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Chapter Text

‘Take the back door.’ Izuku Midoriya, a green haired, green-eyed and diamond-freckled teenager, thought to himself as he quietly tiptoed through the hallways of a school that had seen better days.

With flickering faulty lights, dirty walls that were once coated with bright yellow wallpaper but were now frayed and browning, not to mention the graffiti on lockers and filth amongst the ground, Aldera Middle School was just as ugly to look at as it was at its core.

Something Izuku Midoriya himself was all to familiar with, he thought wryly as he managed to avoid a crowd of students, having ducked out the way before they could see him and letting out a sigh of relief when they walked on before continuing on to the backdoors that no one used.

He opened them and stepped outside, taking in a thankful gulp of the cleaner air once he was outside, silently thankful that he got away without incident and could just continue on-

Slam!

Izuku cringed and his muscles stiffened as a mixture of worry, exasperation and frustration bubbled up inside him, turning to one side to see a sadly familiar sight to the freckled teen.

“Hand over the card, nerd.” A blond teen, no more than fourteen growled towards a boy a year younger than him, staring up at him with scared brown eyes as he was cornered by the blond, a boy with shaggy hair and long fingers and a grinning boy with spiky black hair.

“M-Mister B-Bakugou, please, it’s a birthday present.” The younger boy quivered only for ‘Bakugou’ to raise his hand and set off an explosion in it without warning. It was his quirk, a genetic superpower everyone in the population had.

Well, everyone except the quirkless, powerless Izuku.

Powerless or not though, he couldn’t stay quiet as he felt disgust settle in his chest. “B-Bakugou! Stop it, he’s younger than you!”

He knew instantly as soon as he spoke up he was in trouble, as the blond’s eyes twitched and he threw the young boy to one side, who scrambled to his feet off the floor before turning and bolting with his card still in hand.

“No one gives a shit what you think, Deku!” Bakugou shouted as he turned fully to the green haired boy with a snarl, stalking forward slowly with smoking palms.

“W-What are you even trying to take? A collectors card?” Izuku asked as he stood his ground, even as his legs shook and he felt his heart hammering in his chest, knowing he stood no chance against the boy. “It’s his, just leave him a-alone!”

“I said, I don’t give a shit what you think!” Bakugou shouted as he threw his fist forward and Izuku yelped before ducking under it, surprising them both as he backed up. This only served to further infuriate the smoking teen who turned slowly, with a growing almost manic grin at what just happened. “I’m stronger than him, so I get what I fucking want from him! The same way I get it from you! If you’ve forgotten your place, then let me remind you of it! DIE! ”

BOOM!

Izuku yelped as he was knocked against the wall and fell down for a moment as Bakugou’s two cronies laughed behind him, making him wince as he was reminded of just how painful the explosions were, hot searing agony blooming in his shoulder.

He saw Bakugou lifting up his hands again and he gulped, silently apologizing in his head. ‘G-Guess I’m not making it to the forest, All Might. Sorry-‘

“Bakugou! Midoriya!” A voice called out sternly making both boys pause and look up, Izuku wincing and rubbing his pained shoulder as they saw a blond lanky man approaching; their homeroom teacher.

If Aldera was a good school, Izuku might have felt relieved.

“I can’t believe you are antagonizing Bakugou again and risking his chances at U.A., Midoriya! You know you’re not allowed to try and anger him for no good reason!”  The teacher scolded as Bakugou rolled his eyes yet gained a smug expression while Izuku winced again. “Detention, after school. You’ll have to learn this someday.”

…Aldera was not a good school.

At the very least, the interruption of the teacher gave Izuku a respite as he turned to Bakugou.

“As for you Bakugou, why don’t you come inside so we can discuss how we’re going to write your references? There’s been some disagreements over which of your grades we should show them first so we’d thought we’d let you take charge.”

As the other two students snickered, Izuku rolled his eyes as he silently slipped away, easily fading from everyone’s sight as he headed for the nearby gate, clutching his shoulder with a small hiss, frustrated but knowing from experience the pain would heal soon.

Certainly in time for the main event of the day, something he refuses to let Bakugou’s attitude and actions ruin. He looked back over his shoulder and rolled his eyes as he saw Bakugou shrugging the teacher’s hand off his shoulder.

Izuku rolled his eyes and grumbled as he turned away. Guess it wasn’t just students who acted like sycophants for the blond.

He shook his head after a moment with determination, as he pulled his bag on tighter and began heading down a path to the forest trail. He had something special planned for today and he wasn’t going to let Bakugou’s attitude ruin it.

After all, he had a camping experience with his mentor and the number one hero in the entire world to look forward to, All Might himself.

“Sir! Inbound, we have a transmat inbound!” A tiny grey creature, one stood upon two webbed feet with bulbous eyes that were all that were visible out her white featureless spacesuit, spoke up with panic rising in their voice.

Just ahead of her, a light red, hulking figure with a muscular physique, blue eyes and grey hair as well as flaming smaller and more lithe figure in similar suits stood up, the first glaring at the screen ahead while the flaming figure looked quite perturbed.

“Sir…” The flaming figure spoke up with clear wavering hesitation in their voice, higher-pitched and younger sounding. “It’s him, isn’t it?”

“…Game faces, people.” The red figure replied shortly in a gruff voice a moment later as he pulled out a triangular-shaped metal device from a holster, with a large flat red ending and a trigger in the middle. “Get your blasters ready at full power and pray to whatever deity your culture believes in.”

A moment later, the entire cabin began to flash red as alarms blared as a display popped up on one wall, showing a massive spaceship split in two at the front waiting outside the vehicle the small crew were inside.

“ He’s here. ”

“Ah, Young Midoriya, my boy!” All Might, also known as Yagi Toshinori as Izuku had found out about two months prior when he became far more intimately aware of the man than most fans could ever hope for, waved as he saw the younger boy approach.

“S-Sorry for the delay All Might, I had to stay behind to hand in some work.” Izuku fibbed a little, wincing as he did but deciding he’d rather All Might didn’t know the real reason as he’d likely worry about him and want to know everything, which would take away from the fun they were supposedly meant to be having.

Which, speaking of…

“So, this is the forest we’re going to be camping in?” He asked curiously as he looked around, in a small clearing on the shallow end of the forest. Deep enough in to not be disturbed, but it was less than a quarter of a mile to get back out into the city again, a safe and easy to traverse distance back to safety.

“Correct!” The older, taller and lankier blond man laughed boisterously, sunken eyes shining with excitement as he clapped his somewhat bony hands together.

Most knew him for his muscular physique, ever-present smile and show-boating persona but despite the short amount of time he’d had to get used to it a part of Izuku couldn’t imagine anything other than the more sincere if skeletal man before him as All Might. Spending hours working together every day would do that, he supposed.

“So, as you are deeply aware by now, training to receive my quirk, One For All, is no easy task!” All Might laughed as he saw the expression on Izuku’s face, a deadpan with sagging shoulders in exasperation. Cleaning an entire beach of trash single-handedly with no equipment was far from what Izuku would describe as just ‘not easy.’ “An understatement, I know. But though I push you, I am not without mercy, my boy! After all, the body needs a break sometimes and a break is a chance to learn other skills and bond!”

“So, you’re going to teach me camping skills?” Izuku blinked after a moment, catching on as All Might nodded eagerly, stepping aside to reveal he’d already rolled two logs in to be used as seats.

“Indeed! I’ll be showing you how to build a fire and how to keep warm through the nights. After all, one skill many heroes should know but neglect are survival skills.” The man laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck, almost seeming sheepish. “Trust me, I learned the hard way how frustrating being stranded in the woods can be in my own teen years. The keys to my house were really shiny and attracted the attention of a few woodland critters, you see…”

Izuku couldn’t help a small amused snort at the mental image that came to mind of a younger, more muscular All Might scrambling to the ground, trying to chase after a squirrel with his keys in its mouth Izuku’s mind conjured up before he shook his head to focus up.

“That sounds fun!” He smiled genuinely up at the man, as he put his bag down to one side, curious just where they’d begin. “H-How do we start, sir?”

“Well, first, I will need you to gather some water in case the fire spreads.” All Might laughed as he pulled out a bucket from behind his back, handing it over to Izuku. “There is a river nearby, my boy, take it there and come back with some water please. Then I’ll show you how to dig a pit for the fire!”

While Izuku was setting to work on gathering water down below, up above and not far out the atmosphere of earth, a flaming figure was staring at a spherical container floating in a cylindrical pillar of golden light, gulping slightly.

Beside him, the red hulking figure from before patted his shoulder. “Remember, Tyzin, whatever happens, he can NOT get his hands on that device. Do I have your word you’ll do everything you can to keep it out of his hands?”

“Yes, dad.” Tyzin nodded with a deep breath, before turning as the man walked off with a blaster in hand. “B-Be safe!”

“…There is no safety left on this ship, son.” The hulking figure replied sadly as a sliding door slammed down before he disappeared, leaving Tyzin alone with his thoughts and the device.

He gripped his blaster at his side, a small rise in the pace of his breath the only sign anything was wrong as he tried to not think about what was happening outside.

Unfortunately, curiosity got the better of him.

“Computer, show me a display for the fight going on.” He spoke after a moment and on the far empty wall, a new display popped up like a hologram, displaying a mini canteen down below where his crewmates were and…

His breathing stopped entirely for a moment as he saw the tiny grey alien from before bounce through the air, firing at a towering green figure in the shadows that made even the hulking figure that was Tyzin’s dad look small.

The figure who caught the grey tiny alien with ease and slammed them into the ground, before bringing a stomping foot down upon them. Tyzin felt his stomach jolt in horror at the crunch that was heard throughout the ship.

“You monster!” Tyzin’s dad let out an enraged yell as he came running into screen, blasting the figure several times. The monster didn’t seem to even flinch as he walked past the camera.

Tyzin didn’t see what happened past his frame. All he heard was the screaming.

His eyes drifted back to the device floating as he felt his entire body shake in anger and horror.

…They were doomed since they took it back.

“Alright, my boy!” All Might boomed with excitement as he stood now in his muscle form to lighten the workload on the both of them, as Izuku stood beside him holding firewood with a slightly tired expression. “Now, we start the fire with our kindling! Dump a few sticks in there.”

Izuku complied and All Might nodded in approval before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a belt buckle of all things. “Now, we just need a few sparks.”

“A-And we’re going to use your belt to do it?” Izuku asked, confused, only for the older pro to let out another laugh as he put the buckle in the freckled teen’s hands.

“Far from it, my boy!” He said before grinning and giving a thumbs up to him as he picked  a rock up off the ground and threw it into the air before catching it. “ You’ll be using my belt buckle to do it.”

“…Eh?” Izuku asked articulately, making All Might snort as he handed over the rock with a winning smile.

“Strike the buckle against the rock, my boy. It will make sparks which we’ll aim at the kindling and one of them should hopefully set off the wood.” The blond explained and Izuku nodded, though he furrowed his brow slightly as he looked between them, not sure the angle to try this at. “Nothing too hard!”

A moment later, he brought down the buckle and scraped it across the surface of the rock. His mentor hummed, crossing his arms.

“With a bit more force my boy, really strike it.” All Might instructed and Izuku narrowed his eyes as he nodded, determined to get it right to prove himself to the man.

He struck much harder this time, almost falling over.

“Wow careful, young Midoriya!” All Might said as he grabbed the boy’s shoulder and helped to right him, as Izuku blushed from how he overdid it. “A little less this time?”

“R-Right, a little less. I can do this. Not that hard.” Izuku muttered to himself, a small hint of frustration growing in his voice as he struck it and briefly saw a spark. He bit back a small curse when it did nothing, while All Might grinned.

"That's it, take my belt buckle and yank it down hard, my boy." The popular pro hero cheered as Izuku grit his teeth.  “Just keep bringing it down like that.”

“Dang it.” Izuku muttered as the frustration grew harsher and he took a sharper intake of breath before taking the buckle down again with more force and getting… nothing more than a scraping noise. “Dang it!”

“Ah, don’t worry my boy, we’ll get there with time.” His mentor said encouragingly as he patted Izuku on the shoulder.   “Don’t give up, you’ll have to learn this someday.”

While it was far from All Might’s fault as he had no way of knowing what Izuku had heard leaving school, nevertheless those words only served to further increase his frustration as he brought the buckle down hard and-

“Argh!” He let out a yell of exertion as he struck the buckle against the rock and it sparked for just a second… and got no further, leaving him to stare with a twitching eye as the muscular blond behind him paused.

“…Tell you what.” He spoke up a moment later, softly taking the buckle back as he looked around. “We might need more kindling anyways. You go see if you can pick some up, and I’ll see if I haven’t missed a part of this trick. “

“…Right, I can do that. Yeah.” Izuku nodded after a moment with a soft, frustrated sigh as he turned and began to walk off, eye twitching slightly as he frowned and headed out in a random direction to look for wood.

And hopefully, blow off some of this frustrated steam he’d begun to pick up from everything so far. It seemed it was just one of those days determined to annoy him.

He wasn’t sure how long he walked for, losing track of time as he looked for broken wood that was easy to carry and not being used by any animals, walking past small burrows and to a watering hole at one point.

He let out a sigh as he looked around it, noting how the river seemed to span for miles in both directions as he hefted what firewood he had collected along the way to his chest. “Shouldn’t go any farther than this, probably, I’ll get lost. Just got to-“

BOOM!

Izuku yelped as his eyes widened and he dropped the sticks, the dirt beneath him giving away and dropping him down into a crater below before he looked up with shock and his eyes widened as he saw a shooting star.

Except, when were they that loud? And getting bigger, and brighter and-

Oh, it was hurtling towards him.

…IT WAS HURTLING TOWARDS HIM!?

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” He let out a panicked scream as he dived to one side, as a moment later a massive roaring explosion ripped the ground apart behind him and his hearing began to ring as the ground shook.

He felt a splitting pain in his head as he ended up diving head first onto a rock making him hiss and grab it, something wet and warm leaking between his fingers as he stood up.

His heart hammered in his chest, turning around with wide eyes as he saw a smoking crater left behind. Thoughts jumbled, he staggered towards it without thinking and peered down the side before pausing in confusion.

Really he should have gone back to All Might, he’d realize later, but he wasn’t thinking straight as he ended up dazedly swaying forward and falling into the hole with a yelp before just barely managing to stick the landing.

With a blink, he looked down at himself, then back up at the ‘shooting star.’

The shooting star that was actually some kind of spherical, grey, sectioned container?

Unable to help his curiosity, he stepped forward and began reaching out to it, when it suddenly opened up without warning, making the freckled teen’s eyes widen before a black mass flew out and landed on his wrist.

“AH! OFF! GET OFF!” He yelped, waving his arm frantically as he worried about some creature jumping at him, before pausing as he noticed whatever it was wasn’t moving.

A moment later he looked down and he paused in confusion and disbelief at what he saw. Not a creature but… “A… watch?”

Indeed, black and slim, it looked like an ordinary wristwatch with black straps and a green trim all around, including on its faceplate which had an hourglass silhouette made by the green trim, along with two buttons on either side.

Curiosity once more getting the better of him, he reached down and pressed them in, wondering if it would take the device off. Instead, it merely caused the faceplate to spring open and some kind of spherical core to pop up, with a hologram being displayed a moment later of some kind of rocky, fire-based person.

“What the heck?” Izuku muttered in confusion and wonder, before shaking his head and deciding that he could worry about that later. For now, he had to stop messing with it and get back to All Might. He’d just push it back in and go back.

Whatever he expected when he pushed in the core, it was not the sudden bright white flash he heard or the way a chill ran through his entire body as everything went numb for a moment before a moment later, the flash dissipated.

It dissipated and revealed, where five and a half foot tall Izuku once stood, a now almost seven foot tall, flaming bipedal creature with a waving inferno for hair was in his stead. All over its body was a magma-like substance and pitch black rocks. He had eyes that glowed green as well as an hourglass symbol on his chest.

An hourglass symbol with a green trim around it, just like the watch from before.

“I-“ The creature spoke before a moment later his eyes widened as Izuku looked down at himself, realizing what he had become. “I’m on fire?!”

...

“…And… It doesn’t hurt?” He muttered again a moment later, just barely holding in his panic for the moment, though it was sure to burst out again any moment. “What the hell is happening!? What am I?! What is that watch?!”

“Young Midoriya?” A voice called and Izuku felt a soaring relief enter his heart as he turned around and ran towards the source of the voice, watching as the hulking figure of All Might came out into view.

“All Might!” He called out and the man paused before turning to him. However, a moment later the blond’s expression darkened much to Izuku’s confusion.

“ Briscill?!” He asked with a clear tone of anger in his voice, making Izuku pause as his eyes widened. ‘What?’ “What are you doing out of jail, you terrorist?! ”

‘What?!’

“Tell me what you’ve done with Young Midoriya, and I’ll go easy on you when I drag you back to your cell, villain!” The man said as he lifted his fists up in preparation to fight. Izuku felt a terrified thrill run up his spine as his jaw dropped.

‘… WHAT?!’

“Where is the Omnitrix?” The angry, gravelly voice of the towering figure that had been tearing through the ship demanded as he stared down at Tyzin, who felt his entire body trembling as he took a step back.

“I-It’s gone, you monster!” He said as he threw his hand down with as much confidence as he could muster, making them explode with flames as he prepared for a fight. “It’s better destroyed than in your hands! I burned it up!”

“Foolish child.” The figure scoffed as it stalked forward, making Tyzin gulp before he threw both his hands forward and created a massive torrent of flames that rushed the monster.

But it did nothing as the figure charged forward as if not even noticing the fire before a moment later, a heavy impact rattled Tyzin as he punched Tyzin to the ground. Then, he grabbed his leg before spinning him around and throwing him into one of the walls, a heavy resounding thud echoing in the room.

“The Omnitrix is no mere weapon that can be dismantled.” The figure said as it walked over slowly, pulling the hood off its head and revealing a green, squid-like face with red eyes glaring down at the creature. He was nine-feet tall, with arms as thick as tree trunks, one of which shot forward and grabbed Tyzin by the neck.

The next thing he knew, he was slammed against the wall again with enough force his flames began to die down from the wind it kicked up, as he gasped in pain.

“It is the ultimate device, built by the smartest mind in this galaxy. No pyronite could just melt it away.” He lectured as his grip got tighter and tighter. “You sent it away. I will find it again. Now, you will tell me where the Omnitrix is if you want to rest in a grave in my empire, instead of in the blood of your forgotten crewmates, forgotten in space.”

“I’d… Rather… Die…” Tyzin choked out, defiant even as fear coursed through his entire body as he hoped his father would be proud of his decision, even though he knew what was coming next.

“Then you can consider this mercy, child.” Vilgax muttered lowly before pulling him back and before Tyzin could even process what was happening his head was alight with pain as he was smashed through the metallic wall of the ship before his eyes widened as his flame was instantly extinguished in the atmosphere of space, his entire body convulsing as the flames died, the only thing plugging the gap of the vacuum of space being his own head.

A moment later, the convulsing stopped as Vilgax scoffed and turned to return to his own ship, to track the Omnitrix.

“Mercy for a weakling.”

“All Might, it’s me.” Izuku said as he held up his hands placatingly as the man slowly began walking towards him, fists balled with his eyes almost shining blue. ‘Hey, but doesn’t that only happen when… Oh crap…’

“I can see that, Briscill.” The pro hero spat with clear anger as he paused for a moment, gritting his teeth. “I am going to give you one chance to tell me whether you know where Young Midoriya is before I send you into the deepest depths of Tartarus again!”

‘Okay, he probably won’t believe me if I just say it’s me, I look nothing like myself and he thinks I’m a villain. Think, think, think!’

It was then that Izuku did something that looking back on it, he’d smack himself for, as he had an idea he didn’t quite think all the way through.

He pointed to where he’d been mere moments ago, trying to get All Might to connect the dots on his own as he said. “He was right over there and now he’s not. What do you think that means?”

‘…Wait, did I just point at my bloodstain? …. OH FU -‘

“You… YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT DEARLY, VILLAIN! ” All Might suddenly roared, rage clear in his voice as Izuku jolted and quickly waved his hands.

“Wait no, I mean-“

WHAM!

The next thing he knew his entire body was flying, loud snapping noise after snapping noise ringing in his ear as he smashed through several trees before hitting the ground and rolling for what felt like forever, before finally hitting a tree and stopping with a groan.

He pushed himself up slowly, coughing as he looked around and felt his jaw drop as he saw he had just severed ten whole trees with his body.

However, something even more shocking came to his attention a moment later as he stood up and looked down at himself. ‘Okay that… that hurt like hell but, I’m not even struggling to stand? How strong is this body-‘

“BRISCILL!”

“Ah! Right, questions later!” he yelped as he jumped back and managed to avoid a punch that would have sent him into the ground by mere inches, before All Might retracted his hand out the ground already aiming another punch making Izuku yelp as he did the first thing he could think of and throw his hands forward, blasting fire directly into All Might’s face making his own glowing green eyes widened. ‘Holy crap! I’m shooting fire! …I’M SHOOTING FIRE ON ALL MIGHT!’

He quickly threw his hands down as he realized that, before wincing as he saw All Might staring at him, seemingly unphased and with a snarl on his face instead of his usual scowl which frankly, was the single most terrifying thing Izuku had seen in his life to this point.

‘I should have written a will.’

“You will pay for what you’ve done!” All Might screamed as grabbed Izuku’s shoulders and forced him forward as he brought a knee directly onto Izuku’s face. “ GEORGIA SMASH!”

The next thing Izuku knew, wind was whistling everywhere as the fire on his body was briefly extinguished as he went flying sky high as his entire head rattled before he shook it, just barely getting his bearings as he began falling again before narrowing his eyes.

‘Okay, I stand no chance but I just need a second to prove it's me!’ He thought as he came down and decided to take a chance, firing his hands down and setting off another stream of flames that slowed him down just enough to settle on his feet, then he set off the flames with as much force as he could, firing directly towards All Might who let out a surprised shout.

“What the-“

‘Now’s my chance!’ “I KNOW YOUR WEAKSPOT!”

All Might’s eyes widened as he tried to cover it, but the genuine surprise from the completely unexpected propulsion of fire meant Izuku was there just mere inches before, driving a flaming fist into it and making him let out a pained gasp.

“AH! YOU-“

“ I KNOW CAUSE YOU SHOWED ME ON THE ROOFTOP!”

All Might froze, still wincing in pain as his eyes slowly trailed down to him, disbelief, relief, confusion and worry all somehow mixing together on his face.

“…Young Midoriya?” he asked softly and Izuku nodded as he pulled back, staring at the man. “Is that- Argh! Is that… you?”

Izuku nodded as he slowly backed up, holding up his fists in surrender as he sighed in relief as he finally got the man to listen. “It’s me.”

“…What on earth happened to you?”

“I-“ Izuku went to answer but before he could, the symbol upon his chest began flashing red as a loud noise filled the forest.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BWOO!

There was a bright red flash making All Might cover his eyes, before looking back to see a shocked Izuku looking down at himself, between both his hands before he sighed in relief and looked up at the man, a shy, sheepish smile coming on his face a moment later.

“…I found a new watch?”

“….What?”

Chapter Text

FOUR MONTHS AGO

Dark, dingy and with a foul odor that made the nostrils sting when taken in for too long, Tartarus prison was no pleasant place to be. Its upkeep seemed to be reflective of its own thoughts on the very inmates it housed and the sneers upon guards faces at every passing prisoner spoke to how little they thought of those trapped inside.

It was a frankly unsettling thing to walk through, and that’s exactly what one pink-skinned, pink haired girl was thinking as she frowned, the rubber soles of her purple furred boots squeaking against the floor.

She felt a shiver go through her as the prison seemed to get even colder, frown deepening as she felt like she was being frozen to the very bone by the lacking heat, pulling the furred hood of her winter coat up to combat more of the heat as she thanked the stars her pink gloves and equally pink tights that were hugging her somewhat wider lower figure were thermal clothing. ‘What do they even have it set to? Twelve degrees? Dad’s going to be at risk of dying in this…’

“Name?” a random blond guard grunted, barely looking at the girl as he kept reading his notebook. Pursing her somewhat larger than usual lips, purple eyes watching him more cautiously, the girl frowned at the dismissive attitude even as she answered.

“Ester. I’m here to see Seebik, please.” She said, keeping it brief but polite. Her efforts were rewarded by nothing more than an ugly sneer on the guard’s face.

“Ah, the nuclear terrorist. I see the resemblance.” He said, narrowing his eyes at her and she felt a small shiver go down her spine. One of anticipation, and growing anger as she knew what was coming even before the words left him. “Don’t think of trying anything, the heroes will be ready for you if you do.”

“Can I see my father or are you just going to keep discriminating against me?” She asked with a huff as she met his eye, only a small hint of anger in her, rather frustrated more than anything. “I’m not him.”

“…Go ahead.” He acquiesced a moment later, backing off and letting her past. She pointedly ignored the mutter she heard a moment later from him under his breath. “Not him, but still probably a villain like most mutants.”

She tried to not let her eye twitch as she made her way to the glass that separates prisoners from visitors, sitting down and waiting patiently. A few moments later, a hulking figure who stood at a good six foot tall at least. He wore a regular orange prison jumpsuit but on top of it he wore a heavy set fur coat, something that had been mandated he had to always have by the court to avoid ‘an unnecessarily cruel’ death.

An understatement, Ester thought bitterly inside her head. After all, if she could barely withstand the temperature right now, she would hate to think about what it would be like for a full-blooded Kraaho like…

“Hello, dad.” She said as she put the phone to her ear, watching his two almost comically large eyebrows raise up slightly, jutting jaw opening as he asked in a gruff deep voice.

“You still accept me as your father?” He asked, clearly somewhat in disbelief as he leaned back. “You were far from accepting of me when I was put in here.”

“I just miss you.” She frowned as her own, somewhat antler like crystal white brows furrowed slightly and she looked down. “The tribe were brought to another city, where they could be safe with higher temperatures. I didn’t go with, because I wanted to stay here. This is where mom lived, I didn’t want to leave.”

She winced slightly, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Seebik as he sighed and asked in a softer, yet all the same very unhappy voice. “They have not treated you well, have they?”

“When have they ever?” She asked a moment later as she looked up, frowning at him as she saw him looking at her with an expression that made her pause then frown at him. “That doesn’t mean I think you’re right. I hate how they treat us sometimes, but you took it too far.”

“I didn’t take it far enough.” Seebik scoffed as he leaned in with a stern expression and pointed at her. “You think they care what happens to me? To our tribe? They did what they did to save face as best they could if anyone found out the truth!”

“They gave you your coat-“ Ester began, only for Seebik to suddenly bang his fist on the table with a snarl.

“They gave me a platitude built on nothing but false pretense! The humans understand nothing, they do not care how I shiver in the night, they do not care how these meals are incompatible with my biology, they do not care how the freezing cold water of these ‘showers’ may kill me. They have no care what these things do to us.”

“They don’t know what these things do, that doesn’t mean they don’t care!” Ester argued back with her own frustration bubbling as she had a feeling she knew where exactly he was going with this. “We need to help them understand.”

“They would never accommodate us!” The bulkier Kraaho argued back angrily as he let out a frustrated noise. “There is no going home for us, and there is no accommodating us, not really! Once we are out of their way, we will be subject to their carelessness again. They do not even treat those of their own kind with these ‘mutations’ well. We must put the Kraaho’s first. You do not understand how bad it is, child. I have seen prisoners come in, only to be transferred to who knows where. Prisoners that were clearly other species. The humans may not recognize Galvans or Conductoids but I do. Wherever they go, they go screaming.”

Ester was quiet. Horror and disgust pooled in her gut as she considered that. However, whatever point Seebik was beginning to make, was squandered a moment later as he continued. “That is why what I did was the best choice for the Kraaho’s.”

“You tried to arm a nuke!” Ester shot to her feet and angrily slammed her hands on the table, leaning in with a slight snarl in her own voice. “You nearly killed god knows how many innocent people!”

“They stood in the way of the Kraaho’s guaranteed survival. I regret nothing.” He said as he paused then looked at her. “I know you still care for the Kraaho. There is still time, my daughter, to save us. You are stronger than any of these humans could comprehend with their pitiful singular quirks. You could help me escape with ease, they watch me constantly due to my past actions but they do not realize their technology will not work on you. You’ll have the element of surprise to help me escape.”

“…No.” Ester said firmly, before standing up fully and glaring down at him, even as her body shook subtly and she backed off. “I love you, Dad, but you deserve to be in here for what you did. You don’t deserve to be mistreated, I will do what I can to fix that, but I will not help you escape prison.”

“…I was afraid you’d say that.” He sighed then looked at her with a disappointed expression, as he shook his head. “It is a good thing you are not the only one I have left to rely on.”

“What-“

BOOM!

Several people yelped, Ester being knocked backwards off her feet and onto the ground by the force of the sudden explosion from one of the far walls. She felt her back hit the wall after sliding back, before looking up and feeling her jaw drop as she saw a flaming figure with a rocky body before her who stood amidst flames from the wall he destroyed.

“Bring me Seebik!”

Several guards quickly began opening fire on him but his body pulsed and the bullets melted in midair before he brought his arms up into a crossed position then threw them down as a shockwave of fire erupted off him, disarming several people.

“You think any of you weak humans stand a chance against Briscill?! You’ll all burn up to make a new world for the ones you keep under your boots!” He shouted as he took to the sky suddenly, throwing a fireball at another guard.

‘Oh son of a-‘ Ester gritted her teeth before standing up and looking around, spotting a fire extinguisher on the wall. She raised her arm and it shot out suddenly, extending several feet as her hand grabbed it, before she turned and threw it right at the burning villain, hitting him directly  in the chest and exploding in a haze of foam.

“ARGH! WHO DID THAT?! I’LL BURN YOU UP!”

Ester, however, had already turned and began sprinting away down the halls, heading for the streets. The second she reached the doorway, fortunately being let past by guards who were too busy trying to attack Briscill from the ground to notice her, she threw her arms out again and grabbed onto the gates of the prison before dragging herself forward.

It caused her feet to come off the ground and she was launched forward rapidly, quickly picking up some serious speed. She tucked in as she reached the fence and came over the other side, landing in the street and sliding across the ground, just barely stopping her momentum by dragging her heels on the asphalt.

‘There, now just need to find a hero-’

“Young lady?” A confused, deep, older voice asked and Ester’s eyes widened in shock as she turned to see All Might himself standing there, holding some kind of baked treat in hand.

“A-All Might?” She asked as she stiffened slightly, glancing away, unable to meet the man’s eye. “What are you doing here, sir?”

“I was visiting a villain I have detained recently. Is something wrong?” He asked as he approached, before pausing and frowning. “And do I know you? You seem familiar.”

“I’m s-sure it’s nothing sir, but uh…” She backed up slightly before pointing at the prison. “Someone called Briscill blew up Tartarus’s walls! They’re trying to break out that one terrorist, Seebik! Please, hurry!”

The hero’s eyes widened before he quickly dropped his snack into a nearby bin and straightened up, chest puffing out as he turned to the prison. “Oh I do not think so. Don’t worry, young lady! No terrorists will escape today, because I AM HE- “

“ GO ALREADY!” She shouted as she pointed ahead, cutting off his catchphrase. She didn’t catch the slight pout on his face as he jumped off the ground, causing a massive gust of wind making her pink shoulder length hair fly everywhere, hands coming up to her face to protect her from any potential debris.

A moment later, once she was sure he was gone she dropped them and looked to the prison, before sighing in relief as he was gone and she frowned. ‘Of all the heroes to run into…’

She shook her head then turned and hurried away, sprinting down the street. If there was one thing she knew for certain, it was that someone who looked like her didn’t want to be  anywhere near a crime when it was happening unless they wanted to risk getting accused of somehow being involved.

She turned a corner, eager to get as far away as possible, only to pause as she saw a small figure on the ground, staring up at the prison with terror in their eyes. Slowing down, she realized it was a young boy, likely only five or six, who seemed to have a small burn mark on his arm.

‘Did the villain go past him at some point?’ Ester wondered quietly as she paused and knelt down, leaning in. “Hey, excuse me? You okay kid?”

“T-The… That…” He muttered quietly, unable to form a sentence  as he stared at the prison. “It e-exploded. Isn’t t-that where all the bad people stay? A-Are the bad people going to get out again and hurt us?!”

Ester frowned, feeling bad for the kid  before looking around. She spotted a nearby toy shop and, after quickly making sure no one was watching and no cameras were around, she threw her hand out and let it stretch out.

A moment later, it came flying back with something soft in hand. A small lion plushy with a very fluffy neck. She smiled gently as she turned back to him and put it in his hands, watching him blink confused. “No way. Don’t worry, people are already handling it, and even if anyone gets out, you’ve not got anything to worry about. The heroes want to protect people, and when it comes to kids especially, the good heroes get just as fierce as lions. Just stay home for a little while and I promise everything will be alright. Okay?”

“O-Okay… You promise, miss pink lady?”

Ester snorted and patted his head as she stood up, holding a hand out towards him. “I’m sure, kid, and the name’s Ester. Come on, I’ll take you home and get you away from all this.”

Present Day

“ You think any of you weak humans stand a chance against Briscill?! You’ll all burn up to make a new world for the ones you keep under your boots! ”

“So… I looked like that?” Izuku blinked as he looked up at All Might with a raised brow, as the two sat on one of the trees that had been knocked over during their fight, All Might holding out his phone in one hand.

“Indeed, my boy. Almost exactly the same. The only difference was that symbol on your chest.” All Might nodded as he leaned back slightly, turning down the volume on the video and turning to address Izuku. “So, the watch did this? And you couldn’t get it off?”

“No, I can’t figure out how at all.” Izuku shook his head with a small frown as he tapped it. “I mean, I can figure out how to pull up the core, but otherwise, I have no idea.”

“Well, perhaps I can force it off?” All Might suggested before standing up and reaching over, taking his wrist in hand before looking up at Izuku. “If you’ll let me?”

“Well, I mean, I doubt it’s going to take that much force, right?” Izuku asked with a small laugh, making All Might laugh too in amusement as he took hold of the watch then began to pull.

And pull harder.

And pull harder.

“A-AH! Ow! My skin’s pulling with it!” Izuku hissed as All Might’s muscles seemed to actually be flexing as he pulled only for the man to suddenly stop and pant, eyes widened in disbelief.

“What on earth…” He muttered as he looked down at it, blinking a few times before frowning. “Perhaps it just needs some kind of lubrication? We could dunk your wrist in the river and try again. It can’t be that hard to get off.

…

Almost an hour later, All Might laid on the floor, chest heaving as Izuku leaned over him, watch still attached to his wrist. “Are you okay sir?”

“That… Thing…. Is more secure… than… Fort Knox…” The man huffed between genuinely labored breaths, pushing himself off the ground as he frowned. “I think we’re… going to have to go to the hospital or something to get it off.”

Izuku frowned at that, sitting back down and looking at it, absent-mindedly pressing the buttons on the side and letting the core pop back up again, staring at it.

“I wonder what it’s even for…” He muttered, staring at the silhouette that stared back at him, the fire-based transformation from before. Was it deliberately based on a villain? His personality had still been intact and if it was a quirk, it was certainly a powerful one.

While he idly tapped away, at the same time, he felt his mind drifting back to some of the quotes he’d heard in the video All Might had shown him, pondering over that very villain.

For some reason, one or two lines kept playing in his mind despite his best efforts to ignore them.

‘ What heroes are there here? All I see is authority figures who like to abuse their power. That’s what this country is all about, after all.’

He shook his head, going back to the watch again. Now wasn’t the time to focus on a villain’s totally insane ramblings. It was time to focus on figuring out just what the hell was on his wrist.

Up above, as Izuku was trying to figure out the watch on his wrist, in the depths of space the hulking green figure walked onto his ship, pulling off the cloak over his head to reveal a titan of a creature, that looked powerful enough to rip almost any man limb from limb, crossing his multi-sectioned massive green arms over his chest as he stepped up to a throne in the middle of the room.

“Cross! Get over here, you brain-rotted Feline.” He said as he sat down, looking behind himself to see a similarly hulking feline-like bipedal figure just a little shorter than himself, with red fur, a white torso and black markings all over hurrying to his side.

“Cross is ready to do whatever Vilgax needs!” He said as he came to a stop, hitting himself in the head with an arm before wincing, snarling at his hand. Before he said anything else though, ‘Vilgax’ held up a hand and began talking.

“Secure the prisoners' cells. The Omnitrix was sent to Earth.” He said as he steeped his hands together in front of him, elbows resting on the arms of his throne. “We will be staying a short while.”

Cross tilted his head, blinking at the figure. “You’re planning to go to war with the puny humans, sir?”

“No. Not for such a useless and unimportant planet in the galaxy.” Vilgax shook his head as he pressed a button on the throne, causing a screen to appear that showed random security feeds on the planet below. “This useless backwater planet doesn’t deserve that kind of attention. I can destroy it easily, once I have the Omnitrix back. It will simply be easier to retrieve it without turning the planet into a wreckage.”

There was a sudden ping on the screen, a red circle appearing on an artificial map of the continents below. The display zoomed in on this map, before going deeper and deeper until it displayed a forest from above in simplified designs, showing…

“That. That is the most recent Omnitrix signal. Someone has it, somewhere within that forest.”  Vilgax let out a quiet growl, dropping one arm to grip his throne’s arm, causing it to crack under the pressure. “Cross, go get the prisoners while I locate the Omnitrix to handle this.”

“Cross would rather crush the-“ The feline began to complain only for Vilgax to turn to him, a simple glaring strangling whatever the feline had to say out of him.

“You will do as I say or you will become the newest rug under my feet. Your brother’s fur is already growing stiff.”

The feline paused, before quietly turning and walking away without another word, as Vilgax nodded in approval as he turned back to the screen and leaned in.

“Now, let’s see. If there are any nearby electrical signals…” He talked aloud, before there was another ping on the screen, a blue ring overlapping with the red one.

“Perfect.” He said as he pressed a button and found a new feed appearing in that very park, revealing some kind of dirt path and a human man in a beige button-up shirt, with blond hair and a park hat, alongside some heavy duty boots and green slacks.

As well as a radio on his chest, which buzzed to life with a simple press of another button on Vilgax’s throne as a microphone appeared.

“Human worm. ” The tyrant spoke in his most commanding voice as he watched the human stare at his radio in confusion and a little apprehension. “ You will listen and do as I say, or your life will be forfeit.”

“ What the!? Who is this?!” The human asked before scowling as he took the radio off his chest properly, holding it closer to his mouth. “ Not a good prank. Quit it, Ryu. ”

“I am Vilgax and I am no joke. The bodies I have left behind would attest to as much if they still breathed. You will locate the Omnitrix for me, and your species may be spared for my empire.”

As he was saying this, another ping sounded in the background.

“… I have no idea what you think you're playing at, but if you’re not Ryu, and you are a villain… ” The guard suddenly glared harder at the radio as he stood up a little straighter. “ Then you can shove it. I’m not helping any villains, no matter how scary you think you are. ”

With that said, the guard grabbed his radio and walked to the door of the vehicle behind him, climbing in and throwing the radio out the car before driving off.

Vilgax paused for a moment, staring at the screen as he turned to the ping. “The plan worked. I will handle the insolence of that maggot later. For now…”

He stood up as he pressed one last remaining button on his throne, and watched as a new feed appeared, showing several drones being fired out of his ship’s exterior at speed.

“Now I will finally retrieve the Omnitrix.”

“So, what do you have for me?” A woman with torn jeans that clung tightly to her legs and long flowing black hair that came down to her shoulders asked as she stepped into a dark alleyway in Musutafu, flanked by two tall, lean men with brunette hair on either side of her. She quirked a brow as her bored blue eyes bore into the man before her, adjusting the jean jacket she was wearing.

The person she was talking to, a thug in baggy black pants, an equally dark hoodie and with red skin grinned, a long green tongue sliding out his mouth and lapping at the air before pulling back in. “You’re gonna love this. This stuff comes right from the top.”

He turned, taking a crate that a hunched over, purple bodied man with an odd pulse going through his bulbous, was holding onto. Behind them was a van that was being guarded by a regular man with dark hair swept over his face, wearing a windbreaker zipped over his chin and hiding his mouth.

The crate itself was filled to the brim with all kinds of glinting metal, which the red-skinned thug set down with ease in front of the girl despite looking like it should have weighed a good ton or more.

The woman paused before her eyes widened, interest suddenly flashing across her sharp features as she noticed the branding on the metal. “No way… Is this seriously…”

“Yup, the boss man himself decided it was time to start putting more guns on the streets.” The red-skinned thug nodded as he picked up a rather hefty looking weapon, shaped like a pistol, though the metal was far more chunky than the average pistol would have, being as wide as the man’s on hand. “Take this for example. Who needs pistols when we’ve got the head of the best support firm in this part of the country giving us all pieces of tech like this? I don’t quite get the science, but I do know…”

He turned, pointing it at a pipe on the wall, before a moment later there was a flash of red and it suddenly exploded with enough force to make the black haired woman back up with a yelp. “Holy shit!”

“Laser blasters, baby! Those heroes ain’t gonna be expecting this!” He laughed, as he turned back. “So how about-“

“How about you drop the gun and no one gets hurt?” A modulated voice with an inhuman bass to it, along with a painfully high-pitched trill that made everyone pause, the two lean men who flanked the female thug going noticeably pale as they pulled out knives from their belts.

“Who said that?!” The woman demanded as she looked around, before turning to the red-skinned man. “Did you set us up?!”

“No, I thought you were setting us up!” He said, before pausing as he looked behind her, freezing. “…No… Shit, fuck, no no no!”

The raven-haired woman whipped around, before freezing as she saw a woman standing there, shapely figure exposed, yet not unprotected, some kind of pure red metal mask with white lights for eyes covering their face.

“Shit…” The woman muttered, recognizing her on sight. “Crimson-Y.”

She whipped one hand down and a moment later, with a brief glow of pink, a moment later a baton seemed to form into her hand from thin air.

“Well-informed. ” She said, before she suddenly threw her hand forward an the baton flew right at the woman who yelped and ducked, before turning to see the red-skinned thug from before, holding up the blaster only to be hit in the head and fall backwards from the impact, gun dropping to the ground and blasting a hole in the nearby wall. “ But clearly not well-informed enough. Surrender or suffer the consequences.”

“You uppity…” The woman muttered before turning to the two knife-wielding thugs she had for back up, waving her hands forward. “Don’t just stand there, kill her!”

“Right!” They nodded, both turning then running at the girl who sighed, before stepping backwards just as they both came in for a strike and in the air in front of air, two pink balls formed before suddenly exploding, causing a heavy smoke to suddenly enshroud the entire alleyway as she ran forward.

Her fist glowed, and a moment later, stainless steel knuckle dusters appeared on them as she delivered a strike directly to the nearest thugs jaw before she grabbed the other one’s hand with her free hand before he let out a sudden pained yelp, tiny trails of blood flowing from his wrist as he dropped the knife.

As Crimson-Y pulled back, it revealed a bunch of little needles falling to the ground, leaving the second thug wide open for the mysterious intruder to rush in and deliver another skull-shaking sucker punch to the thug’s face, knocking them to the ground.

“Stay down.” She said simply as she looked up at the black haired woman who hissed before her entire body suddenly set aflame. She then rushed forward at the masked woman who grunted before suddenly rushing forward herself, a pink glow appearing in front of her entire body suddenly.

The flaming crook’s now bright orange eyes widened before a moment later there was a heavy TWANG! sound in the air as she was knocked to the ground, vision blurring before she felt the same shield come down on her head, making everything in her vision go black.

“Don’t worry, it’s just steel. She’ll have a horrible migraine but she’ll walk away just fine.” Crimson-Y said as she stood up, walking towards the two remaining thugs who were both staring wide eyed. She looked down at the crate of weapons as she scoffed past it and scoffed at the name etched in small font on the handle.

‘Yaoyorozu Industries.’

She looked up to the two thugs again, stopping a few feet in front of them. “Do not test my patience on whether you will get the same mercy. The weaponry, you will give to me so I can destroy it.”

“Y-YES MA’AM! TAKE WHATEVER YOU WANT!” The bulbous-bodied crook shouted, suddenly turning on his heel and running away with a frightened shout, pink pus suddenly exploding out his back and onto the walls. “JUST DON’T HURT MEEEEEEEE!”

“…That was your back-up?” Crimson-Y asked in disgust as one foot came down on the still unconscious, red-skinned thug beneath her before she turned to the other thug in his windbreaker. “ Don’t be a fool. The keys to the van, now.”

“You… You’ll regret this.” The windbreaker villain tried to promise, yet a slight stutter appeared in his voice as he slowly backed up from her, to the van door. “You’ll regret it! The Yaoyoruzu’s will be all over you, they’ll ruin you for getting in the way of their business.”

“THE YAOYROUZU’S!” The masked figure suddenly bellowed, making the raven-haired thug go wide eyed, tripping as he backed up and falling onto the ground with a thud, before staring up at the vigilante in wide eyed terror. “… They will be nothing next to me.”

“…T-The keys are in the van, just take it!” He yelped, before scrambling to his feet, turning tail and running for his life as the vigilante watched him go, before walking up to the van.

‘…All I need to do is find a way to destroy all these now. The local incinerator should still be open.’ The vigilante thought, as she reached the door and opened it, climbing inside. ‘…Just be very careful, and hope no one notices you don’t have a license.’

The destruction of the weapons had been a drawn out tedious affair for Crimson-Y, having managed to break into the local incinerator had indeed been opened, though sneaking in that many weapons to destroy had been quite the task.

Nevertheless, she had managed it and with the van in her possession, she even had an easy way home. It had been a bumpy but quiet ride as she came out into a long stretch of road, with a forest to either side and a large clearing just ahead.

She let out a small sigh as she saw a massive estate not much farther ahead, before turning the van around before she reached it, driving it into the forest path before hopping out taking the keys out so she could dump them somewhere else later so that no one could just take the van if they found it.

“What a day.” She said as she reached up to her mask, pressing a button on the side then unclipping a latch, as she stepped out the van into the grass and walked back out onto the street.

She took off the mask a moment later, taking a deep breath as long raven-hair fell to her lower back, pretty onyx eyes looking up to the sky as she dropped her hands to her side, spotting a shooting star flying past.

Something about it made her spirits lift, a small smile coming onto her face as Momo Yaoyoruzu began walking home, a small chuckle escaping her as a single thought went through my mind.

‘Well, if that isn’t a sign Crimson-Y did good today, then I don’t know what is.’

Chapter Text

“Really, I’m fine.” Izuku assured All Might as he looked up at the blond who was frowning at his arm, sleeves rolled up to his shoulders. “I’ve had that bruise for years; it wasn’t from you.”

“My boy, it’s the size of one of my fists.” All Might pointed out with a frown as he dabbed a cold gel over it, making Izuku shiver at the feeling. “It’s not normal for someone else to be able to do that.”

“It was just kids roughhousing.” Izuku said, bitterly thinking about how it was also bullies attacking him recently, but he wasn’t going to tell All Might that. Though… “Honestly it’s my back that hurts anyways, and it’s just a small bit!”

“I just find it hard to believe that, transformed or not, you wouldn’t have sustained some damage when you turn back.” The pro said as he lifted the back of Izuku’s shirt, hissing at the sight of some of the other bruises on his back before taking out more of the soothing gel he was carrying. “And this is from kids too, young man?”

“…I didn’t have a great elementary school.” Izuku admitted, only giving a half-truth so that All Might wouldn’t question it more. He didn’t see the disbelieving look the man gave him about his obvious deflection, as he spoke up to draw the conversation away to less rocky ground, gesturing to a pack on the ground with bandages, disinfectant, more soothing gel and pain killers. “Why do you have all this stuff on you anyways?”

“Because any hero truly worth their salt is always carrying first-aid supplies, even out of costume.” All Might answered, with a dry chuckle rather than his usual boisterous laugh, as Izuku felt a cold trail right up his spine making him yelp. “Hah! Steady, Young Midoriya, almost done. As I was saying, any hero worth their salt carries these supplies so that no matter when danger strikes, those who have been in harm’s way stand a better chance to survive. It’s something I wish was made far more common practice, frankly.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Izuku nodded as he pulled up his wrist, looking at the watch on it again and chuckling as well. “Although, I d-doubt you were prepared for someone to set on fire like the way I did, huh?”

“Well, not you specifically, no.” The muscular blond admitted with a snort as he dropped the back of Izuku’s shirt, before sitting down on a nearby log to actually look at the teenager while he talked to him. “But I do actually half-expect strangers to burst into flames around me quite often. Fire quirks are very common after all.”

“That’s fair.” Izuku nodded while the older man took a water bottle out of his bag, handing one to Izuku while uncapping another and chugging it for a moment, before putting it down with a chuckle as the green haired teen took the bottle.

“Actually, that reminds me. There was also that one time this old woman suddenly turned into a water demon and started trying to attack me over a ill-advised comment.” He chuckled in sheepish amusement at the memory, shaking his head. “Wouldn’t stop squirting all over me.”

Izuku stared at the man, a disturbed expression on his face as he slowly capped his water bottle again and put it down without drinking it.

“….Please don’t use those words again.”

“What? Squirting?” All Might asked, clearly confused by Izuku’s reaction, making the younger freckled teen wince and shake his head in exasperation. Ignoring his mentor, to cleanse his own mind, he lifted the watch up to his face and began twisting the core. “My boy, are you sure that’s safe to be doing?”

“I won’t change if I don’t press it down.” Izuku assured, though it was only with very bare, paper-thin confidence that he did, watching silhouette after silhouette flash by on the screen. “I think.”

“….That’s not-“

“B-But!” Izuku spoke up, looking up at the man as he tilted his head, biting his lip slightly in thought. “I was just thinking… Do you think it was made for anyone in particular?”

“Well… Perhaps?” All Might gave an uncertain frown as he scratched the back of his neck, clearly thinking it over for a moment, deep in thought. “It’s possible it’s some kind of support gear for someone with a weak flaming quirk? Although then that doesn’t explain why it worked on you. Why a flaming form though then? And why one like Briscill?”

“…Sir?” Izuku looked up at the man again, who paused, then looked back to Izuku with a curious raised brow. “I don’t think it’s just one form.”

“…Pardon?” All Might blinked, as Izuku stood up and came to the blonde, showing him the silhouette’s appearing on the core. He started at one of the flaming forms before, but scrolled along, showing a raptor-like silhouette on two legs, then a short yet bulky, top heavy figure, then even a form that seemed almost human, yet very gelatinous.  He kept scrolling, past several forms, until it finally reset to the flaming figure of before on the tenth rotation. “…Well, that’s… quite a lot of alternate forms. They don’t even seem to all be fire types…”

“And somehow, I could turn into them even though I don’t have a quirk.” Izuku pointed out quietly, in disbelief as he looked down at the ground. “…Do you think it’s possible it isn’t related to quirks?”

“I… I’m not sure, my boy.” All Might frowned as he idly began to tap the lid of his water bottle, while Izuku walked off, a slow smile coming on his face. “Ten different forms…”

“I wonder if they’d feel as good.” Izuku pondered aloud, making his mentor pause, the muscular hero looking up to his freckled protégé with a curious expression.

“’As good’, my boy?” He questioned curiously, quirking a brow as he stood up. Izuku turned a moment later, nodding enthusiastically as he beamed at the man.

“Yeah! It felt amazing!” He exclaimed, a growing excitement clear in his voice as he practically lit up, and not in the same way he had before as the flaming mystery of before. “ I felt amazing! I was confused at first obviously but everything just felt natural, it’s like a part of my brain just understood whenever I wanted to do something and it felt just… right. It felt right! I finally felt…. Normal.”

He then paused before lifting up the watch again, eyes widening in realization suddenly. “But if there’s other forms, other different forms… Would they feel as good? Are they as strong as that flaming guy? I mean, with this I wouldn’t even be risking ruinning One For All by not actually being ready for your quirk in time…”

All Might paused at that, a frown appearing on his face and it only continued to deepen as Izuku continued, shaking his head.

“I wonder if it has someone it’s meant to be going to. Whoever they are must be pretty lucky, being able to get something we need like this…” He muttered quietly, a sadder most wistful note entering his voice unintentionally. Behind him, All Might was quiet for a moment before suddenly speaking up.

“’We’ need, my boy?” All Might asked, making Izuku freeze as he realized his slip up, face burning red a moment later as All Might approached, kneeling down and putting a hand on his protégé’s shoulder. “Young Midoriya, you clearly are deeply interested in these forms, for that I don’t blame you regardless of whether I think you should be showing more caution or not. I’m much more concerned however… Do you want those forms because they can help you be a hero, or because you think they will make you ‘equal’ with everyone else?”

Izuku went quiet, looking away for a moment before speaking up quietly and more reluctantly. “W-Well, it would, wouldn’t it? I’m not able to stand on the same level with almost anyone on my own, it would just make me normal finally, wouldn’t it? Just an ordinary kid, not in the way I meant on the rooftop but-”

“Kid.” All Might squeezed his shoulder suddenly with a more uncertain smile, clearly uncertain of what to say for a moment, before speaking up. “You are anything but ordinary. It’s a very good thing too, cause it’s part of what I saw in you.  And this wouldn’t make you more normal, but you don’t need to be. Do you really think you do?”

“But, everyone else is always put off by me being quirkless.” Izuku pointed out with a frown of his own. “And this watch…”

“…There is a lot to figure out about this watch, but for now, let’s not push our luck on it.” All Might said as he stood up. “We should be cautious in case its not s-“

BOOM!

Both student and mentor let out surprised yelps, jumping to one side as a tree not too far from them suddenly exploded into splinters everywhere, sliding across the ground before looking up.

Izuku felt his blood run cold a moment later as he froze up, emerald eyes widening in horror as a small army of red, circular drones, surrounding one massive one appeared ahead of them.

“OMNITRIX LOCATED. ” The much larger central drone, more purple in colouring than the rest and about the size of a house spoke up in a robotic voice. “ ELIMINATING TERRANS.”

Suddenly a moment later every drone, all of which had thin metal pincers beneath their circular frisbee like red bodies with bulbous eyes, lit up in hues of orange and yellow.

Then, it all moved to the tips of their pincers, making All Might go wide eyed.

“GET DOWN!” He yelled as he tackled Izuku behind another tree as a barrage of lasers suddenly shot forth, completely annihilating several more trees, reducing them to ash and smoke as the sound of explosions and snapping wood filled the air.

“What the!?” Izuku sputtered as he pushed up off the ground a moment later, All Might standing up beside him, the former gaping at the miniature army of drones. “What are they?! What’s an Omnitrix?!”

“My guess is it’s what’s on your wrist!” All Might shouted before grunting and cracking his neck. “My boy, change back into that flaming form!”

“What?” Izuku blinked as he turned to All Might in disbelief. “But you just said that we should be cautious!”

“We should! But we can’t be cautious if we’re dead, and I’d rather risk that flaming form we’ve seen is safe and tough than have either of us turn into a barbecue!”

“…Righ- WOAH!” Izuku yelped, jumping out the way of another laser, yelping before pulling up the core as fast as possible, as behind him he felt a sudden rush of wind and a small boom, before suddenly All Might appeared behind two of the drones, grabbing them each and slamming them together, causing a massive explosion to erupt and fill the area with smoke that was hard to see through.

“Now, my boy!”

“Right! Here it goes!”

He took a deep breath then lifted his hand up high in the air before bringing it down at speed, taking a deep breath right before it slammed into the core. A moment later, there was a bright green flash that faded, just as the smoke did.

“That’s it, my boy!” All Might called as he turned to address his student. “And now y- My boy?”

He paused, blinking in surprise as he saw that, standing where Izuku had been, was NOT the flaming form of before that had bared an odd resemblance to Briscill, but instead a creature with a raptor-like body. Its legs were bent in slightly, with balls for feet, a tail swishing around with blue and black stripes and a suit going up the body.

The symbol of the Omnitrix was on the bright white chest which was surrounded by black and at the top of the creature’s body was its head, which seemed to be shaped almost more like a helmet, blue face exposed before a visor came down a moment later.

“…This isn’t the flaming guy from before, is it All Might?”

“No, no it isn’t.” All Might confirmed before appearing suddenly in front of another drone, grabbing it and throwing it into a second drone near Izuku that had just lit up. “It may still help you escape though! Run, my boy!”

“What?!” Izuku asked, his voice now far raspier as he looked between the swarm of drones, easily surrounding them on all sides, numbers in the dozens. “Even if I wanted to do that, which I don’t-“

“My boy, it’s too dangerous for you right now!” His mentor interrupted, as he faced down two more drones and grabbed them, slamming them into one another.  What he didn’t notice however was behind him, a third drone lit up suddenly preparing to blast him. “So-“

“ LOOK OUT! ”

BWOOOSH!

There was a massive explosion of wind as a heavy rushing noise filled the air and All Might turned just in time to see a massive streaking blur of blue and black destroying the drone on impact, before coming to a stumbling stop a moment later and revealing Izuku almost falling on his face.

“WOAH! TOO FAST!” He yelped as he turned back to All Might in shock once he caught his balance, face hidden behind the visor he was now wearing, a green sheen on the part that he was presumably looking out of, in an odd, blob-like X shape. “…One, that was really cool. Two, as I was saying, we’re surrounded! I can’t leave even if I wanted to leave you to deal with this on your own, which I don’t.”

“Well, I will give you that.” All Might said before appearing in front of Izuku, arms crossed into an X-shape as he blocked a laser Izuku hadn’t noticed coming at him at all, causing an explosion of smoke to cover the two as the man grunted. “It’s certainly a bigger practical issue, my boy. We need to make an opening!”

“Well, how do we do that?” Izuku asked as he looked amongst all the drones, looking for any opening at all, as his mentor cracked his knuckles. “Can I help?”

“…Well, let’s see, with the fact that you seem to have some form of super speed in this form.” All Might hummed thoughtfully as he ducked down into a more ready position, bracing as the drones began to light up again, every single one this time. “You can try grabbing them and throwing them around with your speed. NOW!”

There was a loud whistling noise that pierced the air a moment later before there was an absolute explosion of wind and leaves, followed by a massive black and blue blur zipping between thousands of red lasers raining down upon them.

At random, it seemed, several drones suddenly exploded and caved in on themselves, All Might appearing behind the group that was completely destroyed a moment later before he turned to another row with a gleaming grin. “TEXAS SMASH!”

A moment later an extremely powerful torrent of wind erupted from his fist, smashing through several drones in an instant, throwing them aside and causing others to explode, helping make a small thing clearing only for the remaining drones to quickly cover it and tighten their formation.

“MY TURN!” Izuku’s raspier voice was heard a moment later as the black and blue blur appeared again before coming to a stop behind a drone that was tilting to one side, having been slightly damaged having just been caught by the air pressure of All Might’s attack. “Now- AHHH!”

Izuku yelped as he tried to spin the drone around only to instead feel himself be lifted off his feet and twirled around  fast enough the entire world became a blur before he felt a sudden sharp pan go up his spine. “ARRRGHH!H”

“MY BOY! ARE YOU OKAY?!” All Might shouted in concern as Izuku fell to the ground, claw-like hands ‘hands’ hitting the ground as he gasped for air, pushing himself up with a groan.

“I-I’m fine! Just caught me off-guard… That didn’t work.” He groaned as he stood up, looking around, getting a thumbs up from the relieved blonde who then turned back to the nearest drone and forced his hand directly through its casing, throwing it away to one side.

“You nearly had it! Just don’t let go!” All Might called out as he turned to face his next group of drones, while Izuku began sprinting around the field again, black and blue streaks appearing all over. “Keep running when you grab on!”

“RIGHT!” He nodded as he disappeared again, before a drone that was attempting to approach All Might from behind was accosted by the black and blue blur which didn’t stop at all this time.

However, this merely resulted in the metal pole Izuku had grabbed to simply rip clean off as he kept running straight forward, making him yell in surprise as he just barely came to a stop, avoiding colliding with a tree.

“Don’t forget to spin my boy! Spin it around!” All Might called out as punched directly through another drone, sending it crashing into several reinforcements behind it, all of them crashing directly into the massive purple drone and exploding.

It flew backwards for a moment, before growing purple and several panels on its body opened up. Then, to the mentor and student’s distress, yet more fully combat-ready drones exited the purple machine’s body ready to fry them alive.

“Oh, that’s not good.” All Might muttered, as Izuku quickly took off again to try one more time.

BWOOOSH!

“I GOT IT THIS TIME, ALL MIGHT!” Izuku called as he came up to a drone off to one side, grabbing it and spinning around and around and around, before letting go.

…The drone only flew a few inches away, making him pause in disbelief. “OH COME O- ARGH!”

he yelped as he was hit by a laser, blasting him back off his feet and into a log, making him groan as it cracked and All Might let out a concerned shout, suddenly rushing forward and grabbing the drone before throwing it backwards directly into the new reinforcements. “My boy, are you alright?!  If you can still get up, perhaps you should just run once I make an opening, your speed may be enough to escape and-“

Whatever All Might was going to say though, Izuku didn’t let him finish, as he looked behind the man and saw them all lighting up again, his frustrations of the day boiling back to the surface before things seemed to slow down in his vision.

He saw as the lasers slowly built up at the tip of each drone, All Might’s mouth slowly flapping as he talked to the boy, some leaves practically frozen in the air as they were blown through it.

And then…

BWOOOSH!

A moment later, the entire field was once more lit up with endless blue and black streaks, yet this time Izuku wasted no time on grabbing the drones, instead encircling them all more and more, rotation after rotation that got faster and faster.

Slowly, the circling blur began to grow and grow, getting thinner near the middle before expanding back out again, as the drones were sucked in, wind flying everywhere as a tornado was created on the field sucking in every drone at once.

Then, once every single one was bundled together the raptor-like form of Izuku’s transformation came flying out the wreckage, coming to a stop at the log he’d landed on a moment before and with great effort, heaved a part of the heavy log into his hands. Just as the tornado dissipated.

BWOOSH!

With one final burst of speed that caused an explosion of wind so powerful All Might was nearly knocked off his feet, the teen rushed directly at the tower of drones and brought the massive wooden leg through as many as he could at once at full speed.

The momentum of the strike caused it to rip through metal chassis after chassis, explosions following mere seconds afterwards, further damaging and destroying more drones all around before he was finally knocked back as a shockwave erupted, the entire pile of drones exploding in one magnificent fireball that blew above the treeline.

Izuku hit the ground, breathing heavily before pushing himself up to his feet, or rather the rolling balls that were like feet in this form, as he turned to a surprised and wide-eyed All Might. “Well… That works?”

“…Yes, it uh, it certainly does, my boy.” All Might agreed slowly before shaking his head and frowning. “Perhaps we should head back to the city before another swarm shows up, if they have more. Follow my lead.”

It was an odd sight, Izuku thought, watching the leaves kick up only for All Might to appear to be running at no more than a regular human pace a moment later, the only sign of just how fast he was actually running being the miniature shockwaves he could see rippling through the dirt in the ground.

Once the man had a fair amount of distance ahead, Izuku took off after him, the balls on his feet spinning at a rapid pace with every step he took. He wasn’t sure how long exactly they were running for, but it could be any more than twenty seconds at most before they were back in the city, coming to a sudden stop in a familiar parking lot.

The parking lot of Izuku’s apartment complex.

Just in time as well, as a moment later the same sound he’d heard when he’d transformed back from being the fiery form of before was heard again.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BWOO!

There was an all-encompassing red flash, before Izuku blinked down at himself a moment later, looking over his body in surprise. “Woah… That was amazing…”

“That was extremely concerning.” All Might corrected with a frown as he crossed his arm and frowned with a thoughtful, concerned expression. “Whoever wants the watch is clearly incredibly dangerous. There is no way they have any good intentions with it, if they were ready to kill us.”

“That drone called us Terrans.” Izuku pointed out, before turning to All Might with a frown. “But I mean, what else would be?”

“My boy?” All Might paused, then raised a brow as he saw Izuku’s confused expression. “Is something wrong?”

“…No, sorry, it’s silly. They’re probably just a sci-fi fanatic or something, whoever sent those. Terran means inhabitant of Earth, but it’s not like aliens exist, was stupid to bring up.”

“…I don’t think it’s stupid.” All Might spoke up suddenly, making Izuku blink before turning to his mentor with a confused expression, tilting his head. “I… I recognized that second form you used as well, I saw someone with a very similar appearance at a convention once. A rather innocent child. That now makes two very similar looking bodies to what I had thought were mutant-types I had met in the past. Yet, there is no reason for two so extremely different people to be in the watch, especially when I met said child in another country. Perhaps… It certainly wouldn’t hurt to be open minded.”

“…” Izuku went very quiet as he looked down, feeling his head spinning. Aliens? It was possible aliens actually existed, and were living on Earth all along? “That’s… The watch, the drone called it the Omnitrix.”

“Yes, it did. Clearly, it’s got a great deal of danger tied to it.” All Might nodded, giving Izuku a meaningful look, almost as if asking a silent question. One Izuku immediately understood, turning to face the man fully as he took a deep breath, before a resolve that All Might had only seen with one other topic before came over Izuku.

The resolve he wore whenever he talked of being a hero.

“All the more reason not to give it up then.”

“My boy-“ All Might began only for the green haired teenager to shake his head.

“It’s okay, All Might. Whoever wants this watch, whoever wants the Omnitrix. They can’t have it, under any circumstances. We need to protect it, and it’s already firmly latched onto me. Me, who has the greatest hero in the entire world as a mentor.” He held up his wrist, showing the watch to All Might before looking up at him with determination. “Can you think of someplace safer for it? Because I can’t, and I don’t want it in the hands of someone who would use it on random people the way they used those drones.”

“…” All Might was silent for a moment then nodded, a sigh escaping him. “I see you’re serious about this. You do have a point; I have to admit… I’m going to have to rework your training I think.”

Izuku opened his mouth but before he could say anything, All Might turned to him with a serious expression. “I think I may be a little out of my depth, but I will see what I can do. I think it will be best if you return home. IF anyone comes to the door, ignore it, and do not answer. I apologize about the mess with trying to instruct you there. Apparently, I need to improve on teaching in a disaster situation.”

“Right.” Izuku nodded, before turning to his apartment complex and walking towards the stairs. “I’ll talk to you later, All Might!”

He would argue against the man’s concern over his own teacher usually… but even Izuku had to admit, it had left something to be desired during that fight. Still, that wasn’t the thing to focus on right now.

No, he had to keep his eyes on what really mattered.

The Omnitrix.

“They destroyed all of them.”

In the main room of Vilgax’s spaceship, the tyrant growled as he watched the screen before him, crushing the arm rests he was holding onto before standing up.

“It seems these human vermin have become more… resilient than they used to be.” He muttered darkly as the hulking orange and black cat figure, Cross, came walking up to his side.

“Cross just finished scaring the prisoners, Vilgax. Cross wants to know what happened to the Omnitrix.” The cat said, making Vilgax turn to him with a dark look.

“Cross needs to learn manners, unless he wants the claws to be ripped out of him.” He said before turning back, pointing to the corner of the screen. “A minor setback, I will have to put more effort towards dealing with this species than expected. One drone survived, I will leave the new wielder of the Omnitrix for a while to gather information on the planet below. You just focus on the prisoners, Cross.”

As Vilgax said that, several floors below, deep in the bowels of the ship, a four foot tall black and white bodied creature with many pink gems over their body and bright pink eyes slammed against a metal door with a grunt. She battered one massive white four fingered first against it, grunting in annoyance. “Dang it!”

“It’s not going to budge.” A bulkier male alien spoke up with a deep base to his voice, contrasting the smaller alien’s higher pitch, as he stood up, massive grey shells on his back and the rest of his body otherwise pure white, aside from his black lips. He was very top-heavy, and frowning down at the small girl. “Just give up already.”

“No way!” She said with a huff, the black parts of her body rippling before two identical clones appeared a moment later, slamming up against the metal wall with her. “There has to be a way out!”

“We’ve been here for years, little one.” He huffed and turned away, walking to a corner and sitting down. “You’re doing nothing but annoying us both.”

“I don’t care!” The leftmost version of the girl said, kicking the door.

“I won’t stop!” The right-most version followed up, desperately pulling on the handle, feet braced on the wall as she hung off the handle putting her entire body’s weight down on it.

The middle-most, original girl brought her hands above her head and clutched them together, bringing them down on the door.

“We have to get out! We’re GOING to get out!”

But no matter how hard she tried, the door wouldn’t budge.

Chapter Text

The Sunday morning that followed the chaotic arrival of the Omnitrix and the drone attack, one might have expected Izuku to be nervous or rattled.

Well, in a way he was, as he couldn’t stop thinking about the fact someone had actually sent combat drones, that someone even HAD combat drones to track down the watch that was seemingly irrevocably stuck on his wrist.

But even with the nervousness that built up in his chest with that in mind when he sat and dwelled on it, something else was there as well which he couldn’t help but notice as he was eating breakfast.

His leg wouldn’t stop quietly bouncing with a growing excitement over what was coming next. As he did every day, he had more training with All Might coming up and for the first time, he was going to get to use the Omnitrix!

As much as he may be concerned about where the watch had come from, there was no denying the sheer overwhelming and comforting blanket of positive emotions that had enveloped when he got used to being the alternate, potentially alien, forms.

“Izuku?” A voice spoke up, making the freckled teen look up to see a plump woman with long green hair, a huggable figure and a concerned soft expression on her face.

His mother, Inko Midoriya.

“Huh? Is something wrong, mom?” He asked, frowning as he saw her face as she put her fork down, having finished her own breakfast, before pulling out a page from a pocket in her cardigan.

“I just wanted to let you know I made a doctor’s appointment for next Tuesday.” She said as she handed over the note, which he took and confirmed the date on. “I… I’m really worried about what you told me. I mean, you got attacked because of this thing. I just… I want to be absolutely sure it’s not doing something to you.”

Izuku was quiet for a moment before nodding as he smiled at her with a bit more strain but also genuine understanding. “Yeah, I know. I don’t think they’ll be able to do anything but I know I’m biased.”

“…” Inko paused and then, despite her own concern, deadpanned at him a moment later. “Izuku, you walked in, said a random device from space is stuck to your wrist, then ranted about being a Fire Man like you used to rant about how cool girls with horse mutations are cause of your cartoons-“

Izuku’s face immediately grew bright red as he sputtered and let out a choked sound as he yelped. “M-Mom! We agreed not to speak about the My Little Pony phase!“

“-And then you turned into said Fire Man when I was asking if we needed to get you checked into the doctor’s for hallucinations and nearly burned the house down from over-excitement.“ Inko continued on without acknowledging Izuku’s interruption, still deadpanning at her now deeply embarrassed son. “So yes, I do agree you may be just a tad biased, Sweetie.”

“ Mooooom…. ” He let out a small embarrassed whine as he covered his face with a blush, pouting through his hands as he heard her giggle after a moment.

“Consider it repayment for the vase.” She said as he groaned, deliberately not looking at the living room table where a flower vase had been resting before, though it was now in pieces in the bin. She then sobered up, looking a bit more serious after a moment. “Seriously though, sweetie, you promise you’ll go to the appointment?”

“…I promise.” He nodded after a moment, sighing as he sat up straighter and looked at the watch. “As cool as it is, I’m scared to shower with it.”

“…” Inko paused, then just pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed as Izuku blushed and continued on.

“A-And that it might be stuck to me! That’s totally the bigger deal, right!” He quickly followed up with, laughing nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well, at least you know that on some level.” Inko tutted before giving him a softer smile as she picked up her now empty plate. “I’ll get the dishes this time, you hurry on out to training. It’s getting a bit later than you’d usually leave.”

Izuku blinked, then looked up at the clock before yelping as he quickly shut to his feet upon seeing it was ten-to-nine in the morning. “Oh crap! I promised Mr. Yagi I’d be there for nine o’clock! I gotta hurry, see you soon Mom! Love you!”

“Love you too, sweetie!” Inko called as Izuku finished his last bite, before putting the chopsticks down and hurrying to the door, sprinting as fast as he could and hoping he could make it to the beach in time.

“I’m here!” Izuku shouted as his feet pounded against the sand amidst the trash-covered eyesore that was Dagobah beach. The scrawnier form of All Might turned to Izuku, before blinking at him then chuckling as he saw the dishevelled hair and flushed face.

“Let me guess, you got a little distracted talking about the ‘Omnitrix’ with your mother, my boy?” He asked curiously, making Izuku pause before he nodded, tiling his head a little curiously at All Might, who grinned. “I had a feeling you’d struggle to contain your excitement.”

“…” Izuku blushed as he looked away, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “I m-mean, it’s just… it’s such a cool thing! I turned into someone else entirely, with flaming powers! Then someone who could run at superspeed! It’s hard not to be excited.”

“Yet caution you can work on.” All Might interrupted, before flushing slightly as he looked off to one side. “Not that I’m much one to be speaking of such things. Still, it is important we don’t get ahead of ourselves with the danger presented to us the other day.”

“Right, the drones.” Izuku nodded, quickly feeling his own excitement become tempered as he looked down at his hands. “That was a bit of a disaster.”

“You can say that again.” All Might sighed, before perking up with a smile as he gestured to some of the trash behind him which had been noticeably altered in its formation, with bin bags of varying sizes of to one side, an alignment of trash going from least heavy to most and on All Might seemed to be come kind of monitoring device. “Which is why I believe we should lean into what we do know. While there is danger with this device, the danger is what is outside, not what you turn into from what we can tell.”

“That sounds about right.” Izuku nodded as he laughed a bit sheepishly as he looked down at the device. “I mean, it made me able to not even notice being on fire so…”

“So, that means that the first step should be making sure you have some idea of what these forms can do!” All Might announced, making Izuku’s head snap up in surprise to see a mixture of a grin but also a seriousness in All Might’s eyes. “I will not always be around to help you, my boy, as much as I might wish to be. If you are attacked by someone to gain this watch again, I can make arrangements for you to be sent to a safehouse, but I’d feel far better if I knew you could use those forms to defend yourself.”

“You… You really think I should do that?” Izuku asked in surprise, having assumed his mentor would have warded him off from using it at all if he could help it.

“Well, it’s not everyday someone comes along who can withstand a fight against me for several minutes, especially when I am angry. Nevermind the fact it was you my boy, the fact you lack combat training so far and were a complete newbie to not just your powers but that form in general?” All Might rose his brow at the last part, a genuine grin settling on his face as after a moment as he clapped his hands together. “That’s no small feat, my boy! With training, I am certain you can hold your own, at least long enough for me to arrive and help.”

“So, then all of this….” Izuku trailed off for a moment, turning to the newly arranged layout of some of the trash. “Is this for training these forms, then?”

“Precisely, my boy.” The blond nodded, turning to gesture to it all with a wave of his hand. “We’ll find out where these forms are capable of. Their strengths, their powers, their limits. Once we know that, we can figure out where to go from there.”

He turned back to Izuku with an eager, slightly amused glint. “So, enjoy this while you have the chance my boy. Let us find out just what this ‘Omnitrix’ is capable of.”

Despite himself, Izuku couldn’t stop the grin that came onto his face at that, as he pulled up the Omnitrix, only all too happy to oblige, before a moment later he was alight with flames once more. “Yes sir! I’m ready!”

That was how their training began that day, training that, as always, dragged on for hours upon hours. From lifting as many tonnes as he could with each alien, finding some struggled to lift so much as an apple while others were capable of lifting trucks with seventy-five percent of their hands tied behind their back, too doing one hundred meter sprints and quickly realizing that the speedster was unbeatable, the tests were extensive and intense.

Between sprinting between cars as some kind of blue bulky otter or swooping through the air and yelling in delight as he realized he was capable of flight with a blue more moth-like form, Izuku often would change back to normal and continue his body-building training that All Might still had going on.

After all, this was still meant to be training for One For All first and foremost. Still, Izuku didn’t mind, enjoying the breaks to work on his own personal physical strength and getting a chance to digest the new forms he was learning about, the things he was finding them to be capable of…

It was overwhelming, yet amazing to have too many choices at his fingertips. It took far too much self-restraint to not just try to go wild with them every time he turned into a new one.

“Alright, my boy, that’s enough for today!” All Might called finally, as the sky was darkening several hours in, leaving Izuku to turn to the man as he was once more in the flaming form that he first discovered the Omnitrix to have. “You have done more than enough tests. It’s time to get to the real training.”

“The…” Izuku paused, then took a deep breath, a little nervous to find out just what All Might had in mind, giving his track record with training exercises so far. “The real training, All Might?”

“Indeed!” He laughed, as smoke poured off his body before he bulked up into his muscle form, laughing becoming more boisterous as he did. “The best practice for a fight is to fight after all! Hahah! Now, are you ready for your first spar, young Midoriya?”

“I…” Izuku paused, before taking a deep breath then nodding, mimicking a fighting pose he’d seen on TV before, having no real idea what he was doing but preparing for the fight nonetheless, the flames around his body suddenly roaring in response. “Ready, sir! If you’re sure this will help?”

“Of course it will, my boy! The more you fight, the more experience you’ll gain!” All Might said as he chuckled and cracked his knuckles as he grinned. Idly, Izuku realized just how scary it could be on the wrong side of it. ‘Seriously, those sunken eyes are terrifying…’

“I’ll take it slow to start with as well, do not worry. We’ll save getting more intense for your later training sessions!” He assured his successor kindly. “Now, are you ready to fight in your… flaming man form, is that what you’re calling it?”

Izuku paused then scrunched his nose up, finding that almost insulting in a way. “That feels… Super impersonal. It’s a whole other body, I mean they deserve a name…”

“Well, do you have any ideas for one?” All Might asked before starting to count down, not giving Izuku much time to think on it at all “Three, two, one… GO!”

“How about… TRAILBLAZER!” Izuku instantly jumped at the man the second he hit go, shouting the name that came to mind and blasting forward and trying to send a massive eruption of fire at the man, only for it to dissipate and reveal he had completely disappeared, making Izuku go wide eyed. “Wha- ACK!”

He yelped as a foot slammed into his side, sending him across the ground and making him roll across the sand, groaning as he looked up with a slight deadpan at his mentor. “T-Take… Take it slow, huh?”

“I am going easier than I did in the forest my boy, never underestimate the power of a surprise attack!” He laughed as he rushed forward again only for Izuku to throw his hands down in front of himself, practically summoning a wall of fire as a shield.

A shield that proved to be ineffective as All Might’s fist came right through and hit Izuku in the chest, sending him flying back into a trash pile. “ARGH!”

He fell to the ground and landed with a hand on the ground, huffing as the fire blew away, leaving a laughing All Might standing there. The fact he was just doing so and not immediately rushing in for another fight helped prove his point.

After all, Izuku was certain if All Might was really fighting seriously he wouldn’t just stand there with a massive obvious opening left for Izuku to attack. Still, while he had a moment.

“And… after sparring, what other training will we do?” He asked as he stood up, getting into a fighting position again.

“I…” All Might paused for a moment, face scrunching up in thought. Izuku waited patiently, letting the man find his answer.

Though…

“I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what comes to mind! Sparring should be good enough for now!” He decided, leaving Izuku to blink in disbelief. ‘Seriously? Just sparring? Surely there’s got to be more to-“

“And don’t leave such a massive opening for your opponent!” All Might called suddenly as he appeared above the flaming figure who yelped before jumping back, letting All Might land before he narrowed his eyes and ran forward, delivering a strike to the face that came with a massive eruption of flames upon contact. “ ACK! ”

Izuku blinked in surprise, shocked he actually landed a hit before grinning, unable to help a small surge of confidence in himself.

Maybe the sparring would be good training? He still had his doubts but All Might knew what he was doing.

…Right?

Somewhere, at the back of his mind, Izuku knew he was going to have to make a choice at some point.

From the moment he picked up the Omnitrix and realized the power it held, this choice began to loom without him realizing.

Now, it was Monday. The first day back at school.

Now was the day he would be forced to make that choice, as he would find out soon.

The day started out normal enough, aside from the fact that for the first time ever, Izuku wasn’t panicking on his way to the school, he wasn’t constantly looking out for threats, he wasn’t preparing to be exposed, to be forced right into the rotten core of Aldera Middle School.

For once, Izuku was just enjoying the mundanity in getting ready for school, with a different feeling he’d never had before, going to school.

Excitement.

Because with the Omnitrix, surely today had to be different. He finally had power. In fact, not even just a power.

Powers. Plural.

The very thing he’d always been belittled for not having he now did!  Things were going to be different for sure now, they had to be!

He could finally prove that he had worth to everyone who called him worthless before.

That was why he ignored the sneering, then later bewildered looks as he finally arrived at Aldera. Why he didn’t give a second glance to the receptionist who sneered at him as he walked past.

Why he just ignored any mumbling or muttering as he made it to his class, stepping inside with something on his face he hadn’t walked into class with ever before.

A smile on his face.

Of course, that immediately garnered the wrong kind of attention as a boy with long hair that covered one eye scrunched up their nose at Izuku. “What the heck are you smiling about, Deku?”

Izuku took a deep breath, trying to suppress a small flinch as he turned to the boy and did his best not to let himself fall into old habits.

A part of his body wanted to immediately curl back up and apologize but compared to usual… That feeling was small, in the face of the burning desire to finally be seen.

To finally be recognized. For them to realize they were wrong about him and that he could be normal now. That was why, despite a tightening knot within his chest, he took a deep breath then replied as confidently as he could.

“Because I had a good weekend, Muto.” Izuku said, trying to be cordial as he headed to his desk. Unfortunately, as he expected, as soon as he answered like that, he heard the scraping of a desk and turned to see Muto standing up.

“Well, we’ll have to fix that before you put Bakugou in a bad mood.” He said as his arm started to slowly stiffen up, the muscles seemingly bulging as they did.  “I’ll knock that smile off your face.”

And this… This is where Izuku would normally run or give himself to the wolves. This was where he had no ground to fight back normally.

But today was different. Today, he had a choice.

Izuku expected more fear in his chest honestly than he felt right now, as he turned to the boy.

“…I don’t want to fight, Muto.” Izuku said as he frowned and clenched the hand that held the Omnitrix on it, before raising it up a moment later. “But I’m not going to let you j-just attack me.”

“Wha-“ Muto sputtered for a moment, clearly taken aback, as was everyone else. Even those who had only barely been paying attention before snapped around to stare in disbelief at Izuku actually seemingly standing up to one of his bullies. “Like you can do anything about it! What, am I meant to be scared of your tiny little watch?”

“…It’s scarier than you are.” Izuku responded honestly after a moment, feeling a feeling of taboo euphoria run up his spine as he felt his smile slowly coming back.

Because honestly? Yeah, it was hard to find a random middle school bully scary once you had to fight a pissed off symbol of peace and a bunch of killer drones.

In comparison, this was barely more intimidating than a mad puppy barking at him. It WAS significantly less cute though, sadly.

“Wha-“ Muto paused, clearly shocked at the response. However, before he could even recover…

“DEKU! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING, NERD?!”

...

Izuku froze, before gulping slightly as he turned to face Katsuki Bakugou himself who was storming towards Izuku with anger burning in his red eyes.

“B-Bakugou -“ Izuku started, body beginning to shake even as he tried to straighten himself, meeting the blond’s eyes head on. The blond only growled louder in response.

“The fuck happened to Kacchan?” He asked with a sneer, which was about the closest thing Izuku had ever seen the blond being able to show to convey confusion. Sometimes, Izuku swore it was like Bakugou was allergic to not being angry.

Before Izuku could reply though, Bakugou seemed to already have gotten bored of caring about the change, suddenly grabbing Izuku by the shirt.

“H-Hey!”

“Fucking whatever, just give me that stupid watch!” he said as he snatched at the device, grabbing it and pulling, trying to yank the Omnitrix off only for it to continue to struggle and pull at Izuku’s skin making the boy hiss. “Remind you of your fucking plac- What the- GET! OFF! DEKU TAKE THE FUCKING WATCH-“

“B-BAKUGOU, STOP!” Izuku groaned as he grabbed Bakugou’s hand, before a moment later a loud smack echoed through the room as Izuku gasped, feeling a searing hot pain in his cheek.

“DON’T FUCKING TOUCH MY HAND, DE-“

KRRRRZZZZZT!

Both boy’s went wide eyed at the sudden electrical noise as the watch started to spark and glow green a moment later, before a sudden rush of green energy enveloped them both and Izuku felt himself blown off his feet.

Distantly, he was aware of a startled, angry yell escaping Bakugou as well and becoming more distant before he felt his back hit the wall, making him gasp as the world seemed to suddenly come into focus again with the impact.

He landed on his feet and stumbled forward, looking up with widened eyes as he saw Bakugou groaning, before his head snapped up. Izuku felt his own body stiffen at the pure rage that began to exude off the blonde and a moment later….

BOOOM!

“DEEEKKKKUUUUU!”

Explosions ripped from the blond’s hands as he propelled himself forward directly at Izuku who yelped and on instinct threw his hand down to his wrist, feeling himself manage to hit the core.

There was a bright green flash just as Bakugou closed in, before a moment later something green and slimy flew out of the light and grabbed the blonde suddenly, holding him in the air.

Several people gasped and shouted as the flash faded entirely to reveal some kind of slimy humanoid with one hand held forward holding Bakugou in the air, standing where Izuku had stood just a moment ago.

“What…” A whirry voice came from the figure, whose bright yellow eyes widened a moment later as the explosive blond’s red eyes shrunk slightly and he began to struggle, a sharp intake of air heard.

“WH- GET THE FUCK OFF ME! OFF! GET THIS STUPID FUCKING SLIME SHIT OF ME RIGHT FUCKING NOW!” He yelled with his usual anger, yet there seemed to be a hint of almost panic in his voice as explosions began to rip off his covered hands instantly, causing little pockets of slime to expand and burst all over other students who yelled.

Izuku himself couldn’t feel his own breathing at all, uncertain if he even was breathing in this form, yet even had he been his normal self he might not have been breathing as he felt himself freezing, phantasm sensations of slime in his mouth and throat overwhelming him. “N-NO! LET GO! STOP! STOP! P-PLEASE-“

Beep. Beep. Beep. BWOOO!

With a very sudden red flash, Izuku felt himself standing at his normal height again as Bakugou fell to the ground, clawing at his own hands to get the slime off as Izuku stood still, haunted gaze boring into the blond boy.

Unable to even look at the slime, bile rising in his throat he quickly looked away, ending up face to face with his classmates.

His classmates who looked at him with a mixture of horror, anger and even fear. He felt something inside him crack at that as his chest tightened.

They still thought of him as a freak, just a different kind now. They were scared of him. They-

“MIDORIYA!” A voice shouted making the boy jump then whip around too see the teacher standing in the doorway with wide eyes and a whitened face, yet it was slowly giving way to an angrier expression as the teacher’s face reddened. “I have no idea what the hell that was! I- You- Detention! Then you’ll explain to the principal afterwards what on earth THAT was! GO! NOW! ”

Izuku felt his mouth dry, before he nodded and put his head down, hurrying out the classroom as he felt his spirit shatter, stepping into the dingy halls of Aldera Middle School.

So…

He was still a freak to them all.

The teacher still blamed him.

Nothing had changed in their eyes at all. He was still just a worthless, useless Deku who everyone hated.

He tried to take a deep breath, trying to think of anything else, trying to not let his mind slip to what just happened, or to the slime, the slime that was like the sludge, the slime that had grabbed Bakugou-

“Bakugou, do you need to go to the infirmary?” The teacher’s voice drifted down the hall, just being caught by Izuku who froze. “Or anything else? You can take the day off school if you need to.”

‘…He got off scot-free.’ Izuku realized as he looked down at his own feet. ‘He got off scot-free. Again. NOTHING has changed. How did he get away when he attacked me?! How is it fair that I’M going to detention?!’

He felt his teeth gritting together as he looked up to the hall again, imagining the walk to the office, to detention, for what?

For defending himself?! For not letting Bakugou attack him?!

Why should he even bother going to detention if they couldn’t even bother looking at him for five seconds and finding out what was going on?! He was just going to be punished no matter what he did!

…Unless he didn’t let them punish him.

His eyes drifted down to the Omnitrix again, seeing that it had recharged much faster this time. He wasn’t sure why he’d changed back so fast this time, perhaps his response to the alien form has something to do with it, but either way…

He pulled up the Omnitrix and cycled through the various silhouettes, before pausing on the raptor-like alien he had used to fight off the drones with All Might the other day.

He looked back up at the classroom, then grimaced before getting a determined expression upon his face as he frowned.

“…You blinked and I’m gone.” He muttered, before pushing down the core and causing a bright flash of light…

Which was followed by a streaking blue and black trail taking off out the school doors and into the streets, continuing on faster than anyone could hope to keep up with, eventually leaving the city.

Unaware that he was running right towards someone very…

Acidic.

~~~~

Chapter Text

BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHHH!

Throughout the streets of Musutafu and beyond, the black and blue blur continued to streak down city streets and between alleys as Izuku kept running, easily outpacing any heroes who may have noticed with laughable ease as he looked for somewhere to stop and change back.

It didn’t take long to eventually find a spot behind a random building to stop at, hidden in a little nook of an alley as he changed back with a red flash to his human form.

With a soft groan, he closed his eyes and pulled his hands down his face as he slid down the wall and frowned as he sat on the ground. This day had been nothing short of a slap in the face with a bonus spit of disdain.

He really thought he’d finally be able to get away from the bullying, finally see a difference in the way things went. He didn’t even expect to be treated nicely, he just thought he might finally be left alone.

Seen as normal.

And yet…

He pulled up the wrist that the Omnitrix was clamped firmly onto, glaring at the alien device with a small huff. “You really are just some dangerous piece of alien junk, huh? I thought things would be different but all you did was put me in danger and set me back in my training!”

…

He felt guilt stab him a second later, which he was sure most people would consider him insane for even thinking so as he sighed and tapped the red-faced watch, as his body recalled the sensations of becoming different.

Becoming better.

“Sorry, you’re not a hunk of junk. You’re amazing, I’m just upset.” He said before blushing as he set his hands on his knees, letting the timed out device fall to his side. “And I’m talking to a watch like it’s alive. Maybe I AM crazy…”

Beep.

“Don’t you start-“ Izuku huffed before freezing as his eyes widened and he pulled the now green faceplate back up to his face. “W-What the?!”

Did- Did it just…

“How did you charge up so fast?” Izuku asked in disbelief as he stood up with a confused furrow of his brow. “It hasn’t been-“

THUD!

“WOAH!”

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence as the ground beneath him suddenly began to rumble and he nearly fell back to the ground. Once it stopped a moment later his head shot up, as he hurried out the alley to look around. ‘What the? That wasn’t an earthquake, it was too small but wha-‘

He froze as he came out into the open and felt his jaw drop at what he saw. The building he’d been hiding at the side of, which seemed to be some kind of mall, now had ninety percent of the front of it melted into nothing.

Rebar was exposed, concrete was melting away and sizzling threateningly, and Izuku could see god knows how many civilians inside struggling not to fall to a definite trip to the hospital if not worse as the acid continued to eat away at the building.

The hole had to be as wide as four or five trucks at least and stretched up the entire five floors of the mall, including the ground floor. It was insane.

And standing in front of the building was a man in a black latex jumpsuit, with orange stripes running down his arms, feet exposed with ragged, rotten yellow toenails on display as well as his entire bald head exposed.

It showed off his sickly, faint green almost grey skin as only two random strands of hair hung down from his wrinkled face, beady eyes scanning the building as his pursed mouth which seemed to lack any lips twisted up in a cruel grin, yellowed teeth on display.

“Sssooorrry.” The man said with a slight slurred hiss as he laughed the kind of laugh that people often heard from villains on TV when they were truly delighting in the chaos they were causing. “I forgot to take my mints. Now where is the U.A. drop out?!”

‘What the?! Where are the heroes?!’ Izuku wondered as he took a step back, being careful to not draw the attention of the villain. He looked around desperately for any hero to help, as surely there had to be one around.

…

….

……

No. No matter where he looked, he only saw empty streets or scared civilians. Heroes had to be coming but-

“Come on out!” The villain called, making Izuku jump and turn back to see the man approaching the building. “If you don’t, I’m going to melt every last civilian here into a crisp until you come out!”

It was at that moment Izuku froze as his eyes widened, realizing exactly how dire this situation was. There wasn’t a single hero here yet , and the villain was already prepared to kill.

The freckled teen didn’t even notice as his arm raised up instantly and he quickly pressed in the buttons on the side of the Omnitrix, popping the core up before he looked up as he slammed in the core.

“HEY!”

There was a green flash across his entire body that protected him from view just before the villain turned with a growl to see that where the human Izuku had stood a moment ago, there now stood a white two and a half foot tall creature in a white silicone suit.

It had round, peg-like legs, a body that got somewhat wider nearer the top with large fists to either side, several wires running across its body like a machine, and a bump on its back with a bright number 10 written in green on the surface.

Finally, it had a large head with a wide bright green mouth that opened up as its pure green eyes, that had thick black outlines around them, narrowed in disdain.

“Try picking on someone who isn’t afraid of you, villain!” He called out as he clenched his fists. The shrivelled man merely let out a hearty laugh in response as a long, discoloured tongue snaked out and slowly licked around the surface of his mouth.

“How cute. A tiny pest thinksss they have a chance against me.” He grinned before he leaned back and Izuku felt something in his stomach flip as a sickening cracking noise filled the air as the villain opened his mouth, as if he was actively dislocating his jaw to do so.

And then, a green gaseous substance fired out of the man’s mouth and Izuku’s eyes widened as he jumped back as the ground melted away before his very eyes. He felt his own mouth open a little wider in disbelief.

“Good luck stopping someone you can’t touch, pest.” The villain laughed, a cruel grin on his face that made Izuku pause before he stood up straight, and an almost smug expression appeared on his face a moment later, cutting the villain off.

“Reverb doesn’t have to touch you, villain. ” He said, as he named himself on the spot and took one step forward. He hadn’t actually considered a proper name for this form yet, but for now, Reverb would do. “ Let’s see YOU stand up to this.”

He let his own head lean back before he dropped it forward, mouth opening as wide as possible and a moment later…

WYYYYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!

Pure, unadulterated sound ripped through the street towards the villain, their eyes widening as the force of impact from the attack managed to knock them off their feet and to the ground, rolling across it.

“Now. Leave these people alone.” Izuku demanded as his body was suddenly covered in a green outline, before out of his body spawned a set of twins who looked identical.

Then another two. And another two.

It wasn’t long before an entire small group of clones appeared, all glaring down the one villain before most turned and ran towards the group, several waving their hands as they climbed on each other’s shoulders to scale the structure.

“We’re here to help. Follow our lead!”

“Grrr… You!” The villain shot to their feet with a snarl and rushed forward to the main body who had remained behind. With a gulp, he jumped out of the way at the last moment as the shrivelled and angry man let out a massive exhale of pure potent acid gas.

The transformed teen just barely managed to dodge the attack before sliding on his feet and turning, puffing out his chest before letting his head drop down and once again letting out a scream filled with the pure power of sound.

WYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!

It broke through the gaseous substance, breaking it apart and helping split into something less potent and dangerous as Izuku clenched his fist and met the villain’s enraged gaze.

“I just want the kid who failed U.A., some little loud brat isn’t going to stop Acid Breath!” He snarled and Izuku paused, before he felt disbelief course through him for a moment.

“Acid… Breath? That’s even lazier than my name-“ Izuku couldn’t help but point out in disbelief before he yelped as the villain charged him again with renewed vigour. Just as he was about to fire another attack though…

“AND IT’S AN INSULT TO THE GOOD GUYS WITH ACID POWERS!” A female voice called out with an indignant tone, almost a huff as both turned to see a pink skinned girl rushing forward and throwing something from her hand.

A glob of it landing just inches from the villains foot and sizzling filled the air as he jumped back with a hiss. “You! You could have melted me!”

‘…Is… Does he just lack all self-awareness or is intentionally a hypocrite?’ Izuku wondered in disbelief as he took in the sight of the girl. She was clearly a mutant type with pink skin, black sclera and big spiky horns. Around her neck was a necklace that hung freely, a small love heart in the center.

She was also clearly a student like him based on her middle school uniform, so she was just as inexperienced as Izuku was most likely. Which was especially obvious with the subtle shake in her stance despite how she tried to put on a confident front.

The villain looked between them both before turning and without warning unleashing a massive blast of acid towards the mall again, making them both gasp before the many clones who were assisting the civilians just a moment before turned in tandem.

“NO! ” One called out before they all rushed to the many ledges, in as many places as possible, splitting into even more clones in the process as they glared down the rapidly approaching acidic substance. “WE HAVE TO STOP IT! WALL. OF. SOUND! ”

WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

A moment later, an unimpeachable barrier of pure audio formed as from the many ultrasonic screams that erupted from the small creatures, as they managed to disrupt the gas cloud completely.

However, as they did so, Izuku’s main body looked down in relief, only for it to be replaced with immediate dread as he realized Acid Breath had broken into a sprint while he was looking away and was now mere inches from the pink skinned girl whose own eyes were widening in horror.

“LOOK OUT!”

“GET BACK!”

“YOU’RE DEA- GRAH!”

“GET AWAY FROM ASHIDO!” A new voice called out as Izuku paused in shock, his eyes widened as he saw a boy with black, long hair punching the villain in the face with enough force to knock them back a significant distance.

“What the…” Izuku muttered in disbelief as the pink skinned girl gasped in clear surprise at what she was seeing.

“Kirishima?! What are you doing here?!” She asked, leaving Izuku to turn back to the villain who was groaning as he pushed himself up with one hand. However, before whoever Kirishima was could answer, a sudden shriek escaped the same girl forcing Izuku to look back and see her clutching her chest. “Ah! My necklace!”

“You mean, thisss one?” A mocking voice laughed, making them all turn back to the shrivelled villain one more time to see him holding it up as he laughed. “At least I’ll have something to sell. My partners will appreciate the extra cash, girl.”

“What?! You can’t! That’s my grandmothers, you jerk!” ‘Ashido’ yelled as her fists began to leak acid. “That’s all I have of her!”

“Aww! How precious!” He laughed as he let it dangle between his fingers, holding it up dangerously close to his mouth with a cruel spark in his eyes. “Maybe I’ll just melt it down then!”

“W-Wha- NO! ” The mutant girl yelled as her voice quickly shifted from anger to horror as her quirk turned off and she took a step back, which made Izuku pause as it became apparent she didn’t want to provoke him while the necklace was on the line.

However, while she stood back…

“ GIVE HER IT BACK, YOU UNMANLY VILLAIN!” The other boy yelled as his skin began to turn rocky and hard as he rushed forward with surprising speed right at the villain. Izuku’s bright green eyes widened as he threw a fist forward and it collided, a cracking noise filling the air.

Then, the villain ducked under the second fist that tried to strike and with an angry yell, and kicked the boy down with a boot straight to the chest. He opened his mouth, ready to melt the overeager teen into nothing and-

WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!

He was suddenly knocked off his feet and out of the way of the rocky skinned boy as Izuku ran over. “Are you okay?! You can’t just rush in on someone like that, he’ll just kill you with his quirk! You’re lucky he was caught off-guard! Especially if your back gets turned to him!”

“What?! But that would be so unmanly!” The boy protested, much to Izuku’s utter disbelief and confusion. “Who attacks someone behind their back?!”

“Did you really just-“

“My locket!” The distressed cry of Ashido interrupted them, making them both turn to see the villain had taken off, now running through the streets. At the same moment, they began to hear sirens approaching and Izuku realized that the villain must have spotted them first.

He looked over to the pink skinned girl and felt a sharp stab of guilt at the utter distraught look on her face as she watched the villain leave with her necklace, before he turned back to the boy who was frowning sadly at her, a look of guilt on his own face.

He wanted to say something but the sirens were getting closer. He looked up, seeing the police were getting close to the street they were on.

And while these two would be able to likely claim they were caught in an unexpected situation, it hit Izuku suddenly that he had jumped into this fight of his own accord.

He didn’t regret it but he had no case unlike these two. So there was only one thing for him to do.

He turned and began running away. He ducked into an alley, ignoring the confused shout of the two other middle school students as he ducked into a secluded spot, before pressing his back against the wall.

Barely a moment later, much to his relief this time as it would help keep him hidden…

Beep. Beep. Beep. BWOO!

In a flash of red, he returned to normal once more and let out a soft sigh of relief. Then, a small, elated feeling began to bubble up inside him as a small grin broke onto his face.

Yes, the necklace had been stolen which he felt bad about and he hadn’t exactly caught the villain, but he’d actually survived a fight against one! On his own!

He’d helped stop there being any civilian casualties and managed to hold down the fort until actual professionals arrived. He’d done more than he would have ever thought he could just a few weeks ago!

After a few minutes of simply revelling in the feeling, with a small relieved grin, he made sure no one was about to enter the alley he’d rushed into  before he walked back to the exit and peeked out to see what was going on now.

As expected, the police had started to cordon the area off and take statements, seeming to have already begun on a standard clean-up. With a satisfied hum, Izuku turned to leave when…

“What?! No, I didn’t!” The voice of the girl from before shouted suddenly making him blink then turn back around to see she was standing in front of an officer who was glaring at her with disturbingly clear disdain. “I just happen to have similar powers!”

“Oh, what a convenient excuse.” The officer huffed as he reached for his belt to where a pair of handcuffs were waiting. “Stop embarrassing yourself, villain. You’re acid is everywhere and you even look like you’d be ready to attack everyone!”

Izuku felt his jaw drop at that, a small burning pit of anger appearing in his stomach as the pink-skinned girl flinched back at his words, clearly hurt by the blatant attack on her mutations.

Just when Izuku was about to rush in though and confess to his part just to save the girl…

“HEY!” The black haired boy from before came rushing in with a frown on his face. “What are you doing?! She was one of the people who was attacked! You can’t just accuse her, that’s so not manly! She’s innocent!”

“Kid, she’s a mutant. They’re all villains.” The officer told him as though he was an idiot for even suggesting otherwise as he glared at him. “Back off while we get this dangerous person off the streets.”

“No! you can’t do that, that’s discrimination! There’s plenty of witnesses here who saw the villain!” He growled and to Izuku’s immense disappointment, only when it became clear the officer wouldn’t be able to get away with it did he finally let up, with no more than an angry growl as he turned and stomped off.

But not before he had to get in the final word.

“We’ll get her for something, all of her type end up on the wrong side of the law eventually.”

…

‘How… How can someone so blatantly mutanist be an officer?’ Izuku wondered with soft anger, yet worse, he felt no surprise. He knew that discrimination ran rampant in this country in different ways.

But this…

‘…I better find All Might.’ Izuku thought, turning more reluctantly to leave again, taking one last look over his shoulders at the two other students. ‘That villain… He mentioned partners, and whoever they were after didn’t come out. He needs to know. Plus… Maybe he can help make sure that girl won’t be blamed…’

With that thought, Izuku finally set off with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t know why, but he had a feeling in his gut.

A feeling that he’d managed to stumble on something bigger than he had ever intended to when he decided to avoid detention today.

A few days later

“In other news.” A female presenter on the news spoke up, as Ester stood in the dark and rain with her hood above her head, watching a public display with soft hope in her eyes. “In regards to the proposed bill to make it illegal for mutants to be detained for having the same powersets as suspected villains without proof, it has been overturned following a recent attack, where officers have reported a suspect was able to walk away scot-free due to uninformed members of the public not allowing them to take away the clear culprit in their eyes due to a lack of definitive evidence. The overturning of this bill should help keep the streets safer, according to local lawmakers.”

The hope that had been in the pink-skinned half-breed’s eyes a moment ago faded rapidly as she paused, before her fists slowly balled into fists as a small growl escaped her.

“Dang it… Dang it!” She shouted as she turned, storming off, feet splashing into puddles as she angrily made her way through the streets. “I should have known! Finally something that will help aliens and mutants and they just so happen to find a way to make it seem dangerous! Gah!”

She wasn’t sure how long she walked for, her mind swimming with frustrated thoughts and curses as she avoided any other people on the way back, not wanting to scare anyone with the likely murderous look on her face.

Eventually, she arrived at a run down and mold-ridden apartment, fenced off and barely maintained, left to rot and crumble. She made her way up several flights of stairs, before coming up to an apartment door on the top floor, forcing her way inside to a sparsely furnished musty single room.

She walked past the mattress lying on the floor and stopped at a wooden desk with a laptop, sitting down and grabbing it. She opened it up, waiting a good five minutes for it to finally connect to the internet, tapping her fingers on her desk impatiently as she hoped her anger might dissipate at least a little, soon.

When it finally loaded up, it came up to a page titled “U.A. Applications”, on a form page. A form to apply to take the Entrance Exam to U.A.’s hero course.

All the boxes were already filled out, with all the information needed to be sent in.

“…I guess this makes the decision for me.”

With a quiet, resigned sigh, she moved the mouse over the button to send the application to U.A., staring at it as she worked up the nerve to continue.

“And…. Send.”

Click.