The Next Generation

C31: Quirk Enhancement

Optimus returned the next night at the time he was meant to. He'd spent most of the day on the trees. Mandalay's quirk kept finding him when he was on solid ground, and the dirt beasts were nearly impossible to beat without any weapons. He took one of them down with a trap, but it was hard to set up and destroyed the wildlife, so Optimus just avoided them. It wasn't that hard after the first two hours.

He'd genuinely enjoyed his time. He saw some animals fleeing from his classmates and the commotion to the east, as well as some running from the west. Optimus thought there might be a predator to the west, but when he went to investigate, it was just class 1B, so he left.

Optimus found a small river, or maybe it was a stream. He wasn't sure what the size differential was. He hung out there for a while, watching the animals come to drink, swim or slither by, and fly around.

But eventually, the sun started to go down and Optimus left for the training camp. His classmates asked where he was the whole time and he told them, but after Bakugo started beating up Midoriya for a specific bunk, they forgot about him to break it up.

They woke up early the next morning and Mr. Aizawa began to explain that they were doing quirk training. He started it off by having Bakugo throw the ball from the quirk apprehension test. It didn't go much further than it had the first time, which surprised even Optimus.

"Kaminari," Aizawa called out. He was going through each student and telling them what they needed to spend the day doing to improve their quirks. It seemed the general rule was constant and consistent use, pushing each superhuman ability to the limit. "We have this high power battery for you. You'll need to grab each of these jumper cables and constantly circulate the power through your body. This will teach you to handle larger amounts of electricity for a longer period of time."

Kaminari groaned. "I'm starting the morning off with getting dumb. Yay."

Aizawa left him to it and approached Optimus, who was saved for last.

"Obviously, you have no quirk, but your best ability is your combat skills, so you'll be training with Tiger and Midoriya," Aizawa told him as they walked toward Todoroki. "Before we go, you need one more thing."

Optimus nodded. "Ice."

"Todoroki!" Aizawa called out. "Give Optimus some glass slippers."

Todoroki didn't look the least bit surprised. He put his foot downed, aimed it at them, and shot the ice straight at Optimus, who held still.

"Good, now get a move on," Aizawa pointed him toward Tiger. "I have quirks to erase."

"Thank you, sir," Optimus went off to go join Tiger and Midoriya, but he took one step and slipped.

Accursed human pedes, Optimus scowled as he caught himself with his servos. During the sports festival, he was able to control when he was on ice and he had Jiro to help him, but this time the ice beneath him was permanent.

Optimus dragged himself forward a little before standing up. And falling back down.

"Optimus!" Midoriya screamed. Tiger was beating him up. "I could really use your help!"

"One moment!" Optimus called back. He gave up on standing up and just ran forward on his knees. This was a handicap, but he could still help. Midoriya needed him.

"Walk like a—" Midoriya was thrown into a tree. "A PENGUIN!"

Tiger whirled around and turned on Optimus, lunging forward with a vicious grin. Optimus's optics widened and he jumped to the side. Not fast enough. Tiger came down from above, fists raised, and Optimus rolled onto his stomach, pulled his body parts inward, and pushed off the ground with one servo. He went straight up, twisting to see his target, and slid his fist past the hero's defenses.