The Emperor's Dragon

Hero Entrance Exam

"There's lots of talent this year."

From where he was lying, cocooned in the warmth of his sleeping bag, Aizawa rolled his eyes and tuned out the Number One Hero. What would he know about true heroic potential? He thought somewhat snippily before Scarab's voice told him he was being unfair. Even so, from what he could see of the examinees, there were only 3 or 4 who had heroic potential and he could already see that 3 of them weren't going to make it.

The fourth... she might make it. She was taking out the robots herself by the simple, but effective, method of making them float into the air and then letting them drop. More importantly, she was helping out other examinees, even if he could see she was a bit annoyed when that action cost her points. But at least she was doing it.

There were a few potential underground heroes in the mix but... he sighed to himself. They weren't going to make it. They just weren't inflicting enough damage, and weren't getting enough rescue points.

And then there were the examinees that Mr Number One was focusing on. They were going to make it, on villain points alone. And shouldn't that really tell people something? But no... all most other people saw was that the potential student could use their quirk combatively to do the most damage. That wasn't what being a hero was about but it seemed to be what everyone thought it was.

Aizawa closed his eyes for a few moments, as he took several deep breaths. He'd be able to weed some of them out when they inevitably got into his class. So that was something.

Again, Scarab's voice berated him and reminded him that Mr Number One would be looking for different strengths than he would. And that Mr Number One did, in fact, have a teaching degree, and hadn't that been a surprise to all the faculty!

Nezu had casually mentioned that he'd tutored All Might through the degree course last year so that the Number One Hero could teach at UA. He might have passed the course, but Aizawa was certain he'd used his position to get out of the practical requirements of it. In a crisis, All Might knew how to handle people but he sure as hell wouldn't know how to handle overpowered teenagers with delusions of grandeur. He was getting a headache just thinking about the issues that were coming in the next school year.

"Oh, look at that kid go!" someone exclaimed.

The kid in question was blasting his way through the robots with stupidly overpowered explosions. He was even pushing other kids out of the way. That wasn't to help them. It was to get them out of his way and what he was shouting... Aizawa could lip read. Frankly anyone could when the kid was shouting that loud and 'Die' was not exactly a reassuring phrase for a hero to use.

He sighed as Mr Number One nodded approvingly at the kid's actions. The man had so much to learn. The kid, unfortunately, would make it, on points alone, given that he still hadn't convinced Nezu to implement his scoring system which would take points away for damage, and deliberate interference with other examinees, while awarding more points for cooperation, and helping others. That wouldn't guarantee them students who could be good heroes, but at least it would guarantee students who could both use their quirks and potentially be trained into the right thought patterns, rather than those who could just blow things up.

Scarab's voice in his head just sighed and inwardly Aizawa made a face. Only those who really knew him would even notice. He had to be fair to Mr Number One. When they'd first been introduced, All Might had given him a look, like he wanted to say something but couldn't. Aizawa thought he knew what it would be about and... if he was honest with himself, and those underground heroes who weren't honest with themselves about their abilities and issues, tended not to live long, he was probably happier that Mr Number One had said nothing. He had a suspicion he knew what it was about.