Following the display of his new power Izuku had performed in front of his classmates, having been allowed to test out his powers, things had begun to change. People didn't bother him as much as they used to, and some teachers even acted like he actually mattered.
He should've felt happy about it. Instead it made him feel sick to his stomach.
It had been three days since then and at the moment he was sat at a table in the cafeteria, eating alone. He still occasionally got the odd glare from someone or other but for the most part no one approached him now.
He was fine with that; he'd rather be left to his own devices. Especially as right now, he needed to think.
Kacchan had yet to try to take his revenge for the broken hand, just quietly glaring at his once childhood friend all day. Izuku knew it was coming eventually, a fight he would have no choice but to partake in. he could run of course but not forever…
And that had left him to realize a fact, as he started to make mental preparations for how he could fight back now.
He didn't know how to train his quirk, not properly. He'd thought about getting a quirk for so many years but he thought he knew the limits of quirk inheritance.
He had been under the impression that if he did get a quirk, it would be telekinesis or fire breathe or maybe some form of pyrokinesis. Maybe even heat attraction.
What those all had in common though, was that they were all technical quirks. They'd require him to get creative to utilize them in hero work effectively and he had plans on how to train them.
Super State…. How could he train something that solely made him a set amount more powerful? Could he increase the multiplier somehow?
Would he have to rely on some other method to get stronger? And just where exactly did the multiplier stop, could he apply it to something other than just his strength and speed-
"Hey, Midoriya." A red haired girl with a curvy figure, excessive make-up and an incredibly fake smile greeted as she sat down near him, biting her lip.
"Uh, H-hi Yariman." He greeted, confused as to her pleasant tone. Of his many bullies at Aldera, she was perhaps the worst after Kacchan.
After all, there was a reason that many of the students referred to him as a 'freak' and it wasn't just because he was quirkless. She had been spinning false stories about him to share with her followers for the longest time and frankly, if there was anyone the greenette had no patience for nowadays it was her.
The beatings and verbal abuse was one thing, Yariman's attempts at psychological torture were another. So really, he just wanted her to leave but because he was raised to be polite, he would at least let her say why she had come to him.
"I uh….. I hear you got a new power." The girl said with an infuriating giggle, brushing her hair behind her ear. She pressed her chest forward onto the table and that pit in the greenette's stomach appeared again because he was quickly recognizing what she was trying to do. "They said it's maybe stronger than Katsuki's? and you get a killer body."
"…I do, and I guess it might be. We've not had a chance to put it to the test yet." Was all he let up with an irritated sigh, wanting desperately to stand up and leave. He wasn't good at reading most girls, never and been but she was different. Because she followed a pattern.
"I was wondering if maybe… I could see it?~" The girl asked, and she was definitely trying to make her breasts more prominent and had it been anyone else the greenette would have been flustered, embarrassed and maybe flattered. It wasn't anyone else though, it was her and so before he could stop himself a few choice words slipped from his mouth.
"I don't know why but I wanted to believe the best in you and Kacchan so I didn't believe what everyone was saying. But it's true isn't it?" he asked, with an unamused expression. Her face scowled but she made no move to deny it. "You really just flock to whoever the strongest quirk?"
"I don't-"
Izuku leaned forward himself, meeting her gaze.
"Did you or did you not bully me all my life?"
"I...i did"
"Can I or can I not punch you into space nowadays?"
"You c-can…?"
"Then why did you think any of this was a good idea"
"..."
After that, she stood…. And she quickly hurried away to safety.
The greenette just leaned back with a groan, rubbing his face with his hands. A part of him felt guilty for what was essentially making a threat against another person but another part of him…. It just felt gross now following that interaction.
Shaking his head with a sigh, he stood and started to leave towards the bathroom. He could maybe get some peace and quiet from the noise to think there at least.
It had been a fortnight since he unlocked his super state and still his mind had turned up no real solution to his problem.
He had a few ideas of course, like he knew he'd have to apply for some kind of martial arts class again. He'd tried once before but had been pretty much shunted from every exercise for it being 'too dangerous' until he'd been forced to leave.
It wasn't that he couldn't think of potential ways to train, the problem was he had no idea where to start or what would be a waste of time. It was with these frustrations that he found himself throwing rocks across the ocean of Dagobah beach in thought.
He'd texted his mother to let her know he'd be home late, as he wanted the fresh air to think. Though maybe 'fresh' didn't really apply, as he looked to see the mounds and mounds of trash surrounding the beach. The smell was far from pleasant, leaving him to scrunch up his face once he started to focus on it.
"It's pretty disgusting, right?" a gruff voice suddenly asked, making the greenette jump and whip around to see Death Arms standing there in costume, with a frown and his arms crossed. "People get to lazy to bother putting trash where it belongs, so they just dump it into the rivers around the city."
"The currents bring it back to here, so people can use it for illegal dumping. A few years and we have this." Izuku finished up for the man, sighing as he stood up. An embarrassed frown made its way onto his face. "I'm sorry for how I acted at our last meeting, Death Arms! I wasn't in the right state of mind."
"Ah, don't sweat it kid." The pro shrugged, walking to stand beside him. "We all have bad days, or bad weeks. You had every reason to be upset…. But that's changed now, hasn't it?"
"H-huh? Oh! You were at the Mile Market." Izuku suddenly realized, before his face began flushing bright red. "I-I'm so sorry for the q-quirk use! I-I didn't-"
A hand on his chest stopped hum, and the pro gave him a small but kind smile. "Don't. We already got the low down from the doctors, it's being written off as a panic induced hysteria. We're not going to get you in trouble."
"O-oh… thank you sir." The greenette said with a relieved sigh, bowing before turning back to look at the ocean. A thought crossed his minds. "Um… Sir? Can I ask you a question? It might take some time to answer."
"Shoot. I'm on my break anyways." Death Arms shrugged, curious as to where this was going.
"Well… My dreams always been to be a pro like you, I want to save as many people as I possibly can…. And now I have a way to do that. I want… I want to get into U.A. high." The greenette explained, rubbing his hand up and down his arm. "I know my quirk is powerful, that much has already been made clear but… U.A. needs people to be the best of the best, so I need to push myself to be stronger."
"That's admirable. Never went to U.A. myself, but I think I can guess what you're asking. You've never had a quirk before, so you don't know what to do or how to train it?"
"…Yes sir. I have a few ideas, but I don't know how to make it stronger. I guess just using it and trying to push the limits but how do I find challenges that do that?" He asked, clenching a fist. The Super Strength Pro sighed, scratching his chin. "I mean I have the paperwork to use my quirk freely for a while to train, what with being a late bloomer and all but I don't know how…"
"….What were your parents quirk?" Death arms asked, walking to the nearby wall and leaning against it.
"Minor Telekinesis and Fire Breathe."
"Ah, so both emitter types then?"
"Yeah."
"That explains why you're struggling then if that's where your mind set is." The pro said with a smirk, flexing his arm. "You're trying to apply the thought process for an emitter quirk like your moms or a mutant quirk like mine when you're a transformation type."
Izuku raised a bow, turning to the muscular man who just grinned. "You see, I get where you are coming from. Emitter quirks essentially only exist as they are being used, so the only real way to train them is using them. Mutant quirks, they can't be turned off so they're always being worked on and made better as they live day to day. But a transformation type, particularly one like yours? It has two things to rely on. There's obviously the power itself, and the new form you have to work with but do you know what else It needs? You."
"…Oh… OH!" Suddenly the greenette jumped to his feet, as if struck by a sudden wave of inspiration. His eyes lit up and Death Arms just smirked as Izuku began to go off on a tangent. "I get it! Myself and my super state are two different forms but the super state relies on what I already have because it's a multiplier! The doctor said I'm below average, but if started to train my base form, then the multiplier gives me, while not necessarily changing, will still make me even more powerful."
"Heh. Guess you just needed a little nudge in the right direction." The pro chuckled, walking back to the greenette's side.
"But… I've never actually been the kind of person to work out or that. Always got… discouraged." Izuku hummed, watching a bird land atop the trash pile nearby and begin to peck at something in it. "I have no idea where to start with something like that."
"Tell you what, I like you kid." The pro laughed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a card which he handed to the scrawny teen. It had the name of a local gym printed out on it with an address and a phone number. "I sponsored this gym not too long ago, finally at the point in my career I can do that and have it actually matter. I'll give them a call and let them know about you, if you go in someone should be able to help you start building a training regime."
"Y-You would do that?! Thank you so much!"
"Ah, it's no problem. After all, heroes are meant to help, right?" The pro asked with a more genuine laugh, before turning his own attention to the trash piles again. "And you know, I think I have a good way for you to measure your progress as time goes on."
Izuku tilted his head confused.
"There's twenty trash piles on this beach. If you come back every month and time how long it takes you to clean up two of them, you should be able to keep track of yourself getting faster which should also mean you're getting stronger. As well as that, you'd be doing something nice for everyone in the city which could make it worth it for even more reasons." Death Arms explained, pulling out a phone. "Come on, I'll time you on these two. I want to see this power in action anyways."
"O-oh, are you sure?" Izuku asked, getting a nod. The muscular man held up his phone, showing he was ready to start timing and the greenette took a deep breath.
"As soon as you power up, I'll turn on the timer and you just got to put it all against the wall or in nearby bins. And…. GO!"
Izuku exploded into golden light as his hair spiked up into the familiar golden glow and he turned, eyes seeing the world almost in slow motion as he rocketed at the mound.
To the outside world, there was nothing more than a golden blur as the trash moved around, the larger items pressed to the wall like Death Arms requested while various trash cans nearby rapidly began to fill up with smaller items of trash.
It wasn't long at all until the piles were completely cleared and the now blonde teen halted in front of the muscular pro, who quickly stopped the timer and read it aloud. "Forty-two seconds. Really impressive, but I'm willing to bet you can do much better with a little practice. Do you have a time limit to this form?"
"Not exactly sir? As long as I don't run out of energy and hang onto the anger fuelling it I can theoretically hold onto it permanently. Unfortunately, though the energy thing is unreliable as it drains stamina."
"Hm. Well either way, just remember you need to work just as much in the form as you do out of it. Especially to get used to it. You want your power to be something instinctive to you in the same way crying is to a child or swimming is to a fish." Death Arms smirked, raising his fists. "Still got ten minutes before my break finished. I got one last thing I'm curious about. I want you to fight me."
"E-Eh?!" Izuku's eyes went wide in surprise, almost dropping his super state out of shock.
"Oh come on kid, don't be shy. I can take a beating, it's my job. So come on, try and punch me."
"W-Well if you're sure." He sighed, putting up his own fists, deciding not use his increased speed to stay fair. He launched at Death Arms with a powerful right hook and hit the pro square in the chest…
And suddenly there was a speck on the horizon and not a pro in front of him. 'Crap!'
He quickly launched forward across the beach, weaving between piles of trash all the way to the other side where he found the pro splayed out on the ground, groaning. "Holy crap kid…."
What he normally would of said was some rushed out apology that would be barely intelligible to anyone as he panicked over the state of the man. While he was still concerned here, his super state was still active and so a different set of words escaped him.
"I did ask if you were sure." He said, getting a light glare from the pro.
"Fine, no more holding back then." The muscular man grunted, getting back on his feet and launching at the teen, who barely had time to block in surpise. Two things happened then.
Izuku was actually pushed backward, feet dragging through the sand as he flinched, while Death Arms let out a pained cry. "Holy shit, that was full strength. What the fuck, kid?"
Izuku was just silent, holding back as he went for another strike against the pro. However, this time, things quickly began to change now he had a chance to adjust.
Death Arms weaved around his powerful attacks, barely and by hairs inches each time but he was, while rapidly delivering strong punches to the teen and hissing all the while.
"Isn't this painful for you?" Izuku asked as he jumped back, dodging down away from a punch barely. Not using his speed sucked. The Super Strength Pro just smirked.
"Plus Ultra, right?!"
A right hook, a dodge, a sudden grapple that had Izuku thrown over the pro's head.
"You said you didn't attend U.A.?!"
"Yeah but if you're going to, then how else are you gonna make sure you'll get in?" The man asked, coming in for a gut punch that the blonde stopped by grabbing the pro's wrist. Quickly following it up he began to throw blow after blow into the pro's chest, pushing him back as he slowly increased the power.
It was looking to be a complete down until all to suddenly the pro managed to dodge, izuku's final strike flying overhead before suddenly a powerful fist hit him square in the stomach, much more painful than all the previous blows.
His hair turned back to normal as he buckled over, hands shooting to his stomach. After a moment of recovering winded on the ground, a hand entered his field of view and he looked up to see a haggard but smiling Death Arms offering to help him up.
"Sorry about that kid." He laughed, as Izuku grabbed hold and was pulled to his feet. "But that gave me a pretty good idea of where you stand. Not gonna lie you remind me of a younger me, problems and all."
"P-Problems?" The greenette coughed, taking a few deep breathes as he massaged his stomach.
"You got too reliant on pure strength there. I'm more than guilty of that, but strength isn't all there is to fighting." The pro explained, turning and beginning to walk away. "Something to think about! I gotta go now, takes like an hour from here to get back to the agency and I was supposed to clock right as my break ended."
"W-wait what?! Then why were you here?!" The greenette asked confused, horrified he'd made the man late. However, the pro just gave him a smirk.
"Because, I saw a civilian that needed help. That's my job, I'll see ya later kid." With that, Death Arms took off into a hasty sprint, leaving the teen alone to contemplate what had happened.
Then he turned to see the trash mounds around the beach, and he smiled despite himself.
Once they were all gone, once he was stronger in his normal form and once he understood the basics of fighting.
Then he'd be ready for the Entrance Exam. At least, that was what he assumed Death Arms was trying to show him. He had to put his all into this.
And so, Izuku Midoriya began the most intensive training of his life.