A/N: Yeah, I decided to rewrite this story, too, because I kind of lost interest in the original. I also felt like the plot was a little too rushed to make a good story, especially since the chapters from the previous story were on the short side. However, I'm not going to give up on this story. So, I'm rewriting it and trying to go in a slightly different direction with the premise. I hope that you all like it.
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit, fan-based crossover. My Hero Academia is owned by Viz Media, Shueisha and Kōhei Horikoshi. Digimon is owned by Bandai, Toei Animation, and Akiyoshi Hongo. Please support the official release!
Crushed Dreams & A Mother's Support!
Within her home in an apartment in the Musutafu Prefecture of Japan, a woman was putting the finishing touches on dinner for herself and her only son. This is Inko Midoriya, and she's just a simple housewife. She has long green hair done up in a ponytail, round green eyes, and seems to be on the bigger side in terms of body type, but this was caused by excessive stress. She was wearing a white shirt underneath a pink blouse, a blue skirt, and white slippers. She was also wearing a yellow apron as she cooked dinner for herself and her son.
Thinking about her son gave Inko pause as she thought back to that day ten years ago. When she and her, at the time, four-year-old son learned that he would never develop a quirk of his own. Her poor little Izuku had been devastated hearing that, especially since the doctor had been so callous when he delivered the news. She remembers how she broke down crying and just hugged her son, frantically apologizing as she believed that her son's lack of a quirk was somehow her fault. Even though she knows that that was impossible for her to be the cause of her son being quirkless, it didn't make it any easier for her. Or her son, for that matter.
"He tries to hide it, but I know that Izuku is suffering because he doesn't have a quirk. And he won't give up on his dream of becoming a hero." Inko said to herself. "He certainly has a more indomitable will than I do. I practically implied that I had given up on him and his dream on that day."
That's when Inko heard the front door to the apartment unlock. She looked out of the kitchen and saw her son walking in the front door and removing his shoes.
She smiled and began to greet him as she said, "Welcome home, Izuku. Dinner is almost…".
But paused when she saw the look on his face.
Her son's usually bright and warm smiling face was set in a deep frown, and tears were falling down her face. Now, this wouldn't normally worry her, since both she and her son do cry a lot. Maybe a little bit too much, she acknowledges, but these weren't their usual tears. Where she and her son normally cry literal waterfalls and geysers of thick tears, the tears currently falling down her son's face are normal sized tears. Onces that left thin trails of salty water down her son's freckled cheeks.
Inko also noticed that his uniform looked scuffed and burned. Trails of smoke were wafting from his shoulder, in particular, and she found herself wondering if her son had been attacked by a villain who had a heat-based quirk. And yet, Izuku's shoulder is the only place where there was evidence of contact with elevated temperatures of heat. Coincidence? Inko doesn't think so, but she wasn't about to jump to conclusions on this. But when he looked up at her, that's when she got really shocked and worried. His green eyes, which are normally so vibrant, bright, and full of life were now dull and lifeless and looked almost black. It was like all of the hope that Izuku had was drained out of him!
"Oh my goodness, Izuku! Are you okay? What happened?" Inko asked frantically as she ran to her son and started checking him over.
In a dull, almost monotonous voice, Izuku replied, "I met All Might in person today.".
Inko stopped her fretting for a moment and looked at her son in surprise.
"You did? Where?" she asked.
It's no secret that All Might is the heroic idol of many children in the world. Her son included. So, to hear that he actually got to meet his idol in person, and maybe even get his autograph, made her think that maybe there might be a silver lining to her son's likely dismal day.
"It was in an alley on my way home from school. I had been attacked by a villain with a body made of sludge. He tried to use me as a skinsuit so that he could escape from the city, but All Might arrived and stopped him just in time. As he was about to leave, I… I asked him if somebody without a quirk could still be a hero." Izuku explained, his voice never losing that broken monotone that he spoke with earlier.
Now, Inko was even more worried for her baby boy, and it showed as she put her hands on his shoulders and held him at arms' length, her eyes beginning to glisten with unshed tears.
"And? What did he say?" she asked.
But Izuku didn't respond. He just kept his head lowered to the ground to look at the floor as his tears began to fall faster now.
"Izuku…?" Inko inquired, her voice barely above a whisper with worry.
Finally, her son looked up and faced her.
She wished that he hadn't.
He looked her dead in the eye and gave her a sad smile as he said the four words that she never thought she'd hear from her son. And in a broken voice, those words that he said were…
"Never meet your heroes."
After that, Inko couldn't hold back her tears anymore and she quickly brought her son into her arms, hugging him with all of the strength and love that only a true mother can give. Izuku just buried his face into her shoulder as he cried silently, his silent tears showing more pain and emotional hurt than his usual tears ever did. And just like that day ten years ago, Inko felt completely helpless as her son's dream was just shot down by the number one hero in Japan. If even he didn't believe that a quirkless person could become a hero, then who would?
It took Izuku around five minutes to calm down enough to stop crying. He and his mother ate their dinner in a somber silence. Not even katsudon, Izuku's favorite food, could cheer him up this time. Afterwards, they cleaned up and spent some time watching movies like they used to when Izuku was little before heading to bed. Izuku chose to sleep on the couch in the living room that night, as he couldn't bear to sleep in the same room that had so much pro her, more specifically All Might, merchandise all over the place. The next day, though, Inko called Izuku's school and told them that he wasn't going to be in that day as she needed to take him to the hospital to get checked out and make sure there were no lasting effects from the Sludge Villain's attack. Which she knew, in hindsight, that they should have done the day before, but it had been an emotionally draining day and she had forgotten to do so.
Fortunately, her son was given a clean bill of health, which was some good news. But she was still left with the predicament of how to cheer her poor son up. She decided to give Mitsuki a call when they got home and see if she might be able to help. But for now, she had to take her son to pick up some boxes. There was something that he needed to do.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Izuku?"
A couple of hours later, Inko and Izuku had returned home with several boxes and some new supplies for his room. Her son had made the shocking decision to take down and sell ALL OF HIS ALL MIGHT MERCHANDISE! And some of it was extremely rare and worth some serious coin, from what her son had told her! But it was so out of character for him, as he has idolized the Symbol of Peace ever since he was old enough to know what Pro Heroes are. So, for him to decide to sell any of it… All Might's words must have hit him harder than she thought.
"I'm sure, mom. Looking at anything that resembles All Might, it… it's just too painful right now. Maybe someday I'll start collecting this stuff again, but for now… I think I need a break from Pro Heroes." Izuku struggled to say.
Inko looked at her son with a worried frown but didn't object to his decision. Secretly, she wasn't going to sell any of it. She would just put it all away somewhere so that her son could put it all back up should he ever choose to. Though, she doubted that he would. But with that, they got to work.
It took around an hour and a half to get all of the All Might stuff taken down and the room redecorated, but Inko had to admit that the room looked good. Her son's shelves still had a few Funko-POPs, action figures, and models of certain Pro Heroes, though none of All Might, but they also now had various books and manga. His walls which had, at one point, been plastered wall to wall with All Might posters were now painted a soft beige color with only one or two posters of Izuku's favorite pre-quirk bands hung up. Including KISS and Aerosmith. There was also a Gibson Les Paul Guitar displayed on one of the walls. Finally, Izuku's All Might themed sheets, pillowcases and comforter had been replaced with black sheets, white pillowcases, and a forest green comforter.
All in all, it looked less like a hero fanboy's cave, and more like a teenager's bedroom.
"The place looks pretty good, Izuku. Do you like it?" Inko asked.
Izuku took a look around and replied, "Yeah. Yeah, it's… it's nice.".
But Inko could tell that her son's mind was still on how All Might crushed his dreams the day before. How he was told by the man who always preaches about how anyone can be a hero that he can't be a hero without a quirk. She never would have expected the so-called Symbol of Peace to be a quirkist hypocrite. And as her son's almost blackened eyes stared into his room that was once decorated with All Might's smiling visage, Inko couldn't help but think back to that night all those years ago.
'Can I… be a hero, too?'
Her son's words from that night ten years ago rang in her head. Back then, she wanted to support him and his dream, but in her grief, she had done the exact opposite and made it sound like she had given up on him and his dream. He must have been crushed, and she never truly knew. He'd done too good of a job hiding his pain from her, and she hadn't done enough to try and see through his facade.
'Fooey on All Might!' she'd decided. 'I don't care if he comes here with the heroes ranked two through ten and they all say that a quirkless person can't be a hero! I'm not making the same mistake twice!'
She put her hand on Izuku's shoulder and turned him around to look at her as she gave him a smile full of warmth and love that only a mother can have for her child.
"Izuku, I know that I haven't been the most supportive of your dream to be a hero ever since that day. What I said that day… I know I sounded like I was telling you to give up, and in a way, maybe I had been. I didn't want to lose my baby, my only son, after he had been told he'd never get a quirk. Especially since you've always been so deadset on becoming a pro so you could help those who can't help themselves."
Izuku's eyes widened slightly as he made a quiet noise of surprise. Inko just kept smiling as she continued.
"Ever since you were old enough to walk and talk, your life has been heroes. And I see now that your life IS heroes and will continue to be. I couldn't stop you from trying to become one even if I wanted to. So, I'm…" Inko steeled her resolve and declared, "So, I'm going to be your biggest supporter, Izuku! Don't you pay attention to what Katsuki, society, or even All Might says! Because, you know what? You CAN be a hero! With or without a quirk!".
Now, Izuku's eyes became a little brighter as a flicker of life and hope sparked within. Thick, watery tears gathered in his eyes, and the same happened to his mother. They sank to the floor as they embraced and cried as Izuku was finally told the thing he wanted… no… the thing that he NEEDED… to hear the most in his life! So, he would do it. Regardless of what Katsuki says, and most of all regardless of what All Might says, Izuku would become Japan's first ever quirkless hero. And he'd do it, not for himself, but for his mother!
But little does he know, he has a different destiny.
One that will change the fate of the human world, and a world parallel to his own.
***...To Be Continued…***
Ending A/N: Welp! That ends this chapter! Not bad, eh? I think it came out better than the original. As the title suggests, Izuku in this story will receive the Spirits of Steel, but he's not going to become Mercurymon and Sakakkumon. So, over on Twitter/X, I have commissioned the Digimon artist known as Weirdomon to redesign the two spirits while using elements from the originals. With Weirdomon's permission, I'll likely upload the artwork and their bios to my deviantart gallery so you can see for yourselves what they look like. Also, do you guys think I should experiment with role reversal by having Agunimon and BurningGreymon corrupted in the same way that Duskmon and Velgemon were? Let me know, and who knows? I might try something. But that's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time, my hatchlings!