So, the canonical series has ended and all I can say is that I am disappointed by it.

Thankfully, this has only motivated me further into writing this story to make it more meaning and have a more satisfying conclusion.

I have also been talking with a few other authors about possibly writing a fix-it fic, but I am a little too focused on the Untold Universe to invest time in to a new project.

So, if that is something you are interested it in, now is the time to let me know about it.


My Hero Academia Untold: The Knights of Fafnir

Saga I: Dusk

Arc II: The Incident

Chapter XVIII: A Trial by Fire Part 1


"A good leader takes a bit more than his fair share of blame, a little less than his share of credit."

-Arnold H. Glasow


Yū was sitting in the living room of her aunt's house channel surfing the TV while scrolling on her phone for anything interesting. She was taking a day off to recover after a string of incidents last week. It was nothing major save for when a billboard landed on her back when a prankster decided to become a villain and had reasoned that flattening civilians would be great for a debut. But for now, she was simply taking it easy as she kept scrolling down her phone feed, though primarily through social media.

Until she found an interesting news report on the apparent return of the Hero-Killer Stain.

"Ah damn it, he's back with another victim," Yū commented as she read the news report. However, it added a strange twist as it continued. Typically, Stain's MO was to attack any lone Pros without leaving anything but the bleeding bodies.

This time, however, he had apparently left a message on the guy's corpse.

False Heroes are scum, but false Heroes who prey on civilians are even worse than scum!

"Pro-Hero...Marx." Yū read aloud the victim's hero identity. She had known about the guy, primarily by reputation, due to the man having several cases of sexual assault levied against him once upon a time. But it was never proven in court, with charges often being dropped due to either lack of evidence or the accuser suddenly recanting before a trial.

Although, Yū did have the misfortune of meeting him once at a charity for sick children of all places a few weeks ago. Marx definitely had an air of being some kind of sleazebag which was proven true in her eyes as he had hit on several women at the event in question. Although she will admit that Marx was a funny guy, but he had nothing on Ms. Joke in terms of cases solved and popularity.

So, it was definitely a mixed bag for Yū to consider. On the one hand, in the eyes of the law, since Marx had never been convicted (*1), he was, for all intents and purposes, an innocent man. On the other hand, many saw him as a criminal who used the title of Hero to escape justice.

And it looks like Stain ultimately did, too.

Now, as a Pro-Hero, and therefore a possible target, Yū wasn't a fan of Stain, even if she could understand a bit of his philosophy on Heroes. However, in her opinion, Stain only saw things in black and white rather than gray like most people. Very few people were in a world this big and complex that could genuinely be called truly good or evil.


"Are you sure you got this, Uraraka?" Kashiko asked nervously as Ochako and Rikidou finished tying the rope around her waist, all while she was still getting used to the feeling of her blue-gray skintight suit.

"I'm like…eighty percent sure I got this," Ochako joked while trying to encourage her classmate.

"I don't like the fact there is a twenty percent chance that this can go wrong..." Kashiko frowned as she tentatively looked over the roof's edge to the street below them. She couldn't help but gulp at the dizzying drop below her.

"I'm gonna make you float," Ochako casually replied as she gave the rope a few more tightening tugs."While Satou here will make sure you don't just float away!"

Ochako, as she finished up, gave a thumbs up to the big-lipped musclehead, who answered in kind.

"This is a pretty good loophole that Midoriya found out about," Rikidou interjected as he looked at Kashiko's equipment while popping a sugar pill to jump-start his Quirk. "With your new gear, you should be able to see where everything is from here, right?"

"In theory," Kashiko sighed, resigning herself to fate before adding. "Just...please...give me a moment."

Kashiko took a slow, deep breath as she approached the roof's edge. Now, she wasn't scared of heights per se. Still, she believed it was reasonable to be wary when one basically agrees to do reverse bungee jumping with minimal safety equipment and people she barely knew. Yet, these were fellow heroes-in-training, and this would simply be one of the many times she would have to put her trust in her classmates' hands in the coming years.

"Phew...Okay, I'm ready."

"Have a good trip!" Ochako chirped before pressing her fingers on Kashiko's arms, making the human kite briefly glow pink and slowly rise from the rooftop edge.

The instant Kashiko felt weightless, she bravely kicked off the roof with Rikidou holding on to the rope, letting it slack bit by bit, allowing her to gain altitude slowly. When Kashiko reached the end of the rope, she couldn't help but admit that the view was stunning from where she was, as the sunlight gleamed just right from the nearby glass buildings. Not to mention, she could now see most of Site Gamma with ease.

Yet, she wasn't here to enjoy the sights; she had to play her part instead. Using the visor that the Support Department had made. Her eyes began to glow as they started to scan around the area, the red visor automatically zooming, adjusting, and tagging anything of note.

"Hello there," Kashiko said to herself with a sly smile as she spotted what appeared to be one of the "villains" on the rooftop. She quickly fiddled with the wrist-mounted gear and sent some of the data she had collected to the team below.

"Looks like Midoriya was right on the money."

"Thanks for the data, Sekigai. With this, I'm forming a good plan. Let me know if anything else changes." Izuku's voice spoke up from her earpiece. "I'm sending over a team to the rooftop, and I'll leave it to you to direct them from there."

"Understood, Midoriya," Said Kashiko with a more confident smile as it seemed like they actually had a chance of making this work. 'Not bad, Midoriya...not bad at all!'


All Might had left his students to join the particular observation room for teachers, where Eraserhead was currently waiting for him. To say that he was displeased with the exercise the veteran teacher had set up was an understatement. This training exercise was nothing beyond what was typical for a hero course class…in their third year, but it most certainly was not for the first years.

However, there was something about the team compositions that bothered him.

The baggy-eyed man must have known with the way Team One had been set up and the troubles it could cause. He needed to speak with the man, having only recently learned about Eraserhead's prior history as a homeroom teacher. All Might suspected that Nezu knew that big shake-ups were expected under his department leadership, but this was too far in his eyes.

"Aizawa," All Might said as he entered the room, popping back into his skinny form. Shouta Aizawa simply sat at the monitors, observing the class, the villains, and the site on the various monitors, all while wearing that ridiculous sleeping bag of his.

"All Might." He replied casually as though nothing was wrong.

"You have a lot of nerve in designing this practice and creating this semester's teams!"

"Not the "teams" since you're only referring to one team in particular...Team One."

"So you did do it on purpose...Aizawa, that's just cruel."

"This exercise is meant to break down some of the issues I can already foresee with this year's group."

The baggy-eyed man then pointed to a different screen with each following word.

"Overconfidence, recklessness, and overachievers that are bound to be full of themselves," Aizawa then turned back to All Might. "I am hoping to quell some of those issues early with a seemingly impossible exercise. Now, as for the student formation of Team One."

Aizawa then pointed to a screen with said students.

"If the students in question, particularly the one who lost family during the Draco Knight incident. Discover the truth about Midoriya and cannot find themselves working together afterward. They shouldn't be here to become heroes."

All Might was left stunned by his fellow educator.

Things have certainly changed since he attended UA himself, especially since this was his first time as an educator and, therefore, Eraserhead's junior in this case. Ultimately, All Might resigned himself to see if the man's method proved fruitful. This trial was designed so that, in the end, the students would surely suffer a failure no matter what happened.

"At least tell me, once this is done, that we will be doing more basic hero coursework that is more suitable for their year group."

"We will be," Aizawa said with a rare chuckle. "This test simply ensures that they understand where they are now and what the students can become if and when they become third years."

"But it looks like they have made up their minds, and the first formation is off to a good start," Eraserhead finished as he glanced upon the monitor with a slight grin. "They are proving themselves to be clever thus far."

All Might looked up, and he couldn't help but smile when he saw who was on the Operator's desk.

'It is time to prove yourself, my young successor.'


Katsuki and three of his teammates began walking toward their primary target.

If Izuku had correctly deduced which building had the bomb based on logistics and the intelligence gathered thanks to the combined scouting efforts of Ochako and Kashiko, then Katsuki's team would have already had a solid leg up.

The Bomber knew he had made the right choice in nominating Izuku for the Operator's position. But he still couldn't help but laugh when he saw the looks on almost everyone's faces save for Ochako's when Izuku pulled out his Quirk notebook. This only helped his case to convince everyone that he was the right man for the job.

While this makeshift strike force was heading toward the main objective, the other four students were sent to find the hostages and the villain's scout that Kashiko had spotted. Though, at the very least, they did have a solid idea of where they all were. Denki had been sent to go after the rooftop scout, while a duo composed of Tōru and Ryu was sent to find and rescue one of the hostages. Meanwhile, the fourth member, Kyouka, would be busy scouting for the other hostage.

Even with all of these factors that were so far in their favor, Katsuki couldn't help but be on edge.

It had been all too easy to set up, yet the trial itself seemed excessive for a first-class. Now, while Katsuki loved the thrill of a huge challenge being thrown his way. He also knew to think about the lesson as a test for the class and not just for himself. His instincts kept telling him there was something more to this trial, something they weren't seeing.

"Hey Bakugou, you alright there, buddy?" Eijirou spoke up, trying to fill the silence and get some word from their self-appointed strike force leader.

The redhead was only met with a quick grunt in response.

"Quiet down and pay attention," Katsuki finally snapped. "Tape arms; what do you get on the map?"

"My name is Sero," answered Hanta with an annoyed expression as he looked at his datapad, serving as the team's resident map man. "Sekigai hasn't updated the map with any targets, and we still have at least a kilometer before we reach our target."

Unknown to the team, the villain's scout was spying on them from one of the rooftops.

"Blink, we got a team inbound heading right toward Lemillion's location," said Mezou Shouji, a.k.a. Tentacole, the fourth-ranked member among the Big Five, to his earpiece.

"Current direction and distance?"

"Central Road going south, just above half a click."

"Spotted them, got a target in mind?"

"The tall, lanky one with the black and white costume is currently distracted."

"Showtime! I'll be taking him out first."

Tentacole was about to confirm when one of his ear pods set behind him could hear someone climbing the side of the building he was standing on.

A possible attempt to ambush him from behind?

'Clever,' Mezou thought to himself. "Understood. Be careful, Blink, as I also seem to have company and won't be able to back you up."

"Have fun, Tentacole. Knock 'em dead! Hahaha!"

Tentacole slid out and hid near the staircase to the rooftop, where he saw a shock of yellow hair coming up the side of the roof.


Izuku sat in the Operator's chair with Momo at the side, serving as his backup Operator. She was one of the two primary candidates for the job until Katsuki came into the picture and explained why Izuku should man the chair. Now, she had her doubts until she saw Izuku's quick change in demeanor and was quickly impressed. Especially as he sat down and began thinking of a plan combined with some brilliant discoveries of finding and using some loopholes within the rules to try and use at least one extra person from each team out on the field.

For example, he had Shouto make an ice bridge for the second team. Yet, he did it without leaving the building's bounds, which meant they were always using more people than the allotted eight at a time.

All while still playing by the rules

Yet, Izuku was still entirely open to input, which made him easy to work with, which Momo could appreciate readily. As such, when she suggested that Kyouka's Quirk would be the best to scout buildings from the outside, Katsuki and the remainder of his team left the building at the ground level to catch the enemy team's attention.

At the same time, Tenya served as the team medic, with everyone else on standby. That being said, they all lent extra help by watching the different monitors featuring footage from the cameras throughout site Gamma. Everyone had been given mini high-definition cameras to wear, which provided an individual first-person perspective.

Izuku was still mulling over the details, but his expression spoke volumes to Momo, and she could feel that something was also off. It seemed odd for first-year students to tackle such a training exercise on the first day, even for the elite students expected from UA. Something about this test just didn't add up in her head.

"Damn it!" She heard Izuku shout out, making her jump out of her thoughts. Momo could see Izuku rapidly switch off the coms. "Iida! Stand by! Get ready to move out and take Mineta with you."

"Right!" Tenya called out as he put on his helmet and grabbed Minoru by his cape.

"Wait, what?!" The short boy squeaked as he struggled with Tenya's iron grip.

"Wait, what happened?" Momo said upon collecting herself. She looked at the various monitors, trying to figure out what went wrong until Izuku pointed it out.

"Looks like the villains finally appeared. It is either a decoy or first line of defense; either way, Sero is down." Izuku said firmly as he pointed at Hanta's camera perspective, facing skyward with a worried Mina looking him over.

"Why Mineta?" Momo asked, thinking about the short boy's demeanor as Tenya blasted out of the room, with Minoru's screams following shortly.

"WAAAAAAAAA!"

"If the villain is a decoy, it will be better to capture him rather than letting him retreat," Izuku explained as he showed her his new notes.

"Sero was the team's capture specialist," Izuku pointed out before looking up at Momo. "Mineta and his Quirk would be the next best bet without using an ace like Todoroki. Since we may need him to make another ice bridge from our rooftop in case another one of the teams gets taken down."


-A few moments prior.

Katsuki and company continued to their destination, with Eijirou chatting away to build up team bonding because it was "manly," getting laughs from Mina and Hanta. Even Katsuki couldn't help but have a shadow of a smirk on his face.

The explosive blond would have to deal with them for now since this was his squad.

"Hey, what was that?" Katsuki heard Mina say, making him freeze while a flash of blue suddenly shone from a distance.

"What was what, Ashi-hmm!" Hanta asked as he had been looking at the data pad before being violently knocked flat on his back, dropping the device and slamming it hard against the ground. A gray blur flew past most of the team before slamming into Hanta's body with its force-velocity shooting out to the back of the other buildings.

The three were momentarily stunned by what had just happened before they sprang into action. Mina quickly checked Hanta's vitals while Eijirou and Katsuki covered them. Eijirou hardened his body, and Katsuki began popping small explosions on his hands in a threatening manner, using the heat to produce more sweat.

"EYES OPEN!" Katsuki ordered out, looking for the culprit.

"Oho! I got him good!" They all heard a mocking voice say. A figure appeared from the corner of the nearest building, behind where Hanta was now lying. He was not much taller than Katsuki and wore what seemed to be a gray-white hooded coat and a plain bone-white mask of comedy.

"Son of bitch..." Katsuki growled at his opponent's audacity.

"Careful, Kacchan! He most likely has a speed-based quirk." Said Izuku's cautious voice in their earpieces.

"Hey, Midori, Sero's out cold," Mina whispered back as she finished checking over Hanta's vitals.

"Understood. I've already sent Iida to pick him up and drop off Mineta."

"The kid with grapes on his head?!" Katsuki questioned Izuku's logic in sending the kid with sticky hair instead of someone more powerful.

"Uh, grapes on who's head?" The white-robed "villain" asked, puzzled by the wording. Eijirou, however, had a different plan. Thinking his opponent was distracted, the spiky redhead lunged at his opponent. Unfortunately for him, the "villain" disappeared with a laugh before reappearing on the other side of the street.

"Aha! Nice! But I won't be caught off guard that easily!" The faux villain introduced himself with a flamboyant showman's bow. "The name's Blink! Fifth seat of the Big Five, and I'm afraid you're not good enough to catch me!"

The young man continued to mock the redhead by pretending to wipe a nonexistent tear from his mask.

"Speak for yourself!" Katsuki roared again, blasting toward his foe. However, Blink simply disappeared again before the Bomber could reach him.

"WOOO! We got a spicy one here, folks HAHAHAHA!" Blink japed when he reappeared right above Katsuki, his foot aimed at the blond boy's head with a swift ax kick.

The Bomber raised his right arm just in time to block the incoming attack, his grenade-shaped gauntlet absorbing most of the impact while he prepped his left hand for a blast.

"Easy, spice boy!" Blink called out once, seeing Katsuki's move coming, and blurred to the ground directly under him on all fours, aiming a kick to his stomach.

"I've gotcha covered, Bakugou!" Mina yelled out as she came sliding to Katsuki's side, flinging acid at their opponent and successfully getting some on him.

"Oh crap!" Blink yelled out, forced to roll back as his costume could be seen smoking as parts of it melted and sizzled. "Ow ow ow! SHIT! That stings! OW!"

Blink was quickly forced to remove his ruined coat and mask with one swift, fluid motion that got him back up to his feet. He was thankful that the acid didn't eat further than it did, even if it did leave him with some mild skin burns visible on his face. The young man didn't have much of a costume without his robe and mask, as all he wore under it was a simple gray bodysuit with a gray puffy vest and black cloth rings around all his joints. It was accompanied by armored padding around his forearms and shins, complemented by his heavy-duty gray boots.

Blink's real face was sharp and had the round eyes of a foreigner, though a bit on the plain side, save for a small beauty mark under the left of his lip. He had short, slightly shaggy brown hair and bright blue eyes that almost seemed to glow. The foreign lad sported a nervous grin as he slowly began to edge his way to the corner, ensuring all the first years remained within his sight.

"Kacchan! I got something!" Izuku's voice suddenly rang out to the team, and they could hear pages of his notebook flipping.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"He's the comeback kid from last year's Sports Festival! The General Ed Student who lost in the top eight but made such a good impression that he got promoted to the Hero Course: Alexander Springfield! He's from the US!"

"To hell with that! Tell me what you got on his Quirk!"

"From what I can tell, he can jump distances within his eyesight. I can't tell you the exact range, but it can't be too far."

"Ahh, damn it," Katsuki heard Alex curse out. "Backup already?"

The team could hear a rumble and what sounded like a jet engine speeding towards them.

"WAAAH! SLOW DOWN, IIDA, PLEASE! I AM GONNA PEE MYSELF!"

Everyone could hear the pleas of Minoru as he hung for dear life on Tenya's armor as the mecha-looking teen ran towards the team.

"We have arrived! I am here to recover Sero and drop off Mineta!" Tenya called out as he stopped next to the unconscious Hanta, much to the stunned silence of everyone else. Save for Minoru, who had to literally peel himself off of Tenya's armor, holding on to his chest like the poor boy was about to have a heart attack.

"N-n-n-n-n-ne-ne-never aga-a-a-ain...Mi-mi-midoriya..." Minoru swore as he took shaky, deep breaths to calm himself.

"Thank you for taking care of Sero!" Tenya continued as he picked up Hanta's limp body, completely ignoring the confused foreigner. "I must return now and make sure he gets proper treatment!"

And with that, Tenya suddenly turned heel and burst into his sprint back to the base, leaving everyone simply standing there.

"Well...that was something," Eijirou said with a slight smirk.

"Yeah, at least Sero should be good." Mina sighed with some relief.

"FOCUS GODDAMN IT! WE GOT THIS ASSHOLE TO BE-" Katsuki roared at his teammates before turning to his opponent.

Only to see that he was already gone

"OH, MOTHER FUCKER!"

Alex had returned to hiding around one of the corners of the buildings nearby, quickly giving his leader a SITREP. He was far more vulnerable without his mask. With an increased chance of getting debris in his eyes to making his Quirk's tells much more apparent, he knew that this now required a change in his tactics. Going for a more hit-and-run approach would be the better play now. Yet, it was still risky, especially with the first years proving themselves more adept than the American had initially thought.

"Alright," Alex sighed as his thoughts turned to the rest of his teammates.

"Time for round goddamn two."


Meanwhile...

"And that's why I can't drink energy drinks on the job anymore!" said the ever bubbly Nejire Hadou, finishing up telling her hostage a very long story about the last villain she had busted after a long stake out in the dead of night. "But that's besides the point! I really want to know was..."

'Someone...please...save me from this hell...' That was all the "hostage" Reiko Yanagi could think of as her senior continued with a completely one-sided conversation that mostly amounted to several questions about Reiko herself. This often resulted in Nejire either answering her own question or going on a completely different tangent mid-conversation.

Thankfully for Reiko, help was currently on its way in the form of Tōru Hagakure and Ryu Kasei trying to be as silent as possible. Being left to their own devices once they were assured by their third teammate, Kyouka Jirou, that this building had a hostage.

With her job here done, Kyouka scouted for the second hostage.

Izuku's plan for the two was pretty simple. Ryu would launch the initial attack to try to lure the villain out of the room. Meanwhile, Tōru, depending on how the villain would react, would either go for a sneak attack or extract the hostage.

Of course, this was if the villain successfully fell for the bait.

When the two arrived at the door, they could hear Nejire continuously chatting away at the hostage's ears. Ryu quickly motioned to Tōru to get on the opposite side of the door they would use to break in. He hoped to simply kick the door in, and launch a smokescreen with his Quirk, and hopefully make Nejire chase after him, allowing the invisible girl to sneak in, using the smoke or the distraction as cover.

"Okay, Hagakure, you ready?" Ryu whispered to the invisible girl.

"Yep, no problem Kasei. I just got to do this quickly," Tōru said as she removed the remainder of her costume. "Don't peek, please~!"

"Uhhh...riiight." Ryu sighed, shaking his head with some annoyance as he looked away. He quietly cleared his throat before taking a deep breath to a fire blast for his opponent. 'There's nothing for to even see!'


Tamaki Amajiki was bored as he sat with his hostage, sharing some small snacks with the tied-up brainwasher. He was still feeling guilty, as he felt that this exercise was really excessive for many first-years to even try out, even though he knew that there had to be some reason for it. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally discourage his juniors with a total victory, given the large gap in their experience.

That being said, given that it was Eraserhead in charge of the exercise, the chimera boy knew better than to question the man about anything lest you suffer his wrath. Tamaki continued to think while he munched on his jerky snacks to refresh his Quirk, unaware that Kyouka Jirou was quickly closing in on his location.

Her powers made it relatively easy to find them once she drowned out all of the extra noise. Kyouka was quick to note all of the essential details, such as the building, which floor, and which door the villain and hostage were currently in. The musical girl quickly relayed all of the critical information back to base so they could update it on the map.

"Hey, boss, I found the other hostage," Kyouka whispered to her earpiece. "I'm sending the signal info to Sekigai now."

"Good work, Jirou. Kasei and Hagakure are about to try to rescue their hostage," she heard Momo's voice say in place of Izuku. "Stand by; we will send back up your way soon."

Kyouka was surprised she didn't hear Izuku speak to her instead. However, she knew that Momo was the backup operator of this merry band for a reason. So, the main man might have been dealing with something else at the moment.

"Right on," Kyouka whispered in response as she placed an ear jack into the wall to hopefully gain more intelligence about their opponent. Until backup arrived, she had to play the waiting game. Though hopefully, she wouldn't have to wait too long.

'Hope everyone else is alright...'


The rest of the class, who remained on standby, eagerly watched their classmates' various feeds on the field. Some were envious that they were not the first ones out there. Others were nervous about when they would be called up or if they would even need to be called up at all.

However, Tenya Iida had just returned from the field and got Hanta to a proper medical cot with robots that would take him to Recovery Girl. He was more than a bit frustrated with being placed in his current position as the team's 'medic.' Still, he understood why he was placed in this vital role.

As Mei often said, "Teni is basically a walking tank with an F-1 Engine."

His armor, inspired by his family line of heroes, gave him a solid defense, and combined with his build and speed, he could get people to and from danger with little effort. Since Izuku discovered that a teammate is no longer considered out on the field if they have been rendered unconscious. Allowing a replacement to be sent out once they are confirmed to be out of play.

Tenya, however, felt like he could do more. With the family legacy he had to live up to, he had a deep thirst to prove himself a worthy heir. Overshadowed by his brother and his in-laws, Tenya wished to be nothing more than an equal to those he felt were much more significant than him. Yet, he realized there was far more than just his family; his classmates also counted in the competition.

Looking at Izuku and Momo, who were both still manning the operator's panel. He could see some of the things he lacked in comparison. Despite his version of the Engine quirk not being the strongest, Tensei made due with the charms and the wit to take Team Idaten to new heights after their father retired.

On the opposite end of the room stood Shouto, with none of the traditional charms of a Pro-Hero. But he had both intelligence and raw power in spades, just like his father, Endeavor. Then you have those like Katsuki, who had his unique charm, which he so clearly displayed as he showed his prowess as a fighter and leader on the monitors. As he and his makeshift team continued to fight Blink, who was currently ranked fifth among The Big Five.

Tenya could almost feel the gap growing, and he hated it.

He hated feeling this way despite knowing it was un-heroic to handle this kind of envy, and he knew that everyone always had a part to play in the grand scheme of things. Which is something his brother had always tried to instill in him. There are the parts one wants to play, and then there are the parts one must play even if they hate the role because that is the thing about life. It deals the cards, and sometimes all you can do is play them to the best of your ability. Tenya will serve as the medic for now, and hopefully, there will be a chance to give him something more substantial soon.


Denki was on the rooftop, confused about where his target was supposed to be.

He was hoping to show off his skills to some of the cute girls in his class while mildly geeking out over the wrist-mounted Hookshot that the support team had made for him. It was simple to use and operated on his powers. Add in the sweet collapsible baton that could double as a stun rod when charged up with his Quirk.

The boy almost felt unstoppable.

Almost

Denki looked around with baton on hand, just in case, before tapping on his earpiece when he found the place completely deserted.

"Heya Midorya, where's this guy supposed to be?"

"Hold on one moment, please..." Izuku promptly answered.

A brief pause with a few beeps before a new voice came to Denki's ears.

"Kaminari it's Sekigai."

Denki grinned as he remembered Kashiko's rather form-fitting costume in his mind's eye.

'She's definitely a hottie to keep an eye on.'

"Did you copy that Kaminari?'

Unfortunately for Denki, his imagination got the better of him. Kashiko happened to have been speaking in a low voice. Thus, the electric blond didn't hear her warning as his opponent silently made his way to position himself for an ambush.

"Kaminari? Kaminari? Are you listening to me? Kaminari?!"

"Uh...yeah, totally copied that!" Denki said, his head still thinking of his attractive classmate.

"Behind you!"

Her yell finally shook him out of his thoughts.

"Wait, what? Gah!"

Unfortunately for Denki, he was questioned before being tackled and held down by Tentacole. With one of his many limbs, he managed to pull out Denki's stun rod from his hand and made the Hookshot face away from both of them for their own safety.

"You should always pay close attention, my young friend. And always keep an eye out on your surroundings," Tentacole said quietly while making one of his arm pods form an extra eye as he pinned Denki to the ground.

"Ha..."Denki groaned out, trying to laugh at the rather awful pun.


Izuku's eyes scanned every screen, his pupils almost appearing like blurs as he jotted down each additional note from his observations. All while muttering to himself with every minute adjustment to the plans he needed to do in real time. However, Momo continued communicating with their classmates and added her comments to Izuku when prompted.

"Midoriya! Kasei and Hagakure have breached the first hostage room and were instantly met with heavy resistance! They've been forced to retreat!"

"And it seems like Kaminari is down as well. But I think he might still be conscious, though," Izuku answered when he checked his status before speaking to the mic.

"Kaminari, if you can hear me, do not respond," Izuku ordered calmly with a determined expression. "I know that you can get out of this, but try to keep the scout distracted, at least until we can capture the decoy that is still keeping Kacchan's team on their toes."

As the boy finished, he slumped back into his seat with a pondering expression.

"What is our next move, Midoriya?" Momo asked with interest about what the greenette had next up his sleeve.

Izuku paused for one moment as he closed his eyes. Despite feeling rushed, He tried to think carefully about his next move. While not perfect, everything they had seen and done so far was coming along well.

And there lay the problem...

'It's too easy...' Izuku thought as everything about the trial felt utterly wrong. 'Way too easy, especially for something this advanced!'

"Have the rooftop team come down except for Todoroki," Izuku paused, looking at his backup Operator. "And Yaoyorozu?"

"Yes, Midoriya?" Momo answered as she turned to face him, seeing a fresh face of determination on him.

"We're switching places; I want you to be the main operator now," Izuku requested firmly as he stood up from his seat.

"Oh?" Momo responded, genuinely surprised by his request. "Not that I'm not ready to lead myself, but I have to ask...why?"

"I have these notes here for you, including a few backup plans," Izuku said, grabbing the notebook and offering it to Momo before pausing.

"As for why…I just feel that something bad will happen, and if it does, I might have to go out there. Either way, I'd like to leave the team in good hands."

Momo nodded with confidence, appreciating Izuku's kind comments towards her.

"So you do plan to head out yourself then?"

"If something terrible happens, then yes," Izuku answered without skipping a beat.

"Understood if that is the case," Momo stood up to take Izuku's notes before they switched seats. Once settled, Momo took a deep breath and began flipping the console for their communications.

"This is Momo Yaoyorozu, taking over as the Operator for this mission," Momo said firmly into the microphone. The young woman's voice rang out throughout Site Gamma, whether inside or outside, fighting or on standby, hero or villain.

"Midoriya will now be my backup operator and be listed on standby. The rooftop team, except for Todoroki, please come down. Get ready to execute the follow-up plans we briefed you on earlier. Remember our motto, everyone!"

Upon hearing the commanding voice of Momo's confidence clear and firm, all of Class 1-A could feel a spark to drive them further in the trial. Those in the waiting room felt especially pumped as they cheered out UA's motto.

"RIGHT! Let's give it our all! PLUS ULTRA!"


"Now, this is an interesting development," Eraserhead simply said before pulling another snack pouch from his sleeping bag. "It's rare for anyone to willingly surrender the Operator's chair."

All Might nodded with a slight grin, seeing the change in leadership being handled and adjusted as the situation called for it.

"I must admit, Aizawa. They are doing better than I expected."

Eraserhead stirred a bit within the sleeping bag before facing All Might with a terrifying grin.

"You say that now, All Might, but the moment when one of the big five is taken down is the moment when things will escalate to the next level."

"Aizawa..." All Might deadpanned. "Please do not smile like that again...You are scaring me."


"THIS WAY!" Ryu shouted as he barely pulled Tōru out of the way of one of Nejire's blasts, which left a burning crater on her former spot.

"HAHA! You can't keep running~!" They heard Nejire cheerily sing out to them.

Ryu and Tōru knew that fighting a senior student would be difficult. Still, despite her very cheery and almost childlike demeanor, Nejire was proving to be a terrifying force of nature. The moment Ryu kicked the door down to breach the room, Nejire had blasted the fire-eater with a full swirling beam of her Quirk. It was only thanks to Tōru's reflexes that stopped Ryu from being shot out of one of the windows behind him.

Unfortunately, this gave Tōru's position away as Nejire slowly walked towards them, firing more bright swirls of energy at and around the two. Kicking up dust and cracking up the walls and floors with each blast. Now, the duo ran as hard as they could in the empty maze-like building. To little avail, as Nejire seemed to be right on top of them at almost every turn, blasting when she spotted them every time. She had even managed to hit Tōru with a lucky shot right on the dead center of her naked back.

Perhaps the most damning thing that Nejire managed to do while attacking was start another never-ending stream of questions that she asked as she kept shooting. It was to the point of getting both first years annoyed with their upperclassman. Ryu quickly spat out a burst of fire at his approaching senior to try and shut her up.

"Ooooh! Fire Breath!" Nejire said as she sidestepped the flame with a playful giggle. "How fun! Do you fight for your friends and never give up?"

Ryu swore as Nejire's mocky bruised his ego; that being said, Tōru wasn't spared from the inquisition.

"So, can you turn off your invisibility?"

There was a blast of energy.

"Do you wear makeup?"

A second blast of powerful swirling beam fired.

"Can it be hard to do stuff without being able to see your limbs?"

With a surprising amount of speed and deft, Ryu quickly turned around, forming a cone around his mouth with his hands, and breathed out a ring of fire onto the hallway, temporarily blocking Nejire's way while smoke kicked up. Using the smokescreen from his fire ring, the two managed to break eyesight with Nejire, making rapid corner turns in the hallway as she took care of the small fire he had caused.

They both dived into another one of the empty rooms, sliding up against the wall.

A disheveled Ryu looked over the state of his costume. His plain jet-black jumpsuit with black boots accented with red flames around the edges and a large red fire-proof folding scarf was riddled with holes and tears. While Tōru could almost be made out of all the dust coating her body. Both tried not to breathe as heavily despite their lungs protesting to avoid detection.

"Oh? Where did you run off to~?" They heard her sing with a tune of bubbly malice, which promptly made Ryu reevaluate all the various fears in his life at the moment. He turned to face his invisible companion.

"Hey, Hagakure, you okay?" Ryu whispered between heavy breaths, being able to make out the thin, dust-covered outline of Tōru next to him.

"I want to say yes, but I'm hurting in a lot of places right now..." Tōru managed to answer quietly with a shiver. "Plus...it's getting really cold right now."

Ryu wanted to call for backup but was worried that doing so could catch Nejire's attention. He thought of what he could do next when he heard something else that caught his attention. A strange yet familiar sound that was followed by a faint scent of iron.

Drip drip drip

Ryu looked around, trying to find the source of the noise before turning back to Tōru and spotting a dark patch on the ground around the area where the invisible girl sat.

"Hagakure...are you bleeding?" Ryu whispered with narrowed eyes, unsure if he saw things correctly.

"Yeah, a bit Kasei..."

"That doesn't seem like a bit, " Ryu hissed with annoyance.

"Sorry..." Tōru said sadly.

'Ah, shit.' Ryu thought with a sigh. Spy or not, he didn't mean to sound like a prick.

"It's okay; it can't be helped...But... "Ryu just realized as he perked up his ears to try and determine Nejire's position. "There is one bit of good news..."

"What is it?"

"She is still looking for us, meaning the hostage is alone."

"Oh, you're right!"

"Shhh!"

"Sorry."

The two went silent momentarily; they could hear Nejire's footsteps, followed by loud and random blasts, getting closer. The Third Seat was clearly checking every room, her laughter echoing down the hallways, sending shivers down the spines of both students once again. With fresh determination, Ryu quickly took off his scarf, inhaling deeply to breathe a gentle stream of flames on it.

"You can warm up and clean yourself off for a bit and then run toward the hostage," said Ryu with a straight face as he handed the warmed cloth to the invisible girl. "I'll go and take her on."

"You know that is pretty dumb, right?" Tōru said, bemused as she cleaned herself off with the scarf, appreciating its gesture and warmth. 'Weird...it smells kind of sweet...'

"Yep, I am most likely gonna lose, hard," Ryu answered her with a grimace.

"But that isn't the important part; she knows that you're invisible, and it won't be long before she finds out that we split up," Ryu added while cracking his neck. "So it's best if I simply tried to hold out as long as possible and try to buy you as much time for you to get to the hostage."

Tōru looked at the nervous boy before nodding in agreement. After a moment with no audible response, Ryu had to sheepishly ask a very important follow up question.

"So…was that a yes? Or are you still thinking about it?"


"Wow! They're doing a great job so far!"

Mirio was having a lot of fun with his observations of this new first-year class. He was genuinely delighted to see how well they performed despite their lack of experience. Oh, the morale boost of having a solid leader and a solid plan, with maybe a dash or two of overconfidence, could do wonders.

"Alex is starting to struggle," Mirio observed as he adjusted the camera to survey that part of the battle. The leader of the Big Five couldn't help but feel just a bit guilty knowing the harsh lesson this class was about to face. He could already foresee the outcome and tell that Alex was starting to reach his limit.

"Tamaki was right," Mirio sighed as he shook his head. "Mr. Aizawa is being too harsh!"

His orders from the department head were clear. The instant one of the Big Five was defeated, or a hostage was rescued, the "mission" would have to escalate to the next level. Despite his reservation, Mirio also knew he couldn't let his team have all the fun because he would soon need to arm the bomb.

Then, he could jump into the fray himself.


Alex was utterly exhausted and pushing the very limits of his abilities as he continued to dodge the constant barrages the first-year students were dishing out. His eyes burned, and his vision began to blur from overusing his quirk in such a short time. That being said, the foreigner was actually very impressed by the performance of these first-year students.

'They're really proving to be something else!'

"DIE!" Katsuki roared as Alex was forced to dodge yet another blast.

The blond Bomber had proven to be one hell of a tactical field commander and had the wrath to rival Satan. The crazy punk had even used a high-power blast from one of his gauntlets against him earlier. While he had successfully dodged it physically, it mentally shook Alex to the bone when he saw the cratered aftermath on the street and walls behind him.

"I gotcha now!" Eijirou yelled out as he tried to land a successful strike upon his foreign senior. Only for Alex to sidestep and flow along with his charge to direct the redhead's fist into a nearby wall like a matador does to a bull.

"Damn it!" The red-haired boy screamed as he tried to pull his arm out of the wall he was currently stuck in.

One poor attempt to strike Eijirou was enough to teach Alex that hitting the redhead directly was both an unwise and painful course of action. Alex had hoped that the lad's hardening abilities had reached their limit when he had appeared to have been winded. The fact that the foreigner was quickly proven wrong when his right hand fractured at the bare minimum, thanks to his misjudgment of the boy's stamina.

"I'm coming!" Mina piped up as she skillfully slid into the picture with her acid, moving to help Eijirou out of his jam.

Out of all his current opponents, Mina was the one that Alex feared the most; her acid attacks made any attempt at close-quarters combat against her nearly impossible for him without any of his usual support gear, especially since her teammates were ready to counter/back her up when he had tried to isolate her for a safe counterattack.

"I've got you covered!" Minoru yelped out, throwing more sticky balls toward Alex, forcing the senior to jump away from the red and pink duo.

The new kid had proven to be way more trouble than Alex had initially expected; he could tell that the balls were clearly meant to be used in his capture. While they were easy to dodge, the kid was laying the area thick of them, reducing Alex's movement speed and safe jump spots. Slowly forcing him to get closer and daring with his strikes and dodges. Yet, the American couldn't retreat; the exercise called for do-or-die resistance.

Something Alex was ready to oblige as he felt himself reach the limits of his quirk.

'Welp, I think it's time for a suicide strike.' Alex thought, knowing he only had two or three good jumps left in him after dodging another of Katsuki's blasts.

"If I'm going down, then I'll have to take some of you with me!" Alex declared as his eyes glowed brighter, making Katsuki tense up.

"FLASH BLITZ!"

Without warning, Alex disappeared with a bright blue flash, only to reappear right in front of the blond, catching the boy entirely off guard by the sudden change in tactic. Alex's eyes were now glowing deep, eerie blue. Alex had used the speed and momentum from his Quirk to perform a long sweeping kick at Katsuki's head with everything he had. Of course, Katsuki quickly blocked the attack but didn't know that Alex's boots had hidden steel toe tips.

CRACK!

"ARGH!"

Alex knew those gauntlets had something to do with that massive explosion from earlier. So he had aimed to break through the blond's gauntlet and let a spark do the rest as Katsuki was engulfed in a flash of light before leaving him in a cloud of smoke.

The young American didn't waste any time as his special move wouldn't last long. Alex blinked again, this time towards Eijirou, who had just been freed by Mina. Seeing the senior coming, Eijirou forced Mina behind him and re-hardened up his body as he feinted a punch, hoping it would cause the veteran student to back off.

"When punches and kicks won't work on an opponent," Alex declared as he instead took the full brunt of Eijirou's punch while using the same momentum to grab and twist Eijirou's arm and start swinging him around. "That's when you need to start grappling them instead!"

Pivoting hard, Alex threw his weight forward with the momentum to swing the redhead over his shoulder like a human club and slammed the boy on top of Mina, who was in the middle of rushing in to try to save her teammate. The pink girl was knocked out instantly upon slamming to the ground. The sturdy lad lay on top of her, too dazed to recover quickly from the onslaught he had just been dealt.

Alex quickly let go of Eijirou and swiftly backed up in a defensive stance from the crumbled duo to remain out of reach in case they pulled a fast one. Once he felt secure, the foreigner turned his attention to Minoru, who was the only one left on the team.

The grape boy dropped the last sticky ball he had in hand, feeling nothing but fear of the foreign senior who was breathlessly staring at him with eerie glowing blue eyes. The boy was left trembling, having witnessed what his upperclassman could do despite being pushed to the limit. Alex had managed to completely turn the tables on them, and Minoru was afraid of being next.

"Phew...that was tiring..." Alex breathed out, taking a moment to catch his breath and wipe his brow while the glow in his eyes began to dim back to their usual glow. He could take care of Minoru quickly now that he was alone.

That lapse in judgment would prove to be Alex's greatest mistake.

"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU SHITHEAD!" Katsuki's voice roared out, blasting forward from the smoke.

Despite the pain, he was in thanks to his bloodied left hand that had once held the gauntlet. Katsuki continued the offensive, using the smoke to wait for an opening. He shot one blast nearly at point-blank range with his right hand, catching Alex entirely off guard.

"GAH!" Alex yelled out in shock from being blasted back.

"HOW ARE YOU STILL STANDING, DAMNIT?!" The foreigner tried to use his Quirk to make his escape through his wrinkled nose as the sharp yet sweet smell of the boy's sweat made his already stinging, blood-shot eyes even worse. Alex quickly looked up, trying to target one of the windows in the building nearby to make his escape from the battle.

Seeing that glow in his eyes again and now knowing that was his opponent's tell. Katsuki knew what his foe was about to do and made one last gamble, knowing this would make his damaged hand hurt even worse. It was a trick he was saving for an emergency, but knowing Alex's quirk was based on his eyesight. Katsuki knew this would work as he saw Eijirou slowly getting up.

It had to work.

"STUN GRENADE!" Katsuki roared, moving his hands apart with a bright flash that suddenly appeared with a loud cacophonous BOOM.

"WAIT! WHAT THE FUUUUCCCCKKKK!" Alex roared in pain while he clenched and covered his eyes with tears finally running down his face as the violent flash of light blinded him. Forcing him to take a step back and get his left foot caught in a small pile of Minoru's sticky balls.

'AH DAMNIT!'

"NOW SHITTY HAIR! FUCK HIM UP!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Alex heard Eijirou's bloodcurdling roar combined with the sounds of the redhead's pounding footsteps as he charged forward, ready to give his upperclassman hell. What happened next would make every man who witnessed the scene recoil instinctively. Alex, who, between being blinded and hearing Eijirou gunning towards him, could almost feel the primal need to piss himself out of fear.

It was easy to picture himself as some ancient hunter-gatherer from the Stone Age about to be mauled by a giant sabertooth tiger, in his great need to both avoid the incoming pain and wish to avoid an embarrassing accident. Alex took a gamble of trying to pull off an emergency jump while still blinded.

Even if Alex couldn't get a lock on anything with his Quirk, he could still buy himself some critical seconds to make for an escape. However, as his Quirk activated. Alex had already forgotten about the sticky balls that left him bolted to the ground, slowing his ascent just enough for Eijirou's fist to reach him.

Unfortunately, it was far too late by the time Eijirou realized where he was about to strike.

For Alex, all of life and time seemed to freeze as he felt the redhead's fist strike below the belt. The sheer amount of pain began being etched on his face as the cameras continued to roll. It had been enough to force him to cancel the remaining jump. Making the foreign boy fall from the air and into a crumpled heap on the ground, writhing in pain as his hands instinctively went to hold himself. The sheer agony on his face said everything to everyone watching; his eyes rolled back, face contorting.

/

Yūga had crossed himself and spoke a silent prayer for his upperclassman as he witnessed the scene via the monitor. Hell, every man couldn't help but feel sorry for the low blow that had been dealt with their foreign senior. Knowing full well how much pain that kind of trauma in that particular spot could bring.

/

"My balls...why do they hurt so much?" It was all Alex could wheeze with a high-pitched voice as tears poured down his face.

Eijirou immediately dropped to his knees and began begging his upperclassman's forgiveness for such an unmanly display, tears streaming down his face out of shame. Given how rapidly the boy was repeatedly bowing, he was almost kowtowing.

"I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THAT, MAN! I SWEAR IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

"Just…kill me…" Alex wheezed in response as he slowly rocked around on the street, trying to steady his breathing with little success. There was pain, and then there was sheer agony that made one wish for the quick relief of death. "Aw...man...I just wanna die...fuck this...fuck that...fuck you...holy shit. Owwww...Owwww!"

Katsuki, however, took the chance to force one of Alex's arms up so he could cuff him, successfully "capturing" him as he did.

Suddenly, the intercoms came alive with the announcement.

"The Villain Blink has been captured!"

Katsuki breathed a sigh of relief as he let go of Alex's arm, and he turned to look at what remained of his team: Minoru's head was bloody from using so many balls. Mina was out cold on the street, and Eijirou was clearly exhausted and worn out from the fight. Of course, there was himself being a bloody, singed mess.

Katsuki wanted to continue but knew that four other villains were still active and likely unhurt.

'If they're anything like this guy, then we're all in a hell of a test,' Katsuki knew they had to retreat and let the others carry on from here.

"Shitty Hair, leave the foreigner and grab Raccoon Eyes; carry her back to base," Katsuki ordered with a growl, motioning with his head. "We're going back."

Eraserhead looked on with the same smile from earlier.

Alexander Springfield was considered the weakest of the Big Five, especially when you add that he was technically a year behind in experience compared to the rest of them. But now that he was down, the second phase of the exam could finally begin, and why the man's code name for this exercise was called "A Trial by Fire" could finally be revealed.

"Tōgata, it's time to begin phase two," the man quietly radioed the villain team's leader.

/

"Righto, Sir!" Mirio said with a smile before letting the rest of his team know the plan. "It's my turn to play. Nejire-chan, Suneater, Tentacole, it's time for part two!"


Author's Commentary

Innocent until proven guilty*: In theory, this is how the rule of law is supposed to work in the US. In Japan, however, there are some questions about this philosophy. I managed to read up on the subject of a damning over 99% conviction rate in the Japanese criminal legal system.

Based on everything I read, you are innocent until proven guilty. In practice, you are basically fighting to prove your innocence. Check out the articles available online. I found the topic very interesting. However, since this is the future. I decided to amend this concerning issue with legal reforms that happened in the past.

As far as I can remember, all of the fanfics that inspired me didn't do much to change up the first major Hero Course lesson. Save for maybe changing up some of the teams.

Here, I wanted to rework the whole thing to break away from canon and show how differently I plan this version of UA will operate, at least in the beginning. This includes introducing the senior students earlier than canon and making them part of the mentoring process from the beginning.

Old readers already know this, but as I said before, while I do use canon events as a template, but not as a blueprint. This gives me a huge amount of flexibility to let me tell the story my way, and keep readers on their toes.

The next chapter of the Shields of Spring will be coming up soon, along with a couple of other things I have working in the pipeline that I hope will get you all very excited.

ZX