Hikanzi looked around the dark room as he floated through it, not knowing what to make of this bizarre place. It was pitch black save for a few small sparks that would float by him and swirl as he continued his descent into this void. As he continued to fall a voice suddenly called out "PLUS ULTRA!" as the void began to shake violently.
Hikanzi woke with a start and a yawn. As his room came into view, he managed to make out the TV he'd left on playing something. As vision returned to him after being pulled from his dreams, he could make out the UA High School logo on the screen. Hikanzi grasped in the dark to find the remote as he chided himself silently for leaving the television on again. The hero Present Mic shouted while Hikanzi continued his search.
"LET'S HEAR OUR GREAT SCHOOL'S MONTRA ONE MORE TIME LISTENERS!" The TV rang out before the group of students on the screen let out a "PLUS ULTRA!" before being silence as Hikanzi hit the off button on his newly retrieve remote. With a stretch, he looked to his clock and saw the time read 4:30 AM. Hikanzi cursed himself and UA's ad as he lay back down and close his eyes to make another attempt at a good night's sleep.
Hikanzi's eyes opened once more, only this time he looked upon himself at the age of four. He cocked his head to the side as the young him walked home with a book in his hands, not watching the road as he started to cross during a red light. It was then that Hikanzi saw the red car swerving and speeding down the road before wrenching to the right and barreling towards the small Hikanzi. The young man reached out and screamed at the young projection of himself. "GET OUT OF THE STREET! MOVE!" to no avail, his warning had gone unheard. Hikanzi kept screaming at himself only to awaken to a "THUD!" as his body hit the floor. As the boy stood up with in a daze from the sudden and rude awakening, he saw his clock flashing and 8:00 AM at him. A second later his hearing adjusted and he heard the blaring of his alarm clock as it slowly registered with the newly awakened boy that he was about to be late for the UA entrance exams. Hikanzi moved in nearly a blur as he ran through the house to shower, eat, dress, and leave towards the train station so that he might have the chance to make it to UA in time. As he left the house Hikanzi managed to get a quick glance at himself in the mirror. His brown hair fell messily as usual, one bang almost covering one eye while he wore a black hooded jacket over a red t-shirt. He wore a pair of black pants with some black combat boots as well while he booked it down the street. The boy barely made it to the train in time as it peeled off and towards UA High.
A few minutes passed as Hikanzi managed to catch his breath while he leaned against a wall. He noticed a girl using her phone across from him and he blushed slightly, thinking she was rather cute. Before he could look away from her, the girl raised her head from her phone to look straight at him, and she wasn't pleased. The girl gave him and angry stare to which Hikanzi responded with a look to the side and some nervous fidgeting. He could tell out of the corner of his eye that she had stifled a laugh before looking down at her phone once more. After a few minutes, he looked back in that direction but made sure to avoid the wrathful girl that stood across from him. From what Hikanzi had seen during the brief stare was that she was tall, had red hair, and didn't liked to be looked at.
A few stops went by before the train reached the part of its schedule where it went through a few unsavory neighborhoods. Hikanzi swayed back and forth, the train was nearly empty except for himself and the girl as they had passed the business district. At one of the stops, a thuggish group of what seemed to be young adults or teens strolled into the train. The group quickly made their way to the girl in the corner and began to "flirt" with the girl, if one could call cheesy pick-up lines and bad attempts at showing off flirting, while she showed no interest in the shady bunch. One of them grabbed her hand in a swift movement and she yelped at his touch. Hikanzi, up to that point, had been folded into the corner so as to not start a fight with the group. The second she yelped, Hikanzi hesitated to step forward, he couldn't tell if it was fear or selfishness, but he didn't take that step forward to help her.
"GOD! ARGH!" screamed the thug who'd grabbed angry-phone girl as his shirt caught fire. Hikanzi nervously watched as the girl who had been grabbed's hand smoked. "Which of you jerkwads is next?" she questioned as a blue flame ignited in her palm. The group of brutes looked to each other before scrambling away from her and towards the door as the train pulled to a stop. The girl only chuckled to herself as she picked up her phone and exited the train. Hikanzi looked to the little text screen at the front of the car and realized they had reached his stop. He stumbled as he left the train and made for the stairs. He brushed past the girl as he made a b-line for UA with only the exams in mind. After a few minutes of running, he slid to a stop in front of the school's gates while this year's batch of examinees walked into the building for orientation. Hikanzi joined them and got him number before making his way to the seat. He listened to Present Mic, the school's presenter, explain the rules of the physical exam and the concept behind what they'd be doing. Hikanzi had taken the written exam already, turning it online so he wouldn't have to sit in a class room of quiet for a while after finishing before time was called. He spent the time while others took the written exam studying up on various school subjects, his A B average wasn't going to keep itself up after all.
An hour and a half went by before the building let out the students who hadn't taken the exams previous and they were quickly put into what looked like random groups. Hikanzi was quickly taken to a fake city with his group, something the school had set up for the exams, and studied the people around him. As he scanned the crowd he quickly made eye contact with the girl from before, the two of them locking eyes as she had a look of shock to mirror Hikanzi's as they spent a second looking to each other. She quickly grimaced at him before turning and disappearing into the crowd of people. Hikanzi took a few moments to snap back to reality as he shook off the unexpected bewilderment from meeting up with the girl again here. As he continued to look around the area, he noticed a few people with special equipment and wondered what they did. It was during this pondering that a loud voice carried over to them. "GO, GO, GO! THERE IS NO WARNING IN REAL LIFE, GET STARTED LISTENERS!" Present Mic was standing on the wall near their group and pointing inside as the doors opened. Hikanzi followed suit with the rest of the group as they bolted inside of the faux city.
He quickly ducked out of the large fight going on in the city's square as kids jumped side to side and shot off their quirks to take down the robotic monsters as well as earn points. He moved into the ally of one of the buildings only to hear a loud crash as one of the robots bolted into the area behind him with its fists raised to pound Hikanzi into the group. Hikanzi whipped around as he tripped, falling to the floor in the process, as he screamed in terror. Hikanzi was screaming in his own head to get up and fight the things, but something held him back. Then, just before the creature could begin its slam attack, a loud "THOOM" could be heard before being followed by some crackles as the machine fell backwards. Hikanzi looked past the smoldering robot to see the girl from the train smirking at him. "Are you actually going to fight these things or are you going to keep sitting there cowering like a baby?" She called to him before turning and jumping back into the fray. Hikanzi sat there for a moment before standing up and running outside of the narrow path and into another open street. He made his way through the streets as he looked for points, only to have the same girl from before shoot past him with blue flames blazing behind her. "Try to keep up!" She yelled as she rocketed into a large group of three-pointer robots. Hikanzi quickly counted them and began to think of a strategy to avoid the group before he saw one robot manage to snag the girl mid-air and slam her into the floor. Hikanzi froze as he watched her body, the girl squirming and gasping as the creature lifted and slammed her again. Hikanzi kept staring as timed seemed to slow down while his vision faded for just a second.
Hikanzi's vision came back to him as he stood where he had before, watching his younger self walk in the road as the car swerved and weaved towards him. As it would've hit him, a loud crash rang out, only for the hero All Might to be clutching the hood whilst standing in front of a now of the floor Hikanzi. All Might looked back to the boy and smiled at him. "Always make sure to look before you cross little one!" He said before opening the car door by ripping it off its hinges. He wrenched the driver, a man who reeked of alcohol, from the seat and began to berate him. The young Hikanzi stared up in awe at the hero, wanting to be like him and help others.
Hikanzi's vision then shifted a bit forward to a scene he was all too familiar with. A slightly older Hikanzi, looking to be about seven or eight now, walked home through the rain swinging a play sword. Hikanzi grimaced as his younger self stopped at the parking lot of the grocery store, looking in on a few teenagers laying into another one. Hikanzi quietly whispered a "No…" as the younger version of himself lock eyes with the boy on the ground before running into the parking lot and attempting to help the guy on the floor. Hikanzi was still young and didn't know better, so the moment he hit a teenager with the sword he was taken down. The teens began to lay into him as well as the other teen, seeming to increase the beating from Hikanzi's interference. Hikanzi gritted his teeth as he could hear his own whimpers while he was beaten on by the group, that same familiar terror filling him again.
Hikanzi snapped back from his daydream as he looked at the girl get lifted and slammed for a third time, looking at him. Hikanzi locked eyes with the girl as her face gave into pain and terror. Before Hikanzi knew what was happening, he was running towards her with a war cry. The girl let out a small "Wait." as Hikanzi's legs carried him towards her. The robot holding the girl dropped her as it locked its sights on Hikanzi and began to roll towards him. It reeled its arm back and went for a hard punch at Hikanzi, only to have Hikanzi slide under the punch. With a yell, Hikanzi raise his arm up and opened his palm. The moment he did so, magma launched forward from his hand. The liquid rock ate through the automaton's armor and wiring quickly, severing the arm from the machine as Hikanzi blasted three more shots into its chest. The magma ate away at the robot, leaving it a steaming pile on the floor in a matter of seconds. Hikanzi then proceeded to take down the other two robots as he burned through them with his magma, leaving ten piles of bubbling robot once he was done. Hikanzi panted, out of breath from the movement and intense use of his quirk as he looked back to see the angry-phone girl, only to notice she'd seemingly recovered and run off. Hikanzi looked down at his hands while he wondered what had come over him, looking around at the other examinees who'd made their way to this area while they took down the robots. He quickly snapped out of it and moved towards more of the robots, a newfound courage awakened within him.
Hey everyone, so I hope this was better than my last attempt at this chapter. I'm not entirely happy with how this turned out, so please leave your criticisms in the reviews section! I love to hear what you guys think and want to know how I can improve as a writer to make the story more enjoyable for you to read as well as for me to write!