Vigorous Vitality

by NewMystery356

Second chances are a rarity in this world, but at Yuuei High School, you get Three. Follow the story of an unlikely aspirant hero as he puts it all on the line to get his name out there and cement his future as an amazing hero. [ In Loving Memory of Stan Lee: December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018 ] Go Beyond! EXCELSIOR!

49. Growing Pains

In response to LoamyCoffee's commentary, I always felt like Mutant-Type Quirks didn't get enough representation on this site, at least compared to Emitter and Transformation-Type Quirks, which is why I put such effort into the biology of Genki's Quirk. And sure, we delve into "pseudo-science" territory with the Quirk Amplification Device, but I feel like that goes under-utilized as well. It helps that the Movie is Canon to the series as well. Having Knuckleduster around Tiger and them being besties has also been a lot of fun to write for, and that'd have only been possible after writing Koichi back into the story; even this far in the manga, it seems like Koichi isn't going to make an appearance, though if America is well and truly imploding like in Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, that's one reason to "validate" Koichi being a no-show even though all the tools are there…!
As for Genki's new look, with the looks of Suiryu from One-Punch Man with a little Tommyrod from Toriko thrown into the mix, I feel like this will let Genki be "his best self". When a Quirk "Awakens", Emitter-Types tend to get flashier and more pliable, like Devil Fruit powers from One Piece, but I always felt like those with Mutant-Type Quirks would go a little more extreme. Genki being half-arthropod with Ideo Trigger and the QAD thrown on top really helps tie the whole thing together.

(Guest): Any chance you could have Genki keep the original design for his hero suit? It just looks so cool and practical. Not to mention it could symbolize Genki's desire to remain humble.

Re: Genki's new design is up in the air, but I feel like a slight re-brand would be better for his career. Also, his "desire to remain humble" was more what other people wanted for him; one part is because of his slightly effeminate features, but another is, in the world of MHA, those with Mutant-Type Quirks are rarely elevated in a purely positive light.
Gang Orca for example is the "No.3 Hero Who Looks Like a Villain", but he's actually a big softie who loves kids, yet certain morphologies get "typecast". Mirko by comparison is elevated as some kind of sex object; something the savvier authors on this site are willing to acknowledge in their stories' social commentary. Bakugou on the other hand looks positively "normal", but his personality is garbage, yet people still lift him up because in the world of MHA, people are just "that shallow".

In response to Fic Writer From Texas… Yeah, Genki turning into a "Ten out of Ten" is kinda like what happened to Steve Rogers when he got Erksine's formula. I wasn't thinking that at the time, but it tracks.
As for his love life turning into more of a romantic comedy, while he is the "Nice Guy" sorta character who stars in Harem Anime, at the very least he has more dimension, flaws, and actual motivating factors. When it came to Pixie-Bob, I could just definitely imagine the rest of the Pussycats being worried about her legitimately kidnapping someone for her sex dungeon; and yeah, since none of them actually saw Genki crawl out of his cocoon, and their Inn is on private land, they're more-likely to think that it isn't Genki but someone completely new.
When you hear hoofbeats, you sooner think "horses" than "zebras".
Also, love how your takeaway was about Ochako not being one to pass up "a free meal", as opposed to Genki using a "Rider Kick" IRL.

As for OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla, love getting your lengthy Reviews.
And yeah, admittedly, I'm growing more-fond of Toru as a pairing as well. Him turning into a "Ten out of Ten" simply makes the Harem Route more feasible in this setting; and as a guy who's been a long-time fan of Toriko, yeah, giving him Tommyrod's eyes was too good to pass up. Though admittedly, him being able to see Toru in this way, was actually inspired by a scene from Chapter 5 of Reality Viewing: Naruto the Quirky Villain by Curious Kitsune654, where Mirko (and Tsuyu) expressed that she actually could see Toru enough to fix her hair, because certain morphologies have a wider spectrum of vision than baseline Humans.

But anyway, back to the show!

*MHA*

The following morning, the third day of their Training Camp, began much like the previous day had, only with the added caveat that Genki was in attendance from the very beginning, topping his tank with bread rolls for a full day of Quirk Reinforcement.

What was not expected however, was…

"Oguro… Why the hell am I wearing this?" Genki groaned dejectedly at the black speedo trunks he was being made to wear.

That and literally nothing else, leaving little to the imagination.

"You need to get comfortable in your own skin. Literally," Iwao hummed before tapping a foot on the ground. "Not to mention… we gotta build your calluses back up. After your metamorphosis, your skin's all as smooth as a baby's bottom; fresh from the factory floor."

"Still though…" Genki said feeling eyes on him; and not because of some kind of disgust. "Seriously, is there something in the water that makes girls around here crazy or what?"

"That's debatable," Aizawa huffed causing Pixie-Bob to pout.

Secretly, he was a little disappointed that Genki wouldn't become an Underground Hero like him, but it only made sense to use the gifts you were given, or the gifts you grew into, to the best of your ability to save the most people possible.

Obviously, he'd never admit as such out loud.

"Another thing," Iwao hummed. "Your dad had raw speed and power, but your mom had that and charisma; a charisma so-strong that when she retired to become a mother, there were more people happy for her about that than they were happy she wasn't around to compete against them on the Billboard. To train up to this charisma, I want you to go around to every girl here and say something nice about them. Now that you're cut like a Greek statue, bug Quirk or not, that stigma shouldn't hold you back any longer. 'Normies' are pretty shallow that way."

"What about Tiger?"

"Tiger's a transgender man, not an okama."

"But then why the skirt?"

"Didn't ask."

"I like the breeze between my thighs."

"Um… Thanks for clarifying…" Genki admitted awkwardly at the man's gruff tone.

Understandably, it was easy to mix up a tranny and a cross-dresser.

"There's another reason for this, of course," Vlad King hummed as he came forward. "What happened to Pop✫Step, I don't want happening to any of the girls in mine or Eraser's class, so this whole… thing," he said gesturing to Genki's attractive muscular frame. "They'll need to get inured to it, otherwise one of them might fall prey to a 'teaser' in the future."

"Like, a legitimate teaser?"

"It isn't only female Villains who can use their wiles to get inside a person's head. There are men with similar powers to Midnight's; they're a bit niche, but they're out there, and a young heroine falling prey to the one is a career-ender while men get a 'pass'. Just another double-standard of the industry…"

"Huh. You've put a lot of thought into validating why I'm in a speedo…" Genki deadpanned. "Can't I just wear short pants? This thing's practically painted on."

"On the off-chance you opt to wear a full-body catsuit like All Might's, you'll want a little experience beforehand," Iwao shrugged.

"Admittedly, not everyone can handle spandex, but you might be able to," Vlad King hummed thoughtfully.

"Not to mention, skin-tight suits are an industry standard for speed-types like us," Iwao added as an after-thought. "If you do go for it, I recommend corn starch, heavy at the joints."

"Fine, so… When should I do this?"

"Just hit the girls up for a chat whenever they're starting to look tired," Iwao said handing over a slightly bulky wearable speaker. "Also, you'll be wearing this when you aren't chatting it up."

"What is it?"

"It's a multi-speaker I had Hatsume whip up the other night with parts Momo made," the former Vigilante answered. "This'll train up your ability to ration oxygen in response to external stimuli."

Genki nodded, since this was a story he'd learned a bit before going to Yuuei.

About how the bio-engineered "Infiltrator" that a certain Villain had made was given the Quirk stolen from O'Clock, and how the only way to slow him down was to force his brain to starve itself of oxygen by giving it more than it could handle. The average brain at-standing used up 20% of the body's oxygen, a percentile that went up the more it was being used for, so obviously a "Speedster" would have to train this up as well, otherwise their "bandwidth" could get overwhelmed. Some speedsters when presented with too much to do would just freeze up at a crucial moment, hence why the best way to take one down, Hero or Villain, was to simply give them "so-much to worry about" that something would get to them.

Even if it came after ninety-nine misses, you could still win against a Speedster with one good shot.

"Pixie-Bob whipped up a course for you and Iida to use, so get running. I'll leave your little 'play dates' to your own discretion," Aizawa waved off.

The only reason he'd signed off on something so-convoluted, was because it was only rational to train up a young heroine to resist the temptation of the opposite gender when they were just students. That Rokuro Nomura had outright "remodeled" his face to resemble Koichi's when targeting Kazuho to make her an Instant Vilain, was just a sign that some Villains out there were diabolical enough if they had a target in mind.

And honestly, the fact that a Nomu could actually pass itself off as human enough to get a Hero License was frightening in of itself, but that was likely to remain classified for another few decades.

*MHA*

"Genki, how is the new body treating you?" Iida inquired as he and Genki ran a ring around the training ground, which had been made by Pixie-Bob moving all of the shrubbery out of the way as opposed to just uprooting it all.

In terms of circumference, it was the same 400 meter track as the Obstacle Race from the Sports Festival.

"It was a little awkward at first, but I'm getting used to it," Genki admitted as he ran apace with Iida, suppressing the wince whenever he stepped on a pebble. "What about you? What're you doing?"

"Just practicing up-shifting and down-shifting between 'gears'," Iida answered, his speed having fluctuated as he and Genki ran laps.

"By the way… what's with the satchel?" Genki asked pointing at the shoulder bag at Iida's side, which doubled as a cooler, while on his back was a large hydration pack with orange fluid drawn up the spout.

"Well, Oguro-san was disappointed that I never branched out from orange juice after finding out it best-fueled my Quirk. So right now, I'm just cycling through all of the juice boxes in Japan and listing down what does or doesn't work for me."

"Ah, that's right, orange juice is your premium, but grape cola gums up your engines, right?"

"Hm. Indeed. He also theorized that there might be something my engines can take in like Nitrous Oxide, which would give me a speed boost separate from my Recipro Burst."

"Isn't Nitrous bad for engines though?"

"Only if used in excess. Recipro Burst on the other hand causes my [Engines] to stall entirely, so I can understand his concern," Iida admitted. "What about you? Have your dietary preferences changed?"

"Honestly, I just ate whatever was put in front of me. I was never picky," Genki shrugged. "Of course, slamming an entire buffet line… Not one of my proudest moments," he said scratching his cheek, pausing when he realized it wasn't the same cheekbone as before.

"Hm. It was startling, true, but I would think the change is worth it. Your stride is longer, and you've obviously grown in power, so you'll be able to save more people."

"Yeah… But hopefully I can get used to the face I see in the mirror. Last time I looked in one I punched it out in a panic."

"Before or after Pixie-Bob started chasing you?"

"Before, back when I was hunting for clothes," Genki said rubbing his head. "I don't even remember crawling into the basement to metamorphose, I just… blanked after raiding the pantry."

"It was a startling transformation, I admit, but I would think your ambition would only benefit from this change," Iida replied. "Though hopefully, our female peers will be able to comport themselves in the future. I'm still unsure what to feel about you being sent to intentionally distract them."

"Yeah, well, the week's still young," Genki said, wincing as he hopped in place from a rock that poked into his heel. "Geez, these things are baby soft…" he grumbled.

"You trained in barefoot running?" Iida asked raising a brow.

"You steal a speedster's shoes, and it's the same as grounding an airplane. Or are you confident you can run this track barefoot?"

"As a matter of fact, I am not."

"Which was Oguro's point exactly."

*MHA*

"Mina. I brought you some water."

"O-Oh! G-Genki-sama!" the pinkette squawked as she whirled away from her boulder, now fitted with a thick metal plate.

"Just 'Genki' is fine…" the whitette said holding out the bottle, Mina thirstily guzzling it down before finding the ends of her shoes infinitely fascinating.

"So um… Do the carpets match the drapes?" Mina blurted, her face darkening to fuchsia as soon as the words left her mouth.

"I'll… just pretend you didn't ask that."

"S-S-Sorry! I don't know what came over me!"

"Might be pheromones. I gave Mei a couple of sweat rags after my morning run, so she should have something in a couple hours…" Genki sighed, hoping he wasn't 'putting out' as one of his aunties might put it. "So, moving up to metal, huh?"

"Ah, oh, yeah. Just… mixing it up, you know?" Mina hummed. "Yaomomo's been really good about it, by the way. I never knew she could make so much… stuff," she said looking over to where Iwao was supervising Momo's training, a growing pile of odds and ends off to the side consisting of everything she knew how to make, and some she didn't.

"I know. It's amazing, isn't it?" Genki asked, a bit of awe in his voice. "She trains herself up enough, someday people might call her 'The Creation Hero: She Can do Anything.'"

"Yeah, that would be a pretty neat slogan…" Mina huffed begrudgingly, her eyes turning back to the hand-shaped indents in her metal plate, and then to her flaking palms. "So, um… You enjoying the new body?"

"I'll grow into it," Genki replied. "Um, what about you?"

"Full disclosure?" she asked bashfully.

"Go ahead."

"I wanna have your babies…" she blushed purple.

"Oh god, I am putting out pheromones…"

"Wouldn't those only work on other arthropods. Like that guy?" she asked pointing to Kamakiri, who at the moment was slashing at Tsuburaba's [Solid Air] alongside Kaibara and Tetsutetsu.

"That… actually makes more sense than general-purpose pheromones," Genki admitted with a thoughtful nod. "That actually takes a load off my mind. Thanks!"

"Anytime!" Mina grinned. "And if things don't work out with Tsu, wanna go out?"

"Aren't you and Kirishima a thing?"

"Honestly, I think he's low-key into Bakugou."

"Hate to break it to the guy, but Bakugou's only love is the guy in the mirror."

"Hah! Yeah, I can see that."

"YOU WANNA SAY SOMETHING, SAY IT TO MY FACE, RACOON EYES! BUG BOY!"

"Geez, how can he even hear that?" the pinkette grumbled as Bakugou raged at her between towering explosions.

*MHA*

"Ibara, how is the day finding you?"

"I am doing well," the [Vine] user nodded as she retracted burnt tendrils from Todoroki's training ground.

"What, um… What're you doing here?" Genki asked as she cut the burnt ends with a machete.

"I am attempting to raise my [Vine]s' resistance to thermal attacks," the 'vinette' admitted. "Principal Nezu speculated I might be able to do so if I intermingle such attempts with my general Quirk Reinforcement. If not an 'Awakening', I might be able to make my Quirk 'Evolve' to deal with personal rigors. Like how Haimawari-sensei's Quirk continued to change and grow as he did different stuff with it and fought countless Quirk and morphological varieties."

"Isn't that painful?" Genki asked thinking about hands and stovetops.

"It is, but if I am to become an exemplary Hero, I can't shy away from a small amount of suffering."

"I… wouldn't call any of this 'a small amount of'…" Genki said looking at the agonized faces of his peers.

"Suffering in amounts is all subjective," Ibara returned. " . . . Genki-sama?"

"Just 'Genki'."

"Genki… I wish to confess something to you."

"I'm not a priest. Also, I don't think we ascribe to the same religion."

"And just what… alternate form of worship do you indulge?" she asked as a delicate eyebrow twitched.

"I want to say 'pan-denominational Buddhist', but honestly, I just do my best to be a morally-upstanding person."

"I see… Though the gods we worship may appear different, it is not wrong to want to be a good person, regardless of faith," the vinette hummed.

"Glad to hear you feel that way. Mutants and certain form of religion have had a somewhat… storied history."

"Even men of the cloth can deceive themselves into thinking they carry out God's word."

"That's one word for it," Genki hummed. "So what was it you wanted to 'confess' to me?"

"Though an honest union between us is never to be, I yet still had the temerity to envision you in a somewhat… compromising nature, as I slept last night."

"Shiozaki… I don't think your faith actually necessitates you apologize to the subject of whatever 'naughty dreams' you might have. Isn't the point of this whole 'Jesus' thing that you give all of your problems to him? Heck, if not your god, couldn't you talk to Midnight about this, or one of the other lady Heroes on-site?"

"I felt the need to apologize directly because I've never had dreams of that nature before, about anyone. Admittedly, giving my problems to God or even to Midnight would be the ideal solution, but the… ahem… temptation I… uh… faced…" she said staring at his pectoral and abdominal muscles for a lingering number of moments, "I feel like that's one of God's own trails for me. 'God moves in a mysterious way.'"

"I'm honestly on the fence about this whole 'thing' that Mei is trying to sell me on. I mean, sure, back before I got my 'upgrade' I never thought more than one girl would be into me, let alone the 'just one', but having this many girls express an interest in me, even if it's only for my body… I'll definitely need to think on this before coming to any sort of decision."

"Well, if you ever need anyone to lay your burdens on, if not God, I'm always willing to lend my fellow man whatever aid I can provide."

"I'll keep that in mind. Try not to burn yourself up too badly," Genki said as he got up from his seat.

"Your concern is much appreciated," Shiozaki answered, staring longingly at Genki's 'perfect ass' as he departed before the latest blast of Todoroki's [Hellflame] brought her back to reality.

*MHA*

"The Anarchist Cookbook?" Genki blinked as he leafed through Momo's reference material.

"It's all old tech, but that I can 'make it at home' actually makes it quite conducive for my Quirk," Momo answered as she made the components for a breacher charge, Pixie-Bob creating an earthen wall which Momo placed it against before three more walls formed to surround it. A *BOOM!* sounding, the three secondary walls came down revealing a gaping hole in the primary. "Oguro-san did say that if there isn't a way out, you make one."

"Oh yeah, he taught me that one too," Genki hummed as he examined the hole. "Just how much stuff can you make?"

"Honestly, I think by the time this training camp is over, I'll need a bigger Yaoyorictionary," the heiress hummed to herself as she compiled further notes. "Although… perhaps I should go digital…"

"Never too early to learn something new," Genki nodded. "Though admittedly, pen on paper isn't vulnerable to EMPs or wireless hacking."

"Is that why you have so many Super Moves?" she inquired curiously.

"Well, that's the upside of having a Mutant-type Quirk; lots of smaller 'sub-Quirks' to stack on top of one another," Genki hummed. "Gang Orca and Present Mic both have sonic attacks, but Gang Orca has superior strength, swimming speed, durability, endurance, and so-on. Not that an Emitter like yours falls behind. Given enough prep time, you could probably fight anyone; like how the non-powered fictional Heroes used to do it."

"Hm. Indeed," she hummed thoughtfully. " . . . Do you think someone without a Quirk could be a Hero as long as they had the right Support Items?"

"Up to a point," Genki shrugged. "After said point, the Support Items needed to stop higher tier Villains would become so-prohibitively-expensive, it'd be cheaper to call in a Quirk user."

"Hm, yes, that makes sense," Momo admitted as she looked at the pile of 'stuff' she'd been making all day. "I guess I really do take it for granted how much money I come from."

"I mean, after a point the exact number starts to lose its meaning," Genki shrugged. "Not that I've ever actually touched my family's money. Most of what my parents actually make after costs and overhead go back into the company."

"You know, I actually read up on the history of the Idol industry after you transferred into our class. Things… were not very humane for Idols back then, were they?"

"No, they were not. In fact, most of them were treated worse than Mutants are treated today."

"Except you never really looked like one. Not apart from…" she said leaning over to eye his muscular back.

"When it comes to bigotry, even the smallest deviation from 'the norm' is 'enough'. It's why the Creature Rejection Cult has been a thing for hundreds of years; they just changed their name once Quirks first appeared."

"They're still around?" Momo blinked incredulously. "I thought they were the fossils of a bygone era."

"Bigotry never disappears. They've lost most of their influence, and they can't perpetrate hate crimes out in the open without Heroes coming down on them because Heteromorphs are part of the Hero industry. There was already a 'Civil War' over it as well, but that bigotry still remains out in the countryside," Genki said shaking his head before pointing upward. "You see over there?"

"Shoji? What about him?" Momo blinked as she watched him and Hagakure training against one another.

"Maybe it's just a fashion choice and I'm completely off-base… but the over/under is still fairly even that he was discriminated against and he's been hiding some very bad facial scarring. That sort of lynch mob mentality is pretty common out in the countryside away from the major population centers," Genki summarized. "Back before he made it big, my dad would take the less-glamorous job of rescuing Heteromorphs from places like that. Because he looks like a Homo Erectus, as long as he kept his wings and antennae hidden, he could hide in plain sight until the time to act came."

"But if Shoji was really injured like that, why not draw attention to the issue? Why not tell a teacher, at the very least? I'm sure All Might would-"

"Like I said, the over/under is fairly even that it's either to hide facial scarring, or its purely a cosmetic choice," Genki shrugged. "But on the chance that he's hiding his facial scarring, he might just be a Conservative who doesn't want to rock the boat; that he wants to 'wait it out'. Of course, the biggest flaw in that ideology is, sunlight doesn't 'sterilize' hate. When the other guy has their boot on your neck, they aren't going to let up if you wait long-enough and ask nicely. It's why figures like Marin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Ghandi, and so-many others had to fight for the freedom of their peoples; because no-one else would. Because if no-one fought, nothing would ever change."

"Should… Should one of us say something?"

"No. If he wants to lay down and show is belly to some old fossils, that's on him. But if I see an injustice from guys like that, and he tries to stop me…" he said clenching his fist as he looked down into it. "It doesn't matter what I look like. I'm a Heteromorph, a 'Mutant', and I'm not ashamed of who I am."

"That's a lovely sentiment," Momo nodded.

"Thank you… Sorry I turned our talk into such a downer, though."

"No, no, please, no need to apologize. Honestly, it was all very informative," Momo said waving her hands. "If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you. I'm sure my ignorance was probably very offensive."

"I don't hold it against you. You grew up in a loving home, surrounded by money whose exact value has lost all meaning. I'd have to be pretty petty to hold that against you."

"Hm. Still though, if you ever want to go after people like that, if you ever need anything…"

"Well, I'm not gonna go after the CRC right away, but as long as you're offering…~"

*MHA*

"That's an amazing Quirk you've trained up. You'll make an incredible Hero one day."

"Umu," the taciturn girl nodded, a light dusting on her cheeks as she looked at Genki's body.

"Is this body really that great?" Genki asked looking at himself. "If beauty is in the eye of the 'beholder', maybe I'm just colorblind?"

Yui in turn just shrugged her shoulders, going back to her Quirk Reinforcement, using a measuring tape every once in a while when she thought she reached a certain milestone on the metal drum she was working with.

"That Quirk of yours, it's actually really similar to one a senpai of mine from the Edgeshot Agency has," Genki said holding out a small canvass bag to her. "So, I asked Momo to make these for you. Thought they might come in handy for your kit."

"Oh?" the stoic girl blinked as she took the proffered gift, loosening the drawstring and coming up with a handful of nails, bolts, a piece of tubing, and other miscellaneous metal fittings.

"They're made of tungsten, super-tough, super-high melting point. The guy from the agency I went to, he could chuck nails like darts and make them as big as a flagpole before they hit anything, and because they lost none of their speed he could take out a wall like an artillery piece," Genki continued. "If I still have any pull with Edgeshot the next time we do work studies, would you… like me to put in a good word for you?"

"Y-Yes!" Yui nodded with glittering eyes. "Th-Thank you."

"No problem. Even if we're in different classes, we're still comrades," Genki nodded. " . . . Well, I should probably get going. I think Vlad-sensei wants me to move along."

The teen getting up, before Genki could leave however, Yui tugged on a finger. The whitette looking down, saw Yui beckoning him closer with her hand. The Mutant stooping down to where she sat, she beckoned him closer still, the teen leaning in so she could whisper into his ear.

The next moment to his surprise she pecked him on the cheek, his cheeks going atomic red as he jerked back, Yui sporting her own blush before she turned away from her teacher and went back to her work, practicing with one of the tungsten nails Genki had "commissioned" for her, growing it to the size of a spear and back again.

*MHA*

When it came to chatting up Ochako, Genki couldn't have picked a better time. Why?

Because by the time his attention turned to her, the brunette was frantically scrambling to get out of her hamster ball before she blew chunks.

*Bleeeegh*

"There, there. Let it out. Just let it all out," Genki soothed as he held her hair out of her face, zipping the girl over to the bushes where no-one could see her hurl.

"Th… Thank you…" Ochako groaned, a gratified sigh leaving her as Genki zipped back over with a bottle of water so she could wash out the taste of her own sick. "So, how're you holding up?"

"I'm a little unused to all the positive attention I'm getting, but Iwao and the others are right. I need to get used to my own skin. As for the other thing…" he trailed off. "Honestly, unless you know the whole thing with Kazuho, Rokuro, and Koichi in-depth, the other thing might fly over your heads."

"Is it 'cause most-all the girls were eye-banging you yesterday?" the brunette deadpanned, still looking too damn cute for her own good.

"Oh, so you do get it; never mind," Genki hummed.

"I mean, I was more 'shocked' than 'distracted', but they are right. Guys aren't the only ones that lose IQ points when a hot piece of arm candy's around; we just hide it better," Ochako summarized. "Not that there aren't exceptions."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I think Shiozaki's gotten over me, so there's that," Genki nodded. "How's your training going?"

"I've been working on my 'uptime', and when it's too much… like right now…" she flushed embarrassingly, "I try to raise my weight limit and duration," she said gesturing to a clearing with large bounders with weight values spray painted on the sides. "Uuugh… Breakfast was so good this morning too."

"Wait here, I'll be right back," Genki said as he zipped off, only catching pebbles to his newly re-tendered areas a few times before he came back with another bottle of water and some bread rolls. "So… Honest opinion… How do I look?"

"Like that speedo is painted on."

"Apart from the speedo."

"Honestly? You kinda look like Mirko's cousin. Even have the red eyes."

"Yeah, these're taking some getting-used-to," he said looking up from behind his shades, eyes squinting before he put them back. "But yeah, I have some idea of how compound-eyes are supposed to work. My dad used a similar ability to fight this Hair Villain whose Quirk could also melt things."

"Yikes. Talk about a bad hair day."

"Hm. Quite," Genki nodded. "You uh… You want me to hit some of those pressure points from you?"

"If you wouldn't mind," she said turning away from him and exposing her neck as she ate.

*MHA*

"Komori-chan, how's your training going?"

"G-G-G-Genki-sama!?" the brunette squeaked, her eyes darting over his body behind her bob cut.

"Just 'Genki' is fine, and you don't need to call me 'sama'. Also, the speedo wasn't my idea so I apologize in advance."

"I-I-I don't mind! Not at all, 'noko!" Kinoko blushed, looking around to the mushroom-filled forest around her from where she was trying for volume. "So um… This is my Quirk."

"Very cool. They edible?"

"N-Not really. They die after two or three hours, although I am working on that, 'noko," she said holding up her phone to show a live feed of a mushroom-covered log with a running timer set in front of it.

"Well, if you ever need a taste-tester, give me a ring. I love mushrooms."

"Y-Y-Y-You do?!" she squeaked going red in the face.

"Of course. There's so many health benefits and so-many varieties, they can go with just about anything," Genki nodded.

"I-I make a mean mushroom h-hotpot or p-pasta if you're interested, 'noko."

"That sounds lovely," Genki nodded. "So, Mei-chan tells me you want to become an idol?"

"H-Hai! B-but I didn't have the courage to go to an idol agency right away, so I tried for Yuuei."

"Oh? How'd you get past the robots?"

"I launched spores into their exhaust vents and made them overheat, 'noko!" she nodded proudly.

"Very cool. Very cool," Genki nodded giving the girl a thumbs-up, the tiny brunette preening.

"Mm. I'm glad Yuuei let me bring my spray bottles, otherwise I might not've done so well. N-N-Not that there's anything wrong with not doing well! 'Noko!" she backtracked.

"It's fine. I just got a bad matchup where Rescue Points were concerned," Genki waved off. "Plus, my comeback at the Sports Festival did make for a great story. Normies are suckers for underdogs."

"Y-Yeah. I was really inspired, 'noko," the girl nodded. "A-Ah geez, my tic!"

"Hey, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. If anything, I think it's really cute," he smiled, steam coming off Kinoko's face. "Plus, you're not the first idol make herself extra-cute with a verbal tic. I think there was this water-throwing idol who added 'mizuru~' to her sentences. Of course, with all the cat-girls that add 'nyan' or 'nya' to their sentences, it gets a little old after a while, so I love the creativity with yours."

"O-Oh! Well, I'm glad you like it, 'noko~" she nodded, cheeks reddening.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay? You're a little red in the face," he said squatting to eye level.

"I-I-I-I'm fine! Really! I'm just…! I'm not really used to cute boys just… coming up and talking to me, 'noko…"

"Really? But you're adorable. If anything, you should've been beating guys back with a ten-foot pole."

"Oh if only… Honestly, I was a bit of a wallflower," the brunette slumped. "N-Not that there was anything wrong with the way you looked before! Though… Can I be honest with you?"

"Of course."

"Y-You look much cooler now," she admitted with a blush. "I'd definitelyput posters of you in my bedroom, 'noko!"

"Well, thank you for the compliment," Genki smiled. "You know, I never really got to see you or your class in-costume."

"O-Oh, well, when we get back, would you like a… p-private showing? In the ring! Th-That's what I meant, 'noko!"

"Before or after the hotpot?" Genki offered in turn.

"W-W-Well… Let's try to get through the week first," she asked holding out her phone. "W-Wanna swap numbers?"

"Of course," Genki nodded. "Honestly, I don't see why our classes have to be bitter enemies."

"W-Well, it's only Monoma and whoever he can rile up," Kinoko nodded. "That whole beef/pork thing was a little ridiculous."

"I know, right?"

*MHA*

"Hey Genki! Get over here!" Oguro shouted.

"Yes?"

"Iida finally found his NOS, so you two're gonna have a little footrace."

"Really? Iida, that's great! What is it?"

"Habanero-Durian…" the glasses-wearing teen groaned, looking a little green in the face.

"Really? That's a thing?" Genki blinked.

"Pepper-Mango flavor also works, but it doesn't really have the same kick," Oguro shrugged.

"Can I at least wear shoes for this?"

"Do you have shoes?"

"Well…" Genki said looking down at his slightly larger feet.

"GENKI!" Momo called out, she and Mei coming over with a rolled piece of paper in the latter's hands. "If you're going to race against Iida seriously… could you hold off for a few moments?"

"You're going to make me shoes?"

"I've had some practice, but Mei's asking me to make them with materials I'm unused-to in this application."

"Fine, go ahead," Oguro waved off. "Iida won't learn his lesson if you aren't at your best."

"My lesson?" Iida asked with a hand-chop.

"These shoes aren't going to explode, are they?" Genki asked.

"I'm more than 80% sure!" Mei grinned.

" . . . Eh. I'll take it," Genki sighed as he brushed some of the caked dirt from his soles.

*MHA*

"How do they fit? I can make them again if they're tight in the wrong places," Momo hummed as Genki rolled his ankles.

"They're a perfect fit," Genki hummed appreciatively as he tapped his toes on the ground, his feet, freshly-washed, now clad in sleek, ankle-high crimson sneakers with lateral silver and gold accents like from her own costume. "Can I at least get some pants?"

"Why? You're way more aerodynamic like this~" Mei purred with a pair of ear plugs up her nostrils.

"I do not envy you," Iida hummed patting his shoulder.

"You full-up on Habanero-Durian?" Genki quipped back.

"To my immense regret," Iida said making a face.

"Real life doesn't have starting blocks, so you won't have any here," Oguro hummed as he gestured to the starting point of the racetrack. "The race is one lap around the track, you go on green," he said pointing to a box with three inert starting lights whose parts Momo had created, Mei had assembled, and the Pussycats had strung over the track. "You both ready?"

"Ready," Genki nodded.

"Of course!" Iida returned with an arm chop.

"Then get in your starting positions," Oguro hummed, Aizawa and Khan staring at a tablet with two trackers for Genki and Iida pinging at the starting point.

*Beep*

*Beep*

*Beep*

*PING!*

Cue My Hero Academia OST – Trinity / Sanmittai

The three red lights changing to green, while Genki's start kicked up a plume of smoke, Iida was significantly slower.

And yet, that was where his new reserve of "Nitrous" came into play.

"NITROUS BURST!" Iida shouted as his Habanero-Durian 'Nitrous' mixed with his Orange Juice 'Fuel' inside the chambers of his [Engine], letting him achieve his maximum horsepower in an instant.

His new Super Mover let him match pace with his peer before he could round the proverbial corner, but even then it wasn't enough.

Thankfully, for the remaining scion of the Ingenium dynasty, the youngest of the Iida clan had yet more to give.

"RECIPRO BURST!" he roared as his engines went into overdrive from their peak speed, allowing him to pull past his shirtless peer, but only just-so.

Back at the training ground, while Aizawa noted that Genki and Tenya's speeds both had improved, for Oguro, he felt like his former peer's kid needed a little more of a push to reach his fullest potential.

A button on Oguro's end pressed, the multi-speakers on Genki's wearable rig began chittered off additional overlapping music in an imperceptible cacophony. The elevated playspeed of the overlapping tracks, designed to target his own accelerated perception, began to further starve Genki's brain of oxygen, causing him to slow further beyond his peer.

The Heteromorph's eyes falling onto Iida's [Engine]s, an epiphany suddenly struck him.

"Total Concentration: Insect Breathing."

Genki's teeth opening up into two parallel lines, air visibly flowed into his mouth like the shaper scoop on a high-performance engine as he ran.

Inside his body, alveoli rapidly devoured the additional source of oxygen, his part-mammal/part-arthropod blood carrying the additional fuel source throughout the body. His muscles empowered after overcoming the sudden deficit of oxygen, Genki suddenly ripped past Iida, even with his Recipro Burst active, and crossed the finish line ahead of him, his [Engine] stalling moments later.

In the end, despite all of Iida's training, Genki still surpassed him.

*MHA*

"I lost… Again…!" Iida growled to himself, icing his calves a ways away from the others. "Even after I choked down all that… that… swill… I couldn't beat him!"

"To be fair, though, your Nitrous Burst helped close the gap. Just a bit."

"But in the end, I still lost," Iida said as Oguro walked up to him with a bottle of orange juice in his hand.

"Well, you could always pull out your mufflers and try again later," the ex-Vigilante replied mid-sip.

*SPURT!* "How do you-"

"Know your family's 'secret technique'?" Oguro asked making air-quotes. "Kid, I've been studying how to use, train, and take down Speed Quirks my entire adult life. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about-"

"But you're Quirkless, so how could you know about…?" Iida asked before adopting a thoughtful expression. "Wait, did you suffer from Quirk Evaporation Disorder, like what would happen sometimes in the Corporate Era? But I thought that disorder went extinct…"

"More or less," Oguro waved off, since that was more-believable than his Quirk being stolen. "I've been retired for a good while, but when things started getting ugly again, when Aizawa needed help whipping you kids into shape, I answered the call. That's why I'm here."

"I noticed Genki slowed down partway through. I take it you had something to do with that?"

"I did, but it wasn't so much to help you win as it was to make sure Genki didn't suffer from my same shortcoming," Oguro shrugged. "So… You want help ripping your mufflers out?"

" . . . No. No, I'll do it myself."

"Glad to hear it. In which case, you'll be needing this," the former Hero said tossing a blue mouthguard Iida's way. "Will you still be able to use your Quirk afterwards?"

"Just barely, but I won't be able to over-torque my [Engine]s until they grow back."

"Well, it's not like your Quirk can get stronger in the same way the others' can. You can improve the technical use of your [Engine]s, but the mechanical limits are built-in."

"Right..." Iida hummed before he found himself a seat and bit down on the mouthguard.

*MHA*

"Good race," Reiko acknowledged.

"Thanks. Happy to finally have some shoes."

"Yeah, that surprised me too."

"What, that Momo made me shoes?"

"Not the 'shoes' thing. What happened to your body."

"Ah."

"Question."

"Yes?"

"Is your person-pod still around?" Reiko asked with an excited glint in her eye.

"I'm… not sure…? Everything was kinda fuzzy until I toweled off and Pixie-Bob's 'thirst' made me run away like a small child."

"I see."

"Yeah."

" . . . Got any new powers?"

"Jury's still up if I'm secreting pheromones, but Mina pointed out that even if I were, it'd only work on other arthropod Mutants."

"Makes sense," she nodded.

The two exchanged casual niceties for several more minutes.

*MHA*

"Shoji, your dance partner around?"

"Can't you tell?" the [Dupli-Arms] user asked with a raised brow.

"I can, but I don't want her to accidentally flash me."

"Let's take five, Shoji! I had Yaomomo make me a bathrobe!" Toru called out, clad in a fluffy pink bathrobe.

And nothing else.

"Alright. I'll see you in a bit. Metaphorically," the [Dupli-Arms] user hummed as he took a small break.

"So, um…" Toru hummed as she twitted her thumbs in her lap, looking down at them before up at 'Genki 2.0', a flush spreading across her face as he looked her straight in the eye.

"You have very cute eyelashes," Genki complimented.

"Th-thank you," she squeaked, her blush deepening. "Y-you have a very nice… everything."

"Well, I guess I just come from good stock," Genki hummed as he looked himself over.

"Hey um, if it isn't too much trouble, could I…?" she asked as her eyes darted to his muscles.

"Hm? Oh! Sure," Genki nodded as he flexed his bicep for her, Toru's delicate fingers giving the bulging muscle a squeeze, an appreciative hum leaving her. "Toru. Toru, I think you're getting a little personal," he said as her hands trailed over to his pecks. "Toru, seriously, you're weirding me out," he squeaked as she continued onto his six-pack. "TORU!"

"Ah-KYAH! SORRY!" she squeaked as she leapt back like she were burned.

"I-It's fine, I just… wasn't expecting that," Genki replied, a chill going up his back as he looked over his shoulder to see Pixie-Bob staring at him hungrily. "Then again…"

"Um… About me being cute… You aren't just saying what I want to hear, are you?"

"Of course not, I really think you're super cute," Genki returned. "If I ever get better at drawing, I'll prove it to you."

" . . . I'd like that," Toru nodded after a moment, giving him a dazzling smile that only he could see.

*MHA*

"Itsuka, wanna spar?"

"Sure. But only if you put some pants on."

"He can borrow my bathrobe!" the Invisible Girl cried as she can over, discarding her fluffy bathrobe and going completely invisible once again.

" . . . Does this work?" Genki asked after a moment.

"Sure. Even if it is a little small on you," Itsuka hummed as Genki tied the sash, leaving a large vertical window of exposed pecks and abs, not unlike with Momo's own costume. "So… You used to the new body yet?" she asked getting into a stance.

"It's taking a little getting-used-to," Genki answered as he pat his chest tauntingly, Itsuka stepping forward and striking him with one of her [Big Fists] sending him skidding back.

"Well, that's certainly all muscle you're packing," Itsuka hummed thoughtfully, her eyes going wide as Genki suddenly blitzed her, the red-head holding up her hand like a riot shield only to wince as he hit one of her metacarpals with a lightning-fast jab. "Geez…! That's a mean right jab…!" she said shaking out her fist, only to yelp as she raised her other hand palm-out and weathered a barrage of powerful punches and kicks.

The red-head swinging out her free hand, Genki bent his body back into an arch, leaning under the strike before firing a rising half-moon kick into the meat of her forearm. The red-head recoiling as she shook out her just-struck hand, the next moment Genki wove into her guard and delivered a powerful double palm strike to her midsection that sent her tumbling across the ground. The red-head shaking herself off, an irritated growl left her lips as Genki casually tapped the toes of his sneakers on the ground, giving her all the time she needed to get back up.

"Don't underestimate me!" she shouted enlarging both her hands and clapping them together, the powerful *BOOM!* of the thunderclap causing everyone around them to jolt as the wave of air pressure shot at her opponent.

Genki, with his [Air Pressure Sensing] giving him plenty of forewarning, was able to weave around the mid-range projectile and blitz right up at his sparring partner. To him, his opponent was moving in slow motion, but for Itsuka, he was already on her in the time it took for her to blink. The Heteromorph using her body as a vaulting point, Mina's eyes went wide as Genki used the same Scissor Leg Takedown he'd used on her, complete with full-body throw.

The sparring match came to an end when Genki backflipped and straddled his opponent, one knee pinning her chest to the ground, one foot on her wrist, one hand on her elbow, and his fingers extended into a double eye-gouge.

"D-Did you have to use that move on me?!" Itsuka stuttered as she remembered the sight of his speedo-clad crotch in her face as his legs hooked around her head.

*MHA*

"You look ridiculous."

"Yeah, the white hair and brown skin was a bit of a shock for me too."

"Not even remotely what I was talking about," Kyoka deadpanned as the muscular speedo and bathrobe-clad teen handed her a bottle of water and an icepack for her [Earphone Jack]s. "Still, Oguro wasn't completely off base; if you don't get used to your own skin, the whole 'tall, dark, and handsome' upgrade will be wasted on you."

"You know, everyone keeps calling me words like 'hot' and 'handsome' and 'arm candy', but I just don't see it," Genki said feeling at his face.

"Oh, right, as a Mutant your perceptions would be skewed."

"You get a pass 'cause you're cute, but that isn't a word you Normies get to use."

"What, 'Mutant'?" Kyoka blinked, the teen before her narrowing his eyes. "Okay, 'Heteromorph'. Because you're a 'Heteromorph' your perceptions are skewed."

"That's better."

"Back to the main topic… Back at the Sports Festival, you basically looked like a slightly-taller gender-bent version of your mom. A little plain-looking, but very cute. Now… Now you look like your mom's peanut butter and your dad's chocolate came together to make Reese's Cups."

"Cause I'm brown?"

"No, doofus!" she chided whipping her [Earphone Jack]s at him only for him to dodge. "I mean, instead of looking like a caveman like your dad, 'cause your mom's DNA was thrown into the mix, now you look like a Greek statue."

"You mean those little things the CRC would always bandy around before carrying out hate crimes?"

"Right, I forgot about that…" the punk rock girl sighed. "Look, us 'Normies' as you call us… We're more-geared towards aesthetics than Heteromorphs are. It's why Heteromorphs are more likely to hook up with other Heteromorphs," she said thinking back to when she and the other girls swapped pictures of their parents.

That Toru's parents were completely invisible like their daughter was both shocking, and completely not.

"So I'm like… what, an SR-Tier gacha pull?"

"More like an SSR-Tier," Kyoka shrugged. "Look, I'm not saying you have to change yourself into something you're not, but now that you look like, well, this… you can be your best self and it doesn't matter what sort of bug powers you have. People… will just not really care what extra parts you come with now that you've got a pretty face."

"Well that just sounds like a double-standard."

"Believe me, the irony is not lost on me…" Kyoka sighed.

"Hey, if it means anything coming from me, I think you're an SR-Tier gacha pull too."

"Wh-What?!" she blushed with her earlobes making zig-zags.

"Yeah, you've got pretty eyes, you're self-confident, and that thing your hair does is way cool," Genki grinned making zig-zag lines across his hair.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," she said as her hands subconsciously went to her slender frame.

"I'm really not. Kyoka-chan is kawaii, and kawaii is 'Kyoka-chan'."

"D-Doofus, you're gonna have a string of heartbroken girls a mile long if you keep saying cheesy shit like that…!" the punk rock girl blushed as her earlobes gesticulated.

*MHA*

"Hey Genki-sama, if I said you made me go to pieces, would you pick me up~?" Setsuna grinned as her body went to pieces under her floating head.

"I think I'd want to help you up regardless," Genki hummed as he started laying her body parts out in an orderly fashion.

"I don't mean it literally," the lizard-like girl chuckled as she pulled herself together from her neck to her toes. "Gotta say, though, as far as upgrades go, I think you hit SSR-Tier~"

"You know, Kyoka said the exact same thing," Genki nodded.

"And if you get any hotter, we'll have to upgrade you to UR-Tier~" she grinned. "Hell, your dark skin, white hair, and red eyes might make you UR-Tier right now."

"Well, everyone does say I look a lot like Mirko, but I feel like that'd confuse our brands," Genki hummed. "I don't even know what to make my new costume like."

"Well don't cover up that pretty face. That's your money-maker right there!"

"Isn't that the exact reason Stain went on his little rampage?"

"I mean, there's nothing wrong with makin' bank if you're good at your job. Just don't turn into an 'Endeavor' and I'm sure you'll be fine~"

"Not sure how Shoto would feel about his dad being used as a noun…"

"So, your hot bod' come with any new bells and whistles?" she said sitting her lower half cross-legged, her upper half reclining in mid-air with her hands behind her head.

"I mean, apart from my compound-eyes…" he said squinting from behind his rounded shades. "I feel a little stronger overall, but I don't know if I can still 'Hulk Out' like before."

"Well, that's what the Training Camp is for, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I should probably wait until I've 'settled in'. I'm still a little sore in places; like the day after getting over a bad cramp."

"Oof, yeah, I know how you feel. First time I molted, I couldn't leave the house for days," Setsuna winced.

"You molted?"

"I am a lizard girl~" she grinned. " . . . Kinda. Don't think I'm a Heteromorph like you, but regenerating lost body parts, I can sorta understand what you're going through."

"Hm. Yeah, I noticed your Quirk as you were training. Very cool. Very flexible," he nodded appreciatively. "You up the speed to something like a beanbag round and, you could be a one-woman hurricane."

"You know, your gruncle said the exact same thing," Setsuna hummed. "Didn't really appreciate getting bean bagged with a sawed-off, but I guess it's like cops having to get tased before they get to use a taser on other people."

"Yeah, he's… something of a 'deep end first' kinda teacher," Genki said scratching his cheek.

*MHA*

"Wassup, mah mutant!" Pony greeted in English.

"What's up, my mutant!" Genki greeted in turn.

"Not much, not much! Just training! But man, it's so great having another English-speaker around! I honestly kinda scrambled in my last year of middle school to come here," she said embarrassingly.

"I mean, apart from a slight accent, your Japanese is really good," Genki hummed. "Honestly, most of what I use English for is dubbing anime openings into English to help with dress rehearsals when one of ANM48 is sick or something."

"Hey, cool beans! You should invite Kinoko out to karaoke sometime!"

"She already invited me out for hotpot, which'll probably be really good once the summer's out."

"Oh, man, I would kill for some hotpot right about now," the American hummed. "But man, you and Iida, you're like human Nascar! I almost blinked and missed it!"

"Still not completely sure why people pay to watch cars or animals go around in circles…" Genki deadpanned. "Anyway! What's your hometown like?"

"Dallas, Texas! Where everything's bigger!"

"Hm, I noticed. Those horns of yours ripped those trees a new one," Genki hummed pointing to some overturned trees with discarded horns sticking out of them. "So what made you wanna go to school in Japan?"

"My grandmama's from here and I love anime!"

"Well, I guess I can think of worse reasons to study abroad," Genki hummed. "You want, I can show you some of the best anime cafes in Shinjuku."

"Hm, okay, but make sure not to double-book. I've seen you flirting all day~ I know how that episode goes~" she grinned prettily.

"I'm not horny, I've just always been comfortable talking to the opposite sex… Of course, outside the Idol Agency, none were really comfortable talking to me until I came to Yuuei."

"Well, now you've got the best of both worlds. Smokin' hot hottie with the surfer's body, and the awesome bug powers!"

"Hey, don't sell yourself short either. You're pretty, and powerful. The golden ratio."

"Heh, keep sweet-talkin' me like that and I might fall for you for real~" she grinned.

*MHA*

"Hey there, Tsu. How're you holding up?"

"I think my tongue is cramped, kero…" Tsuyu said as she rested at the top of her rocky edifice. "What about you? Must be pretty weird getting to chat up girls all day for school credit."

"Oh, trust me, once the foundation settles, my gruncle's gonna put me through the same hell as you guys. One time when I was a kid, he dropped a car on me. My mom… was so pissed."

"Ah, that's right. It's easy to forget your family's all Pro Heroes with how laid back you are, kero," she hummed looking at Todoroki. "I'm guessing your weird uncle's retired?"

"Yeah, but now that shit's getting ugly, he's throwing his weight in just like Crawler-sensei."

"Well, as long as we have All Might, I'm sure we'll be fine, kero."

"And what about when All Might has to retire. A strong Quirk can only raise you up when you're past your prime for so long. And after Stain sunk his claws into the zeitgeist the way he did, I feel like in the future, the HPSC will want quality over quantity. That means licensing exams are going to get harder, and washouts will be thrown to the curb in greater numbers. That in turn will result in more Villains and more problems for anyone else still on the beat."

"I doubt you'll have anything to worry about. You're basically the package deal, kero."

"Maybe, but I'm not sure how to feel about people suddenly liking me for my looks."

Tsuyu's expression soured slightly, and she couldn't look him in the eye.

"Most of us don't get a choice in what we look like. Sometimes we just have to make due."

" . . . If Kyoka hadn't been wire-tapping the boy's locker room all the time, this is probably the point I'd confess my feelings," Genki returned after a moment, causing the girl to croak with wide eyes. "Sorry you got my baggage dropped on you. I wanted to wait until I was ready."

"It's fine. We should've just plugged the hole and been done with it," Tsuyu waved off.

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . "

"You gonna change up your costume?" Tsuyu asked after a long pause.

"I probably should," Genki said feeling at his cheeks. "My mom and dad… They both gave me this body, even if the waters did get muddied a little along the way. Plus…" he said fluttering his wings, "not a ton of Mutant representation in the JP Billboard."

"You really think reaching No.2 will help your dad?"

"Well, not like I'll ever reach No.1. Last time a Mutant had the No.1 slot in Japan was never."

"Harsh, but true."

"Yeah…"

*MHA*

"Genki-sama, congrats, you're clean!" Mei grinned.

"Do you mind elaborating…?"

"The chem-check on your sweat. No pheromones. At least not anything that'll work on humans!"

"I'm sorry, 'humans'?"

"Can't help ya there! Don't know squat about chem trails!"

"Yeah, that's fair," he said staring down at the complicated-looking chemistry set that Momo had spent part of the morning flash fabricating. "Guess I should meditate on that. Maybe talk to Koda, compare notes. Certainly enough bugs in these woods to try on."

"Way outta my wheel house!" Mei cackled. "So, you here to schmooze me? Well, start schmoozin'! Schmooooze me~" she purred eagerly.

" . . . Mei, you've been a very good friend to me."

"Ditto!"

"So then I know I can count on you to be honest with me."

"Yuppers!"

"So I just gotta ask…"

"Let 'er rip!"

"My costume… Keep it or sweep it?"

"Oh, definitely sweep it," Mei hummed with a hand-wave.

"Well, that was fast."

"Your whole 'Heisei Era' vibe… Only really worked because you were plain under the helmet and your mask was your selling point, but now… Now I'm thinking complete overhaul. You basically rebranded yourself with that people-pod, no way people won't notice, so way I see it, we lean. We lean RIGHT INTO THAT!" she said throwing herself at him 'til they were nose to nose, crosshair-eyes peering deeply into pupilless red, practically bowling him over and causing Pixie-Bob to hiss at her from the backdrop. "The more of your face you can expose, the better, but nothin's sayin' ya gotta go bare-faced. I'm thinkiiiiiin'… Tech Visor! Pixie-Bob's got long-range biometrics, a little low-light assistance. Figure we can get better from I-Island now that we've made some inroads and All Might isn't insider trading."

"Okay, so I let people get a look at this, keep my look photogenic," Genki hummed tracing his new brows, nose, cheeks- Basically tracing his new everything. "Costume, costume, costume… How do I let people know I'm still the same 'Devil Bug Hero'?"

"I'll brainstorm ideas," Mei hummed. "Hmmmmmm… Maybe more 'ninja vibe' than 'Kamen Rider'?"

"Well, I did get a lot of mileage out of Edgeshot's agency, soooo…" Genki mused thoughtfully as- *Click-Click-Click* "Mei, what're you doing?"

"Just getting' some pics for the algorithm," Mei said snapping high-quality pics with her phone. "Need lots of data points for the new double-sided dakimakura I'm thinkin' of selling once you get your license. Not to mention the new harem agree-"

"Oh, would you look at that, I think my name's being called," Genki said hitting the emergency eject button from that conversation.

*MHA*

"Genki, how's the new ride treating ya?" Oguro asked, the sun beginning its steady descent.

"Something I actually needed to speak to you guys about," Genki hummed awkwardly, gesturing for both him and Aizawa to follow him out of earshot. Setting his multi-speaker on the ground and putting it between them and Kyoka, angled towards her, the now-gorgeous teenager took in a deep breath before saying- "I think there's been a fundamental change in my brain chemistry."

"How fundamental we talking?" Aizawa asked, standing straighter.

"Earlier, Mei-chan and I were talking about double-sided 'Before-and-After' dakimakura and harems, and something that dawned on me only after I walked away… Her ideas don't sound 'ridiculous' to me anymore. In the back of my brain, I actually thought 'okay, cool, cool' and started seriously considering...-!"

"Kid, all teenagers dream about opposite or same-gender harems. There's nothing unusual about that," Oguro chuckled.

"No, Iwao, it was different than that…!" Genki hissed, looking over his shoulder to see if the girl with a history for wire-tapping and eavesdropping was doing just that. "Back then, I was averse to the idea, but now I'm just… not averse. And not because of my face; even now I still don't see what everyone else 'sees'."

"Therianthropic Atavism," Aizawa hummed.

"What makes you such an expert?" Vlad King asked.

"Against Heteromorphs I'm functionally Quirkless, so the best way to get into their heads when I do have to fight them is to understand what motivates them," the Erasure Hero huffed. "Where the first Heteromorphs appeared, how people responded, how they responded to that response, what grudges they hold. It's why I know that some Heteromorphs can't fight 'their nature'. It's only when they use their 'animal anatomy' as an excuse that I take exception."

"Well, cockroaches are prolific breeders," Oguro hummed, causing Genki to blush slightly. "Honestly, if you can make those girls happy, I say go for it!" he grinned slapping Genki's muscular back. "You wouldn't be the first Hero with a sisterhood of happy wives out there~"

"It's frightening that I'm not immediately shooting that idea down," Genki said as his eyes panned over the girls on the training grounds, some more than others.

"As long as you don't push any boundaries like consenting adults," Tiger hummed gruffly.

"Hey guys! Whatcha talking about?" Pixie-Bob asked eagerly.

"Nothing…/Nothing,/Nothing!/Nada," the gathered men responded in summary while Genki extricated himself.

*MHA*

"All of you, huddle up!"

"Class! Together!" Eraserhead and Vlad King said in tandem toward the end of the day as the sun began its slow descent to the horizon.

"Sensei?" Itsuka blinked.

"Sensei, this pattern is highly irregular!" Iida stated with an arm chop. "The sun was far lower in the sky when it was time to make dinner!"

"Relax, I'm not calling it a day just yet," Aizawa hummed, some of Class 1-A groaning. "But we are doing something a little different."

"Yaoyorozu has crafted enough gloves with weak radioactive isotopes on the palms for half of each class," Khan stated as he gestured to a box Momo had sat down.

"Before dinner and the Test of Courage tonight, you'll all be playing a game of tag," Aizawa hummed.

"But what's with the gloves?" Kirishima asked.

"The one you'll all be trying to tag is him," Aizawa said with a sidelong finger poke, everyone's eyes landing on Genki as he did some stretches; stretches that seemed to exacerbate his new musculature. "The radioisotopes are so we'll be able to see if anyone was able to tap him."

"Sensei, there's nearly forty of us here. Even if 1-A were to hold back, do you honestly believe it would take that many of us to tag one person?" Monoma inquired aloud.

"Out of everyone here, Gokiburi Genki has had the most non-formally recognized training from multiple veteran Heroes," Vlad King countered. "Throw his recent Quirk Awakening on top of it, and it'll make for an excellent training exercise. All of you will go into this exercise as if this were a manhunt for a fugitive who's escaped the law for many years. For him, it'll be to escape the clutches of a cabal of Villains with a wide variety of Quirks. Both are perfectly plausible scenarios since the HPSC has been known to throw 'bodies' at a situation where single high-powered Heroes were preoccupied elsewhere. Aizawa and I've been on a few manhunts ourselves," he hummed nostalgically.

"This exercise will repeat itself before dinner every day or until we deem the returns too diminishing to continue," Aizawa continued. "We can't do anything about him already knowing what your Quirks are, but certain archetypes of meta-abilities are common-enough that it isn't implausible for him to encounter similar Quirks from whatever Villains he'll have to fight in the future. 'Fire Quirks' for example are the most-common among Heroes and Villains," he said poignantly.

"What do we get if we tag 'im?" Bakugou grinned, explosions popping on his palms.

"Bragging rights," Tiger huffed making a 'come at me, bro' motion with his paw-clad finger.

"Obviously, Quirk usage won't be restricted, though of course, lethal force isn't authorized."

"WHY THE HELL YOU LOOKING AT ME!" Bakugou raged Aizawa's way.

"But the forest around here is robust-enough that we won't disparage a little collateral," Mandalay hummed. "When it's time to start prep for dinner, we'll call you in with an airhorn and see if any of you managed to tag him with radioisotopes. Each class will be graded based on proximity to vital areas."

"But Genki-kun ain't completely helpless either! Same way you'll be trying to tag him, he'll be getting you back with Capture Tape. If he wraps you with it, you're out of the game!" Ragdoll grinned as she tossed Genki a utility belt.

"And if you're captured, you can't pass your special gloves over to another team member," Tiger added.

"The boundary will be the surrounding forest within my perimeter!" Pixie-Bob grinned palming the ground, a slight trembling telling them that she was churning earth in the middling distance. "Make sure you work up a good appetite! You've got nikujaga stew waiting for you!"

At this, there were some muttered grumbles from 1-B, given the night before they'd lost out on the "right" to use pork.

"So when do we start?" Izuku asked.

"Ninpou: Flying Shell Bind!"

*Whipwhipwhipwhip-SNAP!*

"Apparently right now," Aizawa chuckled mirthfully as Genki already snared Kyoka and Mezo in passably-artistic Shibari-style binding.

"GO TO HELL!" Bakugou roared as he lunged at his new target, only for a clump of oil-laden dirt to smack him in the face without crimson eyes even landing on him.

Before the net could close any farther as the Hero Course realized, like with the Entrance Exam, there was no "starting bell", Genki had already vanished into the foliage; by this point his internship with the Ninja Hero: Edgeshot was no secret.

"Crap! We just lost two of our 'Sensors'!" Kaminari cried as Kyoka fell over, Momo throwing a throw pillow under her chin at the last moment.

"Damn, I blinked and I missed it!" Kirishima cried.

"Iida, can you catch up to him?!" Ochako cried.

"N-Not through that dense foliage, and there's no way he won't use the canopy," Iida swore, rubbing at his calves.

"Come on, class! Let's not fall behind that detestable 1-A again!" Monoma cried rallying the troops, only for Itsuka to chop him on the neck.

"He is right though. We can't afford to make a bad showing," Itsuka admitted.

"Oh, and whoever tags him the most will get to use pork with tonight's dinner~" Oguro grinned.

"THAT PORK IS MIIIINE!" Bakugou raged as he exploded into action.

"KACCHAN, WAIT! YOU NEED GLOVES!" Izuku cried out as the close combat-types in each class began taking up arms. "Ah, no, wait, if he's wearing gloves he won't be able to use his Quirk and *muttermuttermuttermutter*"

"Midoriya, save it for later!" Kaminari cried as he ran into the woods, he like many of the other boys of 1-A wanting to preserve their right to use pork in tonight's dinner.

*MHA*

"How'd you know the thing with the pork would rile them up so much?" Aizawa asked.

"I put microphones in both rooms in case the Traitor slipped up during a phone call," the former High-Speed Hero hummed. "Nothing yet, but that competitive streak for nikujaga had possibilities."

"Well it certainly worked. With the fate of their beloved pork once-again nebulous, my class is eager to redeem themselves," Khan hummed as 1-B entered the contest with renewed vigor; doubly-so after Monoma belittled 1-A for losing two of their most-potent trackers.

"Still, I'm not sure how to feel about you bugging our inn…" Mandalay hummed with crossed arms.

"It's only a problem if I use any of it in a court of law; doubly-so if I had video."

"Oguro, that sounded way too practiced," Aizawa groaned.

"Huh. Did it now?"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Sounds like some girl's in trouble," Pixie-Bob hummed at the frightened wail.

"Didn't think we'd hear screaming like that until after the Test of Courage started…" Ragdoll added as other such cries echoed from the forest.

*MHA*

"EWEWEWEWEWEWEWEW!" Kaminari squealed as he and half of his class swatted at the deluge of Blattodea suddenly descending upon them from the canopy like paratroopers.

"Oh man, we lost Koda!" Sero cried as the [Anivoice] user fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth as a squadron of forest cockroaches scuttled all over him.

"When the hell'd he get attack pheromones!" Mina cried as she stomped frantically at the tangled conga lines of arthropods surrounding them.

"He probably figured it out when he wasn't, erm, 'schmoozing', the fairer sex," Momo answered from beneath the safety of her pocket parasol.

"And now he commands the legions of That-Which-Must-Not-be-Named," Tokoyami muttered as he held a fluorescent glowstick to keep Dark Shadow in line.

*SWISH!*

"OVER THERE!" Kirishima cried swinging out his hardened arm, only for a dark blur to straddle his shoulder, wrap Capture Tape around his wrist, and leap back into the forest leaving the [Hardening] user to get blasted with tape and a globule of weak acid before a wall of sugar-powered muscle tackled him to the ground.

"Dunceface! What the hell're you waiting for? BLAST HIM!" Bakugou roared, a narcicistic part of his mind slighted by the fact that Genki didn't deem him enough of a threat to take out early-on like he had Jirou and Shoji.

Not that he'd ever admit as such out loud…

"My [Electrification]'s no good in here! Too many trees to ground the discharge before it actually hits anything!" Kaminari hissed, wishing he had a Support Item or something.

Plant-users like Shiozaki were usually a hard-counter for his Quirk; something he only found out after the Sports Festival.

"Aoyama's out too on account of his upset stomach…" Rikido hummed as he got up off the boy he'd flattened. "And then there's Iida who got caught in a snare of all things."

"My apologies for the shameful showing!"

-was what the Class Rep had said after realizing what the tug on his ankle meant.

"It was truly a master stroke on his part to take Jirou and Shoji out of the running," Izuku said as he tried to predict where Genki would come from next.

His days of training with Gran Torino had prepared him somewhat to contend with fast-moving objects through a three-dimensional space, but whereas Gran Torino had a finite amount of air to power his [Jet]-based propulsion, Genki could essentially respirate with his entire surface area and had literally superhuman reaction speeds to boot.

" . . . I don't think he's making another run at us," Shoto hummed after several long moments of no attacks, reflecting on how out of everyone there, Ojiro had actually come the closest to tagging their quarry given the verticality in their current setting his [Tail] granted him.

And it didn't help that even though they had ten pairs of radioisotope gloves to work with, there weren't enough of them fast-enough to actually make use of the Capture Items. Mina was athletic for certain and her internship with Kamadouma had left her in a unique position that she could've stood a chance at capturing the recently Awakened Heteromorph, but a minute in and she'd melted through her gloves. He couldn't be the tagger because both of his Quirks could damage them as well, and Katsuki was a no-go on that front as well, and Ochako couldn't use her Quirk with gloves on. In fact, anyone that got too close got taken out altogether because to Genki, the rest of them may as well've been moving in slow motion.

It certainly didn't help that none of them were operating at peak form after countless hours of grueling training, whereas Genki could top himself off by ripping out tree bark and cannibalizing the cellulose.

It likely wasn't pleasant, but he definitely had options.

"You think he's off pestering 1-B?" Ochako asked, still a little nauseous from her own training.

"Just means he's giving us a breather…" Mina sighed, palms still stinging.

*MHA*

"KYAAAAAAAAAAH!" Fukidashi Manga cried as Genki's latest strafing run left them covered in insects, his moderately-sized onomatopoeia, bright yellow with sound-like ripples, amplifying his outcry like a box speaker.

"EEEEEK!"

"Kinoko!" Itsuka cried as the mushroom girl was hauled into the woods by the back of her shirt like something out of a horror movie. "Ugh, how many have we lost now?"

"We lost four in the first volley, and Komori makes five," Yosetsu said using his [Weld] to make improvised shields with the discarded branches littering the forest floor.

"And Monoma seemed way too happy to get singled out first…" Sen said spinning his glove-clad hands nervously.

"A quarter of us down already, not to mention we've already lost three sets of gloves," Itsuka said taking stock as she, Yui, and Nirengeki stood back-to-back-to-back.

After Monoma, Togaru had put up an excellent fight, but even with all of his Reinforcement, the speed at which his [Razor Sharp] blades shot out of his skin was still below Genki's fists, feet, and general reflexes. Jurota's [Beast] Quirk gave him a power and speed boost to be sure, but all the strength in the world didn't mean a thing if you couldn't actually hit your target, and his larger frame only gave Genki more real estate to tag with his Capture Tape.

It also didn't help that the guy had never been camping in his life and had no idea how to use the environment around him.

Ironically, or maybe unironically, Genki was proving the validity of the Tanuki Gakure no Jutsu...

As it stood, the most-likely member of their class to actually tag Genki out of anyone in their class was Setsuna, if only because her Quirk let her functionally "wear" more than one pair of radioisotope-marked gloves at a time, as well as the fact that wire-shaped weapons were functionally useless on her as long as her reaction time permitted. The rules said they had to tag Genki with the special gloves in order to accrue points, but there was nothing saying you had to wear the gloves on your hands. Or that you even had to wear them at all with Reiko's [Poltergeist] Quirk at play.

Of course, Genki had been quick on the uptake, and as soon as he weaved around Reiko's volley of flying gloves, he'd "captured" her with extreme prejudice, denying them two pairs of Capture Items in the process.

"Pfah! It's in my eyes!" Tetsutetsu swore as a viscous slime struck him in the face, Genki sliding like a baseball player and snaring him at the ankle at the moment he moved to wipe his face.

"I've got him!" Kosei shouted trying to fire out his Air Prison, only for Genki's [Air Pressure Sensing] to hard counter the normally-invisible projectile, getting him snared out in the process after a vault-over. "Don't got him!"

"Glue Squall!" Kojiro shouted spraying glue over a wide area, only for it to slough off Genki's Acid Armor, the larger teen getting tagged out as well bringing their total down up to eight.

"Yui! Catch!" Yosetsu cried throwing out his tree branch net.

"Wait, don't break formation!" Itsuka cried as Yui separated from them and caught the net, making it larger mid-throw only for Genki to leap through one of the holes like something from an action movie and snare her around the wrist. Her [Big Fist]s threatening to mash him flat after he'd gotten his tape out, the teen went down on all fours and zig-zagged away, the sheen of his hair making her hesitate.

"S-Sorry…" the taciturn girl sighed, the ninth of 1-B to fall to their quarry.

"Don't worry about it. None of us are operating at our best," Itsuka sighed, cursing herself for letting him escape.

*MHA*

"BALL TAG!"

*Ding*

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" Izuku squealed as Genki rabbit-punched him in the scrotum.

"Sorry Ochako!" Genki cried as he once more vanished into the underbrush.

"Izuku!" Ochako cried as she ran over to the mewling teen.

"DUCK IT, ROUNDFACE!" Bakugou roared as he lunged toward her and the downed greenette, Genki having actually doubled back to get at her from the back. "STUN GRENADE!"

"Hey Momo, thanks for the shades!" Genki smirked as he donned a pair of fancy-looking shades that Momo realized was from her pile of 'stuff', the Heteromorph then tagging Bakugou in the balls and dropping him like he had 'Deku' before he threw a line of tape out over Izuku's head and tied Ochako to his back chest-first.

"Try out my Tape Gun!" Sero shouted firing line after line of tape from his elbows at high speeds filling the air with sticky streamers.

Turns out, his elbows had built-in shears for internally cutting his tape. Who knew?

"Oil Shock!" Genki grunted as he coated his entire body with [Oilpiration] in an instant, Sero's tape and Tsuyu's tongue all sliding off. "Hey Denki! Does oil conduct electricity?" he said rushing at his next prey, who instead of defending himself with his Quirk cupped his balls. "Alley-oop!" he whooped leaping over Denki's head and snaring him around with neck like he were using a garotte.

"TSU!" Sato shouted grabbing Tsuyu's tongue, the girl nodding her head and reeling herself in, the teen using his [Sugar Rush] to give the [Frog Form] girl a much-needed boost to close the gap with Genki, her glove-clad hands splayed wide in an attempt to score only for Genki to Sparta Kick Kaminari into her path, the two tumbling only for Genki to tape them together.

"GO! DARK SHADOW!" Tokoyami said throwing the glowstick aside and letting his Quirk loose.

"GET OVER HERE!"

"You know, you should be way more cautious about rushing a guy who raided Momo's pile of castoffs!" Genki smirked as he threw out a flash grenade, the burst of light blinding everyone and causing Dark Shadow to retreat, Tokoyami's knees bound together when a bola made with Capture Tape flew through the light and snagged him.

"Mouuuuuu! He's picking us off like a snuff film!" Mina cried as she did a quick headcount.

Only her, Rikido, Hanta, Shoto, Toru, Katsuki, and Momo were left.

"This is probably a bad time to mention that we're almost out of time," Shoto hummed looking down at his watch.

"YOU BASTARD! THIS ISN'T EVEN ABOUT THE PORK ANYMORE! NOW… NOW IT'S PERSONAL!" Bakugou roared after once again being passed over.

*MHA*

"Well… At least we aren't the only ones having a bad time…" Yosetsu hummed as he heard 1-A's most-infamous member screaming bloody murder in the middling distance.

"If Monoma hadn't ruined things for us, we might've been able to work together on this…" Itsuka sighed as she counted heads, if only to make sure Genki hadn't outright abducted anyone else while she wasn't looking.

"ACK!" Sen gagged as a noose of Capture Tape fell around his neck and snapped off after going taut.

"Shit, he's back!" Yosetsu cured as he hefted another branch-shield above his head, only for a bola of Capture Tape to fly out from the side and snare him around the ankles.

"PONY! SETSUNA! DO YOU HAVE EYES ON HIM?!" Itsuka cried upwards.

"No good! The branches are too thick!" Pony cried from where she was riding atop a pair of her own horns.

"Japanese! Speak Japanese!" Setsuna's mouth called out while the upper half of her head spun slowly a couple feet away.

"He is hiding! Hiding like ninjas-gozaru!" Pony said making the stereotypical hand-sign and almost falling off of her horns for the trouble.

"I'd call you racist for that crack, but since we've got real-life ninjas running around-OW!" Setsuna trailed off before she felt someone stepping on a piece of her body.

*Flutterflutterflutterflutter!*

"Ah! Incoming!" Pony blurted out in English as Genki started using Setsuna's orbiting body parts as footholds, his wings fluttering and keeping him aloft as he made his way up towards her and Setsuna's face pieces.

"I've got him!"

"Air Shot!"

Genki's powerful muscles compressing around spiracles sent powerful bursts of air at Setsuna's glove-clad "pieces", sending all six for a loop. As he closed in on Setsuna's eyes, Pony angled her head forward and shot off a pair of horns, her footholds shuddering in mid-air. Genki, abandoning his initial target after it split in half, grabbed the first horn mid-flight and used it to bat the second aside, using a powerful leap to carry him through the air before wrapping powerful arms around the American.

"Pony!" Setsuna called out as the muscular blur absconded with the foreign exchange student back into the canopy.

"Juzo, can't you do something?" Shihai grunted as he poked his head out of the shadows.

All things considered, it should've made too much sense that Genki would know how to counter attacks from the shadows. And it certainly didn't help that with all the dappled evening light, the shadows were too "choppy" for him to actually keep up with their target's speed.

"It's no good. He's too fast for me right now…" the skull-faced teen grunted as he once again retracted his [Softening] from his attempted mire.

Didn't really help that Genki already knew what his Quirk did from "people watching" all day, and that he was more often than not sticking to the trees instead of using the ground like all the other "Normies".

"Aiya…! A guy who turned his body into soup and back again does not have any right to be this fast…!" Hiryu grunted as another salvo of scales missed their mark.

"Truly, another of God's miracles~!" Ibara swooned in prayer, standing under a sunbeam and looking quite devout.

One would think she were a tempting target off by herself, but her vines scattered across the floor under the leaves and underbrush as well as creeping up the neighboring trees made her a caltrop minefield and cage both.

"Ahhh! Gross! Something just went down the back of my shirt!" Manga cried as something dripped down his back.

*Buzzzzzzzz*

"KYAAAAAAAAAAH!" the voice bubble-headed teen screamed as a flock of cockroaches suddenly flew towards him, his solidified onomatopoeia momentarily stunning those around him, Nirengeki the next to get 'captured' when he brought his hands up to his ears, with Manga almost immediately after, too-distracted swatting at Blattodea to defend himself.

"Well, at least 1-A isn't doing any better than we are…" Itsuka muttered, if the frustrated cries in the middling distance were anything to go by.

*MHA*

" . . . Are you sure this isn't a little mean?" Ragdoll asked as a terrified yowl once again exploded from the canopy. Quite literally in fact. "I mean, compared to the others, Genki is relatively fresh."

"To be fair, he did liquefy his body before metamorphosing a whole new one," Tiger hummed thoughtfully.

As a man whose Quirk made him "noodly" and semi-liquid, like a ferret, he could better relate to a metamorphosing arthropod-like Heteromorph than the rest of the Pussycats.

"Still though, he's taken out a whole bunch of them~" Pixie-Bob giggled as she drank in the utterly defeated looks on the 'exiled' teens' faces, more than two dozen in total. "We really going to make them do this every day before dinner? Not that I have a problem with it, but I just wanna make sure~"

"Only until they stop getting something back from this investment of their time," Aizawa hummed as he and Khan looked over the notes of those Genki had Captured, and in which order.

In a master stroke that most-certainly crippled 1-A's means of tracking him through the underbrush, in his first attack run Genki took out Jirou and Shoji, capitalizing on the fact that no official starting signal was given, on top of the fact that no ruling saying not to start then-yet had been given either. Aoyama was only able to get a handful of shots in before a day of Quirk Reinforcement got to him and he had to "gracefully" bow out. Iida was out of the running, figuratively and literally, because while he was still reeling from the separation of his mufflers from his [Engines], in the much-thicker foliage of the training ground his Quirk wouldn't have been much use, given at-present he was only good on straightaways and open ground. Koda had gotten over some of his Insectophobia during the Final Exam, but getting positively smothered in cockroaches would make anyone check out. Kirishima and Ojiro, another pair of CQC specialists with less-flashy Quirks had the potential to counter Genki's attack run, but given he was the offspring of Gokiburi-chan and Cockroach King, it only made sense that with his heritage and all of his prior-training, that the more "normal" of his peers wouldn't be able to capture the dodgy Heteromorph.

When it came time for Genki to go on the attack against 1-B, Genki was quite clever taking out the wildcard in Monoma first, since his Copy basically let him double down on nearly every Quirk in Khan's purview, without any visible indicators; a Quirk that offered near infinite possibilities for sneak attacks. Taking out Togaru and Shishida in CQC was no small feat, though on their end of things, their training hadn't prepared them adequately-enough to deal with speed-type Heteromorphs like him. In fact, most Heteromorphs through hard work could surpass Strength and Speed-Class Quirks in their base forms; a reality that was frighteningly-common because the closer children grew up to Hero Academies, the less-inclined they were to put in the work, thinking their elevation to the Hero Track was "a given". Yanagi had made a clever usage of the unspoken restrictions for the use of the "Capture Gloves", but like her peers, she wasn't used-enough to Speed-Types for her [Poltergeist] to be able to keep up; a shortcoming that would be addressed the following day.

In his second run after pestering 1-B for a while, Genki took Midoriya out by targeting an area he had 'historically' lapsed in defending; a rookie mistake common among power-types who assumed their constitution would defend all areas of their anatomy. Uraraka, attempting to look after him, was captured almost immediately-after, with Asui and Kaminari similarly entangled despite the prior's impressive Combo Move with Sato. As for Tokoyami, a part of him wanted to chastise Momo for leaving her "stuff" out in the open for anyone to grab, but at the same time, there was nothing saying they couldn't make use of Momo's leavings.

On his second go at Class 1-B, something Khan assumed was to keep the pressure on instead of giving them too much time to strategize, one of the weak links to get taken out was Kinoko. Her Quirk was good if given enough prep time, but Genki's [Oilpiration] likely stopped her mushroom spores from taking root and slowing him down by added poundage, and by herself she was only as strong and as fast as a high school girl her size. Tetsutetsu was the very definition of a "Tank", and if it were a 1v1 fistfight, Khan had no doubts that Genki would've been on the backfoot, but the issue therein was Genki didn't fight "fair"; something Tetsutetsu would have to address in the future. Tsubaraba of course also had the misfortune of fighting someone with [Air Pressure Sensing], a hard counter for his [Solid Air] which was normally invisible until interacted with and/or the light struck it "just right". Bondo's Quirk was excellent for capture, but the problem therein was that Genki's upbringing caused him to plan around such plans. On Kodai's part, her [Size] Quirk gave her excellent possibility for area denial, but it was clear her CQC would need further refinement; he was on the fence about one of his students getting help from one of Aizawa's, but after learning that Genki akinned his Quirks to one of Edgeshot's hand-chosen sidekick's, took a bit of the competitive edge off. That class 1-A could source expensive materials like Tungsten at the drop of a hat was almost unfair, but all that talent would go to waste if Momo lacked in the confidence to make maximum use of her Quirk. Her short-lived match against Tokoyami in the Sports Festival was proof that, without the time and wherewithal to make a flash grenade or a flare, a massively-multi-facetted Quirk like hers could still be overcome by brute strength.

As it stood, the only ones left in 1-A's wheelhouse were Ashido, Sato, Sero, Todoroki, Hagakure, Bakugou, and Yaoyorozu. Based on this pattern, Genki seemed to be targeting those it was most-convenient to go after, as opposed to going after the more-immediate threats to his person. Something Bakugou vocalized quite loudly, even as far out in the woods as he was.

For 1-B, the final bastion and hope to reclaim their beloved Pork for the night's dinner were Kuroiro, Kendo, Shiozaki, Tokage, Honenuki, and Rin. Though Genki had less first-hand experience with 1-B's Quirks compared to 1-A, Khan still recognized that in terms of informal training, Genki still beat out most-everyone in the first-year Hero track, and it was only because of how slanted the Entrance Exam was against "Bot Smashers" that Genki hadn't been able to get into the Hero Course from the get-go. And it was only by merit of Class 1-A dominating the 1v1 event up until Genki mowed through them that he became one of Aizawa's students instead of one of his own.

A shame, since the man could appreciate the work and effort it must've taken to master the technical aspects of his Quirk to such a degree.

*MHA*

"GET BACK HEEEERE!" Bakugou howled as Genki once again skirted away from a direct confrontation.

"Ugh, and we have to do this moooore…?!" Mina cried as she once again failed to slow Genki down long-enough to get tagged.

"Probably as long as our suffering entertains the landowners," Todoroki hummed.

"Hah. Good one," Toru chuckled mirthlessly.

"Who said I was joking?" the [Half Hot/Half Cold] asked with a completely straight face.

*MHA*

SO! Originally the second dedicated day of Quirk Reinforcement was going to be a lot more abridged than this, but when I remembered what happened to Kazuho/Pop✫Step, I realized that with Oguro around, and Aizawa in-the-know about it because of his ties to Midnight who was also there for her "Bee✫Pop" phase, they might want to kill two birds with one stone. That I got to expound on Genki's character a bit as he gets used to the new body was also an opportunity because unless you go the Naruto Shippuden route and just skip ahead a number of years, most characters in manga tend to remain static apart from cosmetic changes unless something really meaningful happens to their bodies.

As for the Vanguard Action Squad, with how-badly Genki bodied Class 1-A in the Sports Festival, his presence would be planned around. Doubly-so with the Yuuei Traitor in mind. I won't say any more than that cause I don't want to spoil it, but one or two readers out there might already have pieced together something based on the previous arc.

Anywho, I hope to keep things interesting, and I'll see you all next time!

GO BEYOND!

EXCELSIOR!