Chapter Text
“...this gift, you've earned it through your own valiant efforts.” All Might presented Midoriya with a hair from his head.
“Eat this.”
Midoriya blinked at his mentor. “...huh?”
“L-Look, it's part of the power transfer! You have to digest some of my DNA!”
Strange things wouldn't stop happening to Izuku lately. But if it meant being the hero who helps others with a smile, he'd eat a full head of hair.
He thought back to this moment, perhaps out of a rush of adrenaline and endorphins, while he was falling to his death.
The Zero Pointer was no match for One for All's full strength, not by a long shot - but the 10 story jump he had to make in order for it to hit posed problems he wished he had taken more time to consider.
For example, how he would land. Screaming and internally calculating how not to die, he decided on a Detroit Smash, enough to negate his falling speed. It'd have to be precise, if he got it wrong by even a second he could-
Be slapped in the face, as a weightlessness overcame his broken body. It was that nice girl! She hit him with her quirk and - oh, she's throwing up.
Save aside, he remembered he had to get points - it was almost over and he didn't even have-
“AND, IT'S OOOVEEEEEEER!” Present Mic shouted, unknowingly embodying the mocking voices of everyone who doubted him.
Even after all of that training, all of the power that was at Izuku's fingertips, he still failed.
What a joke. He felt tears of pain combine with tears of sadness as the adrenaline started wearing off.
He could barely move, even if he wanted to.
From behind him came a hero who normally would make him mutter in excitement, Recovery Girl. She was well known for her exceptionally strong healing quirk.
*MWWWWWAAH!*
Even if the method of administering it was unorthodox.
But where Izuku expected relief, he felt unbearable pain.
He cried out and convulsed as Recovery girl gasped. Why did he have such an adverse reaction!? Is his body not used to his quirk to an extent that would hinder his body's healing? His arms were fine, but the young boy was still screaming and writhing wildly.
He could only bear the pain for so long before he lost consciousness from exhaustion.
He awoke later that day, feeling like he had just completed a full workout about 3 times over. He groaned quietly, as an unfamiliar voice spoke.
“-one of us has to talk to her-”
“No, Banjo this is girl stuff, just let me handle it.”
“Hello?” What was wrong with his voice? Izuku peered around the empty room. Was he hearing things?
“Oh! Nine, you're up!” A female voice said from out of his periferal. When he looked over, he saw the ethereal form of a woman in an older age superhero costume.
Nine? “I'm sorry, who-” Upon hearing his voice, he clasped his hands over his mouth. What was WRONG with his voice…? It was way higher pitched, quite a few many octaves higher.
“Whoa, you good there, kiddo? Need a second?” She asked. She was very kind.
“I-I'm sorry there's something wrong. Wh-who are you?” Izuku asked. This was too much right now.
The woman smiled and floated up. “I'm Nana Shimura. I'm the 7th user of One for All.”
“Wh… what?”
“Well, I'm a vestige of her. But a perfect copy.”
“Whoa… why are you here…?”
“So…” she rubbed her neck nervously with a wry smile. “One for All got way more powerful way faster than we thought it would. So, that means a few things. One, you're going to see me and the other vestiges of the previous users. Two, it means you're going to be much stronger than Toshi- uh, All Might. And three, One for All hasn't just stockpiled power, but it has stockpiled the quirks of the previous users, as such, as your body continues to acclimate to One for All, our quirk factors will manifest within you.”
Izuku was nearing tears. This morning he had no quirk, now he's going to get more!? “R-Really!?”
“Hell yeah kiddo.” Nana smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
Izuku let the tears flow. “This doesn't even feel fair… I can't believe I'm this lucky…”
Nana grabbed his shoulder gently. “Hey, don't you remember what All Might said? You've earned this. Through your own strength and effort. Never think for a second that you don't deserve this, Nine.”
Izuku nodded.
“Seeing you in action - I know that he picked the best young woman he could have.”
Izuku snapped out of his stupor. “…huh?”
“Yeah. Believe it, kiddo. The other vestiges are behind you too. Well, except Kudo and Bruce, bu-”
Izuku stammered. “N-No, no, what do you mean ‘young woman?’”
“...you're a girl, aren't you?”
Izuku stared at her. “N… No, I'm not.”
She gasped. “Oh my god, are you trans-masc? I'm so sorry, I-”
Izuku interrupted, “n-no, I'm not trans, I'm a boy!”
“...do you have a mirror or a phone camera?”
Izuku heard the confusion in her tone. What's going on? He reached for his phone, and in the camera…
And saw a girl he didn't recognize.
He recognized the green hair, the freckles, the emerald eyes, but they were all on someone else. A girl with an adorable rounded face, and adorable eyelashes.
She was… cute. But…
“...I wasn't a girl before I woke up in here.”
Nana stared at him (her?) until it sank in.
“...huh?”
“Are you done talking to yourself now?” Recovery Girl said from his left. “I have a few things to go over with you, as you can see.”
Izuku snapped over nervously. He looked over at Nana.
She was still shaken. “...oh, right, uh, other people can't see us. Except maybe Toshinori- Ack, All Might...” Izuku saw her flinch, as she realized that she accidentally slipped that All Might's real name was Toshinori.
Izuku nodded slightly. “S-Sorry… uh, what's going with…” he gestured to his body - still muscled, but a sizable bust, “this?”
“Well, it's certainly strange, I'll tell you that much.” She turned on a screen, with an x-ray, a blood sample, and DNA analysis results. “These are your health and body evaluations from a few weeks ago that you took, as they were mandatory for the entrance exam.” She clicked her mouse on the adjacent computer. “And these are yours today after I healed you.”
Before Izuku could even process being out for most of the day, he saw that the updated scans were dramatically different. His skeleton was reshaped, his recorded height was shorter, but, most importantly, his DNA sequence read completely differently. From what minimal knowledge he had of genetics, he was a completely different person.
“When you heal, your body uses your DNA as a blueprint for rebuilding cells as you know,” she started, “but as you can see, your DNA's structure has changed, and as far as I know, is still changing.”
Izuku nodded with an odd amount of intrigue.
“It's nothing dangerous. Quirk awakenings do this often, and frequently more dramatically. But, to put it simply, your Quirk rewrote your body's blueprints. So, when I healed you, your body didn't recognize itself and started rebuilding from scratch.”
Izuku nodded, not really understanding what this meant for him in the future.
“All Might told me about your Quirk. It's likely that its activation caused this.”
Izuku flinched at Recovery Girl talking about One for All. “W-Why did it make me a girl, though!?”
“Your Quirk has been a stockpiled power passed down for generations, correct? It’s possible that it may have passed on genetic traits from previous wielders. Since Nana Shimura was a woman, you may have gotten an additional X chromosome in place of your original Y. Sadly, there’s no way to know for sure.”
“So… I'm a girl now?” Izuku whimpered.
“For the time being, yes. We can see about arranging a meeting with someone with a gender-change quirk, but it may take some time, that kind of Quirk is quite rare.”
Izuku's eyes glazed over. ‘Why… aren't I as upset about this as I feel like I should be…?’ He asked himself.
After that briefing and a minor checkup, Izuku was determined to be safe to return home. His mother had been informed of the situation, and was at home preparing his welcome home and congratulations dinner.
Well, she wasn't told that he was a girl now, only that he was injured. Either way, there were gonna be tears.
But, Izuku wasn't quite thinking about that. Walking home with the vestige of Nana by his side, he was stuck thinking about his gender predicament. Mainly, that he didn't feel like it was much of one.
“I'm really sorry about this Izuku, I wish I had some idea this would happen.” Nana pleaded.
“It's okay, Miss Shimura, there's quite literally no way you could've known.” He placed his hand on his chin and continued to think aloud. “Though, it is an interesting quirk factor, the transference of genetic traits.”
Nana's eyes widened. “...say that again?”
“Huh? Transference?” Izuku questioned.
She snapped excitedly. “That's it!” She reached towards Izuku, and plunged her ethereal hand into his head.
“Whaaaah!? What are you-” He flinched, feeling the temperature lower where she put in her hand. She quickly pulled out a very thin looking man with white hair and bright green eyes. “Hey, Yoichi!” She grinned.
“Oof, I had hoped my introduction would have a bit more reverence than that.” He chuckled and waved as Nana let him go. “Hello Nana, hello Izuku.”
“Whoa… which user are you?” Izuku asked with intrigue.
“I am the first user of One for All, the originator.”
“That's actually part of why I pulled him out - he thought he was quirkless, but he actually had the ability to pass down quirks - and now, theoretically, genetic traits, which is probably how this happened.”
“Ooooh, that's not a bad theory, Nana.” He praised her.
“You had the ability to pass down quirks? How did that turn into power stockpiling?” Izuku asked.
Nana and Yoichi's faces turned grim.
“That's… Toshinori didn't tell you?” Yoichi said nervously.
“God DAMN it, Toshi…” Nana winced.
Izuku felt a pit in his stomach. Something was clearly very wrong. “What… what's wrong?”
Yoichi and Nana nervously looked at each other.
“That'll have to be for another time, Nine.” Yoichi said.
Well, that was concerning. But he'd have to wait before having a minor panic attack about it.
In the meantime, it was time to have a minor panic attack about how in the name of All Might he was going to explain this to his mom.
“I think I might have an idea,” a voice said from behind him.
Izuku jumped with a yelp, to see a young man with a high collared red jacket. “Sup. I'm En, the sixth user. Try telling her... that you got hit with a gender change quirk. If you tell it right, she probably won't look into it. Might be a bit far-fetched, but it makes more sense than ‘the quirk All Might gave me turned me into a girl.’”
“I don't really like the idea of lying to her… but I'm not sure telling her about One for All would be a good move.” Izuku thought.
“It could pose problems, but it's your call, Nine.” En suggested. “Now, I can tell an honest kid like you probably sucks ass at lying, so we'll get you more accustomed to it. You're gonna need to be good at it if you wanna keep this secret.”
Surprisingly, the notorious crier known as Inko Midoriya was very receptive. Izuku could barely stop trembling through the lie, as En tried his best not to look downtrodden by his relative's inability to lie.
The next day was bad for Izuku. His mom was very helpful, they spent most of the day shopping for basic girl stuff, underwear and clothes that would actually fit his now smaller physique.
He didn't really know what to do about clothing. He didn't really feel right in male clothing, but he didn't really feel comfortable enough for female clothing either. Self identity is a headache.
Gender neutral it is, he thought, grabbing the same generic t-shirts and shorts he usually got.
There was one thing that caught his eye...
While his mom wasn't looking, he got himself a sun dress.
Even with shopping to distract him, Izuku was still stressing ungodly amounts about the entrance exam.
He found a bench to rest on while his mom continued shopping. Did he pass? Who is he kidding, of course he didn't pass! He's a worthless quirkless failure-
It was then he felt a slap on the back of his head. “Ah!?”
“Talking like that is only gonna make things worse, kiddo.” He turned around to see a large bald man with goggles and a leather jacket on. “Calm down. Breathe.” He used his hands and his own breathing to demonstrate.
Izuku followed his words, realizing that he was in fact breathing rather sporadically.
In…
Out.
In…
Out.
“Okay, now talk to me.” He said, sitting on the bench next to him.
Izuku was amazed at how easy that was. Breathing in and out like that actually works? He sighed. “I'm pretty sure I failed the UA entrance exam.”
“Ahhhh.” He nodded knowingly. “Yeah. That's rough. Though, you want my take?”
Izuku looked at the strange man. “Uh, sure.”
“Well, it was point based, right?” He asked.
“Yeah. I scored zero points. I destroyed a robot and saved someone, though. For all that mattered.” Izuku frowned.
“Well, it might've.” He offered. “In a test for a hero school, self sacrifice has to count for something, huh?”
“...hey, you might be onto something… the points for destroying the robots were called villain points. It wouldn't make much sense for that distinction if there wasn't some other scoring system...”
“Yeah! And kickin’ ass ain't all being a hero is about! They'd be a shit school if they only tracked that.” He encouraged him.
“So… I might still have a chance!” Izuku cheered.
“Hell yeah you do, Nine! Plus, even if you didn't, lord knows we couldn't stop you from just bein’ a vigilante.” He guffawed.
“Wait, ‘Nine’?” He looked at the man. He simply chuckled, and Izuku noticed the same ethereal shimmer that the rest of the vestiges had.
“Daigoro Banjo, fifth wielder! Nice to meet ya, kid!” He gave a thumbs up.
“O-Oh! Likewise!” Izuku outstretched his hand to shake it before realizing how weird that would probably look, shaking hands with the air.
“All of that aside, you gotta stop talkin’ yourself down kid. You’re a hard worker, you’re smart, and you’ve got exactly what it takes to be a hero.”
Izuku looked at him, teary eyed. “Y-You mean it?”
“Of course!” He gave the boy(?) a pat on the back.
“S-Sorry, I-I need to stop crying so much…” Izuku said, wiping his eyes.
“Pshhh. Toshinori’s a dipshit." He said with a scoff. "Crying is normal. Crying is okay.”
“You… you seem to be well informed about emotional health.” Izuku posed.
Banjo nodded. “Yeah, I don’t look it do I? It’s because of my Quirk, actually.”
“Oh? How so?”
Bajo lifted his hand and deep black tendrils emerged from his knuckle. “My Quirk’s called Blackwhip. It’s not as simple as it seems - you need to have your emotions in check, it responds to them. Let your anger or fear overpower you, and it’ll get out of control.”
Izuku nodded intently, writing down this information in his notebook.
Banjo looked at him and smiled. “You’re quick on the draw with that stuff, eh?”
“Well, if I’m gonna be using Blackwhip, I’ll need as much information as possible.” Izuku nervously replied.
“Here, can I see?” Banjo motioned for his notebook, and grabbed it. Surprisingly, he was able to hold it in his hands. He wordlessly flipped through the pages. “Hell, these are good. You’ve been practicing for a while, huh?”
Izuku bashfully nodded. “Y-Yeah, I thought if I studied pro heroes enough, I might be able to a quirkless hero…”
Banjo playfully ruffled his hair. “If someone could, it’d be you, kid.”
Izuku felt his smile grow and tears prick up on the sides of his eyes from Banjo’s kindness.
Banjo had seen his memories.
He knew how much this meant to him.
Izuku found themselves on Takoba beach yet again, facing the vestige of Nana, Yoichi, En, and Banjo - they were now wearing workout gear, Nana in sweatpants and a sports bra, Banjo in a white tank top and black gym shorts, En in a black tank top and red sweats, and Yoichi wearing a plain t - shirt and sweatpants.
“Alright, so, the first time you used One for All was pretty disastrous. Broken legs and arms.” Nana said playfully.
“And being turned into a girl…” Izuku sighed.
“Hey, I’m just happy it didn’t kill you.” Nana chuckled.
“I’m pretty sure we all are…” Yoichi jabbed playfully.
Nana waved her hand playfully back.
“So… where should we start, Nana-sensei?” Izuku asked.
She giggled. Nana-Sensei. “Well, not breaking bones would be a good place.” Nana peered behind her to the other vestiges. “Yoichi, what was it like using One for All for the first time?”
“Kinda felt like being electrocuted. And I, uh broke my wrist, and fractured many fingers.” He said lightly.
“I was hoping for something more specific than that, but that might actually work.” She said, “Right, what’s the difference between you and Yoichi, and One for All then and now?”
Izuku thought. “Well, I’m younger than Yoichi was when he got it. And… it had less power, didn’t it?”
“Partial credit! The thing is, Yoichi was sickly as hell. ” Nana praised them.
“Hey!” Yoichi snapped in jest.
Nana waved him off again. “So, One for All wasn’t as strong, and he had a weaker vessel. What does that tell you?”
“Well, obviously I’m using too much power. And if it didn’t have as much power before… maybe I should start by limiting my output?” Izuku suggested.
Nana gave a thumbs up. “Good! Now, he also said getting electrocuted. What can you infer from that?”
Izuku closed their eyes and went deeper into thought. “Maybe… I treated One for All like an ultimate move, and impulsively just put it all into just my arms and legs… so maybe a consistent current throughout my body is how I should do it?”
Nana clapped. “Okay, good! Let’s try it out, shall we? I wouldn’t go for anything huge, maybe just a little?”
Izuku focused intensely. Feeling the inkwell of energy in their body, and drawing from it.
Slowly, crackles of green electricity arced around their body.
“That’s it! That’s it!” Nana cheered.
“Hell yeah, kid!” Banjo corroborated.
Izuku sat there clenched.
“...can you move, Izuku?” Yoichi awkwardly asked.
“...no.” Izuku said with their voice strained.
“...oh.” Nana said.
“Well, it’s something. How much of that would you say you’re channeling?” Banjo asked.
“I think about five percent, if I were to quantify it…” They responded.
“Maybe try for one percent then?” Yoichi offered.
The crackling died down slightly, and Izuku was less clenched. Slowly they moved their arms around. “Okay… I-I think I can do something with this…”
They wound up for a punch, and threw it. In front of them, a massive amount of air became displaced, causing dust to fly down the beach.
“I… I did it!” Izuku shouted with enthusiasm.
The four vestiges cheered, and ran up to them, Banjo patting them on the back, and Nana going for a back crushing hug.
“Not bad, kid.” En said. Emerging behind him was a man with white hair and two scars running down his face, he nodded with pride. Izuku figured he might be shy.
Yoichi reached his hand into Izuku, “C’mon out Kudo, Bruce, you gotta give them some props for-”
“Figuring out the absolute bare minimum?” One of them spat.
“That’s not very heroic of you, Kudo.” Yoichi jabbed.
“Bite me.” Kudo(?) responded.
They could all feel it disheartened Izuku.
“Hey, don’t worry about them. They’re so far up their own asses they haven’t seen the sun in years.” Banjo eloquently said.
“It’s their own weird way of helping you,” Yoichi said. “They’ll come around once they see what you’re truly capable of.”
Izuku nodded. “Well… I hope I can prove them wrong.”
Nana ruffled their hair. “You will.” She stepped back and took a fighting stance. “Now, let's work on learning how to properly throw a punch.”
The next day at the beach was spent training Blackwhip.
“As I said before,” Banjo explained, “Blackwhip has a strong tie to your emotions- it's like a super flexible limb, so you need a steady heart.”
Izuku nodded. “Right.”
“Let's start small. See if you can whip the ground there,” he pointed to a spot on the ground.
Izuku focused on the spot. They needed to hit that spot. They had to get used to using it!
In that moment, deep dark green tendrils emerged from their knuckles, in a giant mass that lifted them in the air, and dragged them wildly across the beach, slamming them into the sand and water, tearing up trees, and ripping up concrete like a tornado.
“Wha-!?” Izuku cried, as the writhing tendrils of Blackwhip jerked them around.
“Oh shit-!” Banjo shouted, the tendrils wildly flailed around, tearing into nearby objects, and flinging things around. “Izuku! Stay calm!”
“I-I’M TRYING!” They shouted
“Damn it! Damn it, damn it!” Nana said, struggling to think of something to do.
“I have an idea.” A new voice said. It was the shyer vestige, the fourth user.
“Hikage! What’s the plan!?” Banjo frantically asked his sensei.
“I’m gonna give them Danger Sense!” They said.
“THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE OPPOSITE OF A GOOD IDEA RIGHT NOW!” En snapped.
“No, maybe working with them in tandem with the increased awareness could help Izuku calm it down!” Banjo said. “Izuku, you wanna try that out!?”
“.....Y-YEAH!” They reaffirmed. Hikage unlocked Danger Sense, and Izuku’s tendrils almost immediately calmed down.
“Oh, thank goodness…” Yoichi sighed in relief.
Izuku slowly lowered to the ground, tendrils retracting into their arm before they dropped to the ground. The beach around them was a complete disaster. “O-Okay… I’m… kinda getting it.”
“Sorry kid, I should’ve anticipated how much stronger Blackwhip would’ve gotten. Also seemed to have underestimated any repressed anger you may have…” Banjo apologized profusely, supporting their weight, when he realized that Izuku’s right arm was covered in blood. Some of Izuku's skin was torn off from how volatile Black Whip was, like their tendons had turned into blades under their skin. With that and all the scrapes, bruises, water, and sand they were now covered with, it looked like they had just had lost a fight rather badly.
“I-It’s okay. Again, I don’t think there’s any way any of you could’ve known.” They closed their first, and then winced loudly. “Ow…”
“One for All truly has turned into something fierce… even so, you’ve been handling it remarkably well, Izuku.” Hikage said.
They nodded. “Thank you, Hikage."
The fourth placed a hand gently on their shoulder. "Of course. Anything for my... I guess we'll say cousin. Let's go and have your mom patch that up for you.”
Katsuki was having the week of his life. Finally into UA, finally away from that damned Deku. Maybe he’d learn to get over himself and stop looking down on him!
This whole week before the results came in were nothing but a victory lap to him. He still kept up his routines, because heroes don’t quit. A full hour and a half run is what he usually does, around his dinky little hometown.
“Did you see that girl at the beach?” Someone adjacent to him said, “She was flying!”
Flying Quirk? I’m sure the nerd would find that worth geeking out about. Or he would, probably not now that he had to focus on being more realistic.
“Yeah! I saw her lift a dumped car off the beach! BY HERSELF!” The other person said.
…what.
Since when was someone that strong in this shitty town?
Maybe Katsuki could stand jogging by the beach.
He looked up towards the sky, and, sure enough, there was someone up there, floating in place.
What the fuck?
Don’t know why anyone would be at that-
Completely empty beach. What the fuck? Wasn’t this place a trash heap a few weeks ago? It was completely clean, aside from the aforementioned car that was dragged off the beach.
He heard footsteps land near him. “Kacchan?”
Fucking Deku. Of course he’s here to see this extra with the weird quirk. “What the hell do you want, De-”
That wasn’t Deku. That was a girl. It looked like Inko more than him, but the scruffy hair and freckles were undeniably that shitty nerd’s.
“H-Hey, Kacchan…” She said nervously. Yep. That was Deku alright.
“The fuck happened to you?” He scowled.
“I, uh, got hit by a gender change quirk.” She said.
A very obvious lie. The nerd had never been good at it. When the fuck would they stop looking down on him?
“Whatever.” He walked onto the beach and looked around. “So where’s the extra that was flying in the air?”
The nerd tensed up. “I, Uh…” He flinched for a moment, and spoke quietly out of the side of his mouth, “n-no I can’t just tell him!”
“What? What are you hiding, nerd?”
“I… came to see them too. But they, uh… they were gone before I got here. S-Sorry, Kaccha- Katsuki.” She shakily replied. She sounded like she was reading off a script. And she never called him Katsuki anymore.
“Tch… whatever. Don’t come near me again, or I’ll kill you, you Shitty Nerd.” He stormed off.
As soon as Katsuki was out of view, Izuku relaxed and fell backwards onto the sand.
“You really need to get better at lying, Nine.” En chided.
“S-Sorry…” They lamented.
“Whatever. With One for All, you could take him.” Banjo abrasively said.
Izuku winced at the thought of fighting with Katsuki.
“Well, since he’s out and about, wanna practice a little more with Blackwhip instead?” Nana lent a hand out to them.
“Sure.” Izuku said with a determined smile. “Using Float took a lot out of me.”
“Okay, in my defense, Float never shot me 30 meters in the air.” Nana said playfully.
At their desk, they held the envelope. This was probably the most eventful week of their life. Getting a quirk, saving someone using their powers, turning into a girl, meeting seven ghosts who were helping train them, and soon enough getting rejected from UA-
No, stop. Don’t think like that. There’s no way to know for sure!
Izuku could only stare at it. That heavy little envelope had their destiny in it. Maybe if they never opened it, it would never disappoint him.
Schrodinger's failure.
No, they had to do this! They weren’t going to run away anymore!
They grabbed the ends of the envelope, and pulled them apart, causing the small hologram disc to flop out onto his desk.
“Booyah! I am here! AS A PROJECTION!” All Might shouted on the recording.
Izuku waited with baited breath as All Might got the formalities out of the way.
“You passed the written test with flying colors, young man, as I expected!”
Izuku didn’t know why ‘young man’ hurt to hear.
“Buuuuuut, before we get to the practical exam, I have another surprise!”
He gestured to a TV, which turned to a clip of the nice girl with the gravity power.
Offering her points so that he could get in.
“The reason I show you this?” All Might said with his expert showmanship, “While you scored zero villain points in the exam, for your brave act saving that girl earned SIXTY rescue points!”
Izuku felt tears in their eyes.
“What hero course could reject someone so committed to saving others, that they’d sacrifice themselves?”
The scoreboard appeared on screen, and showed his name in seventh place. “Zero Villain points alone would've been a failure… but with your rescue points alone, you have passed!”
All Might outstretched his arm, as if to take Izuku's hand. “Welcome, Izuku… to your hero academy!”
It took a lot of help…
But their life continued to change.
And their dream would soon begin.