Chapter 4:

Izuku stared up at the sign that proudly proclaimed, *Musutafu Junior MMA Quirked Fighting Arena!*

All Might grinned and put a hand on his shoulder, "Chin up, Young Midoriya, and make sure you go beyond, Plus Ultra!"

Izuku sighed, "I am so going to regret this."

All Might chuckled, "No you won't, and remember that while we are in here you need to call me Mr. Yagi."

Izuku nodded and started walking inside, "Okay."

There were quite a few people in the lobby, but with its size, it didn't feel crowded to Izuku. The ceiling was about thirty feet in the air and the actual floor size from the doors to the stairs leading to the auditorium and changing rooms was about sixty feet wide and a few feet more in length. There was a table at the back and they carefully made their way through the throng towards it.

The purple skinned lady at the desk smiled at them, "What can I do for you?"

All Might smiled, "I would like to enter my student here in the tournament."

She nodded and looked at Izuku, "Name?"

"Izuku Midoriya."

"Age?"

"15."

"Quirk?"

"...S-spider."

She paused and looked up, "Spider?"

All Might nodded and stepped in, "He can do everything a spider can plus a couple extras."

She nodded, "Gotcha... Now, School?"

Izuku blinked, "Aldera Junior High."

She chuckled, "First time signing up for one of these I take it?"

All Might chuckled as well, "She meant fighting school, Young Midoriya, and put down Mr. Yagi's School of Strength Redirection. It is specifically for those with super-strength and teaches them avoidance and redirection."

She blinked, "I thought you said his quirk was Spider?"

He shrugged, "The weakest spiders can bench press 150 times their own weight, and his quirk is based on one 2 times stronger than that."

Her eyes widened and she gasped and looked at Izuku and asked, "Weight?"

Izuku sighed, "58 Kilograms."

She whistled as she did the math in her head, "You really can punch outside your weight class can't you?"

He nodded shyly, "Yeah..."

She shook her head, "You are really going to be a handful in the ring, now... weapons?"

He held up his hands and showed her his wrists, "My Web-Shooters, their only a prototype though."

She examined them and raised her eyebrow, "A sort of deployable capture tape?"

Izuku nodded, "Yeah."

She examined the paper, "Oops, missed one... Teacher?"

All Might waved at himself, "Toshinori Yagi."

She nodded, "Do you have the parental permission forms signed?"

All Might pulled a bunch of papers out of his massively oversized zip-up track sweater, "Right here."

She took them and examined everything thoroughly before she typed something into the computer and asked, "Are you going to have a stage name? And if so, what will it be?"

Izuku shrugged, "I hadn't really thought of it much."

She gazed intently at him, "How about something like Spider-Boy?"

A man, who was literally completely red, his eyes, hair, body, clothes, and even his horns were all blood red, spoke up from behind her, "Spider-Boy! Really!? The boy's wrestling name will likely follow him the rest of his life no matter what he does with it, and you want to stick him with something like that!?"

The woman sighed, "Meet my boss, Chiisaioni Ashido."

All Might smirked, "Greetings, I was actually thinking of maybe Human Spider."

Izuku blinked, "Um, I was actually thinking of Mighty Spiderling?"

Chiisaioni growled, "No! No! No! You all need serious help when it comes to naming things!"

All Might amusedly asked, "And what would you suggest good sir?"

Chiisaioni scratched his head, "Kid's power probably has something to do with spiders given what you are saying... he won't be a boy forever... it is obvious the kid is an All Might fan, everyone is now-a-days! It is almost like they forget there is even any other kind of hero! How about I merge all your ideas and you can be the Mighty Spider-Man! Quick, write that down and hustle them along so that you can deal with the next person that wants to register!"

With that he was off to another part of the building leaving the two guys unused to him feeling almost like they had whiplash, and All Might asked, "Is he... usually like that?"

The lady nodded, "Ever since I have known him. It is usually best to do what he says, but does that sound good to you?"

Izuku nodded, "Yeah... He is scary."

All Might chuckled and asked the lady, who was putting the finishing touches on the paperwork, "Miss, do you know what his quirk is?"

She nodded, "Yes, sir. His quirk is Corrosion. He can 'eat' away at just about anything he touches."

All Might nodded, "Ahhh, I see. Come along young Midoriya."

Izuku nodded, "Yes, sir!"

All Might walked a little ways with Izuku and then asked, "Can you guess why he was upset?"

Izuku blinked, "I thought she said he was always that way?"

All Might nodded, "Indeed, which is why you had to look at the content of his words and not the tone they were delivered in."

Izuku thought about it for a second, "...He doesn't like you?"

All Might chuckled, "Close, but not quite. He doesn't like the idea that people think I represent, that pure strength can fix everything and all you need to win is pure strength."

Izuku blinked, "But isn't he in charge of an arena where people fight, sometimes using super strength?"

All Might nodded, "And that is exactly why he despises that mentality. What is important in a fight is not necessarily your strength, but how you apply it. To be able to apply it properly means you have to know how and when to use it. Fighting should use your brain as much as the rest of your body. In your case, you are incredibly strong, but you need to get it into your mind how to properly apply it. You have unfortunately grown up in a culture where strength is everything, but for people like him and me, using all your strength can end in disaster. One touch applied with too much strength in the heat of anger and he or I becomes a murderer instead of a business owner or a hero.

"You know what it means to be weak, Izuku Midoriya. That is part of the reason why I chose you to become my successor. To fully control your strength you need to remember your weakness and realize that almost everyone is the same as you. Part of your problem is you try to act on both instinct and mental power separately and also at the same time. You are turning your two greatest strengths against each other every time you move, that is why I brought you here, so you could learn how to have them work together rather than against each other."

Izuku nodded as he opened the door to the waiting area, "I never really thought about it that way, but it makes sense I guess."

All Might chuckled, "I hope so... Are you ready for your first fight?"

Izuku shook his head, "No."

All Might smirked, "Good, that just means you are less likely to knock your opponent's head off."

Izuku started shaking a little, "... Knock my opponent's head off?"

All Might looked at Izuku and sighed, "... We really got to do something about your timidity. Not literally knock his head off, Young Midoriya. I was making a joke to try and lighten the mood."

Izuku took some deep breaths, "... Are you sure I won't knock their heads off?"

All Might rolled his eyes, "No you won't knock their heads off."

"What is this about knocking people's heads off?"

All Might and Izuku turned to see a guy with dark skin wearing shades and a lot of yellow who was almost the size and shape of All Might's buff form, and All Might commented, "So that is what it feels like."

The guy's eyebrow went up, "Huh?"

All Might waved his arm, "Nothing."

Izuku scratched his head, "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

The man grinned, "Only if you keep up with the American Hero Scene."

It clicked in Izuku's mind, "You're Powerman!"

All Might scratched his head, "I am sorry, but it seems I don't know you, though I do feel like I have heard your hero name somewhere before."

Izuku gaped at All Might, "Huh!?"

Powerman chuckled and held out his hand, "Sorry, it is just your reactions are both what I am used to in the US and the oh so opposite reaction I get here in Japan. My real name is Lucas Cage. Now what was that about knocking people's heads off?"

All Might shrugged and shook Powerman's hand, "My student here is worried about injuring his opponents due to how strong he is."

Powerman gave Izuku a sympathetic look, "I can relate. How strong are you?"

Izuku scratched the back of his head nervously, "We haven't actually tested it yet..."

All Might sighed, "But theoretically he is capable of lifting about 300 times his own weight."

Powerman gaged Izuku's size and whistled, "... You really are the heavy hitter despite your looks huh?"

Izuku nodded, "Yeah..."

Powerman looked at All Might, "And you are teaching him, what exactly?"

All Might gestured to his emaciated body, "Despite my looks I also have super-strength. My looks are because the years haven't been all that kind to me."

Powerman grimaced, "Yikes, is this the result of your quirk's kickback?"

All Might shook his head, "No, my quirk is one of the few that has no real kickback. At least it didn't when my body was youthful and strong. These days my strength is gradually leaving me, but that is more a result of injuries of the past I would rather not get into."

Powerman shuddered, "You sound like my old man."

All Might grinned, "Then he must be a wise fellow. Got any words of wisdom yourself for my student."

Powerman paused for a second with his face screwed up in concentration, and he suddenly said, "Punch me."

Izuku's eyes were wide and he was trembling so much that he couldn't get the words he wanted to say out of his mouth, so All Might sighed and rolled his eyes, "... With how timid he is combined with his hero worship that isn't going to happen."

Powerman nodded, "I figured as much, and that is exactly why I asked him to hit me."

All Might paused for half a second and then smirked, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Izuku turned his wide eyes to All Might, "Huh!?"

All Might rolled his eyes, "You may be worried about nothing and it is actually your fear of injuring others with your strength that is causing you to mess up... Hit him and then we will explain our reasoning in more detail."

Izuku just stared at the two of them wide eyed, "..."

Powerman chuckled, "Come on, and when you hit me, don't think about it, just do it."

Izuku looked around the hallway and saw that there were only a couple people at the far end who weren't paying attention to them, "Won't I get in trouble for attacking a hero?"

Powerman raised his eyebrow, "When I am asking you to do it?"

Izuku sighed, "Are you absolutely sure?"

Powerman nodded and pounded his chest, "Right here."

Izuku let out a noise that was half-way between a sigh and a squeak as he swung his fist thinking, I don't want to hurt him.

There was a dull smack as ridiculously hard flesh met ridiculously hard flesh, and Powerman nodded, "I thought as much, your punch was only about as strong as a slightly above average adult male."

Izuku's eyes bulged out, "Huh!?"

All Might chuckled, "Really wish I had thought of that earlier. Do you understand what is going on Izuku?"

Izuku shook his head, "No...?"

Powerman chuckled, "To a large degree humans have to be trained how to hurt people, it is actually very rare for some to emerge whose first instinct was to physically harm those around him from within the womb."

All Might nodded, "On top of that a spider's natural instinct is energy conservation, or..."

Izuku finished for him, his eyes lighting up, "You only use as much energy as needed to accomplish the task you desire to do."

Powerman grinned, "Timidity combined with a tendency to overthink things equals a lot of broken pottery, right?"

All Might grinned, "Door nobs and pencils for him."

Izuku blinked, "How did...?"

Powerman finished with a grin, "... I know? That is how I used to be, and to a large degree that is how everyone with quirks that grant them super strength are at first, especially late bloomers."

Izuku's eyes widened, "That's right, your quirk didn't activate until half-way through high-school when you were stung by a swarm of bees."

Powerman shivered, "To this day I still can't stand the smell of honey."

All Might chuckled, "My quirk also didn't activate 'til late high-school. I was actually considered a prodigy by my two teachers though cause I had total control almost from the start."

Powerman's face was stuck in an expression half-way between a grimace and a grin, "Nice... I wish it happened that way for me."

Izuku blinked as something dawned on him, "How did you know I am a late bloomer?"

Powerman held up two fingers, "Your words and your mannerisms. They are similar to things I said and did when my quirk first activated later in life than my friends."

"Oh."

Powerman winked, "Good luck on your first match today, and make sure you remember what we just did."

Izuku bowed deeply to the hero as he moved to depart, "Thank you, sir!"

Powerman just waved at him and departed with a grin, "I am always ready to help."

Izuku and All Might shuffled into the changing room, and All Might rolled his eyes at the ridiculously large grin on Izuku's face, "Really now."

Izuku blinked and turned to him, "What?"

All Might raised his eyebrow at Izuku, "You have grown up in a world saturated with heroes and you get starry-eyed every time you meet one. It was a different world back in your grandfather's or great-grandfather's days, but these days?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head his cheeks burning a little red, "Errrr... Maybe yours, but not mine."

All Might blinked, "What do you mean?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head, "My grandfather was born sometime during the first couple generations of quirks, he told me that back then the quirk factor was initially called the X-gene."

All Might's eyes widened, "...In honor of Charles Francis Xavier, Geneticist and powerful Telepath."

Izuku nodded, "Yeah, my grandpa is that old. He told me he even met Professor Xavier once."

All Might whistled, "Not many people that old nowadays, only ones I can think of are pro-hero Wolverine and his archenemy and half-brother the villainous Sabertooth."

Izuku blinked, "Wait, they are real? I thought they were myths."

All Might shook his head, "Those two both keep to the shadows and their contacts are usually in the different country's militaries or in the international police intelligence division. Actually, they only reason I know they are real is because I accidentally ended up in the middle of one of their fights during my time in America."

Izuku's eyes widened, "What was it like?"

All Might shivered, "Like watching two feral cats... But enough about that; you need to get into your sweats. The timer on the tv is counting down to when the broadcast starts and when who you are up against is revealed."

Izuku spun around to look at the tv, "Waahh! I need to get moving."

RRIIIPPPP!

All Might sighed, "There goes that shirt."