Training

The week had gone relatively well all things considered. His crude replications of Muscular's quirk left a lot to be desired but still, it was a good increase in his skill set. He needed to refine it so that it wouldn't destroy his body or he could hold it together without freezing up the muscles and/or limiting the power output.

He had made his way back to the Masquerade and had arrived late at night, he hadn't been interested in participating in any fights, there was no point so he had simply had a chat with Kendo before heading out for the night.

Unlike normal he had stayed as Andrew and had moved around the city finding some petty criminals to knock out. And honestly, it was a massive waste of his night. One, none of them had physical quirks that were anywhere near good enough for him to bother replicating. And two, threads? They didn't attach to any other quirk apart from One for All and probably All for One.

They seemed to be linked with the will of someone or tethering their body to 'life,' whatever that meant. All Nick got out of it was that there was no reason for him to go into researching them yet, so… hunting petty criminals was a waste of time. He needed to get his hands on stronger physical enhancing quirks. And the two that most interested him right now were Kirishima's hardening and Amajiki's Manifest.

Manifest was the most interesting to him though, it was such a strong quirk, as seen in the later parts of the manga. It had a lot of potential if he could get his body to adapt to changes and not reject anything that wasn't 'human' it would be the next massive boost for him.

So with the rest of the week, he had off from school to 'recover and train' he figured he would make use of it by gaining more experience. He had thought about finding Gigantomachia as well, but he didn't really want to deal with that brute right now. And finding him might have a very low chance of drawing someone's attention to him. Maybe… it was unlikely but.

The only things he could really gain from Gigantomachia as well were Fierce Gains, maybe mole, dog and pain blocker but he had no use for any of them.

Still, he had a lot to practice and even more experience to gain.

---

The week started to pass fairly quickly. Andrew was making a name for himself in the ring, beating stronger and stronger opponents that came to challenge him. None of them had quirks that interested him sadly, he needed something that he could replicate or would help him make a stronger body. The Nomu had all of that but he wasn't about to break into the Nomu lab. He had thought of it but that just seemed like a very very bad idea.

With more wins under his belt, he had been asked by more than one person if he was interested in being, 'more than a monkey in a cage.' Seriously, did all brokers think the same. He had started to make it very clear that he wasn't interested.

But he was interested in growing his influence in the underground. He had been thinking about it for a while now, he had taken out Kai Chisaki and therefore one of the major people in the growing underground scheme. Nick wanted to influence. Having power was more than just being strong individually… He could also make others stronger with his quirk, he had things to offer to make people join him. And with Kendo's newly adopted goal of beating Andrew, he knew he could get that man to join.

Just like Chisaki had gotten Kendo to join him because Kendo wanted to beat Chisaki.

He was left with a lot to think about. Making his own empire in the underground would be very useful for a lot of reasons. But it also came with a lot of risks. He would be more than happy to do it once All for One was beaten by All Might a second time. That would still be a while until it happened. Also if he did start an underground empire he needed to have a solid goal for it. People wouldn't come to him without a cause and right now he had no cause to rally people under.

Tabling those ideas for now Andrew made his way into the backrooms of the Masquerade, throwing the wrappings around his hands onto a bench he looked up to see Kendo beating a punching bag.

Turning around Kendo said, "Any more offers or have they finally got the message?" His questions were one of curiosity as he moved his way over to the bench as well, picking up his water bottle and taking a long swing.

As Kendo was drinking Andrew responded in a worn-out voice, "I don't think they will ever get the message. They all seem to think that I want to take it to the big leagues."

Laughing Kendo said, "Yeah, they stopped asking me after I told them I would only join someone that could beat me." Smiling at whatever memory the thought had brought up.

"So if I asked you to join me you would?" Andrew said as he made his way to his corner, getting ready for a practice bout.

"Oh? Are you planning on starting something Little Guy? I didn't think that was like you?" Kendo responded. Capping his bottle and making his way to where he normally started, both of them getting into a stance. It was the hundredth time they had done this. They knew when a spar was starting.

"Maybe, the idea is on the table at least," Andrew said, thinking as he responded to the dash of Kendo with a quick right jab at the ribs. Enhancing his muscles to just the point before they would rip themselves apart. Just barely enough to keep up with Kendo's shoulders.

Blocking the attack with his elbow he started to rain blows down on Andrew not giving the other man a chance to counterattack. "Well then if you-"

Not giving the man time to finish his sentence he wove between the blows the other man was raining down upon him and struck out at the man hard. Not expecting the explosive speed Kendo was forced to block the attack with both of his arms as he was sent sliding across the floor.

Looking up Andrew's right arm the attack had been from was bloody as the skin had split. But before blood could start to drip down the arm it disassembled and reassembled back to perfect health. "How about we talk after huh?"

Grinning in acceptance Kendo dashed back into the fight. Nick was proud of himself. With his new enhancements, he was able to keep up with Kendo, if just barely, and that meant that he could block every attack. As soon as Kendo's seconds worth of barrage was over Andrew would strike out as fast as he could and the process would repeat.

Despite being hit with a few blows Andrew was able to once again come out on top. Panting heavily as he backed away Andrew went over to a bag of oats and deconstructed it to heal himself. Doing the same for Kendo.

"You've grown a lot since we started fighting Little Guy, I never thought you would be able to beat me like that," Kendo said as he leaned against a box.

Smiling a bit Andrew just shook his head. "I never could have the level of fighting skill I have without you helping me."

---

The rest of the week passed quickly, Nick spent most of the time in the Masquerade gaining experience in the ring. He had given up hunting as a vigilante, for now, there was no use unless someone appeared on his radar that had a strong physical quirk. He had tasked Giran with alerting him about anything that he thought would catch his interest and the man had happily accepted for a price.

But with that soon the week was over. After dropping by Uncle Garry and Aunty Cass he got some research notes from them about mutated quirks in underwater animals. Maybe something in there would come in handy.

Soon he was back home. His parents were glad to have him back and asked him how training was. He was happy to tell them that had made leaps and bounds and had come to terms with what happened. They were soon laughing about the overreaction to him running out of energy but it was understandable in a way. After all, they didn't know how much energy he had lost… and if it was just physical energy or something else.

With that, the weekend passed. Nick had spent Saturday home despite it being a school day, mostly to recover from his 'training.' He didn't feel the best about lying to his parents but it was a harmless white lie really. And he was training, just not in the mountains. So it was fine…

Sunday was spent working with his dad in the workshop. His dad still wasn't saying anything about what he was making but he kept on going on about how it was the next big thing and how with it mechanics could catch up to quirks. They just couldn't get it to run.

Not remembering anything like it from Canon it must have failed… but with him here things might be different.

Honestly, his curiosity regarding whatever was being made was well and truly peaking. In Canon, Midoriya had said that without the emergence of quirks humans might have achieved space travel. And it was possible to make bodies well and truly beyond physical limits without quirks. Since Garaki was doing it. He was interested.

---

Arriving back to school on Monday Nick wasn't prepared mentally. He was a full-grown man and yet he was nervous about facing a schoolroom of kids. He had made sure to keep up with the small amount of study that he did do so he had no reason to be worried… maybe it was hormones. He had enhanced his brain and sped its growth up but there was a lot he hadn't changed about his body.

Sighing he just kept on walking. He had nothing to be bothered about. He should get over himself. It was getting a bit ridiculous how much he had been caught up in his head over the past few weeks.

Getting into the classroom he slid the door open and walked inside. Like the last time he did this the entire room fell into silence as he looked about at the students. Walking past them as if nothing was happening he went and sat down at his desk.

No one spoke for a moment before Kaminari nudged Kirishima with his elbow and some quiet words were exchanged. Something along the lines of, 'your the closest to him, ask him if he is alright.'

Sighing Kirishima walked over and said, "Hey man! How is everything, you alright since you well…" Not really knowing where to go with what he was saying he just rubbed the back of his head.

Nodding his head Nick said with a small chuckle. "Yeah, honestly I am more than alright, it was scary as hell don't get me wrong but I learned a lot from my arrogance." Lifting his shirt he pointed at his chest as he said, "Got a sick scar too." His voice was merry. He was trying to be more friendly.

With most of the students staring at the ugly black mark that peeked out from where he barely lifted his shirt he said. "Can't wait to get back to training. How have you all been going preparing for the sports festival?" His voice was polite, starting a conversation.

Soon he wasn't really speaking much, as he didn't want to but everyone else had once again started to excitedly ramble about how they were improving, after a bit of hesitation the classroom was once more alight with its normal cheer.

Looking past some of the students gathered around he saw that Bakugo was staring at him with a conflicted expression that settled into a scowl. Which was normal for the boy. Ignoring it he just went back to blankly staring at the door, waiting for Aizawa to come.

Soon the morning lessons have passed in all their boring glory. Nothing interesting happened. At all.

---

Walking out of the cafeteria during lunch break he had a full 50 minutes to once again hunt for the big three, wherever they hid during the lunch break. He had started scouting bushes since he remembered something about a memory happening at them so he would walk along the hedges during his break and eat his food.

As he walked he was enjoying the slow stroll, it wasn't that interesting. But he was happy to just enjoy the mid-day sun. Taking a moment to relax. He had been theorizing about stabilizing his new muscles all morning so he hadn't had much time to just relax so as he searched he was taking a moment to.

"So your the lively little freshman that is being talked about by everyone!?"

Nick turned to his right and saw a face coming out of the wall. For a moment he just stood there staring at the unblinking face that was sticking out of the concrete. Finally speaking Nick said, "Found you."

Mirio: …

Nick: …

"I… I normally am received with shock. Were you looking for me?" Mirio responded, his voice genuinely confused. Their face was still blank and unblinking though.

Putting his hand against the wall Nick deconstructed it as he saw the boy's whole body clouded by the deconstructed dust, luckily, appear along with a confused expression before he fell through the air and into the floor. Reconstructing the wall he looked down as Mirio's face emerged from the floor.

"The rumours about you had me curious so I thought I would come to take a look," Mirio said.

"Makes sense, saves me the effort of finding you. I have been looking for you since I want to fight the big three, no one in my year even poses a challenge," Nick said as he crouched down so that he could look at Mirio's face.

"That does sound fun, I mean I am happy to have a mock battle with you after school in the training grounds! Helping new students and getting a challenge is more than welcome!" Mirio said excitedly.

"Awesome, bring the rest of the big 3 yeah? I have heard amazing things about you all." Nick said, a smile clear in his voice, this certainly was unexpected but not unwelcome. Who knew just asking worked sometimes. "I'll ask Sir. Aizawa if we can use one of the gyms. Meet you at the gym area after school then?"

"Yeah alright! You seem to have a lot of promise newbie! Looking forward to it!" Mirio responded as his face fell back into the floor.

Smiling a bit wider Nick started to make his way along the hedge again, it was certainly unexpected but he was glad it happened. Honestly, he thought it would have been harder to convince Mirio to fight him but it hadn't been, which was awesome.

---

After lunch, general Heroics started. The last week had been purely focused on training quirks and general experience. Something Nick was kind of glad that he didn't have to attend the original stages off. He was still given a safety talk by Aizawa to the side but the man did admit it was just because he was legally required to do so as a teacher.

Soon class 1-A gathered Ground Beta where they had their combat test. Being told to do as they were normally doing they were all sent around to start practising. Aizawa walked around and made sure that everyone was behaving and not being reckless.

Walking around Nick wondered what he should be doing, there were a lot of things that he could practice and he wanted to focus on external manipulation.

Just as he was about to walk off to his own spot and start practising he heard Kirishima walk up behind him and turning around he saw both Shoji and Kirishima. Remembering that he was calling them both by their first names now as Kirishima said, "Yo Nicklaus! You're like super manly so I was wondering if you could teach me how to fight better! Mezo is interested too!" His voice was upbeat as always.

Looking at the two of them he said, "Yeah sure, I don't have any reason not to. Alright then, both of you come at me."

He said as he started to do some stretches, it was just for show, his muscles were as limber as they could get already.

Looking at each other Mezo and Eijiro looked back at him before Eijiro said, "At once?"

"Yeah, of course, it lets me get a better idea of your base level. So come at me or I'll come at you." He said as he stood up straight and looked at the two of them.

Almost straight away Mezo rushed at him with a delayed Eijiro behind him but only by a second. As they both charged at him Mezo swung a right hook with three combined arms, Nick knew he wasn't using his full power though scared of it looking gross.

Leaping in the air he got his muscles to burst from his legs, the ground shattering as he jumped into the air. The wave of dust covered his opponents as he crashed into the floor behind them with already healed legs. Looking at both of his opponents he said, "Oh come on now. You're going to actually have to try."

Dashing forward he slammed a fist into a stunned Eijiro's chest sending the boy crashing into a building, he was sure the kid was fine.

As he finished the punch he saw Mezo swinging his arm down with enough force that it would crack concrete, the combined arm a bit more grotesque than the last one. But still not at his limit, he didn't actually know what the limit was just yet but he would find out.

Glad that there was so much dust letting Mezo use his quirk with less hesitation he raised his fist above his head and caught the blow from Mezo by the wrist. The ground cracked slightly around Nick's feet as he felt the force travel through his body. Enhancing his arm had been necessary to catch the blow. Metal-like ribs along his forearm. Nick wasn't bothering to make anything look nice. The worse he looked the more confidence it would give Mezo.

With the fist caught he pulled Mezo down and swung him to the side slamming his back into Eijiro that was charging towards them sending both the boys tumbling.

As they stood back up and charged once more Mezo settled on keeping his arms apart and just focusing on quantity over strength as Eijiro just struck out whenever he saw an opening but mostly just tried to restrain Nick's movements.

Nick focused for now on blocking. Letting the two attack as he got a feel for their fighting style. They both had amateur skills but it was better than nothing.

After trading blows a bit he called a stop to it as he hopped away, he had kept a screen of dust up for Mezo's sake but as it settled he saw that some of the students were looking over at them. Aizawa had kept a close eye on the fight as well.

Turning his attention back to the two Nick said, "You're both good, but you can be a lot better. If you want to learn martial fighting from me then I am more than happy to teach you. I defiantly think that you can both train together really efficiently as well."

Soon he was helping them out. Having told Mezo to just beat Eijiro to help his hardness and for Mezo to focus on maintaining more arms at once as he attacked Eijiro. It was just what the two did in the training camp basically but it was effective. He also offered to teach them martial skills but their styles would differ from his so they had to figure out how they wanted to fight first. Then he could help them with instinct and skill.

Shortly after that, the lesson was over, Nick was a bit disappointed that he didn't get to train his external manipulation but he knew he would have plenty of time to do so, both in and out of school. But he was even more excited to make his way to the gym. As everyone was getting ready to leave Nick walked up to Aizawa as he was leaving as well.

"Teacher, do you mind if I use one of the gyms to train with Mirio and his friends? He met me earlier today and was happy to do so when I asked." Nick said as he walked beside Aizawa not wanting to hold him up.

Looking at Nick, Aizawa said, "You met Mirio? Sure, whatever. Just don't get hurt… not that it matters if it's you. I can't be bothered giving you a form just say that I let you do it if any teacher asks."

Nodding his thanks he quickly turned and left making his way towards where the gyms were. He soon found himself in front of Gym Gamma, he had to actually look at a map to get there and had run on enhanced legs so that he could get there quicker. Soon he was standing in front of the doors waiting. Seems he had gotten there first.

Looking to his right he saw three people approaching. Mirio was the only one that was wearing his hero costume, it made sense considering his clothes fell off.

Smiling that they had actually come he waved at them and said, "Hey. I'm Nick, thanks for coming."

"Mirio Togata. Just call me Mirio!" Mirio said as he shook Nick's hand. "That's Tamaki Amajiki, don't mind him he is just tired!" Mirio's voice was loud and cheerful.

As Nick looked over at Amajiki he saw the boy hiding his face in his hands mumbling something about just wanting to go home. As he was about to say something he was interrupted by a blue blur that lifted up the side of his shirt.

Looking down at Nejire Hado a bit shocked as she lifted up the side of his gym shirt saying. "OH COOL! You really have the scar! People were talking about it earlier today and I just really wanted to know if it was real! I'm Nejire Hado! Just call me Nejire okay!" Her smile was wide as she started to poke his scar. "Oh it's cold and metallic, what is it made out of? Is it a result of your quirk? Did you really die?"

As she said that the other two just looked at her as she suddenly went silent. As her brain caught up to her mouth she realized what she just said and standing up she bowed her head as she quickly said. "I'M SO SORRY! That was really insensitive!" Her hands were in front of her mouth as she stood up from her apology.

Waving it off Nick just chuckled as he said. "Damn, you are curious. Really don't worry about it, as for the questions: I don't know what its made of, I think it is a mix of skin, stone and part of the Nomu, the beast that attacked the U.S.J. Yes it is because of my quirk when it reconstructed my body, I don't know how and why it recovered like that however. And finally, yes I think I did, it was just for a brief moment or I might have been on the edge of death but I believe that I saw my soul. Or something similar." Nick's voice was calm and collected as he went through the questions.

He was feeling comfortable around these three. Like he was talking to people around his age. At least the age he was when he died, which was the age he did feel closest to. Just because he had lived for 30 years technically he still felt more 19 than anything else.

Everyone was looking at him as he answered, even Amajiki. Nodding his head he blinked once. "No need to be sorry really. It was an experience sure. And one that I never want to go through again, that is why I need to grow stronger. Despite having a powerful quirk I still practised hard every day and yet it still isn't enough. I need to push myself further. It is why I want to test myself again you Mirio, so I can see how far from the top I really am."

Nodding Mirio smiled as he said, "I like your metal freshman! Let's get right to it then!"

=======

Thanks for all the support and advice that people have shown and given! It really does encourage me to write more! Big chapter today, wanted to get through some stuff on the way to the sports festival!

Also the Big Three are here! Really excited to do the fight between Nick and Mirio, feel like it is going to be a fun one! Even though Nejire is the only one that could actually fight him because of contact being an instant win for Nick.

As always reviews and comments are more than welcome! Thanks for all the support so far!