Chapter 16: NO. 16 - Barking Pomeranian

Chapter 16: NO. 16 - Barking Pomeranian

I lazily moved left and right from the ridiculously slow, uncoordinated punches my green cash cow threw. I had my hands behind my back as I spun to the side and stuck out my foot, causing Izuku to trip forward.

"Ah!" Izuku grunted as he rolled on the floor.

"Hmm, this may be harder than I thought," I muttered as Izuku stood up. His clothes were covered in dust and dirt while a few stray leaves from the trees around us poked out from his bushy hair.

Up in the tree branches watching us were three crows hidden within the leaves. As they watched, their little heads scanned around the area.

(The green one should just give up. He's got two left feet.)

(Nah, he'll get it soon.)

(Salmon.)

I ran a hand through my hair and watched as Izuku patted his clothes. Once he gathered himself, he took a deep breath and rushed me again. As I watched, a lone thought popped into my head.

This kid is uncoordinated as heck.

"Izuku, stop throwing all your weight behind your punches."

I looked around the public park we were in and smacked another sloppy punch of his. I then tapped his forehead with my two pointer fingers, pushing him back onto the ground.

"Gah! I-I'm trying! I'm just not good at this. All Might makes it look so easy. He beats the villains up in one punch!" Izuku said as he remained seated on the floor. He then smiled and punched the air. "He would just yell SMASH and Bam! The day is saved!"

"Yeah, but he's All Might. He can punch a hole in the atmosphere." I walked over to him and picked him up from the scruff of his shirt like a dog. "You, on the other hand, can barely do ten pushups without looking like you're about to pass out."

"Sorry..."

I sighed and placed my hands on his shoulders. "Don't be sorry, Izuku. Be better."

Don't sue me, Santa Monica.

[+50 SP]

Izuku looked at me with wide, awestruck eyes. Immediately, he nodded with renewed vigor and raised his arms into a poorly executed boxing stance.

A far cry from the stance I taught him.

But hey, he'll get it eventually.

You see, for the past month or so, I've taken it upon myself to help my golden goose- I mean, my friend, to train up his skills and strength. My goal was to have him be in a much better state than in canon for when he receives All Might's quirk.

It's the least I can do. He was the reason I got the Ten Shadows.

That and I need to earn back my points after losing 7000 SP on those two failed Platinum pulls. Who knew my luck would run dry after that first pull?

Damn, gacha. You unforgiving bitch.

"Okay, let's take things slow." I stepped back and placed my hands behind my back. "This time, focus on your footwork and balance. Just keep up with me, and don't worry about landing a hit. Just stay on your feet, and don't let me trip you. Got it?"

"Got it."

For the next half hour, Izuku's performance has taken a turn for the better. This time, he focused his attention on staying on his feet and maintaining his balance. The times he did begin to lose his focus, I simply smacked his face lightly to bring back his focus. We continued on like this until his relatively short stamina finally ran out.

With Izuku panting on the ground, I strolled through several trees to the area where I had left the red cooler I had brought and grabbed two water bottles. As I closed the cooler's lid, Crow Maki sent me a vision of three newcomers approaching Izuku and my location.

Walking towards us were Bakugo and two of his followers.

Hm? It seems it's time for me to finally meet that headache.

Thanks to Crow Maki, Crow Inumaki, and Crow Panda, who was a crow and not a panda, I always had a clear view of my surroundings thanks to their overwatch. Those three made it almost impossible for anyone to sneak up on me without some sneaking quirk or super speed.

"What the hell? Deku? The hell are you doing out here?"

Growling in rage, Bakugo ran right at me with both arms flying forward, palms pointed right at me.

Wham!

"...huh?" Bakugo blinked as he stared up at the trees and sky from his spot on the floor.

This is weirdly cathartic.

"What's just happened?" The boy with long grey hair whispered as he and his friend stood frozen in place. The messy black-haired boy shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"I blinked and then... Bakugo-san was on the floor."

"...Kacchan?" Izuku uttered as he stared at me and Bakugo in a delirium. It was as if he was watching something that couldn't be possible.

"Hey, Kacchan. You ight?" I looked down at the blinking blonde with a large, mocking smile, my hands in my pockets. "How does it feel to have been beaten by someone who's quirkless?"

Technically speaking.

[+170 SP]

What I had done was perform a quick and easy over-the-hip toss on Bakugo in the blink of an eye. Making it seem, to the untrained eye, as if Bakugo somehow just teleported on the floor.

"...quirkless? You?" Bakugo muttered as he slowly stood to his feet. "Quirkless? Quirkless?!" He raged as he glared at me with fury. "As if I would get beaten by some quirkless loser!"

[+200 SP]

"Let's see, here we have someone with an okay quirk that can make explosions," I said while pointing at Bakugo with a lazy smile. I then pointed at myself. "And here, we have a quirkless nobody with no potential. Hmm... there's no way I could have beaten you. Isn't that what you're thinking?"

I walked a few feet away and held my hands up with a lazy expression. "C'mon, boy. My two hands are all I need to wrangle you."

"DIE!"

Bakugo dashed toward me with rage-enhanced speed as his hands glowed from the accumulated sweat in his palms. Just as he was about to fire an explosion at point-blank range at my chest and face, my hands flew up and grabbed his wrists.

Pushing them outwards, his built-up sweat exploded beside me uselessly. Even after he released his explosions, I held his arms firmly in place in my vice grip as he tried to pull away.

Seeing the kid jerk around like a trapped animal, I felt a pang of sympathy for the young kid.

"See?" I said with a calm expression. I leaned in close to his stunned face and whispered so only he would hear me. "Learn from this, Bakugo. If you keep looking down on everyone else, you'll never be able to see your own weaknesses."

I leaned my head back and smashed my forehead into his own. Bakugo grunted in pain and fell onto his butt as his hands flew up to hold the growing welt on his head.

"Agh!"

[+200 SP]

Don't worry. I was careful to hold back.

With my piece said, I cracked my neck and walked over to Izuku. "Let's call it a day, Izuku. How about we go for some ice cream? My treat."

"I... uh, huh?"

I wrapped my arm around the stunned Izuku and led him out of the park after I grabbed my cooler.

All the while, a frozen but enraged Bakugo stared at our backs with unreasonable hate in his eyes. His two friends? Followers? Whatever theory were, were too nervous and scared to say a thing and merely kept as silent as they could.

-

I hope you all enjoyed todays bonus Chapter!

I know we didn't reach the PS requirement of 600 for it, but what the hell, here's my gift to you all for being such great readers with funny comments.

Just a heads up, I'm not planning on doing the cliche thing and bashing Bakugo. So look forward to his future character arc. ( ̄? ? ̄? )

Until next time!