phoenix: Thanks!
ASL D Brothers: Thank you! I'm excited to post the USJ incident in a couple chapters.
We see Ace and Luffy working together as heroes in this chapter, so enjoy that!
The next day was a full teaching day, not being introduced to the classes and schedules. They had english in the morning, which was easy for Ace and Luffy. Once again, they were the smart ones in class. Along with Iida and Yaoyorozu, they were very smart as well. He complimented them at the end, and they returned it. The smart girl didn't say anything about it.
"It's nice having more smart people in class. Asking questions and all. Most of our class in junior high got kind of irritated when we answered every question. Not that they were going to answer it themselves."
Iida asked how they were so smart. "We only went to our first year of school last year, so we crammed in all elementary and junior high education into four months. And it was awesome knowing we were improving and getting smarter. So we like to keep up or be ahead. It's just nice to feel smart," Ace explained with a smile.
llida looked at them in what seemed like strong approval. "We shall be rivals then," the taller teen announced. Luffy and Ace went along with it, not that they'd try to out shine him. Momo, as she wanted them to call her, seemed smart but didn't look happy about it. It just was what it was.
For lunch, they bought the cheapest food. It was still delicious. They didn't like having Gunhead spend too much on them. He'd done enough, but he had said he had no problem spending on them. He even offered to add a new room to the place so they could have separate rooms. They shot that down. He offered him many things since he was paid well as both a martial arts teacher and a pro-hero.
But food, shelter and care were more than enough for them. And a huge bonus was how he trained them physically and with their quirks.
Midoriya knew why they didn't get fancy lunches, that they didn't like spending their guardians hard earned cash. But the others they sat with wondered why they got sandwiches instead of something really delicious. To the twins, any food was a blessing. They didn't know if they'd always have that mindset. But the years they were on the street did a lot of damage that was still there, but much better now.
"We don't like spending too much of our guardian's money. He works hard for it, so we want to spend as little as possible," Ace explained honestly. They looked at him in pity, like they were poor. "We're not poor or anything, we just don't want to be a burden for him. He adopted us out of the kindness in his heart. That's more than enough."
"You guys are so damn nice I feel like a dick," Sero said. They laughed at that. Saying people at their own school thought it was kind of weird as well. "You had to have had a lot of friends there." They nodded, but said Midoriya was their best friend and they were happy they got in with them.
After lunch, everyone was excited for the Hero Basic Training. Even Midoriya was, which was nice to see. Hopefully he took their words the day before to heart. They wondered if people would think their costumes were stupid since they were pretty much the same only different colors.
They wanted to be partner heroes, so this was a good way to show that that was their goal. They all sat down when the next teacher arrived, much more enthusiastic than Aizawa. Even Present Mic wasn't so loud. He wasn't like Aizawa, he had them call him by their hero name, only sensei before.
"I am… coming through the door like a normal person!" All Might said. The students besides Ace and Luffy were in awe that he actually was there. They had never been fascinated by him. His strength was amazing, but they favored Gunhead and the ones he worked with, even if they didn't get to meet them in person.
And All Might was quite loud. But very happy looking. Even though they'd been living with Gunhead for a year, he still didn't show his face. He never told them why so they didn't ask. It was easy to tell his emotions from his voice and body language after all that time.
All Might walked to the teacher's stand and told them what the point of the hero training was. To train in multiple ways to learn the basics of being a hero. The name of the course was explanatory enough. Apparently they'd take the most units from this class. Meaning you had to do well to get the full amount of points.
The twins exchanged grins. They were in the back of the class with Midoirya, who was so happy. After all, his room was All Might merchandise thrown all over it with posters as well. When they didn't show the same enthusiasm as everyone else, Sero quietly asked why. "We already have a favorite hero," Luffy whispered quietly. He looked surprised but nodded.
Midoriya had never understood why they didn't worship All Might. He asked who their favorite hero was, but they never said. It frustrated him, but he didn't press. When All Might informed them that they were doing combat training, there was a mixed reaction. Some were worried and others excited. Then their costumes came out of the wall, and everyone was happy about this.
"After you change, gather in ground beta!" All Might exclaimed. Ace and Luffy hurried over to get theirs and went to the changing room that was down the hall and had little stalls with curtains for privacy.
Since they wanted to be duo heroes, it made sense for their costumes to be pretty similar. A mostly black bodysuit with combat boots and an homage to their savior, the gloves on the arms were the same as Gunhead's but not the same color. They also both had face shields that clipped around the head and only covered their eyes. Covers just enough to hide Ace's freckles and Luffy's cheek scar.
They each had belts, too, that had pockets to store anything. There were knee guards, as well. Heavy, so slamming one into someone's face or groin would be very painful. The boots' soles were reinforced with steel. Probably heavy to most people, but not them. They accentuated their combat training for the last year, not just their quirks. And the clothes were able to transform with them. Ace's flames wouldn't burn it away, which would have been very inconvenient.
Ace's accessories were white while Luffy's were blue. White for Ace's fire and blue for Luffy's air. They both made sure to have their special wristbands on, under the gloves. When they went out, they found their costumes were pretty plain compared to some like Bakugo's. They didn't need any equipment to further strengthen their quirks.
Midoriya was obviously All Might inspired, but nobody said anything about it. Kirishima asked why their costumes were so similar. "We want to be duo heroes. So we'll work together."
Midoriya asked, "That's why you fight so much? To memorize each others' fighting style?" The twins nodded. That was exactly right. And they'd always know what the others were doing with their haki. They couldn't wait to see other powerful quirks. Not Bakugo's, they'd seen his explosions enough by then. But he hadn't seen theirs and neither had Midoriya, he just knew what they looked like.
"Hey, your gloves and boots look like Gunhead's!" Kaminari observed. They both nodded. Sero asked if that was the hero that they admired the most. They nodded again. They couldn't wait to tell him about this.
All Might explained that they were at this training ground, with many buildings all in varying conditions, because they could work indoors. It may seem like most villain attacks were outside, but they were actually more common inside. Truly intelligent villains hide in the shadows. They'd be doing two on two battles, and Ace and Luffy looked concerned.
Ace raised his hand, but All Might knew what he was going to ask. "You two may work together as you plan on being a pair." Ace thanked him and put his hand down. "Stealth mission?" Ace muttered. Luffy grinned and nodded. This would be fun, they could do it without getting caught.
Tsu, the frog girl, asked why they were doing this without prior basic training. "This is a real battle to know the basics!" He explained a bit more, and then the students all started firing off questions.
The premise was that villains had hidden a nuclear bomb in the hideout. The hero team would be trying to dispose of it. The heroes needed to either capture the villains or or get to the nuclear bomb in time. The villains needed to protect the nuclear weapon the whole time or try to catch the heroes.
Ace and Luffy were confident they wouldn't be caught. They knew where everything and everyone in the building was. They could easily avoid any villains. As far as they knew, they were the only ones with haki. Gunhead told him that even All Might didn't have that ability. It had made them feel like they were actually worth something in the world.
The contenders would be picked from names in a box since heroes often teamed together randomly on the spot. So not knowing ahead of time would be helpful. At least, that was what Midoriya was saying. He seemed confident and Luffy gently punched his arm. "Stay calm this time. You're smart even if you can't control your quirk yet," he encouraged.
He smiled and nodded.
They were chosen to be against team I, with the guy with a tail and the invisible girl. It was a good match up since they'd know where the invisible girl would be. And they were happy they got to be the heroes. They were going to cause as little damage as possible. That's how they'd been trained, since they were always indoor when practicing.
Plus, it would be counter productive to destroy a place you're trying to protect. They didn't understand the heroes who decimated places to catch a villain. Sometimes they did more damage than the villains did.
They went first, which was nice. They got a clean slate. Well, if they were all using the same building. Luffy and Ace laughed when their friend got flustered about being a pair with Uraraka, even though they seemed to get along already. It was mostly because she was a girl, probably.
There was a monitor room for the others to watch the battles, so they would look overly observant most likely. Well, they could say they just had good senses. Nobody needed to know the truth, even if Midoriya did. They trusted him, though, to not give away their secret.
While the twins waited, they only pretended to be looking at the map. "They're setting up on the last floor," Ace said. "Probably will keep one there and one out. The invisible girl would be the best to be sent out, so the other one will defend the bomb." Luffy nodded.
"Do as little damage as possible. We could use your power to get through the ceilings. Cause a distraction with our light ball and sneak right past them," Luffy added. All of the others and All Might were in the observation room, waiting. Once the five minutes were up, Ace and Luffy opened one of the windows without breaking it, pulling it easily from the wall. It made a little noise, but not a shatter.
Breaking windows was unnecessary and would just work against themselves as being stealthy. They were right, the girl was coming out. They followed her direction with their eyes closed and then looked at each other and nodded. A distraction. Ace made the flames and Luffy compressed it, putting them in the stairwell for maximum distraction. There were at least a dozen in all parts of the stairwell.
They hurried to the furthest corner from the well. The ceiling was really tall, but they could take care of that just fine. Ace climbed onto Luffy's back as he walked up the air stairs until Luffy was on his hands and knees with Ace standing on his back. The girl was above them, so they waited for her to pass around a corner.
Ace put his finger to the stone ceiling and used concentrated fire to melt open a hole. He climbed in first with Luffy behind him, and they put the ceiling/floor back into the hole, Ace welding it shut once again. Fixing their damage.
Both of them were silent as they made their way opposite of the other, who seemed to have finally reached the stairwell. Once she was walking down, both of them hurried to another corner and did the same as before, melting open a hole to climb through and then putting it in place.
They did that two more times, and the girl below was getting irritated. "Where are you?" she asked in annoyance, any noise echoing around the building. It looked like she hadn't looked up or seen any of the holes on the floor. When it came to the last room. They both closed their eyes and stayed still, observing where the guy with a tail looked. He was walking in a circle.
Ace sent a signal to Luffy, pointing right under the bomb. If they could get a small enough hole, all they had to do was touch it. Luffy nodded and brought Ace up, pressing him against the ceiling, where he used his whole hand to melt through the stone beneath it, keeping the heat down and flames not on the floor.
Ace reached his hand through the ceiling before bringing his upper body through and touching it was a completely cool hand. "We win," Ace said simply, and the tail guy whipped around. "How'd you get up here so easily?" he asked in confusion.
Ace smiled and said, "Teamwork." They couldn't repair this hole, but they had the others, and went back downstairs, dispersing all of the lightballs still floating. When they reached the window they'd pulled out, they put it back in place and welded it shut so it would stay.
The two gave each other high fives. "We barely did any damage," Luffy said proudly. "And made zero noise! That was such an awesome stealth mission! I bet the others won't be that way." Ace nodded, saying that was probably the truth. And the people watching hadn't seen how strong they really were since they used their powers to the minimum. The villains came out, and the invisible girl asked why they had not fought. Had done everything so neatly.
"We don't want to be heroes that endanger other people or destroy places. We did as little damage as possible," Ace answered honestly.
"Man, I wasn't expecting a stealth mission! Boo," she said, sounding like she was pouting, and crossed her arms. "You completely defeated us. This was supposed to be a battle!" she complained.
Luffy said, "It was a battle in strategy, not brute force." Tail guy nodded, saying that was true. He didn't seem too upset about it. He introduced himself as Ojiro Mashirao. Invisible girl was Hagakure Toru. Ace and Luffy gave their first names. The group of four walked to where they were supposed to be and entered the room with the large screen showing where Ace and Luffy had known the cameras were.
"Amazing, boys! You made a superb team. And did little damage to the building as well. I can see why you want to be a pair, your powers complement each other," All Might praised. He looked to the two that had failed, well, the one he could see and said that it really came to strategy, no matter if it is a physical one or a battle of wits.
Uraraka complained that they'd barely been able to see what they were doing since the camera was lower than the ceiling. So Ace said, "Luffy carried me up his air stairs and I welded holes in the ceiling and floor to make it to the next level without using the stairwell." She asked when they came up with it. "Before starting."
"But you didn't know what it looked like before!" Ashido complained. Luffy pointed out that they got a map in the beginning. "That looked really boring though. And I thought you guys were good at fighting."
Ace said, "We are, but it would have made a mess if we went full out. There was no need to fight if we could do it another way. Besides, heroes that destroy buildings during their fights don't really think about the damage other than infrastructure. What about the important things people have that would be destroyed? Like family photos or things like that."
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Jiro said, "I never thought of it like that." Some others nodded. All Might called them efficient heroes and that they will have a bright future if they kept that kindness up along with their skills. Both blushed and thanked him awkwardly. Midoriya gave them high fives, saying he wished he could have seen it better.
Bakugo was wearing a pinched face, angry like always. The two sat in the back to watch the screen while Midoriya paced nervously. But another was looking at them. Todoroki, one of those who had gotten recommended and didn't need to take the exams. "How'd you guys know where Hagikure was? When you were a floor beneath her." He said this quietly so nobody else heard.
"Could hear her a bit," Ace lied, sounding completely honest. "We got trained in a lot of ways," he added. He took off his visor and put it in his lap. "It's helpful to be observant instead of just running straight into the fire before coming up with any sort of plan."
"I guess that's true," the ice user admitted. They were nervous for Midoriya when it was his turn and he was against Bakugo and Iida. He had Uraraka, but neither of their quirks would do much damage against explosions. Ace reminded their friend of all the training they'd gone through. He nodded firmly, telling them he would do his best.
"That's all you can ever do," Luffy said with a smile. "Good luck!" The pairs left to go to a new building. The moment Midoriya and Uraraka got around the second corner, Bakugo was there, and blew up the wall.
Tsu commented, "He sure is different from Ace and Luffy. He's already destroying the building." Ace pointed out that bombs weren't very effective when indoors. That was true, Bakugo would be weak indoors when it came to not destroying anything. He didn't seem to care about that, but the twins weren't very surprised.
It was no shock to them that he went straight for Midoriya, no doubt thinking he'd been hiding this new quirk all his life. But when Bakugo ran for the first time, Midoriya bypassed his first arm and grabbed hold of it, pivoting and then slamming Bakugo into the floor hard. "We taught him that!" Luffy said proudly. "Go, Midoriya!" he cheered.
Bakugo continued to attack head first and obviously, but Midoriya used everything Ace and Luffy had taught him over the summer. He was composed, not freaking out. After all, there was no threat or punishment if he didn't do well here. The others were impressed with his reaction time and skill without using his quirk.
Mineta, the tiny pervert, asked if they had taught Midoriya that stuff. "Yeah, but he worked hard on it himself. I think the credit should go to him," Ace said simply and kept watching. All Might heard and his grin widened a little bit, but they didn't really notice. They returned to the screen, and Luffy bit his lip once Bakugo got angry. When he was angry he didn't attack smarter, but became more reckless than he already was.
And now it seemed like the fight was personal based on Bakugo's face. Like Midoriya disgusted him or something. But Ace and Luffy were becoming a bit concerned with how violent Bakugo was looking. Almost crazed. They wished All Might would stop the fight. But he didn't, and Bakugo continued to go after Midoriya, saying things they couldn't hear.
All Might tried to stop Bakugo when he aimed his grenade-looking gauntlet and pulled a key from it, sending fire and an explosion down the hallway where Midoriya was! Luffy gasped and Ace was gritting his teeth. Bakugo had destroyed a corner of the building. The kids gasped as well, and All Might shouted their friend's name in worry.
He had ducked under the fire it seemed, and was still alive and not completely fried. Ace and Luffy let out a relieved sigh.
"Sensei! Shouldn't you stop this? That Bakugo's really crazy!" Kirishima said, many students agreeing with him and voicing their support for the fight to end while Midoriya was not badly wounded. "He's gonna kill him!"
"No," All Might said, and Luffy grew angry before Ace took his hand and shook his head. Getting angry would do nothing right now. It was obvious to everyone that Midoriya was in danger. Luffy nodded and relaxed, pinkies linked while they were worried about their friend. He hadn't used his quirk, which was a good thing and a bad thing. Good thing because he might hurt himself again and a bad thing because his quirk could possibly turn the tables at the very end.
"Young Bakugo, the next time you use that, I'll stop the fight and your team will lose!" Bakugo looked surprised at this. They didn't know how. "To use such a large scale attack is only inviting destruction of the stronghold you should be protecting. That is a foolish plan for both heroes and villains! You will lose points for it." Ace and Luffy nodded in approval of the scolding.
Whether Bakugo would take it to heart was to be seen. He just grew angrier it seemed, he kept breaking what Ace and Luffy thought were new records. So he blasted toward Midoriya before fainting and jumping over him before blasting an explosion directly against his back.
"Midoriya!" Luffy said in worry.
"What was that?!"
"How is that allowed?" All Might said nothing.
One of the only very calm students, Todoroki, said, "He doesn't seem like the one to make plans, but he's more subtle than I expected." Ace and Luffy didn't pay much attention to the guy complimenting someone who was trying to seriously harm his classmate and a kid. They were both worried and angry. Angry at Bakugo and All Might for letting it go this far. Gunhead would have stopped by now.
Ace looked at his wristband. He was a much better hero than All Might, so why wasn't he more recognized? He did his best not to think bad things about others, but he did think of people in levels. It was never low enough to be "bad" but there were "better" and "best". The ones below that were neither, but also not bad, per say.
Kaminari said, "He's too talented… too powerful. How is he not at the top?" A few glanced at Ace and Luffy, who made no response to that reaction. When Bakugo hit him harder in the air and then grabbed him and yanked him up and over his head, Luffy put his hands over his eyes.
"He'd be offended if he tried so hard and you didn't watch," Ace said kindly. Luffy nodded and looked again. "If he does get really badly injured, we have Recovery Girl to fix him," the freckled brother pointed out.
Luffy mumbled, "I don't want him getting dependent on that." Students started to beg All Might to end it. Ace and Luffy didn't know what he was getting out of letting it continue this far. Midoriya's life should matter more than his pride. A pro-hero should know that.
Tokoyami said, "These are not the actions of a hero." Simple and true. It was always how Ace and Luffy saw him. They had hoped he'd mellow out when he got older, but he seemed worse here since he could get away with hurting someone with his quirk and not getting in trouble. When Bakugo looked even more crazed, Ace spoke.
"All Might, if your hand is shaking that much, shouldn't you end this?" he asked in an almost cold voice. It was clear All Might wished to stop this. The twin had gotten very used to reading body language. Not just Gunhead's, but their classmates when they couldnt see their faces. All Might's hand stopped shaking at hearing that, but he did not respond.
"What do you think young Midoriya will feel like if I canceled during his first battle?"
"Well, he won't be dead," Luffy said. The others nodded in agreement, but then the subject of worry started running. Kirishima said it wasn't a very manly thing to do, but Ace and Luffy thought it was okay. There was no point fighting a battle you know will kill you. Retreating for only a few moments could change the tide. Make the villain think they were strong enough to make a hero run before they were shocked as a calmer and more composed hero went after them.
Luffy quoted Gunhead, "A short retreat can turn the tide of battle. There's nothing wrong with running as long as you're not giving up." This made the others think for a moment. Some admitted that that was true, but it was also embarrassing to run.
Sato, the one who was powered by sugar, said, "That's a Gunhead quote isn't it?" Luffy nodded. It was a distraction for some to recognize their suits as an homage to the pro-hero. The gloves were almost the same. Fingerless and reaching to the armpits. "I guess it's true though. And a pro-hero said that."
"Midoriya isn't going to give up. Even if he ends up hurt, he will try his best," Ace said firmly.
When Midoriya turned around and he said something determined, and ran at Bakugo with a fist formed, Luffy said, "Told you so," very lightly, smiling. "He got momentary composure and will use it to fight with more conviction. And he also might have a plan, his actions are odd in some sense."
But they were still concerned, and once again the students were telling the teacher that things were looking bad. Yet, he still did nothing. Ace hadn't said anything for a while, just watching with a grim face. Finally, All Might started to tell them to stop before Midoriya's plan was shown. He thrusted his fits upwards, creating a large draft of wind, similar to Luffy's beams, and destroying a huge part of the building.
Ace sighed and said that would be a lot of points taken away, but both were grinning. The wind caused rubble to fly up, which Uraraka hit at Iida like a baseball. While he was distracted by the flying rocks, she jumped and landed on the target. Both of them won. But at what cost? Midoriya was in a terrible state even when everything looked dusty.
When the smoke did clear, Midoroya was broken, bruised and burnt. Never had any of the injuries with the twins was this bad. "Hero team wins!"
Ace and Luffy usually would have cheered, but he was so injured. It was so hard to see their friend in that state. "Was definitely more flashy and intense than your guys'," Jiro said simply.
Ace commented that they also hadn't damaged the building. All Might said points would be taken for that, but they won regardless. And the twins were happy he won, just not with how it happened. But they would express concern but not anger or shaming him. Midorya was taken by the nurse robots, battered and exhausted.
When all the players but him got back, Iida was given the most points. He had done no damage to the building, he was not injured, and he had not acted on his emotions like Bakugo. The offender that everyone now seemed to be a bit wary of, or even afraid of, was glaring at the ground before he looked up and saw Ace and Luffy looking at him. Their expressions were blank.
Of course this pissed him off. He bared his teeth at them, but still the two said and did nothing before turning away from him and looking at All Might. That also made Bakugo angrier, but they paid no attention to it.
Honestly, while the twins liked everybody being happy and friendly with one another, they wished there had been no praise for Bakugo since he was attacking based on emotion and not on the mission. He would be fired if he did that as a registered hero. The attention was turned away from him and onto the next match. It was over almost instantly, as Todoroki froze the entire building and trapped those inside by freezing their bare feet. It even froze over the camera lenses, making things a bit muddled and hard to see. They were unable to do anything.
Luffy said, "Wow! That's amazing. I wonder if your flames could melt it." Ace shrugged. Kaminari commented, standing next to Ace, and pointed out that his flames had melted a metal baseball and thick concrete so it would probably melt ice. Luffy laughed and said that that was a good point. It was boring to see as it didn't last long.
Those inside started to get cold besides Ace, who wrapped Luffy in his flames to stay warm. "That's no fair," Mineta said, teeth chattering. Ace engulfed everyone in his warm flames.
"There, nobody is cold," Ace said easily. Everyone stopped shivering and the girls commented on how soft the flames were. They seemed to trust Ace wasn't going to kill them, and that made Ace very happy. This would be very different from junior high, where you weren't really allowed to use your powers much. Though Ace and Luffy didn't use theirs at all. Still, now they could. It should be interesting.
Bakugo stomped away so he wasn't in Ace's perfectly controlled flames. And they were white, so it was easy to see through them and watch on the screen, nice and toasty. But Luffy peeked to the side to see Bakugo looking shocked. Not only was he failed by someone who barely used his quirk, but there were Ace and Luffy's quirks as well as Todoroki's very impressive one as well.
He had always had a big ego. And it seemed like it was imploding at realizing he wasn't going to be the number one here. Luffy almost felt pity for him, but not much considering how horrible he'd been to their friend. It was practically torture, to be honest.
They were all surprised when Todoroki was able to melt the ice easily, only leaving some steam that quickly dissipated. Ace retracted his flames and nobody was cold anymore. Todoroki's battle was also a quiet one that caused no damage to the surroundings. When he came back in, Luffy said his power was really strong.
"Would you be able to create stairs or ramps?" he asked in interest. Todoroki shook his head, saying their powers were different, as his ice had to be connected to his body or the ground. Luffy could run and make ramps in the air and not needing to make any contact with the ground. Ace commented that he was able to use heat. "Do you use fire, too?"
Todoroki shook his head. "I don't use it but it's possible. It's not as hot as yours seem to be or as refined. I mostly use my ice." Luffy grinned and said that that definitely seemed to be enough for him. He commented that it was a lot neater than the last fight, which had made the building unusable. Luckily there were many other buildings to use. They were all disposable. Really, how long did it take to build this campus? It was huge!
Ace reminded Luffy that there was another match to watch, and they enjoyed the rest of them. None was as flashy or dangerous as Midoriya's had been, and nobody got injured. Tokoyami and Tsu were sneaky as well. But Luffy and Ace had the more stealth one. They hadn't entered the door to get to the weapon, they'd melted it. Plus, their match lasted maybe six minutes. Not as fast as Todoroki's but quick.
And they worked together, Todoroki did it all himself. Well, the twins both thought their class had really interesting powers and they couldn't wait to compare them from now to the end of the year. They were all gathered outside near the entrance and exit of the fake city, and All Might congratulated. He praised them for not injuring themselves or each other besides Bakugo's match, and that they took the mission seriously. "You all did a good job for your first training!"
The students were grinning and already complementing each other's quirks. It felt like a comfortable place. And it was nice being around other strong quirks. So they saw how they could improve their own by watching examples from their classmates.
"Go get changed and meet at the classroom! I must go review the results of young Midoriya's match." But Ace and Luffy froze, looking behind them to where All Might had gone. They exchanged knowing glances. The moment the pro-hero was far from them, his presence immediately dimmed. Was he sick?
