"For today's hero basic training... It's turned into a class with three instructors, All Might and me, and one more person." 50 minutes past noon, Aizawa was briefing us on the agenda for the rest of the school day.
"What will we be doing?" Sero asked.
Aizawa, taking a card from his pocket, presented it to us. On it was the word 'RESCUE' in bold blue letters. "Disasters, shipwrecks, and everything in between. It's rescue training."
"Rescue…" Looking to the others, Kaminari said, "Looks like it'll be a lot of work this time, too."
"Right?" Mina agreed.
"Idiot, this is the duty of a hero!" Kirishima replied, clenching his fists. "My arms are ready to rumble!"
"No one can beat me in water, ribbit." Tsuyu voiced her own anticipation. That was true… for now. Give me some time.
A cold chill washed over the room. "Hey, I'm not done." Aizawa spoke up unamused, regaining everyone's attention. "You can decide if you want to wear your costume or not this time." Using a remote to bring out our costume lockers, he continued, "Because there are probably costumes that limit your abilities, too. The training will take place off-campus so we're taking a bus."
Craning my neck, I hyped myself up for the shitshow that was coming. It was happening regardless of what I did now, but I would make damn sure I had a bidet and front row seats.
Really disgusting and frankly nonsensical analogy, but I was stressed.
Which is why I wasn't sure to be thankful or pissed off at Iida when he blew a whistle into my ear from right next to me.
Ffwwhheeeueeeeaaauuuueeehhhh
"Class 1-A, gather round! Form two lines by your student numbers in order to make boarding the bus go smoothly!" He then blew on it some more to the rhythm of a train, though I had my head tilted away this time.
I would tell him it was a city-type bus that doesn't follow the format that he assumes it would, but he blew that shit right into my ear. I hoped to see his plan crumble before his eyes.
A few minutes later, sat in the back of the bus, I watched as he despaired, huddling into his bus seat. "I didn't think it'd be this type of bus…!"
"There was no point, huh?" Mina comforted backhandedly.
"I say whatever comes to mind." Asui spoke up suddenly from beside Midoriya, catching a significant amount of the bus's attention. "Midoriya…"
"Um, yes, Asui?!" Midoriya blurted
"Call me 'Tsu'."
"Ugh…! Um…" Well said.
"Your Quirk is like All Might's."
"Huh?! Y-Y-You think so?" God, you suck at lying. Just say 'yup' and call it a day. "But… I'm… uh…"
That cloud kinda looked like Mufasa.
"Wait a sec, Tsu, All Might doesn't get hurt when he uses his. They just kind of look the same." Saved by the bell, if the bell was red-haired and obsessed with masculinity. That wasn't clever. God I was stressed. Still, it's nice to have a simple augmenting-type quirk, Midoriya. You can do lots of flashy stuff! My hardening's strong against others, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like much." Flexing his arm out, Kirishima activated his quirk, sounding rather frustrated while staring at his quirk.
That cloud looked like Godzilla, pretty dope.
Like the genuinely nice guy he is, Midoriya reassured "I think it's really cool! It's a Quirk that can definitely pass as a pro's!"
"A pro's, huh?" Kirishima reconsidered his arm, "But you have to think about popularity as a hero, too, you know."
That one looked like a big sad monkey. Ojiro come get your mans.
"My Navel Laser is pro-level in both flashiness and strength." I wouldn't even disagree. Not all pro heroes are U.A. or Shiketsu-level pro heroes. A ton are just there. Aoyama would fit right in with just the tiniest bit of training.
"But it's not great that it gives you a stomach-ache." Mina brought him back down to Earth.
"Well, if you're talking about flashy and strong, it's gotta be our monster trio, though, huh? Todoroki, Bakugo, and Sato." That gave Kirishima some pause, "Actually, if anything, Sato's would be the closest to All Might! Might and manliness for days!"
Midoriya muttered something from under his breath, but I could probably guess it was some self-deprecation about not living up to his entrusted role as One for All's next wielder.
I pointedly ignored the bus turning back to me and the other aforementioned 'monsters', content with watching the scenery outside the window I was leaning on. I didn't need to draw comparisons to All Might now and make Midoriya more insecure about himself more than he already is.
I'll just let All Might's title of World's Greatest come to me naturally.
Hearing his name, Bakugo looked up from the window next to him, before he realized just who he was grouped with. He snarled, glanced back at me and a napping Todoroki, and then returned to his window-watching. Guess he didn't like me being closer to his idol than he was. Or he just didn't like the two of us. Both were valid.
"Bakugo's always mad, so he doesn't seem like he'll be popular, though." Nah, tons of people like tsunderes. I don't, but who am I to talk shit about taste? Bakugo's supporter base will be just fine.
"What the hell! You wanna fight?!" The Explosion user stood up from his seat, gripping the rails in front of him with a vengeance.
"See?" Tsu played him like Frans Brüggen plays the flute.
Kaminari addressed the raging porcupine directly, "We haven't known each other that long, so it's amazing that everyone already knows his personality is crap steeped in sewage." People do tend to notice when you try and kill a classmate on the first day.
"What's with that vocabulary, bastard?! You're going to regret the day you applied to this school, you loser! I'll kill you!"
"What a vulgar conversation." Momo muttered from beside me, holding a hand to her mouth.
That cloud looked like a penis.
"We're here." Aizawa called out from the front, "Stop messing around."
"Yes, sir!"
As the class exited the bus single-file, I made sure to stay behind Momo at the back, out of everyone's line of sight. With everyone's back towards me, I detached one off the fasteners of the arm injectors on my uniform, hiding it in a back pocket. While the black metal disk was large, the pants I wore were baggy enough that it wouldn't be noticeable from an outside perspective. In another such pocket was a cell phone I smuggled along.
Stepping off the bus platform, I was greeted to the sight of the third teacher involved in today's field trip. "Everyone, I have been waiting for you."
Sounds of astonishment rang around, with Midoriya identifying for the uninformed who exactly this hero was. "It's the Space Hero, Thirteen! The gentlemanly hero who has rescued tons of people from disasters!" Gentlemanly woman. Glad to know you don't conform to gender norms, Midoriya.
"Oh, I love Thirteen!" Uraraka couldn't hold her excitement.
Thirteen, deciding it was time to herd the crowd, called out, "Let's go inside without delay."
As impressive as the dome was from the outside, the inside was the real jaw dropper of the facility. Entering the USJ, the class saw for themselves just how much money U.A. was making. I of course stayed at the rear end of the group.
The interior was sectioned off into six different areas, each one simulating unique settings and situations. A destroyed city. A rocky mountain. A not so rocky mountain. A red dome decorated with a flame pattern. A blue dome with blue clouds. A lake. All surrounding a fountain area in the middle of the dome.
"Woooow! It looks like Universal Studios Japan!"
"A shipwreck… A landslide… A fire… A windstorm… et cetera." You only had two more to go, why stop there? "It is a training ground that I made with different types of accidents and disasters. It's called the 'Unforeseen Simulation Joint', or 'USJ' for short." Thirteen proclaimed, balancing on one foot and pointing at us. Is she allowed to say that? Legally?
"Thirteen, where's All Might? He was supposed to meet us here." Aizawa said as he walked up to the Michellin Woman.
We didn't hear the reply she gave, but we did see her hold up three fingers. That wouldn't explain anything to most, but to those that were in the know, the fingers were all we needed to deduce what happened.
"That's the height of irrationality." Aizawa told her. "It can't be helped. Shall we begin?"
"Let's see… Before we begin, let me say one thing, or two…. three… four… five… six…. seven…"
As he was making his way to the side, I hailed Mr. Aizawa as the rest of the class was occupied by Thirteen's monologuing.
"Yes, Sato?"
I rubbed the back of my head to seem sheepish, presenting my arm missing injections to him, "Well, sir… I left part of my equipment on the bus, and I need it for the system to run smoothly. Can I go back out for a minute to get it back from the bus?"
Aizawa looked at me grumpy, "That… That's incredibly irresponsible and frankly substandard of you. Fine, but do it one more time and I'll request the Support Course to revamp your whole outfit so it's all stuck together… The bus might not even still be there by the time you get out. Go."
"Thank you, sir." Turning about face, I ignored the questioning glances from the people who noticed our conversation, and made my way outside. Reaching the entrance, I braced myself in the event that the door was already sealed. If the attack commenced as early as now, I would have to pivot to Plan B. I banked on the ambush starting when Mist Guy transported the villains inside in plain daylight, not before.
Fortunately enough, the automatic doors detected the pressure change caused by my footsteps and opened up for me.
As the entrance of the USJ slid closed behind me, I made sure to keep an eye on it. As soon as I heard the metal clang of the door shutting, I went to work. The bus we took earlier had already left, en route back to campus. But that's fine, I didn't need it anyway. Reattaching the injectors, I had disconnected earlier, I plugged in the last part of my uniform, feeling the increasingly familiar sting of its bite. Stepping into the far tree line to make sure that the communication disruption quirk wouldn't reach me, I pulled out the phone I had brought along with me.
Dialling up the saved contact I inputted of U.A.'s trunkline, I ignored the default answering bot U.A. had set up and immediately inputted the numbers to Nezu's direct line. 1781945. After a few rings, the principal picked up, greeting jovially. "Hello, Nezu speaking."
Adopting a panicked tone, I answered him, "Principal Nezu? It's Rikido Sato from 1-A! It's the USJ! I think we're under attack!"
Changing tone immediately, Nezu spoke, "Truly? This is a serious claim to make, Mr. Sato. Are you positive? Where are you right now? Where are your teachers?"
"I went out to get something from the bus, but then the facility went under lockdown and I saw attacks flying around the entrance. It could only be an emergency! And Thirteen and Mr. Aizawa are stuck inside! Please send help as quickly as you can!" I hadn't actually seen that part happen yet, but it was the only visible indications of trouble that would happen that could possibly be seen from outside the dome.
"Very well. I shall rally the staff. There is a chance that you might be mistaken in your assumptions in regards to a villain attack, but I won't take that chance. Please stay safe in the meanwhile. Help will arrive soon. Thank you for informing me, you did good work here today, Mr. Sato."
"Thank you, sir."
With the cavalry coming, I dropped the call. Nezu did say please, so it was more of a request than a direct order to hide. I was positive he knew that too. Running over back to the door, I activated Sugar Rush, letting it flow through me as I made my way into the fight. Stopping before I rammed my head into the thick metal, I braced both hands against either side of the entrance, pushing the doors apart with ease. From my position a little under a hundred metres away, I saw a black mist standing against my class, Kirishima and Bakugo being the closest to it. The black mist had been speaking, and I just caught the tail end of it.
"-y job is to scatter you all and torture you to death!" As he was rapidly expanding his body, I pushed my legs, willing myself to tackle the metal brace I remembered was in his body before he could transport anyone of my classmates away. What I failed to consider was that his expansion also reached behind him, and though he hadn't targeted me initially, he was perceptive enough that he noticed me as I shot towards him. Demonstrating a concerning amount of quirk proficiency, in the split second he caught me in his fog, he was able to transport me away from the facility's entrance platform in the blink of an eye.
Of course, I couldn't have it too easy.
Black filled my vision, and the next thing I knew my feet hit uneven ground. Shaking the disorientation of an unfamiliar environment, I quickly assessed my new location. Inclined stone underfoot. Villains at a lower altitude. Broken foliage around. The Landslide Zone. Which, if I remember correctly, meant…
A few metres away, I saw Todoroki emerge from a dark mist a meter in the air and land on a knee. Looking around, he took stock of his new location before noticing me. "Sato?" He asked, "Weren't you outside? Did they get you from there?"
"No," I shook my head, "I got back in the last second, the mist guy caught me as I entered."
He grimaced, keeping an eye on the villains who were grinning up at us, slowly walking towards us, "Well, we're under attack right now. They blocked all communication to the outside, cutting us off from help, and from the looks of it, split us all up into the different parts of the USJ for ambushes. This attack might be campus wide."
"Two of those are incorrect." At his questioning look, I decided to give him the good news, "From outside, I saw the facility go under lockdown. I called U.A. because it looked irregular and I suspected something was off. This attack only happened here. Pro heroes are coming."
Todoroki looked about as relieved about that as anyone could expect from him "…That intuition of yours... So, this situation isn't as dire as it could be." As he said that, the villains we were tracking were getting close enough to be a concern.
I called out to him, "At least two dozen opponents surrounding our location. So… I take the right?"
Wordlessly, he nodded and turned to face his side. The fools, giving us the high ground. Stomping a foot down, a trail of ice shot towards the villains rushing towards him. Showing them just how far the gap in power this fight was, not a single one of the first wave of enemies made it close to Endeavor's son before being encased in ice.
For my part, I didn't give my opposition the option to be apprehended painlessly, boosting myself towards the swarm of enemies coming up my side. They were getting panicky and picked up their pace after seeing how easy Todoroki had defeated his villains, deciding that they didn't have the leisure of playing with their food. Too bad, this food bites back. Reaching the closest one up, a villain with body traits similar to a bull and charging at me horns down like one, I utilized the higher ground provided me and just stepped slightly higher, stomping his head directly into the ground. Using the bull man's skull as a springboard, I jumped forward, avoiding both gunshots from a guy with Glocks seemingly nailed to his fingers and a blast of acid spit at me by a rather large woman. Using my airborne momentum, I kneed her right in her Karen looking face. It was therapeutic in a way.
As the Guns Akimbo guy was adjusting his aim towards me, shooting all the while, I moved around him to throw him off. Poor guy. He just wasn't able to keep up. Getting behind him, I clotheslined his nape, knocking him out and giving him neck and forehead injuries for weeks to come. I won't kill him, but his hospital bills will.
Between the son of the Number Two Pro Hero in Japan, and the best prospect U.A. had seen in decades, this farce of an ambush was short work, taken care of within a few minutes. Seeing everyone from my side either unconscious or with major concussions, I made my way back to the other side of the landslide where Todoroki created his personal winter wonderland complete with ice sculptures of dickheads. Spotting him interrogating one of the villains he iced, I walked up to him.
But, as I was about to get his attention, a loud boom came from the direction of the USJ entrance. That could only mean one thing.
All Might was already here. The other heroes would be here soon, as well. My plan worked. Now to make sure that everybody is still alright.
"Todoroki!" I called out.
"Sato." Todoroki responded, "Is that…?"
"He is here."
"…While that would be the end of the story for most cases," Todoroki responded, "The people here say that they're here to kill All Might, and have a weapon to do it." For some reason, he paused after that.
"You're bleeding."
Huh? Looking down at myself, I saw a line of blood down the side of my torso. Huh. The pain resilience and the one-track mindedness of Sugar Rush let me completely ignoring someone nicking my side there. The unique sugar composition made by the Support Company was better than anything I tried before, but it wouldn't erase all the limitations of my quirk.
Was it the gun hand guy? Did he nick me? This scratch was really shallow, though the bleeding left unnoticed and unchecked made it seem a lot worse than it was. I suspected that if I had any layering on my upper body, it wouldn't have even been there. Maybe going completely topless wasn't the smartest thing to do.
"It's a flesh wound. It's really superficial, looks worse than it is, don't mind it."
Seeing me unaffected by the long gash, Todoroki shrugged his concern off. With that, he started leaving towards the direction of the centre plaza where the villains first appeared. "If you say so. I'll lend my support over to Mr. Aizawa in the middle. The highest concentration of villains is over there, meaning their hidden ace has the highest chance of being there. Will you be coming?"
"I'll check out the other zones nearby, make sure that our classmates are all right. Go ahead though, your support might be needed soon." I replied.
While I would do that, there was another reason why I wouldn't be going to fight the All Might killer. It was a direct counter to me, blunt force was ineffective towards it, and my grappling would only hinder All Might from going to town on it. One day, I will be as effective as All Might in fighting monsters at that level, but as is, I would just be filling All Might's role but worse. Picking and choosing the right fights and right people for the job are things I would need to apply here. And for that reason, I'm out.
I did feel like I forgot something… Was someone else transported here? Eh, didn't matter.
On the way to the closest area, the mountainous zone, I felt thundering reverberations to my back. Constant booms could be heard from the centre of the dome, indicating the start of the fight between the physical titans. The villains would be getting desperate now.
Making my way up the side of the mountain as quietly as my stature would let me, I scouted around for any classmates I could notice. A few moments later, a yellow light emerged from the right of my vision, and with it accompanied pained screams. Going as fast as silent footsteps would allow, I hurried towards the fight. Peeking over the cliff face that covered my form, I saw two pairs of people, and multiple bodies on the floor, twitching unconsciously. Kaminari's quirk. But he couldn't control it very well, it left him braindead at that power level which means that right now, as he was being held up by the back of his jacket, he was effectively a hostage. The other two people conscious there, Momo and Jiro, had their hands up, surrendering to the villain holding lightning to Kaminari's head.
"I'm going over there," the Sportsmaster-looking villain announced, "Don't move a muscle."
"You and Kaminari… Electric-types like you are born winners, right?" Jiro attempted to distract the guy.
"Huh? What are you—"
"I mean, even if you aren't a hero, there are a ton of jobs you could do. You're in great demand, right? Well, it's just an innocent thought. I'm just wondering, why is someone like you a villain? It's fine if you don't want to answ-" A mighty fine effort from Jiro, but the guy was the last one standing for a reason.
As this all was happening, I was readying myself for a grand entrance. Getting up on top of the cliff face, I was adjusting myself, aiming the trajectory I would fly at to only hit one target,
The skull-head villain brought a hand brimming with electricity right next to Kaminari's temple, stopping Jiro's plan entirely, "Give it up. Did you think I wouldn't notice? A kid's naïve thinking only works on dumb adults. Novice heroes shouldn't make light of hostages." The previously beaten villains were now getting up once again, "If you two don't put up a fight… I'll let this idiot go." I sprung from the cliffside, "Someone else's life… or your ow-"
At what felt like Mach speeds, I rammed my elbow straight into his spine.
He was launched at speed to the ground in front of him, dropping Kaminari and turning into a ragdoll squished by my own body. His body scraped against the ground, breaking his mask in the process. Better hope his mask was sturdy enough to absorb most of that. If not, his general surgeon was going to have a long road ahead of him in repairing the skin and bones on his face. His dentist would, for sure. I was in a similar state. At the speed I was going, even with my initial landing being cushioned by the guy, my momentum continued, causing me to roll on the rough surface of the mountain. I didn't feel much from it, but I was aware that the moment my quirk turned off I was going to deal with a ton of scrapes and cuts on my back. Maybe that suit upgrade was needed earlier than I thought. Even just a shirt or a vest would suffice.
It took the two girls a few moments to comprehend just how drastic the situation had changed, but when they realized I was the one who disabled the villain, they were quick in bolting towards me, dragging a still incapacitated Kaminari with them.
"Sato!"
"Rikido!"
Lifting myself to a knee, I looked up and saw the shock and relief in their eyes as they reached me. As I was about to get up, I felt myself getting hit with a small pang of wooziness. It wasn't bad enough to affect my performance in the slightest yet, but I took it as a reminder that I didn't have forever to fight.
"Hey girls. Fancy seeing you here." At their incredulous looks, I continued, getting up on my feet and facing the villains who were recovering, "I called U.A., they'll be here soon enough."
Loud distinct gunshots of a heavy chamber revolver rang from the direction of the doorway. The mountain zone was the closest to the entry platform, so it would make sense that we could hear it from here.
"…They're here."
After quickly finishing off the already dead-on-their-feet criminals, we watched as U.A. showed us why it was arguably the greatest hero school in the world.
Between All Might, Bakugo, Todoroki, Kirishima, and the rest of the available U.A. staff, even the Nomu which had been holding its own against All Might and Eraserhead was overwhelmed in no time. Frozen legs here, a supersonic scream there, bullets in its head here, a powerful black-hole type suction there. Oh, and a less injured Eraserhead providing support to a pissed-off All Might on top of all that. Shigaraki couldn't even give it orders throughout all this, with Present Mic blocking all sound from its ear, and Snipe multitasking with his shots, forcing Kurogiri to prioritize avoiding Bakugo and blocking bullets from maiming a downed Shigaraki even more. Honestly impressive on his part.
It didn't take long before the Nomu was sent straight to the stratosphere, and Kurogiri, recognizing that the situation was hopeless, teleported the two of them out while Eraserhead was focused on the launched Nomu.
All Might wasn't even winded, proceeding to mop up the rest of the villains in the center of the facility with extreme prejudice.
We watched as the teachers spread out to the different areas of the USJ to round up the students and deal with the stragglers the masterminds of the attack had left behind. Ectoplasm, for his part, saw that we had everything sorted in this area, and just directed us to go to the entrance.
On the way there, the two girls with me were very quiet, but they had just gone through a traumatic experience. I didn't really blame them. Jiro didn't seem very upset, just tired, while Momo… she looked pensive.
On the other hand, Kaminari was just straight vibing, smiling and bouncing along as the dumbness was dying down.
As we reached the top of the stairs, I saw the people who avoided the initial teleportation stare at me astonished, with Iida shouting, "Sato, amazing work calling the school early!"
Either All Might or Nezu explained the situation to them.
I waved it off, "I wasn't sure what was going on, but the emergency shutdown of the whole facility didn't really seem to fit the exercise. I'm just glad that you're all alright."
"Rikido…" Momo muttered from my right, her head down, causing me to turn my head towards her, "I… thank you. So very much."
I put my hand on her left shoulder, squeezing reassuringly, "It's alright. You're safe. We got through it."
She lifted her head, showing me a teary smile, "…Thank you… Are you okay? You're bleeding, and your back is bruised. Do you need any gauze or bandages?"
I reassured her, "Don't worry. The gash on my side is shallow, and on my back, I'm only bleeding internally. That's where the blood is supposed to be."
"…That's terrible. You should be ashamed" Momo said, doing a poor job of covering her smile with an open hand.
Maybe, but as I looked to the relieved faces of all my classmates here, I couldn't help but feel I did everything right here.
"Well, I feel I must thank you once again, Mr. Sato." I heard from behind me, turning, I saw Nezu looking up at me, "We were lucky you were in the right spot at the right time. Without your intervention, this day might have been much more tragic."
"I only did what any student would do in my situation." I spoke.
"Be that as it may, I still must express it." Nezu replied, "Rest. You've all earned it. Let U.A. take it from here."
I have a vague timeline of how I want things to go but outside that, I let people, whether it be the person who had me write this story or people who leave comments, decide on the rest.
17 August 1945 is Animal Farm's publishing date, just for those curious.
Since it's easier to ask here than to put up a poll for it, I'll just leave the question here.
Who would you want Sato's best male friend to be? Todoroki? Kaminari? Bakugo? Let me know