Another villain met its end at the hands of her Quirk.
"That makes sixty-three points."
About half a dozen heroes-in-training – the only examinees who'd stuck close enough to pick off whatever villains she didn't destroy – whispered amongst themselves.
But she ignored them.
With a snap of her arm and clockwise twist of her wrist, Ryuko deactivated her Quirk. She didn't need to do anything. Her Quirk was instinctive. Subconscious. She just 'thought about it' and her blood listened. But the physical motion made her feel better. And as her weapon melted into something resembling jelly, liquefied completely, flowed between her fingers and disappeared into her body, earning more whispers from the peanut gallery, she yawned. How much longer was the test? Five minutes? Three? Or maybe there were only a couple of seconds left. She couldn't tell. Everything was honestly starting to blur together.
Strewn across the neighborhood were metal corpses.
Most destroyed by her.
The rest by everyone else.
It had to suck spending years training your ass off – homework, interning, practicing or whatever – only to lose to someone like her.
BOOM!
The ground didn't so much shake as suddenly, and without warning, tremble, "What the – "
BOOM!
Cables snapped. Metal buckled. Asphalt shattered. Dust and smoke billowed into the cold February morning as something shoved its way out of the earth. A presence filled a vacuum nobody knew existed. Caught by surprised, Ryuko nevertheless managed to close her mouth before the shockwave hit them. Someone screamed. Someone shouted. Then everything went deadly silent as the smoke cleared and it appeared. A villain taller than buildings. Treads wide enough to reach both sides of the street. Claws powerful enough to rip chunks of concrete. Forest green armored plating and glowing red eyes. She knew what this thing was.
The zero-pointer.
The stupidly named arena trap.
A multi-jointed arm, powerful servos manipulating thousands of tons of metal and machinery, reared backwards.
"Oh, you've got to be KIDDING ME!"
Even halfway across the full-scale replica of downtown Musutafu, the physical calculations behind a giant robot deciding to punch the ground had only one conclusion.
KABOOM!
The seismic clash between reinforced armored knuckles and asphalt was no contest. The road buckled. Pavement twisted, contorted and disintegrated. Everything within arm's range was blown backwards. Glass shattered. Buildings collapsed. The earth trembled. Far enough away that she could literally see the entire villain from head to tread, Ryuko struggled to keep her footing. But it was like standing in a typhoon. Arms crossed, eyes twitching from the dust and lips twisted into a snarl, she resisted the shockwave rippling down the street.
"Damn it!"
Blood oozed through her skin, reforming into a familiar blade as the pressurized insanity faded, "I knew UA was crazy, but I didn't think they were this freaking nuts!"
Something warm trickled down her cheek.
There was no goddamn way UA expected them to fight something like that!
So, why wasn't she running?
Kendo Itsuka didn't know why she stopped running. Her Quirk was strong, but not flashy. There was no way she could fight that villain. None of them could. Only a pro like All Might stood a chance. It was better to run away. If this was the zero-point arena trap, fighting it was pointless. But as Kendo fled, never looking backwards and shame at running away from a villain touching her heart, someone caught her attention. It was the girl who'd been destroying villains left and right, racking up dozens of points faster than anyone else. Someone who earned more than enough villain points to easily pass the exam.
Far more than her.
"Hey!"
It was a difficult decision. It should have been easy, but it wasn't. Despite every instinct screaming to keep running towards safety, Kendo turned around and did the opposite. Aware of the villain's location and speed, she sprinted backwards. She grabbed the girl's shoulder, intent on pulling her along, "We have to get out of here!"
"I'm not going anywhere!"
Kendo flinched when the girl yanked her shoulder free, "You can't be seriously thinking of fighting that thing!"
"Why's that so difficult to believe? This thing's part of UA's stupid test! That means there's gotta be a way to take it down," despite forcing confidence into her voice, Ryuko couldn't stop sweat from trickling down her face, "If you want to run away with your tail between your legs, be my guest! But I'm not leaving until I'm damn sure this bastard's unstoppable!"
Kendo's teal eyes widened.
"Kendo Itsuka."
"…Ryuko."
The ground trembled when the zero-pointer pushed its way through another building. She could barely hear herself think, yet clapping her hands together and breathing through her nose, Kendo cleared her mind, "Alright, Ryuko, what's your plan?"
"Plan?"
Ryuko looked at Kendo like she'd grown another head, "Ain't got time for a plan! I just need to get some way to close enough to hit it point-blank with my Quirk!"
She'd thought it was metal.
Maybe a support item.
But the longer she stared at Ryuko's sword, the more Kendo recognized why it looked so strange. Her eyes swiveled towards the multitude of cuts adorning her fingers. Partially dried blood oozing from broken skin, "Your Quirk's that strong?"
"Don't know."
Refusing to tear her eyes away from the zero-pointer, Ryuko shrugged, "Never fought a giant robot before."
Kendo blinked.
"What if…" slowly, piece by piece, the rough outline of a plan formed in her mind. It was a stupid plan. An idiotic plan. But still a plan, "…if someone restrained that villain, if only for a few seconds?"
Bewilderment flashed across Ryuko's face, "Can you do that?"
"My Quirk's not strong enough," Kendo shook her head, "We'd need someone tougher. Someone –"
KABOOM!
Another shockwave.
Then someone bouncing down the road, colliding with a traffic light along the way before crashing into an abandoned minivan.
A moment passed.
"RRAAAAAAGGGHH!"
A barbaric scream shattered the silence as a lustrous silver fist, knuckles silhouetted against a glass backdrop, burst through the car's passenger side door, followed in relatively short order by Tetsutetsu himself. Through a combination of physical strength, manly determination, frustration and his Quirk, he punched his way to relative freedom, casting aside what little remained of the inferior metal coffin. Steel and glass clung to his silver hair. Yet little worse for wear after getting backhanded across the neighborhood, Tetsutetsu screamed at the top of his lungs, "I'M GOING TO SMASH THAT ROBOT IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"
"Huh…"
As the loudmouth recovered, Ryuko followed his trajectory back towards the villain.
Had he seriously tried fighting that thing by himself?
More importantly, did she care?
Ignoring the incredibly faint voice in the back of her mind, most likely her conscious, she rolled her tongue against her teeth before turning to Kendo, "He seems pretty tough."
"Yeah, but…" Kendo muttered, her expression falling, "You don't think he tried fighting that villain, do you?"
"Who cares."
Tetsutetsu knew when someone was mocking him. With the zero-pointer rolling closer, flattening cars and buildings in its wake, he turned around, metallic knuckles pounding against hardened flesh. Shaking away the cobwebs, he prepared to politely demand who insulted him. That's when he saw her. His eyes widened, then narrowed, then widened again. All in the same amount of time for his brain to catch up to the rest of reality.
"HEY! YOU'RE THAT RUDE CHICK FROM EARLIER IN THE EXAM!"
"Ryuko? Do you know him?"
"We have a plan to kick that thing's ass," brushing aside Kendo's question and the loud stupidity slamming against her face, Ryuko dug a finger into her ear, "You interested?"
"THE HELL'S THE MATTER WITH YOU!? ARE YOU SERIOUSLY IGNORING EVERYTHING I JUST SAID!?"
Ryuko flicked away a bit of earwax clinging to her pinkie, "That a yes?"
Tetsutetsu's eye visibly and painfully twitched. Why was she so cocky? Just because she might have earned more points and had an awesome Quirk didn't mean she was better than him! Of course, he still wanted to help! This was a villain! Heroes stood tall against villains no matter the odds. But he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction! Instead, he turned to the other girl.
The nicer one.
"We need someone to hold down the villain," Kendo hastily explained as the zero-pointer's arm reared upwards, "Can you do that?"
"That's it?"
There was the sound of steel crashing against steel. Sharp and pointed teeth twisted into a smirk. Hardened flesh further hardened. Knuckles popped one after another. Tetsutetsu's demeanor changed, "Not that I'm happy about letting someone else hog the spotlight, but we heroes have to stick together! Just say the word and I'll piledrive that hunk of junk into next year!
An enormous shadow blotted out the sun.
Green silhouetted against clouds.
"NOW!"
And Tetsutetsu moved.
KABOOM!
Thousands of pounds of metal wider than a bus smashed against his outstretched hands. Asphalt cracked beneath his feet, spiderwebs expanding until every pane of glass shattered in an explosion far louder than anyone expected. The air was forcefully driven out of his lungs. Standing in the epicenter of the seismic punch, gripping something impossible to truly hold, Tetsutetsu snarled. A desperate struggle to remain standing ensued. Sparks as bright as the summer sun jettisoned into reality as his fingers dug into the enormous fist pressing down on his head. His sneakers sunk an inch through pavement, then another inch, then four inches, until he was standing knee-deep in the road.
"GAAAAHHHH!"
Sweat dripped from silver pores as his fingers dug into titanium.
Metal screeched and groaned.
Steam exploded between tightly clenched teeth.
His arms felt like they were about to give out.
Yet the thought of giving up never crossed Tetsutetsu's mind.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? TAKE THIS THING DOWN ALREADY!"
She was running long before he opened his mouth.
"HHHHRRRRRAAAAAAAA!"
The instant her sneaker touched down, momentarily slipping against polished metal, Ryuko bolted up the vertical surface. Despite gravity refusing to play ball, she forced herself even faster. She continuously placed one foot in front of the other, one arm pumping back and forth, the other furiously holding onto her sword. Her hair whipped in the breeze. Her heart pounded against the inside of her chest. She could feel her Quirk straining under exhaustion and weariness.
But she kept pushing her limits.
She forced her Quirk to remain active.
And upon reaching as high as she could possibly go, Ryuko curled her toes, vaulted straight upwards and summoned her full power.
Blood.
More blood than she'd ever used.
A lot of goddamn blood.
Blood gushed from her wrists and ankles. It exploded from her fingertips. It streamed out of her neck and stomach. The blood trickling down her cheek jumped into the air, almost as if electrified. Crimson rivers danced upon the cold morning. Droplets of vermilion orbited around equally vibrant tidal waves. And right away, Ryuko felt like her entire body had been dunked in acid while lit on fire. She felt like hurling. Her head hurt. Her vision blurred. Her lips tingled. It was getting hard to think. The world slowed. She couldn't feel cold or the warmth of her breath. The blood between her fingers partially reliquefied, blood loss driving her consciousness towards darkness and nothingness.
"TAKE..."
She shouted.
She screamed.
Hair fluttering in the wind, cheeks flushed from blood loss and the bitter cold, as her ascent reached its absolute maximum, Ryuko hefted the jagged sword over her head, new blood merging with old in a cavalcade of vermilion. Her sword changed and transformed. She swallowed. She snarled. Gnashing her teeth, if only to drown out the increasingly despondent voice in the back of her mind demanding she stop, Ryuko leaned backwards, clenching her trembling fingers as everything simultaneously arrived at the singularity.
"…THIS!"
Quirks were amazing.
Quirks were batshit insane.
They manifested in all shapes, sizes and mutations. They could do anything, even break laws of physics. Maybe that was why her dad had spent all his time researching Quirks instead of coming to her track and field meets or parent-teacher night. People shouldn't be able to fly, yet there were heroes who could do just that. Telekinesis and mind reading should be impossible. Punching concrete should shatter every bone in your hand instead of pulverizing a wall into dust. Living shadows, shooting fire and ice from your hands and manipulating blood should only exist in old comic books.
Yet here she was.
Floating high above the ground, nowhere to go but down, Ryuko swallowed the acidic bile rising from her stomach, clenched her jaw and swung the battle axe three times her size.
"What?"
"Did you see that?"
"Awesome!"
"We just lost contact with Executor B!"
"Impossible!"
"Executor C has just gone offline as well!"
"Switch screens!"
"Incredible!"
"Isn't that – "
"Oh my, these students certainly don't know the meaning of holding back."
UA's state-of-the-art zero-point arena trap, ten thousand tons of metal and artificial intelligence designed to scare students, three billion yen from design to construction. Reinforced titanium and depleted uranium armored plating. Adaptive programming. The ability to sense every heat signature within five hundred feet and adjust its movements to limit potential interactions. It was the pride and joy of hero training. A villain bot large enough to dwarf heroes possessing Gigantification Quirks.
Innumerable error messages flashed across a virtual landscape.
Self-preservation scripts failed.
Sensors blinked out.
"Heh…"
She couldn't believe it.
Through eyes almost too tired to keep open, Ryuko watched the zero-pointer teeter sideways onto a building. Trembling lips convulsed into a smirk as the impact widened the massive gash reaching nearly halfway through the villain's head. A hollow chuckle. Honest pride at accomplishing something amazing. Darkness as gravity reasserted itself at the worst possible time. Exhaustion when her Quirk subconsciously deactivated. The faraway sensation of wind whipping through her hair. Eyes closing. Thinking she might have overused her Quirk just a little bit.
The feeling of falling.
And falling.
And falling.
And falling.
Kendo forced herself to move faster. Her body resisted. Her heart screaming that it could beat any faster, but she nevertheless pushed herself forward. Her sneakers slapped against cracked pavement. She ignored Tetsutetsu gingerly picking himself out of the ground. She dodged broken metal raining through the sky. Her hands expanded, growing more than ten times larger. She ran faster. She leapt forward. She caught Ryuko at the last possible second, knuckles scraping along the ground. The pain hurt. She might've dislocated two or three fingers on her left hand, but Kendo simply couldn't find the urge to care.
"Ryuko!"
Parched lips opened, releasing a mixture of spittle and blood.
"…never doing…that…again…"
It was laughable. It was stupid. It made her angry. And relieved. Unable to decide how to respond to something so ridiculous, Kendo collapsed onto her knees.
"I'm fine, by the way," unaware of this, Ryuko's eyes fluttered open, introducing her exhausted brain to the timeless brilliance of sunlight, "…just…really tired…" she could remember hitting the villain with her Quirk, but nothing afterwards. Just darkness until waking up inside Kendo's sweaty hands, "…so, if you don't mind, I'm just…gonna lie here…for a while…"
"As a matter of fact, I do mind!"
Having lost her scrunchie at some point during the exam, Kendo's ginger hair resembled a vicious creature as she grabbed Ryuko with both hands, "What if I wasn't here? You had no idea what my Quirk was! What if I didn't catch you? You could have died!"
Ryuko shrugged.
Something impossible to define as a shrug since she actually didn't move.
Kendo felt the exact moment something inside her brain snapped.
A loud buzzer shattered the silence.
"Oh, thank god," she couldn't remember such an amazing sound. It was like heaven itself. Sheer, unadulterated relief swept through her veins. Throwing her head backwards, Kendo deactivated her Quirk, Ryuko's protests at hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes the furthest thing from her mind, "It's finally over."
"Hey! Hey! Hey!"
Jogging at a faster-than-reasonable pace, silhouetted against the zero-pointer's broken and shattered remains, Tetsutetsu took a moment to catch his breath before punching the air with his fist, "Man, that was awesome! Seriously! Talk about a super move! That stupid villain never saw it coming!"
She was too exhausted to nod.
Or open her mouth.
Barely able to keep her eyes open, let alone argue, Ryuko nodded, hoping he'd shut up and move on.
"But I'm still waiting for your apology!"
"What? I…uh…huh…" as the conversation suddenly shifted in a dramatic and unexpected direction, Kendo raised a finger, "Ryuko, what's he talking about?"
"Seriously? Your name's Ryuko? Like the Dragoon Hero: Ryukyu?"
Ryuko's eyebrow twitched.
"No, it's not like her name," she attempted mustering something more than mild annoyance, but exhaustion meant threatening Tetsutetsu was out of the question, "Are you seriously stupid? Our names aren't even spelled the same way."
"WHAT WAS THAT!?"
As the shouting began – again – Ryuko pretended to pass out.
Which only pissed off Tetsutetsu.
"DAMN YOUR COCKY ATTITUDE! IF YOU WEREN'T SO TIRED, I'D KICK YOUR FREAKING ASS! DAMN IT! DON'T THINK JUST BECAUSE YOU PULLED AN AWESOME AND AMAZING STUNT AGAINST THAT VILLAIN THAT I'VE FORGOTTEN HOW RUDE YOU WERE! NOW APOLOGIZE AND –"
CHOP!
"Seriously, Ryuko," as the metal teen fell to the ground, dazed and confused, Kendo shook her good hand, "Do you know him?"
"I've honestly never seen him before in my life."