CHAPTER 5: First Day
-Ben's Room-
With all the world ending events that he had to endure with his job as a hero and plumber, the last thing Ben expected to have anxiety and cold feet on was going back to school. His time in school had not been so great, from bullies, people looking at him weird for not being that popular, to just not having much time to study and not being the brightest student. On a good note, when his secret identity got leaked, things at school took a turn for the better, but day-to-day life got way more complicated, another reason why he dropped it entirely.
-'Why am I getting worried in the first place? I'll most likely be the most experienced teenager there.' and he was right about that, he had some conversations with Principal Nezu after his meeting with him there a few days ago.
After getting accepted in U.A, he made it very clear to the principal that it wasn't a permanent solution to his problem…
-Flashback-
Both of them stopped shaking hands, -"Sir, as much as I appreciate the offer, I also made the promise to my grandpa that I'd try to go back to my own universe, so I won't be attending the school for very long, just until I can get settled and have a way to go back."
The principal nodded in understanding, -"Yes, so I was told. Unfortunately on our end, that would take time since we don't have that kind of technology here."
Naomasa then jumped in, curious about something, -"Which makes me question, do YOU have that tech in your world?"
Ben turned back and answered the man with a smile and waving his hand like it was nothing, -"Oh yeah, it's even how the Plumbers put the most dangerous criminals in prison. We access a whole different dimension called the Null Void, which has all sorts of VERY dangerous creatures, and trap them in there."
-"Alright, now I know you're messing with us." said All Might, a little stressed.
-"I agree, and what do you mean by "Plumbers"? Do you fight villains AND fix toilets?"
Ben was about to correct him, but was cut off by the principal -"While we all have many questions for him, I feel like we're going off topic." He returned the focus to Ben's situation -"Ben, you can stay in the school for as long as you need, but to search for a way to go back, you'll have to look elsewhere. Fortunately I am a very influential person and can look into it."
-"I also have some scientist friends that I can give a call to to see if they know how to umm… break dimensions… or something like that."
-"Thanks guys." said Ben with a grateful smile.
-"I know your parents must be worried about you by now." Tsukauchi pointed out.
That was true and made Ben realize how long he was away now. He was also getting a deja vu of when he got sent to a different planet with Reiny, -'Simpler times…'
-"My grandpa probably already told my friends and family about it, that is, if there really is no way to go back right now. But they're used to it, so it's okay… for now."
-"Nobody should be used to that." All Might sadly whispered.
Ben got out of his thoughts once he heard Naomasa call him from the living room.
He adjusted his tie and outfit. Ben was wearing the U.A. uniform, which consisted of a long-sleeve, button-up white shirt, a gray jacket with blue-green stripes, and a red tie, alongside dark blue-green pants. They were lucky to find one that fit him in time. Going out, he saw that the man was in his usual attire, minus the brown coat and hat, -"Come on kid, you're going to be late, and for the first day of school that's not a good first impression."
-"It might be my first day, but it's not everyone else's." said Ben while rolling his eyes. Indeed, the first day happened yesterday, but the paperwork was not ready. Turns out, getting an ID, passport and birth documents was way harder than one would expect, who knew?
-"Even then, being late is not good if you don't want people to notice you."
-"You're right, but relax man. I won't cause much of a ruckus for anyone to notice me anyway."
At that phrase, it felt as though the universe had trembled.
-'He just had to jinx it…' thought Naomasa. -"If you're ready, we can go.", with that, they both left.
-Tsukauchi's Car-
The car ride this time around was going smoother, since neither was in a hurry. They were going slow after realizing something that made Naomasa question why he was doing this whole thing in the first place.
-"You have the most advanced piece of technology on the planet that can turn you into alien forms, and yet it can't tell the time right?!"
-"Give it a break! How was it supposed to know that I was in a different universe with a different timezone?!"
-"Can't you just adjust it now?" asked an annoyed Naomasa.
-"Sure. What time is it?"
The detective looked at his own watch, -"Uhmm… 8:00 am."
Ben tapped on the Omnitrix some times, -"Alright, what day is today?"
-"Tuesday, April 10th."
-"Okaaay… Tuesday, April 10th, 2012."
-"Oh, no, it's 2153."
That caught Ben completely off guard. -"W-What did you say?"
Naomasa repeated as if it was the most normal thing in the world, -"The year. I assume your watch got confused and put 2012."
-"No…" Ben said with worry and most seriousness, -"It's the year I'm from, 2012."
Naomasa almost stopped the car right there, -"Ben…" He tried looking fine, but there was no way to look sane while saying that -"...are you saying that where you come from, it's almost 150 years in the past?! Why didn't you mentioned this before?!"
-"Hey, don't look at me like that! I never had to know the year until now, you were the one filling out most of the documents! And from my point of view you guys are the weird ones. I visited an alternate version of my future once, not even 20 years into the future and your world is somehow way behind in technology."
-"I… I don't-... please, stop saying crazy things out of nowhere…" The detective honestly thought that he couldn't be surprised by anything anymore -"How do you even have that kind of tech in your time?" he said while pointing at the Omnitrix.
-"Oh, the Omnitrix wasn't made by a human, it was by a Galvan named Azmuth, some call him The First Thinker even."
-"A Galvan? Like that alien you turned into back at the station?"
-"Yeah! I prefer to give my transformations their own names, it's easier to remember and I didn't know the name of the species back when I was 10 and found the watch."
-"10 years old…" The detective repeated those words, in disbelief that such a young person could be the user of such a powerful weapon, -"It must have been hard at that age."
Ben dropped his head a little. Having your childhood be stricken by such a change out of nowhere, and putting a target on your back was not fun at all… especially when he lost his favorite transformation, which made him leave being a hero for a while. -"It was… hard in the beginning, I thought it was all fun and games until Vil- a powerful villain attacked me and almost killed my family. Multiple times."
While still keeping an attention at the road, Naomasa spared a glance at Ben and saw that he was looking out the window at a distance. He looked thoughtful.
But the teen gave his usual smile again, -"But not after long, I got help from friends, family, the Plumbers, heck even some enemies, and I was able to have a stable, very fun and chaotic, life. And I wouldn't change a single thing."
The detective also sported a little smile, -'He sounds genuine. Maybe I made the right choice.'
That smile went away as soon as his mind brought back a word he thought he imagined. -"So uhmm… Ben… I'm pretty sure they we don't have the same meaning of the word, but what exactly do plumbers do in your Earth?"
The hero had to hold his laugh when hearing that. He really needed to talk to his grandpa about maybe changing the name in the future, it was already getting called ridiculous on THREE Earths now. Unfortunately, as soon as he was about to explain, he noticed that they had arrived.
-"I'll explain to you when I get back, detective." he said while getting out of the car.
-"Come on kid, you can call me Naomasa."
-"Alright then, bye Naomasa.", the teen closed the car door.
-"Bye Ben, and remember, don't cause anyone trouble, try not to create enemies, don't hurt anyone or yourself and always try to go Plus Ultra."
That made Ben stop and look at the man weirdly -"Plus Ultra?"
The detective shaked his head in understanding -"It's the school motto."
Ben looked thoughtful, but shrugged, "Alright, I promise. Thanks Naomasa."
As soon as he turned away from the car, he thought to himself: -'Well, I can't promise I'll ever use that phrase though. I already have my own.'
Naomasa kept looking at Ben while he was walking to the entrance gate of U.A. -'I really do hope I made the right decision.' With that, he left for his job.
-U.A. High-
As soon as he entered the school building itself, Ben could feel the energy that the building was emitting, like it was calling to him, exactly like when he was here the first time a few days ago. There were some students passing by and he thought of asking them where his class would be, until he remembered that All Might had asked him to pass by the principal's office before going to class to get some information and material. He was about to turn back and go to the office, but when he turned the corner, the principal himself appeared and jumped in front of him.
-"Hello, Mr. Tennyson!"
-"AHGR!" screamed the teenager.
-"Sorry for scaring you. How are you feeling?" asked the rat-bear-man in a chippy voice.
-"Oh, Principal Nezu, it's just you." Ben relaxed, -"I'm doing fine, I was just about to go to your office in fact."
-"I imagined. I thought I'd save you the trouble and meet you near the entrance. So, here are some things you'll need." he said while handing Ben some notebooks and papers.
The hero took them, but before even opening up one, the principal jumped on top of them and stood facing Ben, -'Did he hand me these just to make a platform for him to be at my eye level?'
Nezu continued talking, -"You'll be at Class 1-A. Let's go there while we talk." They both continued to walk through the school.
-"Class 1-A huh? How many classes are there?" asked the curious teenager.
-"First year hero course students go to classes 1-A and 1-B. Turn here." Ben followed his command.
-"Wait, are there classes that are not from the hero course?"
-"Of course! U.A. accepts all kinds of students! Besides the department of heroes, there's also the department of General Education, the department of Support and the department of Management."
-"Wow. It really is a school for more than just heroes."
-"You'll find out what my school has to offer soon enough Mr. Tennyson. But for now, we are here."
They stopped at a giant brown door with the word "1-A" written into it in red.
-"Meh, I've seen bigger."
Nezu's face and voice took a more serious turn -"Remember what your cover story is Benjamin?" said the principal without even taking his eyes off the door.
Ben caught on to his attitude, -"Yes sir."
-"Then let's enter."
-Class 1-A-
-"Hey, there's an extra seat behind Yaororozou!" a girl with brown hair said.
-"Not only that, but the entire fifth row of seats has been pulled more to the front. Almost looks like it's supposed to look like this for the rest of the day." commented a boy with black hair and a wide smile.
-"Yeah, we don't know why, maybe there's someone special coming here to watch our classes with us?" said a boy with red spiky hair.
-"Maybe it's a new student?" questioned another boy with yellow hair with a black stripe on it.
-"I hope they're a hottie…" whispered a short boy with purple balls on his head.
As soon as Ben opened the door, he could see a variety of different people. One with pink skin and hair, one with six arms, one with the head of a bird, one that… was that an invisible girl?
The principal called the attention of everyone in the room with a gentle shout -"EVERYONE!" All the students looked towards the man and Ben, -"I welcome you on this day and came here to introduce you to your new classmate, who is an exchange student from the U.S."
Nezu gestured for Ben to introduce himself to the class. Clearing his throat, he waved: -"Hello everyone, my name's Benjamin Tennyson, but most people call me Ben."
A student with a stern face got up, went in front of Ben and bowed to Ben and smiled, AGGRESSIVELY -"NICE TO MEET YOU TENNYSON! My name is Tenya Iida! It's a pleasure to be your classmate!"
-"Woah, woah, man, no need for that. You can just call me Ben." said Ben, trying to stop the boy from bowing to him.
-"Oh yeah, they refer to each other by first name overseas right?" a girl with long green hair questioned.
-"That's right Asui." another girl, with black hair now, responded.
-"I had forgotten about that!" Tenya looked back at Ben and somehow bowed even MORE AGGRESSIVELY -"I'M SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION!"
-"It's okay man, really " he said, trying to reasure Iida, without success. The bearer of the Omnitrix really didn't know what else to say to get this guy to calm down, but luckly he was saved by another student.
-"Don't worry about Iida, he just seems very intense at times." the green haired boy said, sweating trying to make Iida look more… normal. A brown haired girl started talking to Iida to get him to not be so aggressive all the time. The boy extended his hand -"Hi, my name is Izuku Midoriya!"
The two shook hands, -"Hi Izuku, nice to meet you too. Should I call you Izuku or Midoriya?"
Izuku started getting nervous again -"I'm mostly used to Midoriya, but you can call me anything really." said him, rubbing his head.
-'He seems nice…' thought Ben, who then looked to the side and saw a blonde guy staring at him as if he was about to kill the hero, -'Nicer than that guy seems at least.'
-"Sorry about that, but I do hope you're liking the country so far." said Tenya.
-"Honestly, it's really impressive. It's different where I'm from."
-"What's all the fuss at the door about?"
Ben heard the new voice, looked behind him and saw a man dressed in all black, with shoulder-length black hair and a scar wrapped around his neck.
-"Sensei! Good day sir! Sorry for disturbing the corridor." Midoriya bowed and apologized. Ben noticed everyone started going to their seats.
-"And you must be Benjamin correct?" asked the teacher, who Ben noticed looked more like a tired homeless guy than an actual professor at a school.
-"Yes, that's me, sir umm…"
Noticing the teenager didn't actually know the name of the man, Nezu came in at the rescue, -"Ben, this is your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa."
-"You didn't show up for the quirk apprehension test yesterday, any reason why?". Aizawa was very confrontational towards Ben, but it was the principal that answered for him.
-"His paperwork was longer than expected and we had some trouble with it. He could only officially start today."
-"Hm…" the man stared at Ben -"Fine, but don't make a habit out of it."
-"Thank you sir, don't worry I won't."
-"Alright then." said Nezu while jumping out of the little platform to the ground -"It seems you got everything handled here, so I'll be off. Have a good day students and remember to treat him well.". And with that, the principal left the classroom.
-"Your seat is the one behind Yaoyorozu, there." Aizawa pointed out to the desk behind the dark haired girl.
-"Oh, thanks." He went to sit. Putting the backpack behind his chair, he took his notebook and pencil case out. Ben noticed that the girl in front of him took a peek at him while he was sitting, and seeing that class wasn't starting just yet, he went to introduce himself personally to her -"Hi", he whispered and tapped her shoulder -"You must be Yaoyorozu right?"
The girl was chippery to meet new people and was quite curious about Ben -"Yes! My name is Momo Yaoyorozu, it's a pleasure to meet you Tenn- Ben."
-"Nice to meet you too! Oh and thanks for the correction before. I'm not very familiar with the customs here."
-"It's no issue, it is always nice to help those in need." said Yaoyorozu leaning back a bit to look at Ben.
-"That's what makes us heroes, right?" Ben said with a smirk.
-"More like heroes in training still, but yes."
-"Oh, yeah! T-That's what I meant of course." Ben sat straighter on his chair and silently groaned -'Nice one Ben. Not even started the day and you almost slipped.'
-"So Ben…" he heard a voice calling him a bit far on his right and saw that it was a boy with black downed hair -"...how's life in the states?"
-"Oh, well it's normal, not much different from here actually. Though there are not many heroes around in my area."
Another voice called him, it seemed to be the invisible girl, due to the clothes hanging on air -"Did you try to go to any big schools there?"
-"I come from a small city, so there aren't many hero schools around as well."
-"Do you know any big hottie heroes there?" asked a small boy with purple hair who was in front of Yaoyorozu.
-"I… don't think I notice that kind of thing." he said as he got uncomfortable with someone even asking that question in the first place.
-"Quiet now everyone!" Aizawa shouted. -"I know you're all excited about the new classmate, but leave the talk to lunch."
The students all got straight into their seats, leaving Ben to his thoughts -'Already seems like it's going to be fun in here.'
If there was one thing that Ben did NOT miss in school was… well actually studying.
Throughout the day, Ben realized that for the most part, this would be like any normal school. U.A's Hero Course curriculum consisted of normal core classes like English, which was taught by the pro hero named Present Mic.
He was a tall, slim man with long blond hair spiked upwards in a large tuft behind his head, and a small brown mustache. He seems to smile a lot.
He wore a black jacket with a very tall collar, upturned and complete with studs, and matching black pants and knee-high boots. He sported tan shoulder pads and a red belt and elbow pads, all studded, and black fingerless gloves. And a weird directional speaker which obscured his neck, along with a pair of headphones with the word "HAGE" written on the headband and a pair of orange-tinted shades.
-"Now, which of these four sentences contains a mistake?" Present Mic asked the class while pointing at the board where he had written said sentences.
-'So boring…' thought most of the students.
-'This really sucks' thought the blonde boy.
-"Hey everybody look alive! Grammar rules!"
-'The relative pronoun is wrong on the last one.' thought Midoriya, but before he could answer, both Ben and Yaoyorozu raised their arms.
-"Ben, lay it on us!" said Present Mic smiling.
-"I think the uh… third one is wrong?" Ben said, with some uncertainty about the subject.
-"Sorry Ben, but that's incorrect!" exclaimed Present Mic, kind of weirdly excited.
Yaoyorozu raised her hand again and went to answer -"It's the fourth one sir! The relative pronoun is wrong!"
-"Now that is correct! Good job Yaororozou!"
-'Man… I really should not have dropped high school'thought Ben, regretting not trying to be a better student for a moment. His parents even tried to argue with him about that.
-U.A. Cafeteria-
-'That was... exhausting. High school was hard enough, but this feels even harder.' thought the teenager.
At least now it was lunch time.
Lunch was served in the cafeteria, a large room with hundreds of nice seats for students of all courses. Ben's been given some money by the detective to buy himself some good stuff there everyday, since it is pretty cheap.
After buying a plate of rice, meat and juice, Ben went to see where he would sit.
-"Hey! Ben!" a voice called out from a far off table.
It was the brown haired girl from earlier. She was waving at him to come sit with her and a few others.
-'Well, it'll be nice to have someone to talk to.' he thought, and then walked towards her.
When he arrived there, he saw that the other people were from his class too, Midoriya and Iida.
-"Hi Ben! I don't think I've introduced myself yet, I'm Ochaco Uraraka!" the girl said, extending her hand for a handshake.
-"Yeah, I saw you talking to Iida back in the class but didn't catch your name, nice to meet you too Uraraka." he shook her hand as he sat down next to Midoriya, -"Man, I'm meeting a lot of people already on the first day."
-"Yes! And this school is so cool! Most people seem really nice." Uraraka exclaimed excitedly. She really was loving it all, Ben thought she must have wanted to be a hero for a long time.
-"And the food is SO GOOD!" without wasting time, she started gobbling up all the food on the plate.
-"Don't eat so fast Uraraka! You'll choke!" exclaimed a worried Iida.
-"Yeah! Or throw up!" said Midoriya while frantically trying to stop her from doing that.
While Ben laughed at their antics, a man came to their table and greeted them. Well, at least Ben thought they were a man. He wore a cooking apron and a chef hat, as well as a mask that covered his face. He also wore white gloves and shoes. Ben couldn't see his face, but there was a tube that connected from his would-be mouth to his back.
-"White rice is the perfect comfort food, isn't it?" he asked while ginving a thumbs up.
-"Uhum!" said a happy Uraraka, still chewing on food.
Midoriya was simply happy to see another pro hero.
-"I hope my food can bring your energy to the maximum! Enjoy it!" said the man in a cheery tone, who then left the group to eat in peace.
As soon as he went away to greet other students, Ben turned to the group -"So, who was that?"
It seemed that question made Midoriya's eyes glow, -"That was the Cook Hero: LUNCH RUSH! His quirk is called Food Creation and it lets him make copies of any kind of primary food ingredients as long as he tastes the original food first! I should have expected him to be the cook here, since it has been some time since I've heard about him out there and-"
The boy kept rambling about Lunch Rush like he was reading the hero's personal file.
-"Is he always like that?" Ben asked the other two.
Iida responded, a little curious: -"He sure seemed that way yesterday too."
Midoriya noticed that they were all looking at him rambling and stopped. -"Sorry, I get really excited talking about heroes." he droped his head a little and got really nervous about it.
-"It is not a problem Midoriya. I too get excited about heroes from time to time." said Iida.
-"Yeah man, I actuallt think that's a quality!"
Midoriya turned to Ben, surprised that someone would be that nice to him right after seeing what he considered to be, a little issue in his behavior. -"R-Really?"
-"Of course!" Ben then put a hand on Izuku's shoulder -"Don't be embarrased just because you show a lot of interest in something most others just pass by. I for example, love the Sumo Slammers franchise, even though most would considered childish." Ben then went to finish his food.
-"Sumo Slammers? What is that?" asked a curious Iida.
Ben almost spit his food out, -"You guys don't know Sumo Slammers?! I HAVE to show you sometime, it is like, amazing!" he said almost throwing his hands up.
-"What are you four talking about?" a familiar voice called out.
Yaororozou and a boy with light blonde hair approached them, probably already having eaten their lunches.
-"Hey Yaororozou, I was just talking about my favorite franchise to them."
The boy that came with her spoke in a hevay french accent -"Intéressant! And what would that be?"
-"Wait, aren't you the boy who has a quirk that hurts your stomach or something?" Uraraka interrupted.
The teenager became embarressed by being rememberedin such a way.
-"Yeah, his name's is Yuga Aoyama. He kind of wanted to talk to you Ben, but not alone, so he asked me to came with." She said, also becoming a little embarrassed by the situation.
-"You see, I am ALSO not from this country. I was born in France and it would be nice to have someone from the outside to talk as well. And if you need any help understanding the country..." he got close in Ben's personal space, -"... just come talk to me."
Ben was a little weirded out by the whole conversation, but lucky for him, and everyone else at the table as well, the bell rang, signifing for everyone to go back to their classes.
-"Oh, would you look at that, it seems we have to go back, talk to you later Aoyama!"
The four simply got up and went their way.
-Class-1A-
-"I AM HERE!" All Might exclaimed while opening the door-"COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A HERO!"
The whole class was stunned, except for Ben, who faked being excited about it. The class could not believe they really were going to have Japan's number 1 hero as a teacher!
-"I can't believe it's really All Might!" said the boy with yellow hair.
-"So he is a teacher. This year is gonna be totally awesome!" exclaimed the boy with red spiky hair.
All Might kept slowly walking to the podium, with flair of course. -"Hey look, is he wearing his silver age costume?"
Instead of the outfit he wore when metting the first time, Ben saw that the hero was sportting a different one. It was a red suit with white lines and a white circle in the center. He had blue pants with two white lines at the side. Just like his golden ago costume, his sleeves and boots were gold in color, and he had a golden belt as well.
-"I'm getting goosebumps, it's so retro." a boy with a big tail said.
-"Welcome to the most important class at U.A. High. Think of it as 'Heroing' 101. Here you'll learn the basics of being a pro, and what it means to fight in the name of good. Let's get into it, today's lesson… will pull no punches!" He showed everyone a card that said 'Battle' in it.
-"Fight training!" said the angry blonde boy.
-"Real combat?" worried Midoriya.
-"But one of the keys of being a hero is… looking good!"
The walls on the left side of the class opened and from it, showed a bunch of what appeared to be suitcases with numbers on them, from 1 to 20.
-"These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the request you sent in before school started."
The whole class erupted in cheers. They were getting their hero uniforms!
-"Costumes." said an excited Midoriya.
-"Get yourself suited up and meet me at training ground beta."
-"Yes sir!" responded the whole class.
Due to being in the back, none of them noticed Ben not having much of a reaction to it all. Mostly because he never even needed a costume to do hero work.
-Training Groung Beta-
Training Groung Beta was, without exageration, an extremely realistic fake city enviroment. The buldings, the street lights, the road, everything looked like it had been taken right from an actual city. All Might was waiting for the students right outside a big gate that led to the monitoring room and the rest of the campus.
-"They say the clothes make the pros young ladies and gentlemen, and behold you are the proof!"
All the students started coming out of the tunnel. One looked like a modern knight, another had granade gauntlets, another one went for simplicity with a simple jacket with a lightning bolt. Everyone was dressed differently, and they all looked straight out of a superhero videogame!
-"Take this to heart... from now on you're all... heroes in training!"
The entire class was there, minus, Midoriya and Ben.
-"This is getting me all riled up! You all look so cool! Now, shall we get started you bunch of newbies?"
Out of the tunnel, came Midoriya, wearing his official hero costume, which consisted of a green full-body jumpsuit with a red belt, elbow pads, knee pads, and gloves, along with his signature red boots. He also wore a mask with long ear-like protrusions that resembles All Might's haircut, and a respirator with a makeshift smile on it that also reflects that of said hero.
-'This is it, my hero costume!' he thought proudly.
Uraraka saw Midoriya's had arrived -"Hey Deku!" she approuched him -"Love your costume! Not too flashy you know."
The boy simply could not answer her in any way because he was mesmerized about HER costume, which showed all her curves.
-"I should have been more specific about what I wanted." she said, rubbing the back of her head. -"This bodysuit is skin tight! Not really my style."
All Might noticed the resemblance between Midoriya's costume and his own looks -'You're so obvious!'thought All Might, trying not to laugh in front of the whole class because of it.
The last person to enter was Ben, who was simply wearing his signature green jacket with a 10 on it, black t-shirt underneath and blue jeans.
-"Sorry for coming in late guys, got lost trying to find the bathroom."
-"Your costume seems very simple Ben." said Uraraka, examining him.
-"Not a lot of flair going on!" exclaimed Aoyama.
-"Hehe, well I haven't decided on a design yet. And I don't really need one for now." He shuggered.
-"Why is that?" Midoriya asked.
Ben was going to answer him, but All Might interrupted him.
-"Now that you're all ready, it's time for combat training!"
-"Sir!" the student that looked like a Forever Knight spoke.
-'Oh, so that's Iida under there. He looks so cool!' thought Midoriya.
-"This is the fake city from our entrance exam, does that mean we'll be conducting urban battles again?" Iida questioned.
-"Not quite, I'm going to move you two steps ahead! Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly evildoers take place indoors. Think about it! Backroom deals, home invasions, secret underground lairs..."
At the mention of secret underground lairs, Ben became a bit out of himself. His dream that night was not the only time he saw that portal. But what was bothering him was that he didn't think this devaju was a coincidence.
-"...Truly intelligent criminals stay hidden in the shadows."
Another thing that worried him. Someone had to build that portal and set a trap to him. -'Not right now. I need to focus on the here and nw, I'll deal with that later.' he thought.
-"For this training execise, you'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys, and fight two-on-two indoor battles."
-"Isn't this a little advanced?" asked a girl with long green hair and tongue out. Ben though she looked more like a Incursean than human.
-"The best training is what you get on the battlefield! But remember, you can't just punch a robot this time. You're dealing with actual people now."
-"Sir, will you be the one deciding who wins?" asked Yaororozou.
-"How much can we hurt the other team?" asked the blonde boy with granades gauntlets.
-"Do we need to worry about the losers getting expelled like earlier?" asked a very worried Uraraka.
-"Will you be splitting us up based on chance or comperative skill?" Iida questioned with his hand up.
-"Isn't this cape trãs chic?" asked Ayoama
All Might grumbled at the students interrupting him, -"I wasn't finished talking!"
Izuku was surpised they were even staying calm when the Number 1 Hero was in front of them. He remembered when he meet All Might the first time, before U.A. -'Well, more like he stumbled into me and saved me."
-"Listen up!"
-'A script?' thought Midoriya.
-'He really needs some cards for this? This is not gonna go well.' Ben expressed in his mind.
-"The situation is this: The villains have hid a nuclear missile somewhere in their hideout. The heroes must try to foil their plans. To do that, the good guys either have to catch the evildoers or recover the weapon. Likewise, the bad guys succeed if they protect their payload or capture the heroes."
-'Sounds like a classic action movie setup.' thought Midoriya
At the same time, Ben was confidently thinking about it, -'Sounds like something I already did a bunch of times, even at the Plumbers" Academy. This will take no time at all.' he said, silently cracking his knuckles.
-"Time is limited and we'll choose teams by drawing lots!" All Might said as he showed the class two boxes with the names 'Villain' and 'Hero' written at the front.
Iida came forward to question it -"Isn't there a better way?"
-"Think about it! Pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot, so maybe that's the reason we are seeing that here."
-'He is really smart when it comes to this.', Ben then became a bit more thoughtful about the boy.
-"Yes, I see. Life is a random series of events." -"Excuse my rudeness."
-"No sweat. Let's-"
Ben snapped out of his thoughts when he realised something and shot his hand up: -"Wait, what about me? I make the class uneven."
-"Glad you noticed first young Tennyson. You are indeed right about that, which is why I'll be putting you on both a hero team and a villain team. You will fight one time for each."
-"Doesn't that put Ben in a disadvantage? I mean, having to fight twice as much as the others." Uraraka asked.
-"I'm more worried about the teams. Whoever Ben is put up against, THEY will be the one that would be at a disadvantage." said the girl with green hair.
Before All Might could answer, Ben stepped in, -"Actually, it's not like that. You guys don't know my quirk, so I would be a wild card in the beginning, but I also don't know any of yours, and I would like to stay that way."
The whole class, even All Might, was confused at this -"What do you mean young Tennyson?"
-"With your permission sir, I want the first team that I am on to be a hero one. And that I won't strategise with my teammates before entering the building and engaging the enemy."
That only served to further confuse everyone -"But why would you want that?" asked the boy with six arms.
-"I think I understand Ben's reason for this." suprising everyone, including the omnitrix bearer himself, Yaororuzu spoke -"Ben wants the simulation to be like an actual battle, and while we are putting people that barely know each other to fight together, he wants to approach this at a more... chaotic scenario."
Everyone was paying attention to Yaororuzu, waiting so that she could explain her reasoning -"The scenario Ben wants to put is that 'What would happen if a third hero showed up, but in the middle of the fight without knowing the plan?'."
-"Isn't there some sort of rule for this?" asked a tall boy in a yellow costume.
-"There is, but not all cases are like that. I encountered some over the years, where I had to fit in on a already planned operation or found myself right in the crossfire of one." All Might was truly impressed with the boy's ability to think of and reasonable and fair solution for that problem. -"While this is unortodox and an exercise also about teamwork, I will allow it, but you must not talk about each others quirks before the fight has already started!"
-"Understood sir!" responded Ben.
-"And what about when he's on the villains team? People will already know what he can do." said Midoriya.
-"In that case, the heroes get some advantage, because they'll already know how I fight, while the villains don't, but have more numbers on them. That way, the three-on-two is... kinda of fair." Ben exclaimed, hoping for All Might to accept.
-"Hmmm..." All Might was thoughtful -"Fair enough, I'll allow it only this time, but I will come up with better solutions in the future. Now let's draw!"
The students started to draw the lots on who each would be paired with. The teams went as followed:
Team A: Izuku Midoriya and Ochaco Uraraka;
Team B: Shoto Todoroki and Mezo Shoji;
Team C: Momo Yaororozou and Minoru Mineta;
Team D: Tenya Iida and Katsuki Bakugou;
Team E: Yuga Ayoama and Mina Ashido;
Team F: Rikito Sato and Koji Koda;
Team G: Denki Kaminari and Kyoka Jiro;
Team H: Fumikage Tokoyami and Tsuyu Asui;
Team I: Mashirao Ojiro and Toru Hagakure;
Team J: Eijiro Kirishima and Hanta Sero.
Uraraka got really excited over being pared with one of her new friends, -"Wow, what are the chances? We're a team!"
The same could be said about Midoriya, though in his case, he was more nervous than anything, -'Oh my gosh! I have to make a good impression on her!'
-"I declare that the first teams to fight will be..." he pulled out two balls from the same boxes as before, -"...THESE GUYS!"
One of the balls said 'A' and the other 'D'.
-"Team A will be the heroes, Team D will be the villains. Everyone else can head to the monitoring room to watch!"
The class unenimosly responded with -"YES SIR!"
-"Now you Mr. Tennyson, you'll be on Midoriya's and Uraraka's team, but as said before, no discussing any plans before hand."
-"Yeah, no worries dude. I-" Ben stopped himself before finishing up his sentence, because he saw that blonde guy, Katsuki Bakugou, staring at Midoriya. What made him stop was that Izuku looked like he was extremely afraid of him. And sweating a lot, -"...I'll just ask them about something unrelated." he then went to talk with the rest of his team.
Before reaching Izuku, Ben saw that the boy had looked back at Bakugou with confidence. And the look on Bakugou's face after his initial surprise was FURIOUS!
Ben approached the situation with caution and went to ask, -"Hey Midoriya, is everything okay?"
Izuku gave a little scared jump but recovered quickly, "Ben! We are not suppost to talk to each other before the battle!"
-"No, we're not suppost to strategise before the battle." The teen gave Izuku kind eyes -"I saw the way Bakugou looked at you just now. Is everything okay?"
Izuku became wide-eyed and looked down -"I-It's nothing really. Kacchan and I are old friends, but he was always stronger, more confident and overall better than me."
A new voice, coming from Uraraka spoke, -"Deku, even if that was true, you still have room to grow, don't let his bullying get to you."
Ben was surprised to hear that -"Bullying? Bakugou bullied you?!" He asked, concerned.
Uraraka simply looked at Ben and nodded, then whispered: -"He almost punched Deku yesterday just because he saw him using his power."
Deku held his head down, -"He was always stronger than me. I admire him actually, his strengh and confidance. Even when he said things to push me away, I stayed besides him, because I consirer us friend. He really is ama-"
-"Stop." Ben said. Ben Tennyson was no stranger to bullying. Between Cash and T.J., and even other people at his school from time to time not stopping them, Ben hated bullies. He had already gotten rid of his, but if Midoriya was bullied as kid by Bakugou, and it was still happening today, then he would do something about it.
-"Izuku..." Ben put a hand on his shoulder, -"...it doesn't matter if he is or not stronger than you. It doesn't matter if he is or not more confident than you. You know why? Because he uses that strengh and that confidance to enact bad things to other people. To make them feel inferior. A true friend wouldn't do that."
-Battle Trial Building-
The building was simple. Made of concrete, five floors, windows at the front, the works. All five students and All Might were in the front
-"Bad guys, you can go on in and get set up. In 5 minutes, the good guys will be let loose and the battle will start."
All five responded with -"Yes sir."
As both Iida and Bakugou were entering the building, All Might stopped them to talk -"Young Iida and young Bakugou. The key to being successful on this challenge is to inbody villany. Think from the perspective of an evildoer."
-"Got it." Iida responded.
-"If things go to far, I'll step in."
-"Understood."
Throughout this entire conversation, all Bakugou could do was watch how confident Midoriya was being about this. And it made him ANGRY! -'Doesn't that damn nerd know his place?! He's up against me!'
Behind All Might, was Ben, who saw that, and believe or not, his anger could probably rival Bakugou's. But he needed to concentrate.
-"Hey All Might, I'm gonna go at the back of the building for now, so that I don't hear their plan."
-"Alright young Tennyson, I'll warn you when they engage thourgh the comms."
Ben nodded, and with that he left, making a plan of his own to make sure their team won AND he taught Bakugou a lesson.
He brought up the Omnitrix, -'Let's see here. Stinkfly? Too stinky. Eatle? Not enough food around. Maybe Benwolf? No, I haven't used him in quite some time, too risky...'
He was flipping through his choices in the Omnitrix when he saw the perfect alien to use. His eyes glowed. -'Oh, it's going to be this one.'
Ben simply smiled -'You better prepare Bakugou, cause you'll see what I can do.'