Chapter 9: The Old Moon (The Old Mentor)
Izuku grunted as he re-racked his weights. Training with Mr. Yagi was tough, but it definitely paid off. Since the man had told him the secret of One For All, they had spent Wednesday afternoons, Friday afternoons, and Sundays working on bodybuilding. With two months of work under his belt, along with Mr. Yagi's specialized meal plan, Izuku had developed a good physique.
Of course, there were still months until the UA entrance exam, and it was only two months of training…
But still. The workout routine had Izuku feeling better than he had in years. He hadn't even felt this good while doing boxing! Then again… that was during a whole whirlwind of issues…
"A new PR! You're making great progress my boy."
Izuku smiled as he took a towel from Mr. Yagi and wiped away some sweat from his forehead. "Thank you, sir. I think the boxing definitely paid off."
Mr. Yagi scoffed. "None of that sir business, now. I do agree with you, though… boxing helped build useful muscles, and gave us a great starting line."
"I'll say… how much did we get to today?"
The man grinned. "Ninety kilograms. I think that means you're ready for the next step."
Izuku flexed his fingers before standing up from the bench. "Tell me what we're doing."
Mr. Yagi grinned. "I've had a good friend of mine assess some of your training progress, and he let me know what fighting style would suit you."
"But I can box already!" Izuku blinked.
"Yes, you can. But you are a lot different from me. See, I'm this skinny because of my injury. One For All just pushes my body out to what it was before. It's based a lot on genetics. Since I'm so tall, and I built bigger muscles, Boxing was all I needed. With how big I am, my punches carve through anything in my path, and my height made sure that those big muscles didn't impact my flexibility." Mr. Yagi smiled. "But, you are smaller and skinnier. Even with your progress, it's clear that bulking up won't suit you as well as it did me. Big muscles would only hinder your flexibility, and even with those big muscles, you wouldn't put out as much force as I do."
"So… I need to do more than boxing." Izuku nodded.
"With your size, you'd be better off focusing on speed, rather than pure power. We've been building compact muscle, so you'll be able to hit hard, but still move freely. Compact muscle is a bit different from big muscle, since there aren't layers of air to cushion the raw power of One For All, you'll have to regulate your output once you inherit the quirk."
"Did you just read all of that off of a sticky note?" Izuku sweatdropped.
"Er… no! I was just relaying the notes as best as possible." Mr. Yagi blushed. "Anyways. Your style of fighting will be about hitting multiple hits, rather than finishing everything off with a single punch. Because of that, you'll be learning kickboxing!"
Izuku nodded, clenching his fingers and then unclenching them. "Can't be that different, right?"
Mr. Yagi chuckled as he helped Izuku clean up his weights. Izuku took that as a good sign as his mind wandered to his friend.
"By the way, what are you having Uraraka do?"
Mr. Yagi's smile turned into a grin. "She'll be working with an old friend of mine!"
->*<-
Ochako blinked as the subway train came to a stop. A wave of civilians poured off of the vehicle and onto the subway platform, but there were no heroes in sight.
Odd.
"Hey you there!"
The teen looked down to see a weezened man wearing a yellow scarf. "WHO ARE YOU?"
Ochako stuttered, caught off guard by the odd man coming out of the blue and yelling to identify herself.
' It's like something from Doctor Who!'
She was snapped from her shock as the man grabbed her hand and began pulling her from the station. "You'll have to be a lot quicker than that if you wanna stand with the symbol of peace, kid."
Her eyebrows shot up as she was pulled out onto the sidewalk. "Wait, you're-"
"Sorahiko Torino at your service! But you can call me 'Gran'. Do I have to pull you or do those concrete shoes work?"
Ochako quickly began walking in pace with the man, who grinned and nodded.
"So you can listen! That's good. Makes this a whole lot easier!"
"What exactly do you have in mind for me, Mr Torino sir?" Ochako spoke with enthusiasm.
"None of that 'sir' business! Save that for the holders of that power, got it?" The man huffed. "This is taking too long. We're picking up the pace. Try to keep up!"
A blast of air made Ochako stagger as the man took off, leaping down the sidewalk with huge air powered strides. Understanding that her training had begun, Uraraka began to run after him.
' He's fast. I can't keep up!'
Luckily, the man waited every so often for her to catch up. After a long bout of cardio which covered about sixteen city blocks, they arrived at their destination.
"This is-"
"Dagoba Municipal Beach Park!" The elderly man barked out a laugh. "Over the years, it's become a dumping ground for all sorts of trash. Every day at this time, you're going to meet me here."
Ochako eyes a tire. "Community service?"
"Right you are! Got a brain in you. That's good. We're gonna clean this beach without quirks, and have spars every friday. If you can clean at least half of this beach before UA University holds their entrance exams, you'll have enough muscle to stand on par with that string bean Toshinori's working with."
Ochako grinned. "Tell me where to start."
->*<-
"So, who am I going to be learning from?" Izuku blinked as Toshinori went over the proper way to wrap his hands.
"Well, being the number one hero has its perks…"
"You got a hero to train me?" Izuku's eyes glittered. "Which one? Is it the martial arts hero: Kid? Or is it maybe-"
"Now now young Midoriya, I know you're excited but we need to make sure you know how to do this properly."
Izuku rolled his eyes, taking his unwrapped hand and quickly copying what Mr. Yagi had done with his. "That good enough?"
Toshinori inspected the wrapping, before nodding. "It will do for today. Let's go meet your teacher."
The blonde man led them into an open matted section of the gym. Izuku quickly leapt to the side as a blur crashed into where he was standing.
"Good reflexes kid. But you're gonna have to do more than dodge."
Izuku gawked as his teacher straightened up to her full height. Smooth chocolate brown skin, wrapped in stark white, hopped back and forth with practiced ease. Ears were flattened against her head, reducing how much of her could be hit. Still, that grin. Those ears. That resolve.
This was the rabbit hero: Mirko!
Izuku would have squealed like the fanboy he held safe in his heart, if not for the fact that training had already begun. He was barely able to scramble out of the way of another kick, then another, then another. Soon he was up against the wall, with the rabbit hero standing over him.
"Comeon kid… you can't think you're gonna beat villains with a performance like that, do you?"
"I-I-I-"
The rabbit hero rolled her eyes and leapt back. "Thirty seconds. Catch your breath, get ready, then we go again."
Izuku saw Toshinori sit back against the wall to observe, and quickly scrambled to give it his all.
"Good. You can listen. Then it's time to fight!"
->*<-
Ochako ducked as the dementia hero- Well, just the elderly hero… As Gran Torino leapt at her for the three hundredth time that day.
It had been hours of grueling training. While she was certainly built enough to move trash off of the beach, when she got winded and had a slip with her quirk, the real man behind the mask reared his head.
So, for the last hour and a half of training, she had to clean whilst dodging Gran Torino's attacks. It was torture…
The little guy was like a ping pong ball on trigger, bouncing around at high speed and randomly choosing a time to leap out and attack. Gradually, Ochako found that he had a rhythm, but that didn't help at all, as he had honed his instincts to switch tactics on the fly.
* WHUMP *
Ochako coughed as the small man collided feet first with her abdomen, knocking her back onto the beach sand.
"You lasted a lot longer than I thought you would!"
Ochako did her best to breathe as the man helped her to her feet.
"Sorry if I hit you a bit harder with that last one. Training is over for today, let's grab a bite to eat before you get home."
The man began marching from the sand as Ochako found her ability to breathe. She quickly followed behind, wincing a bit as she felt bruises on her back and shoulder from the one sided spar.
She didn't have to walk far. The old man took her to a little ramen stall right next to the beach. The man just sat quietly as the chef prepared two bowls.
Ochako fell onto her seat next to the old man as the ramen was served.
"Tonkatsu to soothe the muscles." Gran Spoke. "I know you're wondering why I'm going so hard on you."
Ochako remained silent, looking at the bowl in front of her as she tried to summon the will to eat.
' I feel like I'm gonna throw up…'
"Look kid, it was years ago that my friend Nana took Toshinori under her wing. She died because he got a big head and tried to run in to help her against a villain… It took a long time to brek the kid out of that funk."
Ochako blinked and looked up at the man, who hadn't touched his bowl of ramen either.
"I've fought alongside two generations of symbols, kid. Nana was like a mother to Toshinori. I started my career as her sidekick. I learned how to be harsh from her… I don't think I'll be able to work with a third."
Ochako shifted a bit on her seat as the man took out his wallet and pulled out a picture.
"See this? That's me when I was young. Shimura put the fear of god in me. But I'm thankful. If I hadn't had the fear of everything else beaten out of me, I wouldn't have been in time to save Yagi…"
The picture showed a teenage boy with scruffy white hair, nursing a swelling cheek as a woman in a yellow cape stood behind him, a grin on her face.
"Didn't think old men like you ever looked cute."
Gran Torino threw back his head and barked with laughter. "I heard from Toshinori that you've got a mouth kid! Growing up with construction workers gives you a nice place to pull from, huh?"
Ochako smiled softly. "Sorry. It's instinct at this point."
"Don't bother apologizing, kid. Toshinori told me about you and that successor of his. When he told me you were trying to get him to be confident, to talk back and not take shit from bullies, I knew that you'd be perfect for what I needed."
The man finally took a bite of his ramen, slurping up some broth before eating a piece of pork. Ochako followed suit, taking a small sip of her broth before the man continued.
"There was a time where I had to beat the kindness out of that big blonde oaf. Whether it was fear, or the knowledge that he had someone in his corner, it kept him going."
Ochako nodded. "Sometimes… I feel like Midoriya doesn't have a mean bone in his body."
Gran Torino laughed. "I got to see the kid myself a while ago, when he came into Toshi's store after an argument they had. Kid can pack a punch, you know. But, if he's anything like the man I know, he'll get tunnel vision. I think that friend of yours would do anything to save a life, even if it meant dying."
"That's what it means to be a hero, doesn't it?" Ochako spoke softly. "That's why Mr. Yagi chose him…"
Gran Torino remained silent as he ate some more of his ramen. For a few minutes, the two stayed that way, just eating and enjoying the silence. The elderly hero broke it with a sigh.
"The truth is, we'll never really understand just how those two see the world. Toshinori held his dream in his hand for his entire life. The dream to be a hero. The dream to make a difference. There was a time where he would give his life if it meant he could save a little kids pet from a housefire… Midoriya… Midoriya is a lot different, but also, really similar."
Ochako drank some of her broth as the man continued.
"From what I've heard, the kid has had it rough his entire life. His image of a hero is tied to what Toshinori is. He wouldn't distinguish between a civilian, villain, hero, or even a bird flying overhead. That's the mindset he is tied to."
"It could lead to him getting hurt…" Ochako sighed.
"Which is why I chose you." Gran smiled. "You're a good kid. You've got a good head on your shoulders and yeah, you haven't had it easy either. But you jumped in to promise to keep the kid safe. Whether it's through fear, or knowing he has someone in his corner… I know you think the exact same way as I do."
Ochako nodded, understanding what the man was saying. In order to keep Midoriya safe, she would have to keep up with him. He was training her to do just that.
"Thank you."
"No thanks needed, kiddo."
"This doesn't mean I'll grow up to be an old man like you, right?"
The heroes barking laughter echoed across the beach as the sun set.
Soon, it would be a new day…
->*<-
Anything that orbits a star gets burned. That's just the truth of the universe. Their heat scorches the surfaces of planets and moons, leaving their mark forever and ever.
But planets and moons take that heat as friendship. They dive in the way to block asteroids and large masses of minerals from soaring into the star. While such things are like specks of dust to a star, it is still a noble sacrifice, which makes a difference in any case. The slightest imbalance could cause a star to collapse… the old moon knows, and so it continues to leap into d anger.
Chapter 10: Stardust (Legacies)
Human beings are born of stardust. Heavy elements and basic matter that have been shot across the universe, given energy by the burning radiance of stellar wells. From birth to death, a star sheds its mass along with its energy, kicking stardust into the universe and spawning galaxies… Stardust is what makes the world shine, with the soul of each of its parents shedding their light into new souls, igniting burning passions and beautiful love…
Stardust is passed on. On and on and on. From parent to child. Mother to daughter, father to son. Master to successor…
->*<-
Izuku grunted as he was thrown back onto the impact mat.
The last five months had been a blur. With training almost every day as the end of the year drew closer, Izuku was picking up more and more with his abilities in Kickboxing, along with his general muscle mass.
Thanks to Mr. Yagi's training, he had gotten his latest PR for deadlift up to one hundred and eighty kilograms. It wasn't much compared to the average strength quirk user, but it was a major accomplishment in the way of quirkless weightlifting.
With what Mr. Yagi had told him about One For All, he figured that he would be able to lift a small building at maximum output. That would be something, wouldn't it?
His training with Mirko had progressed smoothly as well. He ended up flat on his ass most of the time, but there were times where he got clean hits in. Kickboxing and plain boxing were different when you got to learn them. But the minimal shifts between stances and moves did give him a nice variety to transition between smoothly.
If you were to ask the green-haired young man if he had any regrets, his only one would be not spending nearly enough time with Uraraka.
Both of them had been training until the point of exhaustion every day. While they still met for coffee from time to time, their work had sort of consumed them.
Hopefully, they would get to hang out again soon.
"Lost in thought there?"
Izuku quickly ducked a jab thrown by Mirko and retaliated with a jab of his own. "My brain never stops or slows down. You should know this."
"Quick thinking is good, but you have to be able to APPLY IT!"
The rabbit hero fell to the floor and kicked Izuku's feet out from under him. Quick as lightning, Izuku threw his center of mass sideways, flipping his body completely so he could plant his hands on the floor. As Mirko stood up and prepared to deliver another kick, Izuku pushed off from the ground, launching himself feet first into the bottom of the pro hero's jaw.
Mirko grunted and stumbled back as Izuku righted himself and fell back into stance. "That… was a good hit…"
Izuku shuddered as the hero looked up at him, a dangerous gleam in her eye.
"Now we can really start having fun!"
She was fast. Faster than he could think. In the blink of an eye, she was in front of him, her fist connecting with his raised forearms. He winced as he felt the impact push him back. Before he had the chance to fight back, Mirko struck again, and then again, and then again.
A series of quick jabs pushed his arms apart, giving the hero a chance to spin around and deliver a roundhouse kick. Izuku, sensing the danger that the hypersonic foot posed to his brain, ducked back and narrowly avoided the strike.
' No time to think. FIGHT!'
Using everything available, Izuku fought back, lashing out with pouches, avoiding strikes, and gaining ground with well-executed kicks.
Mirko laughed as their fight became a dance, their feet thundering on the impact mats as their bodies became weapons.
It took a full ten minutes, but in the end, Mirko won.
"You put up a good fight, kid! I can't imagine how much I'll have to train in order to face you with your quirk!"
Izuku smiled, a swollen eyelid preventing him from looking like anything but a punching bag. "Thanks, Mirko."
"Call me Rumi. If you can fight like that, you'll be a shoo-in for the hero course. I think that means my work is done for now."
Izuku quickly jumped up. "What? But I still have so much to learn!"
The hero chuckled as he stumbled. "Look kid, most people in the hero track couldn't hope to stand up to me for five minutes, much less ten! You've grown a lot, so use what you've learned to make your path. I'll reach out to you again when the time is right."
Izuku nodded tiredly, understanding the pro hero's intentions. She helped him walk over to where Yagi sat, scrolling through his phone.
"Well Yagi? That's all I've got. Until he gets that quirk of his under control, at least. In my opinion, he'd be top fifty without a quirk, easy."
"Y-you really think so?" Izuku stuttered.
"Think? Kid, I know so! This is the most fun I've had since I was fighting in underground betting rings. Not many people I know can make me feel like that. Be proud of yourself."
Izuku nodded as Mr. Yagi smiled. "Thank you for your time, Miss Mirko. I'm sure All Might will be thankful as well."
"Tell that boss of yours to stop by for a spar. It's been too long since I last saw him!"
"Of course." The man smiled. "I think that's it-"
"Hold it! I got a little somethin' for the kid."
Izuku blinked as the hero reached down into her gym bag, before pulling out a black bag with a silver zipper, along with a white card.
"What's this?"
"Medical creams and makeup." The hero smirked. "Fighting like I do gets you a whole lot of bruises and scars. I hate the whole commercialism of hero work, but it does keep me going. I use this stuff to cover up face injuries, like that shiner you've got."
Izuku blushed and rubbed the bruising flesh around his eye socket. "Oh…"
"Hey, think nothing of it. Any hero will tell you the same. Some of them just don't have the balls to put makeup on and keep going."
Izuku nodded. "What's the card for?"
The hero nodded. "That there is a buyer card for my agency's patented line of burn creams and bruise ointments. I work solo, but I have an awesome support team that makes sure my suit is up to scratch, as well as my first aid supplies. You can flash that card whenever you're buying some of those supplies, and cashiers should let you take them."
"Without pay?"
Mirko laughed. "Kid, they put it on a tab for my agency. I pay it off by doin' work. I really don't like being a posh stuck-up scrooge, so I use the extra money where I can to benefit fans and civilians. Gotta say it does me good to see some of that impact."
Izuku looked at the card. "T-thank you… THANK YOU! This is-"
"So nice blah blah blah. Just say yes when I reach out for an internship, 'kay? I want to see how much you grow."
Mr. Yagi bowed. "Thank you for the considerate gift."
"Of course. Remember, tell your boss to contact me!"
"Of course, of course." The man chuckled as she walked from the gym. As the door clicked shut, he let out a sigh. "Thank goodness she's gone…"
Izuku chuckled. "Not a fan of Mirko?"
"She just… always wants to fight whenever I see her."
"Is that why Mr. Yagi and All Might are two different people?" Izuku quirked his unbruised eyebrow. "Or is it just because of One For All?"
"Caught that, did you? Well… I won't pretend that she isn't a good trustworthy ally. But if she knew, she'd definitely hound me every single minute of every single day."
Izuku snickered as he pulled a protein bar from his gym bag. "I dunno. I think it was fun."
"I'm a bit worried about your mental stability then, young Midoriya. She used you as a punching bag for the last five months!"
"But I learned so much!"
"We need to get you to a hospital. You might have a concussion!"
->*<-
Ochako stood over the last pile of trash on Dagobah Beach, clad in only shorts and a sports bra, and covered in a layer of sweat. Gran Torino blinked as he walked up to the beach.
"Holy hell kid! You don't do things in halves, do you!"
Ochako grinned and shot the man a thumbs up, panting as she felt the setting sun's warmth grow cold and leave. "That's the whole beach, old man!"
"Think you're up for a spar, youngun?" the man grinned.
"You'd be insane to think otherwise you used airbag!"
Gran Torino wasted no time, leaping forward with a blast of air from his feet. Ochako leaned back, maintaining her balance as she negated her own gravity, and using Gran Torino's momentum to launch into the air.
"Nice moves, whippersnapper! But you're a sitting duck now!"
Ochako took the incoming kick head-on, letting the man's foot hit her stomach as she released herself from her quirk. Gran Torino's grin fell as she wrapped a hand around his leg and flipped him under her body.
"Brace for impact, you old coot!"
Gran Torino grunted as he rapidly calculated the potential damage. Ten meters up, falling with her, hitting him in the chest. She could definitely crush his rib cage on impact.
' Not good!'
Taking in a large breath of air, the elderly hero let out a blast of wind from his feet, using it to shift the momentum sideways so that both he and the girl would hit the water
At the last moment, he felt his weight leave him as the girl tucked into a dive. Gran Torino was left floating idly as Uraraka let go and smoothly slid into the water.
The spray of water was enough to gently push the old hero back to the shore. He kept an eye on the water as he fell back to the snd, waiting for his charge to breach the surface.
Imagine his surprise when she leapt free of the ocean and right over his head.
"Do you need glasses or something Gran?"
The hero turned right as the girl got a hand on the last trash pile on the beach. A chunk of slag came away in the girl's hand, easily a full thirty centimeters in diameter. It had to be heavy, but despite her liberal use of zero gravity, the girl was still holding strong.
Graan dove to the side as the chunk of melted scrap blasted through where he had been standing like a mortar round. It carved into the water, kicking up a splash that was as large as a submarine depth charge.
Gran didn't have time to think as more and more missiles were hurled at him. Anything the girl could get her hands on was ammunition, and it didn't slow down.
A few pieces of debris were in the water, but a majority of them had been blasted out of the atmosphere. Gran grinned as his protege ran out of smaller pieces of scrap, only to yelp as the front end of a broken-down garbage truck.
' How much can she still lift?'
Ochako was having a blast. All of the hellish training, getting beaten on while cleaning the beach, it had gotten rid of her only limit. Her vertigo.
By keeping herself from throwing up for five months straight, and learning how to fight against a bullet train of a hero, her quirks abilities had exploded, making her have virtually no upper limit. Well, she theorized that it could have grown to a limit of only fifty tonnes, instead of ten. That was a threshold she didn't believe she'd reach anytime soon.
The truck she sent at Torino whistled through the sky, plowing a hole through several clouds before flying into space.
"LET'S HOPE I DON'T HIT ANY SATELLITES!"
Gran dodged another volley of projectiles before changing tactics. As the girl he was facing finished circling, throwing a whole refrigerator at him, he used his quirk to dive down and fly straight at her. As he got close, he switched directions, using his quirk to kick off of the air as if it were solid. The man ping-ponged around the open air as he had in his youth, gaining speed before hurling himself at Uraraka.
The girl dove out of the way as he ripped through the air. But he gave her no time to think, shifting his momentum yet again and redirecting himself right at her.
Uraraka grit her teeth as Gran Torino disappeared from her vision. He was a yellow blur, which flew back and forth, waiting to get a proper shot in. As he moved in for the finisher, Ochako threw her hands up to catch him, treating the force of impact as if it were weight, and using her quirk to negate it.
Though it stung her palms, and made her head spin… ' maybe I'm not as limitless as I thought…' She successfully pulled the move off, instantly countering all of the force that the old hero had built up.
Ochako panted and tapped the ground. "I give…"
Gran Torino smirked and pulled the girl to her feet. There was significantly less trash in the pile, with most of it being tossed into space. That was as good a place as any.
"You've done good, kid!" Gran Torino nodded. "Why don't we grab dinner and call it a day?"
Ochako rubbed her temples. "But the beach. There's still-"
"HEY! YOU TORINO?"
Ochako looked up to see a company of workers, all in uniform, with garbage trucks lined up behind them.
"We got three trucks here for you, sir! We'll have this cleaned up in a flash!"
Ochako gawked as the team of workers, with practiced efficiency, cleared away the last pile of garbage from the beach. The sand tumbled as a small breeze blew. Dagobah had never looked better.
"Does me good to see this old place lookin' so nice!" One of the workers spoke. "Thanks for clearing most of it for us!"
"You're a real hero, kid." Another smiled, patting Ochako on the shoulder. "Hopefully, your grandpa gives you something for your troubles."
Ochako was about to say that the man wasn't her grandpa, but Gran Torino quickly grabbed her hand and began shuffling away from the beach. "We've got a chef to see about some dinner! Thank you for your hard work, younguns!"
Ochako quickly fell into pace with her mentor as he led them into the city. After some walking, they reached a small eatery tucked behind Ryloth Square. Gran paid for a small table in the corner of the restaurant, starting them with some water.
"This is fancy," Ochako mumbled. "I feel like I should have changed clothes."
"You're fine." The man shook his head. "Nabuko here is a bit of a secret. The owner doesn't do any big advertising to maintain the quiet and private atmosphere."
"It's nice…"
Gran Torino nodded, fiddling with the scarf he wore around his neck. "It is nice, isn't it…"
Ochako found herself pondering the scarf. She had never seen the old hero without it, even if it didn't match what he was wearing. The edges were a bit worn, but still held strong after what seemed like many years of use…
There was more to the scarf than met the eye. It was something important, that was for certain.
The two sat in silence, pondering the restaurant menu, and eventually ordering food. Ochako enjoyed a serving of adobo as Gran Torino slowly worked on a bowl of sinigang.
Eventually full, the two sat with glasses of calamansi juice. Eventually, Gran Torino spoke.
"I'm old, but not old enough to give up just yet… Toshinori could be seen as something of a son to me, but in reality, he's more of a little brother…"
Ochako listened patiently as the man spoke. This wasn't the hero that she trained with, but rather- the man behind the mask. Someone who had won and lost. A survivor.
"Nana took both of us under her wing. It's a surprise she even considered either of us… but that led to the freedoms we have today." Gran's lips quivered. "After I saw… what that man did. I swore that nobody else in my family would be hurt like that again."
Ochako blinked as the man unwrapped his yellow scarf from his neck, before pulling it off from his head. In the center was a large hole, big enough to sit around his neck and keep the scarf in place.
"This… is all that's left of the woman I knew as a teacher."
Ochako's eyes widened as the man brushed his hand over the yellow cloth.
"Nana was a lot like you, actually. Sharp as a tack, with a quirk suited for the skies. She died protecting the two of us- Toshinori and I…"
Ochako gasped as the man slid an arm through the hole in the scarf. "Right through her. He sent a metal spike right through her. But she still kept fighting. We never found a body, but… her cape…"
Ochako felt her breath hitch as the man folded the scarf- no, The cape. As he folded the cape into a neat square, before placing it in front of her.
"Gran- I can't take-"
"I'm old, kid. These bones made sure that Nana was still with us, watching our backs. Toshinori has her quirk, and will be giving it to his protege. His son."
Ochako felt tears grow in her eyes as the man smiled.
"I can think of no better person to hold onto Nana's legacy than my protege. My gran-daughter."
Ochako sniffled as she held the cape, feeling the weight of the cloth in her hands. A cloth that soared on the back of a hero. A mother. A protector…
"Nana was a great woman. A paragon of virtue. An avatar of love. You now carry her legacy. The legacy of guardianship. I am honored to have been the one who gave you your start. It is time now, to think of who you will be in the future. Wear that cape proudly."
Ochako choked out a sob, before nodding and giving a tear-filled grin. "I will. I promise, sir. I'll make her proud."
The two sat at the table for a while after, talking about the old heroes missions, about Ochako's dreams of space and furthering the pursuit of human knowledge. At the end of the night, it was Gran Torino who dropped a sleeping Ochako back at her home. As her parents watched, he ran his hand over his mentor's cape one last time.
"Watch over her… Nana…"
->*<-
Izuku sat across from Toshinori, who was dressed in a ceremonial kimono featuring eight stars on its back.
"So… why the pomp and circumstance?" Izuku quirked an eyebrow.
The man coughed up a bit of blood in surprise, before shaking his head and wiping his lip with a handkerchief.
"In the past, One For All was passed out of necessity, just barely making it from holder to holder before the previous was killed. I think that, since we have the opportunity, we should honor this transfer of power. It is an important legacy, my boy…"
"I understand." Izuku bowed his head. "Does that mean that-"
"I have obtained a robe for you as well, my boy."
Toshinori brought out a folded kimono which displayed nine multicolored stars upon it, each wreathed and connected by small trails of stardust that ran from the sleeves to the chest, and down to the hem of the robe.
"Please change, then join me."
Izuku did as he was told, changing into the ceremonial wear and joining Mr. Yagi at a small table, which had been laid out with two sakazuki cups.
What unfolded next was a take on the traditional brotherhood ceremony, with Mr. Yagi swelling into his All Might form and preparing two small cups of sake.
"Though you are young, tradition states that the ceremony is to be done with sake. Worry not, it will not be enough to cause you harm."
Izuku nodded. "I am ready when you are, Toshinori Sensei."
The man bowed his head. "In ages past, this ceremony was used to confirm bonds of brotherhood and servitude. Today, we use it to mark your acceptance of the generational legacy."
Izuku watched as the number one hero brought out a pin and pricked his finger, squeezing eight drops into each cup of sake.
"From the first to the eighth, this power is yours to inherit."
The man bowed his head and gingerly took his cup, prompting Izuku to do the same.
"Do you promise me, the symbol of peace. The symbol of humanity and all of the innocents in the world, to work your hardest to uphold the spirit of heroism, and to save others with a smile on your face?"
"I do."
"Do you promise to honor those who came before you, and to use their teachings to inspire those who wish to come after?"
"I do."
"And finally, do you promise to love? To cherish all those before you, whether they be hero or villain, and give each the opportunity to be saved?"
"Of course."
All Might smiled. "Yesterday, you were Izuku Midoriya, quirkless, tired, beaten. Today, you are Izuku Midoriya. Proud. Experienced. Reclaimed. Tomorrow, you will be Izuku Midoriya, the ninth holder of One For All. My chosen successor, and a symbol of your own making."
Together, the two drank. Izuku closed his eyes as he felt the Sake run down his throat, coupled with the metallic taste of All Might's blood.
"I name you, my successor."
The second sip, no less warm, but with the taste of blood fading away.
"I name you, my son."
The third, now without the taste of blood.
"I name you, hope, peace, and freedom."
The fourth, and Izuku's throat began to feel warm.
"I name you, the underdog hero, the one who grew to hold the world on his shoulders."
The fifth, and now the heat was building.
"I name you Dekiru, 'you can do it'."
The sixth sip. A burning fire was lit in Izuku's chest.
"I name you, Izuku Midoriya. Child of Inko. Child of love."
The fire bloomed, spreading through his veins and igniting in his very soul.
"I name you, Ninth. May your name shine brightly on the dreams of tomorrow."
The eighth and final sip. Izuku felt the heat build and build. His vision began to grow white as All Might looked at him, his eyes wide.
"Young Midori-"
And everything became light.
->*<-
Even after death, the light of a star will go on, shining onwards and onwards for millions of years. It is this light that passes onto new generations, which ignites the remains of other stars within each of us, sparking the pursuit of dreams.
The light carries a message of love, of warmth and acceptance. A message of the beauty that life holds…
Chapter 11: Flare II (Ignition)
When a star is born, it is accompanied by a vibrant symphony. The universe cries out for it's child as light burns through eternity. The smooth colissions of dust into a mass of infinite flames join together and flow seamlessly with the roar of plasma…
Yet it is all silent. In the mute deafness of space, this song can only be heard by family. By other stars who reach ot with their own light, and embrace their new sibling.
A stars birth is a miracle. A radiant expression of all that is and could be.
It is love…
->*<-
Toshinori gazed at his successor in shock. They had barely finished the ceremony when Midoriya slumped backwards. Still, he remained seated upon his knees, his glazed-over eyes staring up at the ceiling.
"Y-young Midoriya?"
And the world turned white.
Toshinori had to cover his eyes as radiant light blasted outwards from the boy. It reduced his clothing to ash and scorched the floorboards. Toshinori could see white fire creep across the walls, and wondered why it didn't feel hot. It was certainly hot enough to burn, but he just felt as though he was wrapped in a tender embrace.
Blinking, Toshinori managed to adjust to the light enough to look back at his successor. The boy hovered in the air, his arms spread wide as the light poured from his eyes and mouth. White fire flickered across his body, clinging to the kimono he wore.
Toshinori reached out to steady his successor, only to collapse on the ground as his injury lit up with a blast of pure pain. The world fell away as he felt his body convulse, and suddenly, he was sitting upon a throne, gilded with gold.
His successor stood in front of him, surrounded by a ring of seven others, each in their own throne. Their faces were hidden, though Toshinori could tell by her suit that one was-
'Nana!'
"Eight has joined us." A man in ratty clothes spoke. "This is… different."
"What is this? Are we-"
"Inside One For All, yes." a gravelly voice spoke. "Your transfer worked differently than intended."
"Your use of eight drops of blood, in a willing ceremony, allowed for the calm transfer of power from eight to nine. We arrived here calmly."
"This is unlike other transfers, Eight. We threw the quirk to others as we died. The transfer was often violent. It would rip us from person to person, snatching an echo of them as they died."
"Does that mean I'm dead?"
"Far from it. I theorize that the quirk is so used to finalizing an echo during transfer, that it inadvertently pulled you in."
"It's a good thing, too. This one is unlike any holder that One For All has seen."
Toshinori looked at the echo of his successor, which appeared to be made of motes of light. It was staticky, like a glitching television screen. Yet still, despite all of that, he understood it was still Izuku Midoriya."
"What is happening to him?"
The man in ratty clothes stepped forward, revealing a kind face framed with white hair. "One For All is a quirk that grows exponentially. The power held here is equal to that of a thousand men. Starting with me…"
"You're the first!"
"Eight. The method that One For All uses to pass on is a strange one. It is not as we each seemed to describe it. A torch lighting another. Rather, it is like a cell. It splits into two, copying itself and giving the original to the next holder. The connection is formed then, and the copy of the power trickles down to the next holder, leaving time for the current holder to have one last chance. This was One for All when I had it."
The echo held up a white speck. As time progressed, the speck split, before rejoining as two specks. Then both specks split into four, on and on until the echo held a solid ball of white light.
"If only it were that simple… as we train, the quirk continues to grow. It multiplies on its own. In your prime, your strength provided was equivalent to that of a thousand. As it passes on…"
Toshinori was suddenly aware of a presence all around them. Looking up, he saw a sphere of energy, shining like a miniature star. "That? That's One For All?"
"The quirk feeds other quirks, awakening dormant genes and long lost memories. What do you think that One For All has awakened?"
And even as he watched, he could see. One For All fed into his successor, making each mote of colored light grow. And along with them grew Izuku. There was enough space between each one that Toshinori could begin to see something.
"What is that? In his chest?"
"That? That is something we have never seen."
Even as the first spoke, Toshinori could start to see more and more energy siphon off of the core of One For All and into the blinding pit at the center of his successor's body. There was a pulse of force. Then another.
And then everything shattered as his successor's echo became the same blinding white as in the physical world.
Each of the echoes of One For All scrambled back as a massive roar echoed through the void. The white being grew and grew. It grew even beyond One For All's size, eventually dwarfing the quirk by comparison. White flames filled the void and One For All began to fight back.
"This is wrong! One For All shouldn't be acting this way!"
"What is happening, First?"
"We are all connected to this power. It absorbed a part of us, and it's now attempting to do the same to your successor. But whatever it awakened is too much! They're fighting!"
The massive body of light sang with heavenly tones as One For All shot out whips of shadow. The man with the gravelly voice grunted.
"'S using my quirk!"
All Might watched in awe, and a bit of horror, as the whips touched Izuku. Where they made contact they began to shine with gold light, which ran back into the core of One For All in an instant.
The Gravelly voice began to scream as light surrounded him.
"What is happening?"
"FIFTH!"
White fire spread across the screaming echo, and he eventually went still. The Core of One For All screamed in anger and lashed out again, this time twisting out tendrils of smoke laced with red lightning.
As they touched Izuku, they became nebulous, and the white flames consumed the third and sixth echoes.
One For All shuddered as two more holders went still. It quickly began to blink around, leaving after images behind itself as it built up speed.
"It's trying to kill itself! Eight you have to-"
It didn't matter. The core of one for all Collided with the massive flaming being, and shattered. Toshinori began to scream as he was consumed by white flames.
They raced across his body, cooking him from the inside out. He felt a flood of memories pass through him. He remembered meeting Nana. He remembered training to be a hero. He remembered losing his master. He remembered being injured. He remembered dying twice on the operating table.
No pain could compare to this, however. Toshinori steeled his soul as he remembered his successor.
"No… I will not DISSAPPEAR!"
And with a heavenly cry, he felt the white flames change from burning to warm. An attack became an embrace and then receded, and he stood before the throne he had sat upon.
The first thing he noticed was the celestial being that was his successor, blazing green eyes made of energy stared at the circle of thrones, watching to see what they would do next.
"One For All is…"
The first was there, as were the other holders. But they were… different. Their faces were clear, and their eyes glowed with light. Each no longer wore tattered clothes or hero suits, but rather, motes of light clung to them, flowing down in sparkling robes.
Toshinori turned his head upward to see the glittering dust that had once been the core of One For All. It had shattered, and yet, they were still here…
"Eight… your fragment…"
Toshinori looked down, blinking as he realized his echo was now solid and clothed in the same light as the others. However, beating in the center of his chest was a small core, identical to what One For All had looked like before being shattered.
"One For All… it lives."
"And along with it, we live."
The great celestial being let out a chirp of joy as Toshinori cradled the core close to his chest. The dust of One For All's original core flowed down to the echoes, sitting upon each of their brows, like crowns made of planetary rings.
"What has done this. Surely not the boy!"
"He is quirkless. But whatever One For All awakened…"
"Meta abilities are powerful, but not like this. This is something different."
The echoes remained silent as they observed the boy that towered over them. Toshinori felt a pull in the back of his mind.
"I think my time here is up…"
"You may yet still be able to visit us, Eight. Hold onto hope."
Toshinori smiled, feeling the warmth of One For All hum with his heart. "I have held onto hope for quite some time, First… I think it's time that my successor took the reins."
And with that, Toshinori felt the world of One For All disappear as he returned to his physical body.
Toshinori woke up on the floor, pain throbbing across his chest. With a grunt, he pushed himself off of the floor and blinked away the stars in his eyes. Grunting, he prepared for a coughing fit, but found that he didn't feel the need to spit up blood. Tentatively, Toshinori breathed in, marveling at the fact that he could take a full breath.
For some reason, he felt… good. Sure, there was the lingering pain, but he didn't feel his old wound. He could breathe. He felt… hungry!
"My word…"
Toshinori shook himself from his shock and looked around for his successor. He didn't have to look far, as in the center of the scorched room ay his charge. He was… different. The light he gave off had bleached his green curls to pure white. He was sitting there, staring at his hands as flickers of white lightning ran between his fingers.
"Mr. Yagi?"
Toshinori picked up on the shake of his voice. It had changed. It was deeper now. And since it was the only sound in the room, Toshinori could make out splits in the pitches, as if there was a chorus whispering alongside his successors voice.
"I am here… my boy."
"Mr. Yagi, I swear that I didn't have a quirk. I can show you my toe joint and-"
Toshinori lurched forward and wrapped the boy in an embrace. "Shhh… Shhh… It's okay. I know. I saw you my boy. I saw you work hard. Whatever this is-"
"Why couldn't it have come in sooner?"
Toshinori winced as Izuku's hands shook. "If I could have had it… I could have been a hero, and someone else could have had the chance to be your successor! This isn't-"
"Midoriya."
The boys head snapped up. Emerald green eyes 'Those are still the same…' Looking deep into his own. "Mr. Yagi I-"
"Midoriya. You are my successor. New quirk or no. You are my choice."
Izuku began to tear up. "I-I-"
"You have taken your first step towards being a symbol. A symbol of light. I am proud of you, my boy."
Izuku sniffed as tears ran down his face. "A-All Might…"
"I think we have done enough for today. We should get you home, and explain this," Toshinori gestured to Izuku. "To your mother."
"Oh no… mom!"
Toshinori winced. "Oh yeah… she is not going to be happy with me."
->*<-
Deep underground, in a vault that had been buried at the dawn of quirks, an old comic book began to glow with white light. Though nobody was around to view it, or to remember who had once held it, it continued to glow. And from its pages came a delicate chorus, a somber tune that told the story of a sickly young boy…
In a bunker locked in a secret hideout, owned by the evil mastermind, All For One, a pair of gauntlets began to glow. They vibrated with the heartbeat of a long lost revolutionary. They told his story.
Upon the wall of a martial arts Dojo, a black headband began to glow, its spirit manifesting in the song of a liberator, it told his story.
In an old run down hovel, tucked away in the forests of Fuji-Hakone-Izu national park, a tattered belt began to glow. It whispered the words of the hermit. It told his story.
Once worn as a belt for a well known vigilante, an empty bandolier hung upon the wall of a retired old quirkless mans wall. Small beats from a beatboxer thumped from it as it began to glow. Though there were no words, it told a mans story.
Hung upon a mannequin within the storage of an old style museum, a tattered red turtleneck passed along the words of the assassin as it began to glow. It told his story.
Around the neck of a girl who slept in her bed, at the outskirts of Mustutafu, a tattered yellow and black cape began to glow. It hummed the song of the mother, flowing into the girl as she floated up above her bed, a calm smile present on her lips. The cape told her story…
Deep within the quirk, One For All, the echoes of the past wielders looked up at the body of their new host. Wreathed in the light of his power, they bowed.
And though it was only the early evening, the sun began to rise…
Chapter 12: Sunspot (Power)
As it is such a massive well of energy, it is only reasonable that a star would have areas of lesser heat. A sunspot is the most visible and obvious stellar phenomena, as they appear much darker than the surrounding blaze of the stars surface. Though they are observed to be at a lower temperature than the rest of the star, it is simply the buildup that leads to the next great show, with many sunspots being found in areas of intense magnetic activity, which can lead to solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
However, even though it is dark, if a sunspot- the area of lowest heat upon the surface of a star- were to stand upon the Earth's surface, it would still burn so brilliantly that everything else would seem colorless by comparison.
->*<-
The walk back to the apartment building was difficult. It was only a few blocks, but to Izuku, it felt like miles. For Toshinori, every step he took reminded him that he didn't have to try to hold his breath.
By some miracle, Izuku's power had healed him. He didn't know how. That was a question for greater minds. It was the same way with One For All. The quirk inside of him felt… strong. Stronger than when he first held it. His body had recovered, with some muscle filling out what had once been skeletal Horror, making him look like he would have as an average man in his fifties.
"Young Midoriya, did you end up-"
The boy nodded. "I think I have the quirk… One For All, that is. I felt it, in my hands. And, I couldn't see but I could hear whispers. And then… I felt it break."
Toshinori's heart filled with dread. "It… broke?"
The boy nodded. "I still feel it, though. It's just… different from how it was. I don't think I could pass it on to someone new…"
Toshinori nodded. "I see… but you can still-"
"Use it? Yeah. I can. Or at least, I think I can." The boy spoke softly, slowly. "There's this… buzzing under my skin. It's like pins and needles and I'm a little nervous of what will happen when I push that feeling further."
Toshinori nodded. "We will find a place for you to experiment."
Izuku nodded. "Thank you. But first, we both have to survive…"
Toshinori looked up to see Inko Midoriya standing on the sidewalk in her pajamas, tapping her foot quickly with her arms crossed.
"If I die, I leave all of my earthly possessions to you, young Midoriya."
Izuku blanched. "The only problem with that is I think I might be dying too."
"YAGI!"
Toshinor straightened as Inko marched up to them. "M-mrs Midoriya. I am so sorry about the-"
"Save it." Inko snapped, turning to her son. "This one should know better and- What in the name of quirks did you do to your HAIR?"
Izuku blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Hi m-mom. I er. I found my quirk?"
Inko narrowed her eyes. "You don't have a quirk. We did all of the tests."
"W-well-"
Toshinori bowed. "I'm so sorry ma'am. I know it's always been your sons dream to be a hero, and so I've been training him and-"
"I know you've been training him. We discussed this. But I didn't think that training meant bleaching his hair!"
"S-sometime's when the body undergoes serious stress, a quirk can manifest and-"
"Extreme stress?" Inko glared at Toshinori. "And do tell what training would put my child through extreme stress."
"Erm… I'm not sure I understand your question?"
"It wasn't a question, Mr. Yagi." The woman gave a poisonous smile, raising her hand and tightly clenching her fingers into a fist. Toshinori squeaked as he felt a crushing pressure on his extremities.
"Do you know why I am such a valued member of my field, Mr. Yagi?"
Izuku winced, knowing the answer as he watched his mother's fingers glow with the light of her quirk. The first quirk he had ever studied.
"I'll give you a hint. It isn't because of my nice bedside demeanor."
Mr. Yagi's face was growing redder and redder as his pain increased. "Y-you're a surgical nurse, right?"
"That's right."
"Y-your quirk seems to be well suited for- eeeee - manipulating small objects!"
Izuku covered his eyes as his mother manhandled the Symbol of Peace. Inko leaned forward and clenched her fist again.
"You've got it in one. It's incredibly useful for removing bone fragments, shrapnel, or bullets. It's an incredibly delicate ability. How much control do you think I have?"
" Very fine control, ma'am."
"You'd be right." The woman nodded. "So let me make this very clear. If my son so much as breaks a bone in his body because of your training. You can say goodbye to little Yagi here. Understand?"
" Yes ma'am ."
"Good. Did you somehow get bigger too, Yagi?"
Toshinori let out a gasp as Inko released her quirk. The woman folded her arms across her chest and frowned. "Forget it. We can talk about this new quirk inside. Both of you. Up the stairs. Now."
"Yes mom!"
"Of course, ma'am!"
The two bolted into the building, with Toshinori limping as he swore to never anger Inko Midoriya again.
->*<-
Ochako was adrift in space, floating freely amidst asteroids and satellites. A comet swished through and nudged her to the side as she simply drifted.
She didn't know where she was going, and she found that she didn't really care… Something told her to trust whatever was pulling her.
"I'm passing it to you…"
"Go on, before he sees…"
"Run girl. Run far away…"
Ochako felt the whispers of odd voices surround her. They echoed over the asteroids and satellites.
"I'm sorry Kotaro…"
"Did I make the right choice?"
"Only time will tell…"
There was something in front of her. Something bright. The voices were coming from it. She knew it. With a swish of her hands, Ochako pushed herself through the void, leaving into the glowing light of the star in front of her.
It was the scarf. The yellow tattered cape that once belonged to Nana Shimura lay in her hands. Even as she held it, she could hear the memories drifting from its surface.
And suddenly, she wasn't in space anymore. She was in a pretty room with pastel yellow walls. Flowers poked up from the wooden baseboards and spiralled across each partition.
"There's my little girl!'
A coo came from her mouth as a young woman with long brown hair leaned over a railing that came up next to her. "Are you happy in your crib? Are you so very happy in your crib?"
The baby talk made her giggle, and she felt a bit of drool dribble down her chin.
"Oh such a happy baby! My little bundle of joy! Nana~"
She coo'ed again as the woman spoke her name. It was her name, wasn't it? Nana… She was Nana…
She could see the woman- her mother, making silly faces above her. She wanted to make silly faces too. She wanted to be closer so mama could see those silly faces.
"OH MY GOODNESS! RIFUTO!"
A man with black hair burst into the room, holding a broom like it was a baseball bat. "WHERE'S THE DANGER!?!?!"
He quickly dropped the broom as he saw his daughter floating up.
Nana giggled as she saw her dad gawk at her, sending dribbles of baby drool down her face. Softly and slowly, she drifted into her mothers arms.
She felt… tired…
A nap wouldn't hurt, right?
"Rifuto… she's so incredible. A quirk at her age?"
"And it's one that lets her fly! Oh she's going to be at the top of the world one day!"
Nana let out a calm sigh as she began to suck her thumb, and drifted off to sleep.
Ochako woke up with a start, realizing that she was sucking on her thumb for the first time in fourteen years.
Shaking off the rather odd dream, Ochako pulled her thumb from her mouth and adjusted the yellow cape on her shoulders, pulling it close to her like a second blanket. She was unaware of the tiny white trickle of light that bled into her skin as she faded back to sleep.
->*<-
Izuku looked out over the calm waves of Dagobah Municipal Beach Park.
"This… is beautiful…"
The sand glittered in the early morning sun as water lapped at the shore, leaving tiny little wave patterns as the tide slowly receded.
"Young Uraraka did a great job cleaning this place up. It's as good as new now." Toshinori smiled. "So… we have a pretty nice, wide open space. Let's start working on that quirk of yours."
Izuku nodded. "One For All…"
Toshinori watched as the boy clenched the fingers on his right hand into a fist. Tiny motes of white energy, comparable to what he saw with the vestiges, flickered from the boys skin as he gave a sigh.
"Remarkable! You already know how to tap into the power!" Toshinori praised, buffing up into his All Might form in his excitement.
Izuku shook his head. "I can feel it… buzzing but. It feels dangerous. Like it could hurt me if I go too far."
The number one hero was reminded of how much power one for all held. And just how much izuku dwarfed it in comparison.
' If he is twice as strong as me in my prime, with just One For All… What would this new power do?'
"Despite it being broken, i think One For All got what it wanted too. It assimilated with whatever this-" Izuku let the flickers of light appear again. "Is."
"In regards to quirks, One For All acts as a multiplier. Pouring its energy into an emitter output."
Izuku nodded. "And in this case, it has fully poured everything into whatever I have. If that is multiplied-"
Toshinori thought of the devastation that four All Might's could bring, along with how much renown oil they could take compared to the teenager in front of him.
"Oh… Well i assume that we shouldn't go instantly to one hundred percent then."
Izuku sweatdropped. "I think we'd both die. Me from exploding and You from my mother."
The hero immediately shrunk down with a wince as he was reminded of the boys mother, along with her… protective attitude.
"Ah… yes. I think you're right, my boy."
"Still, I want to figure this out."
"Is there any way that you could activate One For All separately from this new power?"
Izuku shook his head. "I don't think so…but maybe, I can use the absolute minimum…"
Toshinori stepped back as Izuku took a deep breath, spreading his feet apart and relaxing his shoulders.
"Let's not get carried away now my-"
The wind shifted as the heat began to rise. The motes of light coming from Izuku's fist became a cloud of white cinders, which swirled up his arm and wrapped around his body.
His temperature skyrocketed as the sand beneath his feet began to melt into glass. Toshinori stumbled back as the temperature rise even higher, his successor getting brighter as the cinders wreathed his form.
"My boy! Be careful! You're putting out too much power!"
The response he got was bone chilling. A deep voice that sounded ancient, made from the burning embers that flew back and forth, roaring through the air as the ninth let his voice free.
"By spreading the power across my entire body, I can cushion the recoil of each empowered movement. My strength. My speed. My durability. Even at my current maximum of one percent!"
Toshinori was forced to buff up into his All Might form once again as a wave if heat flew out from his successor.
' This? This is only one percent?'
A roar echoed through the heavens as his successor punched . A jet of fire lanced from his students fist. White hot energy that vaporized a line of seawater in a twenty meter stretch before them.
A shockwave continued outward, pushing more water back for another hundred meters, revealing snarled sandbags and colonies of barnacles and sea urchins around tiny deposits of melted scrap.
All Might leapt in as the ocean gave its response, the water crashing back and building into a large wave that would drench the beaches sandy shore. With a twenty percent punch, he broke the wave, letting the water peacefully roll back to its bed, lapping at the sand.
Toshinori turned to Izuku who had let the power go and was staring at his fist with determination.
"I have power now, All Might. I can be a hero."
All Might couldn't help but think that Izuku would be so much more than a hero…
' What have I unleashed upon the world?'
->*<-
A star is dangerous, only observable at a distance. Even then, our own star- the sun, which sits over ninety four million miles away from Earth- cannot be directly observed with the naked eye. The stars we see in the night sky are even further away, and yet their light still reaches us. That light goes on. That heat goes on. Butit begs the question. If a star was closer, by even the smallest of margins. A simple one percent (Or nine hundred forty thousand miles) closer to the earth. What would happen?
Even at a seemingly insignificant percentage, the shift would melt ice caps, shift jet streams and change weather patterns. Ecosystems- particularly those in the oceans- would experience a titanic shift. These changes over time would eventually cause a buildup of greenhouse gasses that would make the planet almost uninhabitable, causing temperatures to rise to neverbefore seen levels. Outside of Earth, the shift in gravitational orbits could lead to planetary collisions, changing our own night sky as we know it- if we survived.
It is such a small shift, but the long term effects would devastate our world…
So what if the sun was closer to the Earth by a two percent margin?
Let us hope it never comes to that…