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[Training Continues]
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...
'What does he want me to do?!'
Midoriya scrambled his brain for answers as he ran at full speed, turning corners, diving into alleyways—anything to shake off his pursuer.
At one point, he even used his new OFA control to boost his legs, trying to get away faster.
Maybe that was the point?
No, it wasn't. Taka just kept chasing him down to beat him again.
So what was he missing?
'How did things even come to this?' Midoriya wondered, recalling how it all spiraled into this weird situation.
After figuring out the lower-output trick, Taka had immediately forced him into a spar and, for some reason, hadn't held back at all.
At first, Midoriya assumed Taka wanted him to shorten the time it took to focus the Quirk into whatever limb he intended to use, so he tried fighting back, pushing his burst of power to arms, then legs, then arms again, whatever was needed to adjust to Taka's speed and actually be able to defend himself.
But after failing miserably to keep up, even like that, and getting beaten up a few more times, he finally understood. No matter how much faster he got at switching the power around, he simply wouldn't be able to react to Taka's current speed.
He was hopelessly outmatched.
For a moment, he wondered if Taka was overestimating him, and that was why he was being so harsh.
But he soon realized that wasn't it.
He'd seen Taka fight before—if Taka wanted, he could knock him out with one hit. Easily. He was sure of that.
Yet instead, Taka struck him repeatedly, but only at a level Midoriya could withstand.
He was holding back, while still showing no mercy.
Outmatching him completely… while also restraining himself.
Why?!
'He said I was missing something, but what in the world is it?!'
Panicked, Midoriya looked behind him—
—and saw Taka inches away, eyes locked onto his.
"...!"
Terrified, he made an awkward, almost-falling turn and scrambled into a nearby building.
Ground Beta was the same place where they'd done combat exercises, which meant the interiors would also have a maze-like layout. If he used it to shake Taka off his trail for a moment… he might get enough breathing room to think.
He rushed inside, sprinting up the building, taking random turns through the labyrinth until he felt he was deep enough.
Once he reached a part of the building even he couldn't recognize, he collapsed on all fours, panting hard as sweat dripped from his forehead.
Wheezing, he forced himself to sit against a metal wall, face scrunching from the strain in his lungs.
'What is it…? What am I missing?'
The moment he had silence, his mind fired up instantly, running at full speed.
'What does Takahashi-san want me to achieve here? He's holding back, but still fighting at a level I can't catch up to, nor learn anything from—unless he wants to teach me to take a beating.'
He glared at his fist, letting a small amount of power flow into it.
'By holding back his hits, he's making sure I can keep fighting… But if so, what's he trying to accomplish by overwhelming me this much? Is he expecting me to fight back against that? I can't—his technique is superior, and his speed is absurd. Even if I learn to switch enhancements faster than ever, I doubt it would matter against that kind of speed…'
Frustrated, he clawed at his hair.
'So what is it? Does he want me to somehow figure out another way to fight at his same level? Impossible. I'm nowhere near that right now. To do that, I'd need to draw out more of my Quirk, but that would damage my body and turn me into a liability… which defeats the whole purpose of him teaching me to lower the output in the first place.'
His eyes widened—just slightly—as an idea clicked.
'So he wants me to fight with the same percentage of power I can handle right now… but if the way I'm using it isn't working, then… is he telling me to use my power differently?'
He glared at his hands again, transferring energy into them, only to then move it towards his legs.
As he did, a frown took over his face.
If channeling power only into the parts he needed wasn't the answer… what else could he do?
What would let him fight at Taka's level?
'Speed,' Midoriya blinked, 'Takahashi-san keeps overwhelming me with speed, yet doesn't seem to be hitting me with much force… so he must want me to be able to respond to that.'
Switching OFA from his legs to his fists was too slow. Even if he shortened the delay to the minimum, that wouldn't be enough; there would always be a tiny gap where his brain had to process the switch. A tiny gap that, given Taka's speed, would prove fatal.
'But All Might doesn't seem to need to switch… wait—he doesn't!'
That's when it hit him.
All Might had the same Quirk, yet he never seemed to enhance individual parts, nor to focus on changing the strength from one limb to another.
Why?
Because All Might never boosted a single limb.
"The key… is to distribute the enhancement over my whole body!"
—Boom!—
His thought cut off as the wall next to him exploded, a cloud of dust shooting upward.
From the dust stepped his classmate, eyes locked on him.
"T-Takahashi-san…!" Midoriya flinched, taking a step back. "I-I figured it out! I have to use my Quirk over my whole body for a full, constant enhancement! That way, there won't be any gaps where I'm switching power from one limb to another, because there won't be any switches in the first place!"
Taka gave a calm, slow nod.
"...!" Seeing he hadn't been mistaken, Midoriya began to exhale in relief, thinking that, having realized the key to the problem, the pursuit would end—
—sadly, he realized his mistake when he saw Taka already taking his battle stance again.
"Eh?"
"Well?" His classmate tilted his head. "Do it."
Seconds later, explosions echoed through the building, left and right, chasing something through the floors.
Some nearby students paused their own training, eyebrows rising at the noise in curiosity.
That curiosity got an answer quickly.
—BOOOM!—
A blast tore apart one of the outer walls. From the hole, a green figure stepped out, wide-eyed as he checked his surroundings and then stared down at the drop below.
"I-is that Midoriya?" Sero asked, stunned.
"D-deku?!" Uraraka's eyebrows shot up.
Iida adjusted his glasses. Why was Midoriya that high up?
And again—they got their answer fast.
"H-he's jumping!"
Midoriya suddenly sprinted out of the building and leapt with all his strength.
Iida panicked. "Ah—Midoriya, it's not worth it!"
He looked ready to run in and catch him—
But to everyone's shock—
—Thud!—
Midoriya landed on the ground two floors below without even rolling.
Electricity-like energy crackled around him.
Then, from the same building, another figure stepped out.
"Takahashi-san?!" Iida exclaimed in disbelief.
Sero sweatdropped slightly at the sight. "Right, he said he was gonna be training Midoriya… but what kind of hellish training is that?!"
Back in the conflict zone, Taka floated down from the broken floor, descending toward the recovering Midoriya.
"Looks like you managed it."
Midoriya inhaled sharply, staring at himself with wide, amazed eyes.
"I did it…"
He could feel the power flowing evenly now. His speed, reflexes, and strength had all jumped significantly—even though he was only using around three percent of OFA's total output.
At last, he had taken a step forward in the path to make All Might proud.
"With this…" His eyes lifted toward Taka, fire igniting in them.
The air shifted, and the ground cracked as he kicked off, shooting toward Taka at unprecedented speed, winding up a devastating punch.
"I CAN FIGHT!"
—BAM!—
Sadly, his hype ended the moment a giant crimson hand bitch-slapped him into the ground, embedding him in a sprawled pose.
Thus ended Splatdoriya, knocked unconscious instantly.
"Don't get ahead of yourself." Taka squinted before sighing, pointing a hand at him. Healing energy slowly wrapped around Midoriya—invisible, of course.
As the energy did its job, though, Taka huffed as his mouth curled slightly upward.
'One less thing on my to-do list.'
…
°
°
°
| Minutes later… |
…
Taka was now walking alone through Ground Beta, admiring the mock city with a look of wonder.
'Does Nezu pay a ton of money to fix this constantly, or does he slave Cementoss away for that?'
After a moment of thought—and noticing the area had plenty of materials beyond concrete—he concluded that the concrete parts were handled by Cementoss, while the rest came from the school's funds.
'That, or there's one hero for each material here, and the school saves millions in manpower.'
Snorting at the thought, Taka looked up, kneeled for a moment…
Then shot into the sky the next second, landing on a nearby rooftop a moment later.
From there, he surveyed the whole area, gathering his thoughts.
After Midoriya got beaten into the ground—literally—Taka stayed with him until he woke up. With the healing he'd given him, it didn't take long. But he didn't leave him pristine; he didn't want the greenhead to suspect anything, so he was gonna have to deal with some muscle pain for a while.
Then he told Midoriya to work on using his still-unnamed "Full Cowl" more fluidly. Right now, what he needed was to internalize the process and make it instinctual while fighting.
The fighting part would come later; for now, he was gonna have the greenhead get accustomed to entering and going from the state.
Once he dominated it, he'd be ready for a proper spar.
'Hopefully, he won't take long.'
And so, he left the greenhead to his own devices while he headed elsewhere—where he was now.
'Still, that's one bullshit power,' Taka thought, grimacing slightly.
He hadn't asked the exact percentage, but judging from the original timeline, Midoriya couldn't be above 5%.
Yet that much was enough to give him what Taka estimated as around 1,500 physical stats.
Absurd, to say the least.
Roughly twice than what he estimated Seiji had—though that was purely physical. The monkey had insane agility, flexibility, whatever powers monkeys had, and was simply better at using his own speed, making him far more of a nightmare.
But still—bullshit.
He shuddered slightly from thinking just how much more the greenhead would be growing in the following months, once his percentage began reaching bigger numbers, until he ultimately attained the 100%, just like in the—
'Actually, I don't think he ever reached it properly in the show… He just kinda lost his powers after.'
Taka blinked slowly.
'So, if I manage to bring him to his greatest potential… wouldn't it be even more awesome when I beat him?'
His mouth curved slightly at the idea, a smirk forming—
Then dropping.
'I'm doing it again.'
He sighed, sitting down on the border of the building's ceiling, and letting the air ruffle his hair slightly.
The Aura Farming system. Because of it, his path to be an aura farmer was set, whether he wanted it or not.
It was his main source of strength, and the only thing that separated him from the weak quirkless kid he used to be.
But perhaps in that desperation or addiction to grow stronger, he may have grown obsessed. Forgetting Eri, occasionally seeing his classmates as a source of aura rather than his friends or acquaintances, and forcing an edgy mask onto himself because that's what he had thought would grant him the most aura.
Luckily, he had managed to realize it before he might have fully become a sociopath obsessed with being in the spotlight, no matter the cost.
Maybe he was exaggerating a little there. Perhaps he could have noticed his state later. But by then, how many things could he have done but hadn't because they hadn't fit in his perfect scenery to aura farm?
'What kind of aura farmer do I want to be?' Taka thought, staring at the blue sky above.
Right now, no matter how much he looked at himself, he was merely a pretender with too much strength. Granted, it was working, given his rising aura numbers.
"But is that all I want to be?"
Leaving Rockinesis aside, was the awe his classmates and whoever else had given him aura points, truly aimed at Takahashi Fukumoto?
Or was it aimed at the mask he had built because that's what he had thought would be optimal?
And most importantly… did he even want the awe to go to that mask instead of himself?
That brought the question back again. What kind of aura farmer did he want to be?
It didn't take him long to reach the answer.
"One who draws awe effortlessly, whether consciously or not."
Basically—not a mask, not a charade.
To be edgy when he felt like it, cocky when he felt like it, and chill when he felt like it, and not when it "seemed" like the right option.
A constant awe-drawer, no matter the state, moment, or atmosphere.
An aura farmer, true to himself.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[Having broken out of the illusion of false aura farming, it's time for you to shed that shiny but imperfect shell and become what you were meant to be.
The Aura Farmer, Takahashi Fukumoto.
And for that, what better start than to mend the mistake you made.]
Conditions for completion:
▸Wipe out the Shie Hassaikai.
▸Rescue Eri successfully.
▸Do it however you please.
Reward: +1000 Aura | Gain the skill [The Throne]
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Taka raised an eyebrow.
'It's been a while since I got a mission.'
He had even begun wondering if his system had run out of them.
'Maybe it was just waiting for me to snap out of it.' Taka snorted, a small smile forming on his face. 'Well, I guess it wouldn't be right to disappoint it.'
This was something he was going to do regardless of the mission, but if the system wanted to toss in some rewards, then so be it.
Though…
'What the hell do you mean by "Do it however you please"?'
A brief pause followed.
Then Taka let out a choked snort.
"That shit is so corny."
Ultimately, however, he looked at the screen with a wide smile, his expression more vibrant than it had been in a long while.
"But sure. I'll give you a performance worthy of being remembered for years to come."
Having declared so, he heaved a sigh and stood up for good.
"Now then, enough self-reflection. Time to get busy again."
Following those words, he squinted as he surveyed the entirety of Ground Beta—at least until he found what he was looking for.
Or who.
A mile or so away, Jiro was currently sitting on a piece of debris, heaving repeatedly after finishing her normal workout.
As for why she was just working out, and not training with her Quirk…
"What am I gonna do?" she muttered, rubbing her earlobe while looking at it helplessly. "Am I even gonna be able to do anything at the festival?"
Her current dilemma stemmed from the festival's regulations: no supporting equipment, except for the support course, or really special cases—like Aoyama.
That meant she wouldn't be able to use her Stereo Boots, one of her key pieces of equipment that allowed her to channel her Quirk offensively by plugging her earlobes into them and firing a soundwave.
But if she wasn't gonna be allowed to use them… where did that leave her?
Her Quirk without that support gear only really helped with reconnaissance, letting her pick up sound waves more easily when her earlobes were plugged into solid surfaces like the ground or a wall.
But offensively?
Maybe if she stabbed opponents with them, she could transmit soundwaves that way.
But that'd end pretty gruesomely… probably.
Aside from that, at most, her earlobes were just stabby little things.
And she doubted their efficiency in that regard.
So, no matter how she looked at it, her Quirk was gonna be completely useless at the festival.
She could only hope the festival events wouldn't require too much combat without her support gear.
But even if they didn't…
'At this rate, I won't have anything to show…' She sighed, remembering how important internships were, and how being unable to stand out meant being left behind compared to her classmates.
"Stupid rules…" she groaned.
"You sound troubled."
A voice coming from behind startled her.
Slowly, with a completely done expression, she turned.
Only to see Taka floating behind her—upside down—his face leveled with hers.
"Boo."
"Gyaaaaaa!"
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Some progress has been made for Midoriya and Taka this chapter, both power and character-wise. Like Taka said, Midoriya now just has to get accustomed to his new way of fighting, and then he and Taka will begin training more basic aspects that the greenhead is currently lacking at.
Also, as for the approximation I made of Midoriya's power, given that the 5% full cowl of Midoriya in the show felt really lacking compared to how much more powerful it should be considering the scope of the 100%, I'll just assume it's exponential, and the further the percentage goes, the more power is acquired. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense, and it's a pain in the ass to try to power scale.
So, just because his 3% is roughly 1,500 in physical stats, it doesn't mean his 100% translates into just 50,000 in physical stats.
I'm honestly still pondering where to place prime All Might, considering some of his feats might as well be exaggerations of the anime for the sake of spectacle, just like many feats of other characters through the show—Like a clip I saw of Mirio somehow punching a Nomu with superhuman force—but for now, I'm picturing the 100% of both Midoriya and All Might to be between 100,000 and 500,000
Perhaps settling for 500,000 might be the best, or it might be me overestimating them. I might change my mind later.
Right now, the current AFO and All Might are below 100,000 in stats, which is something I'm fairly sure of. But they should have been fairly stronger in their prime. Both because neither was in a constant critical condition, and because both lost plenty after that fight. All Might lost raw power, and AFO lost plenty of Quirks.
Anyway, enough powerscaling. It only makes my head throb.)