Author's Note: Surprised no one tried to guess who I paired Fumikage with. They're in the chapter and you'll be surprised by who I chose.
Jowen2713: Not calling anyone out. I was making fun of myself that it took me 20 chapters to get to the entrance exam.
Fumikage and Tsu stood before the towering building in front of them, just saying their goodbyes to Izuku. After what Izuku said they were feeling better about the exam until they saw UA and remembered the daunting task in front of them. They only had a 0.2 percent chance of being accepted into the school and watching the other test takers around them, it felt like they had less than that. The two grasped their lockets and remembered Izuku's words.
"I was feeling confident yesterday, but now I wanna catch up with Izuku and apply to Musutafu High," Fumikage joked to cut the ice. It didn't work because he started to second guess himself and thought joining Izuku was a good idea.
"No one said this was gonna be easy. We just have to take everything in stride," Tsu said to motivate them.
Fumikage would feel motivated but he was still doubting himself. He was relying more on the practical exam than on the written portion. He wasn't as smart as his two green-haired friends, but he also wasn't an idiot by any means, he just struggled with a few subjects. He knew that if he and Tsu failed she would have a better chance at getting into General Studies than he would.
"I still think you should've let me study the answers and have me relay the answers to you," Fumikage heard Dark Shadow say in his head.
'That's cheating, and you were always restless when it was time to study,' Fumikage retorted. He would be lying if he said that he didn't try to use Dark Shadow to feed him answers. The problem was that Dark Shadow never wanted to study and whenever he got his sentient quirk to study, he never remembered the answers. He got annoyed that Dark Shadow wouldn't study; he decided that having Dark Shadow tell him the answers was cheating.
"It's not cheating if you're using your resources," Dark Shadow sang and Fumikage groaned.
'What good is a resource if it knows just as much as I do,' Fumikage said and Dark Shadow didn't have a sarcastic remark.
Dark Shadow is also another problem he has with tests. He could never get his quirk to settle down when he was taking tests. He was able to hold him back from emerging from his body and distracting everyone, but he couldn't stop him from distracting him. Sometimes he considers having a sentient quirk a curse.
Fumikage shook his head, he'll worry about the written tests when the time comes. He moved on to studying the other testers walking to the school because this is technically a competition. He saw people with mutation quirks like tentacles, tails, and different color skin. Others didn't have mutation quirks but had other physical features that stood out like spiky hair, rosy cheeks, or just extremely hairy.
They all looked powerful, but a majority of them appeared to be nice, especially the pink-skinned girl who ran around introducing themself to anything that had a pulse. He then caught sight of someone stomping towards the school with a permanent scowl on his face and glared at anyone who even glanced at him. Fumikage nudged his friend and pointed at the angry pomeranian. Tsu grimaced when she saw the boy.
"Izuku did say he would apply to UA, ribbit," Tsu said, remembering what her friend told them months ago.
"Yeah," Fumikage frowned. He also remembered almost unleashing Dark Shadow onto the boy for attacking his friend. If it wasn't for Izuku, Fumikage doesn't think he would be standing before UA today. He led Tsu toward the school, but also they made sure they stayed out of Bakugo's sight to make sure a fight wouldn't break out. "Come on, our greatest trial awaits us."
The two friends walked through the halls lined with pictures of UA alumni. The more prominent pictures were of the current top heroes that graduated from UA as if the school was showing them what could happen if they got accepted and managed to graduate. It worked because any doubt that they were feeling slowly diminished and was replaced by hope.
The duo came up to an employee who looked over their exam ticket before telling them which classroom they'll be taking the written test in. They were both placed in separate classrooms and they promised each other to meet up at the auditorium afterward.
Fumikage made it to his assigned classroom, class 1-C. He quickly studied the other test takers in the room. He could easily tell some stayed up late studying, especially the boy with messy purple hair, he looked like he hadn't slept in days. While others appeared well rested, either confident they'll ace the test or they were just like him and prepared more for the practical exam.
There was one student who he couldn't get a good read on. It wasn't because they had a stoic expression on their face, but it was because they were invisible. The only visible thing was the sailor uniform they were wearing letting him know they were a girl. Before she could catch him staring, Fumikage moved to the last open seat, which just so happens to be behind the invisible girl.
Fumikage silently breathed to calm his quickly beating heart. Since the test evaluator wasn't there yet, some of the students were doing some last-minute studying while others were silently praying. He considered doing the same thing until he felt someone poke his arm. It was the invisible girl.
"Hey, I'm kinda panicking right now! Is it ok if I talk with you for a little bit?" She asked and Fumikage silently sighed in relief. For a second he thought she was gonna call him a pervert for checking her out earlier. He nodded and even though he couldn't see her expression he could tell that she was grateful.
"Thank you! I didn't realize how stressful this exam would be until I got here. If I'm being honest, I'm not exactly the smartest or strongest person here," she revealed and Fumikage could relate to her about not being the smartest in the room. "I was planning on showing out during the practical exam but since my quirk isn't the flashiest or the strongest my chances of even making it into General Studies are low."
"Don't say stuff like that. You can't assume that you'll fail before you even reach the starting line," Fumikage told her and himself to an extent. Even though his friends' words did help a little, hearing someone say "don't give up", even if it came from himself, helped put his nerves at ease.
"Thanks, I needed that," she told him.
The test evaluator soon came into the room carrying the test papers. They slammed the papers on the table in the front before writing the rules on the whiteboard.
"Alright, I want to go over a few rules before we start," the evaluator said with a stern voice. "You will have two hours to complete the test. No bathroom breaks while the test is still out! I will give you a few minutes to go after I finish reading the rules. All cell phones and other electronic devices need to be placed on the evaluator's desk. You will get them back after everyone finishes the test. No talking while the test is out! Failure to follow any of these rules, points will be deducted from your final grade for the whole exam!"
Fumikage raised his eyebrows in shock. He didn't expect UA to be so strict with their rules but it made sense. If someone can't follow simple rules then how could anyone trust them to follow simple laws?
"And one more thing…" The evaluator said and slammed their hands on their table. Everyone felt tense as the evaluator stared them down. "If you are either caught or suspected of cheating you will automatically fail the entire exam and will be removed from school grounds!"
"Maybe it was a good idea that you don't have me feed you answers," Dark Shadow awkwardly chuckled in his head.
After the evaluator finished reading off the rules everyone placed their phones and other electronic devices on the evaluator's desk and some went to the bathroom. Fumikage returned to his desk and started to breathe slowly to calm his nerves.
'Dark Shadow, can you promise me not to distract me or do anything that can get us removed from UA?' Fumikage pleaded with his quirk. He didn't care if his quirk distracted him during any other test or quiz for the rest of his life, just as long as they didn't do anything to ruin his dream.
"Don't worry, it's not just your dream to become a hero," Dark Shadow told him and Fumikage felt a lot better about his chances.
Fumikage felt horrible after he left the classroom. As confident as he felt before he started the test, he didn't like his chances after reading the first question. The whole test was mostly filled with math, science, and literature questions with little to no questions about heroism. He should've assumed this because it didn't matter how many people tried to deny it, UA was still a high school. The saving grace throughout the whole test was that Dark Shadow kept its promise.
He met up with Tsu before the test evaluators filed into the auditorium. She told him how easy the test was as they waited in their seats. He just smiled and nodded in response because he didn't want to tell her that it almost took him the whole two hours to finish the test.
Soon, the lights dimmed, and a spotlight shined on the stage. A man dressed in black with long spiked blond hair took center stage. He was also wearing sunglasses and had a speaker around his neck. He is known as the Voice Hero: Present Mic.
"Hello, hero hopefuls! Can I get a HHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Present Mic was met with silence. He quickly cleared his throat before moving on. "Not the talkative bunch I see! Well, that's fine, I'll skip ahead and get to what you've been waiting for! Are you RRRRRREEEAAAAADDDDYYYY!?"
Still, no one made a sound, and Fumikage could see that the hero was both annoyed and disappointed. It was amplified when he could see Present Mic quietly mumbling to himself.
"As your application said, all of you will be conducting ten-minute mock battles in wicked urban settings!" The screen behind Present Mic changed to show different sections marked from A to G. "After I drop the mic here, you'll head to your specified battle center, sound good?"
He still didn't get a response because everyone was checking their exam ticket. Fumikage saw that he was going to Battle Center C while Tsu was going to Battle Center E.
"Guess we're going to separate places, ribbit," Tsu said, disappointedly. "And I was looking forward to working with you."
"Maybe that's why they separate everyone into different groups. To prevent classmates and friends from teaming up," Fumikage tried to reason. Even though it would've been nice to work with his friend, he was kinda glad to be separated from her. He wanted to see how far he and Dark Shadow had come.
The screen behind Present Mic changed again to show one of the mock cities and the silhouettes of three robots. "Let's move on to what you'll be facing. There are three types of faux villains in every battle center. You'll earn points based on their level of difficulty. Your goal is to gain a lot of points by defeating these faux villains. But, make sure to keep things clean and heroic. Attacking other examinees is a UA no-no and will result in instant disqualification and you will be removed from the premises."
"Excuse me, sir, I have a question," a tall, spectacled boy shot out of his seat with his hand raised.
"Hit me!"
"On the form, it says there are four types of villains. Not three. With all due respect, if this is an error on official UA materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students. We expect the best from Japan's most notable school. A mistake such as this won't do," the boy stated and Fumikage could hear Dark Shadow groan.
"I don't think anyone cares!"
"Thanks for calling in with your request, examinee 7111. The fourth villain type is worth zero points. There's one in every battle center. Treat them as an obstacle that you should avoid," Present Mic answered. "It's not that it can't be beaten, but there's no point in trying anyway. I recommend you all ignore it and focus on the one's worth anything."
"Thank you very much. Please continue," the boy said with a bow.
"If you think about it, this is kinda like a video game but in real life. You have the enemies that give you points while there are traps that try to mess up your score," Dark Shadow said while recalling all the times his host and Izuku would play video games.
"That's all I got for you today, but before I go I'll leave you with this. As General Napoleon Bonaparte once said, 'A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes.' You ready to go beyond? Let's hear a Plus Ultra!" Just like before, silence. "Good Luck!"
The lights dimmed and Present Mic stomped off the stage mumbling something like, "These kids have no energy." The lights turned on and the test evaluators started filing everyone out of the auditorium.
"Everyone, please go to the locker rooms and change into your fitness gear. After you change, you will be guided to your assigned bus that will take you to your battle center," the evaluators instructed them.
"I guess I'll see you when the exam is over. Good luck," Tsu said and Fumikage nodded.
"Same to you."
After changing and a long bus ride, they finally made it to their assigned battle center. Fumikage decided to wear black sweatpants and a black zip-up hoodie to help strengthen Dark Shadow. He stared in awe at the giant wall before him. He looked to his left and then his right and he couldn't see the ending.
"It appears that UA doesn't cut corners," Dark Shadow joked in his head and Fumikage had to agree with his quirk. If the school was willing to spend this much on entrance exams then who knows how much they spent on their actual students?
"Let's not worry ourselves with how much money UA burns annually. We should worry about who's going to be in there with us. It is a competition after all," Dark Shadow pointed out. Fumikage looked at the other students that surrounded him. He noticed that everyone in his test room was there with a few new faces as well. "They separated everyone to prevent people from working together, but they grouped together the people who took the test in the same room!? Isn't that a bit counterproductive?"
'We spent two hours silently taking a test with only a few minutes, in the beginning, to talk. I don't think that's enough time to build trust with someone, especially with a test like this,' Fumikage countered and he could feel Dark Shadow agreed with him.
Fumikage started to do some stretches to loosen up his body, so as to not cramp up during or after the exam. While he was stretching, his mind kept racing back to the test and thinking that it would cost him with his final score.
"Hey, stop thinking like that! You're not an idiot! You were never once in the bottom half of your class grades in Junior High! You don't have to worry about the written test anymore, worry about the test in front of you!" Dark Shadow told him. Fumikage wanted to argue but Dark Shadow wouldn't let him. "If you're that worried about the test then let me help you get a high enough score that UA will beg you to enroll in their school!"
Fumikage started to feel motivated after his quirk's words of encouragement. If he gets enough points on the practical exam then the written test becomes irrelevant. If he and Dark Shadow work as one then he'll have a great chance of making it in.
"GO!"
The word echoed throughout the air and the door on the giant wall opened. No one moved, surprised by the sudden cry.
"What are you waiting for? There are no countdowns in real life! Get moving!"
Not needing to be told twice, everyone booked it through the giant doors and into the faux city. Fumikage broke off from the pack after getting a good distance into the battle center. He wanted to make sure there would be robots left for him and not piles of scrap. Speaking of robots, he came up to three robots that he easily identified as two-pointers.
"Dark Shadow!" Fumikage cried out and the shadow quirk lunged at the robots and easily sliced through them like a hot knife through butter. Dark Shadow gave him a thumbs up before moving to find more robots.
He spotted four one-pointer robots surrounding a three-pointer. Not needing any orders, Dark Shadow lunged at the robots and defeated the one-pointers easily. The three-pointer was more of a challenge, with it shooting annoying rubber bullets, but after Dark Shadow removed the robot's weapon it was easy to beat. As this was happening, neither Fumikage nor Dark Shadow noticed the three-pointer coming behind them.
"Watch out!" Dark Shadow called out when he noticed the robot. Fumikage moved his arms to guard himself and withstand the robot's attack until Dark Shadow destroyed it. But, before the robot even launched a single attack it collapsed to the ground.
"Consider this me paying you back for earlier!" The two heard a voice yell out, but they couldn't find anyone around them. Not wanting to waste time looking for the person who saved him, the boy and his quirk moved on to find more robots.
And find more robots they did. Running through the faux city the two were able to defeat ten one-pointers, six two-pointers, and four three-pointers. They managed to even save some of the other test takers in the process.
Fumikage was currently leaning against one of the buildings catching his breath. Even though Dark Shadow is doing all the fighting, overly using his quirk drains a lot of his energy. He didn't know how much time was left in the test but he knew that it was coming to an end soon.
"We have forty-seven points, if we destroy one more three-pointer then I think we'll have enough to get in," Fumikage said after adding up all his points. He was still heavily panting and trying his best not to fall over.
"Are you feeling ok?" Dark Shadow asked in his head, concerned for his well-being.
"I'll feel great when we get the acceptance letter."
Fumikage pushed off the building but when he did he felt the ground shake. He then heard a loud boom and saw a cloud of dust shoot up in the air. He quickly spotted what caused the commotion. It was a giant robot that towered over the tallest skyscraper in the city.
"THE ZERO POINTER!!" Fumikage and Dark Shadow exclaimed.
The Zero-Pointer slowly rolled up the street they were in. Knowing that it was pointless to even try to fight the giant machine, Fumikage started to run away to find easier robots to defeat.
"HELP!"
Fumikage stopped dead in his tracks and looked back at the robot. He didn't see anyone, but something in his gut told him someone was in the robot's path. He surveyed the scene for anything unusual when he spotted some ruble move unnaturally.
"DARK SHADOW!"
Dark Shadow rocketed toward the ruble and threw the rocks away to find no one. Dark Shadow was confused until they felt someone brush against their arm. Without a second thought, Dark Shadow scooped up the invisible form and placed them into Fumikage's arms.
With the person in his arms, Fumikage started to run. He kept running, looking for safety, and never looking back. He felt the ground rumble, letting him know the robot was right on their tail but he never wavered. He kept his head forward, worrying about what was in front of him and not the hulking robot behind him.
He started to feel his legs give out underneath him, but he couldn't let it bother him. He knew that if he kept moving forward they would find safety. He saw someone signal him to follow them into an alleyway and not being in a position to argue he ran to the person.
But, as Fumikage ran to the alleyway he felt his legs quit on him. He hit the ground hard but he made sure to hold onto the invisible person. He saw the Zero-Pointer almost on them and he didn't know if he had enough energy to use Dark Shadow.
"Come on, I got this!" Dark Shadow argued.
'It's too big for you to destroy and I don't have enough energy for you to even make a dent in it!' Fumikage countered.
"Then do you have enough for me to get you two out of here or at least shield you?!"
Fumikage didn't answer. He might have enough energy for Dark Shadow to shield them but he didn't know how powerful it would be or how long it would hold. The robot blocked out the sun and covered them in darkness.
"DARK SHADO–!"
Before he could even give his order, Fumikage felt someone drag him into the alleyway. It was the boy with the messy purple hair from the test room.
"You ok?" He asked and Fumikage nodded.
"Yeah, just tired," Fumikage answered and sat against the wall. He soon remembered that there was someone in his arms. "Oh, I'm sorry!"
"It's fine," they said in a feminine voice. Fumikage recognized them as the girl who talked to him in the test room, while the purple-haired boy was surprised because he didn't know Fumikage was carrying someone. "Though, I'm kinda embarrassed."
"Why is that?"
"Because I'm… naked…" she said the last part softly. It took Fumikage a few seconds to process what she said until he became extremely flustered when he realized he was carrying a naked girl for the past few minutes. Fumikage's brain became a jumbled mess while he heard Dark Shadow laughing at him. "It's the only way for my quirk to be extremely effective!"
Fumikage absent-mindedly took off his hoodie and handed it to the girl. She graciously took it and quickly covered herself up. They sat in awkward silence, the girl not knowing what to say, and Fumikage trying to piece his brain back together. They stayed like that for a few minutes until they heard a siren go off.
"TIME'S UP!"
With the test over, Fumikage quickly got up and headed over to where he saw a group of test takers. He quickly joined the group and saw a medical team treating everyone's injuries. Since he was just tired and only had a few cuts, Fumikage chose to wait by the entrance.
"Do you think forty-seven is enough to get in?" Dark Shadow asked after calming down from their laughing fit.
'I don't know. We just have to hope and pray that good fortune comes our way,' Fumikage answered. He wished that he had more points, but he doesn't regret saving that girl.
"Yeah, I bet you loved holding her in your arms," Dark Shadow teased.
'Shut it!'
