The Emperor's Dragon II

Training Is the First Step to Moving Forward

Izuku was working with Twice. The man Jin Bubaigawara preferred to be called Twice when he had his mask on had a very interesting quirk. They all had interesting quirks. But Jin's ability to copy himself, and copy other things was very useful. Izuku had already seen it when they'd run from the Police and Heroes at the Shie Hassaikai base but he was now seeing more of it as they practised.

Yet there was a reluctance in Twice that Izuku knew he had to combat before Twice would truly embrace his quirk. He knew better than to just ask and he already knew what the issue was anyway from conversations he'd overheard and been involved in. It was going to be up to Jin to ask him or to want him to help.

Even so Twice's ability to copy the League and then use those clones to fight him was helping him gain condition much faster. Gigantomachia was watching and there was a glint in the large man's eyes that said he would like to fight too. Gigantomachia always wanted to fight.

Izuku ducked as a clone of Mr Compress lunged towards him.

Mr Compress' quirk was interesting as well. It had so many facets in the way that it worked. The simple statement that it allowed Atsuhiro to shrink anything inside the area into a small marble without damaging it, just scratched the surface of what Atsuhiro's quirk did. It not only shrunk things, it reduced their weight. It put them in the marble for protection. And for the things trapped in the marble, they were sort of in stasis, but any area effects they had initiated remained. It was a marvellously complicated quirk that seemed so simple.

It was the same with Twice's quirk.

With a practised move, Izuku rammed a hand through Atushiro's clone as he turned. That effectively 'killed' the clone and it dissolved. But he couldn't watch that, because another clone let out a jet of fire. Izuku was fire proof but the point of this training was for him to avoid being hit, while the others cooperated to hit him. Izuku had also told Twice that he'd go for kill shots on the clones, while only tapping the League.

The man had given him a disbelieving look, as if Twice couldn't comprehend how someone could tell the difference. Izuku hadn't explained. He knew what Twice's problem was but he couldn't just use logic to get rid of it... well couldn't solely use logic. The combination of the knowledge that he could tell which was the original, and his actions should go some way towards letting Twice know he was the original, without actually forcing the issue. It was helping him practise as well. He hadn't had many real fights, so he tended to hold back. This would encourage him to be brutal when it was called for.

They were not confined to a warehouse but Izuku had to agree that the location was probably not one they'd fight in often. Dabi had called it the ass end of nowhere, which was pretty accurate. Kurogiri had transported them to a deserted area of forest with a clearing and that was where they were practising.

There was going to be evidence of their practice. Trees were already down and there were some great gouges in the land from where Mr Compress had picked it up and then sometimes released it.

Himiko was participating, as was Whisper. Himiko still had Regeneration and was using her new quirk to her advantage, lunging inwards with her knife and a huge, happy grin. Whisper was not strong in direct, hand to hand combat but her quirk was useful. Just making someone silent made them a lot more dangerous. Izuku hadn't realised how much you relied on a sense, until it just wasn't there. It gave him some appreciation for what his father had gone through, losing his sight which was, when all was said and done, the sense, most of them relied upon the most. He hated All Might but how much more did his father hate? Losing his hearing, or his ability to hear someone, via Whisper's quirk was disconcerting but great practice for him.

She might not contribute much to the actual fighting but her contribution was not insignificant. In point of fact... Izuku threw himself forward, and turned in time to see a knife flash through where he had been. Whisper was already retreating from the thrust and if they were fighting for real, Izuku would have flicked a gust from Caeli Imperium at her... Actually, if this was real, he wouldn't be fighting like this but he'd agreed to do his best to fight like All Might. That meant he was using strength quirks, and while he could have still made a gust of air, All Might usually fought differently. He wanted them to see that. And learn that their combined efforts were not as ineffectual as they might initially believe.