|Chapter 21: Provisional Licenses! Let's Go!

Takoba National Stadium, Start of September

It was a beautiful morning; the Sun was shining bright and the sky was decorated with just the right number of fluffy, white clouds. The temperature was just right and there was a constant, cooling breeze that had most of Japan ready for a good beach day to finish off the summer break.

But not for them.

It was a beautiful morning when 1A stepped off of their bus to stand in front of the building where their licensing exam would take place. The shining Sun made them glow and the constant, cooling breeze made their uniforms billow dramatically behind them.

Students from half of the heroes school across Japan had come to take place in this exam; some with prestige and reputations that, while not as big as Yuuei's, were nothing to scoff at.

Sekiro Academy; a hero school that took a traditional approach to teaching and focused on the old ways of the Samurai, teaching honour and respect. It was the school of heroes such as the Equipped Hero: Yoroi Musha, and the Samurai Hero: Sakai.

Fransokyo High School; a hero school that embraced technological evolution and pumped out heroes with a high affinity for support gear that enhanced their weak quirks. This school pushed out heroes such as the Plasma Hero: Wasabi, – weird hero name – and the Skater Hero: Gogo.

Clover High School; one of the only private hero schools in Japan, a hero school that was reserved for the children of Japanese nobles and the rich that wished to become heroes. These heroes were then pushed into a hero agency known as the Holy Knight Heroes, a group that protected and patrolled the neighbourhoods of the rich and noble; it was only by their money and status that they were allowed to do this.

Though, despite building a reputation as an elite and regal school, they were most known for being the cause of one of Japan's three most famous vigilante groups; The Black Bulls.

Slayers Academy… The last remnant of the infamous and legendary Slayer Corps.

After the end of the Yakuza Era thanks to All Might, the Slayer Corps' heroes retired and decided to build a school for students who took up weapons in order to ensure both the safety of themselves and those they would protect.

While they never had the biggest graduating classes – they were one of the harshest schools in Japan – every student of theirs left their school with proficient mastery over their weapons and the makings of a true warrior. Yuuei could boast their small number of legendary all-stars, yes they could, but the Slayers Academy never pushed out a hero that wasn't famous in their own right.

Some of their most recent graduates were already rising the charts through their honour, skill, and integrity; the Stone Hero: Kyomei, and the hero couple, Snake Hero: Obi & Love Hero: Mitsu Lee.

All of these schools and many more had brought only the students they thought were ready to earn their hero licenses to this exam. Yuuei seemed to be the only school to send a whole class of twenty, and it was a full class of first years at that.

There were students here that had a year's more experience than 1A and some that had already taken the exam a year prior. However, despite all of this, the students of 1A weren't scared or deterred in the slightest.

They were excited.

Especially given their arena; Takoba Stadium was its own mini-city and was famous for being a piece of Quirked Land.

When quirks first emerged, it wasn't just humans that were changed, the fauna and flora of their world evolved with them. While it was much rarer than a quirked animal, quirked land still existed worldwide and was often tourists attractions, theme parks, or training grounds.

This stadium was one of the seven quirked lands of Japan, each one the size of a small city, each one preserved and boxed in by a stadium, and each one more famous than the last.

"We're here." Akira looked out at the many school uniforms standing at the front of Takoba National Stadium and smiled. "This is gonna be fun."

Next to him, Bakugou and Momo were letting their eyes roam over the sea of students to find any potential challenges. "I agree."

"I seriously can't wait to test out the new costumes in a proper battle." Jirou started, holding her suitcase tight to her chest with a grin. "Just training with them has been like a tease; I need to hit someone for real."

"While it is nice to see you all so eager…" Aizawa started, standing in the door of the bus. "I would like you to hold yourselves together until the exam starts; we have a reputation to uphold."

As usual, their teacher's mere presence invoked order into the chaos that was Class 1A and they all straightened up before turning to him. "Yes, Sensei!"

An action that made the tired man smile. "It also goes without saying, messing up could cost you this test. So don't just hold it together for the school, stay calm for yourselves." His words were acknowledged by his students and he nodded. "This is the next step in your careers; pass this and you become semi-pros. Make sure that your best is beyond…"

"Plus Ultra!" 1A's chant created a literal wave of pressure that caused almost all of the students around them to pause their conversations as a chill ran down their spines.

"Plus Ultra!" Except for one. "Hahahaha!" Turning around, 1A was met by a very energetic and very large teen about their age with his fist raised up in the air with a very large grin.

"Idiot!" And he was being slapped by a much smaller student with purple hair. "That was a private huddle, Inasa; what did we say about barging in on other groups?"

Despite the size difference, the large student apparently seemed to respect his purple-haired classmate to the point of bowing to him. "I've always wanted to chant that, Shishikura." Before turning around and bowing to the Yuuei students; so low that his head actually smashed the ground to create a small crater. "Please except my most extreme and sincere apologies!"

'Such form!' It took Iida aback.

'Uh…' While most of 1A looked at him with awkward smiles,

Not Aizawa though, he analysed him like a hawk. 'No way…' And the man recognised the boisterous teen almost instantly. 'It's him.'

Shoto and Momo also looked like they knew him. 'Familiar…' Though, neither of them could place it.

Everyone could recognise the uniform though; Tsu was the first one to point them out. "Kero, there's only one school in Japan that matches Yuuei."

Ochako nodded with a smile. "Shiketsu."

Shiketsu Academy; the most famous hero school of the west. In terms of prestige, reputation, alumni, and history, Shiketsu was the only school in Japan that could match Yuuei in all things that made a hero school legendary. While they didn't push out the flashiest heroes, they pushed out hardened, respectable heroes that were more efficient than most others.

"Holy crap, they look so cool! Those caps are awesome!" Kaminari was beaming at them and the way they held themselves. "Especially that big guy with the hair."

That 'big guy with the hair' heard the electric blonde but didn't call him out. "Thank you." In fact, he seemed to be happy, hard to tell with all the hair though. "It is an honour to compete against our sister school in this exam, especially the infamous 1A." He bowed at the end of his statement before beginning to walk off. "I wish you luck on this exam; we now leave."

The rest of his classmates were quick to follow behind him. "You guys, like, totes got this!" One blonde in particular gave them a sultry wave before running to catch up with her classmates. "Yo, wait up! Don't, like, leave me behind; so not cool!"

As soon as they all left, Aizawa spoke out a single name. "Inasa Yoarashi."

An action that, obviously, left the class stumped. "Huh?"

"The big one that smashed his head into the ground, his name is Inasa Yoarashi." Aizawa explained; memories flashing back to the beginning of the year. "While most of you had the entrance exam at the end of February, the recommendation track had its exam at the start of the month. Yoarashi was in that exam… And he had the best score."

That apparently sparked recognition in Momo's mind. 'Oh, yes, him.'

While it sparked regret in Shoto's. 'Oh… Him.'

"So you're telling me that that guy placed above Killer Queen and Peppermint Buttler over here?" Bakugou started, pointing to the class's recommendation students. "And he somehow ended up in Shiketsu?"

Aizawa just nodded. "For whatever reason, Inasa went up to Nezu personally after his exam and asked if he could use his placing to get an admission into Shiketsu." His eyes squinted as he watched the teen disappear into the stadium. "And Nezu agreed; confused but agreed."

Shoto just shifted awkwardly at that and cleared his throat, which was very out of character so it quickly gathered the attention of his classmates. "Uhrm… I don't believe it's a secret that I was cold to you all at the beginning of the year; Yoarashi may have been… Was another unfortunate victim of my… Heartless apathy."

"Keep an eye out then." Bakugou suggested, tone serious and eyes staring right into those of Shoto's. "Emotional feuds aren't pretty, believe me… I'd suggest an apology as wel-"

"Oh my goody, goody gumdrops!" A loud, booming voice rung out through the area and all present, student and teachers alike, looked around in confusion. "Is that who I think it is?"

All but one. 'Oh, God! Please, not here.' Aizawa's posture was stiff straight and his eyes were unnaturally wide for him. 'I've been better; haven't I? Why is she-'

"It's my little Zuku!" Before the tired man could even finish his begging to a higher power – any of them; whichever was the most effective – a blur rushed into the huddle of 1A students and lifted Izuku high up in the air. "I haven't seen you in so long; look at you!" The blur in question happened to be a short woman with sea-green hair that looked like she was part of a gang, circus, and pirate crew all at the same time. "I tried to come see you after the raid, but a lot of things got in the way; please forgive me!"

Obviously, the students of 1A just looked at the short woman lifting up their strongest classmate with a raised eyebrow.

Izuku, however, was smiling widely. "Auntie Emi!" His exclamation was followed by boisterous laughter and he found himself on the edge of a bone-crushing hug. "It's good to see you too!"

'Auntie Emi… My Emi?' Aizawa watched the interaction between the two and hated how quickly he found a resemblance in their wide smiles. 'What in the name of all that is chaos?'

Unaware of the mental turmoil raging inside of her favourite hero's head, the green-haired woman, Emi, put Izuku down. "I was hoping you'd get to be at this exam, Zuku; Auntie Emi's missed you so much." Before standing on her toes and ruffling her Nephew's hair. "You've done so much since I last saw you; you got a quirk, you got into Yuuei… It feels like just yesterday you were pretending to be a hero at the park." She fake cried and put her other hand over her mouth. "My little baby Nephew is too young to-"

"I'm sixteen, Auntie!" Izuku exclaimed with a red face, trying to ignore Akira's laughter. "And Aizawa-Sensei said that we're ready for this."

The greenette's last words sparked something in Emi's eyes and she slowly turned to see her favourite person in the entire world. "Aizawa-Sensei?" Her words were delivered in a softer tone with a hint of something else and she walked up to Aizawa with a small, child-like giggle. "Would you look at that, Sho, you're teaching my Nephew."

The black-haired man in question just stood still and let the woman lean close to him with a straight face. "Apparently so…" His eyes once more shifted between Izuku and Emi and he found the last few months piecing together slowly. 'Everything makes sense.'

"So… You're probably like his cool, badass Uncle then; yeah?" Continuing with her PDA, Emi just threw her hands around Aizawa's neck – twirling one of his pieces of hair around her finger – and looked straight into his eyes. "If that's the case, then we should just get married already." Before bouncing away and returning to her normal self. "It'll be fun!"

The interaction had all of 1A looking at the woman like she was crazy and at Aizawa as if they had been deceived. "No way…"

"Sayeth whaaat?!" Mina especially. "Oh my gosh! Izu!" She jumped on Izuku's back and bounced excitedly as he held her. "Aizawa's going to be your Uncle!"

Izuku, however, wasn't sharing his girlfriend's excitement and was surprisingly unreadable. "So it would seem…"

Emi was definitely matching the pink girl's energy though. "Oh. My. Goldilocks." She bounced over to the two and pointed between them back and forth multiple times before jumping and doing a backflip. "Gasp!"

An action that had Jirou sighing while shaking her head. 'Another one.'

While making Kaminari beam. 'Another one!'

"Izuku Midoriya… You have a girlfriend?!" Emi put a hand to her heart and did a dramatic spin before dropping. "And you didn't even think to tell your favourite Aunt…" Fake tears rolled down her face as she laid on the ground but she was up again in a second. "She's pretty high energy; good choice."

'How have I never noticed the fact she can cry out a comical amount of tears? Is it just because of her quirk I dismissed it- No! Focus.' Shaking his head, Aizawa forced himself to stop spotting the growing amount resemblances between the two green-haired relatives and got back to task. "Emi, we're going to go inside now."

"Wait, wait, wait!" However, Emi seemed to keep him for just a moment longer. "You gotta meet my kids first; Ketsubutsu and Yuuei always do a small meet up before going in."

"That's because you insist every year on-"

Ignoring Aizawa, Emi turned around and called out to a number of students wearing dark brown blazers over white undershirts with either dark brown pants or skirts. "Hey, kids, get your butts over here and meet my Nephew and his class!"

The kids in question all straightened out of some sort of reflex before sprinting over to their teacher's voice and getting into a perfect, group formation.

An action that had Aizawa very confused. 'What in the fu-'

"We're here, Fukukado-Sensei!" A student with curly, dark brown hair – who 1A had to guess was the class representative – addressed their teacher before bowing to the other class. "And it's very nice to meet you all! I can't wait to hunt you all down in the stadium and beat you in a fight!"

His statement was followed by a number of enthusiastic nods from the rest of his classmates, each student supporting a straight face. "Us as well!"

Now, obviously, this took the students of 1A off-guard for a small moment. "Yes!" But the students of Ketsubutsu were quickly met back with the same energy by Momo. "I, too, wish to kick your ass!"

"Me too." And, of course, Bakugou matched Momo with his trademark feral grin and walked up to stand right beside her. "I'll kill you."

'Nope, no more.' Aizawa just sighed at the two before walking towards the stadium. "Fall in." He didn't even bother activating his quirk; he knew they'd follow. "You can socialise after you pass the exam."

"Yes, Sensei!" They followed.

And as they did, they could see all the other schools looking at them with mostly undivided attention. Stares of awe, judgement, anticipation; stares that just had an edge of challenge on them.

1A just played it off though. "It's easy to forget that we're kind of like celebrities with how crazy our live get." Jirou said off-handedly, dismissing their stares.

Ojiro nodded, smiling internally and speaking loudly. "It's strange when you realise it, but ultimately makes sense when you think about it."

Meanwhile, Emi's ears picked up the two's conversation and she tilted her head in confusion. 'That's not why they're staring though…' Before her eyes widened. 'Sho... You didn't tell them?' She suddenly felt very bad for her Nephew. 'My poor, little Zuku.'

Below the Stadium

As the students of 1A arrived at the student packed stadium of Takoba, they did not cower under the sceptical and analytical gazes of their peers, they stood proudly in their new hero costumes.

Over the rest of their summer break, aside from working on the new super moves Izuku helped them with, they had worked with each other on their outfits. Adding improvements on most of their costume's glaring weaknesses, upgrading their costume's strong points, designing them to maximise their new move sets; 1A did all of this together.

Some of them even did a complete overhaul of their costumes, giving them a brand new look.

Now, while it would usually take support companies a while to get to their orders, Momo and Shoto were more than happy to pay for VIP express delivery for all of them, Shoto especially. This meant that they had the most practice possible with their new looks.

And they were ready.

Whereas before Aoyama was a shining knight, he was now a more regal and gentle hero. White suit pants with armoured plating sewn through it covered his bottom half, held up by a golden belt, while his top was covered by a white, compression singlet. The French blonde had also gotten a white waist cape outlined by gold and a red visor to complete his costume.

Mina's main patterns didn't change but her colour pallet and costume did. The pink girl's bottom half was covered by purple combat pants held up by a belt containing medical supplies while her top was covered by a white, long-sleeved, compression shirt with pink jaguar patterns going all the way up to her neck. She finished this off with a white mask covering her face and purple combat boots with holes in the bottom of them.

Similar to Mina, Akira had kept his costume mostly the same with only changing his colour pallet. His combat pants and boots were now a dirty white in colour and were held up by a golden waist band rather than a belt. The teen's top also had a minor change, it was now a black compression shirt tucked into his pants with golden, vine patterns going along the left side of it. Finishing off his costume, Akira had taken away his armguards and staff and instead stuck with his black, steel-plated, fingerless gloves.

Ochako's costume had actually changed a lot; her curvaceous suit that her designers had given her was gone and she instead had a much bubblier looking outfit that fit her perfectly. Her bottom half was covered by pink combat pants tucked into white combat boots, and her top was covered by a black compression shirt like Akira's. However, that was covered entirely by her large, poofy, white jacket with a light pink outline and zipper. Finally, she finished her costume off with her space-themed headgear without the glass visor.

Ojiro was also another big change; he had gotten tired of the normal theme that everyone was associating with him and decided to lean into mythology. His costume had been designed around the Monkey King; loose, red pants secured by a navy blue waist cloth and a black, compression singlet to cover his top. He had also finished his costume off with a red-beaded necklace, a pair of red, steel-plated fingerless gloves, a staff strapped to his back, and a monkey-king/oni-esque mask.

Following the others, Kaminari had also made a big change from his rocking teenager look into a trained fighter. He wore loose, dark gold pants that flowed out freely at the ends with his feet sporting dark brown geta sandals. As for his top, he only had a black, compression shirt with golden, lightning patterns going along the left side like Akira.

Kirishima, being the world's perfect man, had no need to change his costume since what he decided was perfect.

Koda's costume had definitely changed for the better, giving off the forest dweller vibe he should have had to begin with. He still had his yellow pants, but they were much more faded and cut off by a pair of knee high, brown boots with green vine patterns etched into them. His top was also now covered by a faded green tunic underneath a forest green poncho, finished off by a brown waist cloth and chest belt. The rest of the costume was complimented by black, falconry gloves and a pair of goggles hanging around his mask.

Koda actually had to have someone in the third year with a hair-growth quirk help him make the costume; apparently heroes with full body transformation quirks had to make parts – or all – of their costumes out of their hair so that it would work with their quirk.

Moving on, Sato's costume had actually gotten a very pleasing change; he moved from a spandex-wearing wrestler to a hooded, sugar man. His one-piece suit was gone and he had a pair of yellow combat pants tucked into a pair of charcoal combat boots and secured by a black belt filled with sugar supplies and insulin. For his top, he wore a sleeveless, yellow hood that changed to pink and sprinkles around his head, making him look like a donut. Finishing this, he had a pair of charcoal, fingerless gloves and a pink sprinkles mask.

Shoji's costume had also turned into a more hooded brawler vibe. He now had dark, plated combat pants marked with dark blue lines held up by a similarly designed belt and tucked into the same designed combat boots. His original singlet was now a dark, Kevlar-woven, sleeveless, hooded jacket that made room for his six arms.

For Jirou, the girl had only taken away her jacket and sized up her shirt so that it flowed around her more. The purple-haired teen had also added two purple bracelets on her wrists and a bulky, teched-out visor that doubled as headphones.

Similar to Jirou, Sero had only added a single change to his costume; his helmet had been reinforced and was now a full, daft-punk like helmet that showed off neon-blue pixels in a smiley face design.

Fumikage's costume had a complete overhaul, moving from a cloaked vagabond to a regal, dark King. He had a pair of loose black combat pants that were wrapped down on his ankles by dark cloth, leaving his feet bare. On his top, a loose, obsidian, dress shirt laid tucked into his pants while being covered by a dark, military coat with golden linings and tassels finished with the kanji for 'Justice' emblazoned in gold on the back. Finishing this, he kept his katana tucked into his waist.

Being Shoto's second costume change, the heterochromatic teen only had a few minor changes. His short-sleeved, dark blue jacket now had a grey T-shape design on it and he added two new burgundy wrist guards with metal plating going up to his knuckles. Overall, a balanced costume; just like him.

Funny enough, Hagakure's costume was damn near identical to Shoto's with the exception of her costume's colours. Where Shoto's costume was pink, Hagakure's was blue, matching the ends of her chartreuse-coloured hair. Furthermore, her pant legs flowed outwards down the bottom and her jacket went up past her neck to cover her mouth.

Bakugou's costume seemed a lot more practical now. The blonde kept his bottom exactly the same, but now replaced his singlet with a dark, long-sleeved, hooded jacket with an orange, 'X' across the middle. His biggest change, however, had to be the change from his large, bulky, grenade gauntlets to sleek, matte black, metallic gauntlets that resembled a dynamite bundle.

Tsu was another one of the bigger costume changes. She wore a black, form-fitting, one-piece swimsuit with green lines going up just past her chest. A similarly designed, lightweight, long-sleeved jacket going up around her neck with a frog-designed hood went over top that, and she finished the costume with tight black and green gloves.

Iida had definitely changed his costume to be his own person; whereas before people might've confused him for his brother, there was no doubt that this was Tenya Iida. He kept his pants and boots the same but switched out his top, armour piece for a form-fitting, navy blue singlet with techno gold patterns and similarly coloured gauntlets decorating his arms. Finally, his helmet was replaced with a blue techno visor that went around his head entire head.

Momo had finally switched out the revealing costume she hated for armour fit for an amazon warrior such as herself. She had long black pants and boots with velvet-red patches and gold linings for the bottom and a form fitting, velvet-red singlet covering her entire upper-body up to her neck. Finally, the costume was finished with a red visor and a belt going across her chest with a number of medical supplies and snacks. The entire costume was made out of her hair so that it wouldn't interfere with her quirk.

Finishing the changes was Izuku.

The greenette had switched away from the aviator design and went for a martial arts vibe. The bottom comprised of loose, dark, forest green pants similar to Ojiro's tucked into a pair of dark combat boots with red designs. On top of that, a black, compression shirt covered his top and was complimented by silver-white, metallic bracelets on his forearms that connected to similarly designed, fingerless gloves. Finishing this off, he kept his black, diamond-shaped mask and kept his katana secured tight to his waist with a forest green waist band.

"Holy crap! I knew there'd be a lot of students, but I didn't expect this many!" Hagakure exclaimed as she walked to her waiting area. "This has to be almost two hundred hero schools in just one exam."

"That is actually closer than you know, Toru." Momo stated, looking for her own waiting area through her visor. "There is a total of one-hundred-and-eighty-two hero schools here; each school averaging seven to nine students. Yuuei is the only school present with a full class."

With that put into perspective, Sato suddenly felt less confident. "They've sent their best… How are we supposed to compete with that; we're just first years!"

Bakugou wasn't going to let that stand though. "Thick-lips, we got this; their best doesn't mean shit when we're three leagues above them."

Apparently, that worked for both Sato and the rest of the class that was feeling doubtful as the entirety of 1A was grinning like mad warriors waiting to be released.

They were.

However, they kept it in for now and split up to their assigned areas.

Similarly to their entrance exam at the beginning of the year, the provisional license exam was splitting the students at each school up into different groups before placing them in one of ten areas. Most schools, having only brought less than half of their students, only got split up into two groups; for Yuuei, they were split into five.

Izuku, Fumikage, Jirou, and Koda were placed into Arena One. Since they could all fly, they were hoping that whatever they were doing would involve high places.

Akira, Ochako, Shoto, and Sato were placed into Arena Four. With this group, they were just following the whims of their class rep… Who'd probably do whatever Ochako wanted to do.

Momo, Tsu, and Shoji were placed into Arena Six. This was a group with two, battle-thirsty, amazon warriors, and Shoji; it was just going to be him trying to keep them both under control.

Bakugou, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Iida were placed into Arena Seven. Two good strategists leading them and all of them great fighters of varying skill level; a well-rounded team.

Finally, Mina, Hagakure, Ojiro, Aoyama, and Sero were placed in Arena Nine. Whatever was going to happen with this team was up to fate, a God of their choosing, and dumb luck; they were all going with the flow.

"-esting. Testing." A loud voice suddenly filled the stadium and the gathered students turned to see a man in a dark, formal suit standing at a podium at the front of the stadium. "Welcome, hero students, to this year's provisional license… Thing." He had shoulder-length blonde hair that was wildly unkempt and looked more tired than Aizawa. "My name is Mera, a representative from the Heroes Public Safety Commission, and I am too tired to be doing this, but here we are."

Yeah, Aizawa was the best comparison to make here; that's what 1A's collective thought was anyway. 'Wow.'

"Come on, man, you can do this." Mera said to himself before leaning back into the mic. "Before this begins, you should all know that the passing rate of this exam is not as large as you may have been lead to believe." This statement put most of the students on edge and the man knew his next statement wasn't going to help. "Presently, there are a total of one-thousand-seven-hundred-and-twenty-three of you here; of that number… Only one hundred of you will pass this first segment."

…

…

…

"WHAAAATT?!"

All of the third years just nodded in acceptance, having faced that hard truth the year prior. Meanwhile, all of the second year students, numbering over a thousand of the gathered heroes-in-training, roared in outrage, confusion, and immense worry.

"Only one hundred?!"

"How in the world is that fair at all?"

"I've trained too hard for these odds!"

"That's way too low!"

"Silence." Mera did not raise his voice, but a wave of energy washed over the entire stadium with his words and he had looked surprised at the button he held. 'Wow, this thing actually works.' It was effective though; every student was now quiet. "Right now, six other exams such as the one here in Shizuoka is taking place in Japan; that's seven hundred total students who receive their provisional license." With that said, it was actually a lot. "And of that seven hundred, over eighty percent lose their licenses and are barred from becoming a hero at all due to being unable to keep up."

That only continued to further dwindle most of the students' confidence. 'Damn.'

"This isn't just a tough business; this is a hard life." Mera didn't care though and kept going. "With the hero rosters as large as they are, the World's Hero Association isn't looking for more, they're looking for the best." A few students that had more confidence than the others raised their chests at this. "Japan alone has one of the highest hero to civilian population ratios on the planet; the time it takes from a crime being reported to being dealt with here is fast enough to make some of you sick. If you can't keep up with this…" He sighed and shook his heads at the students that seemed discouraged. "Then I'm sorry to say the hero track isn't for you."

Izuku and Fumikage looked over to the other and locked eyes, both reaching the same conclusion. 'Exactly what Hawks told us.'

Meanwhile, Bakugou and Momo did the same thing, smirking all the way. 'This will be fun.'

"Now, onto your first task." With that hard truth out of the way, Mera got on with the show. "Before I give you your exam parameters, you will need to know about these." A device was suddenly projected on the large screen behind the HPSC representative and the blonde man in question held it up. "All of you were given one of these before you got into your hero costumes." Before he put it on his chest, causing a very small, blue glow to encompass him. "This is a field generator; a device that creates a thin field of energy just barely above your skin that will record how much damage you take. However, for the purpose of this exam, you may consider them your hitboxes."

The students from prestigious schools with over the top entrance exams all collectively groaned as the realisation of what was happening hit them. 'It's another video game.'

Mera shared their groan inwardly but continued. "Before you all came here, you were visited by an HPSC representative and a team of analysts; each of them determined how much damage you would be able to take before being out of a battle, scaled that down to avoid grievous injury, and then programmed that into your hitboxes." A number of projectiles suddenly fired at Mera and his hitbox rippled with each hit. "So, these hitboxes will have a set amount of health that varies between you all based on your 'stats.'"

A number of the glass cannons sulked that they'd still be glass cannons while a large amount of the mutation students sighed in relief. 'God damnit!/Thank God!'

"Now that you know that, I believe you're all smart enough to figure out what the task is." Mera said, getting nods from all of the students.

"A battle royale!" Almost all of them were cheering; some quirks were even prematurely fired, creating a show of light above them that crashed into their roof.

"Yes." And, if Mera was awake enough, he might have cared… Maybe. "You've all been split evenly into ten groups and will be sent to one of ten corresponding arenas." The blonde explained, grabbing a remote from his pocket. "In these arenas, you fail by losing your hitbox, falling off the arena, or displaying non-hero-like conduct." Most of the students raised their eyebrows at the second reason but kept listening. "And you pass by surviving." With the rules out of the way, the blonde man pressed the button on his response.

Causing the room they were in to rumble.

"What the hell?"

"What's happening?"

"Stay on high alert!"

The last shout wasn't really needed as the rumbling was just their gathering area falling apart, revealing that they were right in the middle of Takoba Stadium, leaving several kilometres of land between them and the walls…

Land that was completely barren and just a flat plot of Earth.

Momo looked like she had been cheated. "What on Earth is this?" Which, honestly, she had. "This is just flat land… No greenery or mock arenas; this is but dirt!"

"This is where we're taking our exam?" Away in his own waiting area, Bakugou was still sharing his battle partner's thoughts and displeasure. "The fuck?" And looked like he was close to blowing something up.

All around them, several hundred students mumbled out similar displeasures and confusion, causing a ruckus of noise.

"Students." One that Mera silenced with his new favourite button. "In case you all forgot where we are…" But this time he was smiling. "Please look up to remember." The students did so and they all collectively gasped as their eyes widened, causing the blonde to smile only more. "Welcome to Japan's fourth plot of quirked land… The Floating Maelstrom Archipelago."

Takoba Stadium, home to the famous Floating Maelstrom Archipelago. Ten giant chunks of Earth that floated high above the grounds of the stadium; each having about just under two square kilometres in area and surrounded by multiple, smaller, floating islands.

As their namesake suggested, all ten islands spiralled around in a slow, maelstrom-like fashion; rising and falling as they went around like the hands of a clock. What was best about them, however, was that each of them had their own environmental sphere, making each one a different area; a beach area, a forest, plains, rocky, it was random.

"Holy crap!"

"Our exams are going to be up there?"

"That's why we've been split up!"

"How are we getting up there?"

That last shout was actually a valid question. "Now, if you would all stay still." One that Mera was happy to answer as he held up his hands, causing a bright, yellow glow to emanate from his hands. "You will all now be transported to your respective, floating isles."

As soon as he finished saying that, ten, giant, glowing sparks appeared around each of the ten groups and began to circle around them. The spark picked up speed quickly and it wasn't long before each of the groups were being surrounded by sparking, golden rings of energy. However, they couldn't marvel at it since, from the moment the spark created a full ring, they found themselves falling onto their butts at a different location.

"AAAAHH!"

"What just happened?"

"A warping quirk?"

Yokumiru Mera! 善見 目良 (Literal Meaning: To Look Closely with a Good Eye [?])

Yokumiru Mera; the Interim, Acting, and Vice-President of the Hero Public Safety Commission of Japan! Despite how tired he constantly appears; Mera is one of the hardest working agents of the HPSC and personally oversees all activities relating to the training of hero students!

· Quirk: Portals – Mera is one of the rare few in the world to hold a warping quirk; it lets him create any number of portals of varying sizes to teleport himself or whoever he pleases for as far as he can see, or if he knows the exact coordinates! He uses it to attend all of his meetings in a timely and efficient matter; however, the energy drainage leaves him constantly fatigued and has resulted in him getting narcolepsy.

As soon as he saw his job was done, Mera let his hands fall to his sides and yawned. "Alright, you all have five minutes to get into position and activate your hitboxes." Before letting the rest of his body fall down right after he addressed his guards. "One of you get my intern; I trust in her to take over while I sleep." And-

Oh, there he goes.

The blonde man passing out didn't seem to faze his guards in the slightest though, as they just picked him up on a stretcher – where'd that come from? – before running off to the nearest rest area.

Observation Room, Four Minutes Later

As the students finished getting into position, Emi was focusing intently on the holo-screens showing the Yuuei groups; more specifically, her Nephew. "I heard your kids talking before, Sho." She said to her partner, leaning against him and hugging his chest. "I can't believe you wouldn't tell them about that; I know you know about it."

Aizawa just had his arm around the joke heroine and sighed. "Of course I know about it, Em, it's happened every year; hell, 'Zashi and I had to go through it when we went for our exams."

"Then why wouldn't you tell them?" Emi put her hand on her heart and turned around so she was now just leaning against Aizawa. "I can't believe my little Zuku has been neglected such important information; now my baby is going to get ganged up on without knowing it."

At that, Aizawa audibly scoffed. "Emi, trust me…" Before smiling as Mera's intern took the stand. "Out of all the students here, Izuku Midoriya is one of the last people you have to worry about failing."

Maelstrom Archipelago

"H-hello, hero students!" A much younger and feminine voice called out on the speakers. "My name is Mitsuri and I'm here to reiterate the rules, your objective, and a small twist that my boss forgot to mention." The voice in question belonged to a young, short, dark-skinned woman with frizzy brown hair fading to honey at the bottom. "As it was explained just before, you all have your hitboxes that have been coded to your 'stats'; your failing conditions include losing all of your 'health points,' attempting to leave your arena and go to another…" A few of the flying students sulked at that. "Falling out of the sky arena you occupy or performing any non-heroic actions."

The third lose condition caught the students off guard and they all freaked once they . "WHAT?!" Well, at least, the ones that couldn't fly did; those that could fly just shrugged.

Mitsuri was able to put their worries at ease though. "D-don't worry, the ground below the Maelstrom Archipelago has anti-gravity properties! If you get hit out of your arena, the ground will catch you and our agents will escort you to the spectator stands." Her statement was followed by the ground that was actually on the ground suddenly cracking and glowing a bright, dark purple. "Anyhow, your win conditions are directly linked to the twist that Mr. Mera forgot to tell you about."

At this, the students raised their eyebrows. 'Twist?'

"To pass this portion of your exam and move onto the second stage, you must be one of one hundred students to survive the battle royale. However…" The dark-skinned intern knew the kids weren't going to like this. "Each sky arena may only pass a total of ten students."

It took a moment for the teens to realise what that meant. "Wait…" But not that long as they all collectively freaked out at once. "Oh come on!"

And, not wanting to deal with angry, super-powered teenagers with combat experience, Mitsuri pressed the big red button in front of her, sounding off a large siren. "P-prep time i-is up! The first exam has begun!" Before running away from the mic and off to her boss. "Mr. Mera! You did that on purpose, you ass!"

Arena One, Mountains Biome

"The first exam has begun!"

Izuku, Fumikage, Jirou and Koda all sat on a small plateau as they heard their exam start, smiling to each other.

"Do they really think we're gonna be easy pickings?" Jirou asked, hearing a storm of footsteps and quirks approach them. "I get that they saw our quirks after the sports festival, but it's been months."

Koda just whispered out his response. "They still know the base of our quirks." Before turning into a great brown bear. "Grrr…"

"They know more of us than the other residents of this arena." Fumikage finished, letting his hand rest on the hilt of his katana. "Knowledge is power, as they say… And they may want to rid this arena of you, Izuku."

The greenette in question had stood up and let his quirk run out from its core. "Makes sense; all those sub-boards means they know more about me than the rest of you." Before doing the same with his katana and allowing his quirk to flow through it, causing its edge to glow a dark green. "I doubt they know about this though."

As soon as he finished speaking, five figures flashed above them in a cross formation. "Creation is formed by the elements!" One with brown hair shouted, ores that rippled with golden energy surrounding him. "The earth on which we stand and the metals beneath it!"

Another with blue hair was spinning rapidly, causing a maelstrom of water to lift her into the air. "The blue waters of the vast seas and its children!"

One more with red hair had her hands high above her head, fire from her feet keeping her stable while an orb of pure flames built above her. "The fires that bring warmth to all!"

The next was a boy with white hair that looked like he was ready to murder everything as a tornado surrounded him. "The winds and gusts that billow through the freedom that is the sky!"

And the last one was a blonde girl with green eyes who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but where she was; in the middle of the cross formation. "And the flora and fauna that lives in all four; the green."

Obviously, since the last girl whispered, none of the Yuuei students on the plateau heard her. "Oh." They did, however, not miss the great rainbow light that was building around her as the elements of her friends mixed around her. "Dang, that's actually pretty tight."

"Five-Fold Primordial Forge; Rainbow of Creation!"

"And dangerous." Jirou laughed even though there was now a rainbow beam shooting directly at them. "Very dangerous."

Izuku laughed too. "Well there goes the good lighting." Because the greenette wasn't dealing with this. "They actually bolted out the Sun."

"It matters not." Dark Shadow was growing around Fumikage like an armour and his sword was glowing obsidian. "For I revel..." Said sword slashed upwards, meeting the point of the combined attack with his blade and holding it there. "In the dark!" The bird boy pushed harder and the entire attack was sent skyward before exploding above them.

That single action made the five in the air stop and drop right back down to Earth.

"Looks like we were right… This is going to be harder than we thought." The boy with brown hair said as he let his quirk die down. "I didn't know the bird was going to be this powerful though."

A sigh exited the blonde's mouth as her shoulder's slumped. "That was for the powerful green one... He didn't even flinch."

An action that apparently didn't sit well with the white-haired boy as he snarled. "Oi! Stop hiding and get out here, you fucks!" His yell was carried well by the wind before he turned to the blonde with a much softer expression. "That was just the test; don't worry."

"Yeah!" The blue-haired girl just laughed and sat down on the ground. "They'll get him for sure."

Before Jirou could even begin to comprehend what the other girl meant, her ears picked up a rumble. "Oh…" Wait, no, she was feeling it. "… Shit."

By now, the Sun's light was truly cut off from the Yuuei students as what seemed like over a hundred silhouettes had flashed above and around them in a large group. Some flying, some being held up by others, all looking at them with piercing gazes.

"Sorry, freshies!" One of the third years yelled, a low-poly, bulky, golden cross building energy above him. "If you were in your second year, your upperclassmen might've told you!"

Another with crimson energy raging around her like a maelstrom laughed. "This is like a license exam tradition."

Then all of them forced their attacks forward at once, but instead of yelling out names for their attacks, they simultaneously shouted a single phrase together.

"THE CRUSHING OF YUUEI!"

At that point, trumpets might as well have gone off since, as far as the Yuuei students were concerned, there was an attack akin to divine judgement heading straight towards them.

And even Izuku was worried. "Crap!" He tried his best to pour more power out into his sword, but the attack was on him before he could do that. "Damnit!" So, he did what most would do in that situation; swing randomly.

Luckily or unluckily – really depends on how the greenette wanted to take it – Izuku was able to split the attack in half. Even better, Fumikage had been able to catch one of the halves with his own blade and split it as well. They did not, however, deflect it, and now three attacks of varying – but undeniable – power had hit the plateau beneath their feet.

This had the effect of completely destroying the plateau and sending all four Yuuei students away from each other and to different areas of their arena.

Which was a cause of celebration for all of the other students.

"Haha! We did it!"

"There's no way any of them could have enough hit points for that!"

"And they're only first years; they still have another two years to try."

"Yeah…."

"Haha…."

"…. Wait; what now?"

It also had reminded them that they were all gathered in a single section of their arena… And their biggest threat had just been removed.

"Get them!"

"Formation A113!"

"Hakkapeliitta!"

"For the King!"

"Shinzo wo Sasageyo!"

"ATTACK!"

?

Izuku let out a cough as he finally dug himself out of the mountain he had crashed into. 'Damn, that can't have been good for my hitbox.'

As if sensing his worry, a mechanical voice decided to amplify it. "First blood. Critical levels of damage received. Fifty-eight hit points lost; forty-two hit points remain."

"Over half?!" The greenette asked the voice as if it would answer him; it did not. 'Right, gotta keep moving…' So, moving on from that, he searched around for his classmates. 'And… Nope.' Only to find no one. 'Looks like we're all flying solo from here; regrouping would take too long.' That left him with only one option.

Lay low.

BOOOM!

Luckily for him, it seemed like the hundred or so students that had attacked him and the others earlier were all now under the impression that he was out of the game and had turned on each other.

With the amount of student there were, they'd be able to keep each other busy and wear each other down enough for Izuku to save his energy.

That was sure to make laying low a lot easi-

"Hic."

A single sound caused Izuku's quirk to activate on impulse and he turned around to quickly punch at whatever he heard. 'Wait!' Only to stop as he saw a hunched up person on the floor… Crying? 'It's a…' With his quirk now turned down, Izuku took a moment to look closer at whatever made the sound. 'It's a girl?'

What the greenette found was a grey-skinned girl with sea-green hair covering her form with a giant, red umbrella that she wore as a straw hat. "Do… on…"

And she was whispering. "Uh… Are you okay?" Nothing that Izuku could hear, so he moved closer. "Miss?" Was that the right thing to say here? She couldn't be that much older than him.

"Dom… An…" The green-haired girl just continued to whisper though, as if Izuku wasn't even there.

"Do you need me to call for help?" The young Midoriya was still very much there though and was now starting to get worried. "Is the exam scaring you?" That explosion had been pretty loud, even from where he was standing; Jirou's ears probably were hurting right now.

"Etern… All…" The purple-haired girl's ears would also be of massive use to him right now since Izuku still couldn't hear what this girl was saying.

So, the greenette just decided to forego any caution and began to walk straight towards her. "Alright, I think it's best if I take you to higher ground." Danger Sense wasn't pinging either, aside from far away where the hundred students battled. "Just hold on to my hand an-"

A hand, grey as a raincloud, gripped Izuku's tightly just as he offered it, and the greenette suddenly found himself staring into glowing, blood red eyes. "Domain Expansion…" Only after that did he feel Danger Sense scream. "Lullaby of Eternal Rainfall."

Then everything around him changed.

The rocky ground of the mountain arena was gone, turned to perfect, flat water.

That water stretched on around him in a perfect circle before hitting an invisible wall; the wall in question made up of waves that grew in height infinitely as they stretched outwards.

And finally, the sunny day that he was enjoying a moment before had been replaced by grey skies and a medium – but consistent – level of rain.

He knew exactly what had just happened.

"Oh… No…" And Izuku didn't like it one bit. "Your quirk." He looked to the grey-skinned girl with wide eyes. "It's a Domain."

The girl in question just smiled and adjusted the umbrella-hat she was wearing. "Hahaha…" Revealing that right underneath it, was the cap of Shiketsu Academy. "That's right." Then she disappeared.

The Rainfall Hero: Amefuri!

Real Name: Ameraku Kokumo; 雨落徨雲 (Literal Meaning: Wandering Cloud's Rainfall [?])

This young woman is a hero-in-training for Shiketsu Academy; her schtick is that she's based her hero persona off of a Yokai known as the Amefuri Kozo! Even her quirk – which does not at all conform to any of the three main types – is a perfect match to this motif.

Quirk: Nullifying Storm – This quirk lets Ameraku spawn an area of water around her where she can dull her target's senses with said water! It's also a quirk that falls under a rare category!

Barrier Quirks.

It was a fairly new category of quirks; only really starting to be acknowledged and compared to the big three – emitters, transformations, and mutations – a few years before Izuku was born.

Before they get their quirk, almost every kid will try to activate it through a varying amount of means. However, after getting their quirk, kids in this next generation try their damnedest to create their own barrier, also known more commonly as a 'Domain.' Very few did, but everyone could see why they would want to.

Teens and select adults as well had fun and pretended their powerful emitters were barriers; Izuku was one of them. Because, in this society built around heroes and villains, having a domain meant you held the epitome of battle quirks. Even those who did not become heroes or villains were automatically listed as a B-Rank individual solely if they held a barrier quirk.

Most emitter quirks only gave one power that the user had to use with imagination to gain multiple abilities. Transformations switched their user between their human state and a state of power, with only the skilled being able to enter a hybrid state. And mutations were a win-lose; power at the cost of discrimination.

Domains, however, were multiple enhanced emitters all at once with transformation properties.

For starters, anyone with a domain had an energy core stocked with power that let them create a dome of energy to trap their opponents. This energy core, aside from letting them create their domain, also made them naturally stronger in all physical aspects even outside of their domain.

From there, the domain defied space-time itself by being bigger on the inside and transfiguring the area into an environment that matched the user's technique.

Finally, the user of a domain had their popular-coined 'Techniques'; multiple abilities that they could use within their domain. While there weren't many, there were enough domain quirks to understand the gist of how their techniques worked.

Most domains revolved around an element or force of nature; their number of techniques sprung off from there depending on their imagination. One villain with a volcano domain could create onslaughts of lava, volcanic ash, hot gas, and even make their body hardened lava for enhanced durability and a fiery touch.

And it looked like Izuku was getting stuck with water.

'Alright, let's see…' The greenette's mind raced with possibilities of what attacks he could be victim to while his eyes tried their best to track the girl. 'Water; maelstroms, rain, storms… Tsunami, ice projectiles… Hail… Hail… Ha-Wait.' Only to stop as he suddenly felt very groggy. "What's-"

"Rainfall Technique; Lull." That single word from Ameraku caused the rain to fall down harder and she smiled as she watched Izuku stumble. "Domain techniques aren't just elements… They have special effects as well." Before flashing behind him and kicking him in the head, making sure to keep her umbrella-hat on.

"Forty-one hit points remaining."

Alright, that took the smile off her face. 'Seriously? My kicks are only worth one hit-point?' Not that it mattered, she was more than capable of keeping this up for however long she needed to; it was just sad.

'Thank the stars.' Not sad for Izuku though, he was happy that his hitbox apparently had good durability; gave him enough time to try deal with this domain. 'Come on, track her!' His confidence waned, though, as he once more took a kick to the back of the head.

"Forty-and-a-half hit points remaining."

"That's just cruel." Ameraku landed quietly on the watery floor of her domain, not even disturbing the surface before flashing out of sight again. "Why are you so tough; my domain is supposed to give me the speed and strength of pre-quirk Olympic athletes."

Izuku actually had to take a few seconds before he could slur out a response. "I'm stubbo-" And he fell over as he did so. "What?" Putting him in the perfect position for another kick to the back of his head.

"Thirty-nine hit points remaining."

That apparently was enough to put a smile on Ameraku's face; small though it was. "Better."

'Got… It.' Her kick also cleared Izuku's head enough for him to actively focus on the one thing that he could rely on right now; Danger Sense. 'Just have to trip and wait… There!' The greenette could only see a few feet ahead of him, his mind was slower than usual, One For All wasn't responding that well, and his legs felt like jelly, but his extrasensory quirk was still working at its best. "Got you!"

And it was enough to catch Ameraku going for his head again as he successfully dodged and buried his fist into her stomach, sending her sprawling along her domain's floor. It was a shame that One For All wasn't responding though, he'd probably do more damage that way.

"First blood; critical hit received. Ninety-two hit points remaining."

Okay, never mind; One For All was off the table. That'd just be cruel.

"What the hell?!" The stark difference in strength, however, seemed cruel enough to Ameraku. "Your quirk should barely be working and I'm an enhanced! How are you hitting me harder than I'm hitting you?!"

Honestly, fair question. "Like… I said… Before." And apparently a failed distraction as well as Izuku's hand automatically shot out to catch his opponent's after she disappeared. "I'm stubborn." Before he pulled and slammed her into the surface of her domain and kicking her after she bounced up.

"Two critical hits received. Seventy-five hit points remaining."

Ameraku really didn't need the stupid device to tell her that she had been hit hard; her ribs were shouting plenty enough as she moved to put her hat back on. "You are one… Strong bastard; you know… That?"

"So I've… Been told." Izuku slurred out his response and prepared to take a stance again before an epiphany hit him. 'Wait, she just slurred.' Then, of course, Ameraku hit him as well, but he ignored that; his hit points only went down to ninety-one anyway. 'She slurred… Because… She's not… Immune!'

She was done for.

She also probably realised it as well as the grey-skinned girl looked panicked. 'Oh crap.' Though, that might have largely had to do with the fact that Izuku had dead-palmed her hardest fist straight to his face and was grinning at her. "So… Is there any way I can apologise for-HMPH!"

Looks like there wasn't.

Izuku's kick was straight forward, simple, and impacted right at her stomach. But the power behind it was enough that she was thrown all the way to the invisible wall of her domain. Worse, when he kicked, he had grabbed her hat.

"That's better." And had put it on top of his head, shadowing his face and only revealing his furiously green eyes. "I can't stand all that well, but at least I can think." A small smile made its way onto his face as he walked towards her. "I always wanted a real domain; to think it would have this many effects. The ground throws off people's balance, the domain itself makes it hard to activate emitters, and the rain fogs the mind and senses… Even yours."

Ameraku cursed as he was getting close. "You… Figured it… Out." While also trying to concentrate enough to create an attack. 'Damnit!' It didn't work. So, she did the only thing she could, she deactivated her domain. "Bugger."

"Aw… Guess I can take notes after." Causing Izuku to pout as he put away a notebook and pencil he had pulled from one of his non-existent pockets. "Well, I think we can both agree to just walk away and try wait this thing out." Before throwing the girl's hat back to her.

"That's an agreeable course." An action Ameraku appreciated as she put it on and turned around. "… Thanks, I guess. I'm in my third year, this would've been one of my last chances to be a hero." Before disappearing in a puddle of water.

That made Izuku's eyes widen and he laughed before also walking away to try and find his friends. "Abilities outside of the domain… Incredible!"

?

Fumikage's ears pricked and, before he knew it, he dodged out of the way of several air blades sent towards him. His dodge threw his back into a stone wall and he had to bite down a curse before rolling out of the way of another barrage of air attacks. 'Fast.' His eyes widened as he watched the attack sent at him cut into and burst apart the rocks. 'And dangerous.'

"Come now, my fellow, feathered friend!" A joyous, boisterous voice bellowed out, revealing to Fumikage the location of his attacker. "Let us not run from each other; our battle shall be fun!"

He was similar to Fumikage in terms of mutation; however, where the Yuuei student had a raven head, this one had that of an owl. White face feathers with an outlining of orange around his piercing, golden eyes and a hood of black feathers acting as hair. His hands and feet were also affected by his mutation; whereas Fumikage's body was still mostly human, this teen had feathered, clawed hands and an owl's feet…

Which was probably the reason he was able to stand upside down on the tree he was hanging from right now.

It was hard to tell if his feathers only appeared on certain parts of the owl-teen's body as his hero costume covered most of him. Long, baggy white pants, tied together at the bottom with white bands and a white cloak with long, open sleeves, over which he wore a brown-feathered shoulder-guard that doubled as a cape. There was a red-feather scarf as well that flowed all the way down to his feet which he somehow hadn't tripped up on yet, as well as a large, curved, Chinese hat made of blood red feathers sitting atop his head.

The big detail, however, was the long katana sitting in a red and gold decorated sheath on his waist.

"Apologies, but I was preoccupied with surviving your sudden attacks… Friend." Fumikage's hand went to his blade but he kept it in its scabbard. "Who are you?"

"Ah! How rude of me!" The owl teen dropped onto the ground and bowed as low as Iida would on a bad day. "My name is Eigu Fukuroshi! But you may call me by my hero name. The Wind Hero: Cikap!"

The Wind Hero: Cikap!

Real Name: Eigu Fukuroshi; 榮颶鴞氏; (Literal Meaning: Flourishing Storm of the Owl Clan)

This young man is a hero-in-training for the Slayer's Academy; he's completely based himself around an Owl God and has taken up the art of the blade. Even though his quirk is a simple emitter, he has been trained by the Wind Hero: Sanemi to harness it into a number of dangerous techniques.

Quirk: Tempest – This emitter quirk allows Eigu to summon and imbue both himself and what he hold with a storm of wind, enhancing his overall speed and ferocity!

A storm of visible, white, wind blades began to orbit Eigu and he took out his sword without any shortage of flare, showing off its black steel and white edge.

'Right.' An action that had Fumikage doing the same; revealing his dark sword and glowing, obsidian edge.

"Ah! Another user of the blade!" This seemed to excited Eigu greatly and his large, round eyes locked in on the glowing edge; more specifically, the branding. "Kokoshibo's Moon…" His laughter only grew.

It confused Fumikage. "What is humorous?"

"To have a blade made of quirk-conductive material is not unheard of; everyone at my school has one." Eigu started before his own blade's edge began to glow white, though very much duller. "But to have it crafted by a blacksmith of ancient calibre… I must admit myself envious." Then he crouched and his golden eyes glowed as well. "Let us see if you use it well."

Fumikage raised his sword before Eigu could jump, knowing he would have to have it up, and smiled as their blades met. "Let's."

To most watching, all that could be seen were black and orange blurs bouncing off the stones that surrounded them and the sound of metal clashing, but there would be no doubt as to which blur was leading.

While they were both equally matched in their respective styles of the blade, Eigu's quirk-enhanced speed outmatched Fumikage's natural swiftness. The owl teen orbited his opponent like a storm and struck quickly before rushing backwards and letting ranged attacks cover his retreat.

It was all Fumikage could do to stay on the backpedal as a slow number of injuries began to build.

"Seventy-two hit points remaining."

"Sixty-nine-and-a-half hit points remaining."

"Sixty-eight hit points remaining."

"You are quite resilient, fellow feathered one." Eigu complimented as he continued to press. "Even though it is my wind blades that hit you instead of true steel, they are still quite powerful." He took Fumikage's kick to the gut before pushing forward and sending him back from their blade lock. "Most others lose nearly ten hit points from a blade onslaught such as that."

The raven-headed teen let himself roll back into a standing position and gave his opponent a rare smile. "To involve oneself with friends such as mine…" Before raising his blade in a defensive position. "You must be resilient."

This action greatly amused Eigu and he didn't even check his surroundings as he once more rushed Fumikage, quirk propelling him at great speeds. "Well said!" He'd come to regret this as he soon found himself pushing against minimal force since his opponent let him push them back.

Right into a dark cave.

"Aiko, Brother." Fumikage's voice bounced across the walls of the new cave and Eigu watched in slight apprehension and awe as a pair of red eyes and dark energy enveloped the raven teen. "Will you assist me?"

Dark Shadow – Aiko – merely laughed in agreement. "Without question."

Eigu only had a moment to watch in amazement and glee as Fumikage's blade glowed fiercely, illuminating the cave with obsidian light. 'Such power! Is this the true potential of quirk-conductive weapons? Or is this the manifestation of his own quirk?'

Then he saw only a flash of obsidian before he fell to his knees.

"First blood. Critical levels of damage received. Thirty-eight hit points lost; sixty-two hit points remaining."

'Liar.' In Eigu's opinion, the machine had to have malfunctioned, as it pained him to breathe. "I always wished to see… The true potential of a slayer's blade unleashed." Though, that might have had to do with the fact he was crying. "I never thought I would witness such glory so soon; much less in a junior… Thank you."

Fumikage saw the small amount of light from the cave's entrance reflect off the other teen's eyes and looked down to his blade with a raised eyebrow. 'Who was that blacksmith?' A question for later; now, he would go. Keep to the shadows and see if he couldn't find his team. "Cikap, it was an honour to cross our blades, even if only for a short while… Someone such as yourself deserves a hero license; I cannot bring myself to eliminate you."

Honestly, a win-win in the raven's mind. He kept his energy high for the rest of the exam and possibly a new friend.

A sentiment that Eigu seemed to agree with. "Thank you... Fumikage." As a second year student, he still would have had the next year to try and become a hero, but he would not deny such a gift. "I hope we can meet again on a different battlefield… And fight together."

As Aiko slipped back into his core, Fumikage smiled. "As do I."

?

"Come on, Beast!" Jirou roared as she rode on Koda's back, the animal boy himself having taken the form of a giant gorilla. "Let's show 'em how to rock!"

"GRAAH!" Despite being twice the normal gorilla's size, Koda was only just up to the knee of the two giants they were facing off against. "Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!" Not that this mattered to him; he continued to swiftly weave out of the slow attacks of the titans facing them and let Jirou disorient them.

"Legato!" Jirou's wristbands folded out into gauntlets and a pillar of sonic waves shot out and hit one of the giants right in the chest. "YEAH!"

"Critical hit received. Thirty-three hit points remaining."

This one was a titanic, bi-pedal reindeer-tanuki-raccoon… Thing. "Damn bastards!" He tried to rush and headbutt the two, but it was in vain. "What?!"

Koda had been quick to transform into a giant eagle and had weaved through the giant's antlers to give him and his classmate some height; she'd need it for this next move. "Caw!"

"Thanks, Beast." Jirou said as if she understood him. "Let's take 'em both out with this next move; yeah?" She could only guess the eagle's cry to be an affirmative and grinned. "Great!"

Down below, the second giant frowned. "You let them get away, Chop! Cowardsssss." She was a great snake with purple scales and golden eyes that glowed as she tried to strike at them. "Wait…" Those same eyes widened though as she saw the eagle – very high in the sky – turn around.

"Don't think, just fly!" Jirou shouted to herself as she jumped off of Koda's back and began to fall with style next to him. "Don't think, just fly! Don't think, just fly! Don't think, just fly!" Her heart began to pump harder, letting her body build up more echoes, and she let it all build up around her fist.

Similarly, Koda let his wings falls to his side and was spinning as if he were a tornado. The wind spiralled around him and friction barely paid him any attention as his descent towards the snake continued. "Caw!" Then, just before he would strike, his form changed into that of a gorilla.

And at once, Jirou and Koda let out their ground-shattering attacks on the bodies of their enemies. "HEART ATTACK!/GRAWH!"

The effect was felt all around them, blowing multiple students over, but the giants felt the full front of their attack.

"Finishing blow received. All hit points lost."

"Finishing blow received. All hit points lost."

Even if their hitboxes hadn't said that, they still would have been eliminated, as the pure force behind the two attacks threw the titans off the edge of the floating arena…

Along with several other battling students behind them.

"AAAHHH!"

"I'm afraid of heights!"

"MAMA!"

"Oh…" Jirou and Koda both watched with tilted heads as at least three schools were taken with the giants they had just defeated. "How many people do you think that elimina-"

"-ongratulations! All remaining participants in Arena One have p-passed!" Mitsuri's voice rang out with the loudspeaker, cutting off Jirou's question and making her eyes widen at the same time. "W-would you ten kindly report to the east side of the island and jump off; there will be a transport to take you to the ante room at the bottom."

Surprisingly enough, Koda was the first to speak- Er, whisper. "Uh… We passed?"

Jirou could only nod before moving to where they were instructed. "Yeah… I guess we did." A smile took over her face, but there was still one thing she couldn't help but wonder about.

"I wonder how the others are doing?"

To Be Continued

12,037 Words! Holy cheese balls, I am back and this took forever!

I must apologise for my tardiness on this chapter; can't control hyper fixation though. Went on a really big Naruto, Jujutsu Kaisen, Star Wars, Arcane, Harry Potter, The 100, Rick & Morty, Bridgerton binge and couldn't get enough fanfiction of any of them.

However, I am back and shall be trying to do my best to get back to this story.

First order of business; exposition and world building. There was a lot of it, but I am sticking by my wish for this story and am going to do as much expansion as I can within reason. Creating new things is always so much fun and it sets up for the next chapter!

Speaking of the next chapter; it's going to make up for the lack of fighting here. It is solely going to be one of my favourite things; pure 1A battle content.

I'll admit, it took a while, but I came up for a defined style and some super moves for all members of the class. Some shall be different from canon, some will deviate completely, and some will only have minor tweaks, but I digress.

Next order of business, Ms. Joke.

In my first rendition of this story, it was just for shits and gigs, but now?... Still shits and gigs honestly, but maybe just a bit of importance because why not. Aizawa and her also have an actual relationship here since… Well, I want them to and what I say goes here.

Finally, Camie.

I know that, in the animanga, Toga took her place, but with everything that's happened to the League of Villains, they're not willing to risk it this time around.

Not much else to say, hope you guys enjoyed!