Comment Replies:

Guest: This story doesn't revolve around any pairings. I'm a sucker for IzuOcha so there may be some hinting in that direction occasionally, but I don't plan to make anything really happen.

ChronoHex: I agree! I really used to have an irrational resentment towards Bakugo for some reason, but since my hiatus from writing I've come to like him a lot more!

Everyone else, thanks for the encouragement! Now onto the story!


I do not own Boku no Hero Academia or any of the characters portrayed in this story.

–The Starting Line–

10 minutes, destroy as many robots as you can, avoid the gimmick robot. But most importantly...

"Just remember, even though they only mentioned villain points, this isn't just a fighting school. It's a hero school. They'll definitely be looking for those performing heroic acts."

Izuku's advice echoed in his mind. Katsuki shrugged a little, doubting that many U.A. applicants would be in need of saving. He glanced around as he walked over to the back of the group. Nobody he was particularly worried about, although he wasn't naïve enough to judge them entirely by their looks. Once he was at the back of the group he started stretching.

'Let's see what U.A. is made of,' he thought with a grin as he tightened his protective gloves.

Present Mic's voice boomed across the field, "And START!"

Everyone turned in confusion, looking up at the source of the voice.

"What's wrong? Get moving, the exam has begun! Nine minutes, fifty-five seconds!"

Katsuki's palms ignited as he erupted over the crowd and into the faux cityscape. A group of 10 robots was running toward the students to meet the frontrunners head-on. But before that could happen, Katsuki brought his hands up, placed his right hand behind his left, and fired. The explosion was forced through the spaces between Katsuki's fingers, resulting in 4 projectiles barreling towards the bots.

"Carpet bomb!" he smiled as the front row of robots was obliterated. "14 points!"

Using his explosions to further propel himself, he moved to another group of faux villains. He engaged them on the ground this time, using his explosions to blast them apart in close quarters.

'16 points this time, but it took longer,' he thought as he wiped his hands on his track pants. His left glove was a little singed by the carpet bomb, but it protected the back of his hand for the most part. 'Those ranged blasts are the fastest way to go.'

"Bzzrrt/! destroy: heroes!" A robotic voice caught Katsuki's attention, and he launched himself through an alleyway to the next group.

He hit the first one with his close-range blast, then realized he'd stumbled into a crowd of them. Before he could blast out of there, treads were whirring from all sides and they were on top of him. He used his explosions to make a path through the crowd of bots and leapt out, quickly whipping back around and firing a carpet bomb at them.

"Look out!"

After hearing a voice call out, Katsuki turned and aimed as a 3-pointer charged at him. Just as he fired, a boy with a rigid body and black hair rammed into the bot and got a face full of explosion.

"Shit!" Katsuki ran over, hoping he hadn't committed manslaughter. "Are you alive?!"

"Puah!" The student coughed up smoke as he jolted upright. His shirt was completely gone and he was covered in soot, but he didn't seem injured. "Sorry man, thought you needed help!"

"H-Huh?" Katsuki was surprised at how lively he was. But since he wasn't hurt, his concern for the boy quickly vanished. "If you're okay, then just watch where you're going. And I don't need help!"

"W-Watch where I'm going? Should you be saying that to the guy you just blew up?! You'd make some hero," he frowned at Katsuki.

"Stop complaining," the blonde told him. "Heroes gotta keep their heads in the game, so go find someone else to save. And stay outta my way."

"Eh?!"

"Dezztroy heroes!"

As soon as more faux villains rounded the street corner to face them, Katsuki leapt towards them and blasted 3 of them to bits with one swipe of his hand.

"Tch," he clicked his teeth. "Now I'm in a bad mood."

"Woah, this dude's nuts," the black haired student gazed at Katsuki with new respect and reprocessed his words in a new light. His red eyes hardened in determination and he ran into the crowd of villains alongside him.

"I said stay outta my way, gloomy bastard!" Katsuki snapped as he blasted another robot onto the floor.

"Gloomy?! Anyways I'm not here to get in your way!" he said, punching through a 2-pointer's metal shell. "I'm tough enough to get caught in the crossfire so just don't worry about it!"

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Katsuki chuckled. "I still don't get why you're here with me but if I don't have to hold back, then I'll really just go all out!"

"If I can't hang in there with the manliest guys here, then I don't deserve to be at U.A!"

"Heh," he scowled, thinking of Izuku. "Damn right."

Katsuki's hands were sweaty enough at this point, and it seemed like the noise of his explosions drew more faux villains at them. With a hesitant grin he raised both his hands, aiming up the street at the next wave of faux villains. He felt his hands heat up and his sweat begin to boil with anticipation.

"Listen Gloomy, get behind me," Katsuki said as his smile grew more confident.

The boy took a step back, saying, "Hey, I said I can–"

"ROLLING THUNDER!"

Katsuki let out a barrage of explosions that continued rolling up the street and detonating for about 20 feet, with every blast letting out a satisfying concussive BOOM. He didn't count the score he netted himself, but he was satisfied. At the same time though, his hands hurt like hell. Looking down, he realized his gloves were blown to bits and his palms were red from the force.

"Just warn me to cover my ears next time!" Gloomy shouted as he rubbed the side of his head. With a glance around, he grumbled, "Dang, looks like they're really coming after us now."

Sure enough, those explosions caught the attention of multiple groups of robots, which were coming from all directions.

"You can handle yourself?" Katsuki asked through his panting.

"Yeah man, no worries," he nodded with a smile. "Looks like I don't have to worry about you either."

"FOUR MINUTES, you enthusiastic listeners!" Present Mic's voice echoed out.

Katsuki and his new companion each collided with the faux villains on their respective sides. The sounds of explosions and scraping metal echoed against the sides of the buildings along the street. Soon enough, Katsuki was all out of robots to blast to bits. As if on cue, he heard a gasp and stumble from behind him and turned to see the black-haired boy jumping out of the path of a 3-pointer.

"Damn, my hardening is running on empty!" he heaved as he landed on the ground.

Just as one of the drones reached for the boy who was scrambling to get up, Katsuki jumped in between them and hit the machine with a dose of explosion.

"I thought you had it handled," he panted with a wry grin.

Before any response could be made, another student landed on top of two of the remaining faux villains. He was large with hair covering his body and large fangs protruding from his mouth. He pushed up his glasses with one hand while he grabbed and crushed the last bot's head with the other.

"You both looked tired, so I thought I'd help out," he said in a deep, slightly gruff tone.

"Yeah, thanks man," Gloomy smiled.

"I didn't need help from a wookiee," Katsuki said, wiping sweat from his face.

"TWOOOOOOOOOOO MINUTES MY LISTENERS!"

\/\/Brmmmmmm\/\/

"You guys hear that?" the large student questioned as he and the others looked up.

"How could we not?" Katsuki asked.

"Is that... screaming?" the black-haired boy gulped.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

"Tch, let's go check it out," Katsuki said, starting to jog over to the main road.

"What about the test?!" Gloomy called after him.

"There's more to the test than these shitty robots!" he called back. 'There better be, Icchan!'

"Hehe," the large hairy student laughed as he pushed up his glasses again. "Mr. Temper is a little smarter than he seemed."

Katsuki used his explosions to leap up to the nearest roof and immediately gawked at the massive faux villain destroying the buildings along the main street. He noticed the giant "0" plastered on the mechanized beast's shoulder, and realized that avoiding the gimmick was a tougher test than he expected. He was safe over here, off the main road, but...

"They'll definitely be looking for those performing heroic acts."

"Damnit Icchan!" he shouted before heading into the gimmick's path.

By the time he was there, he was only just able to see a few students struggling to run away before they were swiped up by several green vines. A girl wearing a mostly white dress and vines for hair was to thank for that. A few more people helped each other out of the way, but Katsuki's chance to heroically swoop in and save someone seemed to have passed him by.

"IS THERE ANYONE THAT NEEDS HEEEELP?!!" Katsuki shouted in frustration. His own heavy breathing and the sounds of the rampaging robot were the only sounds he got in response.

"AND IT! IS!! OVERRRR!!!!!" Present Mic announced, bringing the exam, and the faux villains' movements, to an end.

"Shit," he sighed, falling back onto his butt.

"You're certainly a character," the gruff voice of the hairy student came from behind him.

"What's that mean?" Katsuki snarked back at him.

"Well you're so hung up on saving someone, but I don't get why."

"Well isn't that the point of it?" he asked. "This wasn't just about killing villains, the exam proctors have to be looking for heroic deeds."

"But just the same, it's not all about saving people," he mused. "If all you do is save people, then the villains will just put more people in danger. If all you do is fight, then who's gonna save the hostages while you handle the villains?"

"So what, gotta do both?"

"You have to accept that you can't," he said, shaking his head. "That's why heroes operate in groups. Your quirk is obviously suited for fighting. It's not so easy to lift injured civilians with explosions."

"Nah don't listen to this guy," the black-haired student said, finally having caught up. "You definitely saved me a few times back there, you're made of some manly stuff."

"Tch, whatever," Katsuki sighed, standing up.

"Well, my point is that I'm sure you passed," the larger student sighed. "Your combat ability alone is probably enough, so no need to worry."

"Yeah, yeah," he said with a frown as he walked away. "I gotcha."

"Wait man!" Gloomy called, running up behind him. "I didn't catch your name!"

"Hm? Why do you need it?"

"W-Well, just in case I get in, and if we're classmates, I'd wanna have someone I know in there... you know?"

"Listen, you seem like you won't have trouble making friends in there," Katsuki said. "Well, if they're not put off by your gloomy vibe."

"Drop it, will ya?" he sighed. "I'm Eijiro Kirishima. Got it?"

"Katsuki Bakugo. See ya."

And with that, the blonde shoved his hands in his pockets and started heading back to the entrance. He noted that most of the applicants were more roughed up than him. And got stopped by a short old lady providing haribo candy and kisses.


"Hey Kacchan," Izuku waved as Katsuki walked out the front of U.A. "You keep track of your score?"

"Lost count somewhere around 40," he shrugged. "And you?"

"I passed," Izuku smiled. Then, that trademark smile faded slightly. "Listen, I've gotta talk to you."

"What's got you so serious all of a sudden?" Katsuki asked, narrowing his eyes in confusion. This didn't seem like Izuku.

"Well," the greenette said slowly as they began walking to the train station, "you know how I love my theories."

"Yeah, the crackpot coincidence-strings that not even you can prove are real?" he nodded. "You got another one?"

"No," he shook his head, placing his hand on his chin. "I think I've confirmed one. And it opens up a huge can of worms."

"You think you've confirmed it? You're normally more sure than that."

"Listen, I don't really know why, and it could just be another coincidence, but I'm 99% sure All Might is gonna be teaching at U.A. next year."

"No way! All Might is gonna be teaching us?!" Katsuki broke into an ecstatic smile. "You've gotta be kidding me! That's great!"

"I hope that's all there is to it," Izuku frowned. "If he is teaching us, I'm 50% sure All Might is in huge trouble."

–Next up: SETTING THE PACE–


Story Supplement Corner!

Katsuki Bakugo's Rolling Thunder!

When there's enough sweat on his palms, Katsuki can ignite it one layer at a time. The initial explosion launches drops of sweat like projectiles, and he continues to detonate those droplets as they fly forwards. It's a destructive wide-range super move that mimics the bombing runs it's named for.


Notes: Even more Bakugo-centric than the prologue, huh?

So even though Izuku has a quirk and all that, this story is more about how that affects other stuff, rather than Izuku himself. Katsuki will essentially be the MC of this fic most of the time, and will receive the most development. Izuku's characterization, while important, is pretty static comparatively so it'll be more interesting looking at him through someone else's perspective.

Anyways I'm laying the groundwork more and more! I've gotten an entire new chapter written in between posting these so I'm at a good pace! Just gotta keep up with it. (If you're wondering, I've written through chapter 5)

I'd love to hear some feedback, let me know what you think of the premise and where I'm taking it. It's all appreciated!

Thanks so much, and I'll see you next time!