Chapter 3:
When Izuku first arrives at the U.A entrance exam, what really startles him, honestly, isn't the size of the building; or the realization that this is "it". The "make it or break it" exam that can tell him truly if he can become a Hero or if he's a kid with dreams too big for his shoulders.
What startles him, honestly, is how very *many* people are here.
Just eyeballing the headcount there must be upwards of six hundred students here. And out of those six hundred only forty spots are open for the hero course. Forty.
Less than ten percent.
All of them had quirks.
He forced himself to take deep, slow breaths, forces himself to calm down and keep calm.
He remembered everything he did with Torino. All the progress he's made. He's more fit now than he's ever been, and before he could fight Bakugou and beat him. Bakugou, the best fighter in the school with one of the strongest quirks.
True, in recent years Bakugou's been beating him more and more, even without his quirk, like he had something to prove. But he could still hold his own.
He can do this… he knows he can do this.
"If you want it hard enough, work hard enough and chase your dream, whatever that may be, then there's no force on earth that can stop you."
All Might had told him that so very long ago… and All Might wasn't a liar.
He marches forward.
And doesn't trip.
(X)(X)(X)
The written exam is easy, well… easier than he was expecting. He'd been preparing for this exam for so long and had built it up in his mind so much that almost anything short of some lovecraftian horror of the mind melting variety would have likely fallen short of his expectations.
He finished with time to spare, allowing his eyes to quietly wander the room, looking at the other students for signs as to what their quirks might be.
It was hard to tell what someone's quirk was by just physical appearance. But nervous tics was another matter entirely.
Bakugou for instance, let his hands twitch, little, barely there pops and cracks, or sometimes just sparks.
There was a brown haired girl just a seat or two in front of him, Izuku noted she always kept her pinky raised no matter what she touched. A lot of touch based quirk users did that to avoid activating them by accident.
There was another. A guy with spiky red hair. Fingers kept running through his hair, grinding his teeth, but the skin at the back of his neck kept shifting, something to do with his skin or maybe his bones or muscles?
There was a boy to his left, hair in two colors, the side closest to Izuku was cold, like the air conditioner was blowing into his arm. Temperature control?
There was also a tall, masked boy with very peculiar arms that reminded Izuku of a spider, with webs of skin between the limbs. Did it let him fly? How much could he move them? Control them?
The one person he didn't have to imagine what they did was a floating set of clothes. An invisible girl.
He was pretty sure he'd packed at least a little baby powder in his backpack just incase…
Finally, the timer went off and Present Mic (The Present Mic!) called for them all to put down their pencils.
There were more than a few hisses of quiet pain at the words and groans of dismayed frustration.
"Alright kids!" Mic hollered. "It's time for your practical!"
(X)(X)(X)
Despite Mic's proclamation the practical didn't start for another hour at least.
Mainly because all the students had to be sorted.
Six groups, all to be divided within the various battle zones and training grounds that made up the U.A. facilities. Split up enough so the groups wouldn't be able to interfere with each other. Izuku also noted just from the reactions of several people and Bakugou being called for Battle Zone Three and Izuku himself for Battle Zone Two that there was an effort to split up students from the same school.
Or at least he assumed so.
Was it to stop them from working together?
That seemed… kinda harsh.
Before he made it to one of the buses, Izuku forced himself to look and see and try to catalogue every single person in his battle group. He recognized very few
The only two he could remember were the very tall boy with the arms and the invisible girl, And she, he only recognized because it was the only explanation he had for a floating T shirt, and gym shorts, different clothes than she had before.
Wait… did that mean she had to be completely naked to really use her quirk?
That seemed… kinda dangerous actually.
Then the full implications of that hit him and Izuku could feel the heat on his own cheeks as he blushed.
Finally, everyone was loaded on the bus, and the machine lurched forward to head to the battle zone.
(X)(X)(X)
Robots.
They were up against robots.
Of all the potential scenarios, this was not one Izuku had expected. Nor had he prepared for it.
He'd been ready to face off against teachers, possibly heroes brought in for the exam, or even other students. Or just a straight physical fitness test.
He'd been ready for that.
Not for weapons of steel and wire and cables and nothing of flesh and blood.
For a moment, a brief, gut wrenching moment, Izuku almost felt like giving up, felt like it was beyond him.
Then he grit his teeth, anger, burning and ragged ripped through his chest.
No.
This was his dream. And if he reached for it nothing could stop him
Nothing was ever going to stop him!
It's just another quirk. Just another quirk. Something with durability and strength. But just a quirk.
Think on how to beat it.
You won't be able to fight your enemies head on. Use your wits
Gran Torino's voice bounced through his brain, pinging off the walls of his skull.
Izuku rushed forward as the buzzer went off indicating the start, his mind already abuzz with possibilities as he ran.
Movement. No matter how tough an armor there were places that had to be vulnerable. The joints were always one of them. The armor would be thin or non-existent for movement.
Machines had vulnerabilities too. Lots of them. They had no arteries, no organs, but they had oil, they had coolant, sensors. Target those.
He needed a weapon.
The answer came to him when the first robot was destroyed.
Some girl with red hair and big hands, crushed the machine, green metal breaking off in splinters.
The other students ran past it, the girl discarding her "kill".
Izuku sifted through the wreckage.
Broken armor plates, twisted metal.
Perfect.
Longer than he'd like, Izuku fished out a relatively straight pipe and a shard of jagged green plating, its broken frame fashioned into a decent enough point.
Pulling free his overshirt and, leaving himself in just a T shirt, he tied thepipe and the overshirt together, the quirkless boy then sprinted for all he was worth to try and catch up with the others.
Suddenly, those months and months of running with Gran Torino were paying off.
He all but shot past the group of students, each one struggling with individual one and two pointers.
Then, finally, there was one directly in front of him.
The thing with its gleaming, ruby red eyes turned to him and for a second Izuku froze.
Then the thing brought up its right arm, a big right hook like Bakugou used to open up with before Izuku taught him not to; the hard way.
And it was like the hammer of a gun slamming down the back of his skull.
He moved quickly, automatically, ducking under the blow and then looking over the exposed side.
Waist.
With a scream of what he could only call desperation Izuku jabbed the makeshift spear with all the strength he had.
The tip dug in, his shirt giving a small ripping sound, the cloth and spear giving just a bit before settling.
The machine groaned, trying to turn, the gears grinding together, stuck.
Izuiku brought his foot up and stomped straight down on the green armor plate blade.
With a sound of wrenching metal and snapping cables the inner workings gave way and *broke*, the machine toppled over, its ruby eyes shutting down.
Izuku breathed hard, more adrenaline than anything else.
He… he did it!
His smile was wide and bright, almost giddy really with blind elation.
He almost screamed in triumph then he stopped.
No. No. No time to celebrate. One point. That's all he had.
He needed a hell of a lot more.
He pulled at the spear, the pole giving out completely with torn cloth and he cursed before grabbing the thicker parts of the shirt still intact and using it to wrap around the blade. The important part.
Wrapping it tightly around the base Izuku fashioned an impromptu handle and even though it bit painfully into his palm, he didn't dare let it go.
(X)(X)(X)
The observation lounge was split up into several smaller observation sub stations, four to be precise. Two were for the second and Third year professors, there as supplemental observatories just in case anyone missed something, allowing those professors to give their opinions on the students at large.
The third was reserved for the Principal and any special guests invited to observe the proceedings. Seldom used but useful.
The last and most well equipped of the observation decks was reserved for the first year home room teachers. They were, after all, the ones that would have to effectively teach the students selected and it was best for them to know in advance what quirks they'd be dealing with.
Aizawa always made it a point to be there early, but a case had run late last night, which found him arriving much later than he'd like.
When the door hissed open his fellow teacher turned and greeted him with a genuine smile and a wave.
"Ahh, just in time dear Aizawa."
"Gentle." The underground hero greeted his counterpart with a languid, droll voice as he took his seat.
"What'd I miss?"
"Well, in Center four, Endeavor's boy, Shoto I believe is doing a grand ol job. Frankly he may not leave enough points to go around, as is another young woman. One, Yayorozu in Center six."
"What's she doing?"
"Lugging around a Mini gun and blowing everything away."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow.
"I see… anything else?"
"Not quite yet." Gentle shrugged. "Nothing is standing out to my eye quite like those two." The silver haired teacher said, tea-spoon clink clink clinking as he stirred the tea in his cup.
Aizawa sat back in his seat, crossing his arms and observing. "I'll watch Centers four through six. You take one through three."
"Right'o, ol' boy." Gentle hummed clicking a few screens and buttons on his panel.
(X)(X)(X)
Izuku was on his seventh bot, this one his first two pointer when something finally changed, broke his proverbial stride.
"LOOK OUT!"
The warning shout was shrill, coming from behind him he turned, in time to see a One point bot ready to pummel him, arm rising up when it was suddenly splashed with some grey goop that quickly began hissing and bubbling.
Acid.
He tore the jagged spike out of the Two pointer's neck joint turning as the One pointer that had been lumbering behind him rounded on the new attacker and brought its gun to bear on a pink haired girl.
It fired. Blue and red paintballs splattered against the broken concrete ground as the girl screamed, diving to get away to avoid outright elimination as Izuku ran up to the one pointer, clambering over its back to reach the delicate machinery housed there.
Forcing open a panel He jabbed the shiv in as hard as he could, receiving a jolt of electricity running up his arm for his efforts; cutting open his fingers and the ball of his palm for good measure.
The green haired boy hissed, gingerly reaching with his uninjured hand to pull free his weapon before jumping down the deactivated machine.
"Hey!" He shouted, running to where he last saw the girl. "Hey!? Are you alright?"
The pink skinned girl hissed on the ground, eyes clenched shut, teeth grit her hands gripped at her knee, pulling it to her chest.
"H-hey did you hurt yourself?" Izuku stumbled over his words, guilt welling up in his chest. She'd gotten hurt trying to help him?
The girl hissed. "Ankle. Think I twisted it."
Izuku knelt down. The normal sense of panic at his proximity to a girl nowhere to be found as he surveyed her leg.
There were no signs of injury, but when he touched her ankle the girl hissed and pulled away, definitely hurt.
"I… don't think it's broken." He felt like it was by far the most unhelpful thing he could have said.
The girl still tried to offer him a smile, though he could see the tears just leaking out of the corner of her eyes.
"Can you walk on it?"
He offered her a hand, helping to pull her to her feet, but the second she placed her injured foot down the grimace of pain cut through her features and she shook her head. "Ow ow ow ow ow!"
Izuku felt his heart stutter in his chest.
There's no way she'd be able to continue the exam like this…
(X)(X)(X)
"Good show ol boy!"
The words caught Aizawa's attention. Bringing his eyes to Gentle's screens. "What's up?"
"Battle zone two. No impressive powers to speak of but I do believe I've found two promising hopefuls. They have the spirit for this if nothing else.
Aizawa turned fully, eying the screens.
A green haired boy was helping a pink skinned girl navigate through the battle zone, she was limping, her arm over his shoulder and his other hand clutching what seemed to be a makeshift knife.
Aizawa saw a two pointer rush them. With a spray of what he could only assume to be acid, the girl splashed it over the two pointer's "eyes" the splash of grey hissing and eating away at the metal.
The boy let her go, leaving her standing/hopping on her undamaged leg before he rushed in, finishing the machine off with a thrust of that knife that punched through the weakened metal with ease before rushing back to help the girl again.
"I like these two." Gentle commented with a sip of his tea.
"Don't focus too much on them, watch for others." He commented, turning his eyes back to his own screens. He could watch in more detail later when they went over the playback.
At the speed they were moving they wouldn't be getting many points. But maybe their performance would warrant enough other points to pass.
Aizawa looked at his watch. "Think it's that time?"
He saw Gentle pull free his own pocket watch, clicking it open. "Indeed, ol' boy, Let's give 'em a what for."
Pinching his forehead, Aizawa sighed, "Gentle… You're not British."
(X)(X)(X)
"Greenie, your hands look really torn up! You sure you're ok?"
Izuku tried to smile at Mina, but given the circumstances he wasn't sure how well he managed. He'd already cut himself three times. Clean deep slices across his palm that bled profusely. His left hand he'd already cut once. His right hand twice. The red of his blood was staining the shiv that was helping him pass this exam. But there was no way he was letting it go, just like there was no way he was letting go of Mina.
He'd already run through the math in his head. At their pace there's no way they'd both get enough points to pass. Maybe one of them. Maybe. But there's no way he'd leave someone who got hurt trying to help him to fail while he kept going to pass. It wasn't right, and anyone who thought otherwise didn't deserve to be a Hero.
"Yeah. Don't worry." He tried again to smile through the pain. "It looks worse than it is. Promise."
She didn't look convinced. But thankfully she didn't press, if she did it'd become so much harder to keep the weapon in hand.
The cuts really really hurt.
The ground shook under their feet, and Izuku stopped beside Mina, the both of them looking at each other in startled curiosity
It shook again, and with a shattering of rock and concrete the whole world tilted.
Izuku screamed, Mina did too, leaving his ears ringing. A shadow loomed over them, blocking out the sun as soon as they got their feet firmly under them both teens turned to see the back end of the massive Zero Pointer.
"Holy crap!" Mina shrieked.
The massive machine panned its cyclopean eye across the battle zone, a blaring horn going off that sounded like a mechanical roar before Izuku saw it focus in their direction.
The green haired boy froze.
No…
No his luck couldn't be that-
It took a step towards them.
DAMNIT!
He didn't think he just moved, kneeling in front of Mina. "Get on! Get on Get on!" It was something between his rapid fire muttering and screaming. Luckily she was pretty fast on the update as well, jumping on his back, her weight nearly making him pitch forward before he hooked his arms under her legs and absolutely booked it.
All the running, jogging and endurance training with Sorahiko was paying off in dividends. He didn't dare look back over his shoulder as he rushed over destroyed rubble and remains of half destroyed robots.
The other students were also running, scattering like ants who's hill just got stepped on.
Mina clutched at his shoulders, a step from the zero pointer made the ground quake.
That sounded way too close.
His head turned this way and that way, searching for something, some way to get out.
His eyes found a half destroyed building.
Not exactly ideal, but with his legs burning and his lungs feeling like they were about to collapse in on themselves, he wasn't about to get picky.
Pivoting at a sharp turn he sprinted towards the building, hearing Mina's startled squeal behind him, her legs tightening around his waist almost painfully.
Ducking into the half collapsed rubble Izuku had his head on a swivel, searching for any part of the half destroyed rubble within that might seem a little safer, or at the very least a tad bit more comfortable than its neighbor.
When the ground quaked again, he took Mina and ducked into the smallest cubby hole he could safely shove them both into.
He finally sat down, trying to control his breathing in an almost futile effort as his heart pounded under his ribs and his muscle's burned with liquid fire.
He was being too loud, he damn well knew it, and apparently so did Mina, her hands coming up to clasp over his mouth. He was still breathing harshly through his nose, but it was hopefully, somewhat quieter.
They felt the rumble again, closer, much much closer and the both of them nervously sat in the dark little corner, praying that the zero pointer would just keep walking.
For a long, interminable moment, they didn't hear a sound.
Then another quaking rumble.
Further away.
They both sagged in relief, Mina's hands unclasping from their place over his mouth as they both sighed.
"Let's not do that again. Ok Greenie?"
Izuku nodded, head falling back to rest against the wall as he focused on catching his breath.
(X)(X)(X)
The days after the practical exam should have been… frankly; hell.
Given his performance, his lack of points, getting Mina hurt, Izuku knew he'd failed. He knew his dream of becoming a hero was much much farther today than it was before he'd stepped in to take that exam.
It should have been hell, a slow, rolling agony waking up every day waiting for the confirmation of what he already knew to be the case.
That he'd failed.
His hands were still stinging, bandages and daily wrappings became the new norm, his mother fretted and stinging iodine hissed across the cuts at least once every night until they finally scabbed over.
It should have been hell…
But it wasn't.
They didn't let it be 'hell'
And by 'They' he meant his mother, Sorahiko and Mina.
The girl had insisted on having his number. Stating with all the beaming confidence and sunshine bright smile of a girl who knew tomorrow would bring something better that he was her 'Test buddy'
She'd invited him to the arcade to hang out just two days after the exam. She'd introduced him to a friend of hers, Kirishima, the red head with the quirk on or under his skin that he'd noticed during the written exam.
He'd never had a girl's number before, and Izuku had almost felt like half of this must be some fever dream, like a two or three pointer had clubbed him over the head somewhere and he was spiralling into a comatose delusion in some hospital bed.
Sorahiko had called him the very next day and when Izuku tried to explain how poorly he'd done, the old man had just scoffed.
"So what? You gonna let some point system say what you can and can't do? Thought you had more grit than that kid. Anyway you ain't got time to mope and feel sorry for yourself. Eight AM sharp. We're starting a new round of calisthenics for ya."
Like the test didn't even matter. Like his failing was just a bump in the road and not a massive mountain to get around; maybe.
Before he even realized the week had passed; it had, and his mother was calling him as she stepped into the house.
"Izuku! Izuku!" He shot off the couch, rushing to the front door where his mom held out an envelope.
It was a small thing. Deceptively small. And it felt heavy when he took hold of it. He felt a ball of lead drop into his stomach when it fell into his hands.
At best… he was in the general course. At best.
From there, there were very few, if any paths left to the Hero course, or so he'd heard.
He didn't really remember entering his room, nor how long he stayed staring at the little envelope before he gathered what courage he could and shoved aside the nauseating, oily feeling pooling in his gut that wasn't quite fear and wasn't quite guilt before he shut his eyes and just ripped the thing open.
A small little disc fell onto his desk.
"Hello there!"
The projection was large, as large as Izuku, showing a white haired man with a mustache Izuku recognized.
"Hey… you're-"
"Professor Gentle, here at your service, young Izuku Midoriya. " The man smiled kindly. "I must say I was riveted, just riveted, by your performance in the exam, young man. Jolly good show."
Izuku blinked, staring at the flickering image.
"But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself aren't I, lets see your exam results shall we?"
The image disappeared, replaced by his test score.
"On the written exam your performance was exemplary young man, top marks all round! Fantastic work there."
It was good to hear. But not unexpected. He'd known near everything on that exam. He'd prepared for years to take it…
It was everything else he'd messed up in.
"Now for the other half, the practical. I'm afraid young Midoriya your performance here was not up to the standard of your written test my good boy. You only managed to achieve thirteen villain points. Not nearly enough to pass."
Gentle's voice at least sounded sorry for the fact, and it did help take out the sting a little bit from the words.
"But wait!"
Gentle's face suddenly splashed itself over the screen again, smirking with a mischievous twinkle in his eye that wouldn't be wholly amiss on the face of a villain.
"-what's that, I hear? Defeating villains is not the sole measure of a Hero's job, you say? By jove, I do believe you're right"
Izuku's heart skipped a beat, eyes snapping up to the hologram as Gentle chuckled.
"Aye, young man. There were other points we took to account we never told you about. After all. A Hero is not judged just by the people he defeats. But who he helps."
There was a splash of images, all of him and Mina, the two helping each other progress through the battle zone.
"I saw the whole thing my boy. How she helped you, how you refused to abandon her even though it was slowing your progress. Self sacrifice, helping others no matter what it costs you. That is a much truer measure of heroism than any mere villain take down."
Gentle smiled, snapping his fingers before more points appeared on the screen beside the villain points.
"For your actions in helping your fellow aspirant Izuku Midoriya, in selflessly aiding her so that she might have a hope of passing, and she helping you in turn- you have both been granted RESCUE POINTS! Adding to your total score!"
Izuku ran through the math in his head. Eyes darting between the villain points and the rescue points, brain stuttering and resetting before starting again as he almost refused to believe what he was seeing, what they were saying.
Gentle smiled.
"Good show, young man. Absolutely good show! It is my true pleasure to welcome you to your new Hero Academia. I'm sure you'll make us proud!"
His phone buzzed, he fumbled for it, lighting up the screen to see a text from Mina. He saw a lot of smiley faces so she must've passed too.
Izuku stood up, his chair hitting the floor behind him, a sense of palpable relief spread through his body from his chest like cold water over dried earth, and the tears sprang from his eyes.
He ran out of his room and the next thing he knew he was hugging his mother for all he was worth.
It'd be later that he realized that with his screaming and crying his mom thought he'd failed so she was screaming and crying too. It took them a while to get on the same page and start screaming and crying for the same reasons.
(X)(X)(X)
Before anyone gets too excited or dissapointed about an Izu/Mina ship, the reality is I haven't settled on a pairing, or even if there will be one. Mina is just a character I find suited my purposes more readily than Ochako or other girls. Hence she was thrust into the limelight here.
