"Okay, start!"

Nobody expected what came next, the crowd of potential future students of the UA hero course stood there dumbfounded. As soon as Present Mic uttered those two words only two things were obvious.

A large number of explosions rang out from the left, Katsuki unleashed every sweat-turned-nitroglycerin detonating in quick succession. The thunderous symphony of pure explosive might propelled him to great speed, heading for the villain robots in the center.

On the right lay the remnants of ice already melting away as Ayaka used a combination of generating ice behind her feet and sliding across with less friction. The soles of her feet avoided the rough ground as pressurized ice expanded and appeared in between the asphalt below her, giving her more movement.

They were neck and neck at the start but Katsuki's pure propulsion from explosions outpaced her own ice sliding aided by the production of ice pushing her forward. They both raced to separate groups of clumped-up Villain robots. Katsuki opened his palms as Ayaka grasped her katana and prepared to fight and destroy as much as they could to gain points.

The robots towered over any average person, easily dwarfing them in height, weight, and pure strength. Formidable to the uninitiated but for Ayaka, it was like any other task she could overcome. She always will, she thought in her mind.

The green-painted metallic frames of the robots shined as their red lens darted around to track Ayaka but when they prepared to fight, they lost track of Ayaka who suddenly turned into ice and sank to the ground.

Ayaka reemerged from the ground with a frost-empowered katana in her scabbard. Only a single glint from her sword was seen as she hastily pulled it out and clicked it back into place. She returns to her slide and continues on. The robots behind her split in half seemingly out of nowhere as she speeds off into another crowd of Villain Bots.

She rounds the corner and sees a boy with purple spheres acting as the hair on his head trying to stick his balls all over the Villain Bots (Heh). He was running, a short midget the size of maybe up to her knees, ran away as he desperately tried using his quirk while panting heavily.

Ayaka went into action, fearing for his life, and slid her way into the front of the bots and wanted to unleash a glacier to destroy the bots and encase them in ice. She felt warmth from her back as she visualized her attack.

"Glacier!"

Ice expanded on top of each other, the pressure pushing the ice further and further as it rapidly spiked outwards and impaled the robots before freezing them in a building-sized construct of ice.

She sighed and looked toward the midget with balls for hair. 'Why is he panting even more?'

She wanted to let him know that she wanted to help and ask if he was okay since he's been breathing harder and harder the whole time. Unbeknownst to Ayaka, the midget was not breathing heavily because he was panicking but because he caught a small glimpse of Ayaka's thighs before engrossing himself in vile fantasies.

Ayaka left him there before going on her way to another part of the city. There she saw several three-pointers moving around as a group. She descended once more to the ground before stopping short of the Villain Bots' vision.

They whirred into action, their mechanical parts resounding as they made their way toward Ayaka who stood still before lifting her katana. She took a deep breath as they approached and uttered the phrase that she mentally assigned to her attack.

"Kamisato Art: Soumetsu!"

Her katana shone a light blue, deconstructing into ice that shattered and flaked across her face, the cold emanated from her elemental burst surged forward and released a spiraling tide of snow and hail.

The Villain Bots saw the storm that was approaching, provoking black clouds in isolation. Its circuits died down as the freezing air finally froze through its core. The metal screamed and groaned from the shard of sharp ice ripping away at its armor. it stood no chance from the elemental burst, one lone three-pointer lay with its vision still active but fading, it saw Ayaka sliding away as if the destruction didn't faze her concentration.

In a room full of monitors, teachers and judges alike looked toward the displays with their full attention. All of them smiled and nodded as they saw the more interesting students going around the city.

A voice came from a small figure. "In this practical exam, the number and location of the Villains are undisclosed. The short time limit and large field help to draw out the ability to quickly gather information, the mobility to respond to different situations, the discernment to stay calm under any circumstance, and pure combat ability. These basic qualities needed for the city's peace are measured by this point system."

The points were stacked high on the number counter. They saw rankings quickly establishing with Ayaka and Katsuki both neck and neck, far ahead of the other participants who could barely catch up to how many they were destroying.

Blown-up bits of metal were strewn around a street with Katsuki still raring to go, his quirk in full force. He ascended to the air and went for the killing blow, using up most of his time scouting with his quirk and destroying them in a single explosion.

On the other hand, ice was left to stand still in the sweltering sun, and statues of once-operating Villain Bots serve as a reminder for the rest of the examinees that they were outmatched.

Some were sliced in half, others were viciously torn apart by a simulated barrage of blizzards one after the other, and many were simply put down with only a flick of Ayaka's wrist.

Yet, despite their differences in approach, both Ayaka and Katsuki were no pushovers and the judges could see that.

But what caught most of their attention was that, unlike Katsuki, Ayaka had already saved some people who were too daring and desperate to gain points. One such boy had scales on his arms but took a fight with a two-pointer and a one-pointer at the same time.

Ayaka had already spotted several other bots that she could spend time on instead of rescuing the boy but she didn't even hesitate to kill the robot ambushing the boy from behind. She let the boy take on the two-pointer by himself afterward and Ayaka sped off.

Nezu, a dog or a mouse or a bear or a rat but most importantly the principal, was chuckling to himself and was staring intently at the screen. Mostly paying attention to Ayaka and what she was doing.

'Toshinori might've trained someone too troublesome for us to include. Talented that's for sure but suspicious to say the least. The potential to be popular to the masses and is already seen by first-hand account to be good in character, but all that with everything else about her missing. No birth certificate, parents, or even a quirk registration. Everything. Only a home to live in with the tenant not knowing how she got there. ...Oh well, let us see where this leads, Kamisato.'

"AHAHAHHAHA"

Nezu exploded out laughing in a burst of maniacal laughter, everyone looked at the rat in a worried manner as each of them feared what Nezu was thinking about.

"The tea's got to him again, we really need Midnight to take that away from him."

They all nodded as the cackling rat shook himself on his seat. Each of the professors was ready to voice their opinions. A female-sounding voice came to tell her thoughts. "This year's group looks promising, already I see two that can be our top performers."

"It's too early to decide." another one responded. "Their real quality will be tested now."

Meanwhile...

Ayaka was counting every point she had gained, 83 more specifically. She didn't know far ahead she was but judging by how much time had passed per point gained, she felt that she was behind. Despite the fact that she was in actuality only 2 points behind Katsuki who was more motivated than usual.

She eyed a lone two pointer ahead of her, she quickly creates more ice behind her legs as she glided across the street and readied her katana for a simple slice.

Just as she was swinging it forward, a blur of a silhouette came to view as Katsuki was nearby targeting the same Robot. Her attack was already going forward, she formed ice to extend the range of her weapon to an abnormal size that struck the Villain Bot first.

Katsuki was beyond livid at this point because of Ayaka's intervention with the same Villain. He recognized that katana and the ice that formed.

He turned to Ayaka with a scowl. "Damnit! You better get out of my way before I make you! That was mine, to begin with, Princess!"

"I'm sorry, Bakugo, you did remind me beforehand that you're going to try and beat me. I won't disappoint anyone by not doing my best, it was only a coincidence that we happen to target the same robot."

Katuski sneers. "You making fun of me? That you think I'm an idiot for not realizing that you're targeting me to help that Deku out?! He's pathetic for making you beat me instead of him! That Quirkless nobody won't get ahead of me even if he got some ice machine working for him!"

As soon as they tried to get away, the ground bulged upwards, Ayaka and Katsuki reacted quickly and headed in the same direction to retreat from the sudden release of earth sent sky high from a blast. It was there, the zero pointer everyone ran away from, something worthless for them to take on and avoid.

A mass of dust and debris was sent out in a shockwave of particles and projectiles, and the glass from the windows cracked from the pressure the titanic-sized metal monstrosity moved with its tracked legs.

The ground shook as Ayaka and Katuski went further to see the massive robot, easily towering over the whole city as if it was a small obstacle. The head of it turned to the pair as the other students ran away in fear.

The set of red lenses glared at the two before raising its mechanical fist and readied to punch ahead. It grasped the buildings as its body lunged forward to strike at the street the two were in. Crowds of people went in the opposite direction, while the asphalt below was covered in cough-inducing dust.

Ayaka stayed calm and stared directly into the metallic beast. Only, something else warranted her attention instead of the massive threat. The midget from before clamoring over the sent-out chunks of building. He was left behind in a daze after gazing at the forbidden fruit that was Ayaka's legs, or so he mentions to himself.

The moment the ground shook, his eyes were out of his sockets when he saw the tracks nearing him as he desperately ran away. It was slow but his walking speed directly matched with that of his height, small.

Ayaka sped toward the Robot, not even flinching when rubble came to her front, simply fading into her Senho form. As she got closer, Ayaka could hear explosions ringing out from behind as she looked to see Katsuki chasing after her screaming something at the top of his lungs.

"You bastard! I won't let you one-up me any longer!"

Ayaka gritted her teeth. 'Now's not the time for a competition.'

She swept up the midget holding on to him with a single arm before retreating away in haste. She made her way far enough and let the boy down. "Go, I'll have to deal with this to prevent damage."

It wasn't a real-life situation but Ayaka couldn't stop herself even when she wanted to. Going back to sliding on her ice she saw Katsuki actually battling the thing. His explosions were strong but it wasn't nearly strong enough to go through the legs.

Ayaka thought to herself before hatching a plan. "Bakugo! We need to work with each other, the robot is too big or you to topple down on your own!"

Katsuki didn't seem to take the offer of help too greatly, he turns for only a moment to glare and respond to Ayaka. "Shut up! I can do this myself, I don't need to get help, especially from you-"

"Bakugo!"

An unseen three-pointer was lurking nearby and went from the front, a distracted Katsuki turned to see merely a meter in between him and a raised metallic fist. His outreached hand already trying to go to the front, it was going to be a hit or a glancing hit at best.

He closed his eyes as he clenched his teeth, waiting for the impact.

...

It didn't come.

A wave of ice blindingly grew in size and enveloped the area in ice. Ayaka panicked, unusual for her when she fought. It was because of the actions that led to Katsuki almost getting hit or at least she thought so, she blamed herself because of it. The moment she saw the three-pointer going for him, she blasted every single piece of ice she could muster which led to everything around them being covered in a thin layer of ice.

Katsuki quickly demolished the machine after it was stopped by Ayaka, he glared even more at Ayaka. Thinking he was getting insulted and made fun of by Ayaka saving him after he literally told her that he didn't need help.

Ayaka was getting worried. The ice she impulsively created would be hard for anyone but her to fight in. "Bakugo! You need to go! I'll keep it distracted!"

"Bastard! I'll take this thing out on my own!" Katsuki arrogantly shouted out. he wanted to prove to himself and to others that he didn't need someone else. He was going to take care of the zero pointer even if it meant a long protracted battle.

Ayaka's mind went into overdrive as the zero pointer started to cock back its arm. 'No! I need to get him out!."

Katsuki started to think of a strategy. 'I'll wait for it to strike, and dodge last second with my explosion. After that, I'll go for the elbow after blasting myself up.' he waited and saw the zero pointer going for the punch. It was getting closer, the momentum wouldn't be stopped he smirked as he thought he got the chance he waited for.

His hand sparked... and sparked again... and again... Katsuki felt the chill and finally realized what Ayaka meant for him to retreat. 'My hands! I can't sweat!'. He was too preoccupied to care about his weakness, his rage focused on beating Ayaka than thinking straight. He saw the metallic fist coming down on him.

"Shit!" he screamed out.

*Crack!*

Katsuki covered himself with his arms as the robot came bearing down. He heard a crack, and he looked on to see the ice beneath him cracking into a spider web, and at its center, was Ayaka.

Ayaka held her breath, continuously producing ice as it desperately held on to the massive fist getting slowed down. Between the constantly producing ice and the seemingly unstoppable steel arm coming down, Ayaka was starting to lose as it kept breaking more of her ice.

A blizzard formed, and her back from warmth became hot, like a gentle wisp of flame to a searing hot blaze that made her focus on her ice. Her surroundings began to change, the landscape itself bleeding out more ice, she kept going... and going... until everyone came to gawk at the feat she was doing.

"Permafreeze!"

A swirl of sudden hail came to her aid, the frost started to creep up the entire city itself. The chills swirled along the base of Ayaka's ice construct. It cracked and sped along the outside of the metal that shielded the zero pointers.

Like water in a lake, the gigantic robot was starting to freeze in place. Winter came seasons early, as Katsuki stared in awe for the first time in his teenage life.

"You..." he muttered out.

The ice enveloped the treads, making them stop their operations. An eternal frost formed on the torso, keeping the robot weighed down from the amount of mass that was being produced by Ayaka's permafreeze.

She held on, and her breath started to fade, and she was losing more concentration but she pushed on, her back was now burning like a thousand suns as the ice fully started to encase the robot in ice.

She grunts and falls to her knees as she exhaled her breath that fogged under the extreme temperature she created. She looked around and gawked at the results.

The entire block was frozen, and the temperature was brought down to the entire city.

This was not her ice, this was something different she thought. No way was she able to produce this much ice if she had her Vision. She wanted to know more but her consciousness started to fade after using up most of her energy to hold on to the zero pointer.

She fell silent as the entirety of the room within the observation started to keep silent as well because, at the same time, Izuku did something similar.

A twin result of self-sacrifice, one that both risked their lives for someone else. It was glorious.

"...The exam is over!"