Archive of Our Own

Izuku was an odd kid. That was what his teachers, classmates and the parents of other children would say. Even despite reaching the age of four and his test results showing signs of a quirk, there was never any obvious sign he was using one. No telekinesis, no flame breath, no random mutation or combination of the two. It had gotten to the degree that everyone had assumed it was a false result, or that his quirk was something as miniscule as why his hair faded from black into green.

No, all there was to him was a boy who had an impossible dream to be a proper hero, despite his grandiose dreams of wanting to save people and defeating bad guys. And even despite everyone telling him that, he refused to accept reality, actively telling everyone that he would become a hero. His mother would be lying if she said she wasn't concerned, and his father was too busy with work to ever notice it anyway. And yet, Izuku insisted he could do it, much to the dismay of his mother and confusion of almost all his peers.

At school, after a couple years of showing no sign of any quirk, everyone in his year assumed he was lying and began calling him quirkless. That’s what had led him to the current situation he was in, at the age of six, standing to block a group of aggressive teens from beating someone up.

“Come on, Kacchan! You can’t just hurt him like that!” Izuku shouts, a look of determined righteousness present in his eyes as he stands in front of his beaten up peer. “Say you’re sorry, and stop hurting him!”

“You just don’t get it, Izuku. We’re just playing a game! He’s the villain, and we’re the heroes! We’ll just take him to the nurse later if he gets too roughed up!” Katsuki yells back, punching his palm and releasing a bit of smoke from it.

“You’ve already roughed him up bad! Don’t be mean, or… or I’ll…” Izuku stomps his foot on the ground. “I’ll stop being your friend!”

A blank stare appeared on the blonde’s face. “... Huh? You don’t mean that, Izuku…” Katsuki faltered slightly as he rethought his actions. His goons weren’t as doubtful of themselves as he was, though.

“Hah, you’re full of it, Deku!” one of the two said, extending his fingers to scratch Izuku’s arm, the green-haired boy crying out in pain. He unleashes a combo of scratches, both boys grinning as blood is drawn. “Direct hits! Come on, let’s beat up these villains, Tsubasa!”

The winged-boy lifted himself into the air and flew at Izuku with his friend right beside him, the two rearing back to hit the other boy. It was at that moment that Katsuki noticed something. The cowering Izuku wasn’t quirkless like the rumors at school said, and that his quirk was something that could be powerful.

That was the only explanation for why his fist began to glow, and how he managed to punch the two hard enough to send them off-course, landing harshly on the ground.

“Ow… What the heck!?”

“Yubi, what was that…?” Tsubasa groans out as he holds his gut in pain, hiccuping as he rubs the spot that was hit.

Yubi grits his teeth, wincing in pain before he stands and wipes away the tears forming in his eyes. “It wasn't anything! Stupid little quirkless Deku got a lucky hit, that's all! Let's go do something else!” he shouts, dragging Tsubasa away without waiting to see if Bakugou would tag along.

Izuku shook his hand, his fingers and palm feeling jittery after having punched the two bullies. “I… My quirk… I knew I had one!” he shouts excitedly, staring at his hands as the glow begins to fade. He stares at Katsuki, who was still in his shell shocked state from the threat of a broken friendship. “Kacchan, look, look! I know what my quirk is now!”

It was after that shout that Katsuki was finally able to shake himself from his stupor. “I guess you did, huh, Izuku? Seems pretty strong…” His voice falters, but he steadies himself quickly. “But I won't let you be stronger than me without a fight! Don’t slack off, Izuku, because we're gonna train and be the best heroes around!”

Izuku giggled excitedly, hugging Katsuki, who hesitated but hugged him back eventually. “We're gonna be the best heroes and save everybody from the villains! We’ll be as strong as All Might!”

Katsuki found himself chuckling. “You kidding, Izuku? With our friendship, we'll be stronger than All Might! We'll have him hand down the title of number one to us himself!”

“But Kacchan, nobody’s stronger than All Might!” he exclaims, before a determined grin hits him. “Not yet, anyway! We gotta train as hard as we can, Kacchan!”

“Damn right, Izuku! Now, come on! We gotta tell Auntie Inko about your quirk!” he shouts, running in the direction of the Midoriya apartment.

“Wait for me, Kacchan!” Izuku yelps, running after the blonde. And after telling their mothers respectively about the newfound quirk, they agreed to have supervised training. And thus began what would be their planned eight years of their preparations for UA, side-by-side as best friends.

*****

In a vast and barren castle on a far away planet, an Angel Attendant stood next to his sleeping lord, keeping an eye on things around the planet, as well as other parts of the universe, using his trusty staff. “Hmm, it seems like Lord Beerus still has a couple years left at least until he awakens… Ah, well. Such is the life of an attendant.” The angel scoops another bite of food into his mouth, contemplating the taste for a moment. “It is quite lovely, but I do hope to sample the cuisine of other planets once more. It is a pastime I dearly miss…”

And that was how most days went for Whis. Keeping an eye on the notable planets or beings, going out to collect food from various planets, and otherwise maintaining the state of the castle and planet. However, unlike those other standard days, something caught his attention from far away in the universe, on Planet 4032-877, or Earth, as the sentient inhabitants called it. It had been a long time since he checked in on the planet, the last time being around when the humans had started gaining those superpowers.

They had been impressive in their own right, but still paled in comparison to ki, and didn’t warrant monitoring from him. However, now, well over a century later, that same planet was showing power level spikes, and not of the mortal variety. “Well now, this is interesting…” Whis says, pushing the vision closer to the planet, pinpointing directly onto the source of the divine power, only to find a young boy, of maybe six or seven years old, sparring with a boy with explosive hands, utilizing his innate ki dreadfully poorly.

Whis hummed in thought, looking into the boy and finding out about him, such as his name, his parents, and his overall goals. “Midoriya Izuku… Hmm, perhaps when Lord Beerus wakes up, I can convince him to let me train him. Oh, how exciting! I’ve enjoyed Earth’s food in the past, and the thought of being able to be a martial arts instructor to a new student does sound appealing...” Suddenly, a thought hit him and his enthusiasm was drained. “Oh, right. It’s nearly thirty minutes away…”

Well, Lord Beerus had about five years or so left on his nap anyway. That would be plenty of time to come up with a suitable argument for them to take a vacation there. Maybe he could try and ask for it to occur a few years after his lord woke up… Or try and entice him with the lovely treats he could try. “Whatever the case, I do really want to train this boy… It’s been so long since we’ve seen a new being capable of tapping into this power.”

When Seer ended up coming down to talk to Whis later that day, the angel would deny his level of enthusiasm towards the idea, even if both parties knew he was lying.

*****

Izuku sneezes, rubbing his nose before yelping and dodging an attack from Katsuki. “Come on, Izuku! You can't let yourself get sick, or distracted!”

“Right, Katsuki!” Izuku replies, getting back into a rhythm of knocking away Katsuki's explosive lunges, and responding with his own glowing punches and kicks. The two continue pushing forward, neither wanting to back down in the spar. Izuku attempts to flip Katsuki over his shoulder but receives an explosion-charged punch to the side instead, causing the green-haired boy to keel over.

Before Katsuki could capitalize on the opportunity, Izuku sweeps his leg, causing him to stumble before he lands a quirk-powered uppercut on the blonde, sending him reeling back. Izuku rushes him, attempting a jumping kick which causes his leg to get grabbed by Katsuki, who then manages to pull him to the ground harshly. After a quick pin, Izuku taps out and Katsuki helps him back to his feet.

Their weekly spars, despite the two not having full professional training under their belts, were still impressive for two ten-year-olds. Still, far more often than not, Katsuki was able to get the better of the two and take Izuku down, even despite him not using his quirk to the fullest.

Still, for most heroes, the level of progression they had right now was more than enough, or so Izuku thought. That was why they kept doing these spars in the here and now, so they could continue improving and learn new fighting styles at UA. Despite their knowledge being limited to what can be learned either online or in the confines of public law, or inside somewhat cramped quirk gyms in Katsuki’s case, they were still proud of how well they were doing. And so were their parents.

“Boys, break time!” Inko calls, already breaking out the alcohol swabs and bandages for the two. Mitsuki began pulling out the lunches she packed, setting things out while the two children got themselves looked at. Thankfully, the two had gotten extremely good at not injuring themselves while sparring, so the only necessary treatment was for small cuts and scrapes.

“You two sure are working hard, huh?” Mitsuki remarks as she passes them drinks. “Jeez, I know you two want to be heroes badly, but it feels like you two are always sparring and training. Do you ever just… spend time doing something, anything else?”

“Hey, we do normal stuff! We went to the arcade last weekend!” Izuku says in defense of himself, only for Katsuki to laugh.

“Yeah, and you totally messed up that flip you saw in the fighting games we spent the whole time playing,” he says, causing Izuku's defensive mood to visibly deflate. Seeing this, Katsuki finds himself grumbling before muttering a follow-up, “But that uppercut you stole was pretty good.”

Izuku's face lights up with a grin. “Thanks, Katsuki!”

The two dig into their lunches, discussing their individual training plans for the rest of the week. For Katsuki, that meant a lot of training at gyms where quirks were permitted, along with some combat training and rest thrown in. For Izuku, that meant practicing off of YouTube videos in his apartment or the forest. With training gyms outside of the district being out of the question, they needed to find one in the area. However, despite their willingness to pay extra, it seemed Izuku’s quirk wasn’t flashy enough to warrant being allowed into some of the fancy quirk training gyms around Musutafu, given they tried to keep an image of being training spots for heroes.

Even with their denials of his quirk being the reason, their official cited reason was his age. Given Katsuki's received offers for membership deals from those same establishments, Mitsuki had some choice words about that reason that should not have been said in front of the two ten-year-olds which amounted to “those damn hypocrites.”

Still, even with the lack of professional training equipment with his quirk, Izuku was still able to keep up with Katsuki. But after today, despite him hiding his worries, he knew deep down Katsuki was about to get his own snowball rolling. He had lost to him faster than normal today. And nothing helped illustrate that more than his follow-up comment.

“I think we need to start training against other people.” The comment came from what felt like nowhere, and Katsuki found himself wanting to backpedal when he saw Izuku's reaction. “It's not that I don't want to spar with you, Izuku! You remember that guy who tried to fight me at school the other day?”

“Yeah… The guy with the muscle bulking quirk, right?” Katsuki nodded.

“Yep, that's the one. Guy caught me off guard, and nearly got a punch on me because I tried to strike like I was fighting you. We're both gonna cement really bad habits if we only ever train against each other before UA.” He pulls out his phone, looking through his chat logs. “I managed to find a few people willing to meet and work on their quirks with me. It seems like it should go well, too. A defensive transformation quirk, an acid quirk the girl likes to use for ground mobility, and some guy with tape coming out of his elbows he uses like that early hero, Spider-Man.”

“Seems like you've thought everything through…” And Izuku did mean it. With Katsuki’s aggressive nature and quirk mixed in, they'd each have an avenue to focus on improving on and against.

Katsuki, noticing the look on Izuku's face, sighs. “I can help you find a group to train with, you know.”

Izuku waves his hands in front of him. “No, it's fine! I can do it myself!” The blonde narrows his eyes at him, but he doesn’t back down. “Really, it's fine! I need to be able to do this kind of thing myself, Katsuki,” he declares firmly, finally causing Bakugou to relent on the condition that if he doesn't find someone to train with within a month, he's doing it for him anyway.

They two start picking up their garbage, cleaning up what they can before the two mother-son duos wave goodbye and begin their own walks home. Along the way, Izuku's eyebrows become furrowed. He needed to find something to close the gap again, because they couldn’t be a proper hero duo if he was that much weaker… No, he’d just be holding them both back. They couldn’t save anyone or beat any villains like that, so he had to get stronger. Those thoughts continue to weigh on his mind as they depart the forest and head back home.

Inko notices her son’s thoughtful expression and nudges him. “You okay, honey? You’ve been very quiet since just before lunch…”

Izuku startles, glancing over at his mom as he scratches his chin. “Uh… yeah, I’m fine… Just…” A sigh escapes his lips. “I’m falling behind. I… I don’t feel like I’m doing good enough to keep up, and yet I just… Unless I start intentionally skipping school, I don’t see an effective way to improve faster. I can only hit stuff a bit harder. Katsuki just… His quirk really is just better. And now he wants to train with others! I know why he does, it just…” He sighs. “It just hurts a bit.”

Inko takes in her son’s words, processing what he was saying and trying to ignore that aching feeling in her heart. She pats him on the shoulder affectionately. “I know it’s… difficult… seeing Katsuki shooting ahead of you like this, wanting to train with others… But I just have a feeling we’ll be able to crack open your quirk soon, and you’ll be able to catch up! We just have to keep looking for someone to help you out. So, let’s keep looking together, okay?”

“Okay, mom!” Izuku replies with a big smile. The two continue walking home, eventually reaching their apartment building. However, as they climb the stairs, they begin to hear bickering from their floor. Confused, they rush up and lean around the corner to eavesdrop and see what’s wrong.

“... telling you, Whis, this has been a complete waste of time! They aren’t here! I should blow up this planet for having to wait here so long,” a taller, purple skinned man resembling a cat says, rubbing his finger over his chin in bored contemplation. He was wearing clothing that resembled what one would see in a portrait of an Egyptian god.

Whis, a man wearing regal looking clothing and a halo around his neck, with light blue skin who stood nearly sixty centimeters taller than the cat man, sighs. “It’s only been a minute, Lord Beerus. I tried to time our arrival around when the Midoriyas would be back home; but it does seem like I was off by a bit.” His words bring alarm to the two, causing Inko to yelp. The man's gaze turns to the corner where the stairs are, and a knowing grin appears on his face. “Perhaps they got caught up talking?” If it weren’t for Izuku’s encyclopedic level of knowledge on heroes, he may have mistaken the two being one.

Beerus scoffs as his ears perk up, charging up energy on his fingertip. “Well, if they don’t arrive soon, I’ll blast the door down and wait inside instead. I’d prefer to nap on something more comfortable than this floor.”

The words took barely a moment to process in the minds of the two Midoriyas, before Inko revealed herself from their hiding spot. “No, you won’t!” she shouts, stomping right up to the cat man. “You won’t touch a speck of anything in my home without my say! Do I make myself clear, Mr. Beerus?”

Beerus went to turn her blast towards her, but then he looked into her eyes. That piercing glare, despite this human being so obviously weaker than him, sent shivers down his spine, and he reluctantly stopped charging his attack. “Fine, fine…” he relents, brushing off that spike of fear. “But you two walk very slowly. You were expected to be here… two minutes and fifteen seconds ago now, but you stopped to chat.”

“How… how do you even…” Inko stammers over her words before her glare returns. “Have you been stalking us!?” Izuku runs from around the corner to calm his mother down.

Whis’ eyes widen slightly before he chuckles. “Not intentionally, Mrs. Midoriya. But… Would it be too pressing to ask to chat inside? I do believe our story may be quite the shock to you both, and it would be easier if you were sitting.”

Inko hesitates for a moment, but Izuku doesn’t, grabbing the keys from his mom’s hand and unlocking the door. “Izuku!” she yelps, grabbing her keys back as she is about to reprimand him.

Izuku pouts at her, and looks at her with those eyes she can’t resist. “They’ve been waiting out here all this time. Shouldn’t we at least hear them out?” Inko wants so desperately to be mad, but she can’t, sighing as she directs the two inside. Her heart does melt a bit when she hears her son’s excited cheer, energetically leading the two strangers inside as though this weren’t an extremely sketchy scenario.

*****

“... and after all of that, I was finally able to convince Lord Beerus to meet you after all that time,” Whis concludes, taking a sip of his drink. “Now then, did you happen to have any questions? Inko? Izuku?”

“Yes, several, actually!” Inko exclaims before Izuku could even get a word in. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. These two random people who just showed up on their doorstep looking to speak to them weren’t actually random people, but aliens. Not just any aliens, but divine beings. And not just any divine being, but a literal God of Destruction and Angel Attendant, the latter of which just so happened to scout out Izuku for training, for a reason yet to be explained.

If it weren’t for the cup of tea in her hands, she would have fainted several times during their explanations.

“Calm down, lady- er, Inko,” Beerus says, cutting himself off when the woman fixes a glare in his direction. “You won't get any clear answers if you just rapid fire questions, so how about you give them one at a time, hmm? Whis will answer.”

Whis glances over to Beerus, who is now leaning back with his leg crossed over the other, scratching the inside of his ear. “Right… Please, though, try and keep the questions relevant to the matter at hand, if you can.” Izuku's enthusiasm shrinks slightly at the request, but the angel can tell he's still buzzing with a lot of questions inside.

“Why Izuku?” Inko asks, confusion plain to see on her face. “Please don't misunderstand, I am extremely grateful for this opportunity, but… Why, out of anyone you could have picked to train… Is there something that sets him apart from others?”

“Ah, it seems you’ve noticed…” Whis hums, tapping his staff against the ground to start showing the two humans an image. Two individuals, from two entirely different species, fighting in a martial arts competition, yet showing similar powers: flight, blasts of energy, increased strength and durability, and a white glow around each of them. “There’s a natural life force in every single being, you see. In most, it’s a small amount, but even in those individuals, it’s still able to grow to greater degrees. What you see here is-”

“They’re using ki to fight!” Izuku exclaims, writing down the new information in a fresh notebook he had hidden in the couch cushions.

Whis chuckles at this. “Exactly right, Izuku. Every being can use ki to fight, and be taught to use it in many different ways. As well, a very effective way to improve one's ki is to study and train in a martial art, as you can see from these two individuals.” To emphasize his point, a beam of energy was shot towards a downed opponent, causing him to be knocked out of the ring. “Among humans, though, while they can still greatly improve their power, it seems that a vast majority cannot use ki in ways other than their naturally born gifts. Quirks, I believe you call them. I’d estimate around… ten percent of the population or so still has the capability to develop their ki.”

“So, the younger quirkless people and…” Izuku mumbles, before a shocking thought jolts him from his seat. “But wait, that means I won’t be able to do any of this stuff! I have an emitter quirk!” he cries out in despair.

But Izuku’s spiral stops when he sees that knowing smirk on Whis’s face, and a bored glance from the God of Destruction that hid intrigue. “If you were anyone else, Midoriya Izuku, you would be correct in saying that. However, there’s something special about your case.” At his confusion, the angel taps his staff against the ground again, showing the two Izuku’s earlier spar against Katsuki. “Tell me, now that you know about ki, do you notice anything peculiar about your quirk?”

Izuku’s eyes darted around the vision, trying to find where the detail was. He watched as he continued throwing punches, but it was as the uppercut was landed that he finally realized. ‘My quirk… It’s actually ki?”

“Not quite, but you are stepping in the right direction.” Whis gestures with his staff to Beerus, who rolls his eyes before powering up slightly. A purple aura surrounded the cat man for a brief moment, before dissipating, and the two Midoriyas need to take a second to catch their breaths at the pressure the god emitted. “Ki can be categorized, generally, into three types. Good, which has a neutral white aura, Evil, which is purple or pink, and finally… Godly Ki. It is what both Lord Beerus and I possess, and it takes a different appearance based on who holds it…”

Izuku’s eyes begin to widen in realization. “My quirk… It isn’t an emitter type at all…! It’s a mutation that gives me access to God Ki!”

“Very good, Izuku! Gold star!” Whis says, tapping him on the shoulder with his staff, which causes the vision to dissipate. “Now, that is why I came here. To offer to train you to use your ki, and develop your skills in fighting to become a great warrior, and an even greater hero. We could start as soon as tomorrow, should you accept.”

“Yes!” Izuku shouts, before pausing. “Wait; wouldn't this just be replacing my bad habit issue with another? How am I supposed to avoid that by only training with just you?”

Whis chuckles, tapping the end of his staff on the boy's head. “I'll be swapping our lessons frequently, as well as how I respond to your attacks. It will be quite some time before you manage to land a hit on me, I can assure you. After all…” A dangerous glint appears in his eyes. “I may be an attendant of Lord Beerus, but make no mistake when I say I am more powerful.”

“Woah…” Izuku stares in awe at the angel. “All right, let's start tomorrow!”

Whis claps his hands. “Excellent! Now, there is the matter of accommodations to discuss. After all, our home is nearly thirty minutes away by my speed. Would it be all right with you if we stayed here during the day? We wouldn't want to trouble you, and I understand we can't exactly interrupt Izuku's education by bringing him there.”

“Oh, right… Well, you’re doing so much to help Izuku… I suppose we could deal with the extra food expenses…” Inko concedes, noticing Beerus crack his eye open again. “With that all settled… Would you like to stay for dinner? It’ll be a couple hours from now, but you can use the time to help Izuku decide on a training schedule.”

“Wonderful news! Lord Beerus, do you mind assisting us?” Whis asks, to which the God of Destruction waves his hand in a vague showing of agreement. “Splendid! Now, go grab one of your notebooks, Izuku. I want to make sure you get all of this down.”

Inko watches as her son runs off in the direction of his room, and even though he had decided the situation for her, seeing the look of excitement on his face, and knowing he would be in good hands… That reassured her that everything about this would be just fine.

*****

In the air above the forest near Musutafu, Izuku caught his breath while his mentor carefully watched his hourglass. As the last grains of sand fell, the angel clapped his hands. “Break time is up, Izuku. Now, try and hit me again,” Whis instructs, standing at attention while not making any particular fighting stance.

Izuku takes a deep breath and nods, charging up his ki and flying at Whis, who redirects his momentum and sends him over his shoulder. The teen anticipated this and pushed to correct himself, lunging at the angel and launching a barrage of punches and kicks.

Whis effortlessly dodged every single one with minimal movement, not a single effort wasted, and not a single sign of strain on his face. Just a sense of general intrigue. “Very good. Anyone who isn't a god or extremely powerful being would have a hard time avoiding any of those attacks.” Whis punctuates his point by grabbing Izuku's fist and twisting it, and by extension, him.

Izuku was sent flying back in a corkscrew motion, causing him to be mildly disoriented. “That being said, you are going up against one, so you'll need to keep improving your striking speed and power. Now then… Swap to practicing your vanishes.”

Izuku nods, pushing his energy into his speed. He rushes forward, feinting, appearing behind Whis and attempting to strike his head, only to be blocked by the angel's finger. Izuku keeps attacking, appearing at various points around the angel and attacking with punches and kicks, only to continuously get his efforts blocked.

A wide swinging punch got blocked, and Izuku earned a punch to the gut as a result. “Remember what I told you, Izuku… You can't expect results by swinging with such a telegraphed hit.”

“Right… Thank you, Whis…” Izuku groans out, holding his stomach as he tries to steady himself. He takes a few deep breaths, getting back into a combat stance.

“Last exercise for the day… You remember some of those various ki blasts we taught you? There were quite a few we borrowed from past masters, so it wouldn’t surprise me if you forgot some.” At Izuku’s nod, Whis claps his hands. “Good. Now, begin!”

Izuku whips both hands to his sides, green balls of ki charging in his hands as he begins to rapidly fire them, with only a couple going off course and hitting the trees below. The rest were all negated by Whis’ barrier, which was to be expected. His Rapid-Fire Ki Blast tested, he twists himself, positions his hands beside him around an orb of growing ki, saying the attack name under his breath. “Kame… hame…” He thrusts them in front of himself and launches a beam, shouting the final syllable of the attack. “HAAAA!”

While the beam seems powerful, Whis still deflects it with little trouble, sending it flying somewhere into space. Izuku grits his teeth, places both hands near his eyes, and shouts, “SOLAR FLARE!” as a bright flash of light causes the briefest of interruptions to Whis’ vision. It was just enough time for Izuku to sneak behind the angel. He lifts both hands above his head, charging his ki again before he thrusts them forward with a shout of, “MASENKO!”

The process repeated for a while, with those attacks, and even more making appearances. Yet even still, no matter how fast he threw them out, or how powerful they were, Izuku wasn’t making a dent in Whis’ defense. “All right, that’s enough for today, Izuku. Let’s head back to your mother’s apartment, shall we?”

Izuku gives a nod of agreement and the two fly wordless for a short time. It isn’t too long before Izuku speaks up, however. “I can’t believe I never thought to ask, but… How do you do… all that?” At Whis’ expression, Izuku elaborates. “All the blocking, dodging, and deflecting! Even the attack was perfectly timed right as an opening was made… How do you even do all that?”

The angel hums, deep in thought. After some time, he stops, prompting Izuku to force himself to a halt as well. “It’s a technique, not one so easily learned, even by the gods. Not even Lord Beerus has been able to completely master the technique… Not that he needs to, of course.” At Izuku’s awestruck look, he decides to continue. “A technique that allows the user to enter one of the most rare and advanced states of mind one could be, primed specifically to reduce any amount of wasted time in a fight. No wasted movements. No wasted attacks, deflections, or dodges. A technique that allows every part of your body to think for itself, and move in the best way it can towards victory…” A grin appears on Whis’ face. “That technique is known as Autonomous Ultra Instinct. Just Ultra Instinct, for short.”

“Wow…” Izuku sighs in awe, completely starstruck. “Am I going to learn Ultra Instinct as part of my training?”

Whis’ face takes on a troubled expression. “I’m not sure, Izuku. The drawbacks of the technique are… tricky. For a mortal to use it, normally, without proper training, you would be wiped out and exhausted for the rest of the day. But, as a hero, there are times when you would have to push yourself, and taking a nap isn’t an option. The technique, if your body reacts to it as a mortal would… Extreme overuse of it could kill you.”

“Kill me!?” Izuku exclaims in panic, as Whis chuckles.

“I did say ‘if’, did I not? With your vague status of demigod thanks to your quirk, I would imagine untrained overuse wouldn’t kill you, but would render you unconscious for an extended period of time instead,” Whis concludes. A very obvious sigh of relief is heard from Izuku. “Regardless, we're still a long way off from having you learn Ultra Instinct. Focus on building a strong foundation before you start trying to add to it, okay?”

“Okay, Whis!” Izuku replies, and the two continue their flight home in a comfortable silence.

*****

Izuku stood in front of the examination center, stretching in his green gi marked with Whis’ symbol, a show of respect to his mentor. “Man, I hoped I would have had more time to talk to Katsuki before things started… We haven’t discussed our training or hung out much outside of school in years!” he mumbled to himself, finishing his stretches before he began to bounce on his feet to keep himself ready.

He glances over at the rest of the applicants, and very quickly realizes no one in his group is notable or actually taking things seriously. Instead, they all seem to be snickering at him, which prompts the teen to ask them what was so funny.

He did not like their answers.

“You’re taking this thing so seriously for someone who can make their hands glow…”

“Jeez, you’re so scrawny! Why are you even here? The bots will squish you!”

“Just step back and let the real heroes take care of things, okay pal?”

Sure, Izuku looked thin in his gi, but he still very much had muscle. It wasn't his fault the muscles of those with God Ki were heavily condensed, making them look a lot more lean than their strength would realistically represent. Still, he was going to hold back his strength and give someone else from this group a chance to get into the hero course.

He no longer was going to grant that mercy to them.

The near exact moment Present Mic finished his call for everyone to start, Izuku flew into the air, quickly noting the locations of each robot before he went to work. In a rapid blur of vanishes and reappearances, the teen racked up points faster than any other examinee, and left no scraps for the rest of the group. This was very quickly realized by the rest of the examinees, who voiced their misgivings at his actions.

He ignores them, instead finishing off the last of the bots before hovering above the main street, glancing at the camera watching him. He sent a challenge to the teachers with his gaze, and it seemed like they were more than willing to accommodate, if the sudden shaking of the ground and buildings around him was any indication.

“Ah, there's the Zero Pointer I was looking for…” Izuku says with a grin. He puts his fingers up to his forehead, beginning to charge up a beam of energy as the other examinees run back to the entrance in fear and frustration. Finally feeling as though he had enough power behind his attack, he shouts his attack name… or rather attempts to.

“Mokonka… Makonkosop… Makankasop… Eh, screw it…” He pushes his hand forward, two fingers extended out, and shouts his alternative name for the attack. “SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!”

A spiraling beam of energy shot from his fingers and through the head of the Zero Pointer, causing it to explode and sending metal and wires falling to the ground. He cheers as an automated voice announces that all robots in his examination site have been destroyed, and begins making his way to the entrance, all the while unaware of the astonishment his future teachers felt watching him.

*****

“1-A, 1-A, 1-A… Ah, there it is!” Izuku shouts, opening the door with an intense vigor… Only to find Katsuki at the throat of another student. On their orientation day. “Katsuki, can you not try and intimidate our classmates?”

The blonde glances over, grinning at him. “Sure. He wasn’t budging anyway,” he remarks, walking over to Izuku and clapping him on the shoulder. “I heard you got the top score on the exam by a longshot. This guy you were training with must be really good, huh?”

“Heh… You have no idea…” Izuku replies, not sure how to explain the fact he’s been trained by the literal most powerful being in their universe. “I'm sure you did awesome too, though!”

Katsuki grunted, gesturing to a teen with red, spiked hair. “Almost got outdone by that guy over there. Speaking of which… Eijiro, get your ass over here.” The teen does so, a wild grin on his face as he offers his hand for Izuku to shake; which the green-haired boy does so. “Izuku, this is Kirishima Eijiro. Eijiro, Midoriya Izuku. Over there,” he says, pointing at a pink-skinned girl and a boy with oddly shaped elbows, “are Ashido Mina and Sero Hanta. They’re the people I made that training group with.”

“Nice to finally meet you three!” Izuku remarks, giving a friendly wave to them all. As they walk up to try and talk with him, however, a sharp cough from the entrance catches their attention. However, Izuku already knew who it was. “Heya, sensei! Finally decide to stop hiding behind the corner?” he says without even looking behind himself.

This seems to catch their teacher by surprise, as the man stands up and narrows his eyes at Izuku. “If you're here to socialize, I suggest you get out. This is the hero course, not some hangout spot.”

“Oh, I get that! But it's good to get to know your fellow heroes, is it not?” Izuku asks rhetorically, getting a couple grins from his classmates.

“Enough with the jokes. This isn't some game… My name is Aizawa Shouta, and I'll be your homeroom teacher.” The man points to his podium. “Your gym uniforms are in there. Grab them and head out to the field. We're doing a test. Get there in five minutes.”

Izuku shrugged, moving before the rest of the stunned class to grab his marked uniform and heading out the door, everyone following shortly after him.

The next four and a half minutes blew by, and eventually, everybody was all lined up neatly, waiting for directions from their teacher.

“Today, we're doing what I call… A Quirk Apprehension Test. No, we aren't going to the orientation, it's a waste of time. All the relevant information for the first orientation is in your student handbooks or covered in Homeroom, so don't ask.” The man seemed to be glancing between Izuku and Katsuki, as though deciding who he wanted to call to go up first, weighing his options on some arbitrary scale.

Eventually, he tossed a ball to Katsuki, who caught it with one hand. “Bakugou, how far was your farthest softball throw in junior high?”

“Sixty-seven meters,” he remarked, clearly impressed with his own number. Aizawa didn't give any outward reaction to that, instead directing him to throw the ball using his quirk this time. The teen grinned, getting into a pitching stance before beginning his throw, shouting, “DIE!” as he did so. An explosion blasted the ball further and further away, much to the astonishment of the class.

After several seconds, a beep came from the phone their teacher held, and he turned it to show 705.2 meters. “Quite the difference in result, as you see. Each of you will perform the eight standard physical assessment tests with your quirks. Use them in whatever way you see fit,” he drones out. He waited a brief moment as excitement passed through the faces of most of the class, the notable exception once again being Izuku, along with Katsuki. It was the shout of how fun it sounded that got him to speak up. “What’s that? ‘It looks fun’, huh? Are you all going to have that mindset in the next three years before you become heroes?” A sinister grin forms on his face, which only causes Izuku to smirk. “All right, then… The person who comes in last during these tests will be deemed to have absolutely no potential and expelled.”

“Huh!?” someone from nearby exclaims, and Izuku vaguely recognizes her as the girl with the perpetual blush on her cheeks. “But that isn’t fair at all! It’s only the first day!” At the look Aizawa gives them, Izuku figures that was likely the wrong thing to say.

“Fair? Do you think villains care about fairness? Natural disasters? Big accidents? As a hero, your job is to combat that unfairness, and mitigate the damage caused for unforeseen calamities like that. You’re going to get barrier after barrier thrown at you during your time at UA… So overcome it with everything you have, or quit while you’re ahead,” he challenges, a daring look in his eye.

While everyone else had a look of worried determination on their faces, Izuku was busy stretching, glancing in the sky to see his mentors watching over the scene, just out of view. And thus, they began the events. It started with the fifty-meter dash, with many of the times averaging out at around five and a half seconds. The most notable time, however, was Iida with just a little over three seconds. Once Izuku and Katsuki got up to do their runs, the green-haired boy felt bad for what he was about to do.

The starting shot rang out, and suddenly, the bot was chirping. “0.01 seconds!” Everyone looked in shock to see Izuku already at the other side of the lane, a faint green glow disappearing from his body. Katsuki finished with a time of just under four seconds, but his attention was still on the other teen.

A wild grin appeared on his friend’s face. “Holy shit, Izuku! You didn’t tell me your quirk lets you teleport now!”

“I mean… It doesn’t?” At Katsuki’s confused look, Izuku scrambled to elaborate. “Ah, well… It enhances my whole body’s capabilities by… a lot… thanks to the person who trained me. So I didn’t really run the fifty meters, and kinda… just dodged forwards? If that makes sense?”

The blonde stared at him for several seconds, long enough for Izuku to begin to feel a bit uncomfortable, before he barked out an enthusiastic laugh. “You’re introducing me to this guy, sometime! I’m gonna get that strong too, just you watch!” he declared. Izuku nodded, knowing that Katsuki definitely would get stronger if he trained with Whis, but far from the same way as himself.

“If you’re done, we have more testing to get through,” Aizawa drones out, causing the two to step back into line very quickly. The last two students went, and they moved right along with the next. The grip strength test went on to show many impressive results, though none quite as impressive as Izuku breaking the measuring device.

Next was the standing long jump, where a large number of the students just outright cleared the sandbox fully. Izuku, however…

“If I give you an infinite score, will you please stop flying away?” Aizawa calls after him, to which the boy nods and zooms back towards the class, many of them already trying to wrack their brains over what quirk the green-haired boy may have. The murmurs were scattered and puzzled, trying to think of anything that would cover immense strength, what they thought was teleportation, and flight. Katsuki, however, who knew what Izuku’s quirk was beforehand, was trying to figure out how that developed into what he was seeing today over the last several years.

The repeated side-steps passed by quickly, with the only students having extremely impressive scores being a frog-like girl named Asui, a boy with sticky, purple balls for hair named Mineta, and, once again, Izuku. And then it was time for everyone else to do the softball throw.  Many students ended up getting ideas on how to shoot their ball further, motivated to try and do better than Izuku in the test.

Kaminari loaded the ball with electricity, causing his score to be about twenty meters higher than what it should have been. Jiro pumped her heartbeat into it, sending it further than what her arms could have. Yaoyorozu made a literal cannon to shoot the ball well over a kilometer. And Uraraka’s quirk caused the ball to never need to fall back to the Earth, resulting in a score of infinity for her.

As the final student, Izuku stepped up to the circle with his ball in hand. He looked contemplative, glancing to the sky, then to the ball in his hands a few times. Eventually, he grinned, and looked over to Aizawa. “What would happen to someone’s score if they managed to break the ball while they were throwing it?”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow at the question, making a noise to show his contemplation. “The sensors would count it as a score of zero meters… However, those balls could probably survive anything up to one of All Might’s full power moves. If you manage to destroy it, I’ll give you a score of infinity. I may be a hardass, but even I won’t deny a feat like that,” he answered quite bluntly.

With that assurance in mind, Izuku reeled back and tossed the ball into the air a good distance. As it flew, he began to lift his hands above his head, charging up his attack. As it came within his targeted area, he pushed his hands forward, shouting, “MASENKO!” as a beam of green energy shot from them, flying at a high speed towards the ball and engulfing it. A ping from Aizawa’s phone met his ear and he grinned. “So, did I do it?”

“Heh, cheeky kid…” Aizawa huffed to himself, with only Jiro picking up on it. With a few presses to the screen, the result was shown to the class to also have been infinite. “All right, onto the next test.”

The class was even more fired up to beat their leading peer, and Ashido did get close in the seated toe-touch, but in the end, Izuku was the clear winner of every single test, which was reflected in the results. The boy in last place, as well as a few others close to expulsion, made complaints about Izuku’s quirk being just too strong, but Aizawa quieted them down immediately. “No one is getting expelled for their results today. However, if I keep hearing you try to make excuses to stay, I may reconsider that. I’ve read Midoriya’s file, and it was only thanks to a realization about his quirk, as well as years of training, that he was able to get as skilled as he did… I imagine that those who have been watching us may want to help demonstrate that skill.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku saw All Might flinch, and straighten his tie as though he was getting ready to reveal himself, but then a voice from the air called out to the class. “Oh? It seems their teacher knew we were here the whole time, Lord Beerus.”

Izuku’s instructors began to float themselves back to the ground, with Beerus yawning. “Of course he did, Whis. It’s not exactly like we hid our presence, like I said we should have.” The two touched the ground with grace, contrasting how the God of Destruction was acting. “Hurry and get this over with, Whis. I want to meet this Lunch Rush fella before we head to Ms. Midoriya’s for dinner. I want him to be aware he’ll be seeing us a lot this year.”

“Right away, Lord Beerus,” Whis responds, turning to the class. “Please, allow me to make introductions. My name is Whis, and I am the personal attendant to Lord Beerus,” he says, gesturing to the cat-faced God who was currently picking the inside of his ear. “Your teacher is right, by the way. I trained Izuku myself, partially for the goal of giving Beerus a sparring partner someday… But also because it had been so long since I'd had a student,” the angel admits bluntly.

Katsuki punches his palm, releasing a small explosion as he does so. “So, you're the guy who trained Izuku like that, huh? Well, you're training me now too! Let’s fight, right now!” He let off a series or pops from his hands as he grinned in anticipation.

“Oh? Hmm… No, I don’t believe you’re ready for a full fight with me. However... Beerus, could you perhaps give a demonstration as to why?” Whis requests, which prompts the God to stand at attention, his hands behind his back. Katsuki charges at Beerus, palms sparking as he prepares to unleash a devastating blow, only for Beerus, faster than almost everyone there could process, to tap the blonde with one of his knuckles, sending him flying into the guys of the class and bowling most of them over in a scramble to catch him.

“What… the… hell…” Katsuki manages to mumble out as he cradles his chest, a bruise already appearing under his now torn gym uniform. “What the fuck… was that!?”

if Aizawa wanted to tell Katsuki to watch his language, he didn't show it, as he was also absolutely blown away by the display of power in the tap. Beerus simply yawned, waving his hand nonchalantly. “That was me tapping you, boy. I’d be careful of who you try to fight without warning…” A dangerous glint appears in the god’s eye. “I’ve had colds that have taken out entire planets before. Don’t test your luck.”

The class all pales at the information, while Izuku starts to bounce on his feet in anticipation. “Hey, Whis, can we do some training before the day ends? This test got my blood pumping, and I need to exert all this extra energy.”

Whis chuckles, floating back into the air with his student. “Why, of course, Izuku. Let’s give them a good showing, shall we?”

And with that, fifteen meters above and away from the group, they began to spar. Their movements ended up being so fast, their clashes creating enough force that neither student nor teacher could actually keep track of them, instead only seeing brief glimpses as Izuku flew blow after blow at his mentor. Even the spying All Might was only just barely able to keep track of things, thanks to his greatly enhanced body. And as Beerus watches their reactions with a smirk, a realization pops into the minds of every single member of Class 1-A:

They probably aren’t ever going to catch up to the level of Midoriya Izuku. But they’re still going to try and get as close as they possibly can.

*****

Izuku stands from his seat as the final bell for the day rings, grabbing his bag before he heads to the door. The last several months had been absolutely insane for him and his class. An attack on their rescue training, Izuku dominating the Sports Festival and doing a low-level spar with Whis to keep the audience entertained, Iida nearly dying during their Internships, a full power brawl against All Might for his exam, the retirement of the number one hero and complete takedown of the League of Villains… Heck, he even got his license and managed to absolutely mess up a yakuza boss in one good kick to the head.

Still, even with all the events that had happened this year, it still felt like something was… missing. Like there was still one more big thing that he needed to do before the end of the year…

He got that answer when one of his classmates called out to him. “Um… Midoriya, did you ask for Whis to meet you after class?” Kaminari asks, gesturing to the angel, who waves before biting into a strawberry that was on his fork.

“Oh, hey Whis! Something happen?” Izuku questions as he walks over to him.

The angel shakes his head. “No, nothing has happened in general, per say… but something has happened with your progress, rather.” At Izuku’s confused look, Whis elaborates. “Over the last several years, your mastery over your ki has progressed quite tremendously, I must say. As such, and with Beerus’ patience beginning to wear a tad thin… I believe you’re ready.”

“I am? You really mean it?” Whis nods, and Izuku cheers, pumping his fists into the air. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I can’t believe it!” The rest of the class glances at him, wondering what he was so excited to finally be ready for, and pale at his next words. “I’m finally strong enough to fight Beerus!”

“Yes, you are… But fighting me and surviving me are two very different things, Izuku.” Beerus’ voice appeared from behind Izuku, and the teen whipped around to see the God of Destruction floating outside. “Get into your gi and get up to the… whatever you call it… Ah yes, the stratosphere. We’ll fight there.”

Beerus flies away into the air, getting further and further away. When the class looks back to see Izuku’s reaction, though, they notice he’s already gone, having sprinted to the nearest change room. It was a mere twenty seconds later when they saw a familiar green gi-wearing teen flying at a high speed after the god.

It took him about thirty seconds to fly all the way up, but he was finally in the position he’s wanted to be for a long time. Floating across from him was Beerus, hands resting behind his back with a bored expression on his face. “Well? Power up, Izuku. I won’t wait long for you to do so.” Izuku listens to the instruction, charging up his ki tremendously and getting into a fighting stance, before he charges forward with a series of rapid punches.

Beerus dodges with a bored expression still present on his face, seemingly giving no effort at all as he continues to keep his hands resting behind his back. Izuku realizes he’s tapping into Ultra Instinct, gritting his teeth. Before he can say anything, Beerus whips around, hitting Izuku with a harsh kick to the side of the end and sending him off-balance briefly. “You know, the way Whis was talking, I would have thought you’d finally reached the proper level to fight me… But the way you are now, you haven’t even realized the power level you’ve reached. So, I’ll tell you one more time, Izuku… Fight like you mean it, or else I’ll have to face your mother and explain how I vaporized her boy in this little fight of ours.”

Izuku takes a deep breath, charging his power even further to what he thought was his maximum and charged again, throwing flourishes of energy beams into the mix of moves being thrown. While Beerus no longer had his hands behind his back, he was now deflecting every single blow with ease, rolling his eyes all the while. The Destroyer landed a harsh gut punch to Izuku, sending his reeling back and keeling over. “This is honestly getting embarrassing, Izuku. I have half a mind to call the fight off, right here and now. You’re telling me you haven’t realized the point you’ve reached, the barrier you’ve overcome? Or perhaps Whis was just lying to me…? Maybe if I point a blast at your school…”

Izuku’s eyes widen as Beerus aims a ki blast at UA. “Oh no, you don’t!” he shouts, vanishing forward and kicking his opponent’s arm up and away, the blast traveling through the sky and into space. For a brief moment, Izuku thought he saw his Ki shift colour, but he shook his head and continued his assault on Beerus, his mind beginning to shift to wanting to end the fight against him.

The destroyer god was very clearly putting more effort into his deflections and dodges this time, and Izuku saw his expression shift to one of amusement. “Oh? It seems that you just needed the right push, then…” Beerus lifts his hand, aiming to fire a high-power blast right at Izuku’s face. As it fires, Izuku begins to see his ki shift colour once again, and his body moves on its own to dodge the blast. A grin appears on Beerus’ face, and the god begins his own assault of rapid moves.

Izuku finds that, while quite a few attacks still make it through, his defense has suddenly increased tremendously; his deflections, dodges and counters all increasing in success as his mind continues to focus more and more on the fight in front of him.

Without even thinking, he unleashes a burst of ki as soon as an opening appears to knock Beerus away, and he begins to counterattack with his own barrage of moves. His rate of successful hits on the Destroyer God continued to increase as his body kept moving more and more on its own, and Izuku slowly began to realize what was happening, and what had made Whis decide he was finally ready to fight Beerus.

He had finally managed to tap into Ultra Instinct, even if only the briefest amount.

Izuku threw an open palm strike at Beerus, only for his opponent to grab his hand and try to retaliate with his own. The two flew in spot, locked in a grapple before the god prepared a ki blast and broke free, knocking Izuku away before attempting to hit him with focused beams, causing Izuku to evade rapidly, vanishing and reappearing closer and closer to his target.

“An impressive display… But I think I've played around enough here.” Beerus unleashes a burst of Ki, knocking Izuku back harshly as he flies further and further away from Earth. The Destroyer God begins forming a huge ball of ki, enough that it would surely destroy the planet in an instant. “Let's see how you handle this, hmm?”

With a small flick of his finger, the Sphere of Destruction begins to fall towards Izuku and the planet, Beerus staring down with an analytical gaze, curious to see if his attendants trainee was truly able to overcome this obstacle. Izuku held his hands out, attempting to create a barrier to block it, but it wasn't enough, and the attack began engulfing him.

Izuku was nearly broken out of his Ultra Instinct by the predicament, but at the very last moment, his body shot a blast of ki forwards in a last ditch effort, pushing most of his energy into it. With a triumphant shout, it breaks through, causing the sphere to dissipate. Izuku smirks at Beerus before his eyes roll into the back of his head and his ki disappears.

As Izuku begins to fall back to the Earth, Beerus catches him by the wrist. “Cheeky little brat… That wasn't even near a full power attack…” Though he wouldn't admit it, Beerus was quite impressed by the boy's efforts, despite his loss.

Of course, he didn't have to admit it. “Well, well, Lord Beerus, is that a look of pride on your face? I never thought I'd see the day,” Whis chirps, chuckling with his hand behind his mouth as Beerus’ eyebrow twitches in irritation. “Don't worry, Lord Beerus, I'll make sure not to tell anyone at the school that you enjoyed your fight with Izuku so much you're pr-”

“Keep speaking and I'll blow up Earth, Whis.” That sentence got the angel to stop talking, but did not remove his smug smile. And as the two flew back down to the school to get Izuku healed up, an undeniable fact was clear to them both.

Izuku really was coming into his own as the newest addition to the Realm of the Gods.