My Hero Academia: From The Ground Up

Chapter 6: Not Created Equal

Once Midoriya regained enough strength to return to school, it went along as smooth as before. Bakugou didn't say a word to him, only sitting in his desk with his jacket on over his uniform and the hood up.

It was later in the evening when Izuku was studying in his room when he heard a knock at the door. "Hey Izuku-kun? I-it's Ochaco."

"Oh... Hey Ochaco-san." Izuku said.

It hurt for her slightly to hear her best friend greet her so nonchalant. They were so used to each other that they had all kinds of greetings, even nonchalant sounding ones. But this felt more...not-excited. Still, she felt she was just being sensitive and ignored it. "What'cha studying?"

"Just the assigned reading for history. I like that they added in the more recent decades when mankind started developing quirks." He smiled and turned to her.

"Ah. Yeah that is pretty cool..." She walked closer and sat on his bed.

"How's your day been?" He asked.

"It's been alright. I still wish we had the same class. I could sure use your enthusiasm for school." Ochaco smiled.

Izuku chuckled. "Yeah.."

"How's your um... How's your body doing?"

"My what?... Oh OH! Sorry." He gave a light blush, which she quickly returned and peeped. "I'm feeling a little sore but otherwise okay."

She scooted across his bed closer to him. "Could you show me how it is?"

His blush returned.

"D-don't make this awkward, Midoriya!" She frowned.

"Sorry sorry!" He panicked then quickly lifted up his shirt over his head. His bandages at this point had been recently removed, revealing his healing but still scarred back and sides.

Ochaco gave him a sad look then glanced back to his burns.

"Ochaco, please don't think anything of Katsuki." He requested.

She immediately sat up offended. "Izuku Midoriya, he's the one that did this to you! His bullying has gone too far!"

"I deserved it! He didn't bully me that time!" He defended.

Her look turned to concern. "You don't deserve what happened that night at all... And why would you say this wasn't bullying?!"

"It was a fight! Real heroes get into fights! Sometimes even fights they know they'll lose!" Izuku raised his voice, it cracked with emotion as a result.

"Izuku why would you get into a fight with someone you could never beat?!" She shouted back.

"BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO!"

"YOU'RE NOT A HERO AND YOU AREN'T GOING TO BE!"

He sat back first staring into her eyes in shock. They lowered from her eyes down to his carpet. "Please leave me alone, Uraraka..."

Ochaco was also shocked by what she said in the heat of such a moment. Even she was questioning if she meant it.

"Please get out." He asked.

"I'm... Oh..." She quickly stood up and rushed out covering her mouth.

Izuku watched her run out his door and heard his apartment door slam.

Not long after, his mother knocked on his partially opened door. "Izu? Sweetie?"

He was still sitting at his desk but wasn't studying, just staring off into space in thought.

Inko stepped inside and walked up to him. On his personal laptop, which he had opened out of habit, was the classic footage that debuted the hero All Might as the Symbol of Peace. "Izuku?..." She put her hands on naked shoulders.

Her heart broke as she heard the faint sound of a sob coming down from her son.

"M-Mom?... D-Do you think I could ever...be a hero?.... L-like All Might?..."

She couldn't hold back now, she rolled his chair around and threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry, Izuku... I wish things were different..."

Mom....that's not what I need to hear from you...

~~~~~~
It was the next day, Saturday. Izuku had woken up early and taken the bus to the city library. He needed a place to clear his mind and maybe seek some counsel from any hero records he could find.

After finding a few interesting hero-philosophy books, he sat himself down with his notebook at a table and began his engaging study of escape.

His table was one of the closest to the main entrance. A disadvantage for him.

A man with three tendrils growing out of his head and reconnecting on his back stepped in and began muttering to himself, loud enough for Izuku to hear what he was saying.

"Power, power, need power, book of power, book of power. It's in here I know it, I know it."

He put down his notebook and observed the man. First, he went to the front desk and asked a woman working there, probably about what he was muttering about.

"No no no, that's not a book we give away. I can't help you with that." She said.

He groaned in frustration then quickly raised his hand to her. And as quick as his hand was raised, a bright beam of green light blasted from his fingertips, knocking her loudly off her feet behind the desk.

Izuku quickly jumped up and hid behind the closest bookshelf. He peeked around to see the villain staring directly at him. "Hey kid. C'mere a second." He invited.

Izuku remained silent and still in his hiding place.

"Hey heyyyy. How bout I make a deal. You looked like someone who comes here often. How's bout you help me find a certain book in a little...forbidden section. And I don't blast you too. How's that sound?" He asked as he stepped closer and closer to the bookshelf.

The shelf itself was adjacent to the rows of bookshelves that lined the library, just enough to be out of the villain's line of view.

"Hey don't sweat it, kid. My name is Nucleon. And my quirk is reactor. Energy absorption and emmission. What's yours?"

Izuku quickly ran from the bookshelf to the aisles.

Nucleon heard his footsteps and blasted the shelves between them. "You can't hide from me forever, kid!"

He continued to run down the aisles hearing more and more shelves blasted to dust. "KIIIIID!"