My Alchemist Academia

Prologue

Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be sacrificed. That is Alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange. If that's true, then what did everyone else need to sacrifice to gain these "Quirks?" And why didn't I get one? These questions were all those that flooded the mind of a young Izuku Midoryia as he looked through the ancient books of a practice known as Alchemy.

Izuku read the pages with deep intent. To create something out of almost nothing, by harnessing the earth's tectonic movements? It was so interesting. Izuku continued to read the pages. The old library book was dusty, and made Izuku sneeze whenever he turned a page. He continued reading, fascinated by the concept of equivalent exchange. Could it really be possible? The country of Japan, that was apparently once called Amestris, using the power of science and nature to do wonders.

"Izuku honey, time to go!" called his mother from the next aisle over, "Did you find a book you wanted?" she asked the intrigued little 6-year old before her. 

"I want this one." Izuku said excitedly.

His mother gave him a nod, and they went up to the front desk. They checked out the book his mother wanted. "Oh," said the librarian looking at the book in Izuku's hand, "Well, we were planning on throwing that dusty old thing out. You can just keep it."

Izuku beamed at the librarian, as he hugged the book and jumped in the air. His mother tried pointlessly to calm her son down. She finished checking out the book she wanted and left the building with her son.

Izuku and his mother walked towards their car. Izuku was too excited, and quickly jumped into his car seat. He didn't notice his mother's brief coughing fit. She wiped to blood from her mouth, and entered the car as well. The two drove off to their home. On their way, they passed their good friends, Pinako Uraraka, and her granddaughter, Ochaco. The Uraraka family made special prosthetics called automail, but since healing quirks were a thing, they didn't have much business. But when they did, it was expensive, so they could live on at least one job every two months.

They stopped at their home, and Izuku quickly ran up the stairs into his bedroom, setting the book on his bed, and lifting the leather cover.

Inko was somewhat relieved that her son had retired to his room so quickly. She went into her own bedroom, and entered the attached bathroom, opening a drawer to see that her pills were still gone. She closed the drawer and returned to her bedroom. She looked to her bed and saw the pile of bills that were overdue. She sighed once more, realizing that something needed to be done quickly. 

*****

Izuku spun the white chalk around in his fingers, before stopping. He lowered the art utensil to the blacktop and drew the circle he had seen in the book, careful with each line, as to not make them slanted, or shaky. He soon had a perfect white circle with a pair of triangles inside, one on top of the other, as well as inside each other, on the playground blacktop, receiving several strange looks from the other kids at the daycare. He put the chalk aside, and raised his hands above the circle, before placing his hands inside the circle, palms flat on the floor. He saw the circle glow, and lightning began crackling off of the lines, and underneath his palms. The ground began to break into small squares, and soon mold into the shape of Izuku's favorite hero, All Might.

"Wow, Izuku! That's such a cool quirk!" said one of the kids.

"No, it's not a quirk. It's Alchemy. It's an old kind of science." explained Izuku, not wanting to give the entire description to his fellow playmates. 

"So," said a familiar voice, "You're still just a quirkless Deku?" Izuku turned to face Bakugo, as Bakugo's hand sped towards the All Might statuette, blowing it to pieces. "That's always what you'll be. Who cares if you know some old science? Let's teach him a lesson." Bakugo's gang walked toward's Izuku and began to do what they did best. Beat him down.