Fanfic / The First Pillar

All it takes to shake the world…is the right pebble, in the right place, at the right time.

— A quote from the opening chapter of The First Pillar

The First Pillar is a fanfic for the series My Hero Academia, written by Soleneus and posted on Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own.

Midoriya Izuku has a Quirk that most people in his life initially write off right away as being too weak for practical use. However, once he discovers how much potential it really has, he sets out to become the most powerful Hero that he can be, while also doing his best to raise up those around him.

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Tropes present in this work include:

• Adaptational Badass:
  • Izuku begins training far earlier in his life than in canon, with just as much intensity if not moreso than All Might's American Dream Plan. This, combined with his Quirk's Powered Armor, makes him an absolute powerhouse even before using One For All.
  • Izuku and Toga's usage of Chakra allows them to keep exercising much longer than their classmates.
• Adaptational Curves: Thanks to joining Mitsuki and Izuku in their morning jogs, Inko loses the weight she gained after having a child.
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • Toga Himiko appears before Izuku even meets All Might, whereas in canon she only appeared towards the end of Season 2 of the anime.
  • Izuku encounters Hatsume Mei while cleaning up Dagoba Beach, as opposed to the Sports Festival.
• Adaptation Expansion: The period where Izuku trains to receive One For All is given a lot more detail, as opposed to largely timeskipping over it.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed. Izuku is largely still the same nice guy he is in canon, but he's now a Jerkass to One, that "one" being Katsuki. He was so hurt by her trampling on his dream of being a hero, that he decided to hide his progression and training from her so he could show her up. However, the acquisition of One For All and becoming All Might's successor has made it so that this goal has fallen by the wayside. And even then, they two of them are still able to work together perfectly well, and still remember the battle tactics they came up with as children.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Due to her friendship with Izuku, Toga does not become the psychotic murderer that she is in canon.
  • Katsuki's bullying of Izuku is toned down, and is shown to be born of a fear that his supposedly subpar Quirk might get him killed as a Hero.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Unlike in canon, where she is an Abhorrent Admirer of Izuku's, he and Toga end up becoming lovers.
  • While in canon Izuku and Mt. Lady never have any direct interactions until the final arc, after the Sludge Villain, she brings him back his backpack, leading to them bonding over their desire to become better Heroes, before she confesses to him following the USJ.
  • Unlike canon, Izuku is not afraid to voice his desire to prove himself to Katsuki...by punching her face in. He also has been planning for years to hide his true potential from Katsuki as a means of payback for her betraying his feelings, even outright stating he wants to shatter her worldview. In addition, despite their enmity, they are willing to drop that at a moment's notice and work together seamlessly.
  • Izuku befriends Mei at the beach, and begins helping her to take care of herself better.
• Age Lift: Canonically, Toga is a year older than the main cast, turning 17 shortly after the Training Camp arc whereas Izuku had only turned 16 by then. Here, she's the same age as Izuku, transferring to Aldera after she meets Izuku, becoming his classmate, and joining him in the first year hero course.
• Almost Kiss: Izuku and Yu have one in Chapter 12, only stopping after spotting Himiko watching them and quietly chanting "Kiss, kiss, kiss!". Himiko has the decency to be guilty about spoiling their moment.
  Himiko: ..Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of my actions. (Beat) Fuck.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Mitsuki takes great delight in being over the top and dramatically sad when saying goodbye to Katsuki when dropping her off at the Yuuei dorms...in front of all her new classmates. After she was trying to present a tough front for her first impression.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Watching the Team Battles allows Izuku to easily pick apart the flaws in his classmates' strategies and powers, and then come up with suggestions for them to improve on.
• Blade Enthusiast: The author of the Red Tome is obsessed with knives, and will often explain (with very clear bias) how they are better than any other weapon.
• Boring, but Practical: All of the strength from One For All and his armor...and Izuku's opening move in the Team Battle exercise is to throw sand at his opponents, blinding them and showing where Tooru is hiding.
• Call-Back: Izuku and Ochako's first impressions of each other are nearly identical to when he first met Himiko.
  Izuku: (Thinking) GIRL! CUTE GIRL! SELF-DESTRUCT IN 5...
  Ochako: (Thinking) BOY! CUTE BOY! SHUTTING DOWN IN 5...
• The Cameo: Several characters from other series appear in minor roles:
  • Naruto and Hinata run a ramen place that Izuku and his 'Not Serious Girlfriends' frequent.
  • Ino and Sakura are two of Izuku's Not Serious Girlfriends.
  • Sukuro is Sucrose from Genshin Impact. Keqing also joins Class 1-A as Mineta's replacement.
  • Aqua is one of the villains at the USJ, as a delusional human who believes she's a goddess.
  • Orihime is a nurse at UA directly under Recovery Girl, her Quirk replicating Santen Kesshun.
• Cast from Calories: One of the downsides of using Chakra is that the user must consume a larger amount of calories to make up for the drain.
• Combat Pragmatism: The fic is full of it.
  • The Serration style, taught by the Red Tome, is built entirely around this.
  • Many of the Hero students use their Quirks to finish a fight as quickly and efficiently as possible, like Izuku with his Pocket Sand.
  • Momo shoots Tamahagane in the crotch and face with a beanbag launcher before she can react.
  • Izuku is always coming up with more ways to abuse his control over rocks and minerals.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Katsuki's reasons for pushing Izuku away are changed to a concern that his 'sub-par' Quirk would get him hurt or killed. It does not dissuade him from becoming a Hero in the slightest, and only puts him at odds with her.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Kaminari versus Keqing in the Battle Trials. While each can absorb the other's electricity, Keqing has more experience with fighting and easily subdues him.
  • Izuku vs the mook Villains at the USJ. He moves rapidly from area to area, saving his fellow students and taking out villains with little effort beyond testing the powers of a barrier-making Villain.
• Determinator: Izuku in general, but is also a necessary trait for anyone who wants to unlock Chakra without dying.
• Death Glare: Izuku is quite good at dishing these out, such as when Mina tries calling him by a nickname that only Mitsuki is allowed to call him.
• Did Not Think This Through: Aizawa, thinking that Izuku is holding back by using less armor, erases his Quirk. Unfortunately, now Izuku is fully encased in 300 lbs of rock and cannot breathe through it.
• Elemental Punch: Once Izuku realizes that his Quirk can be used as Powered Armor, his fighting style inevitably includes the Earth and Metal variations of this.
• Expy: Dr. Hachiban Okuto is a reference to Dr. Olivia Octavius from Into the Spider-Verse.
• Gender Flip: Several characters have been hit with this, including Bakugou Katsuki, Kirishima Eiri and Todoroki Shimo.
• Exact Words: Izuku denies that he and Himiko are boyfriend and girlfriend...because they're lovers. The misunderstanding ends up being cleared soon after.
• Female Gaze: Izuku has quite a lot of times without his shirt, something that pretty much every girl around him definitely appreciates.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Izuku uses this liberally at the USJ.
• Harem Seeker: Subverted slightly, in that Himiko is the one trying to get Izuku many girlfriends.
• Hotter and Sexier: Izuku and Himiko are physically intimate many times, including sex. Izuku has also had sex with Sukuro, Ino and Sakura.
• How Do I Shot Web?: While Himiko can use the Quirks of those she transforms into, she does not possess the innate muscle memory that the original would have to use it.
• I Have No Son!: When Himiko tells off her family for calling Izuku a fool to see any good in her, they disown her, and threaten to call the police on her if she tries to return.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Even though Izuku has a Quirk, has been training for years with it and has boatloads more confidence, he still ends up asking All Might if he can become a Hero, and ends up being chosen to wield One For All.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A major reason why Himiko encourages other girls to pursue a relationship with Izuku; she enjoys watching him be happy, even if it's with others.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Anyone that Izuku attempts to show or tell about the Red Tome, besides Himiko, immediately forgets its existence or his words about it.
• Life Energy: The Red Tome's Chakra. It allows Izuku to recover more quickly from exhaustion and heal his injuries more quickly, at the cost of requiring increased food intake.
• Mama Bear: When Inko hears what Himiko's parents said to her when disowning her, she and Mitsuki are immediately outraged.
  Inko: “It’s alright, dear, just tell me your parent’s names so I can call them, alright? Also whether they want to be buried or cremated.”
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Chakra is explained as being 'directing unconscious parts of the brain away from unnecessary things.' However, it is acquired via meditation, the process of which can prove fatal.
• Meditation Powerup: The acquisition of Chakra from the Red Tome.
• Mind over Matter: Izuku's Quirk, Rock Field, grants him a 2-inch aura of telekinesis, inside of which he can control any mineral-based substance. This ranges from stone, to concrete, to sand, to glass, to even metal, though the latter requires him to first break through a mental barrier.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Despite seeming weak compared to most telekinetic Quirks, Izuku's level of control within his 2 inch limit allows him to become a powerhouse. In addition, the armor he makes allows his body to withstand more of One For All than in canon.
• Mundane Utility:
  • Izuku uses his ability to control mineral-based substances to craft extremely detailed miniature sculptures to sell. He can also use them to purify gemstones.
  • He can also use the glass from his weights to form claws and cut food faster.
• Mythology Gag: At one point, Izuku and his Not-Girlfriends watch a TV show that is adapted from one of Soleneus's other fic series, Not A Hero.
• No Social Skills: Mei may be a genius when it comes to inventing machinery, but she is heavily inept in anything else.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Izuku's reaction when he realizes afterwards how many ways he could have died horribly while trying to unlock his Chakra.
    • He also has a similar moment, after discovering his Quirk's ability to manipulate glass, when he realizes that if he hadn't used it, he would've been shredded thanks to the villain that broke the glass in the first place.
  • When Himiko discovers that she can copy the Quirks of those she turns into, she tries turning into Mt. Lady...inside their apartment building.
  • Aizawa using his Quirk to erase Izuku's while he's wearing his air-tight armor.
• Powered Armor: The primary combat use of Izuku's Rock Field Quirk. He can layer substances over his body, outputting exponentially more power proportional to his own physical strength and the amount of rock/sand/metal he uses.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Aizawa assumes Izuku was holding back in the Assessment Test because he used a different armor than he used to demolish the Zero-Pointer. While Izuku was actually trading strength for speed, Aizawa wasn't entirely wrong - Izuku had decided to work with the materials he was given without hindering the other students or ripping pipes out of the ground for metal.
• Running Gag:
  • When Izuku explains to people his self-imposed training regimen growing up, the initial response is some variation (verbal or otherwise) of "Are you nuts?!"
  • Several characters find difficulty with remembering Mt. Lady's Hero name or gimmick. Some accidentally refer to her as Grand Teton.
  • Everyone who hears Izuku's voice while he's in his rock armor jumps at least once. Even Aizawa isn't safe
  • Mina always referring to Momo's possessions/habits as "The X of a rich person...!"
  • Izuku always notices Tooru's presence or absence before everyone else.
  • Despite being a speedster, Iida is always the last one to show up to a gathering, or otherwise arrives late with reinforcements.
• Shipper on Deck: Himiko is all too happy to encourage her female friends to pursue relationships with Izuku, in addition to herself. So far, she's got her eyes on Ochako, Momo, Tsuyu, and Mina. She succeeds with Ochako, who begins dating Izuku shortly after the Class Election, and Momo has acknowledged her own feelings following the USJ.
• Shout-Out: A large number of them.
  • Izuku's maximum-armored form is modeled directly after a particular video game character that All Might shared with him: Rhino from Warframe.
  • The Red Tome contains instructions to perform an Izuna Drop and references another book called "The Hayabusa School of Unsubtle Ninja-ing" by Ryu "definitelynotaninja" Hayabusa. Izuku puts it to good use against the Nomu at the USJ.
    • It also cites the Psycho Crusher as a comparable move, among others.
  • Yu makes a reference to the Matrix, though neither she nor Izuku really understand the reference itself.
  • Mei, when questioning the vampiric nature of Himiko's Quirk, has this to say:
    “What Quirk needs you to drink blood?” Mei questioned, lightly poking one of Toga’s enlarged canines, “Does it give you super strength? Super Speed? Super reflexes? Mind reading? Future sight? Empathy?...Does it make you sparkle?”
  • Sukuro's favorite TV show appears to be an adaptation of Mass Effect.
  • Izuku quips about B.B.'s sass during the U.A. dorm move-in, with the robot chiming in with "The-future-is-now-old-man."
  • Izuku courteously pulls his scattered sand off of Kyouka and Toru after the first battle training exercise, telling them that "It’s coarse, rough and it gets everywhere."
    • He also calls out his sand attack by yelling "Pocket Sand!"
  • When Iida throws the ball in the Assessment test, he comments, "I'll try spinning, that's a good trick."
  • Whenever Momo does something that references her affluence or high-level education, Mina will comment "So THIS is the X of a rich person...!"
  • After the battle trial, Mina tries to goad Izuku into giving her compliments by repeatedly poking his cheek and going “Midori. Hey. Hey. Midori. Hey. Hey. Hey. Listen. Midori.”
  • While facing Keqing, Kaminari gets unnerved by them just staring at him from another building, and says "She’s just standing there... menacingly!"
  • During the attack on the USJ, Tokoyami takes a page out of Bane's book.
    Tokoyami: "These fools wander into the shadows, thinking they know what it means to live in the darkness…but they were not born to it! Molded by it! That they are not blinded by the light… they are no true denizen of the dark!"
  • Two of the villains that Keqing fights at the USJ are inspired by Hinawa and Azula.
• Transmutation: Izuku's control over matter is advanced enough to allow him to transform solid stone into liquid and back.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: All Might gives Shigaraki a brief one when the latter is boasting about how Izuku's supposed death. Also doubles as Tranquil Fury.
• Unstoppable Rage: After it looks like Izuku was killed by the Nomu, Himiko goes into a berserk rage and attacks Shigaraki in a manner not unlike her canon-behavior, something intended as per the author's notes. When All Might shows up, while he expresses Tranquil Fury instead, Katsuki, Shimo, and Momo fall closer to Himiko's rage and quickly join in, Katsuki notably having tears down her face even as she's threatening Kurogiri.
• Villain Respect: Tamahagane respects Momo's pragmatic approach to fighting her.
• We Used to Be Friends: Like canon, Katsuki and Izuku used to be pretty close as kids, until one day Katsuki broke off their friendship and began calling Izuku useless. Unlike canon, rather than be because of damaged pride, Katsuki did so out of fear that trying to be a hero would get Izuku killed. And whereas Izuku largely bottled up any resentment and ultimately still wanted to be friends with Katsuki again in canon, here he decides to prove her wrong, especially when he attempts to show her how his Quirk isn't useless at all and she brushes him off. The two now openly dislike each other, and had no issue saying they had hoped they'd be on different teams during an exercise so they could beat the shit out of the other.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Izuku's telekinesis only extends 2 inches beyond his body. That would make it totally useless for anything beyond making pebbles float, right? Wrong.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Aizawa, thinking that Izuku is holding back during the Assessment Test, erases his Quirk...while he's wearing 300 pounds of form fitting rock armor. Izuku wastes no time letting him know just how bad of a decision that is.