CHAPTER 3: TRIAL! MOCK BATTLE FIGHT!


*cue My Hero Academia opening 1 – The Day*


The reactions of Class 1-A to Midoriya's softball throw could generally be summed up as shock and awe. As the greenette stared at Aizawa, determination burning in his eyes, one Katsuki Bakugo could only come to tone conclusion: "HE LIED TO ME". Rage and indignation burned inside the blonde as the other students around him gawked at Deku's new Quirk.

"DEKUUUUU YOU BASTARD!" the blonde roared, charging forward with small explosions popping in his palms. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET A QUIRK?! ANSWER ME OR YOU'RE DEAD!" Midoriya stared, a little fear and a lot of determination lighting up his eyes at the angry explosive blonde charging him, when the boy was halted by Aizawa's scarf. "What the hell…why is your scarf so strong?" The teacher's glowing red eyes bored a hole into the blonde's soul. "Because it's a capture weapon made of carbon fiber and a special alloy. Now stand down; using my Quirk so much gives me serious dry-eye." The blonde stopped struggling and the pro retracted his scarf, leaving a less angry and very stunned Bakugo standing halfway between Midoriya and the rest of the class.

"Don't do that again. Now whoever's next should take their shot. Ge it over with" the disheveled man shrugged and turned away, capture weapon retracting to him. While Bakugo silently fumed, the rest of the class pondered what kind of power breaks the user's finger. After that, Midoriya managed to outdo much of the class in the long-distance run and sit-ups, but floundered in seated toe-touches. As Aizawa pulled up the list, the greenette looked in dread.

First place had gone to Momo Yaoyorozu, the recommendation student whose incredibly versatile Quirk had allowed her to obtain exceptional scores on almost every test. The top 10 behind her was rounded out by the bichromatic boy with ice powers, Bakugo, Iida, a raven-headed boy, the multi-armed boy, Kujo, the tailed boy, spiky redhead and Uraraka. Midoriya himself was a little below the middle, having managed 16th out of 22, with only the sparkly boy, the tape guy, the electric kid, the punk girl, the invisible girl and the grape-headed boy (who was quietly sobbing to himself) below him.

"Oh, by the way, I was lying" the hobo nonchalantly said as he dismissed the hologram, almost all the students staring at him like he was from another planet. "That was all just a logical ruse to bring out your best" he continued, with a Cheshire Cat grin on his face. The class continued to stare blankly. "Wait, nobody else figured out he was lying? Sorry, I should have said something" Yaoyorozu admitted bashfully. "Yeah, you should have" the rest of the class thought, eyeing the brunette. "Alright, go get a syllabus and get out of here. We're done for today" Aizawa said, stopping at Midoriya to give him a referral to Recovery Girl for his finger.

"Hold on, Aizawa-sensei, your own Quirk isn't very useful for these tests. How would you have passed your own test?" asked Hojo. The underground hero looked back and then grinned with the mother of all troll faces. "I'd have erased all the other students' Quirks and made them compete Quirkless" he said, before continuing on his way to the nearest utility closet to catch some shut-eye.

"Well, that happened" was the class's collective thought.

As Midoriya exited UA later that day, exhaustion slowly gripping his body thanks to Recovery Girl's Quirk, Iida caught up to him to make sure he was okay. Emu and Kiriya arrived a few moments later, followed closely by Uraraka, the round-faced girl stopping as soon as she reached them. "I'm Ochako Uraraka, and let's see…you're Tenya Iida, Kiriya Kujo, Emu Hojo and…Deku Midoriya, right?" she said, much to the greenette's shock. "D-Deku?!"

"That's what Bakugo called you during the fitness test, right?" "Actually, it's, uhhhh, Izuku; Deku is what Bakugo calls me to insult me…" the boy trailed off awkwardly. "Huh, looks like Explosion-Brain is more of a jerk that I initially thought" said Kujo. "Really not a fan of people like that…" Hojo trailed off, while trying to beat the high score on his handheld gaming device.

"Now that I think about it…Deku sounds like Dekiru! It's kinda cute" the brunette said. "Deku it is!" Izuku said…blushing madly? "Whaaaaaa-?" Iida, Kujo and Hojo wondered. "Looks like SOMEBODY has a crush~" the voice in Midoriya's head teased. The group slowly made their way to the station, talking about their lives and getting to know each other better – they'd need to if they were going to spend the next three years as classmates, after all.

"…And this dork starts asking me what my favorite game is, and rattling off his high scores, and five-year old me is still wondering the entire time if this is really the prodigy player, the Genius Gamer M, that I'm meeting-!" Kujo said, when suddenly he and Hojo froze, their phones buzzing a special code. "Aaaaaaand we gotta go! Later!" the speedy boy said, before grabbing his friend, throwing him over his shoulder and dashing off back towards UA.

"What was that all about?" asked Iida. "Hold on, Hojo is M? The Genius Gamer M? I'm a longtime fan of his! I subscribed to his HeroTube channel when I was seven, and I've seen all his reviews of the Hero Fighter Pro series!" Midoriya said excitedly. "Genius Gamer M? That sounds familiar…" said Uraraka. "What's Genius Gamer M doing at UA as a heroics student though?" the boy wondered, walking towards the station with his new friends. "Beats me, but it sounds like there's more here than we're being told…" the voice noted.

Just then, Midoriya spotted Bakugo far ahead of his group, scowling as he walked. "Hang on guys, I'll be right back" he said, excusing himself as he ran towards the blonde. "Kacchan! Wait up!" he yelled, as the blonde turned, still scowling. "Deku…" he growled. The greenette in question caught up to his longtime acquaintance. "Well? What do you want, you damn liar!" Bakugo roared. "I wasn't lying…" Midoriya began, before starting to recite the cover story Recovery Girl and All Might had crafted for him. "My Quirk didn't manifest until the day of the entrance exam; during the exam itself, in fact; it turns out that I always had it…it didn't manifest because, until recently, I wasn't fit enough to even hope to handle the sheer backlash of it." The blonde raised an eyebrow. "And even now, it's still not enough; I'm finally able to draw its' power out after all these years, but I still break myself every time I use it. Do you see what I mean?" he asked, holding up his bandaged finger.

Bakugo turned away. "Tch. Fine, you finally manifested your Quirk…but don't think that means you're better than me! Damn nerd!" he grumbled, walking home. "See you tomorrow, Kacchan!" "Whatever, Deku" the boy responded, but under his gruff exterior, he was smiling a little inside at the knowledge that his first friend might not be entirely useless. The sun set on Musutafu, and as new friendships were formed among Class 1-A, another had begun to slowly mend.


The next day, the students of Class 1-A found out something they had hoped wasn't true: outside of their heroics classes, UA's curriculum was…actually pretty normal. Their first class of the day was English with Present Mic, which was incredibly boring. Then Mathematics with Ectoplasm, which was rather difficult. Then History of Heroics with Midnight. Finally, after lunch, it was time for Foundational Heroics…the one class whose teacher was still a mystery.

"I AM HERE…COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" came the world's most recognizable voice, as All Might burst through the door of Class 1-A, wearing one of his older Silver Age costumes, setting the entire class into fanboying and fangirling. "TODAY'S LESSION WILL BE ONE OF THE MOST BASIC HEROICS EXPERIENCES: BATTLE TRAINING!" the iconic hero said, setting off more excitement in the crowd. "AND THERE'S NOTHING MORE HEROIC THAN LOOKING GOOD! YOUR HERO COSTUMES ARE OVER IN THOSE CUBICLES ON THE WALL; DESIGNED BY THE SUPPORT COURSE BASED ON YOUR REGISTRATION FORMS AND THE DESIGNS YOU SENT IN!" he continued, pointing at 22 numbered cubicles on the left-side of the class.

20 minutes later, at Training Ground Beta, the heroes in training walked out to meet the Number One hero, dressed in their new costumes. All Might couldn't help but let a chill run down his back as he looked at the heroes of tomorrow. "THEY SAY CLOTHES MAKE THE HERO, AND FROM NOW ON YOU ARE CLEARLY HEROES IN TRAINING! NOW, LET'S GET STARTED, YOU BUNCH OF NEWBIES!"


Midoriya looked around at his classmates in their sophisticated costumes, all awesome in so many ways. His own costume was a teal-green tracksuit with reinforced shoulder, knee and elbow pieces, and thick red boots. His hood was folded down, but it appeared to resemble bunny ears, and his respirator looked as if it had a smile on its' face. All Might saw this and immediately had to hold back a laugh; it was pretty clear who he was imitating. "YOU'RE SO OBVIOUS!"

"Deku, your costume looks amazing!" Uraraka said, walking over to the boy…who immediately started madly blushing about the girl's skintight bodysuit in pink, black and white, an astronaut helmet with a pink-tinted acrylic visor completing the outfit. "I should have been a bit more specific…" she trailed off. "Oooooooh, she really is cute~" the voice teased. "S-Shut up!" the boy responded, now blushing even harder. "The hero course is awesome" the small grape-haired boy said, giving a thumbs-up while wearing…was that a diaper? Several other students gave him a dirty look for that comment.

Iida was wearing a full-body suit of armor that looked vaguely Gundam-esque. Yaoyorozu was wearing a red bodysuit that left…very little…to the imagination. Bakugo's costume was black, green and orange with two huge grenade-themed gauntlets. Kujo wore a principally yellow jumpsuit with black highlights, thick knee and elbow pads, gauntlets and leg braces with wheels on them and a yellow helmet with a blue-tinted acrylic face shield and a copy of his crimson biker jacket worn over the jumpsuit.

Bakugo glared at Midoriya. "…Auntie Inko made that for you, didn't she" he said, rolling his eyes a little. "Y-Yeah…" Midoriya responded, looking at his homebrew outfit. "Better hope it doesn't get wrecked today" the blonde muttered.

Hojo's costume was a bit more armored than Kujo's, principally pink in color with white highlights and green linings. He wore a headband with two pink winglike structures adorning the sides and very thick, specialized boots in green and pink. The rest of the class was decked out in equally incredible costumes, and the whole ensemble looked professional and ready to do good in the world.

"Excuse me, All Might, sir" Iida said, raising his hand. "This is one of the training grounds from the entrance exam; will we be fighting fake villains in urban battle training again?" "NOT QUITE, YOUNG MAN" All Might said. "ALTHOUGH MOST VILLAIN FIGHTS SEEN ON THE NEWS ARE OUTDOORS, ALMOST 80% OF VILLAIN ENCOUNTERS TAKE PLACE INDOORS. BACKROOM DEALS, HOME INVASIONS, UNDERGROUND LAIRS, ET CETERA. THE WORST VILLAINS KNOW TO STAY IN THE SHADOWS."

The giant paused a moment, then continued. "FOR THIS EXERCISE, YOU SHALL ALL BE SPLIT INTO TEAMS OF TWO, ALTHOUGH ONE TEAM WILL HAVE TO GO TWICE. ONE TEAM WILL BE VILLAINS PROTECTING A FAKE BOMB IN A BUILDING, AND THE OTHER WILL BE HEROES SEARCHING FOR THE BOMB. ANY QUESTIONS?"

"Sir, will you be deciding who wins?" asked Yaoyorozu. "UHHHHHHH…" "How much can we hurt the other team?" asked Bakugo. "WELL-!" "Will we have to worry about getting expelled like yesterday?" asked Uraraka. "WELL, NO-!" "Are we being paired up by chance or skill level?" asked Iida. "HOLD ON-!" "Isn't this cape magnifique?" asked Aoyama, sparkling. "OKAY OKAY, HOLD YOUR HORSES, KIDDOS. I'M SUPER-STRONG, NOT SUPER GOOD AT HEARING RAPID-FIRE QUESTIONS!" All Might said, waving his hands wildly. "TO WIN, THE HEROES MUST RECOVER THE WEAPON OR CAPTURE THE VILLAINS WITHIN 15 MINUTES. IF TIME RUNS OUT OR THE VILLAINS CAPTURE THE HEROES, THEY WIN."

"Sounds like a classic action movie…" muttered Ojiro. "Isn't there a better way than drawing lots?" asked Iida. "Think about it. Many pros have to team up with each other by chance to suit the needs of the situation at hand. That might be why it's like this" Midoriya said, holding one finger up. "Truly impressive reasoning, Midoriya. Life is a series of random events. Please forgive my rudeness!" Iida said, bowing while the others cringed slightly. "Is he always like this?" the voice asked. "Yeah…he is" Midoriya responded. The back of his brain tickled with what felt vaguely like a mental eye-roll.

"ANYWAY, LET'S DRAW LOTS!" said All Might, holding out the box. Team A was Uraraka and Midoriya. Team B was Asui and Hojo. Team C was Ashido and Bakugo. Team D was Yaoyorozu and Iida. Team E was Shoji and Mineta. Team F was Kujo and Kaminari. Team H was Jiro and Hagakure. Team I was Todoroki and Tokoyami. Team J was Aoyama and Kirishima. Team K was Ojiro and Sato. And finally, Team L was Sero and Koda. Then All Might drew from the hero and villain boxes. "TEAM A AS THE HEROES VS TEAM D AS THE VILLAINS!" he said, looking at Uraraka, Midoriya, Yaoyorozu and Iida. "THE REST OF YOU CAN WATCH FROM THE BATTLE CENTER!"

A few minutes later, the two teams and All Might arrived at the building the fake bomb was in. "YOUND IIDA, YOUNG YAOYOROZU…THE KEY TO BEING SUCCESSFUL VILLAINS IS TO EMBODY VILLAINY!" the pro stated, while the two took his advice to heart. "YOU HAVE FIVE MUNITES TO SET UP BEFORE THE HEROES WILL MOVE IN. GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!"

"So…this is the bomb we must protect" Iida said, while knocking on the fake weapon. "Though it pains me to side with evil in any way, this is a training exercise…so I will do my best to embody villainy!" Yaoyorozu looked amused. "Method acting? I like it. Perhaps that is exactly the motivation we need to think like villains and win this exercise…" the brunette trailed off. "Your Quirk is better suited to patrolling the building and stopping the hero team, while I can create almost anything needed to defend the bomb" the girl continued. "I have a few other ideas while we're here though…"


Meanwhile, outside the building, Uraraka and Midoriya looked over their map of the building's interior. "Man, this is really hard to memorize..." Uraraka said, while Midoriya intently studied the map. "Based on the map of this building, they could only put it on the fifth or third floors; all the other rooms are too small for a bomb to be in" Midoriya noted. "So, how do you think they'll come at us?" asked Uraraka. "Yaoyorozu's Quirk allows her to create almost anything she can think of, so she'll probably stay behind to defend the bomb. Meanwhile, Iida can track us down pretty easily with his Engine Quirk, which means he'll be the main opponent we'll face in the hallways. Of course, the opposite could be true mumble mumble mumble…" Midoriya trailed off, getting a small giggle from Uraraka.

The alarm klaxons sounded around the training ground, signaling that the five minutes were up and it was time to begin. Uraraka and Midoriya rushed in through the door and made it through the first floor without issue, but halfway down the first hallway on the second floor, Midoriya suddenly tensed up. "Something's wrong. This has been way too easy" he said…right as Uraraka stepped on something. And then there was a bright burst of heat and light as the flashbang landmine (seriously, were those even a thing?) detonated, sending the round-faced girl flying and briefly blinding and deafening her partner.

Midoriya had just finished blinking the spots out of his eyes when a loud noise came from the corridor to his right, followed by the armored Iida dashing out and landing a powerful kick that Midoriya barely blocked, sending him flying into a nearby wall hard enough to damage the concrete. "AHAHAHAHA! Foolish heroes! You fell right into the trap of I, the evil Engine Master, and my partner Creati! Give up while you still can!" the armored boy gloated, earning a loud laugh from Uraraka and bewilderment from Midoriya. "He's really getting into his villain role" the greenette thought, before getting back to his feet.

"Well, that was…different" said Kujo back in the battle center. "No kidding, Iida's really embracing his villainous side" Sero said, chuckling. "What a showoff, kero" Asui deadpanned. All Might merely laughed.

"Uraraka, you head for the bomb! Watch for the traps along the way! I'll deal with Iida!" Midoriya instructed. "Got it, Deku!" Uraraka said, before dashing down the hallway. "You think I'd let you escape like that knowing your plans? HAHAHAHA, YOU FOOL! I'll stop you before you-!" Iida began, starting to chase Uraraka before his green-haired opponent grabbed his shoulder, vaulted over him while he was distracted…and wrapped both arms around the other teen's midsection, before bodily lifting him up and slamming him backwards in a devastating back suplex, Iida being very fortunate that his armor took the brunt of the attack. "I'M YOUR OPPONENT!" the greenette roared, jumping back to his feet while Iida lay in shock on the ground.

Back in the battle center, the other students were picking their jaws up off the ground in astonishment at this feat of strength. "No way…Iida must weigh almost 150 kilos with that armor on and Midoriya lifted him like it was nothing!" Sato gawked. "Hold on man, remember when we were changing into our hero costumes? He was fucking ripped! So manly!" gushed Kirishima. Bakugo stood in stunned silence. "Damn nerd is matching Glasses and hasn't even used that damn new Quirk of his. What kind of training was he doing after school?" All Might was bursting with pride. "Yes, that's it Young Midoriya! Show me the kind of hero your hellish training has molded you into!"

"You are much tougher than I give you credit for, hero! Can I at least get your name so that I have some way to remember you after I win?" Iida said, smirking under his helmet. "Yeah…the name is Deku! Deku the Hero!" Midoriya said, clenching his fist. His mask had been burned off by Iida's engines in the initial attack, but if it was still there, the fire in his eyes would have burned it away.


NEXT TIME ON GAME START! HERO ACADEMIA:

The Battle Trial continues! Will Iida and Yaoyorozu prevail in their villainy, or will Midoriya and Uraraka make sure justice is served? Also, Bakugo meets his match, and Midoriya stumbles across Hojo and Kujo's secret! Stay tuned, young heroes!


NOTES:

Sorry for the wait! I had some stuff happening the last few weeks, but everything's good now, even with the busyness of Thanksgiving approaching. Some things I wanted to talk about…

Midoriya did much better in the Quirk Assessment here because, being realistic, his ten months of intensive training under friggin' All Might would probably have put him in better physical condition than half the class. There's almost no way he'd have realistically performed worse than Mineta, Hagakure AND Jiro, and he's in better shape than Ashido, who placed ninth with a Quirk that wouldn't have done much for her in most tests. Unless Aizawa rigged the whole thing, it doesn't seem likely he'd do that poorly.

As far as I'm concerned, Bakugo and Iida vs Midoriya and Uraraka has been done to death so SO many times, so I figured I'd change it and make things a little more interesting.

REWRITE NOTES

I've added some seemingly throwaway dialogue here that sets up quite a bit of future plot. Hope you enjoy the fruits of these edits!

Thanks for reading!