Chapter 8

Boenkyodo Selene was surprised for the second time in one day. And by the same person.

The Hero known as Advisory was the Hero History teacher at UA. Like most of the teachers who were also Pros, she did double duty. In her case that was also teaching Unarmed Combat across all three years, and Self Defense in the third year. Hero and General course students were required to take the more exhaustive (in multiple ways) Unarmed Combat. Business and Support course students were assigned to Self Defense in first year, and could choose to switch to Unarmed Combat in second and third year.

Very few did.

UA had a tradition. During the week of Entrance Exams, both recommendation and regular, the students had free study, to prepare for their finals and to let the teachers focus on the potential incoming first years. And during that week, any current first or second years could challenge the Unarmed Combat teacher to a duel. If the student won, they were considered to have a B+ grade in Unarmed Combat for the rest of their time at UA. So the student could either use that time to take an additional elective, have study time, or take Unarmed Combat to try to get a higher grade.

The spars were also watched by a large portion of the student body, most for entertainment. However some used their classmates to try to get the measure of the teacher before their own challenges. Most years, eight or nine students took up the challenge. The vast majority were overconfident and underestimated her and lost quickly. A scanter few gave her a decent fight. In the six years she had been teaching at UA, Selene had lost twice. Her predecessor held the position for 14 years, with four losses and one draw. One of those losses was to Advisory.

All of that was to say that now she was facing one of those challengers. Her first surprise was the challenge itself. Not many first years took on the trial. Even fewer Support course students felt the need to face her. A first year Support course asking for the fight was nearly unheard of. The rarity would have sent Advisory a pachinko parlor. If she hadn't already been banned to from all of the ones in travel distance of UA and her apartment.

The second surprise was when Shield Melissa stepped into the gymnasium. Advisory was familiar with the girl. The daughter of the famous Shield David. A genius in her own right. And based on the picture on file, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, voluptuous beauty. Selene hadn't actually seen the girl in person in her seven months at UA.

Well, Shield-san was all of those things. But she was also fit. Fit and toned. Thanks to her Quirk, Selene could tell even through the UA uniform. Which Melissa quickly discarded. Removing her shoes and socks wasn't a surprise. But the audience in the bleachers above reacted when she unbuttoned and pulled off her blouse, and dropped her skirt. Underneath she was wearing a pink sports bra and spats. But not cheap, common ones. She was wearing the sort of heavy, extra-supportive gear that professional athletes and fighters wore.

And more importantly, it showed of just how tight her arms and legs were. Shield-san did not have a constantly visible six-pack, but if she breathed out heavily or clenched, the definition of her abs showed through.

But it was more than the fact the younger woman was in better shape than most of the third-year Hero course students. It was how Shield-san carried herself. Balanced. No wasted movement. She had also pulled her long (by Advisory's estimation) hair back into a tight braid, to keep it out of her face. The girl was a fighter. Enough to set expectations in Advisory.

The adult blonde set her visor to its lowest settings. So her Quirk was restricted, so much as the tool could. Advisory unzipped he jacket and set it aside. She had a similar sports bra to Shield-san, except in blue. And a smaller size. She also wore a white tank-top for more coverage. While Selene also went barefoot, she wore full-length, loose, nylon workout pants. Enough of the student body checked out her butt in her normal slacks, without fighting in something skin tight.

She almost felt a little jealous of Shield-san; not of her figure, but of her confidence.

"You understand the rules, right?" Advisory asked, "No Quirks..."

"Don't have one," Shield-san said, trying to sound casual and not quite succeeding. Selene flinched at her faux pas.

"No weapons, no armor, and no support items unless they are necessary to control your Quirk," the teacher continued, "In my case, my visor is necessary, but I have it set to the highest level of suppression of my Quirk. Other than that there are no rules or restrictions. We fight until one of us is unable to fight or surrenders. Do you..."

Advisory was cut off as Melissa raced forward. The younger woman leveled a hard right cross at her opponent's jaw. Selene blocked the punch. And her lips twitched up.

"I'll take that as a... YES," she shouted the last word as she launched a side thrust kick at Melissa's stomach. Then teen spun out of the way, twisting into a backfist aimed at Selene's temple.

Suddenly observing students were far less interested in what Melissa was wearing or how she looked.

Advisory dropped. Melissa's knuckles ruffled her hair as the attack sailed over. Advisory drove her elbow into the girl's exposed side. Melissa completed her spin when she didn't feel resistance to her backfist. This bought her a little space. The younger blonde was able to catch the teacher's bicep before the elbow dug too deeply into her side.

Melissa jumped back and pushed off for a little extra range.

Under her visor, Selene's eyes widened as Melissa shifted her stance. The girl opened her hands and shook out her arms. She perched up, placing her weight more forward on her feet.

"Two styles?" Advisory whispered under her breath.

"Two?" Melissa grinned. Selene cocked an eyebrow dubiously. Then, not for the first time, felt foolish. Her visor concealed her eyes, brows included. But she kept trying to make the gesture.

"I guess I'll see if that's true," the adult told the teen confidently.

Twenty minutes later, the fighters were getting tired, but the crowd were still on the edge of their seats.

The battle drifted. At times it looked like the best of wuxia movies, moves smoothly flowing into each other like a choreographed dance. They would close in, and it would devolve into something that was more like a back alley brawl after the bar closed. Then they would separate again, set up and switch styles, and launch back into a series of expert punches, kicks, blocks, and dodges.

Both women were marked with multiple, slowly darkening bruises. Melissa more so than Selene, partly because the younger blonde was more exposed, and partly due to the teacher's greater success at landing hits. That said, at one point Shield had managed to get a grip on Advisory's tank top, drag it up, and almost choke her with it. So the adult had abandoned the extra layer, leaving her torso as exposed as the teen.

Melissa took a few unsteady steps, and nearly stumbled. She partially exposed her back to Advisory, and the teacher surged forward. She grabbed for the girl's braid.

Then the girl's mouth twitched into a tiny smirk. Her uneven movements became sharp. She stepped and swung her head. The golden braid whipped away from Selene's grip. And Melissa grabbed the teacher's wrist instead. Shield kicked out Boenkyodo's ankles. Flipped the more slender woman over her back. And onto the mat. She held Advisory's arm at extension. And put her foot on the grounded woman's shoulder.

If Izuku had been there, he would have recognized a slightly different move but the same result as on Halloween. But he was not.

"Ugh," Advisory grunted, "You baited me with your braid."

"Anything goes," the girl said noncommittally.

"You know," Advisory said, unconfirmed, "There are a few flaws with this hold, especially if the target is face up. If they are roughly as strong as you..."

Advisory tried to pull Melissa down. But the teen did not budge. Selene was surprised for the third time, as Melissa's arms only slightly trembled. And Selene did not gain any give.

"Or, if they have the flexibility and angle..."

Selene kicked off against the ground and drove her knee into the back off Melissa's knee. That broke the younger woman's stance. The teacher was able to swivel around into a kneel. Then she pounced upwards, thrusting her shoulder into Melissa's stomach. The teen lost her grip and fell back. She landed on her butt, and then rolled away, back to her feet. Advisory also flipped back and dropped into her default stance again.

But when Melissa came up, she sighed. Narrowed her eyes. She dropped her stance lower, her left knee at a right angle and her right leg fully extended. She also extended her left hand parallel to her leg. She extended her right hand back, her palm parallel to the floor and pointing away from her

Advisory's eyes brightened. And again, she made the first move.

Melissa woke up, looking at an unfamiliar ceiling. She also felt a pinch in her arm, but otherwise the pain and soreness in her body was gone. Looking at the sunlight on the walls, she calculated she had been out about four hours. Or multiple days plus four hours, though she hoped not.

"I guess that means I didn't pass," she sighed, but she didn't sound too upset.

"I wouldn't say that," Advisory's voice emerged from her left.

Melissa looked over and saw the teacher in the bed next to her. The older blonde's outfit was unchanged. And her bruises were gone. But her right arm was wrapped and in a sling.

"What... What happened?" Melissa asked.

"It's not a surprise you don't remember," a new voice said. Melissa turned and saw a tiny woman with a large bun of grey her on the back of her head.

"She rattled your brain pretty hard," Recovery Girl continued, "I might have to give you another smooch, to make sure there are no lingering effects of the concussion. To be fair, you severely dislocated Boenkyodo-san's shoulder and broke both the bones in her forearm."

"Oh, sorry," Melissa gave Selene a sincere nod.

"Don't be," the Hero said, "Not enough students understand or respect the rules. I was going to choke you out if you didn't break the hold. And you definitely broke the hold."

She chuckled lightly.

"I should have surrendered at that point," Advisory said, "But I lost it a little. Treated it like a real fight. Knee to the jaw while you were catching your breath, that carried you down to your back and made sure your head slammed into the mat."

"But at the end of the day," Advisory shrugged with her good arm, "I'm not sure any of the graduating third years can beat you. If we fought again and you didn't wait until you were already tired and beat up to switch to wushu, I might not beat you. Maybe."

"Ah," Melissa grunted simply, sounding embarrassed.

"Why did you wait so long to break out your best style?" Advisory pressed gently. Partly because she was annoyed the teen appeared to have underestimated her. But mostly as a teacher, trying to understand why her student did something foolish and risky.

"Do you want the super short version, the short version, or a longer version?" Melissa asked.

"Let's start with the short version," Selene said, "And go from there."

She looked at the young woman attentively. And while Recovery Girl busied herself around the infirmary, she also was subtly paying attention.

"When I was about six," Melissa started, "My dad was telling me about his family. And one of his great, great, great... great? grandmothers. She was a world-class gymnast, who had some trouble with a stalker in high school."

After accidentally spilling to Uncle Might, Melissa got in the habit of saying the Kimberly Hart learned to fight because unnamed Rita was stalking her. Which wasn't entire untrue.

"So she had some friends who taught her basic martial arts. Simple punches and kicks to defend herself. She incorporated it into her gymnastics. And even after the stalker was dealt with, she found she enjoyed martial arts. So she did some research, and found wushu. She decided it would make her a better gymnast and a better fighter, so she learned it. And got really good at it."

Melissa paused, and coughed. Shuzenji-sensei brought her a small cup of chilled water, which the girl gratefully drank.

"Tiny me was fascinated by the story, and I begged my dad to let me learn wushu. There weren't a lot of dojos that taught the style in SoCal, or at least that's what Dad told me... But we found one, and I started to learn. I took martial arts classes for three and a half years, until... There was a Villain attack. Sensei wasn't a Hero, but he tried to help people escape and he was caught in the crossfire. He lost his right leg from mid-thigh down. His left leg was totally paralyzed, and his left arm from the elbow down, too. He was going to get a spinal implant for the paralysis and to help control his prosthetic leg. But he was facing years of physical therapy. The doctors said he would likely never have the speed or control he had before. So he closed down his school, to focus on his recovery and his family."

Both of the adult women nodded.

"We couldn't or didn't find a new dojo," Melissa continued after a moment, "So I continued studying on my own. I got a books on wushu, and gymnastics, and general martial arts. I tried taking gymnastics, but found it wasn't for me. I also watch wushu videos, both demonstrations and instructional. Mimicked them as best I could."

"Then, last July, I came to Japan," she said fondly, "and I met my current teacher. Life happened, and I decided to stay. He is the one who taught me shotokan karate, tae kwon do, and Jeet Kun Do. Studying with him, I also realized in my self teaching, I made some mistakes and picked up some bad habits."

"So, backstory aside, I hid my wushu from him," Melissa explained, "First because I was embarrassed about my bad habits, and started fixing them. And now... Well, part of it is to have a trump card if we ever have a real, hard sparring match, like Advisory-sensei and I just did. Partly it is because he knows other styles he hasn't taught me, because we were focusing on me learning the other three quickly. But I still want to keep my own style to myself. And mostly, it is because I know him. He might be my teacher, but he was... is still a student himself. If he knew I was also studying wushu, he would want to help me. So he would have wasted his own time learning another style, when he should have been focusing on his mastery of the styles he was already practicing. And while I would have appreciated that, I didn't want to slow him down."

"Your martial arts instructor is a student?" Advisory said, mildly skeptical, "And he brought you up to that level of skill in nine months?"

"I do have an eidetic memory and my self study wasn't completely bad or worthless," Melissa boasted, "But yeah."

"And you are sure you don't have a Quirk?" Selene pressed.

"You know who my dad is," Melissa's expression darkened, "The toe test wasn't enough for him. He also gave me a full Quirk Factor test. And then a DNA scan, just in case I was some sort of late bloomer type."

She lifted her left foot and wiggled her toes, "I have a joint in my pinky toes. I have zero Quirk Factor. And I lack the Quirk Metagene."

"Sorry," Advisory said softly, remembering her earlier gaffe. Then, in a more firm tone she said, "But you and your instructor must both be pretty amazing, to bring you this far, this fast."

"He is," Melissa said affectionately. Then she grinned fiercely, "But you'll probably find out in about a month, Boenkyodo-sensei."

"Oh?" Recovery Girl entered the conversation with the simple prompt.

"Yeah," Melissa sounded excited, "He'll be taking the entrance exam on Friday. And any unexpected complications aside, he will be a first year Hero Course student starting next month!"

"I will look forward to it," Advisory said, "and in the mean time, congratulations. You have earned your B+ in second and third year Unarmed Combat. Though I hope you will choose to take the class. I would love to help you better your styles, and practice my own against you."

"I'll think about it," Melissa said sincerely.

Oddly, no other students challenged Advisory that year. Or perhaps not so oddly, all things considered.

At the same time, a larger portion of the student body stared at Melissa. Though the reasons for those stares was were not the same as they had been. At least in most cases.

Friday, March 17th, 2238

Izuku stopped before the gates. Anyone looking at him would have thought he was staring at the gate and the building behind in awe and adoration.

He wasn't. He had been, at first. Then his Morpher empowered eyes saw something. On the second floor of the building. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a UA uniform perfectly fitted. He smiled slightly. There was a tiny smirk on Melissa's face as she waved at him. She must have planned it, calculated when he would arrive and where he could see her. Her eyesight, even with her glasses, wasn't enough for her to clearly see his face. But he expected she could make out his mop of green hair. He gave her a small wave back, hoping she could see it.

Then he took his first step onto the grounds of UA.

"Get the fuck out of the way, nerd!"

Moving on instinct, Izuku twisted to the side and stepped away. Then an explosion cavitated the air where Izuku's head had been.

Izuku frowned. The gate was big enough for four people (or three All Mights) to fit through. And people had filtered around him. There was no reason for Bakugou's attack, other than the other boy being more annoyed than usual that day, after learning Izuku was also taking the UA entrance exam.

"Here are your passes for UA," the Aldera guidance councilor and vice principal told the two teens, "You are expected in your exam rooms by 10 AM, and getting to UA is your own responsibility. Here is the bus route to get there, if you need it. You are excused for the day."

Izuku took the piece of paper. Bowed to the teacher. Left the office.

Katsuki was sputtering in barely concealed rage. To the point Izuku escaped before the bully recovered. He grabbed the paper violently, shoved it into his pocket, and stomped out. Once the door was closed, he took off running.

"Deku!" he snarled, "Stop!"

Izuku didn't hesitate. Didn't show any reaction. Katsuki caught up. He ran around Izuku and stopped in front of the shorter boy. He spread his arms wide to block Izuku's path. Small explosions popped over his palms.

"Stop ignoring me, nerd!"

"Oh," Izuku said blandly, "You were talking to me?"

"You know I was, Deku!" Katsuki shouted as loudly as he dared. The last thing he needed was to get in trouble or detained for interrupting classes.

"That isn't my name," Izuku said, a brittle edge to his voice, "My name is Izuku. And I have not given you permission to call me by my given name, more or less a nickname, Bakugou-san."

Katsuki's mouth clicked shut. After seven or so months of barely acknowledging him, the damn nerd dared to talk to him like that. But he remembered his purpose. His goal today. The explosive boy forced his temper down. But he still scowled.

"Where are you doing? What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"I'm going to take the UA exam," Izuku said simply, "I'm going to get into the Hero course. I'm going to be a Hero."

Katsuki wasn't sure if he wanted to explode in anger or laugh at the stupidity.

"You think you can do all that bullshit you just said?"

Then Izuku moved. Almost faster than Katsuki could see. And certainly faster than the blonde boy could do anything to stop. Then Izuku was behind him, walking away.

"You think I can't?"

Izuku had walked rather than taking the bus, and had still arrived first. Which probably made Bakugou even madder.

Though he avoided the worst of the explosion, it still shook him. And his foot came down poorly; one of the stones of the walkway was partially raised and its neighbor was level. The outside of his shoe barely clipped the elevated edge, and the rest of his weight turned inward as he tried to step down.

Not that it mattered too much. He started to fall. Pushed off. Rolled to the side. And came up standing. He stared at Bakugou, unimpressed.

Then he saw that a slight but curvy girl had been reaching out to catch or at least steady him.

"Thank you," he inclined his head to the brunette.

"No, I was going to use my Quirk on you," she said, "which probably isn't the best idea now. So you are welcome, but I guess thank you, too."

Katsuki scowled and walked away.

"We better get going," he told the girl.

"Oh, yes," she said.

He turned and not quite jogged away.

"So cool," the girl whispered.

Even with Melissa's help studying, Izuku had never been able to claim the top spot in Aldera's student rankings. But it seemed that was more about just how smart girl in first place was. Because the UA written tests were far less difficult than Izuku had expected. He finished each exam early, and was able to double check his answers.

There was an assembly before the practical. Present Mic came out and tried to hype up the students. Izuku was mildly excited. But not enough to start him muttering. After spending so much time with Toshinori and Tommy, the Voice Hero was cool, but just not as impressive.

Then Bakugou got into a shouting match with a tall, black-haired boy. Izuku very deliberately ignored them, keeping his face blank. Pretending he didn't know the bully.

Present Mic regained control and finished explaining. Then they split up. The students were divided into seven groups and sent to training centers that were each ten square city blocks, walled off but with some taller buildings peeking out. The students milled around, waiting and looking at the currently inactive Jumbotron on the outer wall of the training ground.

"Do you know that blonde boy?" the girl Izuku had met at the entrance came over to him.

"Yes, I do," Izuku said simply.

"He seems... temperamental," she said carefully.

"He seems like trouble and unsuited to be a Hero," the boy Katsuki had argued with overheard their conversation and approached them. Now Izuku saw the heavy pipes sticking out of the other boy's distended calves. They reminded him of the pipes in Ingenium's arms.

"I can't disagree," Izuku sighed, "But being a Hero has been his dream since he was a kid. And to be fair, he isn't that much worse than Endeavor or Mount Lady. Not all Pro Heroes are great people..."

The girl considered it. And the tall boy nodded sadly. Both Heroes he mentioned were known to be highly destructive. Endeavor was temperamental and aggressive. Newer Hero Mount Lady had an unbalanced reputation due to her lazy and entitled attitude, offset by her high success rate and high sex appeal.

Then the screen lit up, showing Present Mic and preventing further discussion.

"Alright!" the Voice Hero shouted, getting the attention of anyone not already looking.

"Are we all ready to go?" he asked. There were a few weak yells in response.

"I can't hear you," Mic complained again, "I said, are we all ready to go?"

Izuku faced the door. He dropped his stance; ready to dash, but not a runner's starting pose. He raised his fingers to his wrist, to his Morpher, just short of touching it.

"YEAH!" This time everyone all shouted. Except Izuku.

"It's Morphin' time," he whispered, "Echo Ranger 1... Mode Green."

As soon as the doors opened, he softly declared the form he wanted and tapped the Morpher. Izuku charged forward even as he transformed, twisting sideways to slip between the doors.

All of the other prospective Heroes froze, shocked by his initiative and transformation.

"What are the rest of you waiting for?" Mic complained, "There are no countdowns in real life!"

Izuku drew the Dragon Daggers, and sliced through the leg of the first robot he encountered. The blade met with no resistance, it had been harder to cut through some of the rusted ship panels on the beach. As the 'villain' started to fall, his second dagger stabbed up, into its camera. The target shut down. Izuku was already moving to the next enemy.

'The Putties were stronger than this,' he mused.

Then the air around him swirled. The boy with the tubes in his legs shot past, faster than even Mode Green could run. The speedster ignored the robots and raced deeper into the arena.

'Definitely related to Ingenium,' was Izuku's first thought. And his second one was, 'Good idea, no sense staying close to the entrance and competing with everyone else on their way in.'

He finished the second robot and ran. The tall teen had gone north, so Izuku went west.

Kaminari Denki was in a spot. He had drawn in three of the one-point and two of the two-point robots. He planned to take them all out at once. His plan started to fall apart when he sensed the battery of another robot, moving in his direction. If he waited until it was in range, the others would probably take him out. If he didn't wait, he would be screwed if the last robot did find him while he was short circuited.

But no choice.

"Indiscriminate Shock: 700 Kilovolts!"

Sparks shot outs of him and washed over the bots. They jerked wildly for a moment, and then fell still. As his conscious faded, he saw another two-pointer step past what appeared to be a grocery store.

The robot turned towards the blank-faced boy. It raised its tail and claws and prepared to charge at Kaminari.

Then there was a blazing flash of white, and the droid fell apart into four uneven pieces.

Izuku, now in Mode White, jogged over to the other young man.

"Are you okay?" the Ranger-in-training asked, confused by what he saw.

"Weehh," the streaked blonde teen gave Izuku an empty grin and a thumbs-up.

"Are you sure?" the Ranger sounded dubious. The blonde boy shook out his head and sighed forcibly.

"Yeah," he said normally, "Just needed a couple seconds to reset after that level of voltage. But, thanks, man. You saved me."

"Just pay it forward. Mode Green."

Izuku darted off even while his coloring changed.

"Huh," Denki grunted, "What kind of Quirk is that?"

Thirteen one-pointers, seven two-pointers, and three three-pointers. According to the HUD in his visor, six of the allotted ten minutes had passed. There hadn't been as many robots as Izuku expected at the beginning, but there were definitely fewer as the minutes ticked by. The group around the electric boy was biggest the Ranger-in-training had seen.

The one and two-pointers were easy, any of his forms could take them apart. But the three-pointers were a bit tougher, and he had to switch to Mode White to take them out without wasting too much time.

He had stopped to keep a two-pointer from ambushing a boy with drill like hands, but this time hadn't defeated the robot. He didn't want to kill steal, so he just deflected a few shots from the scorpion tail with his daggers. That gave the other boy time to finish off the one-pointer he was already fighting. Izuku nodded to the boy and left the lightly damaged two-pointer to his drills.

Twice he had rescued a girl with bright pink dreadlocks, huge goggles, and a loaded down backpack. She seemed to be more interested in examining the robots she defeat, than earning points or defending herself.

He had just found another person in trouble. Another girl, a bit taller than him. Tiger like hair, ears, and tail. Paws and claws. Heavily muscles under a t-shirt and jeans. She was sparring with two of the two-pointers, surrounded by the shredded remains of a third two-pointer and a one-pointer. She moved like a trained fighter. Izuku didn't think she could beat himself or Melissa in skill. However she definitely made up for it with her Quirk.

But two of the three pointers had crested a pile of rubble, and were already firing.

Even as she tore out the CPU of one of her foes, Izuku ran in. He jumped onto the shoulder of the two-pointer and flipped over it, declaring "Mode Black". Even as the Dragon Daggers merged into the Brachio Staff, he swung the longer weapon, crushing the first salvo of two missiles before they got too close to him or the catgirl. He spun the staff, stabbing the sharpened tail into the first rocket in the second group. The fourth shot hit him, square in the chest armor.

Izuku wasn't sure how the 'stun' missiles worked, and made a mental note to ask Melissa. But however they worked, a single hit wasn't enough to overcome Mode Black's defenses. Though Izuku suspected Mode Green and especially Mode White would not have fared as well. He carried forward through the air, slamming an axe kick down on the head of the first ranged robot. The he jabbed the staff into the second robot, destroying one of its launchers and damaging the second. The robots did not have emotive faces, but Izuku felt he could see that droid's confusion as it tried to fire at him and failed.

The first bot tried to grapple Izuku as he landed, but the boy slipped between its grasp. He landed and kicked the tank tread hard enough to dent it.

"Mode White."

He kicked again, and this time tore the leg substitute mostly free. He punched through the armor where the torso met the treads, and twisted. The battery felt out of its enclosure, and the bot stopped.

"Your Quirk is like mine," the girl said, approaching him slowly from behind, eyeing both Izuku and the neutered three-pointer. Izuku noticed she had finished the two-pointers already.

"Really?" he asked.

Then she changed. Her hair, ears, and tail became tawny and spotted. Her muscular build became lithe. And her claws became thinker.

She changed again. All of her 'fur' became jet black, but this time so did her skin. Then she returned to tiger form.

"I can also turn it off, become an ocelot to climb, or a lion which is the most balanced form," she explained by way of thanks.

"I just have three modes," Izuku said, "But your Quirk is pretty amazing..."

He took a deep breath, reminding himself it wasn't the time to start analyzing a new Quirk.

"Are you going to..." the girl gestured at the still active three-pointer, trying pointlessly to fire at them.

"No, go ahead," Izuku said quickly, "In fact, I'm sorry for kill stealing that one."

"You didn't steal it, I got too caught up and didn't notice them. In fact, I should let you have the other one, for saving me."

"That's fine," Izuku shook his head, "Just help someone else in trouble."

"Aren't we all rivals?" she asked, slightly confused.

"Maybe," he said, "But I'm a hero first. Good luck."

He bowed to her, and ran to the north.

"Yeah," she said thoughtfully, "I came here to be a Hero."

"Two minutes left, boss-man," Hizashi announced.

"Unleash the Executors," Nezu's face lit up in a worrying manner.

The entire arena, roughly ten square city blocks of one to eight story buildings, shook. Not like an earthquake. Rhythmically. On a pattern. As a Power Rangers True Believer, that meant only one thing to Izuku.

Though the loose horde of teenagers, all screaming in fear and running a single direction may have also helped him come to his conclusion.

There was a giant on the field. Probably a robot, unless UA had someone with a Quirk playing along. Or this was an actual monster attack.

Izuku ran through the crowd. He had to think this was part of the test. 'How would the prospective Heroes react to something huge, scary, and seemingly out of their league?' Would they run, fight, or try to help in some other way?

While he definitely intended to fight or help if necessary, deep down Izuku knew he was moving towards the danger for a different reason. He wanted to see it. See how cool it was, and how it compare to the Zords.

He rounded the corner into the broader street that most of the fleeing students seemed to come from.

And he was disappointed.

Sure, it was big. It was five to six stories tall, so some of the buildings were still taller. And it would only come up to just above the waist of most Megazords. And it had a plain and almost military aesthetic, like the other robot villains. The scanner in his visor told him it was strong and well armored, but technically if they had scaled up the two-pointer robots to the same size, they would have been more dangerous. Its arm swiped through a building, throwing off chunks of the façade, but it would have had a tough time going through a whole building. It would have gotten caught up in the metal framing.

Frankly, Izuku would have dismissed the zero-pointer, ignoring it as instructed. Would have, if not for one thing.

His helmet directed his eyes to a single person still on the street. Someone not fleeing. Someone trapped by an earlier instance of falling rubble. He looked, and recognized the girl who had tried to help him when he nearly stumbled, and then had talked to him outside the training area.

The robot was moving towards her. Izuku wasn't sure if the giant could see her, if it was automated or controlled. But by his estimate, in two steps, it would crush her.

Izuku ran. Already in Mode Green, he pushed himself. Pushed his legs, pushed his Power. But he knew, even without the tech in his helmet, that it wouldn't be fast enough. He wouldn't make it in time. Or rather he would make it, just in time to be crushed with her. He didn't think White's strength or Black's defense would be enough to stop the zero-pointer's weight.

He had to try. He had to do something. Was there a way the Dragon Blaster could do it? A place he could shoot to disable it. The scanner couldn't identify anything like that. And he couldn't be sure the giant wouldn't fall. But it was his best bet.

As he started to draw his daggers, to merge them into the gun, instinct took over. He only pulled the dagger from his right hip. He lifted it up to where his helmet covered his mouth. The dagger changed, three buttons appearing on the handle.

He hit the buttons in a certain pattern. A familiar six note fanfare echoed out from the blade. Izuku was still running, counting the milliseconds as he drew close, but the robot, despite its ponderous pace, was almost there.

Nothing happened. Nothing except a strange shudder went through Izuku's body. And he realized what was happening. Focusing his energy and imagination, he poured them into the dagger. And played the fanfare again.

This time a roar, seemingly from nowhere, split the air. Izuku played the song a third time.

A rift formed in the street above the Echo Ranger. And a dragon flew out. Its body was long and serpentine, like eastern dragons. Its face and horns looked more like western dragons, and its arms and legs were longer and thick, and were articulated more like one would expect from European dragons. It had wings, sharing a complex shoulder with the arms. But they four, long and triangular wings, like a geometric dragonfly. The majority of the Zord was green metal scales, though the horns and claws were gold. And the right front wing, left rear wing and left eye were white while the opposite eye and wings were black.

Izuku felt exhausted, but kept running, and pointed.

The zero-point robot paused in the middle of its murderous last step. Its head tilted to the side in a pantomime of confusion. And then it started, too late, to flinch back.

The Dragonzord slammed into the lesser robot. Its claws shredded the chest armor, actuators, servos, and circuits like wet cardboard. Its teeth closed around the zero-pointer's head, effortlessly separating it from the droid's neck and partially crushing it. Then it threw the remains of the 'obstacle' back. It raised its head and let out a call that matched the tune that summoned it.

"Mode Black!" Izuku reached the girl, and threw himself over her. While the bot crushing her was no longer an issue, there was a rain of metal and industrial fluids, potentially sharp, heavy, and caustic. Switching modes also caused the Dragonzord to vanish. Between that and the fact that Mode Black was the least draining in general, Izuku no longer felt strained maintaining his Ranger form.

After maybe two seconds, the cascade of debris ended. Izuku checked that the girl was okay. Then he gingerly hefted the chunk of concrete and rebar off her legs. Then he sat... really more like dropped... onto one of the pieces of manufactured stone, and mumbled "Power Down."

He looked at the girl and gave her a tired smile, "Are you okay?"

"My leg hurts a bit," she admitted, "Are you?"

"Just tired," he said, "nothing a few minutes rest and a milkshake can't fix."

"What happened?" she asked.

"I was trying to reach you," he said, "I didn't think I would make it. Then something else hit the robot, and knocked it back. Did you see what it was?"

She shook her head, "All I saw was the zero-pointer's foot, and then you threw yourself over me. It sounded like a dragon. Do you think it was Ryukyu?"

The rest of the street was empty, so Izuku felt relieved. His transformation might be written off as a Quirk. Summoning a giant robot, not so much.

"Probably not," he said, "I don't think she is here. And what does a dragon sound like, anyway?"

She considered that. Most dragons were fictional, and Ryukyu didn't roar after she changed. So the brunette had to admit, he had a point. The roar could have been anything.

Their conversation ended as a tiny woman with a grey bun of hair and a white doctor's coat that was too long for her toddled up. She looked Izuku up and down.

"No injuries on you," she said, "Just tired from the test."

She looked over the girl, as Izuku started to get excited.

"You are the Youthful Heroine, Recovery Girl," he geeked out slightly.

"Moderate sprain and extensive bruising," the doctor said, ignoring Izuku, "You definitely need treatment. Here, have a gummi."

She pressed a candy multivitamin into the girl's hand. Then, after the girl ate it, she leaned in and kissed her broadly on the lips. Both teens blushed.

"Since it isn't too serious, you can skip the infirmary, if you want," Shuzenji-sensei told the girl, "Though if the pain hasn't faded by the time you reach the gate to the training area, you better come there anyway. Might be deeper damage. Help her up."

The last was directed to Izuku. He followed orders, standing and then offering his hand and then shoulder to the girl. She stood, favoring her uninjured lag. But she tapped her foot on the ground, and seemed surprised, like the act hurt less than she expected.

"I have to got check if anyone else got hurt," Recovery Girl said a bit more sharply, "And then have a conversation with a trio of idiots."

Even though two of them were in the monitoring room and the third was half the school away in the machine shop, Nezu, Yamada Hizashi, and Maijima Higari all sneezed in unison. And then shivered in terror.

"Thank you," the girl called after the doctor, as the latter scuttled away with uncommon speed.

"I'll help you get to the entrance," Izuku told the girl, "And then we can decide if you think you need to go to the infirmary, or are okay to leave."

"Thanks," the girl said again, her permanent blush deepening.

In the monitoring room only two of the UA staff had been watching the events in cityscape B live. The others were more interested in the explosive boy in arena D, or the plant-haired girl in arena F. They would all watch the various videos of all the arenas later, to tally up Hero points and check for cheaters.

So Nezu, having recovered from his moment of fear, expertly isolated a certain collection of camera views, and moved the videos to a private partition. Then he turned and smirked at his counterpart.

Yagi Toshinori had worn a look of pride and excitement, until he saw the expression on Nezu's face. The Symbol of Peace broke out in a cold sweat.

"Still going to deny it?" Nezu asked, the question vague but the intent clear.

"What the hell could have done this to an Executor?" Power Loader wasn't sure if he was more excited or dismayed that someone or something had torn apart his masterpiece like it was paper mache. Two of the others were damaged, but neither to this extent.

"So was she cute?" Melissa teased.

"I guess," Izuku said after thinking about it for a moment, "I mean, I'm already dating the most beautiful, intelligent girl at UA. So it isn't something I really think about or focus on."

It was a line. But as far as Izuku was concerned, it was still completely true. Melissa stuck her tongue out at him, but also blushed.

"I would think you would be more interested in the fact that I... summoned... the DRAGONZORD!"

Izuku did a little dance in his chair. Above and behind them, Tommy chuckled.

"Honestly," the blonde girl admitted, "I said that so I wouldn't totally geek out on the fact that you did it... Or get mad that I didn't get to see it. What did it look like?"

"It looked just like your picture," a new, flat voice said, "Except the eyes had black white heterochromia, and it was about about 15 meters tall and 100 meters long."

They all turned to look at All Might. They were surprised that he knew, and worried that he seemed not to care.

"What wrong, Uncle Toshi?" Melissa asked.

"You were there?" Izuku prompted.

"Yes, I was there," he answered Izuku first, relaxing his form, "I'm going to be teaching at UA, starting next term. Originally I was going to look for a successor, because of my injury. Now, Nezu has me locked into a contract. But to be honest I thinks its good if I am there to teach Izuku and help him keep his secret. And I still might look for a successor, just not as seriously as originally planned."

Toshinori slumped into his chair. Tommy, Izuku, and Melissa felt on odd weight from the term 'successor', but weren't sure what it meant.

"You got lucky," Toshinori told Izuku pointedly, "Only Nezu and I were actively monitoring the cityscape you were in. None of the other teachers or students saw it. And it looks like Principal Nezu intends to keep it a secret, for the moment. But he wants to have a private word with you, Izuku."

"When?" the teen asked simply.

"Tomorrow after your Saturday classes."

Izuku nodded.

Author's Ramblings: I said last time I wanted to discuss a few upcoming story elements. But was too tired. So here we go. The first one isn't a spoiler, but the rest potentially are, in increasing level of spoilage. So be forewarned.

For anyone who hasn't read 'My Hero Playthrough' or just doesn't remember it, Advisory/Boenkyodo Selene is my semi-OC. She is based on an unidentified character who has appeared at least three times in the MHA anime; they are an extra teacher when the teachers arrive at the USJ, in the teacher stands at the sports festival, and they walk past All Might in the second movie. I like their visor, so I adopted them, deciding she is a woman with a vision based Quirk so strong that she needs a visor to help control it. She has telescopic, microscopic, faster kinetic vision, 360 degree visual range, and into the IR and UV light range. That much information gives her intense headaches, so her visor filters the light down,. She can adjust how the visor filters the light, like decreasing the spectrums and blurring distances in exchange for increased kinetic vision. And as her Quirk is only seeing things, she focused on martial arts, using her improved vision to read opponents better. But she also learned how to 'blind fight' in case she looses her visor and need to fight with her eyes closed.

...

Second, as a warning for the next chapter, I'm swapping Mineta Minoru and Kodai Yui. Mineta will be in 1-B and Yui in 1-A. Partly because I don't like Mineta (rant omitted) and don't want to write him any more than I have to. But also because I thought it would be amusing to have Mineta join Monoma Neito it hating and hassling 1-A. Monoma for his canon reasons and Mineta hating 1-A for "hogging all the hotties". Which confuses and annoys Monoma, but he tolerates it to have a partner. And then Kendo can smack both of them.

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spoiler space

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Third and more spoilery, Melissa will be Echo Ranger 2. I know, not that hard to figure out from the story and the art I commissioned shows it. In her Mode Yellow she will have the Ptero-gyro Zord described last chapter and the Ptero-Bow as her weapon. But I'm not sure about Mode Blue. My idea right now is that the Echo Pink/Blue Zord will be the Terrapin Tank, an amphibious rescue vehicle shaped like a turtle with tank treads instead of legs/flippers. It will specialize in rescue, with space inside to evacuate civilians and provide emergency medical treatment. And her weapon would be a mace and a turtle shell buckler. But I'm not sure on either of those. And there will be a bit more going into Melissa's Coins that I'm not going to spoil openly (but as always, I am willing to share spoilers if asked). So if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions (or just wants to say they like the ideas), please let me know.

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really spoiler space

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And the big one. The elephant in the story. Izuku is Green, White, and Black. Melissa is Pink, Yellow, and Blue. But that means there is no Red Ranger. There has never been a Ranger team without a Red Ranger. And I'm not aware of a Sentai team without a Red Ranger, either. So there should be more Red Ranger Coin fragments than any other Ranger color, and it feels strange not to have one. But should there be a Red Echo Ranger. Or not. Should I just keep it at two Rangers? Or should there be a Sixth (3rd) Ranger Red Ranger. If it wasn't for the Quantum Ranger I would definitely go yes. But since there has been a Sixth Ranger Red Ranger, even if it's not canon to this story, I'm not feeling compelled.

If I do add a third Ranger, what modes should Echo Ranger 3/Red have? There aren't a lot a Sixth Ranger options; Lightspeed Titanium, Ninja Storm Green (overlaps with Izuku), Dino Thunder White (overlap again), Lightning Green (overlap), Mystic Force Gold/Solaris Knight, Overdrive Mercury, Samurai Gold, Megaforce Silver, and Jungle Fury Purple/Wolf and White/Orange/Rhino. Zeo Gold went back to Triforia, Space Silver returned to space/K0-35, Phantom Ranger also back to space, Izuku already has the MMPR White/Green. Squadron Rangers were six from the start here, so no technical Sixth Ranger there. I was thinking Red Mode Grey (Titanium, Mercury, Silver) and Mode Royal (Gold x2 and Purple). But then the second issue is, who would the be the Red Ranger? It has to be a Quirkless character. Toshinori would be an option, but only after he passes on One for All and burns out the last embers. If Ragdoll still has her Quirk stolen, it could be her. I could arrange for the AfHole to steal anyone's Quirk. Or introduce an OC, probably a descendant of one of the past Red Rangers. Maybe even multiple Red Rangers (like Lauren Shiba on the OC's father's side and Mack Hartford on the OC's mother's side). A lot of options, and I'm not sure about any of them...