25/06/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 31 - Adding to the Hoard

Izuku looked at the quirk containers. He had already given Gigantomachia the holder containing All For One. The huge man had taken it gently and had sniffed it carefully and Izuku knew by the way Gigantomachia felt that he would guard it with his life. Then Izuku had looked through the container his Dad had put his other quirks in. Himiko's wasn't there.

She'd just shrugged and given him a smile, saying that the regeneration one was good for now. She'd said that but Izuku felt vaguely disappointed but he knew it was just a matter of time before Yakuni had a copy of Himiko's quirk ready for her.

Now he was looking at the quirks Yakuni had collected for him. They were a myriad of colours. There were at least twelve different quirks and from just looking Izuku couldn't tell what they were.

The others were watching, as was the Doctor, though Izuku could feel that the man was faintly annoyed. He was ignoring that. He was annoyed with the Doctor so turn about was fair play. "What is this?" Twice asked. "I can already see!"

"This is a quirk holder," Izuku explained. "It's something that can hold multiple quirks," he added.

"Before the Shie Hassaikai, I collected quirks for Dragon," Yakuni said. "These are the ones I got him."

From the corner of his eye he saw Mr Compress and Dabi nod. He couldn't actually see Whisper but he assumed she was around somewhere. She was good at remaining undetected, which was made easier by her quirk but was also something she had obviously practiced.

"What are they?" Izuku asked. "I can figure it out but-"

"It's easier if you can get some names?" Yakuni said, slightly mockingly.

"A bit," Izuku admitted, giving him a grin. He remembered that his dad hadn't told Yakuni what the quirk the young man had been given did at the time. They'd had to experiment until they'd figured it out.

"I'll give you some hints," Yakuni countered.

Izuku chuckled. That was fair. "Okay," he allowed. He could order Yakuni to tell him but that was no fun.

"There's two that will allow you to take advantage of one of the quirks you took from the UA students," the young man said.

Izuku thought about that for a few moments before he realised there was only one quirk it could be. "I'd better get it back then," he said.

"You gave it away?" Yakuni asked curiously.

"I had no need for it," Izuku shrugged. Iida's quirk was tied to his mutation and Izuku didn't have a use for that.

"Okay," Yakuni said, shaking his head slightly. "There are two quirks that your Dad wanted you to have," he continued with his hints.

Hearing that Izuku felt warm and he smiled. His dad was always looking out for him and preparing the way and… He'd almost destroyed his father's plans completely with one act. Izuku quickly reminded himself that, while he had killed Tomura, thus ruining his father's plans to heal himself, he now had two possible ways of healing his father. That had to count for something. And if Himiko could get her quirk back, then it would have cost him nothing but the time taken to meet with the Yakuza. "What are they?"

Yakuni grinned wide at him. "They fit with your theme, Dragon," he said happily, "though I admit one of them did land me in jail," he added.

"What?" Izuku demanded.

"I told you that!" Yakuni waved one hand, dismissing the matter. "Once the cops figured out I was quirkless, they gave me a slap on the wrist and let me go," he said. "But I had the genetic sample," he chuckled.

Izuku huffed. "All right," he allowed. "Just from looking at them, I can't tell which is which though."

"When you use it, you'll know it but another of the quirks is a simple one."

"What is it?" Dabi asked.

"Perfect night vision," Yakuni told him, "and there's some quirks that you already have of that type."

"Type?" Mr Compress interrupted.

"Strength quirks," Izuku said. Those were the main quirk he had multiples of. Since he only got a temporary boost from using the same quirk, having multiple strength quirks, coming from different people was useful for him. He could stack them and- Izuku grinned. This was going to be fun. "Anything else?" he asked, though his tone made it clear that this was plenty.

"Gigantomachia provided two," Yakuni said.

Izuku turned to look at the huge man, who flashed his teeth. "You did?" Izuku asked.

Gigantomachia chuckled and nodded.

"Thank you!" Izuku cried and rushed over to hug him. Gigantomachia patted his shoulder. "Thank you!" Izuku said again. He was so happy. "You still have them?" he asked, suddenly worried.

"He does," Yakuni replied. "I copied them," he explained.

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, before he turned back to the quirk container. He held out one hand, and gestured, using Dragon's Hoard to pull two of the quirks to him. Izuku carefully activated the first. "Argh!" He cried and quickly deactivated it.

"What was that?" Twice asked, concerned.

"Night vision," Izuku replied, blinking. The warehouse wasn't that dark but the increase in light when he activated it had been painful. He pulled up the other quirk and activated it but couldn't feel anything different. "Can't tell with the second one," he said, looking for another hint.

"Could be one of the reinforcement quirks," Yakuni told him.

Izuku nodded and then reached out to take another couple of quirks. This time when he activated the first, it was obvious what it did when a pair of wings ripped through his shirt. Izuku reached up and pulled one down, running his hand over it. It sort of felt odd to touch them since he'd never had wings before and they were as sensitive as any other part of his body. They weren't feathered wings but were instead made of bone, sinew and stretched skin. The skin felt tough and Izuku felt light, as if he could rise into the air just with a light jump that had nothing to do with kilo.

"They fit your theme, Dragon," Yakuni told him.

"So pretty!" Himiko said, clapping her hands.

Izuku grinned and concentrated for a moment and his wings rippled slightly and were covered in scales. He laughed. "I can fly but…"

"But?" Mr Compress prompted. He'd actually flown with him.

"These will make it much easier," Izuku told him. "I feel light, and that's got nothing to do with one of my other quirks," he explained. Izuku concentrated again and his new wings disappeared. He rolled his shoulders to settle the feeling on his shoulder blades before he activated the other quirk. This one felt vaguely familiar but different. "Ah! One of the strength quirks," Izuku said to tell the others what he'd activated.

"You can tell?" Dabi asked.

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, I have a couple of strength quirks," he reminded them. "They kind of feel the same," he added.

"How strong are you, Izu?"

"Strong enough to give All Might a run for his money," Mr Compress replied.

"What?" Dabi demanded.

"He was still stronger than me," Izuku defended.

"If you are that strong, you could take out Endeavor!" the fire villain said.

"Probably," Izuku agreed. "But I think it would be more effective to take out the Number One," he told them and then looked back at the quirk container. He reached out to grab two more quirks. Taking them a few at a time was a bit of an experiment. He could have just grabbed them all at once but that caused some mental fatigue… or at least it did when he took them off people. If he took them a few at a time he hoped it would reduce the fatigue. It might, Izuku realised but the fatigue might also be reduced because he could tell these quirks were copies and the person giving them up didn't have much of a mind, so that might make a difference.

He prodded the two he'd grabbed. "Another strength quirk, and… something to do with speed," he said.

"Yep, there was a speed quirk in there."

"To support the quirk I took from the UA student," Izuku chuckled before he looked at Kyudai. "Doctor, do you have those quirks handy?" he asked.

"I'll get it," the man replied and there was a soft whir as his wheelchair moved off.

Izuku grabbed a few more quirks. He sensed that Dragon's Hoard was happy to be getting so much use and while he couldn't hug his quirk he did try to send it happy thoughts. He loved his quirk even if he didn't use it much. His quirk was what allowed him to use the other quirks. His quirk was why he could fix the mistake he'd made in his Father's plans.

He could tell one of the quirks was a support one this time and when he tried the other quirk he felt himself grow.

"Growth!" Izuku said, eyes widening. That one had to come from Gigantomachia! He hadn't expected that. He'd have to find out what his limits were with that but… Izuku grinned. He could already see a lot of uses for it.

He looked back at the quirk holder. There were about six quirks left. Izuku reached out, and this time he didn't grab at the quirks, instead he felt for them. He could sort of tell which were support quirks, and grabbed what he thought was the other strength quirk and the reinforcement quirk. That left four quirks to get. He picked out two and drew them to him.

One felt exactly like Gigantomachia and Izuku bit his lip as he touched the quirk. From the way it was spreading over his body, he knew it was one that wasn't activated. It was a passive quirk, much like regeneration. It felt like it was reinforcing him somehow and the tiredness Izuku had been feeling disappeared. "There's something… it's not a strength quirk but it feels similar but different," Izuku said as he concentrated on the feeling.

"Endurance?" Yakuni suggested with a chuckle.

That was it exactly! "Yes!" Izuku agreed.

"That's the quirk," the young man told him.

"Come on," Yakuni urged, "you haven't got the best quirk yet!"

"What do you mean?"

"The one that got me arrested. You haven't got it yet."

"Typical," Izuku said and grabbed at the last two quirks. He frowned when he felt them. "One of them feels like an energy quirk," he said.

"That would be power," Yakuni told him. "I'm not completely sure what it does but it sounded useful," he admitted.

"It does," Izuku agreed and made a mental note to try it later. If it was some form of energy then, with energy suck it would be very useful to him. Then he felt the last quirk. It was spread over his body but it didn't feel quite the same as a passive quirk. It felt more active but that it would impact his entire body. What could cause that? Most emitter quirks focused on one part of his body. Kai Chisaki's Overhaul was concentrated in his arms, and the girl's quirk was concentrated in his upper body. This new quirk was all over his body… "Oh, my god!" Izuku gasped. "You really got it?" he asked, almost not believing it.

"I told you I did," Yakuni said proudly.

"Is there enough space here?" Izuku demanded. He wanted to try it out. Transformation quirks were rare and full body transformation quirks were the rarest.

"Go out the back," the Doctor said, as his wheelchair came around a corner. A nomu was trailing him, carrying a quirk holder. "It's here," he said, pointing towards it.

Because he'd taken the quirk before, Izuku was familiar with the feel and it reached out and took Iida's quirk back. It felt a bit odd, since it was a mutant quirk and it focused on his legs, even though he didn't have the required engines. "Thank you," Izuku said. He was slightly annoyed with the Doctor but now was not the time to talk it out.

"Go out the back before testing that last quirk," Kyudai told him. "Your Father really wanted you to have that one."

Izuku nodded and then led the group through the tubes to the back of the warehouse. It was a bit more open there. He took several steps into the open space and then concentrated on the quirk. It kind of tingled all over, and felt almost like Scale or Poison Fang but it was more intense. His back itched and… actually he itched all over but before he could decide where to scratch he felt himself changing. Izuku watched… His arms got longer and Izuku felt his sense of balance shift. He pitched forward and knew he hadn't gone forward as much as he should have. He was standing on four legs properly. There was a rip from his pants and Izuku turned but figured he was turning his neck far further than he should be able to. He could see he had a tail now and was looking between two large, skin covered wings. He curved his tail a bit and was kind of disappointed to see that it was skin tone. Actually everything was skin tone but then Izuku realised that it made sense. This was a transformation quirk! It shifted his form but it didn't shift anything else.

He grinned, but his face lacked the muscles necessary for that movement.

"You are a Dragon!" Himiko exclaimed.

Izuku looked over his new form and knew she was right. He was a flesh coloured dragon.

"That's Ryukyu's quirk," Whisper said.

"Yep! I was arrested for stalking her," Yakuni said proudly. "But-" he gestured towards Izuku. It said without words that the reward was worth it.

Izuku flexed his jaws, and figured out if he wanted to talk, he was going to have to shift slightly. His new snout could not properly form words. He let the transformation on his head fade slightly, enough so that he could talk. "This isn't quite what Dad wanted though," he said.

"Not quite," the Doctor agreed. The man had followed them. "But I think you know how to fix that," he added.

Izuku did. His dad had given him all the tools to complete his draconic form. He concentrated for a moment, and felt the tingle all over as he formed scales. He laughed and kind of wished there was a mirror so he could see himself. Instead, Izuku tilted his head towards the group watching him. "Photo?"

Himiko immediately took out her phone and started snapping away. Izuku activated Night Cat so that his eyes glowed green and deliberately struck several poses.

"Fire?" she demanded.

While he couldn't smile with a full draconic snout, he could give them a toothy look, and Izuku did before he blew out a small trail of fire.

Mr Compress looked at him and kind of shook his head a little. "Who knew the Dragon was so literal?" he asked.

Himiko squealed and probably would have been clapping her hands if she wasn't so busy photoing him. He blew out another trail of fire before concentrating and activating Gigantomachia's growth quirk. Quickly Izuku felt himself get bigger and by the way the watching group took a step back it was effective. He gave them another toothy grin and let that quirk go. There was some space here, but he'd need somewhere bigger to really try that. And to see if he could fly with these wings. He'd seen Ryukyu fly so he should and even if he couldn't fly… he had two other quirks that would help him.

Izuku huffed. He could do that in this form. His Dad should have been here to see this and with that thought he felt his dragon lips curl back to show off his teeth.

"That's a good set of choppers," Dabi drawled.

The comment, while irreverent, reminded Izuku that his Dad not seeing this was not the fault of those present. They would actually help him get his Dad and with that though Izuku let part of the transformation fade. He retracted the tail, which immediately made him feel unbalanced, while standing on four legs, so he quickly lifted himself up and let the transformation fade on his torso and then he realised an issue…

"Crap," Izuku muttered. He had the facilities to do that.

"What is it?" Twice asked.

Izuku looked over at the group. Himiko's eyes were bright and she looked like she was having a great time while Whisper looked slightly embarrassed. They knew what was going on. He gestured to the floor, where he was surrounded by scraps of cloth that used to be the clothes he'd put on this morning. It took the gents a moment to put two and two together.

"Oh," Dabi said with a chuckle.

Gigantomachia didn't seem to see the problem and Izuku knew both the Doctor and Kurogiri were aware, but were choosing to do nothing about it. Internally, Izuku sighed. There was nothing for it. He'd just have to give the ladies a show… and the guys. He completed the transformation back and again rolled his shoulders. He did have transformation quirks, but scale didn't really shift anything around, and Night Cat was limited to his eyes and fingers so it wasn't as bad. The two he'd used today… he kind of wanted to check that everything was as it should be.

Himiko squealed again and he could feel her gold eyes on him as she took in the view and … her camera was away. He gave her a smile at that.

"I'm going to need a new costume," Izuku said, ignoring the fact he was in the buff as he walked over to the group.

"Something very stretchy," Mr Compress agreed.

Yakuni laughed his agreement and handed Izuku a coat. He took it from the young man with a smile and put it on.

"Oh!" Himiko pouted.

"One view a day," Izuku teased.

She grinned.

Izuku turned back to Yakuni. "Thank you," he said. He could see uses for all of the quirks he'd just gotten.

"There's a couple more I want to get you," the scientist told him.

"What more does he need?" Twice asked.

"Breath under water," Yakuni replied immediately.

"Heat vision," Izuku said.

"That should be in the new night vision quirk," Yakuni countered.

"Really?"

"Should be."

"It was just a blur of light," Izuku said.

Yakuni frowned. "We'll have to check," he allowed. "But it was meant to be that."

Izuku nodded before he yawned. He immediately raised one hand to cover. "I think I need a quirk acquisition nap," he murmured. He wasn't tired but he did feel fatigued. Even with Gigantomachia's endurance quirk helping him he felt tired. It wasn't physical tiredness, just mental.

"And we need a mission," Mr Compress said.

That cut through Izuku's feeling of tiredness and he nodded. He was going to have to think of something but with the new quirks he could feel within him, and he could feel that Dragon's Hoard was happy with the haul, he felt happy, and confident.

They could do this. He could do this.

He just had to think of how.

-ted-

Izuku's Quirk List

Fire Breath
Fire Proofing
Nitrogen Control (Caeli Imperium)
Scales (Hiryu Ren's quirk)
Weight Control (Kilo)
Poison Fang
Night Vision/Cat Eye (Night Cat)
Hair Colour Change
Eye colour change
Regeneration
Shock Absorption
Strength Enhancement
Solar Force (from Saicho)
Another strength enhancement
Chain
Pocket
Hardening (Kirishima's quirk)
Iida's quirk
Overhaul
Mimic
Chronostasis
Energy Suck
Radio Waves
Rewind

The new Ones

Perfect Night vision (Heat vision)
Reinforcement
Transformable Wings
Strength enhancement 1
Strength enhancement 2
Speed
Support
Gigantification
Endurance
Power
Ryukyu's quirk

Where Izuku has a quirk that is the exact same as one of his others, he does not get double the effects. So if he has 2 enhanced strength quirks that are the same, they don't compound. He gets the effect from one of them, not both of them so I haven't mentioned some he has copies of that were experiments to see if he would keep a double effect. So he's been facing off All Might with just two strength enhancement quirks! He's strong but not yet All Might strong :D

For the moment the other quirks he got at UA - Katsuki, Denki and Momo's quirks - are safe and sound, just not with Izuku for now. In the case of Katsuki and Denki's he knows he's not going to keep them. For Momo's, he has enough to practice with at the moment.

Discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.

-ted-

Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!