Izuku liked to think he was a normal boy, with friends and just a hobby of liking heroes and quirks. That he just liked to help people be the best they could be with their quirks. But as he discussed the improvements to the Heroics course Nezu had asked him to come up for the principal, Shota and Vlad King, he got the inkling that perhaps he might have a different outlook on how heroes should learn to be heroes.
His plan focused a lot on conditioning and knowing how to fight with and without quirks. It also did away with the need to showboat and have flashy quirks to market the hero. Instead it pushed teamwork and actually emphasized doing the job of being a hero: protecting the public in whatever shape was needed.
Izuku had wanted to implement his changes right away but was told that they would have to wait until the new school year started so as to be able to implement the changes correctly. He hated to admit it but he could see the point since it would be quite the shift in doctrine for a lot of students. The bright point in all this was the support he got from the two heroics teachers who both thought the new focus would be beneficial to the future heroes they would be training. Well Vlad King thought it would be, Shota was just a bit sadistic in that he thought the new way would weed out the ones who weren't cut out for heroics.
Only time would tell as to how it would work out in the future.
Izuku's friends noticed that he seemed preoccupied as they went through their last year of middle school. When they asked what was going on and if they could help, the young man told them it was fine and they would find out what was going on soon. They knew he was serious about keeping it a secret when Himiko couldn't find anything out since she lived with him either. They all decided to just be ready to support him if it was needed when they found out.
Soon the school year was over and the group of friends were preparing for the Entrance Exam for UA. They trained hard and studied anything and everything they could think of that might be on the test, paying special attention if Izuku commented on something they were studying. They figured if it caught his attention it would probably be something UA would have on a test. They also found time to practice their quirks, a lot of times with Izuku watching over them since he had his Councilor's license and they could let loose without getting caught for public quirk use. Though that was becoming less of a problem since with the QRA forming people were able to get tested and get their quirks licensed for use.
Finally it became time for the UA Entrance Exam and everyone felt they were ready to do their best to pass. That morning Katsuki waited outside his house waiting on Shoto and Himiko so they could catch the train to meet Hitoshi and Mei to walk to UA. Momo and Tenya would have met them too but both of them had taken the recommendation exam and passed so they were already getting in and didn't need to take the Entrance Exam.
Katsuki huffed as Himiko came bopping out of her house, Izuku trailing behind her, and Shoto yelled goodbye to his family and took a deep breath like his therapist had advised him to do when he was frustrated. He knew he was stressing about the Entrance Exam and that he shouldn't take that out on his friends, though it was a close thing. He could feel his body pumping adrenaline into his body and making him jumpy since he hadn't trained with his quirk for a couple of days to be well rested and not be sore going into the exam. "About time you guys showed up. Was going to be late if I had wait on you much longer." He said loudly as they all joined him.
Himiko just laughed and Shoto flipped him the bird as Izuku mock glared at him. "Katsuki not all us were up at the butt crack of dawn getting ready. Besides the gates don't open for another two hours and it is only a twenty minute train ride to UA. You have plenty of time. Now everyone, group hug on Katsuki and good luck ok?" Izuku said before he lunged at Katsuki and pinned his arms to his sides to stop him from blasting them away while Shoto and Himiko glommed on either side of the two boys. The three of them laughed as they jumped away from a shouting Katsuki who had a grin of his own on his face.
Soon after that the three friends left to catch their train and meet their other friends with Izuku waving behind them. As soon as they were out of sight Izuku smiled and went inside to his room, sitting down at his desk. He booted up his computer and accessed a secure site and inputted several passwords into screens when prompted until he was given access to the network at UA. With him working with Nezu and the Heroics Department, he was able to watch the UA Entrance Exam live to start analyzing the quirks of future students. He would have been doing this at the school but he wanted it to be a surprise for his friends, but next year he would be doing it onsite. For now he settled in to watch his sister and friends get into UA.
After meeting up with Hitoshi and Mei at the train station the five friends made their way to UA. All five of them stopped across the street from the gates and took in the school as they all geared themselves up to do their best. With a grunted "Let's Go." Katsuki lead them towards the stream of students going through the gate.
They made it through the gate by showing the exam passes they had gotten in the mail to the cameras at the gate and strode forward towards the doors of the school. Suddenly Katsuki stumbled and started to pitch forward, preparing to let off a small explosion in his palms to set himself upright. Just as he did he felt someone's fingers brush his shoulder on the side away from his friends and felt his weight disappear. Without the resistance of his body weight he went flying up quickly but luckily he reacted fast enough to shoot himself back down the ground. Once he was back on his feet he looked around and saw a brown haired girl pressing her fingers together and felt his weight return.
"Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. I saw you start to fall and reached out to stop you with my quirk in reflex because I thought it would be bad luck before the exam. But I didn't know you were going to use your quirk to catch yourself and shoot up in the air. Are you ok?" The girl babbled as she fretted at Katsuki.
Before he could say anything Hitoshi spoke up from where he was kneeling on the ground, "The corner of this tile moves. I think it is triggered to try to catch people unaware and see if they have good spatial awareness. Seems like something the principal would do to test future students. I noticed several people being caught like that, but only ones who seem to be aspiring heroes." Turning to the girl he went on. "You using you quirk to try to help someone might actually be seen as a point in your favor because your first instinct was to help. You were just unlucky enough to use on someone who has rocket boosters in his hands." winking at Katsuki as he teased him.
Katsuki drew in a deep breath as he reined in his anger, mostly fueled by the sudden launching of himself up in the air more than expected. "Thank you for trying to help. It was very surprising to fly up like that though so excuse me if I sound curt. But now we need to get inside for the exam." Before he turned and strode away towards the doors, his ears red.
Himiko stepped up beside to the girl to lead the girl and the rest of the friends inside as she said, "Don't take offense to the way he spoke. He is stressed and his quirk makes him produce nitroglycerin to make his explosions. To counter that it also makes extra adrenaline to balance it out. So it makes him aggressive. He is trying to control it so he doesn't go off on people. I'm Himiko by the way. Grumpy ass you saved was Katsuki, the red and white one is Shoto, the tired purple haired one is Hitoshi, Mei is the pink haired one who is ignoring everyone and tinkering with something. Except for Mei who is going for the Support course, we're all going for Heroics. What about you?"
"I'm Ochako Uraraka. I'm going for heroics too. I'm hoping to do well enough to get in." The brown haired girl said with enthusiasm in her voice. Her and Himiko chatted like old friends as they headed to the room where they would take the written portion of the exam. By the time the two girls had needed to separate to take their seats Himiko had completely calmed the other girl down. Hitoshi just shook his head at how Himiko was able to integrate herself with people and get information about them. That girl didn't even realize that she pretty much had told Himiko everything she would need to know to impersonate her if she needed to.
The students all found their seats as the pro hero Ectoplasm entered the room with a crowd of clones behind him. He quickly explained that the students would have three hours to get through the test before there would be a break for lunch, provided by UA, and then the practical exam in the afternoon. The clones made short work of passing out the sealed exam packets before dissolving to leave the pro hero in front of the room. "Your three hours start now." He said as he started a timer to countdown the time. The only sound after that was the students opening the packets and the sound of pencils scratching on paper.
It soon became apparent to all of Izuku's friends that they were more than prepared for anything on the test even if they found some parts difficult. They all had been tutored by Izuku at different times and he had crammed more knowledge in their heads then they realized. They all did note how some students were looking at the test with fear and panic as they were tested on so much information. As the time for the exam wound down the five of them felt confident in answers they had written, especially the essay questions at the end dealing with ethics and analysis. They all handed in their tests with no problem as time was called and some students tried to finish in a panic.
The five friends quickly made their way to the cafeteria for lunch, sitting off to the side of everyone mostly so that no one else could be effected by the hazard that was Katsuki's lunch of spicy curry and had their senses burnt out from the smell alone. The other four of the group had told him before that his lunch needed to come with a warning label for how hot it could be. Katsuki just shrugged as he ate curry hot enough to melt metal in their opinion.
All too soon all the students found themselves headed to an auditorium, where Mei split off to go to the Support course practical exam with a stage up front as the lights lowered and left a spotlight on the stage. The noise died when Present Mic walked out on the stage with a slightly enhanced "YEAH!" before he took up a microphone and started to explain the practical test they would be doing. He first informed them that in the past they had the students fight robots where powerful flashy quirks were showcased for heroics but now they were going to be testing the students in many different ways to make sure they were ready to be proper heroes. He then told them that they would have fifteen minutes to look at the information packet that was on all their seats before they would be sent to the testing grounds. Students scrambled to open the packets they had mostly ignored since they had thought everything would be explained to them and all they were going to have to do was show off their quirks. Well most of the students except for a group of four and a few that were diligent about reading everything given to them in a school setting. Having hung out with Izuku when he was mowing through information in a knowledge spiral they had all learned how to skim for important information to get the gist of what was needed to be known so they quickly dissected the packet before they huddled up.
"Ok it says here that there are still going to be robots to fight like in previous tests but now there are going to be people to fight hand to hand without quirks." Hitoshi started as the friends came together.
"There are also things to find to simulate information retrieval. Also ways to sneak around and find hidden dummies that might be seen as hostages. Or possibly hidden villains." Himiko mentioned, having picked up some of her brother's analyzing skills.
"Ok here's the plan. Me and Shoto will focus on combat while you two work on those hidden objectives and helping where you can. We'll work as a team and see about making sure we all pass. Sound good?" Katsuki said just a few minutes before they would be sent to the testing grounds. The other three just nodded in agreement
"Thank God Mei isn't here or she'd probably rewire a robot and lead a takeover of the test." Shoto said as they walked out the door, making his friends laugh.
Meanwhile the pro hero Powerloader was wishing he had a drink as he looked over a blueprint for a mech submitted by a pink haired girl who was just finishing up what looked like some kind of futuristic gun that was humming dangerously. She then asked for a secure test range to fire it in. After blasting through a six inch piece of steel and two foot of concrete, he passed her and confiscated the gun as she ran out of the room saying she was going to go watch her friends in the hero test.
Once she was gone he locked up the gun and went to spike his coffee with a splash of whiskey.
After arriving at the location of the testing grounds all the students were split into four groups at gates at North, South, East and West. Luckily Katsuki, Shoto , Himiko and Hitoshi were able to stay in one group together.
They were all just about ready when Himiko scampered off only to drag over a confused Uraraka before pushing her towards their two powerhouses. "She can make thing weightless. She lifts them and you guys blast them away. Less strain on her as she can release them as soon as you get rid of them and you use less energy so you can fight longer and with less strain on your body since we don't have support gear."
Shoto nodded at the wisdom of the statement while Katsuki opened his mouth, thought through what Himiko said and then closed his mouth as he nodded with a thoughtful look on his face. They quickly told the brown haired girl to stay with him and Shoto, only darting out to lift a robot or enemy while the other two got rid of the target. They didn't get much further into a plan when the doors opened with a loud clang and they took off, with Katsuki grabbing Uraraka's hand to pull her along while all the other students stood by surprised that there wasn't an announcement to start the test.
"GO! GO! GO! THERE IS NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL LIFE!" Yelled Present Mic over the loudspeakers.
The remaining students surged forward as the group of five started attacking the robots that showed up first. Going along with the plan they had made Katsuki, Shoto and Uraraka plowed into the robots head on while Hitoshi and Himiko picked off stragglers until the first human enemies appeared and they engaged them with quick efficient moves that showed they had training in hand to hand combat. The 'villains', who in reality were sidekicks and trusted upperclassmen, mostly harassed and got in the students way only actually fighting if an opponent was skilled enough to put up a fight, as the one who faced Hitoshi and Himiko rapidly found out how skilled they were.
Hitoshi used the skills he learnt from Master Splinter and his father to quickly take down his opponents and slip into the shadows to go after the hidden objectives that had been listed in the packet. He left several confused sidekicks behind in buildings as he slipped in and out without being seen. He also would pull other students of harm's way when he saw them in trouble
Himiko was able to lick the blood off of people she defeated and use their forms to snag several objectives and take out hidden dummies because the people guarding them just let her by since she would look just like one of their coworkers. She also messed up several fights allowing students to gain some points.
Meanwhile Katsuki, Shoto, and Uraraka were tearing a path through the robots in the main part of the city, several times saving other students from harm when they destroyed the robots attacking them. They also engaged many human opponents, being sure to do it quirkless in two boys case so as to not hurt anyone and by touching and floating people away from her in Uraraka's.
All too soon the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the exam causing everyone to stop moving. Katsuki and Shoto high-fived while Uraraka bent over panting and tried to not puke on her shoes. Suddenly she felt someone rubbing her back making her feel slightly better. Then she heard Himiko asking if she felt ok enough to get to Recovery Girl's medical tent to get healed if she needed it. The brown haired girl just nodded and let the blonde lead her there. She did jump slightly when Hitoshi suddenly appeared next them when he wasn't there a second ago to walk next to them. They stayed with her until she got settled on a cot and Recovery Girl had seen her. Himiko got her number before they left so they could talk and keep in touch.
The four friends gathered back together and headed for the buses to go back to the school with the rest of the students who took the test. Once they arrived back at the school they were met by an excited Mei who informed them that the test had been shown on a giant screen the rest of the students got to watch. This was a surprise to the test takers as the exam was usually kept private to reduce bias and keep the test secret. Well that had been true when the HPSC had been around. Now they were doing things differently it appeared. They also found out they were being offered use of the locker rooms to shower so they didn't have to go home sweaty and dirty after taking such a physically demanding exam. The four friends who took the Hero exam took advantage of the showers to clean up before they headed home. Once they were done they met up with Mei again and headed home chatting about the exams.
Two weeks flew by while they all waited for their results from UA. At one point Hitoshi tried to get answers from his dads but they rebuffed him strongly but not unkindly. Katsuki and Shoto wanted to work off some stress by letting loose with their quirks but they couldn't because Izuku apparently was stuck on some big case and was locked up in his room going over data and wouldn't let them in because the information was sensitive. So they were filled with energy and nerves for most of the two weeks. Himiko just went to practice her skills at the dojo with Leonardo while Mei stress invented and had to be treated for excessive explosion injuries due to trying to work with no sleep after a few days.
By the time the letters came in the five teens are more than ready to find out the results, good or bad, just to have the waiting over with. The five of them tore open their letters together with all their families around them as they had wanted to open them together. They saw their scores in the written exam which they all took together with Katsuki getting the top mark overall of everyone who took the test with Mei not far behind him in the results. Shoto placed in the top ten percent while Hitoshi and Himiko placed just outside of the top ten percent.
Next they looked at the scores for their practicals with Mei announcing that she got the top results in the Support course and a note that she would need to be under Powerloader's supervision to make sure her inventions were regulated since she built a working plasma rifle for her exam. Everyone stared at her when she said that before they shook it off and resumed looking through the results. Katsuki crowed when he saw he had gotten the highest score in the Hero exam, his letter noting down how he had made a plan and worked with a team for the exam and destroyed the most robots. Shoto got the same points for working with a team and planning with him but not destroying as many robots but earning some rescue points for using his quirk to protect other students and supporting Katsuki in their fight. Himiko and Hitoshi got a few points for the robots but a majority of their points come from their use of their stealth skills to find the objectives and capturing the dummies that were stand ins for villains. The also got many rescue points for helping other students in tight spots.
They were all discussing their results when Izuku stands and leans across the table to place down a set of five silver disks. The five other teens look at them before the one in front of Mei lights up and Powerloader pops up as a hologram. "Mei Hatsume, I trust you have read your results. Normally this disk is used by a teacher from your chosen course to give you the results and then welcome the new student to UA. In the case of you and your friends it was requested by UA's newest teacher that it be done slightly different this year."
Suddenly Powerloader's image disappears and all five disks light up and start to form an image. The teens all furrow their brows as the image builds until it snaps into focus clearly showing a projection of a giant size Izuku towering over them. "Hi guys. Guess who is going to be helping teach Heroics next year? So I will be right there with you next year when you all start attending. Mei in Support class 1-H and the rest of you in Heroics class 1-A. Welcome to your Support and Hero Academia!" The projection said before it sputtered out and the disks fried after their use was done.
The five teens turned their heads to their green haired friend as he waved jazz hands in the air. "Surprise!"