The First Challenge

Chris and Jason stood in front of the gate to the university, staring up at the bright letters UA. Neither of them could contain their excitement. "We're actually here." "I'm still struggling to believe that we actually passed." Jason wrapped an arm around his friend's neck. "You better start believing it, bud. Now let's get to class. I don't want us being late becoming normal here." Jason was bumped into. He quickly looked to his left. A redheaded girl glanced at him. "Sorry." She kept walking. Jason noticed that the left side of her hair was white. Chris lightly elbowed him. "New crush?" Jason laughed. "Not after Susana, man. Not anymore." Chris was bumped into this time. The woman looked up at him. "Oh! I'm sorry!" "No, my fault. Shouldn't be standing in the middle of the entrance." She smiled as she held her hand out to shake. "I'm Momo: Momo Yaoyorozu." Chris shook her hand. "Chris Harper." Momo looked to Jason, who smiled and shook her hand next. "Jason Miller." "Would you two happen to be enrolled in the hero course?" Chris pulled out his introductory papers. "Yep. We are in… Class 1A." "What a coincidence! So am I! You wouldn't happen to know where the classroom is, would you?" Jason shook his head. "Not a damn clue." "Well, why don't we find out together?" The three began exploring the main building, trying to find their class.

The trio walked into their classroom with three minutes to spare. There were only five seats remaining: The three seats in the back and two just in front of those. Jason and Chris glanced at each other before racing for the final window seat. Chris tried to navigate past the occupied desks, but Jason threw his backpack onto the target desk. Chris stopped and swore before sitting in the seat next to it. Jason smirked as he sat in the final window seat. He froze when he realized he was sitting behind the red/white haired girl from before. Chris snickered a little bit. Momo sat on the other side of Chris. "So I assume you two know each other quite well?" "Huh? Oh, yea. We've been best friends for 10 years now." "Wow! And you two ended up in UA together! What are your quirks?" "Well, my quirk just came in a few weeks ago. Still working on it, but it's essentially a strength multiplier." Jason leaned back in his chair to look at Momo. "He destroyed a giant robot!" A girl with brown hair closer to the front quickly spun around to see the topic of the conversation. Then she lit up. "Oh! I saw you do that! It was so cool!" Chris blushed and waved politely. Momo turned to Jason. "What's your quirk?" "I'm quirkless." The woman in front of him seemed to acknowledge that comment. Momo just blinked a few times. "...Um… I'm sorry, but this class is for the Hero Course… General Studies are-" "I'm enrolled in the Hero Course, thank you very much." "Oh. Ok then. Are you here on recommendation too?" "No? Wait, you got in based on recommendation? How?" "Well, I-" The door swung open as two students stood in the doorway, looking like they had run a marathon. The guy with spiky red hair took the seat in front of Chris. The girl with pink skin and black eyes sat in front of Momo. Jason smiled at Chris. "I guess we won't be known as the people who were late to our first day." The guy turned to Jason with a smile. "Lay off, will you? Couldn't find the damn classroom." Jason smiled back. "That's why you show up early." "Oh, we're going there?" "Yea, we're going there." The two stared at each other for a bit before laughing and shaking hands. "Jason Miller." "Eijirou Kirishima. My friend over there is Pinky." A pencil hit him in the back of the head. The entire back row giggled before looking at her. She smiled. "Mina Ashido. But you can call me Mina."

A very tired middle aged man entered the classroom and waited. The class slowly took notice and quieted down. He waited until everyone was silent before putting his binder down on the desk. "It took you all two minutes to shut up. That won't fly this year." He turned and faced the class. "I'm Shota Aizawa. Most of you know me as Eraser Head. I'll be your teacher for this year. I promise you not all of you will make it. Most of you will drop out due to pressure, others will fail out. If things go my way, all of you will be kicked out by the end of the month. That being said, I am firm but fair. If you try your hardest and don't cheat, we won't have any problems. Am I clear?" The class nodded in agreement. Aizawa nodded. "Good. Go to the 1A locker room down the hall. Each of you has a locker with your name on it. Inside the locker is a suitcase with your hero outfit, created based on the design you submitted to the school. Get changed and meet me outside." The class did nothing. The woman in front of Jason stood up first and began walking out. Then everyone else scrambled to the locker room.

Jason waited outside with Mina. "So Kirishima dyes his hair?" "Mhm. He likes it red. It looks good on him. "So you guys were friends through high school?" "Yep." Kirishima came out. "Hey guys. What's going on?" "Hm? Oh, nothing." "...Mina, what did you tell him?" Mina stuck her tongue out at him. Momo exited the locker room. "Hey guys. Mind if I hang out with you?" Mina smiled at her. "Welcome aboard." Momo looked at Jason's outfit. He was wearing a jet-black bodysuit with blood red boots, gloves, and cape. Momo smiled. "I like the look." "Thanks. Bulletproof." "...I'm sorry. Bulletproof?" "I need to protect people somehow." "Fair enough." Jason looked past her and smiled. "And there he is!" The group turned to face Chris. He was wearing a light grey suit with black stripes resembling All Might's pattern. He gave a nervous smile. "...Well…?" Jason gave a thumbs up. "Awesome." Chris smiled.

Aizawa came outside. "Attention everyone. Today will be your first combat training. To see what you can do, we're throwing you into the deep end. I'm staying here to catch up on paperwork, but you'll be learning from our newest teacher." As if on cue, All Might leaped from the roof and indeed in front of the class. "Do not worry…" He stood up and turned to the class. "...for I am here!" The class cheered. "It's All Might!" "Holy shit!" "What is he wearing?" "He's wearing his uniform from the Silver Age!" "Cool!" "All right, quiet down, students. I will be teaching today's combat class. As Mr. Aizawa said, this is to see exactly where you're at as far as skill level and quirk control. Now come! It is time to head to the training site!" The class eagerly followed All Might.

The training site was a mini city complete with skyscrapers and other buildings, similar to the exam site. There was a command center with screens everywhere. The cameras were wired into every single building on site. All Might hit a button, seemingly bringing up only the cameras to a specific building. "All right, heroes in training: two villains have armed a nuclear device somewhere in the building. Two heroes have arrived in an attempt to take the nuke before the villains can use its destructive power to destroy the city. All of you will be split into teams of two. Half of you will be heroes, and the other half will be villains. If the heroes touch the nuke before time runs out, the heroes win. If the villains successfully keep the nuclear device safe, the villains win. Any questions?" A man with cleanly kept hair and glasses raised his hand. "Excuse me? How much time will we have to complete our objectives?" "Excellent question, young Iida. 15 minutes. Anything else?" No answer. "Alright then. Everyone has already been assigned to teams randomly. Now…" A screen with the randomly created teams appeared. "Find your partner!"

Chris and Iida were in the objective room. "So we just need to keep their hands off this nuke?" Iida nodded. "We should strategize to maximize our chances of-" "You protect the bomb." Iida looked at Chris with a puzzling look. Chris smiled. "Jason is the biggest threat to us, but I can beat him in one punch." "...Are you sure?" "Trust me." Chris ran off to try and intercept Jason. He ran down to the second floor and hid behind a corner. He could hear Jason and Ochako talking. "Are you sure this will work?" "Trust me: this plan won't fail. I've known Chris for years. Stick to the plan and we won't lose. Oh, speak of the devil and he shall reveal himself. Dude, your foot is sticking out." Chris sighed and revealed himself. Jason nodded to Ochako, who ran off. Jason looked to Chris. "So you really think you can beat me just because you have a quirk now?" "You've always had the upper hand as far as experience and training go." Chris smiled and clenched his fist. "But now I can finally show you what I can do." "Trust me, bro, I'm excited to do this. I finally get to show off my new technique." Chris lost his smile. "...new technique…?" "Yep. Observe!" Jason spun on his heels and sprinted the other direction. Chris blinked a few times before finally realizing that Jason had just run away. "Hey!"

Chris chased Jason throughout the facility going up and down several levels. Jason stopped in a seemingly empty room. "Alright, I'm in position. Yes, I am 90% sure I am in the right area. Hold on, yell at me later. He caught up. Just get into position." Jason turned, having caught his breath, to face Chris, who had finally entered the room. He was gasping for air. "...Cornered…" Jason smirked. "I was hoping I could keep running until Ochako completed the objective, but I guess I have to fight now." "Why did you run?" "What?" "You ran. You never run. Why did you run?" "Oh, so you want me to start a long monologue?" Chris looked down at his hands, thinking to himself. I need to end this now. Chris looked up. "No. It's time I knock you out of this fight." One for All coursed through his arm. Jason smirked. "All right, bro…" He charged forward. "Let's rock!" Chris raised his arm, ready to punch Jason. Jason jumped onto a nearby support column and jumped off of that towards Chris. Jason smiled down at him, going for a punch of his own. Chris readjusted his stance to go for an uppercut. Jason cancelled his punch and raised both of his arms to block. Chris zeroed in on Jason. One punch. Chris landed the uppercut. Jason's left arm was destroyed as he was sent flying. The shockwave tore through the ceiling, shaking the building. Chris smiled as he watched Jason fly. Then he heard Iida's panicked voice. "What is going on?!" Chris looked up through the hole he had created in the ceiling. He saw Iida struggling to hang on. Jason shouted. "Now!" Ochako smiled, using her zero gravity quirk to pick up a disconnected column. "Here we…" She swung it. "...go!" The column hit debris in the air, which was flung at Iida, keeping him pinned down. Ochako then jumped and tackled the nuke. "Got it!" A buzzer sounded and All Might's voice boomed through the intercom. "The heroes have taken the nuke from the villains! Jason and Ochako win!"

Chris fell to his knees, holding his shattered arm. "...holy shit…" "...Let me guess…" Chris looked over at Jason, who had dug himself out of the debris, holding his shattered arm. "...You tried to take me out of the fight to prove that you could go head to head with me…" "...more or less…" Jason offered his good arm to Chris. "...You're tough, but you need to think before you act. You had a teammate who could've helped you. Learn to cooperate with those around you and always think before you punch." "Ok, Mr. Miller." "Don't be a prick." The two laughed, then winced in pain. Chris accepted Jason's help up before smiling more. "Come on, genius. Let's go get patched up." The two left the building. This would not be their first time sparring against each other.

Their race to the number one spot has just begun.