John's pov
Currently, I and tokoyami were at one of the u.a facilities with my ability active.
"Now, then let's get one thing straight, you won't be able to imitate my method of flight because quite frankly, they function completely differently."
"Your ability seems to have a mind of its own while I function by outputting aura through my channels." I said signaling to how my aura acts differently.
"That being said, the overall power you have is way greater than my copy. Your weaknesses to light might end up getting in the way."
Using some of the facility settings, we were able to make the light dimmer
I proceeded
To instruct him to activate his ability.
Tokoyami's pov
As I was looking at the fall ahead, all I could think of was what kind of training he had in mind.
John, then, cutting off my thoughts said
"One last thing I apologize in advance.."
Before my mind could process the statement, John pushed me off the cliff with an open palm.
As I fell, my body was challenged with the wind it was so out of nowhere that I was practically powerless to stop the fall.
Just as I was about to hit the floor, my body froze mid-air.
Huh, I reacted in confusion.
I started floating back up to the same cliff that he pushed me off of.
T-this is uraraka's quirk, I thought to myself.
I was again face to face with John, who had an orange outline.
"If that's the best you can do right now, then you're never going to reach your goal. I'll help you, but by no means will that mean I'm going easy on you, got it, "
I tried responding, but before I could, I was suddenly falling again.
Despite that all the pain was in my head, John was masterfully using the gravity quirk to ensure I had no damage.
After 5 hours of this hell, I was lying down exhausted.
John jumped off the cliff, gently landing using the quirk.
He extended out his hand to me on the ground.
"Not bad for the first day. It would be impossible to teach you anything if you lack experience in the air"
He asked, "So tokoyami, are you sure you want to continue?"
John's kind of quirk training was brutal, but then again, when has anything worthwhile not required work.
I responded with conviction "yes I won't back down."
John deactivated his quirk. "You're quite motivated, aren't you, I'll see you around then,"
John's pov
There wasn't any particular reason why I decided to help tokoyami, I guess it would give me something to do.
It's just looking back at his ability during the sports festival, knowing he had so much potential. I wanted to see if I could bring it out.
He had the drive to improve. If he were to stay the way he was right now, he would be considered wasted potential.
I mean, that's what I would I have been if I never found out about my ability.
I was at a ua facility when Tokoyami entered.
"Good afternoon, John."
I responded to his greeting "likewise."
"So what are we going to do today?" He asked with a curious expression.
"Well, since we're in after-school hours, I can't exactly use uraraka's quirk."
I could almost feel a sigh of relief coming from him after I said that.
"So now that we're here, let's address one of your shortcomings."
I lifted up my sleeves
"Close combat," I expressed.
"During the festival, your ability sure was impressive but against an opponent who can circumvent the distance like midoriya or Ida. You need a way to compensate for your lack of power in close combat. "
"So for today I'm going to teach you all the martial arts I know, it might seem like we're ignoring your ability but after we get the basics out of the way you'll see that you'll start creatively combining it with your ability"
Tokoyami gave me a nod of apovel.
I spared with him corrected him when mistakes were made and more.
The next day I would copy one of the teachers at u.a snipe. using his ability from above I would relentlessly throw large objects that would home in on him the plan was for his mobility in the air to improve.
The school week went. I would put tokoyami through hell, targeting different aspects of his ability than the weekend rolled around.
I did everything in my power to push him to his limit,
Combat
Reflexes
Endurance
Strength
On the last two days, I would focus on improving his dark shadow with the goal of mobility and speed in mind
It's good to address weaknesses, but the same could be said about honing his strong points as well.
U.A high
It felt just like a regular day.
everyone in class was going on about a video online about the hero killer stain.
From the looks of it, stain seemed to have had a massive impact.
So much so so that I was getting a feeling of deja vu since my dad had a similar effect on society with his book unordinary, and to think that he wrote with the sole intention of helping me but that book proved that despite being a cripple during that Era my dad was the most influential even above the strongest in society.
However, my dad preached about treating people equally because everyone at the end of the day had something valuable to offer.
This hero killer, on the other hand, preached the purging of false heroes.
All might barged into the room
"Morning future heroes, are you redy for today's lesson?" he said animated as usual.
We as a class were moved to one of the state of the art facilities.
"Today is hero basic training it feels like I haven't seen you in a while. Welcome back,"
"Now listen carefully, we're going to be conducting a little race,"
"Take everything you learned from your internship and apply it here to this rescue training. "
Ida Tham raised his hand. "If it's rescue training, shouldn't we be at the usj?"
Yeah, cause that went so well, I thought.
All might responded "ah that facility specializes in disasters. As I said earlier, this is a race. So prepare you're about to step into field Gama an intricate labyrinth with factories"
"You'll be competing in groups of five. Each person starts from a different location on the outskirts of the model city. I'll send a distress signal, and the first one to arrive is the winer,"
"But try to keep the property damage to a minimum,"said the hero as he slowly pointed to bakugo.
Annoyed, he said "why you pointing at me?"
All right, first group get to your places.
The first five got into their position while the rest of us went back to watch
Ojjiro midoriya Ida sero and ashido
Kaminari pointed out worriedly, "Ida hasn't fully recovered yet, he should sit this one out."
Kirishima added, "Everyone in this group has really good mobility."
Yayorozu said, "I'd say midoriya is at a heavy disadvantage against those four."
Jiro agreed, saying, "moving around quickly isn't one of his strong suits, and whenever he uses his power, he ends up hurting himself."
I would have to agree with them from what I've seen. midoriya has no control over his ability.
Kirishima striking a friendly bet asked Kaminari, "Who's your pick? I'm betting on sero."
"Oh yeah, I got odds on ojiro" responded kaminari
Mineta said, "I chose ashido because she has an athletic body."
Bakugo annoyed said "I know deku will be last."
Hagakure getting. attention said, "comon John, we have to root for ojjiro."
I responded, "No offense but sero's ability seems more suited to this environment."
"But still you can’t deny the fact that he has a good chance" said hagakure in response to my opinion
As soon as all might signaled the start, ashido began moving using her acid, while ojiro used his tail to push himself forward. Ida simply ran.
Currently, sero was in first place.
Then, out of nowhere, midoriya leaped ahead of sero, taking first place.
Everyone else was just as surprised.
He was jumping from beem to beem using his ability.
I then noticed something
Ochako pointed out "amazing those jumps they like a mixture of bakugo's and John's."
Bakugo, on the other hand, looked pissed
Hagakure then said, "John isn't that.."
I responded "he's copying the types of moves I was doing when I copied his ability during the sports festival. On top of that, he's also combining it with bakugo's moves.
"It would be hypocritical for me to get mad at someone copying me" I commented.
I chuckled "to think he would improve this much over a short farme"
Just as I was praising him, he triped and fell giving sero first place.
I Then face palmed and looked at tokoyami knowing this was all too common for him.
Cought off guard he shouted, "Stop it, I can feel you judging from here,"
Hagakure confused asked, "What's that about?"
I responded, "Don't worry about nothing important."
Then the next group went
Mineta totokoyami aoyama todoroki and bakugo.
"This group also has good mobility,"added Yayorozu
Kirishima gave out another prediction, "I think bakugo has this. his mobility is on another level.
I was more focused on tokoyami, and
It's time to see if he can apply it to a real situation
Aoyama started off blasting himself ahead, but soon after, his body gave out.
Mineta jumped from pipe to pipe climbing, using his ability.
Todoroki took a different route using his ice.
Bakugo propelled himself with explosion
Then there was tokoyami, who, after a running headstart, jumped down and used his dark shadow to perpel himself high up.
He took the newly modified part of his hero outfit and covered his entire shadow he was gliding straight ahead each time he hit the ground, and he would repeat the process.
Everyone around was surprised because just like midoriya
tokoyami was also using his ability in a drastically different form.
During this whole spectical, I stood there looking satisfied.
Midoriya was there nearding out over tokoyami's improvements
"He's using the fact that dark Shawdow can float to his advantage, and since he has it covered up, it never runs out of power incredible."
And just like with midoriya, there was a fient but noticeable imprint of John's style from the sports festival.
Hagakure seemed to remember the odd interaction between me and tokoyami asked "John do you have something to do with this?"
Then the class looked at me, waiting for an answer.
Yayorozu, sure that I did do something asked
"Just what kind of training did you put him through to get results like that?" She asked with curiosity.
Seeing no reson to hide anything I said "first I had to get him used to being airborne so I used uraraka's quirk to repeatedly drop him from high up only to lift him back up and repeat it."
"I also made it clear to him the importance of training his regular body. This, of course, meant we had to put in more work for things like 6 endurance,"
"Than there's coordination the very thing midoriya failed in I targeted him with snipe's ability using
weights as a result his on the fly coordination was improved. "
"And for the last piece, I focused on dark shawdow itself as you can see he can't actually fly all he's doing is launching himself up with dark shadow and useing dark shadow to gilded"
The rest of the class looked at me, horrified.
uraraka mumbled shakily "so when you asked me to show you my quirk, you used it to drop a fellow classmate off a Clif repeatedly."
"I don't know why you're surprised you have quite the lethal ability," I commented.
Kaminari spoke, "bakugo is scary but remind me not to get on John's bad side."
Jiro, however, looked back at the screen
"But still you can't deny the results look a him go"
Kirishima added "ture but just by seeing how many things he's doing at once, you can tell that getting to that level wasn't painless."
"Still gliding won't cut it all I did was give him the foundation to learn how to fly," u added
Then, as I expected, it bakugo blitzes past his own section, getting first place.
Tokoyami came back along with the rest, and it appeared that I was next along with four other students.
As soon as tokoyami came back, he went straight.
However, when his dark shadow saw me, it hid behind tokoyami.
Flustered by the odd reaction, I annoyed said "Aw com on, I'm not that bad."
I heard someone in the background say "Jez he even has dark shadow scared."
Coughing, I pull myself back together
"Well, anyway,"
"If you want to be able to fly yourself, then you'll have to develop your own form because copying me or any other flight ability can only get you so far."
" However, nothing tumps personal training paired with studying by all means, analyze abilities, take what works for yourself, reject what doesn't, and beat them at their own game."
In an immediate tone, the boy responded, "understood!"
Midoriya is looking at John along with Ida and uraraka
Uraraka said, "He's quite good at that he seems like the type that would be an incredible teacher."
Midoriya said, "It's no wonder. When it comes to understanding the quirks of other people, John is second to none. That's probably why he was able to win the sports festival. "
"He was able to elevate tokoyami so much In a short timeframe not only is he able to exploit the weaknesses of others but he's even able to draw out aspects of a quirk that were untouched by the user" responded Ida
When it was my turn to race, I made it to first place using a copy of asui.
This let me manifest a mutant spot on my hands that let out an aura tongue.
In other words, I could do what sero did with added speed flexibility and movement.
After every team had their chance to go, we we all went to the locker room.
"Ugh, that was some tough training today," commented sato
Aoyama responded to the sentiment and said "it's the first class in a while that had Mr glicining."
Kirishima, a bit bummed out said "man I really gotta work on my mobility."
Tokoyami responded, "You can also compensate by working on other aspects."
Kaminari, currently getting back into his school uniform said "still whish I could use my quirk for mobility? I'm jealous of guys like you and sero."
Kaminari, then redirecting his attention to me, said, "And you always seem to choose the perfect quirk no matter what."
Trying to blend in with them, I said
"Well, I'm not the strongest one by pure power, so I'm forced to think more when it comes to competing. If not, I'll just end up getting beat. "
"Yet your grades are still middle of the line," said Kaminari poking fun at me.
"Hey, I never claimed to be good at that. Some of the topics they go over fry my brain. Also, aren't you behind me in grades?"
Kaminari flustered and said, "moving on!"
Mineta exited called over to midoriya.
"Hey, midoriya, you won't believe what I just found. The jackpot someone made a hole in the wall"
"A previous generation has given us a gift."
"You know what's next door, right?
This looks into the girl's locker room, "said Mineta exited.
Ida immediately in defiance, katrate chopping the air for some reason shouted, " Don't even think about it peeping on them would be criminal!"
Mineta, with conviction responded "than you're going to have to throw me into solitary confinement because you can't stop me."
As mineta went for a look, jiro's earphone jack hit him in the eye.
I'm impressed I had no idea to hit reach a new level of low.
(Next day)
Aizawa opened up the day by saying "well its almost time for summer break."
In a deadpan voice, he added, "Don't get too excited. You can't just relax an entire month."
"You'll be training while camping in the woods,"
The class then erupted into joy.
Trying to bring everyone back to reality, he mensingingly activated his ability.
"However anyone who fails the final exam before the semester is over will have to take summer school."
My academics fell below the average of the class.
The class erupted into a multitude of emotions
Mina and kaminari were the lowest in our class when it came to grades.
While people were panicking, mineta smugly said, "As someone ranked in the top 10, I'm not concerned."
Ashido and Kaminari were shocked by his high ranking.
Midoriya, in his typical optimism, called out to them "Hey we still have time to study. I'm sure we can still go to the camp together."
I was not surprised he carried weight with his words, seeing as he was ranked 4th in the class.
Ida, the number 2 student backed him up "yes as class rep, I have high hopes that we will move on together."
Momo than as the shining hope of 1-a ranked as number 1 said, "Hey Don't, worry about . t I can catch you up to speed on the important topics"
A cloud of despair then formed around her. "I'm afraid I won't be of any help when it comes to the practical though."
I looked at her and comparing her from the start of the year to now she's lost a lot of confidence.
Not that it's any of my business.
Then many students walked up go her asking for help with many topics, and she lit up
"Yes, let's do it!"
"We can hold a study session at my residence over the weekend,"
Residence? I thought to myself, "What are you rich?" I thought to myself.
She tan started rambling about a large hall and tea.
Kirishima with bakugo said, "Maybe I should be with them."
Bakugo angrily said, "You think I don't know enough. Maybe I should beat the lessons into your skull."
Despite bakugo's angry attitude, he's actually one of the smartest students in Class 1 a ranking 3rd, and his mastery over his explosion ability is another indicator of that.
And then there's me I stood in 11th place in terms of academics.
I was in the lunch room along with Hagakure and ojiro.
"Isn't Yayorozu amazing?" exclaimed hagakure.
"She sure is," said ojjiro.
Ojiro was curious about if I was planning on going asked "John what's your plan?"
"Well, I'll probably fail if I don't study, seeing as academics aren't my thing, but I'll probably study alone," I responded
"Augh, you're always so boring. Just hang out with your classmate,besides, it's Yayorozu she's number one. You're bound to pick up something."
"Sure," I causuly responded, knowing full well I wasn't going.
Then an elbow hit me in the head
"Hey, watch it asshole" I remarked only to see that it was Manama.
I changed my tone
"Oh hey man, how's that chip on your shoulder helping you?" Should I wash your elbow? I'm sure you dislike the sent of cheep copy, right?"
"Shut It I heard some of your classmate got into trouble with the hero killer, just like in the sports festival class 1 a isn't happy unless they're the center of attention but you do realize that you aren't in the spot light because people think you're good heros"
"Here's food for thought. One day, you might drag us with you. What kind of villans will you bring upon us?"
All I did was chukele "man you're insecure. Have you ever considered that the reason you seem to fall behind is because you drag others down instead of beating them at their own element? Isn't that what us cheep copies are supposed to aim for?"
"You're too hung up in 1 a's shawdow that you never considered outshineing 1 a "
"People like you and me live in the shadow of the people we imitate, so why not aim to outshine them at their own ability? it's way more satisfying than dragging them down to your level. "
"Out of everyone in that class, you are by far the weirdest," responded Monama.
"I could say the same about you for the moment I'd rather stick to my studies than that hero killer crap,"
Kendo of class 1 b walked up to him, scolding him while dragging him back.
"God, he's insufferable," retorted hagakure.
"I disagree. I quite enjoy our interactions growing up. I never met anyone else with a copy ability."
"When I look at it that way, me and him are actually quite similar."
"Say would you say he has a personality that is begging to be punched in the face?"
Playing along hagakure responded "yes" with no hesitation.
"That's the point when you win the mental battle your opponent acts irrationally I myself do it all the time wether it be insulting bakugo or any opponent to get the upper hand"
Ojiro added, "It makes sense you would identify with him your quirks are identical."
I added "I don't mind the trash talk in fact he's an expert at it his mentally however is holding him back, he focuses on draging people down but by doing that he won't get stronger"
After the weekend flew by everyone has completed their 3 day written test.
This meant the practical exam was next.
We had all gone to a plaza on a bus to a facility wearing our hero outfits.
In front of the building, was every U.A. teacher
"Now, then let's begin the last test," said Aizawa.
"Remember it's possible to fail this exam, so if you want to make it to camp, don't make any stupid mistakes.
Jiro asked. "Why are all the teachers here?"
"I expect some of you had some idea of what you'll be facing today."
Ashido and kaminari responded happily expecting robots.
Nezu came out of aizawa's scarf and acounced that he was changing things.
We would fight the ua teachers in pairs of two.