Chapter 3: The Big Exam
Midoriya stood outside the building for his examination, staring up at it as his feet drug underneath him.
This was it. Today was the day he'd find out if he had the power to be a Hero. Despite all his training, he still couldn't quell the butterflies in his stomach as he approached. Not helping was the fact that he hadn't slept well at all the night before. He kept having the same dream all week; that he would wake up, and that Mjolnir was gone. In the dream he was no longer worthy, and he went back to being a Quirkless nobody, a useless Deku.
Of course, Mjolnir was always there in the morning, as was the lightning in his veins. Thor had insisted quite eagerly that he was ready for the examination, though Midoriya still had not been able to maintain flight with Mjolnir.
I got this. I got this. I got this. He repeated in his mind. The mantra, ever present since he had left his home, was vaguely calming. It was his grounding technique, his meditation, a way of life to weave peace within the intricate folds and wrinkles of his brain, and appease the thunderous anxiety within his soul. That was, until he tripped over his own two clumsy feet. I DON'T GOT THIS!
He braced himself for imminent death of pavement and embarrassment, but it never came. Suddenly, he halted at a forty-five degree angle, something tugging around his midsection that held him in place. "Huh?"
The tugging got stronger briefly, and pulled him back onto his feet. Looking down, Midoriya saw something long and pink unwrap from his midsection and retreat behind him. Following it, he saw it was in fact a tongue, and that was recoiled into a girl with long green hair, who was hunched over slightly. Even without the hunch, she was a bit shorter than him, and her hands and eyes seemed a bit larger than the average teenage girl's.
The keyword here was, "girl." DID A GIRL JUST TOUCH ME WITH HER TONGUE?! On instinctual reaction, Midoriya made some sort of odd sound between popcorn popping and a chipmunk squeaking, and covered his reddened face behind his arms.
The girl tilted her head curiously at the reaction, poking an index finger to the corner of her mouth. "Kero. Sorry about using my tongue to stop you. I guess that's kind of gross since you're a stranger. Just thought it would be better than faceplanting."
She was trying to help you. He realized, somewhat aware of how silly he probably looked. "Th-th-th-thank you!" Midoriya managed to bow slightly, returning his arms to his side. Even as he straightened out, he couldn't muster the courage to look her in the eyes. I hope Thor isn't watching.
Thankfully, the girl looked up at the building past him. "You must be trying out for the Hero Course too, kero?"
Midoriya managed a small nod. Thankfully, the girl with large eyes noticed, preventing the need for him to speak further.
"I wonder what they'll have us do. I'm pretty nervous, kero," she said. Despite her claim, and Midoriya's nervousness, this took him aback a bit. Her voice was anything but nervous. It was a stoic, croaky voice. If anything, it took him out of his panicked stupor a bit. If she could be nervous and not be a stuttering mess, then Midoriya probably could manage the same.
"...me too," he admitted, the redness falling from his cheeks a bit. "Thanks again."
"No problem," she ribbited. "Good luck today, kero. By the way, my name is Asui Tsuyu. But you can call me Tsu."
Before he could answer, she walked away, making her way towards the exam building. Midoriya watched her for a second before looking up at the building.
Well...if nothing else, I talked to a girl today. He took a deep breath and continued towards his fate. "Here goes nothing."
--
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GET GOING!!"
Midoriya turned back from where Present Mic was standing to see the rest of the examinees were all taking off running to hunt down the robots. "Damn it!" He cursed under his breath, taking off running while spinning Mjolnir at this side.
The written exam, while hard, he at least figured he passed. Most of the questions he felt confident about, but there were enough throwing him off that he still felt uneasy turning it in. Not to mention how flustered he got when the tall guy with glasses told him to, "stop muttering." Was it necessary to call me out in front of everyone? Yeesh.
The combat portion was unlike anything he had really heard of before. Robots with assigned point values? A Zero-Pointer that served as an obstacle? It still was a bit unclear.
He turned a corner and a three point robot pointed flame thrower right at Midoriya's face. He wasted no time throwing Mjolnir through the robot, causing it to splinter at all joints and collapse. "Three points," Midoirya counted to himself.
Another robot, a two pointer, dropped from out of the side of the building, and began charging towards him. Midoriya jumped to the side and called Mjolnir to return, bursting through the back of the robot. "Five points."
I wish I had mastered flight, he thought, running past alleys in the mock city, keeping his eyes open for any more robots. "Eight points." I'd be able to find robots much easier.
Midoriya heard explosions and yelling coming from his left, and instinctively ran towards it. Momentarily, he forgot this was a test; it sounded like someone was in trouble. More voices became distinct; apparently this was where all the robots were.
Charging down the streets, he saw a blonde boy surrounded by three pointers, destroying them as he shot a laser out of his... stomach?
He seems to have this under control, Midoriya thought, but no sooner than this crossed his mind, the boy doubled over in pain, clutching his midsection.
"My tummy!" He cried. As he crouched, the last robot loomed over him, ready to strike. Midoriya wasn't sure how vicious these robots were programmed to be against entrants, but he wasn't about to find out.
"LOOK OUT!" Deku cried, leaping over the boy and smashing the robot to pieces with a crack of Mjolnir. Nuts, bolts, and gears went flying everywhere as he brought the hammer clear through the robot and onto the streets. "Eleven points... hey, are you okay?" He asked, turning to the blonde and extending a hand.
Laser-Stomach-Boy stood up on his own power though, still holding his midsection but smiled almost as brightly as his laser. "Oui, mon ami! My hero! Merci, my green haired friend."
"Um! Th-thanks," Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck, blushing a bit. "G-good luck out there."
The two took off in the same direction, but as they rounded a corner they saw a rush of people going towards them. It looked like almost every entrant was opposite of the two of them, Midoriya even saw the taller boy with the blue hair and the glasses. As he looked up past the crowd, he saw why.
The Zero Pointer. The obstacle to be avoided had been unleashed, and it was huge. Towering over every mock building, it clunked the space of about a block in one step. Even Bakugou could be seen using his explosions to rocket away from it, though he diverted off to the side to find more robots to smash up.
"We... we should leave," Blonde-Laser-Boy gulped, turning and running without waiting for a confirmation.
Midoriya would have followed in a heartbeat, but he heard something over the robots and thundering footsteps. It wasn't so much of a cry for help, but someone was hurt. Looking past the crowd, he saw a girl pinned under the rubble. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and was struggling to push some a large rock off of her, but her arms couldn't reach it.
The Zero Pointer was coming towards her, as were some smaller robots, and at this rate...
Midoriya grit his teeth and began running past the crowd, despite the blood rushing to his ears and the shaking in his knees. He had to save her.
As he was running, he saw Asui Tsuyu hopping the other way on all fours. Their eyes met for a brief second, and even on her stoic face, she looked panic.
I have to save everyone, he panicked.
Spinning Mjolnir at his side, it began to generate electricity as his heart thundered. As three pointers began to surround him, he slammed his hammer against the pavement. Bolts of lightning burst forth, exploding the robots around him as the sparked and hissed. He was at twenty-six points now, but didn't bother calling it out; he had bigger fish to fry.
The foot of the Zero Pointer came down towards the girl, but Deku threw Mjolnir towards its knee joint. In a burst of electricity, the leg broke off the monstrosity and collapsed against the streets.
While well-meaning, this wasn't the best way to dispose of the robot; with one leg, the robot lost balance and began falling towards Midoriya, and the brown haired girl. For its size, some of the contestants running away might even get crushed too.
Adrenaline and lighting pushing him forward, Midoriya jumped with all the Asgardian strength granted to him as fitting his position of God of Thunder. Rocketing through the air, he met with the head of Zero Pointer stories above the ground. With a heavy swing of Mjolnir, he struck the robot, causing electricity to explode above the testing grounds. Lightning crackled in all direction as the robot went flying backwards, falling apart in pieces on the ground below.
A smile spread across Midoriya's face as he looked down at the carnage; he'd done it. He'd knocked a robot away from everyone else. Everyone should be safe now. Of course, this relief was momentary, as gravity kicked in and he began plummeting to the ground below.
Panic replaced joy as the weight of Mjolnir dragged him headfirst towards the ground. Crap! How do I get out of this?!
Eyes darting frantically as the pavement began to approach him, he looked down at Mjolnir. "M-maybe an airblast straight down as I get close? I could - HRGK!"
He was abruptly stopped, for the second time that day, as a long pink appendage wrapped around his midsection. Following the trail of it down, he saw it once again belonged to Asui Tsuyu. She had jumped onto a nearby building wall, and was sticking to it, and had shot her tongue out to catch Midoriya not long into his fall.
He made no effort hiding his sigh of relief as she reeled him in towards her. "Th-thanks Asui."
She nodded and set him in to an open window. "No problem. But remember, call me Tsu, kero."
He blushed a bit as the adrenaline worse off. "R-right. Sorry Asui. I mean, Tsu!"
A buzzer rang out around the arena, signaling that the event was over. The two looked out at the hopefuls down below them on the streets; some were fist-pumping, others looked like they were on the way to the morgue. Most just looked nervous though.
"Kero...guess that's that..." Tsuyu looked around, and her cheeks took on a brief tinge. "Do you want a lift down?"
"S-sure." Deku replied, a bit embarrassed as her tongue wrapped around his chest for the third time that day. "Thank you!"
Within a moment, she placed him on the ground and crawled down herself. "By the way, kero, I never caught your name."
"O-oh. It's Midoriya Izuku." He bowed slightly. "I-it's been really nice to meet you."
Her lips curled upwards in a bit of a smile. It made her eyes look bigger. "How did you do, anyway?"
Izuku quickly tallied the points in his head, "I... I think I had twenty five points? Lost count when I went after the Zero Pointer..."
"I think that's pretty good, kero. I was at thirty when this all happened. Most people had a few less than me."
Midoriya felt his throat go somewhat dryer; why was fighting robots easier than this conversation? Was he nervous about doing worse than others or talking to Tsuyu? Both, he figured. Definitely both.
"So...out of curiosity," Midoriya gulped, mustering his courage to ask what he considered to be a serious question, "is the extending tongue your Quirk?"
Tsuyu chuckled, emitting a throaty, croaking noise. "Actually, my Quirk is Frog. It's..."
As she began to explain as the two walked, Midoriya's hand twitched for his notebook. Unfortunately, he hadn't brought it since it wasn't part of his exam. Still he muttered along, naming off all sorts of uses a Transformative Frog Quirk could be.
"That's so versatile! You could be plugged into any Hero team and boost it. Just so long as you weren't thrown in the cold, but with the right Hero suit and Support equipment even that could help. But maybe the bulky suit would just way you down since jumping speed is so crucial for..."
"The muttering is a bit creepy, Midoriya," Tsuyu interrupted, rather bluntly. She didn't sound bothered by it, at least.
"S-sorry!" Midoriya blushed. "M-my Quirk developed really late, s-so I grew up thinking I was Quirkless s-so I kinda got obsessed..."
His rambling trailed off as Tsuyu laughed. "It's fine, kero. You're kind of a dork, aren't you?"
"Heh...yeah, a bit." He admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
"That's okay, kero." She smiled again. "You're just passionate."
"Thanks," he smiled back to her. "I never really thought of it that way."
The two nervously joined their fellow testers in exiting the arena, Present Mic announcing the results would be mailed to them in two to four weeks time.
--
As he was approaching his mom's car in the parking lot, Midoriya heard a shout from behind him. "H-hey!"
He turned and blinked, confused as he saw a girl with brown hair running towards him. His eyes widened when he realized that she was the girl who had been pinned under the rubble as the Zero Pointer attacked. Holy crap, two girls talking to me?! On the same day?!
The girl panted as she caught up to him. "There you are! I never got a chance to thank you!"
Midoriya went red again; he'd lost count of how often that had happened to him that day. "O-oh, it's no t-trouble. I'm g-glad you were okay!"
The brown hair girl beamed. "Me too! I was ready to catch you with my Quirk, but I guess the girl with the tongue got to you first!"
Midoriya smiled, nervousness dissipating a bit. "Yeah? What's your Quirk?"
The girl explained her Zero Gravity Quirk, and it's drawback of feeling sick of she used it too much or on things that were too heavy. Midoriya, remembering his earlier interaction with Asui, held back his muttering, chewing on his tongue. "That sounds so cool!" He allowed himself to say, finally.
"Well, it's not magic-electric-hammer cool, but thanks." She smiled. "Sorry, I totally forgot. I'm Uraraka Ochako." She held out a hand for a handshake, pinky tucked in.
"Midoriya Izuku," he replied, returning the handshake. Knees weak, he hoped his palms weren't sweaty, and that he'd be able to keep down mom's spaghetti later. He snapped his attention back to the gravity-user. "N-nice to meet you!"
The two parted ways, wishing each other luck on the test. Inko, of course, wasted to time probing her son on who the, "pretty girl," was. Izuku was left wondering if he'd live through the embarrassment to even get through Hero school.
--
From the throne of Asgard, Thor dispelled the scrying spell he had learned from Loki. A small smile was across his face; Midoriya had done better than he had anticipated.
He rubbed his beard, considering summoning the boy to congratulate. After a few minutes, he decided against it. He'd let the boy revel in a successful night for the day, and they could get back to training tomorrow.
"Speaking of," Thor groaned as he stood up. "I should teach him to talk to girls. That was almost painful to watch."