『Hakari Kotaro』
"So... what do you think, Hakari-kun?"
I crossed my arms and closed my eyes while thinking about how to reply to Deku. He stood in front of me dressed in his Gym clothes, his physique was deceptively sturdy, we were currently in Grounds Beta, a mix of hills and forests, a natural and somewhat flat fighting grounds, with even a river nearby. It was tomorrow morning and we were both at the peak of our energy and wakeness, perfect for training.
"The most important thing you should be working on is control. You need to learn how to control the output of your ability before anything else. If you can output enough strength to level a building, you can output just enough to break bones as well."
Deku cradled his chin and looked contemplative and started doing his usual ramblings.
"Yes, that was what I was thinking of as well, but I didn't have the means to practice safely without breaking everything around me, including myself. IntheoryifIhadthemeanstotrainsafelyIthinkthatwouldgoalongwaytomakingmyabilitysafertouseandletmeexertgreatercontroloverbut-"
I clapped my hands to snap him out of his trance.
"Alright! First up, you see that tree over there?" I pointed to the small grove of trees nearby and he nodded. "I want you to punch it while your quirk is active, but without breaking the tree. If you can land 5 punches on it without breaking the tree OR your hand, we can move to the next phase, got it!?"
He jumped at my stern tone and gave a salute.
"Y-yes sir!"
"I'm not sir! Now, move move move!"
Izuku hurriedly moved before the tree and drew his arm back with a tense expression.
"Don't be so tense, your quirk is a part of you. Think of like a door in a flood, you want to let a bit of water in, but not the entire flood, open the door slowly and keep a firm grip on it, don't let it swing open fully. You can't handle the entire thing, just let a tiny gap instead."
"A door... Imagine a door.. a gap... It won't break, it won't break, it... Won't!"
Bam!
I couldn't help but smile a little upon seeing the crack on the tree that Deku punched, it definitely hit hard, but not enough to hurt his arm. He had to have a good head on his shoulders to be able to do that with just a verbal description.
Clap!
"Good job, again, memorize that feeling and don't forget it. Figure out how much power is safe, and how much is too much."
"Yes sir!"
This time he replied more confidently and resumed his stance again and punched.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!!
"Gahhh!!!"
I gave an unimpressed state as Deku blew his entire load all over the forest and uprooted the tree without even making contact while the massive storm of wind blew my hair everywhere.
After I healed his arm up I made him try again. This time without drawing out so much power. As it turned out, he tried to get more than that gap and figured out that if he let too much through, he wouldn't be able to stop from going up to at least 60%.
But after that accident, we were able to slowly get him to a reasonable level of control over his ability. He managed to use roughly 3% consistently without accidents after a few hours on all limbs. Not quite 5% but that was simply because he was less conditioned than his future self.
Now that he had enough control to not accidentally blow his entire load, that meant I could trust him to hopefully not blow up for the next step.
As Deku drank his energy drink and wiped the sweat from his forehead I nodded.
"Alright, time to move onto the next stage Deku, are you ready?"
He stopped drinking his JetDream Energy Punch and turned to me with a befuddled expression.
"Next stage? There is more?"
Although he sounded incredulous, he did not sound opposed to it, which I did actually quite like about Deku, despite breaking his bones every time he used his quirk, which was a terrible feeling by the way. He never got even the slightest bit discouraged.
A man who would break his own bones to hurt you at a moments notice without hesitation is a man who I can respect.
"Yes, you must have noticed, the way you currently use your ability at the moment is inefficient and frankly, not that great. An ability like yours supposed to be an passive enhancement and not an active trump card. You are using super strength like a special move and not an enhancement of your own body."
Immediately upon hearing my words he fell into deep contemplation again, thankfully without the muttering this time.
"An enhancement... super strength... trump card."
I snapped my finger to get his attention.
"Don't think I don't notice you yelling Detroit Smash whenever you use your ability. Copying All Might is good and all, but do you notice the difference? Detroit Smash is not him putting more energy into his fist, it's him using his insane physical abilities to punch the shit out of you."
Deku's eyes went wide as I kept explaining, trying my best not to show that I knew the secret of One for All.
"You are limiting the use of your Quirk because you are used to it breaking you, and you are not letting it do what it is supposed to do. The strain will be much manageable if you evenly distributed the force along your entire body and the ability would be much easier to maintain if you didn't deliberately try to constrain it to one limb, get what I'm saying?"
Deku nodded fervently as he bounced back on his feet.
"Yes! Now it makes sense! I should try to activate the ability at 3% without trying to think of one limb but instead like a light switch. I... am a lightbulb!"
Uh... good for him?
"Whatever floats your boat."
Light Bulb ignored me and instead went to squatting and clenching his fists with a determined expression.
He may not be the sharpest bulb in the shed, but he was determined at least. And I valued Tenacity far more than sharpness, you could sharpen a dull lightbulb, but it was far harder to motivate a sharp fella to continue after they give up.
"Full... Cowling...!"
Feat Achieved! Teach Izuku Midoriya Full Cowling early
+1x Advantage Silver Skill Gacha Ticket
My eyes widened in some amount of pride as I saw green energy crackled around Deku's body. This guy... he really just figured out proper control and Full Cowl in one day huh? Admittedly he had the help of someone who knew how his abilities were supposed to work, but that was some insane progress regardless. I was expecting at least two to three days.
"I... did it...! Hakari-kun!"
Deku gave an almost feral smile towards me while trembling slightly.
"Good! The question now is, can you move like that?"
"I don't... know!"
He strained his voice but I shook my head.
"Tsk tsk tsk, no, Izuku. You aren't supposed to say I don't know, you are supposed to say I will! Say it!"
Deku- no, Izuku, straightened his back and shouted.
"I will!"
A smile tugged on my lips, now, I can't help but want to sample it for myself. I wanted to fight Izuku right now. I was not a battle maniac, but I really wanted to test my mettle against someone who should be roughly even or even greater.
'Flowing Red Scale!'
My heartbeat sped up, and my skin gained a slight red tinge as my pupils dilated.
Rrrip!
I tore off my shirt and tossed it aside.
"Good! Now, come at me! Show me you are really going to be a hero, and knock me down!"
Without saying anything, Izuku gave a grim nod before jumping forward, his blood was pumping too surely. He was still a hot blooded youth that just got a taste of power after all.
'Fast!'
Instead of dodging, I crossed my arms and used the enhanced physical ability from Flowing Red Scale to take the hit. He moved fast, but not so fast that I couldn't keep up with my ability. Though I did not have time to think before the fist met my arms.
'Heavy!'
My eyes widened as I felt the impact, it felt like getting hit with an oversized sledgehammer, or a small car. My feet skidded across the floor and I couldn't help shake my arms, a nasty bruise appearing on them.
"Hakari-kun-"
Deku was about to say something out of concern, but I cut him off.
"None of that! Izuku, face me, don't think about anything else, just come at me, I can take it, you want to taste your power don't you? Let's do this, this doesn't end until one of us is a lump on the floor, got that?"
He only looked conflicted for a second before a wry smile appeared on his lips.
"Got it! If I want to be the number one hero, I have to... surpass you!"
Cheeky bastard.
He moved again, not running but move like hopping across the floor, he instinctually had a feeling about how to move with super strength it seemed. He went to my side and prepared a right hook, but it was sloppy, for too obvious of a tell. He clearly had no idea how to actually throw a punch.
"Sloppy!"
I dodged the fist and kicked his side, making him stumble and drop his transformation for one moment.
"You are being too obvious, I could see your attack coming days ahead."
Deku rubbed his sore side with an aggrieved expression, but I didn't let up as I advanced forward, making him startle.
"Real fight's won't give a moment to regain your bearings, figure out a way to regain it!"
Of course, I wasn't going full throttle while he was depowered, but I was still putting pressure on him with light jabs and kicks. For a moment, I was worried about disappointed that this was all he could show me, but then Izuku ducked a swing and....
"Smash!!!!"
BOOOOOOOMMMM! WOOOOOOSSSHHHH!!!
"Grrrh!"
I felt like I was struck by a loose freight train as Izuku flicked one of his fingers at 100% towards me, the sheer wind pressure sent me flying and disorientated me, I had to turn multiple times in the air just to be able to land on my own two feet.
"Huff... well, I'll be dammed."
My eyes were wide as Izuku stared me down with a pained smile, his left arm's middle finger a nasty broken red, but his fists were still clenched into fists and his body was covered in Full Cowling's green lightning.
"I'm not down just yet, Hakari-kun! I'll defeat you!"
A full smile found itself to my lips as I turned up Flowing Red Scale to the max, feeling my body get invigorated, I couldn't take this so easily.
This bastard, he aimed to impress eh?
"Goo! Very good! Then come at me, Brother! Let's see who'll come out on top!"
He blinked for a moment.
"Brother?"
"Hup!"
I did not give him a moment of reprieve as I rushed in, my speed was actually slightly beyond Brother's but his durability and strength decidedly eclipsed mine. A fight for sure.
Bam!
But this time, despite my leg hitting its mark, Brother managed to just barely keep full cowling on and countered with a punch of his own that missed its mark, which I made sure to punish with a punch to the gut. Making him drop full cowling again.
"Don't leave yourself open! Don't counter if you don't know how to!"
His eyes burnt with a flame fueled by both pain and determination. I already knew what was coming and took a step back and put my hands on the floor to withstand the burst as his middle finger glowed with an intense orange red light.
"Full Cowling!"
I couldn't help but blink like an idiot as instead of flicking his finger, he simply... didn't unleash his power and took advantage of me bracing to recover his full cowling.
That...
That was...
"Magnificent."
Izuku Midoriya, it seems like I was not mistaken about you. Brother.
A/N: Todo and Yuji are always fun to write, I mean Hakari and Izuku are always fun to write. I always like how Izuku worked around his limitations, and he actually is really good at training, he figured out most things by himself with a mentor who had no idea what he was actually doing, now he has Hakari who is cheating him with anecdotes from his future self.
Ability mixes are fun, but sometimes, just writing a fight where people beat the shit out of each other is also satisfying. Izuku has definitely impressed Hakari by leaps and bounds. And that is not easy to do. He really is a beast though, this guy will literally break every bone on his body if it means beating you at the slightest provocation. I hope you guys liked the interactions between Yuji and Todo- I mean Hakari and Deku
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