A Talk, A Bet And Being Heroic

Flying through the air, hundreds of feet above the ground and with only a single hand holding onto a man's shirt - the man who sent us this far up, mind you - wasn't how I thought I'd be spending my time today.

I was thinking of going home, eating a nice, delicious meal made by mom, then exercising before finishing the day off with a little bit of studying while listening to some Lofi.

But no, the world had different plans for me, apparently.

First off, I was attacked by a slime man who wanted to take over my body or something. Then All Might appeared and took the guy out (I got All Might's signature, purely for monetary reasons) and then as I was returning the bottle All Might had used to collect the slime man, he jumped into the sky with my hand on his shoulder, pulling me with him.

I mean, I'm not scared of heights. I've jumped out of planes before with very, very sketchy parachutes strapped to my back. But at least I had SOME parachutes strapped to my back in those occasions.

Right now the only thing between me going splat on the concrete below was my grip on a very thin shirt that was already somewhat stretching under the forces being applied to it.

"Oi oi oi!" All Might's loud voice entered my ears even over the raging sounds of air battering my ears, "I know you're a fan but this is a bit much, young man!" he looked over his shoulder, his eyes still shadowed over by his sharp brow and making his eyes hard to see exactly - which meant I only had his tone to go off of when it came to what he was feeling. And his tone right now seemed exasperated.

Lifting my other hand up, the hand not holding onto All Might, I showed him the bottle filled with slime and shouted, trying to get my voice to overpower the sound of the wind going passed us, "I only tried...tried to stop you from taking off because this dropped out your pocket!" I shouted, stopping to compose myself as air forced it's way into my mouth whenever I spoke too much.

"Ah," All Might said, his tone turning awkward as he reached back and took the bottle from me, "Well...thank you for that, young man! You've saved me from putting myself in quite the pickle!"

I closed my eyes to stop the wind from drying them and just spoke, "...Can you drop me off somewhere? I can't exactly let go otherwise I'll die."

He seemed to realize this as he fumbled his words, muttering something about a time limit and then answered me, "Of course! I'll take you to the nearest rooftop!" I opened my eyes just a little bit and nearly swallowed my own tongue when I saw something I hadn't seen before no matter what video I'd watched - All Might was bleeding. From the corner of his mouth, a piece of blood was dribbling out.

What was wrong with him? He'd only thrown one attack and hadn't been attacked at all...so why?

I guess he's getting old and maybe his Quirk is having some sort of effect on him whenever he uses it? Most people take him for granted but he's definitely a middle-aged man by now. Late forties, at least. So maybe it's an old injury that's acting up?

Would explain why I haven't seen it effect him in videos - it probably got edited out or All Might is just that good at hiding it. Does it have something to do with his time limit that he was muttering about? If so, it means he can use his Quirk for a limited amount of time...that's not good for the foreseeable future. Not good at all.

. . .

The landing was a hard one - so hard I felt like all my organs rearranged themselves mid-landing. But I survived. Mainly because All Might took the brunt of the force and I only had to worry about the effects of inertia on myself and that alone.

My body was strong enough, even without a Quirk, to handle that much at least.

I handed over the bottle while I was composing myself and letting my internal body re-sort itself out a little.

All Might sighed before looking to me, gesturing to the rooftop door behind me, "Thank you for your help, young man. I'm sure the residents below will arrive to check the disturbance of me landing up here and they'll let you down if you explain it to them," he said before smiling his iconic smile over at me, "Well, then, I'll be off! Stay safe!"

Part of me wanted to ask him about the blood, but that was frankly none of my business. He'd most likely brush off any question either way.

...Yet another part of me had a different question to ask. The more Izuku part of me.

"All Might, sir," I started, "Is it possible for a person without a Quirk to become a Hero? Even if I don't have a Quirk, can I become someone like you?" I asked this, not out of some naive hope that he'd take me under his wing but because I wanted his genuine opinion as the Symbol of Peace. No matter what he said, it would deter me or strengthen my resolve to become a hero - I was already set on doing it, in whatever way I could.

Part of me just wanted an answer. To see if someone other than mom believed in me and what I wanted to do.

It was silly, really. Because it didn't matter either way. I just wanted an answer.

All Might stopped and I continued looking at him...then he started to convulse, like he was trying to stop something from happening and steam began to billow off of him. I just stood there and watched because I wasn't quite sure what was happening.

In the end, I did back off a little, just in case this wasn't actually All Might and it was someone with a shape-shifting Quirk. You can never be too cautious at times like these.

The steam slowly disappeared, as it stopped being produced by 'All Might's body and what was left behind was...surprisingly, to say the least.

It looked like...I don't know how best to describe it. A skinny version of All Might? With a hunched back? He was roughly still the same height and everything but the difference in physique made him look much smaller than before*. I could see his blue eyes as well, now, but not the sclera. So I could see the 'deer in the headlights' look in his eyes as he looked back at me.

(*A/N - Common misconception is that All Might's skinny form is shorter than his muscle form. They're the same height. Skinny form just has extremely bad posture that makes him look, like, a foot shorter than he should.)

"...All Might?" I asked cautiously, not knowing whether this was All Might's real appearance or whether my theory about a shape-shifter was correct.

The man flinched before sighing and putting his hand in his face, "I am All Might, yes," he said, the voice being the exact same as before but lacking the same level of energy--then blood spurted out of his mouth.

"...Really?" I asked, fighting the urge to back away even further, "So, is that muscular form your Quirk being active or something?" I pushed for a little information as I was thoroughly confused right now. This skinny dude was the world-famous All Might? The Symbol of Peace that took Japan's crime rating down from 20% to 2%? This skinny dude who looks like he'd have trouble lifting a shopping bag?

...I feel like my current world view has been shaken to it's core.

"Something like that, yes," he nodded before continuing, "You know how the guys at the pool are constantly flexing and posturing? It's like that, so I can only keep it up for a certain time," he explained, wiping the blood from his chin.

So, him mumbling about his time limit earlier was because of that, huh? He was reaching his limit and I was with him, so he didn't want to show that vital bit of information.

Scratching the back of my head, I averted my gaze for a moment before looking back to him, "Sorry about this, then, All Might. I kept you sticking around because of my stupid question," I said, feeling genuinely apologetic for asking such a useless question at another person's expense. Maybe running to the limit because he was with me is why blood spurted out of his mouth.

All Might shook his head, waving his hands in front of himself.

"No, no, there's no need to worry, young man," he smiled, his gaunt face stretching and looking oddly-comforting despite it's ghoulish appearance, "I was the one who dropped that bottle otherwise you wouldn't have grabbed onto me to stop me from leaving," he waved the bottle in his hand, gesturing to it before sighing again and losing his smile as he sat down with his back leaning against the railing behind him.

All Might's eyes and face took on a more serious expression, looking much more harsh due to his currently gaunt features, and then he spoke up, "I hate to ask this of someone who helped me out, but now that you've seen me like this, young man, don't tell anyone about it. Even by mistake. It has to stay a secret."

"Of course, I won't say a word about it. I promise," I nodded, knowing the significance of this information - if Villains knew All Might was working on limited time, all they'd need to do is wait for his time limit to run out and then do villainy.

Sure, other heroes could cover for him against your everyday run-of-the-mill Villain but what about the uber strong ones that require someone of All Might's strength?

It'd take most of the top ten Pro-Heroes to take down even one of All Might's stronger enemies.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek for an instance before going to speak again but All Might stopped me, "Thank you, for giving me your word. You asked if this was something to do with my Quirk, yes? Technically, that's the case. But in reality, it's because of this," he lifted his top, showcasing a scar that covered the entire left side of his chest, stretching down the side of his abdomen as well.

The scar itself was covered in other types of scars - these ones of medical origin. The original scar looked like a big projectile had been pierced through his torso. A metal spike or pole, maybe?

"It's an injury I got from an enemy's attack six years ago*," he explained before dropping the shirt, "I lost the majority of my stomach and half of my left lung. Using my Quirk with this type of body just puts a limit on how much I can use it. I've become emaciated like this because of the surgeries and their aftereffects."

(*A/N - In the original series, it was five years. But he told Izuku in the original series when Izuku was still 14. This Izuku is 15, hence why it was six years ago.)

"Six years ago...Isn't that when you fought Toxic Chainsaw? I read somewhere that you were the one who put him away around that time. So, was it him who did that to you?" I asked, sitting myself down across from All Might.

Nothing like finding out your idol is grievously injured and probably can't do hero work for too much longer, to sour your mood.

All Might shook his head, pinching at the bridge of his nose, "You're well-informed. He got a few hits in on me but a punk like that couldn't do this," he explained, "The fight that caused this injury wasn't made public to the world through any way. No articles, no footage--nothing. I asked that it not be made public. After all, I have to save people with a smile - the world needs to think that the Symbol of Peace can't be troubled no matter what. Truth is...I'm an injured old man who smiles to trick the fear inside of himself."

"Pros are constantly risking their lives, so I cannot simply say, 'You can become a hero without powers' with a clear conscience. One day you may make it and one day you may die...and it may be my fault for encouraging such dangerous behavior," he said, a sadness to his voice like he'd experienced this type of talk before, "If you want to help others, you should become a police officer. You have the talent to join the top of the top in that sense."

He walked away without looking at me, yet I could hear the subtle pain in his voice: he didn't want to be the reasonable adult that crushes a kid's dream. But he still knew he had to be. Well, at least according to his own moral compass and outlook on life, it's the right thing to do.

"It's okay to dream...but you also have to consider what's realistic, young man," he walked toward the roof access door off to the side after he said this, his silence saying more than any other words.

Part of me felt like I'd taken a punch to the gut. It felt crushed. This was the old Izuku.

He was a bit of a crybaby like that. The first set-back he ran into, and he felt like the world was ending. The other part of me? The more 'me' part? Well, it felt it's competitive spirit get sparked to life by what All Might had said.

I grinned, "How about this, self-proclaimed old man?" I called out to him, making him stop and look over his shoulder to see what I wanted, "How bout we have a bet? If I can become a Pro Hero, you owe me a beer and if I don't, then I'll buy a shitload of your most expensive merch. It's a pretty decent bet, and I've been meaning to give myself some more motivation for training lately. What better motivation than having the Symbol of Peace take you out for a beer?"

His sunken eyes widened ever so slightly, his frown creaking upward a little bit before he began chuckling slightly, "Quite a crude young man, aren't you? You're also incorrigible."

"Incorrigible? I prefer to call it determined," I smiled, puffing my chest out in a joking manner.

I mean, of course I know I'm incorrigible. I'm as stubborn as a mule, as well.

All Might laughed a little bit more before shaking his head, "I can't encourage your decision, young man, but you're definitely a very determined person. Just be safe on your journey to winning our bet - as safe as one can be when they're aiming to become a Pro-Hero without a Quirk, I guess."

His image of me seemed to improve a few notches as he looked over me, seemingly judging me to see if I was worthy of something, but then he was gone, the door to the roof closing behind him.

I stretched my limbs, suddenly filled with energy to get exercising and exercising even more intensely than I ever have before...but then a thought entered my head. It just slipped in there--I hadn't even decided to think about the slime guy again. Yet a mental image of the bottle filled with slime appeared in my mind.

...Where were the slime's eyes? Even if it can dismiss them, it becoming unconscious should have made them come back, right?

Where did it's eye go after All Might punched it?

I closed my eyes and looked through my memories. The eyes...shot away from the rest of the slime, covered in a small film of slime. Well out of the overpass and All Might didn't search that far for the rest of the slime, he just settled on collecting the majority of it.

But what if that majority was just useless slime generated by the Villain when it tried to catch me? And it's actual body of slime escaped with it's eye/eyes intact?

I was brought out of my thoughts by an explosion from behind me.

My eyes shot open and I span around on my heels, only to see smoke off in the distance.

...It was too much of a coincidence.

I rushed for the entrance and slammed the door open, rushing to the stairs and hoping to see All Might, "All Might! The slime Villain isn't in the bottle!" I yelled, my voice echoing through the stairway yet he was already gone. Shit. Shit. SHIT. SHIT!

If it was the slime villain, I needed to get there. There were no doubt heroes there and they could no doubt need some tips on where to hit. I have no doubt in my mind that some idiot tried to hit it's liquid-esque body and couldn't figure out how else to do it.

And so, I began sprinting with everything I had. I went so quick it was almost like I had a speed-related Quirk - yet all I was using was my physical power and technique. Who says you need a Quirk to be powerful? It helps, sure, but good ol' fashion hard work can do it just the same. To an extent, at least.

In the end, I pushed those thoughts out of my head and just focused on going quicker.

. . .

...I can't fucking believe it. First it went after me, and now it's trying to take over Katsuki's body? What are the fucking chances?

I pushed my through the crowd gathering and I looked for All Might - he wasn't here yet. He must've definitely hit his limit then. If he can't do anything...then what can be done here and now? There are some Pro-Heroes here. Death Arms, Kamui Woods and a few others. Death Arms doesn't have the level of strength to blow the Villain away like All Might, Kamui Woods Quirk is limited due to the fire everywhere and the others are all trying to limit the damage to the surroundings--Where did al this damage come from? From Katsuki's Quirk, of course.

The Villain tried to possess him, Katsuki probably blew his top and tried to blow the Villain up. Probably didn't work because the Villain's body isn't particularly effected by heat or kinetic impacts. Which makes Katsuki's explosions useless unless they're aimed at the right places.

Why does nobody go for the eyes in this situation? I can't be the only one to think that, right?

I could try and get that information to the Pros but they wouldn't listen to me and they're within earshot of the Villain as well. The Villain would recognize me, hear what I have to say and then make it's eyes disappear, our only advantage going alongside them. It's a thoroughly annoying situation, isn't it?

It only leaves one way forward, and it's a way I don't particularly like because it means I'm gonna get a stern talking to after this is over.

But, I need to prove All Might wrong about me not being able to become a Hero, right?

Pro-Heroes risk their lives on a daily basis? Ha, don't make me laugh. I used to risk my life in active warzones back when I was 8-years-old in my previous life. Life and death situations are hardly anything new to me.

So, I rushed forward toward cover, using the smoke and the fire to hide my appearance as I tried to get close enough to the Villain.

I had to sneak up on train soldiers who were actually paying attention, so sneaking up on a man made of liquid who's too busy trying to possess another person's body isn't too much trouble for me. That aside, I rushed through the distance between me and the Villain holding Katsuki and by the time I was near them, the Pro Heroes behind me realized what I was doing and began shouting for me to come back or whatever.

Obviously I didn't come back. I kept rushing forward.

I slipped my bag off, holding it firmly in one hand and began to spin it like it was some sort of flail. When I got within range, I threw myself upward, jumping as high as I could while bringing the bag up and downwards onto the Villain's head. The weight of bag, filled with books and a few weights, plus the centrifugal force of the bag spinning and add onto that my arm strength and gravity helping out...and you get one hell of a forceful smash.

The heavy and hard bag hit the Villain's eyes, pushing them inward and even causing one of them to outright disappear, dissolving into slime. The Villain recoiled, it's entire body rippling and writhing unnaturally under the pain my attack seemed to cause.

Landing, I tossed my bag to the side and reached for Katsuki's collar, which I successfully grabbed, and then I yanked him toward me. I couldn't pull him completely free but I got his torso and arms out. Which is what I was planning for.

"Deku--!" he started but I shut him up by speaking over him in a louder volume.

"Aim your explosions at his eyes! They're his only weak point!" I bellowed, pulling at Katsuki's collar even more just incase his explosions don't have enough of an effect.

Katsuki also seemed to think this because after giving a tentative nod toward me, I threw his hands up, palm facing where the Villain's eyes were and then releasing the biggest explosion I'd ever seen blondie release. After the first time we fought, we clashed a few more times throughout our childhood and throughout middle school but I'd never seen him make one this big.

...I guess he held back because he didn't actually want to hurt me. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the kid's obviously got problems upstairs but he isn't a wholly bad person. I mean, if you wanna become a Pro-Hero, I guess you can't be that bad of a person, huh?

Though I'm sure they are exceptions.

The resulting explosion pushed Katsuki well out of the Villain's grasp and because I was holding him, I was thrown through the air with him. The Villain recoiled even further, the rippling worsening like holding it's current form was getting too much for it.

Yet, instead of collapsing or giving up, it roared, it's eyes having gone completely red, "You little bastards, I'll fucking kill you both--!" his words were cut off by his size expanding until he was a little bigger than the surrounding buildings.

A gigantic fist came at us and I felt adrenaline coursing through me, my body urging to move as I picked Katsuki up. Yet I wouldn't be able to dodge it.

What the Villain lacked in speed, it now made up for in terms of size.

Instead of lunging for us, it only had to extend it's arm a little to reach us at it's current size.

Multiple different plans ran through my mind and I quickly decided on tossing Katsuki aside - I knew I could survive a single hit from this freak. My body was unusually sturdy due to my overall training and just because that's how it seemed to be naturally. Pros with healing Quirks would appear soon, so all I need to do is survive until then. Even if I get hit once, I should be fine.

It's still gonna hurt like hell though. I threw Katsuki to the side, to a fire-free part of the road, tossing him aside like a rugby ball.

Then, as I was about to brace myself for the impact, a blur appeared between me and the Villain.

"...I really am pathetic," the blur spoke, some smoke clearing and showing All Might in his muscular form, holding back the massive first with a single arm, his other arm reared back for a punch, "Even though I denied your dreams, here you are doing what I should've done since the beginning! Regardless of who they are and what their powers are, Pros are always risking their lives!" blood poured from his mouth as he shouted these words before throwing his fist forth.

"Detroit Smash!"

The Villain tried to attack with it's other arm and multiple other tendrils...but it was just as meaningless as the first time. All Might's fist - more specifically the air pressure produced by his punch - blasted the slime Villain into strands of uncontrolled liquid.

It's eyes dropped to the ground, seeming blank and obviously unconscious.

Never mind that, however, the very air pressure produced by the punch made a fucking tornado! Holy mother of Christ--What type of strength do you need to do that?

Oh...and now it's raining because of the pressure change. What a punch.

Turning around, I saw Katsuki unconscious and a bunch of really pissed off Pros looking in my direction. Well, this is why I didn't wanna step in. Still...saving a person - even one like Katsuki - it felt pretty good. Felt much better than killing someone, that's for damn sure. I had the urge to save more people, my resolve to become a hero growing and growing inside of me like an inferno.

But for now, I had to deal with the upset Pro-Heroes and no doubt All Might who'd all have some very choice words for me, no doubt.

. . .

They collected all the slime this time, including the eyes, sealing it in air-tight bags and transporting them in specialized vehicles used to contain more destructive Villains.

As I suspected, I got chewed up and spat out by the Pros.

'Shouldn't have put your life on the line like that' 'What are you, suicidal?' 'Leave the heroics to the heroes, brat'--you know, the classics. Luckily, they still seemed to respect that I'd gone out of my way to save someone when no one else could step up and viewed me in a somewhat positive light.

Still, I hadn't heard anything off of All Might. He was still getting interviewed when I was asked to leave by the authorities.

There wasn't much I could do, so I retrieved my bag and left.

What I hadn't been expecting when walking home was for him to suddenly appear in front of me while saying, "I am here!"

...I won't lie, I nearly flinched at his sudden appearance. He's really goddamn quick. A real life jumpscare.

"I suppose you're here to scold me or something, old man?" I asked, tilting my head to the side as I scratched at my neck, "Fine, I guess, let's just get it over with. I gotta eat, workout and study before it gets too late," I sighed, preparing myself for another scolding. Katsuki got praised and I got scolded--another piece of hypocrisy about this world. Heroics from those with Quirks is praised, but from those without Quirks, it's considered a foolhardy thing to do.

Granted, it's true for the average Quirkless person. But for me? It really doesn't apply. I wouldn't define myself as average, regardless of my status as a Quirkless person. Weirdly enough, it seemed this opinion was shared by All Might as he shook his hands in front of himself.

"No, no, no--!" his series of 'no's were cut off by him suddenly popping out of his hero form and reappearing in his skinny form, blood spraying out of his mouth as he made a rather comical 'Ack' sound.

As he was bent over, coughing up blood, I didn't know what to do so I just pat him on the back.

...Kinda surreal to think I was doing this to a man who can change the weather with a special move but whatever--Focus, Izuku.

All Might finished wiping the blood from his chin and looked at me with grateful eyes, "Young man, I came with thanks, a correction and a suggestion. If you hadn't been there...if you hadn't shown me your determination to become a hero...I would've turned into a guy in a bodysuit who was all talk. I said all that stuff about Pros risking their lives and yet I waited a few moments before rushing into help out because I was worried about going beyond my limit. It's the pathetic worries of an old man...but you helped me look passed them. Your actions helped."

"I think you're giving me a bit too much credit, All Might," I awkwardly scratched at the back of my head, the messy green hair running through my fingers, "Didn't you hear what those Pros said? I was just a Quirkless person who got in the way," I gave a wry smile, still not used to other people's thanks and nice words.

"No," he shook his head, "I only moved beyond my limit because of you, a Quirkless person, was fighting a battle in my steed. In the places of the other Pro-Heroes at the scene. It was because of that courage that I was snapped out of my funk and forced into action, so thank you."

Things went silent for a few seconds before All Might spoke up again, "Top heroes have stories about them from their schools days. All these stories have one thing in common - they fought to save someone when no one else would or could. You charged against that Villain, while everyone else was diddling their thumbs, despite you not having a Quirk."

"That's true for you, isn't it? You charged into the fray, regardless of the risks you full-well knew you were taking, didn't you?" he asked and I felt my eyes stinging a little at someone recognizing the good in what I'd just done. This body of mine was still just that of a child's...and I was naturally weak to stuff like this anyway. Still, I kept the tears in and gave a nod. All Might smiled wide.

"What's more heroic than doing that? Quirkless or not, what you did was heroic, young man," All Might continued, smiling all the way, "The correction I want to make is to something I said earlier. I said I couldn't say you could achieve your dream with a clear conscience, right? I changed my mind. You can become a hero, young man. That, I know for certain. The scene of you charging to save that young man while everyone else stayed back...it is the perfect example of who you are as a person. You should be proud in yourself for those actions specifically."

...Ah, shit, I think a tear just slipped out of my eye and down my cheek. Goddammit. But what am I supposed to do when this is the first time anyone has sincerely said I could become a Hero? Not even mom has said it that enthusiastically.

Who knew the person I most admired, saying those words to me, is what I needed most right now?

I feel like training my ass off and turning myself into a complete monster in terms of physical prowess. The motivation, the resolve--it's like a dam had just been broken inside me.

This must be what it feels like to have the sincere belief of others. What a nice feeling.

"You, young man!" All Might pointed at me, saying in a voice filled with energy, "You are worthy to inherit my power!"

"...Eh?"