Vroom!!!
Tatsuo finally pulled the vehicle up to the curb a block away from the Midoriya apartment complex, Izuku looked down at his hands. They were still stained with soot, dirt, and a faint smear of Ryukyu's blood. The sheer exhaustion of the night was finally catching up to him, making his bones feel like they were made of metal.
"Get some sleep, kid," Tatsuo grunted from the driver's seat, though his scarred face held a newfound softness that hadn't been there before. "Tomorrow, the real work begins. 0800 at the dojo. Don't be late."
"I won't," Izuku promised, his voice raspy. He turned to the backseat and nodded to Itsuka, who gave him a tired but deeply encouraging thumbs-up.
Izuku stepped out into the night, the heavy door of the SUV clicking shut behind him. He walked the remaining block to his apartment building like a ghost, his mind replaying the image of the Forever Knights and the blinding flash of the Omnitrix. He reached his front door, slid his key into the lock slowly, and prayed to every deity he could name that his mother was a heavy sleeper.
Click.
The door swung open. The entryway was completely dark. Izuku let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding, stepping inside and gently toeing off his iconic red shoes.
Suddenly, the living room light flicked on. He was so screwed!
"Izuku Midoriya."
Izuku jumped nearly a foot into the air, his heart hammering violently against his ribs. Sitting in her favorite armchair, a lukewarm cup of green tea in her lap and a knitted blanket draped over her knees, was Inko Midoriya. Her green eyes—so much like his own—were wide, brimming with a terrifying mixture of maternal fury and heart-wrenching relief.
"M-Mom! You're awake!" Izuku squeaked, his voice cracking horribly in the quiet apartment.
"I've been awake for six hours, Izuku," she said, standing up. The knitted blanket slid to the floor as she rushed over to him. She didn't lead with a lecture; instead, she immediately began checking him over like a frantic mother bird, pulling at his arms and poking his soot-stained cheeks. "Where have you been? You didn't answer your phone! I was terrified! And your shirt—Izuku, where on earth is your right sleeve?! Is that blood? Oh, heavens, are you hurt?!"
"I'm fine! I'm fine, really!" Izuku waved his hands frantically, desperately trying to hide the Omnitrix behind his back while simultaneously reassuring her. "It's not my blood! I mean—it's not a bad injury! Someone just got a scrape, and I used my sleeve as a bandage! I was just... I was with Itsuka! And her grandfather!"
Inko froze mid-fret. The deep lines of worry on her forehead didn't completely vanish, but they were suddenly joined by a very different, very mischievous sparkle in her eyes. She leaned back slightly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"With Itsuka?" Inko repeated, a small, knowing smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "The lovely girl you said you were going to meet with? Is that who you were with!?"
Izuku's face instantly turned a shade of red that rivaled a blazing inferno. "Y-Yes! But we were just—"
"Six hours, Izuku?" Inko teased, bringing a hand to her cheek as her eyes crinkled with amusement. "I was hoping that you'd meet a girl someday, but I didn't think my little boy would stay out until the early morning hours on his very first date. Did you have fun? Did you take her to the park? Or did you go somewhere... more private?"
"Mom! It wasn't a date!" Izuku practically shrieked, smoke practically pouring from his ears as his brain overloaded. The memory of fighting for his life against an alien robot clashed violently with his mother's assumption of teenage romance. "We were just talking! About martial arts! And school! And... and stuff! Goodnight!"
Unable to handle the sheer embarrassment on top of his physical exhaustion, Izuku bolted down the hallway, diving into his bedroom and shutting the door behind him. He leaned his back against the wood, sliding down to the floor and burying his burning face in his hands. He could hear his mother's light, musical laughter echoing warmly from the living room.
Eventually, the embarrassment faded, leaving only the tiredness. Izuku dragged himself off the floor, stripped off his ruined clothes, and pulled on a comfortable, oversized t-shirt and loose sweatpants. He collapsed onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
For the first time in his entire life, he didn't have the same burning desire to be a Pro Hero. Instead, it filled him with a strange, heavy sense of melancholy. All Might protected Japan. But who protected Earth?
Suddenly, the silence of his room was shattered by the sharp buzzing of his cell phone on his nightstand.
Izuku frowned, rolling over and picking it up. The caller ID made his breath catch in his throat. It simply read:
UNCLE NEZU
Izuku sat up bolt straight. He pressed accept and brought the phone to his ear. "H-Hello? Uncle Nezu?"
"Good evening, Izuku," came the polite, slightly squeaky, but incredibly warm voice of the U.A. Principal. "I apologize for calling at such an ungodly hour, but as your godfather, I felt this matter could not wait until morning."
"It's okay, Uncle Nezu. I was awake," Izuku replied, a small smile finding its way onto his face. Most people saw Nezu as an intimidating, hyper-intelligent creature who ran the most prestigious school in the country. But to Izuku, Nezu was the family friend who brought him rare teas, played chess with him on Sunday afternoons, and most importantly, believed in him when no one else did.
It was Nezu who had spent the last ten months secretly training Izuku for the U.A. Entrance Exam. Knowing Izuku was quirkless, Nezu had personally taught him tactical analysis, situational awareness, and advanced parkour to evade the massive robots. Nezu had honed Izuku's mind into a weapon.
"I am calling tonight to offer my sincerest, most profound apologies," Nezu said, his voice losing its cheerful cadence and dropping into absolute seriousness. "For the appalling lack of judgment displayed by your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa, during your quirk assessment test."
Izuku looked down at his lap. The memory of Aizawa's glaring red eyes, the crushing feeling of his lifelong dream being snuffed out in an instant, washed over him.
"I have recently had a very... enlightening conversation with Eraserhead regarding his teaching philosophies," Nezu continued, a hint of dark, protective anger bleeding into his tone. "His decision to expel you on your first day was not only incredibly premature, but it violated the core tenets of what I have built U.A. to stand for. You and I trained for months, Izuku. We bled over those tactical maps. Your performance during the entrance exam, rescuing young Uraraka from the Zero Pointer using only your environment and your wits, demonstrated the absolute highest caliber of true heroism. You embody the spirit of U.A."
"Uncle Nezu..." Izuku whispered, tears suddenly pricking his eyes.
"I have officially overturned Aizawa's expulsion," Nezu stated firmly. "Your desk in Class 1-A is empty, and I am calling to formally ask you to return to us tomorrow morning. You belong at U.A., Izuku."
The world seemed to stop spinning. The offer hung in the air, shimmering like a golden ticket. It was everything he had ever wanted. Everything he and his godfather had worked so tirelessly to achieve. U.A. High School. The Hero Course. A chance to be recognized by society.
Izuku looked down at his left wrist. The Omnitrix stared back at him, its green faceplate completely silent, but impossibly heavy.
He thought of the DNAliens tearing through his grandfather's house. He thought of the Forever Knights hoarding weapons capable of vaporizing city blocks. He thought of Tatsuo's tired, desperate eyes telling him that Earth was in the crosshairs of a galactic war. He thought of the Plumber badge now sitting safely in his desk drawer.
If he went back to U.A., he would be forced to conform to the Hero Public Safety Commission's strict laws. He would have to hide the truth of the Omnitrix from Aizawa, from his classmates, and even from Nezu. He would be bogged down in homework and localized villain patrols, while an alien armada was quietly infiltrating the planet.
He couldn't do both. He couldn't be a student by day and an intergalactic peacekeeper by night. The stakes were simply too high.
Izuku closed his eyes, taking a deep, steadying breath. When he opened them, the tears that usually came so easily were gone.
"Uncle Nezu," Izuku said, his voice remarkably calm, lacking its usual nervous stutter. "I... I can't thank you enough for saying that. You have no idea how much it means to me. You trained me. You gave me a chance when no one else would. Going to U.A. has been my dream since I was four years old."
"But?" Nezu prompted softly, his super-intellect already predicting the pivot.
"But I have to decline," Izuku said firmly.
There was a brief pause on the other end of the line. "May I ask why, Izuku? This is a highly unusual decision, especially after all our hard work."
"Something has come up," Izuku explained carefully, choosing his words to respect Tatsuo's mandate of secrecy while trying to be as honest as possible with his godfather. "A family matter involving Grandpa. A very, very important responsibility has been given to me. It's something that only I can do, and it requires my full, undivided attention. If I were to attend U.A., I wouldn't be able to give my studies or this new responsibility the focus they deserve. People could get hurt. The whole world could get hurt."
Silence reigned on the other end of the line for a long, heavy moment. Izuku worried he had disappointed the principal, but when Nezu finally spoke, his voice was filled with deep, unmistakable, and profound pride.
"I see," Nezu murmured softly. "You are turning down your greatest, lifelong desire in order to shoulder a monumental burden for the sake of others. I must admit, Izuku, my estimation of your character was already astronomically high, but you continue to break my metrics. You are making a sacrifice that many Pro Heroes twice your age would balk at. You truly are Hiroshi's grandson."
"I'm just doing what I have to do. What you and Grandpa taught me to do."
"Very well. I will respect your choice," Nezu said warmly. "However, let it be known that the doors of U.A. High School will always remain open to you. Should your... family matter... ever be resolved, do not hesitate to contact me. I am always here for you, my boy. Good night, Izuku. I have a feeling the world will be hearing about you, even if you aren't wearing our uniform."
"Good night, Uncle Nezu."
Izuku hung up the phone. He sat in the quiet of his room for a long time, looking at the black screen. He had just thrown away his dream. But as he looked down at the Omnitrix, he felt an overwhelming sense of peace. He had made the right choice.
The next morning, the Kendo Dojo in the neighboring ward was filled with the sharp, rhythmic, and brutal sounds of combat.
Thwack! Smack! Thud!
"Too slow! Guard your left flank! Don't anticipate, react!"
Izuku gasped for air, crossing his forearms just in time to block a sweeping roundhouse kick that rattled his teeth and sent a shockwave up to his elbows. The force of the blow sent him sliding backward across the polished wooden floorboards of the dojo, his bare feet squeaking in protest against the wood.
Standing opposite him, looking barely winded, was Itsuka Kendo. She was wearing a traditional white gi, her orange hair tied up in a high, practical ponytail. Her emerald eyes were sharp and focused, her stance a perfect, terrifying blend of fluid grace and devastating, explosive power.
"You're relying too much on predicting my movements based on my shoulders, Izuku," Itsuka instructed, lowering her guard slightly to correct his posture. "You have an incredibly analytical mind, which is great for quirk theory, but in a hand-to-hand fight, by the time you've analyzed my shoulder dip, my foot is already in your ribs. You need to feel the flow of the fight. Get out of your own head!"
Izuku nodded, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He was wearing a simple grey t-shirt and loose martial arts pants.
Sitting on the edge of the tatami mats, sipping a cup of steaming green tea, was Tatsuo Kendo. He was watching the two teenagers spar with a critical, evaluating eye.
"Itsuka is right, kid," Tatsuo grunted, setting his teacup down on a small wooden tray. "The Omnitrix is the most powerful weapon in the known universe, but it has a time limit, and it has a recharge cycle. If a DNAlien corners you when that watch is glowing red, you can't just throw your hands up and surrender. You need to know how to throw a punch, how to take a hit, and how to survive long enough for the device to reset."
"Right," Izuku breathed heavily, dropping back into the defensive stance Itsuka had spent the last two hours drilling into him. "Again, Itsuka. Please."
Itsuka smiled, a fierce, highly competitive glint in her eyes. "Alright. But this time, I'm not pulling the sweep."
She lunged forward, moving with terrifying, practiced speed. She faked a high jab to his face, forcing Izuku to raise his guard, and then dropped low, sweeping her leg in a brutal, sweeping arc aimed right at his ankles.
Izuku saw the fake. His analytical brain immediately recognized the shift in her center of gravity. But instead of freezing to calculate the perfect trajectory, he forced himself to listen to her advice. He reacted purely on instinct. He pushed hard off his back foot, launching himself backward just as Itsuka's sweep sailed harmlessly through the space his legs had occupied a millisecond before.
Before she could recover her stance and pull her leg back, Izuku stepped in. He planted his foot firmly, twisted his hips to generate torque, and threw a textbook straight punch directly at her center mass.
Itsuka's eyes widened in genuine surprise. She barely managed to bring her forearms up in an X-block to catch the blow. The impact made a loud SMACK, and Itsuka was actually forced to take a half-step backward to absorb the kinetic force.
She lowered her arms, looking at Izuku with a mixture of shock and genuine, glowing pride. "Okay... that was a solid hit. Your reaction time is improving insanely fast."
"I... I think I'm getting the hang of it," Izuku panted, a bright, exhausted smile breaking across his sweaty face.
Tatsuo clapped his hands together once, the sound echoing sharply through the large dojo. "Alright, that's enough of the basics for today. You have the raw physical conditioning down, Izuku. Now it's time to work on the real arsenal."
Tatsuo stood up, grabbing a massive, heavy-looking canvas duffel bag from the corner of the room. "Grab your shoes, kids. We're going on a field trip."
"Where to, Grandpa?" Itsuka asked, grabbing a towel to wipe her face.
"Dagobah Municipal Beach Park," Tatsuo replied, walking toward the exit. "It's secluded, it's completely abandoned, and it provides the perfect, high-stress environment for some heavy-duty alien calibration."
Thirty minutes later, the trio stood at the edge of the Dagobah Beach retaining wall. The salty ocean breeze was entirely overpowered by the foul, suffocating stench of rotting garbage, rusted metal, and stagnant, toxic water. The beach was a monumental disaster area, piled stories high with broken refrigerators, crushed cars, leaking chemical drums, and decades of illegal dumping. It looked less like a beautiful coastline and more like a post-apocalyptic mechanical graveyard.
Izuku pinched his nose in disgust, looking up at the towering mountains of refuse. "Wow. It's even worse than the news reports said."
"Exactly," Tatsuo said, dropping his heavy duffel bag onto the dirty sand with a thud. He unzipped it, revealing several high-tech Plumber scanning devices, hard-light emitter drones, and heavy energy rifles. "This place is a massive blind spot for local law enforcement. Nobody comes down here. Which means you can completely cut loose without blowing your cover. And as an added bonus, we're going to clean this entire beach up while we train."
Itsuka looked at the thousands of tons of garbage, stretching as far as the eye could see, and then back at her grandfather as if he had suddenly grown a second head. "Clean it up? Grandpa, this would take a whole fleet of construction vehicles years to clear out! It's literally an ocean of trash!"
"We don't need construction vehicles," Tatsuo smirked, looking directly at Izuku with a challenging glint in his eye. "We have an alien armada on a wrist. Midoriya, step up."
Izuku nodded, a wave of determination washing over him. He walked forward until he was standing at the base of a particularly massive pile of rusted cars and broken washing machines. He reached over with his right hand and pressed the small button on the side of the Omnitrix.
Bzzzt. The faceplate popped up smoothly, glowing with that familiar, brilliant, almost ethereal emerald light. A small holographic silhouette materialized above the dial. Izuku turned the dial, cycling past the hulking form of Humungousaur, past the tiny frame of Echo Echo, until he landed on a bizarre, jagged silhouette that looked like a man made of pure, sharp rock.
"Let's see what this one can do," Izuku muttered. He slammed the dial down.
A blinding flash of green light erupted, completely engulfing him. The familiar, strange, painless sensation of his DNA rapidly unraveling and rewriting itself washed over him. He felt his skin harden immensely, his biological cells crystallizing and fusing into incredibly dense, dark purple silicon. Bright, magenta crystalline spikes violently erupted from his shoulders, back, and forearms.
As the light faded, standing in Izuku's place was a towering, imposing creature. He was made entirely of a highly durable, dark purple, rock-like substance, interspersed with glowing pink lines of pure ultraviolet energy coursing beneath his "skin." His head featured a single, sharp pink crystal horn, and he possessed a singular, cycloptic glowing pink eye. The green hourglass symbol of the Omnitrix rested securely on his chest.
"Whoa," the alien spoke, his voice echoing with a strange, deep, crystalline resonance. He held up his hands, watching the magenta energy crackle between his thick, stone-like fingers. "I feel... heavy. But not slow. I feel like a living battery."
"Fascinating," Tatsuo muttered, rapidly scanning the alien with a handheld Plumber device. "Biological composition reads as a Crystalsapien. A highly resilient, silicon-based lifeform from the planet Petropia. Your body is essentially a massive, living prism capable of absorbing and redirecting raw energy. Let's test your absorption threshold."
Tatsuo didn't give a warning. He pulled a heavy Plumber energy rifle from his bag, aimed it squarely at the alien's chest, and pulled the trigger.
A searing, highly destructive blast of blue plasma tore through the air. Itsuka screamed in shock, but the Crystalsapien simply stood his ground.
The plasma blast struck him directly in the chest. But instead of exploding, the blue energy was instantly absorbed into the alien's dark purple body. The pink lines coursing across his skin flared with blinding intensity, shifting into a brilliant shade of violent magenta. The alien didn't even flinch.
"That actually felt... really good!" the alien laughed, his cycloptic eye narrowing in focus. "Like drinking an energy drink! Call me... Chromastone!"
"Impressive," Tatsuo noted. "Now, Chromastone, redirect that kinetic energy! Target that massive pile of rusted appliances to your left!"
Chromastone turned toward a towering mountain of broken refrigerators, microwaves, and rusted metal framing. He raised his hands, focusing the absorbed plasma energy. The crystals on his arms glowed with blinding light.
FWOOOOOOSH!
A massive, continuous beam of concentrated ultraviolet energy erupted from his hands, striking the trash pile. The sheer heat and kinetic force of the beam instantly vaporized the rusted metal, melting down tons of garbage into a small, harmless puddle of bubbling slag in a matter of seconds.
"Holy crap!" Itsuka yelled over the roaring sound of the beam, furiously scribbling notes in Izuku's quirk notebook. "Total energy absorption and redirection! Plus enhanced durability! He's a walking artillery cannon!"
"Keep firing, Tatsuo-san!" Chromastone shouted, feeling a rush of power.
For the next twenty minutes, Tatsuo peppered Chromastone with blasts from different Plumber weapons—plasma, hard-light, concussive waves—and Chromastone absorbed every single one of them, turning around and unleashing devastating ultraviolet beams that completely vaporized massive swathes of the beach's garbage. By the time the Omnitrix began to beep and flash red, a huge section of the shoreline was completely clear.
With a flash of red light, Izuku returned to his human form, dropping to his knees and panting heavily, sweat pouring down his face.
"Energy absorption takes a massive toll on your human stamina once the transformation drops," Tatsuo explained, tossing Izuku a water bottle. "You did well. Rest for five minutes while the watch recharges. We have one more test."
Izuku drank greedily, watching the red faceplate slowly cycle back to green.
"Chromastone is excellent for energy-based threats," Tatsuo lectured, pacing across the newly cleaned sand. "But what happens when you face an opponent who relies purely on overwhelming, brute physical force? You need an alien that can match that aggression. I want you to find a brawler. Let's work on Humungosaur."
Izuku wiped his mouth, standing up as the watch turned green. "One dinosaur coming right up!"
He popped the dial up, cycling through the holograms until he found a massive, hulking silhouette of Humungosaur. He slammed his hand down.
The green light exploded again. This time, the transformation felt violent. Izuku felt his muscles expanding rapidly, ripping through his shirt as he grew taller and wider. Thick, coarse orange and black fur erupted across his skin. His face elongated into a terrifying feline muzzle, and massive, razor-sharp black claws extended from the backs of his hands.
But the physical changes were nothing compared to the mental shift. The moment the transformation completed, Izuku's usually calm, analytical mind was completely hijacked by an overwhelming, blinding wave of pure, unadulterated aggression.
When the light faded, a towering, nine-foot-tall bipedal tiger stood on the beach. He was built like a heavyweight champion, rippling with absurd amounts of muscle. He wore nothing but a black and green wrestling-style singlet, with the Omnitrix symbol secured firmly on his chest.
The alien threw his head back and let out a deafening, earth-shattering roar that made the nearby ocean waves ripple.
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, OMNITRIX!!" the alien screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice a booming, raspy snarl that sounded like a pro wrestler cutting a promo. He pointed a massive, clawed finger aggressively at the old man. "I WANTED TO TURN INTO HUMUNGOSAUR!!! SO WHY AM I RATH!!! EVEN THOUGH RATH IS THE BEST THERE IS!!!!"
Itsuka stumbled backward, her eyes wide with terror. "I-Izuku? Are you in there?!"
Rath snapped his massive head toward her. "LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, ITSUKA KENDO, GIRL WITH THE ORANGE HAIR! RATH IS ALWAYS IN HERE! AND RATH IS FURIOUS! RATH IS SO ANGRY HE COULD TEAR THIS BEACH IN HALF!"
Tatsuo, entirely unfazed by the screaming tiger-man, simply pointed toward the largest, most densely packed mountain of crushed cars on the beach. "Then channel that anger, Rath! Destroy that pile!"
Rath spun around, glaring at the mountain of rusted cars as if it had personally insulted his mother.
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, PILE OF RUSTED CARS!" Rath bellowed, marching aggressively toward the trash heap, his heavy footsteps leaving deep craters in the sand. "YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST SIT THERE, RUINING THIS BEAUTIFUL BEACH?! RATH RECYCLES! RATH IS GOING TO TEAR YOU APART PIECE BY PIECE!"
Rath launched himself into the air, flying an impossible distance before slamming down directly onto the top of the trash pile. He didn't use energy beams. He didn't use tactics. He used pure, unimaginable, savage strength.
He grabbed the roof of a crushed van and violently ripped it entirely in half, tossing the metal chunks into the ocean. He punched a rusted refrigerator so hard it exploded into shrapnel. He used his massive black claws to slice through steel support beams as if they were made of warm butter. All the while, he never stopped screaming at the inanimate objects.
"TAKE THAT, BROKEN WASHING MACHINE! RATH DOESN'T NEED FABRIC SOFTENER! RATH IS NATURALLY SOFT!"
CRASH! SMASH! BOOM!
Itsuka stood beside her grandfather, her notebook completely forgotten, her jaw practically touching the sand as she watched the tiger-man systematically dismantle hundreds of tons of metal through sheer, furious willpower. "Grandpa... what is he?!"
"An Appoplexian," Tatsuo said, a rare, massive grin spreading across his face as he watched the absolute destruction. "A species renowned for their extreme physical strength, incredible durability, and... highly volatile temperaments. They possess a psychological block that makes them view everything as a challenge. It's a highly dangerous form, but incredibly effective."
For the next ten minutes, Rath was a one-man demolition crew. He tore through the garbage with terrifying efficiency, his rage fueling his endless stamina. He compacted the scrap metal into tight, dense cubes through pure compressive strength, stacking them neatly along the retaining wall.
"AND DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK!" Rath screamed at a pile of flattened metal, breathing heavily, his chest heaving.
The Omnitrix beeped, flashing red. The massive tiger glowed green, and a moment later, a very human, completely exhausted Izuku Midoriya was lying flat on his back in the sand, staring up at the sky.
Izuku groaned, rubbing his temples. "My head... feels like I just drank ten cups of coffee and screamed for an hour."
Itsuka rushed over, offering him a hand up. She looked around the beach. Between Chromastone's vaporizing beams and Rath's furious dismantling, nearly half of Dagobah Beach was completely pristine, revealing beautiful white sand that hadn't seen the sun in years.
"You did it, Izuku," Itsuka said softly, her emerald eyes shining with a mixture of awe and deep affection. "You're amazing."
Izuku looked at the clean beach, the setting sun reflecting off the ocean, and the Omnitrix cooling on his wrist. He thought of Uncle Nezu, and he thought of U.A. He missed it, yes. But as he looked at what he had just accomplished, he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was exactly where he needed to be.
Hi everyone, if you're enjoying this story so far and hope to read more faster, then for every 10 power stones I recieve I will post 2 chapters in a single day. So every 10 power stones is a day where i'll post twice ! Thanks for your support !!!