Chapter Text
April 14, 7:25 AM, near Tatooin Station]
[Midoriya Izuku, Age: 14, Quirk: Fox – The person with this Quirk has the ears and tail of a fox. They also have a reflective membrane in their eyes which grants enhanced night vision.]
Izuku was on the way to school when he heard a commotion nearby. His ears twitched toward the sound as he honed in on the source. Sounded like there was someone large fighting near the station. He checked his watch and then with a satisfied nod, he quickly dug in his bag for his notebook, titled: Hero Analysis for the Future: Vol 13. With notebook in hand, he began rushing toward the battle.
When he got to the source of the commotion he saw a giant villain trying to flee from a few Heroes. Backdraft was on scene, forming a cordon line with water to keep civilians out of the way. Deatharms had engaged the villain in melee combat. “Is that Kamui Woods?!” Izuku suddenly called out as he saw the wood using Hero swoop in. Meanwhile, Izuku was already scribbling notes at lightning speed.
A man with peculiar star-shaped protrusions from his head stepped forward and nodded in an approving way. “A fanboy, are you? Looking to become a Hero, young man?”
Izuku’s tail and ears perked right up as he realized he was being addressed. “Yes, it’s my biggest dream! To become a Hero just like my dad!” Izuku replied, and then went back to writing notes. “Oh, here it comes, his signature move!” he called out
“Lacquered chain priso-”
“CANYON CANNON” A woman about the same size as the villain called out as she delivered a double barrel drop kick to the villain’s chest, launching the massive villain away. “Today’s my debut! I’m Mt. Lady.” she said, striking a pose with her back facing toward a growing crowd of male reporters with cameras at the ready.
Izuku wasn’t particularly concerned with the giant Heroine’s appearance, but he was jotting down various notes on the usefulness of her Quirk, muttering his commentary the whole time.
“Wow kid, you sure are serious about that Hero goal of yours. Best of luck, and when you’re famous I’ll come get your autograph!” the man with the odd protrusions on his head said with a hearty chuckle.
“Thank you for your encouragement!” Izuku replied as he finished scribbling down his notes and then his watch beeped. He'd be late to class if he waited any longer.
[8:12AM, Aldera Middle School]
Izuku rushed into the classroom with only a few minutes to spare. He quickly took his seat and tried not to let Kacchan’s glare ruin his day, he was having a pretty good day and he wasn’t about to let the bully ruin it. Thankfully for Izuku, the homeroom teacher came in before anything could go wrong.
The teacher walked into the room carrying a stack of papers with a seemingly stern expression on his face. “Well class, you’re all third years, have you put any thought into which high schools you’re all going to? Oh, who am I kidding, you’re all going to Hero schools, right?” The homeroom teacher said as he flung a stack of career planning papers into the air. The class responded with each showing off their Quirks. Even Izuku swished his tail around a bit in excitement, joining the others in the class who had the least flashy Quirks.
The teacher shook his head fondly. “You’ve all got such splendid Quirks indeed, but I shouldn’t need to remind you that Quirk usage is strictly prohibited in school!” His tone clearly showed that he didn’t really care, kids will be kids after all.
“Tch” Kacchan clicked his teeth in annoyance. “Oi! Teach, before you go lumping me in with these extras, remember that I’m going to be the best! I couldn’t even dream of any of them making it anywhere with their third-rate Quirks!” he declared as he stood from his seat, stomping a foot onto it for emphasis.
The teacher sighed before shaking his head, but then seemed to let the matter go and continue with his lecture. “With your grades and attitude, I can already guess you’re aiming for UA, right, Bakugo-kun?”
"Of course I am! I aced the mock exams like they were nothing. I've already got UA in the bag!" Kacchan crowed, and then turned toward the rest of the class "All you losers should be proud that one day you'll get to say you went to school with the next greatest Hero, I'll surpass even All Might!"
The teacher had long since tuned out Bakugo's ranting, along with the insulted responses from most of the class. He flipped through a few pages and then called attention to a different subject. "Midoriya-kun, you’re also aiming for UA, is that correct?"
Izuku nodded an affirmative but kept his mouth shut. Why did he have to call attention to that. He thought to himself, dreading what almost certainly was coming next.
"Deku's applying for UA? Today isn't April Fool's, Teach!" Bakugo's rant began. "Deku, your Quirk is the weakest in class. All you've got is those stupid fox ears and tail. You're basically Quirkless!" He sneered.
"Just because I can't do anything extraordinary doesn't mean I can't be a Hero too!" Izuku protested, but that only added fuel to the fire.
Before Bakugo could keep the class derailed further, the teacher wrangled back control over the class so that they could begin the day's lessons.
As the day went on, Izuku found himself drifting off into memories from a time when he didn’t have to worry about being picked on by Kacchan.
[About ten years ago]
“7…8…9…10! Ready or not, here I come!” Izuku called out across the playground. Hide-and-seek was his favorite game. He was always so good at finding the other kids in his kindergarten class. He wandered around the playground with his ears twitching toward each new sound, looking for any of his classmates rustling around. He heard rustling in one of the bushes.
“Found you!” Izuku called out, searching through the bush and sure enough he’d found his classmate, a girl whose hair seemed to change color depending on the angle of the lighting.
“No fair, Izuku-kun you always find me right away!” Asuka complained with a pout.
“It’s not my fault you move around too much. I can hear you when you wiggle around” Izuku defended, and then he heard someone shuffling around in a tube-shaped slide nearby. He’d just started heading toward the slide when he heard the girl behind him trying not to sneeze.
“Hah-aah-ah-cho-FWOOOM” When Asuka sneezed, a small torrent of emerald flames shot from her hands, the effort of trying to hold in the sneeze must have been enough to activate her Quirk for the first time.
“Woooaah,was that your Quirk, Asuka-chan?” Izuku said with awe and gave a blinding grin. Miraculously, he wasn’t even singed despite being so close to the sudden burst of flame. “Heeey everyone! Asuka-chan got her Quirk!” Izuku exclaimed, causing some of the other kids to come out of their hiding spots as well as the teacher supervising recess to come over.
“Well, ain’t that a flashy Quirk. Everyone come stand behind me so that Ichiiro-san can try again, okay?” The teacher instructed, and then made sure Asuka had plenty of space. After a few attempts producing nothing but poofs of smoke, she managed to create a small flame in one hand, this time it was a bright crimson color. She tried again and this time the flame was a deep cerulean.
“Those are quite pretty fires. I’m sure you could be a fine Hero one day” the teacher praised before ushering the class back into the school as recess came to an end.
[11:55AM
I wonder what Asuka-san is up to these days. Izuku thought, tapping his pencil on his cheek as he stared out the window. The morning had gone by fairly simply. Izuku only got called out for muttering in class twice today. He had already finished the homework so the rest of the class was basically a free study period. Suddenly a hand slamming onto his desk with an explosion ripped him from his thoughts.
“Oi, Deku! We’re not done with our little discussion from earlier. Who the hell do you think you are? You’re as useless as your Quirk. What’s this you got here?” Bakugo said in a menacing tone as he pulled Izuku’s notebook away. “Hero Analysis for the Future?” he read off with a scoff. “You wouldn’t even cut it as a fourth-rate sidekick for a third-rate Rescue Hero, so why don’t you save yourself the trouble and just give up, and stay out of my way! You’re barely a pebble on my path to greatness, you hear me!” Today’s rant was particularly vitriolic, Izuku really wished he could understand what it was he was doing that upset Kacchan so much. At least if he knew, he could do something about it.
“Kacchan, I’m not trying to get in your way. I’m just following my-” Izuku was cut off by an explosion as Kacchan clapped his hands together on the notebook, charring the outside.
“Following your dreams’? Is that the kind of shitty line you were about to use? This ain’t a fairy tale, Deku. Maybe this will put some sense into that stupid brain of yours. Aren’t foxes supposed to be clever?” Kacchan spat in a mocking tone before flinging the notebook out the window over his shoulder. “I’m only gonna tell you this once you damn nerdy fox, you’re never gonna make it into UA. Good hearing and seeing a little better in the dark ain’t gonna help you win against a villain. You’re basically Quirkless! And I’m going to be the only one from this shitty school to get in. Got it?” Kacchan laid a hand on Izuku’s shoulder and let off a few weak explosions, which created just enough smoke to hide the faint viridian glow that came from Izuku’s skin.
Kacchan and his lackeys shuffled out of the classroom, satisfied that the message had been delivered. Izuku waited a few moments before he left the classroom to go get his notebook. When he got to ground level, he was disheartened to see that it had landed in the small koi pond. “Just my luck, sorry guys, but my dreams aren’t supposed to be fish food” he muttered as he pulled the soggy book out of the pond. The pages seemed mostly intact, and at least Izuku had been smart enough to write with waterproof ink. There had been an incident several years ago when he’d been moved to tears while writing about a Hero and ruined the pages.
[3:55PM]
The rest of the day passed with Izuku trying his best to have as little presence as possible. When it was time to go he quickly excused himself and took the shortest route he knew to get home. He did his best to psych himself up as he crossed through a pedestrian tunnel underneath a street, imitating the laugh of All Might as he walked through. Izuku had been so distracted that he hadn't heard the manhole cover rattling, even with his better than average hearing.
"Lucky! A medium-sized invisibility cloak." A sinister, raspy voice suddenly said from behind Izuku as he was wrapped up in some sort of high viscosity sludge, covering his mouth and nose.
He tried to scratch and get any sort of grip but his fingers just slid right off.
"Tough luck kid, my body is like liquid. No hard feelings but I need your body more than you do. Just relax and it'll all be over in a few seconds. You'll be my Hero, hahaha" the sludge man said with an awful chuckle.
Someone's gotta notice! I'm gonna die! I need help! Izuku thought frantically as he tried desperately to get free.
The sludge felt horrible against his skin and especially against the fur on his tail. He felt something welling up from deep within and pulled on that feeling. There was a rattling sound coming from the manhole cover again and this time Izuku heard it, but it wasn’t important right now. Izuku pulled at the feeling within that was oddly familiar and he began to glow with an intense emerald light. Just as the manhole cover burst up into the air, Izuku pushed outward with all the strength he could muster. As Izuku’s vision faded into one point, he was vaguely aware of the pressure around him disappearing. Then Izuku also disappeared.