"U.A. High School Hero Course"
"Entrance Exam"
"Battle Center B"
As Daruka's exam was happening, all the other battle centers were equally eventful. A large group of students stood in awe at the massive gate separating them from their upcoming battle simulation. "Whoa..." Many of them said at once.
"This is nuts." One guy said.
"It's like a whole city." Another said.
"Can you imagine how much it costs to build this?" A third asked.
Midoriya was shown with a nervous smile creeping across his face, trembling in fear as he remembered Present Mic's instructions. (Okay, this is it! A mock battle!) He said, before looking at his competition, including a tall boy with three arms on each side, connected with skin to make them almost like bat-like wings and a smaller pretty boy in fancy clothing with an incredibly large belt.
(How come none of these guys seem nervous at all? Are they that confident? Some of them even have special gear! And some of them may even be more monsters from Daruka's world. Some of them look like they fit the bill of monsters she's told me about.) He mentally noted as he saw what looked like a mix between a sword and a tail held low in the middle of the crowd of contestants. He then noticed someone familiar. (Hey, it's her! That nice girl I met at the school gates! The one who kept me from falling!) He thought. (I should probably thank her for helping me back there!) He told himself in his mind, slowly and nervously walking forward, before someone put a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and froze in fear as he noticed it was the same boy who scolded him during the assembly. (He's here, too!) He cried out in his mind.
"She looks like she's trying to focus on the trials ahead." The taller boy explained as the girl fanned herself in an attempt to calm herself, before the boy looked down at Midoriya sternly. "What are you going to do? Distract her and ruin her chances to succeed?" He accused.
"N-no, of course not!" Midoriya told him, before a familiar pincer-like tail shot up and clamped down on the taller boy's forearm.
The two of them looked in shock to see the Electric Wyvern standing beside them, now dressed in a black tank top and green tattered shorts, with his arms crossed while his tail held the glasses-wearing boy's arm. "Messing with someone again already, huh? I'm starting to think you just like picking fights." He said, gaining a dark smirk. "Well, it just so happens that I like fighting. A lot. So, what do you say we have a scrap right now?" He questioned.
The boy with the glasses was shocked at this, pulling his arm free and took a few steps back. "You would threaten me?! You are aware this exam is to get into a school for HEROES, correct?" He questioned.
The draconic boy just shrugged at this. "Maybe I'm just making conversation, you don't know what I'm doing. And you don't know what he's doing, either. Maybe he knows that girl. Maybe they're friends and he just wants to wish her luck. You don't know, so quit assuming the worst in people. That's not a very heroic quality." He said, making the engine-legged boy step back. "Why don't you just stay in your lane and worry about yourself. Because if you keep going up and messing with people like this, it won't be long until someone messes with you." He warned the taller boy, opening and closing his pincer tail a few times, some electricity visibly crackling from it.
The engine-legged boy was shocked once again to have that kind of logic thrown back in his face. "I-I see. Very well. I apologize." He said, clearly flustered, before running off.
Midoriya let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding at this, turning to his savior, who was observing the spikes at the ends of his wings. "Thanks for that." He said.
The winged boy simply shrugged. "Eh. No big deal. He just kept acting like he was the big dog around here and getting on my nerves. I was ready to get into a dog fight. Haven't had a good chance to split any skulls in a while. Been advised that was a bad idea, so I came to this place, because I was informed here I'd learn to beat people up for a living." He explained nonchalantly, much to Midoriya's terror.
"O-oh. I see. I'm Izuku Midoriya." The green-haired boy introduced himself.
"Aster Talos." The former Flying Wyvern introduced himself as well.
(Wow, that's... not subtle at all.) Midoriya thought, piecing together the name was clearly more or less an anagram of Astalos, a monster Daruka told him about, which the boy before him greatly resembled.
Suddenly, Present Mic's face was seen in a close-up. "Right! Let's start!" He called down, everyone looking to a tower behind them he was on. "Get moving! There are no countdowns in real battles!" He shouted from the top of his tower, wheeling his fist rapidly. "Run, run, run, listeners! You're wasting airtime here!" He called down to them.
Midoriya turned around and quickly noticed everyone was immediately gone, having rushed ahead of him. He could even see Aster had taken off and flown to the front of the group. (I'm already behind!) He mentally screamed. "Crap!" He said, chasing after the group. "Hey, wait up! Save some villains for me!" He cried as he desperately tried to catch up.
Midoriya was running after the group, the gap between them still increasing. (Just calm down! It's fine! I have plenty of time! I'll catch up to them!) He told himself in his head, thinking back to the beach.
"Dagoba Municipal Beach Park"
(After all, I've got All Might's power in me!) He thought as a flashback showed him having just swallowed All Might's hair, his face twitching as he presumably tried not to vomit the hair back up.
"That is deeply disturbing. Even we Deviljho avoid the excess hair on monsters that have it." Daruka said.
"Good! You swallowed it, yes?" All Might asked.
"Yeah, but I don't feel like anything's different yet." Midoriya said, looking over his body.
All Might laughed at this. "Well, of course not! Your body has to process the hair first!" He explained, before turning to a nearby digital clock board. "Hm... It should kick in after two, maybe three hours." He elaborated.
"My stomach's in knots... But I still need to shower and eat something before the exam." Midoriya said, putting his backpack on as All Might looked upwards.
"Same here. I'm honestly not far from taking a bite of one of you. All the muscle will make the meat tough, but I'm not picky." Daruka added.
"You may have molded your body into a proper vessel, but you did it in a hurry, so be cautious. You haven't even taken it for a test drive yet. The physical backlash of One For All can be intense." All Might warned him as Midoriya looked at him to take in the full lesson/warning. "There's no time to get into the fine details, but..." He started, turning towards Midoriya. "Take note!" He said.
Midoriya running through the city, desperately looking around for villains to defeat. "You've got to prepare yourself before using this Quirk. So, I want you to clench your butt cheeks and yell this from the depths of your heart: SMAAA-!" All Might's voice echoed in Midoriya's head before it was cut off.
A robot suddenly burst through a nearby building. "Whoa! A one pointer!" Midoriya cried as he reeled back in shock at the robot: an upper body like a human's torso on top of a wheel for its lower body.
"Target acquired" The robot said as it drove towards Midoriya.
(Gotta dodge it!) Midoriya thought as it continued to speed towards him. However, his legs, while trembling, refused to move. (Why won't my feet move?! Holy crap, I'm gonna die!) He asked himself in a panic as the robot closed the distance and prepared to strike. He clenched his eyes and waited for the impact.
Suddenly, a yellow laser beam came from nowhere and easily obliterated the robot. "Oh, yeah! Nailed it!" Someone called out.
Midoriya gasped and turned to the source of his rescue. (A laser!) He said in his head as it turned to see a girl with dark skin and a head of fiery reddish-orange hair. Her more prominent features were tough-looking brownish-red plates on her arms from her elbows to her hands and her legs from her knees to her feet, both extremities ending with fearsome claws that could probably tear through rock. And she had been leaning forward as she fired that beam from her mouth, allowing Midoriya to spot a prominent sail going down her back, leading to a large fin-like tail, both appendages covered with similar plates. She wore a simple sports bra and bike shorts. [1] (Whoa! Those claws! That tail! Could she be another monster like Daruka?!) He asked.
The girl wiped her mouth with a smirk before looking at Midoriya. "Thanks for the distraction, kid! Better hurry up if you want some points of your own, though!" She said, before performing a backflip, putting her hands together and spinning as she came towards the ground, acting like a drill and tunneling through the ground.
Midoriya looked in amazement at the hole she dug herself, before realizing what she said and panicking. "She's right! If I don't hurry up, I'm doomed! I gotta figure out something! I gotta plan! I gotta find villains, I-" He cried out, having a weird combination of a panicked rant and his usual muttering.
"Six minutes and 2 seconds left!" Present Mic's voice announced from the distance, shocking Midoriya.
"I have to stop panicking and run!" Midoriya told himself, quickly rushing ahead to the main street of the city structure. (Not good, not good, not good!) Midoriya thought, rushing ahead to again look for more robots. However, all he found were robots that were already destroyed. (Come on! I need points fast!) He told himself mentally as he emerged to a main road where many competitors were fighting a number of robots. He looked all around to find robots not already destroyed or being fought, when he suddenly noticed the girl from before. (Her again!) He thought as she ran by several robots, placing a hand on them and activating her power, causing them to lose their gravity and float into the air.
"Now release!" She said, somewhat strained, pressing her fingers together and releasing her Quirk, causing the robots to fall and smash into pieces upon contact with the ground as she breathed heavily in relief. She then looked back at the destroyed robots. "Okay, that should be at least 28 points!" She said, taking off again.
(28 points?!) Midoriya mentally repeated in a panic.
Suddenly, what looked like tiny exhaust pipes on someone's calves could be seen. A 2-pointer looked to its side, before the camera backed out to reveal the uptight boy from before flying in at high speeds and smashing the robot with a flying kick. "That puts me at 45!" He announced.
"How'd he get so many?!" Midoriya asked frantically.
He then spotted Aster diving out of the sky and cleaving a robot in half with his pincer tail, surrounded with electricity. "An even 60 for me!" He laughed, before taking off again.
(60?! He's probably flown around the whole city and picked off dozens of them!) Midoriya thought with dread. He continued to look around as people continued to bicker about who got to a robot first or how many points they had. The background then went black as Midoriya continued to panic. (At this rate, there won't be any enemies left!) He thought worriedly. The camera then zoomed in on his eyes, starting to tear up. (I'm gonna fail!) He thought.
Meanwhile, a room was shown observing the students, three currently shown in small windows: the pretty boy simply standing around, looking smug, Midoriya frantically searching for villains and the uptight boy appearing to be skating down the road. "Clearly the examinees have no idea how many villains are present, or where their locations." One of the people present stated as several chairs were shown.
"They have limited time, must cover a vast area and must hunt down every last target!" The person continued as the multi-armed boy from before was shown on a rooftop. "Some use information gathering abilities to plan out strategies, while others rely on speed to pull ahead of their peers." The speaker elaborated as the uptight boy was shown coming to a stop after apparently charging through another robot.
The pretty boy was then shown firing another laser from his midsection and destroying another robot, while apparently winking. "Of course, remaining calm under pressure can be a huge advantage, as can pure power and combat ability." The person went on as Bakugo was shown panting heavily, surrounded by destroyed, smoking robots with a menacing grin on his face.
We finally see the speaker, who appeared to be a large ferret-like creature. "The most successful students use a combination of all these tactics. They're the ones who rack up the highest scores." He finished explaining.
Daruka was then seen holding back a three-pointer and obliterating its head with her Dragon Element breath. "And of course, there's quite a number of... unique students to take into account." Another teacher pointed out as Maxima grabbed a one-pointer with her ponytail trunk and smashed it against her head crest and a two-pointer was sliced in half by a flaming blade.
"Hm... I'd say this year's group looks promising." An off-screen woman stated.
"Well, there's still plenty of time before it's over. The real test is yet to come." A man said off-screen as a glass cover was raised off a large red button reading "Yaruki Switch".
"Let's see how they react." The man said as the camera panned through the city, before a several explosions were heard and massive dust clouds appeared, getting the attention of the students, including the Gravity Girl, who moved her hand away from her mouth and looked to where the explosions came from, along with Engine Legs.
The camera suddenly showed a view from inside a building, looking out through the windows as massive wheels passed by, cracking the windows in the process. Midoriya was then shown to be looking around as a massive shadow loomed over him and he looked up to see an absolutely massive robot towering over him and looking down at the students present while holding onto the buildings it was leaning over, before crushing the one in its left hand's grip.
Midoriya then remembered the assembly when Present Mic explained the zero-pointer and how it should be avoided. He now looked at the behemoth robot with an absolutely horrified expression on his face. (Isn't this a little extreme!?) He thought.
Even the former monsters knew this was above their paygrade, the Agnaktor girl quickly tunneling below the ground as Aster took a few steps back. "Well... That's a bit much for me. I'm outta here!" He said, taking off and retreating. [2]
The robot then slammed its massive fist into the ground, sending a massive wave of dirt, dust and wind pressure towards the examinees, who struggled not to be blown away. Midoriya looked on in shock, falling onto his butt as the other examinees ran from the monstrous robot for dear life. "Now things get interesting." All Might said. "A person's true character is revealed when they're faced with danger." The number one hero explained as Engine Legs spared a glance at Midoriya, but still continued to run away.
Midoriya finally gained at least SOME senses back as he turned and got on all fours. (This is a disaster! I've gotta run away and find some smaller villains!) He thought as he tried to crawl away at less than a snail's pace. (Crap, crap, crap! I'm still at zero points!) He mentally screamed.
"Less than two minutes remaining!" Present Mic announced.
"What!? Two minutes!?" Midoriya cried, flashing back to several moments of his training. (Everything All Might did for me... All that training... It'll be wasted!) He mentally screamed, eyes tearing up.
"Oww!" A familiar voice cried out in pain at the camera cut to someone's leg trapped under rubble.
Midoriya froze and turned around to see Gravity Girl trapped under the rubble as the zero-pointer advanced, threatening to run her over and crush her. She tried to move and free herself, but could barely move at all, likely due to the pain or shock. The background brightened as Midoriya was slightly shadowed, but his horrified face and wide-open eyes could clearly be seen as he remembered their initial meeting.
As the zero-pointer continued to rush forward, Midoriya finally got to his feet and rushed towards it. "There are no combat points awarded for taking on that humongous villain." All Might's voice echoed. "But there is opportunity... A chance to shine!" He added as Midoriya got into a position to jump, the background going black and time appearing to stop as Izuku's clothes became transparent, pinkish-red lines of energy coursing all throughout his legs, before he jumped, vanishing as he did so, followed by a streak of energy.
The girl looked back in shock as the teachers in the monitoring room looked on. "To show what you're really made of!" All Might's voice echoed again as Midoriya clenched his fist, the lines of energy running through it as well. He then drew his fist back, tearing off the entire sleeve of his track suit from the pure power alone. The zero-pointer then began to lower its hand to try and grab Gravity Girl. "So, clench your butt cheeks, kid!" His voice echoed again.
(And yell this from the depths of your heart!) Midoriya repeated in his mind alongside All Might's voice. (SMAAAAAAAAASH!) Midoriya cried out in his mind as he threw the punch, putting almost a car-sized dent in the robot's face and sending it flying back, its head and neck exploding as all the other participants watched in awe.
Back in the monitoring room, All Might could be seen in his scrawny form, smiling at this action. "That's right!" He said as the scene cut back to the robot as explosions continued to wreck its body. "Show who you are! Embody what it means to be a hero!" All Might said as the ferret creature could be seen cheering "Nothing is nobler... than self-sacrifice!" All Might finished as Midoriya could be seen looking fierce after the punch, but his right arm appeared to be incredibly bruised all the way up to halfway up his upper arm, the knuckles even bleeding and his legs flailed uselessly in the wind.
After an intermission, a flashback is shown of Midoriya running forward. (This is... kind of like when I tried to save Kacchan. I moved without thinking...) Midoriya thought as the scene was indeed shown where he ran towards the sludge monster, trying to claw it off his former friend. The scene then returns to the present time with Midoriya still in the air, thinking about his actions. (But now I have a Quirk... real power...) He continued his thoughts as the robot crashed to the ground, destroyed.
"Just one minute left!" Present Mic announced.
Meanwhile, many of the students down below were shocked at what had just transpired, the monsters students among them. "Dang. Who would've guessed that pipsqueak had that kind of power. And if he did, why was he taking all that crap from glasses over there?" Aster said, flicking his head towards the engine-legged boy.
"He stopped that thing in one go. That kind of power would give an Elder Dragon a run for their money. And here I was thinking he'd be lucky to squeak by." The Agnaktor girl said in amazement.
Someone then walked past them and sliced the debris on top of Uraraka's leg horizontally in half. He then pushed the top half off and wedged his blade under the robot next to her leg, using the leverage to lift the robot off the gravity girl. He then looked up to see Midoriya now rapidly approaching the ground. "I wouldn't be praising his name just yet. He's coming towards the ground way too fast. There's no way he's in control of his descent." He said.
The Agnaktor girl gasped at this. "If he hits the ground from this height, he's a pancake." She said.
"Yeah. Someone should probably do something about that." Aster agreed. He then flinched back a bit as the Agnaktor girl glared at him. "What?" He asked.
"YOU CAN FLY!" She screamed at him.
"Oh! Yeah, right! Good idea." He said, quickly taking off and flying up towards Midoriya, readying his talons and snatching the green-haired boy out of the air, managing to avoid sinking his talons into his arms and instead had them locked AROUND the arms. "I got ya, kid. Just remember you owe me one for this." He said, returning Midoriya to the ground... but unfortunately not realizing the boy's legs were broken and they immediately folded under his weight, causing him to fall face-first to the ground. "That- uh... That wasn't my fault." Aster quickly defended himself as the two monster girls glared at him.
Back with Midoriya, he twitched in pain a bit, before looking at the former Flying Wyvern. (Aster. He saved me.) He realized, the looked to the Gravity Girl. (And she's free two. And standing like nothing happened. That's a relief.) He thought. Midoriya's hand then slapped on the ground. (And now... thanks to Aster...) He thought, dragging himself forward with his only good arm. "I still have a chance! To get at least one point before-" He started, but...
"And that's that. Time's up!" Present Mic announced, an alarm going off to signal everyone to stop, Engine Legs panting after a tough workout, Bakugo smirking and wiping his mouth with a smoking hand, Daruka firing a Dragon Energy beam into the air as she roared proudly and Gravity Girl leaning tiredly against the Gammoth girl. Several other students were calming down, nursing sore or tired limbs and stretching from the grueling ordeal, except for the pretty boy, who stood front and center in the frame, appearing to be winking at the camera.
Midoriya's jaw dropped as he registered the situation in horror and disbelief, tragic violin music playing... before the boy passed out, the screen going black.
"You've gotta be kidding me. All that power and not a single point?" Aster asked.
"Right? Seems like he should just get in by default for taking that thing down." The Agnaktor girl agreed.
"Plus, he saved her from getting crushed by that thing. That seems like a pretty heroic quality." The person who freed Uraraka said. It was revealed to be a fair-skinned boy about the same height as the glasses-wearing boy, perhaps slightly taller with black hair and bluish-black plates above his eyes, acting as eyebrows, plates covering his entire jawline and going up to his mouth like fangs on the bottom part of his mouth, plus more plates covering the top of his mouth and giving him fangs there as well, so it almost looked like he had a beard made of these plates. And, of course, he had the iconic sword tail that just cooled down from its glowing state, marking him as a Glavenus. And he wore loose-fitting black trunks and a red tank top.
The scene returned to a view of the city, before going to an overhead view of the unconscious Midoriya as everyone began to gather around him. "Did you see that dude's attack?" One guy asked.
"I didn't think he had that kind of power." Another said.
"Me either. Looks like some reinforcement-type Quirk." One more said.
"No. It's something else. If he has such an amazing Quirk, how come he didn't snag any points all day?" Someone else asked, several scenes showing Midoriya's less than great first impression throughout the day. "Maybe he was trying to trick us or something?" He guessed.
"Joke's on him. There's no way he's passing with a zero score like that!" Another guy said as the camera panned left, stopping on Engine Legs.
"I'd say if this placed doesn't take him, after he just mangled his arms and legs saving that girl, they don't deserve to call themselves a school for heroes." The Glavenus boy declared.
"Not shy about sharing your opinions, are you, sharp ass?" Aster asked as the other former monsters approached the blade-tailed boy.
"Honestly, I was already questioning if this place was worth it to get us home, but if they don't take it, this place is a lost cause." He said.
"Very nice! Good work all around!" An old lady said as she walked up using a can shaped like a syringe. She was revealed to be a short old woman with a doctor's coat on over a dress, wearing a pink headpiece with a dark blue visor, her gray hair up in a bun, held up by another syringe.
"You're heroes in my eyes, every one of you!" She stated, holding her hand out to a student, who held his hand out to receive what she was offering. "Here! Reward yourselves! Have some gummies." She said, giving him four gummy bears.
"Oh! Thanks!" The boy said.
"Yes, yes, don't eat them all at once, okay?" She asked as she walked by him. A few other students looked confused, except the pretty boy, who seemed to understand the situation.
He then pointed to her. "That mademoiselle, she's the heart of UA." He explained as she stopped in front of Midoriya.
"Oh, my goodness! You were hurt this badly by your own Quirk, sonny?" She asked. (It's as though his body isn't used to handling his own power at all.) She realized, before puckering her lips up and leaning down slightly, stretching her all the way down to the injured boy to kiss him on the head. "Give me some sugar!" She said as she did this, everything besides them going black and white as a huge kanji appeared above them.
"Old Lady!"
"Um, what's she doin'?" A boy in a black tank top and blue headband asked.
"Yeah, this world confuses me a lot, but I'm pretty sure that... is not okay." Aster said as the other monsters cringed.
The pretty boy explained it again. "You're watching the school nurse in action." He told them as she stood up. "The youthful heroine: Recovery Girl!" He introduced her. Suddenly, a green glow surrounded Midoriya's broken arm with a shining sound effect as the bruising began to completely vanish, then his broken legs turned themselves to the proper position. "She's the only reason UA can hold these reckless exams. Look, she's saving him months of recovery time." He explained.
"Alright, he'll be fine now! Anyone else injured?" She asked.
The camera returned to Engine Legs as he continued to ponder his thoughts. (I wonder... What if the exam has other parameters I didn't consider?) He thought, before gasping and widening his eyes and looking to Midoriya. (It's possible...) He realized as the screen faded to black.
A/N: Another chapter done. Well, now you've seen some of the monsters that will be taking the places of some of Class 1-A. What do you think? Are they mostly good picks? Would you have liked to see other monsters? And what does this mean for the students of Class 1-A they'll be replacing?
Actually, never mind that last question, the answer would take forever for me to get to and the pay-off probably wouldn't be worth it in the end and I don't want to blue ball you guys like MHA did taking its sweet time to reveal the traitor. So, the replaced members of Class 1-A will be in Class 1-B instead. Don't worry, all is not lost for our beloved 1-A students who won't be there. They'll still be around, just taking the places of less deserving 1-B students... You all know who I mean.
Also, Aster shall be voiced by Ganxingba, the voice of Jan Valentine in TFS' Hellsing Ultimate abridged.
[1] Again, before anyone says that's too lewd for a teenager, that's still covering way more skin than Momo's hero outfit.
[2] Yes, I know Astalos love fighting, but they're still animals, which know to flee from the dangerous, terrifying presence of an Elder Dragon, so a giant robot is probably similar, plus now they have human brains as well that can much better process danger.