Author's note: Really glad people seem to be enjoying this, I've enjoyed writing it, and I aim to continue it and possibly start some other stories in the future. I want to finish "season 1" per se of this before I tackle any other story. If you've got any suggestions of stories you like for me to attempt, please leave a review or a direct message. I can't guarantee I will pick it or even do it, but I'll take them into consideration.
Anyway, I rambled long enough. On to what-iffery!
Izuku had teleported back home quickly so he could get a decent shower in, after all, he couldn't show up to his entrance exam smelling like a garbage dump. He also ate a good breakfast which Inko had made especially hearty for her son's big day.
"You got everything you need sweety? Your tracksuit? Your pencils? A spare pair of underwear?" Inko asked as she followed Izuku to the door.
"Mom!" Izuku said as he slipped on his shoes. "I'll be fine. I got everything." He said, taking a deep breath. He was still very nervous, but he had to do like All Might did, plastering a smile across his face as he looked to his mother.
"I've trained long and hard these past 10 months for this. Today's the day I go in there and show the world what I can do! I'll be a great hero, just like dad, and just like All Might!" He said, trying to sike himself up more than anything, but he could still feel his knees shaking. Thankfully his talk earlier with Mr. Satou really inspired him to give everything he had.
Inko Midoriya sniffled a bit then let out a flood of waterworks. Honestly, it was a wonder that this wasn't her Quirk, the ability to cry a literal river. "I'm so proud of you baby! Go ace your exams!"
Izuku smiled and, well, did his best not to do the same. He gave his mother one last hug then ran out the door toward his future… and he really had to book it to make it. Unfortunately, he couldn't risk teleporting. He didn't know the area around U.A all too well and with how many people would be around, well, aside from it technically being illegal to use his power without a license he also didn't want to risk accidentally teleporting halfway inside of a building or another person. That was certainly the wrong way to start off his hero career.
After the long train ride over he ran from the station and followed the map on his phone to make it to U.A, stopping at the gate to take several deep, hard breaths to calm himself as he looked at it. "I made it in time…"
He marveled at the sight, even just being here sent a deep shiver down his spine as he looked at it. This was the school of heroes, great heroes like Endeavor, Best Jeanist, even All Might himself. If Izuku was going to be a great hero and show the world how helpful he could be, it was going to be here.
"Move aside, lizard boy!" He heard behind him. That voice was all too familiar. Izuku turned to see Bakugo walking toward him. Ever since Izuku began taking his training seriously, he noticed Bakugo stopped messing with him as much. While Izuku would love to attribute that to Bakugo having a newfound respect for his dedication… in reality he knew it was because Bakugo had also been putting himself through rigorous training for this event. It wasn't that Bakugo didn't want to pick at him, he just had more important stuff to do.
"Oh, h-hello Kacchan…" Izuku muttered as Bakugo kept walking.
"Get out of my way or you're dead!" Bakugo yelled, Izuku instinctively moving back as Bakugo walked past.
"G-Good morning to you too, K-Kacchan. Let's both do our best out there…" Izuku said, soon seeing Bakugo stop a little past him but not looking back at him. "Yeah… Let's both do our best…" Bakugo said, bringing a hand up and letting a small series of explosions escape his fist before he closed it tightly. "That way, when I crush you, it'll be extra humiliating for you…"
Izuku gulped. "How inspiring…" He muttered as Bakugo pocketed his hand and kept walking. He noticed that Bakugo seemed extra intense since Izuku began training seriously.. but again, that was probably due to Bakugo's own training.
Izuku shook his head then slapped his cheeks. "No, no, get your head in the game Izuku. This is it. This is the big day. All that training, all that hard work, it all pays off here!" Boldly Izuku took a step forward, only for his foot to slip out from under him due to a sizeable, little rock that had found its way under his foot, causing the green haired youth to fall straight downward.
"Well, this is happening…" Izuku thought to himself. Using his powers, Izuku teleported just a few feet from where he had stood, having rotated himself in mid-teleportation jump so that he would be upright on his feet, walking like nothing had even happened back there. He had gotten pretty good at that. During his training, Izuku had found that he could orient himself however he liked when he came out of one of his teleportation jumps. He still kept his initial momentum but having that ability could prove to be extremely useful, like for instance, allowing him to not bust his face on the sidewalk moments before his big day.
It was then that Izuku heard a loud yelp behind him where he had been a moment ago. Izuku froze. "Oh crap…" He muttered to himself. "Someone saw that…" He thought, stiffening up. Would they disqualify him for using his Quirk like that? Could he see jail time? Was he worrying too much? Bakugo did just make explosions with his hand to mock him, surely saving himself from falling face first was an acceptable use of his Quirk.
Nervously, Izuku slowly turned to see who had spotted him. He saw a brown haired, pink cheeked girl looking around quickly before her eyes locked onto Izuku with a surprised expression, which turned into a sort of awestruck wonder as she walked over.
"Oh wow! I can't believe that! You just teleported!" The girl said enthusiastically as she looked at Izuku up and down. "I saw you trip back there and I was gonna use my power to save you from falling face first onto the ground but then you suddenly vanished into a puff of blue smoke! I thought my heart was going to explode after that I was so nervous! You just vanished! I've never even seen a teleportation Quirk, let alone have someone use it in front of me! That's so cool!"
Izuku found himself looking at basically everything aside from the enthusiastic girl in front of him as she spoke, his face a deep crimson as he could only let out slightly nervous laughs.
"Well, anyway, I'm glad you're okay and didn't just disappear. This is all nerve-wracking enough without seeing people vanish." The girl took a few steps away then waved. "Well, good luck to us both, see ya!" The girl went on ahead as Izuku just laughed some and looked around, much to the confusion of the people passing.
"W-Wow… I-I… I just talked to a girl!" Izuku thought to himself triumphantly as he stood in place.
Author's note: He didn't actually talk.
Izuku then snapped back to reality as he realized he'd be late if he didn't hurry, picking up pace to get to the written portion of the exam.
Thankfully, Izuku had worked in quite a good bit of studying along with training his body so he felt confident in himself that he'd done really well on the written portion of his test… but of course there was still one more trial for Izuku to overcome: The practical portion.
Izuku found his way into the auditorium where row after row of seats had been set up, finding his way to his assigned seat only to see Bakugo there in the spot beside him.
"O-Oh, hey Kacchan. H-How did the written part go for you? I think I did pretty good on…" He was interrupted then by Bakugo. "Shut up and sit down before I kill you." He said angrily as he sat with his hand under his chin, looking down at the stage.
Izuku gulped nervously then sat down, pulling the chair up and waiting as well, looking over the card that told him his testing arena… though first, he had to learn what the test was.
It was then that the lights dimmed, only for some spotlights to shine on the center stage as Present Mic beamed brightly at the crowd of, frankly tired and unamused, faces. Well, one was amused.
Izuku gasped deeply and looked at the stage. "Oh my god, it's Present Mic!" He fanboyed silently. "I listen to his podcast and radio show all the time, he's so cool!"
"Welcome to today's live performance!" Present Mic yelled out as he cupped a hand to his hear. "Everybody say "hey"!" He yelled out and waited… though he found no response.
"Keeping it mellow, huh? I can dig it! Now, let's present the details about your practical! Are you ready!?" He yelled out, but again finding only silence from the crowd.
"It's so cool to see him. All the U.A teachers are pro-heroes. U.A is amazing!" He said quietly as Bakugo frowned and stared forward. "Maybe he'll sign your cast after I throw you down the stairs… Now shut up." Bakugo said angrily as they looked forward to see Present Mic explaining, showing several different arenas that they'd have various groups testing in.
"This will be how the test will go down, loyal listeners! You'll all have 10 minutes to get through this mock cityscape maneuver challenge! Bring along whatever you'd like, because after this presentation, you'll all be heading to your assigned testing location!"
Bakugo looked at his own paper then glanced at Izuku's. "I see…" He said as Izuku looked at him. "This must be so people from the same middle school can't help each other on the exam." He noted, Izuku glancing at Bakugo's paper. "Hey, you're right. Our numbers are consecutive but we're assigned to different testing sights." Izuku stated, Bakugo frowning. "Get your eyes off my paper or I'll tear them out.." He stated coldly as they looked forward to see three images displayed on the screen.
Present Mic continued his presentation in full stride. "Each site is filled with three kinds of faux villains. Points are awarded for defeating them, but hold up cats, because these three different faux villains each have different point values. The one-pointers are weak but plentiful, they're also pretty fast. Then we got the two pointers, which are stronger than the one-pointers but a bit slower, then finally we got the three-pointers, the strongest point-giving bots in the exam. They're both fast and strong, so think carefully before taking those guys on. Make sure to use your Quirks to disable these faux villains and earn those points faithful listeners! Naturally, playing the anti-hero is against the rules. Attacking other examinees is prohibited!"
It was then that a boy suddenly stood up. "Excuse me, may I ask a question?!" He said, though it sounded more like a demand.
Present Mic smiled then pointed up at the standing boy, a spotlight shining on him. "Hit me!" Present Mic called out as the boy spoke. "There are no fewer than four faux villains listened on the printout here! Such a blatant mistake, if it is one, is highly unbecoming of the number one hero school in all of Japan. We're all here to be molded into model heroes! Mistakes such as this are a stain on U.A's reputation."
The glasses wearing young man then turned and look back toward Izuku. "And you, with the unkempt hair!" Izuku blinked then pointed to himself sheepishly. "M-Me?" The glasses wearing boy glared. "Yes, you! You've been muttering to yourself this whole time, it's highly distracting! If this is all some sort of game to you, then please leave immediately!"
Izuku sat further back in his chair, covering his mouth with his hands. "Sorry…" He said quietly as Present Mic tried to reel the audience back in. "Alright, alright! Examinee 7111! Thanks for calling in with your request! But the fourth faux villain is actually more like an obstacle we'll be throwing your way as that faux villain awards zero points. That isn't to say it can't be beat, but rather that there isn't a point. I'd recommend all my loyal listeners avoid it and focus on the other ones!"
"I see, sorry for the interruption. Please, continue!" Said the blue-haired boy as he sat back down.
"Wow, it's kind of like a video game huh.." One of the random examinees said to the other silently as Present Mic wrapped up.
"That's all from me, folks! I'll leave all you listeners with a little taste of our school motto. Napoleon Bonaparte once said… "True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life." So go beyond, PLUS ULTRA!" Present Mic called out loudly to the crowd. "Go break a leg out there!" He called out as everybody began to get up and head to their assigned buses, getting taken to their exam locations.
After a quick change into his dark blue track suit and a bus ride over to his exam location, Izuku was silently planning to himself. "Hmm, my teleportation is gonna let me cover a lot of ground really fast, however, fighting robots is gonna prove to be rather difficult since my power doesn't let me break through their outer shell. I'll have to focus on weaker ones and aim for the weak spots… well, unless I went to break my hands on their steel plates…" He said to himself, taking a deep breath and thinking.
"The heroes will probably be watching, they have to be, so I've got to show off what I can do…" He said, his hand moving to his watch briefly and looking at it. He sighed a bit. "Okay, maybe not everything…" He muttered. Not like turning blue would help much since they'd be fighting in the streets most of the time. Not many shadows he could hide in out there and his tail could barely scratch others let alone take out a robot.
He then had an idea of something he could do, it would be really helpful to have during the exam. After they pulled up at the site and filed out, Izuku sat on the stairs of the bus and began pulling his shoes and socks off, letting his bare feet touch the pavement. Thankfully his feet were naturally pretty tough so he didn't mind the hard pavement so much… still though, going against robots he could guess there was gonna be bits of metal and probably glass around that would make walking around a bit difficult without shoes. He reached over into his bag and pulled out some thick gauze from his bag.
"Excuse me, but what are you doing?" Came a voice that sounded far too familiar to him. Izuku looked up to see the blue haired youth with the glasses standing in front of him. The same one that interrupted Present Mic and called Izuku out in front of the others. "Hoping to just kick back and take it easy today, huh? I'll have you know that this is a crucial moment in all of our lives toward becoming heroes and such flagrant disrespect for this establishment is highly unbecoming of an applicant. It's a shame!"
Izuku blinked a bit at his words then stood up. "No, no, you got it all wrong…" He said as he walked to the side of the bus. Izuku then put his hands on the bus, having handed the gauze briefly to the young man as he climbed up and clung to the side, climbing up halfway and remaining seated on the side. The blue haired young man seemed slightly shocked to see this messy haired youth just sticking to the side of the bus like it was nothing.
"You see, while not my power, my body does allow me to stick to surfaces, provided they aren't wet or too slippery. However, to do that my hands and feet need to be bare. I believe the doctor said they were micro-suction discs. That's why I took my shoes off. While I can climb a building with just my hands… it isn't quite as easy if I don't have my feet sticking to it…" He then jumped down, actually performing a flip as he landed on his feet and took the gauze back, sitting on the stairs of the bus and wrapping the gauze over the large part of his right foot, leaving the toes and part of the front exposed, as well as his heel, he also wrapped it around his ankle for support. It would allow him to stick as needed on the bits that were exposed, not as greatly as if his hands and feet were bare but they would provide enough support and protection to do the job.
"However, since we're going into a city with robots that'll get destroyed, I wanted at least a little protection from all the glass and metal. Plus, a little extra support to keep me from busting my wrist on a robot couldn't hurt." Izuku said as he then looked up to see the young man bowing in front of him.
Izuku blinked a bit as he absentmindedly wrapped his other foot. "U-Umm, what are you doing?" Izuku asked before the young man spoke. "I humbly apologize for making such a rash assumption. I had presumed given your disheveled appearance and constant muttering that you were not taking this seriously. Clearly, I was wrong. You are taking this very seriously to take into consideration such things and are clearly planning to give it your all. Rest assured, I will not be slacking in my attempt either, as I also intend to give it everything I've got. I am sorry to have disturbed you while you were preparing."
Izuku had also wrapped his hands up a bit, supporting his knuckles and wrist but keeping his fingers and thumb bare so he could still use them to climb. Honestly, like this he seemed more like a kickboxer than a hero in training. He had listened to this guy and thought… well he's kind of intense, but deeply passionate about this. Izuku only nodded. "Yeah, everything we've got.." He said, though in reality Izuku knew he technically wasn't doing that.
They all lined up at the starting gate, ready to be let in to start their mock city training maneuvers.
"And… begin!" They heard the voice of Present Mic call out, much to their confusion. "What's wrong, cats? The test has already started! You think real battles have a countdown? Go, go, go! The die has been cast! Will you smile upon the natural 20 of fortune or the disheartening 1 of failure?! Only your hard work will decide here!"
Izuku saw all the others book it into the city. Although he was in the back he knew he could get in the front very easily. Izuku naturally had a very good vertical jump, jumping up high to look over the heads of the others and teleporting further into the city ahead of the pack. This caused some of the others to gasp in surprise as they saw the boy suddenly appear several feet ahead of them.
"Alright, I'm ahead of the pack. Now I just gotta find some…" It was then that a three-pointer came barreling down the street toward him. "Oh crap!" He yelled out as the creature came at him, teleporting higher up and clinging to the side of a building using his fingertips and toes, seeing the three-pointer wildly look around. It was then that the blue-haired boy from earlier came barreling in at super speed and slamming his foot into it, destroying the robot with ease.
"Well, I guess he isn't concerned with breaking his leg on them. Then again his body is probably us to fighting so roughly like that. Super speed and the durability to handle it can make for an awesome combination and… oh crap, stop analyzing, start destroying robots!" He thought to himself, looking up and teleporting onto a roof.
"Sorry for the intrusion!" He told a six-armed boy at the top as he ran past, much to the boy's confusion as Izuku looked over the side and spotted a group of three one-pointers heading toward the group of examinees. "There! Those I can destroy!"
Izuku had kept the momentum from his run, suddenly jumping off the building and teleporting, surprising the six-armed boy before Izuku suddenly reappeared in a puff of blue smoke, having thrown a kick with his full momentum at the head of the first one-pointer, knocking its head clean off before the other two could even turn. Izuku vanished before they could even process what action to take. He appeared a bit further away and got another running start, reappearing to do the same to the next robot, managing to pry a bit of metal off the top of it to use as either a shield or weapon if he needed. Izuku vanished once more then reappeared just above the one-pointer, driving the metal plate down into its neck and cutting the head clean off. The pack was destroyed, and Izuku had… three points!
"Crap, gotta kick it into high gear!" He told himself as he teleported up to a roof to look around. Over the next several minutes, the examinees and staff alike would see this boy in the blue track suit vanish only to reappear somewhere else, taking down the one and two-point robots with ease but with a bit of difficulty in the case of the two-pointer, the metal around their necks was ever so slightly thicker and Izuku had to whack it more than once to get the head to come off.
"Teleportation, huh?" Said a voice in a shadowy room. "Quite intriguing, and very rare. He is making good use of his ability. He covers a lot of ground, and targets bots he knows he can take down, sacrificing the big kill for smaller wins in greater numbers."
A skeletal man sat watching the exam with a hand on his chin. "Hmm… I know that young man…" A smaller… thing looked to the skeletal man. "Oh? How interesting. I didn't know you'd met a young man with a Quirk such as that." The skeletal man stiffened a bit. "Well, I only met him once… and honestly I had no idea his Quirk WAS teleportation… He told me it was amazing and could be useful… but he had reservations about his appearance and what others may think.."
"Looks pretty plain to me.." Said a woman as she watched. "It's the watch, the boy's actual appearance is much different." The skeletal man added. The smaller… creature ruffled through some papers. "Hmm… ah, an image-inducing watch. That's a pretty advanced piece of technology." A man that resembled a concrete block then spoke up after the creature. "Not to mention expensive." The creature nodded. "It appears so. If this report in his medical history is correct, it appears he did not always have such an appearance, but rather it was the result of a dormant Quirk suddenly activating. Such a shock may be part of the reason he feels he needs to hide said appearance from others, for fear it may shock them as well." The creature added as the woman spoke. "Well, we don't have to tell you or Cementoss that people can be cruel as well." The creature spoke afterwards. "That you don't, Midnight, that you don't."
Izuku panted a bit and sat on a flagpole overlooking the carnage, holding his side and sweating a bit. He'd done a lot of jumps and put in a lot of hard work in taking down packs of roaming one-pointers and two-pointers. If his count was right… he only had 32 points. Was that enough though? He didn't believe so. Down below he overheard the boy from earlier say something about having 45 points already. His Quirk made him fast and versatile, but it just didn't have the destructive force that others had. He'd trained his body strength, and it was paying off for him, but he couldn't shoot a laser like that blonde boy who spoke French or the blue-haired boy with the destructive kick.
"Now, time to shake things up a bit.." The small creature said as it pushed a large red button.
Izuku had teleported to the ground to look for more bots after his side had stopped hurting but soon felt the ground begin to shake. "An earthquake?" He said, wondering if an actual natural disaster was about to strike during their exam. He pondered to himself if they'd get an excuse from that but he knew better than to think about it seriously.
It was then that the hand of the large zero-point robot sunk into a large building nearby, causing the other applicants to start running as the giant head loomed over them and peered at the group of students all running. "Holy crap! That thing is way too big!" Izuku said as the others rushed past him, the blue haired boy from earlier ran past him and looked at Izuku's shocked expression before rushing onward.
"A person's true colors are revealed when they're faced with actual danger." The skeletal man said as he watched the screen. "While the robot awards zero points, they do afford you opportunity, to show what you're really made of."
"This is bad!" Izuku said as he teleported up onto a roof nearby. "Got to get out of there, but I also need to find more bots to destroy." He said to himself, looking past it. "Maybe if I go deeper in the city past the giant 0-pointer…" He muttered… before going silent as he heard a faint "Ow.." that came down from the street below.
He looked to find that girl from earlier trapped under some rubble, her leg stuck there it seemed, and with the large hand of the zero-pointer soon bearing down toward her. Izuku had no hesitation, his body moved before he even thought of a plan for it.
The pink-cheeked girl had closed her eyes, it was hard not to feel like she was going to die here from this giant robot. Would U.A really kill examinees? She had hoped not but that giant zero-pointer didn't exactly fill her with hope. She braced herself for the worst… only to feel the weight moved from her leg and getting suddenly grabbed, feeling like she'd briefly flown through the air as someone carried her bridal style to safety.
To the other examinees, in particular to the blue-haired boy, he had turned and watched as the boy in the dark blue track suit had suddenly teleported in to move the rubble from her legs and quickly vanished just before the hand of the giant zero-pointer came down on where they were.
There were soon gasps from the people at the front of the crowd as they saw the messy, green haired boy from earlier suddenly appear near the circle of buses ahead of all of them, head tilted down slightly as his messy green hair covered his eyes, blown wildly by the air as he looked at the girl he held.
Slowly the pink-cheeked girl opened her eyes to see the freckled, green haired boy from earlier that day. No giant robot monster was in sight, in fact they were far away, just near the buses that had brought them here. She also saw that the boy smiled widely at her. "It's okay, you're safe now."