Chapter 9: The Bunny Knows No Mercy! The Awakening of the Beast!

The rusty gate creaked as Izuku shoved it with his shoulder, kicking up a cloud of dust that made him cough twice before he extended his arm toward the interior with pride.

"And here we are," he announced. "Our brand new training field. I got it this morning at such a low price the owner actually thanked me."

Yu peeked through the opening, and what little remained of her good morning mood evaporated. The warehouse was a gigantic shell with walls stained by moisture, the floor blown out by old craters, and a couple of stagnant puddles reflecting the grimy light that filtered through the holes in the roof.

"Midoriya, this isn't a training field!" she snapped, one hand on her hip without even crossing the threshold. "It looks like the set of a low-budget horror movie! Seriously, all that's missing is a hand coming out of that puddle, grabbing my ankle, and dragging me to hell."

"I saw it had potential," Izuku replied, stepping on a rotten plank that gave a little under his weight. "The roof lets in natural light, which is eco-friendly, and the craters are already there, so when you make your own nobody'll notice the difference. It's basically damage savings."

"Are you listening to yourself? You brought me to a leaky dumpster and you're selling it as a benefit."

Mirko, who came in behind the two of them with her hands crossed behind her neck, hopped inside, swept the place with a quick glance, and let out a loud laugh.

"BAHAHA! Are you serious, rookie? You were planning on training here?" Mirko kicked a piece of rubble, sending it crashing against a column. "Shrimp here means well, but this dump's gonna collapse from one yawn. If you use your giant form in here, the roof's flattening you before you can take a single step."

"I have a name, you know," Izuku protested, not losing his cool.

"I'll call you whatever I want, pipsqueak." Mirko was already walking toward the exit, waving at them to follow. "So move your asses already, 'cause if the giantess wants to train for real, she's gonna do it my way. And my style doesn't include wasting time in disgusting puddles. Walk, I know exactly where to go."

Yu and Izuku looked at each other for a second. He shrugged, she sighed, and the two of them ended up chasing after Mirko.

The trip was long and, unfortunately for Yu, noisy, because Mirko rode in the back seat of the taxi with one leg out the window, shouting commentary about every single thing she saw on the highway, while the poor driver gripped the steering wheel for dear life. They left the buildings behind, then the houses, and eventually even the lamp posts...

"Welcome home, rookie," Mirko said, hopping out. "This field's used by heroes whose Quirks are too destructive to use anywhere else without wrecking neighborhoods every time they sneeze. Here you can grow as much as you want, hit whatever you want, and faceplant as many times as you need; nobody's gonna snap a picture."

Izuku turned in place, examining the walls and footprints with bright eyes.

"This I do like," he murmured, pulling his notebook from his pocket. "There's space, there are obstacles to practice maneuvers, and if the boss loses control, the worst thing she'll crush is a bush."

"Stop taking notes and pay attention, this is gonna interest you." Mirko planted herself in front of Yu with her hands on her hips and a wild grin. "Before anything else, rookie, you're gonna fight me. And you're gonna do it in your normal form."

Yu frowned, not understanding where she was going with this.

"In my normal form? My Quirk is to grow giant. That's like asking you to fight without using your legs."

Mirko flashed a defiant smile.

"That's exactly why. I wanna see how much you're worth without hiding behind twenty meters of height. I wanna know if Yu Takeyama actually knows how to fight... or if only Mt. Lady knows how to get huge."

Yu made a face.

"What nonsense. I don't need to prove to you..."

"Then prove it." Mirko took a step forward. "Less talk, more punches. Come at me."

Yu clenched her teeth, glanced sideways at Izuku, who was already sitting on a fallen wall with his notebook open, and decided a couple of hits on the arrogant bunny would do wonders for her ego. She advanced, made a fist, and threw a right hook straight at Mirko's face.

Mirko tilted her head to one side, let the punch graze past her ear, and before Yu could understand what was happening, she felt a kick to her stomach that knocked all the air out of her in a single impact.

"Ghk...!" Yu doubled over, staggering.

"Too slow and too obvious," Mirko said, already two meters away, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I saw you coming the moment you took a breath. Again."

Yu, furious, went back on the attack. She threw a combination of punches that in her head looked perfect, but Mirko slipped between each one, dodging with half her body, ducking, spinning, occasionally returning a little tap to the back of her neck or her ribs just to humiliate her. Every time Yu thought she had her, Mirko was already somewhere else, laughing.

"Hold still!" Yu yelled, throwing a clumsy kick that Mirko caught in midair with one hand.

"Why would I hold still?" She yanked on the leg and sent Yu straight to the ground. "A villain ain't gonna hold still either, princess. This is what happens when you think you're untouchable. Without your twenty meters, you're just a pretty girl who hits like a pillow."

Yu got up spitting dirt, her face red with rage and shame. She lunged again, over and over, and over and over she ended up on the ground, with a new hit adding to the collection of bruises. She didn't manage to graze her even once. The beating was so one sided it was painful to watch.

When she finally fell to her knees, panting, her arms shaking, Mirko hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Pathetic," Mirko said, crossing her arms. "And I was barely warming up."

"Cough... cough... Shut up..." Yu coughed, planting a hand on the ground. "It's not fair, you fight like this every day. I get big, that's my job."

"Your job is to be a hero, and a hero who only knows one thing is dead the day that one thing fails her." Mirko turned around and gestured at Izuku with her chin. "Hey, shrimp, you with the notebook. What does your analysis say about this embarrassment?"

Izuku hopped down from the wall in one jump and walked over to Yu, who looked up at him hoping, deep down, he'd defend her. He crouched beside her and looked into her eyes with a calm seriousness that had nothing mocking about it.

"Mirko-san's right, boss," he said, and Yu felt her soul sink a little more. "But it's not because you're bad. It's because every time she attacks, you hesitate. You throw the punch and, at the same time, in your head you're already thinking about growing to save yourself. Your Quirk is your lifeline, and as long as you've got a lifeline at hand, you're never gonna learn how to swim."

"I don't hesitate," Yu protested, without much conviction.

"You hesitate with your whole body." Izuku pointed at her shoulders, her feet. "Your feet are planted like you're expecting to grow huge at any moment. A real fighter doesn't wait for anything, she reacts. Look at her." He gestured with his head toward Mirko. "She doesn't think about her next move, she feels it and it's already done. You've gotta learn to fight as if your Quirk didn't exist. Because the day you really need it, you're gonna fail."

The impact of those words hurt more than any kick from the bunny. Yu stared at him, her jaw tight and her eyes burning, because it was exactly what she herself knew and didn't want to admit.

"So now you're gonna tell me not to use my Quirk," she said bitterly.

"I'm gonna tell you to stop hiding behind it." Izuku stood up and extended his hand. "And now yeah, get big. I wanna see something."

Yu took his hand, stood up, and breathed deep. The rage, the humiliation, the bruises, all of it pooled in her chest and turned into conviction. She closed her eyes, and her body started stretching toward the sky with a dull crackle of energy, meter after meter, until her shadow completely covered the other two. Twenty meters of muscle, purple spandex, and fury stood erect over the field.

"Now we'll see who hits like a pillow!" she roared, and her voice made the air vibrate.

"Finally, some attitude." Mirko smiled, flexing her knees. "But size doesn't scare me; size just means I've got more to hit!"

Mirko launched herself into the air, unleashing actual hell for Yu, turning into a white blur that bounced between the walls at a speed that doubled with every impact. Yu unloaded a massive slap that would've demolished an entire building to get her off, but the hero dodged the blow with an agile spin and stomped on the very same wrist, using it as a springboard to launch herself toward the sky.

"Stay in one place, you damn bunny!"

"Make me!" Mirko landed on Yu's shoulder, used her as a springboard, and drove a kick into the back of her neck that made her stagger. "Your own size works against you, rookie! The bigger you are, the slower, and I only need one second!"

Yu stomped to shake her off, opening a new crater in the ground, and Mirko took advantage. She kicked a piece of rubble the size of a car and sent it flying straight at Yu's knee, which buckled under the impact. Yu fell to one side, raising a curtain of dust, and by the time she tried to get back up, Mirko was already on her back, giving her mocking little taps on the head.

"Knock knock. Anyone in there or just an empty head?"

Yu made one last effort to get up, but her legs failed her and she ended up on her knees, breathing with difficulty.

"This makes no sense!" she protested between gasps. "I'm supposed to be the one who flattens people! How the hell can't I land a single hit on you?"

Mirko hopped off her back and landed in front of her with her arms crossed, completely satisfied.

"Get it now, big girl? You can have tons of muscle and still not touch me. Growing's the easy part. The hard part is learning how to actually fight. Until you get that, you're gonna keep eating dirt."

Izuku, who'd watched everything from a safe distance with the notebook under his arm, frowned and jogged toward Yu. She was on her knees, with her gigantic butt resting on her heels, right at his level, and a light bulb went off in his head that had absolutely nothing to do with the fight.

Hold on, he thought, stopping just behind her. Last time I touched her, she felt a burst of strength before shrinking. It happened so fast nobody paid attention, but she said it: she felt stronger for an instant. What if my Quirk can give her another boost? Well... only one way to find out. And what a coincidence, we've got a huge testing ground right in front of us...

"Boss, I'm gonna try something," he warned. "Stay still and don't squish me."

"Midoriya, not now... what are you...?" Yu started, turning her head slightly.

Izuku didn't wait for an answer. He opened his arms as wide as he could, threw himself forward, and hugged with his whole body one of Yu's enormous butt cheeks, burying his face in the purple spandex while clinging to it with an almost heroic concentration.

"IZUKUUUUUU?!" Yu screamed, her face burning with embarrassment. "What the hell do you think you're doi...?!"

But the scolding died before it left her mouth. The moment Izuku touched her, a pleasant warmth spread from the point of contact and traveled through her entire body. It loosened the exhaustion in her shoulders, woke up her muscles, and within seconds, the fatigue that had her on her knees started to disappear, replaced by a new strength that made her clench her fists without meaning to.

"Huh...?" she blinked, completely bewildered. "W-what...? Wait... what did you do to me...? I feel... incredible!"

"It worked," Izuku murmured against the spandex, with a smile. "And for professional reasons, let me add that it also feels incredible from over here."

"YOU IDIOT! LET GO OF ME RIGHT NOW AND STOP TALKING TO MY ASS!"

Yu straightened up, and this time her twenty-meter body rose from the ground with a lightness she'd never had before. The exhaustion had vanished. She felt her legs light, her arms charged with energy, and a contained power under her skin that scared her and excited her at the same time.

Mirko noticed the change instantly. The mocking smile faded from her face, and she eyed her suspiciously.

"Hey... what the hell was that?" Mirko frowned, not taking her eyes off Yu. "A second ago you were dead on your feet, and now you're moving like you just started training. What changed?"

"I don't know what the hell my pervert of an assistant did to me," Yu growled, flexing her enormous fingers as a confident smile crossed her face, "but this time, bunny... I'm getting my hands on you."

"HA!" Mirko bared her fangs in a grin, her eyes shining with excitement. "THERE it is! Finally stopped whining! That's what I wanted to see! Come on! Make it worth coming all the way out here!"

KITAKOREEEE!

Yu launched forward with a burst of speed that split the earth beneath her feet, and her fist whistled through the air. Mirko jumped, but this time Yu had anticipated it. She turned her body and swept the other arm through the space she was launching toward. Mirko had to twist mid-flight to dodge, and even so, she felt the wind of the blow graze her.

"Better!" the bunny roared, delighted. "Much better!"

She bounced off a wall, propelled herself, and drove a kick into Yu's side with all her strength. Yu took the blow head on, grunted, and instead of staggering, caught Mirko by the leg.

"Got you."

"Finally, it's getting fun!"

Mirko struck Yu's hand with a stomp from her other leg, loaded with the force of her Quirk, and the shockwave from the impact shook the whole field. The two of them collided again and again, fist against kick, strength against speed, and each clash kicked up columns of dust and sent debris flying in every direction. The old walls crumbled around them, the earth split into cracks, and the sound of the impacts echoed against the hills.

What neither of them noticed, in the heat of the battle, was Izuku.

The poor guy was still too close when Yu threw a punch Mirko barely dodged, and the shockwave from the strike, when it slammed into the ground, generated a gust of wind that lifted the boy off the floor like a dry leaf.

"Wuaaaah!" Izuku managed to scream before he was sent flying.

He soared over the field flailing his arms and legs, and ended his trajectory by crashing into the top of the only large tree for miles, getting stuck in the highest branches with the notebook miraculously still pressed against his chest.

The two heroines, oblivious to everything, kept trading blows for a good while longer, until Mirko, with her breathing ragged and a smile on her face, raised a hand in a sign of truce.

"Stop, stop!" she gasped between laughs. "Enough, rookie, or you're gonna knock down the hills. It's been years since I had this much fun in training!"

Yu stopped, her chest rising and falling, and little by little the surge of energy started to fade. As she shrank back to her normal size, she looked around for Izuku to brag about what she'd just pulled off.

But she couldn't find him anywhere.

"Midoriya?" Yu spun in place, now at her normal size, frowning. "Hey, where'd that idiot go..." Getting no answer, her tone lost some of its anger and gave way to concern. "Midoriya... seriously, quit messing around. Where are you?"

"Up here, boss!" His voice came from above.

Yu looked up and saw him, hanging from the branches of the tree like a poorly placed Christmas ornament, waving at her with one hand and a smile.

"How the hell did you end up up there?!" Yu put a hand to her forehead and huffed, but the image was too absurd. She let out an involuntary laugh. "Oh no! I threw you so hard you ended up in the top of a tree! That wasn't part of the plan!"

"I was just standing in the wrong place, admiring your progress," Izuku replied with dignity, still hanging upside down. "Could you get me down? The branch is in a place I'd rather not name."

"Hmm... well, doesn't look like you're having such a bad time up there." Yu raised an eyebrow with a mischievous smile. "Maybe I'll leave you a little longer to teach you that you can't just go hugging a hero's butt without asking permission."

"That was to help you. Plus, it worked, or did you already forget how well you fought with Mirko-san?"

Yu clicked her tongue, but she couldn't argue with that. She grew big again, picked him up between two fingers with exaggerated care, and lowered him to the ground, deliberately dropping him from the last stretch so he landed on his butt in the grass.

"Ouch."

"You earned that." Yu shrank back, brushing the dust from her shoulders, and then her eyes fell on the notebook Izuku had just dropped when he landed. "Hey, wait. Taking notes all day on my training, huh? Let me see how much tactical analysis you dedicated to the marvel I just pulled off."

"Boss, that's private and confidential property..."

"Too late."

Yu bent down and snatched the notebook before he could get up.

"'The boss's butt in giant form is, without question, one of the wonders of the modern world,'" she read aloud, her voice trembling with indignation. "'Soft even at monumental scale. Question for future research: would she let me take a nap on top? Would I have to ask permission or would a good scientific cause be enough?' MIDORIYA!"

"In my defense," Izuku said, raising a finger from the ground, "those are legitimate field notes. Every observation counts."

"This isn't combat analysis, this is... it's a perverted review of my body!" Yu slammed the notebook shut and chucked it at his head. "I thought you were studying my movements!"

"And I did study them. That part's on the back page." Izuku caught the notebook and quickly stuffed it into his pocket. "I just got inspired."

Before Yu could strangle him, a laugh interrupted them both. Mirko had walked over, wiping the sweat from her forehead, and was looking at them with a raised eyebrow and a curious expression.

"Alright..." Mirko pointed at Izuku with a finger. "You, broccoli. Whatever you did to the big girl to take her from crawling on the ground to giving me a real fight... I want it."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked.

"Don't give me that face." Mirko planted herself in front of him, hands on her hips. "You touched her, she got her strength back, and started moving way better. If your Quirk can do that, try it on me."

She smiled crookedly and gave one of her thighs a little tap.

"My legs are my best weapon. So start there."

Yu opened her mouth, scandalized.

"Wait, don't give this pervert ideas..."

But Izuku had already gotten to his feet and was staring at Mirko's thighs.

"Well, well, if you insist, who am I to refuse?" he blurted, taking a step toward her without realizing it.

"Midoriya!" Yu grabbed him by the shoulder. "What did I tell you about approaching people like a magnet to a fridge?"

Mirko, far from being annoyed, let out a laugh and lifted her chin, completely amused.

"Yu, let him go, don't be selfish and let me feel what you felt."

Izuku knelt in front of her and placed both hands on one of her thighs, pressing slowly. The skin was firm from the muscle, sure, but on top there was a softness he hadn't expected at all from a fighter of her level.

"You're taking advantage of the situation," Yu commented from behind, arms crossed and a reproachful look on her face.

"I'm concentrating," Izuku replied without looking up, sliding his cheek to rest it against the soft curve of Mirko's thigh. "Mirko-san, with all due respect, for someone who could blow my head off easy, this is ridiculously soft."

"Oh, you think so?" Mirko asked, looking down at him, entertained by his reaction.

"It's a miracle of nature." Izuku closed his eyes for a second, hugging her leg with an almost religious devotion. "She wouldn't get it. You don't meet a girl every day to whom, with total sincerity and professional respect, you'd say: choke me out with those thighs. It'd be an honor to go that way."

Yu put a hand to her face.

"Midoriya! You don't say that! And especially not in front of the owner of the thighs!"

Mirko went quiet for half a second. And then she burst out laughing.

"BAHAHAHA! You're messed up in the head, pipsqueak!"

She slapped her own thigh, laughing so hard even her ears were bouncing.

"I really didn't see that one coming! You've got a screw loose, but at least you don't hide who you are!"

She gave him a little kick with the tip of her foot.

"Alright, quit worshipping my leg and show me your Quirk!"

Izuku nodded, focused, and let the warm current flow from his hands into Mirko's thigh. She felt the warmth climb up her leg, and was surprised when it reached the center of her body.

"Oh. Oh, wow." She flexed her knee once, slowly, feeling the new strength gathering in the muscle. "This is... this is something else."

"Test it carefully," Izuku managed to say. "I'm new at this and you're the second person I've..."

Mirko didn't hear the end. She planted her foot, bent her legs, and jumped.

The thrust launched her like a rocket. She crossed half the field in a blink and tore straight through one of the reinforced concrete walls, blowing it apart in an explosion of dust and rubble before landing on the other side, skidding on her heels with a wild grin plastered on her face.

"HA! YES!" Mirko turned around, her eyes lit up. "Did you feel that? You, Izuku, right? You're officially my new favorite toy!"

"Ahem... I'm a professional assistant," Izuku corrected, brushing the dust off, "but I'll accept 'favorite toy' as a temporary promotion."

"Give me your number, now!" Mirko crossed the field again in two leaps and snatched the phone out of his hands before he could react, typing in her contact info at lightning speed. "Next time I fight something big, I want you at my side to hit me with that before going in. And you, rookie." She shot Yu a look, still smiling. "Not bad, for a spoiled brat. Keep training with Izuku and maybe one day you'll be able to give me a real fight without him grabbing your ass first."

Yu shot her a furious look.

"...Don't ever bring that up again. Ever."

"I'm gonna mention it every chance I get." Mirko handed back the phone with a slap on the back that almost knocked him to the ground. "See you, you pair of weirdos. Today I had more fun than I've had all month."

And with a single jump, the bunny rose over the hills and disappeared into the horizon, leaving behind a cloud of dust and a blown out wall as the only proof she'd been there.

The field fell silent.

Yu stood there for a moment, looking at the disaster around her, the new craters, the fallen walls, the tree she'd sent her assistant flying into. Every muscle in her body ached, her pride had been ground into pulp, her dignity was on the floor, and even so, in some corner underneath all of it, she felt stronger than she ever had in her life. She let out a long sigh and dropped onto her back in the grass, too tired to keep standing.

Izuku sat down next to her and, after looking at her for a second, lay down too, with his hands crossed behind his head.

"Good training, boss."

"Shut up." Yu closed her eyes. "You made me fight without my Quirk, I let a bunny use me as a punching bag for half the day, and to top it off, you hugged another girl's butt right in front of me. This was officially the weirdest day of my life."

"Second weirdest," Izuku corrected. "The first was when you fell on my face."

Yu couldn't help it. She let out a tired laugh.

"You know what, Midoriya?" she said to the sky, without opening her eyes. "This thing with you is gonna be very, very long. And very, very weird."

"Probably."

The two of them lay there, watching the clouds pass over the destroyed field, a vain heroine beaten to a pulp but stronger than ever, and the strangest, most useful pervert in all of Japan.