Summary:
Quirksmith. Type - Emitter. Allows the holder to alter the state of quirks and permanently copy the quirks of others upon contact.
After being given One For All, Izuku Midoriya discovers he was never quirkless. And soon, so will the world.
Notes:
(See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one.)
Chapter 1: The Truth Will Set Him Free
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
At age three Izuku Midoriya dedicated himself to becoming a hero.
At age four Izuku Midoriya was told he was born quirkless.
At age fifteen Izuku Midoriya learned this wasn't true.
26 February 2179
"Honey, dinner's ready!"
Izuku Midoriya looked up from the silver-age All Might figure he was holding.
He had failed, the last ten months of his life had been the most punishing and grueling of his life, yet they had also been the best.
There was no way Izuku would get into U.A. when he didn't even manage to score a single point in the practical exam.
Would All Might ask for One for All back since Izuku had failed?
Izuku's grip tightened around the figure, fear clutching at his heart.
"Izuku, the Katsudon is going cold!"
Pushing down all the negative feelings, Izuku forced himself to smile, his mom had even made his favourite food for him to celebrate.
"I-I'm coming!"
Izuku stood up, the springs of his bed creaking as he did, before carefully placing the All Might figure down.
Pushing his bedroom door open, Izuku's nostrils were assaulted by the glorious smell of his favourite food. Inko Midoriya looked up, smiling at the sight of her son, he was looking more and more like his father everyday.
"It smells great, mom." Izuku exclaimed. "Thank you!"
Mother and son took their seats, digging into their food.
"So good."
Inko glanced at her son. "Slow down, honey, savour it."
Izuku lowered his chopsticks, nodding at his mom. "R-Right!"
Returning to his food, Izuku forced himself to eat slower, the intense training plan he had been on for the last ten months had left no time to eat at anything less than full speed.
Izuku hissed in pain, it felt like his fingertips were on fire. Dropping his chopsticks, Izuku held his hand up, staring as strange squarish pads protruded from his fingertips.
"Is something wrong, honey?"
Lowering his hands, Izuku looked to his mom.
"I'm f-fine!" Izuku said, trying to assure Inko. "I just had a little pain in my arm."
"Let me have a look." Inko reached out to examine Izuku's arm.
Izuku yelped, pulling his arm away. "There's n-no need, Recovery Girl fixed it up right away, well, that's what Present Mic said happened."
Inko frowned. "Wait, were you unconscious?"
"Well yes." Izuku admitted, before backpedalling. "I wasn't for very long."
"It's fine, Izuku. You don't have to hide things like this from me. U.A. called me while you were out." Inko placed her chopsticks down and raised her hand to touch Izuku's cheek. "I'm your mom, I will always worry about you getting hurt, whether you become a hero or a programmer who never leaves their bedroom."
Izuku gave a weak laugh, hyper-aware of the pads on his fingertips.
"I know training to be a hero holds a risk of getting hurt. But I'm not going to stop you and hide you away in bubble wrap."
"I failed."
Inko smiled at her son, tears flowing freely. "No you didn't, how could you when you saved that girl. Isn't that what a hero does?"
Izuku looked up, tears glistening in his eyes.
"I don't think you can be a hero, Izuku."
"You already are a hero."
The tears spilled down Izuku's face. "Really?"
"Really."
Izuku wiped away the tears. "Back then , what I wanted you to say was, you can be a hero."
Inko nodded. "I should have said it then, I'm sorry, Izuku."
Izuku shook his head. "Don't be sorry-"
"Izuku, it's every parent's responsibility to encourage their child's dream, I didn't."
Silence fell as Izuku processed his mother's words.
Inko suddenly smirked. "So, when were you going to tell me about this quirk of yours."
"Er, it-it only just manifested." Izuku responded, taking care to hide the pads from his mother. "I'm still figuring it out. It kind of breaks me when I use it."
Izuku watched the waves gently lap against the beach, unconsciously rubbing two of the finger pads together.
He just barely managed to hide his sudden mutation from his mom, before fleeing to his room after dinner was eaten. Izuku had stayed in there until Inko had gone to bed, then he had snuck out.
To Dagobah Beach.
What was happening to him? Was this One for All?
A dull crash sounded, followed by a cloud of sand whipping past Izuku.
Turning, Izuku watched as All Might straightened his garish yellow suit before suddenly deflating, releasing a mouthful of blood.
"I know you got seriously injured but throwing up blood is a sign of an open internal injury."
All Might wiped his mouth with a branded handkerchief. "How astute of you, Young Midoriya. Every time I use One for All my internal injuries reopen."
Izuku nodded mutely.
"So, why did you ask me to come here at this hour?"
"Oh, r-right!" Izuku opened his hand and held it out for All Might to see. "These appeared a few hours ago. Could they have a link to One for All? Like your muscle form."
All Might inflated, stroking his chin. "Unlikely, my muscle form used to be my natural state before my injury."
"O-Oh."
"Never fear!" called All Might in a tone entirely too loud to have the intended comforting effect. "I know someone with a quirk who could help us out with this conundrum. Meet me here again tomorrow morning at eight."
With that, All Might was gone, leaving Izuku with more questions than answers and a mouthful of sand.
27 February 2179
Ten months of waking up at 4am had left its mark on Izuku, he could no longer sleep in.
So he'd gone for a run, a three hour run.
A year ago Izuku would have collapsed before even getting halfway, now, he barely felt tired.
The run had given Izuku time to think about the U.A. Entrance Exam. Even if he didn't get in, Izuku would become a hero.
He still had a number of options, he could petition to enter the U.A. General Education stream, who admitted based on the general exam taken by applicants to all courses, as well as trying out for Ketsubutsu Academy, a newer, less prestigious school who's entrance exam was in three weeks' time.
That would give him time to start training his new quirk. If All Might let him keep it that is.
"Izuku Midoriya?"
Izuku looked up from where he stood, leant against the railing of Dagobah Beach, to see a plain, black sedan parked in front of him, inside was a man dressed in an equally plain, black suit.
"I'm Detective Tsukauchi, a friend of All Might's."
Izuku paused, was this some kind of trick.
"How do I know that?" Izuku questioned. "I-I mean I'm not trying to me rude, it's All Might, and it-"
"It's alright, kid," assured Tsukauchi.
Izuku's phone lit up and began blaring the All Might theme. Holding it up, Izuku saw the grainy image of All Might he had set as the man's contact image.
"Hello?"
"Young Midoriya! I'm afraid I ran into a few dastardly villains on my way to meet you! DENVER SMASH!"
Izuku flinched as he pulled the phone away from his ear, clearly All Might was still fighting said villains.
Tsukauchi chuckled. "Here I thought I was the only one he did that to."
"I've asked Detective Tsukauchi to give you a lift!"
Izuku bobbed his head. "I-I understand."
"See you soon!"
The call went dead.
"Hop in, kid." Tsukauchi reached into his suit jacket and tossed Izuku a leather wallet.
Flipping it open, Izuku examined the shiny gold badge and police force licence with a picture of Tsukauchi smiling back at him.
"Right!"
Izuku nodded and opened the car door, climbing into the passenger seat, while handing the licence to Tsukauchi.
"Are we going to a police station?" Izuku wondered aloud as the car set off.
Tsukauchi smiled. "I thought that was obvious."
"I'm not in trouble am I?"
"No, no," assured Tsukauchi with a chuckle. "The specialist who's going to have a look at your quirk is a colleague of mine, Tokusei Shikaku."
"O-Okay."
"Don't worry, both Tokusei and I know about One for All and All Might's injury."
"Oh, I see."
Tsukauchi smiled again. "I can see why he picked you to be his successor."
"Why?"
"You wear your heart on your sleeve." Tsukauchi replied. "But you have an iron core. We're here."
"That was quick!"
Izuku and Tsukauchi exited the car, turning upon hearing a whistling sound.
"You might want to step back, Midoriya."
Izuku frowned. "Why's that-"
"I AM HERE!"
All Might slammed down in front of Izuku, a villain over each shoulder, both unconscious.
"Ah, Young Midoriya, you're here!" All Might greeted as he handed the villains off to the Police Force.
Izuku blinked, he was covered in dust and his hair blown back.
"Apologies, my boy!" All Might brushed the dust off Izuku, nearly knocking him off his feet.
"I-I'm fine!" Izuku exclaimed as his brain caught up with reality.
"This way All Might, Midoriya." Tsukauchi said, guiding the two One for All users into the station and into a private room.
As soon as the door shut, All Might returned to his true form, accepting a tissue from Tsukauchi.
"Afternoon."
Izuku yelped and jumped, turning to see a navy-haired man sitting on the sofa, a tea tray on the table in front of him.
"I'm Tokusei Shikaku," greeted the man, standing and holding his hand out to Izuku.
"Izuku Midoriya."
"All Might, good to see you."
"And you, Shikaku."
"Take a seat, Midoriya." Tokusei urged, returning to his seat.
Izuku nodded, sitting down next to Tokusei, while All Might and Tsukauchi took the other sofa.
"Tea?" offered Tokusei.
"Please, those villains have left me parched."
"Black, one sugar."
Izuku paused, before nodding. "Yes please."
After a series of passing cups around and much clinking, everyone had their tea.
"So, I heard from All Might you're having a problem with One for All," stated Tokusei.
"Right, All Might gave it to me yesterday, then, that evening these appeared."
Izuku held out his hand, showing Tokusei the pads on his finger tips.
"Hmm, interesting." Tokusei mused, examining the pads. "I'll explain my quirk before I use it on you."
"It's called Quirkspace, it allows me to enter a visual manifestation of my quirk and the quirks of those I touch, I use it to log the quirks of villains after they've been arrested."
"Wow!" Izuku exclaimed, barely managing to stop himself from bombarding Tokusei with questions.
"I'll take you into my quirkspace first to let you get acclimatised." Tokusei placed his hand on Izuku's arm, his eyes turning solid grey and glowing. "Brace yourself."
Izuku was falling down a tunnel of multicoloured beams of light, before he suddenly found himself standing in a white void with Tokusei, in front of him was a grey ball of energy, glowing white.
"That's my quirk." Tokusei walked forwards, placing his hand on the quirk ball as his eyes glowed again. "Quirkspace, manifested in Tokusei Shikaku, aged 4, on November 4th 2147. Type, Emitter. Allows the holder to enter Quirkspace and examine the quirks contained within."
Tokusei's eyes returned to normal. "Any questions?"
Izuku looked around the void, a dome of loose energy strands of all colors surrounded them. "What are those?"
"Junk data, quirk DNA I inherited from my parents but didn't become part of my quirk." Tokusei answered. "It's how quirks and the characteristics can jump generations."
"It's amazing, wait is that the date?" questioned Izuku, pointing to where the time and data was printed midair in black, the seconds ticking slower than normal.
"Right, that's the other part of my quirk, it allows me to see the past of a quirkspace, watch."
Tokusei held up his hand and rotated his wrist, the date running backwards and stopping on November 3rd, 2147.
The quirk ball had shrunk, now no more than a spark of white energy.
"This is the day before my quirk manifested, just watch as I roll the date forward."
Izuku nodded, keeping a close eye on the quirk spark as time moved forward. The spark glowed bright, drawing strands of grey, navy and black energy from the dome towards it, fusing with them to create a quirk ball.
"I have so many questions," breathed Izuku, staring in wonderment. "Are quirks based on our personalities at the point at which they manifest? Or is it just random? Are quirks predetermined when we're born? If so, do quirks affect the holder's personality?"
Tokusei shrugged. "As far as I've been able to tell, whether our personality affects our quirk, or our quirk affects our personality, it's actually a bit of both."
"Now, how about we have a look at your quirkspace."
Izuku was falling through the rainbow tunnel again, but this time he was ready for it, making him far less disorientated when they entered Izuku's quirkspace.
The first thing Izuku noticed was the void, it was a different color, black instead of white.
The second thing Izuku noticed was that there wasn't one quirk ball, there were two.
"T-That's impossible!" Izuku stuttered in disbelief. "I am-was Quirkless."
"Looks like whoever diagnosed you was wrong, a hack no doubt." Tokusei commented. "Let me guess, the toe joint test?"
Izuku nodded mutely, trying to process what he saw before him, one dark green quirk, the other a brilliant red.
"That test was notoriously unreliable, it was scrapped a few years back after a kid diagnosed quirkless turned out to have a quirk that gave them extra joints."
Izuku couldn't help himself, he snorted.
"That was my reaction too." Tokusei stroked his chin. "Now, let's see what we're looking at."
Reaching out, Tokusei touched the dark green quirk.
"As I thought, that's One for All."
"I didn't expect it to be green," admitted Izuku.
"It wasn't, in All Might it's yellow and from what little he's said about his predecessor it was probably some shade of purple for her."
"So what's the other quirk?"
Grasping the red quirk, Tokusei activated his own power. "Quirksmith, manifested in Izuku Midoriya, aged 4, on July 7th 2168. Type, Emitter. Allows the holder to alter the state of quirks and permanently copy the quirks of others upon contact."
Tokusei whistled. "That's one mighty powerful quirk."
"It doesn't make any sense, if I'd had this quirk since I was four I'd have copied hundreds of quirks since then."
"I have an idea why." Tokusei raised his hand and rolled time back forty-eight hours.
One for All vanished, leaving Quirksmith alone, smaller and its color dulled.
"Quirksmith, manifested in Izuku Midoriya, aged 4, on July 7th 2168. Type, Emitter. Allows the holder to analyse the state of quirks and copy the quirks of others for 0.08 seconds upon contact."
"It changed."
Tokusei nodded, advancing time back to the present, returning Izuku's second quirk. "The power of One for All caused your quirk to mutate, it strengthened it."
"All this time I thought I was quirkless, I had one." Izuku looked down sadly, before forcing himself to cheer up.
"Now, those pads on your fingers, I think I can guess how you got them."
Tokusei grabbed Quirkspace with both hands and stretched, expanding it and revealing four more quirks inside of it.
A pale green quirk giving off wavy, equally green lines, a pink quirk emitting rainbow light, a plain white quirk and an exact copy of Tokusei's own quirk.
"Let's try this one." Tokusei touched the pink quirk. "Zero Gravity, manifested in Ochako Uraraka, aged 4, on March 16th 2168. Type, Emitter. Allows the holder to remove the gravity of solid objects upon contact with the pads of their fingertips."
"Zero Gravity, that must have been from the girl at the entrance exam, she used her quirk on me to stop my fall."
"Try sensing the other two quirks, you copied mine after all, just physical contact will do," encouraged Tokusei.
Izuku nodded, reaching out and touching the white quirk. "Heal, manifested in Chiyo Shuzenji, aged 9, on August 9th 2111. Type, Emitter. Allows the holder to accelerate the target's healing process at the cost of the receiver's stamina."
"That must have been when Recovery Girl healed me. Then that means this must be…"
Touching the green quirk, Izuku's eyes glowed grey. "Attraction of Small Objects, manifested in Inko Midoriya, aged 5, on April 23rd 2142. Type, Emitter. Allows the holder to attract objects of lower mass than themselves via telekinesis."
"Last night, she touched my face, that must have been when I copied it."
"Looks like you can toggle quirks you copied on and off, trying turning Zero Gravity off," suggested Tokusei.
Izuku nodded, concentrating on Zero Gravity, feeling its power before turning it off. His fingertips itched again, but when Izuku looked down, the pads were gone.
"Well then kid, looks like you've got a lot of work to do."