"Congratulations Ochaco!" Izuku and All Might clapped as the two of them, as well as Ochaco herself, sat in Izuku's office, to talk and celebrate Ochaco getting her provisional license.

"Thanks, guys." Ochaco gave them both a tired smile. In truth, she was utterly exhausted from the test. "Also, Izuku. What the hell was with the exploding plant monsters!?"

"Oh, the Saibamen? Yeah, my scientist grew those during their experiments." Izuku explained. "Since the H.P.S.C. asked for some monsters, we thought those would do the trick."

"So you just have those things lying around in your plant lab?" Ochaco asked, both confused and unnerved at the prospect of that lab just having plant monsters hidden inside it.

"Yeah, but soon enough we'll be moving them all to Angel Island," Izuku explained. "Hopefully next year we can get some more monsters from there to use for the test."

"Just try not to go too crazy." Ochaco laughed nervously. Feeling a bit of sympathy for the poor, poor future class that would take this test.

"It seems like you're all going to be given some vacation time." All Might said. "What do you intend to do now, young Uraraka?"

"Well me and my parents were actually planning to go back to our hometown for a little bit," Ochaco revealed. "Momo, Mina, and Tsu are gonna come with me for some reason. I don't understand what they'd find so interesting about a little old town like that, but they seem pretty excited about it."

"That sound's fun. To be fair I doubt any of them have seen the countryside, so that makes sense." Izuku explained. "But I hope you enjoy yourself. Do you want me to let you use portals to get there quickly?"

"If you could, that'd be great!" Ochaco accepted happily. "Long car rides kill Papa's back so that's really helpful, Izuku."

"I still find it rather strange how quickly you were able to make use of Kurogiri's power." All Might said. "The idea of duplicating quirks is still bizarre to me."

"The advancement of technology is infinitely vast and unpredictable. At least to people like us." Izuku shrugged. "At this point, nothing they make surprises me anymore. But speaking of fractals, I do have some bad news. Ochaco, from now on, you're not allowed to use fractals."

"Huh?" Ochaco gave him a befuddled and slightly concerned look. "W-Why?"

"Well, I was looking into giving you a fractal of your own, when the lab discovered something using the new information we have on you." Izuku sighed. "One for All is growing unstable. The amount of power and quirks it's gained over the years has led to its stability membrane becoming thinner and thinner. Which is why you were experiencing such a hard time trying to control it, and why you have access to the other quirks when the previous users didn't."

"Ok…so why can't I use fractals?" Ochaco asked.

"The fractals temporarily add more power and an additional quirk factor to your body," Izuku said. "Imagine adding more air to an overfull balloon. One wrong move, and you explode."

Ochaco's eyes went wide. "O-Oh."

"Also, I would suggest against passing on One for All to anyone," Izuku warned. "Otherwise the next user will experience backlash even worse than yours was. And by that I mean they'll explode."

"I see…so One for All has finally reached its limit." All Might said, looking a bit saddened.

"So it seems. But we are looking for ways to get around these limitations." Izuku said. "We're studying the matter closely, and I'll tell you if anything comes from it."

"Thanks. I'm glad you told us all this before I accidentally killed someone." Ochaco shuddered as she imagined her poor would-be apprentice, suddenly exploding after she gave them the quirk. "Ugh."

"Of course. Remember, the Midoriya Foundation is always your ally." Izuku told them with a smile.

"Speaking of the Midoriya Foundation and successors, as morbid as it is, I can't help but wonder who will take over the Midoriya Foundation in the event that you are…unable to run it, or retire."

"Well if something were to happen to me now then mom would take over the foundation," Izuku explained. "Currently we're working on merging her company with the Midoriya Foundation. But in the future, I plan to have one of the kids take over. Most likely Kioku."

Ochaco and All Might froze, before giving Izuku a look that questioned if he was being serious.

"Ok, I know you don't have the best impression of her, but she's really improved since you last saw her. She's been learning about the workings of the Foundation, and she's mellowed out a lot too." Izuku assured them. "And the only other one of the kids who seem interested in taking over is Yonda so my options are limited."

Ochaco cringed at the idea of Yonda taking over the Foundation. "Yeah, maybe Kioku is the best option."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Road trip time!" Mina shouted as she, Momo, Tsu, and Ochaco sat in the back seats of Mr Uraraka's car.

"I've never been on long car rides," Momo admitted. "I'm curious what it's like."

"Uhhh. Sorry, but that's not how things are gonna go." Ochaco said apologetically.

"Huh?" The girls gave her a confused look.

Suddenly, a black portal opened in front of the car.

"Huh!?" All the girls except Ochaco suddenly sprung up in surprise.

"One of Kurogiri portals!?" Momo shouted out, as she and the others got ready to undo their seatbelts and get out of the car.

"Wait! Guys, it's not Kurogiri!" Ochaco told them, causing them to stop for a moment, and give Ochaco a range of confused looks that urged her to explain. "It's Izuku. Remember how Izuku can kinda do these weird things with crystals? This is one of those."

"So he can…replicate Kurogiri's quirk?" Momo asked.

"Crazy huh?" Mr Midoriya said. "That boy sure won't ever rest."

"It feels like the common sense of the world is crumbling day by day," Tsu commented.

"Are you sure it's safe to drive through this?" Mrs. Uraraka asked.

"Yeah, Izuku would never let us use this if it wasn't safe," Ochaco assured them. "And it's either this or a 7-hour car ride."

"Alright let's go." Mr. Uraraka said with urgency.

The car started, and they moved forward, into the portal.

After driving through the brief darkness, they came out on the other side, in a small town.

"And we're here." Mr. Uraraka said as the portal closed behind them.

"Hmph. No road trip." Mina pouted.

"I am a little disappointed, but looking past that, the scenery of a small town really is far different from a city," Momo said, looking out the window as they kept driving. "It's all so much smaller."

"And cleaner," Tsu added.

"Yup. What it lacks in grandeur, we make up for in tightness." Mr. Urarka said proudly. "Tighter community, tighter sense of values, tighter feeling home."

They eventually made their way to their old house. A one-story, small house that looked kind of run down.

"Alright, we're here." Mr. Uraraka said as he parked the car in front of the house.

As everyone was getting out of the car, suddenly, an old man went up to them.

"Omo! Ika! Is that you!" The old man shouted with a big smile on his face.

"Furui! You're still alive!" Mr Uraraka shouted with an equally great smile on his face, as the two men embraced briefly. "I knew you were too stubborn to let old age take ya just yet!"

"Heh heh heh. I still have a good few more years left." Furui chuckled. "So what brings you back? After you left I thought I'd never see you folks again."

"We just wanted to get away from the city for a while, while we celebrated our little Ochaco passing the licensure exam!" Mrs. Uraraka explained.

"Oh! So little Ochaco is finally a full-fledged hero now!" Furui said, looking at Ochaco with a proud look. "I never thought I'd live to see the day."

"I'm not a hero yet, I just have a provisional license," Ochaco said, looking a bit embarrassed. "Still got a couple more years before that happens."

"Well, I'll try to hang on until then," Furui said with a smile. "Well, much as I would love to talk a bit more, I'm sure you're all tired so I'll let ya go. Oh, but one more thing. The water's not gonna work. The whole town's water system's been shut down."

"What!? What the hell they'd do that for?" Mr. Uraraka asked in confusion. "How the hell is anyone supposed to get any water?"

"We're stuck with the bottled stuff I'm afraid," Furui explained sadly. "Something happened to the lake. One day, a lot of people just started getting ill, and we found out it was cause the lake had been poisoned."

"Poisoned?" Ochaco questioned, looking absolutely shocked. "How did the lake get poisoned!?"

"No one knows. Just suddenly happened one day. And it started gettin' worse and worse." Furui explained. "Now the water's basically just pure poison. We've tried going to investigate it, but even the air around the lake's toxic. No one's died just yet, but we've had some close calls. If it weren't for that new-fangled medicine from the Midoriya Foundation, at least 10 of us would have kicked the bucket already."

"Have you called the heroes to help solve the problem?" Momo asked.

"Little lady we ain't got no heroes round here," Furui told her. "We have to call heroes from the nearest city over. And let's just say, we ain't high on their priority list. It's going to take a while for them to come around here, so until then we just gotta sit tight and hope the poison doesn't come our way."

"You mean it's spreading out from the lake!?" Mina asked.

"Yup. We don't know how far I'll go, but if it comes to town, we'll have no choice but to leave." Furui explained, looking absolutely crestfallen.

"We won't let that happen!" Ochaco said resolutely. Causing everyone to look at her.

Ochaco looked at the girls. "Sorry if I may be asking for a bit much, but could you guys please help us out! I can't let my hometown get destroyed! Plus, I really loved that lake! I used to go down there all the time to play and look at the stars! If it's been poisoned then I need to find a way to clean it up!"

"Yeah!" Mina cheered. "You've got my support Uraraka!"

"Much as I hate to break it to you, but we've still only got our provisional licenses." Tsu pointed out. "We still can't use our quirks unless there is a pro hero around."

"Yeah, but it's not like anyone's gonna know!" Ochaco pointed out. "And we don't even know if we'll have to fight anyone!"

"That is true," Momo said, pondering the notion. "And if we don't help them, the problem could cause everyone here to lose their homes to the poison. I'm not one for breaking the rules…but it would be rather heartless of us to do nothing in this situation Tsu."

"Yeah Tsu, don't be such a stickler!" Mina said with a frown.

"Don't pressure the girl, not everyone's so altruistic," Furui told them.

"Some folks are just like that." Mr. Uraraka sighed.

"Ugh, why are you making me look like the bad guy for wanting to obey the law?" Tsu sighed. "Fine, I'll help. But if for whatever reason, we have to do something fighting, we need to leave immediately."

"I agree. Investigation is one thing, but if there is an actual villain involved, then I believe the best course of action would be to ask Midoriya to send help." Momo said.

"That's fair," Ochaco said, sounding very reassured that her friends agreed to help. "Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Since the whole lake was a completely toxic area. They'd need special suits to even go there.

But after hours of trial and error, measurements, and many, many Google searches, Momo had been able to make special hazmat suits for each of them, that would protect them from the toxic environment.

And boy were they glad for that.

As soon as they made it to the poisoned land, they could immediately see a difference.

The trees were dead, wilting, and decaying. Almost melting as they fell apart. All other plant life had vanished, the only trace of them being small shriveled-up flecks on the ground.

The air was filled with a purple toxic mist. So thick and heavy that they couldn't see the night sky above them.

Even the ground seemed to have been killed by the poison. The grass had vanished leaving only dirt, and even the dirt was dry and looked utterly devoid of nutrients.

And what made all of that worse, was dead animals, whose bodies were littered all over the ground.

"Oh, my god." Momo looked at the area in absolute horror. "This can't be natural."

"I agree, there is very clearly a powerful villain, maybe even multiple villains behind this," Tsu said as they continued towards the lake. "Which is why we should really turn around."

"Tsu, we love you. We really do. Please shut up about turning back." Mina told her.

"We need to at least figure out what the problem is," Ochaco said, leading the charge. "After that, we can turn back and call for help."

Seeing this distorted, horrific parody of the place she had traveled through over and over again since she was a child, only hardened her resolve.

She WOULD fix this. Not just for herself, but for the town.

A few minutes later, they finally made it to the lake.

The water had turned purple and was even bubbling in places. It looked as disgusting as it did dangerous.

"Alright, we're here. So. What are we looking for?" Mina asked.

"Anything that could help us understand why this happened," Ochaco said. "Lets-"

"Ochaco." Tsu interrupted her. "Something's coming out of the water."

Everyone looked at the lake and saw something rising. It was hard to see at first because of the thick mist, but as it rose more and more, they eventually could see it plain as day.

There before them. Was a massive dragon. The size of a large building. It was covered in dark green scales and had a big, pudgy body and short stubby tail. Its nest was long like a snake, and its face was almost frog-like, with a huge mouth, and big yellow slitted eyes.

And lodged in its forehead, was a ball with two stars in it.

"Who dares step into my domain!" Roared the dragon!

"Holy crap a dragon!" Mina shouted.

"Looks like we found the source of the issue. Time to leave!" Tsu told them.

"Who are you!? Why are you polluting the lake!?" Ochaco asked the dragon. "Can't you tell your hurting people!?"

"Hurting people? Why should I care?" Roared the dragon, glaring down at Ochaco. "This lake is mine! If you humans wish to mess with it, then it's your own fault you're getting hurt!"

He's speaking like he's not human. Is he not just someone with a dragon quirk? Momo asked herself.

Tsu grabbed Ochaco and started dragging her away. "Let's go!"

"See ya!" Mina shouted as all four of them started running.

SPLAT!

As they were running, the dragon shot out a blast of thick, toxic sludge from its mouth, landing in front of them, forcing them to come to a stop.

"Who said I would let you escape!" The dragon sneered. "All those who intrude upon my home! Must die!"

The dragon shot out more sludge, and the girls jumped aside to dodge it.

"We can't head back to the town! If this thing chases us back there it'll put everyone in danger!" Ochaco said.

Which is why we shouldn't have come here in the first place! Tsu wanted to shout, but at this point that'd be more frustrating to hear, than helpful. "Then what exactly should we do!?"

"We hold it off!" Momo shouted, creating a shield that popped out of her suit, to block some of the sludge.

"Wait! Yamomo who can you use your quirk with that suit on!?" Mina shouted in surprise.

"Midoriya introduced me to a new material. And I incorporated it into my suit." Momo explained. "Asui and Uraraka should also be able to use their quirk to a limit extend, but Ashido is powerless. Which is why she should be the one to head back and call for help."

"Right!" Ochaco said as she activated full cowling.

It was time to take her lake back!

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