Disclaimer:(See Prologue)
Chapter 4: The 10 Months
All Might had prepared a training routine for Izuku to follow after they had their conversation at the diner. He called it the 'Aim to Impress: Manifest Destiny Plan'; the overall objective of the plan was to get Izuku's physical condition and quirk control as strong as possible before the entrance exam starts.
The plan was intense, but not to the extreme of All Might's initial 'Aim to Pass: American Dream Plan', which the hero made before realizing that its routine was not best suited for Izuku's situation and toned down the intensity.
The plan was for Izuku to focus primarily on strength training in the first two months, then focus more on Fire Armory control on the next two, then switch to Ancestry after that. Afterwards, training will begin to work on quirk application; and at the last two months, Izuku will be responsible for making any refinements on his control and strength training as needed.
It's near the end of Izuku's first month of training. At the moment, he was carrying a large haul of metal junk on his back while dragging another load of junk behind him with a rope tied around his waist. The school day ended a few hours ago and he wasted no time getting back to his training.
The greenhead continued moving through the mounds of trash with controlled breaths; he has been moving junk out of the beach for weeks, and the piles don't seem to be getting smaller.
"There's more trash here than I thought there was." Izuku said to himself as he reached his destination, the large roll-off dumpster All Might rented so he can move the scrap to the recycling center.
Speaking of which, the Symbol of Peace wasn't with Izuku today. Since Izuku didn't accept his offer of One-For All, he had no need to oversee the kid's training with a close watch; the hero did, however, promise to check up on him personally at least every other day. Izuku understood; being a Superhero means having a very busy schedule.
Izuku tossed his cargo into the dumpster and headed back to the beach to continue his cleanup.
"Right," Izuku said to himself, "back to work. This beach has been dirty for long enough."
OOO
It was the middle of his second month of training, and Izuku finds himself still moving junk in various ways out of the beach. He returned to the sands and looked at his surroundings; mounds of trash and scrap still towered in the area.
"There's just no end to it," Izuku commented with a tired sign. Even after moving so much junk away, it doesn't look like he's making any progress.
He moved towards a large metal construct; he didn't know what it was exactly, but it didn't matter as he began trying to pull it away. As he grunted in effort, Katsuki's voice went through his mind.
"I'm the only one who is guaranteed to ascend to the highest ranks and be the greatest hero the world will ever know"
"My accomplishments are from my own talent while yours are from others,"
"You're pathetic, you know,"
Doubt began to enter Izuku's mind as he continued pulling. But before it could affect him, he remembered what brought him here in the first place.
"Izuku, you can be whatever you want to be."
"good luck with U.A., I think you got what it takes."
"My boy, you can become a hero."
"I'm going to be a great hero, super or otherwise, no matter what!"
Reenforcing his resolve, Izuku let out a yell and heaved. The metal construct was freed from its place, the junk surrounding it collapsed without its support as the construct fell to the side.
Behind it, the setting sun was revealed to Izuku as the sky and sea bathed him in its light.
Izuku smiled at the sight; big or small, progress was being made.
"There's still time left in the day," Izuku said, reinvigorated, "let's get as much junk out of here before I have to go home."
It's the third month of Izuku's training, and he has now made substantial progress.
The mounds were much smaller now, with most of the large objects already removed; it looked much better than it did at the start of his training.
Izuku was now working on his speed training as well as his strength, currently taking smaller sized pieces of trash as fast as he could.
He went to reach for a set of tires when he heard a familiar voice.
"Young Midoriya, I AM HERE," All Might announced as he entered from the sky, "to begin the next phase of your training!"
"Really!?" Izuku asked in excitement, holding the set of tires in his arms, "But wait, there's still a lot of trash that I need to move out."
"Don't worry, my boy," the hero assured, "at the rate you're going, you're sure to get this beach clean before the entrance exam begins. So it's as good a time as any to move on to the next step; now put those tires down."
"Right!" Izuku did so immediately, "The next step is working on Fire Armory control, right? Is it okay for me to be using it in public here?"
"As long as we keep things small and quiet, we should be fine," All Might said, "Besides, I'll be here to oversee this portion of the training, so let me handle any problems like that."
"Okay," Izuku said, "So what are we doing first?"
"Let's start simple," All Might said as he debuffed. He then got a handful of candles and placed them on the sand in front of Izuku. After that, he lit a match and presented it to Izuku. "I want you to take this flame and light the candles one at a time." Yagi said.
Izuku nodded and focused on the small flame. Little did the Symbol of peace know that the boy has already been practicing Fire Armory in his spare time.
After the first month of training ended, Izuku got impatient and started practicing his newfound ability. At first he tried getting the flame of one of the candles his mom kept for emergencies to move towards him, attempting to recreate the sensation he felt in his arms.
When that went nowhere, he asked his mother for any advice she may have. She told him that when she uses her quirk, it feels like she is pulling the object towards her with an imaginary string. He took her advice and tried again; after multiple attempts, he managed to do it.
Imagining the string, Izuku pulled the flame from All Might's match towards him until the small flame circled his right arm; the same way it did when he first used the ability.
Izuku then concentrated on the palm of his hand; the flame gathered around it, forming a very small dart. He grabbed it, somehow immune to the burn and heat, and aimed for one of the candles.
He threw it, and missed his target. The flame extinguished when it hit the sand.
"Impressive, Young Midoriya. I see you started training your new quirk ahead of time," Yagi commented, looking at where the fire dart landed, "but wouldn't it be easier to just move the fire to each candle?"
"I can only move fire towards me," Izuku explained, "The only way for me to move it in any other direction is for me to first change its form to somethin, but I can only do that when the fire I pulled is surrounding me. I already tried without changing its form, but it doesn't work."
"So that's why you call it Fire Armory; I've been meaning to ask you why you named it that." Yagi realized, then thought to himself, "Even with this setback, he's able to compensate by changing it to something else. The potential possibilities he could have with that ability and imagination."
"HA HA HA!" Yagi laughed, buffing back into All Might, "My boy, you never cease to amaze me! Not only have you figured out your quirk's strengths and weaknesses in a short amount of time, you used that brain of yours to find a work around for those weaknesses. At this rate, you'll be able to use that ability of yours in ways you didn't think possible!"
"Thank you, sir!" Izuku thanked, just as hyped as his idol is.
"Now, since you already have a decent control of your quirk, we can move ahead in training it," All Might said, "we'll start with improving your accuracy; we are only able to work with small flames at the moment. You go continue with your physical training while I set up some targets for you to hit. I want to see a mound gone before I finish setting up."
"Yes, sir!" Izuku exclaimed as he lifted the tire set back up and ran.
When All Might finished setting up the target range, a mound of scrap was nearly completely removed.
For the third and fourth month of training, Izuku's control of Fire Armory greatly improved. He was able to increase the speed of attracting fires to less than a second at any distance and direction; the target range also greatly improved his accuracy with his fire darts, now able to hit big targets every time and hit five small targets with ten darts. Overall, Izuku is making great improvements in his training.
"My boy, you are making remarkable progress." Yagi stated, looking around at the beach. A good amount of trash was already removed from the sands, and the area was looking much more inviting. "This beach will be cleaned in no time if you keep this up."
"Thank you, Mr. Toshinori." Izuku said to the hero. He is currently shirtless, cooling off after moving more heavy scraps to the dumpster as fast as he could for the past four hours. The results of the training were starting to be seen with his now more built and defined figure.
"Now that you've improved Fire Armory as much as you could, we can now move on to your other quirk." Yagi informed the boy, but then scratched the back of his head, "But. honestly, I couldn't think of any way to train Ancestry in getting stronger. I was hoping you'd be able to handle this portion of your training, young Midoriya."
"The only thing I can think of is just to do what I've always been doing," Izuku said, "but it's become a slow progress now; there's too much information to keep track of now."
"What do you mean?" Yagi asked.
"Before, I was just able to relive the memories of my ancestors up to my great-great-grandparents." Izuku explained, "I have been doing so for years; so much so that I can instantaneously recall the appropriate memory, or memories, that I need for something I'm doing."
"But now, I'm able to go much further back in my family line and relive new memories." Izuku continued, "Not only are there new memories that I don't know what is contained in them, there are a thousand times more lives with new memories of their own."
"But aren't you still able to find those new memories to help you?" Yagi asked, remembering Izuku's shield and spear; he was certain Izuku used an ancestor's experience at that time. "You did it at the slime incident."
"That was not on purpose though." Izuku said, "The memory took over my consciousness at that moment; instead of facing the slime villain, I was facing an ancient army. This never happened with my quirk before."
"Do you think you can control those episodes?" the hero asked; that kind of thing can be a huge risk to his safety and the safety of others.
"The only thing that I think that would help is to find those specific memories and relive them fully." Izuku answered, "but that could take forever to find those specific memories in what is basically an ocean of lifetimes."
"Hmm." Yagi hummed, hand on his chin. He thought for a minute before speaking, "I think I know someone who could help with this issue."
"Eh? Who?" Izuku asked.
"A good friend of mine," Yagi answered, "let me make a call and see if he's willing to do me a favor. In the meantime, continue cleaning this beach and improving your aim."
"Alright, sir." Izuku said as he went on to find more junk to move away. Yagi then took out his cell phone and dialed his friend.
The fifth month of training has started, and Izuku was currently in one of the city's bookstores looking for new reading material.
All Might's friend agreed to help him in getting better control of Ancestry, all he needed was a sample of his DNA to get started. For that, All Might introduced the elderly heroine known as Recovery Girl to Izuku to draw some blood samples to be used. Izuku, being the hero fanboy that he was, geeked out when he met her.
Today was a rest day for Izuku, so he decided to spend it researching new ways to improve the capabilities of his quirks. He initially wanted to surf the internet all day, but Inko gave him a large handful of money and pushed him out the door.
The bookstore was called 'Stan the Man's Ink Emporium', and it was possibly the best bookstore he has ever been in; books of every type and genre were sold in here, and every writing and reading related items as well.
Izuku has been in the store for an hour and he has already got a stack of books that he planned to buy.
A good amount of books in the stack were history books on different time periods; he hoped that reading them could help narrow down when in history his memory flashes came from. Other books he got were fighting manuals, books of inventions throughout time, and a lot of pre-quirk era comics and graphic novels. Not only were they interesting reading materials, they could provide inspiration on new ways to use his Fire Armory.
Izuku topped his stack with a couple of new notebooks and began to carry them to the front register, the stack was tall enough to block his vision. He was so focused on making sure that the books didn't fall that he didn't notice the presence of another person walking towards him as he exited the isle he was in.
The two collided; but thanks to his training, Izuku was quick to catch the person he hit before they fell to the floor, drooping his stack in exchange.
"I'm so sorry!" Izuku apologized, bringing the person he hit back to their feet, "I should have been paying more attention to where I was going, forgive me." he bowed.
"Mmm." the individual didn't say a word, only letting out a quiet sound. It sounded feminine to Izuku's ears.
He looked up to see the person, and he was not prepared for what he saw.
The person was a girl that appeared to be around the same age as him; and she was the most beautiful girl he has seen so far in his life. Cerulean eyes that betrayed no emotion, her elegant face with fair skin in a cool expression, all framed within her black shoulder-length bob cut. Her athletic figure, hidden under casual clothing, was just as beautiful to Izuku.
Izuku was wide eyed, mesmerized by the girl's presence. Before he knew it, he got another memory flash.
"My lady," he said, greeting the woman before him, bowing in noble courtesy, "Your beauty is of one that knows no rival; even the fabled Helen of Troy pales in your presence. Will you honor me by allowing my company for the day?
"MM?!" the girl exclaimed with a sound; her face kept the cool expression, but her eyes were wide with surprise and cheeks red at the boy's gesture.
"Did I say that out loud?" Izuku asked, realizing what just happened. "I'm so sorry if I made you uncomfortable; forget what I just said! Goodbye!"
Izuku quickly gathered his books and ran to the register. The girls looked on as he ran, still not saying a word. She then noticed a folded up paper on the floor where the strange boy once stood. It must've fallen off his pocket some time during their meeting.
She picked it up and saw the name of who it belonged to.
"Izuku Midoriya." The girl said to herself in a soft voice.
The boy also, apparently, wrote his address on the paper.
OOO
The greenhead was back in his home in his room and was reading one of the fighting manuals he bought; he figured he might as well start improving his hand-to-hand combat ability. But he was still on the same page he was reading an hour ago. The girl he bumped into still in his mind.
"I can't believe I just said that to her!" Izuku exclaimed, grabbing his hair, "Of all times to have a memory flash, it just had to be with a girl. I even said it in Japanese instead of old French, how does that work?!"
"But I have to agree with what that ancestor said," Izuku thought as he calmed down, "she is the prettiest girl I have seen so far."
"Not that it matters anymore," Izuku resigned, "after what I said to her, she must think I'm some kind of creep, or something. I don't think I'll see her again in my life."
Izuku went back to read his book; he was able to read a few pages when the doorbell rang. Izuku went out of his room and told his mother, who was cooking, that he'll get the door. When he opened it, he saw the beautiful girl from earlier.
"You're here!" Izuku exclaimed in shock; he didn't expect to see her so soon, if not at all.
The girl didn't react to his shout, choosing to hand him the paper he dropped at the bookstore.
"Oh, you found my list," Izuku said. He was wondering where he dropped that; good thing it was only a list of the types of books he wanted to get and nothing else. "Thank you for going through the trouble of bringing it back to me; you didn't have to do that."
"Yui Kodai." The girl said. Her voice was soft and smooth.
"Eh?" Izuku asked, surprised to hear her voice.
"My name is Yui Kodai," she said, "and I accept your offer, Midoriya." she turned the paper in his hand to reveal that she wrote her name and phone number on it. "Call me when you're ready to hang out."
Izuku could only look at her in shock as she walked away.
"D-Did this just happened?" he asked himself in disbelief.
It was Friday, and Izuku found himself back in 'Fives' sitting across the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
"Come on, Izuku," he thought to himself as he ate his fries, "this is the place you bring a girl to? Of all places?"
He looked to see Yui enjoying herself as she ate a burger, humming in delight. "She likes the food here," Izuku commented internally, "so it's not all bad."
He looked on as she finished her burger and moved on to her bacon cheese fries. She noticed the strange boy staring at her and decided to start a conversation.
"You can talk to me, you know," Yui stated without emotion, "we are hanging out after all."
"Ah, sorry, Kodai," Izuku apologized, "it's just that I can't believe that you still wanted to know me after what I first said to you."
"I was weirded out at first," Yui admitted, "but after you apologized, I figured I should at least give you another chance before making a call."
"I see." Izuku said, disappointed at his first impression on her.
"Don't worry," she said, "this is the best I've ever been on."
"DATE!?" Izuku exclaimed, he didn't think this was considered a date. Then he processed what she just said. "Wait, really?"
"Mm." She hummed, "It's the only date I've been on, though. No boy has asked me out."
"Eh?!" Izuku was surprised. How could someone so beautiful not attract any of her peers.
"I guess that's another reason I want to hang out with you," Yui admitted, a blush starting to appear, "you're the first boy to call me beautiful and ask me out."
"Well I'm happy I'm making you first date a good one." Izuku said with a smile, causing the blush on Yui's face to grow a little bit.
They continued their outing for the rest of the day with less awkwardness.
It was the middle of the seventh month of Izuku's training.
Izuku and Yui's first 'date' went very well for the both of them, considering they are now good friends who keep in touch almost daily since. They learned a lot about each other, the biggest thing being that they are both going to apply to U.A. to become Superheroes.
Izuku offered her to take part in his training, which she accepted. Currently, Izuku was hauling the rest of the trash from the beach to the dumpster; Yui was next to it by a pile of scrap, practicing her quirk, Size, by shrinking and and growing various junk to different sizes to make more space in the container as she tossed them in.
"Even her quirk is amazing." Izuku said to himself. He asked her many questions about it when she first told him.
Suddenly a booming laugh came from above.
"HA HA HA!," All Might laughed as he landed, "I AM HERE, to check on your progress!"
"All Might?!" a feminine voice got his attention.
The Symbol of Peace realized that they weren't alone. A girl was standing by the dumpster with a shocked expression; next to her, Izuku was paling with horror etched in his face.
"SHIIIIIIT!" he cursed internally. He wasn't prepared for this to happen.
"Midoriya, you know All Might!?" Yui asked the boy, turning to him for the answer.
"K-Kind of!" Izuku stammered, quickly thinking of a cover story, "I was in the middle of cleaning the beach by myself when All Might spotted me; he said he was impressed by my action that he decided to help out by providing this dumpster for me to use!"
"That's right, young girl!" the hero backed up the lie, "And I've been stopping by from time to time to see this young man's progress in his clean up. His dedication to this project is a fine example of doing the right thing from small acts. In fact, it even inspires me to be an even better hero!"
"You inspire All Might?" Yui gasped, her eyes now shining with wonder as she saw her friend in a new light. "That's amazing."
"Well, looks like things are moving at a great pace. If you keep it up, this beach will be clean and clear before you know it!" All Might said. He then turned around and squatted to jump, "Goodbye! And keep this a secret; I don't want people coming here and distracting this young man." He then jumped away.
"That was close." All Might said to himself, "Good thinking, young Midoriya."
The eighth month has rolled in, and only a few mounds of trash still littered the beach.
After the encounter with All Might, Yui has become more determined to help Izuku clean up the beach. They have divided the work evenly between them, she would be shrinking a mound of scrap and carrying it to the dumpster while Izuku would continue what he has always been doing.
They have been doing this almost daily since the encounter, and the clean was going faster than it ever was.
Izuku was currently running laps on the beach, striking the targets he had set up with either a punch or a kick. Yui had yet to show up, texting him that she would be late, so he decided to work on improving his striking power and endurance.
"Hey, you," a voice called out, making the greenhead stop. He turned to see a group of boys in junior high uniforms different from his own approach him.
"Are you Izuku Midoriya?" one of them asked, he assumed he was the leader.
"...Yes?" Izuku said, hesitating a bit, "May I help you?"
The group began to mutter to each other.
"This is the guy?"
"He's so plain-looking."
"He really doesn't look like much."
"What does he have that we don't?"
"Enough," the leader commanded, "Look here Midoriya, we're the Yui Kodai Fan Club; and we have a bone to pick with you.
"Fan club?" Izuku asked himself, this is unexpected.
"We've been noticing that Kodai-chan has been looking more and more tired the past month; she's even beginning to lose her cool beauty." the leader continued, "We found out recently that she has been going to this beach every day after school to see someone, so we came to check the place out to see what's been causing her to be tired. And what do we find here? A beach full of trash and some plain-looking punk having fun!"
The group chorused in agreement as the leader continued, "Kodai-chan has been working herself to the ground in some effort to please you while you enjoy her company and have fun! Leave her alone and clean this dump on your own!"
Izuku stayed silent, inspecting the apparent club members that showed up.
"First off, I can tell that this is not all the members of the fan club," Izuku stated, pointing at them, "Yui Kodai's beauty knows no equal; so the entire club must be at least seventy percent of her school's male student body, and possibly ten percent of the female student body."
The group muttered in agreement, they saw no objection to that statement.
"Secondly, Kodai is cleaning this beach with me because she is training to be the best hero she could be for U.A. . I'm not going to ask her to stop, because that would mean that I don't want her to succeed!"
"She's working herself to the ground," the leader replied, "as the de facto leader of the fan cl-"
"If any of you were truly her fan, you would support her efforts in becoming a hero instead of doing this!" Izuku shouted, "You call yourselves fans, and maybe the rest of your club really are; but you guys right now are just a bunch of creeps who care more about her looks than her future!"
That made them mad.
"Take that back, Midoriya." the leader stated, anger prominent.
"I will once you prove me wrong." Izuku said with a steady voice.
"Oh, we will." the leader remarked. He and the rest of the group activated their quirks.
Before anything could happen, a large, thick wall of concrete fell between Izuku and the group, effectively creating a barrier between them.
Footsteps were heard on the stairs leading out of the beach. They turned and saw Yui walking down it, her face expressing nothing but neutrality. Without a word, she went to Izuku's side, pulled him by the arm, and lead him out of the beach without any issue.
Apparently, she had no idea that there was a fan club centered around her and apologized for any trouble they might have caused. They decided to skip training for the rest of the day.
The ninth month came, and that's left to do in Izuku's training is to refine any issues he may still have.
With Yui's help, the beach was 99% clean. The ocean horizon could be seen from anywhere at the beach, the local wildlife had started to return, and the locals have started to visit the spot again. There were still small amounts of litter in the area, but they will be removed soon enough.
At the moment, Izuku was swimming in the ocean, exercising any muscles he may have missed as well as finding any garbage hidden in the water. Yui was sitting on a blanket she laid out, eating a meal she ordered out from 'Fives' as she enjoyed the scenery she helped in restoring.
Yagi Toshinori was on top of the beach's entrance stairs, taking in the sight as well. He smiled, young Midoriya truly went above and beyond in his training, young Kodai as well.
The lanky man then felt someone approaching him. He turned and saw someone he hasn't talked to in a long time. The man he saw was his former sidekick, Sir Nighteye, dressed in his usual formal attire.
"Sasaki," Yagi greeted, "I didn't expect to see you here."
"I needed to talk to you, and I knew you'd be here at this time." Mirai Sasaki informed the hero. He went to the railings to look at the now clean beach.
"Impressive." the green haired man remarked, then turned his attention to the other greenhead in the area, "So this is the boy you've become so fond of."
"Yes he is," All Might said.
"I can't believe you wanted to give One-For-All to such an unremarkable person," Mirai said, "At least he had the common sense to refuse something he has no need of getting involved in."
"Sasaki," All Might warned, "if you're here to persuade me to give One-For-All to young Togata again, then you're wasting your time. I'm still looking for the one I deem worthy to passit down to."
"As much as I want to get you to listen to reason instead of emotion; that is not why I'm here." the former sidekick said.
"Then what is it?" All Might asked.
"I have been investigating another case alongside the Yakuza one," Mirai said, turning to his hero, "you've heard about the disappearances of civilians and heroes that's been happening recently."
"I have," All Might answered. Up to five people, either civilians or heroes, become missing each month for the past year. The number never went past three, but the location of the incidents are never fixed and there are no connections between the victims. The police have investigated the case along with many hero agencies, but no leads were found.
"I've volunteered my services to that case," Mirai explained, "I used my Foresight on the lead investigator of the case and came across something worrying."
"What did you see?" Yagi asked, curious about what he saw.
"Nothing," Mirai answered, "nothing but darkness no matter how close or far into his future I want. What makes it more worrying is that I have used my quirk on that same investigator before and saw her future clearly."
"...Why are you telling me this, Mirai?" Yagi asked after processing what his former sidekick said. He could see why he would be worried.
"Something is happening," Mirai said forebodingly, "Something,I fear, that will be a much greater threat to the world than All-For-One."
Yagi's posture stiffened at the mention of his archenemy's name; he couldn't imagine anything more dangerous in the world than him.
"I'm fearing the worst, Yagi," Mirai confessed, "if there is something beyond All-For-One, then it doesn't matter who you pass it on to. Give it to Togata, Midoriya, or someone else entirely, it doesn't matter; the only thing that concerns me now is that whoever you choose is prepared for what's to come."
"Come on now, Mirai," Yagi tried to calm his friend, "this could be nothing more than the work of another quirk interfering with yours; you're being paranoid."
"I'd be inclined to believe you, Yagi," Mirai said, "but after I saw the shadows in his future, my future has begun to be covered in darkness. Whatever's causing the disappearances, it goes beyond anything we've worked on before.
Yagi said nothing, taking in the information. He needs to find someone to pass One-For All to, and soon.
It was the final day of his training, and Izuku was looking at the sunset as he cooled down from his last training exercise. His shirt was off, revealing the results of his hard work.
The beach was now without a single speck of litter on its sand, the last of the trash was already on its way to the waste management center.
Yui decided to use the last day to get a full rest in preparation for the entrance exam tomorrow. She had greatly improved her control of her quirk as well as her physical strength during her time at the beach, and it shows.
"Looks like your work here is done, young Midoriya," All Might said behind Izuku, "you never cease to give it your all."
"Thanks, All Might," Izuku said, turning to the hero, "but I feel like I could've done more to improve my quirks, especially Ancestry."
"Don't fret about it too much, my boy," the hero said, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, "You improved it as much as you could with what you had. If you pass the entrance exam tomorrow, you'll have access to more resources to further improve the use of your abilities."
"I'll keep that in mind." Izuku said with a smile.
They stared at the horizon for a while.
"My boy," All Might began, "I know you made your decision at the start of your training, but I would like to make the same offer to you again."
Izuku understood what he was referring to. "I'd have to decline again All Might; how could I be a great hero like you if I can't rely on my own abilities first."
"Alright," All Might said, "just know that if you change your mind, you can let me know.
The two of them then left for their respective homes.
Izuku now stood in front of the gates leading into U.A.
"This is it," Izuku said to himself, determination and excitement building within him, "time to put all that training to the test."