A slab of army green metal Quinn had wrenched free from a downed Faux Villain served her pretty well as a makeshift shield. It blocked her decently enough from the streams of rubber bullets her enemies were shooting at her. She brought the shield up as a 3-Pointer laid into her with another ream, spent bullet casings cascading down around it. A few grazed her legs, causing her to wince slightly at the pain, but it was a small price to pay for protection from the vast amount of those damned projectiles. She ran forward through the hail of bullets, One For All pulsing through her body at a comfortable 3%. The power it provided her was enough to do damage to the Faux Villains but not destroy them outright. She'd accumulated 28 points by this time, coasting easily though the exam. Bringing that total up to 31, Quinn jumped over the 3-Pointer and slashed the edge of her shield into the weak spot between the bot's head and body. She silently thanked the UA engineers for adding that little detail. Without it, she'd be hard pressed to earn even half her current score. She wiped the sweat from her brow and took off in search of more Faux Villains. There wasn't a timer anywhere, so she had to rely on her own sense of time to gauge how long the test had been going. She didn't bother; she was bad enough with time even when she had her phone on her.
A voice cried out from an alleyway, drawing Quinn's attention away from the main road. She turned and sprinted towards the voice. The alley led her to a small clearing between buildings where a blonde boy with some sort of support belt was being surrounded by 3 Faux Villains. On his right and left were 1-Pointers while a 2-Pointer was closing in from the front, pressing the boy back against a wall. He was trapped and hunched over, gripping at his stomach hard as if he was in debilitating pain. Quinn rushed forward, feeling adrenaline fill her veins. This was a test- she knew that- but right then and there, the danger felt real. One For All surged in response, pushing her from a safe 3% to an aching 4. Her shin cut cleanly through the 1-Pointer nearest her as she passed by. A dull pain thrummed through the appendage but she didn't have the time to nurse her injury. The boy was steady on his knees and looked to be charging some kind of beam, the 2-Pointer firmly in his sights. She left that Faux Villain to him, sprinting past it towards her real target. Quinn brought up the shield on her left arm and batted away the machine gun arm of the 1-Pointer before planting her own elbow-deep in the thing's chest. Behind her, a bright beam of sparkling light blasted from the boy's belt and ripped cleanly through the remaining robot.
"Merci." The boy said as Quinn pulled her arm from the wreckage of the Faux Villain. The boy didn't look French but his accent was flawless. "Overusing my Quirk can cause stomach cramps or worse and I was still recovering when that group of villains approached me."
"It's no problem. I should get back to the test, though." Quinn said, giving the boy a small wave as she exited the clearing. She was up to 33 points now. Whether or not that would let her pass, she didn't care too much. She wanted to get as close to the top as she could.
Quinn rounded the corner and took off down the main road once again. The sounds of fighting came from all around her. There were applicants stealing each other's points, saving each other, teaming up, or even just arguing. She could see a girl with orange hair and gigantic hands crushing Faux Villains while occasionally diving towards an applicant to get them out of harm's way. All around Quinn, people were stating the number of points they'd obtained; 42, 19, 12, 7, and 22 were all announced as Quinn made her way deeper into the mock city. A boy with dark blue hair, glasses, and a blue tracksuit blurred past her, jumped, and crashed through a 3-Pointer with ease. She took mental note of the move, thinking she might be able to adapt it to her own style later. Yagi was a great inspiration for punches but for anything else, Quinn needed to look elsewhere. A 1-Pointer blasted out of an alley ahead of her, chasing a purple-haired boy with tired eyes. Her heart went out to him. She didn't know his Quirk but it didn't seem suited to combat. Taking stock of One For All told Quinn she was sitting at a safe 3%. She didn't remember tuning the power after fighting alongside the belly-button dude, though. Quinn shook her head to refocus and made a beeline for the boy. She jumped over him as he sprinted past and leveled a kick aimed at the Faux Villain's head, tuning her power to 4% at the moment of impact to send the thing's head flying. The robot fell backward as Quinn clotheslined it and skidded to a stop. She brought her power down to its minimum, the lilac sparks that suffused her body slowly abating, and jogged up to the boy she'd helped.
"Hey, you alright?" Quinn asked. She didn't see any immediate wounds but it was always better to not assume. She looked back towards the alley he'd bursted from and watched as a blonde boy with a derpy expression shambled out into the road. He was drooling a bit with his hands brought up in twin 'thumbs-up' gestures that he occasionally waved around.
"I- yeah." The purple-haired boy answered. He followed Quinn's gaze and sighed. "Dammit, Denks, I told you not to overdo it."
"'Denks'? Do you know him?"
"Met him during primary school. I… had to move for junior high and we lost contact." He answered, looking Quinn up and down. He blinked once before holding a hand out to her. "Shinso Hitoshi. The idiot's Kaminari Denki."
"Wheeeeey!" Quinn jumped out of her skin as the cheer rang out from directly behind her. Despite his addled state, Kaminari managed to be stealthy enough to sneak up on Quinn. Shinso's face broke out in a weary smile as chuckles escaped his lips. Quinn rolled her eyes and took Shinso's proffered hand.
"Valence Quinn. Nice to meet you." She gave him a warm smile.
"You're a foreigner? What's the story behind that?" Shinso asked, cocking his head to the side in curiosity. Quinn waved a hand dismissively, letting her power flare to 3% once more. Her skin let off a soft glow that was barely visible during the day and the lilac electricity she'd come to know began arching its way across her body again. Shinso took a wary step back, grabbing Kaminari by the hand and repositioning the blonde teen behind him.
"If I see you at UA, I'll tell you. For now, there's still an exam to do." Quinn gave a salute to the boys as she took off. She let her thoughts drift back to the boy. He hadn't made a mention of his Quirk and she hadn't asked but whatever it was didn't strike her as a combat-type. She couldn't help but silently hope the boy would make it in. Quinn hadn't been very social in middle school and wanted to change that. She wouldn't tell him everything, of course. One For All needed to remain a secret. For now, at least. Meeting someone she'd want to tell about her Quirks and connection to All Might seemed inevitable but she still needed to be careful. The right information in the wrong hands was always dangerous.
The ground beneath Quinn started to tremor as she rounded a corner. Other applicants were nearby, all frozen in confusion as they stopped their respective fights and stared at the ground beneath them. Quinn thought it was someone's Quirk at first but a looming figure casted an even larger shadow over the city and silenced those thoughts. Around her, people began to scream and panic. The majority ran for the gates of the testing grounds, not bothering to be careful of who they knocked over or nearly trampled, while others seized this as an opportunity to secure some last second points. While she could see the value in that, her immediate concern was the applicants in danger of being trampled. She felt the cool rush of her power suffuse her body as she sprinted through the crowd of panicking teens. Among those she pulled from the stampede were a girl with vines for hair, a short and slightly chubby boy with equally short gray hair, and a black-haired girl that was relatively unremarkable in appearance. Once she'd double checked for any other downed examinees, she started to get herself out of harm's way.
~ W-o-L ~
Monoma Neito was many things, but a fighter wasn't one of them. Sure, he'd taken some self-defense classes but it didn't really amount to more than punching and kicking at padded targets. His Quirk, Copy, was suited more towards teamwork and forced him to rely on those around him. It let him copy up to 4 Quirks by coming into physical contact with others. His time limit was currently a short 5 minutes. The first Quirk he'd copied had been useless. It was a form of mind control and, therefore, worthless to him at the moment. The second Quirk had been perfect, however it had been a far longer wait than he'd wanted. By his estimation, there were 4 minutes remaining for the test. A girl with silver hair that covered her left eye had found herself surrounded by Faux Villains and was struggling to fight them all off. Her Quirk was a kind of telekinesis and seemed plenty powerful. He'd jumped into the fray and placed a hand on her head. It felt like her Quirk slotted itself neatly into some kind of space inside of him. He tested the Quirk by reaching towards some Faux Villain debris and gathering a small wall of the stuff between himself and his enemies. Quirks he copied tended to tailor themselves to him as if he'd always had them, so while the objects the girl was controlling were enveloped in a soft violet glow, his own telekinetically controlled objects glowed a soft gray. He didn't pay this much mind, though, as the detail was largely inconsequential.
"We have the same Quirk?!" The girl asked, surprised. Monoma simply shook his head in response with a wry smile as he swung a hand forward and willed his weapons forward. They tore through the Faux Villains before him with little effort, leaving them little more than piles of useless junk. He decided to test out the weight limit of the Quirk and turned his attention towards the largest of the robots, a 3-Pointer. A gray glow flickered around it as Monoma poured every ounce of concentration he had into lifting the thing. A cold sweat broke out over his forehead as the glow solidified and the 3-Pointer started to rise off the ground. He threw both hands into the air and threw the robot high into the air. It wasn't capable of flight and crashed down hard into the pavement. "Woah…"
"Thanks for the wonderful Quirk." Monoma said cryptically before jogging off. He wasn't about to explain his Quirk to a stranger, but he could have a little fun. He cracked a grin and chuckled a bit as he caught sight of the girl's bewildered expression from over his shoulder. His balance faltered as a giant spike of ice rose over a nearby building, skewering a 3-Pointer as if it was paper. A Quirk that powerful would be a boon, indeed, but he doubted his ability to get close enough to acquire it. The owner of that power was probably just as formidable as the element they wielded. He flicked a wrist as he passed various sewer openings, enveloping their manhole covers in his gray glow and calling them to hover behind him. He used them to rip through any Faux Villains he ran into as he tallied up his points. "23, 26, 27, 28, 31!"
Monoma let his weapons fall as the ground beneath him started to shake and he only had two words for the shadow that proceeded to swallow him and his surrounds: Fucking Massive. A cold wave of fear flowed through Monoma and finally spurred him into action. Points be damned, he needed to get to safety. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder to see the source of the massive shadow. It was a Faux Villain the size of a kaiju. What had Present Mic called it? 'The Zero Pointer'? He supposed the notion that it was meant to be more like an obstacle to avoid was comforting, if even a little, but wasn't it a bit big? It swung a large arm, effortlessly flattening a nearby building. He let the power of his copied telekinetic Quirk flare as he desperately drove a wedge-shaped wall of energy in front of him, parting the wave of rubble the Zero Pointer sent towards him. The adrenaline made it easy but after he'd dissipated the wall of energy, he was left with a dull ache and the taste of iron on his tongue. He decided it was time to get out of there. He didn't know if he could throw up a wall like that again and, frankly, he wasn't keen on trying. Behind him, the Zero Pointer was rampaging through the streets. He rounded a corner a little too quickly and nearly ran into a blonde-haired girl that was sparking with some kind of lilac energy.
"Woah, you alright?!" Quinn asked. She caught the boy she'd nearly run over and steadied him on his feet. Aside from a bloody nose, he seemed unscathed.
"I. Uh… Yes, yeah." The boy answered, placing a hand against his aching head. The sound of the Zero Pointer crashing through another building nearly made both teens jump out of their skin. "W-we can talk later, let's get the fuck out of here!"
"Right." Quinn nodded as she grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled him along. Despite his clear worry, he was rather slow to get going; most likely due to whatever gave him that nose bleed. She had to be extra careful as they ran not to pull the boy off his feet. Her speed at 3% was much greater than it normally would've been. Quinn cast a glance behind them just in time to see the Zero Pointer backhand a building, sending rubble flying everywhere. Large chunks of the structure sailed over the teens and landed in the street in front of them. Quinn cursed under her breath as she turned down an alley and dragged the blonde behind her. By the time they'd made it back onto a street, the Zero Pointer had halved the distance between them. It wasn't exactly targeting the teens; rather, it seemed to be designed to cause wide-scale destruction and drive students back towards the testing grounds' gates. That was only a small confort, though, as a cry of pain came from behind Quinn. She stopped in place and whipped her head around, quickly scanning the environment around her.
"What the fuck do you-" Quinn tuned the blonde out as her gaze settled on the prone form of a sliver-haired girl. She was struggling to get free of the pile of debris covering her lower body; seemingly using her Quirk, as various pieces of rubble were enveloped in a violet glow and flung away.
"If you wanna let her be crushed, be my guest!" Quinn called out as she broke into a sprint towards the girl. She slid to a stop and started to move the larger pieces that the girl's Quirk was having trouble with. "Just focus on what you can lift, I've got the rest."
"Th-thanks…" The silver-haired girl said. She and Quinn sped through the rest of the rubble while the blonde boy jogged up to them.
"I must be fucking nuts…" The boy said, using a Quirk similar to the girl's to carefully pull her to her feet. The temperature around the 3 suddenly dropped drastically, causing their breaths to come out as a frosty mist. "The fuck…?
"I didn't think the ice guy came to this part of the city." Quinn wondered aloud. Nearby, the titanic cracking of ice rang out as the Zero Pointer came to a slow stop. The lights in its large eyes blinked before dying from the cold. Quinn and the 2 other teens stared in equal parts awe and horror at the frost-covered behemoth. "Holy shit…"
"Did… he just freeze the Zero Pointer?!" The blonde boy asked, incredulously. Quinn couldn't help but agree with the sentiment. She could tell from the way he'd held himself that the boy with red and white hair was as strong as he was confident, but this? This was ridiculous. And Quinn was All Might's successor, for fuck's sake! Before the 3 teens could finish properly processing what had happened, the behemoth started to creak as it lost balance and fell. "Well, isn't that great?!"
"Get yourselves out of here!" Quinn said, beginning to sprint towards the falling giant.
"What the fuck can you do?!" The blonde boy called after Quinn.
She wasn't listening, however. The Zero Pointer was on a collision-course towards their end of the cityscape and Quinn would be damned before anyone else was hurt. Above, a column of ice formed in an attempt to catch the massive robot but it splintered relatively easily under its gravity-assisted weight. Quinn let herself breathe a bit easier as she noted that none of the new bits of glacier seemed to be headed her way. By now, she was directly under the plummeting giant and cold dread flooded her system as she thought about what she was about to do. She thought about her first experiences using One For All. The day she'd inherited her Quirk came to mind immediately, reminding her of the fractures that had littered her arm after merely moving the appendage when it was under the influence of her Quirk's full strength. Next was the test punch at UA. Admittedly, she still didn't remember much from that day. She'd essentially fallen unconscious on her feet after she'd thrown the punch that had exploded her arm like a firecracker, the pain of the event blocked by some automatic safeguard her mind had. Traumatic events like that could be fully remembered, given time, and Quinn could say with absolute certainty that she hoped that day never came. She was pulled from her thoughts by the sounds of 2 more ice pillars rising and falling just as fast as the first. The behemoth was approaching the ground hard and fast. It was time to either act or let herself be crushed.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!" Quinn chanted as she let One For All's full power flood her. The lightning that suffused her body grew in intensity and even started to arc off her and strike nearby cars and street signs. She took a deep breath and crouched down before pushing off the ground in a mighty leap that shattered the asphalt beneath her feet… and both her legs… She half-expected herself to immediately pass out from the pain but was pleasantly surprised to find a lovely lady named 'Adrenaline' had other plans. Quinn sailed through the air towards the falling Zero Pointer and cocked back her right arm. This was going to hurt like a bitch! She threw a right hook so strong that it cratered the giant robot's face. The air pressure that she generated not only halted the Faux Villain's descent but sent it flying backwards towards its origin.
Monoma and the silver-haired girl watched with mouths agape as the girl that had saved them both rocketed up towards the most dangerous thing either of them had faced and decked it in the face. The blonde teen knew she was strong by the way he'd been dragged around but this seemed a bit ridiculous. Most Pro Heroes he knew of wouldn't be able to even hold a candle against something like that Zero Pointer. The only exceptions he could think of were All Might and Endeavor. Elsewhere, Todoroki Shoto was thinking the same. The boy watched the scene unfold, the only thing giving away his shock being the slight widening of his eyes. He was suddenly very glad he'd refused his father's recommendation to UA. That flash of purple- or maybe pink?- energy, followed by a shockwave even his father would be proud of, reminded him of a certain #1 Hero. If the applicant responsible survived their display of power, he hoped he had the chance to see them in action. He'd take great pleasure in crushing someone that powerful with just his right side.
~ W-o-L ~
Nezu and the other teachers let out a breath they didn't realize they were holding. All Might hadn't been permitted to sit in on this year's Entrance Exams, as Nezu knew his successor would be taking the Hero Course practical. What he wasn't aware of, however, was the fact that Endeavor's child had such poor decision-making skills. Freezing the Zero Pointer, in and of itself, wasn't all that harmful. It was the fact that the boy hadn't taken the time and care to ensure his action wouldn't backfire. He looked to Aizawa on his right- a man dressed in all black with yellow goggles and thick gray scarves- and was met with the man already looking at the chimeric principal. The look in his eyes told Nezu they were on the same page. He nodded in response to an unspoken question and turned back to the screen. Maybe he should've let All Might attend, after all. He was the only one of the teachers on staff fast enough to save his successor from plummeting to her death.
~ W-o-L ~
Monoma found himself running towards the falling form of the girl who saved him, the silver-haired girl hot on his heels. He wasn't entirely sure when he'd started moving, but he wasn't about to let someone fall to their death when he was there and could do something. Without looking behind him, he called out to the girl that he knew was following him.
"We need to slow her down!" He reached down inside himself for the copied version of the silver-haired girl's Quirk. Despite its full strength still being accessible, the Quirk felt feeble. He realized his time limit was about up as he let the power of the telekinetic Quirk flare. The upper range he could affect things with the Quirk was 15 meters, but would that be enough?
"Right!" The silver-haired girl agreed, letting her own power flare. Monoma didn't know her range but silently prayed it was close to his own. His Copy Quirk gave him an intrinsic understanding of any Quirk he copied. It often meant he was slightly stronger with a person's power than they, themselves, were. He set the power of his copied Quirk to a sort of 'standby' mode as he focused on the blonde. A few agonizing seconds passed before Monoma felt her fall into his range and he instantly enveloped her in a gray aura. He gently pressed against the girl's downward force, feeling the mental pressure aggravate his already-damaged brain. If it weren't for the violet aura that appeared a few moments later, Monoma was sure he'd have given himself an aneurysm. The pressure on his mind receded somewhat but he still felt fresh blood start to trickle from his nose. Beside him, the silver-haired girl wasn't fairing much better, breaking out in a cold sweat as Monoma slowly lowered himself to his knees. Together, they gently guided the unconscious girl towards them and set her softly on the ground. The moment they let their telekinetic power fade, horns blared across the testing grounds and Present Mic followed them closely to announce the end of the exam. All 3 teens were still collecting themselves after the ordeal when a kindly old woman walked up to them.
"Oh dear, you hurt yourself this badly with your Quirk?" Recovery Girl asked Quinn as she leaned over and kissed her forehead. The green glow of her Quirk enveloped Quinn and her twisted limbs slowly set themselves as they were healed fully.
"W-will she be okay?" The silver-haired girl asked as the Youthful Heroine placed a kiss on her own forehead, followed by one for the blonde boy.
"Yes, yes, no need to worry. She'll probably be tired, however, since my Quirk uses a person's stamina to heal them." With that, Recovery Girl turned to make her way towards the rest of the examinees as the 2 teens opted to follow the medical bots that carried Quinn off. It took the better part of an hour but Quinn finally opened her eyes to see the teens talking between themselves and an excited Izuku. Looking around, she noted they were in the nurse's office. She wasn't sure where Recovery Girl was but, given the fact she wasn't being worried over by the Youthful Heroine, Quinn decided that meant she was free and clear.
"What did I miss?" Quinn asked, sitting up and placing a bandaged hand to her throbbing head. Izuku gasped and hugged her, aggravating her mostly-healed injuries. Luckily, the sharp seething she let out from the pain clued him into her condition and he backed off quickly while muttering apologies. She met the other teens' gazes before gesturing at them vaguely. "Well? Introductions? I'll go first; Valence Quinn."
The blonde boy straightened the collar of his tracksuit as he cleared his throat and spoke with a prim-and-proper lilt. "I am Monoma Neito."
At that, the silver-haired girl bowed slightly even as she held her elbows up while her hands dangled, speaking in a voice that was subdued and almost somber. "Yanagi Reiko. I thank you both for saving me from that behemoth."
"Wait, what happened?!" Izuku asked, practically shouting. Quinn winced and placed a hand over her ear in an attempt to shield it. Lucky for her, Monoma decided to take the reins and explain.
"An applicant with an ice Quirk froze the Zero Pointer- a gigantic Faux Villain robot- solid as the proctors set it loose." Monoma looked at Quinn and rolled his eyes, though his wry smile told her it was in jest. "Ms 'I-Can-Punch-A-Kaiju', here, decided to destroy the thing."
"Hey!" Quinn said, jabbing an indignant finger into Monoma's chest even though she herself was smiling. "Fucking thing was off-balance and could've crushed someone!"
"Truly a valiant reason to nearly commit suicide." Yanagi said with an even tone. Quinn, Izuku, and Monoma each turned to her with wide eyes as the silver-haired girl shifted a bit in her seat, clearly uncomfortable even though her tone and facial expression never wavered from neutral. "That… was meant to be a joke. My apologies."
"I-It's not a problem…" Izuku said, attempting to wave away the awkward tension hanging in the air. "I'm Midoriya Izuku, by the way!"
"Nice to meet you, Midoriya." Yanagi said with another small bow.
"Likewise. You and Valence seem familiar with each other, how did you meet?" Monoma followed up, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"We met at Rishi Junior High School during our first year. Before then, I lived abroad." Quinn answered, careful to leave out sensitive bits of information. Monoma and Yanagi seemed trustworthy enough but, like with Shinso, she'd prefer not to get too deep into her life story. Not until she knew if she'd be spending her high school career with them, at least. At any rate, Quinn wasn't too keen on staying long enough for Recovery Girl to give her a piece of her mind. She nudged Izuku to the side and swung her legs off of the hospital bed. Standing was a bit difficult- her equilibrium thrown off by a mix of fatigue and residual pain from parts of her injuries that were left unhealed- but she managed with a little help from Izuku. He snaked an arm around her back and threw one of her arms over his shoulders. Together, they hobbled towards the office door, Monoma and Yanagi following behind, just to freeze as the door opened to reveal the livid form of the Youthful Heroine. "Well, fuck…"
~ W-o-L ~
{A/N}
Got this out a little later than I wanted, but it's still here! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and looking forward to more!
The update schedule I'm aiming for is a chapter every 1-2 weeks, so here's to hoping I can do this and avoid burnout!
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