Author's Note:

Hey. It's me. Back from the dead!

A lot happened during my hiatus. The important thing is that my college thesis is doing well and I submitted the requirements on time this time! I can finally take a break and start working on this fic. Though, college will start by next week so I'll be on hiatus again. For four months this time, so don't worry.

Also, I have someone helping me with fleshing out the outline for this whole fic. His name is ChampionOfBlastium, but I prefer to call him Blast for short. I wanna thank him for helping me beta-read my writings and also add new ideas to my story. Without his help I'll be a bit lost at this point LMAO

This last part for Clark's story was supposed to be released in a single chapter, but it reached 8,000+ words so I decided to cut the chapter in two. Basically this will become a four-part story for Clark lol

Also, if you all noticed I have a new cover art for this fic. I make my own cover arts and I post them in my twitter handle: Kamo73Kahoy. Go and follow me pls :)

Enjoy the story!

Chapter 4: Boy Of Tomorrow, Part 1

"What?"

Toshinori couldn't help but laugh at the look of shock on Midoriya's face.

"You should see the look on your face!" he said.

"But I don't get it," Midoriya said. The boy looked towards him with a confused look. "How can I "inherit" your Quirk? I never heard of a Quirk that works like that."

"That's why I kept the nature of my Quirk hidden to the public," Toshinori said. "All Might needed to be a natural born hero."

"And you're saying you aren't?" Midoriya interjected, with an amused expression.

"I think you're getting it, kid," Toshinori complimented, he was a bit surprised that the boy was catching on to what he was saying. "That leads me to reveal to you the true nature of my Quirk. Young Midoriya, my Quirk was passed on to me like a sacred torch."

"And someone passed it on to you," Midoriya said.

"That's right," Toshinori answered. "One person gains power and passes it to another, who gains it and passes it again. It is the fruit of brave souls with unwavering calls to save lives. The power that I was entrusted with is called: One for All!"

"One for All…" Clark uttered, with a look of astonishment.

"So what do you say, Young Midoriya?" Toshinori asked. "Will you accept this power to become-

"Yes," Midoriya answered in an instant.

"Oh," Toshinori uttered with a dumbfounded look. "Well, that was a quick reply."

Toshinori watched as the confused look of the boy turned into a serious and determined expression. Midoriya stood with confidence. Even though Toshinori was taller than the boy, he swore that the boy in front of him somehow stood taller. He doesn't know how. Maybe his eyes are playing tricks. He's getting old after all.

"After what happened today," Midoriya began. "I felt helpless when I couldn't do anything to help my friend from that Sludge Villain. It hurts me to just stand by the sidelines."

Toshinori looked at the boy with understanding. He felt the same helplessness during the attack. And even though the boy was down on his luck, he was able to pick himself back up. He couldn't help but respect the boy.

"Even if we managed to distract the villain, it wasn't enough," Midoriya continued. "But I can't turn down this offer. If it means that I could help people as much as I can? Then I'll do it."

Toshinori couldn't help but smile at the boy triumphantly. He has done it. He has found his successor. Not only that, but the boy was more mature than Toshinori was when he was Midoriya's age. Hell, Toshinori could tell that the boy had a lot more qualities of being a hero than most Pros that he had encountered.

Before Toshinori was about to say something, muffled techno music interrupted him. Both flinched out of shock. Midoriya gave a nervous chuckle. Gone was the stoic and unyielding confidence that the boy exuded a moment ago. Toshinori watched as Midoriya fumbled around to get something from his bag.

Eventually he was able to pull out his phone from the backpack. Toshinori found it odd that a mild-mannered kid like Midoriya would listen to techno music. He continued to watch as Midoriya stumbled a bit trying to answer his phone.

"Mom?" he said. "Yeah, I was about to head home… you… saw what happened?... In the news?!... No, I'm fine… yes, very sure… one hundred percent… I'm sorry I worried you… okay, I'll get home soon. Love you!"

Midoriya ended his call. He then looked towards Toshinori with an embarrassed smile. Midoriya chuckled as he fumbled to pocket his phone.

"I-I'm sorry, All Might," Midoriya said. "My Mom's worried about me and I think I'll get an earful as soon as I get home… um…"

"Oh," Toshinori uttered. Snapping back from his state of shock and chuckling. "Right, sorry for keeping you this long."

"Um," Midoriya began. "We're supposed to exchange numbers, right?"

Toshinori's eyes widened in realization. He then slapped his forehead. Of course, how could he forget?

"I'm such a fool," Toshinori muttered to himself. "Thank you for reminding me, Young Midoriya!"

He then walked towards the boy as he pulled out his phone. As they got closer to each other, they began to exchange numbers. Toshinori saved Midoriya's number to his phone.

"Oh, and before I forget," Midoriya said. "May I know your real name? I don't want to call you "All Might" when we'll ever meet in public again."

Toshinori chuckled.

"Good point," he said as he outstretched his right hand. "It's Yagi. Yagi, Toshinori."

Midoriya reached for Toshinori's hand. They clasped their hands together in a firm grip.

"Nice to meet you, Yagi-san," the boy said.

"Well, it's best that you head home," Toshinori said. "We'll start our training tomorrow early in the morning."

"I'm fine with that," Midoriya replied. "So where do we start training at?"

"I know a place that we could use," Toshinori said with an excited smile.

Clark wore an expression of shock as he stood over the steps to Takoba Municipal Beach Park. He heard a grunt from Toshinori to his right. As Clark looked over, he saw Toshinori stretch his arms upward, his fingers interlaced with each other, and arched his back. He then slouched forwards, breathed out a relaxed sigh. He then looked over to Clark with a smile and an excited look on his face.

"This is it, Young Midoriya," Toshinori said. "Your training will be focusing on cleaning the beach park. Of course, there are other workout routines I will implement along the way, but cleaning will be your main goal until the UA exams!"

Toshinori then faced Clark. Still with an excited look plastered on his face.

"What do you say, Young Midoriya?" Toshinori asked. "Would you like to get this training started?"

"It's a solid plan," Clark said. "But we've been cleaning this park for almost a month now."

"Oh," Toshinori uttered. His smile wavered, his eyes widened in shock. "Wait, "we"?"

"Oi, Deku!"

Both Clark and Toshinori flinched from the loud voice and turned around to find Katsuki walking towards them. He wore his usual black tank top, black joggers, and white shoes. Clark noticed the Katsuki seemed angrier than usual. To his surprise, he was being followed by two people. It was Kemuri and Nagai.

The two looked like they hadn't gotten the right hours of sleep. Kemuri's dark spiky hair was a bit messy. He wore a red tracksuit with white stripes on the sides and white running shoes. Nagai tied his hair to a ponytail. He wore a white T-shirt with a black silhouette print of The Rabbit Hero: Mirko, performing one of her famous Ultimate Moves: The Luna Ring. He also wore blue joggers and blue shoes with white laces.

"Good morning, Katsuki," Clark said. He then looked towards the two boys with a confused expression. "And good morning to you two."

"Hey," Kemuri said tiredly.

"Mornin'," Nagai said, followed up with a yawn.

"What are you two doing here?" Clark asked.

"We just want to check out where you two have been doing this early in the morning," Nagai said.

"We're just curious," Kemuri added. "So we asked Katsuki if we could come along."

Clark then looked over to Katsuki with a raised brow.

"And you let them come with you?" Clark said with an amused tone.

"Fuck no!" Katsuki said. With a tone laced with annoyance. "These dimwits stalked me from my house all the way here."

"No, we didn't," Kemuri argued. "You didn't reply to my messages. So we just decided to wake up really early, went to your house, and followed you wherever you go."

Kemuri's eyes widened in realization.

"Wait…" he uttered.

"The point is," Nagai interrupted. "We just want to see what you guys are up to."

Nagai looked over where Toshinori was standing.

"And who's that weird skeleton lookin' dude?" he asked.

Skeleton?! Toshinori thought, mixed with shock and annoyance.

"Nagai," Clark said in a disappointed tone. "That's rude."

"But this man right here is Yagi-san," Clark continued. "And he's uh… he's…"

Clark looked over to Toshinori. His eyes prodded his mentor for his turn to speak up. Toshinori caught the gesture and cleared up his throat.

"Um, hello!" Toshinori spoke up in a nervous, but cheery tone. "I'm also here to help with the cleaning."

"Really?" Katsuki asked with a mixed of annoyed and curious tone.

"That's right!" Toshinori said. "I even brought my truck with me so I could help transport huge loads of trash."

Toshinori pointed over his shoulder. The three newcomers saw a small, white pick-up truck. It seemed like only two people could ride the vehicle.

Katsuki scoffed and started walking past Clark and Toshinori.

"As long as you don't get in my way, old man," he said.

Katsuki walked down the stairs while both of his hands were in his pockets. Toshinori walked over and stood near Clark. He wore a frown on his face as he watched the hot-headed teen continue to walk down the steps and grumbling something to himself.

"You're friends with him?" Toshinori asked as he turned to Clark. His tone had a mix of amusement and incredulousness.

"He can be difficult sometimes, but he means well," Clark said.

Clark noticed that Kemuri walked past him and walked down the steps while Nagai followed behind.

"I guess we'll see you guys down by the dumps," Kemuri said.

"Wait," Nagai spoke with a hesitant tone. "Are we helping them clean up the trash? I thought we were just checking what they're up to?"

"Quit bitchin', Nagai," Kemuri retorted.

"The hell?!"

Clark and Toshinori watched in amusement as the two boys continued to argue as they made their way down to the beach. Clark let out a chuckle and followed his friends down the steps. He then looked back to Toshinori with a smile.

"So, are we going to start training or what?" Clark asked.

Toshinori stared at his student with widened eyes for a bit and finally returned a smile at the boy.

"Let's get this started," Toshinori said in an excited tone.

Clark stifled a yawn. He should've expected that waking up early and carrying huge loads of trash was a tiring way to start the morning. And to Clark's dismay, he was in the middle of his second period of school. That meant that he had to go through the entire day feeling exhausted. Lucky for Clark, it was the English period, so it was easy enough for him to handle for now.

Clark looked around to see how his friends were holding up. He saw Katsuki slouched back to his seat and gave out a silent but wide yawn. Clark could tell that he was even more tired this morning. Earlier when Clark started carrying heavy loads of trash for his training, Katsuki saw this as a challenge and began carrying twice the number of loads than Clark. It became a competition between them to Mr. Yagi's dismay, even Nagai and Kemuri joined in on the training.

Speaking of the two, Clark looked ahead towards Kemuri who's head was bobbing, trying to fight the sleep away. As for Nagai, his head was already on the table, fast asleep, with his drool staining his notebook. Clark shook his head with amusement. It will be an interesting year with those two around.

Another interesting thing that happened this morning was Clark getting stares from everyone in Aldera. The Sludge Villain incident was reported in the news, so he knew that he'd be the talk of the town for a while. Even though he doesn't have his Super-Hearing anymore, he was still able to hear whispers about him. Mostly consist of making fun of him for his actions or questioning him if he has a death wish. Clark never paid attention to anyone's judgment. What he did was the right thing to do and he does not regret it.

"Alright, class!"

A middle-aged man called out from the front of the classroom. Nagai abruptly woke up from his nap, dazed and confused.

"It's time to put into practice what we learned today," he continued. "I want you all to pair up with your seatmate while I hand you the worksheet."

Everyone began to move their chairs towards their partners. Clark stood up from his desk and looked towards the person sitting next to him. Ayane Akari, who has red, short hair. If Clark remembered correctly, she had a Quirk called: Fire Fist.

Ayane sat still on her chair, staring at a piece of paper with a worried expression. Clark decided to move his desk towards her. As he got closer, he was able to clearly see what Ayane was holding. It was an application form for Seiai Academy.

"Planning to go to Seiai, huh?" Clark asked.

"Wha-," Ayane flinched in surprise, but quickly recovered when she saw Clark and gave him the side-eyes. "Oh, yeah…"

There was silence for a few seconds. Clark hadn't known Ayane well enough. This was the first time they ever talked at all. Clark just let out a sigh and sat back down to his chair.

The teacher gave Clark their worksheet and started looking over it. It was easy enough for him to do on his own, but he doesn't want Ayane to feel left out. When he looked over at her again, she was still staring at the application form with a worried expression.

"You'll get in eventually," Clark said.

Ayane instantly turned towards Clark with a bewildered expression.

"What?"

"It looks like you've been preparing for the entrance exams," Clark continued. "I'm sure your hard work will pay off."

Ayane examined the boy beside her with suspicion. Why was he talking to her like she knows her? She had never interacted with this nobody before. So why give a crap about her business?

"What do you want?" Ayane started.

"Sorry?" Clark asked while blinking in confusion.

"Are you trying to butter me up for something?" She continued. "What do you want from me?"

"Oh, gosh no!" Clark quickly said nervously. "I-It's nothing like that!"

"Then what do you want?" Ayane asked insistently.

"Nothing," Clark said simply. "Is it wrong to wish you the best?"

"We don't know each other, we're basically strangers." Ayane argued.

"Well," Clark started. "I believe in the notion that a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet," he said with a smile.

Ayane stared at Izuku with a scrunched down brow. She merely scoffed and continued to stare at her application form. Seiai Academy was nothing like UA, but it was still one of the top hero schools in Japan and it has a very low success rate as well. The pressure was weighing down on Ayane. This was her dream school and Midoriya was right, she has been preparing for this since she started middle school. But was it enough? Will she really be prepared to take the exams? Will she pass? What would she do if she didn't get in?

"I could offer you some help, you know," Clark said calmly.

Ayane flinched at the sudden voice of Midoriya. She looked towards him with eyes open wide in confusion.

"You'll… help?" She asked with caution.

"Why not," Clark answered simply. "I could help you with your studies if you're not confident enough. Besides, I could do the whole worksheet by myself," he said as held up the paper.

"I bet that you were so worried that you weren't able to listen to the lecture," Clark said as he gave her a raised brow and a smirk.

Ayane looked to the side with an embarrassed look. She can't believe that he guessed that right.

"I could teach you as I work on this," Clark said as he pointed his pen towards the worksheet. "What do you say?"

Ayane pondered a bit at Midoriya's offer. She was still having doubts about him just trying to help her because it was the right thing to do. But Ayane could tell that he was sincere, like he really wants to help.

"Fine," Ayane finally said.

It's a start, Clark thought and gave her a soft smile. He began to work on the worksheet while he teaches Ayane. She was reluctant at the start, but as they continued Ayane was able to understand the topic and become more invested in their little tutor session.

It was a Saturday morning. Clark and Katsuki used the weekends to take a break from cleaning up Takoba and do their homework. But for Clark's case, it was another early morning jog. Mr. Yagi prepared an entire training regiment and a diet plan for him to follow. He calls it: "The All American Dream Plan!", which was quite ironic for Clark.

"Come on, Young Midoriya!" Mr. Yagi shouted as he rode a segway along the sidewalk. "You need to keep up. We only have ten months to prepare you for UA. You're lucky you have a head start with building up some muscles, but you still need to train harder! Got it?!"

"Yes, sir!" Clark replied through huffs as he continued to jog at a steady pace.

At first, Clark wasn't sold on the idea of joining a hero school and becoming a licensed hero. To him, heroes are sort of volunteers that were motivated through will, courage, and helping people in need. But as Clark thought about how this world works, he began to understand the reason behind it all. With eighty percent of the world's population consisting of people with quirks, there should be a sort of regulation to avoid chaos like what happened in the "dark ages" during the rise of quirks. In his old world, meta-humans aren't as populated compared to the current world he's been living in.

Clark was also interested in how schooling will work inside of a "hero school" like UA. He read some articles online that they still have normal class curriculum. But the difference is they have special facilities that will help young aspiring heroes to have better control with their quirks. Clark was excited to see how training will differ from each individual's quirks.

"You're lagging behind a bit, Young Midoriya!" Mr. Yagi shouted. "Keep up the pace!"

"Yes, sir!" Clark replied as he quickened his jog.

As they turned to a corner of the sidewalk, Clark saw a little boy in a kindergarten uniform reaching up towards a tree. As Clark traced where the boy was looking, then his eyes widened in realization.

"We have a couple of minutes left, Young Midoriya! So give it your all!" Toshinori said as he pumped his fist to the air. Though Midoriya's reply never came, which confused him for a bit.

"Young Midoriya?" Toshinori called out once again only to receive silence.

Toshinori slowly halted his segway and rotated it towards the opposite direction. He saw Midoriya climbing up a tree that they just passed. As he moved closer, he also noticed a little boy in a kindergarten uniform. Midoriya began to climb down the tree, but Toshinori noticed that the boy was holding something in his hand. A kitten.

Midoriya walked towards the little boy and crouched down to his level while holding up the kitten.

"There you go," Midoriya said. "She's all safe and sound."

"Thank you, Oni-chan!" The child said as he gently held the kitten and started petting her. The kitten let out a soft 'meow' and started purring as the boy kept petting her.

"Is she yours?" Midoriya asked.

"N-no," the boy softly answered. "She seemed scared up there, so I tried to help her. But…" The boy began to look down with embarrassment and with a hint of sadness.

"You were too scared?" Midoriya guessed.

The boy nodded slowly, still not looking towards Midoriya.

"Shinji!" A woman's voice shouted.

They look towards a woman running towards them. She seemed to be in her mid-thirties and had her brown hair tied to a ponytail. She wore a beige, long sleeve sweater, with blue jeans, and white sneakers. She also wore an apron. Toshinori guessed that she was the little boy's kindergarten teacher. As she ran towards the little boy, she quickly crouched down and held him by his arms.

"I've been worried sick for you, Shinji," the teacher said as she wore a look of worry. "What happened?"

"Sorry, Sakura-sensei," Shinji said with a hint of guilt. "I just wanted to help the little kitten."

"You should've asked me for help, Shinji," Sakura-san said softly.

Midoriya placed his hand on Young Shinji's shoulder.

"She's right, Shinji," Midoriya said. "It's okay to ask for help. We all get scared sometimes."

"Even you, Oni-chan?" Shinji asked.

"Yep," Midoriya replied. "Used to be afraid of heights. But one day you'll summon enough courage and strength to take a leap of faith. To climb up and aim high." he said as he reminisced the day he first learned how to fly. He was clumsy at the start. But overtime, he was able to touch the clouds and soar in the endless blue sky.

"And now, I dream of soaring high in the sky." he continued as he gestured his hand dramatically towards the sky while looking up. Little Shinji cracked a giggle from Midoriya's display.

They said their goodbyes. Toshinori and Midoriya watched as Little Shinji was being ushered away by his teacher, waving at them as they left. Toshinori looked towards Midoriya, who wore a content smile on his face.

"Whether it's big or small, a hero will always answer a call for help no matter what," Toshinori finally said as he looked back towards Shinji and his teacher.

"Couldn't agree more," Midoriya replied. "To me, everything matters."

Toshinori smiled as pride swells within him. Midoriya kept proving to be the right choice to be his successor. He didn't expect for the boy to carry such wisdom in his age. He couldn't wait for what the future has in stall for this young man.

"We should get back to your training, Young Midoriya," Toshinori finally said. "One For All awaits."

"Right." Midoriya replied.

It was a Wednesday afternoon and classes had just ended. Clark and Katsuki are walking down the Tatouin Shopping District along with Nagai and Kemuri. Ever since the Slime Villain incident, the two boys started tagging along with them wherever they go. They had sat with them during lunch break, walked with them when they went home, and even went to Takoba to help clean-up the trash.

"Hey," Nagai called out. "We never went to the arcade after the whole villain debacle last week."

"Oh yeah," Kemuri said. "Why don't we go right now?"

Clark hummed. He was contemplating because Mr. Yagi was expecting him at Takoba Beach later to continue their training. But he promised that they'll hang out in the arcade someday. Mr. Yagi would probably be alright with skipping training for a day. Clark would just have to double his training for another day.

"I'm alright with that," Clark finally said. He then looked over at Katsuki. "How about you, Katsuki?"

"Whatever," Katsuki said.

"We'll take that as a yes," Kemuri jokingly said. Earning a scoff from the explosive boy.

As they continued to walk along the shopping district, Kemuri and Nagai stopped right in front of a convenience store.

"We'll stop by for drinks first," Nagai said. "You guys want anything?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Clark said.

"Not buyin'," Katsuki spoke. "But I'm goin' with you. Making sure you won't buy anything stupid."

"Chill out, dude," Nagai said. "It's just a magazine!"

The three boys went inside the convenience store. Clark pulled out his phone and typed a message for Mr. Yagi.

Midoriya I.:

Hi Yagi-san. I won't be able to come to training later. I made a promise with some friends to hang out. I'll double my training to make it up to you. Stay safe.

As he sent the message to his mentor, he began to look around the district as he waited. A billboard hanging above the district caught his attention. It was an advertisement of Mt. Lady showing her smooth and silky blonde hair. It also shows her line of hair products that have the same color as her hero suit. It was not uncommon for heroes to have product placements in this world. In fact, back in Clark's world he would also have Superman related products. But all the profits will always go to charity no matter what. He doesn't need the money. Maybe he'll be able to do that again when he becomes a Pro Hero.

"Well look who it is?"

Clark flinched in surprise at the sudden voice of a man. It was somewhat familiar. As he turned towards the source, he was met with the man with three stars on his head. He was standing over piles of crates filled with various fruits.

"Well if isn't the local hero of Mustafu," the man said teasingly. "I'll tell you what, that was some crazy stunt you pulled last week."

Clark just gave the man an embarrassed chuckle.

"Not how I expected my day would go, y'know?" Clark said with a good-natured chuckle.

"Yeah," the man said. "The important thing is you're all safe. And not to mention you were saved by freakin' All Might!"

"Yeah, crazy," Clark said with a laugh. He then noticed the crates filled with fruits and pointed at it. "Do you need help with that?"

"Oh," the man said in surprise. "I mean… if you wouldn't mind, I would really appreciate your help, kid."

Clark quickly walked over to crates and picked one up. He waited as the man picked up a crate and led the way to wherever he was delivering the fruits to. They continued to walk along the shopping district.

"You're Midoriya, right?" The man started. "Name's Kaminaga, Hoshi. You can call me Hoshi."

"Nice to meet you, Hoshi-san," Clark greeted cheerfully.

"So," Hoshi started. "That stunt you pulled, was that how you meant when you said you'll save people in your own way?"

"Not the kind of example I'm going with," Clark said with a chuckle.

"Well I'll be honest, kid," Hoshi started. "What you did was really damn cool. I mean, a quirkless kid who risked his life to save others? That's very inspiring for a simple folk like me."

Clark smiled widely at what Mr. Hoshi had said. A panicked chatter was heard from across the street. Clark and Hoshi halted in their tracks to see what the commotion was about. Their sights were drawn towards a large black smoke that was emitting right by the corner of the street. The shoppers and some vendors started to walk briskly towards the source of the smoke. Hoshi gently placed his crate to the sidewalk and jogged towards the crowd. Clark did the same as well.

As they turned to a corner of the street, Clark saw a four floor, old apartment complex in flames. There were panicked screams by the burning building. People running out of the entrance. On instinct, Clark ran towards the crowd by the burning building.

"Hey, kid!" Hoshi called out. "Where're you going?!"

As Clark got close to the group he assessed the state of what seemed to be the tenants of the apartment complex. They are all sitting by the sidewalk, some of them are in coughing fits. But most of them seemed fine.

"Is everyone alright?" Clark asked the group.

"I think so," a man replied. "All the people I know that lived with me in that building are all here, I think."

Clark heard a cry from a woman. She was near the entrance of the burning building, trying to go inside the building, but she was being held back by a young man. The woman seemed to be in her forties, while the man looked to be in his late twenties.

"We need help!" The man shouted. "Someone call for help!"

Clark ran up towards the two people.

"What happened?" He quickly asked.

"Her kid is still inside the building," the man quickly replied.

"Kira!" The woman shouted in despair. "My daughter!"

"Where is she?" Clark asked.

"They lived in the 3rd floor-"

Clark dropped his backpack to the ground and ran inside the building with no hesitation. Avoiding the flames as he ran up the wooden stairs.

"Wait! Kid!" The man shouted.

The fire grew bigger behind the entrance to the apartment complex, leaving no way out for Clark.

Author's Note:

Chapter 5 will be posted soon.