I reached out first to Gunhead, as his dojo was actually under his own agency. I had heard from Ururaka that he was only taking promising Heroes, but it never hurt to try.
A quick phone call confirmed just that, saying he wouldn’t just take anyone on even for only a week or two. That wasn’t enough to stop me though, he wouldn’t run a program that trained both Heroes and the average person if he didn’t intend to use it refining potential hires. Unlike Ururaka, I stayed on with Gunhead after the first round back in summer, so I was willing to bet that I stood a shot at it meeting him in person.
The dojo wasn’t too far away from UA, so it wasn’t long before I was standing face to face, or at least close to it with him as a break was called for those already here and training.
“I though I told you no.” Gunhead sighed.
“Sure, but I’d say my time at UA and training are enough for patrol work at least. And you know I’m proficient in hand to hand combat, that’s the idea with the dojo right?”
“... if you do well enough in a couple tests over the next few days, I’ll think about it.”
“Break’s over, get moving.”
----------------------------------------
Two days later in the middle of class, Aizawa made and unexpected announcement.
“It’s time you all heard the full story about the internship.”
“You can come in now.” He said, turning to the door.
“We’ll be hearing about how it’ll be different from your workplace experiences. Directly from a few who have gone through it themselves. Now, they’ve taken time out of their busy schedules to talk to you, so be sure to listen carefully to what they have to say.”
“Even amongst the current crop of students, they’re the trio who reign at the top of U.A….”
“The so called”
“Big Three”
“Those guys… I’d heard that there were kids like that, but…” Jiro started.
“They really don’t look like it through… right? They’ve even got a real looker with them!” Kaminari continued.
From left to right, there was a bulky boy with short blond hair spiking up a bit, a girl with very long silver hair, and another boy slouched over not looking at anybody.
“Could you all give a brief self-introduction?” Aizawa asked.
“Let’s start with Amajiki.”
The dark haired boy looked up, giving the room an incredibly intense glare, enough to make everyone shiver where they sat.
“It’s no use, Mirio… Hadou… no matter how much I try to imagine them as potatoes… everything except their head stays human, so I can only see them as people. What should I do… the words won’t come out.”
“My mind’s gone blank… this sucks… I wanna go home…”
Seems he’s very socially awkward, as he turns to face away from everyone, head against the blackboard.
The girl, Hadou, was a natural air head, bouncing between students and quickly asking about anything that caught her attention, usually without waiting for an answer.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“You three really lack rationality, huh…” Aizawa commented.
“Please, do not fret, Eraser Head!! For I’m the main act today anyway!!” answered Mirio energetically.
“The journey ahead iiiiiis!!?”
…
“’Rife with difficulties!’ is what your supposed to say!”
“Oookaaay! Everyone totally flailed to get the point!”
“Well, your faces say that you have no idea what’s going on. The internships, which aren’t even mandatory are going to be explained by these seniors that suddenly showed up. It makes no sense, right?”
“You’ve acquired your provisional licenses as freshmen I see… hmm. This years freshmen are rather… enthusiastic, aren’t they!”
“So everyone here… let’s go and FIGHT, you verses me!!”
“Huu…hhuuhhhh~?!”
“Having them experience our ‘experiences’ with their bodies is pretty rational, right!?”
“How’s that for ya, Eraser Head?” Mirio asked.
“Do as you wish.”
----------------------------------------
We were guided back into gym Gamma, where we created our Ultimate Moves. It seemed as though Mirio wanted to take us all on at once, which is either arrogant, or telling. You don’t come top of U.A. without being very powerful after all.
He’s obviously got a lot more skill and experience, and I’m not all master of split second prediction like Midoriya and Bakugo, so this could be challenging. No suits or anything for support, everyone was just in their gym uniform, and luckily I had already swapped my shoes out for larger boots, Shadow Step suffered without the extra area from my costume.
“Mirio… you should stop this now… just giving a textbook ‘this is what it is, so It’ll be very valuable to you’ should be fine.” Amajiki said from a far wall.
“It’s not like each and everyone of them has that burning desire to rise up in the world. Don’t make it so they can’t get on their feet again”
“Ah listen, did ya know? A while ago there was this kid that got super discouraged, then they gave up on being a Hero, so they caused a bunch of problems! Did you know that!? It was really tough on Togata! You’ve gotta think carefully or it’ll be super hard on you to. Like reeeaaally tough, you know!” explained Hadou
Tokoyami spoke up at this
“Wait a second… you gave us a handicap, but we’ve been practising fighting against pros. We’ve also experienced fighting Villains! Is the real reason you’re that worried about us… because you just see us as small fries?”
“Mhm! You can come at me wherever, whenever!”
“So who’s up first?”
Midoriya rose to the challenge, heading to the front and powering up as everyone else got ready.
“Close-range unit, we’ll close in on him all at once!! Thanks ahead of time for your guidance!”
“Okay Senpai, let’s do this!!”
First, all of his clothes fell through his body, then Midoriya’s kick.
And everything else class 1-A could throw at him.
He had disappeared the moment the smoke cleared, to suddenly being behind all the squishy ones of the group.
“Righto! Long-range attackers first!!”
It took but 60 seconds to completely wipe out all of the long-range threats.
“Okay class, this is a great opportunity to get it beat into your bodies!” spoke Aizawa.
“That guy… as for as I know. Togata Mirio… is the closest to being the No. 1 Hero!”
“And that’s including the Pros!”
POWERRR!
“Nothin’ left but close quarter kids.” he seemed to taunt.
“What the hell was that!? I don’t get it!! I mean, the phasing is strong enough… but he can warp too…? Doesn’t that make him like… INVINCIBLE?!”
“There must be some kind of trick to it, guys!” Midoriya shouted, “And it doesn’t matter whether he’s warping through his Phasing ability or the other way around… as long as he’s in contact with his attacks, if we just focus on countering him, then there should be moments where we can land our own hits on him..!”
“If we don’t know what he’s doing, that just means we operate within what we do know, make a hypothesis… and search for a way to win!”
“Go ahead, search away!”
Midoriya managed to predict Mirio’s attack and react, but was taken down quickly afterwards as he worked his way though everyone. I faired no better as I simply wasn't fast enough to escape whatever movement trick he was using.
POWER!
“I took pains to come just shy of showing off the goods!! Sorry about that, ladies!!”
“And, welp, yes, guess that’s the just of it.”
Mirio wiped the floor with us, almost literally. Once we had recovered from his gut punches he went on talking about how his Quirk wasn’t actually all that good. I tuned this out of course, my Quirk fell under the same category so it was more for the others who rely on their Quirks strength more than intricate use cases.
While it never felt good to get obliterated in a fight like that, especially in a group, it did highlight something that had started bothering me, a sort of road block I’ve come across.
It’s weak.
my Shadow Step that is.
Sure its versatile and a great move, but it’s limited heavily. With how my Quirk works I can compress air against the soles of my feet for a boost or a surface to jump off of, though that’s just the thing, I’m just pulling air in from a cone shape under my feet with enough force to temporarily support me, not actually making an air platform or even pulling too my feet.
What results is a less than optimal move that can help slightly in a tight situation, but with my skills it’s almost better to bounce around the traditional way than use it.
It’s something I need to figure out if I want to reach that next step.
Anyway, Aizawa let us head home early to rest through our injuries, something about caring for the state of the students.
It was welcome time as I had somewhere to head to for a bit. And Gunhead might be free too! You never know what could come up next and all that.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------