Throughout a couple of months, Deku went to practice at the beach with the new forms that he had. He had 10 forms that he was able to transform into, which we know as Heatblast, Diamond Head, Four Arms, Ghostfreak, Grey Matter, XLR8, Wildmutt, Upgrade, Stinkfly, and Ripjaws, but he didn't name them as he saw each transformation as an extension of himself. He journaled about every single of the creatures and knowing how to use them became second nature to him. The only downfall to his power was that he had a time limit that seemed to have no pattern. He could stay timed out from 5 minutes to even an hour and stay in form from 5 minutes to several hours. Deku never told anyone about his new power though, as he feared that the watch would somehow be taken away from him. The harassment at school stopped bothering him, in a way, it made him feel better since he had a power that no one at school could comprehend.
Midoriya walked home slightly annoyed one day because he got his journal from a pond after Bakugou told him to jump out the window. As he passed under a bridge, a sludge villain popped up from the sewer. "You'll make a nice skin suit. Stay still, it would only hurt for a second" the villain growled. Deku's mouth and nose were suddenly covered with the sludge, and he couldn't' reach his watch to transform. When Deku was about to lose consciousness, All Might appeared saying, "TEXAS SMASH." The wind pressure immediately removed the sludge villain from Midoriya's lungs, and he passed out in All Might's arms.
When he was slapped awake, he, of course, was fanboying and thanking his hero for saving him. When it was time for him to leave, Deku said that he had a weird question he had to ask him. "Can I be a hero even if I have a power that isn't my own?" The question immediately caught All Might's attention, but he didn't have enough time to talk to him, so he quickly responded, "Whatever quirk you have, just make it your own" and jumped off. These words inspired Deku to work even harder with the watch and to make sure he would treat it like a part of himself, not just an extension.