"Alright, time to see how well you can control One for All," Gran Torino said before starting to bounce around the room erratically.
"Wait, what am I supposed to do?" Izuku asked.
"Hit me with One for All!" Gran Torino ordered as he smashed into Izuku before rocketing off again.
A few seconds later, he launched himself at Izuku again, but this time Izuku teleported out of the way.
There's a pattern to his jumps, if I can figure it out, I can hit him back when he tries to hit me!
Gran Torino launched himself at Izuku again, but Izuku teleported away again.
Gran Torino once again started jumping around the room.
I found the pattern! He should be attacking, now!
Izuku turned around and threw a punch, almost hitting Gran Torino, who used his quirk to stop himself before he could collide with the fist. Izuku prevented him from avoiding the hit by releasing Black Whip, attaching the tendrils to Gran Torino, and pulling him into the fist face first.
"Alright, that's enough," Gran Torino said as Izuku released him from Black Whip, "All Might told me you were a fanboy, so I thought you were imitating him without the strength to back it up, but your fighting style is a bit different."
"Oh, I probably would have, but I had already developed my fighting style by the time I got One for All, and I couldn't fight the same way as someone with a strength enhancement quirk while I had a teleportation quirk," Izuku said.
"I'm going to go talk to Sasaki," Gran Torino said as he left the room, "Get ready to patrol in a few minutes."
Izuku thought about the fight while he changed into his hero costume.
Some of Gran Torino's moves resembled Miruko's. I guess that makes sense since both their quirks can be used to power up their legs. Wait, so can One for All! I can learn to fight with my legs as well! That'll be especially useful when I can unlock float! I need to start learning to fight with my legs right now!
With that realization, Izuku finished changing into his costume and sought out Gran Torino.
"Alright brat, time to go on patrol," Gran Torino said once Izuku had found him.
"Can I join you two?" Mirio asked when he heard this.
"Yeah, sure, come one brat," Gran Torino agreed, "Let's see what Nighteye sees in you."
The three left the agency and started wandering the streets, looking for villains.
"So, how was Hosu?" Mirio asked a few minutes into their patrol.
"It was… eventful," Izuku offered.
Suddenly, Izuku felt something hit his leg. Looking down, he saw that a white-haired girl with a horn had run into his leg.
"Oh, sorry about that," Izuku apologized as he knelt next to the child.
"Stop running away, Eri," a man said from within the alley Eri had come from.
When Eri heard his voice she latched onto Izuku. Izuku responded by picking her up and standing.
"Sorry about my daughter," the man apologized, "She's been acting up lately, but she always comes home, don't you, Eri?"
Eri gripped Izuku tighter, scared he would disappear if she let go.
"Brat," Gran Torino whispered, "This is the guy Nighteye brought me to help track. He's the leader of the Yakuza, and Nighteye wanted me to help him find any secret bases in my prefecture."
"Then we can't let him get Eri back," Izuku said decisively.
"I can see why Toshinori chose you," Gran Torino smirked.
"Come on, Eri, let's go," Overhaul commanded.
Izuku responded by putting Eri into the pouch on the back of his costume. She was just tall enough that her head was outside the pouch and rested comfortably on Izuku's shoulder.
Overhaul lunged at him, but Izuku disappeared before Overhaul could reach him. Izuku reappeared behind Chisaki and kicked him, sending him flying forward.
As he was flying through the air, Mirio suddenly appeared in front of him and kneed him in the gut, stopping him and flooring him.
Overhaul got up and touched the ground, causing spikes to of concrete to fly towards Mirio, who suddenly sank into the ground before reappearing behind Overhaul and kicking him into a wall. Chisaki tried to recover, but Mirio kicked him into the ground before he could and then disappeared into the ground.
Chisaki lied on the ground for two seconds before Mirio erupted out of it, launching Overhaul a few meters into the sky. Having activated One for All after dodging Chisaki's first attack, Izuku then teleported above Chisaki at the peak of his flight and kicked down, sending Overhaul plummeting to the ground before teleporting back to the ground himself.
Chisaki slammed into the ground, cracking it and dazing him. A few seconds later, he tapped the ground and created a wall between himself and the heroes before running away.
Mirio began to run at the wall, but Gran Torino stopped him.
"That's enough," Gran Torino said, "Let's get back to the agency and tell Nighteye about this, we can't just defeat the leader of the Yakuza without arresting the other members."
-Line Break-
"So, you ran into the Yakuza just a few blocks from here?" Nighteye asked.
"Yeah," Gran Torino said, "So their main base is probably somewhere nearby."
Gran Torino, Nighteye, Izuku, Mirio, and Eri were all sitting in Night Eye's office.
Eri was sitting in Izuku's lap and refused to let go of him. Mirio and Nighteye
Izuku had been caught up on the investigation regarding the Yakuza and Nighteye had been informed of the encounter.
"They're going to be more on guard after this," Nighteye said, "We'll have to investigate a bit harder to find clues now."
-Line Break-
"Gran Torino!" Izuku called out after their meeting had ended.
"What do you want now, brat?" Gran Torino asked.
"Can you teach me to fight with my legs?" Izuku asked, "A lot of heroes who can enhance their legs use them for combat, and I want to be able to do the same."
"Alright," Gran Torino agreed, "But you're going to find out why Toshinori is so afraid of me."
"All Might is what?" Izuku asked.
And Gran Torino was right. Izuku did learn why All Might was afraid of him because Gran Torino's teaching method was to beat the lessons into his student's head. Literally.
Gran Torino would show Izuku a move, and then they would fight. Izuku would only be allowed to use that one move until he mastered it, he didn't have time to practice between seeing the move and the fight starting, and he wasn't allowed to rest until he had mastered the move.
While he wasn't training, he was spending time with Eri, who refused to talk to anyone besides him, Mirio, and Gran Torino, but had grown especially attached to Izuku.
-Line Break-
"Hey, guys!" Izuku greeted Uraraka, Todoroki, Shinsou, and Iida when they saw each other at the train station after the internships had ended.
"Who's that?" Uraraka asked when she saw Izuku carrying Eri, who buried her head in Izuku's chest when she saw the strangers..
"Eh… I'm not allowed to talk about it in public," Izuku said.
"What?" Uraraka asked, "Deku, what did you do? What happened in the two days between Hosu and now?"
"A lot..." Izuku said, "Oh, Iida, I've started learning to fight with my legs, would you mind sparring against me some time?"
"Of course, Midoriya!" Iida agreed, "I would be glad to help you, and I would also like to join you all in your training! Also, I must apologize for my actions in Hosu! I was blinded by rage, and Stain was right, I was not acting like a true hero!"
"It's fine, Iida," Izuku said, "And we'd be happy to have you join us!"
"Yeah, you were angry," Todoroki said, "It was understandable. Welcome to the training group."
"I was sorry to hear about your father Todoroki," Iida said.
"What happened to Endeavor?" Shinsou asked.
"Stain severed his spine, so he'll never be able to do hero work again," Todoroki explained, "He's being forced to retire and move into a hospital."
"Oh no, that sounds terrible," Uraraka interjected.
"Yes," Todoroki said, not sounding very upset, "On the bright side, my mother was released from the mental hospital to take care of us."
"Oh, the police chief gave me a message!" Iida told Izuku, "Since Todoroki, Uraraka, and I did not have permission to fight the Hero Killer and because you did most of the work in capturing him, you will be the only person who is getting credit for defeating the Hero Killer!"
"Wow, you all had eventful internships," Shinsou said.
-Line Break-
"Are you ok, Eri?" Izuku asked once he had gotten home.
"I'm fine," Eri whispered.
"Are you hungry?" Izuku questioned.
Eri nodded hesitantly.
"Alright, we have some apples," Izuku offered, "Do you like those?"
"I don't know," Eri answered, "I've never tried one."
"Alright, I'll get you one then," Izuku decided.
Izuku then walked to the fridge and retrieved an apple before cutting it into slices and handing one to Eri.
"Here," Izuku offered.
"Thank you," Eri mumbled as she took a slice and put it into her mouth.
As soon as the apple touched her tongue, her face lit up in joy and she started chewing happily.
"These are really sweet," Eri commented, "I like them."
"So, Eri," Izuku started, "Do you know what your quirk is?"
"What's a quirk?" Eri asked.
"Oh, it's your superpower," Izuku said.
"Oh, you mean my curse?" Eri questioned.
"Why do you think it's a curse?" Izuku asked, looking as though someone had just told him All Might was going to die in a year or two.
Oh, wait.
"Because it only hurts people," Eri said.
"Well, what is it?" Izuku questioned.
"I don't know, but it made my real dad disappear, so my mom gave me to Overhaul," Eri explained.
"Alright, well let's find out what it does," Izuku decided.
"But I don't wanna hurt you," Eri said on the verge of tears.
"You won't!" Izuku assured her, "We're not going to try it on a person."
Izuku then walked into the fridge and grabbed another apple.
"Can you try to use it on this?" he requested.
"Alright," Eri said as she hesitantly grabbed the apple. She started focusing, and a minute later Izuku watched as the apple began quickly turning yellow and shrinking before eventually it turned into a seed and disappeared. As this happened, her quirk also started shrinking, almost disappearing when the apple did.
"Woah, you can rewind objects," Izuku said, "You probably rewound your dad into a time before he existed, but if you learn to control it, you can heal people from life-threatening injuries. You have an amazing quirk, Eri."
Eri lit up at the praise.
My curse is a good thing? No, he called it a quirk. I can train it and learn to save people, just like he saved me!
"Can you teach me how to control it?" Eri asked, "I want to save people, just like you!"
"Yeah, I can help you learn to control it," Izuku agreed.
-Line Break-
"Alright, you will be split into teams, but you will be competing against your team," All Might started explaining in class the next day, "Your goal will be to reach the damsel in distress, me, as quickly as possible! Any questions?"
Nobody had any questions, so All Might split up the teams and traveled to the center of the city.
"Alright, begin!" he called over the speakers.
Immediately, Izuku teleported to the middle of the city, winning the race.
"I've lost another race!" Iida exclaimed in defeat.
-Line Break-
Eri was watching the DekuSquad train at Izuku's house when she decided to ask a question,
"Why do you exercise so much?" Eri asked, "Your quirk makes you stronger, right?"
"Well, it does, but I need to be stronger so I can use 100% of it without hurting myself," he explained to her.
"Does… does that mean you can't control your quirk yet either?" Eri asked.
"Kind of," Izuku agreed.
If he's spending so much time to control his quirk, then I should do the same! Eri decided.
She suddenly raced to the kitchen and grabbed an apple. She activated her quirk and waited until the apple was completely yellow, then she tried to deactivate her quirk. Her quirk didn't stop, and the apple soon disappeared.
Eri pouted at the space where the apple was.
"Don't worry, Eri," Izuku reassured her, "I'm sure you'll learn to control it eventually."
"Yeah," Uraraka agreed, "Lots of kids don't know how to control their quirks until they're a bit older."
Eri smiled up at the two, glad to have people in her life who supported her instead of hurting her.
-Line Break-
The next few weeks saw the DekuSquad train more than they usually did in preparation for their final exams. During those weeks, Izuku increased his limit to 3%, and Ochako increased hers to 2%. Eri also managed some progress in regards to controlling her quirk. She could now slow down its effects, but she still couldn't stop them.
-Line Break-
Alright, next chapter is the Final Exams!
I didn't expect the second half of this to be in Eri's perspective, but that's what happened.
So, I made a discord server: discord gg/HvtSXKa replace the space with a dot.
Please leave any criticism, comments, suggestions, praise, or questions in a comment/review!
