"THIS IS MY SUCCESSOR AND TRAINING PARTNER, YOUNG URARAKA OCHAKO!" All Might introduced with a smile. Izuku took in the girl's appearance. She was short, with a slender, yet curvaceous figure wearing a blue and white tracksuit. Her fair skin looked a bit pale in the early morning light, but Izuku could still make out the perpetual blush on her face. She had really big, round, brown eyes and her short, bobbed hair matched. Overall, if Izuku had to sum the girl up in one word, it would be "cute." Wait a second...
"Wait... s-successor? W-What?" Izuku said in a hushed voice, eyes glued to the girl in front of him while his eyes widened to the size of plates and he took a step back out of pure shock. "She's your - but - All Might? What!?"
All Might, ever the showman, completely ignored Izuku and simply continued on before Ochako's mind could catch up.
"NOW THAT YOU TWO ARE AQUAINTED, WE CAN FINALLY GET DOWN TO BUSINESS!" All Might struck poses while making his announcement.
The girl finally picked her jaw off the floor long enough to give some kind of response. If she were sleepy before, she was wide awake now. She held her hands in a 'T' position in front of her and shouted "Time-out! T-training partner? Y-you didn't say anything about a training partner!" Ochako looked between All Might and Midoriya with increasing panic.
All Might just laughed and smiled nervously. "IT'S TRUE! I FIGURED I SHOULD LEAVE IT AS A SUPRISE, YOUNG URARAKA. HEROES AREN'T ALWAYS GOING TO KNOW EVERYTHING, NOW ARE THEY!?" Well, if anything, he could now understand why Gran Torino enjoyed surprises so much. It was cathartic to pull it on someone else.
All Might's surprise, evidently, went over terribly as noted when both Izuku and Ochako looked back and fourth between each other with an air of confusion and a bit of exasperation on Midoriya's end. Ochako's eyes were still wide and her jaw still hung limply open, something that would've been funny had it not been for Ochako recovering and giving the Symbol of Peace a slightly dirty, dark look
Izuku never felt so much like Ryoya in his life. He slowly got out of his shock and gave All Might a flat stare. "INDEED, YOUNG MIDORIYA WILL BE JOINING US TO HELP YOU PREPARE FOR U.A."
'Is that really all All Might called him for?' Izuku would be lying if he said he didn't feel a bit of disappointment in that, and slumped ever so slightly. But perked up when he thought of a silver lining. 'At the very least, All Might sees me as someone who's useful. Ha. Take that Bakugo. Who's the useless Deku now?'
All Might, having noticed Izuku's sullen expression, rapidly corrected. "NOT JUST THAT! WE'RE ALSO HERE TO HELP YOUNG MIDORIYA ACHIEVE HIS DREAM OF BEING A SYMBOL FOR THE QUIRKLESS!"
"Wait - wait!" She turned to Izuku quickly with wide eyes once more. "You're quirkless?!" She said a bit louder than she intended.
Izuku's face must've given away some disappointment, because almost immediately, the girl started to wave her hands frantically for the second time that morning. "N-not that anything's wrong with that! I just wasn't... expecting it, yeah! Wasn't expecting it! B-because you seem so strong! A-and-"
Ochako's rambling was cut off when All Might placed a large hand on her shoulder and laughed. "IT'S FINE, YOUNG URARAKA. YOUNG MIDORIYA ISN'T EMBARASSED OR OFFENDED!"
As if on cue, Izuku smiled gently at Ochako. "It's fine, Uraraka-san. Really. I know it's a bit surprising to meet a quirkless kid in this day and age, so I understand your shock." He said soothingly and that seemingly did calm the girl down.
"SEE? YOUNG MIDORIYA HAS NOT ONLY ACCEPTED HIS ROOTS, BUT EMBRACED IT!" All Might said while striking another pose.
He reminded Izuku of Ken-sensei so much that it was starting to get uncanny.
After a beat of silence, the sound of a stomach rumbling cut through the lightened mood. Both Izuku and All Might simultaneously turned to Ochako who turned bright red in an instant. "S-sorry. I didn't have the best breakfast this morning." She had too much pride to admit that she only really had an apple and some orange juice. She hoped that it would give her enough energy to at least make it to lunch, but evidently, the previous excitement took it's toll.
"YOUNG URARAKA, THERE IS NO SHAME IN BEING HUNGRY. THE BODY IS A MACHINE AND IT REQUIRES FUEL TO FUNCTION." All Might lightly chastised. He could practically taste the irony of him, someone without a stomach, telling someone else about food.
All Might paused and weighed his options. On one hand, he knew the girl wasn't the most fortunate financially, so the likelihood that she even had anything at home to eat was slim. On the other hand, she wasn't the most in shape girl, and they only had ten months of prep time before the U.A entrance exam. He was confident she could get in with just her quirk, but her body was far from ready for One For All.
"I WOULD'VE LIKED IT IF WE STARTED NOW, BUT WHAT KIND OF MAN WOULD I BE IF FORCED A HUNGRY CHILD TO MOVE TRASH!?" The hero boomed with flexing. He turned to Izuku. "YOUNG MIDORIYA, YOU'RE RELATIVELY FAMILIAR WITH THIS AREA, NO?" Izuku nodded. The dojo wasn't far from here. He and Ryoya had wandered by here once or twice when doing sprints. "IS THERE A PLACE TO GET A BITE TO EAT?"
"Wait... move trash?"
Izuku led them to a nearby bakery that he tried once with his mother. All Might shrunk down, they went in and found a booth. It was still really early in the morning, so the place wasn't packed or anything close to it, but it did have a few morning commuters.
"You two wait here, I'll place our order."
As All Might left the two teens, Izuku's mind wandered. Had this been the same Izuku from a few years ago, he would've been terrified at the idea of sitting alone in booth with a pretty girl. But he wasn't that boy anymore. He was far from the same person, having spent the last two years in particular in his own friend group. He had a lot of practice when dealing with girls and awkward situations thanks to Setsuna, and he knew how to start conversations thanks to Yui. From what he could see, Uraraka was still a bit apprehensive and tired, and now that he could notice it in better lighting, her face was a bit paler too, a stark contrast to her bright cheeks.
"So, did he really not tell you anything about today?" Izuku started lightly. Uraraka's eyes snapped to him as if she wasn't expecting him to say anything.
"Oh - oh. No." She said before sighing deeply. "He just said to meet him at the beach at 6 a.m. Nothing else." She looked annoyed at that, and Izuku could definitely relate.
He chuckled behind his hand. "Yeah, same. No big speech or nothin'. Half of me thinks he just straight up forgot to tell it to the other."
Ochako giggled and it was one of the nicest sounds Izuku had ever heard. "I wouldn't be surprised. Must be hard remembering everything when you are as active as he is."
Izuku could understand that. That was probably why All Might hadn't recognized him when they met under the bridge. Speaking of which, "I can believe that, honestly. I still don't think he recognizes me from the first time we met."
Ochako raised her thick brow in intrigue. "First time? How many times have you met him?"
"Twice." Izuku said with a fond sigh. "The first time was during the mall collapse last year."
The girl let out a small gasp. "You were there? I saw it on the news. Actually wait, I think I remember seeing someone with green hair leading a bunch of people."
Izuku coughed awkwardly. "Y-yeah, that was me. That was the first time I met him. That's when he told me to keep going and that I was a hero that day. It meant a lot coming from him. Yeah, sure. I have friends who support me, a mother who cares for me and two sensei who push me hard every day, but it's different coming from the one person you looked up to your whole life you know?" He remembered fondly.
Ochako looked awed. "That's so cool. What was the second time?"
Izuku looked upon that memory much less fondly than the other. "Well... he saved me from a villain." Then he placed his thumb on his lower lip. "Well, I suppose that's not entirely right. I was getting attacked by a villain and he came and arrested the guy." Well, he put him in a bottle, but that sounded weird to say. "And then we spoke for a bit and he gave me his autograph." Izuku noticed the girl was listening rather intently to his story, and he could feel heat pooling at the base of his neck. He turned away and briefly wondered what would be the best way to say that he then clung to his pants while he took off like a rocket and then had a second conversation where he saw who he really was before he crushed his dreams. And only after that did Izuku run directly into danger by saving his childhood bully.
After a small mental debate, Izuku turned back to face the girl who was staring at him with eyes the size of plates. "...I said all of that out loud didn't I?" Izuku, once again, completely understood how Ryoya felt in times like this. Ochako just stiffly nodded. "...crap."
Ochako must've found it amusing since after her shock died down, she just started to giggle, which slowly turned into a light laugh that Izuku found himself joining in. "You grabbed his pants? Why?" She said in-between laughs.
"Honestly, couldn't tell you." Izuku responded with a chuckle. "I really wasn't thinking at the time. It was a bit after I beat the villain and I guess my heart was still pumping at the time."
Ochako gave Izuku a smile that made the heat in the back of his neck a bit worse. "How did you do that, if you don't mind me asking? All Might said you're quirkless, right?" She asked. Not unkindly or filled with any barely hidden contempt. Just genuine interest and curiosity.
"I'm a bit of a martial artist." He said simply. He still didn't know how to correctly tell people just how his abilities worked. Ryu and Ken hadn't exactly sworn him to secrecy regarding ki, but they did say that not everyone should know about it. "I've been training since I was nine years old."
"That's so cool! I've always been interested in marital arts, but could never afford classes of my own." Ochako said while pressing the tips of her index fingers together. "All Might said it would work with my quirk."
Ah yes, finally. The conversation swayed perfectly into what Izuku had wanted to ask ever since hearing the word 'successor', but his friends beat it into him that just asking people their quirk out of a blue was a bit weird, so he held off.
"What is your quirk?" Izuku inwardly cursed himself for not bringing a notebook.
Instead of saying anything, Ochako just demonstrated. She touched a salt shaker with all five fingers and Izuku watched in slack-jawed awe as it began to float away. "I can remove the gravity of anything I touch with all five fingers." She said happily. Izuku was, frankly gob smacked. That was an insanely powerful quirk.
"Oh wow." Was all he could say. He immediately entered 'quirk nerd mode' as coined by his friends, but couldn't get beyond the first sentence before All Might sat back down.
"SORRY FOR THE WAIT, CHILDREN. THEY HAD QUITE THE SELECTION." The man came back with a large tray of breakfast things and a second, smaller tray with drinks. "PLUS, A FEW AUTOGRAPHS HERE AND THERE."
All Might watched the duo eat while he took light sips of coffee. Young Uraraka really could put down food, he noticed. He'd expected Young Midoriya to eat a lot, giving how the boy filled out his muscle shirt, but Young Uraraka was a bit of a surprise. "OKAY, WHILE YOU TWO CAN'T RESPOND, THIS IS MY PLAN. YOUNG URARAKA IS GOING TO CLEAN THE BEACH AND RESTORE IT TO ITS FORMER GLORY." He skillfully avoided the spit take of orange juice but it seems like Young Midoriya wasn't as lucky. "YOUNG MIDORIYA'S BODY IS ALREADY IN PEAK PHYSICAL CONDITION, SO HE'LL ONLY BE THERE TO HELP. IN HIS CASE, HE'S MOSTLY THERE TO HELP OVERSEE YOUR TRAINING!"
"Wh -what?"
"MOSTLY," All Might repeated. "FIGHTING IS NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR HEROICS, YOUNG MIDORIYA. THAT'S PARTLY THE REASON I CHOSE DAGOBAH BEACH. HEROICS USED TO BE ABOUT GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY BUT AS TIME PASSED, MORE PEOPLE CARED LESS AND LESS ABOUT IT AND MORE ABOUT FAME." All Might said bitterly and with a shake of his head. "THINK ABOUT THIS AS YOUR FIRST STEPS INTO HEROISM, GIVING BACK WHAT WAS TAKEN!"
Say what you will about All Might, the man had a way with words and knew how to inspire.
After the breakfast, All Might received a call about a pressing emergency in Tokyo. He assured the two that the training would start in earnest tomorrow and he would do something about Uraraka's situation so that the training can go smoother. When Uraraka protested about it being expensive to feed her daily, All Might just laughed and reminded her that he was one of, if not the, richest man in Japan and he barely spent his own money. Spending on an inexpensive breakfast at a normal diner every day was literally nothing.
The two spent a bit more time walking and talking before Izuku politely waited with Uraraka for her train to arrive before saying their goodbyes and jogging back home. When he arrived, he had just enough time to get ready for school before he expected Ryoya to come.
And that brough up something Izuku hadn't thought about yet. How would be balance training with All Might and Uraraka while trying to keep up with the hellish pace of Ryu and Ken? They had only recently started entering an experimental stage of training, testing how far each boy could use their elements since ki was different per person. No one two people had the same limitations.
He'd definitely couldn't put this off, so he made plans to talk to Ryu and Ken as soon as possible. Maybe not tell Ryoya. It was an open secret among their friend group that he didn't exactly have the highest opinion of heroes and All Might especially. While he was one hundred percent sure that he would be supported in this endeavor, he wasn't exactly itching to tell him. So he'd maybe just put it off as long as he can. And if it's brought up, he'll answer honestly.
Getting out of the shower and putting on his uniform, Izuku headed to school.
Thankfully, school went without issue. Bakugo largely seemed to be avoiding and ignoring him, though him and Ryoya did have several tense stare downs.
At the dojo however, things were getting intense.
Izuku narrowly avoided a bone-rattling punch to the ribs from Ryoya and he countered by jumping back and landing on the balls of his feet. He was sweating. Ryoya was sweating. Both looked at each other with such blinding intensity, that to the untrained eye, you'd not be wrong for assuming they hated each other. They'd been sparring now for the last fifteen minutes, no ki whatsoever, and Izuku felt himself being pushed to the brink. He kicks forward, helped by a strong kick to the ground. He slows down as he draws closer, cocking his fist back and aiming for the chest. He can already see it, Ryoya aiming to move.
He knows his opponent better than anyone, and vice versa. Defeating Ryoya Harushi is never an easy task, but Izuku had come to figure out his patterns now. Heavy attacks simply were laughable at best to even attempt. Ryoya thrived off of rush-down, high speed, uber-aggressive combat, so taking the time to wind back a heavy attack usually left Izuku open for a vicious punish. However, his style had one weakness. It wasn't easy to spot and even harder to exploit, but Izuku knew him like the back of his hand.
He throws his punch and as he expects, Ryoya side-steps and pulls his fist forward, attempting to drag him into one of his deadly kicks.
Izuku was prepared for that.
Following his forward and downward momentum, Izuku leaned into it before falling into a roll and promptly slamming his open palms on the hard mat. He doesn't get to see Ryoya's face from this angle, but he does hear him make a small sound of surprise before Izuku springs off of his hands and catches his friend cleanly across the face with a heavy heel.
With an impact that even he could feel, Ryoya is knocked off of his feet and sent tumbling to the mat, but by the time Izuku rights himself back on his feet and turns, Ryoya is already upright and ready. But Izuku could see the slightly glazed look in his eyes. The kick rocked him more than he was willing to show. Had this been a year ago, Izuku might've used this time to plan out his next attack, thus unintentionally giving his opponent time to recover. But after realizing the error of his ways in a rather serious spar against Itsuka, he knew that hesitation was dangerous. Like the element that blazed from his very soul, Izuku lunged forward. Ryoya is ready this time, and instead of taking the bait from Izuku's very obvious feint, he moved to intercept his attack.
Ryoya knew he always had the speed advantage, but Izuku had gradually been closing the gap.
But the gap was still there. And Ryoya abused it ruthlessly.
Izuku lead with a fist but held it at such way that had Ryoya parried, he would be eating elbow for dinner. Deciding that he would like his teeth in his mouth, he dashed forward and met Izuku half way with his own punch. Normally, he would never even consider this since he knew Izuku edged him out in pure physical might, but given his stance, the usual weight wasn't behind it and thus, when flesh met flesh, Izuku was easily overpowered and sent back holding his fist in pain.
Ryoya blurred with a series of punches and kicks, high and low, light and medium, all in an attempt to overwhelm the greenette like he'd done so many times in the past. But whether it had been a miscalculation on his part or a stroke of genius on Izuku's, he found his right leg being caught by Izuku's left arm when he tried to kick him in the ribs.
Izuku at this point, became one with the battle. He flowed smoothly into sweeping Ryoya's one leg from under him and punching him in the chest while he was falling. The punch was blocked of course, but the impact still sent his tan friend slamming into the ground like a fallen redwood tree.
A whistle blew. "Alright, that's enough. Izuku wins." Ryu announced while Ken gave a slow clap. Izuku collapses in exhaustion next to Ryoya, but has a wide smile on his face.
"What's the score?" Ryoya asked while taking deep breaths. Though he blocked Izuku's punch, the force of it and subsequently slamming into the ground knocked the wind out of him.
"40 - 30." Izuku answers. "You're still up."
"Don't sell yourself short, Midoriya." Ryu cuts in smoothly. "You've won the last two, so congrats on the hat trick."
Ryoya groans from his spot on the floor, but doesn't say anything.
"Oh stop complaining. Get up and hit the showers. It's your turn cooking dinner." Ken said with a thumbs up. "Make sure to cook a lot tonight. Eliza and the kids really liked your sashimi."
Ryoya's head shifted on the floor before giving Ken a dirty look. "It's always my turn to cook. I'm beginning to think you just can't or this is some kind of free labor." He said dryly while slowly making his way to his feet.
"Why not both!?" Ken responded without a single shred of shame and a wide smile.
The golden-eyed boy just stared at him before pinching the bridge of his nose. Turning away and heading to the showers before he attempted to strangle the man, he missed Izuku's nervous body language.
When he was confident the boy was out of earshot, he tore the looked at his two trainers. "U-um, Ryu-sensei? Ken-sensei?" He started meekly. "Can I talk to you two about something?"
"Sure," Ryu said easily. "Before that, I'd like to congratulate you on the win. I know it's been bugging you for a while that the score is so far a part, but your effort has been paying off."
Izuku bashfully accepted the praise. "Thanks, it's because of you two that I've been able to even go this far. B-but, I have something important I want to talk about. Something that we can m-maybe put off on telling Ryoya for a while."
That gave both men a pause. While they would've exactly call the two joined at the hip, they were very close and developed an unbreakable bond. They were best friends through and through and to see Izuku willingly opt to keep his friend out of the loop was eyebrow raising to say the least.
Izuku went on to explain everything from the top. The sludge villain, to meeting All Might, to meeting Uraraka and finally, All Might's proposition. He explained why he didn't think it would be a good idea to tell his only male friend, but also expressed that he still wanted him to do something while Izuku wasn't around as much. He couldn't let his one true rival fall behind.
"So, you want to cut down on your time training here to focus on All Might." Ryu said rather than asked in a completely neutral, unreadable tone. His face and body language gave nothing away. Ken was much the same, even trading his normal smile for a completely neutral expression.
"If - if that's okay with you two, sensei!" Izuku said while bowing a full ninety degrees.
He heard Ryu sigh. "Stand up, Midoriya. Look, we understand."
"You do?"
"Of course!" Ken butt in. "Shotokan is a style that lives off of simplicity. There was nothing further we could reasonably teach you since we started getting into the more advanced stuff like Denjin Renki and Heat Rush. I hesitate to say you've mastered it, since I've seen mastery from our old sensei, but there's honestly not much we could've taught you. Why do you think we entered the experimental phase?" Ken asked with an eye roll like the answer should've been obvious.
To Izuku, in hindsight, it probably should've been. Shotokan was based on the mantra of "I fear not the man who practiced ten thousand kicks once, but I fear the man who practiced one kick ten thousand times." In retrospect, Izuku should've picked up on the sheer repetition of the style. Some days, they would do nothing but practice basic light, medium and heavy jabs, crosses and kicks. It was to the point where Izuku could probably fire a hadoken off purely on reflex with his eyes closed and one hand tied behind his back.
"I - I don't know what to say." Izuku said honestly.
"Don't worry about it, kid." Ryu said with a pat on the back. "And don't worry about tall, dark and anti-social there. We can think of something for him."
"Yeah, easily." Ken said. "This is perfect actually. My friend Terry is coming from the U.S.A this weekend and he says he's staying for a few months. I'm sure I can get him to make some time to give our boy some lessons."
"Bogard? He's gonna be a good fit really. We should've brought him in sooner." Ryu countered. "Anyway, it's fine Izuku. Just try not to skimp out on training. You're improving really well and it would be a shame if you grew stagnant because of this."
It was then that Ryoya came back dressed in a plain back tee and grey sweatpants with bright pink, fuzzy dinosaur slippers. Setsuna bought it for a joke but Ryoya apparently didn't understand the concept of joke gifts and wore them just about every night. He said they were comfortable. Almost immediately, he noticed Ken's wicked grin and turned around. "Yeah, no. Not dealing with you tonight." Ryoya left.
A/N: Well, chapter 9 everyone. We're inching closer to U.A. Izuku and Ochako have met, training starts truly for them both. Izuku makes his choice and Ryoya is in for a very bad time. I also acknowledged why Izuku broke down when he spoke to All Might. He still hasn't remembered anything from that mall day, but maybe he will soon. So far, I think the options for Ryoya's love interest is Momo, Setsuna, Tooru, or de-aged Mirko with _ replacing her in the hero rankings. No spoilers or anything, but regardless if Mirko gets picked, _ will still be a hero. And she has a bone to pick with Shadaloo.
solbandgus: Izuku's training with All Might probably won't go in the direction most people are thinking, but I'll give a hint to next chapter. It involves Izuku finding a new way to use his electricity that Ryu and Ken didn't see coming. Ryoya's gonna be a wild card for sure. And feel free to share your ideas, Light/Lightning is such a cool combination with lots of potential. Thanks for the review.
Ryuujin96: Well, hopefully this gave you your answer on how he does it. The answer will be a bit more clear in the next chapter, but he's planning to mostly train Ochako and ease up on training Shotokan. I enjoyed Izuku beating the Sludge Villain as well, and since the Shin Shoryuken has been popular in my reviews/comments, I'll just come out and say it. Yes, he's going to learn the Shin Shoryuken. I am saving it for his Plus Ultra Super, but I can confirm he does know it.
As for Ochako, I have a feeling that she'll be beyond both Izuku and Ryoya. In this chapter, even Ryoya notes that Izuku is a bit of a monster now, so his whole thing of being ahead is slowly changing. Let's see who does what after the training. And no, Ochako won't die young in this lol, OFA will work a bit differently. Thanks for the review as always.
Animeguy1101: Responded to you on AO3, but thanks for the review!
heartfanglives: We accept constructive critiques with an All Might smile here. Glad the chapter felt better. This will focus more on Izuku, but Ryoya will be around since he is supposed to be the Ken in their dynamic.
Also, Ryoya does not like Katsuki. kek
Thanks for the review.