Chapter Text
A guttural scream echoed out over the beige sands of Dagobah Beach. A shirtless Midoriya Izuku stood top a pile of trash ready to be disposed of.
The morning sun shone over the horizon, rays of light slowly covering the dark sky with rays of blue. Toshinori Yagi pulled up to the beach in his truck. His eyes widened when he saw the progress he’d made, the entire beach having been turned from a gigantic heap of trash to a pristine location, with not a single plastic bag or tin can in sight.
Midoriya swayed from side-to-side, and when he falls, Toshinori reacts. Activating One For All, he catches Midoriya in an instant. “My boy, you’ve done it!” He speaks, a dazed Midoriya blinking as he looks up at his mentor. “You’ve cleaned this entire beach… in just ten months, no less!”
Midoriya smiles as he holds up a shaky thumbs up. “I… couldn’t have… done it without your help… All Might!” Toshinori helps him down, and he pulls out his phone.
“Curse these blasted fingers of mine…” He takes a few seconds to navigate it, and he pulls up a picture. Of Midoriya Izuku. “This was you, ten months ago.” What used to be a frail boy in an All Might t-shirt, exhausted and crying, was replaced by a man, with muscle definition, and far more strength to boot. “Excellent work! Truly!” He booms, and Midoriya lets out an exhale.
“F-Feels like I cheated, though…” Tears flow from his eyes. “Getting all this help from you, All Might… I’ve been blessed…” He wipes his tears as All Might lets out a heroic laugh.
“You’re mistaken, my boy! You know what they say…” All Might plucks a strand of his hair out of his head, and it sways in the wind. “There’s a difference between being born with that silver spoon… and working your ass off to earn it! Take this to heart, kid. You’ve earned this power, fair and square.”
Midoriya looks up at All Might.
“Now…” All Might holds out the strand of hair, offering it to Midoriya. “Eat this.” Midoriya looks at the hair with a flabbergasted expression on his face. “I… was expecting something else… not… what?” All Might looks at the digital clock that was stationed just outside of the stairs leading to the beach, the time reading “6:15”.
“One for All is a quirk that is passed down through the transferring of DNA. As long as you get some of it, it doesn’t matter! Now, eat it.”
“Uh… o-ok!” Midoriya hesitantly takes the strand of hair and gulps it down. “I… I don’t feel any different…” He mutters after eating the hair, his face as green as his hair as disgust from eating the empowered keratin strand.
“Oh, it takes a while for the Quirk to kick in. It’ll happen in about an hour! Now, it’s about time we get going, shouldn’t we?!”
“U-Uh, right!”
By nature, Midoriya was an anxious person. He tended to second-guess his words, to doubt whether he penned the right answer on a test, and to overthink every small decision, scared that it would lead to something far worse. He hadn’t felt more fear in his entire life until now. His legs were shaking in his red shoes, and he’d taken a deep breath to compose himself.
Alright, Izuku. You’ve been through worse. All those months of training have led you to this moment. Now, all that’s left to do is to take your first steps forward.
He slapped his cheeks with his hands, and a faint KA-THUNK sounded in his head. It was faint, barely noticeable over the sound of his rushing thoughts, but, as a result, he was moving far faster than he expected, causing him to trip over himself. Well, this is it for me. Suddenly, he was suspended in mid-air, and he’d yelped at the sudden loss of his gravity. He’d flailed around in the air, and it had moved him backwards, causing him to end up stumbling on his back anyways. His yellow backpack spilled open, causing his stationery to spill out.
“You okay?!” Shouts a feminine voice, and Midoriya groans. He opens his eyes to see a brunette, her hair styled in a short bob, look down at him with concern. Midoriya blinks and yelps, getting back up.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t see where I was going, and-”
“No, no, it’s fine! You were about to fall, so I tried to save you with my Quirk, but uh… I’m guessing that backfired in a way?” She notices the stationery spilled all over the cobblestones of UA’s main pathway, and she winces. “You dropped a lot of your stuff!”
“O-Oh, is that so?” Midoriya turns back to see his stationery spilled out, and he sighs. He goes to pick it up, and the girl immediately joins him, helping him pick up his scattered pencils, some pens, and an eraser.
“Here you go.” She hands it to him.
“Thank you.” Says Midoriya with a smile.
“Don’t mention it. Alright, I’ve gotta bounce. Good luck on the exam!” She runs off and Midoriya could only look at her retreating form. A blush formed on his face. I just talked to a girl! He shook his head to reaffirm his focus, and he checked the time on one of the clocks darted around the UA campus, and he paled. I’m gonna be late if I don’t hurry up!
The written examination to UA was… decent enough. It was multiple-choice, and Midoriya was… well, not confident, but definitely not scared of his results in the written examination. Since he was a Hero Course candidate, it was time for the real deal, the exam that made up most of UA’s ranking criteria. Only forty students at a time could enter UA’s prestigious Hero Course.
He was seated in an auditorium right next to Katsuki Bakugo, who looked pissed off at the mere sight of him, and he’d waited for the proctor to come out and explain what could happen. So, imagine his surprise when none other than Present Mic himself came out! Midoriya went into a muttering frenzy about the hero and his Quirk as he announced the point categories for robots. Three-pointers, two-pointers, and one-pointers were scattered around a city simulation, and there was a zero-pointer, but students were advised to ignore or run from it, for it was more a nuisance. Then, a tall student with square glasses scold him for muttering after he asked a question, and Midoriya could not shrink further into himself any more.
After the disaster that was the rulebook on the practical exam, he changed into some athletic wear, and he boarded one of the buses, already packed with several students from multiple different schools across the country. He’d sat down in one of the empty seats, next to the window, and he gazes outside. The bus’ engine whirred to life, and when all the students boarded, the bus began to move. As the last few were getting into their seats, he spaced out as he watched the school campus fly by as UA was taking them to one of their designated training facilities.
“Mind if I sit here?” Said a familiar voice, and Midoriya turned to see that girl from earlier who helped him.
“O-Oh, uh, of course!” She sits down next to him, and holds out a hand.
“Sorry that I didn’t introduce myself earlier. I’m Ochako Uraraka!” Midoriya shakes her hand, and he notices that she reflexively made sure her pinky finger didn’t touch him..
“M-My name’s Midoriya Izuku. I-It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too, Midoriya-kun!” She looks into his eyes. “Oh, your eyes are green?”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, your eyes! When I saw them the first time, they were this cool bright blue, but… now, they’re green! Could it be your Quirk?” She muses, and Midoriya gulps.
“I… I must not have noticed it! U-Uh…” The bus grinds to a screeching halt, and Midoriya looks back out of the window to see that they’ve reached the facility.
“Oh, looks like we’re here!” Ochako gets up to her feet, and Midoriya follows her as the two stood outside of the testing hall. Ochako began to stretch and limber up, and Midoriya hesitantly followed her directions as he also stretched.
“ALRIGHT, LISTENERS! ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?!” Shouts Present Mic over the intercom, and everyone lets out a cheer in response. “GOOD TO HEAR!” And with that, the doors to the mock city swung open. Everyone gasped in surprise, but no one dared to move.
“WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! THERE’S NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL LIFE!” And with that, everyone was on the move. Midoriya yelped as everyone rushed past him, and he saw Ochako flash a thumbs up at him before rushing forwards.
Midoriya ran forwards, trying to get through the city, and a two-pointer robot burst out of a wall, the sudden noise causing Midoriya to flinch. It locked eyes on him and readied to attack, and fear planted Midoriya’s legs to the ground. Now was a chance to use One for All. Ready your fist, clench your buttcheeks, and yell out with all your heart, “SMASH!” He threw his fist forwards, only for it to meet solid steel. A small dent was formed in its torso, and Midoriya gaped. A KA-THUNK sound echoed from the robot, and a blue outline surrounded it, causing it to go faster.
In superhuman speeds, it was mere centimeters away from whacking him in the skull, far faster than Midoriya could react, but a blue laser came out from nowhere and obliterated it completely. He turned to its source, and saw a boy with neatly combed hair, expensive clothing, and a belt around his stomach. “Now’s not ze time to get cold feet, non?” He runs off, and Midoriya gulps.
He continues to run around the mock city, only to see corpses upon corpses of robots. Piles of steel, littered from the other examinees having gotten to them first. He panicked as he continued to run around, only to accidentally bump into Ochako.
“Ah! Oh, Midoriya! Sorry, gotta run!” A blue glow was surrounding her, and she was moving faster than he’d seen before. He turned to see where she came from, only to see a sea of robots with dents caved into them. They were fragile, sure, but they looked like they fell from considerable heights. Now’s no time to be performing autopsies on robots, Izuku! You got this Quirk for a reason, so go in there and clear this damn UA entrance exam!
Meanwhile, the teachers were looking at a screen, with a live camera feed across several of the examiners. Aizawa let out a sigh, and Mic snickered. “Already figuring out which candidates to automatically expel if they’d make it into the Hero Course?”
“No, I’m more disappointed at the fact that the students who I don’t want will probably end up in my class.” He turns to Principal Nezu, the chimera sitting down in a chair. “That blonde-haired one, especially. Shame that his quirk’s mighty strong.”
“I’m more worried about the green-haired one, personally.” Says All Might as he stares at the screen nervously. His eyes dart between Midoriya’s and Ochako’s screens, the blue glow around Ochako still persisting as she darted around the arena much faster than usual. That’s not a side effect of One for All. Bumping into something or making contact never made things go faster. What’s happening?
“The green-haired one… ah. He hasn’t racked up a single point. Why’re you so fixated on him, anyways? Faculty aren’t supposed to be biased towards other students.”
All Might shakes his head fervently. “I’m not biased! What are you talking about?!” He lets out a boisterous laugh. You were never good at lying, Toshinori!
“If anything, I’m more concerned about his Quirk. He doesn’t seem aware of its effects at all.” Aizawa checks the time left in the exam, and turns to Nezu.
Nezu was already at the terminal, pressing a big red button to unleash the Zero-Pointer.
Back in the testing center, Midoriya slumped against a wall as sudden exhaustion began to overtake him. He’d run himself ragged, not finding a single robot that wasn’t already beaten to the ground. Just his luck. A rumbling had burst through the arena, and Midoriya turned to where it could possibly be. A mechanized titan, taller than some of the buildings dotted around the city, loomed over them. It lumbered forward, and Midoriya fell backwards in fear.
“AGH!” He heard her scream, and within the smoke, Midoriya could see Ochako, her leg trapped within a chunk of rubble. Blood was seeping out from underneath, and a look of pure shock burst through his face. That… that thing’s gonna crush her! If I don’t act… she’ll die!
The world around him fell around him, and time slowed down. Adrenaline surged through his limbs, and his body moved before he could even react. An audible KA-THUNK echoed through the region, with a blue light bursting around him, and red veins sparked in his limbs. Green sparks crackled around him, and he’d leapt upwards in the blink of an eye. Blue afterimages flew from behind him, but Midoriya didn’t notice them, nor did he notice the blue glow of his eyes.
All Might’s words echoed through his head. Show them all what it truly means to be a hero. So, clench your buttcheeks, and yell out from the depths of your heart… “DETROIT… SMASH!” Midoriya, rocketing forwards, landed a single punch on the zero-pointer, and the added kinetic energy was enough for the entire robot to completely shatter as Midoriya obliterated it.
The shockwave came forth half a second later than the point of contact. Midoriya looked back up, and the surge of wind clued him in to his surroundings. He’d looked back down and let out a scream. Oh god, oh god! You’re falling! You’re so high up, you’re not gonna live at this rate! What would All Might do? He’d do a three-point superhero landing- wait, three of your limbs are broken, Izuku! Think, what are you supposed to do?! You’re going to die otherwise, and all of All Might’s work will be useless!
A stinging pain burst from the side of his face, and he’d found himself floating in mid-air half a second after. “R-Release.” Said Ochako, and he’d gently landed back down. Ochako was atop a piece of the zero-pointer, having gotten up there despite her broken leg, and she’d managed to save her. The contents of her stomach came up shortly after, causing her to vomit.
Midoriya looked away from her, only for a sudden bout of dizziness to form through him, as the adrenaline wore off. He fell forwards, and blacked out.
A void floated around him. A man with salmon-orange spiky hair with an X-shaped scar on his face.
There was yelling. Scolding. Then words. “Stockpiling Quirk… eight former bearers… The Ninth…”
And lastly… a name. “Gearshift.”
When Midoriya came to, he was atop a hospital bed, his mouth hooked up to a respirator. An old lady was looking at him with a stern look on her face. “Goodness me, can’t I have one exam without one student accidentally hospitalizing themselves or others?” She mutters as she clamps an oximeter on his finger. After a few seconds, she’d taken it, and the respirator, off. “You’re lucky that you merely blacked out. Hypoxia is no joke.”
“Wait… Hypoxia? That’s…” His eyes widen as he takes in the sight of the hero who patched him up. “Wait, Recovery Girl, the Youthful Heroine!” He exclaims, and Recovery Girl nods. “What… what happened to me? Why did I pass out?”
“Makes sense that you weren’t aware.” She sighs. “Your body ended up using most of the oxygen it had when you performed your stunt with that Quirk of yours. If it was active for any longer, you would’ve died before you hit the ground! I swear, One for All users and their recklessness…”
Midoriya gulps as he took in what Recovery Girl muttered in the end. “H-How do you know about One for All?”
“Did Yagi not tell you? Oh, I’m sure that big oaf didn’t. I’m one of the few other people who know about One for All. Now, it’s about time you head back, as it’s getting late. Your stuff’s on the chair over there.” She points at a chair with his backpack and some his torn jumpsuit, and Midoriya nods.
“W-Wait, Recovery Girl… what about that… blue light?”
Recovery Girl clicks her tongue. “I’ve got absolutely no idea about it, sonny. I’m sorry I can’t help out any further.”
Midoriya stepped out of the infirmary, only to see Ochako waiting outside on one of the chairs. “Midoriya! Oh, you’re alright!” She exclaims, and Midoriya nods.
“Y-Yeah…” He turns away as a blush forms on his face. “U-Uraraka-san?! W-What are you doing here? I-It’s late, and I’m sure you need to head home…”
“I just… I just couldn’t go until I knew you were alright. I’m so glad you are, though! Thank you for saving me!”
“N-No, it’s… it’s no worries, I just did what anyone else would’ve done, and…” She cuts him off by pulling him into a hug. Midoriya, a scarlet flush on his face, still manages to reciprocate it.
Ochako smiles as she pulls away. A small blush formed on her face as she pulled out a pink flip phone from her pocket. “Despite either of our performances in the exam, I’d still want to speak more! Is it alright if I can have your email? This thing can’t really make calls, sadly…”
Midoriya was stunned by the flip phone, but he nods, pulling out his own smartphone from his backpack and handing her his email. Ochako smiles as she checks the time. “Oh, I think it’s about time I get going. Thank you, Midoriya, again!” She quickly runs off, and Izuku just nods.
I just got a girl’s contact information! A scarlet blush formed on his face once more, though he’d quickly shook away those thoughts and decided to head back home.
When he’d reached back home, his mother immediately bombarded him with questions, tears spilling out from her eyes. “Izuku! My baby! You did well, right? You didn’t get hurt, did you? I got a call from the school and I was so worried, and-”
Midoriya sighs as reality set in his bones. Zero points. “I-I’m fine, Mother. Recovery Girl healed me. I won’t… I won’t lie to you, Mother. I don’t have a good chance of entering UA. I didn’t get a single point in the practical examination, and…”
Midoriya Inko pulls him into a hug. “That’s alright, my baby. You’ve still made me more proud than you’ll ever know. Now, let’s eat, shall we? I’ve made your favorite.”
Midoriya smiles. “I’d like that.”
Once dinner was done, and he was about to retreat back to his home… he’d gotten a notification. An e-mail notification from one Ochako Uraraka.
Ochako Uraraka
Hi, Izuku!
It’s Ochako.
He smiles.