Disclaimer: I do not own anything of My Hero Academia (Boku No Hiro Academia), manga or anime, or it's character therein. I do not have any rights to Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine or am I partnered with Kohei Horikoshi so in no way do I make any form of profit of off this. I do this on my own dime and time.

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Author's Note: Gonna merge basically two parts of the story canon together since what was did in the manga and the anime series was more or less a training montage with very little story behind it. I've done enough build up at this point where it's time to kick things off. I won't deny the song that plays in the background to the montage was a good choice and I wish I could play it in the background here as you read the chapter but you'll have to make do with whatever you got on hand.

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Chapter 4: A Hero's Moment.

After the visit to the retired Pro-Hero Valhalla, things got, to put it both positively and negatively at the same time, interesting for Izuku Midoriya.

As promised by both, Mei Hatsume came back the following week to show of several of her super cute babies she had made. Both what Izuku asked and what else came from them in terms of inspiration. Her first inventions were a pair of magnetic gauntlets that were designed to attract the shield to Izuku should he be out of arm's length to retrieve it quickly enough.

'Designed' was the word used but what the gauntlets really did was attract virtually every magnetic item to him in the radius that the gauntlets affected. All Might was curious to see what Mei had created and allowed a demonstration to happen. He later regretted that decision when he saw a microwave and a toaster fly at Izuku. Luckily he dodged them in time but he didn't see the oil drum until it hit him from behind.

No major injuries happened after that test but Mei wasn't discouraged at all. She said that the next 'baby' she had would work. It turned out to be a harness for the shield itself. Mei said that it made sense that when not in use that the shield should rest on Izuku's back. Even though he was weary after the first test run of her gadgets, Izuku allowed Mei to place it on him.

And that turned out to be a mistake on Izuku's part, not learning from past decisions.

The moment Mei turned on the harness, it worked a little too well. Instead of attracting the shield to his back, the harness somehow locked onto a buoy that was out in open water and essentially dragged Izuku all the way out. Izuku acted like a submarine for a while until he reached the buoy. The most positive thing that Mei took from that test was that the waterproofing she did held up to even sea water.

All Might yelled out to Izuku that since he was in the middle of training and today involved doing laps while swimming that he might as well get to it then. A part of him found it rather amusing of sorts but another part of All Might saw this as a possible potential training for the upcoming entrance exams. There was a kind of standardized version of the entrance exam but it changed in some way every year so that no one couldn't help other students taking the entrance exam to basically cheat. There were rumors of such things happening several times in the past, about how some failed students tried to help others who would have failed as well without the inside track. Whether they were true or not, the school did adjust the entrance exam accordingly and the entrance exam that Izuku would take would definitely be no exception.

Which was why he allowed it in Izuku's training to have Mei meet with him each week to show off her new gadgets and to refine them. All Might knew what it took to get into the Hero Course, but he had next to no idea what was required to get into the Support Course. What he knew for sure was that he could see this pink-haired hyper-active girl with an over imagination towards tech and gear had something in her that would be essentially for almost any Pro-Hero to have at their sides.

In a way, All Might kind of saw history repeating itself with Izuku and Mei. At least a more positive side of histoy.

His other former sidekick, David Shield, did a lot of help for him when he was studying abroad in the early days of his Pro-Hero career. The man was a gifted genius and made a lot of tech that many Pro-Heroes nowadays tend to employ in their work. David's work alone on costume design were almost always noted by any company that made Hero Support Gear. Maybe it was because of his past affiliation with the No.1 Symbol of Peace and Justice but his reputation as a genius tech was definitely well earned.

Maybe it was why he was allowing this to happen between the two. Of course the sense of feeling he was having from watching the sight between Izuku Midoriya and Mei Hatsume was akin to nostalgia. But maybe something can come from such friendships like the kind that was forming between the two teenagers, something that Valeria reminded him on their previous visit.

Valeria reminded Toshinori that even though he was still seen as the nations No.1 Symbol of Peace and Justice, if not the world, having chosen a successor meant that he acknowledged that the world was moving forward from his time to a new time. She also reminded him while some mistakes were inevitable no matter what, there were also some mistakes that can be avoided and Valeria told him in no uncertain words that Toshinori can teach Izuku the lessons from those preventable mistakes.

Toshinori wasn't of the mind of making Izuku an exact replica of him as All Might. He couldn't anyways ever since he learned more about the shield Izuku had found when he was a child. The only thing that he knew for any kind of certainty about that shield was that unique in every sense of the term. And somehow, what it was and what it could do, Toshinori felt like it could tip the scales. Not just for the good of the public and the people or for the bad of crimes and villains but it was an x-factor no one was going to see coming until it was too late.

And the only one who could use such an x-factor in a positive way was the teenage boy in front of him putting everything he had into his training.

Seeing Izuku grow stronger each day while following the training plan was definitely impressive considering that Toshinori had tailored it to achieve the best possible results in the time frame. But it was equally impressive that the girl who was making the tech and upgrading it, doing both just from whatever junk she could salvage from the debris left on the beach. The sight alone made Toshinori realize that ingenuity is often the best trait any Pro-Hero can have along with their training.

If, and at this point it was still an 'if', if Izuku got into U.A. High's Hero Course, both Toshinori and the school's curriculum would help Izuku develop a sense of ingenuity. But it never hurts to help someone teach them while at the same time helping that person refine their methods of creating and imagination.

Then again, after seeing Izuku try to outrun more metal appliances that were attracted to the overpowered magnetic field that the gauntlets were making, Toshinori did have some doubts about Mei's sense of ingenuity or rather the overdeveloped sense of ingenuity. Seeing four microwaves and about at least three thrown away filing cabinets 'chasing' a teenage boy on a beach did make Toshinori have many questions enter into his mind.

For starters, how much desperation had to be pumping into Izuku's heart to actually stay ahead of metal objects that were being pulled by the magnetic field the gauntlets were creating?

"Um, Mei?" Toshinori said, getting the pink-haired girl's attention who was just writing down some information on a small notepad she had with her. "I appreciate the amount of effort you put into making the gear that Izuku is….well, lets just say is being more hurtful towards him than helpful at the moment, but how are you powering the magnets in the first place?"

Toshinori decided that when Izuku was training on the beach that he wouldn't be in his All Might form since it was starting to interfere with his monitoring of Izuku's training. The girl didn't strike him as All Might fan since she was so invested into making 'super cute babies' but it was better to introduce himself in this form since she had been coming to beach virtually every weekend like Izuku and himself.

"Oh, that's easy!" Mei put away her notepad and pulled out a kind of small battery from her backpack. "A new kind of rechargeable battery hit the tech market recently. I wasn't able to get a lot of them since they are incredibly expensive but they can actually recharge on the body's own electrical current."

Mei handed the object to Toshinori who in turn examined it closely. It was a kind of black-and-blue rectangular shaped cylinder that looked to about the size of a grown man's thumb.

"How does the recharging work? Gotta lick the battery or what? Keep it applied to bare skin?" Toshinori asked while handing the battery back to Mei.

"Bare skin contact but the recharging cycle only kicks in when the body is expending it's own energy like if you're going for a jog and such. Some quirk users that have electric abilities came up with the idea that since the human body recharges either by sleep or by food, essentially when it's at rest, then it can be applied to small batteries while the body is in full motion. I think what they expanded on was the same concept that when people go around on bicycles in the dark that the tires spinning acts as a generator source for the lights on the bike to turn on." Mei said while looking at the battery herself before putting it back in her backpack. "Getting ahold of just five of them costed me like a year's worth of allowances but it was worth it since the concept behind such battery technology easily helps power a lot of my super cute babies."

"But doesn't that tire out the body faster? If something is basically sucking up the same energy that the body is using to move, won't that mean the body will tire out that much faster during the battery's recharge cycle?"

"Actually I wondered that myself when I first heard of these but after reading about them and taking one apart to see how it works internally, it's actually absorbing the surplus of energy that the body is using in such activities."

Mei saw the confused look on Toshinori's face at her words so she decided to explain because, again, the batteries themselves only came out like the last month at least for purchase. "According to the information about the battery's development, the human body creates it's own energy to do whatever it is your doing from mundane tasks to things that require everything you got. But the more effort you put into a task, the more adrenaline the body creates which in turn makes the heart pump faster and more oxygen needed for the lungs. But the body's pain receptors also limit what the body can do, a safety measure of sorts. According to the studies of the human body, because of said pain receptors, you're are actually only using at best 75 percent of your full strength and not even for the full length of time. You'll start out at 75 but then you'll slowly lose it even if you take a break to catch your second wind."

The light bulb clicked on in Toshinori's head after hearing that. "Ah, so the 25 percent that's not being tapped into is instead used to recharge the batteries."

"Correct!" Mei said with a smile on her face.

It made a lot of sense if that was truly how the batteries worked in Toshinori's mind. Since his fight with All For One all those years ago, he couldn't actually use the quirk One For All at it's full power. His body might be able to handle it if the need was dire enough and if it was for a brief amount of time, most recent example was that slime villain he took down with a punch but also caused a brief storm to happen as well. But overall he couldn't use it like before which did mean a lot of energy within him wasn't being tapped into anymore.

And the average restrictions on the human body's abilities, even with quirks, depended on what the pain receptors allowed.

Turning his attention to Izuku and seeing him running to a nearby rock that was on the beach to use for cover from the flying death metal object both made sense and entertain a question that Toshinori didn't think about until now.

Looking back at Mei, he gave the girl a really questioning look. "Tell me, while making this tech for Izuku, you're not also using him as means to power up your own versions of those kinds of batteries, are you?"

Mei suddenly started acting sheepish at the question and tried to laugh it off. Toshinori narrowed his eyes when Mei didn't answer but her silence was all that he needed anyways.

"Look, I'll make a deal with you. If you want Izuku's help to power up those batteries of yours, I can convince him to do so."

Mei, who had just had her head looking off to the side suddenly turned to face Toshinori with mostly surprise and a little sense of hopeful in her expression.

Toshinori held up a hand to silence the incoming response from Mei to signal that he wasn't done speaking. "I also won't tell Izuku that you were using him as such but that is on the condition that if you want to continue to help him, do so earnestly and honestly."

"Oh, I will!" Mei said with a lot more enthusiasm that Toshinori had seen her use before recently.

"Do you understand what I meant?"

That caught Mei off guard a bit. She had thought she understood what the man was asking her. To her it seemed a simple enough of a request.

Toshinori decided that it was his turn to clear up some details. "Izuku Midoriya is trying to get into the U.A. High Hero's Course and I'm doing what I can to help him pass the entrance exam. I'm not asking you to do all that you can to ensure he gets into U.A. High since you also said you wanted to attend the same school but for the Support Course. What I'm asking of you is to help a fellow student as he is a fellow student who is also helping you. I don't think you'll be in the same classes in U.A. High but I can see the two of you helping each other out in more ways than most might think."

Mei was a little confused at what was said to her. Her goals of building all the kind of tech she had in her mind and even in her own dreams did require that she get into and graduate from U.A. High but she didn't really consider the idea of cultivating a relationship with someone else who was also going to try and get into the same school. Of course Izuku had said he was trying to get into U.A. High but the only thing that really came to her mind was maybe she had a kind of test subject to help develop some of the tech she made. All the times she tested the tech she made by herself had some outrageous results that made her parents put down some strict rules around the house which was why she came all the way out here to the Dagoba Municipal Beach Park to bypass those restrictions.

Toshinori caught up on the confusion that Mei seemed to be having and decided add one more bit of information to help make the full connection.

"Look at it like this: to advertise your gear you need an active Pro-Hero for starters. But if you make gear for a student at U.A. High who demonstrates it on multiple occasions then you'll be putting the word out for your 'super cute babies' a lot sooner than most since many Pro-Hero agencies actually keep an eye on students they feel have promise. You help Izuku catch the eye of any Pro-Hero or agency, Izuku then in turns makes it so their eyes also sees what you and your gear can do."

That kind of connection was what really clicked in Mei's mind and Toshinori could see it within her eyes. He didn't know that was what Mei had been doing from the start but Toshinori reminded her how it can work both ways much more easily than it seemed on the surface.

"Oh, we'll both get into U.A. High without fail!" Mei said with the biggest smile she showed yet to Toshinori. She turned her gaze back to Izuku who was slowly coming out from behind the rock while making sure the appliances weren't going to chase him anymore. "Even if I have to build a super cute baby to throw Zuzu over the walls and into the heart of the school myself!"

Toshinori actually worried about that. Without question in his mind, such a statement would be a just be that, a statement. But since Mei had said it, he had already imagined a kind of catapult being built by Mei with Izuku in the basket and him being fired off into the air and somehow would end up flying clear into the blue sky never to return.

And at the sight of the catapult would read a memorial that said, 'The last known sighting of Zuzu The Green Haired Comet.'

"First things first." Toshinori said to Mei before turning back to Izuku and calling over to them.

When Izuku reached them, Toshinori decide to clear up what the arrangement was going to be between the two teenagers. He managed to word it properly so that it didn't give the boy the hint that he was mostly being used as a guinea pig the entire time he has known Mei Hatsume and remind the pink-haired girl not to use Izuku Midoriya in that way again. Izuku was a bit curious when Toshinori shot a look at Mei but didn't think anything else about it. He did question if this new arrangement would mean some modifications to the training plan he have been following since Toshinori implied that Mei was now going to be part of it.

"There won't be that much of a change. In fact, some of the exercise that you've been doing will actually help her." Toshinori went on to explain the batteries that Mei had made and was using in her tech and how Izuku was actually charging them up but made it clear it was something that Mei only stumbled upon and not using Izuku as a portable generator essentially.

Izuku believed what he was told and understood how he would be helping Mei out and in turn how she would be more focused on helping Izuku out.

After the details were made clear, Toshinori reminded Izuku that he was falling behind in his training schedule and told him to pick up the pace to get back on track. Izuku didn't need any more incentive than that and started moving more of the garbage only this time he didn't have to worry about dodging flying metal of various sizes and weight.

Looking back at Mei, Toshinori asked her if she was going to keep coming back here each weekend like she had been doing.

"Oh I definitely will! I got all the notes I needed to modify the gauntlets to be more selective in how they work. The one thing I wanted to narrow on today was the effect of both ferrous and non-ferrous metals."

"Um, isn't the effect on non-ferrous metals just mean no magnets or magnetic fields will affect them?" Toshinori knew it had been a while since he had to use the science aspect of his knowledge.

"Well, yeah! But I wanted to see if the magnetic field created by the gauntlets would ONLY attract the ferrous metals. In short, I wanted to see if the magnetic field would be strong enough or precise enough or even both to where only what can be attracted by magnetic fields are truly affected. Seeing only the microwaves and the file cabinets go after Izuku showed that since he ran past a pile of trash that easily had other just many items that had as much magnetic materials on them. Making a directional magnetic effect isn't easy since most magnets tend to be omni-directional."

Mei reached back into her backpack for her notepad and flipped through the pages while quickly reading over the notes she had made. When she reached the last page she had written in did Mei scribble something out and wrote something different in its place.

"Now that I think about it, even a directional magnetic field leaves too much to chance in an urban environment. Oh, I know, magnetic pairs!" Mei said mostly to herself before she wrote down the idea that came to her mind faster than than Toshinori's eyes could follow. He was actually wondering if she was writing fast enough to where her pencil and paper might catch fire from the speed friction. "Since it's a shield than will either be on Zuzu's arms or his back, then outfitting the shield with one kind of magnet polarity and his harness and gauntlets fitted with the opposite magnetic polarity, both pairs specifically made to be only attuned to the other half, it would ensure not only to be personal but the chances of the tech being interfered with outside magnetic fields will be reduced."

Toshinori wasn't going to ask Mei on how she planned to make specific magnetic fields since at the moment the only knowledge he had about magnets were that opposite poles attract while similar poles repelled.

"It would have to be a kind of magnetic pulse since a constant effect would drain the power source fast and it would still have to be stronger than the MRI scanners in that brief moment the tech is activated….."

Mei thought for a moment before her face suddenly showed how strong of an inspiration happened in her mind.

"That's it! Yes! That can work!" Mei said again to herself while making a rough sketch of what her idea looked like in her head.

"What? What is it? What can work?"

Toshinori didn't have to wait for long for an answer before Mei showed him a rough sketch of what seemed like a human torso in the center of one of the pages in the notepad.

"A jacket!" Mei said before she resumed scribbling notes on the page. "It would easier to weave the gauntlets and the back harness into a jacket and make it so the power source for all three points to be interwoven into the jacket itself while it has direct skin contact to the wearer which would allow it to recharge virtually any time. Not only that but the frame of the jacket itself it could actually be reinforced that would easily make it bulletproof!"

Toshinori was amazed at the idea that came to Mei. Granted he never really had to worry about some villain that used firearms of any kind against him since most villains he fought merely used their own quirks against him and he figured that once Izuku mastered One For All that he wouldn't have to worry about it either. But the extra safety that Mei said could be added in made a lot of practical sense.

That thought carried Toshinori to something else he didn't think about. When his master Nana Shimura gave him One For All, his his overall size and form changed to virtually twice of what he was originally. That lead to him having to wear baggy clothing most of the time including his past hero costumes because he quickly learned how big of a hassle it became that any clothing he had that fit his original form instantly ripped apart when he changed forms. It was a hassle in of itself wear such baggy clothing but it was sure as hell was cheaper than replacing everything. Sure there was clothing nowadays that could easily stretch and shrink if someone had a quirk that altered their sizes but the demand for it was really rare and it was beyond expensive.

Toshinori had told Izuku that he was being trained so that his body could handle the power that One For All would give him. The warning about how if Izuku had One For All now and tried to use it would cause his limbs to shoot off of his body as result of the power was actually an understatement. He didn't tell the teenager that if he unconsciously used One For All in a sneeze reflex that he would either end up blowing so much air at someone that they could get hurt or killed from it.

Or that he might actually sneeze his own teeth out of his mouth along with his tongue.

Or instantly suck in more air than his lungs could handle and explode them in his chest or turn himself into some kind of air bomb.

Or all the above at once.

All that was connected to the thought he had, or rather, hadn't considered when the time came that Izuku was ready to inherit One For All. Would Izuku Midoriya be able to change his body's overall form that mirrored Toshinori when is in his All Might form?

From what Nana Shimura had told him about how the power within him worked was that with each past user of the quirk would improve it before passing it along and the next user would improve it as well. Without question the power, or at least the strength aspect of the quirk, was increased when he inherited it but Toshinori couldn't believe that he never realized until now that his late master never had an alternate form like he did. She definitely had a well-built body that he recalled so maybe it was truly her natural form and when he inherited One For All, somehow Toshinori seemed to improve the quirk in a way that allowed the transformation he could do to become an ability.

To maximize the body's potential or at least his own body's potential.

There was still a possibility that the previous inheritors of One For All before Nana Shimura could change their physical form like he could and only his master never used it since she had already trained her own body to be at it's maximum potential when she inherited it. That made the most logical sense to him and the only way to fully answer this particular question was to see what happened when it became Izuku's time to inherit One For All.

Toshinori watched as Mei ran up to Izuku and said something to him before she started putting her hands all over his upper body. He managed to hear the girl saying she was taking Izuku's body measurements since all the training he had been doing might have changed what she originally had about him.

Watching a teenage boy freeze like a statue while a rather cute looking girl patted him all around his upper torso was something of a funny sight to Toshinori.

Only time would tell with certainty what Izuku could and would do with the quirk. But for right now, the time was to make sure he was in prime shape to handle the gift.

That was pretty much the last 'easiest' weekend Izuku had. Toshinori decided to increase the level of training Izuku was doing to make up for some lost time he felt happened due to the weekends where Mei used him as her own personal crash test dummy. She still visited on the weekends where Toshinori monitored Izuku as he continued to clean up the beach. She said that a lot of the wiring still in the various thrown away appliances that Izuku moved were still in good shape to be reused for her builds and gear. Mei mentioned that a lot of the parts she salvaged from the garbage piles were in better working order than what would justify them being thrown away.

She actually said she was kind of glad that there weren't a lot of repair shops for household tech in the area since the amount of money she would have to pay just to get half of the stuff she found at a store alone was already beyond an absurd amount. Toshinori did idly ask one time how much would it cost her if she did buy some of the stuff she found at a store and he in turn spit up a ridiculous amount of blood at the ridiculous amount that Mei showed him.

Most Pro-Hero agencies that Toshinori knew of didn't even have that as a yearly budget.

The only positive that came from that knowledge was how Mei's acts reinforced the belief in Toshinori that she was going to be an exceptional inventor. Toshinori even considered giving a call to his friend David Shield to meet with Mei and see if she could get a letter of recommendation from him. Her hard work alone earned her that much.

For Izuku, the combination of training and school work taxed him in ways he didn't even considered. The days began to blur together so it was understandably difficult for him to be awake enough during his school days to learn whatever lessons the teachers taught. Understandably but since Izuku couldn't tell anyone why he was so worn out looking most of the time, everyone just assumed the school's Quirkless Wonder spent all of his time at night playing out some hero fantasy and continuing to ignore reality.

His grades in school didn't suffer too much except in the early days of the training. Once he got into the swing of the training and school work combo did Izuku managed to keep both workloads from overwhelming him.

There was one thing that Izuku did notice that seemed out of place in Aldera Junior High and that was Katsuki Bakugou wasn't spending as much time doing what he usually did in regards to him. Izuku did wonder that Bakugou might've had some sort of epiphany when he was held hostage by that slime villain and decided to be more serious about his goal of entering U.A. High which could have meant the usual torments and insults Bakugou threw at Izuku became more trivial and probably forgotten.

But that possibility was killed the instant one teacher had to ask the class how many of them were actually going to apply to U.A. High since another mock test was to be given out in response to the change of how student applications were accepted. The mock test was actually a government census to see how many students who said that they would apply and separate the ones that actually could apply.

When Izuku raised his hand to show he was still serious about his willingness to enter into U.A. High, Katsuki Bakugou made it clear to the entire class that he was looking forward to crushing Izuku for even thinking of being serious about applying to U.A. High. Whether it was implied that he would crush Izuku in the entrance exam or just crush him in general was made ambiguous enough to where either subtle message was a strong chance of happening in the near future.

The class either agreed with what Bakugou said or made comments that U.A. High would have change their minds about accepting students without a quirk into the entrance exam since Deku The Quirkless Wonder would become the cautionary tale that you need a quirk for a chance to even be a Pro-Hero. Those students came up with scenarios where Izuku would either die horribly or accidentally or comically because he didn't have a quirk to save his life.

Hearing that was more than enough to fuel his drive to complete the training All Might gave to him.

But following the night after hearing those kinds of comments in class made Izuku think about something he never really questioned while he laid in his bed, wide awake because of such thoughts. Maybe he did once ask himself the question and forgot about it until now.

He was called the Quirkless Wonder for obvious reasons but if he passed the entrance exam and entered into the Hero's Course, was it because of the quirk All Might would give him or because of himself?

Izuku still idolized All Might for all that he has done ever since he first became a Pro-Hero. His presence alone actually caused crime to drop in whatever city he was reported to be in. On the one hand, a quirk cannot do anything unless willed by the person who owns the quirk which meant that for All Might to become the No.1 Symbol of Peace and Justice, he had to do so by his own actions and the quirk within him certainly didn't hand him anything. All Might did what he did because it was who he was in his own heart and not the quirk.

But the other side of that argument clearly said that All Might could not have become All Might without the quirk One For All. If he was never given the quirk One For All, if someone else was chosen, then All Might never would have existed. What gave that thought more credit was the fact that Izuku never once heard any Pro-Hero that could be considered a Pre-All Might kind of individual. Of course there were Pro-Heroes that showed super strength abilities but none of them created the kind of inspiration that All Might has and continues to do so.

Those two main arguments made Izuku turn his attention towards the red-blue-and white star colored shield in his room.

When the Pro-Hero Valhalla confirmed that the shield was unlike anything else in the world, a part of Izuku felt that what he knew of the shield didn't even come close to scratching the surface of what the shield actually is. He still felt clearly in his heart that there was a reason for that night he made a wish and later found the shield in the forest. Izuku wasn't exactly sure what the reason was but it was there.

Then his mind played back the scene he saw that Valhalla said was a memory that was part of the shield. A man using it to lead a charge against an enemy military. The shield was indeed a tool but tools cannot do anything on their own in much the same way a quirk cannot do anything on their own without the will of person behind it.

Izuku remembered when All Might told him that he had no doubt that there were lessons to be learned from the shield and somehow it felt like this was one of them that Izuku was learning right now.

All Might said that the quirk One For All was a sacred torch that was passed down from person to person. With that in his mind did a connection seem to be made that was so obvious that Izuku couldn't believe he didn't see it at the time until now.

A torch to light the way in darkness. Just as All Might and his fearless smile would light the people's heart because they would remember the words he said when he first made his appearance: "Fear not citizens! For hope has arrived! Because I am here!"

A shield to defend the people from the dangers hidden in the darkness. The sight of the shield alone would tell all those that wish to do harm to the innocent would have to go through the shield first before even thinking of getting past the one who held it in defense.

The quirk and the shield were indeed tools but it was the will of the user that define how they were used.

That revelation seemed to take a lot of weight off of Izuku's shoulders that he didn't know that he was carrying. He still wanted to be like All Might, to inspire the people with a fearless smile and remind that there was still hope in the world. But he realized that only All Might can be All Might and for him to be a Pro-Hero in his own right, he would have to be as different as he would have to be better. Normally such thoughts would make a person feel like they were taking on responsibilities that they didn't know was there but it was different for Izuku.

The mantle of All Might couldn't be passed down along with his quirk which was a thought that Izuku knew he should have actually entertained before now. There was so much that Izuku knew he could learn from All Might, that was never in question in his mind. But All Might wasn't grooming him to be the next All Might because no one trained All Might to be like All Might either.

All Might was training him to be the next inheritor of One For All.

It was like a whirlwind of thoughts that entered into his mind after that revelation. So many things that were obvious to consider now but in the past were completely in shadows in the back of his mind never once even remotely given a second's worth of attention.

That night was the last night Izuku had where he worried about how best to handle his training and school work. His body did show almost a constant sight of being worn out but Izuku's mind, heart, and even his soul never felt more refreshed than before.

It was because of that boost of invigoration that Izuku managed to get ahead of his training schedule on cleaning up the beach. All Might had schedule out that it would take him the full ten months from start to finish just be ready physically to accept the quirk One For All but Izuku managed to do so with at least one week to spare.

Toshinori didn't think he see such a sight so soon that morning but it was a sight worth seeing especially in the very early rays of a the morning sun. The entire section and even some of the area beyond where he had mapped out for Izuku to clear easily gave off the appearance that this section never once was used as a dumping site.

And hearing Izuku giving off a victory roar reminded Toshinori that the boy he had chosen as his successor definitely had the will to be worthy of being the next inheritor of One For All like never before.

"I gotta admit: when I first made the 'Aim To Pass American Dream Plan', I did think that it might be too much for you to handle. Might have been easier had the plan been designed to follow a full year instead of ten months but you've shown me that you got more than just spirit and heart." All Might said while walking up to Izuku who was currently sitting on the beach itself trying to not pass out from the exhaustion feeling that had a vice grip on him. "Only someone with the kind of drive you have shown could have handle what I basically threw at you."

All Might reached into his coat pocket to pull out his smartphone and pulled up a picture he had taken of Izuku when he first started the training plan. "Even though you weren't entirely scrawny for a fanboy when we first met, your past self definitely wouldn't recognize your current self now."

Izuku was tired but he was still clear headed enough to fully see the picture of himself taken at the start of his training. When he looked down at his own hands, Izuku was actually having a hard time believing what all that hard work had actually accomplished.

"You finished one journey and even though you still got a long way ahead of you before you can inherit my full power set, you've proven on this day alone that you won't lose a single step in the next journey."

The teenage boy was still amazed at what he had managed to accomplish within ten months. Even with the truth of his accomplishment all around him, there was still a small part of him that voiced a doubt. A doubt he thought he had dealt with some time ago but it seemed that today it decided to appear in his mind at least one last time.

"All Might, are you sure…I deserve this?" Izuku said which surprised All Might when he heard it. "You put so much time and energy into helping me….I can't help but feel that an unimaginable amount of luck was with me the entire time. And if it is luck, does….does it mean….that I'm still worthy?"

"Hahaha!" All Might couldn't help but laugh at the words. "After all this time, you're actually still worried about that? Even if a luck had some part to play in all of this, what you did was still pure hard work and luck cannot affect that in the slightest."

All Might made several hand motions that told Izuku to look up and down the beach, to fully look at what he had done. "In a way, you're the luck this beach needed because only someone who was willing to do all that hard work to clean it up could have accomplished it."

All Might let the words he spoke sink into Izuku's mind. To help wash away any lingering doubts he might still have within him. The Pro-Hero had dealt with all the doubts he had about Izuku being the next successor for One For All some time ago. Each day he proved with his actions alone he would always take that extra step and settle for nothing less than complete accomplishment of whatever goal he had given to himself or was expected of him.

He did idly wonder if this is what his master Nana Shimura felt like when she chose him to be her successor.

But that was the past and the time for Izuku's path to becoming a Pro-Hero starts now.

"Now, Izuku Midoriya, time for your reward." All Might said while reaching up to his head and plucking out a single blonde strand of hair. "Someone told me this important truth once, about the difference between someone who is lucky and who is deserving. One is an accident and the other is a reward. Never get the two concept confused."

Izuku listened to the words his heroic idol spoke to him. "Take it to heart and remember that you earned this gift through your own valiant efforts!"

Izuku eyes focused intently on what was in All Might's finger, unsure of why he was holding a single strand of his hair. His confusion, unfortunately, increased ten fold when he heard the next words come from All Might's mouth.

"Now, eat this!"

All Might realized too late after he had said that to Izuku that he had forgotten to tell Izuku what was required to inherit the power of One For All.

"To inherit the power of One For All, you gotta swallow the DNA of the current possessor. I know its incredibly strange sounding but that's how it works!"

"Um, this….this isn't exactly how I imagined this." Izuku had forgotten how many scenarios in which All Might would transfer his power to him. Some of them ranged from a simple hand shake or maybe even a kind of weird tattoo being drawn on him that would act as a kind of gateway for the power to flow into him. He even imagined a scenario where he would have to throw a punch at All Might at the same time that the Pro-Hero threw a punch and the power would be transferred when their fists collided.

This bit of information gave off an anti-climatic feeling after all the effort that the teenager put into his training.

Truth be told it was something of an embarrassment for All Might in this regard. When the time came for him to inherit the power he had to do the same and even to this day it still felt so out of place that he had to eat the hair of his late master. Didn't matter that it was a single strand of hair or not but the only real saving grace was that for the DNA part of the transference method, at least his master chose a single strand of hair.

"Look, we got less than a week to get you ready for the entrance exam and every minute you don't eat this hair is a minute lost in training so eat it! Eat! Eat! EAT!" The longer Izuku didn't accept the strand of hair from him, the more embarrassed All Might felt because of the situation.

If it wasn't for the fact that the quirk One For All can only be passed on if the next chosen possessor willingly accepted it, All Might would have considered shoving the strand of hair into the teenager's mouth just to get this part over and done with.

Eventually Izuku accepted the strand of hair and swallowed it. All Might said that once Izuku's body fully digested it would he begin to be able to use the quirk. The powerhouse Pro-Hero made it clear that he wasn't told if the transfer was instant or if it required time for the quirk to settle with the new user.

Another thing he didn't tell Izuku was the fact that he was unbelievable relieved that there was so much time left before the entrance exam to U.A. High. He wasn't lying that if Izuku tried to use the power of One For All ten months ago that he it would be dangerous if not down right fatal. But he didn't want to worry Izuku that at the moment the only way the teenager would know how to use One For all was either at 0 or 100 percent. That fact alone would still virtually guarantee that Izuku would still get seriously hurt the moment he used the quirk in the entrance exam.

After what he figured was enough time had passed did All Might decided to begin the lessons that Izuku needed to know on how to use One For All.

"Alright, first things first, Izuku." All Might said while changing his form back from his muscular to his true form. "The quirk inside of you has now made it so your body is overflowing with power. Think of it as a glass cup that has water in it and the glass is filled to the absolute brim. You may not feel it right now but when you use it, you will."

Izuku heard the words and then did a kind of internal check to see if he could feel the quirk inside of him. He was about to test it by doing something simple like jumping up in the air when All Might stopped him.

"You might want to hold on for a minute because right now, you're either going to use your quirk at maximum or not at all. I'm sure you remember how a lot of the other kids you saw growing up with their own quirks had to develop it so they either don't accidentally use them or control them so no problems happened when they weren't paying full attention to them."

Being told that reminded Izuku of the moment when Katsuki Bakugou's quirk first manifested and he started showing off all over the place. Pretty much in the beginning anything that Bakugou's hands touch either got lightly burned or scarred from the small explosions that first appeared to happen at random. The other students in his class that had similar quirks realistically probably had the same kind of issues with control which was developed and perfected over the years they had their quirks.

"Control over your quirk isn't going to happen over night especially if you activate it on instinct for the first time. What you want to do for starters is…." All Might started to say before someone else cut him off by yelling out the only name she used to identify Izuku Midoriya.

"ZUZU! Glad you're here! I finished it!"

Both All Might and Izuku turned to see a sprinting Mei Hatsume running up to them with a rather large backpack in tow. When she ran up to the pair, she stopped and took a moment to catch her breath before getting up close and personal with Izuku.

"It took me until a few hours ago but I managed to finish it!" Mei said with her trademark enthusiasm. She reached into her backpack and pulled two items that she had been carrying with her.

The first was the shield that Mei had asked for Izuku to borrow last week so she could finish doing the final modifications she planned on for the second item she pulled out which was a black colored jacket.

Izuku had been a little hesitant to loan the shield to Mei since even after all this time he didn't even know where she lived. Or anything substantial about her except that she was close to being a mad genius in making gadgets and tech.

But her passion in being an inventor was too strong to be ignored. That and whenever she got so close to Izuku like she was now, the teenage boy found it strange that he couldn't say 'no' to the teenage girl or her requests since his overall nervousness with the opposite sex had marginally gotten better over time but not enough to where his logic and reason would function properly.

That and Izuku realized that he had taken his shirt off some time ago to keep it from getting over drenched in his sweat and he hadn't put it back on.

"Say 'hello' to my latest super cute baby, the Mark 14 Shield Jacket!" Mei said while holding up the jacket in front of Izuku's face.

It was enough to kick start his logic and reasoning centers in his brain when he noticed that Mei had done exactly what she said she was going to do with her next stage of modifications.

Mei's plan to make a jacket that would have magnetic sleeves instead of gauntlets and a mesh on the back to hold the shield in place had gone through many stages of development. The first version was one step shy of jacket someone wears when they go hiking up a mountain side. The second version might as well have been an actual straight jacket which led to the question where Mei got ahold of one in the first place. Her only reply was: "Don't worry about it."

Over time did Mei make more and more modifications that eventually lead to what was possible the slimmest version yet with the internal wiring for the magnetic elements and the batteries in a better woven fashion into the jacket itself.

At least this version didn't require a battery belt that he had to both wear and connect to the jacket. Getting electrocuted that day was definitely an experience he could have done without. It was no easy task explaining to his mother why she smelled burnt hair when he returned home that day either.

Or the ten other times it happened over the months.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Put it on, Zuzu!"

"How many times do I have to say that my name isn't Zuzu?" Izuku asked but had to remind himself that this wasn't the first 100 times he had asked Mei this particular question. Even All Might lost track on the count of how many times he heard the teenager say that line.

"Don't know, don't care! Put it on!"

Accepting the futility of trying to get Mei to change, Izuku put the jacket on and did a couple of arm stretches to get a feel of how the piece of clothing fit on his torso. Not too loose or too tight but Izuku could feel the extra weight that easily signified this was no ordinary jacket.

Toshinori looked at the jacket while it was on Izuku and, aside from some aesthetic changes which could be applied later, it seemed to him that Izuku was wearing the kind of jacket he saw that the American motorcycle gangs tended to wear. At least the ones with sleeves.

Once he was sure of it's fit, Izuku asked Mei how to activate the magnetic functions this time. She had tried to make a model that worked on voice activation. Unfortunately, that proved to be hard to make it practical because even using just the word 'magnetize' was a dead give away. Toshinori made a clear point that in the head of battle, no matter if it was one-on-one or against several opponents, sooner or later someone might pick up the fact that a word calls the shield to Izuku and can use it to turn the fight into their favor.

So after that was scrapped, Mei focused on a kind of muscle flex activation. Because the batteries that powered the magnetic gear within the jacket required direct skin contact, it wasn't hard to make it so that when Izuku flexed his forearm in the manner that one would do while holding onto something like a shield that it would activate the tech that controlled the magnetic effect. Modifying the batteries so that they could also double as senors, rudimentary ones at least, was no trouble for Mei.

Just another round of electrical shocks for Izuku was the only downside.

"Okay. Its on. What do I do next?" Izuku knew it was a rather obvious question but when it came to Mei, whenever she made any kind of modifications to, well, anything she tended to forget what she had done half the time and the other half expected the person to know what she had exactly done.

Mei, with a big smile on her face, reached for the shield and handed it to Toshinori. "Throw it!"

"Uh, where exactly?" Toshinori had a worried feeling in the pit of his stomach when he heard the command from the young inventor.

"At Zuzu!"

Both Izuku and Toshinori looked at each other with worried and questioning looks before they silent decided to do as they were told. Mostly since they both agreed to get the impending disaster over and done with and since Izuku had now been given One For All, it would be a good test to see for the teenager to see it in action while it's under his control.

Izuku did a quick jog so there was some distance between him and the other two. He knew that All Might wouldn't throw the shield at him as hard as he possible could and it wasn't the pain from being hit with the shield that Izuku was really worried about.

"Now! When he throws the shield at you, flex an arm like you have the shield on that arm!" Mei yelled out, this time remembering to give the instructions before her latest invention was actually used.

Izuku gave his hero idol the signal that he was ready as he was ever going to be in this situation. Toshinori gave a nod, took aim with the shield and threw it was hard as he could in his current form. It still amazed him how light the shield was in his hands and how easy it was to actually throw it.

The moment the shield left Toshinori's hands, Izuku braced his body and used his right arm as the chosen test method. As Mei told him, Izuku flexed his right forearm and felt a hint of a current in about the same area of the jacket's right sleeve. He held his arm in front of him in the same manner as if he were holding onto the shield actually.

If it wasn't for all the trials and errors of previous tests with Mei's previous "super cute babies", a certain thought wouldn't have entered into his head at right moment where Izuku changed the position of his arm from in front of his chest to stretching outwards to right.

The reason for that thought was all the times Izuku instantly remembered when he activated the magnetic field and was either hit by flying metal or dragged across the ground. All Might had just thrown the shield at him and the odds of the shield impacting his chest were too great to ignore.

But another thought replaced that one. The worst that might have happened if the shield hit him in the chest might be a few broken rib but an outstretched arm? Izuku realized that he basically stuck his arm out to probably get severed off by the shield when the magnetic effect grabbed onto it.

It was too late to change his mind much less the position of his arm. All Izuku could do was grit and close his eyes and wait for the inevitable.

He felt something impact on his arm and it suddenly feel heavier than it did a minute ago. It was with rather intense caution that Izuku slowly opened his eyes and looked at his right arm. Izuku couldn't help but laugh in relief that the jacket's function had fully worked, that the shield was on his arm and his arm was still attached.

Mei was ecstatic but she already knew her invention was going to work. Or rather she had already convinced herself it was going to work flawlessly this time.

Toshinori let out a breath he didn't know he was holding since the moment he threw the shield at Izuku. From all the events that happened in the previous versions of the jacket left a cautionary thought in his mind in regards to anything that Mei dubbed a 'super cute baby' but he realized that such a thought wasn't in his mind this time.

"I knew it! I knew it! It worked just exactly as I wanted it!" Mei jumped up and down in joy before running over to Izuku. "I figured out the main issue about the relationship between the magnetic field and the shield."

"Is that why you wanted to borrow it?" Izuku asked while taking the shield off of his arm and holding it by the handle inside of it.

"Yeah! I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working, why the magnetic field didn't fully effect the shield." Mei took the shield out of Izuku's possession and then turned it around so she was showing him the inside of the shield to his view. "I added a kind of coating on the interior of the shield. That why when the shield is called by the jacket, it will be this side that is attracted and the outside of the shield will face forward."

"But what kind of coating and why did you have to add it?" Toshinori asked when he walked to the two. He had a suspicion about the reasoning why Mei had to do what she did.

"Well, like you asked, I did what I could to figure out the elements of the shield but I don't have a lot of means to test out metallic properties. But what I did managed to test...well, the results both made and didn't make any sense." Mei said

"Asked?" Izuku was curious about the statement Mei made and looked at All Might for the answer.

"I asked her if she could do a kind of metallurgic analysis on the shield. Basically see if she could tell us what the shield was made of." Toshinori answered which Izuku accepted because he realized that after all this time with Mei being around them that he never once asked if she could give the shield a once over look and see if there anything else to learn from it.

Valhalla told them both that when she used her Soul Sense quirk on the shield that there were two parts of it that shouldn't exist in their world. Granted it wasn't a real detailed examination of the shield but at least it was a start of sorts and Toshinori figured that there was a chance that Mei could find something that might give a better clue about the shield.

Both Izuku and Toshinori looked at Mei and awaited to hear what she had to say. "All I can say is that what I've learned is both good news and bad news. For starters, I was able to learn that there are three distinct metals that make up the shield. My teacher was able to help me out in finding that bit of information but that's where the good news ends."

"That's it? Nothing else?" Toshinori wasn't expecting a world shattering revelation but at least something more than just a reminder of what Valeria told them.

"Aside from the straps and the paint on the shield, which are all normal stuff you can find anywhere, the shield is three different and distinct metals within it." Mei handed the shield back to Izuku so she could reach into her backpack and pull out the notepad that she had written all the information that she and her teacher were able to gather from their examination of the object. She flipped through several pages until she found the ones she was looking for. "Ah, here it is. According to what the results say, the three elements that make up the shield are metallic in nature but there's nothing that closely resembles what makes up of each of the metals anywhere on the Periodic Table of Elements. No combination or permutations of literally all known elements comes close to any of the three."

Mei read off from the pages the main points of the information but saw something she forgot to mention in the beginning. "Actually, I take back some of the things for at least one of the metals. My teacher said that while it still doesn't match anything known to science, it does at least look to be artificial when compared to the other two. And that's basically the bad news."

Both Toshinori and Izuku looked at the shield with clear confusion in their eyes which between the two of them said a lot considering how confused they already where about the shield in the first place.

"You guys got the same look on your faces that my teacher had after he ran the tests on that shield three times and the results kept saying 'Unknown'. He even went so far as to say that there were two logical explanations for it. That it either was affected by someone's quirk which is why none of the tests came make heads or tails about it or it literally fell out of the sky." Mei added but noticed that Izuku flinched at the part when she said 'fell out of the sky'.

"Hmm….I guess I can see why that would be considered a kind of 'bad news' type of information." Toshinori said but mostly to himself until he remembered something that Mei had said. "Wait. You said that the shield is made of three kinds of metals and one of the metals is artificial?"

"Oh yeah and strangely enough, that actually confused my teacher even more."

"How so?" Izuku asked which mirrored All Might's curiosity as well.

Looking back at her notepad and finding the page that had the answer to Izuku's question. "Um...my teacher said that when bonding metals together, the overall process that makes it so that the two or more metals basically reinforce the other is always distinct. He said its close to like welding and how there are three types that are used. Gas, electric and blasting."

"Blasting?" Izuku had seen enough movies where if someone was cutting or fusing metals together, they used the first two that Mei mentioned but never had he heard of blasting metals together.

"Yeah. That kind of welding isn't used except in special circumstances and conditions. Like the high power electrical wiring that's used in continental power lines. They can't just be welded together so they blast fused together and that's what he says it looks like to him on how that one metal was put together."

The image of someone basically causing an explosion to make the shield into the form it is now with the three distinct metals appeared in both minds of the Izuku and Toshinori. As ridiculous as it might have been to even consider it, it also seemed rather logical in what they already knew about the shield.

The information that Mei Hatsume gave to Toshinori wasn't a lot but at the very least it gave him an idea in what direction to take in uncovering more about the shield. Even Izuku was of a similar mind with what he just learned. It at least answered one question for Izuku about the shield. How much time he would have to invest in finding out all the answers.

With that part of the shield's background tabled for another time, Izuku switched the conversation over to what it was that Mei had done to the shield itself.

"By the way, what did you do to the shield that made it so the magnetic field affects only one side? All the other times had the same result where no matter what we did the shield was pulled entirely and not selectively like now."

"That's all thanks to the coating I put on the other side of the shield!" Mei said before yanking the shield out of Izuku's possession and then flipped it around so both Izuku and Toshinori could see the inside of the shield. "The coating that I put on the inside is a mixture of plastic and magnetic elements or actually half of the magnetic element with the other half being in the jacket itself."

Izuku looked at the inside of the shield and noticed a slight sparkle effect on the inside of the shield. A closer look by Izuku and he could see the sparkle effect was coming from metallic objects. Toshinori asked Mei to clarify what she meant exactly by half and half of magnetic elements.

"The shield itself is somewhat magnetic but nothing than an omni-directional magnetic field would affect it. So I thought what if instead of magnetizing the shield, why not magnetize something that's part of the shield but has a much stronger reaction to a magnetic field? And that's where I made a kind of spray that uses a kind of resin with polar opposite elements. That way when the magnetic field on the jacket is activated, it has the best chance of making a connection to the shield with the minimal amount of outside interference."

Hearing that the teenage girl made something that wasn't mechanical was something of a surprise. Mei was clearly a good innovative engineer but it was made clear now that her inventing skills encompassed all aspect of science and technology. Or at least all the science and technology she can salvage from junk piles.

"Is the coating of resin permanent?" Izuku asked while he lightly touched the coating on the inside of the shield to get a much more of a feel to it.

"So far. But I'm guessing it will be about as permanent as the paint job on the front of the shield. Eventual wear and tear will require a new coat be apply but before that happens, I'll have perfected a new super cute baby that can do the job of the jacket with half the power and twice the distance!" Mei said before she began scribbling in her notepad on some ideas of what she could do to either improve or redesign completely.

Mei was in mid-sentence when she stopped when she remembered something. She flipped back to some pages and found the pertinent information. "By the way, turns out that shield seems to be able to disperse heat a lot faster than most metals. My teacher took a cutting torch to it and for a couple of minutes, nothing happened except all he managed to do was simply burn some of the paint off of it."

Mei said that part in an offhandedly kind of manner so she didn't see the reaction she caused in both Izuku and Toshinori.

Izuku was shocked to hear that and began frantically looking the shield over to see where on any part of it was exposed to a cutting torch. The only thing he really noticed was that the paint was actually a little brighter than it was before he allowed Mei to borrow it.

"Where did your teacher use the torch?" Izuku asked while still looking on both sides of the shield and still finding nothing that even remotely suggested a burn mark on the metal surface.

"He tried on the side of it but then went straight to the star in the center while keeping the torch on the surface the entire time." Mei replied, not even once looking up from her notepad.

Both Izuku and Toshinori looked at the surface of the shield and again, saw nothing that gave off a hint that a high heat flame was applied to the metal.

"You've gotta be kidding us, Mei. I don't see a single mark that says a cutting torch was ever used on it." Toshinori said before turning his attention to the girl and then his eyes shooting wide open at what he saw. "Where were you hiding that?!"

Izuku couldn't believe it either but somehow Mei had brought with her a portable gas cutting torch. It took Toshinori a moment to recognize the kind of cutting torch the girl had in her hand. It was the kind that was meant to cut metal while it was under water which means it was capable of a thousand Celsius degree heat at least.

And the look on the girl's face with her goggles over her eyes was a clear sign that she was going to use the torch in her hand here and now.

Neither Izuku nor Toshinori were fast enough to stop Mei from taking away the shield from Izuku with one hand and then using the cutting torch with the other hand. Both of them did cover their eyes as Mei held the torch on the shield long enough to where the paint on the surface of the shield burned off. Not all of it but more than enough to show to all that intense heat was definitely being applied to the metal surface. When she finished, Mei turned off the cutting torch and then set it down so she could put her bare skin hand on the very surface that the torch was used on just a few seconds ago.

Both Izuku and Toshinori reacted at first by trying to stop Mei from putting her bare hand on the metal surface. But they stopped when they realized she wasn't in any pain. The smug smile she had on her face was rather proof that she either had an extremely high tolerance to pain or she just showed undeniable proof of what she had said about the shield.

"If that's not proof enough, watch this!" Mei said before she took off running off of the beach with the shield and torch in tow. The observers looked at each other before chasing after her.

Mei ran up to the last of the garbage that Izuku had cleared off the beach and quickly made a makeshift stand with the shield laying in the middle. Basically Mei made an impromptu hot plate with the torch heading the shield from the bottom with a candy bar placed on top. When nothing happened to the candy bar, Mei took it off of the shield and placed it on top of a some random appliance next to the garbage pile and showed what happens when a cutting torch is used on said candy bar.

Without hesitation did the torch burn through the candy bar and the top metal part of the appliance like the proverbial hot knife through butter.

Mei's smug smile was still present as was the rather dumbstruck look was on both Izuku and Toshinori.

Unfortunately, their respective expressions turned to panic when they noticed that the appliance Mei had used to show off the cutting torch's high heat was starting smoke rather heavily. The piece of equipment that Mei chose as a test surface was a paper copying machine and clearly the cutting torch ignited some of the combustible elements like the leftover ink and paper that were still inside of it.

"Whoops." was all that Mei said at the sight.

"Well, at least she didn't set Izuku on fire this time." Toshinori muttered to himself before walking over to a nearby vending machine and getting a bottle of water from it to use to put out the fire.

Izuku did hear what All Might said and clearly remembered when said event happened. Luckily being at a beach it was easy to put out the fire and it gave Toshinori a sense of how much faster Izuku could run after so much time had passed in the middle of their training. Granted he was on fire and it was with extreme purpose but it was still a solid demonstration nonetheless.

After putting out the fire and taking the torch away from Mei for the time being, Toshinori decided that what was learned about the shield would have to be examined more closely at a later time. As much as his curiosity was aroused by the fact that the shield either absorbed or dispersed heat faster than a cutting torch was able to produce it, now was not the time for it.

Now was the time to focus on some more pressing matters such as the upcoming entrance exam into U.A. High. And since it seemed like this version of the jacket wasn't going to cause unexpected problems, or the usual expected problems from one of Mei's gadgets, Toshinori decided that every waking minute now be used to help Izuku to begin in learning how to control his new quirk and to get a familiar feel with the jacket's functions as well.

The rest of the day itself was used to have Izuku get use to what the jacket can do with the shield as well as help Mei gather more test data for any future modifications or possible variations of future gadgets.

Izuku for his part was happy with what Mei had created. The range for his ability to call the shield to him was at least 10 meters. The further the shield was from him required more time for him to call it with what seemed like the maximum distance being 20 meters. Toshinori felt that was practical since if the shield was that far away in a fight, then it would be more than likely Izuku wouldn't have time call for it until after the fight was over. Izuku agreed with that assessment and felt that he would need to develop a kind of fighting style that would make it so the shield would be interchangeable in the heat of battle.

For her part, Mei didn't really pay much attention as to what kind of combat situations and battle theories that can be applied with the shield in mind. All she did was record all the data of how Izuku used the jacket to control the shield and then asked if she could borrow the shield again so she could at least repair the damage to the paint on the front of it. Izuku was a little reluctant in agreeing to Mei's request when she made an off comment about how she was curious to see how much heat could actually affect the shield itself.

The idea of Mei starting a fire that burned down a large section of the town she lived in might be ludicrous at best in regards to virtually anyone else. But this was Mei and Izuku already saw in his mind the news report of an unexplained raging inferno with it's starting point being at Mei's personal workshop or school.

But like before, with Mei so close to him when she made the request, Izuku's was easily caught off guard and acquiesced to the request without so much as a hint of reluctance.

Toshinori saw the exchange between the two and couldn't help but voice his thoughts on the matter.

"Kid, if you get that flustered with her just being that close to you, no way are you going to be able to handle Midnight when she's your teacher."

"Huh?" Izuku knew of only one Pro-Hero with that name and there were several reasons why he did. "The R-Rated Hero Midnight? She's going to be a teacher at U.A. High?"

"Has been for a while now." Toshinori replied. "From what I've heard, she's the kind of teacher that keeps you on your toes. The fact that she was the sole reason for the Regulation Of Exposed Skin In Hero Costumes Bill kinda says all you need to know about her."

Toshinori couldn't help but smirk at the thought of Izuku in the same classroom with Midnight and how the woman being the kind of Pro-Hero that she is would be almost too much for the teenager to handle past a minute. Sure there were a lot of women Pro-Heroes that wore outfits that some would still consider racy but Toshinori knew that Izuku was seeing all of them from a distance and Midnight would easily be in close proximity of Izuku once she learned how easy he would get flustered around her.

Of course, that would only happen IF Izuku got into U.A. High. Now was the time to make sure to turn that 'IF' into 'WHEN'.

All the days prior to the entrance exam, Toshinori schooled Izuku as best as he could with what could be considered beginner's lessons in using One For All. He made sure to keep it a secret that when he received the quirk from Nana Shimura that it took him even less time to master it. At least, master the ability to regulate the level of power he could call from One For All.

The first rule that Toshinori imposed on Izuku was to never put the entire power of One For All in any of his limbs. His body was indeed strengthened but the risk of injury was still there and Izuku could easily break any of his bones in an instant.

What was done as a training exercise was having Izuku push a boulder up a hill. Toshinori managed to find a nearby forest that had the kind of terrain that would work as part of the exercise and several sizable boulders to use for different levels of difficulty. The goal was to have Izuku spread out the power of One For All through out his entire body as Toshinori did when he was in his All Might form. It was also to guarantee that Izuku doesn't break any bones before the entrance exam since that kind of injury alone would bar him from taking it and after all the work the teenager had done over the months would have been in vain.

When Izuku started the training exercise, he managed to call upon five percent of the quirk's power. He did ask All Might on why starting so low, saying that wouldn't have it been better to try at least ten percent of control. All Might reminded him that what they were doing now was going as slow and steady as possible so Izuku wouldn't get an injury that would hamper his ability to take the entrance exam much less bar him from it. He understood that Izuku was more than eager to test out what he could do now that he had a quirk but now wasn't the time to indulge in it.

All Might also said that Izuku will still more than likely use 100 percent of One For All's power on instinct eventually because he hadn't mentally prepared himself to use the quirk in a manner that would limit the odds of him causing any kind of significant injuries. He explained it as a kind of mental training for the brain since it's the first to control any kind of muscle in the body as well as the placing certain limiters which wouldn't work any more like they used to now that Izuku has access to a significant source of unrivaled power.

Those few days pushing a boulder up a hill went by fast but by the day of the U.A. High Entrance Exam, Izuku proved that he could actively use five to ten percent of One For All. Both knew it wasn't much but it was more than a start for him. All Might gave Izuku few words of encouragement and wished him luck before he headed off to handle some personal matters.

On the train ride to U.A. High, Izuku Midoriya was so nervous that he felt like he would dehydrate himself from all the nervous sweating he felt he was doing. He tried everything he could think of that could calm his nerves but all he did was remind himself over and over that this was the moment everything he had done in the last ten months had led to. It was his goal to get into U.A. High before he met All Might but now it was more than that.

Somehow it felt like this was the final test to prove himself as a worthy successor to his idol. Izuku couldn't help but wonder if there was anyone in all of history that felt like what he feeling right now. Someone that rose to become a legend later picked someone to replace them, to become a new legend.

The only thing that came to his mind that might, and this was probably the biggest stretch of the word 'might', give him something of an answer was the shield that he was carrying along with his own backpack.

Before Izuku got on the train headed towards U.A. High, he met up with Mei at Dagoba Municipal Beach Park where the both of them decided to head to the same destination together but not before she handed back to Izuku both the shield and the latest super cute baby she made.

The paint job that Mei did to it again made the shield seemed as brand new as possible. Izuku didn't think Mei was that skilled of an artist but in a weird kind of sense, all of her gadgets that she called 'super cute baby' were unique in their own rights and almost none of them followed a specific kind of pattern in terms of design or technological applications. She either developed an artistic sense of painting or was a by-product of her imagination that was geared towards inventing. Which explained the latest version of the jacket that she dubbed the Mark 16 and how she made it essentially follow the same color scheme as the shield itself. The overall color was blue with a white star on the back and the shoulders followed by red trims here and there.

Izuku did ask why Mei skipped from Mark 15 to 16 since the Mark 14 proved to be fully functional. All the times he spent with her was enough to get a sense of worry whenever she made the comment, "Don't worry about it' to any questions.

Made that was the real source of nervousness he was feeling since sitting next to Mei on the train who herself was still busy writing in the pages of her notepad.

But when he returned his attention back to the shield did Izuku ask himself the question again: what is it like to replace a legend?

He didn't expect an answer to suddenly appear out of nowhere much less from the shield itself. He also didn't think he could ask Mei the same question since he would have to reveal a lot that All Might had sworn him to keep it as a secret as though both of their lives depended on it.

Whatever the case was, Izuku knew he had to get his mind back into the present and stop worrying on the past and future at the same time.

When the announcement came that the train arrived at it's destination, Izuku had to remind Mei that this was their stop. She was so focused on what she was designing at the moment that apparently she forgot what her focus should be on for today. It was clear she didn't show off any trace of nervousness that Izuku was feeling or she could mask such feelings like no other. Or maybe she was just eager to show off what she could do and why U.A. High should offer her a place in the Support Course.

The two of them walked in silence towards their destination. Izuku wanted to ask some more questions about what changes Mei made to the jacket that made it the Mark 16. But each time he tried to start up a conversation with Mei, the only response he got was either a 'hmm' or a 'mmhmm'. When they reached the front gates of U.A. High, Izuku saw the signs that said which building held which course's entrance exam.

Izuku had to really get Mei's attention so that she could see she which building she would have to go to.

"Ah, thanks for telling me! Got this new idea for a capture unit and just finished making up the mock designs for it. Would've walked right past this place without even knowing it." Mei said while putting her notepad away in her own backpack.

"Well, good luck. I know you'll ace the exam." Izuku said while trying to give Mei a reassuring smile.

"And I know you'll ace your exam with the help of my super cute baby, Zuzu!" Mei replied before she took off in a run towards the building for her assigned entrance examination.

Izuku was amazed at the lack of nervousness that was apparent within Mei. He was also a bit envious of the self-confidence that she had. The teenager figured that she had to have mountains of self-confidence because of all the tech she creates and probably more than a fair share of them failed to as they were created to do and each failure would have been a solid hit against anyone's self-confidence. But Mei Hatsume showed him that she didn't let any failure slow her down even a little.

Looking at the building that was holding the Hero Course Entrance Exam, Izuku felt a little intimidated at the sight of it. Maybe it was because the school had a reputation of being the best in terms of training future Pro-Heroes and somehow just walking through the main entrance of the school gave off an air that made those that were entering the property being reminded of that fact.

Well, that was what Izuku was feeling at the moment. A cursory glance at all the other students entering did show him any of them looking the least bit nervous.

"Its probably even odds that some are feeling confident like Mei while others are hiding the fact they are something of a nervous wreck." Izuku muttered to himself.

"Stupid Deku!"

Hearing that coming from behind him made Izuku snap his head around to see Katsuki Bakugou walking straight towards him. Seeing his former friend with his usual angry look on his face walking towards him still somewhat surprised him.

"Get out of my way now before I set you on fire!"

'Polite as always.' Izuku thought to himself as he stepped off to the side.

Izuku kept quiet as Bakugou walked by him, noticing that the explosion quirk user didn't give him a sideways glance when he walked by. A fair guess that his fellow school mate was entirely focused on what was before him and still considered Izuku not worthy of any more attention than the warning he just gave him.

As Izuku watched Bakugou continue to the main building, he over heard some of the other students recognize him and make comments that because of the slime villain incident that he was basically guaranteed a spot in the Hero Course. The only thought Izuku had was remembering that Bakugou told him and their entire junior high class that he was looking forward to crushing him in the entrance exam.

Remembering that moment in his past helped erase the nervousness Izuku was feeling and replace it with a drive to succeed. If Bakugou was still dead set on crushing him in the entrance exam, Izuku was going to make sure that it would be the most difficult thing Bakugou ever said he would do. That was a promise Izuku made for himself to do if and when it happened.

'Well, time to take my steps to becoming a hero….' Izuku thought to himself after taking in and letting out a breath as one final measure of steeling his nerves. However, since he didn't really notice how he had his feet planted when he stepped off to the side, Izuku caused himself to trip the moment he actually took a step. '….or I'll just die here and save myself the incoming embarrassment.'

It took a moment for Izuku to notice that he had stopped mid-fall and was actually hovering in mid-air.

"Are you okay?" a girl asked that was off to the left of him.

Izuku was startled a bit by the fact that he was floating but he was more confused by the fact he was floating. When he turned to see who it was to the left of him, which was a rather cute looking brunette girl, he watched as the girl helped him to stand up straight again and somehow make gravity resume it's effect on him.

"I stopped you from falling with my quirk. I hear tell that its a bad omen to trip and fall on an important day." The girl said with a genuine smile on her face. "Sorry that I didn't ask first but I figured you wouldn't mind with me catching you."

Izuku's mind registered the fact that the girl was talking to him. But that was about all his mind was doing since again he was in close proximity of the opposite sex and his ability to talk to said individual was lost at the moment.

The girl for her part didn't take Izuku's lack of words as an insult of any kind. "Gotta say, this day is way nerve wracking in more ways than one, am I right?"

"I...uh...well…I...I…" was all that Izuku managed to say or rather sounds that came from his mouth that could be considered actual words.

"Well, guess I'll see you inside. Good luck to the both of us." the girl said before she began making her way towards the building.

For several moments, Izuku ability to process a thought ran at the same speeds as a snail moving across the ground. Eventually it picked up enough speed in which Izuku was able to function fully again.

'After all that time with Mei and I still can't talk to a girl? I mean, I managed to talk to Mei enough today where it would be seen as a normal conversation but…..' Izuku thought to himself about what had just transpired.

The only conclusion that made sense to Izuku on why he could talk to Mei was the fact that over the past ten months she had caused him to experience very unique and sometimes painful situations. Maybe his mind had created a kind of survival instinct where it would force him to speak to her if at any time said instinct sensed imminent danger.

Whatever the case was, Izuku focused his mind back to what was going to happen at 9:00 am. The teenager shook his head and slapped the sides of his face twice before he himself began making his way into the building.

Inside a large auditorium where it seemed like over a 150 students candidates were seated, a Pro-Hero by the name of Present Mic was explaining the kind of entrance exam that the candidates were be taking for a shot at entering U.A. High. The first half was a written exam while the second half was a 'mock cityscape maneuvers.' He explained that as stated in the students' application to U.A. High, they would be conducting 10 minute mock battles in classic urban settings located in seven different separate areas.

That made sense in splitting up the students since it ensured that no one could be helped by anyone that was either a friend or fellow student. But Izuku was glad when Present Mic said that it was allowed for the students to bring anything they wanted with them into the mock battle zones. That meant that he could use both the jacket and the shield in this part of the exam. He did consider the possibility that the exam might not allow outside tools such as his shield to be used and would have worked around that if need be. It wasn't like he knew without question the shield would give him an edge now that he knew it was allowed but at least it was one worry off of his mind.

The explanation continued when Present Mic said that each battle zone had three kind of faux villains that the students would be facing and that each one represented a different point value due to their varying degree of difficulty, with one being worth one point and the next being worth two points with the third being worth three points. He made it clear that the main objective was to destroy as many as of them possible within the time limit.

After Present Mic set forth the rule that attacking other students during the mock battle was forbidden and grounds for immediate failure, a tall student with glasses stood up and asked the teacher explain why he said there were three faux villains while the handout sheet all the students were given stated that there were four faux villains.

The teacher complimented on the student's catch and went into detail about the fourth faux villain by using the old retro video game "Super Mario Bros" as form of reference. Present Mic said that while the fourth is a faux villain, defeating it would gain no points because each battle zone only has one and the fourth was more of an obstacle than a target. Present Mic called it a "Gimmick" whose sole purpose was to rampage around in close quarters in each battle zone. That made most of the student come to the conclusion that what they would be entering was something akin to a video game and that the "Gimmick" was a trap that you wanted to avoid in a game.

However, for Izuku, something seemed out of place when that fourth faux villain was explained. If it really was worth zero points if you defeat it, and Present Mic stated that it can be defeated, then why put something like that in a mock battle zone?

'Unless it's something of a test in of itself…' Izuku thought to himself but eventually disregarded it. He made the conclusion that if the fourth faux villain was a separate kind of test than it would have been stated as such.

What the Pro-Hero said created the logical conclusion that the only way to pass the practical portion of the exam was to destroy as many battle robots as possible in ten minutes.

If that was the case then there was no doubt in Izuku's mind that there was a finite of each kind of battle robot and his main objective was to target the ones worth three points the moment he saw one.

The only real positive aspect that he drew from the explanation was that Bakugou wasn't assigned to the same testing zone as he was. Since they sat together in the auditorium because of their assigned entrance exam's number, both of them learned they were assigned different zones. Bakugou made the comment that he was looking forward to crushing Deku in the entrance exam but since they in different testing zones, at least he wouldn't waste time laughing at watching Deku fail spectacularly.

As much as Izuku hated to admit it, he had to agree to some of what Bakugou said. Without question when the mock battle started, his attention would be split between finding and destroying the targets while making sure of the other students' proximity to him didn't interfere with his own score. If they were in the same zone, Izuku figured that Bakugou would be spending half the time exploding the robots and the other half of the time trying to explode him while saying it was 'friendly fire'.

Izuku didn't put it past Bakugou that the hot-tempered fellow student from Aldrea Junior High would have the thought that taking him out would ensure that Bakugou would be the only student from their junior high school to make it into U.A. High as he proudly proclaimed that he would be.

About an hour later with all the students at their assigned testing zones, Izuku, with his jacket on and his shield on his right arm, stared at where the mock battle was going to be held. Izuku had some thoughts of how big the zone was going to be but none of them were close to what was in front of him.

'Seriously?! Where did they find the money much less the materials to build an actual city?! And there are 6 other zones just like this one?! How big is U.A. High anyways?!' Izuku's mind was trying to wrap itself around the concept that U.A. High had on it's property something that was so close to being an actual part of a city that he was already expecting people to be either living or working within.

The only part that the teenager could fully comprehend was that if there was any proof as to why U.A. High was considered THE school for training Pro-Heroes, it was the mere fact they spare no expense in creating a simulated environment that Pro-Heroes would more than likely encounter on a regular basis.

Turning his attention to the other students that were assigned to the same zone as himself, Izuku again noticed that virtually all of them were exuding confidence. He also took note that some of the students had gear with them that seemed to match their quirks.

That was when he noticed the girl he had met earlier, the one who saved him from making a fool of himself by tripping over his own feet. Izuku was glad that she was assigned to the same test site because he now had a chance to thank her properly instead of the stuttering mess he gave her earlier.

It was when he took several steps towards her that he felt someone grab his shoulder. Turning to see who it was, Izuku was surprised that it was the same student that asked Present Mic to explain the fourth faux villain.

The stern look on his face told Izuku that what he was about to say was as serious as it could be.

"That girl looks like she trying to focus on the trials ahead." the teenager said before turning his gaze to match Izuku's. "What are you going to do? Distract her and ruin her chances to succeed?"

"What? Of course not!" Izuku felt a little offended that this individual made such a conclusion just from him simply walking in the girl's direction. "I wanted to thank her for something that she did for me. That's all."

"Then thank her after the test is over. Talking to her now will do nothing but be a distraction."

Izuku showed his confusion when he heard that part. "Then talking to me right now, wouldn't that mean you're trying to distract me?"

The tall teenager folded his arms over his chest and kept his expression as stern and focused on Izuku. "I'm actually reminding you that we're all exceptional students and that we're here to prove our worth in being accepted into the most prestigious high school there is in the country. I'm actually reminding you that until such time as when the test is over, the only thing you should be focusing on is the test itself. If you're not going to take the test serious, if this is some kind of game to you, then leave immediately."

There was truth to this person's words. Getting to take the entrance exam for U.A. High was one thing. Getting is was truly a whole other and at this very moment, there should be nothing else in his mind except passing the test. That much Izuku knew without question.

"And…..BEGIN!"

That got everyone's attention when they heard Present Mic yell out those two words. When all the students turned their focus to Present Mic who was standing on top of a large cement pillar that was overlooking all of the battle zones, the Pro-Hero spoke up again.

"GET MOVING! THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL BATTLES! RUN, RUN RUN, RUN! YOU'RE WASTING AIR TIME HERE!"

No sooner did Izuku turn his head to see what the other students' reaction did he see that all of them had already ran into the testing zone.

"Crap! I'm already behind!"

Izuku ran as fast as he could to catch up to the rest. He already thought about using five percent of One For All but quickly decided against it. He already tripped under his own power just walking through the main entrance of U.A. High. The idea of him using only five percent and then tripping over that seemed too real to ignore.

As the test began, every student went into a free-for-all way of thinking. Attacking any robot that they saw or that attacked them. There were some that appeared right away but most of them were only worth one point so they were considered easy targets by most. Some of the other students decided to seek out the targets with higher point value to better increase their chances of a passing score.

Because the time limit was only 10 minutes, the level of chaos happening in each zone as a result of the students in a hurry to rack up the most points was what the teachers who were judging the practical exam wanted to see take place. They didn't tell how many faux villains were placed in each battle zone or where they were for a reason. And with it being a wide battlefield and a limited amount of time, it helped the teachers to accurately evaluate each student.

To see who can assess a situation in an instant which meant their skills in intelligence gathering were exceptional.

To see who were best at being mobility experts and thus ensuring they were never late to 'a party'.

To see who best copes with any situation meaning they were more than capable decision makers.

And to see who were easily natural born warriors and those that were all flash but no substance.

And at the moment, Izuku was not proving himself to any of those for the teachers to judge.

To say that a low time limit for the test might have been unfair but a trial by fire always weeds out the mundane and exposes the exceptional. The teachers for their part were rather impressed by some of the students from all of the testing sites. There was some debate about refraining from sending out the 'Gimmick' since the students were proving themselves to be a better crop that previous years. Granted it had been years since anyone actually took one down during a test and virtually all of the time the students simply ran away the moment the 'Gimmick' appeared.

But when one of the teacher said that they really needed to know without questions if these students were capable of preserving peace within the cities is when they all agreed to hit the "YARUKI SWITCH".

It had been at least six minutes into the test and Izuku had yet to score even a single point. All the other students were proving themselves more adept at taking down the targets with efficiency than he was. The times when he spotted a target did he think about how best to disable it which was both a waste of time and opportunity.

Panic was starting to set in for Izuku. But his level of panic jumped up several leagues when the zero-pointer 'Gimmick' suddenly appeared. Seeing the giant battle robot explode out from underground and move with such intensity that the ground actually started to shake like it does in an active earthquake. All of that easily intimidated all of the students that were in front of it including Izuku.

The machine was easily 15 stories high and that was because it was leaning forward when it appeared in front of the students. Izuku remembered when Present Mic said this faux villain was more of an obstacle that was best to avoid, he knew now that the teacher heavily sugarcoated his words. This was a machine that you definitely need to run for you lives just to get away from.

'Isn't this a little extreme? Like, times a thousand?!' Izuku thought to himself as he stared up at the towering behemoth of metal.

The 'Gimmick' proved it's level of threat by punching the ground so hard that the resulting gusting winds and shaking ground knocked all of the students right off of their feet. Izuku fell to his knees but held the shield up to deflect some flying debris caused by the ground being struck so violently.

The dust didn't even settled from the attack when all the students got back up to their feet and began running away from the 'Gimmick'. The teachers that were watching were now looking for something very specific now that the 'Gimmick' was on the field. Even one teacher voiced the collective thought of the others.

"People show their true colors when they face that thing in this kind of battle."

Izuku assessed his situation and made the choice that he was no match for this target. He needed to find the smaller ones and fast especially when he heard Present Mic yell out how much time was left before the test was over. He didn't want all that training with All Might to be wasted simply because he didn't even score a single point in the practical. With no time to spare, Izuku turned around so as to start running from the approaching 'Gimmick'.

"OW!"

Izuku almost didn't hear it but he recognized the voice he just faintly heard.

Seeing the girl that helped him from making an embarrassment of himself earlier being trapped under some fallen debris stopped Izuku dead in his tracks. Her legs were pinned and the 'Gimmick' wasn't even slowing down which meant in the next few moments the girl was going to get run over. Possibly even killed.

Izuku didn't think after that. What he did was the same thing he did before when Bakugou was in trouble. Izuku ran straight at the 'Gimmick'.

Some of the retreating students notice Izuku running at the metal monstrosity and were caught by surprise at what they were seeing. Even the teachers that were watching now focused their attention solely at the green-haired teenager that drew back his right arm as he ran at the opponent in front of him.

Izuku wasn't thinking about anything at that moment. All he was doing was acting on pure instinct which told him to throw the shield as hard as he could at the 'Gimmick'. The machine itself noticed Izuku coming towards it and made a move to attack by sending another punch with it's left hand. The 'Gimmick' was in mid-throw of it's left punch when Izuku instinctively summoned the full power of One For All and threw the shield directly at the 'Gimmick's' left fist.

It sounded like a crack of thunder the second the shield was sent flying which upon later reviewed showed that the shield was thrown hard enough to actually break the sound barrier.

It was almost too fast for the cameras to see but the teacher watched in stun silence as the shield easily cut through the metal of the robot's left fist all the way up through it's left arm until it broke through and then flew into the bottom of the robot's head. The shield cut through the robot's head in the same fast motion as it had cut it's left arm.

Because of the force of the cutting motion that the shield created, the 'Gimmick' was actually knocked back by the same force. The sight of it falling backwards easily got everyone's attention including Izuku.

His first thought was that he couldn't believe what he just did and with the shield no less.

But that thought was quickly and violently overridden by the sudden and incredibly debilitating pain he felt in his right arm. No, not just his left arm but the entire left side of his torso as well.

Izuku didn't scream out because of the pain since he didn't even have enough air in his lungs for even that. He exhaled when he threw the shield and right now basically everything from his entire left arm to his shoulder even half of his rib cage felt like he destroyed it when he threw the shield.

He had enough conscious thought to look at his arm and see what a tangled mess of a state it was in. He noticed too that the entire right sleeve of his jacket was gone all the way to the shoulder.

'Is this what it means to use One For All?' Izuku asked himself while the white hot searing pain assaulted all of his senses.

Izuku was on his knees holding his right arm in some desperate attempt to ease the pain he was feeling.

"ONE MINUTE REMAINING!"

It took a moment for his mind to process what Present Mic had said. To remember that the test was still ongoing and that he was down to the last sixty seconds. And that even though he defeated the 'Gimmick', it wasn't worth any points so he was still at zero for a score.

Even though his mind was flooded with nothing but the pain coming from his injured right side, something told Izuku to look back up. It wasn't easy since tears of pain were in his eyes but he did manage to see that the shield he had thrown was now coming straight back at him. He saw that his time to react, to catch the shield, was just in a few seconds and that the speed it was traveling towards him was about the same as when he threw it.

It was only by his instincts again did Izuku raise his left arm to activate the magnetic field and have the shield return to him in a manner that the jacket was designed to do.

Izuku had just enough time to brace himself for the impact when the shield changed it's flying position so that the inside of the shield connected to the magnetic device in his left arm. The remaining air in his lungs got knocked out when the shield's momentum transferred to Izuku's left and essentially made it so Izuku broke his arm punching his chest. It also sent him skidding across the ground several meters backwards until he came to a stop in front of all the students that just watched him take down the 'Gimmick'.

All the students were simply too stunned to say anything at what they had just seen. It was only because of the sound of the buzzer from Present Mic did they realize that the time for the test had elapsed in where they started to make comments of what just happened.

"What just happened? I didn't think that guy had that kind of strength." One student said.

"Me either." Another added.

"But is his quirk connected to that shield of his? I mean, metal can cut metal but he threw it and that shield went through that machine like it wasn't even there."

"If that's the case then why didn't get any points during the test? If he could take down that big one, then all the others would have been next to no challenge for him." the first student said.

Other students added their two cents to what they had seen. One of them said that maybe the green-haired teenager was trying to trick them. Another commented by saying if that was the case then the it backfired since the 'Gimmick' was worth zero points and it was the only target that he took down.

Most of the students were of a similar thought about the event except for one who saw it differently.

'They're all missing the point. Don't they see what he actually did?' the teenager that reprimanded Izuku earlier thought to himself, looking back and forth between Izuku and the girl whose legs were trapped under the rubble moment before. 'He sacrificed everything to save that girl. He must have known how little time was left, how many points he needed to pass.'

In his mind, without question that what he saw Izuku do was nothing short of putting his own life on the line for someone else.

'He didn't hesitate to move in to save her. I mean, sure, if this wasn't an exam I would have done the same.' the teenager's thought continued but then stopped at a sudden realization. 'Wait….the exam! The judges! There's no way they didn't see what he did!'

Looking back at Izuku as he was still unconscious, a new possibility entered into the teenager's mind. 'Anyone with an effective quirk could take down these robots, even the big one. But did he somehow knew there was more to this test?'

That one teenager wasn't the only one having some serious thoughts about the show that Izuku Midoriya put on in front of everyone.

A few of the teachers that watched the 'Gimmick' get taken down made comments of how many years its been since the last time they saw such a feat performed. They even added the fact that while the few others who defeated the 'Gimmick' did so with their quirk, a strategy or a combination of the two, they had never seen someone do it in the manner that Izuku Midoriya had done.

Toshinori who was also watching with the other teachers of U.A. High was more shocked at the sight than any of the others. Up until that moment, Toshinori was of the belief that the shield could bounce off of surfaces if given enough force behind the throw. Sure there was some things that the shield probably could cut through but never once did he consider even for an instant that the shield was capable of what he just saw.

When he saw Izuku run straight at the 'Gimmick', Toshinori thought that Izuku was going to punch it with more power than what he was currently able to handle. He remember feeling his jaw drop when he saw Izuku going through a throwing motion with the shield being the intended object. But then his eyes shot wide open when the monitors showed him what happened what Toshinori now knew was what happened.

Izuku threw that shield with all the power from One For All behind the throw.

"You know, when I said that no one on this planet did anything to that shield…."

Toshinori turned to face Valeria who was sitting next to him and had seen everything he had seen as well.

"….I think I may have made the biggest understatement that could ever be made about that shield."

Valeria's voice was low enough so that only she and Toshinori could hear her words. She leaned over to Toshinori so her next words even spoken through a whisper would only be meant for him. "Izuku threw that shield with enough force to where it would be on the other side of the planet if not at least thrown into orbit. There's no magnet on this planet that could have stopped the shield with how fast it was moving either."

Toshinori agreed with Valeria's words. "So what exactly are you or Izuku are going to say when someone starts asking questions about what just happened here?"

"Well…" Toshinori thought he had a plan to explain the shield if and when someone started asking questions but that was before what they just saw. "...We can't exactly tell the truth since we found out something we didn't know about the shield at the same time everyone else and we aren't lying to anyone either."

Toshinori didn't have to turn his head to see that Valeria was giving him a very specific kind of look. He could already feel the stare from her eyes seemingly burning into his head.

"No one here is a fool, Toshinori. Someone is going to start asking questions especially Principal Nezu. Something thrown doesn't return to the person who threw it unless its by design, be it the object or the person who threw it."

All Toshinori could give for a response was a sigh. He continued to watch the monitor that was focused on Izuku and watch as the school nursing instructor, The Youthful Heroine: Recovery Girl using her quirk on healing the still unconscious Midoriya. Watching Izuku's right arm return to normal was a relief because Toshinori figured that the kind of injury teenager's arm had sustained might have been crippling if Recovery Girl wasn't around to help.

What happened after Izuku put all the power of One For All into his arm to throw the shield, he essentually came close to literally throwing his own arm out of the socket and that was just a general idea behind his injuries. Toshinori remembered telling Izuku prior to the start of their ten month training that if he tried to use One For All in what was his current physical state then the outcome would be him shooting off his own limbs.

At least this showed proof that the training wasn't a waste and Izuku's body was indeed stronger now than it was before. It also showed that more training and practice would be required to help Izuku get a better sense of control when using One For All.

The teenager's instinct to help those in need was still as strong now as it was when Toshinori saw it that day. Now all Izuku needed to do was master that instinct.

"If it wasn't for her, there's no way U.A. High could host such wild and out of control exams so openly." Valeria said as she watched the same monitor and then turn to face Toshinori. "Keep in mind how dangerously close history is to repeating itself here."

Toshinori knew what Valeria was talking about and he nodded in reluctance to her words. Before Valeria decided to change the matter back to the official reason why all the teachers were gathered, she decided to say one more thing to Toshinori as a means of encouragement.

"You have found a worthy successor. But you also found probably the most problematic student this school is ever going to have. And that isn't an understatement."

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Author's Note: Now I'm sure some are going to call BS on the shield being able to cut through the giant robot so easily. Keep in mind two things.

First the shield in this story is not, and I cannot stress this enough, is not the shield from the Marvel movies. All the Marvel movies are based off of the comics but a lot of the details are either changed or forgotten completely when the comic book stories are adapted into big screen versions and one detail that got changed for the movies is that the shield in the comics was a made of a mixture of metals, not only Vibranium. And yes, the shield has been damaged or destroyed in the comics as well but in comparison to how easily the shield was damaged in the movies, it would take All Might's United States Of Smash to do it for the comic version because of how the comic book version of the shield was made. As it stands, there are very few beings in My Hero Academia that have that level of power which means the shield in the story won't break any time soon.

Second, there has been instances in the comics where Steve Rogers (Captain America) has actually thrown the shield hard enough to where it cut through tank armor during his World War II days but since said stories were written decades ago its no surprise not everyone remembers it unless they actively research such things. According to the stats, Steve Rogers's physical abilities are considered to be at or one step above Olympic Athlete levels as a result of the Super Soldier Serum. And with that in mind, Izuku using the power of One For All when he threw the shield is easily leagues greater when the two are compared and even if the armor plating on the robots was better than the kind of armor German tanks had during World War II, the power behind the throw would greatly and easily be more than enough to still cut through it.

And now to what this chapter of the story has set up. Seeing the shield in action will definitely raise questions, more so with Izuku which is why I started a friendship with Mei Hatsume sooner since with her being in the Support Course of U.A. High, she could do some tests that would give both answers and questions about the shield. What the answers and questions are will be revealed over time. Can't solve a riddle on the first try nor expect an answer to make sense if you don't even know what questions to ask.

One final word: Yes I do intend to have Momo have a relationship with Izuku and yes, Mei is going to be a part of Izuku's life as well. I can't reveal all my madness just yet. There be no fun in seeing the reactions from the readers if I tell you now.