Chapter 3 - The Start of a Journey
In the end, the solution to Eri's housing and caring situation was as elegant as it was simple.
"You know," Inko interjected to the room after a number of unusable plans were aired. "Once, before my husband Hiashi moved overseas for work, I was planning on getting certified to be a foster mother. Does anyone here know someone we can talk to to get a certification pushed through screening faster than normal? Once I'm taking care of little Eri as a foster mother I can simply go through the proper procedures to adopt her."
A simple, elegant solution that was agreed to be the best choice for the white-haired child. With the addition of a witness protection order placed on the Midoriya home, future plans to find a child-focused trauma therapist, and UA seeing to her Quirk Counseling; Eri became the newest resident of the Midoriya apartment. It had been late into the evening the night before the UA Entrance Exam when Inko, Izuu, and Eri had been driven back home by Toshinori so the newly-expanded family had opted to have a quick dinner of miso soup, rice, and steamed veggies before the elder Midoriya helped the white-haired girl take a short bath. After Izuku then finished his own speedy shower they all managed to climb into bed a few minutes before the clock hit midnight; Inko in her room while Eri once more snuggled up next to Izuku as he did his best to cocoon her with his fluffy tail.
The next morning the mother and son woke early to prepare a healthy breakfast, which the still bone-tired Eri only just managed to stay awake long enough to eat her fill before passing out again. In addition to eating a hearty breakfast, the Midoriya Family had also woken early so Izuku could drop Eri off to be taken care of by Recovery Girl and a volunteer UA third year while he took the entrance exam. The mood of Izuku and Eri's departure made a sudden shift, however, by some sleepy words spoken by the white-haired girl.
"Thank ya for the food and soft bed Izu-mom." Eri murmured half asleep, arms slung around the green-haired bunny-teen's neck as he carried her with one arm. "Sleeping here, with Izu and you; it feels different then ever before. Feels safe..."
As Eri once more drifted off to sleep a slow but steady leak of tears began to fall down both Izuku's and Inko's faces. More alarmingly, Izuku's tiger marks once more began to shine beneath his Aldera uniform and his Full Moon mark shinned once more on his forehead.
"I'm... I've gotta head out now Mom." The Champion of Luna managed to choke out as his teeth ground against each other. "Thank you so much for helping me with Eri. I love you."
"Of course dear." Inko held back a cascade of sobs. "I love you too."
Before he headed off, Izuku surprised his mother with as tight a hug as he could with a child on one arm and it took all of the older greenette not to break down crying when she heard her lovely son whisper; "You are my Hero, Mom. Forever and always."
And then Izuku was closing the door behind him and Inko Midoriya could only hope her son's enhanced hearing didn't catch the sound of her falling to her knees and blurring her face in her hands as she sobbed. Her son's words had struck her down to her soul but in doing so left a metaphorical spark poised to light an inferno.
Izukue, with Eri snoring quietly in his arms, only got as far as the Tatooin Bullet Train Station before something went wrong.
"Put the Boss on the phone, it's urgent." A male voice, gruff and strained from smoking damage and accented with a kind of scummy superiority, spoke into his phone a dozen feet behind Izuku on the train. "Ya Boss, found 'er. Eri's being taken somewhere over train, carried by some green-haired, rabbit-eared Mirko wanna-be brat. Whatcha want me to do, wait until he gets off and wanders someplace quiet to take the girl back?"
The Lunar Champion grit his teeth as the voice from the other side of the call, His voice, authorized the thug's plan. Despite the tenseness of the situation, however, Izuku didn't feel much in the way of panic, instead, he pulled out his own phone and rapidly dialed the number of the detective he had met yesterday.
"Ugh, Midoriya-san I had a rather late shift last night, why are you calling so early?" The groggy voice of Naomasa Tsukauchi groused without much heat.
Detective, as a part of the Witness Protection Program there should be a police officer keeping tabs on my walk to Ua today right?"
"That is correct. There should have been a squad car watching your home and your walk to Tatooin Station while another is waiting for you and Eri outside of Corscant Station." The detective's flip from tired to serious caused the bunny-eared teen to raise an eyebrow impressed. "Why do you ask?"
"There was a thug of some kind, one of the ones that work for Eri's former tormentor, waiting in Tatooin Station and he followed me onto the train," Izuku explained. "I overheard his conversation with his boss and their plan to take Eri from me, so I was hoping you could put me in contact with the officer that will be shadowing me the rest of the way to UA to figure out what to do with this man."
"Damn, that's faster than we anticipated." The shapeshifter heard the man curse under his breath, likely not trying to be heard. "Ok, I'll do you one better and connect us with her in a three-way call immediately."
After a moment of taping and another of a generic ringtone, the call connected.
"Detective Tsukauchi, what can I do for you?" A confident, feminine voice that Izuku thought didn't sound too much older than girls his age answered the call. "I am in position. I have not seen the VIPs yet but I'm positive that their train is pulling into the station now."
Sure enough, Izuku reassured his hold on Eri as the bullet train began slowing down before coming to a stop. Once the doors opened to release the passengers the green-haired teen continued his trek and exited Corscant Station, pretending all the while that he was unaware of the scarred man in white following him at a distance.
"Thank you for your vigilance Officer Nejima, but a complication has arisen. Izuku Midoriya, the older of the VIPs, is currently on the call with us; he called to report that someone began following him once he got on the train. Midoriya-san, can you describe the figure tailing you?"
"Japanese male with short black hair, between twenty-five and thirty-five years of age. White suit top over a white collared undershirt with matching pants, expensive-looking black dress shoes, and a gold watch on his right wrist. He is wearing a pair of dark aviator sunglasses and there is a long scar running up the left side of his neck to the edge of his hairline, even taking out a small chunk of his ear." Izuku sniffed the air and nearly gagged. "He is also wearing an obnoxious-smelling cologne that does not mix well with the cigarette musk that clings to him."
"A good description Midoriya-san, I;ve got eyes on the suspect." Officer Nijima affirmed. "How do you want to play this Detective? I was thinking we get a local Hero on standby as backup in case the perp has a potentially dangerous Quirk then have the VIPs cross through an alley. When the suspect tries to harass the VIPs I'll intercept and make the arrest, if he resists with his Quirk then the local Pro can subdue him. Hopefully, we can grab him before he can relay any info, leave his boss in the dark, and guessing as long as possible."
"Wow, I can't believe you came up with that plan so fast Officer-san." Izuku gushed out loud. "Could I come to talk to you about Police-Hero cooperation and strategy in the future?"
Ok! Ah, sure kid, and thank you." Over the phone, Officer Nijima sounded slightly embarrassed by the praise.
"Hehe, the Genius Rookie strikes again I see," Tsukauchi teased good-naturedly. "It is a good plan, I'm authorizing it on one condition: Midoriya-san if you feel at all unsafe at any time or either myself, Officer Nijima, or the Pro Hero we call onto this case orders you to run I want you to sprint as fast as you can to the UA Barrier. Your's and Eri's safety is paramount, far more important than intel from a single low-level thug. Understand?"
"Crystal, Detective," Izuku affirmed as he stepped around a puddle that he could tell was deceptively deep. The Lunar derived some enjoyment from the curses of his stalker as his foot sank up past his ankle in cold, dirty water. It also had the benefit of making it easier to hear and tell the distance of the thug because of the sloshing of water in his soggy shoe and sock.
"Goo. I just got confirmation from Kamui Woods, he is watching the proceedings from the rooftops as we speak and is prepared to intervene if necessary. Nejima, from this point on you are on lead; the operation is go."
"Ok, Midoriya-san," Officer Nejima instructed once Tsukauchi want quiet on his end of the call. "I want you to skip into the alley immediately following the next crosswalk. I'm not far behind him so once he tries to take your change, I'll be right there to arrest him. Ok?"
"...Yes, ma'am," Izuku confirmed after taking a long, deep breath.
The green-eyed heteromorph crossed the street and took a quick right turn into the seedy-looking alleyway pointed out to him. Stepping quickly to cross the eerily quiet, shadowed distance; Izuku growled as his ears picked up his stalker's increased pace and heart rate.
"Eh, hold up there, brat." The thug's gruff voice addressed Izuku for the first tie from across the concrete, prompting the Champion to turn slowly and face the adult. "That, there girl is my boss' kid and he's missin' her real bad, it's making work real ruff for me. I'm gonna need you to 'hand her over and scram, also leave your wallet behind as well for the trouble your short-ass is putting me through."
"Oh, is that right?" Izuku felt a chilly, cool settle on his nerves as he met the shaded gaze of the criminal. Despite his own general nervousness about the situation, Izuku didn't fear even partly as weary from this man as he did by either the Slime Villain or even Katsuki. "And what's his name, your so-called 'Boss'? What does he do? How do I know you aren't just some sick, scumbag kidnapper?"
"That hurts you shitty brat, right in the feels." The thug snarked but Izuku's focus immediately shifted to Eri as she began to stir in his arms. As a remedy, he directed his tail to gently cradle her head and block her ears from outside noise. "Can't tell ya the Boss' name I'm afraid, he really values his privacy you see. Just hand over the girl and maybe I won't bruise your ribs like you bruised my feelings."
To stress his point the thug made a showing of reaching into his coat pocket before pulling out a bronze knuckleduster with a dangerous grin growing on his lips. What the would-be mugger failed to notice, however, was the plain-clothed Officer Nejima sneaking up behind the thug and stealthily pickpocketing his phone from the clip on his belt before pocketing it and drawing her sidearm.
"Is that right?" Makoto Nijima's voice echoed through the alley, wiping the smirk right off the thug's face and right onto Izuku's. "Let's see; we have armed robbery with the possibility of being upgraded to aggravated robbery, attempted kidnapping, and second-degree to potentially aggravated assault. Quite the list of trouble you just made for yourself in less than a minute, now drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head, and get on your knees."
"Shit!" The thug's knuckle-dusters clattered as they fell to the concrete and he slowly raised his open hands to the back of his head. Turning slowly the scarred man glowered at the medium-sized woman aiming a gun at him. Her dark-brown hair was cut stylishly short with a braid riding her crown and her dark-red eyes sharply contrasted her plane skin. In lieu of a police uniform, Officer Nijima was dressed in side-stitched athletic pants and a white crop top under a black, faux-leather short jacket while stylish but tough black boots adorned her feet ready for heavy-duty use in any situation, and around her neck, a necklace featuring a pair of intertwined rings hanging from a black cord hung.
"Eat shit pig!" The mugger abruptly spit a wad of smoking, green liquid at the plainclothes officer, forcing her to dodge out of the way while the man dashed at Izuku in a dead sprint, arm outstretched.
Once more, Izuku's feet moved well before his head could fully analyze the situation; still holding Eri with one arm, the Champion widened his stance before bending around the thug's outstretched attempt at a grapple. Instead of grabbing either Izuku or Eir, the mugger caught only air as the faintly glowing young man molded his body's physiology in addition to utilizing his instincts to shift around the arm in an impossible manner that ultimately resulted in Izuku being behind the thug who was now struggling not to trip and faceplant.
That was when Kamui Woods intervened.
"Lacquered Chain Prison!" The pro's callout proceeded a mass of branches filling the space where Izuku had been but now only the thug stood. Individual tendrils of the Arbor Hero's transformed arm split from the spreading mass to specifically bind together the criminal's arms and legs, and Izuku grinned a little when a pair of tendrils tightened around the man's jaw forcing his mouth to remain closed.
In the privacy of his own mind, Izuku noted that his and the Pro's Quirks had some similarities and hoped that he could one day control his malleable body as well as Kamui Woods could control his own transformed arm.
"Thanks for the assist, Kamui Woods." Officer Niijima nodded gratefully as she clicked the safety on her firearm before holstering it. "I'm sorry for the short notice but requesting you for backup was the right call."
"It's my pleasure, Officer." The Pro's visible eyes shifted slightly implying he was smiling beneath his helmet. "I'm assuming you've got a recording device on your person? With the proper evidence this perp is looking at a slew of charges and a long time behind bars."
Bouncing lightly on his footpads from excitement at meeting, and hopefully getting the autograph of, the No. 8 Hero, Izuku forced his Hero-Freakout down when he felt the child whose arms were wrapped around his neck shift in his arms. Anticipating Eri's immediate awakening and not wanting the first thing she saw to be a scene of the arrest, the green-haired teen directed a silent gesture toward the street he came from. To Izuku's relief, the older woman understood his intent and, after a brief explanation to the Arbor Hero, both followed the teen out onto the public sidewalk; Kamui Woods doing so while still holding the thug in the constraints made out of his transformed limb.
Izuku's urgent stride put him and his charge out of sight from the alley crime scene just in time for Eri to blearily opened her eyes with a flutter of her white eyelashes.
"Izu..." Eri's gaze instantly locked with her caretaker's verdant orbs. "What a we going? Big building wit Nurse Lady?"
"Good morning, sleepy-head." The shapechanger smiled gently and gave his charge a small squeeze with the arm holding her in lieu of a full hug. "That's right, we're going back to UA today. Recovery Girl is gonna take care of you while I go prove to the school that I've got what it takes to be a Hero."
"Oh..." The girl shyly shifted her attention to Officer Niijima and then Kamui Woods. "Who are they? Is his arm ok?"
"His arm is fine sweety, that is Kamui Woods; he's a Proro Hero and the nice lady is Police Officer Niijima." Izuku brushed a strand of white hair off of Eri's face to behind her ear. "I just stopped to say thank you to them for keeping us safe and to ask Woods-san if I can get his autograph."
"Oh, ok..." Eri tilted her head for the two adults as her caretaker retrieved a notebook from his backpack. "Thank you for keeping us safe Mister Hero, Miss Police Officer."
"You are very welcome little one." The dark-haired woman sighed in relief when she spotted two uniformed police officers enter the alleyway from the opposite side and restrain the would-be kidnapper as Kamui Woods slowly retracted his wooden bindings. Once his arm had returned to its human shape, the Pro reached down to his belt and plucked one of the flowers from his bandolier covered with them that instantly began growing a new one.
"Yes child, your thanks are not necessary for we are just doing our duty to protect the peace and the innocent but it is nice to hear them." The Arbor Hero lifted up the flower as an offering. "For being such a well-behaved girl, would you like a flower?"
"Wow... so pretty." The girl spoke with quiet awe but looked at her protector first for confirmation. "Can I have a flower, Izu?"
"Of course Eri-chan." The greenette accepted the red flower from the Kamui Wood's hand with a sincere word of thanks before carefully arranging it in the girl's white hair opposite from her horn. With a beaming smile fished out his phone and snapped off a quick selfy of Eri and himself that he forwarded to his mom and then to All Might. "look at how pretty you are Eri-chan! Be sure to thank Kamui Woods-san for the gift."
"Thank you for the gift, Mister Hero," Eri spoke a bit louder, her cheeks flushed from the compliment. "You make really pretty flowers, they are so red and perfect."
"Than-thank you for the compliment, Eri-chan." The No. 8 Pro sniffled with a teary, wetness forming at the edge of his eyes, a few drops falling to stain the notebook paper next to his signature before he handed the notebook back to Izuku. "You have a great day child, and good luck on your Entrance Exam young man."
With slightly dripping eyes and a pep to his step, Kamui Woods re-entered the alley crime scene to give the arresting officers his statement. In his place, Officer Niijima stepped forward.
"This little distraction has really put off our schedule, Midoriya-san. Detective Tsukauchi has suggested that I give you and Eri-chan a ride the rest of the way to UA so you have time to see her comfortably passed into Recovery Girl's care before your Exam." The older woman motioned across the street where another uniformed policeman exited a squad car before nodding to the plain clothes cop. "That sound good with you kid?"
"sounds good officer. No reason to risk being spotted by any more of these people." Izuku thanked the woman with a smile as the three of them loaded up into the police vehicle.
Then with firm skill, the policewoman merged into traffic and quickly drove them the rest of the way to UA. Towards the premier Hero Academia.
Izuku released a heavy sigh as he sat on the bench outside of the auditorium where the written portion of the entrance exam would be conducted in a while, quickly drinking the contents of a juice box via a straw. Getting Eri to accept the green-haired teen leaving her side for a short while had taken some time but Officer Niijima had delivered the pair in such good time that even after assuring Eri he would be back in a few hours, he still had a few minutes to grab a snack and do some last minute review.
"Oh wow, Usagi!" A bubbly, feminine voice surprised the focused teen into dropping his juice box. In response, a slander hand with curious pads on the fingertips darted forward. Instead of catching the falling drink, the five pads managed to make contact with the rectangle resulting in it stopping and floating in midair. "Sorry about that, I just saw your ears and blurted out what came to mind, what my friends and I called Mirko in middle school."
Glancing up at the sheepish-sounding girl, Izuku tried not to blush at the fact that a cute girl his age had gotten so close to him without his notice (despite his ears too!). Dressed in black leggings under a black skirt and warmly snug in a dark magenta coat with a comfy-looking pink scarf, the brown-haired girl speaking to the Lunar smiled nervously. Her round face and fidgeting hands really expressed the nervous energy she seemed to be trying to conceal, and that Izuku also felt inside.
"I-it's no problem." Izuku smiled, trying to hide his own skittish energy. "My name's Midoriya Izuku but you can call me Usagi if you want."
"Are you sure Midoriya-san?" The brunette questioned. "We did just meet and I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable."
"If you want to call me Usagi, please feel free," Izuku assured her feeling slightly more confident. "I've had far worse nicknames in the past."
"Well, thanks Usagi. I'm Uraraka Ochaco." The girl stopped fidgeting and smiled. "How are you feeling about the exam? I'm so nervous, the idea that us being accepted into the Hero Couse is all dependant on how we do on a mystery test is so nerve-wracking."
"Well Uraraka-san, I think we've both got this." Izuku clenched his fist and felt the power within him shift slightly, both rising into his words and preparing to surge at his command. "I believe in you; I know we have what it takes to make it into UA and beyond!"
"You know... ya, you're right!" Ochako exuberantly pumped her fist and grabbed her bicep, her nervousness temporarily forgotten. "We've trained for this! I've lifted trains with my Quirk to prepare for this! Let's go blow this test outa the water Usagi-kun!"
And with both test-takers feeling more self-assured than before, both Izuku and Ochako strode into the auditorium wherein the Entrance Exam would begin.
The moment the packet of paper was placed on Izuku's desk the green-haired boy knew he could easily get a passing grade on the test... only a hero was supposed to push themselves to the limit for the best result they could achieve, and to settle for the passing grade was not that. With a frown of concentration, Izuku focused some of that malleable energy within him into his brain while thinking about animals some of the animals he researched, specifically those with the greatest intelligence compared to humans and the rest of the animal kingdoms; elephants, octopi, chimpanzees, and dolphins. The shapechanger imagined his own brain matter shifting and adjusting to incorporate the most useful aspects of the brains of those species, and as a result, when he glanced through the packet again, the one-time possible-seeming test now looked trivially easy to the Lunar Champion.
With a wide grin and a flashing pen, Izuku scribbled in the packet for about an hour, less than half the time allotted to the prospective heroes, before turning in the packet to the test proctor. Then, when he was directed to wait in his seat for the instructions for the practical portion of the test while ignoring the glowering form of his one-time childhood friend, Izuku caught Uraraka's eye and flashed her a supportive smile.
After an hour of free time where Izuku used the excuse of a bathroom break to leave the auditorium and get in a short gauntlet of calisthenics, Izuku had the pleasure of being addressed by Bakugo when they were waiting for one of the UA staff to begin the explanation of the practical exam.
"Shity Deku!" the angry blonde glared at the greenette. "I thought I told you not to apply here, you damn pebble. Just because you have some fuckin rabbit bits, you think you're better than me, or something? That you're any more than a shitty rabbit-shaped pebble for me to step over!?"
"I-i'm not here to steal your spotlight or anything Kaachan." Izuku smiled shakily while in his head he raged at himself for letting his old bully intimidate him; for still feeling afraid of the explosive blonde even though he wasn't the weak, quirkless kid he was less than a year ago. "It's jus-just, I have a Quirk now and I wanna use it to be a hero like All Might or Mirko! That's a-all!"
"Don't think you can keep up with me now that you have some worthless shapeshifting Quirk, Deku!" Bakugo snarled, cupping his right hand before letting loose a series of small, crackling explosives akin to firecrackers that the bully moved to expose to Izuku's left rabbit leg under the cover of the desk they were sitting behind. "My Quirk is still leagues better and stronger than some shitty glowing lines and rabbit par-!"
Izuku snapped and cut off both the blonde's words and attempt to show dominance. Faster than the red-eyed blonde could blink Izuku's left hand, now covered in light-green fur and suddenly expanded with the addition of thick feline muscle, shot down under the desk to pin the blonde's hand and smother the small explosives with skin too thick to be harmed by them.
"Don't fucking touch me, Bakugo." The green-haired shapeshifter snarled with a hate-filled smile full of wicked sharp tigerlike teeth and pupils narrowed into tense vertical slits that glared into the explosive blonde's red eyes with a monstrous mien that invoked the fear of prey looking into the gaze of a predator into Katsuki Bakugo.
"... If that is a misprint then UA, the most prominent hero school in Japan, should be ashamed. Also," The voice of a blue-haired bespectacled boy questioning the exam proctor finally registered with the two Aldera graduates when said voice was turned to address them. "You two in the row behind me, your private chatter is very rude to the rest of us trying to take the Exam. If you're here on a pleasure trip then you should leave immediately!"
In response Izuku's monstrous gaze whipped to lock eyes with the boy, his fanged smile gone but his slit, feral pupils still on full display. A demand for submission on the greenette's lips for a moment before Izuku took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
"I apologize for the trouble Glasses-san," Izuku said instead as he bowed his head slightly. "But you're not being very polite to our peers or to UA either by raising such matters without forethought. It is likely the fourth robot detailed in the pamphlet is most likely just another aspect of the exam that Present Mike has yet to get to."
"Ha! That's right little listeners!" The Radio Hero bellowed out with his trademark exuberant energy. "The final bot is more of an obstacle to avoid. Think of it as a walking natural disaster outside of your current ability to stop, you can only clean up the mess left behind by its appearance."
Something about the Pro's explanation of the Zero Pointer struck a cord in Izuku's whirling mind. He could tell that there was something to how the Pro presented the scenario that was more than it appeared like a nearly finished puzzle just missing its last few missing pieces. Unfortunately, the green-haired teen just couldn't place it as he was separated with the boys to the men's locker room to change into athletic cloths he had brought from home.
To Izuku's relief, Bakugo had been assigned a testing site different than his own, though that reprieve had been slightly shadowed by the presence of the bespectacled blue-haired teen with engines growing out of his legs who was now shooting glares at Izuku from across the crowd. Uraraka's presence, however, lifted Izuku's spirits, especially when she gave him a brief thumbs-up and smile which he returned gladly.
As more and more of the others in his test group finished stretching and began whispering amongst themselves, Izuku felt the fur on his ears raise as the intercom buzzed to life at a decibel only he could hear with enhanced hearing. Instantly lowering himself into a sprinter's stance adjusted for his digitigrade legs, the shifter exaggerated twitching his right ear when his new friend looked his way in confusion, a message that she caught onto just in time.
"Now start!" Present Mike's voice echoed painfully to the Lunar's enhanced hearing through the speaker system, but despite the budding headache, Izuku was ready.
As soon as the order was given, everything but his goal faded from importance for the Champion of Luna as he drew far more of the silver power within him than he normally ever did in training, instantly taking his Warform. Like a streak of silver light, Izuku leaped up and over, flipping above the heads of his confused peers, and once his digitigrade legs touched down on the concrete at the front of the pack the green-haired teen shot off like a bullet from a gun, the concrete cratering beneath his every step.
Izuku's sharp eyes caught sight of his first group of targets moments after jumping the mass of potential students; one 3-Pointer, two 2-Pointers, and two 1-Pointers. The Lunar eyed the metal chassis of the robots wearily as he closed the distance between himself and the 3-Pointer so rapidly that the machine didn't have the chance to react to the attacking teen before he channeled a surge of his power into his right arm and fist, and struck the robot. The feral-looking boy blinked in confusion as his right fist ripped through the 3-Pointer as easily as puncturing paper mache with a wet needle. With a thoughtful frown, Izuku easily dodged both the 1-Pointer's gatling guns and then slapped away the 2-Pointer's scorpion-like stinger. With an experimental side-kick, Izuku sent a 2-Ponter into a mangled tumble, after which he punched the head off a 1-Pointer without even further augmenting his strength with his silver power.
Now seeing that his regular Warform strength was enough to handle the bots, Izuku grinned as the final 2 and 1-Pointers attempted to flank and crush him only to miss when the green-haired teen lept up above his assailants at a sideways angle. Now essentially hanging lean-to over both bots, Izuku simultaneously counterattacked with a quick punch that shattered the 2-Pointer's center mass and also shifted his momentum in mid-air so his leg could come down on the last 1-Pointer with so much force that his furred foot sheared through the bot head-to-crotch, leaving the machine split in half.
With his first nine points collected in a matter of seconds, the shapeshifter closed his eyes and focused his hearing. A twitching ear and a small smile were the only signs of Izuku's success before he lept up again, this time onto the top of a streetlight which bent a bit before he used it as a springboard to leap the rest of the distance to the roof of a building that overlooked where the boy has dismantled his first group of bots. As well, on the opposite side, it directly looked down on an alley inhabited by two 3-Pointers, three 2-Pointers, and five 1-Pointers.
With a feral grin, Izuku stepped off the rooftop and allowed his increased Warform's mass to crush a 3-Pointer under his feet as he landed amongst the small mechanical hoard. The green-haired teen followed his sudden appearance with two rapid tearing claw strikes; the first tearing off the other 3-Pointer's head and the second tore what looked like key internal components out of a 2-Pointer. Then, with his Warform's enhanced strength, the bestial teen slammed a pair of punches into the remaining 2-Pointers that broke chunks off of their flanks and, to Izuku's good fortune, also activated one of their tail-laser just in time for the Luner to use his strength to turn the weapon on all the 1-Pointers.
"I can definitely do this." Izuku pepped himself up with a sharp-toothed smile before starting out of the alley to continue the test.
Letting his instincts guide him, Izuku darted up and down the streets of the faux city, shot through many a shadowed alleyway, and lept up and from multiple buildings, all while shattering and devastating every robot he encountered. His claws rent through weak metal heads and optics, his legs fragmented chassis and sent robot remains to tumble tens of feet away, and his immense speed let him overwhelm any lone bot before it could react to him. After the first fifteen points Izuku counted another thirty confirmed points before the teen's other activities during the exam caused him to lose track.
The Lunar lost his count because, despite the voice in the back of his head urging him to ignore the other exam-takers, he took special care to keep an eye out for any that looked like they might be in a spot of trouble. He shoulder-checked a 2-Pointer so are that it crumpled against a wall when it nearly snuck up on a short boy with bulbous purple hair who insisted that he could have dealt with the bot and Izuku stole his points. When the green-hired Lunar saw an orange-haired girl busy crushing a pair of robots in her giant, enlarged hands about to be fired upon by a 1-Pointer, Izuku intervened at the expense of claiming the reward of another 3-Pointer, axe-kicking the lesser point machine into pieces. The Champion even interposed himself in between a 3-Pointer's missile with a torn-off car door as a shield and the Engine-Quirk user who had chastised him to protect the other teen, also allowing the blue-haired boy to dash in and break the 3-Pointer's head with a good kick. The incident that really caused Izuku to lose track of his points, however, was when he was forced to abandon an attack on a group of robots that he was already counting in his total in favor of tackling an invisible girl that his enhanced hearing had detected out of the path of some falling rubble that could have possibly given her a nasty knock on the head.
Nearing the end of the fifteen minutes allotted for the practical exam, Izuku felt like, while he could have gathered more points than he probably did, he had enough villain points to be accepted and had done what a prospective hero should and helped others in need.
Then the first Zero-Pointer revealed itself.
Heralded by a massive explosion of dust, the Zero-Pointer rose from whatever underground chamber it must have been hidden in before to tower nearly twenty feet over even the tallest building in the faux city. Such a large robot was one hell of an obstacle to the average test-taker, but to Izuku he found avoiding the building-sized machine rather easy with his speed, meaning he could easily continue on to seek more points. In fact, his astute sense of hearing had pinpointed maybe the last group of four-plus robots in the city served up on a silver platter by the other panicking teens for the shapeshifter to pounce on.
"Help..." A voice, so faint that Izuku knew only someone with enhanced hearing like him could hope to hear caused the teen's right ear to twitch. "I... need help..."
Flickering his gaze in the direction of the Zero-Pointer's path, Izuku's eyes widened in horror and his legs blurred into movement without a second thought.
You have prey to hunt. An insidious voice whispered to the teen in his own voice. The girl will be fine. You know that UA wouldn't let anything happen to her. You have your chance to show your 'childhood friend' your power! That you're better than him!'
That doesn't matter!' Izuku snarled at the whisper, at the part of him that wanted to rub into Kaachan's face how cool and strong his Quirk was to pay back the blonde for all the pain over the years. 'What point is this power if I don't use it to be a Hero like I always dreamed?! I want to save others with a smile, to protect those who fell through the cracks and who the System failed. That is what matters!'
The green-haired shapechanger wanted to sigh when his insidious thoughts took the hint and didn't rise back up but instead had to turn every bit of his attention to the situation before him; Uraraka pinned by fallen masonry right in front of the Zero-Pointer's path and said robot's right tread about to run over the brunette. With so little time to plan his approach, Izuku focused on what he needed immediately; a way to stop the giant villain-bot in its tracks. He needed more mass in addition to strength.
A transformation perfect for his needs flashed in Izuku's mind, and feeling his silver energy bubble up like a fire in his soul, the teen dashed past the pinned form of his new friend with a determined grin. Moments before he impacted the base of the robot next to the tread, the power within flowed from Izuku's soul into his flesh, and in an instant, the heteromorphic teen's body expanded to an unbelievable degree.
What impacted the massive Zero-Pointer wasn't a 52 kg green-haired teenage boy, no what now stood in the villain-bot's way was a green-scaled, nine meters long, seven-thousand kg triceratops that slammed his horns into the towering robot and stopped it in its mechanical tracks with sheer mass, halting the Zero-Pointer about five feet away from Uraraka. The silver marks that appeared on his body when he used his Quirk had transposed themselves onto dino-Izuku's scales and was pulsing with power in concert with a towering pillar of silver fire-like energy that was pouring out of the shifted teen.
Despite the show of power, however, in his head, the teen was beginning to worry as he felt the reservoir of silver power inside him feel more exhausted than he had ever felt it; a problem because the teen could tell that he didn't have enough to even maintain his enlarged shape for much longer. But as the silver power within flagged, Izuku could identify another stockpile of power within him, he could feel One For All flickering like a well-tended bonfire contained in a glass marble.
-"When you feel ready to unleash One For All Midoriya-shounen, just clench your butt and yell 'SMASH!'"-
Izuku needed to destroy the Zero-Pointer with a single decisive strike, and he had what he needed to do more silver power to keep his sizable transformation for a moment longer, the Lunar used all of his current form's considerable strength to push the Zero-Pointer back a few feet with a shrug of his shoulders before returning to his regular form. Once more a human-rabbit hybrid, Izuku channeled all of the considerable power he felt within One For All into his right arm and leg in addition to the remaining silver power he could muster.
For a brief moment, red vein-like energy visibly flashed under Izuku's skin and clothes before the combined force of jumping with both his Quirks placed him in the air right in front of the Zero-Pointer's metal chest. Winding up his right hand, glowing with both silvery-blue and red light, the teen Lunar cried out as he threw all the power of One For All and Protean Force at the villain-bot while crying out:
"Smash!"
The result; the Zero-Pointer's sternum ceased to exist, obliterated by the force of Izuku's punch. In addition, the rest of the junked robot was sent spinning backward a good 40 feet before crashing into various faux buildings across the fake cityscape.
Also as a result; Izuku had to stifle a whine of pain as the sudden breaks and fractures in the bones of his right arm and leg made themselves known, even muted by the adrenaline coursing through the teen's body. Also worrisome for the greenette was the prospect of landing from his leap with only one fully-functional leg, and the possibility of face-planting hard enough to give himself a concussion in front of all his potential peers.
Luckily the greenette was spared that pain and embarrassment when his new friend who had been pinned by fallen debris floated up next to him as he fell and slapped his arm with all five of her fingers. Immediately after, Izuku's momentum was completely canceled and he had the chance to right himself before Uraraka was forced to touch her ten fingers together with a pained exhale, and Izuku's gravity returned to normal. The green-haired teen landed with his good leg and balanced himself on a stop sign with a sigh, one that his new friend mimicked... before she bend over at the waist and vomited her lunch.
"Oh, Quirk backlash?" Izuku winced in sympathy as he limped to her side.
With a grunt of effort, the shapechanger used his good arm and his warform's strength to brush a fallen piece of building masonry free of rubble before he helped his friend take a seat on it. Once she was seated and slowly taking deep breaths the Lunar took a seat next to her and stopped committing silver power to his warform, returning to his base hybrid form. With a sigh, Izuku felt as his silver power stockpile slowly began to regenerate slowly but steadily for he already had a small amount flickering in him ready to leap to at his every whim.
In lieu of answering verbally, Uraraka nodded her head slowly with a groan as she leaned down again to throw up a little more vomit despite her attempts to breathe and steady herself. For a moment Izuku just sat quietly while surveying the other test participants, and even spotted Recovery Girl in the distance making her rounds to check the test-takers with a small crowd of medical robots accompanying her as well as two other individuals, one who brought a smile to Izuku's face.
Filtering around Recovery Girl's little medical squad on twisters of yellow energy was an older teen with long blue hair that twisted like drills towards the ends with matching, joyful blue eyes and dressed in a light, almost-white cyan thigh-length dress as well as a jean-jacket, a UA upperclassman that Izuku had met named Nejire Hado who was the student that volunteered to keep Eri company while he took the entrance exam. Speaking of his white-haired charge and sister, Eri was being carried by a medical robot outfitted with extra arm and chest padding around the faux city with Recover Girl's entourage and her red eyes wide with wonder and excitement brought a peaceful smile to Izuku's lips. The only way that the teen felt the moment could be better was if the little girl could just smile, something she had yet to do since they met and he spirited her away from that man.
"Here, let me help."
Izuku was so caught up in his own head that he didn't even notice when he carefully reached over with his good hand and began carefully rubbing the tension out of Uraraka's back. At first, causing her to freeze up and look at him but before her first reaction could finish the effect of Izuku's relief-delivering touch made itself known as her stomach ache immediately began to subside and within a minute the pain had completely vanished. After which she let out an audible moan of relief that autopilot-Izuku heard.
"Feeling any better?" The teen Lunar asked idly as he retracted his hand, much to the brunette's deep-seated disappointment.
"Yes. Thank you Usagi-kun." Ochako responded, her emotions calmed by the peaceful atmosphere that the post-exam had left them in.
An atmosphere that abruptly shattered when Izuku's brain caught up to his own actions and his face and the tips of his rabbit ears flushed a bright red.
"Oh god! I'm so sorry Uraraka-san!" Izuku immediately stood up from his seat, ignoring his fractured right leg and nearly buckling in the process, before bowing fully at the waist in apology. "I have no idea what just came over me! I just thought I know how to help you feel better and my body moved on its own. Please forgive me!"
"Ah! It's ok now Usagi-kun!" The teen girl's face also flushed a bright red and she barely remembered to hold out her pinkies when she cupped her cheeks with both hands to avoid activating her Quirk. "I was a bit confused at first but it really is nice just not to be reduced to walking on eggshells to avoid throwing up all day. I totally forgive you, Usagi-kun, and even insist on saying thank you for your help. You came to help me out during the exam and with my Quirk backlash."
The green-haired teen's response was cut short by the arrival of Recover Girl, Nejire Hado, and Eri.
"Just a moment Eri-chan." The Pro Hero halted the white-haired child before she could jump at Izuku from the arms of her robot carrier. "You, young man, look rather worse for wear... but it seems whatever Quirk allowed you to shatter the Zero-Pointer with one hit is also attempting to mend your body, I can already tell that your arm and leg are in better condition than they were after your little stunt."
"Hugh?" Izuku blinked in surprise before gingerly rolling his shoulder and moving his arm from where he had been cradling it near his chest. Sure enough, as the short woman stated, Izuku noticed that the pain he was feeling now was far less than when he had tied moving the limb immediately after his landing, and the Lunar would wager that his leg would hurt less than before is he put any weight on it but still refrained on doing so. "Wow, your right. I hadn't even noticed that Recovery Girl, thank you."
"You can thank me for actually healing you, young man." The older woman snarked before stretching her lips and placing a smooch on the greenette's cheek, causing the teen to sage slightly but for the slightly bruised skin on his arms and legs to immediately regain their natural parlor. "There you go dear, please take better care of yourself, deary, this one was worried sick about you when she saw how you looked after your smashing final act."
Not needing any prompting, Eri motioned for Izuku from her current steed, a request that the green-haired teen immediately acquiesced to with a wide grin.
"I'm fine Eri, look," The Lunar hefted the small girl onto one shoulder to sit on. "See, your big brother can handle these silly-looking robots easily. I even brought down the really big one."
"Wow, your so cute Eri-chan!" Ochako spoke up after Recovery Girl finished looking her over and healing her bruised and sprained ankle with a kiss. "Its nice to meet cha!"
The child instinctively tried to shy away from the excited teenage girl but her position on Izuku's shoulder didn't really accommodate her attempts.
"It's ok Eri," Izuku assured the horned child. "This is Ochako Uraraka, she's a new friend of mine and she'd like to be your friend as well."
"... are you my friend Izu?" The girl questioned.
"Your friend and, after mom adopts you, I'll also be your big brother." The teen winced slightly at the question and at his friend's questioning gaze.
"Oh... ok. I guess it ok if Urara is my friend too." The girl replied. "Can we go back to Izu-mom soon? My tummy is getting rumbly."
"Of course, dear. We'll head home soon." Izuku moved the girl back to a more comfortable position for her, sitting on one are with her arms around his neck.
"Oh! Ah... Thank you for waiting with me Neiji-Ha." The little girl looked up to her floating minder for the last few hours thankfully.
"You're very welcome Eri-chan!" The blue-haired student replied exuberantly. "You three have a great day. I really hope you both get into UA, I have so many questions and we could totally hang out and stuff. Oh! I could also help you both train and stuff, maybe I could get Mirio and Tamaki-kun to help train you both too! Ah, I should probably go, it looks like Recovery Girl wants me to help out with clearing some rubble. Goodbye! I hope I see you all soon; Eri-chan, Uraraka-chan, Izu-kun! Bye!"
As the blue-haired, high-energy girl flew away, before either teen could say anything the girl's phone began vibrating in her pocket.
"That's probably my parent calling to ask how the test went." The girl looked at the device with a measure of trepidation.
"Then you should answer it and tell them how well you did, Uraraka-san." Izuku smiled at her, not even noticing the small flash of silver in his own eyes. "I should probably get this one home for dinner anyway. I have a feeling that we'll see each other in the Hero Course Uraraka-san. I look forward to striving to be a better hero with you."
"Me too." The brunette smiled and absently accepted the call. "It was nice meeting you Usagi-kun, and you to Eri-chan. I'll see you in the Hero Course."
And with that, they went their separate ways. Unknown to them, their feeling about their acceptance was correct and, in fact, their performances were some of the most impressive to the watching UA staff of their peers. It would not take long for them to receive their acceptance to the Hero Academia.
One day after the initial posting update.
First off, thank you AvexedAuthor. I wish I could say I'm surprised that that error missed my screenings but my day job has been kicking my butt and a lack of sleep has most definitely not helped with my vigilance. Still, I apologize for that unseemly error and thank you for your help in correcting it.
Onto more story-related r0eviews:
ProjectIceman:
I agree, it would be absolutely dreadful in Inko got caught up in Overhaul's obsession with controlling Eri's Quirk...
Glader