Hyde walked up to the Death Arms Hero Agency, the place he had chosen to spend his internship at. He had gotten quite a few offers, but this seemed like the best place out of all of them. Death Arms wasn't a top ranked hero or anything, but he was strong. Hyde knew that if he wanted to get stronger, this was the place to go.
'So this is the place.' Hyde thought to himself, taking one last look at the address to be sure. 'I've got to get stronger while I'm here. I'm nowhere close to being the strongest hero. Heck, I'm not even the strongest amongst my year. I can't fall behind any further.'
"Huh? Hey, aren't you from Class C?"
Hyde turned his head towards the voice he heard. Walking up to him was a girl with short black hair and what seemed to be earphone plugs hanging from her ears. The uniform she had on told him she was a U.A student like him.
"Yeah, that's right." Hyde answered. "What do you want?"
"Gee, aren't you friendly." the girl said sarcastically. She looked at the building in front of them. "Let me guess. You're interning here too."
"Too?" Hyde questioned. A low groan escaped him when he realized what she meant. "So you're interning her as well?"
"That's right. We saw each other in the Sports Festival. I'm Kyoka Jiro from Class 1-A." she said, introducing herself. "You're the one that lost to Bakugo in the second round, right? Hyde I believe your name was?"
"That's right." Hyde said. "Can't say I remember you though."
A scowl came to Jiro's face as she looked at him. "I made it to the Cavalry Battle! You could have at least remembered what I looked like!"
"That explains it. You didn't even make it to the final tournament." Hyde said. "Sorry, but I only bother to remember those that make an impression. The strong ones."
"Didn't you only get into the final tournament through technicality?"
This time it was Hyde's turn to scowl at hearing the annoying comment. "I'll show you just how good I am this week! You just make sure not to get in my way!"
"Heh, I'll be making you eat those words by the time this week's up." Jiro said.
The two U.A students walked together inside the building. At the other end of the first room was a woman behind a desk. She glanced up from her computer at them and recognized their uniforms. "Ah, you must be the two interns we've been expecting." she said. "Please wait a moment." She picked up the phone at her desk and dialed a number. "Yes, hello sir? Those two interns from U.A you've been expecting have arrived. Mhm. Yes, I understand." She hung up the phone and turned her attention back to the two of them. "Death Arms will be down here to greet you soon. Please wait a few minutes."
Hyde and Jiro nodded understandingly and took a seat at some of the empty chairs. The two of them sat in silence, not really interested in talking with one another. Both of them were grateful when the elevator came down to the first floor and the pro hero Death Arms emerged.
The muscular hero looked at the two students. "Welcome to the Death Arms Hero agency." he said. "You'll be working with me for the next week. Don't expect this to be like your classes. This will be real world experience. Are you both prepared for that responsibility?"
"Yes, sir!" both of them said firmly.
Death Arms cracked a grin. "Good to hear. Now follow me."
Hyde and Jiro walked behind the pro hero and got into the elevator. Death Arms pressed a button and the door closed as the elevator rose up to the chosen floor. When they emerged, they found several heroes that were working as sidekicks at the agency sitting at desks. They walked past them and into what appeared to be Death Arms's office. He closed the door behind them and looked at the two students.
"Let's start with introductions, shall we? What are your names and goals?"
"Kyoko Jiro. Class 1-A of U.A." Jiro answered. "I'm aiming to become a hero."
"Hyde Gekido. Class 1-C of U.A" Hyde said in a similar manner. "I'm going to be the future Number 1 Hero."
To their surprise, Death Arms let out a laugh at both of them. "Looks like both of you have your own issues right out of the gate." he said. He looked at Jiro first. "Just a hero? That's too vague. You need to think about what kind of hero you want to be, what to specialize in. Otherwise, you'll never make it in this industry." He then turned his attention to Hyde. "And you. You claim you're going to be the future Number 1? You won't even crack the top 10 from the performance I saw at the Sports Festival."
"I know I didn't get first place, but just watch. I swear I'll-"
"That's not what I meant, kid." Death Arms told Hyde. "Do you even realize you're not using your Quirk to its full potential?"
Hyde blinked his eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"Seems you don't realize it." he sighed. "Alright kid, make a structure here in this room. It can be anything you want, as long as it's around your height and decently thicker than what I can grab with my hand."
Hyde wasn't sure where Death Arms was going with this. Was it perhaps that his structures were too simple? If that was his thought process, then he was wrong. He could make something plenty detailed looking. Setting up his territory, Hyde used his Quirk to make a small statue up from the ground. It looked like the physique of any regular human for the most part.
'Let's see him mock my Quirk's potential now.'
Death Arms walked up to the statue and gently knocked the knuckle of his hand against it. "Just as I thought." he said. Bringing his arm back, he swung it horizontally, smashing the top half of the statue clean off. The brute force and suddenness of his attack caught Hyde and Jiro by surprise. "Now take a look and tell me what you see."
Hyde and Jiro did as Death Arms said and looked at what was left of the statue. Jiro took notice of what Death Arms was referring to right away. She could see inside the statue.
"It's hollow." she said.
"Exactly." Death Arms nodded as his gaze stayed stern with Hyde. "In your fight with that Bakugo kid at the Sports Festival, all of the walls and everything else you made were easily blown away by him. That was because they were hollow on the inside."
Hyde stood there in shock. He hadn't even realized the fact that the structures he had been making were hollow. With them like that, anything he made could easily be destroyed by a power-type Quirk as if it were tissue paper. He had always been focused with the outwards appearance of what he was trying to create. He never actually gave any thought to the inside of it.
"A Quirk like yours could do wonders for reconstruction after a disaster." Death Arms said. "But you're too narrow minded with your Quirk. You need to think of the big picture. If you can't even make a sturdy structure with your Quirk, then you can forget about being the Number 1 Hero."
The words from Death Arms sunk deep into Hyde. How could he have been so blind? He had never noticed this even once in all his life. It was no wonder he had lost in the Sports Festival.
"While you're interning here, I want you both to think about your current flaws and how to get past them." Death Arms told the both of them. "But you'll be doing that in your free time. Right now, we have patrol duty. Get changed into your costumes and meet me at the elevator in ten minutes."
"Yes sir!" the two of them said together.
Marcus had met the Dragon Hero Ryukyu a couple of times when he was much younger. Since the Cersy family was known for having dragon-related Quirks for generations, she had come for some joint training with some of the pro heroes from his family from time to time. But he had never spoken at length with her.
Which was why he wasn't entirely sure what it would be like working under her as an intern.
"You've certainly grown a bit since I last saw you." Ryukyu said as she walked with Marcus. The two of them were patrolling the city along with another student from U.A. Unlike him however, she was not there as an intern. The girl was a third year and had a work study program with the Ryukyu agency. She had long periwinkle hair and wore a skin-tight royal blue bodysuit for her hero costume. Right before they had gone out on patrol with Ryukyu, she had introduced herself as Nejire Hado.
"I suppose it has been a few years since the last time you came over." Marcus said in agreement. "Dad still mentions you though whenever you run into each other during hero work."
"That old man of yours sure helped me out a lot." Ryukyu said. "I'm a little surprised you chose my agency for your internship rather than his."
"My father has trained me a lot ever since I said I wanted to be a hero." Marcus explained. "I wanted a change of pace to further expand my horizons."
"I see."
"Man, you're so lucky!" Nejire said, coming in close to Marcus, a little too close for his liking. "You have an amazing hero for a father, and you knew Ryukyu already!"
"Y-Yeah…" Marcus said, trying to back up from the third year a bit.
Ryukyu cracked a small grin. Nejire's personality was a bit odd, but she had the makings of a true hero. "So Marcus, is there anything specific you're looking to improve on?"
Marcus nodded his head. "Admittedly, I'm still unable to transform myself completely all at once. I can only use one or two of my wyvern features at a time."
"I see." Ryukyu said. "That's not entirely uncommon with some transformation Quirks. In that case, we'll do some training after patrols today."
"That would be great. Thank-"
The conversation was cut short as a loud bang was heard down the block. A man with a large monstrous appearance was going on a rampage. The clear signs of a villain.
Ryukyu quickly activated her Quirk and transformed into a large dragon. She charged at the villain in an attempt to subdue him quickly before any further damage could be done. "Cease your actions at once!"
"Annoying heroes! Get lost!" the villain yelled. He shrunk back down to normal size as he got close to Ryukyu before quickly transforming once again right under Ryukyu's stomach. He managed to use the force to toss her onto her back. He then let out a roar that shook the air around them.
"Geez, what's with this guy? He's awfully rowdy?" Nejire said as she prepared to move in and assist Ryukyu.
As Ryukyu shook off the pain in her back, she looked up and saw that the roar from the villain was shaking the ledge the building near them had that a pair of window cleaners were using. The workers on the ledge struggled to hang on and soon lost their grip. They began to fall towards the streets below.
"Nejire! Marcus! Help them!" Ryukyu called out.
The two students didn't need to be told twice as they sprang into action. Marcus brought out his wings and took off running. He kicked off the ground and flew towards one of the falling workers. Aiming his trajectory perfectly, he grabbed the worker and descended to the ground another block away. Nejire got to the second worker and held him while using her Quirk to hover in the air and bring him down in a safer area.
With the workers safe, Ryukyu got back to the fight and managed to quickly subdue the villain, pressing him against the road. Once she had him safely pinned, she glanced at Marcus and Nejire. "Good work, you two."
"All in a day's work!" Nejire said with a smile.
Marcus was amazed by how calm Ryukyu and Nejire seemed. The suddenness of what had occured still had his heart racing. To be able to adapt to the situation on the fly like that, it went to show just how far he had to go as a hero.
It had been a long day of patrolling for Dan as he walked back into the Aquamarine Hero Agency with the hero Aquamarine herself. He had spent the full day shadowing her as they patrolled the city. He himself hadn't done all that much. The few instances of trouble they did run into, Aquamarine was able to handle it herself with ease. She was just that good. Though the topography of the city they were in also helped. Rivers and small lakes ran throughout the city, so no place was more perfect for her Quirk.
Aquamarine was a female hero in her late twenties. She had blonde hair that she kept tied up in a ponytail and clear blue eyes. Her hero outfit consisted of a skin-tight blue and white bodysuit, as well as a pair of white framed goggles over her eyes.
"So, what did you think of your first patrol, kid?" Aquamarine asked.
"It was different than what I had expected." Dan said. "But it was a good experience."
"I like the positive attitude." she said. "Speaking of which, there's something about you I've been meaning to mention." She turned around to look directly at Dan. "I noticed you've only been using the water inside your body and what's available from your suit."
"Well yeah. I have to be physically touching any other water to control it." Dan explained. "I'd need to run to one of the other sources of water in the city to use anything else."
"I'm not so sure of that." Aquamarine told him. "You can also control ice if you touch it, correct?"
Dan nodded his head. "I'd have to use my Quirk to liquify it in order to move it freely, but yes."
"Just as I thought." Aquamarine said. She motioned for Dan to follow her. "There's so much potential with your Quirk that's simply going to waste. And I'm going to show you what that is."
Dan noticed the direction Aquamarine was going in was away from the main office of the building where all the heroes working there would usually be. "Ok, but where are we going?"
"To my agency's special training room." Aquamarine told him. They went through a door and down a hall before finally coming to a stop at another door.
Dan wasn't sure what to expect as he walked through the door with Aquamarine. But he widened his eyes at what he saw before him. An Olympic sized pool completely filled with water. He had never actually seen a pool this large with his own two eyes in person before.
"Changing rooms for the men are over there." Aquamarine said as she pointed to a door at the side. "There should be a spare pair of swim trunks you can use in there. Once you've changed, we can begin."
"Begin what though?" Dan asked, not understanding where she was going with this.
Aquamarine showed a grin at the student. "I'm going to show you a whole new way to use that Quirk of yours."
Doing as he was told, Dan walked into the changing room. Just as Aquamarine had said, there were several sets of clean swim trunks piled together on a shelf. They were all blue with a white line going down the sides. After finding one that was his size, he changed out of his hero costume and into the swim trunks. He wasn't entirely sure what Aquamarine had planned, but if it improved his Quirk, then he would take it.
Once he had changed, Dan walked back out to the pool. He saw Aquamarine waiting for him, but like him she had also changed out of her hero costume. She was now wearing a two piece swimsuit that had the same blue color as her hero costume.
"Alright, let's get started with training." Aquamarine said.
"You haven't said what this training is for though." Dan told her. "What new way am I going to learn to use my Quirk?"
"First, a little science question." the female hero said. "What are the three main states of matter?"
"Huh? Well… solid, liquid, and gas."
"Correct." she nodded. "The temperature at which these changes in state occur is different for all forms of matter, but the fact remains that they do indeed exist for each one. This includes dihydrogen monoxide, or water as it is more commonly known. Water is the liquid form of it, while ice is its solid form. You have control over both, so it stands to reason that you should be able to do the same with the third state. Water vapor. However, in both the Sports Festival and today's patrol work, I didn't see you make use of it once. You claim to usually be limited to the water inside your body and the water in your costume, but the fact is water is all around you."
Dan lowered his head. "I've tried it before, but I can't really gather much water from the moisture in the air. If the water I use from my body gets heated and turned into gas, I can at least keep it near me and re-liquify it. But I've never been able to turn the water in my body into gas form on my own, or use much of the water in the air at will. It's just too thinly spread out. The best I've managed is getting a few drops of water to form on my arms."
"But that means it is possible for you to use the moisture in the air." Aquamarine pointed out. "You just need to work on getting better control of it. Do that, and your possibilities will expand tremendously."
"So then this training is for…"
"Yup." the hero nodded. "I'm going to help you learn to use water vapor."
A/N: Well everyone, I hope you enjoyed seeing the start of some of Class C's internships. This won't be a long arc but you will see some development for certain characters as you've noticed already I'm sure. Until next chapter, readers.
