The USJ Arc begins! Part 1 of 3 starts now.
"Today's training will be a little different. You'll have three instructors. Me, All Might, and one other faculty member will be keeping tabs on you."
Everyone in the classroom gasped in surprise. Suri couldn't tell if it was a gasp because of the announcement all together, the three teachers part - possibly because of security reasons - or the fact that All Might was going to be one of their instructors again. If it wasn't because of the security breach, what would they be doing that needed three instructors? And who would the mystery guest be?
"Sir! What kind of training is this?" Sero asked what everyone was curious about.
"Rescue."
Mr. Aizawa held up a card similar to the one that All Might had held up before their combat matches yesterday. This one had big bold blue letters reading RESCUE. Naturally.
"You'll be dealing with natural disasters, shipwrecks, stuff like that."
"Disasters huh? Sounds like we're in for a big workout."
"Totally!"
"Real hero stuff. This is what separates the men from the boys. I'm shakin' with excitement!"
"Finally, I'll get to show off how good I am in water. Ribbit."
"Water wouldn't be one of my strong suits," Suri leaned up in her seat to talk to the rest of her classmates. "Think they'll have some mountain or forest rescues?"
"Guys, I'm not finished yet."
"Sorry," Suri replied, sinking back into her chair.
"What you wear in this exercise is up to you. I know you're excited about costumes," Aizawa pressed the button on his remote to send the costume banks out from the wall. "But keep in mind you haven't gotten used to them yet, and they might limit your abilities. The special training's at an off-campus facility, so we'll be taking a bus to get there. That's all. Start getting ready and meet at the bus."
Suri thought about her costume and sighed. It hadn't been repaired yet, which was surprising because the only thing it needed was new mesh material on the front thanks to Mina's acid. It wasn't blown to bits like Midoriya's had been.
"Guess, I gotta go with the gym uniform."
Suri hung out in the hallway until Mina and Tooru had come out with their briefcases and then walked with them and the other girls to the locker rooms. The plus side to the gym uniform was that she was able to wrap her chest again for the support she needed and managed to find a plain black tank top inside the locker. She was about to begin buttoning up the gym top but thought about how during the Quirk assessment test, it ended up unbuttoned anyway once she started using more of her beast. She shrugged and left it open.
If Iida had a problem with it…
Well he wasn't in charge, now was he?
Stepping outside she found that some of the boys were already in their costumes and spotted a mess of green hair standing by himself. He looked like he was in deep thought as he adjusted his gloves. She smirked and walked up to him and with a large, joyous grin she nudged him with her elbow.
"Looks like I'm not the only one rocking the standard issue, huh?"
"O-Oh! Y-Yeah, looks like it. Hehe."
Suri chuckled at his reaction and smirked. The awkwardness and shyness was kind of an endearing trait of his.
"Deku? Kuroyashi? Why are you two in your PE clothes? Where's your costumes at?"
Uraraka came to stand next to them, though her attention was ever-so-slightly more - okay a lot more - attentive to the greenette.
"You saw it after the combat training. It was kind of trashed. I'm still waiting on the support company to fix it up."
"Yeah it was. Mine got introduced to acid."
"Ashido got your hair too, right?" Midoriya asked.
Or should she start calling him Deku too?
"Yeah, I was meaning to ask about that."
"Yeah," Suri sighed. "But her and Tooru made it up to me and gave me a free makeover."
"They did amazing!" Ochako replied with a wide, happy smile. "I think it suits you!"
"Yeah, it kind of reminds me of this hero I saw when I was looking up pro heroes in America. She uses a voice based Quirk and her hair is… ya know," Midoriya smiled though he hesitated towards the end and gestured to his own hair. It made Suri smile that he was overly considerate.
"Banshee? Yeah, she's been one of my favorites for years now. I pulled up some photos for Mina and Tooru for reference when they were doing me over. Oh, and Midoriya," she began to turn and walk away as she saw the bus pulling up. "You don't gotta be scared of offending me. You gotta do a lot to get on my shit list, and I don't know that you have it in you."
She gave him a wink which made him smile and turn a shade of pink in his freckled cheeks as she walked toward the bus and awaited the doors to open. She turned back to face the class, waiting for the last of her classmates to gather into the plaza.
"Aiight," she called out, getting everyone's attention. "Everyone on the party bus."
"Kuroyashi, shouldn't we organize and have some sort of assigned seating? It would allow us to load the bus efficiently and swiftly."
Suri shrugged and let her eyes meet Iida's.
"It'd probably be faster to let everyone choose for themselves," she turned and walked onto the bus. She then stopped and leaned back out towards Iida. "Besides, I don't think you could really assign seats in this thing."
"I had a seating chart made up and everything. So much for my plans."
"Iida, dude, you really need to chill," Mina half chuckled.
"If we're pointing out the obvious, then I have something I wanna say… about you, actually."
Tsu turned to Midoriya and looked him dead in the eye.
"About me! What is it Asui?"
"I said to call me Tsu…"
"Oh, yeah. Right…"
"That power of yours. Isn't it a lot like All Might's?"
"W-What?! Really? You think so? I've never really thought about that. I guess it is kinda similar."
Suri tilted her head and leaned to see Midoriya's face better as he leaned back towards her seat. She placed her right elbow on her knee and perched her chin on the back of her hand. His reaction was sort of… no… very suspicious. And now that Tsu had mentioned it, there was something really familiar about him that she couldn't quite identify. Yeah, Quirks could hurt their users due to prolonged or even wrong use of them. Likewise, lycanthropy could have the same effects. Hell, the way Midoriya hurt himself was sort of like a new wereanimal going into their first full moon and their beast overwhelming their human side. Aside from the accidental self harm was something her beast picked up subconsciously. Buried deep beneath the scent that was specifically Midoriya himself was something like a distant memory.
"Wait, hold on, Tsu. You're forgetting All Might doesn't hurt himself," Kirishima retorted. "That makes a huge difference."
"Plus, wouldn't it be fair to say every strength or power based Quirk is similar to All Might's," Suri added, deciding to play devil's advocate just to see the reaction.
"Still, I bet it's cool to have a simple augmenting-type of Quirk. You could do a lot of flashy stuff with it. My Hardening's super strong and can destroy bad guys in a fight," the red head raised his left arm and turned it to a stone like structure. "But it doesn't look all that impressive. Not like Kuroyashi's Quirk."
"Mine's not all that flashy though. To me anyway," Suri shrugged. "We're both close combat types right? But your upside is that you have a better defense and you look dope doing it."
"I dunno, Kuroyashi. I think both of you have really cool Quirks that would be perfect hero material. You don't think yours is all that flashy but the transformation you do takes me by surprise every time."
"Would he still say that during the full moon, when we're at our peak?" Her inner beast asked inside her domain.
"Yeah," Suri gave a fake smile and internally said otherwise. "You guys… haven't seen the scary part yet."
"You mean the double voice thing?" Mina asked, leaning forward from across the aisle. Suri had to try very very hard not to stare at the view. "I think it's super cool!"
"Yeah, dude!" Kaminari leaned over with an excited grin. "What you did during the panic was so coo, like how your face got all super serious. It was kinda scary but not as scary as Bakugou. If you ask me, you're better hero material than he is."
"THE FUCK YOU JUST SAY?"
"You know, he's right, with that attitude, you won't be a very popular hero. Ribbit."
"Yeah man, we've only known you a couple days and your attitude is a mix between hot garbage and shit."
"Shut up, Spark Plug or I'll kill you!"
"Tell me, little one. Would you actually know how to land a killing strike? Could you back your bark with your bite or are you simply a small yappy dog?"
Everyone's heads and eyes swung to the front of the bus to stare at Suri who was staring back wide eyed and had a hand clasped tightly over her mouth. Internally she was screaming at her beast asking her what the hell she had just done. The voice that had come from Suri was similar to the girl's but was a shade deeper, a little raspy, and had a sultriness and age to it.
"WHO THE FUCK YOU CALLING A YAPPY DOG?! COME AT ME MU-"
"Hey, hey! We're here," Mr. Aizawa called out from the very front of the bus. The interruption served to distract from Suri and take the spotlight off of her. "Stop messing around."
"Yes sir," everyone answered back in unison.
The chatter turned towards the building they were parking in front of and what their training could possibly be. Once the vehicle was stopped, Suri stood up and followed Aizawa with the class filing in behind her and their teacher. As they began to congregate a figure in a sort of astronaut suit began walking towards them from the front of the building. Suri didn't recognize the pro hero but it seemed Uraraka and Midoriya - of course he did - knew who she was.
"Hello, everyone. I've been waiting for you!"
"It's the Space Hero: Thirteen! The chivalrous pro who's rescued a ton of people from disasters all over the world!"
"Woo-hoo! Thirteen is one of my favorite heroes!"
"I can't wait to show you what's inside," she replied, motioning the group towards the front doors and into the massive domed building.
As everyone followed, they let out a collective gasp and began looking around the incredibly expansive interior beneath the dome. The entry doors led to a large entry plaza which ended if a long staircase down into another plaza in the center. From the center, the building was divided up into themed sections like it was Disneyland or Universal Studios.
"Holy crap," Kirishima exclaimed. "It looks like some sort of amusement park!"
"It is! We have a shipwreck, a landslide, a fire, a windstorm, et cetera-" Thirteen pointed to the different sections and then turned back to the class. "I created this training facility to prepare you to deal with different types of disasters. I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. But you can call it USJ!"
"So like Universal Studios Japan," Suri snickered to herself.
"Hey," Mr. Aizawa looked around before looking back at the space hero. "Shouldn't All Might be here already? Lemme guess, he booked an interview instead didn't he?"
The two teachers quieted their voices which Suri thought suspicious of and watched Thirteen put up three fingers. What was that about? They kept talking but Suri's attention turned to Midoriya who, at the mention of All Might's absence, had tensed up a little. He looked worried. Her attention was forced back to the teachers as Aizawa spoke once more and moved off to the side of Thirteen.
"Before we begin, lemme just say one thing. Well," Thirteen paused. "Maybe two things. Possibly, three or five…"
"We get it," everyone mumbled in unison.
"I'm sure you're all aware I have a powerful Quirk. It's called Black Hole, I can suck up anything and turn it into dust."
Black Hole. Spacesuit. Yeah, Thirteen was starting to make a lot more sense.
"Yeah, you've used Black Hole to save people from all kinds of disasters before, haven't you?"
"Yes, that's true but my Quirk could also be used very easily to kill."
The greenette and brunette gasped while Suri froze and a shiver ran down her spine, making her freeze and stiffen tighter than a statue. She felt a weight in her stomach beginning to pull and a fog began to grow in the back of her skull.
"Some of you also have powers that can be dangerous."
Yeah. Suri knew that all too well.
"In our superhuman society, all Quirks are certified and strictly regulated, so we often overlook how dangerous they can actually be. Please don't forget that if you lose focus or make a wrong move-"
"We could end up killing someone. Again," Suri whispered under her breath and lowered her head. A vision of someone choking on their own blood as they struggled to breathe while Suri, in a nearly full beast form, held the inside of the man's throat in her hand flashed in her eyes. She was panting in her vision, like she had been running for miles on end with no rest, and her body was soaked in blood and sweat as she stared down at the dying man. Someone had called out to her but she never made out the words, by that time she had taken off running. Running to get away from the horror of what she had done, from the consequences that were to follow, and to run from one of the biggest mistakes of her life.
"Today, you're going to learn how to use your Quirks to save people's lives. You won't be using your powers to attack enemies or each other, only to help. After all, that's what being a hero's all about. Ensuring the safety of others. That's all I have to say," she took a bow. "Thank you so much for listening."
Thirteen was right. That's why Suri started down this path right? Her grandma was a pro. Her dad was a pro. And then she had her pseudo uncle who was the best of the best when it came to heroes. She had people she looked up to that had put her down the path to becoming a hero. But that path came with a major twist before she even had really gotten started. If someone had blood on their hands, could they still be considered a hero?
"Right, now that that's over…"
The lights in the entire building flickered before shutting off, darkening the entire facility for a few seconds. Everyone looked to the teachers and then to the lights a few times, questioning whether this was just part of the training. Kind of interesting if it was. Suri and a few others looked towards the giant fountain in the center of the lower plaza as it sputtered and shut off. A second later a large black and purple mist began to form, converge, and then turn into a swirling thing that floated in the air. The vortex let off a whirling hum that caught everyone's attention now and with all eyes upon it, hands appeared, spreading the abyss open like a pair of curtains.
"Stay together and don't move! Thirteen, protect the students!"
"Mr. Aizawa," Suri made it a question.
"What is that? Has training already begun," Kirishima added.
"Stay back," he barked to the two of them. "This is real. Those are villains."
Her beast uncoiled from its rock and began pacing just behind her eyes. Suri looked back to her classmates and then back to the emerging crowd of villains below with a low predatory growl. Her eyes rolled to black and green gold and her nails lengthened to claws while she bore fangs towards the intruders.
"Nah. No one touches my pack."