5 Mightier Than The Pen I

"You sure you weren't high Takashi, because I don't see the Homeless guy from last night." Kotawe complained as he leaned back on the front steps leading up to the same red house the old man had Katsuo floor him to the night he got his Quirk.

Katsuo grimaced, standing and leaning against the wall next to the door, "He just said tomorrow, never gave a specific time, I was too caught up with getting a Quirk to really think straight."

Rin stood silently on the other side of the door, not saying much as he smoked a cigarette, smoke trailing out of his mouth on occasion.

Katuso exhaled, closing his eyes and wondering if he had been so high strung he somehow hallucinated the whole ordeal, but then why did he have the sword? He dropped the thought immediately, there was too much evidence to even begin going down that route. There were at the same house, he had a sword Quirk he definitely did not have before, there was clearly dogshit on the lawn that was new and Katuso was positive he did not inhale or digest anything to elicit any wild visions.

"Maybe we should-"

"You know." A voice cut him off. "Did one of you three ever think of knocking?"

Katuso blinked and turned, Rin almost choked on his cig before glaring, and Kotawe whipped his head around so quickly he almost fell off the stairs. Standing in the doorway between them , the same old man could be seen. A head of gray curls from age, an eyebrow that was split down the middle from a white scar healed possibly decades ago, wrinkles encasing obsidian black eyes, and a white beard that stopped at the edge of his throat. He also wore nicer clothes, a green shirt with very loose white slacks only with the occasional stain here and there.

Between his legs was Runa, the golden retriever happily breathing with its tongue out.

Why didn't they knock? They had been out here like idiots for half an hour doing nothing.

The old man chuckled, walking forward and down the steps, Kotawe quickly getting out of the way and pointing at him.

"This is the guy? Hey old man got any cool Quirks to spare me and the Big Guy over there?"

The old man stopped, raising his split eyebrow at Kotawe before turning back to look at Katsuo, "You told them?"

Katsuo shrugged, "You never told me not to, and no offense to you, wait actually full offense to you. I don't even know who the hell you are. At least I trust these guys, and I was not gonna come back here alone with no idea what was gonna happen."

The old man grunted, "Fair, but what we will do is train, nothing crazy."

Rin finally spoke, "Train? Who even are you?"

The old man smiled, but there was no warmth behind it, "Someone long dead, figuratively of course, just refer to me as old man, and Takashi will call me Sensei."

The three teenagers exchanged looks, then burst out laughing, hands on bellies or faces.

"What are you some hidden master?"

"Sensei? Next will we take a trip into the mountains and come back warriors?"

"Let me guess, you were some big shot hero who got injured or something?"

The laughter would have continued, if not for the answer they were given, stopping them cold.

"A Villain actually, but that was a long time ago."

Katsuo tensed, hand going down and into his hoodie pocket to pull out his switchblade. Kotawe backed up and frowned, while Rin stepped forward ready to fight.

Runa, from her place on the sidewalk, began to growl.

"Calm down," The old man exhaled in what seemed like exhaustion. "Takashi-shounen has my Quirk anyways, could't kill you so easily now, not that I want to."

Katsuo spit on the porch, "What the hell did you give me? People can't just pass on Quirks."

The old man donned a look of amusement, "Really? There are Quirks out there that let people rearrange atoms, mess with reality, or even toy with the 'soul' of others. I'm sure you have heard of the USA's number one hero and her Quirk, explain how that makes sense?"

The silence after was as much as an answer as the old man was going to get.

"You want to be a hero right?" The old man met Katuso's glare. "You saved the defenseless old drunk homeless man despite being both Quirkless and not having any obligation."

Katuso shrugged, "So what?"

"So I rewarded you, and now you have my Quirk, use it however you want. Kill, save, detsory, create, it's all up to you. But my master taught me, and her master taught her, so I have an obligation to teach you."

Kotawe scoffed, "You gave your own Quirk to some fourteen year old asshole? Where in your head does that make sense?"

The old man chuckled, "I had no money on me, had a killer headache from drinking all night, and my morals made me have to give him something before he buggered off."

Katsuo deflated, "So you gave me your Quirk, despite it being something that no one sane enough would just give way, because of morals?"

"Yep, now come, daylight's being wasted. You can bring your friends, it's your secret now, not mine."

The old man, accompanied by Runa, started walking toward the abandoned factory that was nestled after the three blocks of run down houses.

The trio just stared, soaking in his words for a while until Kotawe shrugged.

"Fuck it bro."

With that, they followed a good distance behind the old man, not saying much as they passed through a wire fenced that had holes cut in it, across a parking lot with dozens of potholes, and into a brick factory with broken glass, cobwebs, graffiti, dust, mold, and rotting furniture.

Katsuo did not let his eyes settle, his mind constantly thinking of possibilities while looking for any signs of use that could point to some kind of ambush. 

However, once he saw that the dust had no footprints, there weren't any particles in the air that would be there from movement, or any signs of human activity he relaxed his shoulder. The place was just one big open area, all the trash and rotting wood pushed to the sides to allow a good stretch of slightly cracked cement in the center. Sunlight passed through squares in the ceiling where tiles or sheets of metal had been, and most windows were caked in so much dirt they were pointless or broken.

"This is where you will train." Katsuo's supposed 'sensei' said as he shuffled to the open area in the midst of the factory.

Katsuo frowned, not sure how he should take this. He now had a Quirk, from a stranger no less, and now he was told he was also going to be trained by said stranger. This was abrupt, to suspicious for his liking and just had 'trouble' written all over it,

"Why are you so relaxed, Old Man? How can I trust you?" Katuso did not mean those words one hundred percent, but they were to prod, get more information because despite having his friends- his only friends at that- he was still hesitant.

Could he actually be a Hero? 

Ten months, was it enough, for a Quirkless nobody like him to be worth something?

"Draw her, and I will explain."

Rin leaned against a steel beam used as a pillar, "Her, of course the sword has a name."

Katsuo simply nodded, walking forward to stand across from the first person he ever saved, wondering what path his life would take now.

Dropping his anxious thoughts, and just as before he reached his right hand over, letting it sink inside his left palm. Carefully, he pulled it-well her- out and held her with both hands.

"First off, you can decide to pull Sana out with the sheath or without, all you have to do is think about the intent, give it a shot."

Katsuo, still unusually silent, gave a single nod and followed his instructions. When he pulled his hand back in a familiar motion, he finally saw the blade for the first time. It was a deep gray silver that matched his metal gray hair almost unnaturally so. The guard was simple, and the handle was like any katana, wrapped in black cord.

Suddenly, the world around him fell away, and all Katsuo could do was stare, his blue eyes reflected in the polished blade. The weapon vibrated in his hand, almost like singing as he felt it go from his fingers and palm up his forearm and then into his entire body.

The sword was sentient, her name was Sana, and she was saying hello.

"Now."

Katuso snapped back to the Old Man.

"To tell you how your Quirk works, I feel it's best to use a demonstration." The Old Man walked quietly to Katsuo's side, gesturing toward the far wall of the factory and giving a small smile. "Swing vertically, and think about wanting to hit the wall in front of us.."

Katsuo hesitated, "That's easily over fifty feet away, I have a sword, how can I-"

He stopped, seeing as the Old Man's obsidian eyes bore into him, letting him know he would figure it out if he just listened.

With a glance at his two friends, Kotawe shooting him a thumbs up and Rin nodding, Katuso swallowed. He turned back to look forward, gripping Sana as he thought he should from what he knew from television. Two hands, not too tight or loose, just firm and steady. He then got into a mimicked stance he remembered from watching the few Kendo Club members.

One foot forward and his other foot back and propped up on his toes. Katsuo inhaled, raising his new Quirk and staring at the far wall, wondering what was going to happen.

"Here goes nothing."

He swung his sword, and his world went white, pain washed over his entire body as he realized he left the ground at some point, back impacting the hard cement floor as he rolled a few times. His vision swam with white spots, his head spun, and only after feeling around did Katsuo found himself on his rear, ten feet from where he was.

His vision finally cleared, and his jaw all but fell off as he stared forward, unable to look away from the literal scar he had made in the building. It was as if a dragon had raked a single talon from the top of the roof to the floor, a perfect cut that spanned big enough that Katsuo could walk through without touching the sides.

The open grass fields were visible through the new opening, and through it, Katsuo could see his attack had also made a trench in the dirt, steam rising from the mangled earth.

Katuso could only formulate two words.

"Holy Shit."