Chapter 4: Kindling
Recovery Girl
"This was a relatively tame year," Recovery Girl thought as she was busying herself, tending to primarily minor cuts and bruises. She hadn't needed to use her quirk yet today, which was always a blessing.
That was before a boy burst into the UA medical center. Muttering curses and something about a "stupid Ochuck"? The blond had been carrying a young girl over his shoulder; it seemed like he only had one good hand at the moment as she noticed his still right arm.
"Bring her here boy," she called as she readied an examination bench and put on her gloves.
"What happened? And where does it hurt?" She asked the boy, who grunted in response.
"The FUCKIN EXAM is what happened!" He started as he laid the girl down roughly. "But for shorty over here, I'm pretty sure she has a busted rib or something." Katsuki explained as he sat in a chair a bit away.
"He still hasn't told me what's wrong with him." she thought as she noticed him holding his limp right wrist.
She decided she would tend to him second; this girl seemed to be in real pain. Recovery Girl slowly and softly pressed on regions of Uraraka's stomach and rib cage assessing the damage. The injured girl wailed and groaned in pain as her fingers passed over certain areas of her rib cage. "Good news!" she said out loud, the boy continued to pretend not to be interested in the state of his companion, but she could see his ears perk up with concern in his eyes.
"At most the rib is cracked, but it's probably just badly bruised."
Katsuki's body visibly relaxed as he stood up, preparing to leave. Recovery Girl had anticipated this, using her cane to push him back into his chair. "Oh no, no, young man," she scoffed," I'll fix you up next," She smiled at him.
She had dealt with his kind before, being reminded of heroes like endeavor and Mirko.
Recovery Girl finished her inspection; there were some other bruised portions of her body but nothing more severe than her rib. She leaned down and planted a kiss on the girl's cheek. She smiled; this is what she became a hero for.
Ochako's body steamed slightly as the old woman's quirk temporarily boosted her healing factor. Her moans soon ended as she returned to consciousness, sitting up slowly. The old nurse smiled at her, "Just keep resting, dear, you will feel fine, but your body is exhausted." She said as she made her way over to the boy in the corner.
Looking him over, she surmised that while he had a few deep cuts and heavy bruises, his wrist was only sprained, so this, too she fixed with a kiss.
After dealing with her new patients, she returned to her desk to finish paperwork, watching as the boy made his way over to the girl on the bench. He spoke to her for a while, snapping at the girl as she laughed at him before he walked out of the infirmary. Recovery Girl noticed that he had still left the office with a smile.
Ah, what it was to be young, she thought, chuckling to herself.
Suddenly her door burst open again as a tall tan girl carrying another in her arms and holding up a boy by his shoulder came rushing into the office.
What was that manimal thinking? "WHAT KIND OF SCHOOL DOES THIS TO ITS STUDENTS!" She thought, gasping audibly at the wounds on the girl's leg and the boy's hands.
Again she decided to deal with the boy second, as he seemed relatively calm despite his horrific burns. She wondered if he had burned the nerves in his hands to the point where he couldn't feel them.
Shaking her head, she got to work on the girl with the mangled leg, first moving to clean and dress the wound. After cutting the clothes around the injury, she disinfected it and wrapped it. She handed the tall girl a clean rag, "Have her bite down on this. I need to set the bone." She instructed as she prepared Jiro's leg.
The white-haired girl took the towel, although she never looked up from the ground. Recovery Girl noticed that she was muttering something too quiet to hear while holding a cracked visor in her hand. "Speak up, sweetheart; these ears don't work as well as they used to." She joked, causing Kaiba's face to turn bright red as she moved her hands up to cover it.
"P-P-Please help my f-f-friend.." the voice barely registered to Recovery Girl's ears. The grandmother smiled; even though this girl was so tough and powerful looking, she was so cute.
"Haha, don't worry dear. I may not be a fighter, but I'm a Hero all the same." the old woman said, offering a sweet and soft smile that relaxed the younger girl.
The hero had given her the courage to make her way over to help her friend.
Kaiba whispered down to Jiro, holding the rag out in front of her mouth; biting down on the rag, Jiro reached out, grabbing and squeezing the taller girl's hand. At this, Recovery Girl braced her hands on the bone," On three, ready? 1…..2…"
*snap*
It worked every time. The old lady thinks as she again bends down and kisses the child. Jiro's muffled screams slowly subside as she sniffles and lays still, unconscious from exhaustion. The older woman brushed the girl's hair out of her face. It always hurt to see such young children endure so much pain, she sighed.
Now for the boy.
She had never seen a wound like this. They were the only self-inflicted wounds she had dealt with today.
Somehow this boy had suffered 3rd-degree burns on his palms and fingers while simultaneously being exposed to 2nd-degree frostbite on his hands and toes, for which she drew a hot foot bath for him to raise his temperature back up as she inspected his hands.
"What were you doing kid? You can't be so reckless! All you rising heroes are so eager to destroy your bodies and risk your lives but you really WILL end your life and career early if you do dangerous stuff like that again," she lectured as she continued to roughly clean and wrap his hands. The green headed boy could sense that she was angry with him, and she had every right to be!
"If He had burned any deeper, he might have never been able to move his hands again; hell, it seemed to her that he had almost burned his hands OFF entirely.
"He's lucky…" she thinks, "Seems his quirk gives him a marginal resistance to fire but still," she couldn't imagine how painful those burns were.
"Listen!" She said as she finished wrapping his fingers, "Don't ever do anything like this again." She looked earnestly into the boy's eyes. "Even I can't grow back body parts; if you had burned off your hands or lost your digits to frostbite, there would be nothing I could do."
She kissed the boy's cheek, activating her quirk as he leaned back onto a bench, "With this level of damage, there are still going to be scars, let them be a reminder not to do this again." She said sternly, looking him in his big emerald eyes again, searching for confirmation and understanding of what she had said.
The boy nods vigorously, head down, seemingly embarrassed to be reprimanded by the hero.
"I'm gonna have to give that irresponsible principal a piece of my mind." She concluded as she continued assisting the children that had come into her office.
—
Izuku Midoriya
It had been a few weeks since the entrance exams. Izuku had spent that time training lightly but mostly hanging out and enjoying his time with Mei. They spent much of their remaining summer together, both eagerly awaiting their acceptance letter.
One day Izuku woke up in his bed to the sound of slamming on his front door. Tumbling out of bed, he makes his way downstairs before opening the front door. As he does, a pink blur leaps into him, " Izukunnnn, It came, it came! Go check your mailbox! Let's open them together!" Mei screamed excitedly. Izuku tried to shush her before she awoke the whole block as he pulled her inside and smiled.
" Ok Ok just wait in here I'll go check." He said before heading out.
They both sat in the dark living room with the two blue and red envelopes on the coffee table; they looked at each other.
"Same time?" He asked.
"Same time," she responded.
They ripped off the top simultaneously as two discs projecting holograms fell onto the table.
Big, bold words spelled out,
"CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED!
They erupted, Izuku grabbing Mei and spinning her around. Both screaming and crying with tears of joy.
Their dreams were coming true.
After they calmed down, Izuku looked at his holograms, which displayed the entrance exam rankings. " Of course," he scoffed, " He would be number one…" he said, defeated, and a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth.
He would see him at U.A!
EXAM RANKINGS AND SCORES:
1. Katsuki Bakugou: 104 (74 Battle, 30 rescue)
2. Talaria Kaiba: 76 (60 Battle, 16 rescue)
3. Izuku Midoriya: 65 ( 35 battle, 30 rescue)
4. Ejiro Kirishima: 51 (26 battle, 25 rescue)
5. Tenya Lida: 43 ( 40 battle, 3 rescue)
6. Ochako Uraraka 38 (28 battle, 10 rescue)
7. Fumikage Tokoyami 36 (30 battle, 6 rescue)
8. Hanta Sero: 33 (31 battle, 2 rescue)
9. Kyoka Jiro: 28 (25 battle, 3 rescue)
10. Denki Kaminari: 27 (25 battle, 2 Rescue)
—
Once again, Izuku admired the enormous gates of the UA campus; this time, however, he was in his UA uniform and walking with his closest friend.
"WE ARE HERE!" Mei shouted as she attempted to dash into the building, just as Izuku caught her by the backpack.
"Wait! Wait, you don't even know where you're going," the greenette shook his head.
"I can smell the materials I need to make more BABIES! They're in there somewhere!" she asserted, tugging against Izuku's grip.
"Fine, but I'll come to meet you for lunch okay? I feel like if I don't remind you, you might forget to eat again!" He jeered.
"When the inspiration hits and the baby is getting made, there is no TIME FOR FOOD! She puffed out her cheeks as she sang. Finally, breaking free of his grapple and dashing into the school.
"I'll see you for Lunch, Izuuuuukkkun!" quickly, she was out of sight.
Izuku shook his head. He hoped she'd be alright, she was obviously smart enough, but not everyone appreciated her eccentric charm as he did. Not that he could understand why not; it was pretty adorable.
Speeding up his walk, he entered the front of the building, moving straight to the map posted on the wall to find his classroom.
"Here it is," Izuku gulped. He still wasn't used to meeting a bunch of new people at one time. He dreaded walking into the door. No… he was going to be a Hero; they always had to do interviews and appearances. If he considered this hero training, it might be easier for him.
Just as he reached for the door, he felt a shoulder bump past him. A golden-haired boy with blue eyes looked back at him, a devious smile stretching across his face for an instant. Izuku almost didn't catch it, but he did. The boy's face then shifted to a look of concern as he reached out and took Izuku's outstretched hand.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" The blue-eyed boy asked, looking genuinely concerned for him. Izuku instinctively pulled his hand from the boy's grasp; something was off about him.
"Oh well, you seem fine," the boy said, smirking before turning around and entering the classroom.
Izuku shook it off; apparently, that was one of his classmates. He entered after seeing the room was mostly full; he and Mei were almost late because Izuku had asked his mom to give him a haircut.
For a while, his hair has been too long, and it a begun to get in his face. He didn't want to risk setting his hair on fire during a battle. His mother had shaved the sides and the back down as low as possible without leaving him bald while he maintained a trimmed floof of hair on top of his head. It stuck up a bit, almost looking like flames.
As he entered the room, he saw a couple of figures he had seen before and a lot of new faces. Seated in the back was a boy with two different colored eyes and red and white hair staring blankly into space; he made no attempt to socialize with anyone. Near him, a familiar boy with a black bird head sat alone as well, but he wasn't as strangely menacing as the other teen.
In the middle of the room, a group of students had already gathered and seemed to have been discussing something for a while. There was a girl with pink skin and hair and a floating uniform standing next to three boys. One had spiked red hair that came up in horns, while others were the boys he had seen before and during the exam. The one with the tape and the boy with the yellow and black striped hair. Sitting in their seats near the group, he saw a cheerful Jiro talking excitedly to Kaiba, who simply was listening and nodding her head with a shy smile.
They all turned to him, "Hey isn't that him right there!" The girl with the pink skin squealed cheerfully.
"Jiro told us the story bro! What you and Kaiba did was SUPER MANLY!" a red-headed boy yelled, holding up his hand for a high five.
Izuku delivered him one while on autopilot. Were they talking about the exam? He assumed they were, and he blushed, "Thanks guys, but to be honest, I got lucky," he lifted his arms, showing them his palms. They still retained the harsh burn scars he had received from his technique.
"If Kaiba hadn't stopped that swing, they'd be scraping me off the pavement." He scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed at all the attention.
"Well then you both deserve the credit; well done." A tall girl with a black spiked ponytail says, giving him and the seated Kaiba a proper bow. Both the recipients' blush, with Izuku bowing back and Kaiba covering her face in her sleeves.
The door opened again as a short brown-haired girl, and a grouchy blond walked into the door.
"See Ba-kun?! If you'd have just listened to me, maybe we woulda have gotten here in time to get some better seats!" she complained as she poked at him, earning no response. The blonde's eyes were already scanning the room, finding and locking eyes with Izuku.
Kacchan approaches his old friend, "I see that you made it here, DEKU!" He growled as a devilish grin crept across his face. "I saw your score… Did you see mine?!" He laughed, looking down on his rival.
Izuku gritted his teeth and smiled, "Scores aren't everything, but the next chance I get, I'll prove that to you." Izuku said flatly. His nervousness was gone, with only determination in his eyes.
"Sounds like something only a loser would say," Katsuki sneered before heading towards the back of the room, taking a seat, and putting his feet up.
Ochako rolled her eyes at him as she walked over to the group, smiling and bowing as she introduced herself. The others in the group did the same, except Kaiba, whose voice was too low for anyone to hear, causing Jiro to speak up and introduce the girl herself.
Izuku asked the question that had been bothering him since the exam, "Hey Kaiba, what's the deal? How come once the exam started you became so bold but now you can barely speak?"
He didn't know if it was rude to ask, but his curiosity had to be satisfied.
The tan girl squirmed, eyes falling to the ground once again as her hand came up to cover her face before a small voice left her, "The Goddess is my guardian angel," she said, "She helps me be brave and bold when I need to be." She slammed her face into her hands, seemingly trying to hide from her peers.
"Oh, so that's like your hero persona?!" A voice from the floating female uniform asked; she had introduced herself as Toru Hagakure.
"That's so cool!" Toru finished, squealing as the uniform shook. Izuku assumed she was making gestures with her body, but he couldn't tell what exactly she was doing.
"Since you're all here, I guess it's time to start," a weary voice blurts out.
The children look around for the source of the voice, as a yellow sleeping bag with a haggard man rolled over away from the wall before rising to greet them. A tall thin man releases himself from his cocoon, addressing the class,
"I am your homeroom teacher Shota Aizawa, I will call attendance then we will reconvene on the athletic field in 3 minutes for the rest of class." He said, picking up his clipboard and clearing his throat.
The students were shocked, rushing to their seats as a blue-haired boy that Katsuki and Ochako recognized raised his hand.
"What about the opening ceremony?" He inquired, arms chopping the air with strange arm motions.
"You're training to be Heroes…" the older man stated plainly before letting out a yawn, "We simply don't have time for such mundane affairs."
The teacher began to read off his students' names, each rising hero responding to their names as they were called.
"Izuku Midoriya, Mezo Shoji, Mashirao Ojiro, Denki Kaminari, Neito Monoma, Shoto Todoroki, Momo Yaoyorozu, Tenga Lida, Tsuyu Asui, Hanta Sero, Katsuki Bakugou, Ejiro Kirishima, Ochako Uraraka, Mina Ashido, Kyoka Jiro, Talaria Kaiba, Rikido Sato, Yuga Aoyama, Toru Hagakure, and Fumikage Tokoyami" He finished.
"Everyone seems to be here, so go change into your gym wear and meet me on the field," the tired man grumbled as he laid back down into his sleeping bag.
"And HURRY IT UP."
Less than 10 minutes into his first Homeroom class, during the televised entrance ceremony, Izuku and his classmates were out on the field in gym clothes.
This couldn't be normal, could it?
The teacher explained that they would take a basic Apprehension Test using their quirks. Izuku was excited, already thinking of ways to use his quirk to exceed in the events. "This is gonna be funnnn!" the pink girl named Ashido screamed; she had said what everyone was thinking.
"FUN HUH?!" the shaggy hair teacher retorted, "how's THIS for fun? Whoever places last will be expelled!" he declared, his eyes glaring at all his students.
A gasp goes around the group as the teacher's words sink in.
"Now let us begin."
—-
Neito Monoma
Monoma was tense.
Just as he arrived at the field, he felt that strange coldness disappear. "It has been 10 minutes already, huh?" he thought, shaking his fingers as they warmed up. He clicked his tongue; this meant his earlier maneuver had been wasted.
"What the fuck WAS that quirk?"
He shook his head; he didn't have time to dwell on it.
He needed to pay attention.
The students had begun lining up for the events they were being tested in; the 50-meter dash, grip strength, standing long jump, Side steps, a Ball throw, a distance run, and situps.
Monoma's mind raced; he had made a point of "introducing" himself to his classmates, getting a feel for most of their quirks, although he had none of them now.
The only ones he didn't manage to secure physical contact with were the dual-eyed boy, the blond one, or the small brunette, the latter two simply because of how late they were.
"No matter," he thought. He had a clear plan.
Breathing deeply, Monoma straightened his back and walked forward, taking a very formal posture as he quickly made his way over to the blue-haired boy with engines in his calves. He tried to hide his sly grin as he contorted his face into a polite smile, making his eyes shine with respect, sincerity, and friendliness.
"Sorry to bother you," he said, holding out a hand to the stretching boy; he believed his name was Tenya Lida. "I just wanted to wish you good luck and a fair contest!" he lied, doing his best to keep his face straight.
"Oh goodness, where are my manners!" Lida said, jumping up quickly from his stretching before bowing and shaking the blue-eyed boy's hand. "I wish the same for you." he smiled before returning to his warm-up.
"That's the 50-meter in the bag," Monoma smirked as soon as he turned his back to the boy. Next up is the one I need for grip strength," he plotted as he continued moving through the crowd.
"These brats would soon learn what it's like…..," he snickered, holding back a full laugh.
"I'll show you that your quirks aren't that special." the corner of his mouth twitched as he continued to his next target.
—-
Izuku Midoriya
Izuku hadn't realized his quirk's uselessness, even in simple applications like this test.
His fire breath couldn't help him here, but he knew he could rely on his conditioning and training.
As for the dash, he used Ignition to give him a boost on his start, although his score was only decent, which was still better than the majority of his class. The other had scored as he expected; Lida had burned past in first place with a time no one could beat, with Kaiba a close second.
Her shyness not keeping her from dashing through the air and silently soaring past the finish line a few moments after Lida. Although she still hid her face as Lida tried to shake her hand and thank her for a good race.
"Kacchan got fourth, but he didn't seem too bothered by it. If anything, Izuku thought he and the dual-eyed boy looked bored, standing there looking into the sky, both clearly in thought.
Surprisingly, the golden-haired boy he had bumped into in the hallway had gotten third. He had suddenly sprouted exhaust pipes out of his legs right before taking off in a manner similar to Lida.
Was this his quirk?
Izuku's eyes widened; he had never thought there could be a quirk that somehow copied or mimicked other quirks.
He was muttering a storm before the teacher tapped his shoulder to usher him to the next event.
The next event was grip strength, and Izuku decided to save his flame for other events, knowing that a brief burst of strength won't help him get a high score as they measured for consistent pressure.
With his six arms, Shoji easily took the top score, almost crushing the measuring device. Sato, the giant boy with thick lips and spiked hair, won third place after eating two sugar cubes. The ponytailed girl Momo made a mini hydraulic press to win second place, and again the golden-haired boy seemed to have acquired another's quirk as two similar sugar cubes provided him with strength comparable to Sato. Winning him fourth, though it's unclear where he got the cubes.
The subsequent events went similarly, with multiple students clearing the sandpit on the standing long jump leaving Izuku and his less mobile classmates with only above-average distances. Again the boy named Monoma somehow copied Tsu's quirk and cleared the pit as well.
Izuku excelled in the situps, sidesteps, and distance run as he, Kacchan, Todoroki, Ojiro, and Kaiba were probably in the best overall physical shape in the class. These events, in particular, were challenging for most of class 1-A to use their quirks.
The test ended with a ball throw, and the teacher explained that you could do anything as long as you stayed in the circle. Kacchan went first, gripping the ball in his hand. His boredom had turned to annoyance, which, when met with his growing exhaustion with this test, turned to anger. He growled as he reared back.
"DIE!" he screamed, releasing a devastating explosion that tore the air. Sending the ball sailing into the distance.
Kacchan smiled, seemingly alleviating his anger as he had blown off some steam with his throw.
The other participants all put their best effort forward. But none came close to Ochako's infinite score. Her ability allowed the ball to float into orbit, the brunette tried to celebrate with Kacchan, who only smirked and shook his head at her.
It was Izuku's turn as he was handed the ball and stepped into the circle. He hadn't scored outstandingly on any of the tests; he needed to raise his score as much as possible. He took a deep breath, feeling the flame he had stored this morning slowly flowing into his body as it heated up; some students stepped away as the heat emanated from him.
"Ignition!" he screamed as he twisted his hips and torse into a full-body throw, turning the ball into a blur of movement as it disappeared from sight. His score did not beat Kacchan, but it should be enough.
As he turned, he saw the blue-eyed boy staring at him with bewildered eyes, obviously confused.
"Just what WAS his quirk?" Monoma thought.
After receiving the test results, the students held their collective breath as Aizawa tallied the scores.
"You all did well, we will use these scores as a baseline to track your improvement," he explained before yawning.
The students were confused.
"Oh yea, I was lying about expelling one of you. I just wanted to make sure you all gave it your all and didn't hold back," he stated, a small smile creeping on his lips.
"Class is over now, clean yourself up and head to your next class." the teacher finished as he began to walk back towards the school. He was hard to get a read on, but Izuku was glad that no one got expelled.
The rest of his day was uneventful, having primarily general education classes for its remainder. He enjoyed having lunch with Mei inside the support course lab as she didn't want to leave her BABIES unattended.
The two walked home together that day, tired but excited. He couldn't wait to see what he'd be doing tomorrow.
He smiled at the thought as he and Mei continued chatting on their way home.
—-—-
? ?
In a dingy, dark pub somewhere in Japan, a man made of dark smoke with glowing yellow eyes cleans glasses behind the bar. "The master said that it will be ready soon.." he informed as he placed the newly cleaned glass on the shelf before grabbing another dirty one.
The young man lounging on a nearby couch continued to viciously scratch the skin under his neck and wrists before responding. He was covered in disembodied hands that held onto different parts of his body.
"Finally," he gasped, the voice coming from under the hand covering his face; it was raspy and ragged. "With Giran's information, we'll be able to locate and destroy the weakening Symbol of Peace!" he laughed, gripping his drink with such force that it crumbled into ash.
"Look out Japan!" he cackled, "I will destroy your heroes and free you from your shackles!" his laugh turned into a wheeze.
"STARTING WITH YOU ALL MIGHT!"