Time: 2 months before the U.A. examLocation: An abandoned industrial warehouse on the outskirts of Musutafu.
"This is ridiculous," Bakugou muttered, crossing his arms. "We've been here for ten minutes and the only thing I've seen is a senile old man lying on the floor with what I hope is tomato sauce."
"Kacchan, show some respect!" whispered Izuku, although he was looking at the "unconscious" body of the old man with concern. "He could be really hurt!"
"Smells like fructose and vinegar," Toga intervened, sniffing the air from behind Izuku. "Definitely ketchup. Heinz, probably."
All Might, in his skeletal form, stood by the door, visibly trembling. "Young ones... be careful. He is... special."
The old man on the floor opened one eye. "Special?" he growled, jumping up with an agility that made the laws of geriatrics creak. "I am your storm, Toshinori! And you've brought puppies to my house!"
Gran Torino wiped the "blood" from his mouth with his sleeve. He was short, wearing a hero costume that had seen better days and a yellow cape. But his eyes... his eyes were two drills scanning us with laser precision.
"So this is the Ninth," he said, stopping in front of Izuku. "And his escorts."
"We are his team," Bakugou corrected, taking a step forward. "And if you are the master who taught All Might how to move, prove it. Deku moves like a rusty robot and I need someone to fix him."
Gran Torino let out a dry laugh. "Fix him?" The air whistled.
BAM!
In the blink of an eye, the old man was no longer in front of Bakugou. He was on top of a steel beam five meters high. Bakugou hadn't even blinked. Izuku's mouth was hanging open.
"I'm not going to fix him," Torino said from above. "I'm going to break him to see how he rebuilds himself. The floor is lava, kids! Whoever touches me wins a taiyaki!"
And hell broke loose.
Phase 1: The Geometry of Fear
The warehouse turned into a blender. Gran Torino didn't run; he bounced. He used the compressed air from his boots to turn into a human bullet that changed direction at impossible angles.
"Too slow!" he shouted, hitting Izuku on the back of the neck as he passed. Izuku rolled across the floor, activating Full Cowl at 8%. "I see him!" Izuku shouted, trying to follow him with his eyes.
He jumped in a straight line to intercept him. Error. Torino bounced off a side wall and hit Izuku in the ribs before he could react.
"You think too much!" the old man scolded. "You look, calculate, act! That delay kills you! All Might was an idiot, but his body knew what to do before his brain did!"
Meanwhile, Bakugou was trying to hunt him down. "Stun Grenade!" A flash of light. Bakugou tried to predict the escape route. He fired an explosion toward the top right corner. But Torino didn't flee from the light; he used it. He passed under Bakugou's explosion and swept his feet.
"Predictable!" Torino mocked. "Your explosions give you away! You scream 'here I am' every time you move!"
Toga, for her part, tried to disappear. She hid behind some boxes, holding her breath, knife in hand. Torino whizzed by and flicked her on the forehead as he passed. "You smell like a killer, girl!" he laughed. "Your intent to kill is as strong as cheap perfume!"
Ten minutes later, the three of us were on the floor, gasping, beaten and humiliated by a four-foot-tall retiree.
All Might watched from the door, eating popcorn nervously. "I warned you..."
Bakugou stood up, spitting a little blood. His red eyes shone not with fury, but with calculation. "Hey, Deku. Toga. Tactical meeting. Now."
Phase 2: Adaptation and Evolution
We huddled in a corner. "We can't catch him with speed," Bakugou said, breathing heavily. "He's faster than sound in confined spaces."
"He doesn't follow straight lines," Izuku analyzed, rubbing the bruise on his ribs. "He bounces. It's geometry. If he tries to go from A to B, he always touches C (the wall) first."
"And he smells my thirst," Toga said, frustrated. "He says I'm mentally loud."
Bakugou smiled. A ferocious smile. "Fine. Then let's stop playing his game." He looked at Izuku. "Stop trying to be All Might. All Might is a tank. You are Ogawa's Snake, remember? Don't chase him. Wait for him. Use the walls."
He looked at Toga. "Stop wanting to 'eat.' Be a stone. Be a box. Erase your presence."
And then he looked at his hands. "And me... I'm going to stop being a cannon and start being a floating mine."
We broke formation. Round two.
Gran Torino attacked again. This time, he went for Izuku. The old man launched himself from the ceiling like a missile. Izuku didn't block. He didn't run in a straight line. He charged 8% into his legs, but instead of jumping forward, he let himself fall backward and kicked the wall behind him.
"Shoot Style: Coiled Spring!"
The impact against the wall shot him at a low diagonal angle, passing under Torino's attack. It wasn't a heroic move. It was an erratic, dirty, fast move. "Oh?!" Torino blinked, surprised to hit thin air.
At the same time, Toga did the impossible. Amidst the chaos, she simply... ceased to be. She relaxed every muscle, emptied her mind of thoughts about blood and knives, and became part of the scenery. "Suppression Technique: Empty Shell."
Torino landed and looked for his next victim. He saw Bakugou. He launched himself at the blond. Bakugou was floating in the air. When Torino was a meter away, Bakugou didn't use a large explosion. He used two simultaneous micro-detonations at his opposite elbows.
"X-Axis Dodge."
His body shifted laterally in the air, as if someone had pushed him, without spinning or losing balance. A perfect aerial strafe. Torino passed by, grazing his jacket.
"NOW!" Bakugou shouted.
It was a trap. By dodging, Bakugou had forced Torino to land in the only blind spot: behind a stack of boxes. Where Toga wasn't "hiding," but "existing."
Toga jumped. Not with bloodlust, but with flow. Torino reacted instinctively and jumped upward to dodge her. But above was Izuku. Rebounding from the ceiling, falling not with fists, but with a leg lock ready.
Gran Torino had to use a serious blast of air to escape the tactical sandwich. The wind pushed the three of us back, but we had achieved the impossible: we had forced him to stop and defend himself.
The warehouse fell silent. Gran Torino landed gently on the floor. He wasn't smiling like a madman anymore. He looked at us with a new seriousness.
"Hmm." He scratched his chin. "Not bad for some zygotes."
He approached Izuku. "You move weird, kid. You mix the Ninth's raw power with street fighter tricks. It's not elegant... but it's effective."
He looked at Toga. "And you, girl. For a second, you disappeared from my radar. That is dangerous. I like it."
Finally, he stood in front of Bakugou. "And you..." Torino narrowed his eyes. "You read the battlefield like a veteran. You used your teammates to reduce my movement options to a single tile. You are a strategist disguised as a thug."
Bakugou wiped off his sweat, arrogant but respectful. "I told you we didn't come to play, old man."
Gran Torino pulled a paper bag from behind a box. "Taiyaki." He tossed one to each of us. "Eat. You've passed today's lesson. But tomorrow... tomorrow I'll teach you how to maintain that speed for ten minutes straight without vomiting."
The three of us collapsed to the floor, exhausted but victorious, biting into the fish-shaped cakes. I looked at my teammates. Izuku had a new scar on his cheek and a radiant smile. Toga was disheveled but beaming. And I felt my joints burning, but my mind was clear.
We had survived the master's master. We were ready for the final month.
"Hey, All Might," Torino said, eating the tail of his taiyaki. "You have a good team here. Don't screw it up."
"I'll try, master," All Might replied, visibly relieved that none of us had died.