|Chapter 22: Unexpected

National Dagoba Arena, Ante Room

As the last group of Yuuei students came into the Ante Room, Mina ran towards Izuku with wide arms. "Izu!" She exclaimed, swamping him with a hug and a barrage of kisses.

The greenette laughed heartily as he caught her. "Mina, you made it!" He yelled, a large smile on his face. "You had me worried there for a second."

"Please, I did great!" The pink-skinned girl waved her hands around. "I'm guessing one of the first passes was you?" Mina asked with a knowing look, placing a final kiss on his cheek. "Mr. Overachiever."

Izuku chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yup." He pointed to the big Shiketsu student from before. "But Yoarashi over there got first place."

Said student was laughing heartily with Todoroki. "He is a dickhead!" Inasa exclaimed. "I'm so glad we can see eye-to-eye on that!"

Todoroki gave him a small laugh. "I'm obliged to give him a second chance, but he's still a dickhead until then."

Mina regarded the two with a raised eyebrow. "I thought those two would be at each other's throats." She admitted. "What happened?"

Akira chuckled as he walked up to them. "The moment Todoroki entered here and saw Yoarashi, he got on his knees and bowed in front of him before apologising." He explained. "Loudly."

"And that worked?" Mina was surprised, didn't seem like it would be that easy. "Really?"

Jirou also laughed as she walked up to them. "You had to be there to see it, it was a layered apology."

Ochako nodded. "Took Yoarashi off guard… but Todoroki's Endeavour slander was apparently enough to get rid of any cold blood between them." They watched with a tilted head as Todoroki lit a part of the ground on fire and they started stomping it. "Kind of concerning."

Mina shrugged. "Well, I'm sure it'll be fine." She turned back to Izuku. "How was the exam for you, who were you with?" The girl was directly in his face, curiosity painted on her own.

Izuku chuckled but nodded to his three teammates. "Tokoyami, Jirou, and Koda got stuck with me." He explained. "And we had fun, we were able to get a good view of our opponents since we can all fly."

"I finally got to test these babies out in real combat." Jirou exclaimed, holding up her gauntlets and activating them. "And I got to use them on a particularly pompous piece of poop."

"Astute alliteration, ally." Tokoyami said with a smile. "I was able to test Dark Shadow's durability against light." His claw came up. "And Koda got to punch two giants in the face."

Koda nodded. "It was fun!" He signed.

"It was fun!" Momo exclaimed, walking up to them with her group and the rest of the class. "I also got to shoot and punch many people!" Her smile was radiant and almost crazed, but overall adorable.

"I was glad to see my new jacket works against cold environments." Tsu said, snuggling herself in it. "And the hood was a nice touch."

"My new techniques worked out great!" Kaminari shouted, jumping with joy. "Thanks for the advice, Hikaru, Midoriya, you two really got me through that exam."

Bakugou nodded. "He actually did decent, which was really surprising." He laughed at Kaminari's stumped face. "Hey, I said decent."

"I think I speak for all of us when I say these costume changes were a God send." Ojiro said, fiddling with his mask. "I had a lot more fun in this than my last one, it's so much lighter."

Iida nodded, chopping the air violently. "Indeed, I am much faster than I once was without the armour top, despite having it been made to increase my speed, which is incredibly surprising as it seems to defy the laws of-"

"Alright, I hope you've all had a good rest." Mera's voice interrupted, calling out on the speakers. "Because your next task is starting up… now." The screens in the room displayed the multiple areas of arena they were just in.

"I wonder what we'll be doing?" Kirishima asked.

Bakugou folded his arms. "I want more explosions."

Momo nodded. "I agree!"

Their wish came true a second later as all the screens displayed everything being blown up. While the majority of the examinees gasped in horror, Momo and Bakugou were jumping in excitement.

"Your second and last test, rescue exercises!" Mera announced. "It's been destruction and carnage, people! Hope you paid attention in your rescue classes because you'll be performing all of them now!"

Shoji's eyes picked up feint movement on the screens. "People."

"Wait, really?" Sato looked on the screen. "Oh, wow, realistic."

"We've also employed the help of professional people-in-need." Mera explained. "The 'Help-Us-Company' or 'H.U.C.' for short."

Sero raised an eyebrow. "That's a job?"

Tsu shrugged. "Lots of jobs out there, this isn't the weirdest."

"Makes sense." Ojiro added. "Hero and villain dominated world, companies or jobs like this are bound to exist."

"The H.U.C. will be on-site proctors for this test and will coordinate with other watchers from outside the arena to give you your score. If you manage to stay on the benchmark of said points, you pass." Mera continued. "Remember to do everything as best as you can, these aren't dummies, they're real people." He yawned loudly. "Ten minutes max, take care of your business, then we start." The man leaned away from the mic and turned to his subordinates. "Can one of you get me a coffee for this last part?"

Ten Minutes Later, Arena

"Alright, students, ten minutes over!" Mera shouted, reinvigorated by his five cups of coffee that laid around him. "Heavy debris and broken roads have delayed first emergency responders, so heroes will be taking care of rescue operations until they can arrive!" The Ante Room opened up. "Save as many as you can! Start!"

"Alright, Momo, make the ear-pieces!" Akira said as his class ran towards the city.

Momo nodded and quickly gave them out to her classmates. "Done!"

"Can everyone hear me?" Akira asked, getting a nod from the class. "Good, we have to stick to our groups here." He reminded them pointing into the city. "Group one, float around and report all your findings through our ear-pieces!"

Izuku nodded and started floating. "Scouting squad!" He turned to his teammates, rising high in the sky. "Let's go!" Koda, Jirou, and Tokoyami all took off flying right behind him.

Akira turned to Momo. "Genesis, we'll be coordinating with the other students to make an emergency evacuation centre." At the onyx-haired girl's nod, he continued. "Group three and four, you'll be doing the main rescuing; west and east." The rest of the class nodded. "Okay, let's go!" With that, he and Momo took off.

"Come, friends, let us get moving!" Iida said, taking Mina, Tsu, Ochako, Todoroki, Shoji, and Ojiro with him to the east side of the arena.

"Move it or lose it, people!" Bakugou yelled, taking the rest with him to the west.

Random Building

Koda's large eagle form flew next to Izuku and the greenette looked at him with a raised eyebrow. The teen couldn't talk in this form so just pointed his wings downwards, alerting the green-haired hero of two people shouting next to a broken building.

"Oh, thanks, Beast!" Izuku shouted before he shot down and landed in front of the two injured people. "Don't worry, citizens…" A large smile was plastered on his face and his eyes shined. "I'll save you!"

The two H.U.C members took in Izuku with surprise before they got into character. "Young man, I don't know what's going on here!" A red-haired male called.

"This building suddenly crashed around us!" The white-haired woman cried. "And my husband's forehead is bleeding!"

Izuku took in their reactions as well as their 'injuries' before smiling. "I'll get you out of here!" He called picking them both up and hoisting them on his shoulders. "And we'll get your injuries healed up in no time!"

As he shot off, Tokoyami watched him with a smile. "Tsukuyomi to Akira and Genesis." The bird-boy called, touching his earpiece. "Izuku will be arriving shortly with two injured adults."

"Got it!" Momo's voice answered. "Thanks, Tsukuyomi!"

"Man, he's a natural at this." Jirou said as she walked next to him. "Let's not get outplayed." With that said, she shot upwards.

Tokoyami chuckled before Dark Shadow covered him and he also shot off.

Mountain Base

"I've got an old couple up on the top of the mountain you're checking." Jirou called out over the 1A channel. "They don't sound like they're in immediate danger, but I'd check it out regardless."

Bakugou nodded. "Copy, Reverb." He turned to the rest of his team. "Low priority rescue up on the mountain, it won't need more than one person!" The blonde shouted at them. "I'll go, the rest of you stay down here and continue rescue operations."

Sero secured another piece of debris as Sato lifted up another. "Got it!" They both nodded.

Kaminari was sitting in a meditative position, linked up to a generator, while Aoyama tended to a young, brown-haired girl . "You got it!/No problem."

Hagakure was lightning up the dark places in their area and grabbing more survivors. "Go ahead, Ground Zero!"

Kirishima nodded at him happily. "You got this!" He praised before getting back to helping Hagakure.

Without so much as a goodbye, Bakugou's hands sparked before shooting him upwards. His new gauntlets glowed brightly before letting loose a much more manic explosion, sending him blitzing so fast upwards that even he barely registered reaching the top of the mountain. Years of reflexes kicked in as his descent became obvious towards him and he slowly rocketed towards the ground and landed.

It didn't take long to hear his objective as their voices were carried by an echo. "Help us! Please, anyone!"

Bakugou ran towards their shouts and eventually found them. "Stay calm, people!" He shouted gruffly, shooting himself towards them. "I'm here!" His grin was softer than normal, but it still held its intimidation factor. "It's okay."

The two older HUC members regarded him with apprehensive looks. "Voice was a bit gruff." The old man said to his partner.

"I think that's his normal voice." The older woman said. "We can't exactly fault him on that."

"Quit your chatter, old farts, we've gotta move if you want to be safe." Bakugou said, getting their attention as he began checking out their 'injuries.' "Hmm… You're both fine, follow me."

The old man looked back to his partner and shrugged. "We can fault him for calling us old farts, but that's minor at best."

Lake Side

"Tsukuyomi to Group Three." Tokoyami's voice came over the radio again. "You have a man in a lake and a group of civilians near there in a van crash."

"Copy, Tsukuyomi, kero." Tsu croaked, hopping her way over to the lake. "Tentacole, Shoto, with me." She called out, getting the other two boys to follow her.

Todoroki looked over to Shoji. "I'll grab some wood for a fire, you keep an eye on Froppy and any other civilians that might be in the area."

Shoji nodded. "Copy."

Iida looked over to where the van crash was. "Everyone else, I'll assess the situation when I'm over there." His engines roared. "Don't stay too far behind!" Without another word, he shot off like a bullet.

"Off we go." Ojiro said, jumping up in the air before falling down on his monkey tail. "Up, up, and away!" The monkey tail compressed like a spring before releasing and sending Ojiro off into the sky.

Ochako took away her own gravity and grappled onto a tree before shooting off herself. "Don't get left behind, Alien Queen!" She teased in a light manner.

Mina covered her feet in acid and smirked. "Not happening!" She shot off quickly, skating to catch up to her group.

Emergency Evacuation Centre

Izuku's eyes locked onto the evacuation centre and the large group of people, both examinees and HUC members, gathered in the area. "There's your safe space." He said to the two on his shoulders before landing on the ground.

A brown-haired student in a blue costume immediately spotted him on his arrival. "You, let me see those two." She said quickly, rushing up to the group as Izuku put them down.

"They've got minor cuts around their forehead and arms, but nothing that inhibits mental capacity." Izuku explained as best he could. "I'd still suggest getting them cleaned before any infection could occur." He added.

The brown-haired student nodded. "I agree." She took the hands of the two HUC members and smiled. "Please follow me, I'll get your wounds cleaned and healed." Her sweet tone put a smile on the two adult's faces.

'They're doing great.' They both thought, looking around at all the students. 'It's a shame that this is only the first part.'

Izuku suddenly felt a ping in his head and his eyes widened. "Everyone duck for cover!" He shouted, powering up One For All.

The students would have looked at Izuku confused had multiple explosions not gone off, sending debris flying everywhere. A particular large chunk of debris had set itself on a comet run towards the evacuation area.

"Shit!" Akira said, looking towards Momo. "Genesis, six O'clock!"

The onyx-haired girl looked behind her and her eyes widened for a split second before a large grin appeared on her face. "Yes…." A large gauntlet with a hole in the palm appeared on her arm and she aimed it at the falling boulder. "Boom!" Momo's gauntlet shot out a missile and it met the boulder midway, blowing it into nothing but dust.

"Villains have attacked you during your rescue operations." Mera's voice called out over the speakers. "And they are not short in power."

A few of the examinees took a step back at the 'villain' they were facing. "You've got to be kidding me." Jirou groaned, having floated over to the evacuation area. "It's Gang Orca."

The large Orca-man stood over the examinees on top of a pile of rubble with a number of his sidekicks in uniform. "I'm not alone." He said, holding out his arm.

Jirou nodded. "We can see that!" She shouted back. "Kind of obvious."

Gang Orca's low laugh was so loud that a few of the examinees could feel it. "That is not what I meant."

A flash of red suddenly shot past Jirou and the girl was sent towards the ground. "Crap!" The purple-haired girl quickly opened up her gauntlets and caught herself just before she hit the ground. Looking up at what hit her, she groaned. "Alright, this is just plain bullshit."

"It's the new number two." Shindo breathed out.

Tokoyami landed next to Izuku and sighed. "Hawks."

"Hello there, little heroes!" Hawks greeted with an overly maniacal laugh. "Good to see you all today!" His costume remained the same aside from the colours, with the pants and jacket being red – the jacket having its sleeves rolled up – black fur along the jacket's edges, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. "We'll be your terrorists today!"

"What will you do, younglings?" Gang Orca's voice cut in, walking down towards them gracefully. "Will you run, or fight? Defend? Cower?" His red eyes bore into all of their souls, instilling a primal fear into them. "Choose now."

Momo put her hand up to her ear with a smile. "I want Shoto and Ground Zero over here immediately." She ordered.

"Copy/Gladly." The two teens said into their earpieces before making their way over.

The heiress nodded. "Everyone else, continue rescue operations and make sure to watch each other's backs."

"Yes ma'am!" Everyone exclaimed back before resuming their test.

Izuku, Akira, Tokoyami, and Jirou gathered around Momo with Todoroki and Bakugou arriving in only a few short moments. "So do we have a plan?" Bakugou asked. "Or are we going to throw that shit out and raise hell?" His palm was raised and his gauntlet glowed lightly.

"Little bit of both." Momo answered with a smile. "Shoto, Akira, and I will be dealing with Gang Orca down here on the ground." She pointed to the others. "Since you four can fly, you can take Hawks." Everyone nodded at her assessment and readied themselves.

Izuku looked behind him and at the HUC members. 'They're still civilians in this.' His eyes locked on Shindo. "Shindo!" He yelled, getting the brunette's attention. "Get everyone back and make a line of defense!"

The brunette nodded. "On it!" He turned around and started to help move out the HUC members while other examinees began to set up defences.

"Alright, enough dilly-dally." Momo said, large gauntlets covering her fists. "Move out!"

City Area, Cleared Battlegrounds

Todoroki was first to the fight and skid in front of the army before sending a wave of ice towards them. "Sorry, but I can't let any of you get close to the evacuation area." His left arm became covered in fire before glowing. "Prometheus Flame!" A large pillar of flames shot outwards towards the 'villains', making some of them scream.

"Is this all you have?" Gang Orca's voice echoed in Todoroki's ears and the teen's fire dissipated. "A single hero for an army." He scoffed. "I expected more."

Akira flashed in front of the man before sending a kick to his face. The pro hero had blocked it but had still been sent back a fair distance. "Be careful what you wish for." He said with a smile on his face; the large Orca smiled back before he disappeared. "What?"

"Don't get cocky, kid." Gang Orca's voice came from behind Akira and he caught the punch that was sent his way with a small grunt. "Not good enough." The man lifted Akira up before slamming him into the ground and using his soundwaves to throw him away.

Momo watched Akira roll back into a standing position before shrugging. "Alright, my turn!" She shouted, running up to the large 'villain'. "Boom!" The girl put her arms in front of her and two missiles shot out towards their target.

However, instead of being hit, Gang Orca caught the two missiles before facing them upwards and letting them go, sending them into the sky and giving him a badass explosion as he continued to walk up to them. "You'll need more than one person to win this battle." A volley of cement suddenly put the students on the back pedal and Todoroki quickly put up an ice wall. "Because I'm not fighting this alone." Todoroki's ice broke a moment later, courtesy of Gang Orca's soundwaves.

"Neither are they!" Inasa suddenly dropped down next to Todoroki and sent multiple arcs of wind towards the 'villains', blowing them all back. "I am here!" His face had shifted into that of an All Might impressionist before he laughed it off.

"Genesis, go wild." Akira said as he ran up to Todoroki and Inasa. "Just for a bit while I talk to them."

Momo grinned widely and her gauntlets began to steam. "Gladly!" The three boys could hear the steam and rattling of the gauntlet before she rushed forward towards one group of minions and punched the ground. "Boom!" Said ground wasn't ground anymore as a crater took its place and blasted the minions back.

"Alright, you two." Akira said, returning the focus to him. "We can handle the minions, but we'll only be able to do that if you two can confidently say that you can distract Gang Orca."

Inasa nodded immediately. "We'll slow him down plenty!" He yelled passionately.

Todoroki nodded more calmly. "Indeed." And with a more monotone voice.

Akira stared at the two for a few seconds before shrugging. "Good." His arms became covered in gold and his eyes glowed. "Then go!" Without another word, he blitzed over to Momo and kicked away one of the minions. "Woo!"

Inasa turned to Todoroki and smiled. "So… have you ever seen how fire and wind interact?" He asked, his arm flowing with the power of air.

"Can't say I have." Todoroki responded, lifting his left arm. "How about we figure it out." With that said, his arm was sent forward, sending forth a pillar of flames.

"Yes!" Inasa also sent his arm forward, controlling Todoroki's wind around Gang Orca and having it strafe run the pro. "We got this!"

On the receiving side of the fire, Gang Orca took out a water bottle and washed his arms with it. "Interesting tactic, and very powerful." He looked to the left and activated a soundwave, knocking the pillar of fire upwards into the air. "But this is only one step into the realm of the pros." Suddenly, he disappeared.

Above the Evacuation Area

"You're as fast as ever, boys." Hawks said as he easily dodged through Izuku and Tokoyami's attacks. "More power as well."

Izuku was putting out roughly the same amount of One For All as when he and Akira took on the Nomu at the USJ. 'How is this not fast enough?' It didn't seem to be very effective though.

'Come on, Dark Shadow!' Tokoyami thought as he missed another slash. 'Work with me here!'

Dark Shadow huffed as he lifted his host upwards. 'I'm trying!' They both missed the downwards attack. 'He's too damn speedy!' He looked towards Izuku and they both nodded before quickly rushing him at the same time.

The blonde pro regarded his two students with a small laugh. "You two must've forgotten my title." He suddenly flashed out of sight before the two boys had steel-plated soles in their faces. "I'm not called the world's fastest for nothing."

Bakugou flashed towards Hawks with a grin. "I've been waiting to fight someone who can fly for ages." He threw an explosion downwards the moment he was in front of the bird man, sending him over him and giving him a clear shot at Hawks' back. "AP Shot!"

The number two simply rolled sideways and let the blast past him before he was suddenly above Bakugou. "Wow, Yuuei is really showing you guys how to be flexible with your quirks." He kicked the blonde down and went up, dodging a soundwave.

"Our school is only half the reason we're as strong as we are." Jirou said, missing her lariat towards Hawks. "Our reps are always pushing us and inspires us to be the best we can be." She shot herself upwards. "Giving us ideas on how to become stronger, reduce our weaknesses." The girl reached the apex of her flight before flashing downwards. "So we train like hell to honour what they give us!"

Izuku, Tokoyami, and Bakugou had recovered at this point, and took the chance to try and attack Hawks with Jirou. Bakugou rising form the ground, Izuku flying in from the left, Dark Shadow carrying Tokoyami from the right, and Jirou dropping from the sky; they had him cornered.

Despite this, however, Hawks smirked. "That's good." He said as they closed in. "We're the same then." Just before they hit him, he disappeared, causing them all to crash into each other. "Us pros were inspired by All Might." Jirou felt an elbow to her stomach. "He wasn't just a symbol of peace." Izuku and Tokoyami were once more kicked in the face. "He was a symbol of what we could become." Bakugou took a strong knee to his back. "And with his retirement…" The man's feathers crashed into them, pinning them all into the ground. "We've trained like hell to close up the power gap."

Off to the side, Aizawa watched this fight– no, massacre, with no short amount of dismay. 'He's not wrong though.' The tired man thought as he watched his students get up, shrugging off their injuries. 'We need to be stronger, to make sure we can guide you all properly into being pros.'

Hawks suddenly started chuckling as he saw them get up. "Whoops, dropped out of character there." He tilted his head upwards and grabbed his face with one hand. "Try again, heroes." The pillar of flames that rose up behind him made him look like the devil himself.

Cleared Battlegrounds

Todoroki and Inasa had to take a backstep as the ground in front of them was crushed by Gang Orca's punch. "Come now, heroes!" He swung at Inasa, grabbing his cape and throwing him into Todoroki. "Range isn't the only type of battle you are capable of, is it?"

The heterochromatic teen caught his wind friend and instantly sprouted up a wall of ice. "Can you distract him?" He asked, sending more and more ice walls as Gang Orca broke through them all.

"How much time do you need?" Inasa asked, letting the wind around him pick up like a tornado.

Todoroki's left arm became covered in flames while his right side began to switch between freezing over and melting. "As much as you can give me." Rubble around him began to float and flames seemed to appear from mid-air to gravitate around his palm. 'Hope I don't overheat.'

Inasa nodded and his wind pushed him forward like a bullet, smashing him into the number ten. "Fujin Fury!" The large teen was a pure tornado of swinging kicks and strikes, each one letting out a sharp arc of wind.

Gang Orca dodged the majority of them but was still hit by a few. 'So he does have close combat abilities... still.' He caught a fist aimed at his face. "Your moves are telegraphed." The Orca punched the boy in the stomach. "A joke to read."

The wind teen reeled back for a moment before yelling and charged his fist with as much of his quirk as he could. "How's this for a joke?" He sent his fist forward, connecting with the Orca's chest. "Storm Strike!"

Gang Orca, however, was tough. He caught onto the teen's arms and grounded himself, not budging a bit from the punch. "Punchline needs work." The man lifted Inasa by his arm and slammed him into the ground a few times. 'That should be enough.'

Before he could finish off his attack, he saw a flash of gold and Inasa disappeared from his grip. The man didn't even have much time to ponder on that as a large metal fist rocked his face and sent him flying back several feet.

"Nice try, villain!" Momo yelled, her gauntlets rattling and steaming like they were about to break yet holding strong. "But no one hurts our comrades and gets away with it!"

Gang Orca smiled at her. 'This one is the most impressive.' He thought as she engaged him in close combat. 'So much change since the sports festival; such proficiency with her quirk and ferocity in her attacks.' The man blocked a punch and swept at her feet. "You need some bite with your bark."

The onyx-haired girl faced her fist to the ground and her gauntlet shot her above her opponent, narrowly dodging his strike. "I've got plenty of bite!" Her strike was met with one from the 'villain' and the force sent them both back.

"Your attacks won't work at your strength." Gang Orca told her, and it was true; he had only been matching his strength to hers, he wasn't going full out.

"Let me try then." Akira said as he ran past Momo, limbs glowing with golden veins, before jumping towards the 'villain'. "Lotus Paw!" He struck with an open palm, surprising his opponent with his strength as the man had to quickly ground himself.

Gang Orca looked in front of him before smirking. "As expected from someone of your calibre." He started, confusing Akira. "Many pros saw the footage of the USJ invasion, to fight on par with such a monster…" His eyes suddenly squinted. "You need to be a monster yourself." A concentrated soundwave, one much stronger than his others, crashed into Akira and sent him flying back into Inasa. "And I know a thing or two about being one of those."

"Alright, you won that one." Akira admitted, smiling. "So I think I'll let Shoto tag back in."

The pro suddenly remembered the dual-quirk user and turned to him in time to see Todoroki send his fist forward. "Flashfire Fist: Dragon!" A bright dragon of flames shot out of the teen's palm before spiralling towards Gang Orca.

'Damnit.' The man quickly activated his soundwave and fought back against the fire but could slowly feel it pushing towards him. His arms absently went to his belt and he doused himself with water before pushing back against the flames. 'Come on!' But he was still struggling slightly.

"Hey." Momo greeted, standing next to him.

Gang Orca grunted. "Hi." His brain quickly caught up to the situation and for a split second he lost concentration. "Wait what-" A missile to his side made him lose concentration on his soundwave and his quirk let up. The flames of Todoroki crashed into him and sent him back, crashing him into all of his men who had just started to get up.

Above the Evacuation Area

Bakugou had taken a position on the ground and was pounding at Hawks with as many AP shots as he could muster. Luckily for him, his gauntlets had an automatic funnelling system compressing the explosions for him. "Stop flyin' so fast, damnit!" Unluckily, that didn't mean anything when the pro was faster than his attacks.

"Feisty!" Hawks exclaimed as he rushed at Bakugou, flowing through Izuku and Tokoyami like water. "But you're also kind of annoying."

As he got close, Jirou quickly threw herself in front of Bakugou, hands primed on Hawks. "Got you this time you red-winged mosquito." The insult was enough to make him fake falter, which was a really big mistake on his part. "Heartbeat Wall!" A large soundwave crashed into Hawks and sent him back into the air.

Tokoyami immediately took the change once he saw it and slashed at Hawks, sending the pro back into the ground. 'Yes!' He thought with a smile before the 'villain' got back up. 'Now we just have to do that a few more times.'

'That's it!' Izuku thought as he rushed in front of Tokoyami, defending him from their mentor with a hard clap of his hands. 'We've been using precise attacks to fight him, area of effect at close range is best.' He looked at his gauntlets and sighed before they returned to their bracelet form. 'Can't do that with these.'

Bakugou also seemed to realise what Izuku did as his gauntlets powered down. 'Old fashioned way works fine with me.'

The two both rushed forward at the same time, meeting Hawks on his sides. Izuku swept his arm forward, sending forth a flash of wind, while Bakugou sent out a regular explosion. Hawks was able to get out of the way of the explosion, but the wind flash caught him. Bakugou quickly capitalised on this as he used an explosion to get above Hawks and another to knock him downwards.

'There we go.' Tokoyami thought as Dark Shadow carried him underneath the three. "Midnight Claw!" His hand became covered by a very large dark claw and his slash sent Hawks flying.

'Finally!' Jirou's soundwaves had flashed her towards the idle 'villain'. "Flatline!" Her outstretched arm had the blonde pro spinning in the air in one stop. "Legato!" Finishing her combo, she shot herself back to him before letting out a compressed and powerful soundwave.

"My ears!" Hawks exclaimed as he went flying and crashed into a recovering Gang Orca. "Haha, just kidding." He sat up on the other pro's back. "I have headphones."

A large buzzer suddenly went off, stopping all movement across the exam area. "About damn time!" Mera's voice called out. "Both villains are down and all HUC members are out of the danger zones." He explained before letting out a sigh of relief. "I don't care if it seems arbitrary or anything, but this exam has now concluded."

Izuku landed on the ground. "Really?"

Tokoyami landed next to him. "It's over?"

Momo pouted. "It's over."

Bakugou landed next to her with a similar expression.

"We'll have your scores tallied up momentarily." Mera continued. "For now, those who are injured have themselves checked out, and then you can all change back to your school uniforms." He turned around to his subordinates. "Can one of you call the closest hotel and book me a room with their softest bed?"

Announcement Board

"Alright, everyone." Mera said, all hundred students gathered around in front of him. "These scores that you're about to receive are a comprehensive result of observations made by both of us at the Heroes Public Safety Commission, and the H.U.C." He explained. "Your scores weren't based on how well you did, but on how little mistakes you had, and how you rectified the ones you made." His eyes suddenly started fluttering. "Anyway, I'm about to pass out, so I'm just going to put your results on this giant screen and you can all find your names." He turned to his agents. "Oh, and don't forget to hand out their analysis." With that, he revealed their results before his body slumped to the floor.

Two agents grabbed him, seemingly unphased, and picked up his arms and legs before walking away. The other two agents with them bowed to the students before following their comrades.

Results now visible, the students of Class 1A all nervously looked at the bored before they all let out a simultaneous breath of relief.

Jirou pumped her fist. "Yosh!" [Score: 89/100].

Iida smiled widely. "It's there." [Score: 87/100].

Shoji nodded. "I see it." [Score: 81/100].

Uraraka hugged Akira. "We did it!" [Score: 86/100].

Akira hugged back and kissed her. "We sure did." [Score: 91/100].

Sero whooped loudly. "That's what I'm talking about!" [Score: 84/100].

Kaminari high-fived him. "Let's get it!" [Score: 84/100].

Kirishima picked up Bakugou. "Look at that, man!" [Score: 86/100].

Bakugou let himself be picked up with a smile. "You expect a loss, Kiri?" [Score: 88/100].

Ojiro sighed. "Made it." [Score: 79/100].

Hagakure nodded. "Hells yeah!" [Score: 79/100].

Sato flexed and kissed his muscles. "Yes!" [Score: 78/100].

Koda smiled next to him. [Score: 82/100].

Aoyama signed towards his mute friend. "You did great." [Score: 78/100].

"WHOOO!" Momo shouted, shooting a firework into the air. [Score: 94/100].

Tsu croaked happily. "Kero!" [Score: 86/100].

Todoroki silently smiled. [Score: 83/100].

Tokoyami fist bumped Izuku. [Score: 89/100].

Mina jumped into Izuku's arms after he did so. "We did it, Izu!" She grabbed his face and peppered it with kisses. "We got our licenses!" [Score: 83/100].

Izuku smiled widely and laughed heartily. "I didn't even think that would be possible!" His statement got a confused look from his girlfriend. "Look." Seeing it, he pointed to his score.

Izuku Midoriya

Score: 100/100

Mina's eyes widened at the score before she laughed. "Look at my overachiever!" She exclaimed before stealing his lips with a long kiss. "And you were doubting yourself before coming here!"

Izuku blushed madly but his smile was ever present on his face. "Yeah, guess that was pretty stupid." He laughed sheepishly before letting go of Mina to take a piece of paper from an agent. 'Huh?'

A young, dark-skinned woman with frizzy brown hair fading to orange at the bottom meekly took the stage in front of the students. "W-wait, I'm still just an intern-" Her protests failed as the microphone was put in front of her and she internally sighed. "Hello, hero students, I'm Mitsuri." She greeted awkwardly. "I'm here to pass on a message from Mera that he wrote before he fell asleep." The girl pulled out a piece of paper and started reading. "For those who have passed this exam, you now have the ability to act with the same authority heroes do during emergency situations. Fighting villains, saving civilians, general keeping of the peace; these are acts you can out on your own judgement."

A few of the students silently cheered. 'We're becoming semi-pros!'

"However." Mitsuri continued, returning attention to her. "Know that with this power comes a great responsibility to society." She explained, throwing away the paper. "All Might's mere existence was enough to keep crime rates in this country low, but he's expended the last of his power." The students of 1A all stood tall. "There's a power gap now, new villains will appear; you rising heroes need to get stronger to fill in that hole before they can."

Now all the passing students stood tall. Even those who failed the exam clenched their fists and promised themselves to become stronger.

Mitsuri smiled at the conviction she saw flash in their eyes. "I'm going to steal Yuuei's motto for a moment." Everyone else started smiling with her. "And I'm pretty sure all those here have wanted to say this so, all of you, go beyond…"

"Plus ultra!"

Heights Alliance

"What?!" 1A exclaimed at the decorations put up around the common room. "What is this?"

"This…" Toshinori started, making himself known. "Is a celebration party for obtaining your licenses!" He was holding a comically oversized cake in his arms. "Congratulations, young ones, you did great!"

Everyone smiled at each other before eating into the cake and having fun.

"And then I grabbed one by the head and slammed him into the ground!" Momo explained loudly before regaining her composure. "It was very fun."

Ochako nodded. "I didn't really get to test out my weight limit too much." She explained, floating random objects. "But I'm more focused on trying to see if I can control the objects after I've touched them."

Mina created two balls of acid above her palm and they started orbiting each other. "Oh, you mean like this?" She asked, getting a nod from her friend. "I'll tell ya, it wasn't easy; it felt like my brain was going to explode the first time I did it!"

Tsu suddenly disappeared before reappearing next to Hagakure. "Took a while, but I managed to unlock the Frog's ability to camouflage with the environment."

The blue-haired light-bender shook with excitement. "That's so cool! Can you use it in battle yet?" At the nod she received, she squealed. "We could totally be a covert black ops duo!"

Sato lifted up his arm and ate a piece of cake, causing it to bulge up. "I don't know how I never thought of it before." His arm suddenly shrunk back down to normal size. "But Midoriya said if I practice hard enough, I could probably use Sugar Stack across my whole body."

Shoji whistled. "Stacking, huh?" He looked at his own arms. "I think Midoriya had something in my file kind of like that."

Jirou levitated a ball above her hands with her soundwaves. "Compressing them is a lot of work, that's why I got my gauntlets." She explained to Kirishima. "But I want to try do it on my own in case I ever don't have my gear."

The red-haired teen nodded. "I hear you." He hardened his arm and miniscule flakes of black appeared on his skin. "Compressing my hardening is hard, but I need to go even further if I want to be the best I can be."

Sero sighed as he looked at his elbows. "I just feel like I've maxed out my quirk, you know?" He explained to his friends. "At this point all I can do is improve my physical strength, but even that has a limiter."

Kaminari patted the down teen on the shoulder. "Hey, you just got to find more creative ways to use it." He explained, pointing to himself. "Look at me, we thought I wouldn't be able to do more than shoot lightning in every direction at once." His arm crackled with electricity. "Now I'm a speedy human taser."

Tokoyami nodded. "I only achieved flight through the creativity of Midoriya." He explained. "Perhaps go through the files he made again and see if you can find anything."

Sero smiled. "Yeah… I guess you're right." His eyes trailed around the party and he suddenly found he couldn't see forest green. "Hold on, where is Midoriya?"

Outside

"So that's what happened to us." Bakugou said as Izuku finished explaining everything. "A memory quirk when we were kids… and someone managed to take away your quirk."

The greenette nodded. "I still don't know who, or even how for that matter." He smiled. "But it's fine, since I have One For All."

Bakugou barked out a laugh. "I still can't believe this whole give and take quirk business." His laugh died down and he suddenly looked sullen. "…I'm… I'm sorry."

Izuku looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What fo-"

"Don't pull that shit, Zuku." The blonde quickly cut him off, making Izuku's eyes go wide. "I was a piece of shit to you; it doesn't matter if it was because of some memory quirk; those actions were still mine."

Izuku remained silent. 'What do I say?'

"I couldn't handle it; I was weak." Bakugou continued, his voice cracking. "You didn't have a quirk, but you could still kick the ass of anyone who ever tried to bully you, and that potential scared me." His eyes stung hot. "Being told you're the best, that you're destined for great things because of your power, and seeing someone with none climbing up behind you…" The silence was enough that the single tear from Bakugou's eyes could be heard. "I know it's too little too late to even try this." He suddenly looked back up, his swollen red eyes staring into Izuku's. "But… fuck- could you ever forgive me for what I did?"

The greenette didn't say anything, only looking right back into Bakugou's eyes. It wasn't until a few moments passed that he did something, and he wrapped the blonde in a hug. "I've already forgiven you… Kacchan."

That broke the dam for Bakugou and his tears started to pour out. They both stood there, hugging each other for a minute, before separating. "Don't tell anyone about this… especially Kiri or curly." Bakugou suddenly said, wiping away his tears.

"Too late." Akira's voice called from behind them. "Gotta say, that was a much overdue apology." His comment made the blonde drop his head and he walked up to him. "Look at me." The teen was telling rather than asking. After his request was met, he slapped Bakugou across the face.

"Akira!" Izuku yelled. "What was-"

"I forgive you." The black-haired teen cut Izuku off, smiling widely. "I've just been wanting to do that for ages."

Bakugou smiled at him and rubbed his cheek. "Alright, that's actually a lot less than what I deserve."

"Understatement." Akira said, waving him off. "But… I think it's time we let the past be the past." He turned back to the dorms. "This is where we can start over… let's not waste it and go back inside."

Izuku and Bakugou smiled before walking up next to him. "Yeah, let's."

As the three walked back inside, they missed a certain blonde disappearing into the ground. 'My kouhai are so mature!' He thought. 'I can't wait to fight them!'