-Rain of Sins-
-A Test of Strength, not of Character: Ch 3-
The room was cold, dark, and empty… almost abandoned.
Countless monitors, lit with fast flowing information since the moment they had first been installed, sat dark. Screens made to display various camera feeds, stood blank. And the room that usually was the center for the entirety of Lab#B38, stood as a dark, looming, monolith, entirely vacant of the countless scientists assigned to work there.
...all except for one man
The greatest scientific mind in the world, Daruma Ujiko.
Ujiko was an old man, a very old man, and a very wise man. But that wisdom didn't come from age, he personally thought that saying was a load of shit- no, he was wise because he had learnt to be wise.
He had learnt from his mistakes.
He had made many mistakes in his long life, and he had learnt valuable lessons from all of them, that was why he was wise, not because of his age.
So, so many mistakes...
...He just hoped he hadn't made his greatest.
Sat in the middle of the dark room, in one hand he held a small rejection notice, one branded with the initials UA, the other… thumbed the cold steel of his handgun.
He had given everyone else the day off, Yuyara especially… she didn't have the backbone to do what was necessary.
You see that's the thing about mistakes, they creep up on you, and if you leave them be, they'll only grow into larger ones, causing you infinite more trouble down the line. He knew this especially well, after all, it was the fault of one of his mistakes that he was where he's at now.
He lost his credibility, his renown, his job, decades of work, and any respect that the scientific community had for him… all because of a mistake he didn't take care of in time.
There were two mistakes, the first was the original, the second and far graver mistake was that he couldn't bring himself to fix the first.
He crumpled the letter in his hands.
He wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
When someone went behind your back to do something, it stung. When someone you trusted went behind your back, it hurt. But when someone who you trust lies about how they didn’t intend to do said thing anymore, and then proceeds to go behind your back and do it anyway- despite the fact that it directly contradicts EVERYTHING you're working towards, well…
Ujiko let out a deep breath as the doors of the room slid open, casting an illuminating light that stopped just short of his chair.
"Dr Ujiko, you wanted to see me?"
"No..." The scientist dragged his gaze from the floor to the doorway, his sunken eyes looking far more sullen without his goggles to amplify them. "No, I didn't want to see you here, but sadly time waits for no man, and important things have to be taken care of."
Ujiko looked his chosen successor in the eye, eyes full of determination, hope, and potential… oh so much lost potential.
...and he leveled his gun through his coat.
And suddenly the situation was identical to that fateful night, ten months, almost a year ago.
Such an odd, abrupt, and unexpected situation, all caused by a simple misunderstanding… but there was no misunderstanding this time.
The apprentice and the master stared each other down.
Burning determination clashed with steel cold resolve.
"Well… I've been meaning to see you, I need to tell you something."
"Oh?"
"Yes." Izuku stood up straighter, "I've made my decision."
As his finger tightened around the trigger, Ujiko let out a heavy sigh, and did the one thing he had promised himself he'd never do again.
He hesitated.
"Kid… I hope, for both our sakes, that it's a very good decision."
-Rain of Sins-
*two weeks later*
Momo Yaoyorozu was a model student, at least she liked to think she was. She consistently scored in the top percentage, she always turned her work in on time, she was respectful to her teachers, and was never late to class, in fact she was always early- five minutes early to be specific.
But it was that last one that was currently causing her to doubt herself a bit.
In all of her years of attending private school and tutoring, she had always been the first one to arrive at class, and while she hadn't expected to keep that record through her time at UA, the school was for the best of the best, after all, she had imagined that the one's to break her streak would be high caliber students like herself! Classmates that embodied the ideal of the perfect student even better than she did.
The type of classmate she could learn from, and work to surpass.
That was what she expected to break her perfect record, not this Trainwreck!
"How Dare you! Remove your feet from the desk immediately! You are disrespecting every Hero and Sidekick that graduated from this school!"
"So what?"
"So what? So what!? Remove your feet from the desk this INSTANT!"
"Tch- How 'bout you make me! Go on, try it Glasses! I'll blast your fucking head off!"
"Sir, if you do not remove your feet from that desk, I swear on my honor, and everything else tha-"
"Everything else? That implies you're swearing on the name of God. Using the Lord's name in vain is a grave sin, are you sure you want to keep pressing on this line of reason?"
"W-Well, I wasn't trying t-"
"Pffft, of course he wasn't, he's to much of a goodie-two-shoes to do anything like that, I on the other hand will press whatever the hell you're mad about 'cuz I'm not gonna let you even get the IMPRESSION that I'll listen to you!"
"You foolish imbecile! Your arrogance will be your undoing!"
"Hey! Don't ignore me! I'll have you know that the term 'goodie-two-shoes' is an offensive and-"
Momo could only watch the absolute clusterfuck of a trainwreck that was taking place in front of her, as three of the students UA, the most prestigious hero school in the world, deemed fit to be at the head of the next generation of Heroes, quarreled like elementary students over literally nothing at all.
The red eyed, living explosion, that was Katsuki Bakugo.
The prideful, orderly, and strict Tenya Ida.
And the vine haired, righteous obsessed Ibara Shiozaki.
She had looked over the class registry to memorize her classmates names and faces in advance, so she was easily able to recognise and name all three of them, and worse she was able to just as easily recognise the three currently squabbling like children, as some of the highest scorers of the entrance exam.
...scores that a part of her was afraid she, a recommendation student, wouldn't be able to match.
The sound of a throat being cleared behind her, snapped her out of her train of thought, and she quickly realized that 1: the rest of the class had arrived without her noticing, and 2: something had broken up the fight, and had forced everyone to take a seat. Gulping, she slowly turned around to find the cold red eyes of her new homeroom teacher behind her.
...Needless to say, Momo quickly got to her seat.
'Deep Breaths.' She thought to herself. 'You've trained for this day your whole life, you've studied nonstop for over a decade, and you also read the first day's schedule to complete memorization- you are completely prepared for whatever they throw at you!'
-Rain of Sins-
Momo was not prepared.
Or rather, if you wanted to be picky, since her quirk made it nigh impossible for her to not be prepared, it was more that she just wasn't ready .
The schedule had been very specific, class started at 8 am sharp. After a brief time to settle down, they would be taken to the auditoriums where they would give speeches to the first years starting at exactly 8:30 and would end at 9:20, after which they would be given a tour of the school, which would end at the lunchroom where everyone would eat their first meal at UA at 11, ending the first half of their day.
That was what the schedule had said, a schedule their new homeroom teacher was very obviously not following in any way shape or form, dragging them all out onto a sports field of sorts for a self proclaimed "quirk apprehension test"- one that was very much not on the schedule the school had emailed her.
It wasn't all bad though, some of the other girls in the class had proven to be very amicable, Ms Ashido especially was extraordinarily friendly, perhaps a tad too friendly for the girl's own good.
'Mina' Momo corrected herself 'It's Mina, not miss Ashido.'
The bubbly pinkett had pestered Momo to call her by her first name, and would undoubtedly resume her pestering (in good nature) if she found out Momo was still subconsciously addressing her formally.
Speaking of her classmates…
Momo turned her attention back to the collection of Hero-to-be's in front of her.
The youngest Ida had more or less given up confronting Bakugo about his behavior after Aizawa had shown up, seemingly content to default all authority to the teacher.
...of course whether or not the boy would continue to do so, when he finally realized Aizawa wasn't going to 'lay down the law' so to speak, was still up in the air.
Ibara on the other hand, had withdrawn to the back of the class, where she had run into another recommendation student, Shoto Toderoki, and it looked like the two were getting along well. At least, Momo thought they were getting along, the two hadn't really spoken much to each other, seemingly content to sit in a comfortable mutual silence.
Now Momo may have grown up a tad isolated, without many friends (or any at all), and very little outside contact, but she wasn't that bad with social interactions… right?
Then there were all the others in the class, the ones who hadn't gotten into a fight as their very first action of the school year. At least they seemed a little worried about the surprise assessment.
Stolen story; please report.
"A Quirk Assessment Test?" A girl with shoulder length brown hair asked in concern. 'Ochako Uraraka' Momo matched her face to the student roster.
"Yeah." Aizawa nodded. "Get ready."
"W-wait!" Ochako stammered. "What about the introduction ceremony or counselor meetings?"
"You all are here to learn to be Heroes. Heroes, the good ones at least, don't have time for things like that." Aizawa muttered, analyzing at them coldly through the mess of bangs covering part of his eyes. "UA is successful, and continues to be successful, because of the great freedom it gives to every instructor on campus. The freedom that they give to us, pro Heroes, to teach and conduct our lessons however we want."
‘What does that mean?’ Momo wondered to herself. The way he had said it made her slightly uneasy for some reason.
"You all remember the exercises you had to do in middle school, right?" Aizawa asked them. "The physical tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks. The country still hasn't gotten around to standardizing those sorts of things. It's illogical." He pulled out a tablet from his pocket and tapped on a few unseen buttons that linked up with the school system. "Let's just get to it. Bakugo, how far could you throw a softball in middle school?"
The explosive blond smirked. "Farther than anyone else in my class."
"Give it another go." Aizawa told him, tossing a softball at the boy casually and pointing at a circle of ground used for softball pitch.
Momo watched as Bakugo scowled at the ball before reeling back and chucking it as hard as possible.
"Sixty seven and three quarters of a meter." The teacher said with disdain lacing his voice.
"This is what the current system has held you down to, this is the limit they have stunted your growth to." He huffed and turned to address the rest of the class. "The real world is a harsh and unforgiving place, you'll have to pull out every trick and every ability you have, to come out on top. If you want to save people, you can't afford to limit yourself."
"Which is why we're doing this assessment test, the exact same as every other physical assessment you've done throughout your school years, but this time without those absurd limiters placed upon you." He held out his tablet and showed the number displayed on it. "Sixty Seven meters is pathetic, it doesn't even scratch the surface of the average level Heroes have to contend at, which is why you're going to be using your quirks in every way you can think of to score better on these tests. It can be through brute force, or roundabout, it could even be abusing the rules of the test, it doesn't matter, the only thing that does matter is how high you can increase your scores."
"Are you serious?!" A kid with spiky red hair grinned a little nervously. "That's nuts!"
Another teen, Mina, the pink girl that had talked to Momo in the changing room clapped her hands together. "This looks like fun! We can use our Quirks all we like?"
Aizawa cut off their excited chatter with a glare. "It looks fun, huh?"
The man suddenly looked a lot more serious as he glared at them. "Were you planning on having a good time during these three years here? If that's how you feel, then you can go resign right now." A brief few moments of silence passed.
"No one? Good." He huffed. "I'm using this test to measure your potential to become pro Heroes, and as such it's not as straightforward as it seems. This won't just be testing your physical strengths and weaknesses, but your mental strength as well, your ability to perform under pressure. So…"
"The student who places last will be expelled."
The entire class froze at that, the threat sitting heavily in the air. And it was so much more than just being expelled from the place they had worked their whole lives to get to. Any student worth their salt, hadn't just applied to UA, they had applied to multiple Hero schools, and had picked from the ones that accepted them. But now that the school year had started, and the rosters had all been filled out, those acceptance offers had long since passed, getting kicked now meant that they most likely wouldn't be able to get into a school until NEXT YEAR.
And even if they, by some miracle, did still have a school with an open spot for them, an expulsion from U.A. the prime Hero school, on the FIRST day, for essentially not being good enough. THAT would be on their record forever, and if not handled correctly, had the potential to ruin their Hero career before it even began.
"So what, last place gets the boot, who cares, they'd probably just be a hassle on the battlefield anyway." Bakugo snorted, breaking the stunned silence with a smug grin. "The real question is, what do I get when I place at the top?"
No one responded, most of the class was shocked at his arrogance, meanwhile Aizawa just raised an eyebrow- though whether he was impressed at the boy's determination, or annoyed at his idiocy was anyone's guess.
"Excuse me? I'm sorry, but what?"
Bakugo turned around, and found himself face to face with Momo.
"I understand being proud of your own accomplishments, and the effort you've put in to get to where you are. But you can't discredit the other students here, who's to say that they haven't worked just as hard- if not harder than you?" Momo crossed her arms. "And any one of the students here could place first, it's not like you're a shoo in."
"What was that!?" Bakugo Stormed up to her. "You think you can beat me, Ponytail?"
"If it comes down to it, then yes, I believe I could, actually." She huffed.
"Is that a challenge!?"
"It wasn't, but if it'll wipe that smug grin off your face, then I'll make it one!"
Bakugo looked taken aback for all of half a second, before his grin turned predatory, and the combination of arrogance and pride in his eyes was joined by a flame of competitiveness.
"Oh, really? You think just 'cuz you're a recommendation student that you're hot stuff?!" His grin only widened as he saw the shocked look on her face. "'Cuz you're in the big leagues now, and I ain't gonna hold back because your daddy knows some rich people- I'll blow you to Hell!"
'He knows I'm a recommendation student?' Momo narrowed her eyes at Bakugo's grin. 'You mean this savage actually read the register, and all the documents sent out ahead of time? I'll have to be careful… he's more intelligent than he appears'.
"Go ahead, try it." She said, taking a step forward "I guarantee, you won't get very far."
"Oh-ho-ho! Wadd'ya know, little miss special has a backbone! Alright, I'll accept your doomed challenge!" He said while letting off an explosion. "But when I win, you have to admit that I'm better than you!"
"Fine!" Momo spat. "But if you lose, you have to respect the rest of the class, and the work they put in to get here!"
"Sure, but only 'cuz it ain't gonna happen in a million fucking years!"
Bakugo grinned ferally.
Momo huffed haughtily.
Aizawa sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"If the two of you are so concerned about showing off, why don't you both come up here and start us off."
"Use your Quirk this time." He said as he tossed a second ball to Bakugo. "As long as you don't leave the circle, it doesn't matter what you do. Don't hold back."
The teen stretched his arms for a moment as he walked into the circle. He grinned maniacally for a moment, and glanced over his shoulder at Momo. "You might wanna stand back asshats!"
"DIE!"
As he threw the ball, a huge explosion erupted from Katsuki's palm, blasting the ball way farther than he would have been able to throw otherwise.
Mina sweat-dropped at the display. "Die?"
Aizawa watched the gauge climb until the softball finally hit the ground again. "Before you can think about training, you need to know your uppermost limit. That's how we form the basis of your hero curriculum."
He showed them the final score and the class was shocked to see how far the explosive boy had thrown it.
"705.2 Meters -Bakugo." Aizawa stated with the beginnings of a grin on his face. "Much better than your first attempt."
Bakugo walked past Momo, a smirk on his face, and snorted at the glare she gave him before trodding back to the rest of the class.
"Let's see you losers try to match that!" He laughed "I guarantee you that there ain't a single fucking one of you dumbasses, who'll even come close t-"
B O O M
Whirling around, the blond haired teen saw Momo standing in the circle, her jacket off, and-
'IS THAT A FUCKING CANNON!?'
And as Aizawa raised the tablet, displaying Momo's score-
"706.2 Meters- Momo."
Bakugo scowled.
Momo smirked.
Aizawa sighed… again.
-Rain of Sins-
Mineta was small, light, and bouncy, and despite what you'd think, he liked being that way, it let him sneak into hard to reach spots, and wiggle his way into some great vantage points. But boy was it coming in especially handy today!
A jumping contest? Please! There was literally a girl with a frog quirk, and just by bouncing on his grapes, he was outpacing her by a mile and a half!
He had this in the bag!
'Besides' He smiled to himself as he gazed down at some of his downright SMOKIN' classmates 'It would be a shame if poor little Mineta messed up his landing, and wound up falling face first into some "cushions" hehehe'.
But while his mind was off in gaga land, a whistle of steel cutting through the air and the sound of cable being reeled in, was all the warning he had, before one of the babes he had been admiring just seconds before shot straight past him, causing him to flip off course. A problem that was only exacerbated when what sounded like a close range artillery barrage went off behind him, the numerous explosions, sending him flying way off target.
Unfortunately for Mineta, the only "cushions" he encountered were a metal wall, and the hard concrete floor.
-Rain of Sins-
"Man… treating a girl to a fair fight, and refusing to back down, I'd say it's really manly, but…"
"COME HERE PONYTALE!"
"Shut up! You're distracting me, and stop tailgating me! You're going to- EEP!"
BOOM
"HAHA! Eat dust!"
"Get back here you!"
Kirishima watched as the creation and explosion quirk users rocketed around the race track, both vying to be just that much faster than the other.
One with, well, copious amounts of explosions, and the other with what was technically an electric scooter, but with the engine strapped on it, was closer to a motorcycle than anything.
"I'm just not sure about this one man…"
Aizawa sighed in agreement.
-Rain of Sins-
"Hmm…"
"Hmm…"
"They do seem a little too emotionally invested in this, wouldn't you say?" Ibara hummed thoughtfully
The temperature anomaly and the plant watched in silence as Bakugo flung himself into the air with his explosions, and then jettisoned himself back down, slamming into the grip tester, feet first, causing it to briefly max out before snapping in half.
Momo frowned at him, before jumping with a squeal as her creation- a hydraulic press, applied a tad too much force, and shattered her device into five or so pieces.
Ibara wrapped her vines around her gauge, squeezing hard enough for it to max out almost instantly, but with enough control to not break the device.
"You're not going to try to pull some abstract stunt, to try to get a higher score?" She questioned, glancing at Todoroki's rather modest reading.
"My ice isn't really applicable here, but my scores on the other tests should carry me despite one or two setbacks."
"Hmmm, I hope so." Ibara grabbed her and Shoto's devices, and began walking to return them to Aizawa. "You're rather pleasant to hold a conversation with."
-Rain of Sins-
The atmosphere between the two front runners of the physical was… tense to say the least, even Ida wasn't trying to get between the two anymore. Although, that probably had more to do with him finding another person to pester about dress code, some pink skinned chick, than any survival instinct on his part.
Momo stood shoulder to shoulder with Bakugo, both staring at the virtual scoreboard in front of them in stunned silence.
Momo Yaoyorozu: 157 points
Katsuki Bakugo: 156 points
Ibara Shiozaki: 144 points
Shoto Todoroki : 125 points
'She beat me?'
'I beat him?'
…
"Ha!" A electric haired boy pointed at Bakugo. "After all that big talk, you got your ass handed to you by a girl!"
"Oh really? I'm the one who got my ass handed to me?" Denki shrunk back as Bakugo turned towards him with a sneer. "You were three fucking places from getting cut 17, you don't even have a place to talk, let alone say anything to me!"
"AND THAT GOES FOR ALL OF YOU EXTRAS!" He shouted to the class. "I still beat all of you shitfaces by a landslide! Y'all don't even have the fucking right to open your mouth! If I hear any of you saying anything out of line, I'll drag you to the sparing ring, and we'll see whos fucking laughing after that!"
"Wait, you can't do that!" Momo panicked, "You said that you'd respect your classmates if I placed higher than you!"
"You're right, and I didn't lie." He said with a sneer.
"But you-"
"I will respect them!" He turned to face the entire class. "When they EARN IT!"
"And you." The heiress flinched as Bakugo stormed up to her. "I wasn't lying earlier either, I will be the number one Hero, so prepare yourself Momo," He shoved his way past her, "I'll surpass you before you even realize it."
"I-I um, well…" She stared, her words failing her as she watched the temperamental teen march off.
…
"I-I just wanted to keep everyone from forming petty rivalries on the first day, but I only made it worse!" She pulled at her hair, as the adrenaline faded, and all her actions over the past twenty minutes finally set in.
"That's not true!" Mina popped in with a smug voice, grinning even wider when Momo looked at her in confusion. "After all, he called you by your real name."
…
…
"Huh?"
…
"HUH!?"
-Rain of Sins-
Bakugo scowled as he walked out of the school's gates, not in anger mind you, no this was just his thinking face.
He had lost…
He hadn't lost in a long time.
…
He didn't like it.
He sneered as an explosion erupted from his hand.
What was the point of training to be strong, if you lost anyway!?
It made him look weak.
It made him feel weak.
He refused to fucking accept that!
He stared at the setting sun with determination burning in his eyes.
He was finally in UA, a school that's whole purpose was to train Heroes to be stronger, and he'd get stronger all right! He'd train and train until he surpassed Momo, train until he could beat her by a landslide, train until he surpassed the teachers, and one day he'd even surpass AllMight himself!
And so, even though he got second in the practical test, Bakugo walked out of U.A. that day with a smirk on his face.
He was finally in UA, what could possibly stop him now?
-Rain of Sins-
"Oh, my great lord, BEHOLD! My second greatest achievement!"
All For One smiled as Ujiko presented his newest artwork, apparently the Doctor had come onto some new inspiration, as the beast looked very different from when he had last seen it.
With a fierce snarl the thing lumbered out of the shadows.
A thick metal capsule was screwed into its head, protecting the area where the Villain knew a vulnerable brain had once sat unguarded. A long tongue slithered out of a sharp beak, revealing that where once sat sharp teeth, now sat vicious canines, curved back and serrated, practically made for cutting flesh.
Arms that used to be black leather were now overlayed with thick, rough scales that overlapped each other in an uneven pattern until being cut off by short but strong claws at the end of each finger. But the most attention grabbing addition was the long, thick, serpentine tail that flicked back and forth behind the creature, its tip adorned with a wicked bone spike almost half a foot long.
...But something else caught his attention.
"Only your second greatest, Ujiko?"
The mad scientist's grin twisted as he began cackling softly at the question, before quickly doubling over in howls of mad laughter.
"Indeed master, only my second… hehEhAhAHHaEHEAE! And I am OVERJOYED to present to you my greatest creation! The one who helped make this great beast possible!" His eyes widened in a crazed gaze, and threw his arms out to the sides with insane laughter.
"BWHAEHAHEeNHaAHWEHEAEAeNAAEEAEEaWNWAEAaAEENEAWA! MY OFFICIAL SUCCESSOR AND MAGNUM OPUS!"
A hologram flickered to life next to Ujiko, showing a life sized picture of a certain green haired teen in a lab coat.
"IZUKU MIDORIYA!"
-End Chapter-
-Arc: A Test of Strength, not of Character: End-