Ultimately, the first day of the Shoto Agency's training academy would take place at the Jesse Owens Track and Field at California State University, Los Angeles. For today's events, Todoroki's women wore a training uniform consisting of a white T-shirt, black spandex shorts and running shoes. Todoroki wore a white T-shirt, black basketball shorts and running shoes, in addition to a whistle and a stopwatch around his neck.
"All of you showed up on time," said Todoroki. "I'm impressed so far. For our first training session, I want all of you to start off with some calisthenics. First, give me 30 jumping jacks."
The candidates did so, with Todoroki joining in as well.
"Good. Now, give me twenty-five sit-ups."
Once again, Todoroki and his women engaged in these exercises.
"Good. Now I want to see all of you do twenty push-ups."
While the candidates had varying degrees of difficulty in doing push-ups, they all managed to get them done.
"You're doing great so far. Now, we're going to do some stretching exercises."
Todoroki led his women in some stretches.
"Feeling warmed up now?"
The candidates gave varying affirmative responses.
"Good. Please take a number from this bowl."
Todoroki handed a red plastic bowl to Tsu, who took a number card from it and handed it to Uraraka, who did likewise. Once the bowl was empty, Shiozaki set it on the ground.
"All right, numbers one through six, please step forward," said Todoroki.
Deko, Utsushimi, Jiro, Shiozaki, Kendo and Hagakure stepped forward.
"You six will be the first in the two-mile run," said Todoroki. "Please take your positions at the starting line."
The women who were chosen headed for the starting line, lined up and got into running positions.
"Ready…set…"
Todoroki blew the whistle, and they were off. Almost instantly, a standout emerged from these six women: Deko, who was taking off like a well-known blue hedgehog. Shiozaki was second, however, and the rest of the women did well in spite of not being super speedsters. Once everyone had run two miles, Todoroki hit a button on his stopwatch.
"Not bad," said Todoroki. "There is some room for improvement, but I like what I'm seeing so far. Midoriya…"
"Please, call me Deko!"
"Right. I have to ask: where did you learn to run like that?"
Deko smiled nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "Uh…that's part of my Quirk?"
"While I do admire Midoriya's skills, I simply must protest the use of her Quirk to aid in her running!" said Shiozaki.
"Shiozaki, your concern is a valid one," said Todoroki. "However, there is nothing prohibiting a candidate from using her Quirk to enhance her running speed. Nevertheless, I'm curious to see how fast you can run without using your Quirk, Deko."
Deko nodded. "Right!"
The next seven women to run were Tokage, Yaoyorozu, Tsu, Hatsume, Ashido, Kodai and Uraraka, with Tokage, Tsu, Ashido and Uraraka proving themselves to be quite the speedsters even without the aid of their Quirks.
"OK, that'll be enough running for today," said Todoroki. "Next, I want you to show me how good you are with hand-to-hand combat." Todoroki picked up a large foam shield as used for martial arts practice. "Put your numbers back into the bowl and draw again."
The women did so.
"OK, whoever has number one, please step forward," said Todoroki.
Jiro stepped forward, holding up the card with number 1 on it.
"All right, Jiro, show me what you've got."
Jiro got into a fighting stance, and then she started off with two quick jabs with her left hand, followed by a right hook, and then a side kick. During this time, Todoroki held his ground quite well, taking a few more blows from Jiro.
"Not bad, but there's certainly room for improvement," said Todoroki. "Who's next?"
Tokage stepped up next, and while she was more varied in her technique than Jiro, her power was pretty much the same.
After the candidates had all gone through with showing off their CQB skills, Todoroki had another test for them.
"For your next test, I'm going to show you how to throw down someone who is bigger than you," said Todoroki. "Once again, draw numbers."
The candidates all drew numbers.
"Number 1, please step forward."
This time, it was Utsushimi who got number 1.
"Right, now pay attention: First, grab me by my collar with your left hand."
Utsushimi followed Todoroki's directions as well as she could.
"Next, hook your right hand under my right arm and grab it."
Utsushimi continued to follow Todoroki's directions.
"Now, pull down on my arm and bring my weight down on my right leg."
Utsushimi did so.
"Finally, hook your right leg behind my right leg and bring me down."
Utsushimi completed the throw successfully, after which her and Todoroki got back up.
"All right, now I want to see you try it again," said Todoroki.
Following Todoroki's directions as best as she could, Utsushimi attempted the throw again and succeeded.
"Very good," said Todoroki. "Who's next?"
Holding up the number 2 card, Jiro went next. Everyone seemed to do well with the throw. Soon, Todoroki looked at his Timex.
"All right, it's lunchtime," said Todoroki. "You may have lunch wherever you wish, but be back here in half an hour, understood?"
The candidates of the Shoto Academy were dismissed at 4:00 PM that day. The first week not only consisted of various warm-up exercises, but a progressively longer run around the track and more CQB training. By the time the first week was over, not a single woman had washed out of the training program.
"All right, since you've made it through your first week of this academy, we'll be doing some sparring practice," said Todoroki. "Once again, draw a number."
The candidates did so.
"Now, put on your sparring gear."
The sparring gear consisted of gloves, helmets, mouth guards and special cushioned shoes.
"Since there is an odd number of candidates here, I want whoever drew number 1 to step forward."
Deko stepped forward.
"Deko, you'll be sparring with me."
Deko nodded and gulped.
"Everyone else, partner up with whoever has the next number in the sequence."
Thus, it ended up that Uraraka had Shiozaki as a sparring partner, Jiro had Kodai as hers, and so on and so forth.
"Everyone, bow to your partner," said Todoroki.
Everyone did so.
"Ready…"
Everyone got into fighting stances.
"GO!"
The sparring was on. Todoroki threw a left jab at Deko, and she backed away from him a bit while keeping her guard up. Seeing that she wasn't attempting to land any attacks on him, he got more aggressive against her, soon landing a blow on her midsection. She recoiled a bit, but otherwise kept going.
"What's wrong, Deko?"
"I-I can't hit you!"
"Why not? Real villains don't hold back! Come on, show me what you've got, woman!"
The last word really lit a fire under Deko, for not only was she now actively trying to parry Todoroki's blows, but she was closing in on him as aggressively as she threw a few of her own his way. Todoroki did his best to block her, but he wasn't always successful. By this time, the other women had taken notice of what was going down between them and turned their attention to this little brawl. Deko was really going into him by now, and with one last punch, she knocked him to the ground.
"OK, that'll be all for now," said Todoroki.
Sparring continued throughout the week, and they even trained with melee weapons such as expandable batons and combat knives, up until the final day, when Todoroki had another thing coming their way…
"You've all done very well so far. Today, we're going to do something a little different: a fighting tournament. The object of this tournament is to knock your opponent outside of the field. This time, you'll be allowed full use of your Quirks. Once again, we'll be drawing numbers to determine who will face off against who.
Everyone drew numbers.
"Once again, whoever has number 1, please step forward."
Yet again, Deko had number 1.
"Deko, you'll be facing me. I hope you're ready to give it all you've got."
This time, everyone drew straws to determine what order the matches would go in. As a result, Todoroki and Deko's match was first. The rest of the women stood off on the sidelines to watch. They bowed to each other, and the match was on. Todoroki started off by shooting an ice attack at Deko.
"DELAWARE SMASH!"
Flicking her finger, Deko destroyed Todoroki's ice with a blast of wind pressure. She attempted to use a second Delaware Smash to knock Todoroki out of the ring, but he saved himself using his ice.
"Come on, Deko! Is that all you've got!?"
Clearly, it wasn't all that Deko had, for she ran at Todoroki, and…
"ST. LOUIS SMASH!"
Deko attempted to deliver a seismic roundhouse kick against Todoroki, but he shot another blast of ice at her, thereby throwing her off-balance and allowing him to dodge her. Recognizing that repeatedly using his ice would cause him to freeze up, he shot a massive burst of flame at her, but she evaded this using another Delaware Smash. Thus, Todoroki and Deko remained locked in a heated dance of battle, each having their own motivations for wanting to win. For Todoroki, it wasn't so much about winning so much as he wanted Deko to learn about what she could do better next time. As for Deko, she had that drive to prove herself to Todoroki, to show him that she was worthy of holding a spot in his organization. For a while, it appeared as though the battle might end in a stalemate. Then, at one point…
"FLASHFREEZE HEATWAVE!"
Todoroki rapidly cooled the air around him and attempted to rapidly heat and expand the air around him to release a super-hot blast. When the smoke cleared, it seemed as though he'd beaten Deko, until…
"TEXAS SMASH!"
Using a punch, Deko struck Todoroki in the back with a huge blast of wind pressure, which proved to be more than enough to knock him out of the ring. The other women got up from their seats and cheered for Deko, who looked over at them and smiled. Then, with a more serious look on her face, she hurried towards Todoroki.
"Todoroki, are you OK?"
Todoroki got up. "I feel somewhat bruised, but I'll live. I'm impressed by your skills, Deko."
Deko smiled. "Thanks! You weren't too bad, either!"
"That aside, it's Yaoyorozu and Hatsume's turn next, so we should vacate the field."
Yaoyorozu's and Hatsume's battle turned out to be a most interesting one because of Yaoyorozu's Quirk that allowed her to create objects from her body and Hatsume's reliance on support items. In the end, Yaoyorozu was victorious in this battle. Thus, the battle tournament continued on, until finally, Utsushimi came out victorious.
"Congratulations, Utsushimi," said Todoroki. "And congratulations to everyone else as well. I hope you use this experience as a valuable learning tool."
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.