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When Izuku went to the entrance exam directly after getting All Might’s quirk he wasn’t sure what he had expected, but it definitely hadn’t been this.
The exam itself was strange, with entire districts of a fake city created just to destroy robots to gain points. Concrete, realistic buildings loomed over his head as metal machines broke through walls and anything in their way to attack students. Students who often gleefully destroyed them with the power of their quirks.
He had been feeling a heavy sinking sensation as he tried to activate the quirk to use it against the robots and earn points. The cityscape they had been released into got progressively more destroyed by robots and teens alike.
So many other applicants were taking down their targets, shouting out their points as Izuku struggled to even grasp at the foreign sensation inside of him. He crept from building to building, accomplishing nothing as time counted down. Each minute passed like another failure.
Then the building sized robot had been unleashed, causing chaos as it loomed over everyone, and sending people running.
Izuku was about to join them in running away, giving up on any points at all, when he heard a shout for help.
The brown-haired girl who had helped him before the exam, saving him from falling when he had tripped by using her quirk, was trapped under fallen debris. Not only that, the giant robot was also headed directly towards her.
Feeling a rush of fear, Izuku ran over to her.
“Please help! I can’t get out!” she shouted as he reached her side.
“Can you lift these with your quirk?” he asked. Her quirk got rid of gravity so it would make it easier.
She shook her head as he tried and failed at lifting the pieces of building on her legs. “No, I’ve used it too much!”
The ground shook with the crash of the robot’s foot. Izuku turned to see it getting far too close, it was headed directly for them, and a single step could crush her.
Taking a deep breath Izuku forcefully grabbed at the quirk inside him and ran forward.
He screamed and jumped. He it didn’t go higher than he normally would but he drew his fist back anyway. Frustrated tears burst from his eyes as he threw his arm forward, throwing what he thought was the quirk with his punch.
Black lines burst from his fist, almost causing him to stop pushing the quirk in surprise. They were thin but he put all his determination into it as his feet hit the ground and the black things kept shooting forward.
They suddenly morphed and a static-y hissing filled the air. They grew into what almost looked like an arm and then it crashed into the robot with enough force that Izuku was knocked back.
He heard the shriek of bending metal as he fell down. A crash had him scrambling back onto his feet. The robot was falling over!
A huge boom shook the ground as it landed.
“Wow,” the word snapped his attention back to the girl. “What is your quirk? Can you use it to get me free?”
Izuku stuttered, realising the black…thing was gone. “W-well, I don’t—it could,” he stuttered. “It could crush you and I really don’t want to crush you so maybe—”
A buzzer sounded. “Your time is up listeners!” Izuku’s shoulders slumped. “If you’re injured just sit tight! We will have someone sent to you to fix you up in no time!”
“I can help you lift it off while we wait,” Izuku offered.
“Please,” she asked. “It’s really uncomfortable.”
Izuku looked around and found a sign that had been destroyed at some point. He jogged over and grabbed it to help him lift the slab of concrete.
Once he had lifted it up, the girl pulled herself out from under the rubble, breathing out a sigh of relief.
“Thank you!”
“You’re welcome,” Izuku replied softly, going over all the things he had done wrong during the exam in his mind. How could he even use All Might’s quirk wrong?
That was when Recovery Girl arrived and Izuku quickly escaped while the girl was distracted. He didn’t want to be scolded by yet another adult once Recovery Girl was done so it was better to disappear before her focus could turn to him…even if she was an amazing hero and he wanted an autograph.
After he had gotten his things and left UA, he thought about what had happened.
What were those black lines that had turned into that thing that had punched the robot? All Might had never thrown a punch that had turned into a solid shadow! Izuku had seen every video ever posted online about the hero so he would know!
Izuku covered his mouth with one hand and supported his elbow with the other. Did he have a quirk all along and this was it showing up?
No, that didn’t make sense. He shook his head hard.
What was wrong with him that made All Might’s quirk mutate?
“Nothing wrong,” a static-y voice hissed in his ear like a bad phone connection.
Izuku startled and turned his head to see a black shadow looming over his shoulder. He stumbled back but the shadow stayed the same distance away, like it was clinging to his back without his consent.
“Are you All Might’s quirk?” Izuku muttered in awe, then both his hands slapped over his mouth as his eyes darted around. No one seemed to be paying attention…
“Your quirk now,” the static-y voice answered from over his shoulder. It was far too close to his face and it made him uncomfortable but he pushed the feeling down. He turned his head to pay more attention to where he was going.
“You were his quirk,” Izuku said, a bit stunned. “Wait! What did you mean about nothing wrong? Was there something wrong? Is that why you’re here now?”
The quirk made a static-y hiss, interrupting him. “You. Nothing wrong. Always this,” the words were like the sputters of a dying engine, broken and uneven.
Izuku hummed as he thought. “You were always like this?”
“Yessss,” the quirk hissed like it was steaming.
One for All leaned more over his shoulder which Izuku only noticed because he could see it… dripping. He couldn’t think of another way to describe it, even though it looked nothing like what would happen as water dripped off of something. One for All was like a solid shadow, with edges that looked transparent and solid at the same time. The bottom edges of it came to points, and from those points “dripped” what almost looked like pixels. They weren’t rounded drops, but rectangular and they disappeared before they met anything solid, including his shoulder. The visual effect made it feel surprisingly unrealistic, like he was hallucinating and not seeing something really there.
Izuku pulled himself out of observing the strange edges that gave him goosebumps with a shake of his head. “If you were like this before, why did I never see it? Wait!” Izuku looked around at where he was merging with the crowd that was trickling down into the train station. “Maybe we should talk about this at home.”
The quirk made crackling hum like a poorly tuned radio and shrunk back out of his sight.
Deciding it was best to hold all questions back until they were in private (would One for All understand what secrets were?) Izuku managed to slip onto a train just before it was about to leave without another comment. He was able to find a free seat and watched the stops pass with a bouncing leg.
Since other people kept looking over his head, he glanced up and saw that One for All was now looming over him. Every glance One for All earned reassured him that he wasn’t the only one seeing it, but their expressions didn’t help his nerves. There were a lot of grimaces of discomfort and scowls of disgust. He also noticed people avoided getting too close to One for All if it moved, one person even looked scared when it got too close to them and left the seat beside him in a hurry.
When his stop approached Izuku squeezed his way past people, who moved to give him more space when they looked over his head, to be the first at the doors. When they opened he darted out as soon as the gap was big enough. He quickly made his way to his building and up to his apartment. He barely noticed his mother wasn’t home yet (her shoes weren’t by the door when he put his own away) before he was rushing into his room.
He tossed his backpack on the bed and slammed onto his desk chair. Izuku grabbed the notebook that had been used for keeping track with his training progress and turned to a fresh page.
“So, you are One for All, the quirk that was All Might’s for years?” Izuku asked, his pen ready to take notes.
The dripping shadow loomed closer, almost like it was looking over his shoulder at his notebook.
“Yes,” the crackle hiss of its voice seemed to invade the quiet of his bedroom and fill it with its sharp presence. It was more disconcerting alone but Izuku pushed past the feeling.
This was All Might’s quirk! This was amazing and cool and his key to becoming a hero!
Izuku started taking notes. “Then why have I never seen videos with you in them? Were you hiding? Did All Might ask you to stay hidden?” His pen froze as he wondered if he had ruined the secret.
“No. Yagi not know,” the words were said with a static-y pop that sounded like the broken screeches of dying speakers.
“He didn’t know?” Izuku asked, unfreezing.
“No,” the word was a sharp pop like something snapping.
Izuku frowned, as strangely transparent at the edges as One for All was (even with the…dripping), it was hard to overlook the very solid shadow. “You’re pretty obvious, how could he not notice?”
“No listen,” it hissed with a crackle that raised the hair on his arms.
“He didn’t hear you?” Izuku asked while smoothing down the hair with his free hand absently.
The quirk didn’t seem to answer, leaning over his shoulder, closer to the notebook. Izuku stared at the movement. It really looked like the quirk had a human head and torso, but the spine bent in the wrong direction, like a contortionist who had pushed it too far...like the bones had been forced to bend the wrong way. It was almost creepy, and he couldn’t help watching as it inched nearer.
“What write?” One for All crackled.
The sound snapped him out of his trance with a flinch. “O-oh? I was writing about—well, you. I need to know about you to use your power properly to become a hero! It’s always been my dream and—” Izuku’s words faded as he remembered how badly he had just done at the entrance exam.
“Bad?” the quirk asked with a pop, and Izuku startled at the two white circles that seemed to be its eyes, staring at his face. He hadn’t noticed them before but now it was impossible not to. The pupil-less gaze seemed to glow among all the dark and Izuku scrambled for words under that eerie focus.
“N—no, not. Well,” he turned his head to look at his desk to avoid those eyes, “I probably failed the entrance exam.” His shoulders slumped and he admitted, “I definitely failed the entrance exam.”
“Bad?” the quirk repeated with a hiss that faded into a deep pitch he thought he couldn’t hear, making him think of abysses that ended in crushing pressure if anyone were to fall in.
“Yes,” Izuku shook his head and focused back on his notebook. “I can’t change it though. It’s better to think about other things.” He tapped the book with his pen. “So, why are you so different now if All Might couldn’t even hear you?”
“Stronger,” One for All answered with a snap like clicking something into place, watching as Izuku wrote.
“You’ve gotten stronger? Do you remember what it was like to be All Might’s quirk?” Izuku asked as One for All nodded.
“He loud,” it said with a hum that seemed to vibrate in his bones.
Izuku grinned and sat up straight. “He is! He can comfort people with a smile and a shout of ‘I am here!’ He’s an amazing hero and I want to be just like him! Can you make me strong like him too?”
“No, would hurt,” it said with an electric pop.
Izuku deflated. “Even after all the training I did?”
“Yes. You explode,” it said with crackles that sounded like small explosions.
He felt himself go pale. “I’d explode?”
“No more bones,” it said far too calmly, the words barely audible over snapping sounds Izuku didn’t want to think about.
“Right, well, thank you for not exploding my bones,” Izuku said faintly as he swallowed hard.
“Welcome,” it said like the hiss of escaping steam.
“What can you do without exploding my bones?”
“Lots,” it said with a pop.
“What is lots?”
“Fly, hit, move things.” It demonstrated the last one by reaching tendrils out and lifting an All Might figure off the desk. The movements were jerky like the tendril was something mechanical, movements smooth until they stopped abruptly.
“So cool!” Izuku exclaimed, writing furiously. “You can make me fly without exploding my bones?”
“Carry you,” it said with a proud snap.
“I would love to fly! We probably can’t even do that at the beach though,” Izuku muttered.
“Clean beach,” it said with a distracted crackle, like a speaker unable to mesh too many sounds at once.
“Was that a question?”
“No,” it said with a pop. The quirk seemed to lose interest in his writing and started picking things up around the room.
“Put them back where they were when you’re done,” Izuku muttered as he kept writing down ideas.
“Yes,” it sizzled.
“Can you carry my weight for a long time?”
“Probably.”
“Can you carry as many people as All Might could? Are you just as strong as he was?”
“Yes.”
“Can those tendrils pick up just as much weight?”
“Yes.”
“How long are they?”
There was a pause like the quirk was thinking. “Long,” the word was drawn out over multiple crackles.
“We’ll have to test and see how long they can go!”
“Yes.”
“How many tendrils can you make before they stop being as strong?”
“Lots.”
“Do you think that—”
There was a knock on his door. “Izuku!”
Izuku’s eyes widened.
“Mom! I’m—”
The door burst open. “How did it—!” his mother abruptly stopped talking and he turned to see her staring with wide green eyes at One for All.
“What is that?” she asked, her voice sounding faint.
“Mom!” Izuku flung himself out of the chair, One for All bobbed around at his change in position, like something attached to him artificially and not another one of his limbs. It leveled itself out before retreating to over his shoulder. “This is my quirk! I was at the entrance exam, and it suddenly appeared. It’s so cool!”
“Your quirk?” his mother’s eyes met his, filled with wonder.
“Yes! My quirk!” Izuku beamed at her, she smiled and then burst into tears.
He was swept up in a tight hug and he felt his eyes water too. “I’m so glad!”
Clutching his mother close he started to cry happy tears too.
One for All pressed along his back, cold and unnaturally smooth. “Okay?” it asked in a crackle pop that made his mother gasp.
“Yes,” Izuku said with a laugh, “we’re okay.”
Tendrils wrapped around them in a hug that was inconsistently too tight and too light in places as he shared the special moment with his mother.
After that his mother arranged for a visit to a quirk specialist. From there it was a whirlwind of government forms and appointments. He barely had time to think about his exam results, he even missed school!
One for All, now officially name Pixel Shade, was almost constantly present. It watched Izuku and the world around them with interest. Pixel didn’t mind speaking to others but they had a hard time hearing it through the static interference that came with its words, so Izuku often had to speak for it. It also didn’t speak in complete sentences, but Izuku often knew what it meant.
The doctors said they likely had some kind of bond that let them share understanding and declared that Pixel was both sentient and sapient. They speculated that the quirk took so long to manifest because it required so much energy to do so and wasn’t even fully formed yet due to their observations of how incomplete it seemed (the transparency at the edges, dripping, barely conceivable words and eeriness were written down as evidence of this). Pixel happily agreed.
It was a perfect way to hide where he had gotten the quirk.
With Pixel out so often, Izuku got used to its presence and appearance. The not-dripping, bending in unnatural ways for a human, searingly white eyes and artificial sounds overlapping its words.
So, when Izuku walked into school, expecting the usual spiteful comments and shoving, he was surprised when it didn’t happen. He almost stopped in the hallway out of shock, but long habit had him hurrying into his classroom instead.
He pulled his backpack off to hug it to his chest as he slid into his seat. He curled around his things protectively as he eyed the other students already in the classroom with him. Normally, they had some kind of reaction to him being around.
Even Kacchan, who was seated in front of him, had only watched him approach with narrowed red eyes.
That was when Kacchan turned around and slammed his hands on Izuku’s desk, causing him to flinch away.
“What the hell is that?” Kacchan demanded as Pixel started to crackle in a way that sounded threatening.
“M-my quirk,” Izuku answered cautiously, eyeing Kacchan’s hands warily as they made fizzling sounds.
Kacchan scoffed. “You don’t have a quirk,” he sneered.
Pixel leaned close and seemed to surround Izuku on all sides, looming over him like a dripping curtain. Izuku glanced up curiously.
“Back off,” it said in its static filled voice, surprisingly menacing.
Kacchan slowly got out of his chair to stand over Izuku’s desk. “Why should I?”
“Will make you,” Pixel snapped like breaking toys. Strands appeared around the looming shadow, hovering threateningly.
“Bakugo, sit down,” the teacher snapped.
Kacchan flinched back and stared at their teacher. She had never stepped in when the other teen had bullied him before.
“I mean it,” her voice was steely and Kacchan was quick to obey.
Pixel hovered for another unending moment, then retreated. Izuku was grateful.
The rest of the day went peacefully, the strangeness of it put him on edge, but Izuku wasn’t complaining. He should have suspected it wouldn’t stay that way.
Kacchan cornered him on the way home, his hands crackling threateningly. “Where did a quirkless loser like you get a freaky shadow anyway?”
“I-I told you, Pixel is my quirk,” Izuku told him.
Kacchan stomped closer, raising a hand, but Pixel reacted. A dark tendril whipped out and struck his hand away, the loud smack making Izuku flinch as Kacchan yelped.
“What the hell!” he yelled, red eyes narrowed in anger.
“Threaten hurt, get hurt,” Pixel snapped through growling static that almost seemed to summon menacing shadows in the air from the sounds alone.
“You should leave Kacchan,” Izuku suggested, grabbing onto a part of Pixel, and willing it to leave Kacchan alone. It curled around his hand and arm with shadows that almost seemed spikey, like undead armour with intent to return harm done to it exponentially.
Kacchan eyed them both, then with a snarl he stormed away.
“Stupid boy,” Pixel hissed.
“Be nice,” Izuku snapped back.
Pixel let out a hissy huff but retreated behind his shoulders, dripping away from the grip of Izuku’s hand.
“Why did you do that?” Izuku questioned quietly.
“No hurt Izuku,” Pixel grumbled, with pops like small explosions.
“He wouldn’t have hurt me!” Izuku protested weakly.
Pixel didn’t even have to say anything before Izuku’s shoulders slumped. “Thank you for protecting me, but please don’t hurt people to do it. We could get in trouble,” the last part was a mumble, but Izuku knew it was an argument that would work.
Sure enough, he felt Pixel retreat more in a sulk, like shadows pulling back from encroaching sunlight.
Izuku sighed and made his way to the train station.
All Might had been sending him increasingly concerned text messages to come and meet him at the beach. Between the doctors’ visits and their concern over his health with a newly developed quirk, his mother hadn’t wanted him to leave home without her. There had been concerns about Pixel unintentionally causing him harm with its late and rather sudden manifestation. Now that he had finally completed all their tests and was back at school his mother was willing to let him go out again.
The trip to the beach was uneventful, and the sun was still in the sky when he met with his mentor.
All Might was pacing the beach when Izuku got down to the sand, an unusually concerned look on his muscled form. He was wearing one of his blue and red hero suits, his blonde hair standing proud in the late afternoon light.
“Hello, All Might,” Izuku said cheerfully, glad to see his mentor in person.
“Young Mid—” All Might turned and caught sight of Pixel looming over Izuku’s head. He started coughing.
Izuku rushed closer, concerned by the blood he saw before All Might deflated.
“What is that?” All Might exclaimed, pointing a boney finger at Pixel.
Izuku stopped moving, staring up at his mentor. “It’s Pixel.” When All Might shot him a confused look Izuku flushed. “W-well, it’s One for All! Pixel Shade is what I called it when I registered it! I know we agreed on Super Strength,” Izuku said, waving his hands worriedly, “but Pixel—One for All—can’t give me super strength without blowing up my bones and—”
All Might held up both hands and Izuku snapped his mouth closed. “Are you saying that that,” he pointed at Pixel, “is One for All?”
“Yes,” Pixel hissed with a pop like a joint pulling out of place that made All Might pull away slightly.
“It talks,” All Might murmured.
“Yes,” Pixel said, with a hiss like steam escaping, leaning over Izuku’s shoulder with that broken-spine bend to get closer to All Might. “Yagi,” it crackled like boots on shattered glass.
All Might dropped his hands abruptly, looking shocked.
“It said it wasn’t strong enough to manifest before but it can now. Isn’t it amazing?” Izuku beamed at his mentor. Pixel leaned against him affectionately, its too smooth surface cold and feeling almost slimy against the skin of his cheek.
All Might coughed slightly, wide eyes sliding between Izuku and Pixel. “Right, amazing. Why does it look like this?”
Izuku rocked back on his heels and when Pixel didn’t answer for itself, blurted out, “It said it picked up things from past holders! Like their quirks and some of their personalities, things like that.”
“Right,” All Might said slowly, eyes tracing along Pixel’s edges that weren’t really edges. “Where did it get the dark shadow looming bits?”
“The very first that took the stockpiling quirk on!” Izuku said with a smile and an excited bounce as Pixel started radiating amusement, vibrating in a way almost like a cat but more like a broken game controller, almost imperceptible and unsteady. “It was the very first holder that had a shadow quirk.” Izuku touched a finger to his chin, not really noticing how All Might had relaxed. “Or another quirk. Pixel wasn’t very clear about it. It seemed to think the person had multiple quirks. It kept saying what kind of sounds like One for All but not.”
“All for One,” Pixel dutifully repeated, a dark crackle that seemed to make its form waver with the sound against his cheek.
All Might went very pale and tense. “All for One?” he choked out.
“Are you okay, All Might?” Izuku said in concern as he took a step closer, bringing Pixel closer too.
All Might took a step back. “I’m fine, my boy,” he sputtered. “Did One for All say All for One?”
“Um, yes, it did. Are you sure you’re okay?” Pixel leaned closer to All Might in a way that made it feel like it was going to fall but as if gravity hadn’t quite caught up to it yet, trapped on an edge of unreality.
“Yes, I’m sure,” All Might answered, shakily taking out a handkerchief to clean the blood off his face, edging back slightly as he eyed Pixel. “You’re really One for All?” All Might addressed Pixel directly for the first time.
Pixel stretched itself taller, off his shoulder but still looming over Izuku which he saw with the oozing pixelated drops. “Yes,” it crackled with a firm snap. “Izuku’s quirk, was yours,” it hissed the last word.
“You’ll help Izuku become a hero?” All Might challenged, standing taller.
“Yes,” Pixel answered firmly with an explosive pop.
All Might slumped and looked between the two of them again, shifting from foot to foot uneasily. “Well young Midoriya, this is a surprising development. I’m unsure how much my experience will be of use to you with One for All manifesting outside of your body.”
“Will help,” Pixel said firmly with a sizzle.
“Pixel will help me figure it out!”
All Might sent a doubtful look at the quirk. “Right.”
It was a surprise that Izuku had managed to get enough points in the entrance exam to make it into UA. He had cried happy tears while Pixel draped around him like a cold, protective tarp. His mother had cried too when she found out.
Standing outside of the high school, Izuku gripped the straps of his bag nervously. The building was large, covered in glass windows, and intimidating.
This was the start of his hero career. The same school All Might himself graduated from. The same school All Might now taught in!
“Go?” Pixel asked, voice a crackle pop like rocks bouncing off a moving vehicle.
Izuku nodded decisively and marched into the school. He wasn’t alone anymore; he could do it.
As he neared the classroom Pixel started to loom over him protectively with drips of pixels falling past his eyes. It said it could feel when there was danger that was near, and it always swelled over him in a forbidding cloud when it sensed any. The protectiveness usually wasn’t needed but it did make Izuku more nervous at times.
He took a deep breath and opened the overly large door, instantly noticing two students arguing.
Of course it was Kacchan and some other boy.
Before either could react, a shadow darted into Izuku’s space.
“You’re like me!” the shadow exclaimed, making Izuku jerk back.
“Dark Shadow!” another voice scolded, making the shadow shrink back. A boy with a bird head rushed over, he seemed connected to the shadow. “It is not polite to encroach on the darkness of another.”
“I-it’s okay,” Izuku muttered.
“Cute shadow,” Pixel agreed with a sizzle pop, like plastic pieces snapping together, reaching towards Dark Shadow.
“Allow me to introduce us,” the boy bowed slightly. “Tokoyami Fumikage, and this is my quirk, Dark Shadow.”
Izuku returned the slight bow when Tokoyami straightened. “I-I’m Midoriya Izuku and this is my quirk, Pixel Shade.”
Kacchan scoffed and slammed his hands down on his desk, drawing attention. “That’s not a quirk, it’s a demon.”
There was a pause and the boy with the dark blue hair straightened but Tokoyami spoke first, “It does have a dark aura most disturbing.”
The blue haired boy deflated as Pixel made an amused sizzle.
“Scary protector,” it agreed, crackles like breaking plastic underscoring its words.
“I think you’re cute!” Dark Shadow exclaimed, crowding into Pixel’s face.
Rather than seeming bothered by this Pixel reached out and patted Dark Shadow’s head. “You cute.”
“That’s so adorable!”
Izuku turned to see the brunette he had rescued during the entrance exam watching Dark Shadow and Pixel interact with stars in her eyes and a growing grin.
“It’s a banquet of darkness,” Tokoyami said, and Izuku couldn’t tell if he was agreeing or not.
“Oh! I should introduce myself, I’m Uraraka Ochako,” she said with a grin and slight bow.
The boy who had been arguing with Kacchan cleared his throat. “I should do the same. I’m—"
“If you’re here only to be social you may as well leave now,” a firm voice cut in from the direction of the floor.
They all turned to stare down at a yellow…worm? That rose to reveal the scruffy face of an adult.
Pixel radiated amusement so Izuku knew the…person? Wasn’t a danger.
The person sighed and unzipped what seemed to be a sleeping bag. “The bell already rang; you should have all been seated. I expect better from you in the future.” Izuku squinted at the man in front of them, thinking he looked familiar with his dark, messy hair and equally dark eyes. “I’m your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta.” The name didn’t help Izuku realize why he recognized him, but surely he was a hero working for UA. “If you are not in your seats and ready for homeroom tomorrow at first bell there will be consequences. Now,” he threw a uniform on top of a box that sat at the front of the room on the teacher’s desk, “put on your gym uniforms and meet me in Practice Grounds Beta.”
When the teacher then strode out of the room there was a stunned silence, then Pixel reached for the box and chaos erupted as everyone rushed for it.
As they hurried to the changing rooms, Pixel hummed like a starting motor, drawing Izuku’s attention. “Eraserhead.”
“The Erasure hero!” Izuku exclaimed, then rushed to change quicker. He was so excited to work with an underground hero with his reputation!
Aizawa had them run obstacle courses with and without their quirks, calling out advice afterwards to help them improve. He really was an impressive teacher. As the days passed, they learned so many things from him. They had even worked with him to improve their costumes and use those to get through obstacle courses faster too!
One of the students, the boy with purple balls for hair, ended up getting expelled from the hero course for his behavior towards the girls in the class. It was sort of terrifying, but everyone could see how relieved the girls were.
The school was aiming to prepare them for anything, and that meant showing them how to protect others from harmful disrespect. Even the break in the school had didn’t stop them from going on a field trip to the USJ with Aizawa and Thirteen.
Thirteen, a teacher dressed like a robotic astronaut, began their speech as soon as they had all entered the enormous domed building. Just as they started speaking, Pixel rumbled with the growl of a breaking engine and stretched so large it pushed aside his classmates.
Dark Shadow darted up to its side curiously. “What’s happening Pixel?”
“Danger,” Pixel snarled with more than one voice, and Izuku turned to see multiple eyes in their shadowed depths.
He looked towards his two teachers who were tense.
“I hear something,” Jiro said, one earphone jack plugged into the ground. She pointed a finger where someone covered in hands stepped out of a dark purple portal onto a section of the USJ that looked like a plaza.
The man was soon followed by a crowd of others, one looking like an enormous walking corpse.
“Is this a test?” Kirishima asked in confusion.
“Those are real villains,” Aizawa announced, getting into a battle-ready stance, hand curled in the capture weapon around his neck. “Thirteen, get the students out. I’ll deal with this.”
Pixel growled in hair raising protest, and Izuku had to focus on holding it back as his friends pulled him towards the exit.
Suddenly, their path was blocked by a man who was the living portal.
“I am Kurogiri, and we are the League of Villains, come to end the life of All Might, Symbol of Peace. It seems—”
Before he could continue, Pixel lashed out. Tendrils formed into one thick arm aimed to punch Kurogiri. The blow didn’t hit the living portal, it went through him to knock over his classmates and Thirteen.
They shouted in surprise as they fell.
Pixel snarled; its voice filled with gratingly static hisses as it pulled the arm back.
“Aren’t you rude. No matter, I will ensure you pose no problem,” Kurogiri said.
Izuku felt himself starting to fall, his classmates fell with surprised shouts, but his momentum halted before he went through the gap at his feet.
Pixel loomed threateningly large above him as he started to float and then was pulled above the portal. Yellow eyes widened in surprise and then Kacchan was punching at Kurogiri with a scream.
Kacchan didn’t managed to hit more than mist with the explosion from his hand, but it parted to reveal a thick metal collar.
“Kacchan,” Izuku yelled as he reached for his friend while Kurogiri spoke.
“Such a nuisance.” A portal opened to swallow Kacchan but Pixel was already reacting.
Black tendrils wrapped around Kacchan, pulling him close as Pixel carried them higher.
“What the fuck you creepy shadow,” Kacchan snarled, palms crackling as he stared down at Kurogiri.
“Useful,” Pixel crackled with and explosive pop.
“Yes, if you part the mists around Kurogiri, Pixel can hit him,” Izuku said in an undertone, watching Kurogiri track them.
“I’m not working with your evil demon,” Kacchan growled and then he was sending an explosion at the tendrils holding him up.
Pixel dropped him.
“Why did you do that? I know it didn’t hurt!” Izuku exclaimed as he watched Kacchan catch himself in the air with explosions.
“He fine,” Pixel said dismissive sizzle, like a drop of water on a heated pan.
Izuku whined as they followed not far behind Kacchan. “I know he’s fine but that’s not the point.”
“Shut up nerd,” Kacchan snapped as he threw himself at Kurogiri. A portal opened directly in front of him.
Another tendril snatched him out of the air before he went through. Kacchan screamed in frustration, aiming another explosion at the tendril as Pixel flew them higher.
“Persistent, aren’t you?” Kurogiri asked with no emotion.
“We can’t win like that,” Izuku insisted.
“Drop me. Right now,” Kacchan ordered.
“He faster,” Pixel warned with cracks like snapping bones as it dropped Kacchan.
Kacchan snarled and barely slowed his fall before aiming at Kurogiri with one hand. “We’ll see if he’s faster than this.” He pulled the pin from the bracer on his arm.
A truly massive explosion fired from his wrist, causing Pixel to let out a pleased hiss.
Kacchan landed seconds after the explosion hit. Dust and smoke obscured where the explosion had been. Pixel brought them closer to Kacchan, still curled around Izuku in a cold, protective cage.
The dust started to clear; Kurogiri wasn’t where the explosion had hit.
“Where—” Izuku didn’t finish before Pixel threw them to one side with a shove of tendrils.
“You won’t win,” Kurogiri said calmly as portals tried to swallow them whole.
“Kurogiri!” an irritated voice shouted.
“Pardon me,” Kurogiri said and just like that, he was gone.
Kacchan screamed in frustration and turned to face where the yell had come from.
“Kacchan, we need to help the others,” Izuku said, looking around to see if he could find their classmates and teachers.
“Do whatever you want, shitty nerd, I’m going to win,” Kacchan growled, and then he ran off towards the plaza.
Izuku sighed as Pixel curled down over his shoulder. “Good distraction, useful,” the static crackles like broken speakers made it sound very pleased with itself.
“Using Kacchan as a distraction isn’t very nice,” Izuku scolded, then he decided to follow after Kacchan, since he couldn’t see any of his other classmates.
Pixel didn’t bother to reply but it shrunk down so it wasn’t as large to avoid drawing attention. Kacchan was being surprisingly quiet as he snuck towards where Kurogiri was with the man covered in hands and the large, moving corpse.
His eyes scanned the one-man war Aizawa was waging against the large group of villains in the plaza. He was cutting through his opponents with an efficiency that normally Izuku would have been ready to fan-boy over. Right now, with his class in danger, he was more worried about the other opponents that stood by watching his teacher fight.
“Dangerous,” Pixel crackled like breaking glass.
They crept closer, watching the action closely. Kacchan managed to escape their sight as they got nearer.
“Clever,” Pixel cracked like the reluctant snap of metal bent too far.
“Kacchan’s strong,” Izuku said more to reassure himself than anything else.
They had finally hidden themselves near where Aizawa was dispatching his last foes with brutal efficiency when the man covered in hands moved. Pixel curled around Izuku with a quiet hiss as the hand covered man attacked Aizawa.
“Is he counting?” Izuku muttered.
“Bad,” Pixel snapped with a pop.
That was when the man grabbed Aizawa’s arm, and their teacher shouted in pain.
Pixel lashed out, tendrils whipping out to hit the man away.
Before they could land there was a blur and the corpse was in the way.
“A student?” the hand man said in interest as he stepped to one side to see them.
“One of the two that caused my delay, Shigaraki,” Kurogiri said mildly.
Izuku could barely see the roll of Shigaraki’s eyes behind the hand on his face. “Useless. Whatever, if we can’t kill the Symbol of Peace,” he sneered the last three words, “then we can make him regret not being here by killing his kids. Nomu,” Shigaraki said, pointing straight at Izuku, “kill him.”
“No!” Aizawa, shouted, his capture weapon lashing out at the corpse, but it had already moved.
Pixel swelled over Izuku the like bloating of a corpse as a punch landed.
He felt them leave the ground with the impact which had been cushioned by Pixel but still stung through his body.
“Bad,” Pixel snapped out.
“Let me see,” Izuku ordered as they stopped midair.
Black peeled away from his face as Nomu flew at them again.
Izuku curled up to block the blow but Pixel absorbed most of it. It once again sent them flying and this time they crashed into one of the cliffs inside of the landscape of the USJ.
Pixel threw them away with tendrils as Nomu landed where they had been with an explosion of rocks and dust.
“It’s too fast,” Izuku yelled as a tendril yanked them in another direction, avoiding the blur of the Nomu following them again.
“We need to distract Nomu without getting anyone else hurt,” Izuku snapped out, tendrils whipping him in another direction which jerked at his body uncomfortably.
There was another explosion that Izuku couldn’t pay attention to as they were hit by another blow that slammed them into the ground.
Nomu was suddenly gone at the shout of its name.
“That can’t be good,” Izuku muttered, turning in the direction it had gone.
“Follow?” Pixel asked tenslely.
Izuku agreed. They flew into the air and spotted…
“All Might,” Izuku said in relief.
Pixel rumbled like the sound of thunder in the distance, threatening and ominous. “All Might time up soon.”
“He’s almost out of time with his quirk?” Izuku said in a horrified whisper as Nomu ran at All Might.
“Yes,” Pixel replied like grinding teeth as All Might flew at the blow from Nomu, with only Nomu left standing where he once was.
Nomu disappeared again as they flew closer. There was another crash where All Might had landed and then Nomu was punched over to where Shigaraki and Kurogiri stood.
All Might appeared back where he had started. “That ends that threat,” he said with a grim smile.
Shigaraki laughed as Nomu stood up. “Nomu was specifically designed to take you down. It won’t be so easily defeated.”
Pixel made a threatening rumble like an incoming avalanche.
Nomu punched All Might who blocked it but slid back along the ground a significant amount. All Might punched it but it didn’t move other than a ripple of skin.
“It will be your end,” Shigaraki said gleefully.
All Might grabbed it and threw it making Shigaraki cackle.
Nomu flew back and grabbed All Might, who forced it’s hands hands away from him.
Pixel shot tendrils out to help but they were intercepted by Kurogiri’s portal, causing them to stab into All Might’s injured side. All Might yelled in pain as Pixel pulled back, but the damage was already done, blood dripping from the wound.
Kurogiri’s portal suddenly disappeared, causing the tendrils to be cut off. They faded away as Izuku spotted Aizawa with his quirk active and aimed at Kurogiri, who’s mist had faded back to reveal a vest over a button up shirt and dress pants along with the metal neck brace.
Before Shigaraki could give Nomu an order Kacchan launched himself at Kurogiri, grabbing the metal brace and holding his free hand up threateningly.
Pixel shot out its tendrils again, impaling Nomu and tearing it away from All Might. It screeched in pain and then was frozen in place by Todoroki’s ice.
“Give up villains! We have you defeated,” All Might boomed.
Shigaraki laughed as Aizawa stalked closer. “I don’t think so. Nomu!” as he shouted he leapt for Aizawa, who dodged and activated his quirk on him.
Nomu roared and grabbed Pixel’s tendrils, tearing them from its body and using them to throw Izuku away.
He heard sickening cracks and squelches over Pixel’s enraged shriek.
“It’s growing back its limbs,” Todoroki said grimly.
“Nomu, free Kurogiri!” Shigaraki shouted as Pixel righted them in the air.
“Kacchan!” Izuku screamed as Nomu moved to obey.
There was a loud, meaty smack and Kurogiri was freed, Nomu standing where Kacchan had once been. Cursing drew Izuku’s eye to where Kacchan was sprawled on the ground not far from them.
“All Might,” Pixel hissed.
That was when Izuku spotted All Might pulling himself out of the crater Nomu had created with his body, wiping the blood from his face.
“Nomu has multiple quirks, it won’t be defeated by a few students,” Shigaraki scoffed.
Aizawa was nowhere to be seen.
All Might snatched up Kacchan and grabbed Izuku out of the air. Pixel hissed in annoyance like a pot boiling over as they were deposited by the exit to the USJ who’s doors had been blown off.
“Stay here,” he ordered as he leapt back to intercept Nomu, which had gone to attack them.
“Nomu has super strength, super regeneration and shock absorption,” Shigaraki taunted.
All Might started pummeling Nomu as Pixel rumbled threateningly again. It grew large enough to encase Todoroki and Kacchan, which Izuku could only tell by Todoroki’s muttering about being unable to see and Kacchan’s enraged shouting.
“What’s wrong?” Izuku asked as he tried to push his way out of the shadow’s clutches.
“All for One,” Pixel crackled like the threatening rattle of dried bones.
A loud explosion had Izuku fighting to get free. “Pixel!” he shouted, struggling to force it back.
The shadow peeled away like rubber torn from metal just as the other teachers burst in from behind them.
Gunshots sounded beside them as Shigaraki screamed in pain, and then he and Kurogiri vanished into a portal.
“Where are the rest of the students, Aizawa and Thirteen?” Present Mic asked urgently as he scanned the bodies and wreckage around them.
“The portal fucker scattered them,” Kacchan snapped.
“He dropped the students inside of the USJ from what I observed,” Todoroki added.
Izuku was too busy watching All Might steam to add in anything, until Cementos walled him in and Izuku bit back a sigh of relief.
“Danger gone,” Pixel added with a gurgle that reminded Izuku of someone chocking on blood.
Present Mic edged away slightly and then cleared his throat. “Right, we’ll make sure all your classmates are safe.”
Everything after that was a blur. Izuku barely registered that none his classmates had been seriously harmed though all of his teachers needed to go to the infirmary at the school for serious injuries themselves. Pixel hovered over him defensively and his mother cried over him being in danger, which made him tear up too.
He woke up from a nightmare, staring at his ceiling in the dark, knowing that dawn was a long way off but there was no way he would get more sleep.
Pixel shifted behind his back, a roll of cold like raindrops down his spine.
“Who is All for One?” Izuku whispered into the dark, making Pixel quiver in a way that had his hair standing on end even before it spoke.
“Older brother,” a voice Izuku didn’t recognise rumbled from Pixel, making him sit up abruptly.
Pixel moved so that he could see two sets of eyes, one a pale green that lightly glowed beside the pure white he was used to. Two almost human heads led down to too thin necks which connected two a torso that almost split in two but awkwardly merged together just below the shoulders.
“He was your older brother?” Izuku asked the green eyes, confused.
The headed nodded as Pixel hissed in agreement, the sound cutting through the silence of his room like a knife.
“You may call me Yoichi. All for One stole a quirk for me,” green eyes told him with a voice that echoed like a frozen murmur from the void beyond death. “He said it was to make me healthy, but I didn’t want it. He forced the stockpiling quirk on me, not knowing I already had one, the ability to pass on my quirk to others.” Other coloured eyes flickered in the torso where they both joined, there and gone too fast for Izuku to truly catch the colours. “We fought my brother to our last breaths, but he still lived on. Yagi thought he had killed him, but Nomu proves that he still lives.”
“Knew he lived,” Pixel hissed, like the roaring of a waterfall, powerful and unending.
Izuku shook his head. “I don’t understand. What was All for One’s quirk?”
Both Pixel and Yoichi paused. “He has the ability to steal and give quirks. He can use any quirk he possesses,” Yoichi told him, bringing to mind mourners at the graves of their loved ones, solemn and grieving.
Izuku shuddered, mind racing at the possibilities. “And now he’s back,” Izuku whispered.
“Will protect,” Pixel said fiercely, like the limp smack of dead bodies hitting cement, its torso spiking with deadly edges.
Yoichi gave the impression of an eye roll even without the movement. “Pixel is the closest manifestation of my brother.” Pixel hissed in protest but Yoichi ignored it. “It has a grudge, can be petty and mean, but it can be controlled by your will, just like the rest of us. It will influence you though, be mindful of your actions,” Yoichi warned, like the cries of regret from those who were cut down from life before they had a chance to truly live.
Izuku shuddered, looking into the white eyes of Pixel as it crackled like the breaking of bones, saying, “Protect.”
“I will become a hero no matter what it takes,” Izuku said determinedly.
“Work to end my brother’s reign, as All Might failed to do, and we will aid you,” Yoichi told him, torso bulging with the forms of others pushing against the “skin” from the inside, like bodies trapped in black garbage bags.
“Destroy,” Pixel hissed corrosively in agreement.
“I’ll do my best,” Izuku told them determinedly. All for One would lose during his time as a hero, Izuku would make sure of it.