Out of Place & Out of Sorts

Ch.14 - What's in a friend?

Izuku stared at the tiny black tendrils hanging from his arm.

"I guess this is progress...?"

It was early Sunday, and Izuku was sequestered in a small cornered-off part of Gym Gamma, away from prying eyes. He was testing the waters with Black-Whip outside his dorm room because his underwear draw could only take so much abuse.

So far, he had managed to piece together several things about the Quirk.

One thing he found fascinating was that the tendrils were not restricted by his clothes at all. As best as he could tell, the main tendrils separated themselves into almost microscopic strands that could pass through the fabric, and then they would reassemble afterward.

It was good to know since it meant he wouldn't need further modifications to his suit to make the whips work with his setup. It also showed how smart and autonomously they could function. It really was a top-tier Quirk.

But that raised a question with Izuku. Was the Quirk purely automatic when he summoned it, or could he directly control it without making it grab something?

Thinking along these lines, Izuku attempted to determine whether Black-Whip was a fully or semi-autonomous Quirk. This led him to where he is now.

It took some soul searching and grasping for the sensation the Quirk gave off when he used it, but he succeeded, albeit with much more concentration. Izuku had made the tendrils hang there, stagnant, an otherwise impressive impersonation of Mineta's success with women.

Currently, the tendrils were as tiny as he could make them, mainly because he was also trying to find the sweet spot where he could use them without the pain. As they were right now, his arms were only a bit tingly.

He squinted at the black Lovecraftian horrors dancing on his wrist. "Ok, let's see if I can't make them bigger..."

The tendrils started to grow as Izuku focused hard on them. He could only hope that someday he would reach a point where this would be much easier for him to do.

Unfortunately, the tendrils didn't get much bigger until the stinging sensation started rearing its head. The whips grow barely thicker than shoelaces.

"Darn!"

Suffice it to say, tendrils of this size weren't practical in restraining people, especially not people like Dozer. Not unless he summoned bunches of them, but that would only spread the pain over a larger area of his arms.

He was tempted to turn to Banjo for help. After all, the previous wielders said he could speak to them by channelling One-For-All into his mind, but Izuku was hesitant.

Something about pumping a power that has exploded his limbs on multiple occasions directly into his brain just seemed like not the best idea when he's never done it before. The last thing he needed was to go 'Scanners' on himself.