Chapter Text
From the dawn of quirks, legends have been passed around select groups, of a man who could take and give quirks, ‘curing’ people from their diseases, or granting them immense power to protect themselves or their family. The man worked from the shadows, the people he helped doing his bidding as repayment of what he had done for them. The man had gone by many names in the past, but ones that stood out the most were the Demon Lord and All For One. Not many people knew what the second name meant when they heard the whispers, but almost every criminal or villain knew the name of the Demon Lord, the one controlling the villainous underworld.
There were rumors that he wasn’t alone in the ruling, even fewer whispers mentioning a brother that stood by his side. Only a select few people knew the truth behind the brother, and how he was sickly and held captive by this Demon Lord. Forcing a quirk onto his brother, the Demon Lord expected the same servitude from his brother compared to that of his followers, but he was gravely mistaken.
But the rumors of the two brothers weren’t the only whispers on the wind. One spoke of a man who could control the elements, having a mastery over them and showcasing eminent power, seemingly having multiple quirks to allow him to do so. The whispers told stories of this man standing side by side with the Demon Lord, while others spoke of them opposing. Some even spoke of the man disappearing without a trace, never to be seen again, suspected to be killed by the Demon Lord for opposing him.
While these rumors were few and far between, some groups were more commonly spoken about throughout the underworld, battling alongside the Elemental Master or the Demon Lord. These diametrically opposing forces were known as the White Lotus and the Red Lotus. The whispers spoke of the groups maintaining an unbroken line of succession since before the dawn of quirks, dating back to the age of ‘benders’, hidden in the shadows and waiting for the perfect time to emerge back into the world. These rumors spoke of how the White Lotus were considered protectors and mentors of an ‘Avatar’ while the Red Lotus wanted to destroy said ‘Avatar’ and the world’s leaders to bring more stability back into the world.
As time went on, these rumors and whispers on the wind were lost, the Demon Lord continuing to rule the underworld from the shadows, while the ‘Elemental Master’ disappeared, never to be heard from or seen again. The White Lotus and Red Lotus also disappeared with seemingly no trace, falling back into the shadows, searching for the next avatar to train them for their own plans, continuing their tasks that had spread across many generations.
It was days after Izuku’s fourth birthday when Inko had taken him to their local doctor’s office, Dr. Tsubasa, for his yearly checkup. This was an important year for Izuku, the year that he would finally find out what quirk he was born with and be able to use.
The days leading up to the doctor’s appointment resulted in Izuku trying everything to summon a quirk similar to his mother’s or father’s quirk. He would try summoning Fire Breath continuously until he ran out of breath and almost passed out. He would try Telekinesis for hours, resulting in him receiving a pounding headache from concentrating so hard.
“I’m afraid there’s no hope for him.”
The doctor's words rang in Izuku’s ears every day after that, constantly reminding him that his dreams were shattered before he even had a chance to begin. His best friend turned against him, bullying him and beating him up almost on a daily basis. His father accepted a job in America not long after, disappearing from his family home, only heard from on the off chance when he called. While his mother worked longer hours to support them, she could only apologize to Izuku any chance she could, shouldering the blame for his quirkless status.
Izuku’s only saving grace was his notebooks that he constantly filled out with hero and quirk information, and his favorite All Might debut video on the internet. Most days he would research villain fights on the internet and break down quirks, or watch All Might’s debut video to keep him encouraged to not give up, to continue trying being a hero, regardless of his quirk status.
It wasn’t until years later, when Katsuki was picking on another student when Izuku had jumped in to protect him. The fear that Izuku felt, knowing how painful the blast from Katsuki’s quirk was, was shown in how shaky his legs were as he tried to stand above the younger kid that was being bullied.
“So Deku, the quirkless wonder, thinks he can play hero, huh?” Katsuki taunted him, punching his fist into his palm and letting an explosion go off. “Hold him still!”
Izuku panicked when the other boys approached him, throwing his hands out as if he could stop them from approaching, when a huge gust of wind pushed them backwards behind Katsuki. Everything was silent for a moment, before Katsuki exploded once more, rushing forward towards Izuku. Holding up his hands and wishing to protect himself once more, another massive wind gust pushed Katsuki back beside the other boys, tripping him so he fell onto his backside.
“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT, DEKU?” Katsuki yelled out, getting on his feet and rushing forward once more, his goonies following close behind. “YOU QUIRKLESS BASTARD!”
Once more, Izuku held out his hands, wishing to protect himself again, and summoned another massive wind gust, pushing all three of his attackers back onto their backsides, before he looked down towards his own hands. “But, I’m quirkless?” Izuku questioned quietly, before a shout indicated that Katsuki was getting back up. He quickly turned around, grabbing the younger boy’s arm. “Run! Get out of here!” The boy looked at Izuku before looking at Katsuki once more, before turning around and running as fast as he could. Izuku watched him run, turning a corner, before turning around and running in the opposite direction.
It wasn’t until he got home and caught his breath, that he looked back down towards his hands. He always thought he was quirkless, never trying to activate a quirk after being told by the doctors he was quirkless. ‘Could they have missed this?’ Izuku thought to himself, as it was nothing like his mother’s or father’s quirk, if anything it was completely the opposite.
Sitting in his room, he kept looking at his hand as if they would tell him the answers. He knew that if he summoned another powerful wind gust in his room, that all his All Might merch would be scattered, broken, or completely destroyed, but that wasn’t going to stop him from experimenting.
He concentrated on the air in his room, thinking that if he summoned the massive air gusts earlier, he should be able to move the air in his room gently. Moving his hand in a small and slow circle, he imagined that he was spinning the air around in the circle. The loose papers in his room started ruffling in the wind, including the posters along his walls, following the small and slow circle he was currently moving his hand in. Izuku watched with awe as the wind moved the papers in his room, ruffling his clothes and hair in the process, as a smile graced his face.
“The doctor was wrong.” Izuku said quietly, moving his hand in different patterns and watching as the papers followed his movements, riding the air currents he was summoning. “The doctor was wrong!” Izuku said a little more loudly, stopping his hands and letting the papers fall to the floor and the air currents to stop moving around his room. Rushing out of his room, he went to find his mother, all while shouting ‘The doctor was wrong!’.
“Toshinori! To what do I owe the pleasure?” Nezu questioned, already placing a cup of tea in the skeleton of a man in front of him.
Without saying a word, the man leaned forward and placed a ‘White Dragon’ Pai Sho tile onto Nezu’s desk, indicating his real reason for dropping by the principal’s office. Nezu looked at it for a second, before clicking a secret button built into his desk, locking down the room and activating communications interference devices, making sure nobody would disrupt them when in their meeting. Nezu reached forward and placed down his ‘White Lotus’ Pai Sho tile beside Toshinori’s tile as this was all happening.
“Grand Lotus.” Toshinori greeted.
“Grand Master.” Nezu responded.
“There have been whispers on the wind of an air bender appearing in Musutafu.” Toshinori started out. “It’s been many years since we’ve seen someone with power as great as what was reported. The last one we thought was a good possibility was Todoroki’s boy.”
Nezu hummed in acknowledgement. “I’ve been following the same reports recently, and have been searching high and low for said bender, but it seems he popped up and disappeared just as quickly.”
“Do you think they got to him first?”
“No, I’ve been keeping my eye on the missing persons that the police report and the hidden ones the HPSC have.” A light gleamed in Nezu’s eyes, pulling up both reports as he spoke, seeing if there was another update. “It seemed to have been reported in a small neighborhood not far from here, but being an older and smaller neighborhood, there are very limited recording devices in the area.”
Nezu hummed in thought, bringing up a video and twisting his screen so that Toshinori could see it. “The only thing I’ve been able to gather is this here.” Pressing play, it showed three boys attacking another boy that was cut off by the camera, the only thing visible was his red shoes and the boy on the ground behind him. The video showed the boys seemingly getting pushed back by nothing, multiple times in a row, before the fallen boy got up and ran, the red shoes disappearing not long after.
“That definitely matches the reports I’ve received.” Toshinori hummed and sat back on the couch, taking a sip of his tea. “So we know nothing of how the person looks, other than his red shoes?”
“Not exactly.” Nezu confirmed, turning his screen back towards himself. “I’ve been running reports on every person in Musutafu, looking for someone who was recently quirkless suddenly gaining power, but so far it’s come back negative.” Nezu looked at the report, thinking about what he could have missed.
“What if they never corrected their quirk status?” Toshinori questioned, causing Nezu to look towards him. “What I’m saying is, maybe suddenly gaining this power scared them? Do you think that someone this strong would be using these powers all haphazardly after being told they were quirkless?”
Nezu hummed again, looking towards the report in front of him, and realizing that Toshinori was correct. “Based on the other boys in the video, they look to be aged anywhere between ten and fourteen.” Clicking a few keys, Nezu created a new search with new parameters. “That would mean the boy in the red shoes would be somewhere around their ages, and classified as quirkless.” Nezu sat back and took a sip of his tea as the report ran, before a ding was heard.
“Izuku Midoriya.” Nezu confirmed. “Diagnosed as quirkless by the age of four, father works in America, and mother works long hours to put food on the table.” Nezu hummed, looking over the report, before clicking on his school record. “Black marks all over his school record, most showing that he commonly got into fights with one named Katsuki Bakugo.” Nezu hummed again, looking at the description on some of the reports. “These seem to be all forged.”
“And that means?” Toshinori questioned.
Nezu didn’t respond, instead bringing up the profile of Katsuki to see if the records matched that of Izuku’s, and found them to be spotless. “It seems that Aldera is trying to make one student look good while making the other look like the problem.” Nezu growled slightly, before straightening his features. “If Izuku has these many reports against him, I can see why he never tried to summon a quirk again after being told he was quirkless all those years ago.”
“So what now? Do we step in?”
“No.” Nezu responded immediately. “If one of us steps in, they will know right away that we are suspicious. What we need now is someone who is lesser known keeping an eye on him.” Nezu hummed again, bringing up a list of who he could trust and a secret list of the Order of the White Lotus members that he knew of. “And I think I have the perfect person for the job.”
Ochako could count on one hand how many times she had been to Musutafu. Her parents rarely ever left Meiwa, either not having a reason to leave, work keeping them busy, or just not having the extra funds for them all. When her parents did leave Meiwa, it was on a special occasion to look at job sites or see if they could get higher quality material for cheaper, Ochako usually stayed home during these times.
This time was strictly work related, and for some reason, their potential employers wanted their whole family to come along. Ochako was unsure of coming along, opting to save her parent’s money for more important things, knowing that she could take care of herself if they needed to leave for a few days, but when her parents had said the tickets were bought for them, she had no reason to refuse.
Uraraka’s Construction was one of the lesser-known companies in the Mei prefecture, but they had some loyal customers who trusted their work over any of their competition, and for good reason too. Her parents always went the extra mile to make sure everything exceeded code when building, and while it cost them more money to do so, it resulted in these buildings lasting years into the future. Ochako often walks by some of her parents' work that was built when she was younger, and still admires how they still stand tall and proud compared to some of the other jobs around it.
Ochako wanted to help her parents when she finished school, her quirk, Zero Gravity, would have been perfect for reducing costs on moving equipment, or helping to build by removing the weight of said items. Her parents had refused her help over the years, instead telling her to follow her dreams of being a hero like her favorite hero, Space Hero: Thirteen.
It was during their walk to their potential new jobsite when tragedy struck. While walking down one of the major streets, a villain was running from heroes, landing in front of a car before jumping away again. This surprised the person driving the car, causing them to slam on their brakes and lose control. Ochako could see it happening in slow motion as the car slammed onto the sidewalk and into a building, running over an older gentleman with a mutant quirk in the process, causing him to be pinned under the car.
Without thinking, Ochako rushed forward, ignoring the screams of her parents behind her. She reached towards the car and slammed all five fingers against the side, feeling the effects immediately in her stomach as the weight approached her limit. Lifting the weightless car off the older gentleman, she grabbed him with all five of her fingers, feeling his weight removed, she dragged him out from under the car.
She quickly placed her fingers together, feeling the side effects lessen before checking on the person driving the car, making sure they were okay, before a hero arrived on scene. Looking up, she saw the towering figure of a man standing beside her, removing the person from the car, making sure they were fine before they looked down towards her. Ochako smiled at the hero, her mind telling her that everything was fine now, now that All Might was here, before her vision started to blur. She turned around and puked up her breakfast, and with the adrenaline leaving her, she swayed a second, before collapsing onto the ground and blacking out.
“Do you plan to go through with it?” A voice questioned from behind her on the rooftop. Swinging around and activating her quirk, she aimed the rifle directly at the smaller mammal who just seemed to smile at her.
“Nezu.” Kaina said, lowering her arm and dropping her quirk. She turned back around to look towards the HPSC offices that she had a meeting in soon. She had intel that it was a setup, but the source was unknown, and she wasn’t sure if she should trust it. Nezu jumped up on the edge of the building, sitting down and swinging his paws over the side, looking towards the same building that Kaina was looking at.
“You never answered my question.” Nezu said, not taking his eyes off the building in front of them.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Sir.” Kaina responded, taking a seat beside the small mammal.
“You’re an interesting one, Kaina.” Nezu responded, causing Kaina to look towards him. “I remember when you used to be so full of life when you first became a hero.” He hummed in thought. “Before the HPSC got their dirty hands on you, threatening you to comply.”
Kaina just scuffed at the mammal, and decided not to respond. She knew that over the years she had changed. All she ever wanted when she first became a hero was to help people, and when the HPSC took interest in her, she thought it was finally her chance. How wrong she had been when she was younger. She looked off into the distance, seeing the last traces of the sun disappearing behind the horizon, indicating that her meeting would be soon.
“I know you’ve read the files I sent you.” Nezu started, causing Kaina to look back towards him. “They plan to get rid of you, because of how much you know.” He placed a ‘Night Iris’ Pai Sho tile down between them, causing Kaina to raise her eyebrow in question. “I have a task for you, and a permanent position at UA, if you accept.” Nezu moved to stand up and start walking away. “When you’re ready to be a hero, a true hero, bring me that Night Iris.”
Kaina picked up the Night Iris tile, inspecting it, before looking over her shoulder to find she was alone once more. She inspected the tile for a minute, before shoving it into her pocket. “A true hero, huh?” She questioned out loud to nobody in particular.
Pulling out her HeroPhone, she opened the documents that were sent to her. ‘RatGod’ had contacted her out of the blue, and when she went to question who exactly they were, the contact showed that it didn’t exist and she couldn’t reply to them. Based on what Nezu had told her tonight, she now knew exactly who the ‘RatGod’ was, so she decided to look over the documents once more.
Files upon files of all the villains she had taken care of,the last few being corrupt heroes they had forced her to take out, threatening her with consequences if she didn’t take the jobs. The last document she opened showed that during their meeting tonight, she would kill the current President while all of her other documents would be released alongside his death, showing the world what kind of ‘hero’ she actually was.
She put her HeroPhone away, before pushing her palms into her eyes, releasing a frustrated sigh, before lowering her hands. Opening her eyes and looking towards her hands, she could almost see the bloodshed she had caused by all her confirmed kills and coverups, all ‘in the name of peace’. She took out the Pai Sho tile again, flipping it over in her fingers a few times as she looked towards the building in front of her.
“So you think you can make everything disappear?” Kaina questioned quietly, still flipping the tile back and forth between fingers. “That I can finally have a chance to become the hero I always wanted to be?” Lining up the tile on her thumb, she flipped it through the air, before catching it once more, holding it directly in front of her. “What more do I have to lose?”
Ochako could hear muffled voices as she slowly woke up, attempting to open her eyes, before slamming them tightly shut once more as the bright lights above her blinded her. Lifting up her arm, she covered her eyes as she slowly opened them once more, she quickly realized she was lying in a hospital bed, while All Might was standing beside her bedside talking to a shorter nurse.
The shorter woman slammed her cane into All Might’s shin. “Dammit woman! What’d I do this time?” The woman shook her hand slightly, before pointing her cane directly towards Ochako, causing All Might to look over. “You’re awake!” All Might exclaimed, moving towards the bed, and looking down towards Ochako. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay, I think?” Ochako questioned, looking between All Might and the nurse. “What happened? Where are my parents?” She tried to look around the hulking form of a man with little success.
“You passed out from quirk exhaustion.” The nurse confirmed, causing Ochako to cross her arms over her stomach as if expecting the pain to return at any moment. “This big oaf rushed you here as soon as he could, thinking something else had happened. Your parents are waiting outside.”
“But, why are you still here, All Might?” Ochako questioned. “I mean, I’m thankful for you looking out for me, but weren’t there other people at the scene of the accident that needed help?”
“Well, you see…” All Might started out, scratching the back of his head awkwardly as he looked towards the nurse.
“Don’t look at me for your answers. This is your mess.” The nurse responded instantly.
“Thank you, Recovery Girl, for summing that up.” All Might deadpanned as the nurse cackled to herself. All Might looked back towards Ochako, seemingly thinking of the words he wanted to say. “I wanted to question you on why you acted the way you did.” All Might clarified. “I arrived on scene to see you floating the car and pulling the older gentleman out, while the other heroes on scene barely reacted.”
Ochako looked down towards her hand for a moment, thinking about why she did what she did. “…I don’t know?” Ochako sounded unsure as she spoke. “I mean, I saw the villain land in front of the car before jumping away. I saw the car lose control, and I saw the older gentleman get run over.” Ochako hummed in thought for a moment. “It’s like, my body acted on its own? I heard my parents yelling towards me as I ran, but I couldn’t stop myself. All I could see was the man lying under the car, and knew I could help him.” She looked back up towards All Might. “Am I in trouble? I didn’t mean to use my quirk, but that man was being crushed! Oh my gosh, is the man okay?” Ochako quickly changed subject as she realized she never heard about the older gentleman with the mutant quirk.
“The man you saved is recovered and already released from the hospital, thanks to your quick thinking.” The nurse informed her. “Both his legs were broken from the impact, but other than a few scrapes and bruises, he survived.”
“Oh thank goodness.” Ochako said, letting the tension in her shoulders relax.
“Did you know that most of today’s greatest heroes show signs of greatness even as children?” All Might questioned Ochako, causing her to look up towards him. “What you explained to me was proof of that. Your body moved before your mind could even think of what to do.” Ochako let her mouth open up slightly in surprise, and was about to respond when she was cut off. “Which is why I’d like to offer you a proposition! I would like to make you my successor!”
Ever since Izuku’s quirk manifested, he practiced any chance he could, learning what he could do. He deducted that his quirk was Air Manipulation, allowing him to control the air around him. From creating the major wind gusts when it first manifested, to moving air around his room to ruffle his papers, hair, and clothes, to having full control of the temperature of the air around him, allowing him to stay cool on the warmest days, or warm in the coolest of mornings/evenings. He suspected that with a bit more practice and concentration on controlling the power of his quirk that he could possibly use it to float above the ground, or even fly.
Inko had been ecstatic for him when he had shown her that he finally manifested his quirk, and had offered to help him anyway she possibly could, including finding teachers or quirk counselors for him to use. Izuku knew how much those could cost, and knowing that his mother struggled some weeks to put food on the table for them, told her that he would practice as much as he could without someone to help him.
Katsuki had been more aggressive towards Izuku following the day his quirk manifested, and would often seek him out throughout the day. Most days, Izuku could dodge around him and his goonies, and the days that he couldn’t, resulted in Izuku controlling the temperature just enough to make Katsuki’s quirk ineffective against him. Not only did this make Katsuki even more aggressive towards him, calling him a ‘useless’ or ‘worthless’ or ‘weak’ Deku, but it often caused him to react just as aggressively with his fists and other means of hurting him. No matter how much Izuku tried to reason with Katsuki, it always ended in the same result.
The following weeks after his quirk manifested, Izuku felt like he was being watched anytime he left his apartment. It was a different feeling than when Katsuki used to stalk him, as this one didn’t feel as aggressive, and when he looked towards where he thought the feeling was coming from, he could never see anything.
He felt the most unease when he would train on Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, as it felt like he was being watched from multiple places, all at once, while also not being watched at all. He considered finding somewhere else to train his quirk, but that proved to be a waste of time because there were hardly any other places where he could openly train his quirk without the risk of being caught for public quirk usage. Dagobah was perfect for that exact reason, not many people came to the dumping ground of a beach, other than to dump more trash, and the piles of trash and the winds off the ocean allowed him to mask the usage of his quirk perfectly.
It was one early morning when he arrived on the beach for his training, that he encountered a scene he never thought he would experience in a million years. Standing at the top of the stairs and looking towards the beach, he found All Might sitting on top of a fridge in civilian clothes, while a girl around his age seemed to be trying to pull said fridge. He raised his eyebrow in question, before descending the stairs, controlling the air and sound currents around him to make him silent on his approach.
“This fridge makes quite the comfy perch!” All Might called out to the struggling girl, before she collapsed onto the sand.
“Why am I dragging this garbage across the beach anyways?” The girl panted out, still lying on the ground, but rolling onto her back to look towards the sky.
“The way your body is now is no good to be a successor of mine!” All Might exclaimed, taking a picture of the girl on the ground.
“Successor?” Izuku questioned, causing both parties to freeze and look towards him. “Uhh… Hi?”
Within a heartbeat, All Might was standing in front of Izuku, his hand on his shoulder, holding him firmly in place. “How long have you been standing there? How much did you hear? Explain yourself!”
“I’m sorry! I just got here! I came here to train! I didn’t think anybody else used this beach! I didn’t hear anything, I swear! My lips are sealed!” Izuku panicked, the words flowing out of his mouth faster than he could think of them. He could still feel the giant hand of All Might’s on his shoulder, and he was hoping and praying he didn’t stumble across anything he wasn’t supposed to. “I’m sorry!” Izuku cried again.
There was a sound of a rifle clicking into place and being placed against the Number One Hero’s head. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, All Might.” The newcomer said. “He’s under my protection.”
“Lady Nagant.” All Might said, releasing his hand from Izuku’s shoulder, causing him to stumble back and land on his backside, looking towards the newcomer shoving a rifle into the side of All Might’s head. “I heard you disappeared.”
“I did, and for good reason.” Kaina moved around All Might to stand beside Izuku, her rifle barrel never moving from his head. “The Grand Lotus made me disappear.” Kaina dug into her pocket, before tossing the Pai Sho tile towards All Might, who caught it gracefully and held it in front of him.
“The Night Iris.” All Might hummed in thought, tossing back the Pai Sho tile. “The Grand Lotus informed me he had found someone, but never mentioned who.” All Might looked from Kaina towards Izuku who was looking between the two heroes in front of him, mirrored by the look of the girl on the other side of All Might, still panting from exhaustion. “Which means this is who I think it is. Has he shown any other signs?”
“Not from the time I started watching him.” Kaina admitted, lowering her rifle and making the gun disappear. “He practices here most days, which is why he’s here this morning.” Kaina looked past All Might towards the girl on the ground. “Successor? Grand Lotus informed me of the ‘need to know’ when it came to her.”
“Whoa, back up a second.” Izuku said, stumbling to get to his feet, standing between the heroes. The girl mirrored him, standing behind All Might more than standing between them. “Grand Lotus? Night Iris? Successor? Can someone explain what is going on?” Izuku questioned, looking between both heroes, before focusing on Kaina. “And you’ve been following me? Why?”
The two heroes looked between each other, before looking back down towards Izuku. They both seemed to want to say something, before Kaina’s HeroPhone rang, causing her to whip it out. “It’s the RatGod.” She told All Might, getting a curt nod, she answered the phone. “Nagant.”
“Nagant, All Might. Bring them both to UA. Now.” Nezu said firmly, before ending the phone call.
“UA? What does UA have anything to do with this? And you still haven’t answered my questions!” Izuku exclaimed.
“Need a lift?” All Might questioned Kaina.
“It sounded pretty serious, so we might as well.” Kaina responded, shrugging, before turning towards Izuku. “We’re taking the express train. Best to keep your eyes and mouth closed.”
“What does that mean?” Izuku questioned, before Kaina jumped onto All Might’s back and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on for dear life. All Might moved and picked up both teenagers without struggle, and before either could protest, jumped.
“Am I a mouse, a dog, or a bear? It doesn’t matter because I’m Nezu, UA’s principal!”
“You’re Nezu?!” Izuku questioned.
“You’re UA’s Principal?!” Ochako questioned at the same time.
Nezu chuckled to himself, before he activated the hidden button on his desk. The room commenced to lock itself down, shutters closing over the windows and doors, indicating that nobody was getting in or out of this room currently, while the communication interference device activated.
“What’s going on?” Izuku asked, watching as the shutters locked the room up, before looking back towards Nezu.
All Might and Kaina walked forward, putting their Pai Sho tiles onto the desk, to which Nezu also put his beside them. “Grand Lotus.” Both heroes said, and slightly bowed towards the mammal.
“Welcome, Izuku Midoriya, and Ochako Uraraka!” Nezu cheerily said, ignoring the greetings from the heroes who stood behind the students. “I bet you both have some questions for us. This room is completely sealed and will not allow anybody to enter or exit, and the CID, or communication interference device, will block all communications from entering or leaving the room.”
“But why go through all of this?” Izuku looked towards Ochako to see the same confused look. “I mean, I understand Uraraka and being All Might’s successor.” Ochako ‘eep’ed and looked away, still not used to being called All Might’s successor. “But why me?”
“All Might?” Nezu questioned, gesturing the Number One Hero forward.
“What you are about to witness, Young Midoriya, does not leave this room.” All Might said, before a bunch of steam started pouring off him.
“ALL MIGHT!” Izuku exclaimed, jumping up to his feet, before a frail looking man stood in the hero's spot. “An imposter?” Izuku questioned, slowly backing up and sitting down.
“I can assure you that I am not an imposter.” All Might said, lifting up his shirt. “A villain did this to me five years ago, resulting in the form you see before yourself.”
“Toxic Chainsaw did that?” Izuku questioned, looking at the gnarly scar in All Might’s side.
All Might chuckled. “You’ve done your research.” He became serious once more, lowering his shirt. “No, Toxic Chainsaw couldn’t even land a scratch on me. This was done by a supervillain that nobody heard of, because we made sure it was covered up.”
Izuku nodded slowly, before looking back up towards All Might. “But, All Might, why tell me?”
“Please, call me Toshinori Yagi while I look like this.” Toshinori waited until receiving a nod from Izuku before continuing. “You asked about my successor.” Toshinori said simply, gesturing a hand towards Ochako who blushed and looked away. “But you also asked what these tiles meant.” Toshinori reached behind him and picked up the three tiles, handing them to Izuku. Ochako looked over towards the tiles, watching Izuku inspect them. “These are Pai Sho tiles, normally used in a game of Pai Sho.”
“I’ve never heard of it.” Ochako said, reaching forward and taking one of the tiles for herself, inspecting it.
“It was a game played thousands of years ago.” Nezu explained. “The tiles in your hands were used almost like chess pieces, each meaning a different point. The rumors say the game was invented by spirits, and was quite popular all over the world. It was a game of strategy and chance, and each culture or nation had their own rules of playing.”
“But that doesn’t answer my questions from earlier.” Izuku handed the next tile to Ochako, before inspecting the last.
“The game of Pai Sho has been lost to time, even if you could find some varieties of it across the world, not many people understand how to play anymore.” Nezu explained. “No, instead it represents a secret society of people, called ‘The Order of the White Lotus’.”
“That’s what this tile is, right?” Izuku held up the tile in his hand, showing the mammal.
“Correct, Izuku. That tile is usually held by the ‘Grand Lotus’. The other two tiles in front of you two are the ‘White Dragon’ and the ‘Night Iris’.” Nezu confirmed, still watching Izuku and Ochako examine the tiles, before handing them back to Toshinori. “Toshinori’s tile is the ‘White Dragon’ and he goes by the rank of ‘Grand Master’.”
“My tile is called the ‘Night Iris’ because the Rat thought it would be funny.” Kaina said, taking the tile from Toshinori, and holding it up. “My ranking is ‘Apprentice’, having learned of the Order not long ago, and learning from both the Grand Lotus and Grand Master respectively. My task was to protect you, Midoriya, from the members of the Red Lotus, or whoever wished to cause you harm.”
“Cause me harm? Why would someone want to cause me harm?” Izuku questioned, before looking away. “Other than Kacchan, of course…” Nezu’s eyes glinted in the light, his smile never leaving his face, as he listened to Izuku mumble to himself quietly.
“We believe you are the next Avatar.” Toshinori explained simply.
“Avatar?” Izuku questioned, looking towards Ochako and receiving a shrug in response.
“The Avatar is an old legend, a person who could master all elements with ease. It was claimed that the Avatar was the only person who could bring harmony and peace within the nations.” Nezu explained. “While the Avatar was lost for multiple centuries, one appeared near the dawn of quirks, attempting to bring peace to the world when people were lost, confused, and scared.”
“The Order of the White Lotus was a secretive society tasked with finding the next Avatar and helping them train while also protecting them. The Red Lotus was also a secretive society whose only goal was to take down the Avatar and restore the world’s order to before the world leaders rose up.” Toshinori followed up.
“Whoa, hold up a second. How can I be the next Avatar? I only have Air Manipulation.” Izuku explained.
“Is that what you’re calling it?” Nezu hummed. “We are almost one hundred percent sure of you being the next Avatar, but there are multiple ways to verify. The first clue for us was that you were deemed quirkless from a young age, having the second pinky toe joint, and didn’t activate your ‘Air Manipulation’ until recently. The second clue was the power of your attacks when you first activated it.” Nezu turned the monitor around, showing him the video of Izuku protecting another kid. Ochako looked over at him in amazement, seeing how scared he was and still stood up for the kid. “The third clue was that your quirk didn’t match those of your parents.”
“But that just sounds like I was a late bloomer.” Izuku tried to reason. “I haven’t been able to control any other elements.”
“But have you tried?” Kaina questioned from behind him. “Since I started watching you, I haven’t seen you attempt anything other than Air Manipulation.”
“Well, no, I haven’t.” Izuku responded honestly, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. “Having two quirks is unheard of unless it was a combination of their parents, so I never considered trying a different element.”
Nezu hummed in thought, before looking towards Kaina. “Kaina, please get me a jug of water. I want to test a theory.” She nodded, quickly crossing the room and filling up the jug that was placed beside the sink, before bringing it back over towards Nezu’s desk and placing it on top. “I want you to close your eyes, Izuku, and focus on the water in this jug. Do whatever you think is best with the water.” Nezu explained.
“Okay.” Izuku took a deep breath, holding out his hand towards the jug in front of him, focusing on the water within the jug, and imagined lifting it into a sphere like he normally did with Air Manipulation. Hearing a gasp from Ochako beside him, he opened his eyes to see the water in a small ball hovering above the jug, before getting excited and letting it drop back into the jug with a plop. “I did it!”
“That proves my theory correct.” Nezu explained. “Izuku, you are the next Avatar.” Nezu jumped onto the desk, bowing slightly, while the other two heroes in the room bowed slightly towards him as well. “We will be available for anything you may have questions about or may need help with in the future.”