Chapter 11: Imprints
Inko blinked. Her jaw worked. Then, a radiant smile broke across her face, even as unshed tears once more glistened in the corners of her eyes.
"I would like that very much!"
Izuku considered his shelf critically, arms crossed and eyes squinted in concentration. He wanted to make sure each piece of his collection had enough room to stand out, but at the same time needed to use his limited space well. A colorful array of heroes adorned each section of the shelf, and while All Might still dominated, he'd made sure to give other heroes a place of honor as well. Many of the teachers at UA held prominent positions, along with a scattering from up and down the Hero Billboard who'd caught his eye.
Despite his best efforts, however, something about the arrangement just didn't sit right with him. He'd been having a bit of trouble concentrating, and the headache he'd been nursing for most of the day wasn't exactly helping anything. He resigned himself to yet another attempt to rearrange the shelf, but was almost immediately distracted by his newest addition. It was enshrined in his nicest plexiglass case, and hidden as best he could without the indignity of outright stuffing it in his closet. Much as it deserved to be the indisputable centerpiece of his collection, this was the most he could risk.
Following his mother's acceptance of the Dorm Supervisor position after her interview, Toshinori and Sorahiko had escorted them back to their apartment so they could pack. The heroes had alternated between keeping watch for any signs of danger and helping the Midoriyas… which had resulted in both eventually seeing Izuku's room.
Toshinori had seemed somewhere between impressed and embarrassed by the sheer expanse of his collection. All the same, he'd paid close attention to Izuku's hoard of All Might merch, much to Izuku's thermonuclear embarrassment. Sorahiko would likely never let either of them live it down.
Thankfully, Nezu had let them borrow some of UA's moving equipment. They'd been more than a little worried about how many of their belongings they'd be able to bring to the dorms, but between Inko's ground floor apartment and Izuku's 2nd floor dorm, they had a surprising amount of room to work with.
Once they'd returned to UA, Toshinori had bowed out. Evidently, in his search for a local house to provide for Inko should the on-site living situation fall through, he'd found one that struck his own fancy. Sorahiko had opted to join him on the tour, which Toshinori had seemed both surprised and pleased by. Before they'd left, however, Toshinori had pulled a small wrapped package from one of his jacket pockets. "A small housewarming gift." he'd called it as he handed it to Izuku.
Izuku hadn't even gotten half way though unwrapping the gift before he'd nearly fainted on the spot.
Inko, unfortunately, had done it for him after she took a peek at what had him so flustered. He'd talked about high-value collectables enough that she recognized it on the spot. Thankfully, she'd managed to make her way to a seat before the lights had gone out entirely.
At first, he'd thought it was just an All Might: Debut Edition figurine. As in, All Might's AMERICAN debut. It was the first line of All Might merchandise ever made, of which there were only 5,000 ever created. As such, it was… very collectable. As in, lightly damaged copies cost several thousand US dollars, and a pristine, in-box and signed copy had recently sold for several HUNDRED thousand. But no. No, it wasn't JUST that.
It was Toshinori's review copy. Freshly signed. Completely unique.
Izuku would have cried if he wasn't absolutely terrified his unworthy tears might tarnish the literal treasure in his hands, something probably worth more than the actual All Might's weight in gold. His fingerprints being on the box was enough of a travesty, not to mention it had been in Toshinori's pocket while he helped them move.
Toshinori had seemed concerned that Izuku didn't like his gift. That deeply incorrect assumption lasted exactly as long as it took Izuku to remember how to speak human languages rather than incomprehensible gibberish. After that, Toshinori had been gobsmacked by the idea that some plastic could possibly be worth that much, while Sorahiko had simply stared in blank incomprehension.
Izuku was shaken from his memories by the sound of a car door slamming closed. He glanced through his front window, and saw a large silver sedan parked in front of the building. He was just in time to catch a head of navy blue hair before the back hatch of the vehicle opened and blocked his line of sight.
'Is Tenya here already?' Izuku thought in surprise. He carefully set his treasure down, then jogged from his room and down the stairs. 'I know he likes to be early, but a whole day seems a bit much…'
Izuku opened the front doors of the building and took a better look at the car. Sure enough, Tenya sat in the front seat, and his friend waved crisply in greeting.
"Mom!" Izuku called as he leaned back through the door. "Do you know anything about Tenya moving in early?"
"Nezu gave me a heads up earlier!" Inko replied. "I thought it would be a nice surprise!"
Izuku smiled, then darted down the front steps. As he approached, a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Tenya helped his friend into a wheelchair.
"Izuku!" Tenya greeted him chipperly. "I'd like to introduce you to my mother, Yuzu Iida! Mother, this is Izuku Midoriya."
A look of recognition flashed in Yuzu's eyes, and she smiled at Izuku before she bowed as deeply as she could from behind Tenya's wheelchair. "Thank you so much for saving my son, Midoriya! I don't want to think about what might have happened if you hadn't intervened."
"Tenya more than returned the favor. It's wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Iida." Izuku said, then turned to Tenya. "So, I hear you're moving in early?"
"I am!" Tenya puffed up his chest. "I negotiated with the Principal so that I could both receive earlier treatment from Recovery Girl, and be present to perform my Class Representative duties. Even if I'm not in top condition in time to help fully, I can at least help organize everyone moving in tomorrow! Admittedly, I didn't realize you'd be here early as well."
"Ah! I forgot to tell you!" Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "My mother was hired as the 1-A Dorm Building Supervisor, so we just finished moving in ourselves. I'm in the first room on the second floor."
"Oh, that's wonderful! My little man is in room 2-2!" Yuzu smiled. "It seems you'll be neighbors!"
"I'm not a child, Mother-" Tenya managed to make even his grumbling sound faintly formal, but that was cut off when Yuzu ran her fingers through his hair. Tenya relaxed into the contact for a moment before he remembered himself and glanced towards Izuku. He flushed slightly, but didn't pull away. "Please, Mom?"
"Oh hush. You're moving out several years ahead of schedule, so you can deal with a little extra mothering for one evening." Yuzu replied primly, though there was an amused smile on her lips. "Midoriya seems like a nice boy, I doubt he's going to judge you for it."
"By all means, Mrs. Iida." Inko said as she stepped up next to Izuku and lightly pinched his cheek. "After all, my Izuku doesn't exactly have a leg to stand on, do you sweetie?"
This time, it was Izuku's turn to blush.
Inko released Izuku's cheek and bowed to the Iidas. "My name is Inko Midoriya. It's wonderful to meet the both of you!"
"Likewise." Yuzu replied. "I was tempted to apply when I heard about the openings, but in the end I thought letting Tenya experience dorm life on his own would be for the best. I do fear that retirement is going to be rather boring without him around, sadly."
"Oh, it would drive me mad!" Inko agreed with a laugh. "It was bad enough being a stay-at-home mother while Izuku was at school. I don't know what I would have done with myself without him to look after."
"I'm considering taking up art." Yuzu admitted. "It's perhaps a bit late, but…"
"...would you like to see the dorms?" Izuku whispered to Tenya as their mothers continued to talk. They'd hit it off immediately, and while it had been interesting to hear about Yuzu's time as the hero Vivacity, the two had been circling closer and closer to baby stories ever since. Izuku wasn't sure he wanted to be present for that, given what he knew his mother would be sharing.
"Yes, please." Tenya seemed equally inclined to escape. "I'm scheduled to see Recovery Girl at 6:00pm, but we made much better time than expected. Mother wanted to stop in and inspect the dorms until my appointment, but I think she's found a different priority."
Izuku wheeled Tenya up the ramp by the stairs, then through the front doors. Once inside, Tenya looked around with interest. "As expected, UA spared no expense on these dorms. The quality is truly spectacular, especially considering the speed of their construction."
"Isn't it?" Izuku agreed. "I saw some of the buildings still under construction when we came in this morning to tell Mom about… everything. Apparently Cementos, Power Loader, Pixie-Bob from the Wild Wild Pussycats, and an army of construction robots are a fearsome combination. It's a shame Pixie-Bob was only here for the first day, I would have liked to get her autograph…"
"Your mother didn't know?" Tenya glanced over his shoulder at Izuku as he wheeled them into the elevator, a disbelieving expression on his face. He began to chop an arm furiously. "That seems uncharacteristically shortsighted of you, Izuku!"
"You're right, and it went about as well as you might expect as a result." Izuku winced. At least Toshinori had survived being locked in a room with the Mother Bear out for blood. "But she's been informed, and that's part of why she was considered for this position."
"Is that not Nepotism?" Tenya looked aghast.
"She wasn't just given the position, though she managed to make a… convincing case before Nezu officially interviewed her." Izuku said, defensive. "We were assured that the only favoritism shown was that she was recommended for the position in the first place. She's fully qualified, and earned her place."
"Of course. I apologize." Tenya seemed mollified, though somewhat guilty. "And your circumstances make such maneuvering understandable regardless, even if it required the rules be… circumvented."
"It's ok, Tenya." Izuku sighed through a small frown. 'Why am I so irritated? I know he didn't mean anything by it…'
Izuku tried to clear his head as they stopped before room 2-2. Tenya pressed a finger into the biometric scanner affixed to the front, and the door swung open for them. "Well, this is your room. They're pretty nice, from what I can see. Especially the showers. I think Toshinori may have put in a recommendation for those as well, actually. They're pretty similar to the one he had at Might Tower."
Tenya sent him a glance that might have been faintly envious. "What was that like? Tensei said it's an incredible office."
"I didn't actually see much of it?" Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "I stayed in his penthouse or his basement gymnasium to keep people from knowing I was there."
"Ah." Tenya slowly shook his head. "You just… stayed behind the Might Gate. That's all."
"Yeah. It kind of didn't feel real, at first." Izuku blushed. "If I let myself focus on that fact, I sort of go into fanboy mode all over again? So… I try not to think about it too much."
Tenya adjusted his glasses, then just… stared at him for a second. "You know, I think I understand how you feel. If I let myself consider everything that I know about… all of this, now, I find myself wondering if it's all just a particularly vivid dream."
"It feels so absurd, sometimes." Izuku nodded in agreement. "Like somewhere along the way, I lost contact with reality, and never really got a grip on it again."
"That's quite an apt way of putting it." Tenya agreed. "Better than Tensei's metaphor about doctors forgetting to turn off the morphine drip, at the very least."
Izuku snorted a surprised laugh. "How is he doing, by the way?"
"Better in some ways." Tenya rubbed his brow tiredly. "He's relieved to finally be out of the hospital, and he already purchased a specialized vehicle for people in his condition, so he's able to be somewhat independent. But… for all that he's trying not to let it show, he's still grieving his situation, obviously."
Tenya covertly wiped at his eyes as he readjusted his glasses, then glanced at Izuku. He hesitated for a moment, then continued. "We've decided we would like to proceed with the transfer, if you're still amenable."
"Absolutely." Izuku agreed without hesitation. "I'll help however I can. That's what this power is for, after all."
Tenya set his shoulders, then nodded again. "Do you know when Recovery Girl will be free?"
"I haven't had the chance to ask her yet." Izuku admitted. "If it's alright, maybe I can come with you to your appointment. I'll see if I can talk to her before you go in, so I can make sure she knows about Boon as well. We need to load you up with as much of it as you can handle before she treats you, so it can speed up your recovery like it did back at the hospital."
"That seems reasonable." Tenya nodded. "I'll let him know you're willing, but that we need to coordinate with Recovery Girl first. As for Boon… how exactly does it work?"
Izuku gestured for Tenya's hand. Once he had it, Izuku let a sliver of the 50% he had on hand flow into his friend's palm, then released his grip. Tenya pulled it back, then inspected the luminous ring on his palm.
"I vaguely remember something like this feeling." Tenya murmured as he gazed down at his hand. "How are you going to explain this as a facet of your Quirk? Especially given that Todoroki is aware of its connection to Dr. Kinenkō?"
"Well, I'll have to rely a lot on how inconsistent Quirks are." Izuku admitted with a groan. "Currently, my working story is that the energy that fuels my Quirk is just really, really malleable? That enhancing my body with it was the easiest way to use it, but once I started getting better control of it, I figured out how to manifest it differently. That would cover Blackwhip as some kind of physical manifestation, and can maybe explain Danger Sense as a kind of bubble around me that detects attacks. As for Boon, maybe it's a successful imitation of Kinenkō's Quirk with my own?"
"You don't sound especially confident in that explanation." Tenya observed. "What happens if someone suggests you try emulating another Quirk as you say you did with Boon?"
"Well, no. It's not a great explanation if anyone really starts picking away at the details." Izuku signed. "But there are other people in the world with astoundingly versatile Quirks, though they tend to be ridiculously powerful like Star and Stripe from America. For now, hopefully it'll be enough. But there are still four Quirks from the previous users that I haven't been able to use, plus whatever Quirk from the Nomu that hasn't manifested yet. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep up the facade, no matter how vague an explanation I give."
Tenya nodded soberly. "It's a conundrum. Regardless, I will help in any way I can."
"Thank you, Tenya. I really appreciate it." Izuku smiled at his friend. "Honestly, being able to talk to someone my age about it helps a lot. It's been… hard, trying to keep from saying something to you or Uraraka."
"Well, then I'm glad to be of assistance." Tenya smiled, then glanced at his phone. "We still have 13 minutes until we should make our way towards UA to arrive suitably early. We could suggest to my mother that we leave shortly, so that you could speak with Recovery Girl for a moment prior to my procedure."
"You don't think she'd mind?"
"Goodness, no." Tenya shook his head, then glanced furtively towards the door. "And regardless, it might be in both of our best interest to interrupt them. I honestly expected my mother to have come looking for me by now."
"...That's a very compelling point." Izuku agreed.
Their first sign that they were too late was when the elevator doors opened to the sound of gleeful laughter. The second was the sight of their mothers huddled together on a soffa in the lounge area, talking in low tones as they alternately scrolled and showed each other something on their phones. Sometimes they'd laugh. Other times they'd coo. Far too often, they did both.
"We left them alone for too long." Izuku murmured dejectedly.
"Agreed." Tenya nodded solemnly. "I can only hope it will be worth it in the end."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is that you cut yourself while moving, and a ten is that you've broken something again, how worried should I be?"
"Uh…" Izuku balked for a second, then considered. "I think it's mostly fine, but you'll probably be worried anyway?"
Recovery Girl sighed. "I was hoping that would be an easy question to answer. I take it you didn't follow my advice to take the rest of your internship easy?"
"...no." Izuku admitted. "But in fairness, that's because of something that happened before you suggested that. I take it Toshinori and Nezu didn't update you?"
"Toshinori didn't contact me, no. Nezu was preoccupied with the transition to a boarding school. There was rather a lot of paperwork to do, even with the preparations he'd already had in place. He did warn me that there was a development with One for All, but seemed oddly reticent to mention what, exactly, that development was." Recovery Girl sighed, then eyed him through her visor. "Explain quickly. The immediately relevant parts, preferably. We can discuss the broader developments later."
"One for All can let people give me their Quirks now, and I can theoretically give those Quirks away. Tenya found out, then Tensei, and now they want me to transfer his Quirk to Tenya. According to the previous users, whom I can speak to, the process should work safely but has a chance to be dangerous, so I want you to oversee it."
Recovery Girl stared at him blankly for a moment, then pressed a button on the side of her headgear. With a hiss and a click, it drooped slightly, then she lifted it off. With great care, she examined something on the inside. "I don't suppose that was my hearing aid malfunctioning, was it?"
"I can give and be given Quirks, the Iida brothers know about One for All, the Quirk is haunted."
Recovery Girl stared at him for a second, then tossed her headgear to the side and dropped her face into her hands.
"Sure. Why not. It's not as if everything else about the Quirk isn't distilled absurdity anyway." Recovery Girl grumbled into her hands, then she glanced up at him between her fingers. "So you want me to oversee the transfer, run scans to make sure everything goes as smoothly as we can make it. Correct?"
"Yes?" Izuku confirmed warily, unsure if it was his turn to be worried or not. "Especially scans of the brain, from the sounds of it."
"Well it's about damn time!" Recovery Girl barked, banging a fist on her desk as an excited smile bloomed across her face. "I wasn't roped in until after Toshinori had received One for All, and then he gave it to you on some god damn beach! You two were walking around with a medical marvel grafted onto your DNA, and nobody ever let me watch it work! That could be revolutionary for Quirk Science!"
"...I'd never considered it that way." Izuku blinked. "Like, obviously it's incredible and breaks all conventional knowledge of Quirks. But I never really considered the possibility of someone studying it."
"That's not all that surprising. You're focused on your career and One for All's direct application for it." Recovery Girl tipped her head in his direction. "I appreciate that you actually thought to include me in the process, rather than just plugging the new Quirk in and seeing what happened."
"Of course! It's something new, so I need to be careful."
Recovery Girl grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'where was that attitude a month and a half ago' as she glanced at the clock on the wall, but Izuku couldn't be completely sure. "Should probably clear out shortly. I don't have anything scheduled for 6am tomorrow, if you think that will work." She frowned slightly. "Not that I don't appreciate wanting to let me know, but why did you need to speak with me before Iida's appointment? We'd have had more time if you'd asked to speak afterwards."
"Oh! There's another important piece of information I forgot to mention. I wanted to talk to you first because I'm going to apply Boon to Tenya before his procedure, and I wanted to make sure you were aware." Izuku said sheepishly. "That's the vitality boosting Quirk he was under at the hospital. Accidentally getting it is what set this whole chain of events in motion."
"YOU DID THAT?" Recovery Girl shot up from behind her desk, eyes blown wide. "More importantly, you can do it AGAIN?"
"YES?!" Izuku yelped. "At the time, I thought it was just a property of Kinenkō's Quirk, but it was actually because-"
"Extra lessons with me!" Recovery Girl snapped, then glared at a nondescript section of ceiling. "I know you're watching, Nezu. You're approving that, you little shit!"
Tenya's procedure went smoothly. Izuku had recalled the Boons he'd bestowed on Toshinori and Sorahiko, then let the vitality flow into Tenya. Izuku had nearly been struck dumb by the exhaustion that followed, at the same time as Tenya had nearly begun vibrating in place.
Thankfully, Recovery Girl had made quick work of the overflowing energy as well as a good chunk of Tenya's own. By the time she was done, Tenya seemed almost as tired as Izuku was. But after he'd completed Recovery Girl's assessment, she'd deemed him capable of walking so long as he was careful and didn't do anything strenuous. She was further pleased to note that, with the addition of Boon, they could proceed with his final treatment Sunday afternoon rather than needing multiple further sessions spread over the next two weeks. That had earned Izuku a surprise hug from Yuzu, but he'd been too exhausted to be embarrassed.
They'd taken a far more sedate pace on their way back to the dorms. While Tenya had started the journey slightly wobbly, he'd made steady progress. By the time they arrived back at the dorms, his stride had much of its previous confidence behind it, albeit still noticeably slower.
They'd opened the doors to the rich scent of Beef Stew, which Inko had prepared while they were gone in the hopes that a celebration would be in order. When Tenya had walked into the kitchen under his own power, Inko had teared up for a moment before rushing to portion out the food.
The rest of the evening had been a blur to Izuku. He'd volunteered to carry most of Tenya's belongings from the car to his room, and had helped rearrange the space to his friend's preferences. By the time they'd finished, however, Izuku had barely been on his feet. He'd made it just long enough to see Yuzu off and let his mother and Tenya know about their appointment in the morning, then had all but literally crashed into his bed.
Izuku awoke to the sound of his alarm blaring. He reached for his nightstand, but only bashed his fingers into the wall. The rush of pain brought some semblance of clarity, and he remembered where he was.
'Right. Dorm. Ow…'
Izuku shook out his hand, then retrieved the screaming phone from his pocket. He swiped at it more than once before he managed to dismiss the alarm, then yawned expansively.
'...wait.' Izuku finally managed to corral his sleep-scattered thoughts. 'Why didn't I wake up in the Vestige Realm?'
'Because you needed to rest.' Nana said. 'You haven't REALLY slept since your stay at the hospital, and even that was interrupted by your interaction with Yoichi. Just because you had Boon to keep you going for most of that doesn't mean your brain wasn't exhausted by everything that happened. We decided to cut you off for the night so you could actually recover.'
'It's not like people don't stay up a long time without Quirk assistance!' Izuku retorted. 'I know All Might pulled a bunch of multi-day stretches of constant work throughout his career, and One for All doesn't do anything to keep me awake.'
'Do you REALLY want to go on record stating that Toshi is a good role model for self care?' Nana asked archly . 'We were aware of parts of a three day stretch about 10 years ago, and I'm pretty sure he started to taste sounds after two and a half days in. Sorahiko had to literally drag his ass to his room after he fell asleep mid jump and face planted through the penthouse entrance rather than landing.'
'...you may have a point.' Izuku conceded reluctantly. 'But I need to be training! I don't have anywhere near enough control over Blackwhip yet!'
'Blackwhip isn't going to listen to you at all if you can barely form a coherent thought, kid.' Daigoro countered.
'...Ok, fine. I needed actual sleep.' Izuku admitted begrudgingly as he rolled out of bed. 'Everybody out. I need to get changed.'
Izuku released the fraction of One for All he'd been unconsciously channeling since he woke up, then began preparing for a very, very busy day.
"You're both absolutely sure about this?" Izuku asked once again. "It should be reversible if it comes to that, but I don't want you to regret this regardless."
The Iida brothers looked at one another. Tensei lay on one of the two medical beds equipped with a suite of scanning equipment. Small multicolored wires and electrodes covered his body like a loosely woven blanket, and his head was partly obscured by a metallic arch of sensors. Tenya stood at his side, one hand clasped with Tensei's in support. They nodded firmly, then turned back to Izuku.
"Yes." They said in unison.
Tensei had already been in Recovery Girl's office by the time Izuku, Inko, and Tenya arrived. The sheer relief on his face when he saw Tenya walk into the office had almost moved Izuku to tears.
"Ok then." Izuku took a deep breath. "Let's get this going."
Izuku made his way over to the second sensor-riddled bed and laid down. Inko hurried over next to him, obviously nervous but with an undeniable air of curiosity around her. Recovery Girl quickly set about hooking him up with his own array of wires, the contacts cold on his skin. She then settled behind her desk, and ran several diagnostics tests.
"Both of you, activate your Quirks."
A low whine echoed around the room as Tensei briefly started his Engines. Izuku let a percent of One for All flow through him, a faint tingle across his skin.
"Midoriya. Activate any additional Quirks you can, please."
A thread of Blackwhip wriggled up from his hand, carefully held away from as many wires and pieces of equipment as possible. The prickle of Danger Sense rushed across his skin as Hikage let it through. Izuku pulled half of the still depleted Boon back from Tenya, bringing him to the upper limit he could comfortably handle.
Recovery Girl let out a low breath. "Incredible."
She turned her monitor so that Izuku and the rest of them could see. Tensei's scan revealed high activity in his arms, as well as minor passive activity across his body. His brain lit up brightly in a strip across the top and along the bottom back near the brainstem.
Izuku on the other hand was lit up with extremely high activity across his entire body, with an extra spike around the hand which Blackwhip emerged from. Given that both Boon and One for All seemed to impact his entire body, that wasn't especially surprising. His brain, however, was lit up like a beacon. Every bit of it.
Then, Recovery Girl executed a swift series of keystrokes. Suddenly, the shades of green that represented the activity levels shifted and split. While the uniform brightness of his body was largely unchanged, his brain became a prismatic mosaic of dancing lights. Multiple colors flashed and shifted from one section to another, blending into each other as they went.
"Your brain activity is astounding." Recovery Girl murmured. "We sometimes see this to a lesser degree with multifaceted Quirks like Todoroki's, or those under the effects of outside Quirks. But you look to have five all intertwined with one another. Some of the Quirk factors almost seem to have melded together at the edges."
"What do you mean by that?" Izuku asked, intrigued.
"Turn all of them off, then use them one at a time please. Tell me what you're using at any given time."
Almost immediately, Izuku felt Danger Sense withdraw. He manually released One for All and Blackwhip along with it. "All that's left should be Boon."
Recovery Girl nodded.
From there, Izuku felt Danger Sense return, then called up Blackwhip. Finally, he cloaked himself in a low percent of One for All.
"Interesting." Recovery Girl said under her breath. "Each time you activated a Quirk, there was activity from One for All. But of all of them, it was Boon that was melding with One for All the most."
"Really?" Izuku asked in surprise. "It wasn't one of the Quirks from the previous users? I would have expected them to have the strongest connection."
"There's an extremely strong connection between Blackwhip, Danger Sense, and One for All. It's actually quite hard to tell them apart." Recovery Girl agreed. "But Boon seems to actively blur the line between itself and One for All."
'Kinenkō? Yoichi? Do you have any idea what's going on with Boon?'
'This is so far out of my depth it's not even funny.' Kinenkō grunted.
'Honestly? Not really.' Yoichi admitted. 'Maybe it's like what happened with Quirk Bestowal and Power Stockpile back at the start of all this? Boon is an enhancement, and it has a transfer component to give someone enhanced vitality. That sounds like it would be pretty compatible with the key aspects of One for All. Actually…'
'What?'
'That might explain why you jumped directly to manifesting Blackwhip when you received Boon, but barely budged when the Nomu transferred whichever Quirk it did to you.' Yoichi said contemplatively. 'Initially, I thought it might just be because it was damaged and hadn't fully integrated. But it's pretty damn close now, and nothing changed after the first little increase in One for All's power. If the difference was because of how Boon directly interacted with One for All, that might make sense.'
Izuku brought a wire-clad hand to his chin. 'Under that assumption, receiving Engine shouldn't do too much, should it? That could be a useful frame of reference.'
'Assuming the both of you are right, it might still push you into manifesting Smokescreen.' En said. 'It's felt like I've been right on the edge of something for a while now.'
Izuku nodded. 'Alright. Let's see what happens.'
Izuku returned his awareness to the outside world. "We think the melding might be due to compatibility between the Quirks. There's also a possibility that receiving Engine might push me into unlocking Smokescreen as well."
Recovery Girl looked almost giddy at the news. "Oh, this will be interesting! Are you both ready?"
Tensei and Izuku shared a glance, then nodded.
"Excellent. Midoriya, eat this." Recovery Girl threw him a tiny object. Izuku snorted a surprised laugh, which made him fumble the catch. Thankfully, Inko managed to grasp it with her Quirk, and it came to a stop just before his face.
"A pill?"
"It's a quick dissolving capsule that I put one of Tensei's hairs in." Recovery Girl replied. "Figured it would be better than trying to choke down a hair on its own again."
"Much." Izuku shivered at the memory of trying to force down one of Toshinori's hairs. It likely wouldn't have been as bad with Tensei's stubble, but that just made it more likely to get stuck in his throat somewhere. "Well… Down the hatch?"
The first thing Izuku noticed was an itch. It started in his forearms, then slowly crept outwards. Before long, his entire body itched with varying levels of intensity. It was more than a little maddening, but…
"I honestly kind of expected worse." Izuku admitted, which regrettably prompted his mother to squeeze his hand even tighter. "You know, given my arms are being reconstructed."
Tensei nodded in agreement. "When Engine first came in, it was definitely worse than this. They nearly had to tie me down to keep from scratching myself raw. Granted, that was after the second day of it, so I think a four year old getting a bit antsy about it is understandable."
Izuku blinked. "...second day?"
"Yep!" Tensei winced. "Out of five…"
'I'm not going to be like this for five days, right Yoichi?'
'I doubt it.' Yoichi responded after a moment, his attention clearly focused elsewhere. 'You're probably looking at a minute, tops. It's a little more complicated than I expected, probably on account of it being a mutation that reinforces the entire body to properly handle it, but this is still a cake walk compared to a new wielder.'
Izuku sighed in relief. "Yoichi says we'll probably only be dealing with it for a minute."
"Well that's good to hear." Tensei relaxed marginally. "Say, does this mean I'll get to meet these ghosts of yours?"
"...I'm not sure, honestly. Toshinori's Vestige is usually just a sort of golden fire avatar thing, and that's apparently because he's still alive. So you'll probably be the same way. I don't know what will happen once Engine gets to Tenya, but I'd guess the same rules apply."
"Oh." Tensei looked mildly disappointed. "So there won't be a me-ghost running around in Tenya's head reminding him to lighten up constantly."
Tenya blanched. "I somehow hadn't considered that possibility."
"Oh hush."
"Well, if you want to meet them, we could make that happen at some point." Izuku offered. "Kinenkō was in Tenya's realm when Boon was fully applied to him, so it stands to reason your Vestige would probably be there too. If I give you both some of Boon, you'd likely inhabit your Vestige like Toshinori did when I brought him in."
"Well, I hope I can, one way or the other. As much as that explanation sounds like hot nonsense, they sound like an interesting bunch." Tensei said, then visibly relaxed at the same time as the itching faded. "Oh, that's a relief."
"Agreed." Izuku groaned, then turned his focus towards assessing himself. Despite the fact that he still only had half of Boon, his hands trembled slightly. If the energy from Boon urged him to move, it was only as a consequence of having nothing else to do with it. The energy that came with Engine was purely kinetic, however. It urged him incessantly to move , to leap , to RUN . It didn't even come close to rivaling Boon in volume, but the single driving goal it embodied certainly helped make up the difference.
"How do you feel, sweetie?" Inko asked, her hands cupped around his own. "You're not hurt?"
"I'm fine, mom." Izuku smiled reassuringly. "I'm a little twitchy, but that's all."
He raised the arm not claimed by his mother and inspected it. At a glance, it didn't look particularly different. Perhaps his muscles were a little more defined, or the forearm was a touch bulkier. It wasn't until he rotated it that he caught a glimpse of the true change.
A small ring of silvery metal encircled a hole in his elbow. Izuku focused on his arm, and felt… something. Different. New. He considered the sensation, then flexed his arm. Initially, nothing happened, but the feeling of it had changed. It felt incomplete, like he'd somehow forgotten a muscle in the attempt. With great care and some trial and error, Izuku finally managed to give the new muscle an experimental flex.
Engine began to spin up, a resonant whine emanating from it like he'd heard from Tenya's many times before.
For an eternal second, the room was silent save for that piercing sound. Then, Izuku carefully relaxed his arm. Engine sputtered out, leaving behind only a faint feeling of warmth.
"Well, I think it worked." Tensei said.
"That certainly seems to be the case." Izuku agreed. "Though I'm missing the mufflers."
"Those would probably grow in over a few weeks. That's how long it took…" Tensei frowned, then lifted his arm. Just as it had before, a metal pipe extended from his elbow.
Carefully, Tensei gave the protrusion a gentle tug. He poked a finger into the opening. He squeezed his arm in several places. Finally, he flexed his arm. Nothing happened.
"Well this is weird. I can't feel Engine, but it's still there. Well, parts of it anyway. It's not quite the same as the numb-limb feeling I get when Shota erases it, so much as it's just not there. " Tensei muttered. "I guess I won't have to worry about making a disguise to hide that I don't have it anymore."
"...They look like vestigial mutations now." Recovery Girl rapidly scanned over something on her computer, even as she continued typing at a prodigious rate. "Some of the internal mechanisms are still partly there, but for the most part it's indistinguishable from someone who received non-functional mutations from a parent. The appearance is there, they simply don't do anything."
"Huh." Tensei eyed his arm warily. He flexed again, but as it had last time, it remained inert. "Well, at least it worked. I don't feel like I need to sprint off into the sunset anymore."
"I know what you mean. It's almost as bad as Boon in that regard." Izuku gave a chuckle that was only a little strained. "How are things looking with me?"
'I think things went well on my end!' Yoichi said excitedly. 'No obvious issues in the transfer. Tensei's Vestige is here, but it looks like Toshinori's does, just like we expected.'
'Pretty sure Smokescreen is coming through!' En announced. 'Fair warning, it works by trying to press it out through your skin. It'll make sense once you can feel it properly. Just be careful how hard you press, it can make a LOT.'
'Thanks for the heads up.' Izuku said. 'I'll be careful-'
"Well this is interesting."
"What?" Izuku turned his attention to Recovery Girl. "Is something wrong?"
"Not as such, no." She turned the monitor towards them once again, then pointed towards a blotch of gray on the screen. "This is Engine. That seems to have integrated fine, from the active scanning. It looks to be weaved in just as tightly as the rest of them."
Recovery Girl shifted her finger towards a darker swatch of color next to it. "This came in at the same time."
"That's probably Smokescreen, then." Izuku nodded, then narrowed his eyes. "Wait. Is it…?"
"Melding together? A bit. It doesn't look to be anywhere near as much as Boon with One for All, but there's some interaction happening." Recovery Girl cycled back through the scans. Suddenly, a blotch of red appeared. "This was the anomaly. It flared up for a moment as Engine settled in. It doesn't seem to be anything we'd previously made note of, but it's strongly melding with both Engine and One for All."
'...That might be me.' Bruce said, bemused. 'Something happened with Fa Jin while Engine was on its way in. I guess it makes sense, engines have all kinds of repetitive motion going on in them.'
'I don't suppose you'll explain what, exactly, Fa Jin has to do with repetitive motion?' Izuku asked, not particularly hopeful.
'Maybe.' Bruce chuckled. 'Keep up the good work and we'll see.'
'...Duly noted.'
"It's one of the previous user's Quirks that are still being withheld." Izuku said aloud. "Nothing to worry about. It does support our working theory that Quirks with compatible aspects might blend a bit, though all I know is that the connection is likely based on repetitive motion. I'd guess that Smokescreen has some overlap due to the exhaust, maybe? I'm less confident about that, though."
"Fascinating…." Recovery Girl turned her screen back around and quickly ran a few more tests. "Everything seems to be in working order. I don't see any signs of strain, nor any deformities in the Quirk factor to suggest you're poorly adapted to it or vice versa. If I didn't know any better, I'd assume it was completely natural."
"Well, I'll call that a good sign." Izuku sighed in relief. "Are you ready, Tenya?"
"Absolutely." Tenya nodded, resolute. "Hopefully my turn will go as smoothly. We only have 44 minutes before other students begin arriving, and I wish to be able to help in as much as I am able."
"Lets be on with it, then." Recovery Girl said. "Midoriya, may I have a hair?"
Izuku plucked a strand, then paused. 'Anything special I'll need to do for this, Yoichi?'
'Not right now, no. Once the transfer is primed, you should feel a connection. When you do, just focus on letting Engine through, but not anything else.'
It took a few minutes for the mechanical arms that folded out from the wall to return Tensei to his wheelchair, but before long Tenya had taken his place. Once he was properly hooked up the monitoring equipment, Recovery Girl had handed him the capsule which contained Izuku's hair. Not a second after it landed in Tenya's palm, he'd popped the pill into his mouth and began chasing it with a glass of water.
Sure enough, just a minute later Izuku felt… something. It was like someone had tugged on a string tied to his soul, a physical sensation from an ethereal force. Izuku shied away for a moment on pure instinct, the idea of relinquishing one of his Quirks suddenly unsettling. It was giving away a part of him. Something fundamental.
Izuku squeezed his eyes shut and got a grip on himself. 'Is this what it's always like?'
'It wasn't easy.' Nana said softly. 'But when your belief in something is stronger than you desire to hold onto the power, I can't say it was especially hard either.'
Izuku opened one eye and looked to the side. Tenya and Tensei watched him, concern on their faces.
Izuku let Engine go.
He saw the moment the itching started, though Tenya didn't seem anywhere near as bothered by it as Izuku had been. Where both Izuku and Tensei had full on grimaced at the onset, Tenya just looked vaguely annoyed.
Izuku, however, only felt a light tingle rush through him, followed by a brief wave of drowsiness. There was no itching to speak of. No feeling of his arms shifting. Nothing.
Izuku tentatively let out his breath. "That… actually wasn't that bad this time."
Tensei cocked an eyebrow at him. "What, you're done already?"
"I think?" Izuku said uncertainty. He turned to face Recovery Girl, but as he did so, he felt his arms shift against the bed beneath him. He froze for a moment, then quickly twisted his arm once more so he could see his elbow.
The silvery ring remained, as did the hole in the center.
"I don't know why I thought it would work differently for me." Izuku sighed. "I guess I'll be needing those elbow braces after all."
Tensei's face fell. "I'm sorry, Midoriya. If we'd known-"
"If we'd known the mutation traits would persist even after the transfer, I'd have still done it." Izuku said. "A little bit of inconvenience is a small price to pay for you not to suffer for the rest of your life."
Izuku flexed his arm, morbidly curious about the sensation Tensei had described. Instead…
He could feel it. He could still feel Engine.
Izuku turned back to Tenya, expecting to see disappointment on his friend's face. "I'm sorry, I think I stopped the transfer somehow."
Tenya cocked his head at Izuku in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that I still have Engine." Izuku said guiltily. "We can try again, but-"
"Izuku." Tenya interrupted, then raised the arm he'd been rubbing. The arm that had a silvery ring at the elbow, a hole in its center.
Izuku glanced at his arm. Engine was still there.
Izuku gave it an experimental flex. It was… harder. Like the feeling of starting a set of pushups when his arms were still exhausted from the last. Even so, he pushed through.
Slowly, Engine spun up. The whine was fainter than before, but undeniable regardless.
Tenya did the same. All four of his engines sprung to life, and the far more powerful sound filled the room. Tenya quickly released his Quirks, though he looked as stunned as Izuku felt.
'Well shit.' Bruce grunted. 'Do you think we have time for the whole "Our Meta Abilities are clones and so are we" talk now , Nana?'
Izuku stared into space for a second, trying to process what he'd just heard.
"If you'll all excuse me." Izuku mumbled as he relaxed Engine. "I need to talk with the Vestiges for a moment."
Izuku paced back and forth before the thrones in the Core. All were occupied, now that Bruce had finished his conjured presentation on the mechanics behind their existence. Izuku had picked up on the fact that Bruce seemed to know a lot about Quirks, but he'd been surprised to learn that he was actually the resident expert on them. Evidently, it had been him who'd figured out some of the most esoteric aspects of what the Vestige's were.
There were two additional Vestiges in attendance, both behind the arch of thrones. To the side of Yoichi, Kinenkō sat in a conjured recliner, though he'd long since leaned forward to listen intently. Opposite him, to the side of Toshinori's avatar, a similar golden wraith of Tensei stood. Unlike Toshinori, however, Tensei's wraith was washed out, dim, and partly transparent.
"Ok, let me get this straight." Izuku brought his pacing to an abrupt halt, then spun to face the Vestiges. "With the exception of Yoichi and Kinenkō, you're all some kind of, of-"
"Imprint?" Yoichi offered.
"Yes." Izuku nodded, then frowned. "I think that's actually what you said the first time I met you. That before, One for All had just 'stockpiled an Imprint.' I didn't really understand, and it slipped my mind in the face of everything else that happened."
"I think so?" Yoichi didn't sound especially confident. "I was kind of terrified at the time, so I don't fully remember what I said. Not exactly every day you take a stroll into the eternal void."
"Still can't believe you did that." Daigoro grumbled.
"It's not like we had any real choice. Izuku was clearly struggling out there, and he's kind of important to keep safe." En pointed out. "Given that Yoichi was the only one who didn't outright bounce off the invisible wall, it was the best choice we had."
"Not like it mattered anyway." Yoichi sighed. "I didn't even manage to get to him, and he was fine regardless."
"The fact that you tried is appreciated." Izuku said. "But, um, back to the topic at hand?"
The Vestiges nodded.
"So, you're Imprints. The power of One for All basically made a mold of your Quirk from coexisting with it. Then, when One for All was passed along, the mold was filled in and it just. Just." Izuku rapidly ran his hands through his hair, then flung them upwards. "Made an exact replica of your Quirk? One for All can just make more Quirks?"
"Almost got it, kid." Bruce shook his head. "It's not so much making more Meta Abilities, as it is perfectly imitating them. They're functions of One for All, not independent Meta Abilities that could be given away. For all intents and purposes, the versions of our Meta Abilities you're using are just recreations of them from One for All's power. Something about Meta Abilities is intimately tied to who the person it came from is, though, so we were copied as a bonus. We're effectively Yoichi's creepily accurate imaginary friends."
Izuku opened his mouth. He closed it again. He looked around, but the rest of the past users voiced their agreement with Bruce's explanation. Even Hikage gave Izuku a nod, albeit a grudging one. The only one who didn't was…
Izuku gestured at Toshinori's flaming Vestige. "Then what about him? Toshinori was Quirkless!"
"Frankly?" Bruce shrugged. "We don't know."
"YOU DON'T KNOW?" Izuku shrieked.
"We don't exactly have state of the art equipment in here, kid." Bruce shot him a look. "Not that we'd have any idea what kind of equipment we'd even need. Literally everything we've managed to figure out is because we were floating in the black nothing for over a hundred years and we didn't have anything better to do than poke around or sleep. When he showed up, I nearly had a breakdown because I assumed I'd gotten something wrong about the rest of us. Spent something like 30 years going over it all again to realize that, to the information available to us, he was an anomaly we didn't have an answer for."
"...I'm sorry." Izuku slumped. "You guys just… seem to have most of the answers, at least regarding things that happened before all these new developments. The fact that you just outright don't know is… terrifying."
Bruce took a deep breath, then let it out in a gusty sigh. "Can't really blame you. We all got to have our little existential crisis over this, it's not like I can fault you for freaking out."
"Thank you for understanding." Izuku bowed, then another thought struck him. He turned to Nana.
"Wait. If the imprint forms when you pass on One for All, how do you remember so much about the time after you passed it on?"
Nana jerked a thumb at Toshinori's Vestige. "We were like that at first. Our best guess is that something remains connected to the living person, and we don't fully form until that person dies. We end up in here, with full memory of everything right up until our death."
Izuku briefly glanced at Toshinori's Vestige, then to the dimmer one behind it. "Why didn't you tell me all this about the imprints and the clones before? Nana, you outright stopped Bruce back when we were first talking to Tensei. Granted, he hadn't actually offered his Quirk yet, but this would have been useful information to know. Like I told him, I'd still have gone through with it, but I would have liked to make an informed decision about it."
"In Nana's defense, she wasn't wrong based on what we thought we knew at the time." Bruce said. "This conversation wouldn't have been fast, as we're currently demonstrating. Plus, we thought this happened because we'd actively possessed One for All. When you slapped all of Boon into other people, there wasn't a second Kinenkō running around in here. Even when you split it up, he was just one person aware of or simultaneously existing in multiple places. It wasn't exactly the same thing, but it seemed close enough to base a conjecture on, given our lack of other reference points."
"It's also worth pointing out that there do seem to be some differences that come from being a previous user, so that theory wasn't completely baseless." Yoichi interjected. "For instance, the ability to suppress their Quirk. Even though Tensei's an imprint now, there's a difference between him and the others."
Izuku gave the transparent golden Vestige a once over. "I couldn't tell."
"Yeah, him standing next to Toshinori really emphasizes that point. But I think that's more to do with the fact that he's a really weak imprint? You had Engine for a few minutes, at the absolute most, compared to Kudo and the three years he had One for All. Then you have Toshinori at over 40 years." Yoichi said as he gestured to the luminous avatar of energy. "But strength aside, there's a fundamental difference between them. There's a stronger connection to One for All inherent to the previous users, and with that comes greater control."
Izuku nodded his acceptance of that point. "So it was a case of not knowing enough to realize there was something you didn't know." Izuku slumped. "That's understandable. I'm sorry, again."
"None of that, Izuku." Yoichi said softly. "You're extremely new to all of this. We can't exactly blame you for wanting answers, even if we don't have all of them. We'll try to keep an eye out for situations like this in the future, to the best of our abilities."
"I'd appreciate it." Izuku nodded, then looked at Bruce. "Thank you for explaining. At some point, I'd really like to talk with you more about Quirks in general. It's been a long time since I met someone who seemed as interested in them as I am."
"I think I'd like that." Bruce sent a small smile his way. "These uncultured simpletons just don't appreciate the wonder of it all sometimes."
Kudo shot Bruce a disturbed look. "Never say wonder like that again. It sounds wrong coming out of your cynical mouth."
"I am a delight!" Bruce said with mock indignation.
"No." Hikage grunted.
"Regardless…" Nana cut in. "You should probably go back. If my timing's right, you only have a few minutes before the other students arrive."
"Oh." Izuku blinked. "Crap."
Notes:
Here we are. The explanation of what Yoichi meant back in chapter 2, and what Bruce was going to say before Nana interrupted. This is something I've been thinking of as a 'Jumping the Shark' moment for the story, because I'm not sure how people will react to the idea that Izuku doesn't truly give up Quirks that he gives away.
The idea of imprints is basically what I headcanon actually happens in MHA, because we know that the previous users kept their Quirks even after passing on One for All. It also explains why the Embers are a thing; They're the Vestigial parts of One for All that were left behind, just enough to use the stockpiled power that was left behind, but not enough to actually stockpile more of it.
This idea will have major implications in the story. Izuku can't just borrow people's Quirks in order to amplify their power, because a weak copy will be left behind. While that could be beneficial, that means he has yet another power to try and wrangle under control to ensure he doesn't accidentally use it or hurt someone. It means another potential set of mutation traits to hide. It means that any Quirk that passes through his hands leaves its mark on him, which isn't something to be taken lightly.
Also, Melding. For anyone who remembers my comment about the ever growing 50+ page document of Quirks and Quirk interactions? This is a big part of that. Quirks within One for All can change due to their exposure to the Stockpile, but can also be changed by the influence of other Quirks that are compatible. This is one of the big differences between Empowered Quirk Bestowal and All for One.
Hopefully everyone enjoyed the chapter, and likes the direction this development takes the story in. I promise, this won't just go the rout of Izuku collecting copies of everyone's Quirks and spamming them.
P.S. I may be starting to post chapters in the evening going forward. I finally have a CPAP machine, so I'll hopefully be actually sleeping for the first time in like 4 years. Unfortunately, that likely means I'll be getting up closer to the Responsible Adulting hours of the day, so I'll have less time for editing and posting in the morning.