MosesArk Reborn2000
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A New Existence Chapter 7
🕑 Added 2023-08-30 13:21:16 +0000 UTCWell, things have been going swimmingly lately, planning for the second book of my Code Geass story is coming along nicely, as well as something in the works for a Danny Phantom story. Both will get the same treatment as this story with early access on Patreon. However, I also have something else in the works, an ORIGINAL story which will be exclusive to my Patreon. It's not the story I wished to write or plan for, but it is something I can learn from and I think will have some promise to it. Once it's up, I'll be sure to announce that but for now, let's jump into things.
Chapter 7: First Phase cleared
Of course, her moment with Ms Joke ended and she went back to looking out for U.A. or Ketsubutsu Academy students while she didn't find the latter, she was able to pick some of the latter, seeing a spot of green and red in a building, an office style one. "Wait is that," Zooming in, she wasn't able to confirm the first two but she was able to confirm that two others were inside with them, one of them having tentacle-like arms. "It is. I've found some of the others, Aizawa-sensei."
“Who?”
"Shoji, Asui…Jiro and think-no, that's her, Yaoyorozu. They're in the business district." She pointed in the direction but knew that he wouldn't be able to spot them from here, she could barely see them and she had binoculars as they moved about the space there were in, with Shoji returning to the windows now and then, sometimes followed by Tsu, sometimes with Jiro.
"What are they doing there?" Ms Joke asked, curious as to why they would enter a building which would limit what they could and couldn't do. She supposed they could care less for collateral, but she doubted a student of grumpy pants would so casually disregard that.
"Most likely taking a breather after that move from Shindo separated everyone, but they're also about to get attacked," Izuku replied, seeing how more of them seem to appear from the woodwork.
“Who and how many?” Aizawa asked her.
"I can't say…they're all girls, wearing the same uniform. One of them is making their way to an opposite rooftop, and 4 of them are entering the building, could be more already inside." Aizawa muttered a small curse under his breath, too quiet for Eri to hear.
“All girls and in the same uniform, I would say it’s Seiai Academy.” This was going to be an issue for his students, that's for sure, a fact that Joke seemed to agree on.
“That’s just perfect.” She shrugged her shoulders, leaning back with crossed arms as Izuku looked back at them, confused as to why they were both acting like this.
“Is there something wrong with Seiai Academy?” She could admit that she didn’t know much about the place. She knew it was an all-girls prep school, that her mother and Aunt Mitsuki attended there, and that it tended to attract the daughters of wealthy families.
"No, rather is because they're so good that there is an issue. Their headmistress is an old friend of Nezu's." Izuku's eyes widened there, beginning to see why both were so concerned. She had been informed by the principal before meeting him, how crafty and intelligent he was, getting close to him was incredibly difficult as he seemed to be able to sniff out plans and ploys without trying. They had already 8 different agents over the past 10 years trying to ingrain themselves with him and all failed, 2 of which being arrested though thankfully they covered up their tracks enough.
She had her assumptions on him, assumptions that he proved more than accurate in their brief meeting when she was officially accepted into the U.A. Hero course. She liked to think she could read people easily enough, a skill picked up from years of trying to avoid the worst of her old classmates but with Nezu, she couldn't tell a thing about him. His beady eyes and near ever-present smile might as well have been a fog masking whatever it was that went on in that head of his.
"The same principle that keeps you up at night in fright?" Ms Joke pocked Eraser in the side, getting a grunt from the man.
“The principal who’s proven himself one of the most capable leaders and strategists around.” Which was a yes, but both could tell getting him to admit that would be like pulling teeth. "So much so, I wouldn't be surprised if they did far more research into our students than the others." His assumptions proved to be accurate for as she turned back to observe things, she noticed that the girl she saw before climbing the opposite building arming her down towards the target building and firing off projectiles using her sling=shot like a hand, however each time she fired it didn't so much shatter the glass as it breaks it.
“The lone girl is taking out the windows, though her hits aren’t strong enough to break the glass, just spread cracks.” Izuku could assume that her meta-ability also gave her some sort of power control, or perhaps it was skill-either way, it seems that her actions weren’t meant to destroy the windows as they were in blinding whoever was trying to look through them as she couldn’t make out the floor tiles before but now, she couldn’t make heads or tails on who was what in there.
"It's intentional, they're most likely limiting how much Shoji can see, I wouldn't be surprised if they also found a way to neutralise Jiro as well," Aizawa noted.
“So, you think this was planned?” Ms Joke asked him, a bit sceptical about the idea that a group could have planned for 19 possible targets, targets that would move in random groups towards random locations.
He didn't believe it wholeheartedly either, however, when you worked for a bear-dog-rat as intelligent as Nezu, you learned to accept that some people were just that much smarter than you in terms of planning and probability calculation and prediction. "I wouldn't be surprised. It would suit her style and be logical for her to impart that to her students. Unlike the rest, they must have waited to see how my class reacted to the crush and adjusted their plans accordingly." This was true as Izuku hadn't seen anyone dressed similarly since the exam started.
“Which has the side benefit of keeping their quirks and skills secret, as if your students knew about them, they would have probably avoided closed spaces.” Ms Joke finished the theory as she could admit, it was smart but still risky as the plan seemed to hinge on the targets being from U.A. and it required that they come to you, which wasted time as they couldn't wait too long else, they would fail by default once enough make it through.
“The shooter has broken a window, though I can’t see what she was trying to hit, but she’s moving back.” She reported to the two teachers, and moments later something new happened.
“The emergency window slides have also been deployed. They’re trapped, Aizawa-sensei.” The man hummed, the entire field had zones designed to be as close to the real thing as possible, and in his experience, the shutters on buildings like the ones found in the financial district didn’t activate just because a window broke. They were normally designed to deploy during harsh storms or hail or dangerous villain attacks, but neither should be true in this case…which meant that someone hacked into it and tricked the system into thinking that it was.
"If they've decided that this is the hill they're fighting on, I can assume they have a pretty solid plan of attack." Ms. Joke noted.
“Seems like it,” Aizawa agreed with her. “Midoriya, the other Midoriya, based on what you can see, what do you think will happen?” He had to clarify as Izuku and Eri turned to him, he’ll have to remember that they had the same last name.
“You want my opinion?” Izuku blinked, wondering if she had heard that wrong.
“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.” Aizawa was blunt in his response, but not mocking which was a change for her. She knew that U.A. would be different-it had to be, right? But she didn’t expect to be put on the spot like this, but she could see that he was waiting for an answer and she didn’t think he’ll like it if she refused.
“Oh, well,” She took a moment to think about it. “It’s certainly seeming like they put more planning into this than others. I would also assume that they planned for the whole class as there is simply no way they could have predicted who would fall into their trap.”
“But because they knew that they’ll change, I can also see their plans being rather flexible, with parts that can be shifted out if not taken out entirely.” That made the most sense to her, a flexible approach with plenty of wiggle room over a rigid plan of attack as she knew that meta-abilities could make one incredibly intelligent but she had never heard of one could so perfectly plan the future. There was Sir Nighteye, but she didn’t know enough about him to make any theories as the activation requirements and finer details of his meta-ability were wisely kept confidential.
“Then there is the fact that they’re isolated the group from others, friend and foe alike, so they might have done or seen something that makes them think they have the time advantage if they haven’t made this a situation which gives them that.” It would also make sense that, unlike the opening when the different schools relied on a barrage, this assault would be carefully planned to minimise their targets' potential while maximising their own.
“All good points, but that still leaves the most important question, do you think they’ll succeed?” Aizawa nodded, his face giving nothing to how she thought about her assessment, but she hoped that she could rely on the fact he was asking her to continue as a clue that he was at least interested.
This was all impressive, clearly well thought out and easily altered to suit their needs…but that was the thing, wasn't it? It was all a plan, plans never survived first contact and heroes, not just those from U.A. made it their bread and butter to outperform, it might have fallen out of practice with All Might around doing everything despite being near crippled old man but…Mera-no, the Commission seemed to be aware of that, why else would they alter the exam to only allow such a small fraction to pass? Why would Mera word his speech the way he did if not to encourage them to all give their 110%?
With that in mind, she shook her head. “I don’t think so, not entirely. Whoever created this plan must have done their research, and be flexible enough to account for most unknowns, but they would only do this if they believed that they could predict how their targets would react, as I’m guessing it’s not in their nature to blast their way out.”.
“Wrong, Yaoyorozu would have either created an explosive or a cannon by now if she could.” Aizawa shot that possibility down, he knew his students and knew that Yaoyorozu seemed to rely on things like cannons as a means to make up for her quirk’s lack of raw power.
“So, she’s either already down, or they’ve been put into a situation where she can't do that without risking themselves," Izuku noted quietly, wondering how they could have taken the heiress so quickly.
“Still, despite that, whoever created this would need to account for everything can’t have accounted for one thing, the human element.” Izuku continued, thinking about how that bastard Kai had never thought to consider just how much her care for Eri would push her to act, how he never considered that she valued something like her emotions more than logic like he pretended to. "Sometimes we act based on rationale and evidence, other times because we're following our hearts and instincts." She placed an arm around Eri, the girl snuggling close to her with a smile.
Line Break
“Ms Psy, the excess door has been sealed.” Intelli took a moment to open her eyes, having been enjoying a fresh pot of tea as she thought of ways their prey could try to escape, her gaze landing on her friend and classmate, Gorgon Eve.
“Very good.” She replied, loving how much her carefully laid plans were coming together with this assault. Granted, her original plans had been based around U.A.’s second years, and this new one was not even 2 hours old, but it seemed to be going wonderfully well. She couldn't help the smug smile on her face, even if she kept polite and coy, as she had watched the first-year festival on a whim. That knowledge allowed her to begin planning for this but unlike so many others who only used that peak into the power of U.A., she took it a step further and was able to convince the rest of her friends to stay back and watch how they responded to the annual crushing over joining in on the blind attack.
That choice was paying them back greatly as they got to see just how much they all had grown since the festival, as was expected from a school such as U.A. She had soaked it all in, how they moved when they moved, what they did and how their quirks worked in fine detail. Afterwards, it didn't take much to fine-tune their plans into a much more cohesive structure that took into account every member of the class. This particular grouping was one of her favourites as not only did it lack the firepower of those like Bakugo or Todoroki, but the strength and durability of a student like perhaps Kirishima.
Of course, she didn’t believe them weak-far from it, the notion that a school that her headmistress and teacher respected so much would accept or produce subpar heroes was incalculable to her. ‘That being said, this group is one of the easier ones to handle.’ She thought to herself, her eyes moving towards the closed doors, not that she expected that they’ll make a break for it at the moment, not for another couple minutes at least. As she waited for the final parts of their plan to come to fruition, she thought back to how they got into this advantageous position.
‘First, we entered the building, not even trying to conceal ourselves to distract them from the fact we already had people inside waiting for them, and to allow Akemi to get into position.’ That was by far the riskiest part of it, as the move required that their targets not check first but it seemed that her predictions regarding their mindsets proved accurate.
‘Then, we use the fact that they knew we're in the building to ensure that their human sonar, Jiro is listening in carefully, trying to figure out where we are and how numbers. Then they would take her out with an extremely loud sound,' She found it fortunate that they didn't need to make the sound themselves as the arena had plenty of normal objects that one could find in the real world. A waste of funds? Most definitely. But was it a convenient way to get their hands on a wireless speaker to play the loudest guitar solo they could find online? Also, yes.
‘Of course, they’ll react to their classmate going down, even momentarily which will distract them while Shoji, their second-best scout will turn away from the windows to inspect whatever sound effected Jiro. I doubt that his hearing is as good as hers, but it doesn’t need to be. All that matters is that he moves away from the windows, allowing our resident sharpshooter her chance to shine.’ She was always amazed by just how skilled Akemi was with her quirk. It might have gifted her with the ability to never miss, but the speed and power of the shoots were skill alone, else she would have destroyed the windows otherwise but she reported that her part of the plan went according to plan.
‘We then lowered the temperature to neutralise Asui as statistically, people with mutant quirks relating to animals have a 79% chance of sharing that animal's weakness. In this case, a cold climate slows her metabolism and can force her body into a hibernation-like state.’ It was frankly interesting how such quirks worked, and she had been quite eager to study them in her first year for this kind of situation.
'Of course, it's because of Asui's presence that this wasn't the final part of the plan as while we could have lowered the temperature even more and forced them to surrender to wait for the cold to handle them, that could easily prove lethal to Asui.' She frowned, thinking back to their lessons during their first year on how hostage crisis can go from bad to worse because the heroes involved believed that the villains would think as a group, or perhaps because they forgot to take into account the well-being of the hostages. 'We can't bank on them being able to see that and give up, that would be far too risky.'
‘Regardless, with Asui most likely incapacitated, Yaoyorozu would be left with a choice but given the situation she’s in, she’ll take the most logical one and merely make Asui a blanket to wrap herself in, most likely handing her to Shoji since as the largest, he has the most warmth to impart.’ She closed her eyes, not needing to see it to envision it in her mind, in another circumstance, perhaps it would have been romantic but she hoped that they had their priorities straight at the moment.
“I have to admit, Ms Psy. I would have expected them to try and break out by now.” Horibe, her tallest classmate noted as she stood ready.
“Of course, she could try and blow open the door which we sealed off, but that has a 92% chance of setting off a phreatic explosion, and a girl like her has to be smart enough to realize that," Intelli replied, happy that her foe wasn’t so foolish as to nearly kill herself and her classmates. Was this exam important? Yes, but nothing that one should their lives and long-term health away for. “If not that, they must also know we’re waiting for them to try and rush through this entrance-their only exit point.”
With the room as cold as it was, they didn’t have much time to think of a counter. ‘She could use her quirk to seal the vents and prevent but it’ll take too long for the temperature to rise, and it’s highly unlikely she’ll have much left in her afterwards as she’s far from fresh thanks to the attempting mass assault by the other schools.’ She sipped some tea, and her mood was great.
‘Of course, they could try and windows if they don’t wish to face off the bulk of us, but we’re on the 28th floor, with the possible exception of Asui, none of them is equipped to leave, and thanks to the cold, Asui should be in no condition to make such an attempt.' She snorted at that, hiding with her hand. It would take an insane desperate move to jump out of the window-still, Akemi was still in position and would report if they did try and burst out that way.
All of which left them with but two options: either remain still and fall to the cold, at which case, they could just waltz in and claim their victory or; they could charge them, but that would be at a serious disadvantage. Before then, they’ll most likely want to warm up a bit but that can only come if Yaoyorozu used her quirk to create something to block the vents and stop the cold air being pumped into the room, after which she’ll move to create a heater of some kind.
‘Of course, even if she just blocked the vents, if what we know about her quirk is accurate, she’ll use up most of her remaining lipids in the process, leaving only Shoji as a meaningful threat, as is my design.’ Intelli smiled, loving how her equation for success was coming together like a well pieced puzzle, after around 10 minutes of being trapped, she placed her tea down. “Prepare to take them, ladies.”
"Right!" She couldn't help but smirk at her victory, at the pleasure of being one of the few that could say they bested a top school like U.A. but that feeling vanished as soon as it rose to the surface as her ears started to ring.
Clasping at her head and knocking over her tea set, she saw to her horror that some of her classmates were already dropping from the surprise assault, an assault that shouldn't have been possible! "Wha-no…" Falling to her knees, she grits her teeth as she tried to remain conscious, even as it felt like every bone in her body was rattling while her muscles jiggled like loose Jello. 'This…a sonic…based attack? Impossible! Jiro shouldn't be able to-' The realization hit her almost as hard as the sonic attack coming from their captives who had managed to turn the tables on them.
“She didn’t…” There was no way Jiro could do this, even if she still had those damned gauntlets from before, the only way she could be producing a sonic blast this strong was if Yaoyorozu chose to create Jiro a speaker system large enough to handle it-but that she shouldn't have done that, it didn't make! Her vision started to blur as the blast took its toll, as she saw to her horror that she was the last one still aware but she could barely move, even after the blast ceased-she was left on her hands and knees for a moment before the last of her strength left her, leaving her on the ground, sweaty and barely able to move.
This was the state that Yaoyorozu, Jiro, Asui and Shoji would find her in-not as a smiling force that had outsmarted them, but as nothing more than a sitting duck that could only hold back her tears and snarls as they tagged them, that ding of her final target being hit ringing through her ears more them than actual aftershocks from Jiro and Yaoyorozu's last-ditch counter.
Line Break
“Another 4 students have passed, that brings the number up to 68, less than 40 spots remaining people, chop-chop!” Mera's announcement was met with a smile from Izuku as she watched how Yaomomo, Tsu, Jiro and Shoji walked out of the building, Shoji supporting Yaomomo while Jiro helped Tsu along. She couldn't tell, but she felt like they were happy as they didn't seem upset or disappointed, they even seemed to share a high.
A little way later, their would-be attackers also left the building, meeting up with their sharpshooter and looking dejected with their targets a bright red. “They look so sad.” She liked that she proved correct in her assessment of the outcome, but it was still sad to see them fail after all much work.
“Don’t worry about it too much, they’re all 2ndyears, they still got 2 shots at this.” Ms. Joke told her to cheer her up, she might be a teacher but she recalled how stressful this time could be a hero student. She had failed her 2nd-year exam as well and was a wreck afterwards, but managed to find the resolve to train harder and Bing-Bam-Boom, she passed the following exam and earned her provisional license.
She nodded her head and went back to searching for fights, sure that while she had focused on Yaomomo’s group that some others from her class had passed. But as she looked, she found to her surprise that one person she had figured would have been one of the first was still in play, along with two others. ‘And if things couldn’t get any more interesting, Bakugo’s found himself in a fight.’ She focused on them as she saw the three; Kaminari, Bakugo and Kirishima all standing on the highway section, facing off against a student who was surrounded by…meat piles? Must be their meta-ability. ‘Strange that it took so long for him to do that, he lives and breathes combat, any chance to flex how much better he thinks he is.’
“Bakugo, Kirishima and Kaminari have found someone, they look to be from Shiketsu.” She reported to the two teachers, right after that, Kirishima tackled Bakugo out of the way of their attack as they sent a mass of flesh at them, capturing Kirishima before it started to morph him like he was play-dough, turning him into just a meat pile. With that in mind, she started to wonder if the rest of the piles he had around him were people, why was he still in the exam? He could have surely tagged two of them.
“The situation?” Eraser asked, a little more informed after hearing that, not that she blamed him as while Seiai was no pushover school, there was a reason that Shiketsu was held in the same regard as U.A. They had already seen what Yoarashi could do, so this could easily be a hard fight which it was proving to be as while it started slow, seemingly with the two talking rather than fighting, Bakugo quickly went on the offensive with what looked to be a ranged attack, she didn't know he could do and will have to remember that.
Countering this, the Shiketsu student used his meta-ability on his fingers, disconnecting them from his hand, morphing and enlarging them and using them as a barrier against the rapid-fire explosive blasts, barely moving from his spot as he sent off his counter, forcing Bakugo back while Kaminari just stood there, a non-factor if she ever saw one. “Bad, their quirk seems to give him some kind of flesh manipulation, he’s already taken out at least 11 people.” Her question from before was still unanswered, could he not tag them after capturing them? Surely, he could use his meta-ability in a way to restrain them enough to do it, or did he not have some sort of middle ground and had gone 0 – 10 with no in-between?
“That many, why is he still on the field? He could have passed by now.” Ms Joke asked a question that she didn't have an answer to, at least not at the moment as the fight stopped for a moment, and while she couldn't hear anything, she could read enough of the context to feel her blood boil.
“Boasting,” She snarled, grabbing Eri's attention as much as she did Eraser and Ms. Joke. She couldn't help herself, not when she saw them fucking around like playground bullies…no, Bakugo didn't seem as obnoxious, but something was happening as Kaminari the spectator seemed to be freaking out. “I can’t believe it; it looks like he and Bakugo are arguing with one another.” Eraser’s eyebrow twitched when he heard that.
“What? I swear that boy needs to check his ego, this isn’t the time to mess around.” He sorely wished he could smack him upside the head.
Through her irritated haze, she kept up her observations and felt herself calming down, at least a little as she could pick up the tells that this wasn't just two morons wasting time in a dick-measuring contest. 'No…I've seen Bakugo boast, this isn't it. it's the opposite as that Shiketsu guy looks like he's one of these prideful types, someone that wastes time lecturing people at the worst of times.' His stiff back, hands held behind-they all spoke to something with a lot of pride and one more than willing to express that at the expense of others.
He reminded her of whenever one of her wealthier classmates talked down to her. It wasn't so much them mocking her for being quirkless yet wishing to be a hero, as it was them taking offence that she was occupying the same space as they were. She didn't know what Bakugo did to this guy, and frankly didn't care-all she saw was a fool wasting his time.
“Either way, as much as I don’t like it, it seems like he’s setting himself up for failure.” She concluded, wanting to see him fail just for the fun of it.
“Think so?” Ms Joke asked, to which she handed her the binoculars.
“Hmmm,” Looking to where she was pointing, the pro observed the fight for a couple of moments, seeing how the two seemed to pause and rethink their plan, how they used their quirks as Bakugo was relying on his speed and power advantage, blasting about the place trying to get a hit in while his opponent used his quirk, separating his arms from his body and creating shots and shields to remain largely stationary but untouched. Though it was weird that through it all, the third one, another of Grumpy Cat's students remained passive and reacted like a civilian.
“Yup! He’s toast.” She declared, lowering the binoculars with a shrug. It was sad, but he wasn't one of hers and he was digging his own grave here, nothing she could do about it.
“That bad?” Aizawa dreaded the response, and right after he heard that four of his students made it through despite being hunted by a particularly tough group of students.
Ms. Joke handed Izuku the binoculars back before giving Aizawa a pat on the back, feeling for the man as there was nothing worse than watching your student made a completely avoidable mistake because of something petty like pride or ego. “I’ve seen first years with better heads on their shoulders for these kinds of situations, I got one sitting right next to me with a good eye for them too.” She winked at Izuku who blushed a little at the praise before she turned her gaze back to the fight, though she felt that was too generous a term to describe the mess that was happening down there.
No, this was just a contest of egos between the two with Kaminari being a third wheel. A disappointment, one that she should have expected from Bakugo, but still wished to not see as she would have thought his time at U.A. would have smoothed that ego out but it seems she was wrong. It wasn't so much that Bakugo was acting like he was the king, but he was letting himself be led along by this guy as she could see his face twist now and then, him yelling a fashion she knew stemmed from indigent anger before he would increase the force of his attacks. He was taking ground and closing the distance sure, but it was being led to believe it was solely thanks to him-but in reality, he was directed by this guy that came off as prideful as Bakugo.
Kaminari was the least disappointing of them, but that was largely due to how little he was contributing as aside from those disk-shaped projectiles he fired towards the Shiketsu student that missed their mark, he might as well be absent from the engagement, proving the old stereotype accurate when it came to him.
‘Though, I can’t say I was expecting much from him.’ She thought to herself, recalling how poorly he performed in the festival as he came in 38th out of 42 that made it to the second round and only managed to reach the finals thanks to being on the same team as the heiress, Iida and Endeavour's kid. A fact proven by how easily he was taken out in the finals, she would have given him some slack as his foe was unique in their meta-ability was counter to his own, but surely, he would have been able to see that and not try and fry her like he would anyone else, especially when his meta-ability seemed to adversely affect his mental capacity.
It came to a head when Bakugo was taken out by a sneak attack from behind as the Shiketsu student used the bridge to mask the approach of one of his fingers, a smart move on his part as it explained part of his reasoning for getting Bakugo so invested in attacking him and remaining stationary, it was to ensure he didn’t pay attention to his flanks which he must be regretting as he got turned into a gross meaty dough and dropped to the floor, joining the others who this guy has taken out. She might even say he was impressive…if he wasn't wasting time as he could easily tag them now, he didn't need to worry about Kaminari, especially when his attacks wouldn't be targeted, all he would do is grab a couple and leave.
Once more they seemed to take a moment to talk wasting time as Mera announced that the 72nd person managed to pass. She was about to turn away from such an embarrassing showing when Kaminari managed to surprise her. He throw…something, she couldn’t tell, but it lined with those previously shot projectiles, she wondered what he was planning to do with them when activated his meta-ability but instead of being indiscriminate wide area attack, it fired off in a single direction, through the Shiketsu student and hitting the targets he fired-no, they weren’t just targets, they were akin to a lightning rod for his meta-ability, a clever way to deal with that particular hurdle, even if it looked like he had to line his target up first, perhaps they were meant to land on whatever he wished to electrocute? She’ll have to ask him about that later.
For now, it seems that the arrogance of the Shiketsu student was coming back to bite him as after that shock, whatever control he had over his two latest victims was lost as Bakugo and Kirishima morphed back to their normal forms before promptly attacking him, taking him down and releasing the rest. She didn't need to see the rest to know that they were going to come out okay, though she would be lying if she didn't like Bakugo for once, wasn't the biggest problem in the situation.
“Looks like they managed to make it through, somehow.” She reported to Aizawa, who did a pretty good job of masking whatever emotions he was feeling about it.
“I’m still going to make sure Bakugo understands how ego is a detriment to a hero.” The underground hero replied, his arms crossed with a frown on his face.
"Can't you ever say a good job?" Ms Joke pocked his side.
“Would you after that performance?” He answered with a question of his own.
“Touche, want some gum?”
“That’s a trick.”
Line Break
“And that’s 73 people that have passed, 27 more and we’re done with the first part.” Todoroki looked up towards the screen that showcased the field as Mera made another update. Sadly, the screen didn't show who was where so he couldn't confirm anything about the classmates he hadn't already met inside the room.
“Oh, it's good to see that you two passed." He turned around to see Yaoyorozu, Jiro, Shoji and Asui approaching, relieving him of some of the stress of waiting for his classmates to arrive.
"I didn't doubt it, but I have to admit, it was a bit a nail bitter out there," Asui stated once their two groups got close.
“It was thanks to Hagakure that I managed to, if I had been alone, I would have lost.” Todoroki gestured towards the girl in question and laughed as she swung an arm around his shoulders.
Looking about, Jiro couldn’t pick anyone else from their class in the room. “Have you seen the others?”
It was Hagakure who answered. “Just Shinso, but we went to the bathroom.” Her gloved hand pointed towards the side where the restrooms were.
"He passed that quickly, should have expected that with how sneaky he can be," Jiro replied the guy had his faults, but he was a solid assassin kind of hero, often you could forget he was there with how quiet he could be.
"He was in a couple of minutes after we got here," Todoroki added on, as the guy walked in looking a little dirty, but that was all. According to him, once they were split off, he made his way to the commercial district and was nearly caught in Yoarashi's attack, Lucky for him, he wasn't the only one that avoided it so he used the confusion to snare two people and tag them.
"So, it's just us 7 that made it through, that leaves 12 of our classmates still competing," Shoji noted, concerned that they were cutting it down to the wire here.
"I wouldn't count them out just yet, they still have a shot," Jiro answered him right as the door opened up and 3 others walked in, spotting them to the side.
“Hey, guys!" Kirishima waved as he walked towards them, followed by a smug-looking Kaminari and an annoyed Bakugo.
“Oh, you made it!” Yaoyorozu smiled, glad to see more of their class had made it through.
“Of course, we did, how could we let the class down by failing?” Kaminari asked her.
“You’re not last, so that’s even better.” Jiro joked which got him to pout.
“Oh, come on, why is everyone ripping on me today?” Seriously, was it 'Pick on Denki' day or something? He passed just like them, didn't he?
“Sorry it took a while; we have to find people and then we ran into someone from Shiketsu that had a bone to pick with Bakugo," Kirishima informed them, rubbing the back of his neck which still felt strange after his unwanted first-hand experience as a meatball.
“Making enemies with people from other schools, how’d you manage that?” Jiro asked them as they moved to where the commission had set up a snack table, eager to eat something before they were thrown back into the fire.
“Shut up, Ears! I’ve never met the Beady-eyed bastard before in my life, he just has a stick shoved so far up his ass, he would probably taste it." Bakugo yelled back at her, getting some others to turn to him in confusion at his rather vivid description of his opinions on Shishikura.
Having expected something like this after knowing him for so long, Yaoyorozu still sighed. “Must you be so crass?” She asked him as she picked up a plate and added more food to it, not caring for how some looked on in slight surprise, her quirk necessitated that she eats a lot, so she ate a lot.
Picking something small for himself, Bakugo snorted out a response. “You weren’t targeted by some uptight bastard obsessed with calling you lacking.”
“Still,” The group jumped in fright as Shinso spoke up, having joined them before any could even notice him. “That means that 10 of us are still out there.” He spared the screen a glance, worried for the rest as he had heard some talking about how it was rare for an entire class to pass half cutting was normally seen as good.
“What the hell, Shinso, do you have to always sneak up on us?” Kaminari whined, holding his chest to try and calm his heart down from that scare.
“I wasn’t sneaking, I just don’t make noise when I move.” He replied.
“Same thing!” Jiro yelled back at him, still unsure how the hell Eraser could have taught him so much in so little time as he was the only person, she found difficult to hear coming without trying.
Line Break
And that is that. The first half of the class makes it through to the second portion of the exam. There were some changes made, and others were made in the presentation, for example, we don't see the encounter between Shishikura and Bakugo, Kirishima and Kaminari from neither POVs but instead, it’s strictly from Izuku's limited and very biased perspective. To her, it was nothing but two groups wasting time and thinking themselves better without merit which makes the show as Shishikura states himself, that he took on the 'role of purging the unworthy' when he should have focused on passing the exam, which for someone with his quirk, would have been easy as he had already taken people out before Bakugo and co even got to him.
Another change was seeing U.A. vs Seiai was primarily from the POV of Intelli, which was a fun way for me to explain how she came up with her battle plan as I can’t imagine that she knew that U.A. was sending first years as during the summer training camp, Aizawa explicitly states that they’re pushing them to get them early, implying that U.A. normally wouldn’t send 1st years which makes sense. The only reason they did was due to the League's presence and their habit of targeting them, so they kinda had to push to gain licenses so that they can better themselves and increase their chances of survival.
Though as a side note, did U.A. have their second years take the first exam during the first semester? Or did they go to a different spot as Vlad mentions that there are 3 different locations? The second one has its issues as it means that, unlike the first years which were sent to different spots to prevent inter-school fighting, the second years get so no such luck and are thrown into a battle royale between not just other schools, but between classes 2-A and 2-B.
