FoolGroucho - Yes, I plan to milk Mei & Momo cooperation to its absolute utmost. And it's going to be hilarious. Also yes, I remember that fanfic you mention, although not the name of it. Kaminari/Todoroki/Uyemura's conspiracy theories won't be mentioned a lot in that story due to it not being a focus (except for this chapter), but yeah. That's what inspired me to use it.
TheGreatBubbaJ - Indeed.
Detrametal - Thank you! :D I naturally don't have enough screentime to show what everyone is up to (let's just say that by chapter 45 it's easier to point out who isn't a chaos gremlin rather than who is), so sometimes there'll be... well, chapters made of a series of small and inconsequential scenes to make up for it.
The Archivist of Nyx - Tenya being a chaos gremlin is scary? What about All Might the Chaos Gremlin? Who do you think did Izuku inherit his chaos gremlin genes from? He is only acting nicely because of the whole Symbol of Peace bit.
SmokyGhoul - I can only crank up chapters like that every other day :V I'm sorry :v
Mattysc42 - It's not an alliance, it's HATSUME INDUSTRIES :v
Trixuny - You better wait for Yaoyorozu to improve the conversion rate of her quirk. She'd probably manage to create a Hulkbuster armor in the field then (with said Hulkbuster being, of course, a super cute baby with Hatsume Industries stamp on it).
PLPAnda - Izuku has a lot of care for casualties, just not for sanity of everyone involved XD
Dragonjek - It might be his class, but it's Izuku Midoriya's kingdom. And he better not forget it :v
raw666 - Something to think about.
miholca - THERE IS NO HOPE. THERE ARE ONLY CHAOS GREMLINS
Gowithbeat - One scene from the provisional license exam makes your comment even more hilarious than it would be, heh.
(***)
"So, did you and Bakugou know each other earlier?" Uraraka decided to ask during the lunch break. She realized that it might not have been her best idea when she saw the look he gave her.
'Startled' didn't even begin to describe it.
"W… why?" Izuku replies. "What brought this?" Uraraka is only slightly freaked out by the intensity of shock on his face, Izuku genuinely looks like Asa when someone not from his family is looking at him.
"I mean, he keeps calling you Deku." She decides to go through with it and finally be done with. "It sounds pretty cute."
She didn't know that he could freak out more than this, but somehow, he did. This is very worrying. Like, more than he was in general.
"Ccccute?" He manages to utter, and Uraraka is kinda lost. Sure, it does sound like 'worthless' a bit, but it's not this, right?
"Yeah, it sounds a bit like 'Dekiru'." She replies. "It gives me that 'you can do it' vibes."
She broke him. She realizes it instantly. It's as if he doesn't know how to react to what she just said so he just went vacant.
After like ten seconds of increasingly awkward silence he finally manages to make a reaction.
"Oh." It's all she gets out of him before he returns to eating his lunch.
This was… odd exchange.
(***)
1-A Chatroom
ZapZap: ClassPresident IS IT TIME?
ClassPresident: Yes, Principal Nedzu approved the initiative.
ClassPresident: And in his own chimeric ways has almost laughed himself off the chair.
ZapZap: I AM NOT SURPRISED DUDE xD
SugarRush: What?
ClassPresident: I've been trying to make Shoto socialize.
ClassPresident: Nat20, really.
BlackDarkness: I detect a fellow nerd.
ClassPresident: Depends. Favourite faction in Wh40k?
BlackDarkness: Space Marines.
ClassPresident: Really?
ClassPresident: Raven Guard?
BlackDarkness: Yes. Although I also like Blood Ravens.
ClassPresident: Favourite DnD class?
BlackDarkness: Warlock, obviously. But only from 11th edition onwards.
ClassPresident: Yeah, my bad.
ClassPresident: I approve of you as a fellow nerd.
BlackDarkness: Good.
ZapZap: ?
ClassPresident: Sorry Kaminari!
ClassPresident Alright, time to storm the castle
ClassPresident: Everyone
ClassPresident: KAMINARI FIRE IT UP
ZapZap: E
LeadSinger: What is this ping?!
GravityGirl: Why is this ping?
SugarRush: When is this ping?
CreativeSpirit: What?
The stream starts. Following a brief intro (that introduces this as a first installment of a Heroic Conspiracy series of a UA-Guesswork channel), members of the 1-A class are introduced to Kaminari Denki and Amaya Uyemura. And his blackboard.
GravityGirl: Did I just spend ten minutes listening to 1-B kid trying to persuade Denki that All Might is Thunderbolt and Endeavor wearing a trenchcoat?
CreativeSpirits: The math adds up superficially, but it doesn't include certain factors (like the lack of ability to move freely by people wearing such an outfit).
LeadSinger: And he brought an entire blackboard of calculations to support this? Why is he not putting the same effort in class?!
CreativeSpirit: Maybe he does?
BlackDarkness: I find this mad banquet of darkness oddly entertaining.
ClassPresident: Wait for it
ZapZap: YES
The segment ends. Kaminari invites another guest. Several hero students throughout Japan do a spittake or almost choke on something (or just stare in silence) when they see that it's Todoroki Shoto, the emotionless son of the Number Two Hero.
Kaminari ends up asking Shoto about his opinion on the Amaya's theory. Shoto stares at him for like three seconds before deadpanning that neither Thunderbolt nor Endeavor can smile like All Might does, so it makes much more sense for All Might to be Endeavor and Hawks wearing a trenchcoat, with the latter responsible for the facial expressions.
GravityGirl: OH MY GOD
GravityGirl: I LITERALLY CAN'T TELL IF HE IS SERIOUS ABOUT IT OR NOT
ClassPresident: I KNOW RIGHT?
CreativeSpirit: Endeavor is going to kill someone.
ClassPresident: Hopefully himself. Now wait for the second part xD
The class 1-A gets to see the second segment proper. They witness Shoto spending seven minutes narrating his theory (with a lot of photographs as evidence) that Inasa Yoarashi is All Might's secret lovechild.
They are both large, they are both loud (Shoto actually made a comparison about the average decibels of their voice), and Inasa has an air-based quirk. Which makes sense for it being a mutation of All Might's, since All Might uses a lot of air pressure attacks. And his strongest attacks can apparently change the weather by blowing away the clouds.
Shoto actually points out that if Captain Celebrity (the American Number Two Hero) can obtain super strength through applying telekinesis on himself, then perhaps All Might achieved the same with aerokinesis. Resulting in Inasa receiving a mutated version of this quirk. Which is also very powerful (which makes sense considering his father).
All of that is said with a decisive tone, and with a face of cold determination. That seems at least slightly deranged in intensity when Kaminari goes too far with pointing out flaws in logic (that are quickly counter-argumented by Shoto).
GravityGirl: I'm dying
GravityGirl: Is he serious or not
GravityGirl: I have to know
Froggy: GaleForce is there something about your family that we don't know
GaleForce: what
GaleForce: what
GaleForce: what
Froggy: Someone explain to him how do you write capital letters or I'll do it.
Mindhack: So GaleForce is kinda an adopted cousin of the Class President now? I mean, his dad is pretty much a brother to All Might in all but name, being his personal assistant and friend for years.
Vampire: Awesome!
Riot: Yes, that would be super manly!
AcidParty: Sorry, I just watched this and I'm rolling on the floor, I'll be back in a few minutes.
SugarRush: Yes xD
Tentacle: Is this Shoto's face when he is enjoying himself or when he wants to obliterate someone with facts and logic?
Tentacle: or both?
GravityGirl: Both
ClassPresident: Probably both
ClassPresident: Ask soon-to-be celebrity yourself because…
User Thermostat joins the chat!
Thermostat: Hello.
GravityGirl: Pffffft
CreativeSpirit: Thermostat, really?
Thermostat: It fits, yes?
ClassPresident: Yes, Shoto, it does.
ClassPresident: Shoto is having problems socializing, but he wants to change that and befriend people. He doesn't have a lot of hobbies so we decided to capitalize on one to give something to talk about with people.
Thermostat: I like making theories.
ClassPresident: As a ClassPresident I announce that we as a class are officially adopting him as our cherished friend and we're going to do our best to make him feel welcome :D
GravityGirl: Yes!
LeadSinger: Yes!
Thermostat: Yes!
Thermostat: Did I make the mistake by joining this sequence?
ClassPresident: No, you didn't.
CreativeSpirit: You like uphill battles, don't you?
(***)
Eventually, All Might decided to test if Eraserhead is right about his son being involved in everything odd happening in or near UA. So instead of trying to get answers from other teachers, he simply phones his son.
"Izuku, I have a question." Yagi says into the phone. Is Eraserhead right about this? "Why is everyone asking me weird questions about Inasa Yoarashi today? And about Hawks, Thunderbolt and Endeavor? All while smirking weirdly. What have you done this time?"
There are several long seconds of silence through the phone. All Might realizes that Aizawa was correct. He just isn't sure about what exactly.
"... I might have given an idea to Denki, Uyemura and Todoroki about making a conspiracy theory youtube channel together." Izuku says finally. "Their first episode went viral, probably because of Shoto being in it. It includes the theories that you are Endeavor and either Thunderbolt or Hawks wearing a trenchcoat, and that Inasa is your secret lovechild."
Yagi remains silent for a few seconds, while pinching the bridge of his nose. Did Inko and Gran Torino already see it? Why was he the last one to find out? What is he supposed to do right now? He can't give his son a house arrest until the heat death of the universe, right?
"Send me the link." He can as well find out what it is all about.
He ends up falling off the chair in laughter midway through the episode.
(***)
Gran Torino sighs painfully when he sees the interns (why plural this year, whyyyy) approaching his hero agency slash home slash elderly home through the security cameras. He knows that meeting Eri made him go soft (she is too adorable to keep a scary face around, she immediately decides that he is sad and she does her best to cheer him up and he simply can't win against it), because that's the only reason why he might have agreed to it.
He is also going to kill Yagi Toshinori. So many years of tortur… educating him, and somehow his teaching career is… this. 'When you have a problem, throw it at Gran Torino' isn't a long term teaching policy.
Gran Torino had a long phone call with his grand… Izuku about it. Sorahiko knows what to expect. He knows that this one time he is going to mostly give up his standard introduction. No messing-up around. Not enough time to make them realize things on their own, unfortunately.
"That doesn't look like a hero agency." The voice is calm and emotionless. Just as expected from someone with so many family issues that Sorahiko doesn't even know where to begin.
Frankly, he just wants to kick Endeavor in the face.
Gran Torino doesn't enjoy hearing about his home being dissed like that, but despite the age he has superb hearing. They aren't even in the building, but he still hears them.
"I have numerous questions about whatever officials stamped their approval of this building's construction and continuous usage!" Oh yeah, the official and serious one. The second place in the tournament. So many mistakes and flaws that it's almost hilarious that he got this far.
"Oh, trust me, it's fine!" Izuku, his greenhaired grands… damn it, Sorahiko, stop that, announces. "Just meet the hero inside and you'll get it. No judging the book by the cover and all that."
"It's just a fucking waste of time." Oh, the angry one. Gran Torino is absolutely looking forward to having one-on-one training sessions with Bakugou Katsuki. This is going to be fabulous. And painful, but only to one person.
Even Yagi Toshinori didn't see Sorahiko Torino genuinely angry at a student. Knowing what Bakugou Katsuki did to Izuku Midoriya is certainly enough to make him achieve that state.
(***)
Izuku beams when he sees Gran and that alone makes the old hero realize just how old he got. He was supposed to be scary! Instead, all he gets is… this. Pathetic.
Todoroki Shoto is emotionless, but appears to be vaguely interested. He is also clearly sticking right next to Izuku, which probably shouldn't be surprising - if what Izuku mentioned is correct, he is literally the first friend that Shoto ever had in his life.
The saddest part is that he managed to beat the 'longest time without a friend' record of Izuku Midoriya by, what? Two months plus maybe the first 3-4 years of life before he was discovered to be quirkless and Bakugou turned out to be a dick? Sad.
Tenya Iida is clearly underwhelmed by the very casual insides of the building. Considering how prim and proper Tenya Iida is, this is probably to be expected. One of the things he'll have to fix during the two weeks of internships. He'll start by making the kid realize that the old hero in front of him is actually skillful.
There is a simple way of achieving that.
Taunting Bakugou is really easy, especially as he seems like he already taunted himself. He is clearly looking down on Gran Torino. Did Izuku even mention to him that he is looking at one of the two mentors that All Might had? Probably not.
It's probably high time for Izuku to be at least a bit of a sadist towards his old bully. It's therapeutic, really. Gran Torino still looks back to the moment when he managed to dropkick All for One in the face. Sure, he almost died two seconds later, but he still thinks that it's sad that no one was recording that moment.
Bakugou quickly agrees to the bet. If he gets to hit Gran Torino, Sorahiko will get him an internship with All Might's former mentor. The smirk on Izuku's face is truly reassuring, because he knows that whatever happens, Bakugou loses.
Bakugou does just that.
It's not even a fight.
Gran Torino has a certain degree of respect towards Bakugou Katsuki. He has skills, there is no doubt about it, it's his personality that's trash. He is strong and has a reaction time that Gran didn't get to witness in a kid his age ever since he met Nana's grandson for the first time. But, frankly speaking, this is at least an order of magnitude below what Gran Torino has in store.
The old hero has combat experience, Izuku's dissection of Bakugou's combat style and a lot of recordings of his fights. What's more, while his reaction speed might be slightly below Bakugou's (and his strength is way lower, and probably so is endurance), his actual speed of movement is far beyond the kid's in front of him.
Gran Torino beats him up. Slowly. Steadily. With a speed so fast that he is acutely aware that Tenya's estimations of him are skyrocketing - the kid practically stares in shock, his eyes failing to follow Gran Torino's movements.
Bakugou is on all fours in front of Gran Torino, who is clearly feeling pretty cathartic at the moment.
"That settles it up, I believe?" Gran Torino asks and gets a lot of begrudging respect back. "Don't feel bad about it. You get your side of the deal fulfilled too. Because, you see, I was the All Might's mentor." He gets a shocked stare. "Oh yes. I was his homeroom teacher in the UA as well. During our spars I beat him up so much that he ended up vomiting a few times. He knows that I have results, but that I'm also way more harsh than Eraserhead could ever be."
He looks away from Bakugou at only slightly intimidated Tenya and still largely unreadable Shoto. Plus, of course his beaming adopted grandson (he has mostly given up on pretending otherwise at this point, besides this makes Eri his adopted granddaughter and that puts everything in the world in the right place).
"All Might send you to me, because that's his way of dealing with problem children." He continues. "I have two weeks to beat you all into shape while also giving you some practical experience. This internship will be hell. By the time it's over, you, like All Might, will react with terrified shivering at the mention of my name. But I can promise you one thing in exchange. Results."
He is going to start with Todoroki Shoto.
(***)
He lets the remaining kids settle up in their rooms, while he himself takes the young Todoroki to the nearby training gym. It's a bit of a special place, designed for various problem children with powerful quirks.
Among other things, it's fireproof. And Gran Torino might have, taking advantage of UA's funds, rented it for the next two weeks. He is going to need it. Or, to be exact, Todoroki Shoto will need it.
He stands in front of the kid in a completely empty room and decides to start the talk.
"Your control of ice is reasonable enough." Gran Torino starts. "So we're going to focus on helping you learn how to control your flames." He doesn't touch the reason for why those need work. This is something that he is leaving for the school and Izuku to handle. "Anything to add about it? Or a question to ask?"
"I'm not sure how much of a help this is going to be." Todoroki promptly replies. "I expected Izuku to find me some fire hero to intern with."
While Izuku probably didn't want to let him off his sight for two weeks. Especially not right after such a character development. Izuku was a smart kid. Not on every field (he would have ditched Bakugou and Aldera High School years earlier if he was), but when it comes to helping others, he is unmatched.
"Kid, quirks don't work like that." Gran Torino promptly replies. "Interning under a fire hero would just make your teacher be someone who knows how to deal with fire hazard during training. There are no two identical quirks unless you had a good genetic roll and you have a parent-offspring relation, and unless Endeavor has an ice side that he hides from the world, you didn't."
"But my flame is like his?" It actually sounds like a question. And it's not 'my flame is his' but 'like his'. This is certainly progress.
"Let me entertain a guess." Gran Torino replies. "You were taught ice control from either your mother or someone from her side of the family." Shoto nods. "But for some reason, you had to change things on your own as their explanations tended to not work as intended when put to practice. Yes?"
Shoto stares into space for a few seconds. Then he nods.
"Why?" At least he doesn't waste time on frivolities.
"Because you don't have the same quirk as they do, simple as that." Gran Torino replies. "I met a few cases of dual quirks during my career as a hero and a teacher, and they are never identical to what their parents have. You fire side influences the output of your ice, and vice versa. How can you exactly perform Prominence Burn when it's about concentrating flames from your entire body for a single attack… and only half of your body has flames?"
Todoroki Shoto thinks it over quite fast. And arrives at the right conclusion. Without Gran Torino having to beat it into him.
"So considering the dual nature of my quirk, trying to directly copy Endeavor's super moves would be actually harmful to me." Gran Torino isn't sure about it but the kid feels faintly happy about it. Also it's less 'actually harmful' and more like 'you can reach like 70-80% of your full potential that way, kid', but it's not time to describe things like that. "So I'll need to experiment on my own to learn how to properly use my flames."
"Precisely, kid." Gran Torino replies. "Learning how to control your flames isn't that hard. It's not in any way different than what you did to control your ice. Mental image, willpower, repetitive training, squeezing the freed energy into correct shape, and so on. But the only person who truly knows how your quirk works on the inside is yourself. So you are going to spend most of your internship letting your flames flow and trying to apply the controlling factors I mentioned. For today, focus on merely letting those flames burst out, without accidentally hurting someone who just happens to stand too close to your flame side. Learn how to control the initial ignition first. Tomorrow me, you and Izuku will spend a few hours brainstorming ideas for attacks and other applications of your fire. Then you'll move to practice."
He doesn't add that if they want to have some serious progress, Todoroki will have to do his best to adapt to pretty much 16h workday for the next two weeks. There are no slackers in Gran Torino's internships, and he will kick anyone who complains in the face.
He lets Todoroki think he is safe for the day.
(***)
The second kid he borrows for a talk is Tenya Iida. Mostly because dealing with Bakugou is going to be a dessert that he'll deeply enjoy, and Izuku… well, Izuku is no fun since he seems to be mostly aware of what he is doing. He spent quite a while training with Gran Torino, after all.
Tenya is pretty much standing at attention in front of him, and Gran Torino does his best to avoid the ridiculous hand motions.
"Your problem, kid…" Gran Torino braces for an argument. "... is your brother." He is going in raw, sue him about it.
"What?!" Tenya is shocked. "Ingenium is a wonderful hero with a perfect work history and great achievements, how can you…"
"That's the problem, fool!" Gran Torino shouts and hits Tenya's leg with his walking stick. The kid actually jumps back a bit. "You have the same issue that Izuku had when I first met him. He had so much admiration for All Might that he practically based his entire idea for applying his quirk on him. Always full power, always punches. Agile speedster trying to base his fighting style on a musclebound juggernaut went about as well as you can expect." All the broken bones… ugh. "And that's your problem. You admire Ingenium so much that you are trying to be identical to him, despite the obvious differences between you."
"I dare to disagree!" Tenya refuses to yield. "My attacks have been explicitly tailored to take my leg thrusters into account. That's why I converted from punches to kicks." Well, nice for him, Gran Torino thinks. He is like 10% less of a pain in the ass than Izuku on this field.
"Well, so let me go a different way." Gran Torino gives him a bit of a sadistic grin. "Why did you lose against Monoma?"
"He surprised me with his hardening quirk." Tenya replies promptly. "It damaged my ankle and limited my mobility, resulting in…" Gran Torino hears enough.
"And do you know what was the easy way of NOT getting surprised by a hardening quirk?" Gran Torino says, and Tenya promptly shuts up. He is clearly trying to figure out something, but he fails. "Well, have you ever heard about our lord and saviour, THE RANGED ATTACKS?"
"The ranged…" Tenya blinks a few times. "I can't do ranged attacks! My quirk simply makes me move faster, that's not exactly…"
"No, kid." Gran Torino interrupts him quickly. "You can do ranged attacks, but you don't. Because Ingenium doesn't use them. And you never bothered to ask yourself how you could use your legs slightly differently."
He throws a small ball in front of him, raises his legs (and stabilizes himself with his walking stick placed behind his back). Then he fires his leg thrusters at the ball, sending it flying with enough strength to make a small dent in the wall.
Tenya stares at it in surprise.
"Why do you think All Might has his Air Force attack, despite being so powerful that he can just punch everything in the face and call it a day?" Gran Torino asks, bringing Tenya's attention back to him. "Now it's powerful enough to use it for crowd control, but the original reason was to gauge the enemy's strength and quirk nature before leaping into melee. Just a single burst of it, and if the enemy didn't even notice it, then he was clearly a major threat. And probably with a strengthening quirk. You could have used your legs to chip a small part of the concrete floor of the arena and then kick it at Monoma. If it was going too fast for him to dodge, it would force him to reveal his hardening quirk to you before it broke your ankle. But Ingenium doesn't do ranged attacks, as hands are less suitable for it and he has sidekicks for those, so neither did you. Am I correct?"
Izuku's opinion on Tenya was that he was pretty much like Nedzu, just to a lesser degree. Smart, yes. But mentally stubborn and conservative. Changing Nedzu's opinion on something required some truly overwhelming amount of evidence, but once he did it, he adapted to the changed situation with lightning speed. Tenya immediately proves Torino's grandson correct.
"You are right." Tenya nods. "Your analysis is sound, but none of it passed by mind during the fight. This is certainly something to work on."
"And that's not all." Gran Torino replies. "We won't have enough time to work through them all during the internships, so you'll have to show your initiative afterwards. But there are two more major flaws in your fighting style that require urgent fixing or you are going to be killed by the first A-Rank villain that you run into. Point one, what the hell are your hands for?"
"Err?" Tenya is clearly shocked by the sudden change of subject. "My engines are in my legs, my arms are…"
He gets the walking stick in the arm and once again jumps back a bit.
"Those are two perfectly fine limbs, kid." Gran Torino announces. "Two perfectly fine limbs that, in case you didn't notice, get more or less the same velocity as your whole body. While being way less flashy, because trust me, when your enemy has a rocket engine in his legs you tend to not focus on what his hands are doing. Sure, they aren't as reinforced as your legs, so you'll need to get creative with them. But… do you have the tiniest goddamn idea how easy it is for you to make the enemy focus on your legs in preparation for a kick, only for you to hit them in the head with a stun baton? Or just punch them in the face?" Tenya's eyes widen. "And all you are using them for is to balance your body or grab things. You should be fucking ashamed."
Tenya Iida already looks like his world did a hundred-eighty and he isn't sure how to deal with it. But Gran Torino is not done with delivering the news, so he follows up with the third flaw.
"The third flaw is that you have the flexibility of an overdried wood log." Gran Torino announces. "Your attacks have trajectories that a five years old kid could predict. Any death touch quirk user like Overhaul will take you down instantly by simply predicting your move and touching you while you attack them. Hell, any fighter that can tank an attack of yours will probably take you down in a counter easily. Hero Killer beat me up by tanking my attacks and figuring out my attack pattern until he managed to effortlessly grab me by the leg mid flight and restrain me. How much easier do you think it is to take down a speedster whose only attack trajectory is a straight line?"
"You fought the Hero Killer?" Tenya is clearly shocked.
"Run into him accidentally." Gran Torino deflects the question. The one thing he took from that is to never make fun of Yagi Toshinori in front of Akaguro Chizome. The duel was short and frankly rather humiliating to the old hero. Inko Midoriya and Mr. Compress were vaguely amused by that. "You're going to have to ask Izuku about some gymnast training tips and try to include the expanded moveset to your attack on your own once you stop being so stiff. For now, we are going to start talking about the way your training here will work."
"Before that, I.. have a question." Tenya stares at Gran Torino a bit more intensively than he expected. "Do you think that the Hero Killer attacked my brother?"
(***)
1. As you can guess from the first segment, Izuku's hero name will no be Deku. The issues associated with that term go too deep. Unfortunately, you'll get to hear his hero name only after the provisional license exam when he finally settles on something.
2. Shoto Todoroki's thought process: Everyone Loves All Might = All Might might have many secret love children = I got it right once, I can certainly get it right twice. Well, damn.
3. Gran Torino is now officially Izuku's grandfather. Not de iure but certainly de facto. Deal with it.
4. Torino borrowed the Consequences mace from Izuku for that one... Let's just say that Bakugou is in for some lifechanging revelations.
5. How much did Gran Torino manage to impress Tenya is best seen by the fact that he actually asked him a question like this.