Chapter 7: Introductions
Tennyson residence, 40 minutes earlier
It was the 7th of April, in the morning.
"So, still no leads?" Ben asks, with the phone near his ear.
Gwen types something into her computer and hits enter. "Patience Ben, it's not like we're twiddling our thumbs over here."
Ben sighs. "I know... but it has been a whole month.". He circles around his room.
"Like we said..." She pulls up a video from the surveillance camera of the mall. " The thing you battled was a standard-issue Techadon robot.
The battle plays out right before her. The first scuffle with Kamui Woods, her cousin's intervention with Ball Weevil… "They are known for being vicious and persistent killer robots that do not give up unless they are completely destroyed. And there is the Weaponmaster-client privilege which…
"Which makes them impossible to track down." Ben finishes her sentence and collapses onto the chair with his face in his hands. And Gwen can roughly hear him. "Ughhhh..."
"We'll find them, Ben. You don't need to worry."
He stands back up with the phone still in his hand. "I know. I know we will..."
"Just be patient for now."
"I will." He picks up his backpack. "Make sure to keep me posted."
He takes a deep breath. If only he didn't have this hero stuff to deal with right now…
"It's fine." he thinks as he closes the call. "I should be able to deal with this. Now, I better go out and-"
"Ben!" His mother interrupts him as soon as he steps foot outside of his room. "I've been calling you for five minutes!"
"Sorry mom." Ben says. "Guess I lost track of time."
"Jeez…" Ben's mother says as she starts fixing up Ben's hair and uniform. "These people will be your classmates for the next three years, Ben. So it is really important to make a good first impression."
She brushes his hair back and says: "Be polite, make lots of friends, pay attention during the orientation..."
"Make sure to also enjoy the time I have there?" he asks quippingly. "Don't worry, I have already planned on that."
However she just settles for ruffling his hair. "Sure. Now get a move on, the last thing I want is for you to be late..."
"And of course I arrived early." Ben thinks as he takes a look at his phone.
He smiles. "I guess she got what she wanted..."
So, with a whole 7 minutes ahead of the class starting time, Ben found himself in these halls. He was just now realizing that since school started back up, he would need to get used to a couple of things besides a sleeping schedule...
"I wish I could ask who's idea it was to have a school uniform?.. Especially one with a tie..."
It wasn't too tight around his neck or anything but sitting in class with this on him for the whole day was less than appetizing. "I really hope the orientation spreads out the hero training well."
Because God knows his hero costume was ten times more comfortable than a freaking suit.
Looking at the signs next to the doors, he eventually finds it. His class.
"Was the door always this big?" He thinks as he looks at the giant door with the letters inscribed: "Class 1-A".
He had entered the written exam in class 2-A so he should have seen it before. "I really need to pay more attention..."
With no hesitation, he grabs the handle on the door. "This is my starting line."
And slides it open. "Let's see who we're dealing with..."
Inside, not to much of his surprise, there were only five students that had chosen their seats and—
"Good morning!"
…were waiting for the class to start.
Before he knew it, Ben immediately got blasted with a serious and too loud for the morning tone. Robotically coming towards him, the student introduces himself to the American newcomer. "I am from Somei Private Academy! My name is Iida Tenya! And I would like to greet my new classmate!"
Ben gives a dumbfounded answer. "Umm… Thanks?.." Maybe "strict" wasn't the right word for him.
Like he was programmed to answer. "Now, if you please choose a seat and wait for the class to start like the rest of us..."
"Okay." He takes a glance. "Let's see..."
As he was looking for the optimal seat, his eyes did drift to the "crowd", considering that they would be neighbors if they sat next to each other.
He did see Iida coming from the left side of the class, so… maybe a place on the right could be better. And, to his 'luck', the other four students had done just that.
One was a tall girl with a black ponytail on the far right, a boy with dual hair-colors of white and red was sitting right beside her. And lastly, there was another boy with a head shaped like a bird.
He would totally be down to sitting with them... IF it weren't for the intense aura around them.
"Yeah nope..."
As for the fourth, he recalled seeing this person before but not in his current form...
"Kirishima?" he asks.
"Tennyson?!" surprised to see him and raises his fist. "Hey man, guess we ended up in the same class!"
"Yeah." and fist bumps him. "Nice hair by the way."
He self-consciously fixes his new spiky, crimson red hair. "Thanks. New school, new me you know?"
"It looks good."
"Thanks. But..." he then pulls Ben closer and desperately says: "...please try to not mention it to the others."
He laughs. "You have my word."
Ben then takes his seat to Kirishima's left, just in front of that triangle of death. "So, what have you been up to since then?"
"Not much, it has just been me and the sandbags for the last few days to be honest. "
He hardens his hands. "I want to give my best when the battle training comes around."
"Fair enough." He replies and leans back on his chair. "Me too, I guess."
"I have no doubt you're going to dominate..." Kirishima eagerly says. "With that quirk of yours, it's gonna be real hard to hit you."
"I know..." Ben chuckles. "I would give you a free shot if you want..."
"No no, I want to get that shot in myself." Kirishima says. "I won't take any freebies."
Ben appreciates that, knowing that people don't want him to hold back at all. "If you say so, but I won't make it easy for you."
Kirishima makes his hardened hand into a fist. "Bring it."
"You have no idea what you're in for Kirishima." He was really starting to get competitive too. There weren't many things in life that rivaled his enjoyment from a good friendly competition.
But before all that, a blond boy with a black lightning bolt enters the classroom with a familiar student by his side.
"...Speaking of it, wanna grab a bite to eat after today?"
"I think I'll pass on that Kaminari." She says with very little care.
"C'mon!" he begs. "It will be fun. What do you like?"
"People that don't annoy me?" she replies before being seen by the American himself.
"Jiro?"
Hearing her name, she turns and waves. "Oh, hey Tennyson."
Ben gets up and tries his hand on some small talk. "So, you passed huh… Congrats."
"Thanks." she replies. "I should probably thank you for the rescue points..."
"Nah, that was nothing." Ben scoffs it aside. "Only thing I did was ram into a bunch of stuff."
"Now, that is true." Jiro says.
"Wait…" Kaminari says, barging into the conversation. "Are you THE Tennyson?!"
Ben can suddenly feel many new curious pairs of eyes being set on him, especially from the serious corner of the class.
"Why do people keep saying it like that?" He thinks but Ben can't lie…
After a whole year of being a 'vigilante' and not getting any spotlight, he sure liked the attention. "Yep, that's me."
"I asked Jiro about you. That's a super cool armadillo quirk you got there!"
"Heh, quirk, sure..." He thinks and replies: "Thanks."
"Armadillo?" Kirishima asks. "Tennyson, I thought you had-"
Suddenly, a student with ash-blond hair comes closer to the group with a death glare. "So, you're the foreign bastard..."
It was Bakugo and from what Ben knew about him, his anger wasn't from the seat he chose...
Ben stands up and looks directly at him. "Yes, and you are Mr Sparkles & Sunshine I'm guessing?"
"Listen here." Bakugo says aggressively but without shouting. "Those rescue points may have given you an edge for the practical exam… But I'll show you who's better than who here."
Ben, from off the top of his head, could name 15 aliens that would wipe the floor with him… But why bother? After all, he wasn't 10 years old anymore. "Sounds to me like you're desperate…"
"Hmph, don't tell me I didn't warn you. Side character..."
Alright, he was really itching to put this guy in his place now. But someone would swiftly snap him out of his thoughts...
"What are you two doing?!" Iida runs and stops by them. "Don't you think it is disgraceful to be fighting in Japan's greatest hero school?!"
Jiro deadpans. "There isn't much of a fight though, Iida."
"Yeah." Pointing to Bakugo, Kaminari says: "We are all getting to know about his crappy personality.
With Bakugo's anger boiling, Ben smiles at his expense.
Bakugo on the other hand: "HEY, YOU LISTEN HERE-!"
Even during this, Iida tries to not let up and continue through with his point.
With ever changing hand signs towards Bakugo, "I suggest you break this up. Even arguments on the first day of the new semester do not suit UA! We must act properly!"
Before he can say anything that isn't age-appropriate though, the door of the classroom slides completely open.
"Oh, um..." the greenette nervously tries to gather his thoughts after seeing that Bakugo was itching to rip Tennyson apart.
Unfortunately, the universe would give him no such chance...
"Good Morning!" Iida walks over to him. "I am from Somei Private A-"
Jumpily, Midoriya cuts him off, "I heard!" which has Iida pause right in his tracks.
He politely says, "I-I've heard some of the talking. I'm Midoriya. Nice to meet you Iida."
"Midoriya..." he says with respect. "You realized there was something more to that practical exam, didn't you?"
"I had no idea… I misjudged you!" he says and bows his head. "I hate to admit it, but you are better than me."
"At least he's being honest about it… and polite unlike some people." Ben thinks, trying his best to not turn his gaze back to Bakugo. "Guess Iida's just sincere… too sincere."
"Oh, that curly hair!" Ben hears from the hallway. "You're the plain-looking one!"
"Huh!" Midoriya turns with his levels of embarrassment going way up.
In the midst of the pair's rambling, he catches a line from the girl: "Of course you did! Your punch was amazing!"
"Ah, so she's the person you saved..." Ben thinks.
Seeing that this is going nowhere, Bakugo scoffs and walks back to his seat and Ben gets the chance to finally sit down.
However, he then notices something… "Wait, there were 20 people per class, right? Counting the trio by the door-"
Just like he thought, that was the whole 20. And he would be lying if he said his class didn't look interesting. "This will certainly be fun..."
In the meantime, Midoriya was just trying his best to form a coherent sentence while the girl continued to talk to him. "-Oh well, um, it was thanks to you going to speak with-"
However, the girl just did not give him any chance. "I wonder if today's just the entrance ceremony and orientation? I wonder what our teacher's like? Aren't you nervous?-"
"Go somewhere else if you want to play at being friends..." a dead, exhausted voice says, interrupting her.
She turns around and sees a tired yellow caterpillar with a face on the floor.
"This is the hero course." He says with bags under his eyes.
"Someone's in there?!" Midoriya thinks with a shocked expression.
The man gets out of his sleeping bag and reveals himself to the trio by the door. "Okay, it took ten seconds before you were quiet."
Getting inside his class, he says: "Time is limited. You kids are not rational enough."
Ben immediately recognises him and wants to wave… but on second thought that might not be a good idea. Right now, he couldn't tell whether the teacher was scolding them or not...
"I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa." he introduces himself. "Nice to meet you."
"Maybe not." Ben thinks.
He pulls out some kind of uniform from the sleeping bag and continues, "It's kind of sudden, but put this on and go out onto the field. I'll be waiting for you there."
With him leaving, the students were left confused… There should have been an orientation, introduction, something. But among them, Ben couldn't care less. Honestly he was just glad to get out of this tie and uniform right after coming to school.
But he was certainly curious about what the teacher had planned...
As they were waiting for everyone to arrive in their dark-blue, white and red UA gym uniform, talks were already spurring up between classmates, getting to know each other a bit.
One such talk wasn't exactly about that…
"So, Jiro right?" Kirishima says as he approaches.
"Yeah, you were Tennyson's friend?"
"Kirishima Eijiro." He introduces himself. "I was meaning to ask..."
"Don't try to invite me for after school, someone tried that already..." she throws a look towards Kaminari.
"No, of course not. That would not be chivalrous!"
"Chivalrous?" she thinks however Kirishima quickly moves on.
"Anyway, I wanted to ask you about Tennyson's quirk. Kaminari was saying something back at the class..."
In the meantime, they had also started to get the names of other classmates.
"Yeah, it's something like an armadillo, right?" Jiro says confusedly. "He just turns into a ball and crashes into stuff?"
Kirishima tries to process this but he can't. He knows what he saw back at the mall. "Umm, so…"
He tries to gather his thoughts since Kamui Woods prevented the media from recording them, so literally no one had any idea of their involvement and the pro hero had asked them to keep it like that. "Are you sure that was Tennyson? The one we know?"
"Yeah." Jiro deadpans. "I saw him turn back."
"Huh…" Kirishima scratches his head in confusion. "I met Tennyson a month ago and he didn't seem anything like that..."
Jiro raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Didn't he yell out 'Cannonbolt' or something like that?"
It was now Kirishima's turn to raise his eyebrow.
"You know..." Jiro continues. "Big guy, orange & white color scheme, armor on his back?"
He was really confused. "No, he was a small bug. He called himself Ball Weevil..."
The two were perplexed and just then...
"It is most likely a composite quirk from both parents..."
The pair turn and see the tall, black haired, ponytail girl with thin and sharp eyes with also black pupils, speculating with them. "Oh, I'm sorry for interrupting. I was just thinking out loud."
"It's cool…" Kirishima says enthusiastically. "After all, the more of us think about this, the better!"
All the while, Jiro points to the easy way out. "I mean… we could just ask Tennyson, you guys..."
However, neither the girl nor Kirishima are onboard. "I must object, Jiro. I think this is a very intriguing problem that would be really fun to solve..."
"Yeah, we should figure out what it is on our own!" Kirishima then realizes the important step that he missed. "Oh, I must have missed it but can you tell us your name again?"
"Oh, that's right!" She says. Where are my manners?"
She slightly bows and says: "My name is Yaoyorozu Momo. I'm pleased to meet you."
The two try to bow back in a similar manner but fail miserably at doing it. Laughing internally at her situation, Jiro thinks: "She might be a rich girl..."
After all, that's what her manners were showing at least.
In the meantime, Kirishima was right back to the question at hand. "But, for a composite quirk… Don't they seem too distinct?"
"Not necessarily." Yaoyorozu tries to justify however upon thinking again: "But I do see your point. Hmm..."
She snaps her fingers."If the two transformations seemed like wild animals, what if he has an animal quirk?"
Just then Ben also exits the changing room, in his gym uniform.
Throwing a glance at the American, Jiro says:"So what, is he like… a beast boy?"
"That's the theory I'm currently pondering ab-"
Interrupting Momo mid-sentence, Aizawa exhaustedly calls out to all students. "Everyone listen up..."
All students turn to him and cease their talking.
"Now that everyone is here, we will hold a quirk assessment test."
The entire group repeats in surprise. "A quirk assessment test?!"
With how sudden these news were, some kind of questioning does break out.
"What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?" asks the girl who was with Midoriya.
Jiro thinks: "Her name was Uraraka, right?" The girls had talked a bit in the changing room as well so Jiro was mostly familiar with the names.
"If you're going to become a hero, you don't have time for such leisurely events." Aizawa replies. "UA's selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are. That's also how the teachers run their classes."
He turns to his students. "You kids have been doing these since junior high, too, right?"
Showcasing the list on his phone and the events written on it, "Physical fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your quirks."
Jiro remembered them, especially the faces of his classmates that couldn't use their super strength or speed. They were especially upset whereas others, like her, were relieved.
"This country still uses averages taken results from students not using their quirks."
He then asks Ben. "My guess is that it is like that in America too, Tennyson?"
The American replies. "Yeah, everyone had to go through the standard procedure. No exceptions."
With disappointment, Aizawa pushes back his long hair. "I knew it. It is not rational and yet the ministries of education are procrastinating all over the world..."
"Anyway Tennyson, you also finished at the top of the practical exam, right?"
"Yeah..." Jiro hears him reply.
"What was your previous best result for the softball throw?"
"It was… 164 feet so… around 50 meters?" he says.
"Then, try doing it with your quirk. You can do whatever you want as long as you stand inside that circle."
"Alright." Ben replies, stretching his arm for the day's first transformation and then hitting the rims on his watch.
Yaoyorozu nudges Jiro and asks "Do you recall if his 'armadillo' could throw that with success?"
Jiro scoffs. "He could barely stand on his two legs. Throwing? Not likely."
Kirishima joins in. "His bug had these… slime balls that he could throw and explode but I don't know about a softball."
The trio watch him carefully mess with the watch on his wrist. And after finishing that he turns to his classmates and says: "Just a heads up everyone! Please don't provoke me until I transform back."
Jiro thinks: "What does that m-"
Ben slams down his watch and a green flash covers the area.
She opens her eyes. "Tennyson?"
Suddenly an aggressive, feline but deep voice starts to scream… for literally no reason at all.
"RAAAAAATH!" he screams and looks at the ball right next to his foot.
"WHAT?!" Kirishima and Jiro both yell, however theirs were a farce compared to the orange&white kitty cat.
Rath, pointing towards the ball with aggression, "LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN YOU LITTLE SOFTBALL THAT'S NOT EVEN THE SIZE OF RATH'S PALM! RATH WILL TAKE YOU AND THROW YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD!"
"Did… Did he really just turn on his Bakugo mode?" Jiro quips inside her head.
"AND THEN! I WILL PICK YOU BACK UP AND THROW YOU AGAIN! HAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Rath swiftly picks up the ball and throws the ball like a professional baseball pitcher.
The throw was so intense that Jiro could swear she felt a breeze right on her. "Wow..."
"YEAH! AND KNOW YOUR PLACE!" Rath continues to scream.
With the ball immediately vanishing from his sight, Aizawa continued to drive his point. "Know your own maximum first...That is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero."
And then showed them the result… of 2115.6 m.
All of them had their jaw-dropped… Tennyson threw that for 2 km?!
"Yeah! You see that! Hero time!" Rath pointed to the phone, continuing to gloat and roar with a signature look of superiority.
As he gloated, someone from the trio was left deep in thought by the results.
"Incredible…" Yaoyorozu thought and turned to the two other students. "Did any of you-" she starts to ask but it's pointless. Both students shake their heads. This… was a new one.
"Considering the input of Jiro and Kirishima, Tennyson has that, an armadillo transformation and another form akin to an insect… And there were also his mannerisms prior morphing as well..."
She puts her hand on her chin. "His quirk... might be even more versatile than my Creation. I wonder why he didn't get in through recommendations..."
As she was thinking, Kirishima tapped her on the shoulder. "Your animal quirk idea might be right, Yaoyorozu! Look at the claws on him!"
Snapped out of her thoughts, she haphazardly replies: "Yes, with the scheme of the fur and the claws, it certainly has a very tiger-esque design…"
Jiro remarks to Kirishima: "I'm guessing that's your favourite? Because of the whole strong physique thing?"
"Well, I don't know about the gloating… But everything else!" he replies. "So manly!"
Jiro then asks: "What's your take, Yaoyorozu?"
The creation girl says: "I think we should wait and see."
"Huh?" The two grunt.
"From how he spent his time, I suspect this might not be the extent of his capabilities..."
Then, from out of the corner of her ear, the trio hear something… or more accurately someone.
"consideringthatheaskedustostaybackthisformmighthavedependenciesonhismoodasitisshowntobequiteaggressivehisprimaryfiledwillprobablyberelatedtovillainattacksratherthanrescue..."
Kirishima is the first to turn. "Oh! Hey Midoriya!"
"What- Oh, hello Kirishima." Lifting his head from the notebook and stopping the muttering, Midoriya looks at his classmate. "I-I didn't see you there..."
"What are you writing down?" he asks. After all, this wasn't the orientation that they were expecting.
"J-Just Tennyson's new form… I'll have to detail it out later but for now..." he then shows some general notes like 'enhanced strength' and the doodle he sketched up swiftly to go along with that.
"Looks good." he replies, which Midoriya promptly thanks him for.
Jiro and Yaoyorozu follow after him and do introduce themselves but something else catches Yaoyorozu's eye as she gets a glimpse of the page. The title was…
"Tennyson Ben: Form 5?" she repeats and makes a move towards the notebook. "May I take a look?"
"S-sure." and passes the notebook to her.
"Incredible..." She turns the pages. "Water Hazard?.. Blitzwolfer?.."
"Huh, I don't see Cannonbolt anywhere..." Jiro asks. Apparently she and Kirishima were looking over Yaoyorozu's shoulder.
"Cannonbolt?" Midoriya asks before it all clicks inside his head. "Tennyson revealed another form?! Can you describe him?" Midoriya asks ecstatically, taking the notebook back from the creation girl.
"Yeah, it's..." Jiro starts but she doesn't get to finish her sentence.
Due to Tennyson's feat, everyone was getting in the zone to do their absolute best in these upcoming 'fun' tests.
"2 kilometers? Seriously?" Kaminari replies with nervousness.
With excitement, another girl with pink hair and skin, joins in: "What's this? It looks fun!"
"We can use our Quirks as much as we want! As expected from the hero course!"
"'It looks fun', huh. All right..." Aizawa says and his expression changes…
A smirk on his face forms. "Then whoever comes in last place in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential and will be punished… with expulsion."
Unlike most of her class, Yaoyorozu doesn't really react to that. Some were nervous, some…
"THIS ISN'T ALL I GOT!" Rath yells.
...were excited.
But her? She knew she would pass, all she had to do was play her cards optimally, simple stuff. No reason to get nervous... "I wonder who will end up as the one failing though..."
She then feels shaking on her hand or more accurately… on the notebook she was passing along. "Oh..."
Midoriya was absolutely terrified. His excitement over 'Cannonbolt' was completely gone and he was shaking in his shoes.
"Oh no...This is bad...In all eight tests?" Midoriya looks at his hand with concern, the one he punched that robot with back at the mall. "I can't dial One for All back yet…"
"At least, not properly anyway..."
Aizawa, with his smile turning more and more menacing, pushes his hair back. "We're free to do what we want about the circumstances of our students."
"Welcome to U.A. 's hero course!"
Test 1: 50-meter dash
"A test of speed with a 50 meter track..." Yaoyorozu thinks and takes off her shoes before the race begins.
She puts her naked feet on the starting block. "Seems simple enough..."
"Hey!" A pink girl with horns takes the place next to her. "You ready to do this?"
"Yes, I am." Yaoyorozu answers and looks ahead with determination. "Are you prepared, Ashido?"
Ashido also plants her feet to the starting block. "Yup, born ready! May the best gal win."
"Sure..." Yaoyorozu says, trying to be polite.
"On your mark…" says the camera-bot. "Get set…"
*Bang!*
Ashido immediately takes the lead, sliding on some liquid that's coming out of her shoes. "Yahoo! Let's go!"
She was almost halfway through the track. Ashido was going to win!
"I don't think so." Yaoyorozu leaps forth and steals the lead right under her nose! "I won't be making this easy."
She moves in a way that resembles Ashido's movements, sliding to the right and left to gain further speed…
Ashido looks at what's on Yaoyorozu's feet. "Are those-?"
"3.24 seconds… 3.26 seconds." The robot sequentially utters.
"Aww…" Ashido pouts. "I was so close!"
"Yes, you were." Yaoyorozu says as she fixes her ponytail. "If only the track was a bit shorter..."
"I know right!" Ashido says. "And where did you get those rollerblades?!"
Yaoyorozu takes a look at her feet and sees the shoes with wheels on her.
She calmly responds: "I made them."
"Really?! What else can you make?" Ashido curiously asks.
"Well, in order to create something, I must understand their molecular structure completely. And then, I use the lipids inside my body to..."
As the rich girl goes into explaining her quirk, the two hero training buddies watch on from the side.
"So...We know one of their quirks. What do you think the other one is?" Ben teasingly asks. He knew that Midoriya just loved doing this sort of thing.
"I-I don't know… P-Producing water?"
Ben shakes his head but still asks: "Final guess?"
"I-I don't know..." Midoriya repeats himself.
Ben then points at the scene. "See the steam coming off from the puddles? I'm no gardener but I know that water does not do that."
"A-Acid?" Midoriya says.
And Ben snaps his fingers in response. "Bingo."
"I-I s-see.." Midoriya goes into writing into his notebook and Ben chooses to pat himself on the back.
"All it takes is one keen eye, right? Grandpa?" Ben thinks. "I know it was pretty obvious but-"
Ben's eyes then land on Midoriya and the pages of his notebook.
The left side was all organized and the text was always kept between the lines but on the right…
Ben sees the shivering on Midoriya's hand.
"Midoriya..." he waves his hand in front of the greenette's eyes, taking his attention. "It's okay… You and Toshinori worked for this."
"Midoriya. Iida. Your turn." Aizawa shouts.
"I'm sure you'll do great." Ben finishes and Midoriya's shaking decreases.
"You worked for this too..." Midoriya says.
"Well, I prefer to be told that rather than say it." Ben says as he shrugs. "Now, go out there and prove it."
As Midoriya took his place at the track, his mind, just like his heart, was still racing. "Grip strength, standing long jump, repeated side steps… I'm sure everyone will use their Quirks to produce some extraordinary results..."
In the meantime, Iida takes a brief glance at his partner and fixes his glasses. "No wonder he's nervous, there are no rescue points here.
"It's a battle... to not be last."
Iida wants to get into position as well, but something in him just doesn't let go...
"Let us both do our best." he says as he lends his hand forward for a handshake.
"I'm his classmate and a hero student." Iida declares in his mind. "I should be of assistance when someone needs it."
"R-Right!" Midoriya shakes his hand and the two get into position, putting their feet on the starting blocks. "I won't disappoint. I can surely use One for All to increase my speed too... just like how All Might does it."
"Control… Control…"
A red energy spreads to his right leg. "I can't afford to fail, not on the first day!.."
If it was any hotter, sweat could start going down his head. Midoriya bites his lip and the robot starts his countdown. "On your mark…"
"Start small, Midoriya."
Get set…
"5% output… Only open that 5%..."
*Bang!*"
"You did it o- Woah!"
With a roaring shockwave, Midoriya immediately takes the lead as he launches himself forward with his right leg...
"Owwww!"
...crashes face first into the pavement. However, that was the least of his worries…
"Get up..." Midoriya screams inside his mind. "GET UP!..."
He leaned most of his weight on his left leg, but pressing his right foot on the ground still made it hurt like hell…
"5.32 seconds." the robot finally announces and Midoriya could barely prevent himself from falling to the ground.
"Ow! Ow!" He groaned as he bounced towards the audience. "All Might… You said the trick to controlling this was..."
"…the feeling!"
3 weeks ago
"Wow, that's All Might for you!" Back during the night of the entrance exam results being out, All Might in his skinny form went and picked up Midoriya from the hospital after the incident with the robot.
"You've already pulled out the 100%. And on top of that, you have been training with young Tennyson ever since."
Midoriya looks at his hand. "But, even with punching that robot, it still destroyed my hand."
"Aha, but you said this time there was no internal bleeding." He then points to his bandages. "What did you do differently this time?"
"Umm… I used the dam image that Tennyson gave me..." Midoriya tries to recall and then it hits him!
"I might have only used 50% of my power!"
"See!" All Might points out. "You are grasping the feeling of it!"
"If that dam the image you have in your head, then imagine opening less number of gates or a smaller gap of each gate. Anything goes, just focus on the amount of water coming out."
Pointing to his own head, All Might continues. "You have three weeks until school starts. Keep focusing on that image."
"Tennyson and I will be here to help you and with that I'm sure you will be able to do it someday."
"Even if I have the image in my head, when I have to actually use it..." Midoriya thinks as he looks at his broken leg and rubs his sore forehead. "After I get control, I must be able to transfer my power from one leg to the other as I run along..."
As this little broadcast continued inside his head, his class were surprised but also very worried…
Uraraka looked on concernedly. And while Iida shared the sentiment, he also had curiosity behind it. "His leg's swollen...There was the entrance exam too. His quirk is a strange one..."
"It is not very stylish." says another student with blonde hair and a very fancy belt.
"Not too handy either..." says Jiro. "No wonder he couldn't get any villain points..."
… at least most of the class was worried anyway.
"DEKU, YOU BASTARD!" Bakugo yells and dashes at the greenette with miniature explosions going off all across his hand. "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!"
"K-Ka-Kac-" Midoriya freezes at the sight of the murderous blond, completely unaware of the green flash that happens in the crowd.
"Hey!" a hulking white and yellow figure interrupts him. "Do you really think he needs that right now?"
"Who the fuck are you?!" Bakugo shouts.
Ben points to the dial on his chest. "Ring any bells?"
Bakugo does put two and two together. "You motherf-"
But before he can lash out further, two lines of grey cloth interrupt him. "What the-? These cloths are hard-!"
"They are weapons made of carbon fiber…" Aizawa calls out, immediately grabbing the class' attention. His hair had now spiked up and his pupils had become bright red. "...Perfect for keeping students like you in line."
A slight feeling of fear washes over them, so THIS was the intensity of a pro.
"And Tennyson! Don't spring up without being told to do so!"
Most of the crowd was getting whiplash effects one after the other. THAT was Tennyson? But his quirk was turning into a tiger, was it not?
"Sorry sensei! I was just getting ready for my turn, that's all." Ben casually responds.
Aizawa just shrugs it off, he really couldn't care less about it right now. "Whatever, This is a waste of time. Whoever's racing with him, get ready." before deactivating his quirk on Bakugo.
Cannonbolt throws the ash-blonde a glare that could outright say: "Move along."
Midoriya takes a deep breath and puts his hand over his heart to calm himself down. Even the power of One for All couldn't prevent the unease he got from seeing an angry Bakugo.
As he limps his way back, Ben pulls him aside. "Midoriya..."
The greenette immediately knew what that meant: "I know I shouldn't have rushed it, Tennyson. But-"
Cannonbolt covers his mouth. "I know what you mean."
He then looks back at Aizawa and continues to talk to him. "I want you to stay in this class too but... try to NOT kill yourself over it."
"Go to the nurse's office and recover a bit."
Midoriya was hesitant… but it was not like he could do anything else. "Alright."
Seeing his friend unhappy, Ben points to himself. "By the way, this one is Cannonbolt."
"Oh..." Midoriya replies in a surprised manner but his head was far too filled right now. "Cool..." And attempts to leave.
Cannonbolt still doesn't let go however…
"Keep trying Midoriya..." He puts on a friendly smile and continues to whisper. "I'll be waiting for you by the finish line."
Midoriya's response… was just a simple nod.
When he gets back, he is then immediately greeted by Uraraka's concern. "Is your leg all right?"
"O-Oh, y-y-yeah." he replies nervously. "So close-!"
"No it is not, Midoriya." Iida steps forth, and points to the ground.
Midoriya sees a faint trail of red from here to the track, all formed under his right leg. "You are clearly unwell and need to see Recovery Girl immediately."
"Permission rejected..." Aizawa says as he also joins the group. "No one will go to the nurse's office until the end."
The three were taken aback by this.
"Aizawa-sensei, Midoriya is in clear need of some urgent treatment." Iida tries to defend his friend, but…
"And could he get this treatment in a real situation?" Aizawa asks the group.
"Natural disasters, big accidents, selfish villains..." he starts. "Heroes are meant to be the ones who overcome those situations."
Looking directly at Midoriya, he says: "They can't end up on a hospital bed right after saving only one person."
And walks away. Midoriya sits on the ground.
Clearly his orders were final. But his situation wasn't hopeless.
"May I take a look at that leg, Midoriya?" says Yaoyorozu, stepping forth from the crowd. "I do not know much but I have read about first aid for a variety of situations."
The greenette looked at her with such gratitude and tried to roll back his gym uniform.
Uraraka and Iida helped and its look was less than pleasant.
She rolled back her sleeves. "Alright, first of all we need to stop the bleeding."
A pink glow appears on her shoulder and she suddenly pulls out two sterile bandages and two splints.
She turns to Uraraka and Iida. "We're also going to need ice to cool off the area."
In the corner, the ears of the student with two hair colors perk up, but as soon as he looks over, he dismissively walks further away.
And as he exhales, a chilling breeze comes out of his mouth...
After Iida helps with the blood and Uraraka tries to help with the splints, Yaoyorozu warns him. "I know we still have some tests to go but try not to move too much."
Midoriya looks sorrowful, but appreciates that his friends all came together to help him. "Thanks a lot Yaoyorozu, I really appreciate it."
She wipes the sweat on her forehead and pulls out a protein bar from her pocket. "No need. It is what us, heroes, must do."
Meanwhile, as Midoriya gets his treatment, Bakugo is still mad about what happened with that foreigner… Thankfully, someone was about to help him with that.
"Hey man!" someone calls out to him.
"What?!" Bakugo responds with the most aggressive tone possible without shouting.
"You really made an impact on the class, huh?"
"What do you know, shitty hair?!"
"It's Kirishima." the redhead laughs it off. "And man, were you aggressive?"
He crosses his arms and nods. "...I can respect that style though. After all, you aren't the only one." He was clearly trying to not point to Tennyson as he did that.
The ash-blond refuses to talk however Kirishima doesn't let up.
He adds: "But is there any reason for why you're so harsh on Midoriya?"
Bakugo turns to him and Kirishima tries to follow up. "I mean, the man broke his leg..."
"Hmph!" Bakugo scoffs, avoiding giving Kirishima an answer.
Bakugo squeezes his fist. "He's just a pebble at the side of my road… I WILL crush that weakling."
He then sees Ben as Cannonbolt, completing the 50-meter dash in 2.51 seconds. "And that freak show...once and for all."
For the next test, the class were brought to a closed gym and thanks to another generous act from Yaoyorozu, Midoriya was able to get a crutch and move along with that as well as a bit of assistance from Ben.
Once there, the second assessment begins...
Test 2: Grip Strength
Closing his eyes, Midoriya imagines the egg in a microwave again. But some memories get in the way of his focus...
"It won't be like those times, Midoriya..."
He squeezes the handle on his crutch with frustration.
"I need to get a handle on this now!.."
He gives the device one tight squeeze and the result is...
"60 kg..." Midoriya despairs. "That's not good..."
He looks over to his classmates and-
"540 kilograms, Shoji?!" a black haired student exclaims. "What are you, a gorilla?"
The person in question was a white haired, tall student with multiple arms that were connected on each side like a web. "I don't think it is special, Sero. Because of the design of the machine, I could fit multiple of my arms here."
"Speaking about multiple arms..." says Sero and looks around. "Where is Tokoyami?"
"Right here..." says the boy with a head shaped like a black bird as he comes back into the gym from the back door.
"Where were you at?" Sero asks.
Tokoyami looks again at the back of the gym. "Every little bit of shade helped… Thank you sensei." he thinks and comes inside.
"My device was broken." Tokoyami says coldly, hiding his weakness towards light in a lie. "Aizawa-sensei asked me to get a new one."
"That's cool..." Sero shrugs. "So, what's your score?"
"I hope it was an admirable effort..." Tokoyami says and a dark hand emerges from his stomach, grabbing the device from his hands and showcasing it to his friends.
"300?" Shoji curiously reacts. "Incredible, great work."
"Thank you." Tokoyami slightly bows his head.
"Seriously..." Sero deadpans as he looks at the two of them. "You two are too humble for your own good..."
Midoriya looks on. "Not good at all..."
He tries to put on a brave face, but the bad news just kept on coming from there.
On a separate corner..."HAAAAAAAAA!"
There was Kirishima that seemed like he was about to bust a vein just to prove himself from this test. "Got… Got a 214 here! Ahhhh..."
Sero runs over. "Alright tiger, leave some placements for the rest of us, huh?"
Thankfully the machine had saved his score.
"214, 300, 540 kg..." Midoriya sweat drops again. "And speaking of tiger..."
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH! LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHIN GRIP STRENGTH MEASURING DEVICE! 540 IS NOTHING BEFORE RATH SO BETTER PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A NEW RECORD!"
"Yeah, Rath! Come on! You can do it!" says a familiar voice.
"Uraraka?!" Midoriya says out loud, with the surprise taking him out of that hopeless mood just for a second.
"OF COURSE RATH CAN DO IT! RATH IS THE STRONGEST THERE IS!"
"YEAH!" Uraraka also accompanies Rath, equally fired up.
The machine beeps, signaling that the device was done measuring. He releases his grip and both the girl and the kitty cat look at the score.
"539?!
"That means… you couldn't pass Shoji, right?" Uraraka asks disappointedly.
Rath starts to take a deep breath, so much so that they think his chest is actually going to burst with the amount of air it has.
"LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN, YOU FU-"
Suddenly, two binging cloths cover Rath's mouth. And Aizawa says: "Yeah, that's enough of that."
"Oh wait…" Uraraka says with the device in hand. "I think you broke it..."
She shakes it a bunch and some glass shards fall out. "That's why it's not increasing."
However, Rath was just too furious to comprehend anything that she said.
He was just burning with rage but as he was finally pinned down, he did manage to see something...
Midoriya was left thinking, looking at the device that has his own score with sorrow.
He put his hand over his heart and gripped the uniform ever so tightly.
And Ben… took notice.
Test 3: Standing long jump
It's Ben's turn once again and with his second transformation in the books, people were really taking in why he was number 1 in the exam.
"It is looking really good for Tennyson, if he continues like this..." Iida says. "He will probably come in first place."
"Huh?!" Bakugo overhears his words. " Not while I'm here..."
"I don't know, Bakugo." Kaminari joins in. "From what I've heard, he's pretty amazing."
"He had plenty of surprises too!" Ashido hops on. "I wonder if he has more?"
"I know, right?" Kirishima says.
In the meantime, Ben thinks about the given situation. "A standing long jump this time?"
Without hesitation, he dials up his choice and…
"Blitzwolfer!" he yells out, barely resisting the urge to howl away.
"Woah..." gasps Kaminari.
"Intriguing..." says Iida. "But, that is U.A. for you... Only enrolling the best of the best."
Bakugo, in the meantime, had a different expression. One of confusion, amazement but also anger: "What the fuck is he now?"
"A wolf? He looks so edgy." Ashido says.
"..." Koda still doesn't say anything but there is a small smile on his face. Maybe he likes this one...
"Though a true creature of darkness should only act in the night..." Tokoyami lastly remarks.
"Here I go!" Blitzwolfer leaps into the air, as high as he can and as forward as he can!
"52 meters." Aizawa reads from the phone.
Kaminari nudges Jiro on the shoulder. "Should we be concerned that THIS is the most normal score he got so far?"
Bakugo laughs under his sleeve.
"No no Kaminari. I need to- " Blitzwolfer responds from a good distance away. Turning to his teacher: "Aizawa-sensei, any chance that I can try again?"
Aizawa raises his eyebrow.
"He… wants to try again." Kaminari deadpans. "What's left to try?! He already crushed the test!"
"I have an idea to gain even more distance." the big bad wolf says with his claw on his chin. "Yeah, that can definitely work..."
With a deadly glare, Aizawa asks. "How do I know you're not wasting my time?"
"Hmm..." Blitzwolfer puts his hand on his chin. "How about...If I don't add on another 20 meters with the next jump, I'll fail and be expelled?"
He puts his hand forth. "Is that enough?"
Then immediately, the hardened gaze of two night creatures meet. It was Aizawa vs Blitzwolfer.
The teacher seemed irritated, and clearly looked determined to keep the tests going.
However the wolf was not backing down. He WAS going to do this.
The air immediately got heavier for the other students. Could Tennyson really get away with challenging this fierce teacher?
The answer would reveal itself in only a few intense seconds.
"Fine. I'll take up your deal." Aizawa gives in. "Just make sure to do it quick."
Ben gives him a thumbs up and runs back to the starting area.
"What do you think he will do?" Kaminari asks Jiro. "20 meters is a lot!"
"Don't look at me." She replies. "I haven't seen this one before."
Blitzwolfer's jaw ferociously opens up in four directions and-!
"Hooooooooooooowl!"
With the power of a green sonic howl, Ben flies up into the air and straightens his body according to the direction. "Reduce the wind resistance and get ready to land..."
Sensing that he's slowing down, he then lands on his hind legs. Seeing the amount of land covered and clearing his throat, he says: "That went well."
The distance he covered… was around 94 meters.
"What… was-" Kaminari slowly utters.
"Seems like a unique kind of a wolf." Yaoyorozu says, also making a mental note. "Maybe a mutation in his quirk? I'm going to have to discuss this with Midoriya later."
She was still insistent on her animal-quirk theory.
In the meantime, Koda's small grin immediately vanishes and he hides behind Tokoyami. Yep, he didn't like this one either. "..."
Aizawa steps forth and eyes out his student. However, Ben doesn't even flinch and continues to stand proud.
"Good job." Aizawa says and moves back. "But watch the confidence..."
Ben flinches at the last remark.
"Don't walk into deals if you don't know whether you can deliver on them. Regardless if you think the risk will pay off or not." Aizawa says with his back turned.
Ben nods. "I'll try my best."
He then returns back to the stances, still proud that Blitzwolfer could pull him through that bet and that his forms had good match-up's for the tests. "The next test was repeated side-steps, right? I wonder if bouncing between 2 plasma balls counts..."
"That was a great jump Tennyson." says a short and frog-like girl. "Your new form looks really agile, ribbit."
"Thanks. Asui, right?"
"Call me Tsu." she replies and Ashido comes over to join them.
"That was so cool Tennyson." she says with amazement. "But how did you split open your mouth like that?"
"Oh, this?" He opens his jaw again. A green glow emanates off just before he closes it back up. "It's just something this form has. I call it the Sonic Howl."
"Wow, you're really aiming to win, aren't you?" Ashido says to Blitzwolfer. "You know… You could have at least not done that second go."
"Yeah..." Blitzwolfer agrees and scratches the fur on his back. "Maybe that was a bit excessive."
"I mean ribbit…" she shrugs and says. "Everyone here is doing their best…"
"Why would anyone hold back and let others pass them?"
Ashido raises an eyebrow and looks over to the big bad wolf.
"Yeah..." Blitzwolfer agrees. "It's kind of like: 'If you had outsped Cannonbolt in test 1, wouldn't you be pissed if I told you I was holding back?'"
She replies with a cold dead stare: "I would melt you away..."
Blitzwolfer tries to laugh it off but she definitely wasn't joking…
"Don't worry! I didn't hold back in any of my tests!"
Like he heard them talking, Aizawa checks his list. "Asui! You're up."
"Wish me luck, ribbit."
"Good luck." says Blitzwolfer.
Ashido's mood immediately shifts back. "You go show them Tsu!"
She takes her position and crouches down.
"Whenever you're ready, Asui." says Aizawa.
"Ribbit." She nods and leaps into the air.
At her maximum height, she was still below Blitzwolfer's howling jump; however unlike her transformed classmate, she was staying in the air a lot longer and the angle… was much more favourable.
Ashido was amazed. "Is she about to pass you?"
Blitzwolfer crossed his arms but was quite surprised as well. "Yep… she just did."
Her distance… was 102 meters.
Without smiling, or her facial expressions not changing much, she hopped on back.
"Tsu, that was great!" Ashido fangirled over her friend's success.
And, as for Ben, he lent out his hand. "Very nicely done..."
"Thanks, ribbit." she smiles. "For being a good sport, unlike him..."
"Okay. Bakugo, you're up." Aizawa says with bare minimum enthusiasm.
Bakugo, with the most dull expression, spins his left arm and gets ready. Then, throwing one sadistic look at Ben, he smiles.
"See what I mean?" Asui says to Ashido, while gesturing to the ash-blond.
He pays no mind to this though. His eyes were dead set on the prize.
Immediately he leaps up and-!
"Explosive speed!"
Bakugo takes off from the ground and basically flies his way over the course.
"HOW WAS THAT, YOU EXTRAS?" He keeps yelling with a huge shit-eating grin on his face.
"Is that allowed?" Uraraka asks from the crowd next to them.
And Aizawa just shrugs. "As long as you don't touch the ground..."
Bltzwolfer turns. "Got an idea?"
"Well, we'll see..." Uraraka puts her hand to the back of her neck.
And even though Ben is trying to act all happy and stuff..."Yep, definitely should have picked my flier..."
After flying enough to utterly outclass Ben's score, Bakugo... just lands, looks over to Blitzwolfer and continues to smirk.
Ben knew that if Bakugo was allowed to do a middle finger here… he would.
After a humiliating test for Midoriya in the form of test 4, repeated side steps, here they were…
Test 5: Ball Throw
"Die…!" Bakugo yells, with smoke coming from the end of the ball.
"705.2 meters." Aizawa says, showing it off to the rest of them.
"Good hustle." Ben says surprisedly. However, he then notices Bakugo's scorning his score. "Guess it wasn't good enough..."
"Just good hustle Tennyson? Isn't that a bit-" Uraraka asks Ball Weevil, standing on her shoulder.
"I mean after what Rath did…" Ball Weevil shrugs. "Wait a minute, you're one to talk! You got infinity!"
Uraraka smiles. "Yeah, but I don't know if I scored much on the other tests."
"Nah, I'm sure you're fine-ah!" Ball Weevil lifts his stick leg to wave, resulting in him to fall.
But Uraraka swiftly makes the catch before he hits the ground. "I got you."
"Thanks." Ball Weevil says as he positions himself back. "Thanks again for this view by the way. I was worried that I would have to watch in Mineta mode for a second."
A faint "Heeeeeeey!" can be heard in the crowd, resulting in the two to snicker.
"No problem. " Uraraka says. "Plus, I think we both know what happened last time you tried to look at the action from above..."
The two then look off to the crater next to the repeated side step area. There were clearly some blast marks and some leftover green slime. "For the record, THAT right there… was an accident, alright?"
Uraraka raises her eyebrow and looks back at the bug.
Ball Weevil forfeits. "Yeah I know. I'll find a better way to get rid of that stuff..."
"Midoriya!" Aizawa calls out. "Your turn."
"R-Right, sensei." Midoriya tenses up and walks over to the ball.
Ben squints his eyes, like he was calculating something in his head. "Uraraka… Can you help me with something?"
"This is..." Midoriya thinks as he gets ready to take center stage. "Everyone's leaving at least one amazing score..."
He looks at the course, and then the ball. "Other tests won't amount to much. It's now or never to get a top score..."
"At this rate..." He remembers all of Tennyson's, Bakugo's, and even the results of other students in his class. "I will be exp-"
"Deku!" Uraraka comes over to him.
"Ka- Wait. Uraraka?" Midoriya stutters inside his head.
"Stop worrying..." She says, pressing her fingertips to each other. "And just give it your best."
The two pause there for a second. Midoriya trying to process what she said and Uraraka trying to process what to say next.
"Midoriya!" Aizawa calls out again.
"Yes sensei!" and Midoriya limps to the center.
Uraraka reaches out but pulls her hand back just as fast.
"Do my best…" Midoriya thinks. But as soon as his gaze meets the teacher, it's over for him. Midoriya can't look him confidently in the eye like Tennyson did.
"What do I-" He thinks as he looks back at the crowd and spots Ball Weevil.
The little creature however, doesn't do much. He just puts on a big smile and points to his head with one of his stick legs.
"You got this." Ben utters inside his head. "Put on a good show for all of us."
Midoriya draws his hand back with the ball.
"Izuku! You're really cool."
"You can become a hero."
"I'll wait for you at the finish line."
Red energy courses through his entire arm. "I'll definitely become one and catch up to you!"
The ball exits his hand and the result was nothing short of... disappointing.
"46 meters." says the robot.
"N-No… I-I..." Midoriya fearfully thinks. "I definitely used 100%..."
"I erased your quirk."
Midoriya turns and all he can see is his teacher, with his binding cloth floating in the air, his black hair spiked up and his pupils being redder than ever before.
"That entrance exam was definitely not rational enough." Aizawa says in a way that complies with his cold stare. "Even a kid like you was accepted."
"He erased… my quirk?" Midoriya thinks and after that, it doesn't even take one second to put the pieces together. "You're… The Erasure Hero: Erased Head?!"
Aizawa pays no heed that the kid recognised his hero name. "You can't control your quirk, can you?"
Midoriya's eyes widened with fear.
Aizawa looks him in the eye and says: "Do you intend to become incapacitated again and have someone come in with another charity work?"
Midoriya was frozen in fear. He was trying to be like Tennyson and look the teacher in the eye but… "T-That's not my intention-"
"Whatever your intention was..." He reels him close with his cloth. "I'm saying that's what those around you will be forced to do."
With his eyes, he gestures to Yaoyorozu. "Will she have to stay back and patch you up?"
He then gestures to Iida. "Or does he have to run you to a hospital just to keep you out of danger?"
"In short Midoriya Izuku..." he turns his gaze back to the greenette.
"With your power, you can't become a hero."
"It looks like he received some word of advice." Iida says with his hand on his chin.
"Advice? He probably just told him that he's expelled." Bakugo remarks with a dismissive face.
"I do not think that's the case… His quirk was sufficiently strong. His management was the only thing that seemed off..." Yaoyorozu comments. "What do you think, Tennyson?"
Ben, still transformed into Ball Weevil, comes by on Uraraka's shoulder. "I think he needs to have a big break right about now..."
He then looks at Aizawa. "Because our teacher is getting annoyed."
The five of them intensify their gaze, only then Uraraka feels someone touch her shoulder.
"Are you worried about him? I'm not… at all." says the same blonde student with indigo eyes and a stylish looking belt.
"Who are you?" Uraraka asks.
Just then, Midoriya lets his crutch fall to the ground…
"What is he..." Ball Weevil thinks but his question is shortly answered.
Midoriya, with a tight grip on the ball, steps on the ground for real and raises his hand.
"I'll do what I can now!"