LW: And now for the main event, UA UA UA! :P Hero Academia has arrived, this surely can't end horribly, can it
Your move Hero - 1st day in UA
April
"You ready for this kiddo?" Hisashi asks as Izuku laces up his shoes
"You remembered to pack everything?" Inko frets "Nothing silly like action figures, just regular school supplies"
Izuku rolls his eyes "Yes Mom, I haven't done that since I was 8. And yeah Dad, I think I'm ready" he grins then frowns when his dad adjusts his tie "Hey!"
"You really need to learn to do this properly, I'm not going to be standing her every morning" the man chuckles, then playfully ruffles his hair "You did good Izuku"
"Exactly hon. Go out there and show UA the Hero we know you'll be. We're both so proud of you son" she tears up and pulls him into a crushing hug, Galaxy Queen and Yubel both cooing to his embarrassment, before finally releasing him so he wouldn't be late
"See you tonight honey, I should be home early this week, Mr. Pegasus is working on a personal project so there's actually less work for us while he irons out the kinks before sending it down to our department" the man explains, kissing his wife and following his son out the door
UA
"1A, 1A, where are you?" Izuku mutters as he jogs through the halls, before finally finding the correct door and pausing at the sheer size "Holy, I've summoned dragons and machines smaller than this door" he squeaks 'Ok, calm down, everything will be fine, just as long as that overly strict guy from the exam isn't here he seemed REALLY high maintenance, and I already have Kachan so I don't need another one of those kinds of people on a daily basis' he thinks as he opens the door
"Take your feet off that desk now!"
"Huh?"
"It's the 1st day and you're already disrespecting the great men and women who sat in these desks before us, as well as the craftsmen who built them in the first place!"
"Jeez, did you get that stick up your ass get put up there surgically or is it related to your quirk?"
'Shit, Kachan and the stiff guy' Izuku mentally whines, hearing the spirits laughing at his expense, as well as Jigan waving at him from Bakugo's desk, alerting the blond to his arrival
"Huh, you actually made it Deku, and 1A aswell, least I know someone in this class will be a challenge" the blond bomber laughs as all eyes were on the now slightly twitching verdette
"Good morning!" the stiff boy half shouts, even his movement looked uncomfortable as he walks over to Izuku "My name is Tenya Iida, of Somei, pleased to meet you properly" he says
"Um, hi. Izuku Midoriya" Izuku says with an akward wave
"Midoriya. You realized there was more to the exam than outwardly stated, your perception skills are quite impressive. I misjudged you the day of the exam and as a hero student, you're already vastly superior to me" Iida declares
'I, seriously doubt that'
"Hey, I know that bush head, Midoriya!" Izuku turns to see a cheerfully grinning Uraraka just behind him in the doorway
'It's that nice girl from the exam with the gravity quirk… Uraraka, I think' Izuku thinks "Hey Uraraka" he greets, confirming his suspicion when she grins wider rather than frown or correct him
"If you're here to make friends, I suggest you pack up your stuff and go somewhere else" a low monotone interrupts their conversation, causing both of them to jump. Looking down Izuku sees what llookslike a caterpillar with a human face, but on a 2nd glance realizes it to be a sleeping bag the man was wearing, confirmed when he squirms into the classroom and stands up, the bag dropping off him like water "Welcome to UA's hero course, it took 8 seconds for you all to shut up, that's not a good sign. It better improve as the year progresses, or you all won't be here by years end" he says ominously "Now, my name is Shota Aizawa, I will be your teacher for this year. Please take these and get outside" he orders, setting a pile of gym uniforms on his desk "You have 5 minutes"
5 minutes later
"A quirk assessment Test!" 1A shout/repeat in confusion
"But what about Orientation?" Uraraka asks "We're gonna miss it"
"If you want to do well in this profession, you can't waste time with pointless ceremony" Aizawa counters "Here in UA we don't follow the general curriculum or class structure, meaning the teachers run their classes as they see fit. For example, today you'll all be running through the general fitness tests using your quirks to gauge a baseline for your skills and power. Bakugo, you got the most Villain Points in the exam, what was your furthest distance thrown with a softball in your previous school?"
"About 67m more or less" Bakugo answers with a shrug
"Good, now to see what you can do with your quirk" Aizawa says, throwing a softball at the blond before letting him take his place on the field
'This, isn't going to be fun for anyone with enhanced senses' Izuku thinks as he grimaces
"Die!"
BOOM
"All of you need to know your maximum capabilities" Aizawa explains while the sensor in the ball finishes calculating the distance "It's the most rational way to determine your potential as a Pro Hero" he finishes before showing Bakugo's score
705.2m
"Wow we get to use our quirks, this is going to be so much fun!" a pink-skinned girl with way too much sugar in her breakfast cheers, getting nods or statements of agreement from a handful of other students
"So this looks fun huh?" Aizawa repeats, an air of dread filling the yard, as well as something…else "You have 3 years to become a hero, you think it'll be fun and games, maybe meet up with friends for ice cream after school? Idiots, today you all compete in 8 challenges to gauge your potential, whoever has the lowest score at the end of the day, will be deemed as someone with Zero Potential and be expelled from UA!" he announces to yelling and panic from the students in front of him "As I already told you, I set the rules for this class if that's a problem, then feel free to leave now, save me the trouble of expelling you later" he adds, giving a very unnerving look, almost a smile but it was severely off.
"But that's not fair, you can't send us home on the first day!"
"Kid, life isn't fair, especially in this profession. Natural Disasters, power-hungry villains, city destroying devastation, they all happen, and the world keeps turning. It's a hero's job to combat that unfairness, if you want to be a pro you'll need to push yourself to the brink. For the next 3 years, UA will throw one terrible hardship after another at you.[Is that foreshadowing, or is Murphy lining up a nutshot?] So go beyond, plus ultra style. Show me it's no mistake that you're here, let's do this thing!"
Luck wasn't on Izuku's side when he was paired against Bakugo in the 1st challenge, the 50m dash, especially as neither his birth quirk or his limited control of OFA would help him, while Bakugo had his explosions to function as a turbo boost. The training to inherit One For All did at least improve his overall fitness and strength, so while his 7.02 didn't beat Bakugo's 4.13 seconds, it was a vast improvement from the last time he was tested with these events.
A similar problem sprang up for the sidesteps and flexibility/toe touch challenges, which Izuku had to do functionally quirkless, though at least he wasn't alone as very few quirks actually gave anyone an advantage in those particular events, just the short kid with grape hairballs for the sidesteps, and the pink girl who was simply more flexible than everyone else in the yard
Then they moved on to the Standing Long jump, which was something Izuku could actually use a summon for
Renge, Gatekeeper of Darkworld
Then by standing on the Dark World monster's hands he was tossed cleanly across the sandpit, making sure the fiend was standing on the start line like he was supposed to first.
For the Grip strength test:
Elemental Hero Wildheart
"Any chance?"
"No problem Young Midoriya" the hero chuckles, picking up the device and crushing it, causing Izuku to panic, until he hears a tired sigh from Aizawa and a muttered 'I'll allow it. Breaking the device does prove your strength I guess'
The Ball throw was interesting, mostly because Uraraka managed to get an infinity, simply because she removed the ball's gravity and sent the thing into space.
Finally, it came time for Izuku's turn at the ball throw, and while Catapult Turtle would have been fun, he decided to go with something simple and straightforward, using One For All for the first time in the test. Picking up the ball Izuku steps into the circle, cocks back his arm and lets OFA flow into his right arm…and then everything goes wrong
2m
"I erased…" Aizawa begins, but it's drowned out by a bellow of "DEKU!" by Bakugo who blasts over to the boy, now lying facedown on the ground, as the hero approaches he hears an endless mutter of swear words, though misses how the verdette's shadow appears to move on its own.
"What the fuck Deku? You didn't even do anything over the top how did this happen?"
"Because I erased his quirk" Aizawa repeats, causing the explosive boy to freeze
"You did what?"
"The move he was about to perform, was the one he used during the Entrance Exam, which shattered his arm and both legs. A hero can't be so reckless that he cripples himself after one attack, leaving him a liabi…"
"And he also can't be a hero if you fucking killed him you hobo-looking freak!" Bakugo explodes
"Ka-chan, his pulse is weak" the blond whirls around, about to yell when he sees the heterochromic, tear-shining eyes and calms down, meanwhile Aizawa wonders how Miss Yaoyarozu knows Bakugo well enough to have already given him a nickname
"What do we do?" he asks
"He needs something to recover his energy. He's supposed to be meeting Mr. Yagi later, so there should be something in his bag or jacket" Momo explains
Bakugo nods and runs off, while Aizawa shouts "Stop, if you leave this field I will expel…"
"And if Izu-kun dies UA won't last the week" Momo states coldly "You won't last the night after someone informs Inko that her boy died due to your negligence", then in a barely heard mutter "Maybe even less if Hisashi or Pegasus hear about it before she does"
Aizawa scoffs "Nonsense, Midoriya's quirk summons monsters"
"Deku's quirk is energy you shitty extra!" Bakugo shouts as he returns with a strange jug of red liquid "Raise his head Oni-chan" he asks, to which she nods and does so, after which he pulled off the cork with his teeth and begins to pour the Red Medicine down his throat
"What was that?" Jirou asks then repeats in a more frantic tone when once emptied the jug evaporates
"The best I could do, there's no equivalent for stamina in the damn game, so an LP gain effect will have to make do"
"The summons aren't Izuku's quirk, they're a byproduct of it, his actual quirk is the energy he can use to summon them with, that same energy keeps everything else running inside and out"
"So, like the opposite of my quirk then" Mineta muses, then continues when he sees the others are looking at him "My quirk works best and has the longest effect when I'm in good health and well-rested, decreasing as I get more run down, tired and stressed, but Midoriya is in good health because of his quirk?"
"Deku's ALIVE because of his damn quirk. Every action you take, takes energy, and Deku's is run solely on his Duel Energy, his quirk" Bakugo growls, and the direness of the situation sinks in
"I'll take Young Midoriya to the Nurse's Office" All Might announces as he makes a surprise appearance, picking up the boy as gently as he could
"Don't let Recovery Girl use her quirk on him" All Might pauses, turning to the French boy "Her quirk uses stamina which he has none of, and his quirk won't have had enough time to build up energy yet"
"Good point Young man" All Might nods, not seeing any reason to voice his own thoughts that with his quirk once more active, it would be frantically drawing energy from One For All in order to restore the boy
'That bastard nearly killed us. I want his head!'
'You don't know that, they couldn't have predicted our quirk would react like that'
'Yes, because most things are just peachy with the loss of their lifeforce'
Izuku sighs, his eyes rolling in the black space of their inner world 'Yes, but it was never stated we needed Duel Energy to live, just believed and assumed'
'Because nobody was dumb enough to cut us off! Now get out of here, your powers should have worked long enough for you to be walking around without trouble'
Izuku sighs deeply as he opens his eyes, staring up at the ceiling before sitting up, and surprised to see a somber-looking Eraserhead sitting at the end of his bed
"Aizawa-sensei?"
"Midoriya, I wish to apologize, I didn't think shutting down your quirk would put your life in danger like that. It doesn't help I don't read the student files until the end of the 1st day in an attempt to avoid making assumptions based on school history and quirk"
"It's okay Sensei, we didn't know that would happen either" Izuku chuckles nervously, rubbing the back of his head
"Still, I should have been more careful with my quirk use. There is one other thing, something Yaoyarozu, or based on what I overheard Bakugo saying, the entity speaking through her said to me with a dead-eyed stare 'Tribute stuck in a feedback loop', any chance you could explain?"
Izuku tilts his head, then looks directly behind Aizawa and his eyes widen, the glitching spectral image of his spirit clearly stuck mid manifestation, the way it turned to look him in the eye meaning he knew Izuku could see him
"Yes I can. Something happened to you, could have been years ago, or more recent, but your monster spirit awakened. It tried to either possess or manifest in the real world, but like Yaoyarozu said it's a 5star monster, you don't have enough energy to summon him yourself, but he's already got a foot in the door and can't just go back" the underground hero raises an eyebrow "I can help manifest him if you want? You can have others present too if you'd prefer, this is a rather personal situation after all"
"Just let him do it Eraser"
Aizawa turns his head "You shouldn't even be here Yagi"
The skeletal man shrugs "Young Midoriya already knows my secret and has used his quirk on me. It's perfectly safe"
The underground hero looked to be considering it when his phone chimed. Fairly sure he knew at least the sender if not the content he sighs before opening the text
SHOTA! WHERE ARE YOU?
Aizawa groans, even in text form Hisashi is loud. Looking from his phone to Izuku and Toshinori he hums, then asks "You said we could have company, right?"
A little later
Izuku fidgets nervously s he sits across from Eraserhead, Present Mic, and Midnight, about to use his quirk on all 3 of them, to reveal their Duel Spirits
"Are you all sure you want to do this?" he asks
"Of course Cutie"
"You betcha little listener"
"Just get on with it Problem Child" was the hero's respective responses, while the spirits just nodded
Focusing on Present Mic, Izuku's eyes flicker from green to gold before an old boombox drops from thin air onto the table, then with a sound reminiscent of the pre-quirk Transformers series, it shifts into a little red robot
Soul Resonance: Manifestation
Morphtronic Boomboxxen
"Of course, his would be loud" Aizawa groans
"Aw, it's a cute little robot. Me next, me next!" Midnight cheers, so Izuku indulges her
It started with a poof of smoke similar to but thicker than her quirk gas, then she steps out of it, long red hair, lightly tanned skin with the exception of the talloned hands, feet, and deep green arm wings, wrapped up in a mix of a purple bodysuit and an armored bikini
Cyber Harpy Lady
"So cute!" the spirit shrieks before Izuku finds his airways cut off as his head was forcefully shoved into the harpy's cleavage
BONK
"Ow" she whines, rubbing her head where Double Dude smacked her with his cane, the man's silent stare a clear 'Fuck around and find out' if she did anything else. Chastised the harpy floats over to Nemuri, who gushes over how sexy and badass her spirit looks
Aizawa groans "Besides creating more headaches, was there a reason to manifest their spirits too?" he asks
"Honestly? Tribute fodder" Izuku admits "I don't have the energy to manifest a tribute monster outright, even when yours is in a weird limbo thing. The best and simplest option is to summon weaker monsters and tribute them just like the game so he is properly summoned. Now, I could have used my own monsters, Double Dude being proof of that, but this killed 2 birds with one stone, proof of concept for Present Mic and Midnight, as well as a source of summon energy for your monster"
"Will it hurt?" Mic asks
"Nope, if used for a tribute, or Link Summon, as those 2 aren't Synchro or XYZ summoning anything without outside assistance, the spirits just de-manifest, no pain and I don't think there's even much discomfort. Fusion is different, but again, don't know what a Harpy and Morphtronic can make without outside help" Izuku explains
Aizawa nods "Understood. Mic, can you give me a hand here?" he asks
Present mic looks from his friend to his monster, then nods "You got it Shota. Let it rip Little Listener!"
Boomboxxen fades into sparkles, only causing a shiver to run down Mic's spine as the Morphtronic returns to spirit form, it's manifestation used to summon out Eraser's monster.
The 1st thing everyone noticed was red lenses over the monster's eyes, then the mildly burnt pink flesh of which only the head was exposed, the rest of his body covered in a dark green armored bodysuit
Jinzōningen - Psycho Shocker
"Hello Shota" the machine monster greets, its voice low and gravely
"So, you're my specter" Aizawa hums, a look of recognition in his eyes
"Correct, I didn't expect to hear you calling me so soon after Nimbus passed, but I supposed you retreated so deeply into yourself, that of course you found me"
Shota and Hisashi tense "This isn't something a student needs to hear, do you need to be present to communicate?"
Izuku shakes his head "No, he's been properly summoned and manifested, he should be able to last about an hour or so without my input"
"An hour if I don't do anything strenuous" the android agrees
"And even if you do, this kind of manifestation opens the mental link between the human and their Ka" Cyber Harpy adds
"Nem's spirit is right" Mic pipes in "I can hear my one in my head no problem" he grins
Aizawa hums "If you feel up to it problem child then you can leave. I'll see you in class tomorrow, don't be late or I'll expel you"
"Of course Aizawa-sensei" Izuku nods and leaves, Toshi following shortly
"You could have been nicer to him" Jinzo notes
"That's what All Might's for, I'm here to make sure they live long enough to become Pro Heroes" Eraser sighs deeply
Outside
As Izuku was preparing to head off, he was stopped by someone he didn't expect
"Midoriya" Yaoyarosu calls from the gate "Can we speak privately, I can give you a ride if it helps" she fidgets, though behind her Izuku see's a black limo idling
"Um, ok Yaoyarosa" Izuku nods
"Momo, or Yaomomo, I think after today you earned the right" she replies with an odd smile
"Ok, Momo" he squeaks, having a bad feeling as he gets into the car with the heiress
"Now, I think the simplest question, is why did your spirit guardian choose me to possess and puppet?" Momo asks as the car drives away, and Izuku feels like he left his soul back at the school gate
TBC
LW: Well, that happened.
But in all seriousness, I hope everyone enjoyed this taste of a new idea bouncing around in my head which will be updated… fairly erratically, as RKMM will be my priority, but given I have a week-on, week-off schedule for that series I could work on this in said off weeks. Who knows.
Feel free to share your thoughts, I do like hearing what my readers think of my work, otherwise, I wouldn't put it out for public viewing