In the end both of his friends had also been soundly defeated by the deceptive old man.

Asui had attempted to match him with his wall jumping strategy, her Frog-quirk letting her leap from wall to wall as well as he did - almost. When she had made one far leap he had bounced back quick enough to give her a slap in mid-air which had interrupted her momentum and sent her tumbling to the floor. She had tried to correct herself by using her tongue as a grappling hook but the old man had caught it and used it against her to bring her down.

Unsurprisingly, Itstuka had come the closest to beating him. She had not tried to repeat either of Izuku's or Asui's tactics, planting herself and using her enlarged fists to defend against Gran Torino's aerial attacks. She had even managed to knock him out of the air by suddenly clapping her hands together, sending a shockwave of air that had caused him to drop. Before she could capitalize on it though he had used his quirk to get out of her reach and after one bound in the air delivered a knockout punch.

After the next three days of 'training' he had completely taken back what he had said about 's fear of Gran Torino.

Everytime he trained the three of them he would start with Izuku, then Asui and lastly Itsuka. Gran Torino had him focus the first day on becoming more used to Togaru's quirk and then own Gran Torino's Jet-quirk. First, by cutting up years worth of recycling stored in the basement and then by cleaning the high ceilings of the living room. Each time he paused for an instant the old man was on top of him jabbing and berating him with his cane.

"You hesitate when you fight, Iruma." Gran Torino had told him, forgetting his name again, "You need to work on your reflexes and combine that mumbling you do to adapt when you use an unfamiliar quirk."

Which was fair, everytime he activated his quirk deep down Izuku flinched at having to use it.

Each time after Gran Torino put him through his paces Izuku would be battered, bruised, exhausted and sent to his guest room to rest, then Asui would follow, and then last again Itsuka which seemed odd to him. So far, he had not seen any of the training that the old man had for Itsuka and neither had Asui.

"Kero." Asui ribbited painfully as she pushed the guest room door open, she was sporting a bruise on her face. She looked exhausted, even her tongue was hanging limply from her mouth down to her chest. She shuffled over to her cot and fell down face first. "Everything hurts."

"I-I know the feeling," Izuku replied, hiding the blush on his face. He had been so exhausted the last few nights that it had not really sunk in that he was sharing a room with not just one but two very cute women. Unbelievable as it sounded to him but he just might be starting to be adjusted to Gran Torino's punishing training. Which meant his mind was much more able to wander and think about his temporary roommates.

Even under the loose clothes she wore Izuku could make out the hints of the strong swimmer's body she sported. He had seen enough of her in her wetsuit at Dagobah Beach that when he wasn't careful the tiniest details of her body would creep into his-

No. He needed to think of something else.

"Midoriya. I have a question." Asui came to his rescue, she turned her head to face him and he likewise painfully shifted to his side to look at her.

"What is it, Asui?" Izuku asked, wondering what she could possibly want to ask him and hoping she asked soon before his mind started to wander as he looked into her calm, inviting eyes-

"Call me, Tsu." she ribbited again, before she slowly propped herself up on her elbow, "When you copy Kendou's quirk...do your fists glow?"

"Glow?" Izuku raised an eyebrow at that. His fists had never glowed and he had certainly never seen Itsuka's do the same. "What do you mean by that? N-no. Mine just...embiggen but they don't light up."

"Hmmm…" Asui said to herself, her brow furrowing before she continued, "Last night. After I had been sent to bed I realized I had forgotten my phone downstairs."

Izuku nodded slowly, waiting for her to continue.

"When I returned to the living room and opened the door...Kendou was using her quirk and for a moment before she realized I was there it looked as if her fists were glowing." Asui shifted on her cot, it made her long, green hair fall softly over her face. It just seemed to add something to her already cute appearance that made his chest tighten. After several seconds and she still had not continued he took that as her waiting for him.

"What happened next?" he asked, shifting his eyes to look away from Asui's face.

"Itsuka deactivated her quirk immediately and asked me why I had come back down. I told her I had left my phone. They let me grab it and go back upstairs but...the entire time both Itsuka and Gran Torino seemed to be waiting for me to leave before they continued what they were doing."

That was...definitely odd. It almost seemed like the two were keeping a secret between themselves. Which was ridiculous, what kind of connection could Itsuka and Gran Torino have that meant they were keeping a secret from them. He couldn't think of anything, or maybe he didn't want to think of one because the thought alone was making his inside churn. Itsuka not trusting him enough…

"Are you sure, you weren't just tired? Maybe you were seeing things?" Izuku asked, stuffing down his thoughts until they were under a hefty layer of denial.

"Possibly…" Asui shifted uncomfortably on her caught, a concerned look on her face now. Damn, he had messed something up now and made her doubt herself.

"You shouldn't worry about it!" he hastily said, patting his cot with the nervous energy in his hands, "When I use my quirk too much and start to collapse I see strange things all the time! My vision blurs. Colors start to jump around."

"I won't worry about it. You are probably right but it has bothered me and I wanted to talk about it." Asui replied, the look on her face softening as she looked at him. He saw the faintest of blushes on her face. "Thank you for listening to me, Midoriya. You are a good friend."

Friend.

A part of him still found it hard to believe, even deny, that he was friends with Asui and Kendou. That he, a quirk stealer, deserved to have friends. He knew deep down that the same voice was the one that still held out hope that Kacchan would come around and be the same friend as when they were kids. Before they had developed their quirks. Each day he spent with the two girls though made that voice smaller and smaller.

"Of course As-, Tsu." Izuku blushed back, his hands gripping the edge of his cot. His chest was starting to tighten. "I-I'm your friend."

"I know." she replied, a yawn splitting her face and making her big, soulful eyes close. When her yawn ended she did not reopen them, "My parents are always so busy...I am the one taking care of my siblings. Listening to their problems and fears. It's nice to have someone listen to mine. Good night, Izu-chan."

"G-g-good n-night, T-tsu." Izuku stammered, quickly turning around and laying on his other side so she couldn't somehow see the blush on his face through her closed eyelids.

He willed himself to sleep. Drifting off before he slipped into his dreams he thought he heard the sound of the microwave humming from downstairs.

"Alright, you're up first again, Iruma." Gran Torino chuckled, already cracking his knuckles. By this point Izuku had given up on correcting his name with the older man. "Today will be a little different."

"Different?" Izuku asked, unsure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Based on the last three days probably the latter. To the side Itsuka and Asui gave him pitying looks.

They would be in his shoes - if he had been wearing any - soon enough.

They had pushed aside the furniture in Gran Torino's living room, opening up a wide space on the carpet that dominated the floor. After the first day's events had ruined his clothes he had since worn very little, only a pair of shorts and a t-shirt - he had yet to replace his shoes which had been destroyed by Gran Torino's quirk so he went barefoot. Which actually was a good thing for his quirk, rather than just his hands he could use more of his arms, legs, and feet to make a connection - it was just actually touching someone to initiate his quirk he was still leery on.

"Today we'll focus on your limits," Gran Torino pointed his cane at him, "How many quirks you can copy at once. How long you can keep it up before your quirk or you collapse."

"What?! I've n-never copied more than two quirks at once!" Izuku shouted and blanched at the thought of what Gran Torino was suggesting. As it was, accidentally copying another person's quirk made him feel terrible on the inside.

"Exactly, kid! You've never tried, have you?" Izuku opened his mouth to argue but no words came out. He hadn't really ever tried, or wanted, to copy more than one quirk at a time. It was only thanks to training with Itsuka and Asui that he had come around to the idea of two.

"I've...just...no one has wanted me to…" Izuku tried to sputter an argument but Kendou spoke up.

"Now though you have people who want you to use their quirks. Me, Tsu, Togaru...Gran Torino...we want you to use them for yourself." Kendo held up a gripped fist in his direction, a smile across her face as her teal eyes sparkled with...confidence in him?

"We want you to be a hero." Asui followed up with a bob of her head, "Don't you?"

"Yea, I do…" Izuku grimaced, he wanted to run away from this situation but...he knew he needed to plant his feet down. All Might had told him he could be a hero if he just had more confidence in himself and his quirk. At the very least, maybe he would get lucky and two would be his maximum for how many quirks he could copy at once. "Alright. Let's start."

"Good, enough with the pep talks." Gran Torino rolled his eyes and huffed, "Let's do this one by one. I'll call out the quirk and you show me what you can do with them. Got it?"

"Got it, Gran Torino-sensei!" Izuku stood up straight, arms at his sides and braced himself as if he was going to get punched in the face.

"Frog Girl. Let's go with your quirk first." Gran Torino nodded toward Asui who ribbeted an affirmative. Bouncing on the back of her heels she hopped within arm's reach of Izuku and held out her hand for him.

"Please use my quirk." Asui ribbited, looking him dead in the eye.

"I-I will…" he swallowed, bringing his shaking hand up to her's and giving it a quick tap.

Amphibia.

He felt his body rearrange as it contorted to the nature of Asui's quirk. His hands, feet, and legs lengthened slightly the latter becoming more bendy at the knee. His mouth stretched a bit wider and he felt his tongue thicken as it became more powerful, a new pocket for it forming just underneath his throat. After all the times he had used her quirk he got the sense that each time he copied it less of his stamina was used to maintain it making it easier to use.

"Kero." he ribbited before he tried out his new abilities. Bending his legs he leapt into the air and toward the wall, as soon as he hit it he felt this body adhere to the wall as a minute amount of mucus was secreted by his skin which held him in place. Pushing off the wall he easily completed a backflip to his original standing position. Itsuka and Asui cheered for him and immediately he felt his chest tighten and his face grow flush.

"Here comes number two. Try not to ruin any more of my furniture this time with it." Gran Torino motioned with his cane for Itsuka to walk forward, holding the plastic baggy which contained the hair Togaru had 'donated' to him. He was so distracted by the warm smile she gave him he almost missed the bag when he dipped his hand down. Fortunately, his thumb hooked on the inside and touched the hair sample.

Slash. Cut. Blade.

His skin tingled again before the chitinous blades that were signature to Togaru's quirk erupted from his skin across his forearms, legs, and back in the same spots they had grown the first time. They were still largely the same length and width as before, more like a katana but his blades were double-edged unlike the actual katana blade. Fortunately he was using a shirt he had worn to practice Togaru's quirk with before so there were already holes in the back that the blade growths slid through. His head elongated more narrowly than it had with Asui's Frog-quirk, allowing for his blade-mandibles to grow in. With his arms and legs bare he was able to get a better look at the chitin exoskeleton that grew around where the quirk grew from his skin. It was green but a much darker shade than Togaru's skin was - it kind of matched his own hair.

Unlike last time he did not feel the same rush of aggression and anger that had overtook him when he had bumped into the mantis man. Had he just been angry that time or was it because he was copying a quirk from a hair sample rather than directly from the original quirk user?

Carefully he swung his arms and legs, going through one of the kata forms that Kendou had taught him when they had first begun to spar. With this quirk he had to be very mindful of how he moved. "With the mobility from Asu-Tsu's quirk I'm better able to get in light attacks. Hop on an unsuspecting villain. Use my tongue to capture and drag them in closer to the blades. Will mucus be able to secrete from-"

"Alright! That's enough muttering." Gran Torino interrupted him with a grunt, Izuku blushed as Itsuka and Asui knowingly smiled at one another. "How do you feel? Ready to go 'Plus Ultra' or not?"

This time he did feel the pull of stamina as he used the quirk but at least at the moment it just felt he had jogged up a flight of stairs. He breathed in a deep breath and let it out slowly,"I...I'm ready."

"Alright. Time for your's truly. Remember what I told you to do when using my quirk. Pinch off the air pressure as soon as you feel it. Don't go flying head first, it's dangerous." Gran Torino said as he walked up to Izuku. Instead of offering his hand to him, he held up his cane, licked it and immediately stuck it in Izuku's face. It smelled like old man breath.

"UGH!" he recoiled, taking a step back but it had the desired effect.

GUSH.

He felt the holes form in his feet that matched the ones Gran Torino used to expel air and lift himself up off the ground. He quickly followed the Pro's instructions, mentally 'pinching' a sudden feeling of a surge of air pressure in his legs. Some air escaped the bottom of his feet but it wasn't enough to send him careening through the air. Slowly, he let go of it and was rewarded with a jet of air propelling him upwards to the ceiling - but unlike last time he was ready.

He twisted in the air so his feet and hands connected with the ceiling, in combination with Asui's quirk he immediately stuck to the wall and did not fall down as soon as he pinched off the air pressure again. Crouching on the ceiling he felt the blades on his back stick out from the way his back was angled. "I have to be careful with those, I don't want to catch a loose wire or outcropping and suddenly get wrenched from the air. Maybe activate Togaru's quirk after landing in a fight? Though it would be effective to let go and use gravity, I just have to aim my back just righ-"

"I said no more muttering, Iruma!" Gran Torino shouted and waved his cane up at Izuku from the floor.

"S-sorry, Gran Torino-sensei!" he stuttered and quickly pushed off from the wall to land on his feet. He let go a small amount of air pressure to help cushion his fall but both Asui's and Gran Torino's quirk seemed to have had the side effect of strengthening his legs muscles because he barely felt the impact as soon as he hit the ground.

Even more strange than that was the...excitement that Izuku felt! "I'm really...really using my quirk!" he felt like a four year old again, before the fateful day his quirk had awakened, "I feel almost like a hero-woah, woah!"

The energy in Izuku suddenly dipped, turning his legs to jelly and making him drop to his knees. He was really starting to sweat now, his blood was rushing in his ears and it felt like something was constricting around his chest.

"Midoriya! Are you alright?" Itsuka and Asui rushed forward to his side, ready to help him stand up but he quickly waved them off.

"I-I can d-do it!" he huffed, shaking his head to gather himself before he stood back up. Legs only shaking a little now, but he had the strangest tremors in his hands. He felt tired, but also at the same time really good. It was an odd combination that made him smile dopey. "I-I'm ready for another. I-I think I can handle one more."

"Are you sure?" Itsuka asked him, concern written over her face as she looked down at him. Her hand was clutched against her chest, unsure of what to do. Her quirk was the last one they had available. It would be over after he copied her quirk anyway.

"It'll be fine...I-I'll definitely need to lie down...but that should be the worst of it." he panted, carefully lifting his hand toward her so his forearm blade would not hurt her.

"No theatrics, kid." Gran Torino warned him, his voice suddenly much more firm than Izuku had heard it ever before. "Copy the quirk then take a seat."

"S-sure. I'll do that. I-I j-just want to see if this...is my limit." he kept on looking at Itsuka expectantly, waiting for her to let him copy his quirk. She appeared to hesitate for another few seconds before, reluctantly, she placed her hand in his.

Huge. Limb. Grip.

He sighed giddily as he felt her quirk activate, or maybe it was from the feeling of her skin against his? Her hands were somehow equal parts soft and equal parts rough - neither was a bad thing in his opinion.

His hands swelled larger, he flexed his fingers as they grew. He wondered if one of Togaru's blades had grown on his hand if it would grow in proportionate size or would it remain the same size? He was able to notice that his fists were larger than the first time he had used Itsuka's quirk, he wondered if using her quirk multiple times at this point had someth-

Amphibia.

"W-what?" he stammered out loud in shock as the feeling of when he had copied Asui's quirk suddenly bloomed in his mind. That was impossible though, it hadn't been an hour and he hadn't touched her again.

"Did someth-?" Itsuka began to speak before she cut off her own words, shock leaping onto her face. Izuku felt very clearly what must have surprised her, his body was mutating again - he felt his head elongate, his mouth stretching even wider than before. His skin felt itchy across his hands and face, he looked down and saw patches of his skin were changing. It was becoming greener hue but also more bumpy and- it looked like frog skin. Itsuka called to him with fear, stepping closer in front of him, "Izuku, what's happening to you!?"

Slash. Cut. Blade.

His chest suddenly hurt painfully, it felt like his entire torso was hit by a bus. He felt a very large pressure building up underneath his skin - he knew what was going to happen and he needed to act fast.

"Get away!" he shouted at Itsuka, swinging his arms and using his embiggened hands to push her to the side just before the pressure on his chest burst forward as a truly massive blade erupted from his skin, tearing open his shirt and it continued to stretch for over two meters before it stopped. If Itsuka had been standing in front of him she would have been skewered. He cut his own outstretched arm on it though, the pain making him hiss and stumble back. He looked at his chest and it was nearly covered in a dark green exoskeleton.

"Izuku!" Gran Torino called to him, jetting forward and pushing Asui away from him, "Your quirk is going out of control. Can you stop it?"

"I-I-" he tried to spread through gritted teeth but something was wrong with him. His body felt like it was going through hot and cold flashes every few seconds, one moment he would be dead tired and the next he felt like he could climb a mountain. "I can't stop- AAAH!"

Gush.

Holes opened up in his legs, air pressure spilling out of them wildly and beyond his control. He tried to make it stop, pinch it off but he couldn't, when that didn't work he tried to cover them with his larger hands.

Huge. Limb. Grip.

"AHH!" he shouted in pain, the sudden growth causing him to squeeze his hands except he didn't moderate his strength and was accidentally crushing his own legs before he let go. Something was wrong with his hands, one was growing just normally but the other looked stunted, some of the fingers were growing faster than the others while his thumb did not grow at all.

Amphibia. Slash. Cut. Blade.

He'd never had more than one quirk activate at once. He felt the frog skin spread more covering his normal skin as his perception in one of his eyes suddenly changed, it felt like his pupils had become entirely frog. The blades on his back and legs shot out into the floor, cutting through the wood and pinning him in place. It felt like his entire body was going to tear itself apart if it kept up like this!

"M-m-make it stop! Make i-i-it STOP!" He cried out his head whipping away from looking at his body and the horrified faces of the others.

His eyes settled on the room's only mirror.

What he saw in his reflection looked nothing like him.

It looked like a monster.

"Izuku...forgive me." Itsuka sounded like she was close to tears, he turned his head toward her just in time to see her bring her arm down over his neck. He felt a pressure on the back of his head and then all he knew was unconsciousness.