Chapter Sixty-Two
Yagi Toshinori, All Might to the world at large, waited in a soon-to-be-destroyed room, and watched his students fight on the screen Power Loader had set up. All Might had wanted to watch, but ever since his fight against Nomu, his maximum time in his empowered form had been cut down severely. Whereas before, he could hold it for several hours a day, now he struggled to do so for longer than one, if he wanted to do anything more than stand still and look pretty for the cameras.
For teaching, he could easily hold it for a single class, though by the end it became difficult, but to fight?
Toshinori wasn't looking forward to the thirty minutes he'd be facing off against both boys. If they were as they had first been, even during that first combat exercise, he would have been fine, but they had been growing, and All Might could not find it in himself to be upset by that fact.
However, none had surprised him more than young miss Uraraka and mister Aoyama. Both student's performance had been. . . limited, in early exercises, but both had made tremendous progress. Aoyama's trying to elicit costume ideas from his team-mate was painfully obvious, but the boy was seeking to improve, and that was something that All Might could heartily endorse.
On the other end, he might need to have a talk about proportional response with Young miss Yaoyorozu, because that girl was getting a little scary. Power Loader had been able to avoid the damage, and there were no civilians nearby, but that kind of attack was something that would only be wise to use in very specific circumstances. From his time as a Pro Hero, All Might knew the tendency for other, well-meaning individuals to work on flashy, highly destructive techniques, that were, to be honest, fairly cool, and then to try and find situations in which to use them, to show off, and to not waste the effort it took to develop them. The problems started when Heroes started to make excuses, using techniques in situations where they were not needed, or appropriate.
Sometimes, you could not save everyone, but often times that was used as an excuse not save anyone. He knew none of his students would do that, not as they were now, not even Young Bakugo, but one did not turn away from heroism in an instant. Vigilantism was a subtly slippery slope, paved with good intentions, but built on a foundation of selfishness. It was one he'd lost compatriots to, and he would do all he could to make sure these young men and women did not tread that dark path.
Speaking of students who could tread dark paths, he watched Young Kaminari's fight with interest. For all Endeavor's rough edges, the man was a true hero at heart, so, while Todoroki was dealing with standing in the shadow of his father, Toshinori did not worry about him ending up falling astray. As he watched Kaminari face off against Aizawa, All Might had to chuckle.
So the boy does have my power.
He'd had his suspicions, growing ever more whenever he sparred with the young man, but he recognized his own power at work. It was one of the lesser-known aspects of his Quirk, the Quirk that had been passed down to him by his teacher, and her teacher before her, but while One for All was powerful, it was also inviolate. The power he had inherited could not be copied, could not be stolen, could not be repressed. If it could, he likely would've lost to Nega-Man, all those years ago, but the power was not his, but those of all those that came before him, and what was carried by many could not be removed by the one. And not by All-for-One, when the man had tried. Oh how he had tried.
Young Midoriya's OfA could be suppressed, because what the boy had access to was but the tip of the iceberg, his own body not yet able to control the immense power he could bring to bear. Young Kaminari, however, seemed to be building his copy from the foundations up. He was unable to match All Might's successor in pure strength, but having the power would explain the growth of the boy's Quirk. Shimura-sensei had mentioned that, before she had inherited One for All, her Float Quirk made her as fast as a speeding train, but after?
If she were still around, Young Hawks would merely be the second fastest flier in Japan.
All Might grimaced, the loss of the closest thing he had to a mother still painful, even after all these years. He had thought he'd killed All for One five years ago, had put her memory to rest, only to discover he had failed, just as he had failed to save her before he'd left for America.
No, Toshinori, he corrected, before you fled for America.
It had been the right thing to do. Gran Torino had been correct, as usual. He'd been a mess after he'd lost her, and playing the hero, hamming it up to the nines, had let him deal with her loss on his own terms. It had brought him out of range of what he thought were All for One's lieutenants, though now the number one hero wondered if the Villain's 'defeat' had been just another plan. Though, from the way the Symbol of Peace had caved the older man's skull in, he very much doubted it. Regardless, Toshinori had left for America, where he'd met David Shield, his best friend, even if the Support technician rarely communicated with him, which could be more than could be said than his old Sidekick, Nighteye.
Bringing up all the old wounds, aren't you? he thought chuckling, and trying not to cough as he turned his attention back on Young Todoroki and Kaminari's match.
Sure enough, the resistance that One for All gave to toxins brought the boy out of his chemically induced slumber, and brought him back into the fight. It had taken until his nemesis had approached the boy for All Might to feel correct in his suspicions that the boy had managed, somehow, to copy All Might's Quirk. He knew that it was Young Midoriya that was his successor, but the power had grown in the passing, and Toshinori had never had the boy's. . . teething problems, though he'd also had more time to train his body in order to accept it.
Regardless, All for One had set his sights on Young Kaminari, and Toshinori knew, from deep personal experience, that the road the boy would now walk was not going to be an easy one. But that was for the future, now, he needed to focus on the present,
Interesting, All Might thought, watching Todoroki seal in Eraserhead with his ice, 'losing' so that his teammate could succeed. It wasn't a move he expected from Endeavor's boy, but one that spoke highly of him, and the number two, for how he had raised him. Kaminari's visible hesitance, on whether to win, or save his friend, was also commendable, as was his choice to succeed, trusting in his partner's capabilities.
The next match was. . . less impressive. The small arena, given Snipe's ability, meant that the only reason Young Hagakure and Shoji hadn't lost in the first ten seconds was because the man was taking it easy on the pair. While it did go against the spirit of the exercise, to fight them as hard as they could while weighed down, well, the pair needed the help.
A lot of help, as the Pro tossed out a smoke grenade. Against ranged opponents, that would be good, the shooter's Quirk letting him hit his opponents without seeing them, but here it did nothing but hurt him. Hagakure was invisible, but she couldn't make things other than herself unseeable, and as far as All Might knew she did not have the physical training to capitalize on that. Shoji on the other hand, was surprisingly passive. For a young man with so many hands, he refused to raise a fist, in anger or otherwise. This was confirmed when he 'gave up' in front of Snipe, the Pro Hero noticing the smoke parting around the invisible Hagakure, but pretending not to, and so he was captured.
I will have to have a talk with that young man the next time we spar, the Number One decided. Against Shoji's teacher, it was a viable strategy, but a true villain would have just shot the boy in the head and moved on. Snipe hadn't even winged the boy in the leg, somewhere that he could not heal in moments, the man too soft for his own good.
But that mean's it's time, All Might thought, standing and stretching, folding up the screen and putting it on the waiting drone, to take back to Power Loader. With a flex of the familiar power, strength coursed through his limbs as weakened muscles expanded back to full strength, growing as he filled out his suit.
"Ah, that's the stuff," the Number One sighed, working his limbs. He could feel the remains of One for All fading, slowly, having done so ever since he'd given Young Midoriya his Quirk, but what he still had was more than enough for this.
Both boys started to move forward through the simulated downtown city street. To his enhanced hearing, he could hear Young Midoriya talk about how it was impossible to fight him, and All Might, waiting on a nearby rooftop, couldn't help but wince. The boy truly did look up to him, and he wasn't wrong, even as strong as he was he would not win against the Symbol of Peace, until Izuku's strength grew, or Toshinori's further waned, but to not even try?
Bakugo turned on his teammate grenade gauntlet raised to smack the boy, but the explosive-tempered teen paused, letting out a long breath through gritted teeth. "Deku. You want to be the best. Right?"
"I, yeah, of course!" All Might's protégé argued, looking confused.
"Then how the fuck are you gonna figure out if you're better, if you don't fucking fight him?" Bakugo demanded. "I can't fucking beat him. I couldn't beat fucking Shishido, and I got so fucked up that I couldn't fucking move, but do you know what I did?"
"Got hurt?" Izuku asked, missing the other boy's point, the explosion creater growling in irritation.
The blonde teen lifted his hands in a chocking motion, fighting with himself, seeming to give in, but grabbing his partner by the front of his costume and pulled him off his feet, Bakugo getting right up in the other boy's face. "I fucking tried!" he roared tossing the green-haired boy back, Midoriya stumbling. "I gave it my fucking all, and fucking failed, but that just meant I knew where I fucking stood, and how much farther I still had to go! Even before we got here, I busted my ass training, and got the best fucking combat score out of all of us for it! Pikachu beat me because of that stupid fucking rescue shit, but I had his ass beat in combat."
"But you?" the volatile teen sneered. "You never even tried."
"I did!" Midoriya objected. "My notebooks-"
"Were fucking useless, if you couldn't back them up!" Bakugo yelled. "And until the last year, you were the same scrawny little pathetic looser, wanting to be a Hero but never putting in any of the work! And then suddenly you start bulking up? It's because you finally got your fucking Quirk, wasn't it!? You broke a finger and blew up a fucking wall or something, and then suddenly you decide to actual give a damn, to try, when the rest of us had been working our whole lives to get here!?" Midoriya flinched, as, while his partner was incorrect in the specifics, All Might could tell he was spot on when it came to Young Izuku's mindset.
In this, Bakugo was correct. The boy hadn't trained at all until All Might had chosen him as his successor, and his gains, while incredibly impressive, could not match up to what multiple years of less strenuous, but still difficult, training would have accomplished. That did not, however, diminish the achievements the boy had gained in that short time, nor the tenacity, willpower, and sheer drive that it took to do what Midoriya had done
"You fucking didn't, did you?" the self-crowned Bombing King spat, disgusted. "Of fucking course you didn't. Because you knew I was fucking right. You knew that, without a Quirk, you couldn't be a Hero, so you didn't even bother! And that's why I fucking hate you, Deku, because you might have power now, but you'll still fold the second shit gets bad! You run, and hide, instead of fighting when you think you'll lose. All Might wouldn't! That's why he's the fucking best, and that's why I'll be the new number one someday! But you? You'll be lucky to crack two-hundred, coasting on your fuckin' Quirk instead of pushing yourself!"
"You're wrong!" the boy argued, glaring right back at his childhood. . . well, All Might would have said friend before, but apparently Young Midoriya had misjudged their relationship. "I have been pushing myself! You're. . . you're not wrong about me before. I don't know why, but I didn't."
Bakugo scowled, "I told you-"
"And you can be wrong too!" Midoriya cut the other boy off, emerald sparks trailing as he swept his hand out, creating a small breeze that ruffled the blonde's hair. "I wasn't before, you're right. It was a dream, a dream I thought I'd never achieve, but once it was possible I've been putting my all into everything I can do. And not pushing myself?" Izuku questioned. "I fought Stain, along with Todoroki and Tenya, and then we fought another Nomu and someone from the League of Villains! I know what it's like to fight until you can't move. Until you think you've lost. Until you think that the people you care about are going to die because you're not good enough. But just because I never fought you. . ."
The green haired boy trailed off, taking a deep breath, letting it out as his fists clenched, and he channeled more of the Quirk, body glowing as bits of green lightning played along his form. "Yes, back then, I would have done that. Back then, I was useless. But I'm not anymore!" the boy announced. "Maybe it took my getting a Quirk and that's, that's not good, but that doesn't matter right now! You want to fight All Might? Fine. You're not going to win on your own! You're not strong enough!"
"What'd you say to me?" Bakugo growled, taking a half-step forward, but Midoriya met his glare with a steady gaze of his own.
"I said you're not strong enough, but, together, and with All Might weighed down, we might be," the boy challenged right back.
The volatile teen stared down his partner for a long moment before letting out a barking laugh. "Least you found your fuckin' balls, Deku. Now lets see if ya found your spine there too," Bakugo grinned, before turning his back on Midoriya and looking up, but not in the direction that the Symbol of Peace crouched. "Hey! All Might!" the boy yelled, "You gonna come down and get this shit started, or are we gonna have to hunt ya down!"
Well, it would be rude to turn down such an invitation, Toshinori grinned. Both boys had grown from their first day, and he would see how they'd grown as fighters as well. "I am here!" the 'Villain' announced, leaping high into the air, sending himself into an overhead spin to build up momentum. This first attack would set the tenor of the fight, and test their resolve. "To villainously defeat you! Illinois Smash!"
Plummeting downward, a flick of his wrists pushing him towards the ground even faster. He turned his overhead momentum into a sideways rotation, pulling air around him in a tornado. Hitting the ground, the concrete cratered, the windows all around them shattering, the siding of nearby buildings fracturing enough so that, when he spun with he wind he'd gathered, he created a whirlwind that ripped everything around him apart, the pre-made shrapnel tearing into the landscape.
"Who really cares if I destroy this city?" he asked, trying to channel the very worst of those that called themselves 'Hero', but were truly Villains. "All that matters is that I stop you."
With a stomp, he cleared the air, the dust cloud he'd created pushed away and the remnants of the tornado he'd formed disrupted before it could become self-sustaining and leave the training grounds. Midoriya had taken cover behind the shrapnel-ridden wreck of a car, reading the directionality of the whirlwind and acting accordingly, while Bakugo had a few minor cuts, having tried to use an explosion to repel the attack, but unable to shape it properly in time.
There was fear in his apprentice's eyes, but also a sharp focus that the boy hadn't had before the Sports Festival while Bakugo, despite his injuries, smiled with bloodlust, but he, too, had a focus he had previously lacked. "If you think of this as an exam and not a real fight, you'll be sorry," the Symbol of Peace warned. Short of death, dismemberment, or severe brain damage, any injury could be healed afterwards, and he would not hold back like Snipe had, and rob these boys of this opportunity.
Grinning, he added, "I'm a villain now, heroes. You better remember that. I'll come at you with everything I've got. I won't pull my punches!"
Bakugo grinned back, "Wouldn't have it any other way, old man. Deku! You gonna-"
A speeding car cut him off, flying right for All Might, who negligently battered it away and into the wreck of a nearby building, but heard the telltale explosions of Bakugo's Quirk coming right at him. Don't be subtle if your power doesn't let you, Toshinori thought, respecting the boy's acknowledgement of his own weakness, and prepared to deflect the boy's attack as All Might deflected the car, only the blonde teen was too far away to truly do any damage, and Midoriya was nowhere in sight.
Was the argument an act? All Might wondered, and moved a hand to shield himself from the Bombing King's explosion, only for it to go off far brighter, and far more loudly than expected, momentarily blinding and deafening the 'Villain'.
A good tactic, and effective against a lesser foe, but Gran Torino had taught his student to fight blind, deaf, and the strict taskmaster would say Toshinori had the fighting 'dumb' part down pat, but that was just how the old man expressed affection. Because of that, All Might was able to dart forward and grab Bakugo by the face, careful not to squeeze too hard, and not to put a finger in the boy's eyes.
Rather than try and pry the hand off, a useless move, the angry teen just shoved his palms against All Might's ribs, setting off two chains of low strength explosions that did no real damage, but hurt like the dickens!
Alright, enough of that, All Might thought, getting ready to slam the boy into the ground in a way that would hurt his back and ribs, but not his head or neck, when the man felt the barest movement of wind on his hair and jerked his head to the side on instinct.
Because of that, instead of being hit on the directly by Midoriya's reinforced boot, he was struck on the shoulder with enough force to, combined with his weights, make him stagger, reflexively letting Bakugo go and blocking the follow up kick that, Midoriya, literally standing on his mentor's shoulders, violently aimed for the man's head.
He grabbed the boy and moved to slam him into the ground, but Bakugo moved too, a focused explosion detonating on All Might's arm, throwing his slam backwards and robbing it of most of its momentum.
Midoriya landed on one foot, his other in Toshinori's grasp, and while Bakugo did not have the strength to pull himself free, Izuku, sparking with One for All, did, having to use both hands to move his mentor's thumb, but succeeding and rolling away, even as Bakugo retreated from All Might's grasp.
I know I said not to hold back, but that was particularly vicious, Toshinori thought, working his shoulder, but pleased all the same. That attack hadn't been anything close to the Symbol of Peace's fighting style, something he knew his protégé aped with near religious accuracy. It was, however, the kind of thing that Mirko would do, from the few times he'd worked with the girl.
Yes, Young Midoriya was still copying the style of another, but if he could combine them? Make them his own, possibly adding other elements in as needed? Well, that would make a fighting style all the boy's own, and he'd started down that road during his internship with her.
I should do something nice for that young lady, All Might thought. Maybe get her a carrot cake? Wait, is that racist? Nevermind, I'll look into it later.
The boys' arguing had wasted a good amount of time, which meant that All Might could fight even harder, and still have enough juice to run things to the end. "Not bad as an opener," the 'Villain' remarked, walking towards them. "But can you keep it up?"
Both boys glanced at each other, and nodded. "I can do this all day!" Bakugo shot back.
"And I'll keep fighting as long as Kacchan does!" Midoriya added.
Very good! All Might grinned. "Then come at me, if you're hard enough!"
Both boys charged, and the Symbol of 'Peace' met them head on.
AN: Next Three Chapters Up On !