Izuku was pleasantly surprised to see Eri at the 1A dorms with the Big Three and Shota just a few days after the festival. Neijire herself was having fun braiding Eri's hair. Shota then took Katsuki, Izuku, Ochako, and Eijiro outside for a bit before explaining that he would be the primary caretaker, as he was the only known hero capable of preventing Eri's quirk from going out of control. Not to mention the lack of relatives that Eri could live with. The only known relative was the original boss of the Yakuza, and he was currently in a coma.
Not to mention Eri's horn had started to grow, and since her horn was tied to her quirk of rewinding a target's time, it was too dangerous for Eri to be put into a foster home.
When asked about taking so much responsibility, Shota waived it off, though Izuku did hear him muttering about someone named Emi.
Shota then announced that they should be expecting visitors and ordered them back into the dorms to welcome them. Originally, he had wanted to have Mirio take Eri back to the upperclassmen dorms, but a pleading look from Eri made him cave. So Eri was now sitting with 1A, who were all waiting for their visitors, as well as Neijire and Mirio. Tamaki… was doing his best to hide behind the potted plants, with Eijiro trying his best to coax him out. Mina was giggling behind him as she watched the many failed attempts of bringing Tamaki out into the open.
Soon, they all heard someone knocking on the door before opening it.
"Lock on with these sparkling gazes!"
"We've come to lend a paw and help!"
"Coming out of nowhere..."
"Surprisingly cute and catlike!"
"Wild, Wild...Pussycats!"
The team that had helped them in their training camp, the Wild, Wild Pussycats, had arrived, wearing their civilian clothing, but still posturing for the sake of posturing.
The class eagerly greeted them, especially the girls when they found Tiger was giving cat paw buns, a delicious treat sponsored by the Wild, Wild Pussycats.
"I apologize for not being able to keep you two safe," said Tiger, bowing toward Izuku and Katsuki.
While Izuku was quickly waiving it off, Katsuki merely grumbled before replying, "Don't keep digging up the past."
Izuku tilted his head over in time to see Kota standing there.
"Ah, Kota-kun!" greeted Izuku as he quickly kneeled down to greet him, "It's good to see you're alright! I didn't get the chance to see you after everything that happened!"
"Yea…," muttered Kota shyly, "It's good to see you safe, too."
"Midoriya," said Shino, aka Mandalay, "Look over there."
Pointing over to the entrance where they had all taken off their shoes, Izuku saw a pair of red shoes quite similar to his own.
"He picked them himself," teased Shino, ignoring Kota's frantic gestures, "We were shopping for some new shoes when he chose these. He even said 'It's gotta be red.'"
Izuku was touched that Kota would choose to emulate him. Kota himself stopped denying before shyly smiling before digging something out of his pocket.
"Here, for you," said Kota, holding an envelope for Izuku.
Izuku blinked as he took it and opened it to find a thank you/fan letter for him, written by Kota.
"Don't read it out loud!" hissed Kota, embarrassed at his act.
Izuku could only smile as he put the letter back into the envelope and into his pocket. He would certainly frame this one as his very first fan mail.
Suddenly, Eri walked up to the two of them, having observed their interaction.
"Who are you?" asked Kota, causing Shino to reprimand him about manners.
Eri, however, didn't seem to mind as she looked at Kota for a bit.
"Did Deku save you too?" asked Eri curiously.
"... Yea, you too?" asked Kota as he nodded his head.
Eri nodded before looking at his hat, or more specifically, the spikes on the hat.
"We match," said Eri, pointing to the spikes before gesturing to her own horn.
Kota couldn't really bring it on himself to tell Eri that it was part of his hat, and not a mutation, especially when he saw Eri's eye shining with curiosity and excitement.
Luckily, Mina was there to the rescue.
"Look, Eiji, another one to join the horn club!" grinned Mina as she kneeled down to the both of them, putting her index fingers up to her head, "Horn buddies!"
"Horn buddies!" grinned Eijiro as he joined in, with a part of his hair hardening so it seemed like he had a horn while also following Mina's gestures.
"Horn buddies," repeated Eri as she followed along.
"... Horn buddies," sighed Kota as he decided to play along.
Izuku could only smile as Mina's outgoing personality managed to make Kota and Eri follow her lead before suddenly getting a telepathic message for Shino.
"Midoriya, can you meet us outside later? We have something we need to ask you privately," said Shino via telepathy, all while telling the others who were politely making room for them to sit that they wouldn't be here for long.
Izuku subtly nodded his head when Shino looked over to him before using her quirk to say thanks.
They mentioned that their team ranking had dropped down drastically from 32nd to 411th, but considering they had been inactive for months to recover from everything (as well as to spend some more time with Kota), it was to be expected. The Hero Billboard Chart JP was expected to launch soon, and with All Might retired as well as different team-ups, there were expected to be some drastic changes.
They all soon left to visit 1B as well.
Few hours later
Izuku looked out from his balcony before leaping out from it, landing softly on the ground floor.
"If it wasn't for the fact that your body is made of rubber, I would've been worried," commented Shino as the Wild, Wild Pussycats saw him land on the floor with his feet. The female cast, at the least. Tiger was babysitting Kota back at the car while they had this private meeting.
"I've jumped from higher," replied Izuku as he dusted his pants, "So what did you need to see me for?"
"It's about Tomok's Quirk," said Ryuko, aka Pixie Bob, "It somehow came back to her."
"It did! That's good news!" grinned Izuku.
"Yes, until Tomoko mentioned how you somehow knew it would," continued Shino.
We were curious how you knew it would happen, or how you managed to get it back."
Izuku stilled for a moment, trying to figure out what to say.
"Tomoko told us," continued Shino, "We were still reeling about the fact that she had her quirk stolen from…. that man when all of sudden, she used it to find Kota out of second hand nature."
"We're thankful that it's back, but we're not too sure if it was permanent, and just how," added Ryuko, "Tomoko mentioned about you visiting the hospital that day and telling her that she could expect it back sooner than she thought. So you obviously did something."
Izuku winced as he tried to think of a way to say something without spilling One for All or his Devil Fruit.
"All for One," began Izuku slowly, "tried to take my Quirk from me. You all saw him try back at Kamino."
The trio nodded, remembering All for One warping Izuku back to him before grabbing his head with clear intentions.
"I'm not too sure what happened, but for the lack of a better word, I 'fought' against his control. I guess something distracted him, because I managed to wrap my hands around his arm and crush it with all my strength. His left arm was probably injured from his fight against All Might years ago, like his head."
"Don't remind me," shivered Ryuko, remembering the recording of All for One's head, and how scarred it was.
"As he let me go, I think I felt something 'dislodge' from his body, or maybe his mindscape. I didn't think about it too much then, but when I met Ragdoll, I had a gut feeling that it was her quirk that had been dislodged since hers was the last one stolen."
There were obviously holes in Izuku's explanation, but before Shino could ask for clarification, Tomoko stopped her.
"My quirk's back, and that's all there is to it," declared Tomoko, "I'm just grateful it's back."
"But-" began Ryuko, but Tomoko stopped her.
"That's not why we're here, to interrogate him," said Tomoko, "Remember our original mission."
"Right, got too sidetracked there," nodded Shino before the trio turned to Izuku once more.
"We wanted to say," began Shino before the three bowed to Izuku.
"Thank you," thanked the trio.
"I didn't do anything much!" waived Izuku frantically.
"Nonetheless, you did do something, otherwise Tomoko here would've been left quirkless for a lot longer. I doubt that man would ever give it back to her," said Shino quickly.
"I'm sure Ragdoll would've-" began Izuku, only for Tomoko to put her fingers on his lips.
"Call me Tomoko," said Tomoko softly.
"Shino," nodded Shino.
"Ryuko," followed Ryuko.
"After all you've done, you're a true friend to the Wild, Wild Pussycats," said Shino.
"That, and it doesn't hurt that we all find you quite attractive," teased Tomoko as she slid next to Izuku, putting his arms between her chest.
"Indeed," purred Ryuko as she took the other arm.
"I have a girlfriend!?" meeped Izuku as an automatic response.
"Mmm, I'm sure she won't mind sharing with all of us," purred Shino as she slowly traced her finger onto Izuku's chest, "You see, we come as a group. I'm sure you'd be more open to a… polyamorous relationship. Especially from that show of strength when you fought Muscular as well as resist One for All, you show great physical and mental fortitude as well as stamina. I'm sure just one won't be enough for you."
"I have girlfriends," replied Izuku, emphasizing on the plural before realizing what he said.
The female trio blinked in surprise for a second before they all pulled back before laughing.
"I told you he had more than one," laughed Shino.
"Well, can't blame me for hoping," grumbled Ryuko.
"Sorry about that, but we wanted to confirm something besides thanking you for helping me return my quirk," apologized Tomoko, "Remember, if you ever need help, the Wild, Wild Pussycats will always be your friend!"
"We should get going soon. We're already putting you past your curfew. See you, Midoriya," said Shino.
"Later, kitty!" grinned Ryuko.
"Bye Izuku! Be sure to call us!" waived Tomoko.
Izuku merely waved, still stunned before pulling himself back up to his room. As he began to get ready to sleep, he realized something.
"Did Ragdoll call me by my given name?" blinked Izuku before blushing.
While Ryuko was bemoaning the fact that a talented kitten was taken, behind her, Shino and Tomoko were walking side by side.
"You were serious about him, weren't you?" interrogated Shino with a whisper, knowing Ryuko hadn't been entirely serious, and had been playing along.
"... How could I not be? We know he's the one that gave me my quirk back, or at least the reason for it," whimpered Tomoko, "You have no idea how it felt when I found out my Quirk was gone. They told me it was all psychological, but it felt like a piece of my soul was torn out. When I used my quirk back home, I could feel it snugly fit back into my body. Is it strange that I'm attracted to the one who gave me back a part of my soul?"
Shino was silent, unable to deny that fact or feeling.
"Plus, I'm not the only one who's attracted to him, am I?" teased Tomoko, getting her second breath, "Tell me, watching Izuku beating up Muscular in front of you was rather cathartic, wasn't it? I'm sure the monster who almost killed you, killed your in-laws, and left Kota without his parents, being beaten down within an inch of his life from what I've heard, and in a head-on confrontation with strength. Tell me that didn't get your engine purring when he saved you, when he made Kota believe in heroes, and more importantly, in us once more? That's why you called triple kitty cat dib on him."
Shino blushed scarlet as she lightly punched Tomoko's arm.
"I'm sure that if we just talked to the girls that he's dating, they'd let us in," giggled Tomoko, "We can guide them, and we're still in our prime. He's definitely got enough stamina to handle us, and remember, his body is made of rubber, similar to Tiger, but he can manipulate his body even more so than him. That means we can make some….. adjustments to suit our needs as well as all that flexibility means some interesting positions."
"PERVERT!" screamed Shino via telepathy to Tomoko, slapping her hard on the arm this time. However, the image had been planted, and it would take a lot to push it out. If it was possible at all.
With the Hero Billboard Chart JP passing on with Endeavor locking in the number 1, the students of 1A were in the common room, discussing costume changes for the upcoming winters as well as upgrades. With them were class 1B, Mei, and Melissa, all trading ideas about improvements or throwing suggestions. There was also discussions about the island of Nabu that their homeroom teacher had hinted about a field trip.
The television set was on, though nobody was paying attention to it….. Until a new flash began playing on the screen.
"Isn't that a Nomu!" shouted Denki, pointing at the screen.
Immediately, all attention was turned toward the television. Izuku quickly stretched his arm out, hitting the volume button on the television to raise it up to the max when it was clear nobody knew where the remote was.
They saw Endeavor, the newly crowned number one hero, fighting against a Nomu that was clearly much smarter and stronger than the one back at USJ, both of them fighting in the air.
They witnessed Endeavor fighting for his life, being struck down before stubbornly getting back up. When it seemed hopeless, a boy shouted that Endeavor was still fighting.
Shoto remembered the awkward conversation he had with his father one night when he was alone with him for a little.
"Shoto," said Endeavor, "I will become a hero that you can be proud of. Watch as your father becomes the number one hero."
"I'm watching!" gritted Shoto as Endeavor caught up to the Nomu.
They held their breath when they saw Endeavor delivering his ultimate attack, Plus Ultra: Prominence Burn, and saw him falling from the sky into the ground, creating a plume of dust. Nobody said anything until the dust cleared away to see Endeavor standing up, his right hand raised up to the sky, announcing his victory as well as his beginning as the number one hero.
When Dabi showed up, they were frightened for a bit until backup in the form of Miruko intervened, forcing him to retreat.
"That was manly!" shouted Tetsutetsu and Eijiro as the newscast ended, only to be slapped by Tokage and Mina simultaneously. Both girls gave the boys a small glare before gesturing to Shoto, who had crouched down to take some calming breaths. The boys realized that their exclamations might have been inappropriate, as it was Shoto's father who had been hurt.
After everyone calmed down, a fire began to burn from within them all. The past of peace, which was held by All Might, was gone. Now was the age of Endeavor, but he couldn't be the one to uphold the peace forever. It would be their turn to uphold the peace, and each one of them swore to do so as All Might did.
'I will become a Symbol, just like All Might,' thought Izuku to himself, 'I will save people like he does.'
Izuku spent the whole day training, trying to improve his reaction speed as well as his base strength. At one point, he had Tenya attack him with all his speed so as to improve his Observation Haki.
Though surprised at the request, Tenya didn't refuse, as he also had something he wanted to test out, something he had been preparing after the provisional license.
The result was Izuku was sent flying around for quite a bit. Though he managed to 'predict' where Tenya was attacking, he couldn't react fast enough. That being said, Tenya had trouble controlling his speed, missing his target sometimes.
Tenya had been wary of using his newest ultimate move, Recipiro Turbo, on someone until he had better control. However, Izuku was the best human target to practice on, as he was immune to blunt damage thanks to his body's unique makeup. Tenya could go all out without worrying about putting too much strength on his kicks, and focus on controlling where he wanted to go and attack.
Overall, Izuku felt it had been a very helpful training session, even if he had been knocked around for a bit. And he wasn't the only one that had a hard training session. Everybody else had been motivated to go beyond their limits. Izuku saw Katsuki blasting away at some targets with his hands before changing it up, kicking with blast enhanced hits. Izuku even saw Katsuki pull…. something out to write before noticing him, and giving him a customary middle finger.
Izuku dragged himself to his room, taking a quick shower before falling to his bed. His eyes closed as he quickly fell asleep.
Izuku's eyes opened once more before realizing he was within the mindscape, within One for All once more.
"So, what brings me here?" asked Izuku.
"Just an interesting development," nodded Yoichi, looking over to the predecessors of One for All.
There, Izuku noticed the fourth wielder, Hikage, was crouched against a wall, mumbling about something. Next to him was the fifth wielder, Lariat, who was also crouched against a wall. Both had a depressing cloud raining over them.
"Errr, what happened?" asked Izuku.
"Since you started working on your Observation Haki, Hikage has been quite depressed. Lariat tried to cheer him up, but went the wrong way, and Hikage's counter comment caused him to follow his previous mentor into depression," chuckled Yoichi.
"Why would they be depressed at all?" asked Izuku.
"The first already told you before, but you are going to gain our quirks," said En, sitting up from his chair, "However, with your ability to predict your enemy's move thanks to this Observation Haki, it's very similar to what the fourth wielder would've given you, Danger Sense. He's sulking that his quirk is going to be useless. Banjo tried to cheer him up, but went about it wrong. Hikage replied by saying since you can already stretch your limbs and capture people with your fingers, combine that with Armament Haki, it's basically a powered up version of his black whip, and one that doesn't have to work on emotions, especially anger. That sent Banjo spiraling into depression."
"We're useless!" cried the duo.
Izuku panicked, trying to calm them down while asking more details about their quirks.
"Tch, pathetic," scoffed the second wielder.
"Bit harsh there, boss," nudged the third.
"What's there to cry about?" sighed the second, "The abilities can be used in conjunction. I'm sure the latest successor already has plans on how to utilize the abilities given to him. There's no way he would say, 'This quirk is useless', and toss it out."
"Oh? Already figured something out?" asked the third.
"The Observation Haki isn't quite a passive ability as Danger Sense is. The two combined would make it difficult to hit the ninth. Especially since it was hinted that it could be used to even predict the future. Danger Sense notices it first, and Observation Haki would 'observe' what the attack would be," said the second.
"That's brilliant!" exclaimed Izuku, stretching his neck so his head was right in front of the two while his body was still trying to comfort the other two, "Is that what one of the quirk is? That sounds so useful!"
"Don't do that," growled the second as he pushed Izuku's head away, "And I'm still not talking to you yet, even if you did crush that asshole's arm and helped put him away. You're not deserving of my quirk or name yet."
"To be fair, it was cathartic when we got to hit All for One, even if it was in a mindscape and our full attack didn't hit him completely," whispered the third as Izuku's neck shrunk back to his body.
The second merely scoffed before turning his body away from everything.
After managing to cheer up the fourth and fifth wielders, Izuku turned back to Yoichi.
"So, I'm going to gain another quirk besides the ability to temporarily transfer One for All to others?" asked Izuku for clarification, getting a nod back, "Who's am I getting next? Hikage-san or Banjo-san?"
"Mine," piped in a voice that hadn't been heard for a while.
Izuku turned to see Nana striding into view. Her eyes were still red and her face still haunted from learning her grandson was All for One's pupil/puppet, but a hardened and determined look shone through her eyes.
"I've been moping for too long now. I can't keep doing this. What's happened has happened, I need to move forward. And the first thing I can do is give you my quirk to master. Luckily, you have Sorahiko and Toshinori who can help you with that. I've told them all about my quirk before, and so they should be able to help, especially Sorahiko for aerial battles," said Nana, raising her hand to Izuku, "You'll have a more empowered version of my quirk, Float, but the essence of it should still be the same."
Izuku slowly nodded as he raised his hands to take hers.
"... I know I'm in no position to ask, but if the chance comes…..could you save him?" asked Nana.
The others looked at Nana in shock, ready to shout at her, only for Izuku to interrupt them all.
"Of course," nodded Izuku firmly, "I wanted to become a hero to save others. Shigaraki Tomura…. no, Shimura Tenko may be a villain, but we aren't too sure what drove him to that. All for One must have been an influence to that somehow. If there's a small chance that he sees the light and wants to be saved, I will extend my hand out to help, just as All Might does."
Seeing his confidence and will, the others couldn't help but fall silent.
"Tch, that naivety will get him killed despite his will," muttered the second.
"Perhaps, but remember that sometimes, it will make all the difference," said the devil, appearing next to the second, "After all, it made all the difference back in my original world."
"Your world sounds ridiculous," retorted the second, though not denying his words. Being able to manifest one's will to a physical form was a game changer. Sometimes, the second couldn't help but wonder if he had such an ability when he was alive, that he could've killed All for One with it.
"Looks like time is running out," noted Yoichi as he saw Izuku starting to fade away, "I'm not too sure when Float will kick in, but be prepared for it. You might want to call Gran Torino and the Eighth beforehand."
As Izuku began to disappear, Yoichi stretched his hand out, "Just remember. You are not alone in this."
"And that's what happened," said Izuku as he sat in a room with Toshinori for their lunch, going over the meeting he had within One for All.
Toshinori could only clasp his hands together as he took in Izuku's words before finally raising his head to his temple, trying to massage the migraine that had appeared.
"You're going to develop more quirks in conjunction to the ones you already have, which already made you powerful," repeated Toshinori, "In addition, which you forgot to mention to me before, you can temporarily transfer One for All's stockpile to others, empowering whoever you decide to share it with. One example being done with Bakugo, whose explosions were empowered to take out Overhaul's attack, though with some consequences of being unprepared for such a power increase. Now you will learn my own master's quirk, Float, except a more empowered version of it. Did I get everything?"
"Umm, yes?" nodded Izuku.
"Holy shit!" cursed Toshinori, "Why is One for All acting up like this? Why didn't it do so for me back then?"
"Yoichi, the first wielder, did say something about passing through the point of singularity," reminded Izuku, "Back when I first got One for All from you."
"So is this supposed to be its true and final form?" questioned Toshinori, "No, don't answer that, I don't think I need to know about it now. The important thing is getting you ready to use Float. Unlike before, you'll be using a completely different quirk that you're not used to. Though I doubt you'll have too much trouble, based on how much you break down quirks with your hero notebooks."
While Izuku blushed at that comment, Toshinori slowly picked up his phone, his whole body filled with dread and fear as he began to dial that familiar phone number.
'Dammit, don't hesitate! You've already seen him so many times this past year! He's surely gotten less intense since he has a steady girl now!' thought Toshinori as he pressed the green button, though the act felt like he was pressing his doom button.
Toshinori was tempted to hang up as soon as he heard the dial tone, but stuck it through for his disciple/stepson. He almost slammed the red button when he heard Gran Torino's voice, but managed to stop himself.
"Well, this is a surprise. And here I thought you wouldn't call me back again for a long while," chuckled Gran Torino, "I guess most of the trauma… and I do mean trauma, has worn off. I should remind you just in case, just because you're officially retired doesn't mean you can relax. I'm older than you, and I'm only semi-retired. Why in my-"
"I apologize for interrupting you, Gran Torino-sensei, but once again, I'm calling you because something has happened to my disciple. It's about Nana once more," rushed Toshinori.
"... I should kick you for interrupting my rant, but I'll be over soon," said Gran Torino before hanging up.
As the afternoon rolled by, both class 1A and 1B were attending hero training together with Shinso, all of them wearing an updated version of their hero costumes for the winter season. They arrived at Ground Gamma, but soon noticed Izuku was missing.
Shota coughed, clearing his throat for a second, "Due to unseen circumstances, Midoriya will be having a private training session with some private tutors. A mutation of some sort has developed, so he'll need some time alone. This, however, does even the numbers that we had planned for today, so it works out."
Of course, Shota wanted to argue against Izuku going off alone, but a rather lackadaisical but stern look from Nezu was enough to stop him. Shota was a little miffed that he wasn't made aware of what exactly was going on with Izuku's bullshit quirk, and intended to change that soon. He had a suspicion it had to deal with Toshinori himself, but was just lacking a few details.
Izuku's girlfriends all glanced at each other. They had noticed Izuku had been distracted the whole morning but respected his privacy for the moment. He would tell them when he was ready.
Katsuki seemed annoyed at the fact Izuku was gone, but chose not to comment about it for now.
Nieto, however, saw it as a chance to taunt class 1A.
"Oh? And where did your illustrious Vice President go? Did he go running scared? Did he realize that we are the superior class, based on this totally unbiased questionnaire that was given to the audience after our play? Today, our class is going to BLEEHH!"
Neito's rant was interrupted by Shota's capture cloth wrapping around his neck, stopping him and choking him at the same time.
Frankly speaking, Nieto wasn't sure what was more painful, Itsuka's neck chops or Shota throttling him.
"Originally, the plan was to have 1A fight 1B with Shinso acting as the fifth man in some fights, but due to circumstances I won't bother explaining, we will be conducting a different exercise," said Shota.
"What will we be doing?" asked Itsuka.
"One versus many," replied Shota, "There will be times when you will be forced to fight more than a single villain. Especially at these current times. You will be graded on how well you do in the fight. It would be wise not to underestimate your opponents in this situation."
Everyone tensed up after hearing such a match-up, and were understandably nervous. Even Katsuki and Shoto were a little stiff, even though they were considered the strongest of the first years.
Nieto coughed before blustering, "Haha, 1A should be careful if they get matched up against us 1B! We are far superior when it comes to teamwork as well as solo work! The results speak for themselves at the cultural festival! Why-"
"Thank you for volunteering, Monoma," interrupted Shota, "You'll be fighting the first solo battle, since you seem eager to prove yourself. We won't make it too hard for you, and only match you against two."
"Well, I'm g-g-glad to step forward," stammered Neito, slowly turning pale.
"Let's see….. yes, let's go with this combination. Bakugo, Todoroki, you'll be fighting against Monoma," stated Shota.
Neito felt his soul leaving his body at that announcement. He tried to look for pity from his classmates, only to receive none. Even Pony wasn't giving him a glance, though he chalked that upon being distracted by her classmates.
Neito automatically went to grab Tetsutetsu, hoping to copy his quirk to live past through the fight, only for Shota to stop him.
"You won't have the luxury to be able to pick and choose, but rather make do what you already have," said Shota, "Go into the city. The fight will start soon."
Nieto could only slump down as he lifelessly walked towards his doom.
"Don't you think you're being a little harsh like this?" whispered Vlad, "I mean, you're pitting him against your class's two strongest."
"He hasn't learned his lesson from his final exam," retorted Shota, "It seems like your punishment wasn't enough to humble him, so I took it upon myself to do so. Don't worry, he'll live, considering whom I've chosen."
Vlad thought about it before nodding, realizing he had put one of the hotheads with the most stoic one. The two would likely not be able to work together, especially with Katsuki.
'Yea, maybe he will live,' hummed Vlad, not noticing the two had left.
Seconds before
"Tch, why do I have to team up with Icy-Hot to fight the copy bastard!?" growled Katsuki, "I can take him out alone!"
"We are being graded on how well we can cooperate together, too," said Shoto dully, "We shouldn't fight against each other."
"Here's our plan then! You stay back while I kick his ass! Not going to be much, but it'll be something else," grunted Katsuki, "Or you give him your quirk so I can at least have a challenge."
"I won't give someone my quirk just for you to have a little fun," bristled Shoto, "How about we fight each other? Our last fight didn't end on a high note."
"Bring it on!" growled Katsuki as explosions began to pop in his hands.
Just as it looked like the two were about to fight each other, someone intervened.
"Wouldn't it be easier if you two just took out Monoma so you could queue up for solo fights? I'm sure it would be faster and more of a challenge. Not to mention he seems to look down on all three of you, the monster trio," said Tsuyu bluntly.
"... FINE!" roared Katsuki as he left with Shoto walking behind him.
"Ouch, that's going to hurt," winced Ochako.
"Kero, he insulted our boyfriend. Though Izuku would just ignore it, he's not here to do so. So it's only fair that we speak for him, kero," said Tsuyu.
"Indeed, if only to be more efficient about it," nodded Momo.
"Does seem like a little overkill, but he was asking for it at this point," sighed Itsuka.
"Wonder what Deku is doing?" wondered Ochako, putting her finger to her chin.
"I'm sure when he's done, he'll tell us," placated Momo.
"He better, otherwise, he'll be my punching bag for the evening!" grumbled Itsuka.
At Ground Beta Location
"So you're going to get another quirk?" asked Gran Torino for clarification, "More specifically, Nana's quirk?"
When he received a nod in reply, he felt a headache coming in hard.
"I should just retire and move to the countryside," muttered Gran Torino.
"I personally find that boring," commented Rekai, who had come with Gran Torino, "There's only so much free time a person can have before being too bored of it. It's why I stay in the city."
"Can we focus on my successor?" asked Toshinori, his legs shaking a bit. As soon as the two had met up with Toshinori and Izuku, Gran Torino made good with his words and kicked Toshinori in the face.
"Fine, fine," grumbled Gran Torino, "Listen up brat. Did Nana tell you how to activate her quirk?"
"Somewhat," nodded Izuku, "She said the feeling was like floating in the air, thus why it was named Float. As for propulsion, she said it was like swimming a bit. Mostly using my feet to fly and my arms to adjust course."
"Roughly," nodded Gran Torino, "We'll ease you into it. Get to the top of those buildings, and then start jumping across the rooftops without using your strength enhancement and stretching ability."
"Shouldn't he start from the ground, jumping from a small wall to another?" asked Toshinori hesitantly. Gran Torino had pointed towards the highest buildings in the training area.
"Bleh, he'll never get the right feeling like that!" scolded Gran Torino, whacking Toshinori's shin with his cane, "Plus, he's made of rubber! If he falls, he'll be fine, even if he splats a little."
"Plus, he'll be 'floating' in the air if he falls, so it'll help him develop that quirk of his faster," nodded Rekai.
Seeing no choice, Izuku stretched his arms out, rocketing himself up to the top of the building. Gran Torino quickly followed him up to the roof, landing on the rooftop with a soft thud.
"Now, the easiest way to get used to this is to just jump and use Float to fly to the next building. While I can do the same, our methodology is different. Think of it as operating two different systems. I use Jet to propel myself forward while Nana hovered over there. It's like a jet and a helicopter in terms of flying."
Gran Torino stretched his back for a bit before continuing, "I'm usually faster, but Nana used the strength granted from One for All to push herself towards the location, and used Float to fly the rest of the way, keeping her momentum. If she needed to change directions, then she would use her strength to change directions. You've seen how the meathead has done it before, right?"
Izuku nodded, remembering various times that All Might seemed to change directions while still in the air. Especially at the I-Island incident, where All Might jumped past the helicopter before using brute strength to propel himself towards it.
"Alright, go jump now," ordered Gran Torino.
Izuku gulped in hesitation before running forward, jumping off the ledge.
'I'm doing it… I'm doing it!' thought Izuku as he hurtled through the air.
"You're falling brat!" shouted Rekai from below.
Izuku looked down to see he was indeed falling. He looked up to see the ledge he had been aiming for was getting much further away vertically.
"SHITTT!" shouted Izuku as he 'tried' to fly, even flapping his arms like wings in an effort to fly, only to fail as gravity took its hold on Izuku.
Booom… Splat
Izuku landed on the ground with such force, creating a small crater while kicking up dust.
"Ow…," muttered Izuku, even though he wasn't hurt.
"You didn't do it right!" shouted Gran Torino from above.
"Sensei, we really should take it from an easier step!" shouted Toshinori.
"Bah, he's made of rubber! He'll be fine!" scoffed Gran Torino, "He'll learn faster this way."
"It's not humane!" replied Toshinori, "Don't make me use my trump card!"
"And what's that?" asked Gran Torino, curious about what would cause Toshinori to grow a backbone against him.
Toshinori took out his phone, his finger hovering above Inko's name to call her, "A concerned mother."
Gran Torino was about to scoff when he saw Rekai crossing her arms in warning, telling him not to go there. Deciding to follow his…. not that he would admit to it, girlfriend's advice, he relented.
"Good, I can get Izuku started on the basics from jumping wall to wall with Float for a bit while you rest," said Toshiniori, taking Izuku to the side, opting for a lower wall.
"Mind telling what that was about?" asked Gran Torino as he stood a little away from Izuku and Toshinori, observing everything.
"Are you aware of my disciple's mother and her quirk?" asked Rekai.
"A little. I just know that he's dating her," shrugged Gran Torino, "Said it was getting serious."
"It's good that Inko has found someone else to share her life with," hummed Rekai, "That good-for-nothing ex-husband of hers tried to blackmail me once by kicking my disciple out of my dojo once. Inko and Izuku don't know about his visit to my dojo, and he did it privately when my dojo was closed."
"Oh, and what did you do?" asked Gran Torino.
"Kicked him in the nuts before calling the police," stated Rekai whimsically, "I had to 'defend' myself. After all, poor old and deaf me couldn't possibly be a threat to a man, right? The police seemed to take my point of view."
Gran Torino chuckled before looking at Rekai, "Ok, but what's this about Midoriya's mom?"
"She's an angel for sure, always nice and kind to almost a fault," hummed Rekai, "Her quirk is able to attract small objects to her."
"And….?" asked Gran Torino.
"You know the old saying. The nicest people always snap the hardest," said Rekai, "There was one time, and only one time, that Inko got angry at someone. Izuku was participating at a tournament when a rude father started making belligerent comments about every fighter besides his son. Inko, I believe, was PMSing on that day, and was on the worst day. However, she wanted to see her Izuku fight. So she tried to tolerate it as much as possible. Unfortunately, when it came time for Izuku to step up, the man began to heckle him even worse than others, and even threw an empty beer can at him."
"Inko, of course, couldn't stand that, and used her quirk to grab the beer can towards her before turning to confront the man. It was obvious he was drunk, and seeing Inko alone, he began to hit on her in a rather vulgar way, gesturing to his dick. So Inko decided to….. acquiesce his request for a handjob in the worst possible way."
"She used her quirk to pull his dick as hard as she can, which when empowered by anger, is a lot stronger than you think. The man stumbled and ended up falling down the stairs….. And there were a lot of stairs there. According to the report, he cracked his skull, tore a lot of skin, and apparently was unlucky to land balls first into a metal pole. The doctor's report said that there was tearing around the crotch area, but thought it was from all the fall. I, however, could hear skin tearing when Inko pulled his dick with her quirk."
"So it's easy to see Inko's little tick is her son, and would likely use that move on you. And if she catches you while you're jetting around…"
Gran Torino winced before nodding in agreement. Perhaps some limitation needed to be placed before he went too far.
Back on Ground Gamma
Nieto was taking deep breaths, trying his best to calm himself down. The operative word, being trying. In reality, he was almost on a full-blown panic attack. Sure, he liked to antagonize class 1A, but he was not blind to the so-called monster trio. Amongst the freshmen and some of the upperclassmen, Katuski, Izuku, and Shoto were always deemed the most powerful, the next coming of the Big 3.
He couldn't argue that their strengths were monstrous, but he felt like Juzo and Itsuka were right behind them, and if given the correct circumstances, himself. He could copy more than one quirk, and change between them anytime he wanted.
'Well… almost every quirk,' Nieto corrected himself as he flashed back to the time when he tried to copy Izuku's quirk. He still had no idea why he couldn't do so, and none of the staff would tell him why. Worse, was when Nezu had him try it out on some blonde upperclassman, a female who had transferred into the support department. Upon learning her quirk was to be able to sprout any body parts on any surface, Neito so wanted to copy that. If he could have permanent access to such a quirk, then he wouldn't need to get close to a villain to copy his or her quirk, just sprout an arm and slap the villain in the face while copying the quirk.
Nieto was trying to figure out if he could woo this girl when everything went wrong. As soon as he tried to copy her quirk, the same reaction happened when he tried to copy Izuku's. Nieto felt his hand burn as he quickly pulled back, looking at the palm of his hand to see it bright red.
Nezu then dismissed the girl before turning to Nieto, apologizing for the burn while writing a note to see Recovery Girl. He also assured him that those two were likely the only ones to have such a reaction against him.
However, just before Nieto left, Nezu called out to him, which chilled him.
"Of course, you know not to spread the word of this, correct? I'd hate to see such a bright future fall," said Nezu whimsically.
There were things Nieto was willing to push to the limits. Nezu was not one of them. He even began to wonder if Izuku and the female student were science experiments Nezu himself was masterminding as revenge on humans for being a science experiment himself.
He was so focused on his own dilemma that he failed to notice the match had started, nor the fact that Kasuki was already on him after a few minutes.
"DIE!" roared Katuski as he sent out a chain of explosions, causing Nieto to meep in panic and start running away.
Because he was so distracted, he failed to notice Shoto icing the ground he was running towards, causing him to slip and slide right into an ice coffin Shoto had made. Nieto saw he was trapped, and the only way out was forward….. right towards a spinning Katsuki, propelling himself forward.
Howitzer Impact
Nieto could only scream in fight and pain as Katsuki's attack slammed into him.
Minutes later
Nieto was put onto a stretcher and carried to Recovery Girl, his body smoking as he was spirited away.
"As you can see, you can't panic even if you know you're fighting against powerful enemies, otherwise you will suffer the consequences. For the next fights, the ones in groups will be wearing these quirk limiters the support department have recently developed," said Shota, raising a bracelet on his hand.
'And you couldn't have started with that in the first place?' thought Vlad, huffing as he did so, though not raising his complaints.
"This will allow us to have you all simulate fighting a stronger opponent while finding new ways to use your quirks and learn to team up," finished Shota, "We'll begin the next drawing."
Katsuki was most vocal about his opponents wearing such bracelets, saying that he wanted to defeat his opponents at their best, not handicapped.
"Todoroki? Why the coffin?" asked Momo curiously.
Shoto shrugged, "Something I saw some sort of comedy my brother was watching, and it was the first thing that popped into my mind."
Ground Beta
"I think I got it?" said Izuku as he was finally floating on the ground, though barely judging by the fact he kept bobbing up and down in the air.
"I didn't think my master's quirk would be enhanced by One for All," said Toshinori sheepishly, looking over to where they had been practicing.
A house stood there, looking pretty… except for the fact, there was an Izuku-sized imprint on its wall…. as several Izuku size holes in several others. Izuku was damn lucky he was made of rubber.
"Makes sense I guess," scoffed Gran Torino, "Looks like he's going to have to learn more through my style now. Nana couldn't fly as fast as you just did and change directions with just her legs and her mind. She had to use physical force to do so."
"I'm glad he's not doing this testing at my dojo," said Rekai, "Be a fortune to replace all that."
"You know, this has been on my mind," said Izuku as he 'tripped' and started floating upside down, "Why are you here, master Rekai?"
"Because my boy toy here wants to see my famous move that you used against the villain Muscular," said Rekai bluntly as she pointed to Gran Torino, causing both Gran Torino and Toshinori to do a spit take simultaneously, "And you're my favorite dummy to do it on."
"I'm your only dummy that can live through it without sustaining lasting if not permanent damage," sighed Izuku.
"Exactly!" grinned Rekai, "Now be a good dummy and get your ass next to that alleyway."
Sighing, Izuku did as he was told.
"Famous move?" asked Toshinori.
"She told me about a deadly technique that her master had developed and passed to her, to which the sole successor of said technique currently is Izuku only, if only in name. She used it on Izuku because he's currently the only one who can actually live through it without harm thanks to his rubber body. Apparently, the brat used it in his fight against Muscular, and the said villain is currently in Tartarus, just laying on the bed and yapping his mouth around. He can't even feed himself because of the damages, and has to be fed via remote arms," replied Gran Torino.
Toshinori raised his eyebrows at that. Izuku had mentioned his fight against Muscular, but had not gone into details about what he had exactly done. Though he wasn't a fan of excessive violence, Muscular with additional quirks given to him by All for One was a threat that he would look over.
"Ready, brat?" asked Rekai.
"Re-" started Izuku, only to have Rekai blitz towards him, kicking him in the waist.
The impact sent him flying back a little, only for Rekai to grab his wrist while he was pushed back and bend it in a way that would've been uncomfortable for any normal human elbows before elbowing it past its normal limit, 'breaking' Izuku's elbow joint.
Rekai then threw Izuku up a little, kicking him up higher before jumping, bouncing against the walls before punting Izuku down into the ground with a kick to the neck.
Each hit made the men watching the attack wince, as it was to a vital joint area. Any regular person hit with such an attack will disable, if not outright cripple them. They watched Izuku bounce up and down from Rekai's attacks before the final kick down onto Izuku's balls.
Even though Izuku was immune, it didn't stop him from reacting and covering his balls with his hands for protection as he was launched into the ground, head first.
"Ouch," commented Gran Torino as a crater appeared where Izuku's head had impacted on, "I can see why it's labeled as a forbidden technique."
"Yet my disciple will be the one to take it up to the next level," smiled Rekai as she landed, "I'm limited by my surroundings, but with his new ability, he's not. He can do this anywhere he wants. Which is why I'm driving it in his head even more now! Now, again! I'm going to drive into you the different variations of this attack before long! You don't get to come over to the dojo as much any more thanks to U.A. becoming a boarding school, so I'm using this time to drive it in!"
Izuku couldn't help but sigh as he was sent into another round.
Izuku finally made it back to the dorms after trying to learn how to use Float as well as being a training dummy for Rekai, just in time to see both 1A and 1B at the 1A dorms common room.
"Midoriya! Are you alright? You never showed up to class today," greeted Tenya, "Also, we have beef stew and Katsudon set aside for you."
"I'm fine, just tired," sighed Izuku, stretching his arms, "Had a training session with Gran Torino and my master Rekai."
Katsuki reacted to both names. He was well aware of the two old ones, old hag and old bag as he nicknamed them. Both were capable of beating the crap out of him, as much as he hated to admit it.
"Grandmaster Rekai? How is she?" asked Itsuka, feeling a little guilty that she hadn't contacted her for a while.
While the two began to devolve into a chat, Katsuki narrowed his eyes. The teachers had mentioned some sort of mutation, but hadn't been specific. Was it dealing with that obsidian black skin that Izuku had, or did it have to deal with One for All? Whatever it was, he was going to find out. He couldn't let Izuku pull away from him, even if he did release a lot of steam fighting Eijiro, Tetsutetsu, and Kamikiri in his solo fight and coming out on top.
Later that night, Izuku found himself cornered by Katsuki and the girls minus Melissa, asking him what had happened. Seeing as he couldn't avoid the subject, he told them that he had gained a new quirk thanks to One for All called Float.
"So you're going to be learning to fly a bit, Deku?" barked Katsuki, "Then you're sparring against me! I need aerial combat to practice and fight against that swirly bitch!"
"Swirly…. Watch your tone about our senpai," scolded Momo, "And what about Fumikage and Tokage? They can fly."
"Not enough. Bird head is weak to my quirk in general, and lizard girl doesn't have enough firepower to match me," grunted Katsuki.
If both members mentioned head heard Katsuki, they would've glared at Katsuki, though Setsuna would've added the middle finger.
"Let's focus on the fact that Izuku will likely gain six more quirks," said Itsuka, shoving to another topic.
"Fine, but is that thing where your skin blackened part of it?" asked Katsuki.
"Blacken?" asked Ochako and Tsuyu.
"I saw it when he went to punch that disassembling asshole, his skin turned black. It looked like some sort of quirk neutralizer, since he punched the bastard without being disassembled into a pile of blood," said Katsuki.
"WHAT!?" shouted the girls, glaring at Izuku for leaving that key detail out.
Izuku began to sweat before shoving the topic aside, for now, to answer Katsuki's question, "No. That's a side effect of having the Devil Fruit, apparently. In its original world, the residents there were able to manifest their will into actual armor, though not everybody could do it. Because of that, I'm able to do so as well, though I'm still training on that part. Melissa potentially has the ability to do the same, though no guarantees. I'm the only one that can actually speak to my Devil Fruit, according to it. No others have been able to do so, though that's because of One for All."
"Fuckk!" roared Katsuki as he somehow spewed explosions out of his mouth, "Where's the next Devil Fruit! I'm taking it even if it tastes like shit!"
"Even though you won't be able to swim?" asked Itsuka.
"You heard him, it's only standing water. I'll just get blondie and pink hair to design a costume to make it work past the water shit," barked Katsuki.
"I'm not even sure if there are any more," sweatdropped Izuku, "Mine only came into existence when the previous wielder died of old age and was hit by a lightning storm as it was being transferred to a nearby fruit, thus making the transfer go sideways. Melissa's fruit came from an accident as well when I punched Wolfram with All Might while he was being enhanced. Unless some sort of freak accident like that happens again, it's unlikely. Plus, from what my Devil Fruit guy says, it's sorta a lottery that could win or lose. There's apparently one called the Hito Hito no Mi, the Human Fruit. Completely pointless if a human consumes it, and gives you the weakness of the Devil Fruit. It allows the user to transform into a human….. so yeah. Only an animal should really consume it."
"Well shit," cursed Katsuki, "Then I'll depend on my luck, but don't think you'll pull ahead! I beat up three guys without limiters, and I'll beat you too!"
With that, Katsuki stomped off.
"Limiting bracelets, huh?" pondered Izuku, "I wonder if that even works on me."
"Probably not, which is why the principal had you excused," said Momo, "No need to let everyone know that your quirk isn't exactly 'natural'."
"Raises too many questions," nodded Itsuka.
"We should head back before curfew," reminded Tsuyu.
"Oh yea, Aizawa-sensei said there was something to be announced tomorrow," nodded Ochako, "Let's get to sleep everyone!"
Each girl quickly gave Izuku a good night kiss before leaving, with Izuku merely stretching his arms towards the balcony of his room, pulling himself up into his own room.
The group didn't notice a small robot at the scene, recording everything. Luckily, the robot was directly connected to Nezu's own computer, to which he was viewing a recording of the conversation. After ensuring the video was deleted and activating the self-destruct button for the said robot, Nezu leaned back.
"The Hito Hito no Mi… I would certainly love to have such a fruit," mused Nezu, "It would certainly be beneficial for me. As for not being able to swim, I've never been a fan of it in the first place due to how it would affect my fur. Well, if the opportunity comes, I'll certainly snatch it. Hehehehehe, HAHAHAHA, MUHAHAHAHA!"
Since nobody was around his office, nobody could stop his laughter. Luckily, the janitorial staff were all robots that Power Loader had made, so nobody could be scarred.