Chapter 5: Unexpected Company
Calmness was suddenly and explosively replaced with confusion, embarrassment, elation, and countless other emotions he'd just barely kept at bay. Mere moments thereafter, the combined stress, exhaustion, and overwhelming emotion finally won out, and he took a page from his mother's book; He fainted. Even in unconsciousness, however, Izuku kept his phone clutched tightly to his chest, and an unsteady smile graced his face.
A moment later, Izuku found himself smothered in a swirling world of darkness once more.
Naturally, Izuku panicked. He tried, and mostly failed, to move his body within the grip of the void. It felt as though the world around him resisted every move he made, snuffed out every sound, restrained him on a fundamental level. He wouldn't have pegged himself as claustrophobic before, but now…
'Apparently near complete physical restriction and sensory deprivation will do that to a person.' Izuku gibbered within the confines of his own mind. 'Go figure.'
He strained, desperate to do anything, to prove that his body was even there. He was on the edge of giving up when he noticed something. Just before him, occasionally obscured by the shifting of the dark veil, he saw the tiniest pinprick of light. It was like the glow he used to see through the keyhole in his old bedroom door first thing in the morning, before his father had left and his mother had moved them to the apartment. It felt safe, inviting, like there'd be someone there for him on the other side…
The light felt warm. He could feel it.
The sensation renewed his will, and he found that he could just barely sense his body while it was cast in the light. With what felt like a titanic effort, Izuku slowly brought his arm up. As his hand neared the pinprick, it expanded, and light flooded into the darkness to further strengthen him. With a final muffled cry, Izuku thrust his hand forward, and it passed through the keyhole.
Another hand clasped his, and pulled. As more of his arm passed through, another hand grabbed onto him, then what felt like a rope. Izuku managed to bring his other arm forward and pushed it through as well, where it was met with yet more hands to drag him from the void.
With a final heave, Izuku's head was pulled through, and the brightness on the other side blinded him for a moment. Suddenly, it was like his body was anathema to the world on the other side of the portal, and he was shoved through entirely. With a startled cry, he shot out into warm bodies, who scrambled to catch him before he fell. Around him, he heard more than one startled cry, a distant and alarmed "Midoriya?!", and several sets of feet that either stepped back or rushed forward to stand around him.
Shakily, Izuku blinked the dots from his vision, then looked around. Before him were seven people, each gazing down at him with expressions ranging from shock to confusion to exasperation. He only recognized two, and those only barely.
The one with a grip on his right hand was the pale man he'd seen in his first experience with… whatever was happening. Behind him stood two other men. One broad and strongly built with a shaved head, goggles, and an open vest. The other was shorter with shaggy dark hair, most of his face and body hidden within a tall collared coat.
His left hand was swallowed by the vaguely familiar yellow glove of Nana, All Might's mentor. Behind her stood another man, pale blonde with two odd scars over the left side of his face.
Further back, two final people watched, their expressions more closed off than the others. Both wore some manner of green military gear. The salmon haired man had a ragged scar across the bridge of his nose, and wore massive metal devices on his arms. The other, larger man wore his gray hair in a spiked man bun, with a black bandana covering his forehead.
Overwhelmed and confused, Izuku swept his gaze around the room. Or, well, ruin. The darkness roiled beyond the crumbled walls of whatever fragment of a structure this was. The far wall held some manner of vault door, while the majority of the floor was occupied by a series of thrones.
As odd as the sight was, Izuku's attention was dominated by another figure who he'd initially missed. One simultaneously more and less familiar than any of the others.
All Might sat upon one of the thrones in all his muscular glory. But at the same time, it wasn't him as Izuku knew him. If anything, he resembled the All Might from his Phone's default background, a more lean appearance than his more iconic figure. There was, however, another difference of greater note.
"Why…" Izuku croaked, then cleared his throat. "Why is All Might on fire? Er… made of fire?"
Nana snorted as a grin flashed across her face. "I'm given to understand that all of us kind of look like that after we pass along the power, at least while we're still kicking."
On his right, the large bald man gave him a giant grin. "Speaking of people who are still kicking, welcome to the party Nine! It's not every day we have guests instead of new roommates around here! Though I guess we do have a few more of those…"
Izuku blinked at him, then looked between the white haired man and Nana. "...You're all the previous users, aren't you."
The white haired man blinked, evidently startled. Then, a small smile twitched into being. "Damn kid, you catch on quick. Which is good, probably. There's a LOT we need to explain, and that's not even touching on the new shit."
"Like me predicting the future, growing black tentacles, and ending up… here?" Izuku ventured.
"Yes to all the above." The pale man responded. His eyes trailed upwards as he continued. "Among… other things."
Izuku followed the man's gaze.
"I for one would greatly appreciate an explanation!" Iida called from what looked to be some manner of agency office that hung upside down in the darkness above. He was clad in his hero costume, though it was undamaged and the helmet was sitting on a desk. "While the absurdity of Doctor Kinenkō's description of events leaves me unsure, I'm increasingly convinced that this isn't just some medication induced fever dream!"
Next to Iida, an older man who wore a lab coat over surgical scrubs rubbed at his temples and gave a long-suffering groan, then looked upwards. Now that Izuku could see his face, it was clear this was the same man from the collapsing building, albeit in far better condition than the last time they'd met. Kinenkō gave a small, resigned wave.
"Ah, Deku. I can't say I was expecting to meet you again like this. Or at all, really." Kinenkō coughed into a hand as gold-ringed eyes drifted over the scene above him. "As it turns out, I may have been a bit… hasty in assuming you couldn't get me out of that building. After a fashion, at least."
Izuku's jaw worked, but no words emerged.
He'd been completely unprepared for any of this. Sure, he'd had good reason to expect some part of the previous wielders might still be kicking around in the Quirk, somehow. He'd felt their presence multiple times, and he'd seen the pale man in his dreams earlier that morning. That, however, was basically nothing when compared to A) Being pulled into some kind of dreamscape or pocket dimension within One for All, B) Making physical contact with the vestiges he'd sensed for weeks, and C) Being faced with a man he'd seen die and his wildly out of place friend in an upside down room hanging in the sky.
If he'd been looking into this situation from the outside, it probably would have been one of the most fascinating things he'd ever seen. Clearly, there was at least one very esoteric Quirk at play here, and those were undoubtedly his favorite type to analyze. Unfortunately, with himself in the eye of the storm, it was so overwhelming that he was left adrift. The sheer deluge of emotions that crashed over him, from the bafflement at his situation to the tangled mess around Kinenkō, left him stunned.
Izuku felt something squeeze his left hand. His eyes snapped downwards to meet Nana's once more, and she gave him a comforting smile. For a moment, she reminded Izuku of his mother. Thankfully, that moment helped him a great deal.
Izuku closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. When he opened them again, the overwhelming tumult of confusion and emotion had ebbed to something he could cope with, for the moment at least. He returned the lone woman's smile, albeit shakily.
"U-um." Izuku cleared his throat and swept his gaze over his predecessors. "An explanation would be fantastic. Please."
The white haired man smiled sympathetically, then nodded. "That probably falls to me, since I'm kind of the epicenter for all of this. I'm Yoichi, the First user that All Might told you about."
Izuku blinked, then nervously glanced upwards again. "You could hear that?" Then, he paused. "Wait, I've been able to sense you since the sports festival. Have you been able to…?"
"They…" Yoichi gestured upwards. "Just showed up a bit before you did, so I doubt they could see anything. As far as we go, we've been semi-conscious since the beginning, but could only interact with each other. Occasionally, we'd catch a bit of what's happening on the outside while someone was using One for All, but that was it. The physical space part happened yesterday, which we'll get to, and with it came a much greater awareness of what you're doing. We figured out pretty quickly that we can tune the outside world out, so don't worry, we haven't been intruding on your privacy, at least not intentionally. That said, uh…" Yoichi coughed into his hand, and his smile became more apologetic. "Panic does kind of bring our attention forward…"
The large bald man behind Yoichi shot Izuku a thumbs up. "Pretty smooth, but you'll need to work on some of your delivery. Pro tip, make sure the next time you ask her out is on purpose."
Izuku blinked, then his face glowed scarlet.
"Daigoro, no." The short man next to him grumbled from behind his collar as he swatted the scruffy man on the arm.
"Daigoro yes!" The large man laughed, though he faltered when Nana shot him a look. "Or no. No works too."
One of the men in the back groaned.
"Regardless…" Nana cut in, which silenced the peanut gallery and drew Izuku from his embarrassment. "It seems Kinenkō already tried to explain things to your friend up there before they appeared here as well. I can only imagine how well that went, given WE didn't have much time to explain before he faded out. It would probably be best to just bring Iida fully into the loop at this point. It's better than having some fragment of the truth festering out there." Nana smiled reassuringly at him, a knowing look in her eyes. "Plus, having confidantes beyond your predecessor and whatever team they may have can be a massive help."
"Whatever is going on, Midoriya, I promise to keep your secret!" Iida called from above. "Something extraordinary is clearly happening here, and I merely wish to understand my part in it. And, admittedly, how All Might is involved. Or any of these many people. Or what's happening at all." Iida paused. "On second thought, I wish to know a great number of things."
Izuku smiled up at Iida. As clear as it was that his friend was wildly out of his depth, Iida was still trying to reassure him in his own way. He couldn't deny that the idea he could finally talk to a friend about One for All was a relief, even with everything else that came with it.
"Thank you. Both of you." Izuku said.
"Don't thank us yet, kid. We haven't even really dug into how fucked up shit is in here." The salmon haired man in the back grunted.
"Language!" Iida scolded.
The gray haired man smirked at his companion, who just crossed his arms despite the gauntlets on them and rolled his eyes.
Yoichi shook his head tiredly. "Well, I suppose that we should start with introductions. As I've already said, I'm Yoichi, First holder of One for All. Which, for those newly introduced to the concept, is a meta- er, a Quirk passed between generations from the Dawn of Quirks. Originally, my Quirk was what I've come to call Quirk Bestowal, before my dear brother crammed the Quirk Power Stockpile down my throat and the two merged to become One for All."
Iida just stared blankly for a few seconds, then glanced at Kinenkō. The doctor gestured in a very 'See? I told you so' manner towards the vestiges below. Looking understandably lost, Iida forcefully held himself back, then opened a drawer in the desk. He pulled a clip board with a stack of papers on it from within, then plucked a pen from a cup on the desk. "I will save my questions for the end."
"That's greatly appreciated, Iida. Now, those two pleasant individuals…" Yoichi gestured at the vestige duo at the back of their group. "Are Kudo and Bruce, the Second and Third users respectively. They're the ones that rescued me from the vault my brother kept me locked in. Their Quirks are Gearshift and Fa-Jin, but we can get into the details later, seeing as they're being petty."
"In fairness, we're not just being petty." Bruce responded. "I died by blowing myself up trying to punch All for One out of existence with Fa-Jin, and that was back when One for All was just a drop in the ocean it is now. Given what the kid was doing to himself with just One for All, I don't really want to push our luck by adding a new and interesting method of self destruction to his arsenal."
"The Laws of Physics are there for a reason. Gearshift bent them before, but it changed and expanded in scope so much that I'm not sure it wouldn't outright break them now." Kudo grumbled with a sneer. "I don't think I want to find out quite yet."
Izuku slowly processed their words in the resounding silence that followed. "There's a lot of implications in what you both just said, and I'm kind of terrified by every single one of them."
"That's probably the correct response." Yoichi said as he nodded towards the strangely scarred man behind Nana. "Regardless, next is Hikage Shinomori, the Fourth user. This is probably where some of those implications will start to fully make sense for you, Nine, given his Quirk is Danger Sense."
As Yoichi had said, things almost immediately clicked into place within Izuku's mind. "So that feeling that warned me about Stain's attacks…"
"Was my Quirk." Hikage confirmed, voice flat. "I apologize. It can be unpleasant, especially when unexpected. For the time being, I'm suppressing it as Kudo and Bruce are, so as not to overwhelm you."
Izuku nodded wincingly, the memory of the migraine-like flashes still clear. "Thank you. Even with the discomfort, it's a remarkable power. Once I get used to it, it'll be incredible!"
"I hope you get the opportunity. It took me many, many years." Hikage responded impassively, then stepped back.
"Next, if I'm remembering how to count correctly after all this time as a ghost, would be me!" Daigoro stepped forward, and extended a hand to Izuku over Yoichi's shoulder. "Daigoro Banjo, formerly the Fifth user and Pro Hero Lariat, at your service. My Quirk is Blackwhip, whom I'm sure you recognize." Daigoro lifted his free hand, from which familiar black tendrils writhed up.
"Whom?" Izuku asked. "Wait, is it sentient?"
Daigoro tilted his hand from side to side, then with a flick dismissed the dark strands. "Kind of? Before, I wasn't completely sure, but it definitely had something going on. It could somewhat act on its own when I wasn't directly controlling it, but tended to act on my emotions when it did. Given it feeds off emotions to strengthen itself, everyone always told me it was probably a subconscious control thing. But at the same time, I always thought of it as a partner rather than just a power."
The big man's brow furrowed under his goggles, and he scratched at his stubble. "When you manifested it, it showed WAY more independence than it ever did for me, but was still acting on your wrath. You managed to keep enough control that it honed in on Stain and didn't touch your allies, but it dragged you along for the ride. Which, by the way, I'm sorry about. The conditions basically guaranteed it would be a rough introduction. That said, I think you handled it well."
Izuku gaped at him. "Well?! It nearly put me through a wall! It nearly crushed Stain to death!"
Daigoro smiled grimly at him. "Counterpoint; There were walls left standing, and Stain wasn't squeezed out of his skin like a fleshy gogurt." At the look on Izuku's face, the hero's smile turned sheepish. "Sorry. Dark humor."
A hand appeared on Daigoro's shoulder and pulled him back in what looked to be a practiced move. "Sorry about my student, Daigoro can be a bit… much." The short man pulled down the collar of his coat and gave Izuku a small smile, even as Daigoro huffed. "My name is En Tayutai, Hero Name Smoke-Eater and the Sixth user. My Quirk, Smokescreen, hasn't yet manifested, but more or less does what it says on the tin." En demonstrated by releasing a puff of purplish smoke from the length of his arm. "It's got some uses, but my Quirk is definitely the weakest of the lot."
Izuku frowned. "You were a hero. Even if it's not something explosively powerful, you could clearly use it well."
En smiled. "I appreciate the vote of confidence! That said, heroics back in the day was just as much about who was crazy enough to put their neck on the line as it was about power and skill. Even so, I'd like to think I was pretty good."
"Back in the day." Nana snorted. "Say it like that, and you're going to make me sound old. I'm clearly not a day over 35. Have been for 40 odd years." She smiled at En's eye roll, then returned her focus to Izuku. "Nana Shimura, Seventh holder and The Ascending Hero: Uplift. My Quirk is Float. Like with Smokescreen, it hasn't manifested yet. It started as the ability to quickly hover up or down, but let me fly once One for All enhanced it. Even then, it was still especially fast as ascending or descending. It's a bit finicky, so you'll have to be careful, but that seems to be par for the course around here."
Nana shook her head, then chuckled lightly. "Before I passed it to Toshi, I'd say One for All was somewhere around what you'd call 34%. At full speed and in conjunction with the full power of One for All, I could pretty consistently hit Mach 6, soooo… maybe don't go all out when you first get it."
"Oh." Izuku said, voice small, while above he could hear Iida splutter in disbelief. "Every time I think I understand just how ridiculously powerful One for All is, the universe reminds me of just how absurd it is."
"Exponential growth will do that to you." Nana responded blithely.
"...exponential?" Izuku whimpered.
Nana blinked. "Didn't All Might ever tell you? The power of One for All compounds on itself the more you use at once. When you were using your full cowling yesterday, you thought of it as 5%. When you used 7% to jump at that Stain guy, you nearly ran yourself into the ground because of how much faster it made you. That's because 7% was nearly double the effective output of 5%."
Izuku stared at Nana, eyes wide. "...But I've used 100% before. Granted, it destroyed my limbs, but it wasn't anywhere even close to what it should have been based on what you're describing."
"The fact that you even have limbs LEFT is a testament to how powerful One for All is." Kudo hissed, startling Izuku. "The only thing that kept you in one piece is the fact that it reinforced your body. So much of the power you were trying to use in those punches was burned off to keep you from atomizing yourself that the actual force of the punch was negligible." Kudo turned to glare daggers at the glowing, flame-like All Might vestige, and nearly spit in rage. "And that FUCKING IDIOT JUST LET YOU KEEP. DOING. IT! "
"HEY!" Izuku snapped, and Kudo whipped around to glare him down. "All Might is far from perfect. I've learned that the hard way. But he's trying . He never had the problems I'm having, and from his own experience thought it was just a matter of time until I got a grip on it naturally. The fact that I chose to repeatedly break myself with the power is on me."
Izuku clenched his shaking hands into fists, but didn't stop. "I could have, hell, I SHOULD have sat down and analyzed it like I would any other Quirk. Broke it down. Tried to do something other than just punching as hard as possible every time. ESPECIALLY in the leadup to the sports festival, where I knew there was a chance I'd have to fight other people. Instead, I nearly crippled myself with it because I thought I knew what it did." Izuku finished, then fell quiet save for his heaving breaths.
Silence dominated the two rooms for a moment. "You shouldn't have had to piece things together yourself." Kudo's voice was far calmer now, but no less resolved. "You're a child. You don't hand a child a gun and expect them to figure out how to shoot. But no, he didn't do that. That's thinking too small. No, he gave you the damn launch codes to a nuke."
"I shouldn't have." Izuku conceded. "But I'm 15. That's old enough to know that I shouldn't just press the trigger and see what happens, much less keep doing it when it's hurting me! I should have just asked him, even if I shouldn't have needed to. But…" Izuku slumped. "...I didn't want to disappoint him. He's the first person who really believed in my dream. I didn't want to admit I couldn't use the gift he'd given me. I… I didn't want him to give up on me."
The admission stung, but Izuku nonetheless found it was true. He hadn't wanted to acknowledge it, he'd tried to ignore it for months, but the fear had been festering since he'd thrown that first punch. If Toshinori had given up on him back then, he wasn't sure what he would have done. Nothing good, that was for sure.
When Izuku came back to himself, it was to the startling realization that Nana had wrapped him in a hug. From the feeling of her chin in his hair, she was facing Kudo. From the nervous look on the Second user's face, he suspected that her expression wasn't a pleasant one. With a defeated sign, Kudo stepped forwards, then knelt before them.
"Listen, kid." Kudo grumbled, albeit more gently. "I have a lot of issues with All Might, and I'm not thrilled about having a kid as the next user..." Kudo's eyes briefly darted up to Nana's then snapped back down with a nervous edge. "A-anywyay, regardless of my feelings on the matter, I can recognize the guy is a good one. He's a shit teacher, and that pisses me off, but he cares about you. You could have been completely unable to use One for All at all, and he wouldn't have abandoned you. Pretty sure he'd have just kept training you along with Torino, probably gotten you a license through some vigilante onboarding program if those still exist." He shot a look at Daigoro, then at Nana, who shrugged.
"I know. Now, at least." Izuku said softly. "At first it seemed too good to be true, and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. But even when using One for All broke my body, it didn't. That's when I started to really believe he wouldn't abandon me."
Kudo nodded even as Nana's arms squeezed him tighter. "You're learning, kid. There's nothing to be ashamed of in that, even if we'd have preferred it to start sooner. I'll hold my judgment until you've made some headway." The Second user stood, then turned to walk back towards the thrones. "I'll admit, I'm curious to see how you handle the complete mess that One for All has become. I expect you to live up to what you just told us. Learn the Quirks, don't just use them blindly like you did One for All." Then, under his breath. "You'll need them, if All for One managed to survive having his head evenly distributed over a few miles of countryside."
As Kudo passed Bruce, Izuku realized the silver haired man had been staring at him for some time. He had a contemplative look in his eyes, and a small smirk on his face. He shot a glance at his companion, then gave Izuku a small shrug before he turned to follow Kudo towards the far corner of the room.
Not wanting to let another period of silence start, Izuku pulled himself together, gave Nana a thankful smile, then turned back to a very uncomfortable looking Yoichi. "Where were we?"
Yoichi paused, then glanced at Nana.
"Well, I'd just finished my introduction. That just leaves the 8th user, but you probably wouldn't have heard of him." Nana said. Her initial hesitation slowly shifted into a mischievous smirk. "He was a small time guy, never made much of a splash. Wall Fight or something."
Daigoro chortled, and Izuku let out a snort. "I'll be sure to tell him you said that."
"Oh, please do." Nana's wicked smile turned soft. "There's a lot I'd like you to tell him, but we can address another time. For now, that's the resident Vestige introduction out of the way."
"Well, that's not really true anymore." Yoichi amended. "Aside from the obvious inclusion of Izuku, yesterday changed things pretty significantly."
Izuku glanced at Yoichi worriedly. "There's more?"
"Oh yes. As near as I can tell, given that for all intents and purposes I AM the Quirk, One for All reached some kind of tipping point yesterday evening." Yoichi sighed. "Once that happened, you started manifesting the Quirks in order, from oldest to newest. The thing is, something weird kicked it off. Rather than the usual slow cultivation of power that One for All usually experiences as it's used, it received a larger infusion of power all at once. Previously, that only ever happened when a new user received the Quirk."
Izuku frowned. He tapped at his chin for a moment as his thoughts raced, then his eyes flew wide. "Oh. Oh god no."
Yoichi blinked, then cocked his head to the side. "What?"
"You said that there was a jump in power, like when a new person is granted One for All." Izuku started pacing in tight circles. "But I didn't give it to anyone, obviously. Not intentionally. But Stain, he licked my blood! All Might said that the transfer is performed by consuming DNA. Did Stain receive One for All? Is that why One for All started getting stronger? Is the power I have right now just the embers like All Might, except somehow still connected? Oh god, all of that and I already lost the power to a serial killer, what kind of hero am I-"
"Good thought, but no." Bruce called from the corner. "Kudo and I were the ones who figured out how One for All could be transferred back at the start of this whole saga. The transfer has to be deliberate on the part of the one giving it, or they at least have to be willing to let it happen. The exact theory behind it is a little iffy, given the circumstances under which Kudo received it. The cognitive requirement of the Quirk is pretty clear, though. General rule seems to be that the Quirk can't be given or taken without the consent of the current holder."
"Regardless of the recipient's desires." Hikage added, sharply.
"...Correct." Bruce agreed after a moment's pause.
Izuku's gaze jumped between the two, noting the way they stood just about as far from one another as possible. "...ah. Ok, so it wasn't transferred. Then what happened?"
"The part that I didn't get to say before your little brain blast…" Yoichi smirked to himself, though Izuku wasn't sure why. "Was that the boost I'm talking about has been noticeably absent for you and Eighth. Notably, the two Quirkless holders."
Izuku hummed in thought as he stopped pacing. "So you're saying that the power increase comes from some kind of Quirk interaction."
"Effectively, yes." Yoichi responded. "One for All must have been at the very edge of that tipping point since Eighth was injured. Had his confrontation with All for One come just a month or two later, and had he kept up his training, he would probably have been the one dealing with this development rather than you. If the power had gotten any kind of boost from transferring to you, this would likely have started the day you received it."
For a brief moment, Izuku tried to imagine what would have happened if he started sprouting black tendrils in the middle of the entrance exam. 'Well, I'd probably have gotten way more villain points purely by accident… or brought down a building. And that's assuming I got the same Quirks I did, instead of sending myself to orbit with Float, or 'breaking physics' with whatever Gearshift is.'
Izuku shook his head. No, that would have probably been an even bigger mess. He pulled his mind back on track, and quickly arrived at what he thought was the most likely culprit.
"It's something to do with Doctor Kinenkō's Quirk, I assume. Something about it being used on me interacted with One for All and triggered all of this. I'm guessing it also caused…" Izuku gestured upwards, where Iida was paying rapt attention to the proceedings.
"That's actually pretty close, as far as we can tell." Yoichi said. "Though not quite complete."
"Something wildly abnormal happened when I used Boon on you, Deku." Kinenkō spoke from above. He took a moment to consider his words, then continued. "I've been somewhat aware of the fact that my Quirk could interact with people when I used Boon on them for a while now. I'd get these hazy half-memories sometimes, when my Quirk wore off. Which, by the way, is probably going to happen soon." He scratched his head in thought. "There would also be times where a patient would come out of anesthesia and claim they'd been talking to me the whole time. I'd have written it off as some strange semi-conscious hallucination if their description didn't line up with what I'd remember."
"I'd like to add that such a thing happened with me, both before I woke up in the hospital, and after my healing session with Recovery Girl finally put me to sleep." Iida added. "That's part of why I was so confused when you said Doctor Kinenkō was dead before you arrived to help me. I'd been talking to him. Initially, I just thought it was a strange, coincidental dream, until it continued after my healing."
Kinenkō winced, but nonetheless gestured at Iida. "Exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. Anyway, to my point. All of those experiences were fundamentally different to what happened with you. I pushed my Quirk towards you, like I normally would. But instead of keeping a tether to my own body, the tether attached to yours, and I flowed after it."
"Which leads into the point I've been building up to." Yoichi resumed. "As Nana mentioned, the Quirks within One for All have grown stronger alongside the stockpile of energy. Until yesterday, I didn't consider the possibility that might have included Quirk Bestowal. Then, you got some of Kinenkō's blood in your mouth. All of a sudden, Quirk Bestowal started to flare up in a way reminiscent of when One for All is passed on. The moment he pushed his Quirk towards you, Quirk Bestowal reached out to meet it halfway. Except, where the transition between users always feels like I'm in freefall, this felt like a puzzle piece being pushed into place. Suddenly, Kinenkō's standing with us in this room, which was a pretty big surprise in no small part because the room didn't exist until that moment."
Yoichi held up his hands helplessly. "The next thing we know, we've got everything you're doing and seeing wired directly into our minds. We tried to fill Kinenkō in on what exactly was happening, but he just… sort of faded out after a few minutes. We'd have been more concerned about that if Kudo and Bruce hadn't started freaking out, followed by Danger Sense coming online, then Blackwhip going on a rampage. Kinenkō popped back into existence for a second, then vanished again when you used Boon on Iida."
"I gotta give you props, kid." Daigoro laughed. "I didn't think anything would ever top the chaos of Eight nearly dying, then turning around and annihilating All for One. But yesterday sure as hell gave it a run for its money. Didn't score any points on catharsis, unfortunately, so I think the old guy has still got you beat."
Izuku's head was spinning. "Wait. Hold on. You're saying that I have Boon now. That I have it permanently. I got Kinenkō's blood in my mouth, he effectively authorized a transfer somehow, and..." Izuku swallowed hard. "Are you saying…"
"Yes. Yoichi said, voice tinged with something Izuku couldn't quite define. The pale man stepped past Izuku to stand at the edge of the floor, where he gazed out into the churning darkness beyond. Somehow, in the face of the void, he seemed to become more. "Omo was always the strong one, so much so that he was already overwhelming in my very first memories. By the time he took the name All for One, the gulf seemed impassable. I could never grow beyond being his possession, because he would never let me. Even now, after more than one hundred years, it seems I still can't escape his shadow."
Yoichi once again turned to face Izuku. His back to the inky tempest, he no longer appeared weak or small. There was a regality to him, a power . It bled from his very figure, an ethereal white light, a brilliant corona that stood out starkly against the darkness. "I once told Omo that his ability could have been the kindest power in the world. He laughed in my face. Now it seems you'll get to test my hypothesis, after a fashion. Quirk Bestowal has always let the user give their Quirk away. But now, it seems others can give you their Quirk as well."
There was a gravity to the moment, a feeling at Izuku's very core. Izuku's breath shook as he let it out. "I-I… T-thats… When I heard about All for One from All Might, it was terrifying. That kind of power, it numbs the mind. One for All is already so overwhelming, I don't know how to handle this on top of it…"
Izuku's tremulous voice stilled as Nana squeezed his shoulder from behind, and Yoichi stepped forward to clasp his other. "From what I've seen, I don't think anyone would be better suited to such an ability." Yoichi smiled. "I trust you. Some part of Kinenkō evidently trusted you enough to let the transfer go through. And… there was another."
Izuku blinked, then looked upward. "What? Wait, it's not-"
"No! No, it's not Iida. He still has his Quirk. I believe his being here is an effect of Boon and One for All blending together." Yoichi reassured him. "Even if he had, I'm pretty confident you could give it back, with how things have changed."
Izuku slumped in relief. "Ok, good. But…" He hesitated. "Who else could have given me their Quirk?"
Yoichi hesitated, and shared a glance with the vestiges behind Izuku. He felt his skin prickle as radiant teal eyes locked once more with his own. "The Winged Nomu."
Before Izuku could even start to process that bombshell, chaos was unleashed.
"Sorry about this, everyone, but my time limit is up!" Kinenkō called from above. "Brace for-"
Within Izuku's chest, he felt a trickle of energy begin to flow. In a rapid escalation, that trickle became a torrent, a flood, a tsunami. The room above and its occupants began to fade, much to Iida's obvious distress.
"Wait! I have so many questions!" Iida called as he dug through his now partially transparent notes. "How is any of this possible? Who is All for One? Where are we? What- Gah!" the page in his hand vanished completely, and Iida scrambled for another.
"I'll explain everything to you as soon as I can!" Izuku hollered upwards. His skin tingled, and he noticed the shape of Kinenkō as he coalesced from faint golden light in the center of the ruins. "Let me know when you're awake, and I'll try to get you up to speed!"
"I will contact you immediately upon awakening!" Though it was clear Iida was shouting, his voice sounded distant. "Everyone, have a wonderful rest of your evening!" In the next moment, Iida and the room around him vanished entirely.
Izuku once again found himself shaky as the undirected energy continued to grow, though it was slowing now. He fidgeted, then began to pace. However, as he took a step, he noticed dark wisps seemed to trail behind him. He swept an arm through them, only to find the same black motes trailed the limb as well. On closer inspection, sections of his arm seemed to be fading away, revealing only darkness beneath.
"W-what's happening now?" Izuku asked, alarmed.
Yoichi smiled reassuringly. "I can feel you slipping out of One for All. I think you're just waking up."
Kinenkō's mostly formed figure raised his hand. "That's probably Boon at work. It's a wonderful thing, but I had more than a few sleepless nights because of it."
"Ok. Um…" Izuku's thoughts raced as his vision started to fade. "The Nomu. What happened to it?"
"As near as I can tell, only one of its Quirks came through, but it was damaged. It never physically manifested here." Yoichi explained, then gestured vaguely around himself. "I can still feel it in here, but I don't know how to communicate with it. I don't think it's fully integrated yet."
Izuku released a tense breath, tinged with dark mist. "Good to know. Anything else before I go?"
"Tell Toshi and Torino that I'm proud of them!" Nana requested, though it sounded somewhat garbled to him.
Izuku wasn't sure if his parting words made it to the vestiges before the darkness swallowed him.
The next thing Izuku knew, he'd launched himself from the tattered bed at high speed, Full Cowling around him and energy in his veins. His semi-conscious leap made the frame screech in protest, and sent his phone hurtling across the room where it embedded itself in the drywall.
Izuku grimaced as he landed, then released One for All. He scampered over to retrieve his phone, which was completely undamaged. As he pulled it free, the pristine screen blinked to life. Thursday, May 21th, 2178, 8:21 pm. Almost exactly 24 hours after he'd been fighting Stain in an alleyway.
As he tilted the screen, he caught an unexpected flash against the surface. Izuku twisted to look behind him, but couldn't see anything out of place. Hesitantly, he scanned the room, only to catch another flash of light in the door mounted mirror across the room.
Even without Full Cowling, his eyes faintly glowed from a golden ring around each iris.
'So, pretty definitely not just a very realistic dream.' Izuku thought. 'I can't tell if I should feel relieved or not.'
Regardless of how Izuku felt on the matter, his reflection vanished as the door whipped open with a crash. Beyond, All Might stood in his full glory, eyes blazing as they swept over Izuku. Behind him, a disgruntled Gran Torino peeked around a muscular calf nearly as big as his entire torso.
Satisfied that nothing was obviously amiss, All Might deflated with a hiss of steam, which he stepped through on his way into the room. "Young Izuku, what happened? Are you alright? What happened to the bed? Wh-" He faltered. "What on earth happened to your eyes?"
"Yeah, Zygote. What gives?" Torino grumped. "From all the thumping and squeaking, I was at least expecting something blackmail worthy."
"Nana says she's proud of you both." Izuku blurted. "Also she called you Wall Fight."
"Blerglemph?!" Toshinori coughed a gout of blood in shock, eyes wide as they darted between Izuku and Torino. He descended into a hacking fit after the first, though Izuku thought he picked out "damn nickname" and "Why?" in its midst. Torino shook his head in denial, then squinted suspiciously around him. After a moment, he pinched himself viciously on the thigh. When he failed to wake up, the illusion failed to dispel, or whatever else he was expecting failed to happen, the old man blinked owlishly in surprise.
"I think… You might need to start from the top." Torino said uncertainly over the sound of Toshinori's continued coughing.