Collector Hero: Synthesis Chapter 33 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Collector Hero: Synthesis! Let the Finals begin! Some might be the same, others will be different, but the outcome is what matters, right? So, who will pass and who will fail? A summer training camp or summer school? The students’ fates ride on their success or failure!

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 33 – Finals Begin

The day of the Finals was a nervous time for the students of U.A. and most especially the Heroics Course. The Practical Exam was on everyone’s mind and it was still preceded by the written exam that they’d all been studying for as well. One could feel the tension in the air throughout the school all day.

“That’s time, pencils down.” Aizawa spoke up and anyone still writing stopped what they were doing. “Pass your tests forward and they’ll be graded over the weekend.”

The tests were passed forward to the people in the front row, who then handed them to Aizawa as he came to collect them all. “You have one hour to prepare for your Practical Exam, which will require you to be in your costumes. Meet at the designated area on time, or you’ll be barred from taking the Practical Exam.”

“Yes, sir!” Class 1-A acknowledged in unison.

Aizawa nodded to his students and left the room.

“Yaomomo!” Mina cried out in relief and joy. “I think I did okay! Thank you so much!”

“I didn’t leave anything blank at least!” Kaminari gave the Vice-Rep a thumbs ups and a smile.

“I’m glad to hear that!” Momo beamed, sparkles seeming to come off of her entire body in her adorable excitement.

“Still, that was a lot to go over all at once.” Sero exhaled and rubbed the back of his head.

“No kidding, I think I might’ve messed up on question twelve.” Shoji nodded, thinking back on his answer to the specific question.

“The short answer one?” Kirishima questioned, recalling his own answer. “That was based on your own perspective…so, is there a wrong answer?”

“I’m sure the teachers are looking for at least a certain type of answer at the very least.” Toru pointed out to the redhead.

“That’s true.” Sato nodded in agreement. “I felt alright on most of my short answer questions, but not so much on some of the laws and regulation ones, you know?”

“Indeed, Monsieur…” Aoyama had clearly gone all in on his written test, the boy appeared wiped out and wasn’t even doing his typical posing. “Such specific examples too…I’m not certain I referenced the proper regulations on some of them.”

“Guys, come on, you’re starting to make me nervous about my answers now!” Kaminari worried if he’d properly answered some of those questions now.

“No kidding, let’s just chill for a bit.” Camie suggested as she stretched her arms above her head.

“It’s hard to chill when we have the practical coming up so soon.” Chikuchi looked over at Camie with a lopsided grin.

“You can say that again.” Kyoka still rolled her shoulders to try and get the tension out.

“We should probably start getting ready though, we only have an hour.” Tsuyu reminded the class.

“Bakugo and Iida are already gone.” Ochako pointed out that the ever punctual Iida and the angry loner Bakugo had already left the room.

“Let’s do our best!” Izuku gave everyone his best smile and put his fist in the air to try and pump up his classmates.

“Yeah!” Most of the class cheered back with him as they all started filing out of the room.

-Practical Exam Site-

“Let’s begin your practical exam.” Aizawa spoke in his typical flat tone.

With their homeroom teacher were seven other teachers: Cementoss, Midnight, Ectoplasm, Power Loader, Snipe, Thirteen, and Present Mic.

Opposite of the teachers, Class 1-A stood in their costumes, ready to go. This was actually the first time that anyone had seen Chikuchi’s costume before.

Her costume consisted of a navy blue skin-tight turtleneck bodysuit with two thick light-blue lines running parallel down her torso, thinning as they jut inwards below her breasts and outwards again around her navel, two other lines going around the tops of her thighs. She wore light-blue shoulder-pads that contoured to her shoulders. On each forearm, there was a gauntlet with what looked like four canisters attached, one on the top and bottom and one on each side. She had thigh-high boots which dip down at the front in a pointed ‘U’ to her knees, and a mask over the lower part of her face that seemed like it had some filtration and possibly respirator functions.

“Sweet costume, Chi-chan!” Toru whispered to her friend with a thumbs up.

“Thanks, Toru-chan.” Chikuchi whispered back. Seeing Toru’s costume was always odd, as it appeared empty, but it could also vanish entirely since it was apparently made of DNA-encoded metamaterials.

“It is, of course, possible to fail this exam.” Aizawa continued, ignoring the whispers for now. “If you want to attend the training camp, then don’t mess this up.”

“Sure are a lot of teachers here.” Kyoka mentioned, looking the group over.

“Six…seven…eight of them.” Camie counted off quietly.

“Knowing you guys, you probably asked around and you might think you have a vague idea of how this will go.” Aizawa mentioned, even as his capture weapon scarf seemed to be moving a bit on its own.

“It’s gonna be a robot rumble, like the entrance exams!” Kaminari cheered, throwing his head back. “Yeah!”

“Fireworks! Curry! Truth or Dare!” Mina listed off one thing after another that she wanted to do at the training camp, all while pumping her fist in excitement.

“Not quite!” Nezu popped out of Aizawa’s scarf with his paw raised high, shocking several of the students. “Various circumstances have demanded a revision to the exam format!”

Mina and Kaminari went stock still in shock at hearing that the practical had been changed completely.

“The principal!” Sero exclaimed, stunned that Nezu had popped up out of nowhere.

“A revision…?” Momo blinked at the announcement.

‘Why was he in there?’ Todoroki just stared as Nezu climbed down from Aizawa’s shoulders, using the end of the capture weapon like a rope.

“Well, you see…” Nezu turned to look at the students fully.

-Flashback-

“Worried about a Villain revival?” Present Mic questioned the point that Nezu brought up as they were in a meeting to determine the practical exam for the Hero Course’s Finals.

“Of course, we hope to prevent such a movement before it takes hold…” Nezu nodded to his staff. “But as a school, we have to take all necessary precautions.” He placed his paws down on the papers in front of him. “It’s not unreasonable to imagine that counter-villain battles in our current society will intensify considerably.”

“That means battlin’ against robots ain’t all that practical.” Snipe spoke up, agreeing with the direction that Nezu was clearly headed in.

“To begin with, the robots were conceived of as a means to avoid claims and suspicions that people were being harmed in our entrance exams.” Nezu reminded all of the faculty.

“Is that all? What a waste. Why not just ignore the complaints?” Aizawa sighed at the lack of reasoning that was used by people to try and discredit U.A. sometimes. “So irrational.”

-End Flashback-

“From now on, we’ll focus on battles against flesh-and-blood opponents. It is critical that our teaching simulates practical experience as closely as possible!” Nezu clenched both of his paws, a nearly oppressive aura seemed to be coming off the chimera-like principal. “As such, you students will be pairing up and fighting one of the teachers that you see here!” The oppressive aura vanished like it had never been there as Nezu was back to his light-hearted tone. He even laughed like what he’d just said was no big deal!

“Against…a teacher…?” Ochako looked uncertain of their chances, looking over the assembled Pro Heroes.

“Your pairings and assigned teacher have already been decided.” Aizawa took over the explanation. “Your battle moves, your grades, your friendships or lack thereof, all of these factors and more were considered, so without further ado…Todoroki and Yaoyorozu, you two will be against me.” He grinned at the pair, his hands already unwinding his capture scarf.

‘Erasure against students with powerful Emitter Quirks.’ A couple of the students realized at the same time.

“Midoriya, you’re with Bakugo.” Aizawa stated and watched the two teens turn to look at each other. Well, Izuku looked at Bakugo, while Bakugo glared at Izuku. “And your opponent…”

“Will be me!” All Might landed off to the side of the other teachers with his signature grin. Bakugo and Izuku looked up at the man with wide eyes. “You’ll have to work together to win, so come at me you two!”

“Ashido and Kaminari, you’re going against Principal Nezu.” Aizawa announced next.

“Eh?!” Mina gaped at the chimera.

“Seriously?!” Kaminari looked a mix between relieved and concerned.

“Aoyama and Uraraka, you’re both going against Thirteen.” Aizawa continued.

“Oh man.” Ochako looked at her favorite Hero.

“Merci, mademoiselle.” Aoyama bowed to the Rescue Hero.

“Koda and Jiro, you’ll be against Present Mic.” Aizawa might’ve had a glimmer of sympathy in his eyes for the two…maybe.

“Let’s see who has the higher decibels!” Present Mic grinned at the two students.

“I’d rather not…” Kyoka grimaced.

Koda just shook his head side-to-side at the idea. He was a quiet boy and only interacted with a few of his classmates.

“Asui and Tokoyami, you two will be facing Ectoplasm.” Aizawa declared.

“An army comes upon us.” Tokoyami stated, looking at their Math teacher.

“Kero.” Tsuyu croaked, already trying to go over everything that she knew about their teacher’s Quirk and how he fought when doing Hero Work.

“Togeike and Utsushimi, you’re against Midnight.” Aizawa looked at his newest student and Camie.

“Sick.” Camie grinned at one of her favorite teachers.

“Range is the name of the game, huh?” Chikuchi didn’t like the grin on their teacher’s face.

“Shoji and Hagakure, you’ll be against Snipe.” Aizawa motioned to the cowboy themed Hero.

‘Long Range versus Close Range.’ Multiple students thought at the match up.

“I can stay invisible…but can you make armor or anything?” Toru whispered to Shoji.

“I can do a few surprising things, but all of it will still require getting close to Snipe-sensei.” Shoji whispered back.

“Sato and Kirishima, you two are with Cementoss.” Aizawa looked at the boys and then Cementoss.

“Right!” Kirishima bumped fists with Sato.

“Isn’t this a defensive capture specialist against two power fighters?” Sato raised an eyebrow at their opponent. This test might be harder than anything he’d considered before.

“Iida and Sero, you’ll both face Power Loader.” Aizawa finished off the list with a nod.

“Crap…we don’t know much about Power Loader’s abilities.” Sero grimaced at their match up.

“We’ll simply have to do our best to overcome this test!” Iida nodded firmly, though even he wasn’t liking the wide grin on the Pro Hero’s face.

“Allow me to fully explain this test!” Nezu spoke up cheerfully. “You’ll all be separated into ten prepared areas, which you’ll be placed in the center of. Once the test starts, you’ll have thirty minutes to accomplish one of two objectives.” He pulled out a pair of specialized handcuffs and showed them to the students. “Either put these handcuffs on your teacher, or at least one of your pair has to escape from the test area through the only available exit.”

“Is it really okay to run away?” Mina questioned with her hand raised.

“Yes.” Nezu nodded to the pink girl with a smile.

“This is nothing like your previous battle training!” Present Mic declared crossing his arms in front of him. “Because this time your opponent is on a whole other level!”

“That’s not really the impression that I get from you.” Kyoka mentioned with a deadpan stare.

“Hey, girl, watch your mouth!” Present Mic shot back with a grumble.

“This test is meant to simulate true battle as closely as possible, so please, think of us as actual Villains!” Thirteen nodded to the students, a smile in her voice.

“If you do engage in battle.” Snipe adjusted his cowboy hat. “And manage to fight and win, that’s fine.”

“However, if you find yourself overwhelmed by your opponent’s power, then fleeing and calling for help might be your wisest option.” Aizawa subtly looked at both Izuku and Todoroki, which both teens caught. A reminder of their decision to go after the Hero Killer.

“It’s either fight to win, or run to win.” Izuku simplified the point of the test.

“Yes! Your decision-making is being tested!” All Might declared to the class. “But, given the rules and circumstances, you’re all probably thinking that running is the only option.” The Number One Hero pulled out a cuff and showed it to the students. “That’s why we had the Support Course make these! Ultra Compressed Weights! With these, each of the teachers will be weighed down with an extra fifty percent of their bodyweight! They’re a tried and true method of slowing movement and draining stamina!” He strapped a few onto himself to demonstrate and only a couple of students heard his next words. “Shoot…they’re heavier than I thought!”

“We held a competition among the Support Course as part of their practical exam to make these.” Power Loader chuckled at the curious looks the students were giving the weights. “Hatsume from Class 1-H won, so her design was chosen.”

“Hatsume…” Izuku recalled the girl from the Sports Festival with a chuckle.

“Is that why the Support Course’s practical exam was last week?” Toru raised her hand to ask.

“Yeah, it was two birds with one stone.” Power Loader grinned at getting to test the Support Course and come up with the weights for the Hero Course test at the same time.

“To further make you consider between fighting or fleeing, each of your teachers will also tell you of the handicap they’ve placed on themselves aside from the weights.” Nezu cheerfully announced with one paw raised in the air. “Allow me to go first!” He looked at Kaminari and Mina with a grin. “I will not be moving from my initial location unless you force me to. Should you manage to escape the range that I can effect from my location, then you are free to flee and pass your test.”

“Nice!” Mina and Kaminari high-fived each other, not noticing the looks of sympathy directed at them by the other teachers.

“I’ll be giving you the handicap of not using my full arsenal of gear.” Aizawa mentioned to Todoroki and Momo. “I’ll only be using what I can carry on my belt.”

“That’s still not very reassuring.” Momo mentioned, clearly wary of what gear Aizawa would still have access to on top of erasing their Quirks.

“Hmm.” Todoroki was thinking much the same thing as his soon-to-be partner.

“For you two, I’m only using that excavation exoskeleton that I use for rescue incidents.” Power Loader pointed his thumb to the mentioned exoskeleton off to the side. “It’s not one of my combat machines, so you’ll be fine.”

“That grin on your face makes me think that we won’t be fine…” Sero commented on the teacher’s wide grin.

“Indeed.” Iida looked between the Hero and the machine a couple of times.

“Our terrain is not in my favor, even though it’s a cityscape.” Cementoss smiled at Sato and Kirishima. “So, I won’t be able to just manipulate the entire area and defeat you instantly.”

“I was actually kind of worried about that.” Sato nodded to their teacher.

“Nice, we have a fighting chance then!” Kirishima clearly wanted to attempt fighting at least once.

“I will not use my full number of clones against you, nor any support gear.” Ectoplasm explained to Tokoyami and Tsuyu.

“That’s a good handicap.” Tsuyu nodded at the limit their teacher was using.

“Not an army, but a squadron…an acceptable force to give us a chance.” Tokoyami agreed with his partner for the test.

“For you two, I’ll be limiting my ammo and refraining from any special bullets that would capture you in a single shot.” Snipe tipped his hat to Toru and Shoji.

“Okay, so we at least have a few options now.” Toru breathed a sigh of relief.

“True…but that still means we have to close the distance, if he’ll even let us.” Shoji was already trying to come up with ways to pass against a sharpshooter like Snipe.

“I’ll be restraining myself to opening no more than five caps at any one time.” Thirteen assured Ochako and Aoyama with a wave, showing them the five caps on the tips of the gloves that were part of her costume. “That way you won’t have to worry about everything around you, along with the ground under your feet, being dragged into my Quirk all at once.”

“Half power…we should be able to figure something out, right?” Ochako looked at her partner for the test.

“Oui!” Aoyama nodded to her with a smile. “My sparkles shall not let your down!” Sparkles appeared around him as he posed, clearly back to his normal self now.

“No worries here, little listeners!” Present Mic exclaimed to Kyoka and Koda. “I’ll stay nice and still for you! I won’t even use any of the sound directing functions of my gear.” He pointed to the speaker gear around his neck. “Just my voice against both of you and everything that you can bring!” He grinned at the two teens while making ‘come on’ motions with his hands.

“This is still going to be a pain, isn’t it?” Kyoka was not looking forward to her sensitive hearing being blasted by Mic’s voice.

“L-Let’s do o-our best, J-Jiro.” Koda’s voice was barely heard, but it was clear the boy was doing his best to be more vocal.

“As for you two…” Midnight had a teasing grin on her lips. “I’m limiting myself to just my whip for gear. So, make sure you bring your best for me.” She licked her lips and the look in her eyes made both Camie and Chikuchi nearly take a step back instinctively.

“Damn…you’re crazy forward, Midnight-sensei.” Camie grinned back at the woman.

“Why doesn’t the handicap give me much more confidence?” Chikuchi narrowed her eyes at Midnight.

“Whatever could you mean?” Midnight asked with a lilt in her voice and a teasing wink.

“Long range it is.” Chikuchi deadpanned, making Midnight pout playfully while Camie laughed.

“As for you, young Bakugo, young Midoriya, I will, of course, refrain from using my full strength.” All Might laughed his signature laugh. “It wouldn’t be much of a test it I took you out with a single punch!” Then he shivered out of nowhere. “Ah, ahem…” He coughed into his fist. “Also, putting both of you into the hospital would make Recovery Girl very mad at me.”

-Recovery Girl’s Onsite Medical Tent-

“You better hold back you gorilla!” Recovery Girl glared at one of the monitors in the tent. “If you falter on your control, you’d do worse than put them in the hospital! Those boys would be blood mist!” She was already anticipating being rather busy today. She didn’t need any more work than what would be coming as is! “I’ll break the shins of any of you brats that gives any of these youngsters a severe injury!” She threatened the monitors, waving her syringe-themed cane above her head.

-Practical Exam Site-

“Trying to bring this fight down to our level or something?” Bakugo scowled at what he perceived as the teachers looking down on him. “That’s insulting.”

“Haha! We’ll see!” All Might grinned at the explosive teen, his blue eyes shining with restrained power.

“Now, each student pair, and their assigned teacher, will board one of these buses.” Nezu pointed to the ten buses in the parking lot in front of the meeting site. “And head to your designated areas. When the alarm sounds, that will be the signal to start the tests!”

The students were quick to follow their assigned teachers onto the appropriate bus. The vehicles pulled out of the parking lot one by one and headed to various training sites throughout the campus. Some of the students chatted with their partners, hoping to use the travel time to get a plan together to pass the test. Others…were not so talkative.

“Are you sure that you two don’t want to discuss strategy among yourselves?” All Might looked between Izuku and Bakugo, seeing the ash blonde had sat as far as possible away from the green-haired boy. “I promise to eavesdrop.”

Bakugo remained silent, sitting in his seat at the back and looking out the window.

“Yeah…sorry, All Might…I don’t think that’s going to happen.” Izuku sighed at Bakugo’s intense dislike of him.

Once the bus rides were over, the students were taken to the center of the training site they arrived at. The teachers all took up positions near the only exit and awaited the test to begin. Some of them would stay by their gate, guarding it from the students pitted against them. Others would take a more active role in hunting down the students and defeating them. Only the students weren’t aware of which method their assigned teacher would employ.

“Everyone in position?” Nezu’s voice came over the speakers in every test site. “Let’s begin the final exam for Hero Course Class 1-A! Ready…GO!” The speakers went dead and a large digital clock above each gate started counting down from thirty minutes.

-Tokoyami and Tsuyu-

The instant the time began, four clones of Ectoplasm formed around the two teens. Not having noticed the thin mist creeping along the ground, both Tsuyu and Tokoyami were caught off guard and instantly put on the defensive.

“We forgot to mention that we teachers will be giving it our all to utterly crush you students.” Ectoplasm’s clones informed the two in unison.

“Grab her, Dark Shadow!” Tokoyami used his Quirk to pick Tsuyu up and toss her to a higher floor in the tower-like building that they were currently in. “Run! Asui!”

“Kero!” Tsuyu landed on the wall right beneath a balcony. “Tokoyami!” She launched her long tongue, wrapping it around her partner, and then hauled him up right behind her, getting both of them out of the encirclement.

“Not bad.” One Ectoplasm clone noted the teamwork.

“So, they’ve chosen to flee?” Another clone surmised, watching the students bolt in the direction of the exit.

“I guess we should give chase.” The third clone mentioned before all four turned into the same mist as before, slightly glowing when all gathered together. The cloud floated to the same balcony that Tokoyami and Tsuyu had used to escape and the four clones then reformed and chased after the students.

-Recovery Girl’s Onsite Medical Tent-

“Communication skills.” Recovery Girl smiled at the screens as she watched the tests with a careful eye. “Overlooked in the modern society…but absolutely essential for Heroes.” She sighed at the glory hunting that some Pros engaged in. “It’s not enough to just have good teamwork with your trusted Sidekicks, but to be able to work well with anyone to a certain degree.” Recovery Girl looked at one monitor in particular. “Which means those two have the most to overcome in a test that requires communication.”

-Izuku and Bakugo-

“Stop following me!” Bakugo yelled at Izuku.

“Will you at least listen to my suggestion?” Izuku requested, having a Quirk that would help them pass this test easily if Bakugo would just go along with him.

“Obviously beating him down’s the best option!” Bakugo shouted over Izuku’s words.

“But we can avoid a battle entirely and still pass!” Izuku pointed out to Bakugo. “They gave us that option because battle isn’t always the right choice!”

“I’ll let him mess around until the very end.” Bakugo growled, already scanning the cityscape to look for All Might. “Then, when he’s exhausted, I’ll let him have it!”

“You’re going to try a battle of attrition against All Might?” Izuku nearly gaped at the sheer…stupidity…of that plan. “Battles of attrition only work if the enemy can’t one shot you from halfway across a city!”

Bakugo turned and swung at Izuku, but Izuku had already compiled multiple Quirks before the test had even begun, one such combo being his ‘Perception Enhancement’ group of ‘Mental Boost’, ‘Amplification’, ‘Efficiency’, and ‘Enhance Function’.

“What the hell?” Izuku had taken a step back so that Bakugo’s swing went wide. “Are you trying to fail?!”

“Stop talking.” Bakugo growled at Izuku with wide eyes. “You think you’re all that? Well it’s pissing me off.”

“I’m offering to work with you so that we can pass this test together! What’s wrong with that?” Izuku questioned his former friend.

“YOU THINK I NEED YOUR POWER TO PASS!!! FORGET IT, YOU DAMN LEECH!!!” Bakugo exploded verbally upon Izuku, his eyes wide at the other teen’s words.

“Stop yelling for once! This is why we can never actually talk!” Izuku raised his voice now, not quite a yell, but noticeably louder than his normal tone so that he’d be heard over Bakugo’s shouting.

THOOM

It was like a hurricane had hit instantly. The cityscape was devastated by a powerful shockwave and the following wind pressure that tore apart buildings and the ground alike. Every window shattered, every sign was torn from the ground or buildings, the wind howled, and debris flew all the way from one end of the mock cityscape to the other.

“You know that was probably just a single punch, right?” Izuku mentioned, just a hint of snark seeping into his voice as his translucent green barrier had formed a dome over them, keeping both safe from the previous attack.

“I don’t need your damn help!” Bakugo barked back, punching the barrier from the inside. Izuku dropped it with a heavy exhaled at Bakugo’s stubbornness.

-Recovery Girl’s Onsite Medical Tent-

“Those two have the worst communication.” Recovery Girl shook her head. It wasn’t like Izuku wasn’t trying. Her student in healing was laying out the facts of the test and their opponent, but Bakugo just refused to listen. “What could cause such an attitude in a boy his age?” The old Hero wondered as she switched to a different monitor to keep watch of all of the students during their tests.

-All Might-

“Now.” All Might smiled, his fist still extended from his punch that had devastated the mock cityscape. “Get ready to have a really bad time!”

-End Chapter-

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Shit is about to go down!

I hope you like the bit of expansion that I’ve done for the Final Exams.

Considering weights don’t really affect like six out of the ten teachers…yeah, I made sure they had secondary limitations as well.

Partially because I’ve also removed the Shonen Trope of ‘Adults are Useless’ and made Pro Heroes actually competent at their jobs.

Bakugo is still…well, Bakugo.

Izuku may have to get his ‘compliance’ in a different way to pass the test.

How will the changes so far affect the Final Exams against the teachers?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!