P.E. Field
"A quirk assessment test!?" The cry went up from at least a dozen members of the class.
They all currently stood on the P.E. field dressed in their physical education clothes that their teacher had provided.
"What about orientation?" The brown-haired girl that had arrived last demanded. "We're gonna miss it!"
"If you want to make the big leagues, you can't waste time on pointless ceremony." Aizawa replied without looking at them. "Here at UA, we're not tethered to tradition. That means I get to run my class however I choose."
There were some looks of dissent among the students, but no one was foolish enough to argue with him outright.
Turning around to face his class, Aizawa continued. "You've all been taking standardized tests for most of your lives, but you've never got to use your Quirks. The government is still trying to push the idea that all men are created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It's not rational. Someday, the systems within our country will realize that, but for now, I'll just have to correct their mistakes. Salazar!"
He called out the name suddenly, without any indication that he was going to ask for a volunteer.
"I'm right here." Rex declared as he stepped forward.
Aizawa's gaze fell on him. "You managed the most points on the entrance exam. What was your longest throw with a softball in junior high?"
"Sixty-three meters, I believe?" Rex answered.
"Here." His teacher tossed him a ball. "Use your Quirk, in any way you wish, to throw that as far as you can."
"Alright, no problem teach." Rex responded.
As he walked to the pitching ring, the blond boy from before muttered, "That guy topped me? He looks even more boring than Deku. How's a small fry like him supposed to be the next number one?"
His tone was laced with resentment.
"Geez, is this because I spoke back to him earlier or is he just now realizing who I really am?" Rex thought. "Also, who is Deku?"
Rex decided to shove that out of his mind as he placed the ball on the ground and formed his Slam Canon. He then angled said canon just right before the back of it slammed into the ground. Some of that, along with the ball, were formed into a larger sphere.
He then fired the sphere propelling it well into the air to the point he lost sight of it. Most of the students in class were amazed by the display while the angry blond simply sneered at him. Aizawa soon held up a smartphone which displayed the distance, '1107.3m'.
"That was great, Salazar!" Denki cheered as the guy rejoined the students. "Man, you just have a lot of tricks up your sleeve!"
"Well, it's only natural." Rex glanced over at the blond boy. "After all, looks are often deceiving. What appears plain to the average eye can hold great potential while those that look great are often puffed full of hot air."
"The hell did you say!?" The blond boy questioned angrily as explosions went off in the palms of his hand. "Want to repeat that!?"
"Is there a problem?" Aizawa asked sternly.
"Considering that boy has been itching to start fights, I'd say there seems to be." Rex commented. "Especially since the only thing I did to him was agree with a fellow student that he was out of line with his classroom decorum."
"No matter the reason, you acted no better." Aizawa declared firmly. "Unless you and Bakugo would like to sit out the rest of today, I suggest you both simmer down."
The blond kid simply snorted before turning to face the teacher again.
Rex would like to think he wasn't as bull headed. "Understood."
"So, today we get to take physical tests while using our Quirks?" A black haired guy spoke up as the tension wound down. "That's so cool!"
"Yeah, I wanna try!" Mina added.
"This looks like fun!" The brown-haired girl exclaimed.
"Fun, huh?" Aizawa asked in a tone that immediately set them all on edge. "You have three years to become pro heroes. You really think that it'll be fun and games?" When no one answered, he gave them a chilling smile. "Idiots. Today, you will all compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last has none and will be expelled immediately."
Everybody reacted with shock and a bit of fear.
"That's not fair!" The brown-haired girl stepped up and protested. "We all worked hard to get here! You can't just send one of us home after everything we've been through!"
"Not fair?" Aizawa repeated mockingly. "Do you think natural disasters and villains will care about what's fair? Life isn't fair, kids. It's a hero's job to combat that unfairness, understand? To become a pro, you will have to push yourselves to the brink.
For the next three years, UA with throw one terrible hardship after another at you, so you will have to go beyond…plus ultra style." Adding another cold smile to his face, Aizawa made a beckoning motion toward them. "Show me it's no mistake you're here."
"I don't approve of this hazing, but UA is the top hero program." Iida thought. "If this is how the school does things, I suppose we should respect it."
"With how he explained it, there's definitely sense to it." Rex admitted to himself. "If they're training us to risk our lives, they can't make room for people that could wind up getting themselves, or others, killed."
"If we're done wasting time, we should get moving," Aizawa ordered. "Let the games begin."
The first test was a fifty-meter dash. Rex watched as the others displayed their Quirks. Some were straightforward, like Iida's Engine Quirk, in his legs, which carried him at speeds comparable to formula-one cars if he got into high enough gear.
Others were less so, but several of them showed ingenuity. Such as a more flamboyant blond boy whose Quirk allowed him to unleash a beam of sparkling energy from his navel. Another was Bakugo, who used his explosive Quirk to enhance his speed by propelling himself.
"Despite my comment, I got to admit that is some Quirk, and he's got the brains to use it." Rex thought.
He watched as Bakugo blazed past Midoriya. The green haired guy apparently didn't have a Quirk that worked well in a running situation since he didn't use it. Eventually, it was his turn against a boy whose elbows shot out strong adhesive tape named Sero.
He used his Quirk in the race to essentially slingshot himself toward the finish line, clearing it in just under six seconds. As for Rex, he built his Rex Ride and sped to the finish line. Just as with Iida, he couldn't speed up well at such a short distance, so he tied his time at 3.04 seconds.
Sero walked up to him. "Hey, that really is a nice Quirk you got."
"You don't have a half bad one yourself." Rex responded. "Gotta say, I've never seen one like it before."
"That's got to be an advantage to both of us." Sero grinned. "I mean, the more unique the Quirk, the more memorable the Hero, right?"
Rex nodded. "True enough."
The next event was the grip-strength test where Rex ended up crushing the device with his smack hands which would be the highest score there considering how much pressure was needed for that. He then noticed Midoriya was looking glum as he stared at his result of 56 kilograms.
Seeing that, Rex approached him. "Hey."
"Y-Yes?" The boy stammered.
"Man, this kid is on edge." Rex shook his head. "Look, I don't mean to pry, but are you feeling alright? You've looked out of sorts since the tests began."
"Oh, uh, well…" The green-haired boy stammered. "I'm just, uh…having trouble controlling my Quirk, is all."
Rex was surprised. He only ever heard from his parents that young children, mainly those who've first manifested their Quirks, had potential problems controlling them. Usually, they got some form of support item to help in that area at least.
"If he doesn't have proper control over his Quirk, how'd he get into UA?" Rex pondered.
"I guess I'm just afraid of what'll happen when I use it." Midoriya added.
A measure of sympathy entered Rex's heart. "I understand that." Midoriya looked at him questioningly. "My Quirk, Evo, is pretty powerful, right?"
"Yeah, I can see how you would have done so well in the entrance exam," Midoriya declared as his eyes shined with admiration.
"Be that as it may, part of my Quirk came in just under one year ago." Rex informed. "Those builds of mine had a tendency to be volatile until I learned more about engineering."
"Well, my Quirk makes me super strong, but I can only use it once before I get knocked out of the fight." Midoriya admitted nervously. "Whichever part of my body I channel my power through breaks, as in broken bones."
"Dang, that sucks." Rex grimaced. "So, you're pretty much counting on one excellent score to carry you out of last place?"
"Yeah." Midoriya admitted.
"Well, have you tried decreasing the amount of power you're putting into each move?" Rex asked.
"Yeah, but so far all that's gotten me is not using it all." His classmate groaned. "I…My quirk didn't show up until last year, actually, and I haven't really had much of a chance to train with it."
"Man, that is rough." Rex grimaced again.
"How do you control your Quirk?" Midoriya suddenly asked him. "I mean, it's probably radically different from how I need to control mine, but it would be helpful to have some kind of reference since I don't really have…"
"Midoriya!" Rex exclaimed, startling the boy. "Sorry, just…Do you want my answer or not?"
"Yes, please." The green-haired boy answered, abashed. "I have a habit of rambling, I guess."
"You guess?" Rex asked dubiously, but before Midoriya could answer, he pressed on. "Never mind. The truth is, If I offered you any advice based on my Quirk, it likely wouldn't help. What I can do is offer you another example that might help. Something you could try."
"I'm willing to try anything at this point." Midoriya stated desperately.
"Okay, you've told me that any one body part you push your power through tends to break." Rex began. "To me, that kind of sounds like your body is one, complicated machine. If all the power is focused on one part over the rest, something breaks.
Taking it a step further, you informed me it's basically all or nothing. Making a machine fire off at max, in one part, is bound to make something burst. When it comes to one machine, every part has its purpose."
By now, the class was back outside in preparation for the standing long jump, and everyone was milling about as they waited for Aizawa to call them.
"I think I get it." Midoriya went wide eyed. "I'm the machine. I've attempted to summon One For All when I need it, to the places I need it. Rather than that, I should summon the power to the part that needs it while imagining all that power spreading throughout my body."
"Well, it sounds about right with how you put it, but I'm not sure how it will ultimately pan out in practice." Rex admitted.
"It's worth a try." Midoriya nodded. "Salazar, thank you."
"Maybe thank me if this actually works." Rex muttered before walking away.
Honestly, he just told Midoriya that because it was all he could come up with after everything prior was shot down. At this point, all Rex could do was hope his advice wouldn't land the guy in the nurse's office.
When it was his turn for the long jump, Rex used his Punk Busters and effortlessly cleared it. He'd ultimately take the high score once more, but first Midoriya had to have his go. As the guy took his place, Rex hoped it'd work out.
Izuku took a deep breath ready to put what he'd learned form speaking with Rex into practice. "Don't flip the switch off." He got into a stance. "Leave the power on the whole time and imagine the energy spreading throughout my body."
Midoriya was clearly concentrating hard. "One For All's power must surge through my whole being, continuously. I can only use three percent right now, but that's better than all or nothing, which leads to broken bones."
"Are you going to jump or take a dump, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked. "We don't have all day."
"Y-Yes!" The poor boy stammered as he straightened. "Er, I mean, no! Uh…"
"Looks like Midoriya will be the one going home." Kirishima stated with a slightly disappointed look.
"Of course, he is!" Bakugo snorted. "He's a Quirkless loser."
"He has a Quirk," Iida protested. "I mean, didn't you hear about what he did during the Mock Battle?"
"Just jump and get it over with." The teacher sighed.
"Yes sir!" Midoriya replied as he took his stance again.
"I really hope I haven't potentially made his problem worse." Rex thought.
"One For All…3%!" Izuku gave a mighty yell as he launched himself forward.
Izuku officially joined those who cleared the fifty meters rather impressively, even as he ended up lying in the dirt and panting from the effort. Midoriya soon got to his feet, wobbling, before turning to Rex and giving him a thumbs up.
Rex would have returned it if the boy's face of triumph hadn't morphed into one of terror. He realized Midoriya was no longer looking at him. Turning slightly, he noticed Bakugo looked as though he was about to have an aneurism.
Then, without warning, he shot forward with explosions lighting up in his right hand. "DEKU, YOU BASTARD! Tell me how you did that, or you're DEAD!"
Midoriya squawked as he held up his hands to shield himself from Bakugo's fiery. Rex prepared to intercept Bakugo, but before he could make a build, a grey fabric shot out and wound itself around Bakugo multiple times. At the same time, his explosions went out.
"What?" Bakugo snarled as he craned his neck to see who had bound him. "Is this…your friggin' scarf!?"
Aizawa was glaring at his student, his eyes glowing crimson while his hair and scarf flowed upward. "This is a capture weapon designed for use on villains. Also, don't bother trying to use your Quirk since I've erased it."
"Wait a sec…I know you!" Midoriya's eyes widened. "You're the pro hero, Eraser Head! Your Quirk lets you suppress the Quirk of anyone you're looking at!"
"Anything else that's blatantly obvious which you feel like adding?" The teacher deadpanned.
"N-No sir," Midoriya stammered as he backed away.
Fixing his attention back on his explosive student, the teacher said, "I expect better of my students than starting fights, Bakugo. This will be the last time I have to use my Quirk on you, unless you want to suffer some serious consequences."
Without bothering to wait for an acknowledgement from the boy, Aizawa released the tension on his scarf and stopped using his Quirk.
"Come on now." Aizawa turned to the others. "We don't have all day."
With that, he started to wade through his students. Bakugo turned to follow, but not once did his eyes leave the ground. From there, the rest of the tests passed without incident. Izuku kept his Quirk at 3% getting great results in the remaining tests. Of course, it all ended in the ball throw.
There, Rex finally lost the top spot to Uraraka who got infinity. The guy wasn't mad though since you couldn't be the best at everything, and being the best at 6 of the 8 tests was enough. Soon, the scores were tallied, and the class was shown their ranking.
Rex Salazar 1st
Momo Yaoyorozu 2nd
Shoto Todoroki 3rd
Katsuki Bakugo 4th
Tenya Ida 5th
Fumikage Tokoyami 6th
Mezo Shoji 7th
Mashirao Ojiro 8th
Eijiro Kirishima 9th
Mina Ashido 10th
Ochaco Uraraka 11th
Izuku Midoriya 12th
Koji Koda 13th
Rikido Sato 14th
Tsuyu Asui 15th
Yuga Aoyama 16th
Hanta Sero 17th
Denki Kaminari 18th
Kyoka Jiro 19th
Toru Hagakure 20th
Rex saw he had taken the top spot, just ahead of a girl named Momo Yaoyorozu. She had apparently gotten in on recommendation, so he felt quite proud of that. He saw that Mina had taken 10th while Denki had 18th. One seemed satisfied while the other was a touch disappointed.
Rex was pleased Midoriya had obtained 12th, and he knew the boy likely would have placed higher had the pair talked sooner. Unfortunately, someone had to come in last place, and it turned out to be a girl named Toru Hagakure.
Her Quirk was heteromorphic in nature, which basically meant that it didn't turn off. The only issue was that unlike the boy with six arms who could spawn different body parts on the ends of them, her Quirk simply rendered her invisible.
She had no edge over the others when it came to running fast or jumping high, which meant she performed at the level of an average athlete from their age group. In a class full of people like Rex and Bakugo, she never stood a chance. The poor girl was bawling her eyes out.
"Toru Hagakure, follow me to Nezu's office where your expulsion from Class 1-A will be made official." Aizawa began walking with a still bawling Toru following. "As for the rest, we're done today. Pick up a syllabus from the classroom and read it over before tomorrow morning."
"He was…serious about expulsion." Momo put a hand over her mouth as she couldn't believe it. "I had reasoned it was a rational deception to ensure we gave our best."
"Man, I feel sorry for her." Denki commented genuinely.
"Yeah, Toru was crushed." Mina agreed.
Many among them shared that view point.
"If I hadn't figured out how I could use One For All, I likely would have come last." Izuku realized. "If that happened, I'd have been expelled instead!"
This was a stark wake up call to all 19 of them and something they'd remember moving forward.
UA
Toru couldn't believe she'd come all this way just to stumble at what became the final hurdle. She'd done her best in every test, but that hadn't been good enough when up against the potential of her classmates. While she had stopped crying, the poor girl was still devastated.
Aizawa let the girl stew in her thoughts, not saying a word, as he led her to Nezu's office. Thinking over what happened was crucial in the process. Upon arriving, he knocked prompting a well-mannered voice to speak from the other side.
"Oh, come in." The voice stated, so Aizawa opened the door revealing a small, humanoid animal sitting behind the desk. "Ah Shota, I assume by you being here that you have students who did not meet your standards this year?"
"Just the one, Toru Hagakure." Aizawa informed. "The other nineteen have potential."
"Oh my, I'd say that's an improvement over last year's entire class." Nezu pointed to a nearby, stapled packet. "Well, Vlad King sent in the results of his class' assessment. Given you only need one, it shouldn't take long."
Aizawa took the packet. "I'll have my student picked within the hour and will have made the necessary calls."
With his piece said, the teacher began to leave but not before glancing in Toru's direction. He merely closed his eyes for a moment and opened them before taking his leave.
"Uhm…so." Toru cleared her throat and sniffled a little. "You're Principal Nezu?"
"That's me." Nezu declared happily. "The one who could be a mouse, a dog, or a bear; however, the only important thing is…I'm the principal!" He nodded. "As a principal, I must ask what course you wish to enter if any?"
"I-I'm sorry." Toru was confused. "Didn't Mr. Aizawa expel me?"
"Oh yes, he expelled you from his class, but you earned your way into the school." Nezu declared. "That is something Shota cannot strip you of. It merely means that by the methods in which he teaches, we must find a new course for you to enter.
Shota is now going to choose a student from Class 1-B, so there will be a vacancy there. Unlike Shota, Vlad King's methods are not to expel in this manner. Of course, you could enter General Studies in hopes of potentially reentering Class 1-A.
Support and business are also both available avenues, but I'm not too certain how you would fair there. Conversely, you are well within your rights to decide this has been enough and leave UA, weather that be to another academy or simply feeling as though you are done with it all."
"I can choose any path forward that I wish?" Toru asked.
"Well, immediate reentry into Class 1-A is off the table I'm afraid, but that is the right I extended to Shota." Nezu nodded. "While certainly harsh, his methods have turned out excellent heroes. So dear girl, what would you like to do?"
"Uhm…well, i-is Vlad King…" Toru began but was uncertain what to say.
Now that she knew it wasn't true expulsion from UA, Toru realized she'd learned an important lesson. It was currently, potentially, her only lesson she'd ever receive from him. Still, even knowing that, it had hurt to be put through this.
"Shota's methods are harsh, so it is understandable you'd feel as you do against him." Nezu offered her a kind smile. "I can tell you he truly cares. As for what I believe you were going to ask, aside form the fact he does not expel as Shota has, Vlad King is certainly a softer teacher."
"Then, I still want to be a hero." Toru declared. "I would like to take the vacancy in Class 1-B."
"Then, it is settled." Nezu declared happily.
Class 1-A
Upon returning to the classroom, certain students were quick to get their syllabus and leave. Whether it be today's events, their personalities, and/or some other third reason, it was understandable that not everyone would want to stick around.
Tenya, Izuku, and Ochaco ended up leaving together while Shoto, Bakugo, Fumikage, Koji, Mezo, and Yuga left separately. This left Rex, Mina, Tsu, Mashirao, Denki, Eijiro, Rikido, Kyoka, Hanta, and Momo in the classroom.
Not wanting to leave the day off on such a sour note, Mina organized the remaining people still milling about and suddenly declared they were all heading to the arcade. This got everyone looking at one another.
"Well, we don't have much homework this afternoon." Sero stated halfheartedly.
"Alright everyone, none of that." Rex decided he might as well pitch in a bit of good cheer. "Look, it's sad what happened, but as future heroes we can't wallow in it. Just as Aizawa said, we got to combat the unfairness, so let's combat these negative emotions with a fun time."
"Yeah, Rex is right." Denki joined in now. "Toru got a raw deal, that stings, but the rest of us are here. Besides, who wants to end the day on such a sucky note when we can end it the right way?"
Their words seemed to reach those who remained improving their moods "All right!"
Arcade
The group headed out to the local arcade, and they were led by Mina and Kirishima who were positively bursting with excitement. Once they reached the arcade, Momo surprised her classmates by paying for quite the number of tokens per person.
"I just want our first outing to memorable." Momo declared when asked it was alright to drop that much cash on them. "It's important for us to have positive experiences whenever possible."
At that point, none of them were going to protest saving a few bucks. In the spirit of this being a group outing, it was decided the first two hours would see the group split into at least two people and at most three. After the first hour, the groups would change.
In the third hour, everyone would come together, which seemed fair to everyone. In the first hour, Rex was with Mina and Denki, Tsu went with Mashirao, Eijiro was with Rikido and Hanta, and Kyoka went with Momo.
In the second hour, Rex was with Eijiro and Mashirao, Denki went with Rikido and Hanta, Mina was with Momo, and Tsu was with Kyoka. In the final hour, as agreed, everyone came back together. Between them all, the whole group played every game in the whole place.
Ski ball, claw machines, basketball, racing game, and many more. As time wore on, everyone had their moods drastically improved from what happened. Eventually, all good things must come to an end as people must return home. Still, it was a great note to end the day on.
We like to think of Full Cowling as some grand achievement, and in some respects, we'd be right; however, all it really took to acquire was the right metaphor. Sure, Midoriya was injured along the road to acquire it, but if you go back to the very episode he acquired it, it was merely by equating himself to that frozen desert and by chance happening to cook it wrong. If anyone/thing came by with a decent enough explanation or idea, Midoriya could have easily discovered it earlier.
As for how I settled on 3%, this is earlier in the timeline, so going a full 5% right now didn't sit right. Moving onto Toru Hagakure's 'expulsion'. In the manga, it was revealed that the class Aizawa 'expelled' the year prior were reenrolled under a different homeroom teacher. Here, the same happened to Toru, and I feel Class 1-A would need a 20th classmate leading to someone from Class 1-B moving up. Essentially, at the end of the day, Toru simply trades classes with a 1-B student.
Why I decided to 'expel' Toru is simple. In canon, Aizawa was all in on expelling Izuku until he showed potential at the end. Here, the curve of potential rose due to Izuku doing better and Rex being a member of the class. Izuku couldn't come in last due to his results, and in case you haven't noticed, Mineta isn't here. Nothing else changed meaning Toru would come in 20th here considering she was 18th in canon. To simplify it, Toru came 18th in canon, Mineta was 19th, and Izuku was 20th.
If Izuku does better, that shifts members of the list down. If Mineta isn't even here, and the guy who takes his place in class does better, that shifts the list down. You take these two factors into consideration, along with the fact that the potential curve of the class was changed, someone was getting 'expelled' here in my opinion. Beyond even that, I have read far too many fanfictions where almost nothing changes, at this point, save for the person included in the story is ranked within the list.
Even if you cannot agree with what I did, both for Izuku and to Toru, for all the reasons stated above, can you at least lest me cook for the sake of variety? Oh, Rex's scores. Ain't no way the Slam Canon was getting an infinity, and we already know from Tenya that getting to your top speed isn't happening at the 50m dash. I think it's understandable Rex would lose one test to infinity, and tie speeds with Tenya in another. In the end, he still gets rank 1.
Maximum Rhapsody: Maybe I'll do something in one of the movies, but a full on nanite event that drastically shifts the story like that is off the table. As for Hunter Cain, I already know where that guy will appear. Tuck, Skwyd, and Cricket are not exempt from appearing. Six in my story is already confirmed to be the sixth ranked hero. In the first chapter, I confirmed he basically founded the Providence Hero Agency.
There is more to that, but you got to wait until internships to learn about it. Since we see no one else from the top 10 teaching at UA, Six will not appear to teach there. A special appearance later is in the cards, but if I were going to make him a teacher, he'd have taken over Aizawa's postion as 1-A's homeroom teacher. Given that didn't happen, he's not at UA.
Arturwho: Thank you.
Guest: Thank you, and I'll keep it in mind; however, do remember that Rex here is under the umbrella of the MHA universe by proxy being born here rather than simply plucked from his universe. Clearly, that's not to say he isn't strong. He clearly is, but do keep this in mind should he not be as strong, right out the gate, as you'd expect.