Chapter 42: The Provisional Licensing Exam
Doko peered through the glass of the bus window, watching the massive spire of the Dagobah Testing Facility grow in size. The building was enormous and curved and sleek, like something out of a sci-fi film. It was hard to tell from out on the road, but it appeared to be open, like an arena.
The other eighteen students were all looking and pointing and gasping as well. Mina, who was sitting next to him in the aisle seat, pushed herself against him. "Whoa…" she whispered. "Now my heart's a-racing!"
Doko smiled. "You're nervous?"
"Excited! Aren't you?"
"Oh yeah. Thrilled. It's always been my dream to get beaten up by high school seniors for an hour straight."
Mina frowned. "Doko, are you seriously nervous about the test? Come on, you fought All For One."
"How much longer are people going to tell me that?"
"As long as it takes for you to remember it, ribbit," Tsuyu piped up from across the aisle. Next to her, Sero was staring intently at his phone.
Doko groaned, realizing they were tag-teaming him again. "That was different. No one was going to make fun of me if I lost to All For One."
"Honestly Dokkun, if you don't have a chance against these other kids, then none of us do, ribbit. So no one will be able to make fun of you."
"Hey, this isn't the Sports Festival," he said. "Depending on what they have us do for the test, let's try and stick together this time, yeah?"
"Sure!" Toru chirped from the seat behind them. Shoji murmured his assent.
"Sero?" Mina snapped her fingers in his direction. "Are you listening?"
"Huh? Gah!" Sero started, dropping his phone out of his hands and then catching it. "Uh, yeah! Something about peanut butter?"
"What?" Doko asked, incredulous.
Mina rolled her eyes. "No, we were talking about trying and teaming up during the test, if we can. Since we're gonna be up against mostly third years from these other schools. We should get the whole class in on it."
"Uh…yeah. Right. Sure." Sero looked back down at his phone.
"Tsu," Mina asked with deadly sweetness. "What might Sero be looking at on his phone there?"
Tsu leaned over, blinking her huge eyes. Sero tried to shrink against the wall of the bus and hide his screen, but she had apparently seen enough, turning back to them.
"He's texting Shiozaki, ribbit."
Doko and Toru laughed. Sero sighed in defeat.
"HA!" Mina smiled in victory. "Well, Sero, now you have to tell us! Give us the details!"
"We were just talking about the test facilities. Apparently the one Class B is going to is in the middle of the woods somewhere."
"Yeah, because woods always work out well for us," Doko muttered. Then, louder, he said: "Tell Shiozaki I said good luck, Sero. Actually, that goes for all of them."
"Even Monoma?" said Toru, wrinkling her nose.
"I feel like failing would just drive him further down his mental spiral. We don't need that to happen."
Mina laughed. "Yeah, Sero, tell her good luck! Maybe she'll promise a kiss if you pass!"
Sero blushed. "I don't need a promise to beat this thing. I'm gonna do it for myself."
Doko felt a strange feeling in his chest as they pulled into the parking lot for the testing facility. His Quirk stirring? Yeah, you've been REALLY helpful recently. He was still not able to use his legs, but he had Warp Field and Void Shred at least.
He had gotten strangely nervous about the exam. These kids would have seen the Sports Festival, right? And they would know all about his Quirk…any chance of secrecy was out the window. And with my handicap, I won't be able to escape as easily…
While Doko's offense was often what had turned the tide for him in battles so far, be they with villains or during training, it was always his defense and mobility that he fell back on. At this exam, he was going to have to go full offense…and he wasn't exactly ready for that.
But I'll have the others with me. Together we'll be able to cover for everything. Hopefully. He took a deep breath and followed the rest of the class off the bus. Still didn't know what the test would be, but at least none of their competitors knew yet either.
Last night, Doko had realized that he very, very much wanted to get his provisional license. Now that he wasn't with his family anymore, and had nothing impeding him from getting out there and putting his Quirk to use, he really, really wanted to do that. But he had to pass this exam first.
"Man…" he mumbled, looking up at the testing facility spire. "I'll give it a try, I guess."
"Don't just give it a try," someone said in front of his face. "Go in there and do it."
Doko squeaked, and his eyes focused in on Aizawa, looking right at him. "Yes, of course, sir," he said very quickly. Next to him, Mina smirked.
Their teacher looked up and addressed the whole class. "If you pass this exam, then you will become proto-heroes. Do your best."
"All right!" Sato boomed. "Let's do it!"
"Let's say the motto!" declared Kirishima. "Ready, guys? Go beyond! Plus…!"
"ULTRA!" shouted someone from behind the class.
They all turned, confused. It was a boy in a different uniform, tall, wearing a hat. Behind him were more boys and girls, all wearing the same hats.
"You shouldn't barge in on other people doing pep talks like that, Inasa," said one, with purple hair peeking out from under his cap.
"Oh right! I am very, truly, extremely…" the boy called Inasa bowed so deeply and suddenly that his hat fell off and his head struck against the ground. "SORRY!"
Midoriya screamed in fear.
"What is up with this garcon?" muttered Aoyama.
"Eccentric," said Ojiro.
"Whoa," Jiro mumbled. "Look at their uniforms."
"They're from that famous school in the west…" Sero realized. "Shiketsu High!"
"Shiketsu in the west, UA in the east…" grumbled Bakugo. "Our rivals."
We have rivals? Doko thought.
Inasa stood back up. "Sorry, I just wanted to say it one time! Plus Ultra! I'm a BIG fan of UA! It's an honor to compete against UA students!"
"You're bleeding, dude," Doko told him, pointing at his forehead.
"Thanks for letting me know, UA student!" Inasa boomed, giving him a salute.
"Blood," muttered the girl behind him, turning to follow the purple-haired boy up the steps toward the facility. She had blonde hair and full lips.
"Come on, Inasa."
The Shiketsu students walked away.
"So he's taking it, huh?" Aizawa mumbled.
"You know him, Aizawa-sensei?" asked Toru.
"He's Inasa Yoarashi. He's a first year like all of you. He applied to UA through recommendations and was actually at the top of the shortlist, but then he rejected his own acceptance."
"Huh?" Midoriya gasped. The green-haired boy then looked at Todoroki, whose face betrayed nothing.
"I don't get it," said Sero. "He loves UA, but he threw away his chance to enroll?"
"Right? What a weirdo," Mina said, tilting her head curiously.
"In any case, you need to watch out for him," Aizawa told them.
"ERASER, IS THAT YOU?!" a voice shouted.
Suddenly, Aizawa had an uncharacteristically panicked look on his face, and he began to vibrate with frantic annoyance. "Oh no…" he mumbled, and forced his usual nonchalant expression back.
"It is you!" the woman said, walking closer. She had bright green hair and an orange bandana. "It's been awhile since we've seen each other! Too long, hahaha!"
"Hello…Emi," said Aizawa through gritted teeth.
"Hey, Eraser! Let's get married!"
"No."
Mina and Toru let out happy gasps. Doko could practically hear the two girls' heartbeats.
It was at this point that Midoriya began to gush. "Smile hero, Ms. Joke! Her Quirk is Outburst! She forces those around her to laugh and then beats them into submission!"
"That's terrifying…" Tokoyami muttered, staring at the ground and trembling.
Ms. Joke and Aizawa were continuing their antics. "If we get married, our family would be full of laughter!"
"That doesn't sound like a happy family to me."
"Psst, hey Aizawa's students…" Ms. Joke whispered to the kids as an aside. "I used to work at an agency nearby to this fella. As we helped each other, mutual love began to blossom…"
"No, it didn't."
Mina's yellow eyes had turned to stars, and Doko was pretty sure Toru's were the same if he could see them. "What school do you work at, Ms. Joke?" the invisible girl asked.
"Heh, funny you should ask. Here they come now! Come on guys, it's UA!" the Smile hero waved at her approaching students.
"Ketsubutsu High," said Iida. "I recognize the uniform."
Doko looked the new group up and down. They were wearing grey polo shirts, the lot of them. Unlike with Shiketsu and the boy Inasa, no one really stood out.
"Oh wow!" one boy said. "It's UA, huh!"
"I recognize them from the Sports Festival!" said a girl.
"And hey, aren't those the two boys who were involved in the Kamino incident?"
Bakugo grinded his teeth in annoyance. Doko averted his gaze to his shoes, unable to look at them.
"Let's not waste any more time," Aizawa droned, nodding his head for Class A to follow. Ms. Joke tried to hover and talk to him, but Aizawa was having none of it.
Mina and Toru began chatting to each other in excited, low voices, continuing to point at the two pro heroes and their antics. Meanwhile, Kirishima, Sero, and a few others socialized with some of the Ketsubutsu students. They were all third years, but they seemed nice enough…
"It's easy to forget how famous we are," Jiro said. "From the Sports Festival to all the villain incidents…" She laughed nervously.
"It's not a good thing," grumbled Bakugo, giving their opponents the side-eye. "It means they know all our Quirks already, and we don't know theirs."
…
At least a thousand people had gathered in the spacious announcement room. Class A was among them, changed into their hero costumes. Up on the stage were suited members of the Heroes Public Safety Commission.
The one about to speak was barely awake, his eyelids heavy, his head drooping. "This is the provisional licensing exam," he slurred into the mic. "God, I've been so busy…"
"Is he okay?" Midoriya whispered.
"So, anyway…all 1,540 of you will be competing in a free for all…"
"Really? That's not a lot to go on…" said Sero.
From there, the guy said a bit about the Hero Killer Stain. Doko looked at Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida. They had very serious looks on their faces. Stain's ideology was to weed out the "unworthy" heroes. This exam…that's exactly what it's doing, isn't it?
"These days…in a society so saturated with superheroes, the name of the game in resolving incidents is speed. So, that's what you'll be tested on!"
A large number 100 appeared on the screen behind him.
"The first one hundred people to pass this first round will advance. The rest of you will be failed."
Gasps crackled around the room. The reality of the situation fell on Doko. One hundred…out of over one thousand? That's a far lower passing rate than fifty percent!
They're weeding out even more this year…with All Might gone, they need the absolute most worthy heroes…
Surely Class A would be part of that. Or at least, some of them would? Since UA was regarded as the best hero school?
Yeah, but that's on a grade-to-grade basis, right? Are UA first years as good as third years from other schools?
"Here are the requirements," said the Commission member. "Each individual examinee will attach three targets to their body. They can go anywhere as long as it's an exposed part of your body. You will also get six balls. The targets are designed to only light up if hit by the balls. Once all three of your targets get hit, you're out. The person who hits your last target will count as the person who defeated you. Get two defeats, and you will pass on. Once a hundred people have defeated two others, the round will be over. That's it for the rules."
The balls…I can warp them to people's targets. That is, if they don't dodge, and my warping aim is good enough. I can warp balls away from me if they come toward me, at least. I won't be among those who get out, but will I be among the one hundred who pass?
Doko looked around at the rest of the class. They all seemed nervous now. The look of excitement was gone off of Mina's face. The only people who didn't look nervous were Shoji, Todoroki, and Bakugo. Shoji and Todoroki remained neutral. Bakugo was grinning.
"Anyway, we'll distribute the balls and targets and begin one minute after we get to everyone," the Commission member said.
"Wait…" Midoriya muttered.
Suddenly, the roof of the announcement room began to open. Sunlight streamed in through a crack, and then a widening gap as the roof bended up and away, the walls folding out until the room had turned into a flat platform in the middle of a vast arena.
The hero candidates looked around in wonder. The arena had a variety of terrain. A large city area, an elevated highway, mountain pinnacles, a waterfall, and a smoking factory with pipes and tubes like the one Doko and Mina had gone through in their final exam.
Doko was already thinking about where to go. The factory or the city. He needed things to warp, besides just the balls. Ideally he could subdue people completely, perhaps by pinning them under debris, before he hit the targets.
…
Aizawa sat in the stands. Two seats down from him was Emi.
"Eraser…your fly's unzipped…hAHAHAHA!"
"Everyone around me is too noisy," Shota grumbled, looking down at the arena. From this distance, with that crowd of students, it was impossible to make out Class A. They were down there, though. All of them.
Not all…
"You had nineteen students; I was surprised!" Ms. Joke continued. "You only expelled one of them?!"
Shota thought of Kaminari. I failed him. Even if he came to me a villain, I could have done something…I could have realized. And now he's out there somewhere with THEM.
"I guess you could say that."
"Hahaha, enigmatic as ever! Go out with me."
"No."
…
The students were splitting off by school now. It felt like UA was lingering too long, staying put. The rest of them were already running out into the arena! It was like they already knew what to do!
Panic threatened to take hold in the nineteen of them, but then Midoriya said, "Everyone! Let's stay together! We know each other's powers, we have the best chance to pass as a group!"
"Right!" Uraraka agreed.
"Nah, fuck that," said Bakugo, and began to walk off.
"Huh, wha…" Kirishima looked at him. "Hey, Bakugo! Wait up!"
"Hey, you two, wait!" said Jiro, running after them. "Get back here! Midoriya said to…"
The three of them were already getting lost in the crowd.
"I'm going on my own, too. A group isn't good for my power," said Todoroki, walking off.
"Huh? Todoroki too?" Midoriya despaired. "What do we…"
"Without Todoroki and Bakugo, we don't have as much power!" wailed Mina.
Suddenly, it seemed like the class was all looking at Yaoyorozu and Iida, the class reps…and the resident Sports Festival victor, Doko.
Doko blinked. He didn't have any ideas! What were they looking at him for?
"There's no time!" said Midoriya. "Let's go!"
It was the moment of an instant. Just like that, as Midoriya took off…the rest of them followed him. Like he was the leader.
Fifteen of Class A ran across the arena as the clock ticked down to the beginning of the exam. Midoriya led the way, flanked by his best friends Iida and Uraraka. Doko lagged right behind, with Mina, Sero, Tsuyu, Toru, and Shoji. Somewhat behind them were Ojiro, Aoyama, Koda, and Sato. Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami brought up the rear.
"We have to keep moving," Midoriya was saying.
"Why?" asked Toru, not keeping up.
"Because!" Doko answered before Midoriya, hearing the panic in his own voice. "The rest of them already know our Quirks!"
"That's right," Iida gasped. "The sports festival…"
The timer sounded.
Up ahead, bounding out from around the great rock ridges, were all the Ketsubutsu students. All of them, jumping at Class A, balls at the ready.
At their head was the pretty boy who'd been complimenting them earlier. He had a smiling snarl on his face.
"TARGET THE WINNER!" he shouted. "THE WARPER!"
Doko's eyes widened. All the balls were thrown at once, converging on their class.
He closed his eyes, and let his Quirk spread through his whole body but his legs, spreading evenly…and released.
"WARP FIELD!"
Due to his Quirk not reaching his legs, he did not have the full 360-degree range that Warp Field usually had, but he blasted away a huge portion of the balls with a crackle of purple light, blasting away in all directions. The rest of them went hurtling toward Class A, and Midoriya leapt into the air, kicking a ball away with his new iron soles.
"SHOOT STYLE!" he shouted, creating a gust of wind with his Quirk, throwing the balls in the opposite direction.
Some of them got through, but Yaoyorozu made shields, Tokoyami blocked a good portion of the class with Dark Shadow, and Sero shot tape at the balls, stopping them short. Mina let out two sprays of acid, one from both hands, and dissolved a dozen of the balls into nothing. Dark Shadow whirled round, roaring, and threw the balls back at the Ketsubutsu students, along with the ones Midoriya had wind-kicked and Doko had warped.
Their opponents dodged the counterattack, and the dark-haired boy slid to a stop, smiling. "Oh?" he said.
Another student, with a blue rock-like head, kneaded some of the balls in his hands, hardening them, and tossed them to another classmate of his. Class A was spreading, now on the defensive, but still close enough to hear each other. Doko realized most of the class was behind him.
The classmate who'd taken the balls lifted them up, and suddenly they glowed purple, as if he had Doko's Quirk. Doko's eyes widened. Did he copy…?
But no, he was throwing the balls…underground?
"My Quirk is Boomerang!" the boy shouted at Class A. "I can throw anything at any trajectory! Even underground! You don't know which way they're coming from, and you won't be able to react!"
Class A backed into each other, their eyes darting across the ground in fear. Where would the balls come up from? Who was he targeting?
Doko knelt down. "I'll take care of it," he growled, loud enough for the rest of them to hear.
"VOID SHRED!"
He slammed his hands into the ground.
Cracks suddenly appeared, growing like a web out from Class A and toward their opponents. Purple light burst from the cracks, and suddenly the ground was warped into a barrage of pieces, shaking and bursting with his power. All the people began to lose their footing, the ground crumbling beneath them.
The balls were revealed, bursting out from a nearby crack. They looped round and up, hurtling toward Doko. His eyes widened. They were too fast; he couldn't bring up his arms to react in ti…
"FULL VISCOSITY…ACID VEIL!" Mina shouted, leaping over him with a graceful backflip, and shooting thick acid from her palms, creating a shield that dissolved the balls away over his head. She landed with a slide, grinning at him.
Doko sighed. He felt his arms strain with the effort of using both his super moves right off the bat. Already, he felt low on energy…
But still, the message was there. He turned toward the Ketsubutsu students, eyeing them angrily.
"Target me?" he snarled, sending his Quirk into his vocal chords. "Go on, then, if you'd rather waste time instead of going for easier defeats. You will not have me OR my class."
"BLACK ANKH!" roared Tokoyami, coating himself in Dark Shadow, and using the creature to throw a ball back at the opponents. It nearly hit a blonde girl, who used her Quirk to fold herself inward to dodge.
The dark-haired boy, apparently their leader, took a forward position. "BACK AWAY!" he shouted to his classmates. "This isn't the UA from the sports festival. They've grown a lot. We have…" he threw his hands against the ground, not unlike what Doko had just done. "TO SPLIT THEM UP!"
The earth began to shake. Does his Quirk cause earthquakes?! Doko thought in disbelief. The ground beneath him was breaking, already weakened by what he'd done with his own Quirk. Around him, Class A was freaking out, slipping, falling, rolling away from each other as the earth folded and cracked beneath them.
Through the growing dust, Doko saw Mina, getting blasted upward. They met eyes. "MINA!" he shouted, reaching for her…but they were getting blasted apart, and she was disappearing in the smoke along with Koda and Tokoyami.
Panicking. What do I do? What do I do? Instinctively, he tried to warp forward, but his Quirk died in his legs with a spike of pain, and he winced, tripping over a flying boulder and falling backwards…right into Yao-momo.
They knocked into each other and slid to the ground, dust spreading up all around them. Coughing, Doko got to his feet. The ground was still vibrating, but they appeared to have been blasted out of the worst of it, which was still up ahead somewhere. He wiped dust off of his pants with one hand and offered Yao-momo the other, helping the girl up. She placed a nervous hand against her chest and looked around desperately. "Katayama," she half-whispered. "Did anyone else…?"
Suddenly, a mass of limbs landed next to him, rolling and sliding to a stop. Doko raised his eyebrows; it was Shoji, his limbs wrapped protectively around Tsuyu like a shield, like the two of them had done at the Sports Festival.
"Shoji! Tsu!" Doko exclaimed, hurrying forward to help them up.
Tsuyu half-coughed, half-ribbited as she struggled to her feet. "Where are the rest of them?" she asked, confused.
"Separated…" said Shoji. "We must get back to them somehow."
"I concur," said Yaoyorozu. "While the four of us may have sufficient defenses for ourselves, we need to help our classmates."
"We can't go back the way we've just come, though…" said Doko. "That'd be right into the line of fire."
"We'll have to go around, ribbit," said Tsu. "Hug the edge of the arena. Maybe we can find some stragglers from other schools who might have gotten blown away."
"Ah, yes," Shoji nodded. "Easy targets."
"Then, let us get moving," said Yaoyorozu, taking the lead. "If all the dust is coming from that way, then to go around we must go…"
The dust cleared somewhat in the direction she was facing…revealing a long grouping of city buildings, blocking their way.
"...In there," Momo mumbled, her voice dying.
"We'll be fine," said Doko, walking up next to her. "Inside the buildings, we have an advantage, don't we? We have Shoji."
"Yes," said the multi-armed boy. "I will keep eyes and ears open on all sides. Katayama, you should take point and get ready to warp anything that comes our way. Tsuyu, be ready to back him up if we find ourselves in close range. Yaoyorozu, you can be our back shield."
Momo's lower lip shook ever so slightly, but she nodded, going along with the plan with determined eyes.
"That's right, ribbit," said Tsu, stepping up and matching the other three. "With this formation…we've got quite a good team."
Doko led them into the nearest building, the four of them headed around to look for the rest of the class.
…
"SOMEONE JUST TOOK OUT 120 PEOPLE AND PASSED?!" the Commission member exclaimed over the intercom. "Well…that woke me up…I'll keep providing updates as we continue…"
Hanta Sero could hardly believe his ears. 120 people out like that?! That couldn't have been the earthquake move, since you have to hit people with the balls to get them out…no, something else was going on…who has power like that?
He shuddered, remembering Todoroki and their fight at the Sports Festival. Did ol' Shoto go off on his own and freeze up a bunch of people? Nah, he wouldn't take out over a hundred, would he?
...Would he?
In any case, he had bigger problems. His friends were gone. Well, maybe Hagakure was still around, but she wasn't revealing herself. And the ground of the arena had gotten all folded and jagged by the force of the earthquake, creating an almost labyrinthine space of uneven terrain. It provided a lot of places to hide from opponents…but also a lot of spaces for them to hide from you.
And Hanta wasn't sure of what to do, creeping below a small cliff and peering around the side, looking for any friendly faces. Surely he hadn't been the only one to get blasted in this direction, right?
He thought of his phone, stashed away safely in a locker outside the arena. He wondered if Ibara had started her test yet. If only Class B could have been with us…yeah, Monoma's an issue, but we probably could have gotten some of them to team up with us! Imagine if we had thirty people or more as a group!
"Five people have passed," the intercom announced.
Sero hissed through his teeth. He saw movement around the next corner; three Ketsubutsu students in the distance. They were heading in the opposite direction, like they saw something. Maybe some of my classmates?
"Sero-kun!"
Sero yelped, nearly jumping out of his skin. He turned; it was Uraraka.
"Uraraka-san."
"Oh thank goodness," the brunette said, scratching her head in relief. "I was worried I wasn't going to find any friends."
Suddenly, they heard another tremor coming from behind them. Sero whirled and gasped. It was from the direction the Ketsubutsu students had gone.
"I bet there's more of us over there!" said Sero, pointing. "We should go help them."
"Right," Uraraka nodded. "What's the plan?"
"Erm…" Sero looked around at the loose debris scattered in the grooves and valleys of the terrain. If she lightens some of these rocks, I can throw them with my tape…we could make a half-decent combo move.
Uraraka swayed, antsy. "No time to think, Sero-kun! Let's just get over there and use our instincts! Before our friends get taken out!"
Sero shook his head, hard. "Right!"
The gravity girl took the lead, the two of them running toward the tremor. They saw silhouettes flying through the air, just over the tops of the cliffs.
"They're moving off?" Uraraka wondered aloud.
A loud colored explosion, like a firework, went off next to them, and both Uraraka and Sero were blasted back against the side of a hill, knocking hard into the rock. Sero felt part of his costume crack, and pain struck him.
Three opponents were sliding down the hill opposite them. One was a muscular girl, a power-up type. The other two were boys, one with firework-like sparks crackling from his hands, and another who had the head of a panther.
"UA students!" the girl snarled with excitement. "Get them, hurry!"
The panther boy got down on all fours and began to charge them. "URARAKA!" Sero yelled. "THE ROCKS!"
In a split second, the girl understood. She touched two boulders near her, lightening them and making them float. Sero shot his tape and stuck it to the debris, swinging it as hard as he could.
"RELEASE!" shouted Uraraka, right at the moment of impact, adding extra oomph to Sero's swing and hitting the panther boy with full weight. He was knocked aside, hitting a different cliff with a screech of pain.
The muscular girl threw her balls toward them, but Sero slid sideways and got them with his tape. Uraraka was blown away from him by another firecracker-explosion, and suddenly Sero's eyes were filled with colorful light. He blinked, confused, and was then pushed to the ground.
The massive girl was standing over him. "I saw you in that last round," she said, grinning. "You got demolished by the pretty boy with the ice. You'll be easy."
Sero scrambled away from her, coughing. "Y-you don't have your balls anymore."
"Then I'll take yours!"
She dashed forward, swinging a massive fist at him. Sero dodged frantically, and heard another explosion behind him. We don't have time for this!
He whirled low under her next swing, and shot tape low at one of her targets, below her knee. He yanked with all his might, pulling the girl toward him, and procured a ball, striking it against the target. That's one!
The target lit up, and the girl roared, swiping him aside almost effortlessly. As he flew back, Sero shot tape out of both elbows and anchored himself to the ground, swinging his feet into a slide. The girl charged him again, roaring. Sero shot tape at her face to blind her, but she kicked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. She loomed…and then Uraraka floated down from above.
"RELEASE!" she shouted again, dropping onto the muscular girl and knocking her aside.
"Sero, let's go!" Uraraka wailed, pointing over the cliff. "I saw Deku!"
Deku? His eyes widened. The panther boy was getting back up, and so was the muscular girl, but there was no time.
Uraraka touched Sero and floated him up the cliff, following close behind. The girl tried to scramble up the steep slope to follow them, but lost her footing.
The two UA students slid down the other side, and Sero could barely believe his eyes.
A naked girl was charging Midoriya. Blonde, from…Shiketsu? At least, she appeared naked…hey did she hide her targets? That's not fair!
Sero shot tape between the two combatants, stopping the naked girl up short. "MIDORIYA!" he roared, thinking of his frustration with Ibara. "WHAT IS THIS ENVIABLE SITUATION YOU'RE IN?"
Midoriya stuttered. "S-Sero?!"
Uraraka front flipped over Sero and released her Quirk, folding into a kick that was aimed squarely for the blonde, but the girl was graceful, and flipped back out of the way, half-dancing up onto a nearby cliff.
The naked girl suddenly sat in an almost vulnerable position, falling into it naturally. "Things were just getting good…" she muttered. "Too bad…I really wanted to talk to you more…"
"Hiding your targets is against the rules, you molester!" Sero called up to her. He was getting ready to shoot his tape, just out of pure anger, even though he couldn't even get any points from someone without a target.
The girl giggled. "Say…Ochaco Uraraka…he really trusts you a lot, you know…"
Uraraka blushed in surprise, and she and Midoriya looked at each other, and then looked away. Sero let out a deadpan sigh. God damn it…why am I ending up with all the romantic nonsense...when the girl I like isn't even here?!
The naked girl flipped backwards off the cliff, disappearing.
Midoriya turned to the two of them. "You guys are the real thing, right?" he squeaked.
"Huh?"
"Deku, what are you talking about?"
"That girl…she used her Quirk to disguise herself as Uraraka…"
Uraraka blushed even deeper. "WHAT?!" she squealed.
"To earn your trust, huh?" Sero muttered, thinking about what the girl had said. "Damn, they even know about our relationships with each other! Our fame is such a disadvantage!"
Both of them looked at him, blushing and confused.
"What do you mean, relationships?!" they both demanded, unable to look at each other.
Sero sighed. When are these two going to confess? "Don't worry about it. We need to…"
"Thirty people have passed," said the intercom.
All three of them stiffened in panic.
"WE NEED TO HURRY UP AND PASS!" Sero finished.
They took off running, toward where there were noises of action.
…
"Lady Saiko, four UA students have entered the building."
The blue-haired girl straightened her monocle and smirked. "Show me the video."
The girl with pink hair bowed and used her Quirk, projecting a video out of her eye. The projection indeed showed four.
"The warper, hmm? With two of the mutants…and the girl who can make things…"
Difficult. But difficult excited her.
Saiko Intelli sipped her tea and let the possibilities swirl around her. All possible outcomes, any potential defeats. Potential victories.
Yes, she had their plan.
Saiko stood up, grinning. "Our prey has been decided. Alert the others."
"Yes, Lady Saiko," said her classmate with a bow.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
First Nezu, then All For One, and now Saiko Intelli. Putting Doko up against mastermind-style opponents is just really fun, honestly. At first, I was going to have him fight Inasa…but it really doesn't make sense for Inasa to encounter any of the UA students in the first round, considering how quickly and effortlessly he passes in canon.
Anyway, the Saiko battle will make up the bulk of the next chapter. See you then.