"Um, G-gran Torino, sir?" asked Izuku. "A-are you alright? You're l-laying in a puddle o-of ketchup."
"I'm fine, I just tripped while carrying a plate of sausages covered in ketchup!" Gran Torino said sitting up and magically wiping ketchup completely off of his costume.
"U-um, okay." Izuku highly doubted that. Those sausages weren't even cooked!
Gran Torino put an arm behind his head and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm I-izuku Midoriya. I'm here f-for the work study."
"Huh?"
Izuku spoke a little louder. "I-i'm Izuku Midoriya!"
"So what's your name, boy?"
'Okay, I mean he was All Might's teacher so I expected him to be old, but this guy is bonkers!' Izuku thought.
"I could really use some food."
"S-some food?"
"Toshinori?"
"No, M-midoriya." That settles it, if Gran Torino was mistaking him for All Might, the guy was not fit to be mentoring. "U-um just give me a moment, I-i need to make a p-phone call." Izuku started to put in All Might's number when he noticed that Gran Torino was opening the case for his costume.
"Hey, this is a pretty sweet costume," Gran Torino said.
Izuku freaked out. "H-hey that's my s-stuff!"
Gran Torino continued going through the brief case. "Why don't you fire a One for All smash at me?"
"Um, s-sir?" Izuku was confused. Sure he was somewhat able to control One for All now, but a lot of that was probably due to the fact that he'd had other quirks before hand and was somewhat able to understand the process of controlling it. Even if only just a little.
"I want to see how far you've come in terms of handling it's power," Gran Torino said. "This is a pretty good costume. Now where's that attack?"
"B-but sir..." Izuku was cut off by Gran Torino turning to face him.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
'Okay, please tell me this is some weird kind of joke,' Izuku thought. "I-i'm here because I n-need to learn how to c-control One for A-all. I need t-to get better at it, a-and fast. I won't b-be able to get by w-with just relying on m-my other quirks. I'm also h-here because I don't k-know if All Might has m-much time left. I'm s-sorry. But I can't w-waste my whole week m-messing around l-like this sir. I hope y-you'll excuse me." Izuku bowed and then turned to leave.
"As I thought," Gran Torino said.
"H-huh?" Suddenly Gran Torino was racing around the room, jumping of the walls, floor, and ceiling, at an insanely fast pace before he landed above the door way, breaking through the wall slightly to hold himself there.
"It's time for you to show me what you can do, ya newbie. He, he, he!" Izuku was now officially terrified of the man that would be teaching him for the next week.
"I watched the Yuuei Sports Festival on television," Gran Torino continued. "The way you used One for All was unthinkable. Reckless! He's not training you well. He may be the symbol of peace and the number one hero, but All Might's a total novice when it comes to teaching. I can only imagine what a blunder he is in the classroom.
'Now that I think about it, All Might called us newbies on his first day as well. And sometimes he acts completely clueless. I guess this guy really is his teacher!"
"I can't stand the thought of you continuing to use your power that way, so I suppose I'll have to teach you. Now hurry and get your costume on."
'I'm ready, teach me everything.'
(I'm going to have a little break here and put in a scene involving Katsuki and Todoroki that I believe to be important in this story. I will also provide some reasoning as to why Katsuki chose to go with Endeavor for his work study. This is set during the same time All Might was telling Izuku about Gran Torino.)
"Oi, half 'n half bastard!" Katsuki yelled to Todoroki. "Get over here, I want to talk to you."
"About what?" Todoroki asked, already half way out the door and not wanting to deal with Katsuki's crap.
"Just come with me." Katsuki grabbed Todoroki by the arm and dragged him to a secluded alcove.
"All right, we're alone, what did you want to talk about?" Todoroki struggled to look indifferent.
"Drop the act, I heard your conversation with Deku during the festival."
"So what? You got a problem with it?"
"Yeah actually I do. Deku's got enough on his plate already, he doesn't need some bastard like you piling on sentimental crap about how terrible your life is."
"Are you finished?" Todoroki went to leave, but Katsuki trapped him.
"No. I've got more to say, and you're going to listen."
"Fine then, but hurry."
"I don't care what you went through, but I also know that Deku's gonna risk his life to 'save' you now that you've pulled him into your mess."
"I don't need to be saved."
"I know that, but Deku doesn't. So here's the deal, to give him some peace of mind, I'm going to accept your old man's offer, and do the work study with him, cause I know that's who your doing it with. At the very least I'll get to see some good action cause he's the number two hero. Got it?"
"It's not your problem, Bakugou."
"You made it my problem when you dragged my little brother into it, so shut your trap. I'm going whether you like it or not."
"Whatever, just try to stay out of matters that have nothing to do with you." Todoroki pushed Katsuki's arm out of the way and started his way home.
"Oh don't worry. I plan to."
(And there you go. Now we'll jump back to present day with Izuku.)
"A-all right, let's get s-started!" Izuku said as he finished putting on his costume and making sure he had all of his blades.
"Show me a smash!" Gran Torino requested.
"Um, are y-you sure that's a good i-idea?" asked Izuku. "I m-mean, this place is kind of s-small, and if I a-accidently let off a blow at o-one hundred percent, I d-don't think your b-body could handle i-it."
Gran Torino put his arms out. "Good grief kid. You're a chatterbox, aren't ya?" Gran Torino grunted and then launched himself around the room again. "I'm losing patience!" And then he landed a kick on Izuku's back, knocking him forward, but not causing him to hit the ground.
"O-okay, that really h-hurt," Izuku said trying to hold in the pain. He was still recovering from his fight with Shigaraki and the aftermath of the Sports Festival. Recovery Girl could only do so much.
Gran Torino laughed as he sprang around the room, at one point he even smashed his microwave which made Izuku yelp in fright.
"What you didn't realize my true strength earlier?" Izuku stepped back. "I can't believe your the ninth holder of this great power."
'I'm, the ninth?' Izuku thought.
"All Might's hardly taught you anything. Guess all that fame doesn't translate into being a good mentor!" Gran Torino his Izuku in the chin, sending him backwards a little.
'He's too fast! How does his quirk work?' A kick to the back sent him to the ground. 'Come on think! There's no place to hide, and he's not giving me any openings. It no use trying to figure out where he is. Instead I need to figure out where he's going!' Izuku started keeping track of Gran Torino's jumps, a pattern that he had.
'Okay, he's passed behind me twice, which means he should be...' Izuku turned around and readied One for All in his fist, swinging a punch at Gran Torino. 'There!'
"Clever analysis, newbie," Gran Torino said as he dodged Izuku's smash. "Nice try, but you're a little stiff! And there's discord within your mind." Gran Torino reached his hand out and put it against Izuku's face, hold him in place against the floor. "That's why I bested you."
"C-crap, I thought for sure I-i was going to land t-that punch," Izuku said through the hand on his face.
"The way that you used One for All in the tournament shows that you're adjusting to the quirk. You understand it's fundamentals." Gran Torino moved his hand and pushed two fingers into Izuku's cheek. "But your admiration for All Might and a sense of loyalty to him are shackles on you."
"S-shackles? How?" asked Izuku.
Gran Torino stood up. "It's true that you need to stronger, and quickly. Time waits for no man. Real villains don't care if you've reached your full potential yet. Plus you think One for All is more special than it really is." Gran Torino turned around and walked away towards the door.
"T-then what should I d-do?"
"Think about that on your own time. Meanwhile I'll go buy us some grub. You stay here and clean up." And with that the old man was gone, leaving Izuku to his musings.
'My admiration for All Might is a... shackle?' Izuku thought.
While Gran Torino was gone Izuku worked on cleaning, muttering and rambling as he did so.
'I understand the basics, but there's discord in my mind,' he thought to himself. 'I believe One for All is more special than it is. Is that what's making my movements stiff? In terms of stiffness... wait that's it!'
"I k-keep thinking of One for All a-as something to call u-upon. But that's n-not it at all. It's like when I t-trained with Aizawa-sensei. T-the quirk is a part of m-me, so I need to use i-it in that w-way!"
(Time skip to that evening)
'After Gran Torino came back he just passed out. We never did any training at all,' thought Izuku as he headed for the alley next to the building. 'I should use this time to do some training on my own. I need to stop thinking about One for All the way I have been. It's apart of me. It's become natural for me to use telekinesis, and to some extent Blood Blade as well. I need to get to that point with One for All as well.' Izuku looked up at the four story buildings on either side of him.
'And for that, I need to be able to use it instantly, rather than waiting for it to activate like I have been.' Izuku set to work. He activated One for All in his legs and sprung upwards, aiming for the bottom of the second story of one building. And then he smashed into it.
'I was afraid that would happen,' he thought as he fell into piles of trash bags. 'I need to switch from my arms to my legs quickly. I don't have the time to waste on something like this, or I'll end up breaking all of my bones as I fall.' Izuku tried again, this time powering One for All to his arms as he made contact with the wall. No good.
Again and again the green haired teen tried until he was too exhausted and headed inside to sleep.
The next morning Gran Torino came down the stairs to see a very haggard looking Izuku, with dark bags under his eyes.
"Good morning!" Gran Torino said. "What's wrong? You look beat?"
"W-well I tried training o-on my own yesterday a-a went too far," Izuku said. "I t-tried putting everything y-you said into practice, but it d-didn't work very w-well. Obviously I still h-have a long way to g-go."
"Well it was your first time trying, so it's to be expected. That is how training works after all," said Gran Torino. "Of course I suppose All Might can't wrap his mind around that. He was able to use One for All right off the bat, so I taught him in a very different manner. Course he had the body going for him, so there's that."
"W-woah, All Might as a s-student! Tell me, w-what was he like, back then?" Izuku was completely in fan-boy mode by that point.
Gran Torino thought for a moment before speaking. "It was all combat training for him."
Izuku gulped. 'No wonder All Might was so scared of this guy!'
"The training was difficult, but I couldn't hold back on him," Gran Torino said. His face had become more somber looking, as if he was back in the past. "He was entrusted to me by a sworn friend who had just passed away."
"Oh, A-all Might's predecessor?" Izuku asked. "S-so, can you tell m-me anything about the g-guy?"
"Huh?" They were interrupted by the doorbell ringing.
"Package for you!" called a voice
"I'll g-get it for you!" Izuku sprinted for the door.
'So you still haven't told him about the seventh holder, Toshinori?' thought Gran Torino.
"G-got it, thanks!" Izuku told the delivery guy. When he opened the package he was surprised to see a microwave inside. "A-a microwave?"
"Yeah, for some reason, mine broke yesterday," Gran Torino said. "Heh. So I bought a new one."
'Is this guy for real?'
"So what do you think?" Gran Torino asked stroking the microwave. "How about we eat some of that frozen food I bought? It'll be good!"
"B-but all you bought w-was dessert," Izuku stated confused.
"What can I say, I like the finer things in life."
Izuku loaded a plate with four pastries and put it in the microwave, heating them per the instructions.
'At this point, to draw out more than five percent of my power, I need to have the same kind of commitment I did back then on the beach,' Izuku thought. When the timer went off Izuku pulled out the plate and set the table.
"Oh these babies look delicious, come and get 'em while they're steaming!"
Izuku handed Gran Torino a plate, still thinking to himself.
"Why the long face? Just focus on these piping hot pastries for now." Gran Torino bit into a pastry, only to find that it was still frozen.
"W-what? No way, I c-cooked them according to t-the instructions!" Izuku yelled out.
"What are you an idiot?" Gran Torino said. "You stuck a huge plate in there, didn't you? If you do that, there's no room for it to turn. So only one part of it gets hot. Is this your first time doing this?!"
"O-oh, ours isn't the turning t-type, so no I guess not. I-i'm sorry that..." Izuku then realized something. "I've g-got it!" Izuku grabbed one of the pastries. "The p-pastry is me!"
"What, no it's not!" Gran Torino yelled. "Are you okay?"
Izuku shook his head. "I d-don't mean literally, I-i'm not really a d-dessert." Izuku put the pastry back on the plate. "But I g-get it. Up until now I've just been summoning One for All. Only when I really need it. In the places I need it. Like flipping on some kind of switch. But if I do that, my reaction time gets slower and slower each time. Which means... I shouldn't be flipping the switch off. I just need to keep the power on the whole time."
'Imagining the energy that used to be focused in one place, spreading through out my entire body!' Izuku felt as One for All at five percent activated through his whole body. The red crisscrossing lines that signified the power quickly died down, and a green lightning that sparked off of his body took it's place. 'I need One for All surging through all of me, continuously. The five percent that I can use!"
"Visualizing a pastry in the microwave is pretty boring," Gran Torino said. "Are you okay with that?"
Izuku struggled to speak with the power surging through him the way that it was. "A-all Might said the s-same thing with my egg, a-and it was fine with m-me!"
Gran Torino threw his cane aside. "So tell me kid, can you move in this state?"
"I-i don't know for s-sure."
Gran Torino smirked. "Wanna give it a try?"
Izuku looked up and gave a matching smirk. "Yes! L-let's do this!" He struggled to maintain the power throughout his body, but he was working on it. All he had to do was move.
"That's it," Gran Torino told him. "Keep One for All surging throughout your entire body. If you can move around while maintaining this... then you'll be on a completely different level than you were at the sports festival."
Izuku grunted as he struggled to move his arms.
"So kid, think you can handle it?" The old hero pulled out a stop watch. "We'll begin with three minutes."
Izuku looked up. "O-okay, for what?"
"That's the amount of time you have to try and hit me with a smash!" And he was off.
'Okay, I can't rely on telekinesis to stop him,' Izuku thought. 'I'm training One for All, so that's what I need to focus on using. But how to do it?' He turned around as Gran Torino kicked him in the face. "Ughh!" 'Crap, he's fast. I need to stop his movements.'
"Pathetic," Gran Torino said. "If you can't defend yourself against an old man, how will you protect those who're in need?" Izuku tried to grab the man, but he was too fast and landed another kick to the back of his head. "Someone praised by the symbol of peace himself should be able to complete this challenge easily. No sweat."
'Come on, think, Izuku! Think!' "O-one for All..." Another kick to the face prevented Izuku from reactivating All for One again. 'I need to get it going through my body again. A single hit from him doesn't pack much power,' another hit to the back. 'but he's to fast for me to follow with my eyes! Come on I just need a few seconds.' Izuku spotted a couch and dove under it. 'There!'
"Don't be stupid. I can still see you," Gran Torino said, still flying through the air. Izuku quickly pulled his limbs under the couch, flipped over, and put his legs on the bottom of it, powering up One for All. "If you're trying to buy time, it won't work."
'Now's my chance!" He powered it through his whole body while Gran Torino was motionless in the air.
"So you were just trying to keep me off you for a minute. Now that was a good idea."
Izuku jumped up using his new found power. 'One for All, Full Cowling!' He tried to grab Gran Torino, but missed and fell to the ground. He could practically feel where the man was now. 'From behind!' Izuku jumped up as Gran Torino dove for him and readied a punch. He punch his feet against the ceiling, ready to launch himself downward, "Smash!" He was sure, he had him this time. Nope. 'He dodged that too?' Gran Torino flung himself at the kitchen wall, sprung off it, and then kicked Izuku into the wall, disrupting the flow of Full Cowling.
"Your time's up," the man said as he grabbed the timer.
"Oh m-man, it's hard to keep it g-going like that," Izuku said. He sat up, rubbing his hand against the base of his spine. "I-i guess I still h-have a lot of work t-to do."
"Nice work," Gran Torino said. "You managed to attack me while I had my guard down thanks to your analysis. You must spend a lot of time thinking about strategy and how to fight. You've already grown since yesterday, and this was just our first go at using One for All in this way."
Izuku muttered to himself as he tried to think of ways to move better and faster while using Full Cowling.
"All right, no time for rest," Gran Torino said. "Time to get back to training."
"Y-yeah. Let's do that. W-what's next, sir?"
"Something very important, we haven't had breakfast yet this morning!"
"Huh? O-oh, you're right!"
"So why don't you go heat up those pastries again?" Gran Torino looked at the table to see that it was over turned and the pastries were on the floor. "They're all ruined!"
"D-don't worry!" Izuku said. "I'll go and buy some more!"
'I've still got a long road ahead,' Izuku thought as he ran to the store, 'but I can see where I'm going! One for All Full Cowling. That's the next step to making this quirk my own!"
Yay! I cranked this chapter out for you guys, so I hope you enjoy it. Next chapter is Izuku vs Stain. It's got some pretty good differences from canon if I do say so myself. Honestly though, I'm more excited for you guys to read what happens at the training camp, cause that's where I'm really going off the rails on this.
Well, see you all next chapter!