Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long. I'm tryna do some quality control for this. I've got a lot of different stories planned out, not just MHA, but this one is my main one. I'm also trying to make each chapter a bit longer. To be honest, in my plans for this story, Part 1 was supposed to be Part 0 and only be two chapters long. Now on chapter eight, going on chapter nine, I'm enjoying writing the technical prequel to what my original design was. Well, here's the next chapter.
The day after their hero internships, Class 1-A returned to U.A. Zen was walking past an empty classroom on his way to class. Suddenly, he was yanked into the empty room.
"Woah!" Zen said, nearly falling over. He could smell who pulled him in, a familiar scent.
"Hey Zen." Kitsuna said, looking a little down.
"What are you doing in here?" Zen asked, looking around.
"I missed you. You never once called me." Kitsuna said.
"Oh. I'm really sorry. Cat Scratch trained me rigorously. I barely had time to do anything other than sleep." Zen said. He reached forward and grabbed her hands.
"I forgive you, Zen." Kitsuna said. She could see the tiredness in Zen, making his story believable.
"I missed you too, by the way." Zen said.
Kitsuna put her hands on his cheeks and pulled him close. She kissed him. Zen enjoyed the softness of her hands and lips. After a minute, they parted.
"We, uh, we better get to class." Zen said, his mind now scattered.
"Yeah, let's go." Kitsuna said, happy now.
They went to their class, with Aizawa having them recap their internships. The rest of the day was standard.
The next few weeks, the class continued their standard work, a few rescue and combat training days being sprinkled in. Eventually, the week before their First Term Finals came upon them. Some of the other students were worried about doing well, including Kitsuna and Ketsugi. They looked to Zen for help. He used the time to help them study. Finally, the day of the Finals reached them. They took their written exams first, with Zen making a perfect score, while Kitsuna and Kyosuke made high scores. Ketsugi made a passing score, although he had one of the worst scores in the class. Next up, the practical exams. Aizawa took them to the outskirts of an uninhabited training city on U.A.'s campus. He took them into a small observation room. There, the class was split into teams through random selection. However, Aizawa had expelled seven of his students, leaving only 13 students. One team would have three students, as compared to the normal two. Zen, Kitsuna, and Kyosuke managed to be the team of three. Ketsugi was paired with a girl named Yui, who had a Redirection Quirk.
"Alright, students, your exams will consist of fighting the villain bots from your entrance exams. Your goal is to keep damages to a minimum. All of the bots need to be defeated, but you need to capture or immobilize at least five of the bots. You will also have a thirty minute timer. Failure to defeat and capture the bots in time will result in a failure for the test. Being knocked out or captured will also result in failure for the individual. Now, Ketsugi and Yui, you two are up first." Aizawa said.
Ketsugi and Yui were taken into the city. Ketsugi thought Yui was beautiful. She had short green hair and dark green eyes. On the way, they got familiar with each other's Quirks.
"So, Redirect, how does it work?" Ketsugi asked Yui.
"If I touch something that's moving I can quickly shift it's direction, while also adding velocity to it. My hand needs to either slide across something's surface or put force onto something in the direction I want to redirect it for my Quirk to work, though. Also, I could redirect you." Yui explained.
"That sounds pretty cool. I bet you've got very fast reflexes." Ketsugi remarked.
"It comes with the Quirk. How does Swift Pivot work exactly?" Yui asked.
"If I make a pivot, I gain speed, which starts off at 50 mph. I can do that five times, reaching a max speed of 75 mph." Ketsugi explained.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Yui asked.
"Sure, what is it?" Ketsugi responded.
"Why do you wanna become a hero?" Yui asked.
Ketsugi stared off for a moment, not sure if he wanted to tell her. He then swallowed his pride.
"My little brother, Usagi. I'm doing it for him. He wanted to be a hero so damn bad. But he can't. Never will he be able too." Ketsugi said.
"Why? What happened?" Yui asked, looking into Ketsugi's eyes.
"When he turned five, he developed his Quirk. He could make shields from his arms. He was so happy. But, he developed a sickness as well. He was diagnosed with Leukemia, something a healing Quirk can't fix. I felt so bad because I was a neglectful older brother. He was so annoying, always talking about being a hero. Now, I miss hearing him talk about being a hero. He asked me to do this, become a hero. I told him no, that it was his dream, not mine. Then, the time to enroll into U.A. came and I enrolled. I met Zen during the entrance exams. I was so nervous, but he managed to calm me down. Now I'm here. Taking my finals with you." Ketsugi told Yui. He had tears rolling down his face.
Yui stared at Ketsugi for a moment. She used her sleeve to wipe away his tears.
"If you ask me, that's a very noble reason." Yui said, giving Ketsugi a hug of comfort. Ketsugi felt his heart skip a beat.
They then arrived at their destination. Ketsugi was in his hero outfit, a navy jumpsuit with shin bracers and shield gauntlets. He tightened the bracers and made sure the gauntlets on his arms were in perfect condition. He then turned to see Yui tightening her own arm bracers. Her hero outfit was that of a lavender jumpsuit, with mint green grid patterns on the legs, a lavender overcoat, a purple chestplate with mint accents, mint green armored boots with lavender accents, purple hip plates, purple arm bracers with mint accents, and a purple forehead guard with mint accents. The horn signalling the exam's start then sounded.
"Let's go. We got this." Yui said, giving Ketsugi some confidence.
The duo ran into battle. They were met by a smaller villain bot, with Ketsugi using one pivot to give a speed-boosted kick. The bot's head was crushed. One bot swung at Yui, who avoided the attack. She swiped her hand across the bot's arm toward it's head, making it swing back and pierce its own eye. Ketsugi and Yui fought a few more bots, defeating them. While fighting one bot, Yui noticed a switch on it. She avoided its attack and flipped the switch. The bot went rigid, with the word "captured" appearing on its head.
"Ketsugi! Flip the switches!" Yui said, feeling exhausted.
"What switches?!" Ketsugi asked, narrowly avoiding an attack. He was getting tired himself.
"On their backs!" Yui explained, flipping another bot's switch.
"Ohh! I see it now!" Ketsugi said, kicking one of the bot's switches down.
Rather than fight the remaining bots, Ketsugi and Yui avoided their attacks and captured them. After capturing the last one, the horn signalling the end of their exam sounded.
"We did it!" Ketsugi said, looking at the timer, which had only three minutes remaining. He excitedly threw his fists into the air.
"Yeah! We're the best!" Yui said, jumping at Ketsugi and hugging him. She quickly stepped back, blushing. Ketsugi was blushing as well.
They were then taken back to the observation room. Aizawa gave them criticism for taking a while to learn how to capture the bots without the necessary tools, but gave them some praise for choosing to capture the majority of the bots, rather than fight them. The next four groups of students had their exams. All but one group passed, with one of the students in the failing pair having been knocked out. Finally, Zen, Kitsuna, and Kyosuke were taken into the city. Before they left, Aizawa told them that they would have extra bots to compensate for having a team of three. On their way, they chatted up on strategy.
"We are gonna do the capturing first, right? Then toy with the rest of the bots?" Kyosuke said.
"Maybe not toy with them. This is still our exam." Kitsuna said. She looked over to see Zen deep in thought. "Hey, what's up?"
"Nothing. Just thinking of the exam. I need to up my percentage for Zen Style. It's nowhere near what it can be." Zen stated.
"Hey, man, your power is unmatched. I doubt even All Might could take you." Kyosuke said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah right. He'd mop the floor with me." Zen said, chuckling.
"You'll be fine, Zen." Kitsuna said.
"Hey, Kyosuke. How does your hero outfit work?" Zen said, changing the subject. He was, however, actually curious.
Kyosuke's outfit was a very dark one. He wore a gray jumpsuit with silver accents, a pair of silver boots, all under a black overcoat with silver hip armor. His coat and sleeves had a tattered pattern. He also wore a pair of silver knee guards, and a black tattered short cloak over his right shoulder.
"Well, my tendrils kinda just pass right through it They originate from inside my body, and the costume company replicated certain cellular structures from me to make my costume." Kyosuke explained.
"That's neat." Zen said.
"Y'know, your clothes never seem to be affected by your Quirk, Zen. How's that?" Kitsuna asked.
"My mother. She kept her hair very long till I was accepted into U.A. She cut it, then sent it to the outfit company. They used her hair to make my hero outfit. It's not completely invulnerable to the elements, though. I just can't use enough power for it to actually show." Zen said.
"Wait, I thought they can easily make elementally resistant clothing? Why'd they need your mother's hair?" Kyosuke asked.
"My Quirk is passed down through the family. It's gotten stronger since the first Sokuda. Normal element-resistant clothing isn't very effective against Elemental Force." Zen explained.
"Zen, I thought your mom was Quirkless. Why wasn't your hair used?" Kitsuna asked, confused.
"There's a strange answer to that. So, Elemental Force passes down to the first-born of the then current Elemental Force user, adding on the Quirk of the user's spouse. It's weird, but my mom developed the body to handle Elemental Force, but didn't get the Quirk. I, on the other hand, developed the Quirk, but not the body." Zen said.
"How can someone develop a Quirk their body can't handle? It doesn't make much sense." Kyosuke wondered.
"I like to put it a different way, usually." Zen said.
"What's that?" Kyosuke asked.
"My Quirk doesn't like me. It's as simple as that." Zen joked. Kitsuna let out a giggle.
They then arrived at their destination. The three of them stepped off the bus, walking forward a bit. They stopped, with Kitsuna pulling something out of the largest pouch of her utility belt.
"Hey, Zen, I wanna show you something." Kitsuna said.
"What's it?" Zen asked.
"Ta-da!" Kitsuna said, showing him a pair of dark pink goggles that looked like a re-colored pair of his own.
"You got matching goggles? That's adorable." Kyosuke said. He and Ketsugi had already been told about Zen and Kitsuna's relationship.
"It does match your outfit." Zen complimented.
Kitsuna put the goggles on, resting them atop her head like Zen does. They were a perfect fit for her outfit. A skin-tight black jumpsuit with pink spirals down the upper arms, pink circles on the hips, neck and midriff, a pair of dark pink boots, a pink utility belt with dark pink pouches, and dark pink bracers.
"Perfect." Zen said.
"Alright. We capture five bots then destroy the rest. Got it, gang?" Kyosuke said, grabbing their attention.
"Right." Zen said, preparing himself.
"Roger." Kitsuna said.
The horn sounded, starting their exam. They saw the villain bots. Kitsuna activated her Quirk, using her strength to launch Zen and Kyosuke forward. Kyosuke sent a tendril toward Kitsuna as soon as she let go of him to pull her with him. Having more speed, Zen collided with one of the bots, kicking it with a fire-infused foot. When he landed, he captured three bots in ice. Being unable to move, the three bots showed that they were captured. Kyosuke grabbed one bot with his tendrils, flipping its switch. Kitsuna dodged an attack from one and got behind it, flipping its switch. Kitsuna and Kyosuke then heard Zen mutter a single sentence.
"Let the carnage begin." Zen commanded.
Forty-five seconds was how long it took the trio to get to the bots and capture five of them. Three minutes was how long it took to beat the rest. Kyosuke stabbed some bots, crushed others, and used some as projectiles. Kitsuna jumped around, slashing and bashing bots as she went, tearing them apart. Zen used fire, electricity, ice, and metal manipulation to destroy. He melted some, made others explode from overcharging, pierced some with ice, and warped the rest beyond repair. Suddenly, three arena trap bots rolled up. Zen looked at Kitsuna and Kyosuke. The three of them had gleeful grins on their faces. Each of them took an arena trap bot.
Kyosuke crawled up his arena trap, avoiding its attempts to swat him off. When he reached it's head he jumped back, putting himself in a position to use a super move.
"Leviathan Spears!" Kyosuke said, making his tendrils stab at the arena trap. When he was done, the arena trap's head was covered with almost fifty holes.
Kitsuna jumped up to her arena trap. She slashed at it a bit while making her way to its head. When she reached it, she used her own super move.
"Fox Bomb!" Kitsuna said, forming a concentrated ball of energy. One of her tails disappeared. She jumped up and threw it at the arena trap, turning its head into a crater.
Zen used his wind to shoot straight to the top of the arena trap. He punched a hole into the top of its head, thinking about using his ice the same way he did in the entrance exam. He decided on doing something more special. He formed ice, fire, and electricity in his right palm, the elements conflicting with each other. He then used wind to form a barrier around it, making the mixture highly volatile. Zen ran toward the front of the arena trap's head, jumping off.
"Ozone Grenade." Zen said calmly, throwing the bomb at the arena trap. Its head and half its torso was destroyed.
Back at the observation room, the other students were in awe. The show of power captivated them.
"Holy shit." Ketsugi muttered.
"That's insane." Yui said.
Back at the battle, the trio had landed back on the ground. They heard the horn telling them that the exam was over. They looked at the timer to see that they had just exceeded five minutes. They bumped fists, high on excitement. They were then taken back to the observation room. When they entered, they were met with praise from their classmates.
"Man, you guys are a couple of monsters." The student who failed said to them.
Aizawa looked at the trio. All of a sudden, they felt nervous.
"Your combat scores are high, but you three need to learn restraint. In a real battle, you can't stab your opponent, or even blow them up." Aizawa said, scolding the three.
"Sorry, sir." Zen said, slightly bowing in an apologetic manner.
"Sorry, Aizawa-sensei." Kitsuna and Kyosuke said in tandem.
The trio passed their exam, with the class having a name for the team. Zen, Kitsuna, and Kyosuke became known as the Monsters of Class 1-A.