The dawn of August 10th was just like any other morning, on the surface. No major villain attack, no unusual weather, not even a particular sight of a rare animal. For most, it was an ordinary Thursday, where adults would be up for their jobs - if they hadn't already left for one reason or another - and the children could relax, their Summer days still going strong.

For Ignatius and so many others, it was an important day. A day where a path could be made or broken, where they could potentially open up a new horizon towards their career as a Hero. Turning off the alarm only after having sat up on his bed, the redhead took a deep breath and went over what he had to do in the three hours leading up to the exams starting at 9 sharp.

A hearty breakfast, getting dressed nicely - his mother insisted they'd have tracksuits tailored to every applicant for the second part - and only then grabbing his ID, application confirmation and writing implements in order to be ready. Another deep breath, taking in the warm air of the city, and he finally got up with a stretch, making his way downstairs to meet the first task, and the one parent that hadn't yet left.

Despite all the distractions that came with fixing her hero costume, Alicia did not miss the sounds of her child coming down for the first part of his likely long day. She turned back to him, long, luscious red locks practically blending in with the bodysuit and plated gloves and boots that was most of her current design. Her visor hid the top portion of her face, making her equal parts stylish and intimidating, as was always her intent as the Scarlet Striker.

"Ready for your big day, dear?" Her question came out a bit louder than she had expected, hints of excitement seeping through. It had been a while since she had gotten excited over a Hero school - nearly 20 years, in fact. She was thankful that despite some clear anxiety, Iggy hadn't hid a soft smile.

"Nervous, but... I think I'm ready." A yawn escaped his mouth, clearly not that used to waking up as early as he was, his mother's giggle doing little to ease his newfound mild embarrassment. "I couldn't sleep, okay?"

"I don't blame you", her response quickly came as she pushed a fairly large plate of pancakes towards him. "What's on your mind? Who you're going to meet there? If you'll be in the same class as Merri? Maybe if you'll find a date-"

"Mom!" His face got warm, not unlike how his fingers became after enough usage of his Quirk. "Why are you so sure I'll make it?" His brows furrowed at her, and she mimicked him, giving him enough time to reconsider his words before she spoke up.

"Your Quirk's heat has already gotten stronger than mine was at the time", the redhead finally admitted with a gentle smile. "And you've got so much left to grow. I have no doubts that you'll do wonderfully in the exams."

It took a good few seconds for Ignatius's stare to drop, shoulders slumping in resigned acceptance. "Thanks, mom. Nerves, you know? I know I've gotten better, but I haven't been able to fire beams from anywhere since... last time." This got Alicia to wince internally, hoping she hadn't gotten him to say more than he was comfortable with. "Won't let it get me down, though. Just need to prepare myself for whatever the practicals are."

The reassurance got the pro to crack a smile, hoping he wouldn't see through its slight brittleness. Despite how he looked, she still felt him a bit frail – and the last thing she wanted was for him to break like he had before her so many times, but without someone to help him out immediately. "Don't forget the written exams either, sweetheart." She gave him a kiss on the forehead, her warmth letting him relax for the time being. "I love you, no matter how you do."

He watched her turn, clearly needing to hurry, as he finished his own plate and got ready to head up to dress. Too many thoughts occupied his mind, but they were quickly shoved aside so he could speak before they tightened around his throat.

"Love you too, mom."

Getting on the bus to Olympia was a new experience for Ignatius. The bus to Caelus was smaller, more crowded, more stops as it took most of the kids he went with in one go. This one was large, a cream white with unmistakable yellow streaks and tinted windows, almost as if protecting from outside view; once he stepped inside, he noted how spaced out most of the seats were.

The redhead quickly spotted Merri by one of the windows looking out in pure boredom. He would have joined his friend had it not been for the boy by her side – blonde, green eyes, reading a comic book about some sort of Vigilante. She either wanted to keep her distance, or wasn't particularly interested in conversation in the first place, and that was fair enough to him.

He found the next seat available – next to a dark-skinned girl by the window tapping her finger while bobbing her head to music he couldn't hear. Her frame wasn't particularly impressive, between the baggy outfit not hiding her slight pudginess and the fact that she happened to look shorter than Ignatius when he wasn't exactly tall. He noted, however, the bright blue hair tied in a ponytail contrasting with her skin, and her sparkling silver eyes accentuating her face even when hidden behind tinted glasses.

Not wanting to startle the fellow examinee too much, he tapped her shoulder twice, causing her to jolt, but catching her attention, turning her head to the young amber-eyed man who had done it as he started to speak. "Mind if I sit here?" He was thankful that his voice didn't come off as too nervous, despite that being exactly how he felt. She, however, wasn't so lucky.

"Oh! S-sure, go ahead!" She stammered out, moving her arm from the rest and placing it on her lap to allow him a seat, which he took with a nod in appreciation and a quiet 'thank you'. While the redhead didn't bother her further, she noticed a few things that made him stand out – the amber eyes that complimented his short hair's colour, the sad smile as he looked in front of him towards someone she didn't know but he clearly did, and the very much stub that was his pinky finger on his right.

Asking about it seemed like a perfectly good way to upset someone, however, and not wanting to risk that type of interaction, she instead went back to her music, closing her eyes and letting her mind drift to the calm place she was using to soothe her nerves. Those two sentences would be the only ones they had shared for the entirety of the ride, with neither one saying another word.

More people slowly trickled in with each stop the bus took. The redhead wasn't one to look at people the majority of time, but couldn't help but notice a fair few unique folks among those boarding the ride to Olympia. Even among those that didn't have obvious Mutant Quirks or mutations that complimented other types of Quirks, some unique fashion and hair-styles made for a cacophony of colours, shapes and sounds, fitting for the next generation of aspiring heroes.

Yet, for all the interest he had in talking to the others, his mind could only focus on Merriweather. They'd barely spoken to one another outside of a few sparse texts, but he knew full well she had been training just as hard as he was, if not more. Despite her declaration a few months back, and all the energy she normally displayed surrounding heroism, she kept a stone face, only glancing at others from time to time and keeping her eyes on the landscape otherwise.

The sights, already fairly impressive due to the route taken by the bus, only got better when the school came into view.

To say Olympia High was visually loud was an understatement - marble pillars on either side of a golden, metallic arch for a gate, the center of which held two massive, unfurled wings fit for an eagle's. The walls were similarly reinforced metal, with more of those marble columns breaking up the monotony and making the high school glisten in the rising sun, as if the gods themselves had blessed the building.

If Ignatius didn't know any better, he'd feel the arrival at this time was done on purpose for this effect. He couldn't help but feel enthralled by how beautiful it all felt, however. Even his friend had to agree, judging by the small sound of awe he heard of her that she would likely never admit to anyone, especially when most had made similar noises of admiration for the school designed as a paragon for heroics.

Getting off the bus, the group of applicants was immediately greeted by an aged woman in a business suit. Her long since greyed hair reached down to her shoulders, curling at the tips; her eyes were just as gray, with the irises forming a strange shape of a bullseye. She called to everyone's attention with a loud cough, then turned to her clipboard.

"The faster we get through this, the better, everyone!" Her voice commanded obvious authority, but not from a Quirk. The redhead noted the familiarity in the intonation, but shrugged it off as she continued. "When I call your name, you are to step through the gates and head straight to the main hall; the person there will hand you your identification number!"

With each name called, the redhead tried to focus on the person coming forth. Some were more plain than others, dressing inconspicuously or simply not having easily notable features, but there were a few immediate standouts in his mind. Between a boy with shimmering wings, a blue beanstalk of a man and a girl just as tall as they were clearly hiding strange cracks on her face with her black and emerald hair, there was no shortage of what was either Mutant or Transformation Quirks; though Emitters still clearly outnumbered them in the end.

"Alora Beolda?" The callout was followed by the girl he had sat next to pacing forward nervously and almost tripping on herself but managing to catch her own fall. She shook herself off, then moved through the gate, trying to ignore the very few chuckles she heard behind her.

His name was called not too long after. He passed by the woman, the crow's feet on her face much more noticeable up close, though he had also noticed a ghost of a smile forming before she curbed it and turned back to the clipboard. He almost thought about asking her if she knew him, but focused on more important matters instead.

There was only more to see once actually inside the initial gates. The path forward was broken off by a massive golden statue, easily dwarfing even the tallest people he knew, a large, muscular man puffing out his chest with one foot forward, placed atop what seemed to be a rock. A massive eagle was on his shoulders, wings spread wide to make for something breathtaking that the teen sadly could not appreciate for long. The plaque in the front, however, he managed to read as he glanced by it:

Olympia

Our Bodies: Unstoppable

Our Minds: Unbreakable

Our Spirits: Indomitable

The receptionist's desk was populated by a small line of students being handed out temporary ID cards by a woman with long black hair in a ponytail, covered in specks of red. As he approached her when it was finally his turn, Iggy had managed to catch the distinct smell of iron coming from the woman, emaciated and pale, wearing sunglasses that pointedly covered her eyes entirely.

Despite the slightly unsettling appearance, her voice came out as peppy and energetic as someone who'd just had a ten course meal. "Hi! Here for the exams?" It had caught the boy off guard, but he shook off nervous thoughts as soon as possible and steeled himself for the tests to come. "Yeah. For the Hero Course, Ignatius Redd."

"Ignatius... where's that 'I'..." It was only when she had focused on finding the applicant's name that the redhead noticed the peculiar protrusions sticking out from her thumbs. They weren't present in any other finger, and they took on a strange, conic shape with a notable hole on the tip. "Here we are!" Her declaration pulled Ignatius out of his thoughts, a card being printed and handed out to him. "Your test room's just down that hall, second door to the right!"

The inside of the school wasn't nearly as radiant as the outside, but still had its fair share of pomp. Rows upon rows of glistening tiles, freshly cleaned – giving Iggy a good reason to take it slow lest he trip over himself – and an uncountable number of white and golden lockers on one side of the wall. He was sure all of them would be taken by the time the school year started, but for the time being, they were as empty as most of the classrooms he had taken a peek into.

A young proctor gave a small nod at the teen who had joined the test room, mostly filled out at this point. He had recognized a face or two, but no sight of the girl he had been sitting next to on the bus ride, nor Merri. He took his seat quietly, noticing there were writing implements laid out for him and the rest – and he wondered why he even needed to bring his own until the test had finally started.

Ignatius rubbed his temples as he attempted to tune out the noise of the frankly gigantic crowd making its way towards the auditorium. The test hadn't been of particular difficulty for the most part – though he struggled with History just like in most tests – but it was only one part of his exams. The voices had mostly died out by the time he sat on the nearest available chair, and he managed to take a look at who stood at the podium.

Few Pros stood out as much as Terabyte. Even among those with Mutant Quirks, he was an oddity – gray fur over the majority of him, a muzzle of a rat, spiky black hair over hazel eyes, a long tail that swished as he took in each and every student to be that he saw. His black and white costume clung to his body, a necessity due to how his Quirk worked, but left the wires that rode along his body free, ending on the tips of his digits and tail with means to connect to devices.

He looked down at what seemed to be a holographic keyboard, typing in a few commands with blistering speed before looking back up once the room was quiet, the screen behind him lighting up with a gold font and the school's name. "Welcome, students to be, to Olympia's entrance exam! Normally, the principal would be here for the orientation, but he had fairly important business to attend to." A few murmurs broke Aiden out of his rhythm for a moment, but he quickly took charge again.

"As you all might know, practical exams are typically all about taking down targets. While in a lot of schools these may be easy-to-destroy robots or actual targets held up somewhere for you to find, we do things a little differently in Olympia." With a press of a key, the screen behind him shifted to a series of images of humanoid-looking shapes in bright blue.

"All of you will fight for ten minutes in the ruins of large, destroyed cities and be confronted by Thugs of all shapes and sizes", he continued. "The bigger they are, the more points they're worth. You know that these thugs are non-living, and therefore have been granted permission to go all out, but incapacitating them will be enough to give you points." The whispers only intensified at this point, but it was a raised hand that got the Pro's attention. "Yeah, you in the back?"

Iggy didn't check for the features of the fellow examinee, but their voice carried more than enough confidence and bravado for the rest of them. "This exam seems quite a bit aimed towards those with powerful Quirks, and those of a physical nature. What of those who don't have such Quirks or prefer a more supportive role?" The redhead had to concede that – he had those advantages himself, and couldn't help but find it unfair to the others.

"You're not wrong", the rat man nodded, advancing a slide to more easily answer the question. "For those that can't deal with the Thugs easily, there's been a 'killswitch' implemented on their hardlight bodies. It's different for each one, and simply pressing it will incapacitate them. It's up to you to find those weak points!" The other teen was satisfied by this, given the hum Ignatius managed to hear.

The Pro quickly moved onto the next slide, where a hulking shadowy figure was displayed with a very poignant and simple word. "To top it all off... what's a ruined site without Villains? These guys won't have those killswitches. You'll get a lot of points for taking them down... but I wouldn't try it in your shoes. They'll be dangerous, and you're better off running from them." The practically malicious grin that came to Terabyte's face made many in the audience shudder.

"Any further questions?"

To say that the redhead was put on edge from how the Pro put the practical exams in context would have been an understatement. Granted, he was more than happy to share expressions of good luck and safe fighting, but the blunt way he called the villains threats to flee from rather than tackle head on didn't reassure the applicants in the slightest. The energy of the crowd when they had come in was gone, replaced with pure anxiety, and it was clear it wasn't leaving until the exam actually started.

Ignatius had managed to catch a glimpse of both the person he had sat next to in the bus and Merri. The latter, her expression hardened almost to the point of ridicule, was heading into a room opposite to his, the clear want to separate students from different schools apparent in that action alone. The former was a few people in front of him, notably a little agitated but trying to calm her nerves through deep breaths and rubbing the back of her hand.

The line, while long, was easily moving into what seemed to be an unlit room, which got more on Iggy's nerves. Was the room really accommodating for so many people at once? He knew each classroom had only taken about twenty or so people, and the gyms back at Caelus were good for maybe fifty each, Quirks and all. He'd figured at least twice as many were in line for this room, and it certainly didn't appear as large as the gyms, judging from the entrance being the same size as the ones for the classrooms.

Inside the room was what he had expected – darkness obscured most of the line he thought was ahead of him, thankful that he could still move at a constant rhythm and not feel like he had bumped into someone. He heard a few voices, but oddly enough, they were almost drowned out and far away. Even footsteps which he had heard quite easily before now only belonged to him, and it was like the others had simply vanished.

Only when the lights turned on did Ignatius realize that he was in a street, and the area around him was as advertised – a wrecked city, seemingly abandoned by the whims of Man and Nature alike, but enough buildings standing to ensure that people could filter in and out with no issue. In the midst of his awe and trying to figure out how in the hell Olympia had the money for it, he had almost missed the familiar voice of Aiden coming in through what seemed to be a speaker.

"Let the Olympia practical exam... begin!"

The best word to describe what had happened in all of the test sites the teens were in was 'chaos'. Thugs being released, Quirks being launched every which way, parts of buildings breaking in ways convenient enough for nobody to get hurt more than necessary.

And Terabyte loved every single second of it.

He'd missed the principal saying his hellos to the rest of the faculty, finally joining the group with a binder under an arm. His greyed eyes, a perfect match for his equally greyed hair, peered into each screen with purpose – finding those who stood out had been a trivial task for the man who'd lived over fifty years dealing with Heroism in his own way.

"Stanton?" His single, raspy word caught the rat man by surprise, and he had nearly missed a line of code to make sure a Thug jumped over the incredibly clumsy attack of one persistent student. "Anyone in your notice?" His focus was thankfully unbroken, but he finally realized what had been asked of him – standout students to be that they could focus on as teachers to make the best Heroes possible.

"Right now, just one", Aiden answered in barely-contained excitement. "I don't know if she knows I'm controlling all of this by myself, but she's tried to send out more than a few signals to stop the Thugs around her entirely. Hasn't entirely succeeded, of course..."

His screen displayed a tall, clearly muscular blonde in a rudimentary mechanical helmet, launching herself forward and dodging the incredibly telegraphed punch of a target before she grabbed onto their waist and suplexed them, embedding their head into the ground and disabling the body entirely. "But it doesn't stop her in the slightest, not with that much strength."

The principal hummed and nodded, containing his smile. "It seems we have a remarkable set of young minds, don't we?" He looked on, seeing every screen displaying Quirks and fighting styles alike – from those who stayed away to take easier potshots at Thugs with varied ranged attacks, to those who stayed up close to finish the fight, and even more than a few who simply swerved around attacks to press on the killswitches and disable them then and there.

"I wonder who will persevere when the time comes."

Ignatius both never felt more alive, nor more nervous.

He knew these Thugs weren't made to kill, or even harm that much, but his body still moved to dodge every attack one threw at him. He'd only barely avoided a few hits, a punch having tagged his shoulder a bit, but it turned out the targets were made to be simple defeats from a few two-finger blasts from his Quirk. Quickly enough, he had his strategy – draw in a Thug with pot shots from his beams, then fire one up close that was far stronger to knock them out.

It worked, for a time. The redhead wasn't sure how many he'd have to get in order to pass, nor how many he'd gotten at that point. He simply had to keep going, he needed to push on, even through the stinging that had started to come to a digit or two from Quirk overuse. He looked down at his hands, exhaling sharply in a vain attempt to ease the stinging, then moved on to the next street where he heard footsteps.

Two of the larger Thugs had that blue-haired girl between them, aiming to knock her out with heavy punches. She was quite agile on her feet despite her build, but he had figured her stamina was going to run out at this rate, even with the few hits she had managed, and judging from the sweat beads going down her face.

Iggy didn't know when he'd started to run towards the action, nor when he shoved the girl to the side to take a fist aimed at her that she wouldn't be able to dodge, sending him rolling across the ground. The last time he had been knocked aside like that was a month ago, but the ground was much softer, and the punch more precise. He turned while on the ground to meet the approaching Thug, firing from six fingers at once to knock him back and finally out.

"Are you okay?" She had offered a hand, which he gladly took to help himself up. "T-that was a pretty heavy punch..." He staggered a little, but took another deep breath, looking to see the other Thug had its switch pressed, and sighing in relief as both were out of danger for the time being.

"I-I'll be fine..." His hand moved over his chest, feeling where he had been hit. He would likely bruise a bit from that attack, but nothing that couldn't heal. "I didn't hurt you when I pushed you, did I?"

Their little talk was interrupted by a rather loud siren the duration of which Ignatius had grit his teeth. It wasn't until moments later that something broke through the nearby wall and caught the two off guard. Instincts kicked in, and the redhead put himself between the fellow examinee and what he quickly identified as a Villain.

Red hardlight instead of blue, armour plates that covered most of its body, a helmet that seemed all too familiar to one of them, and a grin that screamed pain coming their way. If Ignatius's nerves were on edge before, now they told him to run.

He managed to do so just as the Villain slammed its hand onto the ground and caused the both of them to nearly lose their footing in some sort of quake. Grabbing at the sleeve of the other's shirt to catch her attention, the two took off, ignoring and dodging the very few Thugs that remained on site still, all the while he heard a few shouts of surprise from other examinees.

"That's the Villain!"

"You heard Terabyte, just run!"

"Are those two his target?"

The last one had caught their attention. If they were being chased due to being the first in the Villain's sight, all they needed to do was get out of sight. The girl quickly turned her head to the side, projecting a duplicate of herself in an attempt at distraction; Iggy took the opportunity to fire back at the lumbering man with a blast from his finger, but it was easily deflected by the armour, even with the added distraction.

Unfortunately, the plan ended with the two now being at a crossroads where two other students were. One, more muscular, had clocked one of the bigger Thugs on the chin with a well-aimed punch, seemingly satisfied with his work before turning to see the approaching duo and Villain behind them. His blue eyes narrowed, expression hardening as he quickly stepped forward so he could get between them.

The other had instead tossed a smaller thug over his shoulder to disable it in a surprisingly fluid motion. Iggy recognized him as the 'beanstalk' he had sat next to in the auditorium, the blue skin and rather prominent horn in the middle of his head making him easily stand out. Despite his apparent build, he had managed to throw someone over his shoulder with little effort, making the redhead wonder if there was more to the fellow teen as they, too, stepped forward.

The Villain didn't particularly care about seeing two more students get in its way. It let out a belly laugh, a deep voice that made them shudder slightly, before he slammed his foot on the ground and caused another strong quake to make the shorter teens fall onto the ground and the taller ones nearly follow in the same fashion. The intent of the slam was revealed, however, when the already shaky buildings collapsed and essentially trapped them all with the hardlight being.

"That's not good..." The blonde offered a hand to each of the fallen duo, helping them back on their feet before stepping in front. "Guessing this is the Villain they mentioned, huh?" His voice was a little coarse, but stood firm as he took point closest to the construct, palms glowing slightly. "I won't let them get close!"

"Did you have to trap the four in there, Stanton?" A young, feminine voice called out to him, worried about the safety of the trapped teens. Of course, Terabyte would always be able to stop the test at any time, but she worried that he'd get there too late and someone would be too hurt, especially as she saw the Villain grab onto the blonde to toss them away with ease.

"There's only a couple of minutes left", he replied, noticing the four now tried to stay away from the mighty swings of his construct, only barely managing to do so a few times. "They won't get any points for keeping away, but they'll get out of it unharmed, that much I'm sure."

"You didn't set this up, did you, Aiden?" An older voice joined his concerns, greyed eyes peering into the back of his neck. "I wouldn't want such lovely kids to get hurt because you messed up your calculations..." This got the rat man to glower at her, eyes sparking lightly.

"I know the risks I'm taking with this programming, dammit!" He yelled out, teeth bared. "If it gets to be too much, I'll call the Villain off..." He looked back at the screen where the group tried to steer the Villain's swings towards the walls in order to clear a path.

"...but I've never failed a single equation in my life."

Ignatius felt the sting of his Quirk, knowing full well most his fingers were singed and any further use would lead to a lot more pain. He grit his teeth, only barely dodging another telegraphed punch as he moved back to feel the blonde standing behind him. "This isn't working! We won't get a path opened like this!"

The redhead hadn't felt this trapped since last time he was stuck in a similar situation, staring down defeat. But just like before, he knew there was only one way out. "Then we beat the Villain."

"You're crazy", the no-longer-beanstalk spoke up. He had since transformed, his already tall figure becoming even more so, and muscular to match his new physique, more notable with the slightly torn shirt. "You heard the Pro. We're not meant to beat this."

"Not alone, we're not", the smaller teen retorted. "There's four of us and one of him. If we work together we can push him back!" He quickly turned to the girl as the blonde distracted him by staying up front, swinging a few times while the Villain swung back. "Alora, right? You think you two can keep this guy distracted for a minute?"

"So, what we've been doing for the past two minutes?" The taller man grumbled, but stepped up front in time to catch the large fist in his own hand, pushing back the Villain while the bespectacled teen had nodded in agreement of the plan and moved to aid with her Quirk, illusions keeping him at bay. In the meanwhile, the blue-eyed man took some deep breaths, glancing at the redhead. "What are we gonna do?"

Iggy shuddered, feeling another quake rattle the ground. "You got beams like I do, don't you?" The taller teen nodded, feeling excited about where this was going. "We hit them with all we've got, at the same time. You think you can do that?"

The blonde grinned, palms already starting to glow as he pulled his arms back to charge up. "All we've got? How about more than that?" With the plan settled, Ignatius stood close, waiting for the blonde to tell him when he was done charging up, all the while he quietly recited the motto he had read in the statue.

'Unstoppable... Unbreakable... Indomitable...'

He watched the duo nearly get hit a few times, but using surprising agility to allow the wild punches and kicks graze them. He saw how winded they were becoming, however; time was about to run out at this rate and the plan would be shot.

'Unstoppable...'

He put his palms together, thinking of all the times he had used his Quirk. From the first time he managed to light a plant on fire, to the many targets he had seared. He thought back to how many times he had fallen trying to push his limits, to his beams becoming warmer, more comforting to him even through the pain he had gone through.

'Unbreakable...'

In the middle of all the action, he aimed at the large Villain up ahead. He only barely managed to hear the blonde call out his own readiness, seeing the red hardlight tired of dealing with 'pests', as it called them, and instead setting his sights on the dishevelled redhead and the spiky blonde. With reckless glee, he charged towards the two, managing to cock his fist back before the two made their move.

"Indomitable!" "Eat this!"

With both their shouts, nine fingers and two palms fired. Red plasma ran parallel to white hot light, and with the Villain so close and committing to a large attack, any effort it had made in attempt to dodge was in vain. Both beams connected to its chest, the combined force outright launching the large construct back and into the wall. Iggy grit his teeth, feeling the warmth spread through his fingers, but held up his beam until he was more than certain the Villain had gone through the wall with the help of the blonde.

A dull siren rang through the large city, parts of rubble somehow clearing on their own to allow the students an easy way to leave. Ignatius had fallen on his knees, a few tears streaming down his face as he finally realized how much he had overused his Quirk. Most of his nine fingers felt more than a bit leathery, a texture he was sadly not unfamiliar with, the darkened colour of the skin serving as a testament to all the time he had spent firing his beams.

Next to him, the blonde tried to catch his breath. The redhead almost felt jealous that overuse only seemed to sap at that boy's stamina rather than harm him directly, but he shook off any errant thoughts and looked into their grin-plastered face with eyes betraying worry. "That was awesome!" He laughed aloud, causing the girl to step back in surprise and the once-again-beanstalk to roll his eyes, despite having to catch his breath himself. "We beat that Villain back when they said we couldn't!"

"Attention, examinees! The practical exam is now over", a voice called out over the communication system. "Please wait for the medical teams to reach you so you'll be cleared to leave for the complimentary lunch." None dared to go against those orders, even though most of the students had little more than a scrape or even the smallest bruise, and some weren't hurt at all.

The four that had banded together watched as a strange blob-like figure and a statuesque brunette rode on a two-person scooter, carrying more medical equipment than was necessary for the teens to tell they were part of the staff. The blob got out of the cart first, making a deep grunt of annoyance as it saw the two kids on their knees.

"I swear, none of you know how much trouble you get yourselves into", it grumbled with a raspy voice, 'glancing' between each duo before settling on a plan. "Alice, can you look at the redhead?" It trailed along the floor to meet with the two standing teens, quickly appraising them with its appendages while the brunette put her hands on Ignatius's arm.

It was clear soon enough that her Quirk activated through contact, a small green light emanating from her eyes as she stared off into the distance for a few moments before she let go. "Bruise on the chest, second-to-third degree burns on the fingers", she halfheartedly glared at the teen. "Any more Quirk use and you might have been in trouble, you know?" This made him shudder – he knew from his mother's stories that upsetting medical staff wasn't the best idea.

The nurse moved onto the blonde, quirking a brow at his grin before activating her Quirk on him as well. "Nothing more than a few bruises, you'll be good to go after some rest!" As she let go of the tall teen to ready the scooter for their next destination, the 'blob' wrapped its appendages around Ignatius's fingers, making him wince.

"Just hold still, will ya?" Despite the pain, the redhead heeded the doctor's orders, their Quirk quickly easing the stinging he felt, both externally and internally. Once they let go, he could see the fingers almost healed from the burns, but with a few parts of skin sticking out. "Let your body do its thing and don't try to peel the skin off", he warned. With that, they got back onto the scooter, grumbling even as they drove off to the next group.

He'd only barely managed to catch names as the four walked out. Rayleigh – the blonde, his mind offered – got to exchange contact numbers with him and Alora, but not Sutaa; the blue-skinned teen saying he wasn't comfortable with such an exchange just yet. By the end of the mostly quiet lunch, Ignatius finally understood the entirety of what he had gone through.

He left it all on the battlefield, his path was no longer in his hands.

It was another week before any of them were able to check their results. Ignatius had known from the moment he stepped outside Olympia that he had gotten a fairly average score of 78% on the written exam, enough to get into the General Course. That wasn't his goal. His goal was possibly in front of him, a small tape with a button meant to play some sort of holographic message.

The tape had been on his desk for the past hour. The teen ate a hearty breakfast, ruminating on all sorts of thoughts of both failure and success. He even wrote down things he would say to his parents who were currently away, things that varied depending on the results. Practically all of the resulting paper had been thrown in the trash, however.

In the end, he couldn't simply wait, not in his anxious state. With a shaky finger, he pressed the play button, allowing the screen to come to life, semi-transparent.

An aged man appeared on the display with his arms behind his back - greyed, straight hair with a slight pomp, equally greyed eyes and a pair of glasses fitting to his angled face. Despite the aura of impassivity and immediate intimidation that the redhead could feel through the screen, he felt that this man was one he could trust with his life, one who'd get the job done as succinctly as he possibly could, that'd been through more than the majority of heroes he had seen combined.

"Hello, Ignatius Redd. My name is Frederick King; you'll come to know me as Olympia's principal", he started, his raspy voice commanding easy respect with a few simple words. "My apologies on not being able to guide you on your practical exam - I had rather important matters to attend to when it came to the school's organization and faculty." This caught Iggy's attention - was there an important pro teaching, or someone the principal knew personally?

"Regardless, I did see the performance of the applicants live - this includes your own. And I must admit, you've all given me a lot to think about." The teen was unsure whether this was a good or bad thing - the tone indicated little more than a fact. "Up until the release of the Villains, you were doing quite well - assuming you kept up your steady influx of points, it was likely that you could have gotten into the Hero Course."

Frederick took a step to the side, revealing a new screen - the face of the Villain he had faced, but in full colour, the dirty brown hair and green armour apparent now. "This is Magnus Richter, also known as Crash. A D-class Villain, the same class we used for every single Villain in the exams." Ignatius paused his stream of thoughts - that was a D-class? It had taken the combined efforts of four students-to-be to take out a single one, how were they meant to take on higher class villains at all?

"His Quake Quirk proved problematic and destructive for some time", the principal continued. "And of course, no one student would be able to take him head-on unless they were a massive prodigy heavily trained to the bone by a Pro..." Iggy flinched at such an idea, contrasting with the sudden smile the older man had. "...or unless they had help." The screen next to Frederick shifted once more, this time with three faces familiar to the redhead, as well as his own.

"You met Alora Beolda saving her from a larger Thug's attack, and the two below - Rayleigh Arclight and Sutaa Magnison - attempting to escape from the Villain. At this point, Crash unleashed a quake powerful enough to turn a few more buildings into rubble, keeping you all trapped in with him." Memories came flooding back rapidly - not something the redhead wanted to go through again in the near future. "I'd like to trust this part of the test was unintentional... but if I may be honest, Terabyte and some other faculty members believe in 'trial by fire'."

The screen shifted a third time, showing snippets of their dodging and final combined attack. "To them, you passed with flying colours. You were quick to deduce a course of action, even as a last ditch effort - that attack would likely not knock the Villain out in the real world, but this was always a test of your abilities, a controlled environment. For all intents and purposes, all four of you got equal credit for this Crash's defeat." He reached into his pocket, revealing a student card - his student card, with the 1-α lettering above a blank picture, below it his name.

"Welcome to Olympia. I look forward to how indomitable you'll truly be."

Iggy failed to notice the tape moving onto preparations needing to be taken for his move there, as well as his phone's repeated buzzing. Multiple messages had come from separate people about how they'd gotten in the Hero Course as well. The teen pinched himself once, twice, three times before he could confidently say he wasn't in a dream. And yet it felt like one was beginning.

For once, Ignatius Redd felt like he was on the right path towards being a hero.

And thus begins Ignatius, 1-α and 1-β's journey into Heroism! A few of the cast got to make their debut here, and a lot more will appear in the following chapters! Stay tuned for the future!