Chapter 3 - Improvised Battle
The American students went to their own rooms and began unpacking the belongings they had with them. Their dorms rooms were like hotel rooms, and were plain looking, considering the fact that they were decorated by whoever was living in there. The only items in the room at the moment were a dresser, a desk, a rolling chair, a coffee table, a nightstand, and a bed. Considering that the American students didn't really have much with them when they came, they were going to wait for the belongings that they sent in advance to come before they began to decorate.
Aside from what they had in their suitcases, which was several changes of clothing, the six had mostly personal items in their backpacks. For Milo, it was a sketching notebook and an artist kit. For Murdock, it was several DVDs of western movies and several western genre novels. For Matthew, it was pictures of him with his family and some books on topics such as exercise and being a hero. For Sunshine, it was some romance novels. For Annabelle, it was a small ukulele guitar that she received for one of her birthdays. For Joshua, it was several CDs from several famous bands, a portable CD player with headphones, and three packs of playing cards.
Speaking of Joshua, considering the fact he was tired from the flight, he didn't bother unpacking. He just dropped his luggage on the floor, took off his stocking cap, hoodie, t-shirt, and sneakers, climbed into bed, pulled the covers over himself, and tried to fall asleep However, a buzzing from his phone in his pocket alerted him back to being awake. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his phone; it was a text message from an unlisted number, and it said:
OUR INFORMANT SAW YOU ARRIVE AT THE AIRPORT. HAVE YOU MADE IT TO U.A?
Joshua knew who was texting him, and he texted back:
I HAVE MADE IT TO U.A. I'M STAYING AT A PLACE CALLED HEIGHTS ALLIANCE, WHICH IS THE DORMITORY FOR THE STUDENTS.
He then waited a few seconds, and a text came back to him:
UNDERSTOOD. CONTINUE ONWARD WITH YOUR MISSION; YOU WILL GIVE YOUR FIRST REPORT TOMORROW NIGHT.
Joshua then texted:
WILL WE BE MEETING IN PERSON FOR ME TO GIVE YOU THE REPORT?
He waited, and then a text came back:
WE WILL DECIDE ALL IN DUE TIME.
Before turning his phone off, Joshua texted back:
UNDERSTOOD.
Joshua put his phone on the nightstand and was about to go to sleep when suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Quickly, Joshua jumped up from bed grabbed his phone from the nightstand, putting it in his left jeans pocket. He then picked up his shirt, and pulled it on before opening the door. Standing at the door was Aizawa, who was carrying two sets of clothing. One set of clothes was the school uniform: a light gray blazer jacket, a white dress shirt, black dress pants, a red tie, and brown dress shoes. The other set was a tracksuit: a dark blue shirt with white stripes, and dark blue pants with white stripes. When put on, they spelt out U.A on the front of them.
"Here is your school uniform and your gym uniform." said Aizawa, handing the clothes to Joshua. "We contacted the people in America who made your costumes and had them send us your measurements. And thanks to that, you have these to wear. Also, our staff will be regularly patrolling the area, so if you have any plans about sneaking out at night, they will be there to stop you."
"I understand." Joshua replied, placing the clothes on the bed.
"On another note, I am going to give you all the 'grand' tour of U.A after you are done settling in. Meet me downstairs, and we'll get moving."
"Yes sir; I will be down shortly."
Aizawa left the room, and Joshua closed the door. He slipped on his sneakers; sleeping was going to have to wait! After he put on his shoes (he didn't bother to put on his stocking cap or hoodie), he went out of his dorm room, and locked the door behind him, putting the key in his right jeans pocket. He then went down a flight of stairs to the first floor, and went to the doors, where Aizawa was waiting for him. After a few seconds, Milo and Matthew came down. Few seconds more, and Murdock, Sunshine, and Annabelle came down.
"Alright, follow me." Aizawa said in his bored tone.
The American students obeyed, and they followed him out of the Heights Alliance building. They began walking down a pathway and then down a road. After five minutes of walking and chatting with each other, the group arrived at U.A! U.A was a large building with four large towers that were connected, so from any angle it would like an 'H'.
The seven entered the building and began the tour, with Aizawa showing them all the different areas of it. He showed them the classroom for Class 1-A, the classroom for Class 1-B, the cafeteria, the nurse's office, the P.E grounds, and the principal's office (where they were greeted by Principal Nezu, which caused Annabelle to jump into Matthew's arms in fright!).
After the tour of U.A, Aizawa directed the six students onto a bus, which drove the seven of them to Ground Beta. Ground Beta was a training area that was set up to look like part of a city, and it was where mock battles were held to test students as heroes. The grounds were surrounded by a large wall, with the only way in being a gigantic gate. The bus parked, and the seven got out.
"This is Ground Beta, one of the training grounds where we test our students on how they use their quirks, and how well they perform as heroes. They learn from the best, and we expect the best from them. We also are not ones for tradition, which means I get to run Class 1-A the way I see fit. Anyway, they're inside conducting an exercise. Go on in, and you'll see how things go at U.A."
As soon as Aizawa said that, the gate doors opened, leading into Ground Beta. The six American students started walking in, with Aizawa following from behind. If the six had turned around to see his expression, they would've noticed that he had a rather sneaky looking smile on his face. After the seven of them were all inside, the gates shut behind them. They closed with a loud slam, which caused all of the American students to jump.
"Sheesh… kind of dramatic with the entrance there, huh Mr. Aizawa?" asked Joshua, looking behind him to speak with Aizawa.
However, Aizawa wasn't there; he somehow disappeared! Joshua, looking around, then asked, "Mr. Aizawa? Mr. Aizawa?!"
"What's going on?" asked Sunshine, as the group turned around to face Joshua.
"Mr. Aizawa vanished! He's like a ninja!" Joshua replied, a shocked tone on his face.
"Where did he go?" Matthew asked, looking around.
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking!"
"Uh… guys…" Murdock spoke, trying to get the group's attention.
"Did you see him disappear?" asked Annabelle.
"No, I didn't!" Joshua replied, his tone somewhat ticked off. "I thought he was walking behind me, I turned around to face him, and he was gone!"
"Uh… guys…" Murdock said again.
"Well, it is Japan after all, so it is a good explanation for why ninjas would be here." said Milo. "I mean, when you-"
"What does that have to do anything?!" Joshua replied angrily.
"GUYS!" Murdock yelled, getting their attention.
"What?!" Sunshine replied, annoyed by his constant calling to them. "What is it, Murdock?!"
"I think we have bigger problems than a vanishing teacher! Look!"
The other five American students looked at what Murdock was pointing at, and were shocked to see several robots coming out of the buildings! They were large, painted a dark green, and came in different variants; some were on one wheel and had the number '1' on them, others looked like scorpions and had the number '2', and others looked like tanks and had the number '3' on them!
"Robots!" Matthew yelled. "Looks like we were led into a trap!"
"Led into a trap?" asked Sunshine. "You really think Mr. Aizawa would do something like that?"
"Probably." Matthew replied, taking a fighting stance.
"Alright, Fearless." Milo said, standing beside Matthew and taking a fighting stance of his own. "What's the game plan?"
"Okay, here's what we'll do. Milo, you're with Annabelle. Joshua, you're with me. Sunshine, you roll with Murdock. Annabelle, send most of the robots into the air, and Milo will stick them together. Sunshine, blind them and have Murdock keep you away from them. Joshua, you act as my defensive; please keep them robots away from me."
"And here I was hoping that I would get some sleep…" Joshua grumbled. "Just watch my back out there, quirkless."
"I will be. Alright, let's show Mr. Aizawa, if he's watching us, why we were picked to attend U.A! Let's hit it!"
With war cries of their own (all except for Joshua), the six charged headlong into battle! They then split into three groups of two, and began attacking the robots with their quirks!
Meanwhile, in the basement of one of the buildings, Class 1-A was watching the Americans fight against the robots. They were all dressed in their hero costumes, and with them was the retired pro hero, All Might, in his small, shrunken form. They heard a noise and all turned to see Aizawa enter into the basement.
"As you can see, the Americans are in and have met the enemy." Aizawa spoke, walking up and standing beside All Might.
"It's a rotten trick, but it's necessary if we're going to see how well this group can handle their quirks." All Might spoke, his tone monotone.
On the screen, three cameras screens showed the three groups of two, and how they were fighting the robots. They watched on one screen as a girl (Annabelle) put her arm out and lifted several robots off the ground, and a boy (Milo) run around them while emitting orange slime from his arms, making them stick to each other.
"Wow! Look at those two go!" Sero said in amazement. "They really know what they're doing!"
"What they're doing is quite impressive!" said Iida. "I'm surprised at how well they're handling the robotic enemies! They've apparently been trained before coming here!"
"Hey Mina, that boy's quirk seems similar to yours." Asui spoke. "Only with him, he's producing slime instead of acid…"
"Hey, you're right!" Ashido said in amazement. "He handles it pretty well, too! That's so cool!"
On another camera screen, they saw a boy with a cowboy hat (Murdock) stretch above the robots with a pure white girl (Sunshine) on his back. The girl was shooting blasts of light from her hands at the robots, causing them to short circuit and explode from how bright the blasts were.
"Huh, so that guy has a quirk that allows him to stretch and expand his body…" Midoriya muttered, focusing on the battle. "But if he can stretch and expand, he must have a limit to how far or large he can get. I wonder if his muscles have a similar viscosity to putty, but that could mean that his muscles could be torn apart if they stretch too far. But does that mean that he can-"
"Midoriya, you're muttering again." said Tokoyami, his voice monotonous.
"I am?" Midoriya asked, an embarrassed look on his face. "Sorry…"
The third camera screen showed a boy with pointed ears, sharp teeth and fingernails, and fierce looking eyes (Joshua) tearing through several robots, while another boy (Matthew) was dodging attacks and trying to keep up with him. Suddenly, a robot appeared behind the animalistic boy and tried to attack him, but the other boy charged into him and pulled both of themselves out of the line of fire.
"Wow! That save was incredible!" Hagakure cheered. "Did you see that, Uraraka?!"
"Yeah, he just dived in and saved his friend!" Uraraka replied. "That was brave!"
"Yes, but he almost got himself killed…" Todoroki spoke calmly and seriously, gaining the two girls attention. "That one apparently doesn't care about getting himself hurt badly, and he's not using his quirk, whatever it may be. It just so happens that he is only relying on physical and mental skills, which seem to be highly sharpened, depending on how well he is handling himself in this current-"
"Who gives a crap what they can do?!" Bakugo snarled. "I'm better than these losers!"
"Geez, calm down, Bakugo!" Hagakure muttered, as she and Uraraka pulled back in shock.
Aizawa sighed and muttered to himself, "And here I was hoping that Bakugo's attitude was going to improve…" He then turned to All Might and asked, "Well All Might, what do you think of the Americans?"
"They're quite impressive." All Might replied. "What's the story on the young man who's not using his quirk?"
"Matthew?" asked Aizawa. "I read his profile and found him to be quirkless."
"Quirkless? Then how was he able to get into U.A?"
"He gained over 168 rescue points in the American U.A Recommendation Exam. From what his friend told me, he saved injured competitors, protected competitors from getting hit, and even broke his arm and leg to save one. In some ways, he's similar to Midoriya, aside from the fact that he doesn't have a quirk."
"Yes…" All Might said thoughtfully. "He seems determined to be a hero…"
"He's determined, all right…" Aizawa replied. "I said he wouldn't last for a week, and he made a bet with me that he could last for a week. If I lose, I'll have to give him a capture scarf like mine."
"And you took the bet?"
"Yes. There's something interesting about this one; if he wins the bet, it will only confirm my theory that there's something more to this kid than meets the eye."
"Anything else that's interesting about these six?"
"Well, most of them seem alright, but there's something strange about Joshua. That's the one who has that animal-like quirk, and the one who's tearing through the robots like a madman. There's something strange about him, though I don't know what. I guess only time will tell…"
"Hmm…" All Might mused, putting his hand to chin. They continued watching in silence, as the Americans continued battling against the robots.
"Watch out!" Matthew yelled.
Milo turned around and jumped out of the way of a robot's attack. He then produced orange slime from his hands and fired it at the robot, causing it to stick to the ground and preventing it from moving. Matthew then raced up to it and dropkicked it in the head, knocking off its head and causing it to sparkle and explode!
"Nice one!" Milo called out.
"Thanks!" Matthew replied, doing a mock salute. He dodged another robot attack, and followed Milo, who jetted himself through the air using slime from his hands.
Meanwhile, Sunshine had Annabelle launch her into the air, where she fired several beams of light at the robots, causing them to explode. With Joshua and Murdock, Murdock stretched his hand out and flung Joshua into several bigger robots, to which Joshua began digging through them, leaving holes in them like some kind of mole man. And with Milo and Matthew, Milo produced a rope of slime from his left hand for Matthew to grab onto, while jetting himself onto the roof of a building with his right hand. As he was jetting, slime fell on the robots and caused them to be stuck.
When they landed on the roof, Milo was panting hard. Matthew noticed this and asked, "How are you doing, Milo?"
"Tired, Matt…" Milo replied, panting hard. "I'm running out of energy from producing this much slime… I need a breather…"
"I know what you mean. Let's hope this battle will end quickly, or we're all going to run out of steam!"
"Except for Joshua, who's quirk will turn him into a feral animal!"
"I think it's starting to do that! Look!" Matthew said in shock.
They both looked and saw Joshua who, despite being overwhelmed by several robots, was still clawing and swinging for the fences like a wild lion!
Suddenly, an alarm started going off, which caused the robots to shut down. Although five of the six Americans stopped, Joshua was still going at it! Luckily, Sunshine quickly flashed a small blast of light at him, and it snapped him out of it.
"Huh?" Joshua asked, somewhat dazed. "Who blew the whistle?"
"Nobody blew it; an alarm went off, and they just stopped." Annabelle replied.
Milo jumped off the roof with Matthew on his back, using his orange slime to land softly. Matthew got off his back, and the two of them ran up to where Joshua, Sunshine, Annabelle, and Murdock were waiting for them.
"Okay… now what do we do?" asked Murdock.
"I think we're about to find out…" Matthew replied, looking up from where the group was talking.
The group looked and saw Aizawa approaching them through the wreckage, accompanied a skeletal looking man with blonde hair and a frown on his face. Who this strange looking man was, they didn't know, but it seemed like they were about to find out.