As Izuku walked through the empty streets, the sky darkened above him, with stars peeking through to guide his way while the moon illuminated the buildings around. Clouds swirled around the structures, making him feel uneasy. His heart raced, and his mind was filled with anxiety whenever the lights flickered or the wind howled, triggering his imagination to conjure terrifying possibilities.
Each second there, he seemed to pop in a new thought of something or someone waiting to pounce from the shadows and grab at Izuku. Clank! A sound in the distance put Izuku on edge as he stopped dead in his tracks and quickly spun around, looking for the origin of the sound, but the streets were dead quiet. Izuku began to run as his fear took over his body, for if he stopped, he thought that someone would lunge out at his chest from the darkness and attempt to end him. Stumbling his way through the city streets, Izuku tripped and fell to the asphalt of the floor and submerged in a puddle. When Izuku tilted his head up from the floor, he found himself in the underpass of a bridge.
His books had flown out of his bag and into another puddle right in front of him, rats surrounding his hero book and nibbling away. Izuku rushed to get up to save his book before it was devoured and soaked in filth. Rats scurried away into the cracks of the walls holding up the bridge as soon as Izuku rushed over to his book. Opening the pages, Izuku was slightly disheartened seeing his handwriting and art smudged and illegible. These past two months had been downhill since he started working for the Langstroms.
First, it was Bakugo coming into his place of work and sabotaging paperwork right in front of his face. It was hallucinations and sensory deprivation at school, and then it was discovered he was the Man-Bat. No matter how many times he thought he had reached rock bottom, the universe found another way to surprise him again and again. "Could things get any worse?" The green-haired boy asked himself aloud with a look of exasperation on his features. CLANK! Suddenly, a manhole cover shot up into the air as an amorphous dark green mud-like sludge began to rise out of the sewers and formed a body as two big round, filthy yellow eyes with dark red pupils and a demented smile pushed through. His teeth were sharper than knives as he set his eyes on Midoriya. The boy was petrified as he stood as still as stone while he began to sweat bullets looking back at the amorphous man.
"Oh, you'll do nicely, kid!" The villain said with a sadistic glee. Before Izuku could react, the villain torpedoed towards him at high speeds, trapping the young boy in a web of slimy mud, shovelling tendrils of the slime into his mouth and nose. "Stay still, dammit!" The villain cursed as he suffocated Izuku, who struggled fiercely like a rat in flypaper, his eyes widening in horror, feeling the villain cut off his breathing. "You're a tough one, kid. It looks like I've got a good disguise." Izuku felt repulsed and terrified, listening to the villain call him a disguise; his life was beginning to feign the world turning to darkness as his eyes began to drift to an eternal slumber.
"Cease your misbegotten plan, you despicable despot!" A booming voice cut through the air, commanding and intimidating. The sludge villain turned his head to see the hero he was running away from right behind him. Izuku struggled to see who was there as his vision blurred between light and dark. A powerful gale of wind blasted across his face as he saw glimpses of the sludge blown to pieces. Izuku fell to the ground, and everything slowed to a snail's crawl. He saw glimpses of a muscular man in a white T-shirt and long cargo pants. Before Izuku could say a word, his world went dark. He hit the ground, his body made a loud THUD!
Opening his eyes, Izuku was annoyed to be back in an area of perpetual dark fog, his patience feigning while deafening silence permeated the void, "Looks like I can't get rid of you, Izuku." The Voice cut deep through the deafening silence like a bullet through flesh before laughing deep in its throat. Standing up, Izuku found the fog world dissolve and decay into a cave overflowing with stalagmites and stalactites jutting out from the floor and roof of the cave like jagged teeth, ready to devour Izuku at a second's notice.
Feeling the wind against his face, Izuku was overcome with a chilling sensation that riled up his bones. While the dripping sound of water echoed through the dank cave, Izuku recoiled in fear as he stumbled his way through the labyrinth of the caves. Going deeper into the cave, there seemed to be a light emanating from a crawl space in the wall. Izuku inspected the space, and against his better judgment, he slid into the crack and shuffled along until he found what appeared to be the embers of a fire.
Izuku slid in further through the wall until he was able to extend his hand out into the wider space in an attempt to make room for the rest of his body to escape. Slipping through the gap, Izuku heard a loud ripping sound from his shirt. Looking down, he saw his entire chest exposed to the moist air around him, but as he walked closer to the embers, he felt it burn up exponentially. Heavy pressure dug into his chest repeatedly as he approached the remaining embers. Leaving in towards the warming glow, Izuku huddled his hands together in a futile attempt to warm himself; his palms felt frigid; the only thing keeping him going was the kindling sparks of the embers he lay in front of. Water dripped from the ceiling above onto Izuku's hair, starting as a minor inconvenience and quickly becoming more stalactites. They started dripping more water on his head before delivering a pouring barrage that drenched Izuku and the cave in a tsunami.
Bobbing his head in and out of the water, Izuku searched around as he was carried away by the currents, bouncing around the walls of the cave-like pinball fast and unpredictably. Each moment felt agonisingly quick as his body collected scratches and bruises like they were All Might Trading Cards. The water glistened with a luminescent glow, giving the illusion of a thousand fish swimming with Izuku in the darkness of the cave, but barely enough for Izuku to see what was ahead of him, Izuku struggled to stay above the water as every second he felt his breath being taken away and then regurgitated back in his mouth.
As the violent currents ceased tormenting Izuku, washing him up in another part of the cave darker than before now that the luminescent light of the water disappeared into the cave, Izuku stood up and began coughing up water, "What's the matter Deku, you seemed a little… choked up on something." The Voice taunted Izuku before delivering a bellowing laugh. Izuku stood up, wet and shivering, as he searched the cave for the source of his torment.
"S-Stop it!" Izuku cried out while his teeth chattered wildly in the glacial cold of the cave, his entire body shivering and quaking violently while trying to stare down the voice. "I'm over here, Deku." The Voice jested, leading Izuku to spin around with fear all over his face and snot dripping from his nose, his eyes on the verge of crying. Falling to his knees, Izuku began to pour the waterworks as thoughts of doubt and guilt flooded his head. 'I can't do this anymore! I just want to be me again.' Izuku thought to himself, just hoping, praying that someone would save him from this animal he had become.
Suddenly, another voice could be heard, this one quiet and whispering to Izuku, insisting that he wake up. Confused, Izuku got back on his face and tilted his head towards the ceiling as the voice grew louder and louder. A confused look spread across Izuku's face as the new voice persisted until he woke up. "Would you listen to that? Deku sounds like someone's trying to call you." The Voice sneered at Izuku, "Too bad it's not going to work. I'm gonna keep you here a little while longer until I've had my fill of you." The Voice announced before delivering a deafening screech.
Swooping down from the darkness of the cave, a huge black and purple bat-like figure made of mist flew down towards Izuku. Izuku panicked as he saw the same Bat creature from dreams ago return to torment him further. He managed to escape the creature's first bite as it flew back into another dark area of the cave before returning to Izuku and biting him a second time. Parts of the mist that made up the bat trailed behind it like a plume of smoke that managed to blind Izuku. Rubbing his eyes, Izuku stumbled about the cave, his feet twisting and turning not of his own volition as he tried to gauge where the Bat creature was by the sound of its flapping wings and screeching noises. Izuku carefully waited to sidestep the beast's attack to varying degrees of success as he felt his arm cut open slightly and his legs scratched from the gravel below. At the same time, he slid away from the beast's attack.
After what seemed like an eternity of rubbing, Izuku opened his eyes only to be rammed into by the creature and knocked to the floor, his clothes tearing at the seams as gashes covered the entirety of his body from head to toe. Bones ached, his skin infested with a burning sensation, his chest caving in deep as though two giant hands were trying to break his rib cage. "Don't tell me you're giving up already, Deku!" The Voice spat. Izuku turned his head to see where the voice was coming from.
Sure enough, as Izuku looked at the bat creature that stood behind him growing in size, its mouth moving up and down with precision and purpose, "What's the matter, Deku? Scared of the Dark?" The creature swung its head back and laughed a deep laugh in its throat. Izuku struggled to stand up; he quivered in pain, and his legs felt as though they had been flattened under a pile of boulders bigger than Fatgum. Izuku attempted to crawl away but felt sharp talons dig into his back. Looking behind him, he gazed upon the giant bat with a sinister grin, standing atop him with a menacing gleam in its eyes. "Trying to get away, are we, Deku?" The creature jeered as it flashed Izuku a toothy grin with jutting and jagged teeth. "What's the matter, Deku? Can't you fight back?" The Creature taunted with Venomous joy.
Suddenly, a small yellow light enveloped the space. Izuku fixated on the light shining above the creature's head as it began to glow brighter. Izuku shielded his eyes with his arm from the sudden onslaught of light filling the cave. Stinging his eyes, Izuku felt the light touch his skin as he heard the creature squealing in agony as it slowly decayed in a flash, and the stabbing pain in his back began to alleviate. But before the beast evaporated into nothingness, it asked Izuku one final question, "Don't you want to be a hero?" The voice taunted for a final time before letting out a final cackle that echoed through the remnants of the dream.
"Hello, hello, hel… oh, you're awake!" A booming and powerful voice called out with an optimistic tone as he felt a little slapping rhythm on his cheek. Izuku opened his eyes slowly to see a familiar smile grace his sight. "…Good news is I got that slime out of your lungs." The voice jeered cheerfully, most of his words, unfortunately, being drowned out as Izuku regained his consciousness. Situated above him was the bright glow of a streetlamp that managed to shadow most of the man's face. The man stood back, giving the green-haired boy some much-needed space as his vision slowly returned to him. When Izuku finally got a good look at the man, he noticed two large antennas on his head. "A-All Migggggghhhhhht!" Izuku screamed at the top of his lungs as he was met face-to-face with his idol.
He attempted to stand up, but his legs couldn't support his weight, causing him to collapse to the ground, his entire body shaking with trepidation as he hyperventilated, his mind racing with questions to ask his Idol. Immediately, he went to his notebook to have All Might sign it, but when he opened his book, he had already found his signature situated over his drawing of All Might. "You're welcome." All Might stated as he looked at Izuku with a warm, radiant smile. "I'm glad you're okay! Sorry 'bout getting you caught up in my villain fighting." He apologised profusely to the boy for putting him in danger.
Izuku continued to scream with joy as he bowed before the godly presence of All Might, "I was saved by All Might!" Izuku muttered under his breath, with absolute excitement pouring from his very being onto the pavement. "That I did." All Might responded with glee, causing Izuku to cower as he heard the legendary Pro Hero respond to the muttering under his breath. Izuku cringed just a little as he realised All Might had heard him.
Izuku was left a nervous wreck, lying on the floor, bowing to the man for saving his life, thanking him over and over again nervously. But as Izuku calmed himself down, thoughts lingered in his head of the last thing the bat creature asked him: "he wanted to be a hero?" Izuku was left confused and apprehensive ever since the Langstroms came into his life; he'd gone through the works to become a different kind of hero, one that could help people differently, but still, thoughts of being a pro hero like All Might resided in the back of his mind, attempting to claw out.
Before Izuku could get a word in, All Might accidentally cut him off as he was about to pop a question to say, "It took me some time, but I got all of that sludge villain out of your systems." The Blonde responded with his smile gleaming in the light as he held up a large plastic soda bottle containing the Sludge villain. Izuku stared at the plastic container as All Might delved into giving the boy CPR, which momentarily distracted Izuku from his question. "Well, I best be off then!" He smiled again before crouching down for a powerful jump, propelling himself in the air.
'Something doesn't feel right.' As the hero flew through the air, the wind rushing against his face, he felt as though he was being weighed down by something. Looking down on his leg, he saw the green-haired boy hanging onto his legs, his face flapping in the wind as he clung to All Might's leg for dear life. "What do you think you're doing?" The Hero questioned with an irritated tone. Izuku managed to get a few words out as his lips flew around, "I need to ask you something important." Izuku stated as tears flew off his face. All Might looked on with a quirked brow as he decided to hear out the young man.
Landing on a nearby building, Izuku stumbled as All Might crossed his arms with a look of slight annoyance on his features but was still trying to keep up his optimistic demeanour. Izuku stood up, his legs quaking trepidatiously as he grabbed onto some railing to steady himself, his face covered in worry and fear, causing All Might to soften his gaze on the boy and uncross his arms. Tears welled up in Midoriya's eyes as he asked his Idol, "Can I be a hero?" The boy mustered with all his strength to hold back his tears, his eyes encasing an entire small nation's worth of water behind his pupils.
Izuku fell to the ground, his hands keeping his face from hitting the concrete below as he sniffled. All Might's body began to pile up smoke quickly as his body began to shrink, his clothes becoming baggy and huge. The night sky darkened, clouds covering the once starry sky into a dismal grey that filtered out the beauty and majesty before everyone's very eyes. Izuku held back tears, asking All Might, "Can I become a hero even without a quirk?" Unbeknownst to the young Midoriya All Might, his form was steaming and diminished to a skeletal frame.
He wanted to help others, but still, he was torn between helping people on a wider scale and the Langstroms had the same approach, wanting to help people overcome ailments. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he struggled to hold them in any more, "Can I still be a hero like you even if I'm a monster?" But Izuku still wanted to be like his hero, All Might, someone who could save people with a smile on his face. Turning his head up to where All Might was just standing, he was met with a skinny, skeletal-like man with hollow, sunken eyes, who suddenly sprayed out blood from his mouth, shocking Izuku.
"Where's All Might?" Izuku questioned in a panic as he saw a man who was skinnier than himself. His heart was racing in his chest as he hyperventilated. The man looked at him, completely annoyed and agitated. Although Izuku didn't see him transform, he should be smart enough to connect the dots. "I am All Might, kid!" He said, completely irritated. he had already spent most of his time trying to save the kid. "But All Might's is huge and has muscles, and he has a huge smile." Izuku clamoured as he tried to rationalise against the stranger.
Izuku muttered on and on about All Might's physique in excessive detail, which gravely ticked off All Might as he listened to the boy's incessant geekiness, interrupting the boy, "Listen, kid, I am All Might look!" He demanded as, in an instant, he went from skeletal and skinny to muscly and hulking with a plume of smoke that dissipated as quickly as it arrived. All Might's muscles disappeared quickly, and he went back to looking like a skeleton with a perpetual frown as blood spilled from his mouth.
Izuku was silenced and stunned for a few seconds, remaining as still as a statue. All Might went in for a closer look to make sure he was ok when Izuku suddenly shot to life, flailing his arms around and screaming like a banshee. As his scream died down, Izuku took in deep breaths, each moment seemingly ramping up in craziness. He had no idea what to expect next. When he finally calmed himself down, thoughts ran wild in his head like animals freed from their cages in a zoo. "How did this happen?" Izuku asked, his voice dripping with confusion as he looked up to the blonde man.
The older of the two sighed as he lifted his shirt to reveal massive scarring on the left side of his body. "This is how. About five years ago, I got into a nasty fight with a villain who managed to destroy Half of my respiratory organs… and I lost my whole stomach." He said with annoyance but also a pang of guilt, as if he blamed himself every day for his mistake. "I've become emaciated from repeated surgeries and the aftereffects. Right now, I can only work as a hero...for about three hours a day." He said with regret filling his voice, "Wait, was that from the fight with Toxic-Chainsaw?" Izuku questioned, tilting his head like a confused puppy.
"You're well informed, kid, but a punk like him wasn't enough to put me out of commission." All Might continued to tell Izuku how this fight was not made public so as not to taint the Symbol of Peace's effectiveness, so people may never lose faith in him and so he may continue to fight the good fight. After finishing up his reasoning, he shoots down Izuku, telling him he can not become a hero without a quirk. Izuku's dreams were crushed again by the unbearable words spoken by All Might himself; he told Izuku that if he wanted to help people, then he should become a police officer. They often get teased because they get villains delivered to their doorstep, but that is also a fine occupation. All Might told him that it's not bad to dream, but he must be realistic about his dreams.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to deliver this guy to the…" All Might patted his pocket to feel nothing, the bottle containing the sludge villain having disappeared. "Crap, I must've dropped the bottle!" All Might said with worry. Izuku overheard what he said, he couldn't help but feel guilty for stopping All Might. As All Might left Izuku's sight, he quickly dropped his hands down to the floor, tears streaming down his face. "Why did I do that? Kacchan was right all along: I'm nothing but a Deku!" He whispered under his breath, lamenting his actions.
Izuku clawed at the floor, digging deep claw marks into it. His body began flaring up, an incredible heat scorched through his frame, sweat beading from every crevice, and he felt his skin ripple and twist as his clothes began to burst. Grunting in pain, Izuku looked at his arms and noticed them spasming out of control. His bones twisted and snapped, and his eyes began to flow with dread as he looked upon his hands, seeing his fingers snap like toothpicks and deliver a disgusting crunch through the air. He let out a soft scream like a mouse being run over by a bicycle before his lower jaw dislocated, making an uncomfortable snapping sound. He felt a sharp pain in the tip of his nose before it started pushing outward like millions of tiny knives pushed out of his skin all at once.
Izuku's face started becoming more snout-like while fur sprouted from every inch of skin. Izuku felt his nerve endings bathe in a river of lava, his small size began to rapidly grow and expand at an exponential rate, and his bones began splitting and rippling like worms beneath his skin. His legs bent and twisted themselves like worms, and the green-haired boy looked on in abject terror as his body began transforming him into the Man-Bat once more. "What's happening?… This shouldn't be happening… I-It can't be happening!" Izuku said in a pained and frightful voice laced with confusion. Kirk's formula should've prevented Izuku from transforming him into the Man-Bat for at least 24 hours, yet the Beast prevailed. Izuku let out a pained shriek that permeated the night sky.
All Might rushed down the narrow flight of concrete stairs, his heart racing with urgency as he sought the elusive sludge villain, determined to prevent anyone from inadvertently releasing him. Midway through his descent, he came to a sudden halt, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Wait, what exactly did that boy mention about a monster?" he wondered aloud, a look of confusion etched on his face. He paused, replaying the child's words in his mind as the echo of their conversation lingered, sending a ripple of unease through him. What kind of creature could the young boy have been referring to? The dimly lit stairwell felt even more claustrophobic as he wrestled with the implications of that possibility.
Suddenly, All Might could hear someone screaming like their organs were being twisted and pulled from within their body. From the roof, rushing back up to check what was happening, he saw only the kid's bag, its straps torn to shreds, but with Midoriya nowhere in sight. "Where did you go, kid?" All Might asked aloud with worry in his throat. As he looked around, he felt a menacing presence just out of sight, which only increased as he found Midoriya's tattered school clothes. Suddenly, he could hear heavy breathing from afar, and as he turned to look for the breathing, he saw someone perched up on a signal antenna in the neighbouring building.
Two yellow, pupil-less eyes stared down at All Might like a predator watching its prey; the body was obscured by darkness as it appeared as a blob of darkness with eyes. "Where's the kid?" All Might yelled at the being, demanding answers. The creature returned to silence before standing up straight, casting a silhouette of a regal vampire. All Might felt his heart stop as the being unfurled its wings, turning it into a silhouette of a giant bat. All Might witnessed the beast open its mouth to reveal dozens of blood-soaked teeth. All Might backed up slowly to get as much distance from the beast as possible.
A screech echoed through the skies as the Bat swooped down at All Might, who barely dodged the attack. The beast landed on the pavement, its feet gliding along the cement as it shielded itself before opening up its wings, revealing to All Might the Man-Bat. The beast stood as tall as All Might in his muscular form, his eyes glued to the large build of the creature of what resembled natural muscles hidden under the brown fur.
The creature was wearing tattered clothes as if it had just transformed and destroyed the clothes it was wearing. All Might attempted to make it to the door leading to the stairwell but was blocked off by the Man-Bat's superior speed; it growled at All Might as it winded its head backwards and tried to snap his collarbone. He managed to dodge the beast's attack, rolling backwards, but he soon found himself pinned underneath the creature's massive talons that seemed to dig into his skin ever so lightly. The beast looked into All Might's sunken eyes with venomous malice but something more.
Staring into the Man-Bat's eyes, All Might recognized something familiar. "Wait, you're that kid I just saved," he managed to say, struggling for breath as the Man-Bat tightened its grip around his chest. "Is this what you meant by 'monster?'" he questioned, a pang of guilt washing over him. If he hadn't ignored him, perhaps he could have helped Midoriya. In the distance, explosions could be heard, catching the Man-Bat's attention. It turned its head toward the source of the sound, then returned its gaze to All Might, a malicious grin spreading across its face. With a crouch, it launched itself into the night sky with ease, mimicking All Might's method of traversal.