After a short walk, Tobias was standing outside a family restaurant with a big yellow sign.

'Bennys, huh? The last time I came here was with Kyoka way back when. Time sure does fly.' thought Tobias as he entered the restaurant.

"Good morning. How may I help you today?" said the hostess.

"I'm just here to me-"

"Tobias! Over here!"

Turning to look in the direction of the voice, Tobias saw his mentor Mirko waving her arm at him while holding up a fork full of pancakes.

"Never mind. Thank you." Tobias said to the hostess before walking to Mirko's booth.

"Looks like you started eating without me." said Tobias as he sat in the booth.

"Ywou twowok twwo lwowng." she said, mouth full of food.

"Haha."

~

After ordering some food and eating it while making small talk, the two left the restaurant with Mirko having paid for the food. A welcoming breakfast as she called it.

"That was good." she said patting her stomach as the two stood outside the restaurant.

"So, what now?" asked Tobias.

"Eager to get into it, eh? Well, I can't blame you. I was just like you back when I first did my work studies." she said.

"Let me guess. You hated studying?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"You don't seem like the type of person to like studying. Or the type to sit still." he said before ducking the kick aimed at his head.

"So, you want to start off the day with a spar, huh?" said Mirko.

"It wasn't my intention, no, but I'm ready if you are." said Tobias.

"That's why I like you kid. Let's go."

"Wait, where are we going?"

"Some alleyway, who cares where."

"I have something we can use but I need a safe area to do it." said Tobias, talking about his Field card which didn't necessarily need a safe area for it to be used but Tobias preferred it to be.

"Is it better than an alleyway?"

"Haha, much better. I promise. We can go all out. Kinda."

"You're making my blood pump." she said with a slightly crazed smile.

"Let's get to a safe place before you go all out."

"Okay, let's go to my place."

"You live here?"

"Just renting."

~

After another short walk, the pair made it to Mirko's rented apartment. It was pretty bare-bones since she had just rented it, but it was big enough for Tobias to stay if he needed to.

"This is the place. Now do your thing so we can fight." she said as soon as they entered the apartment.

"Are you okay?" asked Tobias.

"What do you mean am I okay? Do I not look okay to you?"

"No, you do. But you seem anxious to fight. More so than usual."

"Aw, are you worried about me?" she said, teasingly.

"Yes." said Tobias seriously causing her to fall silent for a few seconds.

"Sigh." she said, scratching her head.

"Don't worry about it kid. Just some grown-up problems. You'll understand when you're older. I appreciate the concern though. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing I have a caring student." she said, patting him on the shoulder with a smile.

"Are you sad because you're single?"

"Eh?" she said, smile disappearing, her grip tightening on his shoulder while a vein threatened to burst out of her forehead.

"Why don't you get that card of yours ready before I go ballistic?"

"Yes, ma'am." he said as he activated the Field card, making the two of them disappear from the apartment and reappear in a colosseum.

"So, what is this place?" she asked as she looked around while still holding onto him with the grip of death.

"A card of mine. This is a subspace, think of it like being inside the card, where we can go all out without worrying about damaging the outside. I use it to train with Dratini for his more destructive moves." he explained, not even attempting to remove her hand in fear it would set her off.

"Dratini? Oh, your Pokemon."

"Yes, my Pokemon."

"Has he evolved?" she said.

"Not yet. Soon though."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Good. Bring him out so my Usa can fight him."

"Usa?"

"Yeah, that's her name. Got a problem?" she said, tightening her grip a little.

"No, it's a great name."

"I'm glad you think so." she said before summoning Lopunny.

"Lopunny." she said, looking around confused before turning to see Mirko smiling at her while death gripping someone nonchalantly.

"Usa, you want to fight?" she asked.

"Lopunny!" she said, fired up.

"Good. Let your Dratini out." she said before Tobias did as she asked.

"Dratini."

"Dratini, this is Mirko, my mentor. And that is Usa, her Lopunny. You guys can go spar over there while we do the same over here." said Tobias.

"Dratini?"

"Try not to use super destructive moves. Consider it training for the future."

"Are you handicapping the fight?" asked Mirko.

"No. It's just that a lot of Dratini's strong moves cause a lot of destruction and if he's going to fight alongside me in the future, he'll have to be more careful. Since there might be civilians and whatnot." explained Tobias.

"Fine. Usa, kick his ass."

"Lopunny!" she said before hopping away while Dratini followed her.

"Um, Mirko?"

"What?"

"Can you let go of me now? It's kinda hurting."

"Apologize first."

"I'm sorry for saying you were sad because you were single."

"And?"

"I was wrong."

"And?"

"I'm just a kid who doesn't know better."

"Good." she said, letting him go.

"Phew, thought you were going to go ballistic." he said as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Oh, I still am. I just wanted to make this a fair fight." she said with the all too familiar smile that says "I'm about to kick your ass."

"Damn." said Tobias before dodging backward.

BOOM

"You've gotten better. Your reaction time has improved from last time." she said as she got her foot out of the crater she had created from her kick.

"How can you tell?"

"I used more power in my kick." she said smiling.

"That could've killed me if I wasn't prepared."

"I know." she said before rushing him with a flurry of kicks.

'Even with the SSS, I'm barely keeping up.' thought Tobias as he dodged the kicks.

"Come on, show me how much you've improved since last time." she said as she continued her assault.

"Close combat only?"

"No. Go all out. Show me your ultimate moves."

"Okay. This will be a good test for one of them." said Tobias.

The ultimate move he was referring to was his Conqueror's Haki. He knew it would work on weaker-willed enemies and the common villain, but he wanted to test it on a high-ranked hero. If his assumptions were correct, his Haki might not even work on people like Mirko or Shigaraki, so this was as good a chance as any.

"Conqueror's Haki." said Tobias as he activated the card and concentrated his haki on Mirko.

"... Huh?" said Tobias, noticing that nothing had happened to Mirko.

"Did you do it?" she asked, confused.

"Let me try it again." said Tobias before concentrating the Conqueror's Haki on her only for nothing to happen.

"That's a pretty shitty ultimate move." she said.

"No, it's not. You just have incredible willpower." said Tobias, coming to the only logical conclusion.

"Willpower?"

"Conqueror's Haki allows me to exert my willpower over others. Those with weaker willpower than me will be rendered unconscious while those equal and slightly stronger than me will be weakened and under constant pressure. And those much stronger than me will be unaffected.

Clearly, you fall into the latter category. Willpower so strong you are unaffected by it."

"Strong willpower. Well, I can't say I'm not surprised." she said with a smile and her rabbit ears straight up, clearly happy about how strong her willpower is.

"It's unfortunate it didn't work but it also gave me valuable information. I'd rather find out now than later when it's an actual fight. Though it is a shame I made so many since they'll only work on regular villains which I could also take care of in whatever way. Not that much of a shame but still. I'll have to adjust the amount of stamina I use to create them next time.

She didn't feel any pressure which means the amount of stamina I'll have to use to create one should be increased by 1.5 to work on her or at the very least for her to feel something. I should also create one using up most of my stamina for research purposes and as a trump card." said Tobias to himself.

"Uhh, what?"

"Oh, sorry. Just talking to myself. Anyway, let's continue shall we?"

"Do you have any other ultimate moves? One that works this time?" she teased.

"I do."

"Good. Use that this time."

"Monster Equip: Summoned Skull." said Tobias before he transformed into the familiar winged skeleton.

"That's more like it!" yelled Mirko before kicking off the ground.

BOOM

The spot where she stood a moment ago was replaced with cracked earth while her figure reappeared right in front of Tobias.

"Luna Rush!" she yelled as she launched a flurry of kicks that were both much faster and stronger than any she had launched before.

In response to this, Tobias crossed his arms in front of his body to both block the kicks and do some testing.

He wanted to test how strong Mirko's kicks were and how durable his improved Monster Equip was. Improved Monster Equip because he had more stamina to use than when he first created it so he added more stamina to it to make it stronger and last longer while also toning down the pain.

BANG BANG BANG

The shockwaves created from the blows connecting with Tobias' arms resounded throughout the colosseum, amplified even more by its structure. But the even more terrifying aspect of her ultimate move was not the sound, but the strength.

The strength behind the kicks was enough for Tobias' body to be pushed back with each consecutive kick. Not only that, she landed each kick in the exact same spot, weakening Tobias' defenses and form slowly.

'Oof, I knew she was strong, but she's even stronger than I thought. And she's aiming for the exact same spot each time. Her battle sense is insane. If I used the old Monster Equip, I don't think I would've lasted that long.' thought Tobias as he continued to block her kicks.

"Come on, you're a big, bad skeleton monster, not a turtle! Don't tell me this is all you can do with that!" she said as she continued her assault.

'Have to time this just right.' thought Tobias as he focused on her kicks to get the timing down.

'Now!'

Right as Mirko's kick was about to land, Tobias uncrossed his arms and grabbed her leg before lifting her up and smashing her down on the ground.

BANG

"That's what I'm talking about!" she said, looking up at Tobias from the Mirko-shaped crater on the ground.

Pushing herself off the ground with her leg still in Tobias' hands, she turned her entire body putting all the force from her maneuver into a kick aimed at Tobias' head using her free leg.

Freeing one arm, Tobias moved it to block the incoming kick but was caught off guard when Mirko used the kick landing to wrap her leg around his arm and used the remaining force to free her other leg. She then wrapped both of them around his neck and started pulling.

"You give up?! I might tear off your head!" she said.

"N-o-t y-e-t." he said as he grabbed hold of her legs before slamming his back into the ground.

"You're holding back! Put some strength into it!" she said, her legs not having budged a centimeter after being slammed into the ground.

Lifting his upper body, Tobias then slammed it back into the ground.

"Again? Boring." she said as she tightened her hold even more.

Feeling her hold tightening, Tobias pushed himself off the ground, unfurled his wings, and began to fly.

"Whoo!" she yelled.

Picking up speed, Tobias then turned his body upside down as he flew before skimming across the ground to get Mirko off. After a few seconds, he felt Mirko fall off so he stopped moving and floated in the sky, looking down at Mirko.

"Ptooey. You got dirt in my mouth!" she yelled as she jumped up, almost instantly appearing above Tobias.

"Luna Fall!"

BOOM

"Ugh." said Tobias after taking the full brunt of her ultimate move and crashing into the ground.

"That's enough for now." she said as she stood above him.

"That sucked." said Tobias as he undid his transformation.

"You don't fight in that form that often, do you?"

"No. I've only used it once in real combat." he said as he exited the crater and dusted himself off.

"You don't do much physical fighting?"

"Not as much as I used to, no. I mostly rely on ranged abilities."

"I thought so. Well, we have something to work on. While you're doing your work-study with me, whether that be during a villain fight or during sparing, you'll only fight close quarters. You need to get used to it again. Not that you're bad, just rusty."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Good. It was a fun fight though, so don't feel too bad. Now, get us out of here. I'm hungry again." she said, patting her stomach.