What's in a Hoard? By Titus621

Summary:

He smiled weakly. "The worst part is what my quirk says to me. I'm sure you've heard about villains like Terrorflame or Frostheart, right?"

Ochako's breath caught. Of course she had, but surely it was a bit taboo to bring that up with him, right? Well, he was the one who said it… "Yeah… They're your relatives, right?"

"Yeah. And my quirk is like theirs." Deku's hands gripped his sheets, knuckles turning white. "My quirk is evil, Uraraka. I'm defying my nature by even trying to be a hero."

Izuku is born with a quirk that seems to lead him down the path of villainy, but he's determined to be a hero. He wants to be the nice guy that everyone looks up to, but it's hard to be nice when you're a dragon.

Fortunately, he isn't alone, and with the help of his friends and mentors, he might just make it through alright.

Part 1 (Chapters 1-8): Childhood to UA

Part 2 (Chapters 9-25): UA to the USJ

Part 3 (Chapters 26-39): Sports Festival Arc

Part 4 (Chapters 40-55): Internship Arc

Note: I have retired from writing. What you see is what you get.

Notes:Inspired by My Hero Academia Untold: The Fafnir Knight (Discountined) by ZXEmperorChapter 1: My Little WyrmlingChapter Text

Izuku Midoriya was not a good kid. It's not that he didn't want to be, it was just hard.

Since his birth, little bony protrusions poked out of his messy green hair right above his eyes, a small, green ridge grew out of the back of his neck and his canines were sharper than most kids. It wasn't until Izuku turned four that the power behind those mutations began to eagerly let itself be known. This wasn't surprising for the son of the number six hero: The Bronze Dragon Hero, Stormclaw. Hisashi Midoriya had gone through a similar process.

Hisashi lived a happy life. He had graduated from UA and quickly risen through the ranks once he went independent. He met his lovely wife, Inko, at a hero gala near Musutafu. She was halfway through college, working part time for the catering company at the event. The kind-hearted woman caught his eye and he was immediately intrigued, but what really made him take notice was when he dropped his wine glass. Before the glass could spill over his expensive suit, she had quickly yanked it away from him with her quirk. The wine had, of course, then spilled all over her. Feeling guilty, he helped clean up the mess. They got to talking and, as they say, the rest was history.

It was only a few years later when they married, and a few more after that when they had their son, Izuku. He was a perfectly happy boy and grew up well. Inko was careful to make sure that her son was well-socialized. She had attended many hero events with her husband over the years and noticed that, much to her dismay, many children of hero families were socially stunted. She made a concerted effort to organize play dates with her son and other kids his age; some from hero families, but Inko also kept in touch with her friends from high school. Thanks to her efforts, Izuku was a friendly and charming young boy, with an award-winning smile.

It wasn't until a little later that Inko started noticing something was... off with her son. Two months after his 4th birthday was the first time she caught Izuku manipulating her. It wasn't anything drastic, he had just convinced her to stop for ice cream after she had firmly told him no. She didn't think much of it at the time, but looking back, it was a warning sign. Izuku had never been an argumentative child. In fact, it was the opposite. Izuku was a sweet boy, always eager to please and happy to just be alive. He was a quiet and emotional child, taking after his mother in that regard. He pouted a little when she put him to bed sometimes, as all toddlers do, but he had never won before. As time went on, it kept happening. Izuku kept getting his way. It was subtle, sinister even, but it seemed to be harmless, so Inko didn't worry too much about it.

Then, things got weirder. Inko watched her son play with the other children and, over time, noticed that he was acting strange. At first, it just seemed that he was a little more intelligent than the other children, but that wasn't it. The Iida boy seemed to be just as quick-witted as her child, but there was a difference. Izuku seemed to be more...cunning. The child found loopholes in most of the games they played and was able to talk his way into getting what he wanted almost all the time. More than once, Inko caught Izuku outright lying to the other children.

Now, most children lied, of course, but usually they were fairly innocent. 'White lies', like claiming they brushed their teeth even though you know better. Izuku's lies were complex. They were disturbingly well put together for a four-year-old, having enough truth to be believable, and told with no doubt in the boy's voice. Inko listened to him tell the same lie in slightly different ways to different kids, each playing off their particular personality. Inko wasn't exactly sure how to react. Her baby was intelligent, that was clear, but it was so out of character for him. The lies seemed to come naturally to Izuku.

On the ride home, Inko asked him about it. "Why did you lie to the other children, Izuku?"

Izuku sat there for a moment, thinking. He always put his hand to his chin when he was deep in thought, and sometimes muttered under his breath, like he was doing now. She couldn't hear what exactly he was saying over the noise around them, but she could tell he was thinking a mile a minute. "I don't know" was the answer he settled on.

That was not what Inko was expecting to hear. "What do you mean?" She wasn't letting him off the hook that easily.

"I just did it. I didn't think about it, it just happened. I won in the end though, right? So, it's okay." Izuku said, not realizing the disturbing implications of his words.

"No, it's not okay." Izuku looked at her, confused by her statement. "Are those other children your friends?"

"Of course!" Izuku said, no doubt in his voice, but confusion still on his face. "They're all my friends."

"You shouldn't lie to your friends. Part of friendship is honesty and trust," Inko lectured him. "If they found out you lied, it would hurt them. They would lose trust in you and they might not want to be your friends anymore." She didn't really believe she was having to explain this to a boy as smart as Izuku.

The boy's eyes widened, and then teared up slightly. "I didn't mean to! I don't wanna hurt my friends! I won't do it again, mom, I promise!"

Inko gave her boy a consoling hug. "I'm not mad at you, Izuku. I just want you to know that lying to a friend isn't a good thing to do. It's okay to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them." The boy nodded in her arms, and the rest of the ride home was uneventful.

It was Hisashi who first identified what the issue was. At first, he was overjoyed when his son had inherited his quirk. He was one of the top heroes in the country, a titan of a man who had saved thousands of people. With his transformation quirk, he was a force to be reckoned with on land, in the skies, and in the seas. There was more than one person in Japan who thanked the powers that be that Stormclaw was a hero, and not a villain. Hisashi's quirk turned him into a western dragon: a swimming, flying, lightning breathing lizard from the story books. It didn't make sense to some people that a hero could have a quirk seemingly straight out of an old book, but this was a world where people grew firearms inside their arms and hands, so nobody really worried that much about it.

Of course, Hisashi's quirk extended beyond pure physical transformation. The power running through his veins influenced his emotions and thoughts. Fortunately, his 'instincts', as he called them, mostly affected him in a positive way. Some of the ways were subtle, such as his love for beaches and oceans. It made sense to him, he was amphibious in his dragon form, and it led him to focus on disasters and attacks in and around water. He had a strong sense of justice and a drive to personally stop any injustice he saw. From his earliest memories, he only ever wanted to be a hero, how could he not when his own quirk was driving him to pursue heroics? He sometimes mused to himself that he was fortunate to live in a hero society, or he might have wound up a vigilante.

That isn't to say that every aspect of his quirk was beneficial. Unfortunately, he suffered from the same flaw that his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and all his relatives that manifested an aspect of the dragon quirk all suffered from. Ever since the dragon quirk line began, the same issue always arose: they were greedy. This instinct wasn't just the desire to acquire wealth, but to accumulate it, to hoard it. It manifested in different ways for each of them, but it was always there. Most of them could be appeased by possessing moderate displays of physical wealth. They would buy gems and jewelry and keep them safe. For the most part, they managed to come off simply as eccentric, not greedy.

His uncle had it the worst of anyone he had heard of in the family. He had manifested his quirk as a fearsome red dragon with fiery breath and ferocious arrogance. His lust for wealth was insatiable, and his hoard grew every day. As his wealth grew, he only became greedier. Eventually, his drive overcame his reason, and he resorted to villainy. The supervillain Terrorflame had wreaked havoc across Japan for months before he was finally defeated by All Might ten years ago.

Once again, Hisashi was fortunate on that front. His draconic drive to hoard wealth was less intense than many of his predecessors and relatives. He indulged it, of course, it was the only way for him to stay sane. However, his rewards from the government for being a pro hero were usually enough to satiate him. As long as he received something for his work, he was happy. For more reason than one, hero society was perfect for him.

This isn't to say that he kept strictly to his government paycheck. Often when he had time off, he would go diving deep into the ocean in search of sunken ships and forgotten treasures. He would drag back what he found and arrange them in a sort of gallery under the surface of the bay outside his home. If someone were to scuba dive down there, they would be in for quite the dazzling display.

His family home was modest for someone with the resources he had. It was by no means small, but with only his wife and son living there with him, they had no need of a mansion. The house was furnished well and had all the modern conveniences and technologies they could want, but it was much smaller than the home one might expect a top-ten hero to have. Sure, he had bought a sizeable chunk of land to build the house on, and beachfront property at that, but he was by no means stretching himself thin. The biggest expense he had each month was the collection of rare books and historical artifacts that he kept in his vault downstairs. His penchant for collecting irritated his wife sometimes, but she was understanding.

He was stingy when it came to most things and he was a compulsive haggler, although he spared no expense in making sure his family was cared for. The income of a top ten hero and modest expenses led to him owning a very healthy bank account. It wasn't the traditional dragon hoard of yore, but it worked for him. It allowed him to focus on what was truly important in his life, such as taking his son outside for a day on the beach.

Hisashi had taken Izuku out onto the sands behind their home one lazy summerday when he had the day off. There was a slight breeze over the sea and the sun was shining bright. Izuku had been his biggest fan since the day he could say the word 'hero' and the boy couldn't have been more excited to have inherited his father's quirk. The child begged his father to train him and teach him every opportunity he got. Hisashi was a busy man, being a top ten hero, but he made a special effort to be there for his family as often as he could. Izuku was basically vibrating with excitement as Inko helped him to put on his shoes so he could go outside.

Izuku ran down the path outside his backdoor towards the beach. Standing there, smiling and waiting for him was his father. The tan-skinned man stood around 6'4" and was packed with dense muscle. His bronze hair, messy like Izuku's, laid on his head, disturbed further by the two sharp, jet-black horns that stuck out on top of his head, pointing back and a little upwards. He had a small, green crest that descended down the back of his head and neck, and a slightly wider face, indicative of his facial fins when he transformed. His slitted, draconic eyes were a deep bronze and were filled with affection as he watched Izuku ran past him giggling, hoping to beat him to the water.

They spent most of the morning strolling along the beach, looking at seashells and racing across the sands. However, one of Izuku's favorite things was to go on rides around the bay. Hisashi took off his shirt and transformed into a full bronze dragon.

When fully draconic, he was a bit longer than thirty feet long from nose to tail tip, and the points of his horns stood about twenty feet from the ground. He was covered, of course, in heavy bronze scales, with stripes and spots of green scales scattered intermittently. His green and bronze ridge extended from the back of his head, down to the base of his neck, and then reappeared along the full length of his tail, the crest on his tail acting like a rudder while he was swimming. An armored plate with three small black horns flared off each side of his short snout, swept back to allow him to better glide through air and water.

Izuku quickly scrambled up his father's tail, climbed between the two massive wings, up his ridge, and then perched himself on his head, between his two sets of horns. Hisashi swam around the bay, keeping his head above water as his son laughed and yelled the whole time.

It was nearly lunchtime when they came back to land. Hisashi lowered his head and allowed Izuku to slide onto solid ground. The boy's grin was stretched wide across his face, but not as wide as it normally was. Hisashi could tell that he was thinking about something. He let the transformation end, quickly shrinking back to his normal size, but before he could pry, the boy spoke.

"Dad, can you teach me how to make a claw?" Izuku had asked, wonder in his voice.

Hisashi smiled at the boy. He pretended to think for a second before coyly responding. "You mean… like this?" His fingertips morphed into jet-black claws as his hand grew dull bronze scales for a moment before he let go of his transformation. The look on the boy's face was priceless.

"Yeah!" Izuku yelled, jumping up and down. No matter how many times Izuku saw his dad's quirk, it was still one of 'the coolest things ever!' Izuku got a look of determination in his big, green eyes. "I wanna do that! Kacchan keeps showing me new tricks with his quirk and I wanna show him something that I can do too!"

Hisashi smiled wider, he couldn't help it; his son's passion was infectious. "Alright, but you have to promise me not to use it inside. Your mother will mount my head above the fireplace if you start tearing up her house."

"I promise! I'll make you proud, dad!" Izuku jumped as he answered.

Hisashi put one knee in the sand as he lowered himself closer to his son. "Do you feel that buzzing, electric feeling below your skin? You have to find that feeling, grab it, and pull it out." His skin grew scales once more. "Once you have it, you have to hold onto it for as long as you can." Hisashi let the scales fade away as he saw his little boy's brain start firing on all cylinders, the boy cupping his chin with his left hand. "Does that make sense?"

"Uh, I think so, dad. I don't think it's buzzy, but I feel something." Izuku said, still thinking hard.

"Oh?" Hisashi was intrigued. "What does it feel like then?"

"Hmmm. Sort of like water or something, it's all flowy and drippy, but at the same time it's all floaty and light. Is that what you meant?" Izuku looked up hopefully.

"Really?" Hisashi didn't even try to hide the curiosity in his voice. He didn't really expect Izuku to inherit a carbon copy of his quirk, his horns were different after all, but father can dream, can't he? He thought for a moment about how his son described the feeling. Izuku's vocabulary was limited, but Hisashi felt like he had a good idea of what his son meant. 'Drippy and flowy, eh? Perhaps he's copper like his cousin. I'll have to ask her how it feels to her sometime.' He brought himself out of his thoughts. "That's probably it. Can you take hold of it? Grab it in your mind and in your body."

Izuku closed his eyes, straining with the concentration. His right hand was held up in front of him. "I uh, I think so... it's really hard, dad... but I think I... have it."

"Next you need to pull it out of you," Hisashi continued his explanation. "Focus on your hand and arm, and pull it out, like you're flexing your big muscles for your mother." Would he truly be a father if he didn't take opportunities to embarrass his son?

Izuku was too focused to react, unfortunately. His eyes had opened again, this time staring at his hand like he was trying to burn holes through it. Tears welled up in the corners of the boy's eyes as he strained. He grunted with effort, before a small patch of scales appeared on his hands. Partially in surprise and partially due to the strain, he fell back onto the sand with a gasp.

"I did it, dad!" Izuku stared at his hand, tears of joy welling up in his green eyes. "I can be a hero like you now!"

The transformation was too quick for him to get a good look at it, but Hisashi saw the scales. His son inherited had his smile from his father in addition to his quirk, and that Midoriya grin beamed across Hisashi's face. "I'm so proud of you son, but we can't stop here." Izuku stopped crying and looked up with momentary confusion. "You know the feeling now, let's see if you can't bring it out fully."

"Yes, sir!" The boy sprung up off the sand with a wide grin and focused on his hand again. Hisashi was always impressed with the boundless energy kids seemed to have. This time it seemed to come easier to the boy. It took much less time for him to pull the energy out the second go around. It happened slowly, and then all at once. The scales formed on the back of his hand and spread out from there. Before long, his entire hand was covered in scales, and his fingertips had elongated into short, relatively blunt claws.

"Dad…." Izuku was staring at his hand, the excitement had given way to pure awe. Hisashi could hear his son's voice cracking slightly "I did it, dad…" Tears were welling up again in the boy's eyes as he stared at his draconic hand.

Hisashi was overjoyed at first. Seeing those scales spread out and the claws form made his heart swell proudly. Then he looked again. On his son's hand was not the yellowish scales tinged with green, but incredibly dark scales. Hisashi thought they were black at first, but the sunlight shone off them, exposing their true nature. Izuku's scales were green.

At first, Hisashi tried to reason this away. He had green scales too. He was mostly bronze, but he had small stripes and markings of green across his scales. His ridge was mostly green, his eyes were green; this was nothing to worry about. The longer he stared at his son's hand, the more that flimsy reasoning fell away. There was no yellow or bronze to be seen. The scales weren't the lighter, sea green color that he had, but dark green. There was no questioning it: his son's scales were green. His son's quirk had manifested in the form of a green dragon. He hoped that he was wrong. Hisashi remembered his father's words. He was right about Hisashi, he was right about his niece, he was right about Terrorflame, but perhaps he was wrong about his son.

He quickly hid the doubt and small amount of fear on his face and let himself smile at his son's accomplishment. His son stared at his hand, turning it over and flexing his clawed fingers. After just a few more seconds, he started shaking with the strain, and then the transformation snapped away, quickly melting back into his normal hand.

His son turned up to look at him with a dopey, sleepy look on his face, his one eye open slightly more than the other. "How long was that, dad?"

Hisashi smiled widely, only having to force it a bit, "About 15 seconds, Izuku. That was longer than me the first time I did it."

His son's eyes widened a bit before he yawned. "I'm sleepy, dad." Izuku rubbed his eyes.

Hisashi let out a small chuckle. "I'm not surprised. It takes a lot of stamina to keep up a transformation like that." Hisashi said as he scooped his son up in his arms. "Let's get you into bed. A nap will make it all better."

Izuku was asleep before the two of them had made it back to the house. Hisashi gave Inko a small smile and carried Izuku to his room. He opened the door into a small hero shrine. Izuku had merchandise of All Might, Endeavor and more all over the room, but no hero was more prominently featured than Stormclaw. It always was a little weird for Hisashi to see the action figures and posters of himself, but it made his son happy, so it made him happy.

Anything that wasn't hero-themed in his room was colored green. Ever since he turned 4, it unequivocally became his favorite color. The small emerald that Hisashi had given him a few weeks ago was put in a place of honor on one of his shelves. He smiled at it, a bit more sadly than he usually did. He placed the sleeping boy in the bed, underneath the All Might covers. He gave the boy a small kiss on the forehead. Izuku smiled softly in his sleep.

"Sleep well, my little wyrmling."