Chapter 5

Wow, this chapter came out late. I apologise for the time of this chapter. The problem was that when I first wrote it, I realised that I hadn't gone into enough detail but I had already reached roughly 6k words. So I needed to split the chapters and then add the detail.

Plus I found this chapter difficult to write due to the interactions between characters. Guys, please can you tell me how the interaction between Izuku and Ochako is as well as the interaction between Izuku and Katsuki. I would appreciate the advice.

I know some of you might be confused about the relationship between Izuku and Katsuki and all I am willing to say right now is that it is complicated. I hope to reveal some more tidbits about this in a couple of chapters. Just know for now that their relationship is still worse than after their fight after the Provisional Hero License Exam, but definitely not as bad as the relationship they had at the start of season 1 canon.

On another note, thank you to all the people who reviewed: Quasar156, bloodyvalentinejoke and JayTheStar. In response to bloodyvalentinejoke's question, I can say that he will learn some advanced bending techniques in the future but I won't tell you what or when. Furthermore, in relation to JayTheStar's questions about learning elements from other people, all I have to say is you'll see!

IMPORTANT NOTE: See post chapter AN for information about the poll

Disclaimer: I don't own My Hero Academia or ATLA/LOK.

There it was! The U.A. test site!

Even though Izuku had visited U.A. a few months ago, he had barely seen much if the school. His trip to – the slightly sadistic in his opinion – hero: Recovery Girl had been while he was unconscious, and he had thus missed properly appreciating the school.

Then, after he woke up and retold his dream to the adults present, he realised he had to get home so to not worry his mom. What a missed opportunity!

But he was now standing in front of the massive gates that would lead to his future. However, the size of the gates was nothing compared to the size of the building it guarded. The building was almost covered in glass and in the hardly cloudy morning sky, the windows glittered in the brilliant sunshine.

Nevertheless, standing there made it all too clear the responsibilities placed on his shoulders. Yagi-sensei had entrusted him with his power. His mom had believed in him, even when he didn't, and Shiroh-sensei and Gran Torino had both had such a large influence in his development. However, all that responsibility on his shoulders caused doubt to creep in. 'What if I fail?'

"Deku! You better have that quirk figured out. I expect you to make it in." The harsh voice of Kaachan brought Izuku out of his thoughts.

He turned back slowly, slightly dreading to see Kaachan's scowling visage. Izuku smiled nervously before answering, "I think so."

The two of them just stood there. Kacchan's gaze was unwavering and was fixated on Izuku. However, Izuku couldn't meet the gaze evenly and let his eyes drift around watching as the other applicants walked by. He noticed that some of them were looking back at them, obviously wondering what they were doing. Izuku's face reddened in embarrassment at the attention. He decided to turn his face back to his 'friend' and met his gaze.

"Hmph," scoffed Kacchan, not letting his true emotions show, before walking on.

As soon as Kacchan had walked away, Izuku let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding. He had not been friends with Kacchan for a long time, but the tension between them in the last year had risen higher than it used to be. While previously Kacchan had always made his intentions clear and was normally very vocal.

However, ever since the start of the new school year and the slime incident, they had hardly ever interacted with Kacchan being the one to avoid Izuku. An unusual though not unwelcome experience.

While he had always thought that the blonde's taunts and jabs were simply bullying, the last few months had forced Izuku to reconsider. Izuku would often catch him gazing at him with an unreadable expression. It didn't remind Izuku of his typical demeaning gaze but instead felt more judging as if Kacchan was trying to assess him. Nevertheless, Izuku didn't hold out much hope of the crass blonde really changing his ways and treating him like an equal. After all, it was Kacchan.

One thing did stick out to Izuku. Kacchan exuded a certain confidence. Yagi-sensei had been quick to tell him the dangers of over-confidence. A lesson that both Shiroh-sensei and Gran Torino took upon themselves to reinforce during the time they trained. However, Izuku knew that Kacchan was just that self-confident and that he trusted his abilities. This caused Izuku to frown internally at his own nervousness. He had decided to be more confident the day he had met All Might, yet here he was, shying from the responsibility.

Once he walked through the gates of U.A. he would be starting a new chapter of his life, and what better way to start it than with the right attitude. Izuku nodded with determination before deciding to follow Kaachan into the building as the test was about to start. 'I'll ace this test.'

He turned around to go in but did so too quickly. His right leg somehow got caught on his left one as he spun around causing him to stumble and started to fall. 'Or I'll just die here.'

His hands still held onto the straps of his bag as Izuku made no effort to break his fall. However, it took a second to realise that he had suddenly stopped falling. Izuku scrambled and waved his hands around to try to right himself again. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realised that flailing would do nothing as he was somehow simultaneously not touching the ground and was parallel to it.

"I'm sorry about using my quirk on you. But I figured you wouldn't really mind since you were falling," said a feminine voice from Izuku's left. Izuku turned his head awkwardly in an attempt to see her. However, given his current predicament, he couldn't tilt his head enough to see her face. Instead. he just saw her put her fingertips together and say, "release!"

Suddenly, Izuku could feel the weight of his body again and barely managed to put his hands out to catch himself. It wasn't so to prevent the pain but to try to retain some dignity by not falling on his face. He got to his feet in a haste and dusted his pants.

With his face slightly red, he opened his mouth in an effort to thank the person who had saved him some humility. But when he glanced up his eyes widened in surprise, his face grew redder and his brain short-circuited at the beautiful face.

She had shoulder-length, chocolate brown hair with two bangs in front of her ears framing her face while two shorter bangs were tucked behind her ears. She was just slightly shorter than Izuku. Warm brown eyes shone with concern and Izuku could feel himself getting lost in them. She smiled at him, her fair skin only accentuating the perpetual blushes on her cheeks that cast a rosy glow on her face. Izuku felt his heart stop for a second at that smile. He had never met someone so pretty.

"My name is Ochako Uraraka," she said, her hands still clasped together from when she had released him from her quirk.

It took a few seconds to reboot his brain and Izuku realised that he had just been staring at her, quite intently in fact. No doubt she found that creepy, though she didn't show it. It took another few seconds for him to realise that she had introduced herself and that common courtesy dictated that he do the same. He realised now would be a good time to speak and barely managed to stutter out, "m-my name is Izuku Midoriya."

Ochako giggled at his obvious nervousness causing Izuku to rub the back of his head in embarrassment. She decided to initiate the conversation so as to save Izuku the pressure. Plus she didn't know anyone else and she didn't want to walk into the hall in silence. If she did, she knew she would end up focusing too much on the test and would overthink things.

"Hey. Do you want to walk into the hall together?" asked Ochako.

'A girl is not only talking to me but wants to walk with me!' For Izuku, this was such a new experience. In Aldera, he had practically no friends. He was on okay terms with most people, but there was no-one he would call a friend, especially of the female variety. So, the fact that this was happening with literally no effort on his part was astounding.

Izuku jerkily nodded his head in acceptance and the two of them started to walk towards the building. Ochako snuck a peek at the green-haired boy and easily noted his obvious discomfort. She quickly asked a question she knew would get him to relax. "So, who's your favourite hero?" As soon as Izuku's eyes lit up, she knew that it was the right question to ask.

"My favourite hero is All Might!" Izuku waved his hands around excitedly as he talked about All Might. It was obvious to see his admiration for the number one hero. Ochako knew that many other kids in her high school also had All Might as their favourite hero and she could hardly blame them. Even she admired him. However, her favourite hero was Thirteen as she admired the hero's drive to save people, even with such a destructive quirk. Plus, she thought it was amazing that the female hero had gotten so far in the hero industry.

Meanwhile, Izuku realised he had been speaking for too long and hadn't allowed Ochako to speak. However, just as he opened his mouth in order to ask her who was her favourite hero, he realised that they had already walked into the building and they needed to split up and find their seats as the test was about to start.

The two awkwardly stood in the hall, waiting for the other to speak. Finally, Ochako decided to talk. "This is so nerve-racking. Anyway, good luck with the test! Maybe we'll be in the same battle city. If so, I'll meet you there. Otherwise, I'll see you at U.A.!" she cried out in her bubbly voice while pumping her hand up.

Izuku gave a watery smile and nodded dumbly. She waved and started to walk away. This action prompted Izuku to at least say something back. "Good luck to you too!" he cried out quickly.

After watching her walk away, he also walked in to find his seat. While his thoughts should've been on the test coming up, his mind wandered to the brunette and one thought fixated itself in his mind. 'Oh my God! I just talked to a girl!'

Izuku cringed slightly when he found his seat. His seat was actually in a good position. He was roughly in the centre of the auditorium, though he was further back than he'd like. But that wasn't the problem. The problem came in the scowling visage of his classmate: Kacchan. Izuku belatedly realised, that instead of being ordered alphabetically, as he'd hoped, U.A. had ordered the applicants primarily by the school and since there were only two boys applying to U.A. from Aldera Junior High, he would have to take the test next to him.

Izuku sighed before deciding to suck it up. After all, there was nothing else he could really do. "Uhhh Kacchan, can you move your legs slightly so I can get in?" The scathing glare he received caused Izuku to chuckle nervously. After a moment, Kacchan relented and moved his legs, giving Izuku about 1 inch more room to get to his seat. Izuku sweatdropped at the near-useless move but didn't complain. After all, with Kacchan, you took whatever little he gave.

Izuku cautiously edged past him, trying to make sure not to jostle him. He had almost made it as well, but something happened before he could sit down. Unfortunately, as he turned to sit down, his bag hit Kacchan in his face. It wasn't a hard hit at all, but as he stumbled into his seat and saw the murderous look in Kacchan's eyes, he knew he would regret it later and thus winced. Luckily, just as Kacchan's mouth opened, lights illuminated the stage, revealing a yellow-haired person with a funky hairstyle and a big speaker wrapped around his neck.

"Oh my God! It's Present Mic!" Izuku fangirled quietly. He had already forgotten about his mistake in favour of admiring another pro-hero. Next to him, Bakugo scoffed in annoyance. He would never admit it to anyone, least of all to Deku, but he too was excited by Present Mic's arrival. It just indicated what a great line-up of teachers were available at U.A. and this had been one of the points Katsuki had looked at when choosing where to go. "I've been listening to his radio show for years. He's so cool!" continued Izuku.

Tick marks had been developing on Katsuki's face and he briefly wondered whether you could be disqualified for using an explosion before the competition started Plus, he hadn't forgotten that Izuku had hit him in the face with his bag. He would pay for that one after the exam. "Shut up already!" Katsuki half whispered and half-shouted. Nearby applicants laughed quietly at the interaction though were promptly silenced by a glare from him.

"LET'S GET STARTED WITH THE U.A. EXAM. ARE YOU READY?! LET ME HEAR YOU!" Present Mic shouted enthusiastically into the mic and held a hand behind his ear while tilting his head so the ear faced the audience.

"…"

An awkward silence followed. Applicants looked around to see whether others were planning on saying anything. Izuku himself glanced around and noted similar looks of nervousness on other people's faces as was on him. Most of the people were simply too nervous to say anything. And the few that were more confident didn't speak for fear of being singled out and being the centre of attention. This resulted in everyone just sitting in silence and looking around.

Present Mic faltered slightly at the lack of response. Every year! It was his job to conduct and present the entrance exams and he had asked to hear the applicants every year but was always rejected. But he smiled. After all, the exam was tough and very important, so it was natural for them to have nerves.

"TOUGH CROWD. MOVING ON… AS YOU GUYS KNOW, THE ENTRANCE EXAM IS SPLIT INTO TWO PARTS. THE WRITTEN EXAM AND THE PRACTICAL EXAM. THE WRITTEN EXAM TESTS YOU ON SOME STUFF WHILE THE PRACTICAL EXAM WILL TEST HOW WELL YOU CAN USE YOUR QUIRK AS WELL AS YOUR GENERAL FITNESS."

Many applicants sweatdropped at Present Mic's obvious lack of interest in the written exam. However, Izuku didn't really agree with them. Based on the limited number of resources of the written test, Izuku knew that the written test would probably be easier than the practical one.

After all, U.A. operated on a cut-off scheme. In order for one's practical exam to even count, an applicant had to achieve higher than the cut-off mark on the written exam. While it changed each year, the cut-off mark was roughly around 80% and Izuku had managed to get higher than that on all the practice papers he had done. Then, once the cut-off was reached, the mark no longer mattered, and you would be ranked solely on your practical performance.

This meant that for Izuku, the practical exam would be the more important and the more difficult of the two tests Izuku knew that Kacchan would likely not be in the same situation. In fact, Izuku knew that Kacchan would ace the practical test and that he had also gotten above an 80% cut-off on all the practice tests. A quick glance at him revealed that Kacchan didn't look worried at all. Just determined.

Present Mic's voice brought Izuku back to the real world.

LET'S GET ON WITH THE WRITTEN EXAM. YOU HAVE TWO HOURS TO COMPLETE IT AND THERE ARE 100 MARKS. YOUR TIME STARTS NOW!" Present Mic pumped his hand up into the air. The lights if the auditorium returned and there was a huge rustling of paper as everyone scrambled to turn the first page.

Izuku gulped before steeling himself and then opened the test himself.

Two hours later

"TIME'S UP!" Present Mic's boisterous voice filled the auditorium causing groans from some of the applicants who hadn't finished the paper and were disappointed. Meanwhile, Izuku – along with a few others – gave a sigh of relief that the test was over.

While the tests were being collected, Izuku couldn't keep the smile off his face. The paper had been slightly more difficult than he expected. Probably because there were more applicants than ever. Nevertheless, Izuku felt that he had done well. He had managed to finish before the time and had spent the remainder of the test fretting over his answers. Izuku had literally crossed out an answer three times, only to write the original response as his final answer.

He glanced over at Kaachan only to see him with his head on the desk and eyes closed. Izuku had noticed that he had finished the test only a few minutes after Izuku. However, unlike Izuku, he had promptly turned the test upside down and placed it to the side before putting his head on the desk. Izuku had shaken his head at that. He just couldn't understand how he could be so confident with his answers that he wouldn't even check them.

The written exam was over now, so Izuku would need to wake Kacchan up. After a brief inner battle on whether to risk death or not, Izuku decided to poke him. After all, Kacchan would likely be even madder at him if he slept through the information of the practical exam.

Izuku tentatively reached a hand towards his shoulder. His hand was trembling, his heart beating at twice its normal speed and his mouth felt dry. Izuku could envision what would happen when he woke Kacchan up. He was almost touching him.

"ALRIIIIIGHT! THE WRITTEN EXAM IS OFFICIALLY OVER!"

Izuku jumped out of his skin as Present Mic's loud voice startled him. Luckily, he hadn't jolted Kacchan when he jumped in fright. Izuku placed a hand on his chest to calm his racing heartbeat. He looked at Kacchan to see that he was now awake and staring straight ahead to the stage where Present Mic stood. Luckily the lights had dimmed and were focused on the stage so Kacchan wouldn't see his flushed face. Plus, he hadn't seemed to notice Izuku's attempt to wake him up which was all too well.

"NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE REAL TEST. THE PRACTICAL. ON THE CARDS IN FRONT OF YOU, YOU WILL SEE A LETTER WHICH CORRESPONDS TO THE BATTLE CENTRE YOU WILL GO TO. AFTER THIS LIVE SHOW, YOU WILL HEAD TO THE BATTLE CENTRE INDICATED BY YOUR CARD. YOU CAN BRING ANY EQUIPMENT YOU WANT WITH YOU."

Izuku gave a grunt of understanding, prompting Katsuki to look at him. "So, we can't work with our friends from the same school," muttered Izuku.

Kacchan looked towards Izuku's card and saw the B as opposed to the A on his own card and realised what he was talking about. "Our examinee numbers are next to one another since we're arranged by our school, so we're assigned to separate centres. I guess you got lucky." Izuku jumped slightly at his voice as he hadn't realised that Kacchan had been looking at him.

"THERE ARE 3 FAUX ROBOT VILLAINS IN EACH BATTLE CENTRE WORTH ONE, TWO AND THREE POINTS. YOUR JOB IS TO USE YOUR QUIRKS TO RESTRAIN OR DESTROY THE ROBOTS. THE MORE POINTS A ROBOT IS WORTH, THE TOUGHER IT IS."

Suddenly a person stood up a few rows in front of Izuku. He was quite tall and had neatly combed hair. Izuku could see the temples indicating the glasses he wore. When he opened his mouth, he spoke with a very serious voice. "Excuse me but on the card given to us, you've listed 4 robots, but you've only mentioned three. If this is a mistake on an official U.A. exam, then it is shameful! How could a school as prestigious as U.A. make such an error!"

"Tchh. Who put that rod up his ass?" Katsuki muttered quietly.

The glasses-wearing applicant then turned around and Izuku felt that he was looking right at him and Kacchan.

"And you! The one with the green hair. You and your little friend have been muttering a lot, even before the start of the written exam. It's distracting. If you're not serious about this exam then you should leave." The serious tone and the glasses both emphasised the condescending tone in which the boy spoke.

Izuku could hear muffled laughs from people all around the auditorium. His face became bright red in embarrassment, and he lowered himself in the chair so only his curly green hair popped up above the backrest.

Katsuki's face also became redder, but out of anger. How dare Glasses insinuate that he wasn't serious. However, he reined himself in. It wouldn't do to lash out here and risk his entry. He would prove it by getting first place on the exam. And if Glasses was also good enough to get in, then Katsuki would show no hesitation in blasting him. The thought alone brought a small, savage grin to his face.

"THANK YOU, EXAMINEE 7111 FOR CALLING IN WITH YOUR REQUEST. THERE IS NO MISTAKE, THE FOURTH VILLAIN IS WORTH 0 POINTS AND IN FACT, FACING IT WILL COST YOU HALF YOUR POINTS!" Present Mic smiled widely as he said that. Honestly, he may not have Nezu's mind, but he could truly appreciate the guy's ability to play mental games.

There was an outbreak of muttering across the hall as people were surprised. After all, what was the point of having a villain that they couldn't face? Izuku sat there confused as well. Maybe they just had to run from it and prove how well they could manoeuvre and escape a more powerful villain. But that didn't seem like a 'hero thing' to do.

"THIS FOURTH VILLAIN IS BEST AVOIDED. IT'S NOT THAT IT CAN'T BE BEAT, IT'S JUST THAT IT WOULD COST YOU IF YOU TRIED. YOU WILL HAVE 10 MINUTES TO GATHER AS MANY POINTS AS POSSIBLE. NOW IS THE TIME TO GO PLUS ULTRAAAA!"

Present Mic thrust his hand into the air while yelling out the motto and there was a large cry from the applicants, who all yelled out "Plus Ultra!" Izuku felt goosebumps as he too participated. It was time for the last hurdle.

He knew he said he would be more confident but standing in front of the massive gates to Battleground B really didn't help Izuku's nerves. He knew U.A. was one of the most prestigious schools in the country, but where did they get the money to build this just for exams!

Plus, the many applicants in just his battle city immediately gave Izuku a perspective on how stiff the competition was. There must have been more than 100 applicants in just battle city B but there were only 36 places! Izuku could feel the butterflies in his stomach flying more frantically.

Izuku put his hands in his pockets and grasped the small dense rocks he had put in there. Holding them distracted his mind from the waiting and gave him some comfort. He wasn't sure what setting the practical exam would be in. While there would likely be some earth in a natural arena, he had been worried that the practical exam would occur in a basic constructed arena where there would be no earth.

After a conversation with Yagi-sensei, he had decided to carry some earth with him at all times. However, rocks were bulky and sharp and after a brief experience that resulted in some torn trousers, he realised that he needed a more compact and blunt form of earth.

He had taken inspiration from All might's sidekick: Sir Nighteye. Sir Nighteye used high-density seals to augment his fighting and Izuku had decided to use that idea. He carried small, rounded pebbles in his pockets. While small, they were deceptively heavy with each one weighing roughly 5 kilograms. It had taken him weeks to crush rocks and condense them into a dense ball of earth. It had been surprisingly difficult to actually increase the density of rocks, but it had been rewarding when he had managed to catch Gran Torino off guard with one. It was almost worth the beating he received for it. Almost.

Izuku had calmed down by now and took the time to glance around and study some of the other applicants. Izuku had developed a game where he would attempt to guess a person's quirk by their appearance and personality and it was surprisingly difficult.

There was a person with 6 arms with webs between them. Perhaps the webbing could expand to allow the person to glide like a flying squirrel. However, he was very tall and well-built and Izuku imagined that that would make it quite difficult to utilise that quirk. Izuku suddenly saw an eye develop at the end of one of the limbs and look directly towards him. Instead of turning away, Izuku gave a small wave causing the limb to wave back. 'So, his limbs can form additional sensory appendages. His physique appears to make up for the lack of physicality his quirk brings.'

Izuku turned to see another person that literally had shining clothes and a very smug smile. He seemed to be… looking at himself in a mirror. The belt around his stomach, directly over his belly button, made it quite easy to guess that he had some sort of projectile that fired from his stomach. Maybe a laser, given how flashy he was. Izuku noticed that several people had also brought some equipment for their quirks. Izuku could almost hear the snort of derision that would've come from Kacchan's mouth if he had told him this observation.

As Izuku's eyes flanked over the applicants, he spotted the pretty brunette who had helped him earlier. Come to think of it, he hadn't actually thanked her for earlier, nor had he managed to ask her who her favourite hero was.

As Izuku made towards the girl, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder causing him to stiffen in surprise. After turning around, he yelped slightly. It was the boy with glasses from earlier, who had asked about the fourth robot!

"She looks like she is concentrating. What were you going to do? Were you planning on distracting her?" The boy's gaze bored into Izuku causing him to stutter

"N-No!" said Izuku nervously, "I was just-"

The other boy's eyes narrowed as he interrupted Izuku. "You were muttering in the hall as well and were distracting everyone. Are you even taking the exam or are you a plant by U.A. only here to distract us?"

'This guy is so paranoid! They wouldn't do that.' Izuku held his hands up placatingly and backed away slowly. The other boy, seeing this decided to walk away. Izuku sighed in relief after the altercation was over. Izuku stared after the retreating boy as he took notice of the other boy's legs. He had what looked like pipes sticking out of his calves. In fact, they almost looked like the exhausts of a car. 'Maybe some speed type quirk?'

Izuku's musings were cut short by a loud voice blaring from a nearby pillar. "ARE YOU READY? THEN GET STARTED!" The gates had somehow opened in the waiting period, though Izuku couldn't remember when. He hadn't even heard them!

Everyone looked at each other in surprise at the abruptness, not really sure if they could start.

"GET A MOVE ON! THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL LIFE!" shouted Present Mic, while swinging his arms round in a circle.

After hearing those words, the applicants all started to rush into the battle city in order to seize their futures!

Izuku ran forward. As soon as Present Mic had told them to get a move on, everyone had rushed in. He had seen the boy with glasses speed ahead of the other applicants and Izuku gave himself a mental pat on the back for guessing his quirk.

He intentionally stayed towards the back of the group as he wanted to see where the other applicants were going. As soon as they had gotten into the battle city, everyone had split up, trying to find as many robots as they could. However, the majority of people decided to take paths that led towards the centre, so Izuku quickly took to the edges of the city.

After running for a minute, he glanced around and saw that no other applicant was around. He took off his shoes and socks and placed them in a bush near the wall of the city. He didn't take it off in front of the other applicants because he thought they would find it weird and after the fiasco after the written exam, he didn't want more attention. He would come back for them once the test ended.

After taking them off, Izuku stood still and simply relished his connection to the earth. The layer of asphalt that made up the road did little to diminish the feeling. Suddenly, Izuku felt the vibrations in the ground. It was most likely a robot, but whatever it was, was rushing towards him.

Even before he heard the crash behind him, Izuku had already turned around to face the upcoming threat. A robot crashed through a nearby building, spraying glass and rubble. It rolled quickly on its single wheel, green metal glinting in the sunlight, and cocked its armoured arm back for a deadly strike. Izuku took note of the giant one painted on its body. "Target locked on." Its robotic voice easily being heard over the screech of its tires.

However, Izuku didn't allow this to unnerve him and simply stood his ground and punched towards the robot causing a chunk of the road to tear itself off and launch itself into the robot. The medium-sized boulder hit the robot like a wrecking ball and caused its head to be ripped off.

Izuku was a bit surprised at the One Pointer's fragility but smiled. Destroying this robot so easily had instilled some confidence. If the one-pointer was this fragile, then how hard could it be to destroy the three-pointers. He winced slightly as the rest of the robot body continued moving and crashed into the city wall.

However, after 6 minutes, Izuku had to admit he had made a mistake. While there was hardly anyone on the outskirts of the city, there were also fewer robots. Unless there was an extremely limited number of robots, he had just come the wrong way and most of the robots were in the centre of the city. He had only managed to gather 16 points from 6 robots, and he could only desperately hope that that would be enough.

After half a minute of making his way away from the wall, he had made it closer to the centre of the city and as he turned at an intersection, he saw a mass of robots being taken out by applicants.

He quickly noticed the brunette from before touch several of the robots, causing them to float. She then touched all her fingertips together and yelled "Release!" The floating robots fell and were destroyed. She then placed her hands on her knees and was breathing heavily. "That's twenty-eight points!"

'Twenty-eight points! Maybe she's just a really strong candidate.' Izuku still held onto some hope. He then noticed the boy with glasses speed in and destroy a robot with a quirk enhanced quick. "Forty-five points!" he yelled.

'FORTY-FIVE!' Izuku really started to panic. The test was almost over, and he needed a lot more points. 'They never even told us how many faux villains there are! What if they are all destroyed?' "I only have 16 points!" he muttered to himself furiously.

Meanwhile, up in the control centre, all the teachers were watching and monitoring the several battle cities. All Might stood in his hero form towards the back of the room. However, his attention was focused on the city with Izuku in it.

All Might was a bit sad by how unlucky Izuku had been. In other test centres, a much higher number of robots had gone to the edges, but in Izuku's, only a few had gone meaning that he had been unable to show his skills and collect points.

Nevertheless, the true test was just about to start and from what he had seen of Izuku, this one would be right up his alley.

"It's time," said Principal Nezu. He then flipped the cover off of a large red switch before hitting it and smiling a little too sadistically. All Might shivered slightly at that smile. It wasn't… right. Those poor, poor children. They had no idea what was coming.

In all the test centres, there was a massive rumbling and suddenly the final boss appeared.

In Izuku's battle city

There was a massive rumbling in the ground that Izuku could feel, even without his quirk.

Suddenly, a massive robot just… spawned. It stood more than 10 stories tall and shared the same dark green coloured metal as the other robots. But it was far taller and looked far more imposing and dangerous. As evidenced when the robot smashed his hand into the ground and a nearby building collapsed.

'Someone could get seriously hurt by it! I have to get points now, while everyone is running away. I only have 16 points!' Izuku fell to the ground in shock. Everyone cowered at the behemoth robot as it started to walk towards them. Each step triggered a mini earthquake that managed to reach as far as other applicants started to scramble over each other to run as far away as they could and Izuku couldn't blame them. He would've done the same and the only reason he hadn't was because he was still in shock.

Izuku got up and was about to run away when he heard something that stopped him in his tracks.

"Ow!"

Izuku glanced over his shoulder when he heard the cry of pain and saw the girl from before trapped under some rubble. Izuku could see that her foot was trapped under some rubble and thus her foot was probably broken. Nevertheless, even if she could've used her quirk to remove the rubble and even if she could've run through the pain, it didn't matter to Izuku.

Plus, the Zero Pointer was coming straight for them.

Izuku didn't think about anything else. He just ran back to help her.

As soon as he neared the girl, he moved the rock pinning her down away, thus freeing her. She gasped in relief as the pressure on her foot was relieved. Izuku then put her arm around his shoulder and they started to move away slowly with Ochako hopping so to avoid putting weight on her broken foot.

But they weren't fast enough.

"Watch out!" Ochako cried out.

Izuku didn't have to turn around to know that the robot was almost on top of them. The creaking of metal had grown much louder, and Izuku could feel the strong vibrations through his feet.

Izuku gently set Ochako down on a flat piece of rubble and then moved the rubble with her away from him and the robot using his quirk. He then turned around as the robot's hand had started to descend. Its descent was slow, but its momentum incredibly high due to its large mass. Izuku's hair ruffled in the wind created by the moving hand.

He desperately bent large boulders into the robot's hand but the hand barely slowed down. Izuku was panicking. He racked his brain for possible solutions to this and thought of his training. Unfortunately, the training he had done had been mainly to improve his technique and proficiency, not his power. He didn't know what he could possibly do to stop the robot from smashing them. He just hoped that he had managed to save Ochako.

The metal hand continued on, showing no signs of stopping. Its shadow blocked out the entire sun for Izuku. Then his mind went blank.

7/3/21

**IMPORTANT: Thank you to all the people who voted in the poll. I have to say, more people voted than I thought would, which is great. I won't say the results yet as I want to keep that a surprise.

However, the poll is ending the next time I upload which will hopefully be on the 21st, but with schools opening, that date is a more tentative one. Therefore, anyone that wants their opinion noted, pls vote in the poll.

Last thing regarding the poll. One of the options is about creating teams for specific matchups. I think I remember one person who has given some matchups they like. Anyone else who votes or has voted for this option, please could you either PM me or leave a review stating what specific match-ups you want to be seen. While I can't promise that I will use all your match-ups, I will try to include as many as I can that I find interesting.**

Once again, thank you to everyone who is still with us and have read all my chapters.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Bye :)