"Today's training will be a little different. You'll have three instructors: me, All Might, and another faculty member will be keeping tabs on you," Aizawa informed the class, surprising them.
This was the first time they would ever have three teachers to help with their training, which was a giant leap from the usual one. Some were excited at the idea of Aizawa and someone else helping with their training, while others were nervous and still wary of the erasing pro after their first day. Also, would having three teachers mean the training would be more difficult than usual?
"Sir! What kind of training is this?" Sero asked the question that was on everyone's mind. As a result, Aizawa dug around in his pocket and pulled out a flash card that had 'RESCUE' in big blue letters on the back.
"Rescue training. You'll be dealing with natural disasters: shipwrecks, avalanches, fires, stuff like that," he said, which caused the nervousness of some to ease and the excitement in others to rise.
"Sounds like we're in for a big workout."
"Totally!"
"Hero stuff! This is what separates the men from the boys! I'm shaking with excitement!"
"Hopefully I can show off how good I am in the water, ribbit."
"Guys, I'm not finished yet. What you wear in this exercise is up to you. I know you're excited about costumes, but keep in mind that you haven't gotten used to them yet. They might limit your abilities. This special training is at an off-campus facility, so we'll be taking a bus to get there," the pro advised as he pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a button, causing shelves to start coming out of the walls. "That's all, start getting ready."
At the command, the students rose from their seats and walked over towards the wall, each grabbing their respective suitcase before heading out the door. Excitement was in the air, and no one was more excited than Izuku. Rescuing civilians, and more often than not heroes themselves, was a big part of being a pro. And no other pro was better known for it than All Might himself. If Izuku could go beyond and ace today's exercise, it would bring him one step closer to being just like his idol.
After that, everyone went to the locker rooms to get changed before heading outside. Some of the class had formed small packs, like Kaminari, Sero, Ashido, and Kirishima, while others opted to stay by themselves, like Tokoyami or Koda. Izuku was getting ready to walk to Uraraka and Yaoyorozu, but an ear-splitting whistle stopped him before he could move.
"Okay everyone, I want everyone to form two lines based on your student numbers! Doing so will allow us to enter the bus more efficiently!" Iida shouted as he stood next to the entrance to the bus, chopping his arm through the air to hurry everyone up.
Izuku, Yaoyorozu, Iida, and Uraraka had created a group chat last night to discuss their roles as class officers. Iida would help with organization and time management, while Uraraka would do wellness checks on the class and make sure everyone was doing okay. An additional part of her job would be to report anything suspicious to UA faculty like Aizawa or All Might, like if she suspected abuse or self-harm of any kind.
Upon entering the bus, Iida became horrified at seeing that it was more like a shuttle bus than a regular school bus. While there were seats in the back like a regular bus, the middle had sideways rows of seats that faced one another. Its open layout had ruined Iida's 'boarding strategy', as he put it.
Most of the students had opted to sit in the back to avoid being bothered, while the more social butterflies of the class had opted for the middle. On the left side of the bus, going from left to right, sat Ashido, Uraraka, Izuku, and Jiro, and across from them, from right to left, sat Kirishima, Iida, Tsu, and Kaminari. After a few seconds, they could feel the bus start moving towards their destination.
"So much planning…ruined!" Iida cried as he sulked in his seat.
"You really need to chill, Iida," Ashido sighed, watching as the officer sulked to himself about his boarding strategy.
"If we're pointing out the obvious, then there's something I want to say," Tsu said, drawing everyone's attention. "It's actually about you, Midoriya." She eyed him from across the bus, causing the greenet to tilt his head in confusion.
"About me? What is it, Tsu?"
"That one power of yours…isn't it a lot like All Might's?" She asked, causing both him and Bakugo to freeze. Izuku had known questions or statements regarding the similarity of his and All Might's power were going to pop up sooner or later, but he wasn't expecting it to be this soon!
"You really think so? I'm flattered! Being compared to All Might is a huge honor!" He gave her a wide smile, opting to play the fanboy card instead of denying that they were similar; doing so would only cause more people to point out how similar they were. In the meantime, he was hoping Kacchan would have his back and say something, maybe mock Tsu for such a ludicrous idea. He could see from the corner of his eye that his blond friend was about to say something, but someone else came to his rescue.
"Hold on Tsu, you're forgetting something! All Might can level an entire city block with a single punch, while Midoriya can't. That makes a huge difference!" Kirishima brought up, causing the greenet to sigh in relief. "Still, I bet it's cool to have a simple augmenting type of quirk. You can do a lot of flashy stuff with it," he continued before holding out his arm and hardening it. "My hardening's super strong and can destroy bad guys in a fight, but it doesn't look all that impressive."
"What's the big deal about having a flashy quirk or not?" Izuku questioned, genuinely confused.
"Because you'll get noticed more by pros, man! You'll get more deals and offers to work under or with pros if you've got a flashy quirk," the redhead explained.
"If a pro only cares about the 'flashiness' of a quirk, then they shouldn't be pros to begin with." Izuku scowled at the thought. "It doesn't matter how flashy one's quirk is; what matters is how effective the quirk can be in a life or death situation. Your quirk may not be the flashiest, Kirishima, but it's definitely pro material and will definitely help save lives when out in the field."
"You really think so? I mean, it seems like becoming a pro will be easier with something flashy, but I appreciate the confidence, Midoriya!" The redhead flashed a toothy grin, his confidence rising at the class reps' words.
"My naval laser has the perfect combination of panache and strength!" Aoyama commented from a few seats back.
"But it's way lame if it gives you a stomach ache, sweetie." Ashido said, bringing the Frenchman back down to earth and causing him to pout.
"Well if any of our classmates have pro quirks, it's Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugo," Kirishima said. Todoroki was asleep, Bakugo merely glared at him, and Izuku rubbed the back of his head bashfully.
"It's not just the three of us, Kirishima! You all have amazing quirks that'll make you into even more amazing pros! You'll see!" Izuku praised further, causing every student to feel more confident in their quirks and abilities.
"True, but Bakugo's always angry. So he'll never be that popular," Tsu spoke her mind, causing Bakugo's temper to flare.
"What did you say?! I'll kick your ass, Kermit!" Bakugo shouted, standing up from his seat.
"Bakugo! Please sit down!"
"Shut up, Four Eyes!"
"You see? Proved my point."
"You know we basically just met you, so it's kinda telling that we all know your personality is flaming crap mixed with garbage," Kaminari pointed out.
"You'll regret the day you applied to this school, Pikachu!" Bakugo screamed, holding the railing in front of him to hold him back and keep him from rushing the yellow-haired idiot.
Izuku sighed as the two began arguing and insulting one another back and forth. There was no point in getting involved, because then Kacchan would scream at him, he'd scream back, and one of them would say something embarrassing and expose the other. He decided to try and tune them out and listen to the others in the bus.
Yaoyorozu was complaining to Koda about how disgusting the conversation was, Uraraka was laughing with Ashido and egging them on, Iida was yelling at them all to stop, and even with her earbuds plugged in, he could still hear the music coming from Jiro's phone. For him, it was easy to identify the song, the guitar riff at the beginning being a dead giveaway, but the drums that started playing shortly after sealed the deal. He started tapping his food and nodding his head along with the instruments.
"The secret side of me, I never let you see," he sang under his breath, not wanting to draw any attention to himself while also wanting to sing along; it was one of his favorite songs, after all. He was cut off soon after, however, by someone poking his arm. Turning his head, he was surprised to find Jiro staring at him curiously, as if studying him. She must've heard him and figured out he was listening in.
"Ah, sorry about that, didn't mean to intrude and listen in. I just heard the song and well-"
"You like Skillet?" She cut him off, genuinely surprised she had found someone else who enjoyed a band she did. This was Japan after all, and J-pop dominated just about everything music related. While the band was popular in places like America, it was basically a no-name here.
"Uh, yeah actually. When I was young my dad moved to the US for his work and sent back a few of their albums. I've been hooked ever since," te told her. "The song you're listening to, Monster, happens to be one of my favorites."
She continued eyeing him once this newfound piece of information escaped him. Soon her cheeks turned pink, and she looked away to avoid eye contact.
"Do you…wanna listen with me?" She asked, her earjack wrapping around one of the earbuds as an offering.
'Am I…getting a hint of tsundere? Another weakness!' Izuku thought, his own cheeks turning pink.
"I'd love to."
For the rest of the bus ride the two sat in a comfortable silence, enjoying the company of the other, and enjoying the music from Jiro's playlist, even though the world around them was on fire. Literally: Bakugo's explosions were causing the metal railing to slowly melt away and catch fire. Iida was panicking and looking for a fire extinguisher, Aizawa was banging his head against the window in hopes of knocking himself out, and some of the girls had noticed and were watching Izuku and Jiro. Some thought the image of the two sitting there listening to music was cute, while others had a more negative feeling. A pang of jealousy hit them, watching the two as they were in their own little world, each with a small smile on their face. Whether it was from the music or each other's company, none of them knew. What Mina knew as she took a picture, however, was that this would be great blackmail.
"Hey, hey, we're here," Aizawa said, causing the two blonds to stop arguing and yelling. The bus turned right and began to slow down before coming to a complete stop. The doors opened, allowing Aizawa and the students to step out. They started walking towards a giant dome building.
"You know, there's a rumor going around that they're coming to Japan soon to play live," Jiro said, catching up to and walking next to Izuku.
"Really? That'd be sweet! I've never gotten the chance to see them play live!"
"Same. Maybe I'll meet you there? If you decide to go, that is…" Jiro trailed off, secretly hoping that he would. It felt nice to finally have someone that shared one of her interests
It was even better since he was easy on the eyes.
"I'll go if you go," he said with a smile.
"Midoriya, Jiro, stop talking and pay attention." Aizawa ordered, causing the two to blush in embarrassment for being called out.
"Hello everyone! I've been waiting for you," a person in an astronaut-like costume exclaimed happily while walking out through the front doors. Some stood amazed at who it was, while others looked on in confusion.
"It's the space hero, 13! The chivalrous pro who rescued a ton of people from disasters across the world!" Izuku exclaimed, excited for said hero to be his teacher for today's training. 13 was one of his favorites, after all.
"Woohoo! 13's one of my most favorite heroes!" Uraraka exclaimed, equally excited as her green-haired friend.
"I can't wait to show you what's inside. Please, follow me," she ordered nicely before walking towards and through the front doors with 1A in tow.
It was definitely much bigger on the inside than it had appeared from the outside. The inside held multiple areas, each with a different disaster that would be used in their training. One had mountains, another was a red dome, one had broken and damaged buildings, another was a gigantic pool-like area with a ship in its middle, and so on. The kids stared in amazement.
"Holy crap! It looks like some kind of amusement park!"
"A shipwreck, a landslide, a fire, a wind storm, etc. I created this training facility to prepare you to deal with different types of disasters. I call it: The Unforeseen Simulation Joint! But you can call it USJ!" The space hero told the class, proud of her work and all of the time and effort she had put into creating the facility.
'Just like Universal Studios Japan.' Many of 1A thought.
"Hey, shouldn't All Might be here already?" Aizawa asked while walking up to his colleague. "Let me guess; he booked himself an interview instead."
"Actually it's something else," 13 said while walking closer to and leaning towards Aizawa. "Apparently he did too much hero work on the way to school this morning and used all of his power. He's resting in the teachers' lounge."
"That man is the height of irresponsibility," Aizawa sighed, annoyed but knowing he couldn't do anything about it. All Might was All Might, after all. It was heroing first, everything else second for him.
'Well, we should be ok with just the two of us.' He thought.
"Clock's ticking, we should get started."
"Excellent! But before we begin, let me just say one thing. Well, maybe two things. Maybe three, or four, or five," 13 trailed off, forgetting what she had originally wanted to say until Aizawa tapped her helmet, stopping her from trailing off further. "Sorry! Now please, listen carefully."
13 began to tell the class about her quirk, which was named 'Black Hole'. This quirk allowed 13 to suck up and turn anything to dust: including human beings. While yes, she has saved dozens of people thanks to her power, it could just as easily be used to kill someone. She brought up that some of them had similar quirks that could potentially be helpful, but also dangerous and deadly. She informed the group that even with the smallest wrong move, it could change their power from helpful to deadly in a snap, even if they were attempting to do something virtuous like rescue someone.
She thanked Aizawa for his fitness test, which had given everyone a solid idea of their quirk's potential. She also thanked All Might for his combat training, as the students had likely experienced how dangerous said powers could be when used against someone. She asked for everyone to carry those lessons to today's training, and informed them they would learn how to use their quirks to save someone's life. They wouldn't be using them to attack others or enemies, but to help. After all, that's what being a hero's about: ensuring the safety of others.
Now finished, 13 thanked them for listening.
The speech inspired just about the whole class, and gave them plenty to think about. Some had never thought of their quirk being able to hurt someone, while others like Ashido and Kaminari had always known the risk, but they still wanted to try and help.
"Right, now that that's over-" Aizawa was cut off as electricity began dancing across the lights on top of the building, causing many to look up and stare. The lights were soon turned off, and the fountain that sat in the middle of the disaster zones began to stop and turn back on rapidly. A purple portal began to open right in front of it, causing Aizawa's eyes to widen.
Something was wrong, very, very wrong!
A hand reached out of the portal, and a face with piercing red eyes followed it. What made the face even creepier was the fact that another hand was covering it. A severed hand.
"Stay together and don't move! 13, protect the students!" Aizawa commanded as he stood in front of the group, gesturing for his class to back away. Everyone grew confused, and it took Kirishima to point out what had made Aizawa act like this.
"What's that thing?" He asked, watching the swirling vortex of purple and black.
People began to slowly walk through, each one differing in appearance. For Izuku and Aizawa, it was easy to tell what type of quirks they had since some clearly had mutant types, while others it was harder to tell.
"Has the training started already? I thought we were rescuing people?" Kaminari said, confused.
"This isn't training," Izuku said to him, his shield snapping into its full form.
"Stay back!" Aizawa snapped, putting on his goggles. "This is real! Those are villains!" He exclaimed, shocking the class and causing most to worry, especially when a giant creature with pitch black skin and an exposed brain walked through the portal.
"The only real heroes I see are 13 and Eraserhead. Perplexing, according to the schedule we retrieved, All Might should be here as well," the purple mist spoke, his body twisting to form a head with bright yellow eyes.
"So, you scumbags used the press as cover and sneaked onto campus," Aizawa deduced.
"Where is he? I went through all the trouble of bringing so many friends who were eager to meet him. They want All Might, the great Symbol of Peace. I can't believe he's not here," the man covered with hands sighed. "Maybe if I kill a few kids he'll come out to play?" he suggested.
Aizawa's scarf flew and danced in the air as he prepared himself for the fight ahead.
"What? Real villains? No way!"
"How could so many of them get into a UA facility this secure?!"
"Yeah, 13? Why aren't the alarms going?"
"Good question. I'm…not really sure," 13 said, surprising them.
"Is the entire campus under attack? Or is this their only target? Either way, if the alarm sensors aren't being triggered, one of them must have a quirk that's masking their presence here. They carefully chose this isolated facility as an entry point at a time a class was being taught. They're fools for trespassing here, but they thought this out. Whatever their plan is, they must have a concrete objective in mind. But what is it?" Todoroki asked himself.
The students were worried right now, seeing the wave of villains in front of them. They had successfully infiltrated the building, cut off their communications, and outnumbered them 10 to one before anyone could blink or comprehend what was happening.
"13 get them out of here and alert the main campus." Aizawa ordered. "Actually, if they have the ability to block our sensors, then they might be jamming our regular communication too. Kaminari, try using your quirk to contact the school."
"Yes sir!"
"Are you sure you don't want some help? I don't doubt you have a plan or trick up your sleeve, but taking all of them on by yourself won't be easy," Izuku said, ready and willing to help if he allowed it.
"No. Set an example and leave with the others, class rep. I'll buy you all enough time to escape," Aizawa stated. "I'll leave it to you, 13." With a single jump, Aizawa flew over the large staircase, aiming himself for the villains below as if he were a missile.
"Shooting squad: ready your aim!" One of the villains, a man in a white tank top and metal helmet, ordered. A woman with long silver hair and a giant man in a green one piece walked up behind him.
"Didn't our intel just say it was gonna be 13 and All Might out here? Who's that?" The woman questioned.
"Don't recognize him, but if he thinks he can take us down easy, he's dead!"
"Let's shoot him down!" The three shouted in unison, aiming and beginning to fire.
The only problem was, nothing came out when they did so.
"My quirk!"
"Where are my bullets?!" The two males shouted in surprise before Aizawa's scarf wrapped around all three of them. With a pull the three were lifted into the air, and with a tug they were slammed into each other head first before falling to the ground, unconscious.
"Idiots! That's Eraserhead, a pro that can erase your quirk just by looking at you!" One of the villains informed the rest.
"Cancellation, eh? Bet you can't erase a quirk of a heteromorphic type like me, can you?!" One of the bigger brutes asked. He had four arms and rocky, light blue skin. He wore a black mask with yellow lines over his head. He started sending punches towards Aizawa, only for the man to duck and dodge every single one.
"Yeah, you're right." Aizawa answered, punching the villain square in the face and sending him flying back. He followed his attack up by tossing his scarf out and wrapping it around the guys ankle. "But a villain like you is only dangerous if you can reach me!"
He ducked under a punch from behind and did a 180, smashing his foot into the side of the villain's head and sending him flying back into two others. Tugging his scarf down, he sent the heteromorphic type slamming into them.
"Good thing I've taken measures to make sure that's never happened! Now, which one of you gutter punks is next?!"
"There he goes trying to intimidate us. He is strong, and since he's hiding behind those goggles, you can't tell whose quirk he's erasing. He's making it hard for us to work together or rely on each other's powers," the hand guy said to himself, watching as Eraserhead continued mowing down his minions. "How annoying. The worst thing about dealing with pros is when they live up to all of their hype."
In the time the hand guy spoke, Aizawa had managed to take down another five of his villains.
The kids did as ordered and began running towards the front door in hopes of escaping, but were foiled when a purple-and-black portal began to open on the ground in front of them. The vortex villain rose and stood between them, blocking their path.
"There is no escape for you," he threatened the students.
'Dammit! I blink for a second and the guy who seems like the most trouble got away!' Aizawa thought, mad at himself for such a foolish mistake.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. We are the League of Villains. I know it's impolite, but we decided to invite ourselves into this haven of justice to say 'hello.' And besides, isn't this a fitting place for All Might, the Symbol of Peace, to take his final breath?" He asked, revealing what their intention and goal was.
To kill All Might.
"I believe he was supposed to be here today, and yet I see no sign of him. There must have been some sort of change in plans we could not have foreseen. Oh well, in the end I suppose it doesn't matter. I still have a role to play," he stated, his mist body growing in height.
13 had opened one of her fingers in hopes of turning the villain to dust in order to escape, but her eyes widened as two of the students decided to rush said villain instead.
"Kacchan, Kirishima, no!" Izuku shouted, too late in stopping his friends from attacking the purple mist. He was watching his blond friend for the longest time, knowing full well he was going to attack sooner or later. But the villain had mentioned killing All Might, and that reveal was enough to turn Izuku's attention away. In those few seconds, the two had run in to try and attack.
Kirishima's hardened fist and Bakugo's explosion hit at once, causing smoke to fill the air.
"Did you think we were going to stand around and let you tear this place to shreds?" Kirishima questioned with a toothy grin.
"You live up to your school's reputation," the villain spoke, reforming himself around a metal piece as the dust settled. "But you should be more careful, children. Otherwise, someone might get hurt," he threatened.
"You two, get out of the way right now!" 13 shouted.
"I'll scatter you across this facility, to meet my comrades! And your deaths!" He exclaimed, surrounding everyone in his purple mist.
"Crap, what is this?!" Kirishima shouted in surprise.
Iida panicked and rushed out of the mist while grabbing those closest to him, which happened to be Uraraka and Sato. Shoji used his body and dupli-arms in order to protect and cover Ashido and Sero. The rest were warped to other parts of the building.
Jiro's head cracked into something as she came out of the portal, and the last thing she saw before losing consciousness was a black ponytail and neon green.