"GET OVER HERE IZUKU, MAGNHILD WANTS TO BOOP YOU!"
"I REALLY DON'T THINK THAT'S A GOOD IDEA NORA!"
Once again Izuku found himself in the fray with Nora Valkyrie, sparring with her in a friendly little match so that Izuku might have the chance to improve himself. Or, well, 'friendly' in that case was with Nora. Which was to say, Nora would absolutely clobber him with Magnhild and then feel bad about the beat down later if he let her get on top of him.
Which, well, he really wasn't going to allow if he could help it.
The pair started the fight pretty close together; in the end, it really wasn't either of their styles to start off separated and go from range, even if Izuku had to from time to time in some fights, so it was better if they both just got in swinging. Apparently his training over the last few weeks since his last spar with Nora had been helping a lot because, well, he was able to just get in her face first and start throwing his fists around. Emerald Gust was ready to go and he even started to push 5% of One For All into his right hook as it flew out, ready to try and get a solid hit on Nora before she could get in one on him. He was so close too, he knew it. He 'just' had her with that punch... but he watched as Nora's skin and body flared with the energy of her Aura and the bubbly bomber quickly ducked out of the way of his hit, causing it to go wild along with the power of his Smash.
Izuku quickly grit his teeth and started getting ready to avoid Nora's own flurry of blows, the young woman 'still' able to swing her hammer around like a madwoman, and perhaps even faster now than she had been able to previously! Izuku quickly used Emerald Gust to bounce one of the potential blows away and, for a moment, he swore he heard the metal groan under the pressure of Nora's assault. Izuku dodged out of the way of her third swing, the young woman's enthusiasm having sent her second swing going off wild in an entirely different direction. However, in doing so Izuku found that he had to take a moment to push 5% of One For All throughout his body to help duck himself out of the way of the swing. Taking a deep breath to recover from that, he went in for another couple swings and, again, he thought that he was going to hit Nora, he just felt it... but again, her body shined bright and Nora used the power of her Aura to help push herself away from his hit.
'Man, that's impressive...and frustrating.'
But putting that aside, it was time to avoid Nora who, this time, seemed intent on making sure she hit him as all three swings threatened to hit home. Fortunately for Izuku, he bounced the first blow off of the guard of Emerald Gust, quickly jumped over the second and then brought both gauntlets up into a bit of a guard as he absorbed as much of the energy of the blow as he could before pushing it away.
'I didn't even need One For All this time!' a slightly giddy smile covering his face, 'How about that?'
With renewed vigor Izuku went in for another couple swings and, although they weren't as close, Izuku could tell by the fact that Nora's Aura flared to life that one of them might have. It still astounded him; he knew he was technically capable of it on a certain level but everyone seemed to be able to bring out their Aura and power with a speed and reliability that he still sometimes had difficulty with.
That thought would be rubbed in as, after successfully parrying a blow from Magnhild away... Izuku found himself in a bad spot. The parry had worked but the momentum of the swing had knocked him off his feet slightly, putting him out of his stance. Nora had prepared to take full advantage as she reared back with Magnhild, an almost manic excitement in her eyes. Izuku's breathing hastened as he closed his eyes, doing his best to draw upon One For All, to draw upon his Aura. He reached in, trying to activate it, trying to turn on the power, to turn on the microwave so that it could heat the egg...
SMACK!
But he was sent flying head over heels as he tumbled across the ground, practically rolling before he slammed into a nearby wall, slightly dizzied as he crumpled onto the ground.
'That... that really hurt,' he felt dazed, 'even if my Aura took the entirety of the hit.'
"Oh jeez, you okay Izuku? I didn't hurt you too bad did I? That one looked like it really stung!" Nora winced as, for a moment, she let Magnhild droop to her side. Izuku winced slightly as he reached up to rub where his head, having hit it against the wall as part of the impact, but Izuku did his best to smile at his teammate.
"I'm okay Nora. That one was just a pretty rough hit. Give me a second before we start back up?" Nora smiled as she nodded.
"Sure thing Fearless Leader! Besides, I could use a bit of a break; with how close a lot of those hits have been getting, you've been close to creaming me!" Izuku felt his smile grow at Nora's words. As much as he doubted he could really 'cream' Nora, her enthusiasm in saying so did help put the pain aside for a moment. Still he just heaved a sigh as he let his arms relax for a moment.
"Thanks Nora but I'm not so sure about that. With how fast you are at summoning your Aura out, I don't think a lot of those hits really would've stood a chance." At that... Nora blinked slightly, tilting her head to the side. Confused by her apparent confusion, Izuku pointed at her. "I mean, Nora, you were glowing with Aura. You're pulling it out from your Soul to push into your body to help dodge. That's what I mean." Nora nodded, though with a slightly goofy smile on her face as she grins at him.
"I mean, I got that Izuku, but I'm just confused by how you're referring to it. Summoning my Aura, pulling it out... you make it sounds like I'm turning it on and off."
'... Wait, now I'm confused,' Izuku tilted his head to the side, very abundantly curious, as Nora offers a friendly grin.
"Well, it's probably not that obvious to someone who didn't get his Aura till so late because... well, it's just something you learn by doing. It gets ingrained in you. I don't pull my Aura out Izuku, that'd take waaay too much time in the middle of a fight. I just constantly keep it on!"
...
"Huh?" Izuku blinked again as Nora stroked her chin.
"Well... think of it like a pancake on a stove!" Nora set Magnhild down to the side, her grin wide as she waved her hands about. "So like, a pancake. You can't just keep turning the stove top on and off in order to heat it up right? It's not gonna work like there! There won't be enough heat being evenly distributed for one so the pancake will never actually cook all the way through! Even if you got the stove to burn hot enough on each individual turn on, you'd probably just burn some bits of the pancake while keeping the rest of it all goopy! You got to keep the stove on the entire time at a good level to keep the heat running through the entire thing, that's how you get it to cook. Same with Aura; I don't just keep deactivating and reactivating my Aura in the middle of a fight, that costs way more energy than it saves! So I just keep it running at a constant level and only occasionally let it burn hotter whenever I need it. You get it Izuku?"
'...Yeah, I do on some level,' he guessed. Keeping it running at all times meant that he wouldn't constantly have to reach back in and grab for it whenever he needed it, expending all that effort to do so in the middle of a fight. If he just kept his Aura on at a consistent pace, it'd be easy to jack it up every now and then to act as a boost to his speed when he'd need it or to help tank a blow. Funny that he didn't think about it despite his Aura being his... 'but I guess it is like Nora said. A while ago, I didn't have Aura and thought I never would. Same thing with…'
"Aaaah..." His breath left him all at once as he felt like a shot suddenly hit him, his eyes wide as his mind started going a mile a minute. "AAAAH! Nora!" Immediately Izuku flew to his feet, his sudden movements enough to surprise Nora as his breathing and speaking picks up. "THAT'S IT, NORA, THAT'S IT!"
"The pancake on the stove... IS ME!"
As he made that loud proclamation, it echoed throughout the training arena, giving it a slight reverb. The pair of them stand there silently for a moment, Nora just staring at him with a slightly surprised look on her face while he just point at himself.
"Izuku... like, don't get me wrong, I'm 'totally' thrilled that you're really embracing the pancake here!" Nora said with a genuine grin, though one that simultaneously seemed a bit nervous. "... But are you okay? You didn't hit your head too hard, did you?" Izuku flinched slightly at that, a sheepish expression crossing his face.
"Ah, no, I didn't mean it literally Nora, I'm not really a pancake." he loosened up a bit, shaking himself off before a smile came to his face. "But I get it; up until now I've just been summoning- my Semblance only when I really need it, in the places I need it. Like turning the dial on a stove on and off, but if I do that my reaction time gets slower and slower with every move. Which means..." Izuku braced himself, clenching his entire body, flexing every muscle as he tried to get ready for the rush of power as he started to summon forth 5% of One For All. Not in any one place for any specific burst of power... but generally, all throughout his body, starting at the tips of his toes and rising up. "I just need to keep the heat on the entire time! Imagining the energy that used to be in one place..."
'Spreading throughout my entire body!' As his jaw clenched and his teeth slightly grind, he finished the thought in his mind as his skin started to glow in its entirety with that gold and red hue that he'd taken to know as One For All being concentrated in his physical form. It felt like a wildfire rushing through him; 5% of One For All was the absolute limit of what he could reasonably control, after all, so even as he pushed it throughout he could feel the strain of it on his entire being. His skin stretched as his muscles bulged, enlarging as they strained to contain the raw energy being pushed through them. Izuku's bones creaked under the force that they were being put under and his nerves, while not screaming in his ears as they had when he'd pushed his body beyond its limits, made their displeasure known as a light, thrumming pain spread throughout him.
He didn't know if he could hold that power; after all, it was just a random chance, one little sentence spoken by a friend, that had given him the idea. Had he properly trained enough to wield One For All in such a way? Could his body even handle it, or would the strain of trying to push it everywhere at once just break him in a new and terrifying way. There was a slight panic that filled him at that thought and, for a moment, he feared that it might just come to pass. However, before his fear could take over, before that doubt in his ability, his worthiness, of One For All, could consume him... he felt it. Deep within his Soul.
A Power that One Person improves
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Before it is handed off to another
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That continues to grow as its passed along
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A cultivated power
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That allows you, a Broken Soul
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To Save those in need of a Hero
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The Truth behind your Strength
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The Gift granted by Your Hero
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One For All
'I need One For All's power surging through me, continuously! The 5% that I can use!' Just then, it all clicked. In one instant, the red scars that formed across his skin faded and only the golden glow remained, the brightness of which only seemed to increase as it overtook his entire being. Unknown to Izuku, even his eyes are shining bright with this energy as his entire body seemed to cast a light just from the power pushing through him. Sparks flew across his skin as he struggled to contain all this power... but he did it. His hold onto One For All's power despite himself. He could feel it in him.
'I've done it.'
"Gotta say Fearless Leader, I'm really proud of you; using pancakes as a metaphor to control your Semblance, you've been learning!" Nora said with a wide smile, her grip on Magnhild tightening in anticipation as that battle lust seemed to grow within her.
"Thanks... I guess if there was one person who'd appreciate a metaphor like that, it'd be you Nora..." He said through clenched teeth, his bulging muscles straining to contain 5% of One For All as it coursed through him.
"... Hey, can you even move right now, Izuku?" Nora asked, for a moment her excitement for battle overtaken by a slight concern.
"I... I really don't know, Nora." He grunted as he tried to manage this power coursing through him.
...
"Want to find out?" He didn't even need a second to think on it.
"Yes." Judging by the grin on Nora's face, she didn't need much time to think on it either.
Especially while she was rushing him, Magnhild seeming ready for a harsh swing.
He took a deep breath as he tried to flex his muscles, in preparation for making his body move. Getting used to One For All, feeling it course throughout him, was an entirely new experience and one that he had to take a second to get used to. Well, that second was all Nora needed in order to close the distance between the pair of them and started swinging. All three looked to be right on top of him too, as Nora's wild swing was aimed for his torso and he was pretty sure, one for his legs. With a wince he willed his body to move, suspecting that it was all going to hurt a bit. He brought his arms up to parry Magnhild away, expecting the-
CLANG!
T-The... The hammer to just be bashed away from him, bouncing right off of Emerald Gust?
'Holy woah! I moved so fast!'
Well, he was used to moving fast when he was using One For All like this, but only for the short bursts necessary to get him into place. Now though, now he was powering it through his muscles at the same time, letting it soak into his bones... he wasn't just as fast as he was under the influence of One For All, he was stronger now. Heartier. More powerful. Nora seemed to be equally as taken aback by his quick movement and the apparent ease with which he pushed Magnhild off in tandem with Emerald Gust. Still, that just seemed to get her even more excited as the bubbly bomber took a moment to spin and go for her next swing. Again, in a burst of speed that he vaguely knew but were in no way used to he jumped out of the way, easily dodging out of the way of her hit. Nora came in for another swing and, once more, he bashed Magnhild away in a parry that just pushed the giant hammer out of the way.
It left Nora wide open!
With a shout as he felt a slight bit of pain from pushing his body using One For All, he charged in toward Nora, fists reared back as he felt himself speeding up, felt that power rushing through him! With a flurry of blows hw swung; once, twice, three times! He was faster! He'd never used One For All like that on the offense, it just had an entirely different feel to it! The first attack was spot on; Nora tried her best to duck out of the way but his fist just 'drilled' into her shoulder, the woman groaning as her Aura sparked as it absorbed as much of the blow as possible. Still, it seemed like he pressured her in just the wrong way as her hands just slipped open, allowing Magnhild to drop to the ground. his next two swings were equally on point and it seemed like Nora was off her footing from the first hit. She watched both of his fists approach and she took 'special' care to notice his second right hook, the one he was building his Smash up in. Nora took the other punch to the ribs, groaning a bit under the force of it, before the light of her Aura shined to help push her body of the way of his Smash, leaving it flying uselessly off in a random direction.
He probably should've expected that Nora, one of his teammates, would've caught on to how he used his Smash in a fight... should probably keep that in mind for the future so he didn't become too predictable in a long, drawn out fight.
Still, if the hits he got in were made Nora second guess herself, she certainly didn't show it. That bright, cheerful, excited grin stayed plainly on her face as she quickly cart wheeled around him and, in the middle of it, picked up Magnhild and took a mighty swing with that hammer. He pushed it away again with his gauntlets and, one more, he went in for the assault. His swings were true but, for the first, Nora was actually able to dodge out of the way... but only once. HIs assault and the speed of it seemed to take Nora too far off guard as she seemed unable to even use her Aura to get away from his next two attacks. With a swing of his left he landed it right in her stomach and, once more, Emerald Gust sung as it gave a mighty 'bang' into Nora's gut, causing the girl to double over. Glancing up at her Aura, Izuku saw how close she was to being down and, despite himself, he stopped concentrating a Smash into his right arm. He was trying to just have a friendly spar with Nora, not hurt her, after all.
Still, even without the Smash, the punch that rocks into Nora's ribs caused her to gasp as her Aura immediately dropped into the red, a small ringing sound signaling the end of the fight as the two of them broke off, Nora holding onto her ribs as she took some deep breaths to try and recover from it.
"... Oh my gosh, Nora? Are you okay?" Izuku asked, genuinely concerned, as One For All slowly seeped out of his body, the glow going right along with it. He didn't think he'd ever seen Nora so beaten down before, the young woman holding onto her ribs as she rubbed them lightly. Izuku watched nervously as Nora slowly stands back up to her full height and looked at him.
"That... was... AWESOME!" As Nora turned her head to look Izuku right in the eye he saw just a torrent of excitement overcoming her features as she ran up to him, wincing as she did from the sudden movements. Still, she seemed to ignore that as she just looked him over. "That was cr-aaaazy Izuku! I mean, I knew your Semblance was amazing because of the Nevermore and the Tunnels and whenever you used it in your fight with Yang but, jeez, I could've only guessed that you'd be able to pull something off like this when you actually got your hands around it! Like, you were moving so fast like, zip, zoom, zop and there was like, lightning following you around, sparking and zapping around your body as your threw your punches and you were glowing too! I mean, like glowing glowing, like how Yang glows when she activates her Semblance, except without all the crazy fire stuff but with more lightning which 'instantly' makes it a lot cooler if you ask me!" For a moment he was overwhelmed by Nora's enthusiasm but, in the end, it ended up rubbing off on him as he just smiled, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.
"Hah... thanks Nora, I appreciate it... yeah, it was pretty amazing. I didn't even know if I could use O-my Semblance like that. I thought maybe for a moment that I'd burst at the seems... but jeez, I felt really strong." Izuku said with a grin, as Nora just nodded.
"You looked really strong too! I bet that 6 pack we all saw on our first night here turned into an eight pack! 9.0 out of Ren material right there, Izuku." ... Izuku still had absolutely no idea what that meant, but he still took it as a compliment. "So, whatcha gonna call it?"
...
"Huh?"
"Well duh, Izuku!" Nora rapped him on the head for a moment, causing him to wince at how inadvertently strong she made the hit, before she grinned at him like a madwoman possessed. "It 'obviously' has to have some kind of a name! I mean, it's not your Semblance so you don't have to make it something like 'Glyph' or 'Polarity'... though if you made it something cool like mine-"
"Nora you just call your Semblance 'I Eat Lightning'-"
"-Which is 'very' cool Izuku, that'd be nice. But this is, like, some kind of technique or something right? So you get to call it something really neato like your other Smash thingies! So come on Fearless Leader, don't leave me hanging, what are you thinking of for a name for this baby?"
'... A name huh? I suppose that it is up to me to come up with a name for this; this wasn't something Toshinori handed down or passed to me,' though he suspected that whatever this new power was, it had more to do with him mastering One For All than it had to do with any kind of 'technique' or something special. 'Still... it is unique to me. I found this out, I managed to do it. All with Nora's help, of course, her words being the burst of inspiration I needed in order to cross the threshold that has kept me from figuring this out for so long. It was my expression of control over One For All, how I use my Semblance going forward, at least for the foreseeable future…'
'It is mine. So it is my responsibility to name it…'
'Still, what should I call it?'
"Well... I mean... I guess if I had to pick a name right on the spot I'd call it something like "Full Cowl?" The energy covered the entirety of his body, cloaking him like some kind of cowl. It was a pretty simple name but he thought-
"Alright, that sounds really cool!" -and apparently Nora thought that it was a pretty cool so hey, he'd take it! Nora just grinned and jumped up, seeming ready to keep going...right up until she nearly folded in on the side he'd last struck her ribs. "Woah..." He quickly reached out and grabbed Nora, the orange haired bomber chuckling a little as she gave a quick sigh. "Alright, that was a fight. You kind of beat the crap out of me there Fearless Leader. Good work!" He was conflicted as Nora gave him a thumbs up, but he quickly shot one back at her. Honestly he really hadn't seen her like that too often which, given it was Nora, was no surprise; she didn't exactly lose fights often.
"You look like you could use some pancakes."
"Gods that sounds great right about now. Can we?" Izuku chuckled a little as he waited for Nora to get firmly back on her feet.
"Of course, I really don't say no that often do I?" Nora laughed and quickly tousled the top of his hair.
"Nope, and that's why you're the best leader out of everyone we know... don't tell Tenya though, I don't think he'll ever let me ride on his shoulders again if he heard that." Izuku laughed a little as the two of them headed out of the arena, Nora keeping a hand to her ribs as he just nodded.
"I doubt he'd be that petty but sure Nora, I promise." Izuku wouldn't have said no in any case, even though he knew for a fact that Tenya wouldn't be that petty. He was just in too good of a mood and, in part, it really was all thanks to Nora. As he gazed forward, his heart couldn't help but swell right along with his thoughts as they imagined the future.
One For All: Full Cowl. His next step in mastering his Semblance.
E/N: A little bit short for my tastes, but the rest of this phase just doesn't have enough gravitas? weight? to go with getting Full Cowl. Though I might be giving it too much emotional weight. "The pancake on the stove... IS ME!", and all...
-Shovern.