Chapter Text
With things turning out the way they did, Izuku was shocked when he got his letter in the mail stating that he had not gotten into his dream school. So, with a heavy heart, he dialed All Might's number and waited for the phone to stop ringing. When it didn't and instead went to voicemail, he knew he had been deemed unworthy of the power bestowed upon him by the strongest hero of all time. Izuku was useless, powerless, and about to be quirkless.
It had not been long before he was forced to exit his room and confront his mother with the news. It wasn't a conversation he was looking forward to. But, he knew he'd have to tell her. After all, she'd know eventually. It wasn't something he could particularly avoid.
So, the conversation came and went, and the night drew on with movies and sweets and hugs. It was a good night, but nothing could hide the disappointment Izuku felt from earlier in the day. The following day, All Might contacted Izuku and told him to meet at Dagobah Beach. Izuku knew what the conversation was going to be about. How could he not? He failed All Might. After a quick goodbye to his mother, he made his way to the beach he'd spent the past ten months at training his muscles. Eventually, All Might came into view watching the sunset.
"All Might!" Izuku shouted, jogging up to him with anxiety filling his chest.
"Midoriya, my boy! It is good to see you again!" All Might said with a smile.
"Um... you called me here to... to give you your quirk back, right...?" Izuku asked, fidgeting with his shirt.
"Yes, you are correct. I cannot have a successor who can't even get into a high school. I do feel bad about doing this, but I need to find a better successor. I'm sorry, my boy." All Might replied with a guilty expression on his face.
"No, i-it's ok... um... h-here... I'll be going home now..." Izuku said as he handed off a strand of his hair to All Might.
As Izuku left to return home, he couldn't help but want to prove to everyone that he could be a hero, regardless of if he had a quirk or not. So, that's exactly what he was going to do.
It had been three months since Izuku became quirkless again, and he had started online school, began training, and began learning parkour. Safe to say, Izuku was picking up quickly with his studies. He rather enjoyed going out at night to jump across rooftops. He comes across a mugging or two every night, but he has yet to intervene. Instead, he finds the nearest Underground Hero, which included Eraserhead, Amplifier, and maybe Rock Lock, though he wasn't entirely an Underground Hero, and distracts them enough to lead them on a chase. He'd been too late sometimes, but most of the time he was able to get there early enough to prevent further injury.
He's happy that he can help in some way, though it wasn't really him that was helping. It was the pro heroes that helped! And of course, Izuku took liberty to watch from rooftops close by and take notes on the fighting styles of many different heroes and villains. He was making lots of progress with creating a fighting style of his own. Izuku was honestly having a lot of fun with this, even if it was draining. His body ached for the first month or so, but he grew accustomed to the constant running and jumping. His stamina was rapidly improving as well, and he could run for around 6 minutes before he got too winded and had to rest for a bit.
As we speak, Izuku Midoriya is running from roof to roof, keeping an ear out for any sign of struggle. He usually had to listen for a small rattling, whispers, or, of course, screams. As of now, he'd never intervened in an attack. But, maybe, tonight would be the night.
Or not.
The moment Izuku hopped from the roof, he landed weird on his foot and you could audibly hear the snap from his ankle. Well... that was an idiotic move. How the hell does Eraserhead do it? It's so badass...
Well, that's not the focus right now. In front of Izuku was a man, arguably pretty tall, with a knife pressed against a woman's neck. It almost looked like he was holding back a laugh, the jerk. No matter. Izuku just had to figure out what to do while sporting a broken ankle. He wondered how he would explain it to Inko. Maybe tell her he fell off the bed? That probably wouldn't work. Maybe he could pretend to fall down the stairs and blame it on that? That's better. It'll probably work.
As Izuku stood up, pain shot up his leg and he bit back a cry of pain, opting to use his knife, knowing it was the best option he had at the moment. He shot forwards with what little strength he had and drove the knife into the bicep of the man, who was much taller than previously thought. It's probably related to his quirk. But, it didn't really go as planned when the man in question slammed his arm against Izuku's chest and knocked him back a few feet.
Izuku knew he couldn't win this one, so he thought about which heroes were closest to here, and his mind came up with Eraserhead. Right, his patrol is right around this area! He just needed to shout for him and he'd be alright. Maybe. Doubtful. Izuku's chest was burning with pain, likely sporting a few broken ribs. Nothing he hadn't dealt with in the past, but it still hurt like hell. Reluctantly, Izuku stood up and threw another knife at the man, which landed straight in his side. The man cried out in pain and yanked the knife from his side, throwing it off to the side.
Yeah, he's screwed. The man is pissed. Just as Izuku thought he was done for, Eraserhead was on top of him, almost immediately tying the villain's hands behind his back. The woman he was attacking previous, was just standing there with wide eyes, observing the scene in front of her. Izuku didn't waste any time in getting the hell out of there as quickly as possible. Eraserhead would be after him soon enough. And, Izuku thought right. Within seconds, Eraserhead was following behind him. Luckily for Izuku, he knew how to run. It came from years of sprinting away from bullies.
So, Izuku took to the alleyways, ducking behind corners every other minute. It didn't take long for Izuku to lose Eraserhead after ducking behind a dumpster. He watched as Eraserhead ran along the rooftops, keeping his eyes casted downwards in the alleys, searching for the young boy.
It was a long night, so you can't blame Izuku for deciding it best to head home, especially after gaining a broken ankle and ribs.