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Shifting Gears (A Guide To An Absolutely Broken Quirk!)
Izuku was totally mentally ready for One For All. Definitely. He did everything that All Might said. He worked up muscles, he clenched his ass, and he yelled smash. So could someone, anyone, please explain to him why nothing went how it was supposed to? For a second, he thought that maybe he didn't have One For All yet. But no, he could feel the bursting energy under his skin, waiting eagerly to be tapped into. The problem was that he couldn't do that. It wasn't working.
He had no idea what to do. There was a giant robot incoming and it was about to crush a girl. What was he supposed to do if One For All refused to operate? He felt sick and mildly annoyed, as if the quirk was laughing at his distress. He got the sense that it had done this on purpose, if the quirk had some semblance of higher brain function somehow. It really seemed like it decided to hand him something else on a whim, to keep him from doing something wrong (like break almost all of his limbs in an act of self sacrifice). He had no idea what it had thrown into his hands in a panic but he might as well figure it out right now.
He fixes his terrified gaze onto the looming robot, ignoring the way his legs were trembling. There's then a moment where he feels phantom hands resting on his shoulders and hears a voice from beyond his perception, "Clasp your hands together and physically shift gears. You might not have the sheer power to blow the robot away but you'll surely be fast enough to bring the girl to safety."
He should've been scared. He should've. There was a disembodied voice telling him what to do, freaking out would be well within reason. But he felt oddly calm. The hands trail down his arms, covering his trembling hands. They move his hands together, forcing his fingers to clasp along his knuckles. He blinks a few times as he watches his hands move, barely registering the faint outline of prickly hair over his shoulder. The hands adjust his own, jerking them in a motion that was reminiscent of shifting the gear stick in a car. The voice says, "Like this. You'll go much faster but I think the strain of Gearshift might be a little too much for you to handle, so be careful."
He changes his stance as he feels his body lighten, his mind feels weightless and he physically feels like he could run a marathon without breaking a sweat. The voice mutters, "This is second gear."
His hands are forcibly jerked again, "Third."
He feels even lighter somehow, like he's about to just float right off of the ground.
The hands jerk over one more time, "Top gear."
He feels like he's completely out of perception. Like if he moves even an inch, it would be too fast to register. Everything around him is in slow motion, barely even moving.
The phantom hands pull back and give him a gentle shove to the back, pushing him forward, "Go for it."
He moves forward in a burst of astonishing speed. He's moving so fast that no one around him can even see him. The force of his takeoff sends dust and grit flying but there is no sound that follows. He rushes to the girl as she just barely uses her quirk to lift the rubble pinning her down, he grabs her arms and frees her, quickly retreating to a spot that wouldn't be caught in the robot's path. When he sets her down, only then does the sound from his takeoff finally register. It's a sharp crack of air like the atmosphere had been physically struck.
He clasps his hands together again and sloppily ticks them back along the same rhythm the voice had done. The world goes back to normal speed and his legs almost instantly give out on him, sending him toppling to the pavement in sheer exhaustion. The voice chides him in a mix of amusement and fondness, "I told you to be careful, didn't I?"
A phantom hand ruffles his hair in a friendly manner before vanishing. He blinks blearily up at the girl who had yet to say anything. She was staring at him in shock and awe, stunned at how he had moved so fast. He pushed up from the pavement with his trembling arms, "G-Gotta... get at least... one point..."
He promptly collapsed again. The voice tucks hair behind his ear in the same way his mom used to, muttering, "Go to sleep, Ninth."
And he did just that.
Toshinori watched all the different children perform in the exams but his eyes kept trailing back to his successor. He was worried. His successor had this strained look on his face, looking completely panicked. The poor boy had no points and had yet to activate One For All. But from what Toshinori could tell, the boy was trying to. But for whatever reason, it wasn't working. That had never happened before to his knowledge, it left him completely baffled.
He focused on what his successor was doing now. The boy had his hands clasped out in front of him in a strange manner and was slowly moving them in an almost sporadic motion. My boy, what on earth are you doing? And suddenly, he completely vanished. Only to reappear in a completely different spot with the girl who had been in the robot's path just a moment before. He was stunned. He continued to watch as a few examinees that were nearby covered their ears at what he assumed was the sound of his successor breaking the sound barrier. He stood from his seat on pure instinct when the boy dropped out of exhaustion.
After the test, he met up with Izuku and immediately asked him what happened. Izuku stared at his hands in wonder, "I'm not sure. I just know that One For All wasn't working and then the next thing I know, there's this disembodied voice telling me to do things. And then I moved so fast-- And I saved that girl-- And I... What on earth was that, All Might?"
Toshinori stared at him in awe, "I have... no idea, Young Midoriya..."
Izuku clenched his fists and then released them, "The voice said something like Gearshift. I'm assuming that's the name of whatever that was."
Toshinori only shrugged. He had no idea what was going on with One For All.
Izuku started to mutter, "You said that One For All's core mechanics are stockpiling and transferring... Maybe.... Maybe it doesn't just store physical ability... Maybe it stores quirks too?"
He stared at his successor, nodding slowly, "That would make sense. I'll do my best to look into the quirks of the previous wielders. I promise, we'll figure this out."
On Izuku's first day, he was immediately approached by the boy who had scolded him twice during the exams. When the boy was arguing with Kacchan, Izuku caught his name. He didn't know the boy but his name sounded familiar, he had no clue where he had heard it though. The boy introduced himself again and said, "I never suspected you had a speed based quirk. It appears we have something in common."
Izuku nervously chuckled and rubbed at the back of his neck, "Yeah... I didn't know I could move that fast, honestly!"
"It's you... You were so cool!"
He yelped and turned to face the girl he had saved. He waved his hands frantically, "Ah, it-- it wasn't that big of a deal!"
The girl's jaw dropped, "What do you mean? You went crazy fast! I couldn't even see you until you stopped moving!"
The disembodied voice returned, sounding just above his head, "Just take the compliment and move forward."
"Man, it would've been cool if he got my quirk first! It's so useful for heroics!" Fifth complained in the void.
Sixth kicked him in the back of one of his knees and said, "Nah, mine would've been better. It's good for stealth."
Fourth sighed and lamented from his place on the floor, "It's a shame he didn't receive Danger Sense. It would keep him from harm."
Seventh shrugged, "Float would've made him iconic. Probably would've made Toshi cry a little too."
Third stretched casually and said, "Well, Fa Jin would've been useful but Leader's Meta Power is good too. Especially after what One For All turned it into. It's completely broken now."
The group glanced over to where Second and First were idly discussing the situation. First was mumbling, "I wanted to give him something that would give him a lot of power but not break him like mine would. It was either yours or Third's. It was a shame I was forced to pick so quickly though. I wish Eighth would've found him sooner than he did."
Second nodded, "I did my best to assist him but he still ended up knocked out. I'm sure he'll get the hang of it though, he's a smart kid."
First smiled slyly, "He gets it from his dad."
Second frowned and glanced at Yoichi in confusion, "What?"
First looked around as if to find who had said that comment about Ninth's absent father, "What?"
Toshinori set the notebook down between them, watching as Izuku read the cover. He sighed, "I did my best to find out what I could about the past holder's quirks. Nothing I found matches with what you described. However, I found next to nothing about the second and third holders. So my best guess is that it belonged to one of them."
Izuku stiffened up as phantom hands planted on his shoulders again, a voice sounding from behind him, "I'm the second wielder."
Izuku glanced at Toshinori before speaking to the voice, "Do you have a name, Second?"
Toshinori's eyes went wide once he realized what was happening. The voice replied, "Yes."
"You gonna tell me what it is?"
"No."
"Fair enough. So anyway, Gearshift is your quirk, right?"
"Yeah, it was."
"What exactly is its mechanic?"
"I could manipulate the speed of any small object I touched."
"Wait, so let me get this straight. Your quirk only works on small objects and yet you made me use it on myself? And it worked?"
Toshinori fidgeted nervously as he listened to a conversation he could only hear one side of.
"Well, no. For me, it only worked for small things. One For All boosted it and now it works at a completely different level. I think. Though, I didn't actually have evidence for that. I just hoped for the best."
"I'm getting the feeling that a lot of my usage of your quirk is gonna be done by hoping for the best and winging it."
"I'm getting that too, Ninth. I'm getting that too."