I do not own Kamen Rider Build or My Hero Academia.

My Kamen Rider Academia 2

Hatsume Residence

Joseph yawned as he sat up from the cot he had been given since he had been kidnapped away from the hospital after his 'arrest'. True to her word, Mei dragged him kicking and screaming back to her place before she dumped him into her actual room and dragged out a cot for him to use and sleep on while he stayed with them.

Normally it might be considered lewd or scandalous for a young man and a young woman to share a room when they were barely acquaintances. However, the people of the Hatsume residence were wired a little differently in the head.

Firstly, Mei's room was in fact a basement lab filled with manufacturing tools and inventions all over the place. Hardly the kind of place a girl wanting to keep a boyfriend with her wanted for romantic intentions. The girl barely slept in her own bed, often falling asleep at her workbench or grabbing a nearby cot of her own when she got tired.

Secondly were Mei's parents. Her mother, an engineer herself, didn't see anything wrong with lending a friend a bed if they needed it, even if that person was of the opposite gender who they just met. The Hatsume matriarch seemed happier than Mei got out of the house and made a friend. Her father was constantly holed up, working on theoretical work for...something. Half of what he said never made sense to Joseph, although he seemed like his wife, happy that Mei actually left the house outside of school and made a new friend. Any parental reservation the two of them may have had likely vanished when Mei told them about Nebula Gas and his armor. THAT managed to get them all excited and welcomed Joseph in with open arms.

Mei had been ravenous, putting the Build Driver through every kind of test she could think of. Somehow, she managed to take the thing apart in minutes, study the pieces, and put it back together again without any damage and it worked just fine afterwards. She had four notebooks with ideas, observations, blueprints, and theories and was working through her fifth one when he last saw her working.

Navigating the maze of inventions and tool boxes, he found his box of old clothes. Donated by Mei's father, which was good since Joseph didn't have any clothes of his own. He slept in his jeans, so only pulled out an old All-Might t-shirt and pulled it on.

Dressed enough for breakfast, he headed for what he called 'The Deep End' of the lab where Mei's inventions got bigger and the clutter got worse since she had so many projects on the go. Navigating the machines, he found Mei right where he left her the previous night. She was slumped over the desk, asleep, but to his mortification, she was only wearing her tank top and panties.

"Well, she at least tried to get ready for bed," Joseph sighed running a hand down his face.

Mei, as he discovered early on, really didn't get the concept of personal space. He learned that fast when she constantly ran her hands over his body when he transformed around her, wanting to try and get a feel for the armor and what it was made of and how the Nebula Gas was distributed. She stripped constantly, wearing her jumpsuit with little underneath because of the heat when she worked with something hot, and them removed the top half when she didn't need it.

Joseph could admit Mei was a pretty girl with a developed body, but she didn't seem to know that and she really didn't understand the concepts of propriety between opposing genders. It was worse when she forgot what outfits she was wearing and got excited.

"Mei-chan, time to wake up," Joseph sighed, gently shaking the pinkette's shoulder. "Come on, time to get something to eat."

"Mmmmnn," Mei grumbled. She turned her head to the side and cracked a bleary eye open, "Mmnnn...morning JJ-kun. Fuwah. What time is it?"

"A bit past nine. Come on, let's get you some breakfast and you can get back to work."

Mei only replied with a second yawn before replying, "Sure. Still have to recalibrate some of the fuses in our baby."

"Gck," Joseph groaned. Another thing about Mei was that she absolutely loved all of her inventions, fails and successes. She referred to them all as her babies, often speaking about them as if they were babies. Since they were working together on one project, she constantly referred to it as 'their' baby, earning a lot of shocked looks from passerby when she bragged about it in public.

They were working on building a machine that would convert the Smash essence Joseph had collected into purified FullBottles. Mei had leaped at the chance, wanting to build machines using Nebula Gas herself and purifying the Smash Essence was a great way to start. Her enthusiasm was rather infectious, helping Joseph see that Mei, while blunt and perhaps lacking some common sense, was actually a very nice person.

What did scare him though, was that the blueprints from Sento Kiryuu's purifier had appeared in his mind whenever he thought of putting together something. He sketched out the first blueprint as if he knew it by heart even though he never drew a blueprint in his life.

Mei didn't notice that as she took the idea and ran with it. It took over a week of fabrication, another for construction, three explosions, seven blown fuses, a blackout which affected the block, and emptied the Smash Essence he got from the Needle Smash, but they managed to build a working Nebula Gas Purifier. It wasn't pretty, but Mei was determined to perfect 'their' baby no matter what. After breakfast, they were going to have their first real test of the thing would work as Joseph needed it to.

One bagel, and massive pout when Joseph made Mei sit back down to eat a proper breakfast later, the pair were in front of the bookcase-sized machine which would, with luck, purify Smash Essence into usable FullBottles for Build.

"Alright, let's test our baby out!" Mei grinned, thankfully wearing pants again.

The machine itself wasn't pretty. In fact, one might call it an eyesore. It had all sorts of panels mismatched all over to help encase the multiple filters which passed through it. Cables connected to the multiple generators which were set up to keep the thing from knocking out the power. The front had a cannibalized microwave where the FullBottle would go in. Something about microwaves able to reshape the FullBottle into a functional form.

"Okay JJ-kun! Insert FullBottle!" Mei grinned.

"Okay," Joseph gulped. Approaching the machine (which he still was wary of exploding), he opened the microwave portion and placed the Smash Essence inside before shutting it again. He then scrambled over to the blast shielding Mei set up while she was at the console. "FullBottle in!"

"Okay! Activating!" Mei grinned, pressing the big red button on the console.

The machine roared to life, making Joseph duck behind the protections in case it exploded again. A rainbow of colors came through it and sparks flew from the wire connections. Mei's maniacal laughter as she watched the machine work did not inspire any confidence from Joseph about things going well.

*DING!*

Then just like that, it was over. The colors, sparks, and laughter came to an end. Only some smoke from parts of the machine remained.

"Did it work?" asked Joseph.

"Well, we'll have to re-check the connections. I smell the smoke," Mei pondered. "We might have to see how the power was doing if it burned some spots. May have burned out some circuits on that. I'll have to do a diagnostic."

Joseph sighed, "Right, I'll just check on the FullBottle then." Gingerly stepping into the open, he approached the purifying machine and gingerly opened the microwave portion.

The item inside was not the same as it was before the process, which was good. Even better, it wasn't a melted lump of plasting with Smash Essence leaking out of it. Instead, he got the sight of a FullBottle like his Rabbit and Tank. This one had the scowling image of an ape of some kind with a brown filling inside.

"Hey, we got a Gorilla FullBottle!" Joseph laughed, taking out the item. "The purifier worked!"

" Ah-hah! Great, now whip out the belt and put the bottle in! Let's see if it works!" Mei grinned like a kid on christmas. "Important gear used in the field has to be tested thoroughly!"

Joseph nodded and walked to the open space he cleared for transformation tests. He had insisted on it after he learned that Nebula Gas, even from a Smash, had caused sickness in others. His gas may have been purified, but he didn't want to risk Mei's health with their rests. The space was well ventilated just for that kind of testing.

"Here goes," Joseph braced himself as he strapped his Driver on. Shaking the FullBottles, he twisted the tops before inserting them into the Driver.

"Gorilla! Tank!"

"Hm? No 'Best Match' this time?" asked Mei, scribbling in her notebook.

"I figure only certain pairs of FullBottles work best together," Joseph shrugged as the Snap Rider Builder rose up, filling up with Nebula Gas. The front Halfbody filled with brown gas, forming a new portion of armor.

"Are You Ready?"

"Henshin!"

Wordlessly, the two Halfbodies came together, donning Build in his new armor. The Tank portion remained the same, but where Rabbit had been, now a brown set stood. It had a silver plate like a pectoral muscle on the chest. The eyepiece was brown, shaped like a gorilla head with a raised fist acting as an antennae. His right arm was covered with a solid metal gauntlet shaped like a solid fist.

"Oooh! Good job!" Mei laughed, jogging up to Build before running her hands across the Gorilla Halfbody. Joseph flinched, again as Mei entered his personal space, but knew her mind was focused on his armor. "Hmm, this portion seems thicker than your Tank Halfbody. Likely meant to take more punishment. The fist portion may be able to deal extra damage."

"So an abiotic FullBottle representing something hard may be the best match for this one," Joseph pondered.

"Hard..." Mei pondered. "Maybe the next Smash we encounter will provide us with the essence to make a Best Match."

Undoing the transformation, Joseph said, "Well, we're going to need a way to track Smash. If only we got some kind of Nebula Gas tracker."

"Already got one!" Mei grinned. "It's how I found you. With all the Nebula Gas you give off, I can make it way more sensitive so we can track from a farther radius! We may even track the guys making the Smash in the first place!"

"Really? Can you try it now?" Joseph asked with hope.

"Sure!" Mei nodded, starting to fiddle with the machine. She always loved the chance to show off her invention, especially in front of potential sponsors. As she fiddled with the machine, she spoke, "Say, I got this feeling we're forgetting something. Are we forgetting something?"

"Um, I'm not sure," Joseph frowned. "We tested the machine, had breakfast. Study later tonight, I guess I can check the calendar upstairs".

"Kids! Are you both ready to leave for your entrance exam?"

Mei and Joseph blinked and looked to each other. For a moment, they blinked, but then paled in horror, "AAHHHHHHHHH! THE EXAMS!"

Their U.A. entrance exam was today!

(LINE BREAK)

It was a mad dash, both Mei and Joseph struggling to get ready for the exams. They completely forgot themselves in the mad dash for getting ready, stripping in front of each other as they got their nicer clothes on and battled to get cleaned up in the bathroom. Both struggled to collect review notes for the ride there, but they lost half of them in the mad dash and had to sit next to each other to check each other's notes.

Joseph took deep breaths as he calmed down. If he did not stop panicking then the written portion of the exam was going to be a huge mess.

He and Mei had reviewed the material whenever they weren't working on the FullBottle Purifier. The subjects were pretty much the same. Only recent history changed from what he knew after Quirks began to appear, and biology changed to quiz on how certain kinds of Quirks could change the body. In fact, some of them rewrote the laws of biology in some cases.

It didn't mean he wasn't nervous. This was a school for superheroes after all.

The building itself was massive, looking like a giant massive H made of steel and glass while a ridiculously thick wall and iron doors guarded the entrance. Various young men and women were walking inside in various school uniforms along with various body shapes and visible Quirks.

"Holy…" Joseph gaped.

"I know!" Mei visibly trembled in excitement. "Let's go!"

Entering the school property, the pair followed signs and some attendants to where they could submit their exam paperwork so they could be counted among the attendants. Many of the students were milling about, talking about things. Some were quiet, silently preparing themselves. Others were in groups, trading notes for the written exam. Joseph also noticed that there were groups not taking it seriously, talking about what they were going to do as Pro Heroes as if they already passed the exam.

"Heeeey! Mei-chan! You actually came out!"

Mei and Joseph turned to see another girl, one wearing a school uniform which matched Mei's. She seemed like an average girl, although knowing Quirks, she may have had a potent power of her own.

"Ah, hey...uh...friend!" Mei smiled.

"Natsume!" the girl laughed, as if she was used to Mei forgetting her name. "So you made it. A few of us thought you were going to forget about the exam over one of your crazy inventions."

"She almost did," Joseph deadpanned. "Not that I can toss stones at that."

"Sounds like Mei-chan," Natsumi laughed. "Ah, are you a friend of Mei-chan's?"

Mei grinned proudly and pointed to Joseph, "This is JJ-kun! He's my Build-Up Boyfriend! We've already made our first baby!"

"PFFT!" Joseph choked on his own tongue from the shock. Build-Up Boyfriend!? Where the hell did she get that idea?!

"B-B-Boyfriend?! A baby?!" Natsumi gasped, scandalized yet eager to her gossip. "Mei-chan when did you get so advanced?!"

"It's not like that!" Joseph denied. "We worked together on an invention! An invention!"

"Oh, and he's living in my house with me too!" Mei confessed.

"A common law relationship?!" Natsumi gasped, almost gushing at the scandalous gossip. "Mei-chan, you've got to give me all the details!"

"Sure! The story's awesome!" Mei laughed as she and Natsumi walked for another group of girls.

"H-hey, don't tell her weird stories!" Joseph cried out, but in typical girl fashion, when the chance for gossip came up, they stopped listening. "Aw man… she's going to embarass me to death at this rate."

Joseph looked around, deciding to look for a vending machine or a spot he could sit down and review his notes before the exams. He didn't know the format so he wanted a chance to review one last time. As he turned to move, a blonde with an angry expression on his face bumped into him as he passed.

"Watch it!" he snapped as went on his way.

Joseph rubbed his shoulder as he muttered, "Asshole."

"You'll run into those types around here," a new voice spoke. This time it came from another young man with raised purple hair and a sleepy look in his eyes. "Cocky guys who have big and flashy Quirks thinking it makes them great."

"I know the type," Joseph huffed, looking at the blond's back. He shook his head and looked to his fellow examinee, "I'm Joseph Josuke."

"Hitoshi Shinso," the other student nodded. "Sure you want to talk to me? I have a reputation for a scary Quirk. Not like the heroic types here."

"Bah, a Quirk is only bad if people use it for that," Joseph chuckled. Hitoshi's eyes widened at the blunt statement "You want to be a hero, use it to be a hero. Who cares if it has a scary look."

"I can brainwash people who talk to me," Hitoshi bluntly retorted.

"Oh," Joseph blinked. He shrugged, "Well, that is kind of scary, but if you were going to do bad stuff with it, I don't think you'd have gotten this far."

Again, Hitoshi had to blink. Finally, he just shrugged, "Ah well. Thanks for the honest words. It's refreshing to know someone doesn't immediately think I'm a villain when I reveal my Quirk."

"No worries,"Joseph smiled. "Good luck to the both of us huh?"

"Would all examinees please enter the auditorium in room 101 please? Would all examinees please enter auditorium 101."

"That's our cue," Hitoshi nodded. "...good luck to you too."

"Thanks!"

(LINE BREAK)

The meeting in the auditorium was a briefing of the practical exam. There were five mock cities, actual cities, on the UA campus where the examinee groups would go to take the exam. It was seeded with mock villains, each of them in four types with different abilities and worth different point values. The goal of the test was to smash the robot villains and collect points based on what kind of villains were beaten. They came in values of one, two, and three points.

The final type of villain came at 0 points. It was in fact a hazard to the examinees since fighting it would forfeit any points the examinees had collected up until that point. Joseph figured it was supposed to test tactical knowledge of how to retreat when circumstances forced it.

After the speaker, a supposedly famous Pro Hero named President Mic, dismissed them, the examinees were given numbers and ushered to a corresponding bus which drove them out to the examination site.

"Oh...my...god!" Joseph gaped.

The simulation city the test would take place in...was an actual city! It actually looked like a real city past the gates which controlled the entry into them! The cities looked so authentic, Joseph would have believed it if someone told him that the school just cut entire swaths of the city out and moved them.

Stunned by the sight of the city for a moment, Joseph had to physically shake his head to get his senses back. Realizing he was at the cusp of the exam, he decided to quickly get his armor on. Retrieving his Build Driver, he strapped it on while the other students moved to a temporary change room to change it more appropriate clothes.

"Rabbit! Tank! Best Match!

"Are You Ready?"

"Henshin!"

"Hagane no Moonsault! RabbiTank! Yeah!"

The other examinees gasped as Joseph transformed into Build. It was a bit of an extreme transformation, even for a Quirk. What made it more shocking to them was that several of them recognized him from his sudden appearance in social media.

"Hey, it's that Kamen Rider Build guy!"

"The vigilante? I thought he got arrested."

"Nah! He got recruited by All-Might I heard."

"No way!"

"Yeah way! Check the clips on Facespace!"

"Oi!" the blond from the main building frowned, now dressed in a sleeveless green battle outfit. He scowled almost venomously at Build, like he was looking at something offensive, "You're that Build guy huh?"

"So?" Build retorted.

"Heh," the blond snorted. "Don't get cocky! You took out some no name villains so I'll admit you're worth something, like cannon fodder, but don't get the idea that you can outshine me!"

The blond's attitude rubbed Build the wrong way so he had a snarky response as well.

"How about we let our actions speak for ourselves, buddy?" Build retorted. "Talks' cheap. You wanna be number one, show us why you deserve it instead of bragging all over about it."

"Bet you have a weak ass Quirk if you need a suit like that," the blond pointed at Build's chest.

"I'm not ashamed to admit that," Build shrugged. "So I make up for a lame Quirk with having skill and ability instead of just being a one-trick pony."

"Grrr!" the blonde began to literally growl like a dog. "You saying something about my Quirk, wannabe?"

"Meh, if you think so, maybe it means you really are a one-trick pony," Build shrugged. "I certainly didn't say it."

XXX

While the examinees mingled below, Blood Stalk was sitting at the edge of a rooftop, looking down at them. Entering U.A. was easy, since this day was one of the few days where the gates were open and the security was lessened. No villain could enter even then, but Blood Stalk wasn't a known villain yet so he slipped in with the examinees.

There were no Quirkless people to use his Nebula Gas on but that was not why he was here. No, he was here to see how the biggest hero school got things done. So far, it seemed fine. Robot villains, fake cities, competition. That was all well and good, but that seemed more like a game. High stakes, but no real risk to it just the same.

Blood Stalk hummed as he looked down to the students, pondering before he got an idea. He looked to the doorway to the roof, "You know, this exam would be more fun if they have to face some real challenge."

"Grrrr…."

(LINE BREAK)

"AAAAAAAAAND GO!"

Present Mic's voice rang through the air as the doors to the fake city, confusing some of the examinees as to what was going on. Some, like Build, the asshole blond, and a few others who were paying attention instead of chatting, quickly got what the sudden shout meant. They immediately took off running into the city, leaving several confused applicants behind.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER? THERE"S NO COUNTDOWN IN A REAL BATTLE! RUN RUUUUN!"

Focusing power into the Rabbit Foot, Build overtook the rest of the examinees with each bounce he made. He scanned his surroundings for the faux villains, looking for points to collect.

He immediately got his first target when rolling out of a side street came green robot which stood on a wheel with arms that were miniguns with shields and a large number 1 painted on said arm.

"Target acquired. Die hero!" the robot droned, taking aim at Build.

"Oh no you don't!" Build declared, activating his Tank Foot. His speed increased as he came in close to the robot, which suddenly had to fix its aim with the sudden increase in speed. Once he got in closer, Build jumped up and kicked the robot in the head with his Rabbit Foot. The strike sent the robot end over end, crashing in a sparking heap.

"One point!" Build grinned. Well, that was easy!

"DIE!" Build looked at the cry and saw the jerk blond leaping from robot and robot, slapping them with his hands to cause explosions which wrecked the machines. He would then use the recoil from the blasts to launch himself at another target, hopping around like a violent little frog.

"...he's still a dick," Build muttered before he charged deeper into the city to find more targets.

The 1-Pointer villains were relatively easy, able to be taken down with some heavy strikes. The 2-Pointer villains, scorpion-like robots, were faster and had better targeting systems, making them slightly harder to bring down. The 3-Pointers were almost like walking tanks, hunched over gorilla-like machines armed with homing missiles.

It was one of these 3-Pointer robots smashing through a building which Build found himself confronting. He could quickly tell the thick armor would make it tough for his RabbiTank form to break through even if he could avoid the missiles.

"Alright, let's try this out," Build said as he replaced the Rabbit FullBottle with the Gorilla FullBottle.

"Gorilla!"

"Are You Ready?"

"Build Up!"

He turned the Crank Lever and summoned the Gorilla Halfbody which replaced the Rabbit Halfbody. When the blast of purified Nebula Gas erupted from the seams, Build began running towards the robot while turning the Crank Lever with his oversized fist for his next test.

"Ready Go! Vortex Attack!"

Build sped up with his Tank Foot and he reared back the Gorilla Muscle Glove to throw a powerful punch. With the 3-Pointer being so slow, the fist smashed into the robot's face to crumple its main processor. The machine quickly erupted in an explosion as Build came to a stop behind it, his arm trembling from the impact.

"Need something for the recoil," Build murmured. "It'll give Mei-chan something to do."

Explosions ripped up part of the city in the distance, making Build realize more students got ahead to get first crack at the villains hiding ahead. "Okay, have to keep going."

"Rabbit!"

(LINE BREAK)

Inside an observation booth, the teachers of U.A. were looking at the applicants undertaking the exam. The points system for destroying villains was part of the scoring system, but the teachers were also looking at other aspects to the potential , agility, judgement, and fighting prowess, all of those aspects were going to decide which class the students would get into provided that they passed with the minimum required number of points.

"Isn't that the vigilante that was on the news?"

"Do you think it's fair to allow an applicant to use that kind of equipment during the exam?"

"Why not? He maintains it, builds more for himself, modifies it when needed. That's all in the rules. Students can bring all the equipment they feel they need. Most just rely on their Quirks so we don't see much of it."

"Besides, the kid doesn't have a Quirk so in order to keep up with the others he needs the equipment."

"What?! He's Quirkless and he's doing so well?!"

"That's what makes him a contender if you ask me. He has to adapt on the fly and play it smart. He doesn't have some cheat code ability like most Quirks are, so he's got to be smart and adapt to situations. If anything, he's got the advantage since he's had to focus on skill and ability instead of some easy to use Quirk."

"Yes, but does he have the true core necessity to be a hero? That's what our next little test is going to determine."

"Wait...what's that in monitor 3, part of field A?"

"What the-?!"

(LINE BREAK)

Several examinees were tearing through a cluster of robots, all of them eager to get the points they needed to pass. For a few cases, only the fact there was an ironclad rule against attacking each other kept them from interfering with the others. Not that a few weren't willing to try if they didn't suspect that the examiners were watching.

As a 1-Pointer got crushed beneath an explosive palm, everyone began looking for the next target. Preparing to move, they got blindsided as a wall of a building exploded outwards, sending debris they had to shield themselves from.

Emerging from the hollow building was a large humanoid, easily matching Mount Lady in size. It appeared to be a robot, covered mostly in yellow square panels while the deepest portions were blue. It's right hand ended in a sharp sword while its left had long tube-like fingers. Finally, it's head was a massive yellow cube with with deeper blue square matches acting as a face.

"GRAAAAAAAHHHH!" the strange robot roared, glaring down at the cluster of aspiring heroes. Unbeknownst to the heroes, it wasn't one of the exam robots, but was in fact the Square Smash, loaded to the brim with Nebula Gas to make it larger.

Sadly, the examinees were completely unaware of what they were looking at.

"Hey, what is that thing?"

"Maybe it's a bonus villain worth bonus points!"

"But we weren't told this!"

"Duh! Heroes have to deal with the unexpected all the time!"

"IT'S MINE!" the explosive blond roared as he lunged at the Smash.

The Square Smash grunted and cut its sword across the ground with its blade. Almost immediately, the ground rose up in a number of square pillars, making the angry examinee crash against it. The blond just snarled and slammed his palms into it, causing another explosion which crumbled that portion of the wall.

As the hole came, he prepared to lunge and bring down the robot, but it's massive fast came through the smoke and smashed into him, knocking him flying back to the ground with a pained grunt.

"Damn! It's a tough one! It fights back!"

"It must be worth a lot!"

"Asshole had his shot! Mine!"

"RAAAAAHHHHH!" the Smash roared and swiped it's sword, causing the buildings around it to be cut up into cubes which hovered in the air. The Smash then thrust at the group, making the cubes fly at them.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOOM!

(LINE BREAK)

The roar echoed in the distance at it made Build freeze for a moment. That didn't sound like any kind of robot to him. There was also no electronic warble to make it seem like it was a recording to make a larger robot scarier.

"Something's not right," he muttered, turning and running for the source.

Running past some of the taller buildings, he came to a stop when he saw piles of rubble and a very, VERY, large Square Smash roaring in the middle of it all.

"Oh shit!" Build summarily gaped.

He dashed towards the scene of the fight, noticing several of his fellow examinees were scattered among the rubble of the destroyed buildings. Fortunately, it seemed most of them were already up and were either running away from the Smash, or were jumping around it, smashing at it with their Quirks. The explosive blonde was at the forefront, launching himself up at the Smash's head, trying to blast it's face off.

"DIE! DIE YOU HUNK OF SCRAP!"

"Well, at least he's being useful," Build sighed. He then stepped forward to lend a hand, but stopped when some of the rubble moved. "Huh?"

Coming up from the rubble came another examinee. She, as it was revealed, had slightly curled shoulder length hair with a green tint to it. She was wearing what seemed like a track suit, although it was a little torn up from the destruction the Smash had caused.

She was also missing her right arm.

"Oh my god!" Build cried,dashing over to the girl's side. He quickly checked her over for other injuries, but other than bruises and a cut or two, it was her arm which was the major problem. Glancing, he did find her arm at her feet, fortunately not buried by the rubble. "Hang on, I'll get you to the faculty for help!"

"H-huh?" the girl blinked, perhaps dazed by the hits she took.

Build swiftly scooped up the arm and passed it to her, which she absently took, apparently dazed by a blow to the head or something. He then scooped her up in a bridal carry, causing her to yelp in surprise. Once she was secured, Build activated the treads of his Tank Foot and began roaring away from the scene of the battle.

"H-hey, hold on!" the girl yelped. "I can-!"

"You're missing an arm so no you can't!" Build called back, turning corners and taking any shortcut he could see to get back to the main gates of the fake city. Coming up to the gates, he saw what seemed to be a man made out of blocks of concrete come to the front.

"This girl needs medical attention! Her arm's been severed!" Build snapped.

The concrete man's eyes widened, "I'll take her immediately! You stay here while more of the faculty begins to evacuate the other examinees! The teachers will handle that villain inside!"

A loud explosion came from inside the city and Build saw something larger and green just poking out from behind several of the buildings, ominously close to where the Square Smash had been rampaging. Build's heart stopped when he saw it. Had the Square Smash gotten even bigger?

"No time!" Build snapped back, passing the girl into the concrete man's arms. "We need all hands on deck before that thing gets even bigger! Just get back here as soon as you can!"

"Wait-!" the Pro Hero called, but Build was already roaring back into the city on his Tank Foot. The hero sighed, but grinned slightly at the moral fortitude the would-be hero was showing. Shaking it off, he looked to the injured girl, "Okay, let's get you to Recovery Girl."

"B-But I'm fine!" the girl sputtered. "Listen, my Quirk is…!"

(LINE BREAK)

Build returned to the scene of the battle and found himself somewhat surprised. Rather than the Square Smash having gotten bigger, the 0-Pointer villain had chosen that moment to rise up and it began attacking the Smash with vigor. It punched and slammed the enlarged Smash, although it was missing several cube-shaped portions of its body as the Smash fought back, cutting out portions of it to either throw at it as a projectile, or swing at the examinees that were still peppering it with whatever force their Quirks allowed.

"You know, as cool as this is, that Smash needs to be stopped," Build said to himself. He pondered his options for a moment before he quickly decided on a course of action. "Step 1: get the Smash away from the others."

Build summoned the Drill Crusher before he likewise charged into the fray. Ignoring the 0-Pointer, he came upon the Smash itself. He jumped up with the Rabbit Foot before striking at it's back several times, making it grunt. A kick from the Tank Foot made it stumble slightly before the 0-Pointer punched it, making the kaijin fall back or risk losing it's balance.

"Hey, over here Smash!" Build yelled, landing on a nearby rooftop. "Hey, what threat are a bunch of kids compared to someone who has Nebula Gas too?" To punctuate his point, he converted his weapon to its gun mode before firing several shots at the Smash.

"HEY! I SAID IT'S MINE! DON'T STEAL MY POINTS!" yelled the explosion-user from below.

"OH SHUT UP YOU IDIOT! THIS ISN'T PART OF THE EXAM!" Build yelled back. He fired more shots, aiming for the Smash's head to make sure he kept its attention.

"GRAH!" the Smash bellowed, turning to face him. The 0-Pointer lunged for its open back, but the Smsh was having none of it. With a bellow, it's swung it's sword and the robots head exploded into numerous small cubes. The construct fell, letting the Smash focus on Build, Nebula Gas starting to seep from several points in its armor.

"Nebula Gas...oh no," Build looked down to see several of the examinees were still close to the Smash's legs, trying to attack joints to bring it down. He recalled being told that the gas the Strong Smash gave off had all but crippled anyone with a Quirk that inhaled it. If the Square Smash erupted in the gas with its current size, it could cripple everyone around it and possibly permanently with the quantities inside its enlarged size!

He needed to take it out now. He took out the Gorilla FullBottle, shook it a couple of times, before inserting it into his weapon.

"Ready Go!"

"Step 2: Break the enhanced armor of this Smash over a vulnerable spot," Build aimed his loaded weapon at the Square Smash and pulled the trigger.

"Vortex Break!"

The Drill Crusher fired a giant energy projectile in the shape of a fist at the Square Smash. The force of the energy punch sent the Square Smash skidding backward and away from the examinees. Using his Rabbit Foot, Build roofhopped after the Smash.

Coming to another building, Build saw the Square Smash clutching it's head. Cracks riddled the cube and Nebula Gas was 'bleeding' from it, rising into the air uncontrolled rather than venting out of spots which would risk the other examinees.

"Step 3: Strike the new vulnerable spot! This should finish it off!"

Build turned his Driver's Crank Lever rapidly, pumping the essence from his FullBottles as they went through the device.

"Ready Go!"

"Now the laws of victory are set!"

Build leaped into the air and performed his signature Rider Kick. The graph appeared and captured the Smash at the bottom, letting Build reach the apex before coming down like he was being fired from a tank.

"Vortex Finish! Yeah!"

"HEI-YAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

He struck the Smash directly in it's cracked face, shattering the faceplate and letting a cloud of Nebula Gas erupt from the open wound. Fortunately, the gas did not have long to spread before it ignited from Build's attack, exploding along with the Square Smash itself with a bellow of pain.

Build came down, landing in a crouch on the street, breathing heavily. Behind him, the Square Smash gave a groan, much like a falling mountain of metal, before it crashed onto the street, cratering it.

"Whew," Build sighed, standing up. He couldn't help but admire what he had just done, seeing the smoking body of the Square Smash, large as it was, just lying there in defeat. He then remembered himself and hastily snatched up an empty FullBottle, pointing it at the Smash.

The bottle did its work as the Smash's body dissolved into colored Nebula Gas which was pulled inside. The massive bulk of the kajin was soon gone, leaving what seemed to be a completely ordinary person in the middle of the crater where it sat.

"Just one? A monster that size I would have thought I'd get two," Build huffed, looking at the FullBottle he just filled.

"OI!" a loud voice snapped. Turning, Build saw the blonde with the explosive hands stomping up to him. "Those points were mine, damn tinker toy!"

"Seriously? After all this and you still think it was part of the exam?" Build sighed. "Sheesh. Learn to pay attention instead of trying to blow everything up, will you?"

"GRRR! You got balls talking to me like that!" the blond shouted at Build. "What kind of Quirk do you have!? No way it's better than mine!"

"Quirk?" Build cocked an eyebrow. How'd talking back equate to comparing Quirks? The guy must have a complex of some kind over it. "I got no Quirk. I'm 100 percent Quirkless." He made sure to sound proud of that fact.

The blonde's eyes widened in shock, "Wh-what?! NO QUIRK?! Bullshit!"

"Believe what you want," Build shrugged. "Now since we have some time left, I want to smash some more robots to get more points." He ran his fingers up one of his antennae and flicked his wrist to give a wave. "See ya!"

Build soon sped away.

"Ah...hey!" the blonde snapped. "DAMMIT!"

(LINE BREAK)

Unbeknownst to everyone, even the teachers who were focused on the Smash, Blood Stalk had watched the entire battle with a discerning eye. Any cameras which were near him had been shot out, but their destruction would have been written off as antics during the exam.

Despite one of his minions having been destroyed and without even bringing down any of the examinees, he wasn't frustrated. He didn't expect the Smash to win despite it's size. Too many would-be heroes were around, not to mention the Pro Heroes who were watching the exam. No, today was about gathering information and not making a move.

And what information he did manage to find…

"So, it really is you, Build," he pondered, watching where Build was running to squeeze in a few more points for his test. He had wondered if the 'Kamen Rider Build' that Facespace was talking about was just some Pro Hero analogue with a similar Quirk to Build's powers. Now it turned out that this Build was the real deal.

"What fun," Blood Stalk snickered before he turned and began heading for his exit. His job was done.

(LINE BREAK)

U.A. High School - Cafeteria

"Man, that was intense," Joseph sighed, massaging the back of his neck.

The aftermath of the exam had seen Joseph being debriefed by Nezu. He had to explain what happened and theories of where the Smash had come from. The victim was secretly taken in by Recovery Girl, the school nurse. Fortunately, he got to keep the FullBottle he got from the Smash. Of course, he had to keep the Smash a secret and keep up the belief that it had been a surprise villain for the exam. Joseph didn't mind, understanding the need to keep it on the low that U.A. had been infiltrated and attacked by the Smash.

The students were allowed to change, shower, and calm down and rest for a few moments before the written exam would start. Joseph found himself waiting in the cafeteria, headed by a Pro Hero named Lunch Rush.

"Wonder how Mei did," Joseph muttered as he set his lunch tray down.

"Oh, hey! You're Build, right?" someone suddenly spoke to him. Joseph turned to see who had spoken and found himself looking at the girl he had rescued in the middle of the exam. More surprising was how she was waving at him.

"Bwuh...but...your arm!" Joseph gaped at the girl he had rescued. He distinctly remembered her arm being severed at the bicep in the chaos of the Square Smash's rampage.

"Oh, I'm fine!" the girl smiled brightly, flexing her arm. "My Quirk lets me be able to be cut up like that and control the pieces to come back together. And if I lose them, I can just grow them back. Thanks for looking out for me though!"

"Oh…" Joseph flushed, now feeling a little silly for flipping out like he did.

"Hey, you didn't know that," the girl laughed. She approached Joseph before she leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek, making him blush brightly. "Gotta admit, a girl really likes being carried like a princess by a knight in shining armor. So...thanks!" she finished with a rosy blush of her own.

"Heh...you're welcome," Joseph chuckled.

"HEEEEEEY! Build-Up Boyfriend!" Mei's voice suddenly rang out. Joseph turned and Mei skidded to a halt. "Hey don't think I missed that! Playing the dashing hero again?"

"Mei-chan…" Joseph flushed.

The girl Joseph rescued blinked, but then got a little flustered, "Ah, wait, are you two dating?" She quickly tried to do damage control while jumping to conclusions. "I-I-I was just thanking him for rescuing me and all that! I wasn't trying to make a play yet, I mean I wasn't!"

Mei blinked at the flustered girl, "Oh, so you wanna date him huh?" She laughed. "Well go ahead! You can borrow him for a while! Just bring him back in one piece! I need him for my long nights too."

The girl blushed brightly, her mind whirling with implications of what Mei said. Something which hinted at being so taboo, but somehow thrilling despite that. Joseph likewise blushed, wondering if Mei even knew what she just said, or rather, knew how the words she chose to say could be interpreted.

Nearby, a young man with blonde hair that had a black lightning streak in in and a short boy with purple balls growing out of his head gaped as they overhead the conversation.

"Did...did we just hear that glorious sentence?" asked the blonde.

"We did. I thought it was only a legend!" the short student agreed.

"THE LEGENDARY OPEN RELATIONSHIP?!" both cried out in shock and awe. Both of them were promptly ignored save for some girls who overheard them and gave them dirty looks.

The girl blinked, now flustered a little, "O-oh, well, um, maybe I might then. Ah, my name's Setsuna Tokage." she smiled prettily. "Thanks again for rescuing me. You're totally my hero today."

"You're welcome," Joseph smiled.

"And I'm Mei Hatsume!" Mei grinned to the girl. "Say, I heard your name on the recommendations rumors though. Why are you in the test?"

Setsuna smiled sheepishly, showing she had kind of cute jagged teeth, "Well, yes, but they still needed to test my abilities to see which class they would put me in. So I have to take the practical exams just like everyone else. I just get to skip the written exam."

Joseph slumped, "Damn...I forgot about that."

"We'll be okay," Mei shrugged. "Compared to the practical, it's a piece of cake!"

XXX

The written test was not nearly as harrowing as the physical one, so Joseph left U.A. feeling like he had a good chance of passing. He didn't have much time to let his thoughts wander before Mei grabbed him by the arm and dragged him home, insisting on putting their 'baby' through its paces for a new FullBottle.

Telling Mei about the Smash after the exam may have been a mistake.

What they got was the Comic FullBottle. There was still no Best Match but it at least provided Joseph a new series of combinations he could take advantage of. It also provided a short sword which was dubbed the 4Koma Ninpoutou. It was a mostly yellow sword with a purple hilt and portions of the blade looked like comic panels of ninja arts. The tip of the blade was a pen Joseph could use to to draw things into existence, but so far the panels were inert, making the pair believe that it's full potential could be used if paired with its Best Match, likely a ninja-theme FullBottle.

As the talk of Build's abilities continued, Joseph explained to Mei what a Kamen Rider was. Heroes of Justice and all that, although Mei just interpreted it as a legacy of Heroes from before Quirks and Pro Heroes became so widespread and mainstream. She thought that was cool, and thought it was awesome that more of them relied on mechanical gear and tools rather than Quirks.

He also mentioned that Kamen Riders usually rode into battle on motorbikes, thus why they were called 'Riders'. That seemed to make the girl's gear turn in her brain. She then got that mad grin on her lips before she dove into her tools and notes with a cackle. He figured she got an idea for a bike for him, but she was in too much of a frenzy to properly explain herself.

But that was days ago, and now they were in routine.

*Crank, crank, crank*

Build sat in GorillaTank form as Mei was working on his arm, tinkering with it so the recoil wouldn't be as bad. They hadn't been able to get it done before as Mei still had to go to school (the school year hadn't ended yet when the U.A. exams took place) and her focus when not in school was the big devices like the Purifier or what would become his Rider Machine.

"The shock absorbers were a joke! No way could it take continuous strain. You'd need to be special forces or something to constantly use it!" Mei huffed, almost indignant. "This is why standard issue sucks so bad! Nothing about it is standard!"

"Well, at least I have you to help keep this stuff from turning on me," Build shrugged.

"Of course you are! Now hold still!" Mei grinned, continuing to use her socket wrench to tighten the casing around the gauntlet. "Okay, give it a few swings."

Build stood up before he took some experimental swings with his arm, "Pretty fluid. Still lightweight so I can move in it if I need to. Might have to hit some things before we can see about the recoil."

"Second test," Mei nodded, moving to find a target. "So, I was wondering, what are we going to do if more Smash show up? I mean, if we try to hunt them down, we'll get tagged as vigilantes or something."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that," Build remarked. If he had Pro Hero status, he wouldn't have a problem. He really didn't want to be branded a vigilante criminal but there was nobody else who could beat the Smash and take their essence to restore their victims. Nebula Gas was a mysterious substance and a Smash could only temporarily be brought down before the gas eventually revitalized it and it got back up again.

"And we also need to figure out who's making these Smash," Mei added. That was another thing. The Smash did not just pop out randomly. Someone was purposely turning people into Smash. The common denominator so far was that both victims were Quirkless. Also, once they regained consciousness, the victims suffered from amnesia so they could not provide any information. Hopefully, it was not permanent.

"Found one!" she announced, bringing up a cobbled punching target. A quick noise from her tools announced her bolting it to the floor before she stepped aside. "Okay, start punching!"

Build nodded and began testing his gauntlet, punching into the target. He absently noted that the recoil was much less, meaning the adjustments had worked. Instead, his mind was more on the fact that the Smash were in this world at all. How were people getting dosed with Nedula Gas? Were there pockets of it popping up? A Pandora's Box? Or was it something darker, namely someone who was actively dosing the Quirkless so to make Smash minions?

"Mei! Joseph-kun! You two have mail!" the voice of Mei's mother rang up from the stairs.

Mei suddenly dropped what she was doing and dashed for the stairs, Joseph just following at a casual pace. By the time he got to the stairs, Mei was already running down, shoving the envelope into his hands, "Hurry, open it!"

"Okay, okay," Joseph chuckled. He quickly found where to open his U.A. letter. When he pulled out the contents, he stopped as he saw he wasn't holding an actual letter, but a small mechanical device of some kind. "What the-?"

The device immediately came to life, producing a holographic screen in the air. On it was the man made of concrete Joseph recalled passing Setsuna to. He had later learned that this was the was the Pro Hero Cementoss, a hero who had the ability to control concrete, making him a practical force of nature inside a city.

"Ah, hello there, applicant," Cementoss bowed his head in greeting. "I'm reporting to you about the results of your entrance exams for U.A. High School."

Joseph couldn't help but gulp in anticipation. Did he make it in?

"Your marks in the written exam were well done, although I would brush up on history and biology if I were you," Cementoss continued. Joseph winced, expecting that. "Your practical exam results are rather promising."

The screen changed, revealing a chart. Names were listed on it, showing villain scores, but also a second row marked 'rescue'.

"Now then," Cementos began to explain. "Your villain scores are acceptable at 50 points. Some felt you may have scored higher, but you and I both know that you were distracted by that Smash creature. Although you dealt with it well, many felt it would be unfair to give you extra points since your exam was the only place such a creature appeared."

"Was kind of expecting that," Joseph sighed. The other students were told it was part of the exam, but in reality, that was just a cover story. He hoped he had gotten extra points, but it seemed the impartial judges decided otherwise.

"Fortunately, your actions while the attack took place has granted you a boon," Cementoss began to smile proudly. "We at U.A. were grading you on more than just your combat ability. Heroes do more than fight after all. We protect the people and rescue them from danger. So for that, we also grade students on any of the benevolent actions. Namely, protecting or rescuing others in the exam."

Joseph's eyes widened in shock.

"Now then, let us do a tally," Cementos smiled, using a pointer to highlight Joseph's score. "The most obvious rescue was of Tokage-san, assuming she had suffered a crippling injury. Your first action was to evacuate what you thought was a critically injured victim. For that, you earned another 60 rescue points."

"That's 110 points!" Joseph grinned.

"Some of the judges have felt you may have earned extra rescue points by distracting the Smash and luring it away from your fellow examinees," Cementoss continued. "Considering they were still combat ready, or were running away, we decided to award you another 10 points." Cementoss collapsed the pointer with another smile. "So congratulations. You managed to score 1st in the exam and have passed. Welcome to U.A. High School. We look forward to seeing you on the first day of class."

"WOO HOO!" Joseph cheered, throwing his hands in the air.

"With your current roster of abilities, it has been decided that your versatility and equipment will see you better suited in the Support Course, learning how to deal with natural disasters, give support for frontline heros, and other facets of hero work which are just as vital as those who actually do combat with villains," Cementos finished. "We expect you to be a credit to U.A. just like the other new heros and those who came before."

The hologram finished, and Joseph felt like he could shout in joy. He was beaten to it though as he realized that Mei was giving off a girlish squeal, spinning around and giving off rapid speech which was barely heard when she wasn't squealing.

"I'minI'minIpassedthetestIsawPowerLoaderI'mgonnamakesomanybabiesI'mgonnadomybestEEE!"

"Um, breathe there Mei-chan," Joseph grinned.

"EEEEEE!" Mei continued to squeal before she glomped onto Joseph, knocking them both over in a crash of discarded equipment. She continued to clutch Joseph tightly, "I'm so happy! My big chance is here! I could just kiss you!"

Joseph's face lit up, "Uhhh…?"

Mei's mother, somehow not hearing the noise in the basement, asked, "So, is it good news?"

To Be Continued...

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