Life In A Quirky World And A Run-In With A Villain

It'd been quite a few years since that day when I died and was subsequently put in the body of a child, and as I suspected, the largest hurdle I'd faced in this life so far was this body's mom.

...She was, to put it lightly, a standard helicopter parent. Overprotective, a worrywart, loved to jump to conclusions--you get the picture. I didn't fool her completely with my act, as even with memories I couldn't perfectly replicate a child's behavior, but I did limit her worry by trying to bond and stay close with her.

Whether it's because I was originally starved of parental affection because of my upbringing or because Izuku's memories were effecting me more than I originally thought, but I got on pretty well with my new mom.

I accepted her affections and tried to keep her happy, as a filial son should.

It'd been four years since I was diagnosed as Quirkless and in those four years, Inko, my new mother, had been struggling just as much as the previous Izuku had been. Stress eating was her way out and as a result, she'd began to put on weight. Not that I cared about her appearance - I'd care for my new mother regardless - but I did encourage her to join my exercise routine for her health.

That's right, I got straight to exercising. Cardio came first - the most important thing in a fight is stamina. You can have all the strength and speed you want but if you run out of steam after a few punches...well, you've lost.

But I also added in some light calisthenics workouts to develop my body and alongside that I added yoga into my routine to improve my flexibility.

I couldn't do anything like weightlifting at the age of 8, unless I wanted to stunt my body growth, so I kept everything in the bodyweight exercise category. I did include combat drills into this routine, however; things like shadowboxing, punching an impromptu punching bag I'd made out of a heavy pillow and hanging it from my ceiling with some rope...it didn't take long for mom to find out about that last one and then she began to worry, asking me why I was exercising so much.

Simply answered like this; I want to be a hero, and because I don't have a Quirk, I need to improve in other ways.

...That caused her to burst into tears before hugging me and apologizing about me being Quirkless like it's somehow her fault. I just hugged her back and tried to explain to her that I didn't mind that I was Quirkless and that she isn't to blame, that I still loved her--you know, the basics.

And that's how she ended up joining my exercise routine. She even brought me a proper punching bag. At that point, I asked her for resistance bands and some light hand weights as well.

She brought those as well, fully on board and supporting my decision to become a hero even without a Quirk.

...Makes you wonder why she didn't take a step back and question why her 8-year-old son was suddenly so obsessed with exercise, but hey, who am I to complain? If she'd done that, I'd have been on the wrong end of an interrogation.

Either way, I'd made a discovery: the people of this world are weird. Not culturally - though Japanese culture continues to confuse me - but rather, physically. As of now, I'm 15-years-old, a teenage boy who's nowhere near his limit in terms of bodily growth, whose muscle's are nowhere near their full potential...and yet I can lift as much as an Olympic-level weightlifter, sprint as fast as an Olympic-level sprinter and I have enough stamina to put Olympic-level long distance runners to shame.

I can deadlift 700lbs...as a 15-year-old. Nowhere near the world record in my old world, sure, but think for a moment: a 15-year-old, not a grown man, lifting 700-fucking-lbs.

Oh, and should I mention that I've only been training for two years to reach this Olympic-level standard in terms of strength?

You see, I didn't wanna ruin my growing body and I stuck to calisthenics/bodyweight exercises along with some added challenge from resistance bands up until the age of 13. Which means in two years, without even reaching my limit, I've grown to a level where I could overpower most grown men unless they had a similar level of training or had a strength enhancing Quirk.

And this doesn't seem to be my personal advantage. I've been to a public gym before and some of the people there are crushing the world records of my past life. When I asked about their Quirks, some of them just gave a wry smile and explained that they're either Quirkless or have a Quirk completely unrelated to strength.

...So, regardless of Quirks, people in this world can become superhumans through enough training.

It was an interesting thought. Because while no amount of training could make me able to overpower someone with a strength enhancing Quirk or out-speed someone with a speed-related Quirk...I could still hold my own in other ways.

One thing I shared with the old Izuku was his near-obsession with Pro-Heroes and analyzing them. I figured that watching them fight would allow me to figure out how to counter their Quirks.

So that's how I know about a Pro-Hero called Eraser Head. A hero who can temporarily erase people's Quirks but other than that, he's a 'normal' human. He can still fight against people with Mutant Quirks - Quirks that change their biology and can't be cancelled out - who have superior physical advantages over him. While his Quirk helps his combat style, it isn't impossible to think that a Quirkless person with enough training could defeat someone with a Quirk as long as they play it safe and clever.

Still, that only works for Quirks up until a certain level. I mean, what would I need to take this guy down?

I wondered mentally as I looked at the giant monster on the train tracks ahead of me. His arm swinging through metal like it was cardboard and every movement making the ground shake - no amount of technique could take that guy down. Not unless he has a glaringly weak spot that could disable him instantly.

I'd probably need a rocket launcher or a high-powered rifle to stand a chance against this guy.

Not that I can get either of those in Japan. They're very strict about weapon use in this country. Plus I'm pretty sure I could only kill the guy and not knock him out with those weapons...which is a no-go for this world.

It does bring up the question of would I kill in self-defense? I quickly found the answer to be 'Yes'

While I do primarily want to save people in this life, I can't save people if I let myself get killed, no? Pro-Heroes in difficult situations have committed similar acts of self-defense anyway, so I should be fine if I play it right.

I'm currently on my way home from my first day of highschool. In preparation for joining U.A University, I joined a specialized program for people who wish to join the Police and the Anti-Quirk SWAT Team. It's a Highschool/Academy that focuses around training you on how to deal with Quirk users and Villains.

It also gives me access to superior training and training resources. The diet and food quality they've given me has already released a heavy burden from mom's shoulders - she had to pay quite a bit of money to support my diet. Now the academy supply it.

Most of the people in this academy are either Quirkless or have weak Quirks. People with stronger Quirks join Pro-Hero highschools that prepare them for the actual training program at places like U.A.

I'm considered a rare prospect in my current academy and the amount of times I've had to turn away recruiters for the Police is insane.

My physical prowess, combat ability and overall athleticism make me perfect for the Anti-Quirk SWAT Team. Or so they say. Honestly, it didn't seem like such a bad deal to take up but I'd rather be a Pro-Hero. If all else fails I can still join the police in the future, I just don't want to seal myself up in some sort of contract that forces my hand.

School aside, because it didn't really matter all too much to me currently, I watched the Villain going mental right in front of me.

I heard some people speaking about why he was making such a scene and couldn't help but laugh.

He got caught stealing a purse and turned into a giant monster when he was cornered. I mean, come on--You have a Quirk that turns you into a 40 foot tall monster with superhuman strength and durability, and you steal purses? Rob a bank, man. Or be some Villain's enforcer. Or get a job as a bouncer.

Some people really just don't use their Quirks to the maximum effect that they should be able to. But I guess I have a unique bias and perspective as a Quirkless guy, huh?

The Villain knocked another metal pylon down with his erratic movements.

This one, however, was aiming to fall right on the people closest to the fight. I went to shout for them to back up but I stopped myself, already seeing someone rushing to stop the metal debris - the man with a hunched over posture and arms too big for his body, reached up and stopped the metal, straining to hold it up.

A Pro-Hero, Death Arms. He uses an unnamed Arm Strength Quirk - hence the unnaturally bulky and muscular arms he's sporting.

He placed the debris down lightly, causing as minimal damage as possible.

Cheers erupted from the crowd, people filming the hero and the villain. Just in time, too, as the main fighting force seemed to have arrived. A man with wooden arms, legs and a wooden helmet that concealed his face, came swinging in, his arms elongating into wooden tendrils that hooked around things and allowed him to swing like he was holding ropes.

...I wondered how that worked? Do his muscles extend with his arms? Do his arms even have muscles like a normal person? Do they even have bones? Joints? I wonder what the inner biology of his body is like--

My thoughts were cut off by the wood Hero, Kamui Woods, if I recall correctly, landing a few meters away from the giant Villain.

The crowd, including a group of fangirls, were screaming 'Kamui Woods' and other such encouragement while I pushed my way to the front to get a better look at the whole thing. Whether my soul inhabiting this body changed it or this body just so happened to hold the same kind of talents as my old one, my eyesight and reflexes were just as absurd as they used to be. Not enough to be considered a Quirk but enough to be considered abnormal.

My body was incredibly sturdy and robust as well, another thing I'd brought from my old life.

It made training much easy, and I suspect it had some positive effects on my overall build and physique. Izuku was an average child before my soul took over - maybe even a little below average.

But after my soul came in, I started exercising and eating right, and over time, I began to really fill out and grow up.

At the age of 15, I'm 5'11, which is taller than most adults in Japan, let alone other 15-year-olds.

Put together with my broad shoulders, well-muscled and sculpted body, and I don't have much problem moving people out the way either. And with my eye sight and reflexes, I can follow the fight between Kamui Woods and the giant Villain.

Which mostly consisted of Kamui woods dodging about, using his wood tendrils like Spider-Man and swinging around his opponent, binding his legs to the tracks below.

Once the guy was stuck in place, Kamui Woods backed up and his wooden arms expanded into dozens of thick, strong and flexible-looking branches that reached toward the Villain.

...Then a Giant Woman leaped over us and flying drop kicked the giant Villain.

Well, that was certainly...an interesting, albeit anticlimactic, ending.

The giant woman had long blonde hair and an utterly bombastic body--something my puberty addled body and mind took notice of almost instantly. Her body slowly shrank down as she hopped over the train rails and the overpass they were on, showing her real height which was ironically quite short - probably around 5'4" or 5'3". Her pretty face was filled with pride as she waved at the cheering masses, taking in all the attention she stole from Kamui Woods.

Can't fault her for that, though. If you can steal the credit, steal it. It shows superior skills, to an extent. Though Kamui Woods wouldn't have had his credit stolen if he finished the fight instantly and didn't wait around bantering with the Villain and vocally calling out his super-move.

Only Heroes like All Might can get away with that stuff, and even then it's a big risk to announce your attack before even throwing it.

I mean, at least throw the attack first, make sure it hits and then announce the name for the move.

The police came and sanctioned off the area, meaning I had to take an alternate route home. Still, I was happy to note that no one got hurt by the conflict and went on my way home. This new life had changed me, for the better, I'd like to think.

I was more thoughtful, for one. Maybe even kinder, to an extent. I wouldn't be letting people stab me out of kindness or anything but I would try my best to help people.

It was one of my biggest questions up to this date on whether I'd merged with the original Izuku and taken on some of his traits or whether the new environment allowed me to learn and grow as a person. I'm beginning to think that it may be a mixture of both these things, plus the unconditional love of Inko aka mom.

As I walked back, I alternated between exercising my left and right forearms with the grip strength trainer I was currently using. My grip strength was around 80kg by now, which was pretty abnormal for a 15-year-old--I mean, what wasn't abnormal about my physical prowess, by now?

I had to find hero-training equipment on the internet to use no, because regular grip trainers just don't give me a challenge any longer. This one I'm using now is adjustable and can be adjusted all the way up to 150kg, which is thoroughly superhuman by my past world's standards.

A full-grown man with 65kg grip strength would have a strong grip, so I'm an utter anomaly. But this is just what you can achieve in this world, it would seem, with hard work, dedication and the proper training methods. Still, I have a long way to go until I feel like I'm ready for U.A - the only good thing is that I'm fully in the middle of a growth spurt at the minute and due to puberty and my diet, my muscle mass is increasing by the day, leading to increases in physical prowess coming easier than before.

Sadly after I'm fully physically developed, growing without a Quirk will become harder and harder. Most Quirks that revolve around one biological thing, like Strength or Speed, allow you to continue to train and improve that thing well beyond the levels of what a Quirkless people can do. The benefits of having a Quirk, I guess.

As I was thinking this, I arrived at a dark underpass and absentmindedly walked in under it. Instantly I felt something change in the surrounding air.

I stopped, instincts I'd nearly forgotten flaring to life.

...Something was nearby. And it help some very malicious intent.

I looked around and saw nothing in the dark underpass section and yet that did very little for the growing feelings of anxiety in my chest. Yet I kept myself calm and collected, knowing panic is the last thing I should let into my system right now.

This silence and stillness lasted for a few more seconds before something began seeping out of the manhole cover no more than a few feet in front of me.

It looked like slime, being a dark green and it stank like sewage. It poured out of the holes in the cover and two eyes and a mouth formed when it was fully through the holes and in front of me. It was about 3 meters tall and completely liquid. No hope of fighting it then.

It burst forward, spreading out like a net in an attempt to grab me.

But it was slow. I easily burst backward, pushing off of my heel and dodging the attempted capture with ease. It's movements were odd because it wasn't humanoid and because of it's liquid body which made it unpredictable as it didn't have to rely on normal range of motion that having a solid body with joints and bones would impose on a person.

Yet such unpredictability was wasted when it's movements were so slow. Even if the motions caught me off-guard, I could still react to them given their less than desirable speed.

"Oh?" it's voice came out in a somewhat weird way, sounding wet and distorted just like it's disgusting body that moved and flowed without staying still, "You dodged that? A brat with some skills, I see...I'll enjoy inhabiting your body!" it roared, it's choice of words disturbing to say the least.

I dodged it's slow attacks once more, throwing myself backward into a more acrobatic maneuver as I used my momentum to build up more distance between us.

It sent a tendril of slime to lash out at me but I flipped over it, no problem and landed to think of way out of this. I could run...but then it'd turn it's attention to someone else. Saying I want to save people and then when it really comes to it, I put someone else in danger to save my own hide? Yeah, that'd make my whole reason for living in this life, a lie.

No, I need to figure out a way to keep this guy distracted until a Pro-Hero arrives.

Swaying out of the way of another whip of slime, I took a step forward and ducked under the tendril trying to come back and hit me by surprise.

Amateur moves and tricks.

I looked over his body and tried to think up a plan. A body of liquid, which means no attacks I can currently produce will have an affect on him. But, I can see a few places that aren't liquid. His mouth and eyes seem to be solid - they weren't previously because he slipped through the manhole cover holes, but it seems he can made his eyes and mouth solid so he can see and speak.

Nonetheless, I need to test out this hypothesis.

I dodged another attack, this time the attack being multiple tendrils flying at me from all sorts of directions. Even these amateur rookie moves were hard to dodge just because of the amount getting thrown at me.

But it wasn't enough that I couldn't reach into my pocket and pull out an eraser. Dodging another whip of slime, I took the opening offered to me and threw the eraser at the thing's eye.

The eraser blurred and shot through the air with unreal speed and precision before it finally hit the slime guy's eye, bouncing off of it and causing him to recoil in pain, letting out a roar of pain, "Y-You little bastard! I'll take over your body and kill your whole family with it y-you pathetic little worm!" the slime screamed giving out a shrill noise that made me wince as he charged at me. His eyes didn't liquefy and neither did his mouth--amateur move.

I charged to the side, dodging his charge and the tentacles of slime that shot out to where I was before, impacting the concrete where I'd previously been standing with enough force to crack it.

...Slow but strong, got it.

Continuing with my charge, I ran at the supporting wall for the overpass above and jumped up against it before using it as a foothold to push me up higher and back toward the slime guy. Knowing the eyes were physical and that he could feel pain was more than enough for me to know how to keep this guy occupied - maybe even to the extent that I could beat him.

But I didn't get ahead of myself just yet and focused on swinging my leg, rotating my hip and body with as much force as I could muster. My long and well-muscled leg shot through the air, splitting it and looking more like a cleaver than a human's leg as it blurred.

The impact hit the slime's eye head-on and it's eye rocketed to the side as it screamed in pain.

Oddly enough, as the eye moved, the slime surrounding it followed, moving the slime away from me and toward the other supporting wall opposite the one I'd just pushed off of.

...So, wherever the eyes go while manifested, the surrounding slime/body has to follow? Interesting. What a blatant weak point. He either keeps the eyes active and has them be his glaringly obvious weak points or he turns them into slime and has to deal with fighting blind.

A perfect example of the adage 'between a rock and a hard place'.

"ARGH!" the slime guy seemed to be quickly losing it as his distorted roar rumbled through his entire body, the slime expanding and trying to encompass me just as I landed. I backed up and away from him, dodging his waves of slime, "I don't need my eyes if I just make myself big enough to touch you no matter where you are!" he bellowed and I saw that his eyes were all gone.

Well, it was good while I lasted. Now it's just a dodging game. And a waiting game, waiting until some Pro turns up--

I backed up into some incredibly hard. For a second I thought I'd backed up right into the slime and that he'd set a trap for me by making some sort of hardened wall behind me--but that idea went out the window when I could still see light coming from behind me. There was just someone right behind me.

A pair of utterly massive hands dropped down onto my shoulders and for the first time in a while, I felt small when compared to someone else.

I looked up and saw a shadowy figure behind me - they must've been over seven feet tall, at least.

Not to mention how bloody wide they were either.

I could make out two tufts of hair that stuck up just...like...rabbit ears? Holy shit, this is All Might, isn't it?

"You've done brilliantly to hang on for so long, young man, but now I'm here, so rest easy!" a boisterous voice came from behind me and I was forcibly lifted and moved out of the way by the big hands on my shoulders.

...A bit rude but he meant good regardless.

The slime froze his expansion, a single eye materializing and then widening in fear, "A-ALL MIGHT?!" it screamed before turning to flee. Yet it was already too late.

The man, All Might, stepped forward and threw a punch. A single punch. All while yelling, "Texas Smash!". And then it was over. The slime go exploded into chunks of slime and All Might rushed around with a bottle in hand, pushing the slime into it before it was all collected and he screwed the cap back on top.

Damn. So this is someone with a Quirk, huh? An enemy I could barely even damage was taken care of in a single punch...it kinda makes me want to step up the intensity of my exercises. It should be okay, right? I'm 15 now and my body is healthy and robust, so more exercise intensity should be fine, right?

Remembering something, I pulled out a notebook and stepped toward All Might with a pen in hand, "Can I please have your autograph, sir?" I asked, bowing.

I don't hold the same obsession as the original Izuku. I...I just want the autograph so I can sell it for money. Yeah, that's it. I just want the money I can get by selling this autograph to an ultra mega fan of All Might. Totally.

"Hahaha!" his laugh boomed outward before he continued, "Of course, young man! Anything for such a courageous youth like yourself!" he said and I felt happy - about the money I'd be getting, of course - and held the notebook and pen out toward the Pro-Hero. He walked over to me and took them, signing his name in big and bold capital letters 'ALL MIGHT' with a small drawing of him giving me a thumbs up. It was...a surprisingly well-drawn picture, given the time frame.

He handed it back to me and I bowed again, thanking him.

All Might scratched his chin as he looked down at me, "I must say, I'm surprised you held your own without using your Quirk, young man. But it's also very good that you followed the law and didn't use your Quirk out in public without a license," he nodded and I felt a wry smile pull across my face.

"I...don't have a Quirk, sir, so I couldn't possibly break that law," I joked, trying to lighten the atmosphere, yet All Might froze slightly before showing me an apologetic expression.

"I apologize, young man, I didn't mean to offend you," he apologized, not catching that I was joking - though admittedly I am terrible at socializing - before he smiled brightly once again as he continued, "I'd say it's even more admirable that you could do that without the support of a Quirk. You must train quite a lot," he complimented me and looked down at the watch on his wrist, "Ah, would you look at the time, I must be going, young man. Continue with your training, the world can always use someone of your talents!"

He walked from under the dark underpass and into the light, putting the bottle filled with the slime villain into his pocket as he began stretching, preparing for something. As he was squatting, seemingly warming up his legs, the bottle fell out onto the ground and All Might didn't seem to realize.

I jogged over to him and picked up the bottle that had rolled a bit away from All Might.

Turning to the Symbol of Peace, I grabbed onto his shoulder and went to speak, "All Might, sir--" but I was cut off by his loud and boisterous voice speaking over my own.

"Well then, I'll be going!" he bellowed and blasted off, jumping into the sky.

Except, on reflex, I grabbed onto him as he jumped...and now I'm flying alongside him, soaring into the sky.

...Ah, shit.