The Blade Dancer (My Hero Academia)

The Provisional License Exam: Ideas

"Good morning..." Ashido and Hagakure yawned as I stepped down into the common room. Uraraka was stumbling down the stairs with Asui in tow. 

"Ribbit. Good morning, Irina. I haven't seen you since training camp," she waved with her large hands. I waved back and ruffled her hair slightly. 

"You seem in high spirits," I giggled slightly as her wide eyes closed with a grin. Breakfast was delivered early that morning, but we were still responsible for serving it to ourselves. Momo and I had made a chart the previous night about duties for serving meals that would rotate based on our student numbers. Out of generosity, I volunteered to go first. 

"Irina..." Uraraka hugged my arm and put her head on my shoulder. "Can you carry me?" I smiled as I handed Jiro and Momo their trays of the standard breakfast that Lunch Rush had prepared. 

"One second," I grinned. I prepared her tray and shuffled her onto my back, carrying her to a seat next to the rest of the girls. I set her down and gave her the food. I went back to preparing the remainder of the food when the familiar elevator ding sounded. 

"Good morning! I hope everyone has rested well!" Iida stormed out with Todoroki, Izuku, and Ojiro in tow. "Everyone, arrange yourselves by your student numbers and line up to receive your meal! Make sure to pace your eating in order to receive maximum nourishment!" 

"Class Rep, we're already eating and seated!" Ashido called with a cheeky grin. Iida looked at the ground in defeat whilst the rest of the boys grabbed trays that I handed to them. 

"Dammit," Iida muttered as I handed him his. 

"Don't worry about it, Iida," I grabbed an extra piece of pickled radish and put it on his plate. "Here. You can have this as a little something extra." I grinned as he walked away and sat with Izuku and Uraraka. 

"GOOD MORNING!" Kirishima yelled from the doorway. I smiled to myself; this new life certainly was entertaining to say the least. 

--

"Have you seen Irina?" Midoriya pointed out the girl behind the counter. She swept a piece of her hair behind her ear and under the white cleaning bandana she wore on her head and grinned at Bakugo. She had drawn a smiley face with sesame seeds on his egg. "She seems happier since... that happened."

"It's her way of coping," Todoroki placed a piece of pork in his mouth. "She seems to have a different drive behind her actions now. She genuinely seems to be enjoying everybody else..."

-- 

"I believe I mentioned this the other day, but for now, Class 1-A of the hero course will be focusing on getting their provisional licenses," Aizawa began at the podium. You could feel the excited tension being held in the classroom at the announcement. "A hero license bears with it the great responsibility of human life. Of course, the exam to receive one is very difficult. Even the provisional license has a 50% passing rate each year." The door slid open suddenly; everyone's heads turning to see who it was. "That's why today, we will have each of you come up with at least two... ultimate moves." There stood Cementoss, Ectoplasm, and Midnight.

"It's like a real school thing and yet it's like a super normal hero thing!" Sero, Ashido, Kirishima, and Kaminari exclaimed all at once. It was obvious who was ecstatic and who wasn't. Me, I had never really thought of it. Not to mention the state of my quirk at that time was not really something that could be made ultimate.

"'Ultimate!' This means that this move will give you a sure win!" Ectoplasm grinned.

"A move so ingrained into your body that other's cannot copy it. Battle means seeing how much you can force what you're good at on your opponent." Cementoss raised a finger while continuing to lecture. 

"Your moves will represent you. These days, pro heroes without ultimate moves are an endangered species." Midnight raised her arms above her head in a seductive pose, her large... assets being on display for the whole class. I felt my face heat up and I had to look away.

"We will tell you more as we go along. We want to proceed logically. Change into your costumes and meet at Gym Gamma," Aizawa concluded. We followed his instructions and met with him and the rest of the instructors for the lesson. "Gym Gamma, also known as the 'Training Dining Land' or TDL."

I sighed while fidgeting with my fingers. There was no way that this lettering system was just a coincidence at this point. TDL might make a certain mouse mad at us...

"I came up with the idea for these facilities. Terrain and other things can be specifically prepared for each student. That's what the 'dining' part refers to," Cementoss raised a finger. Whatever kind of person he was on the inside, we all knew that he was a Disney fan.

"Please allow me to ask a question! Why must we have ultimate moves for our provisional licensing exam? Please tell me your reasoning!" Iida's hand shot up in the air like usual. I smiled, he was just as energetic as always despite what happened to his brother.

"I'll tell you everything in order. Calm down," Aizawa stepped backwards slightly at Iida's sudden outburst. "The job of a hero is to save people from danger, like crimes, accidents, natural disasters, and man-made disasters. The exam to become one naturally looks at how well you are able to do that. Your ability to gather information, make decisions, move, and fight, in addition to your ability to communicate, draw people to you, and lead. Every year, a different test is used to look at how well you are able to do those things," he explained.

"Of those, your ability to fight is especially important to your future as heroes. If you are prepared, you don't have to worry. Whether or not you have an ultimate move will greatly affect whether or not you pass," Midnight raised her arms above her head, flaunting her curves.

"Not being influenced by circumstances and being able to act consistently will make you a great asset on the front lines," Cementoss added. "Your ultimate moves don't necessarily need to be of the attacking type. For example, Iida's Reciproburst. The temporary burst of speed is enough of a threat to be worth calling an ultimate move."

"So that's good enough to be called an ultimate move?" Iida beamed.

"I see... so we need to find something that allows us to feel like, 'As long as I do this, I have the advantage. I can win,'" Sato put a finger on his chin, finally understanding the exercise. 

"Exactly! Kamui Woods, who played a big part in the fight the other day, has a move called Lacquered Chain Prison that is the perfect example of an ultimate move. It restrains his opponents before they can do anything," Midnight explained further.

"The training camp was cancelled, but the training you did to develop your quirks was part of the process to create your ultimate moves. In other words, until the beginning of the next semester, for the ten days or so before the end of summer vacation, you'll be working out your ultimate moves as you develop your quirks. You'll be doing intensive training! In addition, you should think about how you can improve your costumes to work better with your developing quirks. Get through this with a 'Plus Ultra' mentality. Are you ready?" Aizawa lazily explained.

"Yes, sir!"