Hey, all! How are you guys doing? God, we're finally posting part two and let me just tell you guys, we RUSHED like crazy to finish this thing up. And what a beast of a chapter this was at a whopping 8,064 wordcount! It was so much longer until we edited it lol. Because of the length, we did cut out on some of the detail and description that we both adore which sucks but with how long this chapter was, we didn't want you all to get confused or tired of reading. So I hope the end result is something you guys are okay with. We had a bit of a tough time with writing this, especially the end scene because of two things:
1) Lunairia is on vacation and has limited internet access. And 2) We introduced so many characters at once and didn't want everything to feel too rushed. So I'm pretty nervous to hear your thoughts on this one. I really hope we don't disappoint. The next chapter won't feel as rushed, I promise.
LunairiaBlaze and I would like to thank all of everyone again for being so supportive and sticking by us; we're still so grateful and happy to have you in our lives. All of you have been the beacons of light that guided us to here, and we can't thank you enough. Your PMs and reviews are absolutely magical and really made our day. Just thinking about all of your reviews makes me smile! You guys are the best.
To address reviews: A lot of you guys had commented that we weren't very descriptive with the quirks in the last chapter, but we actually did that on purpose because we didn't want to give too much away just yet. I hope that's okay with you guys; we don't want you all to think we just weren't descriptive with our writing lol. So think of these little sections as intros to characters rather than actual quirk analysis. In chapter two, we will give you guys descriptions of quirks and character profiles and have a ton more detail. We just thought it would be fun to have a sense of mystery to start out with. So please look forward to that! (If you all want us to add descriptions to the class roster, please let us know in a review, and we'll definitely do that if enough people want it.)
Let us know what you think of it! Maybe the chapter is too long? Needs some work? Just let us know in a review below. :) (seriously panicking over here about how rushed this chapter feels... Please forgive us! It won't happen again!)
Disclaimer - We do not own My Hero Academia. This story is merely a work of fiction.
Rating - M - for graphic scenes of violence, horrific events, death, murder, language, angst, etc.
Warnings - THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MILD SCENES OF VIOLENCE, ADULT LANGUAGE, AND BRIEF MENTIONS OF BLOOD. You have been warned. Please read at your own discretion. Turn back now if this is not for you.
IMPORTANT UPDATE, PLEASE READ!: Like I mentioned above, Lunairia is on vacation and I actually leave for my own vacation tomorrow the 13th. So we rushed to finish this for you guys to post before we're both out of commission for a week or so. I'll be gone until the 22nd of this month, so July 22nd I'll be back, and we can both post the next chapter. Until then though, we won't be able to answer as frequently or post. And also, we've decided on a posting schedule for you guys, once things go back to normal that is. So we'll post a chapter every week to two weeks if something comes up or there happen to be some unforeseen circumstances, we'll let you guys know if we can't post, but that shall be the schedule for this story.
See you guys on July 22nd, and everyone enjoy your summer! :D
Chapter One Part Two:
Spotlight
Present day- Entrance Exam
Location: Sector Hij
Pompom was practically giddy; the hot pink skinned girl was dressed in a sleeveless white tank top, the words "cutie pie" written across the chest area in baby pink cursive. Light blue shorts equipped with a brown belt and grey slip shoes made for her complete outfit. Her blue gemstone-shaped eyes twinkled and sparkled with mirth, light catching on her hello-kitty hair clip. She was having so much fun; now that she didn't have to worry about hurting anyone with her quirk, the exam was a blast! She swung her small body around the sector amongst all the chaos, obliviously humming to herself while her legs dangled a few feet off of the ground.
The giggling student looked positively adorable compared to the others, the smile on her face was almost as infectious as All Might's, the metal of her braces reflecting the light from the sun that shines brightly down onto the examinees. The only thing setting her apart from the blonde hero was her adorable and girlish body, her light blue twin braids tied lowly at either side of her head, dangling over her shoulders and bouncing with her exertion. Honestly, if you were to see just her petite body, flat-chest and all, you'd probably think she looked more like a middle-schooler than a high school student. Although, her massive arms were what made her great competition for the blonde hero's own biceps and really made her stand out. Easily longer than her own mostly petite body and a little thicker than her torso, her arms were comically huge compared to her tiny body. She could win any arm wrestling competition, lift buses with practically little to no effort, and still look cute while doing it. Veins pulsed and rippled as she crushed robots like aluminum cans between her hands, swiveling her body around on her fists like a gorilla, feet never once touching or coming close to the ground.
Pompom loved this exam already; it wasn't too hard, and she could easily avoid other students. Giddy as she was though, she still made sure to send whatever scraps and shrapnel from the crushed robots off to the side. She didn't want any potential classmates tripping over them. How horrible would that be if someone innocent got hurt while trying to pass their exam? No, I can't even think that way right now, how terrible! Pompom worriedly thought to herself as she approached another piece of dangerous metal in the road, hands pushing against the ground like feet.
Her eyes widened in mild surprise, and she wasted no time crossing the short distance to the sizeable car-sized metal leg of a bot laying forgotten hazardously in the middle of the street, exposed ends of ripped wires sticking out at odds from where it had no doubt been yanked loose from the body.
"Oh no! I better move this before someone comes!" The blue haired girl spoke frantically to herself. Just as she swung herself forward, lip jutting out in a pout as her horrors came true - glancing out of her peripheral vision, a group of examinees went around the side corner mid-fight at the end of the street and were slowly edging closer to the area. Which meant, they would no doubt be over here in the next minute or two.
'Don't worry guys. I'll get this out of your way!' Pompom determinedly nodded to herself and with the grit of her teeth and little effort at all, the pink-skinned teen carefully picked up the leg with her giant muscular arms.
As if she was lifting something the weight of a piece of paper, she flung the metal leg with all of her might across the vast concrete street and watched it soar through the air - and soar, and soar and soar…. Oh shit, Pompom froze, her breath catching in her throat, eyes widening in fear as the thought of, 'Did I overshoot that?' flitted through her mind and -
"GUYS! WATCH OUT! That leg is coming straight for you!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, the shrill sound bouncing off of the empty buildings causing the small crowd of students to glance towards her in unison.
Then eyes fell upon the metal coming straight at them. 'Oh no, no no! They're going to be crushed, and it's my fault,' Pompom gasped. A terrible feeling tightened up in her gut, making the girl feel like she was going to be sick but the blue-haired teen was bolted to the ground - unable to do anything at all.
With mere seconds left, a boy moved so quickly he looked almost like a blur of onyx to Pompom as he threw himself in front of the frozen fellow examinees. The dark haired teen immediately flapped his large raven wings to stretch out their full width of an impressive fifteen feet. She watched in a mix of fascination and fear while he rapidly fluttered the beautiful jet black feathers, and finally gathering enough air to slightly deter the trajectory of the leg. To everyone's relief, the leg instead whirled and took out the remaining five robots at once, slicing through their metal and slowly, one by one, tumbled over to lay on the street.
Cheers filled the air from the examinees around Jeffery, forming a small crowd all with smiles on their faces and words of admiration on their lips. A few students clap him on the back in thanks before slowly drifting away to the next robot, but the boy noticeably stiffened under the attention. Posture ridged and careful gaze never leaving those around him, only relaxing when he was finally left alone.
Pompom's slightly broad shoulders slumped as a wave of relief washed over her. "Oh thank god," she murmured to herself, her heart no longer feeling like it was going to beat out of her chest. Though that feeling was short-lived when she realized Jeffery was traveling the distance to the pink-skinned girl and boy if that frown was anything to go by, he was not happy. The fainthearted girl can't help the fear that consumes slowly consumes her, negative thoughts flitting through her mind like a marathon.
'Oh no, why is he coming over? Is that mean look directed towards me? I hope he's not upset… Why did I have to be so reckless?' Pompom squeeks to herself, anxiously squeezing her large knuckles into tight fists to keep herself at bay.
Pompom gulped when Jeffery came to a stop in front of her, well-defined arms crossing over his broad chest while the wings on his back slowly receded back into his body, much to the interest of her curious gaze. Up close, it's easy to tell that the boy is very muscular in physic, with a tall height of 5'8 to match, towering over her small stature with ease. And slightly intimidating, with his dark eyes and straight, short black hair clashing with his fair skin. He reeks an air of authority, stern discipline and guilt fills her to the core.
His slanted obsidian eyes squint down at her in a glare, unreadable emotions swirling in the dark pools causing Pompom to shrink back and blink up at him innocently, heart suddenly heavy to match the forming lump in her throat. Oh no, please don't be upset mister! She whines to herself, a small sliver of hope remaining. But, that all but vanishes when Jeffery opens his mouth.
"Just what do you think you were accomplishing by throwing that hunk of metal to a bunch of unsuspecting students. Do you know what could've happened if I hadn't of stepped in? Do you have some kind of ulterior motives to this exam, miss?" Jeffery snaps, tilting his head towards her to peer down at the blushing, fumbling blue haired girl. There's accusation in his tone, an evident distrust there, and now the unreadable emotion in his gaze makes since - he's suspicious.
He's suspicious of her.
The thought leaves a bad taste in her mouth, chest panging with dread and heartbreak. She would never purposely hurt someone, never ever! That just wasn't her. And to think that someone got that impression of her makes Pompom feel absolutely horrible.
Pompom rushes to shake her head wildly, dismissing the accusations and bites back the stinging threatening to cloud her eyes. She will not cry, not while she's in this exam anyways. What kind of hero cried?
"I was just trying to help. I really didn't mean to hurt anyone. I thought you were all surrounded… I'm so sorry. I'm very lucky that you did step in - please don't be upset!" Pompom's pleas break with a thick watery sound, and immediately Jeffery's gaze softens.
He sighs loudly, glare dropping from his face as he leans back on the balls of his heels. It feels like a hand wrapped its clutches around his heart and is squeezing the life out of him. Guilt maybe? But I don't have anything to feel guilty for! He reconciled, but all thoughts of anger are pushed aside when he sees the poor girl's tearful blue eyes that she tries to blink away. Pompom forces her gaze to the ground, avoiding eye contact, silently willing her tears to stay at bay.
Jeffrey stares her down, analyzing every little detail of her form even down to the hello kitty hair clip in her blue braids. Well, she doesn't look that evil, he supposes. But, Pompom could've still tried to hurt them on purpose, though for now, he'd just let it slide. He couldn't just drop his suspicion because she's crying. That would be stupid on his part! You can't trust anyone, even someone as innocent looking as her. Especially in an exam such as this, you never knew what the pros had in store.
Jeffery wipes a hand over his face before muttering, "Just - don't act so recklessly next time. If you want to be a hero, you must first protect those around you and think of all possible outcomes from your actions."
Pompom sadly nods her head in agreement, filing the words away in her head without lifting her gaze up to the other's face. He's right, even if he is a little strict and did hurt her feelings, he has a point. She needs to discipline herself to become a better hero instead of just jumping head-first into situations. If he hadn't been there to stop the giant leg's trajectory, it would've crushed every single person in the vicinity. Though, she doesn't get to reply due to the distinctive crackle of the speakers going off from around the sector.
The voice of one Present Mic, echoed around the empty city, bouncing off of the walls to broadcast to the waiting ears of the students, "Good job, examinees! The first part of your physical exam is over. You should all be proud of yourselves if you gathered points! Now onto the next! Are you ready, listeners, for some more action? Tune in for the final fight, future heroes!"
Wait, what? What did he mean, 'final fight'? Wasn't this it?
Apparently, she wasn't the only one having these line of thoughts when the crowd erupted. Loud shouts of confusion filled the street as more and more examinees made their way over. Pompom lifts her head to find that Jeffery is already gone, slipping back off into the group of students. Wait, where did he go? Wow, he's a pretty mysterious guy.
Then, without delay, she hears it. Her ears perked up at the faint but persistent booming in the distance that was getting closer and closer to their area of the city.
What is that? She wondered with a rise of a light blue eyebrow.
The blue haired girl swung her body around to face the source of the sound, just as the rest of the teens followed suit. For the second time, today Pompom's voice caught in her throat, dying with her nerve as her blue eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
Never in their short lives had they felt as small and helpless as they did now. As the dust and debris from the vanquished robots settled, chests heaved in ragged huffs as they all stood, staring over at the new batch of robots that blocked off the remainder of the street and most-likely end of the line. These were different, very different from the previous patch. They could all see that as clear as day. Something just felt off, and a strange, pressing and frantic buzzing set their minds ablaze and their heartbeats wild. They were weird… Odd. Something just wasn't quite right about them. The air level had shifted drastically when they entered, silently as predators, lining up shoulder to shoulder like soldiers with their wide black visors facing the crowd of students. These robots were smaller in size and stature, closer to the heights of people and strangely enough, were a variety of shapes and sizes. However, they were more human-like than the previous but bulky with metal framed exosuits.
Pompom gasped, her eyes wide as she watched a tall boy move forward with silent but confident strides towards their opponents. Clad in a dull grey tank top that showed off his muscular arms that, of course, couldn't rival Pompom's but were still pretty noticeable in her opinion. Black basketball shorts hung low on his waist and showed off his equally toned legs. The teen's dark hair was styled in an undercut, with fringe framing his angular and edgy face, doing nothing to soften up his handsome features. His lips quirked into a smirk, grey eyes glinting darkly with a look that practically screamed 'bad boy.'
Oh my goodness, was he out of his mind? Could he not feel the intense shift in the air, the strange aura radiating off of these people? Would he be alright?
Her teeth clamped down on a plush bottom lip in worry, her heart beating quickly in her chest while her palms started to sweat. What was this feeling? What was about to happen?
It was all happening so fast, like hours were mere seconds as he trekked the short distance to the first line of defense. The boy had his back facing the other students so there wasn't any way for Pompom to read his expression but he had to be confident and courageous to face their opponents alone. She didn't know whether he was actually fearless or just plain reckless, but the boy ignored all gasps and calls towards him from the rest of the nervous testers.
"Hey, idiot! You really shouldn't do that. Don't you feel the weird vibe here? You're about to get your ass kicked!" A boy cupped his hand over his mouth just a few feet away from Pompom, yelling out to the raven-haired boy.
Without looking back, the boy called from over his shoulder, back facing the crowd, "Heh- I think I'll be just fine man, chill out. I don't know if you've seen me fight, but I'd like to say I'm pretty good," Dante called right back with a gruff, cocky laugh from within his chest.
In a split second, everything went quiet. The pink skinned girl's blood ran cold in the silence, mouth clamping shut in utter fear.
Dante's pale hand formed a fist and in a split second the appendage transformed into a huge demonic looking sword. With the accuracy and precision of an esteemed fighter, he swung his arm forwards, propelling the sword directly into the face of a hulking robot in the middle of the lineup. Pompom held back a squeal of protest, clenching her eyes shut and waited for the sound of impact but was met with silence and then shocked gasps. What's going on? The blue-haired girl's eyes flew open just in time to see Dante's sword-arm caught in a sizeable metal-clad hand that practically engulfed the blade like it was a toy, unable to inflict damage.
The seconds were like slow motion. The teen was yanked up by his sword-arm as if he didn't weigh more than a child and tossed through the air with a pained scream. Pompom watched him lurch backward so hard that he skidded across the cement with his butt. Everyone was frozen still - the rest of the teens around him staring down in disbelief at the crumpled form of the once mighty boy with such potential to become ranked in class 1-A. He was draped across the street, his arm now shifted back into a more human-like appendage and clutching his broken wrist in his unscathed hand before glaring fiercely at the cold black visor that stared back at him. He could swear it was smirking at him as if it had eyes. Now that didn't make sense as robots were incapable of emotions, right?
So then just what the hell were they?
As if by instinct, they were all on high alert, senses honed in on these creatures before them in mixed fear and anticipation. No wonder this exam had been so easy before, she nervously thought, they were building up to this. Now, she wasn't quite so sure she would succeed…
The shiny, white and blue metal practically glimmered in the sunlight, glinting almost menacingly back at them. Well, they were metal right? She could probably punch them just like every other robot or rip off a chunk of metal and toss it! But what if it caught her fists just as easily as it did with the sword-guy? It could send her tumbling into the other teens, possibly injuring them as well like a set of bowling pins. The thought makes her hesitate, her desire to pass the exam clashing with her fear of unintentionally hurting others with her quirk.
The decision was made for her before she even had a second to think. The robots propelled forward, each moving on their own, either running or flying or some form of movement to the unsuspecting teens. Pompom wasn't sure how it happened, but a rather large robot, a good two feet taller than her height of 4'10 was on her in a flash.
A giant hunk of metal moved into her sight-line, towering over her smaller body. Pompom's body moved with pure grace and power, as she swung her sizeable pink fist forward, trying to strike before the robot had a chance to do so. She didn't want to punch him, to use her quirk like this but she wasn't left with much of an option due to their close proximity.
Sorry Mister robot, but you have to be taken out! It's either you or me and I really really don't want it to be the latter.
She felt the familiar impact of her fist in contact with the metal framework of his hulking chest, from air to metal. The dominant force of her pink, veiny, muscular arms was sure to take this robot down just like the many others that fell at her feet before him. Her eyes squeezed shut as she felt the rush of fighting, the adrenaline pumping through her veins and blood rushing in her ears as she waited for the sickening crunch and the woosh of his body being blown backward.
The light blue haired teen didn't know how it happened or when but her veiny arms suddenly felt an intense drop in temperature. The cold feeling traveled up her arm and to her torso in mere seconds.
"Wha-" Pompom's eyes shot open, and her gaze landed on her arm to see it completely frozen in place like a giant popsicle.
What!? Since when did robots have quirks?
Her quirk ultimately trapped her. Frozen in place and unable to move.
This was terrible, really bad.
Her heartbeat picked up dramatically, lodging itself in her throat as panic began to take over, her mind blaring like a siren on high alert. She felt like an animal, caged by a human and unable to break free. She was caught. Pompom gasped out loud and struggled to break free of the ice prison that engulfed her arm and torso, slowly expanding down to her thighs. At this rate, she would be completely frozen in ice.
"Let me go! Hey, stop that!" Pompom squirmed and struggled against her resolve while the robot bared down on her. Whoever this robot was, they were merciless in their tactics, and she couldn't shake the feeling that they were taking pleasure in watching her struggles.
She needed to get out of here fast before he decided to finish the job. Pompom forced her feet to touch the ground to take a step backward, away from the robot. Though, much to her displeasure, the cold rush extended down her thighs and to her knees, effectively trapping her from further escape.
Smoke curls in thick wispy waves through the air, from a destroyed bot close by, the black soot clouding her vision for a second and falling in a curtain over the robot hell-bent on freezing her up. Fear floods her senses as the thought of, "Where is he, where is he going to come from next?" echoes in her brain. The smoke had distracted her long enough for the machine to disappear from her immediate sight and left her frantic with worry for the next strike.
Just when her panic hits it's peak, an examinee with short dark hair, darker than the soot, lurches through the blackness looking like an inky blur past her widened eyes. Pompom yelps in surprise from the sheer quickness of the boy but doesn't have time to ponder before he's racing ahead.
Oh no, I have to warn him, come on Pompom! In a rush, she gathers herself before he can make contact through the smoke where the robot is most-likely still standing.
"Wait, be careful - this robot is different!" Pompom yells out in a desperate attempt to get his attention, but the boy's obsidian slanted gaze barely flits over her.
Her ears immediately twitch, and she realizes belatedly that the boy is talking. She strains to hear his voice, craning forward slightly as much as the ice will let her hear, "Don't worry, I noticed that earlier," he calls over his shoulder, voice a breathless deep baritone, quiet but warms her body.
Oh, thank goodness, he should be okay then, she perks up as a wave of relief washes over her. All she can do is stare dumbfounded as the object in the pale boy's hands lifts into the air. When did he get that? She wonders in interest, eyebrows quickly raising. In his hands was a pitch black blunt object that resembles some kind of large hammer that practically blends in with the smoke. The boy all but smashes the object over the robot's head, stunning the machine enough that the icy hold on the majority of Pompom's body weakens. She feels the pressure slowly vanishing as her body slightly falls out of the quickly disappearing cold.
Pompom takes a moment to yank herself free of the barrier, only managing to get most of her body out of it as the boy smacks the robot again, arms straining slightly with the weight of the object in his hands but otherwise successfully knocking him back. The robot seems to stumble backward over its own feet from the force of the blow and oddly enough, she swears she hears a grunt under the sound of an apparent heavy object striking metal but where would the sound come from? What in the world? She breathes to herself before trying to gain her balance. Pompom dismisses it as lingering paranoia from being trapped, the grunt no doubt came from her rescuer...so then why did the sound replay as muffled in her head?
She would have to worry about it later, what with her being off-balance from her earlier struggling, the shorter girl falls like a frozen tree. Thankfully the weakened state of the rest of the remaining ice shatters under the weight of her burly arms, and she smiles in relief. She could move again, albeit exceptionally stiffly but she was still free and not a cute, buff popsicle!
The tall bot from earlier seems to glare at them from behind its shiny surface. It was most definitely not pleased about being smacked over the head, but it's out of commission from what it looks like, sprawled helplessly on the street at their feet.
A sparkling grin is sent towards her rescuer while he dusts himself off, watching the robot fall to the ground. Pompom's blue, gem eyes are bright again, "Thank you so much!" Pompom exclaims, all of her admiration leaking into the kind words. Her savior grunts in reply, but Pompom can see from his body language that he's satisfied with the mini rescue. The blunt black object in his hands melts into a blob of inky-black liquid. Pompom stares as the blob seem to seep into his skin, forming a tattoo that she can't entirely determine the shape of. Huh, well that was an interesting quirk if she ever saw one.
"I normally prefer to use traps before I attack, but I didn't have enough time for that to rescue you. I'm glad you're okay. That guy was a tough one," the boy repeats with his low soft voice, and immediately Pompom is beaming like never before, displaying a mouth full of metal braces with light blue elastic bands. Smile so bright and contagious that the dark haired boy finds himself mirroring her with a smile of his own crawling across his otherwise stoic face, a slightly embarrassed flush on his high cheekbones.
He tries to force down the flustered feeling by running a hand through his pin-straight black hair, ruffling it out of his eyes to scan the area around them and finally Pompom has a chance to look at the other. His hair and eyes are both equally dark, black as night and sharp. Fringe falls in the middle of his forehead in a swooping spike with fringe framing either side of his face in similarly smaller spikes. He's handsome in a mysterious kind of way, she supposes. The type of guy that you would see in those cheesy movies as the untouchable love interest. He doesn't necessarily seem like a bad boy type, well, not any that she'd seen before. Even with the giant tattoo on his face under his right eye like a beacon. Pompom finds her attention pulled to the black ink curving from his right cheekbone to under the lid of his right eye forming an artful crescent shape which spikes out in a shape reminding her of a half-sun. Surprisingly, even with a face tattoo, the boy still doesn't seem rough or intimidating.
Her gaze shifts down to his short-sleeved black t-shirt showing off his pale, ink-covered arms. Her eyes roam curiously over the monochromatic expanse of his arms where tattoos liter the pale skin trailing from his biceps to his wrist and down to his legs, only stopping where his socks met skin and the hem of his basketball shorts. "Huh, a teenage boy who has a ton of tattoos? That's different," she wonders. "Maybe they're apart of his quirk though? I mean, the blunt object earlier seemed to sink back into his skin…" Her thoughts trail off as she quietly ponders this new idea.
Pompom jumps at the low voice that startles her out of her thoughts. "Um, they're my quirk…. Ink manipulation," the boy murmurs, staring directly at Pompom with a raise of an eyebrow and a slightly flustered frown. Immediately Pompom's cheeks tint a dark red on her naturally pink skin, "oh no, did I say all of that out loud?" she thinks in horror.
"You did, but that's okay," the boy answers again this time with a soft laugh and Pompom squeals out loud, mortified but recovers in seconds, shifting into fast-talking mode, much to Makoto's surprise.
The pink skinned girl talks a mile a minute, flusteredly stumbling through her words with a blush on her cheeks that makes her look pretty adorable, in his own opinion that is. "Ahhh I'm sorry! Please don't think I was judging you. I'm not! Your tattoos are just really cool, and I've never seen anything like it. I'm sorry! I was fascinated with your quirk. It's so interesting. Just wow! How does it work? Is it just your tattoos? Are they magic? What are you doing?"
Makoto blinks as the girl finally drops silent, finding himself very overwhelmed by the numerous questions. Man, how can someone talk so fast? Actually - how did she manage to think of so many things to ask at once? Makoto shifts self consciously under the hopeful stare of bright blue hexagonal eyes gleaming up at him innocently. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to explain a little about himself to her right? He sighs to himself before opening his mouth to reply though, before he can get anything out, a loud boom comes from behind him. Makoto and Pompom, both shift into action, heads craning to the source of the noise of what looks to be a gang of robots literally about to blow up a herd of students.
Damn, what's going on with these robots? For smaller pieces of metal, they sure seemed way more aggressive than the larger ones.
The raven-haired male is moving again, quickly forcing his body into action while Pompom stares after him. "Sorry, I've gotta go. But nice meeting you. Good luck." he softly calls before heading off in the direction of the explosion.
The first time Kumori had heard about the entrance exams was when she was very young. Walking home from school, she overheard the chatter of older kids - teens - speaking of U.A's infamous entrance exams with awe. Voices alight with wonder and excitement at such an exclusive and sought-after experience, how jealous they were of their friends to attend such a thing and how one day they would do the same. And she also dreamed she would be taking such an admirable, yet critical test. However, standing here feeling so small and powerless as a row of intimidating bots stares her in the face with unseeing black visors, she wasn't so sure this was such a good idea.
Her mouth felt incredibly dry like she was chewing a big wad of fluffy cotton and no matter how many times she swallowed and tried to produce more saliva, it was no use. This was not a good sign, not at all. Because, this was a tell-tell hint that she had just overused her quirk, spider-silk. She had done it to trap a few bots early on in the exam, but now that meant - she gulped, realization smacking her right in the face - she was stranded for this final part of the exam.
Kumori's heart raced with terrifying dread and real fear of pain - of possible death... And she froze in her tracks, body heavy with the weight of her situation, while others moved around her with precision and determination to defeat these final robots. Though it felt as if she was instead watching them from somewhere far, far away from here. Like she could honestly feel the divide between herself and the other students.
Why am I here? Why is such a small, spider-like girl attempting to win something she had no business doing in the first place? She bitterly wondered to herself, for the hundredth time during this exam. Am I dumb to think I stand a chance here? Maybe I should have listened to the warnings of my middle school classmates and applied to somewhere safer… Kumori huffs a little to herself, shuffling her feet against the ground helplessly. I'm so useless, helpless. Maybe I'm the victim in this situation, and the rest of these students are the heroes? I'll never be more than a bystander. If I knew I couldn't use my quirk for too long, I should've planned for this a bit better, instead of using every last bit of my silk down to the wire when it really counts.
Full of self-doubt, Kumori didn't realize the danger she had walked right into, or more like - daydreamed into. She heard it before she saw it, the thuds of giant mechanical feet falling against the concrete and when she looked up, she was in direct view of a hulking robot.
Her veins ran cold, heart dropping right into the pit of her stomach as a strong bout of nausea hit her like a ton of bricks. "Oh no, what have I done?" Kumori gasped out, words feeling thick in her sharp mouth. She was done for. There wasn't a single doubt in her mind about it. "God, how stupid. Why Kumori? Couldn't you have done your sister better? Made her proud…."
The white-haired girl slid her three pairs of eyes shut, sucking in air rapidly through her nose in slight panic. What could she do? How could she get out of this? She was way too weak to fight head-to-head. He would crush her in an instant! But she had to do something anything…!
Without wasting another second, a thin hand wrapped around her pale wrist with gusto, yanking her out of the way of an oncoming blow from a bot and down, deep down the road. She stumbled behind her savior, legs, and mind both straining to keep up with what just happened. Kumori's three rows of purple eyes all widened in surprise as she was dragged along down the cement, body narrowly avoiding scattered metal and robot parts. Kumori let out a small eep when a shadow fell over her, and she glanced up to see a boy with large flapping wings headed their way.
"Duck!" Kumori's soft voice called out as loudly as she possibly could, and she and the girl who saved her quickly dodged the flying boy, who swooped over their heads in seconds, disappearing around an alleyway in pursuit of a robot. Kumori's chest heaved in mild surprise lingering from the scare, gosh, this exam would be the death of her! She doesn't just have to worry about the robots apparently, but the students too.
Once they were in the clear, the other girl jumped back into a breakneck sprint, shocking the white-haired spider girl out of her mind and snapping her forward. Kumori confusedly followed right behind her body lurching at the girl's sudden speed, well not really having a choice since her wrist was still in the others grasp.
"Hey, you can't just stand there, girl! Those bots were about to crush you. Suspicious aren't they?" a muffled feminine voice came from her savior and Kumori stammered to herself as the girl turned around mid-run to stare kindly down at her with warm brown eyes. It finally gave Kumori a view of her face, or what was showing of the girl's face.
The first thing she noticed was the light green fitted gas mask that covered the girl's mouth, only leaving her eyes and nose slightly exposed, blue bob parted to the right to hang over her right eye as she ran. Hmm, how curious. What an odd feature - a mask like that in an exam.
"Oh, um thank you," Kumori softly spoke, her voice barely above a polite whisper though, the bluenette seemed to have heard her for she nodded then quickly turned back around to face forward until the two came to a stop behind a corner of a towering brick building. The slightly taller girl pressed her body into the side of the brick, chest lightly heaving from exercising before peering down at Kumori who quietly stood beside her, hands anxiously fiddling with her long white pig-tails while she tried to calm her own breathing.
"No problem! Honestly, I needed to get outta there too. I can't do much with my quirk at the moment. But those bots were something else, right? I'm Nyoko, by the way!" Nyoko exclaimed, eyes crinkling lightly into what Kumori assumed must've been a smile under that mask before she craned her neck back towards the scene, loud noises of hollers and smashing filling the air from afar.
Hmm, what did the blue haired girl mean by they were 'something else,' Kumori wondered. The robots didn't seem out of the ordinary to her. On the contrary, they seemed to be quite similar to the larger ones they had just encountered. But she had to have noticed something suspicious if she was bringing this up to Kumori. Or maybe, she was just trying to trick her? This was technically a competition, wasn't it? But, Kumori frowned to herself, sharp teeth lightly pricking her pink lips at the action, a small burst of guilt filling her chest at such a thought. The other girl didn't seem like the type to do something as mean as that, right? Before Kumori had the chance to voice her confusion, the girl was bursting out from behind the makeshift hiding spot and sprinting down the street, leaving Kumori stumbling over herself in shock.
"Hey! What's going on? What are you doing?" Kumori called softly after her, voice trailing off when the other abruptly ran into the thick of battle. Everything was happening so quickly, she didn't really have a chance to keep up. Kumori felt dumb just staring after the bluenette, doing absolutely nothing while the other girl seemed to have a plan.
She, Kumori thought eyes wide with admiration as she watched the other make her way down the street, is a true hero.
Nyoko approached a towering bot that honestly towered over her height of 5'8 locked in a fight with a skinny, much shorter girl with long, dark blue hair and equally blue eyes. Mizumi had been in full fight with this robot for a while and noticeably outmatched. The bot dodged her water-based attacks and frankly was too fast for her to even get in a good hit. She took a moment to transform her hand back to it's fleshy structure as not to exhaust her quirk.
The wet look in Mizumi's wide-eyed gaze made it seem like she was pretty close to tears, and was clearly struggling to defend against the robot opponent. This guy isn't like the others. She thought just as the robot dodged her latest punch her, eyes snapping up to his face in suspicion.
'He's too intelligent; he knows that if he's hit by my watermorph hand, he'll most likely short-circuit. Just what's so different about these robots? Why are they smarter than the last batch?'
Mizumi didn't have time to ponder on this thought as she was in such a bind that Kumori, still watching from afar, didn't even have the chance to see the blue-haired girl's quirk before the robot was on her.
A gasp left Kumori's sharp mouth from her spot cowering behind the wall, when the bot none too gently punched Mizumi across her pretty freckled face, forcing her head back from the force. She stumbled across the ground, body falling onto the cement below with a loud cry that made Kumori feel sick to her stomach. Mizumi smacked down hard, knocking the breath right out of her chest as an ache shot up her sore spine. Fear flooded her veins like a storm, the blood running from burning hot with adrenaline to a cold sting of ice.
Any second now the bot would crush this poor girl, Kumori worried her lip between sharp teeth, careful not to break the skin.
Her heart pounded in her chest while she watched helplessly as Nyoko quickly stepped in, wrenched a long piece of metal up from the ground like a crazy person, and shoved the metal with all of her might into the robots head - or what she thought was a head.
Immediately the helmet popped off, tumbling off of the broad frame and smacking loudly against the concrete at its feet. But Nyoko paid the movement no mind and instead raced over to Mizumi's side. With one hand, she carefully wrapped her fingers around Mizumi's thin bicep and tugged her into a half-sit, trying to support the other girl's body gently. Mizumi audibly groaned, her freckle covered nose scrunched up with pain as a stream of blood trickled down her face, causing a pit of guilt to lodge itself into Nyoko's stomach. Damn, if only I had gotten here sooner she wouldn't be hurt! She snapped, gritting her teeth in anger at herself while Mizumi shifted, another hiss leaving her lips.
"You okay?" Nyoko rushed out, barely paying any mind to the wide-eyed shock of Mizumi before the other girl sputtered.
"I'm alright, just a little sore I think, thank you. What is that thing-" the girl on the ground started, blue eyes widening like saucers and the commotion of the two girls caused more than half of the examinees to cease their fighting to look over. However, without even a second's delay, Nyoko side-eyed the bot and, with an apologetic look, slammed a hand against the stunned girl's soft lips and blocked her nostrils, successfully cutting off Mizumi's air supply. And with her other hand, she tugged down the mask, revealing Nyoko's full mouth.
"I'm so sorry about this! Please excuse my rudeness!" She called to Mizumi as a yellowish gas cloud tumbled from her lips with the words, filling the air in an instant, traveling to the 'robot' and surrounding his metal form. The cloud was thick and heavy in the afternoon air, like smoke traveling quickly from Nyoko to the robot - a putrid mustard-yellow noticeable to the naked eye. When the yellow surrounded the metal frame head, the robot chattered to the ground with a crash, sounding like a tin-can against the concrete. Its body was thrashing wildly in the yellow gas with a strange sound that Kumori offhandedly realized was coughing before falling entirely still.
Wait - coughing? What robot coughs? Was he really a robot at all?
'Oh my god, did she poison him?,' Kumori gasped in complete shock. Just what in the world was she doing with a quirk like that? The word curled around her head before she even knew it, 'villainous,' and she couldn't help the pang of guilt that came with it. No no, she couldn't think like that about someone who had saved her, right? She didn't necessarily know Nyoko, but she wasn't a villain. Was she? She couldn't help the quirk she had but how would she get into U.A. with something like that?
Then, Nyoko let out a breath and awed, "I knew it."
Nyoko quickly yanked her mask back into place, shielding her mouth and quirk from view and removed her hand from Mizumi's mouth. The girl gasped for breath, body heaving as she coughed and choked wildly, waving off the hand offered to her from a worried Nyoko and her exclaim of, "You're bleeding, oh my god. Tilt your head back and pinch the bridge of your nose to get it to stop."
"Is- Is that a h-h-human?" Mizumi stammered, wide-eyed and red-faced. For now, with the helmet knocked off, thanks to Nyoko, Mizumi has a good view of this 'robot's' real appearance. A boy, seemingly a year or two older than themselves sprawled across the ground in another fit of coughing. His hair was a bright orange with choppy bangs, mousy features and beady brown eyes scrunched in pain. So this guy wasn't a robot, huh, she mused, well he wasn't so intimidating now rolling around on the floor like a baby...
"Looks like it. I knew something was fishy with these robots. They were way too intelligent to be engineered! I'm so sorry I had to cut you off like that, I couldn't have you breathing in the gas from my quirk. I hope you're alright, you took a nasty punch there!" the short haired girl brightly retorted, an apologetic smile on her face just as Mizumi murmured back an, "It's okay, thanks for the help."
Nyoko nodded then stood up, towering over Mizumi before reaching out a hand with a warm grin. Mizumi quietly stared for a few seconds at the appendage before taking it and letting the taller girl pull her to her feet. Once they were both standing, Mizumi glanced over at the 'robot' who laid at their feet, groaning to himself as he lazily rolled over onto his side.
"Um, is he alright? He looks a little - um -," Mizumi blinked down while he pathetically whined, "out of it?"
To her surprise, Nyoko just lets out a boisterous laugh, crossing her arms over her chest with the wide grin from before still on her face. Her brown eyes scrunched up in amusement while she eyed the boy on the ground, "Yeah he'll be just fine. It's my quirk - I like to call it 'plague,' it's nothing deadly though. He'll be fine in a few hours. Serves this guy right though for attacking you!" Nyoko trailed off with a chuckle, and the other blue-haired girl nodded in understanding just as a loud buzzer went off around the city sector, echoing loudly back into their ears. All of the students and 'robots' alike froze, the chaos ceasing as if someone had just flipped a switch as a familiar voice called out over the hush.
"Annnnnnd- that's a wrap, kids! It's all over!" Present Mic's voice boomed over the intercom, "Everyone, give a round of applause to our special guests - your upperclassmen! For volunteering to help us out with this exam, they did an excellent job playing villain robots. Thanks, guys! Now get on back to the station."
Immediately, all of the remaining 'robots' removed their helmets, revealing distinctively human features - definitely not destructive robots, that's for sure - glancing around curiously at the examinees who finally had the chance to gaze upon their opponents. Kumori gasped at the news, shock still written on her face to match the rest of the stunned examinees, all except for Nyoko and Mizumi. Saying they were surprised would be a laughable understatement. The upperclassmen were intimidating, even without the masks on, power radiating off of them in waves. Some were familiar, recognized from last years sports festival, or even the year before that - all having been in the media at least once in their lives. There was an apparent separation between the two groups, previous students, and possible new students - they were on entirely different levels.
Who knew that U.A. would pull such a stunt as having their students play a part in this year's exams. Especially, students that had been around for at least a year and would easily surpass these amateurs. It seemed like, in all honesty, they were set up to fail. There wasn't any way that these examinees coming from middle school could win against a bunch of talented and experienced students. What the hell was U.A. trying to play at here?
Listening to Present Mic's command, the upperclassmen all quickly turned and made their way out of the sector leaving a crushing silence to fall over the examinees.
"Alright kids, your exams are officially over! Now, time for the grading process. Thanks for participating! Please find your way to the exits of your sector and head back to the auditorium for further instructions. If you're injured, our newest member of staff will be around to heal you - so sit tight! That's all folks and thanks for listening!" Present Mic signed off, leaving the intercom to fall dead again, light static behind in his wake.
The rest of the examinees let groans of pain and or mixed excitement fall from their lips. Though It was finally over, they all still felt the crushing sense of anxiety from the match. God, U.A. was harsh, if this was just the entrance exams to get into the damned school, what would actually being a student feel like? Would it even be worth it? The exams alone seemed like a death sentence, could things only get worse from here?
- End Chapter One Part Two
AND that is the end of the exams! AYYYY THE CREW HAS ARRIVED! Well, not all of the crew... But most of them! xD A big hello to our newest OCs: Pompom, Jeffrey, Kumori, Nyoko, Makoto, Dante, and Mizumi! And another special thanks to all of you who submitted these awesome ocs! Who's your new fav oc? Anyone stand out this time? Maybe knocked your old favorite out of the park?
So yes, that is the end of the exams for our students, but not every OC is introduced yet, so stay tuned for chapter two for more characters. A few OCs were actually recommended to U.A. so you guys didn't get to see them take the exams but they'll be introduced soon. As for others, you'll find out how they did as well.
Next chapter should be the first day of school for our kids, so I hope you're all prepared to get things started! If you have any scene ideas, or even want to see certain characters interact, please let us know in your review.
Thanks again, everyone! Please remember to R&R. Advice and constructive criticism are both welcome. (God I'm still hiding in a freaking hole after we rushed to post this chapter. I'm so ashamed, please forgive us! It won't happen again! Ugh, vacations... _ Sorry again you guys!)
And see you all after my vacation on the 22nd! :D
