Training Ground Beta, the all-too familiar layout of a vast city environment with different arrays of buildings. Located near the very center of the training area were classes 1-A and 3-A as both rosters stood in front of a trio of separately marked buildings, each building varying in terms of shape and size. The second building stood out the most as the roof had been purposely busted down which in turn caused a good bit of damage to the floors below, a few pillars that were initially supporting the structure of the building now starting to crumble and cave in. Each of the three buildings contained a numerous amount of Ectoplasm clones, either wearing a purple hat with a 'V' on the front or a light blue hat with a 'C' on it.
Eraserhead, Ectoplasm, Snipe and Cementoss were lined up in front of the student masses with the first years being on their right side and third years on their left. All dressed appropriately in their hero outfits of course.
"Alright now if I can have all y'all's attention please." Snipe called, any student who wasn't already silent now were to give their attention. "Thank you. Now if y'all would please give me a few seconds of your time to explain what's about to happen we'll get started.
What we got going on right here is a Raid Simulation. Sometimes heroes are called upon to assist police and other law enforcement units in dealing with drug busts, operation crackdowns or anything of the sort regarding gangs and secretive groups. It is quite often that you stumble across a group of buildings like these three that you see behind us that are being used by gangs and other groups as their location of operations. They're crappy, rundown. Gives off a sense that nothing is going on inside those abandoned buildings because who would want to be inside that thing if it ain't got anything? Nobody right? Well it's buildings like these that they like to use to set up what they's doin'.
It is uncommon that they'll use multiple buildings since bigger grounds would mean bigger span of attention. BUT, it has happened, which is what we are going to have you run through in a short bit. Each of these here buildings have Ectoplasm clones that are marked with different colored hats. The hats with the V's on it are villains or your enemies. The hats with the C's on it are civilians, now, you're probably wondering what civilians are doing in a place full of bad guys. Gangs are notorious for using innocents as working hands for the drug operations so it is imperative that you DO NOT harm the civilians as you make your way through. Simply tie them down, leave them in a safe spot and continue sweeping through the buildings. You'll start from the left most building and work your way through to end up on the right most building.
Now we're gonna have y'all go through the course twice okay? You'll each be going in pairs of third year and first year, the first time going through the third year will be in charge of doing majority of the work and leading the raid. The second time the FIRST year will be given charge as they are now responsible for conducting what to do and when to do it. We'll record time as you kids run through the course."
"The main purpose of this is to see the difference in experience when it comes to the first and third years." Aizawa commented. "First years, through the first trial it's your responsibility to watch how your seniors think and act on the situation at hand. This is a good opportunity for you to see how the older students react to both civilian and villain presence so for those of you who have not yet attended Work Studies it's important that you pay attention. To those who have attended, this will still be a good chance for you to pick up some few tips and tricks. We'll call out your names, you'll come up to the box either in front of me or Snipe and draw a lot. That's your partner."
"Ladies first, Haya. Please come draw a lot from Aizawa's box."
Haya emerged from the 3-A crowd and walked over to the 1-A teacher who was holding a small red box with a large open hole at the top. The third year approached the man, sticking her right hand into the box and shuffling around before grabbing onto a sphere shaped object. She pulled out a white colored ball and at the top of the ball was a hero name from Class 1-A, tilting her hand down to get a clear reading of the name. "Chargebolt."
"Ayyyyyyeeee! What a SHOCK right?! Heh, heh get it? Cause, cause I have an electricity Quirk and I uh, can do electric..stuff which uh...means I can...I can...shock....stuff.....fuck I'm so lame."
"Once you have your partner picked out the two of you can move off to the side and discuss about strategies, then when everybody has selected their lots we'll start running through the trials. Haya and Kaminari you can move aside, Ashido. Come draw from Snipe's box."
With Kaminari selected as the first companion he followed Haya out from his class and towards a small spot off to the side just as Ashido hopped towards Snipe's box and rummaging inside. She drew a same colored ball, rotating it to see the name of her senior. "Suneater."
"Huhhhh. I just wanna go home."
"Amajiki and Ashido off to the side please, Hado. Your turn."
"Okie-dokie! Hm-hm-hmmm~."
From the 1-A crowd, Midoriya watched as Hado happily skipped her way towards his homeroom teacher with that usual brightness and cheery mood that she was known for. Two things, the first being that deep down inside he was secretly hoping that she would somehow manipulate the laws of the universe and draw his name. There were 17 other names to randomly choose from so the odds of him being picked are very slim but better than nothing. But on the other hand? He was hoping that his name WASN'T drawn. Mainly due to not knowing how to act when it comes to being around somebody such as her.
Honestly he didn't know what to actually call this sort of attraction that he had to Hado. He knew that character traits like the one she exhibited were certainly something up his alley. Bubbly, pretty, bright, enjoyable to have around no matter the situation, it's not hard for somebody on the more introverted side of the spectrum to bat an eye her way. After all, opposites did seem to attract the best though, in Midoriya's case it doesn't like she'll be attracted to him anytime soon. Well maybe but that's perhaps a bit of wishful thinking on his end.
Now that he thinks about it it's probably not the best for the two of them to partner up for this simulation. Something tells him his inability to speak properly around pretty girls is gonna impede how he thinks or acts because it would quite frankly be the death of him if he does something embarrassing in front of somebody like Hado. Kami knows how many of her friends she might tell and given her status as somebody that the entire school knows or has heard of? End him right now cause he can hear the murmuring and whispering in the halls right now. Please don't pick his name please don't pick his name-
"Yay! Deku!"
...funny. Real funny Ms. Joke.
There was a moment before it clicked into Midoriya's mind that he had been chosen, stutter stepping from the crowd as he followed Hado away from the area. The third year led her junior towards a replica of a nearby bus stop and even as they walked side by side each other the difference in how they showed their personalities was so obvious even a blind man could see it. While Midoriya has matured and grown a bit out of his initial shell during the beginning of the school year there was no way in hell he had a chance of coming anywhere near what his senior exhibited.
Her head was joyfully bobbing side to side with each step. His head remained constantly neutral and upright.
She was happily humming as she walked towards the faux bus stop. He was quieter than a mouse.
Her steps contained a light skip and hop. His steps were as normal as any step could be.
Hado was very happy as obvious by the bright smile on her face. Midoriya was trying to figure out how to breathe properly while maintaining as blank a face as possible.
This was definitely one of those troupes that he's seen before of an overly happy extrovert interacting with the more timid and shut in introvert. But stuff like that only existed in imaginary works like films or even fanfictions. And unless there was some deity behind a keyboard typing out his every move and thought he doubts this would be either of the two possibilities just listed. Fanfictions? Yeah, right. Like he would be in one of those.
Arriving at the bus stop Hado twirled around and plopped herself down onto the far left side of the bench, beaming one of her signature smiles towards Midoriya. "Hi Midoriya!"
If there was ever a sensation of being punched in the face by the brightest object in the universe, it would be being on the receiving end of Hado's smile. Now as bright and inviting as she was Midoriya chose to sit on the very opposite side of the bench as to not scuff anything up and send him into the pile of most embarrassing people she's ever met in her life. "Hi, Hado-senpai."
"Are you excited to try out this Raid Simulator thing? I'm SUUUUUPER DUPER excited to see how this one's gonna turn out in terms of difficulty. Last year, they did something similar but you were able to see the layout of the grounds before going in so you already had a base idea of where everything was. But now that we're out here and we don't see anything first? It adds that element of surprise and mystery, ooooh. Creepy."
"Well I mean we've already done something similar to it with the Shie Hassaikai right? Difference here being instead of a large, singular compound it's three different buildings. Could be interesting."
"Situations like this can be REEEAL tricky so you gotta keep your noggin on a swivel at all times. Bad guys like using innocent people as bait or distractions so it's up to us to make sure that we don't hurt anybody who doesn't need hurting, we're heroes. The public entrusts us to make sure we're always gonna save the day."
"Yeah. I know that."
"Hey hey!" Hado chimed. "I've never had a proper description on it and I've been super curious as to what it is, I've seen it in action but never had the opportunity to see it up close. You told me a little bit about it when we went to the green room but I'd like to know more if that's okay with you. Can I ask you something about your Quirk?"
"Yeah sure."
"Great!" The girl exhaled, but when going back in to inhale her chest began to inflate with the oxygen taken in as her head slowly started to cock and lean back. Further and further her head went as she took in a VEEEERY large intake of oxygen into her lungs as all Midoriya could do was watch and bear witness to what might possibly be a word storm.
'Oh no.'
"WHAT'S YOUR QUIRK HOW DOES IT WORK WHY DOES IT WORK DOES IT HURT EVERYTIME HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN LIKE THIS CAN YOU USE IT IN OTHER WAYS WHY DID YOUR ARMS GET BROKEN WHAT ABOUT YOUR LEGS WHY ARE YOUR EYES GREEN I NEED A SNICKERS HOW STRONG ARE YOUR PUNCHES THIS AUTHOR'S GETTING LAZY ARE YOU RELATED TO ALL MIGHT CAN YOU FLY IF YOU TRY REALLY HARD HOW COME YOU HAVE LIGHTNING COMING OUT OF YOU DOES IT HURT WHEN YOU DO THOSE SUPER PUNCH THINGS HOW FAST CAN YOU RUN ARE YOU NEVER GONNA GIVE ME UP DOES THE LIGHTNING HURT DO YOU LIKE COOKIES HOW LONG CAN YOU USE YOUR QUIRK DO YOU EVER WISH ABOUT HAVING ANOTHER ARE YOU NEVER GONNA LET ME DOWN WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ICE CREAM SUNDAES ARE THERE ANY OTHER COOL TRICKS YOU CAN DO BESIDES PUNCHING WHAT ABOUT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES AND BROWNIES?"
"..."
"Did you get all that?"
"Uhhhh..." Midoriya cleared his throat, taking a moment to recompose himself after being struck by the largest hurricane of words ever seen to mankind. Is this how others felt whenever he went on his constant mumble storms? Sheesh. "I-I got, some, of it. Cookies and brownies? I mean I like them from time to time they're not something I would constantly eat since the sugar can be bad for you and even then-"
"Noooo silly." Hado giggled. "I meant about your Quirk."
"OH HEH! R-Right right my uh, my Quirk. That's what you were asking about, yeah....I'm an idiot.'
"Well?"
"Okay, so my Quirk right? If you boil it all down it's really simple in terms of how it works. It's an Emitter type Quirk where basically I can accumulate energy either into my limbs or all throughout my body and discharge that energy to take on different forms. If I send it throughout my entire body it can act as a sort of 'boost' to my abilities that increases my speed, mobility and the strength of my attacks. I call it Full Cowling. On top of that, if I want even higher outputs of damage I send larger amounts of that energy into arms or legs and push it out to send shockwave-like attacks of high air pressure. It's very similar to All Might if you think about it."
"whoaaaa..."
"I was very inexperienced with my Quirk at the beginning of my school year, that's why at the Sports Festival I kept breaking my fingers every time I utilized it. But soon after that I was able to discover the trick of using Full Cowling and save myself a lot of setbacks."
"Whoaaaa..."
"Though, even when I do push it past a certain limit it still can cause a lot of damage to my body if handled misproperly. My ability to handle my Quirk gets stronger as my body gets stronger so it's important for me to constantly work out and increase my physical strength. Even All Might said that if I train hard enough I'll be able to surpass what he was able to do during the prime of his career. It sounds a bit on the unrealistic side hmph but I'm willing to train for that possibility. I've always looked up to him."
"WHOAAAA..."
"...and there's lightning."
"WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAA! That is SO cool!"
"Yeah. It, sure is. Lightning."
"Your Quirk is really simple but it's also really neat in terms of what you're able to do with it." Hado beamed. "Being able to supercharge your body and do all kinds of crazy strong attacks while also giving yourself a boost of stats, it's like a video game haha! Full Cowling. It even sounds like a move from a video game too, that's neat. Ooh! Hey hey! Wouldn't it be really cool if you could incorporate that weird lightning stuff into your attacks so not only does it shoot out strong bursts of wind but also electricity. Like WHOOSH and then, and then followed up by ZAP! BZZZZT!"
"Hmph, it sounds cool but highly unlikely." Midoriya replied. "That aura is what I most likely presume to be the excess energy leaving my body and it takes on the form of lightning arcs. I've noticed it increases in frequency as I output more power."
"Yeah that makes sense, higher Quirk output means quicker intervals of your energy leaving your body. Have you always wanted to be a hero with that kind of Quirk? Sounds like it would be really scary having something like that as a little kid."
"I-I'm actually a late bloomer, a REALLY late bloomer at that heh. I didn't develop this Quirk until the age of 14 which is why it kept doing so much damage to me. For majority of my life I grew up as being Quirkless but my main source of motivation for wanting to be a hero was always All Might. The way he saves people with that smile of his and that impenetrable strength of being the wall standing tall? Everything that he's stood up for I've wanted to do the same as a kid. Obviously I couldn't since I was Quirkless and he was practically the strongest guy on the planet but still, I hoped for the day that a possibility would come my way."
"Wowwww. That makes you a really great hero you know that?"
"Hm?"
"To me, being a hero means being able to hold onto hope even in the darkest times of our lives." Hado explained. The girl brought her knees up onto the bench and looped her arms around her shins to curl up in her seat. "Means being able to believe in something better while everything else seems gloomy. I think as heroes it's our responsibility to make sure that if everybody else seems down or sad because of what's happening in the world, we should be there to give inspiration and hope for the better days to come. The rainbow after the storm. I wanna be a hero that can make people happy by bringing with me lots and lots of hope because with hope we can brighten up a lot of people's lives, people who need that kind of hope.
Crime, depression, suicide. Bad stuff, bad bad stuff that I wish don't exist but they do. Villains commit crime people suffer from depression every day because they don't have anybody else to speak to, and it's because of that depression they resort to something awful such as suicide. I don't want that. I chose light colors for my hero outfit because just like my Quirk, I wanna be something bright that people can see and can rely upon to be there when they need it most. That's always been my goal when growing up to be the best version of myself that I can be. Somebody who others can rely up when they need it.
It was a little hard at first, I couldn't exactly communicate with others like the way I do now. It was a bit hard for me but thankfully my friends came along and they showed me how great it is to have people you can rely upon. Yuyu, Tamaki Mirio, all of them. They've given me what I want to give to others, which is to always hope that good things will come soon after the bed. That's why I train to be a hero."
Hado nestled her chin into the middle of her knees at first but soon twisted her head so that her right cheek took that place instead. She smiled at Midoriya, yet again punching him in the face with the sensation of being the universe's brightest object. "You've managed to hold onto your own kind of hope for a long time Midoriya, and in my book that makes you a really great candidate for being a top hero. Not a lot of Quirkless kids are strong enough to hold on like you have so don't ever let go of that hope you have, 'kay? Let's bring that kind of strength out into the real world when we're all real life pros."
Midoriya gulped at the feeling of his heart strings being pulled, finding it difficult to remain calm in the presence of the ever bright Hado. He was about to say something about her statement of his strength in being able to hold onto hope but...perhaps it wasn't a good idea. He wouldn't want to ruin that great smile that she's directing his way so for the time being, his mouth remained shut on the subject. Instead he nodded to her with the intention of carrying through with her request, bringing that light of hope to those who need it most.
-
Deku/Nejire-Chan Trial Results
1st run: 8:21
2nd run: 9:31
"Yay! That was fun!"
"Augh man." Midoriya groaned as he looked at the sheet of paper displaying the time results for the simulation. "The second time around we took an entire minute longer because I got stuck at the basement area. Sorry about that Hado-senpai."
"Hey hey no need to be worried, be happy about it!" Hado cheered. "Simulations like these are meant for us to work out the kinks in our critical thinking skills so it's best that you look at these as a great example of what you need to work on. The basement area was a little tricky even for me, having to deal with both villains and civilians in the same room is always gonna be a real pain. But no worries Midoriya! I'm sure that the next time you try something like this you'll remember where you went wrong and improve on it for the better. Let's focus on getting stronger and smarter for now than to pout and put our heads low, okie-dokie?"
"Okay Senpai."
"Good job today, not gonna lie, I thought you'd take a little bit longer in your run but just under ten minutes is really really good. Be proud of that." With her right index finger Hado reached out and tapped the first year on his nose. "Boop!"
"U-Uhhh.."
"Oh whoops, sorry heh! That's a bad habit of mine. When I was younger my mom would give me nose boops whenever I did a good job, and it kinda stuck with me as I got older to the point where I started doing it to my other friends. Guess I like hanging around with you so much I saw you for Mirio or Tamaki haha!"
"Oh. Uh, okay then. I uh, like, hanging with you t-too. Even if it is in class like this."
"Hey I have an idea! Why don't you come over to the 3-A dorm building some time?" Hado suggested. "Mirio always talks about how much of a cool guy you seem to be and since you were with us at the Yakuza raid I'm willing to bet Tamaki is okay with having you around. Yuyu's cool with anybody, and while he's in 3-B Mirio likes to hang around the 3-A dorms whenever he has a chance. Whadduya say?"
"Umm, I'll have to think about that a little." Midoriya admitted. "Not that I don't want to it's just that, I got stuff that I take care of and I wouldn't wanna pop in unannounced. But I think it seems like a neat idea, lets me speak with the other third years and see how they've experienced U.A in their time."
"You're gonna like the other students in the 3-A trust me, everybody's really cool and they all have their own neat hobbies. I'm sure you'll find somebody you might be able to relate to. Anyways I'm off to the locker rooms, Snipe said once we're finished we can head back and change. I'll see you around okay? Bye!"
"Bye Hado-senpai. Thanks for being my partner today."
The third year waved at her junior goodbye before turning and setting off for the girl's locker rooms, leaving behind Midoriya who had to wait for further instructions with the rest of his class. In the distance she spotted Haya doing the same as Hado activated her Quirk from both hands and feet to catch up with her best friend. A nose boop, an action that caused the first year to rub over the spot where her finger tapped and a light blush dusting his face. It was a simple action and a little weird if done to those outside her friend group but for some reason a little tap was enough to make him feel so much, lighter.
...can he have another?