Kensuke Tororo was well aware he wasn't really hero material. It wasn't his desire to become a hero, and it never really had been. His reasoning was simple, inelegant but understandable; Kensuke Tororo was afraid of the responsibility of being a hero. He was afraid of having to make a choice that could result in death, for himself or someone else. He wasn't sure enough of his own conviction, of his courage, of his strength or even of his Quirk.

His strange, peculiar, wonderful Quirk.

Kensuke Tororo had been Quirkless. For most of his life, in fact, until that fateful day a few weeks ago when he'd had a dream. A strange dream, a horrifying dream.

A man wedged in the wheel-well of a train, torn to shreds. Another man in white, standing before him battered, bruised and impossibly alive. Anger, sorrow, a desire for vengeance filling his heart and coursing through his veins like boiling oil. His fingers had curled into fists in his sleep, wrenching at his blankets. His little sister had woken him up when he had shouted, padding across the room and throwing herself on her big brother who she thought was dying.

Kensuke had awoken to find glittering, ethereal strings running from his fingertips, wrapping around everything they could find, even his sister. She had said they tickled, giggling, before both she and Kensuke had realized just what this was.

Kensuke had a Quirk now.

Now Kensuke stood alone in the middle of the field, a student of economics in the domain of students of heroism. Nobody around him seemed to even really notice him, or care that he was there. He was a trespasser, some business-class flunky who had managed to exploit a Quirk that he had just sort of received and gotten twenty-eighth place in the race. He wandered in a small circle, moving closer to groups of other students before backing away and moving to another one. If he kept orbiting, it wouldn't be too obvious he was without a team, right?

He wasn't stupid. He would need a team eventually, it was inevitable. And somebody would have to take him, whether or not they wanted him. Ten teams of four, meaning there was no room for extras. No room for spares like him. He would fit in somewhere, whether or not the team he ended up with actually wanted him.

He rolled his shoulders, swallowed his almost nonexistent pride, and waited.

"Yo."

Kensuke twisted around at the sound of a girl's voice, finding himself meeting the eyes of a thin girl with long purple hair, a pair of fleshy tendrils ending in what looked like headphone jacks hanging from her ears. Weird Quirk, but he couldn't exactly judge. His Quirk made unbreakable strings come out of his fingers, not exactly the most standard superpower in the world.

"Hi..." Kensuke murmured, nodding. "C-can I help you?"

"Yeah." the girl glanced all around them, before looking back at him again. "I'm Jiro. Kyoka Jiro, Class 1-A. You don't have a team yet, right? Neither do I."

Kensuke wasn't sure what to say to that.

"So?" Kyoka continued, looking him in the eye. "You wanna form a team or what?"

Oh.

OH.

"Oh, y-yeah!" Kensuke began rapidly nodding, giving himself a bit of a headache as a result. He hardly even noticed. "I-I... I'd love to b-be on a team. With you. Or... with anybody..."

He swallowed, looking down at the field and pressing his fingertips together as he was wont to do when nervous. The he remembered he had a Quirk now and figured he should show his new teammate said Quirk.

"O-oh, and m-my Quirk is..." he blinked, suddenly finding the name a little silly. "Fisher's Line. I-I can make... erm, these..."

He let the strings form, slowly stretching out from his fingers, ethereal threads of blow light running through the air. He moved them in various directions and let them dance and glitter in the sun. He wasn't sure there was a maximum length; he hadn't tested it.

"They're p-pretty much unbreakable, and if anything tries to d-damage them... it d-doesn't usually end well..." he continued. "What about you?"

"Mine's Earphone Jack." Kyoka replied, those flesh-tendrils hanging from her ears moving in a slow circle as she spoke. "These things can stab into most surfaces and turn them into speakers. I can use it to listen to people through walls or project sounds like my heartbeat into the ground to attack villains."

"Oh, wow..." Kensuke swallowed. "That's really c-cool!"

Kyoka nodded, looking around again.

"We need two more people." she said. "Maybe Tokoyami's open to-"

"Kyoka." A voice interrupted the two of them from one side, a voice familiar to Kyoka. "Would you and your new friend here be open to a team up with myself and my associate here?"

Izuku Midoriya was approaching the pair, with a stranger behind him, standing tall and narrow. Izuku had his hands behind his back in his usual straight and dignified posture, while the stranger was slouching slightly, short lengths of spiked brown hair rising from his scalp.

"What's up?" the 'associate' said, casually raising a hand. "Kosei Tsuburaba, Class 1-B. Wanna team up?"

Kensuke swallowed. This Izuku kid... he was the first place winner! He'd just teleported past the whole race and won in what some people were calling a world-record victory, and he wanted to be on a team with... with him? With Kensuke Tororo, former Quirkless nobody, who had only made it this far because of a Quirk he had gotten a few weeks ago?

"I-I..." Kensuke stooped talking, looking at Kyoka, who was shrugging. "Sure!"

Kyoka nodded, before looking at Izuku and narrowing her eyes.

"So... you want us for some plan, right?" she said, voice low. "What's that gonna be about?"

Izuku smiled, and the four huddled together as Izuku laid out the basics for a devilish strategy. Kyoka's visible apprehension turned to an expression of delighted anticipation, while Kensuke found his lack of confidence more than made up for by Izuku's obvious faith in the team he had assembled. Yosei listened and grinned when he heard his part of the plan, shooting the team a grin.

"I've got this covered." he said. "Let's do this."

On the other end of the stadium, Blackmore was gently drumming his fingers against the mask at his hip, hands trembling and making his beat random, staccato and unpleasant to listen to. His master had found a team, which was good. But Blackmore wasn't on that team. Blackmore wasn't working with his master, the only person he really knew in all of Class 1-A, or in all of UA for that matter. The only person he knew outside the school was Inko Midoriya, his master's almost saintly mother.

Without those two, he was lost, alone and most of all, deep down, afraid.

Raymond Blackmore was defective. Broken. Wrong. He knew this, he was sure of it. He was born incorrect, poorly made, a mistake on the part of his mother. He had heard all about it as a child, how he was the worst decision she'd ever made in her life, how his cluelessness and idiocy was a blight on her life. He was quite aware that he was worthless, pointless, nothing... at least, without a guiding hand.

Funny Valentine had found Blackmore after the boy had been kicked out of his home at the age of fourteen. Recently wed, he and his wife Scarlet had been travelling through the state of Pennsylvania on their way to their new home. Stopping in Philadelphia for the night, Funny had found Blackmore in a gutter near their hotel, laying half-dead and frozen stiff. He had carried the boy to the hotel and ordered he be cleaned up and fed at Funny's expense.

Blackmore had become Funny's man that day, dedicated to his master's service. He had learned the ways of a butler, a bodyguard and a servant all at once, how to walk and speak and act with dignity and refinement. He owed everything to Funny, who upon learning of Blackmore's defunct mind had simply laughed and remarked that all men were broken in their own ways.

Blackmore had lived in service to Funny, who had been his saviour, and died for his dream of a greater, stronger America. He had been resurrected at his master's order and sent to aid a new master, Izuku Midoriya, who was so similar to Blackmore it hurt. Master Izuku too was treated as defective, lesser than his peers, but instead of Blackmore's faulty brain, Master Izuku had been born lacking a superhuman ability. Blackmore had resolved to serve his master as best he could in all things.

And now he was without a master to guide him, for the first time since he was fourteen years old. He was afraid, because by himself he was not Blackmore the butler and bodyguard, refined gentleman and protector of great men. He was Blackmore the dysfunctional child, Blackmore the waste, Blackmore the broken one...

Blackmore closed his eyes and swallowed back his fear. He needed to be strong. This was simply a competition. A sport of some sort, one where you refused others control of your flag. Blackmore knew quite a bit about protecting flags, and various other things as well.

He looked around, only to feel a gentle hand on his shoulder. When he turned, he saw green, then white, and then a soft smile.

"Hello Raymond." Ibara Shiozaki said, with that angelic voice. "Would you happen to need a team?"

At her back were two other girls; one a muscular redhead with an equally kind smile on her face, and the third a girl with a bobbed haircut that hid her eyes, smiling shyly. Blackmore blinked, before Ibara offered him a hand to shake.

"I-I would be honoured, Miss Shiozaki." he replied, nodding. "And who, if I may be so bold as to inquire, are your friends?"

"I'm Itsuka Kendo!" the redhead declared, offering Blackmore her hand as well. "And that's Kinoko. She doesn't talk too much, but don't worry, she's super nice!"

Blackmore offered Kinoko a short bow, which made her blush, and made Blackmore feel like even more of a fool. He swallowed and dropped his head. Then Ibara put a hand on his shoulder again, and he felt himself almost unconsciously relax.

"So, now that we have a team, anybody have any plans?" Itsuka asked, smiling. "Kinoko?"

"D-don't let them t-take the flag..." Kinoko mumbled. "I-I could grow... some m-mushrooms to trip them up..."

Blackmore thought for a moment.

"Barring the great fortune of a sudden rainstorm, I am afraid I am going to be of little help." he admitted. "My Sta- apologies, my Quirk, Catch the Rainbow, allows me to freeze water droplets in the air, forming an impenetrable barrier. Anything that attempts to move through them is instead punctured by the droplets. However..."

He cast an eye to the bright, sunny sky overhead, sighing.

"As it is, I am limited to my ability to turn myself into liquid, which does give me a great increase in speed." he said. "So I may be able to keep our flag out of enemy hands. Beyond that however, there is little I can do to turn the battle in our favour."

He looked back down at the girls, who were all staring at him rather openly. He blinked, wondering if he had somehow made a fool of himself again, before Kinoko giggled softly.

"Y-you talk kinda funny..." she said. "Like an old person. It's... it's kinda cool..."

Ah, that. Quite a few people were commenting on his vocabulary and speech patterns today. It was likely because he was nervous. Or outright terrified.

"Hey..." Itsuka said, a finger on her chin. "I think I have an idea..."

The four huddled together, Blackmore slightly uncomfortable with how Itsuka wrapped an arm around his shoulders but not wanting to say anything, before Itsuka laid out a plan. A good plan. A great plan.

A Valentine-worthy plan. Blackmore nodded in respect; that was a high honour for a plan indeed.

"TIME'S UP, CONTESTANTS!" Present Mic declared, voice booming all throughout the stadium again. "EVERYBODY TO THE STAGE FOR YOUR FLAGS AND THE RULES, THEN HEAD FOR YOUR STARTING CIRCLES!"

"Rules are simple!" Midnight explained once everybody was gathered around. "Each team's flag is worth their combined points at the start of the game! The four teams with the most points move on to the next stage of the tournament! Flags can be stolen, and don't worry too much about damaging them; they're made UA tough! Players can attack each other anywhere and at anytime, so keep your heads up and your eyes searching! Each team will be given two minutes to set up defences and finish up on their plans, and then the game begins! Everybody got it?"

A rallied cheer was given in reply, and then the flags were laid out. Izuku eyed theirs; dark green. Fitting, he supposed. It was worth a grand total of one-hundred and five points, most of which were from Kensuke and Kyoka. Their starting circle hardly mattered; he had a much different plan in mind, one that involved scarcely touching the ground if possible.

Blackmore took his teams grey flag and followed them to the circle. Itsuka was rubbing her hands together while Ibara bowed her head. Blackmore did a double take and blinked; she was praying. Curious, he wasn't aware there were any other individuals of religious persuasion at the school. Suddenly her talk she had given him about punishment and guilt made much more sense...

He did not plant their flag, instead rolling his shoulders and holding it tight in his hands. It was his job to keep it safe; theirs was a flag worth a great deal. He had placed second, after all, and due to first place being worth nothing that meant he was worth the most points in the stadium. Ibara had technically come fortieth, worth only five, and the other two had placed around the middle. Their gathered total was well over two-hundred and fifty.

He would protect it with his life. He would prove to his master he was just as capable without a guiding hand... and with luck, maybe he could show Ibara he was worthy of her attention as well.

He missed the smiles Itsuka and Ibara shared behind his back.

The two minutes ticked by. Izuku went back over the plan again, making sure his team all understood their roles. Itsuka did the same. In another ring, Bakugo tried to ignore the annoying purple-haired extra who kept asking him dumb questions. He wasn't born yesterday; no way those two losers with him weren't under some kind of Quirk influence. Bakugo had no interest in being a puppet, thank you very much. Shouto Todoroki felt his right side grow colder and colder as he channeled his power and closed his eyes. One shot.

That's how we would win. One shot. No fire. No father's power. Just the gift of his mother's strength and his own ability.

Then Present Mic shouted that two letter word that signalled the beginning of the game.

"GO!"

And then there was ice, and fire, and somewhere far off in a bloodstained alleyway a man clothed in red grinned as his prey entered sight.

AN:

OVER TWO HUNDRED FOLLOWERS!

YEAH! YOU GUYS ROCK!

Alright, calming down now...

Kensuke is indeed using a certain pineapple-boy's Stand, sort of. It's a mix of that and the power of the first MILF Hunter himself, in a way. This is the introduction of a new wave of weird happenings that will give me more characters to play with beyond canon ones. Kirishima can expect some nightmares about being trapped in a river pretty soon...

Blackmore's backstory is wholly made up. He doesn't have one beyond 'he works for Funny and apologizes a lot' and despite that he's one of Araki's best minor antagonists, so kudos for that you beautiful Japanese rock-person you. Also I'm really having to fight the urge to give him a harem so maybe I'll make that an omake or AU side-story if anybody thinks it sounds amusing. Let me know!

Izuku is gonna kick some ass next chapter, but keep an eye on Bakugou as well. I know he hasn't come up too much, but he is gunning hard for that top spot still, and next chapter should show that a bit.

Todoroki angst is still gonna happen maybe. Might not be Izuku who does it, honestly. I'm debating.

Hope you all enjoyed!