Chapter 6: A Second First Day

Summary: A new teacher! This one makes a better impression...mostly...

Chapter 6: A Second First Day

The next day, Izumi was a lot less certain that it had actually 'worked out.' Mostly due to who had replaced Aizawa. Midnight was, admittedly, considerably more personable than Aizawa had been, and she'd done a pretty good job showing them around the campus. She'd shown them all the critical areas, gone over the rules required to use the various training facilities, and even arranged a short introduction to the support department. She claimed it wasn't quite as thorough as it would have been if they'd done the session yesterday, with some of the facilities already being in use and some teachers unavailable. It had done the job, however, and highlighted just how much of an utter fuck up Aizawa must be to not consider any of what she'd gone over important.

Overall, Izumi had to admit from a teaching standpoint, that Midnight-sensi had done an extremely good job. Unfortunately, she was also wearing her hero costume and had noticed Izumi and Momo both taking glances they shouldn't. The result had been a long few hours of teasing, only redoubled when they accidentally outed themselves as dating to her. Not that they were hiding it, having already mentioned it to Iida the day before…but it had turned the teasing in a new direction as she cooed over how adorable a match they were. Not to mention the suggestive comments about how fun threesomes were that had caused Momo to develop a stutter and Izumi to do an uncomfortably accurate impression of a tomato.

Thankfully for their sanity, Midnight had turned serious once they switched to practical things. She'd sent them to change into their gym uniforms, just as Aizawa had, but had then directed them to a gym instead of out onto the field. Her teasing persona had largely disappeared as she faced them all with a bit of a grimace on her face.

"Alright, my minions!"

Most of her teasing persona had disappeared.

"As much as I don't want to give you flashbacks of your negative first impressions from yesterday, a Quirk Assessment Test is a standard and required part of UA's initial curriculum. To be blunt, we need to get a baseline for what your Quirks can do, as well as any obvious issues with them. While we have both your public registry files and an analysis of your Quirk usage from your recommended or entrance exams, those don't come anywhere close to actually covering everything."

Midnight paused to let them consider that, with most of them nodding along. The logic of having a Quirk Assessment hadn't been what any of them had an issue with yesterday. It had only been the way it had been done. Along with the ridiculous expulsion threat. When she saw that no one was protesting, Midnight went on.

"Each instructor has their own version of an assessment test. And, having actually looked over your files, I went ahead and secured permission to do ours here in Gym Gamma, with another instructor to help out. Cementoss?"

A man came through a side door at her call, with most of the students doing a mild double take. Quirks caused a lot of strange appearances. But this guy looked like a living block of semi-solid cement. Izumi, of course, already knew who he was and immediately saw why he might be called on for this. Others appeared puzzled, at least until the man himself spoke up in explanation.

"Greetings, Group A! I'm Cementoss…and Gamma Gym is my personal little territory on campus. I refer to it as Training Dream Land, since my Quirk allows me to freely manipulate Cement…which basically means the entire room."

The new teacher quickly demonstrated, making hand motions that raised several walls and pillars.

"Normally, you wouldn't see the inside of TDL until you started working on Super Moves. However, in light of reading the same files that Midnight did, I agreed with her that it was most logical to move the Assessment here. A few of you have extremely destructive Quirks. The nature of this facility will allow you to properly test them at full capacity, without causing collateral damage."

The blocky man stepped back, gesturing to Midnight to take over again. She nodded and thanked him, before returning her attention to the students.

"Right! As Cementoss said, I chose this facility because we're going to be putting it through some serious demolition! Though, as you'll see, I've had some specific equipment moved in along the right wall, as well."

Indeed, most of them had already noticed, though they all turned to look as she gestured. There, several devices, ranging from a punching machine and weight bench to a number of seemingly random blocks of materials, were neatly arranged.

"I believe in getting as many hard numbers on what your current limits are as possible. Specifically, in my Assessments I focus on Attack Potency, Unaided Striking Strength, Speed, Lift Strength, Durability, Stamina, Range, and Utility. The vast majority of you will have at least one area in which your Quirk shines. The few who do not…you need to know some of this even more than those that do, since there will be times you can't rely purely on your Quirk to get you through. I, myself, end up using weapons and unarmed combat nearly as often as I do my Quirk, since Somnambulist is better at crowd control than destruction, or even taking out a single person in a crowd."

Izumi nodded to herself at that. Midnight's Quirk was amazing, able to knock out nearly anyone that smelled the aroma she put out. It was also, however, an area-of-effect power. Specifically, an area-of-effect centered on herself. If she tried to use it on a city street to take down a single mugger, she'd likely knock out dozens of other innocents. At best. At worst she might knock out someone in a car and cause a wreck that could kill the driver and a large number of others. Despite most people thinking it was just a play on her dominatrix theme, Izumi knew that Midnight was a genuine expert with the whip she carried, and actually used it more frequently than her Quirk for solo take downs.

"Now! In order to let Cementoss get back to his regularly scheduled programming as soon as possible, we'll focus on the destructive stuff first! Attack Potency is a measurement of how much damage, of any type, you are capable of delivering to a given target. For some of you, this will be identical to your Unaided Striking Strength. For others…well…that would be telling~! Let's get started!"

The next twenty minutes was enlightening, with Midnight calling up people in what they quickly figured out was the order of their predicted damage potential. The first few individuals didn't generate much surprise, few of them managing to do much more than superficial damage to the wall of cement that their second instructor raised for them. The next few were individuals who didn't have much direct damage potential, but who managed to cleverly use their Quirks in some fashion to at least do significant damage. Such as Mineta Minoru, who actually beat out his predicted placement by building up speed via multiple clusters of his…balls. The resulting hit had actually busted through the first cement wall completely and, more shockingly, not actually hurt him. Apparently, he was extremely resistant to impact damage, sharing some of the 'bouncy' properties of his Quirk's balls.

It was when they'd gotten roughly halfway through the class that things started to get more blatantly destructive. Iida, preemptively provided with shin-guards, managed to completely shatter the first wall and damage a second. Aoyama punched through the first two walls, though ran out of steam and folded over before more than scorching the third. Sato rammed his way through three walls in a convulsive lunge…though they were introduced to his side effect shortly afterward.

Then the truly dangerous group started their turns and things went from 'destructive' to 'expletive inducing.' In the relative dim of the Gym, Dark Shadow casually carved his way through five walls before appearing to get…bored. Katsuki used a move he called 'Impact Shot' to punch right through four walls, doing enough damage to reduce the first two to rubble despite its focused nature. Thankfully, he'd actually forewarned everyone and Jirou, who had managed to shatter one wall with resonance frequencies earlier, asked for ear protection that Midnight readily provided. Todoroki stunned everyone…and nearly sent Asui into hypothermic shock when he shoved a glacier through nine walls.

That last one had caused a bit of a panic, with Momo rapidly creating a heat blanket as Izumi realized what had happened first and rushed the frog-girl outside. Todoroki himself had gone near-catatonic as he stared in what looked like betrayal at his own hand. Had he…never realized how dangerous his ice could be to certain people? Izumi almost said something…until she noticed Midnight staring at him with a frown. The teacher met her gaze and waved her off, silently promising that she'd find out what was going on there. The wordless exchange was one she'd experienced with paramedics many times during her help at disaster sites, and it actually served to solidify Midnight as someone trustworthy to Izumi, despite the teacher's teasing antics.

They had all gathered back together after a short break, save for Asui for the moment, who was out of danger but not up to going back into the still-cold room. Todoroki had melted the ice, but the Cement would take a bit of time to warm back up. And they were going to have that time, because Izumi had been called up. She'd summoned her scanner, taken one look at the line of ten walls, and shaken her head. Now, looking over at the two teachers she sheepishly informed them that their reality was in need of…adjustment.

"Um…sorry Midnight-Sensei, Cementoss-Sensei, but if I get even halfway serious these aren't going to be even close to enough. You're going to have to make walls out to my ranged energy fall off distance, which is about 20 meters. And, even then, you're going to get a range limit, not an Attack Potency measurement."

Both of them frowned at her, but it was Cementoss that spoke.

"We used the power output we measured from your destruction of the Zero Pointer to calculate your potential force. Are you saying that wasn't your max output?"

Izumi blinked. Then slowly shook her head.

"I wasn't even thinking of the telekinesis part. That would actually make things even worse. Twenty meters is the maximum I can get for a Shockwave before it breaks down. If you're talking about my actual maximum damage output…this building isn't large enough. Even if you filled it completely with the densest concrete in existence. Sorry, I'm not used to thinking in terms of total power output. Control has always kinda been…a lot more important?"

Both teachers were looking at her with incredulity. Enough so that Momo apparently felt the need to speak up.

"Sensei? She was tested against hyperdense blocks of both Tungsten and Titanium at Nishimura & Croft. She sliced through five meters of both before they gave up on trying to measure her upper range. You should consider her upper strength limit to be only a little lower than All Might's…and she can focus that into a blade that won't be harmed by anything short of a direct nuclear strike."

Okay, sure, that had been in her fully transformed state. Which Izumi wasn't intending to use here. But it did seem to make the two teachers take the issue seriously. So…thanks Momo? Even if maybe leaving that bit about All Might out might have been better…she was getting strange looks and hadn't really intended to advertise that little detail so soon. Possibly ever. Cementoss looked at Midnight, who leaned in to have a whispered conversation with him. Izumi pretended that she couldn't hear them as they debated what to do. Her enhanced senses were also something she wasn't really intending to advertise. Though that, she knew, would come out in time no matter what she did. Eventually, Cementoss shrugged and turned to Izumi.

"Twenty meters?"

When Izumi nodded, he shrugged again and put his hands to the floor, building more walls.

"I'll make it twenty-five and up the density just in case. Then you can show this 'shockwave' attack. It will have to do for this test."

Izumi nodded sheepishly, trying not to squirm as everyone stared at her. Trying to distract herself, she focused on summoning up a Type-40 Blade. It wasn't a sword she used often, as she considered the giant two-handed monstrosity too unwieldly despite her strength. It drew some exclamations as it formed, including a couple about how 'cool' or 'badass' that was. Those made her smile, at least. Her Quirk was awesome. And so were all the cool designs 2B had known!

Seeing that Cementoss was finished with the walls, she scanned them again, noting that he'd managed to somehow double their density. Very unnatural for concrete, which was likely why they were now heavily laced with QE. It was good attempt…but Izumi's ranged shockwave attacks were laced with considerably more dense Quirk Energy than was in those walls. They weren't going to do anything more than the regular concrete would have.

Taking a deep breath, Izumi positioned herself in front of the walls, pulled back the Type 40 Blade with a single hand as she balanced with the other, pumped QE into its edge, then used her whole-body to snap the blade forward at speeds no one else but Momo could even see. It stopped a whisker's distance from the first wall…but the shockwave that had been produces most certainly did not. The energy of the shockwave forming was so strong that the first five walls simply crumpled, with each wall after that instead being neatly cut in half at a slight upward angle. That angle and the backlash of the Shockwave caused each of them to slide off in a domino-like effect, with the closest falling forward over the rubble of the shattered walls. True to Izumi's predication, the Shockwave destabilized and broke apart at the end of twenty meters…though the dissipating energy actually took an additional wall out with it.

There was dead silence, save for bits of concrete breaking off from time to time and clattering to the floor. Nervously, Izumi looked back…to see everyone gaping at her. Including the two teachers. Or, well, everyone except Momo, who was looking smug. Eyes twinkling, Momo winked at her and started forming something from her Quirk. Izumi's eyes widened at what it was…and she slumped, knowing her girlfriend's rare competitive streak had been sparked. She turned to the teachers and broke them out of their stupor with a gentle reminder that she hadn't been the last student.

"Ah, Cementoss-sensi? Could you remake the walls? I believe Momo is feeling competitive. I'm going to go set up a couple of my Type 40 Blades as a backstop."

Cementoss looked at her strangely, but was apparently just done with disbelief, from his expression. Midnight, on the other hand, frowned and turned to Momo, seeing her…holding a rifle? Izumi listened in as Midnight spoke up, even as she went to set up the backstop Momo would need. They didn't need her accidently killing someone on the other side of the city, after all.

"Yaoyorozu-san…you are aware that you need specific licenses for gun-use, even these days?"

"Right, Midnight-sensi! But, did you know, that railguns don't qualify as firearms under the laws as written? I suspect someone may change it the first time I use one for real. Kind of like they did the costume laws after your first one! But for now, this is fully legal! I had my parents' lawyers check!"

Izumi chuckled, picturing the innocent bouncy look Momo was undoubtably pulling on Midnight. Despite how restrained Momo could be most of the time, when she got excited her personality changed a bit…and she had developed a serious case of destruction-related-excitement from her exposure to Izumi. Or, at least, she blamed Izumi. Since Izumi herself wasn't really that destruction inclined, she thought Momo had really been geared towards chaos-and-destruction in the first place and just hadn't admitted it until Izumi gave her an outlet…

Apparently, Midnight was no more immune to Momo's 'excitedly bouncy' energy than Izumi herself was, since 2B drily sent her a message from the non-combat Pod she'd been observing from, making sure she was clear. When Izumi responded that she was, her blades hovering horizontally well away from her and tightly gripped by her telekinesis, a countdown timer appeared on her HUD. She braced herself at '1,' and then grunted as something hit the lower blade HARD at '0.' The blade was pushed back a good three meters, despite her best efforts, nearly ripped from her grip. But it had stopped the tiny slug fired from Momo's shoulder railgun, the thumbnail-sized piece of alloy now flattened on the ground. Izumi retrieved it, dismissed the blades, and returned to the first wall. She dropped the flattened bit of metal into Momo's hand, even as she watched her girlfriend reabsorb the gun. That was something she'd only figured out how to do with the help of Izumi's visor and its ability to see what was happening with the QE involved. Thankfully, she had figured it out. Since leaving random railguns laying around was a bad plan.

"You made it through all of them and still nearly ripped the blade out of my grip. Just as you knew you would. Getting competitive on me, Momo?"

Izumi's voice was mischievous, completely ignoring their stunned audience as she booped her girlfriend's nose. Momo playfully bit at the finger, causing Izumi to laugh.

... ...

"My, how fierce! Come on, we've wasted enough time showing off. This was only the first test, after all!"

Despite Izumi saying that, it had taken several minutes to get everyone to calm down, once they'd broken out of their shock. The teachers hadn't even tried to get them to calm, still dealing with their own disbelief over what they'd just seen. Still, eventually, Momo and Izumi had mostly satisfied the group and Midnight had gotten the class's attention again. Not that it would prove to be the only incident as the rest of the tests played out.

For Speed, Izumi had ultimately need to slow down so that the high-speed camera could actually track her speed. For Lift Strength both she and Momo had maxed out the machine. Durability had horrified a few people as Izumi simply had 2B shoot her with a gatling-gun equipped Pod, to prove that, yes, Izumi was bulletproof even without her full transformation. Momo, with the chest-piece of her armor summoned this time, had done the same thing, proving that she was also bulletproof. At least in her armor. They actually weren't sure about that with just One for All and didn't want to risk testing it when Momo could still only use 40% of its power.

Unaided Striking Power had been another standout for Izumi, though Momo had deliberately taken a dive to keep up the illusion that her strength was from her suit. Stamina had once again seen her and Momo both on top, though both of them knew that Izumi actually had her beat so long as they stayed at low power. Izumi's stamina only became an issue if she started fighting seriously…in which case it was actually her primary limit. And the most likely way for her to get beat by someone like All Might or Momo. Range had seemed like a victory for either Izumi with 2B's Pod Laser, or Momo with another Rail-Gun…right up until Uraraka had simply gone outside and thrown a tracked baseball into orbit.

The Utility tests had been a lot more varied, with people like Hagakure, Jirou, and Shoji showing off things like stealth and tracking. Though, even for the Utility category, Momo's ability to make anything non-living and Izumi's ability to convert matter to data for inventory storage trumped most of what was shown. Unsurprisingly, they were getting a wild mix of admiring, terrified, and jealous looks by the end of the session. It wasn't unexpected, though the number of their classmates that seemed more scared of Momo in 'bouncy' mode than they did of Izumi at any point was a point of serious amusement for Izumi. Though when she'd brought it up to Momo, it had made her girlfriend pout adorably enough that several people seemed to want to give her head pats. Thankfully, as the girlfriend in question, Izumi was in charge of head pats and guarded them jealously. She might let that Jirou girl give Momo one, if she got to head pat Jirou in exchange. She looked very headpatable. They'd have to see…

For now, their second first day was officially over, and they had an armored car home to catch.