Chapter 3: Into the Snake Pit
After getting his acceptance letter to UA, Izuku was then contacted by All Might to meet him at Dagaba beach. The man stood there in his deflated form as he waited for his pupil to arrive. Upon hearing footsteps behind him, he turned and saw his shared pupil coming his way.
"Hey All Might!" Izuku smiled cheerily as he ran up to the man.
"All Might's here?" Someone asked in the background as he looked around.
"Where is he?" A female civilian asked.
"Too loud!" All might hissed.
"Sorry!" The boy apologized. Both sighed as they turned to face each other.
"Congratulations on getting in." The man told him.
"Thanks. That zero pointer didn't even stand a chance." The boy chuckled.
"I saw." The man nodded. "You made a big impression on the faculty. 'The March of the Legendary Eight Headed Serpent.' They won't be forgetting that anytime soon." He added with a chuckle of his own.
"Yeah, but when I used One for All to strike the final blow, it wrecked my whole body." Izuku told him. "I can't control it at all." He added.
"True, but you have to remember control takes time and training to get. Asking for it now is like asking a baby to run a marathon. You still have to go through the process of learning how to walk." The symbol of peace told him.
"I know. It's also something that I need a good deal of patience to get." The green haired teen nodded.
"Now you're getting it." All Might nodded. "Right now your body is overflowing with energy, in time it will hold it better and then you can control your output. Do that—And then it's yours to command!" He added as he bulked up and crushed two spray cans in his hand.
"Look, it's All Might!" The same guy from before yelled in excitement.
"Right, now we run." The blonde said as Izuku nodded as they ran away across the beach.
(The next day)
The following day, Izuku started packing his school stuff. Though as he did, he didn't notice Apophis crawling into one of the pockets on his backpack. "Izuku, you did pack everything, right?" Inko asked him.
"I did." The snake boy nodded.
"You sure? You didn't just pack action figures right?" She questioned.
"Wha- no! I'm not that obsessed! … Am I?" He retorted indignantly before muttering to himself. Inko giggled before shooing him to go on. Going out the door, the boy made his way to the school and his classroom. "Class 1-A, Class 1-A, where is it?" He asked as he ran down the halls. "Oh that it- is!" The boy said before being startled by the large door. "Holy whoa…" He gasped.
Apophis nodded at the door as they walked in, then he saw what he was dealing with as soon as he saw who was inside.
"Get your feet off that desk right now!" The bespectacled boy Izuku recognized from yesterday yelled at Bakugo. "It's the first day of class and you're already disrespecting this school by scuffing school property, you creeton!"
"You're kidding me right?" Bakugo retorted. "Your old school put a stick up your ass? Or were you born with it?" He added.
"Are you sure he was your childhood friend?" Apophis whispered, having a hard time believing that his pupil was friends with someone like Bakugo.
"I'm sure." Izuku replied quietly with a nod, having given up already in making Apophis stay home.
"Let's start over, I'm Tenya Iida from the Somei Private Academy." The bespectacled boy said.
"Somei huh? Then that must mean you think you're better than me! I'm gonna have fun tearing you a new one!" Bakugo laughed.
"Did you just threaten me?! Are you sure you're in the right place?" Iida questioned in disbelief.
'Oh jeez…' Izuku sighed mentally.
"Huh." The blonde huffed before the two finally took notice of Izuku.
"It's him." Iida said as everyone else in the room turned to face him, causing the boy to feel a little nervous.
'Why did they have to notice me now?' He thought, sweating a little.
"You're the snake boy from yesterday." Iida said as he walked up to him. "I'm Tenya Iida from the—." He started to say before Izuku cut him off.
"I know." He said. "I'm Izuku Midoriya, it's nice to meet you Iida. And I see you've already met Kacchan." He added, waving to his childhood friend, who rolled his eyes.
"You're friends with this brute?" The blue haired teen asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's… Debatable at the moment." The boy chuckled.
"Screw you, nerd!" The Pomeranian shouted while flipping the snake boy off. As the kids talked, none of them seemed to notice the girls walking up behind Izuku.
"Hey! I know that messy hair anywhere, falling boy!" A cheerful voice said behind Izuku.
"Huh?" The boy got out as he turned around and saw the girl he had saved in the practical exam. "It's you!" He said in surprise. Then as the girl started chatting away, Izuku soon took notice of another girl who was beside her.
She was about the brunette's height and from the looks of it, was the same in terms of figure. She had short, shoulder length dark green hair and green eyes, and her ears seemed elf-like. In addition to this, she didn't seem Japanese, but European. If Izuku had to guess, probably Irish? She was also wearing the standard UA uniform.
"So what do you think we're going to be doing for orientation? It's so cool that we're in the same class, I can't wait to meet everyone!" The brunette smiled.
"Right? I personally can't wait to meet some new people here since I just moved here." The green haired girl nodded, her Japanese was pretty good, however she did have a bit of an accent. Again, Izuku assumed it was Irish.
"Um, who are you?" The snake boy asked the new face.
"Erin Clover. I transferred here from Ireland. It's nice to meet you." The girl smiled.
"And I'm Ochako Uraraka." The gravity girl added.
'So I was right. She is Irish.' Izuku thought he looked at Erin. "Well, I'm Izuku Midoriya." He said, introducing himself. However as the two girls continued to talk with him they all didn't notice a figure that was laying in the hall behind them.
"If you're just here to make friends, then you can pack up your stuff now." A voice said. The teens all turned to the voice and saw a tired man in a sleeping bag on the floor.
'What is that thing?!' The thought with creeped out expressions. Apophis looked over Izuku's shoulder and examined the man briefly before retreating into the boy's backpack.
'I don't like him.' He thought. "Be careful, that guy smells like a rat. I hate rats." He hissed. Izuku nodded slightly in acknowledgement. The man got up and stepped out of the sleeping bag he was in.
"It took you all eight seconds to shut up, that's not gonna work. Rational students would understand that." He said as he walked inside. "Hello, I'm Shouta Aizawa, your teacher."
'HE'S OUR TEACHER?!' The majority of the class thought in disbelief.
'This is going to be a pain.' The ancient snake thought as he shook his head. Aizawa then took out a tracksuit from his sleeping bag.
"Right, put these on and head outside." He told them.
(Later)
"What? A Quirk assessment test?" All the kids asked in confusion.
"What about orientation?" Ochako asked.
"Here at UA, we aren't tethered to tradition. I'm free to teach my class any way I see fit." Aizawa told her.
'This is starting to feel like one of those days.' Izuku thought as he rubbed his temples.
"You've all been taking standardized tests most of your lives, but you've never been able to use your quirks in physical exams before." Aizawa continued. "The school board is trying to show us that we're all created equal by not letting the ones with the most power excel. It's not rational, one day the board of education will learn." He then turned to Bakugo. "Bakugo, you got first place in the entrance exams. What was your farthest softball throw in middle school?" He asked.
"Somewhere around sixty seven meters." The exploder replied after a moment.
"Try it again with your quirk." Aizawa told him, tossing him a softball.
"Alright." Bakugo nodded as he went to a circle.
"Anything goes as long as you stay in the circle." Aizawa told him.
"Okay man, you asked for it." The blonde sighed. 'Time to add some heat and drop their jaws.' He thought as he wound up. "DIE!" He yelled as he hurled the ball, boosting it with an explosion.
"As you can see, quirk assessments can help you identify your quirk's strengths, and gauge your potential as a pro." The man told his students as he showed them his phone, revealing that Bakugo's distance was 704.5 meters.
"Whoa! 704.5 meters?!" A yellow haired boy said in surprise.
"That's insane!" A redheaded boy said with a grin.
"So that means we can use our quirks here?" Erin asked.
"Alright! That's what I'm talking about!" A boy with tape dispenser elbows added.
"This is starting to look really fun!" Ochako smiled.
"Fun?" Aizawa repeated coldly. "You have three years to become heroes. You think it's going to be all fun and games? Idiots, you'll be going through eight physical tests to gauge your potential. The one who comes in last has none and will be expelled."
"WHAT?!" The class yelled.
"Must they all be so noisy?" Apophis hissed to himself.
"But you can't do that! We just got here! Even if it wasn't the first day, that isn't fair!" Ochako said.
"And life is supposed to be fair?" Aizawa shot back. "Are villain attacks fair? Are natural disasters fair? As heroes, we exist to combat that unfairness." He continued. "So stop whining, and prove that you deserve to be here."
Izuku flicked his tongue in and out of his mouth nervously. He did not like where this was going.
-50 meters dash-
During the fifty meter dash, Izuku was going up against Bakugo. And to move faster he decided to turn his lower half into a serpent's, clocking in at around 4.04 seconds.
'So that's his snake quirk. Interesting. I feel like there's more to it, though.' The man thought.
-Grip Strength-
Next was as the Grip Strength test. One of the standouts was Meizo Shoji, who got 560 kilograms. However as Izuku did his test, he turned his arm into an anaconda. As he squeezed the device, the serpent kept constricting and constricting until…
CRUNCH!
He crushed it. The noise got the attention of the others as they looked at him in surprise.
"... Oops." He said as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, his tongue flicking in and out of his mouth in response.
'He looks kinda cute when he's like that.' Ochako couldn't help but think, finding the way his tongue flicked in and out of his mouth the way it did rather adorable.
Erin meanwhile was busy looking at Bakugo's arm muscles. Needless to say, she was impressed. Bakugo turned towards her and glared at her.
"What're you staring at, pixie?" He growled, making Erin giggle.
"Oh take it easy tough guy, I'm just trying to see what makes you so great." She grinned.
"Oh yeah?" The Pomeranian said with a raised eyebrow. "Well stick around and you'll find out." He told her.
Aizawa, meanwhile, was making note of Izuku's feat. 'So his strength is comparable to a giant version of whatever serpent he turns into. Noted.' He thought.
(Later)
The tests that followed were the standing long jump, and side steps. The next was the softball throw. Ochako and Erin got a result of both infinity. And next was Izuku.
The boy decided to go all out this time, so he transformed into his large White Serpent version and coiled his tail around the ball, using its rattling function to his tail as a sort of slingshot and was about to use One for All to boost it. However…
Right as he was about to launch the ball, Aizawa made his move. He activated his quirk and deactivated One for All, and Apophis quickly prompted Izuku to transform back to avoid suspicion.
"Huh? What gives?" Izuku said as he looked at his hands. Then Apophis tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the side. "Oh." He said as he looked at Aizawa. "Now I get it, you're the Erasure Hero: Eraserhead." He said.
"Very astute of you." The man nodded as he gazed at the boy, his eyes glowing red. "The judges were not rational enough. Someone like you should never have been admitted into this school." He continued.
"You expect me to just- WHOA!" The boy started to retort before yelping as the man's scarf wrapped itself around him and was pulled toward its owner.
"What exactly were you planning to do? Use that same concussive blast you did in the exam? Destroy your body and count on someone else to save you?" Aizawa questioned. "If that's the case, then you don't belong here, you're useless if you can only throw one punch before breaking down." He stated before blinking.
"And I'm supposed to just let you write me off?" Izuku questioned with narrowed eyes, which looked a little intimidating.
"What?" Aizawa responded.
"I'm supposed to let you put me down simply because you say I have no potential? News flash: You don't have a say in how much potential I have. I'm the only one in charge of that." The boy declared firmly. Apophis, meanwhile, was slightly impressed by his pupil's backbone.
Before Aizawa could say anything more, two hands suddenly appeared in the boy's mouth and started prying it open to unbelievable widths and then the snake boy slowly rose out of it and launched himself back into the circle by doing a backflip. His previous body was lying on the ground like a discarded rubber suit.
"What in the world?!" Erin yelped with wide eyes. "Did I just see that right?!" She asked the others.
"Uh… Yeah." Ochako nodded.
"Ribbit." A frog girl nodded nervously.
"My word!" Iida gasped.
'What the hell?! Was… Was he actually serious about that snake bite back then?! Did he really get changed by it this much?!' Bakugo thought in shock.
"Alright, Midoriya." Aizawa said. "Prove me wrong, take your throw." He told the boy.
"Gladly." Izuku nodded as he took the ball and redid what he intended to do, but with a minor adjustment. When he released the ball, he only sent the power to the very tip of his tail. This caused the ball to go shooting off until it landed, at the exact same length as Bakugo. The other students looked at him in surprise as Aizawa looked at the distance on his phone.
Izuku then transformed back and the only thing hurt on him was his finger. "Still standing." He told Aizawa.
"Consider me proven wrong!" The Erasure hero said with an impressed look. The tests went on and they were over pretty soon, then finally, it was time for the results.
Momo Yaoyorozu
Shoto Todoroki
Katsuki Bakugo
Izuku Midoriya
Tenya Iida
Erin Clover
Fumikage Tokoyami
Mezo Shoji
Mashirao Ojiro
Mina Ashido
Eijiro Kirishima
Ochako Uraraka
Koji Koda
Rikido Sato
Tsuyu Asui
Yuga Aoyama
Hanta Sero
Denki Kaminari
Kyoka Jiro
Toru Hagakure
"Phew…" Erin and Izuku sighed in relief.
"By the way, I was lying. No one's going home." Aizawa revealed, shocking everyone. "That was just a traditional deception to make you give it your all in the tests." He added.
This caused everyone to become extremely surprised, save perhaps Momo, the girl in first place.
"Thank Susanoo that's over…" Apophis sighed.
(Later)
Izuku yawned as he continued walking home, having been joined by Iida a few minutes ago. "Hey! You guys going to the train station?" Ochako called.
"Wait up! We'll join you!" Erin added as the two girls ran up to them.
"Well, certainly seems like you're popular." The boy's snake companion said.
"Yeah, I guess so." Izuku nodded.
They had no idea what they were in for the following day…
Dragon Emperor0: Well, that certainly set the stage for Izuku being able to show off.
ThermalsniperN7: Yep. And he definitely refused to let Eraserhead dismiss him. He showed him that only he's in charge of how much potential he has.
Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. And tomorrow we're going to see just how well he can fight with Bakugo. Also guys, let us know if you like Erin, she's an OC I saw on Instagram of an account of the same name. She'll be pretty fun to write for various reasons. Anyway, see you all next time.