~Trigger Warning: Please see comment —->

Roughly ten months before the U.A. High Entrance Exams...

Here's the sad truth... not all men are created equal. When Izuku Midoriya was four years old, he learned that some people simply have more power than others.

・┈┈・┈┈・┈┈・

A young Izuku, stood protectively in front of another young boy as he lay helpless on the ground. The young boy had been hit and pushed down by a boy named Katsuki Bakugo. With as much bravery as a four year old can muster, Izuku stood with his first shaking, ready to defend himself and the helpless boy. His eyes challenged someone he has always considered a friend.

"Why are you being so mean?" Izuku's soft voice shook, but he pressed forward anyways, "You're making him cry Kacchan! If you keep on hurting him... uhh... I'll, uhh... I'll stop you myself!". He declared as bravely as he could.

The blonde boy in front of him smiled in disdain, his hands sparked igniting a small blast of fire around his fists as he punched them together menacingly. "You want to pretend to be a hero? You don't stand a chance without a Quirk... Deku," Katsuki chuckles in a taunting voice, closing the gap between them, while two of his friends flanked behind him.

・┈┈・┈┈・┈┈・

That day, Katsuki showed Izuku how vast the gap of power truly was between them. A memory that hasn't left Izuku, even now ten years later. For some reason, this memory resurfaces as he's running through town, eagerly trying to get to the scene of a crime the pro-heros are working on. He swears that his lack of power will not hold him back. If anything, he's going to use it to push himself to do better.

"Woah!" Izuku gasps as he approaches the hero taping a cautionary border in order to keep the civilians separated from the on-going fight. "That's one huge super-villain!"

It was indeed a very large super-villain, one with a type of transformation quirk that allowed him to grow taller than most of the sky-rise buildings in the surrounding area. Citizens, most on their morning commute to work or school, had no choice but to stop and watch the scene play out before them. Izuku on the other hand, was purposely stopping to take some notes on the pro-heros combating the villain.

How do you obtain power? What is power? These two questions have different answers depending on who you ask. If you were to ask Izuku, he would say that power is exponential, and something that can grow and expand with knowledge. Izuku, who was born without a quirk, has no true power of his own, except for knowledge. He has notebooks filled with notes on pro-heroes. His insight into pro-heroes is on par with a 'fanboy', some would even say it is akin to an obsession.

There is no better way to start a day, for Izuku at least. Some of the crowd would disagree as they anxiously try to call into work. "I got held up, the train's out. Another villain. I'm not sure when I'm going to make it to the office." The man's voice holds a tone of annoyance, clearly this is not his first time being late to work due to a villain-related incident.

As Izuku squeezes through the crowd he continues catching tidbits of information. One bystander says, "What a monster! Can't believe he has a quirk so powerful!"

Another man joins the conversation, as Izuku listens hoping to get caught up on the events. "Do you know what happened? The guy must be desperate if he's using his ability in the middle of a city like this."

A middle aged man with a round belly and three star-like prongs sticking out of his head answers him, "Just some amateur. Stole someone's bag then got himself cornered."

The man to Izuku's left scoffs upon hearing this, "A quirk like that and he's just some petty thief."

Just as the patrol person is finishing roping off the scene with exhausted reminders to stay back, A hero by the name of Deatharms charges forward while the bystanders shriek in alarm. The villain's erratic arm swings managed to take out part of the metal powerline for the electric above-ground train. And it is now heading towards the bystanders at a rapid pace, As Deatharms skids to a stop under the falling debris, he quickly slams his giant fists together before raising his hands high in the sky, catching and holding on to the heavy debris, while the Villain continues to roar and rampage.

"Oh, nice! Way to go Deatharms!" Izuku cheers along with the crowd, eagerly adding notes to his notebook.

"The punching Hero! I wish I had a Quirk that made me super strong!" Another onlooker cheers.

A man with skin that resembles tree bark, and a body that can grow tree roots rapidly, swings onto the scene, eliciting adorning screams from some of his female fans. "It's Kamui!" "We're your biggest fans!".

The Villain notices Kamui Woods approaching and tries to take a swing as soon as Kamui lands on the train bridge, "Get away from me or I'll break your back like a toothpick!"

"Oh, this is going to be good! It's Kamui Woods! He may be new but he's making a big name of himself!" Izuku exclaims as they watch Kamui use his quirk to mold his arm into a long tree branch. He makes quick work of wrapping it around the left over metal beams of the powerline and swinging himself out of reach.

The man with the points on his head looks at Izuku's exuberant face, "Well, one look at that dopey grin and I know what you are... A fanboy!"

Izuku blushes sheepishly, scratching his thick mop of curls, "Uh... sorta...". This man isn't the first one to call Izuku a fanboy.

Meanwhile, Kamui Woods is trying to find his opening to take down the gigantic villain that is continuing to rampage, "Assault, robbery, and illegal use of powers during rush hour traffic, you are the incarnation of pure evil!" Kamui's arm start to grow into sturdy tree branches, aimed towards the villain. His branches separating and spacing themselves out much like a spider web.

"Here it comes! His special move!" Izuku cheers excitedly.

The branches Kamui has produced are growing long enough to almost encircle the Villain in a binding hold, a special move Kamui calls, "The Pre-Emptive... Binding... Lacquered Chain Prison!" He calls out, preparing to ensnare his target.

Just as he is about to take hold, a woman as tall as the Villain, with a gigantification quirk of her own, flies over the roofs of several buildings before knocking the opponent off his feet with a precise kick! "Canyon Cannon!" Mount Lady yells dramatically, a smile of victory coming across her face.

The photographers on the scene instantly train their cameras on the large woman, chanting collectively "Money shot, money shot, money shot...". As a fairly new to game hero, Mount Lady has increased in popularity, her natural beauty and charismatic personality are beloved by many. She also has a flashy quirk, it's not every day you see a beautiful woman in spandex tower over a city.

Mount Lady smiles cockily at the crowd, posing for the photographers, "Piece of cake for the world's next hottest hero. Hi there everyone, I'm Mount Lady. And you don't have to worry about this bum anymore!" She says while bending down to grab the arm of the villain, and well, maybe intentionally showing off an asset for the cameras.

To which the photographers happily snap away with another round of, "Money shot, money shot, money shot...".

The crowd cheers much to the dismay of Kamui Woods, whose big moment was stolen right from under him. "What? She's getting all the credit?" He grumbles.

Izuku is busy adding in his notes about Mount Lady, excited to finally have something to add about her. As he scribbles quickly, he also mutters his thoughts aloud, "Gigantification, huh... Well, she's definitely got the looks and attitude to be a crowd favorite and her Quirk is really showy. But it will be hard for her to get around much in the city without damaging lots of things. That means, she might not be very useful..."

With a soft chuckle, the gentleman with the three-pronged head comments on Izuku's actions, "Taking notes? I guess you want to be a hero yourself huh? Well, good luck with that!"

"Yes! More than anything!" Izuku says keenly. Whether the man truly meant his words or not, Izuku longed to be a hero nonetheless. "I'm gonna do my best!".

With everyone's day finally returning to a more mainstream pace, Izuku is now sitting in his classroom at Aldera Junior High. His home room teacher is pacing in front of the classroom full of students. "So... as third-year students it's time to start thinking seriously about your futures and what you want to do with your lives."

He comes to a dramatic stop in front of the first row of students, "I could pass out some career aptitude tests. But... Why bother? I know you all want to go to the Hero Track!"

The class erupts in cheers, showing off some flashy quirks for emphasis. "Yes, yes, you've got some very impressive Quirks but no power usage allowed in school. Get a hold of yourselves..." The teacher lightly scolds.

A blonde boy with piercing red eyes slams his feet on his desk as he props them up, "Hey, teach... Don't lump me in with this bunch of losers. I'm the real deal but these guys will be lucky to end up as sidekicks to some busted D-lister. Ha!" He sneers cockily.

"You think you're better than us, Katsuki?!" One disgruntled student snaps at him.

"Let's go, I'll take you all on!" Katsuki sneers, holding up a hand and igniting small explosions.

In an attempt to reign the class back in, the teacher looks over Katsuki's high school preference sheet. "Huh, you've got impressive test results. Maybe you will get into U.A. High"

There's a wide mix of responses from his fellow classmates, "He's gonna try for the national school?!", "That school has a 0.2% acceptance rate!", "It's impossible to get into!".

Katsuki rises to his feet, with a tenacious expression, "And that's exactly why it's the only place worthy of me. I aced all of the mock tests. I'm the only one at this school who stands a chance of getting in. I'll end up more popular than All Might himself! And be the richest hero of all time! People all across the world will know who I am and it all starts with U.A. High!" He declares boldly.

The teacher, who is still looking through his student's sheets adds, "Oh yeah, Midoriya... Don't you want to go to U.A. too?" He asks, looking directly at Izuku.

This time the students start laughing, taunting Izuku's ambitions. "Midoriya? You're kidding, right?" "There's no way of getting into the Hero Course without a Quirk".

A flustered and sheepish Izuku quietly mumbles, "Well, actually they got rid of that rule. I could be the first one..." He dares to dream so hopefully.

Unlike the rest of the class who finds humor in Izuku's dreams, Katsuki finds himself angry. He stands up, igniting small, but non-harmful explosions, before punching Izuku's desk. "Listen up, Deku... You're even worse than the rest of these damn rejects, you Quirk-less wannabe! You really think they'll let someone like you in when they could have me?" He growls angrily.

Izuku gasps in fear, trepidation making his words come out in quick stutters, "No way! You've got it all wrong. Really! I'm not trying to compete against you. You gotta believe me!". With a more subdued tone and sunken shoulders he adds, "It's just that... I've wanted to be a hero since I was little. I may not have a quirk... But I can still try my hardest, can't I?"

Katsuki sneers down at him, "You'd never be able to hang with the best of the best. You'd die in the exams! Defenseless Izuku! This school's already crappy, you really wanna embarrass it more by failing so hard?" He says, referring to their middle school.

The teacher quickly tries to wrangle Katsuki back into his seat, deciding to take a break from a group discussion about the students future and focus more on school related subjects. Much to the relief of a shaken up Izuku.

12:02 PM, Downtown

A woman can be heard screaming as a person with a body made of some kind of sludge material comes charging through the middle of the road, stealing items from people as he "runs". "Hey, get back here! Someone stop that monster!". Even if someone wanted to catch the monster, his heteromorphic body is simply too slippery to grab on to.

How can a villain with seemingly no bone structure run through town like this? It just so happens that this villain is using the body of an innocent bystander, sucking the man's body into his sludge and slowly taking shape over him. He can even use the man's mouth to talk. "Yell all you want, sucker. This cash is mine!" He cries boldly. The man he is slowly taking over can only grunt as he struggles to breathe.

Bystanders watch in panic; "Dude, where are all the heroes?", "Weird, normally someone would swoop in right away...", "Maybe they're all still busy from that scene this morning", "Remember when we didn't have to worry about randos with Quirks all the time?", "Seriously, there's no stopping them." The last bystander says in defeat, watching the villain continue to wreak havoc.

A thin man, with a rattling cough, can be seen walking down the road with his groceries. As he takes in the scene and the lack of heroes responding, he places his groceries to the side, then morphs into a man people around the world would instantly recognize.

His calm, yet booming voice carries to the bystander who last spoke, "Yes, there is...". The crowd gasps collectively as this man steps into the sun, a confident smile and heroic pose greet them, "You know why?" He continues, and just before he takes off after the Villain, he chuckles as he says, "BecauseI am here!".

Katsuki lingers in the classroom after school, his buddies taking their time as well for no real reason. Katsuki has a reason though, he wants to confront Izuku again about what he said in class earlier.

One of his buddies, not picking up on the animosity emanating from Katsuki, suggests, "Oh yeah, we should go to karaoke tonight."

Their other mutual friend agrees, looking over to Katsuki for agreement, "Yeah, let's go."

Oblivious to the impending doom behind him, Izuku is taking his time packing his school bag, thinking about the fight from this morning and muttering to himself quietly, "Man, that fight from this morning is all over the news. Better write some notes down before I forget anything."

This is when Katsuki takes his first steps to approach Izuku directly, "I don't know what you think you're doing Deku, but we're not done." He reaches down and snags Izuku's notebook off his desk, "Whatcha' ya got, a diary? Hero Analysis for the Future..." He reads the title aloud.

One of his friends peers over his shoulder, "Huh? Hero Analysis for the Future"

Katsuki chuckles darkly, his eyes looking at Izuku with a challenging gleam, daring him to argue back, "Don't tell me you're taking notes on how to be a hero. It's so pathetic!"

"He's delusional!" The other friend laughs.

Izuku avoids looking into Katsuki's eyes, choosing to respond in a calm tone, trying to hide the anxiety, "Yeah, real funny, guys. Just give it back." He asks, reaching for the notebook. Katsuki, using his quirk, creates an explosion with his hands, leaving the cover and pages slightly charred. Izuku can only watch as he cries out, "That's so mean!" He only just manages to say this before Katsuki casually throws the notebook out the second story window causing the boy further distress.

Looking at Izuku, Katsuki calmly says "Most first-string heroes show potential early on, people look at them and just know they're destined for greatness. When I'm the only student from this garbage junior high to get into U.A., people will start talking about me like that. They'll realize I'm legit, the next big thing. That's not ego talking, I just know I'm good." His confident, bordering on narcissistic, smile contradicts his statement a little.

"Ego..." Izuku whispers bitterly to himself.

"Here's a little word of advice, nerd: Don't even think of applying, or else." Katsuki says laying a smoking hand on Izuku's shoulder as a threat.

As Izuku whimpers, Katuski's friend shakes his head in disdain, "That's just sad."

"I thought you'd at least have some fight in you." The other friend nods in agreement.

"He finally gets it, he'll never be a hero. Better to find out now instead of later, I guess." Katsuki says, starting to walk to the door, turning back to add, "You know, if you really want to be a hero that badly, there actually might be another way... Just pray that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life, and take a swan-dive off the roof of the building."

His harsh words stir a furry inside Izuku. When he looks at Katsuki with a resentful expression, Katsuki throws his hand up, igniting a few small explosions to intimidate Izuku, "Something wrong?". Sadly, all Izuku can do is whimper and fear and cower down, giving the blonde boy the upper hand.

Izuku waits for Katsuki and his friends to leave, or at least he prays they truly have this time. He makes his way down to the ground floor outside the school, hoping there are still parts of his notebook he can salvage.

That idiot! He thinks to himself.You can't go around telling people to kill themselves. What if I really jumped, what would he do then?

He sighs aloud when he sees his notebook floating in the coy pond. "My dreams have turned into fish food." Izuku says quietly, laughing bitterly. He tried to get the notebook back from the coy fish who are pecking at it in curiosity, "That's enough, give it back."

Damn it. Izuku thinks to himself as he studies the sopping wet notebook with it's charred brown and black pages. Stupid jerk. He takes a long and deep sigh before starting his trek home. Some days, it is not easy to have hope and courage. For Izuku Midoriya, this seemed like one of those days.

Preview:
Let's take a look back to Izuku's childhood, to the days where he excitedly waited and waited for his own quirk to manifest.
And wait-? All Might? Japan's number one hero? Izuku's idol? Can this be real? And can he get an autograph?
"I have to know," Izuku asks desperately, "Is it possible to become a hero, even if I don't have a Quirk? I'm a normal kid without any powers. Could I ever hope to be someone like you?"
We'll find out next in: 𝐈𝐕. 𝐈𝐳𝐮𝐤𝐮 & 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐢: 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐈, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐲 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤