Surprise, I'm back! Sorry for leaving this story on hold for so long.

-Wishy

IXXXI

KEY:

'Thinking,' he thought.

"Speaking," she spoke.

IXXXI

Izuku stood in front of the large hall where the info session before the exam would be taking place, spinning one of his newly designed darts around his finger. It was a set of three, from lightest and smallest to heaviest and largest. The lightest one, which Izuku currently had wrapped around his finger, was a small black dart around the size of his finger. It had a little ring around the back that was perfect for a keychain, or in Izuku's case, stress management.

Sighing to himself, Izuku clasped the dart and slipped it into his pocket. He had a case for his darts in his backpack, but the incident with the slime villain left him somewhat paranoid when it came to easy access to his weapons.

Looking up at the stairs in front of the imposing building, Izuku began to concentrate.

'It's not hard. You've levitated before. Just imagine the mist pulling yourself up the steps… Slowly… There we go… Oh shittttt!'

Izuku had managed all but the last step, which snagged his toe and sent him head over heels. Or, it would have, if it wasn't for the timely intervention of a helpful stranger. A finger poked him in the side, leaving him scrambling midair to regain his balance.

"What the-huh?" Izuku stated eloquently. He turned to look at the offending finger, attached to a rather cute brunette with red cheeks.

"Hi! Sorry about using my Quirk on you without asking like that, I just figured you would appreciate the help. I'm Ochaco Uraraka," she said, smiling brightly at him.

'Ah. Oh. Girl.'

"Ahh, ohh no thank you a lot," Izuku stammered, still floating in the air. "Umm, could you let me down now?"

Realizing that she had left him helpless, she blushed and let him down.

"Uhh, I'm Izuku Midoriya, thank you for the help Uraraka-san," Izuku said, bowing slightly.

'The fuck am I doing? She's a girl, not my mom!'

"No worries at all," the girl responded, clearly bubbling with energy. Slowly, a look of realization came over her.

"Um, excuse me, I have to go," the girl squeaked, starting to turn red again.

"Oh, okay. Hey, I was wondering if… She's gone. Great." Izuku sighed to himself, wondering what he'd done to scare the girl off. Was he really that repulsive?

"Not even accepted yet and already scaring girls off, huh Deku?" Bakugo called, walking up with a sneer.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't want to hear it," Izuku responded, waving him off. "You just need to look at a girl and they'll hightail it in the other direction."

Bakugo scoffed, walking inside alongside Izuku. As they found their seats, Bakugo briefly broke the tense silence.

"You better get in after all that talk."

"Yeah, good luck to you too."

As they continued to wait, Izuku instinctively reached for his dart, but realized that pulling it out in this setting, with hundreds of other prospective heroes around him as well as Bakugo, was probably not a good idea. Groaning, Izuku set his hands on the table and waited.

IXXXI

"ARE YOU READY? YEAHHHHH!"

Present Mic's yell echoed around the auditorium. Izuku visibly cringed, the silence directly following his scream seeming louder than the noise itself. Despite being a radio host, the guy clearly could not read the room at all.

Izuku impatiently drummed his fingers on the table, much to the ire of Bakugo and the others seated next to him. They had been waiting for the host to start the session for twenty minutes now, and Izuku was starting to feel jumpy. He was usually pretty good at getting a handle on his nerves, but the chance to use his Quirk in real combat again had him incredibly excited.

'Maybe it has something to do with One For All?' Izuku wondered.

In order to completely pass on All Might's Quirk, he had to ingest his DNA, which meant he had to eat a hair off the man's shiny blonde head. It had been disgusting, but luckily he could wash it down with a smoothie. All Might had then ranted briefly about being very careful and something about squeezing your ass to use One For All, but Izuku honestly hadn't been paying attention. Now that he had a minute to think about it, he really should have at least tried to lend an ear, because his body was definitely feeling different.

It felt like his entire body was humming, ready to explode in reaction in response to the slightest threat. It wasn't unlike how he felt when he had a fever, Izuku realized, but without the lethargia and sickness that came with it. Izuku wanted to smack himself. He had just gotten an incredible power boost, one that threatened his health and those around him, and he had been too jumpy to listen to anything All Might had told him?

Shaking his head and focusing on the stage, he realized a student was talking to him.

"And you, the curly haired kid. Stop tapping the table. It's distracting," The kid shouted.

Izuku blinked, confused.

"Why are you talking?" Izuku asked genuinely. "Shouldn't we be listening to Present Mic?"

Ironically, Izuku hadn't been listening to Present Mic at all, but the pro hero took his chance to butt in and regain control of the room.

"Yeah, what he said! As I was saying, the final robot is purely an obstacle, a gimmick worth 0 points. It's a large, heavily built machine that will go wild in small spaces. It's not indestructible, but destroying it means nothing," Present Mic continued, not missing a beat.

Glancing at the screen, Izuku quickly surmised that he would be destroying robots, or "mock villains," for points. They had all been handed a hefty pamphlet with lots of information as well as a contract that prevented them from suing in case of injury-all standard stuff for UA. Gazing at the pamphlet's table of contents, Izuku spotted a section detailing the robots' mechanical makeup.

'Interesting.'

"Now, students, please head to the battle station stated on your entrance tickets! Good luck to all of you, and remember: PLUS ULTRA!" Present Mic screamed, as students streamed out of the auditorium. A glance at each other's ticket told them that they were going to be completing the exam separately. With a sharp nod, Izuku and Bakugo split up, heading to their respective sections.

As Izuku blended in with the students heading to his battle station, pamphlet in hand, Iida Tenya frowned.

IXXXI

Each robot had a transmission chip that gave the mechanical body instructions from a computer. Simply put, All Izuku had to do was rip it out, then easy points for him. The 1P robot's chip was in its head, the 2P robot in its chest, and the 3P robot had two, one for each head. The 0P robot, however, had no transmission chip and the built in computer in the head needed to be destroyed entirely. You just had to smash the shit out of it, and based on the size mentioned in the pamphlet, that was no easy task. The 0P robot was easily quadruple the size of the 3P one, a good couple meters above the buildings in battle center B.

The pamphlet began to shake in Izuku's hands. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he tossed the pamphlet in the bin and walked up to the massive door blocking them from entering the battle center. In the corner of his eye, he spotted the girl he had spoken with earlier, but figured they both needed a minute to psyche themselves up. Stretching out a little, he grimaced at numerous holes in his footwear. He had switched out of his school clothes into a black shirt and blue trainers, with the running shoes he had nearly destroyed cleaning out the beach.

The training had been grueling, but the sight of the clear beach had been fantastic, and gave him a visual representation of his long hours of work. He had finished a week before his UA exam, and had a couple of days to rest and focus on his newspaper job. It hadn't paid fantastically well, but the amount of hours Izuku put in as well as some smart investments meant he had a sizable allowance to work with, and his mother was always willing to assist financially if he explained his reasoning to her. Unfortunately, he had yet to invest in a new pair of athletic shoes, and was regretting it with the drafts of wind that were blowing over his toes.

Gazing up at the large door, his heart began to pound, and his body tingled. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, but the heat in his chest quickly snuffed them out. Was this what it felt like to be All Might? To have One for All? The background noise of his competition chattering in the background faded out. The largest of his darts weighed heavily in his pocket. Slowly, the doors began to open. A hand clasped his shoulder. The boy from earlier? He was saying something. He seemed frustrated. Present Mic appeared from a tower nearby, looking over the sea of applicants. Although he couldn't hear Iida at all, the words that came from the pro hero were as clear as day.

"START!"

Izuku blasted through the open doors, his body thrumming with excitement. A 2P robot scuttled into view, only to have a 10 lb dart smash straight through its chest and zip back into Izuku's hand like a boomerang. 1P robots found their heads torn off through the power of Izuku's Quirk alone. 3P were a little more tricky, but the speed and weight of the heavy dart tore through the metal like butter.

Izuku carved his way through the streets of battle center B, his head-start allowing him to tear through more than two dozen robots in the first 5 minutes of the test.

'I feel incredible. I'm so… awake.'

Izuku was now convinced that what he was feeling was not One for All specifically, but some strange side effect. He hadn't been fully listening to All Might when he had been warning him, but he was confident that there was no mention of feeling like this, feeling so hot.

Izuku took another deep breath, concentrating on the feeling of his Quirk around him. He felt how it spread through the air around his dart, how it swirled within himself. One for All did not end where his Quirk began, it was one cohesive energy, a Quirk different from what it was just yesterday.

Izuku exhaled the breath he had been holding in wonder. He had to talk to All Might about this.

"THREE MINUTES LEFT!"

Now was not the time to be losing his head. Izuku grinned at the floating dart in the air. There were robots to hunt.

IXXXI

Despite running around for a minute, Izuku had yet to find any other robots. Frowning, he headed towards a larger group of prospects that might give him a hint of where he should spend the last couple minutes of the exam.

Izuku blinked as a student blitzed right past him. Turning his head, he frowned.

'I didn't miss a robot back there, did I?'

Another student ran past him, and then another. His frown deepening into a scowl, Izuku continued to run in the direction of the group.

'I hate not knowing what's going on.'

The ground began to tremble slightly, and the low, mechanical growl signalled that maybe, just maybe, the contestants were running away for a reason.

The students started to flood past him in droves now, with the massive 0P robot rounding the corner. It was as wide as the distance between the buildings, leaving absolutely no room to squeeze by or get past in any capacity.

'God, that thing is huge. Why would you even need something like this in a point based exam?' Izuku wondered, turning to run. There was no way in hell he was gonna chance trying to take that thing down, high off the feel of One for All or not.

The 0P's arm smashed into the side of a building, sending rubble flying over the entire street. Ducking and dodging for cover, Izuku snatched a large piece of concrete out of the air and used it to bat away any incoming projectiles.

'UA is insane! Yeah, we signed a contract and everything, but isn't this a bit much?'

Yells and screams from around the street told him that he was definitely right. Izuku turned to look up at the gleaming red eyes of the robot, still rolling towards them at a menacing pace.

'No, no. Stupid idea. Don't do it. Don't. No one is badly hurt, just get out of there and score some extra points.'

On the other side of the street, about 50 meters from the robot, a figure struggled.

Uraraka was all out of energy. She had destroyed lots of robots, and knew she had enough to pass, but the unfortunate appearance of the 0P robot left her helpless under the heavy rubble that had rained on her. Trying desperately to pull herself out and push with her legs, her body screamed at her to stop. Uraraka froze. She was still pumping with adrenaline, so she wasn't sure, but could one of or both of her legs be broken?

Staring fearfully up at the incoming robot, she began to reach out frantically with her arms, pulling at the sidewalk.

"Please, HELP!"

Izuku's head snapped to the noise. The girl from earlier trapped underneath the rubble, likely with an exhausted Quirk and some injuries. The robot was still a good distance away, if he was quick he could get her out and avoid having to fight that monstrosity. Sprinting over to her, he lifted the large concrete block off her legs. As he lifted with his Quirk, Izuku pulled Uraraka onto her feet.

"Can you run?"

She shook her head, not putting any pressure on her left leg. The rumbling was deafening around them, the robot only 20 meters away.

Gnashing his teeth, Izuku threw her over her shoulder without another word and ran for his life.

'Where the hell do you even run in this situation?'

The robot stayed hot on their tail through several turns, causing Izuku to become desperate for a strategy. Searching desperately for an alley the 0P robot couldn't fit into, Izuku rounded a corner.

'You've gotta be fucking kidding.'

The dead end left Izuku with just 100m between him and the wall, a tiny space considering the massive size of the robot.

Izuku spun on his heel just as the robot closed the final gap between him and the corner.

Grimicing, he nudged the girl he was holding over his shoulder.

"I don't suppose you could lift this thing and make it drop like the others, right?"

Uraraka shook her head.

"I might be able to make you float out of here, though. You could have enough time to get a point or two," she murmured, preparing to draw from the remains of her energy.

"No chance," Izuku commanded, shifting her into a more comfortable position. "I think I can get us both out of here.

'Please work.'

Hot tendrils of energy began to bubble in Izuku's chest. With a running start, Izuku leapt as high as he could, using his Quirk to carry himself into the momentum.

'More, more!'

The rumbling of the robot behind him grew louder. He had 50 meters left of space, and it was shrinking fast. Izuku's head pounded, throbbing with intensity.

40 meters. 30.

"Midoriya-san, it's swinging at us!"

The battle robot had wound up, and was now swinging its massive arm towards them, intending to smack them out of the air.

Desperately, Izuku veered right, trying to avoid the massive arm. Rather than squishing them flat into the buildings, the arm clipped Izuku's shoulder, dislocating it with a sickening crack and sending the pair spiraling into the ground.

Struggling to stand, Izuku planted himself firmly between the robot and Uraraka, who was unconscious and bleeding from her head.

He glanced down at the girl behind him.

'There are worse ways to go than this.'

Launching himself into the air again, Izuku drew back his good arm. His blood boiled underneath his skin.

The robot pressed on, clearly planning to steamroll through both him and Uraraka.

Time seemed to slow as Izuku rose through the air, creeping upwards at a snail's pace.

'I don't have enough space. It's gonna crush us before I get anywhere close to its head,' Izuku realized.

The world spun. His head split. His heart felt like it was leaking through his ears.

Through it all, Izuku reached his Quirk towards the massive robot's head, and using everything, pulled.

I Five Minutes Earlier I

Principal Nezu, All Might, Cement, and Ectoplasm monitored the several screens with the competing students. Off to the side, a constantly updating scoreboard showed current villain points (for each villain defeated) and potential hero points (which would be reviewed later).

"There are five minutes left, send in the gimmick robots," Nezu directed.

With a nod, Ectoplasm pressed a button, and the monitors flicked to different scenes around each battle center showing the massive robot.

Cement, the aptly named emitter type hero, was rather impressed with this year's batch. Lots of the students had promise, even if most of them were simply bundles of raw potential.

All Might and Nezu were equally interested, but Nezu was more focused on making sure nothing went wrong, and All Might was honestly just watching Izuku. The boy had been truly fantastic out there, and the determination in his eyes was both exciting and terrifying.

Principal Nezu, the mouse-looking animal given incredible intelligence through a Quirk, was enamored by the 0P robot he had been working on for so long.

"It's incredibly durable, with carbon steel wires and aluminum plated armor! Of course, I had wanted titanium, but the budget just simply couldn't…"

The creature had gone on and on about his "children," enough that the pro heroes had begun to tune him out throughout the exam briefing.

Although, everyone present had to admit, now that they had actually seen the robots, they were rather impressive.

All Might's eyes narrowed though, as a robot began to get dangerously close to severely injuring a contestant.

"Principle Nezu," All Might began, only to get cut off by Ectoplasm, speaking for the first time in the conference.

"Hold on. Just watch for now," Ectoplasm suggested, his eyes glued to the screen.

Principal Nezu nodded, his hand wavering over the button that would forcibly shut the machine down.

Ectoplasm personally thought that there was a bit of drama missing in the exam so far. Yes, the students were talented, yes, they destroyed the mock villains efficiently. But where was the threat of danger, the intensity of the fight to save a life? Ectoplasm, despite his severe look and demeanor, was a complete sucker for soap operas and trashy TV. Once he caught a whiff of what looked like it could be interesting, he was not going to lose out on the chance to watch just because the principal wanted to avoid a "lawsuit."

Ectoplasm gripped his seat as the curly headed boy heroically saved the cute girl from underneath the rubble. Oh yes, this was working out perfectly.

"Why is it chasing them like that? Isn't it supposed to head towards the most concentrated groups of students?" All Might asked, narrowing his eyes at the screen.

"Hmm…" Principle Nezu pondered. "It's supposed to make a decision based on the amount of points per person in its immediate area as well as number of people, so with two people with lots of points in a very small space, it's likely that it decided to chase them based on…"

Ectoplasm and Concrete were entirely focused on the screens, whereas All Might lasted a few seconds longer before returning his attention to his protege. Genius, yes, but concise Nezu was not.

As the robot blocked Izuku's exit from the dead end, Concrete turned to the animal.

"Nezu," he warned, the concern clear in his voice.

Before Ectoplasm could voice his own opinion, All Might interjected.

"Just wait," the number one hero murmured softly.

He was confident in Izuku's abilities, and undoubtedly was beginning to show great mastery over his own Quirk. But Toshinori was still unsure about how committed exactly Izuku was to the lives of the people around him. Although he couldn't very well ask for One for All back from the boy, a display of morality would put his mind at ease.

Watching as his student tumbled from the skies, the man grit his teeth.

'What will you do, Izuku?' All Might deliberated. 'Abandon the girl in order to save yourself, or risk your life to save her?'

Of course, Izuku had no idea that the 0P robot could be shut off at all, under the impression that the robot had to be destroyed or the exam had to end for it to stop.

"Principal Nezu," Concrete thundered, rising from his chair. "End the exam now."

"Sit down, Concrete," Ectoplasm hissed. "You're ruining the best part."

The blocky man whirled on his fellow pro hero, fuming.

"If you think that we should risk the lives of these incredibly talented students for YOUR ENTERTAINMENT-"

Turning to point at the screens in order to support his argument, Concrete watched as the boy of only 15 tore the head off of the massive robot with a roar of frustration.

The screens flickered out as the exam ended.

"Well," Nezu said after a moment, breaking the silence. "Would anyone care to partake in a game of poker?"

IXXXI

Izuku lay on top of the destroyed robot body, immobile.

'This is gonna hurt like a bitch tomorrow, isn't it. That better have been worth some extra credit, or something.'

The battered kid closed his eyes, too exhausted to do much more than enjoy the cool air on his still hot skin. A croaky voice piped up from behind him.

"Oh dear, you're hurt quite badly, aren't you dear? Well, lemme give you some sugar."

"...Recovery Girl?" Izuku interrupted.

"You're conscious, fantastic! I won't have to just leave you here, then," Recovery Girl croaked, leaning in to kiss him.

"Um, do you have to kiss me to heal my shoulder?"

"I could dislocate your other one if you would like," the old lady smiled kindly.

Izuku blanched.

"Just... get it over with. Also, the girl at the end of the street is hurt badly, so please take care of her," he murmured, closing his eyes.

With a peck on the cheek the school nurse left, leaving Izuku lying on the hot steel of the robot. The pain in his shoulder was quickly dulling, but the intense fatigue and headache had yet to subside.

Izuku thudded his head against the metal a couple times before struggling to stand. He needed to talk with All Might soon about what he had discovered, and do some study on his own to see if he could determine any new factors as a result of ingesting the hero's hair. But for now, he needed to go home, and sleep until his test results were out.

'I really thought that was it for me,' Izuku realized. Pressing a hand to his forehead, the boy frowned. His head felt nice and cool, as did the rest of his body. What the hell had that heat been about literally just minutes ago? His capacity to think properly had been limited, being unable to realize that there was no way UA would let children die in their care. But his battle sense had sharpened, as well as his ability to handle his Quirk. Ordinarily, there was no way he would have been able to levitate around like that, especially while carrying another person. Perhaps if he hadn't been carrying Uraraka the first time, he would have been able to move fast enough to escape, especially if she had lifted the effects of gravity from him. Shaking his head slightly as he walked towards the battle station exit, he admonished himself for that line of thought.

'Wait, wait. Removing gravity, and telekinesis? Would that work?'

Izuku blinked. That was something he absolutely needed to test with her, whether she got into UA or not. He snickered at the concept of swinging literal tons of weight with no strain whatsoever.

Reaching for a phantom notebook in his pocket, Izuku's frown slowly returned. He needed to take notes.

"How many."

Turning to look at the blonde who had appeared beside him from his own battle section, Izuku sighed.

"Are we friends now? What's up with you tagging along with me everywhere?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"What? No, we're not friends, you loser. I just want to know how bad I beat you-and going to UA was my idea before it was yours!" Bakugo growled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "How many points did you get, huh?"

Izuku shrugged, similarly stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Have no idea, wasn't counting. At least 40," Izuku sighed, lamenting the fact he hadn't been able to gain any points in the latter half of the test.

"Oh, I smoked you for sure then," Bakugo laughed, kicking at a pebble on the sidewalk.

The teens walked in mildly uncomfortable silence for a while, before the spiky-haired boy broke it.

"You have a Quirk, then," he stated confidently.

Pursing his lips, Izuku nodded.

"Then why? Why didn't you say anything, ever?" Katsuki asked genuinely, confused at why his schoolmate would hide something for so long, and so well.

"Would you have stopped? Bullying me, I mean?" Izuku responded, equally curious.

Taken aback, Bakugo scratched his head.

"I mean… probably. You wouldn't have been so lame."

Stopping at the sidewalk in front of his mom's car, Izuku looked his former friend in the eyes.

"We used to be friends, Katsuki-san, because of our personalities. When you got your Quirk, it changed your personality. I can't blame you for that, because I changed too, but you grew antagonistic towards people who had no control over which Quirk they got or didn't get. Just because everyone told you that you were hot shit for your Quirk, you looked down on me because you thought I didn't have one. Why would I want to be friends with you after that, or even make you think otherwise?"

Izuku sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Honestly, take some time and think about it. Imagine if you hadn't been blessed with a good Quirk, or a Quirk at all-How would you be different? You've been getting away with it for a while, but you're gonna run into people who aren't gonna take shit from you, and might end up being stronger than you. I'm willing to clear the board if you wanna change, but until then, you're another face in the crowd. Good luck, hope you passed."

With a slight bow, Izuku ducked into his mom's car and they drove away.

IXXXI

Uraraka sat awake in the medical bay. She had been cleared to go home after Recovery Girl was certain she hadn't missed any internal injuries or concussion, but needed a moment to think by herself.

As talented and smart as she was, she had gotten bailed out by another applicant, a famous one who had been in the papers for his heroic duty, no less. Her head fell slightly. Likely, the UA admission officers would review the tape and determine that she was unfit for UA because she had to be rescued.

'But I have what it takes to be a hero! I know that I can do it…' She thought to herself, before replaying the events in her mind.

The determination and unwavering gaze of her rescuer. The crack she heard as she fell into unconsciousness. And, upon awakening, the decapitated head of the robot at her feet.

'Am I not cut out for this? Is being in the profession for money going to get me killed?'

Tears began to slip from Uraraka's face as she wondered if being a hero was the wrong path after all.

IXXXI

Oh yeah, we're really starting to divert from canon now. Excited to get this ball rolling again.

Thoughts? Prayers? Hit that review button and all your sins will be forgiven.

Thanks for reading!

-Wishy