Chapter 2: Do your best Hedgehogs! UA Entrance Exam!
Sonic was moving around excitedly. Today was the day and he couldn't be more pumped. Getting into his school clothes and making his bed were done in a flash and he was at the bottom of the stairs before he knew it. He was making his way to the kitchen when her voice found his ear.
"Something you want to tell me about yesterday?" Sonic chuckled as he turned to the large brown owl standing in the living room. This was Laura Candice. His guardian. Or better known to Sonic by her Hero Name Longclaw. He gave her a double thumbs up.
"Yeah! I saved Aoi from being impaled! And then All Might showed up and offered to put me into UA through HIS recommendation!" Longclaw was caught off guard by this, which made Sonic realise that she hadn't been told the whole story.
"All Might wanted to recommend you?"
"Yep. But I turned him down." If it surprised her, she didn't show it.
"Why?"
"Because I want to get in with my own skill. Being recommended is boring. Besides, I can't let Amy do it all by herself now can I? Not after we've been talking about it for months now." Taking the chance to step away, he strolled into the kitchen to make breakfast. Longclaw followed him.
"That's rather noble of you Sonic. I'm proud of you." Sonic's smile brightened. It just sounded so much better coming from her than it did from anyone else. "But don't think you made me forget that you willingly jumped into fight a villain." The brightness of his smile faded slightly. But not by much.
"I know. But I couldn't just let her try to kill Aoi. I know she has Basic Regeneration as her quirk but it's the thought that counts!"
"And kicking the villain?"
"That… Was a spur of the moment type of deal." Longclaw let out a tired sigh.
"I'm not angry with you Sonic. After all, you did save Sakurai. But try not to get into any more trouble before the exam please. You are my responsibility after all."
"No promises!" He felt a sharp pain hit his head. "Ow! Did you peck me?"
"Whatever are you talking about? I was giving you a kiss." Sonic rolled his eyes.
"Sure."
"Are you going to get ready? You need to be at UA in an hour and you still need to catch the train." Sonic waved her off.
"I'll be fine. I always have time." Still, he quickly finished his food and got himself organised without another word. Two minutes later, he had his bag on his back and was heading through the door. He didn't get very far thanks to the two wings wrapping around him.
"You're going without saying goodbye?" Sonic grinned cheekily.
"I thought you wanted me out of the house?" He hugged her back nonetheless.
"Good luck out there. I look forward to hearing good things when you get home."
"Thanks Longclaw." He broke out of the hug and walked to the gate. "And don't worry. I know we'll pass!" With that, he was off, jogging towards the station. Longclaw smiled warmly.
"I have no doubt you will."
Like the day before, he had no issues getting to the station. He boarded the train and waited to arrive at his stop. He didn't see Izuku anywhere, so he assumed that it was just a once off that he happened to be riding his train. Not long after that, his train arrived at Musutafu Train Station. He spotted Amy waiting for him on the platform and went straight to her as soon as he got the chance. She was beaming in his direction.
"Today's the day! I'm so nervous!" Sonic patted her on the back reassuringly.
"Don't sweat it. We'll do great!" The two of them headed down the stairs and through the ticket machine. Stepping out into the hall Sonic checked the time on the big clock hanging off the room. "We've got ten minutes until the bus comes. Wanna go talk to Aoi?" Amy nodded.
"Anything to get my mind off the exam. You'd know where she'd be. Lead the way." Sonic grinned and walked further down the hall with Amy following close behind. It surprisingly took less time to find her than he thought it would thanks to the fact that she came around the corner and bumped into Amy.
"Ah! Sorry!"
"No, it's my fault. I didn't look before I went around the corner." Aoi knelt down to the hedgehog's level and gave them a warm smile. "Today's the day huh?"
"Yep. It's going to be a piece of cake."
"Cake sounds nice at a time like this." Aoi chuckled at Amy's expense.
"Tell you what, how about I get you both some cake to eat on your way there. Think of it as my "good luck gift." Amy's nervousness seemingly melted away with that.
"You'd do that for us Sakurai?"
"Sure. After all, I'm rooting for you two. I'll be expecting you both to come back here next week to tell me that you passed. Otherwise, the cake would have been a lie!" Sonic laughed to himself at Aoi's subtle "Portal" reference. The two hedgehogs followed the taller girl over to a nearby café and picked out a cake to eat. Sonic picked a simple brownie slice while Amy chose a raspberry one. Once they were done, Aoi walked to the bus terminal with them. The bus arrived shortly after they got there. Aoi put both her hands up to the hedgehogs.
"I know you two can do it. I believe in you." They both accepted the high-five invites with smiles on their faces.
"Thanks so much Sakurai!"
"I don't think we'll need it, but thanks anyway." Sonic was prepared for one elbow in his side but not two. He grunted with the impact. This caused both Amy and Aoi to chuckle.
"Knock em' dead Rose! You two Spikes!"
"I hope you don't mean that literally."
"Oh shush you. Let's go before the bus leaves!" Not wanting to be left behind, Sonic complied, and the two Humanoids hopped onto the bus.
"See you later Sakurai/Aoi!" They called out as the door closed. With a smooth start, the bus began to move up the main street. The bus was filled with a mixture of people, ranging from businessmen to what Sonic assumed were teenage UA Examines. He took a seat next to a black-haired boy while Amy had to sit in the seat in front, next to a guy with a weird looking arm. The bus roared through Tokyo before turning off down a larger street. After a few minutes of stopping and starting, the bus climbed the hill towards the fabled school. Sonic let out a low whistle when he saw it through the windows.
"If it looks impressive now, imagine when we're standing in its grounds." He whispered to Amy, who nodded in response.
When the bus stopped, all of the younger teens hopped off, which confirmed Sonic's suspicions. Once he stepped off the bus, he found Amy waiting for him to the side, a nervous grin on her face.
At long last, the two hedgehog Humanoids stood just in front of the gates to UA. Sonic nudged Amy with his elbow.
"Well. We're finally here. You ready?" Amy nodded, still slightly nervous.
"As I'll ever be. Let's do this partner." Putting her fist out, Sonic bopped the top of it with his own. Taking the next step together, they entered UA, ready to take whatever it would dish out at them.
…
"Man, that was intense!"
It had roughly been about two hours since they'd arrived. After finding the Hero Department area, everybody there had been welcomed and introduced into what they'd be doing here today. The written exam came right after that and had gone on for about an hour. Sonic must have finished before Amy because when he got to the auditorium, he couldn't find her anywhere. So, he plonked himself down into his seat and waited. He ended up pulling out the cake Aoi had bought him and began to eat that.
He felt a presence move in next to him and sat down. Glancing to the side, he was met with the sight of a dark purple haired girl. What intrigued him the most about her was the earphone jacks sprouting from her earlobes. She let out a sigh which Sonic assumed was out of relief. Seeing that Amy probably wasn't going to show up for a little, he decided to strike up a conversation.
"How'd you think you did?" The girl gave him a sideways glance which he returned with his own smile.
"I don't think we're supposed to talk about how we did."
"I know." She raised an eyebrow.
"Then why'd you ask?" Sonic just shrugged.
"Needed a conversation starter. It worked pretty well don't you think?" He offered her a handshake. "Name's Sonic. Nice to meet you." The girl laughed a little, making him feel like he'd said the right things.
"Kyouka Jirou. You seem pretty chilled." She accepted the handshake and Sonic couldn't help but grin wider.
"It was built into my programing. Going to go out on a limb and say that that's your quirk?" He pointed to her earphone jacks on her ears. She gave him a sarcastic stare.
"What gave it away Captain Obvious?"
"Dunno. Just a hunch."
"Is your quirk a mutant type? Making you look like a hedgehog and all?"
"Nope. I'm a Humanoid. My quirk is way flashier than this."
"A Humanoid? Wow. Can't say I know many Humanoids personally."
"Well now you know two."
"Two?" As if by magic, Amy entered the room and made her way over to her assigned seat next to Sonic.
"Sorry I took so long. It was a little bit more difficult than I thought it would be."
"Hey, no sweat. I had someone to talk to." Amy looked to Sonic's left and her eyes met Kyouka's. "This is Jirou. I know nothing about her except that her quirk has something to do with her earphone jacks. Jirou, this is my best friend Amy Rose." He leant back so the two could shake hands.
"Nice to meet you Rose. Your friend here is quite the smooth talker." Amy let out a laugh.
"Smooth talker? Sonic could cut a block of steel with a toothpick he's that good. I'm kinda surprised he hasn't gotten himself a girlfriend yet."
"Is that so? Maybe he should look into getting one." Sonic chuckled playfully.
"Is that an offer?" Kyouka lightly pushed Sonic's shoulder in a similar playful manner.
"Dude. We've just met. Take me out for dinner first."
He would have retorted if it hadn't been for the lights dimming. Out on the stage, a blonde man with a cockatoo like hairstyle and a really weird moustache stepped up to the podium. Sonic recognized him as Present Mic, a Pro Hero DJ that used his voice as a weapon.
"Welcome one and all to my live show!" He was really loud. "Everybody say heeeey!"
Absolute silence aside from a cough in the crowd of students. He didn't let that stop him though.
"I've got shivers down my spine too listeners. Alright examinees! I'm gonna give you the low-down on how this'll go down! Are you ready!?"
Again, the poor fellow was met with silence. Sonic almost found himself a little guilty at the fact that no one was responding. But once again, he powered on.
"Now pay close attention listeners!" Behind him the board was lit up by a projector somewhere in the back of the auditorium. It had several letters indicating the different mock cities he assumed. "We'll be testing your mettle by running a ten-minute practice run at our replica city-district. You can take whatever you like with you to the practice! Everybody gather at the designated meeting area after the presentation, ya dig?" Sonic glanced down at the card he'd been given upon entering the auditorium. His mock city letter was E.
"We'll be sprinkling a large number of "Villains" over the battlefield. And they'll appear in three different varieties, with point values scaled according to difficulty. Using each of your individual quirks, dispatch as many "Villains" as you can. Your goal, listeners, is to rack up a high score." He gave the auditorium a small glare. "And don't think about directly attacking any other competitors or any of that anti-hero or Anti-Anthro stuff because that's against the rules capisce!?" As far as Sonic was concerned, that was a no brainer. He really didn't want to be attacked during the practice just because some Anti-Anthro didn't want him to succeed.
From within the crowd of people, a single person stood up, holding a piece of paper for Present Mic to see.
"Excuse me, may I ask a question?" Once the spotlight was shining down on the boy, Present Mic gave him a simple nod and the boy continued. "On the handout, there are clearly four types of villains listed! Such an error would be the height of embarrassment for a top-tier national academy of UA's caliber! The reason we are seated here today is because we seek guidance on the path to becoming model heroes!" Sonic felt his eyes roll. How stuck up could one be? He wasn't done yet though. "And moreover, what's with you? Yeah you curly haired kid."
Another spotlight shone down on a familiar green haired boy not too far away from Sonic. His eyes widened at the sight.
"Hey! I know him!" Amy looked in the poor boy's direction.
"Do you?"
"Yeah. He was the kid I met on the train yesterday."
"He looks kinda plain…" Sonic shook his head at Kyouka's remark as Present Mic retook the show.
"Thanks for the segue, much appreciated examinee 7111. The fourth type of villain you'll encounter is worth zero points! Let's call them… Arena Traps. Have any of you ever played "Super Mario Brothers" before?" For whatever reason, Sonic felt his quills bristle at that. He had no idea why though. "You remember those things that'd go Thwomp on you!? There's a thing like that in each area! Their "gimmick" is that they rampage when crowded." The boy bowed down low.
"Thank you very much. I apologize for being rude."
"Well." Present Mic began to wrap up his introduction to the practice. "That's enough from me! I'll leave you all with a presentation on the "school precepts" of this academy of mine. As a certain "hero" by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte once said." He posed dramatically. "A true hero never stops overcoming the misfortunes in life!" Now let us move to the main event!" Sonic realized what was coming and he couldn't help himself.
"Plus Ultra!" Both he and Present Mic called out. Although he was drowned out by the loud speaking man, those around him heard. Amy covered her face while Kyouka stifled a laugh.
(A/N: Yes. This segment was basically ripped from the manga. It's a Fanfiction, I'm allowed to!)
…
Sonic found himself standing outside of the gate of mock-city E. To prevent teaming up with friends, people from the same schools were split up into different areas. This time he had no friendly faces to talk to. Amy had been sent to mock-city A while Kyouka had been sent to mock-city C. Nonetheless, he wasn't bothered. That just meant he could focus on points. Something didn't sit right with him. Something strange. This was a school on heroics, right? So why weren't they being judged on actual heroics? Putting it aside for now, Sonic readied himself for battle. He was (Embarrassingly.) caught off guard when the doors the mock-city were flung open rather suddenly and Present Mic's voice rang out.
"And start!" People stood there, confused. Present Mic's voice rang out from wherever he was again. "What? You think a villain will give you a countdown before they attack? Get going! Times a wasting!" That got people moving. Sonic chuckled to himself at making a rookie mistake.
'Go time, I guess. Let's do our best Amy. Jirou. Midoriya. Let's pass this together!' With that, Sonic blasted off into the depths of the city.
Within the viewing box, several Pro Heroes watched the monitors relaying the live feed of the ten mock-cities. Amongst the regular teachers, there were two new figures. One was a skeleton like man with blond hair while the other shall not be named just yet. The lanky blondie, Toshirori Yagi, kept his eyes on one screen at first.
"So how do you think this year's batch will be?" The ever seductive Nemuri Kayama voiced the obvious question that everyone was thinking.
"Only time will tell. The newer generation's quirks get stronger and stronger." Ectoplasm was quick to deduce. "Check out that kid with the explosion quirk." On the fourth screen, a dusty blonde boy with a serious attitude problem was smashing a three-pointer with a large explosion. The little mouse… bear… dog… Whatever he was, pointed one of his stubby fingers towards the fifth screen.
"The hedgehog Humanoid is doing well too. In fact, I think there's two teenagers to keep an eye on in that one." Toshirori's attention turned to that screen.
"I offered that hedgehog boy a recommendation yesterday." All eyes snapped around to the lanky man. Kan Sekijiro was first to speak.
"Then why is he down there? Shouldn't he be doing whatever it is that the recommended should be doing?"
"Because he turned down the offer! I have no control over what he decides!"
"Did he give you a reason why?" Toshirori smiled.
"He wanted to get into UA through his own strength. He had a friend that he'd been working with to get to this point and who am I to judge heroism like that?" Nezu, the mouse/dog/bear/thing closed his eyes in thought.
"To turn down the recommendation of the number one hero, just so he could show us his strength." A small smile curled across his lips. "I say that, depending on his score, he should be put into the special class. Don't you agree?" There was a mixed reaction to that but Nezu's smile remained. "Doesn't matter. I am the principal, and I will do as I like. I will leave him in your care. If he passes of course." That was directed to the mystery teacher who gave him a nod.
"That's perfectly fine with me."
Back in the city, Sonic's performance couldn't be stopped. He already had twenty-two points in the span of four minutes, and it was still counting. He took a quick break against a tree.
"These things aren't messing about. Are they trying to injure everyone?" He stretched his arms up high. "Doesn't matter. Let's keep-" A one-pointer blasted out of the wall behind him and targeted him. Sonic glanced back with a grin on his face. But before he could move, a blue slash line cut through it, leaving it still for a moment before exploding. Sonic lifted his hand up to stop shards from hitting his face. Through the fire, he saw a black-haired boy that seemed vaguely familiar. He held a black sword in his right hand and small smile on his face. He spoke to Sonic as he walked past.
"Don't let your guard down. These bots are ruthless." Sonic's mischievous smirk made its appearance on his muzzle.
"So I've noticed. Name's Sonic."
"Kirigaya."
"How many points so far?"
"With the bot I just destroyed saving your butt? Twenty-five."
"Not bad, not bad. Want a challenge?"
"Sure."
"Let's see who can get the most points. When the results come out, whoever has the lower score has to treat the winner to a meal when we start school here. Winners choice."
"Why? You don't know me or what I'm capable of."
"This is my way of getting to know people. I like a little competition. You seem like you'd leave everyone here in the dust."
"I can't disagree with that. You're on."
"Cool. Hope you've got a fat wallet Kirigaya!"
"That goes for you too Sonic." With the five-minute mark announced, the two shot off. Sonic headed further into the depths and spotted a two-pointer chasing a nameless examinee. He knocked it's head off with a well-aimed Homing Attack, one of his signature attacks. Soon after, he found a one-pointer and smashed that too. This went on for three more minutes before there was a loud buzzer. Pausing for a moment, Sonic felt the ground tremble.
"Whoa! What is-" His question was answered when a MASSIVE robot plowed through a nearby building. "That's the zero-pointer? It's huge!" Judging by its movements, it didn't have a set target, which relaxed him slightly. Only to then realise that there could be people in its path. Looking around, he couldn't see any smaller robots. He let out a sigh. "Damnit. I shouldn't have taken that bet."
With his mind made up, Sonic abandoned his challenge in order to make sure nobody got themselves killed. Forty-six-ish points should be enough right? Amy wouldn't forgive him if it wasn't. Taking to the rooftops, Sonic was quick to catch up with the zero-pointer and he began his heroics.
In the end, he saved three nameless examinees, an arrogant blonde, a purple haired boy who looked like he hadn't slept in weeks and an invisible girl who he almost missed, had it not been for her flailing gloves. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the final buzzer sounded. Sonic flopped to the ground with an exhausted sigh as the zero-pointer powered down.
'All in a day's work, I guess.'
Not long after that, staff robots began politely getting everyone out of the mock-city, while taking those who were injured to the nurse's office. Sonic only had a few scratches, so he was free to go. Once he made it back to the main campus, he was told he could collect his things and go home. Not that he was going to without Amy anyway. When he entered the place that they'd been instructed to leave their bags, he was surprised to see Kyouka waiting off to the side. She spotted him and limped towards him.
"Hey. How'd you do?"
"Sorry ma'am. But that information is classified." He retorted, seeing where she was going with this. She smiled softly.
"Good. You're learning."
"I taught you that. Where'd you come off stealing my lines?" He said in mock disbelief.
"Hey, I had to start a conversation somewhere." The two chuckled between themselves as Sonic grabbed his bag. "But seriously, how do you think you did?"
"I feel as if I did good enough. Obviously, I won't tell you how many points I think I got, but I did alright. What about you?" Kyouka's reply was interrupted when the barrelling force known as Amy entered the room. She was by Sonic and Kyouka's side within seconds.
"You would not believe what happened in my practice run! It was amazing!"
"Maybe wait until we're on the bus. I think the staff want us out of here." Nodding, Sonic and Amy followed the earphone jack girl out of the room. Their timing was impeccable, as the bus pulled up to the UA bus stop just as they exited the campus. The three of them hopped on and sat together while Amy looked as if she was going to burst.
"Ok Amy. What-" Her mouth was going the second she was given the green light.
"You know that boy that you said you knew? Well…"
…
Amy brought her hammer down onto the head of a three-pointer, crushing it down into a pile of scrap. As quickly as she had finished it off, a one-pointer took its place. Amy let out a huff.
"You wanna go too? Bring it you bucket of bolts!"
Amy Rose!
Quirk-Piko Piko Hammer!
Amy can summon a strange pink hammer out of thin air to use in a variety of ways. Whenever she hits something (Or someone.) with it, it makes a "Piko" noise, hence why she calls it the Piko Piko Hammer.
Amy brought down the hammer again, crushing the robot with a satisfying whine. The two-minute mark was announced, and the zero-pointer made its appearance. Amy was horrified by its size.
"Holy crap it's humungous!" Not wanting to get crushed, Amy used her hammer to launch herself up onto a nearby rooftop. She was about to go and find more robots when she heard a yelp of pain. Looking back down, she saw a brown-haired girl trapped beneath some rubble. Before she could do anything, the boy Sonic had said that he recognised JUMPED up to the zero-pointers face and smashed it with all his might! Its head got caved in and he managed to stop it completely. She watched the boy fall back towards the ground before the girl slapped him across the face, somehow breaking his fall. Then she puked out a rainbow, which was cool to see in its own, disgusting way…
…
Kyouka's mouth was open while Sonic simply whistled.
"I told you he had "hero" radiating off him."
"Yeah, but his legs and right arm were mangled afterwards."
"So? That just means he's got some learning to do. He may not know it, but I'll believe in him every step of the way." Kyouka laughed a little.
"Do you believe everyone can be a hero?"
"Only those who strive to be. Those who don't even try have something wrong with them."
"Ain't that the truth."
Deciding to keep in contact, the three examinees swapped numbers before they got off the bus at Musutafu Station. Aoi was dealing with an issue so Sonic chose not to bother her. When they reached the platform, they had to go their separate ways. Kyouka went to her own platform while Amy went to the opposite side to Sonic's. When Amy's train arrived, she waved to Sonic as it left. Shortly afterwards, his train arrived and he was on his way back home.
Longclaw was making dinner when he arrived. She chuckled softly when she saw the state he was in.
"How'd it go?" Sonic returned her smile with his own two thumbs up.
"Awesome. I believe I got a good amount of points. UA'd be stupid to not let me in."
"You could've accepted All Might's recommendation you know. Then you would have-" Sonic swiped his hands across his chest.
"Nope. I did it my way. I'm honoured that he thinks so highly of me, but I know I did well enough. Just you wait. A week from now, I'll get the letter saying "Welcome! To your hero academia!" Longclaw laughed at her little bundle of optimistic energy's enthusiasm.
"Well, would the "Oh-so-certain future student of UA" please go and have a shower before dinner? I don't want to smell the sweat from you from across the table." Sonic rolled his eyes as he made his way towards the stairs.
"Sure, sure. I'll be as quick as a firework!"
"You better not be! Clean yourself properly or I will lock you in there until you are!" She called out to the blue afterglow that remained at the bottom of the stairs. She let out a sigh.
"I know you'll make it in Sonic. You're probably the most heroic person I know." She mumbled to herself."
Wow. I surprised myself when I finished this. Took me just under a day to finish this. I'm proud of myself.
Do you think he made it? The answer is glaringly obvious but in case you've never read a My Hero Academia story in your life (In which case, what the hell are you doing with your life!?), I won't spoil it.
That's it for now. Can't wait to see you in the next chapter!
Also, reviews are appreciated. Feel free to tell me if you're enjoying or (Hopefully not…) disliking it.
Next time: The Results are in! Let's Celebrate!
