Engine

"I'm so nervous…" Izuku said to himself as he stood panting before the monstrous building that was the U.A before him.

He grabbed his stomach anxiously, feeling for the cord that fell flat just below his ribs. It had been a weird ten months, to say the least. Whatever the dog had done to him in that alleyway, he wasn't complaining in the slightest.

Why would he? It had been his dream to have a quirk for as long as he could, and because of whatever "contract" the dog had made, he finally had a chance. Things were finally looking up for him.

And his quirk wasn't too shabby either. Having chainsaws as arms? That was awesome! Izuku would have preferred it to be not as violent-looking, however. He looked like more of a villain, to be honest.

And that was why he hadn't used his quirk once since the sludge villain incident. Other than the one time he used it in his room to make sure he wasn't imagining anything (while his mom was away). And from that usage, he found out a few important aspects of his quirk.

One, it seems to have a time limit. Either Izuku couldn't control it, or the form needed some type of fuel to run it.

Two, whenever he did use it, he passed out right after. Or he was immensely tired. That made his quirk not very versatile, to say the least.

He also had no idea what he looked like while he transformed. Did he look lame? Did he look cool to others? The thought definitely excited Izuku.

He whistled a catchy tune as he continued to walk on the sparkling pavement.

All the days he had dodged Bakugo and his crew weren't put to waste—Izuku could count on his fingers the last time he was picked on by the blond.

"Deku?!"

I had to say it…

Izuku slowly turned his head around, already bracing himself for the encounter.

Bakugo looked at him with a furious expression. Why? Izuku had no idea. The angry teen waltzed towards him, not looking very terrifying in his black coat and yellow scarf wrapped around him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Bakugo demanded, hands up in a threatening position.

Izuku sweatdropped. Of course that was the first question Bakugo asked him.

"I'm he-here for the hero course entrance exam, Kaachan," Izuku replied.

"Without a quirk? Are you serious?"

"Well…I'll just try my best."

"Hmph. Just don't get in my way during the exam, Deku!"

The blond dug his hands back into his pockets, and left with the same irritated expression that he came in with.

Izuku merely stayed back, still in a weird daze from the interaction. That wasn't so bad! Maybe staying away from Bakugo helped him mature…or something.

Maybe his luck was becoming favourable after all!

And then he tripped.

Izuku brought his hands together in front of his face, bracing himself for the impact. But then he froze.

He froze in midair.

"Are you okay?"

A savior.

Izuku yelped in shock anyway.

Steady hands corrected him back to standing position. Izuku still stood shocked, as he stared at his savior before him. Brown hair, big eyes, and weirdly red cheeks. She clapped her hands before putting one to her mouth.

"Sorry for not asking first! My quirk can be quite weird for people experiencing it for the first time. But, like, I'm pretty nervous, so I really didn't have time to think. Are you nervous as well?"

"Uh…I think…"

"Cya' inside then!"

And with a wave, she left.

Izuku could only watch her retreating back in awe. "Wow! My luck seriously is good!"

"What's up, UA candidates?" Present Mic yelled to the crowd before him.

"Lemme hear you roar!"

Absolute silence.

"Mellow crowd, but not a problem! I'm the school's sole and number one DJ, Present Mic!"

Izuku was only gushing in awe at the hero before him. Present Mic used to be a seriously popular hero, and one who he had frequently followed for a few years before.

"It's really him! The Voice Hero himself…his radio show is also amazing. It's awesome how all the teachers are pro heroes as well—" Izuku began muttering to himself.

A voice behind him spoke quietly. "Please shut up…"

"As you already know, the setting for this exam will be an ultra-hip urban city! Ten-minute mock battles will be conducted for each of you wonderful boys and girls."

"They're splitting up people from the same high schools?" Another voice which Izuku couldn't recognize spoke out.

"Obviously! It wouldn't be fair if best buddies teamed up against the others!"

Izuku nodded in agreement. "That's right."

"Yes, yes. Now what about the targets? In each center, there will be three types of faux villains. One pointer, Two pointer, and the most prized one of all, the Three pointer! The objective is to use your quirk to eliminate as many of them as possible, and at the same time get the highest score possible as well. There's more! You gotta keep it heroic, ya dig? Attacking other examinees is forbidden in UA."

"I have a question!"

The boy who raised his hand was…eccentric. Tall, combed hair, glasses, and a strict expression on his face.

"Go ahead!" Present Mic said.

"The printout which was given says they're four types of villains, and not the three that you mentioned. If this is an accidental error, I am quite disappointed! UA is the most notable school in all of Japan! For such simple mistakes…it is quite shameful. Moreover, you! With the green hair!"

Izuku yelped as all the attention focused on him, the glare the boy directed on him not doing him any favors.

"Stop muttering to yourself! UA isn't a joke, and if you think it is…I request for you to leave."

Izuku blushed in embarrassment. "S-sorry."

Present Mic interrupted the upcoming laughter with a wave of his hands. "Quiet down, quiet down. Examine number 7-1-1-1, you do raise a valid point. Why are there four mentioned villains? Well, the fourth villain isn't worth any points at all, and is merely an obstacle for y'all to deal with. I recommend you to ignore the robot entirely."

The boy nodded and bowed. "I see. Please excuse my distasteful comments."

"And that's it! I hope to see y'all do your best! Trying half-heartedly won't lead to any results, ya hear? Instead, you're gonna have to go beyond! How about a Plus Ultra? Good luck and see you in school!"

Izuku calmed his already pumping nerves.

He needed to get into UA.

"Two minutes left!"

Izuku panted and panted as he desperately ran through the huge city, legs aching with pain.

Two minutes left, and not a single point was achieved. He couldn't activate his quirk, not with the incredibly short time limit and the immediate tiredness he got after using it. If he used all his quirk against one robot, he certainly couldn't get more.

That's why he was relentlessly looking for a situation with more than one robot, so he could stock up the points all at once.

But that seemed more than impossible as the other examinees were just as determined as him. Even the girl from earlier had achieved around thirty points with her odd quirk, making his chest heave with the extra weight.

The fleeting sense of despair flooded his chest once more.

There was no way for him to get into UA.

Destroying a minimum of twenty robots in two minutes? With his quirk, impossible.

Even with his own quirk, he still couldn't make it.

A loud rumble shook the streets of the city as an entire building crumbled to the ground. A titanic robot stood menacingly before the few examinees in the same street, its sheer size casting a large shadow before it.

Izuku trembled in terror.

It was the Zero pointer.

"I recommend you to ignore the robot entirely," Present Mic had said to them all.

Izuku turned his heels, starting a run for the other side of the city, far, far away from the robot behind him.

Maybe he could still find some robots to destroy.

Ochako whimpered in fear as she sprinted towards the clear road, her surroundings dark from the large shadow she was walking on. Parts of the buildings fell down to her sides, breaking into fragments of their original shape with a resounding crack.

The Zero pointer did nothing to control her fear; the eerie, mechanical movement of the robot was a terrifying sound to listen to, especially when you were right under the machine itself.

But it was fine.

Seeing how slow the robot moved did assure her. She would be able to escape the robot in time, and with the amount of points she had, it was safe to say she would qualify for UA. A brief feeling of excitement was felt at that thought.

Then a piece of brick fell in front of her.

Startled, Ochako tried to slow down.

But it was too late.

Her ankle contacted the object roughly, pushing her to the ground. As if her luck couldn't get any worse, another piece of rubble fell on her legs, the pain not as bad as the realization of what was going to happen. She couldn't reach the rocks on her legs with her hands either.

The robot was gonna crush her.

A frightened "Ow!" slowly devolved into gasps of panic. UA wouldn't do this, right? She remembered that an entire class had been expelled before. This wasn't gonna end well. Tears built up in her eyes. She wasn't a hero yet, she was still a normal high schooler with a fancy quirk.

This wasn't a team mission either.

No one would save her.

No one would want to save her.

Ochako closed her eyes.

BRUMM-BRUMMM-BRUMMM-BRRRRRRRRRR

Izuku didn't know why he wanted to save her. Actually, he did. She was the only person nice to him the entire day. But was it worth the risk?

All doubts were cleared when he pulled the cord.

The sound of the engine signaled his transformation. And without hesitation, he went for the rescue. His initial plan was to just scoop her up and leave. But then he realized his han—chainsaws wouldn't allow for that to happen.

In his transformed state, he was faster, stronger, and more vicious. That's why when he cleared the distance between him and the Zero-pointer, he simply went to destroy the robot entirely.

He first had to deal with the robotic hand coming towards him. Instead of dodging, he dove towards the hand, and let his chainsaws do the work for him.

It was shockingly easy. The chainsaws tore through the robot's hand like butter, piercing their rotating edges into the metal without hesitation. Once his chainsaws exited the end of the hand, the robotic part fell onto the road with a crunch.

Izuku roared with triumph in his head.

His first doubt was dealt with. Now all he had to do was attack, attack, and attack.

He jumped onto the rest of the robotic arm, and without a second to waste, he plunged both his chainsaws into the coating of the robot. Using the never-ending friction of spinning chainsaws against metal, he began running along the humongous arm of the Zero pointer.

All the wires, circuits, and metals inside of the arm were cut into pieces as Izuku made his way towards the top of the robot very quickly. Keeping balance to the arm even while it frantically (albeit slowly) moved through the air would've been impossible if it weren't for his chainsaws, but Izuku wasn't one to complain about such an advantage.

He was about halfway up the arm, leaving the bottom portion a battered, dysfunctional mess due to a very deep, and long cut running alongside its front. Then the other arm began its move. The robot's arachnid-like eyes seemed to have spotted his movement, and made an effective counter. Before the arm could crush him entirely, he leaped into the air.

And landed directly on the other arm.

Once again, he was running on the robot while continually destroying it with his literally chainsaw-deep hands. Ten seconds later, Izuku reached his target.

The head.

From the shoulder of the now unbalanced robot, Izuku leaped once more, his hands in an "X" position in front of his chest. Chainsaws turning, engines revving, Izuku dealt the final blow.

The second his chainsaws made contact with the robot's head, Izuku slashed his chainsaws to their respective direction, creating a dramatic "X" gash on the robot's head, before the Zero pointer's head fell off altogether. The completely off-balance robot now began falling to its doom.

And Izuku had nowhere to land.

But somehow he knew he would survive. His transformation just made him feel more durable.

A wave of exhaustion filled his body.

Chainsaws disappeared, some weight on his head disappeared as well, leaving him back in his regular state.

"Oh no…" he mumbled as he felt his eyes closing.

At least he wasn't shirtless this time.

The moment Recovery Girl had let him go, Izuku immediately ran towards his home. The shame at the whole ordeal was too much. Not even a single point had been earned by the green-head.

Izuku had spent the entire week silent and in a slightly (lie) depressed state. Even with a quirk of his own, he couldn't do anything but lose.

Each day a progressive state of shame furtherned, except on the sixth, where he came to accept his defeat. To be fair, he didn't have the same experience with his quirk like the other students did, and his quirk wasn't very suited to the objective of the assignment.

But those were all excuses.

I passed the written exam, at least. Not that it matters. If not UA, there are other Hero courses for me to attend. I just wanted to attend the same one as All Might…

"Izuku!"

Izuku looked to his mother, who held a letter in her shaking hands. He didn't need to look at it to know what it was. The UA entrance result.

"It doesn't matter if you don't make it, Izuku. I know you recently learned of your quirk, even though you won't tell me what exactly it is—"

Izuku smiled. "It's fine, Mom. I'll just see my result."

He knew his Mom had no faith in him passing, but the fleeting hope was still there. He didn't exactly blame her, he had a grand total of zero faith as well.

He went into his room anxiously. While he had come to terms with his failure, he was still nervous to see the exact result. He opened the letter slowly, each movement of his finger a painful, excruciating task.

"BOOYA! I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION NOW!"

Izuku jumped in shock as a hologram of All Might himself appeared before.

All Might is collaborating with UA to reveal the results? Izuku thought with a shocked expression.

"Listen here! I have lots more responses to make, so we're gonna make this short and sweet."

Izuku gulped.

"You managed to do well in the written test, congratulations! However, a score of zero was reported during your practical exam."

Izuku nodded in resigned acceptance. He might as well leave the room right now.

"FORTUNATELY! Villain points weren't the only factors in grading our students. View this clip, please!"

The brown haired girl he saved showed up.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but I really have to say this! You know that plain-looking boy who kept on mumbling to himself in the auditorium? Green-hair, I think? I was wondering whether I could give him some of my points? He saved me while wasting his own time, you know?"

Izuku gasped.

Present Mic only smiled, eyes sparkling with amusement. "That's very kind of you! But there's really no need. The kid's done quite fine on his own."

All Might appeared once more.

"Rescue points are appointed to those who are heroes by heart, and not a mere judgement of their quirks against villains. We are a hero course at heart! Not some braindead competition that looks at points. How would we ever reject you, Young Midoriya? With sixty rescue points, you pass with flying colors! The girl as well, of course."

It felt like a dream. He felt tears of joy running down his face, he felt all the raw emotion in his chest as it escaped as a choked sob.

"Prepare yourself, Young Midoriya. This isn't your dream school anymore! This is UA High, your hero academia!"

Annnnnnddd cut.

Yo-yo. Pleased with the response so far. Twenty-four followers for a single chapter, not shabby.

As for the specifics of why the limitations for Deku's quirk, well, he doesn't get any blood. Which is gonna be a repetitive issue until he faces some actual villains in a certain incident (hint).

Appreciate if you review, all criticism accepted as always. Share the story with your friends, see if they like it!

Cya' next chapter.