Toaku Academy wasn't much different from other high schools in Japan, containing the normal classrooms, gym, cafeteria, etc. etc. The only unusual things it had was an underground training arena along with several connected hallways with rooms where those who couldn't leave school grounds slept. Erika, despite living in a ramshackle house, had yet to move in. She couldn't trust anyone here, especially the adults. Especially Makka-sensei, or Sagi as she insisted on being called by her students.

The first day of actual school had been an introductory day, as was usual. That was when they were introduced to the other students already living at the school. Erika had taken to keeping a separate journal on each student and teacher in addition to the ones she kept on current heroes and villains. Dabi led the homeroom despite not being a teacher, which he insisted on not being quite often.

"Teacher-assistant," he had said dismissively. "Fresh out of their curriculum and can't become a teacher yet. And I don't want to." He lounged atop the front desk of the classroom they sat in. "Now let's get into introductions. You're free to introduce your quirks, but just your names will suffice. Your first quirk training session is later today, so if you would prefer to keep some tricks up your sleeves that's fine. But it won't stay secret for long." He sat up. "We're not asking you to trust one another blindly from the start. Trust is earned. I'm sure you all know that by now. As such-" He hopped down from the desk. "If you need any help adjusting, feel free to come to me."

"Now let's get this introductory part of the day over with," he said, looking dreadfully bored. "I hate it as much as you all do. Students who've been here longest go first, you know the drill."

Erika leaned back in her seat. This was going to be worth remembering down to the last minute detail.

"Shigenori Funayama," a boy stood. He, like everyone else in the room, wore the school uniform. He had pale spiky blue hair and rich golden eyes and he gave a friendly wave at the class. "I don't mind sharing my quirk, so I hope some of my peers who've been here as long as I will share too. This is going to be a place where you can trust others, unlike out there. Anyway, my quirk is called Newton's 2nd Law. Put simply..." he tapped his chin. "I can decrease the mass of an object and apply extra force in order to increase its acceleration."

Next was the student with an insect head sitting behind him. Her uniform seemed to be tailored for her mutation, as her abdomen and wings stuck out from her clothes. Her abdomen glowed ever so faintly as she stood as she said, "Hotaruko Ezawa," before sitting back down.

"Oh come on, Ezawa," Funayama spun in his seat, pouting at her. "It's no fun if you don't share with the whole class like I did."

"Don't expect us all to share our secrets just because you act like a fool," Ezawa rested a clawed insect hand on her desk, her wings buzzing in what Erika guessed was irritation.

"But-"

"Nijino Takio," a tall girl with an amphibian mutation stood quickly, knocking over her chair with her long tail as she went to bow. "Ah! Sorry!" As she fumbled with her chair to get it upright, her tail swung around and nearly smacked Ezawa, who ducked quickly. Takio's skin was smooth and blueish-black with some blue and white flecks dotted along her skin, most noticeably on her head where a mop of orange hair sat. Flustered, the girl sat down, but from the looks of it, that situation had shut up both Ezawa and Funayama.

Salamander based mutation quirk? Erika pondered, recognizing the shape of the girl's tail.

The next person to stand was yet another girl. She had a petite frame and luscious black hair that flowed down her back. Her pretty features looked delicate and her voice was as graceful as her appearance. "Onka Nagao. My quirk is called Sweet Music."

"Hup," the boy behind her leaped to his feet. He had a cocky air to him and gave off the sort of rich boy vibe with the way he stood. His blond hair was slicked back and diamond studded earrings gleamed from his ears. "Tomiichi Hitotsugi. Pleasure to meet you all. My quirk is Speedy Money. Now, don't get any ideas of me being able to generate money. It's quite the opposite in fact." He dug into a pocket and produced a nickel. He flicked it up with his thumb and caught it in his mouth, swallowing. "My speed increases the more money I eat. It all depends on the price consumed." He moved in a blur, appearing next to Dabi while making papers fly off the desks in his wake. "See?"

"Back to your seat Richie Rich," Dabi pushed the boy away from him. "Come on, keep it going. Next!"

The last boy in the first row stood up. "Sanemoto Sugisawa," he spoke with an impersonal tone and sat as quickly as he stood.

Yeesh, Erika leaned into her fist. Make that three people who haven't shared their quirks. Two of which are clearly keeping their guard up. The salamander girl is just nervous. They really only went for the broken kids, huh.

"Kai Nomoto," someone who Erika had quickly dubbed one of this class' anomalies spoke as they stood. Erika couldn't get a grasp on their appearance, as their face and hands, the only places where skin would be shown with their uniform, were heavily obscured by fog. Even their voice seemed to be modified somehow to sound genderless. "Pleasure to meet you all."

Point for being friendly enough to greet the newbies, Erika's mouth twitched in amusement.

The girl behind them rolled her shoulders and stood with a slight smile. She was foreign, American maybe, with dark skin, but not as dark as some foreigners Erika had seen before. Curly black hair framed her oval shaped face, hazel eyes gazing across each new student before speaking. "Mine own name is Katherine, and mine own quirk is beshrew. Tryeth not to receiveth affectioned by t." That smile of hers curved. "A beshrew can beest nasty thing forsooth."

"That is going to be headache inducing," Ijichi moaned quietly from the seat behind Erika.

"What the fuck kinda language is that?!" the pink and black haired girl from orientation spoke, not bothering to lower her voice.

What a mouth she has indeed, Erika rolled her eyes.

"Shakespeare," a girl with her black hair done in a bob cut sitting two seats behind Katherine answered. "She gets a kick out of it. Yo, Tweety, you're up." She kicked the back of the seat in front of her, earning her a half hearted glare from the boy occupying said seat. Simply put, he was a pretty boy with a mash hairstyle and orange irises that seemed to radiate warmth.

He stood, his movements elegant, but not outrageously so. "Ouka Okiyama. My quirk is Phoenix."

"Hence the nickname Tweety," a grin from bob cut girl. "And I'm Ohta Orioka. Sonic Boom y'all." She finished by snapping her fingers, a slight sonic boom reverberating through the classroom.

"Hey!" Dabi slammed a hand down on the front desk. "What have I said about using your quirk?"

Orioka rolled her eyes. "Sorry teach."

"Let it be known I am not a teacher," Dabi groaned as he drew his hands down his face. "I'm only here cause I have to be. Now let's get a move on." He snapped his fingers to emphasize his point. "The sooner introductions are over the sooner I can get to my own business and leave you with a proper teacher."

Real piece of work isn't he.

The final student who hadn't appeared at the invitation party stood, pieces of dirt falling off him. His crumbly, earthen skin was dark in color and he spoke in a gravelly, yet joyful, tone. "I'm Shinji Futagi, it's nice to meet you all. My quirk is called Earth Body."

"Excellent," Dabi clapped his hands fast. "Now onto the fresh meat. You're next." He pointed to the boy with gray hair Erika had seen the other day sitting ever so attentively in his seat. He cocked his head. He opened his mouth and formed a word, then seemed to realize he hadn't made a sound.

"A-ra-ki," he pronounced and looked very proud of himself. When Dabi had finished blinking, he shrugged and said, "Moving on."

Sighing, Erika stood at the front of her row. "Erika Fujino." She considered saying something vague about her quirk, but decided against it as she sat back down, noticing a look of disappointment from Ijichi behind her. Too bad.

The girl with black hair which ignored the simple laws of physics stood, starry eyes surveying the class. "I'm Hoshika Ijichi, and my quirk is Celestial Absorber."

Erika blinked, glancing at the girl as she retook her seat. Celestial Absorber... The name alone proposed a whole range of possibilities, too many to think about right now as introductions were being made, but Erika made a note later to think it over properly.

"I did not come here just for some lame ass first day introduction crap." The girl with a bob cut of pink hair with black streaks didn't even bother standing up as she spoke. "Like, what the fuck? Weren't we supposed to be doing some shit to prove how good we are to society?"

"Getting ahead of yourself don't you think?" Dabi leaned back against his desk, smirking. "There's a reason for all this. If there's anyone you're gonna be able to trust, it's those who were also-"

"Bullshit," the girl scoffed. "Why don't you teach us something useful, staples, or I'm getting the fuck out of here."

"Girl, you don't just diss Dabi like that," Orioka muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Oho?" Dabi's grin was wide. "You want to learn something useful? Well, alright then. Boys and girls, I guess we're moving up the lesson plan a bit. Introductions will be on hold indefinitely, as I'll just end up saying your names anyway. Come along, we're gonna have some fun in the underground training area." He paused by the door, turning back with a malicious grin. "Newest students vs the older students, now how does that sound?"

...

"Explain to me why they're already down here?" Sagi pinched the bridge of her nose as Dabi led the class beneath the school into a large underground room. Lit up by orange lights, some gym equipment was stashed in one corner, but the main attraction was the already scarred arena.

"Hey, they're teenagers," Dabi shrugged. "Hormones and all that shit. Plus, what better way to get to know one another than through an exercise?" He surveyed the class, counting silently before cursing. "There's 23 of you. Sagi..." He glanced at her and she shook her head pointedly.

"Nope, you brought them down here before I'm due to teach them," her grin seemed full of vindictiveness. "Just don't cremate anyone, alright?"

"Yeah yeah," Dabi sighed. "Okay you lot, we're gonna pick match-ups randomly-Actually, screw that noise. Those of you who haven't introduced yourselves, step forwards. And yes, that includes you pinky."

"Fuck you," the girl whose words brought them down here in the first place said, but she stepped forward along with eight others.

Dabi groaned. "Still an odd number. Okay..." He gazed across them, then settled on a violet haired girl who looked positively fearful of participating. "Sakamoto, sit out for this one. Your quirk is situational and I'm sure we both rather you not have to activate it."

Looking relieved, Sakamoto stepped back to stand beside Ijichi. Dabi still looked at them all with calculating eyes before snapping his fingers at the frail black haired boy wearing a blindfold. "Asao, you step back as well. Let it be known that for now, we're not going to be matching you up against someone you aren't capable of handling yet. All of you will receive training, but we will take into account your strengths and weaknesses. So for those of you without combat oriented quirks, or very situational quirks-" Erika felt his eyes glance at her for a brief moment before moving on. "You will be trained in various fighting styles. You won't be weak any longer here at Toaku Academy. From now on, you're more than just the leftovers. Now you're on your way to becoming a full course meal!"

"I'm hungry, sue me," Dabi grumbled when he got weird looks. "Alright, let's see here..." He moved his mouth wordlessly as he dragged his finger across the seven students. "Okay, Ueno, you're going to pair with Minagawa. Play nice you two."

Ueno gave Minagawa the side eye. "Vine bitch? Seriously?"

"Maou twins, go ahead and pair up," Dabi informed them, pointedly ignoring Ueno. "I'd like to see your quirks in action." With their mute nods, Dabi sized up the last three students unpaired. "Ogawa, you're with Totsuga."

The girl made up of green crystals glanced at the red haired boy, her body making slight creaking sounds as she moved.

"As for you Iwayama..." Dabi cocked his head at the platinum blonde as the girl looked at him and her classmates nervously. "Any volunteers to fight her? I'll take just about anybody from the new students only. Oh, right, should probably mention we do have someone who can heal your wounds, but I'd rather we keep things light today."

"So does anyone want to... try..." Dabi trailed off, his gaze resting on the sole hand in the air. Ijichi was staring at her classmate with an eyebrow quirked. Erika lowered her hand as she stepped forward. "I will."

"Well now," Dabi smirked. "Are you sure about this? After all, your quirk-"

"Doesn't matter," Erika interrupted him. "Quirks aren't everything in a fight."

Erika wasn't one to show off her skills, preferring to keep as many cards as possible close to her chest. However, considering she was going to likely be here long term, it was probably best to at least make sure no one decided to mess with her. After all, she was pretty sure leaving wasn't much of an option at this point. Plus-

Sagi was giving her a slight smile, eyes twinkling. Erika felt her resolve harden. That feeling when that woman had appeared in her home and had easily gotten past her defenses was something she hadn't felt for a long time. Not since...

I need to get stronger, Erika forced herself to look away from Sagi. I can't afford to let that happen again. Especially around her .

"Alright," Dabi shrugged. "Should be pretty interesting. Ueno and Minagawa, take opposite ends of the field. On my count, you can begin the fight. Either me or Sagi will call out the winner when we feel they have an overwhelming advantage. No killing, obviously, and no maiming. We may not be on the side of the law, but we also don't want to give our resident healer too much to do."

As he moved back to stand beside Sagi to let the two students take opposite ends of the training field, he asked in a low voice, "You did upgrade the shieldings, right?"

"Unlike you, I actually get my tasks done on time," Sagi retorted.

"Hey, someone had to prepare the speech for the kiddos," Dabi said, giving her a wide grin. "After all, we can't thrust them into the deep end just yet. Don't wanna scare 'em off. Gotta get them to see the bigger picture first."

"I still think the jungle would've been the best way to start them off."

"You see, this is why I say you're not good with children."

"Alright!" Dabi raised a hand before swinging it down. "Fight!"

Immediately Minagawa's thorny vines shot out, scraping along the edge of the battlefield before surging up around Ueno in a makeshift cage.

"Geez, not giving me a chance here at all are you!?" Ueno shouted, touching one of the vines before quickly withdrawing the hand, a drop of blood appearing on her fingertip. "Damn sharp. Fine, you got me you, now let me out."

Minagawa glanced at Dabi, who shrugged, so she quickly withdrew her vines to her body. Ueno smirked. "Gotcha~."

Minagawa jerked in surprise as not one, not two, but three roses sprouted along one of her vines, a small cloud of aroma being released from each one. Each rose was yellow and while Minagawa ripped them off as soon as possible, she had already breathed in their scent. She stepped back, unsteady on her feet, before she fell forwards.

"And Ueno wins," Dabi announced. "Let this be a lesson that even if you have your opponent captured, it doesn't mean the fight is over. Especially if they say they're beaten. Now, be a dear and wake up Minagawa."

"Why should I?" Ueno crossed her arms.

"Cause it would be a pain to drag her all the way to the medic, get her woken up, and then back here," Dabi sighed. "I mean, you do want this over with, don't you?"

Ueno scoffed and rolled her eyes, but she produced an orange rose from her hand and walked over to the unconscious girl and waved the flower in the general area of her face. Minagawa jerked up and Ueno leaped back as the vines shot out towards her. They halted just an inch from her face before slowly retracting. She stood and walked past Ueno without a word. Erika caught a brief glimpse of yellow eyes before they were hidden by the vines.

Funayama whistled. "Nice use of the roses. Minagawa wasn't bad either."

"Too fast for my liking," Orioka yawned. "Show us something better."

Erika glanced out of the corner of her eye to see the green crystal girl, Ogawa, standing near earth skinned boy, Futagi. Beside him was the tall figure of Takio, the salamander girl. Perhaps they thought they were the best to help the girl get acclimated to this place, but it showed just how deep the social norms ran. Mutants would trust other mutants over regular people most of the time.

"Ogawa," Dabi called. "Totsuga. Break a leg. But don't. Doc will kill me if he has to fix that. On second thought, just ignore the idiom."

"You know what an idiom is?" Sagi looked at him in disbelief.

"Watch yourself woman," Dabi lit his hand ablaze and raised it at her threateningly.

Sagi gave a soft snort. "Yeah, like you'd even hurt me."

"I would," Dabi said cockily. "Don't think I won't."

"Let me rephrase that," Sagi's smile looked like one that had severed dozens of lives. "You wouldn't be able to even touch me."

Dabi met her stare for a solid ten seconds before he broke first, groaning as he extinguished his blue flames. "Oh fine. Back to business, feel free to start in 3... 2... 1!"

"I have to ask," Totsuga began strolling towards Ogawa, who looked nervous and kept clenching and unclenching her thick crystal fingers. "Does it hurt when your body gets damaged?"

"I... yes," Ogawa answered timidly.

"Dang," Totsuga sighed as he stopped at the halfway point to her. "Well, you're going to want to try and fend me off then. Cause as soon as I touch you, it will be game over. That right, teach?"

Silence, then, "Sagi, you're the teacher."

"I believe he's referring to you."

"I am not-! Look, I'm not a teacher! Teacher Assistant, that's it! But yes, if you manage to get your hand on her, you win. Just don't actually use your quirk."

"No promises," Totsuga shrugged before immediately taking off at a run. Squeaking in fear, Ogawa took several steps back, each step creating jagged green crystals that shot up along the ground towards the red haired boy, who deftly dodged each one. "Nice! But try a little harder than that please." He pressed a hand up against one of the crystals, steam rising from the contact as a hissing and bubbling sound could be heard. His hand was melting the crystal as he pushed it in.

"It's called Boiling Point," He said, withdrawing his hand and deftly flicking the goop off. "I can make any non-living object reach its boiling point. But something I'm wondering is if your crystal skin counts as non-living. Why not test that out!" He broke out into another run.

With fear in her eyes, Ogawa slammed both hands down on the ground, larger crystals this time erupting from the ground as they broke through the ground towards him. But instead of hitting him they instead did a wide circle around him, trapping him inside.

More hissing and bubbling sounds as steam rose into the air from within the crystal circle. Totsuga's hands emerged first on the other side, his body following as the whole side of the crystals melted into goop that he pushed his way through. His uniform was steaming, holes burned into it.

"Dammit," Dabi palmed his face. "Should've mentioned that you want to avoid damaging these uniforms too much. We're not UA y'know. We can't just mass produce these things like most people think."

"Sorry teach," Totsuga gave him a friendly shrug as he bent and scooped up a pile of melted crystal, still steaming with heat. He grinned and lobbed it towards Ogawa, who shrieked and scrambled back as she raised her hand, a crystal spike shooting out and hitting the glob.

Totsuga whistled. "Nice shot." He calmly made his way over to the girl, each step making Ogawa flinch. She didn't try using her quirk again as he reached her, raising his hand and-

Patted her on the shoulder. "Your attacks were good, but you should definitely take the initiative more. You could've easily overwhelmed me. If you act so meek, you'll keep getting walked all over. Keep that in mind, yeah?" With that the redhead strolled back to the rest of the class.

"Well, that was..." Dabi shrugged. "Totsuga, we'll replace your uniform later, but just please don't ruin that one."

"Yessir teach!"

"For the love of-!"

Erika caught Iwayama's eyes, who tried giving her a friendly smile, but Erika kept her face stoic as she walked over to her. "Good luck," she said, letting her hand brush against the other girl's arm. She felt a jolt run through her upon contact. Good, just as she'd thought.

"Uh, thanks," Iwayama said uncertainly as she went to her side of the arena.

Dabi grinned. This was going to be interesting. "Alright, Fujino, Iwayama, on my mark. Ready, set, GO!"

Erika took off at a run, but was immediately pushed back by a strong gust of wind. Gusts swirled around Iwayama, turning into dark clouds as her ponytail whipped around her. Erika raised her arm, shielding her eyes against the wind as she narrowed them to slits.

"I was going to be a hero." Iwayama had said before. "Becoming a villain would be against everything I have ever stood for."

Just because you decided to join doesn't mean your feelings about becoming a hero have changed, Erika planted her feet, holding her ground as the winds picked up, shards of the leftover crystals getting picked up and going along for a ride in the currents. It takes time to change your beliefs. So you are the perfect person for me to face.

Erika began pushing her way forward, her electric blue eyes shifting in color before settling on crimson. Then she began running, the force of the wind no longer as strong. A stray crystal clump slammed into her side and went unnoticed as she charged Iwayama.

The other girl narrowed her eyes and swept out an arm, dark storm clouds barreling towards her. Erika leaped over them, her landing cracking the ground. She kept going, the winds stronger now that she was closer to her target. Then a particularly strong blast of air sent her reeling back, feet marking grooves in the cement.

She lowered her arms after the attack subsided. She had a feeling Iwayama was holding back. She was focusing on knocking her off balance and keeping her at a distance. She huffed. That's a hero's mindset for you. Not wanting to hurt someone else.

She charged again and another rush of dark clouds swept towards her, this time charged with the odd bolt of lightning. Sliding to a stop, she swung both hands in a sweeping gesture, the wind pressure created from the movement blasting the clouds apart. She quickly slammed a fist into the ground and ripped up a chunk of the cement before hurling it at Iwayama with all her strength. Eyes going wide and a yelp escaping her lips, the winds died down around her as she blasted aside the projectile with a strong gust.

"You got distracted," Erika said, having crossed the distance between them in those precious few seconds. She came in low, fist rising into the other girl's stomach. The force of the attack sent Iwayama flying backwards, tumbling along the ground where she settled with a groan of pain. All traces of wind and clouds dissipated as Erika rose to a standing position. She shook out her hand, the rush leaving her body and her eyes reverted back to blue.

You brought out a bit more power in me than some pros have before, Erika silently congratulated the girl. You could have made a good hero one day, but when you joined Toaku Academy, you became tainted. Now you'll only fall further away from that dream.

She looked over to Dabi and Sagi, the former giving a wide grin while the latter... Erika turned away. She had a feeling Sagi was going to be paying extra attention to her and she didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. If things turned out for the worse, it was highly unfortunate her quirk wouldn't work against the likes of her. Not with how many men the Crimson Bride had killed up to this point.

Looks like I'll have to rely on what you taught me, Erika thought of her old mentor with a hint of disgust. And hone those skills. After all, what good is a quirk that specializes against heroes when all you're surrounded by is villains and villains in the making?

...

Present Day - USJ

"That's... that's not possible."

Erika watched the scarlet energy dance across her palms and travel along her entire body as a rush of energy swept through her.

Nobody except All Might himself should be able to draw out this much power!

The green haired boy, who was already seriously injured with his left arm held in what looked like a metal cast, crouched as red lines lit up along his body. "You're not going to hurt All Might, not anymore! I'll stop you! Right here, right now!"

Erika let out a breath, this feeling of power almost too much after her bout with All Might. "You've got guts, I'll give you that. But stand aside. There's no need to throw your life away here."

"A hero goes beyond their limit to save a life," the boy said, curling his right hand into a fist. "So I'll fight to save him even if it means breaking myself!"

Erika's eyes widened a fraction. If anything, his words seemed to make her quirk heighten in power as more sparks blazed around her. "Okay then, have it your way. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Another breath. Then she charged.

I hope you all are enjoying my fresh take on MHA with the villain school idea and all the OCs with interesting quirks. Some have been named, but some remain hidden and others hinted at. Meanwhile, the next chapter will jump right back into the action at the USJ as the villain students throw down against UA's Class 1B. With any luck I can get that out during spring break.

Toodles~