"Barry? Barry?!"

"Bwah!"

Barry was jolted awake by Mina, who had pinched him to wake him up before class.

"Are you ok Barry?" asked Mina, "You've been falling asleep before and after class alot as of late."

"No, I'm fine." said Barry, wiping his face, "I've just been having trouble sleeping recently."

"Oh, ok!" said Mina, "Just checking!"

The two looked away, avoiding each other's gaze.

I should tell her the truth, that I've really been losing sleep researching the man in yellow. It's just a lot to explain and it's not the right time.

Mina, however, was looking away for an entirely different reason.

GAAAAH! Why can't I just forget about the locker room scene!

Mina blushed, unable to erase the moment from her head.

At that moment, the door slid open, revealing Jay Garrick, "Morning class!"

"Good Morning Mr. Garrick!" said the class.

"Wow! Such manners! Aizawa must have drilled them into your skulls." said Jay, "It's not necessary with me though, say whatever you want as long as it isn't explicit. Oh, and make sure to pay attention in class, Physics might seem unimportant in terms of hero work, but some heroes, specifically those with speed based quirks, will find this information vital."

"Yes, sir!" erupted Iida in his usual tone of voice.

"Now then," said Jay, "Today we're learning about wind resistance."

"Alright!" said Jay, "That's it for today! Make sure to turn in the work by the next class!"

"Yes sir!" said the class.

The classroom door slid open, revealing Aizawa.

"Ah, and here's your homeroom teacher!" said Jay, "Well, I'll see you all soon!"

Jay zipped out of the class, just slow enough to not create a gust of wind. The action was met with a disapproving grunt from Aizawa.

"Hmm, he shouldn't use his quirk to haphazardly." said Aizawa before he took the podium, "Anyway, I have an announcement to make. There's only one week left until the final exams, make sure you're studying properly. I also want to remind you all that there will be a practical exam as well, don't forget it. That's all."

As quickly as he entered, Aizawa left the classroom. Barry pulled out his notebook, looking over his notes.

I did pretty well on the midterms, so I'm confident the finals won't be much different.

"Hey!"

Barry turned toward the source of the voice, finding an angry Katsuki Bakugo pointing his finger at Barry, "You may have placed ahead of me in the midterms, but this time I'm gonna leave you in the dust!"

It was true, while Bakugo had placed ahead of Midoriya., he had also placed behind Barry, who managed to land 3rd place. The event infuriated Bakugo, though not as much as if Midoriya had beaten him.

"Hey, I hope you do well too!" said Barry, "Try your best! I'm sure you can do it!"

"Damn right I can!" shouted Bakugo, "And don't sound so happy about it!"

Barry chuckled, taking small admiration in Bakugo's spirit. Closing his notebook, Barry got up to leave before being stopped by Kirishima.

"Hey man!" said Kirishima, "How did you do on the midterms?"

"I placed third," said Barry, "It's a pretty good place."

"Pretty good?!" said Kirishima, "That's great Barry!"

"Ha, thanks Kirishima." said Barry, "How did you do?"

Kirishima put his hand on the back of his head, laughing nervously, "Heheheh, 15th."

"That's not a good score Kirishima!" said Barry, "Do you need help studying?"

"Oh man, I was just about to ask you that!" said Kirishima, "I just needed to work up the courage!"

"No problem man!" said Barry, "I got you!"

"No you don't!"

Bakugo enters the conversation, abruptly inserting himself.

"I bet I could teach you way better than blondie here can!" said Bakugo, "So forget it!"

"Uh..." said Barry, unsure of what to do.

Bakugo is smart, he's at the very least just as capable of helping Kirishima as I am. And if that time is freed up, I can keep working on the man in yellow.

"Ok," said Barry, "Maybe we could-"

"I have the greatest idea man!" erupted Kirishima, "Why don't you both help me!"

"Huh?!" said both Barry and Bakugo.

"Yeah, I'm bound to do well if both of you are studying with me!" said Kirishima.

Barry thought about the idea.

I won't be able to work on mom's case, but I could still use the extra study time. Besides, there's also the fact that I haven't told Kirishima about mom. Maybe….

Barry nodded, "I'm up for it."

"Aw yeah man!" shouted Kirishima.

Bakugo grumbled, "I'll go to, but only to prove I'm better at this than blondie!"

"Whatever you say Bakugo!" said Kirishima, "We meet up at that diner, Jitters!"

Barry walked into the diner, welcomed by the smell of fresh coffee. It's leather seating and friendly-looking tables heightened the warm atmosphere.

Wow.

"Barry!"

Barry looked towards a collection of tables, which housed Bakugo and Kirishima. Barry waved at them before approaching.

"Hey guys," said Barry, sitting down, "How's your day going?"

"Great!" said Kirishima.

"Bah, let's get this over with," said Bakugo.

"Alright, fine," said Barry, pulling out his notebook, "Let's get started."

"I'm not sure I get it," said Kirishima, scratching his head.

"It's simple you dumbass!" shouted Bakugo, "Just follow the equations!"

"I would suggest making a bit of a cheat sheet for equations." said Barry, "Writing them down helps you memorize them."

"I still don't really get it," said Kirishima.

"Gah, this is stupid," said Bakugo, standing up, "I'm gonna get us some more coffee."

"Ok, bring me back something strong!" said Kirishima as Bakugo walked away. Returning to his studies, he pored over the textbook while Barry observed.

He might not be inherently talented, but Kirishima is still trying his best. He's got a lot of heart.

Barry smiled.

I'm lucky to have him as a friend.

That's when Barry remembered that he hadn't told Kirishima. He didn't tell him about his mother.

This place, it's warm, it's friendly, it's as good a place as any.

"Hey Kirishima?" said Barry.

"Yeah?" said Kirishima.

"I...have something to tell you," said Barry, "It's about my mom."

Kirishima continued studying absentmindedly before the words truly hit him. He looked up, a serious look on his face.

"Are you sure?" said Kirishima, worried, "You always avoided talking about her, it seemed like a touchy subject."

"It is," said Barry, "but you're my best friend, you deserve to know."

Kirishima put his pencil down, "Ok."

Barry took a deep breath, "My mom….was murdered."

Kirishima's eyes widened, "Jeez, that's just...the worst. Is that why you don't talk with your dad much? It must have hurt a lot for him."

"It did," said Barry, "but it was so much worse."

"Why?" asked Kirishima.

"Kirishima," said Barry, struggling not to show his pain through his voice, "they said my dad did it."

Kirishima gasped, "That's why your dad is in prison? Barry, that sounds….I can't even imagine."

Barry nodded, swallowing tears, "He's in prison for life and I'm the only one who thinks he didn't do it. That's why I wanted to become a CSI, I wanted to reopen my dads case and prove him innocent."

"What changed?" asked Kirishima.

"I got my powers." said Barry, looking at his hands, "It inspired me to push for something better, something I'd be happy doing. I haven't given up on my dad, but I don't think either him or my mom would be happy if I didn't follow my own dreams."

Kirishima leaned back in his seat, scratching his head, "Man, that's a lot to process. Does anyone else know?"

"Mina." said Barry, "She walked in on a conversation with my dad, it wasn't a pleasant one and I said some things I regret. I didn't realize she was there until after the call."

"Dang." said Kirishima, "Barry, I'm sorry, just so sorry."

"Kirishima," said Barry, "Thanks, you have no idea how good it feels to get this off my chest. I just hope you feel just as good when you do the finals."

Kirishima was taken aback by Barry pivoting back to the finals, but smirked, "Yeah, I hope so too, and I hope you catch the guy who really killed your mom."

"Me too," said Barry, determination in his voice.

"Hey!" said Kirishima, having written out the equations he was studying, "I think I figured it out!"

"Coffee's up extra's!" piped Bakugo, sitting back down.

"Alright!" said Barry, "Let's move on to English, this I'm confident I'll be better at than Bakugo."

"Over my dead body blondie!" shouted Bakugo.

"What the hell?!" shouted Bakugo, "Why is his pronunciation so perfect?!"

"I mean, he is the native English speaker," said Kirishima.

"GAAAAAH" shouted Bakugo.

"Pencil's down everyone!"

Aizawa tapped the podium, signaling the end of the written exam. Barry placed his pencil down, confident.

That wasn't too bad, I hope Kirishima did better than he did before.

"I'll collect your papers," said Aizawa, "Meanwhile, you'll be getting into your hero outfits and boarding busses to your practical exam."

The class got up, going to their cases to don their outfits. Barry slipped on his boots, tightened his knee and elbow guards before placing his visor on his face. Looking towards Mina, he watched as she donned her gloves and placed her mask on her face.

Huh, never noticed how…. Colorful her costume is.

"Uh, Barry," said Mina.

"Hmm?" said Barry.

"You're staring," said Mina.

Barry blushed, averting his gaze, "Sorry, your costume is just really colorful."

Mina blushed as well, looking away from Barry, "T-Thank you."

"Oh get a room you two!" said Mineta, prompting Barry to grab him and dump him headfirst into a nearby trash can.

"AAH!" shouted Mineta, falling out to reveal a variety of used paper sheets in his hair, "That was undeserved!"

As the class walked outside and stepped onto the bus, a familiar face not of class 1-A boarded as well.

"Derek?!" said Barry, standing up out of his seat, "I thought you would be tested with Class 1-B?"

"So did I!" said Derek, clad in his spandex outfit, "But they told me I would be testing with you guys. I'm not sure why since I heard we would be fighting robots like the entrance exam for the final."

"Whatever the reason, it's good to have you here!" said Barry, moving over to allow Derek to take a seat.

"So," said Derek, "Did you meet the new physics teacher?"

"You mean Jay?" said Barry, "Yeah, he teaches us physics too!"

"He's pretty fun!" said Derek, "Though I don't think I've ever seen a guy move as fast as him, except maybe you. Monoma dropped his pencil and literally a second later it was back on his desk."

"Hah, that's him!" said Barry.

The class stood in front of the practical exam area, met by not just Aizawa but an entire collection of teachers, 10 to be exact and with the absence of Jay. The ensemble of teachers confused Barry, if they were here to fight robots, why would there be so many observing parties?

"Now, we will begin the practical exam." said Aizawa, "As you all know, it is possible to fail this exam. This summer's training camp is an excellent opportunity, but if you fail you won't be going, so don't make any stupid mistakes."

"It's hard to make mistakes if we're fighting mindless robots," said Derek, "and if I'm not overstepping, can I ask why I'm here?"

"You're here because we needed pairs of students!" said a voice inside Aizawa's scarf, "And you were the perfect candidate!"

Nezu, the small dog-like principal, popped out of Aizawa's scarf to the surprise of the class.

"You won't be fighting robots for various reasons!" he announced, crawling down Aizawa's arm to the ground, " Instead, we want you to focus on person to person combat as well as hero abilities. We want to give you experience closer to the real thing! So, you'll have to fight teachers as pairs of two!"

Barry put his hand to his chin.

This is definitely harder than robots, I wonder why they're upping the difficulty of the courses? The recent attack by the league of villains perhaps?

"That explains why Derek is here." said Barry, "But there are only 10 of you, and 11 pairs of us."

"Not anymore!"

A gust of wind kicked up dust as Jay Garrick arrived on the scene, clad in his hero costume.

"Sorry I'm late!" said Jay, "Despite my speed, It still took a while to iron the costume!"

"Wow!" piped Uraraka, seeing Jay's costume for the first time, "This is your hero costume!"

Jay nodded, "It is indeed! I had to put it in the wash, it had a lot of dirt on it. But now it's back to its original Glory!"

"Mhm!"

Aizawa loudly cleared his throat, signaling Jay.

"Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself!" said Jay, "Your pairs have already been decided, Barry and Derek are with me!"

Barry's eyes widened, "I have to fight….YOU!"

"Yes Barry," said Jay, "And you too Derek. I'll explain more on the way there."

"The time limit for the exam will be thirty minutes!" explained Nezu, pulling out a pair of yellow handcuffs, "Your goal will be to put these handcuffs on the teacher or have at least one of you flee the area!"

"Wait," said Barry, "How is that fair? Derek can practically teleport to the exit, we can pass the test with no effort!"

"Yours is a special case Mr. Allen!" said Nezu, "It will be explained to you soon, as you are the first to go!"

"First to go?!" said Derek, swallowing, "I'm a little nervous!"

"Well," said Nezu, "Off you go! If you want to watch, the monitoring rooms are open!"

Deku entered the monitoring room, being met by the elderly school nurse, recovery girl.

"Today's going to be another long day." sighed recovery girl.

The monitoring room door opened again, this time Uraraka, Kirishima, and Mina entering.

"Oh, you guys are here to watch too!" said Midoriya, "I'm just here to study the different quirks at play, especially our new physics teachers!"

"It's strange, his quirk is almost identical to Barry's!" said Uraraka, "Wait, do you think Mr. Garrick is secretly Barry's dad?"

"No way!" said Kirishima, "I know for a fact Mr. Garrick isn't Barry's dad."

"Same!" said Mina.

"It's just odd they have the same quirk!" said Uraraka.

"Honestly, the similarity is striking!" said Midoriya, "I wonder how the two quirks will interact, especially with James rifts!"

Mina stepped forward, "I'm sure Barry will win! He's always found a way out of the problems he's faced."

"We're taking the bus?"

"Yup!"

Barry and Derek sat in a mostly empty bus, watching as Jay drove them to their destination. Derek had, strangely enough, used his rift to pull out a pair of headphones and an iPod from an unknown location and was currently listening to music on the ride. Barry meanwhile, conversed with Jay.

"But couldn't you just take us using your speed?" asked Barry.

"Some people get sick to the stomach when I do that." said Jay, "Besides, I've got to tell you people about the difference in rules."

Jay noticed Derek with his headphones, using his speed to quickly grab them and the iPod and speeding back to the driver seat.

"Wha-" said Derek.

"You can have these back when I'm done explaining the rules." said Jay, "You guys aren't allowed to escape."

Derek and Barry did a double-take, "WHAT?!" they both said.

"Don't worry, I'm not finished!" said Jay, "Because of your specific mobility based quirks, it was clear that as fast as I am, I can't catch you if you just teleport to the exit. That's why the exit will be sealed off for the first half of the exam, 15 minutes. Beat me or survive until then to escape."

"Ulp." gulped Derek, "We have to avoid a man faster than the speed of sound for 15 minutes. The odds are stacked!"

"Indeed they are, that's the point." said Jay, "You can take back your stuff now."

Derek nervously rifted the iPod and headphones back to his person before putting them on again.

"Barry," said Jay, "There's more, but only for you to hear."

Barry, confused, moved a few seats closer to Jay, "What do you mean?"

"Barry, I said I would help teach you about the speed force." said Jay, "This is the start."

"The start?" said Barry, "What about all those physics lessons, don't they help?"

"They do, but the speed force doesn't exactly do physics." said Jay, "In fact, they're an affront to those laws. I saw a glimpse of your speed, your potential when we escaped the speed force. But now, I need to see for myself what you're truly capable of. This exam isn't just a test, it's a way for me to gauge your progress already."

Jay stopped, arriving at their destination, a walled-off area, "Do your best, so I know what you're able to do."

Barry nodded as Jay put the bus in park, leading Derek and Barry to the large front gates.

"What do you think the battleground will be?" asked Derek, "Cityscape? Industrial Area? Forest?"

"Heh," chuckled Jay, "None of the above."

The gates slid open, revealing a battleground that neither Barry nor Derek expected.

A wide-open flat field of grass.

"What. The. Hell." said Derek, walking inside with Barry and Jay, "There's no cover, no way to hide!"

"That's the point." said Jay, turning around as the gates slammed shut behind Barry and Derek, "You guys have been tested in urban and natural mazes before. But now, you're up against a completely even playing field. No surprises here, just me, you, and the soil beneath our feet."

Jay smirked, "Best of luck!"

Jay sped across the field, stopping in front of the exit, only a speck in the distance to Derek and Barry. As an air horn sounds, signaling the start of the round, the speck starts to come back, rapidly approaching Barry and Derek.

Barry gulped, "Uh Oh."

A new chapter, Huzzah! I hope this one doesn't disappoint!

On another note, HOT DAMN WE REACHED 100 FOLLOWS! I can't thank you guys enough for this, ROCK ON!

Reviews:

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Happy New Years' people!

Next Chapter: Flash V Flash!