The Big 3 of UA were well known and often talked of - Mirio Togata, Tamaki Amajiki, and Nejire Hado, three outstanding third years.
"UA'S best of the best, the big three!"
"These guys," said Jirou. "I'd heard about them, but…"
"But you wouldn't think so by the look of them. And one of them's really pretty!" said Kaminari.
"The big three!" added Ashido.
"Let's get right to it," said Sensei. "How about some introductions? Starting with you, Amajiki."
It seemed Amajiki was the dark haired boy. He shot our entire class a rather intense, sinister glare - and then started to shake as if dissolving.
"It's no good, Mirio…Hado…I was going for potatoes, but they all still look like people from the neck down. What do I do? Having trouble speaking. My mind's gone blank. It hurts. I wanna go now!"
And he turned around and leaned his head into the blackboard, his back to us.
"But you're the hero course's best of the best, right?" asked Ojiro.
"Isn't it funny that people call that having the heart of a flea?" said the girl. "He's Tamaki Amajiki the flea, and I'm Nejire Hado. We came here today to talk to you about work studies. But hey hey hey!" And suddenly she was taking to Shoji. "What's with that mask? You got a cold? Ir is it just for fashion?"
"A long time ago, I -" Shoji began, but then Hado-she had turned her attention to Todoroki. "Ooh, is that Todoroki I see back there?! Hey! How'd you get that burn, anyway!"
"Well, I -" He started, but then she turned to Ashido.. "Hey, Ashido! If you broke those horns would they grow back? Can they move? Tell me!" Before Ashido could say anything it was "And Minta, those balls of yours, is it hair? how do you get a haircut?! Are you more like a tree frog, Asui? Or more of a toad? So many curious things about all of you! Downright curious!"
"She's all over the place, it's cute!" cried Kaminari.
"Just like a kindergartner," Ashido grinned.
"Hey hey, can you support your body weight with that tail, Ojiro?" she asked him. "Hey hey, tell me, I wanna know!"
Sensei in the corner was looking more and more furious.
"She's not the most rational person, is she?
"Not to worry, Eraserhead!" cried the tall blonde boy. Who had to be 'Mirio Togata', that was what Amajiki had called him. "I'm the main act here!" He turned to face us and put his hand to his ear. "The outlook's looking…"
Outlook? We all though. no clue how to answer that.
"Grim! The answer's grim!" He replied. "Well, that didn't go over so well!"
"All three of em are kinda weird," said Sato. "Didn't expect this from the big three, did you?"
"It's kinda hard to tell what they're made of," said Tokoyami.
"I'm seeing a lot of faces that seem to say, who cares," said Togata. "You've got us three third years showing up out of nowhere, here to talk about work studies that you don't even have to do. Doesn't make sense, right? You all got your licenses as first years, hmph. I guess this year's batch of first years are real go-getters. And since our talk here isn't going so well…"
"Mirio?!" Amajiki spoke up. But the blonde just pumped his fists in the air. "How about you all take me on?"
"Uh, what?" we all gasped out.
"Seems rational to have them feel the full weight of our experiences firsthand!" he grinned over at Mr. Aizawa. "Dontcha think so, Eraserhead?"
"Do as you like", sensei told him.
So we all headed out to Gym Gamma again, to have some kinda big knockout fight with this giant strange dude from the big three, and totally perplexed.
"Um, is this for real?" asked Sero.
"Yup, sure is!" said Togata as he stretched.
"Mirio, don't do this," said Amajiki, still with his head turned to the wall and refusing to look at us. "It'd be enough to just follow the manual and go 'we experienced this and that and it was all super meaningful.' It's not like all of them are raring to go and ready to aim for the top. We wouldn't want any broken beyond fixing."
"Hey listen to this," Hado was saying as she poked Ashido's horns. "There was once a kid who got discouraged, quit trying to be a hero, and caused all sorts of trouble. Dig know? IT was real bad. s you'd better think about this hard, Togata, or there's gonna be pain, true-blue pain."
"Just wait a minute," said Tokoyami. "We've fought against pros before, albeit with handicaps."
"And we've got experience battling real villains!" Kirishima added. "Do you think we're such wimps that you gotta worry for our safety or whatever?"
"Whenever you're ready, then. Come at me," said Togata. "Who's gonna be first?"
"Me!" Kirishima started but MIdoriya interrupted him. "I'll go first!"
"Didn't expect you, Midoriya!" cried Kirishima.
Togata smiled. "The problem child! Right, of course you'd step up. You've got spirit!"
Midoriya took an offensive pose. Kirishima called, "Close combat squad! We'll hit him all at once! Got that, Senpai!? Give us your best shot! Take it easy on us…"
Everyone got ready to fight and Midoriya went first, aiming a kick straight at Togata's head.
And then Togata's shirt fell off him.
Jirou screamed. "His clothes just fell off!"
"Apologies! Fine tuning this is tricky!" he called, struggling to keep his pants from falling.
Midoriya's kick passed straight through his head like a ghost.
"Going for the face, huh?" said Togata as Ashido's acid, SEro's tape and Toyama's naval laser - went through his head too.
Then he sunk into the ground and disappeared.
"He's gone!"
He appeared - nude! - as if from nowhere - behind Jirou. "Long range attackers go down first!"
"He warped!" gasped Kirishima. "So it's not just phasing?! What kinda crazy-strong quirk is this?!"
It happened in less than six seconds. One minute I was standing with my classmates ready to punch him - then I'd been hit in the gut and hit the floor.
"This is a great opportunity everyone, so get that lesson beaten into you. Because Mirio Togata, as far as I know is the closest to benighted top hero, including us pros."
Half our class, down for the count, in less than six seconds.
"Looks like just the melee fighters are left," said Togata, turning to the rest of our class, as I followed through a haze.
"I've go no freaking clue what just happened!" cried Kirishima. "Going up against the power to phase through stuff is tough to deal with on its own, but warping too? That's too much, man! The dude's invincible! Cut us some slack!"
Not nec -
"There must be some sort of trick to it!" came Midoriya. "The warping must be a function of the phasing or the other way around. Either way, he's a melee fighter himself, so if we try to counter when he attacks, there should be a moment when we can touch him! Since we can't figure out what's going on, we oughta take a step back and form a hypothesis. We gotta search for a way to win against him!"
"Ooh! Good tip!" said Kirishima. "Post lockdown Midoriya is really on point!"
"Search all you like," Togata replied.
"He sank into hteground!" Kirishima screamed as I peered over to see him pop up behind Midoriya - who turned around to kick him. And caught him off guard!
"Have a taste of my special move! Blinder touch eyeball crunch!" cried Togata, throwing his fist at Midoriya. "Most of my opponents come up with a scheme to counter it, like that one," he said, punching Midoriya. "So naturally I've trained myself to counter those counters!"
"Midoriya!" cried Iida.
"Get a look at Togata! He's really gotten stronger, huh?" I heard Hado saying.
"Mirio's been strong ever since he was a kid, basically. He needs to learn how to hold back," said Amajiki.
Togata had punched his way through everyone and they hit the ground. In no time at all our whole class had been defeated.
"I just barely managed to keep my privates hidden for you ladies' sake!" said Togata. "And well, you get the idea!"
"Feels like all you did was punch us in the gut."
"Think my quirk is strong?" said Togata.
"Way too strong!" cried Sero.
"And totally unfair from where I'm standing!" said Hagakure.
"You can phase and warp, what're you, some kind hybrid like Todoroki!" Ashido cried at him, and from behind me Todoroki called, "Hey!"
"Oh oh, can I say your quirk? Can I? can I? It's permeation!" called Hado.
"Hado, this is Mirio's time to shine," said Amajiki.
"Nope, I've just got one," Togata replied. "It's permeation! Like you guessed, what you guys call 'warping' is an there function of it!"
"What's the principle behind your warping?" came Midoriya's question.
"When I activate my quirk across my whole body, I pass through anything and everything! And everything includes the ground itself!"
"Oh, so then it's like you were just falling!" said Uraraka.
"Yep! Falling straigh through the earth! But when I deactivate my quirk underground, something amazing happens. Multiple objects can't occupy the same space at once, so one of them gets repelled. That means I get launched out of the ground instantaneously! That's the secret behind my warping. I can control the angle via my orientation and pose, so I basically choose where I get shot out!"
"Sounds like a glitch in a video game to me," Ashido huffed.
"You could say that!" said Togata.
"Attacks pass right through you," said Asui. "And you can change position instantly. Guess it's a strong quirk after all."
"Not quite. More like it made it into a strong quirk. When it's active, my lungs can't absorb oxygen. Because even when I breathe the air just passes through. Similarly my eardrums can't pick up vibrations, and my eyes can't absorb light. It all just passes through me, and I can't feel anything at all. That said, my body still has mass, so all I have is this sensation of falling endlessly. See what I'm saying? Think about trying to pass through a single wall. I have to activate it over my whole b body except one leg. Then release it on the first leg to pass all the way through. So even a simple act like that is quite the involved process."
"I bet I'd screw it up a lot if I was in a rush,' said Kaminari.
"And no being able to feel anything? I'd freeze up," said Mineta.
"I used to take my sweet time, just to be safe," said Togata. "I'd hold back until the last second and end up falling anyway. Then my clothes would fall off. But time was the one thing I didn't have if I wanted to make it to the top with my quirk! I had to predict! Faster than my surroundings could chance! Foresight was essential if I wanted to 'trick' time itself! And experience was the only way to get good at predicting! Experience fosters that sort of mental ability. I've taken a lot of your time, but this is why we had to fight! Because experience teaches more than words ever could! During our work studies, we weren't just guests, but genuine sidekicks! We were treated like pros! And let me tel you, it was terrifying. We dealt with life and death situations. But scary or not painful or not, it was the sort of top-notch experience you can't get from school alone. I turned my work study experience into power that's allowing me to reach for the stars! Which is why even if you're scared, I wholeheartedly recommend it to you first years!"
We all burst into applause.
"He even talks like a pro," said Ojiro.
"He spent so much time on something that could've taken only three panels!" I sighed.
"Guests, huh?" said Kaminari. It did feel that way during our internships."
"They never let us try anything dangerous," Jirou nodded.
"Time to head back," said Mr. Aizawa.
"Hey, why'd we even come to this?" said Hado. "You got any idea?"
"Be grateful to Mirio that we go to just sit back," said Amajiki.
"Thank you very much!" We all called back.
At the end of the day, we al gathered together on the sofas in the common area, most of the girls except for Jirou.
"Wonder what's gonna happen?" said Uraraka. "Sensei said they're still on the fence about letting first years do work studies."
"From Togata's speech at the end there, sounds like being the best is pretty epic!" Ashido nodded.
"All we can do is wait for Mr. Aizawa's approval," I sighed.
What do I want to do? Do I want to go back to Miss Uwabami? I suppose all that I can do for now...is wait and see.