they all screamed. Before anyone could go through the hole, the dome repaired itself, saving them as they smacked against the glass, and fell back into the water.

"Ugh... I'm sorry," Toru moaned, as they rubbed their heads and checked to see if they were fine.

"It's alright, it happened to me, too," Rebecca said, smiling sheepishly. "But yea, it's entirely possible for you to get Ether Gears now."

"Do we need to get teachers, then?" Ochako said, as the lines began to fade on their own.

"Actually, no," Happy said, as they stared at him. "It's entirely possible for you to develop your own Ether Gears."

"Seriously!?" the girls shouted.

"Yep! The only reason why you would need a teacher is so that you can get a variant of their own Ether Gear," Happy answered. "But if you're not learning under someone, it'll develop on its own! Though there's no guarantee that it'll be something you want that way."

---

After returning everyone to Earth and picking up Hiroshi, the EDENS ZERO crew sat around in the meeting room.

"So... are we going to go back on our quest to find Mother?" Weisz asked, as he leaned against the back of his chair.

"I think we should wait a bit more," Rebecca said, biting her lip in thought. "Hiroshi's definitely having second thoughts, considering what happened."

"I hope whatever decision he makes, it's something that will make him happy," Homura sighed.

"What I'm concerned is his sense of identity," Treyo said, scratching his chin. "He was so set on the idea that no one really missed him on Earth, but to see that he was completely wrong has shaken him. He might not be able to use his Ether Gear as effectively now that he's uncertain."

"... Witch, Earth's a part of the EDENS ZERO's map now, right?" Shiki asked.

"Indeed," Witch confirmed. "Once we made contact with Earth, it was logged into the map."

"So that means that Hiroshi can visit his home now whenever he wants, right?" Shiki said.

"Hey, that's a good idea, Shiki!" Alex said. "That way, Hiroshi doesn't need to ever worry about-"

"The question is, though, will he want to," Weisz pointed out. "The guy's connection to Earth's pretty much cut now with how he acted."

"I'm sure that he'll come to a decision," Treyo said, crossing his arms.

"And we can always just use the map to return to where we were on our search, right?" Shiki said, smiling. "Then it's settled, we're going to be staying here until Hiroshi makes a decision!"

---

Hiroshi's Room

Hiroshi laid on his bed, staring at his ceiling. He flicked his wrist and watched his Ether Gear blink on and off with each flick. He sighed, as he thought back to the day he got it from Jack. It was the greatest moment of his life, the moment he finally gained a power he earned. He wasn't like the people who were just born with powerful Quirks, he actually worked hard to earn it on his own.

Or, least, he thought he wasn't. The moment Setsuna punched some sense into him was the moment he realized that he really wasn't better. He was just arrogant, letting the sense that what he did was more earned get to his head, like the people he was so critical of. All because he was still angry over an argument by people who, while they could've done so differently, did have his best interests in mind. And the only person he held in high regard probably hates him now.

"I... I got to apologize to Setsuna as soon as I can," Hiroshi muttered to himself. "I got to apologize to everyone, honestly... especially those Hero Course guys I fought, I definitely went overboard with using Separation and Amalgamation Knuckle like that..."

He sat upright, and took a deep breath. "I can't go back until I do."

---

ORIGINAL AO3 NOTES:

- Here it is, the first of the pilot chapters! And one of the ones I was looking forward to writing. Admittedly it's not great in my opinion, if only because I sped through things since this is a pilot chapter and therefore more or less dedicated to showing ideas rather than being a complete story, as well as mostly focusing on Hiroshi. If I pick this up, it'll definitely have a better distribution of focus on characters.
- As I stated before, this is an "AU" using the UHA characters, except this time it's taking place in the EDENS ZERO universe instead of the Ultraman universe. As such, events in the story don't necessarily line up with UHA's. Like the event that happens in this chapter is based around the same event in the flashback in UHA's 3rd chapter, but instead of it being in the park, it's at home where Hayate and Kana are scolding him.
- I chose to use the UHA characters instead of making new ones, simply because I wanted to avoid making too many OCs to keep track of. If I pick up EDENS HERO Academia up in the future, there'll be differences in personality between the EHA and UHA versions. Also, I wanted to do slightly different takes on them as well.
- If you're wondering about Izuku, he still inherited One for All from All Might. Granted, he already started working out to become a hero, though he was always constantly discouraged and put down on by Katsuki and his classmates, so he never properly enrolled in the early training part of Furin-Kazan's program, though he did have thoughts about doing it.
- I'm going to skip the introductions for the MHA and EZ characters (outside of OCs) and stuff so we can get into it. If I do pick this up, I'm going to write some 'flashback' chapters showcasing more of the events in the 3 years on Earth after Hiroshi's disappearance. Or I'll just rewrite the whole thing from scratch.
- Since we're still discovering more of the EZ universe and all, I'm going to be taking several liberties with EHA that might conflict with what happens later in EZ canon. Not to mention make some extreme changes like what I do with UHA.
- In this AU/pilot chapter, I'm going to be working on the idea that there are 42 students in the class to start with. The 42nd student is Shinso, but don't expect him to be playing a big role to begin with. He's in 1A since he's a personal pick of Aizawa in this story, so to keep the number even, I've moved Yuga into 1B instead. And to change things up a bit more, I've replaced Nirengeki with Tsubasa. Because I'll admit, as interesting as Nirengeki's Quirk is, he was always kinda low on my list of favorite 1B characters.
- As a result of his last interaction with his family being overall negative and finding out that Ether Gears exist, EHA Hiroshi's a lot more aggressive unlike UHA Hiroshi. They still have the same core personality, though, it's just that EHA Hiroshi's got more layers to go through then UHA Hiroshi, and that for as nice of a guy as Jack was, he's not nearly as good of a mediating presence like Hero.
- Hiroshi's Ether Gear, Space Operator, is based on Trafalgar's Ope-Ope Fruit powers from One Piece. I just really like that power. It's not a 1-to-1 copy, like he doesn't have the defibrillator ability that Trafalgar has, and he has to strike people with his hands to separate them rather than a slicing motion. He also can just move himself or anything else without needing to swap places. For really strong attacks, he'll move himself high into the air, let himself fall down, and reposition himself so that he comes from the side and hits others. He can't actually truly control objects with Space Operator, the only time he can is when he uses Space Operation: Separation, since he's inflicting 'Space' onto others and controlling the 'Space' he's made between their bodies.
- The reason why I don't think Sister's powers would work on All Might is because they're old. Like if she can heal anything, why not heal Jinn and his missing limbs? So I think she's unable to heal old injuries if they're already healed over.
- Sorry if this ended suddenly, but I was having a hard time deciding what I should do for the ending, and I decided that I'd leave it opened for a second part if I chose to continue EHA. Not to mention that I want to get to writing the other pilot chapters.
- A bit unrelated, but while I was writing this I saw the last Smash reveal, and I'm fucking happy. I wanna make a KH crossover pilot now. Maybe with KR Saber or MHA. Or all three, who knows. Or make some of the Sword of Logos members references to some Kingdom Hearts characters (because I will be using OCs for some of them).