My Hero Academia: Lion of Courage
Chapter 6: Classes 1-A and 1-B
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia. All rights go to Kohei Horikoshi.
Author's Note: Thanks for being patient while I took a long break from the fanfic. As you've probably noticed, I've taken down the MRRN Series. If you enjoyed it, thank you. I hope you continue to enjoy this series.
Also, I decided to change Takeo's Quirk from Arsenal to something else called Inventory. And Night Slash's name is now Nightshade. I've already made the changes for those who haven't read the first few chapters. Along with that, I've made some other slight changes, so I'd suggest going back and reading when you have a chance.
The stakes were set. All 24 students of Class 1-A had to compete in seven Quirk Apprehension Tests to prove that they deserved to be here at U.A.'s Hero Course. If Aizawa felt that any of them weren't up to his standards, they'd be expelled before they could even start. From where they were standing, the first test seemed to be a ball pitch of sorts.
"Bakugo," Aizawa addressed. "You were 1st in the Entrance Exam. How far was your furthest throw in middle school?"
"About 64 meters," Bakugo answered. Aizawa picked up a ball and handed it to Bakugo.
"Let's see how far it goes using your Quirk," he spoke before turning to the class.
"During these Quirk assessments, you are free to use your Quirks however you'd like. But you cannot use them to harm your classmates. You're familiar with the concept of ACS, correct?"
"ACS?" one of the students asked, a blonde guy with a black lightning streak in his hair.
"Authorized Combat Session," Momo answered. "Many schools throughout the world have these. These are times when students are allowed to use their Quirks in a combat-based fashion, which often involves injury."
"Exactly," Aizawa answered.
It wasn't surprised that U.A. had the ACS Concept since it trained Pro Heroes. The Entrance Exam was an example of one: everyone could use their Quirks however they saw fit for combat against the robots. This would also extend to when students faced each other in combat as well and it was the only time students could actively harm each other with their Quirks.
"So understand: if any of you use your Quirks to physically harm someone outside of an ACS, there will be consequences depending on the severity of the situation." He then turned back to Bakugo.
"Go ahead when you're ready."
Bakugo stepped up and swung his arm several times before putting a rather sadistic smirk on his face. When he was ready, he shouted "DIE!" and threw the ball with an explosion, causing it to soar into the sky and landed very far from his position. He then crossed his arms with an arrogant smirk as everyone was amazed at the use of his Quirk.
Aizawa held up his phone and showed the number 727, much to everyone's surprise. Bakugo then returned to the group.
"Raionhato," Aizawa addressed. "You were 2nd Place in the Entrance Exam. How far was your furthest throw in middle school?"
"About 53 meters," he answered. Aizawa picked up a ball and tossed it to Takeo.
"You're next." Takeo walked up to the plate and summoned his concussion gauntlet, which he decided was the best weapon for the pitch. He held the ball firmly for several seconds, allowing the energy in the gauntlet to build up before he finally threw it, unleashing a powerful blast of wind and sending it far into the distance. Takeo watched it as it soared through the air, hoping it'd land further than Bakugo. To his dismay, it landed short of where Bakugo's ball did.
"How far was that?" Takeo asked his teacher. Aizawa held up his phone, showing 698 meters.
Takeo, feeling satisfied with himself, despite not beating Bakugo, returned to the crowd of students where he stood next to Nagami Kiyama.
"What wasssss that?" she asked.
"A concussion gauntlet," Takeo answered. "A friend of mine developed it for me."
Aizawa then called to the green-haired boy, Izuku Midoriya, to come up next. As he walked up to the pitching area, he was gazed fiercely upon by Bakugo.
Bakugo was still at a loss; how did a Quirkless failure like Deku get into U.A.? He heard from some of his classmates that he was able to punch the giant robot single-handed during the Entrance Exam. Perhaps Deku promised them something in return if they said that, but having known Deku ever since they were kids, he felt he had nothing to offer.
Did Deku actually have a Quirk and he hid it this entire time or was he truly Quirkless? Whatever it was, Bakugo was determined to figure out how Deku got into U.A. and then make sure he was expelled in the most humiliating way possible. It was a punishment Deku deserved for trying to be something he could never be.
"Ssssso, what do you think?" Nagami asked Takeo.
"About the tests?" Takeo asked. "A bit harsh, but…" Nagami smirked and gestured to the beautiful black-haired girl behind Takeo, Momo Yaoyorozu. He looked for a moment at her, quickly turning before she could catch him looking, and then back at Nagami. She was still smirking teasingly.
"Come on, I ssssssaw the way you blussssshed at her," she teased.
Takeo thought back to the classroom when he first spoke to her. The moment he saw her, he immediately blushed and his words fell short. He couldn't deny how beautiful and elegant she was.
"No," he chuckled. "She's…she's clearly out of my league."
"You never know," Nagami suggested. "Who knowsssss, maybe by the end of the year, sssssshe'll want you all to hersssssself. I mean, come on: you're ssssskilled, you're good-looking-"
"I erased your Quirk," Aizawa spoke to Midoriya, gaining everyone's attention. His long, unkempt hair was standing on its ends and his long, gray scarf was floating in the area. Having been distracted, Takeo didn't know why their teacher erased Midoriya's Quirk.
"I knew this would be a problem," Iida spoke.
"What do you mean?" Yukine asked Iida as Aizawa used his scarf to bind Midoriya.
"I was in the same Battle Center as he was during the Exam," Iida informed. "When he used his Quirk to destroy that giant robot, his arm and legs appeared devastated, so much so that he couldn't even move. Perhaps Mr. Aizawa caught him overusing his Quirk and stopped him."
"What Quirk?" Bakugo questioned rudely.
"You could stand to say 'please'," Yukine told him.
"Shut up!" Bakugo barked at her before turning his attention back to Iida.
Again, Bakugo questioned Iida about Midoriya's Quirk, but withheld the knowledge of him being Quirkless. Iida said what he said before: during the Exam, when the giant robot appeared, Midoriya leapt into the air and used his Quirk to take it down in one punch. Unfortunately, it had led to his arm and both his legs being crippled and needing to be healed by Recovery Girl.
"What did he promise you?" Bakugo asked, much to Iida's confusion.
"What are you talking about? You asked me about his Quirk-"
"What did he bribe you with?! Did he promise to pay you or something!?"
"Bakugo!" Aizawa addressed, having deactivated his Quirk and let Midoriya go. "Is there a problem?"
Bakugo was about to speak, but realized that Aizawa was allowing Deku to go through with the pitching exercise. If Iida had indeed been bribed somehow and Deku was actually Quirkless, then now was the opportunity for him to be humiliated. But if he did actually have a Quirk, then now would be his chance to see it.
"No," Bakugo responded reluctantly.
"Then keep your tone down," his teacher demanded.
"What's his problem?" Takeo wondered as he glared with disdain towards Bakugo. "Is he always so disrespectful?"
"Don't be too quick to pass judgment," Ojiro insisted to Takeo. "It's only the first day."
WHOOSH!
Everyone looked over to Midoriya, who had just thrown his ball sky-high and out of sight. However, his right index finger looked badly bruised, almost as if it had been mercilessly beaten. That didn't stop him from smiling, though it was clear he was in great pain.
"Whoa," Takeo gasped. "That's some Quirk."
"But he clearly overused it," Yaoyorozu pointed out, gesturing to Midoriya's broken finger. "It appears as though he struggles with controlling how much power he lets out and when it's overused, he injures himself."
"That's a good point," Takeo agreed. "I could see why Mr. Aizawa stopped his first throw. That's very deductive of you, Yaoyorozu."
"Oh, thank you," she responded with a smile. Nagami bumped Takeo with her snake tail and smirked, looking at him and then at Yaoyorozu several times.
Bakugo's mind went blank, his face full of shock. How was Midoriya able to throw the ball with such power?
The Explosion Quirk user wanted to see Midoriya hopelessly fail, showing everyone that he was Quirkless and had no place in the Hero Course. He wanted to be proven right that everyone saying what they did about Deku taking out the giant robot was just a lie that they had been bribed to say.
But now that was out the window; it was Bakugo who had been proven wrong, whose selfish desire to see Deku humiliated destroyed.
"How is this possible!?" Bakugo wondered mentally. "How!? He's Quirkless! He's a failure!" Bakugo's shocked expression quickly changed to rage he didn't bother to contain. He had to know the truth. He had to know if Midoriya had been hiding his Quirk from him this whole time, making him look like a fool.
"He always looked down on me. But this…this is low." He then roared as he ran forward "DEKU!" As he charged forward, an angry expression on his face, he shouted "You bastard! Tell me the truth or I'll kill you!"
"What the-?" Takeo gasped as Bakugo charged angrily towards Midoriya. Before Bakugo could reach his enemy, he was stopped by Aizawa's scarf. The Explosion Quirk user tried to get free, but the binds were too strong for him to break through.
"Why…why the hell is your damn scarf…so strong?" he growled angrily.
"It's a capture weapon made out of carbon fibers and special materials," Aizawa answered. Bakugo kept trying to break free, presumably to attack Midoriya, but Aizawa refused.
"Stand down," he demanded. "I don't know why you lunged at Midoriya like that, but clearly you weren't listening earlier. This isn't an Authorized Combat Session, these are Quirk Assessment Tests."
Bakugo growled deeply as he wanted to get answers out of Midoriya. He wanted to know how he had suddenly got such a strong Quirk when he had been Quirkless his entire life.
But as Aizawa pointed out, this was a Quirk Assessment Test, not an Authorized Combat Session. If Bakugo used his Quirk to injure Midoriya, he'd face the possibility of expulsion. He'd have to wait until later to get answers out of him and find out the truth. Reluctantly, Bakugo stood down and Aizawa retracted his scarf.
"What was that all about?" Takeo wondered in shock. "I mean, Bakugo was just going to straight up attack him."
Takeo was shocked by Bakugo's sudden violent outburst. What did Midoriya do to deserve such a reaction from the violent degenerate? Was Bakugo jealous that Midoriya's Quirk was potentially stronger than his? Whatever the reason was, it didn't justify lashing out in such a violent way.
All it did was reinforce Takeo's already existing disdain for Bakugo. He was arrogant, rude, selfish, and clearly had poor control over his violent tendencies. All Takeo could do was keep wondering how U.A. could've allowed such a person into the Hero Course.
"Raionhato, you alright?" Ojiro asked.
"Huh?" he responded, unaware that his face had been twisted with contempt and disgust. Upon seeing Ojiro, Raionhato's expression softened.
"I'm fine. I just…seeing Bakugo lash out like that…"
After sending Midoriya to Recovery Girl's officer to heal his injured finger, Aizawa called up the same black-haired, blue-eyed girl from the Entrance Exam, the one Takeo had met during the Orientation. She held her form gracefully and calmly as she prepared to use her Quirk.
Suddenly, the area around her started to swirl like a whirlwind…and snow started to surround her. It looked amazing as the snow continued to grow thicker and swirl around her. Then she focused some of it on her right arm, where she held the ball and prepared to throw it. Just as she threw it into the air, she used the wind from her power to make it fly further.
To everyone's surprise, especially Bakugo's, her ball landed further than both Raionhato and Bakugo. Aizawa showed her score of 847 meters, greatly surpassing Bakugo's 727 and Raionhato's 698.
"Whoa," Ojiro gasped. "Her ball went further than both yours and Bakugo's."
"Yeah," Takeo responded. "Hold on…I remember her. She was at our Battle Center."
"Indeed, I was," she replied before addressing the whole class. "Oh, shit. I guess I haven't introduced myself: I'm Yukine."
"What was that Quirk!?" Bakugo demanded to know. "How the hell did you get it further than mine?" Takeo groaned in disgust and shook his head.
Yukine replied that her Quirk was Snowstorm, which allowed her to convert the moisture in the air into snow she could manipulate. It was clearly very strong and Yukine had learned to use it well by creating cold winds to propel the ball further than both Bakugo and Raionhato's balls.
The rest of the class continued with the pitch throws, some throwing very well, others not so much. When they were done, Aizawa started the next test.
"But Mr. Aizawa, Deku's not back yet," Uraraka spoke up. "Shouldn't we wait for him?"
"No," Aizawa responded. "He can do them when he comes back. Now get ready."
Aizawa wouldn't say, but after having seen Midoriya in the Entrance Exam and during the pitch recently, he definitely had his doubts. Midoriya's Quirk was strong, but it was clear that he had trouble controlling it. The lack of control of how much power he used kept leading to his body getting injured, which would make him a liability in the field. Others wouldn't have time to pick him up or heal his injuries.
Honestly, Aizawa expected to expel Midoriya from the Hero Course unless he could prove he could use his Quirk in a way that wasn't self-destructive. As cruel as it could be, it was necessary. Heroes couldn't be liabilities when in battle; it was as simple as that.
"That was shorter than I thought it'd be," Tetsutetsu spoke as Class 1-B left orientation to go back to their homeroom. "I wonder why Class 1-A wasn't there."
"Maybe Eraser Head expelled them already," Monoma, a young man with blond hair and blue eyes. Kaze raised an eyebrow, wondering what Monoma meant. It was only the first day and yet they'd already be expelled?
"Hold on," Onkyo spoke. "Expelling students on the first day? That's harsh, don't you think?"
"Then you forgot some of the rules of the Hero Course," Chikao replied. "Hero Course teachers can technically do with their students whatever they see fit within the moral principles of U.A. And Eraser Head, who is also an underground hero, is notorious for expelling students, even whole classes of them."
"Whole classes?" Onkyo gasped. "Dude, that's way too harsh. I'm glad I'm not in his class then; I'd hate for him to expel me without him realizing how great I am."
Kaze deduced that Takeo was in Class 1-A since he saw that he had scored 2nd Place in the Entrance Exam, surpassed only by a Katsuki Bakugo. He couldn't help but feel disdain at knowing that he had made it into the Hero Course when he believed he didn't deserve to be here. For very personal reasons, Kaze was filled with hatred and contempt towards the young man who as formerly his friend.
When Class 1-B got back to their classroom, they sat down in their designated seats and their teacher, Sekijiro Ken, or Vlad King, stood at the front of the room and crossed his arms.
"First off, welcome to U.A.'s Hero Course," he started. "As for I'm addressed, I prefer to be called Vlad Sensei, so there's no confusion in the future. Before we start, I wish to go over several things, important things, so I want-"
Snoring was heard from Chikao of Desk 7. Kaze quickly Shadow Flashed and shook Chikao's soldier, waking him up. Vlad Sensei glared at the brown-haired man who had just interrupted the class.
"I don't think you heard me, Kato," Vlad Sensei sternly reprimanded.
"First, Vlad Sensei, I'd prefer to be called Chikao," the student replied. "Second, you were about to go over how the teachers of the Hero Course run their classes and such, correct?"
Everyone was dead silent, including Vlad Sensei, at Chikao's accurate deduction. How did he know that when he was presumably asleep when Vlad Sensei started talking?
"Are you a mind reader?" Tetsutetsu asked curiously. Chikao groaned.
"No, it's called Hyper Analysis."
Chikao's Quirk, Hyper Analysis, allowed him to process information on a superhuman level and then make highly accurate predictions. It could be used on anything or anyone he saw fit and could determine how much information his Quirk would process, but using his Quirk too much would lead to him suffering headaches depending on how much energy he used. They could be enough just to be a nuisance or debilitate him for a whole day.
"I don't see how that would've helped you in the Entrance Exam unless you used weapons," Awase spoke.
"Because I got in on recommendation," Chikao informed. "And I do…." He fell asleep again, snoring loudly. A girl sitting behind him named Yui Kodai quickly shook his shoulder, waking him up again. Vlad Sensei groaned in annoyance.
"Wait a minute," Tokage spoke. "But I thought only four students got in through recommendation, two for each class."
"There were supposed to be only four," Vlad Sensei informed. "But this year, we…made two exceptions." Vlad Sensei made sure to keep his tone neutral and professional to hide the disappointment he felt.
To get in on recommendation was considered a big honor for U.A. students, even if some argued that it was worthless compared to getting in through the Entrance Exam. At the start of every year, only four students would get in on recommendation out of dozens of applicants.
The three students in Class 1-B who got in through recommendation were Setsuna Tokage, the beautiful and outgoing girl who hit on Kaze, Juzo Honenuki, a soft-spoken and easygoing student, and Chikao Kato. The other three were in Class 1-A: Momo Yaoyorozu, daughter of the extremely wealthy Yaoyorozu Hero Agency, Shoto Todoroki, son of the Number 2 Hero, Endeavor, and someone named Shin Zankoku.
"Alright, let's get started," Vlad Sensei insisted.
"There," a beautiful young woman told Midoriya as she used her Quirk to heal his finger in the form of bright lights from her hands. She had blonde hair that almost looked like sunshine, beautiful blue eyes and stood about Midoriya's height.
"I…I didn't see you at the Entrance Exam," Midoriya told the young woman.
"Then I probably didn't visit your location," she informed. Recovery Girl walked into the room and approached the two of them.
"Oh, Midoriya," she greeted. "I see you met my assistant, Himari Kataiya, or as she's called herself, Sunhealer."
"Assistant?" Midoriya asked. "I didn't know you had one."
"Well, a better word would be 'apprentice'," Recovery Girl clarified. "She's training to one day take over my position as U.A.'s medic."
Kataiya smiled shyly before explaining her Quirk, Healing Light. As stated, it allowed her to heal injuries, whether her own or someone else's, with the light from her hands. However, it was affected by the amount of light, mostly sunlight, there was in the area. More light meant stronger healing while less light meant weaker healing and longer to heal.
As explained by Recovery Girl, Sunhealer was currently her apprentice and was in training to one day take over as School Nurse. In the short moment Midoriya met her, she was very kind, caring, attentive and made thoroughly sure that Midoriya's injured finger was completely healed.
"So, how did you become Recovery Girl's apprentice?" Midoriya asked Kataiya.
"My dad, Razor Shell-"
"Razor Shell!?" Midoriya gasped in excitement. "The Snapping Turtle Hero: Razor Shell!?"
As a fan of all things hero, Midoriya was familiar with the Pro Hero, Razor Shell. His Quirk was a mutant-type, giving him the abilities of an Alligator Snapping Turtle. He was said to be so strong and durable, he'd give All Might a run for his money in a fight.
Midoriya calmed down when he saw Kataiya's rather shocked expression on her face.
"S-sorry," he apologized. "You were saying that Razor Shell's your dad?"
"Y-yes," Kataiya continued. "Though he's technically my adopted dad. He works here at U.A. as the Gym Teacher. I asked him if he could help me become Recovery Girl's assistant and he agreed. Luckily, Ms. Shuzenji also agreed."
"Well, someone will need to take over when I retire," Recovery Girl responded. "And Kataiya has proven herself to be a very suitable successor." Kataiya blushed as she filled out the paperwork on Midoriya's healing.
"Okay, you should be good to go," she told Midoriya with a smile. "Take care."
"Thanks," he replied.
By now, Class 1-A had completed half of the Quirk Assessment Tests. For Takeo Raionhato, he felt he was doing well as he was able to utilize the items he had stored away in Inventory.
However, he couldn't let his guard down. If Aizawa believed he underperformed, then he'd face expulsion before he could even begin U.A.'s Hero Course and that would be soul crushing. To Takeo, the only person who deserved expulsion was Bakugo.
From what he had seen of him, he was violent, arrogant, extremely short-tempered and just plain disrespectful. He looked down on everyone around him and yet he had the gall to tell Raionhato not to look down on him after the Entrance Exam. Speaking of which, every time Takeo saw Bakugo in the Battle Center, he acted feral, sadistic, wild…he acted more like an animal than a fighter.
He couldn't help but feel disgust when he looked at Bakugo. He had a good number of people he disliked, but Bakugo took the top spot, especially after that violent outburst towards Midoriya earlier.
By now, they were on the Standing Long Jump, which involved jumping over a long sandbox. When it was Raionhato's turn, he thought about summoning his grapple gun, but instead chose to summon Lion Saber and his right wire gauntlet. He then wrapped the wires around Lion Saber's hilt, threw it across the sandbox and then used his wires to pull himself forward in a long jump. To his satisfaction, he easily cleared the sandbox.
After returning his items to Inventory, it was Yukine's turn. She used her Quirk to create snow around her feet, generating cold winds that allowed her to float quickly across the sandbox.
"Nice," Takeo commented.
"Why, thank you," Yukine replied rather flirtatiously.
Midoriya returned when the tests were just about done. He hurried to complete the other tests, but it was clear that without being able to use his Quirk, he was struggling deeply. Almost everyone was starting to believe that he would be one of those expelled, but some of them kept faith in him and believed he'd succeed.
When the Quirk Assessment Tests were completed, Aizawa showed a holographic chart of everyone's scores. It appeared as though almost everyone's scores were fine…except Izuku Midoriya. He had the lowest score out of anyone in the class, making Bakugo snicker with a smirk on his face.
"I knew he was going to fail," he spoke mentally. "Did you really think you belonged here, Deku?"
"You all did pretty well," Aizawa replied. "But just so you know, I was lying. No one's being expelled today." He then smirked.
"That was just a logical deception I used and it worked."
"WHAT!?" the whole class gasped in shock, other than Yaoyorozu.
"Of course he was lying," she spoke, confused by her class's reaction. "Mr. Aizawa can't expel anyone without just cause. I'm sorry, I guess I should've said something."
"So where are we going next?" Yukine asked Mr. Aizawa as he led them to a building that looked like a traditional Japanese dojo separate from U.A.'s main.
"This is our martial arts building," Aizawa informed. "Here, you'll be having classes in one-on-one combat."
"Without the use of our Quirks?" Iida asked.
"It usually depends," Aizawa informed. "That's up to our instructor." He then led the students inside the dojo, where in the corner of the wooden building was a man meditating.
He was a well-muscled man in his late thirties, early forties with short brown hair, a full mustache and beard and wearing a traditional martial arts outfit. His most outstanding feature was the gray colored blindfold covering his eyes. Before Aizawa could introduce him, Midoriya gasped in excitement.
"Oh, my gosh!" he cried out. "That's the Karate Hero: Open Palm! He's a legend among martial arts superheroes!"
"Wait, THE Open Palm?" Ojiro asked in shock, making his way through the students to look. "You're kidding! It's him!?"
"No, I'm Open Palm's twin brother," he replied with a playful smirk. "I just pretend to be Open Palm…yes, I'm Open Palm."
The legendary Karate Hero: Open Palm, or by his real name, Kenzo Suzukaze, was before them to be their martial arts instructor.
Author's Note: I'm sorry that this is a shorter chapter than usual. I need to get my mojo going.
The character of Kenzo Suzukaze/ Open Palm is an OC created by NightShock99, so credit goes to him.
Thank you all for being so patient as you waited for my next chapter. I hope you continue to enjoy the Lion of Courage. Keep reading and writing, my fellow readers and writers!