I don't know why, but I had the urge to rewatch Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, which is strange as while I enjoyed watching it again, I was supposed to watch season 2 of Witch from Mercury but I keep forgetting or doing something else. Hopefully, I can bring myself to watch a couple of episodes after this as I really enjoyed the first season as while it's not the typical Gundam story, it works and it works well for the setting and what they're going for.

Chapter 5: The Test

After they arrived at the venue, which appeared to be a massive stadium, Aizawa gave them all some words of encouragement, even if he compared them to chickens. "Let's call out the usual, guys!" Kirishima moved to hype them all, not seeing the new face in their group but Midoriya did, gripping Eri's hand tighter as she wondered who the hell this person was. "Plus-"

"Ultra!" Said unknown yelled at the top of his lungs, but he was the only one as the U.A. students wondered who he was and where he came from as all they could tell about him was that he was taller, muscular and seemed easily excitable.

Off to the side, a student wearing a similar uniform, down the dark caps, spoke up. "Inasa, what have I told you about barging into other people's huddles?"

Being reminded of this, the beast of a student froze for a moment. "Wha-pardon me," In his apology, his hands clapped to his side, and his back went straight before he bowed so low that his head impacted with the ground, without so much as a flinch from the boy. "I am so extremely sorry!"

"What the hell? Who is this guy, I so do not trust his enthusiasm?" Kaminari asked, pointing at him like he was a strange circus attraction as normal people didn't slam their heads into the pavement so hard that they cracked the brick. While the class watched on in confusion, Midoriya spotted Aizawa's reaction out of the corner of her eye and saw that it differed from the rest.

'Eraser-sensei seems to recognize him, but from where?' She wondered as Jiro noticed that their uniforms looked familiar.

"Wait, hold on, look at their uniforms." With the statement, the group saw that the students behind him all wore it and that it matched only one other place.

"They're from the other famous school," Sero noted as Bakugo eyed them.

"UA in the east, Shiketsu in the west." The red-eyes blonde noted.

"The only school that can be said to rival UA in every way. Makes sense that they'll have the two schools have classes in the same exam." Midoriya observed as it would suit the commission to have their best sharpen each other like knives.

Getting up from his bow, the strange boy continued as if he hadn't just smashed his head into the ground. "I am so sorry, I just want to say it, just this once! You see, I really love U.A. high school! I am extremely looking forward to competing against you all!" He yelled out with as much passion that you would think this was his life's goal, completely ignoring how his head started to bleed.

Eri pulled on Izuku's skirt, pointing towards the strange boy. "Momma, he's bleeding."

Hearing this, his gaze went from the group to Midoriya and if she thought his eyes couldn't get any brighter with enthusiasm, she was wrong as they "I know you, Midoriya Izuku, right?" "I just want to say that I'm a fan of yours as well, I love just how passionate you all are and totally agree with you that people need to find things in life that make their blood boil in joy! That's why I'm training to be the most hot-blooded pro there is!"

Having not expected such a reaction from the boy, and being very much on guard, Izuku didn't place Eri down, having picked her up and held her close in case this turned violent. "Uh, thank…you?" She shared a confused look with Eri, who looked more lost than she did as she barely had any social skills to call on. "Please tone it down, you're scary my child."

Finally seeing Eri, and seeing how she looked, the boy shook for a second before he bowed low once more, but restrained himself. "Sorry." He was still loud, but not as much as before to the point she wondered if his meta-ability made him super excitable or something.

One of the other Shiketsu students watching lifted a finger to their cheek, watching the interaction with some interest. "So, he can tone it down, but only for children, I like, didn't even know he could do that." The girl noted, blowing a bubble which popped before she continued to chew the gum, much to the visible irritation of the narrow-eyed boy that had first spoken up to scold his classmate.

He looked like he was going to scold them both but took a deep breath, calming himself down if not a little before he turned on his heel and started watching away. "Let's go, we shouldn't be late." He didn't need to turn to see if the others followed him as they did, with the blonde waving at them with a wink which made Kaminari blush.

"Yes, sir!" The mountain of a boy replied, bowing once more to them before he quickly joined his classmate.

Despite the rather strange encounter, Izuku didn't detect any real aggression or hostility towards them, he seemed genuinely happy to see and speak with them so she raised a hand and started waving towards them. "Good luck with your exam!"

"Thank you!" The large boy replied over his shoulder, returning her wave in such a fashion you would think he was 6, not 16.

While the students were amused if not a little confused by him and his…extroverted personality, Aizawa watched him with a calculating eye. "Yoarashi Inasa."

"You know him, Aizawa-sensei?" Hagakure asked him, having heard him reveal the boy's apparent name.

Aizawa nodded. "I do, and be careful around him, it's strong." The class turned to him, wondering how he could have known that. "He's the same year as you all, even took the U.A. recommendation exam, securing the highest score but for some reason, he turned down the acceptance to U.A." He revealed, much to the shock of the class as they had been together long enough for them to have heard through one form or another what the recommendation exam entailed, and how challenging it was for even powerhouses like Todoroki and geniuses like Yaoyorozu.

Hearing that Inasa, the boy that slammed his head into the ground hard enough to leave a mark on both the ground and his forehead had not only taken the U.A. recommendation exam but also scored the top spot made Izuku's mind race at the implications. 'Hold on, if he got the top scores of that group, that would mean he performed better than Yaoyorozu and Todoroki, one I can understand as she proved quite indecisive and reactionary during the festival but to best the son of Endeavour?'

She wondered to herself, though there was more to Todoroki than met the eye, she was sure of it but regardless, he was still one of their best, to surpass him was no easy feat. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, she found herself incredibly eager to see him in action during this exam, to study him and his meta-ability to her heart's content. She didn't even notice the smile forming on her face. 'That is troubling…but also exciting.'

"Hold on, if he loves U.A. so much, why did he turn down a chance to go?" Sero asked, bringing attention to a clear error in the guy's reasoning.

"He's weird, that's for sure," Kirishima replied, not knowing what else he could say about it.

"That aside, he's the real deal, keep your wits about you with him." Aizawa reminded them, but before he could say more-

"Eraser, is that you?" His tired eyes widen as his body stiffen in shock as he whipped around like a startled cat to see much to his dread, a familiar green-haired woman approaching, waving and all smiles. "I'll know that scowl anywhere! I saw you on TV for the sports festival but it's been a while since we were this close in person!" She laughed as she approached, with the man contemplating how bad it would look if he bolted then and there, he was pretty sure he was still faster than her.

Not seeing the internal struggle in their teacher and guardian for this trip, Eri tugged on Izuku's shirt as she pointed towards the woman. "Isn't she?" Before Izuku could answer, the woman got up close to Aizawa.

"Let's get married." The class did a double take, not sure if they heard that right as there was no way that she just suggested-

"No" Aizawa's response was quick and short, too quick to imply anything other than being a regular thing, which fired up the shipping parts of Ashido's brain as the woman took the cold rejection in stride, being amused by it as she laughed.

"You're a real riot, buddy." Aizawa on the other hand, just looked tired-more so than usual with this as at least with class and the other students of U.A., he could give them detention or some other punishment but not with her-and she knew it.

"As usual, Joke, you're impossible." Aizawa signed, knowing that if Ms. Joke was here, she wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon. He had heard she had taken up teaching as well, but had wished her class would have been sent to another exam area, guess his luck just had to be crap today.

"She's from the TV, the one that makes people laugh," Eri noted, catching the attention of the rest, including Ms. Joke who hid her surprise at seeing both Midoriya and this little girl well, but as the one was wearing a U.A. uniform…it seems that her old partner got himself a live wire.

Izuku nodded, happy that Eri could recall something that she had only seen once, when she had walked in on Izuku watching old clips of the woman in question as she prioritized her teaching these days, limiting the videoed cases of her fighting villains. "She is, that's her quirk." Ms. Joke, having approached while they spoke, confirmed this.

With a big smile on her face, she pointed to herself in near comical fashion, enough that some of the students, Izuku included couldn't help but crack a smile. "Yup, that's me, little star. Ms. Joke at your service." She bowed towards them, getting a giggle from Eri as she reached out to her, with Izuku moving a little to help her daughter close the distance.

Ms. Joke didn't stop the little girl from touching her hair, though it was strange that her hair was what she chose to focus on. "She looks nice like she was on the TV." Eri thought aloud, appearing confused by something before she turned to Izuku. "Are all people with green hair nice?"

At such an innocent question, Izuku and Ms. Joke couldn't help but laugh, placing Eri down as she patted her head. "Not all of them, but most are." She winked at Tsu, who waved back.

Wishing to continue to hang around the nice people, she asked another question which sent a shot of ice through Aizawa. "Can she sit with us?"

"She will no-" He felt his fate was sealed when before he could deny that, Ms. Joke shot him a look that screamed that she was going to take this.

"I most certainly will!" Ms. Joke cheered, getting happy applause from Eri as the woman started to converse with her, walking with the mother and daughter into the exam building, leaving both class 1-A and her students behind to watch in awe, confusion and amusement.

'Goddammit!' The underground hero thought, wishing he had taken his chance to run while he still had the chance, damned how that would look as now he would need to deal with Ms. Joke for at least 2 hours! How could Midoriya be in his class for less than 2 hours and give him more cause for a headache than half the rest could do in a month?

20 minutes after arriving, the class got dressed into their gear and went to the announcement hall as directed, seeing that the large space was nearly filled with other students of all shapes, sizes and colors. They had seen the Sports festival, and been a part of it but there was a stark difference between the two as there, they only really had to worry about each other and the other hero class, giving any one person 39 true threats, 19 of which they would have some idea of their quirks and powers as they shared a class with them.

But here, they had none of that as they were surrounded by people that had more experience, more training and with quirks they could only theorize about. It made them feel like small, mice in a field of bulls who could crush them before if they weren't careful. "This is insane…" Kirishima muttered, his gaze jumping from person to person.

"There's so many." Uraraka agreed with him, seeing more than a few older girls that had much more muscles on their exposed arms or legs.

"Well, we were told they'll be hundreds." Tokoyami remained calm, though his gaze did take as much of the others as they could as these were his competitors, he couldn't afford to relax.

In front of the massive group, a man came up to the podium. He didn't seem like a pro, wearing a plain suit and moving like a zombie, all but collapsing on the podium as if it was his crotch. "Okay…Let's do this exam…" His tired eyes looked over them before he yawned, the mic catching it and echoing through the hall but if he noticed or cared enough to notice, they couldn't say as he carried on. "I'm from the Hero Public Safety Commission, Yokumiru Mera, I hope you all appreciate that as I've lost so much sleep organizing this thing…" He yawned again as he leaned more on the podium, fighting to stay awake from what they could tell.

'What the hell is with this guy?' The students wondered as this guy looked like he was one step from just falling over and passing out on the ground.

"Moving on, let's begin orientation, boys and girls. The faster we do, the faster I can go home and take a sleep till the next century." Mera continued, keen to finish this and go home to a much-missed bed after nearly 3 days on this stupid exam with only 10 hours of collective naps in that entire time. he didn't know when and how, but he would have words with the commission's HR after this as no way in hell they didn't have enough people to help, someone was screwing with him.

"This year's exam will be jam-packed as your teachers must have informed you in the past, we mainly dealt with groups lower than 1,000 but despite that, we'll keep a similar format." Mera started, looking over the mass of students with a frown as he just knew that such an inflated number will give him trouble. "The gist of it is that all 1,580 of you will compete in a free-for-all exercise." He took some amusement out of how some of them baulked at that, either because they somehow didn't realize that the exam was an individual first test, or because of the number that were present.

"That's…not much to work with." Sero, with his helmet on but with its visor open noted.

As if he could hear him, Mera continued. "However, while it's a similar format to what say, your teachers went through, the actual exercises have been overhauled and have an even higher cut-off point. The reason for this is simple, we're in uncertain times." In that instant, it was like he took a shot of caffeine, as his body went straight, his eyes sharpened as it looked over them like a hawk.

"We have a crap ton of pros running around, far more than ever before but that isn't the issue, rather it's the caliber and character of pros which have gotten people to express doubt in heroes' role in society." Mera started, capturing all their attention and keeping it right before he hit them in the gut with the cold facts. "This started with Stain, who as of now has already killed 28 pros and crippled another 42." Some among them reacted in shock that they dare to bring up the hero killer, others with rage over it, perhaps for the same reasons as the first, perhaps because they knew one of his many victims.

Regardless, what was sure was the fact Stain was approaching the body count record that hadn't been broken in 25 years, one held by the Dragon of Kanto. The still nameless villain that for years tormented pros and law enforcement alike, leaving no clues to their identity or motives, only charred remains of their victims. And then one day they stopped. After killing their 50th hero, they vanished without a trace. He hoped the bastard had just died.

"Now, normally, something like this, while tragic, wouldn't attract so much attention from the general populace but Stain is different as he preaches about a supposed rot in hero society, that many who take up the task are ill-suited and unworthy of it and by acting as heroes, are disrespecting the role itself." He gave them the basic run-down of what the hero-killer preached, or at least what his followers said he believed.

"Of course, Stain has never provided proof to his claims so for the most part, his supporters remained fringe elements, too few and disconnected to be worth more than the occasional check-up, but then the Shie Hassaikai incident occurred." His eyes only sharpened further, a glint forming in them as he recalled the immediate aftermath of that mess, and from how some of the students reacted, he could say that too had their opinions on the event and either suspended or disbarred pros that were involved.

"I won't bore you with repeating details, but it's safe to say that the reveal that pros were involved with criminal elements has thrown fuel into the fires that was Stain, whose been much more vocal in denouncing the hero system, worse, it's attracting more listeners," Mera stated a fact, though not a well known one as the commission had been able to get most news agencies to agree not t shred light on it, though there was still a few that refused them, stating that unless they had a court order, they would continue to talk about it, the ringleader being Shoowaysha whose CEO seemed to enjoy making them look bad.

"Now, we of the commission agree with some of that madman's points, but strongly disagree with others as when you break down his core beliefs, they don't add up. I mean, if you're going to risk your life to save and protect others, why not ask to be compensated? If one is paid to do something, they can dedicate more time to it rather than needing to balance the responsibility of saving lives with trying to keep food on the table and a roof over your head." Mera stated, being frank with them as if nothing else, they deserved that much from him.

There was a break in his demeanor, as his exhaustion shined through. "God, I could use a coffee right about now, anyway," But it was gone as quickly as it came. "Regardless of if they're in it for the pay, or some sense of duty to act, we need heroes. It's that plain and simple." He saw a few looked uncertain on their feet, feeling targeted and his bosses could care less if they only did this because they could get a fat cheque every month.

Still, that all depended on them, they didn't need good heroes, they need great heroes. All Might's time was coming to an end if pros couldn't pick up the enormous weight that he would leave when he retired…"However, the caliber of heroes in recent times has seemed to have decreased and with villain activity on the rise, this is something that the commission and the people can't and won't accept." They were facing a new age, one where pros couldn't just get by with minimal effort, comforted by the same belief as the masses that all would be right as rain with All Might about. If they wanted that cheddar, these students better prove themselves to be damn fine mice.

"We need better heroes, faster heroes, smarter heroes. Heroes that understand the power they have and the responsibility that comes with it, hence the shift in the exam format and cut-off point." He saw some fire in them, good. It was paramount that they understood.

With the serious stuff done, his energy from his…4th wind? Left him, reducing him back to a half-asleep asleep, middle-aged aged man that just wanted a damn nap. He would have smiled as he relayed the kicker, but that would require having the energy to do so. "Which is why the first part of the exam will serve as a means to trim as much fat off this group as possible as only the first 100 to meet the requirements will be allowed to the next stage."

It was immediate, as soon as he revealed how little would even get through the first round, fear, nervousness and anxieties shot through the roof, more so among the 3rd years as this was their last chance. They couldn't afford to fail and it wasn't like this would be easy as this would be unlike any exam they had taken prior.

Yaoyorozu couldn't believe what she had just heard, she had thought Aizawa was being dramatic when he told them their chances before, one of his logical ruses, but his estimation was generous compared to reality. "There are over 1,500 people here, Aizawa-sensei said that it's normally a 50% pass rate."

Asui looked just as nervous. "That means less than 7% will even have a shot to get a license."

"That is way too much pressure!" Jiro hugged herself, they were expected to secure one of so few spots? Amongst older more experienced students? This was going to be a slaughter.

"It's crappy, I know but that's just how the cookie crumbles…Man, I could go for a cookie right now," Mera's words carried just low little he cared before he picked up a remote and pressed a button, shifting the screen to start with the rest of the explanation of the rules. "Any who, here are the basics of the elimination round." Yeah, he didn't care.

The screen changed to show a featureless body, with three marks on them, seemingly placed at random. Mera at the same time, held up a device that matched the one on the screen. "The examinee will wear three of these targets on their bodies, they can go anywhere so long as it's an exposed area, so don't try to hide them under capes or in your armpits." He held it up for them to see before he placed it down and picked a small baseball-sized orange ball.

Holding this up, he explained its purpose. "Each will also be given 6 of these balls. The targets have been programmed to light up when touched by these balls, if all 3 of them are hit, you're out, plain and simple." The picture on screen followed along with the explanation before the 3rd target was hit and the person was declared defeated. "Oh, one last thing, it's the person that lights up the 3rd target that gets the credit for your defeat. To pass, you need to take down 2 people."

Watching from the stands, Izuku sat with Eri on her lap, her awed eyes taking just how vast the place was, as it seems like the stadium was designed to hold well over 100 thousand people if not more, Izuku was right with Eri in how awestruck she was by this place as she was sure one could fit the entire population of Deika inside as spectators. More than that, the grounds of the exam itself as it seemed to have been built to take into account close to every kind of environment that a pro could find themselves in on the job, from city streets and highways to mountains and forests, this place was built for it all.

While she wondered how much a place like this cost to build, and what kind of Hunger games like events took place here when it wasn't in use for hero exams, Mera's voice carried through the many speakers across the place as it had since he started his little speech to the students. "I'm sure that you all have different terrains that you prefer or would like to avoid, use your quirks well, trust your training and do your best." She supposed it made sense why one would spend what must have been tens of billions of yen on this, pros operated all over the place, many specializing in those zones, and one can't penalize a water rescue pro for being bad at operating in a city, so you would need to take into account.

To one side, she had Ms. Joke, the frankly lovable woman who had been eager to talk with Eri and ensure she felt at ease, something she both appreciated and respected as the woman didn't seem to need her quirk to do that. "I was wondering when they'll reveal this." The woman whistled, wishing she could have seen her student's reactions to this reveal.

To her other side, sat the grumpy Aizawa. She didn't know why he didn't like Ms. Joke, her best guess being he was an introvert that didn't want to be adopted by her extroverted personality. In contrast to his colleague, he didn't seem amused by this at all, crossing his arms. "The commission seems to have been bit by the drama bug."

On her lap, Eri had a much simpler and in her opinion, better reaction. "So big!" She cheered, pointing towards the many zones that simulated places she had only ever seen on tv or in books, the forest part was smaller than she thought, but it still looked good, same with the water part as she wanted to ask if they couldn't spend time there swimming.

"It sure is, Eri." She agreed with her, though her mind was moving like a well-oiled Swiss clock as she took in all that was happening, analyzing. 'It seems that the commission is capable of some adaption, dropping the possible number of people that can pass is bold…but it makes sense. Even if this first part can't test one's character so much as it does its skill, it still gives them more capable puppets and fighters.' She had met more than a few of the MLA warriors and heard how they all trained but she had never seen something like this if one wished to train for the mountains to best use their meta-ability, they had to physically travel to a mountain away from prying eyes. The difference highlighted just how much money and resources the commission had, and how much they could openly use.

'It's like the U.A. entrance exam, but that's designed to be relatively easy, to allow those with next to no training a shot, and can be done in teams but this explicitly aims for a more individual approach, one with a much higher skill bar as most of these students are 2nd and 3rd years, far better than any bot that U.A. could throw at you.' She had studied up for the U.A. exams before she had been taken and had heard the stories of the rest of her new classmates about it concerning the sports festival where they threw zero-pointers at that as an obstacle.

Then if a battle against opponents with more training and experience wasn't enough, there was that win condition that the commission added.'6 balls, if you have skill and luck, that's just enough to get through, but it'll be incredibly risky to try that approach." Mera didn't say if you could only use your balls, now what would happen if a ball was damaged or destroyed as might happen when there were over 1,000 meta-abilities in pay, but even if you could steal spares from others, that would mean fighting them as she doubted that most were sneaky enough to get in close and snatch a few before they're spotted.

'You could steal points from others, but that means being close enough to exploit that, close enough to become a target yourself.' Her hand twitched as she reached for her notebook, the first 25 pages were filled with notes she took about her classmates, but she still had 71 pages left to fill with any and everything she could see and record. If a few of her classmates decided to get close to fight…well, that gave her another opportunity to see them in action.

Oblivious to her thought processes, Ms. Joke tuned to Aizawa. "I can't believe you still have a whole class. You must like this bunch." Izuku paused here, wondering what that statement meant.

Lucky for her, she didn't need to ask as Eri was there and just as curious about that statement. "What do you mean? Does Mr. Aizawa lose students?" She asked Ms. Joke, she turned her gaze towards her from the grump of a pro.

"He sure does." She teased.

"I do not." Aizawa quickly replied, leading to Eri looking back and forth between the two for a moment before she nodded, having made her decision.

Turning to Aizawa, she did her best to mimic the face that she had seen her mother and teacher make whenever she did something she wasn't supposed to, like stay up past her bedtime. "Momma and grand-momma say it's bad to lie." She didn't see how much Ms. Joke was loving this.

Aizawa did and feeling a migraine forming from this, he did his best to keep himself in check, it wouldn't do to get upset with a child though he did curse the fact he had little experience with dealing with them outside an immediate crisis. "And why pray tell, do you think I'm lying?" He asked her, as she barely knew Ms. Joke yet sided with her story about him, though he granted her the fact that she barely knew him as well.

Eri looked back towards Ms. Joke, who played the innocent card and wiped her teasing look from her face, much to Aizawa's anger before the little girl turned back towards him, pointing towards the female pro. "She has green hair; green hair means she's nice." Ms. Joke, upon hearing the little girl's reasoning, couldn't contain herself as she fell over laughing, made all the worse he could hear some commission members close by snickering at his expense. He felt his eyebrow twitching as Izuku barely hid her amusement over how his dark hair color somehow made him less trustworthy.

He was going to ensure that this child never interacted with Hizashi or Nemuri, she was too dangerous

Ms. Joke, seeing that as well scooted a tad closer, but refrained from trying to snatch Eri from Izuku. "She's got a good eye on her, Aizawa! Look out because when she's old enough, I wouldn't mind having her as a student." She enjoyed how for a second, Aizawa looked downright terrified by that prospect. She was going to make him smile even if it took her another 5 years, she had already done it before, but Mr. 'I'm too serious and professional' made it difficult to replicate, even when she invited Kayama and Yamada so they could enjoy a night out, he just left before they could break through his cat loving, grumpy soul.

Still, she had her fun and decided to give him some mercy and protect what reputation he still had by clarifying things with Eri. "But I was kidding, Eri. Mr. Aizawa is super careful and doesn't lose students, he expels them." Not her fault the truth wasn't much better, so he could glare at her through his capture weapon all he wanted, she was all but immune to his glower after all these years.

Eri, after hearing such a surprise, continued to question. "Why? Are they bad?" A fair question, the girl must have heard about how naughty students were dealt with, but neither imagined she had seen something like that in whatever school she attended as kids her age rarely got more than time-outs and parents being called as outside behaviour issues that required special attention, most 6-year-olds were chaotic by nature.

"He seems to think so, I just think he's being a big meanie." Ms. Joke poked fun at him, and he knew she was as he had already had this conversation with her in the past.

'Why can't I find a moment of peace?' How he wished that he had just called in sick and had Mic handle this, but no, he just had to be a good teacher. "I expel them as I can't be bothered to deal with those with no potential and inflated egos, it also is good to humble them early before they hurt themselves." He kept it short, though Izuku found his reasoning to be…missing something. He claimed to not like to deal with problem students, yet he had Bakugo and Todoroki in his class. One she knew that be a ball of ego and rage at the best of times, and the other blatantly never used half his meta-ability.

She would have questioned him on this, but she noticed something on the field. "Strange. Aizawa-sensei, is it normal for the students to spread out like that?" They turned their gaze back to the students taking the exam and saw that while the group she was pretty sure was the U.A. students were sticking together, the same wasn't said for everyone else as groups did form among them, but they moved in tandem, surrounding U.A. from a distance she could imagine was beyond her classmate's capacity to spot them.

This didn't seem to surprise the two pros seated next to her as Aizawa crossed his arms and leaned back into his seat. "Looks like it's starting."

"They look like they're preparing to…attack our class, and they don't seem to even notice," Midoriya observed, as it was like they were forming little battle lines to launch an assault, but U.A. didn't seem to react at all, ignorant to the coming storm.

"You didn't tell them, did you?" Ms. Joke dropped the amusement as she spared Eraser a look out of the corner of her eye, surprised that he had decided to keep this from them as no way they would be moving like that if they knew.

"What's starting?" Eri asked.

"Every year the test is different, but one thing stays the same. Think of it like a tradition whenever U.A. sends a class." Ms. Joke started to answer them. "Most of the students that compete have pretty equal footing, however, U.A. is the only one which broadcasts their Sports festival, giving everyone a chance to see their quirks, skills and most importantly, weaknesses."

Izuku caught onto what she was implying, a spark of concern lighting in her chest for her new classmates. "Meaning that unlike everyone else, U.A. comes in blind to the quirks and abilities of their competition, but everyone else has a good idea of what they can do."

"Correct. Which all leads to the bi-annual U.A. crush." Aizawa finished the explanation.

"The first test will now begin." Right as the announcement was aired, the trap was sprung as from all sides, dozens of students launched themselves towards U.A., bombarding them with their balls in the hope to take them out and score some easy points, though U.A. reacted quickly to this and split into smaller groups, avoiding the worst of the onslaught, still, they appeared pinned.

"Shame, I would have thought if you liked your class, you would have told them about it, given them time to prepare for the assault." Ms. Joke stated.

"You think they'll be taken out? I don't see a reason why I should have warned them. When they become pros, everyone will know their quirks anyway so why not let them get a taste of that early?" Aizawa asked, sounding confident in his students, confidence they were proving to be well founded as even from this distance, Izuku and Eri could make out how they started to push back against the assault, not countering it, but maintaining their positions either through hunkering down, evasion or outright destroying the balls heading towards them, though she noticed a distinct lack of explosions and ice.

Seeing this, Aizawa continued, unbothered for the fates of the expected missing two, confident that they were just fine but had broken off from the group early. "Real heroes should be able to turn this situation around, perhaps at U.A., we look a little further ahead than most." Ms. Joke stayed silent as he spoke, though she had a straight face as he spoke while Izuku found him to be both right and wrong which she mentioned.

"And why is that, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked her, though despite her expecting him to have been judgemental or even irritated in her arguing with him, his gaze remained passive, his question not said out of annoyance, but the mild curiosity of a teacher wishing to see how their student came to their conclusion.

So, she explained herself, her gaze returning to the arena where she noted that the assault was slowing as students ceased or fell back. "You're right in that heroes face these kinds of odds every day, but the same can be said for everyone else. More than then, there is still the issue that they all have at least a year's training over us, so they'll likely be better equipped to handle plans needed to be changed mid-battle." Aizawa might have had faith in his students, and perhaps he had good reason to have it, but this wasn't a normal test, and these weren't fellow first years.

"However, U.A. can use that to their advantage as I can guess that a lot of them have improved a lot since the Festival, as there would be no other reason for first years to be involved, they can use that small window as their opportunity to gauge their opponents' strengths and plan counters, evening the playing field somewhat." Of course, he could acknowledge that whatever her classmates could learn at this moment was better than what the rest learned months back, as it would be up-to-date, and as they didn't come into this with any preconceived notions, they should be faster at adapting, which seemed to be the case as not a single one had been taken out yet in the aftermath of that first assault.

"She's got a point, Eraser, but that does lead to another issue here. Namely being that because of the limited spots, everyone's most likely gonna be rushing to finish things, probably believing that their ranking will affect their overall scores." Ms. Joke agreed with her, liking how she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.

"But this part, while an elimination round, is geared towards teamwork, the wise ones will hold back, observe and attack based on that. Ensuring that whole groups have a chance to make it through." Aizawa's observations were proven by a second wave of attacks against the U.A. these carried out by smaller groups, but with more precision and planning in them, hitting closer to home and no doubt keeping U.A. on its toes. Of course, they met this assault well as in one case, the ground seemed to shatter as Mina moved in and took out the balls heading for them.

Now, they moved to counter, as U.A. started pushing against their attackers, and gaining ground as they used all sorts of attacks that Izuku didn't recall them using during the festival, it was a dream for her as she gently placed Eri next to her, the seat having been left empty for the girl as she started to furiously write down her notes on what she could see and speculate, not just on U.A. but the students fighting against her, Eri found her mumbling cute while the two teachers shared different reactions as both were surprised by how accurate she was in her analysis of the the abilities of their students and the other hero-wannabes.

"She figured out that they worked on ultimate moves that fast, you lucked out, Eraser." Ms. Joke mused as she hadn't seen anyone break down quirks this well in years, and that was from professionals. With Aizawa, he nodded his head, seeing why Nezu decided to allow her to come with them despite her rushed completion of Junior high, she had a good eye when it came to quirks, a vital skill when it comes to hero work as being able to identity the strengths and weakness of a villains' quirk could be the difference between life and death, between a quick, clean take-down and a long, drawn-out brawl.

"It seems not a single student has managed to pass, but that also means that no one has been taken out so it's still very much anyone's game. And don't worry, despite how much I wish to take a nap, I'll keep you updated whenever students manage to pass." Mere announced over the loudspeakers from wherever he was keeping an eye on things.

Regardless, Ms. Joke saw that things could still very much change as she hadn't seen one of her star students make a move yet. "Still, for as good as your students are, Eraser. I think you're being condescending in how you're approaching this." She sparred him a glance, one he matched in seriousness. "Do you have any idea how badly so many kids in this world want to be heroes? Strength of will and effort matters far more than renown or attending some famous school." Even if Aizawa was right in why he didn't tell them about the U.A. crush, all he did was give them more work and also allowed others to see how much they improved.

"When you let yourself be blinded by pride, and look down on others, all you do is open yourself up, revealing your weaknesses. That's how you fail." Ms. Joke finished, right as the area where most of the fighting took place rumbled and broke before the earth itself seem to explode, separating the students and throwing up a huge dust cloud that obscured their view of things.

And we'll end things there, this chapter runs a bit longer than normal, but I suppose I can excuse this as the whole part where Ms. Joke bullies Eraser was not planned, but I couldn't stop myself once I put it in as I just found it so funny that she would use Eri to mess with the grumpy pro, but there was more to it that as she knows how much he cares for his students, so she was trying to help keep his spirits up after the loss of Iida. After all, if he was annoyed, he would have just moved seats as it revealed he's not afraid to walk out on group events if he's not feeling it.

As for the stadium, I'm surprised it gets so little attention in the show as the place is huge, it's enough that a group over 1000 strong can stand in its centre and barely take up a 10th of the available space in the pitch, it's big enough to suit near accurate models of multiple environments and not feel small, I wouldn't be surprised if the entire USJ could fit in inside, and the USJ is also stupidly big

Sidenote, if U.A. and Japan as a whole can afford to spend this kind of cash and real estate on the hero game, can you imagine how big the U.S. hero education is? With wars never mentioned and presumable not much of a factor in their world, all those tens of billions that would have gone to make warehouses of missiles and tanks would go towards training people with more power than any of those things combined, case in point, Star and Stripes. I wouldn't be shocked if they pulled a Yu-gi-oh and had a city the size of New York as the grounds for just one school or if such a school has an annual budget bigger than the GDP of most countries.

Next chapter will be out August 30th, but if you wish to read it early, it's already available on my P-a-t-r-e-o-n at p-a-t-r-e-o-n / Ducksmakegreatminers