Hey guys! Here's the promised update, I'm sorry it's a little short I've been feeling a little under the weather lately and couldn't focus on this as much as I wanted to! Chapter 15 is already mostly written so there may be an update on Monday if I'm able to actually finish the chapter tonight or not so we'll see. Enough of my ramblings, on with the show!
"Fire is the element of power." Izuku sat across from Sena in the park, legs crossed in a lotus position. Sena held a palm out towards him, and though nothing appeared, Izuku suddenly saw an image in his mind of Sena in the same position, a small flame balancing on her palm. "It's will is strong, and it will seek to overcome and dominate your own. In order to temper your flame, you must be assured of your own capabilities, otherwise it will sense your hesitation and corrupt you. Though, you already have experience with flames don't you?" She gave Izuku an appraising look, the boy staying silent as his brow furrowed. If he thought hard enough, he could see an unidentifiable man sitting in front of a two year old Izuku, small streams of fire leaving his lips as the toddler laughed and clapped. The image rippled and changed, showing instead an ash-blonde boy standing up with a smirk on his face, explosions of fire escaping from his palms. He nodded once, the woman sparing him a glance before continuing on. "I want you to try and produce a flame."
"But, but you just said-" He cut off as the woman gave him a sharp look, an uncustomary stern look crossing the 21 year old's face.
"Would I put you in harm's way Izuku?" The boy shook his head, her look softening an inch as she sighed and reached forward, ruffling his hair. "If I can master firebending, as crappy as I am- I mean, as I was with it, then you can do it easily. I know it might be a little harder as fire doesn't match your natural temperament, but we have done it in nearly every lifetime that we have lived. Close your eyes and listen to my voice." Izuku followed her instructions without hesitation, lids sliding shut.
"Follow my voice. Feel the sun, let Agni empower you. Let your chi flow, feel its flame, feel its power. Focus on its flow throughout your body, channel it" Sena's voice slowly disappeared as he found himself in a barren field, a strange creature standing directly in front of him. He felt an odd sense of calm as he stared into its scaly face, raising a single hand to put it on the creature's purple cheek. A puff of hot breath left it as it placed one claw against the tip of Izuku's chest, reared up, and breathed fire down upon him. Izuku was devoured by the flame, dying and being reborn in each cycle, master firebenders flickering by his vision as he lived and died. Some of them had white glowing eyes, while others did not, but one thing they did share was the jets of flame that left their bodies, the precision in their moments and in their movements. The cycle came to an abrupt halt, leaving Izuku staring at what appeared to be a man, though he was hidden behind the flames. It is not yet time for you to master us, young one. You still hesitate, you still fear us. Izuku opened his mouth to protest but found that he couldn't respond. He felt thousands of eyes upon him, judging him, and though he tried to curl in upon himself he could not move. I will grant you this small flame to use for this moment, so that you may open up your pathways. I look forward to seeing what you will eventually accomplish with your fire, young one. The flames roared higher, turning from the bright orange hue to a brighter blue, to a mesmerizing purple, rotating through multiple colors until it landed on emerald green. The flame rushed to him, wrapping itself around him-
Izuku's eyes snapped open and he let out a gasp, Sena crouched in front of him, watching him with concern.
"Kid, what-" He moved his hand forward on autopilot, the small orange flame reflecting itself in his viridian eyes. Sena watched quietly as he closed his fist, extinguishing the flame, confusion marring his face as he stared at his hand. "Kid-"
"That felt weird." He offered, giving him a bright smile as the 12 year old bounced to his feet. "But it isn't my time to master fire yet. Can I go through my water forms again, Sena-Sensei? I think I'm getting closer to becoming a master this time!" Sena gave him a wordless nod, watching as he immediately darted over to the pound and slid into his forms, water wrapping around him as he began a familiar dance. She didn't know what happened to him, but from the feeling that floated over her, he had made contact with the spirit world. He was much better at the spiritual side of things than Sena was, but it concerned her. Was it because she, a spirit, was constantly around him and made him more susceptible to other spirits? Was it because he was just naturally gifted? It was something she needed to think about, something that probably wouldn't cause an issue in the future, but something she still wanted to check out anyway.
Izuku's body had never ached in the way that it was aching now, even when he had been cleaning Dagobah beach. He let out a sharp huff of breath, springing to the side as a blur of yellow and white came jetting at him once more. He threw himself to the left, his right arm lighting up with red veins as he struck out, only for the blur to dodge his hit and plant its feet into his chest, sending him careening backward where he slammed into a nearby wall, collapsing at the bottom of it in a heap of limbs.
"Toshinori, what the hell have you been teaching this kid? He moves like a tree!"
"Trees don't move-"
"Exactly!" Izuku heard a thud followed by Yagi cursing in English, and he could nearly imagine the scene of Gran Torino kicking his mentee. The bruised boy pulled himself to his feet, wincing as his back cracked. He didn't know what he was doing wrong, he was too slow and Gran Torino was too fast. They had been at this for around two hours now, Izuku being used as a kickstand for the swift old man. "Kid, take a break. Toshinori, heat up some food or something!"
"Do you still have the old microwave? The one that never heated up anything evenly?" Izuku watched the two interact, Toshinori having stopped stuttering and shaking every time Torino came near him about an hour ago. They had a strange relationship, Izuku mused. It kind of reminded him of his relationship with Sena when she was still able to- He cut the thought off as a familiar pang of grief shot through his body. Even though he was able to connect with her a few times in the spirit world, it wasn't the same as having her constantly around him giving him advice when he asked for it. He had only just now, nearly a year later, stopped randomly saying things out loud, expecting to get a response back. It left a cold feeling in his chest, the fact that he was technically on his own now.
You aren't alone, kid. I'm always with you.
"Oi, kid what are you, deaf?" Izuku yelped and hurriedly moved as another foot came zooming towards his face, barely dodging the hit as he scrambled toward where Toshinori was in the kitchen.
"Yagi san, save me!" The blonde haired man gave him a look of amusement before promptly ignoring him, turning back towards the microwave.
"So you got a new one, sensei?" Gran Torino stepped into the kitchen, giving Izuku a glare that caused him to shudder, taking a seat at the table.
"You're the one that bought me a new one-didn't I teach you not to stick big plates into the microwave? It doesn't let the food heat up evenly!"
"But this is the-" Izuku tuned the two out, focusing on the word that had just been spoken for the second time in nearly 2 minutes. Evenly. His mind raced and his lips began moving silently, his right hand moving quickly as if he was writing something in his notebook. He took no notice of the two men turning towards him, Toshinori looking confused, Gran Torino looking contemplative. His old microwave was broken and it didn't heat the food up evenly, some of the food being hot, some of it being cold because the heating isn't being evenly distributed throughout everything. The same thing is going to happen now since Yagi-san used a big plate instead of a smaller one, the plate won't rotate and so the heatwaves won't be able to evenly distribute themselves throughout the food. THAT'S IT! I'M THE FOOD! He abruptly stood up, not noticing his chair falling as he slid into a slightly wider stance, almost as if he was squatting. It reminded him of when he first started learning bending in general, he had to allow his chi to flow through his body. He felt so stupid thinking about it, but it made sense. He had always considered his bending a part of him once he found out about it, it was his after all. Rather than thinking about One for All that way, he thought about it in about the same manner that Raava did.
A corrupt gift. Though Izuku didn't consider the quirk to be corrupt, he did consider it a gift. So if I channel it through my body like I did my chi- He reached for One for All, the quirk rising up to meet him. For a moment, it surged forward all at once but then it suddenly stopped as if something was holding it back, a trickle of the power rolling out and curling around him. He inhaled deeply and breathed, a wide grin crossing his face as veins of red darted over his body, only to disappear as green sparks of electricity came to life around him. He let out the breath that he didn't realize he had been holding, food in the microwave long forgotten as he grinned at the men and they smirked back at him.
"You learn fast for a zygote. Let's go." Without hesitation Gran Torino shot toward Izuku, and Izuku moved forward to meet him.
Torino Sorahiko watched as Toshinori's successor tested out the newest form of his quirk, bouncing off, or rather attempting to bounce off the alleyway walls, the boy failing miserably. The old man chuckled to himself before turning away from the window and facing the skeletal form of his student, taking great pleasure in the shudder that went through the younger man's body as Sorahiko leaned forward. They hadn't been in the same room like this in years, since Sorahiko had sent Toshinori to America in order to keep him out of that man's radar immediately after Toshinori graduated from U.A. The man that Gran Torino saw now was not the young man who had left him all those years ago, and despite him doing his best to teach his student to be stronger than that man, it hadn't been enough to save his stomach and one of his lungs, but it had been enough to keep him alive. Sorahiko had to be grateful for that.
"So Toshinori, have you heard the rumblings?" From the sudden cold look of anger that crossed his student's face, Torino knew that he had. It would only make sense, Torino thought. They both knew that despite All Might's best efforts that day, their common enemy had always been one of the slippery sorts.
"Yes, I have. He's moving again, probably under the guise of this League of Villains that we're dealing with. Naomasa is looking into the matter for me. The creature that Iz-that Midoriya-shounen fought at the USJ had multiple quirks. There's only one person who could be responsible for that." Gran Torino nodded, reaching for the taiyaki that sat on a plate in front of him and took a big bite. He chewed it thoughtfully, allowing the two of them to stew in silence before he spoke again.
"Have you told the boy about him?" He expected rage to come over him when Toshinori shook his head slowly, but all he felt was disappointment. "So you gave the boy your quirk without letting him know all of the dangers that came along with it?"
"I told him about the possible injuries-"
"But not the fact that there is a man who killed 7 of its users, and mortally wounded the 8th?" The retort was sharp enough to make Toshinori wince, but then his student responded with anger that Sorahiko never thought he would have heard directed at him.
"I don't want him to have to worry about a fight that isn't his."
"And so when he finally kills you or you die from that old injury, you expect him to find out from your murderer, is that right? Toshinori, you may have been dumb but I never thought you were this stupid."
"I am keeping him SAFE!" Torino watched blandly, deftly picking up his taiyaki as buffed up hands slammed into it, destroying the table. Tired old eyes watched All Might with pity as Torino took one last crunch of his favorite treat.
"Keeping him safe from what, Toshinori? From the truth? Or are you keeping yourself safe by refusing to acknowledge that you failed to kill the man who killed your master and my friend? Are you trying to pretend that he will be spared from the man's warpath as long as you defeat him? What are you trying to do, Toshinori?" The man's light tone steadily grew harsher and harsher until Toshinori transformed back to his skeletal form, sinking back into the couch that he had thrown himself out of. His hands curled in his gnarled hair as he leaned forward, a weary sigh escaping him. He didn't look up at the sound of feet padding towards him, a small hand reaching out and placing itself on his shoulder. "Toshinori, whether you like it or not you need to be honest with the boy. This reality will not end with All for One. From what you told me, he has a successor this time. You want to keep that boy safe? Be honest with him Toshinori. Don't let him rely on you when you can't even be honest with him." The hand left his shoulder as Gran Torino turned, exiting the room. Green lightning shot past the window before disappearing from view once more, followed by another thud. Toshinori didn't move from his spot as the door swung shut, leaving him alone once more.
The next two weeks flew by in a blur. Izuku spent the remaining time up to the sports festival training in his new form, Full Cowl, and attempting to mix it with his bending. It was strange, the fact that it didn't entirely work with every aspect of his bending. Izuku found that the form worked best for waterbending, and firebending (though he didn't actually bend any fire, just slid through his forms to see if he could use it seamlessly). It probably had something to do with the freedom of the forms, especially as it worked really well with airbending, a little too well (the boy mentally winced at the image of his lightning covered form smashing into a wall from the unexpected speed boost when riding on his air scooter).
He currently stood in the park that he used to train his bending in with Sena, sliding through his waterbending forms slowly with Full Cowl sparkling around his body. At the moment, he could only channel about 3% of his power in this form without hurting himself, and if he needed to he could push it to 5% but then he started to ache and his body became a little harder to move. But still, he thought, these last two weeks had been really productive. Izuku was growing, and at a rapid rate. He had taken to practicing his healing after his practices, and he could now heal larger cuts with ease (don't ask how he got those), and he was feeling good about the progress he was making. The only thing that would make it better was if Yagi-san would stop being so distant towards him. Ever since they had come back from Gran Torino's that night, the man had been quiet.
"Yagi-san? Are you okay?" Izuku cast a side glance at his mentor, the man's bangs shadowing his eyes. To Izuku, he looked more haggard and tired than he had when they had arrived at Gran Torino's earlier in the day, and he wondered what was said while he was practicing that made his mentor seem so down. The blue eyed man gave Izuku a weak smile, ruffling the boy's hair.
"I'm fine, Midoriya-shounen. Thank you for asking. Let's get you home." The man didn't speak for the rest of the trip home, leaving Izuku fidgeting and wondering if it was something that he did. He shook his head, pushing the thoughts out of his mind. He didn't have time to think about this, the sport's festival was in two days, and today was his last day of training so that he wouldn't be too worn down before the event. He would have to trust Yagi-san to talk to him when he was ready, Izuku thought before he nodded in determination, full cowl crackling back to life as he attacked an invisible enemy with vigor.