Hello, everyone! as much as I hate to say this, my upload speed will take a drop after this chapter. I started uploading after I had made chapter five, and I made a couple chapters after that, but I have caught up you guys to where I am. In all honesty, when I feel the chapter is done, I'll put it up here. Until next Time!
All Might screwed up. There was a villain with a powerful quirk that was giving the other heroes trouble that he helped with. After eating up the hero's time in his muscle form, he started to emanate steam. Managing to get away from the crowd and press fast enough, he knew he couldn't teach the class.
"Think Toshinori. Who could teach in your, OH!" thinking quick, he pulled his phone and called principle Nezdu.
"Hello, this is Nezdu of UA, How may I help you?" the animal answered.
"Sir, it's All Might. I overused my hero form, so I don't think I can come to work." there was a sigh on the other line.
"I can't get a substitute on this short of a notice, Toshi. It'll have to be a self-study class." Toshinori took a breath.
"I do know of someone you can call, and I'm sure he would come in." there was a grunt (or was it a squeak?) of interest at the words.
"I think he'd ask why you couldn't be there, but If you're comfortable telling-" Toshinori stopped his inquiry.
"He already knows and doesn't care about my circumstances. I'll give you his number, just tell him 'Toshinori screwed up' and give him some free reign. He knows how to be a hero." The living skeleton explained.
"I'll give it a shot," Nezdu assured his friend. "What's his name?"
"Anima Cacciatore."
The werewolf was irritated. Those words didn't do him justice.
"Dammit. I've neither a teaching nor hero license Toshinori. Well, let's hope I'm not liable if they hurt themselves." he tried to reason. His lovely wife was coming from her office room with her bag for work.
"I have to go to work. I love you, mi caballero." she leaned in for a quick kiss and he returned it. Both headed out the door. When Jesse saw that Anima was still going the same way, she got curious.
"Are you walking me to work today?" the she-wolf asked. Her spouse took her hand.
"Yes I am, la mia Tempesta, but I'm also going to be substituting for 1-A's foundational hero teacher." Jesse looked at him like he had told her he was turning to pacifism, then started giggling.
"You, are teaching a class of teenagers?"
"For today yes. I was thinking of a hostage simulation if the principal would let me." Jesse lost it. Laughing hard enough that she had to lean on him to continue the walk, he gave a dry look.
"I've shown heroes how to work properly. Why do you think I can't?" Anima asked his hysterical wife. She started to calm down.
"It's not the fact you're training heroes, but the fact you haven't been in a proper classroom since you were out of high school. You haven't even seen how much paperwork a teacher has to do," she explained herself. She was imagining Anima getting annoyed and torching the papers.
"They called me on Mighty Pant's request, so I'm just leaving the paperwork to him. Skeleton or no, he's got the strength to write." the martial artist held no shame in his tone. If Toshinori can't see his students, then he can sure as hell grade their work for the one he dumped them on. Jesse had started laughing again at his blatant use of his surprise position. When they found themselves a few blocks away from campus, they heard the familiar buzz of reporters. After a drone dropped off Anima's ID, he decided to have used an 'alternate entrance'. Jesse gave a small yelp when her lover scooped her up in a bridal carry.
"You aren't thinking of…" she didn't get to finish as the werewolf started running faster than a racecar.
"I hate the press" was the only answer Anima gave as he sped towards the wall that had no door.
"nonononoNO! Jodido infierno lobo rabioso! ¡Deneter!" she quickly voiced her opinion at her spouse's antics as he jumped over the wall. Landing in school grounds, Anima his wife down with a kiss on her hand and was rewarded with a smack to the head.
"I have never dropped you when I run like that." he defended himself.
"I'm not upset you do that, but you hardly warn me!" She quietly shouted indignantly.
"Have a wonderful day, la mia Tempesta." Anima didn't react to her accusations. with a kiss on her cheek, she seemed to calm down.
"Your class doesn't know I exist. Fix that and I'll forgive your little stunt. Be safe, mi Caballero." she returned the gesture.
The class of 1-A was excited about the next lesson. The excitement from the false alarm and choosing of Tenya as class president had been eroded for the next foundational hero study lesson.
"All Might already had us show how we fought indoors, what d'you think he'll give us next?" Toru asked Mashirao.
"No clue, but I'm sure it'll be fun." the talking quieted down when the class door opened. Instead of the colossal blond hero they were expecting, there was a not-as-tall but still large tan skinned man. His short black hair was in a simple style and he wore a red dress shirt under a dark violet suit with a red tie. When he turned his face towards the class he revealed his almost glowing yellow eyes.
"Good afternoon class, my name is Anima Cacciatore and I will be substituting for All might for today, if not at later times. If I sound blunt, that's because I am and not because I'm trying to be rude. I will start with role call and we will work from there." when the man made his rounds, most students were confused as to who the substitute was.
"Bakugou Katsuki." at those words, the explosive teen shouted at him.
"The fuck are you doing here, Wolf Grin!? I thought you didn't want to teach multiple students!" the class froze. No matter the circumstances, He just cursed out a teacher, and one that used to or still was a hero. Anima turned to him calmly and answered in a neutral tone.
"All Might called in a small favor, and I don't mind teaching multiple students; I didn't want to teach you at that time because of your disposition. Next on the list; Midoriya Izuku." everyone was shocked at his blunt answer and uncaring attitude of Katsuki's language.
"Here, Anima-sensei," he answered with respect. Everyone was curious about the relationship between the three and after he called Momo last, Tsuyu asked.
"Sensei, what's the relationship between Izuku and Bakugo?" It seemed fitting that her blunt nature got an equally blunt response.
"I've trained Izuku-san for nine years in martial arts and Bakugo had disagreements about me teaching Izuku-san and not someone with a strong quirk. I'm glad you mellowed out over the years, by the way." Anima aimed the last sentence at Katsuki. Ashido chimed in her curiosity as well.
"How do you know All Might and where is he?" The sub took a breath.
"He and I met and got to know each other over similar interests a little under a year ago. As for where he is, I've got no idea; being the top hero has its downsides, so he may have other things he has to do. Now then-"
"What's your hero name?" Eijiro interrupted. Looking like he was about to kill for a second, Anima projected his aura to put everyone on edge.
"Fiara. Now are there any more questions before I continue?" there was no one who dared. Cutting his projection suddenly, the werewolf started again.
"Before the lesson, I found out that no one here was told of the freshman school therapist." everyone looked around. They didn't even think that UA would think a therapist was needed.
"She resides one door to the right of the nurse's office, and if you need to talk to someone for help, she will do her best to help you. Being a teenager sucks and heroes have very stressful and dangerous jobs; even many pros talk to someone. Her name is Jesse Cacciatore, so see her if you can." the words sank into many of them. Heroes risk their lives almost daily, and in many situations, one screw up loses the life of the hero or a civilian. Getting access to one in training is probably going to help them in the long run.
"Now then onto the lesson of the day. Can anyone guess what the worst scenario for both heroes and villains are? Hagakure-san?"
"Fights" the invisible girl tried.
"Close, but most fights are often the detriment to only one side at a time. Anyone else?" the class went quiet while they started thinking the question over. After a while, Kyoka raised her hand and was called.
"A hostage situation." most of the class didn't get it, but a few had. Anima nodded.
"Exactly! The heroes have their options limited when even a single civilian's life is at risk and everybody knows it, so heroes avoid it if they can. Unsanctioned quirk use, firearm possession, and assault are much less jail time than attempted murder, so villains try not to let it get to that point as well. And of course, that doesn't even include the victim's fear of having their lives in the hands of a criminal that may or may not kill them. No one likes a hostage situation, and no one should." Anima explained, seeing the class start to understand both the hero and villain point of view. The substitute then went on to ask another question.
"Alright, how about the two type of hostage users. Which is more dangerous; a calm criminal that knows what he's doing, or a thug that's got little clue how to hold a gun, let alone a hostage?" Momo's hand shot up.
"The thug. They are less predictable," she answered. Anima smiled.
"Very good! The chance of an accidental misfire alone is much higher with a scared person than a professional. Taking this in mind, there are a few things that you can do to make it less likely to have a harmed civilian." he started writing two lists on the board. One was de-escalation methods while the other was filled with things that would scare them and worsen the situation. Notes were being written down as the students figured that hostages were not a rare occurrence.
"Now that you've got the basic idea, know that many of these also apply to the calm and collected criminal, so try to keep this in mind. Does anyone want to try with the scenario I've given?" the decision was a unanimous yes.
"Suit up then. I'll wait for you at Ground Gamma's watch room.
The entire class was just outside the watch room when the doors opened by themselves. Anima was nowhere to be found. On a screen, a note was attached. Izuku saw that it was his teacher's handwriting, and read it aloud.
"Your lesson will start when the screens turn on. I will be playing the role of the criminal, and it's your job to save the dummy that I've taken as a hostage and secure the villain with minimal harm. The orange gun I have is a paintball gun with twelve pellets inside. Treat paint marks like bullet wounds, and step out when you get shot. Then there's something in parentheses: If Kirishima hardens, then he gets to take three." the redhead in question fist pumped at the side note. "If you lose and the hostage gets shot, everyone gets to write a paper on the subject. If you win, the rest of the class is free. Good luck! Then there's a Taji on the bottom." Izuku finished. The class started talking about different methods that they could use to deal with it until Momo addressed everyone.
"Cacciatore-sensei has given us all the knowledge of the situation that we need, so let's work together to make sure we win. Midoriya-san, what can you tell us about him, as you've known him the longest." Izuku gave it a moment of thought before answering.
"Anima has heightened senses and is physically stronger, faster, more durable, and he heals very fast." the entire class was shocked to hear how extensive his quirk was, but Izuku kept going. "The way he was talking before indicated he's going to play the 'thug' role this time, so any loud noises will make him shoot." Bakugo started swearing at that.
"He's also wanting this to be a class exercise, so Todoroki-san," the dual haired teen looked at him. "He'll probably shoot the hostage if you try what you did in the team battle, so we'll have to get the gun away from the dummy before you can act. I have a plan, but I need to know everyone's abilities and limits; as Anima-sensei had told me, 'battles are four parts planning and one part carrying the plan out. Chime in if you have an idea." everyone started to listen to the green haired teen as he tried to include everyone's quirk and abilities into a plan.
"I'm over the target. Is everyone else good?" Mina reported from the earpiece that Momo made for everybody. Rikido helped Mineta, Hanta, and herself up in the rafters above Anima.
"I'm at the fuse box" declared Denki.
"Koji and I are at the entrance" Mezo spoke. They were there to gather information. Everyone else checked in and were in position.
"We're good to go. On your mark, Kirishima." Izuku stated from the watchroom.
Anima knew where everyone in the building was thanks to his chi and senses. Their positions kept them from eyesight, and thanks to reading about the class prior, they were in the best positions to take care of him in this scenario. Eijiro stepped into the room.
"Hey man, put the gun down," he asked in a soft voice. Anima heard Momo guiding him through the earpiece and gave them a good mental score. Putting the guy who could take a bullet in the situation where he could use it while having someone who knew the words telling him what to say. His teams did the same with him.
"D-don't come a-any closer!" the werewolf played the fool.
"Look, man, you don't want to do this. Let's just talk this out." he took a small step, and Anima pointed the paint gun at him. Hearing the crack of his student's hardening was apparently the signal, as everything happened at once.
Hanta hit his arm with one of Minoru's grape balls attached to his tape and pulled the gun further away. Denki blew the lights to blind him while Fumikage used his dark shadow to grab the dummy. The only thing they had to do left was to subdue the villain. There was an impact from Yuga's navel laser on his shoulder that spun him when Tenya ran from his cover to trip the teacher. He hit the ground only for his arm to be immobilized by Shouto's ice. Mina then came from above and melted his gun to prevent it from firing. All in all, twelve seconds was all it took to deal with the situation. Anima was very pleased.
"Nicely done everyone. Everyone used their abilities to deal with every problem that you were presented with to make the rescue go as smoothly as possible. The next half hour of class is yours." finally being freed from his class' bindings, Anima went to put his suit coat on.
"Let's get back to class." he walked off.
"Damn, he isn't really all that is he?" Eijiro spoke.
"No, he was just going easy on us." Mashirao came from where he hid as backup. Seeing them not understand, he spoke up.
"Look at his belt, none of the rings made a noise." true enough, looking at both of Anima's sides showed a couple dozen metal rings loosely hanging on chains. He turned to look at them, and flicked one to show that they did, in fact, make a metallic ping. No one heard a single chime even as he hit the floor. What they didn't notice was that he had the same type of ring on his hand, and the symbol on the rings were all different.
Back in the classroom, everyone was chatting amongst themselves. Izuku came up to Anima.
"Jesse-san works here?" he asked, as Anima gave a nod.
"The previous therapist retired, so UA asked for applicants, and she got it." Izuku made a note to visit her later. The talk of the freshman therapist brought the question back in Mina's head.
"She and Cacciatore-sensei have the same last name, are you related?" there was a smile that found its way to the man's face.
"She's my lovely wife." the four words held so much compassion in them that it held no question what his thoughts were about it. The acid quirk user didn't stop there and pushed further.
"How'd you two meet?" Izuku went to his seat, trying not to laugh at the memory of the story. Anima didn't notice.
"I was still in high school at the time, and we met when I was coming home from martial arts practice. She saw me, I saw her, and when she ran off, I chased." The last part turned heads while Izuku was shaking in his chair.
"When I caught up with her at the beach shore, she tackled me into the sand... and stole my first kiss." the class looked even more confused and Izuku was trying to breathe.
"She thought it was fun to have the cute boy chase her?" Toru reasoned.
"That, and it was love at first sight for her, and she didn't know how to react." Kyoka then asked her question.
"Why did you chase her? Love at first sight as well?" Toru and Mina looked hopefully at the chance of the fairy tale meeting.
"Well… no." Anima scratched the back of his head. "She didn't look in the best condition and looked like she needed help. I later found out that she was a runaway from bad circumstances when she was ten." The silence in the room was palatable, and thankfully Izuku broke it.
"Jesse-san remembered it like a fairy tale though." the girls turned to him. "She calls Anima-sensei her 'Caballero', which is Spanish for knight because he helped her back then." the class thought it was sweet.
"What do you call her?" Ochaco asked.
"Mia Tempesta, Italian for 'my Tempest'. She got the nickname after dealing with a group of thugs that were harassing another couple; she was fierce." the smile on his face seemed to brighten at the memory. Soon class was over, and as students were coming out the door, Tenya came up to Anima.
"Will you teach the class again?" The substitute gave a thought and smiled.
"You know what? If All Might has to do something else, I'll substitute him." the class seemed pleased with that.
It's a lot of fun to write the fluffy scenes with Anima and Jesse. Shout out to Eren Senju's comment on chapter 2; more of the cacciatores are revealed. The class lesson was also fun to write, as I got to use almost everyone in class 1-A's quirks! Anima went very easy on them, but he didn't give them the win; Izuku and Momo are awesome tacticians, so all they had to do was work together and make a plan. The rings that were mentioned have little to do with the plot, but they are a part of Anima's character and past. Any questions, comments, or concerns, tell me! I love hearing other people's opinions. That's all for now, Until next time!