"Denki."

"Yeah?"

"What do you think strength is?"

"Strength?"

"Yes."

"Well, doesn't All Might symbolize strength?"

"..."

"All Might never backs down, you know? He's amazing that way. He strikes down the villains and saves the people. He keeps all of us safe."

"So what do you think strength is?"

"Strength is All Might because All Might is strong when he helps people."

"..."

"Why?"

"...Nothing."


"This auditorium is huge!"

"Of course it is. It has to fit probably hundreds of students from a lot of different schools."

Raiden sat next to Denki in the lower rows of said auditorium. There were indeed a lot of people around them, chattering, talking, and generally being loud. It was getting on her nerves.

Raiden had begun to wring her hands. Denki was staring at her, a smirk rising on his face. "Are you nervous, Raichan?"

Raiden scowled. "No."

"Then why are you wringing your hands?"

"Gee, I'm surprising your vocabulary is big enough for you to know what the word wringing is."

"Hey!"

Raiden grinned slightly, satisfied with her ploy to keep Denki off the topic of her stress.

She wasn't exactly nervous. She just didn't like being around other people in general.

And in a place like this, with people everywhere around her talking their heads off, was really starting to stress her out.

"Have some water," Denki said, giving Raiden a bottle. Raiden took it gratefully then realized what Denki was trying to do.

"I'm not stressed!" she exclaimed indignantly.

Denki laughed.

Finally, when all the seats were filled, the lights turned to the stage where a man stood. The Pro Hero named Present Mic with an interesting haircut, sunglasses, and a speaker around his neck.

"Present Mic," Raiden murmured, recalling a memory. She immediately forced that memory back down.

"For all you examinee listeners tuning in," Present Mic yelled. "Welcome to my show today! Everybody say "hey"!"

Silence.

Undeterred, Mic continued. "What a refined response! Then I'll quickly present the rundown on the practical exam! Are you ready!"

More silence.

Denki was trying hard not to guffaw and be noticed at the same time.

Raiden only sighed.

Still undeterred, Mic resumed speaking. "As it says in the application requirements, you all will be conducting ten-minute mock urban battles after this! You can bring whatever you want with you. After the presentation, head to your specified battle center, got it?"

Again, silence.

Raiden looked at her card she had received for the test and looked over at Denki's. "It looks like we have different centers," she said. "Looks like they made sure there weren't any people we knew in each center. Makes sense. It'd be unfair if people started teaming up whenever they wanted to."

Denki's face fell, but understanding crossed his face.

Mic had spoken again. "There's going to be a lot of faux-villains scattered around the battlefields, and all of them will be ranks One, Two, and Three! Defeat them to rack up poing, but no attacking fellow examinees! That's against the rules!"

"Excuse me!"

Raiden and Denki turned behind them, as with everyone else, to see a tall boy with a very stern expression on his face stand up. "On the handout, it blatantly says that there are four types of villains. Can you explain this?"

The boy then turned to someone. Raiden couldn't see from where she was sitting.

"Also, you! Stop muttering to yourself! If you think U.A. is for fun, then leave!"

Raiden heard a squeak of embarrassment.

Before anything else could happen, Mic spoke up. "You make a good point, so let me explain! The fourth type of villain is worth zero points, hence why it is called a Zero Pointer. It's an obstacle in other words, one that goes crazy in narrow spaces, so I'd recommend you avoid it!"

"Ah, I see! Thank you very much!" the boy said with a huge bow before sitting back down.

"Finally, I give you the quote that this school prides itself on. Go beyond! Plus Ultra!" Mic smiled widely. "Now everyone, good luck suffering!"


Raiden took a deep breath.

I can do this, she thought.

After dressing into black gym clothes and wishing Denki good luck, she had made her way toward her own battle center. The duplicate city was incredibly large. It probably could have passed off as its own town.

Raiden looked around her, observing her opponents. They all seemed decent, but she could see that their pride obscured their reason. They probably figured all it took to become a hero was a good Quirk.

Raiden scoffed to herself.

Her eyes landed on one certain person that she could interesting.

Ash blond, spike hair and sharp red eyes. The boy had an aggressive glint in his eyes. Well, everything about his stance and form screamed an air of aggression.

Raiden tilted her head curiously. She was sure that she had seen that boy before. But where? When?

The boy seemed to sense Raiden's eyes on him. He snapped his head toward him, a deep scowl etched onto his face. "What're you looking at?" he growled.

Raiden simply looked away.

Raiden knew what her plan was. This exam seemed to be built for her. Her Quirk was incredibly well-suited for taking down the villains.

Even then, this exam wasn't just about taking down villains.

A hero defeats people, but that's not what they only do.

They save and rescue people.

Raiden smiled.

"START!"

Even though she was caught off guard by the sudden warning, Raiden sprinted into the city. The other opponents left behind seemed confused, but they caught on quickly.

The boy with spiky hair was using explosions in his hands to propel himself through the air. Raiden stared at him before shaking her head.

The villains. Where are they.

Finally, as Raiden skidded around a corner, a large robot came into view.

A One-pointer.

Just what she needed.

Before the Robot could attack Raiden, she suddenly pulled a pocket knife out of her pocket and ran over to the robot. She vaulted up to its head and jabbed the knife in between the cracks of the metal.

A jolt ran up her arm.

Electricity.

Immediately, electricity began to swarm around Raiden. White lightning tinged with blue.

Raiden slammed her hand into the head of the robot. Electricity ran through her body into the robot and fried all the circuits.

One.

She pulled any remaining sparks of electricity from the robot and sprinted away from it. With her body fully charged, her physical prowess was increased. She quickly found some more robots.

Raiden pointed her fingers toward them. Electricity arced from her body and cleanly struck the robots. One hit was all it took to destroy it.

Each time Raiden destroyed a robot, she would drain it of any remaining electric charge and store it in her body. The more charge she stored, the more power she would have.

Three.

Two.

Three.

Three.

Three.

Raiden continued to rack up points quickly. Every so often, she would glimpse the boy with spiky hair blowing apart robots in rapid succession.

Strong, Raiden thought.

I wonder how Denki's doing.


"Holy shit, I'm going to die."

Denki leapt from robot to robot, dealing a light electric charge to fell it. Every time he did, he would chant the usual phrase.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. I'm going to die."

He spent a lot of his exam cursing and wondering what Raiden would do if he failed. His Quirk was beginning to take its toll on him, and he found it harder to focus.

"Holy SHIT, that's the Zero Pointer!"


Finally, about six minutes into the battle, the ground began to shake. Raiden looked up as a massive robot plowed straight through a building, scattering dust and debris everywhere.

"That'd be the Zero Pointer," Raiden said.

She winced. Her chest was beginning to ache. Her breathing was beginning to quicken. Too much electric charge.

The Zero Pointer was relentlessly plowing through the buildings. Raiden zeroed in on a few examinees trapped underneath the debris. Straight in the path of the monstrous Zero Pointer.

A hero saves people, right?

They save people from the villains.

Raiden placed her hand on the robot she had just defeated and sent her excess electric charge into it. It restarted, and pointed one of its weapons at the giant Zero Pointer.

Raiden placed her hand on two other robots, restarting them and willing them to attack the Zero Pointer.

With the Zero Pointer being effectively held off, Raiden ran over to the trapped examinees and pulled them out of the rubble.

"You okay?" she asked. The examinee shakily nodded, and she went over to help more.

Just as the Zero Pointer began to fall back from the relentless attacks, a voice screamed out.

"TIME'S UP!"

Raiden took a deep breath, the ache slowly beginning to fade and her breathing returning to normal.

I wonder if Denki's survived.


A/N: I hope I wrote this okay. Raiden's Quirk will be explained later. In order to compensate with how strong it could be, I've put in a major weakness that'll also be explained later.

I'll try to lengthen and improve my chapters, and reviews do help me remain motivated.

:)