Press Start For UA:
"Relax. It's an exam, not war."
Izuku nearly stumbles over himself, tripping over nothing. He takes a deep breath when a heavy hand lands on his shoulder. "Calm down," Ryoya says, "You're strong. This should be a breeze."
Izuku doesn't relax, but his breathing goes level out. "I know but -", a pause. Words fail to come to him. "Never mind." Izuku concedes. "This is my dream school," he explains, glancing over to the large, imposing building. UA High was nothing if not an impressive feat of architecture. "I've been thinking about this moment since we were kids. It's just a lot."
"I can imagine. But it's been ten minutes, and you need to just face it. What are you waiting for?"
Izuku coughs awkwardly into his fist, looking away and hoping his friend misses the reddened cheeks. "Actually, I was waiting for Uraraka..."
When he doesn't get a response after a few moments, he forces himself to turn around. Ryoya is standing there, a crooked smirk on his face and with his eyes hidden behind his black glasses. "You're down terribly, I don't know if I've ever told you that."
Izuku groans, "You have." Then he perks up and adjusts his tie and hair, "She's coming!" He hears Ryoya snort and tries to ignore him when the bubbly brunette nearly runs into him in her haste. "Uraraka!"
"Mornin', Midoriya!" Ochako beams, waving energetically. She looks to the side and cranes her neck up and down. "Oh, hello. You must be his friend. Wow, you're tall!"
"That I am," Ryoya says without missing a beat. "Harushi."
"I know. Midoriya has told me lots of good things about you!"
Izuku wants to die when Ryoya turns to give him a small but noticeable smirk. "He did, huh? I'm afraid he was lying to you then, miss." He extends his hand.
Ochako giggles and shakes his hand with no hesitation. "I'm sure he was."
"Well, I've got to go, I don't want to hold you guys up. I'd say good luck, but I'm sure you two don't need it."
"Oh, no. We definitely need it." Ochako chimes, and Ryoya snorts, walking away with a wave.
Izuku watches him go, having his eyes glued to his back until Ochako taps him on the shoulder. "Hey." He turns and can't help the smile that comes to his face.
"Hey."
"We should get going. Don't want to be late, do we?"
"No, we don't -"
"Get the fuck out of my way, Deku."
Izuku winces and clenches his jaw. He hadn't sensed Katsuki coming at all. He steels himself, less out of fear, and more of resignation. He knows ignoring the blonde would only cause more trouble. "Mornin', Katsuki." He says, trying to sound casual.
The explosive teenager glares, "What are you even doing here? Do you think breaking a few boards is enough to make it in? You're not that dumb."
Izuku sighs. "I can do more than break boards, Kacchan."
Katsuki fuckin' knows. He's heard of the nerd's combat record around school. All of the tournaments he's won. The caliber of opponent he's beaten. The nerd isn't weak. And that pisses him off.
"Tch. Whatever. Just stay the fuck outta my way, Deku. Unless you wanna die. You too, round face." Katsuki growls, and holds his dirty look for a few seconds longer before sulking away. Izuku lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He clears his throat.
"Uh, we should head in."
"Welcome everybody to UA! Can I get a HEY!?" The Voice Hero, Present Mic, shouted into the crowded auditorium. His response is nothing but himself, a deafening echo passes over the deathly silent students. Ever the professional, Present Mic continues on, unabashedly. "Such boundless energy! But I'm sure we can do better! Can I get -"
Suddenly, quick as a flash, someone appears behind him and a mask is placed over his face. The woman, amazonian and yet curvaceous, holds a cylinder in her hand and shakes her head.
"Sorry, but no. You're way too loud for this early. I'll be taking over."
"Ms. Valentine. While I appreciate your forwardness, I would like for you not to traumatize the students so soon. Don't be alarmed, students. That's just another staff member!" An oddly high-pitched voice announced over the PA system.
The woman - Valentine - scoffs and turns an uninjured, scarlet eye towards the ceiling. "Whatever. I will explain the proceedings," she casually steps over the unconscious hero, ignoring the shocked faces of the students. "Pay attention. You'll be running a ten-minute course in one of our city replicas. Take whatever you deem important. Everyone is to meet at their designated spot after this."
Katsuki leans over his shoulder to peer at Izuku's sheet. Izuku coughs awkwardly into his fist. "Looks like we're in different areas..." Izuku says distantly.
Katsuki scoffs, "Probably to prevent friends or classmates from teaming up." Then he sneered, giving Izuku a dirty, challenging look. "Looks like you're up shit's creek now. A shame too, I was hoping to crush you."
"Like you can..."
"What was that?!"
"Nothing!"
The woman clears her throat and rapidly pilfers Mic's body before pulling out a remote. She presses a button and the massive screen behind her turns on. "There will be a large number of enemies in each zone. And they will be assigned point values that scales per difficulty. Your goal is to kill as many villains as you can," she says gravely. Izuku suppresses a shiver. "Attacking your fellow students is against the rules and grounds for immediate disqualification."
"Ma'am! I have a question!" A boy, tall and with blue hair and rectangular glasses, shoots to his feet and stands up as straight as an arrow. "On one hand, there are clearly four villain types listed, yet you only displayed three! Such an error would be an embarrassment for a top tier hero academy like UA! The reason we are seated here is because we seek guidance on the path of becoming model heroes! Moreso, it is extremely unprofessional to attack a fellow hero!"
"Unprofessional?"
There was a visible shift in the atmosphere, her single word being cold enough that Izuku had expected it to be accompanied by a visible fog. She takes a nought but a moment to locate the boy in the crowd and takes a single step forward and vanishes before their very eyes. She's unfocused and phantasmal even to Izuku's trained eye, and before he or anything realized, she was standing in the crowd, face to face with the boy. Her sole, visible eye gives nothing away.
"You're Tensei's brother." It's not a question nor an accusation.
The boy sputters and shudders, shocked.
Valentine looks him up and down, appearing more like a specter than a person when the overhead light kisses her ghostly pale skin. "I look forward to seeing you in my infirmary this year."
A visible bead of sweat falls down the boy's brow and in another instant, the woman is gone and back on stage, arms crossed tightly under her bosom. "The fourth type of villain is worth nothing. That'll be all you need to know. Make your way to your areas. Don't be late." Then Valentine leaves without fanfare, just as she had come, grabbing Present Mic's body and throwing it over her shoulder unceremoniously.
Before he knew it, Izuku stood before a massive gate alongside his fellow students. There were droves; people mingling amongst themselves while others did some stretches to warm up. Izuku was the latter, choosing to be polite to anyone who approached him, but keeping to himself and going through a very light kata. He dons a partially zipped blue tracksuit with a red trim and white accents, his bright red shoes and a pair of MMA gloves he received from Coach Luke. His red headband is firmly in his grip, waiting for its moment.
His senses are clouded by the energies of so many people, but Uraraka's ki sticks among them all, a beacon of pink that stands out among the other blue-white phosphorescence.
'I wonder how she's doing,' He thinks absentmindedly, moving towards her. He distinctly feels someone behind him and turns before a hand lands on his shoulder. It's the same boy from before.
"Are you by chance here to cause disruptions during the test?" He accuses, chopping his hand in the air in a motion stiffer than Izuku had seen before, even at tournaments.
"...pardon?"
"You were the one muttering through the whole introduction, were you not?"
Izuku blinks, "I was?" He hadn't noticed.
"Indeed you were. It was quite distracting!"
"O - oh, well, I'm sorry. I thought I kicked that -"
"Seriously, she scares me. Don't tell her that! Huh...? I'm live? Oh, ahem, AND START!"
For the majority of students, most looked up in confusion. Izuku takes off without a second thought, leaving the boy's hand suspended in the air.
"What are you waiting for!? There are no countdowns in real life! Look alive, students!"
The students scattered and scrambled, hurriedly dashing ahead just in time to see Izuku tying his headband and rearing back.
"Perfect!"
The punch reduces a one-pointer into nothing by a hail of shrapnel and wires, causing what remained to rocket across the street and into another two machines.
He moves less like a boy, but like a man on a mission, calling upon every once of training he's ever received. The robots don't have ki. A hindrance, but something he had expected. His honed senses should be enough.
He darts to his left and right, narrowly avoiding the bullet storm of several more robots, and retaliates with several strong blasts of pressurized air from his fits. They dent metal and bend steel, and provides just enough of an opening for Izuku approach, rearing back for another strong jab.
"Perfect!"
An implosion of machinery and oil spray about, painting the streets in black. Izuku looks down at his steaming fist. The power is intoxicating and makes the hair stand on the back of his neck. His eyes turn to the area, the chaos and disarray of the exam sight.
He grins.
Elsewhere, high above it all, the teachers gather and observe. There's a multitude of screens, centered around one large enough to bathe the entire room in light.
"A strict time limit and a vast battleground. Nothing quite like it to bring everyone's ardor into the open and uncover their skills." The main screen shifts to a tall, shirtless boy with six arms each ending with either eyes and ears. "Those who can assess the situation in an instant. The ability to search and locate targets amidst the confusion. Insight, if you will."
The camera cuts again, this time to a dark-skinned teen with stark white hair and long, tall rabbit ears standing proud. She danced between the robots with brutal efficiency, throwing brutally powerful kicks that even took her fellow test takers off guard before bounding away, smiling wildly the whole time. Another cut, another student. This one being a teen with dark green hair sitting just above a bright red headband. He drove in front of a lanky young man and destroyed a two-pointered before it could swing its claws. Another robot descended upon him, one he hadn't seen, until that too was crushed under the falling weight of another robot. A girl gives him a thumbs up. "The ability to stick a dynamic entry without ever being late to the party. Agility. The ability to face any obstacle with coolness and composure. Judgment."
The screen shifts once more, ending on a furious blonde in the heat of combat. Explosions rippled from his palms and swallowed everything in its maw, leaving nothing but streets and robots alike torn asunder. He panted lightly, throwing his arms up to the sky and igniting another round of explosions. "And of course, sheer fighting prowess."
"We can gauge their respective levels of these foundational skills by way of the points system."
"That is correct."
"We've pulled in quite the crop this year," a teacher echoes.
"We can't be sure of that yet," Nezu quickly interjects. "The thing to really test their mettle hasn't been released yet. All Might, if you please."
"That should be sixty..." Izuku mutters to himself, tossing aside the remains of another robot. "What about you?"
"Er, forty-five! You're just too darn fast, Midoriya!" Ochako playfully complains, holding up the weightless arm of a three-pointer and flailing it around.
"My sensei's always told me to not waste time."
"Oh yeah? I want to meet them one day."
Horrors beyond Izuku's wildest comprehension filled his mind in an instant. Uraraka? Meeting Ryu and Ken-sensei? Actually talking with them? He'd nearly keeled over just thinking about it. Before dread could fill his being further, a sharp, stinging feeling of danger pierced the back of his neck. He moved without thinking, pushing Uraraka to the side and lunging away. A laser beam separated the two, sailing before impacting a building and detonating in an explosion large enough that Katsuki would be jealous.
It appeared to be a fully armored medieval knight in design, bright chromes and shining silvers contrasting against the deep black paint and gray trims. It was tall and imposing and humanoid in outline with random tubing and circuitry visible through its chassis. Its eyes were glowing red and slanted in a way that made it seem like the robot was glaring at them and an orange, plume-like extension protruded from the back of its helmet.
"No way..!"
"Midoriya..."
"Zero Pointer Model Fulgore. Task: Defeat the students."
Without warning, the machine lunged forward and swiped its mighty fist at the nearest student, shattering the ground mere meters from where they stood. Panic ensued in an instant, screams and shouts deafened the area, and a stampede of students made the ground rumble.
"Is this some kind of joke?!" Izuku shouted to no one in particular, "What even is that?!"
"Less talk, more run!"
Another laser erupts seemingly out of nowhere and grazes Izuku's shoulder, making him wince. He turned and ran backwards, keeping his eyes on the robot, watching in awe and fear when it slowly and menacingly crushes a car. A car door is flung at him at frankly absurd speed and had it not been for Uraraka removing his gravity and tugging his arm like a kite string, he might've been hit. Then the sounds of gears turning stop and slowly fade.
"We've got to get out of here!"
"Help!"
Izuku and Ochako freeze. When they turn, their eyes go wide.
There's a young man with brown spiky hair and oval eyes with his back against a wall and a thin, translucent wall between him and the Zero Pointer. It was a brave, but futile attempt in stopping Fulgore as one mighty swing shattered the shield like glass. His eyes get wider and his breathing increases and more and more air walls appear, each of which is smaller and weaker than the last. Fulgore tears through them without effort and levels his burning gaze down. The boy screams, and Fulgore swipes.
And its fist slams into something... immovable. Violent, bright neon ki splatters around Izuku like paint on a canvas and he stands strong, holding the machine's fist against his chest.
"Incoming!"
Fulgore's eyes flash and its head whirls to the side on a hinge just in time for a large piece of a destroyed car to slam into it and send it flying down the street.
Izuku takes a deep breath and rubs a slightly sore spot on his chest. "You okay?"
The boy, dizzy and out of breath nods as best as he could. Uraraka is by their side moments later.
"Guess we're fighting, huh?"
No sooner than the words had left her lips, a loud crash made them flinch. It's the Fulgore unit, tossing the metal to the side and taking several steps forward.
"Guess so."
The boy they had saved looked between them and slowly crawled back, "You two are insane!"
Steam erupted from Izuku's arm in the same moment Fulgore charged and the two met in the middle, metal to flesh. The teen winces and throws another punch. Like before, Fulgore meets his blows dead on, but this time, Izuku is overpowered and slides back, rapidly clenching his fists and gritting his teeth to ignore the pain.
"I missed the timing. Uraraka!"
Uraraka came crashing in from above like a goddess of judgment, bringing with her two large pieces of rebar attached to concrete blocks. The Fulgore unit shifts on its wheels, ejecting a small missile from its shoulder to intercept the attack.
Boom!
The explosion was akin to a firecracker in strength, but more than enough to throw the girl off course. She lands unceremoniously in a heap on the ground, rolling on her shoulder and gritting her teeth. In one fluid movement, her open palm touches a manhole cover and when she regains her composure, she flings the large plate like a disk.
Fulgore fires another shoulder missile, accurate as an archer, and hits the disk mid flight, sending it skyward, slightly parallel to the ground.
"Sand Blast!"
Fulgore turns and raises an arm to block. But no impact came from Izuku's direction. Metal crumbled and oil spilled when the Sand Blast rained down from above, reflected off of the manhole cover and in that opening, Izuku began to move. His whole body erupts in a sea of neon green.
'This is Drive Rush!'
He gets within arm's length in two steps and rears back. Ki is pulsing around him, his heart beat visualized for the world to see. His mind is clear and his body is working on nothing but instinct.
He's in the zone.
He throws the punch. "Perfect!"
Fulgore's metal body nearly crumbles in on itself and it flies across the street, slamming into a wall so hard that it cracked and crumbled. The machine bounced, but Izuku is there.
'Don't let the bag hit the ground.'
"I know."
"Perfect!"
An uppercut sends the Fulgore unit skyward, bits of screws and wires falling down as it goes upward. "Uraraka!"
But Izuku hadn't needed to call; Uraraka was on the move before he had realized. She ran along the edges of the building and up the wall, leaping at her apex and grabbing the robot at its midsection and rotating it upside down. She latched on tightly and returned gravity to them both.
"Okay, time to spin like the video taught me!"
Izuku couldn't pull his eyes away. Uraraka rotated in the air, spinning faster and faster like a ballet dancer until she and the unit impacted the earth hard enough to kick up a large dust cloud and more debris.
"Uraraka!"
"Time!"
Izuku runs forward and into the dust cloud, using his senses to pinpoint his target. She seems fine, by his estimations, but he wants to see for himself. Needs to. Thankfully, it doesn't take long. He hears her coughing before he actually sees her person, and from there, she wanders towards him and stumbles into his arms. Her face and hair are muddied with dirt and small bruises and her eyes are a bit unfocused.
"You okay?" He asks, giving her several appraisals that last longer than explicitly necessary.
"Yeah - Yeah, I'm good. Just -" Her hand snaps to her mouth and her cheeks puff out. Izuku, wisely, takes a step back when she spins around and heaves. He keeps his eyes masterfully averted, and imagines she's puking rainbows while he holds her hair back.
"Dizzy?"
"Dizzy."
If you had told Izuku that his first trip into UA would've been through the infirmary, he probably would've been floored at you assuming he'd make it to UA.
But yet, here he sits in the nurse's office with several wrappings around his hands and a lollipop between his teeth.
"Sorry, kid." An assistant says, "Normally, Recovery Girl handles this in the field, but there were a lot of injuries this year. Murder robots and stuff."
Izuku nervously laughs on his way out. Uraraka, he could tell, had already left and stood near the gate and he didn't want to keep her waiting. That was until he felt two familiar sources of power. One of which he hadn't felt in years.
"Usagiyama?"
He follows the source until it leads him to a waiting room, where the dark-skinned girl in question is sitting off to the side, glaring at anyone who looks at her for too long. Her right leg and left arm are bandaged up, and there's several smaller pieces of tape on her cheek and hand. She looks rough but perks up when she sees Izuku.
"Midoriya! Holy crap, it's been years!" She says, standing up and hobbling over to pull the girl into a one handed hug. "Geez, you've grown. How the hell are you?"
Izuku returns her smile, "I'm good. Things have been good. How've you been? It's been what? Two years?"
"Yeah, two years and some. Geez, what were they feeding you? You were so scrawny. And now look at you; you look like you can fight." Rumi teases, giving her usual grin, but it's lighter than before. Less wild, and more friendly.
Izuku snorts, "I'd hope so. I'd hate to be training for nothing. But uh, are you okay? You look, uh -" He trails off, letting his words float.
"Who? Me?" She looks down at herself, seemingly surprised at her own condition. "Nah, I'm fine. Just got a bit roughed up. That fuckin' robot was a tough bastard. I almost had 'em. Some third year stole my kill."
"Third year?"
It was then that the second power hit Izuku. It's everything he always felt; strong, assuring, confident. Familial.
Sakura giggles, "Hey, I'm not a kill thief. But if that's what you want to call 'saving', then by all means!"
Rumi scowls. "I had it covered."
"I'm sure you did."
Rumi growls, and gives Sakura a dirty look when she playfully pats her hair.
"Don't worry, little kohai! I used to be just like you! Keep at it and maybe we'll have a fight one day."
The dark-skinned girl huffs and attempts to swat Sakura's hand away. She fails. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
Izuku, seeing his cue to leave, turns away, but doesn't get far. Rumi calls out to him.
"Hey, Mido." He turns and sees her expression. Longing mixed with disappointment. Expectation and resignation. "Where's pretty - Ryoya?"
"He should be taking his own exam right now."
Rumi deflates. "...gotcha."
Sakura remains silent when Izuku walks away and doesn't turn back.
A/N: Hey guys, thank you for reading and thank you for leaving reviews. I read all of them and they make me happy that people have stuck around. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the introduction of two more fandoms; Skullgirls and Killer Instinct.
