"Whoopsie! Clumsy me! I was carrying a big ole plate of sausages covered in ketchup when I tripped and spilt it everywhere! Silly me!" GT laughed as he stood on wobbly legs, his wooden cane seemingly helping him stand instead of falling face forward yet again.
'This…is All Might's scary old teacher?' Izuku thought as he stared at the older pro who was half his height. He knew looks could be deceiving but still…this was the guy the number one hero was terrified of?!
"Now, who did you say you were again?"
"Izuku Midoriya from UA High School sir!" Izuku snapped to attention, wanting to make a first good impression. If this was truly All Might's former teacher, the man was owed as much respect as possible.
"I'm sorry, what was that?!"
"Uh, I-I'm Izuku Midoriya sir! From UA High!"
Seconds past, and the two stared at each other. Izuku was beyond confused at this whole exchange. Was the man senile or hard of hearing?
"What's your name?"
What. The. Fuck?!
"Uh, would you excuse me for a second?" Izuku asked, before turning around and pulling out his phone. He dialed All Might's number to inform him of GT's current mental state. He meant no offense towards the older pro, but with the way he was acting, there was no way he was fit enough to train him.
Before he could hit the call button a clicking noise interrupted him, causing him to turn around. His eyes widened in surprise when he watched the old man begin rummaging around his suitcase.
"Uh, sir? What are you-"
"Why don't you fire off a One For All smash at me? I wanna know how far you've come in terms of handling its power." GT challenged and ordered, surprising and confusing Izuku.
Was this the same GT as seconds prior? Was he acting this whole time or had his memory finally come back to him? The questions continued to pile up.
"This is a pretty good costume, kinda looks like one an old friend of mine wore. Except ya got the colors all wrong." GT mumbled to himself. "Now, where's that attack of yours?"
"S-Sir I don't understand. You want me to attack you in your own home? Isn't that kind of dangerous?" The question caused GT to sigh, before standing up and ignoring the case.
"How do you expect to be a hero if you can't follow orders?"
And with that, GT was off. He blasted towards and landed onto the ceiling, before blasting to one wall to the next. Occasionally he went down towards the ground before catching himself with his hand and propelling himself to a different direction.
Izuku watched and analyzed him as he acted like a bouncy ball, bouncing across the large room in a blank of an eye. His eyes widened in surprise when GT blasted straight towards him, but wasn't afraid. GT wasn't gearing up for an attack.
He was correct, because GT blasted towards the ceiling an inch away from Izuku, and implanted himself above the doorway. The two stared at each other, one with determination and the other confusion.
"It's time to show me what you can do, ya newbie!" GT exclaimed before chuckling. "I watched the UA sports festival on television! You relied too heavily on that shield of yours, and from what I've heard you even managed to hurt yourself with your smashes. All Might isn't training you well, is he? He may be the number one hero and symbol of piece, but the blackheads a total novice when it comes to teaching. I can only imagine the amount of times he's messed up in the classroom."
There was no doubt about it now. This guy was acting and saying things exactly like All Might since the first day of UA. GT truly was All Might's former teacher, and he was far more intense.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Get that costume of yours on so I can properly teach you how to use One For All!"
(10 minutes later)
Izuku found while putting his costume on that he truly missed wearing it. It was snug and comfortable, and it reminded him of Mei since she was the one who designed and created it. The suit made him feel powerful and made him feel like he could truly go beyond. He was glad the suit hadn't been changed, like he had assumed it would be after his fight with Kacchan.
"I'm ready sir!"
"Good. Now, show me your smash." GT ordered yet again, wanting to see what percentage Izuku could use without damaging himself. The first step to teaching the kid was to see how much he could use without making himself a liability.
"Uh, are you sure that's such a good idea? This place is awfully small and I'd hate to destroy it; I mean I can use about six percent so I'd probably flatten the whole building with a single punch. And if I went beyond six percent and it you, who knows if you'd be able to handle it or not? And-"
"Good grief kid, you talk more than All Might did when he was a kid." GT interrupted him with a sigh.
Before Izuku could blink the old timer was blasting off around the room yet again, going from the walls to the ceiling and vice versa, flying all around the greenette. It was hard for Izuku to keep up, the little guy was faster than he thought.
"I'm losing patience!" GT shouted from behind while aiming a kick to Izuku's back.
Instincts took over and Izuku popped his shield to full size before turning around, blocking the attack before it could hit him. GT smirked before blasting off back towards the ceiling.
'Goddamn he's fast.' Izuku thought, watching streaks of white past him every second. GT was flying around the room, trying to find the place best for an attack. A crashing sound could be heard, causing the greenette to whip around and stare at the old man who just landed on and destroyed the microwave.
"C'mon, hit me! Show me what the ninth holder is made of!" He ordered again before basting off, his speed allowing him to fly past Izuku and into a wall, before springing himself towards Izuku's back.
He whipped around again, shield blocking yet another kick and causing the older hero to ricochet off. He flew back towards the corner of the room before flying towards another wall, followed by the ground behind Izuku. Yet again, his kick was blocked just in time before flying back into the air.
'If he truly wants me to attack him, I guess I have no choice.' Izuku thought as he blocked another kick. 'He always passes by me three times before going for a kick and always goes for the same spot. That would mean…'
Izuku whipped around, right arm crackling with electricity as GT flew right at him. Fist and foot neared one another as the two got closer, but GT dodged to the right before the punch could connect. Eyes widening Izuku raised his shield and swatted away the hero, causing him to land on his feet.
"Slow and stiff as I assumed, probably would've gotten me if you weren't. And what did I say about the shield?" Gran Torino asked. "You use it too much! There's gonna be a day where you won't have it, which means you need progress further with One For All just in case that day comes soon. You need to get stronger and quickly; time waits for no man and neither do villains." He continued to speak after picking up his fallen cane. "Tell me, how much has All Might helped you? Both before and after you received his power?"
"Well before he created a workout regime for me, one that I followed to the T and beyond for months before he gave me One For All. After that…" Izuku trailed off, trying to think of ways All Might has helped him since entering UA. That's when realization hit.
He really hasn't. Seemingly most questions Izuku had All Might didn't have the answer to or just gave a half answer. Izuku has been basically doing his own thing and coming out on top with every challenge he's faced. To be quite frank, Mei herself has done more to help him than All Might has.
"He…He hasn't really done anything, sir."
"As I thought." GT huffed. "So much time has been wasted, you'd be up to 10 percent if you were training with me this whole time! Maybe even 12! Remind me to scowl him the next time we speak."
"I-It's not entirely his fault sir! He's been busy helping the others in 1A, dealing with villains, and is new to teaching! I-I suppose you could also blame me since I haven't been on his case and haven't been asking him for some special training. And-"
"God, you have a bigger mouth than he did as a kid." GT sighed. "Blame yourself as well if you want kid, but this is ultimately his fault. Don't worry, I'll whip ya into shape so you truly live by your school's motto." Gran Torino promised with a smirk, before turning around and walking towards the door. "Now, why don't you clean the place up while I get us some grub?"
"E-Eh?" Izuku questioned, before the door was slammed shut, leaving no room for an argument. He sighed, before looking around the place.
Time to get started, he supposed.
(The Next Day)
"Newbie! Are you ready for round two?" GT asked, causing Izuku to give a firm nod.
"Yes sir!"
Yesterday it took GT an hour to get back with food, and in that time Izuku not only managed to clean up the mess the old timer had made in their mock fight, but more importantly discovered what GT meant when he said Izuku was 'stiff'. He wasn't seeing OFA as a part of himself. He thought of OFA as this grand, super amazing thing when in reality, it wasn't. It's like a limb; your leg isn't some marvelously thing, it was just flesh and bone, a literal part of you.
But before Izuku could tell GT of what he had discovered, the geezer had ate and fallen asleep, leaving Izuku alone with nothing to do for hours. He didn't want to be rude and awaken the hero who went out of his way to offer him an intern spot, so he left the hero alone. While GT slept Izuku did some digging and tried to find something, anything about his current teacher but alas came up empty handed. All the info he found was that he taught at UA for one year; everything before and after that was a mystery.
After that Izuku went outside and practiced with OFA on the side of the building. It took some more brainstorming and some hits to the head, but he discovered the correct way to use his power. Whenever he used it, he would turn it off and on like a switch, reducing his reaction time whenever he used it. What he needed to do was leave it on at all times, thus not reducing his reaction time or making him stiff.
He spread OFA throughout his whole body and left it on for a few minutes. It felt alien to do so considering it was his first time, but he found it feeling less and less weird the longer it was on. He finally put it up to the test was jumping from wall to wall of two buildings and made it to the top. OFA was on the whole time and he hadn't injured himself, not even a strain.
The morning soon came and here the two stood, ready to test Izuku and his full body OFA.
"Three minutes, that's all the time you get to hit me with a smash. No extra time and no shield to block. Are you ready?" GT questioned, watching as Izuku's whole body began to crackle with green lightning.
"As I'll ever be." He answered, tossing the shield onto the couch.
With that GT was off, bouncing from wall to wall to ceiling at a fast pace, leaving a trail of dust behind him. Izuku watched and followed with his eyes, not wanting the older hero to get the drop on him.
The greenette ducked a kick Gran had attempted to hit him with, before using his new technique to launch himself towards the roof. An OFA powered fist was shot forward to the right, in the path GT usually took. But the old hero stopped midair and flew down to the ground, bouncing back up towards his student with another kick.
Izuku reached forward to grab it but GT dodged again, flying to the right before rocketing himself behind Izuku and trying to kick again.
'Two minutes have passed and yet neither of us have landed a blow.' Izuku thought with a scowl as he dodged again. 'Wait, he said I couldn't use my shield to block, right? He specified block, so maybe…'
Activating his metal quirk, his shield flew from the couch and into the air, causing GT's eyes to widen in surprise. He dodged to the left, but a shadow from above caused his stomach to drop. Looking up, he was shocked to see Izuku use the roof to propel himself downwards towards him, his speed faster because of it.
Izuku was confident he had GT this time, but as he shot his arm Gran dodged to the right, causing Izuku to smash into the couch, his shield falling ad clinking on the ground. Before he could get up again, there was a buzzer sound, letting them know the three minutes were up.
"Dammit." Izuku growled, angry he had failed. But that anger turned to confusion, when he saw that his index and middle fingertips were stained red. Had his landing really been so bad that he cut himself?
"Nice work, you managed to distract and attack me while my guard was down. You also used one of the moves against me when you used the roof to propel yourself." GT congratulated while showing Izuku his cheek, letting the greenette see two cuts, one being five inches and the other six. "You're the type to think of strategies on the fly; I like that about you. Using your metal quirk and shield to force me into your line of fire was genius."
'Kids gonna be a real monster once he's able to use more of One For All. Probably could've knocked my head off if I hadn't of dodged.'
"Are you ready for some more training? After breakfast of course." GT asked, causing Izuku to grin.
"Of course sir!"
(Another chapter closer to the Training Camp and Hideout Raid arcs! Damn I'm so excited to finally write these arcs, which I'm going to drastically change!)