Chapter 6 - Battle Trials!

Chapter 6 - Battle Trials

**********

When I needed to send a costume design to U.A., I naturally had to make sure they used Ryuzai wood. 

Of course, my family had to supply the wood itself because of its uniqueness, but U.A. still built the rest of the costume. And I had to say, it looked phenomenal. 

The entire armor wasn't made of Ryuzai wood because then I wouldn't be able to move. 

So instead I had an undersuit that was shielded with plates of Ryuzai wood so that they weren't in the way of my joints. The design matched my mask perfectly, with the same base black color and gold highlights. (Picture here)

They even had some sort of patch on my back that let me secure my kanabo or bow without fear of it falling off. So for now, I just held my kanabo in my hand, and my bow rested on my back. 

I also had a detachable quiver (filled with Ryuzai arrows) hanging from my back as well.

Walking out with pride wearing our new costumes, all of class 1-A students admired each other. We truly felt like Heroes in training. However, the skin tight or even borderline kinky suits (looking at you Yaoyorozu!) that some had were a little distracting, but it is what it is. 

Looking at all of the costumes was pretty interesting given that it was now in reality and not just drawn pictures. 

Overall the designs were the same, but seeing them move and flap from the wind, made everything surreal. 

But the one that particularly caught my eye was Chihiro's costume (mainly because I had never seen it before) so it was a breath of fresh air. 

Compared to everyone else's, hers was way more modern and combat oriented. Her parents must be rich rich to supply her personally with such an expensive suit. (Pic here. It's AI generated so it's not perfect. But ignore her red eyes. Idk the website kept giving it to her. They should be blue.)

All Might eventually gathered us around him as he explained today's class. 

We would be paired up randomly with each other, and have to fight another duo. 

One side would be the heroes, and the other would be the villains. 

The villains had a bomb that they needed to protect until time ran out. 

And the heroes had to either capture the villains or 'deactivate' the bomb by touching it before the time ran out. 

Once all of our groups were decided, we headed to the camera room to watch each of our classmates fight one by one, while the first group went immediately to their testing site. 

Just like in the anime, the first match was between Midoriya and Uraraka vs. Iida and Bakugo. 

…

[WINNERS, (TEAM A) MIDORIYA AND URARAKA]

"That was awesome!" Mina yelled.

"Indeed, a surprising finish to their battle." Tokoyami muttered

"I hope Midoriya is fine, his arm didn't look too good." Jiro said.

After their match, the class was confused. Uraraka was kneeling over in pain and Midoriya was being wheeled to the nurses office. Meanwhile, the team that had been defeated, Bakugo and Iida, were still untouched. 

It truly showed how the situation had to be solved with not just brute strength, but Intelligence as well. You had to take in all factors for a guaranteed victory.

When All Might had labeled Iida as MVP, the classroom was naturally confused and  Yaomomo confidently explained

"Iida was the only one who followed the situation properly, even if he did fail in the end. Bakugo was too hot-headed, Midoriya left himself helpless after his gamble, and Uraraka only managed to touch the bomb because it wasn't a real one. With the damage she had caused to it, the simulation became useless because had it been a real bomb, it would have blown up."

So essentially, she gave the same answer she did in the anime. 

Some selfish part of me wanted to answer the question before her to give the same explanation, but I immediately suppressed the thought. 

Momo had a real lack of self confidence later in the anime. 

Alongside Midoriya's timidness and Bakugo's ego, Momo's lack of confidence was something I needed to eventually fix. 

So I couldn't, in good conscience, steal her moment. 

Ignoring the fact that it would be a douche move, and I would feel pathetic doing something like that. 

Once the first group (excluding Midoriya) came back, the rest of us went to our matches one by one. 

...….

[Shoto Todoroki and Mezo Shoji (Team B) vs. Mashirao Ojiro and Tory Hagakure (Team I)]

[WINNERS GROUP B]

Sero: "Woah! Isn't Todoroki's quirk too overpowered?"

Sato: "Yeah it froze the entire building!"

Sero: "Then he melted all of it right after too!".

Tsuyu: "I guess that's the reason he's one of the recommended students".

Unsurprisingly Todoroki had won. 

Not only was his fire and ice quirk powerful, his dad was the number 2 hero and had trained him severely since he was a kid. 

Obviously there were home problems that came with it, but he'd overcome it eventually. And I'd be there to help too.

Ojiro couldn't even do anything in that fight, but the dude only has 1 tail, he can't do much in general. 

But I had an idea that could help him in the future, however that would come later. For now he was stuck as he was. The same went for Hagakure.

...….

[Fumikage Tokoyami and Tsuyu Asui(Team H)  vs. Eijiro Kirishima and Hanta Sero (Team J)]

[WINNERS TEAM H!]

"Dang! That was a close match!"

"Mhm, the way Asui swept in at the end was amazing."

"Yeah it was! But everyone did well regardless."

...….

[Mina Ashido and Yuuga Aoyama (Team D) Vs. Chihiro Izanami and Rikidou Sato (Team E)]

Now this was a fight I was excited to watch because I had no idea how it would end. 

It was also where I experienced the frustration my classmates felt of not being able to hear what our classmates were saying through the cameras. 

I knew what they generally said in the other matches since the anime showed it, but Chihiro was a variable I had zero information on, so I had no clue now. 

Chihiro's team were the heroes, making Mina's team the villains guarding the bomb. 

After Mina's team secured their bomb, and Chihiros team were done strategizing (at least, that's what I'm assuming that's what they were talking about), the buzzer went off. 

Through the cameras, we all watched as Sato and Chihiro sprinted down a hallway towards Mina's team. 

"That's weird, why is Chihiro running in the front, while Sato is in the back. Shouldn't it be the other way around since he's built like a tank?" Asked Kirishima.

"It must be due to her quirk, otherwise why else would she confidently confront them head on." Yaomomo replied.

And as if they could hear us expose their location, Aoyama and Mina suddenly appeared at the end of the hallway Team E was running down. 

Without any warning, Aoyama fired multiple lasers straight down the middle of the hallway towards Chihiro and Sato. 

Chihiro however, wasn't deterred and kept running full speed, and right before the lasers struck, she did a front flip over the first beam, dodged to the right for the second, and somehow wall jumped between the walls of the hallway, and clung onto the pipes of the roof to dodge the rest of the lasers.  

Sato however, wasn't so agile and was struck by the lasers, burning his skin, but he forced himself forward after another dose of sugar.

Once the lasers passed by Chihiro, she kept her momentum up, and continued onward toward the 'villains'. 

"That's as far as you go!" Mina yelled while spraying acid from her hands. 

But Chihiro didn't even acknowledge the comment. It's like her head was somewhere else. Even her eyes were extremely focused. 

So even as Mina tried to spray her with her acid, Chihiro easily dodged it all. 

Team D tried frantically to stop Chihiro, but nothing worked. 

As she got closer, they stopped trying to aim for her, and just started spamming their attacks like some newbie gamers, hoping one of their attempts would hit her. 

However Chihiro was undeterred, and once close enough, she leapt straight over them and into the room with the bomb. 

In the heat of the moment, Aoyama and Mina turned simultaneously and tried to stop Chihiro.

But they forgot about Sato who, after a couple of seconds, ran up from behind them, tackling them to the ground.

To add the icing on the cake, as Sato cuffed Team D, Chihiro 'deactivated' the bomb at the same time. 

The match was completely one sided, mostly thanks to Chihiro who was still untouched, not even breaking a sweat.

[WINNERS TEAM E!]

Uraraka: "Woah! She's like a professional acrobat, how can she move like that?"

Hagakure: "I wonder if she did gymnastics when she was a kid?"

Kaminari: "By the way her body curves look, I would confidently say she did gymnastics."

"…" 

Half the class turned to stare at him for that comment.

"What? It was just an observation!" Kaminari tried to explain. 

*OUCH!*

But that didn't stop Jiro from poking his eye with her ear jack. 

After Teams D and E returned from their match, All Might unsurprisingly explained that Chihiro was the MVP for her superior mobility, and ability to cause havoc on the other team.

Chihiro blushed at the praises she began to receive from everyone.

"So how did you move like that?" I asked.

She replied "My quirk is 'Acrobatics', it gives me extreme flexibility, as well as complete control over my entire body. It also boosts my reflexes, and gives me a small boost in my physical strength.

I raised my eyebrows, "Wow, for such a straightforward quirk, you really understand your strengths and how to utilize them".

"Thanks. Well good luck, you're in the last pair of teams right?"

"Yup, they should be calling my team up soon".

...….

All Might, proud of what he had seen so far enthusiastically said "AND OUR LAST MATCH TODAY IS!"

[Denki Kaminari & Kyoka Jiro (Team G) vs. Momo Yaoyorozu & Haku (Team C)]

Finally, my group was the last one to fight. We were the 'villains', while Kaminari and Jiro were the 'heroes'.

As Yaoyorozu and I waited at the test site I asked, "I haven't gotten a chance to properly talk to you before, but my name is Haku and my quirk essentially gives me super strength, what's yours?" 

I obviously did know quite a bit about her, but I couldn't just bring out all my knowledge of this class when I haven't officially met these people yet. So all I could do was go through this farce.

"Pleasure to meet you Haku, my name is Yaoyorozu. 

My quirk allows me to create anything I want from my body as long as I know its molecular structure. There are certain restrictions on it, but I can explain those finer details later". 

"Yaoyorozu huh, that's a nice name. Anyways, now that that's out of the way, we should start strategizing. 

I've talked to Kaminari before, and he doesn't seem that reckless, but he's not much of a big planner either. 

He can create electricity from his body, though I'm not sure of his output limit. 

Unfortunately I don't know anything about Jiro, but judging by her ears it should have something to do with sound". 

Yaoyorozu nodded and said "I've talked to Jiro already so I can tell you about her. 

Like you guessed, her quirk allows her to use the headphone jacks from her earlobes to either make noise or listen for it. I'm assuming they'll use that to locate us"

"So they'll end up finding us first huh. 

That, coupled with the risk of getting surprise attacked and electrocuted by Kaminari's electricity, makes them a dangerous duo. 

I already have a plan in mind, but I want to hear yours first. You already look like you have one."

Yaoyorozu looked slightly surprised, but she still told me her plan. After she explained it, I immediately said, "Sounds good, let's go with that."

She looked surprised since I agreed so quickly, "Really?"

"Of course. It fits the situation, and it accounts for all their plausible options, what's not to like?"

"I mean, I just assumed that you would want to rush in and capture them given your strength. I also didn't think you'd want to follow my plan when you had your own."

"Nah, having power is good, but without a brain to use it, it becomes useless. That's why I can tell you'll make a good hero in the future. As for my plan, it's more of a spontaneous one, so yours is enough for now".

Yaoyorozu smiled at the compliment "Thank you, and I'm sure you will become a respectable pro hero as well". 

I smiled with my mask, half because of the compliment, and half because the first seed was planted in boosting her confidence. 

I don't want to say I was manipulating her, but Yaoyorozu really was smart. 

I mean, how many people are going to memorize the chemical structures of various items to create them. Most people can't even understand one structure for Chemistry class. 

After talking for a bit, we started our preparations. We secured ourselves and the bomb in a secluded room. 

Yaoyorozu had created metal rods that I placed on the edges of the room, to draw away Kaminari's electricity if he ever made it in. Yaoyorozu also created some barricades for the only entrance to the room. 

"ALRIGHT GOOD LUCK, YOU MAY BEGIN THE MATCH!" All Might said through the speaker.

After a couple of minutes nothing had happened, so I became a bit suspicious. 

I knew I could beat them in a head on fight, but the problem was trying to find them in this maze-like building. 

With Jiro's quirk, if I were to leave the room, she could just as easily avoid me and head straight for the bomb that I needed to defend. 

And Yaoyorozu definitely couldn't beat Kaminari and Jiro at the same time, so wandering around aimlessly was not a good idea.

So I focused and tried to sense their life force. I wished the anime showed how their team fought because it would make this quicker. But after some time of focusing-

"Oh no" I mumbled.

"What is it?" Yaoyorozu asked. 

"They're below us." I said as I activated Gaia's blessing. 

"What? How do you know tha—"

"My quirk, now hold still-" I interrupted, lifting her up on my way as I leapt away from where I was standing.

Before she could protest-

*BOOM!* *DZZZT!*

-a beam of lightning shot straight through the floor where we were originally standing, piercing through the roof as well. 

Yaoyorozu: "…"

I chuckled, "Guess we know his output now".

Yaoyorozu sighed and said, "Thanks. I didn't think his quirk was strong enough that it could go through even weak insulators like concrete. It was an oversight on my part."

"It's fine, I didn't think he could either. And besides, mistakes and experiences like this are what will make us better heroes."

As Yaoyorozu nodded in understanding, she asked, "What was your backup plan". 

"My backup plan is simple." 

I lowered Yaoyorozu to the floor, and walked away from her and the bomb, "To overpower them", I said as I channeled 20% life essence into my body and kanabo, before smashing the floor and creating a hole. 

I peered over, looking straight at a shocked Jiro and derpy Kaminari, "That electricity could have hurt us pretty bad. Aren't you supposed to be heroes?" I said.

*thud*

I dropped down through the hole landing near them. 

Kaminari was in his 'short-circuit' state that he entered whenever he overused his quirk. 

Seeing that, I grappled him without fear of being electrocuted and stole his stamina as fast as I could. 

Since he used such a powerful move earlier, he already didn't have much gas in his tank, so he should pass out quickly from me stealing his stamina.

As for Jiro, she couldn't attack with her wide range quirk because I had Kaminari hostage (plus she didn't know I was stealing his stamina and he would soon be unable to move). 

A couple of seconds passed, and Kaminari was depleted of his stamina. I channeled it all into my physique and blitzed straight towards Jiro who wasn't expecting me to basically teleport in front of her eyes. 

Before she could retaliate, I used the martial arts my dad taught me and when I was in range, I struck her on the temple of her head, disorientating her, before striking the back of her head, knocking her out.

I quickly used the Hero capture tape they had given us, to tie her, and then Kaminari, up. 

And with that, the speakers went off-

[Winners! Team C!]

… 

When both teams got back we were greeted with countless praises and questions.

"Your quirk is so cool Yaoyorozu, can you really make anything?!"

"That was amazing, who knew that Kaminari's electricity could be that powerful! Even if he becomes stupid after doing that full blast". 

"How far can you hear people Jiro?" 

"How did you knock out Kaminari Haku?"

Before anyone else could ask anything, All Might interrupted, "Everyone did extremely well in that fight! However the MVP would have to go to Young Haku here, as he was able to easily adapt to the surprise attack, as well as capture both villains". 

No one had any objections to that. But Bakugo seemed upset at seeing my physical strength. 

He was already annoyed from losing to Midoriya and seeing Todoroki's powerful quirk. 

Watching me break concrete with my sheer strength, as well as my close combat skills, didn't help improve his mood. It reminded him of Midoriya's quirk. 

With our fight ending, the class was done, and everyone went to get changed back into our uniforms to resume the day. 

**********

As I walked back to the classroom, I analyzed what I saw from everyone's fights. 

Watching all of them fight for the first time, I compared them to their anime counterparts. 

All of my classmates so far were, frankly put, we're terrible. 

Most needed to increase the power of their quirk, while others needed to be more creative in their use. 

But they ALL needed more fighting experience to buff their combat capabilities. 

Excluding Chihiro, because although she was unknown to me, I could tell she could do well in a fight. I was extremely confident she was trained beforehand too. Which only made me more curious as to where she came from

I also wanted to already start giving out tips to everyone, especially Midoriya, but I couldn't just yet. 

It was only the second day, and I doubt anyone would even listen to another kid telling them how to improve their quirk. 

A kid they have known for around 10 hours. 

Even if I did get the top score, I would look like an egotistical douche if I immediately started to act like I knew what was best for them. 

And more importantly, they didn't feel the need to improve as fast as possible. 

They thought  All Might was perfectly healthy and everything was fine, whereas I knew the truth about All Might and the countless hardships we would all face.

So the best option in my eyes was to wait until after the 1st villain attack at the USJ in a couple of days. 

And after being attacked by villains, I was confident that it would light a fiery passion in their hearts to get stronger. And with my help, they definitely would.

On the way inside the classroom, Kirishima walked besides me asking- 

"Yo man, what even is your quirk? You've got super strength and can knock people out just by touching them. You can finally tell us what it is now right?"

Shoji, speaking from one of his newly grown mouths, added "I heard he even has super healing".

Half the class were very surprised by that piece of info, and were looking at me for an explanation. 

Picking up a flower from a plant pot inside the classroom, I explained "My quirk is stamina manipulation". 

It technically wasn't a lie. Stamina falls under the category of Life Force.

"I can either drain the stamina of living things", as the class watched me make the flower wilt, "or I can add more stamina to it and make it stronger", and then it bloomed to life again, almost glowing. 

I split a petal off and threw it like a Kunai at the wall, and they watched in awe as it was lodged into the stone wall like a mini arrow. 

"I knocked Kaminari out by stealing all of his stamina, or what he had left after his all out attack. I can also use it to heal myself or others, kind of like Recovery Girl". 

After processing everything I explained, the class exploded "WHAAAT?! That sounds so cool!"

"HOW COULD YOU DAMAGE SCHOOL PROPERTY HAKU" Iida yelled in horror as he inspected the crack I made in the wall. 

"Oops my bad man, I'll pay for that" I chuckled while removing the flower petal in the wall. 

After everyone cooled down, Kaminari and Midoriya came back from the nurses office and we made sure they were fine. Kaminari had his stamina replenished, and Midoriya had his arms healed. Of course, he gained new scars from his first overuse of OFA.

Then we all started sharing our names properly and what our quirks were. 

The first day of school was pretty intense so we didn't have any proper time to introduce ourselves until now. Especially when our home room teacher was Aizawa sensei. 

As the conversations continued, eventually Asui asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Why do you wear a mask Haku?"

The class turned to me waiting for an answer.

Touching the side of my mask I explained, "I wear it because it hides my identity. Since I chose the path of being a hero, making enemies and bearing the grudges of villains is a natural thing. I want to make sure my family, and those close to me, are left out of it. What's the point of saving others, if it risks the lives of people I care about?"

Yaoyorozu: "So that's why you don't show your last name as well. Without it, there are hundreds of thousands of Haku's in the world. Assuming that Haku is your real name."

I simply shrugged as my answer to the last question.

"A very commendable decision" Tokoyami said while nodding. 

Mina: "Yeah, it kind of makes me wish I did the same".

The atmosphere dimmed a bit when my classmates imagined the chance of their families being targeted. 

Uraraka: "But I don't think the villains would go that far right? I mean that's just plain wrong. And we shouldn't be that worried since All Might is here, he'd make sure everything works out like always. Right Midoriya?" She asked while turning to the green haired boy.

Midoriya flinched a bit upon hearing that because he and I both knew that All Might was on his last legs. He won't always be here. "T-That's right, All Might will a-always be here to help". 

'…He sucks at lying' I thought. Which I guess is a good and bad thing for an aspiring hero.

But at the mention of All Might, the mood instantly brightened when they thought of their protector. 

And how could they not? 

They grew up in an era where society worshiped the dude. He saved everyone with an overwhelming power and smile, never failing once. 

He seemed invincible, so of course both civilians and heroes would put their hopes on him. 

But knowing the future and what was to come, I couldn't let that be my classmates' mindset.

"You're all dead wrong" I cut into the conversation, and ultimately ruined the mood. 

Everyone fixedly looked at me with confusion as I continued. 

"All Might won't always be here to protect us. In fact, once he's gone, things will get worse for civilians, and even more so for heroes. 

So everyone here needs to know how to take care of themselves without relying on him."

Ojiro: "What do you mean?" 

I turned to Deku, "Why don't you explain Midoriya, you're one of the biggest All Might fans I've seen. How significant is All Might to society? What would be the consequences of his disappearance? 

Midoriya: "h-huh? Me?" he asked while looking at me. 

When I nodded, he gulped and said, "Well uh…" 

Then he brought his fingers to his chin, assessing my question. 

Midoriya: "All Might solves a significant amount of crimes in the world. But his greatest merit is that he serves as a deterrent against all villains in general with just his presence. I don't even know what it would be like if he disappeared. I don't even want to imagine the repercussions."

I snapped my fingers and pointed at him, "Exactly".

I continued, "All Might is around 60 years old right now. Meaning that by the time we become pro heroes that society can reliably put their hopes on, he'll be close to, or over 70. I don't know about you, but it seems highly unlikely to me that he'll still be in his prime at that age. I'd even bet that he's past his prime right now. Plus his retirement is inevitable, no matter how much people want to deny reality. He's human too.

And once he does retire, we better know how to handle ourselves because everything All Might has built will come crumbling down. With his absence, the floodgates full of villains will burst open.

Those villains who were being suppressed under All Might, would gain a whole new level of confidence once he's gone. 

Which in turn, would inspire other villains to act as well. 

And they would all be launching attacks simultaneously, so the damage would be exponentially worse. 

So now that we're training to be heroes, we can't be complacent and think 'All Might will save us'. 

Because each one of us--," and I pointed across the room "--has to share the burden of the mantle he leaves behind. 

We need to train ourselves to be strong. 

That's why we're here in this school. 

This is where we can learn from our mistakes and failures. 

This is where we learn how to handle the real world. 

Because if we want to defend what's right, we need to have the might to back it up."

When I was done, all I saw were complicated faces. 

Some looked worried for the future, but most were nervous but ultimately determined (thankfully Midoriya was one of those). Surprisingly, even Bakugo seemed to be contemplating what I was saying. 

Eventually the math teacher came in and we had to start class. 

After the day was officially done, I left after saying goodbye to everyone, not staying behind for any memorable conversations. 

My classmates needed to take in what I had just told them. 

They can't rely on others to save them, not this class. Not with all the trials they would have to endure in the future. 

(A/N: Hope you enjoyed!)