Perseverance

Perseverance Part 1

Izuku Midoriya was four years old when he discovered that he was quirkless. No amount of tears or kind words from his mother would change this life altering fact, this dream crushing reality. Izuku didn't give up on his dream though, he couldn't. He would just have to be the first quirkless hero and show the world that they were wrong. He happily told his friends about this, and from then on things just got worse. Izuku began coming home every day with burn marks and bruises, his clothes singed from the torment of his old friend Katsuki Bakugou. That little sand-blonde scoundrel was an absolute tyrant, he bullied Izuku not because he wanted to prevent him from hurting himself while searching for the title of a hero, no. His heart was not capable of such nobility. He bullied Izuku relentlessly simply because he was different, and he still had a big dream anyway.

It had only been a few months since Inko learned Izuku was quirkless, and things had already come this far. She was painfully aware of how the quirkless population was treated, and she had hoped in vain that their fate was not her son's, but she knew she was wrong, and she had had enough. She had gone to the school, to the parents of that wretched and spoiled child that tormented her sweet baby, and even to some of the teachers personally, but to no avail. The only course of action remaining was to teach Izuku to defend himself, something she couldn't do herself. She had seen fliers around town of some martial arts dojo that was struggling under a low membership. It was led by a retired pro hero, a rather high ranking one at that. The only reason for its lack of popularity was the fact that a few years back, one of his students went on a murderous rampage and disabled all of his other learners, scaring off anyone who would otherwise be interested in learning the veterans peerless martial arts. She was desperate though, and if anyone could help her Izuku, it was him. The ascent to the dojo itself was a workout on its own, the poor woman must have been climbing the stairs for several minutes before she finally reached the top. She opened the door to find an old man washing the floors by himself. This man was the retired hero Silver Fang, or Bang. He wore a form fitting black turtleneck and white pants. His spiky white hair flowed back away from his forehead, and his body, though old, still showed signs of his lifelong endeavors as a martial artist and a hero. He paused his activity and peered over at the woman curiously. She was relatively fit, but was far from the type to pursue martial arts. Maybe she had a son?

"Welcome to my dojo. How can I help you?" He inquired, his bushy white mustache dancing along with his words.

"I would like to sign my son up for your dojo." Inko responded. The old man's face visibly lit up at this, and he strode towards her excitedly.

"Wonderful! How old is he?" He asked. Naturally, there was an age requirement to train with him.

"He's four years old." Inko replied sadly, knowing she'd get turned down.

"I'm afraid that's far too young for me to train him. Come back when he's older." He replied.

"Can you please make an exception?" Inko pleaded.

"Why?" Bang asked, raising an eyebrow at the woman who for some reason wouldn't take no for an answer. He was already tempted enough to break his rule as it was. It wasn't that he needed the students per se, but he had been rather lonely since he retired. The spark of youth always inspired him and kept him going, how they loved to learn and would always get back up. He remembered the golden days of his dojo when it was popular, when men and women from across Japan would come to train under him, but those days ended some time ago. Garou personally saw to that.

"He's quirkless . . he wants to be a hero so badly, but he's being bullied and tormented, being told he's useless. Nobody else will help him." Inko informed the elderly man, tears forming in her eyes. "If you don't help him, I don't know who else wi-" She was cut off before she could continue.