Izuku wasn't sure how she was going to feel stepping through the gates of Japan's most prestigious, and effective, Her School, but if she had to guess beforehand, it would have been nervousness.
And sure enough, there was some of that too. As she looked around, she felt daunted, and intimidated… But she also felt a level of confidence that was… Almost Alien to her.
The fact was, she was NOT helpless now, and that made all the difference in the world.
She had Power, and she knew what said powers were.
Compared to the feeling of being helpless, of being exposed, of feeling like she had no agency or ability to affect the world around her, it was the difference between the earth and the heavens.
It would probably be a bit less fine once she had to activate it, but for now, she was able to ignore the thoughts of how she would react to having to activate her powers in front of other people, as she stepped through Yuei's gates, and began just taking in the sights of this amazing school that had produced so many Heroes over the years.
Around her, other students walked as well, some who would go on to change the world, some who would fail spectacularly and give up on their ambitions altogether, some who would have to learn to deal with failure and grow from it, and others who would move on into obscurity despite success this early in life.
I
"Oh… My… God… It's the Voice Hero Present Mic."
"Isn't He that guy behind that show you listen to each Sunday?"
"Yes…"
Her voice was low, yet high pitched, her hands up to her mouth as she squealed like the teenage girl she was, looking more like some teenager meeting some pretty boy idol for the first time, rather than seated inside a parliamentary hall, being seated behind a desk on a layer about 9 layers up from the podium at the bottom where the Pro Hero Present Mic was currently arraying himself behind a speaker podium.
"I recall that one. It's the one that basically says you should solve all your mundane problems with music, isn't it? Is such a man really capable of teaching us the art of battle?"
Izuku was about to answer when suddenly Mic took the word and enthusiastically yelled out in English.
"Welcome to today's LIVE PERFORMANCE! Everybody say HEEEYYY!"
It was an awkward way to greet a hall of teenagers, most of whom did not speak said language.
It was made even more awkward by the fact that one of the students, a tall, older-looking boy with dark blue hair, and glasses, seated two levels in front of Izuku actually answered, yelling out "HEY." In a very loud but monotone voice.
Making it even more awkward, was that once he was done, he retained the serious, but stoic look he'd had before the outburst as if nothing had happened.
Present Mic though grinned, as the teacher obviously took it in stride that a grand total of one student had answered him.
Instead, he pointed at Iida specifically as he continued.
"ARE YOU READY!?"
The blue boy responded anew, just as stoically as he had the first time, keeping his serious expression on the entire time.
"YES. I POSITIVELY AM!"
"That one is either a teacher's pet… Or he has zero ability to read the room."
"I think… It's probably the latter? I mean… I wouldn't have minded yelling, but… It kinda took me by surprise… I mean…"
She was cut off though, by Present Mic continuing.
"Alrighty, then my examinee takers! I am here to present the guidelines for your Practical Exam! ARE. YOU. READY!?"
Despite her words, Izuku did not yell out, instead leaving the bespeckled blue-haired boy to yell out "YEAH!" in the same loud, but stoic manner he'd yellowed out the previous times.
The sheer contrast between Mic's booming voice, and the singular student who for whatever reason had decided to answer him, could not have been a more pathetic flop if it tried. As hundreds of teenagers just stared at Mic, or at the blue-haired, serious boy.
"He really needs to let it go. This is just sad."
In sharp contrast to her beloved suit's comment, Mic instead just seemed to get more enthusiastic, as his proclamations took another level in volume.
"THIS IS HOW THE TEST WILL GO, MY LISTENERS! YOU'LL BE EXPERIENCING TEN-MINUTE LONG" "MOCK CITYSCAPE MANEUVERS!" BRING ALONG WHATEVER YOU WANT! AFTER THIS PRESENTATION, YOU'LL EACH HEAD TO YOUR ASSIGNED TESTING LOCATION!"
Behind him, a giant basic, simplistic map flashed up on the screen, showing their current location, and a whole host of branches with the ends designated with a letter from A to G.
"EACH SITE IS FILLED WITH 3 KINDS OF FAUX VILLAINS!"
Behind him, the holographic map flashed, turning into simplified images of cities, along with larger black shapes of what were clearly Mario characters, just inked out to not show any color beyond the outline. Besides each figure, was a = and a number behind it, from 1 to 3.
"POINTS ARE AWARDED FOR DEFEATING EACH OF THESE, EACH ACCORDING TO THEIR RESPECTIVE DIFFICULTY LEVEL! USE YOUR QUIRKS TO DISABLE THESE VILLAINS AND EARN POINTS! AND THAT'S THE GOAL, MY DEAR LISTENERS!"
Izuku had figured as much just by looking at the shapes and was taking another look at the pamphlet handout she'd be given showcasing each of these "faux villains", muttering as she usually did when she considered things, only for the strange, blue-haired guy to suddenly say something else, while everyone else was silent.
"MAY I ASK A QUESTION?"
Present Mic. In turn, gave a thumbs up and a grin, signaling that the boy could indeed ask a question.
"THERE APPEARS TO BE NO FEWER THAN FOUR FAUX VILLAINS ON THIS HANDOUT WE WERE GIVEN! SUCH AN ERROR, IF IT IS ONE, IS HIGHLY UNBECOMING OF YUEI, JAPAN'S TOP HERO ACADEMY!"
Izuku nodded, having wondered somewhat herself about the discrepancy in numbers.
"WE ARE ALL HERE TODAY, IN THE HOPES OF BEING MOLDED INTO MODEL HEROES!"
It was all sensible stuff to ask about… Right up until he finished that questioning by turning around and calling her out specifically.
"AND YOU, THE GIRL WITH THE CURLY HAIR!"
Izuku froze in his seat upon being called out, as the tall boy glared at her.
"You've been muttering this whole time… It's distracting! If this is some sort of game to you, please leave immediately."
Izuku immediately froze, her cheeks going absolutely beet red as everyone's attention suddenly shifted from the boy to her.
It was astonishing just how quickly she withered under the glances and snickering from everyone around her.
Memories of the past came unbidden to her mind, and it suddenly was like she was back in the old schoolroom, surrounded by people who put down her every wish, desire or action.
It was the same really. One single person who called her out, and everyone else followed suit.
Well, almost everyone.
"Fuck that nosy guy! Who is he to meddle in OUR business!"
Present Mic also did not follow up on the comment the blue-haired boy had made about her, instead replying to his question.
"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT! NICE CATCH EXAMINEE 7111! THE FOURTH VILLAIN AWARDS ZERO POINTS! HE IS INSTEAD MEANT AS AN OBSTACLE! HAS ANYONE OF YOU KIDDOS EVER PLAYED THE OLD RETRO SUPER MARIO FRANCHISE!? YOU CAN THINK OF THE FOURTH VILLAIN AS A "TWOMP"! THERE'S ONLY GONNA BE ONE AT EACH SITE, AND IT WILL RAMPAGE AROUND A BIT INTO THE EXAM!"
A bit of murmuring from the gathered examinees followed that, as various comments comparing it to a videogame flew around the room, while the blue-haired boy apologized for his presumptions before Present Mic continued.
"THAT'S ALL FROM ME! BUT I'LL LEAVE MY LISTENERS WITH OUR SCHOOL MOTTO! THE GREAT HERO NAPOLEON BONAPARTE ONCE SAID… TRUE HEROISM CONSISTS OF BEING SUPERIOR TO THE ILLS OF LIFE! PLUS ULTRA! BREAK A LEG, EVERYBODY!"
Izulu felt a bang of excitement at the famous words, and their meaning. To go further, and beyond… Fuku however, focused on something else.
"Wait, Napoleon? Didn't he wage wars that killed millions of people and leave Europe in ashes? How is a man such as that a Hero?"
Izuku was momentarily taken aback by the question as everyone around them started to get up from their seats and move out of the hall.
She considered it. She wasn't exactly that well-read on ancient history that took place half a millennium ago, much less stuff that happened in Europe.
"I… Guess… It could be from one of the other Napoleon Bonaparte's? His descendants did restore order in France during the societal collapse you know."
That was her best guess anyway.
It was also hilariously wrong, as she would come to learn for herself.
I
As she found herself waiting in an open field in front of a large, fake mock city alongside everyone else, the reality of it all began to set in for Izuku.
The task ahead of her was… Terrifying.
She had absolutely no doubt she had the power to do this and pass, and probably with flying colors too.
The simple fact was she was way too knowledgeable about Quirks, and how they stacked up compared to her own powers to not understand what sort of advantages she had.
In terms of strength, even at her current, lower level, she was way above most Strength Quirks.
Hell, even if she didn't have that to rely on, she had another Ace in her sleeve to deal with the non-living robots.
Unfortunately, this was not, in any way, about her offensive capacity.
It was instead about the fact she would need to activate her powers, for the first time, in front of dozens and dozens of people, none of whom she knew.
It was an… Absolutely horrifying prospect.
Her worries and thoughts, however, were cut short as she noticed a familiar face amongst all these strangers.
Mei, wearing her usual expression, was standing over not too far away, doing some last-minute fine-tuning on some sort of high-tech gauntlet she was wearing.
She had seemingly not noticed Izuku at all, instead having put all her attention into her gauntlet.
She quickly turned to walk over to talk to her, though she was still utterly wrecked by shaking and bad nerves.
However, she didn't manage to reach over halfway over, before suddenly a strong, powerful hand closed around her shoulder, bringing her to a halt.
"That girl is obviously doing some sort of pre-preparation before the battle!"
It was the tall guy with blue hair.
Izuku immediately froze.
"The hell does he want now?"
The blue boy leveled a cold glare at her.
"Walking over at her with such clear nervousness and shiftiness! What were you planning to do? Interfere with her, in order to sabotage her chances?!"
Izuku turned away from Mei completely to face the taller boy, feeling an immediate bit of panic setting in. She really did not need this right now.
"NO, no of course not…"
The boy looked down on her, obviously not convinced.
"WHY are you here?"
"...What? I'm Here to-"
"You jump away at the slightest opposition, flinch the moment someone so much as speaks to you, and from what I can tell, you have not the slightest backbone. Are any of these "qualities" something a Hero should possess?"
As the boy talked, he intertwined his arms in a tough guy's pose as he looked down at her, judgingly.
His words hit way, way harder than he probably intended, and to make matters worse, a lot of the people around them also turned to look, and she could hear the snickering begin.
She suddenly felt… Small.
"What sort of madness would lead one such to seek out this path? You are clearly not fit for this kind of work, regardless of what those around you might have suggested, or tried to put into your head. Whether it be friends or parents, or-"
"Oh, her parents raised her quite well, I'd say. In sharp contrast to yours."
Izuku was saved, as Mei stepped up between them.
Izuku felt a smile come to her lips as Mei placed herself between Izuku and the boy, still tuning her gauntlet, though now she wasn't looking at it anymore.
Instead, all her attention was focused on the boy.
The boy was taken aback.
"My parents raised me quite well! They are excellent people and great heroes!"
Mei didn't blink an eye.
"Is that so? Well in my experience, nine times out of ten, when a kid turns out with personality defects, it is because of bad parenting. Which if your assessments are true, can only lead me to assume that your tendency to heedlessly and ignorantly butt into places you are not wanted, and relationships you know nothing about, is a personal defect of yourself, rather than something you picked up through nurture."
The boy was obviously confused.
"Wait… You're calling me a natural-born ruffian!"
"No, a ruffian would imply you're naturally incapable or unwilling to listen when people speak, which you clearly are not. No, I'm saying you're a natural-born asshole."
The gathered crowd around then had gone quiet, as everyone, Izuku included had suddenly found their attention grabbed by the confrontation between the pink-haired girl, and the blue-haired boy.
Izuku for her own part felt… Relief would be the word.
Sheer, utter relief that someone was taking her side. Someone made the choice to stand by her… Even if she didn't quite agree with Mei's rather harsh words, it was nice beyond words to… Have a Friend who would stick up for you.
She hadn't had one of those since… well she never had.
"AND BEGIN."
The out of nowhere words from Mic made everyone, boy, girl, or living piece of clothing, freeze, and turn around to look at him where he was standing on a building overlooking them all.
"WHAT'S WRONG? THE TEST STARTED! RUN, RUN! THE DIE IS CAST!"
"Huh…"
"Later Izuku-Sama!"
Izuku turned to look, only for the sight and sound of absolutely everyone else suddenly taking off leaving her behind as a mass of teenagers made their way toward the mock city as fast as their legs could possibly make it.
"We really should get going as well, I think."
Reality shot through her mind like a lightning bolt as she panicked and began taking off after the larger crowd.
Shit, shit, shit!
The entire thing with Mei and the Boy had completely distracted her from why she was actually here.
"So how do we go about this? Full in, and guns blazing in a spectacular manner, leaving everyone's jaws hanging on the floor!?"
It was a good question.
She considered it as she ran behind the larger crowd.
They only had a limited amount of time, so they couldn't exactly do this in a calm manner, where they picked and choose their battles, transforming and detransforming while she was out of sight so she didn't have to put it all on display for…
An idea struck her.
"Actually… Yeah, we ARE gonna go all out, guns blazing… But not so everyone can see us."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means… We're gonna be using a lot of blood."
After all, this would not be a fight of endurance.
"Don't heal the bite wound okay? We're gonna need the extra power for the entire thing."
Izuku held off transforming until she reached the entrance, after making sure to give everyone a very comfortable, and even wider lead.
Teeth found the flesh of an arm, and in an explosion of teeth and various other things, Izuku emerged from the transformation, ready for combat!
Several of the other contestants turned their heads back around to look due to the light and sounds… But by the time they did, Izuku was long, long gone.
In a burst of blood-enhanced power and speed, she had taken off to the left, passing several other contestants who had done the same, and zooming past them with a speed difficult to see, slamming into and through various robots on the way, the metal machines bursting into pieces of steel and broken circuits as she just kept going.
I
In a dark room, a varied group of adults was watching various holographic screens that showcased various teenagers going all out on their entrance exam.
Many of them made various bits of Smalltalk with each other, bits of speculation on how various contestants would fare, and speculating on which teacher would get which students after it was all said and done.
Several of the teachers, though, were focusing on very specific students.
A sickly, emaciated-looking blonde man, with limbs like twigs and deep sunken in eyes, focused all his attention on a blonde bespeckled girl with equally blond hair and piercing blue eyes.
The girl in question seemed to have been blessed with a super-strength Quirk that occasionally produced bursts of electrical currents or at least something that looked like small bolts of colorful lightning.
Another of the teachers was also focusing on specific prospective students.
He was a slovenly dressed man, with a mane of unkempt blue hair, with large sunglasses covering his thoroughly laid back and unenthusiastic face.
The students he was focusing on were firstly a young girl with pink hair, running around with a strange steampunk-looking gauntlet smashing robots on both range and up close.
And as for the other one…
"Finally! My kind of student! Oh, it's been too long!"
"You're not one of the assigned teachers for this year's new classes Nemuri."
"I know! Ugh, such a pain… But I guess it'll be up to Vlad or Shota to teach her to make use of her outfit."
One of the two men in question, sighed, while the other one scratched his head.
"Damn… Not really something I've got experience in. That's more you and Mikisugi's ballpark."
It continued on for a bit longer, before a strange mouselike creature the size of a small dog, announced it was time to take things up a notch, and gave orders to push a button, to see how the various teenagers reacted to having the fear of god put into them.
Then, with a single push of a button, various behemoths of metal woke to life.
I
Izuku panted.
It was… Hard to think.
"Think… Think that was enough?"
"It better be! We broke over 60 of those things!"
In front of her, a large-scale battle was now taking place as the various students were fighting a ton of the various robots that she had not destroyed.
Her blitzkrieg idea had worked pretty well.
She had obliterated so, sooo many robots… And she had managed not to let her crippling fear of having to perform in her transformed state get the best of her at this most critical moment that would determine her future.
Yes, it had been a smart move… Of course, there was a rather obvious drawback.
That drawback was that now, 5 minutes left, she was utterly drained of blood, depowered, and unable to do much, other than lean up against a wall and try not to fall on her face.
At least she didn't have to worry about being attacked by the robots, as absolutely everyone there seemed absolutely determined to obliterate every single one of them that showed up.
She thought a lot of the people there were giving her aside glances, but it was kinda hard to be sure given how her vision was so unfocused.
She supposed she had to be looking kinda pathetic, completely drained and staggering as she was like she'd taken a blow to the head.
At the moment though, she didn't focus on that, instead focusing on just holding on for 5 more minutes. 5 more minutes, then she could rest.
She didn't know how this would turn out if she did go unconscious. Would she fail regardless of her points? Be disqualified?
She didn't know. Best not to gamble and find out.
At least, that was her plan.
Then, the battles in front of her, the massive amount of movement, the struggles of a dozen superpowered teenagers, all came to a screeching halt as everything SHOOK and to her right, a huge behemoth of metal emerged as if from nowhere and flat out toppled a building just by leaning a hand on it as it moved.
The "Twomph" had arrived.
Everyone froze in fear… Then began running in the opposite direction, some in panic and with a scream upon their lips, and some more stoically.
Izuku for her part stood in complete fear far, far longer than anyone else.
In her lighthearted state, the monster, several stories tall, looked even MORE horrifyingly massive than it actually was.
It was a mountain of a creature that moved forward, slowly, but surely, and with every step the world itself shook to it's core!
"Common, it's time to move Izuku! Get your legs in motion, girl!"
She tried to. She really did.
Then she fell straight on her face.
Immediate pain flared through the pain as blood poured from her nose.
Shit… She tried to get up, to get up and moved, only to stumble again as she fell over panting.
Then the world shook again.
Fear, terror, despair.
All of those danced through her muddled mind in that moment, as she clawed her way forward, too disoriented to stand upright, but still wanting to LIVE!
"Help… Somebody…"
She froze.
Then looked behind her.
There, a bit off from where she was crawling, someone else was lying in the rubble, much, MUCH closer to the machine as it walked forward.
She did not see exactly what was wrong with him, but he didn't seem to be able to move. To escape.
He needed help.
She didn't think.
The broken nose came into contact with her father's legacy, and… POWER once more flowed through her.
When cognitive thought returned to her, she found herself in the air, her legs having thrown her there on their own.
All the way up to the monster's face.
She SLAMMED her fist right into it and sent it REELING backward, crashing into the street below.
She hit the ground on her feet, the power still flaring through her.
Then she turned.
The sheer impact of the blow had sent her backward a bit from the pushback of it, so as she turned around, she was now right by the person that couldn't move.
"Are you alright?"
The person, a lanky boy with fuzzy purple hair, just stared at her, and she noticed a stone over one of his legs.
She quickly bent down, and with no effort at all, she lifted it up and threw it to the side.
Strangely enough, all that she could hear was silence.
She turned, now looking towards the direction where the rest of the crew had been running away, where those who hadn't gotten too far away had now turned and were looking at her with gaping jaws, and shocked expressions.
"Seems we made their jaws hit the floor after all!"
Izuku blinked. Then she realized that she was currently wearing her transformed suit.
The power vanished in a heartbeat, and the clarity of her mind vanished with it, her brain immediately becoming complete mud once again.
The immediate shame though… That did manage to hit through the fog, and as she finally passed out, her last coherent thought was how bloody embarrassing she felt.
I
Mei, who had been making her way back towards Izuku caught her as she collapsed.
Then, with a bit of strength that beguiled her appearance, she quickly hefted the girl on her back.
"Wait…"
The guy on the concrete floor forced himself up into a sitting position.
Mei however, did not wait or try and find out what he wanted to say, instead moving down the road, between the shocked people around her, until finally, the loudspeakers announced the declaration that the test was over.
Finally! Now she only had to find the resident miracle healer, and leave Izuku in her care.
Then she would have to seek out her sensei.
There was a lot to talk about… At least provided that she had in fact succeeded in passing the test with the very dubiously technically legal gauntlet she had brought for this test.
It broke no rules, but it was absolutely not in the spirits of things.
I
It was not usual that one of the "Obstacles" would be destroyed during the original test.
Usually, on average, there would be one prospective student who tried to destroy it. Sometimes they succeeded.
It was quite the rarity though, for not none of them, but two of the robots to be destroyed.
Melissa Shield looked her busted high-tech gauntlet over as she stood atop the wreckage of the machine.
"Too much power in the blow… Gonna have to get better at that."
As she jumped down from the wreckage in several jumps from one bit of broken machinery to the next, she ignored the shocked reactions of everyone around her, instead making her way over to the girl that had been the reason for this assault.
She was brown-haired, with a couple of pink marks on her cheeks.
"You okay?"
She held out a hand to help her to her feet.
"Y-yeah… Thank you."
She grinned.
Just like Uncle All Might.
Smile to keep everyone around at ease, safe, and calm.