6 weeks later, 6 weeks until UA entrance exam.

"Again!"

Step. Step. Step. Step. St-solid ground.

"Dammit!" Midoriya let his other foot drop the half-inch it was elevated. They were working on another subtle control exercise. Izuku was to draw the sand from the environment around him, directly under his foot. Unlike his parkour and running work, though, the goal was to keep his feet and the sand entirely off the ground, but only just. If he learned to do this habitually, the *only* evidence of Izuku's passage would be that the space he moved through was very well swept. He'd never leave footprints again.

"Why can't I use my pre-stored sand to do this, again?"

His teacher gave him an understanding smile. "I know it's frustrating, Midoriya-shounen, but if you can do this, you'll be much more capable in drawing ammo from your environment. Your stealth ability will shoot up. And imagine how much better you'll be able to utilize your constructs."

"But I can already fly! We finally figured out the weight limit. Shouldn't I be working with that?" It wasn't whining. It wasn't. You better stop thinking it's whining. Have you ever tried passing a butthole full of sand? Would you like to? It's not whining. 'Who am I talking to?'

Yagi sighed. "Maybe you're right. Ok, let's shift gears. But first." Drill sergeant All Might returned. "Hard sprint across the beach and back. Have some fun, make it an acrobatic one. As a matter of fact…" The smile he had turned mildly sadistic. "Mezo-shounen! Dodge practice!" Midoriya's eyes went wide.

"Now, Midoriya-shounen, no blocking. Acrobatics and movement only." He stepped back, made sure no one else was around, and inflated. "BEGIN! WHOEVER LOSES DOES PUSHUPS ON THE SAND UNTIL THEY COLLAPSE!" Midoriya actually left a sand cloud sort of shaped like him. 'This is quite fun. I'm beginning to see why Gran-sensei was always laughing.' He wouldn't be able to have this much fun during his time at UA, he knew. His condition just didn't allow for extended time watching students and running them through drills. And very few of the hero students would respect the emaciated form of Toshinori Yagi. He watched impassively as a microwave zoomed past his legs, transported over a long chain of hands, before a fleshy chain sprouted upwards. Leaning back, it then flung the appliance like a Lovecraftian catapult.

He took a small notepad from his back pocket as well as a pen. He quickly wrote down "Lovecraftian Catapult". 'That would be an excellent name for one of Mezo-shounen's attacks.' He tapped the pen on his chin. 'I suppose that would depend on where we lean with his image.' He wrote down a couple more things, mostly questions for later. 'Do I help him lean into a vibe of generally uncanny? Or should I try to help him soften it? He's a magnificent hero student already, and Midoriya-shounen has been helping sharpen further.'

His smile went soft again. 'And Midoriya-shounen's friends have been wonderful for both boys.' His eyes went wide and he quickly wrote down to look into Midoriya's request for information on schools and companies that were generally open to all and paid quirkless employees fairly. 'Long shot, but I have to try.' It was sobering, learning the generational change in treatment of quirkless people from his time as a student. A sudden breeze to his right drew him out of his contemplation. Looking up, he saw a boulder moving at high speed, arcing towards his sprinting student. "Nice curveball, Mezo-shounen. Unconventional angle and irregular shape, and you're-" He watched Midoriya take a turn sharp enough to make him wince sympathetically. The boy had to take a hard left as the boulder flew across his path, less than 6 feet ahead of him. "PERFECTLY ON TARGET! EVEN GAVE HIM A SAFETY MARGIN!" He made a mental note to have his student put that back. It looked like it came from a wave breaker.

He looked around. It wasn't exactly Mezo's fault, he was very short on choices of ammo. That microwave was actually the last of the large pieces. Twelve hands were now available between the 2 boys, and with Izuku's ability to sift the trash or clear enough around to get a solid grip on it, they were just about completely clear. 'Might have to shift over to time in the gym. But those friends of Midoriya's. Can't leave them hanging.' Another note.

"Buy gym".

The boys probably wouldn't need it once they got admitted to UA, but he'd keep it. Maybe it'd function as a safe place for the kids to be outside of school. He watched as Izuku dove underneath a baseball that would've rung his bell, landing at his teacher's feet. Ah, what the hell, baseball was a multinational sport again. They'd probably get it.

"Safe!"

Laughing tiredly, Midoriya stood, stretching his body out. "Did it, Yagi-sensei. Max manipulation, right?" All Might gave his eager student a smile.

"Very well, young man. Start gathering. Get to a ton, let's start easy." He turned to his other student, only to find Shouji already doing pushups, his sensory suite not diminishing in the slightest. Eyes, ears, and noses of varying sizes and species periscoping above him from his tertiary arms, as his primary and secondary worked the exercise. If he had been jacked before, the boy was enormous now. An All Might funded diet and exercise plan, along with plenty of sleep, had turned both boys into powerful examples of the (super)human form. Midoriya was incredibly dense, his body compact with hard muscle. Shouji was a physical titan, the young man's physicality rivaling his large form. Both boys had their muscles slightly hidden by the fact that they still had a layer of fat on their bodies.

Contrary to popular belief, washboard abs were not a great sign of physical health. The body needed fat. This was especially the case with Shouji. The materials to make his other organs had to come from somewhere, even if he retracted them without any loss. All Might could supplement the lack of fat by dint of having One For All. Theoretically, Shouji could do the same as well. However, Toshinori believed there was a chance, however small, that having more flesh on All Might could have lessened his injury. No need to repeat mistakes for the sake of vanity. Shaking himself out of his cobwebs, All Might turned his attention back to his charges.

Midoriya stood atop a pillar of sand, the cylinder very tightly compacted. He was sweating intensely as he worked to gather more. There were some signs of success, streams and whirls of sand in soft motion on the ground below. As he watched, Izuku rose just a little bit. Toshinori grinned. Progress. "Alright, lad, let's make some shapes! Turn that cylinder into a torus!"

"A what?"

With a good-natured eye roll, he replied "A donut, kiddo! They teach you any unusual shapes in geometry class?"

"Nope!" said Izuku, making sure to pop the second half of the word. Moving his hands, Izuku shifted the sands from bottom to top, creating a large ring. Letting his hands fall, he started the ring spinning, his body going along for the ride. He let out a dull "whee" at the movement. Toshinori had to hide his snickering at the similarly bored expression on the boy's face. It was time to play Drill Sergeant.

"Defensive ring!" Izuku hopped back in the center, the ring following him as he stepped to the earth. A soft "whoosh" started as the ring moved faster.

"Cage!" The ring stopped and a wireframe of a sphere painstakingly formed around Izuku, the bars thick and solid. They had learned that the ton of sand was much easier to move if it was already in motion, but there would have to be times for sudden starts and stops. "Unscrewing!" Midoriya groaned.

"Do I have to?" "MIDORIYA!" "YES SIR!"

Closing his eyes, he started forcing the sphere. A groan of effort escaped him as the top half started moving clockwise, and the bottom counter. Through gritted teeth, he ground out "I'm going to have such a migraine."

"Hold that shape steady!"

He gave out a low yell, and the wireframe halves kept moving in reversed synchronization.

5 seconds.

10 seconds.

14.

A little blood started leaking from his nose. "Electrons!" With a gasp, the sphere gave way to three spinning rings, all at roughly 45 degrees from each other. Midoriya collapsed to his knees, the rings moving to compensate. "Stand up, lad! You're not done!" Still gasping for breath, he rose, legs shaking. This was significantly easier. "ARMS!" Four large arms formed, rooting to his back. "FEEDERS!"

The arms slammed into the ground, and now came the hard part. Sealing his eyes shut again, Midoriya started pulling more sand from the ground.

Four arms.

Quarter ton each.

Formerly unbreakable rule. They had cracked it just a little bit. Pretty recently. If he could force this now, it would be invaluable come the entrance exams. "PULL, BOY!"

Grunting. He could practically taste the silica. He actually tasted blood. He spread his awareness further. Past the arms.

Into the beach.

Every grain.

Every goddamn molecule.

A full-throated scream rang out and Izuku felt something snap in him. From the ground a torrent of sand blasted upwards, twisting in the air before slamming down on him and adding to the arms. They had easily tripled in size. Once more, Izuku was left gasping.

"I…did it, All Might. Limit break." He slowly let the arms narrow a bit and some of the sand wrap around his torso, lifting him up. Toshinori walked over. The sand arms had lifted Izuku so that he was eye level with him. All Might put a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "You certainly did. Rest some. Starting tomorrow we'll split your quirk training between volume and exotic materials, ok?" Getting an affirmative nod, he turned away and headed to his first student.

"Mezo-shonen. How is your work with the uh, mutation, coming along?" His protege looked at him dryly from his strange position, doing pushups on the sand with his main arms, while his secondary arms "benched" 750 lbs above him. His tertiary arms split off several ways, a pair of hands to spot himself, several eyes (no two of the same species) keeping sharp watch. Another offshoot revealed a mouth filled with sharpened teeth. "It is going well, sensei. Managing all aspects of it is getting easier."

It was honestly astounding how well Shouji took to his inherited quirk. The strength alone was a terror to see in action. Even at the fraction he was using, his ability to attack from as many places as he did meant that he was already shaping up to be an incredible fighter. By his own estimates, Shouji could reliably use 10% of the quirk's full power, and could call up to 15% in emergencies. All Might couldn't wait to see his successor eclipse him entirely. He might even be reduced to a footnote in the story of Mezo Shouji, The Chimera. "Alrighty, let's test out your basics!"

The bar was casually dropped to the side as the young man rose, the various exotic extremities retracting. The movements he made to stretch were surprisingly similar to someone who didn't have three arms webbed together on each side. Sufficiently loosened up, he took a basic fight stance in front of his mentor. It was much more effective given how much of his vulnerable torso he could cover. "You're crouched too far, Mezo-shonen. If you do that you're going to be reducing your available options, as well as messing with your punching power."

Shouji had started in martial arts lessons. He might have been able to get by on strength alone had He not been a threat, but now there was a whisper. A suspicion.

A possibility.

And All Might would be damned if he was going to let his apprentice go without every advantage possible, even if he planned on taking down The Great Enemy himself. If there was anywhere All Might might have failed, it was technique. He had been a blunt instrument. A club. Relying purely on hitting hard, letting his speed and strength do much of the work. Chimera would be a goddamn lightsaber. Clean and precise, every blow deliberate, calculated, and utterly devastating.

But that was Chimera. Shouji was still learning. He had been at it less than a month. There was already clear improvement. But there was always room for more at such early levels.

Walking around, several more adjustments were made by the Master to the student. "You've got as much reach as anyone could want, you have to be ready to take advantage of that. Now then."

Pulling a remote out of his massive cargo pants, he pushed a button. From around the beach, several previously hidden drones rose and made their way to their blonde summoner. "Had to pull a couple strings to get these beauties. They're modified to be much tougher than what's on the market, and the algorithms they use are supposedly much better at adapting to their user. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to hit them as many times as you can in a minute. No use of your quirk for now, I want to see how well you are at baseline. Hold this." Shouji caught what looked like a metal bracelet, designed to go on like a cuff.

"Put that on, it helps the drones track your movement, designates you as their user and target." Watching Shouji put it on, All Might hit another button. The younger man had to tuck and roll as several drones converged on his location. "Life in heroics often means no warning, Mezo-shonen! Don't let those overgrown Frisbees boss you around!" Shouji flung himself upward, hitting two headed his way before he hit the ground. He took his stance again. Keeping his head and eyes moving as he swiveled on the point, he threw as many jabs as he could manage, trying to make every hit count.

"Heels up and keep bobbing! Don't give them a steady target!"

"Follow the path and hit where they're going to be, not where they are."

"Stay aware of your 6!"

That last one preceded a solid 'thwack' as one of the drones got him.

"40 seconds to go!"

This was going to be…unpleasant.

There was not, in fact, 40 seconds to go. Toshinori watched his heir sidestep, duck, punch, and kick his way around the drones. After the initial burst of adrenaline, Shouji remembered his lessons and started fighting smarter. Smooth, even movements, with the bursts of energy coming at opportune moments. Each successful hit sent the drone in question twirling away like a drunken ballerina, before it righted itself and rejoined the fray. Each time, the drone came back a little faster, the flight path more erratic. 'Rubber band AI. Truly, the evil of Mario Kart knows no borders.' But his student proved himself worthy of the challenge, adding more varied attacks.

It took a surprisingly long time for Shouji to be overwhelmed. 3 minutes later the boy couldn't get off a hit without taking at least 2 hits in return. 'click' As the drones moved away, he collapsed to his back. Toshinori felt his panting student needed some encouragement. "Well done, Mezo-shonen! 3 and a half minutes! You'll probably be able to go a full half hour when we add in everything!" Shouji was still panting too hard to speak. Slightly raising one of his arms, a mouth formed, and started breathing heavily in his place.

"Thank you…sensei. I'm looking forward to it. You got a cold drink, by any chance?" Chuckling, he was wordlessly handed a cool sports drink from one of his mentor's voluminous pockets. He drank it using one of his tertiary arms for intake. A pang of sadness resonated through the older hero's heart at his students' habitual aversion to unmasking. 'Poor kid. Kind and driven to heroics, and people still judge for his appearance. Still' he thought optimistically, 'he's gonna be bigger than I ever was. He'll make a difference. Show 'em all that the spirit makes the hero.'

"Alrighty boys, we got our new basics started. We're gonna get serious tomorrow. Make sure you rest." His voice dropped to an ominous register. "You're going to need it."

2 weeks later.

1 month to UA entry exams.

"Come on Midoriya-shounen, put some cerebellum into it! Turn that cloud of metal into a block!"

"Mezo-shounen! Faster! Make him work for it!"

The two boys stood opposite each other, a cloud of iron dust between them. Midoriya was using his hands, trying to conduct the iron into becoming a solid wall, while Shouji was using all 6 of his arms to disrupt Midoriya's efforts, punching at any patch that was starting to look a little too cohesive.

They had managed to get Midoriya into solidifying metal constructs at leisure, now it was time for it to happen at speed. Blue eyes sharper than obsidian dissected every move of his students. 'Clever'. Midoriya was trying to instead solidify the spots around where Shouji punched, the wall starting to form like swiss cheese. Connected holes. Once he had a decent sized chunk of iron, Midoriya started moving it to intercept the strikes. While moving, the iron rectangle slowly grew.

The sounds of flesh and bone against metal started rising, and Shouji once again upped his game, his strikes coming in from multiple angles now. Six fists, coming in randomly. Cross, palm strike, uppercut, knife hand, spear hand, the variety and multiple simultaneous points of contact pushing Midoriya to his breaking point. Sand control fought against Dupli-arms.

1 minute.

90 seconds.

2 minutes.

2 and a half.

The Arms seized victory as Midoriya dropped, flopping over to his back. "I…give." He lay there, gasping, sweat pouring off him. Shouji joined him momentarily, sitting and leaning back, chest as wide open as possible for breathing. 2 more mouths formed, sucking in air greedily in conjunction. The rest was well-deserved. The boys had been going at it for almost 5 minutes by the time they collapsed. And the hour leading to this had been filled with similarly strenuous and creative exercises. "Get up boys, stretch it out. Can't have muscle crampings! We don't have any bananas." Groaning, both boys complied, starting a series of stretches. "Once you're done, get to the weight room with the others." At the hangdog expressions on their faces, All Might relented. "Just to spot them." They sighed in relief. Midoriya collected his Iron Sand back into the bag, before returning the punching bag back to the hook.

The new gym was actually quite old. It used to be a true-blue boxing gym, one that turned out champion fighters back in the pre-quirk times. As such, it had that slightly grungy, well-worn, tough look to it. Obviously, Kamogawa Gym had been given some updates. A private room for quirk sparring, for one. The two were able to practice their skills away from their peers. While it may be necessary for them to get used to using their quirks in front of people of all kinds, it just felt…mean-spirited, to make it a spectacle in front of the quirkless members. And short of himself, Mezo-shounen, and Midoriya-shounen, it was all quirkless people at this gym. Word had quietly spread of the new facility, and the gym was a safe zone for students from many school districts. So much so that Toshinori was working on getting the permits to build a clubhouse/study space next to the gym itself. Possibly even a shelter. The kids deserved a safe place to sleep at night, if they weren't in a good place. He sighed at the knowledge that that task moving from "possible" to "necessary" was probably going to happen within the next 5 years.

Hm. Perhaps it was time for Might Towers to flex some muscle. More homeless shelters and safe spaces for runaways and queer kids and every other "undesirable". There would be a lot of thought and bureaucracy and planning to do. Another written note. 'Going to need some lawyers.'

Not right now, but definitely soon.

A/N: Yo, Pat Robertson is dead. Happy Pride, everyone. I don't know why I'm stalling so hard here. But hey look, more words for you to consume. I really should do some actual plot outlines.

Regardless! Almost done with the slice of life and training chapters. Next one should be the exams and beginning at UA. 'Til then!

Coming up next: Quirks and Love. Do certain kinds of quirks seek each other out? Does a harmonious quirk pairing guarantee a healthy or successful relationship? Does like attract like, or is it nurture, not nature, that wins the day? We talk to several experts on the effects of quirks on cognitive psychology. Stay tuned, thanks for listening to UA radio. Remember listeners, to go Plus Ultra in all things.