I'm glad everyone liked the first chapter so much. Sorry this one took so damn long, I've been having some health issues and the semester started a couple of weeks ago.
Huge props to Baku for editing and brainstorming with me, we've been planning this a while.
Also thanks to Slingshot™ and Deadliest Sin Bin over on the Izuocha discord for their edits.
"What makes you think this is gonna go down any different than last time?" Katsuki snarled, teeth bared in a fierce grin.
"What makes you think this is going to be the same as last time?" Izuku countered, smirking right back.
"Grew some balls, huh, Deku?"
In response, Izuku plunged both hands straight down, sending up a sheet of golden fire that raced to either side of Katsuki and obstructed both boys from one another's view.
Izuku didn't waste a second - he was already sprinting along the smoke-screen's outer edge, moving to strike Katsuki from the side. He'll probably be expecting me to circle around and attack from behind, so -
Katsuki broke into Izuku's thoughts just as easily as he broke through the flames, launching himself through the blaze to strike his opponent with a blast-propelled tackle. "Your footsteps are too loud, dumbass!" he barked, following up his charge with a flurry of explosive punches. Izuku, recoiling under the assault, knew he needed to make space for himself or he'd be taken out in an instant.
Think...think!
It wasn't easy to do while fighting someone as ferocious as Bakugou Katsuki, but his only advantage in this fight would be his ability to plan ahead and use his Quirk in ways his friend wasn't expecting. Right now, he was likely thinking that Izuku's counter would be to try to overpower the explosions being sent his way...after all, it was what he'd attempted to do to give himself space in their previous fights.
This wasn't their previous fights.
Instead of bracing himself against Katsuki's onslaught, Izuku leapt back with the force of it, flames jetting down his arms and into the blonde's face. While Katsuki might be highly resistant to his own blasts, he didn't share Izuku's immunity to fire, and in the heartbeat he was distracted, Izuku spread his fingers and blasted the ground around them with a viscous blaze that clung like a living glue.
If he wasn't concerned about ethics, he could probably win a fight by simply keeping this sustained burn on an opponent, but the thought of it sent chills up his spine. He didn't want to see another human being on fire again as long as he lived.
At present, he decided that trying to give Katsuki a hot-foot was his most effective option. He could keep this space by burning the ground around him, forcing the other to go airborne to land any sort of meaningful hit - and if he overshot, his own momentum would become a liability...
Smirking, he flicked all ten fingers, and twin jets of fire shot into the ground, burning through the sand underfoot. As expected, Katsuki recovered and barreled back in for another round, so Izuku threw himself forward to land on his stomach, leaving his friend to shoot over him and land on the blazing ground where Izuku had just been standing. As the blonde scrambled to his feet, Izuku reached out and grasped a fistful of the scorching sand and pulled it up, letting the grains slip between his fingers as they burned.
His various experiments with his Quirk's fire over the past week had led him to the discovery that it was not simply superheated air - there was some substance to it that kept it in tune with his own emotions, his own willpower, and gave it a collective form. The way he'd pulled the flaming heart from the washing machine was one such example, but he found that he could also manipulate any fire connected to flames he touched, including across such a thin layer as the one coating the beach underfoot. It didn't form any kind of physical barrier or object, but it was still able to exert force...
The flames he'd shot into the ground, he knew, hadn't gone out; the cloying fire had been compressed into a ball inside the chamber it had burned out, lurking just beneath the sand, and when Izuku pulled, the pressure building in it broke. A golden geyser erupted beneath Katsuki, and the blonde only had time for a yelp before he was sent into the air by the torrential blaze.
Oh, no - did that actually - !? Izuku panicked; if he'd actually hurt his friend, he didn't think he'd be able to forgive himself...but a second later, Katsuki came down like a falling star, plummeting towards Izuku with his trademark scream:
"DIE!"
Anyone else would have been (understandably) concerned, but Izuku had heard it dozens of times over the years, and he knew he had Katsuki fired up - his friend only got that loud when he felt challenged.
The blast would most likely strike Izuku no matter where he moved, unless he was able to get away quickly. He didn't have much mobility, so his options fell to either taking the hit or finding some way to divert Katsuki himself. Standing in the open, there didn't seem to be a way to do the latter, but perhaps he could mitigate some of the damage of a direct impact by at least attempting to dodge…
At the last second, Izuku dashed forward, rolling under Katsuki again - or so he thought. His opponent had changed course midair, striking Izuku mid-roll and sending him reeling. "You did that the first time!" Katsuki called. "You're too damn easy to read!"
Izuku reviewed the "score" so far: one large hit to himself, one large hit to Katsuki...but he'd also taken a number of explosive punches, and right now, he was losing. Glancing up, he could tell from the savage grin on his friend's face that both of them knew it.
How do I tackle the mobility issue? He's too fast for me to strike directly...I still don't want to use my flames directly on somebody, so even if I have the advantage of range, how…?
Suddenly, it hit him - the blow he'd landed on Katsuki had sent him flying, right?
He leapt on that thought - Katsuki was already moving to execute a technique he'd nicknamed "stun grenade,"", and Izuku had to move quickly. Though he lacked the strength to propel himself by force of emission, he could propel himself by force of impact…!
Shielding his eyes, Izuku swiped at the ground with one hand, then pulled at the flames with all the willpower he could muster while they still coursed down his arm - in an instant, he felt them sweep upwards, striking the soles of his shoes and the underside of his body up to his hips and launching him a solid eight feet into the air.
Wait a second...what was I planning once I jumped!? Now what!?
He never found out. Just as Katsuki was about to detonate the explosion in his palm, there was a high-pitched caterwaul from somewhere a few streets away, and he knelt, burying his palm in the sand to muffle the blast.
"Shit!" he cursed. "Some shitrag must've called the cops - get the hell down here, Deku!"
"Do I look like I have a choice!?" Izuku shot back, landing hard and only barely managing to pull off a clumsy safety roll. "Ouch."
"Come on!"
The two took off at a run, sprinting out around the edge of the garbage heaps and making for the safety of the street, failing to notice the tall man watching them go.
The man in question chuckled into his cell phone.
"Maybe they're breaking the law, but it's not out of malice. I'm glad he's not turning out like his predecessor." A pause. "Let's just hope he gets in. It'll be a lot harder to explain if he doesn't and we have to find him on our own."
"Ugh," spat Katsuki. "Just when it was gettin' interesting."
"I had no idea what to do once I was in the air," Izuku pointed out mildly. "But that's what I meant to show you - when I was at the beach last weekend, something strange happened…"
He proceeded to explain what exactly had gone down on the beach, including the fact that he'd been blowing up washing machines by himself on a Friday. Predictably, Katsuki had a snark for that, but Izuku brushed it off, too excited to respond.
"Jeez. Haven't seen you this excited since you got that vintage All Might figure."
"It's a Silver Age collectible!" Izuku protested. "But - I really think I can work with what I've got now. I just don't understand why my Quirk decided to power up again out of nowhere...it's been four years."
"Maybe you leveled up from killing that zombie."
Izuku didn't respond, and belatedly, Katsuki realized he hadn't been particularly tactful with that one.
"It could just be timing," he offered, trying again. "Ain't like you've been operating on a schedule when it comes to your shit acting up."
"No," Izuku agreed. "But...either way, I'm glad it came in time for the entrance exam. To be honest, I didn't think I was gonna make it in…"
"Caught me off guard twice," Katsuki grunted. "If you can do that, you're already a cut above the shitrags who'll be taking the test with us."
"Twice?"
"Wasn't expecting that jump."
"Me neither…"
Both boys laughed, and for a moment, it felt like they were kids again, not a care in the world.
Just then, Izuku's phone rang, and he snatched it from his pocket, thinking it was his mother. "Oka-san?" he blurted out, without bothering to check the caller ID. After all, nobody else called him besides Katsuki, and he was two feet away. "Is something wrong?"
There was a moment of silence before the person on the other end burst into a fit of giggles.
"Midoriya-kun, you don't get a lot of phone calls, do ya?"
"Uraraka-san!?" he yelped, and Katsuki started laughing too. "Oh no - I'm so sorry! I just, um, yeah, I don't - "
"It's okay, Midoriya-kun," she chuckled. "Everything's alright. I jus' thought I'd see how your sparring went."
Oh. Right. I told her about the Quirk thing, too. He wasn't sure why; they were practically strangers. Still, she was a fellow Yuuei aspirant, and on top of that, she was so...likable. "It went alright until the police showed up," he admitted, and Katsuki laughed harder.
"I mean, it's illegal to use your Quirk in public…"
"You floated your basket all the way home the other day!"
"You two met up?" Katsuki interjected. "Deku, did you get a fuckin' date?"
"Shut up!" Izuku groaned, feeling his face flush, and his friend let out a whoop. "We just ran into each other at the grocery store!"
"Weird place for a date."
"Um...Midoriya-kun? The police?" She couldn't hear Katsuki's half of the conversation, but it didn't take a genius to fill in the gaps, and it was an effort for her not to melt into a blushing mess.
"Oh - um, yeah, we just left the beach. I don't think I'd get much more than a warning, but Kacchan's been caught a couple times already, so it's probably not a good idea to risk it."
"Hey! You're makin' it sound like I'm a goddamn delinquent!"
"Maybe if you didn't use explosions to make a point - "
"I'll use my explosions how I damn well please!" - and he punctuated this sentence with a blast.
Uraraka was laughing when Izuku turned his attention back to the phone, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, um, Uraraka-san. The exam's in three weeks, are you ready for it?"
"She damn well better be if she wants to get anywhere near me," grumbled Katsuki.
"Yep yep! I'm back at school for now, but with the end of the year comin' up, everyone's gettin' restless. Half of 'em wanna try out for Yuuei, but I think they jus' like the idea of bein' heroes and not the work that goes into it."
Their conversation didn't last much longer; within a few minutes, Uraraka's parents wanted her help with something, and after a hasty goodbye, she hung up, leaving Izuku to blink at the screen for a moment.
I just...talked to a girl?
He nearly squealed, and it was Katsuki's turn to roll his eyes.
Three weeks came and went in what felt to Izuku like no time at all. Their teachers, unable to quell the electric enthusiasm of the third-years, resigned themselves to teaching classes full of distracted fifteen-year-olds all eagerly discussing which high schools they'd be going off to, most prominent among them the name Yuuei.
It was to be expected in a society that idolized heroes, but every time he heard the name, Izuku had to wonder if his classmates had backup plans. Only thirty-six students a year would get into Yuuei's hero course through the public entrance exam, and only four would get in on recommendations - recommendations that Izuku was positive nobody in his school could obtain. They were, to his knowledge, typically reserved for the children of wealthy families or prominent heroes.
That didn't bother him. All Might himself had gotten in through the public exam, smashing through everything thrown his way with incredible ease. If All Might could do it, then he would, too.
The morning before the exam, Izuku went for a jog. He'd been trying to keep in some form of shape for the past year or so, and while his smallish build would never let him "bulk up,"", he'd achieved some degree of muscle tone and fitness that he was sure would be enough for the exam. His runs routinely took him past a cemetery, green hills dotted with white marble, and on occasion, if he ran after school, there'd be a burial going on as he passed - so when the smell of fresh earth reached his nostrils, he didn't think much of it until another far more pungent reek struck him.
Eugh - what is that? Izuku pinched his nose, swinging his head wildly to either side to search for the source of the stench. There's no dumpster around here, and I don't think a stink bug would smell that bad...so what…?
As he rounded the bend, he could see the patch of brown that typically indicated a freshly-dug grave. Perhaps they were exhuming someone? It was uncommon, but it wasn't unheard of, so perhaps the smell reaching his nostrils was rot...but didn't they embalm people nowadays?
Someone in a suit was standing beneath the tree by the grave in question, so Izuku figured there must have been some reason for them to be there in the middle of the day and paid it no mind. Sure, it wasn't exactly a well-traveled road, but he doubted they'd be robbing a grave in a suit in broad daylight. Besides, there wasn't even a shovel. Perhaps an inspector of some sort…?
Izuku gave a wave that wasn't reciprocated, though the man did begin to move towards the gate on the far end of the cemetery, away from Izuku. Baffled, he slowed his pace, pausing entirely behind one of the brick pillars the cast-iron cemetery fence was anchored in and peering out at the stranger. He couldn't really get a good look at them now; they were much too far away, and they'd begun to descend the hill, so only the top of their head was visible from where he stood.
After they'd made their way out of the cemetery by the opposite gate, Izuku made his choice. Shaking a little, fists clenched, he backtracked to the gate he'd passed and stepped inside, pausing for a moment on the springy turf before making his way past row after row after row of marble death-markers, all the way to the tree the man had been standing under.
The closest grave had clearly been emptied out, but unlike a freshly dug grave, this one wasn't a neat rectangle with a mound of loose soil piled next to it; it looked more like someone had simply stabbed the ground until a hole large enough to cram a person into had formed. More confused than ever, Izuku lit up his palm, carefully guiding a stream of fire into the open hole so that he could see inside.
He saw silk, the backing of an empty coffin.
The flames died, and Izuku turned back to where the man had been standing. On the opposite side of the tree, something lay on the ground; thinking that perhaps the stranger had dropped his wallet, he made for it, then recoiled in disgust.
It was an organ.
Shriveled and dried, it lay upon the otherwise pristine grass, very much out of place and not a little unsettling. Unable to think straight, Izuku took a moment to sort through his panic and calm the nervous fire that raced up and down his arms like the flames of a simmering stovetop: Why is there an organ!? What is it!? Did that man...did he drop it? Why is the coffin empty?
He'd heard of things like this happening in films, but this was real life - there was no such thing as zombies, so why -
"I dunno, he smelled really bad. His skin was all grey and he was covered in these, like, peeling sores - oh, and his nails were super sharp, too. If I didn't know any better, I would have said he was a zombie or somethin'."
Uraraka's words rang in his ears, clear as if she'd truly spoken them again, and he felt his limbs stiffen, mind racing to rationalize the situation.
Okay. There's no such thing as real zombies - that's literally impossible, right? At least, the dead walking again is...and everything's pointing to that man having left the coffin, namely the fact that he was acting weird and the literal organ on the ground. So, I'm guessing...this has to be someone's Quirk, right? What a morbid Quirk…
The odor of rot lingered in the air, weaker now, and Izuku shook his head. If it was someone's Quirk, shouldn't he leave it to a hero to sort out?
You're trying to be a hero now, though.
Yes, Izuku confirmed, but you can't just go pretending to be what you're not...I have no training, and without a license, I'm just as criminal as whoever's doing this…
Decision made, he turned and exited the cemetery the way he'd come in, then resumed his run, heart heavy and pounding in his chest.
The exam the next day all but wiped the strange encounter from his memory. Up and ready to go at six in the morning, Izuku was an anxious whirlwind all the way to Yuuei; he met Katsuki halfway, and the two rode to central Tokyo together before making the short walk from the bus station to the front gates of Yuuei Academy.
"Wow," Izuku breathed. "It's so...big."
"Really, Deku?" Katsuki snorted. "The 'birthplace of heroes' and all you can think is that it's big?"
"Well, it is," he pointed out, and Katsuki shook his head.
"Midoriya-kun! Bakugou-kun!"
Izuku stopped and turned; Katsuki kept walking, then did the same when he realized Izuku wasn't budging. "Hey, Uraraka-san!" Izuku called, a grin breaking out on his face as the girl jogged to catch up with them.
"Round Face," Katsuki nodded, hands still in his pockets.
"I'm glad you guys made it!" she gushed, ignoring the blonde's less-than-warm welcome. "I was kinda afraid there wouldn't be anyone I knew…"
Izuku had to admit he hadn't thought of that. Even without Katsuki, he'd already spotted a few of their classmates. "Is nobody from your school trying out?" he asked, frowning, but she nodded.
"No, they are. But I'm not exactly friends with any of 'em." A small, sad smile. "You guys mind if I come with?"
"Sure!" Izuku blurted out, completely forgetting about Katsuki; to Uraraka's surprise, however, Katsuki didn't object - he glanced between them, then the closest thing to a smile she'd yet seen from the blonde ghosted across his lips.
For just a moment, she could guess at the person Izuku saw beneath the coarse, brash exterior, then Katsuki threw one hand up, shouting: "Come on!"
The three of them made their way to the orientation building, following the tide of middle-schoolers to the source of the booming voice echoing across campus and directing them towards the support building. Inside, they found themselves in a three-story lobby, glass walls rising high around them, and Uraraka was a little star-struck by how modern it was; it took Izuku three calls of her name and Katsuki one sharp crack of an explosion to draw her attention (and that of everyone in the vicinity).
Having gone over the same (publicly available) presentation at least twelve times in the past eight days, Izuku more or less zoned out while the hero Present Mic jabbered on about how the entrance exams would work. The written exam wasn't what he was concerned about - it was the practical, the full details of which would only be revealed here at the orientation.
"Voice Hero...name checks out, he hasn't shut up yet," Katsuki grumbled from Izuku's right.
The actual premise of the exam changed each year, but it always featured the same fundamentals of combat and rescue, with robots substituted in for villains. Technically, even that was supposed to be a secret, but generations of disgruntled Yuuei rejects complaining about the exam online had stripped away the clandestine nature of its static components.
The written exam was administered after the presentation, with the hundreds of applicants shuffled at random into classrooms around campus; Izuku had a difficult time staying focused and was fairly certain he'd screwed up more than a few questions, but even going over his answers again, he couldn't think clearly enough to reevaluate them and ended up closing the booklet instead.
Nervous and already a little upset over his performance on the test they'd just taken, he met up with Katsuki and Uraraka at the school cafeteria for lunch, where they were served by the Cook Hero, Lunch Rush.
"How the hell's he call himself a hero if he just fuckin' makes food?" Katsuki grumbled thickly, through a mouthful of vegetables.
"Maybe he can...make food that doesn't spoil or something, and they can send it overseas?" Uraraka suggested, shoveling rice into her mouth. Izuku, picking at a sprout, frowned at his phone.
"There's hardly any information on his hero career at all, but he's definitely registered as a hero," he mused. "Hero fan websites don't even explain what his Quirk does...it's just called 'Lunch'."
"Maybe he's lunch!" Uraraka blurted out, through a thick wad of half-chewed rice. "Like, maybe he's super edible and he makes food from his body!" She mimed chopping her own fingers into sashimi with a chopstick, expression unusually intense, and Izuku quietly pushed his tray a few inches away.
After lunch, they had an hour to explore campus and digest. Izuku was excited just to be at Yuuei, but Katsuki wanted to see the battle training grounds, while Uraraka was particularly interested in the Unforeseen Simulation Joint; upon discovering that the facility known colloquially as the USJ was not actually located on-campus, they made their way to the training grounds, where the disappointed Uraraka was appeased somewhat by the urban rescue training zone.
"Did you wanna be a rescue hero?" Izuku asked her, as Katsuki watched a class of second-year support students test some kind of rocket fist against a robot.
"I guess it's less that than I think it's what my Quirk's best suited for," she admitted, watching as the students, taking shelter behind a blast shield, sent the gauntlet crashing into the robot's midsection, tearing straight through it. "I think it'd be super cool to take down bad guys in just one punch! But I don' think I've got a lot in store for me on the combat side."
"There are plenty of heroes who don't have flashy Quirks butwho do great work, though!" he pointed out. "Like, um…" Oh, no. I can't think of a combat hero without a strong battle Quirk… "Uh, I'm pretty sure every hero who chooses to focus on rescue work gets combat training too, in case of a villain attack during a rescue operation," Izuku tried, changing track. Before Uraraka could respond, the gauntlet exploded violently, and a piece of shrapnel came rocketing across the room to jam itself into the five-inch-thick plexiglass in front of them.
"Holy shit!" Katsuki hollered, pumping his fist. "That was fuckin' awesome!"
By the time Izuku had recovered from the shock, Uraraka had turned away, making it painfully evident that she didn't want to continue the conversation.
He didn't have time to dwell on her silence - the practical orientation came after their break, with Present Mic once again narrating the proceedings. This time, he paid particular attention to every word the blonde man spoke, trying to ignore the anxiety prickling at the back of his neck.
"Okay, listeners! Can I get a hey!" the hero boomed, to absolutely zero response; after a moment, he went on, unperturbed. "Al-right! So, listen up - this part of the exam is gonna test your potential! If you've got it, flaunt it!
"First part - you'll be put into groups of five! Your groups have been specially selected to ensure you're not partnered up with anyone you might already know! After that, you'll be randomly assigned to either the 'villain' team or the 'hero' team and make your way to your assigned arena!
"Second part - fight! The arena is split into two halves - hero and villain! Each side has their own set of robots to defend their territory - destroy the enemy team's for more points! Capture the other team's flag and bring it back to your own to release your Zero-Pointer to attack them!" As he spoke, Present Mic gave vague, flailing gestures that did a very poor job of conveying information, but Izuku gathered enough to determine that the "Zero-Pointer" was the fourth variety of robot displayed on-screen and marked with "0p."". From the sound of it, it was apparently some sort of weapon - why else would it require capturing the opposing team's flag?
"The exam ends when both flags have been captured, or all combatants surrender or are unable to battle! Got it? Lemme here an o-kay!"
Dead silence.
"O-kay! Begin!"
They started almost immediately.
Izuku was shuffled onto a "hero" team with none other than Uraraka (he had a feeling the Yuuei staff sorted based solely on school and not prior acquaintance); the villain team they were facing remained anonymous, but they were introduced to the other three members of their team in a small, round room set aside for their preparations. The attendant placed a pitcher of water and a tray of glasses on the small table in the middle and closed the door, informing them that they had ten minutes to discuss a strategy before they'd be raised into the arena.
"A vast banquet of darkness…" someone murmured.
Izuku blinked.
Their teammates, in ascending order of attitude, were: a boy with pure black skin and pure white hair, who stood staring at the corner of the room; the boy who'd spoken, whose head resembled some vast bird's and who leaned against the wall with his arms crossed; and a third boy with a shock of purple hair and bags under his eyes, who looked for all the world as if he'd rather be anywhere else.
"Hi," Izuku started awkwardly. To his left, Uraraka gave a little wave, bouncing on the balls of her feet, but there was no verbal response; they were met with three equally disdainful stares, and when Izuku flubbed another greeting, Uraraka took over.
"Hey! So, um, let's start by saying our Quirks. I'll go first - I'm Uraraka Ochako, and mine's called Zero Gravity." To demonstrate, she floated her glass of water, giving a small smile, and to Izuku's surprise, the bird-headed boy spoke up next.
"Tokoyami Fumikage. Dark Shadow."
After a few seconds of confused silence, Tokoyami uncrossed his arms, and from his chest emerged -
"Is that your Quirk!?" Izuku leapt to attention, patting his back for the bag where his notebook rested (it wasn't there, and he lowered his hands, hoping nobody had noticed).
An enormous black bird-like thing had emerged from the other boy's chest, connected to his body by some sort of incorporeal umbilical cord; fascinated, the other 4 stared at it until it gave a goofy salute and spoke. "I am - Dark Shadow!"
The purple-haired boy rolled his eyes. Uraraka giggled.
"What does it do?" Izuku asked, pressing three fingers to the palm of his left hand as if he were writing on a notepad.
"I'm right here, you know."
"Dark Shadow can manipulate the physical realm," Tokoyami explained, gesturing to the creature. "It is tied to my body and emotions - where it roams, I lurk nearby, and as my ire waxes, so too does its power."
"So you have a bird that gets stronger when you're mad?" the purple-haired boy quipped, and both Tokoyami and Dark Shadow glared, the shadow crossing its arms and pouting.
"Dark Shadow is no mere bird," the other rumbled, then his expression shifted into something vapid, distant, and he stopped talking.
"Fumikage?" the shadow piped up, giving its wielder a confused once-over.
"Uhm...Tokoyami-kun?" Uraraka prodded, but it was the purple-haired boy who spoke next.
"Shinsou Hitoshi. My Quirk is Brainwashing." As if that cleared everything up, he nodded to Tokoyami, and the bird-headed boy's expression cleared before shifting almost immediately to a scowl. "When someone responds to what I say, they immediately come under my control."
"Isn't that kinda messed up?" Uraraka blurted out. Realizing she'd spoken out loud, she clapped a hand to her mouth, but the damage was done; Shinsou scowled, half-lidded eyes narrowed to slits.
"So I've heard," he sniped back. "It only works if I want it to, but it doesn't matter. Everyone's already afraid of talking to me because of it."
Izuku gave a hard swallow, not sure how to respond. He was saved the trouble, however, by their fifth group member melting into the black leather sofa until only his eyes and mouth remained. The effect was uncanny, but before any of them could speak, the mouth moved, eyes flickering across each of them in turn. "Kuroiro Shihai," it rasped, and watching it, Izuku saw - he saw -
white teeth in flesh burnt black
He couldn't remember staggering backwards, but the next thing he knew, his back was pressed flat against the wall, flames sweeping up his forearms and breath coming in ragged gasps. "No - no!" he choked out, fingers digging into the textured paint behind him. "I can't - no - "
"Midoriya-kun? Midoriya-kun!"
Uraraka was shouting, the others were staring - his vision was swimming -
"Hey - what happened?" he heard, a demand -
"Burning," he whispered, the only response he could give -
Everything went black.
It was silent.
Izuku didn't know where he was. There was nobody around, and the entire world was darkness. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he had an inkling that this wasn't real, but if he was in fact unconscious, it was very unlike the last time he had passed out. It didn't feel like a dream, either; it lacked the "fuzziness" of one, and Izuku found himself quite lucid.
When a solid thirty seconds had elapsed without incident, he deemed it safe to attempt walking. Within three steps, he'd determined that the darkness all around him took the form of some impossibly thick fog rather than a lack of light. It crowded around his legs, his feet, and he couldn't see the ground upon which he tread.
How long he walked, he lost track; all he knew was that at some point, the fog cleared enough for him to see a little further, and he found himself standing before a round slab of stone set in a wall of smaller stones chiseled and weathered into smooth, round-edged bricks. In the center of this round slab was a hole, from which that same fog spewed forth in a black cascade, and as if he'd been born knowing what to do, Izuku reached into the socket and activated his Quirk.
Instantly, golden flames raced down his arm, chasing away the darkness and casting the area in a warm yellow glow; when he withdrew his hand, the stone slab began to shudder ominously, scraping forward until it had completely escaped the confines of the wall before rolling to the right, the hole still burning bright.
Beyond the newly-formed entryway lay more of the fog, denser than ever and forming a solid black wall across the entirety of the - corridor? room? he couldn't even tell - it revealed. The fog seemed almost reluctant to approach the golden light of his Quirk, and when he lit up his arm again, it recoiled, pressing back in on itself to make room for him.
He had nowhere else to go, so with a final glance around, he stepped forward into the blackness, his Quirk's fire lighting the way into a corridor wide enough for two of him to stand comfortably abreast. About thirty feet in, the cobbled floor gave way to a carved staircase, the roof sloping gently downward and into the fog alongside the steps themselves. It was an eerie sight, the damp stone dropping away into a dense void, but he forced himself to descend the steps one at a time, keeping both eyes trained on the ground ahead and trusting the flames to keep the inky abyss at bay.
Why am I accepting this so readily? Izuku asked himself. As unnatural as all of this was, it didn't feel like it; he wasn't scared, wasn't apprehensive, wasn't hesitant. If Izuku had been a superstitious person, he would have said he was destined to come to this place, this sealed chamber in his mind.
Ahead of him, the bottom step gave way to level floor, and when Izuku took a step forward out of the stairwell, he found himself not in another corridor but in a rounded room that appeared to have been hewn out of the earth itself. In the center of the room lay a stone table with seven sockets in its front, each one roiling with that dark fog; when Izuku stuck his hand in one, however, nothing happened, even with his flames burning at full blast. Shrugging, he returned his attention to the rest of the room, fully illuminated by his Quirk, and immediately noticed the doorway.
Opposite the stairwell lay a set of double doors, carved out of stone possibly more ancient than even the chamber around him. Approaching them, Izuku felt a little lighter, and the closer he drew, the more intense the feeling became - standing directly before it, Izuku could barely sense his own weight. He could, however, make out etching written across the doors, and by the light of his Quirk, he read:
With each end, a beginning.
The bearer of searing sky seeks seven souls:
At the word souls, something very strange happened - he was simultaneously in that lonely chamber and in the prep room, hearing the faint drip of water and Uraraka's shouting, seeing the doors and her face, and when he blinked, he was at Yuuei, lying flat on his back with the top of his head against the wall. Tokoyami and - Kuroiro, was it? - stood further back, with Uraraka kneeling next to him and Shinsou standing to his right, frowning down at him.
"Uraraka-san?" he murmured, turning his head. Her round face, filled with concern, occupied half his vision, and when he spoke, she gave a heavy sigh of relief.
"Midoriya-kun...are you okay?" she asked him, reaching up to press her palm to his forehead. "You've got a fever..."
"I'm always warm," he objected. "It's because of my Quirk…it's okay, Uraraka-san. I'm fine, I just…." What exactly he was, he couldn't say. The room he'd seen was still fresh in his mind, and the two lines he'd read on the door were burned into his vision as if he'd been staring directly into the sun itself. "How long was I out?"
"About thirty seconds," Shinsou replied, hands in his pockets. "What was that? Is your Quirk blowing up?"
"No, it's called Phoenix," he explained, then stiffened. Wait. Where did that name come from? I've never had a name for my Quirk before, and that just spilled out like I'd been calling it that for years…
He didn't really want to explain to a complete stranger that he'd once burned a man to death, and that Kuroiro's Quirk demonstration had dragged the only thing he could remember about the incident to the surface.
"Um, it's got...healing tears and fire, kinda. It's not normal fire, it's like...sticky? I'm not explaining this very well, am I?" he asked, trying his hardest to push away the memories.
Uraraka shook her head, still with that concerned frown.
"Well, um, I'm Midoriya Izuku. It's...good to meet you. I'm sorry we started off like this." Getting to his feet, Izuku gave a shaky bow, trying to calm himself. "And I'm sorry I interrupted you, Kuroiro-kun. What's your Quirk again?"
Kuroiro, looking somehow both unsettled and elated, spoke up. "My Quirk...is Black. I am one with the darkness."
He didn't elaborate, and Izuku gave an awkward smile. "Great. So uh, our plan for the exam…."
"Hang on," Tokoyami interrupted. "Midoriya Izuku...I know that name. Were you involved in a villain attack recently?"
Izuku stiffened.
Before anyone else could say anything, however, Uraraka stepped in, cheeks pink. "I got attacked by a villain when I came to check out the Yuuei campus," she declared. "Midoriya-kun stepped in and saved me, even though it put him in danger." Izuku noted that she glossed over the details, such as the location of the attack and the nature of its aftermath, and was grateful. Tokoyami appeared satisfied, and both he and Kuroiro regarded Izuku with a newfound degree of respect for the remainder of the planning session. Shinsou remained unimpressed, and Izuku received the distinct impression that he was an extremely difficult person to win over.
Counting Izuku's fainting spell, two minutes had already elapsed, and the remaining eight were spent attempting to determine how their abilities could work together. Ultimately, the only synergy they could come up with was using Tokoyami's Dark Shadow as a conduit for Kuroiro's Black, allowing him to merge with the shadow and travel down its length as a shortcut to high ground or a flank route. Shinsou's Quirk synergized with none of theirs, and Izuku's actively weakened Dark Shadow with its light, meaning that they'd have to fight separately. Uraraka's Zero Gravity made for a reliable way of incapacitating any non-mobile enemies they may encounter, but only Tokoyami possessed any means of propulsion while under its effects, making it more or less useless as a mobility tool unless they intended to move directly up a wall.
Izuku found himself doing most of the talking during this session, with occasional interjections from Tokoyami and Uraraka and, less frequently, Kuroiro and Shinsou. His mind, sharp from years of hero analysis, worked a mile a minute, rapidly cobbling together various methods by which they could navigate and fight using their quirks in conjunction. Even if there was no direct synergy, their Quirks were suited for different circumstances, and Izuku spent a solid minute rambling more or less to himself about hypothetical Quirks they might face.
By the time the attendant returned to inform them that their ten minutes were up, they'd formed a rudimentary battle plan that primarily involved sticking together and not doing anything rash; they were handed five wristbands, five ear pieces, and five small, coin-like discs that, when placed face-up on the table in the center of the room, projected a three-dimensional map of the arena above them into the air. Fascinated, Uraraka reached out and touched her map, which responded by slowly rotating around the five glowing dots that pulsed softly below the arena.
"These dots represent your wristbands," the attendant explained. "They'll allow you to keep track of your teammates' physical locations in the arena, while the wristbands themselves double as walkie-talkies that transmit into these ear pieces. Any further questions?"
"I have none," both Kuroiro and Tokoyami rumbled.
"Nope!" Uraraka chirped.
Shinsou grunted.
"Uh, no." Izuku shook his head, trying his best to smile, and the attendant gave a small nod, stepping away from the table as a series of small clicks sounded at their feet.
"Please remain where you are," she instructed. "Yuuei Academy would rather not be liable for student deaths caused by personal negligence."
The floor upon which they stood, including the table, began to rise, and the five of them glanced up in time to see the ceiling open up like the aperture of a camera, revealing a long vertical tunnel open to the sky above. Tokoyami and Kuroiro fidgeted in the sunlight, but Uraraka gave a wide smile, taking a deep breath of the fresh, chilled air pouring into the chasm as they rose.
Izuku, staring up at the sun, could only think of one thing.
The bearer of a searing sky…
A minute later, the platform met the arena floor with a loud clunk and a second series of soft clicks as it latched in place, and the five of them each took their share of the provided equipment. Elsewhere, Izuku knew, the villain team would be doing the same, and he clenched his jaw, trying to calm the nerves threatening to send his limbs into shaking spasms. A tap on his shoulder drew his attention to Uraraka, who gave him a small, reassuring smile, and he returned it in kind, trying to ignore the flush creeping up his cheeks.
Then, from high above, echoing across every arena on the grounds of Yuuei, he heard Present Mic shout:
"Ready, listeners? Exam - start!"