Midoriya didn't pay much mind to the first couple of examinee's who walked in, beyond giving them polite greeting nods that most returned, eyeing his get up oddly before moving to their seats up above.
After a couple of minutes however, the first examinee who actually caught his attention was a… floating set of clothes. Specifically the common sailor style school outfit many girl's wore, with the blue skirt and white shirt.
It sat down next to he boy, before turning to him with a small feminine hum. "Hiya! I'm Tooru Hagakure, nice to meet ya."
"O-oh, hi!" he greeted, confidence quickly faltering. So it was invisible girl. A girl of his age. The one type of person he still struggled at times to talk with. "Um, I-Izuku Midoriya."
"That's an interesting outfit, I thought we had to wait to go into a changing room before we could swap out of our school uniforms?" She asked, presumably picking at the card in front of her with how it was twitching. A moment later she also let out a laugh. "And relax, I don't bite!"
"Uh, sorry. I'm uh… Just not used to interacting with other people is all." He admitted quietly, unaware that this had put a confused and somewhat saddened look on his conversational partners face. "I uh, don't go to a normal school, so I didn't have an outfit I specifically needed to come here in."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense!" Hagakure hummed as if satisfied, before leaning back in her seat. "Not going to lie, I'm like super nervous over all of this. Like probably more than most people…"
"H-huh? Why?" Midoriya asked, even though he had a solid guess at what the answer might be.
"Well, you can guess what my quirk is, right?" She asked as she gestured to her body, and he nodded. She let out a small sigh. "I mean I enjoy my invisibility and all, but it's not exactly flashy or powerful. I know the entrance exam involves fighting faux villains of some kind but I'm not exactly a strong physical fighter. I have a feeling I'm going to be outshined by a lot of more flashy quirks. I mean I might as well be quirkless when it comes to a physical fight."
"Ah, yeah I get that worry!" Midoriya said, laughing despite himself. Wanting to make sure the girl was in the right state of mind when she went in, he flashed her a bright smile. "But hey, if I can go in there and do my best to succeed than so can you! After all, you'll still have an advantage over me at least."
"Huh? How so?" The girl asked confused, and the quirkless boy showed her his wrist and the gadget attached. He normally didn't freely admit to being quirkless due to all the bad memories of what occurred when he did, but he was feeling good with the fact that he was exactly where he wanted to be right now and wanted to help, so he just let it slip.
"I'm quirkless." He said simply, and before the girl could say anything he moved his wrist closer so she could get a look at the wrist-shooter. "Genuinely, no powers at all but I'm still going to do my best with what I can do. If I can do that, then you should be able to do amazing!"
"I.. really?" She asked, looking to him presumably in shock. "You're.. you're quirkless and you're still doing this?"
"Mm-hm."
"That's so cool!" She suddenly gushed, causing him to blush a little as he rubbed the back of his head. "Still… aren't you worried? I doubt it's safe…"
"It's not safe normally either." The greenette pointed out patiently. It was a common thing even his teachers had been guilty of time for time, without even realizing. Everyone focused too much on the quirkless needing to be safe, when they were in danger themselves all the time. He didn't hold it against anyone but it was a bit annoying. "We're always going to be in danger, it's a part of a hero's job."
"Fair enough." She hummed, before sighing. "Still, not looking forward to this a lot even though I want in."
Looking around, he smirked for a moment before leaning in. "Well, don't tell anyone I told you but here's a little bit of information they always 'forget' to share. The robots we're fighting have off-switches near their heads, if you can just reach them. Count to your score and you don't need to destroy them."
"Uh, wait how do you know it's robots? And how do you-"
Suddenly the lights cut out as a spotlight came onto the front stage.
"HELLO LISTENERS!" Present Mic called out to them all, and so the explanation started. The exam was underway.
The greenette didn't fail to notice Bakugou never came in.
Midoriya stretched as he stared down the intimating gate he had stood before so many times in the past. Training city B.
He stood right near the back of the crowd, a random assortment of people before him. In amongst them was a brown haired girl who seemed to be doing her best to calm her nerves and a tall intimidating blue haired teen glaring out at everything before him.
Midoriya wasn't sure he liked the boy, who he'd already gotten a taste of the personality of when he interrupted Present Mic to deal with a non-issue that he apparently thought was 'shameful'. He was intense and also ended up berating the greenette over his attire.
That had certainly not done any good for Midoriya's opinion of this 'Tenya Iida' as he said he was called. Suddenly a disembodied voice talked into his ear.
"Nervous?" It was Hagakure, and he looked for the source but found nothing. "Right in front of you."
"Huh?" he looked forward and saw nothing, but a lightbulb went off in his head. "Oh, you can go fully invisible!"
"W-well kinda." She said with a nervous stutter, before her voice quietened. "I um.. I have to go fully naked to do this."
"…." ' has stopped responding. Please reboot and upgrade to windows fifteen.'
"Uh, hello?" She asked nervously, and he shook his head as a massive blush came across his face.
"Sorry, sorrysorrysorry! Was not expecting that answer." He said, hiding his face and an awkward laugh came from the girl.
"Yeah I get it. Weird doing it in front of a guy as well but only way to fully use it." She explained.
"Well, at least you have that trick." He muttered quietly, before turning to the gate. "And hopefully when we-"
"You, with the curly hair." A sudden harsh voice said and Midoriya cringed as he saw the blue haired teen approaching. 'Oh no…' "Others are trying to focus, it certainly would be easier if you stopped that incessant muttering. Is this exam just a joke to you?"
"Hey!" Hagakure suddenly butted in, before the greenette could defend himself. "Leave him alone, you jerk. We can talk if we want to!"
"Huh, who the-"
"AND BEGIN!"
Midoriya wondered if Present Mic was watching at that moment to have good enough timing to stop the argument. Either way he was off ahead of the other's as soon as it began, his instincts kicking in.
"WHAT ARE THE REST OF YOU WAITING FOR, THERE IS NO COUNTDOWN IN REAL FIGHTS!"
And suddenly a stampede was approaching him from behind but he lead the charge far enough ahead that he didn't have to worry about being trampled. It was all calm until he came up to a corner where two three-pointers came around the corner, one immediately moving to strike him.
Aizawa's voice came into his head. 'Use your enemies movements, their attacks and momentum against them. Turn their advantages into disadvantages.'
He jumped out the way as his fingers stretched, letting his claws unsheathe. He'd upgraded them the week before he came to take part, having the metal replaced with a metal strong enough to pierce through the robots casing. As it's arm got stuck, he jumped onto it's casing and slid over the head, flicking the switch on his way and leaping onto the next robot.
It aimed at him but before it could do anything his claws went straight into it's eyes, were he pierced straight through it's internal processor and caused it to shut down.
After that, he leapt off and took off into the nearby alley, watching from the shadows for any roaming robots, preferably two and three-pointers, to get the drop on.
This was how he continued for the next while, jumping out when he could and either tearing his claws into the robots, turning off their switches, melting or freezing their inner components. There was one more way he could fend off the bot's he wanted to try, and he finally got his chance as he saw a cluster of two and three pointers just waiting about.
He bolted forward, swinging his thunderball around and getting atop one of the three pointers before it could see him, before leaping off it onto the two pointer and bringing the thunderball down through it's head with all his strength, caving in the robot just enough that it started to freak out.
He jumped onto one of the remaining two pointers for safety, clawing it's eyes out. A beeping noise caught his attention and he turned to see one of the three pointers about to fire off a missile at him. It obviously wouldn't be something deadly but he knew it would hurt if it connected.
To his surprise however, it suddenly just stopped, dropping down. The two-pointer after followed suite and he quickly dealt with the second three-pointer himself before it reacted, throwing both his fists through it's eyes and letting the pressure activate his strongest voltage on his knuckledusters, shorting out the robot quickly.
He jumped off and looked around, seeing the robots had all been dealt with and smirked when he realized his saviour couldn't be seen. "Thanks, Hagakure."
"Aww, I was hoping I could leave you all confused and be all mysterious." She said with a pout that the greenette could practically hear, but she came up to him after a moment, as he was able to barely just sense her presence near him. "How are you doing for points?"
"Uh, think I'm at about twenty-seven now, including those we just took down." He said, and an impressed whistle escaped the invisible girl. "You?"
"Dang, that's awesome! And thirty-four but I really lucked out near the start, found a massive cluster who I thin might have been a little defective. All kept crashing into each other." She explained, as they both looked for any more opponents to take on.
"I'll talk to Powerloader about that later." He said simply, missing the confused noise that escaped Hagakure when he said that, as his eyes landed on another cluster near the end of the street. Two three-pointer and six two-pointers. "Hey, want to team up for a minute? We can both get into the lower end of the leader board I bet if we both take down a three-pointer and two two-pointers over there. You don't mind do you?"
"Nah! I know I'm not quirkless but like I said, sometime I might as well be so we gotta stick together." She said with an audible grin, hitting her fist into her palm (based of the noise of flesh hitting flesh). "Let's do this!"
"Then follow my lead!" The greenette instructed, bolting forward straight towards the robots. They turned as he approached and he gave a quick single behind him for the invisible girl to go around the side as he slid under a strike from one of the two-pointers, before aiming his wrist into one of its seams and freezing up the wires inside, causing it to slow down.
His attention turned to the next two-pointer which he quickly and gracefully clambered onto, puncturing it's metal skull with his claws and breaking it before jumping back to the previous two-pointer and putting it out of it's misery.
Much like before, the three-pointers took aim at him but this time he didn't hesitate to leap at one while the other suddenly shut down, indicating Hagakure had managed to make her way around and began picking her targets.
Izuku meanwhile dodged over the top of the missile barely, getting over it just before it launched and pushing his claws down hard into the robot.
He turned to see the last two-pointers aiming at him, and he leapt towards one as the other shut down, lifting up it's head and shooting fire onto the inside, shutting it down.
"That was so cool!" Hagakure gushed once they were finished, suddenly crashing into him and cauing his face to go a shade of red never before seen. 'ohgodherbreastsarepressingrightinotmeohgodhelphelphelphelp-"
"Oh, uh sorry! I just kinda like giving hugs when I get exicted. Should of asked first…"
"It-it's ok." He quickly waved away, looking away quickly to the sky. "Just give me a moment-"
A sudden rumbling and crashing noise quickly grabbed both their attention and he let out a heavy sigh.
"Crap. Forgot about that…"
"About what?" The invisible girl asked nervously, and the greenette just pointed to the nearby buildings where a robot as big as the skyscrapers around it began to peer out. "THAT'S THE ZERO POINTER?!"
"Yup." Midoriya nodded, remembering the tales he'd heard of it from Nejire and Mirio who had wanted to give him a heads up the week before. It was just as terrifying as one would expect, causing many students to bolt away, but Midoriya remained.
"OW!"
And his gaze was suddenly brought down to the brown haired girl he had seen before, whose leg had gotten caught under some of the rubble. He cursed under his breathe, quickly running forward. "HAGAKURE, COME ON PLEASE!"
"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" The disembodied voice shouted back but the sound of flesh smacking against cement made it clear she was keeping up with him. He winced a little with each impact, having to ditch her shoes to go fully invisible must be horrible for the soles of her feet.
They quickly reached the girl, and Midoriya sprayed the rock covering her with his ice spray before punching it hard with his knuckleduster, splitting it apart. "It's ok, we got you. We gotta move now though. "
"W-we?" The girl asked, somewhat dazed as Izuku lifted her up and suddenly Hagakure started to support her as well, quickly pulling her far along to the other side of the street.
"yeah, we. I'm Hagakure, he's Midoriya."
"Ura…raka."
"Nice to meet you, now let's get you away from that thing." Midoriya said, as they approached the end of the street. The good thing about the zero pointer is that it was slow as hell thanks to it's size, so they managed to quickly get the girl to safety.
He set her down on a rock, as Hagakure looked her over with confusion. "Why are we stopping? That thing's still there!"
"Yeah… yeah it is." Midoriya nodded, before suddenly beginning to walk back into the street slowly. "Look after Uraraka, I'll be right back."
It was gigantic. Looming above them all, it's power unrivalled by anyone in the exam. It was a truly terrifying villain, that would seem impossible to beat to even some of the most amazing pro's.
That was the idea behind it.
Izuku had inherited a lot from his teachers, at least in part. Midnight's combative grace, Aizawa's stealth abilities and some of his snark, Power loader's technical prowess, Ectoplasm and Snipe's skills with weaponry and he'd even gotten more intelligent by spending time with Nezu.
One thing they would all be saying right now though, even those who believed in him most would be to run. Instead, his feet planted firmly in the ground.
'I can't just be some random hero.'
If someone could do this too All Might then just being a hero wasn't enough. It didn't matter if he was quirkless, he was going to surpass every hero he'd ever seen somehow.
'I have to be the greatest hero I can possibly be, and that means I can't back down no matter what.'
Though they couldn't see it, Hagakure's eyes widened as she took in Izuku's gaze and realized what he was about to do.
"You… you're not going to…"
"Yep."
"ARE YOU INSANE?!"
He turned to her for a moment, and gave her a bright smile only he could.
"Certifiably!"
And with that, he took off into a sprint.
The zero-pointer let out something akin to a roar through it's voice box and Izuku's features hardened. 'I need to use everything I've learned if I want to stand a chance at this. Everything.'
A giant fist, the size of a house came barrelling towards him, and two terrified screams rang out from the girl's behind him as they it about to connect. He wasn't to be defeated that easily though, tearing his claws into it's metal shell and jumping, clinging on for dear life as his gloves served as anchor points.
He quickly climbed top side, and saw six red angry orbs glowing and glaring at him. He pulled out his claws and began running up the length of the arm as it began to lift. He didn't need to get all the way, just close enough.
The other arm lifted into the air, ready to swat him into a paste and he smirked, foot planting firmly into the panelling. The arm came down and he leaped into the open air at the last moment, while the robot tore its own arm off its hinge.
He began to descend but he managed to reach it's chest panelling just in time, forcing his claws into it barely in time to stop him from a long and painful fall, before he began his ascent.
"I won't let the size or power of a villain like you scare me away, now or ever." He said simply, more to himself then the robot. "I'll face you all down, because that's what a real hero would do, power or not! I may be quirkless…"
He finally reached the neck, and saw the robot struggling to figure out how to attack him as he got onto it's shoulder. Right near it's neck he saw it, and grinned wildly as he bolted forward, finding a seam where he knew a switch would be hidden.
His arm reached inside, and he pulled it down as he finished his thought. "...But I refuse to be powerless!"
The robots movements suddenly ceased, as the lights died and it shut down on the spot. His work wasn't done however, as he looked out over the arena, where very barely he could see people looking up, presumably in shock and confusion.
Now he just had to get down. He took a giant breathe, mentally preparing himself and looking to the nearby skyscraper. Mom, Dad and other Mom were going to kill him for this.
He took a running start and leapt at the building, putting up his arms and crashing straight through one of the windows a moment late, rolling across the ground through shattered glass.
He let out a small relieved laugh as he looked up to where he crashed through, smiling before a thought went through his head.
'Wait I've never checked if they were easy to break before.'
He blinked in surprise, before his eyes widened. "Oh… oh god."
Yeah. Aizawa and Nemuri were going to kill him, bring him back to life and kill him again. For now though… a nap sounded really good despite the broken glass and…
Hey, was he bleeding?
All to suddenly, darkness overtook him and the world lapsed into silence.