Chapter Text
In the Age 780, the Universe was teetering on the edge of total annihilation. The Omni-Kings, Zeno and Zeno, had grown dissatisfied with the quality of the Universes under their Rule, and had decided to wipe them out and keep only the best ones. Deciding to give them a chance to prove themselves, and inspired by the Tournement of Destroyers a few years earlier, the Omni-Kings created the Tournament of Power.
It was a Battle Royal, where teams of the 10 strongest members of each Universe would fight to the last man in the ring. Once a Universe lost every member, they would be erased entirely. Additionally, the MVP of the final surviving team would receive the prize of the Super Dragon Balls, planet sized relics of infinite power which could grant the user one ultimate wish.
The battle shook reality itself as the most powerful mortals in existence fought for their lives, and the lives of trillions of others.
In the end, Universe 7 was the victor, and their final fighter used his wish upon the Dragon Balls to restore the Multiverse, reviving all who had been erased thus far.
Upon their return, they did not expect to be met with Cheers and Celebrations. They had not informed their own universe of the event, in hopes that, should they lose, the people of their universe could pass in blissful ignorance.
As it turns out, the Omni-Kings had made one last addition to the Tournament. They had broadcast the contest to every sentient being in the Multiverse, so that every Universe would be informed of their fate.
Back in Universe 7, near Erasure of their Universe had sparked something in the many planets of the universe. They had nearly all died, and it had put some of their lives in perspective. Some took this as a sign to settle their differences and reach a peace. Others, decided that this was a sign they needed to amass power before it was taken from them
A Chaotic Era followed. It did not come about instantly, it simmered for a few years before exploding into the spotlight. Those who sought peace were forced to clash with those who sought power.
In the middle of the conflict, about 10 years after the Tournament of Power, a new power began to emerge. Quirks. Biological Abilities that were seemingly unrelated to Ki, Magic, or the powers granted by your Race.
The appearance of these new powers sparked even more fighting in the universe, between those who feared them and those who possessed them. The Dawn of Quirks was a Chaotic Era.
Eventually, stability was restored after the long struggling Galactic Patrol was reformed into the Galactic Hero Commision. Inspired by the Superheroes of the Era like The Great Saiyaman, Gamma's 1 and 2, and Hercule Satan, they designed a system around Quirks that would allow pillars of stability and perseverance to stand tall in the Chaos of the Universe.
It took a while, but eventually the GHC managed to quell the bloodshed of The Dawn Era using the Heroes, and bring about a new Era of unprecedented Peacetimes.
While this was going on, the Gods of U7 decided to leave the Mortals to their lives for a few millennia, to see how they would do without their Guidance. No longer would Mortals be able to train under the Gods, nor would they be able to access the Power of God Ki. They would be left to fend for themselves.
And thus, the Universe moved on to an Era of both Chaos and Stability, and of course, Heroes…
Location: Mustafu City, Earth
Age: 1044, September
Mustafu was a bustling City, with buildings towering high into the sky, a mix of rounded rooftops and the more recent Square Roof designs creating a varied city skyline. There were highways made of holographic blue energy slicing across the sky and between buildings, hanging in mid-air at many different levels. On these Highways were Hovering Car-like Vehicles, flying at high speeds to their destinations, some small like a car and others large like a truck.
Down on the streets, people walked in every direction, but never bumping into eachother. A mix of different skin colors, races, and mutations painting a colorful portrait of the culture surrounding the city.
The controlled Chaos of the City was interrupted as an explosion of dust and rubble blew up from within Mustafu City, smoke billowing out from a plaza on the eastern side of the City. From within the smoke a large shadow could be seen. It swung its large fist at an unseen figure, inadvertently clearing the smoke and allowing a good view of itself. He had the face of a Shark, while retaining his tan skin coloration with a mohawk of brown hair going back across his head and down his neck. And he was most notably, 6 stories tall.
The figure he had swung at was soon revealed as the smoke cleared further. He was a large white-haired man, sporting a dull blue vest with no shirt under it, as well as a pair of dark blue pants with a white stripe down the side. His forearms, forehead, and waist were covered in thick metal guards painted to look like construction tape.
He dodged the villains attack, and retaliated by taking a running jump up to the villains head and delivering a hard right hook, then changing direction once he touched the ground and attacking the villains legs. The giant stumbled a little before reorienting himself and going for a counter attack with a Mighty Roar.
From his mouth, a beam of yellow energy fired, striking the ground where the Hero previously was, shattering it and spreading cracks along the ground.
"Shit, so he can use Ki huh?" he said the Hero to himself, "Well in that case…". The Hero landed on the ground, legs in a wide stance, raising his arms parallel so his open palms were perpendicular to the villain. From between his palms, a ball of heavy glowing yellow energy grew until it was half the size of his body. A chain of Yellow energy appeared from the top of the Ki Construct. The Hero grabbed the chain as the ball fell to the ground with a powerful Thud.
"Take This!" Said Death Arms, "WRECKING BALL!" As he flung his arms forward towards the villain, swinging the ball-and-chain of Dense Ki at high speeds.
The Ball of Ki flew into the villain's Chest, slamming into it with the force of a Semi-Truck and knocking the breath out of him, simultaneously knocking him to his knees, but not doing much visible damage otherwise. The Hero noted this before engaging in the fight once more, swinging the Wrecking Ball at the Villain once more.
As the battle continued, more people were arriving at the roadblock nearby.
A crowd had gathered at the edge of the plaza where the battle was taking place, many looking at the interaction as though it were a daily occurence. One was even on the phone with his boss, explaining that a Villain Attack had stopped traffic on his way to work.
"What happened?" Asked one man in a business suit.
"Apparently it was a Purse Snatching gone wrong, he got cornered by the Police and got desperate" explained another man.
"Such a waste of good power" remarked the first, lamenting the lost potential.
A second Hero, dressed in a modified Fire Fighters Uniform with a metal mask covering his face, stood in front of the crowd. Suddenly a large stream of water came from his arms and shaped itself into a large barricade, blocking any civilians from getting closer to the battle. Along with the water, a bluish screen of Ki appeared above the crowd, protecting the citizens from stray energy attacks.
"No need to Worry Civilians!" He called out, "The Heroes are Here!"
Within the crowd stood a young boy. He was a fairly normal looking 17-year old Human boy. The boy was wearing a school uniform, with Red Sneakers and a yellow backpack. He had curly green hair, green eyes, and freckles dotting his face. He was looking at the battle in Awe.
"A Giant Villain!" He mumbled to himself excitedly, as he ran to the front of the crowd for a better look.
Just as he got to the front, another Hero arrived on the scene, drawing squeals of joy from some of the women in the crowd. He was a man of lean muscle, with a body covered in a wooden Armor, and a helmet of the same material covering his head. He was wearing a shirt made of a tight dark blue fabric with a matching set of pants, and had yellow metallic accents across his costume. He also seemed to have what appeared to be a bundle of roses tied to his hip. He arrived on the scene swinging from a tree branch, supplementing his parkour with small bursts of energy from his feet, before landing on a low building in front of the villain.
"Villain!" He called, "You are in violation of the Public Ability Usage Laws, which clearly state that any and all usage of superpowered abilities in public must not result in property damage, disturbance of the peace, or the harm of others! As you have violated all three, I must ask you to quietly turn yourself in before this escalates any further!"
The green haired boy looked up in astonishment, "That's Kamui Woods! He's a popular up and coming Hero who has been rising through the ranks at an incredible pace!", he excitedly said to himself.
"Oh-Ho, I know that tone anywhere" said an older man next to him. "You're a fanboy ain't cha?"
"Oh-hehe, y-yes sir" replied the boy, Izuku Midoriya, shyly. He hadn't realized he was being so loud.
Back with the villain, he responded to the Hero in the expected manner, "Fuck Off! I ain't going down without a fight!"
"Very well!" Responded Kamui Woods, "Then prepare to be defeated!" He finished, before leaping at the Villain. His arm came forwards and out grew a Branch that wrapped around the villains raised arm, which he used to swing around behind the villain.
Once he was behind the Villain, he swung his leg above him before bringing it down in a devastating Axe-Kick. As his leg descended, the wooden armor covering it began to grow bigger. By the time the attack hit the Villain, it had grown to the size and length of a Tree Truck, "Tree Bash!" Shouted the Hero as he completed the attack.
The Villain was knocked far back, but once again did not take as much damage as he should have. "I get it, he's directing his entire Ki Shroud to a singular spot on his body to raise his Durability and negate the weakness of Gigantification Quirks, that they can't usually cover their whole body in Ki. He must be a skilled Ki user for that to work." Izuku analyzed on the sidelines.
The Hero had evidently noticed this as well, as he began to land attack after attack on different points of the villains body, whipping him with glowing green branches, forcing him to either take the damage or spread out his Ki to lessen the blows.
The villain's confused defense allowed the Hero to deal one more devastating attack, growing a branch far into the air before whipping it down, and charging it with that glowing green Ki from before, focusing it on the Tip. The inertia of the swing, along with the Charged up Ki of the attack slammed into the villain at the same time as the Hero called out, "Final Branch Whip!"
The attack slammed the villain into the ground, cracking it. He tried to get up, but ended up stumbling around a bit.
"It seems this battle is now over, Villain" he said, "Now to use my ultimate restraining technique, to put an end to this battle!"
He raised his arm, and out of it quickly sprouted a large number of branches, each of these branches also sprouting their own branches. Rather quickly his arm had grown into what appeared to be the top of a full sized oak tree sans the leaves, each branch swaying as if it were a tentacle, glowing with green Ki, giving the illusion of leaves covering the barren branches.
"Here it comes…" said Izuku, "His ultimate move!"
"Lacquered…" "LACQUERED!" Said Izuku and the Hero simultaneously.
"CHAINS!" Continued the Hero
"PRIS-"
"CANYON CANNON!" The Hero was cut off as a gargantuan lady came flying in out of nowhere, delivering a devastating flying jump-kick to the villains side, knocking him to the ground and subsequently unconscious.
She was a mountain of a woman, literally. She was nearly 70 feet tall, sporting a skintight bodysuit with White, Orange, and Purple markings. There was also a mask covering her eyes, with 2 long purple horns coming out from the top of her head.
She took on a more suggestive pose before proudly proclaiming, "Hey everybody! It's your favorite new Hero Mount Lady, making her Debut as a Pro Hero!"
The crowd's attention, which was previously focused on the Arbor Hero, had instantly focused on the newly arrived Heroine. Mostly from her unexpected entrance and sudden announcement, but also due to her flaunting of her body which left many of the older men in the audience speechless.
'She's getting all the credit?' Though Kamui Woods to himself, 'But I actually fought the guy… she just kill-stole…'
'So I don't exist anymore, do I?' Thought the Construction Hero. He had been the first to arrive, but it seems the newer generation had managed to steal his spotlight again.
"Mount Lady seems to have a great deal of physical power while she is in her larger form, and while larger forms are usually much more cumbersome and slow, she did not seem to present that weakness upon her entrance. It makes sense that she would have trained to accommodate that weakness, especially since Gigantification Quirks are so commonly known as slow, as she would be subverting enemies' expectations by moving much faster than expected, but I wonder how much Ki she is using to get around in her Giant Form? The fact that she managed to defeat that villain isn't a very impressive feat, since Kamui Woods had already managed to deal significant damage, but she still…" The green haired boy was mumbling to himself at an incredible rate, and writing in his notebook at a similar pace.
"Wow kid, you talk pretty fast don'cha" noticed the man standing next to him. Even after the fight he had stayed to listen to the boy's ramblings. By now most everybody had left, and Restoration teams were working to fix the damage to the city at a frankly unbelievable pace. They would be done by the end of the day, as usual.
"Wh-oh-I- Uh, yes I guess I do, don't I" shyly replied Izuku. He hadn't realized anybody was listening to him.
"I can guess based on your fanboy-ing and analysis that you want to be a Hero dontcha!" Said the man, "Well I think you can do it, Kid!" He gave a thumbs up
Izuku was shocked at the positive outburst, but managed to get out a happy, "T-thank you sir!"
Izuku sat in class at the end of the day, idly listening to his teacher drone on about something or the other. He honestly was distracted by the excitement of his morning. He got to see 3 fairly high ranked Heroes, a battle with a giant villain, and the debut of a new Hero. He was excited to get home to analyze the fight.
He brought his focus back to class as his teacher got everybody's attention.
"Ok Class, now that you are halfway through your second year of High-School, you are going to need to start thinking about your plans for the future." He yelled out to get their attention, in a slightly bored tone.
"Now, normally I would hand out these Career Aptitude Tests to help you narrow down your preferred profession" he mentioned, "But I know you all want to be Heroes anyways!" He suddenly shouted before throwing the stack of paper he had been holding into the air.
At this, the class erupted in cheers, practically every student showing off their own abilities and bragging about their prospects for the future. Of the class, only 2 students did not use any abilities.
One was Izuku, sitting at his desk with his head down but arm up.
The other was a boy sitting just ahead of him. He was a fairly normal looking boy, although his face was set in a permanent Scowl, where you could see the beginnings of sharp teeth. He had spiky, Ash-Blond Hair, and Ruby Red Eyes. His face was pockmarked with small star-shaped bursts of color, with the largest burst on his right cheek and another smaller one below his left eye. If you looked closely enough you could even see little flecks of orange in the whites of his eyes, as if they were charged with an explosive energy.
He sat with his legs propped up on his desk, and his arms falling loosely at his side, his hands, as always, half-clenched.
After a minute of chaos filling the class, the teacher finally called out, "Yes, yes, you all have some very impressive abilities, but you know the school rules. No Power Usage during school hours"
The Ash-Blond haired boy piped up at this, "Hey Teach! Don't lump me in with all of these Losers. I may be the Real Deal but all these extras would be lucky to end up as sidekicks to some no-name D-Lister!"
Many of his classmates were riled up by this proclamation, "You think you're better than us Bakugo!?" Squawked one, standing up in his seat.
"Let's Go! I'll take on all of you losers at once!" He responded arrogantly
"Ah yes, Bakugo. You are aiming for UA aren't you? The Hero Course, correct?" Asked the Teacher proudly.
Some of his classmates were socked by this, "What? UA? That's the hardest Hero School in this sector to get into!"
"That's right!" He yelled, jumping up from his seat, "I already aced all the Mock Written Exams, and the Practical Exams will be no problem for a guy like me! I'll graduate UA Top of the Class and become the strongest Hero to ever Live! All Might himself will Bow Down to my glory! And UA is the starting line!"
"Oh right, Midoriya is aiming for UA as well, isn't he?" The teacher mentioned.
The class froze at that.
All the students looked over at Izuku, and silence hung in the air for a few moments. All of a sudden, they burst out laughing.
"Haha! Midoriya!? You can't get into UA just by studying!" One student cackled
"You're a weakling!" Cried another, "No way you could get into UA!"
Izuku sat in silence, trying to ignore all of their jeering. He had heard this enough times before to have grown numb to it, but the words still did hurt a little after all this time. His attention was forced back into focus as an explosion suddenly went off on his desk.
He was thrown back onto the ground, his chair clattering to the side and he looked up. Bakugo was standing over him with an angry expression on his face.
"Listen Up, Deku!" He yelled, emphasizing the nickname, "You're even worse than all these damn Rejects. You're Quirkless and you have no Ki to speak of. Not to mention Humans don't have a single Inherent Ability. You really think they would let someone like you in when they could have me!"
Izuku sat trembling a little before responding, "W-well, I may not have a quirk, but I can still try to learn Ki. And there's really no harm in just attempting the Exam is there?", he said, "It's just, being a Hero like All Might has been my dream for years…” he finished shyly. This was the most he had ever tried to talk back to Bakugo, and he was scared he would rile him up by accident.
"Dumbass! At this stage in life, learning Ki to the right level would take years for a normal person, but Humans grow slowly and you don't have a quirk to help. It would take you decades!" Bakugo yelled angrily, letting off a few crackles from his hands.
"Alright Class, settle down." Finally interjected the teacher, "I know we all got a little excited, but I just reminded you that Powers are not to be used during school."
Bakugo scoffed before turning around and marching off back to his desk.
Izuku picked himself up from the floor as his teacher started talking again, and grabbed his chair. Just a normal day in school.
Izuku sat down again, and tried to keep his head down for the rest of class.
The bell signaling the end of the day rang, and everybody in the class rushed to leave school and get home. Izuku was also excited to leave, not just because of the encounter earlier, but also because he was excited to further Analyze the new Hero who debuted today.
As he packed up he mumbled his analysis to himself.
"I wonder what kind of material her costume is made of? It could be the Warenai Elastic Material that is used in many modern Expanding Outfits, but it seems to be much thinner than that usually is. Maybe it-" his mumbling was cut off when his notebook was snatched from his hand.
He looked up to see Kacchan standing over him, a sour look upon his face as he held Izuku's notebook loosely in his hands, "I don't know what you think you're doing Deku, but we're not done"
Two of his lackeys came up to them, "What ya got there? His Diary?"
Bakugo held the book over his shoulder for them to read the cover, "' Hero Analysis for the Future '? Are you studying how to be a Hero!?" He asked incredulously
The other lackey chuckled, "He's delusional!"
"Y-yeah real funny guys!" Izuku laughed nervously, "P-please just give it back, Kacchan!"
Bakugo wordlessly held the book between his palms before letting off an explosion between them. Izuku croaked in shock as Bakugo tossed it out of the nearby window.
Ignoring Izuku's cries of despair, Bakugo started talking, "Most First-Rate Heroes show their potential early on. People just look at them and know they must be destined for greatness. Once I'm the only guy who'll get into UA from this shitty school, they'll start looking at me like that, and just know I'm the next big thing."
He paused before continuing, "But we can't have you getting in and ruining that, can we?"
He put his hand on Izuku's shoulder and let out a little Burning Ki, singeing Izuku's uniform and shoulder.
"Now I'm a nice guy at heart, so let me give you a bit of advice. Don't even think about applying to UA. You're too Pathetic to pass a single one of their exams, and it would take a lifetime for you to get enough strength to even attempt it."
Izuku gulped, but nodded his head.
Bakugo took his hand off his shoulder and began to walk towards the door, but stopped and turned around once more
"Oh, ya know, there is one surefire fast track to getting stronger." He said.
Izuku looked up at him slowly. What was he talking about?
"Try taking a swan dive off the nearest rooftop. It’s impossible to be even more pathetic, so your next life is guaranteed to be better than this."
And with that he left, his lackeys asking if he wanted to go to the arcade as if that hadn't just happened. And Izuku stood in the center of the classroom in shock. Eventually he got up to leave, and started on his usual path home, but his thoughts were still occupied by what Kacchan had said.
Did he really just say that? Was he being serious? How could anybody say that to a guy they had known since diapers? Sure he knew Kacchan didn't like him too much, but to say something like that was a step too much.
'Idiot. If I actually did it then he would be charged for instigating a suicide' he thought to himself.
As he passed by the Koi Pond outside the school, he noticed all the fish gathered around an object floating on the surface of the water. It was his notebook. Scorched and burned, but still intact.
He picked it up, shooing the fish away before continuing his walk. He pondered on what Kacchan had said. Not the 'swan-dive' part, he had decided to ignore that for now. It was the part before that, "...and it would take a lifetime for you to get enough strength to even attempt it."
He was mostly right on that. Izuku had actually been trying to train for a few years, and had built up a modicum of Muscle, but without having accessed his Ki yet, or getting into classes on proper Ki Control, he knew he could never catch up to be a Hero
He had considered going to a Power Gym, a Gym specifically designed to help people train their abilities, but that was a worthless endeavor as well.
Even if he went to the best Power Training Gyms in the area, he would never catch up in time. Not just because the only Power Gyms in the area were of low quality, but also because none of them would even accept him.
Most Power Gyms would still accept a Quirkless Person if they had enough Ki or a strong enough Species Inherent Ability that it could be ignored, but as a quirkless powerless Human who didn't even have his Ki unlocked? He would be laughed out of the Gym before he could even attempt to explain himself.
And the amount of time it would take to not only access his Ki, but also train up his Ki Pools to a level they would accept, would leave barely any time to actually use those facilities before the UA Entrance Exams. And it was a stretch to assume that he would even be able to awaken his Ki within the next few years, much less in time for the Entrance Exams
Kacchan was basically right. But he didn't let that stop him.
He would be a Hero. He would make people smile, no matter what. Even if he needed to take other paths to Heroism.
His resolve hardened for now, Izuku kept on walking home. He decided to take a shortcut under a small bridge, since he wanted to get home to write before he forgot too much of the morning's battle.
He was about halfway across, when he heard a loud clattering sound and a voice behind him, "A medium-sized Skin-Suit. Perfect."
He turned around to see a large moving mass of sludge pulling its way out of the sewer entrance just behind him. It was a dark sewage green, with a pair of yellow eyes and a mouth suspended in the slime. Just as he registered the sludge pile’s words, it jumped at him. He couldn’t react to get away in time before it wrapped around his legs and pulled him in.
He started to sink into the sludge, nose beginning to fill up, as it continued talking, "To think He of all people would be visiting the city today. Hey thanks for the disguise kid. You're a real Hero!".
He was choking now. The Sludge had begun to work its way down into his mouth and down his throat.
What did the villain say? "Skinsuit"?
There was no way, It was trying to enter his body! He needed to get out of this!
He grabbed at the sludge entering his mouth, hoping he would be able to grasp something that he could use to pull it out, but it was useless. The Sludge just slipped right through his fingers.
“Hah! That won’t work on me kid, my Body’s Fluid!” said the Sludge Villain cheerily, “Just give up and slip into unconsciousness, this’ll only take a minute now.”
The edges of his vision began to fill with black as he suffocated more. He knew he was dying.
‘No, it can’t end like this!’ he thought, ‘there must be a way out of this!’
He looked around with his fading vision, searching for anything he could use to escape. Finally, his eyes landed on another set of eyes. The ones floating in the Sludge. He reached up and grabbed hold on one of them, yanking as hard as he could.
The eye popped right out, and the sludge recoiled in pain, retracting from his throat as it tried to understand what had just happened to it.
Izuku took this chance to run, dropping the slightly crushed eye and booking it down the tunnel.
He could hear the Sludge Pile get a hold of itself before it started to give chase. It was quickly catching up to him, no matter how fast he tried to run. Just as it was about to reach him, he heard a new sound. The clattering of a Sewer Cover.
“DETROIT!” A loud voice was heard.
“Oh, shit.” said the sludge villain.
“SMAAASH!” Finished the loud voice.
A gust of wind blew through the tunnel, air ripping at the sludge villain, as it tried to hold itself together under the onslaught. Finally, the Wind succeeded in its struggle and blew the villain to pieces. Unfortunately it also blew the boy into the air.
His last vision was of a large familiar multicolored figure standing with his fist extended from the attack, before his head met with the ground and he fell into unconsciousness.
He woke up to somebody lightly slapping his cheek.
“Hello There! Are you awake young man?” asked the blurry figure hovering above his face.
He sat up in a daze, not recognizing what was going on. He held his head in his hands as he tried to process what had just happened. He had been walking home, he had been attacked by a villain, he had escaped, the villain was chasing him, and the he was saved by-
He shot up. There was no way, that had to have been a hallucination of something. He looked over to the large man who had left him to collect himself, standing to the side looking slightly concerned.
“It’s All Might!” He accidentally shouted
“Hah! Good to see you are alright young man!” said All Might. He was a very large muscular man, around 7ft tall, maybe more. He was wearing a plain white shirt and green cargo pants, with a yellow belt holding his pants up, and a bag of what seemed to be groceries in his hand. He had a chiseled Face, with glowing blue eyes and long swept back golden hair, with two antenna-like strips of hair coming up from his head. He seemed to radiate a presence that Izuku didn’t even need Ki Sense to notice, one that screamed ‘this man is powerful’ without feeling threatening. This was All Might, the Number One Hero.
“I was worried there for a moment, but you seem to be fine now!” He said, “I apologize for letting that happen to you, you see I had been chasing that villain through the sewers, but I got turned around and lost the big guy. Luckily, I sensed a spike of emotion from him earlier, so I was able to track him down soon enough.”
Izuku was still in shock of his childhood Hero standing right in front of him, but snapped to attention soon after that, “W-wait, where did the villain go? Did he get away?” he asked in a panicked tone.
“Not to worry, for the villain is… RIGHT HERE!”, he said as he held up a large Soda Bottle filled with a green substance. A yellow eye slowly floated to the side of the bottle, confirming the Heroes claims
"Oh, that's good." Said Izuku. Suddenly he realized something, "Wait! I need an Autograph!" He said frantically looking around for his notebook.
He found it laying next to him, and opened it up to the first fresh page. To his surprise, there was already a Signature spread across the two pages.
'He's already signed it!' Thought Izuku, before hastily getting up to thank the Hero, "That You Sir! This is Amazing! This will be a family Heirloom!"
"Now now, no need to go that far." Said All Might. He looked down at his phone before saying, "Oh, look at the time! I need to get this guy to the Station!"
He began to walk away, and Izuku said "W-wait, I still have a question I need to ask you!"
"Then you can ask me on the message boards of my Agency Website, I'll be sure to be on the lookout for it!" He said, exiting the tunnel.
He crouched down, putting the bottle in his pocket, before an aura of golden light surrounded his form and he took off with a guest of strong wind. As he flew, he noticed a bit more resistance on his leg. He looked down, and saw Izuku there, clinging for dear life to his pants leg, "W-w-wait!" He cried, "This is something I need to ask you personally!"
Panicking, All Might said, "All Right! All Right! Just hold on tight while I look for somewhere to land!"
He looked up, and felt a drop of blood slip from the side of his mouth, 'Shit.'
They had landed on the rooftop of a Square Shaped Building, and Izuku fell to the ground in shock of what he had just done.
He looked up, and saw All Might walking to the edge of the building, looking back at him, "That was a very dangerous thing to do young man!" He said, in a scolding tone, "Knock on the door, I'm sure they'll let you in soon enough. Now I need to be going"
"Wait, I still need to ask you a question!" Pleaded Izuku
"It can wait for the message boards" said All Might, rushing to get out as he felt his power begin to wane.
Rushing to get his thoughts out, Izuku yelled out his question, "Can I still be a Hero, even if I'm Quirkless and have no Ki yet!?"
All Might paused his attempts to leave as he heard this. Taking this as an opportunity to get explain, Izuku rambled, "I'm a Quirkless Human with no Species Ability, and I haven't been able to access my Ki for years since my family was always too poor to afford the classes. But Being a Hero has always been my dream! I want to make people smile, like you always do! So, do you think I could be a Hero one day?"
As he finished his rant, Izuku looked up hopefully at All Might, only to see him disappear in a puff of light and smoke. Once the smoke cleared, he saw a tall gangly man in a loose white T-Shirt, and baggy green Cargo Pants, with a brown belt holding them to his waist. His hair was a raven Black, and his eyes were as well, although he had deep eyebags that made it hard to tell. His entire body looked like what would happen if you ripped most of muscles off of a man's body and shrink wrapped the skin onto the bones.
Shocked at the sudden appearance of this man, Izuku asked the obvious question, "W-where did All Might go?"
He looked around but saw no sign of the tall Herculean Man. Did he fly away? But then where did this other man come from? Did All Might leave him here to help him get off the roof?
"Kid I am All M-" he was cut off by a stream of blood flowing from his mouth, causing Izuku to shriek in horror before rushing to help the man.
"Oh my gods!" He cried, "H-how do I-I help sir!" He can frantically looking around for anything to help the poor man. He was cut off by the man placing his hand on his shoulder.
"It's fine young man, this happens alot" he explained. "Now to finish my earlier statement, I am All Might."
"What?" Asked Izuku. He couldn't simply believe that the man in front of him was All Might, the Hair Color didn't even match up!
To prove it, the man took a step to the side and grunted in effort. In a flash of golden light, his hair became yellow and his body inflated with muscles. In an instant, All Might stood at full glory. Before instantly collapsing into the man he had seen before with a spray of blood from the mouth. He took a breath before sitting down.
Izuku couldn't believe it, but he had just been given irrefutable proof of the man's claims. He tentatively said, "All Might?"
"Yep, that's me kid" he responded.
"How?" Was all he could ask.
In response, the man lifted up his shirt and revealed a patch of hideous Scar Tissue. It looked like a flower had been engraved into the man's skin, with the center still looking like a purple mess.
"About 5 years ago, I got into a fight with an extremely powerful villain, and received this injury in the battle. The wound was too severe for a Senzu Bean, and there was magic infused in the attack that messed with the Healing Powers of some of the doctors. I was forced to rely on Healing Quirks, but those were too slow to fix the worst of the damage. By now I can only use my 'Hero Form' For about 5 hours a day, and I was already over my limit for today when I saved you."
Izuku couldn't believe it. A villain had managed to injure All Might that badly? He racked his brain, trying to remember what large scale battles All Might had fought 5 years ago. "Was it the battle with Toxic-Chainsaw?"
Toxic Chainsaw was one of the most dangerous villains of recent history. His Quirk, Venom Saw, was an Emitter Type under the Producer-Effect Category. The Quirk gave him the ability to summon Chainsaw Weapons from out of nowhere that he could infuse with a deadly Poison, which would adapt to whoever it infected and near-guarantee a death. One cut could be fatal to anybody, and he had trained in Ki Telekinesis and Object Enhancement to increase the deadliness.
Using his Ki Telekinesis, he would make any Venom Saw he summoned fly around at high speeds, while using Object Enhancement to make sure the Blades could pierce an enemy's Ki Shroud.
All Might had been called in to deal with him, the higher ups hoping that his unmatched speed would allow him to weave between the blades and manage to defeat Toxic Chainsaw without getting hit. The outcome of the battle had been a victory for All Might, although the specifics had never been directly addressed. Izuku believed that maybe All Might actually had been hit, but survived the poison in this reduced form.
"Hah, you know your stuff don't you kid." All Might said, "Well, that Punk was certainly a powerful opponent, but he never landed a scratch on me. The battle I am talking about was never made public, as I requested. Had the public discovered that their Symbol of Peace, All Might, was injured so heavily in a battle, they would begin to lose faith in me to keep them safe. I am the Pillar of the peaceful society we live in currently, a crack that big could lead to the destabilization of that peace we live in."
Izuku sat in silence, mulling over the information All Might had just given him.
"You asked earlier if you could be a Hero like me without a Quirk and having not learned Ki yet? I would say no. There are villains out there that could shatter asteroids and break moons. As a human, you don't have a Species Ability that could help you, and if you tried learning Ki so late in life, it would take years to produce any substantial gains. You would never be up to par by the time of your age groups Hero School Entrance Exams, setting aside late-in-life applications. To summarize my answer, you could probably never be a Hero like me. I'm sorry."
Izuku sat in silence after listening to that. Specifically, those last two words.
'I'm Sorry.'
He had heard those words enough throughout his life to know what they meant. When he asked his mom if he could be a Hero. When he asked his teachers for help with the bullying and they claimed they could do nothing. When he helped another student with a bully, and they ran off while calling back that they were sorry.
It meant Pity. Empty words. That they didn't believe in him.
He stood there numb as All Might talked again, "I'm sure you can understand if I ask that nothing I said on this roof be repeated to your friends. My injury and true form are secrets that I would much prefer did not get out." He requested.
Izuku just nodded and continued to stand there.
He heard All Might enter the building, and waited a few minutes before following him. He had been standing there long enough that All Might was gone by the time he reached the lobby.
He walked around the city on Autopilot, and replayed the conversation over in his head.
The reveal of All Might's true form was the biggest shock, but not the part he had been focusing on. He thought of All Might's answer to his question, ignoring the last two words, and fixated on the part before that. '...setting aside late-in-life applications'
There were actually cases of Heroes never having gone to Hero School before.
Because so many people had powers, not all Licensing Exams needed a Hero School Diploma to be accepted. As long as you passed the Exams, some would accept Heroes on a provisional level and place them in a low level agency until they got the proper experience and merits to be promoted to Full-Time Heroes.
He looked it up and found two Heroes who took that route, Compass Kid and Rock. Unfortunately, that had both been killed in the Planet Naruhata's 'Villain Factory' Incident a few years ago, so he couldn't go ask them how they did it, but because of them he knew it was possible.
If he took that route, he would still need to pass a series of Exams that were known to be more difficult than the standard ones, and the promotion process could take years to be processed, but it was a possibility.
The more he thought about it, the more confident he became.
Who cares if he wouldn't be able to get into UA. Even if it took him 10 more years to become strong enough, even if it took him more than 5 tries to pass the exam, he would be a Hero. He would save people.
He started to make a plan around this idea, looking up the necessary information on his phone and writing it down in his notebook. It would probably take up to 2-3 years to awaken his quirk, and around 6-8 years to get it to an acceptable level for the more strict Later-Life License Exams. He would need to work a minimum of 5 years as a sidekick before his application to Pro-Hero Status was considered, and maybe another 2 years before it was fully processed.
In the best case, he could start saving people in 8 years as a sidekick, and become a Pro Hero in 7 years after that. It was still mich longer than he would have liked, but that was fine.
As he continued to walk around the City, planning out his Hero career, he heard the sound of something in the distance. It sounded like, popping? At first he thought it was his imagination, but the closer he walked the louder it got. The sound led him to the Arcade Center than many teens his age liked to visit regularly. He had never been since he never had any friends to go with, but his focus wasn't on the arcade itself.
Just outside the Arcade Entrance, was the Sludge Villain that had attacked him. He was rampaging, somehow releasing explosive blasts of Ki into the surrounding Area, and generally causing damage everywhere he looked. Why was he here? Didn't All Might stick him in a bottle? There was no way All Might had lost him, even in his reduced form.
Then he remembered. All Might had put the bottle in his Right Pocket. The same leg Izuku had grabbed when he had clung to All Might as he took off. He must have knocked the villain loose while they were flying, and he must have escaped the bottle.
This was his fault!
He heard some panicked civilians talking to his left.
"Where are the Heroes!?"
"They're still busy helping with cleanup on the other side of the city from the battle earlier today!"
"Well they need to hurry! That villain has a Hostage!"
A few meters to the right of him, a tall skinny man was clutching his side, "damn it…"
Wait, the Sludge Villain had found a new victim!?
He remembered the suffocating feeling of being submerged in the sludge, the horror when the villain had said he would be a skin suit. He had brought that on another person! This was his fault!
Then he caught sight of one thing, the eyes of the Sludge Villain's hostage. Ruby Red eye, with small flecks of orange in the whites. Kacchan.
His legs moved before he knew what was happening. Ignoring the calls of the people behind him, he ran straight for the villain.
How had he not pieced it together before!? Kacchan's lackey's had suggested the Arcade, and those Explosions were so familiar he should have recognized them instantly.
As he ran to the villain, the villain noticed him, "Oh, you again! I have no need for you anymore, so Buzz Off!". He fired an explosion at Izuku.
He barely managed to dodge that attack. Thinking quickly, he grabbed his backpack and unzipped it, chucking it as hard as he could at the Villain's face, aiming for the eyes. It seemed like the villain had dodged the bag, before the contents of the bag began to spill out. Pens, papers, and binders flew into the air, blocking the villain's point of view.
Finally, Izuku chucked his notebook, which was still in his hand, at the Villain's eyes. It struck true, and the villain reeled back in shock.
Taking his chance to take a breath, Kacchan set loose a Kiai with a shout, blasting the Sludge off of him before rushing away, grabbing Izuku's arm while he did so and dragging him along.
Unfortunately, the Villain was quicker to compose himself this time, and lashed out a tendril of Sludge to hit the boys with a yell of rage. Izuku saw this out of the corner of his eye, and once again his body moved on its own. He pushed Kacchan out of the way with strength he didn't know he had, taking the hit for himself.
The tendril struck him in the side, launching his limp body into the side of a building.
Bakugo stood in shock as the villain laughed, "Hahahahaha! I got him!" Cheered the Slime Villain, "That attack was strong enough to have shattered his Ribcage! That'll teach him to mess with my plans for a sec- Ugh?!"
Before anybody could have reacted, the Villain was sent flying by another explosion, splattering on the other side of the street. Thankfully, the Civilians had escaped already.
Bakugo ignored his cries of anger as he rushed over to the hole in the wall where Deku had crashed. He found him in a crater within the Arcade, close to the back. Surprisingly his chest was Intact, not carved in as he had been expecting.
"Fucking Nerd! What the hell were you fucking thinking!?" He screamed out.
"WHERE ARE YOU!?" He heard the Slimey Fuck shout from outside.
He cursed and grabbed Deku to drag him away from the crater. He noticed something peeking out from below Izuku's body. It was a fuzzy brown strip of fur, about 3 feet long, sticking out from below Izuku's tattered uniform. As he dragged him away from the hole and behind a few of the Arcade Machines, the strip of fur followed them, still seemingly stuck to Izuku.
He cursed silently, "Goddammit, what the hell is this? Some kind of scarf a lady drop-", he grabbed at the strip of fur to pull it out from below Deku, but when he yanked on it, Deku woke up with a shriek of pain.
"Ow! What the heck was that!?"
"IN HERE HUH?!" They heard the Sludge Villain yell as he entered the Building.
They quickly jumped all the way behind a nearby row of Arcade Machines as he began to approach the crater.
At this point they both thought the same thing, 'Where are the Heroes?!'
Across the City, the Heroes were rushing as fast as possible to the location of the Villain Attack.
"Why weren't we informed of the attack sooner?" Asked Kamui Woods, forgoing his usual swinging for flying as fast as possible, no need to conserve Ki anymore.
"The call came in late since everybody was busy coordinating the restoration process at the last Villain Attack" said Mr Brave, flying alongside him.
"Are we really not capable of doing both at once?!" Asked Mount Lady, in her shrunken form, finding it easier to fly when not 6 stories tall.
"The Emergency Response Centers weren't expecting another attack today, so they left an Intern to man the Hero Response Emergency Lines while most of them took an early break. He didn't know what channels to use to contact us, and neither did the Restoration Response Workers!" Called out Backdraft, having more knowledge of the internal affairs of Emergency Lines due to his work with the Fire Department. He was flying like the others, but using brief bursts of high powered water to boost himself more each time.
"No time to discuss this now!" Called Death Arms, taking long superpowered leaps to cover as much distance as possible, "We needed to have been there ages ago, so pick up the pace!"
They all pushed themselves to go faster, hoping the Civilians would be fine by the time they got there.
Back at the Arcade, the boys were creeping behind the Arcade Machines on their way to the near war exit. Trying to keep out of sight of the Villain, separated from them by a single row of games.
As silently as they could, they crept along the line of Arcade Machines, jumping between each one to lower their chances of being seen. They paused as he passed by right next to them, holding their breath and crouching as still as possible.
Once he passed by, they kept on creeping. The hole in the wall was too open, too noticeable, so Izuku silently pointed to the still open set of doors on the other wall and gestured crawling to them.
Kacchan seemed a little perturbed at the idea of listening to him, but continued on anyway.
"DAMN IT!" They heard, "Where did you two brats go!". He started knocking over Arcade Games as he rushed around the Room, looking for them.
Kacchan took a piece of rubble from the ground and tossed it to the other side of the room, grabbing the sludge villain’s attention and drawing him to that side of the room.
They kept creeping along, stopping whenever he got too close or whenever they made a sound. Periodically, they would throw rocks to distract the villain, but he had caught on after the first few times.
They continued doing this until they were just one Row of Arcade Cabinets from the entrance. There was a walkway between the rows, and the Sludge Villain was searching a machine at the end of it. He was turned away at the moment.
Kacchan took his opportunity to dash across, hiding behind the next row of Machines. He gestured at Izuku to follow, but at that moment the Villain turned around and started pulling himself down the aisle.
Kacchan quickly pulled his arm back and hid behind a game, out of view of the Villain. Izuku did the same, pulling himself under the Arcade Cabinet next to him and trying to lay as quietly as possible. Thankfully it was big enough to cover his body.
He heard the sludge villain pass by their Aisle, and peeked back on the other side to see if Kacchan was alright. He saw Kacchan peeking out from his hiding place, gesturing wildly at him, pointing to his waist and then flailing a finger into the air before gesturing down. He looked back and saw the problem. His newly grown tail was laying out in the open, he had not considered it as he was not used to having a tail. He grabbed it as quickly as possible and pulled it back, but it was too late. The sudden movement had alerted the Sludge Villain.
The arcade Cabinet he was hiding under was ripped away, and he took his first opportunity to book it to the other side of the Aisle and to the doors, Kacchan following quickly. He heard a yell of frustration from the Villain as he ran into the sunlight of the outside.
They kept running down the street, Kacchan pulling ahead and dragging him along by his arm. They could see small dots in the sky, figures flying quickly towards them. Kacchan, sensing the Heroes approaching, ran even faster than before.
He could hear the Villain burst out of the Arcade and rush towards them, tearing down the street as it tried to catch up to them.
Kacchan quickly turned around, pulling Izuku behind him, and blasted at it with all his strength, engulfing the entire street in a wave of blueish Burning Ki, Fire, and Concussive Force. The villain was pushed back, but not as much as they had expected. He was getting used to the explosions.
He jumped at them, and Izuku raised his arm instinctively. There was a flicker of something in his chest, it rose up along his arm, and burst out in a flash of light as a small ball of light hit the villain in his Eye.
He pulled back, only for a second or two.
But that was enough time for the Heroes to finally arrive.
Mr. Brave pulled them back as Death Arms struck the Villain with a devastating punch, the shockwave managing to knock it back down the street.
Backdraft got to work in putting out the Fires before they damaged the area any further, erecting a Barrier around the street at the same time to cut off the path of destruction and enclose the Villain in.
Kamui Woods sent out a Branch Whip charged with Ki and smacked the villain into the ground once again, but not doing too much damage.
“Aim for the eyes and mouth” shouted Kacchan, having witnessed Izuku take advantage of that before.
The Heroes headed their advice and aimed for that, Death Arms sending a barrage of Mini-Ki Blasts at the villain’s face while Kamui Woods sent a Branch to wrap around his floating mouth.
“Enough Force will knock him out!” Shouted Izuku, remembering the Punch All Might had thrown earlier.
“Then we brought the right team!” shouted back Death Arms, “Hey Mount Lady! Get ready!”
They looked up to see a small figure floating high above the battle, waiting for her chance to attack.
Death Arms and Kamui Woods both gestured for Mr. Brave to help them. He quickly apologized to them before rushing over. He pulled a clump of hair away before forming it into a sort of Weave, Ki filling in the Holes, creating a Water-Tight Container, which he held open.
Kamui Woods and Death Arms grunted in effort as they rushed around the villain to his backside, before launching Simultaneous Kiai’s, blasting the villain into Mr. Brave’s container. They then threw it into the Sky as Mount Lady started to fly at high speeds down towards it, growing to full size just as she reached it, following through she punched the bag into the ground. A shockwave was felt in the surrounding blocks, as the Bag was blasted into a deep crater.
The Heroes surrounded the container, attacked at the ready as Mr. Brave opened it up. Inside there was a still pool of green sludge. Slowly, two eyes floated to the top, blanked out to signify that he was knocked out.
The Heroes relaxed and dropped their attacks. Which was a mistake.
The eyes turned over, revealing they were not blanked out, and the Sludge surged up once more, growing to be taller than the surrounding buildings while tendrils swing in a circle around him. The Heroes retreated, some getting hit by the attack, and Mr Brave being grabbed before he could get away in time
"You dumbasses! Of course you can't tell if I'm knocked out!" He yelled, "I'M MADE OF SLIME!" He said while forming a sharp tendril with his Sludge.
Just as he was about to plunge it into Mr. Brave's chest, a streak of Golden Light flew in from above, colliding with the villain.
A shockwave blasted all the Heroes back, knocking Mr. Brave Loose, but he was Quickly caught by Death Arms. The force was mainly concentrated on the spot where the sludge Villain had been standing.
The air pressure from the attack had created a Tornado, reaching up into the sky and pulling all clouds in the distance towards one spot.
Once the smoke cleared, they could see what caused it. Standing atop the Villain, was All Might.
It started to rain as the collected clouds above them joined together and became too heavy to stay up.
He rushed over to help the Heroes, "I apologize for being late! This Villain gave me the slip a while ago and I have been searching for him all day!" He explained.
"How did he give you the slip?" Asked Kamui Woods as he was helped up
"The guy snuck through the Sewers all day, seems like he's good at concealing his presence even if he can't use his Ki actively" he explained, "I actually had him earlier, and stuck him in a soda bottle"
"How did he get away then?" Asked Death Arms.
Izuku noticed All Might look in their direction, and closed his eyes. Here it comes…
"It seems I fell for the same trick as you!" He said.
What?
"The guy was fully conscious when I stuck him in there, so when I dropped my guard he poked a hole in the bottle and slipped out" All Might lied.
Why wasn't he telling them it was Izuku's fault?
"Now I believe it's time to attend to our young victims" he said, looking over at them.
He sped over before whispering to Izuku, so low even Kacchan didn't hear, "tuck away your tail, I'll explain later"
While Mount Lady and Mr Brave went over to help Backdraft put out the fires, Kamui Woods and Death Arms approached the two boys and All Might.
Quickly he tucked his tail around his waist as All Might instructed. As the Heroes approached, they stood up quickly, brushing themselves off.
"You kids ok?" Asked Death Arms.
"I'm fine." Said Kacchan, he was staring at All Might in awe.
"I-I'm ok" replied Izuku, still on shock
"Well thanks for the advice on defeating that guy!" Said Death Arms, "We wouldn't have known what to do if you hadn't told us"
"Yes, thank you" said Kamui Woods, "By the way, how did you know that he could be defeated by extreme force?" He asked Izuku
Before Izuku could answer, All Might responded, "He was actually the villain's first victim. I save him first, but when I left the villain got away"
Death Arms looked back at Izuku, "You were involved in two attacks kid? Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine sir, All Might saved me quickly the first time, and you saved us in time the second" he said, ignoring the stabbing pain in his chest.
"He's lying," said Kacchan. "He got hit by one of those Tendrils directly, and got launched through a wall as well."
He looked at Kacchan in Betrayal.
Kacchan just looked back, as if trying to tell say 'fuck you' with his face alone.
"That's a pretty big blow to take, kid, we need to get you checked out," said Kamui Woods.
He was led over to the freshly arriving Ambulances and Fire Trucks, where he was given a thorough examination. Thankfully, nobody thought to ask about the Tail, so he didn't need to lie about it.
As he was treated, by the Healers and Medics, he was lightly scolded by the Heroes.
"I know what it's like to want to help people, but you really shouldn't have run in. Especially with your beginner Ki Pool" said Death Arms
"What?" Asked Izuku. "I don't even have my Ki unlocked?"
"Yes you do, it may be small but it's there" said Kamui Woods, before stopping and considering something, "Oh, I think I see what's going on Here. A Forced Ki Awakening." He looked over at Death Arms who nodded in agreement.
"What's that?" Asked Izuku.
"It's an event where a person's Ki awakens in response to danger. It's rare, but it can happen. It would also explain why you survived that attack that apparently sent you through a wall." Explained Death Arms.
"But that also reaffirms my point that you shouldn't have run in" Continued Death Arms. "Although, off the record. Good job, you're probably the reason that kid survived.", he pointed to Kacchan, who was also being checked over by the Medics
Over by Bakugo, he was being praised by Mr. Brave, "We saw that attack you pulled off before we got here. That's some top-tier power you have there. Hey if you ever become a Hero, come by my Agency!"
Bakugo was barely listening to him. He was staring off at Deku, being talked to by the other two Heroes.
All Might may have thought he was being quiet enough, but Bakugo had still heard him. Why did he tell Deku to hide his tail? How did Deku even have a Tail? How had Deku awakened his Ki? He knew that he hadn't been hiding it, his Ki Sense had picked up the specific sensation of an Awakening, but he had never heard of a person awakening their Ki so suddenly. Maybe he should do some research when he gets home.
'Deku…'
After he was healed and given one more checkup, the medics let him go. He began his walk home.
He had tried to approach All Might to ask about the tail and why he had lied to the others, but the Reporters that had quickly arrived on the scene had prevented him from doing so.
He sighed as he walked, a little uncomfortable with the new weight on his lower back. He brought the Tail up to his face. He had found that controlling it came naturally, but he was still a weird sensation to have a new limb out of nowhere.
As he walked, he heard the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching. He stopped, turned around, and saw Kacchan running up to him.
He stopped a few meters away, breathing heavy from the run. "You didn't save me Deku!" He yelled, "I would have been fine, even if you hadn't rushed in like an idiot!"
He looked at him for a bit before smiling lightly, "Alright Kacchan."
"And what the hell is up with that Tail!" He asked loudly, "You're a Human aren't you? I would have known if you weren't, I've known you our entire lives!"
Izuku looked back at it before responding, "I honestly don't know. It was just there when I woke up…"
Bakugo scoffed a little before turning around and stomping off. "You didn't save me! Remember that Nerd!" He called back as he left.
Izuku stared at his back for a little, before huffing a little and walking off again.
He walked in peace for a little, thinking about his plans for the future.
He had his Ki Awakened now, so that was potentially 2 years of training shaved off of this Life Plan. If he began training now, he would probably be able to catch up to the bar a few years earlier. If it would have taken 8 years before, it would probably take around 5 or 6 now.
He would definitely not be able to catch up by the time of the UA Entrance Exams in a year and a half, but he already knew his plans for his Hero Career.
He looked at his tail once more. This could change things, maybe. If he was secretly a Hybrid like he suspected, then he may have more potential than the average Human, which could speed up his plans a bit. But that wasn't a sure thing, some Hybrids didn't provide any boosts in growth, or have any Species Inherent Ability that could help.
He wished that he had gotten to talk to All Might abo-
"I AM HERE! TO HAVE AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION WITH YOU!" Said All Might, running out from around a corner in his full Hero Form Glory.
"AAHHH!" Cried Izuku, frightened by the Heroes sudden appearance.
"Ah-ha, sorry young man!" All Might said. "I didn't mean to startle you so much"
"All Might!" Said Izuku in surprise, "How did you get away from those reporters?"
"Such a task is nothing for the Number One Hero, All M-pppffff" he said, before coughing out a spray of blood and reverting back to his 'True Form'.
He wiped the blood away, and looked up, "Anyways, I wanted to talk to you about the incident today. Or should I say Incidents?"
"I'm sorry All Might, it was my fault the Sludge Villain escaped in the first place, and you had to push yourself so hard to deal with my screwup." Izuku tried to apologize
"No, no, It's my fault. I should have secured to Villain before taking off, there's no excuse for that." He said, holding up his hand in protest
"But-" Izuku tried
"But nothing young man. The blame lies solely on me, and that is all there is to the story." All Might responded, "Anyways, I needed to talk to you, and I suspect you wanted to talk to me as well"
"Yeah, about that," Izuku said, "Why did you tell me to hide this tail? The Medics could have told me why it suddenly appeared?" He asked.
"Well, before we get to that, I need to ask you one question. Why did you run in there?" He asked.
"I don't know sir, my legs just moved on their own." He tried to explain. "Wait, how did you know about that? You only arrived at the end of the battle?"
All Might blushed, "Ah yes, about that. You see, I had arrived at the scene of the battle at the same time you did, but when you suddenly rushed in and the villain knocked you into the Wall, the crowd panicked and ran away. And well, few well meaning citizens decided to help me, seeing as I was in my emaciated form at the time, and dragged me away from the battle. They wouldn't let me go for quite some time, and I couldn't really transform in front of them to escape…" All Might rambled his explanation. "It was all very embarrassing to be honest."
"Well, I guess I can see that," said Izuku honestly. Sometimes well intentioned people make mistakes, like him.
"Mhm" All Might cleared his throat. "Well, the reason I ask young man is simple. Earlier, you asked me if I thought you could be a Hero even as you are now. Back then, my response was a No."
Izuku lowered his head at the reminder.
"But now, I find I must change my answer." Finished All Might.
Izuku looked up in shock. What?
"When I got to the scene, I was out of time. I thought I would let the other Heroes take care of it, when they eventually got there, and I was feeling useless at the thought that I could do nothing to help." He explained, "But then, I saw you run in. You, the quirkless, non awakened, human boy, rushed in and managed to save the hostage when I could not, even with all my power. I have to say, it inspired me."
Izuku's eyes started to mist over. Beads of water formed at the corners of his eyes, but he refused to turn away as the Hero continued talking.
"Every great Hero has one thing in common. They have all had a moment where they say their Bodies moved on their own to the aid of another. Those are the instincts of a True Hero." He said.
A tear ran down his face, and Izuku raised up a hand to try and wipe that eye, but kept on staring at All Might.
"Young man, you can be a Hero. You can be a Hero even greater than I." All Might finished.
The tears finally started to flow. Izuku burst out in tears and collapsed to the ground, but kept his head up staring at All Might.
That was the first time in his life somebody had actually told him he could be a Hero in earnest, knowing all of his weaknesses, knowing that he was just a useless Deku. The first time somebody had actually believed in him.
It took him a few minutes to get himself together after that. Eventually his tears had run dry and his mind had focused on his surroundings again, reminding him that he was crying on the floor in front of the Number One Hero.
"S-sorry All Might, I didn't mean to break down like that" He said.
"It's quite alright young man, everybody experiences strong emotions once in a while, especially in moments like this" All Might replied with a tone of understanding.
"So, you said you would answer my questions about this tail once I answered your question, and I guess my first question is, why do I have a tail?" Izuku asked, referring to the beginning of the conversation.
"Ah, yes. I apologize, young man, I got sidetracked." He said, scratching the back of his neck a little. "Well, to answer your question, I believe your body responded to a Near-Death experience by trying every possible action it could to save you. One was to unlock your Ki and instinctively block that blow that should have caved your chest in, as you know." He explained, " The other, I suspect, was to awaken a part of your DNA that has remained dormant up until this point."
"So, my body tried to save me by drawing out hidden DNA? Why did that never happen before?" He asked. This was a very confusing situation, and he was just trying to see if he was understanding correctly.
"Yes it seems that way. While rare, there have been cases of people developing Hybrid Abilities from their ancestors when placed under extreme stress. I remember a case where a woman became Half-Benchian from her Great-Grandfather even though she was not one before.", he explained. "As for why you had not developed them before, I would hazard to say that you have never been in such a Near-Death experience before have you?"
Izuku nodded
He continued, "Then that must be why, your body simply had no reason to tap into that side of you until today."
"But why did you have me hide my tail? Is being a 'late-stage hybrid' a bad thing?" He asked. That was the part that had been confusing him the most now. What reason could there be for Izuku to keep this from the Medics on scene?
"No young man, you being a 'late stage Hybrid' itself is not a problem. It is what you are a Hybrid of that may have caused you a few problems." All Might answered.
"Wait, it's a bad thing?" He asked, now nervous that his new tail was going to get him in trouble.
"Well, not a problem necessarily. It is just, your race is one that has not been seen in centuries, and frankly the universe thinks they are extinct." He clarified, "I had a feeling you would not want the level of attention that would have brought onto you and your family, especially since you had just been through a harrowing ordeal."
Izuku processed this new information, "Oh, I guess that makes sense. If I had heard an extinct race suddenly reappeared, I would have wanted to know as much as possible as well. Do, what race am I?" He asked in anticipation. This was a life-altering discovery, and he needed to know.
"You, young man, are a Saiyan."
For Izuku, the world stopped.
"A-a what…?" He asked, needing to know if his ears were working right.
"It is as I said young man, you are a Saiyan." Replied All Might.
"What!? B-but I can't be a S-s-saiyan!" He cried out, "The Saiyans went extinct centuries ago! There's no way any of their Bloodlines would have survived to the modern day!"
He couldn't believe it. It couldn't be true. The Saiyans had been one of the most infamous species in the universe, since before the Z-Era, even. A race of Warriors that were powerful enough to conquer entire planets single handedly. Even after the destruction of their homeworld and their mass extermination by the Warlord Frieza in Age 737, some of the most powerful and well known Warriors in existence had been Saiyans.
Of course the most famous examples were the Saiyan survivors on the Z-Warriors, Son Goku and Prince Vegeta Briefs. Those two had risen to fame as the most powerful members of the Z-Warriors, and the ones who had won the Tournament of Power for their team. They had trained to the point where they had attracted the attention of the Gods themselves, ascending higher and higher until eventually they ascended themselves and practically became gods in their own right.
Another well known Saiyan Survivor was Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan. He was known for his immense and seemingly uncontrollable Power. A God among mortals, who would continue to grow in battle, never stopping, his power never ceasing.
All that to say, the Saiyan were one of the most powerful races to have ever existed, the most famous members of that race had risen to the level of the Gods themselves, and then had surpassed even that.
There was no way he could be a Saiyan! The Saiyans were powerful, loud, brave and prideful. He was just a weak, quirkless Deku! He could never be any one of those things, no matter what!
All Might laughed at his earlier statement. "True enough young man, but you must know what Saiyans looked like from your History Class. That tail is unique to Saiyans, and Saiyans alone. The fact that you have it means you are a Saiyan, no doubt."
"But how can you be sure? I could just have a late bloomer Monkey Heteromorphic Quirk!" It wouldn't be the first time somebody mistook a monkey tail for a Saiyan Tail! Asked Izuku.
"Well, your point does stand." He started, "In this Era of heteromorph and transformation Quirks, it can be hard to tell what is a Quirk and what is a trait of your Race. But there is one thing that makes me sure you are a Saiyan."
He paused
"Your Ki!" He stated, "Your Ki has a special feel to it that tells me you are a Saiyan, one which I recognize because I have felt it once before."
Izuku sat in wonder before realizing, "Wait, you've felt this once before? So, do you know another Saiyan?"
"Well of course, I know the feel of my own energy after all" he said slyly.
Before Izuku could react to those words, All Might's belt began to fall from his waist. No, not a belt. A Tail.
All Might's newly revealed tail waved at him for a second, before looping back around the man's waist, disguising itself as a belt once more.
All Might began to speak, "I know what happened to you young man, because the same happened to me."
"All Might, you're a-a-"
"Yes, my boy I am a Saiyan as well." He said. "And if you would accept it, I would like to train you. You still want to be a Hero after all, don't you?"
Izuku took this about as well as you would expect for a fanboy faced with possibly the biggest secret in the universe and the offer of a lifetime from his personal idol.
He fainted.