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Crocodylian [My Hero Academia OC Fanfiction]
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Chapter 1 - Kuchisake
I hope you like whatever this is.
PD: For legal reasons, I do not own My Hero Academia.
I used to be normal, once.
I think so at least.
Then a man dressed in a black suit showed up at our door and things just went to hell.
Dad used to be a hero. Croko, the Reptile Hero he was called. He never broke through the Top 100 placement he reached in his golden days, but he used to love the job, showing up where trouble was the thickest, exchanging blows with a few tough villains, and rescuing people. And then he got crippled. A knee-shot, a villain with super-strength pulverized the entire joint and times got tough for the family.
Mom was…Not very good at working, it turns out. She had issues with every workplace she applied to, never got any interviews to stick, and nobody ever called back, it was sad to see really. Most people would try to force something to happen, to maybe try and start their own business or something, but Mom wasn't the type to work harder when things got rough.
She was the type to walk around the problem.
It was no surprise she left before things got really bad. To this day I still think I would've done the same in her situation, maybe I would have taken the three-year-old with me, but I would've run either way.
In any case, I was too young then to notice the signs. The looks she gave me, the way she distanced herself little by little until one day she just wasn't home anymore. It was then that Dad started drinking, getting angry, and complaining about anything and everything, including me.
Dad used to be a hero. Not anymore.
"Oi, Kuchisake!" A voice called out to me, so I snapped my eyes open and glared at the source of the noise. "Mind telling me what part of my class is so boring that you decided to take a nap through it?"
Oh, it was just Watabe-sensei.
"...'s not your class that's boring, Sensei." I mutter in between a yawn as my double-eyelid does its best to keep my eyes from burning under the light of the morning sun. "Just had a nightmare yesterday and couldn't catch up on my sleep. Sorry 'bout that."
Watabe-sensei just scoffed and returned to his place by the whiteboard, where he continued lecturing the class about biology stuff that I had already gone over at home.
What? Despite my intimidating and dashing looks, I am actually quite the academic.
Not really, I just have an easier time with classes like these that rely mostly on internalizing information rather than memorizing specific procedures, so I just study the textbook at home and take the time to nap or draw through most of the class anyway. Watabe-sensei knows very well I don't fall behind on my grades either way, but I think he feels a bit insulted by how I just end up ignoring him most of the time. Guess I should ask him if he needs help grading some tests again, that usually gets him to relax a little.
As I wait for the class to end, I decide to just reminisce about the good old days.
Namely, the six years I had to suffer under Father Dearest before I was finally able to snitch on him with the local police department, landing him in prison for a few years and getting me thrown out of my own home and into the Childcare Services that Japan had settled for these types of situations. Let me tell you, it was not a good time at all. I had some very bad experiences, and that just settled on top of my lack of parental love, so I guess I had both Mommy and Daddy issues now. Neat.
I'm sure if I happened to slip into a shrink's office I would cause the poor man an aneurysm or something.
But well, it is what it is. Life's a bitch and then you eventually die. I'm just hoping I get to decide what I wanna do before dying though, maybe becoming a teacher isn't a bad idea? I mean, my grades are great, and judging by Watabe-sensei's social skills, all I need is a good frown, a good glare, and an aura of "I will call your parents if you don't behave" and that's it right?
I mean, I guess my impressive size would also help the whole intimidation thing.
Despite the average jumping at an incredible pace since the first appearance of Quirks, Japan's height average was still at around like 170 something? I was easily 190 if I hadn't gotten yet another growth spurt, and I still had like six more years before I stopped right? That's around the same time Father stopped growing by what little he spoke about his younger years.
There's also the second route, try out for a Hero School and try to go pro. That's more or less the ideal nowadays that most kids try to aim for, who wouldn't wanna be a superhero right? But I'm not sure I'm made for that type of profession. I'm a good person, I can admit that with confidence. I don't bully people, I don't extort kids out of their lunch money, I don't sneer at old people or tell them they're annoying, hell, I've even shared my notes with the rest of the class a few times before!
But I'm not sure I'm Hero material. You kinda need the whole fire in your eyes, the heart of gold thing, right? Sure, there are a few celebrities that are heroes on the side, but…Yeah, I'd rather not risk my life on the daily if I could help it. Then again, most of those Hero Schools do have the most prestigious General Studies courses so I really should consider applying to a few at the very least.
The bell rang, the class was dismissed, and I was allowed to go back to napping.
If it wasn't for Watabe-sensei approaching me before I could lay down my head. I decided to be respectful so I straightened in my seat and looked over at him as rested my hands above the desk.
"Kuchisake, you have a minute?" He asked, seriousness clear in his voice. Then again, he was always serious, but now it seemed like a very particular kind of serious. Like 'You're dying in three months of terminal cancer.' kind of serious.
"Sure, what's the problem, Sensei?" I asked, a little worried.
He seemed to catch my tone, so he relaxed his frown a little. Maybe he was thinking about something else that got him all grumpy again.
"Not a problem, not for me anyway." He said, before handing me a piece of paper. It was the future plans sheet I handed back, it was blank except for my name and a little doodle of a crocodile on one of the corners of the page. "Remember this?"
I sighed, and just nodded as I took the paper from his hands.
"Look, I know that…You have a very particular situation to deal with." He started. "But it's still important for you to really, seriously, consider what you want your future to be. You're a bright student, one of the best in the school even, but you need to put your priorities straight and ask yourself what you want to do."
"I know, Sensei, it's just-" He stopped me, a very faint grin visible on his face.
"Don't you go making up excuses, I know what you're dealing with and it can be a handful. For what it's worth if you want to go somewhere big, I've already checked with the principal and he can draft up a letter of recommendation for you. It won't get you in immediately, but you'd probably get placed on a priority list." He gave me a pat on the shoulder and stepped away.
"Just think it over, alright? Would be a shame to see my best student burn out in a boring desk job." Before I could reply, he was already out of the classroom, leaving me practically nailed to my seat as I considered what he just said.
I looked at the piece of paper in my hands and sighed.
"You could've just said you wanted me to aim high, you know? I don't like disappointing expectations, you know that Sensei…" I slithered a hand into my bag to drag out a pen and made sure to mark down my first school of choice before making my way to the Gym for P.E.
If he wanted me to aim high…
"Let's hope U.A. is high enough for you, Sensei." I smiled.
Then I'd just have to aim for the stars.
You know when in Shonen manga there's always a training arc under a very strict but funny or badass mentor that later on dies for the sake of character development?
Yeah, that wasn't happening. I spent the next ten months before the end of the year, and the start of the application process for the different Hero Schools, working part-time at whatever place would have me to pay for a proper gym membership, working every muscle in my body to failure, and basically teaching myself how to fight by punching the lone sandbag at the cheap gym I got myself into.
It was improvised, it was cheap, and it was all self-taught, but I figured most of the other applicants would throw themselves into the practical with about the same lack of experience right? As long as I could throw a few good punches and not pass out from exhaustion, then my body should be able to handle the rest!
Needless to say, it was hell.
I am very much an indoors, lazy, introvert of a person so just doing checkout at a nearby konbini was already pushing my social battery to the limit. Having to deal with the looks from other people at the gym was even worse, and to rub a metaphorical ton of sand on the wound, I also had to watch my diet now!
It was hell, and I was subjecting myself to it willingly.
But well, at least Watabe-sensei seemed pleased with himself when he saw me paying actual attention in class as I took notes on every subject I had to take seriously for the written exam. My grades were already good, but with me actually trying? I'm proud to admit that I ended up graduating first in my class. Not that it mattered to any of the decent schools that I would be trying to apply to, but it was more than enough to keep my morale high as the day of the actual examinations sneaked up on me before I even realized it.
That morning I almost slept through my alarms and only managed to get to U.A. on time because I actually didn't live that far away from the campus itself.
The apartment that I got from my court case against Father Dearest was a solid ten kilometers away. That would usually be an hour or something at walking pace, but I reduced it to about forty-five minutes with me running on all fours, using my tail as a counter-balance, and admittedly jumping a few red lights when no car was in sight.
I silently apologized to my social worker as I finally reached the entrance of the campus just in time to rush right in amongst the last arrivals, barely making it to my designated test room to take the two-hour exam. Sure enough, it was tough as nails, and just as bothersome to deal with. If you're asking yourself what that means then let me enlighten you, my Quirk is called Crocodylian, a mutant type that grants me physical abilities proportional to a member of the Crocodylia animal family.
That means I'm really big. I'm really strong. I'm really fast when running on all fours, and I'm great at swimming. It also means I have double eyelids that make me impervious to debris hitting my eyes, and a really nice set of scales over my hands, forearms, shoulders, back, abdomen, hips, legs, anywhere really. I can control them to a certain point, deciding if I want to cover a larger surface at the cost of less thickness, or a smaller surface for more defense.
In any case, I tried to hammer a nail through them a few times to check how good they were at protecting my body.
That got me a very awkward visit to the hospital and a very angry social worker who gave up on my case before I was transferred to my current one. I'd yet to bother learning her name, but she seemed nice, and for what it's worth I'm really sorry I was her first case.
So yeah, nails + hammer + super strength was not good.
Anyway, the written exam. Easier than I expected, but challenging enough that it left me feeling a bit uncertain about my results. I was confident that I had a passing grade, but I wasn't sure how low or high on the ranking table I'd end up at. Sure, Watabe-sensei had implied he wanted me to aim for the Hero Course, but even if I ended up at the General Studies I would be pretty satisfied.
It was still U.A. after all!
Once the written part was done, we were herded away from the halls and into an amphitheater. I saw no familiar faces in the crowd, not that I had any friends to recognize. The closest I got to a friend was the stray cat that I sometimes took care of whenever he clawed at my window when it started raining or when he had an injury. Little Ren spent most of his time outdoors anyway, so we saw each other very rarely.
I wonder how he's doing right now. Hopefully, he isn't trying to get with the neighbour's cat, she was a fierce beast, I still had the mark from her claws when I tried petting her the other day, truly a fearsome monster.
With a little looking around, I got myself seated in a nice corner of the room where I'd have no problem hearing whoever would be on-stage presenting the orientation for the practical exam, and just isolated enough to appear awkward to approach but not extremely edgy like the guy on the actual corner with a bird's head.
It looked like a crow…Or maybe a raven? I'd have to hear him make a bird noise if I wanted to be sure of either, crows tended to be higher-pitched while ravens were more about the clicks and clacks rather than the squawks.
Before I could start playing "Guess the bird" the lights on the stage lit on and illuminated what had to be the most absurd hairdo I had ever seen since that one delinquent dude whose quirk was to summon an illusory projection of himself. He was pretty cool, and quite a nice person when you got to know him. Shame he had to move though, something about his uncle? No idea what it was about now, but I wished him all the best.
"Welcome, dear listeners, to today's show! Everybody say HEY!" The guy, apparently a pro hero by the name of Present Mic, if the green-haired guy's mutterings were to be believed, yelled with genuine excitement.
Nobody replied, but he didn't seem to be too affected by it. Maybe just a little bit. I saw his fingers twitch a little, and he almost took a half-step back before he pushed on.
The rest of the explanation was rather simple. Big urban area, demolished buildings, and ruins. We would be separated into different sections of the city and had to basically run around destroying the robot dummies that would be prowling the city. He broke them down into four different types, each one giving a certain amount of points. One-pointers were simple, melee combatants who used pack tactics and the advantage of numbers to overwhelm you. Two-pointers were ranged, and a bit tougher than Ones. These relied on the cannon fodder that was their comrades to hit you when you weren't looking, so either good defenses or good spatial awareness would be needed to deal with them.
Finally, Three-pointers were like mid-bosses. Tougher than the other two, stronger too. Usually found leading large groups of robots, and were quite dangerous if left alive. Before he could explain the fourth kind, a guy wearing glasses asked a question, scolded the green-haired dude for muttering too loud, and promptly sat back down when Present Mic explained that the fourth kind was just a very big nuisance we had to watch out for.
With that done, we were led out of the amphitheater and told to change before we had to go to the actual testing site for the whole exam thing. I had a bit of a tough time since the girl's changing room was a bit more cramped than I was used to, and my tail almost slapped an alien-looking girl in the back of the head by mistake. I swiftly apologized in my usual awkward manner and rushed out into the buses that would drive us to the testing site.
Man, we hadn't even started and I was already fumbling things.
I slapped my cheeks and made sure to keep the facial mask in place. I would have a bit of an issue breathing through it, but at least I didn't use glasses so they wouldn't fog up with my breath. That said, my eyesight wasn't the best so maybe I really should get that checked out…
As expected, my mind quickly wandered away from my rational thoughts as we drove away into the testing arena. On the way there I resorted to silently praying not to make a fool of myself.
PD: For legal reasons, I do not own My Hero Academia.
"There are no extraordinary men.
Just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with."
Just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with."
I used to be normal, once.
I think so at least.
Then a man dressed in a black suit showed up at our door and things just went to hell.
Dad used to be a hero. Croko, the Reptile Hero he was called. He never broke through the Top 100 placement he reached in his golden days, but he used to love the job, showing up where trouble was the thickest, exchanging blows with a few tough villains, and rescuing people. And then he got crippled. A knee-shot, a villain with super-strength pulverized the entire joint and times got tough for the family.
Mom was…Not very good at working, it turns out. She had issues with every workplace she applied to, never got any interviews to stick, and nobody ever called back, it was sad to see really. Most people would try to force something to happen, to maybe try and start their own business or something, but Mom wasn't the type to work harder when things got rough.
She was the type to walk around the problem.
It was no surprise she left before things got really bad. To this day I still think I would've done the same in her situation, maybe I would have taken the three-year-old with me, but I would've run either way.
In any case, I was too young then to notice the signs. The looks she gave me, the way she distanced herself little by little until one day she just wasn't home anymore. It was then that Dad started drinking, getting angry, and complaining about anything and everything, including me.
Dad used to be a hero. Not anymore.
[ 12 Years Later ]
"Oi, Kuchisake!" A voice called out to me, so I snapped my eyes open and glared at the source of the noise. "Mind telling me what part of my class is so boring that you decided to take a nap through it?"
Oh, it was just Watabe-sensei.
"...'s not your class that's boring, Sensei." I mutter in between a yawn as my double-eyelid does its best to keep my eyes from burning under the light of the morning sun. "Just had a nightmare yesterday and couldn't catch up on my sleep. Sorry 'bout that."
Watabe-sensei just scoffed and returned to his place by the whiteboard, where he continued lecturing the class about biology stuff that I had already gone over at home.
What? Despite my intimidating and dashing looks, I am actually quite the academic.
Not really, I just have an easier time with classes like these that rely mostly on internalizing information rather than memorizing specific procedures, so I just study the textbook at home and take the time to nap or draw through most of the class anyway. Watabe-sensei knows very well I don't fall behind on my grades either way, but I think he feels a bit insulted by how I just end up ignoring him most of the time. Guess I should ask him if he needs help grading some tests again, that usually gets him to relax a little.
As I wait for the class to end, I decide to just reminisce about the good old days.
Namely, the six years I had to suffer under Father Dearest before I was finally able to snitch on him with the local police department, landing him in prison for a few years and getting me thrown out of my own home and into the Childcare Services that Japan had settled for these types of situations. Let me tell you, it was not a good time at all. I had some very bad experiences, and that just settled on top of my lack of parental love, so I guess I had both Mommy and Daddy issues now. Neat.
I'm sure if I happened to slip into a shrink's office I would cause the poor man an aneurysm or something.
But well, it is what it is. Life's a bitch and then you eventually die. I'm just hoping I get to decide what I wanna do before dying though, maybe becoming a teacher isn't a bad idea? I mean, my grades are great, and judging by Watabe-sensei's social skills, all I need is a good frown, a good glare, and an aura of "I will call your parents if you don't behave" and that's it right?
I mean, I guess my impressive size would also help the whole intimidation thing.
Despite the average jumping at an incredible pace since the first appearance of Quirks, Japan's height average was still at around like 170 something? I was easily 190 if I hadn't gotten yet another growth spurt, and I still had like six more years before I stopped right? That's around the same time Father stopped growing by what little he spoke about his younger years.
There's also the second route, try out for a Hero School and try to go pro. That's more or less the ideal nowadays that most kids try to aim for, who wouldn't wanna be a superhero right? But I'm not sure I'm made for that type of profession. I'm a good person, I can admit that with confidence. I don't bully people, I don't extort kids out of their lunch money, I don't sneer at old people or tell them they're annoying, hell, I've even shared my notes with the rest of the class a few times before!
But I'm not sure I'm Hero material. You kinda need the whole fire in your eyes, the heart of gold thing, right? Sure, there are a few celebrities that are heroes on the side, but…Yeah, I'd rather not risk my life on the daily if I could help it. Then again, most of those Hero Schools do have the most prestigious General Studies courses so I really should consider applying to a few at the very least.
The bell rang, the class was dismissed, and I was allowed to go back to napping.
If it wasn't for Watabe-sensei approaching me before I could lay down my head. I decided to be respectful so I straightened in my seat and looked over at him as rested my hands above the desk.
"Kuchisake, you have a minute?" He asked, seriousness clear in his voice. Then again, he was always serious, but now it seemed like a very particular kind of serious. Like 'You're dying in three months of terminal cancer.' kind of serious.
"Sure, what's the problem, Sensei?" I asked, a little worried.
He seemed to catch my tone, so he relaxed his frown a little. Maybe he was thinking about something else that got him all grumpy again.
"Not a problem, not for me anyway." He said, before handing me a piece of paper. It was the future plans sheet I handed back, it was blank except for my name and a little doodle of a crocodile on one of the corners of the page. "Remember this?"
I sighed, and just nodded as I took the paper from his hands.
"Look, I know that…You have a very particular situation to deal with." He started. "But it's still important for you to really, seriously, consider what you want your future to be. You're a bright student, one of the best in the school even, but you need to put your priorities straight and ask yourself what you want to do."
"I know, Sensei, it's just-" He stopped me, a very faint grin visible on his face.
"Don't you go making up excuses, I know what you're dealing with and it can be a handful. For what it's worth if you want to go somewhere big, I've already checked with the principal and he can draft up a letter of recommendation for you. It won't get you in immediately, but you'd probably get placed on a priority list." He gave me a pat on the shoulder and stepped away.
"Just think it over, alright? Would be a shame to see my best student burn out in a boring desk job." Before I could reply, he was already out of the classroom, leaving me practically nailed to my seat as I considered what he just said.
I looked at the piece of paper in my hands and sighed.
"You could've just said you wanted me to aim high, you know? I don't like disappointing expectations, you know that Sensei…" I slithered a hand into my bag to drag out a pen and made sure to mark down my first school of choice before making my way to the Gym for P.E.
If he wanted me to aim high…
"Let's hope U.A. is high enough for you, Sensei." I smiled.
Then I'd just have to aim for the stars.
You know when in Shonen manga there's always a training arc under a very strict but funny or badass mentor that later on dies for the sake of character development?
Yeah, that wasn't happening. I spent the next ten months before the end of the year, and the start of the application process for the different Hero Schools, working part-time at whatever place would have me to pay for a proper gym membership, working every muscle in my body to failure, and basically teaching myself how to fight by punching the lone sandbag at the cheap gym I got myself into.
It was improvised, it was cheap, and it was all self-taught, but I figured most of the other applicants would throw themselves into the practical with about the same lack of experience right? As long as I could throw a few good punches and not pass out from exhaustion, then my body should be able to handle the rest!
Needless to say, it was hell.
I am very much an indoors, lazy, introvert of a person so just doing checkout at a nearby konbini was already pushing my social battery to the limit. Having to deal with the looks from other people at the gym was even worse, and to rub a metaphorical ton of sand on the wound, I also had to watch my diet now!
It was hell, and I was subjecting myself to it willingly.
But well, at least Watabe-sensei seemed pleased with himself when he saw me paying actual attention in class as I took notes on every subject I had to take seriously for the written exam. My grades were already good, but with me actually trying? I'm proud to admit that I ended up graduating first in my class. Not that it mattered to any of the decent schools that I would be trying to apply to, but it was more than enough to keep my morale high as the day of the actual examinations sneaked up on me before I even realized it.
That morning I almost slept through my alarms and only managed to get to U.A. on time because I actually didn't live that far away from the campus itself.
The apartment that I got from my court case against Father Dearest was a solid ten kilometers away. That would usually be an hour or something at walking pace, but I reduced it to about forty-five minutes with me running on all fours, using my tail as a counter-balance, and admittedly jumping a few red lights when no car was in sight.
I silently apologized to my social worker as I finally reached the entrance of the campus just in time to rush right in amongst the last arrivals, barely making it to my designated test room to take the two-hour exam. Sure enough, it was tough as nails, and just as bothersome to deal with. If you're asking yourself what that means then let me enlighten you, my Quirk is called Crocodylian, a mutant type that grants me physical abilities proportional to a member of the Crocodylia animal family.
That means I'm really big. I'm really strong. I'm really fast when running on all fours, and I'm great at swimming. It also means I have double eyelids that make me impervious to debris hitting my eyes, and a really nice set of scales over my hands, forearms, shoulders, back, abdomen, hips, legs, anywhere really. I can control them to a certain point, deciding if I want to cover a larger surface at the cost of less thickness, or a smaller surface for more defense.
In any case, I tried to hammer a nail through them a few times to check how good they were at protecting my body.
That got me a very awkward visit to the hospital and a very angry social worker who gave up on my case before I was transferred to my current one. I'd yet to bother learning her name, but she seemed nice, and for what it's worth I'm really sorry I was her first case.
So yeah, nails + hammer + super strength was not good.
Anyway, the written exam. Easier than I expected, but challenging enough that it left me feeling a bit uncertain about my results. I was confident that I had a passing grade, but I wasn't sure how low or high on the ranking table I'd end up at. Sure, Watabe-sensei had implied he wanted me to aim for the Hero Course, but even if I ended up at the General Studies I would be pretty satisfied.
It was still U.A. after all!
Once the written part was done, we were herded away from the halls and into an amphitheater. I saw no familiar faces in the crowd, not that I had any friends to recognize. The closest I got to a friend was the stray cat that I sometimes took care of whenever he clawed at my window when it started raining or when he had an injury. Little Ren spent most of his time outdoors anyway, so we saw each other very rarely.
I wonder how he's doing right now. Hopefully, he isn't trying to get with the neighbour's cat, she was a fierce beast, I still had the mark from her claws when I tried petting her the other day, truly a fearsome monster.
With a little looking around, I got myself seated in a nice corner of the room where I'd have no problem hearing whoever would be on-stage presenting the orientation for the practical exam, and just isolated enough to appear awkward to approach but not extremely edgy like the guy on the actual corner with a bird's head.
It looked like a crow…Or maybe a raven? I'd have to hear him make a bird noise if I wanted to be sure of either, crows tended to be higher-pitched while ravens were more about the clicks and clacks rather than the squawks.
Before I could start playing "Guess the bird" the lights on the stage lit on and illuminated what had to be the most absurd hairdo I had ever seen since that one delinquent dude whose quirk was to summon an illusory projection of himself. He was pretty cool, and quite a nice person when you got to know him. Shame he had to move though, something about his uncle? No idea what it was about now, but I wished him all the best.
"Welcome, dear listeners, to today's show! Everybody say HEY!" The guy, apparently a pro hero by the name of Present Mic, if the green-haired guy's mutterings were to be believed, yelled with genuine excitement.
Nobody replied, but he didn't seem to be too affected by it. Maybe just a little bit. I saw his fingers twitch a little, and he almost took a half-step back before he pushed on.
The rest of the explanation was rather simple. Big urban area, demolished buildings, and ruins. We would be separated into different sections of the city and had to basically run around destroying the robot dummies that would be prowling the city. He broke them down into four different types, each one giving a certain amount of points. One-pointers were simple, melee combatants who used pack tactics and the advantage of numbers to overwhelm you. Two-pointers were ranged, and a bit tougher than Ones. These relied on the cannon fodder that was their comrades to hit you when you weren't looking, so either good defenses or good spatial awareness would be needed to deal with them.
Finally, Three-pointers were like mid-bosses. Tougher than the other two, stronger too. Usually found leading large groups of robots, and were quite dangerous if left alive. Before he could explain the fourth kind, a guy wearing glasses asked a question, scolded the green-haired dude for muttering too loud, and promptly sat back down when Present Mic explained that the fourth kind was just a very big nuisance we had to watch out for.
With that done, we were led out of the amphitheater and told to change before we had to go to the actual testing site for the whole exam thing. I had a bit of a tough time since the girl's changing room was a bit more cramped than I was used to, and my tail almost slapped an alien-looking girl in the back of the head by mistake. I swiftly apologized in my usual awkward manner and rushed out into the buses that would drive us to the testing site.
Man, we hadn't even started and I was already fumbling things.
I slapped my cheeks and made sure to keep the facial mask in place. I would have a bit of an issue breathing through it, but at least I didn't use glasses so they wouldn't fog up with my breath. That said, my eyesight wasn't the best so maybe I really should get that checked out…
As expected, my mind quickly wandered away from my rational thoughts as we drove away into the testing arena. On the way there I resorted to silently praying not to make a fool of myself.
First time I hear about it, checked it out and yup, seems about right lol
Also, glad you like the silly my brain came up with, there will be more soon hopefully!
Chapter 2 - Start Line
No quotes today, nothing I found worked for the situation being played out.
PD: Imagine, for a moment, that Rules of Nature plays during the tail-end of the chapter. 🐊
Each bus took a slightly different route to ferry each group to the various arenas where we would take our exams. I happened to be assigned to Battle Center "B" and upon arrival, we seemed to have been given a few moments to compose ourselves since the gates had yet to open. Aside from some minor small talk and a few declarations of rivalry here and there, there wasn't much for me to pay attention to until I noticed Freckles, the nickname I'd given in my mind to the mumbling green-haired guy, being approached by a guy wearing glasses. The same one that told him to shut up when we were being given instructions.
He seemed to be scolding Freckles for…Trying to approach a girl? I mean, damn, no need to be so rough with the guy just because of a pretty girl.
I did take a look at her, and we crossed eyes for a moment. She smiled and I did my best to smile from behind the mask, giving her a little wave before I decided to try and see where Present Mic was at since he said something about being the one calling out the start of the test once we were ready. As I was about to approach Glasses to ask if he knew since he seemed to be putting himself in a position of power by scolding other kids for some reason, a loud voice echoed through the area.
"OKAY, START!!!" It was Present Mic's voice, and as he kept shouting something, the gates opened and we all sped through them by instinct alone.
I heard something about not having a countdown in real-life situations and a somewhat distant sound of footsteps. Probably some unlucky fellow got distracted at the worst possible moment. In any case, a few of the guys that had mobility quirks sped through the crowd and into the flanks of the arena, a smart move, to try and close in from the sides would allow them some freedom to choose their targets and avoid the crowd of rampaging applicants as well.
As for myself, well, I wasn't fast enough to try the same tactic, so I just went on all fours and charged through the rest of the group by slithering in between them.
Being bigger did give me the advantage of road priority since a lot of the others just moved aside as I ran past them, trying not to be caught in a head-on collision against my bigger frame. As we continued onwards, more and more of the group started to scatter to the side streets to hunt their own targets, and the only ones who remained in the vanguard were me and a few others. Surprisingly, that same cute girl was keeping pace through it all, even if it looked like she was trying out of some sort of desperation to not be left behind.
I had little time to worry, however, as soon enough the robots started to ambush our position.
A whole bunch of One-pointers charged from one of the alleyways, a Two-pointer set up on the roof of a nearby building as fire support and a Three-pointer approached from the front at the very end of the street with another group of One-pointers. By now it was just me and the girl, so I shot her a look and she did the same. I stopped my charge and pointed at the Two-pointer's position.
"He's all yours, I'll keep the One-pointers from drawing into the building. Fair?" I asked in a rush, sure teamwork would be a good idea to work with, but this was an individual test at the end of the day.
Fortunately, she nodded and rushed into the ruined building, touching a few of the boulders just outside and making them float? They were rising at an alarming speed all things considered, and I made a mental note to ask her about her quirk once this initial wave was dealt with. For now, I had around seven robots to deal with, and the Three-pointer to look out for.
The first squad of three rushed into my range. I charged right at them and kept low to the ground, smacking their joints with my tail and breaking them, immobilizing them in place before the nails in my hands grew to a grotesque size and turned into vicious claws that I used to tear through their thin metal plating. Three heads were scrapped in a second as I turned towards the second group of four.
One of them managed to get close enough to hit me. Thankfully the scales on my forearms extended up my shoulders and over my back, allowing the metallic fist to bounce off them and leaving the robot in a very bad position. I lunged upwards with my left hand, nailed it through the chest, and turned with the inertia, using my tail as a counterbalance, to throw it back at the other three robots that were rapidly approaching.
Two were pushed back, but one managed to sidestep the throw.
I was about to deal with it before the ceiling cracked open, revealing the girl from before riding a boulder as it crashed through the old concrete, crushing the lonely bot and leaving me a big enough window of opportunity to rush the other three, repeating the same move from before and smacking them to the floor before ripping open their heads.
With them done, we had a few moments to breathe and talk before the Three-pointer showed up with an army's worth of bots behind him.
I turned towards the girl and smiled. My hair had fallen over the right side of my face so I had a bit of trouble catching her image before, but now that I looked closely she was quite eye-catching.
"Nice to meet ya, name's Kuchisake." I decided to introduce myself. I could deal with social interaction one-on-one no problem now, but big groups of people? Nope, not happenin'.
"Uraraka Ochako, it's a pleasure." She nodded and looked out once we heard a synth-roar coming from down the street. I stood upright again and stretched my arms a little. "Wanna stay together? Better chances against that one."
I nodded and looked out the windows. I could see the reflection of a big wave of One-pointers in the distance closing up really quickly.
"Sounds like a plan. I can stall them long enough so you can use the boulder trick again. If you run out of ammo give me a shout and I'll throw a few bots your way. Keep an eye out on our rear, don't want another group of close in on us." She seemed to think for a few moments, closing her fists and opening them up again a few times. Maybe her quirk takes more energy than I thought. Well, negating gravity does look like an exhausting idea.
"How many uses do you still have for your floaty quirk?" I asked as I made my way out of the building, dragging two of the neutralized robots outside.
"I can use it for the rest of the exam as long as we don't have to keep fighting all the way through. Gives me nausea if I overextend and…Yeah, not good, very very bad." She winces at the idea, and I turn towards the group of charging robots to identify our foes.
One Three-pointer in the lead. Twelve One-pointers right behind him. Thankfully no visual on any Two-pointers but I imagine they would end up sneaking into the rooftops anyways through the fight. I give Ochako-chan a gesture to prepare and I go on all-fours again, reaching back with my tail and pushing against the already cracked concrete to charge straight for the Three-pointer.
It supposedly gives a buff to the robots around it, making them a little smarter and better at group tactics, so I'd rather take care of it first. It ought to be tougher than the One-pointers though, so I preemptively allow my hands to be covered in scales so I don't bruise or break anything when I get into a brawl with it.
Behind me, I hear Ochako-chan slapping a few large pieces of debris, pushing and kicking them in my direction, so I make sure not to go too fast to let the group get in range of her ammunition.
Soon enough, I come across the group of robots and the melee starts. One would think that charging into the thick of it would be a bad idea, group fights tend not to be very fair when it's a one-on-thirteen, but my scales and claws give me all I needed to turn that notion right around. Heads get ripped open, joints get crushed, metal plating is torn apart and more than a few fall to the falling meteors that Ochako-chan sent my way ahead of time.
Eventually, I whittle down the group until it's just a one-on-one against the Three-pointer and we both charge a fist against each other.
I manage to barely dodge his, the metal plating bouncing off my shoulder and scrapping past my cheek, leaving behind a tiny cut as I land a swift uppercut swing of my claws, managing to slip past the metal plating that connects the chest with the head, and pulling back with all my strength to rip apart the connection, and the mini-boss falls to the group neutralized.
I turn to give Ochako-chan a thumbs up, and she returns the gesture before we hear another synth roar in the distance. There were more points to be gained, and we still had about eight more minutes to keep going.
The next five minutes pass in a blur of action interrupted by breaks after every group we encounter. Maybe it was because we went in as deep as the street would go, or maybe it was because the other groups of students were pushing back the robots, but we just kept on finding ourselves going against large waves one after the other.
We must've gotten like forty points in those five minutes alone, but soon enough Present Mic called over the speakers that only three minutes remained, and a much different synth roar was the only warning we got before a massive robot appeared from behind the skyscrapers we had been resting at the moment. The thing must've taken an eternity to build, and it was so heavy it didn't even have proper legs, instead, it was strapped to a gigantic building-sized set of tracks that trampled over everything, even other robots.
Most of the applicants ahead of us turned tail upon sighting the thing, and it was a damn good idea since even Present Mic recommended to just ignore this thing and run away. But as I was about to turn and get some good distance from the thing, its left hand smacked one of the buildings and threw an unfair amount of debris on top of us.
I was lucky and only a few metal beams hit and bounced off my tough scales, leaving behind bruises that would be hurting like a bitch the next day, but nothing more serious than that. Ochako-chan on the other hand, wasn't as fast in her reaction and only barely managed to avoid the brunt of the fall, resulting in no serious injuries going by the lack of screams of pain, but instead, her legs were trapped under the debris.
She would be able to float it off and escape, given some time, but there wasn't time now, and the massive thing reared back its fist.
I heard Ochako-chan slapping against the concrete and the sound of distant footsteps, but instead of moving or risking a more serious injury by forcing her out of the still very dangerous pile of debris, I took a few steps back and closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing and willing the scales to move over my arms and concentrate fully on my hands.
As I saw the fist falling on top of us, I nailed my tail against the floor beneath me as a third point of contact, made sure to keep my knees bent to not break my legs by what I was about to do, and raised my hands to meet the giant fist. The weight was like nothing else I had tried to lift before, and I had little to no issue moving cars around like it was the most normal thing to do. It sent a wave of pain over my arms, shoulders, and back before the full force of the strike was transferred onto the ground and the street cracked and cratered around me.
That singular moment felt like an eternity, and I could not see anything other than that damned metallic fist as I fully concentrated on not letting it fall on top of us and cursing whoever thought putting a gigantic mecha as an obstacle would be a good idea.
Seriously, have some conscience for the people man!
Thankfully it didn't last forever, or my arms would've imploded right there and then, as the sound of a missile being launched echoed around us, and a massive impact nailed the mecha way up in its nogging, causing the arm to be launched back alongside the rest of its upper body, giving me enough time to push what little debris was left on top of Ochako-chan and turning tail.
It was then that I spotted Freckles falling on top of us from the sky, broken arms and legs judging by the bruises, ragged clothes, and the fact his knee was facing the wrong direction.
Before I could try and catch him with my tail, Ochako-chan managed to move fast enough to slap him across the face and activate her quirk. He stopped falling almost instantly, the momentum of the fall dying a few centimeters above ground, and after half a second to make sure he wouldn't die, Ochako-chan promptly released her hold on his gravity.
As well as her control over lunch.
It was an awkward talk with one Recovery Girl as Freckles was taken away to the infirmary, Ochako-chan was given a few bottles of water and some time to rest, and I was kindly suggested to change my clothes.
Thankfully I still had my student uniform, but that would've been a very long walk home if we weren't told to bring our own clothes for the practical section of the exams.
On the positive side of things, I managed to make a friend!
At the cost of my lucky t-shirt but I guess that's the rule of equivalent exchange for you.
PD: Imagine, for a moment, that Rules of Nature plays during the tail-end of the chapter. 🐊
Each bus took a slightly different route to ferry each group to the various arenas where we would take our exams. I happened to be assigned to Battle Center "B" and upon arrival, we seemed to have been given a few moments to compose ourselves since the gates had yet to open. Aside from some minor small talk and a few declarations of rivalry here and there, there wasn't much for me to pay attention to until I noticed Freckles, the nickname I'd given in my mind to the mumbling green-haired guy, being approached by a guy wearing glasses. The same one that told him to shut up when we were being given instructions.
He seemed to be scolding Freckles for…Trying to approach a girl? I mean, damn, no need to be so rough with the guy just because of a pretty girl.
I did take a look at her, and we crossed eyes for a moment. She smiled and I did my best to smile from behind the mask, giving her a little wave before I decided to try and see where Present Mic was at since he said something about being the one calling out the start of the test once we were ready. As I was about to approach Glasses to ask if he knew since he seemed to be putting himself in a position of power by scolding other kids for some reason, a loud voice echoed through the area.
"OKAY, START!!!" It was Present Mic's voice, and as he kept shouting something, the gates opened and we all sped through them by instinct alone.
I heard something about not having a countdown in real-life situations and a somewhat distant sound of footsteps. Probably some unlucky fellow got distracted at the worst possible moment. In any case, a few of the guys that had mobility quirks sped through the crowd and into the flanks of the arena, a smart move, to try and close in from the sides would allow them some freedom to choose their targets and avoid the crowd of rampaging applicants as well.
As for myself, well, I wasn't fast enough to try the same tactic, so I just went on all fours and charged through the rest of the group by slithering in between them.
Being bigger did give me the advantage of road priority since a lot of the others just moved aside as I ran past them, trying not to be caught in a head-on collision against my bigger frame. As we continued onwards, more and more of the group started to scatter to the side streets to hunt their own targets, and the only ones who remained in the vanguard were me and a few others. Surprisingly, that same cute girl was keeping pace through it all, even if it looked like she was trying out of some sort of desperation to not be left behind.
I had little time to worry, however, as soon enough the robots started to ambush our position.
A whole bunch of One-pointers charged from one of the alleyways, a Two-pointer set up on the roof of a nearby building as fire support and a Three-pointer approached from the front at the very end of the street with another group of One-pointers. By now it was just me and the girl, so I shot her a look and she did the same. I stopped my charge and pointed at the Two-pointer's position.
"He's all yours, I'll keep the One-pointers from drawing into the building. Fair?" I asked in a rush, sure teamwork would be a good idea to work with, but this was an individual test at the end of the day.
Fortunately, she nodded and rushed into the ruined building, touching a few of the boulders just outside and making them float? They were rising at an alarming speed all things considered, and I made a mental note to ask her about her quirk once this initial wave was dealt with. For now, I had around seven robots to deal with, and the Three-pointer to look out for.
The first squad of three rushed into my range. I charged right at them and kept low to the ground, smacking their joints with my tail and breaking them, immobilizing them in place before the nails in my hands grew to a grotesque size and turned into vicious claws that I used to tear through their thin metal plating. Three heads were scrapped in a second as I turned towards the second group of four.
One of them managed to get close enough to hit me. Thankfully the scales on my forearms extended up my shoulders and over my back, allowing the metallic fist to bounce off them and leaving the robot in a very bad position. I lunged upwards with my left hand, nailed it through the chest, and turned with the inertia, using my tail as a counterbalance, to throw it back at the other three robots that were rapidly approaching.
Two were pushed back, but one managed to sidestep the throw.
I was about to deal with it before the ceiling cracked open, revealing the girl from before riding a boulder as it crashed through the old concrete, crushing the lonely bot and leaving me a big enough window of opportunity to rush the other three, repeating the same move from before and smacking them to the floor before ripping open their heads.
With them done, we had a few moments to breathe and talk before the Three-pointer showed up with an army's worth of bots behind him.
I turned towards the girl and smiled. My hair had fallen over the right side of my face so I had a bit of trouble catching her image before, but now that I looked closely she was quite eye-catching.
"Nice to meet ya, name's Kuchisake." I decided to introduce myself. I could deal with social interaction one-on-one no problem now, but big groups of people? Nope, not happenin'.
"Uraraka Ochako, it's a pleasure." She nodded and looked out once we heard a synth-roar coming from down the street. I stood upright again and stretched my arms a little. "Wanna stay together? Better chances against that one."
I nodded and looked out the windows. I could see the reflection of a big wave of One-pointers in the distance closing up really quickly.
"Sounds like a plan. I can stall them long enough so you can use the boulder trick again. If you run out of ammo give me a shout and I'll throw a few bots your way. Keep an eye out on our rear, don't want another group of close in on us." She seemed to think for a few moments, closing her fists and opening them up again a few times. Maybe her quirk takes more energy than I thought. Well, negating gravity does look like an exhausting idea.
"How many uses do you still have for your floaty quirk?" I asked as I made my way out of the building, dragging two of the neutralized robots outside.
"I can use it for the rest of the exam as long as we don't have to keep fighting all the way through. Gives me nausea if I overextend and…Yeah, not good, very very bad." She winces at the idea, and I turn towards the group of charging robots to identify our foes.
One Three-pointer in the lead. Twelve One-pointers right behind him. Thankfully no visual on any Two-pointers but I imagine they would end up sneaking into the rooftops anyways through the fight. I give Ochako-chan a gesture to prepare and I go on all-fours again, reaching back with my tail and pushing against the already cracked concrete to charge straight for the Three-pointer.
It supposedly gives a buff to the robots around it, making them a little smarter and better at group tactics, so I'd rather take care of it first. It ought to be tougher than the One-pointers though, so I preemptively allow my hands to be covered in scales so I don't bruise or break anything when I get into a brawl with it.
Behind me, I hear Ochako-chan slapping a few large pieces of debris, pushing and kicking them in my direction, so I make sure not to go too fast to let the group get in range of her ammunition.
Soon enough, I come across the group of robots and the melee starts. One would think that charging into the thick of it would be a bad idea, group fights tend not to be very fair when it's a one-on-thirteen, but my scales and claws give me all I needed to turn that notion right around. Heads get ripped open, joints get crushed, metal plating is torn apart and more than a few fall to the falling meteors that Ochako-chan sent my way ahead of time.
Eventually, I whittle down the group until it's just a one-on-one against the Three-pointer and we both charge a fist against each other.
I manage to barely dodge his, the metal plating bouncing off my shoulder and scrapping past my cheek, leaving behind a tiny cut as I land a swift uppercut swing of my claws, managing to slip past the metal plating that connects the chest with the head, and pulling back with all my strength to rip apart the connection, and the mini-boss falls to the group neutralized.
I turn to give Ochako-chan a thumbs up, and she returns the gesture before we hear another synth roar in the distance. There were more points to be gained, and we still had about eight more minutes to keep going.
The next five minutes pass in a blur of action interrupted by breaks after every group we encounter. Maybe it was because we went in as deep as the street would go, or maybe it was because the other groups of students were pushing back the robots, but we just kept on finding ourselves going against large waves one after the other.
We must've gotten like forty points in those five minutes alone, but soon enough Present Mic called over the speakers that only three minutes remained, and a much different synth roar was the only warning we got before a massive robot appeared from behind the skyscrapers we had been resting at the moment. The thing must've taken an eternity to build, and it was so heavy it didn't even have proper legs, instead, it was strapped to a gigantic building-sized set of tracks that trampled over everything, even other robots.
Most of the applicants ahead of us turned tail upon sighting the thing, and it was a damn good idea since even Present Mic recommended to just ignore this thing and run away. But as I was about to turn and get some good distance from the thing, its left hand smacked one of the buildings and threw an unfair amount of debris on top of us.
I was lucky and only a few metal beams hit and bounced off my tough scales, leaving behind bruises that would be hurting like a bitch the next day, but nothing more serious than that. Ochako-chan on the other hand, wasn't as fast in her reaction and only barely managed to avoid the brunt of the fall, resulting in no serious injuries going by the lack of screams of pain, but instead, her legs were trapped under the debris.
She would be able to float it off and escape, given some time, but there wasn't time now, and the massive thing reared back its fist.
I heard Ochako-chan slapping against the concrete and the sound of distant footsteps, but instead of moving or risking a more serious injury by forcing her out of the still very dangerous pile of debris, I took a few steps back and closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing and willing the scales to move over my arms and concentrate fully on my hands.
As I saw the fist falling on top of us, I nailed my tail against the floor beneath me as a third point of contact, made sure to keep my knees bent to not break my legs by what I was about to do, and raised my hands to meet the giant fist. The weight was like nothing else I had tried to lift before, and I had little to no issue moving cars around like it was the most normal thing to do. It sent a wave of pain over my arms, shoulders, and back before the full force of the strike was transferred onto the ground and the street cracked and cratered around me.
That singular moment felt like an eternity, and I could not see anything other than that damned metallic fist as I fully concentrated on not letting it fall on top of us and cursing whoever thought putting a gigantic mecha as an obstacle would be a good idea.
Seriously, have some conscience for the people man!
Thankfully it didn't last forever, or my arms would've imploded right there and then, as the sound of a missile being launched echoed around us, and a massive impact nailed the mecha way up in its nogging, causing the arm to be launched back alongside the rest of its upper body, giving me enough time to push what little debris was left on top of Ochako-chan and turning tail.
It was then that I spotted Freckles falling on top of us from the sky, broken arms and legs judging by the bruises, ragged clothes, and the fact his knee was facing the wrong direction.
Before I could try and catch him with my tail, Ochako-chan managed to move fast enough to slap him across the face and activate her quirk. He stopped falling almost instantly, the momentum of the fall dying a few centimeters above ground, and after half a second to make sure he wouldn't die, Ochako-chan promptly released her hold on his gravity.
As well as her control over lunch.
It was an awkward talk with one Recovery Girl as Freckles was taken away to the infirmary, Ochako-chan was given a few bottles of water and some time to rest, and I was kindly suggested to change my clothes.
Thankfully I still had my student uniform, but that would've been a very long walk home if we weren't told to bring our own clothes for the practical section of the exams.
On the positive side of things, I managed to make a friend!
At the cost of my lucky t-shirt but I guess that's the rule of equivalent exchange for you.
Love we got to see our gator strut her stuff without removing midoria's moment of glory. Also love how you made the 0 pointers so oppresive a heavy and unstopable force that really goes to show midorias power even this early on!
Thanks! I'm trying not to take the limelight away from the main cast and I figured trying to expand a little bit on how the practical works in-universe would be a fun way to add a little more weight to the whole scene, good to know it worked 🐊
Chapter 3 - Results & First Day
The days that followed the wait for the application exams passed a little slower than I thought it would. Sure, it was a big thing for me and a whole lot of people, but even in the worst case where I managed to fail both for some weird or stupid reason it only meant I would need to join a vocational school and start working early until I can re-apply next year, but it somehow felt a lot more…Heavy than I thought it would.
Maybe it was just me, Ochako seemed quite in character over the phone. What a weird thing that is, getting a girl's phone number. Going by my classmate's comments I thought it would be a really hard thing to accomplish, but after a quick visit to the girl's locker room to get changed and ready to go home, she offered to call me over the weekend and even went as far as inviting me to have some ice cream!
It was a really kind thing to do for me, first time anyone's ever asked me to hang out actually, but I had to reject the idea of food since…I had my own issues about showing my face.
I think she got where I was going after she reminded herself about the face mask I was wearing that day, and instead changed the plan to go watch a movie and maybe go sightseeing for a little bit. Now that I could get all happy and excited about since I've been wanting someone to watch some good movies with, so I jumped at the chance right away.
Things went just alright though. The weather changed suddenly and without explanation, so when we came out of the cinema we were stuck under some really heavy rain that neither of us had prepared for. Ochako suggested we wait out the rain, but it didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon, so I took a quick jog to the nearest konbini and got each of us an umbrella.
We ended up spending the rest of the hangout walking around a park since we couldn't sit on wet benches, and after a little talk about how nervous she was about receiving her results, and how I didn't look nearly as anxious as I told her I was feeling, we split up and went our separate ways. On the way home I saw Little Ren waiting at the door for me to bring him in to weather the rain, so I opened it for him and he waltzed like he was in his own home.
The audacity.
In any case, I spent the rest of that Saturday evening going over my possible choices for a vocational school. Welding seemed like a good enough alternative. Simple to learn but hard to master, kind of in-demand due to the increase in construction necessity due to all the repairs that were needed every time a villain decided to use the infrastructure of modern-day Japan to their advantage.
You would be surprised how popular train rails are for improvised weapons.
In any case, Little Ren asked to be let out Sunday morning and from then around two weeks passed with no word from U.A. I was actually about to go ask said welding school about any empty spots in their schedule when a letter arrived at the landlord's place. It was a safety measure put up by my social worker just to make sure I wasn't ordering anything dangerous, not that I ever really ordered anything. I guess it was a just-in-case thing rather than an actual concern. Maybe I looked villainous enough to try and make a pipebomb? Only an idiot would order the materials over the internet for that.
But I digress, letter at the door, the landlord gave it to me one Friday morning and I went to the store to buy groceries before going back, preparing lunch, and finally opening the damn thing while I was eating.
Inside the letter was an actual paper note and some kind of holographic projector. I turned down the volume of the TV to hear it better before I placed it on the table and turned it on. Surprisingly enough, All-Might of all people appeared in a somewhat translucent-blue tinted image. Long story short, I passed the written exam with flying colors, getting me a sweet second place in the overall ranking. It was a real surprise, I knew I was good with academics, but I figured Math would weigh me down a whole lot more.
I wouldn't look a gifted horse in the mouth though, and instead kept listening as All-Might's hologram kept talking.
"And your practical exam leaves nothing to be desired! Your approach with teamwork and delegating roles between you and young Uraraka was well-received by the judges, but don't tell them I said that." He whispered that last part out, and I couldn't help the smile that formed now that I noticed just how much of a dork the Number One Hero could be. Even if it was over a simple hologram. "As for your results! With 46 Villain Points, you scored second in the overall ranking, but there is one more detail you weren't told about, and that's this!"
Behind him, in the hologram, the phrase "Rescue Points" appeared as he pointed at it.
"Rescue Points! Granted to those applicants who put themselves in harm's way to protect, aid, or otherwise benefit their comrades with no profit as a motivator! The desire to protect is the desire to be a Hero, and you, young Yamada-" I winced at the mention of my last name but kept listening anyway. "Scored a total of thirty points for putting the safety of young Uraraka above your own!"
I frowned a little. Sure, I did so because it was what felt right at the moment, and I didn't leave that arena with more than some bruising and sore muscles after telling Recovery Girl I was just fine, but I was still hella mad at whoever thought the giant mecha was a good idea.
"Thus, with a total of 76 points, you have been approved and assigned to class 1-A of the Hero Course. Congratulations!" He clapped and I smiled, but also noticed there were a few more seconds left in the recording.
"As an additional point that is in no spirit to try and overtake the importance of your achievements, I am glad to announce that I, All-Might, will be part of the teaching staff at U.A. starting this coming semester!" Now wasn't that an odd thing? Why would the Symbol of Peace try out teaching? Was he thinking of retirement? There were a few theories about his age sneaking up on him, the man was about fifty years old now, so maybe he wanted to secure the next generation?
No matter though, the message ended shortly after that and I was left with a half-empty and lukewarm bowl of instant ramen that I had to finish before cleaning time was due and after that, it was preparing myself for the start of the semester. Only a week and I'd be at one of the most prestigious schools in the country, wasn't that an odd thought?
Once I was done cleaning, I took a photo of the letter and a thumbs-up from me, sending it to the only three contacts I had saved on my phone. My social worker, to let them know I would be attending a new school, Watabe-sensei to boast about passing the hardest exam ever conceived by mankind, an obvious exaggeration, and finally Ochako to check if she had also passed the exam.
A very enthusiastic hour-long voice call that night told me all I needed to know, and we decided to hang out again before school properly started. This time, I decided, I would be treating myself and buying a new set of clothes. I also needed to start working on a proper Hero Suit, so I might as well use the little trip to start brainstorming a few ideas since the Hero course apparently required you to send in at the very least a rough description of one once classes started.
So that was that. I was in. I felt a little relieved but also a little hollow, like I just reached the top of a big mountain I was climbing and realized I was barely halfway up the road.
I put that dread away for now, deep inside my brain so it wouldn't bother me when I was out and about with Ochako, wouldn't want my first-ever friend to have to deal with my baggage.
That week passed a lot faster than I thought, though.
I woke up early.
A little too early. We were meant to be at school by 08:00 and I had opened my eyes at the very crack of dawn, as usual. So I had roughly two hours to grab breakfast and get there. Thankfully I could take my time this go around, but I seriously considered trying to get a bicycle that fit me to make the travel time a little more manageable.
As usual, I took very little time getting ready to go, and by a quarter past seven, I was already inside the classroom. There was a list pasted on the inside of the door as I entered, showcasing the seating arrangement. It went by height, so I would be sitting in the second to last row due to my height. I was a little surprised to find out I was the tallest one in the whole class, but counting the whole list and the number of desks arranged, then we would be too few to fill out every seat, so maybe they were left available on purpose.
I did hear something about U.A. allowing exceptional students from other courses to join the Hero course if they did well enough, so it was probably for that reason.
Nonetheless, I made my way to my seat and promptly set an alarm on my phone five minutes before eight o'clock so I wouldn't have to be woken up by the teacher on my first day, at least I would give whoever the hypothetical teacher-to-be at least one day free of my bullshit. Only then did I cross my arms over my desk, gently laid my head on top of the crook of my elbows, and closed only my secondary eyelid so I would still be able to notice something moving in case I slept through my alarm.
It wasn't even twenty minutes before someone else entered the class. I decided to ignore them and keep napping, but this certain someone apparently didn't take kindly to someone taking an innocent little nap inside the classroom, as they approached my desk and gently tried to shake me awake.
I tried to ignore them, but when they groaned and shook me harder than any reasonable person would consider someone to not notice while they slept, decided to acquiesce and open my eyes properly.
Standing there, with his arms crossed over his chest, and glaring at me with those blocky eyes of his, was Glasses. Same guy who scolded Freckles over mumbling back in the orientation part of the exam.
"You shouldn't sleep in the classroom, it's disrespectful to the institution!" He declared, somehow fitting the words through the metaphorical boot he was currently trying to lick.
I wanted really badly to just ignore him and continue my nap, but the entrance of other students stopped me from doing so.
In order of arrival, as they turned out to introduce themselves once they realized they hadn't been the first to arrive, Yaoyorozu Momo; a girl of respectable height, with ample black hair tied into a somewhat spiky ponytail that hung down her upper back. She checked the seating arrangements and gave me a friendly wave as she took her seat in front of me. Todoroki Shoto. He hadn't introduced himself, but I'd heard of him from Ochako. Apparently came in third right after me with a difference of barely one point between us. His hair was split in half, white and red, and his face had a nasty burn scar that no face mask could hide.
He wasn't as lucky as me in that regard.
He took his seat on the other side of the classroom, and Glasses decided he'd stop tormenting me for a few moments to go introduce himself. As he did so, and a few moments passed, more students started to enter one after another. Fumikage Tokoyami came right after, the bird-head boy. I still had no idea if it was meant to be a crow or a raven, but I took his low voice to be a soft lean towards the larger species of corvid. Next was Mashirao Ojiro and Hanta Sero. Big tail and tape elbows. I'd managed to catch sight of them back at orientation, but not much aside from that. If they managed to get into the Hero course, then I can safely assume they were more than able to pull their weight.
Tsuyu Asui was the shortest member of the class so far. She had a cute habit of adding "-Kero" at the end of her sentences and seemed to be very respectful and mild-mannered. We exchanged a friendly wave and she took a seat just in front of Yaoyorozu. Then came in that alien-looking girl I had almost knocked out with my tail back at the locker room. I tried my best to avert my eyes from her bright smile but did pay attention to her self-introduction. Mina Ashido. I'll make sure to apologize again before the day ends.
The rest came in all in one big group. Yuga Aoyama, with his laser belly. I'd seen him using the recoil from the blast to move around the side streets, but not much else. Denki Kaminari, I had no idea what his quirk did since we were in different battle areas. Koji Koda and Rikido Sato were next. The beefcakes of the class, and part of the tallest members so far. Koji was shy, going by the very faint stutter in his speech, but Rikido made up for both of them with a very energetic introduction. To me, it looked like they knew each other beforehand, but that's something I could ask about at a later date.
Kyoka Jiro was next, alongside Mezo Shoji and Toru Hagakure. Kyoka had amplifier earlobes and Mezo looked like he was half kaiju. It was interesting to see him wearing a face mask as well, and we exchanged a nod of respect and acknowledgment as he made his way to the very back of the classroom. Toru was invisible. I'm not sure how that functioned concerning the practical section of the exam, since the Three-pointers seemed to almost inherently know where us applicants were most of the time, but I didn't think too much about it. She was bubbly enough to get me to put down any suspicions of treachery beyond mere curiosity.
Katsuki Bakugo, first place, made his way into the classroom and for some reason decided to glare at me like I'd stolen his lunch money or something. He made his way to his desk and sat down, immediately putting his legs up on top of the table and leaning back like some common delinquent. Tenya Ida, Glasses, made his way over after all the introductions were done with and tried to scold him.
It resulted in Bakugo calling him a nepo-baby and I had to hold back a chuckle at that. I mean, he did fit the stereotype to the letter after all.
Finally, Ochako came through the door and introduced herself, we shared a little smile and she took her seat around the middle of the classroom. We were only missing one person according to the list, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Freckles come through the door, albeit with a very nervous look in his eyes.
I didn't pay much attention to what he said, since Bakugo almost immediately tried to start a fight for some reason, and as I was about to stand up and go try to calm down the situation to avoid causing an issue on our very first day, one final figure made it through the doors. Encased in a yellow sleeping bag, the corpse of a man waddled to the front of the class.
"If you want to socialize get out of the classroom." He suggested. Not a hint of humor in his statement. I could relate to him, Glasses did take away my nap after all, and he seemed to be in a bit of a harsher position than just dealing with one strict student, but a class full of troublesome people. With a few exceptions of course.
Eventually, the rest did settle down on their seats, and who I assumed to be our homeroom teacher decided enough was enough.
"Eight seconds." He said. "Time is a precious resource, keep that in mind for future classes. My name is Aizawa Shota and I will be your homeroom teacher for the year. Normally the faculty would ask all classes to attend the entrance ceremony and the subsequent orientation period but I deem that decision stupid, therefore I will ask that you go to the locker rooms and change into your sports uniforms. We will be doing a simple Quirk Assessment Test to see how you handle the very basics of incorporating your particular set of skills to menial tasks."
Putting aside the sheer disdain in his voice, we were all pretty quick to comply. Glasses looked a little conflicted about missing out on the ceremony, but he didn't comment on it so I figured he had no problem as long as Aizawa-sensei was allowed to change our program.
I took the chance to apologize to Mina at the locker room as we changed, this time not bumping her with my tail, and instead got a possible new friend. She seemed way more energetic than Ochako, only Toru seemed to be able to match her bubbly personality, but she was more than friendly enough to wave away my worries and just told me it was no biggie.
After a pleasant talk, we made our way out into the field, where Aizawa-sensei started to explain the exercises we would be doing and why not using our quirks in the ones we did at school was stupid. A few comments and a bit more excitement than was warranted seemed to be present in the class's tone since Aizawa-sensei declared the last place would be expelled from the class and reminded us all that we were at U.A. to become heroes, and that is a very serious line of work that has no space for half-assing anything with the weight of people's lives on your shoulders.
Nothing the more silent members didn't already know, but his tone and glare were still quite intimidating so I just decided to give it my best shot and stop worrying about it too much.
First was a fifty-meter race that we were doing in pairs. As expected Glasses dominated that one thanks to the engines built into his legs. I couldn't help but think how problematic those would be for any type of pants or long boots, I mean those stick out quite a lot man, they seemed very uncomfortable to have around.
When it was my turn I was paired with Momo, and she decided to make a skateboard with tiny rocket engines strapped to the sides of it.
"Think you can make one of those in my size?" I asked, mostly out of curiosity rather than a genuine desire to get one. I had no idea how to skate, but it looked hella awesome.
Momo smiled at my comment as Aizawa-sensei reset his clock.
"I could, without the engines though, there is no safe way to refuel them after they're spent."
"Wait did you make actual, functioning solid-fuel rocket engines for a fifty-meter race?" I asked, a little stupefied. The way in which Momo smirked just threw my already confused brain further down the rabbit hole. This girl knew how to make rocket fuel, that's scary as shit, imagine if she knew how to make an atomic bomb or something!
"Ready." Came Aizawa-sensei to the rescue. I shook that stray thought from my mind and got on all fours again, stretching my back and raising my tail a little, getting ready to sprint at full force. "Set."
"Good luck." I mumbled, quiet enough for only Momo to hear. She returned the gesture with a smile and a firm nod before looking straight ahead once more.
"Go." He called, and the rockets to my side almost deafened me.
Still, I managed to get the faintest advantage at the very end of the stretch and got in half a second less than Momo. We smiled at each other and I told her she had to tell me just how did she manage to learn literal rocket science before high school as the whole group made its way to the next event. Side-jumping was a bit hard to give my best in since my longer legs meant I had to move a little more than the rest of the class, but I still made it a little over the bottom five so I gave myself a pat on the back and moved on.
The endurance race was easy peasy, and I came in third after Glasses and Todoroki. Chin-ups and Pull-ups were much more my kind of test, and I easily overtook almost everyone, except for Rikido who managed to clutch in at first place thanks to spacing out the use of his quirk by keeping a sugar cube in his mouth the whole time.
The standing long jump went to Ochako and Bakugo, who just floated and blasted over the limit with ease. But grip strength was my win by far. I decided that I at least wanted one first place out of all these, so I turned around, slipped my face mask up a little bit, and clamped my jaws down on the artifact used to test us.
It ended up breaking and I almost swallowed the damn thing by mistake before I spit it out and quickly pulled the mask over my face again. The rest of the class was looking with a mix of surprise, astonishment, and a little bit of fear coming from Kaminari of all people. I decided not to give it much thought and just mumbled a quick apology to Aizawa-sensei.
"No problem, just try to keep collateral damage to a minimum next time." He said and put the broken thing aside in one of his jacket's pockets.
Finally, it came down to ball throwing. Ochako won by a literal infinite markup and Bakugo almost exploded from rage as Freckles managed to overtake his record with ease. Well, I say with ease, but Aizawa-sensei stopped him before he could break his entire arm, and instead only broke his index finger. It was quick thinking, and I think Aizawa-sensei noticed that too since he had the barest sense of a smirk on his face as he told Freckles to go to the infirmary.
Our first day was cut early, but we were told to prepare for a full schedule the next day, and we were promptly let go from campus. I caught up with Ochako, who acted as my extrovert translator and even managed to get Momo's, Mina's, and Toru's phone numbers for me. I thanked her and had to actively concentrate on not smothering her with my tail when I gave her a goodbye hug before it was time to go home.
All in all, it was a great day, and I was pumped up and ready to go for the next!
