The next afternoon, Denki showed up at the local park with the excitement of someone who had no business being excited about exercise
Shinso showed up with the energy of someone who very much regretted accepting an offer from literal lightning taken human form [wink]
Okay Shinsō” Denki said, clapping his hands together”Today is Day One of Operation: Stop Being a Stick Noodle”
Shinso stared.
“…We are not calling it that”
“Too late. It is written” Denki waved a tiny notebook labeled TRAINING PLAN??
with a cartoon doodle of Shinso sprinting from a cat
“Why am I running from a cat—”
“Focus Shinso! You can’t get distracted. Here let’s run some laps till you get tired” Denki pointed to the looping path around the park
….
Shinso lasted…..40 seconds before collapsing onto the ground.
Denki jogged backwards stopping to look down.
“Yikes. I didn’t even use my quirk and you’re already dying. I really got my work cut out for me”
“Thanks. really motivating” Shinso groaned
“Well, take a short rest and then we’ll get back to it. We’re going to focus on your endurance for the rest of the day!” Denki shouted full of encouragement
A piece of Shinso died in that moment but he picked himself up to go through the torment called exercising
The next day, Denki plopped down some weight that were totally not his.
And it was definitely not because he forgot to return them to a certain broccoli boy
“Where did you get those?” Shinso asked
“Not important. Today we’ll work on strengthening your arms and upper body”
Shinso sighed and picked up the weights.
He was corrected many times on ‘proper’ form during the session, whatever that means.
But by the end he felt like his arms turned into literal noodles.
“Hmm, yep doc we have confirmed the patient is on his last limbs right now but he will get them back for more experiments” Denki, somehow wearing a white lab coat, stethoscope around his neck and a clip board in his arms pretending to give a diagnosis
“Please doctor put me out of my misery” Shinso let out
“Nope! I’ll do everything in my power so you can come out stronger” Denki readily denied the request
“Great” a single tear came out of Shinso’s left eye
Next, moving onto agility and reaction time!
“So how am I going to improve on this?” Shinso asked seeing Denki move about 20 feet away from him
“Well it’s actually simpler then you might think” Shinso got a feeling he wasn’t going to like this and he was proven right when he saw Denki’s hand light up with electricity
“You just need to keep moving and not get hit by my lightning. Oh and don’t worry I’ll keep the voltage and heat low so it won’t really hurt” Denki smiled like this was a great idea
“Geez thanks for considering me feelings when you came up with the idea of shooting literal lightning at me” he grumbled under his breath
“What was that?!” Asking the question Denki also shot a ray of electricity at Shinso, spooking him into jumping to the right
“OI!!” But it was too late.
Before Shinso could say anything more arcs of lightning came at him forcing him to keep moving
(This guy will literally be the death of me!) jumping, running, diving and even rolling on the ground.
Shinso couldn’t catch a break, even when he thought he could tank 1 of the shots since he didn’t believe it would be that bad
Boy was he wrong.
That little arc of electricity made his entire body jolt instantly letting him know he messed up.
By the end he was laying on the ground exhausted looking like he had an intimate conversation with death
“So….how ya doing?”
“I almost died” Shinso breathed out
“Yet you didn’t” Denki shot back
“I hate you”
“Great! You have energy to hate me means you’re still alive!” Denki said excitedly
-Time passes-
The first time Denki had put him through lightning hell, Shinso had collapsed like a puppet that lost its strings
Now, three weeks later, Shinso stood in the same park, same beaten-up sneakers, same dark circles under his eyes and the same lightning gremlin grinning at him from across the field.
But he wasn’t the same.
Denki snapped his fingers, a crackle of electricity dancing through his palm.
“Okay, Shinso! Ready for version 2.0 of the Don’t Die Dodge Drill!?”
“No” Shinso said honestly, stretching his sore shoulders “but I’m used to suffering at this point.”
“That’s the spirit!”
Denki fired the first arc.
Shinso moved.
And this time, he didn’t stumble, or flail uncontrollably.
He slid to the side, posture low, legs strong enough to push him off the ground with speed he didn’t used to have
Another arc shot toward him — faster
Shinso pivoted sharply, sneakers scraping the dirt as he narrowly avoided it
“YOOO!” Denki cheered mid-charge.
“Look at you! You’re doing great right now!”
“Shut up and keep shooting!”
“Hehe, say less”
Instead of panicking, Shinso settled into a rhythm he never used to have.
His feet felt lighter, his lungs burned, but in a familiar, manageable way
Shinso rolled cleanly across the grass and popped back onto his feet.
Something he absolutely could not do before
He could hear Denki hyping him up like an overcaffeinated sports announcer
“My dude is EVOLVING! I swear you were like a small kitten weeks ago and now you’ve grown your claws and became a full fledged tired cat. Evolving from a Meowth to a Persian like Pokemon!”
“STOP COMMENTING AND KEEP SHOOTING!! AND WHAT THE HELL IS A POKEMON?!” He was genuinely confused.
What the hell is that?
Denki cranked up the speed.
The arcs came faster and more unpredictable
Shinso pushed himself harder — dodging, sprinting, changing direction, avoiding each near-miss without collapsing.
Sweat stung his eyes, ribs heaved, muscles shook, but he kept going
For the first time…
he wasn’t barely surviving the drill.
He was pushing through it
After nearly ten minutes of nonstop movement, Denki finally powered down giving Shinso a break to catch his breath
Shinso bent over, hands on knees, catching his breath, but he was still standing.
“Holy crap” Denki shouted.
“You didn’t even fall once this time”
Shinso stared at the ground, breath heavy “….I guess I didn’t”
“And you didn’t scream when I shot the one toward your face!”
“I wasn’t expecting you to bring up my trauma like that” Shinso let out a small smile
Denki grinned brightly
“Dude, do you realize how much you’ve improved? You used to trip over AIR. Now look at you!”
Shinso straightened, steadying his breath “Feels… different. My legs aren’t giving out on me as fast”
“Your reactions are way better too! You’re basically improving at a super charged rate!”
“Or maybe I’m just traumatized enough to dodge anything you throw at me”
Denki shrugged.
“Either way, it’s working!”
Shinso let out a breathless laugh.
Small, tired, but genuine
He wasn’t just surviving Denki’s training anymore.
He was improving.
Steadily, clearly and undeniably
And for the first time, the idea of passing U.A.’s entrance exam didn’t feel like a distant fantasy
It felt…
achievable
Denki clapped his hands “Okay! Five-minute break and then we go again!”
Shinso groaned loudly.
“I take it back. I hate you”
“But you’re getting stronger!”
Shinso doesn’t know if he should lie down and except death by exhaustion or except death by lightning
Either way it would be better than whatever torture he was going through.
Despite that he moved back in position and let out a small smile that he hoped no one noticed [we totally did]
~~~~~~~~
Shinso didn’t truly realize how much he’d changed until he sprinted across the field without feeling his legs threatening to detach from his body.
His breathing still hitched, but it no longer felt like inhaling fire through a straw.
His muscles were sore in a way that said stronger rather than dying
After finishing his lap around he made his way towards Denki for another training through hell, but it seemed his trainer had different plans
“Okay,” Denki said, nodding to himself “I’ve made made a decision”
Shinso blinked.
“Should I be worried?”
“Nah, it’ll be fine” Denki replied “But I’ve been thinking”
“Yep it’s dangerous”
“Rude” Denki continued “Look, you’ve been killing it physically. You got faster, stronger, and your reaction time is way better. Like, if I shot a low voltage lightning at you right now, you’d probably dodge without crying.”
Shinso deadpanned.
“…You make me feel so appreciated”
“But!” Denki held up a finger.
“Physical training is only half the battle. Your quirk will be the real key to you getting into U.A”
Shinso stiffened a little “…Yeah. I know”
“Exactly. So we’re taking a break from all the jumping and rolling and dramatic near-death experiences—”
“Which you caused” Shinso reminded him
“Details,Details” Denki waved him off “Point is, we’re switching to Quirk Training Mode! Follow me”
Getting closer he could see it had 2 note books, 1 yellow with the owner address to ‘Zapdos’ and the other green with it having the word ‘broccoli’ on it
“Okay” Shinso said slowly, “explain to me again what is all of this”
Denki slapped a notebook open like he was about to supply some sage-ly wisdom
“Because” he announced “YOU use your quirk like it’s a one-button TV remote when you can have the whole menu at you disposal”
Shinso blinked.
“…What?”
“Don’t worry about it” Denki said, flipping the page.
“Listen I’ve been thinking — like, really thinking”
“That scares me”
“It should” Denki confirmed “So, here’s the deal. Your brainwashing is super strong, but everyone acts like it’s basic: they talk, you hijack them, boom. That’s it”
“That IS it” Shinso pointed out.
“But what if it wasn’t?” Denki leaned forward, eyes bright.
“What if we actually explored your quirk instead of doing the bare minimum like half the heroes in training do?”
Shinso didn’t know what to say.
If his quirk could really do more then he thought it could.
That would be great
“Just trust me on this” Denki flipped to the next page of the yellow notebook like he’d been waiting his whole life for this moment
Brainwashing the System 1
– Trigger Commands –
“Okay, so get this,” Denki said, tapping the page like a professor about to drop forbidden knowledge.
“When you activate your quirk, you always go straight for full control. Total override, puppet strings, boom done”
“That’s how it works?” Shinso tried.
Denki held up a finger “WRONG. That’s how you think it works”
Shinso stared “…You’re telling me I don’t know how my own quirk works?”
“Exactly! You get it!” Denki beamed.
Shinso regretted everything.
Denki continued “Look, once someone answers your question and the quirk kicks in, you basically have a live connection. A mental channel you take over because that’s what you push for. But what if you didn’t. What if instead of controlling every micro-movement, you gave them a trigger?”
“Trigger…?”
“Commands that only activate under certain conditions!” Denki flipped the notebook like a magician revealing the final card.
“You plant the instruction, but it doesn’t go off until a rule is met”
“Like… what?”
“Like THESE—”
Conditional Behavior
– when you hear someone behind you running.
Stop them
-if you here someone say retreat.
Move backwards
“Or you could try this that people never thought of in the show” Denki pointed at a different page
Shinso stared confused “in the what?”
“Don’t worry about it”
Delayed commands
-next time you hear my voice.
Freeze
-when someone says my name.
Say you don’t know me
-when you see Eminem.
Get his autograph
Opening the green notebook Denki shows Shinso a different type of command
Responsive Commands
-if you see an opening.
Throw the TNT
-Neutralize the threat in the fastest way you can
-if you break free.
Forget everything that happened
“I’m… not sure that’s legal” Shinso muttered
“Neither is half of what heroes do and THEY get paid for it” Denki said with a shrug
They spend another hour looking through most of the ideas in the 2 notebooks.
And by the end Shinso is left staring motionless at the darkening sky
“This….is insane. If I can do all of these with my quirk, even if I can’t get into UA I can probably make it into and hero school I choose” Shinso whispered out in disbelief
Denki was quick to respond “Hey hey don’t say that. You’ll definitely make it in. (I need you in there!) but don’t get your hopes up with all of them, some might not even work if we don’t test them out”
“But who will even let me brain..wash…them” Shinso slowly looked down to see Denki’s annoying grin plastered on his face
“I mean. Isn’t it obvious? Who else would agree to be your test dummy?” Denki tilted his head with a grin that basically let him know he couldn’t escape