UA (Day)

Since Tsukauchi was currently with Eri shopping for new clothes, Dominic was forced to use the public transit system to get to his new school. Stepping out of the vehicle, the blonde once again gazed up at the massive building. He wasn't the only one either, several other students were awestruck. Though, considering the time limit, he couldn't remain still for too long. He looked at his phone to check which class he had. '1-A, huh? Looks like I'm supposed to go to the first floor.' Entering the school, he moved across the various halls until he located his classroom. The door was absolutely gigantic, like it was meant for a full-grown Giant. 'I guess there are some Quirks that affect people's size. Gonna have to be careful if anyone like that becomes an enemy.'

Just before touching the door, the boy heard a familiar voice. "Xiao-Long?" Turning to his left, Dominic saw Jiro running up to him. "So, you're in 1-A too?" she asked.

"Yep. Gotta say, I'm excited to see what kind of Quirks our classmates have." the blonde said, smiling in anticipation. Opening the door, he was immediately met with a boy with red eyes and ash-blonde hair. Taking notice of him, the boy approached Dominic. "Please get out of my face, your breath is horrendous."

"How did you do it?" the boy asked, completely disregarding the insult.

"Uh, do what?" Dominic asked, taking a step back.

"How the hell did you beat me in the entrance exam!?" the boy shouted, making Jiro cover her ears.

"I think the more important question is: Does your handler know you escaped the zoo?" Dominic taunted, smiling as he sat down at the desk he was assigned. In doing so, he instantly fell asleep. Angered, his latest victim started shaking his desk, getting the attention of yet another familiar face.

"It's the first day and you're already disrespecting this academy by scuffing school property, you cretin!" This came from the same bluenette that told Dominic off during the entrance exam. "Don't you think it's rude to the UA upperclassmen and the people who made the desk?"

"Nah. What junior high did you go to, extra?" the boy responded, going to an empty desk to sit down.

"I attended Somei Private Academy. My name is Iida Tenya." the bluenette answered, holding a hand to his chest.

"Somei, eh? So, you're a damn elite. I'll have fun crushing you." the boy said, grinning.

"Crushing!? Do you truly aim to be a hero?" Iida asked, stopping once he noticed someone in the open doorway. A boy with green eyes and bushy green hair. Walking toward him, Iida introduced himself. "Good morning. I am from Somei Private Academy. My name is-"

"I heard!" the greenette interrupted. "I'm Midoriya. Nice to meet you, Iida."

"Midoriya, you realized there was something more to the Practical Exam, didn't you?" Iida asked, confusing Midoriya. Though neither of them saw, Dominic's eye slightly opened. "I had no idea. I misjudged you. I hate to admit it, but you are better than me."

"Sorry. I actually didn't realize anything." Midoriya said. At that, Dominic's eye closed again.

"Oh, that curly hair! You're the plain looking one!" a cheerful voice exclaimed from behind Midoriya. It was a girl with medium-length brown hair and small pads on her fingertips. "You passed, just like Present Mic said! Well, of course you did. That punch was just amazing!"

"Oh, well, it was thanks to you going to speak with him directly that I, uh-" Midoriya said, tripping over his own words.

"Huh? How did you know about that?" the girl asked.

"Oh, uh, that's because-" Midoriya stuttered.

"Go somewhere else if you want to play at being friends." a new voice said. Looking to the door, all the students barring Dominic saw a man lying on the floor in a yellow sleeping bag. "This is the Hero Course." the man said as he got out of the sleeping bag and stood up. "Okay, it took 8 seconds before you were quiet. Time is limited. You kids aren't rational enough. I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota. Nice to meet you." Reaching into his sleeping bag, he retrieved a blue and white uniform. "I know it's sudden but put this on and go out to the field."

'I think this is proof that the universe hates me.' Dominic mentally deadpanned. What were the odds that the man that arrested him would be his teacher?

UA (Day)

Aizawa led the class to a large field behind the school. Everyone had changed out of their school uniforms, wearing the gym uniform instead.

"A Quirk assessment test?" everyone asked, surprised.

"But, what about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?" the brown-haired girl asked, having been anxious to attend.

"If you're going to become a hero, you don't have time for such leisurely events." Aizawa answered, disappointing several of the students. "UA's selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are. That's also how the teachers run their classes. You kids have been doing these since junior high, right? Physical fitness tests where you aren't allowed to use your Quirk." Aizawa asked, making Dominic remember his time at Signal. While there were fitness tests there, they seemed centered around the kids using their powers, not restricting their use of them. "The country still uses averages taken from results from students not using their Quirks. It's not rational. Well, the Ministry of Education is procrastinating." the man said, turning to Dominic. "Xiao-Long, you finished at the top of the Entrance Exam, right?" he asked the blonde.

"Last I checked, yes. Why?" Dominic responded, confused.

"In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?" the teacher asked.

"Around 50 meters, maybe 53." the Trainer answered, still unaware of what Aizawa wanted.

"I want you to throw this one with your Quirk." the man said, holding a purple and white softball. He guided Dominic to a white circle drawn in the ground, then tossed the ball to him. "You can do whatever you want as long as you don't leave the circle. Give it all you have."

"Okay then." Dominic said calmly, getting into a throwing position. Once he was ready, the ball caught fire. And while only he could see it, a faint red glow enveloped the ball less than a second after it was thrown, along with the sound of a clock ticking incredibly fast. The ball ended up flying over 6400 meters before descending. When it was all over, Dominic was breathing heavily. 'This was a good experiment. Apparently, the further away I am from an object L.I.A.H. affects, no matter how small it is, the more exhausted I become.'

"Woah! That was incredible!" one of his classmates, a boy with dyed red hair, exclaimed.

"Know your maximum first. That is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero." Aizawa said.

"So, we can use our Quirks as much as we like! As expected from the Hero Course!" a black-haired boy with large elbows said, excited.

"So, you think this is fun, huh?" Aizawa asked, getting everyone's attention. "You have three years to become heroes. Will you have an attitude like that the entire time? Okay, whoever comes in last place in all eight tests will be expelled." This simple proclamation managed to scare the living sheep out of everyone. "We're free to do what we want about the circumstances of our students. This is UA's Hero Course!"

'So, I have to take a physical exam on the first day of school. Yeah, that tracks.' Dominic deadpanned to himself.

"Last place will be expelled? But it's the first day of school!" the brown-haired girl said. "No, even if it wasn't the first day, it's still too unfair!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but life isn't fair." Dominic said, directing everyone's attention to him. "It's the entire reason heroes exist in the first place, to rectify the misfortune that life gives everyday people." He knew this from experience.

"Xiao-Long is right. For the next three years, UA will do all it can to give you one hardship after another. It's your job to overcome them." Aizawa said.

TEST 1: 50-Meter Dash

Dominic was one of the first students selected to run. His opponent was Iida. He hadn't noticed before, but the stuck-up bluenette had engines in his legs. 'Not too hard to figure out what you can do. Thankfully, I have my own ways of increasing my speed.' the blonde thought as he and Iida crouched into a sprinter's stance.

At the end of the track was a robot that looked like a cross between a tripod and a camera. "Runners, on your mark! Ready?" the robot said. The sound of a gun firing sounded, prompting Iida and Dominic to start running. Almost a millisecond after he began moving, the blonde curled into a perfect sphere and sped like a bullet towards the finish line. "0.00 seconds!" the robot announced as Dominic suddenly appeared at the end of the track, with the bottoms of his shoes ignited, as well as the part of the track he was rolling on.

"You may want to put that out before the next person goes up." the blonde joked as he sat down at a bench, the flames on his shoes going away.

"How the hell did he get zero seconds!?" a purple-haired boy asked.

"The timer only records up to the nearest hundredth of a second. Xiao-Long managed to pass it in under 0.0005 seconds, or Mach 30." Aizawa explained, surprising everyone.

'Unfortunately, that speed is useless in my hands. The only reason I didn't pass out after using it here was because it was a short dash, and not a marathon.' the blonde said to himself. 'I need to make myself stronger.'

TEST 2: Grip Strength

Dominic looked closely at the device he was supposed to use. 'The odds of something as flimsy as this being able to withstand my full strength is...none.' he told himself as he started squeezing. To the machine's credit, it did manage to not break for an entire minute. 'Aura is a powerful thing.'

TEST 3: Standing Long Jump

This particular test seemed to be made specifically to suit Dominic's powers. You see, you're supposed to jump from one side of the sandbox to another. Depending on how far you make it without touching the ground, your score will change. Dominic had the ability to manipulate minerals, which meant that as long as he used the sand to keep himself in the air, there was no possible way for him to fail.

After he finished, he saw Midoriya try and fail to clear even a single meter. 'Actually, I don't think he's used his Quirk at all yet.' Dominic realized, wondering why the greenette would hold back when he could potentially be expelled.

TEST 4: Repeated Side Steps

Again, Dominic's control over the Earth Element helped him in this test. By creating tar bubbles on the ground to the left and right of him, he could bounce from side to side for an indefinite amount of time. Another kid seemed to like the idea and copied it with his own Quirk.

TEST 5: Ball Throw

Dominic was astonished when his score was beaten. The brown-haired girl managed to use her Quirk on the ball, sending it into space. As such, her score was infinite. 'I knew I should've aimed up.' he told himself.

Up next was Midoriya. He took the ball into his hands, muttering to himself. When he calmed down, he got ready to throw. As his arm moved to launch the ball, his arm started emitting green lightning as his veins glowed crimson. But right as the ball was released, the energy came to a dead halt and the ball only traveled a pathetic 46 meters.

"I erased your impractical Quirk." Aizawa said, his hair standing on end and his eyes glowing red. "The judges for this exam were not rational enough. Someone like you should have never been enrolled in the first place."

"What did you do to my- Wait, I know you!" Midoriya exclaimed. "You can cancel out someone's powers by looking at them. The Erasure Hero: Eraserhead!"

"You're not ready. You don't have any control over your power." Aizawa said. "Were you planning on breaking yourself again? Counting on someone else to save your useless body?"

'So, it's a Quirk that damages him.' Dominic realized. It wouldn't be the first time he came across an ability that harmed its host.

"No, that's not what I was trying to do!" Midoriya said, trying to defend himself. As he tried to plead, the scarf around Aizawa's neck stretched out and wrapped around the boy.

"No matter what your intentions are, you'd be nothing but a liability in the field. As a matter of fact, you have the same reckless passion as another hero I know." Aizawa said. "I'm sorry, but with the power you have, you can't become a hero." After saying that, Midoriya was released from the scarf's grip. "I returned your impractical Quirk. Get it over with and throw the ball."

Dejected, Midoriya returned to the circle. Dominic considered helping with Royal Blessing, but decided against it. Midoriya needed to do this on his own. The boy said something under his breath and prepared to throw again. This time though, the lightning was limited to his pointer finger. The ball rocketed from his hand like a cannon, shooting through the sky until the sound barrier shattered. 'Nice work, kid.' Dominic thought, curious if Midoriya's power could surpass his own.

UA (Day)

The rest of the tests went by fairly quickly. The Seated Toe Touch and Sit-Ups were both easy for Dominic, as his body didn't follow the normal rules of biology and could contort in any way he wanted. The Long-Distance Run was a different story. While he was able to roll a respectable distance, his stamina was only enough for him to get halfway through the track before he collapsed from overexertion.

Before long, the group was standing in front of Aizawa, who was about to reveal the scores. "Alright, time to give out the results. You've all been ranked from best to worst. You all probably have a good idea of your standing already. I'll just pull up the entire list. It's not worth it to give them all individually." Aizawa said, displaying a holographic screen. Unsurprisingly, Dominic came out on top thanks to his skill in each event. Unfortunately, Midoriya came in last place. "Oh, and I was lying. Nobody's going home today."

'Wait, what?' Dominic was positive that Aizawa was telling the truth when he said he would expel the worst student, his heartbeat and body temperature when he did were proof of this. For him to claim the opposite now could only mean one thing.

He saw potential in Midoriya too.

L.I.A.H

A unique power that only Dominic possesses. Not much is known about it, but it appears to involve speed.