Chapter 11
.:. The Heights Alliance .:.
Izuku thumbed through his notebook for the third time that night, though by the end of his second time through, his last-minute strategizing had turned into something more like listless skimming. He glanced at the clock then sighed, flipped the notebook shut, and turned off his desk light. It was earlier than he'd normally turn in, but tomorrow was a big day, and there was no point staying up late getting ready if he wasn't actually doing anything with the time.
Surprisingly enough, he reflected, he was probably more worried than if he'd been taking the exam a year earlier. Back then, he'd more or less taken it for granted that... well, not that he'd get in, but that if he really wanted it badly enough he'd get in, somehow. Ten months of hard training with Gran Torino, All Might, and Hachinose had thoroughly shown him just how laughably naive that idea had been.
Still, despite his worries, those same ten months had replaced that optimism with a much quieter, firmer sense of confidence and pride. While he was still on the lean side, he'd packed on a lot of muscle, enough that he was able to give Haichinose a real fight without either of their Quirks in play. He had Graft, an amazing Quirk that he got to call all his own, even if it was the sort of thing he'd need to be super careful with. And he had Crash, the Quirk his mom entrusted to him and that he'd spent so long working to turn into something he could use to help people.
He finished getting ready for bed and hopped under the sheets. Even with all the nervousness and excitement, sleep came sooner than he expected.
Izuku sucked a sharp breath in through his smile as he spun around, taking in the entrance of the UA campus. This was it, today was the day.
"Oi, Deku, outta the way! Watch where you're going!"
Izuku spun around one more time to see Kacchan stalking past him, some fascinating hybrid of cocky grin and death glare on his face. "R-right."
"So, you had the nerve to show up anyway, eh?" He shot Izuku a glance over his shoulder, and Izuku swore that smile looked just a little more dangerous. "Sure you don't wanna back out now and save yourself some embarrassment?" He barked out a laugh at his own comment and turned back towards the exam building, thankfully leaving before Izuku had to figure out how he was supposed to answer that.
Ever since he'd 'manifested' Crash, everyone at Aldera had started treating Izuku differently, and apparently Kacchan was no exception. Oh sure, he was still a jerk, still shouted at Izuku a lot, but it felt like he was getting shouted at the same way Kacchan shouted at everyone he could get away with mouthing off to (and a few people he couldn't). He'd even tried roping Izuku into a few of his competitions with Hachinose, though the fact that Izuku had mastered the art of making himself scarce years ago kept him from ever succeeding. He really wasn't sure what to make of that.
Izuku shook his head and slapped his cheeks a couple times to clear his thoughts. Kacchan wasn't what he needed to focus on right now. Today was about taking his first real step towards becoming a hero. With that in mind, he held his head high and began making his own way towards the building.
Five seconds later he kind of wished he'd held his head a little less high. If he had, maybe he would have noticed the bump in the pavement.
Halfway to his face hitting the ground, Izuku felt the tingling sensation that he'd learned to recognize as a Quirk being activated nearby, mixed together with a floating sensation that almost made it feel like he was underwater.
"Are you alright?"
He flailed for a second to try to see who was talking to him, which was a bit harder than he expected since he was floating a few centimeters off the ground and couldn't get his feet under him. Sure, he could probably move himself around with Crash, but he had a sneaking suspicion that putting craters in UA's campus might not be the best way to make a good impression. He didn't flail for long before someone put a hand on his shoulder and helped pull him back to Earth.
"It's my Quirk. Sorry for using it without asking, but it'd be bad luck if you fell, right?" The girl who'd helped him gave a soft smile and pressed her hands together, and he felt her Quirk end.
"It's no trouble, thanks for the save!" is what he meant to say. What came out instead was more along the lines of "Bwuh uh hm—Wait, do you have a telekinesis Quirk? That's so cool! My mom has one too, but it only works on things below a certain volume and pulls them towards her, but you can hold a whole person! How do you activate it? What are..." He trailed off as he realized he'd started rambling again. "That... was kind of rude of me, wasn't it?"
"Maybe a little," she chuckled, not seeming upset, "but it's fine. Anyways, we should get inside before we're late!"
"Right!" Izuku bobbed his head vigorously, and hurried inside after her along with all the other examinees.
The next five hours were full of tense silence and the furious scratch of pencils. When the proctors called for the end of the last written portion, the relief and anxiety felt palpable. After that everyone was given an hour break to stretch their legs, shake off some of their nerves, and grab lunch from UA's cafeteria. When the hour ended, Izuku joined the crowd that headed to the auditorium for the hero course hopefuls who'd be taking the practical exam.
While he waited for the presentation to start, he caught sight of the girl from earlier and offered a hesitant wave. He must have caught her attention, because she waved back and made her way over to where he was sitting. Izuku felt mildly frozen because he didn't expect her to actually come over and sit with him. Was he supposed to say something to her? How do you even talk to girls?
A few seconds later the lights in the auditorium dimmed, saving Izuku from the potential awkwardness, and a blond man in a leather jacket took the stage. "Welcome to the show, listeners!" Present Mic greeted them enthusiastically, voice filling the entire room. "Everybody say 'HEY'!"
Silence greeted him for the most part, along with a few awkward murmurs, while Izuku felt a buzz of excitement at seeing the Pro. He of course already knew all the teachers at UA were heroes, but seeing him in person was just so cool!
Mic shrugged off the lackluster response as he continued. "I'll quickly present to you all a rundown on the practical exam. As it says in the application requirements, you listeners will be conducting twenty-minute mock urban battles after this! Bring whatever you want with you! After the presentation, you'll be heading to the battle center specified on your examinee card, okay?"
He paused after that, but was once again met mostly with silence, and he huffed. "Seriously, nobody? Geez, you guys really are low energy. Anyway!" he continued. "You'll be facing down five different types of enemies during your battle! The first three are faux villains worth an increasing number of points based on their level of difficulty."
As he spoke, silhouettes of the villain robots popped up on the screen, marked with one, two, and three points. "Your goal, dear listeners, is to earn points by using your Quirks to immobilize these faux villains. You can also earn one point by helping another examinee immobilize a villain of any level. However, keep in mind that unless you make the final blow, you only get that one point, even if it's a three-pointer!"
"So they want us to cooperate...?" Izuku mumbled to himself, and could hear nearby people murmuring similar sentiments to each other. The chatter didn't last long though as Mic quickly barrelled on.
"The fourth enemy type," another silhouette appeared on the screen, "is worth zero points, and is just there as an added obstacle. There's only one in every battle center, and if you're smart, you'll just avoid it as much as you can. And then!" His voice took on a grander note, his grin somehow growing even wider as he raised his arms. "Last, but certainly not least, the fifth type of enemy you'll be facing will beeee... UA's very own teachers!"
Izuku managed to avoid going on a mumbling spree, but he was still one of several people in the audience who couldn't contain their gasps of surprise as the screen changed to show silhouettes of several Pro Heroes. This time the chatter was a lot more audible, the voices around him ranging from excited to worried and anxious.
"Stationed at each battle center will be several teachers playing the part of villain leaders. If you capture one of them or help another student do so, you'll score ten points! And unlike the robots, that means everyone involved gets ten points," he added, which only made the excited hum in the room grow louder. "Watch out though! Because these pros will be holding nothing back, and getting bogged down fighting them could cost you precious seconds and points! And of course, attacking other examinees or any other unheroic actions are prohibited!
"Well, that's just about all from me!" he declared. "I'll leave you listeners with one last present—our school motto! The hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said: 'A true hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes.' Go Beyond... Plus Ultra!"
This time, everyone did respond to him, their eager screams ringing through the entire room. "Plus Ultra!"
"Everybody go break a leg! Or maybe not. I don't want the school nurse on my case."
After that, everyone began filtering out of the auditorium to head to the buses. "Hey, where are you going?" the brown-haired girl asked, and Izuku glanced at the card he'd been given even though he'd probably committed its contents to memory by this point.
"Battle center A," he said, and she grinned.
"Me too! Do you want to maybe work together?" The question genuinely surprised him, making him startle and snap a wide-eyed look at her.
"Wh-what? Why?" He didn't mind, but they barely knew each other.
"Well, it's just I'm kinda nervous?" she admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "I mean, I want to be a rescue hero, so while I know my Quirk can probably do fine against robots, going up against them still makes me feel nervous. Especially since Present Mic mentioned we'd be going up against heroes." She briefly grimaced at that, and Izuku could certainly relate. Even after meeting Gran Torino and All Might on a regular basis, the idea of potentially fighting Pro Heroes made his stomach flip.
"I don't mind," he said. "I'd feel better having someone on my side too. But why me? You don't even know my Quirk, or uh, my name..." He trailed off as he realized they hadn't even introduced themselves.
"Right, I guess we forgot that part," she said. "My name's Uraraka Ochako! And you're Deku-kun, right?" She said it so cheerfully that Izuku almost didn't die a little inside.
"Um, no?" he squeaked, and her smile faded.
"Huh? But, that guy back there..." She trailed off, and only then did Izuku remember that Kacchan had called him that.
"Oh, uh, that's not actually my name," he said awkwardly. "My name's Midoriya Izuku. It's just a nickname from, uh, reading the kanji in my name differently. I don't really like it that much." He shrugged, not really feeling up to explaining the full history behind it.
"Really?" She looked interested. "And here I thought it was kinda like a play on 'Dekiru,' like 'you can do it'! It sounds kinda cool to me!" Izuku perked up in surprise, nearly bowled over by the last part. She thought it was cool? Really? Uraraka didn't look like she was lying or setting up to insult him further by lowering his guard.
She just... genuinely liked it?
In his minor state of shock he found himself nodding. "I-I mean, if you put it like that, I don't think I mind you using it then. So, um, nice to meet you, Uraraka-san."
"Nice to meet you too, Deku!" She beamed at him before getting serious. "And now that we've got introductions out of the way, back to the team-up! I don't know your Quirk, but you seem pretty nice which is a big plus. But also, all those questions you asked about my Quirk make you sound really smart! You must know a lot about Quirks, right?" Izuku stiffened as she pressed him, but then nodded sheepishly.
"Yeah, I do. Quirk analysis is kind of my hobby. I'm really sorry again if those questions were creepy..."
"No, don't apologize!" Uraraka admonished him, much to his surprise. "I don't know much about the teachers at UA! I didn't do any research on them before the exam because I didn't want to get too excited if I ended up failing! So I'll feel way better if I'm with someone who can help figure out their Quirks!"
Izuku could relate to that. He hadn't bothered looking up who worked at UA since last year, and even then UA didn't publicize all of its teachers. Though he'd probably be able to recognize most of the Pro Heroes on the spot anyway. Still, having someone else on his side would be a huge relief. "Alright, sounds good to me," he agreed.
"Thank you so much," Uraraka said with a bright smile. By that point they'd reached the buses, and they fell silent until they climbed aboard and claimed a bench. Only then did she turn to him and restart the conversation. "So, uh, what is your Quirk, anyway?" she asked sheepishly.
"Oh, it's called Crash. Basically, I can launch myself around like a cannonball. My body's also got a kind of force field that gets stronger the faster I'm going, so it protects me from getting hurt too badly. And also uh, breaks stuff," he added with a sheepish laugh. "We named it 'Crash' for a reason." Her eyes widened at that.
"Does it protect you from fall damage?" she asked excitedly, and he nodded.
"Y-yeah, partly anyway. Past a certain point there's diminishing returns. I haven't tested it too much, but I probably wouldn't handle something like terminal velocity much better than everyone else."
He could practically see the gears turning in her mind. "So... what if I drop you from really high up?" she asked, and then held up her hands to show off the pink pads on her fingertips. "My Quirk's called Zero Gravity. Basically, I can make stuff I touch weightless and float until I release it." Izuku perked up at that, eyes shining with curiosity.
"Oh, so it's not telekinesis? That's really neat! Do you have a range on how high you can lift stuff? What about weight? Can you use it on yourself—and I'm doing it again," he realized with a groan. He slouched in his seat, and Uraraka looked like she was trying to hold back laughter.
"You really do like analyzing Quirks, don't you?" she snickered. "It's okay, really! And um, to answer all that, I can float people and construction equipment for a bit, but bigger stuff takes more energy. And I can't use it on myself for long without getting nauseous. But!" She perked up, a fire in her eyes. "I could definitely float you up to two stories and drop you from there!"
Izuku thought over it for a second. "From that height, I'd... probably be fine? I've never tested it with falling from on top of a building or anything, but I've managed to charge along the ground for a similar distance to two stories. But..." He frowned then, something occurring to him. "There's a cooldown to my propulsion, so I haven't really had the chance to try moving myself around in midair without something to brace off of yet. If you were just floating and dropping me, I'm not sure how good my aim would be."
"Oh..." Uraraka frowned too. "We could try it from a short height first?"
"Uh, excuse me?" They both startled at a voice to their left, and they looked over to see a boy in the seat on the opposite side of the aisle twisted to look at them. He had spiky brown hair and wide-set eyes, and his grin seemed a lot friendlier than Kacchans's. "Sorry for cutting in like this, but I overheard you two, and I think I might be able to help?"
"You overheard us?" Izuku asked, and the other boy chuckled.
"Yeah. Not in a creepy way!" he added quickly. His smile became a little more awkward now, probably because he realized he'd been eavesdropping. "This part of the bus is just kinda quiet because everyone's... concentrating, I think?" Izuku glanced around at that, and sure enough most of the other examinees in the nearest rows had looks of intense concentration as they stared forward, probably trying to figure out their own strategies.
"Okay, but so you think you can help?" Uraraka asked, and the boy nodded.
"Yeah. My Quirk's called Solid Air."
Izuku sat a little straighter at the name. "Oh! Does that mean you can solidify the air and make platforms and stuff like that?"
"Yeah, exactly!" the boy confirmed with a nod. "Not gonna lie, I was kinda anxious about how well it could work against robots. But I heard that strategy about you crashing into stuff from way up high, so if we all team up, maybe, uh..." He trailed off. "Uh, sorry, but I just realized I don't know your names?"
"Oh! I'm Uraraka Ochako!" Uraraka beamed at him.
"And I'm Midoriya Izuku," Izuku added.
"Great! My name's Tsuburaba Kosei!" Tsuburaba grinned before continuing, "Anyways, so I heard that part about Midoriya dropping down onto robots, and so maybe Uraraka could float us both up high, and I can make a platform for him to jump off of?" He shrugged. "I was kinda planning to drop stuff on robots from really high, but I can't really make anything like stairs yet so I was thinking of finding a building with rooftop access and go from there. Having you float me up would make it way faster."
The suggestion definitely had merit. Izuku couldn't guarantee that Crash would work if he just fell, so this would negate some of his larger concerns. He also had another idea from Tsuburaba's initial plan. "If you can use your Quirk to make platforms, Uraraka can float herself higher than her usual limit," he mumbled. "Then you two can both drop stuff on robots from high up, so you'll get more than one cooperation point for yourselves, too. If it's just me using Crash the whole time I'd be the one racking up the most points, so this would let you guys get more than just cooperation points."
"And this could totally let us get the drop on teachers, too!" Uraraka added, an almost vicious grin on her face. "I can float us all super high, and then we can just scout teachers from the air!"
"Yeah!" Tsuburaba bobbed his head eagerly, his own grin growing even wider. "We can totally ambush them and they'll never see it coming!" As the pair flashed each other near-matching looks of determination, it occurred to Izuku he'd found two very competitive people to team up with. Maybe that should intimidate him but instead his anxiety about the exam faded, just a little bit.
With these two at his side, he had a feeling he'd do fine.
It only took about five minutes for Izuku's thoughts to prove correct.
"Well, that trio in Exam Site A is doing well," Midnight commented with a coy smirk. On one of the many screens in the control room, the trio of Midoriya Izuku, Uraraka Ochako and Tsuburaba Kosei could be seen wreaking havoc on the robots. Even as she spoke, the green-haired boy dove off another invisible platform to crash into one of the three-pointer robots, eliciting a low whistle from her. "2234 is just demolishing them."
"2234, 1217 and 0133 are all from different prefectures, so they almost certainly didn't know each other beforehand," Nedzu remarked as they observed the carnage. "They must have come up with the strategy while heading over."
"Well, that's a definite point in their favor," Ectoplasm murmured, marking something on his clipboard. Midnight leaned over to him with a smirk.
"Think they'll go after one of your clones soon?"
"At this rate? Probably." Ectoplasm had distributed his clones across each testing site as "villains," since he could produce up to thirty-six clones at a time on good days. Controlling such a large numbers could be challenging, but given that they each commanded a decent number of robots, they didn't engage directly in combat too much. Today he'd produced a total of thirty clones to make management easier.
The door opened and Present Mic strolled in, having just returned from the nearest exam sites. "I'm back! Did I miss anything?"
"Senpai, be quiet!" Thirteen admonished with a harsh shush, gesturing to a yellow lump on the floor and adding, "Eraser's sleeping!"
There was a brief pause as everyone turned to look at the yellow sleeping bag in the corner of the room. Then, they burst out laughing. Midnight and Mic almost doubled over, and even Ectoplasm and Nedzu chuckled. Given the light snickering audible from beneath their helmet, clearly Thirteen found it funny too.
"Oh man, you guys still haven't woken him up yet?" Mic asked as his laughter tapered off.
"We tried, but it's Aizawa," Midnight replied, her eye roll audible in her voice. "You're the only one who can ever wake him up these days."
"At least he doesn't try to kick the poor man," Recovery Girl huffed, and Midnight raised her hands defensively.
"I said I was sorry!" she protested while Hizashi strolled over to the sleeping bag. Everyone promptly covered their ears as Mic grabbed the slumbering hero's shoulders, taking a deep breath.
"ERASER!" he screamed, voice only slightly enhanced with his Quirk. "WAKE UP! RISE AND SHINE! IT'S TIME TO—gh!" He cut off abruptly as Aizawa's eyes snapped open glowing bright red, erasing his Quirk and silencing him.
"I'm awake," he growled sharply, and his hair fell down as his eyes lost their red sheen and he rubbed at them. "Did the exam start yet?"
"Yes, we just hit the five minute mark!" Nedzu confirmed cheerfully. "So far the exam has been rather average, all things considered—ah, look at that. Another of Ectoplasm's clones was destroyed in Site C." Everyone glanced at the monitors to see a boy with silver hair and matching shiny skin and a girl with orange hair and one giant fist cheering as they exchanged a high five.
"That makes two down in that site," Ectoplasm commented. "Someone else got another one there about a minute ago. A boy with some kind of tape Quirk managed to completely ensnare it. It managed to escape, but a girl with a frog mutation tackled it to the ground from behind. Ground which was covered in purple orbs that stuck to its body."
That got a low whistle from Mic. "Guessing you couldn't remove them?"
"No. I couldn't shake them off, and they stuck to my limbs so I couldn't do much. You can see it on that screen over there." He nodded to one of the screens where his clone had been pinned to a wall with the purple orbs lining its joints. The clone didn't even bother struggling, having already deemed escape a futile effort.
"That looks like a successful apprehension to me," Thirteen declared.
"And it's a nonlethal takedown," Aizawa added with a nod of approval. "Most of these brats focus on force. That group's good. They already split up, though, so it must've been a lucky combo than actually planned." The others nodded in agreement, but then paused as the screens showing the trio suddenly flickered, along with several others from Site C.
All at once the jovial mood vanished, everyone more alert and on edge. "Uh, bossman?" Mic asked. "What's going on?" Nedzu was already typing away rapidly on his personal computer, filtering through the list of examinees for Site C. He opened one profile and gave a soft "aha!"
"Just as I thought, Examinee 1048 in Site C has an electromagnetic interference Quirk," he declared. "Most likely, he pushed its limits while using it on a robot, and it caused interference on the cameras as well. I had considered this a possibility when reviewing the application and made note of it." The teachers relaxed a bit at the explanation. Exam applicants' Quirks had interfered with the cameras in the past, so this was nothing new. As long as it wasn't a villain, they saw no reason to worry.
However, while most of the tension faded, Ectoplasm suddenly went stiff and sat straighter in his chair. The sudden shift had the tension returning tenfold, all eyes snapping towards him. "Nedzu," he said sharply. "One of the remaining clones in Site C just tried to command a robot with the remote, and it didn't respond."
There was a sharp intake of breath from a few of the others. "It messed with the remote?" Midnight asked, and Ectoplasm nodded.
"Not just that remote. None of the remaining clones in Site C have their remotes responding, either."
"So what, the robots are just standing there doing nothing?" Present Mic asked, but beside him Aizawa tensed, eyes going wide.
"...No, they're not," he said, voice rising with mild alarm, and everyone immediately followed his gaze just in time to see a three-pointer fling a hair-covered boy through the corner of a building.
Wall Casualty Tally: 5
What better way to end the last chapter of 2020 than with robots going on a murderous rampage?
See you in 2021!