Chapter 9: The Old Master
The Old Master
Izuku's eyes fluttered open, he expected to be in a world of pain on the ground of the USJ while crying, or maybe in his bed at home with his mom offering a ton of pain killers as soon as he woke up, but he stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling that was pure white. His body felt completely fine as well.
He slowly blinked his eyes as he turned his head to the left and then to the right. He saw All Might in a hospital bed too.
The blond noticed he was awake and sent him a smirk and a thumbs up? Izuku tilted his head, wondering what that was about. After all, he ended up in Recovery Girl's office again. He wondered how many times she had hit his unconscious body with her cane.
All Might nudged his head down, basically telling Izuku to look there and the boy did so, with some effort, and made a noise of surprise. Yanagi was there, sitting in a chair, resting her head on the bed he was on, using her arms as a pillow.
He heard All Might snicker. "She came in soon after you got here… she was very worried about you, Young Midoriya." The man smiled wide and it made Izuku blush.
The boy looked down at Yanagi, 'She really is the best…' She was his first ever friend. Real Friend. She even made him a bracelet to always remind him of that, and here she was watching over him because she was worried. He smiled as he felt tears leak out of his eyes, he rubbed them, noticing one of his hands was covered in bandages.
All Might smiled at his successor before he saw the boy go rigid and turn his head to him. "D-Does she know!" He whisper-yelled.
All Might shook a hand, "No no, I just told her I was one of Recovery Girl's regulars, she seemed to buy it." The sentence made Izuku sigh in relief.
The greanette smiled at his friend and looked out the window, seeing the sun descending over the horizon. 'Shouldn't I wake her up so she can go home?' He thought to himself as he glanced at her. He wanted to, but she seemed really comfortable. But, it wouldn't be good for her back either. He hummed and sighed before tapping her shoulder with his bandaged arm. She seemed to stir and her eyes opened slowly. She felt her chin was wet and a bit of her sleeves too.
She grumbled as she lazily got up and closed her eyes, rubbing them with her jacket sleeve, as she was still in her school uniform. She opened them up and saw Midoriya, smiling with bandages covering his arm, one on his cheek and some in other places like his legs, but he was smiling.
And that's all that mattered.
The next second she leaped and wrapped her arms around him, making him wince as pain invaded him at the contact but he hugged back, with a red face. And because of the hug he was staring right at All Might who was giving him a thumbs up and a wide smile.
"I- am glad that you are alright.." She parted from him and cleared some tears out of her eyes and what she now noticed was drool off of her chin. Izuku frowned, he didn't know that he worried her so much. He felt bad, she shouldn't be getting so sad over him. But then she smiled. "You are… crazy Midoriya.."
"I-I'm sorry…"
Yanagi shook her head, "It's not a bad thing at all.."
All Might smiled and decided to leave them to it. He huffed as he sat up and got out of his bed, it took some effort but he did it. His wound twinged a bit as he walked out of the room, he huffed a bit as his lungs, or lung, tried to suck in as much air as he could.
Eventually his coughing fit died down "Now, to Nezu's office.." He had an odd request for the principal of UA, and one that made his legs quake with fear. "Damn it… I thought I got over this…"
The ghost girl peaked over her shoulder as the blond man walked out of the infirmary. He was… strange. His voice was… very familiar to her and his hair was too. But it didn't matter that much to her, at least right now.
She sighed, "I'm just.. glad that you are in good health. After all, with your quirk… I expected things to be worse. But Recovery Girl stated that the worst of your injuries was in your right hand and it'd be fine if you came in Monday for some extra healing. Your leg is already healed and everything else should be alright, for now…"
Izuku sighed in relief, "W-Was she mad..? She keeps on telling me not to make this a repeating thing, but.. that's all I'm doing at this point.." He clenched his not broken hand.
Yanagi nodded, "Yes… she was a little.. heated, but she was also proud that you helped protect others though she did call you a little thick skulled." The girl recounted.
Izuku chuckled a bit. That did sound like Recovery Girl, the fact that he had only been at UA for a week and had a good basis for what the nurse would and wouldn't say was a bad thing. "Sorry I… passed out on you, I'm glad you guys are okay though. I- wait, where's my bracelet?!" He just realized he didn't feel the weight on his wrist and began looking for it, though he couldn't do much as he couldn't, or rather wouldn't, get out of his bed.
Yanagi giggled and grabbed his face, turning him to her. "Don't worry, I have it, though it is a bit damaged. So I'm going to take it home with me so I can repair it, I hope you don't mind."
Izuku blushed a bit, "N-No.. not at all.."
"Good, now I better get going, my mother should be here soon." She stood up and pulled her chair away, putting it next to the wall. She walked to the door and turned to him, "Get better soon Midoriya.."
Izuku nodded and smiled a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. "I-I'll try my best."
The Symbol of Peace sighed as he sat down on one of Nezu's couches, falling into it like one would do after a long day of work. Something felt like it was choking his only lung as he coughed some more.
"Toshinori… that was very reckless of you.." Nezu chided as he sat on the couch across from him. "And it turns out that I was right, you really should stop wasting your time patrolling. You're taking teaching time away from your students."
All Might sat up and looked at the ground, ashamed. "I… know, I know, old friend.."
They had gotten into an argument about him using up his remaining time doing patrols. Nezu said that it was a waste of time, there were other heroes, they could patrol, and All Might was needed at UA to teach his students. The blond had come up with only excuses and now he knew that what Nezu said was absolutely correct. "I could've been there from the start and protected them… I've failed as a teacher.."
Nezu simply hummed. "Yes, so it would seem.."
All Might looked Nezu in the eye. "I've… come with a request. About Midoriya…"
The mouse smiled a bit. "Ah, so how's he progressing? I hope he's coming along well because he's been trying his hardest to get control of that quirk. All on his own might I add…" All Might saw the glint in Nezu's eyes.
All Might sighed, "He's… progressing well. He even displayed a new ability at the USJ I believe.."
The mouse tilted his head. "Oh? And what might this new ability be?"
All Might tried his best to remember so he could accurately describe it. "It seems like.. he used One For All across his entire body. See.. he's only been using it on singular limbs, at most both his legs, at a single time."
The mouse nodded, "Yes yes. To both be able to dodge and fight back at the same time. The fact that he created this while in a disaster scenario is nothing to sneeze at. It seems that your boy adapted All Might. He realized the situation and rose to what he needed to be. You picked a good successor, Toshinori." Nezu sipped some of his tea, he had taken a liking to Midoriya, especially after all he found.
Aldera did have cameras after all, and soon it wouldn't, because it was going to be torn down. He'd make sure of it. He'd seen a lot, Midoriya had been endlessly bullied and verbally assaulted, even told to kill himself by a few of his classmates, yet he still wanted to be a hero. He was quite intriguing, Nezu had to admit.
"Yes… I did. But, I do not believe I am a good enough teacher to bring out all of my successor's potential, so I wanted to make a request of you." All Might placed a hand on his leg to stop his jittering, he sucked in a breath. Nezu found his reaction to be quite entertaining. "I wanted to ask if my old teacher could come to UA and teach Midoriya…" The man got into as much of a bow he could do while sitting down.
Nezu sighed and smiled just a bit, "Very well, your request is approved." All Might got out of his bow with a smile. "However-" All Might's smile dropped. "-You'll be the one to call him and bring him here."
"Wh-What.. b-but you know how-"
Nezu put a paw up, "Now Toshinori, don't tell me you're afraid of a senile old man who's long past his prime?" The principal knew what he was doing, and his smile even seemed to come off as smug now.
"W-Well no.."
He clicked his paws together. "Then there should be no problem!" Nezu bounced out of his seat and walked towards the doorway, before opening it. "Well, good luck!"
"W-Wait, right now!"
"Absolutely!" The door shut and All Might wallowed in his own self pity and fear.
The Symbol of Peace pulled out his phone and scrolled through his short contact list before landing on "Gran Torino." He sucked in a breath, "Ok… Toshinori you can do this… he's old, he's senile, he can't hurt you anymore.." He let out a breath and pressed the call button. "H-Hello sen-"
"TOSHINORI YOU STUPID-"
This was going to be terrible and his shaking was already back.
Izuku sunk into his bed, he had to wait for Recovery Girl to come in and clear him, then he'd be able to go home on the train, he could already feel his bed and drift away into dreamland. He was both happy and worried that they had already called his mom but it wasn't something he wanted to think about right now. He was already thinking about how much he worried Yanagi.
He reached for the ceiling with his left hand, which wasn't broken, and clenched it. He closed his eyes and imagined One For All sparking across it. A couple of seconds later he opened his eyes and saw the green sparks of lightning there.
He dropped One For All and dropped his hand onto the bed as he thought about the technique he used. "A full body use of One For All…" Switching between using his legs and using his arms had been quite annoying and time consuming, and the technique made up for that. However it was hard to keep going, but then again he hadn't had much practice with it at all so maybe given time it'd be easier to use.
The door slid open with a slam and Izuku tensed, he was ready to face Recovery Girl's wrath. The sliding of a chair on the floor was heard and it made Izuku close his eyes, awaiting to be smacked with her syringe walking cane. However he heard a sigh as someone sat in the chair. "You can open your eyes Midoriya, I'm not gonna smack you like the old lady does.." Said a rough voice that Izuku instantly recognized.
He opened his eyes and saw Vlad King sitting down. "K-Kan-sensei! W-What are you doing here?!" He asked as he sat up.
The man smiled, or at least tried to with his teeth and mouth shape it was hard, "I came to see how you were doing Midoriya, and tell you that I'm proud of you. Some of the other students told me what you did and you certainly acted like a class rep." The man patted Izuku's arm, his bicep area so as to not touch his broken hand.
But then the man grinned, different from a smile, it looked like he had just won a bet or something, "Yanagi also told me about your new technique, we're going to be working on that, alright? So meet me at Training Gym Gamma on Monday."
Izuku nodded, "Yes sir."
Vlad stood up, "Alright, I have to go now I'm afraid, but if you don't mind, please look into that new technique before Monday. Find out all of its kinks so you understand it as much as you can."
Izuku saluted with his bandaged hand, "i-I will do my best!
Kan chuckled, "That's all I ask Midoriya." And then he was gone.
Izuku sat up in his bed and looked around, on his bedside there was a table with items on it. He quickly found out that they were his own personal items, with one of them being his notebook that he took with him and the other being his phone. He reached for the electronic device, wincing as his arm protested but he grabbed it and pulled it towards him, he opened it up and flipped through his contacts and they landed his most recent edition.
"Recovery Girl said he could help with my training…" He nodded to hismelf before he taped it.
"-So you see.. that's why I called you-" The sudden sound of the line disconnecting was heard and All Might pulled his phone away from his ear to see the blinking red words of 'Call Ended'
"S-sensei why…" He wallowed in more pity. He'd have to call him again. And that terrified the Symbol of Peace.
The phone rang two times before the person on the other end picked up.
"Hello?! Hello! Is this the cable company! Are you finally gonna fix my damn TV!" A loud and cranky voice yelled into Izuku's ear, making the boy wince. He pulled the phone back and he didn't even have to put it on speaker to hear it.
"Um n-no sir, I-I'm a student at UA, and Recovery Girl gave me this number to call you for training with my quirk." He responded with a shaking voice.
There was three seconds of silence, Izuku thought the guy was taking into realization that someone had wanted to train with him, however.. "Who're you?"
'Oh god..' Izuku sighed, this would take a while.
Eventually he was able to explain who he was, and introduced his name. The man seemed to acknowledge it because he went silent for a couple of seconds after he said it. Though that could've just been him instantly forgetting it. Izuku surmised that the man was old, if not old and senile as well. Or perhaps just very, very forgetful. But Recovery Girl said he could help with his training so it'd be worth it.
Izuku asked if the man would be able to train him and Izuku mentioned that Recovery Girl gave him the number, "S-So, I was wondering if you'd be able to train me, sir.." Izuku hoped the man would agree, even with all of Kan-sensei's training he still felt like he was behind. Plus, why else would Recovery Girl give him this number if the guy wasn't good at training people?
There was a beat of silence, "Sure thing kid… training will start on Monday, after all I saw what happened on the news."
Izuku rose a brow, the guy was showing a lot more intelligence now then he displayed earlier, perhaps the old, senile thing was a facade? That could be very interesting. "It'll give you time to recover, be ready for hell though. I don't go easy on training." And just like that, the line died.
Izuku was a little sad about that, he wanted to get a little work in with his new technique before Monday, but he would have to do that on his own now. He could do that but it would've been easier if he had a teacher to help him while doing that. Soon enough the backbone of UA came and Izuku was cleared by Recovery Girl to go home, though he would need more healing on Monday, for his arm.
Monday would be eventful but he tried to make the most out of the weekend. He got his percentage up to a base of five percent so it no longer hurt that badly, it still hurt but it was a dull pain, but he still had trouble with concentration concerning his new ability which he decided to call "Full Cowling."
He was at Dogaba Beach and cleared his breath, "One For All: Full Cowling 5%" He grit his teeth as green lightning danced across his form, he felt like he was being weighed down by water but that analogy didn't make complete sense as he was ridiculously fast, he did kicks and punches and he felt the power fluctuate as he struggled keeping the power alive.
He panted as he rested for a bit, the sun was finally coming up and he decided to ditch his shirt again as he summoned All Might's power again. "One… more time.." He blasted off, doing punches and kicks, imaging an opponent in front of him, a pale hand reached towards him, he jumped back and lost his footing before falling into the sand.
He winced and opened his eyes, beginning to stare up at the now blue sky; he sighed. "At least I'm at five percent now…" He panted out as he stood up, his body didn't feel too bad either, except his arm. That still throbbed a lot because it wasn't fully healed.
Clouds moved across the sky and he smiled as he got up and looked across the clean beach. It was pristine. It was beautiful. And he did it. His hard work was what brought this beach back into prime condition. He still remembered falling off of a giant garbage pile after yelling his heart out. It all started with this beach. His story.
"Well, not really, it all started with me meeting All Might, or maybe me being diagnosed as quirkless, but this beach is definitely a milestone. The entrance exam is probably one too, maybe the battle trial, oh but definitely the USJ.." He ended his muttering as he felt his skin heat up under the sun. He grabbed his shirt and waved it around, getting all the sand out, before putting it on.
"I'm making progress.. that's all that matters…"
He slung he bag over his shoulder and was ready to leave. He sighed as he walked towards the door, seeing his mom on the couch, a look of clear on her face. She didn't like what happened at the USJ one bit. Izuku was sure she was reconsidering letting him go to UA at all, but… she knew it'd crush him.
And so now there little home had an awkward atmosphere, one with a terrible amount of weight in the air.
The school day arrived and Izuku walked up to the gate, seeing a lot of his classmates there. He smiled a bit as a pep in his step was gained.
"Oh hey Midoriya!" He heard Tokage yell as she waved at him, with both arms too!
"H-Hey!" He waved back.
His group of friends ran to him and they all smiled, "Midoriya, my friend, I'm glad you're ok!" Monoma threw an arm around him, "I was so very worried, your actions were so reckless, yet so awe inspiring as well! Truly magnificent, my friend!"
"Yeah man, you broke your bones again! That's so- so rad!" Tetsu grinned as he reenacted Izuku's performance, trying to mimic his smash and then crouching down and acting like he was using Full Cowling.
"G-Guys, it's no big deal, r-really…"
"Nonsense." A monotone voice came through and Yanagi appeared behind them. "You fought against villains while using your quirk that breaks you, in the process breaking a couple of fingers, then your entire hand, and injuring your leg, on top of creating a new technique to better use said quirk." She stated. "I do believe that is what you call a "big deal." She said with air quotes.
Izuku found himself smiling, "T-Thanks guys.."
Another arm wrapped around his shoulder and this time it was Tokage. "Alright! Now onward! To victory!"
"I believe you mean to class Setunsa.."
"Whatever!"
Izuku forgot how nice it was to finally have friends. He laughed as they made their way out the classroom, more of their classmates joining them on the way before they finally arrived. They all took their seats and continued to talk with each other.
"So.. how's your arm, Tokage-chan, how did you-"
The girl smiled and did the "nice" thing with her arm that should not have been there. "Lizard Tail Splitter, why'd you think Lizard Tail was in there? Why not just call it Splitter?" She asked, waiting to see Izuku's face of realization.
The boy took a few seconds but then he gasped. "That's so cool! That's incredible Tokage-chan, oh that's just- there's so many applications, that opens so many possibilities, could you make an army of floating limbs, that's just-" A hand from behind him carted through his hair.
"Breathe Midoriya.." Yanagi chastised.
Izuku blushed and smiled, "S-Sorry.. I keep on forgetting…"
"That's kinda impressive Greenie."
"Only you would forget how to breathe Midoriya." Monoma sighed, "It's truly fascinating how different you can be sometimes."
Izuku tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you were so focused during the USJ, and now you're a blushing mess, Midoriya. It's almost amusing." Monoma answered.
"A-Ah, well.."
"Umm Midoriya…" The shy and skittish voice drew the attention of all the group as they turned to Komori, Kuroiro standing behind her. She seemed to be crying as tears came out from behind her bangs. "Y-You're ok.."
Izuku got out of his seat, "Y-Yeah, I'm alright. I'm g-glad you two are alright.."
Komori took small steps before barreling into his chest. "I-I thought something bad h-happened to you! I was so w-worried! I saw you p-pass out and then you didn't get b-back up!" Despite the redness of Izuku's face, he felt horrible. He had just worried his friends with his recklessness, he did the same with Yanagi. That's why she stayed to see if he got better.
He awkwardly patted her back, "It's… ok.. I'm here…" He said.
Tokage chuckled at the words, 'Just had to go with All Might's catchphrase…'
Eventually Komori let go and Izuku slowly put his arms out, as if presenting himself. "See?, I-I'm fine…" He said with a small, nervous smile, Komori inspected him and found nothing wrong, besides his arm which was still covered in bandages.
"D-Does that… hurt?" The class seemed to be watching their Class Representative as he rolled up his sleeve and showed his bandaged arm.
Yanagi creased her brows in worry as she had a frown on her face, she wished she could've helped him at least a little more. She didn't like seeing him hurt. Any of her friends being hurt.
Shishida and Tetsu looked on in astonishment at how their Rep behaved. They found it sort of inspiring, especially considering that Midoriya was usually a nervous wreck. They both had thought, "If he can do it, I can too!"
Kendo sighed, she should've been there to help too. It was her job as the Vice to protect and help their classmates. Izuku was one of those classmates. She should've been there to help him.
Izuku clenched his damaged fist, wincing a little as he felt some pain. He looked at Komori, "It.. does hurt, but it's w-worth it.." He remembered the old All Might rescue video he always watched as a kid, seeing All Might come out of danger with dozens of rescued civilians covering his body, his laugh, his presence, everything about it.
"E-Even if it's just one person, even if I just save one person, any amount of pain is worth that.." He said with a reminiscent look.
Kuroiro and Komori both nodded. The white hair teen stepped forward and smiled, "That's very noble Midoriya."
The boy waved his hands, "N-No! I-I'm not noble, nothing like that!"
Komori smiled and clapped her hands, "I thought it was noble, shroom!"
That just caused Izuku to blush more. "I-I-"
"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE TAKE YOUR SEATS!" Vlad King yelled as he strode into the room, a clipboard in his hands. Kuroiro, Komori, and Izuku quickly did so. Izuku wasn't as startled at the yelling as he usually was, he didn't know why though.
Kan nodded as all of his students quieted. "Alright, good. No important news for homeroom so instead we'll be going over something else, something more interesting." The man sighed, "Despite recent events, you all will be participating in this year's Sports Festival."
"I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THAT!"
"I watched that a bunch as a kid!"
"It's where we make a name of ourselves! Totally cool!"
"I'll win, I'll beat everyone!"
Through the cries of excitement, one hand went up, "Do you have something to say Shishida?" The pro pointed out.
The beast boy sighed, "Kan-sensei, is it really wise to hold such an event after what transpired last week?" He asked with confusion. "What if villains decide to strike again?"
Izuku locked up, that was a possibility…
Kan nodded, "A good worry, and I had the same worries. However Nezu promised that security would be bumped up this year, essentially, it would be suicide for any villain to strike the tournament grounds." Kan saw looks of unease on his students' faces, he sighed, "I swear on my title as a pro hero that no villains will enter the tournament grounds."
That seemed to ease them a bit.
"However, leading up to the festival, which is in two weeks, you will use each and every hero class period for training." He said, some of the students groaned. "And today we have a.. special lesson." He sighed.
Kendo through a hand up, "What do you mean by that, sensei?"
"We'll be having a special guest who will be working with some of you on improving yourselves." He said in return. The class nodded though they were confused about what he meant by a special guest. "So, get ready, get in your gym uniforms, and meet me at Training Gym Gamma."
The students all changed into their uniforms and walked to the gym, Izuku wondered what all this was about. He briefly thought about All Might's teacher, but shook the thought away. After all, that was kind of a leap in logic..
They entered the gym and saw Vlad King tapping away at his tablet. Izuku noticed that the gym looked a lot more used than when he had come in. There was a small rock formation and pillars used for super move training littered about. Some pillars were broken, others were not. Kan looked up as the students entered. "Okay, now that everyone's here…" he gestured to Gym Gamma. "This is Gym Gamma, where regular training periods for students are spent, at least in my class…." He whispered that last part.
"Like I said earlier, you'll be conducting training here everyday leading up to the Sports Festival. You can do extra training on your own if you wish, but that's not mandatory." He looked around, "Now, any second now…"
The students looked around as well after their teacher started doing it, they all wondered what they were looking for but none of them saw anything. Tokage pouted and looked at her wrist while tapping her foot, even though she didn't have a watch.
Kan sighed before stepping out for a second, "There you are! Get in here!" They all heard the man yell before he came back in, an old man being held by what seemed to be a scarf was in Kan's hand, a walking-cane in the old man's hand as well. "Alright." He plopped the man down in front of the class. "This is our special guest today, he's an old UA teacher and Nezu authorized him to help teach class today at All Might's request." He patted the old man's shoulder, "Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?"
The man turned to him, "What was that?!"
Kan dragged a hand over his face. "Introduce yourself."
"What?!"
"INTRODUCE YOURSELF!"
"SPEAK LOUDER, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
The class sweat dropped as the two essentially got into a shouting match and the old guy seemed to be winning too, going by the deep breaths Kan-sensei was taking. That fact was surprising because, while Vlad King was no Present Mic, he still could be very loud for long periods of time and act like nothing was wrong. The man had an iron throat and could yell for hours on end.
Kamakiri clicked his tongue, "Fuck this shit, this old fart wasting our god damn time!" He turned to walk away.
BLAM
And then felt a boot impact the back of his head. He fell forward onto the ground. The students stared in shock as they saw the little figure of the man disappear in a burst of wind, they all looked around, looking for him. Izuku squinted his eyes, seeing gusts of winds sprout from the walls. The boy bounced back and snarled "OH, YOU'RE DEAD OLD MAN!"
"Careful! He's everyone, bouncing across the entirety of the gym, he can attack you at any time!" Kendo yelled as she got in a fighting stance. Tetsu activated his quirk and Monoma did the same after copying it.
The group all tensed, Shishida hadn't yet activated his quirk as he knew that he might attack his fellow students if he did so. Yanagi closed her eyes and tried to grab the man but whenever she felt him she'd quickly lose him too. He was too fast for her to grab, she needed to focus harder.
Honenuki placed his hands on the ground, waiting for an opportunity where the man would hit the ground so he could sink him with his quirk. Tsuburaba was ready to use his quirk, Solid Air, to make shields to defend himself, as did Shiozaki with her hair. As was Kaibara and Kamakiri ready to attack the first chance they got.
The sound of rustling wind was all they heard as they looked around. Izuku could feel the old man grinning. He squinted his eyes, looking through his memories, through his notebooks, to see if he had any files on this guy. He drew a blank.
"ONE!" they heard his gruff voice as one of them went down.
"AWASE NOOO!" Kaibara yelled to his seat buddy as the boy flopped onto the ground face first, most likely very knocked out. He reached for his friend only for another burst of wind to happen as he was taken down as well. "TWO!" They heard again.
Izuku looked around, trying to find him, but he couldn't. The man was moving too fast for Izuku's eyes to track. What didn't help either was that they were grouped up, and that was hindering each of them at countering him. At finding gaps in his fighting style, because they were blocking each other's lines of sight.
"THREE!" The man yelled as Kodai went down, falling forward, she didn't have any objects to use her quirk on, but Izuku didn't think the old man knew that. "FOUR!" Fukidashi went down following Kodai, also falling forward onto his face.
Izuku crouched down, "Full Cowling: 4%!" He yelled, Monoma and Yanagi glanced at him as they saw green lightning spark off of his body. Vlad King watched from off to the side, grinning at Izuku's technique. Gran Torino smiled in mid air, 'You picked a good one Toshinori, now let's see if he fights with the quirk as well as he's figured it out!'
More bursts of wind rustled up the class's hair, Kendo narrowed her eyes, she was sort of getting this guy's fighting style, in the confusion of everyone he would pick off people by going for knock outs moves. Going for heads and that sort of thing to knock them out, but he also always aimed for backs. He never came at someone from the front.
And Izuku had figured that out too.
A final burst of speed was hurt as the man came crashing down for one of them, 'Show me your resolve!'
Izuku felt the air change around him, telling him, screaming at him, that he was the old man's target. 'NOW!' He whipped his head around and jumped up to meet the old man, the hero's widened a bit as he smirked. Vlad King and most of the class did the same, though the pro was inwardly cheering in his head. Midoriya was showing to be a very good student, despite starting behind most of the class he was meeting them now, and even running past them in some cases. Kendo nodded to herself, her deduction had been right after all. "SMASH!" Izuku threw his arm forward but the man was gone again, the boy's eyes widened in shock and then pain as something crashed into his side, throwing him into the ground.
The entire class winced as he skidded to a stop as he clutched his side, Kamakiri laughed just a bit too which earned him a neck chop from Kendo. And then the old man stopped his assault, landing on the ground. The pro was a little surprised when he sunk into it, via Honenuki's quirk but not much else, he simply got out using his quirk before the teen could harden the ground again, and made sure to grab his walking-cane.
"Midoriya, you alright man?" Tetsu asked as he helped Izuku get up.
"Y-Yeah.." He clutched his side, it stung a lot, and it was just one hit that he took. Who was this guy? Awase, Kaibara, Kodai, and Fukidashi all got up, groaning a bit. Though the one girl of the four did so quietly as she stared at the old man intently, probably hoping she had laser vision instead of her current quirk.
"Well, that last one was surprising, why don't you introduce yourself?" The old man barked out as Izuku finally got his bearings.
The boy blushed in embarrassment at being called out and he bowed, "A-Ah! Izuku Midoriya sir!"
"Sir makes me feel old! Gran Torino, my old hero name."
All the students deadpanned, this man- was clearly not in his prime. Far past that point in fact. They all agreed not to call him old but they all acknowledged that he was. "Ah! Yes, Gran Torino sir!"
Monoma sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Midoriya…." He groaned.
For his stupidness, Izuku got a boot to the face, "Ah!" He clutched at his nose. Gran Torino was fast, too fast, that speed gave him more force in his attacks and Izuku didn't like it one bit at all. Man, why did All Might ask for this guy to come in? Did he hate them?!
Tokage patted his back, "That's what you get for being an idiot…" She said as Izuku groaned, he thought it was broken.
"I'd say referring to someone of higher status as "sir" is quite the contrary, it's respectful." Shishida interrupted.
Vlad King decided to take the floor, "So, you now know the difference between you all and an experienced pro. He took down a fourth of the class like nothing, and none of you could counter him. The Sports Festival is coming up and you'll be scouted by pros, they need to see that you can react, fight back, and win!" He announced He saw determination fill all of his student's eyes, they either wanted to prove themselves to the pros or get revenge on Gran Torino, either way he grinned. "So, let's get to work!"
"ALRIGHT!"
Gran Torino ended up taking the students that he had utterly decimated with him, while Kan was working with the rest of the class. So currently, Awase, Kaibara, Kodai, Fukidashi, and Izuku were all subject to the scrutinizing gaze of the old man.
"Band and Girl." The man said, both of them grumbling a bit, though Kodai was definitely more quiet than Awase was, merely frowning just a millimeter. Awase was quietly muttering a couple of profanities. "From what underbite told me, you both need items for your quirks, well go and grab something and start practicing! As many times as you can use your quirk, for as long as you can, I don't care if you suffer from quirk exhaustion, do that stat!" The two scrambled to do as told, not wanting another boot anywhere near them.
He looked at Fukidashi and Kaibara. "You two are different from the other two, but the same principle can be applied, alright, plain-looking one." Kaibara sighed, and Izuku winced in sympathy, 'I know how is feels Kaibara-kun...' a kindred spirit, "Spin all your limbs and your torso as much as you can in fast intervals, if you get dizzy suck it up, if you throw up too bad, get back up and do it again!"
"Yes si- I mean Gran Torino!" Kaibara instantly spun his limbs and torso.
Gran Torino set his eyes on Fukidashi, "Pull out your phone and read a bunch of manga, you need to widen your arsenal, boy." The boy saluted, his speech bubble becoming a thumbs up as he walked off, pulling out his phone, Izuku deadpanned, wishing that he could do something like that but with videos of heroes instead. The man then turned to Izuku, "Alright kid, come with me." He said, walking off very slowly with his cane.
Izuku followed the man. "So, Gran Torino, w-why'd All Might request you to help with our training?" Getting to know someone that All Might personally requested to help their class, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity! But what was so special about the old pro? He wanted to know! Even if the man was just here to kick his butt, which he had been doing wonderfully at so far.
"So, Toshinori finally picked a successor, eh? I'm glad that you don't seem as thick-skulled as him when he was a youngin." The man commented, Izuku paused.
"...you were All Might's teacher…"
The man turned around, "What? Old Toshi didn't mention me?"
"Nuh uh."
"Not even once?"
"Nope."
The man sighed, "That stupid baffoon, well alright. Name's Gran Torino, I trained Toshinori ever since he was about your age kiddo. Kicked his ass every time I had the opportunity, and now, I'm gonna do the same to you."
"P-Please, have mercy."
The man simply smiled, his old face cracking as the unusual expression made its way onto his face, "No."
The man's cane clacked onto the floor and Izuku was hit in the back of the head and thrown to the ground. "GET UP! TRY AGAIN!" Izuku did so and felt his feet get swiped out from under him, he fell on his back. "AGAIN!" He got up only to take a hit to the back and skid to the ground. "AGAIN!"
Kan's group looked on at Izuku in sympathy, while the rest of his group simply was pushing their quirks to their limits, which sucked in its own right, he was getting his ass kicked by an old man. Eventually the onslaught stopped and the man sighed as he picked up his cane. "You know in a fight, you're supposed to fight back." He said, looking at the downed boy.
Izuku panted as he got up, he could feel all the bruises forming across his body already. "I-I couldn't concentrate!" He said as he stood up on shaky legs. Gran Torino didn't like that answer.
"Your quirk should come naturally to you! Now we're doing this until you can summon it on a whim." The man smiled before throwing his walking-cane to the side. "Either you use One For All, or you'll be seeing Chiyo very, very soon." In a burst of speed he was gone, bouncing around the gym again but solely targeting Izuku.
The boy sweated as he observed the man with his eyes, 'No, my eyes won't be of any he- "OW!" Weight crashed into his shoulder, he grabbed it with a wince. He crouched down, "One For All: Full Co- GUH!" He skidded to the ground, bouncing a bit as he collided with a cement block used for super move training.
He got up on shaky legs, his back touching the cement block. A plan formed in his head, 'He'll have to come at me head on now!' He put his arms in an x formation and his eyes glowed radioactive green 'One For All-' He heard the sound of whirling air as yellow blurs danced around in his vision, "Full Cowling!" The blur finally jumped at him. "Five percent!"
Green electricity arced off of his body as the man collided with his arms, he grit his teeth at the force. It hurt a lot and he could feel his arms straining from the pressure but he pushed! Gran Torino was sent hurtling back and Izuku lunged, however he felt it slip. His control. He wanted to get better, to win, and unconsciously he pushed the percent higher.
Gran noticed the raised speed as Izuku appeared in front of him. 'He jumped up mid battle, impressive. I'd say he jumped from five to around seven.' Still it wasn't enough, and as Izuku felt the strain from going over his limit he saw Gran disappear again before he was plowed into the ground.
He felt the pros weight on his back as he groaned, the man simply chuckled, "You're fifty years too young to land a blow on me, kid."