2: We'll Take Them on Together!

When the 2-pointer fell, Izuku slipped off its neck and onto his feet, stumbling a bit on the landing but otherwise staying upright. After putting a few down, he was pretty used to the process. The climbing was no issue; it was the approach. Twice he'd missed a dodge and gotten hit in return, the tail slamming into his side and leaving what Izuku figured would grow into a nice bruise by the time he went back home.

But it was well worth it. Including this one, he'd downed five 2-pointers, meaning he'd earned 10 points. Plus, he'd even defeated a 1-pointer, though it had been by sheer dumb luck. The robot had charged with its shield up, intent on ramming him, and in a blind panic Izuku had lanced his scrap rod straight into its single cyclops eye, a feat of such immense precision that he hadn't bothered to think of replicating it. The thing had immediately short circuited, and he'd been forced to dive out of the way before he was crushed by its advancing dead weight.

Whatever the case, Izuku now had 11 points, far more than the zero he'd honestly been expecting. He knew others had by now likely earned far more points—heard a passing applicant mutter something along the lines of 20 after defeating a bot of their own–but ignoring the vast gaps of ability between him and his fellow examinees was now second nature. More pressing to Izuku now was his digital watch, which told him that almost half the 10 minutes had already passed.

I need to hurry!

As Izuku ran, eyes searching for any more 2-pointers, he made some mental calculations. The first minute had been spent going after Aoyama, rummaging for the weapon currently in his hand, and defeating his first villain bot. The second minute had been spent defeating another two, while the third had been rather action-packed, with another pair of 2-pointers and the lucky 1-pointer. On average, he'd beaten about two bots per minute, meaning that if he kept his current pace he'd finish with around 23 points, maybe 25 or 26 if he had any more lucky breaks.

All things considered, his current pace wasn't cutting it. He'd not even hit 30 at this rate. He needed something to push him to the next level, but what?

His eyes strayed down the street, toward what looked like an outdoor basketball court. Damn, whoever built these replica cities really went all out; Izuku had even noticed actual furniture inside the buildings, perhaps to properly simulate real-life situations? Either way, the important thing was that inside that basketball court stood a 3-pointer currently occupied with bombarding some other people across the street.

Izuku shook his head. He'd told himself to avoid 3-pointers, reasoning that he'd not know where to find their weak spot considering their armor seemed much less sectioned than the other two bot types. That and their massive arms scared him a little, even if he knew rationally that they wouldn't use it to attack both since they weren't long enough to and since he'd yet to see one of them do so against the others. Either way, taking those on wasn't part of the plan. The plan had been working so far, and why change what worked?

But it's not working well enough, he thought grimly, and that was the crux of it. He might be able to take a few seconds off his current average, but the truth was that he wasn't physically capable of defeating more than maybe three 2-pointers per minute, and even that was if he pushed it. There was the climbing, which he'd gotten better at, but if he took any mistakes on his part into account—getting hit by a tail, missing a handhold on their scaled plates—then that was another significant time expense. But the biggest hurdle to overcome was the time it took to seek the 2-pointers out in the first place. His strategy only worked for them, after all, and while ignoring the other two types made things simpler it also gave him less to work with. With all the chaos going on, this put him in a needle-haystack situation he just didn't have a solution for.

He had two options, then:

One, he could settle for how he'd been doing things thus far, accept the low-20s point range he'd end up with, and hope that it would be enough to get into the hero course. If it wasn't, he at least had a good chance of getting into a general course class, and that in turn gave him some chance of one day moving up to the hero course after the fact.

Two, he risked it and went for the 3-pointer right now, hopefully figure out how to reach a weak spot in the process, and expand his pool of targets. He'd almost surely hit the 30-point range if he started going after 3-pointers too, and though it wasn't the goal of 40 points he'd set for himself, it at least gave him a good chance of getting into the hero course.

As soon as Izuku thought this through, the right choice became obvious. The only way he had any chance of getting into the hero course now was to go for the 3-pointer and hopefully find a way to defeat it. And he needed to get into the hero course. A quirkless like him barely had chance enough as it was of becoming a pro-hero. If he didn't graduate with full training, that chance would be even lower.

It was a big risk, but he'd made it this far by taking big risks. With a sharp intake of air, Izuku sprinted toward the 3-pointer.

Thankfully, the bot was too busy with someone else, that spiky-haired blond kid with an electricity quirk. Izuku figured that this guy wouldn't normally have a problem taking down the 3-pointer, but at the moment he was too busy dealing with two 1-pointers, all the while being shot at by the 3-pointer from some distance away.

Good. It gave Izuku the opportunity to sneak up on the bot, which was turned away from him as a result.

The thing truly did look like a weird tank. It certainly was as big as one, and the two wheels on which it stood looked to be made of tougher stuff than whatever the 1-pointers rode around on. As he'd suspected, its two arms served more to stabilize it from the ricochet of its massive guns, the two large missile-launcher things on its back rocking with each shot. Thankfully, they weren't actual missile-launchers. Like he thought, they just shot rubber bullets like the 1-pointers, though these were the size of dodgeballs and flew with far more intensity.

Climbing up its arms was a no go. Same with climbing up from the back. Both were too high for him to reach. He could just go for the head; it was low enough to the ground that he could easily hop atop it. But who knew what would happen if he came into its line of sight so close?

Reaching it, Izuku went for the simplest approach. The sides, a space between wheels and arms, lay lower than the rest, almost like a tall staircase scraping against the ground. Without hesitation, he clambered onto it.

It wasn't some great courage on his part which drove such decisive action. He'd simply learned that hesitation would only result in an opportunity for the robots to counter. Their A.I. was simple, something which gave them a frightening kind of straightforward aggressiveness, but it also resulted in slow decision-making.

The 1-pointers were fast, but they seemed to always pause before switching from long-range attacks to close-range bull rushes. The 2-pointers only had their tails, which hit hard, but Izuku suspected they would've had other offensive appendages if so much processing power weren't taken up by its three legs, which along with its neck gave it a whopping five limbs to deal with, far more than the other two bot types. As for the 3-pointers, the one Izuku currently stood on seemed not to have noticed him even after he climbed onto it. Perhaps, being the most durable, they were also given the least awareness?

Whatever, he needed to get to its head. Izuku sidled under the sectioned elbow plates which connected its launchers to its arms, likely another stabilizing feature. Those weapons looked heavy, after all, and likely needed the support from below so as to not fall right off. The robot rocked back and forth, following the blond kid, shooting over and over with great booming shakes, enough to almost make Izuku slip off, particularly since he could himself only use one hand to stay balanced, the other holding his weathered rod.

Though the arms did scare him a bit, Izuku felt no fear now that he stood on what was effectively the 3-pointer's elbow. It had no way of reaching him there. He looked over at its head, roaming over its shelled visage. Wires and black mesh connected a big metal helm, with a set of three camera 'eyes' hiding within. Remembering the 1-pointer, Izuku breathed in and prepared to jump over, aiming for the lenses.

Before he could, the ground shook underneath. Thankfully, his grip was strong enough to hold onto the bot, but that was where his luck ended. Looking over, Izuku could see smoke billowing over the buildings nearby.

Another shake. A metal claw emerged from around the corner, pressing onto whole windows and crushing entire stories. Izuku saw that the blond applicant nearby had just finished off the 1-pointers and was now, like him, staring up at the building as it crumbled within a literal iron grip.

Out from the smoke, the 0-pointer rose in all its terrifying glory. Not taller than every building, but certainly taller than some, its gargantuan, rectangular head peeked down at them from over the building it broke in its wake, interconnected red eyes staring down, a synthetic screech roaring over the echoing sounds of battle.

The unconquerable stage hazard. Izuku had forgotten all about it.

It looked straight at them, arm coiling back. Izuku found himself completely paralyzed, not quite believing the enormity of the thing—even Mt. Lady wasn't this big—but his eyes widened when he noticed who else seemed shocked into paralysis. Stood out in the open, flanked by two downed robots, the electric boy looked up at the giant 0-pointer in what Izuku could only assume was the same horror which clamped around his own heart even as the thing neared. Izuku thought he even saw a vague trembling.

That was all it took to snap him out of his inaction. Other applicants, having been in their own skirmishes, broke off and ran away, weaving into alleys or hoping they'd be fast enough to avoid whatever such a behemoth was capable of, but Izuku ignored them, as he'd gotten used to doing. All his fears and insecurities were still there, of course, but now they drove him off the 3-pointer and into a sprint… directly to the danger, and more importantly, to the other boy, who for whatever reason had yet to run like the others.

"What are you doing?!" Izuku screamed, nearing the boy as quickly as the 0-pointer's hand. As if doused in water, the blond turned back to him, eyes as wide as his. "Get out of the way!"

To Izuku's shock the boy only raised a hand, pointing somewhere behind him. Izuku followed the gesture, looking back, and in a fit of panic saw the very 3-pointer onto which he'd been climbing seconds before. The 3-pointer which he'd thoughtlessly turned his back on. But didn't the thing see the danger it was putting itself in by following him? Even now, the 0-pointer's giant hand loomed ever nearer, set to crush them all in a hammer blow. Moments before it fell, crushing him and the other boy and the 3-pointer all at once, Izuku remembered his own prior conclusions.

They're programed to attack us over their own safety.

Clenching his teeth, Izuku made a snap decision. There was no time to deliberate. No time to mutter justifications. The 0-pointer's hand was just feet from his own head. Twisting around, he dropped the scrap rod which had carried him this far and spread his arms wide, angling them behind his back. He looked at the 3-pointer before him, its metal sheen hidden under the shadow which now covered them all, and tightened his stomach.

The robot shot at him. A big rubber ball split the air between them, from the missile-launcher gun straight into his abs in a second. An instant later, that same missile launcher gun was crushed by the 0-pointer's hand. In that same instant, Izuku found himself carried off his feet, the ball smashing him back and against the frozen blond boy behind him. They were both thrown back, tumbling through the air and out from the shadow of the 0-pointer's hand in a tangle of limbs.

Not a second too soon. The moment they hit the ground in a rough bounce, the hand clapped against the spot they'd stood on, crushing concrete and utility poles and clipped sidewalk trees in an earthquake of sound. With a booming creak of metal, the hand rose, smoke and rubble drifting up along with it. Breathing in great gulps of air, his abdomen aflame, Izuku followed the hand up to the sky, then watched as the 0-pointer rolled further down the street. As for himself and the blond boy, they lay on the street, both bruised and battered but somehow in one piece, eyes following the great green robot as it disappeared behind a row of buildings, likely in search of other prey.

Izuku struggled to breathe still, but as time passed he could feel himself returning to some semblance of control. Those bullets may be made of rubber, but damn if they didn't hurt.

Something came into his vision. A hand, a normal one this time. Izuku followed it up an arm clothed in a simple black shirt to see the very boy whom he'd so creatively tackled.

"That was quick thinking," the boy said. "I'm Kaminari Denki, by the way. Figured you'd like to know the guy you just saved!"

Izuku stared at the hand. Had it even been a life or death situation? Now that it was over, he could think through the circumstances. They'd all signed a waver before the exam, but Izuku doubted it covered getting crushed by a giant robot. No respectable school, even a hero school, would be allowed to let people die within its purview, especially underage kids. It was a legal impossibility. Either the robots were programed to stop short of killing them, or there were staff members hiding out somewhere waiting to save them at the last second. Their lives couldn't have been in danger, but looking up at the other boy, even Izuku could place the gratitude on his face. His smile was either, like Izuku, that of someone who realized they hadn't been in any real danger, or that of someone hadn't realized it at all and didn't care.

Izuku grabbed the hand and let it pull him up.

"Midoriya Izuku," he said, finally capable of filling his lungs with air. "Don't worry about it… But why were you just standing there? Everyone else was running away…"

At this, Denki's smile wavered. He scratched the back of his head, eyes straying. "Ah, that's my quirk's fault. I guess I've been overdoing it a little—"

A moan sounded out nearby. Izuku's head snapped in its direction, and Denki's followed shortly after. The two looked at each other, and in that moment Izuku could've sworn they were thinking the same thing:

Someone's hurt over there. But the test isn't over yet. Do I have enough to pass?

Izuku didn't know how many points Denki had, but the fact that such a thing was in the other boy's mind at all meant his passing the exam was likely still in question.

Another moan, lighter this time. Izuku dashed off towards it, and Denki, looking at him, cursed before following at his heels.

"Oh, man," Denki said, "I'm so gonna fail!"

They rounded a heap of rubble, dust still rising from it, and found a girl lying on the cracked concrete. Izuku recognized her immediately.

"Uraraka-san!" Izuku kneeled close, hands hovering over her. "Are you okay?"

Denki looked down, eyes trailing to her feet. His face twisted into a cringe. "That doesn't look okay…"

Izuku looked over and saw that Ochako's left pant leg was ripped from the shin down, an already purpling bruise coloring her ankle. He took her arm, ignoring the blush creeping up his neck at touching her, and pulled her up with a heave. By now, Ochako's eyes had lost a bit of the glazed look, and she was able to make out his features.

"Midoriya-kun…" She smiled, lips wobbly. "Not… that awesome now, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" He threw her arm over his shoulder, hand tightening on her arm when she flinched. "What's wrong?"

"My ankle…" She looked down at it. "It hurts if I move it around…"

Izuku looked at her, face settling into a sort of adrenaline-induced seriousness. "Uraraka-san," he said. "How many points do you have?"

Her eyes found his. She smiled still, though now her eyes were gleaming. "Thirty-one…"

"That's not bad!" Denki said, having stood there rather awkwardly. His own smile returned, and now Izuku could tell for a fact it was a front. "That's only like three less than me!"

So he had 34 points. Izuku considered this, then in a spark of horror looked down at his watch.

Four minutes and thirty seconds left…

Izuku looked at the others, mind rumbling. Eventually, he sighed, a failed attempt at releasing the tension creeping up his throat.

"You'll both probably pass," he said, looking down. He felt more than saw their eyes on him. "Judging by how many are here taking the test, and how much time they gave us, you both have enough points to make it into the hero course."

A beat passed. Denki's hand flew up to his forehead, smile widening. "Woah, you for real? How do you know?!"

"It's not 100 percent, but there's only so many points they can expect us to get, after all. I was trying to get up to 30 points myself, 40 if I could."

Denki laughed, his shoulders dropping. "Man, that's a relief! When you put it that way, it makes sense!" He gave the other two a thumbs up, winking over at Ochako. "Uraraka-san, right? Looks like we're both good!" At this, the girl's smile did straighten, and seeing it, Denki turned to Izuku, who had yet to raise his head. "How 'bout you, Midoriya? You probably have more than either of us, huh?"

"I have 11 points…"

Both Denki and Ochako startled at that. The happiness and relief they'd felt slowly drained away, replaced by equal parts shock and concern.

"Midoriya-kun…" Ochako tried to look at his face, but he turned away from her. "You… You should be out there getting more!"

She pulled herself free from him, but the moment her bad foot set down, she nearly fell from the pain. At her gasp of pain, Izuku reached for her again, but Ochako held her hand up, stopping him as she stood on one foot, the other barely touching the ground with her toes for balance.

"It's alright!" she said. "Please, worry about yourself!"

Izuku looked at her, battling against himself. She was still hurt—he could tell. The wrinkle between her eyebrows told him that much, although she tried her best to hide it.

"You need to see a doctor," he said.

Ochako shook her head. "I can tough it out!"

"You'll get caught by a villain bot," Izuku neared. Ochako tried to back away from him, but she stumbled, ankle searing when she put her weight on it once more. "Careful!"

"Hey, hey!" Denki grabbed Izuku by the shoulder, shaking the boy roughly. "Are you listening to a word she's saying? If you're right, we already passed! I can take her to the nurse or something, but you have other things to deal with!" He frowned when Izuku wouldn't meet his eyes. "Don't tell me you're giving up already…"

"… I was foolish…" Izuku could feel his nails biting into the palm of his hands. As soon as the 0-pointer had appeared, and as soon as he'd made the choice to save Denki—stupid, stupid choice, there's no way we were actually in any danger—he'd realized it.

Every top hero has the same story from their young days… 'My body moved on its own before I could think!' And you did the same thing!

How ironic. The very same impulse that had convinced All Might of his potential had also doomed him. Had he just stayed focused, defeated the 3-pointer, moved on to the next target, he'd still have a chance. But now too much time had been wasted. Izuku hadn't wanted to think about it, but now that things were calm, now that neither Denki or Ochako were in danger, his rationality came back to the fore, and it did so with a vengeance. His plan, if he could even call it that, depended on very precise calculations. Too precise. It was all shot now.

It wasn't enough.

"There's no more time, "Izuku said, feeling the way his throat constricted at the words. "Even if I gave it my all, it's just not possible. N-Not with what I can do right now. I'm… I'm quirkless, you see, so I guess I never had a chance to begin with." Some tears made their way down his cheeks, and he whipped them away, suddenly conscious of his company. "Sorry, just… forget it." He looked up at Ochako, half hiding his wet face. "Uraraka-san, you should really get that looked at. I can help you out…"

Maybe I can get into the general studies after all… My written exam should be good enough, and 11 points isn't the worst. I can try to work my way up to the hero course. If I make a splash at the Sports Festival… But that's assuming I get in at all. If I don't, I can always try another hero school. Pro heroes come out of all sorts of places…

Ochako looked at him, disbelieving. Then, she glared at him. Nearly growling, she grabbed his shirt, shaking him just as roughly as Denki had.

"No! That's not fair!" she said, and Izuku had to hold her up before she fell right against him, her ankle still incapable of holding any real weight. "If you give up because of me, I'll… I'll…" Now she did growl, though it wasn't anywhere near threatening. Still, the sound startled Izuku, whose internal thought process had by now been completely interrupted. "Let me help you! You helped me! You said my quirk was awesome, right? If you don't have one, then use mine!"

Now it was Izuku's turn to stare disbelievingly. Looking at her eyes, he saw not an ounce of the usual pity. Instead, there was only desperate shame. That, and a determination he couldn't help but envy. He shouldn't compare himself to others, he knew, but still. It was the sort of stubbornness that reminded him, strangely enough, of Katsuki. The kind that proclaimed itself with all the assured solidity of a brick wall.

"I can't just… I can't—"

"Ahem."

They turned to Denki, finding a boy trying his best to look indifferent, a pinky in his ear, though the attentiveness on his face betrayed his nonchalance. "If you're that worried about it, I'll let you borrow my quirk too." Here, his smile curved into a vicious smirk. "That way you don't have any lame excuses like 'I'm quirkless' or anything like that!"

Ochako looked at the blond with some regard, though it soon turned to deadpan appraisal when she saw the shake of his knees. "I guess you at least sound pretty confident…"

Denki's face, the picture of irreverence, immediately crumbled before their eyes, replaced by a frenetic alarm. His eyes shifted elsewhere, over and over at any new sound around them. "W-Well I don't know if you noticed, but we're sorta out in the open here! That giant robot could come back any second, y'know?! I already almost died!" He put a hand over his heart, making a clear attempt to control his breath. "Whatever, the point is you got two whole quirks now, alright, Midoriya? I can tell you're a smart guy! Just tell us what to do already!"

Izuku was about to respond with all the obvious counter arguments. Even if he could somehow weaponize their quirks, would he really earn any points for it? Ochako was clearly in pain, however much she might deny it. Denki, from what Izuku had seen, couldn't control whether his electric bursts hit those around him, and getting electrocuted was the last thing anybody needed.

And the most important one: he wasn't their problem. They might be shoe-ins for the hero course, but that was all based on an assumption of his. A well-informed assumption, but an assumption nonetheless. And even then, why shouldn't Denki go and get even more points? Nothing was preventing him from trying to secure the top position, or at least getting as close to it as he could. It would certainly bode well for his time at U.A. Same with Ochako, if she insisted on staying. Even as she was, her mobility shot, she could probably still get a few more points if she lay a single hand on the villain bots who came after her.

What reason had they to help him?

"I don't deserve it…"

He'd said it out loud, something he didn't mean to do, but as soon as it came out Izuku realized the truth in it. So he looked up at them both, resolute, and they looked at each other in bemusement. Finally, Denki went ahead and shoved him.

"Stop wasting time already!" he said, a hint of fear making its way through his pitched voice. "The longer we stand around here, the sooner we'll get ambushed by those things!"

Ochako nodded, glaring still. "He's right. There's not a lot of time left." Face softening, she tried for another smile, not as enthusiastic as the others, but ever more sincere. "You already helped me, so don't try to stop me from helping you, okay?"

That's the true One for All! A hero with the power to inspire others to be heroes themselves!

Izuku had to stifle a laugh. All Might seemed a consistent voice in his head now. Maybe for good reason. Looking at the two applicants before him… no, the heroes in training before him, Izuku saw that, despite Denki's distress and Ochako's clear discomfort, they weren't moving an inch.

Would it really be so bad, having come this far, to try going a little further? No. It'd be unfair to All Might, who had placed so much faith in him, and it'd be unfair to these two, who had so willingly given him their aid. And it'd be unfair to himself. What am I thinking? Of course I have to try harder. He was so used to cowering back, to avoiding the spotlight, but what was a hero if not someone unconcerned with such petty anxieties?

He would try a little more.

So what could he do? Izuku brought a hand up to his chin, breaking things down. Glancing at his watch, he had a little over three minutes left. He'd use some to think, but if he didn't get a move on, no amount of thinking could overcome the time constraint. Right now, what was in his arsenal?

Ochako's quirk, 'Zero Gravity'. She'd described it as one which made things float by touch. If the name was to be believed, this came as a result of nullifying the effects of gravity on any object. It couldn't work on anything; she'd said there was a limit. From what he'd seen, she was at least capable of floating up several robots at once. The weight distribution should spread out between all the objects under the application of her quirk, otherwise she could float an infinite amount of objects as long as they didn't exceed her weight limit.

But she couldn't really move at the moment. If he wanted to use her quirk, he'd need to keep her in one place…

"… What's he muttering on about?"

"I don't know…"

Denki's quirk was a bit more direct. A shock of electricity. The range and power was a complete unknown, but the power itself was the most important thing.

Electricity… Zero Gravity… How could use them both to get points quickly?

His head swiveled to the wrecked street. The 3-pointer was still there, broken to pieces, some crushed, others snapped off. Of the two missile-launcher guns, only one remained intact, wires sparking.

Lightbulb.

Izuku turned to Ochako. "Uraraka-san, let me carry you!"

The girl drew back, blinking. "What?"

"I'm not giving up!" he said. "But I do need your help! If you'll still give it…"

She stared at his face, and in a moment her own reflected the determination she saw. "Okay then!"

Izuku plucked her off the ground bridal style, immediately striding over toward the 3-pointer scrap pile.

"Kaminari-san!" he said.

Denki straightened to attention. "Y-Yeah?!" Seeing that the other boy was already some ways off, he made to follow, nearly jogging to catch up. "What's up?"

"Please tell me how your quirk works. There's a drawback, right?"

"R-Right." Denki gulped, not having expected such a complete shift in attitude. Nevertheless, he'd promised to help, right? "It's called 'Electrification'. I mean, it's pretty simple. Just lets me dish out electricity from anywhere in my body. I can crank it up a lot too, but if I do it too much my brain kinda short-circuits, y'know? It's why I was just standing there like an idiot before."

Izuku nodded, nearing the gun. He turned to the other boy, Ochako still in his arms, though he didn't notice the way her entire face reddened with each flex of his arms. "Can you grab those wires?" he said, foot pointing to the ones hanging off the 3-pointer's gun. "If you can dish it out, that means you're resistant too, right?"

If there was one thing Denki could feel confident about, it was his quirk. "Resistant as hell, man!" he said, reaching down and taking the wires firmly in his hand they still sparked in yellow lances of light, but it didn't affect him in any way. "If anything, it kinda tickles!"

"Good. Try pumping some electricity into them."

Raising a brow at him, Denki shrugged and did what he was told. Not much, just a few hundred volts. To his surprise, as well as Ochako's, the gun rumbled and shot out a rubber bullet, flying off down the street and landing with a heavy bounce a good distance away, almost hitting another applicant in the process.

Ida Tenya. The glasses guy turned to them, having dodged the shot within a hair's breath, and seemed ready to shout something upon realizing it had been done by other examinees. Once he made out who exactly had done it, though, and upon seeing that none of the three over there were paying much attention, he merely set his shoulders and carried on.

Meanwhile, Denki stared at the gun, gob smacked. "This thing still works?!"

Izuku went up to the gun. "There's no way to reload from the outside," he said, "so all of the ammo should already be in there." Looking over the hexagonal piece of equipment, he noticed some scratches, some pumps, but other than its complete split from the main body, it seemed to be in one piece. "And there's no trigger, so all the mechanisms to shoot should be in there too. All it needs is a spark."

It was pretty big even apart from the robot which originally wielded it, about as tall as he was. He looked down at Ochako, whose surprise was still evident.

"Think you can climb on if I help you up?"

She nodded rather half-heartedly. Izuku let her grab a hold of the top before pushing her up from her good foot. Looking down at the gun, Izuku then kneeled, eyes roaming around the edges.

"Uraraka-san," he said, "how long can you use your quirk on this thing before getting too nauseous?"

Slowly, Ochako's eyes lit up. Her hands curled into fists, face set in giddy confidence. "If it's just this, I can hold it for five minutes at least! Is that enough?"

"More than enough." Izuku found some space to grip his fingers onto. "Let's get started, then!"

"Right!" Ochako put her hands on the gun, and at once felt her quirk activate.

She nodded down to Izuku, who at her mark began to pull up. He groaned in effort, but eventually plucked the gun up. With another great heave, he slipped underneath and, in a show of strength neither Ochako or Denki had been expecting, threw the whole thing up over his shoulder.

"Woah!" Denki said, stepping back. "You sure you don't have a quirk?!"

"If Uraraka-san used her power on it, she's the only real weight I'm carrying right now," Izuku said, breathing hard. More than the weight, the gun's cumbersome shape is what really gave him trouble. But he'd spent ten whole months pulling, pushing, dragging, throwing, carrying all sorts of shapes and sizes. "It's nothing… I've carried way more than this!"

A hollow ping struck from above. Izuku couldn't see Ochako, separated as they were by the giant gun between them, but he could imagine her narrow glare.

"Don't make it sound like I'm heavy!"

Denki looked at his hand, still grasping the wires. Looking at Izuku, he smirked again, regaining the mask of confidence he'd almost completely dropped. "Alright, I think I get the idea. You aim and I give this thing a shock is that it?"

"Exactly," Izuku said. He stepped forward, and although it was by no means graceful, he managed to walk with more stability than he'd expected. As long as the launcher was balanced well on his shoulder, Ochako's weight could be managed well enough. He glanced at his watch, an uncomfortable yet necessary maneuver. "Two minutes left. That 0-pointer's still around somewhere, so we'll avoid it no matter what. We're going after 1 and 2-pointers. When I say 'shoot,' give it all you've got!"

"1 and 2-pointers, huh?" Denki strode forward along with Izuku, then was forced into a light job when the other boy sped up their pace. "Don't get me wrong, this is pretty sweet, but how the heck are we gonna hit them with that lug of a thing? Can you even really see where you're shooting?"

"You'd be right if it were human enemies," Izuku said. "But…"

As they went, they garnered some attention, with plenty of applicants nearby turning to see them go, at times even distracted enough to get hit by their own opponents. Some robots saw them go too, big a target as they were, and in seconds they had several gunning right for them.

Seeing this, Izuku couldn't help the thrill of pride at his chest. He twisted to face them, finding two 1-pointers coming close in a whirl metal, and a 2-pointer not that far off.

"But… These things aren't programmed to look after themselves!" He aimed at the nearing bots, hardly having to give it much effort with how open they left themselves. "Shoot!"

Denki, having watched the bots near, had regained some of the old tremble. But he was cognizant enough to at least remember his one task. "R-Right!"

Grip tightening, sent a few hundred volts into the wires. A rubber ball shot out of the gun on Izuku's shoulder, the boy fumbling due to the recoil. Ochako almost slipped from atop, but managed to hug the metal closer before she could.

As for the shot, it bashed right into the 1-pointer, snapping its head back, nearly breaking it. Wires uncurled from its neck, and the bot crumbled onto the ground as the ball bounded off out of view.

"Woah, score!" Denki said.

Izuku nudged the gun a bit, aiming for the other one before it thought to shoot at them. "Again! Shoot!"

A couple kilometers away, the U.A. faculty watched on in an attentive silence broken only by muted whispers. Before them hung several screens, one for each city replica, shining light upon the otherwise darkened room. They all made sure to give equal attention to each—something worth watching was constantly happening at each of the exam locations—but all at once one of these screens accumulated a good round of chatter.

"Look at those three…"

"Haven't seen anyone try that before, that's for sure."

"Is that even allowed?"

"It probably shouldn't be, right?"

"I don't see why not…"

"Wait, so who gets the points?"

Within the crowd, Toshinori Yagi had to stop himself from buffing up at the sight. Instead, he drew up a wicked smirk, watching on as the very boy he trained shot through the exam, robot after robot falling to a gun far larger than anything any normal fourteen-year-old should've been capable of carrying. It surely had something to do with the kid's allies, but he was certain, without any real evidence, that those allies hadn't been the ones to come up with such an idea.

He'd seen the way Izuku had earned points before this stunt. Though he shouldn't have been, Yagi couldn't help but feel some favoritism, though he'd never admit that out loud to his peers. But this was beyond even his expectations.

You're doing your part, he thought, looking around as the other teachers argued amongst themselves, now it's my turn.

The 2-pointer fell, one of its legs blown clean off. It was still active, but a leg down, it couldn't exactly move.

"Nice shot!" Ochako said. The shake of the gun underneath her irritated her ankle, and she had to bite back the gasp which almost followed. "T-That's 9 points!"

"Alright!" Denki said. "Let's get another 10, then!"

"Half a minute left," Izuku said, eyes swiveling about. "And we're running out of targets!"

"Don't think about it!"

Izuku knew Denki was right, even if it was hard for him to admit it. At this point, there was nothing left to do but to accumulate as many points as possible. There weren't many 2-pointers left, and what 1-pointers there were seemed busy with other applicants already. Izuku had avoided stealing points from others, always targeting bots who seemed unclaimed, so to speak, but with the clock ticking down he was starting to rethink this silent decision.

They might resent him for it, but there wasn't an official rule against defeating robots who were already in the middle of a fight. Plus, he'd seen plenty of point stealing from everyone else. If they could do it, why shouldn't he?

Just as Izuku made his choice, aiming his launcher at a robot caught between two other applicants, shake from the ground nearly made him drop it altogether. A metallic roar, high pitched and ear-splitting, split through the air.

"It's back!"

Cursing, Izuku turned to see the 0-pointer looming over them once more.

"Oh great," Denki said, voice shaking, "just what we need! Let's get out of here!"

Everyone else was already following his advice, running in the other direction, some finishing off the bots they'd been facing, others abandoning the fight altogether.

As the 0-pointer neared, crushing concrete and fences and whatever else was in its way, Izuku made to do the same. But in that moment, as he now always seemed to, he heard a groan of effort. Turning to his right, he saw Aoyama Yuga of all people. Far behind everyone else, the flamboyant guy held his stomach, walking slowly away from the coming disaster, weaving between falling rubble. Some kind of drawback from his quirk?

All the while, the 0-pointer neared behind them.

For an instant, Izuku thought about not helping him. He was still nine points down from his goal. He knew that the chances of anyone getting seriously injured were extremely low. The bots were programmed to attack, but not to kill. There was no need for him to sacrifice everything just to save someone whose life wasn't even in danger.

Yet he still stopped. It was beyond his control.

"What are you doing?!" Denki said, pulling on the wires.

Izuku aimed the gun one final time, straight at Yuga. The boy wasn't moving quickly, but he was still moving. But at this point, Izuku had gotten enough practice to account for that.

"Shoot!" he said.

"Are you crazy?! We gotta get outta here!"

The 0-pointer's bulk came ever closer, each turn of its giant, tank-like wheels rumbling the ground beneath.

"Shoot!" he said again, and this time Denki's hands sparked, if only from frustrated terror.

The rubber ball shot out, heading right for Yuga…

… and it missed.

"Shit!" Izuku put down the gun altogether, head looking up at Ochako. "Uraraka-san! Get down!"

In a hurry, the girl slid out from the missile launcher, straight into Izuku's arms. Without much ceremony Izuku then dropped her on Denki's arms, the electric boy letting go of the wires in his shock.

"Get her out of here!" Izuku said, voice struggling to rise over the sound of the coming earthquake. "And Uraraka-san, when I tell you, deactivate your quirk!"

Both of them looked at him as if he were insane, and if Izuku could've looked at himself he might have agreed. His eyes were wide and pupils shrunk, giving him the appearance of a wild animal. His hair, curly and out of control as it always was, now seemed ever fuzzier, as if Denki's voltage had flowed through the wires into the un and up against his own self.

"Go!" he said, and in equal fear of the 0-pointer and him, they went.

Without another word, Izuku bent to pick up the gun again. Without Ochako lying atop it, the thing rose without issue. He extended his arms beneath it, like holding a lance, and looking up at the 0-pointer, planted a strong step forward and threw the whole launcher up at it.

That done, he turned and, not bothering to look back, dashed straight for Yuga's slowing form. "Now!" he said, and to his relief he heard a great bang of metal somewhere high above him.

Had he bothered to look, as Denki and Ochako and many other applicants did, he would've seen the launcher smack straight into the 0-pointer's face, it's returned weight bouncing off only after leaving a rather sizeable dent. Not enough to destroy it or even to incapacitate it, but to his luck the robot had been in the middle of a somewhat complex maneuver, leaning against one of the buildings to carry its great weight faster down the street after them. When the launcher hit it, the 0-pointer lost its balance, and fell entirely against the building, crushing it almost entirely in a great plume of dust, steel, and broken glass.

Izuku didn't see any of this. Instead, he focused on Yuga, who had by now stopped entirely, bent over in apparent pain. He tackled the other boy, sending them both tumbling down, and as the wave of dust came upon them, Izuku used his own body to cover them both. He curled around Yuga, back against the tremor, and was soon enshrouded by a wash of destruction which thankfully only left behind a few scratches.

Coughing, Izuku tried at opening his eyes. He had to keep them narrowed, barely seeing past his own eyelashes, but he managed to at least make out Uga's shape.

"Aoyama-san, are you okay?" he asked.

All he heard was a low groan, then a warble of words he couldn't quite understand. Something about twinkling inside a cloud, but just as Izuku made to lean closer so as to better hear, a much louder voice boomed over everything else.

"THE TEST IS OVEEERRRRR!"

The other boy kept groaning, but Izuku's head rung with the words. The test was over. As the dust settled, and as his two spontaneous allies neared, those words kept repeating in his thoughts, over and over, along with the amount of points he'd ended with. A mere 21.

21 points.

"Midoriya-kun?"

Izuku raised his head, seeing Ochako looming over him, hanging from Denki's shoulder. Her smile was strained, and something in his own expression must've straightened her lips further.

Looking around, Izuku found that all the other applicants seemed as lost as him. The adrenaline of the moment faded fast, and some slumped onto their knees in exhaustion, while others cheered and gloated over their efforts. Many, however, could only stare dead-eyed, either at the ground or their own hands, likely realizing that for as much as they'd tried, it had all been for nothing. Only 20 percent of those taking the exam would pass, after all.

"Let's go back," Ochako said. She bent down, letting go of a somber Denki and balancing herself on Izuku's slack shoulder. "Come on."

Izuku saw through her, mind blank save for the echo of Present Mic in his head.

The test is over…

Something shifted under him. Looking down, Izuku's eyes met Yuga's, the two boys staring at each other. All at once, the blond grinned up at him, something sparkling out of his eye.

"Mon hero!"

Izuku bolted up at that. Slowly, the examinees made their way back to the entrance of the replica city. They moved in a mass toward the central tower, where they would be told that their results would be sent by mail in a week's time. Izuku said his farewells, to Ochako and Denki and even Yuga, who seemed to have developed some fondness for him. That, or the twinkling boy just needed someone to perform in front of.

On the ride home, Izuku was already thinking on his next step. He was thinking, and praying.

A week later, Izuku's phone buzzed.

He glanced at it, reading the name on the notification, then looked back at the his computer. Sighing, he took his pencil and wrote on the new notebook sat next to his keyboard, transcribing the text on his screen to the page.

Seijin High School

Pros:

• Close to home

• No practical exam

• Martial arts program

Cons:

• Practical exam – starts next year

• Suspiciously high acceptance rate

• Some kind of ninja gimmick?

"I'd have to get a part-time job too…" Izuku muttered, unsure where such a thing should go. The need for funds was a con at face value, but maybe the high price meant the school had a good enough program to justify it? In that case, it would count as a pro. And maybe getting a part time job would help him grow in other ways.

Not every school can get completely subsidized by the government… Giving it some thought, he allowed himself to express some of the bitterness hanging over him.

Seijin High School

Pros:

• Close to home

• No practical exam

• Martial arts program

Cons:

• Practical exam – starts next year

• Suspiciously high acceptance rate

• Some kind of ninja gimmick?

• Not free

With another sigh, Izuku put the pen down. He reached for his phone and swiped it open. Three messages. He opened them up.

MVP: Bro I got in (•_•) ( •_•)⌐■-■ (⌐■_■) hbu?

Denki had been a shoe-in, of course. Izuku was happy for the guy, but didn't know how to respond without bringing the mood down. He decided to ignore it for now. The next message was a bit less direct.

Prince3: My twinkle has brightened!

Izuku ignored this one too. He felt kind of bad, since Yuga had been the one to text him most out of all the new friends he'd made, even if he'd been sort of forced to take the number. Still, it wasn't like Izuku responded very often to begin with. It was hard to—the twinkle boy didn't seem capable of holding a normal conversation, not that Izuku could really judge considering his own social failings.

The last one was a bit harder to brush off.

floatygirl: hey did u get your letter yet :o

A direct question. After some hesitation, Izuku went ahead and typed something back.

CurlyHair: Not yet. Did you get in?

He set his phone back down on the desk, leaning back on his chair. To his surprise, another buzz came in short order. Izuku started forward, snatching his phone back.

floatygirl: Actually idk if I should tell u or leave it a surprise …

Frowning, Izuku typed away.

Curlyhair: It's ok, I'm happy if you did

floatygirl: then… Yes! But Mido u should know there's a trick to it

His frown deepened. Izuku was just about to ask what she was talking about when he heard a knock on the door.

"Izuku!"

The boy stood up from his chair, wlaking over to the door. When he opened it, he found his mother on the other side, her cheeks flushed, and an envelope in her hands. On it, in red wax, was the symbol of U.A. High School.

"It came!" his mother said. She held the envelope out to him. "It's here! It's here, honey!"

Looking at it, Izuku couldn't help the sudden churning of his stomach. He took the envelope with shaky a hand, staring down at it. His mother watched him, hands now on her heart.

"Do you need me to open it with you?" she asked, somehow more fidgety than him. "D-Do you want me to?"

"I… I think it'd be best to do it on my own, mom…"

He watched her face fall, but couldn't bring himself to do otherwise. The last thing he needed was to get rejected by the top school in the country right in front of his mom, the very same who'd finally accepted his hopes of becoming a hero.

"I'll tell you what happens after," he said, trying for a smile. It seemed to work, as her own wobbly smile shone in return.

He closed the door, and even as he walked over to his bed, he could hear the sounds of her pacing just outside. Shaking his head Izuku sat down on the mattress, staring down at the letter which would decide his destiny.

On his desk, his phone buzzed again, though this time he was too distracted to notice. Minutes later, he would check to see that Ochako had messaged him once again, this time to tell him all about the rescue points that U.A.'s exam judges dealt out. She herself received ten for the odd person she'd helped during those fated ten minutes. Izuku would later find out that even Denki had gotten five.

As he would later find out, Izuku got twenty, bringing his total to 41 points, or 31st place out of all the applicants. All Might would tell him all this in the letter, a bombastic holographic message which brought more tears to his eyes than anything else had in all the ten months Izuku had spent training.

And that very night, he and his mother would order his new high school uniform. Red, white, and blue, the colors of U.A. High School.

From Notebook #14:

Uraraka Ochako

Quirk: Zero Gravity

Allows user to nullify the effects of gravity on solid objects by touching them with the pads on her fingertips. Cancelled when user touches her finger pads together.

Applications:

• Restraint: Enemies made to float will likely be incapable of resistance, making them easy targets for capture (or other means of defeat).

• Fall damage: Enemies made to float can be made to fall from a great height once user cancels her quirk. Depending on the height, could lead to broken bones or death.

• Weightlessness: User can make otherwise heavy objects weightless, allowing herself or her allies to carry it up. Perfect for rescue operations or easing the use of heavy equipment.

• Projectile enhancement: User is capable of nullifying gravity for any object within her upper weight limit, throwing it, then cancelling her quirk. Thrown object would hold the same velocity added to its weight regardless of its size.

• Flight: User can make herself float for a limited amount of time. With the help of hero equipment, user might be able to propel herself in the air.

• Liquid flotation: User should theoretically be able to nullify the effects of gravity on liquids like water. Could prove an effective method of distraction.

Possible weaknesses:

• User has a weight limit which when exceeded makes her nauseous and liable to danger. User also becomes nauseous when making herself float for extended periods of time. It's possible this weight and time limit could increase with extensive practice.

• Enemies with a method of propulsion would be capable of mid-air movement even when under the effects of the user's quirk.

• The limited range of activation makes enemies quick or nimble enough to avoid the user's finger pads a serious danger.

Notes on the user:

• User seems moderately fit, though her quirk doesn't seem to require extreme physical abilities.

• User seems moderately familiar with the possible applications of her quirk, but seems to depend heavily on its most basic applications.

• User has no formal training in combat or self-defense. Direct attacks are predictable, particularly once her opponents know the activation requirements of her quirk.

• User seems to value cooperation even at the cost of her own immediate goals or needs. This is quite fitting, as her quirk lends itself to teamwork.

AN:

Thank you all for your support. Please keep reading, following, and telling me what you think.