After getting inside of the exam building Itsuka and Izuku had finally met up with Setsuna and Tsu, introducing Uraraka to their friends had drawn comments from the sharp-tongued lizard-tail-quirk user asking if the new girl was willing to dye her hair green much to her confusion.

Fortunately before she could go deeper into it Setsuna had left wishing them all good luck and told them she would be back later after the exams had ended. Awkwardly wishing everyone else to do their best Izuku had gone to his seat - next to the last person he wanted to be seated next to - Kacchan. The Explosion-quirk user had glared daggers at him but had not said a word, maybe he thought that threat of violence would be enough? Though later when Present Mic explained the rules for the Hero Course practical exam he thought he saw Kacchan looking at him but Izuku put it off as his imagination. The written exam had been tough, but he felt like he had done well enough to get a passing score - it was all general studies questions such as math, English, and science - as he was fairly studious when it came to his classes at Aldera beyond the fearful and suspicious looks he would get from his classmates.

He had nearly bolted though when one of the other examinees who had been berating Present Mic about instructions for the exam had turned around and chastised Izuku for muttering. It was a nervous habit of his! Same with how he had tugged at his gloves and tried to sink into the floor when all of the eyes in the room had focused on him. Blessedly the Pro Hero had been quick to pull the spotlight back onto himself and explain about the different villain robots.

"ALLLLRIGHTY!" Present Mic's voice echoed throughout the exam room, bouncing off the walls. "Now that you Little Listeners know the basics for the practical exam it's time for you all to get changed and on your buses to the exam sites! When I call your testing group number just step through the doors, get your fightin' clothes on and head outside to the buses that will take you away!"

So they were separating the examinees after all. Being seated next to Kacchan he had been surprised that they had grouped the examinees by school district, however splitting them up now for the practical exam made sense. This way students who might have planned on working together for the exam did not go to the same site.

"If your exam card has A, C, and E please go on ahead to the changing rooms!" Present Mic called out. From where he sat Izuku was able to makeout Itsuka and Tsu as they stood up and left the room. He felt the pit in his stomach widen at the thought of neither of his friends being there with him.

Still. I hope they pass. They both have amazing quirks and they are great friends. Izuku sighed and looked down at his bag which had his change of clothes and his quirk samples. They may not be taking the exam together but in a way they were still with him, he had both of their quirks along with Kamakiri's and Setsuna's. It had been nearly ten whole months since he had begun his journey to UA but here he was taking the exam with his quirk and it was all because they had supported him in their own ways, some large and some small. I'll do my best to pass. I-I can't do anything less than going Plus Ultra! Not after everything they've done to help me.

"ALRIGHT!" Present Mic's boomed several minutes later, "Groups B, D, and F! You are up to go!"

Knowing from the exam card he had received after signing up he was Group B he got up, Kacchan getting up with him but oddly when he got to the end of the aisle he motioned for Izuku to move in front of him.

"I don't want you doing something dirty. Keep your damn quirk copying hands in front of me where I can see them." Kacchan growled out, making Izuku flinch and stumble ahead of his childhood friend who followed behind him. The greenette could feel the blonde's piercing gaze stab through him all the way through the exit doors.

The words Kacchan had told him over the years came back to him with the force of a sledge hammer.

You'll never be a hero with a weak quirk like that!

Keep your damn quirk thieving hands to yourself!

You're so weak you need to steal other quirks to make yourself useful! You'll always be a useless Deku!

It never seemed to matter to Kacchan that Izuku could never actually copy his Explosion quirk. The most he could ever do was take on some of the low-level mutative properties of the quirk which allowed Kacchan's ear drums and wrists to resist the concussive force of his explosions. Izuku had found that out the hard way one of the times he had been beaten up by Kacchan, his ears had not been ringing after one beatdown.

Pushing back his childhood memories he entered the men's changing rooms for the exam. It was a large room but it was chopped up by the several stalls that had been installed into the room, there was even a cubby hole for him to place his bag in. Not really thinking about it, just wanting to get changed and away from Kacchan he took out his lime green track suit for the practical exam and stuffed his bag in the cubby and entered the stall to change. As he did he went over the plan that he had come up with along with his friends for the exam - they had come up with several contingencies as UA tended to change up the nature of their practical exam every year.

"This is going to be Plan B - Bots." he muttered to himself as he took off his shirt, revealing the well toned muscles of his chest and arms he had built up over the months of training. Ten months ago it was hard to imagine he could have become this much in shape. He brought up one arm and flexed, the swimmer's muscle underneath rippling under his skin. He had thought a few weeks ago Tsu had commented on how good he looked but Izuku had definitely misheard her. She must have been talking about the sunset or his shoes or something - anything but him. It wasn't possible in his mind.

He had been so embarrassed at himself for mishearing her he had run off stammering about needing to go for a run. Even though he had not bothered to put on his shoes he had still done it anyway.

"I can use Tsu's quirk for mobility but primarily I will want to use Itsuka and Kamakiri's quirks to take down the bots themselves. Tsu's quirk does provide extra tongue strength and I could use it to pull the bots closer but I don't want to risk electrocuting or burning my tongue."

Putting on his track suit he thought of the other quirks he had seen on the other examinees, it was hard to tell for anyone with a Transformation type quirk but he spotted several potential Mutation types. One short student had purple balls for hair while another, a woman, had vines growing from her head like hair. Another that he had spotted had the features of a black feathered bird of prey - maybe an eagle or a hawk? IF he got into UA he would have to ask them later more in depth about their quirks.

POP!

He jumped at the sound of a pop, one he knew all too well as being one of Kacchan's smaller explosions. Had he been muttering out loud enough that Kacchan had been able to hear it?

"What was that?" one voice asked.

"Sounded like a firecracker?" another voice answered hesitantly.

Izuku kept his mouth shut, Kacchan was angry enough with him as it is, he did not need to go adding more fuel to that fire. However after a few moments he realized something was off, whenever the Blonde used his quirk it was always followed by some sort of cursing or yelling at something or someone - Izuku often enough - who had angered him.

There was none of that now, and the absence of it worried Izuku more than it should have.

Finished changing his clothes he opened the door to his stall and was greeted with the intimately familiar smell of burning plastic...and burning hair. Izuku started to panic. No…! He couldn't have.

He ran over to his cubby where he had stashed his quirk samples...only to find that the baggy was gone, his bag was unzippered and looked like it had been rummaged through. No. No. It's not here. Where…?

He sniffed the air and moved his head toward where the burning smells were coming from and there by the door he saw the trash can. The trash can was smoking lightly. "Oh gods…"

Izuku scrambled over to the trashcan and grasping the rim with both hands to steady himself looked inside.

There at the bottom of the bin was the shriveled remains of the plastic baggy that had held his quirk samples. The plastic had largely been warped by heat, shrinking in on itself all that was left of it was the top zipper section of the baggy, besides the smeared ashes of hair at the bottom. It was like he was looking down at his dreams of becoming a hero going up in smoke. He did not need to think any harder on what Kacchan had done, how he had even found out about the quirk samples was moot at this point.

All he could think of was the harsher taunts by his childhood friend.

You'll never be a hero! Give up on it!

Know your place along with the other extras!

I'd say your quirk was a villain's but you can't even use it right!

Izuku stumbled away, ignoring the confused looks of the other examinees as they had finished changing and exited the room. His mind spiraled silently.

How could he have been so stupid and careless? Of course he had never had a true chance at becoming a hero. The universe would never have let him become such an embarrassment.

How and why could he have even thought he could be a hero?

BZZT

His phone buzzed, shaking him barely out of his thoughts. He went over to his bag, numbly pulling out his phone to look at the most recent text messages.

Fist: Good luck Izuku! I know you can do this! After today we WILL be classmates at UA!

Frog: Kero. Don't overdo it. Show everyone how far you've come.

Sword: After this is over with you still owe me a strong fight!

T-Rex: Get out there and show everyone up, Moptop!

That's right...I had others who believed in me. That's why I thought I could become a hero.

He thought of All Might who had tracked him down after being attacked by the Sludge #1 Hero in all of Japan had looked into his eyes and smiled as he told Izuku that he could become a hero like him.

Slowly he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before letting it all out.

Opening his eyes again he moved quickly, grabbing his bag he stormed out of the changing room while pushing the buttons on his phone.

DNA Helix: I need help! My quirk samples bag got destroyed! There is NOTHING left!

He ran out past the other changing rooms, pushing through the remaining examinees from the first three groups in the direction of the buses that were taking them to their exam sites. If he could get to Tsu, Kendou or even Kamakiri before they left he still had a chance to use their quirks...if they were already gone…

"Then I'll make do with what I can get." Izuku said to himself, steel in his voice as he came up to the departure area.

T-Rex: Shit! I am nowhere near UA now otherwise I'd float a hand over. I won't make it back in time!

Fist: I'm already on my way to my exam site. How did this happen?

Sword: I'm gone too.

Panic threatened to send him spiraling back down into his thoughts. As well as vomit his breakfast. He looked around frantically for Tsu but to his ever growing fear she was no where in sight and she had not answered his text. Had she shut off her phone?

Just when he was ready to give up on finding her his phone buzzed in his hand.

Frog: IZU-CHAN HOLD UP YOUR HAND NOW!

Not even second guessing Tsu's odd request he shot his hand up in the air, wrenching his arm as if he wanted to pull down the sky itself.

One of the windows on a bus that was just starting to pull away slammed open and a moment latter he saw Tsu stick her head out and look in his direction. Defeat flooded his veins, it was too late. He couldn't possibly catch up to the bus now-

Before he could even finish his thoughts the Frog-quirk user opened her mouth and let her tongue lash out, stretching across the crowd of other examinees farther than he had ever seen it do so before. With a wet slap he felt her tongue smack his open palm and even before it had retracted back he felt his quirk activate.

Amphibia.

He felt his eyes and mouth widen and his posture shift as his legs took on a more bow-legged shape.

"You're a lifesaver, Tsu! Kero!" Izuku called out to her and waved his still sticky hand. For a moment he thought he saw her blush before she waved back and slid back into the bus but brushed it off as his eyes were mistaken. A few moments later his phone buzzed again.

Frog: You're welcome, Izu-chan. Make it up to me by getting into U.A.

Fist: What?

T-Rex:?

Sword: ?

Arriving at Test Site B he felt...still nervous but he was not at rock bottom.

I have Tsu's quirk. I can still make this work. I just need to see what other quirks I can work with here...and hope their owners don't mind me copying them…

He looked at his gloves hands and felt the pit in his stomach grow deeper. He was comfortable now with copying his friends' quirks sure, but copying the quirks of strangers had been something he still had trouble dealing with. Everytime he tried it he just kept going back in his memories to all the times Kacchan had said mean things to him or when others had called him a freak or a thief. All the times he had accidentally used his quirk…

No! I can't think like that. Not here. Not now. Shaking his head he looked around the crowd of examinees who had arrived for anyone who might have an obvious Mutation type quirk. It would just work against him if he just randomly started trying to copy quirks. His limit had increased to six quirks before he became exhausted, but at least so far there had not been a repeat of him losing control of his quirk like at Gran Torino's - still it would probably be an automatic fail if he passed out during the exam. He would copy at most four quirks and he did not want to get stuck with four quirks that he could not control or worked against him on the fly.

He spotted two prospects in the crowd. One was a young blonde haired man, unlike Kacchan he seemed to be much less...temperamental. In fact he was kind of busy looking at himself in a small mirror. Around his waistline he had a strange looking belt over his white and blue tracksuit. It was hard to tell if the belt was just an accessory or if it was actually a mutation.

Mechanical or non-organic mutations were a bit of a rarity from what Izuku had researched. One of the few that came to mind was the Turbo Hero: Ingenium who had metallic protrusions in his legs that allowed him incredible bursts of speed. He wasn't particularly high in the hero rankings but due to Izuku's particular interest in Mutation type quirks he had looked into the hero thoroughly.

Unless Ingenium decides to race by and wish them all well on the exams I doubt I'll get the chance to copy the Engine quirk. Izuku mentally sighed.

The second prospect was much less circumspect. It was a tall, muscular young man who was closer to Itsuka's height than he was. Though he hit his face behind a mask, what really stood out was his six arms that protruded out from his shoulders. Not only did they look like they had enhanced strength but in addition to that they seemed to have the ability to morph into external limbs or organs. Even as Izuku had secretly watched the other examinee, he had morphed the ends of his appendages into mouths, ears, eyeballs, and hands as easily as if he was cracking his knuckles or stretching his muscles.

Now what Izuku could do with that quirk combined with Tsu's Frog quirk and Itsuka's Big Fist quirk...well, he was kicking himself for leaving his notebooks at home otherwise he would have filled half of one with just his observations and combo ideas alone!

"Maybe they won't mind if I explain myself…" Izuku muttered as he started to walk toward the Multi-Limbed Examinee, as he did so he caught sight of Uraraka stretching off to the side. A crowd of other examinees had gathered in a loose circle around her, each other ogling the seemingly oblivious young woman as she bent to the side, causing her hips and her bust to stretch her track suit in ways that made Izuku's mind sputter. Don't be like those...those perverts staring at Uraraka! I-it's disrespectful! She seemed very nice earlier and has an amazing quirk. Maybe AFTER the exam you can ask her more about it…

"Excuse me but you should not be ogling that other test taker! Not only is it perverted, it is also disrespectful to the institution of UA University!" A familiar voice said behind Izuku, he recognized that voice. It was the blue-haired examinee that had complained about the information packet and Izuku's muttering. Before Izuku could turn around and defend himself he felt a hand on his shoulder, the thumb grazing against his exposed neckline.

Motor.

He was so surprised by the other student's words and actions Izuku could not stop himself from copying their quirk! Immediately he felt his calves start to widen and swell, becoming stronger as well an itching feeling as somethings grew on the back of them. Moments later what those somethings were was answered when a burst of pressurized air tore through the material of his pant legs and the upper section of his red boots. Looking down he saw six holes ringed by metal now embedded in his much larger calves. He was more shocked by the damage done to his boots.

"Nooo! I got these specially made from the Detnerat Company!" Izuku gasped out, feeling like he wanted to cry. He had sent his order into the quirk life-style support company to help him with his quirk. He needed boots that were moddable to the changes brought on by the quirks he copied - in particular Tsu's quirk, stretching out and being able to stick to walls with his feet. Since he was applying for a Hero Course the company was able to rush-order them, he had even received a letter wishing him well on the exam from the company's President.

"Wh-what just happened?" the Interrupter asked, confused and for some reason chopping his hand mechanically in the air as he did so. "Those look like my-"

"OKAY! LET'S START!" Present Mic's voice boomed above them, interrupting the Interrupter before he could finish his sentence. Looking up Izuku saw the distant figure of Present Mic standing above them in what looked like an observation tower. Around Izuku the other examinees looked as confused as he did.

"COME ON! THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL LIFE! GET MOVING! THE EXAM HAS STARTED!"

End Notes:

Okay! Next chapter will probably be my longest one yet...with the most action packed in! Here we go! Izuku lets loose with his quirk and we see Itsuka in action!