I do not own My Hero Academia, it is owned by Horikoshi
I also do not own K-9, the character was originally created for Doctor Who, the iteration of the character seen in this story is more based off the one seen in the 2009 series.
Chapter 34 - Grand and Grape Shot
Takoba National Stadium (Outside):
As the Class 1-A students disembarked the bus Sero muttered, "I get that Midoriya and Tokoyami have their provisional licenses and all, but do they have to rub it in by wearing their Hero Costumes?"
"Sorry, I was just told to wear my Hero Costume here," said Midoriya apologetically rubbing the back of his head.
"As was I, presumably there was a reason," said Tokoyami.
"It's cause you two are going to be on the clock," said Hawk from on top of the bus while Rocky was also sitting on the roof.
"How, when?!" exclaimed Jiro, "I didn't even hear them."
"What do you suppose they'll have us do for the exam," said Mineta nervously, "I wonder if I'll be able to get a license," starting to panic. 'Damn it, without Midoriya being there we're hosed, granted I'm healed now...'
"Don't think that way, think you're going to go and get your license," said Aizawa kneeling down so he was at Mineta's eye level.
Mineta felt a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry Minoru," said Shinso, "I've got your back. You helped me get my new costume together, so you watch my back and I'll watch yours."
"Got it!" said Mineta, 'Okay this can work, Shinso's accuracy with that longbow is freaking insane.'
"If you can pass this exam and get your license, you'll no longer be eggs you'll hatch into chicklings."
As the students began to shout out their school motto they were interrupted by a first year from Shiketsu. Meanwhile Midoriya was being briefed by Hawks. "Can that guy be any louder, I don't think the people in downtown Tokyo could hear him," muttered Rocky.
"That isn't very nice," said Hawks only for Rocky to glare at him, "Oh right your sense of hearing." Hawks was watching the Shiketsu High School student's angry glances towards Todoroki, 'Boy that kid has a chip on his shoulder.'
"Sir, is it really okay for Kota to be here?" asked Midoriya as his 'younger brother' disembarked the bus followed by a certain flying robotic canine, "I get that K-9 is here, but..."
"I doubt anyone will take a shot at him," said Hawks, "and it will distract him from what happened."
"So what do you think they're going to be doing?" asked Kota finally entering the conversation.
"No idea," said Hawks, Tokoyami, and Midoriya at the same time, "You see I got my License differently from how a regular hero student would get it."
"He was raised by the Hero Public Safety Commission," commented Rocky, "Don't ask him about it though, it's kinda a sore subject."
"Oh."
"OH ERASER IS THAT YOU!"
"Now what?" asked Hawks.
"Oh this is going to be fun," smirked Rocky his ears swiveling back.
"LET'S GET MARRIED!"
"Not happening."
Rocky started walking over to get in on the fun only for Hawks to grab him by the scruff of the neck. "We're on the clock and I don't want you getting on Eraser's bad side."
"I know who that is, its Ms. Joke, her quirk is called 'Roaring Laughter,' she causes..." began Midoriya who launched into a full description about her quirk, catching her attention.
"Oh hey Hawks, let's..."
"Sorry but my girlfriend would have to kill you," replied Hawks interrupting her, 'Not that I have a girlfriend at the moment, but still.'
"So these are the two U.A. first years that you took as Apprentices," said Ms. Joke turning serious, "My condolences concerning your mother."
"Thanks," replied Midoriya soberly.
"Then this little guy must be Kota Izumi," she continued placing her hand on Kota's shoulder who flinched, "Don't worry okay nothing bad is going to happen to you here. Just sit back and enjoy the show, not very many kids your age get a sneak peek at the hero licensing exam."
She then waved over her students to take a look at the U.A. students, "Hey class check out U.A." Her class started greeting the various members of Class 1-A, but Bakugo's eyes narrowed, he realized that their courteousness was an act. Yaoyorozu meanwhile noticed Mineta's expression changing to a look of recognition.
"Ms. Joke, why are those two already..." began the Ketsubutsu student before his eyes his eyes widened in recognition, "Oh those two are Hawks' apprentices." He extendend his hand, "I'm Yo Shindo, pleased to meet you," said the 2nd year student, shaking Midoriya's then Tokoyami's hands, 'Okay we aren't versing these two since they already have their Provisional Licenses.'
"Uh hi, I hope both your class and mine manage to get their Licenses," said Midoriya.
'Jeeze this kid, is so naive,' thought Shindo, "Yeah, thanks."
As soon as the guy was out of earshot, "You realize that they're probably gunning for our class right?" said Tokoyami.
"Yeah," acknowledged Midoriya shrugging, "but I can still hope both classes pass."
"You're such a softy," muttered Kota.
"Hey!" said Midoriya as Kota started trying to play innocent, Tokoyami thankfully managed to keep from cracking up.
"Okay you goofs," said Hawks, "Let's go get our seats."
Takoba National Stadium (Corridor):
Minoru Mineta didn't like how the other classes recognized them all, something seemed off given the 50% pass rate, 'Wait a minute, they know our quirks and have a rough idea how we fight, this is bad... Izzy may be analyze people on the fly, but can I do the same? I know Bakugo can, but he's not much of a team player. Okay who will split off from the group if Yaoyorozu or I were to take charge? It would be Bakugo, Kirishima, and Kaminari in one small group and Todoroki will be going off on his own. Only person that could possibly convince Todoroki would be Izzy, and that would have been iffy.'
"What wrong?" asked Shinso.
"The fact they recognized us means they watched the sports festival, what our quirks are and how we fight," Mineta began as they met up with the girls of their class, "The real wild card here is you, Shinso."
"What do you mean?"
"Their intel on you would just be about your quirk, they know next to nothing about your fighting style."
"True."
"Mineta," interjected Yaoyorozu, "I take it you realized too."
"Yeah, we can't split off on our own, whatever they're doing for this test."
"What do you mean?" asked Ida.
"They know our quirks four-eyes," said Bakugo.
"Can I convince you to stay with the group?"
"Pffttt..."
"I'm serious here," said Mineta not giving it very high odds as they kept walking, but he had to try, "Without Izzy and Tokoyami, you and Todoroki are easily the most powerful members of the class in a group scenario, and you have much better fine control of your quirk."
"Runt, I work best when I have mobility."
"I know that..."
"I'm already going to have two tag-a-longs," commented Bakugo pausing as if trying to think something over, "It's going to be difficult enough for me to drag them along. I can't babysit everyone else, that said if I see any stragglers..."
"Got it," that was the most he could expect out of Bakugo at the moment he supposed, then he felt a hand on his should but couldn't see anything, "Hagakure!?"
"Don't worry, you've got this," she said.
Stands:
"You two are lucky," said Ms. Joke to Tokoyami and Midoriya as they sat down, "You see, every year the first thing that happens is the crushing of U.A. It's kinda a tradition."
"What?" exclaimed Kota, Midoriya, and Tokoyami at the same time. K-9 hovered near Kota while staying silent.
"And with two of your strongest sitting things out," she continued, "Your class is going to be crushed. You didn't warn your class did you."
"I don't see why I should bother, real heroes would be able to turn things around, maybe at U.A. we take the long view."
"Don't under-estimate Minoru," said Midoriya calmly, "He isn't our class's strategist for nothing."
"Oh I know all about him," replied Ms. Joke, "You see, I have the Chess Championship's runner up from the year Minoru Mineta won Japan's Junior Chess Championship." That got a sudden reaction from Aizawa.
'This is bad,' thought Midoriya, 'Minoru may say he's at 100%, but I know he's not there yet.' He watched them students scramble and he could tell Mineta was struggling to keep up.
"You should have waited till the next exam for that kid to recover," Ms. Joke shook her head.
'Please Yaoyorozu, please notice that Mineta isn't...' Midoriya thought as the buzzer went off and breathed a sigh of relief, 'The class circled back for him.'
'Thank goodness Ashido managed to cover him,' thought Yaoyorozu at how they had targeted Mineta first thing, 'That was a really cheap attack. They knew he was hurt.' She had made two shields to protect herself and Hagakure from the rubber balls being thrown their way. "Mineta, we need a plan."
"I hate to say this but we're..." he cut off as many of their attackers lost the ability to target them from the rear due to a suddenly forming ice wall that measured over four stories tall and before the Ketsubutsu students could react they were suddenly frozen.
"Apologies," said Todoroki walking up to the group from the side, "I should have realized earlier that you hadn't recovered."
"Todoroki, don't let down your guard, Shindo's quirk is Vibrate, your ice won't hold those Ketsubutsu students for long!" shouted Mineta.
'He remembered my quirk from that long ago,' Shindo's eyes went wide, he noticed the other schools had temporarily scattered, the glacier left a rather sizable impression.
"It will hold long enough," said Todoroki evenly, "to eliminate them."
"Wait!" said Yaoyorozu, "Mineta it looked like you recognized more than just Shindo, do you know any of their other quirks? Cause there are not enough of them to pass the class and Ketsubutsu's Two-Face over there will have problems freeing his classmates without hurting them." She ordinarily would not have resorted to name calling, but given they had specifically targeted something the knew was recovering from life-threatening injuries, so needless to say, she was not in a good mood.
"I remember Toteki, whose quirk is boomerang, and Makabe's quirk, which is stiffening," answered Mineta causing the two other boys' eyes to widen, "We met in that Shogi Tournament, trying to remember what year, anyways I remember eliminating the two of you."
"We have people starting to converge on us again," called out Jiro, "Probably thinking they have a plan to take out Todoroki, I'd give it a minute, cause they're trying to be stealthy on their approach."
"Understood," said Mineta walking up to a still ice-encased Shindo, "Look we'll make you a deal, how about instead of eliminating your class, our classes team up and curb stomp the other schools. Nobody's been eliminated yet so there are more than enough slots for us all to pass."
Shindo thought for a second, seeing that his whole class would get eliminated otherwise, he didn't see any negatives with agreeing to Mineta's terms, "Okay, let's do this, but if it looks like there won't be enough slots..."
"All bets are off, got it," said Mineta grinning, "Thing is I intend for us to pass quickly so that's a non-issue. Todoroki get them out of your ice." There was a cracking behind them as the ice was beginning to give way.
"Got it!"
"Shindo is this a good idea?" Nakagame asked shivering as Todoroki started melting the ice encasing the Ketsubutsu students.
"Yeah, I think the Grape boy has a plan in mind and that plan requires our quirks in addition to the quirks of his classmates, so they can't afford to double-cross us," Shindo commented rubbing his arms to try to warm up as Todoroki finished releasing them from the ice right as Todoroki's ice wall gave way to a bunch of people dressed up as ninjas.
"We are..."
"A bunch of dumb-asses dressed up as ninjas," came a voice.
"Hey..." the guy's eyes went blank and the others got hit with arrows with built in miniature tasers.
"One person just advanced!" came a tired voice over the speaker, followed by sputtering about how the one person eliminated 130 people.
"Okay, we're going divide these guys between our classes, none of us advance yet, so we can all pass as a group," called out Mineta, "Sero, Uraraka, Shindo, and Ida. I have a little job for you guys." Mineta grinned deviously, "Todoroki, Shinso, Ashido, Toteki and Makabe, you all are on standby with me in case things go sideways."
'Okay weightlessness, tape, a speedster, and my vibrations,' thought Shindo eliminating one of the Ninjas, while other members of his class and U.A.'s 1-A eliminated the others, "So, large scale traps, we can potentially get my class and the members of your class that stayed here to pass all in one fell swoop."
"We may have to repeat this two or three times, but it should work," said Mineta, "Jiro and Shoji keep an eye out for a reverse ambush. Ida start luring, Shinso be ready for some precision shooting. If we have to repeat this, we'll have the people not essential for this plan passing first, agreed?"
"Makes sense," acknowledged Shindo as he started cracking some rock to make boulders while Sato helped move them in position.
'We've got this,' thought Mineta.
"You know I'm surprised we're working with them," said Nakagame, "Originally we were going to crush them."
"Yeah, but as you know when I give my word I keep it, plus I don't want to feel like a heel after we just got shown mercy," muttered Shindo, "Besides Grape boy over there came up with a good plan for both classes to quickly pass, and hey if that plan gets our class to pass quickly, I don't have a problem."
"Really, seems kind of..."
"No, while it may seem a simple plan, in this chaotic environment where everyone is having tunnel vision, it's going to work, just watch," her boyfriend replied watching Ida racing back with a bunch of people hot on his heals, "In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." There was a loud crash. "See just like clockwork, we have our first batch." He walked over to the trap as both the U.A. students and his classmates swarmed the place, "Okay after these guys get eliminated we'll rinse and repeat."
After repeating the same tactic four times they finally got enough people eliminated for the group to pass. "Okay, I thought you could be scary," muttered Toteki after his targets turned blue, "That short runt managed to pass everyone in his class that was with him as well as our class that quickly..."
"52 students have passed we have 48 more slots to go!"
"Hey you faced him in Shogi didn't you?"
"Yeah, but he was only 7 at the time," he replied watching Mineta being carried on the multi-armed U.A. student's shoulders, "I thought it was luck more than anything."
"Well what I care about is we passed and can relax till next round of the exam," said Shindo, "Thing I'm wondering is if that Apprentice of Hawks' is psychic, if he is I need to get the numbers for this weekend's Takarakuji off him."
Stands:
"Hey that's my class down there," said Ms. Joke before calling out, "GOOD JOB YOU GUYS!"
"Hey that looks like most of Class 1-A," said Kota, "How'd they pass at the same time?"
"Mineta," both Midoriya and Tokoyami said at the same noticing Mineta being carried on Shoji's shoulders.
"Guess something happened to cause my class to team up with a good portion of your class," said Ms. Joke, "Another sign of our EVERLASTING LOVE, we should GET MARRIED!"
"No."
"Gee Eraser, I didn't know you were such a ladies man," said Rocky before Ms. Joke and he started cracking up.
"Do you have a death wish?"
"Looks like Kacchan, Kirishima, and Kaminari weren't with them," commented Midoriya after a moment.
"Unsurprising," replied Tokoyami, "However there are still plenty of slots left, they may still make it."
"Yeah."
"Hey Todoroki," said Mineta from Shoji's shoulders, "thanks for coming to back us up."
"It wasn't a big deal, you would have done the same, and with Midoriya being unable to watch his 'brother,' I figured I should do so."
"Well that's strange Bakugo isn't here yet," said Jiro.
"Well considering Kirishima and Kaminari are with him, I'm not too surprised, they're going to try to pass as a group most likely," said Yaoyorozu.
'Come on guys,' thought Jiro, 'It'd suck if Kaminari didn't get his provisional license.' She didn't know when she'd started falling for the idiot, or if she just saw him as a goofy brother, but she didn't want him falling behind.'
"You know your archery skills were rather impressive, why didn't you use them in the sports festival?" Shindo asked Shinso.
"Because it wasn't a support item to keep my quirk in check," replied Shinso, "I was only a gen-ed student at the time."
'There's the guy from Shiketsu, why's he giving Todoroki that look,' thought Mineta from his perch on Shoji's shoulders, "Hey pal, what's the deal?"
"He's just like Endeavor," replied Yoarashi.
"Shoto, don't listen to him," said Yaoyorozu.
'Jeez, just what we need, a drama queen picking a fight,' thought Mineta.
"Look if you got a problem with Todoroki, you got a problem with all of us," said Sero.
"I think everyone needs to calm down," said Asui playing peacemaker, "We don't want to lose our chances at a license due to something stupid."
"Mineta are you sure you're okay?" asked Jiro as Sato helped him off Shoji.
"I'll be fine!"
"Hey Mineta," called out Shindo, "Did you go with that Lame name Grape Juice?"
It took Mineta a moment to process what Shindo just asked, "Oh yeah, I did tell you back during the tournament... No, I went with Grape Shot, why you still go with the name Vibrator?" As soon as Mineta said that the Ketsubutsu Students and a good portion of his class started cracking up.
"For your information, my Hero Name is Grand..."
Stands:
"You see anyone that would be an interesting intern?" asked Rocky, "I mean besides your two Apprentices."
"Not really, the guy that passed first seems okay at first glance, but he seems to have a real chip on his shoulder," replied Hawks.
"So why are we here anyways?"
"Partially moral support, partially because it gives the students piece of mind that we're here," said Hawks, "I can see why Ryukyu wants that Mineta kid interning under her and not Nighteye, between his talents in fashion design and his intelligence, he'd be an extremely good sidekick for managing general operations of both a hero agency and handling logistical work."
"You mean another version of me, right?"
"If I left you in charge of the office it'd be a disaster, I may be fast but not when it comes to the paperwork mess you'd leave."
Rocky chose to ignore the jab, "From what I've seen in the brief time I've handled classes at U.A. as well as seeing some of the student's past work, Mineta has a similar flaw that I have, he doesn't like busy work. He can handle the logistics of a stakeout just fine, or piece clues together for a case, but if something doesn't interest him he can't keep his attention on it."
Tartarus Prison: (Exterior)
A tall slender man got out of the passenger side of a black sedan walking towards the entrance of the underground prison. Following him was a man in a trenchcoat whom walked over to one of the guards to fill out some paperwork.
A fated conversation was about to take place...
Notes:
It was hard to come up with a way for the class to make it through part 1 of the exam with Midoriya and Tokoyami sitting it out. Thankfully, with Todoroki having been humbled by Shinso as well as all the tragedy that has happened to Midoriya, he decided to keep an eye on Mineta. This is especially true since Mineta nearly died at Summer Camp, well he technically did, but Kaminari managed to restart his heart. I didn't think Bakugo is enough of a team player to come to the rescue, he's got a chip on his shoulder from being abducted. It isn't as big of a chip this time, due to his awareness of 'One for All' and the fact that Kota had also been abducted and the boy would have suffered far worse if he hadn't been there.
Additionally, a good portion of the class knew Mineta wasn't at 100%, he may have been healed, but he hasn't completely recovered. Hagakure also still feels rather guilty for her body being used to nearly kill him.
As for the Ketsubutsu kids, I felt there would be a potential for a team up if they got an offer they couldn't refuse and given their quirks they could probably pass fairly quickly like how Uraraka, Sero, and Midoriya passed in canon.
