Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A hero... a person who saves others... that was the sort of person Izuku aspired to be. But how could he save others if he couldn't even save himself. Standing in front of him was a huge wolf, growling with evident hostility. He couldn't move. It seemed as if he would be shredded into bits the moment he budged even an inch. Izuku knew he could regenerate to some extent, but he didn't want to test its limits. The only way to survive was to calmly assess the situation.

The wolf was badly wounded. It was enormous; way bigger than any normal wolf. It had a horn on its forehead, possibly due to some sort of quirk or as a result of illegal experimentation. If things resulted in a head on fight, Izuku wasn't sure if he could survive. The wolf was injured, but it was still faster than Izuku. In terms of strength too, the wolf emerged superior.

Izuku could render the wolf immobile with his spider webs, but he wasn't confident about its tensile strength. If the wolf succeeded to break through the webs, then all Izuku would do is provide fuel to its hostility. Izuku could kill the wolf by shooting water at high pressure, but he wasn't cruel enough to do such a thing. The only option was to negotiate, but that would only be possible if the wolf was smart enough to understand him. Izuku really hoped that was the case, else the slime would end up as a snack.

"Um..."

Izuku nervously spoke. It was hard to control the tone of the sound he created with his ability, after all what he was producing was an imitation of human speech. He was a slime hence had no organs, which meant that he was incapable of conversing. Thanks to his quirk, he could finally gain abilities that could help him in communicating.

"Are you alright?" Izuku asked the wolf, and then silently scolded himself for asking such a stupid question. Of course the wolf wasn't okay. It was bleeding and its injury was probably caused by humans, which might be the reason for its hostility.

The wolf's ear twitched and Izuku hoped that it was because the beast understood him.

"Can you understand me?" he asked softly. He slowly approached the wolf, but received a vicious hiss in return. Izuku stopped in his tracks. The wolf glared at Izuku with menacing eyes, and then turned around and left. Izuku stayed still. He waited until he could no longer sense the wolf, and then sighed in relief.

"That was terrifying," he thought.

But his relief was short lived, for he heard a gunshot the very next second. Hunting was illegal in the Great Forest of Jura, so the gunshot indicated that something was wrong. Izuku expanded his senses. He did not have eyes, and instead, used an ability to sense the surrounding 'magicules'. Magicules are the building blocks of the very existence of life. They constitute everything, yet it seemed that only Izuku could sense them.

By combining his 'Magic Sense' with 'Sense Sound', which was another one of his many abilities, Izuku could observe every single activity happening in the forest and boy, things were not pretty. Dozens of people were ganging up on the wolf. A couple of arrows were sticking out of its fur. The wolf was bound by a chain made by a quirk. The assailants were attempting to put a muzzle on the wolf's mouth, which infuriated the little slime. One of the assailants urged the group to hurry up so that they could escape.

Izuku was selfish. He could simply turn a blind eye and pretend that all of this never happened, but he wasn't ungrateful. He knew something bad would happen to the wolf. The wolf had spared his life, so it was Izuku's turn to save him. After all, what kind of hero would abandon someone in need to save his own skin?

Izuku cleared his mind. He had to think rationally. He was up against a bunch of adults. He had no information about their quirks. The assailants weren't disarmed. He was clearly at a disadvantageous position. He could easily capture them with his webs, but again, he had never tested them against humans. Well... It was a do or die situation.

Izuku rushed towards the man who was putting the muzzle on the wolf. He shot water at high pressure in order to topple the man. The man dropped the muzzle and Izuku took this opportunity to 'eat' the chains binding the wolf with his quirk.

The other assailants attacked the little slime, but Izuku bound them together with the webs created by 'Sticky-Steel Thread'.

"6 down, 18 more to go," he thought.

Izuku glanced back to check the condition of the wolf. The wolf struggled to stand straight. It staggered as it stood up on its own feet. Izuku could only hope that the wolf ran away. That would make things easier. Alas, the wolf's intentions were way different. The wolf was smart; it could tell that the weird creature was there to save him. It knew that the blob wanted it to run away, yet its instincts were telling it to stay.

To stay or to run away... Isn't it obvious!

The wolf howled with all its might. It was feeling weak... perhaps it might die soon, but if it were to die, it would prefer to die saving the one who came to its aid.

Clouds appeared out of nowhere and covered the entire forest. Large tornados appeared swept through the area. Trees were uprooted and the plants were destroyed. The assailants were swept along the unfriendly winds, yet Izuku was surprisingly unscathed.

The violent storms died down, and the assailants were all successfully knocked unconscious. The wolf collapsed, having used too much energy. Izuku rushed towards the wolf's aid.

"Should I use... that?" he thought.

The wolf was bleeding at an alarming rate, and it had clearly overexerted itself while pulling that stunt earlier. Izuku pulled out a small vial from his storage and poured the liquid over the wolf's wounds. In an instant, the wolf's injuries began to heal. Izuku pulled out the arrows and then waited for the wound to completely disappear. The wolf was healed completely, but it seemed like there was something wrong. It seemed to grow weaker second by second.

"Is this because of exhaustion?" Izuku pondered, "Could it be that the wound was infected by the arrows?"

Close, but not correct. The arrows had poison in them, and the poison was strong enough to completely kill a human in a millisecond. It was a miracle that the wolf was still alive. Of course, Izuku had no way of knowing this and was under the assumption that the wound was infected.

"I guess some honey would do the trick," he thought.

Izuku produced a jar of honey from his storage. But this wasn't just a normal jar of honey. The honey was created by refining the nectar of several rare flowers. The entire process was done using Izuku's skill, and the honey acquired was capable of restoring any abnormal status. Not only that, but since the honey had no impurities, a single drop was worth millions of dollars. Izuku fed a spoonful of honey to the wolf, who now had complete faith in its savior.

In an instant, colour returned to the wolf's face, and the wolf stood up straight, brimming with energy. Izuku internally giggled and then bounced towards the wolf. The wolf nudged the slime and gestured him to sit on his back. Izuku did as instructed, and with a flash, the two were at the entrance of the forest. Izuku got down and bid the wolf farewell. He proceeded to go back home, yet the wolf kept following him. He paused in his tracks and turned around.

"Do you want to come with me?" he asked.

The wolf nodded rigorously.

"Um... I don't think it is feasible. I mean... you are too large and um..."

The wolf shrunk to the size of a normal dog and then wagged its tail enthusiastically.

"I guess it's okay. I mean... there might be other people after you, so coming with me might protect you."

The wolf barked with joy.

"Oh, right! Do you have a name?"

The wolf shook its head.

"Then... I'll call you Ranga!"

Just as Izuku finished the sentence, a bright light enveloped the wolf and the slime. Izuku felt something warm inside of him. It seemed as if he had gotten stronger. The same could be said for the wolf... no... Ranga. Unbeknownst to the two of them, Izuku and Ranga had just formed a soul corridor;an unbreakable bond that could only be formed by an unwavering mutual trust.

[Establishment of Soul Corridor is successful. Connection between Izuku Midoriya and Ranga is successful. Sharing of certain skills can now be done. Ranga has successfully acquired skills Sound Waves and Regeneration via Soul Corridor. Izuku Midoriya has successfully acquired the skill Lord of the Storm via Soul Corridor. Ranga has been granted the title: The Feral Beast. Izuku Midoriya has been granted the title: Master of the Feral Beast. Acquisition of Skill: Master of Illusions by Ranga is successful.]

"Master!"

Ranga wagged its tail as it nudged Izuku in happiness.

"Wait..." thought Izuku. "Did I just hear... Ranga's voice?"

.

.

.

She skipped as she walked down the street. She held a bag full of gifts for her nephew. She hummed peacefully, not knowing that her end was near. She entered her sister's house, oblivious to the fact that her quirk, the flame spirit Ifrit was going to take control over her, the number 7 hero, Shizue Izawa.

"I wonder if Izuku would like the new All Might figurine."

Chapter Text

Izuku stared at the mechanism he was holding. It was pretty complicated. It had been months, yet he still wasn't able to solve it. A single incorrect step would reset everything. He carefully moved the gears and then paused to observe the mechanism again.

The doorbell rang, and his mother, Inko Midoriya stood up to open it.

Izuku looked up curiously. He was sure they weren't expecting any guests that day. He bounced towards the front door, and to his surprise, the visitor was none other than his aunt, the number 7 hero, popularly known as the Conqueror of Flames, Shizue Izawa.

"Shizu! What brings you here today?" Izuku's mother spoke, a smile appearing on her face to show her evident happiness.

"Do I need a reason to visit my lovely sister and favourite nephew?" Shizu kneeled down and picked Izuku, pulling him into a tight hug.

"If I had known you were coming, I would have made more preparations."

"That would ruin the surprise, silly."

Shizu let go of Izuku and then followed Inko to the living room.

"I'll go make some tea," said Inko, as she rushed to the kitchen.

Shizu turned towards Izuku.

"So... how is that puzzle I gave you last time going on?" she asked.

"It is really hard. Every time I get to the triangle part, it just clicks back together and I have to start all over again."

"Do you enjoy solving it?"

"Very much! Every time I fail, I just feel like I have to do it no matter what it takes. I will solve it even if I have to fail a thousand times to do so."

"That type of mindset is admirable."

"You think so? The other kids say that it's stupid."

"Well, the other kids don't know as much as your aunt now, do they?"

"You're right."

That was when Shizu finally noticed a third presence in the room. Said person being Ranga who had been snoring peacefully all that time.

"Who is this new friend?" asked Shizu as she ruffled the wolf's head.

"That's Ranga. We took him in quite recently."

Inko rushed back to the living room with a tray full of teacups.

"I'm here."

Izuku and Inko conversed with Shizu for hours, until it was evening. That was when Inko realized that she had forgotten to go shopping and that they didn't have sufficient ingredients to make dinner.

"I'll be back shortly. Please take care of Izuku until then," she said before heading out of the house.

"I will," answered Shizu.

Sadly, just as Inko left, Shizu received an alert on her phone, asking for reinforcements in a nearby area.

"What should I do?! As a hero, I'm supposed to save those people, but I promised Inko to take care of Izuku."

Izuku could sense that something was bothering Shizu.

"Is there something wrong, aunt?"

"N-No. It's just that... there is a villain attack and the heroes are short staffed."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"He's right! Why am I over thinking every thing. All I have to do is hurry up and beat the villains and leave the clean up to the others. Simple."

"Alright. Let's go."

Shizu picked up Izuku and then perched him on her head.

"Izuku. I will be running at a very high speed. Do you think you can hold on?" she asked as she picked up her sword.

"Yup. I'll be fine."

"Alright. Brace yourself."

Shizu jumped over the roofs of the nearby buildings and reached the destination as fast as she could. It was hard not to spot the building where villain attack was taking place. Dozens of police cars were surrounding the building. A bunch of heroes were gathered near the entrance. Shizu made her way towards the group.

"What's the situation," she inquired.

"C-Conqueror of Flames?" one of the heroes stuttered.

"Do I need to repeat myself twice?"

"N-No ma'am."

Another hero approached Shizu. This one had a more confident demeanor, after all, he was the number 15 hero, Shishido.

"The villains have taken over the building. We don't know the number of Villains, and even the hostages. The villains have demanded 100 billion yen as ransom."

Shizu clicked her tongue. It seemed that it would take a longer time to deal with the villains that what she had anticipated.

"Um... I can help with that," Izuku squeaked from above her.

"You are?" The heroes stared at Izuku, confused. They had assumed that Shizu was wearing some new type of hat or something, and had definitely not expected it to speak.

"This is my nephew, Izuku," answered Shizu.

"Who the hell fights villains with their nephews on their head?"

Everyone thought this, yet no one dared to utter a single word. Nevertheless, Shishido remained unfazed.

"So... can you determine the number of villains in the building?" he asked.

"Yup. Give me a second."

Izuku expanded the range of his magic sense. By combining his magic sense with his ability 'Sense Sound Waves', he could determine not only the number of people inside, but also differentiate between the villains and the civilians.

Izuku took out a piece of paper from his stomach. The paper had the map of the building printed on it. Izuku marked the location of the people present in the building and then handed the map to Shizu.

"The ones marked with the dot are the villains. The squares are the hostages and the triangles are the other people," he stated.

"Is this accurate?" asked Shishido.

Shizu handed the map over to Shishido.

"You dare question my nephew?" Shizu raised her eyebrow.

"Alright. Now that we have a little more information, we should formulate a plan and-"

"There is no need for a plan. I'll go and defeat the villains and you will take care of the other bothersome stuff."

Shizu left no room for argument. She barged into the building and was instantly greeted by the anticipated villains. But these small fries could not even hold a candle against the impatient aunt. It didn't take Shizu more than a minute to defeat all the villains on that floor.

"Two villains incoming. One is approaching from behind. I'm guessing he has a physical enhancement quirk. The other is coming from above. He has a really large sword," said Izuku.

"Roger that."

Shizu swept through the entire building. Not a single villain was left unscathed.

"That's the last of them," she sighed.

"That was so cool, aunt."

Shizu could detect the stars forming in Izuku's non-existent eyes as he sung her praises.

"Alright. That's enough excitement for today. Let's go back home before your mom kills me for bringing you here."

Shizu walked out of the building with Izuku in her arms, only to me met by a crowd full of crazed fans and news reporters. It took a while to shake them all off. Finally, things calmed down, and the crowd dispersed.

"Conqueror of Flames. Thank you for rendering your assistance, even though it was your day off," Shishido bowed in gratitude.

Shizu nodded in response. Izuku bounced towards Shishido and then produced a piece of paper.

"Shishido! Can I have your autograph?"

"Sure thing."

Shishido's rock hard expression melted to a small smile at the sight of the bundle of joy. Unfortunately their happiness was short lived, for Shizu collapsed to the ground the very next second.

"Aunt Shizu!"

"Get back!" Shizu hissed.

Shishido picked a worried Izuku and then backed away in response to Shizu's order.

Shizu started glowing. A bright red aura enveloped her. The entire area around her started burning.

"W-What's going on?" asked Izuku.

Shizu writhed in pain as a creature made up of flames escaped her body.

"N-No way. Tell me this is a dream," said Shishido, who was now paralyzed with shock and fear.

"Shishido! Snap out of it. Tell me what is going on."

"T-That's... the great spirit of flames... Ifrit... the source of Shizu's power." Shishido paused before continuing.

"They said that the flame spirit had been fighting for control ever since Shizu awakened her quirk. They call her the Conqueror of Flames solely because the spirit never succeeded in doing so."

"Then... does that mean?"

"Yeah. The flame spirit has awoken."

Shishido placed Izuku on the ground.

"Kid. It is dangerous here. You need to run away."

"No. I'm not leaving you alone here. I can help."

"No way. Your aunt will kill me if I do so."

"My aunt will kill you either way!"

Shishido clicked his tongue.

"Fine. Just give me a second."

Shishido took out a radio transceiver.

"This is Shishido. We have an S rank threat here in Musutafu Sector 32. Shizue Izawa has lost control of the Flame Spirit. We need reinforcements immediately. All heroes present near the area are requested to evacuate the civilians."

Shishido let out a big sigh.

"Alright kid. Do you have any other shocking abilities that might help in this situation."

"Um... I have a huge amount of water stored with me."

"That won't work. We would need gallons of water to extinguish Ifrit's Flames, and even if we do have it at our disposal, there would be no point as it would just destroy the entire area."

"What about Sound Waves? I can push the oxygen away from the flames."

"That would be too reckless."

Izuku paused to think. Of course, he had a way to defeat the spirit, but the problem was that he did not have a resistance to the flames. Wait... he didn't have fire resistance, but he sure knew someone who did.

"Ranga," Izuku called for his friend.

"Yes master!" An eager voice responded.

"I need your help. I am approximately 6 km from your location. How long will it take for you to arrive?"

"Two minutes."

"Alright. I'm waiting for you."

Izuku looked up to Shishido.

"I have a plan, but to implement it we will have to stall for two minutes," he said.

"Alright kid. I'm putting my faith in you. I just hope that it isn't something reckless."

"Don't worry. It will definitely work."

"I hope so else we'll all end up as charred meat."

"Okay... now the question arises. How are we supposed to stall, again?"

Shishido was about to say something, but ended up shutting his mouth.

"That's... a very good question."

"Shishido."

"Hush child. Let me think."

"But-"

"I'm trying to concentrate here, kid."

"Ifrit has multiplied."

"WHAT?!"

Shishido face palmed.

"This has become a bigger issue than what I anticipated. How long until your plan to start?"

"My back up is coming as fast as he could."

Shishido glanced at Ifrit.

"Ah shit. Ifrit is running away."

"Oh no you don't!"

Izuku bound Ifrit using his Sticky-Steel Thread, and then pulled the spirit closer. The entire area was scorching, and Izuku could see that Shishido was sweating profusely.

Ifrit struggled to break free from the threads binding him. Izuku found it hard to keep the spirit in place.

"Ranga! How much time?" he asked impatiently.

"I'm almost there, master."

Izuku let go of the thread, causing Ifrit to topple face front to the ground. That was when Ranga burst into the scene and landed a solid strike on the berserk creature. Ranga placed his paw on the burning spirit in order to render it immobile. The flames didn't bother him, after all, his fur was to thick to be penetrated by such 'measly' attacks. Izuku bounced towards the spirit, who was now struggling to escape Ranga's grasp. This was it. This was the only way to defeat the spirit. Izuku murmured a small apology.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot let you spread chaos even more."

Izuku stretched over Ifrit and completely covered it. The spirit struggled, yet it couldn't do much with so many restrictions. Izuku completely devoured the spirit, and then shrunk down to his normal size.

[Analysis of Flame Spirit is Complete. Acquisition of skills Inferno and Body Double by Izuku Midoriya is successful. Title: Conqueror of Flames has been transferred from Shizue Izawa to Izuku Midoriya. Ifrit is now under control of Izuku Midoriya.]

"We are here! What's the situation?"

A bunch of heroes arrived and stopped next to Shishido. Some panted and gasped for air. It was evident that they had been running to arrive as soon as they could.

"You're late. The enemy has already been defeated," sighed Shishido, upset that he couldn't do anything.

"Where-"

Shishido gestured the heroes to be silent and pointed at the disheartening exchange between the slime and his aunt.

The slime was sitting right next to Shizu's body. His voice cracked due to evident sadness.

"A-Aunt Shizu. It's going to be okay. Hold on. The ambulance is coming."

"It's... okay, Izuku. I knew my end was near. I'm glad that I could spend my last moments with you."

Although it wasn't physically possible, everyone could sense that Izuku was crying. He was too upset to even speak.

"Izuku. I have a favor to ask of you."

"I'll do anything for you, aunt."

"Please eat me."

"W-What?"

"If I am going to die, I want to die helping you, Izuku."

"N-No way! You will be fine. You will not die, aunt. Don't say that."

"Please, Izuku. This is what I want. I have lived long enough."

"I can't eat you! I don't want to. Besides, it is illegal."

Shizu turned to look at the gathering of heroes.

"I'm sure the heroes will turn a blind eye to this, right?"

Oh boy. Even at her deathbed, the aunt sure was terrifying. Shishido raised his arms and surrendered.

"Shizue Izawa attempted to subdue the flame spirit. The spirit was vanquished but the hero was burned alive in the process. Not even her ashes remained," said Shishido. "I'm sure this cover story would be enough to convince the heroes and the case would be dropped."

The other heroes nodded in agreement.

"You heard the man, Izuku."

Shizu smiled meekly. Her hair started turning white. Wrinkles appeared on her face. She started aging; her youthful appearance had long gone.

"It's time for me to go, Izuku. Please fulfill my final wish."

Shizu closed her eyes. It seemed as if she was sleeping, but everyone knew that she would never wake up.

"Rest well, aunt Shizu."

The slime stretched and completely covered his aunt. A dazzling light surrounded the nephew-aunt duo. Once the light was gone, a little girl who looked no older that 6 appeared. 'She' was wearing the oversized clothes of 'her' aunt. Tears rolled down 'her' cheeks as she mourned the death of 'her' aunt. 'She' had finally attained the much desired human form, but at the cost of 'her' aunt.

[Acquisition of human form... Successful]

"I know that this ain't the right time to say this, but is no one going to question the large wolf at the back?"

.

.

.

He had finally shaken off the criminals following them. Yet he was aware that they weren't going to last long. His brother was unconscious and bleeding; he had shielded him from a barrage of bullets. He, too, was severely wounded. A knife was sticking out near his waist. His arm was bleeding from bullet wounds. He saw his vision blur. The last thing he saw was a small dog with a blue blob on top of it.

Chapter Text

"I heard the two are finally getting kicked out."

"That took longer than expected."

"Good riddance. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near those cursed bastards."

Don't say anything. They are doing this on purpose. They just want to provoke us. Don't-

The man woke up with a jolt. He was in an unfamiliar place. He calmly observed the situation. He was lying on a single platform bed. The room he was in wasn't fairly large, but it wasn't small either. The walls were covered with dozens of All Might posters. The shelves were full of an insane amount of All Might figurines. There was a small table on the corner one which several complex mechanisms were kept. There was an open bookshelf right next to the table. All of a sudden, he tensed up. He heard footsteps outside the room. The door opened and- oh goodness! A goddess had appeared. Of course, that was over exaggeration. The newcomer was just so beautiful that she could be mistaken as a goddess. The little girl held a tray on which bowl of cold water and a white handkerchief were kept. She stared at the man with wide eyes.

"Oh! You're awake," she said.

The man didn't answer. The girl slowly approached him, carefully watching her step. She stumbled occasionally, as if she were walking for the first time in years.

"Where is my brother?" the man asked.

"Your brother? You mean the Redhead? He is still unconscious. He is sleeping in my mother's room."

The man immediately crawled out of the bed and rushed for the door.

"Wait! You haven't recovered completely yet- and there he runs off. Ranga! Help me walk."

The girl walked out of the room, leaning against her 'dog' for support. She found the man in the living room. He was looking around, trying to figure out where his brother was.

"Your brother is in that room," the girl stated as she pointed towards the door at the corner.

The man didn't utter a single word, and instead, barged into the room the girl pointed at. Just as the girl had said, his brother was lying on the bed, covered with a blanket. A white cloth was resting on his forehead. His brother seemed to have a healthy complexion and showed no sign of being injured. The man approached his brother and held his hand. His pulse was steady. The man sighed in relief, before falling down on the floor in exhaustion.

"Whoa there," exclaimed the girl.

"You haven't recovered completely, so it would be better if you take it slow and steady."

"How did you find us?" the man asked. His tone was serious.

"I found the two of you bleeding in a nearby alleyway. Since you were being chased by some shady looking guys, I figured that you wouldn't appreciate it if I just dropped you off at some random hospital, so I brought you here instead. I'm Izuku, by the way."

"How is my brother?"

"He is fine. He got a fever while I was treating him. He should be awake in an hour or so."

The man didn't say anything and simply nodded.

"You should also rest. Although your wounds weren't as severe as you brother's, they were still pretty bad."

"How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours."

The man's eyes widened. With the amount of blood he had lost, he should have been unconscious for a couple of days. He opened his mouth to ask another question, and then shut it.

"Stop. Don't be rude to your savior."

"You should sit down. My medicine cannot recover the blood lost. I might not know much in the field, but I can tell that you are overexerting yourself."

The man obeyed and sat down on the couch.

"Here. Have some apple juice."

Izuku placed a glass on top of the table with shaky hands, as if he was not used to doing such tasks. Some of the juice spilled on the table, but the man didn't mind. Izuku sat down next to the man.

"By the way, I didn't catch your name," he said.

"I don't have a name."

Izuku didn't press any further, for which the man was grateful.

"What should I call you, then?"

"Call me whatever you want."

"Um... the... blue man?"

"Good enough."

Of course, this was only a temporary measure so that the child didn't have trouble in addressing the man.

The two of them sat in an awkward silence. Izuku's dog(?) approached her and the girl ruffled the dog's head. The dog then climbed on the couch and then fell asleep beside her.

The man took a sip of the apple juice. It was sweet and was unlike any other drink that he had before, not that there was a lot to choose from. He tried to recall what had happened when he ran away.

"You two better behave. Your new master will be arriving shortly. Be grateful that they even bothered to buy you."

Ah yes... they were being sold to villains. They were in a small dark room. The lady had come to inform them of their departure, and then... his brother rampaged. He crushed her skull with his bare hands, and then the two of them ran away. They were being followed. Many of the villains who were part of the trafficking ring were chasing them. They shot a barrage of bullets. He was about to get shot, yet his brother protected him. Before passing out, his brother burnt most of the attackers with his quirk. Unfortunately, some of the villains survived the attack. One of them tried to kill the man with a knife. Since he was carrying his brother, he couldn't dodge fast enough. He ran as fast as he could while carrying his unconscious brother. With much difficulty, he managed to shake off the villains. He laid his brother in the alleyway and then sat down next to him. His vision blurred. He knew he was about to pass out. The last thing he saw was a dog approaching him at a high speed. The blue blob sitting on top of it
transformed into a little girl. The girl was shaking him rigorously in order to wake him up. That was the last thing he remembered before falling unconscious.

"..ue....an..."

"Huh?"

The man was shaken from his train of thoughts by the voice of the little girl.

"Mr. Blue Man! Your brother is awake."

His brother... is awake?! The man rushed into the room at full speed. Just as the girl had said, his brother was awake. He was sitting on the bed with a bowl of meat soup on his lap. He seemed to be brimming with energy and his aura was completely different than when they were captives of the villains. It was bright and cheery.

"Yo!" his brother called out to him.

The man slowly approached his brother. He stopped right next to him and then...

SMACK!

"YOU IDIOT! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS? TO THINK THAT YOU WOULD RECKLESSLY BARGE OUT OF A PLACE SWARMING WITH VILLAINS! I USED TO THINK YOU WERE THE RATIONAL ONE BUT NOW I AM HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS. WHY ON EARTH DID YOU-"

While the man was busy scolding his brother, Izuku snuck out of the room to give them some privacy. That was when the doorbell rang. Izuku answered the door, only to be met by two strangers.

"Hey kid. Have you seen these two people around here? They have been missing for quite some time now."

Izuku observed the pictures. The pictures were of the two men that he had just saved.

"What is your relation with them?" he asked.

"That is none of your business," growled the stranger.

"Alright then..."

Izuku proceeded to close the door, but the second stranger stopped him.

"You know something, don't you?" he said.

Izuku didn't utter a single word. The two men entered the house and started their search.

"Hey! You two are trespassing on private property. You will be treated as criminals if I report you to the police," yelled Izuku.

The first stranger paused in his tracks and then approached Izuku. He grabbed him by his hair and then pointed a gun at his forehead.

"Listen here kid. It seems like you don't understand the position you are in. Tell us where these two men are, and I will consider sparing your life."

"No way!"

"Alright then. You asked for it-"

Before the man could shoot Izuku, an inferno of flames attacked the villain holding him hostage.

"You bastards! How dare you hold a little child as hostage! Have you no shame?" the Redhead who was definitely supposed to be in bed and recovering growled at the villains.

"Shame? You're one to talk. If I were you, I would have killed myself a long time ago," the villain from earlier stated.

The redhead created a small blaze of fire and proceeded to throw it at the villain, but the all of a sudden, the fire dispersed.

"What the-"

"Surprised?" the other villain cackled in glee. "You didn't think we did our homework now, did you? This device created by yours truly is the nemesis of every flame user to exist. You are powerless now that we have this weapon at our disposal."

The redhead clicked his tongue.

"What do you want from us?"

"What I want? I want you to die a brutal death. You killed our own kind. Don't expect any mercy." The villain let out an evil laugh. "I want to see the despair on your face. Let's see what expression you will make once I kill the very person that saved you."

"You dare try to kill a child."

"You are in no position to negotiate."

The redhead knew that he was powerless in this situation, but it seemed like the villains had forgotten one thing. He had a brother. His actions were just a ruse to get his brother to sneak behind the villain who was holding their savior hostage. His brother, the blue man stabbed the first villain in the arms. The villain dropped Izuku in pain and winced at the sight of blood. The redhead smirked.

"What was that, again?" he taunted.

"Just because you succeeded to rescue the hostage doesn't mean you have the upper hand. You can't use your quirk, and you cannot fight well since you are still recovering. And guess what? I was just stalling for time. Backup will be coming any minute now, so just give up. Despair on the fact that because of you, a little girl will die a young death."

"Um..." A little voice squeaked. Everyone looked at the source of the voice-the little girl who was definitely not bothered in the slightest by the fact that she was held hostage literally a second ago. "Are you implying that those weaklings that my dog defeated a second ago for attempting to burn our entire apartment were your backup?"

Silence enveloped the entire area. No one uttered a single word. Along with the twins, both the villains were dumbstruck by the news.

"Your dog... did WHAT?" The second villain was the first to recover from his shock.

Izuku simply pointed out of the window.

"Those guys are your backup, right?"

The villain gaped at the defeated villains and then at Izuku in silence. He then slumped down in defeat. If the dog was capable enough to defeat his backups, who were way stronger than him, then there was no guarantee that he would survive. He seemed to have understood the difference in the level of him and the dog.

"I-I surrender."

The other villain surrendered as well. Now that the chaos was over, Izuku called Shishido and explained the situation to him. The heroes came and apprehended the villains. Things calmed down, and finally, Izuku was now sitting in front of the redhead and the blue man, a menacing smile plastered over his face.

"Now that it's all over, mind telling me why you decided to fight a bunch of villains when you are clearly supposed to be resting?"

"We heal fast," the blue man said softly.

"Oh! Is that so?"

Another wave of awkward silence washed over.

"I think I deserve an explanation. Why were those villains after you? Of course, you don't have to say it if you don't want to. I'm just a bit curious."

The redhead and the blue man looked at each other and then nodded in agreement.

"We are from the Kijin Tribe of Erisena. Every once in a while, some children are born awaken the cursed marks along with their quirks. These children are disinherited and confined in a separate area. Since my brother and I were the unfortunate ones to possess the curse, we were locked in an abandoned house outside the settlement and were only provided the bare minimum to survive. After a few years, we were sold to a group of human traffickers. We were supposed to be shipped off to some random villain group today, but we managed to run away. We were chased after and were attacked by the villains. We managed to evade them and bled out in the alleyway. And that was when we were saved by you."

The redhead finished narrating the story and looked up, only to be met by the teary face of his savior.

"T-This is so cruel. How could they do this? No one should be treated this way."

Izuku started bawling his eyes out. The twins had no idea how to react to this, and instead stared at the slime dumbfounded.

"It's fine. This happened a long time ago," said the blue man.

"To think that they would take away your names and revoke your human rights! If I ever see them, I will give them a piece of my mind."

"Ah... no... it wasn't that severe."

Izuku held both the blue man and the redhead's arms.

"You can stay here with me. I'm sure my mom will understand your situation and welcome you with open arms."

"I- uh..."

The blue man couldn't say no to the look on Izuku's face. He ended up surrendering and agreed to stay over.

His twin also agreed, and then suddenly kneeled over.

"To possess such kindness to not only save the lives of complete strangers, but also offer them a place to stay! Such generosity is to be considered second to none. I can only hope to repay with my heart and soul. I hereby pledge my allegiance to my lady."

"Huh?"

Izuku stared at the redhead in confusion.

The blue man sighed.

"He sure had to make it so dramatic," he thought before following his brother's footsteps.

"I, too, swear my loyalty to my savior," he declared.

"WHAT?!"

Izuku was completely surprised at their sudden announcement.

"Whoa! Hold on? I think you are confusing something. I can't be your master! I am just a normal kid who happened to encounter some people in need of help. I just did what any other person would do."

"You saved our life. We must repay you with our dedication," stated the redhead.

"Uh... Um..."

"Is that... not alright?"

"I give up! Alright! I accept."

The redhead smiled in victory.

"Um... Mr.... uh... now that I think of it, I never decided on what to call you," said Izuku, as he stared at the redhead. "Er... Mr. Red Man? No. That won't do."

Izuku bit his lip as he tried to come up with a name.

"That's it!" he exclaimed. "From now on, you will be called Benimaru, and..." He then turned to look at the blue man. "You will be Souei."

A bright light surrounded the twins and the slime. The twins felt a wave of warmth wash over themselves. They felt a surge of newfound power. Izuku sighed at the feeling of déjà vu. Another soul corridor had been formed by a sense of loyalty and endless devotion. What comes next is something that will create uproar in the society. The Twin Oni will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. And all this will be the result of a careless mistake, not that it is a bad one.

[Establishment of Soul Corridor is successful. Connection between Izuku Midoriya and Benimaru is successful. Connection between Izuku Midoriya and Souei is successful. Sharing of certain skills can now be done. Benimaru has successfully acquired skills Limitless and Regeneration via Soul Corridor. Izuku Midoriya has successfully evolved the skill Inferno to Black Flames. Benimaru has successfully evolved the skill Ogre Flame to Lord of the Flames. Souei has successfully acquired skills Body Double, Sticky-Steel Thread and Regeneration via Soul Corridor. Izuku Midoriya has successfully acquired the skill Shadow Movement via Soul Corridor. Ranga has successfully acquired the skill Shadow Movement via Soul Corridor. Acquisition of Skill: Inquisitor by Souei is successful. Benimaru has been granted the title: The Frenzy Warrior. Souei has been granted the title: The Devious Spy. Izuku Midoriya has been granted the title: The Lord of the Twin Oni.]

.

.

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The forest was burning. The flames were spreading faster than he could control them. He knew he should have listened, yet his heart didn't want to. Now all he could hope was for a hero to come and save him.

Chapter Text

Chaos... That was the only word to describe the situation unveiling. The entire house was messed up. The furniture was broken. The utensils were lying scattered on the ground. A bunch of random objects were being flung in the air. How did this happen. Ah, yes. It was all Izuku's fault.

Now, the thing is... Izuku had just recently acquired a human form. After living 4 years as a slime, there was no way Izuku would be used to live like a human. So he started learning the ways of a human. The first thing he did was learn how to walk. Now... walking isn't learnt in a single day. There is a reason why babies start by crawling. And for Izuku, walking was a especially harder since he didn't have a skeletal system to support him. After days of practicing, he could walk a couple of steps without support.

Izuku had a habit of going out every morning in order to learn walking. He normally took Ranga with him as he couldn't go alone. But now, since he had two humans with him, he believed that taking one of them with him would be more fruitful. So he decided to go with Benimaru. This made the other Oni and the Wolf feel a twinge of jealousy. And this started a full on war between the three. They started fighting with their fists. They threw each other around the house, breaking the furniture and other things in the process.

This wasn't a problem; Izuku could fix everything with his quirk. But Izuku found it irritating that the two grown up men were fighting with a wolf because of the dumbest of reason. Izuku too a deep breath and then yelled with all his might.

"ENOUGH ALREADY!"

The three servants paused in their tracks and stared at their master. Izuku took a few heavy steps towards the trio.

"Ranga. Your reasons for starting this fight were plain stupid. Same goes for you, Souei." Izuku stared at Benimaru straight in the eyes.

"Benimaru. I didn't expect you to be infuriated by such childish provocations. I am extremely disappointed in the three of you. I will be going outside alone. By the time I come back, I expect this mess to be cleaned and your actions to be reflected."

Izuku walked towards the front door and then turned around.

"We are living under the same roof, so it is best that the three of you get along," he said before leaving the house and slamming the door behind him. The servants stared at the door in silence, processing what had just happened. Meanwhile Izuku, who had just stormed outside was regretting his decision.

"Oh well. They asked for it," he thought as he walked through the hallway. He had a bigger problem at hand. The elevators were out of service, so he had to climb the stairs all the way down from the third floor. He sighed.

"This is going to be a long day."

It took Izuku an hour to climb down the entire flight of stairs. Of course, it would have been easier had he turned into a slime, but he liked to challenge himself every once in a while. He finally headed to the children's park. It was Monday, so the park was deserted. This meant that Izuku had the park all for himself. Izuku paused in his tracks. Normally it wasn't this lonely when he strolled in the park. Perhaps that was because Ranga was there to talk with him while he walked. Izuku decided to have a change of pace. He walked down the empty streets.

He closed his eyes and listened to the blowing wind. He recalled that his mother had mentioned it was going to rain soon. It had been a while since he had last seen rain with his own two eyes. He remembered splashing in the puddles with his mother back then...

While he was busy getting lost in his train of thought, Izuku had ventured off track and entered an unknown pathway. Izuku only realized that he had gone the wrong path only after he had tripped on his own two feet. Izuku looked around and then panicked at the current predicament.

"Don't tell me!" He let out a long sigh. "I'm lost, aren't I?"

The situation was pretty grim. Izuku was lost in some unknown streets. There was not a single person in sight. It was raining and there were no places for shelter nearby. Izuku was convinced that he had accidently strolled in one of the forbidden streets. The streets were called forbidden as the place was bustling with villainous activities. That being said, the place was deserted so Izuku wasn't that sure. Izuku decided that the best course of action would be to ask someone for directions. But that would only be possible if someone was actually present. Of course, he had the option of wandering aimlessly, but he believed the idea to be reckless. He could always contact his subordinates, but he was a tad mad at them. Besides, if things became ugly, he could always use his quirk. He had a quirk license, and he could transform into a bat and fly away.

Izuku expanded the range of his Magic Sense.

"Ah... there it is," thought Izuku as his ability detected a person near his location. Izuku approached the person, who on closer inspection turned out to be a teenager. The teenager was had burn marks all over his body. He was drenched and was crying, or at least, that was what it seemed like to Izuku. Izuku took out an umbrella from his storage. Although the rain wouldn't affect him, it was a different story for the person in front of him. He could catch a cold. Izuku positioned the umbrella above the teenager, who was too preoccupied in his thoughts to notice the little slime.

"Are you alright?"

The three words that Izuku spoke snapped the boy out of his trance.

"Huh? Wha-?"

The boy stared at the slime in confusion and the concentrated at the situation in hand. He was drenched. Funny. He never realized that it was raining. The girl in front of him was dripping from head to two. Her eyes showed concern for the boy, an expression that he hadn't seen for so long.

"I'm fine," he mumbled. He didn't need a complete stranger's concern. The girl didn't say anything and just sat down next to the boy.

"I said I'm fine!" the boy growled.

"I heard you the first time," the girl responded.

"Then leave me alone."

"There is no way a normal person would leave an injured child alone in the rain."

"Leave the hero work to the adults. Go back home."

The girl shut up.

"I don't know the way back home," she said quietly.

The boy disheveled his hair in frustration.

"Fine! I'll help you back home," he declared. The girl smiled in victory.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm only doing this because adults can't be trusted."

"Alright. Whatever you say," said the girl. "Where do you live, kid?" asked the boy.

"I'm not a kid," protested the girl.

"Sure."

"I'm Izuku Midoriya. You?"

"Call me whatever you want. Now, where do you live?"

"Don't know."

The boy sighed. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

"Do you know any landmark that can help you figure your way back?" he asked.

Izuku paused to think for a moment.

"There is an entrance to the Jura Forest near my home."

"That won't do. There are a lot of entrances to that forest."

"Um... Ah right! Yu-kun's school!"

"Yu-kun's school? What's that?"

"Morinomiya? What about Morinomiya Elementary School?"

"Nope. I don't keep track of every single school in the city."

"Um..."

Izuku scrunched his eyebrows. He didn't know much about the city as he rarely used to go out. Things would have been much easier if he had Ranga with him. Ranga had memorized the map of the entire city. No! He shouldn't be that dependant on him. Izuku closed the umbrella. The rain had already stopped. Wait! Rain... water....

"Takoba Beach!" Izuku exclaimed. "Our house is near Takoba Beach."

"Takoba Beach? That's pretty far away. It is dozens of miles away from our current location. How the hell did you end up here?"

"I... was lost in my train of thought and the next thing I knew, I was here."

"Alright... What is your curfew?"

"I don't have one."

Izuku checked his watch. It was 11 am. It had only been two hours since he had left his home. His house shouldn't be that far, right?

"Brother Crisp!" he called out to the boy.

"Huh? Who are you calling 'Crisp'!"

"How long will it take for us to reach my house?"

"You tired already?"

"Nope."

"With how slow you are walking, it would be a miracle if we managed to reach there by tomorrow."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I have time to kill. Might as well just help a lost girl."

"I'm not a girl."

The teenager stared at Izuku in shock.

"You're not a girl?!"

"I'm a boy, I guess."

The teenager stared at the Izuku's face. Now that he looked more carefully, Izuku seemed to have a couple of masculine features as well.

"I guess androgynous is the right term," he stated.

"Andro- what?"

Izuku tilted his head in confusion.

"It means having the physical characteristics of both genders."

"But wouldn't that imply to those who have a definite gender?"

"You don't have a gender?"

"I was a male before awakening my quirk."

"I see... cases of change of gender after awakening of quirk aren't unheard of. Then what are you, exactly?"

"I'm a slime. Slimes are genderless. So technically I don't have a gender. I just prefer to be addressed as a male because I was a male. It isn't incorrect to consider me as a female."

"That's complicated."

"I get that a lot. Normally I don't mind it when strangers misgender me, but since we are going to be sticking together for a while, I would feel more comfortable if you address me as a male."

"Got it."

The two walked for a while in awkward silence.

"Brother Crisp-" Izuku broke the silence.

"Don't call me that!"

"But you said that I could call you whatever I want."

"When I said that, I expected you to address me by a proper name, not by a stupid nickname based on my physical appearance."

The teenager was greeted with silence.

"Whatever. Just call me Touya," said the teenager.

"Touya... That's a pretty name."

"I hate that name."

Izuku didn't press further, for he knew that Touya must have had his own reasons.

"By the way, it this has been bothering me for a while now. Have you just learnt how to walk or something? Your walking speed is equivalent to that of a toddler."

Izuku laughed nervously.

"It is just as you said."

"You got to be kidding me. Anyways, you got any money?"

"What for?"

"There is a subway station nearby. Boarding a train will save us some time."

Izuku pulled out a small pouch from his storage. It was something his mother had given him ages ago, just in case he was ever in the need of money.

"Will this be enough?"

Touya began to count the money but paused halfway. His instincts said something was wrong.

"Touya. We are surrounded. I count 45 villains heavily armed."

Izuku's statement confirmed his suspicions.

Touya sweated nervously. This was a really big problem. How was he supposed to protect a kid who could barely even walk from a bunch of thugs? The villains revealed themselves from their hiding places.

"Hey kid. Follow me. I have some candy."

There it is. The most cliché line for the most cliché kidnapping...

"No thanks," said Touya. "My parents told me never to follow strangers."

Another one of the kidnappers spoke up.

"Too bad, kid. We aren't giving you a choice."

Touya prepared to fight. He could control his quirk fairly well. The only downside was that he always ended up burning himself in the process. Izuku seemed to know what he was thinking, for he simply grabbed his hand and shook his head.

"Don't," he whispered. "We are outnumbered. Even if we put up a fight, it will all be in vain because we are against a bunch of adults. All we will do is expose our quirks."

Izuku looked at the villain straight in the eye.

"I surrender."

The villain cackled in glee.

"The little girl understands her position."

Touya sighed. He was definitely going to regret this.

"I surrender as well."

He could see that the villains were delighted.

"I'm glad things ended without any unnecessary bloodshed."

The next thing Touya knew, he was thrown inside a small room with Izuku and was locked inside. Touya waited until the footsteps of the kidnappers faded.

"What was that?" he hissed once the kidnappers were gone.

Izuku knew what the teenager was implying.

"I chose the best course of action for the both of us."

"I could have fought them and-"

"-and could have alerted them of your capabilities."

Touya remained silent. He knew that Izuku was speaking the truth, but that didn't mean he liked it.

"These kidnappers aren't some random street thugs. They are experienced. I can tell that."

"Cut the chase and tell me what you want."

"Impatient much. Long story short, we escape."

Touya was too flabbergasted to utter a single word. To think that the slime would propose such a reckless plan!

"I know what you are thinking, but hear me out," said Izuku.

"Fire away."

"One of my abilities allow me to sense everything around me. This means that I have already mapped the entire building and devised an escape route, counting in all the camera's blind spots. The only problem is that-"

"Let me guess... it's the part where we alert the villains once we encounter one of them."

"Yes. We can go around via the vents, but we would have to enter the hallways in order to change floors. I have noted all the blind spots of the cameras of those places, but if we were to encounter a villain at that point, then we are done for. We can wait for the villain to pass away, but our escape is a race against time. Once the villains are alerted of our escape, we can only hope that we make it out alive."

"Well, I guess this plan is more feasible than fighting the villains head on."

"Fortunately, there are no cameras in this room. We can start the plan now."

Izuku pointed at a spot at the corner.

"There is a vent over there. Help me up."

Touya helped Izuku climb on his shoulders. It took Izuku a little effort, but he successfully managed to reach the opening of the vents. The vents were tightly shut but this was no problem for Izuku, as he simply yanked them open. Izuku climbed inside and then created a rope using sticky-steel thread for Touya. Touya climbed inside the vents and the two started crawling. The vents were like a maze, and Touya didn't know where they were even going. He really hoped that they weren't lost.

Izuku stopped abruptly, and then warned Touya to be as silent as he could. He then pointed towards the opening of the vents and told Touya to imitate exactly what he did. Izuku carefully opened the vents and then jumped out of them. He carefully walked leaning against the wall, and then crawled on the floor until he reached the staircase. He gestured Touya to arrive quickly. Once Touya finally arrived, the two of them rushed down the staircase. With a lot of effort, Izuku and Touya had successfully evaded the villains on the top three floors. They were now on the last floor when an alarm started blazing.

"What's going on?" asked Touya.

"They found out that we escaped," said Izuku. "We need to get out of here. Fast!"

Izuku stopped in his tracks.

"From a scale of One to Ten, with One being equivalent to the fighting prowess of a baby and Ten being the strength of All Might, how strong would you consider yourself."

"Maybe a three? I can fight better than an average adult."

"Alright. What I am going to do next is really reckless. In the worst case scenario, you will have to fight."

"I'm guessing that we're running."

Izuku transformed into a slime, momentarily surprising Touya.

"You catch on quick. I cannot run, so you will have to carry me."

"Got it!"

Touya slammed the vents open and jumped out of them with Izuku in his arms. He started running as fast as he could, the other villains hot on his trail.

"Take a right turn down that corner," instructed Izuku.

Touya nodded and did as instructed. They were almost there. Just one more right and they will finally be out of this place. Alas, the final boss is always left for the last. Standing in their way was a really huge guy with a super long mustache. Izuku transformed into his human form. That form was more suitable for fighting than his slime form.

"Touya... deal with the other incoming villains. I'll deal with the long mustache guy," he whispered.

Touya responded with a nod.

Izuku slowly approached long mustache. The mustache man waited patiently to see what the little girl could do. I mean... it's just a little girl. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right? Once Izuku was within the range of the mustache man, he punched the man with all his might. Now... here's the thing... Izuku is a slime who has recently gained a human form. This means that he is not used to the human ways. But since he has been practicing for so long, he knows how to move his limbs the way he wants to, even though it's really hard.

However, let's not just forget the fact that Izuku is a slime. Slimes do not have any physical limitations. This would apply to Izuku's human form too. This meant that Izuku force behind Izuku's punch had no limits. With enough practice, Izuku could control that force, but like I said, Izuku has no practice whatsoever. This means that his punch was strong enough to rival All Might. Thus, as a result the mustache man was blown away by sheer force. But... aren't we all forgetting something?

Like Newton said, 'Every action has an equal and opposing force.' If the force applied by Izuku was strong enough to send a grown man flying, then what effect would it have on a little child whose mass was almost negligible? In other words, Izuku too was sent flying backwards, and he slammed straight into a wall. This distracted Touya, who was already having the lower hand in a battle against a bunch of adults. The villains seemed to be unfazed by the fact that their strongest was sent flying, and instead, aimed their attacks towards Izuku. Knowing that there was no way Izuku would be able to handle so many attacks, Touya rushed towards Izuku and shielded him, getting shot in the process.

"It is painful..." thought Touya as he fell face first on the ground. "... Just like that time in the forest." Touya closed his eyes. "Am I going to die for real this time?"

He opened his eyes and saw Izuku's face. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. He was shaking Touya rigorously and screaming out his name. Izuku, who had been completely calm the entire time, was finally losing his rationality. He was panicking. The situation was no longer in his favor. The villains were surrounding him, which meant that he no longer had an escape route. His companion was bleeding right in front of him. He could heal him right then and there, but that would only increase his worth in the eyes on the villains. They could shoot Touya again and kill him, he wouldn't be able to do a single thing.

If only they were in a safe place, away from these villains, where no one was watching! The next thing Izuku knew, the gods had answered his calls and he was no longer in the villain's hideout, and instead, was in an abandoned warehouse. Touya was lying right next to him. Izuku looked around and wondered what had happened. No... he shouldn't waste his time brainstorming. He needed to tend Touya first.

Izuku took out a pair of tweezers from his storage. Touya was shot, so he needed to take out the bullets first.

"This is going to be painful," he warned the boy.

Touya clenched his teeth and hissed in pain as Izuku took out the bullets.

"That's the last of them," said Izuku, as he pulled out the last bullet. He pulled out a a flask from his storage and then poured the contents over Touya's injuries. The injuries disappeared, as if they were never there in the first place. Touya got up in surprise, before collapsing down in weakness.

"Calm down. You lost a lot of blood. You shouldn't be moving that much," said Izuku.

"What was that?" asked Touya. "It is as if I was never shot. Heck, even the burn marks disappeared. Such a flawless recovery would only be possible if one has a healing quirk."

"It's an ointment I created with the help of my quirk. I extracted all the useful parts of various medicinal plants and then combined them to make it."

"I see... why did you use something so priceless on me?"

"Why did you take the bullets for me?"

"Who knows?" Touya lay down on the floor. "I guess... you remind me of my brother."

"You have a brother?" asked Izuku.

"Two, actually. And a sister."

"Lucky. I'm an only child."

"You're just like Natsuo... naïve."

The two of them sat in awkward silence.

"You are really kind, Touya," stated Izuku.

"Hah? What part of me is kind?"

"You chose to help me when I was lost."

"Like I said, adults can't be trusted. Who knows whether they would even bother to send you back home."

"You took the bullets for me."

"I- uh..."

Touya paused to think of an excuse. That was when he realized something.

"Hold up," he said. "How the hell did we escape the villains. I'm pretty sure we were surrounded or something."

Izuku pondered the question. "I might be wrong, but I think it could be a part of my quirk."

"I don't see how a slime has anything to do with teleportation."

"That... is something even I am wondering."

"Then... can you get use out of here?"

Izuku closed his eyes and tried to activate the quirk.

"I'm not getting anything."

"That's a shame."

"I can call someone for help."

"NO!" Touya yelled, and then cleared his throat before mumbling a calmer 'No'.

"Then... what should we do?"

Touya tried to come up with something, but got nothing.

"You ran away from home, didn't you?" said Izuku. Touya hated how quick Izuku was to catch on.

"At first, I thought that your house had burned down and you were that only one that survived, but when you talked about your brother, you acted like he was alive. I'm guessing that you hate your parents, so you ran away. But since there hasn't been any news of your disappearance, I guess it is either that your parents don't care, or you faked your death in order to escape. I feel like the latter is more likely."

Touya sighed.

"You're smart."

"I get that a lot."

Touya looked at the ceiling,

"You weren't wrong when you said that I hate my parents. I am a result of a quirk marriage. My father wanted to create a perfect hero who could surpass All Might. So he married my mom in hopes of creating a child with the perfect half and half quirk."

"Half and half?"

"Half cold and half hot. Since quirks have limits, possessing another quirk that can counter those limits would help in surpassing those limits. I didn't have the quirk that my father wanted, but my fire was stronger than his. That was why he started training me. He made me believe that I could be a greater hero than him. But then, we found out that I had no resistance to fire. If I were to use my quirk, I would only burn myself in the process. He forbade me from training ever again. I didn't want that, so I started training in secret. My father continued on his dream to create a perfect child. He gave birth to my sister and then my brother. Both of them had an ice quirk and were considered failures. And then finally... Shoto was born. He possessed that quirk that my father wanted. My father completely pushed me aside and crushed all my hopes of being a hero."

"But... you aren't you already a hero?"

Touya stared at Izuku in confusion.

"You willingly helped a lost child and took complete responsibility for my well-being. Doesn't that make you a hero?"

Touya scoffed.

"What a joke."

"Being a hero isn't a joke."

"I wasn't talking about that. Anyways, long story short, I overused my quirk and burned the entire forest and now my family thinks that I am dead and I don't want to go back to them."

"I see... that's why you don't want me to call someone for help. You will be sent back to your family if it is discovered that you faked your death."

"Exactly."

"Well... would you agree to contact an adult if said person agrees to keep your identity a secret?"

"How would I know whether they are trustworthy?"

"Well... I have two ex-fugitives and a wolf that is sought after by both the government and the underworld at my home and that person has sworn not to tell anyone about it."

Touya paused to think

"I don't trust adults," he stated. "But I sure trust you. I'll take your word for it."

Izuku beamed with joy.

"I have been thinking about this for a while now," said Izuku. "Since you are hiding your identity, I don't think I should be calling you by your real name. How about I call you Dabi?"

"Dabi?" Touya smirked. "I like it."

And here we go again. The light surrounded the two of them and a soul corridor was formed.

[Establishment of Soul Corridor is successful. Connection between Izuku Midoriya and Dabi is successful. Sharing of certain skills can now be done. Dabi has successfully acquired skills Storage and Regeneration via Soul Corridor. Quirk Blue Flame has been successfully converted into the skill Hell Flames. Dabi has been granted the title: The Deceitful Trickster. Izuku Midoriya has been granted the title: Master of the Deceitful Trickster. Acquisition of Skills: Facade and Parallel Thought Processing by Dabi are successful.]

Izuku face palmed. He really needed to figure out what was causing this strange phenomenon so that he could stop making a telepathic connection with every single stray he met.

"I'm not gonna question what just happened as I'm guessing that you already know something about it," said Dabi.

"Thanks," mumbled Izuku.

Izuku took out a phone from his storage. His mother had bought it for him for emergencies, but he didn't really know how to use it.

"Um... do you have any idea how to use this?" he turned around and asked Touya, only to be met by his dumbfounded expression.

"You mean to say... YOU HAD A PHONE ON YOU ALL THIS TIME?!"

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.

.

Izuku was sitting in the back seat of Shishido's car. Dabi was sitting right next to him and was glaring daggers at Shishido. He didn't trust the hero one bit, and that was a given, after all, he had long lost faith in the heroes.

"Jesus, kid," exclaimed Shishido. "You sure are a magnet for trouble."

"Sorry," Izuku meekly apologized.

"Don't be. It's not your fault. But seriously! You really need to stop bringing in strays who have messed up backgrounds. It is getting harder for us to cover up everything so that you don't end up getting targeted by the villains. The higher ups are getting suspicious at this point. Naomasa has been shadowing me for the past few days in order to squeeze information out of me and trust me, it is impossible to lie in front of him. He has a truth quirk that he can use to confirm our statements."

Izuku giggled at this.

"This ain't a matter of laughing, kid. I'm serious!"

"Is this Naomasa person trustworthy?"

"Yeah."

"Then you can tell him."

"Wha-?"

"It's not like I am trying to hide my friends from the government. The Oni are adults and they can take care of them just fine. And Ranga is pretty strong and can protect himself. As long as those people are trustworthy, you can tell them."

"Thanks."

"Anyways, moving on, I'm surprised that your new stray is actually Endeavour's dead son."

"That bastard is not my father," snapped Dabi.

"Wait... Endeavour's son? That's you?" asked Izuku, astonished.

"Unfortunately."

"No way! Does that mean... we're cousins?!"

Everyone paused to process this new piece of information.

"WE'RE WHAT?!"

Chapter Text

Inko hummed as she cooked dinner. Every day was the same. She woke up at 6 in the morning, an ungodly hour to wake up, but she was used to getting up early.

She would do most of the chores after waking up and finish them by 7. It was around that time that Izuku walked out of his room.

Because of his quirk, it was physically impossible for Izuku to sleep, so Izuku spent most of the night either studying or researching. Recently Izuku seemed to have taken an interest in the field of medicine.

Inko was glad for Izuku. Before meeting with Ranga, he was nothing but a hollow shell. He couldn't play with the children his age because of his quirk. Games like hide and seek became boring because Izuku could easily detect them from his 'Magic Sense', as he liked to call it. He couldn't play tag because he was too slow. Kick the can simply wasn't possible because he had no legs. Same was for Hopscotch. Eventually Izuku stopped going outside.

For education, Inko hired a personal tutor. Izuku could no longer go to school as most of the things were taught from books. Izuku couldn't sense 2D objects from his quirk, hence couldn't read the written letters, so he was taught in a different manner. But hiring a tutor cost a lot of money, and Inko was a single mother, so she had no choice but to increase her working hours. As a result, Inko ended up being absent from most of Izuku's life.

She hated how she had to leave Izuku alone. This was why when Izuku had brought a wolf that definitely did not seem normal she had immediately agreed to let him keep it. Izuku was no longer lonely, which was something she was grateful for.

Then the incident occurred.... the one where her elder sister lost her life. Inko had gone shopping, and had returned only to be met by an empty house. She panicked and called the police, but the police didn't answer. She contacted every person she knew in order to find her sister and son. Soon enough, she got a call from the police stating that her sister had passed away as her quirk had gone berserk. Her son was waiting for her at the police station.

Inko reached the station as fast as she could. She instantly understood the situation once she saw that her son had gained a human form. It pained her that she couldn't do a thing for her son. She had no power, and heck, she couldn't even make time for him.

Not soon after, Izuku had saved two fugitives from a human trafficking ring. The villains had infiltrated their home in order to recapture the escapees, but had ended up surrendering for some unknown reasons.

The two fugitives revealed their back story and Izuku proposed them to stay at their place. Once Inko can back from work, she couldn't help but give into Izuku's puppy dog eyes and agreed to let them stay.

Since there were more people in the house, the living expenses increased. Therefore the two freeloaders, Benimaru and Souei decided to work part-time. Benimaru got a job as the hero Shishido's assistant. Inko didn't know much about Souei's job. All she knew was that his job required him to form connections with the underworld. But as long as her son wasn't harmed by this, she was fine to let them be. After all, her son was happy, and that was all that mattered.

She broke out of her train of thought and looked at the clock. It was 7 pm. Izuku sure was taking his time outside. He had headed out at eleven. Her instincts were saying that things were okay, but she couldn't help but worry. Izuku hadn't taken any of his servants outside. They claimed that Izuku had gotten angry at them and had decided to head out alone. That was certainly a rare occurrence, but she was sure that Izuku would forgive them once he comes back home.

But she knew one thing for sure... she had to prepare an extra serving, for her instincts claimed that they were in for another stray.

Chapter Text

Five individuals sat around the table. The atmosphere was heavy, for this was the first formal meeting that they were hosting. Izuku, who was sitting at the head of the table, cleared his throat.

"Let us commence this meeting."

He glanced at the white haired boy next to him.

"I believe that all of you are already aware of the fact that Dabi and I met when I got lost after straying off the road. But the thing is... when I came to realize it I was no longer in Musutafu."

The last statement caused a shock in the Oni and the Wolf.

"That's impossible," protested Benimaru. "With your current condition, even walking till the entrance of the Jura Forest in your human form would be considered a feat."

"Exactly!" said Izuku. "I was under the impression that I was still in Musutafu until Dabi disclosed that I was in Jaku City. Dabi decided to accompany me back to Musutafu, but on the way here, we were captured by villains."

"You were WHAT?" growled Ranga. Izuku gave Ranga a look that ordered him to be quiet.

"We almost managed to escape, but were surrounded at the last minute. Dabi got shot protecting me and was bleeding, so I couldn't think straight. And the next thing I knew... I was at an abandoned warehouse in Yokohama. But-"

"-But Master does not have a teleportation quirk," interrupted Souei.

"Precisely. And this why we are here... to figure out what is going on."

Izuku pulled out stacks of papers from his storage. There were messy scribbles on the sheets, as if a two year old had attempted to write for the first time.

Izuku passed the sheets to his friends and then sat back down on his seat.

"I have a couple of theories, but only some of them make sense."

The servants (minus Ranga) skimmed through the information and then listened to what Izuku had to say.

"Initially, I thought that there was someone after me, I mean... there are a lot of reasons why someone would target me."

Benimaru hummed in agreement.

"However I would have noticed if someone was following me. My 'Magic Sense' was active at that time, so I would have known if someone suspicious had approached me."

Izuku then pulled out another sheet from his stack and then slammed it at the table.

"So then a second theory struck me. What if I had another quirk?"

"Indeed. This does seem more plausible," commented Touya.

"Exactly! The theory would explain how I managed to end up miles away from my home and escape when the situation was dire. So I decided to do a little more research on this."

Izuku then passed another stack of papers.

"Let's start with my quirk. My quirk allows me to store the things that I 'eat' inside some imaginary space that I can access. I can dissolve, separate, combine, analyze, replicate and store those substances. I can gain the abilities of the things that I dissolve if I'm lucky, and I can mimic the forms of the living organisms that I eat. Then comes the second ability... I can segregate the components of the things that I eat. For example, I can completely separate the impurities from any metal that I absorb. The opposite can be done as well. Then there is the analysis... Observation of substances is easier for me once I eat them. This means that my analysis for those substances is faster and more accurate. And the substances that I analyze can be replicated by me anytime and anywhere, but at the cost of some energy. In other words... I can create a bowl of Katsudon whenever I want. My last ability is storage, which is pretty much self explanatory."

Souei spoke up after Izuku had finished his explanation.

"So... to put it simply, there might be a possibility that there was a teleportation quirk in one of the creatures you ate that was lying dormant up until now."

"That's the gist of it. Or that's what it should have been... but my other theory clashes with this one."

Izuku stared at the subordinates straight in the eyes.

"I'm guessing it has something to do with us," said Dabi.

Izuku nodded in agreement.

"My ability allows me to gain sub abilities. But my analysis concluded that there was nothing special with the animals that I ate, aka they had no quirks. The abilities I acquired are just features of those animals. So I decided to look from another perspective. I decided to experiment practically rather than looking in the theory. I tried to teleport again, but failed. And then I accidentally destroyed a part of our house. But the thing is... What I had just used wasn't my quirk. It was Ranga's."

Everyone looked at Ranga, who was equally as shocked as they were.

"I figured that this had something to do with that strange phenomenon... you know, the one with the light. Then it struck me... what if the teleportation had occurred because I had activated Souei's quirk?"

"That explains a lot," stated Benimaru.

"My quirk allows me to move through the shadows. If I have a certain destination in mind, I can reach it instantly," said Souei.

Izuku nodded before continuing.

"My approach had been incorrect from the very beginning. I was under the impression that it was a teleportation quirk, but Souei's quirk is not teleportation. It is 'Shadow Movement'. The idea that I must have ended up in Jaku City by subconsciously moving through the shadows did seem more plausible. So I tested it, and after a couple of failed attempts, I managed to activate Souei's quirk. Now let's come to the main point. Since I have your quirks, there is a possibility that some of you might have gained mine as well or maybe each other's and we are here to figure out if that's true."

A wave of awkward silence washed over.

"Um... So what you're saying is that we might be having each other's quirks?" said Benimaru.

"Precisely!"

"And we are supposed to test it out?"

"Yup?"

"Inside the house?"

"Obviously not! We're heading to Shishido's training grounds. I asked him for this favor and he accepted."

"And... what if this theory was incorrect too," asked Souei.

"Then we'll just have to come up with another one. Now what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

The group arrived to the training grounds an hour later. And what happened next was.... chaos.

Souei was screaming at Benimaru for chopping his limbs off. Dabi was lying in a corner, choking on a hamburger, all while giggling to himself. Ranga was rolling on the ground as DJ blared at full volume.

At the end of the day, the only conclusion Izuku could get... was that it was a mistake to bring the entire group together. On the bright side, he also figured out that the group had developed original abilities of their own. The group had a bunch of common abilities as well. Each of them had his 'Magic Sense' and 'Regeneration'. Souei figured that they could harden their magicules in order to form a barrier, which Izuku named 'Multilayer Barrier'. And most importantly, each of them had a telepathic connection only between each other. Izuku decided to call this ability 'Thought Communication'. Izuku found out that he could now create clones and black flames, summon storms and lightning, and move through shadows. Other than the common shared abilities, Benimaru could now summon even stronger flames. Souei had gained the cloning ability as well as the thread ability from Izuku. Additionally, he had gained a special skill called Inquisitor, which allowed him to gain information no matter how classified it was. Ran
ga acquired Izuku's ability to create sound waves as well as Souei's 'Shadow Step'. He also got an ability to create Illusions. Dabi gained Izuku's storage, which allowed him to store any thing he wanted in an imaginary space. Additionally, he got the skill 'Facade', which was a perfect disguise quirk and suitable for infiltration purposes. He also gained an original skill, 'Parallel Thought Processing', which was pretty much self explanatory.

In other words... Izuku had a bunch of overpowered characters as his friends, who were pretty much ready to throw their life away if Izuku wanted them to.

"This is turning into an even bigger mess than what I anticipated," mumbled Izuku. "I really hope that nothing crazier happens or I'm gonna lose it."

.

.

.

He clutched his stomach in pain. He was bleeding... but mother said that bad children were always punished. Was he a bad child for having a quirk? He weekly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry. All he could register was a blob of goo approaching him, a glass shard held in its extended tendril.

Chapter Text

So... I've mentioned this a gazillion times. I'll mention this again. I wrote this fanfiction about 3-4 years ago. I felt like uploading this 'cause I thought it was a shame to leave it among the dozens of incomplete fanfictions I have in my files.

The thing is... I hit a huge writer's block, and I am stuck, even now.

It took me three years to realize what exactly the cause of the writer’s block was...

It's the second last member of the Octagram.

The role was initially Leon's. Leon was Izuku's dad and (LN Spoilers ahead) just like how he was too protective of Chloe in the LN, he was overprotective of Izuku and secretly formed a whole mafia for his protection. I hated this idea.

After that, I considered All Might for the role. Unfortunately, his personality doesn't really suit my image for the Octagram members. Each member has a twisted personality. They act all normal in front of Izuku, but when anyone else tries talking to them... well... they turn out to be psychopaths, especially when the topic concerns Izuku.

Then I finally decided to give this role to Hawks. And after four years, I've finally realized that the Bird Man is exactly the reason for my writer's block.

I only have two more chapters in store, unless you guys can provide a 7th member for me. The 8th member has already been decided, and so is the plot after that.

I really love this fanfiction, and even I wish this doesn't go into a hiatus.

So please... lend me a favour.

Please suggest names of random Mha or Tensura characters, and if possible, elaborate on how they encountered Izuku.

I'd prefer it to be a male from Mha since the Mha and Tensura ratio for the Octagram is already 2:5 (the final member is from Tensura), but this is not a constraint. It'll be fine even if the character is from Tensura.

I've ruled out a couple of characters:

-No LOV or Meta Liberation Army members

-No more oni

-Leon, Hawks and All Might are out of the question

-Tsukauchi, Sansa and Shishi have a professional relationship with Izuku

-No spirits (I forgot to mention it, but Ifrit is also a member of Octagram. He'll come in the next two chapters)

So far, I've considered Guy and Moss, but they're both from Tensura and I can't come up with a satisfactory encounter between either of them and Izuku.

Should I reconsider the all male Octagram and add Testarossa, Carrera or Ultima? Or maybe some other female?

Chapter Text

Izuku was bored as hell. Normally the house would be bustling with chaotic energy that never failed to keep him entertained. But today everyone was busy in one way or the other. The Oni and his mother had gone for their respective jobs. His tutor had taken a leave as he was unwell. Ranga had gone to the Jura Forest to pay respect to his deceased comrades and Dabi had gone to the salon to get his hair dyed. Izuku was pretty sure they weren't coming home anytime soon, and was contemplating his next course of action. After pondering for a while, he figured it would be nice to pay his respects to his Aunt. He hadn't visited her grave for ages. Izuku left his apartment, making sure to lock the house well before leaving. He could walk fairly well now; he had practiced really hard in the past few weeks.

A small smile formed on Izuku's lips as he saw a bunch of children in the park piling up the snow. It had been ages since he had last seen the snow fall. He recalled having snowball fights with Aunt Shizu back when he had a human form.

Izuku pulled out a map from his storage. After what had happened last time, Izuku always kept at least a map or two in his storage.

The slime made his way through the maze-like streets of Musutafu. His eyes reflected the sparkling snow lightly falling on and covering the ground. As he walked by, Izuku could sense a bunch of passersby gaping at him in shock. It made sense as it wasn't normal for a human to wear summer clothes while it was snowing. Heck, a kind grandma even offered to lend him her scarf, which Izuku politely refused.

As Izuku struggled to find the graveyard, he eventually wandered into an alleyway, and was unfortunate enough to witness a murder. Izuku stared in horror at the victim, his blood splattered on the ground. The victim's heart was no longer beating, which meant there was no hope for Izuku to save him. The villains had already taken notice of Izuku, and before Izuku could run away, one of the villains grabbed him and injected some suspicious looking liquid into him. Izuku's vision blurred and his human form deformed. He could sense his quirk getting distorted. Izuku could barely make out the things around him. The last thing he knew, he was getting shoved in a jar before passing out.

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.

.

Izuku had no idea how long he had been in that accursed jar. He had gained back his consciousness a couple of hours back, but he still couldn't see properly. He could vaguely make out bits and pieces, but since the magicule flow in his quirk was haywire, none of his abilities seemed to work properly. In fact, it was a miracle that he was even able to use his Magic Sense, albeit not properly.

Izuku could vaguely make out a couple of things. He was in a large room which was fairly empty. The jar he was stuck in was placed on a shelf with a bunch of torture weapons. But what was most alarming was the fact that a child no older than eight was bleeding at the corner of the room. The child's heartbeat was dwindling as each second passed and if Izuku did not do anything soon, the child would die.

Izuku pushed the wall of the jar with all his might. The jar toppled, making it easier to roll. Since the jar was placed at such a height, Izuku easily rolled the jar over the edge and fell over. The jar crashed, the shards flying all across the room, some of them slightly grazing the slime. Izuku was finally freed from the confined space.

The slime stretched his tendril-like-arms as the injuries caused by the glass pieces slowly regenerated. It seemed that his quirk had started to stabilize, though rather slowly. Izuku turned and groggily moved towards the child, stopping right in front of the child's face.

He panicked as he sensed the child's heartbeat slow down. There was only one way to save the child, but the method was all hypothetical.

Izuku's quirk allowed him to gain the characteristics of the matter he ingested, be it organic or not. This meant that his body itself had an insane amount of healing properties, not just because of his self regeneration abilities, but also because of the sheer amount of medicinal plants had absorbed. So theoretically, by infusing a part of his slime with another person, the slime's healing properties would speed up the recovery process of said person on a whole other level. The slime would also make up for all the blood lost. But again, Izuku had never tested it, only because his ointment was so potent that there was no need to test this theory.

Nevertheless this was a desperate situation solely because of the fact that Izuku's quirk had been disrupted, most likely because of the drug the kidnappers had previously injected in him, and because of this, Izuku could not access his storage skill where the ointment was kept. Although his quirk was stabilizing, Izuku was still unable to use most of his skills for they required precise magicule control, which was not possible at the moment.

Izuku made his way towards the broken jar. In order to infuse himself with the child, Izuku would have to split himself, which could be easily done with the sharp shards that were lying around. Izuku hurried his pace. The child's heartbeat was so slow that Izuku was surprised he was even alive at this point. Izuku grabbed the nearest shard and approached the child again. He sliced himself into two and placed the piece of slime over the gash in the child's stomach.

The piece of slime entered to wound and a layer of flesh started forming over it. Izuku prayed that his theory was correct, but it was up to fate to decide that.

Izuku impatiently listened to the child's heartbeat. Every second that passed by felt like an entire decade. There was no sign of any improvement in the child's condition. And then his heartbeat stopped.

Izuku stared at the floor. He had failed. His theory was incorrect. Negative thoughts flooded his mind. If only...

And then he heard it... the sound of a heart beating. The child was alive! He was alive and breathing. Izuku sighed in relief before splotching on the ground. The nerve racking ordeal had drained all the energy out of him. Izuku relaxed, focusing on the flow of magicules in his surroundings as well as the child's heartbeat.

The next few hours were spent by Izuku in silence. The child had shown no sign of waking up. Izuku's quirk still hadn't stabilized. He could take on his human form now, but the rest of the abilities still lied dormant. Izuku observed the unconscious child. The child had messy white hair that reached his shoulders. He had a set of long eyelashes the same colour as his hair. His complexion was pale, but that was a given for he had just lost an insane amount of blood. His shirt was drenched with blood. Izuku could see a bunch of visible scars in his arms, which would probably fade away once the slime that Izuku had infused finished healing his major wounds.

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.

.

A pair of grey eyes curiously stared at the slime. The child was contemplating whether the strange creature was edible. Letting his hunger take over, the child proceeded to grab Izuku.

Izuku bounced away in surprise, not expecting the child to try to grab him all of a sudden.

"Hey, what was that for?" he exclaimed.

"The food... is talking?"

The child could barely muster up the energy to speak.

"Hey! I'm not something to be eaten," stated Izuku. The slime transformed into his human form and added, "See? I'm human, just like you."

"So... no food?"

Izuku shook his head.

"You might have to wait for a while. Once I regain my abilities, I'll get you something to eat."

The child slowly nodded.

"I'll wait..."

The two of them sat in awkward silence. None of them uttered a single word.

"So..." Izuku started, "What's your name?"

"I... don't have one... Mother said... bad children weren't given names."

"I don't think you're a bad child."

"You... don't?"

"Yup"

"But... I have a quirk! Doesn't that-" the child broke into a fit of coughs. "Doesn't that mean I'm a bad child?"

"I have a quirk too! But am I a bad person?" Izuku raised his eyebrow.

"Um..."

"80% of our world's population has a quirk. Does that mean 80% of the entire world is bad?"

"N-No... but... does that mean... mother lied?"

Izuku got up and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Having a quirk does not mean being bad. Whoever said this just wanted to be a bully. You are not a bad person."

Izuku gave the child a big smile in order to cheer him up.

"Anyways, since you don't have a name, what should I call you?"

"I... don't know..."

"Then... How about I give you a name?"

"You would do that for me?"

"Yup! From now on, your name will be... Geten!" Izuku declared.

"Geten..."

"Oh, right! I haven't formally introduced myself yet. How silly of me. I'm Izuku. Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you, Geten!"

And for the first time in his life, the child...no...Geten smiled in joy. It was a small one, but it was a smile nonetheless.

But this happiness was short lived, for the doors of the room burst open and a frizzy haired woman entered, her heels clicking with every step.

The woman walked by Izuku, ignoring his very existence, and instead approached Geten. She grabbed Geten with both her arms, her nails digging deep into his shoulders, causing them to bleed.

"My son," her voice sounded desperate for some reason. "You are a bad child... a very naughty one... but your mother wants to give you a chance."

Izuku heard some shouts and the door bang outside.

"Mother," said Geten. "You lied."

The lady was taken aback from these words.

"What are you talking about?"

"You said that I was a bad child for having a quirk... but... Izuku said that lots of people have quirks... and quirks are not a bad thing."

The lady finally registered Izuku's presence. She turned around and slapped Izuku as hard as she could.

"You... I don't know what silly idea you put in his head, but I'll make you regret this," she hissed. She turned back to Geten and added, "Listen, my son. There are a couple of bad people outside who want to hurt your mother. If you want to be a good boy, use your quirk on those bad people and stop them from coming."

"No," said Geten.

"You dare disobey me!"

Geten's eyes glowed as he activated his quirk. The walls crashed and piles of snow flooded inside the room. The ice encompassed the lady, rendering her immobile.

"What do you think your doing," the lady shrieked.

"Mother... you're a liar... and a very big bully. You hurt me... tortured me till I was almost dead... and most importantly... you hit Izuku... For that... I will never forgive you. You have sinned, and the only to atone... is death."

Getting the gist of what was would to happen, Izuku grabbed Geten's hands and shook his head.

"Don't hurt her. That would make you no better than her," he said.

Hearing this, Geten stopped immediately. He retracted the ice enclosing his 'mother' and this was the cue for the heroes to enter.

Dozens of pro heroes stormed into the room and took their fighting stances. The heroes tensed at the sight of the two children, not knowing whether they were friend or foe. It was only when the number 15 hero recognized one of the two kids that the heroes relaxed a bit.

"Kid... What are you doing here?" the hero asked.

"Oh... Shishido! Great timing," said the Izuku.

The hero sighed.

"You got another stray again, didn't you?"

"Yup."

"Alright. Once this is over, I'll drop you back home, okay?"

"Okay!"

The two of them seemed to have forgotten that there was still trouble lurking around. The frizzy haired lady who claimed to be Geten's mother stabbed a syringe in Geten's arms and hastily injected the contents in the boy.

"Geten!" Izuku screamed, which was pretty much pointless as saying his name wouldn't miraculously change the situation.

The lady let out a typical villain laughter before shrieking in her high-pitched voice.

"I refuse to admit defeat this way!"

She let out another evil laugh as Geten clutched his head in immense pain.

"This is a drug developed by yours truly," the lady cackled. "It deprives you of your rationality and drives your destructive dispositions. In other words, the result of the drug is a ravaging monster."

The lady turned around and walked towards the hole in the wall previously created by Geten.

"Enjoy the treat, suckers," she said before falling backwards, plummeting to her death.

Izuku stared in horror at her bleeding body, only to be snapped back to reality by Geten's scream.

One of the heroes grabbed Izuku and dragged him away from the room, or at least, he tried to do so.

"This place isn't safe for you, kid. It's best if you stand back," the hero said.

"No! Let me go. That's my friend in there."

Izuku failed to keep his strength in check and accidentally broke the hero's arms.

Izuku rushed back to the room, only pausing once to apologize to the hero he had injured.

Izuku barged into the room where the fight was taking place. The sight wasn't appealing in any manner. Most of the heroes were suffering from a frostbite. Those who possessed fire quirks were either trying to attack Geten, only to fail miserably, or were tending the other heroes.

Izuku racked his brains in order to think of a solution. His quirk still hadn't stabilized, so his presence was pretty much useless in the battle. If only Dabi was here... or Benimaru.

"Master. If I may, I believe that I may be of assistance," a voice whispered in Izuku's head.

"Who are you," muttered Izuku.

"I am but a lowly lesser spirit. Humans refer to us as the fire spirit Ifrit."

"Fire spirit... as in... Aunt Shizu's quirk?"

"Indeed."

"But... how will you be able to help us. I don't want you to go berserk on us like last time. Having to fight another overpowered out-of-control person is the last thing we need right now."

"There is no need to fret about that. Your Aunt simply lacked the amount of magicules required to completely utilize my power. But you, my lord, have an entire lifetime's worth amount of energy currently at your disposal, and I suspect that the amount would only grow as time passes. If you make a contract with me, the chances of me going out of control are nil."

"If I make a contract with you... will we be able to save everyone here?"

"That is correct."

"Alright... State your demands. I'll form the contract."

A piece of paper floated in front of Izuku. A long list of terms and conditions were stated. Izuku didn't bother reading a single word for the situation didn't call for it, and hastily signed at the end of the document. Once the document was signed, the paper flashed and transformed into a ball of light and etched into Izuku's soul.

"Master, if you wish to summon me, call out my title."

Izuku nodded and said, "Summon... Ifrit!"

Izuku looked back at the battle and his eyes widened as Geten sent a large icicle towards the heroes. If the heroes failed to defend, which they probably would, then they would gain a large amount of damage.

But before the attack could reach them, a large inferno of flames blocked the attack. Huge amounts of steam spread over, obstructing everyone's line of right. Once the mist cleared, the heroes could see a large flaming beast standing in the middle of the room, blocking every attack that Geten was sending. Shishido recognized the creature from a couple of months back, and could only sigh in annoyance.

"Kid," he stated. "What did you do this time."

"Don't worry! He's friendly. At least... I hope so," said Izuku.

"Alright. I'll let you help us deal with this. Heroes... fall back."

Unfortunately, the heroes didn't listen. There was no way they were going to leave this to a child, possibly because their pride didn't allow them to. It was only when said child protected the heroes from an incoming attack that they decided to place their trust in him.

Izuku was evacuating the heroes when Ifrit came to realize something.

"Master... I believe something is not right," the spirit spoke.

Izuku paused in his tracks and responded, "What is it?"

"The child... he has too much energy. Under normal circumstances, he should have passed out due to depletion of his magicule reserves. But he should have far surpassed his limits by now. The amount of magicules he has used would easily knock out an average person. In fact, at this point, even I have already used up most of the magicules I had in stock. At this rate, I might reach my limit before he does."

"I guess what you say is correct. He was literally half dead a couple of hours back. To be able to control such an insane amount of snow despite just recovering from such severe injuries doesn't make sense. You have any idea what's causing this?"

"I suspect that there is some external factor that is feeding him the magicules."

"External factors... Wait..."

"You got something, milord?"

"Yeah... I infused my slime with him in order to save him from dying."

"No wonder... If that's the case, then I have an idea."

"Fire away."

"The slime inside the child's body can act as a gateway to his mind. With this, my lord can enter his subconsciousness and help him regain control."

"That does sound feasible. But I'll need time. It will need a lot of concentration to enter his mind, especially since I have never done this before. Moreover the magicule flow of my quirk is still distorted. It will be hard to get them under control in a small amount of time."

"Understood. I'll stall for as long as you need."

Ifrit stood in front of Izuku, attacking Geten all while protecting the slime from any surprise attacks. Izuku closed his eyes and tried to link his mind to Geten's. It was hard, especially since his concentration broke every time his enhanced senses picked up any startling movement.

After what seemed like ages, Izuku finally entered Geten's mindscape. The place was breathtaking; the sunlight illuminated the snow covering the trees. The forest was completely desolate, but the silence wasn't unnerving. The soft wind was soothing to the mind.

Izuku shook him head. Now was not the time to be relaxing. He had to look for Geten.

The slime started walking. He had no idea where he was going, but he trusted that his intuition would miraculously guide him to where Geten was.

It was strange how Izuku didn't leave any footsteps behind, even though the snow was completely covering the ground. The slime tried to touch a nearby tree, but his hands simply passed through it.

'It's all an illusion,' the slime realized. 'I guess that would make sense. This is not the real world. It's a fictional world created by Geten's imagination.'

Izuku pictured the illusion disappearing, and just like he had envisaged, the forest vanished, leaving Izuku in nothing but a never ending abyss.

Chapter Text

Izuku walked. He had no idea how long he had been in the void. There seemed to be no concept of time here. He wasn't even sure if he was anywhere near to Geten's location. And then he saw it... A large black storm swirled ahead of him. Izuku could sense a presence inside the storm. The slime approached the raging winds. Izuku could feel the wind brushing against his cheeks. He tried to walk through the storm, but the winds pushed him.

'Thou shalt not pass,' a voice seemed to say.

Izuku ignored the warning and forced his way through the storm. It felt as if thousands of needles were prickling him, but Izuku did not care. He hadn't forgotten his initial goal... to save Geten and stop him from rampaging.

Once Izuku finally passed through the storm, the storm dissipated. Any sign of the presence of the storm was long gone. Izuku opened his eyes, and spotted a large number of shadows swirling around. And sitting amidst it all was Geten.

"kill...them...destroy...mother..."

"Geten!" Izuku exclaimed, relieved to have finally found the boy. The slime rushed towards the boy, ignoring the lurking shadows and pulled him into a tight hug.

"destroy...everyone..."

Izuku shook his head and said, "Don't. Don't destroy things. That would make things worse."

"don't destroy?"

"No destruction."

"then... what should I do?"

"Come back with me." Izuku stood up and offered his hand to Geten. "Come back with me to the real world. I promise I'll make you happy."

"You... promise?"

"Yeah!"

Geten grabbed Izuku's arm and the two were flung back to reality.

Izuku opened his eyes. Standing right in front of his was Geten. The boy gave Izuku a small smile and hugged him.

"Welcome back, Geten!"

"I'm back," answered the boy.

Izuku looked back and saw Ifrit panting in exhaustion.

"You okay?" the slime asked.

"Not a big deal, Master. Pay no mind to this lowly servant," Ifrit huffed as he answered.

"What are you talking about? You are my comrade. It's normal for comrades to worry about each other. By the way, what's your name? I didn't catch it before."

"I am a nameless spirit, milord. The likes of us are generally referred by our respective titles."

"That won't do." Izuku closed his eyes and thought about it for a while. "Alright! I've decided. I'll call you Charys."

Just as Izuku finished his sentence, a bright light surrounded the trio. Geten could feel a warm and bubbly sensation inside of him.

[Establishment of Soul Corridor is successful. Connection between Izuku Midoriya and Geten is successful. Connection between Izuku Midoriya and Charys is successful. Sharing of certain skills can now be done. Geten has successfully acquired skills Body Double, Storage, Multilayer Barrier, Water Manipulation and Regeneration via Soul Corridor. Izuku Midoriya has successfully acquired the skill Ice Manipulation. Izuku Midoriya and Geten have successfully evolved the skill Ice Manipulation to Lord of Frost. Charys has successfully evolved from Lesser Fire Spirit to the Greater Spirit of Flames. Geten has been granted the title: Child of Snow. Izuku Midoriya has been granted the title: The Conquerer of Flames. Izuku Midoriya has been granted the title: Master of the Child of Snow.]

Izuku ignored that dazzling light. At this point the strange phenomenon had become the new normal.

"Oh! Looks like my magicules have been restored to normal," exclaimed Izuku.

Izuku created a ball of flames to test it, and then clenched his hands to extinguish it.

Once they sensed that the battle was over, the heroes swarmed into the room. Izuku was bombarded with questions, but Shishido got in the way and told the heroes to quit bothering the children. Charys left for the spirit realm, declaring that he preferred not to interact with the humans. Five minutes later, Izuku and Geten were sitting at the back seat of the car and Shishido was driving them back home.

"Seriously, how do you keep getting involved in situations like this?" the man asked. He could sense Geten's piercing glare, and shivered at the thought of eye contact with the child.

"This is like... the fifth stray you have gotten. And I swear they are getting even scarier," Shishido added.

"Sorry," Izuku apologized.

"There's no need to apologize. All of this was just inevitable. Anyways, would you mind if we take a detour? I know I promised to drop you back home, but the police want to inquire about a couple of things."

"I don't mind."

Izuku noticed Geten peering out of the window, trying to contain his excitement. He followed the boy's gaze and saw a couple walking down the street. The man was holding a child in one of his arms, and an ice cream in the other. The couple let out a laugh at the child's face, which was smeared with the ice cream.

Wait...

Realization struck Izuku like lightening. How could he be so stupid! Geten must be starving by now. Izuku face palmed as he created a large hamburger using his quirk. He gently nudged Geten and handed him the food.

"Here," he said.

Geten gave Izuku a small smile and then took a small bite into the hamburger.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence. Soon enough the car stopped and Shishido announced that they had reached their destination. He led them into the building, where they made their way through maze-like corridors. Eventually they reached the interrogation rooms. Shishido kicked the door to open it and then stomped inside.

"I've brought the kids, Naomasa," he grumbled.

A middle aged man approached the two children. He gave them a warm smile and led them inside the room. Izuku and Geten sat down, Naomasa seated opposite to them with a pen and paper in his hands.

The man began asking questions such as how Izuku got abducted and how long Geten had been trapped there. The interrogation was pretty long, but once Naomasa noticed Geten's eyes drooping, he decided to pack things up.

"So," he summed up, "You were going to visit your aunt's grave. You ended up getting kidnapped. You ended up as this child's cellmate. Then the heroes came in the picture. The lady who was this child's supposed mother injected some sort of drug that deprived him of his rationality, and he started attacking everyone. And then you used your aunt's quirk and defeated him. Is that correct?"

"Yeah," Izuku responded.

The detective looked puzzled.

"You said that you have a quirk license, right?"

"Yup! It gets pretty inconvenient for me to do things in my slime form, so the government issued me one."

"If that's the case, then why didn't you use your quirk on the kidnappers? Did they catch you by surprise?"

"Kind of... They used some sort of drug on me."

This intrigued Naomasa. The man leaned forward and supported his head on his hands.

"What kind of drug?"

"The drug stopped me from using my quirk."

"Interesting..." Naomasa jotted the new piece of information down and added, "Tell me more about it."

The man glanced at Geten, who was now struggling to stay awake. "Actually, hold on a minute." He pulled out his phone and called one of his colleagues.

"Sansa. Could you bring an air mattress to the interrogation room? I feel like we're gonna be here for a while."

Naomasa hung off the call.

"I hope you don't mind staying here overnight."

"I don't mind," Izuku responded.

"Alright... Let's get back to the main topic. Tell me more details about the drug. How did you feel once you couldn't use your quirk? Could you still feel your quirk?"

"Um... It was kind of like... Let's consider that our quirk runs on some sort of energy. The energy is like the flow of water in a river. Now let's suppose that there is a huge boulder that is blocking the river flow. The water will stack up against the boulder. After some time, small quantities will flow out by changing their direction. Eventually the boulder will break once it becomes incapable of bearing the high pressure caused by the water."

Naomasa nodded as he noted the entire thing. He entered into a deep thought, which was interrupted by a knock on the door. Sansa entered, dragging two air mattresses along with him.

"Sorry to interrupt. Where should I place these?" The man asked.

"Just set them at that corner over there," said Naomasa. Izuku stood up to held the newcomer. Once the sleeping arrangements were done, Izuku picked up a half-asleep Geten and placed him on the bed. He gently brushed the boy's hair off his forehead and whispered a soft goodnight. Izuku then went back to join Naomasa.

"Let's continue where we left off."

The detective nodded and then started speaking.

"To put it simply, your quirk was not sealed, rather, an external factor was just preventing you from using your quirk, and you could still use a small part of it."

"That sums it up," Izuku confirmed.

"Hm..."

"Is something the matter?"

"Yeah. There's something I can't place my finger on. You said that all this happened today, right?"

"That's right."

"And you have completely recovered your quirk?"

"Yup."

"That's what is weird."

Izuku gazed quizzically at the detective.

"What do you mean?"

Naomasa sighed.

"I know I shouldn't be telling you this, but since you are already involved in this, I might as well let you in on it. We have received reports on a couple of people who have lost their quirks. They said that they were injected with some drug... the same drug that you were injected with... but the thing is... unlike you they didn't recover their quirk for days."

Izuku widened his eyes.

"Wait... there are more of these cases?"

"Unfortunately."

Izuku closed his eyes, deep in thought.

"I guess that kind of makes sense now."

"What does?"

"Do you have any files on the people who were affected by the drug?"

"Yeah," the man said as he pulled out a huge stack of papers from his desk drawer. "These are one of our most recent cases," he added.

Izuku thoroughly inspected the sheets. There were a large number of details mentioned. There was a list of the names of the people the affected victims had interacted with around the time they had lost their quirks. There were blurry photos acquired from the camera footage clipped to the files which showed the victims getting attacked by the assailants and getting injected with the drug.

Izuku scrunched his eyebrows. The assailants seemed quite familiar

"Mr. Tsukauchi," Izuku said as he set the sheets onto the desk. "According to the files, most of the victims turned out to be pro heroes, correct?"

"That's right, kid."

"Um..."

"Is there something wrong?"

"No. It's just that I've got so much to say that I don't really know where to start."

"Take it easy. We've got a lot of time on our hands."

"Okay. Firstly, although I don't have much proof, I believe that whoever developed the drug has the objective of eliminating the heroes. Most of the victims who reported their missing quirks are pro heroes. And a short while after losing their quirks, they were reported as either missing or dead. When I was injected with the drug, I happened to witness the assailants murder someone. The victim of the murder was there in the files you had as another one of the people who lost their quirks."

Izuku pulled out a sheet from the stack of papers on the desk.

"This is the pro hero Flashfire, who, according to this file, lost his quirk three days ago. And he is the very same person whose murder I witnessed today morning."

Izuku tapped at a picture, which was a screenshot taken from the CCTV footage.

"The people who had injected the drug in the hero are wearing the same clothes in this picture as the assailants I saw today. Additionally..." Izuku pulled out another file and continued, "...The attackers in this picture are wearing clothes that have the symbol of Crimson Knuckles, but the man at the right has the same knife that the assailants from today had."

Naomasa took notes as Izuku spoke.

"So in other words, you mean to say that whoever is behind all this wants us to believe that the quirk sealing drug is already circulating in the black market and that a lot of organizations have already gotten their hands on it."

"Yeah... Also, I suspect that the drug is already getting mass produced. The assailants used the drug on me without any second thought, and I doubt that they would use a precious one without hesitating. This leads to the conclusion that they have a lot to spare so using one on a witness wouldn't be a problem."

"Hm... I guess if I were in their shoes, I would do the same. Children of this generation have very powerful quirks. And those who are young don't have much control over it. If a child were to witness me kill someone, he would definitely use his quirk on me. I would try to end things quickly as I have no idea what his quirk would, and if it is flashy, the heroes' attention would be grabbed."

"Exactly."

"But why didn't they just go ahead and kill you after injecting the drug? Uh... not that I'm complaining or anything..."

"Physical attacks have no affect on me. They probably tried to kill me, but shoved me in a jar once they realized that I wasn't gonna die that easy."

"I see..."

"I believe that the attackers have some sort of connection with the organization you raided today, seeing that I ended up at their headquarters. You got any blank paper?"

Naomasa handed over a sheet to the slime. Izuku closed his eyes and concentrated. Just as he had pictured, the image of his encounter with the assailants was projected onto the paper.

"Were these a part of the villains you captured?"

Naomasa observed the pictures, and then shook his head.

"Figures," commented Izuku. "These were the two who attacked me earlier today; as well the assailants in some of the camera clippings have a similar stature. I suspect that there is a group behind all of this. Also, I believe that all of this started as a cover up of an accident."

Izuku pulled out the file of the oldest case.

"The pro hero Twister was the first victim of this. He said that the people who attacked him had caught him by surprise and injected the drug in them. They had tried to kill him, but he escaped. He was found dead a few days later."

"What makes you think that this is a cover up?" asked Naomasa.

"Before his death, many pro heroes were reported dead or missing. They were all powerful heroes, but there seemed to be no sign of resistance using their quirks when they were killed. This can only mean that either they were caught by surprise, which is highly unlikely since they were not stabbed at the back, or they couldn't use their quirks."

"That explains a lot. The mysterious death of the pro heroes seemed to continue as time passed by, but we were more focused at the fact that there was a drug that could seal a person's quirk."

"They must have used the cover of different groups while attacking the heroes to make us believe that more than one group has their hands on the drug, and that would make the police get off their tracks."

"Yeah... So to conclude, the people who have the drug in their possession use it to kill pro heroes. They failed to kill the pro hero Twister and word got out about the drug, so now they use the names of different organizations while attacking the victims and sometimes let them go so that we don't end up figuring out the fact that the same person is behind the deaths of the heroes. Moreover to make the idea more believable, the assailants occasionally kill a bunch of civilians as well. Also, it seems that the assailants are partnered with the organization we raided today, given that you ended up at the organization's base rather than the headquarters of the assailants."

"Yeah... The only question left is that who the assailants are, and which organization they are from."

"Cerberus," a voice said from behind. Izuku turned around to see Geten sleepily rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" Izuku asked. Geten slowly nodded his head in response.

Naomasa scratched his chin.

"Cerberus, huh?"

Izuku turned back his neck.

"You know about it?"

"No. This is the first I've heard of it."

Izuku looked at Geten.

"It is one of the biggest organizations in Underworld, and also the most mysterious," said Geten. "No one knows much about it, especially about the leader."

"How do you know all this?" asked Izuku.

"Mother used to rant on how much she hated the embassy from Cerberus, and that they had no ounce of respect whatsoever."

"I see..." said Naomasa. "Speaking of your mother, I ran a background check on you a while ago and it seems that that lady was in fact not your biological mother."

"Mother... Is not my real mother?"

"As far as the records state, no."

"Then..."

"Your real mother is dead. She was killed when you were little, and your only relative refused to take you in so you ended up at the orphanage."

"Who is my real mother?"

"Your mother... is Yuna Himura. Your real name is Fuyohiko Himura."

Geten remained silent. Meanwhile, Izuku was surprised at this piece of information.

"Himura... as in Rei Himura?" he asked.

"Yes. Yuna Himura is the sister of Rei Himura."

Izuku jumped in excitement and then held Geten's hands.

"You're my cousin's cousin!" He exclaimed.

"Cousin's cousin?" the boy in question inquired.

"Yeah! My uncle is married to your aunt. In other words, you are my cousin's cousin."

Geten smiled at Izuku's excitement. Naomasa got up from his chair and approached the two children.

"Alright... I think it's time for you to go home. Your mother must be waiting for you." He turned to face Geten and added, "Thanks for the useful info, kid. If you ever remember anything, be sure to contact me."

Naomasa then turned towards Izuku.

"Today was pretty fruitful, kid. I enjoyed working on the case with you. If you ever think of becoming a detective, be sure to contact me."

He handed Izuku a card with his number. Just as Izuku grabbed the card, the car parked beside them honked loudly. The window rolled over to reveal Shishido sitting in the diver's seat.

"You kids coming?" he said.

"Coming!" answered Izuku.

The slime helped Geten up in his seat and then joined him.

"Ah... one more thing," said Naomasa. "It's best if you remain vigilant. There's a huge possibility that the people of Cerberus would target you, after all, no one who has fallen victim to the drug and survived."

"I'll keep it in mind."

.

.

.

He placed a trembling hand onto the door knob. He half expected the reason for his summons. She'd called him right out of the blue. Only vague details had been given to him, but the situation was clear.

"This is it," he mumbled. "I'm getting fired, aren't I?"

Chapter Text

"You're late," Inko gave a stern look to the teenager in front of her.

"I... got caught in the traffic," he lied. In reality, he'd been too nervous to enter.

"Well... We'll have our discussion later. Izuku's been waiting for you for ages!"

He gave a slight nod.

"I suppose I'll head over to his room then..."

He stood up, leaving his books on the table. He probably won't be needing them anyway, assuming what Inko said was true.

Slowly, he climbed up the stairs. The house was a mess, he noticed, as if it was more than just Inko and her son residing in the place.

He paused right in front of Izuku's room.

He had mixed feelings about the entire ordeal. On one hand, he was glad that the slime could finally integrate into normal society. On the other... he didn't like it. He would no longer have a reason to associate with the boy.

Nervously, he opened the door. He was greeted with a room that he knew, but was unfamiliar all the same.

Glass apparatus were scattered on the table exactly as he remembered. Samples of plants and a variety of chemicals were sitting in test tubes and watch glasses.

The room used to be empty, save for the table, the bean bag in the corner and the shelf containing books in Braille. The teenager was surprised to see the furniture in the room. Izuku was a slime, and never had any use for those movables.

Messy scribbles plastered the wall. While one would assume they were written by a toddler, the contents included scientific terms as well as other complicated words.

But what was more shocking than the room itself was the person standing in front of him... A silver haired beauty.

The teenager instantly recognized the person. There was no way he couldn't! They shared a connection, after all. He knew of it. He knew of that incident clear as day... That was four years ago... The day he met Izuku.

.

.

.

"It might seem a little difficult, but Izuku's really obedient and friendly! I'm sure you won't have any trouble," the lady, Inko as she called herself, said. "I won't be around today, but if you need anything, be sure to give me a call."

The boy sighed. Babysitting was the last thing he wanted to do. But it's not like anyone would be willing to hire a 12-year old for a job. The pay was... decent. Probably. It was a lot less than what people generally offered to private tutors, but he wasn't complaining. Beggars can't be choosers.

Inko led him upstairs into her son's room. If he were to describe it, the room was nothing less than an All Might shrine. The amount of yellow was nauseating.

While he was taking note of his surroundings, Inko talked to her son. Once she was finished, she turned around to face him.

"I'll leave Izuku in your hands. I need to go now or I'll be late for work."

Once the lady left, he stood in awkward silence, staring at the blue blob sitting in the center of the room.

He kind of pitied the slime. This seemed like a typical case of a parent not knowing how to deal with their mutant child.

People like them simply hired others to take their place. You could call that 'running from their duties'.

The sad slime rolled towards him and gently nudged him.

"Well... what would you like to do?"

Tiny tendrils formed on either side of Izuku, and the slime flapped them around as if they were his hands.

"Um..." he couldn't really understand what Izuku was trying to convey.

"This is going to be problematic," he muttered.

"Roll right for 'yes' and left for 'no'," he instructed the slime.

"Now then... can you understand me?"

Izuku rolled left. Well... right, considering Izuku's perspective.

"I'm taking that as a 'yes'," he said.

Another wave of silence washed over. He had no clue what to talk about. He wasn't used to being the yapper, typically with the others venting out and him pretending to listen.

"What do you want to do?"

He face palmed. That wasn't a yes-no question.

Immediately he rephrased it-"Would you like to play a game?"

Izuku stood still.

"Does that mean an 'I don't know'?"

'Yes.'

"I see..." he paused for a while to think.

"Do you want to test the capabilities of your quirk?"

There was a slight delay, but he got a 'yes' as an answer.

"Alright then..." he picked up a simple vase from the table. "Do you think you can imitate this form?"

'I don't know...'

"Can you try it?"

'Yes'

The slime stretched and turned into what resembled a piece of dough punched at the center. Izuku trembled before regaining his initial form.

"That was a bit too hard, huh?" he mumbled. "Why don't we try something easier?"

Izuku jumped in agreement.

"Try to form a perfect sphere."

The slime trembled again as he tried to take the form of a sphere, this time succeeding in doing so.

"You did it!" he exclaimed, and Izuku let loose, this time melting into a puddle.

He was taken aback, not expecting this. Thankfully Izuku turned back into his normal form within seconds.

'Perhaps that was his form of exhaustion,' he thought.

Hours passed, and Izuku could now control his body a lot more freely. He could manipulate parts of his body to form tiny 3D figures. He could also express his emotions better.

If he was confused, he would create a question mark over his head. If he was surprised, an exclamation mark would pop out. He would bounce to give an affirmation or show his excitement, and splosh onto the ground if upset.

Finally, it was time for him to leave.

"That was exhausting," he muttered as he let out a long sigh.

He counted the coins he'd gotten as his pay and pocketed half of them.

"It's best if they don't find out how much I'm getting..." he muttered. "The old man will probably take everything."

His father was a gambling addict. Despite having accumulated an enormous debt to pay off, he still continued gambling in hopes of clearing off his dues.

Since his father couldn't be trusted and his frail mother couldn't work for long hours, it was up to him to support his family. As much as he hated responsibilities, he had no choice but to work if he wanted to survive.

He paused as he passed by the city library. He hadn't visited it since he dropped out of school. He had no reason to. There was no need to refer textbooks for his non-existent assignments. Nor did he have any spare time to read any light novels.

For reason he himself couldn't understand, he set foot into the library.

Facing the librarian, he asked-

"Do you have any books in Braille?"

***

'You... want to take Izuku to the park?' Inko asked.

"Yeah..." he responded. "I figured it would be nice for a change in pace. He's been cooped up in there for ages."

'I suppose it'll be alright, but... his appearance might get him some odd looks...'

"It'll be fine."

'Alright. I trust you.'

He'd rather she didn't. He didn't even trust himself.

"C'mon Izuku," he picked up the slime after hanging up the phone. "We're going out.'

'Yay!' Izuku bounced in delight.

The sun was setting by the time they reached the park. Only a few older kids were present.

He sat on one of the swings, placing Izuku on his lap.

All of a sudden, Izuku jumped down.

"Izuku?" he called out. He jumped off the swing to follow the slime.

Izuku bounced away, not bothering to wait for his tutor.

He paused once he realized where the slime was taking him. Right behind the park was a kitten, bloodied and bruised. The poor thing was being ganged on by a bunch of teenagers.

Anger surged through him.

"Deep breaths," he told himself. "Deep breaths..."

He could sense his berserk side threatening to let loose.

Izuku gently nudged him. He could practically sense the slime's non-existent eyes begging to save the kitten.

Calmly assessing the situation, he concluded that he could not best the teenagers in a fight. They were far too big. And without his quirk, there was only one way...

Hidden behind the wall, he spoke loud enough for the teenagers to listen.

"Over here, officer," he said. "They're beating the little thing up-"

One of the teenagers cursed under his breath.

"They called the cops," he said.

"Let's get outta here!"

The teenagers scurried away, leaving the poor kitten alone.

Izuku immediately ran towards the kitten, gently nudging it in hopes of waking up. Confused why the kitten wasn't moving, the slime turned to face him.

"That cat..." he said. "...will never wake up."

Izuku looked back at the kitten, downcast. Just then, with a flash, the cat dissolved.

"Huh?" He stared in astonishment as Izuku disappeared, and in his place was a kitten, built similar to the deceased feline, the only difference being the colour of its fur... black with splotches of bright blue, exactly the shade of Izuku's slime form.

"This is more troublesome than I thought," he muttered dialing a number on his phone.

"Yeah... we have a slight problem," he told Inko.

***

"Taking the form of other beings, gaining new abilities by absorbing different substances, and perfectly replicating anything he 'consumes'..." Inko summarized. "I'd prefer to keep his abilities a secret."

He nodded in agreement.

"Creation quirks are sought after by villains and heroes alike. I heard a girl awakened one recently. She's been targeted ever since."

"You'll keep it a secret, won't you?"

"Of course," he said. Well... he had had a slip of tongue a while back, but it's not like anyone would remember the words of a twelve year old, right?

"This is the first I've seen a quirk this versatile," Inko continued. "But I'd rather he had a normal quirk. At least then he'd had a somewhat semblance to a human form. I mean... there's no hope for him right now. To get a human form... would be to kill a human."

He cast a side glance at Izuku, who was basking under the sun in his cat form.

"Well... he seems pretty content as a cat," he said.

"I suppose... IZUKU! DON'T TEAR THE RUGS!"

Inko hastily picked her cat-son up, who lazily yawned and fell asleep in his mother's arms.

***

It was practically a habit by now, with how frequently the librarian had to kick him out, screaming, during the closing hours.

He wasn't there for the slime, he often told himself. Yet he found himself back to that gigantic building every evening.

'Doesn't hurt to learn something that might aid me in potential future jobs,' he reasoned. 'Most definitely not there for Izuku...'

After getting shooed out of the library for the millionth time, he settled down near the lamppost, reading the books he'd issued under the flickering light. It's not like anyone would notice if he didn't show up at home. They didn't care... To them, he was a burden if nothing else.

With a mother so distant, and a father so useless, it wasn't a surprise he envied the bond Izuku and Inko shared. He didn't belong with them, no matter how accommodating they were. That's the cold, harsh truth.

As he turned the pages, a sense of unease took over him.

Something was wrong...

Right on cue, his phone started ringing.

'Izuku,' Inko's panicked voice came from the other end. 'He's missing!'

He had an inkling on who it was. But... Why should he care? He had nothing to do with-...

It was his fault. He had unintentionally slipped out.

"It's too late," he mumbled in a small voice.

The villains who held Izuku captive were no small fries. They were the big deal, and even pro heroes would struggle holding their grounds against them.

'It's no use,' he wanted to tell Inko. 'Izuku's never coming back.'

But he couldn't find his voice.

Guilt... Anguish... Misery... and most importantly... Anger.

The negative emotions consumed him, and his other side... one he'd swore never to let loose... took over control.

"To touch what is rightfully mine," he cackled. "Your deaths won't be easy."

***

One might consider barging into a villain's base without any prior planning reckless.

He didn't care.

One of the villains immediately pointed a knife at his throat as he casually strolled into their hideout. His guard was down though, he discerned. The villain was underestimating him due to his small stature.

He grabbed the knife with one hand, its sharp edge piercing his palms. The villain flinched, clearly not expecting him to be that reckless. Yet this moment's hesitation cost him his life.

Getting stabbed by his own blade, the last thing the villain saw was the merciless glare of an enemy.

The other villains gathered upon hearing the commotion. Calmly assessing the situation, he concluded the villains harmless. Their large figures didn't bother him in the slightest. All he saw were targets, and targets were meant to be eliminated.

The next villain that approached him found himself incapacitated immediately. Not one could follow his movements.

Before anyone else could react, he himself approached one of them, and clutching the villain's head as tightly as he could he ripped it out, killed his opponent instantly.

Acknowledging his as an enemy, the remaining villains attacked him altogether.

Many of them charged at him head on, whereas the remaining fired projectiles aimed at his vitals.

It took them a while to realize their attacks were harmlessly bouncing off his skin. They paused, gaping at him in shock.

"You done?" he asked. None of the villains responded to his simple question. "In that case... it's my turn."

In a flash, all the villains, save for one, collapsed onto the ground, no longer alive.

He glared at the sole survivor.

"Where is the slime?" he growled.

"D-Downstairs," the terrified villain stuttered.

He followed the villain to the room that held Izuku captive.

Upon seeing the familiar face, Izuku rushed towards him and jumped into his arms.

"Thank goodness you're safe," he mumbled, barely audible.

"Now then," he turned towards the survivor who was sneakily attempting to escape. "Where to you think you're going?"

The villain turned as pale as a ghost.

"I-" he tried to come up with an excuse.

"Since you were so compliant, I'll give you the luxury to choose your last words."

"S-Spare me!"

"That, I cannot do. What happened here must never get out."

"I swear I'll never-"

A knife whizzed past the villain, grazing his cheek.

"I'm afraid as a teacher, I cannot risk my student's safety. As such, the only solution is to silence you. Permanently."

With a single swift move, the villain's head was neatly sliced off.

Having finished off every villain in the vicinity, he finally felt his anger subside. His rationality was finally resurfacing.

'Oh no...' Realization struck him like lightning. 'Did I just... kill in front of Izuku?'

(A/N: I'm more concerned about the fact that that's the only thing you're concerned about.)

Izuku was trembling in his hands.

"Hey! Hey! It's okay," he tried to console the slime.

'Teacher... kill?!' A voice echoed in his head.

Under normal circumstances, he would've been shocked at this development. Izuku could talk?!

But this was not the time to be in awe. He had to clear up this misunderstanding first. Well... not exactly a misunderstanding, seeing that he did, in fact, kill the villain.

"It's not what you think it is!" he said.

'Then... what is?' Izuku asked, a questing mark popping over his head.

"It' my quirk..."

'Your... quirk?'

He sat down and placed Izuku on the floor.

"Where do I start explaining..." he mumbled. "My quirk... It causes me to do things that I don't want to do."

'So... it makes you evil?'

"Not exactly. Have you ever had an inner desire to do something bad? Something that only villains would do?"

'Hm... One time in the park, I felt like hitting a kid because he made fun of my best friend. But I felt bad for thinking something like that in the first place.'

"Precisely! My quirk is based on that. Sometimes, when I feel strong emotions, like anger or disgust, my impulsive side takes control and does things that I normally wouldn't do."

'Does that mean... something triggered you to kill that villain?'

"Well... yes." He wasn't gonna mention that fact that that villain wasn't the only unfortunate victim. Izuku doesn't need to know that. "Normally I do keep my emotions strictly in check. But this time... I couldn't hold back."

'Hm...'

"Is something the matter, Izuku?"

'Do emotions like excitement also activate your quirk?'

"Yes."

'Isn't that really sad, though?'

"It's alright. I'm used to it."

'No!' Izuku paused to think. 'How about this... Let's give names to your different personalities. That way, at least with me, you won't have to hold your emotions, and I'll know which version of you I'm talking to.'

He considered Izuku's suggestion for a while. Keeping his emotions in check was a must to avoid unintentional activation of his quirk. Letting loose might cause accidental damage, the obliteration of the villains being the prime example.

But part of him knew that bottling things up was not a solution. Eventually the pressure building inside would crack the tough shell he had built.

Confiding to someone was the best solution he could get, but it's not like he had anyone trustworthy in his inner circle.

No...

He had Izuku.

Then there was the other thing that Izuku had suggested.

He'd always considered his berserk side as a part of himself. Treating it as a separate entity never struck his mind.

"Why don't you give us a name, then?" he asked the little slime.

'Who? Me?!'

"Yes."

'Eh? I'm not got at naming...'

"You'll do fine."

'If you say so...'

Izuku thought for a while.

'I've decided!' he said. 'Your happy side will be Rudra, your evil side Michael, and your normal self, the one that I know, will be Masayuiki!'

He chuckled. The names were probably random, perhaps something Izuku's read in a book or something. But for some reason, he felt like they suited him.

A feeling of warmth surged through him as he accepted the names, as if a connection between him was Izuku was being forged.

[Establishment of Soul Corridor is successful. Connection between Izuku Midoriya and Masayuki-Rudra-Michael... already formed. Sharing of certain skills can now be done. Acquisition of the Skill Berserker by Midoriya Izuku... Unsuccessful. Acquisition of the skill by Midoriya Izuku... Unsuccessful. Acquisition of the skill by Midoriya Izuku... Unsuccessful................ Acquisition of the skill by Midoriya Izuku... Unsuccessful. Investigating cause of failure. 3 Results found. Analyzing. Analysis complete. Requirements for Skill Berserker incomplete. Halting procedure for Skill Acquisition. Acquisition of Skill Limitless by Rudra via Soul Corridor, Successful. Acquisition of Skill Limitless by Michael via Soul Corridor, Successful. Acquisition of Skill Analysis by Michael, Successful. {Redacted} has been granted the Title: The Three-Faced Brave. Izuku Midoriya has been granted the title: Master of the Astray Hero. Acquisition of Skill: (Self) Justice by Michael is successful.]

"Anyways," Masayuki said. "Let's get back home. Your mother's been worried sick."

Izuku jumped into his mentor's arms.

'Let's go!'

***

"You really like that form, huh?" Masayuki said, staring at Izuku as he played with a ball of yarn. The cat (slime) struggled as he tried to untangle himself, ultimately resorting to transforming into an iguana to escape.

A/N: Frank, anyone?

Masayuki chuckled at the sight.

This warmth won't last forever, he knew that very well. But until he is no longer needed, he will do everything in his power to kindle the flames of the hearth.

'Or,' Michael's voice echoed in his head. 'We can simply abduct Izuku when the time comes!'

'Shut up!' Masayuki and Rudra chorused.

'Okay! Okay! Fine!'

.

.

.

Now, about four years later, Rudra was genuinely considering Michael's idea.

'No way!' Masayuki screamed at his other selves. 'We have morals. Want me to spell it for you? M-O-R-A-L-S! Plus, Izuku will be sad.'

As Masayuki was having an internal battle, Izuku was explaining his research on some magicule-quirk theory, which, in all honesty, did seem pretty interesting.

Shame that he won't be there to see it to the end. Izuku probably won't be needing him to tutor him anymore, seeing that he'll be joining a normal school sometime soon.

"Izuku," Inko entered the room. "Can you give us a minute? I need to talk to your teacher."

"Okay mom!"

Once Izuku walked out, Inko gave Masayuki a serious look.

"I believe you understand the situation now," Inko said.

Grimly, the teenager gave the woman a nod.

"I understand," Masayuki said. "So... how long do I have?"

"A week's time will be fine, right? He'll have to start school right after."

One week... that's how long he has left with Izuku.

"Anyways," Inko continued. "How old are you, again?"

"Sixteen," Masayuki responded.

Inko's expression turned even more serious.

"I understand things have been difficult for you for the past few weeks-"

He knew what the woman was implying... his parents.

Both of them had passed away in a car crash a few weeks back, thus Masayuki had taken a break from his job. Izuku, of course, hadn't been given the true reason for his absence. The slime had been informed that Masayuki was sick.

"-and it might be presumptuous for me to make this request of you-"

'Now what does she want?'

"-but Izuku and I consider you family. So I was wondering if it would be alright for me to serve as your legal guardian."

'Huh?' Even Rudra and Michael were confused.

"Wait! Am I not getting fired?" Masayuki asked.

"Fired? Goodness, no!"

"Then... the one week deadline?"

"To improve Izuku's handwriting, of course. He might possess an intellect suitable to attend school, but there's no way I can let Izuku go with such ghastly scribbles as his penmanship! Anyway, about the guardianship?"

"Uh... Sure?"

Inko excitedly walked out of the room to get the documents, leaving Masayuki in confusion.

'Hah!' Rudra cackled. 'I told you things would turn out just fine.'

'Really? Weren't you all in cahoots with Michael just a minute ago?' Masayuki taunted.

'I-uh...'

'All in all, I still believe kidnapping Izuku would be the best course of action,' Michael said.

'Your opinion holds no value. So please, shut up.'

Truth to be told, Masayuki did find himself with Michael's proposal. But unlike a certain someone, who had been corrupted by Michael's insanity, he did have a semblance of rationality left intact. As such, crazy ideas like there were meant to be kept as a last resort.

A loud crash snapped Masayuki out of his train of thought. Just as he turned his head to check out the source of the ruckus, the teenager found himself at the mercy of a large wolf(?) threatening to rip his face off.

"Ranga! Don't kill sensei!"

'Well... Things will be lively from now on,' Rudra chuckled.

.

.

.

"You want me to go to school~?!

...

Sure~!

Sounds fun~!"

"Don't kill anyone."

"No promises~!"

Chapter Text

Much to Inko's dismay, Izuku's handwriting, unfortunately, did not miraculously improve within a week, and thus the deadline for the start of the new session was missed. Rather, it took Izuku months to reach a level that could be considered satisfactory for a middle schooler. And with that, Izuku, now nine years old, was finally enrolling in a school.

Needless to say, the slime was pretty excited. Not counting his measly weeks in prep school, this was the first time Izuku was going to school.

However, this excitement soon turned into nervousness as he anxiously walked down the corridor in search of his classroom. To top it all off, the stares of the students added to his unease; their whispers made it evident that he was the subject of their discussion. He didn't even need to eavesdrop to figure out what they were talking about. Their question was loud and clear... 'Who is she?'

Getting self-conscious, the slime tried to cover his face with his hair and quickened his pace.

He was getting increasingly frantic as each second passed.

As he turned sharply on one of the corners, he bumped into a girl, causing her to drop her books. Being nimble, the girl managed to save her books in the nick of time.

Izuku was downcast. He hadn't even started school yet and he was already making a fool out of himself.

Panicked, Izuku's apologies came out as a series of stutters until the girl placed her hand on his shoulder in reassurance.

"Don't worry about it~!" her muffled voice, oddly familiar, came out of her mask, cheerful and friendly.

She turned around and walked away before Izuku could say anything else.

Izuku stared at her until she vanished into the thick crowd of the student body.

Continuing his search for his class, Izuku was shocked and very much embarressed to find out that his class was in the opposite side of the building. Getting directions from a teacher, he thankfully made it in the nick of time.

Just before entering his class, the sound of explosions caused Izuku to jump in startlement. Nervously, he peeped through the door and saw a blond boy screaming at the girl from before.

"Masked freaks like you don't deserve to be here! Go back to that weird circus of yours."

The blond thrust his palm forward, and Izuku sensed something bad was about to happen.

He knew that he'd be better off not triggering any bullies. A single mistake might ruin his entire school life. But his conscience wouldn't allow him to leave that girl alone.

Knowing he didn't have the luxury of time to contemplate over his decisions, Izuku did what he knew was right. Traversing through the shadows, the slime appeared in front of the girl right in the nick of time. The explosion targeted at the girl was deflected by Izuku's barrier.

"The hell do you think you're doing, extra?!" the blond growled.

"I could ask you the same thing," Izuku snapped back.

"None of your business."

The boy pulled his arm back for a punch, which Izuku caught with a single hand. He tried to yank it free, but Izuku's grasp was far too strong.

"Getting bested by a girl," one of the guys in the class snickered.

Both Izuku and the blond turned red, albeit for different reasons.

"S-Shut up," the blond hissed at the guy.

"I'm not-" Izuku mumbled.

"What was that pipsqueak?"

Before Izuku could say anything else, the teacher entered the class.

"Good morning students. Please be seated."

Izuku let go of the blond's hand.

"This isn't over," the boy spat. "The name's Bakugo Katsuki. Remember that."

Izuku groaned as he sat down. He had just started school, yet he'd already made an enemy.

Just as recess started, the slime swiftly escaped the classroom before Bakugo could come after him. The blond did give him a chase until Izuku lost him in the crowd.

"Whew!" he let out a sigh of relief. "He sure is persistent."

Choosing a nice spot under a tree, Izuku took out his lunchbox out of his storage. Thanks to his quirk, the food was still warm. He took out his chopsticks and proceeded to eat.

"HEY THERE~!"

The sudden scare caused Izuku to drop his lunchbox in surprise.

The masked girl from before, who was hanging upside down from the tree, appeared in front of Izuku in a flash, saving his lunch box before it could touch the ground.

"Here~!" she offered the box to Izuku. "You dropped this~!"

"T-Thank you," Izuku said.

"I believe some introductions are in order~!" the girl twirled on her toes twice and then spread her arms out as if she'd just finished a spectacular performance.

"I'm Tear~! I have four brothers and my favourite food is a hamburger~!" she said.

Tear's hype was a little too overbearing for Izuku. It was as if she had downed an entire gallon of Monster Drink in a single sitting, and what he was witnessing was the outcome.

"Izuku," he responded. "I have no direct siblings. My favourite food, as you can see-" he pointed at his lunchbox. "-is Katsudon."

"Splendid~! Splendid~!" Tear clapped her hands in excitement. "I like you~! So I'll give you half of my hamburger~!"

A hamburger, which had definitely not been there before, appeared in Tear's hands. She split it into a perfect half and offered a piece to Izuku.

"Oh please do accept this as a token of my friendship~!"

"T-Then," Izuku said. "I'll share my lunch with you too!"

Tear suddenly appeared seated right beside Izuku.

"I shall graciously accept~!"

Recess was pretty chaotic. The word 'idle' certainly did not exist in Tear's book. Even while sitting, Tear would swing her legs or fiddle with something-anything she would come across. Not a second passed without her talking. She would pop up with random questions at the most random of times.

One thing was certain, though. Tear's company was fun. Her joy made him warm and bubbly inside. It'd been a while since he last felt this happy. Ever since he left...

"And then~! And then~!"

Izuku and Tear were waiting for their guardians at the school gate. Tear was busy rambling on about some incident with her siblings.

"After taking the keys from me that morning, he had the audacity to blame me for losing them~! Can you believe it~ XD!!!"

"Did you tell them it was on your brother?" Izuku asked.

"Nope~! I'd forgotten I'd handed them over to Footman in the first place~! Silly me~!"

The two of them chuckled.

"Speaking of the devil~!" Tear twirled on her spot and then opened her arms as if to say 'tada~!'. "He's here~!"

If Tear were a twig, her brother was a stump. His plumpness resembled an oversized pumpkin, not that anyone would say that to his face.

Just like Tear, Footman wore a clown mask; perhaps it was something that ran in the family, Izuku presumed.

In spite of his appearance, the man was exceedingly nimble, matching Tear's hype as she danced around in joy.

"Nice to meet you," Izuku stretched out his hand to Footman. "I'm Izuku, Tear's friend."

"Oh how wonderful to meet you, my friend~!" Footman bowed in courtesy. "They call me Footman~!"

Colourful balls suddenly appeared in Footman's hands. The man juggled them before tossing them one by one into the air. With a snap of his fingers, the balls burst into bits of glittering paper, which, too, dissipated into thin air.

Tear clapped in delight.

"Your family is so much fun, Tear," Izuku turned towards the person in question. "I hope I can meet the rest of your four brothers soon."

Footman and Tear identically tilted their heads in confusion.

"Is... something wrong?" Izuku asked, confused at their sudden change in behaviour.

Tear popped right next to Izuku and playfully wrapped her arm around his neck.

"I've got only three brothers~!" her voice suddenly shifted to a dark undertone, albeit still jolly. "You must be misremembering things~!"

She jumped and joined Footman.

"Anyway~! Anyway~! It seems like we are running late~! See you t-o-m-o-r-r-o-w~!"

"May we have the pleasure of meeting again sometime soon~!" Footman bowed.

The siblings left, and Izuku waited alone for Benimaru to pick him up.

"HEY NERD!"

Izuku turned towards the source of the voice. Bakugo was charging straight towards him.

The blond pushed past the mob flocking the entrance, his gaze fixated at Izuku.

Not wanting to deal with the angry pomeranian, Izuku desperately looked for an escape route. Parents were already flocking the entrance, so heading back inside the school would consume the little time he had for escaping. The only way to escape was through the gate; thus Izuku ran out of the school premises.

Bakugo gave chase, being exceedingly persistent. But eventually he lost sight of Izuku.

"Argh!" he kicked a stray bottle in frustration. "That slippery bastard! Let's see how long he can run away."

He turned around to head back home, but all of a sudden, something... no... someone approached him from behind.

A slimy tendril slid towards his mouth and choked him. He coughed and gasped for air. His mind raced faster than a bullet train, searching for a way to escape.

Bakugo activated his quirk in a desperate attempt to save himself, but it was all in vain. The slimy figure was engulfing him, and he could feel his consciousness fading.

A crowd had gathered, yet not a single person moved to help, as if paralyzed by fear. The heroes were just as useless.

Bakugo could feel himself losing hope... until the damned nerd appeared.

Izuku's hand pushed through the slime and grabbed Bakugo's arm. Catching a glimmer of hope, Bakugo renewed his efforts, activating his quirk to break free from the sludge. The villain resisted, but Izuku and Bakugo's combined efforts overwhelmed its strength. Eventually, Izuku pulled Bakugo out of the villain's grasp.

"Kids. That was dangerous," one of the heroes scolded them.

Bakugo, who was still dazed, could not register the situation.

Soon enough, Izuku whispered in his ear. "Run!"

Izuku charged forward, and Bakugo, whose hand was still held by Izuku, had no choice but to follow his lead.

The heroes followed them, but Izuku seemed to know the terrain like the back of his hand.

Once Bakugo realized what was going on, he forcefully yanked his arm free.

"I don't need your help, nerd," he growled.

"Well, it's too late to say that now," Izuku flashed him a cheeky smile. "We're both in big trouble."

Bakugo turned around. "Whatever. I'm heading home."

"Don't go riling any other villains on your way back!"

"Shut up!"

Izuku telepathically contacted his wolf friend to ensure that Bakugo reaches home safe.

'Ranga. Make sure he gets back home safe.'

'Understood, Master!'

Once Bakugo left, Izuku called out to the stranger lurking behind.

"He's gone. You can come out now."

A man emerged from the shadows, so frail that even the slightest breeze could have knocked him over. Yet his aura was that of a formidable warrior, and Izuku knew he had to stay on high alert.

"Who are you?" Izuku asked.

The man raised his hand as if he was reaching out toward the unknown.

"You look just like... her..." he said, his voice trailing off. His sunken blue eyes reflected sorrow with a hint of nostalgia.

"I'll ask this one last time," Izuku said, backtracking to increase the gap between himself and the stranger. "Who are you?"

The slime prepared to flee as the stranger activated his quirk, growing in size until he was over double his initial height.

"Young man," the stranger said, stretching out his hand. "Won't you be my successor?"

Izuku needed no introduction; standing right in front of him was the number one hero, All Might.

Izuku took a deep breath and answered the hero's question in a heavy voice.

"I refuse."