The next day following the situation with the press and the break-in, Aizawa was instructing the class.
"For today's training, you'll be having four teachers. There's me, your gym teacher Flash Magnus, general course teacher Somnambula, and a special teacher who works here that you'll meet shortly. In addition, you'll get your first chance to work with a Pro Hero. Who they are, you'll know when you see them."
"What kind of training are we doing?" Sero asked with his hand raised.
Aizawa reached into his scarf and pulled out a small notecard with one word written in big blue letters. Immediately, all of the class excitedly repeated what was on the card.
"RESCUE!"
Aizawa nodded. "The second most common form of Hero Work, after Support, is Rescue! Whether it's a natural disaster like a flood or hurricane or a man-made disaster like car accidents and forest fires, a Hero must always be ready to save others, so today is the Trial of Rescue!"
"Hell yeah! This is the whole point of Heroes! I'm raring to go!" Eijirou cheered.
Tsuyu added her own two cents. "If it's a flood, then I'm in my element."
"Whatever we're doing, I'll be adapting to it easily." Tony chuckled.
"Aww yeah, this is where things get real!" Rainbow Dash said. "Rescue is the most important part of being a hero."
"Rescue is one of the reasons why I wanted to be a Hero myself." Fluttershy smiled. "I'm sure I'll do great."
"Of course, you will Fluttershy!" Pinkie giggled.
Don't get too excited," Aizawa said, shutting the class up. "Anyway, unlike the Battle Trial, you've got a choice of whether or not to wear your Hero Gear. I recommend you do though; some of your gear won't be suited for Rescue Work, so it's better you discover how to improve them in training than in a real rescue situation. The Training Facility we're using is right on the edge of the school premises, so we'll be taking a short bus ride. Go get ready and meet out front."
Izuku frowned. "I'm a little concerned as to why so many heroes are looking after us in this training. Especially since Somnambula doesn't even teach at our course."
"Oh come on, I like her! She knows how to take a leap of faith!" Pinkie smiled.
After Class 1-A had gotten dressed in their Hero Costumes and boarded the bus that would take them to where they would be doing rescue training, the students had all begun making small talk with each other to pass the time.
"Hey, Midoriya," Tsuyu spoke up, sitting next to Izuku. "I always tend to speak my mind and I noticed something about you; Doesn't it seem like your Quirk has some similarities to All-Might?"
Izuku, the Mane 6, and Marco all tensed upon hearing that. Thankfully, they were saved by some unlikely assistance.
"It's not uncommon for Quirks to have similar features," Ghidorah said. "I mean, my Quirk, [Disaster], harnesses a lot of different elements common in natural disasters like Fire, Darkness, and Lightning. I could pretty much be like any Pro Hero who uses those specific elements as their Quirks."
"But man, a lot of you guys have such versatile and flashy Quirks," Eijirou said. "All I can do is harden my body. Pretty boring, if you ask me."
"You don't need a flashy Quirk to be a hero," Terumi said. "My Quirk, [Personal Radar], only lets me mark people who have seen my face and keep track of them no matter where they are. It also came with a piggybacked mutation that belonged to one of my ancestors, which is why I look like this."
"Well, it's a blessing in disguise regardless," Tony said. "You've got super tough skin, enhanced senses, and those claws that can tear through anything."
"And besides, Kirishima, a Quirk like yours is great for a Hero whose job is protecting others!" Izuku chimed in.
After some more small talk, the bus soon arrived at the class's destination. Heading into the dome-shaped building, everyone gazed in awe at the interior and all the different Disaster Zones that were set up for Rescue Training.
"Holy crap, this is like Universal Studios or something!" Sunset exclaimed.
"You could say that." A synthesized female voice spoke as everyone turned to see a woman dressed in a bulky spacesuit with metal caps on her fingers. Needless to say, Ochako was the most excited to see her.
"OMIGOSH! IT'S THE SPACE HERO: THIRTEEN! I LOVE HER!"
Thirteen giggled at the warm reception. "I created this area as a Practical Training Area; Floods, Landslides, Fires, Tsunamis… this place was built to simulate them all and teach young heroes how to act. It's the Unforeseen Situations Joint; USJ!"
"It is good to see so many excited youths here!" Somnambula said as she stood beside Flash Magnus, who had his arms folded with a smile.
"You said there'd be a Pro Hero working with us as well. Where are they?" Denki asked, only for a chuckle to be heard.
"Oh, he's right here..."
Denki yelped when he saw the white lightning bolt markings on his jacket come to life and shoot out before drawing a human male figure like something from a laser light show, which then fully materialized for all to see. Fluttershy immediately recognized him and gasped with a smile.
"Discord!"
The man had a white goatee, a snaggle tooth, bushy eyebrows, messy white hair with black tips, pony-like ears, a goat horn and a deer antler protruding from his head, yellow eyes with red pupils, and a mismatched suit that was colored brown, grey, red, yellow, beige, green, light blue, and purple. He also had a clawed golden gauntlet on his left hand.
"Fluttershy! My, you've grown since I last saw you!" Discord, also known as Fuwa Konton, smiled as he slinked over to the kind girl and suddenly dressed up as a Nanny, pinching her cheek playfully. "But you're still just as adorable as ever!"
"The Chaotic Hero: Discord?!" Izuku exclaimed in amazement. "He's the Pro Hero working with us today?"
Aizawa nodded. "Correct. Now, could you mind doing the thing?"
"Oh yes, of course," Discord said, chuckling as he snapped his fingers and created earpieces for communication that were handed out to everybody. This was one of the endless aspects of his Quirk, [Chaos], which allowed him to practically warp reality in various chaotic and ridiculous ways.
The class and their teachers made their way into the building as Thirteen decided now was a good time to speak up.
I'm sure many of you know this already, but my Quirk is called [Black Hole]. It allows me to create a powerful vortex at the tips of my fingers. The vortex will suck in pretty much anything, but whatever does get sucked in is reduced to dust." Thirteen explained, lifting her hand to show the caps on her fingers.
"It's a great Quirk for rescue! It can easily remove rubble and wreckage, as well as suck trapped individuals towards you." Izuku said.
"Yes..." Thirteen began, her voice becoming pensive. "And yet it is also a Quirk that can very easily kill people. That's not rare for a Hero's Quirk and I'm sure many of you are the same."
Many of the students looked relatively uncomfortable as they understood her words. Ghidorah, Tempest, Terumi, Kira, Junko, and Sunset looked the most worried about that fact.
"Quirks are an incredibly powerful, useful, and dangerous factor in today's society. Among the people, they are carefully regulated to ensure they aren't used in a dangerous manner; as a society, we can't feel safe otherwise. After all, every day children are born that have powers that could kill easily; without control, our civilization could easily fall apart." Somnambula explained.
"With Eraserhead, you learned the limits of your body's power when it comes to your Quirks, and with All-Might, you learned what it was like to fight against, and more importantly, defend against others that used their power with the intent of defeating you." Thirteen continued. "With me, you will be learning how to use your amazing powers for the sake of saving lives! I truly believe in my heart that our quirks do not exist to hurt one another, I hope that by the end of this lesson, you will all truly understand that Heroes and their powers exist solely to help others!"
The class all began applauding Thirteen's speech but before any lessons could begin in earnest, the lights began dimming slightly.
"It wasn't me!" Denki quickly defended, not wanting to be singled out in case this was an accident.
Aizawa suddenly noticed something out of the corner of his eye; A strange swirl of black mist had formed in front of the fountain in the center of the USJ and was slowly growing larger. Then a pale hand appeared from it, followed by a whole horde of unsavory-looking individuals.
"I get the feeling this isn't part of the training," Tenya said. "This was supposed to be Rescue Training, but those people don't look like they need rescuing."
"You're right on that front, Iida," Aizawa said as he readied his Capture Tape and donned his goggles. "Those are REAL Villains!"
"Oh goodie, I was worried this was going to be BORING," Discord said, clapping his hands.
Flash Magnus used his Quirk, [Spartan] to summon a bronze spear and a feather-wrapped spear while Somnambula took a defensive stance along with Thirteen.
"I see Somnambula, Thirteen, Flash Magnus, Eraserhead, and Discord. That last one is quite a surprise for sure. Yet the schedule we obtained said All-Might would also be present and yet he is not here." A smooth dark voice spoke as the portal turned into a humanoid being wearing a bartender's suit.
"So it seems these scum were the ones Zecora warned us about in her vision," Aizawa growled.
Somnambula frowned as she summoned her spirit, a dark purple-furred female Sphinx with her Quirk, which was also aptly named [Sphinx]. Like Fumikage's Dark Shadow, Sphinx was a sentient Quirk.
"That one with the severed hands all over his body. I can sense he was the one who destroyed the gate. Who are you?"
"I just go by the name Sensei gave me; Tomura Shigaraki. Who I was before no longer matters. What does is that we came here specifically to kill the great Symbol of Peace." The decayed Villain said.
"Ugh, what is that repulsive thing?" Discord said, wrinkling his nose at the sight of the monstrous creature that had arrived with the villains. It had jet-black skin, an exposed brain, wide unblinking eyes, and a beak-like mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.
"I can sense its energy..." Somnambula said, getting a headache from the mere sight of the beast. "I-It used to be human, but there's nothing human about it anymore."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about this big guy," Tomura assured. "We're saving him for the final boss. It's the rest of our friends you have to worry about. They came all this way to see the Symbol of Piece of die, and they're not afraid to kill a few stupid kids to bring him running."
Aizawa stepped forward. "You've got five Pro Heroes standing in the way of that. And most of your friends look like low-level fodder at best."
"Izuku, are you okay?" Twilight asked as she noticed Izuku frozen in place, staring at the horde of villains before them.
Tomura, the Portal Villain, and whatever the creature was were triggering Izuku's [Danger Sense], the sharp stabbing sensation thundering in his skull like a jackhammer.
"Something's wrong, the alarms aren't going off!" Momo noted.
"I'm trying to see if I can hack 'em but I'm coming up with nothing!" Flash said worriedly.
"It must be a masking Quirk. One of the villains is making the whole group unseen to the security network." Shoto realized. "They deliberately chose this isolated facility at a time when a class was being taught. They may be fools for trespassing here, but they thought this through, so they're still intelligent fools."
"And soon, they're gonna be HOSPITALIZED fools," Tony said, cracking his knuckles along with Ghidorah. Marco had Click jump into the air and transform into his shield form as he pulled out a sword from the shield as well.
"How's the signal working?" Thirteen asked.
"We only have internal communications," Somnambula said, having checked the earpieces Discord created. "We need to find a way to send help to the outside. Kaminari, try boosting the signal."
"Got it!" Denki said, channeling his Quirk through his radio headset only to cry out in alarm when all he got was ear-splitting feedback.
"We need to buy time until help can arrive..." Aizawa frowned.
"If we must die to make sure our students live to thrive as the next generation...then so be it!" Flash Magnus said bravely as he leaped down the staircase along with Aizawa, spear poised and ready.
Discord chuckled. "Might as well join in. Can't let them have all the fun."
Discord then teleported in a flash of Frosted Flakes and reappeared alongside Aizawa and Magnus, flying alongside them like a dragon while a wild, silly grin was spread on his lips.
One villain with gun barrels for fingers smirked. "Okay, Shooting Squad! Get ready!"
He was joined by a heavyset patchwork villain with a bull helmet and a female villain with metal ropes for hair. They were quickly dispatched as Aizawa nullified their Quirks, grabbing the first in his Capture Tape while Discord hit the big guy with a giant pie that pinned him to the floor. The woman was hit by a backhand strike from Flash Magnus' shield, sending her sprawling.
"You idiots!" Another villain cursed. "They're covering too many bases! Eraserhead can nullify Quirks, Flash Magnus can summon all sorts of warrior weapons to smack us around and Discord can practically warp reality!"
Tomura observed the trio's fight as they took out villain after villain. "Well, that's the sad part about PvP. Numbers don't matter if your smaller party can cover a wide range of weaknesses. But what are Thirteen and Somnambula doing, Kurogiri?"
The Portal Villain, Kurogiri, hummed as he looked up at the starting platform.
"It looks like they are starting to evacuate the students. Time for Plan B, it seems."
He warped in front of the class and the two teachers, who quickly got on guard as he blocked their path.
"Forgive the impoliteness, my name is Kurogiri and we are the League of Villains. We've decided to invite ourselves into your little haven of justice. A fitting place for All Might, the Symbol of Peace, to die, don't you think?"
Katsuki burst out into laughter. "Bitch! You really think you can kill the Symbol of Peace?!"
"And do you even know what the Symbol of Peace is?" Starlight asked with narrowed eyes. "I don't think you do, since you're only talking about killing All-Might."
"Speaking of which, I believe he was supposed to be here," Kurogiri noted.
"You're working off an outdated schedule. All-Might was selected as a General Hero Course teacher, not Rescue Training." Somnambula said with a smirk.
"Strange...You're not part of rescue training, either. In fact, aren't you supposed to be part of General Ed? Why would you be here unless you..." Kurogiri's eyes widened in realization. "Knew you were coming!"
"Yup, Zecora got y'all good!" Applejack grinned.
"What should we do, Deku?" Katsuki asked Izuku. "I say we rush the bastard here and now."
"I can get by that!" Eijirou grinned.
"Me too," Terumi said, baring his sharp teeth.
Izuku shook his head. "He doesn't look like he has a physical form right now. Unless we can find a tangible core we'd only be getting ourselves sent who knows where. Besides, I think Thirteen has this."
Sure enough, Thirteen had popped open one of the lids on her gloves, allowing her to use [Black Hole]. However, despite the vortex sucking up a good deal of his mist, Kurogiri was fast.
"In the end, these setbacks matter not! I'll scatter you all to the ends of the earth!"
His body expanded to encompass the class. As he did, Izuku noticed a solid neck brace just under Kurogiri's eyes.
"Iida! Run for the exit! Let the other teachers know what's going on!"
"You go with him, Fluttershy!" Twilight said.
Before either Tenya or Fluttershy could protest, Twilight held up two fingers, a magenta magical aura surrounding them and phasing them through Kurogiri's mist, out of the USJ building and straight to the entrance of UA.
"Dammit!" Tenya cursed. "We need to hurry!"
"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness...!" Fluttershy said in a panic. "Please be safe, everyone!"
Izuku screamed as he plummeted into the waters of the Shipwreck Zone. As he quickly scrambled to the surface, he spotted a Shark-themed Villain heading straight for him.
"First catch of the day! Nothing personal kid, but you're chum!"
Suddenly, Tony appeared in front of Izuku, gills had appeared on his neck and fins grew from his heels as he blocked the Shark Villain from biting Izuku, losing his arm in the process. However, the smirk on his face showed he wasn't too bothered as the severed limb instantly disintegrated in the villain's mouth while Tony regrew a new arm in seconds.
"Hang on, guys!" Tsuyu's voice was heard as she kicked the Shark Villain and then wrapped Izuku up in her tongue as Tony swam up with them out of the water and onto the actual ship. Minoru was held underneath Tsuyu's arm and Twilight and Marco soon came out as well, surrounded by a bubble of magenta magical energy from Twilight.
"Is everyone okay?" Twilight asked as she dispelled the bubble when she and Marco boarded the ship.
"Fine for the most part. Frogs might not be fish, but the water is still our natural habitat." Tsuyu said.
"Well, this is a terrible day of class," Marco noted, Click having turned back to normal and shaking the water off of him before chirping in agreement. "Was that villain serious about killing All-Might?"
"Considering he wasn't afraid to send us to our supposed deaths, I think he was very serious. They knew our whole schedule, and had an idea of who was supposed to be here." Izuku said. "While we were stuck in the cafeteria, they snuck in and stole school files. The teachers were too busy trying to keep the media off school grounds."
"Though it seems they didn't take Zecora's magical skills into account," Twilight noted.
"But if the school anticipated this, why not just cancel the training today?" Tsuyu asked.
"Because then the enemy would remain unknown," Tony explained. "They took any and all steps they could to try and lure in these guys while still keeping us safe. We weren't the bait, All-Might was."
"So long as this 'League of Villains' thought All-Might was here, they'd come for him. And if they didn't find him, they'd try and make chaos to draw him in." Marco realized. "I think I see what our teachers were trying to do now."
"B-But it's not like they can really kill All-Might right?!" Minoru pointed out, having been silent until now.
"I don't know, that monster the villains came with...the leader said he was made specifically for All-Might," Tony noted.
We should let the others know! I think that's the reason the teachers gave us these earpieces, just in case we got separated." Izuku said.
"Oh god, are you guys serious?!" Minoru panicked. "We weren't supposed to be fighting villains until at least our second year!"
"Mineta, calm down," Twilight said before looking over the railings. "And I think we should get ready, I don't think that shark was the only villain in the water!"
Everyone else looked to where Twilight was looking to see all sorts of aquatic-themed villains in the water. Minoru gulped as he hugged Tony's leg, making the reptilian-skinned boy push him away in annoyance. As the dwarfish boy tried to get up, he noticed something.
Uh, Midoriya? Your hands are emitting smoke, is that normal?"
Hearing this, Izuku looked at his hands. Sure enough, purple smoke was being emitted from his palms. Twilight also noticed this and she and Izuku looked at each other as they realized what this must mean.
"This must be another facet of [One For All], the Quirk of the 6th User; [Smokescreen]!"
"LOOK OUT!"
Tony pushed the others out of the way as a harpoon hit his shoulder. However, he just ripped it out without so much as flinching and threw it back, scattering the villains.
"Don't aim for the guy in the hood!" The Shark Villain from earlier called out. "His wounds can heal at an accelerated rate! I already bit off his arm and it just grew back! Go for the others instead!"
"HE BIT OFF YOUR ARM?!" Twilight, Marco, and Minoru exclaimed at the same time as Tony chuckled.
"Wouldn't be my first time. But hey, I can adapt and regenerate to and from anything, remember?"
"Guys, listen, we have to try and stop whatever it is that they're planning. And our first step is getting off this boat and over to shore." Izuku said.
"That won't be easy, there must be at least a dozen villains in the water," Tsuyu said.
"And there's bound to be more elsewhere," Marco added.
"Don't forget everyone, we were chosen to be trained as heroes. And most of these guys are just street thugs. It's not ideal, and they have the advantage of numbers, but we're not outclassed, either!" Twilight said with utmost faith.
"Yeah, and the rest of our classmates are no doubt fighting back as we speak," Izuku added.
Sure enough, Shoto was in the Landslide Zone, trapping a villain in ice as Rainbow Dash watched from the sky, keeping an eye out for any villains that managed to escape the initial wave. Katsuki, Eijirou, Junko, Applejack and were taking out dozens in the Collapse Zone, fighting side by side and keeping close together to avoid getting picked off.
Momo handed a created sword to Kyouka as the two of them, alongside Denki, Rarity, and Elleanor, faced down against a group in the Mountain Zone. Oujiro and Terumi were facing down foes in the Fire Zone, while Fumikage, Kouji, Kira, and Derpy were in the Downpour Zone. The rest of the class, save for Tenya and Fluttershy were still at the entrance with Thirteen and Somnambula facing Kurogiri.
Meanwhile, Tomura was watching the bulk of the villains get taken down by Aizawa, Flash Magnus, and Discord.
"At this rate, All-Might won't even need to show up. Looks like I'll have to step in."
Meanwhile, back at UA, Toshinori was getting worried as Celestia walked up beside him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. They had a plan outlined based on Zecora's vision but as the old adage goes, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
"I'm worried about them as well, especially Twilight and Sunset. They were always the ones I was closest too...like the daughters I never had."
Toshinori shook his head. "I can only pray those kids are alright. I know Young Panelle and his Quirk will allow him to survive whatever is thrown at him but the others..."
Celestia nodded in understanding before seeming to look off into space with a forlorn look on her face. Toshinori noticed this and gently squeezed her velvet-soft hand with his own boney one.
"You're thinking about her again, aren't you?"
"It's my fault, Toshinori. I should have realized her resentment was festering and corrupting her...I should have been there for her!"
"She kept it well hidden, Celestia. Not even I could have realized until it was too late." Chimed in Principal Nedzu as he came in. "But we're still searching for her, and I'm positive that we will save her."
"I can only hope that should the worst come to pass, we can save the children first..." Toshinori frowned before the door swung open and Fluttershy and Tenya ran in.
"All-Might! Celestia! Villains!" Tenya said in-between breaths.
Celestia narrowed her eyes as Toshinori growled protectively, steam erupting off of him as they realized this was the time to act.
"So how in the heck are we supposed to fight these guys?" Minoru asked.
"Well, first off, I can easily say that none of these losers is a match for All-Might," Tony said. "They likely learned what to expect in the USJ before coming."
"Yeah, they are all water-themed too, perfect for the Shipwreck Zone," Twilight noted. "But then again, Tsuyu is also well-suited to the water. Which means the villains likely don't have any idea what our Quirks are."
"Yeah, it seems like that Kurogiri guy was just sending us all willy-nilly," Marco said, Click chirping in agreement.
Minoru's eyes widened in realization. "You mean to tell me that they only made this plan for the sole purpose of killing All-Might? Only treating us like an afterthought? How sloppy can you get?!"
"It's indeed a stupid plan and one that is clearly doomed to fail." Tony chuckled in agreement. "But that doesn't mean we should underestimate these low lives."
"Okay, we need to come up with a plan and it needs to have all hands on deck!" Twilight said. "Izuku, you've memorized everyone's Quirks from what you've seen, right?"
Izuku nodded as he took out his notebook. "Never go anywhere without my notes, Twilight!"
"I don't know either to be impressed, flattered, creeped out, or all of the above..." Minoru said.
"Trust me, Rainbow Dash said the same thing back when Izuku first dissected her Quirk." Twilight giggled.
Tony smirked. "Looks like we've got an idea on what to do...now let's channel the time-honored tradition of IMPROVE."
Down in the water, one of the villains, Hanzo Suiden was ready to make his move, sending a claw made of water with his Quirk, [Water Control], to slice the boat in half. However, before he could strike, a massive amount of purple smoke suddenly poured out, clouding everyone's view.
"What the hell?! Does one of them have a Smoke Quirk?!" One of the villains called out in alarm.
Suddenly, Tony dove into the water, fins appearing on his arms and legs as gills formed on the sides of his neck. He quickly began racing as fast as he could, his body adapting to the waves as he moved faster and faster.
"Oh crap! He's trying to make a whirlpool!" The Shark Villain realized.
Hanzo Suiden tried to stop Tony, but he still couldn't see very well through the smoke. This allowed Tsuyu to leap off the boat, disgorging many of Minoru's hairballs from her stomach. Marco jumped beside her and clapped his hands before thrusting downward, manipulating wind to make the smoke move and form into the shape of hands, pushing the hairballs down on top of the villains before they could react.
As the villains tried to get the hairballs that stuck to them off, Minoru started tossing more orbs at them from Marco's back. Twilight then stuck the villains to each other by grabbing and dragging them with Magikinesis. Finally, for the big finish, Izuku gave a great leap, his arm poised for a finger flick.
"DELAWARE SMASH!"
The surge of air created a vacuum, sending the villains up a waterspout which was quickly getting filled with more sticky orbs. Tony then shot out of the water and caught Izuku before growing fleshy gargoyle-like wings from his back, flying alongside Tsuyu, Twilight, Marco, and Minoru.
"If a strong force pushes away the water's surface, then that water will come rushing back, right into the middle!" Izuku and Twilight said together with a smile as the waterspout came down into a second whirlpool, causing all the villains in the water to be stuck to each other.
"You guys...you guys are so cool!" Minoru sobbed, inspired by the amazing display he had just seen.
"That about wraps that up. You guys are pretty amazing." Tsuyu said.
"Let's not go selling the rest of us short here!" Marco chuckled as Click made giggle-like chirps.
"Come on, let's see if we can find the others," Tony said as the six made their way to shore.
The USJ Arc has started and the heat is cranking up! Can our 40 young heroes work together to fend off the League of Villains and their nefarious plot?