Hey everyone, it's acw28 here with another chapter of The Dragon Hero!
So first off, thank you all for the great reception to this story. Despite being posted back in February, this story still receives views on par with many of my other stories. On top of that, this story has 29 reviews already, I'm hard pressed to recall if any of my other stories received such feedback so quickly.
In any case all of those facts, as well as watching the amazing fight, has driven me to writing the next chapter. Fair warning, I'm not expecting this to be that long of a chapter, but with that let's get on with Izuku's first day at UA!
Disclaimer: I have no clever way to say I own nothing.
After a short train ride, Izuku was once more on the campus of UA. Despite being here several times since the entrance exam, Recovery Girl wanting a complete and up-to-date physical from the aspiring hero, the teen couldn't help but be wowed by the school for heroes, especially since he was no longer limited by following a chaperone around.
"Let's see," Izuku mumbled to himself as he wondered around the halls, not wanting to be late on his first day, "Class 1-A, class 1-A, where are you?" The teen soon found his answer when he saw a gigantic door with "1-A" painted upon it with bright, red, humungous letters.
'Okay,' the young man began to give himself a pep-talk as he slowly approached the door, '40 students passed and we were divided into two classes. Odds are Kacchan or the tall speedster won't be here. I can do this.' As he opened the door, the shy teen paused to see that most of the class, including a familiar looking head of pink hair, was already there, and was thankful their attention was on two of their fellow students.
"Get your feet off the desk this instant!" The taller, glasses-wearing teen demanded of Katsuki.
In typical fashion, the bully ignored the order as he fired back, "You're kidding me, right? Did your old school put a stick up your ass, rich boy?"
Seeing being direct wasn't going to work, the taller boy instead tried a different tactic, "Let's start over and try this again. I'm Tenya Iida from…"
Only to be interrupted as the explosive teen stated with a grin, "I don't care where you're from, I'm still going to tear you to pieces!" As he finished speaking, Katsuki turned to the door, ready to measure up the newest classmate only to glare upon seeing Izuku.
"You would threaten me? Your classmate?" Tenya demanded, only to notice Katuski's loss of focus. Turning to see what had captured the blonde's attention the taller teen himself noticed Izuku and remarked, "It's him." Now all of the class turned to see their new classmate as Tenya speed towards the shorter boy in a very robotic fashion as he said, "Hello, my name is Tenya…"
Having already heard the taller teen's name, Izuku politely cut him off as he said, "I already heard." He then swallowed the lump in his throat as he introduced himself, "I'm Izuku Midoriya."
Stopping, and placing his arms at his side, Tenya regarded the other boy as he said, "Midoriya, I apologize for my previous behavior. You are for more observant than me and realized there was something more to the exam…"
Once more Izuku politely stopped the taller teen as he said, "Actually I didn't know about the rescue points until much later, I just saw someone who needed help and acted without thinking."
Apparently the existence of rescue points had been unknown until then. While this tidbit didn't affect the two students in the class who had recommendations, nearly everyone else began breaking out into a loud conversation with those near them, debating how much rescue points affected their score. The only two who didn't join in the conversation where Tenya, who now stood in a corner of the room, scolding himself for not realizing the existence of the rescue points earlier, and Katsuki who just continued to glare at the once Quirk-less boy.
With everyone now distracted, Izuku hoped he could make his way to his seat, only for a familiar figure to lean out of her chair and block his path. Mina gave a wide grin as she said, "Hello again Hero-kun! So your name's Izuku?"
At that point the spiky haired, red-headed boy next to the pinkette spoke up, asking, "Mina, you know this guy?"
Turning her attention to her friend, Mina rolled her eyes as she explained, "I told you Eijiro, remember? About the guy who stopped the thief from stealing my purse?"
"Oh, that was you?" the now named Eijiro turned to Izuku, revealing his own set of pointed fangs. "Helping a damsel in distress? Now that is certainly manly!"
"Who are you calling a damsel!" Mina demanded as she slapped the back of Eijiro's head. Izuku honestly tried to stop the argument before it became too heated, only for yet another new voice to make themselves known.
"Hey, I recognize that curly hair!" Turning, Izuku found himself once more face to face with the girl he'd rescued during the entrance exam. While she began talking about how sure she was that Izuku would make it into the school and how awesome it was to see him take out the zero point in a single hit, a detail that caught their classmates' attention, save for Bakugo who was busy plotting ways to torment his former friend, the green haired boy had his own thoughts.
'Gosh she looks great in that uniform. Then again, so does Mina…'
Not realizing the impact she was having on the others, the new girl continued to talk as she asked, "So what do you think we're doing today besides orientation? I wonder what our teachers are like?"
"I'm glad you asked." A sultry voice said from the doorway. At the entrance to the room stood a woman with blue eyes and long black hair. Most of her outfit seemed to be a skintight body suit that showed off her curves while the rest was a black corset-like item with a collar that went to her neck. On each of her wrists was half a handcuff while a red domino mask was seemingly glued to her face. Completing the woman's look was a pair of knee high boots, black translucent thigh-high stockings, and a flogging whip. With a smile the woman introduced herself, "I'm Nemuri Kayama, otherwise known as the 18+ Only Hero: Midnight, and I'll be your class' homeroom teacher." Faintly Izuku heard one of his new classmates call out that the hero program was the best. Seemingly ignoring the outburst, Midnight continued as she asked, "Now, will everyone take their seats so that we may begin the day?"
Once the request was followed, the homeroom teacher began handing out a stack of paper to her students as she explained, "This is a little ice breaker to get yourselves familiar with your classmates. Some of you may know each other from your previous schools, but it never hurts to have too many friends." Back as the podium, the woman hit a few unseen buttons that caused a holographic overlay to appear over the blackboard, the entire class' pictures and names being displayed while the hero explained, "It's simple really, just match up your classmates with their Quirks. This isn't graded, so there's no penalties for guessing," she then winked as she finished by saying, "although get enough right and you might get a reward."
Izuku felt as if he were in his element. After putting his name on his paper, he quickly found Bakugo's Explosive and his own Dragon Form on the list before writing down the appropriate names. Next he focused on Quirks he'd witnessed during the exam. Iida had a speed related Quirk, so the green haired boy quickly scanned the list and wrote the boy's name down next to Engine. Following that he took a quick glance up to see the name of the blond boy that he'd encountered during the exam, which turned out to be Yuga Aoyama. Remembering the rather unique beam attack, Izuku placed decided the boy's Quirk was Naval Laser. Finally that just left the nice girl, who Izuku saw was named Ochaco Uraraka. Reasoning that her Quirk was gravity based like his mothers, the boy wrote her name next to Zero Gravity.
With those taken care of, the teen moved onto the second easiest task, that being the easiest Quirk's to deduce with little background research, Mutations. As a Mutation Quirk affected the users body since birth, it was nearly impossible to hide one's abilities. Thus it was easy to pair Mashiro Ojiro with Tail, Mezo Shoji with Dupli-Arms, Kyoka Jiro with Earphone Jack, and Toru Hagakure with Invisibility. He also wrote Fumikage Tokoyami as having Anivoice due to his bird-like head and paired Koji Koda with Hardening because of his rock-like head, although for some reason he felt less sure about the last two. Lastly, he wrote Tsuyu Asui next to Frog due to her slumped, amphibian like posture.
With the obvious Mutant Quirks done, Izuku then moved onto the harder to figure out Emitters and Transformations. First was Mina Ashido. While many would assume her Quirk was a Mutation due to her unique appearance, Izuku remembered his brief encounter with her and her comment about not wanting to ruin her shoes, thus he reasoned she had an Emitter type Quirk, and a destructive one at that, so he wrote her name next to Acid. Next was Minoru Mineta, whose odd-shaped hair seemed to be suited for Pop Off, although the boy wasn't sure if the Quirk was actually a Mutate or Emitter. Next he guessed that Denkai Kaminari had Electrification based on his bright hair color and black lightening bolt like streak. The teen used a similar logic to pair Shoto Todoroki with Half-Cold Half-Hot due to the boy's half white, half red hair.
After pairing up over half the class with their Quirks, Izuku now had only four people left, but also the four most vague Quirks. 'Okay, let's see,' the teen began trying to reason things out in his head, 'Dark Shadow, definitely sounds like an Emitter but could also be a Transformation. Transformation Quirks often have latent, visible clues, like my teeth.' Remembering seeing someone with a similar set of teeth, Izuku guessed Eijiro Kirishima.
'Okay, one down, three to go.' He then looked at the next listed Quirk. 'Sugar Rush. Definitely an Emitter. Sounds like a temporary power boost, but to be effective one would already need a strong baseline.' Glancing around at the three remaining contenders, it was easy to see Rikido Sato was easily the most physically fit.
Now down to the last two names and Quirks. 'Hanta Sero and Momo Yaoyorozu. Tape and Creation.' Really, could those two Quirks have been any vaguer? To further complicate things neither teen had any unique physical features that would hint who had what. 'Alright then. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.' Taking a chance, Izuku settled for guessing Momo had Tape while the process of elimination left Hanta with Creation.
Despite taking around thirty minutes to fill out his sheet, the fire breather wasn't the last to finish. Instead quite a few others were desperately trying to finish filling in their answer sheets, having drastically overthought it more than Izuku. Shortly afterwards Midnight called an end to the test and collected the papers before feeding them into a scanner built into the podium. Giving a quick review of the results, the heroine announced, "As expected some of you already knew each other or observed your classmates' abilities during the test, averaging about four to six correct answers. However, one of you must have a keen mind, able to successfully deduce fifteen Quirks. As for the lowest score," Midnight hit a few buttons to display the answer sheet, the person's name covered by a black bar yet it was obvious whose paper it was due to only correctly having Bakugo listed next to Explosion while every other answer was listed as extra.
Once the instructor had finished speaking the class began to talk once more, the students turning to their neighbors and trying to figure out who had scored the highest. However Midnight quickly brought the teens' focus back to her as she struck the podium with her whip. "Now," the woman began, "I could tell you all the answers, or I could let everyone show off. Which would you prefer?" Many in the class had a matching grin with the heroine at the prospect of demonstrating their Quirks.
After Midnight had lead the class to the locker rooms to change into their PE uniforms, the teacher then took them to the outdoor track. "Now, we have one last test before we start the tour of UA. I need to know everyone's baseline ability to better teach you, so we must have a Quirk assessment test."
'Quirk assessment test?' practically the whole class silently questions, never hearing of such a thing before.
As if knowing the question, Midnight began to explain, "You see the Department of Education has been testing everyone at a baseline, thus you were forbidden from using your Quirks," she then gained a predatory smirk as she stated, "but that changes today. Bakugo, what was your record for the softball toss?"
"I don't know, about 67 meters." The teen answered before having to act fast to catch a softball with an imbedded tracker.
Motioning to the painted circle on the ground behind her, Midnight challenged, "Why don't you try a throw with all your might?"
In response, Katsuki gained a grin of his own as the red eyed teen stepped into the space. Winding up in a perfect pitch, the teen gave it his all as he cried out "Die!' while an explosion helped to propel the ball further than ever before, Midnight holding out her phone to show the teen's new personal best was 705.2 meters. While the students would normally be frightened at seeing such a powerful display, instead they were all pumped up and ready to go, Izuku hearing several of his classmates saying the test looked like fun.
Midnight, evidently, also heard those comments. "Fun you say?" the woman challenged. "Let's make this clear that these tests are not games, that your abilities could mean the difference between life or death, that your actions will have consequences." Although she had now scared the class, the hero didn't let up as she declared, "Unlike before you must perform at your best," she paused to bring up a chart of everyone in the class, Bakugo's score being recorded, "because while the highest score won't receive a prize, the lowest…well let's just say it's best not to think about it." With that the woman began to lead the group to the first test, the 50-meter race.
The test was comprised of a two person race, meaning the class went through it relatively fast in ten races. Although most students just ran the race normally with a bit of help from their Quirks, such as Uchaco using Zero Gravity to remove the weight of her clothes, there were a few standout moments.
Tenya had breezed past Tsuyu with a time of just over three seconds, although the frog girl posted a respectable time of just under six seconds by completing the race in five great hops. Yuga had the rather unique strategy of jumping up and firing his Naval Laser, allowing the recoil to launch him down the lane, although for some reason the laser gave out halfway through, allowing Mina to catch up, overtake, and beat her opponent before he had the chance to fire his laser again.
When it was Izuku's turn to run, he ended up being paired against Bakugo. As expected, the blond used his Quirk to his full advantage, having a series of twin explosions from his hands to propel him down the lane. Due to his increased lung capacity, Izuku surprised himself as he kept pace with his onetime friend, finishing just over 4.13 seconds. As the two boys were the last to run the race, Midnight moved them on to a solo activity, grip strength.
As everyone began to squeeze the measuring tools, Izuku debated if now was the time to unleash One for All. Despite his training, the boy still ended up breaking bones more often than not. Thankfully Recovery Girl was available to heal the teen, although she began to express her irritation that the green haired boy was becoming such a frequent patient. As he observed Mezo use three of his six arms to gain a score of 540 kilograms, and Rikido eat a few packets of sugar to gain a similar score, the teen decided not to use the destructive Quirk so early in the tests. Instead he relied upon his own strength, posting a score of 200 kilograms, unknowingly beating many of his classmates.
Next the class moved to the standing long jump. As expected many of the class landed near the end of the sandbox, although both Bakugo and Yuga used their Quirks to clear the area all together. Afterwards was the sidestep, which only had one breakout star. Surprising everyone, Mineta tore off several of the spheres from his head, stacking them beside the test area before quickly allowing himself to be bounced between the two stacks at a high velocity, posting the only exceptionally high score for the test. Unfortunately the small boy didn't have much time to relish the victory as everyone moved onto the next test, the softball toss.
The softball toss was perhaps the test that had the single most diverse results. While many students could use their Quirks and achieved results around 500 meters, many more did not have such physical enhancements and many only reached around 70 meters. The spotlight, however, belonged to Uchaco who used Zero Gravity to rob the ball of its gravitational pull, causing the ball to gently rise into the sky. A few moments later Midnight displayed her phone to show the result of the test as an infinity symbol, to the great shock of the class that such a feat was possible.
While the class congratulated the girl on her achievement, Izuku stepped forward for his turn. Now was the time, the boy decided, the time to unleash One for All. Yet as he wound up for the pitch, pink filled his vision before darkness overcame the boy.
Slowly, Izuku came back to the world of the living. Although his eyes were closed, the boy felt that his head was slightly elevated, on something soft. As he tried to piece together what was happening, her heard Midnight say, "You know, it's not fair to the others." Opening his eyes, the teen found himself resting on his teacher's lap. As he immediately scrambled to stand up, the woman continued, "They are giving it their all to prove they belong here, going beyond the limits of their Quirks. Meanwhile you've just been skating by, not taking any opportunity to showcase your talent." Standing herself, Midnight began walking back to the class as she said, "I've seen the video of your entrance exam, I know what you're capable of. This is your reward for doing so well on the ice breaker challenge, a second chance to show us why you belong her. Fail and I'll have you expelled before the day is done."
As he now stood alone in the circle, Izuku began to think on his teacher's words.
While Midnight had her chat with Izuku, on the sidelines the students began having a chat of their own.
"If he doesn't shape up, Izuku's going to place last. Why doesn't he use his Quirk?" Tenya wondered aloud.
"What are you talking about glasses?" Bakugo demanded. "Deku's always been a pathetic, Qurik-less loser."
"You didn't see what he did in the exam, did you?" Uraraka asked.
The explosion user opened his mouth to demanded what the girl meant, only for their attention to be drawn to Mina when she released loud wolf whistle. Seeing what had captured the girl's attention, the trio looked back at Izuku to see a shocking sight. It appeared the teen finally came up with a game plan. Bakugo seethed as his onetime friend took off his jacket and shirt, showcasing well defined muscles that he definitely didn't have in middle school. The boy's anger grew even more when a pair of wings popped out of Izuku's back, starting the transformation that ended with the bipedal, green dragon standing in boy's place.
At seeing the transformation, a hush fell over the class. Bakugo was about to charge forward and demand answers, only for Izuku to spread his wings and take off with a large gust of wind. The dragon-boy flew straight up, until he was almost a speck in the sky. Vaguely the class could see a shift in color from the teen, from green to gold, before he threw the ball, then half falling, half gliding back down to the ground, landing roughly in the marked circle. While most of the class were amazed at the incredible display, some noticed that three of Izuku's fingers appeared to be dislocated or broken, a marked improvement to his injuries from the entrance exam thanks to training with All Might.
Izuku himself broke the silence, asking Midnight, "It counts as long as I don't leave the circle, right?" As he waited for a response, the boy took a deep breath to brace himself before pulling two of his fingers back into joint, his pointer finger was definitely broken and would require a splint or a trip to Recovery Girl.
Nodding as she smiled, the teacher said, "Yes it does, and I didn't say anything about flying. Too bad you didn't use your Quirk earlier, you could have gotten a better score on the long jump." She then showed her class her phone, revealing Izuku's score to be 1103 meters, a score second only to Uraraka's. Midnight couldn't help but smile, with some encouragement her student had gone beyond the limits of his Quirk, plus ultra. While the majority of the class stood shocked at the feat, someone had a different reaction.
"Deku!" Katsuki yelled as he charged forward. "Explain yourself you useless piece of shit before I kill you." However before he could get anywhere near the boy, Midnight acted to restrain her student. A quick kick to the blonde's shin put him off balance, grabbing his wrist gave her full control of his momentum which she used to put the teen in the ground. While the boy was stunned, the heroine grabbed and forced his free arm behind the boy's back before using her whip to hold them together, finally she placed her foot between Bakugo's shoulder blades. While the teen may have been physically stronger than his teacher, Midnight's technique and skill had won the skirmish.
As the bully continued to struggle against Midnight, Izuku calmly put his wings away, transforming back into a green haired boy before putting his shirt on and tying his jacket at the waist to cover the tear in his pants that his tail had created. As he walked back towards the class, Izuku gave his onetime friend a rare glare as he said, "I don't have to explain anything to you Kaachan, but I will anyway. There are rare cases of Transformation Quirks, often misdiagnosed ones, taking years to fully manifest. I've always had a Quirk, but because everyone told me I didn't, I believed that so strongly that my mind wouldn't allow a transformation into my Dragon Form, not until I overcame my mental block."
By now Bakugo had ceased his struggling. Sensing that her student wasn't going to start anymore trouble, Midnight began to slowly loosen the impromptu restrains, but was ready to use her own Quirk if necessary. Thankfully it turned out not to be needed as Bakugo slowly got up, meeting Izuku's glare with one of his own before he clicked his teeth and stated, "Doesn't matter what you've got. You're still the useless Deku, and I'm going to surpass you and everyone else." With that the two boys returned to their classmates, although each went to a different end of the group.
Although the excitement was still palpable, Midnight did her job and lead the class to their next test, the seated toe touch. As expected, many of the students gave an average performance while a few mutant Quirks, such as Tsuyu's Frog and Ojiro's Tail, allowed the teens to standout due to their unnaturally flexible bodies. After that test were the sit ups. Unlike the previous tests, no one student had a Quirk that put them at an advantage, instead the results were all due to physical training. That said, Midnight had to put a stop to the test after fifteen minutes when Izuku, Bakugo, Shoji, and Sato got into an impromptu contest that showed no signs of ending.
All of this lead to the last test, the endurance run.
"Alright," Midnight began as the class assembled around an Olympic-sized track, "I know you all must be tired, but this is the last test of the day, the endurance run. You will be judged on how long you are able to maintain a consistent speed. You are all wearing sensors that will let me know if you fall below the baseline speed, at which point your time will stop. As with the other tests, you are free to use your Quirks however you wish, with the exception of Miss Yaoyorozu." Directing her attention solely on the mentioned student, Midnight explained, "You can create anything without a motor, this is a physical test after all. Now, is there anyone who thinks their Quirks will hamper the efforts of your classmates?"
Immediately Tenya raised his hand; Mina, Mineta, and Todoroki following at a much slower pace. Nodding, Midnight directed the students, "Alright then, Iida take the outside lane, Todoroki take the one next to it followed by Mina and Mineta. Everyone else is free to run where they may, just avoid those tracks. Now please take your places."
With that the students took their place, although Momo paused to unzip her jacket before using her Quirk to transform some of her body fat into a bicycle, which slowly emerged from her toned stomach. Once everyone was set, Midnight cracked her whip to signal everyone to start. As expected Tenya used his Engine to boost ahead of the pack. In the lane next to him Shoto was using the ice half of his Quirk to create a sheet of ice in front of him, showing great control in keeping the effects of his power in the narrow lane. From there, the red and white haired boy slid forward to the end of his lane, only stopping his creation of ice at the beginning of the turn to avoid tripping. Mina had a similar strategy, using her Quirk to fill her lane with a slippery slime that let her slide forward with minimal effort, although she too had to be careful not to trip on the corner. Mineta had the most unique strategy, pulling the balls off his head and throwing them ahead of himself. Once the short teen approached the first of his balls, he hopped on it and allowed the object to bounce him forward to the next ball, and so on.
The rest of the class was a bit of a mess. Momo easily put herself in front of the rest of the class with her bike. Katsuki, however, was right behind her, skipping instead of running and using his Explosion to propel himself forward, Izuku right behind him. The boy had thought of using his wings in a similar way, but ultimately decided he didn't have enough experience with his Quirk to pull it off. Following behind the pair was Tsuyu who lazily hopped along just ahead of the pack. The rest of the class was a chaotic mess with people just barely dodging elbows.
As expeted, the first student to falter was from the pack. After twenty minutes of a steady pace Rikido Sato feel below the required speed, showing that while the sugar powered hero had great strength he needed to improve his endurance. Shortly afterwards Mineta faltered as well, misjudging his landing and completely overshooting his intended ball, the small boy's momentum being enough to carry his body forwards, skidding for a ways until Midnight's phone registered the boy as out.
Following Mineta's misstep, the next person out was from the pack, Hanta Sero losing his breath and bowing out. Following the tape user, Fumikage Tokoyami also called it quits. This seemed to open the floodgates as more students felt the need to stop. Koji Koda, Mezo Shoji and Yuga Aoyama all stopped at practically the same time, followed by Denki Kaminari and Kyoka Jiro stopping as well, although Jiro teased Kaminari that she lasted longer, even if it was just a bit.
Following that the latest batch, Midnight's phone remained silent for five minutes until it beeped once more to alert her that Toru Hagakure had stopped moving, not that anyone could tell in the sea of gym uniforms. Shortly after another alert sounded to inform the instructor that Ochaco Uraraka had also reached her limit. A few minutes of silence later and Eijiro Kirishima also bowed out, heading over to the ever increasing group of students to watch the rest of the class, a small betting pool going on who would last the longest. Mashirao Ojiro soon followed.
Surprising many, the next elimination was from the outer lane groups. Mina Ashido let her slime go a bit too far ahead of herself, slipping and falling as she tried to round the turn. After quickly pulling her legs out of Shoto's path, the pink skinned girl gingerly picked herself up and walked back to the class as a collection of I.O.U's changed hands. She was soon joined by Shoto Todoroki, who instead of tripping had stopped himself, his overuse of the cold portion of his Quirk giving him a severe case of shivers that would take some time to settle. To everyone's great surprise, Tenya Iilda also stopped himself from running, no doubt the teen would have won the race in terms of speed, but after running so long his internal engines were beginning to overheat, thus the boy felt it was time to stop.
With the students narrowed down to the finally three, the classes' attention was focused on the trio, each student having labored breathing. After seeing his performance in the previous tests, it came as a surprise when Katsuki Bakugo was the next to stop, although he was not as graceful as those before him. Instead of coming to a calm stop, the boy collapsed from exhaustion, Rikido and Mezo having to go out and grab the boy who kept yelling he could keep going.
Now the last two students remaining where Izuku and Momo. Although the taller teen had lapped Izuku multiple times and had given herself the advantage of creating a light framed racing bike, no one could be sure who would last the longest. This was proven when Momo Yaoyorozu pulled on her hand brake before popping out her kickstand and slowly dismounting her bike before walking towards the group.
As the last one standing, the group weren't surprised to see Izuku taking a victory lap, but they began to wonder what the teen was thinking when he took another lap, and then another. When the green haired boy passed by the group a fifth time, it became obvious that he wasn't paying attention to the group and was instead hyper focused on his task. Upon realizing this, Midnight spoke up and said, "Well it can't be helped, his result doesn't change who's in last anyway." Switching her phone to a projection mode, the instructor showed the class that Mineta had scored the lowest combined score. Seeing the boy shake in fear, Midnight had a predatory grin as she stated, "We'll discuss your punishment later, but right now let's continue the tour."
As the class began to walk away, Iida raised his hand and asked, "Sensei, is it really alright to let Midoriya continue running?"
Waving off the concern, Midnight explained, "It's fine, young Midoriya knows his way are the campus fairly well already." When several students loudly asked what, the woman stated, "As he himself explained it was thought he was Quirkless until recently. Although he passed the entrance exam, Principal Nezu was concerned the boy is too inexperienced with his sudden power to use it safely, so he extended an invitation for summer tutoring, but enough about that." She then tapped her chin and pondered, "I suppose Mister Iida is right that we shouldn't let the boy run himself ragged. Yaoyorozu, stopwatch please." The girl complied, creating one in the palm of her hand before presenting it to the teacher. "Right, now I need a volunteer to watch over the boy," not many raised their hands to volunteer to miss out on the tour, although three teens did. Mineta raised his hand to try and escape his punishment, something Midnight easily saw through. Yet she did smile when the other two hands raised at almost the same moment, "Well since you two are so quick to volunteer you can keep an eye on him together." tossing the stopwatch to Mina, the teacher stated, "Don't let him run for more than fifteen minutes, afterwards have him show you where the cafeteria and nurses office is." With that Midnight lead the majority of class 1-A back into the main building.
Left alone, Mina and Ochaco stayed silent as they watched Izuku run another lap around the track, not sure what to talk about. Finally, Mina spoke up as she asked, "So why did you want to talk to him?"
"He saved me from being crushed by the zero point during the exam." Ochaco simply stated, causing Mina to whistle.
"Wow, no one in my group went up against that thing, think UA will release the video?" the pinkette didn't give the gravity manipulator a chance to reply as she continued, "Sounds better than my reason. I actually met him last year when he stopped a guy from stealing my purse, but I never got a chance to properly thank him."
"Seems like he's got the right mindset for a hero, might just become the greatest." Ochaco commented, Mina nodding her head in agreement. Once more the pair stood in silence, a much more comfortable this time.
As Izuku unknowingly approached his time limit, Mina watched as he once more passed by, his heavy breathing being the only sign he was even remotely struggling. Thinking aloud, the acid user said, "Say, it he has this much endurance, I wonder what else hero-kun can do for a long time." The pair were silent for a moment as they digested the words, Uraraka seemed to catch a hidden meaning and quickly blushed. Mina noticed this and was quick to wave her hands and defend herself, practically yelling, "I didn't mean it like that!" Thankfully the stopwatch chose that moment to go off, telling the girls it was time to stop Izuku from running. Wanting to distance herself from an embarrassing conversation, Uraraka went to tell the boy it was time to stop, only for Mina to rest a hand on the other girl's shoulder and ask, "Hey, want to do something fun?"
Izuku didn't know what happened. He was lost in his head deciphering his classmates' Quirks while he ran, until he felt his footing slip and his body falling backwards. Instinctively he flailed his arms out to try and regain his balance, only to notice he was completely weightless. As he tried to figure out his current situation, a loud laugh caught his attention. Turning his head, the boy spied Mina doubled over, some slime still in her hand, while Ochaco was covering her mouth trying to contain her laughter.
"Sorry hero-kun," Mina began when she finally got her laughter under control, "but we didn't feel like chasing after you to let you know Midnight-sensei decided you weren't in last place."
"She also mentioned that you could show us where the important parts of the school are." Ochaco threw in as she deactivated her Quirk.
"Alright, I guess we should head over to Recovery Girl's office first." Izuku stated as he lead the girls inside.
The dragon boy's version of a tour was much shorter than Midnight's official version. The boy pointed to Prinicpal Nezu's office as they passed by, as well as the entrance to the cafeteria, which was unused today as it was a special half-day for the new student orientation, which also explained the emptiness of the halls. After a few more minutes the trio arrived at the nurse's office.
Once inside Izuku quickly explained to the nurse how he'd broken his finger during the test. While the older woman offered to use her Quirk to heal the digit, Izuku opted to instead only have the injured finger placed in a splint since he didn't want to abuse the nurse's healing abilities so early in the semester. It also didn't hurt that his dragon side gave him slightly accelerated healing, so he'd be fine in a day or two.
After the visit to the nurse the dismissal bell rang, so Izuku left the girls at the locker room to get changed back into their regular uniforms before quickly changing himself and heading outside to begin his walk towards the station. 'Man was today tiring.' The boy would have continued his mental monologue, had a hand clapped on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.
With a slight hesitation, the boy turned around to see Iida. While Izuku expected many different responses from the taller boy, he was surprised when the speedster instead asked, "How is your finger?"
Blinking owlishly a few times, Izuku finally responded, "It's alright. It should heal up fine by itself and I didn't want Recovery Girl getting too angry with me this soon."
"That's good to hear," Iida commented before folding his arms as the two resumed walking. "I was a little concerned that out homeroom teacher is a hero like Midnight-sensei, but I trust in the school's decisions, UA is the top program after all."
While the glasses-wearing teen continued to talk about the school, Izuku couldn't help but think, 'He's not really that scary, just really serious about his studies.' Izuku opened his mouth to continue the conversation, only to hear another voice call out.
"Hey, wait up horn buddy!" Turning, the pair saw Mina rushing towards them, dragging along Kirishima.
When the two other students got closer, Izuku couldn't help but ask, "Horn buddy?"
"Yep," Mina proudly exclaimed as she pointed to her own horns, "you do know that you've got horns when you go all dragon, right?" The girl didn't give Izuku a chance to respond as she continued talking, "This guy just styles his hair to look like horns, but it works with his Quirk. Besides you know what they say, all us horny people have to stick together." The pink skinned girl didn't seem to realize what she said as Iida's mouth fell open with a startled gasp while Izuku's face turned a cherry red. After a few moments the girl seemed to realize her inadvertent double entendre when Kirishima could no longer hide his snickers. Hitting her friend Mina yelled, "That isn't even remotely what I meant and you know it!"
Thankfully the girl was saved from further embarrassment when yet another new voice called out, "Hey, are you guys going to the station? Wait up and I'll join you." Soon the group saw Ochaco rushing to catch up. While Iida muttered about her being the "Infinity Girl," the gravity manipulator caught her breath before formally introducing herself, "I'm Ochaco Uraraka. Let's see," she paused as she nodded to each member of the group and said, "you're Tenya Iida, I know you're Mina Ashido, you must be Eijiro Kirishima, and you're," once more she paused before declaring, "Deku, right?"
"Deku?!" Izuku quickly called out, hoping Kaachan hadn't already started spreading that horrible nickname.
"Yeah," Ochaco replied, unaware that anything was wrong, "isn't that was Bakugo called you during the Quirk test?"
"Well you see my name's actually Izuku," the boy explained, "Deku is just something Kaachan calls me to make fun of me."
Instantly the girl became apologetic as she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that." She then brought a hand to her chin as she thought aloud, "Still I kinda of like it, Deku as a 'never give up' vibe to it and sounds kind of cute."
"Deku it is then." Izuku quickly said, his face once more changing to a deep red. While Iida was questioning how Izuku could change his mind so fast, Kirishima was once more reduced to sniggers, and Mina had something else on her mind."
"Well if you want to be called Deku fine, but you better start calling me Mina." The girl told her new horn buddy.
"Alright Ashido…" the boy began, only to be stopped by the girl.
"No, no, no!" Mina ordered as she stepped into Izuku's personal space, grabbing his jaw as she said, "Now say it with me. Mi-na, Mi-na, Mi-na…" with each pronounced syllable of her name, the girl moved the boy's jaw to open his mouth, giving the appearance of him talking, "you get this yet?" Immediately Izuku nodded, causing a number of laughs to break out in the group as they began their track towards the train station, this time without any more interruptions.
The joyous conversation lasted until the group reached the station. Unfortunately, it turned out each student had to take a different train home, resulting in the groups separating. After a brief train ride, the boy walked the rest of the way to the apartment building. Upon entering, he was sure to take off his shoes, noticing that his mother's pair were already put away.
As he entered the living room, Izuku called out, "Mom, I'm home!"
After hearing several wooden object clatter in his mom's bedroom, the boy was tempted to go see if something was wrong, only for Inko to appear in the doorway looking no worse for wear. Sharing her son's smile, the woman greeted her son, "Izuku, how was your orientation?"
"It was alright, a few people where really impressed with my Quirk and I made a few new friends." The teen easily replied before asking his own question, "How was your day? You weren't stuck in the house all day, where you?"
"Oh no," Inko waved off her son's concerns, "I actually spent most of my day running errands. But enough about that, why don't you tell me about these new friends while you help make dinner?"
Once more Izuku smiled. Despite awakening his dormant Quirk, some things never changed in the Midoriya household. Even with his life thrown in upheaval by inheriting One for All, even with the possibility of potentially becoming the hero of his generation, the boy could honestly say some of his favorite moments were the simple ones spent at home.
And that's a wrap with just over 13 pages.
So a few key differences thus far in the story. First off I've swapped out Eraser Head with Midnight. Truthfully this won't lead to any huge changes initially, I just think it'll be funnier to write with her as the primary teacher the student's interact with, plus she'll be more organic to use for some plans I have further down the line.
Second, I made Izuku a wee bit more powerful than cannon. My thinking is that Izuku already has great strength due to his own Quirk, which is only compounded by One for All. He also has a bit more control of his second Quirk, I had a quick mention of him having Summer School, and is injured less by One for All while in his Dragon form due to his denser bones and muscles acting as more efficient shock absorbers.
Third, I apologize for any confusion I caused with switching between referring to people by their first or last name. I recognize that the show is Japanese in origin and it's customary to use last names, but I can't really get a feel as to which feel better to use in this story. Please be sure to share with me what your preference is.
Now with that housecleaning out of the way, time to ask some questions, questions such as…
How will All Might's first class go?
What did Inko do during the day while Izuku was in school?
What is Mineta's punishment? (The answer to this one might appear sooner than the rest)
All these questions and more will be answered in the future updates of The Dragon Hero!
But for now, I'm acw28 saying, "until next update."
Omake
Midnight's Punishment
Minoru Mineta was beginning to question if applying to UA had been his wisest idea. Sure, his motivation for being a hero, to get with as many girls as possible, may not have been the noblest, but people would still be helped, lives would still be saved, and villains would still be stopped at the end of the day. Of course, to accomplish this dream what better place to go than the best school for heroes? Unfortunately, it seemed that the diminutive boy wasn't the only one with an exceptional Quirk that applied this semester. Despite being able to use Pop Off to disable several robots during the entrance exam, the boy's classmates had blown him out of the water during the Quirk assessment test, which resulted in Midnight having him stay behind once the tour of the campus was over so that she may issue his punishment.
"It isn't even a kinky punishment." The purple haired teen lamented as he stood in the hallway. Currently he held out two buckets barely shorter than he was that were filled with water while preforming nonstop high kicks, alternating between legs.
When the speed between his high kicks started failing, the crack of a whip was heard before Midnight announced, "While your technique was good, you lack both strength and endurance. To go plus ultra and become a hero you must excel in all three. Now get back to work, I still have you for another half hour.
As the boy increased the tempo of his high kicks, Midnight couldn't help but smile. She was happy she volunteered to swap homeroom duties with Aizawa this year. Her class had several students with promising Quirks, not to mention the inheritor of One for All who had an outstanding Quirk of his own. But that wasn't the best part.
'Now,' Midnight thought to herself as she brought up a photo directory of class 1-A, 'to figure out who looks cute together before the group projects are assigned.'