Time passed within the Kendo Dojo, with Izuku making up for all the lost time he had spent wishing he had a quirk and hoping that things would just work out.

To say that Mr. Kendo was a wellspring of information regarding martial arts would have been an understatement. The man lived up to his reputation and had a level of passion for the art of combat in the same vein as Izuku himself when it came to heroes. Mr. Kendo seemed to know just about every martial art form in existence, both those still used today as well as those that hadn't really been practiced since the pyramids had been built! The man even had notebooks on some of the unique fighting styles of some of the major pro heroes, detailing their strengths and weaknesses. Not just notes, but also drawings of the stances for those heroes' finishing or signature moves! The biggest difference between their notebooks was that Mr. Kendo's writing was like a work of art compared to Izuku's hastily written notes.

That passion, as Izuku quickly learned, turned out to be a double-edged sword. During Izuku's time training at the dojo, he witnessed a significant number of new students who were brought there, some seeming to be dragged, by their parents. Often, those kids looked on fearfully of everything around them as if they were unsure if this was the place for them. That or they held expressions that said they would rather be anywhere but here. As for the parents, well, they were going on and on about how they wanted Mr. Kendo to 'toughen them up' or to just 'get them away from their computer games' before they even made it to the back room. Those students never lasted long, doing everything in their power to get out. There were a few students, however, that stayed on longer as they became interested. Though half of those teens left as they grew annoyed at the advice Mr. Kendo gave when he suggested other forms of martial arts that they might be more interested in.

An issue that Izuku no longer had.

One by one, the father and daughter duo showed Izuku every martial art they knew and let him get a feel of each. The green-haired teen learned about the basics of Kenpo and karate while also experiencing being thrown with a judo technique. He experienced the rhythm of Capoeira before moving on to Kung Fu followed by things like Gunhead martial arts.

In the end, Izuku discovered that the kicks he learned in Muay Thai and Taekwondo felt more natural to him. He could more easily flow into the stances of these moves and use them more effectively than what he had been trying prior. What's more, they just felt right. More so than any of the other times he tried to emulate All Might's Smashes. The more he learned about these styles, the more he practiced with them, the more influenced he became to make something that was his own. To use what he was learning as the foundation of his own style.

But that was not the only thing that he was picking up on. Mr. Kendo and Itsuka were teaching him how to read his opponent. What a shift in their stance meant, how to tell what direction the attack was coming from, and so forth. This was something Izuku was able to pick up on fairly easily thanks to all the time he spent watching various heroes, learning to spot when they would be using their signature moves and other aspects of their quirks. Now those skills had been taken up from ten to twenty!

While this was going on, his training with Mrs. Kendo was slowly producing impressive results. Bit by bit, she moved him up in his parkour routine, pushing him further and further. She showed the green-haired teen, along with the rest of the class, how to jump from one corner wall to the next in order to scale it and how to use the same trick when descending. He learned how to shift his momentum around when he fell from a high area, going into a roll so that he would sustain fewer injuries. He began to leap from building to building and, in time, went from a scrawny kid who could barely run five minutes before feeling like he was about to die to a well-toned, well-muscled athlete who stayed with the class even when everyone else dropped out.

As for school, things had certainly changed since the day Izuku awakened Divine Dividing. The story of how Midoriya, of all people, had managed to overpower Bakugo and knock him into the desks had passed around the school so many times that it might as well have become a local legend. What's more, many of his classmates began to take notice of Izuku's ever-improving build. It was during gym glass where they were playing a game of basketball with shirts versus skins, Izuku being skins, that all his hard work with the Kendo's had been put on display for everyone to see to which many of his classmates complimented him. He even noticed that some of the girls, the same ones who had snickered at him and left him to the 'mercy' of Bakugo prior, were now blushing at him!

Meanwhile, with Bakugo, as days turned into weeks and weeks into months, the teen became more and more irritated. Whenever even the slightest bit of praise was given to Izuku in his presence, the explosive blond would shoot death glares at the one who spoke before turning his anger on the holder of the Divine Dividing. As soon as Izuku began to perform better in P.E. or show a marked improvement in his grades, Bakugo's fist would soon slam into a desk or locker while letting out a shout of rage. As for Midoriya's quirk, Izuku repeated the same story he was telling everyone in order to avoid confusion. Nearly all of his classmates, when they heard this, just nodded while looking thoughtful and saying that it 'made sense' to them. Bakugo, on the other than...

"You have to be kidding me!" he screamed when he had heard the reason, viens appearing on his neck as he did so. "That damned nerd knew about his quirk this entire time! That Deku! He was mocking me, looking down on me!"

Eventually, it reached the point where Bakugo blew up his own deck in a fit of rage before letting out a savage scream that promised bloody murder while eyeing his former childhood friend. It probably would have escalated further into a full-blown fight had not their homeroom teacher, as well as several others who heard the noise, rushed in at that moment. Needless to say, the teen was punished but only with a stern warning from the principal as he did not wish to ruin the future of such a promising student over one incident of misconduct. However, it was quickly made clear that, should anything like this happen again, the school would have to take more drastic actions. This was only enough to keep Bakugo somewhat at bay, gripping his pencil so tightly that he had to buy them in large packs daily or clawing at his new desk in order to keep himself from doing anything explosive in class. But, in those times outside of the class, Katsuki Bakugo would vent by putting the green-haired teen down with his words.

"It doesn't matter what shitty quirk you now have," Bakugo had said while practically being dragged away by his closest 'friends'. "You'll never be able to reach my level no matter how hard you try. And you'll still never get into U.A. So quit looking down on me!"

And so, eventually, the day of the entrance exam loomed ever so close on the horizon…

"Begin!" As soon as the single was given by Mr. Kendo, both Izuku and Itsuka, both of whom were in their fighting stances, closed the distance between each other within the dojo. Sweat rolled down their faces from the several prolonged matches the pair had gone through already, caressing the slight bruises they both carried as they did. But, despite this, both teens just grinned in anticipation as their last bout of the night began.

Izuku, having analyzed her fighting style for some time now, knew that she was more than likely going to start off with a powerful right hook aimed for his chest before going in with a flurry of punches. And, after staring into her eyes, knew that this time would be no different. Rather than blocking it, Izuku leaned back to allow the first blow to sail over him while at the same time kicking upwards. As he expected, Itsuka moved back to avoid the blow which nearly grazed her chin. However, Izuku wasn't done. Landing on the ground with his hands hitting the mat first, he used the rebound in order to launch himself forward with his leg extended ready to connect with the orange-haired girl's gut.

Unfortunately for Izuku, Itsuka saw this coming and was able to move back just in time to avoid an attack that would have knocked the air right out of her. Once Izuku realized that his attack wouldn't connect he managed to spin his body around rapidly before landing on his feet. But he didn't come to a complete stop, still using the momentum he had generated to move into a spin kick while moving forward. Itsuka blocked the attack with her arms, grunting from the impact yet smiling all the same.

This, after months of hard work, was the final evolution of all of Izuku's training: the Shooting Dragon style. This style, named in honor of Albion, used the extensive leg work and training he had gained in Muay Thai, Taekwondo, parkour, and various other martial arts he had learned and brought together with the help of Mr. Kendo in order to deliver powerful kicks on his own as well as using his surrounding in various ways. As for his hands and arms, for right now they were going to be used to block or deflect enemy attacks when he couldn't dodge. Though he hoped that, when he would be able to practice more with Divine Dividing, he would also include using his dividing ability when blocking. It wasn't perfect, not by a long shot. But it was something Izuku was taking pride in.

For the next several minutes, the match continued as Itsuka sent punch after punch toward her forest-haired training partner while Izuku did his best to dodge them and counter with his own kicks. Sweat continued to roll down their bodies, sprinkling onto the mat yet neither teen paid it any mind as they pushed their bodies further. In the end, it was thanks to the years of experience she had over Izuku that Itsuka managed to deliver a blow powerful enough to knock him down.

"That's match. Good job, both of you!" declared Mr. Kendo with a hearty laugh filled with pride in his two students.

As he did, Ituska walked over to Izuku and extended her hand to him as she panted heavily with a big grin on her face. For a moment, Izuku just looked at the friendly gesture. When he had first started taking these lessons, the gesture was practically foreign causing him to flinch. But now, after ten months, such gestures were common as Izuku finally had a friend after so many years. Itsuka was pretty easygoing, willing to talk to Izuku on just about anything when they were having their breaks or when they happened to meet up in public. She was just herself and Izuku felt like he could just let down his guard whenever she was around. The two had even started hanging out on days when they weren't training to just have some fun together. How that happened, Izuku hadn't the foggiest. One moment they were talking over the phone and the next moment he was in Itsuka's room, which surprisingly had a bit of a motorcycle theme to it, where the girl posed to help Izuku practice his drawing of her for when he included the young Kendo into his hero notebooks. He was honestly surprised he hadn't passed out in shock as he sat there, sitting on a girl's bed. After that, it just became a regular thing for them to simply hang out.

Soon enough Izuku took the offered hand, though he did blush as he was helped to his feet noticing that Itsuka's gi had opened slightly to show off a bit more of her skin. Nothing too perverted, but coming a little close. So the teen did the only thing he could think of and adverted his eyes.

"Good job Midoriya," said Itsuka, slightly panting as she spoke. "I can't believe you're the same scrawny kid that came here almost a year ago! Are you sure you're quirk isn't some super specific learning quirk? Like you can learn and master martial arts faster?"

"Thanks, but I don't think so," equally panting Izuku, feeling the sweat rolling down his face and back as he spoke. Still he managed to let out a laugh, feeling a little bit embarrassed as he kept his gaze slightly downward. "Besides, even if I did, it would be no match for all the hard work you've put into your training."

Izuku managed to look his sparring partner in the eye to see her beaming at him with pride, her smile nearly blinding him, just in time as Mr. Kendo approached the pair to further congratulate the pair. That, as well as instructing them to rest their bodies for the next couple of days so they would be in tip-top shape for the U. A. entrance exam. After all, it was only a few days away.

-x-

On the day of the entrance exam, Izuku was making his way toward the entrance of the famous hero school. The teen's body trembled with each step he took as his nervousness began to get the better of him.

'Oh man! Did I study enough for the written exam?' thought Izuku, knowingly muttering to himself as panic set in. 'Did I study the right things? I-I know I did really well in the mock exams, but is that enough to pass? What about the practical exam? I know I'm just going to mess everything up!'

'Relax partner,' rumbled Albion's voice in Izuku's head.

'Easy for you to say!' thought Izuku. 'You're not the one taking the exam! If I fail, then all of my hard work will have been for nothing! I'll let Mr. Kendo down. I'll let Itsuka down! They'll think that everything they've helped me with has been a waste of time!'

'…do you really believe that?' asked Albion in a serious tone.

'I…' Izuku's thoughts trailed off as he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, looking down at the ground as people began to pass him by. He tried to imagine their faces, looking down upon him with the same level of disgust and anger that Bakugo would shoot at him. Only, it looked so alien to him. So unnatural.

'I understand what you are going through,' spoke the great white dragon within him after a moment or two of silence. 'You are not the first human I have been sealed within to let your fears and nerves get to you. Now, take a breath and relax.'

At first, Izuku wanted to argue with Albion but decided to trust him on this. After all, the ancient dragon hadn't led him astray yet. Slowly, Izuku took a breath before exhaling with equal slowness. As he did so, he could feel the trembling lessen as Albion continued to speak.

'Good, good. Now that you are relaxed then perhaps you will listen to reason: failure is not even a possibility! Not when you have the power of the Divine Dividing within you! Whatever challenges these fools place in front of you, they shall be overcome by using their own power against them! And what is it your teacher taught you? You have everything you need to succeed. You just need to figure it out.'

Slowly, Izuku smiled as he remembered the words that Mr. Kendo had told him. Albion was right. He had all the tools he needed. All that was left was to see the problem before him and figure it out. Except…

'Ok, that'll help me with the practical,' thought Izuku. 'But what about the written portion? I'm still a little nervous about that.'

Albion snorted.

'You have studied for this exam more than most of my previous partners have studied in their entire lives!' Albion replied with a snort. 'I highly doubt that there will be anything on it that you wouldn't know. And, should that happen, you need only ask me for assistance!'

Izuku jumped at that, scaring the people around him with the sudden act. Unable to help himself, the green-haired teen began looking around as if fearful that someone heard that.

'Ah, wouldn't that be cheating?' asked Izuku in a timid tone.

'Ha! I am a part of you!' roared the dragon in amusement. 'Our very souls are connected! It would be more akin to say you were conversing with yourself! Besides, how would they know?'

'That, ah, might be true,' admitted Izuku. 'But it still feels wrong somehow.'

Now he could practically feel Albion rolling his eyes as he spoke next. 'Bah. Fine, have it your way.'

Lightly chuckling at Albion's antics, Izuku decided that he had wasted enough time just standing around and continued along his way. Yet, he did not get far as he heard a girl's voice speaking in broken Japanese, sometimes slipping English words into her sentences. Curious, Izuku began to scan the crowd before noticing a girl with large horns sticking out of her long, blonde hair. Her blue eyes glistened, her voice in a panic as she moved from person to person and shoved a piece of paper in front of them to which she then pointed to something on it. Most of the people there, all of whom looked like students from various schools, either ignored her completely or just laughed as they kept on walking. He then watched as she approached another student, a tall boy with dark blue hair and glasses, who seemed to just glare at her with annoyance. She once again spoke, but as soon as she held up the paper, the blue-haired teen cut in.

"Unacceptable!" bellowed the bespectacled teen loudly, catching the attention of everyone in the area while making a chopping motion with one arm. "If you cannot take this seriously then I suggest you just go home!"

With that, the boy stiffly turned on his heel and stormed off leaving the girl to tremble in a way similar to how Izuku had been not too long ago. Just standing there, trembling as she clenched the paper in her hands while looking like she would burst into tears at any moment.

Seeing someone in distress, Izuku did the only thing he could think of.

He reached out to her.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" Izuku's words, spoken in slightly strained English, caused the girl's ears to perk as she turned her attention onto the Divine Divider. He could see hope in her eyes as she quickly approached him. As she did, Izuku heard the clip-clop sounds of hooves. Very quickly he noticed that the sound was coming from this girl how, indeed, had hooves.

"Y-You speak English?" asked the girl in a shaky voice.

"Enough to hold a decent conversation," explained Izuku with a nod. "My dad works in the States so I thought it would be a good idea to learn it as a second language in Middle School."

"Oh thank God." As the girl said this, she jumped into the air happily before showing Izuku the paper in her hand. Looking down, the first thing that caught Izuku's attention was the U.A. logo in bright blue at the top. As he began to skim the document, quickly translating as much of the English into Japanese as he could, it dawned on him that he had received this exact same letter! The letter informing him about when and where the entrance exam was going to be!

"I'm really sorry," said the blond horned girl. "I was a little nervous this morning about taking the exam so I decided to stop at one of your manga cafes. I always wanted to visit one and I thought it would be a good way to calm my nerves. You know, relaxing with a good manga to take my mind off things. Then I guess I, ah, sort of lost track of time."

As she said that last part, the blonde looked away guiltily making Izuku wonder just how long she stayed there.

"Anyways, I-I trying to find this school," she continued after a moment. "But my Japanese isn't that good yet and no one seems to be very helpful. Guess they all must be busy too. I would have used my phone to get directions, but I left it at my hotel. The last thing I wanted was it going off in the middle of the exam or getting damaged during the practical."

Izuku bit his lower lip before glancing around, again noticing the students wearing uniforms from various schools. He had a feeling he knew where they were all heading: to the U.A. entrance exam. For a moment, the teen wondered why no one was willing to help. After all, they were all trying to become heroes so why not do something heroic, even if it was nothing more than a small act of kindness, and help her?

The answer he got, however, made him sick to his stomach.

'They're not helping her because they don't want her to show up,' Izuku realized with a hint of anger. 'There are only thirty-six spots available for the first-year hero course and everyone is fighting for them. If she doesn't show then that will be one less person they have to compete against! And if she's late, the result will be the same since the school will turn her away if she's even a second late! But this isn't right! This isn't how heroes are supposed to act!'

As a righteous fury began to bubble within Izuku's body, Albion spoke up. 'This is nothing new. Humans will, naturally, often prioritize their own desires and happiness over that of others. It is understandable.'

'That doesn't make what they are doing right or heroic!' snapped Izuku.

'I never said it was either of those. Just that it was understandable,' was Albion's reply.

Sighing, Izuku looked back at the girl who stood there looking at him with those big, blue eyes of hers. As he looked at her, Izuku thought's became more focused. He knew he couldn't control what others thought or did, but he had full control over his own actions. And he was going to do what a hero should always strive to do: help someone else even at the cost of oneself. Even if helping her meant that he meant that there would be more competition for him later, something that might even end up costing him entrance into the school of his dreams, it would be worth the risk just to help her.

"Well, I can show you the way if you want," he said, smiling warmly.

"Really? You don't mind?" asked the girl, her blue eyes brightening considerably while her smile grew. "I'm not going to make you late for anything, am I?"

Izuku just shook his head. "To be honest, I'm actually heading there myself so it's no problem. Oh, right. I have introduced myself. My name is Izuku Midoriya."

"And I'm Pony Tsunotori!" said the American girl with a bit of a peppy jump. "And thank you so much. I really hope we both get in. It would be great to have a classmate that can speak English and is nice!"

Izuku grinned, voicing his agreement as the two headed off toward the famous school. What neither of them knew was that the whole thing had been caught on a hidden camera. One of the hundreds placed around the area surrounding the U.A. It would also come as no surprise that they also didn't know at a certain principal had watched and listened to the entire exchange, smiling into his teacup as he wrote down a series notes.

Eventually, Izuku and Pony made it onto the ground of U.A. where Itsuka was waiting for them. When Izuku first spotted his orange haired friend, she was leaning against the gate as she looked down at her watch. It was hard to miss her worried expression, biting her lower lip the entire time. No doubt she spotted him out of the corner of her eye as, when they began approaching the Big Fist girl, Itsuka looked up in both relief and annoyance. Then her face morphed into confusion when she noticed Pony standing next to Izuku instead of moving with the rest of the crowd. After a brief explanation of why he had been a little late and introducing Pony, the three went into the building to take the written portion of the test.

Needless to say, the written exam's difficulty lived up to the school's reputation. It seemed like none of the questions were straightforward as nearly every single one of them was written in a way that was meant to trip or misdirect the students into answering it incorrectly. Even Albion, who looked down at the test through Izuku's eyes, found himself struggling to answer the questions. Thankfully, Izuku did not rush himself, reading and then rereading the questions as many times as he felt necessary before fully understanding what they were asking and then writing in his answer. As he worked, his attention was drawn away from his paper several times thanks to a few people who were overconfident in their 'cunning' as they believed that they were smart enough to cheat and get away with it. Such thoughts were swiftly proven false as the teachers who patrolled the auditorium would silently rush over to these less-than-honorable students to catch them in the act and instantly remove them from the premises. A more disheartening sight were those who sat there, looking down at their test papers in abject horror before just getting up on their own and leaving.

When the exam was over, Izuku spotted Itsuka who gave him a grin along with a big thumbs up which he returned. He then looked around to see that Pony also seemed to be in high spirits.

After a little bit of a wait, Present Mic entered the scene to explain to them the practical portion of the exam. According to the DJ hero, they would be fighting a large number of robotic villains within mock cities. There were three different types of villains, each one with a numerical value based on their level of difficulty with one being the weakest while three being the strongest. Basically, you got points equal to the villains you defeated. It seemed simple enough. But Izuku did have a nagging feeling in the back of his head that they weren't telling them everything.

Then, as that blue-haired student began asking about the fourth robot on the sheet that they were all given, Izuku decided to get Albion's opinion while doing his best to pay attention to what was being said in the real world.

'What do you think Albion?' asked Izuku after conveying his opinion on the matter.

'I believe that your suspicions have merit,' agreed Albion, Izuku imagining the great dragon nodding as he spoke. 'Given how the written test was presented, it would be foolish not to expect some sort of surprise. For example, if there was a way to gain points then perhaps there is also a method by which points are lost.'

Izuku nodded, barely even noticing that the blue-haired teen had chastised him in front of everyone as it looked to all the world that he was lost in his own little world while mumbling to himself.

"Sorry, just thinking," said Izuku quickly. That seemed to barely pacify the other teen whose attention returned to Present Mic as soon as he began to talk once more. And as he did, Izuku went back to his conversation with Albion.

'Right,' thought Izuku as he did his best to keep his muttering low. 'We should keep our eyes open. However, I am a little worried that we're facing robots. I've never taken the energy from something that wasn't alive before. I-Is it possible for Divine Dividing to work on a robot?'

'Hmm,' replied Albion, the ancient dragon pondering the question for several long moments. 'In the past, Divine Dividing has been able to absorb the energy from angels, devils, fallen angels, dragons, magical attacks, and so forth. I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to do the same thing with robots. However…'

Albion's words trailed off as the students around them began to rise from their seats, heading toward their assigned battle zones. Patiently the dragon waited, hoping that Izuku could figure out what he was about to say. Thankfully, he didn't need to wait long.

'The drain might not affect them the same way!' Izuku realized, his worry quickly returning. 'I mean, can a machine's strength be cut in half? Its speed? I-I've seen machines slow down when their power is really, really low. But this? I-I might need to use Divide a couple of times to get them to that point! C-Can my body handle it? Oh no. No, no, no! I knew I should have tested Divine Dividing more.'

Izuku was now moving towards the locker rooms, a hand on his chin as he continued to be deep in thought.

'Ok Izuku. P-Panicking like this won't get you anywhere,' the teen thought. 'Just need to focus. I'm a lot stronger than I was back when I first used Divine Dividing so I should be able to handle the transfer better. If I continue to use that energy to its max potential, then maybe I can burn through it quick enough to use the Divide on the same robot a couple of times. Maybe three? That will be thirty seconds so I should be able to dodge their attacks. Perhaps I could try looking for any structural weak points while I'm dodging.'

And so, Izuku's mind continued to try and work out the problem as he headed towards the test that would determine his fate.