Chapter 01: Unexpected Hitchhikers

"EAT THIS."

To say Izuku Midoriya was surprised would be an understatement as he looked at the hair in All Might's hand. He had just finished the {Aim to Pass: American Dream Plan} to get his body ready to receive All Might's quirk. The only thing his fatigued mind could offer up was...

"Huh?"

All Might awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "It really doesn't matter what it is as long as you take in my DNA." He stated as Izuku mentally screamed 'This isn't what I expected at all!'

'Then again, quirks are physical abilities. Still...' Izuku lamented the loss of his fantasy where he imagined a kingly All Might bestowing One for All to a kneeling Izuku in a knightly attire.

"Now, there's no time! You'll be late for the exam! Come, Come, Come!"

Izuku's scream echoed through the now pristine beach.

Izuku gasped for breath as he made it though UA's gate two hours later.

"I-I made it."

After getting his breath back, he joined the other kids heading for the school buildings.

'Considering I rushed all the way here, I didn't really get a chance to test out All Might's power.'

Izuku resisted the urge to throw up a bit as he remembered what was necessary to gain the power in the first place.

'I-I swallowed the hair but did I really receive All Might's quirk from that...?'

"Outta my way, Deku." A familiar growl interrupted his thoughts. Izuku turned around to see his bully, Katsuki Bakugo. He was fair skinned with spiky, pale blond hair and red eyes. His current mood was dark and moody. "Don't stand in front of me. I'll kill you."

"M-Morning! L-Let's both do our best…!" Izuku flinched in habit as Katsuki simply shouldered his way past him in silence. Around them, various students started to remember them from the Sludge Villain Incident.

"What a dick."

Izuku flinched again at the sudden voice he thought he heard, which sounded really close.

"You can't curse like that in a kid's head!"

"I'm just calling it like I see it."

After gathering his wits, Midoriya shook his head, suddenly purposeful.

'I'm different from before! Remember these past ten months!' His legs shook. 'Take the first step… to being a hero!' He stepped forward, resolute… and then promptly tripped over his own feet, heading face-first towards the pavement with a silly grin plastered on his face. 'This is it! This is how I die.'

"Is there a record for shortest One for All Wielder?"

"If he actually dies from this, there will be one."

"Guys! Seriously!"

Izuku's fall was promptly halted without warning. Tilted forward with his feet off the pavement as a girl with short, brown hair, brown eyes and pink cheeks casually held his backpack.

"Are you all right?" She asked innocently.

Izuku yelped, trying to peddle his feet back onto the ground until she calmly placed him down. He stared at her, shocked.

Placing her hands together apologetically, she gave a small smile. "It's my quirk. Sorry for using it without asking first. But it'll be bad luck if you fell, right?"

She looked up at the sky, smiling. "I'm just really nervous today. It's the same for you, isn't it?"

"Ah… Uh.."

She gave a comforting smile to the blushing Midoriya. "Let's do our best. See ya!" And just like that, she gave a small wave and walked off.

'I, I just talked to a girl!' Izuku's face had a heavy blush and dopey smile.

"Did he actually say anything?"

"Nope. Little Ninth here didn't give a name or get a name."

"First crush, huh?"

"Well, we are in a teenager for once."

"Dammit! I don't wanna go through puberty again!"

Izuku's head was really aching for some reason.

After finishing the objective and theoretical exams, meeting in the hall with Katsuki and other examinees (including the Voice Hero, Present Mic), All the examinees had gathered in front of their assigned Battle Centre. A Battle Centre consisting of multiple mini cities, connected to the main school grounds and surrounded by high walls and green grass.

"What is this?"

"It's like a city!"

"They have more than one of these on the school grounds?"

"U.A.'s amazing!"

Izuku himself was no different, gawking at the sheer magnitude of it.

"Imagine how much money they must have to build places like this."

"It sure wasn't like this when I schooled here."

For a while now, Izuku could have sworn that he was hearing invisible people speak directly to him. The voices were strange as they sounded simultaneously close; enough so that he imagine the voice's owner right at his shoulder, and far away; as if someone was yelling at him from a great distance.

Izuku, currently feeling intimidated by everyone else's confidence, looked around for a distraction, saw the brown haired girl from earlier.

'Ah, a nice and familiar face. I have to thank her for earlier.'

Suddenly, a hand gripped Izuku's shoulder as he headed in the girl's direction.

It was the stern-faced, glasses boy from the earlier lecture with Present Mic, causing Izuku to freeze in shock. 'He's here, too?'

"Oh my God, it's the asshole."

"I'm really not sensing any malice from him, like that Bakugo kid. But still..."

"There's a line between being strict and being a jerk."

The boy tilted his head. "That girl appears to be trying to focus. What are you doing here? Are you taking the entrance exam to interfere with everyone else?"

"N-N-No, of course not…" Izuku waved his hands as the other students around them began to mutter, noticing the commotion.

"That guy's the one who was about to trip in front of the school gates, right?"

"The one who winced after being called out."

"At the very least, we have one less rival to worry about, huh?"

"Lucky for us."

'I feel like the others think they lucked out because I'm here…' Izuku thought.

"Don't get depressed so easily, Little Ninth!"

"Okay, start!" Present Mic's voice cut through his thoughts.

Everyone froze, turning incredulously to face the viewing tower.

"What's wrong? There are no countdowns in real fights!" Present Mic rotated his arm, trying to urge the students into action. "Run, run! The die has been cast, you know!"

"Huh?" Izuku gawked, mouth agape, not noticing the area around him rapidly being emptied of students. Then he looked around. "Huh?!" The students raced towards the gates, leaving him in a wake of dust. "Huuuuh?!"

"I… I'm behind already!" Izuku screamed as he ran after them.

"Sneaky shits."

"I know it's realistic but, is it supposed to be like that?"

"Yes, if it was a Destroy Only mission."

"And even those are rare."

The building next to Izuku exploded, smoke billowing as a green robot burst through its walls with a mechanic whirr. Izuku reared back in shock. " A One Point!"

His yell, however, attracted the robot's attention. "Target acquired." It's wheels spun as it charged towards him. "I'll kill you!"

"Roll under the arm!"

"Jump! Duck!"

Its eye gleamed, lunging for him. Izuku clenched his eyes shut, helpless.

"Don't close your eyes at that!"

"Move, goddammit!"

Then, a beam of blue light shattered the robot, pieces flying.

"Thanks for distracting it!"

Izuku froze, staring at a blond boy with really expressive eyes, who stood languidly to his left, arms behind his head as a glowing laser on his stomach hummed. "A laser?"

"Merci! We made a good team. But…" He stage-whispered. "I don't think we'll meet again.

Stars flew as he winked ('Was that part of his quirk?') and then turned tail, running off. "Adieu!"

Izuku wilted. "We won't meet again…?"

Present Mic's voice rang out again. "Six minutes and two seconds left!"

Izuku yelped and went back to sprinting down the charcoaled street. "Oh no! Oh no!"

Smoking remains of robots lay here and there, evidence of the path of destruction the other kids had left behind.

"Points… I need points fast!"

He came to a stop as he reached the center of the training city, the other students already finishing up most of the fighting.

Izuku looked back and forth desperately, noticing the brown haired girl sprint between the ruins. "The nice person!"

The girl darted forward and touched the sides of four robots, causing them to float.

"Release!" She yelped, sweat dotting her face. They came down with a crash as she doubled over, huffing. "That's twenty-eight points…!"

Midoriya gawked. "What? Twenty-eight?"

With a whoosh, Izuku turned just in time to see the glasses boy as he used the engines on the back of his leg to kick through a robot. "Forty-five points!"

"Forty-five?!" Izuku gasped as the other students yelled their high numbers as they fought. 'The number of enemies is decreasing fast! Oh no!'

"Dude, you got noticed by All Might because you didn't hesitate. Don't think, just do. This is painful to watch."

A rumble spread throughout the battlefield, and suddenly a huge dust cloud exploded from between the buildings. The students hesitated, looking around in surprise at the interruption. A shadow covered Izuku as he looked up with a gasp.

A huge robot, the size of a skyscraper, was leaning over the buildings, peering between the streets.

"Holy shit!"

"Fly, you fool!"

Izuku flashbacked to Present Mic's explanation of the point's system, revealing the new robot to be worth zero points, created purely as an obstacle. 'Isn't it a little too big?'

The robot punched the street in front of it, sending a shockwave that blew back the screaming students.

Students ran past Izuku who had fallen onto his backside in shock. The tall boy with glasses noticed Izuku frozen to the spot as he ran past, but ignored him.

"This isn't funny! I have to run away! I'll get points as I run…" Izuku tried to crawl away as the immense fright in him seemed to have taken away feeling in his legs, "Shoot, shoot, shoot, I'm still at zero points!"

"Do you know that you're crawling right now, Little Ninth?"

"I could take that easily."

"That doesn't matter. What matters is Little Ninth can't take this. He has to run."

"Only two minutes left!" Present Mic yelled.

'It'll be wasted. Everything All Might gave to me… will be wasted!'

"Ow!" A new voice yelled as a crunch sounded out. Izuku hesitated, slowly turning to peer behind him. The brown haired girl was collapsed beneath some rubble, wincing as she tried to pull herself free. He could feel time slow down as Izuku watched her.

"Well, better her legs than her head at least."

"Dude, not funny."

"Damn, you don't think… You don't think anyone's been killed during these exams?"

Izuku looked pained, recalling her kind words from before.

With a yelp, he got to his feet and ran back to her as the robot advanced with a groan. Izuku's skin began to glow, tendrils of energy tracing it's way across his body as he sprinted.

"Woah woah woah. It's happening!"

"Is it normal for it work this fast?"

"The stress must have helped him digest quicker!"

Shuddering, Izuku briefly disappeared as he jumped upwards at astonishing speeds.

"HIS LEGS!"

"IS HE MAD?!"

Growling, Izuku clenched his fist as energy manifested out on his arm with a hiss, tearing the sleeve. He darted between the robots fingers to eye-level, recalling All Might's words of advice. 'Squeeze your buttocks…'

"IS HE AIMING TO WRECK HIS ARM TOO?!"

"Seventh, I can't believe your student actually passed those words on as instructions."

"I'm a woman! How do you think I feel hearing that?!"

'And yell this inside your heart…' Gritting his teeth, Izuku hurtled towards the robot's face, screaming.

"SMASH!"

"Nope."

Izuku felt a jolt as all the gathered energy in his arm dissipated and instead, a translucent, white aura burst around him.

"Ah!"

Izuku's body moved against his will, front flipping in place and shooting out a vicious dropkick. With a loud crash, the Zero Pointer reeled backwards, it's metal face caved inward with a flash of flame from the immense friction and power right at the point of contact, and the whole machine fell back, the head crumpling and breaking apart as explosions started to wreck havoc on its massive frame.

Izuku hovered in the air momentarily, a confused expression on his face. 'Just now, it felt like someone else just took over my body. Was All Might's quirk supposed to do that?'

"...First, what did you just do?"

KingVessel: I'm not stopping my other story, I just had this idea in my head and had to get it out. Please send feedback on it, dear readers.