Chapter 2: Sink or Swim
And here we are with the second chapter! I dunno when the next one'll be out...
I'm just doing this for fun so no deadlines, yay!
With that out of the way, nothing stopping us, so let's just jump into the next chapter.
Have fun!
Feel free to review, but don't just rip into me. I'm doing this for fun, not excessive criticism.
Hiryu stepped out of her parents limousine, stretching her wings out. It still didn't quite feel real to her as she approached the massive U.A. building, joining the crowd of students making their way inside for the first day.
She wore the standard U.A. uniform as neatly as possible, with a pale blue bow in her hair as an accessory. As usual, she turned a few heads, but much less than during the entrance exam. Her beauty and Quirk combined made her stand out, but there were plenty of other noteworthy students here to draw the eyes off of her.
Slowly, as she made her way through the halls, she noticed the students thinning out, until she stood alone in the hallway outside her class. The massive door was marked "1-A", one of the only two Hero Course classes.
She took a deep breath and opened the door, finding she was the one of the last to arrive.
"Hey, you're that dragon girl!" A boy with spiky red hair leapt out of his seat when he saw her, his grin revealing a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, "Nice bow!" He gave her a thumbs up.
"Uh, my uh, my name-" Hiryu tried to answer him, but was cut off by another kid, a boy with wild yellow hair.
"Yeah, a total hottie too!" The boy said, causing Hiryu's face to flush.
"Wh-wh-what?!" She stuttered out.
"'Scuse me." Someone tapped on her shoulder.
Turning around, Hiryu found Moxie standing in the doorway, unable to get through as her wings were blocking the walkway.
"S-Sorry!" Hiryu rushed to move out of his way.
"It's cool!" Moxie bounced into the classroom. He was wearing the standard U.A. uniform, but he had donned his green hoodie over top of it, floppy bunny ears and all. The ears bounced all over as he hopped in place, repeating "Bounce, bounce…" to himself quietly.
"Hey, bunny boy! It's you!" Ashido laughed, running up to Moxie.
"Moxie Usagi." Moxie grinned, "What's your name?"
"Mina Ashido! And I just gotta say, the way you bounced all over the place was super cool!" She pumped her fists excitedly.
"Introductions out of the way? Good." Someone said.
A disheveled looking man laid on the ground in a yellow sleeping bag. He slowly stood up and entered the classroom as everyone scrambled to find their seats. Hiryu's seat was behind the curly-haired boy from the entrance exam, his name turned out to be Midoriya, and in front of a girl Hiryu recognized from a couple of business meetings her parents had dragged her too, Yaoyorozu. Though she hadn't gotten his name, an odd-looking boy with a bird head sat to her right.
Moxie sat in the very back of the class, right next to a girl he learned was named Uraraka, and behind a boy who swiftly introduced himself as Iida. The back row had been shifted to fit five desks instead of four, to accommodate their twenty-first student.
"That took too long. Be faster." He told them, a tired look on his face, "Wasting time like that isn't rational."
"Who is he? I don't recognize him…" Hiryu thought to herself.
"He looks tired, maybe he needs some coffee." Moxie pondered, sipping an energy drink.
"I'm your teacher, Shoto Aizawa. A pleasure to meet you all." The man said sarcastically, "It's kind of sudden, but put this on and go down to the field." He said, pulling a gym uniform out of his sleeping bag.
"A Quirk assessment test!?"
"What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?" Uraraka asked.
"If you're going to become a hero, you don't have time for such leisurely events." Aizawa retorted, "U.A.'s selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are. That's also how teachers run their classes."
"I see… then, if it's not against the rules, I suppose we have no right to complain…" Hiryu thought.
"What a weird way of doing things. Here I thought we'd be spending the day just doing ice breaker stuff." Moxie spoke his thoughts aloud, "This is way more fun, though."
"This isn't meant to be fun." Aizawa deadpanned.
"But it's not meant to be unfun." Moxie pointed at the Pro Hero, receiving a sigh in response.
"You kids have been doing these since junior high, too, right?" Then wondered the Pro Hero, "Physical fitness tests where you aren't allowed to use your Quirks. The country still uses averages taken from results of students not using their Quirks. It's not rational. Well, the Ministry of Education is procrastinating. Bakugo, you finished at the top of the practical exam, right?"
The blonde nodded.
"In Junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?" Inquired the teacher.
"67 meters." Bakugo answered,
"Then, try doing it with your Quirk." Aizawa said.
Bakugo took the ball and stood in the spot indicated by the teacher.
"You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the circle." informed Aizawa, "Hurry up. Give it all you've got."
"Well, in that case…"
Bakugo stretched a little. Then his face suddenly turned into a violent snarl as he threw the ball, adding an explosion to propel it even further.
"Die!" He shouted.
"Whoo!" Moxie whooped in excitement as the ball hurtled through the air.
"Know your own limits first." Said the Pro Hero, recording Bakugo's new record, "That is the most rational way to form the foundation of a Hero."
He then showed them the results.
"750 meters? Seriously?" Kaminari gulped.
"Impressive…" Hiryu said quietly.
"We can use our Quirks as much as we want!" Sero grinned.
"As expected of the Hero Course!" Iida said approvingly.
"This looks like fun!" Exclaimed Ashido, clapping her hands together.
"That's what I'm saying!" Moxie laughed.
"All right then, sink or swim, whoever comes in last place in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential and will be punished with expulsion." Aizawa announced.
"Wait, can he do that?" Moxie asked, "He can't do that, right?"
"We're free to do what we want about the circumstances of our students," The man interjected, his eyes wide open in sick glee, "Welcome to U.A.'s Hero Course!"
As the other student's began to panic, Uraraka spoke up.
"Last place will be expelled?" She repeated, "But it's the first day of school! No, even if it wasn't, this is too unfair!"
"And what part of being a Hero is fair?" Aizawa asked, "The unforeseeable accidents? The selfish Villains? Being a Hero isn't fair, and you need to get used to it."
- Test 1: 50-Meter Dash-
Moxie stood next to Iida at the starting line, each of them waiting for the signal. Iida took a traditional running stance, and Moxie casually bounced up and down on the spot.
At the sound of the gunshot, Iida took off at full speed, rocketing across the track. Moxie followed quickly behind, long-jumping across the fifty meters. Iida crossed the finish line barely before Moxie did.
"2.53 seconds."
"Your turn!" Moxie told Hiryu happily.
Hiryu nervously approached the finish line alongside a girl named Asui, though she insisted on be called Tsu.
At the word start, they both took off, Hiryu using her wings to give herself a little boost at the beginning. Tsu outstripped Hiryu, though, and crossed the finish line well before she did.
"6.13 seconds."
"Better luck next time." Tsu told Hiryu.
"S-Sorry I was so slow…"
"Why are you apologizing?" Tsu asked.
- Test 2: Grip Strength-
Neither Hiryu nor Moxie's Quirk effected their grip strength, both placing pretty low. Hiryu placed at about 32 kilograms, and Moxie placed at 45 kilograms.
Shoji blew away the competition though, getting 540 kilograms.
"You must be super strong!" Moxie laughed when he saw the number.
- Test 3: Standing Long Jump-
Moxie, of course, took home the gold easily, rocketing so far beyond the sand box he could barely be heard celebrating, landing somewhere out of view in the trees.
Hiryu similarly landed beyond the sandbox, launching herself into the air with a powerful flap of her wings that knocked a few students over, but didn't go nearly as far as Moxie did.
-Test 4: Sustained Side-To-Side Jumps-
Hiryu's Quirk didn't really help her with the side-to-side jumps, in fact it hindered her when she tripped over her own tail and fell over. Moxie killed it, though, moving so fast it tore up the ground.
- Test 8: Ball Throw-
Hiryu just threw the ball as best she could, sending it about 60 meters. Moxie, on the other hand, tossed the ball in the air and kicked it as hard as he could, sending it flying a distance that rivaled Bakugo, 745 meters.
The day continued without much of note, although there was a good deal of excitement when Midoriya broke his finger to send the ball flying a whopping 832 meters, blowing both Moxie and Bakugo out of the water.
After that and a few more tests, it was time for the results.
"Okay, I'll quickly tell you the results," Announced the teacher, "The total is simply the marks you got from each test. It's a waste of time to verbally explain, so I'll show you the results all at once."
At that, a screen appeared before them as a projection, the results and ranks displayed for all to see. Hiryu was disheartened when she saw she placed 8th, but Moxie was happy with his place in 4th.
"Hey, 8th place isn't that bad. Least you're not Midoriya." Moxie told her, jerking his thumb towards Midoriya, who was dismayed to find he had placed last.
"Hey, Midoriya, man…" Kirishima tried to think of something to say.
"Maybe…?" Ashido grasped desperately for some way she could comfort him.
"By the way, I was lying about the expulsion." Aizawa told them apathetically.
The class were all shocked by that, failing to understand how they could have believed it in the first place.
"Of course, it should have been obvious if you just thought about it." Yaoyorozu shrugged, earning glares from several students, "Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I should have said something, huh?"
"That's enough, let's get back to class," Aizawa said, "And Midoriya, go see the old lady about your injuries."
I always dislike starting stories, you gotta get through all the introductory stuff before you can really get to the meat of it. But, it's necessary, so I'll slog through it.
I think you've gotten a decent idea of where their strengths lay, next chapter we'll get more into how their Quirks work and how they use them.
Enigma, signing off.