Shota Aizawa was far from a pleasant man. Izuku was sure of that much the second she'd watched him walk out the room and left his class behind confused with his rough attitude.
She also was sure that sooner or later, he'd start giving someone crap if he followed the pattern she recognized from sour teachers like him. She hoped it was her. Not because of any dislike of herself but because she was not going to take shit from anyone, even a U.A. teacher.
For the moment though she focused on a more pressing issue, changing. It was still an odd experience, changing in the girl's changing room. She had planned to just get done up in a corner and leave but Mina had been rather insistent on getting her (not so great) opinion on their teacher.
And Mina being hotter than then the number two hero's fire quirk did not help matters. Somehow though, she powered through with some flirts and gripes and soon found herself with the rest of the class in the track outside the school.
And Aizawa finally revealed his game, with the bored scowl still plastered on his face. "You'll be performing a quirk assessment test to judge where you are with your quirks."
There was muttering amongst the students, some muttering in confusion over why they were doing this of all things. Aizawa glared at them and it was enough to make them shut up, most of them unsettled by his gaze. Izuku just levelled a glare back silently.
"If you want to make it anywhere in the hero business that actually matters, you can't waste time on pointless celebrations and ceremonies. What you will be endlessly spending your time on, is training your quirks." Aizawa drawled, pulling out a device of some sort from his pocket and fiddling with it a little. "And just because you might have a strong quirk, doesn't mean you have a good quirk or a well-controlled quirk yet."
As he said that, Izuku could have sworn his eyes had glanced over her and Bakugou. It was a brief moment that quickly passed however and suddenly his dismissive glare was turned on her. "Izuku Midoriya. You were the only student to take out the Zero Pointer in the exam. What was your highest softball throw in middle school? Or in the past ten months if that works better for you."
Several people looked at each other confused at that line, only Bakugou and Izuku knowing the significance of that time period. The regeneration teen just shrugged. "Last I checked, from where I'm standing could probably throw it about twice the distance you're standing from us now. So like, 50 metres, give or take."
"Right. Come up here now and do it with your quirk. I don't care how, just use it however you think will best augment your score." The scruffy pro demanded and the blonde sighed, walking forward and taking it, before taking her position and stopping to study the ball for a moment. 'Most distance he's looking for? I wonder….'
Using as little destructive energy as she possible could, she lit up an energy ball in her hands, measuring it. The other students looked on in interest, some muttering about her quirk. Bakugou looked irritated yet curious as his own green eyes shimmered in reaction to her quirk and Aizawa studied intently.
Suddenly, she smirked as the ball of energy disappeared and she raised her other hand.
"Got it." She said as she flicked her wrist and a casing of energy, before giving it the best throw she could to throw the ball itself fast. The energy encasing it then ensured it continued to fly for a massive difference.
They could all see the ball of energy hurling through the air even when the device in Aizawa's hands suddenly sparked to life. "Seven hundred and sixty two point four metres!"
"Must have burned up the ball." Izuku hummed aloud. She smirked slightly at her classmates shocked and amazed reactions but she personally wasn't that amazed. She knew the energy balls could go on essentially forever with enough juice as long as they didn't hit anything so it was really just a matter of the balls resiliency which hadn't been that great. She didn't even look at Aizawa as she waited to walk away. "Need anything else?"
"Just get back in line." He grunted and she did so with a lazy smile, taking her place beside Uraraka and Mina who briefly whispered to her about how amazing that was.
"You'll all be competing in a series of tests like this one, designed to test your quirks abilities." Aizawa explained and muttering broke out amongst them all.
"Really? That doesn't seem so bad!"
"Actually it sounds pretty fun!"
"Oh, I can't wait to try this, it-"
"Fun?" Aizawa asked darkly as he shifted, his gaze becoming piercing. "Do you think the victims of a villain attack care about whether or not you're having fun? They need competent heroes in the moment, focused on saving them. Not prancing about just because they thought they could play with their quirks."
Izuku gritted her teeth, holding her tongue. She could tell his rant wasn't finished yet, and she didn't want to attack her prey prematurely.
"You need to take this seriously. This isn't a game and it would be illogical to treat it as such. And if you don't?" Aizawa smirked cruelly. "Well, whoever comes in last place will be expelled. So you better give it your all, Plus Ultra style."
"Wha- That isn't fair!" Mina piped up, cheeks puffed out slightly indignantly. Aizawa's glare turned on her.
"Life isn't fair. If you can't deal with it, you can go home right now-" Finally, Izuku decided it was time to stop restraining her tongue.
"Okay we get it, hurry up and move on you dickbag drifter." She said bluntly, making several people go wide eyed, Aizawa freeze up, Bakugou involuntarily snort and cause Iida to have an aneurysm. "After all, based on your logic, every moment you rant we waste daylight not improving or doing our best. Let's not be hypocritical now Aizawa. Or do you get that much of a hard-on from being a dick to new students that you're willing to be irrational for those moments?"
"You-"
"Don't know, don't care. We're here to learn, and you're here to teach. So let's try to actually do that, shall we? So, like you said sir: stop wasting time." Izuku finished up her rant, casually stuffing her hands in her pockets like she hadn't just verbally assaulted her teacher who was threatening expulsion.
The man pointed to a spot nearby. "Everyone else, get ready for the fifty metre dash. Midoriya, you and I will have a chat about resp-"
"Respect? Unnecessary. No one gets my respect until they earn it, and all you've done from the moment I met you is diminish the chances of that. And if you can't deal with it, well then, now who's worried about trivialities?"
"….Just get to the damn track."
Izuku walked away with a satisfied smirk, her point having been made. She took her place at her friends side, and Mina looked at her confused. "What exactly was that about?"
"I must also ask the same." Iida spoke up, frowning. "That was quite the thing to watch and I can hardly say I approve any more than I approved of his hazing."
More than a few people were not so subtly listening in, curious as well. Izuku just shrugged. "Past teachers sucked, like a lot. Like, I cannot easily explain how much in the short amount of time we have. What I can tell you is they singled me out a lot and it literally ended in a death. I decided from that moment on I'm not gonna let anyone get away with that shit, no matter who they are. Under any circumstances. I have my priorities and I stick to them."
She glared at the goggles around Aizawa's neck she had noticed a few moments prior. 'Not even underground heroes like Eraserhead.'
No one got a chance to properly react to her explanation before Aizawa announced it was time to start the Quirk Assessment test.
Test one: Fifty metre dash
The first test Aizawa had them perform was a simple dash. Two students went up each, and they simply had to use their quirks to clear the short track as quickly as possible, with a robot nearby announcing their times.
So far, the fastest student had been Iida at three point four seconds, followed by Mina who had four point six seven seconds. The final two students to go were the Aldera students themselves.
Izuku and Bakugou shared glances briefly before the latter grunted and looked away, probably not wanting to look at the girl using a similar technique as him. They heard the count down and then…. "Go!"
Both immediately let large blasts rip from their hands. Bakugou rocketed with speed but he could only alternate between blasts as he ran. It made him much faster than a normal person, giving him an ultimate time of four point one three seconds.
Due to the fact he hadn't taken to the air however and the fact he had to alternate, diminishing how much propulsion he ultimately gained, Izuku was able to outpace him. The second she'd heard the clear to begin she'd thrown both her hands behind her and let two massive blasts of energy go off that she didn't let die down even once as she lifted her feet off the ground so friction couldn't stop her and she wouldn't trip. Only once she was over the finish line did she let the two jets of energy fade, smiling as the robot announced her time.
"Two point seven six seconds!"
Aizawa's attitude could do with a change, but the others were definitely right earlier, she could tell these tests WERE gonna be fun!
Test two: Grip Strength
The second test was incredibly simple. Perhaps the simplest of all the tests. All the students had to do was clutch the handle of a machine as tightly as they could to determine how strong their grip was. So simple it was laughable.
And yet, she was nervous. It wasn't overwhelmingly nervous or anything but she couldn't decide if using her quirk was worth it here. She could still remember months ago when she'd gotten angry and accidentally cracked her desk. If she could channel that level of energy, she could get a higher reading.
If she focused too much energy though… she risked completely destroying the machine. As if deciding to answer her quandary for her, she overheard the students nearby. One with odd elbows and another with grape like hair marvelling at a tall teen with six arms wearing a mask.
"Woah dude! Five hundred and forty kilograms!? That's insane!" The shortest of them said, enthralled with his strength. Izuku took that as a sign. If she was going to succeed, she needed to ensure she got as many high scores as possible so she had to go for it!
Her hand lit up and she grinned as she just managed to control the intensity enough that it didn't come spilling out her body. She watched the machine rapidly shoot up from fifty kilograms to a hundred and sixteen.
"Hah!"
…then she lost control and accidentally incinerated the grip strength machine. Aizawa sighed tiredly from nearby.
"We have reading backups. I'll check the last recorded number before it gave out for your score." He explained. She hoped the numbers didn't drop.
She was in for a pleasant surprise when she found out a few minutes later her quirk had accidentally made the numbers increase to a little over three hundred instead by accident.
Test three: Ball Throw
Mina grumbled at Izuku's side, cross armed as her go at the test hadn't bore much fruit, due to her quirk (which had turned out to be the ability to produce acid) not being much use for throwing the ball farther.
She kept grumbling and Izuku briefly caught something that sounded like "Hate balls" that made her grin, turning to the pink skinned girl.
"Well if you hate balls, then guess that just makes me even more eligible." She winked, giggling as Mina did some odd combination of a pout and a smile.
"Shame that I don't think you could handle how much I can produce." She shot back quietly with a wink of her own. Izuku grinned.
"Trust me, I'm more than familiar with large loads~"
"Hmm, guess I was wrong about your pretty looks, cause now I can't see how you look for how dirty you are." Mina teased with a giggle. Izuku nudged her shoulder and tapped one of her horns gently.
"Well I could always ask a super pretty and horny girl to help clean me."
"How shameless…" A tall raven haired girl muttered to herself nearby, rubbing her arm and looking away. She was probably scoring the highest on the tests so far if Izuku's mental notes were right.
The blonde shook her head with a soft smile and turned, seeing Ochaco was up next. She silently cheered her friend, knowing she could get an amazing score.
Ten minutes later, that hunch was confirmed to be correct… but Izuku hadn't expected her to literally get an infinity score. 'HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?!'
Ochaco giggled as she walked back, shutting the regeneration teen's jaw which had dropped. "You'll catch flies if you leave it hanging open like that."
Shaking her head, Izuku quickly recovered and met Ochaco's eye before smirking. "Sorry but you'll have to get used to it. My jaw drops every time I see an amazingly pretty girl so It's gonna be dropping every time we talk."
Ochaco went pure red and started flailing embarrassed. Iida sighed. "Really, Midoriya?"
"Oh don't get jealous, handsome boys can do it as well so you'll see a lot of jaw dropping as well." She winked, watching the tall teen start sputtering, having no idea how to respond. Mina giggled.
"Dang, you need a drink Midoriya? Cause you're thirsty as heck." She giggled, before looking around. "Though let's be honest, your jaw should be dropping every time you see any girl in our class. I mean you saw them right?"
"I mean agreed, but I have some class to wait until I meet them before I go flirting." Izuku chuckled. "Don't forget the guys though, not like they aren't lookers as well."
"Yeah… we're total disasters aren't we?" Mina sighed wistfully. Izuku snorted.
"I'll high five to that."
And they did, while Aizawa face palmed and their friends continued to sputter and flail in embarrassment.
Test four: Side Steps
The sidesteps had been an interesting affair to try to figure out, as not many students could really use their quirk at all for it. In fact, the only people with eligible quirks in their current environment were the small purple haired boy from before who currently held first place, Bakugou who got second place but not an actually amazingly high score with his quirk being more hindrance than help due to the kickback and finally Izuku…
Izuku had to improvise. She had seen the kickback Bakugou had suffered and she knew she would be even more hindered if she tried to use that method, as unlike Bakugou, she hadn't had her body meticulously sculpted for years to combat kickback. She had to use a more elegant and refined approach.
And ironically, that elegant and refined approach made her look a bit silly, as she crossed her arms and pulled the fists up to her shoulders. She summoned as little energy as possible to her feet to hover without blasting off and fortunately, as it wasn't contained within her body it didn't go as badly as the grip strength test, and finally she set her pointer and middle fingers on both hands straight.
As the countdown began, they could all see the tips of each finger beginning to light up as she prepared and then… "GO!"
She let loose, firing highly concentrated yet incredibly powerful blasts out one set of fingers, then the other, then the first set, then the other again over and over, rapidly enough she was even managing to move faster than the shorter teen from before, though not by much.
By the end, she had six more sidesteps than the smaller teen and she had managed a unique and controlled use of her power. She couldn't stop smirking at the feeling of pride inside her.
The rest of the tests didn't have much to say about them. The seated toe touches and the sit ups had nothing for her to use her quirk to help with and the standing long jump had been insanely easy. Just to show off she'd done it 'Bakugou style' by using controlled blasts over continuous ones just to amuse herself.
She was pretty sure she cleared a whole second sandbox length from it.
Finally, the distance run. Iida had proven to be the fastest student on the ground while Izuku had shown with the sky she was the queen, the blonde passing the finish line only a second before Iida. Both had thought about it for a moment and agreed they were likely matched in speed, and that it was simply Izuku's ability to take to the air where there was less friction that gave her an advantage.
She didn't gloat though, just smiling and telling the taller teen to bring it on when he vowed to get faster than her. Before they knew it, after that, the tests were over and the scores were being announced.
"Here's how you all did."
Momo Yaoyorozu
Izuku Midoriya/Shoto Todoroki (tied)
Katsuki Bakugou
Tenya Iida
Fumikage Tokoyami
Mezo Shoji
Mashirao Ojiro
Eijirou Kirishima
Mina Ashido
Ochaco Uraraka
Koji Koda
Rikidou Satou
Tsuyu Asui
Yuuga Aoyama
Hanta Sero
Denki Kaminari
Kyoka Jirou
Tooru Hagakure
Mineta Minoru
"…And I lied. No one is going home." Aizawa announced, letting the hologram fade away. "It was just another layer to try to ensure you gave it your all on the test, which I trust all of you did."
Yeah, that was definitely directed at her. The girl just sighed, somehow she doubted it really was a ruse. Her theory was that something in the test made him decide not to expel whoever came in last place.
She could hope it was her words earlier but a part of her doubted it. Either way, she sighed in relief seeing all the friends she made weren't at risk, and now it was still possible for her to meet all her new classmates!
The prospect used to be something her old self would have dreaded but with her experiences with the class so far, she was buzzing with excitement to get to know them all as soon as possible.
"Alright, everyone, get back to class. We have a few more things to deal with then your other new teachers can deal with you." Aizawa announced, shooing them all back to class. "Start thinking of how to briefly and concisely explain your quirks, cause that's what we'll be doing first when we get back."
'Oh joy.'
Izuku took a deep breath as she stared into everyone's expectant eyes. She was the last one up.
"Okay… my quirk isn't easy to explain briefly, but you should all have a basic idea of what I can do. The truth is all of that is just a side effect though. Look I'll just straight up tell you the one thing you need to know. If for whatever reason you see me about to die? Do. Not. Approach. Get the hell away from me and take cover if you can. My quirk will save me but… it will be violent, destructive and could cause you all serious harm I don't know if I'd be able to revive in time to help fix."
There is a sombre mood in the air after she finishes saying that, heading back to her seat. Aizawa sighs as he takes the stand again.
"Well, now that that's out the way, just have to go over your class schedule then Present Mic will be taking over. Oh, and Midoriya?" She looked up confused at him, wondering what he wanted now. "Meet me back here after school."
'Probably detention. Whoop-de-doo.'
Izuku sighed when she'd finally met Aizawa after class. She thought it would ever be punishment of some kind like detention or even an expulsion. So she wasn't inclined to act very cordially when she walked in, immediately getting to the point.
"You know, if you're planning to expel me, it just comes across as cowardly to do it like this where the others won't see." She hums, only for him to shake his head.
"I'm not expelling you. As much as you are an annoying obnoxious brat so far-"
'Sure, because you gave such a good first impression.'
"-You are still capable, and I've had to work with far worse than a mouthy teen. Your files tell a story of someone who genuinely cares about heroics as well, so no, I'm not expelling you. The reason I told you to meet me is because the principal insisted on a special kind of tutoring for you, due to your… unique circumstance."
"Oh, so this is for the sake of my quirk then?" She asked, curious.
"Yes, mainly to help you develop a better control of it due to the short amount of time you had it. An older third year student volunteered to help you develop a better control on it, we'll be going to meet her in a minute." Aizawa explained as he stood up.
"Oh, then in that case, who is she?"
"Nejire Hado."
