Izuku sat back in his classroom the day after Aizawa gave everyone a scare, relaxing as he listened to music and waited for class to begin, having arrived early enough that most of the rest of his classmates still weren't there.
He was nodding his head to the music in his earbuds with his eyes closed, absently strumming an imaginary guitar, when he was distracted by someone tapping on his shoulder. Blinking he removed his earphones, the music still playing clearly, and looked over to see one of his female classmates standing beside him. She was a cute girl with the look of a punk rocker, her earlobes stretched into earphone jacks. "Yes, miss…?"
"Jirou Kyoka." She said with a small smile. "I could hear the music you were listening to. I don't recognize it, though it sounds cool. Could you tell me the band...?"
"Midoriya Izuku. And sure." He said with a smile, motioning her to take a seat in the currently empty seat next to him. "I was listening to a heavy metal band called Blind Guardian. I'm not surprised you've never heard of them, since they're from the pre-quirk days."
Izuku himself had originally never been a huge music fan. Oh, sure, he liked a few songs he heard, but he tended to be too focused on hero related things to really get into it.
Shirou was the same, too focused on other endeavours to give music too much notice, though he knew what he liked. He was exposed to it much more when he started living with his girls, but still never got too far into the hobby.
Ranma rarely listened to music unless it related to martial arts in some way. He knew what he considered good or bad, but that was pretty much it. His life was too hectic for a non-combat focused hobby, which Izuku now knew was a real shame.
Peter actually enjoyed music and had some favorite bands, but again, was never really able to indulge in the hobby due to how utterly insane his life could be. On occasion he'd lay back with MJ on a lazy day and relax while something played in the background, but those times were, sadly, rare, if treasured.
That left Jesse as the biggest influence on Izuku's taste in music. She always had something playing in her office, especially after the mandatory psychiatrist that she'd forced all the senior staff to see in order to keep the previous issues that plagued the FBC from reocurring told her she needed a hobby to keep her grounded and relaxed.
Jesse had always had a preference for the heavier music. The Old Gods Of Asgard were her favorite, but she grew her listening pool through recommendations from other people and some exploration through Spotify when she was at home, away from the Oldest House. She even got into playing guitar to help her relax further. It was no exaggeration to say that music had been one of the main reasons Jesse Faden had survived as long as she had with her sanity moderately intact.
When Izuku, after his past lives became active, looked up some of Jesse's favorite bands, he was saddened to see that several had either been lost to time or just never existed in his current world. He downloaded the ones he could find, but had been resigned to never listening to the likes of The Old Gods, among others, again, except in memories.
Thankfully that annoying old vampire fixed that particular issue.
Jirou, gained a thoughtful look on her face, obviously trying to place the name. "No, I'm pretty sure I haven't heard of them."
"They're one of my favorite Geek Metal groups." Izuku said with a smile as Sacred Worlds continued to be audible from his earphones.
"Geek Metal?" Jirou asked, an eyebrow rising as her lips curled into a smile.
Izuku chuckled. "They have songs based on fantasy novels and video games, wrote an entire concept album about the Lord of the Rings, and one of my favorite songs of theirs is a fifteen minute opus about The Illiad." He said, smiling wryly.
Jirou nodded in agreement, obviously amused. "Geek Metal it is." She sat forward a bit. "So they're good, then?"
Rather than answer, Izuku offered the girl his earphones as he restarted Sacred Worlds from the beginning. He sat back and watched as she listened with a small smile on her face, pleased to introduce someone new to some of his now favorite music. He waved to Uraraka as she walked in and made her way over to her seat, the brunette waving back as she set her backpack down before making her way over to him.
"Good morning, Midoriya-kun." The bubbly girl greeted happily before glancing at Jirou as the girl continued bobbing her head to the music with her eyes closed.
"Hey, Uraraka-chan." He said with a smile. "Jirou-san was interested in what I was listening to."
"Ah." Uraraka uttered in understanding. Then she clapped her hands as she focused on Izuku. "I'm so excited for our first proper day of classes. I wonder what lessons at UA are like?"
"If nothing else the teachers will be interesting." Izuku said with an amused smile.
"Indeed! This is UA, so I'm sure our education will be of the highest quality!" Iida suddenly exclaimed from behind Uraraka, making the girl jump in surprise.
Before anything more could be said Jirou removed the earphones and handed them back to Izuku. "That was pretty cool. Not my usual thing, I'm more into punk, but still good. Don't suppose you'd mind passing me the songs you have? I think my parents might like em, especially if they're as unknown as you've made it seem."
"Sure thing, Jirou-san. Just give me your email and I'll send them and a few others you might like when I get home." Izuku said with a smile, already planning on sending her some of the songs that didn't exist in this reality.
This would be the first step to spreading their glory!
Jirou nodded with a smile before making her way back to her seat as Aizawa entered the room to begin class, 1-A immediately rushing to their seats in order to avoid getting in trouble.
Most of the day was far too normal for the 1-A students, with regular classes including Mathematics and English. True, the classes were all taught by Pro Heroes, but the novelty of that died surprisingly quickly.
Everybody's excitement returned, however, when lunch ended and the class was waiting for their Foundational Hero Studies teacher to arrive.
"I wonder who'll be teaching this class?" Ashido wondered with interest.
"It must be an extremely capable hero in order to mould us into the best students they can!" Iida exclaimed as stiffly as ever.
"I don't care as long as I finally get to kick some ass." Bakugo added with a smirk.
As his classmates chatted Izuku sat back and watched them all in amusement. He wondered how they'd all react when All Might arrived. For that matter, he wondered exactly how the enormous ham would be making his entrance. He doubted he'd just walk in normally.
He got his answer soon enough. "I am…!" The class perked up, eyes wide and glued to the opening door. "...Coming through the door like a normal person!" All Might exclaimed as he practically flounced through the doorway.
Izuku facepalmed at his mentor's antics, but nobody noticed because they were too busy freaking out at the fact that they were going to be taught by the number one hero.
"Holy shit, it's All Might!"
"Is that his Silver Age Costume?"
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…"
"Hell yeah! That's what I'm talkin about!"
"So manly!"
All Might laughed at the reaction, fists heroically on his hips. "Yes, yes, I will indeed be your Heroics teacher. Let's not waste any time, however." He waited a moment for the class to calm down before holding up a card with the word Battle on it. "Today we will be performing a battle trial in order to get a handle on where you are and what you need to work on!" After some more cheering from the students, especially Bakugo, the hero held up a remote and pressed the button. "Of course, you'll need to dress for the occasion." As he spoke multiple cases slid from spaces in the wall which had seemed normal. "In accordance with your Quirk Registries and the special request forms you filled out, here are your-"
"Costumes!" The class cheered.
All Might chuckled good naturedly at their enthusiasm. "Indeed. Go change, then meet me in Training Ground Beta!"
"They say the clothes make the man!" All Might said as he watched his students walk into view dressed in their new costumes. "Stand proudly, because you're all heroes now!"
The students all looked at each other with smiles, admiring each other's outfits. As they did Izuku stepped up to join the group, having fallen back to observe with a smile.
"Midoriya-kun, you look so cool!" Uraraka exclaimed happily.
Izuku glanced down at himself with a smile, pleased by his costume. He wore a very tight, emerald green chinese shirt with a spiderweb pattern stitched in silver, over which he wore a black leather jacket that one wouldn't think would mesh with the rest of the look but did so surprisingly well, under which a holster with the Service Weapon sat, his web shooters peeking out of the sleeves as well. He wore somewhat loose black pants whose ends were tucked into shoes based on what Peter had worn to allow him to wall crawl.
"Thanks. It'll do for a first draft." He said with a smile before looking at the gravity girl. "You look nice too." He said as he tried to keep his eyes from roaming.
Uraraka blushed lightly, scratching the back of her head. "Hehe, I wanted something more like Thriteen's outfit, but they gave me something skintight instead…"
"The Hero Course is the best…" Mineta said with a smile as his eyes bounced from one girl to the other.
All Might interrupted before the conversations could go on. "Yes, yes, you all look great, but we should get this show on the road!"
"Sensei, this appears to be the same field used in the entrance exam." Iida asked from where he stood next to Izuku in a high tech suit of armor. "Will we be performing cityscape maneuvers?"
"Nope!" All Might responded. "We'll be going into indoor anti-personnel battles instead." When he saw that the students were listening attentively he continued. "The highly publicized side of heroics takes place outdoors, where everyone can see it, but most of the time the villains involved in such events are small time. The savvy villains conduct their business indoors, away from the public eye. Black market deals, human trafficking, and other, more heinous crimes, are all more likely to occure hidded from the gaze of heroes and police. So, to simulate such a situation, you will be paired into teams in order to each fight another team as heroes and villains!"
"So we won't be doing any basic training?" The girl with the Frog Quirk, Asui Tsuyu, asked.
"You'll be learning the basics through practical experience!" All Might declared. "Any other questions?"
"What determines victory?"
"Can I just blast everyone away?"
"Are you threatening to expel someone like Aizawa-sensei?"
"How are the teams going to be selected?"
"How fabulous is my cape?"
"One at a time, my Quirk isn't super hearing!" All Might said, trying to get the students to calm down. Then he proceeded to pull a cheat sheet from a pocket, making Izuku sigh softly in fond exasperation. "Here's the scenario, everyone! A group of villains are hiding a nuclear weapon in their hideout. The heroes have to go in and either capture the villains or secure the bomb within a limited timeframe before the bomb blows." Then he grabbed a box sitting on a table nearby. "And we will be deciding teams by drawing lots!"
Iida immediately responded, appearing shocked that such a thing would be decided randomly. "Is that really the best option, sensei!?"
"You won't always have the luxury of knowing who you'll be working with out in the field." Izuku told the taller boy. "Could be a rookie hero you haven't heard of, someone from out of town, or just plain someone you don't like. This simulates that pretty well, and it'll test your ability to cooperate with others."
"I see! I apologize for getting ahead of myself!" Iida exclaimed, bowing stiffly once again.
"It's fine, but let's not waste any more time!" All Might said, holding the box out for them.
Izuku watched as his classmates stepped forward, each taking one of the lots. When he finally took his turn he looked down to see that he was in Team J with the boy who fired lasers from his belly, Aoyama Yuga.
"Excellent." All Might said as he reached into another two boxes, one labeled Heroes, the other Villains. "Now, let's see what our first matchup is!" He pulled two balls out and looked at them. Before showing them to the class. "It's going to be Team H as the Heroes against Team J as the Villains!"
Izuku glanced over at Bakugo, who was in Team H with Jirou, to find the explosive blonde grinning malevolently at him.
A few minutes later Izuku and Aoyama were in the building the battle would be taking place in, the large cartoon missile that was the bomb standing nearby. "So, do you have any ideas on what we should do, mon amie?" Aoyama asked as the countdown to the start of the trial began.
"First order of business is to get the bomb someplace defensible." Izuku said, picking the bomb up with his telekinesis and beginning to make his way to the stairs. "Our best bet is putting it on the top floor. Bakugo won't be able to launch himself that high from outside, so he'll need to climb the building normally."
Aoyama nodded, looking surprisingly serious despite his eternal smile. "That will buy us time, but not much."
"It will if we trick them into thinking we have it somewhere else." Izuku said as his mind raced. "Jirou-san can likely tell where we are, if what I've determined of her Quirk is correct. So I want you to stay in a room on the opposite side of the building and one floor down, pacing. If Jirous-san hears movement there, she'll probably assume you're guarding the bomb."
Aoyama nodded in understanding. "And you?"
"I'll be another floor down, waiting in ambush. Bakugo will seek me out. Settling a score with me will be more important to him than the objective. That means you'll only have to deal with Jirou-san while I'm busy with him, if I don't manage to take her out before she can get away."
"It leaves me few opportunities to truly shine…" Aoyama said, obviously put out. "...But winning is important too…"
Izuku reached over and patted the other boy's shoulder as he set the bomb down before moving some crates to hide it. "This is only our first class. There'll be plenty of other chances to show off." Once the other boy nodded Izuku began to lead the way out of the room. "Now, let's get in position…"
Bakugo was pacing outside, waiting anxiously for the timer to start, grinding his teeth. "Fucking Deku… gonna wreck his shit…"
Jirou eyed the blonde warily. He was acting like a barely leashed, rabid animal. "What's your problem with Midoriya, anyway?" She asked, remembering the way he'd acted the previous day during the test.
"None of your fucking business!" He barked.
Jirou sighed, wondering what she'd done to get the loudest member of the class on her team. "Whatever. We need to think up a plan."
"The plan is I kill Deku while you deal with the sparkling extra." Bakugo snarled.
Before Jirou could respond All Might's voice came over their earpieces. "Battle Start!"
Within a few moments Bakugo was already inside the building, screaming "Deku!".
Jirou sighed, slumping slightly, before making her way into the building, quickly plugging a jack into the wall, hoping to hear where they were keeping the bomb before Blasty McSplode made too much noise for her to be able to do so.
Izuku absently scratched his nose as he waited for his opponents to show up. He looked down at the stairs from his position against a corner of the ceiling, out of view unless you specifically looked up. He was considering how exactly to handle this. He could easily get the drop on Bakugo and lay him out before he could react, but he could already hear the cries stating that he'd cheated or hadn't fought fair, which was something he didn't want to deal with.
Hammering the fact that he wasn't top dog into Bakugo's superiority complex with a straight up fight would be both cathartic and productive, but not the smart play. So that really left Izuku to waver between those two options.
Of course, that's when his Spider-Sense decided to inform him of trouble. Izuku immediately dropped to the ground in a low crouch as Bakugor leapt out of the stairway, immediately launching large blasts on either side of the hallway in order to catch anybody that may be laying in wait, such as Izuku, by surprise.
Alright then, cathartic way it was.
"Missed me!" Izuku said before the blasts had even finished dissipating, launching himself into a spinning axe kick aimed at his opponent's head.
"Deku!" Bakugo roared as he turned, only barely bringing his arm up to block. He let out a grunt as he dropped to a knee, his grenade gauntlet becoming dented as it took the hit. Izuku was impressed in spite of himself by the reaction speed. He wasn't going full out, but it was still a solid reminder that, as much of an asshole as he may be, the blonde was no slouch.
From his crouching position Bakugo brought a palm up, aiming at Izuku. Izuku immediately moved as his Spider-Sense blared, the explosion that would have hit him right between the legs sailing overhead once again. "No need to try to wreck my junk out of penis envy, Bakago." Izuku quipped from where he was crouched, letting his Peter side show through a bit.
"Did you have fun, laughing behind my back all these years, you fucking bastard!" Bakugo snarled as he started launching multiple explosions, hands slapping out like a sumo wrestler, an explosion being launched each time. Izuku dodged each time, eyes narrowed as he waited for Bakugo to tire himself out, not bothering to respond to such an idiotic question..
His eyes caught movement behind the blonde as Jirou emerged from the stairway, wincing at the noise but starting to make her way up to the next floor while Bakugo kept him busy.
Izuku clicked his tongue in irritation before launching some webbing at the arm that Bakugo had just launched an explosion from as he started pulling it back, forcing it forward and unbalancing the blonde. Then, while the pomeranian was distracted, he launched several shots at Jirou, who wasn't expecting it and ended up stuck to the wall with a mass of webbing around her torso and pinning her arms. "What the hell!?" She exclaimed, trying to get free.
As Izuku turned his attention back to Bakugou the blonde looked at him in fury. "Are you… are you not taking me seriously, you goddamn pebble!?" He snarled.
Izuku blinked, affecting confusion. "I'm supposed to take you seriously?"
Bakugo let out a howl of rage at that, bringing his gauntlet up to aim at Izuku, finger on the pin. "I'm going to fucking kill you, Deku!"
Izuku's eyes widened and he leapt back as his Spider-Sense blared. When the blonde pulled the pin a massive explosion, far larger than Bakugo could manage on his own, roared out with a boom that shook the building from the noise alone.
Seeing the blast coming his way Izuku quickly held up a hand, not noticing the sound of a pained scream that was almost drowned out by the blast in the moment, seven pink petals of a flower appearing in front of him, forming a shield that stopped the explosion from hitting him, the displaced energy flowing around his form and blasting the wall behind him apart.
When everything was over Izuku allowed Rho Aias to dissipate, letting him see just how much damage Bakugo had caused. He was vaguely aware of All Might shouting in their earpieces to stand down, but he was distracted by something much more immediate.
Jirou was sobbing and whimpering in pain from where she was stuck to the wall, tears of pain rolling down her cheeks as blood trailed from her ears. Immediately Izuku realized what the immense explosion must have done to her and he rushed over to her, ignoring Bakugo. "Jirou-san!" He called, stopping in front of her and preparing himself to help her down so she could get to Recovery Girl.
"We're not done, Deku!" Bakugo snarled behind him, obviously preparing to attack him again.
Izuku's eyes narrowed in fury and he turned with blinding speed, sweeping the arm reaching out to him aside hard enough to dislocate it, then grabbing the blonde's face even as he began to cry out in pain, swinging him around to smash the back of his skull against the wall, knocking the other boy out and letting his body drop to the floor.
He ignored the fallen boy and turned back to Jirou, immediately bringing a bottle of specially made solvent out of a pocket in his jacket and using it to remove the webbing binding the girl. "I'm sorry, Jirou-san. Don't worry, I'll get you to Recovery Girl in a moment." He whispered to the girl, who didn't seem to hear him. When she looked at him as the last of the webs dissolved, obviously pleading for him to make the pain stop, he smiled gently and wiped her tears to soothe her before picking her up in a princess carry. He turned to find All Might behind him.
"Let's take these two to Recovery Girl, Young Midoriya." All Might said as he picked Bakugo up. "I already told Young Aoyama to head to the monitoring room."
Izuku nodded before beginning to make his way out of the building, sighing at how that had gone. He'd just hoped to teach Bakugo a very necessary lesson, not cause the whimpering girl in his arms such immense pain.
Really, you'd think he'd be used to things going wrong for him already.
OMG, I'm so sorry for how long it took me to get this out. I really wanted to have it out within the first week of November but multiple issues kept that from happening, most health related.
For example, two weeks ago I had a molar removed, and the pain kept me from doing pretty much anything I wasn't outright forced to do, like work to get paid.
I intend to do better in the future, updating my stories at least four times in December, and if I don't, you have full permission to yell at me.
In any case, the battle trial. I wanted to show Bakugo that Izuku is beyond him now. I viewed that first loss as very important to the pomeranian's growth. His superiority/inferiority complex requires that he be broken down so he can be rebuilt properly.
As for how I determined who was paired up with who, I rolled a d20 and went by each character's seat number. Then I rolled a d8 for the matchups except for this one.
For those wondering, I've decided on how I'm going to explain Izuku's Quirk. He'll explain it before the USJ arc. I rather like what I came up with, personally. Thanks to everyone who chimed in with ideas.
I don't think I have much else to say, so I'll get the customary reminders out of the way.
The first is that you can have a say in what I write when you donate to my Pat A Ron. Every dollar donated equals a vote in my monthly poll, and as stated before, now I've made it so that the votes for the things that don't win in a given month roll over into the next, which is why this fic was finally updated. So if you want to donate and see your favorite stories of mine updated more often, go to Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. The current poll closes on December 1st.
The next two reminders are more important to me, however. First is that my best friend has begun a Pat A Ron for their original fiction. Donate any amount you want and get access to some objectively excellent writing (far better than mine, if I'm being completely honest). They've posted their first two chapters of one of their stories, which is a supernatural steampunk detective thriller that I very much enjoy called 'The Curious Investigations of Mister Jonathan Scott'. If you like, say, The Dresden Files, but want it more steampunk, this is for you. You can find their stuff by searching for Grimm Tales in Pat A Ron.
I would appreciate it a lot if you could help them out, as unlike me they've had employment trouble due to some disabilities, which this pandemic hasn't helped.
Second, my sister has also begun a Pat A Ron. She recently got her Bachelor's in Digital Animation. She's trying to make her own series to post on Youtube, but needs money, so she's making art and plans on accepting commissions. She primarily does tokusatsu themed fanart (Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, etc.), and she plans to let people have a say in what she makes, much like I do. That's at Pat A Ron dotcom /linduarte. (Oh no, now you know my last name! The horror!)
Please keep in mind though that we've been made aware of a bug with the site that makes it seem like you can't donate less than $5. If you don't want to donate that much, to any of us, just put a zero before the number you want to donate, such as 03. That should get you going.
I think that's all from me for today. Please review, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time. Bye!