I sadly still don't own MHA.
Chapter 5 - Thunderstorm meets Firestorm
The first day of class – Quirk Apprehension Test
"So far, throughout your academic life, you have always been restricted from using your quirk to aid you in doing anything related to schoolwork. Or anything at all, really." Came the slightly slurred voice of Mr. Aizawa. Izuku frowned. Seriously. What was up with that? The guy looked dead on his feet!
"But from now on, those restrictions are lifted." He lazily threw a baseball at Izuku.
"Midoriya. You had the highest scores in the entrance exam. So you will be demonstrating what I am talking about. Throw the ball as far as you can. While utilizing your quirk as best as you can to aid you in doing that."
Izuku nodded and was about to step into the marked area when a voice behind him made him stop.
"What the FUCK are you talking about? Deku? Highest score?! The little pebble doesn't even have a quirk! There's no fucking way he could have scored higher than me!"
Izuku felt the power inside him begin to stir at Bakugo's use of the hated epithet. Izuku felt the boiling anger and hate inside of him rise but was determined to let it fuel him. Instead of lashing out like he had done earlier with that stuck-up prick Iida. He had already enough attention, negative or otherwise, focused on him.
Gritting his teeth, Izuku took the final step inside the marked zone and casually fully transformed into his elemental state. He could feel the power practically radiate through the tightly knit arcs of electricity that now made up his entire body and focused on keeping as much of his energy inside him.
I need the strength boost. And ONLY the strength boost. Wouldn't do me any good if I incinerated the practice field before anyone else had their turn.
Even if it would show that sorry excuse of a human being that calls himself a hero in training to call me DEKU-
At that, Izukus fist tightened around the white ball, and the air around him started to charge itself with electricity, as small white and blue bolts of lighting left his body.
"Midoriya. Your baseball is starting to smoke. I told you to throw the thing. Not burn it." Came the slightly more awake voice of Mr. Aizawa. His eyes were opened unnaturally wide.
Izuku rolled his shoulders and closed his eyes. Taking a few steadying breaths, he opened his eyes again and poured every bit of the remaining agitation into the power that was tightly coiled inside him. And released it all at once as he let his right arm snap forward and threw the slightly smoking baseball with all his anger-powered might.
"450 meters. Well done. The current record in your age class without using a quirk is just above 100 meters. Just so you have something to compare it to."
With that, Mr. Aizawa turned around and addressed the class as a whole again.
"Now. Every single one of you is going to do the same thing. Use your quirk in any way you feel will help you. Be creative. And do your best. Nothing else is acceptable. Yaoyorozu, you are up next. And Bakugo, don't even think about making a scene again. Are we understood?"
He turned back towards the marked-off area.
"And Midoriya, you can… I don't know… power down now? Your lightning bolts are starting to damage the ground. And I doubt Yaoyorozu wants to walk into that mess around you."
Izuku nodded and returned his body to its normal state. Internally however he frowned. He had completely forgotten, that he was still in his elemental state. It had just felt so natural to be that way.
Izuku shrugged and made his way to the other students as a black-haired, buxom girl nervously moved to take his place in the now slightly charred ring.
Just as he came to stand next to Uraraka again, who gave him a thumbs-up, paired with a big smile on her face, a pink girl with yellow horns started to jump up and down in excitement.
"Oh, this is so much fun! I can't wait for my turn!"
"Fun? This isn't about fun, girl! You are in the hero course. You are not here to have fun. Tell you what. Whoever has the lowest score after the last exercise, will be removed from the Heroic Course and will instead be transferred to General Studies. How's that about having fun?"
"What?! You can't do that! We just got here! And we passed the entrance exam!" Exclaimed the slightly panicked voice of a tiny boy with purple balls sticking out from where his hair should be.
"And you can be removed from the class just as quickly. Now, Yaoyorozu, get on with it."
That made everyone gulp nervously.
Izuku just frowned. Mr. Aizawa could not be serious about this, right? Being removed from the Hero Course just because they failed to perform some benign physical task couldn't possibly be a real threat. The guy had to be bluffing. But, for some reason, he didn't feel like this was just a way to motivate them. Izuku felt like, if anyone was to perform beneath whatever standard Mr. Aizawa had set for them, that person would swiftly find themselves in the General Studies course.
Glancing around, he noticed that, while the rest of his classmates seemed to be somewhat startled by the announcement, they did not look like they took it at face value. That is, all but one. A petite girl with very noticable earphone-jacks that were connected to her ears, looked at their teacher with a frown on her face.
Well, it seemed that he at least wasn't the only one thinking that there was more to Mr. Aizawa's threat. Izuku just hoped, if anyone had to go, it would be either Bakugo or Iida. The universe owed him at least that small mercy, right?
For the next couple of hours, Izuku's class had to perform various tasks. Ranging from a 100-meter sprint to bench pressing as much weight as they possibly could.
With every physical task they had to do, Izuku's mood had gotten worse and worse. Was that it? Another exam to test how well their quirks performed in a physical environment? Was that all this Academy thought hero work was about?
What about stealth? Izuku was fairly certain that the girl in the floating uniform had them beat in that regard without even trying. And yet, they were only tested on how much destruction power they had, or how fast they were. It was like the Entrance Exam all over again. Well, minus the giant robots.
In the end, Izuku had managed to score pretty high overall. The only particularly impressive results were when Uraraka had reached "infinity" on her baseball throw when she had released her ball into the stratosphere, and when Yaoyorozu had used her quirk to create a cannon and shot her ball so far, that only Urarakas "infinity" had her beat.
Izuku stood with the other hero trainees and waited for Mr. Aizawa to give them his final verdict.
"I'll pin the results to the noticeboard in your classroom in the next couple of days. We are done for today. So I'll see you guys tomorrow morning before your first Foundational Hero Studies Class. Until then. Class dismissed."
Their teacher then turned and slowly made his way towards the Academy Building.
"Oh, and this whole being removed from the Hero Course thing. It was a lie."
Izuku just frowned. Was it? Had it been a lie?
The first day of class could have gone better for Izuku. Not only did he have to resign himself to spend the next couple of years with both Iida and Bakugo, but the whole day had been filled with confrontation after confrontation. After the first alteration with Iida, Izuku had at first thought he could sit back and get a closer look at both his fellow heroes in training and the teaching staff. But, alas, that had turned out to be nothing more than a fantasy. At least the "sit back" part of it, anyways.
At first, Izuku had been stared at and whispered about by the other students when they had made their way to the P.E. Grounds. That had been fairly easy to ignore. He was used to be stared at. At least the stares were not full of hate or pity so far. So he had that going for him. Which was nice.
But it was fairly hard to observe others while being the constant center of attention. So he had resigned himself to his fate and had every intention to at least not give them any more reason to keep making him the topic of every conversation.
But that had been squashed as soon as the whole class had assembled in front of their homeroom teacher.
Izuku had expected some kind of test for their teacher to figure out what each of his student's strengths and weaknesses was. So when Mr. Aizawa had told them about the 'Quirk Apprehension Test' he had felt his thoughts confirmed. But that was where everything had once again gone to shit. At least in his humble opinion.
But, Izuku refrained from passing judgment just yet. It had only been the first day after all.
The whole class was currently waiting for their mysterious 'Foundational Hero Studies' teacher. They had been told that they would be allowed to wear their recently finished Hero Costumes in these classes, which had left everyone excited and eager for their teacher to appear.
Izuku didn't quite understand why they were not told who their teacher was in the first place. They knew of all the teachers for their other classes after all. So what reason could the staff possibly have to keep this one a secret?
Well, maybe if it was one of the Top 10. Then all the secrecy would be warranted. Just to stop the media from assaulting everyone in connection with U.A. But all of the current Top 10's Agencies were nowhere near U.A Academy. Well aside from Endeavor and All Might.
No. There was no way the Pretender would possibly consider teaching a bunch of first-year students. What would be the point in that? Besides, he was THE Pillar of Peace. Even in his weakened state. The guy couldn't just leave his normal responsibilities behind. Right?
As loath as Izuku was to admit it. The guy was the ONLY pillar that held society up, after all. The Pretender himself had seen to that. And something that was only supported by one pillar couldn't possibly be stable when that pillar was removed.
Izuku unconsciously started to grip his desk tightly. And Uraraka glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, when she started to smell the burned ozone.
No. Calm down. There is no way my luck is THAT bad. Besides-
Izuku's train of thought came to a stop when a loud, booming voice started to yell right in front of their classroom.
"I AM…."
Izukus head met his desk. Repeatedly. Drawing more concerned looks from Uraraka.
"… COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"
"Oh for fucks sake!"
Izuku was the first to finish donning his new Hero Costume and made his way to the appointed site for their first 'Battle Trial'.
He was clad in a black and blue sleeveless bodysuit with two big white and blue lightning bolts flowing downwards from each shoulder. They seemed to originate from the silver-made shoulder guards. Izuku also wore a pair of arm guards made of the same material.
The bodysuit was made of a special fabric that the Support Course had promised him was highly durable and could deal with very high temperatures. While telling him that it had only been "recently developed". By a "young and promising new student". Which was fine. He didn't mind being a guinea pig.
He only hoped it would hold up as promised. Since Izuku had no intention to continuously walk around naked when he was out and about on Hero Business. And looking back at the Entrance Exam, that would happen a lot if his Hero Costume couldn't resist his power.
Izuku slowly made his way out of the tunnel that was leading towards "Battle Site 3" and stopped dead in his tracks.
There, in front of the entrance stood All Might. While Izuku couldn't stop the anger and disgust that began to stir inside of him at the mere sight of the man, both emotions were overshadowed by the sheer amount of frustration he felt when he saw the title of the book his teacher was currently reading.
Teaching for Dummies.
This simply could not be real. Were there ANY requirements the teachers of U.A. had to meet? There had to be, right? Oh, who was he trying to fool here? They probably gave him the post just because he was All Might. Who cared if he didn't know the first thing about teaching.
Izuku already knew the sorry excuse of a hero in front of him was incapable of anything but brute force or pretend his way through every situation.
It was only his second day and he already had a sleep-deprived homeroom teacher and a farce of a hero for his 'Heroic Studies' course. Great.
All Might swiftly put the book away when he heard the excited voices of his classmates echoing in the tunnel in front of him. Izuku sighed.
This is going to be a long day, isn't it?
All Might had the class participate in a Battle Trial. But, instead of fighting mindless robots without any real goal in mind, he paired the class into randomly selected teams that would have to combat each other in indoor battles. Which, according to All Might, would be how they would be fighting most high-class villains later on as certified heroes. The Battle Trial's purpose was to prepare them for that.
In Izuku's opinion doing something to prepare them for fighting real villains on the second day of school was a little bit early. Even more so, since most of them had new support gear which they were unfamiliar with.
But, they had to start getting into the mindset of fighting real villains sooner or later and Izuku begrudgingly had to admit that he would have it rather sooner than later.
Besides, the assignment seemed to revitalize the students. Which, after yesterday's homeroom with Mr. Aizawa, was a welcome development.
The whole explanation would have been done rather smoothly if it hadn't been for a couple of unnecessary interruptions from Iida.
Questions like "Why can't we choose who we want to team up with?", and "How are we supposed to play villains, we are heroes in training, are we not?"
Izuku had already resigned himself to a couple of years of questions like that.
His face had remained passive through it all until the teams had been announced.
He, alongside Kyoka Jiro, would be 'Hero Team 1' and would face Bakugo's and Iida's aptly named 'Villain Team 1'. The goal for Kyoka and himself was to locate and reach a 'detonation device' in a set amount of time. While the villains had to try and stop them from doing so. It was rather straightforward.
Bakugo's declaration of "I'm going to fucking destroy you Deku!" had been what had made Izuku lose his aloof expression. Deku. The very word itself filled him with a weird mix of boiling hot anger and a feeling of disgust that he couldn't quite place.
That was why he was currently walking alongside his teammate towards the starting zone with a frown on his face.
"You and that guy have some history or something?"
Izuku looked to his left at the petite girl.
She was wearing a black leather jacket over a long salmon-colored shirt with several rips at the collar and hem, as well as black pants and boots with stereos build within their shafts. She also wore a black choker and white, fingerless gloves. The look was topped off with two small, red triangular paint marks just below her eyes.
"History? Yeah. Something like that. We used to go to the same school."
"So, I take it you aren't friends or anything then?"
Izuku's facial expressions noticeably darkened, while his eyes had a faint glow to them.
"No. Far from it."
A rather awkward silence started to form between them.
"So, uhm, you have a plan? About the exercise, I mean. I figured I would scout with my quirk to get a lay of the building and find where they stashed the bomb. Then we could try to avoid them if they don't guard the bomb or sneak by them. What do you think?"
They had reached the entrance of the building. Izukus demeanor became noticeably lighter.
"Can you do the scouting right now?"
"Yeah, sure." She embedded her earplugs into the wall with two echoing thuds.
Izuku's eyebrows rose. He had seen her fight in the Entrance Exam before, but seeing them up close was something else. The girl had just casually stabbed a solid concrete wall as if it was made out of cardboard.
"I found them. They are on the third floor and they are...yelling at each other?" She looked back to Izuku as she unplugged herself from the wall.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" She quirked an eyebrow and looked at him challengingly.
"Oh. Nothing. Just remind me to never piss you off."
Izuku's eyes had small bolts of lightning flashing through them. Kyoka just smirked back at him.
"Afraid of little ol' me?"
"Well, you did just stab a solid wall. So, yeah. Your quirk is awesome!" Her smirk widened into a full-out grin before she broke eye contact and nervously started to twirl one of her elongated jacks.
"Anyways, I don't think you have to worry too much about the sneaking part. Bakugo will come for me. I highly doubt he will patiently wait, with Iida of all people, for us to get to them. I'd say we use that to our advantage. I'll lure Bakugo to the lower floors and start enough mayhem for Iida to come to investigate and help his fellow villain out. And you make your way to the bomb. How about it?"
"Sure. Sounds like a plan to me. You sure you can handle him?"
"Positive."
Kyoka nodded her head in approval.
The whole hallway was filled with thick, black and white smoke. Fragments of stone and wood rained down all around him. He could not see them. But if the noise that endlessly echoed all around him was any indicator, the last blast must have devastated the surrounding area.
Bakugo slowly lowered his left arm and felt his now broken gauntlet slide down his hand and fall to the charred ground. He was breathing heavily and had to wince with every breath, as some of his chest muscles were violently cramping. The electrically charged hit that pathetic Deku had delivered to him earlier had hurt him more than he would ever admit to anyone.
Not that it mattered anymore. He had won. Nothing had ever withstood a fully powered blast before. Not trees. Not boulders. And that had been before he got that support gear with his hero costume. Now, not even a house could withstand his blasts anymore. Least of all someone as pathetic and insignificant as Deku. His red eyes had a maniacal glint to them as he smiled widely for the first time since he had gotten into U.A. He had won. And winning was all that mattered.
His grin widened.
Now he is nothing more than the pebble I always knew he was!
Bakugo slowly walked towards the smoke-filled part of the hallway he had seen Deku standing in just moments before. The sound of falling debris was slowly lessening and an eerie silence was settling all around him. It was almost as if the billowing smoke surrounding him was not only denying him vision but was enveloping him in a soundproof cocoon of white and black.
His confident stride came to an abrupt stop as the smoke in front of him gave away to two glowing and sizzling white-blue eyes that seemed to pierce the ever-moving smoke. They were staring right at him. Small arcs of electricity leaving them, and lightly illuminating the wall of smoke and dust between the two of them.
No. He can't be… No one can withstand those blasts! No one can best ME! I'm the STRONGEST! I'm the numbe-
A voice. Unmistakably Dekus. But colder. Every word so loaded with power and rage that they were almost deafening, despite the low volume they were spoken in, broke the suffocating silence and Bakugo's train of thought came to an abrupt stop.
"Trying to finish the job you started almost a year ago?"
The next thing he saw was the snarling face of Izuku Midoriya. Before his world turned into a sea of blinding white and blue light. And pain.
AN: Once again I have to apologize for the long wait. I hope the following chapters won't take that long to be written. Here's hoping.
The amount of feedback in form of comments and liking/following the story has received has been a little bit surreal for me. I did not expect as many people to be interested in the story. Seeing as it features a rare-pair and quite heavily alters Izukus's character.
Talking about the pairing. I have received a lot of messages and comments about not making this a harem story. And rest assured this story will not go that way. I never intended for it to go that way from the beginning.
It's somewhat intimidating to have that many eyes on my work.
Which in part is the reason this chapter took so long to be published. I just never felt like it was good enough to be published and have rewritten and scrapped it more often than I will ever admit to anyone.
The next chapter will feature the whole fight of the Battle Trial and some of the fallout.
Cya next chapter!
