Savior (My Hero Academia: Todoroki x OC)

Chapter 13: Exams

Another week came to a close and a new one began. It seemed most people had formed study groups of some sort to cover the academic material. Now my classmates were beginning to freak out about the practical exam. I'll admit I wasn't too nervous about this either. I had managed to do well in most of our training exercises. I knew I wouldn't necessarily be top of the class but I wasn't worried about failing either.

We were discussing it over lunch one day when Midoryia was suddenly hit upside the head. I recognized the boy from class B as the one who stole our headband during the cavalry battle. I wasn't sitting next to Midoriya today so I missed some of what was said, but it seemed like the guy was trying to pick a fight. A girl from class B put a quick end to it and also dropped some comforting information.

"I overheard you guys saying you're not sure about the practical exam. Between you and me, I hear it'll be a battle against robots, like in the entrance exam."

Everyone, not just me, was relieved to hear this. At least there would be no doubt about what we were expected to do. This, of course, began to hype up the competitive types in our class, Bakugo leading the way by calling out both Midoriya and Todoroki.

We sat our academic exams over several days before it was finally time for our practical. Dressed in our hero costumes, my classmates and I made our way out to the training grounds only to be met by the full spectrum of UA's hero faculty.

The students began questioning what was going on only to be answered by Principal Nezu.

"Various circumstances have demanded a revision to the exam format! From now on, we'll focus on battles against flesh-and-blood opponents. It is critical that our teaching simulates practical experience as closely as possible! As such, you students will be pairing up and fighting one of the teachers you see here!"

There were a few mumbles I didn't catch but it seemed my classmates were just as dumbfounded by this announcement as I was. This was a completely different situation than what I was expecting.

Mr. Aizawa began explaining how the exams would take place. "Your pairings and assigned teacher have already been decided. Your battle moves, your grades, your friendships with one another...all these factors and more were considered. First, Todoroki is with Yaoyorozu against me. Next, Midoriya is with Bakugo. And your opponent..."

"Will be me!" All Might declared.

There was stunned silence at that announcement. I'm sure my classmates were all thinking the same thing I was...this was not going to go well.

Mr. Aizawa continued announcing our teams. "Ashido and Kaminari. You two are up against Principal Nezu. Next, Aoyama is with Uraraka against Thirteen. Koda is with Jiro. Your opponent, Present Mic. Next, Asui and Tokoyami are up against Ectoplasm. Sero is with Mineta against Midnight. Hagakure and Shoji are a team against Snipe. Satori is with Kirishima. Your opponent is Cementoss. Finally, Iida and Ojiro versus Power Loader." He paused, giving us all a chance to digest this new information.

"Ten stages have been prepared and all teams will begin simultaneously. The test guidelines will be explained by your respective opponents. Let's not waste anymore time. Get going."

I walked beside Kirishima and up to Cementoss, our teacher turned opponent. He pointed us toward a walkway we would be taking to get to our exam training ground. He explained the exam details while we walked.

"There is a time limit for the exam. You will have 30 minutes to pass. Your objective is to either get these handcuffs on me or have one of you escape from the stage. The purpose of this test is to simulate a true battle situation as closely as possible. So think of me as an actual villain. If you believe you can fight and win against me, please do so. But if you find yourself at a disadvantage, it may be wiser to flee and call for backup."