36 Trying to master the dao of apples

Enjoy the chapter.

Or do not and complain.

A lot of you seem to choose this option lately.

-*-*-*-

A few minutes later, our new trio went inside a bus.

The professor which was responsible for fighting the students drove them to the designed site, in their case, it was All Might.

Midoriya was obviously nervous with him fidgeting endlessly.

All Might was observing their interaction which was nonexistent and their attitudes which were vastly different from each other.

Midoriya was too focused on trying to elaborate a strategy to run from All Might and surely, he was too impressed by Kotei to try and strike up a conversation with him.

Kotei on the other end had his eyes closed and seemingly was in deep sleep as the only noticeable movement from his body was the regular rise and descent of his chest.

From the outside, it was nothing too impressive but in fact, he was not resting at all!

His focus was completely on the gravity surrounding him. In fact, at this exact moment, Kotei himself ignored his weight. However, he was sure that it was at least one ton.

He even made himself float about the seat to not crush the entire bus. It was even an exercise to drag his body midair in perfect sync with the bus's speed while his body was suffering from the crushing weight and his mind was divided into so many different tasks.

After a while, he opened his eyes and stopped training as he felt that they have arrived at their destination.

Exiting the bus behind Midoriya, he stopped a few meters in front of the pro-hero as he waited for his next instructions.

"So we either win by fighting, or by fleeing..." Midoriya said, thinking out loud.

"That's right! This will be a test of your judgment! However, you might be thinking that it may be a little unfair for me to fight you like that!" All Might said, as loud as he always is.

Kotei and Midoriya simply waited for him to finish his little monologue as he seems to have something else to say.

"That's why we commissioned the department of support and had them make us this! The super compressor weights!" He said, showing 4 bracelets he immediately put on.

"I'm strapping on weights equal to around half of my body weight! It will make it hard for us to move and thus shave our strength!"

"You might want to remove that if you fight against me." Kotei said, looking at the pro-hero with an unimpressed look on his face.

Laughing as he usually does, All Might gave off different vibes.

Not the kind that we could expect a hero to have, but rather hostile ones.

-*-*-*-

Later, Midoriya and Kotei were waiting for Recovery Girl to announce the start of the trial.

Midoriya was looking around, seeing if he could see a path rather hidden.

Kotei stopped meditating midair to look at his teammate with a raised hairbow.

"What are you doing?" Kotei asks, letting his feet touch the ground.

"We must find a good path to hid from him." The green-haired boy answered, looking in the purple eyes of Kotei.

"I won't hide. I plan on fighting him head-on."

"You can't! He is All Might, we cannot win!" Midoriya said, refusing adamantly to even try thinking about fighting All Might.

Kotei did not answer and kept his sight locked in a particular direction.

"No matter the number of handicaps, the idea that you'd beat him is just..." Midoriya continued trying to convince him, but his voice was cut by Recovery Girl announcing the start of the exercise.

"You have 30 minutes! Go!!"

Almost at the same moment, some noises could be heard from the direction toward which Kotei was looking at.

Midoriya seems to notice it as he turned toward it, watching with a growing fear in his stomach what he considers as the strongest being in existence completely smash through a building, sending a lot of fragments of the road and the building flying in their direction.

The gust of the wind following his arrival sent Midoriya flying on his ass while Kotei stayed on his feet, a layer of gravity keeping any debris from reaching him and Midoriya in extension as he was fairly close to him.

Recovery Girl in her room filled with cameras recording all the current exercise mentally took note of the lack of cooperation between Midoriya and Kotei.

One wanted to fight while the other wanted to fly.

Looking at his opponent making a striking enter, Kotei smiled, feeling his blood boil from the excitement.

"Go toward the exit if you want. I want to see... Who really is the strongest?" Kotei declared, his mouth morphing for the first time in front of somebody else of his family, a dazzling smile.

On the other end, Midoriya was scared shitless from what he declared as pure insanity of Kotei. The next sentence their opponent said added on top of the shock he was feeling.

"Collateral damage to the city? Who gives a fuck!"

"Wha-!" Midoriya was confused before he suddenly remembered.

"I am a villain! Come at me and put your whole hearts into it, oh heroes!"

After saying his small monologue, he rushed at the duo at a frightening speed.

The simple pressure of his movements was causing some collateral damage where he ran.

"We can't fight him! Let's run Juryoku!" Midoriya pleaded for the last time.

This time again, he was royally ignored by the purple-haired student as he began to fly toward his opponent, preparing to deliver a superman punch without enhancing his arm with his gravity.

Seeing that, All Might kept his smile on his face as he readied his own punch in retaliation.

Midair, the two punches clashed.

The raw strength behind the two attacks destroyed the ground beneath them and created a gust of wind which pushed back Midoriya even though he was fairly far from the impact.

Kotei felt his bones creak and muscles tear apart but the smile on his face didn't disappear even though he could see some of the skin on his hand behind torn apart by the strength used in the clash.

All Might used more strength as he suddenly pushed Kotei far away.

Since he did not use his gravity to keep him from getting send flying, Kotei went through two buildings before coming to a stop.

All Might seems to know that he was resilient enough to not be taken down in one punch as he waited on the same spot, ready to tank anything which would be thrown at him.

Midoriya was frightened, he could not fight All Might, and Kotei was seemingly taken down in one punch even though he saw All Might stand still, eyes focused where he went flying.

'I cannot run away and abandon him... But I cannot beat All Might either... What should I do?!'

Two buildings further, Kotei was getting on his feet.

"That's some monstrous strength for sure." He said to nobody, putting his dislocated arm in its socket.

Immediately, dark flames engulfed his right arm for a few seconds before all signs of injuries disappeared completely.

"Let's try again. This time..." Kotei said to himself, flying at high speed where he came from.

Ready to punch, his fist was surrounded by a small dark purplish sphere.

Seeing his student coming back at high speed, All Might kept his smile delivering a punch stronger than the previous one as it seems he did not do any damage.

"[Singularity Strike]"

Their two fists collided once again. This time it was visibly more violent as the glass surrounding them shattered and Midoriya was forced to go away to ensure his safety.

The two seems at a stalemate as the moment their fists separated, the two were sent sliding on their feet.

"This will be even funnier than what I thought." Kotei said aloud, making the symbol of peace more relaxed about the future.

With heroes as strong as Kotei around, he can't help but see a bright future for the world.

"I wasn't even serious, hero!" All Might said, playing his role happily.

Looking at the side, he saw Midoriya observing the battle.

'I know what you are feeling Young Midoriya... But I believe in you! You can do it!'

Taking advantage of All Might's inattention, Kotei suddenly acted.

The pro-hero noticed that and wanted to prepare for his next actions when two fists impacted his stomach with frightening strength.

"[Stellar Rush]" He heard Kotei said, as he was dragged by the student through multiple buildings as he kept pushing him, using his body as a shield.

Kotei let the pro-hero fly through some more buildings as he profited from his absence and flew toward his teammate.

Midoriya saw him flying toward him before he stopped, close enough to headbutt him.

And that's exactly what he did.

"Ah?!!" Midoriya grabbed his forehead, eyes filled with pain and confusion as he looked at Kotei.

"What the heck are you doing?" The purple-haired boy asked him.

Kotei did not seem pleased at all, and he ignored why.

"You are distracting All Might right now. If you can't fight then you better run toward the exit and wait there until I arrest him myself."

"Wha-!" Once again, Midoriya seemed to understand his meaning.

Well if he did not, he would be pretty stupid after all.

'He is right... Since the start of the fight, I did nothing except observe. Is this how I plan to be a hero? Being nothing but a spectator?' The green-haired teen asked himself, focusing on what he experienced during the fight with Stain.

Kotei stopped looking at Midoriya and jumped back into the fight with All Might as the latter seems to come back even stronger than before.

'It will not happen again! I will fight and this time... I won't lose!' Making his decision, Midoriya waited on the side, this time ready to fight alongside Kotei.

Kotei delivered a punch toward All Might's face, which connected.

However, the pro-hero used the momentum of the attack to grab Kotei's arm and began to spin at a very high speed, creating what looked like a little tornado.

Suddenly, he let go of Kotei's arm, making the latter fly away and making him go through a building, completely disoriented and rendering him unable to function correctly for a few seconds as Kotei felt like the whole world was spinning at high speed.

All Might himself had some trouble as his small staggering can attest.

Before he had any time to react, a certain punch came striking his face, bringing him sliding on the ground before he fell on one knee.

Lifting his head, he saw his favorite student, lighting surrounding him.

A big smile on his face, he declared.

"I won't stand still All Might!"

'That's it Young Midoriya!'

All Might said, punching in his direction.

Obviously, it was weaker since Midoriya was not as resilient as Kotei.

He tried to block it but was sent flying before two arms stopped him from going further.

"See? Even All Might can be punched Deku." Kotei said, letting the boy down.

"Finally! Come at me together boys!"

Kotei and Midoriya ran to him and the older hero did the same.

Kotei did the main job, keeping his attention on him and trading blow with the strong hero as Midoriya delivered some hits as well even though most of them were dodged or blocked.

However, his goal was not to defeat him, but to...

All Might and Kotei were locked in an arms wrestling, one with pure strength, the other had gravity in his pocket.

All Might was started to feel his limits nearing.

He did not expect to fight so seriously even though he had handicaps.

"It's been a good fight All Might." Kotei said, a grin appearing on his face.

All Might immediately notice that something was off but he did not have any time to react before Kotei pulled him with unprecedented strength, kicking him with a knee in his face, making him close his eyes in pain.

Kotei then stepped on his shoulder to jump away from him. Immediately after, the gravity 'fell' on All Might. The ground beneath him began to be destroyed as his weight was increasing beyond anything it could have tolerated.

All Might clench his teeth and waited for the next attack, not being able to open his eyelids because of the gravity keeping them closed.

All Might crossed his hands in front of him, waiting for a strike but what he felt was a pair of handcuffs on one of his wrists before the gravity suddenly cessed.

Being able to open his eyes again, he saw Midoriya near him, panting.

He was affected by gravity when he came near All Might. But since he prepared himself, he was able to endure it for a short while.

'They did it...' Recovery girl stated in her mind. She closely watched the battle since it was the one that could easily have injured.

Midoriya was ecstatic.

'We did it! We beat All Might!'

He turned around to look at Kotei but the latter had his eyes focused in a random direction, a small frown on his handsome face.

Midoriya was dazzled. The cape gently floating behind him and the sunlight giving him a godlike appearance... It was the kind of look he wanted to have! The kind which shines with confidence and strength!

On the other hand, All Might had the same thoughts as his inheritor.

Kotei had everything that a hero would ever dream of!

Strength! Charism!

However, Kotei was not so happy.

He felt someone messing with gravity not so far from here.

It was not the first time that he felt gravity being modified in the country or even in the city.

He usually considers it as someone using a gravity-related quirk. However these days, he noticed something different.

The gravity was being modified in a certain pattern. After a while, Kotei could decipher the message which seemed transmitted in morse. He could not accurately pinpoint the location of the user, but the interval between the message became bigger and bigger until it has been to the point where it's been a week since he last sensed it.

The message was...

'Help, I am changing...?'