Chat Group: Plus Ultra! Ch 18 (Patreon)

Chapter 18:

All 20 students of Class 1-A were now outside, ready for the quirk assessment test. We were all wearing matching blue and red jumpsuits. Because of me, the majority were nervous that they were going to end up expelled for not making the cut. Part of me suspected that Aizawa was just messing with us all at this point. Nezu had already made the entrance exam much harder than was initially required. Surprisingly, the main cast of students were still the ones who took the highest scores. I wasn’t sure whether that was the machinations of fate at play or they simply deserved to be here. Thankfully, Mineta did not make the cut. He, along with Sato (the large Sugar guy), had been replaced by Alice and Emma. I felt bad for Sato not making it, but then again, Nezu had said he was looking for heroes who could actually think. A quirk that makes you dumber as you get stronger wasn’t exactly suitable for hero work.

“Alright then, listen up,” Aizawa spoke up, and all heads turned towards him. “Welcome to your assessment test. Here you’ll be going over a few exercises you’ve done your whole lives. Except this time, you're going to be doing them with your quirks.” He then went on and explained to everyone what those exercises were.

“Oh no, my quirk has nothing that enhances me physically!” A girl’s voice exclaimed. The source of the voice came from a floating set of track clothes. It was Toru Hagakure, the invisible girl. There were a few exercises that she could easily use her invisibility to claim first place in. Judging by her outburst however, that was not going to happen. For example, she could just completely remove her tracksuit during the sit-up exam and pretend to do the sit-ups. Nobody would be able to see her, so they wouldn't be able to prove that she actually wasn't doing them. She could do the same for the toe-touching test as well.

“That’s not my problem. You’re here to prove that your quirk is more than a one-trick pony. So start getting clever or just turn around and leave,” Aizawa said. “Now then, Alice Brandon. You took first place in the entrance exam. What was your long-distance throw record in high school?” Aizawa asked Alice.

“I never went to school,” she stated. People were surprised to hear her say that, but not overly. Homeschooling was a thing after all.

Aizawa just sighed before turning to Emma. Before he could ask her, she spoke up. “That’s not a thing in American schools…” She said bluntly.

A look of annoyance appeared on his face before he threw the ball at me. “Whatever, I don't even care anymore. Akane, you’re a pro. Demonstrate to the other students an example of what a pro can achieve. Try not to accidentally throw it out of the school grounds though. We don't want the ball killing anyone…” He trailed off.

I stepped up to the line and reeled my arm back. I heeded his warning and didn't give it my all, but I still put a decent amount of power into my throw. There was a sonic boom as the ball left my hand!

“Holy Shit!”

“Whoa!”

“That’s the number 17 hero for you, alright!”

The ball rocketed through the air for around ten seconds before everyone lost sight of it. Aizawa held up his monitoring device, and it showed a score of 2700 meters. “Well done, Akane. That was a hero’s score, alright.” He said with an actual grin on his face. I think Aizawa had planned for all the other students to use me as a benchmark. That's probably also why he asked me to hold back so I wouldn't completely crush their hopes and dreams with an impossible to beat score.

“Oh please! It wasn’t that impressive. I can easily beat her score. Give me a ball! I'll go next,” Bakugou announced as he stomped forward. He talked a big game; now it was time to see if he could deliver.

Aizawa tossed another ball to Bakugou. He stood at the line and reeled his arm back. “DIE!” There was a large explosive shockwave as his ball also rocketed forward through the air. It was actually quite impressive, but I could tell that he wasn’t going to reach my score. Bakugou could also tell, as there was an immediate scowl on his face after he threw the ball. Aizawa held up the monitoring device, and it read 1545 meters. That was about double how powerful he was in canon. Clearly, he hadn’t been sitting around slacking during his high school years. A few other students were praising him, but Bakugou stomped off to the side with a dejected scowl on his face.

“That was really good,” Alice whispered to me. “I'm not going to be able to beat that… Also, he’s one of the students that I would hesitate to fight. Vampires and fire don’t go well together.”

“You’d have to outspeed him and clock him over the head to beat him,” I replied.

Alice shook her head. “I've actually looked into the various futures where we face off against each other in training. His skeleton is incredibly resilient in order for his body to withstand those explosions. The only way I could beat him would be to cut him and make him pass out from blood loss. I can't hit him hard enough to knock him out.” She explained to me.

“How would I fare in a fight against him?” Emma asked. I supposed her competitive side wanted to know how she measured up against one of this world’s protagonists.

Alice blanked out for a second as she checked. Her eyes snapped back into focus as she answered Emma. “If you only used your diamond form, then you would lose in a battle of attrition.” Alice explained. “If you psychically attacked him, however, you would immediately win. Not many people are able to resist attacks like that.” Emma nodded. She didn’t seem particularly pleased or upset with the answer.

“Is that a railgun!? Is it legal to even make that!?” I heard a student exclaim. While the three of us were talking, the students had all continued their tests. It was Momo’s turn and she had chosen to launch her ball with a railgun…

Aizawa eyed the weapon contemplatively. “Ms. Yaoyorozu… you should know that railguns are considered military-grade hardware. I know you made this with your quirk, but you need a special license to use them.” He said dryly. I had to hold back my laugh when Momo just nodded in reply. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a certificate that gave her special exemptions to create and use such weapons. How did she acquire such a certificate? Through the power of money. Aizawa looked the paper over carefully before he shrugged and told her to get on with it.

“Fire in the hole!” Momo called out before a futuristic sounding boom was released from the weapon in her hands. The sound barrier was immediately shattered multiple times in a row as the ball took off. Aizawa’s tracking device registered the ball reaching 5000 meters before the signal vanished. “Whoops, I think the ball ended up disintegrating from air friction…” She explained. That was probably a good thing. Judging by how fast that ball was going, it would have cost some serious damage when it landed.

The next student after Momo was Izuku Midoriya. I could already sense the drama that was coming…

“Why the fuck are we wasting our time with this quirkless reject? Just mark him as last place so we can move on!” Bakugou exclaimed.

Izuku then went on to make some heartwarming speech about how he wasn't the same useless ‘kid’ anymore. “I’m not a Deku anymore! I have my own quirk, and I finally matter too!” Izuku exclaimed as green lighting started flowing around his body. I had explained to him, before he inherited the quirk, how to properly wield it. I wasn't going to tolerate him embarrassing himself as one of the inheritors of One For All. He still couldn’t use even close to the full power though. I suspected he was somewhere around 5%.

“Smash!” Izuku exclaimed as he threw his ball with some decent force behind it. It traveled 400 meters, not as far as he would have thrown it had he sacrificed his finger, but it was still pretty good.

Bakugou scowled even more than he did earlier as he glared at Izuku like he wanted to kill him. “You little shit! How dare you lie to me! I’m gonna–” He didn't get to finish as his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground unconscious. Everyone looked down in confusion before I turned to Emma who had cracked a smile.

“Ms. Frost, please refrain from using your quirk on other students… even if they are being disruptive,” Aizawa said with a sigh as he went over to the collapsed explosive boy to wake him up.

All the other students turned and looked at Emma with some shock. “That’s right!” She said smugly. “I can psychically knock out any of you anytime I want.” She bragged. Being able to make people pass out wasn’t even remotely the extent of her mental powers, but it was the most she was willing to publicly disclose. Her mind-reading ability was too useful for us to not be kept close to the chest. It was the same with Alice’s ability to see the future.

A couple of students looked at Emma in fear at her statement. Others thought it was really cool. One such student was the pink-skinned girl who ran up to us.

“That was awesome! He looks so powerful, and you dropped him with just a look. You’re going to be an amazing hero! I’m Mina Ashido, by the way. Nice to meet you three.” She said to us.

“Hello…” Emma said.

“Nice to meet you too, Mina. I’m Alice! I’m sure we're going to be good friends!” Alice exclaimed.

“We are?” I questioned Alice. I wondered if she had seen something. I could see myself being friends with a girl like Mina though. She seemed upbeat and fun, and based on her own looks, she wouldn't be judgmental.

…

“So, Akane, what's it like being a pro hero already? Have you had to face any super strong villains?” Mina asked me as we were standing off to the side watching students race against each other.

“No, I haven't had to face anyone quite like that yet. I've mostly been facing petty criminals. My dad's reputation also precedes me, so a lot of villains immediately surrender when I show up on the scene.” I explained to the girl.

“Well, I for one can't wait until you break into the top 10. Right now, the only women in it are Mirko and Ryukyu. We could definitely use more girl power! I also just want to say that I'm a big fan of yours, and I was wondering if we could possibly hang out sometime?” Mina asked.

“My schedule has been pretty busy lately, but I would love to hang out when I have free time. Also, feel free to sit with Alice, Emma, and me at lunch.” I replied. She gave me a wide grin and told me that she would. She would also introduce us to her good friend Kirishima.

“And next up, our teacher's voice called out, “Alice Brandon and Tenya Iida. Both of you take your places at the start of the track.

“Finally, a racing event. As a Speedster, I would do my family dishonor if I didn't take first place here.” Tenya said as he stepped up onto the track next to Alice. Aizawa fired the starter gun and the two of them took off down the stretch. Alice was noticeably faster as she finished a couple of seconds ahead of the Speedster. As far as speedsters went, Tenya was slightly disappointing. I estimated that he was only running around 50 miles per hour… his face was slightly red as it looked like he had pushed himself hard just to reach those speeds. Alice, meanwhile, could easily run at 100 miles per hour for over a week straight without getting tired…

…

The class spent the next couple of hours finishing up all eight of the exercises. I didn't take first place in all of them, but I did enough to clinch the top score.. Finally, Aizawa showed us the results.

1. Akane Yagi

2. Momo Yaoyorozu

3. Alice Brandon

4. Shoto Todoroki

5. Katsuki Bakugou

...

20. Toru Hagakure

“Oh no, I got last place. Am I going to get expelled?” The invisible girl asked out loud worriedly. The other students looked in her general direction with pity. I looked at our teacher and saw that he was contemplating it before he shook his head.

“Hagakure… you're not expelled today, but you're on thin ice. You better step up your physical conditioning or else you're out of the hero course,” Aizawa told her threateningly. She might not be up to the physical standards of everyone else, but I suppose that her perfect invisibility work was too useful for her to be kicked out on the first day. Aizawa clearly felt the same way.

“Thank you so much, sir. I promise to hit the gym a lot more from now on!”

Well, that's a relief. The redheaded Kirishima said, “It looks like nobody's getting expelled after all.” He added with a smile.

“And when did I say that?” Aizawa glared at the shark-toothed redhead. “Unfortunately, there was one student that I didn't find up to snuff. And that is the one student among you all who will be going home today. I'm afraid that with their quirk, they will never be a Pro Hero…” He turned towards a certain student as he made that proclamation.

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