A Champion Returns Home, Part 1
Utter chaos. That’s what it was. It was utter chaos all over the Kamino ward. The League of Villains had kidnapped the winner of the UA Sports Festival, Katsuki Bakugou, and were holding him hostage.
Thankfully, All Might and a coalition of heroes responded promptly to rescue the boy and arrest The League.
Sadly, things didn’t go down quite that easily.
The rescue had spiraled out of control as soon as the heroes ambushed the league at their hideout.
Bakugou was within All-Might’s grasp but that was When AFO decided to whisk the boy away to a different battlefield
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“Dammit! I knew I should have gone to rescue him!” shouted Kirishima into his computer screen. After the fiasco that was the Training Camp, many of the students were hospitalized with Bakugou, in particular, getting captured.
Kirishima wanted to mount a rescue for his friend but no one else was willing to stick their necks out for the class bully. When Kirishima attempted to go after Bakugou himself, Iida alerted the proper authorities which ended with Kirishima being placed under house arrest until the operation was concluded.
Kirishima held his head in his hands before looking back up at the screen. “Please don’t let this be it for him…”
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“You have so much in common with Nana Shimura, the utter waste of a human that passed One For All onto you.”
All Might was on his last dregs of power. One For All was fading fast and his Muscle Form was breaking down. If All Might didn’t end this fight soon his secret would be revealed to the world.
All For One, on the other hand, didn’t care. As a matter of fact, this is exactly what he wanted. While All Might had him pinned, All For One attacked the one weakness he knew would always work.
His detestable master.
“My master was a true hero! Keep her name out of your filthy mouth!” All Might struggled to say. By the end of it, he even choked out blood.
But All For One didn’t stop. “A woman whose skill and grand ideas she couldn’t live up to. How embarrassing for me, the creator of One For All, to see her inherit the power. And the way she died was so pathetic.”
All For One twisted the dagger further. “Shall I tell you all about it!”
“ENOUGH!!!”
Just as All Might was about to deliver another devastating haymaker, All For One countered with an overpowered combination of quirks that sent All Might rocketing toward a news chopper.
All Might could only hope that they didn’t get a good look at his weakening form.
Before All Might could make contact with the aircraft, something caught him.
“Gran Torino!!” All Might yelled.
“It’s the same as last time!” Gran Torino said in his grizzled voice while carrying his former student. “Toshinori, calm down!”
They landed back on the ground in front of All For One. “You can’t let him get under your skin,” Gran Torino admonished.
“Yes, sir,” All Might said weakly.
“His quirks and fighting style are completely different than they were, you won’t be able to stop him head-on. Use your witts! Can you still fight? It’s do-or-die. You must go past your limit!”
All Might knew he didn’t have much power left but even so, he couldn’t back down now. Not while that monster stood before him.
“I will,” said All Might haggardly, yet resolutely.
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While All-Might was preoccupied with fighting AFO, Bakugou could sit there frozen as he watched some unknown villain stand on equal footing with the Symbol of Peace. He matched All-Might blow for blow. Sometimes he even got the upper hand.
This was too much for Bakugou’s ego to take. He was supposed to be the one to surpass All-Might. This villain was getting in the way of everyone acknowledging he was best.
The League had gone through the trouble of kidnapping him. They had to know that he was on his way to being the new number 1, so why was he being ignored?
I’ll show that extra who he should be paying attention to!
With a goal in mind, Bakugou immediately began to charge AFO.
Too bad he wouldn’t reach him…
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From the perspective of the civilians, what they were witnessing was unbelievable. A villain they had never heard of was pushing back All Might. And what's worse, All Might looked like he was in pretty bad shape.
No one put the situation into perspective better than the news chopper on sight.
“The scene below is straight out of a nightmare! Half of Kamino Ward was blown away with a single attack! All Might is fighting the villain who appears to have caused the blast! I can’t believe it! How is one person so powerful!? He destroyed the city and is more than holding his own against the Symbol Of Peace!”
The news coverage of the incident was shocking. The utterly devastating power on display by the villain was demoralizing to the citizens and heroes of Japan and abroad. If All Might, the pillar that held up the peace of society the world over, was struggling like this then what could anyone else do?”
The UA teachers who were not present for the raid were a mess. Vlad, Eraser, and Nezu looked crestfallen from watching all of their efforts in planning the raid go up in smoke. The only sliver of hope they had left was to pray that All Might pulled through.
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Over on I-Island, Melissa and her father, who was still under house arrest, watched as their dear family friend fought tooth and nail to stop the rampaging villain. It wasn’t all that long ago that they watched All Might struggle against another no-name villain. After witnessing that fight, it became clear to both of them that Toshinori was getting weaker, and worst of all, this fight was going to reveal that fact to the world.
Damnit, Toshi! This was the kind of scenario that I was trying to prevent! The world needs a symbol of peace! Without you, the world doesn’t stand a chance! David couldn’t stand what he was seeing! His best and oldest friend was on the last dregs of his power, using everything he had and it still wasn’t enough. He’d already lost his wife years ago and the thought of losing one of the few friends he had left especially after the stunt he pulled was too much for him. He was honestly tempted to steal the Starlin Ring again and use the experimental teleportation technology his interns had been working on to get it to Toshi in time. The consequences didn’t matter if it meant his friend would at least live to see another day.
Before David could stand up to follow through with his new decision, a hand gripped his wrist. The knuckles were bone white and shaking as if the owner of the hand was desperately looking for something to cling onto. David looked over at his daughter, Melissa. She was as white as a ghost as she turned to him and asked, “Dad? Uncle Toshi’s not going to die is he?”
That question was like a bucket of cold water to the face. If he went through with this plan in his head and Toshi still died, not only would she be without her dear uncle, but David himself would unceremoniously be thrown in jail for not only breaking his house arrest but also committing the same crime he was arrested for. Thus leaving his daughter effectively all alone in the world. He couldn’t do that, not to her.
David sat back down, wrapped his daughter up in a tight hug, and reassured her that her ‘Uncle Might’ would pull through. That seemed to comfort her. David just hoped and prayed to god that Toshi wouldn’t make a liar out of him.
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Mitsuki couldn’t watch anymore. The last seventy-two hours had been hell for her. Her son had been taken by the same group that had been harassing his school for the last while, the League of Villains.
And what was worse was that Mitsuki didn’t even know if her son had been rescued or not. If he was, did that even matter? Mitsuki knew that was a dreadful thought for a mother to have about their own son’s rescue but she couldn’t help it. Right there on her tv screen for both her husband and herself to see along with everyone else in the world, All Might was essentially struggling to win a fight and in pretty bad shape while the villain looked almost no worse for wear.
“Masaru, I’ll be in the kitchen. Tell me if anything changes. I can’t stand to see any more of this.”
“Alright, honey.”
Mitsuki got up from the sofa she was sitting on and headed to her destination. She sat at the kitchen table and planted her face in her hands while she let her thoughts become a storm of regret, fear, anger, grief, and despair.
Why did things have to turn out like this? She thought while thinking of the past.
Growing up, Mitsuki didn’t have many friends thanks to the fact that her quirk was hard to detect thus resulting in her being misdiagnosed as quirkless. It also didn’t help that she was prettier than most girls her age. If she wasn’t getting bullied then she was getting harassed by boys who only had one thing on their minds.
Through it all, she had only one friend, Inko Midoriya. Inko didn’t care about her quirkless status or her looks, she was just a really great friend. Whether it was stepping to bullies, driving away stalkers, or just hanging out and being typical high school girls, Inko would always stick with her through thick and thin.
It was even Inko who introduced her to Masaru during their short stint as models. Then she did the same for Inko by introducing her to Hisashi during the latter half of their college years.
The years following their respective relationships were blissful. They both got married, settled down in similar areas, they even had kids around the same time.
But problems started to rear their head again in Mitsuki’s life. The first sign came when Izuku’s quirk diagnosis came in.
He was quirkless.
No biggie, Mitsuki thought at the time, it’s true there aren’t many quirkless kids in little Izu’s generation, but I doubt that kids would be so cruel.
Sadly, kids could be very cruel. Mitsuki had forgotten how rough her life was when she was thought to be quirkless. The bullying, the name-calling, and the assaults, all came rushing back to the forefront of her mind, but it was worse this time. Because not only was it happening to her Godson, her own son was the usual instigator of it.
From there the bad news just continued to pile on. Eventually, Izuku stopped interacting with the people around him. He even stopped going outside until one day he just…vanished.
There was no sign of him anywhere. No sign of forced entry into his room let alone the apartment. For weeks they searched for him but nothing came up. Inko was heartbroken, her baby boy had up and vanished without a trace.
Eventually, they had to call off the search and Mitsuki had to reveal the truth to her son. She sat him down after school one day and broke the news to him gently. What she heard in return was the last thing she expected to hear from her own flesh and blood.
“Good! That waste of space isn’t gonna be missed anyhow so it’s about time he did everyone a favor and pissed off. I can’t believe that quirkless waste of space is even my godbrother. Aunty Inko and uncle Hisashi would have been much better off getting rid of him and trying for another kid instead.”
SMACK
It was instantaneous. Her son’s cheek was red and there was a mark in the shape of her hand on his face. Mitsuki didn’t know what came over her, but suffice it to say, her relationship with her son was never the same after that. She still loved him dearly, but there was a gulf between the two of them from that day forward.
Then the worst possible thing that could happen in that situation happened. Hisashi, on his way back from his overseas job, died in a plane crash.
Inko was heartbroken. She was all alone in the world. Her son was missing and her husband just died. At first, it seemed like she would be alright, then she stopped going out as much, and soon she wouldn’t return Mitsuki’s calls, then finally one day Mitsuki got a call from the hospital. It was about Inko.
She died.
It wasn’t from suicide like she had been dreading, or murder, or even an accident. She just didn’t wake up one day. The doctor said that she had died of a broken heart. When Mitsuki heard that she hauled off and slugged the doctor in the nose. If it weren’t for Masaru’s quick thinking, they would have been slapped with a lawsuit.
After that, the world just didn’t seem to have as much light in it. Yes, her life was what one could call idyllic; they were upper-middle class, she didn’t have to work a day in her adult life thanks to her husband’s successful fashion company, and her son graduated top of his class from middle school, and was the top incoming freshman of UA, she still got recognized on the street by passersby thanks to her past modeling career, and to top it all off, she had a fulfilling married sex life with Masaru. She could reasonably say her life was perfect. But nothing could really take away the pain of watching her best and longest friend's life spiral down the drain while hers just continued to get better.
And now some villain was here to deliver the killing blow. If All Might failed then society would fail right along with him.
Mitsuki sank back down into her chair and let the dread of her past memories wash over her. She stayed like that for quite a while until her husband called to her.
“Mitsuki! You need to get in here!” Masaru’s voice was panicked yet strangely hopeful.
Maybe All-Might managed to pull through after all.
Mitsuki came back into the living room where Masaru looked like he’d seen a ghost. “Mitsuku! Look!” he pointed at the tv where All-Might still looked as bad as he did when she left. This time however someone was standing in front of him, defending him. That was a surreal thought, All-Might being defended.
The figure in question wore a military bomber jacket over a green, black, and gold bodysuit with a gold starburst emblem on the chest and a green sash around the waist.
Mitsuki looked back at her husband in exasperation. “Masaru, honey, I’m not in the mood to geek out with you about hero fashion. I realize that’s a very good ensemble that the new hero is wearing but I think this is hardly the time considering the situation.”
“No Mitsuki, not his suit, look at his face!” Masaru was never one to raise his voice so when he did it usually got people’s attention.
Mitsuki complied and looked at the new hero's face. The first thing she noticed was that he was young, like, still-in-hero-school young.
He’s probably just some overzealous hero student trying to get his fifteen minutes of fame. But that can’t be what Masaru wanted me to see.
Doubling her efforts, Mitsuki looked for anything else that would warrant her husband’s demands that she come see this.
The first thing she noticed was the freckles. They were in a diamond-shaped pattern on his cheeks.
That looks familiar.
Next, she noticed his undercut of black and green hair.
They’re the same shade as…
Mitsuki’s heart began to pound.
No, it can’t be! He went missing over a decade ago! He would have come back to us much sooner if he was still alive!
Mitsuki saw the aura of power surrounding the young man and how the area and people around him were completely untouched by the villain’s attack.
That can’t possibly be him! He was diagnosed quirkless and even if it was a misdiagnosis, there’s no way he would be strong enough to defend against a villain All-Might was struggling against with so little apparent effort!
Mitsuki then turned her eyes to the one place she had been avoiding for the longest, his expression. She looked into the young man’s eyes and her legs gave out under her. There he was, for the whole world to see with Inko’s fiery eyes and Hisashi’s calm smile. He’d grown tall and lean like his father and still had a slight baby face like his mother.
Then he spoke.
“Have no fear, All Might. For I am here.”
It was like hearing the timbre of Hisashi with the gentleness of Inko’s voice.
Mitsuki put her hands over her mouth as tears ran down her face uncontrollably. She wanted to speak but her voice was caught. She didn’t need to though because Masaru knew exactly what she wanted to say.
He joined her on the floor and wrapped his arms around her and said, “Little Izu’s back, isn’t he?”
With those words, the dam broke as Mitsuki cried into Masaru’s chest. They weren’t tears of sorrow though, they were tears of joy.
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FLASHBACK
FOUR YEARS OLD
Adults often think that children are stupid. The smarter the adult thinks they are, the dumber they think the child is.
One such example is the doctor who diagnosed Izuku as quirkless. He thought he did a good job hiding the enjoyment he found in brutally revealing the boy’s quirkless status. The truth is, he only hid it from Inko who was beside herself with worry for her baby.
Izuku on the other hand, Izuku could read him like an open book.
He’s enjoying this, isn’t he? He keeps talking down to my mother and me, keeps emphasizing that I won’t amount to much, and keeps smirking as if no one can see him.
Izuku looked down and away from the doctor, clenching his shorts. I don’t like this doctor, he’s a bad man.
After his doctor’s visit, word got out about Izuku’s quirkless status and things changed drastically for him, almost overnight. His friends turned on him, the teachers ignored him, and his mother treated him like glass. The last straw came when Izuku asked his mother a question
Mom? Can I be a hero…like him?
Inko slowly walked toward her son as she profusely apologized.
I’m sorry, Izuku.
After that, Izuku often just locked himself in his room to get away from reality. It was on one such night that ‘it’ happened.
“Stupid Kacchan! Stupid Tsubasa! It’s not my fault their scores were lower than mine on today’s quiz!”
As Izuku cried into his pillow, a blue portal opened up above his bed and sucked him into it, whisking him off to god knows where.
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The portal spat Izuku out in front of a blonde man in a red and black suit carrying an unconscious blonde woman away from a machine that looked like it was about to explode.
“Kid!? What are you doing there? You need to run!” came the voice of the blonde man.
Izuku, crying even more now, tried to comply but immediately tripped as soon as he made a break for it.
With no time to spare and the explosion hot on his heels, the blond man made a mad dash for Izuku and immediately used his body to shield him and the unconscious woman from the blast.
Little did they know what ramifications this would have on the boy and the woman.
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“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘YOU CAN'T FIND HIS PARENTS?’” yelled Carol at the top of her voice. She was currently stationed in an office with a two-way mirror on one of the walls. Carol was reasonably sure the mirror lead to wherever they were keeping Izuku.
“Not only can I not find his parents, but I also can’t find any record of Izuku himself anywhere in the world, let alone, in Japan. There isn’t even a city anywhere in the world called Musutafu.” The Military Intelligence agent kept her cool even though Carol wasn’t keeping hers.
“That can’t be right. Little kids don’t just appear out of thin air!” Carol processed what she went through and what she knew about Dr. Lawson. “You don’t think he’s an alien, do you?”
The intelligence agent shook her head. “That’s hard to determine since whatever ‘changed’ you also ‘changed’ him. I think the more important question is who is going to look after the boy.” the intelligence agent gave a knowing look to Carol. She didn’t like the implications.
“I can’t raise him! I have a career to think about! I can’t even speak Japanese fluently!”
“He actually speaks English quite fluently, which is surprising for someone so young. Also, you’re his best option right now.”
That halted Carol’s initial next comment. “What do you mean?”
“If you don’t take him he’ll either go to SHIELD, become a ward of the U.S Military or go into the foster care system of either America or Japan and you’ve seen how people respond to mutants or in this case, people they think are mutants. He’s not gonna do well.”
Carol still hesitated.
“Carol, look,” the agent directed her attention to the two-way mirror. While they were talking, the mirror was opaque and couldn’t be seen through, that is, until the agent hit a button on her desk. The window revealed Izuku, sitting at a low table drawing pictures. “He’s not stupid, with all the questions we’ve been asking him and the lack of answers we’ve been giving him, Izuku is probably aware that something’s wrong. He just doesn’t know what. The only questions we can answer truthfully for him are the ones that concern you and Lawson.”
“He’s been asking about us? Why?”
“You two were there when he first showed up and Lawson saved him. Kids latch on to that type of stuff. That brings me back to what I was talking about, Izuku has no one but you and Lawson as lifelines in this world, and when we tell him that we can’t find his parents, his home, or any record that he exists he’s going to need a lifeline to cling to. He’s likely going to develop powers like the ones you’ve displayed and he’ll need someone to help him through it. With Lawson gone, the only person who can help him is you, Carol.”
Carol put her hands to her face and then slowly moved them over her head in exasperation. She was too young to be what was essentially a foster mother. She barely knew the kid. Carol looked at Izuku while he drew. On the other side of the room from where he sat, on the wall were the various drawings he’d made since he’d been found. There were various pictures on display. some of them depicted what looked like heroes, which wasn’t surprising, kids loved superheroes. Some of the later drawings showed smaller figures next to another figure with green hair, Carol assumed those were Izuku’s friends. But most of the pictures to be put up were portraits of a group of people. It was hard to tell but it looked like it was Izuku’s family. There was a woman with green hair and a ponytail and a man with shaggy black hair. Those pictures made her think of her own family, or more specifically, her mother.
Carol grew up not knowing her own mother, she had her father but the man was an unrepentant ass. Her mother, on the other hand, she had never known. Sure, Marie Danvers had to have been there for some part of her life but the fact remained that she essentially grew up without her. Carol looked at Izuku and then a thought occurred to her.
Am I really about to damn a kid to a life like that? He can’t be any more than four or five, once he gets old enough he’ll forget about his parents. He’ll be alone against the world. I at least had a home and family to come back to, assholish as they were, but it was better than nothing…Oh god, I’m really gonna do it, aren’t I?
Carol turned to the Agent and sighed, “I’ll look after him,” she mumbled.
The Agent smiled triumphantly but asked for clarification like she didn’t hear the first time. “Could you say that again?”
Carol sighed again and this time spoke a little louder. “I said I’ll look after him.”
“Thank you,” said the agent as she stood up from her desk, “Then let’s begin the next order of business.”
“Which is?” Carol asked.
“Breaking the news to him that we can’t find his parents or hometown or any record that he exists.”
“Oh yeah, that.” Carol paused for a moment before realizing something. “That’s what you really wanted me for wasn’t it?”
“I said no such thing.” The Agent quickly ushered Carol into the room where Izuku was still drawing. She quickly walked over and got the little boy’s attention.
“Izuku, there’s someone I want you to meet?”
Izuku immediately put down his crayons and turned to the Agent. “Who is it?” he asked as the Agent directed his gaze toward Carol. “It’s you!” Izuku said with concern in his voice.
That's odd. Most kids his age are more prone to being innocently selfish than to worry about others.
“Are you alright? Is it really okay for you to be up like this? What happened to the pro hero that rescued us?” Izuku fired off an entire deluge of questions that Carol was having trouble keeping up with. But there was one phrase that caught her attention.
Pro hero? Doesn’t he mean superhero?
Unfortunately, that question would have to wait as the agent moved things along.
“Izuku, we understand that you have questions but there is something very important that we have to discuss. It has to do with your parents.”
“Did you find them!?” he asked with excitement.
“Well, actually…”
Before the Agent could speak, Carol took over the arduous task of breaking the news to Izuku. If she was going to be his foster guardian then she at least had to be able to do this much.
It wasn’t easy, when Carol broke the news Izuku refused to believe her. In fact, he refused to talk to anyone for a few days. It wasn’t until Carol’s guardianship of him had been finalized and she was on her way out the door with him that she finally heard two words from him.
“Thank you…” he mumbled.
It was then that Carol decided that she would do everything in her power for this kid while she took care of him.
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A blue portal opened up on a lone roof within the Kamino ward. From out of it stepped a tall young man with black and green hair wearing a black and green form-fitting suit with a bomber jacket. He raised his wrist to his face and spoke into the device placed on it.
“How are things looking over there, Izu?” asked a deep voice.
“All green, Cho. I portalled over just fine. I am officially back in my home dimension!” on the other end of the device there was hooting and hollering and just general good vibes all around. “It’s pretty surreal, guys, being back here after so long. Thanks a lot, Gwen for letting us study your Dimensional Travel Watch,” said Izuku to Gwen Stacy, A.K.A Spider-Woman.
“No biggie, Izu. I’m glad I could help. Since you sound so happy, I take it you didn’t wind up in some random forest or the ocean?”
“No, from the looks of it, I think I wound up in Kamino Ward, but it’s nighttime over here.” Izuku looked around and relayed what he saw to his team.
Cho, otherwise known as the Totally Awesome Hulk, and Viv Vision absorbed the information that Izuku was supplying them and compared it with their notes and the readings from their machines.
“It appears that our two dimensions run mostly parallel with each other temporally speaking, though to be honest, I was expecting you to appear in your home dimension’s equivalent of America.”
“I concur with Cho,” said Viv “it is odd that you are back in your home country instead of somewhere in America. Since the device we built is based on Gwen’s DTW then it should operate the same. For example, if Gwen opens a portal in New York she will be in New York when she comes to our dimension, not some other location.”
“Am I the only one wondering why the city he’s in is named after a Star Wars location?” asked Ms. Marvel, the Leader of this little group and Izuku’s best friend. “Like, were the films so popular over there that Japan decided to name new cities after them?”
The first to respond to Ms. Marvel’s question was Nova. “I figured it was because Star Wars didn’t exist in that world or something. Like it was just a coincidence.”
“That’s actually pretty common for the multiverse,” said Gwen, the only other person in their group to travel the multiverse semi-regularly, “the Harry Potter books don’t exist in my world, but there are plenty of places in my reality’s England with names based on stuff from those books.”
“Yeah, that was a bit of a culture shock,” said Miles Morales, AKA, the Ultimate Spider-Man, as he reminisced on his second date with Gwen.
While everyone else was talking, Gwenpool dug into her lo-mein. She was wondering why no one was telling Izuku to head to downtown Kamino to help All-Might fight AFO. Then she remembered why.
Oh wait, that’s right! My Hero Academia doesn’t exist in this reality! Wow, how have I not brought that up since coming here!? You would figure with all the other sensitive info I spout without a care that I would completely spoil all that for him the moment I saw him. Hmm, whatever…
Gwenpool then inhaled a mouthful of lo-mein while listening to her friends either talk science or banter.
I should probably say something, shouldn’t I? But should I!? This entire expedition was to get closure for Izuku with his family. If he gets involved with his original plot, he’ll be there for a while and that’s barring him getting attached to his old world and wanting to stay. Then again, if the Kamino raid is going down then that should be about halfway through the year while the climax of the story should be by the end of it…
Fuck it! I’ll just tell him. Hopefully, he comes back to us and I don’t have to worry about Carol hunting me down for sending her kid away…
“I know why he’s in Kamino,” said Gwenpool, out loud. Her words got the attention of everyone in the command center of the Champions Mobile Bunker.
Over the inter-dimensional comms, Izuku sighed heavily. “GP, if you’re going to spout some life-shattering secrets again, just forget about it. Everyone’s already filled in on my situation, hence why they’re helping me with this.”
“So you don’t want me to tell you about the fact that right this minute, All-Might is fighting his greatest enemy to the death after said enemy’s lackeys kidnapped the UA sports festival winner/ your bully Bakugou?”
Izuku was dead silent over the comms. Meanwhile, the rest of the Champions started asking questions.
“Who the heck is All-Might?” asked Nova.
“Basically a huge Japanese guy that somehow looks like an American with the charisma of Captain America and the Strength of the Hulk while also having the great public relations of Tony Stark,” answered Gwenpool. “Though real talk, I’d say he’s only half as effective as those three, respectively. Especially with that hole in his stomach.”
“Am I the only one here who thinks this guy sounds awesome?” asked Miles.
“Can we circle back to that part about his bully?” asked Ms. Marvel, “what was his name? Bakuchow?”
“His name’s Bakugou and he’s basically a mix of Sasuke, Vegeta, and Naruto with a worse temper and way more swearing. Oddly enough, he’s considered one of the more compelling characters.”
“So are we not going to address the fact that she’s still referring to people she knows as ‘characters’?” asked Miles.
“Yup!” said Gwenpool.
“Back to the bullying please?” demanded Ms. Marvel.
“Worried about your secret boyfriend?”
“How did you know about that!?” shrieked Kamala.
“Izuku doesn’t lock his room and he keeps this portrait of you inside a frame that says ‘My Marvelous Girlfriend’ on his work desk for everyone to see.”
“You realize we all knew about it, right?” said Nova.
“WHAT!?” Kamala shrieked.
“Yeah~, you guys aren’t exactly subtle about it,” said Miles.
“HOW!?”
“During conference calls, you guys are always together,” said Nova.
“I’ve walked into both of your rooms on at least two separate occasions to find the both of you suspiciously distant from each other. Like you were really close one minute but then pushed away at the last second because someone was coming,” said Miles.
“I looked over your shoulder once while you were texting and saw that it said ‘Habibi’ next to Izuku’s picture in your contacts. If my Urdu is correct, then that means ‘beloved,’” said Gwen S.
“Whatever!” exclaimed Kamala, “getting back on topic, I’ll just ask Izu about this bully you mentioned.”
“Now’s probably not a good time,” said Cho.
“Why not?” asked Kamala.
“As soon as GP mentioned this ‘All-Might’ and Izuku’s old bully, Izuku went radio silent,” said Viv, “I assume he’s going to combat this great enemy of All-Might you mentioned.”
“According to these readings, he’s really booking it to wherever this fight is supposed to be happening,” said Cho.
“Is there any way for us to help him?” asked Kamala.
“No, Izuku has the only prototype at the moment. And it’s not like we need to worry about anything, Izuku’s as smart as me and almost as strong. He’ll be fine,” bragged Cho with a smirk.
“You mean he’s stronger than you,” thought the rest of the Champions.
With nothing else to do, the Champions just waited until Izuku broke radio silence.
For Gwenpool on the other hand, the silence was deafening and she decided to alleviate it her usual way. “So does anyone want to hear more about Izuku’s world?”
The group, sans Cho and Viv, sighed collectively and said, “fine…”
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PRESENT
KAMINO WARD
“Have no fear, All-Might. For I am here.”
The combatants, Kamino, Japan, and the world at large were silent. Out of nowhere, a young man of no more than sixteen years had rescued, not only All-Might but several others without breaking a sweat. Including Bakugou, who he had managed to whisk away at the last second before he could get too close to the fight.
His body radiated power and the look in his eyes promised pain to any who would harm the weak and innocent.
“Am I correct in assuming you’re this great enemy of All-Might’s that I’ve heard so much about?” said Izuku as he stepped forward from where he protected several people, but not far enough to leave them unguarded.
“Yes, I am that self-same great enemy. You may call me All-For-One. Who do I have the pleasure of addressing, Mr…”
“You can call me the Photonic Hero: Warbird.”
“A pleasure to meet you, mister warbird. Am I to assume you are All-Might’s new ‘vaunted’ successor?”
Izuku turned around to look at All-Might, who looked like he was on his last dregs. “You know what he’s talking about, sir?” asked Izuku as he pointed a finger over his shoulder while walking toward All-Might.
“He thinks you’re the young hero I was training to replace me,” All-Might coughed out. “But that’s not important right now! Young man, while I am grateful for your assistance, this is no place for a hero student to be!”
“I’m sorry All-Might, but this guy apparently harmed an old acquaintance of mine. I’m here to make sure he goes away for a long time.” As Izuku said these words, he reached out his hand and placed it on All-Might’s shoulder. “Why don’t you help me with it?”
“Please, young man. All-Might can barely stand as it is. What possible help would he be to you now? As a matter of fact, what threat are you to me–”
Before another word came out of AFO’s mouth, a blast of photonic energy from Izuku’s index finger silenced him. “How’s that for a threat? What you really should be asking is if you are a threat to me. Because on the grand scale of supervillains that I’ve met and know about, you don’t rank anywhere near the top from what I’ve seen,” Izuku said over his shoulder.
The same light that was radiating off of Izuku had now enveloped All-Might like a blanket. It was warm, powerful, and comforting but before All-Might could be amazed at what this light was doing to him, Gran Torino rocketed in to reprimand Izuku.
“Impertinent Zygote! This isn’t the time or place for you to try and get your fifteen minutes of fame! Listen to your elders and get while the getting is good!” Torino then tried to grab onto Izuku and rocket off with him but was stunned by the fact that he couldn’t get the kid to budge an inch. Torino was about to browbeat the unknown kid into leaving before All-Might’s sudden proclamation.
“IT DOESN’T HURT!”
“Toshi?!” exclaimed Torino.
All-Might, no longer looking haggard or in pain, rose to his feet once more. This time though, his eyes were no longer heavily draped in shadows, they were bright and full of life. This surprised Gran greatly. But what really took his breath away was that as he looked closely at All-Might’s body, specifically where the fabric of his uniform was torn, he could see the obvious lack of any scar tissue. All-Might’s stomach was blemish-free.
“I’d forgotten what it felt like to not feel pain when I breathe!” All-Might was stretching and taking deep breaths while giddily laughing from his stomach like a madman. Tears were even streaming down his face. “Gran, can you believe it? The pain is gone!”
“Yeah and I’m happy for you, but we still have to deal with All For One.” Gran wasn’t lying either. He truly was happy for his old student. The last few years had been hard on him and it tore Gran up inside to see him spiral further into depression. If they all made it out of this, he was definitely going to find a way to thank this kid.
Warbird, huh? I’ll definitely have to remember that name…
“You’re right, Sensei. A celebration can wait for later. Right now, we must settle this age-old conflict.” said All-Might.
“I couldn’t agree with you more, All-Might!” AFO’s voice boomed from beneath the rubble he was under. “However, I am no longer interested in killing you and taking back what is rightfully mine at the moment.” AFO turned his gaze toward Izuku. “No, I see a much greater prize for the taking...”
____________________________________________________________________________
All over the world, people were awestruck by what they were seeing. A boy standing shoulder to shoulder with All-Might of all people. At a particular office in the Mustafu police precinct, detective Tsukauchi watched the live footage with a sense of deja vu.
I’ve seen this kid somewhere before, Tsukauchi thought to himself. He quickly looked through his desk until he found a folder that contained several missing person cases. He flipped through the cases until he found one in particular.
Izuku Midoriya…that’s right he’s the victim of that disappearance from ten years ago. Tsukauchi remembered this case greatly. The entire crux of the kidnapping was a classic locked-room scenario that he kept coming back to over the years. Especially after the series of unfortunate events that befell his parent’s afterward. Just this year even, Tsukauchi had a mock-up done of what the kid would look like after all this time and it was the spitting image of the young man he saw fighting next to All-Might.
Is it really him?
____________________________________________________________________________
At the Agency of All-Might’s former sidekick, Mirai Sasaki was locked in his room with no lights on while watching the news coverage of the Kamino incident. He was gripping his hands together until his knuckles were white and while his glasses were bathed in the pale light of the tv screen, behind them his eyes were teary and bloodshot.
Mirai removed his glasses and whispered to himself.
He’s been healed. My prediction was wrong. Mirai sat back in his office chair, relieved. Those six years of watching his friend and mentor waste away were now over. But that also meant that their entire fight and subsequent estrangement were pointless.
I have to apologize! I also need to think of a way to thank this young man, whoever he is.
Just as Mirai was going over what was necessary to mend bridges between him and All-Might, he received a forwarded message from his secretary. It was from HPSC. He already had an idea of what the contents pertained to. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Mirai skimmed the contents to confirm his suspicions. Like I thought, they want all investigative hero agencies to find anything they can on…what are they calling him? Warbird? When was that established?
Mirai put that conundrum aside for the moment and focused his energies on figuring out the commission’s angle.
I see so that’s what they’re trying to do… Mirai analyzed the information that was available to him about the commission and he didn’t like what he was seeing.
Now we can’t have that. I need to get started on countering their efforts! If they think they can get their hands on a ‘shiny new toy’ then they better think again.
____________________________________________________________________________
“WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING HERE!?” shouted Bakugo.
Bakugou had no clue how he got so far from the fighting. He wasn’t anywhere near the fighting anymore, but he wasn’t in any place that could be considered safe either.
THAT QUIRKLESS LOSER WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE DIED YEARS AGO AND HE THINKS HE CAN JUST SHOW BACK UP OUT OF THE BLUE AND MAKE ME LOOK LIKE SOME WEAKLING? WELL SCREW HIM! I’LL SHOW HIM WHO THE TOP DOG REALLY IS!
Once again, Bakugou began to ignite his explosions and take to the air. He had just managed to get off the ground when he was unceremoniously dragged back down to the earth by the scruff of his neck.
“WHAT THE HELL!”
“Slow it down, there, zygote. You’ve got no place in that scrap.” The one who had stopped Bakugou from joining in was none other than Gran Torino.
“AND HE DOES!?” Bakugou shouted.
“Lower your voice, brat!”
Bakugou stopped talking, but it wasn’t because he was told to. He was too preoccupied with the gnashing of his teeth.
“I’ll admit that I’m not too keen on having a student fight that bastard, but after that display, it’s clear that he can handle himself. Anyone else getting involved now would only upset the new balance that they’ve built and give All For One a weakness to exploit.”
Those words made Bakugou snap once again. “I’M NOT A WEAKNESS! HE’S NOT BETTER THAN ME! I’LL SHOW YOU! I’LL SHOW EVERYONE!” Before Bakugou could do anything, he was struck across the chin by Gran Torino. The boy fell to the ground where Torino hoisted him up and carried him off to be seen by the paramedics.
Alone with his thought for the moment, Torino mused on what Toshinori had told him about this Bakugou-boy. I see why Toshi passed you over to be his successor. You’re far too volatile.
____________________________________________________________________________
All For One launched the black and red tendrils of his quirk at Izuku who dodged them effortlessly but this did not deter AFO. “you’re going to have to try a lot harder than that if you’re going to do anything to me!” Izuku taunted.
“Oh, believe me, I can definitely try harder. As a matter of fact, how about–”
“DETROIT SMASH!!!”
All For One was not ready for that smash. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t ready for the speed at which it was delivered. At one moment, All Might was in the same position, and then the next he was burying his fist into AFO’s head in a very real attempt to turn it into a pancake once again.
“What’s the matter, Shigaraki? You seem to have gotten slower! Maybe you’ve gained a little weight in your old age!” no one would admit it, but a lot of people were laughing at All-Might’s quips.
“Oh, believe me, Yagi. I’m still spry enough to–” before speaking another word, he was blasted from behind by Warbird’s energy blast. Now flying fast toward All-Might at hard-to-reorient speeds, All For One was once again an easy target for All-Might’s most-signature smash.
“DETROIT SMASH!!!”
All For One continued to ping-pong between the two heroes like a pinball machine. It was utterly humiliating. He was losing to an upstart and healed All-Might who seemed stronger than what AFO remembered.
AFO would be horrified to know that, yes, All-Might was in fact stronger than the last time they had fought. Five years of limited use of the One For All had allowed a lot of power to stockpile and All-Might was now free to unleash it to its fullest extent.
On the return serve from Warbird, All-Might prepared a Missouri Smash and clotheslined AFO. The Symbol of Evil was in the dirt, contemplating this turn of events.
How in the hell is this happening? I can understand All-Might doing this well since he’s back in his prime, but I am the Demon King of the Underworld! I shouldn’t be taking any kind of damage from some punk kid that showed up out of nowhere. I don’t even understand that. The Doctor’s network would have picked up on someone with such an obviously powerful quirk. Where the hell did he come from?
All For One stared menacingly as All-Might and Warbird came rocketing towards him. Warbird with his flight and All-Might with the air pressure of flexing his calf muscles. They would be upon him in seconds.
You may end up winning this round All-Might, but I won’t make it easy for you!
All For One stretched out his hand and just like that, mounds of black sludge appeared all across the battlefield. Near civilians, downed heroes, and emergency responders. From them poured several Noumu. This wasn’t going to be pretty.
“You have a choice dear heroes.” All For One’s voice dripped with perceived superiority and smugness. “You can finish me off or you can save these innocent people and weaker heroes! The choice is–”
“You focus on this loser, All-Might! I’ll handle crowd control!” said Warbird in a much more powerful tone.
…what? Thought All For One. Surely he’s kidding. I summoned several Noumu to accost the gathered civilian populace. What does he hope to accomplish on his own?
“Warbird, I can’t leave such a herculean task to one so young!” said All-Might.
“THEN IT’S A GOOD THING I’VE GOT SOME HERCULEAN POWER BACKING ME UP! RAHHHHH!”
And just like that, the night sky lit up. All attention was on the bright light in the center of Kamino that shone like a second sun. This second sun was Warbird, Izuku, who was pushing his powers to their utmost limits.
He couldn’t achieve levels of power like Carol’s Binary form but he could get damn close to it.
Warbird released his power and the results spoke for themselves. His hair was almost an inferno that blazed with a contrail. His eyes glowed like bright twin suns and the rest of his body was bathed in photonic light.
To the people of Kamino, it was like looking upon an avenging angel. To the Nomus and All For One, it was a clear sign that they had fucked up. “ALL RIGHT, ALL MIGHT! LET’S FINISH THIS!”
All-Might looked at the young man. What he saw was someone he could truly rely on the way others relied on him. He knew at that very moment that he had found a kindred spirit. “THEN I LEAVE IT TO YOU YOUNG WARBIRD! LET’S GO!”
“RIGHT!”
Both heroes burst into motion, charging toward their targets. Izuku’s were the Nomu while All-Might’s was All For One.
All-Might rocketed toward AFO like a missile, but he was not going to make it. AFO used the quirk air walk to get airborne and away from All-Might. It did little good as All-Might caught up to him without much fuss and knocked him out of the sky with another smash. All-Might gave chase once again. All while a certain thought raced through his head.
TO OVERCOME THE CRISIS IN FRONT OF YOU…
Izuku zipped across the site of the Kamino incident, smiting Noumu while unconsciously mimicking All-Might’s thoughts
BY GIVING IT EVERYTHING THAT YOU’VE GOT…
All-Might slammed down on AFO with a mighty People’s Elbow. It created a crater and made AFO cough up blood.
AND SAVE PEOPLE…
Every Noumu that was that was barreling toward civilians was set alight by Izuku’s energy blasts. They were reduced to nothing but ash in the span of seconds.
NO MATTER THE COST…
All For One tried to turn the fight around but All-Might wasn’t having it. When AFO tried to monologue about what he did to Nana, All-Might ignored him and proceeded to grab the villain by the foot and slam him repeatedly like a ragdoll. It was like watching that one pre-quirk era gif of Man-Ray slamming Patrick Star repeatedly into the ground.
THAT’S WHAT MAKES SOMEONE…
At the speed of light, Izuku tore through the remaining Noumu, saving the Civilians and downed heroes. He then began to rejoin All-Might to finish off AFO.
A HERO…
“I know you’ve heard me say these words before, Shigaraki, but now I’m going to show you and the world what they truly mean!” All-Might reared his fist back as he rocketed toward AFO one more time. This time accompanied by Warbird.
“GO BEYOND!”
“EVER UPWARDS!”
For a split second, All-Might was caught off guard by what Warbird had said but he quickly rolled with it. Of course, a hero such as him would already have his own motto!
“PLUS!”
“EX-”
“ULTRA!”
“-CELSIOR!”
As their fists collided with All For One’s face, smashing him into a crater, a geyser of light erupted from the point of impact. It rose into the sky and lit up Kamino like a Christmas tree.
Soon the light faded and revealed All-Might and Warbird standing triumphantly over AFO’s mangled and unconscious body with their fists raised into the air in victory.
They did it. They had one.
____________________________________________________________________________
Back on the Mobile Bunker, Gwenpool was regaling the Champions with tales of Izuku’s heroism had he not wound up in this universe.
“So what you’re telling me is that regardless of whatever universe Izuku wound up in, he would end up becoming his generation's greatest hero?” asked Sam.
“I’m more concerned with why he kept trying to be friends with that Bakugou guy. A person can only put up with so much bullshit before they snap,” said Miles.
“Knowing Izu, he probably thought the entire situation was his fault,” added Spider-Gwen. “One time while I was visiting, I was swinging through New York and caught a glimpse of him apologizing to what I think was a purse snatcher. He was bowing and everything!”
“A part of me wants to call bullshit, but that sounds exactly like something Izu would do. Especially when I first got to know him.” Kamala had her face buried in her hands after hearing what Izuku’s life was going to be like had he not come here. Speaking of Izuku…
“Hey Viv, Cho! What’s the situation with Izuku right now?” the pair were silent. Uncomfortably so. “Guys?”
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” asked Cho. that was never a good thing to hear. Especially when your boyfriend is in another dimension.
“Cho! Tell me what the hell happened to my boyfriend!” shouted Kamala.
“Well, you see…”
“We’ve lost all communication with Izuku,” said Viv without any hesitation. Cho just looked at her. “What? You were taking too long and the sooner we move past this, the sooner we can get to rescuing our leader.”
“HOW DID YOU LOSE HIM?!” screamed Kamala.
“Well, he was giving off some pretty high energy readings so my guess is he went past his usual threshold and destroyed the watch in the process. Sorry?” Cho shrugged.
Kamala slumped back into her chair with her face staring straight up at the ceiling of the bunker. “This is literally the worst-case scenario.”
“Oh don’t be so dramatic. All I have to do is whip a new dimensional watch and we’ll be able to send someone over there to rescue him in no time.”
“That’s not what I was worried about. The problem is that I’m going to have to be the one to explain this to his mom.” moaned Kamala.
Cho went dead silent. “I didn’t think of that.”
“No, you didn’t. And the worst part is that Carol is very much a shoot-first, ask questions never sort of hero. I can’t even begin to imagine what she’s going to do when she finds out!”
“Then why don’t we just not tell her?” Viv’s comment got everyone to look at her. Even Miles, Sam, and the two Gwens, who had chosen to stay quiet during the discussion, looked at Viv in confusion. “If the problem is Captain Marvel finding out then all we have to do is make sure that she doesn’t. We can simply tell her that Izuku decided to take some time off from heroing to focus on himself. And it’s not like he has school to worry about since he already has three college degrees. This isn’t as much of an issue as your making it out–”
BANG
BANG
BANG
“Kamala Khan, I know you're in there! Come out right this instant and tell me what happened to my son!”
Everyone turned back to look at Viv with their expression saying “what now genius?” her only response was “I’ll be quiet now.”
To be continued