Chapter 1: Reorientation
Of course, for clarity's sake, Izuku had brought in All Might to explain the One for All situation. Aizawa was under the impression that his newfound quirk was his only quirk, and he would likely explain it incorrectly. Besides, at this point, it would be liberating to finally share the secret with his teacher. He had shed blood many times for Midoriya, including both the USJ incident and the recent raid on the Shie Hassaikai, and that proved that he was trustworthy in his books.
This newly discovered quirk of his, which they had tentatively named Mimicry for the moment, allowed him to copy the quirk of anyone whose hair had been willingly given to him and then eaten. With One for All as part of him, he had a permanent copy of that quirk. Because of the circumstances that led to him discovering this, he also had Kaminari's Electrification. As a form of protection Aizawa pulled out a hair ("You are my number one issue, Problem Child. I need some assurance just in case I can't come to help you," he had said.), and the same day they began training his new Quirks.
Fortunately, they were able to deduce that his version of Electrification didn't short-circuit his brain entirely. Rather, the closer he got to his wattage limit, the more he began to lose control over his limbs, with fine and gross motor control slowly diminishing until he hit his limit, where he temporarily became paralyzed. However, because of One for All, his wattage limit was much higher, allowing him to output major shocks with some ease.
His mother donated one of her own hairs, and under her, he quickly mastered Pull, though his limit of weight was actually the same as how much he could physically lift. Because of the ten months of hell at Takoba under All Might's guidance as well as One for All itself, he was easily capable of using Pull on massive objects, though he started struggling around 750 pounds.
Erasure, however, was an entirely different beast to master. While Aizawa was able to teach him the ropes of his quirk, it was a bit difficult. He could understand why his Sensei complained about dry eye so often. During his quirk training, he trained with Kacchan, and was able to erase his quirk. But some minor anomalies had shown up during that first spar. Explosion got Erased when neither he nor Sensei was using the quirk.
Eventually it was discovered that Full Cowling was able to blame. Specifically, the faux electricity that covered his body when he used Full Cowling was capable of carrying the effects of one of his quirks. He was able to make the faux electricity have an electrical charge thanks to Kaminari's Electrification, and he could render someone temporarily powerless with a touch.
Of course, the effect was not quite as potent as if he used the original quirk. Full Cowling would only erase a quirk for about five seconds with a single touch, while Erasure would continue its effects so long as he kept his eyes open. Nonetheless, this was a powerful ability, as it would allow him to render his opponents helpless as he fought them. Like Shigaraki, Overhaul or Ochako, if he got a single hit, he could turn the tide of any one-on-one fight instantly.
But he could not allow himself to become complacent. Just because he could erase quirks with a touch did not mean he would be capable of winning any fight. If he were to fight All for One right now, he would certainly lose. This ability, which he called Quirked Cowling, was only one tool in his kit. He would need to make sure he had everything ready.
Right now, he had to worry about recovering. According to Sensei, the School Festival was in about six weeks, and they would have to start worrying about that in about two weeks.
He was just leaving his meeting with Eri in the hospital, when a thought hit him.
"Eri… could you do me a huge favor?"
The girl looked puzzled, but answered, "I guess I can, Deku. What is it?"
"Could you give me one of your hairs?"
Eri complied, but she was deeply confused, as was Mirio. They were even more confused when he immediately swallowed the hair.
"Ah, sorry about that. Something I needed for my Quirk!"
This explanation served only to raise further questions, but Izuku waited until after they had left the hospital and returned to campus before he pulled Mirio aside. First, he told him about One for All, and then revealed his old Quirk, Mimicry. Togata quickly put it together.
"You want to be able to help Eri get a handle on her quirk!"
"Exactly! She's so terrified of her quirk that she can't control it. The logical next step is to have someone with a copying quirk help her. Since she knows me and I have one, I took the opportunity!"
"Excellent instinct, Midoriya. I was going to have Monoma try it at some point, but this works better. She already knows and trusts you, so she would listen to you."
Aizawa was at the end of the driveway, evidently having heard the conversation. He seemed pleased at Midoriya anticipating his idea. He continued to speak, saying, "It seems that Principal Nezu will allow her to come to the School Festival, but she'll have to come to UA at some point before then to get used to the area, so she doesn't get overwhelmed. We're not sure quite when yet, given her condition, but it could be a while before you see her again."
The two nodded and gave their thanks to Eraserhead. Mirio made his way to the third years' dorms, while Izuku entered 1-A's front door nearby. After such a long day, he was very tired. But before he could rest, he needed to write down his thoughts about Eri's quirk.
It seemed to buzz with power that was slowly but steadily growing, almost like One for All. He thought that perhaps Monoma copying Rewind would be more helpful, as he seemed to have an intuitive understanding of the Quirks he'd copied, while he had to rely on his own analytic skills, which though formidable, were not suited to this situation right now.
When Monoma mentioned that he couldn't copy stockpiling quirks properly, he cursed. It would have been perfect if the blonde could have helped him figure out Eri's quirk. "Never mind, Eri. I managed to copy your quirk!"
Monoma looked startled, so he elaborated. "We discovered that my quirk is also a copy quirk, which allows me to copy quirks and their fuel, but it requires me to eat hair. And unfortunately, I was hoping that your quirk would help me understand how to control the power, because you always understand the quirks you are using so quickly."
"But how!? How did you manage to pass the entrance exam?! Whose quirk have you been using?"
"I'm kind of ashamed to admit it, but… It was All Might. I thought I was quirkless, so he trained me before the exam. That day we played truth or dare, and I ended up eating one of his hairs. It was kind of weird. But ever since then, I've been kind of able to copy his quirk."
Monoma was even more stunned, but he recovered. The expression on his face was much more friendly than he had ever seen from the blonde. "I'm glad that someone like you got into UA. Compared to the real bad apples of Class A, you're not so bad."
"Thank you Monoma. Your quirk is pretty amazing too! You've definitely got me beat in several ways, especially in how you activate your quirk. Hair doesn't really taste good."
"I'd imagine so."
The two boys laughed and separated, each returning to their dorms, pondering what they had learned that day.
Chapter 2: Never say Nezu
Midoriya had continued trying to train his newer Quirks, using them alongside One for All, but one had been quite difficult to work with. Ironically, it was Pull that was giving him a hard time. Quirked Cowling with Pull rarely actually did anything when he tried to use it during his training. Eventually, he discovered that, at higher percentages of One for All, Quirked Cowling could Pull his enemies back after he hit them. Of course, keeping such high percentages for a whole fight was dangerous long-term, so it was safer to just use Pull by itself.
Some had offered to give him a copy of their quirks, but he had declined, knowing that he already had quite a lot to deal with as-is. But that was about to change in a few minutes.
"Midoriya, Principal Nezu would like to see you in his office. He has a gift of sorts for you," Aizawa said. The timing felt too coincidental to not be about Mimicry, so he went and visited the Principal as ordered.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I have called you here, Mr. Midoriya."
"I think it must have something to do with the Quirk I was born with, sir."
Nezu looked intrigued at that. He asked, "Now why do you say that Midoriya? I've given no hint that this would have any connection to Mimicry in the slightest!"
"At first, it was just a hunch, but your response tells me that it was," answered Midoriya with a slight smile.
The principal grinned, and replied, "I see that the rumors of your intelligence have not been exaggerated. The reason I invited you here does, in fact, relate to your birth quirk, but I'll get to that in a moment. What I'm really after is quite simple, actually."
Nezu paused and leaned forward, then whispered, "I'd like you to be my personal student. You are one of the most clever and inquisitive humans I have ever met, and that kind of gift should be nourished!"
Izuku Midoriya was floored. Principal Nezu was famous for his high intellect, and the thought that he was considered as a worthy student to learn from him directly was extremely intriguing. "I think that would be for the best, sir. Where do we begin, sir?"
"Not quite yet, young Izuku. We still have to get to your gifts!" Nezu pulled out a box, containing three different hairs.
Immediately, Izuku's eyes bulged. Three different hairs meant that Nezu had three quirks he wished to give him. He plucked up the courage and asked, "Whose quirks are those? If I'm going to be using them, I'm going to need all the information."
Nezu laughed and began speaking. "The first hair belongs to Saiko Intelli, a second-year from Seiai Academy. Her quirk allows her to temporarily boost her IQ by drinking tea and closing her eyes. I was able to convince her to give me a hair by pulling some strings with a hero agency she's hoping to work with."
"An intelligence-boosting Quirk would be extremely helpful, sir. Thank you so much!"
"Oh, it was nothing my boy. The second hair is one of mine. My quirk, as you know, is High Specs, which makes me more brilliant than any human alive. If you're going to succeed All Might and be my student, you're going to need quite a lot of brains."
Now Midoriya was speechless. The fact that Nezu was willing to give him a copy of High Specs was far beyond even the offer to take him as his personal student. It was completely insane! Combined with IQ, he would effectively become all-knowing the moment he drank tea! Now he understood with full clarity exactly why the staff was terrified of Nezu, if this was what he could accomplish.
"The third hair, you do not have to eat. While the Quirk is useful, unfortunately, you know its owner far too well. I was barely able to convince him to allow me to take it."
Immediately, he understood precisely whose Quirk he was being offered. "Overhaul. You're offering me hisquirk?"
"Yes. But as I said, you do not have to take it. The others, you have to take, but Overhaul is here only if you want it."
"I think that Eraserhead and All Might should be here for this conversation. They need to be part of this as my teachers."
"Of course," Nezu agreed. "I'll call for them."
Both of them had been nearly as surprised as Izuku had been at the majority of the information. Of course, they did not question how he done this, only why, given that they were by now well used to the lengths that Nezu would go to for his goals.
Eventually, they had agreed to Nezu teaching Midoriya one day a week, and to the first two quirks. Then, and only then, were they told what the third quirk was. That set off a spirited debate, where the pros and cons of taking the quirk were measured and remeasured. True, it was powerful, but it was also the quirk of the man who had tortured Eri to make Quirk-erasing bullets and killed Sir Nighteye. After a half hour of discussion, eventually it was decided that Overhaul's quirk, ultimately, would be a good addition to Midoriya's arsenal.
That night, Midoriya had a vestige dream. This was relatively uncommon, but given all that had happened, it was to be expected. Nana Shimura immediately grabbed him and asked, "What is happening on the outside? How are you getting so many quirks?"
After Midoriya explained to them how he had awakened his original quirk and these were copies of existing quirks, they calmed down. Such a power would be a great aid in the fight against All for One and Shigaraki when the time came. And the quirks he had acquired were all extremely helpful. But what Midoriya learned in that meeting was extremely illuminating: He would eventually acquire the quirks of the former wielders.
Of course, he dutifully relayed this knowledge to Aizawa, Yagi and Nezu, the first two groaning in exasperation, "Why is it always you, Problem Child/Young Midoriya?"
Chapter 3: Exhaustion and Discoveries
The ensuing two weeks had been quite difficult, as between classes and all the additional meetings with the faculty, he was exhausted. Not to mention the changes that had happened to some of his quirks. IQ and High Specs had combined and mutated, and so had One for All and Mimicry.
Combined, the two intelligence quirks had resulted in an extremely powerful quirk that, like his use of One for All, was best thought of in percents. 0% was his usual brainpower, while 100% easily rivaled Nezu. While he could control the percentages manually, drinking tea would multiply the percentage. The precise concentration of the brew determined the exact multiplier, while the actual amount determined the duration of its effect. So far, the highest they had managed was about 500% for 10 minutes, though it had been extremely difficult to get to that point. And afterwards, he had a severe headache, making it something he would have to do sparingly.
One for All itself had combined with Mimicry in an interesting way. Specifically, the Quirks were now effectively the same Quirk, including all of the quirks he had copied. After much medical analysis, it had been determined that every single one of his Quirks had become rolled into one Quirk with many unique facets. The ramifications of this were interesting, as they knew that having multiple Quirks usually shortened lifespan and lowered intelligence.
One of the many Quirks he had been training was, of course, Rewind. Wanting to be able to help Eri with her Quirk, he had spent a lot of time working to perfect it so that he could guide her own progress. Not to mention that it would be extremely helpful to have a healing quirk on him. Recovery Girl had given her assent, so far as he trained with herself and Eraser present.
Thus far, he had managed to gain enough control over Rewind to be able to use it on command, and even use it without the horn being fully charged. But there were some odd anomalies, which could be chalked up to either Mimicry or One for All. In his case, the horn manifested when he was using the Quirk, and vanished the moment he wasn't using it. And its size did not indicate when it was charged. For Eri, the horn was permanent, and grew in size according to how much energy she had stored.
Soon, he would be ready to teach her how to use her quirk safely. But for now, he was busy helping his classmates decide on a theme for the school festival.
After his arrest of Kurogiri, Gran Torino had contacted Nezu to inform him both of his capture, as well as the sighting of Gigantomachia. And while the principal had of course reported everything as he should, his mind was stuck on one simple fact: Kurogiri had a warping quirk, and Midoriya didn't. The villains had two different warping quirks, but their side had none. Evening those odds would be crucial to ending this conflict decisively. He decided that convincing Kurogiri to part with one of his hairs would be a major focus for the next few days.
Eri had been reluctant to begin training at first (and quite terrified to hear that her savior now had the same quirk as her tormentor), but eventually she warmed to both ideas, seeing that Deku just wanted to help her. Progress was slow, as her fear of her quirk was deeply carved into her psyche, and a few weeks of love and care was not nearly enough to heal such grievous wounds.
Every day, his fears that her heart and mind were not yet saved from her ordeal gained more and more traction, and he grew more and more determined. Even Kacchan had noticed it, offering a spar so that he could work out his feelings. And it had helped.
Their relationship had greatly improved since the night of their battle at Ground Beta. Bakugo had been annoyed, but not angry over the manifestation of his first quirk. The real anger came when he learned just how many quirks his rival was going to end up with. But despite his increased arsenal, he was still barely capable of beating the blonde, often relying on Erasure, which had obvious tells.
Through his training, he was now able to maintain about 10% of One for All, but that barely made a difference. His tells were easy to spot to one who had known him for so long. Their spars, quirked or quirkless, usually were about even as far as wins and losses went. Not that they had had much time to spar, given both classes and practice for the Festival.
About three days before the festival, Midoriya received a package from Nezu, with a letter attached. Opening it, he found a light sky-blue hair inside. Turning his eyes to the letter, he read:
Hello young Midoriya! I have some good news and some bad news.
Gran Torino apprehended Kurogiri not too long ago, and I kept thinking about how we don't have many warping quirks on our side. Of course, with some clever tricks, I was able to secure some of his hair, by having someone with a hair-growth quirk secretly extend it, and the guards cut it with his permission. Hopefully, this will work for your Quirk.
The bad news is that, unfortunately, the hair is a genetic match for a fallen student, a classmate of both Eraserhead and Present Mic. Oboro Shirakumo, hero name Loud Cloud, born with a cloud quirk. He died tragically in an accident during his second year.
If you develop a cloud quirk rather than a warping quirk from this, then my suspicions will be correct, and Kurogiri was Shirakumo. But if you develop Warp Gate, I would be overjoyed.
Yours,
Nezu
After his brain rebooted from the crash, he stuck the hair in his mouth and swallowed, before heading to sleep. He would check in the morning.
Chapter 4: Restoring Shirakumo
The following morning, he awoke to find himself covered in purple clouds. They seemed to be somewhat like Kurogiri's mist, but they also bore a resemblance to what little information Nezu had told him about Shirakumo's quirk. During quirk training that day, he explained this to Aizawa-sensei and was able to replicate the moves of Shirakumo flawlessly, with some practice.
It took more time to grasp Warp Gate, as it was an artificially created quirk, a forced fusion between several quirk factors. But eventually, he was able to blend the two seamlessly, and integrate them into his fighting style. Not only could he use them for flight or teleportation, but if he concentrated, he could form them into solid shields. They were not quite as strong as Kosei's Air Walls from 1-B, but they were still a solid defensive option.
Once classes had mostly wrapped up for the day, All Might arrived, driving him, Aizawa and Eri to the hospital where Kurogiri was being held. The Nomu seemed to fear their approach, particularly Midoriya and Eri. He knew the power of Rewind, as he knew that she had been the source of Chisaki's Quirk-erasing bullets. So being faced with two users of the same quirk was quite terrifying. He knew, deep down, that the villain Kurogiri would cease to be if he did not fight, that there would be no one to protect Tomura if he did not fight back. His restraints did not yield, and with Eraserhead there, he couldn't use his quirk.
Izuku and Eri stood before Kurogiri, and activated Rewind, placing their hands upon him while linking their own. Deku had managed to guide Eri-chan in learning how to use Rewind, and they put that training to good use. With his guidance, they slowly unraveled the conditioning imparted on Kurogiri, carefully and selectively rewinding certain aspects of his mind and body.
But All for One was nothing if not cunning. He was not about to lose one of his most valuable lieutenants. He had prepared for this, and that allowed the personality of Kurogiri to begin to resist his erasure. Midoriya sensed this, and with a look at Eri, activated Full Cowling at 15%. Immediately, Kurogiri's resistance shattered, as the power of Rewind grew immensely with One for All's strength bolstering it.
Within moments, the mist surrounding the head of Kurogiri lifted, and the face of Oboro Shirakumo could be clearly seen. His eyes fluttered open, and he spoke. "Shouta? What happened to me? … Why am I here?" Aizawa did not answer, instead choosing to embrace his long-lost friend.
From their subsequent investigation, they had discovered that Warp Gate and Cloud both remained, but they were merged into one now. Oboro could now open Warp Gates, though his were sky blue like the clouds he controlled. He even managed to temporarily transform his body into mist and fly, an ability that likely came from Kurogiri. This ability made him one of the most mobile heroes.
Right now, they were looking to continue his education as a hero. He was only partway through his second year at UA education-wise. One of the things that had been most important was, of course, his knowledge of the League. They were able to identify a few weak points in Shigaraki's elite that they had been able to conceal, particularly that Twice was unstable to the point of total dysfunction without his mask, and Toga Himiko was actually, on some level, fuelled by blood, her mood falling as her cravings went unfulfilled. They could potentially exploit these, but of course, these same weaknesses came with downsides that would make using them dangerous.
Nezu had been planning to acquire more quirks for his budding apprentice, but he knew that he would be having difficulties by now, especially since he had yet to manifest the previous wielders' quirks. He had been happy to occupy himself with other matters in the meantime, including helping re-enroll Shirakumo, with Togata serving as his senpai for the moment. The both of them would make fine heroes, he was sure of it. As much as he disagreed with Nighteye's ideas of Midoriya, he agreed with his final prediction. Truly, 'Lemillion' would be a hero to watch. A good role model for young Midoriya in particular, given the similarities and differences between him and All Might.
Internally, he continued wondering about potential quirks he could get his paws on. Blood Curdle would be a strong choice, and Stain would likely give the hair willingly. Detective Tsukauchi's sister also had a useful quirk, Polygraph, which she had no use for in her line of work. Such a quirk would be extremely helpful during interrogations.
But above all, the quirk that most interested him was one that he knew the heroes had no access to anymore: Search. Ragdoll had lost her quirk to All for One at Kamino. Since taking Midoriya on as an apprentice, he had started asking her for old hairs, like from a hairbrush. At first, she hadn't been able to find any that were old enough to still have the Quirk factor in them, but she had eventually found one that tested positive for Search.
He held off, though. Young Midoriya still had quite a lot to do for the moment, between training all his different quirks, helping Eri master Rewind, attending classes at UA, not to mention the assignments. He knew that soon enough, the Quirks of One for All would manifest, and he would have to learn to master those. For now, he would wait for the right time, giving him these new quirks when he was ready. (That thought made him feel like All for One, and he reflexively shuddered at the idea.)
One idea had entered his mind, though. There was a particularly powerful quirk belonging to a powerful American pro. She would be delighted to help out All Might's protégé. It may be a while, but eventually Midoriya may acquire New Order.
Chapter 5: Blackwhip and Foresight
Midoriya was grateful that Nezu had decided to show some restraint. As much as he enjoyed gaining new quirks, having to train to use them and then integrate them into his moveset was quite exhausting. He had barely had enough time in the day to do so, given all his other responsibilities, like helping Eri get control of Rewind, going to class, doing actual classwork, personal instruction from Nezu and All Might most days, spending time with classmates, and of course, sleeping.
But now that he had a handle on all of the Quirks he had managed to acquire, his schedule was a lot lighter. As soon as he had, though, Nezu had pulled him aside forcing him to chug down a vial of human blood and several hairs, donated by the late Sir Nighteye. Eventually, Nezu did explain himself, laying out that it was an experiment on two levels: for one thing, he needed to know if the DNA aspect of his quirk was limited to hair alone, and for another, he wanted to know whether or not he was capable of copying a dead person's quirk. The blood didn't work, but the hair did, to a point.
Training Foresight should have been easy, as he knew the activation requirements. But it seemed to operate completely differently than before. He was unable to use Foresight on its own; he needed to use at least 20% of One for All in order to be able to activate Foresight. The consensus was that, for some reason, copying the quirk of a dead person made the copy weaker. Though exactly why this was true was extremely unclear.
One plus side of having Foresight was that he could use Quirked Cowling with it, which allowed him to see his own future so long as he kept up One for All consistently. But he had to concentrate intensely to be able to make use of it. Still, this was yet another game changing quirk to have; even if he couldn't fully use it alone, it would help stack the deck in his favor.
The Joint Training, in hindsight, had been both a good thing and a very very horrible, no good, terrible ordeal. For one thing, he had manifested Blackwhip, the quirk of the Fifth User of One for All, Daigoro Banjo, alias Lariat. But its manifestation caused utter havoc during the battle. Afterwards, he had felt as if he had subconsciously repressed the quirk. That wouldn't do, so he woke bright and early the following weekend for a nice, bracing spar with Kacchan. Fear of the explosive blonde would ensure that he was pushed far enough to unleash Blackwhip. As many quirk copies as he technically had now, Bakugo still scared the ever-living daylights out of him.
"So, the new power, is it from Mimicry or One for All?"
"One for All, fifth user. It's called Blackwhip, and I think I repressed it. That's why you're here: no one terrifies me as much as you do, Kacchan! Not to mention that it will help us stay awake today!"
Bakugo's smile grew even wider, seeming even more predatory. As much as their relationship had changed, he was still eager to beat his rival. And he had a good point, they did have a long day. An early-morning supervised spar would serve as a good wake-up to get his blood pumping.
As they lunged into battle, Bakugo felt a primal sense of exhilaration, of ecstasy as his rival blocked and evaded everything he could throw. He once thought the sense of power, of absolute triumph when he defeated weaker opponents was the best thing he could feel in battle. But the nerd had proven that having an equal, a rival to battle against, was orders of magnitude better. The horrifying possibility of defeat, ever present when he fought against the 'chosen one', made his victories all the sweeter.
That fight at Ground Beta had been… intoxicating. Exhilarating. Almost meditative. Which for him was quite unusual. Katsuki knew that he wasn't much one for calmness, serenity or stillness. He was a man of action, of fiery passions and strong opinions. He had been that way since he was a boy, and especially since Explosion manifested. At Ground Beta, he had felt as though his life had been leading up to that point, and the thrill of the fight left him in absolute bliss.
Blackwhip chose precisely that moment to manifest, and the spar only increased in pace from there on. When Bakugo had the nerd in a headlock, he looked down at him, begging for him to break out, so they could go another round. And so they continued, until they were exhausted. By that point, Aizawa was completely exhausted. Out of pity, Deku chose to get their sensei a coffee, while Bakugo recovered. As the nerd returned with sensei's little energy boost, the principal walked in, holding a security tape.
Immediately, Bakugo began straightening up. He had been in serious trouble after the fight at Ground Beta, and even if he was in the clear now, he was sure the rat knew his sins. Instinctively, he knew to be on his best behavior, lest he find his hero career over before it began.
"Good morning, Principal Nezu, sir! How are you doing today?" Midoriya asked (way too energetically for this point in the morning, thought Eraserhead), greeting his mentor.
"Oh, I'm doing marvelously today, young Izuku! I just thought I'd come down here and give you both copies of the tapes covering your little sparring session. After all, I'm certain that you, Midoriya, would love nothing more than to pick everything apart, while you Bakugo, would enjoy showing your victory off to your classmates before classes start!"
Bakugo grinned as he bowed deeply and thanked the principal warmly. He would want nothing less, especially just so that he could watch it whenever he was bored. Midoriya also took his copy, already beginning to mutter, while Nezu chuckled at the familiar sound.
As Aizawa returned to the gym (having found the single cup of coffee Midoriya made insufficient and having then subsequently drunk the entire pot in a single breath), he gruffly said, "Midoriya, Bakugo, that was quite impressive. Keep the good work up. Now get back to the dorms, the spar's over and I'm tired of watching you."
The boys returned to their dorms, Bakugo manically showing his copy of the tape to Kirishima, who promptly fainted from manliness overload. By that time, Midoriya had changed into a cleaner outfit, and was busy telling Iida where he'd been as he made himself breakfast. The class rep was surprised, but impressed, particularly at the idea of using early-morning spars with Bakugo as a wake-up method. Though he was skeptical if the idea would work for anyone other than Todoroki, Kirishima or Midoriya. No one else had the particular powerset to endure his blitz-paced attacks.
Nezu, of course, was happy that his student had managed to unrepress Blackwhip enough to actually train with it. One down, five to go.
Chapter 6: Permeation Restored
By now, it was well known throughout all of UA that Midoriya had a copying quirk, and the power he had shown had been a copy of All Might's strength. At least, that's what most of the students knew. Very few people knew the truth. Bakugo was the only student to be aware of it besides Mirio and Midoriya himself. Though unfortunately he was on break due to losing Permeation in the Hassaikai raid.
But soon that would change. Because Nezu had organized a little meeting with Mirio, in the hopes of restoring his quirk using Rewind. Midoriya, of course, had his own plans. His senpai had been the chosen mentee of Sir Nighteye, who had been one of the few to know about One for All. He had been groomed to inherit All Might's quirk before Midoriya. Make no mistake, he certainly wasn't intending to give Togata One for All as Nighteye had hoped, but he did want to talk with his senpai once his quirk was restored.
Sir Nighteye's last vision had been about Togata becoming a great hero. Izuku intended to fulfill that by restoring the quirk Chisaki had destroyed. He might need Eri's help, but nonetheless, Lemillion would return.
Besides, Mirio already knew about One for All. He had been Nighteye's cherished protégé, and he doubted that he would have done so without serious vetting. Besides, his personality and character reminded him a lot of All Might, and that similarity was a large part of Nighteye choosing him as Yagi's successor. Even if he disagreed about handing over the quirk, he acknowledged that his senpai was very similar to his mentor. That was why he had trusted him enough to reveal One for All to him.
Eri would not be told this secret, however. As much as he adored her, he did not want to put any more of a target in her head than there already was. Telling her about One for All would put her into the firing line of anyone seeking to take the quirk for their own. And as much as she would keep it secret for his sake, she would eventually slip up and reveal the truth to the wrong person. Better to keep her safe, rather than telling the truth and putting her in harm's way.
Togata, of course, was immediately on board with the procedure, knowing about Shirakumo's past nature as Kurogiri before they used Rewind. And besides, Overhaul had planned to sell a counter-agent in order to restore destroyed quirks. That implied that Rewind could both destroy and restore quirks, as well as injuries.
He laid down on a futon, Eri and Izuku on either side of him, clasping hands over his stomach and placing their free hands over his heart. When they were ready, they allowed Rewind's power to flow through them. Eri's horn pulsed with energy, as Midoriya manifested an identical horn that pulsed in time with hers. Carefully they directed the potent energies of Rewind into restoring Togata's quirk. Within a few minutes, they were able to restore Permeation.
Eri opened her eyes and was overjoyed to see that she had not erased one of her saviors with her quirk. As much control as she had gained over her quirk, the deep trauma of rewinding her father into nothing still remained. Fortunately, Midoriya had been on hand to help her should she have needed it, using either Rewind or Overhaul (which she had learned he had, and only mildly freaked out before remembering this was Deku, the hero who saved her from Chisaki). Even so, it helped her self-confidence to be able to control her quirk enough that she could actually use it.
Mirio quickly tested out Permeation, phasing into another room nearby. Izuku excused himself, and once his senpai was dressed, he entered.
"Togata-senpai, We need to talk about One for All."
Mirio, of course already knew about One for All. He was slightly disappointed that one of the main reasons he had been picked was because he was already like All Might, but in the end he made his peace with that. All Might had been amazing, and Mirio would be too, even without One for All.
He even confirmed that he didn't want One for All, given that he already had to exercise extreme care and precision to use his quirk effectively. Adding control of One for All on top of that would set back his hero career by several years. Not to mention the time needed for all the crazy additional quirks Mido would have to master as part of One for All. His heroic spirit wouldn't allow him to stay out of the hero industry, even if it meant becoming the next All Might.
Another thing that he idly mentioned was that he now had Foresight. This, of course, was of interest to Mirio, as the ability to copy the quirks of the deceased was an immensely crucial skill. And Foresight would be crucial going forward. Neither of the two considered looking forward, though. They trusted that Sir Nighteye's vision was accurate.
Of course, another topic that Togata brought up was his satisfaction with Oboro's progress. Soon, the hero Loud Cloud would be able to return to the spotlight. While the Nighteye agency was struggling after their leader's demise, he was positive that Shirakumo would be able to find a good agency and make a name for himself.
At that point, Principal Nezu came in and joined the conversation. The problem of having Oboro return as a hero student was that he had been known to be dead. True, his family had been informed otherwise as soon as he was restored, but the general public had not. And besides, even if they could explain that it was a relative, how would they be able to explain his warping and mist transformation.
Eventually, they decided that the truth, or at least a version of it would be released to the public; that he had survived and been turned into the Nomu Kurogiri, but that classified medical breakthroughs had managed to restore his original self, allowing him to use both his original quirk, Cloud, as well as Kurogiri's Warp Gate and the related mist powers.
With his work for the day done, Midoriya returned to the dorms, turning in early. After all, he had a full day of hero course classes tomorrow, with the works.
Chapter 7: All Might Restored
In general, the reaction to Oboro's 'resurrection', and the revelation that the Nomu were human experiments, was one of deep surprise. Thus far, this fact had not been made public, for this reason. Such knowledge was deeply disconcerting, and many refused to even acknowledge this fact. But regardless, everyone took Loud Cloud's return pretty well. Except for one of the students.
Aizawa, Present Mic and Midnight, who had all known him and (save for the blonde) had witnessed his gruesome demise, were naturally drawn to their old friend. It was difficult for them to reconcile the fact that he was here, after over a decade of being used to his absence. Naturally, they made what time they did not need in order to spend it with him. Eventually, the reality of him being alive again would fully sink in, and things would return to something approaching normality.
Bakugo was uncomfortable around him, as even though his personality was very different from Kurogiri's, he was nonetheless the base upon which the Nomu was built. And Bakugo certainly did not enjoy being near him, after the Summer Camp. The USJ had been pretty easy for him, but his kidnapping had been quite scarring. He always left the very second Oboro used his quirk, knowing it was the one that had caused him such grief.
But for now, Oboro was joining Aizawa and Hizashi after class to help look after Eri. Unsurprisingly, the two cinnamon rolls had bonded together deeply, with Eri quickly starting look up to her new uncle, despite how little of her life she had known him so far. Midnight had joined them several times, and somehow managed to behave herself. This was likely for Eri's sake, given how innocent she was.
On occasion, Izuku himself had been invited to join them, and he suddenly understood his teacher quite a bit better. There were startling similarities between himself and Shirakumo-senpai, such as an optimistic and noble spirit, as well as a certain 'innocence' surrounding him. Of course, Midoriya was far from innocent. He had known that the world was a cruel place since the age of four, yet he still exuded a sense of optimism and childlike wonderment.
Given that Aizawa-sensei had been right on the scene to see Shirakumo as gruesomely wounded as he had been, he could not help but realize exactly why he was so against putting heroism over survival. He had to agree with Present Mic, Eraser was indeed a softie at heart. And after some talking with his teacher about the quirk apprehension test, he had realized that that too, was another point towards Aizawa being soft at heart.
The quirk apprehension test had been designed to force those without heroic potential out of the firing line. If he judged them to have no potential, they were little better than a civilian in a fight. And in the interest of limiting damage, he would expel those who had no potential. It had been quite disturbing to learn that Sensei had been lying about the logical ruse; he would have expelled anyone with no potential. Hearing that he had in fact expelled his previous year's homeroom had been surprising, but then he had been confused to hear that they had been immediately re-enrolled.
Why would he expel a student, only to re-enroll them immediately? It made no sense to do so for even a single student, let alone an entire class! But Aizawa quickly explained.
"I made sure to ask Nezu for a provision when I expel a student—if they work to improve themselves after failing, then they have proven themselves worthy of being hero students. And even if I don't expel a student for something, that doesn't mean I'm letting it happen. Bakugo is being put into anger management to help him deal with his emotions, as well as therapy to deal with the trauma from the summer camp. I'm also working on resolving the Jiro-Kaminari situation. In any case, I do what I can to ensure the next generation of heroes is more than enough to replace their seniors."
This explained quite a lot. Those who showed a willingness to work hard for their dreams, who would fight to become true heroes, were definitely the kind of students that UA wanted. And those who chose to sulk over their expulsion instead would be cleared away, allowing the hard-working students to rise much faster with their teachers not having to devote energy to the expelled students.
Still, he realized that his class had only the slightest idea of how terrifying Aizawa-sensei actually was! To hear Midnight tell it, that class stopped in their tracks at the thought of Eraserhead and fainted in his presence. He could understand that on a deep level, being exposed to the displeasure of his teacher quite a few times.
After that rather disconcerting conversation, he slowly relaxed, as they returned to less somber topics.
All Might, Ragdoll and Izuku were sitting in Nezu's office. The member of the Wild, Wild Pussycats had brought with her a single hair from an old hairbrush, which DNA tests had confirmed had a quirk encoded on it. He was certainly getting Search today, but that was not what this meeting was about.
Nezu had called them up here for a little experiment with Rewind. As they had learned from the Shie Hassaikai raid, the effects of Rewind could force a quirk factor to be dormant, or reactivate it. All Might and Ragdoll, like Mirio, had lost their quirks. However, Nezu wanted to see whether his student could rewind them to a point when they had their quirks.
It was a long shot, given that the actual quirk factor was gone, but they had to try. If the Symbol of Peace could return, even if it was only for a short time, then they could better endure the coming darkness. And having Ragdoll regain use of Search would be invaluable for coordinating teams of heroes in battles.
He rested his hands on their heads, as he reached out with Rewind, focusing on their quirks. He could feel that even though the energy was flowing into them, there was no change. This was to be expected for All Might, given that he had passed on One for All; he wasn't supposed to be able to get it back. But unfortunately, the same seemed to be true for Ragdoll. All for One taking her quirk was not something he could undo with Rewind. If he wanted to affect a quirk by using Rewind, it seemed they needed an intact quirk factor.
There was no way that he could restore All Might's quirk, and the singular method for restoring Ragdoll's quirk was virtually impossible, for two simple reasons: All for One was completely bald, as well as completely against all Heroes and especially the bearers of One for All. There was no way that he could acquire All for One's birth quirk, which unfortunately was the only quirk other than One for All that could transfer quirk factors.
But in spite of the fact that he couldn't restore their quirks, there was something he could do. Focusing on Yagi, he called on Overhaul, its passive ability allowing him to see the depths of his mentor's wounds. Then, focusing as he wielded Overhaul and Rewind, he willed the wounds that Yagi had suffered from All for One to heal, to not ever have existed. He searched through his body, finding little flaws in his mentor's body and correcting him. The vomiting of blood caused by reconstructive surgeries, erased. The darkening of his sclerae, undone.
As Yagi grunted in pain, Midoriya removed his hands. "I may not have been able to restore your quirk, All Might, but I did restore your old body." All Might looked stunned, the constant aches and pains he had been suffering for six years having evaporated. Now, he looked much like he had as a third year. No more was his physique skeletally thin and gaunt, but now he was again the Symbol of Peace, at least in silhouette. One for All and its power may not be his anymore, but some of his famed muscle had returned to him, restoring a sense of power to him.
"Thank you, young Midoriya! Thank you so much!" Yagi praised, tightly grasping the boy in a bear hug. Midoriya was much more relaxed than he seemed. All Might's hugs weren't as strong now as they had been before Kamino, though it had been a while since they had been this strong.
The once and present wielders of One for All embraced, All Might thanking his young student for saving his dying body.
Chapter 8: Plots and Plans
Search, as it turned out, was quite a simple quirk, though powerful in its utility. It had not taken him long to be able to train it, especially with Ragdoll helping him out. With One for All, he had near global range, and he could track at least one hundred and fifty people at a time. But of course, it had its drawbacks. If he were to rely on it too much, he could easily be caught off guard by a sudden change.
This much he had discovered when Shirakumo-senpai had managed to surprise him using a Warp Cloud. He had, of course, immediately made sure to have Search track him, lest he be recaptured by the League, but Oboro's sudden arrival had caught him off guard. That proved that the user could easily be deceived and outmaneuvered by an opponent cognizant of this flaw. Naturally, this revelation had led to discussion of how exactly they could turn this to their advantage.
And of course, Shirakumo was a major player in the plan, both in relaying what information he knew, as well as the ability to warp around. Both his quirk and his knowledge of the League's weaknesses made him an essential part of the plan. But he knew far more than the League's weaknesses- though the memories were somewhat fuzzy, he could remember where he became Kurogiri, and who did it. They knew that it was the personal physician of All for One, who was also the secondary architect of the Nomu.
Capturing this doctor would be crucial to stopping the League's plans, especially since Shirakumo had mentioned the possibility of him being able to fully duplicate quirks. It stood to reason that the 'prize' that the doctor had offered Shigaraki was a copy of All for One, in addition to the High-End Nomu.
For the moment, though, it seemed that they were on their own. Endeavor and Hawks were busy preparing to deal with the resurgence of the Meta Liberation Army. Or at least, almost on their own. Hawks had visited Nezu and revealed that he was currently infiltrating the League as a triple agent. This explained his and Endeavor's encounter with a High-End, as according to the winged hero, he and Dabi had been assigned to test it out against a hero.
Since then, Midoriya and Hawks had been in semi-regular contact, the spy leaking information to aid their plans. According to him, the main members of the League were trying to force Gigantomachia, a powerful servant of All for One, to submit to Shigaraki as his master. At least, that was what they had been doing, before they had been called up by the Grand Commander of the Meta Liberation Army, who had invited them to Deika City.
Though it was obvious the two groups would come to blows, the heroes decided that, at least for now, it was better to remain uninvolved. If they showed up in Deika City without warning, then Hawks' cover would immediately be blown, the winged hero likely getting turned to dust by Shigaraki shortly after. For the moment, it was better to have a mole on the inside. After all, turnabout was fair play. If the League had a mole in UA, then Nezu would be all too happy to let the HPSC have their mole in the League.
The identity of the mole was something that they had not yet been able to decipher. Whoever it was, Shirakumo had no clue about it. Nezu surmised that in order to keep his secrets, All for One might have put into place some more important measures. Kurogiri had shown some resistance to the effects of Rewind, even if only briefly. It made sense that the villain would have ensured that anything he wanted kept secret would be kept secret. That helped to explain why Shirakumo's earlier memories as Kurogiri were hazy where most of the others were crystal clear.
For the moment, it seemed as though the mole was likely a student. Class 1-A was almost entirely above reproach, as was Class 1-B. It was unlikely to be any of the upperclassmen, especially the Big Three, who were almost fanatically devoted to heroism. Unfortunately, it seemed that they wouldn't be able to discover who the traitor was until they had the doctor in custody.
It was during a routine class spar that it happened again. Though this time was a lot less terrifying than the Joint Training incident, it was still a shock for one of the previous users' quirks to manifest. Fortunately, it was Nana Shimura's quirk, Float. All Might had been hugging him closely for about five minutes, while Gran Torino had come to UA to help him get used to his old partner's quirk. Though the elderly curmudgeon didn't seem much different from his ordinary ornery behavior, he could tell that his mentor definitely felt happy seeing Float in action again.
The reaction of his classmates, if you could call it a reaction, was rather blasé. Since his original quirk manifested, they took it for granted that Midoriya would suddenly develop quirks randomly. He longed to tell them the truth, but the knowledge that there was likely a traitor among his classmates stayed his tongue. He would wait until the doctor was brought into captivity.
Nezu, of course, knew exactly what his student had been planning to do, having helped him come to that realization. But of course, he had further plans. Soon, he would enlist the help of 1-H's very own Hatsume Mei, as well as All Might's surrogate niece in order to begin replicating the effects of quirks artificially.
Hearing that All for One's doctor was capable of duplicating quirks had given him the idea, as well as thoughts of the oncoming threat of All for One. If he was going to be able to keep that menace in Tartarus, he had to find a way to make quirk-erasing cuffs. As a hero, his duty was to help save people, and the coming threat was great and terrible. He would need to make sure their world was prepared to meet that challenge and overcome it.
Chapter 9: Ascended Extra
Monoma was up surprisingly early the following Saturday. Apparently, the Principal wanted to perform a little experiment of sorts in Gym Gamma at around 6 in the morning. He had woken up bright and early, ready to go help out the Principal with whatever test he was doing, trying to shake off the rumors he had heard from upperclassmen about the kinds of 'experiments' the Principal did. He had heard through the grapevine about two members of Class 1-A going up against the Principal during the midterms, and they had been absolutely massacred.
He was surprised to see All Might and Midoriya there as he arrived, but quickly recovered. After all, All Might was one of the teachers, and Midoriya was known as his personal student. That status had briefly chafed at his ego, but when he visited Eri, he learned just how similar he was to Midoriya. That had certainly helped him learn to appreciate the boy more, and he had quickly found that rather than a thrill-seeking glory hound, he was actually a total cinnamon roll.
Monoma bowed out of respect for the Principal, with the animalistic educator smiling widely and beginning to speak. "Tell me, young Monoma, do you know what All Might's quirk is?"
"I assume a form of superhuman strength and speed?" he asked. That was the most logical conclusion. He hadn't seen All Might using his powers up close, but he did know that Midoriya had copied his quirk by accident, and that was what best fit the evidence.
"Not quite. Though he was born quirkless, for a long time, he had the quirk One for All," the principal explained.
"Quirkless? You were quirkless? Then how did you get that quirk?" Monoma asked.
"The same way I did," answered Midoriya softly. "All Might and I weren't playing a game of truth or dare, he intentionally gave me one of his hairs to pass on One for All."
"But what is One for All? I wasn't able to copy it during the Joint Training, so it has to be a stockpiler, but other than that, I know nothing."
After the full explanation had been given, including the fact that Midoriya was somehow manifesting the quirks of the past wielders, Monoma was in a state of shock. But as soon as he mentally rebooted and fully processed everything, the principal turned in a different direction.
"Do you remember the tests Vlad made you do for me this week?"
He did remember- he had figured out that he could copy a person's quirk so long as he was in contact with a piece of their DNA, rather than the person themselves. He jolted, realizing what the principal was getting at.
"Monoma," Midoriya began softly, "you've been told all your life that your quirk is that of a side character. What we're offering is a chance to become part of the main cast. If you take one of my hairs and copy it, then you'd have access to all of the quirks I do, besides One for All itself and Foresight."
"And how many is that?" he asked trepidatiously.
"Electrification, Erasure, Pull, Rewind, IQ, High Specs, Overhaul, Warp Cloud, Blackwhip, Search and Float. That's eleven different quirks. And since they're contained within my original quirk, Mimicry, the effects of having multiple quirks is completely negated!"
Monoma's jaw dropped. The power he was being offered was immense! No wonder he was calling it 'becoming a main character'! This was insane! And most crazy of all was the part about not suffering the drawbacks of so many quirks.
If he had been unsure about Midoriya before, or if he had grown envious of him for being All Might's successor, that melted away at the pure-hearted offer to share such power freely.
"I'll do it." He said, not wanting to waste any time.
Midoriya and Nezu gave identical grins, as Midoriya plucked out one of his hairs, tying it in a tight knot around Monoma's finger. Monoma also grinned, all too happy at the power he could feel tingling through that finger, his quirk begging to be activated.
The tests had gone brilliantly. As it turned out, Monoma was fully capable of using Copy on Mimicry. They had tested actually giving him the quirks by swallowing one of Midoriya's hairs while Mimicry was active, but unfortunately, as soon as Mimicry expired, the quirk copies absorbed from the eaten hair disappeared. Even if he refreshed the time that Mimicry had in his system, the copied quirks would disappear. But that was immaterial, as Midoriya had already tied one of his hairs on his finger.
At the end of their testing, Hatsume Mei arrived in the gym, accompanied by Ectoplasm. As it turned out, she had a basic working prototype using data from tests Midoriya had done. She was nowhere close to making fully usable anti-quirk cuffs that were durable enough to resist super strength. And of course, they were completely useless against mutant quirks, a flaw of Erasure itself that she had no idea how to fix.
Of course, Nezu had yet another plan up his sleeves. Both Hatsume and Ectoplasm-sensei handed over one of their hairs. He shuddered as he felt Zoom and Clones enter his system. Opening his eyes, Hatsume pulled out a mirror, revealing that his eyes were normal. But as he focused on Zoom, he could see a dark green crosshair appear in the center of his eye.
Switching to Clones, he opened his mouth, blowing out a stream of green ectoplasm. Soon, there were nine Midoriyas. He grinned as he activated One for All: Full Cowling, each of them diving into a rapid sparring session.
Midoriya later discovered that the Vestiges were fully capable of controlling individual clones and helping him out in combat (or messing with him). All Might had managed to use his connection as one of the vestiges to convince them to gang up on him, and Midoriya had retaliated by dissipating the clones preemptively.
Chapter 10: Living Symbol and Aftermath of Deika
Nezu was busy reading through the technical specs of his new favorite Support student's current passion project, admiring the unrestrained brilliance of her designs. Unfortunately, though she had already begun to expand on further tests of Erasure, with young Midoriya's assistance, she had still not managed to create working general quirk suppression cuffs.
Though she had identified one major sticking point of her current designs: each individual pair would have to be custom made and tailored specifically to their quirk. And given how much testing that would require, it would be unsustainable in the long run. That much had been demonstrated from the few pairs she had made for use on Midoriya, which had had to be tailored specifically to deal with One for All, Mimicry, and all his other quirks.
Majima was getting worried over Hatsume's obsession with the project, as the girl was apparently even more hyper fixated on it. Nezu had heard these sentiments often enough from the Support Course teacher, but to see that Power Loader was actually begging him, on his hands and knees, had given him pause. He was fully aware that young Hatsume was as much of problem child for Majima as young Midoriya was for Aizawa and Yagi. But that? That was a bridge too far.
Eventually, he decided that while the project was valuable long-term, he would have to change the way she was approaching it. For one thing, Higari would be the direct manager of the project, with Hatsume acting under his supervision. Though, of course, Yagi had an additional suggestion, which he happily agreed to.
That suggestion was actually quite simple: he wanted to temporarily enroll his honorary niece, Miss Shield, for the next term as a Support Course teaching assistant. And given the trouble on I-Island had been over a quirk-enhancing device her father had designed, it would likely be quite helpful to bring her on board as part of the build team. Not to mention that having another seasoned inventor to keep Hatsume's eccentricities more or less in check was good for Power Loader's sanity long-term.
It took only fifteen minutes for the Principal to arrange everything. To be honest, it was nothing. He had merely taken advantage of an opening in his busy schedule, and his work would hopefully bear fruit. The Principal smiled as the door opened, his personal student entering to begin their weekly lesson.
At one point during their conversation, the topic of One for All came up, and they briefly considered revealing the truth to his classmates. But in the end, they decided that for now, it would be best to hold off. For one thing, they were still unsure as to whether or not there was a mole within their ranks. So far, the League did not seem to be aware of anything happening with Midoriya, at least so far as Hawks was aware.
The latest intel from the winged spy was that the League had finally arrived in Deika City, though given he was busy elsewhere, he wasn't aware of too much. But what they did have was staggering; according to him, the entirety of Deika City was populated by MLA members, including heroes like Slidin' Go. Before infiltrating the League, he had been part of the MLA and had seen many heroes embracing the tenets of Destro behind closed doors.
All of that evidence was damning, enough that if they weren't facing the threat of open war, they would most certainly remove the license of every hero involved. But to do that now would be to tip their hand, and given the coming conflict, it would be unwise to make them suspect Hawks. So for now, they waited and watched.
Two days later, Midoriya manifested yet another quirk. He could usually tell when a quirk came from a past wielder of One for All, or from Mimicry. He didn't know exactly how, but he could instinctively tell which was the case. But this quirk was unique in that both were true.
Somehow, this new quirk was both a part of One for All and Mimicry. That was surprising, given that despite the fact that they were essentially the same, they were still different in some respects. For instance, none of the quirks he had copied with Mimicry appeared in the void of One for All as vestiges.
What was even more surprising was the actual effect of the quirk: it was a physical transformation quirk, suspiciously identical to All Might's muscle form. In fact, upon closer examination, it was discovered to actually be a copy of his muscle form. As it turned out, Yagi had an inactive quirk factor the entire time- at least, until he received One for All. And like the First User, that factor had merged with One for All itself, becoming a core part of it.
Though the muscle transformation itself did not actually increase his strength, which was surprising. But when paired with One for All, it allowed the user to draw on the hope of the people to recover their stamina and willpower. And the more that the user was beloved and adored, the more they were able to endure. The transformation itself was a side-effect, meant to instill hope.
Because of all this, they christened this new Quirk Living Symbol, in homage to the fact that its user had been the singular Symbol of Peace. And now, its new user would be a Symbol of shining Hope for the future.
It was only a day later, while they were watching a news broadcast of the destruction of Deika City, that they got into contact with Hawks again. They knew already that something had obviously gone down between the MLA and the League, but to what extent, they did not know.
Hawks himself was only barely aware of what had happened. Not only had the League taken control of the newly renamed Paranormal Liberation Front, but three of their members had undergone Awakenings.
First was Himiko Toga, whose quirk, Transform, had evolved to allow her to wield the quirks of her current form as if they were her own. This was disastrous news to them, as they had already realized by this point that Toga had gotten her hands on a droplet of Midoriya's blood. True, she had used it during the Hassaikai raid in order to get to Chisaki and try to kidnap Eri, but they didn't want to risk her actually having One for All.
Not to mention that now, like Stain, preventing her from drinking Midoriya's blood was a necessity. If she could copy all the stored quirks he had acquired, there was no telling what carnage could ensue. And while her quirk may not be strong enough to allow her to copy so many, or to be able to use even one, they didn't hold their breath. For now, Himiko Toga was off-limits to Midoriya.
The second person of interest was Jin Bubaigawara, alias Twice. It seemed that after having his bones broken (a level of damage that would have destroyed him had he been a clone), he had managed to set aside the traumas of his past, allowing him to create an army of doubles.
The sheer power that this development afforded the League was on an unimaginable scale; even All for One himself would be terrified at the level of power Twice now wielded. One of the major issues the League had had after Kamino was manpower, but with Twice now able to replicate himself infinitely, that was no longer an issue. Hell, if he went solo, he could take over Japan by himself. And since he knew his comrades well enough, he was capable of making just as many duplicates of them, having become the ultimate force multiplier in a literal sense.
But of course, the primary issue was the leader of the League: Tomura Shigaraki. It seemed that fighting against Gigantomachia for so long had allowed his Decay to become more effective. As far as Hawks could tell, it was more so a reawakening than a true awakening. Some part of Shigaraki's past had caused him to suppress most of his power. And unfortunately, now his full potential was unleashed.
Decay was now capable of spreading beyond the object touched. He had touched one person in a crowd, and they had all disintegrated. By touching the ground, he had massacred many of the MLA's soldiers. And now, with the MLA's defeat, he had taken Re-Destro's place as Supreme Commander of the Paranormal Liberation Front, simultaneously earning Gigantomachia's loyalty.
But soon there were further developments. In response to this development, terrorist attacks suddenly spiked, and the culprits were quite obvious. Those who had been captured had professed certain beliefs that pointed directly towards the quirk doomsday cult, Humarise. It seemed that there was a new front in this war, and the heroes would have to fight against both. This was not just about freedom to use quirks, but about their very survival.
Humarise's goal was clear: eliminate all quirked life. And that put them into direct conflict with both the nations of the world and the newly revealed Paranormal Liberation Front. Naturally, the civilians would be terrified of both, choosing whichever side they found least objectionable. And despite Midoriya's optimism, they both knew that there would be those who joined the other sides of this war.
Chapter 11: Training Transfer and Omnisicience 101
Naturally, with the reformation of the Meta Liberation Army into the Paranormal Liberation Front, and the rise of Humarise attacks in Japan, Nezu wasn't able to focus as much on his meetings with his protégé. But this was not something he had to worry much about; the boy was brilliant even without using his intelligence quirks and possessed a thoroughly compassionate spirit. From Yagi's reports, he was currently training to use Transfer, the quirk that Yoichi Shigaraki was born with. He looked forward to seeing what would come of that.
The theory was quite simple: If he could hone his mastery of Transfer, he could make it into more than just the passing of One for All's torch. For example, given that he had a copy of Search that was actually stronger than the original, he could give that copy back to Ragdoll. After all, the First User was All for One's brother, so it stood to reason that the quirk transfer would work the same as All for One giving someone a quirk. Given that the villain was able to control how many quirks, and which ones specifically he was giving away, it was entirely possible to learn this kind of skill in order to restore Ragdoll's quirk.
Of course, that would mean that he would lose his copy of Search, but only for a little while. After all, once her quirk was back in her body, the DNA encoding it would be in her hair, ready for him to copy again. In the end, this made him capable of passing on quirks to even the quirkless, which had made him tear up. Yagi had consoled him, as even though they knew now that they had never truly been quirkless, they had spent their early years without a visible quirk and had suffered because of it.
Within about an hour, he was able to transfer a copy of Living Symbol to Yagi, who already had the quirk. After ten minutes, Midoriya ate one of Yagi's hairs. (Unfortunately, it seemed that he would never get used to the taste. This was the second time he had eaten All Might's hair!) The sensation was… interesting. He could feel Living Symbol integrating back into himself, but it felt noticeably more dense. All Might said much the same thing. Maybe when Yagi got a copy of a quirk he already had, the two had merged together and grown stronger… Interesting.
Regardless, he and his mentor went into Nezu's study, where a cup of tea had been set out for him. Well used to Nezu's love of tea, Lunch Rush had apparently commissioned an automatic tea brewer from the Support Course. The thing was so massive that it was easily the size of Gym Gamma, but it was capable of creating large amounts of highly concentrated tea. The principal had mentioned that there was a cup waiting for him, so he sat down.
Focusing, he called on the merger of Quirks he had taken to calling 'HI-Q' whilst channeling the full power of One for All. He had never tried to use One for All in combination with the intelligence quirks, but he decided that for what they were doing, it was for the best. As his the power of his mind grew, he sighed, well used to the growth of power from using the merged quirk. But he was surprised when the expansion of his brainpower did not stop as he had calculated. In fact, it was growing exponentially faster—the tea! He was smelling the tea, and the IQ part of the quirk was enhancing it further. Adding on One for All was making it even more effective. He quickly picked up the cup, took a sip, and closed his eyes.
When Midoriya opened his eyes, Yagi was astonished to see that they looked as if they contained galaxies within them. He asked his successor, "What percentage do you estimate your brainpower to be at, young Midoriya?"
"1,000,000%, Yagi. I can see so much. Do you have the recording equipment ready? I feel like I'm ready for a muttering spree."
The former Symbol of Peace turned on the headset microphone that Midoriya was wearing, signalling to him. Immediately, he began muttering at a speed that by far dwarfed his ordinary muttering. For an entire minute, he spewed verbal diarrhea directly into the mic, looking increasingly manic with every passing second. And at precisely 60 seconds since he had drunk the tea, his eyes returned to normal, his muttering stopped, and he groaned.
His boy took off the headphones, and laid down on the couch, suffering a head-splitting migraine. Yagi ruffled his curls, before putting the tape on Nezu's desk and heading out.
The following day, Midoriya remembered almost nothing that he had said that day while he was in that office. It seemed that the entirety of his mutterings was a complete blank- to him, there was no time between telling All Might to start recording and groaning in pain at the immense headache had incurred.
Of course, he had an appointment to take care of. After all, he hadn't been training to master Transfer for no reason. Ragdoll was immensely happy to get her quirk back, and he was happy to help her, given what she had lost at that bastard's hands.
After that, he went to see Recovery Girl, seeking headache relief. She was happy to see that he was (for once) injury-free, though she did dryly suggest that he heal himself. Only then did he realize that Rewind would be most helpful in his predicament. Overhaul was another good choice, but he didn't want to meddle with his own brain. With a use of 1% OFA and Rewind, guided by Overhaul's passive ability to see the cause of his headache, he quickly soothed his mind. He thanked Recovery Girl for helping to heal him (by making him realize that he could do it himself), and returned to his dorm, ready for sleep.
Nezu didn't even look at the tape. He knew that it was probably full of knowledge, like a book of divine revelations, but he resisted the impulse to listen to it. He would wait for his protégé to recover from the incident. After all, it would be better if they could both experience it.