After his dreams of becoming a hero are destroyed by All Might, Midoriya is struck by lightning during a freak thunderstorm and dies. From the smoke, rises a new Midoriya, with the power to create, manipulate, and control lightning. Follow Midoriya as he takes on a new identity, and forges his own path as a hero and defender of the weak.
And quite possibly, turn the world on its head, while discovering secrets about what he has become.
Jade Lightning is a My Hero Academia fanfic by SilentGhostWriter2017 that can be read on Archive of Our Own here
. Unfortunately, as of late March 2021, this is now an abandoned fic due to SilentGhostWriter2017 leaving Archive of Our Own.
Tropes in this fic include:
- Adaptational Sexuality: In canon, Izuku has only ever expressed interest in girls and Kaminari is usually portrayed lusting after the other female students alongside Mineta Played for Laughs. Here, Izuku/Mikumo and Kaminari start dating after the Sports Festival.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Played with. On the suggestion of the cosmic force within him, Izuku/Mikumo infiltrates the Eight Precepts of Death's hideout to steal the very quirk-erasing drug that prompted him and Denki to save Eri in the first place. While stealing a highly illegal drug may be seen as bad on its own, one could argue that the subsequent arson and murder Izuku/Mikumo commits to cover his tracks are even worse, since it is implied that all the remaining members of the Eight Precepts of Death die in the conflagration that razes the hideout to the ground. The author, interestingly, alludes to this trope in the chapter summary.
- Birds of a Feather: The very first friend Izuku/Mikumo makes at UA is Kaminari Denki, the only other student with a Shock and Awe quirk. By the end of the Sports Festival, they start dating.
- Character Overlap: Following the Hero Killer's attack on Ingenium, Izuku/Mikumo interns at an agency in Hosu called The Trainyard. Essentially, the characters of the musical Starlight Express are transplanted into the story due to the author's love for the musical.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When the League of Villains separates Class 1-A during the USJ invasion, Izuku winds up in the water-section just like in canon. The difference here is that he has electricity powers and knocks them all unconscious instantly by zapping them in the water.
- Deadpan Snarker: Izuku/Mikumo is loaded with dry sarcasm, most of it's aimed at Bakugou.
- Groin Attack: Izuku/Mikumo angrily does this to Shinso Hitoshi during their match in the Sports Festival for insulting Kaminari.
- Head Desk: Izuku/Mikumo does this when All Might makes his entrance to Class 1-A as their teacher for Basic Hero Training class.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Izuku/Mikumo still cleans up Dagobah Beach as part of his training for the UA entrance exam.
- Izuku/Mikumo and Uraraka Ochako still go up against Bakugo and Iida during the Battle Trials and win, though the manner of means was different from canon.
- The League of Villains attack the USJ just like in canon.
- Ingenium is still attacked by the Hero Killer as in-canon.
- Iida still goes to Hosu to pursue the Hero Killer just like in-canon.
- Meaningful Rename: After he manifests his quirk and changes schools, Izuku has his name changed to "Akatani Mikumo" (taking his mother's maiden name) and dyes his hair purple as a means of making a clean slate for himself. This is also a reference to Izuku's actual prototype form.
- Pay Evil unto Evil:
- Izuku/Mikumo takes great pleasure in baiting Bakugo and then getting him in trouble for his own bad behavior. It is not until right before he beats him in the Sports Festival does he partially-reveal who he is to Bakugo by calling him his childhood nickname "Kacchan".
- Izuku/Mikumo does to this Shigaraki Tomura during the USJ invasion after he kills the Noumu. When Shigaraki tries to disintegrate Izuku/Mikumo out of anger, Izuku/Mikumo beats the man-child within an inch of his life, ending by fracturing the villain's hands by literally crushing them under-foot.
- Having no patience for self-serving perverts like Mineta, Izuku/Mikumo vows to get him expelled for his bad behavior. He eventually fulfills that promise when he catches Mineta rummaging through the girls' locker room at the Sports Festival for their underwear, getting the girls' permission before he completely beats him within an inch of his life, stuffing his body in a locker and then turning him in when the Sports Festival ends. He is then promptly expelled and his position taken by Shinso.
- Point of Divergence:
- Instead of getting One For All, Izuku/Mikumo instead manifests a stupefyingly powerful Shock and Awe superpower by sheer luck.
- In canon, Izuku is voted in as a class representative but later gives up the position in favor of Iida Tenya. Here, he keeps the position.
- In canon, All Might was only able to incapacitate the Noumu at the USJ with considerable effort. Here, Izuku/Mikumo manages to evade and ultimately beheads it single-handedly before All Might even arrives.
- In canon, Hatsume Mei throws her match with Iida during the Sports Festival after using the latter to advertise her support equipment. Here, Hatsume plans to do the same, but on Izuku/Mikumo's advice, she uses her wide range of support equipment to beat her competition, eventually finishing as the second runner-up of the Sports Festival and becoming the first non-heroics student to make it to the podium.
- Izuku/Mikumo defeats Todoroki and Bakugo, winning the Sports Festival.
- In canon, Izuku doesn't meet Eri and Overhaul until after he starts his internship with Sir Nighteye after All Might officially retires. Here Izuku/Mikumo and Kaminari happen upon Eri during their post-Sports Festival date. Not only that, but they take the initiative and try to protect Eri from Overhaul and his men, save her and single-handedly defeat the Eight Precepts of Death with their combined fire-power.
- Izuku/Mikumo convinces Yaoyorozu not to intern under Uwabami, though who she ultimately decides to intern under is still unknown.
- Izuku/Mikumo does not intern under Gran Torino. Instead he interns at an agency in Hosu to keep an eye on Iida following the Hero Killer's attack on Ingenium.
- Sentient Phlebotinum: It is revealed in Chapter 19 that Izuku/Mikumo's powers are not a quirk, instead being a self-aware cosmic force that came to Earth when quirks were first manifesting, Izuku/Mikumo being its newest vessel.
- Shock and Awe: When Izuku is struck by lightning, he is suddenly gifted with an incredibly powerful lightning-based quirk that allows him to collect and store massive amounts of electrical energy.
- Spiteful Spit: Izuku/Mikumo does this to Bakugo after he beats him unconscious during the Battle Trials.
- Superpower Disability: When the first lightning bolt struck Izuku, it stopped his heart and essentially killed him instantly. The second lightning bolt resuscitated him, but the electricity in his body now operates many of his bodily functions like his cardiovascular system, meaning his heart (among other things) is all but dead. If the amount of energy in his core reaches 0 or if Aizawa were to use his quirk on him, he would die instantly. Although this has since been partially averted by the reveal of his power being a sentient cosmic force after he and Kaminari take down the Eight Precepts of Death, and further revelation by the force saying that it can't be erased by quirks.
- Superpower Lottery: Izuku's new Shock and Awe powers are bestowed upon him by what is essentially random chance and after a few months of training, he quickly proves to be the most powerful - if not the most powerful - student in UA. He can absorb a seemingly limitless amount of electricity from any source by touch, can fire it as lightning or concussive blasts, create explosive balls, can self-destruct and reassemble himself, fly, create blade-like constructs, and create impressive shockwaves with enough explosive force to completely destroy the likes of a Zero-Pointer Robot something he discovers can take less power when crossing wires with another person's electricity, as is the case with Kaminari.
- Took a Level in Cynic: After Izuku manifests his powers and confesses to his mother just how hard he has it, Izuku becomes far more bitter and stoic than his wide-eyed canon counterpart. He tries and fails to keep to himself - his new friends comparing him to Todoroki and calling them "Ice Kings" - and Izuku takes every opportunity to bait Bakugo, usually around the time when Aizawa catches Bakugo causing him trouble. He also seems to no longer look up to All Might, taking the time during the Sports Festival Award Ceremony to reveal to him who he was and rubbing it in his face just how wrong he was about him.
- Violently Protective Boyfriend: Izuku doesn't tolerate anyone threatening or harming Kaminari, to the point of inflicting a Groin Attack on Shinso for insulting him.
